Reblog If You Have Skilled Writer Friends And You're Damn Proud Of Them

reblog if you have skilled writer friends and you're damn proud of them

spell jars 101 ✧

updated version

how to craft a spell jar:

cleanse your jar

gather your ingredients

charge and program them, and then add them to the jar

close and seal with wax, ribbon, string, etc. to finalize and cast the spell

decorate your jar however you'd like, or not at all - up to you

what you can use as a jar:

tiny glass jars with cork lids

mason jars

pickle/pasta sauce jars

old medication bottles

food storage containers

bead storage tubes

what you can add to a spell jar:

dried herbs

dried citrus peels

dried flowers

magical powders

small crystals

gem chips

essential oils (a drop or two will go a long way)

infused oils (carrier oils such as olive or grapeseed oil that have been infused with herbs)

a few drops of charged water (storm water, war water, sea water, holy water, rain water, moon water, sun water, etc.)

paper (with sigils/symbols/glyphs drawn on it, an incantation, a name, a phrase, etc.)

coins

beads

glitter or confetti

seashells/shark teeth/sand, etc.

leaves/acorns/sticks/bark/moss

animal fur, nail clippings, teeth, or whiskers that have fallen out naturally (if i catch you trying to pull out your pet's whiskers or fur, i will fight you)

nails, glass, pins, needles, thorns, and other sharp objects (great for cursing, binding, banishing, or protection)

vinegar, lemon juice, pickle juice (mostly for “souring” a situation)

honey, sugar, syrup (to “sweeten” a situation or for attraction)

pretty much anything that fits and corresponds to your intent

what you should avoid putting in a spell jar:

unless your intent correlates with the contents of the jar spoiling or going bad - don't use anything biological in nature (think bodily fluids), don't use fresh produce or herbs, and be mindful of water content inside the jar. you don't want a moldy, biohazardous mess on your hands (unless you do, then that's cool, too).

what spell jars are good for:

containing your spell, theoretically making it easier to manipulate and control

manifesting goals/intentions continuously or over time

passive manifestation that doesn’t require much ongoing participation from the caster but is subject to regular maintenance

what to do with your spell jar once it’s been crafted:

keep it on your altar

keep it in an area that's appropriate for goal manifestation (for glamours, keep it in the bathroom; for sleep or dreams, keep it in the bedroom; for safe travels, keep it in your vehicle; for cursing, keep it concealed in a black box; etc.)

wear it as jewelry

put it in your pocket, purse, or backpack

bury it in your backyard or within a potted plant outside (for spells you don’t plan to undo or want to last indefinitely) - if burying is not an option, hide it somewhere on your property

leave it at a crossroads

recharging spell jars:

shake it up

light a candle on top of or next to it

submerge it in a bath of herbs or crystals that are associated with energy

submerge or surround with sea salt (a natural conductor of energy)

anoint with oil/blessed or charged water

pair with a tarot card or rune stone that matches your intent

suffumigate with incense smoke

energy work and visualization

disposing of and reversing spell jars - when you feel like the spell has done its job or you need to undo its effects:

remove the contents from the jar and either destroy them, bury them, or throw them away

for items you wish to save, cleanse them thoroughly before using them again

take the jar and cleanse it in whatever manner you choose and either save it to be reused; or dispose of it safely

Havoc Marauder Interior

Someone made a post about this a while ago but apparently they de-activated so it is possibly lost to the mists of time. Here is what I put together for myself as a writing reference. Image heavy, meta heavy.

Last edit: 2024/10/29

Edits: Replaced garbage text layout with actual ship overhead. Realized the two concept art images face different directions. This likely explains the magical moving jump seats. Also added discussion of a cargo hold. Added discussion of ship dimensions (specifically length). Replaced old guesstimates with numbers from Dawn of Rebellion. Added commentary about the magical seat. Added comment about the belly airlock and updated the floor plan.

I think people under- and over-estimate the Marauder's interior potential. Given its overall size and intended use (transporting about 10-15 troops plus assorted equipment and providing air support in a forward area), there's not much room left for creature comforts.

Except the Batch aren't 10-15 people, they're 5, and the shuttle is referred to as modified numerous times. This leaves plenty of room to make assumptions and freeform. So, as to what we have actual, visual evidence for from episodes and concept art, here is a rudimentary floor plan:

An important point about the two concept art images: they do NOT face the same direction. The top image faces to the aft/back of the ship, i.e. the tailgun. The second image faces to the fore/front of the ship.

