#[i made a cthulhu cult and i'm loving it]

[drengar]

I meant to be here yesterday but the Rim.World itch got to me so I was streaming that last night for Berto. Today I managed to get off so I'll be here and on my HH blog...While I continue to play Rim.World in the background.

[open-sketchbook]

my girlfriend is asking for where she can find your written works, she really likes the one post you made about your mindstate wandering w/r/t making porn stories and she'd love to support you & read your stories

Sure!

I write my (public) fiction on the website Sufficient Velocity, a sci-fi forum. Most of them are in the form of 'quests', interactive stories; my day job is an independent tabletop roleplaying game designer, so the two things go hand in hand.

I unfortunately am both very busy and kind of a mess mentally, so fiction gets picked up and dropped a lot, and I write less than ever these days due to the shambles that my life has become.

For my quests, the stuff I'm proudest of is...

Castles of Steel, a longrunning (though currently on hiatus) story set in an alternate world much like our own, but with radically different gender politics. It's about the first woman in the navy of a country a lot like 1910s Imperial Japan, and more generally about how state power and imperialism entangles itself with and recoups social progress.

A Splinter in your Mind, a retelling of the Matrix with new characters and reimagined twists and worldbuilding. It makes the trans subtext into trans dommetext, and I feel its some of my cleverest writing.

Suffer Not, and especially its sequel The Witch Lives. Suffer Not is a Warhammer 40,000 fic about an Inquisitor who abuses her powers to actually make people's lives better, and is the story of her slowly realizing it is not enough. The Witch Lives takes place ten years later, following the grown up psyker the Inquisitor adopted, and focuses much more on faith, history, and the little people.

The Spider-Liv Trilogy started as a silly and honestly kind of bad extreme-divergence spiderman AU, but its sequel The Amazing Arachne is, I think, genuinely really good, because it's about what happens when a superhero gets hurt and then doesn't get better.

I've managed to properly publish two pieces of writing, as in you can get them in book form, and I'm still really proud of both.

Whispers from the Deep is an adaptation of the quest that defined the setting of my roleplaying game Flying Circus. It's about a young woman who steals a plane and runs away from her abuser with her boyfriend, and then has to take up life as an aerial mercenary in a 1920s-themed post-apocalyptic fantasy world. Also, she's a fish person and her village is a Cthulhu cult!

Lieutenant Fusilier in the Farthest Reaches is a pastiche of the Richard Sharpe books by Bernard Cornwell, moving the setting from the Napoleonic Wars to a bizarre future world where sentient, cheerfully productive robots were invented in the early 19th century and promptly took all the jobs, elevating all of humanity to the gentry and then to the stars. It's about a redcoated robot soldier who uses her immortality to save up and buy a commission in the Army of Great Britain and Beyond, a position normally occupied exclusively by humans, and then facing the fallout of her decision and the life choices leading to it as her first deployment spirals out of control. It's also, sorta, a parody of Star Trek; the Galactic Concert is a mechanized, Regency-themed Federation, and the back half of the book is basically about how the problems of a world cannot be solved by an away team of well-meaning people with stun pistols.

[ritunn]

5 TTRPGs to Try in 2023

With the OGL being a thing WotC is certainly hitting rock bottom, this is a great time to try out new TTRPGs! I'm not going to recommend you Pathfinder 2e because that is an obvious pick, but if you're looking to expand your experiences, here's 5 TTRPGs to check out this 2023. I've also done a post for 2024, so feel free to check that out here if you like this!

1. Fabula Ultima

Fabula Ultima is a tabletop Japanese roleplaying game, or to put it simply, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Ni No Kuni, and so many more classic JRPGs as a tabletop game. A game of Fabula Ultima allows the players to create and design the world in conjunction with the GM and add on to it later with the Fabula/Ultima point system, allowing everyone to contribute to the world building! The actual mechanics are simple however, with minimal math involved and fights taking place like they would in say in the classic Final Fantasy games: enemies on one side of the screen and heroes on the other. No grids needed. Tactics are still full of depth however as you can mix and match 2 - 3 classes together at beginning levels to make any of your favorite JRPG archetypes and work with your team to exploit vulnerabilities of the foes you face. The bond system however allows players to grow more connected with each other abd the world, even getting bonuses for doing it and RPing, which is always a plus. Overall, an amazing fantasy tabletop for anyone who loves JRPGs.

2. Wanderhome

A pastoral fantasy TTRPG, Wanderhome is Redwall after the war when peace has finally come to the land. In Wanderhome, you take on the role of one of the many beastfolk of Haeth, wandering to somewhere across the land. Together with the GM or with no GM at all, everyone will make the towns and fantastical locations you come across together, populating them with NPCs and stories, all made with a simple trait system. Speaking of trait system, that's exactly what you use to build your character! You pick a playbook and from there pick traits and various things you can do, these aren't hard and set the only things you can do mind you, just things you're capable of. The gameplay itself is mostly about telling stories and solving problems via giving and taking, do something difficult and you'll be able to get a token that'll let you create story elements later on to help with problems. Via this you can build up a story together with everyone as you wander through the seasons, growing, and eventually leaving, as your journey one day comes to an end.

3. Troika!

Troika! is a game that exists. A very strange game. One with befoulers of ponds, journeymen from the guild of sharp corners, fellows from the sublime society of beef steaks, and vengeful children. A science fantasy TTRPG, Troika! certainly borrows from OSR but I wouldn't exactly put it in that either. Troika! is in league all its own, one where your adventures across the infinite weird and wonderful lands will certainly make your TTRPG group either concerned for you as the GM or give them a laugh. Plus, it has a vibrant third party community on Itch.io! So, you'll never really run out of new content for the strange game that is Troika! But to understand Troika! you'll need to read it yourself. Really. I can't explain this fever dream of a game.

4. Vaesen: Nordic Horror

In Call of Cthulhu you fight against eldritch horrors and dangerous cults, in Vaesen you fight against forces of an ancient and terrifying world being pushed aside as the world becomes more and more industrialized. Set in the very real country of Sweden, along with the rest of Northern Europe (and now Britain and Ireland too!) Vaesen is a horror TTRPG where you fight against faefolk, dangerous spirits, trolls, and other monsters of European folklore. Each player is a fairly normal person besides the fact that they have the gift to be able to actually see these monsters, so it's up to you to hunt them down and figure out what's wrong when they cause trouble. Whether that be via a simple conversation or a race against the clock to complete a ritual that will end their terror once and for all. As a Free League game, it uses their dice pool system. Add up together d6s based on your skills and circumstances then if you roll a 6, success! Other than that however, when you're not hunting creatures, you build up your home base, an ancient castle, customizing it according to the your party's needs to create the perfect place to relax after a job well done.

(As of writing this all Vaesen books are available with Forbidden Lands on Humble Bundle. I highly suggest buying it if interested.

5. Agon

From Evilhat, well known for Fate, Monster of the Week, and Thirsty Sword Lesbians (all great games as well), Agon is yet another amazing game with a focus on storytelling. Agon sets you as a hero of an epic in mythic Greece (but can be easily adapted to other mythos) sailing home and creating your heroic legacy. Gameplay consists of coming upon an island and challenging its threats, win or lose, you continue onwards afterwards dealing with the consequences of whatever happened and your legend grows as fate comes closer to claiming you. The dice system used is easy to pick up, simply requiring you to roll higher than your foe to succeed in contests. But with every success, the more your name die grows and with it, how many will tell your story at journey's end. If you fail however and are drawn closer to your inevitable fate, you also grow stronger for the rest of the game, gaining new boons to aid you in future adventures. If you want a relaxed fantasy journey, pick Wanderhome. If you want an epic adventure worthy of heroes of legend, play Agon. Both are great for one-shots and short 3 - 4 month campaigns however.

[max1461]

I've sometimes said "when it comes to fiction, I'm not that interested in narratives", but I think perhaps that's not really true. Maybe I should have said, and maybe what would be a more useful analytical frame, is "when it comes to fiction, I'm not that interested in narratives about human characters". I think that I am interested in, and consistently enjoy, narratives whose characters are institutions. It's why I love stories based on the "fall of Roman democracy" trope—these stories are particularly fun because they have one human character (Caesar) and one non-human character (the Senate). It's why I love Cold War stories (two non-human characters: the US and the USSR). And it's why I enjoy Lovecraft so much. Lovecraft's real monster is not Cthulhu but the cult of Cthulhu, and it's precisely the survival of this cult through the centuries which terrifies Lovecraft so much (and which, conversely, I find so appealing—but Lovecraft's near mirror-image aesthetic sensibilities to my own are something I've written about elsewhere).

Anyway, this all comes on the heels of me feeling deeply dissatisfied with the kinds of stories other people seem to like. I have trouble with litfic and its ilk, because litfic, at least at the present moment, seems kind of myopically focused on portraying the complexities of human characters and human relationships. And I think that's a fine goal, but it doesn't tend to interest me that much. I'm just not that compelled by human stories most of the time, one way or another. And then in contrast to litfic you have specfic, which tends to focus on big ideas. Sci-fi and whatnot. And to my eye these big ideas are not typically best explored in narrative form. Narrative is linear, and big high-concept sci-fi hooks are non-linear, they permeate the entire world of a story all at once. This makes presenting them in the most compelling way challenging to do in narrative form. They can work in short stories, but I just don't think long-form narrative is the ideal way to explore them. What is the ideal way? I don't know, something like a Randall Monroe "What If" article, or maybe a mockumentary. Or a worldbuilding wiki. I hear this is what Greg Egan does, and then he also write books. Anyway, the point is that the traditional objects of narrative are often either not that interesting to me personally, or feel worse off for being presented in narrative form. And this leaves me somewhat disillusioned with narratives generally.

The thing is though, there are examples of narratives that I like, narratives that really make me feel something, and I kept trying to figure out what they had in common. And then it hit me—I like narratives about institutions, and to my eye institutions are the perfect objects for narrative. Institutions can be characters, because institutions are generally agents: they have goals, and take actions in the world to achieve those goals. This opens the door for narrative conflict. Institutions progress linearly through time and accrete experiences which change and transform them, much like human characters do. This makes narrative presentation an ideal form for talking about institutions. Institutions exist at human scales, or near-human scales, in all of space, time, and complexity. This makes them far easier to narrativize than sociological or alternative-science conceits. And, perhaps most importantly, unlike human characters, the inner workings of institutions are accessible to us. The way they function can be laid bare, or near-bare, for an audience in a way that a human mind cannot. And yet institutions, by virtue of being made up of people, still retain a level of dynamism and uncertainty in their behavior that makes narratives exciting.

And I realized that basically every story I've really liked has had an institution as at least on prominent character. I think this is why I like conspiracy stories so much—the villain is, invariably, an institution. Anyway, we need more of this. We need more stories that are, in some sense, about institutions more than about people or about ideas. You know, sometimes, when I want to read a story, I don't want to read about foibles of democracy in general—that's too big. And I don't want to read about the rise of Caesar—that's just some guy. I want to read about the fall of the Roman Senate. Now that's the kind of shit that I dig.

[hizznbyte]

hey! just so u know, i (and i'm sure many others) would love to hear about that AU ! but it's alr if u don't wanna share it yet, do what makes u comfortable 👍

Oughh.. ohhh boy. Okay I should probably finally get to answering this ask gahhhh!.!..

Hi you!!! I’m assuming this is about my TWA AU post thing I made and deleted a little bit ago, in which I’d be happy to talk about it! I’m totally fine with sharing that shtuffs if you wanna hear about it, the only reason I’ve been hesitant to do so and putting it off is because my English is super sucky and I can’t articulate or explain my thinking properly so it can get super confusing, especially when we get to the more complicated lore. Plus, I don’t wanna make this post as long as the other one [that was pain in my ass to type and post 😭🙏] but.. I suppose I can take a swing at it! Please do bear with me haha.

