I've been ordered by my lord to escort his ladies to Edo. I'm sorry, but without a permit, no lord or his retinue may leave Osaka Castle. It is Lord Ishido's order. You leave me no choice.

Have you played SCION ?

By White Wolf (1st edition) / Onyx Path Publishing (2nd edition)

Playing humans blessed by or born from the Gods who can eventually ascend to join their ranks. Urban fantasy, but 2e noticeably lacks a masquerade - the fantasy elements are known to the World’s population.

In a world much like ours but not, Priests of a temple of Ra go out for coffee, as followers of Dionysius post pictures of their wine offerings on social media as kids take turns pretending to be Baron Samedi and Quetzalcoatl during recess. The gods of the old world still preside and watch over their people, seeking their worship and answering their prayers but an ancient foe has escaped from their prison. The Titans, the primordial beings of destruction and chaos have returned. The Gods cannot come down to The World and fight back against the evil Titans that plague their followers, less they be victims of fate, changing their legends and fates forever, instead they call out to their descendants. You, a Scion of the gods. You may of been born between your divine parent and a mortal, maybe you were chosen by that god, maybe the god created and bestowed life to you, or perhaps you are the human reincarnation of a forgotten god. As a Scion, you take your divine parent’s place and restore order to The World while also building your own legend, developing divine powers, gaining followers and earning a place in your pantheon. You grow and learn from your humble Origin, to becoming a Hero to mortals, then being recognized as a Demigod and finally achieving the godhead and becoming a God. Can you fight back against the Titans and fate?

Adobe, please read the room.

[Image ID: a notification from Adobe Cloud. Title: Digital Event. Description: 3 Real-World Image Generation Improvements with AI

Not pictured: the poster dying a little inside. /ID]

Y'all, the world is sleeping on what NASA just pulled off with Voyager 1

The probe has been sending gibberish science data back to Earth, and scientists feared it was just the probe finally dying. You know, after working for 50 GODDAMN YEARS and LEAVING THE GODDAMN SOLAR SYSTEM and STILL CHURNING OUT GODDAMN DATA.

So they analyzed the gibberish and realized that in it was a total readout of EVERYTHING ON THE PROBE. Data, the programming, hardware specs and status, everything. They realized that one of the chips was malfunctioning.

So what do you do when your probe is 22 Billion km away and needs a fix? Why, you just REPROGRAM THAT ENTIRE GODDAMN THING. Told it to avoid the bad chip, store the data elsewhere.

Sent the new code on April 18th. Got a response on April 20th - yeah, it's so far away that it took that long just to transmit.

And the probe is working again.

From a programmer's perspective, that may be the most fucking impressive thing I have ever heard.

Watching Jurassic Park and I have Opinions on this place as a zoo. Feeding the predators live prey?? There's other ways to provide enrichment! Also that enclosure is way too small for multiple large animals like that! Electric fences? Ha! Electric fences won't stop a fucking goat! Where's the zoo experts? Who designed these enclosures?? Were all zoos this shitty in the 90s???

At some point in your life, you were taught that being slightly annoying is an unforgivable sin. Maybe it was by your parents or a teacher or a friend or a bully or an older sibling. But someone taught you that being slightly annoying is a crime punishable by death.

You must unlearn this.

You must accept that all people will be annoying at some point or another in their lives, maybe all of their lives, and that this is okay. It is okay for strangers on the bus, it is okay for children in the grocery store, it is okay for people on social media, and it is okay for you.

If you ever want to truly love your fellow humans, if you ever want to truly love yourself, you must have forgiveness for being annoying.

I will never get over the dissertation that has this heading in it

The Nornir: Urðr is the Word

(It is from Wyrd Webs and Woven Words: Archetypal Expressions of Fate in Classical, Celtic, and Norse Mythology by Emily Asia Ruch, if you want to go read it.)

This was my immediate though too. It’s like saying the TERF invented wizard schools.

Spoiler: neither is true.

Okay look. Stephanie Meyer contributed four (4) cool things to the contemporary fantasy genre, which I shall now list here in the hopes of getting it out of my system. In descending order of importance:

1. Writing a story about a girl who wants something. Plot driven by a woman’s (non-vilified) desire. Truly dreadful execution but still a good idea, sort of a literary incarnation of the “he a little confused but he got the spirit” meme.

2. The fact that when Bella becomes a vampire she can still breathe but “there’s no relief tied to the action” which I remember verbatim because it fucking slapped. The idea of human physical sensations being partially defined by our mortality and the sensations still exist after you become undead but your experience of them is fundamentally different because you no longer need any of it? Extremely cool. The closest Meyer came to taking an interesting stance on vampires being dead.

3. Werewolves are immortal but they can literally stop whenever they want. That shit’s hilarious. Curse of immortality who.

4. The fact that vampires don’t sleep or get tired so their communally-raised baby doesn’t have a crib because she is always in someone’s arms. That was extremely cute and there’s a different, better book contained somewhere in that specific concept.

Non-Violent Adventurous TTRPGS

Today is ANZAC day in Aotearoa New Zealand. It seems a very appropriate time to share some games about helping and healing.

Monster Care Squad by Sandy Pug Games

A game about nurturing monsters and healing them of their pain. In the creator's own words, you play a squad of elite veterinarians. I love games that make you feel you're making a positive difference. I hope to play this one some time.

Ngen Mapu by Helena Real and Evil Hat Productions

This game's gorgeous art is what first caught my eye, but what really drew me in was the premise. Playing as manifested spirits from the dawn of time, you must stop people who are causing serious harm to the natural world without hurting them. What happens if you hurt them? Well, you risk becoming a corrupted ngen called a wekufe.

