#13 is definitely the acolyte

[askshivanulegacy]

Hey @dingoat . It 13. 😂😂😂

I need to eat my next charcuterie plate while lying down and pretending I'm an acolyte of a hedonistic god. I think it would fix me

[tangents-within-tangents]

I can't believe people still say The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch are "just kids shows" when whatever this show is literally exists:

analysis of target audiences below (there's a TL;DR don't worry)

Okay so the whole "it's just for kids" fallacy/excuse/conversation stopper is such an issue as it is. Here's a good video about it, I'll probably do a whole rant at some point, but in short: the level of storytelling merit, emotional depth, and thematic exploration a work can and should achieve has never been limited by it's target audience/age group, nor it's storytelling medium. (And if you don't think that's true, try to tell me Pixar has never made you cry, go on)

So it doesn't matter if it was made for kids or not. There's nothing wrong with that and anyone can enjoy it anyway. But what I actually wanna talk about here is not the merits of "kids shows" but the misconception on what "kid show" even means.

For one thing, I think when some people say "it's a kids show" they are lumping anything from like Winnie the Pooh to Avatar: the Last Airbender into the same category, and that's just not how it works. The above example demonstrates that not all kids shows/stories are the same anyway (partially bc level of development/education changes drastically between the ages of like 3 and 12, and these are things that are really taken into account in the publishing industry).

I found Disney's ratings guide and I think this should clear some things up:

For reference:

Young Jedi Adventures is listed as TV-Y

Clone Wars (2003), Rebels, and Resistance are TV-Y7-FV

Clone Wars, Bad Batch, and the Tales of the Jedi/Empire are TV-PG

Mandalorian, Ahsoka, Kenobi, Book of Boba Fett, Andor, and Acolyte are all TV-14

And if we put that in context with the films:

The Clone Wars (2008) film and the Original and Prequel trilogy are PG except for Revenge of the Sith which is PG-13 along with the Sequel trilogy, Rogue One and Solo.

So basically TCW and TBB are considered by Disney's own system to be about the same level as most of the films. They are 4 degrees away from 'Young Jedi Adventures' and only 1 degree lower than the live-action shows. Which frankly feels like we got some animation bias going on since all the live-action shows are automatically in one category (which is silly as is and undue here anyway (here have another video) esp since the Clone Wars animation style is clearly meant to be older/more realistic). But regardless, it's literally right there:

And again there is nothing wrong with TCW/TBB being kids shows, but some internet-ers dismiss it as "made for 7 year olds" and that's just objectively not true. Strictly from this system (which idk how it compares to whatever system Cartoon Network used when it aired) you could say the TV-PG might mean 8-13 years old (which is a wide range tbh, there's a big difference between being 8 and being 13), but since TV-G says "suitable for ALL ages" it's also not limited to that.

Also if TCW was aimed for ~8-13 year old's back in 2008 then those same people, who TBB was clearly meant for based on the marketing, were ~21-26 when it premiered in 2021 (and I think that is definitely reflected in writing).

Age of the protagonist is another a good indicator, though it's not a strict rule (i.e. Ender's Game and To Kill a Mockingbird have younger pov characters but are clearly meant for older audiences) and we have a wide range in these shows (Ahsoka 14, Anakin 20, Obi-wan 35, Clones early 20s, Omega ??? 10ish?? idk it's unclear) and time passes. (And while a lot of TBB is filtered through Omega's perspective, there's also plenty of scenes/subplots/episodes where she isn't even there. Also I doubt anyone would call TLOU a kids show just bc Ellie is 14)

But also target audience is a lot more than just content ratings. Note how the first few ratings above say "this program is designed for" the age group, while after TV-G it's about if it contains anything that could be unsuitable for age groups. And ratings can be pretty vague and arbitrary, especially since they change over time (like I get RotS but I could not tell you what makes the Sequels PG-13 compared to the PG films. And why is 13 the age we draw the line at? And why is it 14 for TV instead?)

I think TCW confuses a lot of people because it jumps around a lot; some episodes are about Jar Jar or the droids, and then some are, you know, Umbara. But on a rewatch, even some of the more serious episodes like the Citadel or Kadavo arc still tend to have a more juvenile or simplistic tone/writing style, like repeating information a lot or joking in the middle of the mission (like right after Echo died, hello?!). This actually feels like a writing issue to me, like maybe the writers weren't very clear on what they were going for. (Reminds me also of the only episode I watched of the live-action Atla, where compared to the original it increased the violence/death, but also dumbed down the exposition and didn't seem to trust the audience) Though there is also a clear difference between the seasons, again because the audience and characters are growing up as time goes on. I don't think TBB really had that issue though. It never talked down and it was much more tonally consistent, even in the lower stakes episodes.

Personally TBB feels generally grittier than TCW, though it doesn't really have any of the dark/gruesome deaths and "this is a kids show?!?!" moments like TCW (i.e. clones getting airlocked, decapitated, cut in half by doors, squished by Grievous, and whatever the ever living eff Colt's death was). Though actually come to think of it, there are a few things (like Crosshair killing civilians, the electro suicide pills, and the clone on Tantiss who got skewered (rip)) but I don't think they stand out as much, maybe because they're given the proper weight so they fit the tone rather than feeling out of place. Well, most of the time at least...

Like the friendly fire incident is probably one of the heaviest moments in TCW but I don't see it in those compilations, maybe because the characters respond appropriately and it fits within the Umbara arc. Verses when stuff happens in the middle of lighter more childish plot lines that feel more shocking because they are somewhat brushed off.

But also here's the thing. I think people get really fixated on the darkness/violence/death thing, but it isn't actually as big a deal as we tend to think. Like you'll find "this is a kid's show?!?" compilations for so many shows like these (with a similar age range, like Gravity Falls) that are just anything remotely creepy or intense or related to death, as if kids can't handle anything at all. Like I'll admit it's surprising sometimes (Infinity Train traumatized me bro lol) but most of the time I think we're underestimating kids. Like do you remember being 12? It's not that young.

There just seems to be this misconceived barrier, like the argument goes: "Clone Wars is just a kid show" "No it's not, look at this death scene!" But like there's death scenes in Disney movies all the time, you know? I think that's also why we get so many of these MA animated shows (i.e. Invincible and Vox Machina) that feel the need to overdo the blood and gore to like prove themselves as adult shows (bc again, animation bias).

As a writer that's just not really where the distinction is. This came up in my 'Writing for Children and Adolescents' class and we were all a little surprised when our professor said that death/violence is actually fine for middle-grade (8-12, the 'golden age of reading' and probably the equivalent to TV-PG). Like think of stories with ~12 year old protagonists like Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, Gregor the Overlander (tho Suzanne could stand to tone that one down imo lol). Basically, violence is okay actually. And most the TCW and TBB characters are way older than middle-grade.

(Also I think the difference is usually more in the delivery. Like death and violence being more implied (no blood, or cutting away/seen with shadows), and themes/emotions generally being more clear, simple and stated upfront rather than more nuance, subtle and subtextual. (And tbh writing for kids is actually usually a lot harder btw))

The distinction we did learn about that has been most insightful for me has a lot more to with the story itself: what topics and themes does the story deal with? And what age group/phase of life does that speak to?

For example, Love You Forever is a picture book (generally considered 3-6 yr old range) but it deals with topics that are clearly aimed for an adult. It follows the parental character until they are on their death bed being taken care by their kid, that's not something a 6 year old would care about or relate to. That's why age of protagonist typically aligns too, bc they will be dealing with/worried about things that the reader is dealing with in their life too (like high school struggles vs career and family struggles etc).

Aaaand this post has (once again) gotten away from me lol so I don't feel the need to analyze all of the topics and themes in TCW and TBB, but basically look at what is being explored and how it is being talked about (since a lot of things, esp with war, aren't necessarily age exclusionary) and that can give you a good idea. I think it's clear TBB generally deals with things in a more nuanced and complex way than TCW (most of it at least, honestly the difference between seasons is stark). And there is a main emphasis on family and parenthood, especially with the very end speaking to both young adults growing up and moving out, and the parents letting them go.

