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bonzos-number-1-fan · 3 months

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What DPHW Means, and Its Relationship to Smirke's 14

The following contains spoilers for all of TMA, TMP (eps 1, 2, and 3 released currently if you’re in the future), and the ARG. Spoilers for all of this are throughout so I would advise against reading any of this unless you've listened to everything mentioned. It could also spoil episodes of TMP that have yet to release but if it does I don't think it will be a major spoiler. If I'm right I think I'm only right about a fairly trivial piece of information.

Theory of Fears; or, Zur Furchtlehre

Part 1: Opticks

Smirke's 14 isn't the truth. With or without Dekker's +1. It is, however, necessary and correct. It has also been talked about ad nauseam and isn't a topic I want to dedicate a lot of time to. Smirke's 14+1, or even TMA in general, isn't the focus of this theory nor is it that relevant past its necessity as a point of comparison.

There aren't 14+1 distinct entities in the TMA cosmology. There is a singular entity that has been given divisions by fear and labels by those that have witnessed it. There is no objective line in which to draw these divisions. No matter where you put them or what you name them these concepts will always bleed into each other. Aspects of one Entity will manifest in another because the labels are invented and Fear is a storm of concepts crashing into each other. That's not a flaw in Smirke's list but its strength. A single entity of that scale is impossible to discuss in meaningful terms, the concept has too much gravity to be properly conceptualised and so an entire spectrum of fear must be divided in order to combat it. Categorisation is a vital part of TMA's cosmology and Smirke was as correct as anyone to put those lines down where he did. The real flaw with Smirke's list is forgetting the spectrum exists and stopping seeing the shades in between the Powers.

Finding a way to categorise this concept is important, but the methodology isn't. Smirke's 14 isn't the truth. The only truth is there is a singular whole. But branding goes a long way both in terms of research and in terms of following. This branding lacks accuracy though, it is in large part arbitrary and by its nature removes the shades and the bleed. TMP takes a different approach, one only hinted at, but one that I think is now fully explainable.

Part 2: Lost in Translation

Perhaps the most interesting mystery in TMP thus far is DPHW. However, I think based on episodes 1 and 2 of TMP (and now 3), and the Klaus excel sheet from the ARG, we have all we need to explain its utility.

In order to show that conclusion in a satisfactory manner some basic facts need stating, and the order of my thoughts on those facts needs explaining. Firstly, each DPHW is 4 digits. Secondly, each DPHW is read as 4 numbers rather than, say, a pair of 2 numbers. Thirdly, these numbers can change independently of each other. Fourthly, incidents may share CAT#R#'s but have a different DHPW as found in the Klaus sheet (a German document listing OIAR-style incident reports). Finally, the German equivalent of DPHW is TSHU also found in the Klaus sheet. We can use those facts to determine something important. Each letter of this initialism is paired with a digit meaning that DHPW is a group of 4 categories. If that is true we can intuit some of its meaning. It is likely that these numbers are a rating of sorts for each category there. To prove that's the case we would need to know the categories and fortunately we have a starting point to understanding it, German.

If the categories that DPHW describes start with the letters TSHU in German then what needs to be done to find the categories is quite simple. You pair each letter up and then find a suitable word to categorise the supernatural whose first letter starts with the respective letter from the initialism in its language. D/T, P/S, H,H, W/U. After some brainstorming in the Statement Remains PLUS Discord server we had come up with strong candidates for 3 of the 4 pairs.

The first was Deadly/Tötlich, a seemingly solid start that gave this theory some legs. Next was Painful/Schmerzlich which was a distinct enough category for the threat of an incident that proved this was a strong direction to head it. H/H proved more troublesome. To my mind the two strongest contenders here were Hypnotic/Hypnotisch or Helpless/Hilflos. Both sound very reasonable but that in itself is a problem. However the last one was found relatively easily as Weird/Unheimlich. With 3 of the 4 it seemed like this was all but correct at this stage. However, I had been thinking about this backwards and it wasn't until I had a revelation that the pieces really fell into place.

Unheimlich sounded familiar when it was suggested but not in a way I could place. It wasn't until the next day that the aforementioned revelation happened. The ARG had a huge focus on Germany, and Ep 1 of TMP revealed why. FR3-D1 uses German source code which makes German the original language for the OIAR's methodology. Meaning DPHW is the translation, and I now think it's a shoddy one at best. The reason unheimlich sounded so familiar to me is because it's a fairly important part of psychology's history.

DPHW's Weird isn't weird, DPHW's Weird is uncanny. A direct translation could give you weird but a more accurate one, especially in this instance, gives you unheimlich. Unheimlich as in Jentsch's "Zur Psychologie des Unheimlichen", and Freud's "Das Unheimlich". Both of which are essays on the uncanny. It's all about the fear of the unfamiliar, and a central example of this is Olympia from Der Sandmann, a seemingly living doll.

The German word unheimlich is obviously the opposite of heimlich, heimisch, meaning “familiar,” “native,” “belonging to the home”; and we are tempted to conclude that what is “uncanny” is frightening precisely because it is not known and familiar... - Freud, The Uncanny

This is incredibly relevant to a lot of what has been discovered so far. The uncanny as a topic in psychology was kickstarted by two Germans, and a central part of their essays was the German Der Sandmann, and a German, SSandman, was a large presence in the ARG. The strength of this connection all but solidified this theory in my mind. And, briefly, this is also related to Masahiro Mori's uncanny valley hypothesis which I'm sure I won't need to explain.

The obvious way to test this is to take the few W ratings we have been given and compare them to the incident to which they're assigned. The first is from Ep 1, “dolls comma watching”, and was given a 7. This is a good start both in that a 7 feels appropriate as an "uncanny rank" but also that a doll is a focal point on the essays on the subject. Also in Ep 1 is "Reanimation (Partial)", again with a 7. Another very appropriate number. The last in Ep 1 is "Transformation (eyes)" with a 5. Certainly less uncanny than the previous examples so this is still strong. In Ep 2 we get a 5 for Bram Stoker's Dracula, which seems more than fair for a strange man like him, and a 7 for Frankenstein which gives parity for another story of the resurrected dead. Finally we get "Transformation (full)" at a 7, more uncanny than "Transformation (eyes)" which tracks nicely.

With what I felt was such a strong theory for the W/U pairing it helped clarify the ideas of the others. The final digit rating the uncanniness of an incident gives an idea of how these categories work and the breadth of their definitions. Up until this point I was leaning towards Hypnotic/Hypnotisch for our H/H pairing. But giving it more thought, and comparing it to TMA's own groupings, it becomes apparent that Helpless/Hilflos is more appropriate. Hypnotic effects are too aligned with things that would already be very aligned with Uncanny ones, the Stranger's Not!Them alter memories and prey on the fear of something being not quite right, so as a categorisation tool I think it makes less sense because of the greater overlap. Helpless on the other hand works better for things like The Dark, The Buried, or The Lonely. Aspects which I don't think show up in our current other 3 groups. But given the current definition of the strongest category, the fear of the uncanny, I think that helplessness is a more apt label. The fear of helplessness. Which makes H Helplessness/Hilflosigkeit.

With this level of breadth established re-examination of the final two categories is warranted. Painful/Schmerzlich is more likely to be Pain/Schmerz. Not just incidents that are themselves painful but the fear of pain, possibly including the emotional. A comparison to TMA gives this rating a strong affiliation with Entities such as The Desolation, The Corruption, or the Flesh. Similarly Deadly/Tötlich should now be broadened beyond the fear of things that will kill you, to the fear of death in a broader sense. Which makes D/T Death/Tod instead. To compare again to TMA this is The End, The Extinction, or The Slaughter. Although, while I might be describing these ideas as the fear of ____ I think it's important to know that they do appear to be more conceptual in nature rather than just if something is scary or not.

Comparing each of these assumed categories against current DPHW’s strengthens this argument. “Dolls, watching” scored 1157. It’s a very low fear of death and pain, but they present a medium fear of helplessness and a high fear of the weird. For a fear that’s rooted in paranoia that makes good sense. “Reanimation (Partial)” got a very similar rating, at 5257, but it being a corpse cranks up its fear of death. “Transformation (eyes)” got 2155 which, again, seems to fall in place with what we know. It’s more human than the doll is so it’s less weird but a physical and alarming transformation naturally seems like more of a terminal concern. Combine that with some good ol' internet death threats and it's not nothing, but not much.

As a small aside, while it's not come up in the episodes so far the Klaus sheet shows DPHW's are 0-9. There is a good bit of evidence to suggest 0 might be read as 10 here. 0 most commonly showed up in that sheet for P and the incidents often had the notes "Kriegsvolk". Literally "war people" but more accurately "army/soldier". So pain of 10 for those would track better than P of 0, and it explains why things like the watching doll rate a 1 for D and P instead of a 0, and Dr. Webber's infection is a P of 1 despite entirely removing physical and emotional pain as it goes. Because 1 is the lowest.

For Ep 2 we start with Dracula scoring a 7465, he’s undead and a killer for high death, if he kills you it hurts but it’s not extreme, he’s both hard to physically stop and has mental tricks, and he’s just a weird dude in general who always seems off somehow. Frankenstein at 5337 has aforementioned parity with the reanimation incident as you’d expect but notably less on the helplessness rating as he is just a man. Next is “Transformation (full)” at 1567. This is generally a more severe rating overall than Transformation (eyes) and you’d expect that, but I think it does show something interesting. At no point did Daria want to end her own life. The transformation is far more severe, arguably looks more life threatening, and was clearly more painful but it is explicitly and repeatedly not about dying. I take that as a suggestion that these ratings take into account more than just the mundanely observable nature of the incident. She looks very sick which would make you think of death but it rates low for it because of the emotional, or maybe supernatural, purpose of the incident. She didn’t want to die, the manifestation didn’t try to kill her, and so despite its appearance it’s low on death.