Number key:

1: We know this is where the ramp and door are located from War Mantle and Metamorphsis.

2: We know about this upper storage area from Cut and Run

3: The access to the tail gun has changed visual from TCW s07e02 and various TBB episodes.

4: Access to a floor hatch with a narrow, vertical 'airlock' can be seen briefly in Bounty Lost.

The Airlock

With thanks to @megmca for reminding me of this: there's a narrow, belly-hatch airlock. We see it briefly in Bounty Lost, when they attach to the escape pod Omega has commandeered and Wrecker brings her in.

For all of you wondering what airlock-access the ship has, this is it.

The Magically Appearing/Disappearing Seat

In Cut and Run we have this moment with Hunter and Omega, but in most other shots each of these consoles has only one seat (eg. Tech and Echo in prior frames). I think this is actually NOT a magically appearing seat. I think it's the other console seat, because I suspect they can be moved. I base this one this shot from Replacements:

That looks like a seat with a moveable base.

Obviously this is bad design for a ship which is doing barrel rolls and what-not, so I have to assume they're magnetically locked. Even if it is the same seat, in the shots right before that one above, Omega walks up and it's not in that space. So it's almost like the scene was longer and was shortened, and we missed a few frames of her or Hunter unlocking it and moving it over.

Meta Discussions

tl;dr: I think of the Marauder as a small fishing vessel or a van-conversion RV. You can put a lot into a small space if you get creative.

Bathroom I know the writers have made weird assertions there isn't one and omg they all smell gross from no hygiene but that makes zero sense. Soldiers are constantly under stress, they're getting injured, they need to stay clean when possible or they're going to get sick and die from a systemic infection in short order. Anyone who's glanced in the general direction of military history knows this. You can argue about clone expendibility all you want but the Batch minimally qualify in that regard, being Nala Se's pet project. Can you imagine losing one of them to a staph infection because there's nowhere for them to bust out some no-rinse antimicrobial soap or get their scalp clean? I'm not saying they'll be doing photoshoots in between missions (well maybe Hunter would ) but, come on. (And are you going to tell me Mr. Sensor Sensoria is cool with doing long hauls with 4 people who don't bathe? Just, no.)

But that much aside, anyone who's ever been in an RV, a commercial airliner, or a modest-sized sea vessel knows you can cram a bathroom into a tiny space. Yes, you're going to be spinning in circles doing things, but the benefits of a spot to clean up, manage waste, and tend to injuries far outweigh any other use of that area. So regardless of what the writers say, a transport without a minimal refresher (to use the SW term) is counter to the ship's designed use. It has to be able to accommodate Wrecker, of course, but in the end it can double as storage when not in use. There is zero reason to not have one. Added to this, we now officially have a length for the Marauder, which is 30.3 meters (see below). RVs which are 1/5 of that size have bathrooms. You're going to tell me the Marauder doesn't?

If nothing else, since the TCW episodes and the beginning of S1 have pointed to them going on extended deployments with long hops between stops, they're going to need one or constantly be handling waste in much less efficient and sustainable ways.

Added to all of this, it's specifically called a modified variant of an Omicron. We're probably meant to think this means 'Tech would like to fly faster than the GAR and ship engineers think is reasonable for a shuttle' but IMO it extends to changes like this as well. So, there's a refresher in there, feel free to choose a spot. Right across from the fold out racks is a good candidate because in most imagery it's just weapons storage, and there's an entire upper-deck space which you could use for that.

Galley Definitely not one of these. The Batch are eating rations any time they're not on Kamino. You can make an argument they (and all clone units) have cook kits for improvised eating in the field; in the Batch's case I suspect that's a given, as they'd just start doing it because who's going to stop them? Additionally, the sheer amount of rations you would need to carry around to feed Wrecker would be ridiculous. (Remember when Wrecker talks about never being full in S2E13? I feel like this is an indication they did and still do, in fact, have to improvise a lot of additional caloric intake. Hunter probably thought Cut and Suu's farm was a genius idea. 'Grow your own food! Wrecker will never be hungry again! Fucking incredible.' Then Tech got the ship impounded.) I think you can argue for one being added, like with the refresher. Do they actually need those weapons racks anymore? Definitely no. But, it's not on there by default.

Beds As you can see in the concept art above, there are at least 3 racks that fold out from the wall on the port side. They're at a minimum wide enough to accommodate Wrecker, they may also be long enough for him to not need to curl up (unclear because in this shot from Bounty Lost his knees are bent and he's hugging Lula):

Three is a weird number since originally there were four of them. I figure the options here are:

The pilot/copilot/second row seats all look 100% more comfortable than the racks. We actually see Tech sleeping in one, at one point, so this has actual evidence to support it.

It's war time, they're never all asleep simultaneously. Someone is always flying the ship or on watch.

The floor is in effect the same as a rack, arguably preferable as you can't fall off it in the event Something Happens while you're out. So, one of them might actually be ON the floor sometimes.

They're not really intended to sleep on the ship for extended periods, but narratively we're lead to believe they have, many times, and needed to make adjustments to it as a result. Notice how quickly Wrecker whipped up a bed for Omega? IMO, not the first time they've done something like that--they did it for themselves first.

Cargo Hold Based on that screenshot of Omega above and the below shot from Cut and Run, the 'hold' of the ship is actually a storage area overhead, running the length of the ship. In that shot above of the rack, there are a series of yellow rungs which imply you can climb up somewhere on the port side. This is probably alternate access to that same overhead storage space.

In Cut and Run we see Echo, Omega, and Tech hide in it, coming back out from a slide-open hatch:

Given Tech's height this is probably somewhere around 1.5m high.

We can be reasonably certain the hold isn't under the ship, or at least storage there is minimal, due to a couple of things:

In all instances where the hyperdrive has been pulled, it's under the ship on the belly, and takes up a reasonable amount of space. Eg., in Retrieval, here's a bunch of stuff which has been pulled from the ship:

In instances where they're working on the ship from the outside, like in Cornered, the sides and belly never have panels open which contain empty space unless the ship's hardware have been removed to reach something:

So, the cargo hold is probably that space on the top from Cut and Run. It doesn't have much room; reasonably speaking, the area with the weapons and sleeping racks was probably a cargo hold as well, they just converted it to a more general purpose area. (So IMO this is a stronger argument for putting a commercial airliner-style bathroom in place of the weapons racks, particularly once they bail on the Empire.)

Dimensions - updated 11/3/23 Dawn of Rebellion has a Bad Batch section, and indicates the Marauder is 30.3m in length, 36.65m wide (presumably with the wings extended, and 12.41m tall (this probably includes the central stabilizer).

I will edit this to update it as we get more pictures. Since the toys that I know of have no basis the show from an internal perspective I didn't include anything from them.

Image sources:

All screencaps by me. Use at will.

Marauder underlay

Bad Batch Concept Art, Marauder Interior

How to Dehydrate Herbs

This is my first post on my newly-minted digital grimoire, so I thought I'd start out with info I already know. Here's a short little guide on how to dehydrate herbs and other materials at home in your oven (if you have one). I usually dehydrate fresh materials instead of hanging them as firstly: I have a cat who will find a way to reach anything I hang up to dry, and secondly: there are some materials I don't feel comfortable leaving out in open air as they will likely rot. Also, it just saves on drying time.

Steps:

1. Grab whatever you want to dehydrate whether it be fruits, peels, herbs, veg, or (my favourite) eggshells.

Important Note: DO NOT EVER put plants which are known to be toxic or whose origins are unclear in your oven. It's never worth it.

2. Place your items on a sheet pan with parchment paper underneath (there may be lingering oils on the pan, but if you are okay with that feel free to skip the parchment).

3. If your oven is fancy and you have a dehydration setting, great! Use the recommended temperature. If not, set your oven between 160-190*. I usually set it lower, but if you're short on time it will work higher.

4. This is the most crucial step: keep your oven door slightly ajar in order to let moisture escape. However, very importantly DO NOT EVER LEAVE YOUR OPEN OVEN UNATTENDED (or your closed one, for that matter), especially if you have an older oven. Basic fire safety applies here.

5. The process usually takes around 2 hours if you are dehydrating thinner plants, but may take up to 3-4 if you are dehydrating something thicker like citrus peels or fruit slices. Either way, be prepared to wait a bit. You will know they are done when you can easily crush them if plants or they are breakably-solid if peels. With eggshells they will be brittle anyways, but it's nice to dehydrate them to more easily grind into a powder and also to kill any lingering bacteria.

6. Store herbs as you usually would in a container away from sunlight. Enjoy!