TL;DR:

-Animation doesn't automatically equal for kids

-For kids doesn't equal lesser

-Not all kids media is the same bc not all age groups are the same

-Violence doesn't necessarily equal NOT for kids

-Age of protagonist and themes/topics are a better indicator

-The Clone Wars is def middle grade, and The Bad Batch is probably more YA to adult

-But nothing is exclusionary regardless

[btheleaf]

OTP pemzin! 2, 3, 4, 13, 17, 20, 31, 34, 35, 44, 56, 57, 59

OTP Asks - Pema x Tenzin

-2 What would they do if the other woke in a manic state after a nightmare?

Tenzin would hold her so gently 😫 and rub soothing circles on her back and speak in his calming, low voice, telling her that everything is okay.

Pema would sit with him and hold his hands. She'd rub her fingers over his palms to ground him back to reality.

-3 Do they wear the other's clothes?

Pema has been known to walk around ATI on chilly mornings wearing Tenzin's outer robe. The Air Acolytes do Not Like This.

Tenzin doesn't wear Pema's clothes, but if she's away for a while, he absolutely takes one of her dresses to bed, curls it up in his hands, and breathes in the scent of her as he falls asleep.

-4 Which one is more protective? Who needs to be "protected"?

the rest under the cut :)

Tenzin always thinks he needs to be Pema's physical protector. Their first interaction in the show is her telling him not to dote on her just because she's pregnant. He knows that it's kind of dangerous to be married to him (the children of Avatar Aang definitely have some enemies, and the world seems to be uncaring to the plight of rebuilding the Air Nation sometimes), and as she's a nonbender, he ALWAYS tries to make sure he's doing The Most for her.

Pema is more the type to make sure that no one is messing with him emotionally or politically. Quite a few dignitaries who have visited ATI have stories to tell about being backed into a corner by Tenzin's deceptively cute wife.

-13 Who's the bigger tease?

PEMA is the tease. She loooooves how flustered he gets.

Tenzin gives her what she wants when she wants it. (Happy wife, happy life)

-17 Who's more likely to pull the other in by the waist and kiss them passionately?

TENZIN. Sometimes, he seeks her out just to do this.

-20 Chose one song that perfectly describes their relationship.

Again idk about "perfect" but this song does make me think of Pemzin

-31 Can they sit side-by-side without touching the other, or are they handsy?

Pema is always holding a damn baby 😭 But no, they are perfectly content to just be close to each other without touching.

-34 Who's more likely to tell a dirty joke or story to make the other blush?

Pema. Tenzin is a prude about a lot of things (affectionate) and she loves to see him blush.

-35 Who's more artistic?

Pema! She likes to sing and enjoys arts and crafts time with the kids.

-44 Who would dance in the kitchen making dinner? Would the other join in or watch from the doorway?

Pema would be the one singing and dancing with the kids to make learning about how to cook fun for them.

Tenzin watches from the doorway until he gets caught. Then they all drag him into it.

-56 What do they do to turn the other on/put them in the mood?

Pema is eternally horny for that man, and he doesn't need to do much of anything to get her in the mood. A look from him, the touch of his hand on her back, coming inside shirtless from training... it ALL gets her in the mood.

She is the one who needs to fight the uphill battle to get him in the mood. Tenzin is always to stressed and caught up in his own thoughts. She either needs to catch him in a relaxed moment, or create a relaxed moment. Then she goes full seductress and uses physical touch to get her point across.

-57 Whose the serious one while grocery shopping and who likes to toss random things in the cart?

Tenzin has the sole duty of pushing the cart and wrangling the kids while Pema shops. He doesn't really use money outside of city budgets and all items in the cart must be Pema Approved.

-59 Who tops? Who bottoms?

Like I've said before, we only have evidence of Tenzin topping four times.

[yellowjacketslesbian]

What do you think Van's relationship with religion is like, before and after the crash?

hey!! I love this question because I actually have a whole hc for this!!!

pre-crash I hc that Van was raised catholic and went through catechism (with Nat & Laura Lee). I think she partially did confirmation because of family pressure, but also because I think she has always been someone who searches for meaning in the world around her, and I think she looked to the church as a way to find that meaning as a kid because it was all she knew. (I think Van's parents were probably more along the lines non-practicing catholics, and only really went to mass for major holidays, but they still really pushed for her to get confirmed to keep up appearances with extended family).

I think Van left the church sometime in middle school after she fully realized / came to terms with being a lesbian. (I personally hc that Van's dad left when she was 12 or 13 and her mom's issues got worse after, so she also didn't have the same family pressure to stay in the church). however, I believe she still held onto some of the mysticism of the church / saint lore, etc. she grew up with and she more was rejecting an organized religion she knew wouldn't accept her, rather than all of the beliefs (though I don't think she would necessarily admit that to herself).

as far as immediately pre-crash, I think Van probably used humor to cope and deflect from any religious trauma by high school and probably would have described herself as a recovered catholic / atheist, if it ever came up.

I also think having that common background of being raised catholic and rejecting that upbringing was something she bonded over with Taissa pre-crash (it's canon that at least Tai's grandmother was catholic). I can definitely picture them being their sarcastic selves together and making quips back and forth through an entire Christmas Eve midnight mass they both got dragged to.

I also think having that common background adds some additional context to their fight in the attic in S1E10. like if rejecting religion and supernatural explanations for the world around them, is something they bonded over, there's an added layer there when Van suddenly believes in this supernatural thing and Taissa is still firmly an atheist.

(I could write a whole thesis separate thesis here on why it makes so sense that Van believed so fervently in the supernatural element and embraced the cult practices as a way to make sense of that terrifying time in the wilderness, assuming a catholic upbringing. tldr: in my personal experience, it's fairly common for people who have dealt with specifically catholic religious trauma to be more susceptible to that type of influence because of the beliefs we were raised with).

anyway, post-crash I think Van struggled a lot to cope with the things they did in the wilderness and kind of just completely shut off all belief in anything instead of actually facing what they did. I also think she's going to go back to her belief in the wilderness after being cured of cancer in S3 because she never actually worked through any of her trauma, and therefore, is still very susceptible to falling back into that acolyte role.

also, if the crash never happened, I think Van would've been the type of recovered catholic who gets into like spirituality as a way to make sense of the world (tarot cards, astrology, etc.)

tldr: I think Van was raised catholic but is an atheist both pre and post-crash

[miss-sweetea-pie]

Me and my husband by Mitski just makes me think of of Katara being married to Aang Ft. zutara angst.

Literally, the song opens up with a sigh!!

Like this just makes me think of how she was just sort of forgotten in Lok. Katara did a lot during the war and after and no one even bothered to give her a statue.

But hey at least she is married to the avatar right?

“It’s always just been me and him together” like literally they where 12/13 and 14/15 when they got together.

From a small glimpse we get in Lok we can tell the kids have some resentment for how Aang treated them. I can definitely imagine this caused some fighting and problems in the marriage. also, from what we saw in the comics, we could assume that the air acolytes  may have been a sore subject as well but it’s always Katara’s job to just get over it “me and my husband are doing better”

Okay now let’s get into some zutara angst. I imagine katara at a summit or something and she was pushed aside. Everyone just loves the Avatar, they are here for Aang. I imagine a lot of people keep referring to her as the avatar’s wife, even though they are right it still bothers her.

“But went he walks in I am loved, I am loved”

I imagine that the “he” is Zuko. he walks over to her and they talk and joke like they haven’t been separated for years. It’s so easy and natural, and it always has been. And in that moments Katara realizes but it’s too late she is married with kids and so is he. So she swallows it down and we go back into that chorus.

After all the avatar and his wife need to appear like a happy married couple in this new time of peace. “At least in this life time we are sticking together”🥲

[scarlet--wiccan]

Does Pietro have any notable villains for him particularly? I feel like he’s more involved with both mutants and inhumans so he kind of has a wider general pool, but I can’t think of anyone specifically, especially not with a more unique relationship to him than any other character. The best Lore equivalent I can think of is Luminous, but, she’s as much Wanda’s as his (though I am kind of picturing a SW issue where the twins and Lorna team up against Luminous, Lore, and Zaladane)

I feel like he arguably has the most antagonistic relationship with Magneto of Mag’s kids (bio or otherwise) which is something, I guess?

