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hermitcraftheadcanons · 3 years

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Hermitopia AU Masterpost 1 [COMPLETE]

This is a gathering place for the events of the Hermitopia AU, as well as art and writing resulting from it (art and writing listed at the bottom). Please read the AU introduction and rules here before submitting! Feel free to join the discussions on the HCHC discord server!

(Disclaimer/PSA: All points are asks contributed by the community, the mods take no credit for the ideas within them)

If you would like specific credit in the masterpost, please sign within the text of the ask! (A dash and a signature at the end should do.) Asks not signed will be treated as anonymous.

Summary posts:

Not all elements of plot and character will be summarized, but here are a few basic things you may want to be familiar with before submitting an ask! (Unless you are purposely aiming to create an [ALTERNATE] idea for a Hermit)

1 - Starting positions and each Hermit's powers (based on the submissions from Day 1)

Summary post 2 - Interpersonal connections (based on Day 1 and 2 submissions)

Make sure to check out the second masterpost here for more up to date information, including newer art and writing!

Asks:

- (copied ask) [summarized mod comment]

- Hermitopia | Scar was experimented on by Cub. He gained dangerous powers and wings that resemble a dragon’s, but he keeps both hidden. Unless someone makes him angry. He has no idea who gave him his powers. Eventually he and Cub decided that they wanted to control things beyond their corporation, so Scar ran for mayor. (there are things to fill in but im lazy) [Scar assumes he got the powers in an accident during research. He enjoys having them but has no idea that they were intentional.]

- Hermitopia AU team ZIT is a superpowered crime-fighting trio!

- owing to a very particular set of guidelines he put in place, Joe can now copy powers if he sees them in use and can reverse-engineer how those powers are used. needless to say, this is massively overpowered in the right hands.but it got worse. at some point, there was an... incident... on ConCorp grounds, something to do with a mass amount of entities causing time dilation -- and Joe was caught in the thick of it, unable to be rescued for a while.the problem is, he got out by piecing together how the time dilation worked.needless to say, Joe... has a ridiculous powerset. so he chooses largely not to use his powers anymore unless it's absolutely dire or petty enough to shrug off as a random occurrence. nobody needs to know that one of the most powerful Unaffiliated in the city is standing right in front of them... especially not ConCorp.

- doc was a former high ranking employee of concorp before he volunteered for an experiment and it went horribly wrong. since then, the company has tried to erase any evidence of his existence. doc is now seeking revenge for all that the company did to him and is determined to tear it apart

- HI ok follow up asks will be sent later when my thoughts are coherent but concept: cleo has like super messed up healing powers where she can make healing go Too Far. also i pin her as unbound, considering, like, everything - shovel-shuffle

- So, his power was meant to be super-regen, right? except things don't always quite go to plan. Someone volunteered for the powers surgeries and is arguably dead. Etho is a name shared by the many many clones that developed themselves out of the leftovers. They're not quite individuals, not quite a hivemind. Any one of them has no fear of death because the others will continue, but they all act independently around their overarching goal. (which I won't snitch about) - DragonKay

- Bdubs was a hero. Key word? Was. He climbed the ranks through the government, he was a loyal and dutiful member of society, and he used his plant manipulation powers to subdue evil-doers without hurting them. But he’s always been a friendly guy, and he couldn’t help himself—talking to the Unrestrained, especially those in custody, was interesting! ...but it’s a slippery slope to walk, being friendly with the enemy and not sympathizing to their cause. Nobody knows where he is now, but there are rumours of a vigilante with similar abilities, and his three compatriots, two of whom he helped escape from ConCorp... They call themselves the nHo. - slimetek [Bdubs deserted Concorp while helping Doc escape after his experiment went wrong]

- Concorp managed to make a device that allows animals to speak or translate their thoughts into writing. This means that the good old mayor Scar has a certain cat giving some advice on how to run the city.

- Iskall is an assasin/mercenary against their own volition. An accident they'd rather forget almost killed them, and in exchange for their freedom and free will they got to live as a cyborg. Though its hard to forget with the implant that covers their eye and the limb of cool metal hanging at their side - @ghastly-ghostie [Iskall works for Concorp off-books, bound by the debt owed to them for the life saving experimental modifications]

- so I think grians original powers could be like cloning, but something goes wrong and the clones are different people. as a result of the duplication process, some funky magic rocks are made. the clones decide to take most of the funky rocks and run off, leaving grian with one rock that gives him some new abilities and the clones' rocks give him others. also uhh mechanical wings bc yes. so grians plot is him trying to find them while also causing problems on purpose. infinity stones. update to my grian ask from earlier, I had better ideas: the rocks are old like magic things that grian finds before the cloning and ends up collecting, but his clones snatch them - simplyskipper [some of the alternate Grians are aligned with different factions in Hermitopia, while the locations of others are farther or unknown]

- Hermitopia- Impulse has solid-light powers. He has golden crystals implanted in his hands, which he can reflect light through to solidify it into all sorts of shapes. This can be used to make barriers, projectiles, and much more, though more detailed constructs take more time.- @mleemwyvern

- Hermitopia AU Poultry man is a well-known chaotic neutral leaning towards good, as a one of the unrestrained.

- I think Team ZIT should be a little be wild card-y, that's how they act after all! [they are employed by the government for standard crimefighting, but they don't always take Scar's word at its intended meaning and often play a bit on the chaotic side when given instructions]

- [Hermitopia AU] False is an antihero/vigilante type who's specialty is not defined by powers or the such, but just... the absolute skill of being able to dual wield two (more sci-fi era) short swords. Maybe someone upgrades them to be "enchanted" (electrical, fire, etc. something that tech could do well probably). She's willing to be paid-for-hire, but if you go past her moral line she's also willin' to backstab you. -- @cheshire-vex [she's a free agent who sort of drifts between Concorp, the government, and whoever else will pay her on a job-by-job basis]

- Hermitopia impulse has more connections then one may think. He has ties to people pretty much everywhere, for reasons unknown. There is a 100% someone will come and greet him wherever he goes. [the greetings are usually friendly]

- Hermitopia Au! Keralis is a hero who most people wouldn't expect to be too skilled at fighting. His power is similar to hypnosis so he has no need to get very physical. Yeah, that changed when some bastard villain decided to attack his friends shop. [that incident caused his employer Scar to realize his untapped potential for protecting people and assign him to a few more high-stakes jobs]

- Hermittopia!TFC was one of ConCorp’s first experiments and as such his powers are a bit less...refined then the others. He has geokinetic powers, allowing him to psychically control rocks and other earthen materials. He used to be one of the VEX programs top graduates, but has since parted ways with them for unknown reasons and now operates his own plans of keep crime in Hermitopia under control. -lechairpourriedegrianri [he is considered Unaffiliated and both Concorp and the government largely leave him to his own devices, since he is helping to keep the city together]

-Wels doesn't have powers. He does have a super-suit made of fire and heat resistant carbon fibre (like the material used for the space shuttle) and has a built in hologram projector. One time, he used the hologram projector to project an image of himself, which everyone thought was a clone. He didn't have the heart to tell them otherwise. (AKA everyone thinks Wels has powers but he doesn't) -Silverwolf53 [he got the suit in Project VEX]

- To follow up on the Impulse ask- Team ZIT are a space-themed superhero team. Government-aligned, at least for now.Tango has meteor-like powers, he can shoot fire from his hands and feet and often uses this to propel himself at high speeds. Zed has gravity powers! He can increase or decrease the density of any object, to the point of making small black holes. They all have space-themed costumes, and it was probably Zed's idea. - @mleemwyvern

- TFC was the first participant in project VEX

- Grian was an attempted success. It fixed some problems with Etho's unintended cloning, but at the same time created some problems of its own, seeing as the clones appeared to have a life of their own.It's fine, though. It's probably fine

- I would say Grian is unrestrained, a bit like Etho, Chaotic in his own way. Does not activily Try to hurt people, but does mostly what he wants for fun.-Ciara

- Xisuma is a civilian- he has hero friends, but despite all their teasing he’s never wanted to go through VEX training. But in the night, the unrestrained Void walks the streets [Void is a symbiotic creature made of nothingness that uses Xisuma's body as a substitute physical form]

- Bdubs was such a good man... he could be trusted to look after Doc, couldn’t he? Somebody had to oversee him, somebody who was reliable and would never, ever consider betraying the mayor and ConCorp...They let their guard down, and Bdubs got curious. Bdubs made a friend.And then they lost him.- Slimetek

- The hels hermits are considered evil by default. How do you spot these clones, how could you protect yourself? Well in the past it was a lot easier, just look for their red eyesNowadays contacts exist but that doesn't stop people trying to call the police on tango, calling him a hels. Hes netherian, they have unnatural eye colours and their iris fills the entire eye, hes not evil but if people keep doing this hes gonna be!

- Beef woke up from his brain surgery to receive telepathy powers, took one look into the mind of the overseer, and noped put of there as fast as he could go.He's on very public record. After all, the mind control he may be capable of is a very convenient explanation for anyone who turns against concorp... ~DragonKay

- Hypno can’t control minds.They say he does. It’s why he’s named Hypno, after all.In reality, he can’t control people like that... but he can control what they see.Your best friend might look like your greatest enemy. A pit of lava might look like solid ground. A 100-foot drop might look like a step down.It’s a good thing he’s a hero, and a good thing he keeps his true powers hidden beneath a guise of low-level hypnotism. There’s no telling what he could do if they let him go. [he works for Concorp, helping to protect VEX trainees from people trying to harm them before they get a chance to finish the program, as well as keeping other resources safe]

- The 9th Street Incident [referring to an earlier Impulse comment] was a friendly greeting. That particular version of Etho just thought that drawing weapons would be a friendly greeting for Impulse, but Tango and Zed seem to disagree

- They still don’t trust Bdubs. He was with the government for a long time, and things are hard out there on the run. Besides, they don’t know what he got up to there. ConCorp could have any sort of information on him, something that might scare him back.Bdubs understands this. He doesn’t want to go back. He’d hate to go back....but they think he will, and maybe there’s something he’s not telling them. An ace that ConCorp has yet to play.- Slimetek

- Mumbo works for concorp as an engineer specialising in robotics, most recently taking on the task of maintaining Iskall's cybernetics that somehow they just keep damaging. Iskall assures him they're just.. very clumsy. So far Mumbo hasn't caught on.