Then finally in Ep 3, we have "Infection (full body)" with a 8175. (Although I'm assuming that's a misfile and it should be Infection (Arboreal)). I think D and H here are more interesting to dig into. P is pretty obvious it's the lowest rating because it seemed actively pain-numbing as it went. W being 5 tracks too is certainly uncanny and has strange geometry but it's not full Distortion levels. So with those two out of the way we can get to the good stuff. D is the most interesting of the two to me. Because while it's pretty clear he died I don't think that's got much to do with it. Rather I think the 8 is more specifically about the way it deals with death, decay, and rot in relation to new life and the growth of other things, plants and insects. Thematically, I think there is a lot more emphasis on death as a broader concept beyond the terminal nature of the infection. For Helplessness there is also an additional element beyond whether or not he was able to do something about the infection, and that's whether he wanted to. As the symptoms worsened his desire to treat them decreased. Initially he was worried about the infection and determined to seek attention when able, then he was happy to let someone else help instead (a hallucination, which makes things more helpless), before finally wanting it to happen. These sorts of elements are things I think we're going to see factor in quite a lot.

In summary; it is my belief that DPHW is a way to rate incidents that the OIAR catalogue based upon the strength of the fear they elicit in the categories of death, pain, helplessness, and weird (uncanny). This system is effectively the TMP equivalent to Smirke's 14 from TMA. Rather than assigning each statement to an Entity each incident is rated for those qualities. These systems are distinct methodologies but each is a way to categorise the supernatural.

Part 3: On Analogy

That is the juicy bit of this post out of the way so now I have to put a bow on it and touch upon the overarching analogy here. As alluded to by the title and some turns of phrase, it's colour theory. It's a somewhat common analogy for TMA's fears but I think it applies in equal measure to TMP and taken together might provide an insight into how the cosmologies will differ. So, to me, colour theory is not only the perfect lens in which to view the Fears as a whole, it's the perfect lens to view these methodologies.

Smirke is Newton. He broke up a singular spectrum into wide chunks. The Dread Powers themselves are very analogous to a colour wheel. Colours bleed into each other and the boundaries of where one stops and starts is up for debate but red is still red, and blue is blue. That is a useful context for them, it aids discussion. Try talking about red without ever saying red and only referring to a representation of a divided whole. But all too similar to Newton's 7 colours Smirke's 14 lacks nuance, it lacks shade.

On the other hand we have DPHW and this is all shade. DPHW is CMYK. It's not one thing or another with DPHW. You don't have the pitfall of Smirke's methodology where one manifestation is in one arbitrary box. Here, assuming I'm correct, each incident is made up of constituent parts. The OIAR, and presumably its German forebear, are less interested in Smirke's occult ancient gods and more interested in bureaucratic precision. Smirke was doing research while the OIAR are doing administration. As such DPHW takes a wholly different approach. It's now all shades. This has its own problems in that it's harder to discuss in broad terms. It's such a specific methodology that it's lost a lot of what Smirke triumphed with. This is well represented already given that no one has been shown to know what it means at all yet. But if there is a truly different cosmology at play here we might see the axes of DPHW being where alliances fall.

All that leaves us with is a comparison of these two. The only way to really do that is to talk about how Smirke's 14+1 would fit in DPHW's system. This is something I touched upon briefly. Death is strongly related to The End, The Extinction, or The Slaughter. Pain to The Desolation, The Corruption, or the Flesh. Helplessness to The Dark, The Buried, or The Lonely. Weird to the Stranger, or the Spiral. But that's not all of them and even within those it's already clear that something like The Vast isn't just about helplessness, and we've already seen Daria who would likely be an avatar of the Flesh rank highly in Weird. Which hits upon what I feel is the most interesting aspect of this entire theory. We've seen what happens with Smirke's boundaries on the Entities. We don't know if Entities even exist in this setting, or if they do exist whether they'll be the same ones, or even if they're not the same ones whether they'll function under similar rules. But now we get to see what happens when there aren't those boundaries. We get to see much broader mingling than TMA showcased. It was hinted at there, especially early on before the lore really settled, but now that mingling seems to be the whole point.

And as a brief mention, and to further labour the theme, I don’t think there is enough information to really discuss how CAT#R# works but there are some analogies to work with here. From the Klaus sheet we can infer that CAT# has the following values 1/2/3/12/13/23/123. Or three non-mutually exclusive groups. What those groups are is hard to say right now. There is some soul/body/spirit stuff for the alchemic tria prima that's got some nice connections but doesn't map well now that Ep 3 is out. Either way, this is RGB. An incident can be all red, or red and blue, etc. R#'s values we can infer to be C/BC/B/AB/A/S with maybe an AS in there too. That's a linear scale of similarly unknown value but could represent something like potency/threat. If that is the case then R# is saturation. Some things are more intense than others. We also know from the Klaus sheet that CAT is the German from the "kategorie" meaning "category" the R was from the German “rang” meaning “rank” and so probably has more meaning to it than currently implied.

#the magnus protocol #tmagp #tmagp theories #tmagp theory #tmagp speculation #the magnus archives #tma theory #Reposted because I'm a human now #I was human before but Tumblr disagreed #klaus = kl4-u5

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otomes-world · 5 months

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Post Scriptum

This piece takes place after New beginning and more like flood of words. Something that reader do every morning in hope to stay sane

Another sentient twst works here

Sometimes your own consciousness can play evil, very insidious jokes. For example, faking some traumatic memories, replacing them with softer versions. Or, on the contrary, to draw pictures of terrible “if only”, the events taking place in which are much worse than reality. The cherry on top is the fact when, sitting on your bed or in a comfortable favorite chair, you cannot remember something. A constantly elusive detail that seems incredibly important. Even more vital.

It's doubly terrible when all this happens at the same time.

Triplely, when you open your eyes you see in front of you on one side such a familiar interior, but at the same time sickeningly alien.

Looking around the room again, you immediately close your eyes, realizing that the “dream” is continuing. However, whether it is possible to continue to call it such is an open question. Barely healing wounds, abrasions on the legs and arms served as sufficient proof of reality, if the rough fabric of the blanket on the bed and the smell of dust in the air were not. The nails dig into the inner part of the palm of their own accord, a habit that have appeared not so long ago; the pain help wake up.

Blinking away the remnants of an incomprehensible feeling, with an effort of will you unclenched your fingers and moved them onto the soft fur of the Grimm still sleeping next to you. The cat purred contentedly from the touch, continuing to be in the kingdom of Morpheus. However, you aren't going to wake him up.

The gaze moved to the other free hand, exactly the same, covered with plasters, reliably hiding the scratches behind it. The hand undoubtedly belonged to you, repeating every planned movement. However, at the same time, it - and the whole body - seemed something foreign. Like a spare part of a doll that you wanted to tear off and throw away.

Sigh. The hand falls back onto the bed and the eyes close. Nothing else comes to mind, but the emptiness that has replaced the nightmares is not much to please. You begin to ask questions, which is better? Feel nothing or choke on tears every day and night. The answer is stuck somewhere in the middle, while you are thrown from one extreme to another.

The ear involuntarily picks up the sound as if someone is walking under the window. Exhaling sharply, you don't pay attention. Why bother if you know the answer to this question better than anyone else. At some point, you stopped doubting anything and taking sensations for granted. If you heard someone’s footsteps, it means someone definitely passed by.

In the end, they was definitely stubborn.

Another deep breath. Well, at least they had the conscience not to show up in person, barging in and disturbing the hastily put together fragile peace. It looked unreliable, and it was.

The singing of birds outside cause irritation out of all possible feelings, but the earplugs bought at Sam's store made it even worse, so you have to endure it. They muffled the sound, but, left alone with yourself and your own heartbeat in your ears, you again experienced what you tried so hard to lock behind seven locks. An ironic coffin that should have been wrapped in several rows of chains and thrown into the sea, but, unfortunately, you can’t do that so easily with mental problems. Otherwise, the Octavinelle's trio would have been happy to offer their services.

Exactly… it's been a long time since you remembered the characters or, should you say, the students. They have fully proven their ability to influence the outside world, you. If this is the first step towards acceptance, then this world can go to hell. However, you are already there.

The presence of Grimm and ghosts did not allow you to completely go crazy, start talking to yourself, or go communicate with them. The jokes about He-must-not-be-named come to mind again. You had two dozen of such persons. The solitude has definitely been good for you. You stopped waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, clutching your throat. You stopped flinching at every shadow and imagining very real monsters outside the windows among the dark branches by the accompaniment of the howling wind.

You hated some more, some a little less. You wanted to strangle someone just like they threatened you so many times. However, over time, all emotions invariably subsided, memory softened the corners, and in the end you felt absolutely nothing for them. Only hostility when Grimm mentioned their names.

However, someone would be happy with such a scrap of feelings.

Another sigh. You catch the smell of roses, although there are no flowers in the house. All the bouquets, petals and perfume were thrown away. You didn't need another reason to empty your stomach. Again the mind plays games, but the aroma is better than real thorns, traces of which can still be found on the body.

Another, sharper and tart flavor begins to mix with the roses. Spices, consciousness helpfully suggests. Black tea, someone's perfume, sea salt. Until finally, a sharp, metallic smell hits your nose.

Eyes open instantly, breathing quickens. A minute later, the realization comes that there is nothing in the air except dust. The gaze darts from the cat to the window and then to the bedside clock, which shows 6 am. It's too early.

Exhaustedly dropping your head onto the pillow, you close your eyes again, but with the invariably stupid hope of waking up somewhere else.