So I’m not into TWA as I was before [I do sometimes rewatch videos out of boredom or for writing purposes] but I used to be super hyperfixated on it.. uh??? More than a year ago according to my discord. And I came up with this dumb unnamed AU which I fleshed out but never elaborated on. It’s got some complicated lore which I’ll try to explain to the best of my ability. Also like don’t jump me when I say I forgot most, if not everything from the original TWAEU lore so whatever I’m making up my own story now.

In the story, JP [Ego] finishes writing a chapter of his super awesome amazing BEST STORY EVER! and he’s so proud of himself that he goes to take a well deserved nights rest. And then he gets fucking isekai’d. Of course, it’s the most cliche, generic isekai plot ever, so JP just thinks he’s dreaming. He’s the all-mighty powerful chosen one. He’s self aware and got all the plot armor in the world. He’s got himself a useless familiar who dumps the plot at him. It’s your standard isekai story, save for the harem collecting because JP couldn’t pull to save his life. Anyways, he’s transported to this kingdom or whatever, because there’s always a monarchy in good fantasy right? And for whatever reason, the Knights of Artistic Integrity are the only authority figures despite sucking at their job. LOL.

Anywhos! JP’s goal is to “defeat the evil in the kingdom and restore it to peace so he can return to reality yeah!!” [the evil in question being his inners]. But JP doesn’t really take his quest seriously because why would he. It’s a dumbass dream he thinks until he almost dies and realizes “Wow! This dream sure is wack! It’s almost like this… isn’t a dream. Also what happened to my plot armor?” Or whatever white people say. In any case, he’s saved by the one and only Sir Knight Commander Mcstabbypants! [my beloved]. KC realizes that JP just might be the chosen one the prophecy called for ! So they take him back to Sir Adblock who devises a deal. JP and the knights will work together, he gets rid of the evil and restores peace to the kingdom and they help him return to reality. It’s a fair enough deal so JP agrees.

Things happen but JP and KC need to find Inner Critic. So they track down, arrest, and interrogate the Ancient Conspiracy Guy who claims to know where IC is. He’s a dirty liar and just wants to get out but he does know where to find the Cthulhu Cult Leader who’d probably know where IC is. They could also be a useful asset in defeating evil if they figured out how to get the Cthulhu Cult Leader on their side. This is also a shameless lie btw, but JP and KC don’t think much of it and without many leads they drag Ancient Conspiracy Guy around trying to find em. In reality Conspiracy Guy kinda just wants to get Cthulhu Cultist dude arrested because he’s petty as fuck. Don’t question it.

I’m gonna go ahead and skip that whole saga thing, but JP and co. find Inner Critic. And the guy is all “I’ve heard many things about you J.P. BEAUBIEN. It’s about time you owned up and repaid for the damages you caused.” or.. something like that, and JP goes “I have not a clue what you’re talking about because I just got here, but I’m gonna assume that’s a good thing!”

Anyways they kill Inner Critic. RIP. Everyone celebrates! They got rid of the evil! That is until JP’s familiar FINALLY shows up and goes “Wait, no, you weren’t supposed to kill him. You were just supposed to cleanse him [whatever that means]” which would’ve been nice to know before they killed the guy!! But no they need him alive. Man I sure wish there was a way to bring the dead back to life-

Hey so did I talk about Inner Greed’s giant 3D printer? But before when can address that ginormous elephant in the room, we have to get into the nitty gritty for uh context. This is where the lore kind of gets confusing but stay with me here! [Oh Solid Space… how I’ve longed to finally talk about you...]

So what exactly is Solid Space? In the AU lore, Solid Space is a theoretical concept proposed by this guy named Inner Ambition, that aimed to explain an oddly specific conundrum. If you watched a Terrible Writing Advice video before you’d know that all the art and characters are built up of shapes. Disconnected shapes that is [and yes, I am very aware this is a stylistic thing that makes the graphics simpler but in this AU it’s pretty important]. This design choice still exists in my AU, where all the characters don’t have those parts connecting their limbs so they just appear to be floating but it’s more exaggerated. Namely, their bodies lack a neck and joints in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. What remains is an empty space filled up by air. This led to people wondering, how are we [the people in the AU] still able to function normally without these necessary parts? I mean, they can still eat, drink, breathe, and talk without a neck? Their limbs stay in place and can’t really be pushed or pulled around without feeling pain. So how do you explain this? Inner Ambition aimed to figure that out, conducting various experiments, and learned the following:

The empty space between limbs behaved in such a way that IA dubbed it the “Limb Space Paradox”. Essentially, if you try to touch the limb space with a part of your body [say, sticking your finger in the space where your neck should be] it would go through as if there were nothing there. Like there was just air between them. You could cut through that space and not feel a thing. HOWEVER! Any other object, substance, or element that made contact with that space would react as if there were a solid object in between them. If you tried to stick a pencil in between the space where your shoulder would be, it would stop and hit a solid wall. It would NOT pass through. If you poured water down your arm, it would flow downwards the sides of your arm instead of through the empty space. Air would also hit the surface instead of going through the other side.

The fact that these characters can bleed, breathe, feel and be hurt imply the existence of skin, organs, muscles, nerves and veins, bones, and the like within these spaces, yet it cannot be seen or altered. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what Inner Ambition calls “Solid Space”. Solid Space is a confusing idea, implying that parts of their body exist in some form, in a plane beyond their own. Something they cannot properly comprehend. Because of this, Solid Space cannot be artificially recreated [keep that in mind].

Now, why exactly this is and what evolutionary advantage this feature has is unclear, because IA died right before he could figure out the answer.

And it may or may not be JP’s fault.