- Ren's power is that hes a werewolf, but he only found out when he was in his late teens with his childhood friend Iskall. He still feels guilty about it, he did kill his best friend afterall. Or so he thinks.He's lived off grid ever since, too overwhelmed with grief and guilt to rejoin society. Most assume he's dead too - @ghastly-ghostie [Ren dropped Iskall off to Concorp as a last ditch effort, running away before he could see whether they took his friend in or not. They did, starting Iskall's plotline. Iskall told Concorp about Ren's abilities, triggering a panic in the Concorp ranks at the fact that Ren is a superhuman being created by some force other than their own project]

- Where does Void come from? The same place all powers come from.Little did they know, something survived the crash and has taken a human host. Maybe it's not the only one...No, that place is not Concorp. Concorp's original goal was to develop technology by reverse-engineering from a crashed alien spaceship. These aliens did gene-editing the way some people do nose jobs, so they adapted that technology, too.~DragonKay

- i've already said a bit about it in the discord but i have hermitopia cleo brainrot. joe being there was able to save her by giving her the regen powers along with her puppeteering telekinesis power. anyways cleo is presumed dead, sent by concorp into a mission as fodder basically until zit could arrive. but now there's is one (1) bitter undead vigilante against concorp that is presumed dead

- Stress’s name has a few meanings in relation to her. Whenever she gets too angry or /stressed/, she transforms into the StressMonster, a monster that feeds off of other people’s stress to become more powerful. Luckily, the monster is rarely seen, but does terrible things when she is. She’s one of the most feared creatures in Hermitopia. Stress hates her and tries her best to hide her from her friends, but it can backfire sometimes. - @guster-animations

- to follow-up on Joe being presumed dead: remember the time dilation incident he was stuck in? ConCorp figured it was best to cut their losses and not try to send anyone in to rescue him -- it would be a pointless mission. so they abandoned him, quietly announced that he had died in the line of duty, and put the affected area under high security clearance in order to prevent any future accidents. they figured he was already dead. and Joe figures, given that they up and abandoned him, maybe it's for the best that they continue to figure just that. he changed his last name to "Hills" -- a joke about the biome containing the time anomaly -- and otherwise proceeded to stay under the radar. he still uses the time dilation area as a base of operations, sometimes; it's very useful to have a hideout that people physically cannot get into/out of without his direct assistance. is he nursing a grudge, coming up with some convoluted scheme to get back at the paramilitary group for abandoning him? or does he just want to live a relatively normal life off the grid? who knows. that's the Joe [REDACTED] Hills difference. -@betweenlands

- False has some big scary power that is almost Eldritch she just happens to prefer a sword and doesn’t really care for who she works for as long as they’re paying... (they don’t need to know of the power that had harmed the ones she loves the most)

- Keralis once encountered Void sulking around where Xisuma worked. So fearful for his friend’s safety, he used his power on Void and told him to go away. Apparently the charm is still active, because if Void spots Keralis anywhere, he’ll turn tail and run. No, it’s not because he’s scared. Absolutely not.

- Grumbot serves as a sentient supercomputer created by Mumbo for Grian. Grian is using Grumbot for... various activities, all of which harmless, but a certain evil clone [Helsknight] has reverse engineered the technology. Concorp would like for Mumbo to give them the tech, but mumbo stuck some eyes to the computer, got emotionally attached, and refuses to give up his baby boy.

- When Impulse hears his friend/colleague Bdubs has been "taken over" by the mind-controller [Beef], he wants to go on an off-the-books mission to rescue him! Just giving up like they were told to isn't in his nature.Of course the rest of ZIT are with him. Heroes save people! It's what they do!~DragonKay

- Hermitopia is a mixture of sleek futuristic and cyberpunk in terms of style. It really depends on where you live and work (ik this doesnt include any hermits but whatever) - @ghastly-ghostie

- I wonder if Cleo's overactive healing powers affect herself and if any injuries she receives immediately heal over like wolverine or deadpool

- Ren used to be friends with Cleo too, but then she died. Strangely enough, she died on the same day that Ren killed Iskall. Ren’s lost all his friends. It’s hard living in isolation when there’s no one left that even cares about you. (Unless— no, that’s impossible.)

- I was thinking about Biffa, like you do. And Biffa would totally be some robot that was created by Project VEX in its early stages, however they realised fast that it was easier to use humans and give them powers, maybe its not their strong suit with robots. But Biff went sentient and glitched and was scrapped so hes just out there doing his thing. Hes a wildcard and plays for which side he wants at the time, sometimes he'll help or sometimes hes the one causing trouble. He looks pretty similar to a android like in Detroit:Become human but hes a bit uncanny and eerie, maybe its the eyes or the blood red armour. Powerwise, he's got more strength than a human does, mainly because he isn't limited like others are. try not to get punched by him, it'll hurt! [He's convinced Concorp will destroy him if they find out he's alive and Unaffiliated] -lucodak

- Going off of my thing about hermotopia impulse having friends everywhere....this may include the nho. Okay, they beat him to a pulp on one of his solo patrols once, but theey felt bad n patched him up! He has to keep it a secret. He brings them dinner alot. And checks in on them.

- Beef is the perfect cover-up for Bdubs’ desertion. ConCorp doesn’t want any other employees getting bright ideas, now, do they? Nor do they want employees getting nosy and trying to figure out where Bdubs went. They don’t have to tell people what Beef’s powers are. They just release that he developed powers after brain surgery, and a rumour that he was spotted lurking around before Bdubs suddenly betrayed ConCorp... and people draw their own conclusions. -Slimetek

- xB is pretty sure he’s supposed to be evil.I mean, that’s what sentient AIs usually end up being, according to a quick internet search. And yet he’s... not. Or maybe he’s just on the wrong side. - Slimetek

- Yes impulse is friends with the nho....what he doesn't know? He's....easily susceptible to hypnosis. Very easily.......Of course, after impulse is basically a very tired n warm cuddle bug, so, cuddle piles tend to happen after all information is spilled. He must've fallen asleep at their apartment again! Whoops! But it's okay.....they take good care of him if he does! [Beef is using his mind reading ability on Impulse without his knowledge, to make sure that he hasn't spilled their location and to predict the government's next moves. He feels slightly bad about it but feels that it is necessary for the nHo's survival.]

- So far, Grian has only ever encountered two of his clones, NPC Grian and Robot Grian. Technically three, if one were to count Ariana Griande. Grian doesn't really, but some do. [Ariana Griande is a popular musician in Hermitopia who is building a career using the magical stone of voice enhancement she recieved through the cloning process]

- To handle the two Grumbot issue: the one working with Helsknight can be Jrumbot, a legion of robot drones meant to work as Grumbot’s physical form that ended up being hijacked by Helsknight and turned against ConCorp

- There...aren’t a lot of “normal” animals left in Hermittopia. ConCorp took one look at the animals populating the city and decided that, hey, they could make some improvements. Species after species, they modified their behavior, appearance, internal structure, whatever they could fix, tweak, or add. They were just improving their lives and the lives of the citizens of Hermittopia, after all, but the new animals quickly outcompeted the old for resources and habitats. And if it makes it easier for ConCorp to stick a camera in one or two of them, or set up robotic animals to keep a better eye on the city, no harm, no foul, right?(Bonus: there is one (1) singular cat left in Hermittopia, resulting in a spy movie-style heist where two teams of Hermits attempt to “rescue” the cat simultaneously. The cat keeps wandering away from both teams. Shenanigans ensue)- Adonis [the cat is Jellie, who orchestrated the competition between Team ZIT and Cleo and Joe for her own entertainment, getting away from both parties in the end]

- The Leak:Not all mutations are the result of controlled experiments! If some alien tech got away from the crash site, concorp never would have picked it up. It might have got into nature, not as refined as they made it in the labs but causing little changes here and there. Ren may have become a werewolf from being bitten by a mutant wolf~DragonKay

- Impulse is able to use his powers to create illusions or male things appear invisible! Sort of. After all, light dictates what we see. It takes a lot of focus, though, so it's not that practical. -@rayveewrites

- The one thing Hels wasn't able to steal was the cloning technology, hence his hostility with Concorp -- he needs the cloning device, because how else is the void going to get a body of their own? - SilverWolf53

- *glances at the hermitopia werewolf ask* okay but what if the same mystery people who made ren into a werewolf also created jevin, and maybe Etho? idk if either of them have been given any hermitopia headcanons yet lol. but im sure the same people who made a werewolf could make a sentient slime (or perhaps rescue one) or make... whatever etho is. [Since the "second organization" is an incorrect assumption believed by Concorp, Jevin was created when he came in contact with a waterway contaminated by The Leak. Concorp assumes he was created by an opposing organization and not by accident, and therefore would like to bring him in along with Ren.]

- hermitopia - mumbo and grian were friends back when cloning experiments were still happening (or . as friendly as you can be with someone who's treating you like a lab rat), but after everything went wrong and grian escaped, mumbo has his memories wiped nd thats why he's trusted w iskall's stuff? bc he inherently remembers working on high-level things without knowing where he learnt it - muscle memory, yk?anyway massive angst with grian maybe recognising mumbo, but not the other way round, and trying to rekindle their friendship? and that's where grumbot comes in? -gin [Mumbo's memory was wiped so that he would forget the deadly purpose of Iskall's cybernetics, which he was working on at the same time as the Grian project in the background. Mumbo does not remember creating Grian's mechanical wings or Iskall's arm and eye, and he has no memory of either individual previous to "meeting" Iskall as the person assigned to his repair and upkeep.]