Wanderhome by Jay Dragon of Possum Creek Games

A game of wandering animal folk. Wanderhome has been on my 'to buy' list since its release. This review sums up a lot of why I love it. The grief and hope of a game that takes place in a world recovering from war appeals to me far more than a game about fighting a war. Plus, my favourite part of roleplaying is exploring a character's internal world, and there are so many chances for that here.

Lunar Echoes is a hack of Wanderhome set in a solarpunk future!

[Not my recordings. This is what’s left of the dialogue in question.]

Recently saw a bit about Eve of Ruin on Rascal and the thought that immediately popped into my head was "Norgorber is a vastly better God of Secrets."

(Curtain Call spoilers below the cut)

Like, look at him!

(Yes, I am stirring up trouble. Yes, you are allowed to like both or prefer one over the other.)

(Also, Tar-Baphon is a better lich)

Reflecting on this with shower thoughts this morning I realize I’ve worked on more official Scion books than any other game. I still have more words published for Changeling: the Lost, but it’s spread across three books. For Scion I’ve got four (which are in the tags, but here for posterity): Mysteries of the World, Wild Hunt, God Companion, and Rock Gods.

I look forward to beating Changelings word count one day.

Have you played SCION ?

By White Wolf (1st edition) / Onyx Path Publishing (2nd edition)

Playing humans blessed by or born from the Gods who can eventually ascend to join their ranks. Urban fantasy, but 2e noticeably lacks a masquerade - the fantasy elements are known to the World’s population.

In a world much like ours but not, Priests of a temple of Ra go out for coffee, as followers of Dionysius post pictures of their wine offerings on social media as kids take turns pretending to be Baron Samedi and Quetzalcoatl during recess. The gods of the old world still preside and watch over their people, seeking their worship and answering their prayers but an ancient foe has escaped from their prison. The Titans, the primordial beings of destruction and chaos have returned. The Gods cannot come down to The World and fight back against the evil Titans that plague their followers, less they be victims of fate, changing their legends and fates forever, instead they call out to their descendants. You, a Scion of the gods. You may of been born between your divine parent and a mortal, maybe you were chosen by that god, maybe the god created and bestowed life to you, or perhaps you are the human reincarnation of a forgotten god. As a Scion, you take your divine parent’s place and restore order to The World while also building your own legend, developing divine powers, gaining followers and earning a place in your pantheon. You grow and learn from your humble Origin, to becoming a Hero to mortals, then being recognized as a Demigod and finally achieving the godhead and becoming a God. Can you fight back against the Titans and fate?

Have you played SCION ?

By White Wolf (1st edition) / Onyx Path Publishing (2nd edition)

Playing humans blessed by or born from the Gods who can eventually ascend to join their ranks. Urban fantasy, but 2e noticeably lacks a masquerade - the fantasy elements are known to the World’s population.

In a world much like ours but not, Priests of a temple of Ra go out for coffee, as followers of Dionysius post pictures of their wine offerings on social media as kids take turns pretending to be Baron Samedi and Quetzalcoatl during recess. The gods of the old world still preside and watch over their people, seeking their worship and answering their prayers but an ancient foe has escaped from their prison. The Titans, the primordial beings of destruction and chaos have returned. The Gods cannot come down to The World and fight back against the evil Titans that plague their followers, less they be victims of fate, changing their legends and fates forever, instead they call out to their descendants. You, a Scion of the gods. You may of been born between your divine parent and a mortal, maybe you were chosen by that god, maybe the god created and bestowed life to you, or perhaps you are the human reincarnation of a forgotten god. As a Scion, you take your divine parent’s place and restore order to The World while also building your own legend, developing divine powers, gaining followers and earning a place in your pantheon. You grow and learn from your humble Origin, to becoming a Hero to mortals, then being recognized as a Demigod and finally achieving the godhead and becoming a God. Can you fight back against the Titans and fate?

"In a historic “first-of-its-kind” agreement the government of British Colombia has acknowledged the aboriginal ownership of 200 islands off the west coast of Canada.

The owners are the Haida nation, and rather than the Canadian government giving something to a First Nation, the agreement admits that the “Xhaaidlagha Gwaayaai” or the “islands at the end of world,” always belonged to them, a subtle yet powerful difference in the wording of First Nations negotiating.

BC Premier David Eby called the treaty “long overdue” and once signed, will clear the way for half a million hectares (1.3 million acres) of land to be managed by the Haida.

Postal service, shipping lanes, school and community services, private property rights, and local government jurisdiction, will all be unaffected by the agreement, which will essentially outline that the Haida decide what to do with the 200 or so islands and islets.

“We could be facing each other in a courtroom, we could have been fighting each other for years and years, but we chose a different path,” said Minister of Indigenous Relations of BC, Murray Rankin at the signing ceremony, who added that it took creativity and courage to “create a better world for our children.”

Indeed, making the agreement outside the courts of the formal treaty process reflects a vastly different way of negotiating than has been the norm for Canada.

“This agreement won’t only raise all boats here on Haida Gwaii – increase opportunity and prosperity for the Haida people and for the whole community and for the whole province – but it will also be an example and another way for nations – not just in British Columbia, but right across Canada – to have their title recognized,” said Eby.

In other words, by deciding this outside court, Eby and the province of BC hope to set a new standard for how such land title agreements are struck."

-via Good News Network, April 18, 2024

in mesopotamia there were no 'cover letters' or 'curriculum vitaes'. there were just, pots.