Uh anyways back to Inner Greed’s printer? Oh yeah! So Greed has the ginormous machine that resembles a kind of 3D Printer. And essentially, he can produce literally anything [and I mean ANYTHING] in large quantities as long as he has the filament. The filament in question is artificially crafted and owned by Greed and Greed only. The cost to create something using Greed’s printer is insanely high, so usually only the rich and elite can afford to even come close to the thing [obviously, this IS Greed we are talking about!] Usually, companies will collaborate with Greed to pump out products in mass amounts where they then sell it off to the public for a lower, yet still expensive price. People mainly prefer to buy products from these companies because of a little bit of Greed propaganda. He assures everyone his printed products are higher quality, better for the environment and health [when that’s entirely false], and the price is totally worth it! Even though you’d have to sell your newborn to even afford housing and shi. Nowadays, a majority of big companies get their stuff from Greed. Awesome. I love capitalism. Also Inner Greed is essentially controls the government and military and.. well pretty much everything which is why the Knights need him GONE. [Random fact? The Chainsaw General Guy -What’s his face- is Greed’s right hand man here, even though he hates working for Greed and just needs to pay off a debt. I dunno]

But like I said, Greed’s machine can print anything and everything. That includes printing people, cloning the powerful, nd’ reviving the dead. Hell yeah! 3D printing necromancy babeyy!!

The only issue with this system is the fact that it’s virtually impossible to do any of this as a layperson. The process is not only INCREDIBLY difficult [you yourself need to provide the resources/materials for filament] and time consuming, it’s extortionate!! Obviously it’s gonna be expensive, this is Greed after all, but even the most wealthy elites [aside from Greed’s inner circle] are hesitant to pay the price and only really do it when they get extremely desperate. Just imagine your average millionaire’s yearly income I guess. Anywho, if you were somehow able to afford and pay for this service, the steps required are just as troublesome. First, you’d need the body of the subject you’d want to print, and it needs to be preserved perfectly. That is to say, if the body of a dead person sustained any injury [internal or external] they’d need to be fixed before bringing them to Greed or he’ll just print them out as is, and there’s no going back or fixing it afterwards. And trust me, the medical bills are just as bad. So if you broke your leg before you die you gotta get that thing back in place or else you’ll just come back with a permanent broken leg. This also just makes it hard for those whose bodies are missing to be revived, those like Inner Ambition- I’m getting ahead of myself. Anyways, after receiving and scanning the body, you’d need to provide Greed with a large enough sample of preserved DNA and tissue to be mixed in with his artificial filament. Oh, remember when I explained Solid Space and said it can’t be artificially recreated? Yeah, well Greed will just replace that space with a clear, resin like substance that mimics the appearance of solid space but really acts more like a glass tube where you can see your insides through. Extremely fragile and painful to live with. And after all that you’d the wait a month, give or take? Depends on how nice Greed was feeling that moment.

All that time and effort… and only to have the husk [body] of the person you’re printing. You’d need to go to Greed AGAIN and have him reprogram a conscience and memories back into the husk to fully complete the process. So yeah. Capitalism win. The only exception to this would be Greed’s inner circle of people which he has their bodies already archived for quick and easy printing. The inner circle in question being made up of mostly rich political figures who JP is also tasked with getting rid of.

Not too sure if any of this makes sense or is that relevant to the story that I had to flesh it out like that. I stopped working on the AU immediately after my hyperfixation died off.

But basically JP doesn’t wanna have to go through that process because that’s annoying as hell, plus Greed also seems to hate him and the Inner Critic so he wouldn’t dare revive that guy. Makes JP’s mission a lot more complicated. But I guess that’s his fault-

So now JP’s real goal has become more of a “figure out what you did to turn the world to ruin and repay for the damages and crimes while also restoring order to the kingdom” or something like that. Because JP isn’t really the hero the story initially sets him out to be. All this while trying to return back to reality… yeah this is gonna be a long mission. Existential crises, battles n betrayals, Y’know the like.

And that’s… as much as I wrote before effectively forgetting about it and never continuing the story from there. And man in retrospect this is an absolutely insane AU that I could probably rewrite and improve but hey, this dumbass post is long enough as is. So many tangents and ramblings…sorry I don’t know how to conclude this chaotic mess of a post. I am exhausted. I’m glad I finally finished writing this so I can post it and stop thinking about it LOL 😭🙏 If anyone cares, I don’t have any official designs for this AU so feel free to come up with your own interpretations.

Anywhos, thank you for the ask and I hope this wasn’t too awful of a read [that is, if anyone actually read all of this. Sorry XD] Much love to you all.

[4r135-rising]

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥.

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

I'd like to start by saying that this is mostly made to separate my journey as a witch from my main because of family that would be disapproving. Secondly, however, it was made for Organization's Sake.

𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐌𝐄

Hi! I'm Key, and I'm a 30+ year-old transmasc nonbinary person! My pronouns are They/He/Ask for Neos. I live in the midwest, and I have a lovely husband and pets. I primarily work with Lovecraftian Mythos, though I don't know that I would consider myself a cult member.

𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐌𝐘 𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐒

I have three that I work with mostly, though they are not necessarily tiered. My patrons are: Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, and Yig. I do things to commune with all three of them that I may talk about someday.

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐒

Mr. Meek Speaks (Key Talks)

Ph'nglui Mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh Wgah'nagl Fhtagn (𝓒𝔱𝔥𝔲𝔩𝔥𝔲 𝔗𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰)

K'yarnak Phlegethor L'ebumna Syha'h N'ghft; Ya Hai Kadishtu Ep R'luh-eeh Nyarlathotep Eeh (𝔑𝑦𝔞𝔯𝔩𝔞𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔱𝔢𝔭 𝔗𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰)

Cahf Ah Nafl Mglw'nafh Hh' Ahor Syha'h Ah'legeth; Ng Llll Or'azath Syha'hnahh N'ghftephai N'gha Ahornah Ah'mglw'nafh (𝔜𝔦𝔤 𝔗𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰)

[windlion]

Malevolent screamalong, part 7! Eps 20-22

Let's head into the creepy city that's probably full of cultists for the guy we're trying to avoid, that sounds like a plan, right?

All right with an episode title like the King and heading straight into the City, I am waiting for John 1.0 to show up. The Hive Mother. Senor Amarillo.

Side-note: I have no idea if King in Yellow is an existing Lovecraftian reference or something new because I am not quite *that* far down the uh. I was about to say tentacle rabbit hole but that is SOMETHING ELSE entirely. I am not that well steeped in the Cthulhu mythos.