- Etho doesn't so much have powers as he is powers. All the powers the ‘original’ had went into creating him; now he just exists, as whatever sort of being he is. Not a human one, that much is obvious. ~DragonKay [Etho has no powers beyond the hivemind and his training, due to the error in the experiment that caused the clones]

- Mumbo started the button as a joke. A nonsense social expirement to see how much people want worthless signs of status. Unfortunately things got out of hand, and violent too. But hey! It's not his fault that the five special anomalous stones were misplaced into the prize dispenser! It was just chance that they fell into the hands of the clone of the worst gremlin in the city! Don't fire him! [He was not fired, but Cub was Decidedly Unhappy with him for a good long while]

- Void mostly trashes ConCorp facilities- trying to figure out if any of his siblings survived the spaceship crash, but occasionally he’ll pilfer from a bakery, because X is a health nut and Void just wants a gods damned cookie [Void very much dislikes unseasoned chicken]

- If the Stress Monster gets too big, too dangerous, Cleo is sworn under oath to Stress to zap her with her healing powers. Cleo doesn’t like to do it, overhealing a stressed Stress makes her so calm she gets knocked out for a couple of days, but Stress can take a small comfort in the fact that at least one person out there can stop her

- Ooh with the self healing Cleo she'd be able to develop a small amount of super strength, with how the mind keeps from going full throttle because it would destroy the body once she gets over it it's hysterical strength whenever she wants [it is quite painful, but a good backup plan]

- Being a hive mind of disposable clones that can spawn new copies at will, it can sometimes be hard for the Etho Entity to remember that it is indeed a big deal for other people when they get hurt. This can make him come off as callous to those around him, placing him firmly in the "villain" category in most citizen's books, but he really doesn't intend any harm!

- Grian used to be tall, but then the cloning happened. With each clone they stole a little bit of his height making him the short man he is today. He needs to capture those clones and get his height back. [Grian isn't entirely sure how to accomplish this, but he's dead set on trying! He misses being tall!]

- While Grian was perfectly fine with Ariana Griande living her own life, he did insist on one thing.Her "older brother" getting backstage access whenever she was on tour. He's very proud and supportive of her and her music career.

- Mumbo is perfectly content working in tech, watching the other hermits get up to crazy shenanigans. Except of course, there was that one time he was out testing some new gear and accidentally saved a crowd from some villains... and there were all those times after too...But hey! It’s not his fault that people like him, and he certainly isn’t going to get caught by Concorp during his after hours activities. [Mumbo considers himself an accidental hobbyist, not thinking he has the nerve or the skill for proper hero work. Time will tell if he's right about that or not...but unfortunately, he probably is. This should be fun.]

- There’s still some people overseeing VEX, even over Cub. They’re the ones that push Cub to do certain experiments or to scrap one. They’re the ones to give Cub the decision for Iskall’s life debt. Scar was under them too for the longest time, but eventually he wanted out. Cub still wanted in. They were still in the right, right? That’s what they tell him. He’s starting to doubt it. [Cub is way too invested in everything he's built to even think about going rogue now, but he does resent and occasionally question the judgement of his superiors increasingly as his project begins to fail more and more often. He also fears that Scar's shift in career will be seen as a betrayal, rather than as a tactical attempt to gain the company influence in the government.]

- Been thinking about the impulse + nho asks and just,,, what would happen if concorp/the government found out? It cant be good with interrogation/hypnosis on both sides (incase you cant tell,, the brainrot got me as well) (apologies if this is a mess im excited) [Hypno is assigned to set up an illusionary conversation to make Impulse reveal nHo location to Concorp and government agents while thinking that he's actually talking to the nHo in a random encounter]

- The one mind Beef can't read is Etho's. Their hivemind is just too weird for him to comprehend. If he ever tries to listen in, it sounds like just a bunch of static from an old TV.

- for hermitopia au!: Out of most of the heros, the most reckless may be team zit. sure they tell themselves they'll plan out missions but it's hard when they share a braincell and tango just runs in. impulse and zed share a look everytime and have to run after him to make sure he doesn't get too hurt or overwhelmed by the enemy. in their defence its hard to plan ahead against an enemy when you dont know what they are thinking.-lucodak ["You might not have known what they were thinking, Tango, but we'd generally like you to know what you're thinking!"]

- i bet ConCorp really wants to make it out like theres some secret shady organization creating all these people with mutations, rather than their own operatives deserting and their own failure to contain dangerous chemicals... whether its malicious coverups or just ignorance to the fact they messed up, wonder what would happen if that sort of thing came to light...? [If they found out that the unintentional superhumans were a result of the poorly-contained crash site? Cub would lose his job...maybe worse. If Cub found out (and he hasn't, yet) he would do everything in his power to keep that information from his superiors.]

- (paraphrased) Impulse accidentally walks in on heroes and agents breaking down the doors of the nHo's hideout and confronting them. Scar claims that they did so on information Impulse himself provided and thanks him for his service. Impulse, feeling confused and betrayed, resists Hypno's attempts to illusion him back to Scar's side and flees the scene with the nHo, knowing very little other than the fact that he doesn't want to be manipulated by the government any more (and still not knowing that Beef has been reading his mind)

- Impulse may have been labeled a traitor. But do you really think that Impulse, secret rebel, starting to learn how dangerous and corrupted Concorp really is, wouldn't let his best friends know about the danger they might be in? I think Team ZIT is more loyal to each other than to the government. - @mleemwyvern [ Impulse's first stop after escaping with the nHo is to find a place to secretly meet Tango and Zedaph and tell them about the way he was tricked. It takes a lot of explaining and a lot of trust, but they eventually decide to believe his claims and are left with a choice: will they openly go rogue and become a target along with Impulse and the rest of the nHo, or are they better off using their established image and reputation to keep an eye on the government heros' movements from the inside?]

- (two asks combined, paraphrased) Ren runs out of supplies and decides to head back into the city, confident in his ability to stay off the grid after so many years of experience and such a long time away. Once there, he runs into Doc, and they hit it off quite quickly. However, the more Ren talks the more Doc realizes - with his ex-Concorp knowledge - that Ren matches the description of Iskall's main target exactly. He warns Ren, who is then faced with the knowledge that Iskall is alive and assigned to kill him...so many questions and so many tears to follow...

- Why did Hermitopia start needing heroes? When the Unrestrained started to appear, if course. Why did the Unrestrained start to appear? A question asked a little less. When did the VEX program start? When did they start taking more risks? When did they stop caring about certainty and safety and shift towards trying to push boundaries they weren't ready to? People can be so enamoured with the concept of superhuman abilities, something bright and glorious and good- and perhaps they could have that too- they don't ask all the right questions. It's all an elaborate game of damage control, don't let the flashy heroics fool you, they've made mistakes, terrible, terrible mistakes, and now there are villains running loose with powers they fooled ConCorp into giving them. Are they villains? Are they victims? Does it matter? They're causing problems. [Project VEX has developed into a solution to its own problems, a self perpetuating cycle...one that Cub, as a businessman, is very familiar with. It's what keeps the wheels of industry turning. It's what keeps innovation creeping forward. It wasn't intentional, not this time...but if it keeps his project alive, he'll take it.]

- One time, Jevin had narrowly dodged being captured by Concorp. He was laying low in the forest out of town, when he had a run-in with some sort of wolf creature. Thankfully, claws and teeth couldn't exactly hurt him anymore, so he just played dead until it gave up.When the moon set, the wolf-thing slowly transformed into a human being. Ren was horrified at the thought he'd lost control and hurt someone- again- but Jevin assured him he was fine. Jevin got the feeling that the werewolf needed a friend, and Jevin himself needed a place to stay for a while... -RayveeWrites [Ren and Jevin are not currently in the same location, but they each have a means of contacting each other for help if needed]

- Worm Man wasn't a well- known super, but plenty of people have noticed that he seemed to vanish at the same time Team ZIT first started active duty. Those people have also noticed that one of the members has a very similar power set to WM.Officially, that's just a coincidence. Officially.-RayveeWrites [Zedaph was trying to get some unofficial practice while still in training in the VEX program]

- A common misconception is that Bdubs conjures up his vines from nowhere. He can't.Like any plant, his vines grow from seeds. They grow unnaturally fast, when Bdubs wills it, but they have to come from seeds. Where do these seeds come from, you may ask?Well, a long time ago, Bdubs ingested some strange fruits. Somehow, in wild defiance of human biology, the seeds contained in those fruits worked their way into his muscles and germinated. Some of the roots worked their way into his brain and fused into it; the rest spread through his muscles, grew beneath his skin, coiled around his bones. Thanks to the way the vines connected to his brain, Bdubs is able to command the vines, and their magic, at will.The vines produce seeds; some stay in his body to replace the old ones when they die, and most work their way into a pair of 'seed pods' in his wrists. Bdubs provides the nutrients, the energy; the vines provide the seeds, the magic. As an extra bonus: if the vines were to be totally removed from Bdubs' body, he would be at best extremely weak, and at worst dead. The vines have grown into his muscles, to the point where they've essentially replaced them in some areas. It's fortunate that they connected with his mind so early on, otherwise he'd be dead. -RayveeWrites [Concorp developed the fruit, and the fact that Bdubs is evidence of the unlikely success of that experiment makes them all the more angry at his betrayal]

- A lot of excellent xB information (it's too long to copy but please read it it's very good)

- Iskall has exactly one (1) failed assignment. That assignment? The kill or capture of Stress. Stress and Iskall have been, or should it be were now, friends for a very long time, since before Iskall even met Ren. So one can imagine the stress this causes Iskall, to be told to kill his one remaining friend that he knows is alive. Of course, this stress is quite enough to to Stress's Stress Monster into one it's strongest yet seen forms, allowing for Stress to then get away. (1/2)(2/2) Of course, Con Corp doesn't- and can never- know the true reason that Iskall cannot kill or capture Stress. If they knew, if they subjected Stress to the same hell he's in- no, that cannot happen. So Iskall hires False to protect Stress, to interfere whenever they send him on a mission for her. Luckily, False is good at keeping secrets when she wants to, and this one she'll keep. But as far as Con Corp knows, Iskall has severe stress and trauma from being a cyborg, and that's why he fails. [This all adds up to a monumental waste of Concorp's time and money, which also results in False getting payed, so all parties involved are happy except for Concorp >:)]

- Impulse would take a bullet for his teammates, and he knows they might be about to take one for him, keeping him updated on what's going on government side of this... slander. Still, Tango and Zed are great actors, and if he didn't know better, he might be a little worried they would *actually* be hunting him down in the name of justice [Tango and Zed are now being sent on missions to retrieve Impulse, which they must pretend to lose believably. They occasionally overestimate their friend's abilities and give him a few more close calls than he'd like, but overall the ruse is holding up.]