#twisted wonderland #twst #yandere male #yandere x reader #yandere twisted wonderland x reader #yandere twisted wonderland #twst fic #twst oneshot #yandere twst x reader #yandere twst #yandere sentient twst #sentient twst au #sentient twst #self aware twst au #twisted wonderland self aware au

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sharonisthebettercarter · 3 months

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Well the comics did a good job squandering any sympathy and shiz for dicklander, and the show too. I only feel bad for his child self. His grown ass can get attacked by rabid kryptonian dogs for all I care.

i disagree.

and look, i ain't gonna tell you how to feel boo, i can't obviously. i can only spew out nonsense and hope i might reach you or someone else who comes along to read my long winded bullshit.

but while both renditions are pieces of shit, i feel so much for comics homie too if not more. he's even more whoobie than show homie but gets dismissed but i digress.

throughout the story, we're made to feel *suspicious* about the claims on homelander or that his story may have more than meets the eye. ennis presents it point blank. he doesn't tell the reader how to feel about homelander, or anything, or anyone. he makes it clear how billy feels, how other characters feel, but he also certainly makes it show that things aren't quite adding up about him and billy's claim. he presents the story and lets *you* the reader feel (which is what real *good* writing does)

BUT it's framed out in a way to make the reader realize he *wasn't* this big bad awful guy he was made out to be, a piece of shit sure, but and not the real monster they were after, that billy was fuckin' wrong (like his dumb ass always is), that his end and final point in the story was manipulated, coerced by outside force, and not truly justified as a result.

leik, this guy got his WHOLE LIFE fucking RUINED, his whole self image, gaslit into fucking oblivion to *believe* he was a bad guy until he *became* a bad guy, after literally never once getting a *choice* for anything, ever, at all, at any point in his whole gotdamn life.

this boi never had a chance... and even after ALL that. people STILL want to control or punish him when he lacks one major vital thing that would warrant him *actually* deserving that.

AGENCY. fucking agency, the answer is agency, homelander has none of it, never has, and still does not have it. (he pretends to but it's not quite the same, the lack of it is what makes him a ticking time bomb)

you seem like someone to really value your own agency so idk, i feel like you should get that??

BUT GOTDAMN LET THE BOI JUST FUCKING BREATHE AT LEAST ONCE PLEASE????

UGH

just try to imagine if every single choice in your life was made *for you* by *someone else*, and that's homelander. and it doesn't stop into adulthood, it just turns into a fucking fucked up conservatorship beside someone who wants to kill you, oh yeah, and stunted growth so you never get a chance to really grow up and feel like or be your own person either.

like i'm not kidding, he might as well be a child STILL in that regard and it is super fucked up how often people exploit and groom him that way. i don't care if he's fucking 16, 40, or in his 70s, the man *ain't* grown like he should be and *needs* the space to actually *grow* before we decide to fucking judge him, else we're no better than his abusers.

and when a kid commits a crime, it's the parents/guardians that are brought up on charges/trial. there is a *reason* for that.

homelander's very clear lack of sanity/mental capacity and vought being his 'guardian'/conservator?? (if he even is a real legal person...) would put him under this spectrum of bullshit, and baby i don't want to say it's ableist not to acknowledge this, but...

i mean if i'm being real, it kinda sorta is...?? wait... HOLD THE--- FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!! OH MY FUCKING SATAN--it IS!! and I JUST GOT WHIPLASH FROM WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THE BOYS FANDOM WHEN IT COMES TO HOMELANDER.

this motherfucker is *CRIMINALLY INSANE*, emphasis on that last fucking part, in every sense of the word *CLINICALLY*. and when that happens, even the fucking laws in the fucked ol' U.S. of A. DO NOT 'punish' a mofo by regular 'incarceration', they still order institutionalization but with a HOSPITAL for TREATMENT. (granted there are a whole mess of other problems in this country that still do not handle this properly jesus fucking christ--)

ABLEISM! it's fucking ableism that doesn't let fandom recognize this!! EVEN some of the people who claim to love him!!

except THEN make it WORSE on top of everything *because* of the stunted growth and vought AND limited personal agency and... fuck me... UGGGGGGHHHHHHH--

but THAT is homelander. and uh... yeah. yeah, you'd probably lose your gotdamn mind too, i don't think ANYONE could walk out sane, realistically speaking. pain is easy to say we'd walk out clean from, and then we all turn into pussies the *second* it's our turn to deal.

and the whole point of the twist is to rob you of any satisfaction of his death and make you angry at his circumstances rather than at him. again, ennis doesn't explicitly *tell* readers how to feel because it's more of a graphic novel but...

i personally think the show is aiming to recreate this effect because if they can pull it off (and manage to make an entire population feel like utter ableist shitheads for wanting him dead), then they'll be pulling off some kinda magical MAJOR amazing heist of the feels for the ages that will *hopefuly* be enough to push society in some better directions than its current state (man, we really could not have asked for a better time for this series... holy shit--)

as much as it pains me, *this* was why he was killed in the comics. not just for... ugh, sadness, realism... but because it was *part* of the lesson in exemplifying what was actually wrong.

man i am just way too fucking hyper analytical with this shit and also sometimes SO SLOW i--

#homelander #the boys #the boys comics #the boys amazon #meta #character analysis #media literacy #ableism #fandom wank #well...#epiphany #and now i'm upset #i'm gonna suggest not pressing this subject further anon #at least for now #i need some time to be bitter and stew about the state of humanity #humanity

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breezy-cheezy · 5 months

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You are deep in the paint about One Piece and me and my datemate watched OPLA recently so I will tell you this thing I said while we were talking about Shanks.

He said something to the effect of Shanks is CRAZY STRONG, perhaps one of the strongest, and has some special ability that allows him to tell anyone weaker than him to GTFO, so it's a fucking mystery why he lost his arm when by all rights he never needed to lose the arm. He's still the strongest without it, but why'd he lose it in the first place if he didn't have to???

So I replied, after like a minute of thought, "Because he might not need the arm, but Luffy needed him to lose his arm". Luffy needed the lesson he was going to learn for Shanks giving up that piece of himself to save Luffy's life. He needed to see the stakes and be given that lesson of actions, consequences, collateral damage, giving pieces of yourself for the sake of your crew/family/nakama.

Furthermore, with Sanji and Luffy being connected through "my mentor/surrogate father literally gave up a piece of himself to save my life", stands to logic that Sanji also needed that lesson in the narrative sense. These older guard pirates passed along something vital, giving up something that they don't need to live fulfilling lives but would be seen as incredibly important, to teach the next generation something and give them tools with which to do better.

I don't go here (I don't have the spoons for the entirety of One Piece tbh), but I liked the conclusion I came up with and wanted to share it in the hopes that you might like it too. I don't think I'm breaking any new ground here tbh but as an outsider, it was neat to think about.

I SURE AM, BUDDY X'''D Thanks for popping in! 👀 I got thoughts (and manga screencaps since you won't read it anyway, FREE REIN:

Hm. I mean point taken, but I mean...even the strongest people aren't infallible? Even IF Shanks has Conquerer's Haki (the power in question) which is something very special someone has to be born with and trained to use to its fullest, that doesn't mean it'll fix everything. Also like. He's also been shown to kinda....lose control of it when nervous or on edge.

Like my dude did not have to do this. He mentions later he doesn't like being on different territory or something LOL (he's visiting a different powerful pirate leader here).

Anyway to rescue Luffy at that time, he had to act FAST and was probably SCARED FOR HIM so like. Maybe didn't have the time to make the Haki register? It came down to losing Luffy or bodily thrusting his own arm forward to block the bite from the sea king....and well. Shanks has 2 arms. Only one Luffy. The choice was easy. Even upon losing the arm he didn;t seem upset by it really.

For the sake of the new era he says....the face of it being Luffy himself. And yea the wording really is "I gave it up" and him clearly having no regrets.

STILL I think you do have a point, this was VERY important for Luffy to learn. This same kid stabbed his own face to prove he was "manly enough" to be a pirate (so Shanks wouldn't leave without him....like his brother Ace....like his brother Sabo, to an extent, through "death" in his case) so the realization that being a pirate....would not be easy. There would be sacrifice. There would be pain. But also in a way, it was Shanks showing how important Luffy was to him. This, and passing down that straw hat much to big for Luffy....yeah.

It's clear then he's not ready. Not yet. It's with these parting gifts that Luffy is finally able to let Shanks go, and improve himself so he's strong enough to protect others, so they don;t have to do for him what Shanks did. Luffy learned to live, and while Shanks's sacrifice was devastating to Luffy, he took it to heart to keep going and grow stronger. And yea, that Nakama is just that important, more than limbs. More than life.

NOW SANJI ON THE OTHER HAND....similar but different. Luffy and Sanji were very lonely kids, but for different reasons. Luffy was clingy to anyone who showed him anything close to kindness, while Sanji....puffed up like a scared cat. Without going deep into details, he's from an extremely abusive family that beat into him he's not worth anything because he's weak. Especially from his father. So when Zeff gives him all the food, and sacrifices his own leg....well...

"Why did you do that for me?! I never gave you a reason to be kind to me!!!" And Zeff responds with their shared dreams of the All Blue...but I also feel like it's just. Sanji is a kid. He's just a kid. Again a face of the new generation to come. Zeff had his chance to search for the All Blue and be a pirate, but Sanji's life is just beginning. I'm sure that fueled his decision too.

But unlike Luffy, this just made Sanji cling harder. In a way he gave up his dream to support Zeff, out of guilt, out of a sense of duty and kindness he'd....not really experienced and didn't know what to do with. And Zeff probably allowed it for awhile, because goodness Sanji is just a kid, and he needed someone to help him grow and learn.

But it took Luffy to come along, bringing "I will live for you" to challenge Sanji's "I will die for you" conclusion.