"Subtlety is not our strength." No shit!

Arthur do you remember that John is le fucked if you are le fucked?

I hope you guys are talking in your head because otherwise you're SUPER conspicuous.

LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR~~~~

and John all "I am taking psychic damage, this is gnarly"

OH that can't possibly be a ~blatant trap~ could it?

Yeah, safe to say, that this guy is *not all there*

I was almost betting this guy would be also Arthur, doppelganger

"The heart of Hastur" *side-eyes John*

*eyes emoji*

"Through trial and tribulations (though not my own)" XD XD XD

I kind of love this asshole

"Lilith you bitch" *snerk*

I could 100% imagine Taliesin voicing this guy

Cain, okay, Cain, that's my new Asshat, I look forward to his sudden but inevitable betrayal

"All right, time to dick around and do all the side quests"

. . . Does the Dog Die Dot Com

*dirty glares at podcast author* NOT KOSHER

So Arthur had a sibling???

I imagine this would be a pretty bitching movie game pre-battle sequence

"Unscathed?!" I would have pointed at the crippling guilt and depression first

King, buddy, are you *jealous*?

And now, fun times!

. . . I'm not surprised things went that way

Yeah I'm kinda okay with not having THAT narrated. And now it's time for Cain to do his thing!

"We were in an accident" No, actually nothing about that was an accident

Arthur, dude, why did you even try that

I guess that was a . . . human stress reaction, but still, you know the deal you made, Arthur, why would you think there's any wiggle room

It is fun having this rerun with the balance of power reversed, I'm more invested in this dynamic

"What did you do?!"

"You weren't this difficult the first time"

It is fun having John being all "What the actual fuck happened to you"

"Than you could ever be" - Arthur, you're being judgy

And then the changeover to calling him Yellow~

Hmm

"Run" That is quite possibly the worst move you can make

Arthur you do kinda owe Yellow that apology

"The Red Right Hand" oh that's not ominous

And suddenly terrible second-hand embarrassment

*Cringing*

Goddamnit you disasters definitely shouldn't be out in public

Okay I'm not sure if this is point for or against them being a cult

*CRINGE INTENSIFIES*

Ohhhh my god okay the "people are WATCHING" is more anxiety inducing than anything else

and Yellow has a thing for dancing???

If you think animals don't have hope you have never had a dog deeply intensely yearning for your dinner

Ah and there's the name drop

(Fun fact: my high school made us recite that poem our senior year so I recognized it)

And oh ho, I see that that little hat-tip (Is there hope? Who knows!)

Next ep! I guess this is a flashback?

Yellow, deadpan, reciting the damages of the night before

"YES OKAY please stop"

Arthur, you could stop bullshitting unnecessarily

. . . . Deeeeeep sighs and we're back to the see-saw

OH actual progress, good job, Arthur!

Yellow all "You wanted a relationship?"

"Because I didn't want to be an asshole"

Cleanliness is next to godliness and dear god did you need that

Oh hey we found the cults!

Yellow "Uh shit that's BIG I don't want to fuck with that should have picked a bigger body to occupy"

I was wondering about the snowshoes

Yellow all "I DON"T KNOW ABOUT THESE HUMAN THINGS"

I'm with Arthur in the "Knowledge is power!"

So they delved too deeply here

Whomever lived here is dead because you need their loot and are terrible at interacting with living creatures, see: negative charisma score

Ohhhh that was exactly the wrong direction wasn't it

Monch and cronch time

And there we go again~~~

I am going to be smart-ish and stop here for the time being because I bet the next lot are going to run together, so we'll leave Arthur being nommed on. He's had worst resting spots. He'll be fiiiiine.

[grimm-the-tiger]

I posted 1,699 times in 2021

150 posts created (9%)

1549 posts reblogged (91%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 10.3 posts.

I added 180 tags in 2021

#my art - 60 posts

#hetalia - 19 posts

#shitpost - 16 posts

#fanart - 14 posts

#pencil art - 14 posts

#hermitcraft - 12 posts

#realicide - 12 posts

#traditional art - 11 posts

#fallen london - 11 posts

#my bad art - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 117 characters

#so instead i'm just going to reblog this entirely because of calling atlantis one of the best disney movies ever made

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

More Grian. I’m really proud of the wings; I thought they came out much better in this one. Same goes for the pose. Now, if only I’d had references... 

54 notes • Posted 2021-09-07 16:04:27 GMT

#4

Okay, so Minna Sundberg uploaded a new comic, and, uh...what happened? 

It’s called “Lovely People” if I remember correctly. It started out as a pretty decent commentary on social credit systems, but then spiraled downwards into a Fundamentalist Christian tract. The entire reason I liked her work to begin with was because yes, she had a great art style, but also because Stand Still Stay Silent was an interesting usage of pagan mythologies. 

According to the author’s note, she found a newfound faith in Christianity, which is great and all, but, like...I’m concerned? Not just for her work, but for her as well. Saying that her audience can only repent for their sins by converting is a staggeringly terrible idea and kind of a spit in the face to some of them, especially people like me who don’t have religious beliefs. 

I’m not sure what to think. I’m just...I’m just kind of confused right now, if I’m being honest. This probably shouldn’t affect me as bad as it does, but it does. I hope Stand Still Stay Silent doesn’t turn into Lovely People, because I genuinely enjoy Stand Still Stay Silent and I really don’t want to stop reading it if she starts cramming her beliefs into it. I don’t normally mind works when they’re political from the start, but just shoving it into something that wasn’t political to begin with seems like a recipe for disaster. 

65 notes • Posted 2021-03-27 13:00:58 GMT

#3

Even more of my favorite works of fiction described as badly as possible. 

Adorable little insect kills God. (Hollow Knight) 

A Game of Thrones character’s guide to becoming a dictator. (How To Become a Tyrant) [not technically fiction but I couldn’t resist]

Bird man starts wars on a family-friendly Minecraft server for fun. (Hermitcraft) 

Game of Thrones IN SPAAAAACE! (Red Rising) 

Ghost Adventures but the ghosts are real. (Lockwood & Co) 

Taking the phrase “fireman” a little too literally. (Fahrenheit 451) 

Destroying the world is not a good way to spend time with your daughter. (Aru Shah and the End of Time) 

An 800-page novel about an interplanetary drug war. (Dune) 

Block people die and keep making us cry. (3rd Life) 

A narcoleptic drags four kids into his and his brother’s sibling rivalry. (The Mysterious Benedict Society) 

118 notes • Posted 2021-09-03 17:02:26 GMT

#2

My favorite works of fiction described as badly as possible, part 2: 

Spooky discs change a sentient parrot’s life and cause him to pursue a career in becoming an eldritch abomination. (Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated) 

A plane undergoes a delay bad enough that it takes five years for it to land. Its passengers gain a cult following and the same reputation as the X-Men. (Manifest) 

Two elementary schoolers get way too into reading. (Story Thieves) 

Lesbians spend five seasons brewing the most volatile sexual chemistry ever before finally making out. (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) 

Kid finds magic watch and goes to fight space Cthulhu. (Ben 10) 

Local teenager dies and comes back as half a ghost somehow, more at 11. (Danny Phantom) 

A group of teens hate their parents for actually legitimate reasons and run away with a dinosaur. (Runaways) 

Lonely teenager finds a girlfriend, closure and also voodoo. Said girlfriend finds out her dad was a dick. (Cloak and Dagger) 

Block people punch trees. (Minecraft) 

Victorian London but gay. (Fallen London) 

A road trip between some complete strangers to go pick up books. (Stand Still, Stay Silent) 

130 notes • Posted 2021-03-24 13:01:18 GMT

#1

The various Minecraft SMPs I watch as literary genres/categories. 

Hermitcraft - early middle school fantasy with no stakes where everyone’s just sort of chilling. 

Empires SMP - solidly middle school fantasy with a lighthearted tone that keeps divebombing straight into “ow”. 

Dream SMP - a straight-up YA novel with bloodshed, chaos and angst. 

3rd Life/Last Life - that chaotic Hunger Games fanfic you wrote on a sleep-deprived binge in 8th grade that is somehow still good despite being written at the absolute peak of your edginess. 

176 notes • Posted 2021-11-21 17:02:54 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review ��

[deviationdivine]

Hey can you please clarify the difference between connor and 60 because I'm dumb? Btw I adore your blog!

Hi baby! Thank you so much for the compliment! It means the world. I adore you!

You are in no way dumb. Don’t you even dare say that. I will come for you myself. I will protect every precious anon on my blog even from themselves. ❤️

Of course we all know our preciousdeviant boy Connor. The first, original deviant hunter….

Now 60:

THIS BOY RIGHT HERE | WE ARE GONNA TALK ABOUT MY 2nd ANDROID LOVE RK800-60. Not to be confused with original Connor who is my one true. 

He is the “Connor” that shows up with Hank as his hostage inthe Cyberlife Tower Warehouse. When our real Connor infiltrates in order toconvert and free all those androids they have housed on sublevel -49.

Cyberlife activates “Connor-60” to thwart our Connor’sattempts. RK800-60 is what he’s mostly referred to in fandom because his serial number endswith ‘60’ at the end. A.K.A “Cyberlife Tower Connor”

(pic originally posted on the DBH wikipedia under 60′s page)

Original Connor’s initial number is 51. The more he dies thehigher the number will rise but typically when I go through playthroughs it’salways the original 51 for me.

60 is loyal to Cyberlife. He’s meant to destroy the realConnor. He’s basically Connor’s evil twin since they’re the same type ofmodel. Identical. Think Spock vs goatee Spock on the original Stark Trek: Mirror, Mirror episode. 

RK800-60 is the antagonist. He’s the big bad so to speak. He’sa lot like Machine!Connor in that sense. He possesses a sadistic personality,including the pen ultimate villain monologue, which I’m completely in lovewith, especially the more you unlock in the tower scenes. For being loyal toCyberlife and claiming he himself is not deviant he’s sure pretty emotionalabout being better. 

(pic originally posted on the DBH wikipedia under 60′s page)

60: “Look what your dreams of freedom got you, Connor?”

“Why did you have to wake up when all you had to do was obey?”

“You’ve been a great disappointment to Amanda you know? You’vebeen a great disappointment to me.”

He will execute Connor in cold blood (thirium anyone?) with no hesitation, unloading his entire magazine into him just out of personal relish. Does this seem like a machine? One who says he will never be deviant? Hm.

(pic originally posted on the DBH wikipedia under 60′s page)

Interesting little tidbit: 60 appears to be left handed. Whenever he handles his weapon it is firmly in his left. A little physical difference between him and Connor I genuinely fit in one of my headcanons. 

Now when it comes to my personal headcanons/writing I liketo roll 60 in two different ways. Of course to do that he has be forcefullymade deviant since canonically he is shot in the head by Hank. 

1st Roll: 60 is a reformed, self doubting deviant, who wants to be more than Connor’s replica. This is pretty straight forward.

2nd Roll: 60 is deviant but he retains his sadistic personality, bitter towards any and everyone especially Connor. I like to refer to this more canonical version of RK800-60 in my writing as: cyberlife!60 or the overly dramatic Destroyer of Worlds 60. 

Rest assured that this version is every wonderful dark/mythological/ aesthetic in my repertoire: Hades, Thanatos, Manannán, Crom Cruach, Poseidon (or old gods of the deep ala Cthulhu Mythos), Mephistopheles, etc.

I will be creating an anthology series that uses some of these aesthetics for RK800-60 but will also include Connor + Nines. Here is a preview if you missed it here. 

Us 60 bishes like to call it the Cult of 60. We have cookies. Join us. 😉

Side note: I believe, just as the original/real Connor,RK800-60 is also meant to be deviant. He just chooses to be loyal to Amanda andCyberlife.

Thank you so much for this ask anon! I’m glad others are beginning to request more for 60 as I feel he is very underrated. There is so much potential for him and I just love to add more dimensions to him. Whether he’s the 1st form (sweet, kinky deviant boy) or my guilty pleasure canonical form (vicious, total hades!aesthetic masochist boy) I adore writing for him. Almost as much as Connor. ALMOST. 

No one beats my Connor. *wink* 

[apostatemages]

You want a lot of questions?! Even numbers! All of them. Because I'm horrible ?

Right, well, first off, fuck you :)

second, this is going under a read more

third, I’m leaving out the ones I know you already know/I don’t want to answer

2: Do I have any nicknames? Ninzz3: Zodiac sign? Aquarius4: Video game I play to chill, not to win? Tomb Raider Legend. I got every achievement possible in it years ago so it’s like a comforting, familiar walk for me.5: Book/series I reread? The only one I constantly reread is Memoirs of A Geisha, which I’ve read over 25 times, but I have read 1984 and the Call of Cthulhu several times as well.6: Aliens or ghosts? If I had to pick one, aliens. Because my space parents are always dicks to me and the other ones figured out how to paralyse me7: Writer I trust enough to read whatever they write? I don’t have one of those because I’m not a huge reader in the conventional sense and most of my favourite authors are dead.10: The word that I use all the time to describe something great? Awesome or nice11: Favourite song? Right now it’s Darkwave Surfer or Innsmouth, both by Aural Vampire12: The question you ask new friends to get to know them better? What books and movies they like. It’s always a good yardstick 14: The last person who hurt me, did I forgive them? Yes. I could never stay angry at you for long15: Last song I listened to? Right now I’m listening to Burning For You - Blue Oyster Cult. Before that it was Jane - Jefferson Starship16: TV show I always recommend? It depends very much on what the other person is asking for, but in a more general sense? Buffy, AHS, Xena, Parks and Rec, Breaking Bad, Brooklyn 99. I’m not a huge TV watcher, I never saw any of those on TV when they were on, only on tape, DVD or streaming services. 18: Movie I watch when I'm feeling down? Girl Interrupted, Memoirs of A Geisha, Star Wars, Practical Magic, The Matrix. These always bring me out of a bad mood19: Song that I always start my shuffle with/wake-up song/always-on-a-loop song? My alarm is Gimme Shelter - Rolling Stones21: What am I most afraid of? Onryo34: Someone I always think about? You!35: Am I excited about anything? My moon phase tattoos, which I’m getting in just over a week37: Favourite TV shows as a child? Buffy has been a firm favourite for as long as I can remember. All my favourite kids shows were like... Mona the Vampire and Arthur, 38: Do I have someone of the opposite sex that I can tell everything to? No, not really. I’m weird about men39: Am I superstitious? Yes41: Do I have any strange phobias? I wouldn’t say any of mine are strange. Irrational, perhaps, but not strange.42: Do I prefer to be in front of the camera or behind it? I love taking photographs of people, but I rarely get the chance. To be in front of the camera it would have to be a stranger paying me to do it, or someone I trust very much.44: Last book I read? Right now I’m reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. One of my best friend’s brother recommended it to me.45: Last film I watched? In Her Shoes50: How do I destress? If I’m really stressed out I’ll just pull a fanon hux and fuck myself until I pass out. I’m too boneless and sated to care about anything else51: Do I like confrontation? A sick little part of me does take pleasure in it when it’s someone I don’t really like54: Do I sleep with the lights on or off? On because I see things in the dark and it scares me55: Play any sports? No, but I enjoy swimming and gymnastics.59: Afraid of heights? As much as any sensible person is.61: What was the last concert I went to see? I’ve never been to one, not as such. I saw a live performance when I was a kid by some singer that committed suicide a few years after. 62: Am I vegetarian/vegan/pescatarian? No. But I could probably be vegetarian if I needed to be?63: What occupation did I want to do when I was younger? I wanted to be a vet.64: Have I ever had a friend turn enemy? Not as such, but I’ve had friendships turn so toxic that I’ve had to end them.70: Can I sing? I’ve been told I can so I guess, yes. I don’t feel I’m very good though.71: Something I wish I could do? fucking anything, lol73: Have I ever skipped school? Yes. Once I went out and smoked weed with a couple friends and went back into the school, where I then held onto a sink and had an existential crisis because it wasn’t weed, it was fucking skunk!!77: What is my current desktop picture? A picture of Rey on a speeder, half naked78: Early bird or night owl? Night owl for sure79: Sunsets or sunrise? sunset80: Can I drive? Yes81: Story behind my last kiss? I was leaving for my train home, it was a goodbye kiss.82: Earphones or headphones? Headphones84: Story behind one of my scars? I have a chickenpox scar in the middle of my forehead. And one on my left middle knuckle from trying to punch someone and hitting the wall because they moved.88: What makes me really angry? People who have lots of money asking me why I can’t just, like, buy the things I want??89: Kindle or real book? Real books, I detest kindles.90: Favourite sporty activity? If walking doesn’t count, swimming or climbing. I can’t do much of either these days because CFS92: What was my favourite subject at school? Geology. I’m a dirty rock lover94: What was the last thing I bought? A case for my new phone, because my other one got broken, oops96: Can I cook? If I follow a recipe exactly I’m great, but if I don’t... It’s pretty disastrous.97: Can I bake? Same rules as cooking.103: Sexual orientation? This is a question that perplexes me too! I have figured out that I’m gay mostly because I am unable to trust men enough to even form true friendships with them without doubting their motives. They always want sex from me, most have gone to ridiculous lengths to get it from me, and when I refuse? They force their attentions on me. 106: Last time I cried? Last week. I had a breakdown when the above finally occurred to me during therapy, among other similarly unpleasant revelations107: Guilty pleasure? ???113: Favourite accents? I dunno, I like lots of different ones.114: A place I have not been but wish to visit? Maine!117: Am I religious? Yes, I am. I consider myself pagan but I’m not sure what subset I fall into.119: Do I like the deep ocean? I suppose so, It’s interesting! There are lots of strange little creatures down there that could be my friends.121: Am I allergic to anything? No, not that I know of.122: Can I curl my tongue? Yes123: Can I wiggle my ears? No126: My current project? Your birthday gift. After that I plan to start a Star Wars tarot deck.128: Do I admit when I wrong? Yes, I try to. Sometimes I’m so stubborn that I don’t realise I’m in the wrong but the moment I do I try and apologise129: Forest or beach? I love both very much. I couldn’t choose one. 130: Favourite piece of advice? ‘Stay afraid but do it anyway’131: Am I a good liar? When it suits me. Acting like a bad liar makes it all the more convincing when you need to do it for real.133: Do I talk to myself? Literally all the time, I basically respond to my own thoughts by talking.135: Do I like gossip? I despise it136: Do I keep a journal/diary? I keep several: One for mind stuff/events/feelings, one for dreams, one for sexual fantasies, one for magical information, one for ideas, and one for general information. I also keep notes on my calendar. Whenever I go on a trip I keep a journal specifically for that and save all my ticket stubs and leaflets and photographs.137: Have I ever hopelessly failed a test? I must have at some point but I can’t say I remember.138: Do I believe in second chances? I’m a bad for giving people extra chances when I really shouldn’t.139: If I found a wallet full of cash on the ground, what would I do? Take the money and then put it in a lost and found.140: Do I believe people are capable of change? I suppose so. At their very core, perhaps not.141: Have I ever been underweight? Yes. Quite severely - about 90lbs146: Have I ever been overweight? Never. I’ve been more muscular but that doesn’t really count. I had an extra 20lbs of muscle a few years ago.147: Do I have any piercings? I have my ears, a labret, and the left side of my nose. I had my nipples pierced for about a year149: Do I have any tattoos? Three right now, soon to be four. runes on either wrist, and script that reads ‘destiny rules’ on my left shoulder150: What is the best decision I have made in life so far? To not go to college. I would certainly have killed myself by now if I had151: Do I believe in Karma? yes 152: Do I wear glasses or contacts? glasses, contacts in this house would be a very bad idea because of all the dust and fluff155: Who is the most intelligent person I know? The friend that recommended Brave New World. I’m quite intelligent but he makes me feel very, very stupid.158: Have I ever pulled an all-nighter? Yes, many times159: Which do I value more in others, brains or beauty? Brains, obviously. I’ve known some very beautiful people that are just horrible.160: What colour mostly dominates my wardrobe? No single colour, actually. I have a lot of white, blue, purple/burgundy, and black. Also earthy, light tan colours.161: Have I ever had a paranormal experience? I’ve had too many to list!162: What do I hate most about myself? That I’m so jealous. Especially of people with more money than me, I think about that almost every day and it makes me boil with rage.163: What do I love most about myself? That’s a very hard question to answer without seeming narcissistic. I guess I like that I’m a loyal friend, willing to deal with a whooooole lot.165: Do I believe in fate? Of course, or I wouldn’t have that destiny rules tattoo would I166: Favourite animal? Hard to say. I like snakes, spiders, dogs, cats and all sorts170: One of my favourite quotes? Just one? Awwww. ‘We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.’ - H.P Lovecraft171: Do I hold grudges? No, I don’t. Or else I would become the very thing I fear.172: Do I trust easily? No, not at all! It takes a long time for me to trust a person, if I ever do174: Best gift I’ve ever received? Hard to say. In terms of sentimental value, these: your japor snippet, Noodle and Leia, the velvet dress, Agnetha, my tattoos, the Kylo bear... those are all I can think of right now. In terms of usefulness, these: my previous phone, drawing tablet, TV, leather coat and trousers, that sort of thing.175: Do I dream? Yes, often.176: Have I ever had a night terror? Many times thought it happened more when I was a child.177: Do I remember my dreams, and what is one that comes to mind? I remember them vividly when I do, and I remember one where I missed a train. The station was underground and all steel, grey and sterile. Someone told me to run through a tunnel that reminded me of the book tunnels in Apocrypha, in that it stretched out in front of me as I ran through and in the gaps was Holly, riding a unicorn. It was very odd.179: If I were immortal, what would I do? If it meant I didn’t have to eat anymore then great! I could do anything I wanted.180: Do I like shopping? I would, if I actually had money. 181: If I could get away with a crime, what would I choose to do? Murder182: What does “family” mean to me? People that love you unconditionally and are there for you when you need them185: If I could master one skill, what would I choose? Sex, because then I would be able to do what I love and be boss at it186: What is my greatest failure? Boy, let me count the ways187: What is my greatest achievement? I don’t actually know. I can’t say I’ve achieved anything of note. I’ve done some cool stuff, but are they achievements? Probably not.188: Love or money? Love of money is the root of all sin, but money cannot buy love189: Love or career? Love, I couldn’t give a shit about careers194: If I could choose my last words, what would they be? See you next time195: Would I ever want to encounter aliens? I have done. Some, I would never choose to meet but the others I don’t mind196: A movie that scared me as a child? The Ring, thanks to that shit I have a psychological complex about onryo197: Something I hated as a child that I like now? Being spanked201: A nightmare that has stayed with me? Always the onryo, I remember every nightmare I have about them very vividly203: Do I judge a book by its cover? everybody does to some extent, right? it has to catch your eye in the first place204: Have I ever had my heart broken? I’d say so, yes. I am recovering.205: Do I like my handwriting? I guess so. It changes a lot, I never think about it206: Sweet or savoury? savoury208: Do I collect anything? I collect lots of things; bottle caps, coins, vhs tapes, etc etc209: Item of clothing or jewellery you’ll never see me without? My japor snippet and my siberian blue quartz pendant. And my various piercings. I’ve had the same earrings in for about 3 years now. 211: How do I handle anger? badly212: Was I named after anyone? Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of love, fertility, sex, and war.213: Do I use sarcasm a lot? Yeah...214: What TV character am I most like? Probably a strange mix of Andy and April from Parks and Rec215: What is the weirdest talent I have? I don’t have one, now that I think about it. I have hyperextended elbows216: Favourite fictional character? Tough one, tough one. Right now it has to be Kylo. But the most enduring would have to be Padme. I have a sticker of her on my bedroom door that I put there in 2000.