He definitely has the most consistantly antagonistic relationship with Magneto, although I'd argue that Lorna comes the closest to having an actually toxic parent-child relationship, but I'd have re-read a lot of X-Men material to defend that argument, so that's a conversation for another day.

He's got a few special enemies-- Maximus Boltagon put a psychic whammy on Pietro that turned him crazy and evil for a while in the 80s. Exodus and the Acolytes targeted Pietro and endangered Luna a few times in the 90s, and like I said, Modred and Chthon came after him when Wanda was missing in the early 2010s.

Anyways, Pietro's equivalent to Lore is actually this weird dude named Nestor.

Quicksilver (1997) #13

Nestor is a mysterious. older version of Pietro from an alternate/potential future timeline, who emotionally and psychologically torments Pietro throughout the Quicksilver solo series. His main goal is to push Pietro to achieve the full potential of his powers and follow the necessary path to maintain Nestor's timeline. So, he's not a totally evil world-destroyer like Lore, but he is a very creepy, sinister variant of Pietro from a presumably dark timeline.

Nestor urges Pietro to forgo his relationships, particularly with Crystal and Luna, and really lean into the violence and rage that Pietro believes he inherited from Magneto. Fortunately, Pietro ultimately defies his influence. This story is really interesting in contrast to Quicksilver: No Surrender, where Pietro actually expands his powers and defeats his sinister doppelgangers by slowing down, practicing mindfulness, and grounding himself with love and acceptance instead of rage.

In addition to Pietro's super speed, Nestor appears to possess some degree of Magneto's power (yet another thing that makes no sense after the retcon) as well as time-travel abilities. It's not clear if his time powers are connected to his speed or not, but several years later, Pietro's powers were artificially expanded to include time travel when he was dosing himself with Terrigen mist during Son of M. It's kind of a parallel to how Wanda accesses reality-bending powers through external augmentation, but it usually causes her to become evil or "go crazy," as is unfortunately common in superhero comics.

[deathscrivener]

Ask meme

Original question.

6. Did they feel rejection or affection as a child?

((Drashok was raised by his foster mother, and she tried to do an alright job. She struggled a lot with him, they didn't have a lot, but she tried! Often brougth him to the Ilmater temple in hopes that they might be able to help him out in the ways she couldn't.

She didn't give him the tools to properly help him in the wide and dangerous world, but she raised him alright and with care.

His Deity of a father however didn't care about him what so ever besides what Drashok could do for him once he had the ability and the means to do so. Occasionally poking forth to whisper his opinions and will that would often distress, frustrate, and angered Drashok growing up from not knowing what or why he had them. ))

12. How does their education and intelligence – or lack thereof - reflect in their speech pattern, vocabulary, and pronunciations?

(( A lot here is probably a bit... off topic? But whatever. I have no idea how to explain how his education has shaped his language.

Drashok didn't get the best education in the world, he wasn't rich, didn't have private tutors, and he didn't go to magic based schools which would cost a decent bit.

He was poor growing up.

There was most likely something of a drive by the acolytes of the Ilmater temple to offer some education for those who wanted or need it, as they do a lot of different kinds of charity work around the city.

So what he does have of an education is largely self taught, and he makes an effort to try and keep on top of things. He's not awful at research, but he's not the smartest person in the world. He's a lot more practical than anything.

Normally Dwarves would have an apprenticeship type of education for their children up until their 50th birthday where they would be recognized socialy as adults. There they would do one task and become proper masters at it, think things like... smithing, baking, weaving, or any other family trade.

But since Drashok was of a shorter lived race, in a human majority city, that didn't have that kind of resources to create as strong clan structure or trade traditions... he was taken in by someone who was something of a friend\mentor figure\surrogate father figure who felt bad for Drashok and wanted to help him out at the Ilmater temple.

Drashok doesn't remember much of any of that, but his childhood and early years revolved a lot around that temple.

Drashok is also bilingual, with Dwarvish as his first language. And English\Common\Whatever the Baldurian first language is meant to be, as a second language. So he is fluid in English\Common\Whatever but with a subtle accent, that gets thicker if he's stressed, angry, or can't focus on making himself sound proper.

His vocabulary is partially from reading. He doesn't necessarily know completely the definition, just that the word sounds right in that context.

And recently as he has come across money, is kind of rich, is hiring tutors in his adult years to fill some gaps, and help in this speech to better fit among nobility.

But personally he doesn't like the whole nobility culture, frankly hates it. But he feels like he has to commit to it for more reasons than one.

Doesn't mind if he's cursing, might not always enunciate so long as he's understood. ))

13. Did they like school? Teachers? Schoolmates?

(( I think he liked learning.

Probably didn't love his teachers.

Schoolmates... I don't think he had a lot of friends. He was allowed to join in group games and activities, but he was most likely pretty lonely.))

8. How does your character feel about religion?

(( Like he said in the ask, it's his life.

He always had the Ilmater faith adjacent of him growing up, and he eventually became an Ilmater acolyte for a brief period. He looked dearly up towards the acolytes, and for all the good they had done for him all his years.

The issue was that things didn't go that way. Bhaal's influence only got stronger and stronger. His deity of a father, the God Of Murder, had other plans for him. And Drashok was easily indoctrinated into following said God Of Murder.

Out of fear of rejection, fear of himself, having broken his entire life, support system, he had nothing and no one. And his Father offered him something. Make him special...

And Drashok grabbed hold of that for dear life. And let his devotion eat him whole and make his life wholly connected to Bhaal. His Father, His Everything. A deeply codependent and toxic belief and relationship he was overjoyed to serve.

Until Bhaal threw him aside.

And he is struggling to be taken back, while hating his new keeper of a deity. His new owner who owns his body and soul.

He's scared. ))

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #300: Vritra

today on Fate and Phantasms we’re making another demonic snake dragon goddess, Vritra. she might have class disadvantage against the other one, but her name’s faster to type so I’m grateful for that. Also, unlike Ibuki Douji, Vritra turns into her giant snake dragon rather than summons one, so that’s fun!

she’s a Moon Druid for the aforementioned snake-turning-into, as well as an Eldritch Knight Fighter to turn that snake into a proper dragon while still being dang good with a vajra.

check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

next up: didn’t we just have an MMA santa?

Race and Background

I know we just pointed out the similarities between ibuki and Vritra, but the latter doesn’t spam invincibilities in her bossfight, so she’s a Lizardfolk instead of a Yuan-ti. it also helps with a little combo later. we’re using the new version of lizardfolk, so you won’t be able to craft stuff, though tbf you were given your spear so it’s no big deal. you still get a Swimming Speed which is kind of ironic as a goddess of drought, but you also get to put those pointy teeth to use with a Bite attack, an unarmed attack that deals 1d6 slashing damage. you can even use your Hungry Jaws to bite as a bonus action Proficiency times per day, and those attacks also give you temporary HP equal to your proficiency bonus. the first of many stops on our way to immortality.

on top of the swimming thing you can Hold Breath for up to 15 minutes at a time, and your Natural Armor basically gives you permanent mage armor- plus if your AC would ever be lower than 13 + dex it stays there anyway. you also have your Nature’s Intuition giving you proficiency in Animal Handling and Stealth. you also get +2 Strength and +1 Constitution.

I certainly wouldn’t call you a normal Acolyte, but you do have a lot of knowledge involving the gods and are kindasorta one yourself, so that’s proficiency in Insight and Religion.

Ability Scores

immortality is definitely what the experts call a “long-term” goal, but we can make it easier on ourselves and start with Constitution as high as possible. it won’t help our being a giant snake, but it’ll give you extra health to survive when the giant snake thing falls through. secondly, pick up some Wisdom. technically the monster army you can summon is a bunch of demons, but if it looks like a snake and quacks like a snake, that’s animal handling. third is Strength. you gotta chuck spears at people, and we can’t get psi warrior, sadly. your Intelligence isn’t as high as I’d like, but it’s still above average. I learned from my mistakes with Calamity, don’t worry. however, that does mean our Dexterity isn’t that good- thankfully you’ve got your scales to make up for it a little. finally, dump Charisma. turns out killing entire nations with your droughts makes you unpopular, who would’ve guessed?