Writing:

- Wels, Hels, TFC, and Grumbot

- Bdubs Concorp promotion and desertion

- Joe Hills in his time dilation hideout

- Etho clones, ZIT, and the nHo

- Keralis and Void

- [ALTERNATE] Reveal of Impulse's situation with the nHo

Art:

- Impulse suit design

#hermitcraft #hermitblr #hcraft #Hermitopia AU #masterpost #long post #mod Shade

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falloutghoulzine · 3 years

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With the interest check wrapped up, we decided we would like to address some of the questions and comments we received! We got over 100 responses to the interest check which provided us with a lot of insight.

All questions/comments will remain anonymous. Hopefully our responses will give you something to look forward to!

---

How has your day been?

Every response we’ve received made us giddy. We’ve been great! Hope you’ve been well! (bonus: It’s @radiationgroove‘s birthday so toot a horn for her before the night is up!)

I love y'all already xoxo

We love y’all, too xoxo

This is an idea I've considered doing myself, so I'm very excited to see like minded people!

We’re happy to have the support of a community with highly refined taste.

please for the love of god include some gob content i love him thank u ily 🙏

We love Gob too! With any luck, we’ll get some contributors itchin’ to tackle our favorite ghoul bartender.

I love this zine idea! I would love for there to be a focus on already-existing characters since the ghoul NPCs are so underrated!

Our interest check has shown us that all ghouls are welcome in the zine. We will however be working to keep an appropriate ratio so that canon characters, including companion, NPC, and feral, will be the focus. There’s clearly a lot of love for ghouls of all sorts!

I've seen a lot of mentions of Fallout 3, 4, and New Vegas ghouls- would we be able to do some ghouls from fallout 1, 2, and possibly BOS in our work? Thanks!!

What, no Tactics? No, seriously, we’re happy to have any ghoul from any reach of the franchise. Do keep in mind however that many of the ghouls from the early games used the same sprites as other ghouls and did not have unique ‘talking head’ versions. This may make it difficult to include them, but mods are willing to work with contributors on the issue.

Perhaps a sign up/way to organize illustrations of characters and a certain quota or limit of a particular character? To prevent illustrations leaning heavily toward Hancock, Raul etc

When we accept contributors, we will be implementing a process to ensure no one (or two) ghoul(s) end up dominating the zine. We love Hancock and Raul and Charon and and and- as much as the next, but we can always do a more focused zine some other time.

Fallout is an 18+ game

It sure is! As such, we have decided that all organizers and contributors must be 18+ to participate. In addition, the zine itself will be rated M/18+. However, NSFW content is going to remain in a separate optional ‘addendum’.

Did a nsfw zine a while back through Short Run Printing and they were totally okay with nsfw and had a really good price, so you might check them out!

Thank you for your suggestion. We have been shopping around for printers (including Short Run Printing) and found a handful of options that also are okay with NSFW printing.

be careful when producing charms for zines - from experience these can cost as much to manufacture as the zines themselves!

Thank you for your concern. We’re shopping around for suppliers for our various merch ideas and making sure we can get what we’d like in a budget that allows for fair pricing.

who did the nuka ghoul pin-up used in the graphic? i love it!

Nuka Ghoul has become our unofficial mascot alongside Vee and Sunny. The header graphic for the interest check as well as the upcoming contributor applications feature official pinup art of Nuka Girl, the Vim girl, and a Sunset Sarsaparilla lithograph that have been edited by @digitalduckie. The chibi artwork of the trio that we’ve been using were also made by Duckie.

I love this idea! I hope there are enough people interested to do this thing.

I'm so excited for this zine

I think it's a great idea! Ghouls don't get enough love in the fandom imo.

Only that i love the focus of this, ghouls are lovely!!

I think it's a great and fun idea for a zine, looking forward to contributing!

This sounds super fun! Can’t wait to see all the art in the zine!

This is an awesome idea! Stoked to see what everyone comes up with :)

This is super awesome!

This sounds like a really fun idea, with the amount of ghoul lovers in the fandom im sure there will be no shortage of people wanting to take part and purchasing the final product.

I just want to say I'm excited about this and I hope there's enough interest for this zine to get started! ;)

not really, it seems youre doing great so far, so keep it up! :)

Just gotta say, I adore this idea and am very excited to see what comes of it!

Look at all this excitement! We’re grateful for all the support and we can’t wait to share the final product with everyone when we get there. We’ll be doing our best to keep y’all informed and engaged so we can share in our love for ghouls and Fallout!

good luck with this! i'd love to apply to contribute if the interest check goes well! (- v -)b

Thank you! We’ll be emailing everyone who asked to be notified when applications go live. But we also will tell you right here, right now, contributor applications will open Fri, Aug 20 at 3pm ET/2pm CT! We’ll share the links on all of our socials when they go live.

Let’s make this happen ghouls are good ghouls are great 🙌

2-4-6-8 ghouls are really super great!

#long post #question and answer #q&a #faq

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kati-the-archer · 3 years

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THE SABIAN SYMBOLS [Symbols of the Degrees of the Zodiac]

I have seen that the interest in zodiac degrees has increased in the tumblr community so i thought it will be a good idea to introduce you to this topic that some astrologers use as a tool when reading a chart and show the different ways in which the degrees can be interpreted.

★I apologize for any misspelling★

THE SYMBOLIC DEGREES (x)

✨The symbolic images associated with each of the 360 degrees of the zodiac, also called "monomeric".

✨They come from various sources, the most ancient one being the Thebaic calendar.

✨It is believed that monomers date back to a millennium BC, but some authors believe that they were already known in the time of Ramses II.

✨In addition to these Thebaic degrees of Egyptian origins, there are also Hindu degrees

which Sepharial passed down to us with his translation of the Volasfera

✨Both degrees, Thebaic and Hindu, belong to the traditional astrology.

✨In the 20th century, much more modern symbolic degrees appeared: the Marc Edmund Jones degrees, also called Sabian Symbols degrees (Saba symbols in reference to the queen of Saba).

✨Its origin is the result of a cooperation with the psychic Elsie Wheeler. He picked up a set of 360 blank cards where they wrote a note and a degree on the back.

✨Neither she nor Marc Edmund Jones knew the degree involved during the lectures. they only took into account what the seer was experiencing.

✨Marc Edmund Jones discovered the structure that emerges from the 360 symbols, and their relationship.

✨Rudhyar, upon discovering Jones's book, gains a great interest in the subject.

✨He asked Jones for permission to include a version in his book "The Astrology of Personality," published in 1936. This publication introduces Jones's Sabian symbols to a wider audience.

More than a dozen astrologers have, through their own musings or with help of intutitives, come up with lists of zodiacal symbols worthy of consideration, the most well-known are:

La Volasfera - Antonio Borelli, translated by Sepharial pseudonym of Walter E. Gorn Old

The Symbolic degrees of Charubel pseudonym of John Thomas [Welsh astrologer, clairvoyant and healer]

Symbols of Isidore Kozminsky [esoteric author and occultist]

The Sabian Symbols - Elsie May Wheeler [psychic-medium] and Marc Edmund Jones [astrologer]

HOW TO READ THEM:

📝To understand the meaning of the symbolic degrees in any given chart, please read the description first.

📝With the symbol in front of them, the reader can practice their own interpretations

📝 Symbolic degrees must never be taken literally.❗❗❗

📝The images describe certain details of an individual in small dashes which could be likened to impressionist painting.

📝Each word used in the description of an image has its own value.

📝Let yourself be soaked with the words and the actions described, and that you abandon yourself to their inspiration and dynamism. This is how you can grasp people's motivations and environment.

📝The meaning of an image taken as a whole may not necessarily apply.

📝When dealing with several descriptions, it is the sum of similar words and the recurrence of analogous bits of sentence which indicate the nature of the prevailing influence.

📝Try to infer the main energies from the text and identify repeated or converging trends.

📝Attention should be paid to repeated words, and that synonyms or similar meanings, and even similar sounds ought to be put together.

📝Do the sum of the analogies found and, if the total is significant, you can draw the conclusion that its influence is active.

📝In order of importance: [but you can do as you please lol

1- Sun-Moon

2- AS MC DS IM be cautious about their accurateness may not be reliable, since a four minute gap in the time of birth moves the angles by one degree.

3- Mercury, Venus and Mars

4- Jupiter and Saturn

5-Uranus, Neptune and Pluto

⚠️ A very important disclaimer: ⚠️

❗symbolic degrees belong to a branch of fatalistic astrology.

❗Their interpretation must be regarded with the utmost caution

❗especially given the fact that different authors give different meanings to symbolic degrees.

from time to time we receive new infomation about the symbolization of the zodiacal degrees, wondering if "they are reliable"

It is impossible to affirm that they all are, since we don't have a knowledge of 360 different people, each born under a different degree.

so...HERE IS AN EXAMPLE!

🌼 18-19 VIRGO 🌼

LA VOLASFERA :

« A husbandman or cattle-dealer holding a stock -whip in his hand »

SEPHARIAL : [who claimed his symbol set was a translation of La Volasfera, by Antonio Borelli.]

“It indicates a rough and rustic nature, with a taste for excitement of the chase, or for the breeding of cattle. The nature is rugged, but genuine; lacking in suavity; critical, but invested with unequivocal sincerity, which will cause him to be respected.” The native will prefer country life and its freedom to the more varied but less thorough liberties of the town.. It is a degree of ROBUSTNESS.

CHARUBEL :

Symbol: A strong farmer’s cart, and a horse to match. The cart is loaded with farmyard manure.

Meaning: Denotes a frugal, industrious person. An agriculturist, and one who studies that branch scientifically.

KOZMINSKY :

Symbol: A rough fire mountain, from several parts of which smoke is rising. On one of the slopes laborers are working.

Meaning: Denotes one who exercises patience and persistence in his life’s work, and whose position is often attended with much worry and personal danger. His soul is full of enterprise. He is magnetic,psychic, and extremely active. It is a symbol of Endeavor.

