#very worlds beyond number core | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

anantaru · 1 year

Text

THREE SECONDS

— ꒰ synopsis ꒱ — as your relationship was ready to take the next step, itto wanted you to meet his granny who had raised him for the majority of his life and was beyond thrilled to show you where he grew up in as a child, or especially how cozy his old bedroom seemed to be.

— ꒰ a/n ꒱ — this fic stems from a little thirst i wrote a while ago and since i adored that idea so so much i just had to make a whole one shot for it, didn’t expect it to get so long though, still, enjoy! <3

— ꒰ word count ꒱ — 5.9k

— ꒰ warnings ꒱ — [ex]plicit, fem! reader, messy, whiny itto but also rough itto, riding, fingering, he's insatiable, the horny took him hostage, slight size difference (i mean he's huge), semi! public + his granny is next door preparing dinner.

arataki itto, the one, the only— a man, who could never be easily defeated in the eyes upon his very self.

by the same token, he, in no circumstances regarded anything as a real believed problem which he would have to face in his life sooner or later on, to a higher notice, was he someone who'd pick out the clear positive in most heeded aspects and proceed to give his furthermost, unswerving best.

for you, he was everything and anything, all at once. The bordering, ingrained proximity between you both could have been esteemed like a mind altering drug— neither of you was marginally capable to keep a distance between each other, not when your relationship carried on to bring forth the best of your abilities.

arataki itto— the love of your life, your soulmate, a man who, to the actual core, triumphantly won your heart and sung a promise to protect it from danger of any kind.

be that as it may, tonight, your entire relationship had all gotten a different meaning in his life because of an undisclosed exponent, itto came into hazardous contact with his first real enemy in a long time— the name of the weighty villain was well known, ponderously soliloquized upon the brimming nations of teyvat, the revolting mischief;

anxiety.

now, to remain logical and give the full picture— today was the prized day where you were going to lastly make acquaintance with the person who had raised him for the larger number of his being— his granny, who graciously took him in as a little oni and fondly watched after him with peerless faith and love in this world.

and despite that, unbeknownst to itto, you were, without no holds barred, feeling the same level of distress. It wasn't unnatural to sought after such a devoted step in a relationship— on the flip side can it become undoubtedly frightening and alarming, singularly when it was a striking indicator to remark just how dead serious you both conceived your relationship and its fancied continuance.

when the evening befell the nation of inazuma in its brilliant illustrious artistry, you had met up with your timid boyfriend to then, fidgety stride to his grannies small sized house which had been a partially shade far outside of inazuma city.

your zooming thoughts— like cannon balls, were in abysmal need of required relaxation, in reality, you truly had no reason to be this frightened because even though you had never met her prior to this day, you heard nothing but subliming wonderful deeds about the woman in question, her accepting care and understandings, the way she did not see any differences in humans and oni— viewing them as equal.

"hey no sleeping!" itto suddenly barks, "wait wait are you feeling sick? we can turn around and sit for a while." oh, he sounds nervous but you insist you're fine, because truthfully, you had just reached your destination and you won't be defeated by something as insignificant as nervousness— it's alright, yet you wonder if your hands could please stop sweating so much? ignore it ignore it, there's no way back now.

in front of the door made of otogi wood, your boyfriend lessened his handsome face to meet you, holding your pretty eyes with his diamond shaped pupils. You easily allow yourself permission to cross the fleeting words in your thoughts to run over his question, what he had asked was indeed chucklesome, in a way that you weren't for certain if the spelled out sentence was solely pointed towards your person or if he was in reality questioning himself. "yes i'm alright— are you though?"

the jocular idea of turning around did not cross your mind, not when you came this far and speaking forthcomingly, the pronounced concern on itto's scrunched expression was much larger and dignified than your own, yet despite that, said tangible worry wasn't one bathed in hesitancy or doubts, more— in an enthusiastic procedure that you were, at last, meeting such an important person in his life.

"of- of course i am!" he blabbers, "do i not look okay?!" yeah.. he must be thoroughly relaxed, right? that must be the obvious case, though he was actively waving his hand in the air— yet in front of his cheeks, he made sure he's covering himself, so you wouldn't get a singular chance to catch him blush in a full scarlet pitch, "why— why the hell shouldn't i be?"

"you seem nervous." you bluntly stated but teased, firmly deepening the eye contact and archons, how flustered itto could become when you won't tear your enthralling eyes off him, "— or scared." you carry on to unfitly taunt your lover, sneakily drawing down a firm grin but leaving your brows quirked up light heartedly, "whenever you're experiencing one of those two emotions, your voice gets a little higher, you know?"

"wha-" he interjects, "it doesn't!" for a crisp second, itto came to terms with his graspable frame of mind— because why should he hide his agitation from you? and then the straightforward tension that had been viciously eating him up from the inside out ceased to exist, "not true!" now, come now, "not me!" it had blurred itself out when he got ruminated with a sudden contagious laugh from you while caressing his arm to soothe his worries once more.

"yeah, i can see that." these are some mean turn of events to play with your boyfriends sensitive feelings like that, he figured, so he let his strong hands shelter your soft cheeks in a heart beat, "i'm never scared of anything." he's unnerved, back to his confident self.

"never ever ever, in a million ever never years!"

"you're crazy." you laugh and offer him a signature smile, freely blustering out a sheltered breath as you humanely lean into his left palm— itto flashes you his pearly white teeth and his thumb was lightly tapping on your plump bottom lip before placing a sensual kiss on top.

curiously enough, he never missed the chance to do that, to flip his thumb over your lips with a large smile, so he could lead you through what he was originally planning to do— to smooth you.

"lets get moving m'lady." he refrains, behaving a split amount differently, in all respects energized, "we're already in front of the door."

"you know what i meant!" he pipes up in an immediate rebuttal while angrily stomping his feet on the ground, banteringly pinching your hip, "ouch!" you loudly squeak out in surprise but itto was quicker— because he directly then knocked on the wooden door so you couldn't get back at him without letting his granny see it too.

his coruscating eyes, they expectantly bunch up while actively awaiting for his granny to open the large door to his childhood home, the place, were no matter what past memories, whether good or bad, had been crafted.

"dear, is that you itto?" you paid attention to an older ladies puny asserting voice upon a small space between door and frame, revealed was a short and on the face of it, feeble woman, appearing from behind. "granny! oh granny!" itto loudly cheers and muses, "you sure took your time granny!" this was an all in all cherished attribute you treasured about itto's entire personality— while surely, it by no means has been spread amongst the crowds that he was known for his loud and sparkling persona, but observing his innocent delight when encountered with his parental figure, openly fostered a total gladden in you— it's because you love him, just how he was.

in redirected regard of your own self, you didn't dare to move a single inch— as if frozen to the cold ground, though be that as it may, you could proceed with your reasoning and refer to it as the 'not well regarded accessory' to your continuous pestering tenseness that wickedly sauntered through head to toe.

but on a positive note, it was beneficial enough for itto to be this tall and large in comparison to your own frame, meaning you were capable to easily slip behind his back in hiding.

"this is who i've been telling you about." damn it, a genuine smile plucked the outer region of his lips as he largely stepped aside to reveal you like a gift from the heavens, his hands embarrassingly pointing towards you.

before you can say anything at all, itto had gladly taken over the role of the awkward introduction process himself and introduced you to his lovely granny.

again, thanks to the electro archon for your perfect boyfriend.

"it is such a deep pleasure of meeting you, dear." whatever it may be now, the woman conveyed an immediate tranquillizing quell which had brightly subdued your tensed muscles. "the pleasure really is all mine, miss!" extending your hand to her, she slowly lunged forward to shake it as you introduced yourself again.

now, in retrospect, this entire time, you had been tremendously nervous— highly strung, repeatedly shifting in your shuddering stance from left foot to right foot, right foot to left foot, though now, as you walked into her small home— with itto being a gentleman and closing the door shut behind you both, you at present had felt like you were truly welcomed in her abode.

(major mental sticker for the next time: don't let the useless negativity consume your goddamn mind, okay?)

well, back to business.

throughout the time, itto's sizable hand was, no matter what, situated solidly on the region above your behind, lovingly stationed on your lower back while he guided you to the homely warm and restful living room.

when you listlessly skimmed through the many decorations of the place, you discovered a framed picture of itto as a child next to his granny, it wasn't difficult to see their emotions through the stilled memory, both were marvelously happy and utterly fulfilled— grateful, with a squishy onikabuto plushie being sponged and pressed into itto's chest.

how long have you been staring at the frame? you can't recall, but fortunately to you, you got drawn back to the present reality when your boyfriend pinched your arm. His grandma— such a warm hearted lady, had affectionately assembled two beverages meant for you as she further beckoned you two to take a seat on the mellow couch.

"this is quite embarrassing." she weirdly was in a panicked stance about something rather awful, even going as far as to idly enclose her slender arms around herself, shaking, "what is it granny? are you sick?"

itto pucks himself into the seat with concern, yet striving to stand up right again and aid her in whatever was the critical problem at hand, "oh no! dear." she worrisomely shakes her head and her cheeks irradiated a scarlet tint, "but the dinner isn't ready yet!"

"that's all?!" itto exhales enormously from his chest— to a greater extent, one could say he was about to pass out from the thought of having something serious happen without him being in on it. Despite your rocky state of emotions from beforehand, you were now hopeful and viewed this polished opportunity as your sweet time to shine.

"can i be of help?" you bring forth self assured confidence in your tone color, "i might not be as skilled as you but i can try!" sliding the glass back on the coffee table, you were ready to get up and aid in the kitchen— it was not a big deal and you were always happy to help, especially when it was someone who was regarded as the closest family member to your boyfriend.

having said that, the wishing reply you had longed for, wasn't actually what happened, "there's no need dear." she sweetly giggled around her words, being truly flustered to the core by your sweet attempt to help her out, pretty much warming up with you already— you were lovely in her eyes, "and i'm certain itto desperately wants to show you around, isn't that right?"

you, of course, won't argue with that, "so damn right!" itto was full of happiness, and now, he's pushing himself up from his seat, additionally inviting you over to grab onto his hand so he could lead you around everything, "there's much to show after all!" with your hands quietly placed on your thighs, you feel nothing but giddy and take his palm, but rationally, you'd rather spend time with her so you could get to know her better.

that certainly was the best idea, but inside of you, the sultry skittish feeling of watching itto like that— so happy and excited, was priceless in your very eyes, maybe ... you could sneak in a few fleeting kisses before having to come back, hmmm, this does sound quite bewitching now, doesn't it?

on the way out of the living room, you were met once again with objects from his past, all pridefully shown and displayed around the tiny corridor he was leading you in. Next, on the very left, you found yourself in front of a wooden door that wasn't like any other, it was, quite frankly, messed up with what seemed to be symbols clumsily drawn on with a bunch of pencils— very itto typical, you humbly added.

"there we go." he's so excited, happy, euphoric— are there any other ways to possibly describe his emotions right now because in itto's perspective none of them were doing it justice, "the room of a real oni!"

"aww!" you accept the entry and let him close the door, leaving you both sheltered in place. his room was bigger than you had actually expected; a small, cleaned bed lovingly decorated with two larger plushies on top— one specifically caught your eyes, it was the same one that you saw earlier on the picture with his grandma, the onikabuto exemplar, while the other was funnily resembling a ruin guard of some sorts?

without much to say, both were worn off, he must've played with them in his childhood days.

"what do you think?" he quirks a brow, "to be honest, i was a little worried it wouldn't do me justice." you roll your eyes in the back of your head, what a guy.

at the prospect of being quite the stunner at taunting or playing with your boyfriend, you breathe out euphorically before speaking again, "the bed is so tiny, how little you were itto!"

"tiny?! it's not tiny!" he stomps forward, "this isn't tiny! or is it?"

was this the beginning of a heated debate? not really, but maybe a little. to elaborate himself further without requiring words, itto was swift and eager to carelessly wind away the dear plushies to awkwardly drop his wholeness onto the frail bed and archons— let it be known that the old woman outside had trouble hearing because those damned squeaking sounds were violent, dropping off the walls with an intensity you haven't heard before.

was itto about to break the bed? no no, you suppose. hopefully not.

"looky looky." he thoughtlessly leans back into the silken cushions but props himself up with his elbows so his pretty view on you would turn out even prettier, "it's large, just like me." — how can this man be for real sometimes, you wonder, snorting out a silly laugh on how impossibly comical he looked right now, with the majority of his legs hanging out of the bed frame.

"it sure does." you feign your engaging sentencing, silently getting close and walking towards him to sit, somewhere— which, uh, wasn't possible because he took the entire space.

literally, how could he not?

so, instead, you had, emphasizing heavily on the 'had', resulted to therefore straddling his hips with your thighs on each side of him. You're leaning forward and to that— your dress instantly responded with unknowingly pining up and revealing more of your smooth legs. Due to this unseen course of events, itto thumbed down entirely, now laying flat with you mounting on top.

the shallow heave that unbuttons from his throat when you declined your head to sweetly plant a semi innocent kiss on his lips, it was overflowing with tension, beyond wishing, so he leaned in— one kiss, two, one more? perhaps a couple.

in a profound refrain, you found yourself relaxed, making out with itto, still largely gentle and shy— if only he wouldn't have began to skim over your body with his hands, up and down in circles, his palms were seizing the movements of you, heatedly glissading over your exposed skin until looming them further back to greedily grab a fistful of your flesh and knead your ass to drag you close.

on purpose or not? but your cunt was now directly brushing on top of his member.

"mmh." you inaudibly whimper into his mouth as you coincidentally rub down on his groin, "ah— i'm sorry." he speaks and unexpectedly drags your pussy over his hidden cock. "fuck-" normally, you're so so careful— fuck, you wouldn't, right? do it on purpose, never.

amusing, you, as a matter of action, did not miss how tensed up itto was, how overwhelmed with the budding pressure in his pants.

how ... he was in his old bedroom, giving his almost painfully growing erection the thing it desired, from you, his cute darling. His breathing had been erratic while his digits further altered your flesh to keep you stilled but surely pressed right on top of his swelling cock.

rationality, here we go, "w-wwwait." his cheeks had a sudden burn with an equal amount of both a higher consciousness of euphoric bliss and clear embarrassment, itto figures that— archons, he might already be done for, the 'little' problem in his pants, how was he supposed to get rid of it before dinner?

"sorry." you cheekily coo and bit your lip back at him, "but you're comfy." cozily wrapping your arms around his neck, maybe another kiss will do it, so you sloppily go down and pull away with a sharp tug on his lower lip. You smile, although sheepish, "we should get up." and whisper the evident.

but unmistakably, if you would've acted out on what you were manifesting, or that you were more than certain you had wholly slicked up your thin panties by now— sensing them stick on your core, you would've blindingly leaned in to whatever you were attempting to do this second.

"wait." oh? this tone was different and you liked it— remembering the cause of it too. Much deeper was the timbre and not in his usual airless color, because itto was dead serious in his shaking utterance, a single word demonstrated a devilish command, "i'm a little—" you follow his eyes with your own and watch the mess in between your sticked together bodies— your dress had been draped up even more and was now pressed up, resting right above the beginning of your ass while itto's pants were extremely tight.

he embarrassingly looks up at you with hesitancy, "oh you know- i think i need a second." and he forcefully exhales his words from his tight chest, "but you are- fantastic." and prolongs his trembling heave right after, "and warm." while he closes his eyes, only a short amount because he had to catch your hips and stop them when you tried to move.