Class Levels

1. Fighter 1: we’re starting as a fighter, both for the extra HP and also to nab that sweet, sweet Constitution save proficiency. you’re also proficient in Strength saves, as well as Athletics and Intimidation.

as for your Fighting Style, the Thrown Weapon style lets you draw weapons as you throw them, seriously reducing the action economy cost of chucking shit around, while also letting you deal an extra +2 Damage with thrown weapons. you also get a Second Wind once a short rest, it’s another way to heal yourself on you bonus action.

2. Fighter 2: second level fighters can make an Action Surge once a short rest for an extra action. that isn’t super useful since we’re going moon druid pretty soon, but more actions equals more biting or stabbing, so it’s never a bad idea.

3. Druid 1: now that we’re tough and fast, let’s get snakey. as a druid you know Druidic, it’s a written language that not only can only druids write and read, but other people won’t even know it’s there most of the time. somehow druids are sneakier than actual rogues- wild. you can also cast Spells now by using your Wisdom. grab Mold Earth to make walls… slowly…. and Frostbite to start freezing rivers shut.

okay maybe not specifically with this spell, but it’s got the theming down.

you can prepare your known spells each day, so it’s not a huge issue to grab spells as you want them, but I’d definitely check out more defensive stuff like Entangle and Fog Cloud, y’know, set up obstacles for your enemies. also Protection from Evil and Good to fuck with gods, bc fuck those guys.

4. Druid 2: at second level Moon druids can use their Combat Wild Shape as a bonus action, turning into a creature of CR 1/3 their level or lower (rounded down, at least CR 1 as a limit). they can do this twice per short rest, and each usage lasts half your druid level hours. you take the creatures physical stats (strength, dex, con, and HP) and when you drop to 0 in that form you turn back with as much HP as you had beforehand. you can also take class and racial feats into the wild shape with you as long as they physically make sense. so like, you probably won’t be able to keep your swimming speed as a tarantula. you can’t cast spells, but you can concentrate on them.

you can also use your bonus action to heal yourself by spending spell slots, what a surprise.

you won’t get a swim speed allowed until level 4, so no snakiness until then. in the meantime, you can use those wild shape charges to summon a Wild Companion for a regular-ass snake, but you could also use them to just. turn into something else. we’re not cops here, we don’t care if you break character.

5. Druid 3: third level druids get second level spells. it’ll be a while until you’re a dragon, so in the meantime check out Enlarge/Reduce to be an even bigger snake next level. by the time you hit level 8 that’ll let you hang out in the same size category as the Terrask! also grab Earthbind and Warding Wind to use two more elements to block peoples’ paths.

6. Druid 4: fourth level druids get another cantrip, and since there’s only one element we haven’t picked anything up from yet, grab Control Flames. you also get your first Ability Score Improvement, with which we’re grabbing the Piercer feat. now you can re-roll one die of piercing damage each turn, and your critical piercing attacks deal an extra die of damage! that’s nice for your spear, and hey, guess what kind of damage snake bites do?

speaking of snake bites, your Wild Shape Improvement lets you turn into animals with a swim speed now, so snakes are on the table! right now the best options on the table are the Giant Poisonous Snake and the Constrictor Snake, both of which have less than 20 HP! less awesome! maybe just grab a tiger or something for now, it’ll be a hot second til we get a good option.

7. Druid 5: fifth level druid, third level spells, and it’s time for immortality! …a bit. grab Feign Death to at least make it look like you come back from the dead later, or if you can figure out a way to cast it on yourself after your death, Revivify. also grab Elemental Weapon to make a magical spear that can skewer even divine enemies, and Conjure Animals to conjure your snake army. eventually, once you can upcast it. for now, you can turn into a giant constrictor (next level), and you can summon a giant constrictor at the same time! trippy!

8. Druid 6: like I just said, sixth level moon druids can turn into CR 2 creatures, so a Giant Constrictor is now available to turn into, with a hearty 60 HP per transformation and the ability to squeeze a creature into submission. also worth noting, at this level your wild shapes gain Primal Strikes, so their attacks count as magical for overcoming resistances and immunities to nonmagical damage, which I’d bet most gods have.

9. Druid 7: seventh level druids get fourth level spells, so you can use either Blight or Control Water to start causing proper droughts. there technically isn’t a drought option in the latter spell, but parting water or redirecting the flow away from where it usually goes can work if you’re creative.

10. Fighter 3: now that we’re finally on the right path magically, let’s head back to fighter to start kicking ass! as an Eldritch Knight you get another set of Spells based on your Intelligence, and most of them have to be Evocation or Abjuration. check the handbook to figure out what spell slots you’ve got each level, they have a page for that. or look it up online, there’s probably plenty of calculators to use.

thankfully your cantrips don’t care about that limitation, so grab Sword Burst to swing your spear around like you just don’t care, and Ray of Frost for more icy goodness. for your leveled spells, Frost Fingers finally lets this build that’s supposed to be about someone who freezes water actually freeze water, and Shield is just good. it’s a good spell, and your AC isn’t that great so it’s useful. you also get one spell of any school this level, but we’re gonna replace it later so grab what you want!

one last thing- you can use your Weapon Bond on your spear, so as long as its on the same plane as you u can summon it as a bonus action! also you can’t be disarmed

11. fighter 4: use this asi to nab the war caster feat! it lets you use spells as opportunity attacks which is like, boring! but it also gives you advantage on concentration saves to keep a spell going after you take damage! you can’t re-cast stuff as a snake, so it’s important you keep it up!

you also get another spell, and earth tremor is another way to block peoples’ way with difficult terrain! it’ll also deal damage to anything in the area

12. fighter 5: fifth level fighters get an Extra Attack each action, and yes you can take this into your wild shape.

13. Fighter 6: sixth level fighters get another ASI, so bump up that Strength for better spearings. it doesn’t help when you’re a snake, but it’s nice.

14. Fighter 7: at seventh level your War Magic speeds up your spellcasting, so if you cast a cantrip as an action you can now attack once as a bonus action! yippee!

you also get the real good ice spells this level- rime’s binding ice can freeze people in place, and now that you’ve got 2nd level spells you can replace that first any-school spell with dragon’s breath, giving you the ability to breathe fire, acid, cold, lightning, or poison for up to a minute!

15. fighter 8: eighth level fighters get another asi, so bump up that wisdom for stronger spells! that doesn’t help your fighter spells, but a lot of those won’t need your intelligence either, like Magic Weapon. with this, you can add a bit to your attack and damage rolls, and it’ll also punch through those pesky resistances against nonmagical damage. D&D isn’t as modular as some other rpgs are, so this is the closest we’re getting to “anti-god” tech without homebrew. still, talk to your DM, killing a god sounds like a cool high-level campaign idea.

16. Fighter 9: ninth level fighters are Indomitable, letting you re-roll a failed save once per day. if you’re gonna be immortal, you’re gonna need to pass those death saves.

17. Fighter 10: at tenth level, eldritch knights get another reason we won’t have to focus on magic that much, their Eldritch Strikes. basically, whenever you smack someone with a weapon attack, they get disadvantage on their next save against one of your spells before the end of your next turn. however, spending two turns to set up one thing is dumb. let’s speed it up a bit, and get your NP at the same time.

turn one- cast dragon’s breath on yourself to get a dragon’s breath as a bonus action, then use your main action to turn into a giant snake. turn two, use your hungry jaws to bite as a bonus action (RAW it’s your lizard bite, but c’mon DMs be cool about this) and then whatever you snatched up will have disadvantage on your breath save that turn. repeat up to six times for a well-cooked enemy.

to make your attacks more accurate you could use True Strike but that’s bad, just attack twice. for a spell that is actually useful, Darkness will give you the aesthetic of your NP, a cloud of magical darkness nothing can see through (except a surprisingly large and growing number of races and classes) though this also uses concentration, so you’ll have to choose between the fire and the smoke.