WHEELER :

Symbol: A OUIJA BOARD.

KEYNOTE: The ability to contact deeper recesses of the unconscious psyche and sensitiveness to psychic intimations and omens.

Meaning: The ouija board is to be considered here a modern device similar to many ancient instruments used for divination and prophecy. Certain states of threshold consciousness are stimulated by such a use, and what the experience produces may vary greatly in quality and in origin. The release of unconscious material has lost the explosive force pictorialized in the preceding symbol, yet at this stage there is still no conscious and willful control over what reaches the ego-consciousness.

This is the third stage of the thirty-fourth sequence of symbolic phases in the life process. It is at best a stage of transition which stresses a passive openness to the unknown. The glamour of it may subtly pervert the mind of the aspirant; but in some cases, this can be the first manifestation of INNER GUIDANCE. The difficulty is to correctly evaluate what or who does the guiding

It is important to read into the description based on the nature of the planet in question

For example, let's take the case of a moon in the 3° of scorpio:

🌙 LA VOLASFERA:

«A lyre, upon the arm of which there hangs a wreath of laurels»

🌙 SEPHARIAL:

–So you can say that this person will choose to express in a creative way the depth of their emotions that the moon in scorpio gives.

This is indicative of a nature almost wholly given to the pursuit and cultivation of the fine arts. The mind is harmonious, generous and peaceable. The life will be free from disquieting and distressful elements, and the inherent harmony and refinement of this character will be reflected in all his works. He will strive by the use of the gentle arts as well as by the more liberal, to illustrate and interpret the finer emotions of the soul. In art or the drama he will meet with great distinction.

if you want to know more about this topic...

You can check the rest of the 360 degrees here:

http://docshare04.docshare.tips/files/23078/230782881.pdf

http://rockymountainastrologer.com/DegreeSymbols/SabianSymbols.html

https://hominycreekhoroscopy.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/la-volasfera.pdf

A list of books :

https://www.astrolearn.com/astrology-articles/booksondegrees/

#astrology #astrology degrees #sabian symbols #sabian degrees #charubel #volasfera #kozminsky #sepharial #wheeler

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astrologanize · 4 years

Text

universal year 4 & personal year

(in numerology)

“the 4 noble truths”

find your personal year by calculating your birthday & the year in question (2020) and simplifying to a single digit

ex: birthdate: 07/06/1980. their personal year number is calculated as so -

7 + 6 + 2020 = 2033

2 + 0 + 3 + 3 = 8

it is a personal 8 year for them

personal year 1: (probably my favorite to write about for this year but at the same time i don’t have too much to say) cause lmao it is not what you’re expecting. it is filled with surprises! you’ll even surprise yourself. after last year’s juggling act, “embracing of the madness” as it was put, you are now in a place where you are desperate for a simple/pure feeling and/or total lightheartedness. all the words and feelings you made a message of a bottle out of and tried to throw out to sea have washed ashore by now. you don’t want those sentiments left in a bottle anymore, you don’t want to hold it in, you want something to hold.

personal year 11/2: alright, so last year was tumultuous and it’s time to take it down a notch...or two (ha) and explore other ventures, quietly. you’ve taken the past year to “redefine” yourself, oh so clumsily, and now you must *refine* that person. your limits were bypassed in an effort of self-expression but now you are aware of, or will be made aware of, what lines need to be drawn so that you may express yourself properly, without flying off the handle bars. it’s a year of softening your expression from the rough draft of last year. you see you but you need to learn how to relay this You to others and that requires you to mend/redress/readdress so that you are able to mediate. meet others, listen to others, take the backseat.

personal year 3: last year was like being a lab rat stuck in the maze and having to handle situations with others that you’ve never had to before. it was an “off-color” year but this year you’re inspired and although there may be setbacks that take you out of the game for a moment, you are only getting closer to understanding yourself on a deeper level. what is ‘personal’ to you? what is it that matters? the lyric “it can happen, the more we imagine. feel the deepest part of your heart and what it's saying” comes to mind. this is a year of exploring all these questions and notions.

personal year 4/22: the shaping and shifting of last year has grown tiresome - talk about puberty in overdrive. like okay!!! i’ve learned a lot!!! and now this year you are seeking out better resources with this new knowledge. you have stripped the paint and modernized yourself but this year everything catches up with you (both the good and bad) so that the rest of your life can be up to date. you feel of a new form now, a form that needs to find its place in the grand scheme of things. it’s time to build your security.

personal year 5: this year is a lucky break and/or a “cats out of the bag” moment. last year examined the places of your life that felt unfilled, a year of detaching yourself from what you knew and walking through life as an observer. “i don’t know” could be a description itself for this past year for you but there was something about the year that had this low vibrating quality to it, at least that’s what i keep envisioning; it’s not that your life was necessarily violently shook but it felt more like a slow rattle. this year you’re going to see how fast life can change.

personal year 6: remember the thick skin you developed last year because this year can throw you for a bit of a loop in terms of assurance. this year questions what you know, what you’re used to, critical points (milestones) of your life happen that you would think would be gratifying but it just creates more questions and challenges. it’s this silent realization of commitments (or lack thereof), that moment of “oh this is my life now.” and you’ll have to have a conversation with expectations, it will not be an easy conversation but you’ll be better for it. sometimes things don’t happen the way you imagined but things have a way of working themselves out too. this year will be an era in itself for you.

personal year 7: so last year was a marker that something needs to change and this year is a, or the, turning point. you are falling far down the rabbit hole of the past and you’re starting to notice how different memory lane looks. your hindsight is 20/20 (im sorry but lmao) and you could try to rehash past quarrels with this newfound insight. reminds me of those posts that are like someone arguing with another and they say “remember x years ago on x day when you did x thing?” out of nowhere. this is a ‘galaxy brain’ year for you. even while i’m thinking of how to explain it i keep coming up with new ways to word it, if i had to describe it with a phrase it would be “wait a second...” (🧐) this is a year of processing past years and it’ll be hard not to stick your foot in your mouth once it starts externalizing.

personal year 8: some disgraceful moments & some moments of major affirmation are in store. this past year has been releasing for you in some way, you had to learn how to handle both being thrown out by your lonesome and how to catch yourself - as there were situations you had not yet been confronted with until recently, situations that were yours alone to experience. while you may feel that you’re up to the challenge of taking more on after such a year of self-reliance, remember in 2020 that the greater the risk the greater the fall and this year may teach you lessons about risks of the current and those of the past, and how they may be connected. last year tested what you could do on your own, this year tests your character when facing feelings of rejection/criticism.

personal year 9: this personal year is exemplified with all that is happening in capricorn - it is truly a year of climax for you. first of all...what in the world was this past year? you were certainly...different? and being viewed as such. but “you’ve changed” doesn’t always have to be a bad thing or a life sentence. you did things you wouldn’t normally do in an effort to conceal hurt parts, it happens to the best of us. this year certain foundations are coming to a close, parts of your life that begin to wither and you may feel slower than usual, as though you don’t have the same touch anymore. or positively it’s life that slows down because you’ve decided to not limit yourself to one thing, one experience, you want other parts of yourself to find unity and in doing so life flows better. so you can either resist life and deny your instincts or you can welcome a change in pace.

#numerology #2020

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route22ny · 4 years

Link

On Tuesday, I received an absentee ballot. It was the second absentee ballot I had received from the New York City Board of Elections in two weeks. I had filled out, completed, and mailed back the first ballot. Now I was holding another one that also had my name on it. After speaking to a Board of Elections representative on the phone, I was told to fill out this second ballot, too, because the first one no longer counted.

If you live in New York City, you might already know why this happened. The contractor screwed up printing the first ones, sending secrecy envelopes with the wrong names on them. As it happened, my first ballot was not one of the screwed up ones—I was aware of the problem and had checked to make sure before filling it out—but the BOE decided to send everyone in Brooklyn a new ballot regardless.

This is hardly the first time the New York City Board of Elections messed up and I highly doubt it will be the last. But in this case, the latest screw-up was the final nudge I needed to push me over the edge. I am not going to vote by mail. I'm voting in person on Election Day. And I really think most of you should, too.

When we started this project, a lot of us thought the USPS would be a potential weak link in the voting-by-mail chain. This made sense at the time given the slowdowns implemented by Louis DeJoy and the agency's financial situation. But thanks to extensive public outcry and five separate federal judges issuing injunctions against the USPS from messing with election mail, I feel really good about the postal service delivering the overwhelmingly vast majority of ballots in a timely fashion to local election officials. There will, of course, be screw ups and small issues affecting a few dozen voters here and a few hundred voters there, but they will be nothing in comparison to the much larger systemic issues with mail-in voting in this country that have nothing to do with the ballot getting from place to place.

I am hardly the only one coming to this realization in recent weeks. Derek Thompson at The Atlantic had a great article about how voting in-person is much safer than we thought months ago while voting by mail has a number of issues in terms of having people's votes actually count. Democratic strategists around the country have been getting wise about the problem as well, shifting tactics to urge more people to vote in person.

Unfortunately, voting by mail seems like a process designed more to weed out ballots rather than count them. The rules vary by state, but generally speaking, the more fields voters have to fill out and the more rules they must comply with, the higher the rejection rate.

Some states like New York simply require a signature which needs to match the one the local election officials have on file. Young voters in particular are vulnerable to having their ballots rejected due to a signature not matching, a study by a voting non-profit in California found, because young people don't put much thought into creating a distinctive signature and refine it over time, exactly the kind of process that would get their ballot thrown out. Most young people's signatures are scribbles they make up to sign credit card receipts quickly. I, for one, can verify that I did not think about creating a unique identifier that would ensure my vote was counted when I came up with my John Hancock. As a helpful New York Times interactive demonstrated, it can be really challenging to match signatures if you don't know what you're doing. This is great for rejecting fraudulent ballots, but it means throwing out a lot of legitimate ones, too.

Back in June during the primaries, 80,000 ballots from New York City out of 400,000 were thrown out, about one out of every five ballots, a staggering toll of voter disenfranchisement. And voters were not notified of what they did wrong so they could correct it in future elections. It is a pretty shitty feeling sitting here with no idea whether my vote in the primary—which in NYC is the most important election for determining local candidates—was counted!

According to the Times, 28 states and DC will give aspiring voters a chance to "cure" ballots with problems (and the courts are generally friendly to these requirements on due process grounds). For the first time, New York will be one of those states this November. But, for my own voting purposes, I don't have a ton of faith in the Board of Elections to execute that process well, given that with the surge of mail-in voting we could be talking about millions of mail-in ballots in the city alone requiring hundreds of thousands of cures if not more.

And that is just regarding signatures. Three states, including the battlegrounds Wisconsin and North Carolina, require witnesses as well as signatures. In Wisconsin, witnesses are required to put in their address. According to an investigation by the non-profit news organization Reveal, 13,834 ballots were thrown out in the Wisconsin primaries because some fields on the witness form were not filled out properly, a number that is sure to increase in the general election with its higher turnout. The voters weren't notified or given a chance to correct them, nor will they be allowed to in November.

All of this would be a regrettable reality if the health risk of voting in-person was quite high. But for most people, it simply isn't. As Thompson noted, other countries have held nationwide elections with in-person voting without tracing any outbreaks to the voting booths, nor have any outbreaks been traced back to primary voting. As long as people generally behave themselves and wear masks, the voting booth ought to be no more dangerous from a pandemic standpoint than the grocery store check-out line.

That being said, I am still a huge proponent of universal vote-by-mail as a concept every state should strive towards. People in states that have had that in place for years such as Washington, Utah, and Colorado should absolutely continue to vote by mail if they prefer. Those states have experience with high volumes of vote-by-mail, signature verification, and robust methods for allowing voters to cure ballots. It is the states like New York, Ohio, and Texas that have suddenly implemented expanded and complicated vote-by-mail procedures I'm worried about. And, of course, if you have pre-existing health issues that make even going to the grocery store or the voting booth an uncomfortable prospect—or if you simply can never be bothered to vote in person but find vote-by-mail an acceptable middle ground—roll the dice with vote-by-mail. It's better than putting yourself at unnecessary risk or not voting at all.

But if you aren't sure what your signature looks like, aren't familiar with your state's vote-by-mail laws, or generally feel fine about voting in person as usual, it's something we should do. This is an extremely important election and I want to do everything in my power to ensure my vote counts. It turns out the USPS isn't a weak link in the vote-by-mail chain at all. In fact, it may be the strongest.

***

This Week In Mail

Americans generally agree on the post office. They overwhelmingly like the post office. And a new poll finds they support it being run like a public service and not a business by a two-to-one margin.

The courts are already playing an important role in this year's election. So far, that role has been to reject GOP claims of voter fraud in mail-in voting and generally uphold whatever election rules the state law requires, regardless of whether that law makes voting easier or harder.

Steve Hutkins at Save the Post Office reviewed documents from eleven lawsuits against the Postal Service to cobble together evidence that new management has a super aggressive plan to slash the number of work-hours after the election, which would likely hobble the post office and make current service levels impossible.

Despite the court injunctions and DeJoy's promises, service has not returned to its pre-DeJoy levels in some areas. Senator Bob Casey from New Jersey published evidence of first class mail backlogged by weeks.

Perhaps on a related note, the USPS is blocking elected officials from inspecting facilities claiming it's too close to the election, which as far as I can tell is a completely made-up reason. Previously, some facilities had scrambled to hide backlogged mail before elected officials showed up.

***

Subscribe to Aaron Gordon’s reporting on the USPS here

#USPS #postal service #save the post office #Aaron Gordon #VOTE

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jinruihokankeikaku · 4 years

Note

Could I get an analysis of a Sylph of Mind? I just came across your blog and it seems wonderful keep up the great work im proud of u

You got it!! And thank you!! ^^^^-^^^^ I rly appreci8 that, I certainly plan on keepin this so long as there’s still interest in it! I havve so many things to say a8out the Classpect system and Homestuck in general, so there wwill certainly 8e more to come. Noww, here’s my take on wwhat I 8elievve is our first Mind player and our first Sylph…

Title: Sylph of Mind

Title Breakdown: One who passively creates [heals, assists, allows others to make, gives, makes incipient] Mind [reason, decision-making, adaptation, strategy, dialogue]

Role in the Session: Sylphs gradually shape and improve the outlook of a session by passively carrying their Aspect with them, acting as beacons of safety and restoration in the tumult of a Session. Like most passive classes, the Sylph serves their Aspect as much as their Aspect serves them, filtering, refining, and allowing the Aspect to flow through them. In this case, the Aspect is Mind, the Associative-Personal Aspect whose domains include reason, decision-making, adaptation/improvisation, and one’s conception of the outside world through the lens of one’s experiences (as opposed to one’s intrinsic identity). A Sylph of Mind is someone who solves problems with elegance and precision, someone who serves as an island of reason and serenity in a Game so often inclined towards madness and mayhem. They’re the player the session will rely on for guidance in times of confusion, and their team should take care not to take the Sylph’s aid for granted. Indeed, this is one of the Sylph’s major struggles as a class: to assert themselves, and to avoid bottling up their resentments to the point of Inversion – which, Inversion is never a good thing, but in the case of the Sylph results in the manifestation of Actively Destructive qualities, which can be tremendously damaging to a team’s structural integrity and interpersonal relationships, as well as that team’s odds of victory in general.

The Sylph of Mind may face a Quest on their Planet in which they’re required to resolve a number of ongoing crises, to keep their cool in the face of distraction, and to direct their energies with care and precision despite the conflict around them. Their Planet may be plagued by an overabundance of Heart – perhaps there’s a society that has fallen into chaos due to a dominating attitude of rugged individualism and heedless (anti)heroics. The Sylph would be tasked with stabilizing the situation, healing the lost minds of their Consorts in much the same way that they may eventually have to heal their Team. If they work harmoniously with their Aspect, they’ll be able to do incredible work, pulling down those lost in self-aggrandization and lifting up those spiraling into a web of bad decisions. They might well benefit from having a Seer of Blood on their side, who could make clear to their team the need for solidarity and mutual support. They’d also be able to do great work with a Mage or Witch of Light, both of whom will have access to vast stores of knowledge but also lack the wisdom with which to apply it righteously.

Opposite Role: Prince of Heart. This is the canonical Aspect of Dirk Strider, a character who at various points in his character arc but especially early on ghosts Mind, manifesting the Aspect as an unhealthy level of disaffection and faux-stoicism to mask his inner turmoil and struggle to embrace his identity. Any other Prince of Heart is likely to have a similar struggle, even if it doesn’t manifest exactly the same way; a Sylph of Mind might try to correct this, to work with the Prince’s rational side, but may not realize that that side is already present in excess; this Prince is likely to perceive the Sylph’s attempts at repair or restoration as sanctimonious meddling at best and overt sabotage at worst, which could well be a source of intra-team conflict.

God-Tier Powers

We’ve got a Passive Creation Class and an Associative-Personal Aspect – their powers will draw on their inner beliefs (beliefs here meaning any conceptions, not just those taken on faith) and psychological functions as fuel, be directed towards creating and/or repairing social constructs, interpersonal or personal-social relationships, or decision-making processes, and will be most effective when used in a supporting or backing roll and/or in harmony with the flow of Mind rather than against its current. Here are some ideas…

Unity of Practice: The Sylph reaches out and becomes aware of the perspective of all those near them, and gradually, subtly melds those perspectives, focusing them within themselves before reflecting them out like a beacon. They’ll convey the ideas harmoniously, only expanding people’s awareness rather than assuming direct control over their thoughts and actions, subtly drawing the team closer together.

Dialogue/Dialectic: When in conversation with someone, the Sylph emanates an imperceptible telepathic field that assures clarity on either end, smoothing over miscommunications and allowing each participant to be aware of each other participant’s intended meaning. This will only mediate the flow of thought rather than opening up direct telepathic lines, preventing any unscrupulous participants from abusing the telepathic field to directly access another’s thoughts or ideas.

Sylvan Stratagem: The Sylph expands their focus to encompass the entirety of the team, becoming aware the actions of team members as those actions take place, and acquiring an almost instinctual understanding of how to effectively assist with or remedy the consequences of those actions. While they can’t teleport across the vast distances that might lie between individual players, they can send their advice over that distance almost instantaneously, forcing their teammates to, if nothing else, at least consider the Sylph’s strategic perspective.

Personality: Sylphs tend to be nurturing at best, and meddling at worst – they are almost always driven to “assist” people by whatever means they can, which means are usually associated with their Aspect. A Sylph of Mind specifically might be inclined towards offering “sage advice”, almost mirroring a Seer; their advice, however, will be less concerned with affairs of objective reality and more concerned with Reason and Justice in decision-making; that is to say, they won’t necessarily have the information everyone needs, but they’ll be able to advise people on just what to do about the information they have. Both Sylphs and Mind players generally tend towards a strong sense of normative right and wrong, so that particular quality might be especially manifest in our Sylph. The most important thing for them to remember is that they are valued, and they needn’t always struggle to prove their worth by intervening at every opportunity.

Songs

Let’s see…

Yoga by the Mountain Goats

Insurance Fraud #2 also by the Mountain Goats ::::p

I may come up with some more in the future.

Anyhoww, I hope you found this analysis interesting and slash or informativve; sorry 8out the delay ::::) This class isn’t a particularly flashy one, but they’re deceptively powwerful; their influence wwill 8e present in a session even if it is not immedi8ly apparent.

#Classpect #classpect analysis #sylph #mind #Homestuck #Sylph of Mind #Class #Aspect #anon #ask

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nahalism · 4 years

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If you had to create a functional method of expressing emotion through your work based on your own process, what would it consist of?

[im not sure i understood this question fully so lmk if i misunderstood, but when you say work i assumed u meant creatively?]

personally, 'a functional expression of emotion’ is already too constrained, and perhaps even too logical, a place to come from when hoping to create the space for any kind of authentic/cathartic release. i find that whatever is in me finds its way onto page whether i want it there or not. & because that undercurrent persists and seeps through into the work, the actual process of creating isnt always necessarily focused on feeling things or the whimsical connotations of creativity, as much as it is about studying and refining my craft.

because of that, i tend to move between two creative polarities, the first being more intuitive and playful: allowing myself to enjoy how the graphite feels on paper, using colours im drawn to wantonly, mixing mediums, making up words or languages, writing letters that dont have to make sense grammatically or contextually, putting words i like the sentiment of in random order, removing words from sentences, turning the above into a poem, imagining what a poem becomes in prosaic form, and vise versa. whatever it is, the approach is relatively ‘childish’ and centred on the act of the work, not the result. — on the other hand, i may be struck with an idea that i want to bring to fruition, or have the urge to create a ‘finalised’ piece. and in those cases im more likely to approach things from a logical angle and before starting out, consider how to lay out the composition to better serve my narrative, or perhaps how my colour choices will supplement said narrative. what medium(s) will i use? and what feelings does this piece evoke in me or what atmosphere do i want to convey to the beholder, and how might that impact the visceral choices im making. i may even start with a stimulus which could be a word, a phrase, or a question to myself such as ‘what would you write in your last letter to...’.

so yeah. i think everything we take from our daily life experiences presents the blueprint for that process, so theres no one answer. it could be the expression of a stranger on the road, on a train, in their car. it could be questioning which aspects of a landscape occur naturally, and which parts were placed there by man. what that means, what that says about the human condition. and what does a word really mean? and what words before it influenced its meaning? and perhaps, in that, a realisation of how malleable fixed things are, or how fixed the nature of fluidity is. idk. its what all that feels like to you that presents the seed of potential for whatever it is you’ll bring forward. ultimately, taking the space to be alone or just be quiet will allow the nature of your feeling to rush to the surface.

#ask

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born2battle · 4 years

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First Innings as IG @ Deolali ( Aug 1977 to May 1980 )

On completion of LGSC, we were sanctioned casual leave for one week, during which I shifted to my new accommodation in the IG Block in the premises of B Mess. I availed the well deserved break at Aurangabad & assisted my parents in shifting from Army house to a civil rented house, since my father had retired recently after 35 years of service. On return to Deolali, I was selected to be in the IG Team for teaching the new Course, LGSC Fd 778, which had just reported. It was a privilege to be given this responsibility which was a tough challenge in view of the expectations.

It was an unforgettable moment, when I gave my first lecture, to my first batch of students, as they recorded their first impressions about me. As the Basic Leg progressed, I realised the magnitude of the task of teaching three most difficult subjects ( Ballistics, Equipment & Ammunition ) in the easiest possible manner. It was achieved only after extensive study and preparation of lesson plans & OHP slides, on every week end. The often quoted statement ---” You learn only when you teach” was indeed true. It was equally exciting to set and correct Exam papers and evaluate the Teaching Practices of students. On the whole, it was an exhilarating feeling of repeating the Basic Leg, in the new role as an IG , wearing the prestigious Red Band !!

Simultaneously, all the Instructional staff had to qualify in the BPET ( Battle Physical Efficiency Tests ) and PPT ( Physical Proficiency Tests ) during the Annual Adm Inspection. The thrust towards” Fitness First” was emphasised by holding Volleyball & Basketball competitions as well as encouraging individual sports. These activities contributed towards physical fitness as well as team bonding. Gunnery Leg began with the usual tempo, specially for the new IsG who had to evolve new concepts & procedures for provision of fire support. Any such ideas had to be validated during Course Shootings. We learnt a lot and gained confidence while engaging targets firing variety of Guns & ammunition. We understood in detail about the most important aspect of planning & implementation of safety measures during firing practices. Gunnery Leg also proved to be an enriching experience --- not only at the Gun end but equally at the OP end.

In the first week of Dec, we proceeded for the Educational Tour, where I had to shoulder the responsibility of coordinating all the visits as well as the administrative arrangements. It was a valuable learning experience. On return, the new IsG had to give their choice for assessing the Practice Camps of Units, in various Field Firing Ranges. I volunteered to go to Binnaguri, whenever scheduled. Meanwhile, we were detailed for planning & conduct of Ex TOPCHI, which was the annual Fire Power Demonstration. It would showcase the capabilities of all weapon systems in the Regiment of Artillery besides surveillance assets & the Air OP capabilities. We rehearsed for one week with the participation of all the Guns/ Mortars/ Rocket Launchers held by the Units of Deolali & Nasik. The deployment of 120 mm Mortar using the Mules was very impressive. In addition, the Cheetah helicopter of Air OP Squadron displayed its capability of ferrying the 120 mm Mortar as an underslung load. It was a thrilling experience to apply our knowledge and skills towards enhancing the accuracy and consistency of fire support of a variety of weapons.

There was a rehearsal which was attended by all Courses at School of Artillery, all recruits of Artillery Centre, Nasik & the civil population of Deolali Cantonment. The final event was on the Army Day ( 15 Jan 1978 ). It was witnessed by the Officers attending the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, who were on their educational tour to all training establishments. It was a spectacular display of fire power which ended with a salvo fired by a total of 70 Guns/ Mortars/ Rockets, destroying all the targets on Bahula ridgeline. The grand finale was the salvo by GRAD BM 21 MBRL, when each launcher fired 40 rockets in 20 seconds. It was indeed a dazzling display which reinforced the statement ----” Artillery is the God of War”, as propounded by Joseph Stalin.

In Apr 78, there was a change of command in the Field Wing.Col T P Singh took over as the Chief Instructor and was well known for his professional acumen. All instructors looked forward to the opportunity to seek his guidance for solving any difficulty. He adopted a strategy of paying surprise visits to all the training areas and the Course Shootings. These gave a boost to the standard of training besides motivating all the instructors & the students to attain greater proficiency. I was lucky to be nominated by him to be part of the Study Group of six IsG, for an analysis of the combat potential of our Artillery vis-a-vis Pakistan & China. The entire Study Group had to slog for the next one week and give him a Presentation , which as expected, had to be refined, since Col T P Singh contributed his expert suggestions. Really, I learnt so much as a result of this first direct professional interaction with this erudite Gunner.

In Oct 78, myself with two AIsG proceeded to Binnaguri for assessment of practice camps of all the Regiments of Artillery Brigade. It was so exciting to be back to meet the Jat Balwans again, while Lt Col M S Choudhary had taken over as the TIGER 98. We moved to Buxaduar Ranges and assessed the performance of all the Regiments as per the parameters laid down by the School of Artillery. It was a unique privilege for me to assess my own Unit, while wearing the prestigious” Red Band” outside Deolali, for the first time. I observed that the professional standards had distinctly improved in the last two years, due to the dedication by the Jat Balwans, under a new Team of officers& JCOs, guided by an ebullient CO. I was given an emotional gift at the Unit Mandir and presented the holy Bhagvad Gita, wishing me further success & glory while performing my duty. The philosophy “ Karmanye vadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadachan” has always been my beacon of strength, ever since I wore the Olive Green uniform!!

I was sent on one month annual leave in Nov, which was in accordance with the leave plan, an important facet of man management while ensuring the training commitments. On return, I was detailed in the IG Team for the next Course ---- LGSC Fd 809. It meant hard work once again but the appreciation by the students always encouraged me to put in that extra effort. I accepted it as an opportunity to constantly improve as a Teacher since teaching and learning have a symbiotic relationship. Simultaneously, I volunteered to be in the IG Team for Ex TOPCHI which was in the last week of Jan 1979. We suggested that battlefield illumination could be shown as a separate part in the night, just after the standard fire power demonstration during day time. The proposal was approved by the Commandant and we started the rehearsals at night as well. The overall impact on the Final Day was phenomenal, not only as a result of an excellent demo during day time but also an amazing demo of illumination of Deolali Ranges by night, on the eve of the Republic Day. It proved to be a novel idea and the meticulous display of fire power, specially the salvo by GRAD BM 21 MBRL ( 40 rockets in 20 seconds ) convinced the spectators of Defence Services Staff College that” Power grows out of the barrel of a Gun”. (Video illustration at the end of the Blog)

In the first week of May, I went to Aurangabad on casual leave for ten days.It was probably destined that during this short break, I would have my first pleasant interaction with Ms Sanjivani Bhogale, from the reputed business family of NIRLEP, who would eventually be my life partner. It was a typical example of “ First impression is the last impression”. Both of us instantly approved each other and decided to build an innings of lifetime partnership, in a Fauji environment. Our parents also gave their concurrence & we were thrilled after the customary Engagement Ceremony within two days. It was also finalised that the marriage would be conducted in Dadar ( date, time & venue to be confirmed later). Both of us were on Cloud Nine, as we departed for Deolali & Dadar respectively, while I looked forward to meeting Sanjivani at Dadar on each of the weekends. I reached Deolali bubbling with the “Breaking News”.

Soon the muhurat for the wedding was finalised as 9.57 AM on 26 Jun 1979. Obviously, there was shortage of time for all the preparations by both the families. I applied for 45 days annual leave ( keeping the remaining 15 days as reserve for Diwali festival ). My leave was sanctioned, as requested, for the most important event in my life. The waiting period upto the auspicious day was spent in a state of stargazing by both of us. Finally, the marriage was solemnised after traditional rituals on 26 Jun 1979. The most emotional moment was the “Saptapadi” ritual when we sought the blessings of the Almighty by taking the traditional vows.

We returned to Deolali, with all the bag & baggage, as a young couple for the first time. My friends, who were also young couples, organised a grand welcome for us, into the Home of the Gunners. Initially, we stayed in the Guest Room in B Mess itself but shifted to our temporary accommodation in 48 OG Lines, within three days. Thus began the process of converting our House into a Home!! At this juncture, I feel that Sanjivani should narrate her impressions as she stepped into the Fauji environment.

Musings as a Fauji bride - “DADAR to DEOLALI”

Every girl thinks about the person she will marry and the family she will belong to. I had the same feelings. I vividly remember that when I was 19 years of age, my Mama got married to a girl from the Fauji family.During this wedding, I observed lot of Army officers in their special uniform for the first time. They looked very courteous and smart. I was thoroughly impressed with the grandeur of the Army. I was a complete civilian and thought to myself about the special quality of life of a Fauji family. Later, my parents asked me if I had any particular choice for marriage. I told them that if possible, I would like to marry an Army officer ( not knowing the realty of being a Fauji wife, it has several pros & cons ).

I was very lucky that the first proposal itself was from Capt Vivek Toley, who was the most eligible bachelor in Deolali. As marriages are made in heaven, before I could realise, we were married. Thus began my roller coaster ride from Dadar to Deolali. It was going to be a 360 degree transformation from the life I was leading till then. I was astonished when I saw a black steel trunk marked with the name of Capt Toley. The journey from suitcases to trunks thus began. My mother in law had packed few utensils and other necessities for us before we moved to Deolali. I started my Fauji life in 48 OG Lines, which was temporary accommodation for married officers.

I belonged to a typical Maharashtrian family & was conversant only in Marathi. My neighbours were from different parts of India. So, I had to make do somehow with my Bambaiya Hindi. Still, i learnt a lot from these conversations.My urge to talk in Marathi was fulfilled by talking to the local vendors and the maids. Social adjustment was another big challenge for which I was not prepared at all. I remained generally shy and silent while interacting with the officers & their wives. Huge cultural differences made me feel out of place. However, my Fauji family went out of their way to make me comfortable. I must mention that my husband stood beside me like a strong pillar , taught me, guided me and encouraged me at every moment.

It is a norm in any Army station to be on the waiting list for allotment of temporary/ permanent accommodation. In Deolali,we shifted into 10 houses in 10 months. It is a common practice in Deolali to shift into the house of any officer going on leave for a month or two. This was so difficult for me to digest.Thanks to the Regimental association & NDA Coursemates, we were always given the house for use on “as is, where is basis”. This was a great show of faith and trust. My heartfelt thanks to all of them for making us so comfortable in the very first year of our married life. It assured me that the Armed Forces constitute a big family, with each one playing a small role.

Finally, we were allotted our permanent accommodation in P4 Block in Depot Battery Road colony. We moved into our own home and settled down fully. I was really happy but was surprised when my husband informed me about receipt of his posting order to NDA, Khadakwasla. Our first year in Deolali will always have a special place in our album of memories!!

Consequent to settling down in my new status, I reverted to my duties as part of the IG Team for LGSC Course Fd 810, for the third time, thus completing a hat -trick. In Jan 1980, I was fortunate to complete another hat- trick with the responsibility of Ex TOPCHI , which was again a dazzling display of fire power. Thereafter, I was deputed to the Faculty of Studies where I learnt about the latest developments & trials of new weapon systems including ammunition. It involved regular interaction with the Trials Wing. In the first week of May, I was pleasantly surprised with the receipt of my posting order to the prestigious National Defence Academy. The resultant ecstasy of being selected as an Instructor at NDA from where I had passed out exactly 10 years ago, was the pinnacle of my professional achievements so far. I looked forward to moving within a month from the” Home of the Gunners” to the” Cradle of Leadership” --- along with my life partner!!

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same-side · 5 years

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hiiii! i just wanna say, i adore your art. second, im teaching myself to draw and while i can draw simple basics (mouths and sometimes eyes if im lucky), im still a beginner. ive watched many art videos and im still a bit confused on wtf im doing. so i just came here to ask if you had any words of wisdom for beginners? could be anything from what tablets to buy to simple mistakes to avoid. ive read some of the other posts here and have found it all extremely helpful so far! Thx for all you do!!

Hey there! Thank you so much!

I would put a read more but tumblr is broken. I’m trying to cover a lot of varied thoughts in little points, so if there’s anything you would like me to elaborate on or otherwise have questions on, feel free to shoot me an ask or dm me!

General

I think the biggest thing to remember is not to compare yourself extensively to others. A little bit of comparison is healthy... But too much will destroy your confidence, motivation, and take the fun out of art. Particularly if you are comparing yourself to someone older than you (life experience and coordination come into play here) or that has been drawing much longer (practice).

Additionally... If you’re not having fun (and you’re not getting paid to do it), don’t force yourself. If you find yourself being frustrated or bored with art, don’t force yourself to do it. That’s how you burn out and get art block! This applies to parts of a peice, too! If you don’t feel like drawing a face or a hand today? don’t force yourself to finish it. Come back to it later when you aren’t as frustrated or are getting better results. Even if its a week or a month from now. Honestly, at any given time I have probably ten headless bodies in my drafts. That’s okay! I just come back to them when I’m ready to do the face. And don’t be afraid to abandon something if it doesn’t feel right!

Something that also doesn’t get said enough.... take care of your body! I never knew when I started art, but artists are supposed to do warmup sketches and stretches and muscle exercises! I didn’t do any of this, and i went through a period of a few months where I was drawing for 5ish hours every single day. I developed carpal tunnel from it! So remember to take care of yourself. Take breaks, stretch, remember to eat.

Practice

Practice!!!! Even if its just for fifteen minutes every day. Or twice a week. But if art is something you really want to get good at, you have to put in the time and effort!! You can’t expect to draw an hour per month and be on the same level as someone who draws an hour a day!

I know I say this a lot but I think the biggest thing is just reference! If you don’t know what something looks like, look at a picture of it when you draw it! To go hand in hand with that, though, don’t just copy what you see! Learn from it and apply it! So take, for example, a shoe! pay attention to the way the heel is shaped, the location of the eyelets for the laces... how large the toe is, how steep the top! While you’re at it, look at other styles of shoes as well, and compare them! See what makes it look like a boot versus a trainer! And then the next time you draw it, hopefully you’ll remember all the things you learned the first time around!

I do lots of studies that serve no purpose other than to teach me things! I use referencing/studies to learn about color theory, shapes, and anatomy in a real environment. For example, hands or fabric folds! Oftentimes I’ll do them timed (20 or 45 minutes) so that I don’t fixate on perfecting things, just on the process itself and what I can learn from it. This also helps with getting better acclimated to your software and more coordinated with what you’re doing. Repetitive learning, like with playing sports.

I’ve realized a lot of people don’t quite understand what a study is? Basically you just look at a photo and try to replicate it so that you can learn about lighting or color theory or textures or anatomy or whatnot. So here’s an example of a timed study.

Additionally, don’t avoid!! We, as humans, have a tendency to avoid things that make us uncomfortable or are difficult. But it will make you a better artist in then end. When I first started, I absolutely hated doing fabric. I felt like I wasn’t good at it. So instead of avoiding drawing clothing, I sat down and did studies and sketches of different kinds of fabric. By the end of this learning period, I became comfortable with it and grew to enjoy it. These days, I adore sketching clothes, and it’s why my pants and shirts and things tend to be detailed instead of stylized in line art. If you don’t like drawing hands because you feel like you aren’t good at it? Sit down, look at a bunch of pictures of different hands, and practice it. By the end, you’ll be more comfortable, you’ll have learned something. Even if you feel like the drawings you ended up with aren’t good, you’ll still have learned, and that’s what matters!

Style

I worked on basics before I tried to develop a style. I made sure to start with a very realistic method at first, so that I could be sure I understood how fabric folds, anatomy, and realistic expressions worked before I tried to stylize them. I think in the long run this approach really paid off for me. It also allowed me to be conscientious of what elements I was absorbing into my artwork. I hear from so many artists that they started drawing when they were younger and into anime or cartoons or things like that, and tried to emulate it. Because those styles became so ingrained into their artistic skillset, it becomes near impossible to iron out those influences and get rid of them later. So starting with realism is a way to ingrain proper anatomy and other good practice into your artwork.

One way to develop style is to take a look at the artwork of someone you admire, and try to list out the things you like form their style - perhaps the thickness of their lines, or the way they do eyes. Do this with several artists, take all those little details you like and try them out! See if you enjoy using them in your own drawing process! Think of it like a grab bag or a pick-n-mix, sprinkling in the elements you like here and there to create something new and your own - not just copying another artists style word for word.

Don’t worry too much about it though; don’t allow yourself to become anxious or fixated on “achieving a style”. Its a natural ever evolving process that comes with time and practice. I know a lot of people get hung up on style, but just take it one day at a time!

Also try to keep in mind what style you’re going for as you begin drawing. And I don’t mean that like sailor moon vs. ghibli. I mean that as in, is this piece going to be a painting, a lineart, a lined painting, cell shading...? It will help you in the longrun if you narrow down the broad kind of style you use, and refine from there.

Workflow

My workflow for paintings is very different from my workflow for lineart and cell shading. A full tutorial on how I do paintings can be found here! A process video for how I cell shade can be found here!

Everyone is going to have a different method that works for them! You just have to experiment and find out how you like to draw! For me, personally, I use color blocking for painting (see the tutorial above) and a spine method for lineart. How the spine method works is that I will draw lines that represent the legs, arms, back, etc. so that I can determine the placement, length, and composition. From there, I’ll add a dark outline that actually shows the shapes of the body. Then, I’ll use thinner lines to add details. This is the method I’ve found that works for me. Another commonly used method that I’m sure you’ve seen is representing body parts with cylinders and cubes. There are lots of good tutorials out there on breaking down bodies into shapes like this!

Something that I do is if I’m not quite happy with a part of a drawing, I don’t just erase it. I duplicate the layer so that I always have the original copy, and then I make changes from there. Sometimes I can end up with five or six different versions of the same arm or face that i’ve made minor changes to. And then I compare and pick the one I like best, or condense all the parts I like from each version to make a “best” version.

Tools

Currently I use Procreate and the standard Ipad with Apple Pencil. Prior to March I was using a Wacom Bamboo Touch and Photoshop Elements 2008. I find its harder for me to do full paintings in procreate, but its made my life a million times easier for lineart and cell shading. The pen pressure is phenomenal, and I also adore that its wireless / active screen instead of plug in like the wacom. The programme itself is intuitive and easy to get the hang of; it simply lacks a lot of the neat tricks that photoshop has, like rendering (lens flares, for example), gradients, and gradient maps. Try testing out different trials of programmes... firealpaca, photoshop, autodesk, whatever it may be! What works for me may not work for you!

#thegodbucky #asks for ts #t talks #long post #art reference

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