"what are you?!" he groans so loud, too loud— shameless, as you were quick to shush his noisy tongue with your hand clutched around his needy mouth, "shhh, don't talk." you coo, "don't say anything." and he listens carefully, with wide opened eyes, nervously gulping down the assembled saliva, "let me help you out, okay baby?"

finally, fucking finally, he thought, "c-careful." itto mumbles into your hand as you used your other to clumsily open up his pants— pulling down his, with pre cum drowned, boxers, at last freeing his erect cock that was plopping out of the garments.

it's heavy, shading red and the deep blue'ish broad veins on the underside of his girth left nothing left for imagination— your mouth practically watered at the filthy, sinful sight, but it's so tasteful and you wanted to please him right away, maybe suck him off and let him fuck your face, but now— not now, his grandma was literally in the next room and preparing dinner for you, right, almost forgotten!

lets just get this quickly over with and help your handsome boyfriend with his not so little problem— later on there was still additional time, you can always fuck at home, real messy and loud— leaving yourself to him so he was able to pump his seed into you and let it ooze out again.

"ah- baby." his voice sounded impatient and a bit whiny, "it hurts." he grits his teeth and his cheeks burn up, he lifts his hips and softly grinds into you while keeping you down, his face was incredibly red and even the tip of his ears had now visualized the exact same color. There's no way he didn't spend time to think about it too— about the shared fantasy, about pistoling his cock deep into your spongy cunt, it makes him question himself if he can actually pull it off, in this small room with the bed squeaking at every move.

the delirious flutter was risky, but worth it?

"okay, you know what?" he spills out, chasing more relief, "just the tip." he whines, "only the tip, please!" you curiously readjust yourself to rut your cunt on him— on the brink of turning brainless yourself. "you know we wouldn't stop." but the mental image of his tip splitting you roughly had you close your legs around his body, shoving your pussy on his bare cock again.

"but it hurts-" and you shake your head, just wanting to scream that it hurts you too, "i know baby but we can't."

one hundred percent a bad idea— that's what it was in an outer perspective, but how could you ignore his mushroom tip leaving itself get messed up by your arousal— how now, he nudged himself into the flimsy material of your panties to rub his length within your folds, spreading them apart, loving your wet cunt, "five seconds." you can barely hear him say it, "just five seconds." archons, where were the infamous rational thinking skills when you were in dire need of them?

fuck this, rightfully so, "three." now, you start to bargain for the tasteful prize, "four." and itto was determinedly stammering right back at you while his mouth was still covered by your hand. You both cannot believe each other, truly, how desperately needy you were, at this point barely caring anymore when he slowly bumped his drenched cock into your pussy— your underwear by now fully slipped to the side.

"three seconds!" — "oh man .. fine."

you drop your weight before he could finish his words, catching him so off guard was rare in it's own glorious state and you‘re taking his tip further, making the man underneath you deeply groan into your hand. "shut up itto!" you laugh and embarrassingly snort a little, "i'm sorry!" this whole lively situation had a comical sense to it because when else are you fucking your boyfriend in his old bedroom— in a bed that was way too small for any of you, but maybe that's the fun part of being this close together, fusing your skins as one.

you go silent, overwhelmed and shaking, to counter attack your natural body reactions you forcefully bite down on your bottom lip to withstand the upcoming moans, "fuck, fuck!" for comfort, you lean into him as his tip naturally slips in and out of your warm pussy, in and out, in and out, catching a glimpse of his already hooded eyes. "only the tip." you jokingly repeat, "mhm the tip." he moans back into your hand while you felt him drool on you— because there you were flaunting your tits at him, rigidly pressing them into his chest with your pointy nipples finding friction.

itto shuts his eyes on the sprouting frustration closing around his belly, "mhm, i can't believe this." he almost laughs, as if to ease you both down in his own silly ways, "me neither." he further molds his hands over your hips to hold you in a precise way. Truthfully, your trembling thighs were burning and sore, firmly splattered with arousal and exposed to him.

the position you were currently in wasn't kind to you, if anything it was becoming harder to remain focused so you wouldn't end up suckling in more inches without realizing.

you carefully move away your hand and give him enough space to breathe more sizable and damn— the sight in front of you was a fucking longed one, downright unreal, it wasn't able to be somewhat framed or painted into words.

itto whatsoever, his face had spiraled into complete redness, granted, he was trying his utmost finest to be good and not greedy, though the punishing demonstrated fantasy of bulging his cock into your sensitivity was always there— his shaking hands clearly giving it away.

"ah- this is awesome!" itto clears his throat and needfully runs his knuckles over your skin, reaching your behind— two of his fingers ran down to your folds to spread them and leave him with more room to stay inside, "yeah.. this is better." he heaves and you whine because it really does feel better that way— you've been plenty wet by now and if you weren't this patient, you surely would've fucked him into oblivion by now.

you hide your pleased face in his neck, "i can't believe we're doing this." and admit, arching your back a little (for good measure) before slowing one of your hands over his damp forehead where a couple of his hair strands were sticking onto, due to the excessive amount of sweat, "i think I'm dreaming!" though it's stupefying, itto gladly relishes in the smug satisfaction, claiming you one inch further, a bulged type of sweet and honeyed pride was delivered when he let you do it— slurp up one more inch, ambling his hips differently for a finer angle.

you kiss itto's lips to soothe his gravelly groans, in addition to your own squeaky huffed out cries— he's so big and heavy that when you move just a little, it's as if he's strapping you off every single inch of control in your body, as if he's, on purpose, targeting the plushy splotches in your walls.

you grab onto another inch as he passionately groans into your mouth— more please more, bracing yourself, letting his tongue run free into yours, he continues it, pitching his hips further and spreads his thighs to rub you into him while his eyes flicker with lust and so do yours.

you just cannot think straight anymore, it's not possible nor required, you are so fucking fucked right now, both deliriously good and blazingly bad.

itto thinks it still isn't enough, his big cock was tingling in your walls and it should be criminal on how fucking fine your closed insides were, ravenously bordering on him and gripping him— it doesn't even compare to other instances in his life because you both couldn't keep your hands to yourself and wanted to straight up— lose your minds and bodies.

a hiss spills from his throat and it appears like your legs are about to give up on you— your tits too, bounce in tune to your actions and surge eminent bliss into your veins. You find yourself entranced when he crowds you and your toes curl at another easy shove forward.

the painstakingly grab on your hips was to leave bruises, his knuckles turning white and his dick shimmers with your arousal that you sink down further.

you adjust and squeeze around him, bending over when breaking off the kiss, your wet lips twitching in a shameless grin as itto chuckled right under you. The lower side was rammed with your transparent liquids puffing out your pussy— itto's eyes were blown wide and he makes sure to always remember to stretch your ass while you look so adorable above him, creaming on his cock that was now completely clashed into you.

hold on.

what happened to the three stated seconds? or just the tip?

three or none, oh no— not this, please no, archons above please send us mercy because how much fucking time has passed since you started this succulent and mouthwatering gamble?

"fuck— just like that." itto mouths without a single care behind those eyes, "you're the prettiest baby, you know that?" he lifts himself into you and turns the bed into nothing more than a squeaky noisy problem. It could've turned out real embarrassing if not one of you had turned on your hazy braincells.

"itto wait!" you foolishly whine, "shit, too loud!" he bottoms out and smacks his balls into you, remembering the obscene situation as the bed loudly creaked. "shit, shit shit." your mouth clashes onto his with saliva bubbling out of the outer parts of your lips. Yet you don't stop, instead you grind your pretty cunt on him and smear his filth over your soft walls.

"do you think?" you're concerned for the obvious, stilling yourself, "no no, don't worry baby." itto speaks up, "are you sure? we were very loud right now." he captures your body in between his arms to twitch inside your core, you on the other hnd never adjusted to his large dick— you just couldn't stop pulsing on his length, it's swilled with your liquids. "i got you, i'm sure she didn't hear anything."

while you do want to place your greatest trust into him, you weren't stupid, but amidst the sinfulness of it all, you nod your head at him. "we need to finish this quickly." whispering from above, your warm breath fans over his skin.

itto doesn't answer, there was no need for it, not now at least. He reaches up to lift your chin to lead you towards his lips and you cry into the sloppy kiss while his other hand dampened down on your folds, roughly stimulating you with his knuckles. "i- fuck, i-got-you." he finally says in between groans and urges you to continue, "i'll make you cum on me." his words came out in a stitched together grunt.

his mind— it was gone and clouded and another moan leaves him right after at the galvanizing sight of you. Itto braces himself and leads you to heaven, it's overbearing and frustrating, but the new punctuated jolts were closing down on your sensitive cores, they were tempting and pressing on your beating thuds.

all you could think of was for him to please please go faster, but it wasn't possible, not anymore. okay, well, it was but, you would equally be busted and you were sure the embarrassment of being caught by his fucking grandma during the act alone would give you terrible nightmares for years on end.

his knuckles dig into your shining folds and rub you fiercely while taking you with his cock. By how rough itto was fucking you now you had to close your hand around his mouth again so he could freely grunt and moan— vocalize his pleasure to you so you can latch onto him finer, constrict on his shaft and milk him dry until he's wet of a white ring of arousal, the clear determination to finally cum was genuinely all you both could think of.

you cry yourself into his shoulder when he pulls you to him, fisting his palms into your draped up dress to practically rush you back and forward— using you as a fucktoy to drench his cock in. His hips are stuttering and you knew he was close— because in truth, you were too, the continuous intrusion of his sensual tip on your pleased insides felt so fucking fine you thought you were actually going to tear up from it.

it's when it began to burn as he continuously smacked his hips into you, both tightly squished into each others embrace and melting into your bodies. You were drooling on your entire chin and then it happened, bringing you back to the overstimulation which was twice as powerful, twice as deep— pulling out your climax from your strangled rooted core as you violently clenched on his heavy cock, your orgasm thundering over you.

"too much, too much!" you whisper cry on him and itto plants one of his hands on the back of your head to squish you close as he climaxed too, sealing his lips as you pressed your hand into him. "I'm so close— so close so close." his hips were still going but slower, his calloused palm holding you down, guiding you where he required you to release his seed, paint your walls with silken white and calm your inflamed skin.

"fuck!" he moans and his eyes roll back, "inside— im inside you." itto feels empty but fulfilled, the compressed position was in any other occasion insanely unfitting and uncomfortable, but for you there wasn't a better one. His breathing was hot and the entire room smelled of sex and filth, the spilling ropes of cum were seeping right out of you.

the both of you were utterly panting and damn, itto came a lot, cummed as deep as he could and his grunts were still there— low and under the shadowy rasps, leaving it to you to finish him and he relishes in it, entirely, when being milked by a warm cunt such as yours, a claimed one, by him alone.

it's silent before your thoughts come back swirling, heated but never forgotten, you prop yourself with your arms and smile at him, but then it hit you.

"no no." you panic and your eyes glue down on your not so innocent lower region, "we made a mess." he smirks back at you, all puffed out and blowing. "how do we cover that?!"

you lift your hips and are now presented with the post nut problem, vision still glassed up and shaded by how good you were being fucked just moments ago. "wait let me-" itto helps you lay down while he sits up on the bed, his cock limply coated in arousal, "do you need- uh, wait!"

he swiftly searches around the room and finds a towel, hastily handing it to you, "thanks." you shyly mumble, still sore, "how do i look?" you ask him jokingly while fixing your make-up simultaneously to rubbing off the crumbling perspiration on your body.

"like you just had the best orgasm in the world." he sings, putting up his pants while helping you as much as he could. "you're one to talk." you tease, breathless and still hot, pulling down your dress as itto reaches out his arm to you, aiding you to stand up.

a hand falls heavy on his palm and you curse yourself for not figuring out sooner that you were thoroughly sore and done— swelling and used, especially your muscles were burning, searingly aching, "oh— easy now." itto could do this all day, watch you fix yourself after he fucked your brains out— minus the doing it in his old bedroom. His inflated ego breaks records, "are you okay?" but the concern in his voice was sweet, "y-yes."

"lets eat dinner then!" you almost forgot about that.

he rubs his belly and you nod your head in agreement, spouting out a wheezy laugh while you began to fix his hair, "— and hope your grandma didn't hear a thing." and end his sentencing at last.

3K notes · View notes

theresattrpgforthat · 1 year

Text

THEME: Fuck WotC

With the updates to the OGL, you might be looking for a way to play your fantasy game without having to worry about supporting a company that doesn't hold the interests of the community as a priority. These series of recommendations are specifically about exploring dungeons in settings that might possibly have dragons, and require little to no time, effort, or money given towards Wizards of the Coast. Moreover, most of these games heavily encourage home-brew, rule hacks, and your own custom creations!

Ironsworn, by Shawn Tomkin.

In the Ironsworn tabletop roleplaying game, you are a hero sworn to undertake perilous quests in the dark fantasy setting of the Ironlands.

Others live out their lives hardly venturing beyond the walls of their village or steading, but you are different. You will explore untracked wilds, fight desperate battles, forge bonds with isolated communities, and reveal the secrets of this harsh land.

Are you ready to swear iron vows and see them fulfilled—no matter the cost?

Ironsworn is majestic. Character motivation is built in during creation, so you start the game knowing something about who your character is and what they want - and from the very beginning, your character’s story is vital to the campaign. You can approach problems from a number of different approaches, including combat, persuasion, physical prowess, and more.

The game is built for solo, co-op, and guided play. This means that if you have a friend who’s willing to GM, they have plenty of help in coming up with plot. If you have no-one who’s willing to GM, you can still play the game - and if you have no-one who’s willing to play the game with you, you can still play it. Finally, and this might be the best part: Ironsworn, a 270-page PDF full of lore, advice and foes… is free.

DURF, by Emil Boven.

DURF is a rules-light dungeon-fantasy RPG in the vein of games like Knave, Troika! and Into the Odd. When it comes to character background, appearance, and history, much of what you decide will be up to you: your character backstory doesn’t have to influence your stats if you don’t want it to. Your character’s stats are boiled down to three: Strength, Dexterity, and Willpower, and you have an inventory of 10+ your Strength. The game is rules-light, but the rules that are there make combat similar to what you see in D&D: you have to roll higher than your opponent, account for range, and most rolls depend on a d20.

Spell casting isn’t limited to specific classes in DURF, because there aren’t any specific classes. However, that doesn’t limit what your character can do to grow. You can increase character stats, add new spells, and consult a trove of content for this game created by people who love it, much of which is either free or incredibly reasonably priced! If you find yourself writing a lot of your own content for your D&D game anyways, you might enjoy the really creative community that’s popped up around DURF and similar OSR games.

World of Dungeons, by John Harper.

World of Dungeons is a simple, quick-play, dungeon crawling game, using one of the core mechanics from the Powered by the Apocalypse rules system. It's compatible with Old School Renaissance and original D&D monsters, dungeons, and adventure modules.

This is another game that doesn’t require a lot of dedication to convert what you know and are comfortable with into a new system. It’s also an introduction to the standard PbtA conceit of rolling 2d6 for every action and a three-tiered level of success that moves the plot forward, even if you fail. Failure in PbtA games can be just as interesting and engaging as successes - and once you’ve got the hang of this mechanic, there’s a whole world of games available to you!