18. Fighter 11: eleventh level fighters get a second Extra Attack each action for up to three per action, six per turn, or seven with your hungry jaws. wild shapes weren’t really made for this kind of thing, so take advantage and do some crazy damage.

also you can cast Arcane Lock for one last barrier between humanity and whatever the hell you have that they want.

19. Fighter 12: use this one last ASI to bump up your hp with some Tough ness. now I know what you’re thinking- “if concentration’s been so important, why’d you go with this feat instead of more constitution?” good question! because Tough is a feat. it gives you 38 HP this level, and an extra 2 next level, but the important part is it is a feat. feats can be brought over to your snake forms. that means not only do you get 40 more HP, but your snakes also get 40 more hp! maybe. talk to your DM first, don’t spring this on them. if they say no, then yeah just go for more constitution. If you really want to game the HP system you can always pick up a relic sloth wild shape, which also kind of fits in with your whole “immoveable blockade” lore.

anyway, we’re getting off topic. more HP good, tough druids = most hp. maybe.

20. Fighter 13: our last level of the build is for one more use of Indomitable, so you can re-roll two failed saves a day to get even tougher. you can also cast a Glyph of Warding to create traps in case of anyone trying to tamper with your dam. now you can either set them up to re-freeze any water that leaks through as a Spell Glyph, holding a copy of frost fingers or binding ice, or you can set up Explosive Runes to take care of any pesky humans showing up to break the water out. either way, they’re very useful.

Pros & Cons:

Pros:

right off the bat, you have a shitload of HP, with just over 200 normally, and somewhere between 120-200 extra from wild shapes depending on how your DM takes tough, plus you have options to heal yourself, and get temporary HP. this all feeds further into pro #2-

you’re great on defense. you have plenty of options to slow or freeze enemies in place, and you can create plenty of environmental hazards with earth tremors and controlled water, making getting from point a to b an absolute nightmare even if there wasn’t a giant snake sitting in the only way in.

you’re a powerhouse alone, but you’ve also got summons available, and enough concentration power to keep them going for quite a while. the only thing worse than fighting one giant constrictor with your feet frozen to the ground is fighting three. or like, 16 smaller creatures, your choice.

Cons:

we put absolutely nothing into your dexterity, so even with those scales your AC is garbage. which is bad if you plan on turning yourself into a literal giant target. it’s a good thing you have plenty of HP to chew through.

you’ve also got low charisma, so even if you have a good reason for setting up a lair somewhere, good luck convincing the townsfolk.

multiclassing gave us some good spell slots, but only low-level spells. getting advantage on an upcast Dragon’s Breath is cool, but I would have killed to be able to grab Wall of Ice from the druid spell list.

[brandwhorestarscream]

An idea of a plot for Cult of the Primes AU. But again, it's just an idea, so feel free to veto any of this. (And it is an AU so...)

I feel like Hot Rod turned Rodimus Prime would be most likely to rebel.

He wasn't originally chosen to represent Liege Maximo's province/city, he's not even directly from the city just an offshoot called Nyon, but in the city's highest priests' eyes Hot Rod was the next best choice due to multiple factors. The first major factor being their original candidate got extremely sick a few days before the candidates were to be sent off. The other factor being that Hot Rod was still innocent so to speak and known to be quite a prodigy in regards to religious learnings and teaching. So, they send Hot Rod instead. As it ended up turning out, that was the correct choice because Hot Rod managed to "win" the title of Prime.

At first Hot Rod was a bit excited to become Prime. No one from Liege Maximo's domain had gotten the Primacy in a long while and he even saw that the saint, Saint Megatronus, was impressed even from the sidelines. He knew that darker parts existed sure, arguably Liege Maximo was the "darkest" of the Original 13 Primes, but Hot Rod now Rodimus Prime didn't expect how deep the rabbit hole went.

Like you said just with a different character, Rodimus would be horrified by what the Matrix showed him. He holds onto the idea that maybe this was expected, the priests closest to the Primacy help make sure Unicron's influence never finds Cybertron through sacrifices and he's seen executions of heretics.

What breaks him is the Matrix showing him a small vision/flashback of Liege Maximo's perspective of the Well of AllSparks being created. Rodimus was always told that Solus Prime sacrificed herself to stop her siblings from fighting and the Well was created where she died. What Liege Maximo experienced was watching Prima, Alpha Trion, Micronus Prime, Nexus Prime, and Amalgamous Prime going behind their family's back to sacrifice an unconscious Solus Prime to their father, Primus, and Liege Maximo just so happened to spot it on accident, but never told a spark besides letting the Matrix take the memory. What the Matrix intended was to teach Rodimus that some myths are watered down for most of the population due to the true version posing a threat to the order it wanted. What Rodimus saw was that the Primes were willing to kill each other and lie to everyone to make sure their hold on this corrupt Cybertron never went away.

Rodimus, in his mind, decides this can't stand, but he also can't tell anyone lest he's accused of being a heretic.

That's just an idea to get the plot going, but I'm not familiar enough with Cult of the Lamb to saw how it goes from there.

*dusts this ask off*

Hey Ambush lmao I somehow completely lost this one and just found it at the very bottom of my pile loool

ANYWAY! That's so twisted, and such a deviation from the usual story! The brothers killing Solus, I never would've expected that. Especially since, ya know... in canon, it's actually LM's fault. The first plsce my thoughts went to was, Liege Maximo is lying and manipulating Rodimus for some reason. He does have a track record of underhanded tactics and scheming, sooo 👀 maybe he's trying to turn the new Prime against his siblings. Get the newcomer to worship him and only him. Idk what his plans are but it could definitely be smthn fun and sinister

Bonus points of Acolyte Rue as we've invented him still exists. The Liege Maximo communicating with Rodimus from the ether is a sliver of his spark--his darkest pieces and tendencies that were stripped from him when he died in the Cataclysm and returned to the Well. So this manifestation of Liege Maximo is a part of him, an amalgamation of all his worst traits, but Rodimus doesn't know that. The rest of him is embedded in his suicidal self-loathing incredibly depressed Acolyte, who is entirely unaware of the situation 🤭

[lord-woolsley]

1, 6, 13 for Namelia 💞

1: Where in Faerûn is your Tav from?

Namelia is actually from the Underdark and grew up in Menzoberranzan where she spent all of her childhood and youth in its West Wall district (where her family’s home was/is located). Afterwards she studied wizardry in Sorcere, Menzoberranzan’s wizard academy.

6: What companion are you platonically close with?

Definitely Shadowheart; Namelia really likes her melancholic streak as well as her acolyte background, even though she enjoys her silly little moments as well. Even though Namelia is mostly serious, she likes to find and embrace funny or fascinating moments in her every day life; something she shares with Shadowheart and really strengthens their bond and friendship.

13: What are their thoughts on killing? Is it a necessary evil or do they enjoy it?

That highly depends. Namelia doesn’t feel very strongly about killing people if it’s necessary for her own survival or to realize her own goals. That doesn’t mean she’s an evil person per se; she doesn’t particularly like to see people suffer or witness/engage in bloodshed without any cause at all. If murder can be avoided, showing mercy in regards of one’s life is her preferred way to handle situations. If things go south or get too complicated, she does kill people and she doesn’t feel too strongly about any injustice or moral aspects. What is done is done and can’t be changed; no use shedding any tears about it.

[karkkidoeswriting]

15 Questions Tag

Thank you for tagging me @mariahwritesstuff!

I'll tag: @kiraofthewind @dotr-rose-love @aohendo @wildswrites

Feel free to ignore as always, but especially now because it's personal questions! Also if you want to answer but not every question, you can just skip those!

1. Are you named after anyone?

The first name is not after anyone but my two middle names are after my grandmothers.

2. When was the last time you cried?

Couple of weeks ago. I was in fever for more than a week and I had a deadline for the research plan of my thesis. It was very hard to focus on reading and writing academic texts while on fever, and in the evening of the deadline I was extremely tired. I had a little breakdown about it after writing one (1) sentence in two hours. (It was fine, I was allowed to return it late.)

3. Do you have kids?

Only if my cat child counts.

4. Do you use sarcasm?

I do, but at the same time I'm sometimes unable to detect it when someone else uses it, if they are not obvious enough about it lol.

5. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Clothing and style I think. They are often the thing you can see even pretty far away, even before you're close enough to see their face. Clothing often tells at lest something about the person as it is a form of self-expression.

6. What's your eye color?

Blue.

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings. They can be really nice though my favorites are bittersweet endings, but while I like horror and it intrigues me, I'm also very easily scared and especially on movie format it's too effective on me :'D For me to be able to watch horror, it requires very specific movies in a very specific setting and a right state of mind. So if I have to choose broadly, it's happy endings.

8. Any special talents?

I'm not sure what is counted as special talent? I guess some of the adhd things could be counted as special talents? Like yes I know weird amount of facts and details about my current and past hyperfixations and I can focus intensely on something for multiple hours continuously.

9. Where were you born?

Helsinki.

10. What are your hobbies?

Writing, drawing, sewing, researching dress history, hicking and tennis.

11. Have you any pets?

As mentioned, I have a cat, Nausicaä (named after that Ghibli movie/manga (also by Miyazaki)), or more friendly Nasse. She's mixed and from a farm, but looks like a Russian Blue and we call her poor man's Russian Blue. She loves to sit on high places and very neatly on the edge of the thing and look down at people, which is why we also call her a gargoyle and talk about how she loves gargoyling. (If you've listened to TMA - we've also come to the conclusions that she's definitely an acolyte of The Eye.)

12. What sports do you play/have played?

Tennis, as mentioned, but in past I've played (European) football, gymnastics, basket ball and badminton. All the rest I only played for like couple of years, when I was preteen/teen, tennis is the only one I've played for a long time, though never competitively (so it's not like I'm super good at it).

13. How tall are you?

175 cm

14. Favorite subject in school?

I loved a lot of subjects, almost everything interested me except learning new languages (because I was very bad at them lol, it's the cocktail of dyslexia and adhd). If I'd had to choose though my favorites probably would be history and geography.

15. Dream job?

At the moment: architect, whose specialised on restoration of historical buildings and repairing/remodeling existing buildings.

[ajthinks]

Getting & Using Magic

Using Magic

In my head, using magic is all about weaving together the twelve basic mana types (see previous post) in various configurations to do…basically everything.

I don’t think incantations are going to be a big part of spell casting as much as intention will. I think the will you put behind the spell, and then how you weave it, will carry a lot more weight.

Of course, some mages use incantations because that’s just how they weave magic. Others wave their hands or dance. Others need to be in direct contact with their target, etc. But all that has more to do with physically manipulating strands of mana into place. Intention is more about taking those manipulated strands and then…activating them. That’s the only word I’ve got right now.

Getting Magic

So, how do people go about getting magic?

The short answer is: you’re born with it. But it’s not quite that simple. People are either born a mage or not. But that doesn’t mean they can wield mana right out of the womb. I wanted people to have to work for it. So, something has to happen to “activate” their magic abilities. In Viency, just being near a large amount of free floating mana is enough to activate a dormant mage. This activation is called sparking.

So, where do people go to spark? Obviously, it would be the largest reserves of mana known in the world. In this case, those locations would be the Dungeons of Danrya. The act of going into a Dungeon has to be a pretty big deal. Like, something of cultural significance, a rite of passage, or something. I called it a Questing because I couldn’t think of anything else that was simple and self-explanatory.

During a Questing, a young person ventures (alone) into the nearest Dungeon. Some people do travel to different reasons to take their Questing at a Dungeon not their own, but since travel is expensive, that’s mostly very wealthy people.

Once inside the Dungeon, you have to survive. And, at some point, usually not recognizable to the mage themselves, but it will be a definite “defining moment” type thing in story, the mage sparks. And that’s when they get their one to two mana sigils somewhere on their body, which are like tatoos of the mana they can control. At the same moment, their body also begins actually generating those one to two types of mana, which can lead to temporary mild physical pain or mood swings (depending on the mana types gained).

I have just realized that I haven’t given I lot of thought to what the sigils look like. Like, I have some runes of the actual sigils that I’m going to use, but I don’t have any idea for how they’ll appear on the skin. Are they big? Blue? Black? Red? Do they look like scars or more like inked tatoos? I’m not sure. I’ll have to give this some more thought.

Since the different Dungeons reside among different cultures, I wanted the age of Questing to be different. For instance, in the survival-of-the-fittest focused land that is Izzia, the Questing age is 12 to 13 years old. Franstric is only slightly less warrior-focused, so their Questing age is 13 to 14. In contrast, the country between Izzia and Franstric, Obrunan, is more about getting their kids in with the church and completing that training first. After your stint as an Obrunese acolyte, if you’re a Chosen of Kathandi, then you can step foot into the depths of the main church and test yourself against Danyra’s Cathedral at the age of 16 to 17. This is actually the oldest Questing age in Viency. Garaeland’s Questing age is 14 to 15, while Solia’s is 15 to 16.

Each society really only gives a person two to three opportunities to test themselves for magedom. In Izzia the day is your birthday. In Franstric, the day is your nameday (which is actually three to four months after the day you were born on). In Obrunan, the day must be either Kathanday (the holiest of days on the Obrunese calendar, which only occurs once every two years), or the current Kham’s holy day (Kham being the highest of high priests). In Garaeland and Solia, the day is called the Vault Day and Garden Day, respectively, and consists of three days a year (Spring, Summer, & Fall) specifically set aside to let young people enter the Dungeons. The winters in Garaeland make the trek to the Vault difficult. In Solia, since Danrya’s Garden is on an island in the heart of the Whirling Sea, winters make the Sea particularly impassable. Instead, I figure in winter, Garaeland & Solia hold a day of mourning for those who have fallen in the Dungeons. Not quite sure on that yet.

For me, I find it a lot easier to come up with cultural tidbits about Izzia & Obrunan than Garaeland or Solia. Maybe because I spend the most time writing about Izzia & Obrunan to begin with. Izzia is where my main character is from, and Izzians culture clash with their nearest neighbor, Obrunan, quite a bit. The major clash being that Obrunan is deeply religious…and Izzia isn’t.

I’ll probably throw something up here at some point talking about the various cultures of Viency and how they interact with each other. That might be cool.

[ct-offical-sexyman]

CT’s unorganised thoughts on the acolyte

A lot of people keep saying how amazing the fight scenes are, but there were only really one or two moments that get hit me. Like I think they’re lacking the sound design and music the obi wan / maul / qui Gon had.

I appreciate all the practical effects. All the acting was really solid for this one.

There was a lot of “characters doing things cuz the plot needed them to rather than cuz it made sense for the characters”

Mae is the most interesting character and I really started to lose interest once she started getting focused on less.

I did not like how they did a whole Disney twist villain thing with the stranger. His role felt really shoved in at the 11th hour.

Sol must be crazy strong if he can take on a Wookie and not get his arms ripped off.

I didn’t really feel the need to rewatch any scene cuz none of them had captivated me.

All in all I think I need to try and get back into reading the high republic novel I started

Little disappointed I didn’t get to see Mae fight a Wookie, but plot I understand.

That intro fight with the stranger was cool, but I wasn’t really invested in anything once they left the forest planet.

“Walk off the platforms…. Stop standing at the edge of the platforms… goddamit”

Mae you’re the only real bitch I respect (also maybe Jecki but she’s dead).

This series definitely would have benefited from a longer run time like maybe 13 episodes. Just so they could expand on ideas and development them better. Like a flashback scene of OSHA’s training and expanding on how exactly she “failed�� as a Jedi would have benefited her character a bit.

I still don’t really understand why exactly baby Osha wanted to leave her family and become a Jedi that badly.

The whole situation with baby Mae Osha and the witches is really making it hard for me not to outwardly start talking about how incompetent a lot of Jedi are.

I know what you did last summer: Star Wars Addition

So yeah I’d probably give this series a 5/10. better than Mando season 3, but didn’t enjoy more than clones wars / the prequels

[thereallordphoenix]

🐉 + Jake

Level: 20 Class(es): cleric and wizard Sub-Class: life domain and school of abjuration Race: human Background: acolyte  Alignment: neutral good Ability Scores(+Modifiers)- Str: 11(0) Dex: 9(-1) Con: 13(+1) Int: 16(+3) Wis: 18(+4) Cha: 10(0)

Aka Lord Phoenix. I chose to make him multiclass cleric and wizard because his powers as a superhero are mainly based on healing (life domain) and protection (School of abjuration), basically not letting anyone die. I chose acolyte as the background purely as a reference to the X-men (although Jake himself was never an acolyte) and because it would be advantageous for this multiclass. Jake is neutral good, he definitely has the good heart and heroic instincts, and wouldn't mind defying laws and authorities to do what he thinks is right. For the attributes I did the traditional dice rolls and organized the 6 values obtained as best I could.

(art made by myself)

[cyarskaren52]

White Terrorists Safely Taking Siege Of Capitol Highlights Policing Double Standard, Twitter Reacts

Source: Jon Cherry / Getty

Today (Jan. 6), Donald Trump supporters, in this case also terrorists since they’re on in the same, were able to stroll into the Capitol in Washington as Congress was certifying the electoral votes that mean Joe Biden will take office on Jan. 20. As a Black man, watching the obvious double standard in how white people are policed versus people of color, today’s circus of political struggle was infuriating.  

to make it here without dying is the epitome of white privilege pic.twitter.com/Uw5FV33bpO — Noah Caine (@NoahCaine) January 6, 2021

Source: Caroline Brehman / Getty

Almost immediately, the contrast was striking. While the protests after the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, as just one example, in 2020 were marred with suspect arrests and the brutalization of protesters, Trump’s flunkies were able to stroll into the Capitol wears America’s elected officials were convening.

These terrorists were met with little resistance and soon enough were dispersed throughout the Capitol, forcing lawmakers to shelter in place in their offices as if a gunman was on the loose. Social media was soon enough littered with photos and video of MAGA acolytes trespassing in the offices of people like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as rioters also broke windows and waved the Confederate Flag in the building.

this is what #whiteprivilege is. Had it been Black Lives Matter they wouldn’t have even gotten the chance to get inside. Many would have already been arrested, pepper sprayed, and shot at. pic.twitter.com/WdE5nswZFe — matorma (@_matorma) January 6, 2021

Nevertheless, the police seemed to do their absolute best not to put hands on protesters. Many immediately noted that if these were people of color “protesting” they’d sure be catching batons upside their head, or worse. Pick any large Black Lives Matter protest this is obvious. The jig was particularly noted on Twitter, with hashtags like #whiteprivilege and #amerikkka trending that highlighted the obvious difference in policing tactics when it’s Black people peacefully protesting.

Throughout the day, hundreds of the rioters committed federal crimes. But reportedly, only 13 people were actually arrested while the entire world witnessed all types of trespassing and vandalizing property, at least.

Perhaps the biggest show of disrespect to many (like say people have to worry about if they’ll make it home if a cop pulls them over), was the footage of what looked like a member of SWAT helping a “protester” in a Trump hat down the Capitol steps while gently holding her hand.

The privilege. #civilwar2021 #whiteprivilegepic.twitter.com/3TtLbPXIPj — Mikayla Corean (@MikaylaCorean) January 7, 2021

Son.

Peep more of the outrage and head-scratching (but not really) police behavior below. Whether you say “defund” or “reform” how the authorities deal with its citizens through the lens of systemic racism must be addressed, expeditiously.

Breonna Taylor shot while sleeping  Ahmaud Arbery shot while jogging  Tamir Rice shot by playing in his front yard  Blm protesters shot while fighting for civil rights  Maga rioters breaking into the US Capitol without being shot or killed Is the definition of #whiteprivilegepic.twitter.com/5z9bhtsJuO — Myxtli Martinez (@diorinblush) January 6, 2021

1. Yes, this is looting.

Trump supporters now LOOTING from the Capitol building. you have got to be kidding me. why even have officers at this point?what are they gonna do? oh yeah help them loot the paintings now i guess.#CapitolBuilding#whiteprivilege#Capitol pic.twitter.com/xKBYGVb3JJ— Neda (@poetic_women) January 6, 2021

2. The Ops were nowhere to be found.

Where were these guys today? Or do they only show up when people of color are around.#whiteprivilege #Amerikkapic.twitter.com/IA2uZ6pliC— Kirk Acevedo(@kirkacevedo) January 6, 2021

3. What’s the difference?

What is the DC Penalty for Black ppl who simply break a metal barrier? Ask the mother of #KaronHylton who was arrested by MPD two weeks ago. fir wanting answers for her dead son. Why is DC Police treating Black grieving mothers like this but not Capitol rioters? #WhitePrivilegehttps://t.co/XelQwqjP85— ChuckModi (@ChuckModi1) January 6, 2021

4. 

The face of #whiteprivilege and treason. pic.twitter.com/MszBfzmtGk— Democratic Coalition (@TheDemCoalition) January 6, 2021

5. 

this aged well #whiteprivilege #Amerikkka#CapitolBuilding pic.twitter.com/edb7NRnW8F— genny gomez (@gennygomez_) January 6, 2021

6. 

To Visually Show You The Differences.. #whiteprivilege #Trumppic.twitter.com/pcNnVtmxn5— Mari (@Marioun98) January 7, 2021

7. 

Can we all agree now that #whiteprivilege is frighteningly real ? Although , not sure why it's dressed as Jamiroquai 😳 ? pic.twitter.com/GUNvPUGR3f— Tanita Tikaram (@tanita_tikaram) January 6, 2021

8. 

Those thugs need to be dealt with 🤧#WashingtonDC #whiteprivilege #DCRiotspic.twitter.com/ycYJifC3Jg— زاكاريا (@ZForZachariahh) January 6, 2021

9. Where is the lie?

My black kids won’t be able to safely wear a hoodie in their own community but these terrorists are able to walk calmly (and freely) around a Capitol they have forcibly overtaken. This is America.#whiteprivilege#CapitolBuilding #DCProtestspic.twitter.com/vbbzoSe4Vp— Jahnisa (@SimplyJahnisa) January 6, 2021

10. 

Remember when they thought KNEELING for black lives during the national anthem was disrespectful? #whiteprivilegepic.twitter.com/SyA1cxYKtx— Harry Cook (@HarryCook) January 6, 2021

11. 

How Black people are watching the real thugs and terrorists at Capital Hill.... #whiteprivilegepic.twitter.com/eSLoErFq1t— It's Cinta (@MsTigerEyes) January 6, 2021

12. 

US Capitol security when white people riot #WashingtonDC #whiteprivilege #TrumpRallypic.twitter.com/s2pn9bZ5uO— Prosper (@Prosper458) January 6, 2021

13. 

14. 

all because they didn’t get their way... let this be BLACK folks tho. #whiteprivilegepic.twitter.com/b9VMNtdIRf— GS. (@_speakingofg) January 6, 2021

Sent from my iPhone

[notes-from-sarah]

Part 2, chapter 11-20

EDIT: I am abandoning this book. It broke me and I can't keep going. Save yourselves, read Star Wars: The Approaching Storm by Alan Dean Foster or Star Wars: Stealth and Star Wars: Siege by Karen Miller if you want good Anakin and Obi-Wan being Jedi content (the Miller books are somewhat overwrought and fannish in nature, but the characterizations are generally very good).

Chapter 11

Pg 72, I don't understand why the new knights need to give a speech about themselves to the younglings. It seems like the laziest of plot devices so Anakin can meet the main youngling character.

Pg 72-73, I can see Anakin being nervous about Obi-Wan going into such an objectively stupid situation on Neimoidia, but I don't know about how this whole section presents it.

Pg 73, Obi-Wan hates flying cliché. (Yes, he says he hates flying in the movies but always in the context of being shot at by hostiles, so I think that colors his attitude in the moment)

Pg 73, Obi-Wan says that things go bad on missions when it's him and Anakin together and without Anakin, things will go fine. He even brings up Geonosis as an example of this despite it going bad for him without Anakin's involvement whatsoever, and would have been the exact same outcome had Anakin stayed on Tatooine. Please, author, have you ever watched a star war?

Pg 73, Anakin: "You're just upset" where is this coming from. This bit of dialogue doesn't fit in with anything that's been discussed or said to this point and is not reflective of Obi-Wan's words or interior state. What is going on here?

Pg 75, Anakin give Obi-Wan an illegal comlink to stay in touch against the purview of the mission. Obi-Wan agrees, the idea of being sneaky never occurring to him. Obi-Wan really seems dim here.

Chapter ends and Obi-Wan is still on Coruscant! Let this man get about his mission!

Chapter 12

Skip. Nothing happens here.

Chapter 13

Skip. Asajj comes to Neimoidia.

Chapter 14

Pg 87, Obi-Wan is talking via ship comm at lightspeed. Let's assume faster than light travel is possible, how are radio waves (light) supposed to travel faster than light? In the movies (and even in the Clone Wars) no one ever receives communications while traveling at lightspeed. It's a minor nitpick but always irks me.

Pg 88, Obi-Wan is still moaning on about Satine even though they dated like 2 decades ago...

Pg 89, "When [Obi-Wan] considered what might happen if, of all people, Anakin stumbled upon his history with Satine, he found himself smirking. And he allowed himself to hold on to the briefest moment of amusement." This book might just do me in. What even is any of this? Why does he think it'd be funny for Anakin to find out he had a romance in the past? What's going on here? Why????

Chapter 15

Skip! Anakin tells children his opinions on the Force.

Chapter 16

Skip! Obi-Wan finally makes it to planet, meets Asajj who is definitely not a Sith acolyte.

Chapter 17

Skip!

Chapter 18

Skip!

Chapter 19

Skip!

Chapter 20

Skip! Waiting for anything to happen in this story, it's not even a good introspective story that uses the plot as a vehicle to explore the characters, it's just boring.

Star Wars: Brotherhood by Mike Chen read-along, hardback edition

Part 1, chapters 1-10

Wherein I react as I read this novel. It's a Star Wars novel, there will be good, bad and ugly. You have been warned. Spoilers below.

Chapter 1

Skip. Explosion happens. Ruug is shocked.

Chapter 2

Pg 10, Opening words are: "Anakin Skywalker stood" where is he standing? Only the Shadow knows.

Pg 11, Now know that he's standing in the Temple courtyard under the Great Tree. I feel like this is a long time to wait before finding out where the POV character is. (this might be a me problem)

Pg 11, The Jedi are called "General" just because it's a convention the clones came up with?

Pg 11, Mentioning Siri Tachi.

Pg 11, Siri is present as a master to a new knight but nary a word about a certain Ferus Olin? For shame.

Pg 11, Jedi are temporarily rotating into an open Council position? Kinda feel like the Council would convene and, using the guidance of the Force, would elect a new member instead of trial a bunch of people, but whatever.

Pg 12, Anakin's emotions come from his...hands?

Pg 13, Anakin thinks he's the only Jedi to feel emotions.

Pg 13, Anakin thinks Mace hates him.

Pg 14, Jedi clap after Mace finishes his speech.

Pg 14, Obi-Wan is flustered when a politician doesn't show up on time. The man who doesn't trust and has distaste for politicians.

Pg 14-15, The Jedi invited politicians to attend the not-knighting, knighting ceremony. Why would they though? It's not a high school graduation, it's an advancement within a closed order.

Pg 15, The Jedi Council take Palpatine's emergency call in the middle of the ceremony, I assume for drama's sake. Then Yoda dismisses the onlookers except for all the random knights instead of taking the meeting private and deciding what to do after hearing the information like they do in the movies...

Pg 15, Obi-Wan has to remind Anakin that he's a knight now, I don't hate it but I'm not loving how it's done here or Anakin's reaction.

Pg 16, This chapter is finally done. I kind of don't know why we needed to even have Chapter 1 if all the information has to be revealed again later on. I also thought we spent way too much time in this chapter catching up on Anakin's backstory and him thinking about his life to this point. Kind of a dull start but let's hope it gets better.

Chapter 3

Pg 17, Obi-Wan reiterates that Anakin is his equal, seems unlikely for him to do that.

Pg 17, Obi-Wan is surprised Anakin might need a period of adjustment to make the transition from Padawan to Knight because he and Obi-Wan had argued so much in the past.

Pg 18, Obi-Wan doubts his own ability to temp as a Council Member.

Pg 18, Neutral systems apparently "Work with all sides" while remaining members of the Republic and Galactic Senate... (In my opinion, neutral systems in a civil war are more like Kansas during the US civil war and less like Switzerland during WWII, but whatever)

Pg 19, What "long, volatile history" does Anakin have with Neimoidians? Is this a reference to The Phantom Menace? Anakin was barely involved in the whole thing.

Pg 21, No one is waiting to see if the Neimoidians are asking for help with investigating this bombing before making plans to do so... And the Jedi apparently need to develop a strategy to propose to be approved by the chancellor and the Council before going into the field and learning about the disaster...

Pg 22, So, the Jedi have knighted everyone already months ago, but they have a post-knighting ceremony where they give pep-talks to the new knights for some reason like it's a high school graduation...

Pg 23, Padmé and her retinue just...come into the Temple? Like, she's just allowed in? Without an escort or anything? So she can attend Jedi High graduation? What? This is a closed monastic order, randos aren't allowed in the cloister!

Pg 25, Padmé calls Obi-Wan "Master Kenobi" but gives him no more personalized greeting even though it seems she hasn't seen him since Geonosis? By Episode III she's much more friendly to him and it seems strange to have her be so distant after all they went through together just a couple months ago.

Pg 25, Now Bail Organa is just...hanging around in the Jedi Temple too?

Chapter 4

Pg 27-29, Anakin takes Padmé on a hot date racing on an illegal track in the underbelly of Coruscant... This is what they decide to do the first time they see each other after getting married...what? (My kingdom for an EU book about Anakin that doesn't involve him getting into illegal races!)

Pg 29, Anakin is wearing a mechanics coat as a disguise but as a 9 year old on the outer rim he saw straight through Qui-Gon's poncho disguise so who does he think he's fooling?

Pg 29-30, Anakin is having some difficulty adjusting to his replacement arm, I like this thoughtfulness.

Pg 31, Padmé: "Let's grab something to eat instead of getting arrested." Good lord, the dialogue here is just...not it. Did the author only watch three episodes of the Clone Wars before writing this book?

Pg 31, Jedi are acting as medics?

Pg 31, I like Anakin reflecting on how his life might be if Qui-Gon hadn't found him.

Pg 32, Anakin and Padmé make fun of Obi-Wan's hair... Obi-Wan has traditional "knight" hair, throw a suit of chain mail on him and he's ready for an Aurthurian round table. Trish Bigger knew what she was about when designing his look for Episode II.

Pg 33, Padmé notices people's destitution, Anakin doesn't unless he really tries because she's so much more compassionate than the Jedi. The boy who grew up destitute and can feel people's emotions through the Force. That boy. Yeah.

Pg 33, "Anakin's own sun-dragon heart" well, that's a line for sure

Chapter 5

Pg 36, Dex was an information broker?

Pg 38, Obi-Wan is so naïve that he can't conceive that someone from "his side" would be behind the bombing, instead he jumps to conclusions instead of letting the Force guide...

Pg 39-40, Obi-Wan seems pretty dim here, he's asking Dex how he should conduct an investigation and how to manage the situation diplomatically, ugh

Pg 39-40, Dex brings up Satine for no real reason just to needle Obi-Wan on having a girlfriend in the past (sidenote: there needs to be a moratorium on giving Obi-Wan girlfriends, please Disney, he has too many!)

Chapter 6

Pg 42-43, Padmé eating space shawarma: "This is really, really, really, good. And, I don't want to know what's in it." What is this dialogue? Padmé is a senator not a valley girl.

Pg 44, