anthropictales

[anthropictales]

Threshold Update

Shiala Passes on the Cipher

[anthropictales]

"One Word, Paragon:" You say grinning, and pointing up as the superstrong Paragon slows down at the entrance to your base, suspicious due to the lack of obvious guards.

"And that word is?" he says, clearly annoyed with the usual wordplay.

"Shitstorm."

"Do you know where we are relative to the city?" you ask.

"Under Ninth, east side..." he looks up, eyes scintillating with otherworldly light as he peers through the street and the roof of the Old City tunnels.

then he glares at you, eyes returning to normal.

"Under the Primary Sewage Processing Facility." he says.

"Indeeeeeeed. So you see, if we fight down here and knock over the structural pillars, well, not only do we get buried in a million gallons of sewage, but half the city will lose Wastewater for weeks while they fix it. And it'll turn Old City into a worse health hazard than it already is." He snorts. Sounding almost amused when he says "Clever. of course..." he looks straight at you. "That doesn't stop me from landing on you when you bring your schemes topside..." he says, and turns around, leaving the tunnels.

[Two Weeks Later]

On the TV, Paragon is holding a press conference.

"Old City is an irreplaceable part of the city's history and architecture. But the way the current surface level of the city sits atop it is structurally unsound, and if something collapses down there, we might not only lose Surface structures, we might lose priceless historical structures in Old City.

This is why I am offering to aid the City in renovating and reinforcing Old City"

he says.

You shrug. if he's doing that, he's not getting in your way.

[Three Weeks Later]

Paragon's back.

Only this time, there's a handful of city police, and a bunch of engineers, safety people and city surveyors.

And a lawyer with a notice that might as well be an eviction notice.

"It's for your own safety, as well as the general safety of the community. We're going to be reinforcing this area to modern standards, and if something goes wrong, you don't want your uh... lair, caught in a flood of sewage?"

worst part is, your lawyer would absolutely advise you to accept the order, what with the fact that it is kinda unstable.

Paragon winks at you as you take the court order.

That Bastard.

No superhero dares to storm your base… not because you're strong or had to beat, but you built it underneath the City' sewage system and one wrong move would mess up the water supply for everyone.

[anthropictales]

these are my mutuals. they know who they are

[anthropictales]

(Reposted because someone pointed out that anyone who's unfamiliar with the history of canning would probably interpret "canned food" as meaning food in modern aluminum cans and automatically vote for that one; this option has been rephrased for clarity.)

[anthropictales]

Threshold Update

Shiala debriefs the team

[anthropictales]

public service announcement

[anthropictales]

Fanfiction: Any Fiction about a story someone else owns or publishes (simple version) (Fanfiction about public Domain stuff is still fanfiction but you can publish it without worrying about the rightsholders trying to sue you (usually)) Web Fiction: Published for view on the Web Web Serial: Like the above but published section by section (modern form of ancient story magazines, some of which still publish now) Independent Publishing: published and/or sold for download or print by an author or handful of authors, Web Serial and Web Fiction are subsets of this one.

Some of y'all use the word fanfic to mean any fiction written online or by someone who is not a professional author. And yes, it bugs me.

[anthropictales]

[anthropictales]

[anthropictales]

Theory:

Werewolf as fear is Losing Self-Control, Werewolf as fantasy is Letting Go Of Self-Control.

Vampire as fear is Being Controlled by outside forces, Vampire as fantasy is Having Control over outside forces

Am I getting close to something here

[anthropictales]

*struggles while writing* i suck and writing is hard

*remembers some ppl use ai* i am a creative force. i am uncorrupted by theft and indolence. i am on a journey to excellence. it is my duty to keep taking joy in creating.

[anthropictales]

"Eternal Life." The figure looks like an emaciated person on the very edge of death. He wears robes of undyed cloth, and meets the glare of the Paladin with a calm smile and gestures at his rug, which has a simple ceramic tea service laid out. "Tea?" he asks.

The inquisitor, thoroughly flummoxed, finally elbows his Paladin, and takes a seat.

"That's what you were asking, yes? why is it that I am a Lich and yet do not engage in the typical games played by my... younger kin?" he says.

"Yes." the Inquisitor says. a small thrum of magic detects nothing but simple green tea.

"Eternity. It's a very large span of time. possibly infinite, though I am not so foolish as to imagine ti is impossible for me to cease. I spent much of my living days buried in research. Becoming a Lich was the ultimate proof of my skills at magic, but..." he shrugs.

"Then I had done it. and I was suddenly looking at an eternity of existence, when I had already achieved an obsession that had consumed me body and soul for my entire life." he frowns.

"And then i went out. looked around, and realized that I had spent all that time seeking eternal life, but hadn't actually lived. so I set about filling my time with wine, song and even women, at times. and each time I did, I learned more about the world around me. about this nation, her people, her rulers, and so on."

"And I realized that wine women and song meant less to me than my research had, but that even my research was less than useless when laid against the suffering of those around me. But... I was now immortal." he smiles.

"So I did something probably very stupid, and walked into a temple and begged the Gods for insight."

The Inquisitor blinked. "And you got it?"

"I was given a suggestion that I ought to travel. to learn. much as I had been, but this time, instead of experimenting with hedonism, I should perhaps turn my predilection for research upon the lives of those around me. What good is an eternity of life without something to do with it?"

"So you've been a monk for thousands of years, out of what, boredom?"

"It's the least boring thing you can imagine, my friend. imagine, if you were the one who was immortal? you and your party here, you travel about, smiting evil, setting right what has gone wrong.

Think about what that takes, the investigations, the study, the challenges posed by each unique circumstance, the people you meet and help. imagine what you could do with all this time. how many people you could help, how much evil you could fix, mundane and supernatural."

"You're a lich though." the paladin says.

"It's a morally neutral process, if you're willing to take a massive risk to your own survival, which I was because the other methods were... inefficient. I got lucky, tbh. but that also means the gods do not mind giving me a hand from time to time, and I can withstand their aid when they grant it to me." the monk shrugs.

"And I will readily admit, learning to make do without magic has been a challenge worthy of my intellect. being an evil man is about breaking things. it's easy. it seems... dull. saving lives? facing down true evil? helping people? learning about the souls who live in this place, their lives and doings, it's... there's not always a lot of variation, but there's always some surprise.

and i'm doing something that makes a few lives better, and with each deed, I make the world a little better.

A far more complex ambition than the average mad wizard has, and far more challenging."

The inquisitor is stumped. Despite all they have investigated, everything seems to indicate that the lich they've been tailing is a genuinely pious monk, and has been for as long as written history existed in the region. Fed up, they decide to confront him about it.

[anthropictales]

Threshold Update

The Thorian Dies

[anthropictales]

Threshold Update

The battle with the Old Growth continues.

[anthropictales]

i hate that "that that" is grammatically correct. why is english the joke language

[anthropictales]

Threshold Update

The battle with the Old Growth

[anthropictales]

My top three rules for world building:

How are these bitches eating?

How do these bitches stay warm at night?

Who is paying for all of this bullshit?