Tunnel Goons, by Nate Treme (Highland Paranormal Society).

Tunnel Goons is a simple table-top role-playing game. It was originally only included in the zine The Eternal Caverns of Urk. It's a light weight 2d6 system that can be applied to many different genres and settings.

An extremely streamlined system, Tunnel Goons is only 4 pages long and is pay-what-you-want. You only need d6’s to play, and have three stats to take care of. If you enjoy roleplaying but find the idea of transferring to a new system daunting, you pick up a game of Tunnel Goons to try out something new without having to learn a bunch of new rules or spending a lot of money.

This game is small and simple, but it’s also been hacked a number of times for many different genres, which means that if what you like about roleplaying is coming up with new settings and new character options to play with, you’re right at home here!

Realms of Terrinoth, by Fantasy Flight Games.

Terrinoth is a land of forgotten greatness and lost legacies. Once ruled by the Elder Kings who called upon mighty magics to perform great deeds and work marvels, the land has suffered greatly at the hands of its three great foes: the undead armies of Waiqar the Betrayer, the demon-possessed hordes of the bloodthirsty Uthuk Y’llan, and the terrifying dragons of the Molten Heath. Many of its great cities have been cast down into ruins, and many wondrous secrets and powerful artifacts have been lost.

For hundreds of years, Terrinoth slipped into gloom and decay. But heroes arise just when their lands need them the most. Courageous adventurers brave the ruins of past ages and the foul creatures within to uncover the treasures of their ancestors. The Daqan Barons, inheritors of the ancient kingdoms, rebuild their walls and muster their armies, while the wizards of Greyhaven gather runes of power to awaken guardians of stone and steel. These preparations come none too soon, for the ancient enemies of the lawful races are stirring again, and Terrinoth needs champions of courage and cunning to stand against the rising darkness.

If what you like about D&D is the collection of options and stat-block builds that you can lovingly craft, the Genesys system that runs Realms of Terrinoth has plenty of options that help you build your own backgrounds and create your own classes. So if the setting doesn’t have what you’re looking for, it can’t stop you! The dice system is fundamentally different in that the dice don’t have numbers on them at all - they provide you with successes, failures, advantages and threats, which means that it’s possible to succeed and also running into obstacles, as well as fail and still experience a boatload of good luck! This is the only game on this list that isn't an indie game.

Cairn, by Yochai Gal.

Cairn is an adventure game for one facilitator (the Warden) and at least one other player. Players act as hardened adventurers exploring a dark & mysterious Wood filled with strange folk, hidden treasure, and unspeakable monstrosities.

Based on Knave by Ben Milton and Into The Odd by Chris McDowall, Cairn is an attempt at making Into The Odd semi-compatible with popular OSR settings like Dolmenwood. Character generation is quick and random, classless, and relies on fictional advancement rather than through XP or level mechanics. The game itself is rules-light but functional, leaving most rulings up to the Warden.

Cairn is an excellent example of how creative and generous the indie ttrpg community is, especially within the OSR scene. A free rulebook, it is designed to be used alongside other popular games in the OSR scene, and has many of its own adventures designed by the community. These kinds of games are wonderful for players who are excited about exploring fantastical and dangerous places, and solving the variety of problems that appear within.

Blades in the Dark, by John Harper.

Blades in the Dark is a tabletop role-playing game about a crew of daring scoundrels seeking their fortunes on the haunted streets of an industrial-fantasy city. There are heists, chases, occult mysteries, dangerous bargains, bloody skirmishes, and, above all, riches to be had — if you’re bold enough to seize them.

You and your fledgling crew must thrive amidst the threats of rival gangs, powerful noble families, vengeful ghosts, the Bluecoats of the city watch, and the siren song of your scoundrel’s own vices. Will you rise to power in the criminal underworld? What are you willing to do to get to the top?

Blades in the Dark is a setting that has amassed a large following for a number of reasons: it has free player resources, it prioritizes fiction-first gaming, it has a tight set of rules that are easy to learn and expand upon, and the setting fucking slaps. It’s the parent of the entire Forged in the Dark family of games, so if you don’t want to play criminal masterminds in an industrial city - you don’t have to! There’s so many games published under this ruleset that fall under different themes, such as Band of Blades, a military fantasy setting, Into the Dark, a dungeon-delving game, and Blades Against Darkness, a game about adventurers exploring tombs and new frontiers. FitD games provide a tight setting and focus for your group, so you’ll always know what your players are working towards, and there are number of interlocking systems that you can pull on to increase your chance of success - at the risk of pushing your character a little closer to stress and trauma.

If you want something that's not high-fantasy dungeon delving -well, that's what the rest of my blog is for!

#dnd #dungeons and dragons #high fantasy #game recommendations #indie ttrpgs #tabletop games #wizards of the coast #wotc

768 notes · View notes

spectral-snippets-and-drabbles · 11 months

Text

Death Warrant!Au

When the rejuvenating, life-extending effects of ectoplasm to the dead and dying was discovered by planets across the stars, it triggered mass conflicts that left several systems obliterated beyond repair. Hundreds of Billions had migrated to the Realms in numbers that were never seen before by the residence of the dead. They had various forms of damage and disfigurement on their new forms as a result of the ectoplasm being weaponized and used on them. Their very beings were corrupted beyond repair with their minds significantly altered with highly specified obsessions.

• Peoples from the destroyed worlds being so afraid that they lashed out, ripping anything that saw them to pieces out of fear of being attacked.

A serpentine creature of the Realms eagerly stalking them and fed upon their cores to grow stronger.

• Soldiers of these races were hell-bent on continuing to fight and proceeded to attempt subjugate this dimension that was new to them. Their rage guiding them blindly as they left paths of destruction throughout the realm.

A beast, wrongly slaughtered in the early madness of an delicate fledgling world that happened to be rich with ectoplasm followed the warpath and basked in the rage.

Eventually, more creatures like them came to prominence as a result of these strange new victims. Being aspects of emotion that were born from the masses in the war.

The Ghost King during this time period could not sit idly by and watch these newly born ghosts run rampant and terrorize his kingdom. With a heavy heart and a weapon in hand, a call to arms was called and the purge of these beings began. It tooks thousands of years, but when the last corrupted ghost was destroyed, the King took to the realm of living and wiped away all traces of the Realms from the minds of the survivors with all recollections of this terrible war for ectoplasm erased from history.

As his rested his eyes one final time, before the Tyrant would cowardly claim his life, made a major, sacred declaration that all citizens was made:

• If any hostile, mutant ghosts were to be found, they were to captured and examined by the king's council to await judgement. If they are too dangerous to restrain and seek bloody violence, they are to be destroyed.

• Any scientists trying to use ectoplasm for endangering life were to be have their memories erased and put to the sword for their crimes.

• Anyone foolish enough to Defy Death using ectoplasm, the greatest violation of the laws in the infinite Realms, they were to be put to death as and immediately given their Second End.

~•~ ~•~ ~•~ ~•~ ~•~

When Pariah Dark, the Cowardly Tyrant King, is defeated and Danny fianlly takes the throne after a few centuries of training, the Observers hand him a compiled a list of names who violated these sacred laws.

They have him start with Earth and Danny's jaw hits the floor with what the charges he was seeing. He can already hear the chaos in the meeting room.

• Amanda Waller, Vandal Savage, Darkseid, Granny Goodness, a court of owls(?)...the list is long, and that's just Earth alone!

• Jack "The Goddamn Joker" Napier and a few of the more violent Rouges of Gotham are charged with Veil Destabilization.

Even Jason Peter Todd Wayne...the Red Hood!? Danny can probably work something with Jason, force him into therapy sessions (along with the whole damn family) with Jazz and a couple cleansing sessions and supplements from Frostbite...the others had to go...

The continued slaughter of the innocent, combined with the suffering they endured and the misery felt by Shades who couldn't move on was making the veil deteriorate at dangerous speeds. New pits would form across the city eventually as a result.

Lady Gotham has done everything she can to keep the madness from happening but she can't hold it back any longer. Her core is ready to shatter under the stress and is constantly in agony, but she won't abandon her knights, despite Danny's pleas to save herself.

There's a certain brigade of furry's who may or may not like this news but said brigade had no choice but to take it on the chin. They have children who Defied Death in their ranks and the Realms are not afraid to destroy anyone foolish enough to stop them.

• Lex Luther is charged with crimes against humanity. And several other violations in regards to unethical experimentation.

One sticks out to Danny.

Lex used Danny's stolen DNA from a stray core shard from the Guys in White, who he was was funding in secret, even after they were disbanded, to create a clone comprised of the Earth's resident Kryptonian, the bald bastard, and himself to kill and replace said Kryptonian...the guy who literally helps save the earth time and time again from doom.

...Yeah, Lex is undoubtedly, fucked beyond total comprehension. Anyone defending him was risking all-out war with the Infinite Realms.

But hey, at least Danny was finally having child of his own! The little tyke is only a few years old in the tube, Ellie's visits are far and in-between and Danny's status as a Halfa made him sterile and develop an embarrassingly strong case of baby fever.

He's sure the ghosts from Krypton would love to help out in raising Conner in case Kal-El wasn't really planning on being around the boy. After all, being cloned himself, Danny knows the emotional baggage that comes with being violated to this degree by your enemy.

He just hopes the guy can come around and accept the little guy...

#dp x dc #dc x dp #dp x dc prompt #dp x dc crossover #justice league #danny phantom #my prompts #Death Warrant!Au #I've seen fics were Danny Time Travels to fix things #I've also read were he gains amnesia so he accidentally lives in the past until he remembers who he is #Lex Luthor is a bitch with a very slappable bald head that Danny is gonna smack the soul out of #Danny is gonna hook up Jason with therapy from Jazz and cleansing sessions with Frostbite #When Damien is finally born and with Bruce is the day everyone in the League of Assassins is gonna get wiped off the face the fucking Earth #You don't fuck with the abyss because it'll do more than simply look back #Eldritch Mama Bear!Danny #Conner is gonna be spoiled rotten #If Damien is also partially Danny's kid he wont wait and waste the League the second he can grab him #Being the 'Demon's Head' doesn't mean jackshit when the ectoplasm youve been uskng is the equivalent of used toilet water #Bruce Wayne x Danny Fenton x Clark Kent #Clark was worried his many times great grandfather was hitting on him #But Danny told him that he helped save krytpon and found the house kf El so there no blood relation #Due to amnesia inflicted during his time traveling Danny accidently created the embodiments lf Emotion from each Lantern Corps #Danny's first anniversary gift is bringing Bruce and Clark's parents to Earth to spend tkme with them #Bruce is afraid this will be the last time he gets to see them but Danny tells him he and Clark can tag along for Jason's treatment #Alfred is happy for his boy and is happy to see Thomas and Martha #Conner and Clark bonding with Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van about Krypton culture

321 notes · View notes

carionto · 8 months

Text

What did they even do?

Realized I left some things unaddressed from this post I wrote and I want to explore some of those instead of retconning anything.

___________________________________________

When the Earth and Humanity vanished, we were all so stupefied that it took a little while to realize that their Moon was not only still there, but also orbiting around where the Earth should be. Same with every other celestial body that was even slightly affected by Earth's gravitation force.

No change. We checked and tested everything we could. There was no gravitational pull, EM field, radiation, nothing. We even flew ships right where it's core would've been. The planet was simply not there. And yet, all other bodies behaved as if it was. As if the universe refused to acknowledge that Humanity had done something so preposterous as taking themselves to another dimension.

Curiously, we noted, that everything roughly 400km above the planetary surface had also vanished alongside the planet. In the preceding decade the Humans had suddenly increased the number of energy gathering satellites sent to that orbital level. They had made impressive advances in energy transfer technology and we were hopeful this massive web was the beginning of their waning off of exhaustible and unsteady resources for their energy needs.

These satellites were in fact how they enveloped their whole planet and disappeared - planet, atmosphere, orbital stations - all matter, particles, waves - everything, within this sphere of light.

Another point of interest, after having understood this fact, is that they had not sent any vessels beyond that orbit twenty six cycles after we enabled the Responsibility Barrier. Roughly a single generation later and all of Humanity was seemingly in on the plan to "vanish".

The Moon and every Human vessel beyond the 400km orbit became the most hotly debated and thoroughly examined entities the moment word got around they were still orbiting as normal. Not a single subatomic particle was left unscanned or undocumented. In just a few cycles the millions of scientists from across the entire galaxy knew everything about every single one of them.

We learned nothing. Nothing about how or why they simply did not drift away. Nothing about any residual effects. There was simply nothing out of the ordinary. This area of research became the most contentious and even bloody field since the very first sapients went into space and found a civilization on another world, sparking debate of uplifting and interference.

As time went on and nothing continued to change, everyone eventually gave up. Whatever Humanity had discovered and done was something no other was able to conceive, let alone recreate. Still many tried, but, before the Humans returned, this branch of science was seen as nothing more than a waste of time, extra credit in some cases, only a handful of enthusiasts went to the system for anything more that sight-seeing.

It has only been a few of the Earth's months after their return, and they refuse to explain any details of how and what they did. The only thing the Humans would say is that they were alone in the truest sense of the word.

(where we went)

#humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #humans are deathworlders #humans are space australians #humanity fuck yeah #carionto

354 notes · View notes

myx-on-earth · 26 days

Text

Content Warning: Landfall Game's April Fools Triumph

For the Content!

It would seem that an April Fools joke of a game has resulted in overnight indie success. Landfall Games, a beloved indie game studio, has a yearly April Fools tradition they call “Landfall Day”, where their devs put together essentially a parody of whatever game is popular at the time. They’ve parodied everything from DayZ to battle royales (Twice, with Totally Accurate Battlegrounds and Knightfall), and this year it would seem it’s Lethal Company’s turn.

Lethal Company is a game known for silly co-op shenanigans that seem to instantly translate into YouTube content- and Content Warning takes that idea and turns it up to 11, making being an influencer a part of the game mechanics. You and a group of friends take a diving bell to “The Old World”, a spooky map filled with monsters and traps entirely for the sake of internet entertainment value. With a single camera and 90 seconds of film, your group has to make the spookiest, funniest video possible- because your only source of income is Spooktube, and that revenue doesn’t come easily.

It's such a brilliant parody of both the horror genre Lethal Company tapped into and the loop of content creation in the internet age that it, somehow, wraps around to being an excellent game in of itself, though Landfall is no stranger to finding gold through satire. Previously, their first battle royale parody (Totally Accurate Battlegrounds, a riff on PUBG) found some success, enough that Landfall turned it into a full venture. It’s not as popular nowadays, but it IS legitimately good- and Content Warning seems to be turning out the same way with its initial popularity and engaging premise.

Typical Content Warning video result, featuring myself, @thatpocketninja, @squiddskipp, and a third friend who requested to remain anonymous

In the space of video game development, April Fools seems to be not so much a “joke” day, but a day that allows ideas to be thrown around that might not otherwise have been considered, which can lead to majorly creative leaps of faith. With examples like the Yakuza series’ pivot to turn-based combat, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon’s continued success in the midst of a floundering Ubisoft, and even Lilith Walther’s upcoming definitely-not-Bloodborne Kart (now known as Nightmare Kart), the idea of “joke turned legitimate gamedev venture” isn’t exactly new.

I actually had the pleasure of exchanging emails with Hanna Fogelberg (@thebirdmountain on Twitter), Landfall's Head of Community, who provided some insight into Content Warning’s development and the overwhelming response in the interview below.

1. What's it like to go to bed seeing some success, then waking up to find your joke game is a viral hit? Did you expect this at all, given the surprising amount of polish it has?

"We couldn't sleep to tell you the truth! Even if the team said good night at about 2am we kept texting the player numbers to each other throughout the night, we were very wired! We always knew there was the potential of the game going really well, there's something about the design and shareability of the videos you make that we knew could hit it big but it's still surprising it went THIS well."

2. How long did it take to develop Content Warning?

"Content Warning was made in about six weeks of active game development, but the idea came to us back in December!"

3. What were your main inspirations for the game? (Beyond Lethal Company, of course)

“Lethal Company and similar games were an obvious reference for the gameplay loop, we love that game! That said, what was most interesting to us was the core of the game - the filming and video creation. We were inspired by YouTubers and influencer culture, there's something interesting in people risking life and limb for content that we wanted to play off of.

Other than that, the vibes of The Older World were inspired by Junji Ito and a specific H.R Giger painting while The Over World references the Swedish children's book Pettson och Findus.”

4. How experienced was the dev team?

“We're pretty experienced, the Landfall team has been making games for over 10 years with previous releases being Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, Stick Fight: The Game, Clustertruck and Rounds to mention a few.”

5. How does this experience compare to the last semi-viral success Landfall had with a Landfall Day game? (TABG)

“This game outdid TABG in player numbers several times over! So it's hard to compare, this is by far our most viral hit to date.” 6. Any plans for the future of the game? Or just basic bug fixes and some more content?

“We will see! Currently, we're focusing on fixing bigger bugs and other issues but we already have some new content planned. We're kind of playing it by ear at this point, it all depends on how things go in the coming weeks.”

Some may attribute Content Warning’s success to multiple factors- the 24 hour free period, how it riffs on Lethal Company and the tropes it already employs, or even that it was “designed to go viral”- but you can’t deny that, even as an iterative piece, it still manages to find its own identity and already seems to have captured the content creation hearts of everyone who gives it a chance. Games like this, that aren’t reliant on micro transactions and are buoyed by the PEOPLE you play with, rather than the money that one must spend on it, are the hope- and, hopefully, the future- of the video games industry. You can find Content Warning (No longer free, but still very cheap!) at the link below: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2881650/Content_Warning/

#indie games #gaming #journalism #landfall #content warning game #honestly a legitimately fantastic game #i will be absolutely playing more #better than lethal company??!?!!?!?! jk 2 legends can exist

65 notes · View notes

blackautmedia · 9 months

Text

The Problem with the Gerudo | Orientalism in Legend of Zelda

EDIT: Because I made an updated and more in-depth version of this now that Tears of the Kingdom has been out longer, I've posted the updated link here in place of the original.

With the release of Tears of the Kingdom, we have to have this discussion again. The desert vai outfit was racist, not that the game removed it to address that, but the Gerudo are built entirely on orientalist tropes that go beyond just the outfit. We also talk about orientalism as shown in works like Aladdin and Ducktales.

Some Excerpts:

I'm not saying to abandon the idea of queering Link entirely, but only to understand that Legend of Zelda relies very heavily on a number of euro-fantasy tropes that rely on presenting numerous non-white people as exotic playthings and to consider the position that puts queer non-white folks in.

The entire scene of Link getting the Vai outfit and questioning the man giving it to him is built on transphobia.

This isn't queer expression, it's racial exoticism. They're not imagined as people with a society that makes sense, everything around them being so fixated on finding men and having Link and other white guys infiltrating their space.

Orientalism at its core is an imagined vision of real oppressed people by a dominant group in a way that excludes them from their own portrayal and reinforces real-world systemic oppression.

Entire fictional groups in Zelda such as the Rito, Twili, Zonai, Gorons, and Deku Scrubs to name a few incorporate racial coding in addition to the Gerudo. That recontextualizes how we look at say how the Deku are portrayed in Majora's Mask where they're jungle dwelling savages boiling this monkey alive because they think he kidnapped their princess. This is where racial coding comes into play because Nintendo is using a racial trope commonly used to depict Black and several native indigenous people as barbaric.

The Gerudo in Ocarina of Time are depicted as a race of desert-dwelling thieves. You're formally introduced gameplay wise when you have to sneak around their hideout and free these men who were seduced by what the game presents to us as dangerous but irresistible women. Despite being a group of almost entirely women, their society is patriarchal as the in-game lore states the lone man born every century is destined to be their leader. The Gerudo also go out into Hyrule to go find boyfriends.

Ocarina of Time is one of the earliest Zelda games to portray a human or human-like version of Ganon, the man of the desert he's repeatedly called, but they use racial coding with his human counterpart and make him an Arab man with some other cultures mashed in, which they also conflated with Islam to characterize him as evil and dangerous.

Ocarina of Time goes a step further as the recurring symbol of the Gerudo shown here is an altered version as seen on the mirror shield obtained in the spirit temple. The original symbol is a crescent moon and star very closely resembling the symbol of Islam. A common orientalist trope that does this is the conflation of Arabs with the religious faith of Islam. This was changed alongside prayer chanting used in music for the fire temple on some N64 cartridges and subsequent ports and the DS remake of Ocarina of Time.

The fact that Nintendo is a Japanese company doesn't magically make them immune to these issues, especially because 1) orientalism doesn't only encompass Asian people and 2) Even the term "Asian" encompasses countless subcommunities each with very distinct histories.

166 notes · View notes

iwritenarrativesandstuff · 1 year

Text

Dazai Likes People

Ok. So this is probably not the analysis you think it is. I'm not going to talk Dazai's dynamics with specific characters - I think that's better suited to personal interpretation and I've kind of already gone over my thoughts on Dazai's close relationships starting with this analysis here.

Instead, this is more about Dazai's thoughts on human beings in general, which, admittedly, can be a little hard to parse. There's a variety of thoughts on this amongst the fandom, ranging from the one extreme of "he loves people" to the other "he doesn't care at all".

This is merely my own thoughts on the matter. I don't know if this fully counts as an analysis, but I hope it at least sparks some discussion or helps piece some things together.

As you might've gathered from the title, I lean towards the idea that he likes people. There's always been things he's liked about people, as a matter of fact, but I think the nature of what he likes about them has changed across his development.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that Dazai's development as a character is, rather than a behavioural shift, instead based on his changing perception of human nature, and the value found in human connection. His methods are largely similar, however, the thought behind them and the direction they're given is different.

I'm going to be jumping around a bit with the timeline, so here's the core ideas in advance just so it's easier to follow.

Belief #1: "People are stronger in groups than individually." This has not changed across his character arc.

Belief #2: "There is a divide between myself and humanity that cannot be broached." to "Some of that divide may not be as wide as it seems." This development is still ongoing and key to his overall character conflict.

Belief #3: "Attachment is an incomprehensible motivator." to "Attachment is a reliable human drive." Take a close look at how his plans change as he ages.

Belief #4: "People just can't stop killing each other." to "There is beauty in the fighting human spirit." This one is a bit more conjecture based on hints in the story, but I think it holds some weight.

Belief #1: Groups over Individuals

This point requires very little explanation. If you look at the intro to the DHC conflict, linked here, you’ll find that he actually says it outright.

"What's more, you underestimated the power found in organizations. Humans are stronger in groups than they are as individuals. That's just the undeniable truth, Mr. One Man Army."

Again, in Stormbringer, Dazai confidently says the following:

"This is how the world works. It's an absolute truth no matter when or where you go. Groups are stronger than individuals...There's strength in numbers."

This is a canonical belief of his that he holds very strongly to, and at a young age at that. This is a primarily logical value to place on others. It's interesting though, because it goes beyond just "strength in numbers".

His further dialogue in the DHC prologue has him go on to respond to Shibusawa asking if the reason he joined the Mafia had to do with the strength in a group affirmatively. It ties in quite interestingly with what he tells Odasaku in The Day I Picked Up Dazai as the reason he should consider joining the Mafia, and Oda's own thoughts on the organization.

If one of their members is attacked by an outsider, they will turn into a row of fangs and bite the enemies.

"If you join, you will no longer be bothered by anything from your past. Because no past can touch that place."

He's said to speak with some pride about the organization in this scene. It's not just about strength. It's about safety. It's about knowing someone has your back. It is, ultimately, about trust.

So, really, it's no wonder that Dazai thrives in, and is honestly at his best, when working in partnerships.

The comfort in partnerships appears to have come rather quickly to Dazai in Fifteen; he works seamlessly with Chuuya after only a few minutes planning and is much more "alive" than in the previous scenes. We see a similar level of confidence, even unusually brazen cockiness, when working with him again in chapter 31. Dazai also works fluidly and has incredible faith in Kunikida, which explains their flawless teamwork in Entrance Exam.

He appears to be at his most confident when he is working with someone else. Look at these facial expressions.

So, it's no surprise that his response to crafting a way to protect Yokohama... is to create another partnership - this time between Atsushi and Akutagawa. And it's clearly not just for ability complements, but also some kind of genuine belief they have what it takes to support each other, if Chapter 84 and Beast are any indication.

It's about trust, in your partner and in your group. It always has been.

Belief #2: The Divide from Humanity

This divide comprises much of the fundamental core and conflict of Dazai's character - his disconnect and alienation from "humanity".

Again, this is not something I really have to defend - this becomes readily apparent to anyone who is the least bit familiar with the author's actual work, No Longer Human, from a cursory read through the manga, and is really quite obvious in the light novels, especially Dark Era, Fifteen and Stormbringer. As of now, it's still an ongoing aspect to his character, and if Oda's words are to be believed, he will likely always struggle with this disconnect to some extent.

However, there's a difference in how this aspect manifests in his dynamics with others across time.

Initially, it is a little like Dazai is unclear on how he differs from others; he only knows that he does in some way. He responds to Mori asking him why he wants to die with genuinely innocent confusion on why one would find worth in living, and responds to Chuuya stopping him from shooting the body with surprise and a simple admittance that not doing such a thing would be the "normal" way to think, before laughing it off.

By Stormbringer and Dark Era, Dazai is all too aware of what is "different" about him - that is, his apparent inability to connect with others in a meaningful way. However, I need to stress that this distance is also at least partially self-imposed. Dazai has internalized his differences from others, his lack of humanity, and decided to put up a front of being some inhuman mafia monster. Think "I am a man hated by righteousness" before repeatedly firing at Akutagawa.

Even with this initial uncertainty, there's one thing he's been quite clear on as different since the beginning: his high intellect, and he wields it like a weapon, appearing somewhat proud of at least this aspect of his distance from others. He's almost cocky about it, complains of boredom, and usually becomes interested in people when they sidestep or outright defy his predictions. It's something we see quite a lot of in his Mafia days and also a little in Entrance Exam. While he appears to grow more attached to people who live their lives in the midst of seeming meaninglessness than those who observe from the sidelines the way he does, he also comes off a bit envious in the same respect, especially when younger.

In some way, I wonder if this doesn't mirror Mykola's envy of those who "don't know they're stuck in a cage", in that sort of ‘how do people not see what I see’ kind of way, or 'if they do, then how can they deal with it'. Dazai’s intellect is rather like a double-edged sword - while it allows him a distinct advantage in prediction he enjoys, it’s likely also a strong contributor to his loneliness and separation from others, much like Ranpo. However, while Ranpo externalized his issues and thought there was something wrong with everyone else, Dazai internalized his and believed there was something wrong with him, which unfortunately caused him to isolate himself even further, rather as a self-fulfilling prophecy regarding the next point.

Dazai is a bit odd about his perceived inhumanity, because on one hand, he wields it when necessary much like his intellect, but on the other, he is almost dismayed by any reminders of his differences from "normal" people, even a bit hurt. A prime example of this is in the Dead Apple prologue, at Chuuya's "no one would believe that" line, but can also be found to a lesser extent in certain interactions in Fifteen, Dark Era, and Stormbringer. A lot of the complexity in Dazai's character comes from this juxtaposition - the mental superiority vs the human inferiority. So, he feels isolated in two ways: one is intellectually, which he tends to see as an advantage, and two is a bit harder to narrow down, but roughly has to do with the nature of the human self and its connections, for which he feels lacking.

Interestingly, Dazai seems to regard people with similarities to himself as threatening, and even gets uncharacteristically direct about how he is going to stop/kill them (Fyodor, Q). An interesting case occurs in Entrance Exam. Entrance Exam is really valuable for looking at Dazai's character because it is very much a transitory period for him, and there is one part in particular close to the end that gives me chills, both in the action and the implications of the action.

I am, of course, talking about the part where Dazai arranges Sasaki's death.

I'm going to expand on this later on once I do my analysis focusing on Sasaki herself, but her and Dazai have some pretty notable similarities between them that I heavily believe Dazai was aware of close to the end. For now, the most important similarity is the way they manipulate others - Sasaki's selective distribution of and often misleading info created situations that encouraged most of the people she contacted to act entirely on their own accord but also in the exact way she intended, without her having to do anything herself. This is quite eerily similar to the way Dazai tends to operate (though I'd say in his case with a bit more finesse that comes from Mori's strategic training).

And Dazai... he arranges her death using this same method. He kicks the gun, Rokuzou picks it up and shoots her out of revenge - and Dazai didn't have to do a single thing.

"She killed too many people."

So have you.

"That was the only way to save her. This was the best we could've hoped for."

........

I think I'll just leave it at that. There's a lot more to this complicated situation that deserves a thorough analysis of it's own, but I do think that the only means in his mind to save an empty, apathetic person who was responsible for too many deaths was to kill her says quite a bit about his mentality at that point.

But that appears to be changing.

I loved that Asagiri confirmed that Dazai's words to Kyouka in Chapters 34 to 36 are genuine. He's being probably as close to honest as we've ever seen. And we know this, because who shows up?

Why hello, Odasaku silhouette. Dazai knows full well how similar Kyouka and Odasaku are - their situations, even their dispositions, I'd say, and the way the both of them seem to unwittingly trigger character development in the people around them lol. But there's more to it than just that.

"Every person has their good and bad points, and your bad point happens to be killing. That's why you think you can't become an Agency member. That's just stupid."

"No one can know everything. That's what possibility is."

"You are not the only person with this kind of distress."

"Why do we fight? How should we live on? There is no one who can tell you the answer. All we have is our right to waver."

None of this is something I'd expect Mafia Dazai, or even Entrance Exam Dazai to say. This is someone who, from my perspective, has the barest, slightest will to live on.

"No one can know everything." In spite of his intelligence, in spite of his eerily accurate predictions, this admittance means that his perception of that intellectual distance is likely somewhat decreasing. He's still on a tier far above most other people... but he's closer to them than he is to a god. He cannot know everything.

It's similar to what he tells Sigma in Chapter 105.

"It's all a play of hands. I'm not a superhuman beyond the limits of human wisdom."

The emotional gap may also be closing a little. I think fondly of Dazai's dry "Don't you have any friends?" to Shibusawa in Dead Apple, then following up Shibusawa's dramatic 'I understand everyone so much that everyone bores me but don't understand myself' spiel with "You wouldn't be saying that if you had friends." Dazai really said friendless behaviour, pfft.

There's also his "I wonder how Kunikida-kun is doing~!" in the prison and his internal (and I thought oddly fond) comparison of Sigma to Atsushi.

Still, though, there is a significant gap in the way he removes himself from other people. Even as Dazai affirms his belief that it is the people who fight through uncertainty and live and breathe within it that create the greatest change, he still excludes himself from that category, placing himself, alongside Fyodor, above all others yet paradoxically inferior in the ability to enact real influence, sitting alone in a prison at the end of the world.

Belief #3: Attachment as a Motive

"I see... so it's all for your partner. Betraying the Mafia, spreading rumours about the old boss's resurrection, this fight we're in now... it's kind of hard to believe, to be honest."

Dazai, in his earliest appearances, seems to underestimate the drastic lengths people will go to in the name of the people they care about. The above line to Rimbaud, after he reveals he did all that he did to find out what happened to Verlaine, indicates that while he does understand bonds between others, he fails to grasp how that could be so incredibly motivating - whereas by contrast, Chuuya understands it instantly.

In fact, earlier in Fifteen, Chuuya's assistance is assured by Mori's capture of the Sheep members, which prevents Chuuya from harming anyone - Mori weaponizes this attachment and responsibility Chuuya has to great effect, and points it out to a bemused Dazai, who doesn't... really care. Dazai seems much more intrigued by the growing strife between the Sheep and their leader, and amusedly pinpoints Chuuya as a "sheep getting stared down by a wolf", before intentionally ramping up the tension. Dazai weaponized the cracks that were already showing between them, and while he seems to have started to acknowledge the importance of attachment as a powerful motivator, unlike Chuuya who sees it as honourable, Dazai at this point seems to regard it as a weakness to be exploited.

While Dazai absolutely shows budding signs of attachment himself in Fifteen and Stormbringer, it's nowhere near enough for it to be a key motivator of his own. He runs on logic. His plans are practical, precise and take no chances; a logical strategist much like Mori.

But that all changes with Odasaku. Odasaku's impact on Dazai was undeniably the strongest motivator for change he's had, but I want to talk a little about Dazai's side of things, and his unusual devotion towards his friend. For as much as Dazai is evasive, incredibly concerning, and apparently added some kind of stimulant to a dish he made for the trio without telling them (!?? bro.), when it comes down to it and things get serious, Dazai is, surprisingly enough, an objectively good friend to Odasaku. He gets panicked when he realizes Odasaku happened on Shibusawa during the DHC. He tells him immediately he doesn't need to use the Silver Oracle to ask for his help. He apologizes for killing the snipers in front of him because he knows Odasaku doesn't like killing (even if, at this point, he doesn't know why he holds this philosophy). He arranges for the kids to be hidden in a safe location once it becomes obvious Gide is targeting Odasaku. He tries to convince Odasaku he can find a reason to live, even though he doesn't, at that point, have one himself. He runs to him at the end, even when it is pointless, even when it is not logical, all because that's his friend. And this isn't even touching Beast Dazai, who wasn't even friends with the guy but saw that another him was, and decided he would do everything he did to protect that one person's dream (thereby missing what Odasaku wanted for him, which also, incidentally, was for his friend to live on, but I digress). Dazai is a surprisingly incredibly devoted friend to him. This guy experienced close friendship and it completely changed his perspective, because he'd never had anything like that before. Connection and understanding are extremely powerful motivators. He knows this now. It's in everything he does. The person is gone, but the bond remains, and it drives him to this day.

It's also important to point out that while we haven't seen the turning point in Double Black's dynamic where they went from uneasy partnership to that intense trust, Chuuya is the poster boy for attachment as a ridiculously strong motive for living. His decision to risk everything for the sake of those he has sworn to protect means that Chuuya is reliable. So, suddenly, Dazai doesn't need to make such stringent plans with him - they can be more loose about it, yet still perfectly in sync. "Chuuya is a reliable partner" is not an opinion to Dazai, it's a fact. Attachment as strength, not weakness. I feel reasonably confident in saying he likely learned this first from Chuuya. It gives him the power to persevere through the pain. It's not always fragile. It can be relied on. Chuuya struggles through his life and finds purpose in his bonds with others, and Dazai, both envious and admiring, picks up that he can utilize this in his plans.

Dazai making plans in the Agency is a little different to how he makes them in the Mafia. While there is still hefty reliance on logic and trickery, there's now an extra caveat of social and moral expectation. Dazai makes plans, knowing that people will carry them out because of the kind of people they are. He's making character judgements, not purely logical ones.

While Mori and Fyodor are also capable of much the same, it's rather unlike their methods, as they use attachment, often by leveraging it. Dazai can and does do this too, but notably, Dazai's allies are also regularly left to act in accordance to what they believe to be right without much direct interference - Dazai uses but also relies on this attachment to people and morality. It's odd, because in a sense, it's both an accurate logical prediction and a form of trust. Many of his plans in the present involve people doing what they would have done anyways given their character, but in a narrowed scope that comes from Dazai's influencing of them and the situation. He knows Ranpo will take charge when the Agency is threatened. He knows Atsushi will risk it all for his friends and family and people who remind him of his younger self. He knows Kunikida will never accept lives being lost if there is something he can do about it. He, highly unfortunately, knows Akutagawa will do anything to gain the recognition he seeks.

It's odd, because while undoubtedly still a manipulative tactic, he also has to know, for certain, that these people will act on their morals, drives, and bonds, otherwise it quite literally would not work. Is it manipulation? Is it trust? I lean towards both. Whatever the case may be, it is clear that Dazai finds at least some value in attachment (even if he, again, still largely detaches himself from pure expressions of this kind of motive - Odasaku was the major exception).

When Fyodor says people are sinful and can't help killing each other even when they know they're being manipulated to it and Dazai replies with yes, and? "What's so wrong with that?"

The way Chuuya wins against Verlaine, because he cared for people and Verlaine, in spite of everything, had at least one person he didn't want to let die. The way Gab might not have met such a tragic end if he'd had the chance to connect the way Atsushi had. The way the isolated Sigma ultimately falls, and Tachihara finds new purpose and drive from his conflicting bonds that should've weakened him but instead gave him conviction.

Attachment can be a foolish thing. It can be logically irrational, and in certain cases leaves one vulnerable, but it's not inherently a weakness. It can also be the source of incredible strength and perseverance. Human connection is the beating, bleeding heart of this series. The Agency barely took a breath after being framed before they were preparing to hold their own and prove their innocence - because the Agency meant something more to them than just a workplace. It's their place to belong. They rally to protect it and each other, just as Dazai knew they would, and he, too, is taking great risks to protect it.

Which brings me to the last point.

Belief #4: Beauty in the Fight

Fyodor and Dazai are foil characters - they are intellectual equals, and their methods of thinking and planning tend to be very similar. However, motivation-wise, they are very different - Fyodor says things like the above, clearly with a low opinion on most others. While Dazai agrees with the statement, he disagrees with the sentiment.

"What's so wrong with that?"

But I'll be honest: I don't think he always felt that way. In fact, I suspect he used to feel similarly to Fyodor when he was younger.

In Fifteen, Dazai describes the situation with the Sheep as similar to the "Undercooked Meat Theory" to Rimbaud, which acts as an analogy for violence - everyone wants to eat more of the meat, so one takes it earlier to get more than everyone else, then another takes it even earlier to get more than that guy, and so on and so forth until they are all eating undercooked meat. Here are some key points from that conversation:

Dazai: "If one person stops, he alone will end up with less meat than the other two. Therefore, each of them is trapped, forced to eat the undercooked meat and nothing else, even though all three know that perfectly cooked meat tastes much better."

Dazai: "It explains at least half the misery in the entire world."

Rimbaud: "I see... in other words, since everyone pursued what was best for them, they couldn't achieve what was best for the group..."

Rimbaud: "Violence and war are not necessary for survival... if everyone agreed to stop fighting and banned all weapons - then violence would be no more. But that isn't realistic. No matter what, someone will break the rules to get ahead of the rest... everyone else... would have to maintain their stance on fighting back only when provoked."

Although Dazai expresses his interest in the criminal underworld as a "thrill", there's cause to believe this dog-eat-dog world is something that Dazai himself personally does not like. After all, shortly afterwards, when Chuuya crashes onto the scene and proclaims that "the strongest always win", Dazai disgustedly says,

"It's people like you who turn the world into undercooked meat."

In a way, it almost reminds me a bit of what Teruko proclaims about what a rubbish society it would be if those with the strongest violence always ended up on top. That's her purpose, as a Hunting Dog - to use violence to stop criminals - but violence to maintain order is still violence. Violence begets violence, but you can't just not defend yourself in a world that wants to hurt you. And so the world goes round, and people still kill each other, often quite needlessly.

It seems both Fyodor and Dazai shared the mentality that people are all the same, self-centered and out to protect themselves at the cost of others; sinful, boring beings. Except Fyodor, a more proactive person, decided he was going to try and fix the problem. Dazai, prone to inaction, did not... and saw nothing interesting in the world worth living for.

"It explains at least half the misery in the world." I wonder, does it explain some of Dazai's misery too? He appears to be drawn to the Mafia, not because of the violence in itself, but because of the honesty with which it is approached. You know what you're getting, with organized crime - there's going to be crime, and death, and murder. The proximity to death is a removal of the veil of social acceptability; the mask over the world - Dazai is hoping that by getting closer to the cruel world's "reality", he'll be able to find that something that the people around him would kill for in order to live.

Unlike Fyodor though, who still sees people as boring for their foolishness, Dazai apparently seems to find them interesting by this point. What changed?

It's worth noting that even though Dazai genuinely thought Chuuya was just an arrogant, violent kid before the confrontation with Rimbaud, in an earlier fight scene, Dazai goes breathless at Chuuya's battle prowess. That sheer display of life and energy and raw destruction is something captivating to him. And that's interesting, because that fight there was one he had just previously been deriding Chuuya for starting - it was pointless violence, to him - and yet, he can't help but watch.

So, when the Arahabaki reveal happens and Dazai suddenly realizes he'd been mistaken about Chuuya, it triggers a shift. Chuuya wasn't looking for power. Chuuya was looking for himself.

In Fifteen, Dazai is intrigued by Chuuya's situation. In Stormbringer, Dazai is invested in Chuuya's story.

Once again, Dazai watches Chuuya fight as he relinquishes control to use the full power of Corruption, carefully watching the progression of it all. When Chuuya turns fallen angel, Dazai says to himself, "That's Arahabaki's - that's Chuuya's true form." This incredible show of strength is not just the result of a raw power. This is the will of a human who has something worth fighting for. Chuuya is not a blank vessel for Arahabaki. Arahabaki is Chuuya's to wield. This is all Chuuya, through and through.

Chuuya, caught in the act of dying, in a last-ditch play that could easily be a self-sacrificial one, surrounded by death and destruction, is nonetheless fighting with all the life within him to defend the lives of his people, with the symbol of his stubborn will to survive (that is, Arahabaki, the singularity that should've killed him) on full wrath and display. To the death-obsessed kid who wanted a reason to live, who did not see why people would fight so hard to live on, such a sight would be breathtaking.

Dazai is drawn to the people who struggle through hardship, and the ones who rebel in the name of valuing life. He becomes interested in Ango when he finds the reports he made on the DHC dead, that he made to preserve their lives even without Mori's permission. Dazai does not want to compromise Odasaku's morals, and is deeply fascinated by the juxtaposition of his Mafia status and his no killing rule, though he doesn't pry for the reason. With Kunikida, much as Dazai does not care much for ideals, he sees how Kunikida keeps on pushing through against every setback and horribly cruel reality check, and I honestly think he respects that.

Then there's this bit when Atsushi has just succeeded in getting Q's doll safely to Dazai after the curse on Yokohama.

"It was your spirit that emerged victorious."

He likes it when people succeed. He wants to see people triumph, against all odds.

I find it fascinating because Dazai becomes most invested in the aspects of the characters that we tend to get invested in - we, the readers, which makes a lot of sense given his consistent observer status. The story is never actively about Dazai, but he's always there, watching others' stories unfold, growing fascinated with the struggles they face and the development they undergo, and feeling pride and admiration when they learn to overcome.

But the tragedy in Dark Era in part was a vicious reminder that the story impacts him too, no matter how much he tries to detach himself - to become invested and connected is to open yourself up to the inevitability of getting hurt. But it's also in this struggle to find balance that we are open to make change, and to live.

Fighting to save a life - even and especially when that life is just your own - there is beauty to be found in that fight.

#hi hello here is the meta i said i'd write two months ago ✨#i hope it is coherent. i really need to stop writing these at 3 am.#bsd #bsd meta #bsd analysis #<-i guess lol #bsd dazai #storyrambles

392 notes · View notes

comicaurora · 1 year

Note

How does Aurora's broader cultural/existential relationship with death differ from ours? Since the main thing influencing our view of death is that we don't know what happens when we die, and the Aurora people (Aurorans?) already have a factual explanation for this, would that make them accept death more, or fear it more?

Well, they have a factual explanation, but it isn't quite the same thing as an understanding.

In the real world, we know what happens to our body when we die, and some people find it comforting that the atoms that make them up are going to go into the cycle of growth and rebirth that makes up the planet's ecosystem. We are a concrete, tangible thing, and we know what it means to die.

However, there is a core unanswered question, which is "what part of me makes me me?" I think, therefore I am; I exist, and I am the observer contained within this body. I contain a theoretically infinite inner world of thoughts and imagination and can conceive of worlds beyond number. There is something in me that makes me different from you, that explains why I see the world through these eyes and nobody else's. "The Brain is wider than the Sky, For put them side by side, The one the other will contain With ease, and you beside."

But what is that observer? Where is it in the body? Where does it go when the body dies?

The observer cannot conceive of a world without itself in it, because the observer by its nature only knows the world it has seen.

In the real world, many people call this observer "the soul", an ephemeral and intangible concept. Many attempts have been made to find a physical core that is or holds this ephemeral concept, because we really want it to physically exist. I think, therefore I am, therefore I must be something. In ancient Egypt, the heart was thought to be the seat of consciousness. Nowadays that's how we think of the brain. But the brain is a very complicated thing, and we don't really know what each part of it corresponds to when mapped to the mind, and every time we think we have a solid answer, we learn something new that makes the whole thesis unravel. People who have suffered brain damage or illnesses often have difficulty engaging with the world around them, but if and when they are lucid they are often clearly still themselves - which indicates that their Self, their Observer, isn't just "the brain", because even when the brain is harmed the self persists, just somewhat disconnected from the world, lacking some of the tools it previously had access to that allowed it to engage with its surroundings.

People have tried weighing bodies at the moment of death to see if the soul has a weight (it doesn't) and many theological arguments have debated its existence, because nothing is more fun to argue about than something that can absolutely never be proven one way or another.

Many religions build core tenets around "where does the observer go when the body dies." Reincarnation is a popular concept - because the observer cannot conceive of a world without itself in it, it might find it comforting to believe it could continue to observe the world from new vantage points. Afterlives are another popular idea, the belief that an observer "goes somewhere else" when the body fails. We're not very good at comprehending endings, I think; the way we see the world and the way we engage with our memories can sort of leave us feeling like our past is one big eternal moment, and people we've lost linger forever in our memories - it doesn't always make sense that they simply don't exist anymore, and it's easier for us to think of them as simply Somewhere Else. Somewhere we can't get to, but somewhere. It's why we get so dizzied when we go back somewhere like a childhood home or an old school and find the place refurbished or demolished - it's eternal in our memories, and we don't really understand how it could simply stop existing. How can the world move on without us, when the world we lived in is so clear in our memories? How can a person be gone, when they're so vibrant and alive in our memories?

In Aurora, souls are a concrete thing, a weaving of an energy that is documented, omnipresent and has tangible effects on the world around it. But does that tell an Auroran person where their observer is? Their personhood exists in the latticed weave of an energy that is vaster and older than the world. When they die, the energy unweaves; the pattern is lost, but the energy remains. To my mind, this is no different than how we relate to the atoms that make up our bodies. They're physical, known quantities, but the thing that makes us us is some metaphysical concept contained in the information of how those building blocks are specifically put together. When we die, those atoms do other things; every part of us remains, but we are gone. Where did we go? What is the "we" that is gone?

I don't think the people of Aurora have any more answers than we do about this. Knowing for sure that they have souls doesn't tell them anything more about who they are.

#asks #aurora

223 notes · View notes

sciderman · 6 months

Note

Would you ever consider blaming Raiminand Tobey Maguire for making people think Peter is a selfless quiet dork with barely any charisma or snark? Or where did the "Peter is an akward spineless quiet dork without a sassy bone in him" idea of Peter came from?

i don't want to discount raimi's parker because - you know, i kind of like him. i kind of like most peter parkers, for their own reasons. i'm unfortunately doomed to be in love with most peter parkers for some reason or another. and for tobey - he's just one silly little autistic-coded guy who's kind of terrible at relationships and struggling his way through life. which is very peter parker core.

i don't think being sassy or charismatic is something integral to peter - it's something you love to see, no doubt, but - like, every peter parker is different, and i can't fault anyone for looking at tobey's peter and saying "yeah. that's my spider-man."

sure - i think it's a bummer that there's a pop-culture consensus that peter parker is meant to be pathetic - but - it's true, actually. he is pathetic. just every peter parker has their own brand of pathetic. and it's down to them to discover what their flavour of pathetic is.

i'm more upset that the tobey movies kind of ruined the public perception of MJ - that's unfair. especially since TASM rolled around after and gave everyone gwen stacy and everyone fell in love with gwen stacy and doubled down on the MJ hate. the number of people who tell me they hate MJ and i ask! why! and it's directly the fault of the tobey movies. that's not fair. she's not even bad in those movies. peter and MJ were both kind of stilted and wooden in the trilogy, and we live in a world of women haters who'll just lambast the female character more than the guys.

i think the mcu's portrayal of spider-man did a lot more damage to the public perception of peter parker than tobey – tobey's kind of meant to be a little bit of a blank slate - your archetypal suffering hero character. but there's lessons learnt from him. tom's spider-man - tom's spider-man kind of fails all of that. he's not sassy - he's a puppy dog. he humps the leg of anyone who'll give him attention, and he really doesn't have any sort of motivation beyond "oh! this is cool!!" or "oops. i messed up." he's dragged around by the narrative like a wet blanket, and kind of doesn't do anything noble or heroic that doesn't inadvertently cause more damage. i don't like that one. i don't like that peter parker. that's the peter parker i'm mad at for ruining peter parker. i'd wipe that twink off the map if i could.

#sci speaks

75 notes · View notes

whirligig-girl · 8 months

Text

Losar System

Cooking the Solar System from the Inside Out

(yeah lol it does kinda look like it says Loser)

For this system layout, I have taken the Solar System planet's orbital distance in astronomical units, and taken the reciprocal.

The major planets, in order of increasing distance from Los, are Enutpen, Sunaru, Nrutas, Retipuj, Sram, Thrae, Sunev, and Yrucrem.

Read more about them below the cut:

The Losar system formed through a very different mechanism to our solar system. I'm not sure entirely about the specifics, but the arrangement is not dissimilar to the Kepler-90 system, in which 6 super-earth-mass planets are extremely compact and close to their parent star, with a low-mass and a high-mass gas giant at the outer part of the solar system. Perhaps as Retipuj formed, it migrated inward, carrying with it the ice and gas necessary to form the super-earth-mass planetary cores which accreted into Enutpen and Sunaru, or perhaps there was some kind of switcharoo where the Hot Ice Giants started out on more distant orbits, before crossing orbits with Retipuj and then being coralled into lower orbits.

Either way, some kind of migration is necessary, since Enutpen and Sunaru are volatile-rich, and the outer planets are comparatively volatile-poor.

I've excluded Pluto (or "Otulp") and the other dwarf planets, not because I don't like them or think they count as planets, but because I think by the time you're accounting for every large object in the Solar system in the Losar system, it just gets really implausible. also I bet some objects end up inside of the Sun. Plus, this kind of thought experiment is playing the same kind of planetary dynamics game that splitters are playing when they say Pluto's not a planet. Suffice to say, there are definitely lots of interesting small worlds in the Losar system, but they don't have 1:1 analogues with Solar system planets.

There are only five large moons in the entire system. Aside from Retipuj, satellites and rings are not stable around any of the Hot Giants. If satellites were initially formed around the Hot Giants, they would have either crashed into the planets or were ejected into one of the asteroid belts.

The first civilization to arise in the Losar system are the Sunevians, suspiciously great-ape-like feathered aliens who walk on their upper limbs and use their lower limbs as graspers. Sunev is an oceanic world with one large australia-sized landmass and a great number of volcanic islands. The ocean is relatively shallow, with a lot of coral reefs across the planet. The world is kept warm due to an atmosphere with an Earthlike composition but over twice the atmospheric pressure. Its slow retrograde rotation period results in day/night cycles which are more like seasons, and there is plenty of time during the warm nights to peek through the relatively dense cloud cover into the nearly empty sky. Early or late in the night, one might be able to see Thrae and Noom, or Sram, or if they catch it at just the right time, they might see the incredibly bright spectacle of Retipuj or even Nrutas peek out of the treeline, brighter than any planet or star. On a really good sunset across the ocean with clear skies, some observers report seeing additional super-bright red stars next to the red Sun, but these are thought to be some kind of weather phenomenon reflecting sunlight.

In rare moments of clear skies at night, away from light pollution, one might see many faint hazy spectacles. The zodiacal light (meteoroids orbiting beyond Yrucrem) shines as a faint haze across the ecliptic. The milky way too, shines as a glittery patchy cloud across the sky. But sometimes, every few hours, early in the night, there is a bright patch near the sun, brighter than the zodiacal light. A mystery for ages, but this is now known to be the cometary tail of Enutpen. Sunaru's tail is also detectable, but substantially fainter.

Sunaru and Enutpen were the first planets to be discovered, and were detected within a week of one another by early Losar observers. After the invention of the astronomical telescope, a reflector, observers got very bored during the daytime months. That is, until someone figured out a safe way of pointing towards the Sun. At a cadence of 52 and 103 hours, little black dots would march across the Losar disk. 52 hours was also the cadence of the brightening and dimming of the twilight zodiacal light. And suddenly, two brand new planets were discovered!

Millions of years later on the cold ice-age planet Thrae, astronomers would have an easier time with Enutpen and Sunaru, having known them to be planets since antiquity, due to their apparitions during total solar eclipses. Thrae's comparative cloudlessness also helps.

Sunev has three tiny asteroid moons, which was a helpful jumpstart to Sunevian space exploration, providing early wins for all four space programs. But these little asteroids were not truly other worlds, merely refueling outposts on the way to the rest of the Losar system.

Every few years, there would be a perfect alignment between Sunev and the Hot Giants to allow for a grand tour to be completed using only flybys of the gas giants, with minimal propellant expenditure. The first grand tour attempt got no further than Retipuj--contact was lost due to overheating before the probe made its Nrutas flyby. Specially developed solar flyby probes had to be developed that could survive hotter temperatures before the Hot Giants could be properly explored. These probes would resemble the Parker Solar Probe in some ways, albeit with very different scientific instruments designed for planetary science as opposed to Oilehphysics. Nrutas, Sunaru, and Enutpen turned out all to be much less massive than originally thought, having been puffed up to a larger diameter by being cooked by solar radiation. Nrutas, thought to be the king of the planets, turned out to be merely puffing up its crest to appear regal, so to speak.

Retipuj's moons were incredibly interesting. Retipuj turned out to have 8 satellites--four tiny inner asteroid moons, and four large satellite planets. Otsillac, the innermost turned out to be a volcanic world, yellow-brown in color and pitted with dull-red volcanoes, and a thin atmosphere constantly replenished by volcanic plumes. The next three are in a Ecalpal Resonance of 1:2:4. Being both larger than Otsillac (and, in fact, Yrucrem) and in a more eccentric orbit, Edymenag was even more volcanically active, with a molten surface and exposed mantle. The smaller and more distant Aporue and Oi turned out to be less active, with only a few active volcanoes and many extinct ones. Oi was the least active--although the most recent eruptions were only half a million years old, it was practically dead. It was also the only one with a substantial amount of impact craters, and like Thrae's satellite, Noom, there is likely some volatile ices stuck in the permanent darkness of polar craters.

Hot Giant exploration was best appreciated by specialists, but the other outer planets were much more appreciated. Sram was thought to be warm enough to potentially support liquid water, but its atmosphere ended up being 1/20th of the pressure initially expected, the majority of it having been blown away into space by the Losar winds and the Enutpen tail. But Thrae was a sweet spot--it may have had a thinner atmosphere, but that was compensated by being nearer to Los. In addition, a giant impact it sustained billions of years ago lead to it having a powerful magnetic dynamo to survive the onslaught of the Losar and Enutpen winds. Thrae was a habitable biosphere of similar complexity to Sunev's, albeit with deeper oceans and all the alien horrors that comes with the territory.

Even Yrucrem turned out to be a surprise--despite a dull appearance in telescopes, it was found to have cryovolcanoes and pockets of subsurface oceans, which could potentially support a biosphere. It's a dark brown color due to ice having been aged by solar radiation, with white spots and rays spraying out from recent asteroid impacts and cryovolcanic plumes. The small planets of the trans-Yrucrem asteroid belt were a similar treasure trove, although the nearest large trans-Yrucrem planets were a dozen au away, and requiring RTG power sources. Initial flyby probes to the Trans-Yrucrem-Objects required both being capable of surviving the oppressive heat of Los-shine near Retipuj, and the cold of deep deep space, in order to take advantage of Sunev-Thrae-Sunev-Retipuj gravity assists.

The Sunevians never had a chance to discover the deepest secrets of the Losar system. Their planet froze over due to anthropogenic aerosol production intended to reverse anthropogenic carbon emission, civilization fell, and it never recovered.

But millions of years later, perhaps the Thraelings have a chance to discover, whether through direct imaging or through analyzing the weirdly arrayed orbits of certain trans-yrucrem objects, the four Cold Giant planets, and the distant brown dwarf companion of the Losar system...

76 notes · View notes

utilitycaster · 6 months

Text

Sort of related to the post about people coming in for shipping but something that’s struck me, as actual play fandom has spread, is that there is a certain lack of genre awareness currently - not just surrounding Critical Role, to be honest; it’s a frustration for me for the conversation surrounding Dimension 20 and Worlds Beyond Number for a while as well.

Take fate, for example. The idea of fate, whether it’s as specific as an ancient prophecy, or as broad as the general concept of destiny, is absolutely at the core of so many classic fantasy series that to be vehemently opposed to it within Critical Role is to display profound ignorance of the genre of fantasy. It’s akin to showing up to a sporting event and getting mad that people are running around in athletic gear; it’s like going to an Italian restaurant in the US and screaming in the face of the waiter when they give you bread and olive oil. There is not, per se, a required reading list. You do not need to read nor watch all of Lord of the Rings let alone consider it a formative work; Sam Riegel and Aabria Iyengar sure haven’t. But if you are not familiar with the genre at all, at the very least you do need to come with a certain awareness that you are not familiar with the genre and be open to its conventions. And to be clear: it’s valid to hate the theme of things being fated. But again, that’s like hating they serve bread and olive oil at the Italian restaurant; you should probably simply not go to Italian restaurants.

Another example that is my personal source of irritation is the obsession with radiation as a factor in Burrow’s End. Setting aside my original irritation at just good old-fashioned lack of reading comprehension with the conflation of the poison and the Blue/the Light, the idea that the intelligence was induced by radiation is really…not genre aware. Like, I recognize I’m coming at this with rather more knowledge than average (from a scientific rather than genre-aware perspective no less) but to get back to genre, I take no issue with, say, radiation in comic books. I know the premise of Spider-Man or of Doctor Manhattan’s origins is absolutely ridiculous; but that’s the genre. Radiation in comic books exists to be an easy origin story so we can get to the point of “here’s a guy with powers”. However, in a show that derives its narrative language from Watership Down and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, the idea that the magic and the lightning and the source of intelligence are radiation makes little sense. Another example is the weird response to Skip in Starstruck; the idea of an alien brain parasite like that is so genre-typical to space opera it feels like, again, someone going to an Italian restaurant, pointing at the bread, and saying “WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? HOW DARE YOU!”

I think my particular frustration with both of the above (and when I talk about Worlds Beyond Number) is that those people ignorant of genre and not letting it wash over them a la Sam will often fall back to the real world (although, unfortunately, not when it comes to radiation) when trying to make sense of the narrative without the signposts, language, and tropes of the genres to which they belong. To understand the subversions or deconstructions that are likely to occur in, for example, the upcoming exploration of the Citadel in Worlds Beyond Number, you need to be open to the idea that it is a complicated place and not simply The Evil Empire That Suvi Will Definitely Leave; if you’re utterly suspicious of everyone and refuse to try to understand why this is a place people enjoy let alone will die for, you can’t actually experience the story. We are going into the Citadel arc; these wizards will be humanized, and if you have closed off your mind to them already you have set yourself up to be miserable. I do think it’s great that actual play has found an increasingly large audience, but the medium of actual play also carries a certain lexicon and ignorance of it will skew one’s interpretations. My personal bugbear here is of course interpreting bog-standard tanking strategies as either romantic or self-sacrificial in intent, but in general, any resistance to the mere concept of gaining power, the existence of concrete deities, combat, and the placement of plot above romance in D&D are all signs of this ignorance. And again: ignorance is fine! But with all of the above there also often comes this entitlement to a story that is familiar, in blatant disregard for those parameters of genre and medium, and I have to wonder, again, why people mad that a fantasy story is leaning heavily on fantasy story norms, or why D&D has combat, are still showing up to the fantasy D&D story. To return to the Italian restaurant, which is getting a lot of terrible patrons in this metaphor, it feels like a lot of people are showing up to this restaurant because they heard it was good, but then becoming furious it won’t serve them peanut butter and jelly. People who are not familiar should still be welcome, but that lack of familiarity needs to be accompanied by an openness and desire to learn, rather than the entitlement that is so often present.

#cr tag #wbn tag #d20 tag #on fandom

62 notes · View notes

iridiss · 8 months

Text

Laurance sings. Not masterfully by any means, he’d never be well-renowned for the beautifully trained technique of his voice, but he grew up in a bustling trading port town with a constant influx of seafarers, fishermen, even pirates—mariners from all over the planet, from every possible town and culture, and with them they brought their songs. Sea shanties of every breed and variety. And as the Head Guard of Meteli, he would be there to manage all the trades and imports, so he’d be right there on the docks, hearing every song that comes in and out of town and gleefully listening and learning to sing along. He’s a mariner boy, he grew up right by a channel into the sea, he has dozens of sea shanties memorized in-and-out and will sing them regularly, just to entertain himself and others around him. Aphmau, Garroth, and the others grow used to hearing Laurance bust out sea shanties all the time on their travels, like singing 99 Bottles of Beer On The Wall while you’re on a road trip, but like. The medieval equivalent of that

Vylad is in the same boat. After he faked his death, he ran off into the wild world of Ru’aun And Beyond to have a life full of constant adventure, and most of those ended up being overseas. Vylad became a swashbuckler of sorts, a petty thief with egregious debts to the local crime guilds that he never paid, the kind of person who would show up one day for a heist, and completely disappear off the face of the planet the next. Vylad was a pirate. Maybe not a grand or well-known one, maybe only for 7 months out of every year, but he’d stowaway on a number of ships just to get across channels and off to new places. At least a few times, he worked as part of a crew in order to get some coin, and one time, he was Captain—before his ship and the fake identity he took went up in flames only weeks later. Vylad knows a wide list of sea shanties, and he still sings them from time to time. It’s a comforting reminder of his humanity. It keeps him grounded, prevents him from forgetting the past and getting too lost in the chains of being a Shadow Knight.

Zane sings. Very differently from Laurance & Vylad. Zane was a High Priest, which means he held & organized church, regularly. Churches usually have music, and his religion is heavily based off of Catholicism, so it’s very likely that he was the one to arrange the O’khasis church’s liturgical choirs. It’s likely that singing in church was part of the regular routine that everyone present would partake in, including and especially their High Priest. There’s no way he doesn’t know how to sing, very much in that kind of Medieval-Classical-Latin-Catholic Choir vocal technique/style. It has a very different sound from Laurance and Vylad’s more…”free-balling seaman” style, but he was professionally trained on how to sing since he was young, and can sing quite well. (Also, Kestin is a good singer, which is an added bonus)

Zenix could not sing to save his life. His regular speaking voice is already very rough and sandpaper-like, and his singing voice is even worse. He’s tone deaf, if you heard his singing voice, which sounds more like a dying, extremely strained screeching wail, you may never want to hear anything ever again. It’s just a very naturally unpleasant sound. And that’s fine, he’s never really been much of a singer or that musically inclined. He’s more arson-inclined, frankly. However, I can picture him channeling his destructive energy into being a good percussionist, by way of “needing to hit stuff” + getting down a good sense of rhythm = producing a pretty decent beat. Maybe he also beatboxes? Zenix has enough “hyperactive boy” energy to be a beatboxer, that’d suit him well enough.

Gene has a luscious singing voice. Gene could sing lullabies that’d put a rhino to sleep. Gene’s voice is the kind of sexy, buttery-smooth voice you feel reverberating in your core. Gene sounds like he’d sing Frank Sinatra, or old classic Christmas songs for a record that’d make millions. He does it so infrequently though, especially ever since he became a Shadow Knight, and mostly uses it now to lull other people into a trance, or when he’s bored. You can’t exactly pursue a musical career when you’re serving as the General of Hell for the rest of eternity. Zenix and Sasha have both heard him sing, at least a few times. In the past, it relaxed Zenix like no other.

Sasha used to sing. She used to have a very pretty voice that Laurance and Cadenza would stop and listen to at any given opportunity. Cadenza would encourage her to push past her shyness enough to sing for her while she worked on sowing her next design (sapphic sasha x cadenza melodies,,,). But after her death by falling into lava, she sustained a certain level of damage both to her body and to her psyche that made her shut down her love for singing entirely. She has not sung once since she died.

Kiki sings to her animals and to Leona all the time.

If Garroth did sing, he would probably have a very similar vocal technique/style to Zane’s, simply by being raised under the same religious roof as him. I don’t think “learn how to sing in a choir” would be part of the Princely/military training Garte would put him through, though.

Zoe and Levin like to sing together for fun sometimes.

In my main rewrite au, the Shadow Knight Rebellion includes Laurance, Vylad, Zenix, and Zane begrudgingly working together as a team. They like to sing together. Laurance and Vylad connected easily and quickly over their shared love for sea shanties, and eventually the three of them managed to bully, bug, and peer pressure Zane into singing with them, and were surprised by just how well he could sing. Laurance and Vylad asked Zenix to join in. Zenix got through the first three notes before Laurance told him to please stop.

The four of them end up making an unexpectedly merry band together. Laurance and Vylad sing, Zane sings sometimes, and Zenix would provide the accompaniment, like a rag-tag improvised a capella group that formed from the cracks in the pavement. They make an anthem for the Rebellion and teach it to all the hundreds of soldiers that join over time. When the SKR eventually reunite with The Phoenix Alliance, the people of the Phoenix Alliance are very perplexed by the band and their musical connection.

121 notes · View notes

molsno · 3 months

Text

minecraft would need a lot of changes in order to be less colonialist, and I don't think it would even really be possible to completely strip the game of all colonialism (it still fundamentally is a terra nullius fantasy at its core) but I've been thinking a lot about how I personally would redesign it as a developer, and I have so many thoughts that if I were to list them all, this post would go on forever. so I think for now, I'll focus on one particular aspect: villagers and illagers.

as a disclaimer, these are just my personal thoughts. I wouldn't consider myself an expert on decolonization, so my analysis may very well be limited. I have a strong passion for storytelling through the use of game mechanics, and that's the angle I'm approaching this from. if I were planning to make any changes to minecraft (which I'm not), I would consult with people who know more than me about this topic first and involve them in the process. anyway, since this post turned out way longer than I expected, I've put the rest under a read more.

the primary critique leveled against villagers and illagers is that they're antisemitic caricatures. a lot has already been said about this, and I'm not jewish myself, so I don't particularly have anything novel to contribute to that conversation. I think that their models should be changed, and all forms of golems should be renamed. I believe there's a mod that renames them to constructs, so I'll be using that to refer to them here.

I think that overall, the biggest problem that villagers have is that you are not incentivized in any way to engage with their mechanics. the most productive and rewarding way of engaging with villagers is to ravage their homes and steal all of their valuable resources, then build slums so that you can shove a villager of each career into a 1x1 hole. to further benefit from this, you can make a zombie effectively kill them, then bring them back to life using a splash potion of weakness and a golden apple. they will then have discounted prices on all of their trades.

there are so many problems with this I don't even know where to begin. to put it simply, you are not incentivized to treat them as inhabitants of the world that are equal to you; you're rewarded for essentially turning them into slaves. this is a fate far more cruel, far more evil, than anything the pillagers do to them (which I'll get to later).

if I were designing the villager system, then the first thing I would do is make them less useful to you if you treat them like this. if you steal the resources from their village, including the items in their chests, then I think that should affect the trades they offer you. think about it: why would they have anything to trade with you if they don't have any resources in their village? if you completely restrict their movement, then they shouldn't trade with you at all; how could they? on top of that, they should fight back! if you start mistreating them, then nearby villages should start taking defensive measures, like building walls around their villages to keep you out and iron constructs to fight you if you attempt to enter. I think this would further humanize the villagers by conveying that they communicate with each other, that they have thoughts and feelings beyond just desiring emeralds. and indeed, having other villages respond to your behavior would demonstrate that they communicate with other villages, not just as trading partners, but as allies.

speaking of trading, it desperately needs to be overhauled. I think one of the reasons people tend not to engage with trades is because villager trades are generally terrible deals, and that's mostly because emeralds are an extremely rare ore. yes, you can obtain emeralds through trading, but the quantity is never enough. the minimum number of emeralds an armorer who hasn't been zombified and healed will ask for in exchange for an enchanted diamond chestplate is 21. given that emeralds are quite literally more rare than diamonds, it makes far more sense to spend your time mining diamonds than mining emeralds to take advantage of that trade. you will likely find 21 diamonds far quicker than you would find 21 emeralds, and with 21 diamonds, you could create 2 chestplates and 2 enchanting tables, and still have 1 diamond left to spare. and most villager trades are similarly worthless! I think that increasing the generation rate of emeralds would help assuage this problem.

another issue I have with villagers is that they're generally depicted as "primitive". they live harmoniously with nature, which is good; considering the fact that the main audience for minecraft is children, I think encouraging kids to see value in protecting the natural world is a good idea. however, the villagers as they are don't really demonstrate this idea, and many of minecraft's game mechanics actually encourage you to destroy nature in order to extract more resources. I think that showing the villagers using more sophisticated technology would demonstrate that it's possible to collect resources more efficiently and sustainably without destroying the environment.

the main way that I would go about demonstrating this is adding redstone devices to villages. perhaps they could have farms that use pistons to release water that automatically harvests the grown crops and delivers them into a chest using hoppers. or maybe they could have houses that are lit automatically at night using daylight sensors and redstone lamps. maybe armorers' houses could have automatic smelting mechanisms. perhaps they could have a redstone clock that rings the village bell at set intervals to indicate the time of day. not only would all of this demonstrate that the villagers are capable of using technology, it would also teach the player what redstone does and how it can be used, which is something that minecraft sorely needs; as it stands, there are almost no uses of redstone in natural world generation. I think this would additionally demonstrate that technology is a very effective tool in making the lives of people easier, without destroying the environment through extractionist practices.

I think this is a good segue to talk about illagers. it seems to me that the primary purpose of illagers is to contrast them with villagers by making them more violent, and in many ways, colonialist. I think that expanding on this would be a great idea!

if villagers had redstone devices, for example, then illagers could have more complex redstone devices that are more destructive and unethical. while these would undoubtedly produce more resources, their negative effects would be made more apparent. for example, they could have automatic chicken cooking farms that produce enormous amounts of pre-cooked chicken, but the meat is of a lower quality - perhaps restoring fewer hunger points and with a lower saturation value, and has a noticeable chance to make you sick when you eat it. perhaps they can have tnt dupers that are used for tree farming, but leave giant ugly craters in the landscape. perhaps pillagers could construct large rail networks that disrupt the landscape and make those areas spawn fewer wild animals. they could have giant, ugly farms for resources like wheat, pumpkins, and iron that produce low quality items in an obviously unethical way.

further, I think that illagers need to be more destructive. they're already an unpleasant sight due to their hostility, but I think that their presence in an area should be felt even when they're not physically there. for example, abandoned mineshafts should have ominous banners hanging at the entrances, and all of the ores that were in them should have been mined out. there should be large, barren fields with empty canals for water where nothing grows anymore, indicating they used it for farmland until the soil was no longer useful. there should be giant holes in the ground that go deep into the stone layer, indicating they used to mine there until they extracted all of the ores they could.

on top of that, I think that making the world more responsive to the players' actions by changing the appearance rate of illagers would do wonders to encourage the player to take care of the world. if the player frequently raids villages, then nearby villages should become more and more hostile until they eventually decide to compete with the player by engaging in more extractivist colonialist methods themselves, thereby turning them into illagers.

essentially, if the player chooses to play the game as a colonizer, then the inhabitants of the world will respond in turn, and begin acting in the same ways to secure power for themselves. pillager patrols would become more common the more destructive the player becomes, and they would become more destructive and powerful themselves, acting as a real threat! if the player has fully enchanted netherite armore and tools and engages with the world in a destructive way, then illagers should do the same and gang up on them in order to take over their home and steal their resources. in effect, colonizing the world would be extremely punishing, as it would make minecraft a more frustrating experience.

it's disappointing that minecraft doesn't have any of these mechanics, because without them, I struggle to see how the message minecraft communicates is anything other than "colonialism and extractionism are good and rewarding". mojang seemingly wants to portray the world of minecraft as a beautiful world of nature, but the game is not at all designed to encourage you to view it that way. every feature in minecraft is treated first and foremost as a resource to be extracted in the most efficient way possible, and it's really troubling. it's not at all surprising, given that the game was initially designed by a white supremacist, but while mojang has attempted to distance themselves from him publicly, his philosophy is still central to the game's mechanics. minecraft is by no means unique in this regard, as many video games are built around these ideals, but as one of the most popular games of all time, I feel it's a grave mistake to reinforce these philosophies, especially in the minds of children. I don't necessarily think my ideas are perfect solutions, but I think that at the very least, it's worth acknowledging the problem and trying to come up with alternatives.

#my writing #minecraft

38 notes · View notes

thydungeongal · 1 month

Note

Hello! I got thinking about attack and damage rolls, and how sometimes a hit that well surpasses AC does very little to HP. Then I thought of the armor in Mothership being like temp HP and somehow that prompted the thought of damage being how many points an attack goes over AC. Like if you roll 18 to hit someone with AC 14, the damage would be 4 HP. Do you know any systems that do that? I can't be the first one to think of it, and there's gotta be drawbacks with it. Thoughts?

Okay, hello! Took me a while to get to this ask because I've been very sleepy. Thankfully I had the day off. Anyway.

So, you're not the first one to think of a system where the result of an attack roll translates into damage at least in some way. This is not a definitive list, but here's a few:

Rolemaster: The world's best fantasy RPG for cool people, my beloved Rolemaster has had this since the beginning. To explain it in brief: besides separate rolls on the critical hit tables, a single attack in Rolemaster is resolved in a single roll, which gives all the information like whether the attack hit and how many points of damage it dealt. This being Rolemaster, of course there was a fucking table involved. In fact, multiple tables. One for each weapon.

The numbers on the left and right are the result of the attack roll (1d100+modifiers) and the number on the top and down is the target's armor type. So, thanks to amazing table-based technology Rolemaster is able to condense damage into a single roll. You still need a separate critical hit roll for specific results, but that is what we're here for.

World of Darkness/Chronicles of Darkness: The system that runs these games officially goes by the name of the Storyteller/Storytelling System and I can never remember what the distinction is between them, BUT a lot of the same principles apply in combat. It's a dice pool system and to hit a target you simply need to score at least one success (sometimes against an opposed check made by the target to defend OR a passive value representing the target's defense). Extra successes beyond the first add to the next step, which is damage, and once again depending on the specific game in question it's either a SEPARATE roll (where extra successes from the previous step are now additional dice) or simply directly dealing damage with successes from the previous step adding to damage.

Fate: The more recent editions of Fate (which has a free SRD and I think the core rules are available for free?) have a single attack roll, where the degree by which the attacker exceeds the target's defense determines the amount of stress dealt. Depending on the amount of stress dealt the target will then have to either mark stress boxes or take consequences.

I'm not sure if there are any inherent drawbacks to this approach. It's just a different approach. Systems with separate attack + damage rolls simply use the first roll as a check of whether an attack will deal damage or not and the damage roll is then used to determine exact damage. I don't think either approach is inherently superior. Unless you've got a cool table like in Rolemaster.

#thydungeongal answers

18 notes · View notes

monstersdownthepath · 6 months

Text

Monster Spotlight: Shard Slag

CR 8

Neutral Huge Ooze

Bestiary 4, pg. 240

While you might look at a Shard Slag and be forgiven for believing it to be the runoff of a magical forge, these creatures are actually natural parts of the world. They're born inside the thick molten mantles of worlds with heavy metal cores, feeding on the magmatic metals and whatever other creatures are born in the extreme environment. They're rarely ever seen on the surface of a given planet and are often only encountered within the craters of active volcanoes, or in an area where one just erupted... But they're also found quite often in the borderlands between the Planes of Fire and Earth, and anywhere a portal to that molten expanse has been opened, a Slag may emerge to feed on the colder residents of the universe.

Mindlessly destructive, the massive Slags exist--like most Oozes--to roll inexorably towards any creature that they detect with either their 60ft blindsight or 60ft of tremorsense and are completely blind to anything which can avoid detection. Their 15ft space and 15ft reach gives them a threat radius that may as well encompass an entire battlefield within the superheated tunnels they call home... and, in fact, a party may mistakenly believe that a perfectly 15ft-wide tunnel may lead them towards their goal, when in fact it terminates at the hungry lava flow, whose Molten Form allows them to burrow through solid rock at 20ft/round.

This also means a party can be surprised by a Slag suddenly emerging from the floor, believing it to be a sudden spurt of dangerous but still-mundane magma right up until it starts growing enormous blades from its body like hair. These Slag Blades emerge from its body at a startling rate each round, and grant the molten mucks a novel means of attack: a roll of 1d4+2 determines how many times each round it can attack as a Full Attack. It can thus attack anywhere from 3 to 6 times a round depending on how many blades it grows, perhaps the only monster with a variable number of natural attacks! These blades are quickly smelted back down into molten metal at the end of the Slag's turn, only to be immediately replaced to allow it to make AoOs when needed.

Each of its Slag Blades deals 1d8+6 damage and 2d6 Fire damage, which should come as a surprise to no one. Its Molten Form puts off so much heat it actually deals an additional 1d6 Fire damage to any creature within 5ft of it, 2d6 to anything that hits it with an unarmed attack or natural weapon, and 3d6 per round to any creature grappling or being grappled by it. Why you would want to grapple something that's visibly made out of lava is beyond me, but the Slags are noted to enjoy grappling onto any creature that happens to be wearing a large amount of metal, so maybe the Heavy Armor Enjoyer should stay back... as well as the melee fighters, because the heat of a Shard Slag deals 2d6 damage to any weapon that strikes it and whose wielder fails a DC 22 Reflex save. This damage ignores 5 points of the weapon's hardness and isn't halved against metal objects like Fire normally is, because it's just that hot.

So hot, in fact, that taking even a single point of Fire damage from ANY of the Slag's abilities exposes the victim to its Excruciating Burn, forcing a DC 16 Fortitude save to avoid becoming staggered for a round. This ability has no cooldown or 24 hour immunity clause, so the save must be succeeded every time the Slag hits a creature with its Full-Attack and any round they're damaged by its Molten Form. Melee with something made of magma is hard, as you may expect! But, ironically, that's probably your best bet if you actually want to kill one; its DR 5/Magic is relatively simple to bypass by this time in an adventurer's career, and its elemental resistances are very high! It's utterly immune to Fire, Electricity, AND Acid damage!

Of course, it's probably obvious it's Vulnerable to Cold, the second most common elemental damage type. Anyone familiar with how lava works will probably guess it's also Vulnerable to Water, with contact with as little as a bucket of water staggering the Ooze for 1d6 rounds if it fails a DC 20 Fortitude save (which, given its +10 to Fort saves, it has a coin flip of failing), stripping it of its formidable Full-Attack. If the Slag spends a full round immersed in water it actually cools to the point it becomes petrified, allowing a clever party to use its Ooze mindlessness to trick it into rolling right into a water source to avoid having to fight it directly... just make sure the water stays there, because if it boils or drains away, the inner heat of the Shard Slag melts its outer surface and the whole thing starts right back up!

You can read more about it here.

#Monster Spotlight #CR 6 to 10 #Pathfinder #dungeons and dragons

44 notes · View notes

clean-casual-analysis · 3 months

Text

How I’d Ruin it: Transformers

Inspired by Tyrantisterror and his “how I’d ruin it” series, I’m doing one for Transformers. I’m gonna take this one step at a time, because I’m crazy about transformers and I got a lot of thoughts on what I would do if I had three phases of a comic book.

Part One: Lore

For the general lore of this hypothetical series, I’d lean into the Primus vs Unicron storyline. Ironically appropriate for my How I’d Ruin It, because I know a good number of TF fans who prefer the quintesson origin and want to return to it. Sorry fellas, I just think the thirteen primes are neat. We also take a look into the (possible) future of the cybertronian race at the start of phase two of the hypothetical comic. I’ll be dividing this lore into ages for simplicity's sake.

Prehistory: At the very beginning of the universe, there was an omnipotent being made of light with no name. This being, referred to by cybertronian historians as The One, had cosmic powers beyond space and time. With this power, it saw into multiple timelines and dimensions out of young curiosity. There were so many different lifeforms, all with their own cultures and beliefs. There was peace and war, creation and destruction. As its knowledge grew, so did its internal conflict. Why were these unique beings fighting over seemingly pointless things? Was it individual philosophy that sparked greed and violence, or was it differing beliefs that each species held? If they were to all unite under one banner, would they lose that which made them unique. Was it morally correct for such a perfected and powerful being as The One to judge and interfere with mortals? The One had become so confused and anxious from this internal battle, that its mind and body split into two separate beings. Primus, the great creator, adored and even envied mortals. Where The One was flawless and blank, these miniscule lifeforms were varied and colorful. These beings could change and grow. Even the smallest could evolve and transform into something beautiful. Then there was his brother, a being who hated these ununiformed and petty insects. He vowed to destroy and reshape these species into a singular kingdom of rigid order. No longer would there be conflict, for he would punish and unite all as their one God. He would be Unicron, the chaos killer. These cosmically powered twins became natural enemies the moment they were created, the following battle lasting for billions of years. The battle ended in a draw, Primus and Unicron were so exhausted that both entered a deep sleep. In this coma like state, meteors and other space debris formed around them to become seemingly dormant planets.

Age of Primes: Sensing that Unicron was regaining strength and reformatting his planet into a colossal body, Primus began to plan his defense. Not wanting a repeat of their last battle, Primus decides on a different approach. He creates the thirteen primes, incredibly powerful, autonomous robots with unique abilities. Together, these thirteen would prepare for the return of Unicron and become a sort of family through their training. After the deed is done and the chaos killer is defeated from the inside of his vast body, the thirteen are left to their own devices on the metal world of Primus. As his final act, the great creator formed the well of all sparks. It was here that new robots were created and the planet would be known as Cybertron. Thirteen tribes were created, each led by a different prime, which led to the foundation of cybertronian culture. Much like previous TF stories, the thirteen primes had a falling out due to the manipulations of one manipulative and ambitious prime. The primes nearly went to war with one another, until the near death of one of their most beloved siblings shook them out of their anger. Realizing that they were not the infallible gods that they thought they were, nearly all the primes either left Cybertron or merged with the planet’s inner core. Only one prime remained to overlook the planet’s development, Alpha Trion, who gave one of the mythical artifacts of primes (the matrix) to one worthy of leadership.

Age of Function: After receiving what would later be known as the matrix of leadership, the prideful but valiant Nova Prime unified the thirteen tribes into one civilization. What follows is the planet wide construction of cities and government. Because the masses were still freshly made and unsure of their purpose in this new world, Nova decided to create functionism. Each cybertronian’s alt-mode would determine their role in creating Cybertron. At first, when the species was still relatively small in number, this system served well in accelerating Cybertron’s society. But when the contruction was near its end their optics looked towards the stars, the inherent flaws of functionism reared its ugly head. The rigid caste system quickly led to class envy and great inequality among the masses. Despite Alpha Trion’s insistence in changing this system, Nova Prime ego wouldn’t allow him to admit his prejudice. As space travel was fully realized and Nova set out to discover new worlds to colonize, his pride at his species’ accomplishments leading him down the road of becoming a cybertronian supremacist, a terrible discovery was made. During the first great battle between Primus and Unicron, their blood splashed across the galaxy. Not only were energon crystals (formed from Primus’ blood) found on foreign worlds, but the blood of Unicron was discovered as well. Before he realized what it was, dark energon infected Nova Prime and a number of his crew. They became more aggressive, burned through their energon at an alarming rate, and began to hear whispers of a dark god thought to be dead. Despite his smugness and stubbornness, Nova knew what terrible things could happen if he became Unicron’s herald. The corrupted prime gave up the matrix to the unaffected cybertronians in his crew, took those who were infected and went into deep space in self-exile. • The Golden Age: The next cybertronian to own the Matrix was Nominus Prime. Although he was overly invested in his personal appearance/hygiene and was somewhat of an elitist snob, he also possessed a good moral framework and a kind spark. His first major act as prime was the elimination of functionism, making him both beloved and hated by many. Not long after, the cybertronian race began to colonize worlds with the strict policy of not claiming worlds with significant life on them. Seemingly every new colony world produced new subcultures and different kinds of cybertronian. Although Nominus arguably just piggybacked off of other leaders and inventors, this was an age of artistry and prosperity.

Age of Rust: Seemingly out of nowhere, a slow acting but fast spreading disease began to appear across the farthest colony worlds named cosmic rust. Metal skyscrapers began to crumble, citizens were falling apart in medical beds, space bridges were forced to shut down to stop the rust from spreading. This was the first major disaster that Nominus Prime had to face and he was utterly mortified. Then, when all hope of saving the colonie and their species was lost, a strange race of techno-organics appeared. These beings were the quintessons, five faced octopus like people who claimed to be the creation of one of the thirteen prime to aid cybertronians in understanding the organic side of the galaxy. They offered a cure to cosmic rust and asked to use the space bridges to help spread the cure. Desperate to end this nightmare, Nominus gave them access to the space bridges without question. Almost immediately, he would regret this decision. These were not benevolent geniuses, but black hearted and capitalistic entrepreneurs. Not only were they the ones who invented cosmic rust, but they had created a great number of gadgets, combat drones and weapons specifically designed to annihilate cybertronians. In the blink of an eye, the whole of the cybertronian race was conquered and enslaved. Nominus was publicly executed, the matrix was taken, and the cybertronians were sold as commercial goods or military hardware to all other species in the galaxy. This would go on for thousands of years, until a hardened soldier named Zeta began to lead a rebellion with the aid of Alpha Trion and a brilliant engineer named Termagax. The cybertronian uprising was slow and bloody, but through cleverness and determination the quintessons were defeated. The matrix was found, Zeta had become Sentinel Prime, and the cybertronian race was free.

Age of Restraint: When the dust settled and the quintessons were driven away from the colony worlds, Sentinel Prime and Termagax went to work on rebuilding their civilization. Sentinel, having seen their kind’s technological power used against lesser beings firsthand, initiated the Nominus Edict. Unless there was unanimous agreement of every senator of Cybertron’s cities and other colony worlds, no new colonies would be made, and no technology was to be shared with other alien races. While he had the wellbeing of both his race and all other alien species in mind, his time as both slave soldier of the quintessons and uprising leader left him scarred and paranoid. Through the cybertronian government, he enforced the law to a borderline imperious degree. Termagax grew to resent Sentinal Prime, believing that the cybertronian race could thrive in the galaxy if they weren’t so restricted. She formed the Ascenticon movement, a growing group of bots who not only wanted to explore the cosmos but cooperate with the organic races that they’ve distanced themselves from. This philosophical debate between security and isolation vs freedom and alien collaboration went on for dacades, neither side quite gaining significant ground over the other. Eventually, the exhausted and embittered Termagax stepped down as Ascenticon leader and gave the reigns to her protégé. That protégé was a quintesson mining slave turned gladiatorial champion named Megatron, who had big plans of his own.

Age of Civil War: Not long after becoming leader of the Ascenticons, Megatron began to fully preach his personal doctrine. He believed that the cybertronian race deceived themselves into believing that they shouldn’t be proud of their power. The gladiator fear mongered that another species like the quintessons would conquer them if they didn’t show their dominance. True galactic peace can only be achieved through tyranny. Many cybertronians, in the ascenticon movement and beyond, were radicalized by Megatron’s words of might making right. In short time, Megatron amassed an army and called his new empire the decepticons. The mad tyrant and his followers overthrew the government and imprisoned Sentinel Prime. But much to Megatron’s surprise, the matrix did not deem him worthy of being a prime. He angrily dismissed the matrix and the lineage of primes as outdated and weak as his empire rapidly grew. Alpha Trion, sneakily taking the matrix back, set to work on creating a counter resistance to this new militaristic regime. The elderly prime already had a perfect candidate for the next prime; a former ascenticon who disavowed Megatron’s violent means of peacekeeping despite once being friends with him. A young data clerk named Orion Pax, who believed Cybertron had a responsibility to aid to those who needed it, and that freedom was the right of all sentient beings. And so, Optimus Prime was born. This counter resistance, named the autobots, grew arguably faster than the decepticons did. Cybertronians across the galaxy could see Megatron for the warmongering tyrant that he is. The civil war, waging primarily on Cybertron, lasted for eons. It all culminated in Megatron seizing Vector Sigma, a supercomputer near the well of all sparks that gave newly formed cybertronians the basic history and knowledge of their kind. The decepticon leader planned to hack Vector Sigma to forcibly program his beliefs into every new cybertronian to be protoformed. Horrified by this assault against free will, Optimus journeyed to the core of Cybertron to do something unthinkable. Through communication with Primus, the great creator poured his life-giving power into a device known as the all spark. Optimus threw the all spark into a space bridge with randomized coordinance, and it was lost to the stars. Their home planet torn apart and essentially dead, the Great War began to spread across the galaxy like wildfire. Earth, rich with crystallized energon beneath the surface, is the latest battleground.

Age of Beast Machines (possible future): Manipulating Megatron through dark energon, Unicron is revived. The very first planet destroyed is Cybertron with his new herald Galvatron and an army of terracons. The chaos killer goes on a galactic rampage, consuming stars/planets and creating heralds to spread his influence. Scrambling to save the galaxy, the remaining autobots and decepticons join forces in an effort to slay Unicron. Against all odds, they defeat the chaos killer once and for all. But their victory is bittersweet. The galaxy’s remaining stars and worlds are few and far between. The night skies feel unnaturally blackened. Their war now made pointless, the remaining cybertronians join together in rebuilding on the planet earth and the one surviving colony world known as biosfera. With virtually no energon left, the first order of business was to create a new type of fuel. The scientists of biosera, a jungle world primarily made up of beast mode cybertronians, came up with an unorthodox solution. They would alter their biology and transform into a techno-organic race, flesh and metal fused at the cellular level. Through this technology, they’d be able to live off of solar energy, need minimal energon, and even be able to consume meat and plants for substance. While a good number were hesitant to make such a radical change, they had little choice. Slowly, the cybertronian race flourished once again. Once new generations were protoformed, two sections of one government began to spread across the stars. One group was the Maximals, scientists and explorers that aided young civilizations and researched the new galaxy. The other group were the predacons, the core military that fought off space pirates and crushed growing dictatorships. Although the two groups bickered amongst themselves over their clashing ideologies and methods, they still cooperated and respected each other. But rumors are circulating that a small handful of Unicron’s heralds are still alive. If they are, their willing to bend space and time itself to assure their fallen master’s ultimate victory.

Notes: This lore is a combination of Aligned, both IDW continuities, Beast Wars/Machines and a dash of Last Autobot Standing. One major difference is that Solus Prime survives in this continuity, but we’ll get to that in the next part.

#transformers #maccadam #optimus prime #Megatron #thirteen primes #alpha trion #Unicron #primus

24 notes · View notes