The Hip Historian Iaredios

[This review is spoiler free] An unpopular opinion (I have many of those), but I liked Superman v. Batman: Dawn of Justice, and the longer cut of the film makes it one of my favorite films. With it's release, many more DC Comic movies were set for release. One of these was a welcome surprise, Aquaman, and i have been waiting to see this movie for a couple of years now. Despite his ridicule across the past half-century, I always thought Aquaman was cool, and after reading Geoff John's take on the character that he did early in the New 52 era of DC Comics, Aquaman became one of my favorite superheroes. I have a fridge magnet and two shirts, and have been wanting figures of some characters. People may ask why, nay, they always do, and I explain Aquaman's base plot-points as laid out by Geoff Johns: Arthur Curry is not only the heir to the Throne of Atlantis, he is also an unwelcome hybrid is an outcast between two worlds, and he runs from the world as a result. A time comes however when he must conquer his self-doubts and take up responsibility, and stops his half-brother from totally destroying the surface world and take up the Throne of Atlantis to create world peace. After that he has to watch over a people that doubt his place in power and conspire his downfall and represent his people in face of a surface world that holds him responsible for the actions of his people and predecessor. Also, the ocean is quite deep and vast, so supernatural forces often come to the forefront. The 2018 movie is largely inspired by the the Geoff John's run on Aquaman, but also takes inspiration from many points from throughout the character's long history as a comic book character. And i say inspired because it does not follow the comics point-per-point, and I largely applaud the vision seen in this movie as it takes many liberties, and some of those decisions I found myself preferring over the source material. Others, i think the source material did better. Story-wise, the movie is a little all over the place, something that would have been helped out in a clear Lord of the Rings-style intro exposition rather than telling such lore details in passing. A moment was given to explain everything but it was rather rushed. And the plot is very reliant on this world's history of the Empire of Atlantis and the varying kingdoms it split into (most of the existing remnants are mutants), so making it more clear would have been helpful. Also brief showing of character names a la Burn Notice would have been good. Another point to gripe about is West Sahara. The transition for the first royal duel and the events there and the arrival to West Sahara have quite the jarring difference in tone. You got to ease into the tone difference so ti is not natural, you don't go from being edge-of-the-seat action, to making jokes that felt more befitting of a romantic comedy. Redoing West Sahara prior to the ruins would have been preferred. Likewise, the action scenes in Siciliy lasted too long, took away from the overall plot. But to what i loved, were the elements of high sci-fantasy and the visuals. Sweet Jesus, the scale of the visuals were ambitious, the scope of the lights of Atlantis made you feel small, and the ending large-scale battle felt like an underwater version of Warhammer 40k. Another note are the sound effects, you actually feel as if they were filmed underwater, as both the vision fitted this and it sounded like they spoke underwater. And all the lore? I was able to pick up on it along the way, and i feel like we were only teased at the full scope of the underwater realms and the stuff related to them. Of all the DC Comics movies made with this universe, this movie felt like it carried more franchise potential then the main Superman entries. So, is this a perfect movie? No, but i loved this movie and I can look past the small mistakes. I implore everyone to go give this movie a shot and see more to Aquaman than just the orange dude that talks to fish. i was purposefully vague here because everything i liked is important to the story and i don't want any spoilers.

Name reminds me of the magical talking horse Glitterhoof from Crusader Kings 2.

If I visited more often I would have found about this! A shame that I am late and cannot partake. Hope everyone enjoys this event!

I can't wait to see Aquaman. I have to decide between which of the two Aquaman shirts I have that I will wear to my theatrical viewing. I have also been making strives in the foundational lore for my own fantasy project. Might make a blog post about these in the future.

1/5 Apologies, but what even...