Which uh. Didn't really fix Sanji's self sacrificial nature, but it HELPED, lmao. Eventually he was able to let go of suppori=ting the Baratie to finally chase his dream...as long as he doesn't die for a crewmate in the process hsdhfhdsk

So YEA IDK how much their mentors/father figures knew/thought about their sacrifices, but there sure were willing choices to give up their limbs for the upcoming generation/era, no matter what. I loved Zeff emphasizing that to Garp in OPLA, I think that's extremely important and a huge theme to One Piece in general. Cycles, power, and how many conflicts rise from powerful forces refusing to let go of their power, thus suffocating the new generations (the World Government smacking down so hard on the age of pirates).

Shanks and Zeff gave their support and protection to ensure these kids could live their fullest lives, and I think that's beautiful!

#nsfi #breezy replies #one piece #meta #op #idk if this made sense I have many thoughts all the time in many directions #op manga spoilers #one piece spoilers #ageofzero #sorry if you got back more than you wanted kjHSKJDLHFKSD I SURE AM DEEP IN THE PAINT #LOST IN THE SAUCE IF YOU WILL #zeff and shanks gave up their limbs willingly because wow they're just kids #their own ways of support #they had no idea how said kids' traumas would react to said sacrifices tho LMAO #ie Luffy letting go and needing to be stronger #whiiiich only got worse with Ace heyo abandonment issues babeyyyy #meanwhile Sanji and kindness being complicated and even RARE....why would he let that go....#love these kids they got issues and their parental figures sure are trying their best lolol #thanks for the ask!!!#shanks #luffy #zeff #sanji #i understand....one piece is very long.....#I personally am super enjoying the manga tho heheheh

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ohboyitseisen · 10 months

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your lancer edits are absolutely AMAZING!!! i've done edits for non-lancer stuff, so i'm curious, what is your process usually like?

Thank you! The process is, admittedly, VERY time consuming. (which is why i haven't done any recently, it's just a massive time investment) My workflow exists entirely within Photoshop I start off with an image of the base mech I rip off of Comp/Con, and I spend a few hours meticulously isolating every part of the mech by hand (polygon lasso tool my beloved). I found that the automatic solutions like magic wand tool & such just. aren't very effective when it comes to holding together detail. Too much or too little is lost in the process, and it usually requires manual touchup anyway, so I just decided to do the whole thing by hand to save the tedium. This usually takes anywhere from 1-3 hours? It's hard to say. But, the catch is, once i've done it once for a mech, I don't have to do it ever again. Once i'm done with separating the pieces i want to color/reuse individually, I move on to base coloring. I usually have some idea in mind, but sometimes I just freestyle it. I usually use pretty simple color palettes, and I work almost exclusively in Photoshops Blending Options panel to get those colors to work. Having a non-destructive workflow is..vital. Mixing types like Overlay, Hue, Color, and Multiply are my favorite toys during this process. I also make sure to give everything a 2px black stroke, usually internal, to better match with the base art & clean up any of my mistakes. When i'm ready to go for the more advanced edits (where i need to add stuff instead of just change things), I spend a little while scrolling through C/C like i'm at a shopping mall looking for parts. Anything interesting, I play around with. I like to rip various greebles off of mechs like the Tortuga, Caliban, Kidd & Nelson the most, but every one of em gets time in the spotlight. At this point, I have most of the parts I could need memorized quite well, and if something calls for a certain shape, I'll know where to find it & take it from. Trying to get each asset to fit the style of the base frame is quite easy, and adding a simple 2px internal stroke does miracles. When i'm happy with most everything, i'll play around with gradients to highlight the most interesting parts, give it a flashy name stolen from some album i've listened to Twice, and send it on it's way.

I have an upload of all my raw .PSDs available for download if you're curious- do be warned though, my layer organization sucks and i didn't plan for anyone else to be looking over my work.

I hope that helped!

#lancer #lancerrpg #lancer ttrpg #lancer rpg #mecha #digital kitbashing #photobashing

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bionicle-ramblings · 5 months

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So I've made a few Humanized!Bionicle posts and now that I've had a while to let it simmer, I think I've got an idea of how a Human-ish Bionicle AU would look, in my eyes, at least

Starting off, the composition for everyone is they are usually at least 60% organic to 40% mechanical, so stuff like they all have stuff like skin, hair, blood, teeth, fingernails, and vital organs, but their bones and inner framework is purely mechanical. If an arm breaks, it has to be repaired to prevent infection or further damage. If a limb is damaged to the point it can't be repaired, then that person will need to get a prosthetic. They need to eat food and drink water, but it's all used a energy to keep them going. They also still need to sleep

Matoran are the same size as averge heighted people, so they can be between 4 to 6 feet tall on average. Toa, on the other hand, can be 7 or 8 feet tall

On the topic of Toa, it is harder to tell who is actually a Toa in this AU because Toa are basically Magical Girls in this AU: they use Toa stones to transform and armor themselves. The Toa stones can be hidden as pieces of jewelry or even as things like tattoos, but are relatively easy to carry around, which is a good thing because they are a NECESSITY for Toa to live their day-to-day lives; if a Toa is too far from his or her Toa Stone(i.e. a distance of 3 or 5 meters max) they will be significantly weakened before ultimately collapsing as they are dead

The reason they "die" when they're too far away from their Toa Stone is not because their soul is in the stone. Instead, all of their energy is tied to the stone itself, and the further away they are from it, the weaker they will become. Toa Stones are indestructible, but the Toa themselves can still be injured and killed in battle

The city of Metru Nui is more or less either a domed off area where all the Matoran live or is still in the GSR, except everyone is more humanoid than mechanical. In my head, it's the former, but it can be the latter

Masks in this AU look more like facial markings or either face masks that cover your mouth and nose or really masquerade masks that cover the upper half of your face, a quarter of the upper half of your face, or an entire side of your face. Facial markings are seen as a sign of having abundant resources or knowledge, but is not frowned upon. Masks can be customized, but it's highly advised that carving into a mask should be avoided as it can lead to a person becoming weak

Some masks can appear as helmets, but the most common case is with the Toa, who have helmet-masks to hide their identities. Their voices become modulated in these masks for the same reason

Phones don't exist in this AU, so long distance communication comes in the form of notes and letters

The lore stays the same for the most part. The most that changes is the fact that the Toa Metru have normal lives outside of their Toa-ing. Toa in the past have revealed their identities to the Matoran, and it went fine. They just wound up dead thanks to the Makuta Teridax

The Makuta themselves are still vapor and need a vessel tonget around. In physical vessels, no matter how close they get, there's ALWAYS an uncanny valley feeling look to them, like looking at them triggers a sort of, "There's something wrong," feeling and it's clear that what they're looking at is a threat even if they don't know why(yet)

Turaga come to be similarly in the canon lore. The only difference is that their own Toa stone draws from THEM, as in when a new Toa Stone is "activated," the power in the original is depleted to the point it needs to draw strength from its Toa, which means said Toa will lose their strength and have their power depleted in turn. There's a minimal amount of energy left in the original stone afterward, but not enough for a transformation. The Toa are also weakened, their body diminishing, their hair going gray, and their strength decreasing VERY significantly

There aren't cars, not really, but there are places like stores, arcades, and more modern stuff like that. Still a barter system too; if you want a tool of some kind, you either need to trade it with another tool or some other good

#bionicle #ramblings #long post #humanized bionicle #more just a brainstorming post than anything

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a-captions-blog · 6 months

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sending this in response to the ask about shorter descriptions—take this with a grain of salt as i am sighted, this is just what i've picked up from spending some time writing descriptions myself following guidelines from other web accessibility sources outside tumblr.

while i can't find any sources on "industry standard" descriptions being ten words or fewer specifically (i did see fifteen from one source, though,) i do see that alt text should generally be around 200 characters at the most, as alt text should be concise and give just enough detail to understand the image clearly while not including anything that isn't vital to that understanding. some screenreaders aren't compatible with alt text that goes over that limit.

however, a lot of what you do on this blog is outright transcriptions, which isn't quite the same. aside from that, what most people (including you) who write descriptions on here are writing are long descriptions, which are intended for describing images in more depth than alt text and aren't meant to be concise in the same way. i think part of the problem is that people on this website tend to use "image description" synonymously with "alt text," implying that alt text and long descriptions should work the same way and aren't made with distinct (though related) goals in mind.

on websites outside of tumblr, long descriptions are usually used for images containing lots of vital information like charts and graphs, in conjunction with a short description in alt text—the alt says something like "a chart showing (general data)," and the long description provides the specific information, sometimes linked on another page or put in a collapsible menu so that the user can choose to access it. on tumblr however, especially when you're not the original poster of something, i don't know what a good equivalent to this practice would be. you could always warn at the beginning of a description that it is meant to be a detailed/long description or a transcription of lots of text.

image description guidelines are also not the same as guidelines for describing audio or video. this isn't something i do as much as image description, so i don't have any specific knowledge about it, but i'd keep that in mind too.

i don't mean to come off as contrarian to that anon (because i think their criticism is justified and i'm open to correction if there's something about their perspective i'm missing,) or condescending towards you (as i'm sure you probably know some of this already, being a caption blog,) i just thought i'd provide some context i don't see often that might help you figure out what you want to do with your captions ^_^b (happy thumbs-up emoticon).

[Previous ask for context.] Hello! Thank you for your input. The difference in purpose between alt text and long descriptions makes sense to me, and I have some non-Tumblr experience with video transcriptions that I try to apply here as well. I do agree with the previous anon that my descriptions for art and such tend to be a bit verbose, so I can definitely work on trying to capture the general essence of the piece rather than every minute detail. I think I will go with the idea of putting a pre-description for longer captions that are as concise as possible and mention that the following description is lengthy. I will also add the ‘long description’ tag moving forward in case people want to block that pre-emptively. I am also open to further discussion on this if anyone (especially screen reader users) wants to comment :] (rectangular smiley)

#blog meta #captions meta #StopRockVideo #also that thumbs up emoticon is so cute i am definitely stealing that for personal use heh

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royalreef · 3 months

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@infernalpursuit inquired: does your muse believe in an afterlife?

(( As with all things with Miranda: it's complicated.

The religion that Miranda has the most contact with and could most be considered as being brought up within is the religion attached to the Crown, the one that Amanda's currently the head of. This isn't to say it was a particularly strict connection. Even the other members of the Royal Family aren't necessarily too fussed about believing strictly in the religion (save except Amanda herself), and mostly care about presenting the image that they do, less than self-enforcing it among themselves and within themselves. If Miranda said and did the right things when it mattered, then what was behind closed doors didn't, since the political connection is far more important and far more vital to what they do. Miranda was walked through all the ritual parts of what she was expected to do, was given all the things that she was expected so say, and so long as she upheld both of these and followed along for major holidays and interactions, she was allowed a fairly long leash when it came to religion.

Of course, this also included tutelage under Amanda herself, with a certain degree of religious schooling by Amanda being necessary to Miranda's title as Crown Princess, but also in other classes and studies as well, since there was a lot of information that needs to be passed down to the future ruler.

Which is... where things get complicated.

The crown's religion is mostly animist, like a lot of other merfolk religions, and centers on the Sleep and the Wake, with the mortal world being in the middle of the gradient between the two, as the Sleep filters up to the surface and the Wake filters down to the seafloor. They believe that merfolk have souls, yes, but so does everything else, not just alive, but also inanimate objects and places and phenomena. They also believe that souls are plural in the first place, giving away pieces of themselves and picking up pieces of other souls, constantly changing, and that the lines between souls are blurry.

When a merfolk dies, they believe that the soul will reincarnate into another body or bodies, and there are gods devoted to ensuring that the correct soul finds the correct next body where it will be needed. Other gods are devoted to messing up this process and switching up where the soul will go, to ensure it ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Other gods will protect the soul as it lingers in the mortal realm, waiting to take on the next body or just observing the living, and other gods yet will help lead the soul down to the Sleep, where they return to being the raw material of creation and become something different entirely. Or, souls might wander down into the Sleep, but then later wander back up to the realm of the living, without taking on a new life. There's considered to be a lot of souls who remain in the uppermost layers of the sleep, living in cities and towns that are strange reflections of the living world, where one of the living might accidentally wander themselves and not realize that all of the people around them are dead.

The most common interpretation of all of this, and the one held mostly by the more commonfolk of the Merkingdom, is that care should then be taken to help guide the soul into their next body or where they need to go as much as possible. There's a lot of ritual involved around deaths, including examples of funerary cannibalism, to ensure the soul takes care of the people they loved in life or that they become a form that would be helpful to the people they loved.

The royals usually take a more indirect approach, however. They will still invoke the gods and write their symbols and have complicated funerary rites dedicated to capturing certain gods' attention, but enforcing where it goes is less important to them. Considering one of the gods which leads the peaceful dead to the next body and life that needs them most is a mythologized, godly counterpart to the Royal Family's very real ancestor, you can imagine why their living counterparts would feel fairly assured in what is happening to the soul after death. Even moreso when the dead Vanderbilts are then interred in the Royal Catacombs, where their last resting place becomes an altar and a dedicated space to this god, where converts can go to worship.

For Miranda, it's this last part that's the biggest stickler in her mind. Seldom outside of proper events does Amanda allow her down into the Royal Catacombs, and especially not to see the tomb of the Former Queen — since the entire area is considered to be under her purview, and it's something Amanda can hold over Miranda, poking and prodding at her and making her behave as she wants if Miranda wants to go see their mom for herself.

Which, really, the heart of this problem is Amanda. Miranda... tries not to think about religion because of her specifically, and especially doesn't like to think about what would happen to her after death, or what happened to her mom, or even what's happened to all of her ancestors. Would they be angry at her? Hate her? Think she's squandering all the gifts she was given, gifts which said she would have been a perfect ruler, a perfect Vanderbilt, a perfect Cees'rril'ta, if only she actually did what she was told? Amanda tells her they would be. Amanda drives the message home that Miranda's not worthy of seeing their mother, that she's done something insulting to her memory, that that's why their mother would have nothing to do with Miranda from beyond the grave. And it's not like Miranda can openly challenge this, she's no expert and Amanda is supposed to be one, and how would she even know if there's been any influence of their mother hanging around and trying to help her?

And even worse: what will happen to Miranda, after she's dead? Miranda's seen the tomb where she's supposed to go after she's dead, and the thought of people coming by to leave prayer charms around the door and begging her bones for kindness is... a lot. It's a lot in a bad way, and Miranda doesn't want people to see her like that, all her bones laid out on display and vulnerable and dead, and for them all to come by, them all to claim some ownership over her body... Does she even have a soul, really? What if she doesn't? What if she fucked up, what if she doesn't actually have a soul, that she's all dead and wrong inside and not even really a person? Or what if she does? What if she has to come back? What if she has to do this a second time? What if there really isn't any escape? What if she has to look at all the people who come to worship her bones and who look at her and see her as her final form, a holy relic, a priceless object forever owned by the Merkingdom, with nothing ever able to change that?

The thoughts get worse from there, especially regarding Bellanda and the entire genre of terrifying thoughts that involve her and death.

So Miranda just... doesn't think about religion. She wouldn't say she doesn't believe, no, because that would still require a degree of thought devoted to that conviction. Instead Miranda just snips the thought out of her head entirely, removes religion from her thought process and her mind, never speaks on the issue unless it's a part of her duties and she has to, and then all she has to do is parrot what she's supposed to.

But there's still a degree of worship there, too. Not in an actively-thinking-about-it way, just... Just in the fact that Miranda still tries to make prayer charms to attach to the former Queen's tomb every time she attempts to sneak down there. She still holds on tight to the single charm she was allowed to have as a pup from her funeral. She still goes to the altars and does the brief prayers when something especially bad is on her mind, and to Miranda, she just lets it come automatically, without thought. It's easier if she doesn't think about it. If she doesn't try. If she just hopes and wants and tries to get some good luck anyhow, please, and only feels these in her chest, and never thinks about them at all.

#Glory and Gore || IC #Dreaded rumors || Asks #Given by Divine Right || Headcanons #infernalpursuit #(( miranda. kinda really feels fucked up about her mom.#(( but she wont ever let herself parse just how fucked up she feels about it #(( so she just panics and doesnt think about the vast network of problems of WHY she feels so fucked up about it #(( from how much shes supposed to be a perfect mini replica of her mom #(( to being a perfect example of a vanderbilt #(( to just not knowing her mom and wondering if she would care about her at all #(( if she'd be like her dad and like the other royals or if shed ever actually legitimately feel something for her #(( or if miranda really is just a massive fuckup and tarnishing her memory and mocking it by being so similar to her #(( all her life shes been compared to someone who is dead and received the expectations of the dead #(( to the point where miranda doesnt really think shes alive at all #(( let alone her own person #(( and amanda coming in and twisting the knife and using all of this as a weapon to bludgeon miranda with doesnt help either

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thewellnessdays · 15 days

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💚 𝓗𝓸𝔀 𝓽𝓸 𝓴𝓮𝓮𝓹 𝓪 𝓫𝓮𝓪𝓾𝓽𝓲𝓯𝓾𝓵 𝓲𝓷𝓭𝓸𝓸𝓻𝓼 𝓰𝓪𝓻𝓭𝓮𝓷 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓪 𝓵𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓲𝓷𝓿𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓱𝓸𝓶𝓮 𝓪𝓽𝓶𝓸𝓼𝓹𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮? 💚

hey lovelies 💚

today bringing our beautiful plants, aren't they lovely?

our indoor gardens give much good, vitality and peace.

beautiful diverse plants we have, have healing properties for ourselves, our homes and our lives.

a literal piece of caring, loving and sweetness that can look at in the various parts of our days and daily routine.

some of our healing plants :

° areca palm - purifies irritations, brings stability, grounding and beauty

° spider plant - cleansing, pure air, easy breathing

° orchid - healing, increases self-esteem and care for self, feminine energy (one way why usually gift women orchids to show care, affection and to celebrate or congratulate), celebrates feminine life

° lavender - peace and love for the present

° jasmine - purifies the body, mind and breath, brings higher vibrations and good energy

° gardenia - grounding, soothing, aids digestion and emotional processing

° aloe vera - protects, eases and gives more quality to your sleep, makes you feel good, vital and loved

° english ivy - brings clarity to mind and present, clears and grounds

° boston fern - detox and brings joy

keep a beautiful indoors garden:

° let sunshine in first in the morning, according to the ayurvedic clock, cyrcadian rithm, which one you prefer - your beautiful plants love the sun and so does the sun loves you 💗

° bring in air and wind, let new air flow into your space each day, take in new breath, new energy and new life, your plants have more air nutrients and gases to process into oxygen and you have feel more spacey in life, with more energy for your day

° send love to your plants, say goodmorning to your plants and wish them a good day, know that nurture and care grows and blossoms

° if you have little trees or bonsais, hug them, hugging trees and even delicate plants from afar, give so much to your life, you will feel good

° put on music with your plants that has a harmonious vibe and feel good sparkles, that is relaxing and supports your day

° talk to your plants if you feel you want to, tell them good things, compliments, give them or tell them your lists of gratitude, tell them affirmations - you both grow and have more self-love

a light inviting home

° make your home your space, your energy, your activities, your desires, your needs ° you recharge in your home and you deserve to have a you space that is lovingly reciprocate to you

° love your home and love you in it

° create good routines, put "you" decorations

° fulfill your decor and usefulness needs as often

° have laughing moments and joyful moments in your home

° invite good people in your home and feel satisfied with their presence, choosing your right companions and mates

° make sure to create moments that give you joy, recharging, music, beauty, movement, expression, art, talk, connection, hobbies, dedication, all of what you need in your life in your space

° get good fashion around, that fulfills your visual needs

° move things around for comfort, get material around that gives you nurture, comfort, self-soothes

° compliment your neighbours from afar at times, and lovingly be playful with kids around, maybe have them in for a little while. happy kids time gives good time.

° be you at home, "more than anyone else", you deserve to be you in your space, and you can create safety around that

creating good memories in your home pays off and gives more to you

quote of the day

"you are so much more than you think you are"

love babies 💚

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whatwewrotepodcast · 21 days

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WIP Questionaire Tag Game

Thanks @jackiezenauthor for the tag!

On a bit of a The Second Coming run so I'll use that for this.

What was the first part of your wip that you created?

The first chapter? Haha so this is probably the 4th or 5th time we've re-written/re-done this story. The first version was about 120 hand written pages long, spewed out over a few weeks in high school. We then re-wrote the whole thing, it wound up being 150k+ words so we decided to turn it into a trilogy, and that's where we're at. But we very much started at the beginning, with chapter

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

Bleeding out by Imagine Dragons. ID is pretty much the soundtrack for this story, and was the main music we listened to while we wrote it and so they're always indelibly tied together in my mind. But this song sort of sums up the vibe really well to me.

3. Who are your favorite characters you've made? Why?

Belial is definitely a fan favourite for us. He was never really meant to be a main character - he was a side character! He was just an NPC! But somehow he ended up becoming vital to the story and then the next thing you know he's a POV character. Belial is such a great character because he's so complex. He's a good person! Kind of! But he isn't afraid to do what needs to be done and if that means doing things that aren't so savoury, he's willing to do that. He's loyal to those he thinks are deserving, he's brave when he thinks it'll make a difference. He's also extremely hot.

4. What other pieces of media do you think would share a fanbase for your story?

Hmmm interesting. I mean, I don't love the comparison but fans of Cassandra Clare would probably enjoy TSC because it does have similar feels and themes. Potentially also Laini Taylor? Anyone who likes modern fantasy? Maybe Good Omens fans too, though we're not nearly as funny haha.

5. What has been your biggest struggle while writing?

Oh my god the editing. Honestly we are in editing hell right now and it's just excruciating. It's so disheartening to have to throw big chunks of writing in the bin and have to write the scene again because it wasn't quite right.

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

There aren't really, which is kinda weird because we're both huge animal lovers.

7. How do your characters get around?(ex: trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

Mostly in Merry's beat up old Kia.

8. What part of your wip are you working on?

Currently doing editing/rewrites on Anarchy, book two of the trilogy, a rough draft of which we spat out during a writing holiday back in 2020 and haven't had time to get back to.

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe?) of your wip do you think will draw people in?

We definitely have a couple of good ships, lots of action and great fight scenes, but I think (hope?) the characters are what people will enjoy. We want people to love our characters, to want to know more about them, to spend more time with them.

10. What are your hopes for your wip?

Honestly, publication with this one! We really think it has the chops to go the distance, we just need to find someone willing to take a chance on us. Or, for our podcast to get popular enough that we have a chance to self pub. Whatever works!

Tagging @illarian-rambling @cssnder and @xenascribbles

#writeblr #writers of tumblr #writing #writer #write #writing community #tag game

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copperbadge · 2 years

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Er-what does Eddie Rambler think of B Dylan Hollis?👨‍🍳

So fair warning, I find his tiktoks (as I do many tiktoks) super difficult to watch, so I've never watched one all the way through with sound. I've seen bits and pieces of plenty, via tumblr, so I know the general gist; this is absolutely nothing against him, he's doing great work and he's cute as a button, I just am not actually all that familiar with his ouvre in detail, and don’t know much about him personally.

I think Eddie probably thinks he's super cool, nothing but positive things to say and definitely he follows his work. But Eddie doesn't really see them as working in the same niche -- which is good, because it means they're not trying for the same viewers. While they both work broadly in food entertainment, Eddie's primary aim is to talk about food -- how to cook, how to think about food and culture -- while Hollis's primary aim is to entertain with food. Those aren't competing goals, they're two different and equally vital parts of an ecosystem.

Also he has mad props for the fact that Hollis doesn't pull punches -- if something that sounded gross tastes good he'll admit it freely, and kitsch game recognizes kitsch game.

Eddie would have come up in food entertainment just slightly before the rise of foodtok/foodtube, and he was instrumental in developing it, so he has a head start on a lot of the young, slick food entertainment stars that are now coming up, many of whom in some ways are biting his style because he’s what came before. He’s got a slightly bigger fanbase and they’re old enough that some have disposable income with which to fund patreons, buy cookbooks, and all that good revenue-stream-developing stuff.

So Eddie is, though it’s kind of a funny pun, a “kingmaker” in his own way. He’s been able to help publicize a lot of strong talents with shoutouts on his already-established influencer platform, and an endorsement from him can jumpstart a career. So he has definitely referenced/publicized Hollis's social media in the past and thinks the kid's going places. If he ever finds a suitably appalling recipe in the Shivadh National Library archives, he’ll pass it on. :D

#shivadhverse #food

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margridarnauds · 3 months

Note

I haven't played the game myself but I DO want to know about your Tavs! I think you've mentioned Kitrye and Mallathalra are sisters, so maybe answer 1-10 for each, or both if the answer is the same, and also 31 (Underdark question)

SYMRYVVIN SISTERS, LET'S GO (thank you!)

• Origin & Class

1. What is their backstory and why did you choose it?

(warning for brief references to past implied SA)

Kitrye is a half-Elf; her father was a captured Wood Elf, her mother was a priestess of Lolth. The circumstances of her conception were...less than consensual, and her father was killed before she was born. She grew up stigmatized, with only a few friends or allies, the most prominent being her adoptive sister, Mallathalra, a former urchin brought in by the Symryvvin family (even her name was given to her; her original name has been forgotten, even by Malla). As time went on, she discovered the goddess Eilistraee, who comforted her and showed her a different path, that she didn't have to live in the darkness forever. After a time serving as a Shadowdancer, working quietly to undermine Lolth even as she appeared faithful, she escaped to the surface world, becoming Eilistraee's paladin and pursued by her sister.

Going into Kitrye's backstory, I wanted to do at least a LITTLE bit of a shakeup from my usual pattern for OC backstories. I know that I like a *lot* of characters with abusive fathers. At first, I toyed with her being a Seldarine Drow whose mother or father had escaped to the surface and fallen in love with an Elf, but as I started to dig more into Drow society, I found myself wanting to dig more into the darker side of things and what it would genuinely be like to be a half-Elf in that kind of regimented world, so I decided to toy with that. Going through conversations with friends, I realized that I actually HAD like. My actual thoughts on Kitrye's development while it was happening written out.

(@hotelfgirl suggested a Drow because "it was angstier"; she has no one but herself to blame for the result.) (Please note: I HAVE NEVER EVEN DONE A DURGE RUN.) (I HAVE FIVE RUNS OF THIS STUPID GAME. AND I HAVE NEVER DONE A DURGE RUN.)

(Additionally HILARIOUS when you remember how much Kitrye canonically HATED ASTARION by the end of her run. Like, girl couldn't even romance him long enough to dump him after ascending him; the worst thing I ever did was have an AU where she had sex with him so that I could get modded footage of Astarion being swapped for Raphael, just because of how UNCOMFORTABLE she looked.)

I looked up different Drow noble houses, since I knew that that would be a vital part of her identity, I chose the Symryvvins because they're low enough in the hierarchy that next to nothing's been done on them, so I had a lot of leeway. (It wasn't until later that I learned about the earlier sources that indicated that House Symryvvin were known for producing priestesses and might be the real powers in Menzoberranzan...which fit PERFECTLY.)

Malla came later, much later. As I was developing a fic that involves Kitrye going back to the Underdark, I thought about what I wanted to show of the Symryvvin family. The girl's mother, sure, but what about other family members? It didn't make sense for there to be only TWO Drow in this noble house, there would have to be other family members. And I was kind of eager to toy with what a Lolth sworn Drow would be like. What's it like for people who AREN'T Kitrye? It wasn't a fully developed character, more an antagonist who would impede Kitrye's time in the Underdark and who might know about her secret, but not say anything, giving the appearance of being a friend before betraying her. Then, as I was reading the 2E book on Menzoberranzan, I saw an interesting bit on non-noble Drow with certain skills being adopted into noble families. I thought about what kind of urchin might be adopted, and I remembered the Szarkai. In a flash, Malla was born, from all these disparate pieces. A character who would be the anti-Kitrye, who would be cynical, pragmatic, and ruthless, loyal to Lolth, and devoted to the Symryvvin cause. Someone who would hunt Kitrye down, explaining, FINALLY, *why* she felt she needed to go back to the Underdark. (I was still planning on having her betray Kitrye, even though it felt wrong, but @claradwor WISELY talked me out of it, saving Malla's character.)

From there, a lot naturally felt into place as I was making her in character creator and then playing her in the game, both at the tail end of Kitrye's run and ESPECIALLY in her own run.

2. What is their class (+ subclass) and why did you choose it?

Kitrye is a Light Cleric of Eilistraee/Paladin, Oath of the Ancients. I knew, as I was developing Kitrye, that I desperately wanted her to be a paladin of Eilistraee. I wanted to play her as this sort of grail knight figure, with a strong sense of redemption, but perhaps with a touch of hubris as far as her own ability to be corrupted. And in order to be a paladin of a deity, you have to at least dip into cleric.

For Oath of the Ancients, as I'll touch on...I actually wanted her to be something else, but it wasn't available in the game. I went between Oath of the Ancients/Oath of Devotion, but the Ancients' overall emphasis on preserving the light against the dark really seemed to fit a paladin of Eilistraee and her battle against Lolth perfectly. I didn't know she was going to be an Oathbreaker going in, it wasn't planned (and in some ways clashed with my plans to have her become corrupted later) but I decided in Act 1, with the Nere bossfight (where, in the first runthrough, she broke her oath due to killing some guards....so I had to run through the fight AGAIN) that if there was ever a time when I thought it would suit her story arc, to go for it. And when it came time to free or destroy the vampire spawn, I decided that this was a worthy cause for her to break her oath for and a great character development moment, so I accepted it, and so she's a canon Oathbreaker.

3. Do they multiclass? Why (not)?

Kitrye multiclasses as a Cleric/Paladin. I usually emphasize the Paladin aspect, because it's the most relevant to her arc. (I only multiclassed as Cleric initially so I could choose her deity, since Eilistraee is so important to her and her arc, even though by the end of her run, she had more Cleric than Paladin levels.)

Malla is a Gloomstalker Ranger/Assassin/Fighter combo. (She is. Terrifying in combat. To the point of nearly one-shotting a dragon. That is why she is my Tactician Mode Girl.) Beyond minmaxing, I wanted to emphasize the various aspects of Malla's work -- she's a ranger, a lot of her work does involve tracking down the enemies of Lolth and dragging people back to the Underdark. She can live off the grid, away from the most strenuous aspects of Drow society (hence how she has her tattoo.) Assassin to emphasize her role as an infiltrator, working from the shadows, killing quietly and quickly. Fighter to build off the ranger and emphasize her combat training.

4. Is there a reason why your Tav starts out as Level 1?

For Kitrye, it's the tadpole. Realistically, given her history and the sheer *length* of her service to Eilistraee, I think that her final level of 12 might very well reflect her "natural" level pre-tadpole, though I could be persuaded to lower her down to a 10.

For Malla, when I first introduced her, it wasn't actually during her own run -- it was Kitrye's. I installed a mod that allowed you to add custom companions, and so she was brought in for the Destroy the Steel Watch quest, well after Kitrye had obtained level 12, so she started off as a level 12, and I consider that to be canon for her. (In her own run, she started off as a 1 just like everyone else, and like with Kitrye, I blame the tadpole. Because there's no way you can be an elite Drow ranger and be a 1.)

5. Does your Tav have family members? Are they close?

Malla and Kitrye are adopted siblings (though, honestly, even *I* barely remember the "adopted" part). Malla was an urchin, taken in by the Symryvvin family because she was a Szarkai Drow, therefore believed to be a sign of Lolth's favor. The two sisters have an odd relationship -- Kitrye spends most of her canon run scared of Malla finding her, but, once Malla does, she gave her full access to the camp inventory and allowed her to choose whatever weapons she wanted. Malla gained the scar on her eye from protecting Kitrye from bullies when they were children. Kitrye used her skill at alchemy to make poisons for Malla to dip her arrows into, and Malla will collect ingredients for Kitrye without even thinking. They both resent one another on some level for having something that the other wants -- Kitrye for Malla being able to blend into society aboveground (since she's often mistaken for an albino elf, despite Kitrye actually BEING half-Elf), Malla for Kitrye having the Symryvvin blood and the security that brings (as much security as you can get in Drow society), and not wanting it. They are totally incompatible as far as their life trajectories, but they are also sisters, and it's a bond that goes deeper than anyone really anticipates, especially from the Drow.

Kitrye lives in a state of fear of her mother -- I do think that she loved Kitrye, or at least was invested enough in her survival to both keep the pregnancy *and* allow her to grow into adulthood, but it has also never been a fully loving relationship. Kitrye's mother will use her for her purposes and, if she was to ever find out the full extent of Kitrye's Eilistraean activities, she wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice her to Lolth. The main reason that Kitrye lives *now* and is even given the option of being dragged to Menzoberranzan, instead of being executed on the spot, is that her mother refuses to believe she could not only leave Lolth and become an apostate, but to convert to Eilistraee, the result of wishful thinking and the Symryvvin family's adamantine reputation for being loyal followers of Lolth. Malla's reputation is far more distant -- Malla knows that she relies on the Symryvvin family. When their fortunes rise, so do hers, and if their fortunes fall, so do hers, and so she obeys the letter of the matron mother's requests, even as she acts as a free agent. Their mother is more of a patron to her than a maternal figure, and Malla, in turn, is the Symryvvin family's own weapon, honed to perfection, a blade worthy of the Eyes of Lolth.

6. Does your Tav have any friends from their past? Are they still friends?

Ilivarra, a fellow Eilistraean who helped Kitrye adjust to her new, dangerous life in the service of Eilistraee when she was a new convert. Unfortunately, while Kitrye still considers her a friend, she can't be in contact with her, due to Ilivarra's life as a Shadowdancer for Eilistraee, still working in Menzoberranzan. Ilivarra was there when, after the game, Kitrye returned to Menzoberranzan for her last mission, ultimately allowing herself to become a human sacrifice for the sake of the mission. (Which caused Kitrye to have a minor breakdown, as she realized that, after everything she'd accomplished, she still couldn't save her friends, she was still the same sad, scared little girl she'd been over two hundred years before the second she was in front of her mother.)

For Malla, I don't believe that she has any real friends, especially with her line of work. She has people who she uses, she has people whose trust she twists, but I don't believe she would be able to trust someone enough to truly consider them a friend.

7. Does your Tav have connections to other characters (I.e.: NPCs)?

Nere is either a half-brother or cousin to the girls. I don't know which, honestly, which shows that it isn't REALLY as important as it could be. (He was born well after Kitrye had left the Underdark, so she never knew him growing up.) (#He'sJustNere)

Malla is romancing Minthara and, even in Kitrye's run, I like to think that, while Kitrye was fighting her way to Baldur's Gate, Malla was following behind her and rescued her from Moonrise Towers. (She and Kitrye eventually have a long discussion about So, Now We Both Hate Lolth.) I don't think that either girl knew her before, at least not on a personal level. I suspect, from Minthara's voice acting, that she might be a good few centuries older than them, possibly in the 300s-400s to their ~270s. Not MASSIVE by Drow standards, but enough to mean they weren't running in the same generational circles.

Kitrye's reputation as a devilfucker, for better or worse, barely needs to be said, but she has a push and pull dynamic with Raphael that threads its way throughout the three acts of the game. They actually never met one another BEFORE the game, though, something that Raphael sometimes regrets.

I do think that Kitrye might have met Araj at one point, both of them being roughly the same age, with an interest in potions-- Araj doesn't recognize her and Kitrye tries very hard to not give out her name in their encounter, even if she doesn't totally succeed and Araj absolutely comes to realize who the half-Elf browsing through her shop is. I don't think their relationship before was particularly cordial. (Her relationship with Araj's cousins absolutely was NOT.)

For characters who don't appear in the game, Kitrye's first crush was Gromph Baenre. An adolescent Kitrye would wait up at night for the tower of Narbondel to light up and would moon over how wise and handsome Gromph was. (Malla still remembers this and *will* tease her.)

HATES Drizzt because she feels like he doesn't give proper credit to Eilistraee. Deeply respects Liriel Baenre, despite being a century older than her and once wanting to fuck Liriel's dad. (Isobel 🤝 Liriel: Kitrye being friends with them and considering asking them if they'd ever thought of having a new stepmother.) (Malla hates Drizzt because...he betrayed Lolth. She also DESPISES Viconia and collaborated with Kitrye to kill her.)

8. Where did your character live before the events of the game?

Kitrye has been wandering around Faerûn, always watching behind her back for the forces of Lolth, wherever there's a need of her. She's tangled with Drow slavers, helped as a healer in places that had been devastated by raiders, and met with other Eilistraean forces to devise strategies, particularly keeping in contact with Liriel Baenre and Qilué Veladorn. She can never stay too long and she doesn't want to, being somewhat solitary by most Eilistraean standards.

Malla, likewise, is often travelling around, working as a sort of bounty hunter in Lolth's name, focusing especially on cities and urban areas, places where Drow might escape in the hopes of blending in with a crowd. Anywhere where the Symryvvin family has need of her, she goes. Just before the events of the game, she began the process of infiltrating the new cult known as the Absolute, gaining the trust of a few major members and ingratiating herself, selling herself as a new prospect.

9. Does your Tav have a different class/race/origin than in the game? (I.e.: Your Tav is Aasimar, fisherman backstory ...)

I really, really wanted Kitrye to be an Oath of Redemption Paladin. That was the theming I wanted for her, especially as a follower of Eilistraee, but because of game limitations, she had to take a vow as Oath of the Ancients instead. To some extent, I think it worked out well, because I think it really allowed her to explore the limits of her character in a way she wouldn't have with Oath of Redemption, I think, if I was to play it again in a world where both were available, I would give her Oath of the Ancients again, but it's always going to be a case of what could have been.

Malla's an odd combination of noble/urchin for her backstory, but I decided to keep "noble" for Kitrye and "urchin" for Malla to highlight the difference between them in their early lives. (Though "folk hero" or "outlander" would have ALSO worked for Kitrye.)

10. What was your Tav like as a child?

Kitrye was a quiet child, the type who've learned the dangers of speaking up too often, too loudly. She spent most of her time in the company of the House Wizard, who taught her all there was to know about the study of alchemy, even though Kitrye felt no particular love or aptitude for the broader study of magic. She had few friends, was quite lonely, but observed a great deal, becoming quite adept at studying human behavior and picking apart intentions in order to turn conversations her way when she did speak.

Malla was more outgoing, naturally quick and clever, operating as a petty thief in Menzoberranzan before being taken in. Like Kitrye, she honed her charisma carefully, but also maintained a proud streak that did not tolerate insult. If Drow society turned Kitrye into a somewhat naturally pensive, sad child, they made Mallathalra into a cynical one. She was pragmatic, keeping an eye on Kitrye because the Symryvvin name was hers as well, and was willing to defend her to the point of drawing blood (even with the knowledge and, perhaps, even expectation that one day, it would be Kitrye's blood at the end of either her knife or her arrow). The two of them formed a natural partnership, albeit one that was strained by their different personalities and outlooks.

31. What does your Tav think of the Underdark and the Myconids?

The Underdark is still Kitrye's home, to some extent. It's where she grew up, she's attached to it, but she also hasn't gone back since she escaped over a century before. She was constantly on edge in the area, always worried that someone from her past would pop up, even though they were far from Menzoberranzan. Still, it was in the Underdark that her character development first began, between gaining the Phalar Aluve, the Eilistraean sword that she used for the rest of her run, as well as confronting and killing Nere, fully claiming her heroic legacy as a half Elf for the first time, with both sides of her heritage integrated into one another. She enjoyed her time with the Myconids, even if she found their reanimation process to be disturbing, and was thrilled to be given the title "peacebringer." She considers them to be genuine friends and hopes to stay with them again at some point, enjoying their song.

Malla didn't feel the same angst over the situation -- this is the Underdark, it's her home, she knows the dangers better than anyone, and so it was the best path to travel. She doesn't particularly ENJOY being there, simply because it means that she gets a shorter leash, but it's a more mundane "gah, I was having so much fun aboveground" type of thing as opposed to Kitrye constantly looking over her shoulder. Malla didn't particularly think too much of the Myconids one way or another -- she helped them out, they helped her out. She chose Spaw over Glut as sovereign purely because she decided that Spaw was the sane option and, even as she rolled her eyes at some of the titles and the superlatives, she accepted the possibility of new allies.

#long post #oc: kitrye #oc: mallathalra #the GIRLS

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miraculous-magicalconnections · 4 months

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Is there ANY character you removed from your AU?

Also, do you have an episode list? Or at least some episodes that you won't be keeping? If so, which episodes did you remove and why? And do you have how many seasons planned?

Lastly, will your AU be in fanfic format, fanfic with some images to illustrate it, or something else?

As of now, I'm pretty sure every character that has appeared in canon (at least the important ones) are going to be incorporated somehow

There are some characters like Giselle (Mme. Bustier's wife) or August (Gigantitan) that aren't "important" that'll still at the very least have a cameo or brief mention

But there ARE some characters that are being added to the story such as the Quantic Kids (aka the original "Team Miraculous" from the pilot) who will have some importance.

I don't have an episode list, nor do I know for sure which episodes will/won't be added. Some episodes are vital to the plot of the canon show whereas others aren't so it's hard to say for sure which will be important to the story.

On top of this, this isn't really going to be following the typical episodic style as the show, each part is going to basically pick and choose what needs to happen including the Akuma, characters, and story so technically there aren't any "episodes" in my rewrite (but certain things will still follow a set order like in canon)

And I have 5 "seasons" planned, however I'm referring to them as Arc's instead as (like previously said) I'm not writing it episode by episode but rather important dates. Because of that each Arc will be focusing on specific things, which ranges from character arcs to world building.

And lastly, it'll be primarily fanfic format with a few art pieces here and there. Before the story officially starts, I plan to post at least all of the main cast's redesigns with a small description of what I've changed and why.

However, I do plan to keep their hero forms secret until they actually debut. Of course, this won't be the case with Ladybug, Chat Noir, or our villains though as they appear pretty much immediately.

Along with that, as small teaser, Hawk Moth and Mayura have different names in my rewrite. Hawk Moth was changed to Monarque (Monarch in French) as I think it suit's my version of Gabriel better and Mayura's new name is a secret as it's a slight spoiler to her rewritten backstory so stay tuned for that (:

Thank you very much for your questions!

#miraculous #miraculous rewrite #rewrite #miraculous ladybug #chat noir #hawk moth #mayura #quantic kids #fanfiction #fanfic #Miraculous: Magical Connections

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honkbird · 7 months

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boring ahh webdev class today, we're gunna talk about Wanderhome -- not the system but the worldbuilding behind Wanderhome

By and large I see Wanderhome as a great epitome of these more 'lax' settings. Cozy, gone from a time of war, woodsy, furry, etc. It's what I wish Humblewood was more of. Don't get me wrong, Humblewood is a great setting, but one is much more Epic and Fantastical than the other. Sometimes I don't to go on a horrific war to the barren wildfire wastes. Sometimes, a small pilgrimage sounds really entertaining. Explore the world /after/ that war. And of course, any system can do some level of that, but Wanderhome presents it in such an immutable way. I've never seen a system so deeply. Maybe it's the season in the real world right now, but I'd love a jaunt through nature during Firetop season. My favorite parallel would be Over the Garden Wall, which I'm quite sure everyone knows this media-- but it's such a good frame! Wirt and Greg go along everywhere, briefly being tangled in the lives of others but never becoming fully incorporated. Everyone in Wanderhome is the same, going along the road to a goal of their own. You'll come across residences, but it's doubtful you'd live there like the locals.

A great fantasy of mine would be hosting a combat focused system, engaging the players in a war with an air far above the commoner. Then, after such a campaign, having the group explore among those invisible actors who never played a part in the war -- but were affected just as much as the soldiers who came home.

But past the flights of fancy I'm having-- the book itself is wonderful! The first bunches of pages are focused on immersing you rather than what the rules are. Not how you play but how you play. Learn to mesh with the group, play off eachother, build and listen to one another.

AND THE ART IS JUST WONDERFUL, I'm a huge sucker for these ink and hashed pieces that mark every section of the book.

Especially the seasons one--

This comes before any actual rules, mind you. They're so focused on pinpointing the mood of the setting. The rules in question are so fluid that you might need some direction -- especially in character creation, so it's vital to get this sense of space and be inspired to write out your character.

Did you know there's no dice used at all in this system? It's all narrative-- infact, the only semblance of traditional 'balance' is the token system. Rather, you're attempting to build a story with other people. Suggestions for repercussions come from others too, if you need a sense of 'I don't want control in this moment'. If you really wanted you could break out the d6's like with other playbook/PbtA systems, but I think it's more enticing to write the story as a group instead. The dice aren't a member-- they don't have stake in this game-- but everyone else at the table does. Every player wants to see this be something wonderful! Every now and then, the dice aren't exactly unfair as they are... lacking. I should probably wrap here because it's getting egregiously long, but wonderful setting. The system works to give you storytelling ideas rather than a game.

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writeouswriter · 5 months

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Heya!

For any OC who needs a bit more development/ 'on screen' time:

What is your OC's pain tolerance like? What memory would your OC rather just forget? What is your OC's weapon of choice? Have they ever actually used it?

(also, if required, use this as permission to slack off for a bit. Take some rest, do something fun, and remember you're cared about)

Heya! You're always a joy to see in my notes, such a positive force in this community, lovely, lovely, thank you for the ask!

I'm gonna do these for Anthony, full name Dr. Anthony Kasperek, an OC I've had for over a year but never really talked about, but the basics are: he's a scientist in the field of astro*incoherent mumbling* uh something or other, tentatively astrobiology, but maybe astrophysics or something else entirely depending which way the story goes or if I at all figure out what I'm talking about, point is, space science of some sort, okay, and he's one of a number of scientists invited to this somewhat shady facility to study what may be a possibly earth-shattering extraterrestrial artefact. He's stubborn, paranoid, jumpy, and a bit of an insomniac (because which of my ocs aren't at this point), but has a passion for space and the stars and unlocking the mysteries of the universe like nothing else. He's also very very good at his job, but has a manic edge that tends to scare people away, himself included sometimes. Anyway, onto questions:

What is your OC's pain tolerance like?

I'm oscillating between the idea of it being really low or really high due to the fact he's used to having to deal with things like massive migraines, needles and too much stimuli, but I don't know if that would make him more or less susceptible to the pain it causes. Because on the one hand, the familiarity could make him more numb to it, but on the other hand, it could also make him even more wary, elevating the issue in part psychosomatically. It certainly still causes him stress, so I'm inclined to think the amount he's been relegated to has actually lowered his pain tolerance over the years, making the sensations all the more unbearable/worse each time because he knows it's coming but still is never prepared because in an ideal world, he wouldn't have to deal with it again at all, and he wants to believe he's done with it, believe the pain will never come back, so it's a source of fear and shock every time it does.

2. What memory would your OC rather just forget?

Oh, for Anthony, I'm sure there are too many, especially the way his brain works, solidifying the worst of them, while throwing the rest into chaos when he's trying to focus and suddenly can't remember that vital piece of information in his head that was just there, it was just there, and also especially with his reputation as the “eccentric” scientist, which he’d rather have left behind. There's definitely the... incident that led him to be let go from his job at NASA, which he doesn’t like to talk about, (and also doesn’t understand how it hasn’t barred him from working on such a sensitive project, because what’s up with that? Why did they choose him? Why did they choose him?), and there’s the time in college when he had to spend a semester in the psych ward, but even then he had the stars to comfort him, (he somehow talked them into letting him have those little plastic glowing ones on the ceiling).

3. What is your OC's weapon of choice? Have they ever actually used it?

Is it trite if I say his intellect/his mind? Though sometimes in that case, the weapon occasionally turns on himself. Actually, I'll go with something even more trite and say his genuine love for the universe and everything in it is his greatest weapon (and probably a secret tool that will help us later.jpeg). Barring that, I think he'd think daggers are pretty cool, but I doubt that will come up in the story, I'm sure he might whack someone with his telescope if in a pinch, but ough the calibration, but when cornered, his weapon of choice would probably be his fists or his nails, or throwing whatever random objects happen to be in the vicinity, perhaps if given the opportunity, he might find a way to give someone a little zap with the building's electricity. He may or may not have used those last few methods before...

#writing #writeblr #tw psych ward mention #my ocs #ask #ask game #thank you again #i'll answer the other couple asks soon if anyone's reading this i swear #writing asks #look at my character boy 🥺

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