I had an un-submitted blog post detailing about half of the history of the Roman Empire. It was a great wall of text even with spacing. So I decided to split it into many posts. First, let us go over the most famous period of the Roman empire, its first two centuries, the golden age know as the Roman Peace, or the Pax Romana. Despite its name, this era is not entirely devoid of civil strife, but it pales compared to the millennia following. Though it started in the ancient city of Rome, the Roman Empire was not to always be centered around the city. Similarly, the contemporary name of the Roman Empire was actually Romania (or in Greek, Rhomania), meaning Empire of the Romans. This reflects that the Empire was not completely tied to the city but the culture and the people that it had loosely united into one. More on this in later blog posts. Also, as Christianity was to later have a major role in the Roman Empire's identity, I will be giving samples of it's history during each dynasty. Julio-Claudian Dynasty = 95~ Years Now for the famous Julio-Claudians, founders of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Pax Romana, the golden age of the Empire of the Romans. Many documentaries about this dynasty and the history of its rise to power exist, so I won't go into too much detail here. At the time called the Caesars, as this title would be used as the title of the Roman Emperors until the Third Century Crisis, they are remembered after their extinction as the Julio-Claudians. Starting from Octavianus to Nero, the dynasty lasted [68-14=54] | [27+14=41] | 54+41=95 years. Wow, I thought they lasted a shorter time. Not bad for a bunch of tyrannical nutjobs (though Octavian and Claudius were good, Tiberius was only good the first half of his reign, Nero and especially Caligula were indeed nutjobs). For giggles, we can include Julius Caesar from his 5 years rule as Dictator for Life, even though as the nominal dynasty founder he was never an emperor but a dictator who after his death would (unfortunately not) return back to Republican norms. 95+5=100, give or take months. Even without Julius Caesar, it's still impressive considering their inherent strain of madness. The first land to be conquered by the Julio-Claudians was Egypt (under Augustus), and later Brittania would fall as well (under Claudius). Octavian would undergo two name add-ons, first adding the name Gaius Iulius Caesar to his to proclaim legitimate succession to Caesar's elgacy, then being awarded the title of Augusts by the Senate; in creating the Empire, he founded the Principate System, where the Emperor was supposed to be a guardian of the people and the Republic still functioned, but by stealthy skill he was to be the supreme dictator over all the realm, though local affairs would continue to carry true republican behaviors. It was under this dynasty that Christianity emerged, during the time of Emperor Tiberius the messianic figure Yeshua Nazareni/Jesus of Nazareth was born Palestine and later emerged from the desert after a period of self-exile and proselytized for 3 years before his crucifixion, later titled Khristos or Annointed One by his loving followers. The first Christian persecution started when Caligula put pressure on them and killed a few Christians in the Levant for refusing to worship him, though at the time the Roman Empire did not separate Judaism and Christianity from one another. Later a Christian-specific persecution occurred under Nero, though it was local to central Italia, and it under Nero's orders that two Apostles were executed. After toleration of his disturbed tyranny ran out, Nero ended up infuriating the government and it turned against him, he running for his life and locking himself in a building before killing himself to avoid an even more horrible end. The death of the emperor with no heir caused civil war, the Year of the Four Emperors. Flavian Dynasty = 27 years The Flavian dynasty, from Vespasian to Domitian, lasted 96-69=27 years. Though brief, this dynasty had a profound impact on the Roman Empire. Vespasianus, a general under under Claudius and Nero that assisted in the Empire's invasion of Britain and crushed most of the Jewish Rebellion; his son and heir Titus finishing Vespasian's campaign in Palestine to quell the Jewish revolt and bringing forth the prophecy of Jesus Christ in the destruction of Jerusalem and its second Temple (this having an affect in increased Christian conversion), the treasure from the temple being used by Vespasian to make the Flavian Amphitheater, aka The Colosseum. Vespasianus brought order after Nero's suicide, also brought back traditional Roman values to a long-decadent throne, and long served as an example of character down the millennia. His sons Titus and Domitian succeeded him, respectively. Domitian in particular is remembered for dropping the Republican facade the Principate system was founded on while he ruled, seeing the Senate as nigh-worthless and tackled all projects personally head-on, likewise noted for his policy in low expansion, Britain and Dacia being the exception (a general of his named Agricola even set up a military camp on Irish shores but when Dacia went to war Hibernia/Ireland was forever abandoned, and likewise most of Caledonia/Pictland). The economic reforms of Vespasianus and Domitianus restored economic stability to the Empire after funds had been plundered by the Julio-Claudians, and the reforms also allowed for the golden age of the next dynasty, the Nerva-Antonine. A zealot for the Imperial cult, Domitian ruled the empire as a divine monarchy, and he is recorded by much later Christians chroniclers for starting a second persecution, though likewise only local; Roman records for this are scarce, but their records show extreme taxation for Jews and Christians. Killed by a Senate plot (no doubt because he had stripped them of their power), Domitian's assistant Nerva took over the same day. Nerva-Antonine Dynasty = 96 Years Nerva-Antonine Dynasty, from Nerva to Commodus, lasted 192-96=96 years. A golden age of the Roman Empire (or 'golder', as it is already kind of a golden age), the Nerva-Antonine as they were called upon their extinction were renown for their notabilities are great leaders (though imperfect personally), but ended their line on a poor note. The highlights of this dynasty include the likes of Traianus/Trajan, Hadrianus, Marcus Aurelius, and infamously, Commodus. Traianus extended the empire to it's greatest length in his conquest of Dacia and Mesopotamia and solidifying an official, legal border. Hadrian reinforced this border solidification when not messing around with his pedophiliac child lover; Hadrian's most long lasting contributions would be the great fortifications known as Hadrian's Wall and Hadrianopolis in Europa Thraxia (Thrace) as well as reinforcing the Danuvian Limes (limes were Roman military borders with walls, trenches, and forts lining them). Antonius Pius, heir to Hadrianus and adopted father of Marcus, ruled in a time of great peace, expanded into Caledonia (modern Scotland) and built the Antonine Wall, which would later be abandoned and the border be brought back to Hadrian's Wall. Trajan also established a policy that people converting to Christianity were to be fined, and it is this relaxed stance on Christians that made medieval Papacy held that Trajan was a 'worthy heathen', and their contemporary traditions hold that a Pope resurrected Trajan and baptized him as a Christian. Then famous Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, this father and son duo is famous from multitudes of media. Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius, abandoned the conquests of his father as well as the Republican facade, dried Rome's coffers and was the first piece of a disastrous duo to cause the Third Century Crisis. He also cosplayed as Hercules in the arena. Even though there would be exceptions like Marcus Aurelius and much later Maximinus Thrax conquering Germania (though they be temporary), After the reign of Traianus the Romans would usually become less expansionist and more defensive, largely fighting to regain lost territory legalized as Roman by Trajan. Commodus would be assassinated while ina spa by his favorite wrestler, which a conspiracy involving the senate and his guard had paid to strangle him while the cucumbers were on his face. His death with no clear heir caused civil war, the Year of the Five Emperors. Severian Dynasty = 42 years Severan Dynasty, from Septimus Severus to Alexander Severus, lasted for 235-193=42 years. Septimus Severus won a civil war following the murder of Commodus and stabilized the empire, something his successors would unravel at an increased rate. During his reign, Septimus Severus invaded Arsacid Iran and sacked their capital of Ctesiphon (nicknamed Mahuza, "The Cities", as when Ctesiphon grew it assimilated the previous Hellenistic city of Seleukia to become one metropolitan area), and reinforce the Arabian Limes and the African Limes. With the discord made with the Year of Five Emperors (which by its end Severus sealed power), Septimus Severus saw the need for religious (and thus, national) unity, so reformed the Roman faith to bring greater cohesion between its native cult and the religions of all those lands it ruled over; that is, save the exclusionist Christians, and he passed an edict to punish those that convert to either Judaism or Christianity but leave existing members alone (he protected Christians eh knew but this decree made many local persecutions rage across the Empire and the emperor did not lift a finger to help). He invaded Caledonia/Pictland (modern Scotland), reoccupying the Antonine Wall before falling fatally ill and dying in modern York. One of the sons of Septimus Severus, Antonius "Caracalla", born with the confusing name of Marcus Aurelius Antonius Severus, was a grouchy man who loved to wear Roman-Gaelic clothing, mot notably a Gaelic cape called the caracalla, and he issued a law, the Antonine Constitution, that made all the free male denizens of the Roman Empire into voting citizens, and all free women enjoy the same the same rights as Roman women, rather than just those born in Italy. Because of this, all those that were affected had the name Marcus Aurelius added tot heir name, and those people named their children Marcus Aurelius or variations of it in gratitude to the fashionable grouch, (this made dating some things annoying when tracing things back to this man, any of all these multitudes of people, or the O.G. Marcus Aurelius. He was seen as a tyrant as he would not put up with any sort of disobedience after the 'gift' he gave to everyone and he ordered large-scale massacres across the empire throughout his reign at pockets who rose their voice to give concern or objection of policies. Caracalla was assassinated by the head of the praetorian guard (the beginning fo a pattern), who himself declared himself Emperor and was later branded an enemy of the state and killed. The usurper was replaced by a distant relative of Caracalla, a Roman who worshiped Canaanite gods and who both was spoiled by his mother and abused his priestly powers. He was Elagabalus, named after the Canaanite sun-god El-Gabal, was a degenerate 13 year old priest of the Sun who made his religion of Sol Invictus the state faith, whose waste of funds and complete degeneracy are way too spicy for this website and brought great shame to the Empire of the Romans. The reign of Elagabalus is the other piece to the destabilization caused by the reign of Commodus, and despite the assassination of the tyrannical boy-emperor, all it took was a slip up in the form of his poor choice of legal heir, Alexander Severus, to cause the end of the world.

300: Rise of an Empire - Soundtrack, by Junkie XL Defenders of the Faith, by Judas Priest Firepower, by Judas Priest Ancient Call, by Tengger Cavalry The Old Forest, by Erebos The Golden Sun of the Great East, by Juno Reactor The Mutant Theater, by Juno Reactor

Wasn’t that just TSO? It was both actually. If I'm remembering correctly, during the fight Voporak touched Teridax, which aged him 1000 years in a few seconds, but at the very end of the fight, Teridax grabbed and threw TSO into Voporak, and the latter's defensive powers took over and TSO hit the time "force field" surrounding Voporok, aging TSO thousands and thousands of years. So yes TSO did also age, but he aged quite a lot more than Teridax did. I wonder if that was just the right amount of deterioration that allowed for his armor to be destroyed. Though with the weight of the gate, I think it still would have crushed it.

That Gladiator reference warmed my thymus gland (which i keep in shape with good music and imagination!).

Prelude to Madness/Hall of the Mountain King, by Savatage

So I made a list of fictional people (or fictional versions of people) from different eras that could time travel and defend the earth in case of a great or cosmic supernatural threat to the planet Earth. At the bottom will be possible contenders that I am iffy on. To make it on the list they have to live on the planet earth, no alien, fantasy worlds not set on our planet Earth, and generally has to be supernatural/horror/Halloween friendly. Antiquity - Hercules Late Antiquity - King Arthur and the gang Renaissance-Baroque Period - Belmonts, Solomon Kane Enlightenment Period - Joana Constantine Victorian Period - Van Helsing, Johnathan Joestar 1900's - Present Day - Joeseph Joestar (and Speedwagon Foundation), Zatana, Dr. Stephen Strange, Ghost Rider, Ash Williams, Blade, John Constantine, Heckboy, Raven, Jotaro Kujo, Josuke Higashkata, Swamp Thing, Animal Man Maybe: Kull of Atlantis Conan the Cimmerian Dante (Dante's Inferno video game) Dante (Devil May Cry video game) Kratos Alucard (Hellsing) MeninBlack (film and animated series) Hoss del Gado Dream/Sandman Other's recommendations: The Doctor (Doctor Who) Danny Phantom Yugi (Yugioh) Ghostbusters So, judge my list, give me any thoughts to it, and give me recommendations to add to it!

Otosis

You make your avatar yourself? Its weird but in a good way.

Ghost town eh? Most fitting: 'Tis the season! Scarce now is it that I trek through these picked ruins, but every now and then, something catches my attention despite many a looter having cleaned out years prior. Like minds flock here as well, and what is humanity's quest if not for relationship? Why else do we exist at Divine whim?

Ever since I was little, I have been making worlds, either for myself to explore, or for my friends to join me in. Be it dinosaurs, neopets (that takes me back), Star Wars, Bionicle... I've always been the group lore-master. Then i took my first foray into creative writing. To those that have been here long enough, I have undergone many a name change until I settled upon two, they being variants of RC15O5 OMEGA and, presently, iaredios. It was back in the reign of the former that I made my own bizarre Bionicle world between the years 2005-2010, which I so creatively named The Dark War Chronicles. It had about everything that I could offer at the time as a pint-sized edgelord, from an accidental rip-off of Sauron who encased the planet in a orb of fire and lightning to show off his power, biped bat people that were literally Vamprah, psychic four armed gorilla people with eyes on the temples and a mouth beneath the jaw, from gritty mole-people-Koopas to their arch enemies the angel men of Mawkron who lived in a huge space city that served as a planetary ring until it crashed upon the world by the nefarious mole-Koopas, and a toa who bonded with a volcano demon and founded a confederate-empire of mutants based on a continent that looked like Texas. I eventually abandoned this project of mine when I lost my stories with the Great Dataclysm, and later I matured, and realized its incompetence and the fact I was trapped by Lego's universe and their ownership of Bionicle. Back in the day, many of us said "We should buy Bionicle so we can continue it ourselves!" Briefly, my hopes were caught by that idea, but equally brief consideration showed how feign it was. And so i left the website for 2-3 years. But from the ashes of The Dark War Chronicles, a new project was born from my own imaginings of what happened in Bionicle after Lego abandoned it, publishing my ideas on BZPower for the first time in years. First going by the name The Ackariad, then Bionicle Universalis, then lastly called A Rude Awakening. It went through many changes, heck the second (present) topic has hundreds of pages detailing many ideas bouncing off of friends of mine (mostly Toa Imrukii). But as much as I enjoyed this process, it became clear to me that I craved for more as this became my only tie to Bionicle, and even that was weighing upon me, and it showed as my work on the project resembled less and less of Bionicle to me, which I actually approved on subconsciously. In the last year, I have focused more on an original fantasy universe, and since August my ideas have greatly been developed with pages of notes being written and revised. Many things are the maturation of ideas from my work on ARA, others are completely new even as of the day I write this. And my drive? To follow in the steps of John Tolkien, not in any shallow mimicry of races and tropes, but in pursuit of genuine creativity, application of all the history and other fields i know, and like Tolkien as expressed in his Mythopoeia Letter to Clive Lewis, offer a serviceable sacrifice to the Lord in the form of this inspired, fictional work. I do not have a name for this world right now, but that's okay because that's not what is important right now. When I get further along, it will make itself apparent to me. After the sudden departure of a beloved friend (moving out of state), feeling ignored by most in my life, and the drain of being at a mentally exhausting job, i have to say that this gradual progress makes me genuinely happy. And as i try to capture my ideas in art, so too has my artistic skill improved. I wish to thank those that have helped me, Among them being Toa Imrukii whose understanding of linguistics cannot be undersold in its usefulness in this endeavor as well as his wordy kindness, my cousin 'qwerty' who i have bounced ideas off with as he is also making his own fictional world, my mother for believing in my ability to undertake this work, J.R.R.Tolkien who showed me that there is harmony between fantasy thought and Christian faith, 'sydney' for being my friend for over a year and creatively inspiring me with the books we read together and her general company, and finally the Great Lord Above for my understanding, everything I want to be, and everything i observe and the multitude of inspiration I draw from hence. This side project may not go anywhere, but I am enjoying myself nonetheless and this is all part of my life long personal progress. Who knows, i may be blessed and others will be able to pick up my ideas in shelves or in drone packages in the future, but that's not what is important here. Not in the slightest.

Flood, by They Might Be Giants Archetypal, by Paleowolf Ancient Call, by Tengger Cavalry and Painkiller, by Judas Priest

a SeA Of bLuE aNd BlUe AnD wHiTe

Al-Andalus

It's an ignorant response to historical misunderstanding about Columbus, he being apparently both guilty for deeds done by his crew and those that came later. He punished the atrocious crimes committed by his crew so harshly that he was put into prison for months before release (after Spanish royal review; another crewmate became so repulsed he became a monk and stand up for the natives); and as his voyages opened the doors for later brutish explorers and colonists, he is given all the blame because people can't be bothered to read or think for themselves. It would make more sense if it was called "Cortez Day", as the man illegally invaded Mexico in pursuit of glory, but at the same time the Aztecs had evil practices so it isn't black and white, simple enough to be spoon fed to folks.

I can attest that your art has indeed improved, keep at it! Also, my brother has been watching classic Yu-gi-oh, and now i know that dude in picture to the top left is from that. I laugh whenever his face stretches to the side, its just a bizarre presentation.

Some "Brainwave" frequency music. It is something else...

It brings another meaning to the term North America

Xian, by Antti Martikainen Nice to find some Chinese inspired battle music.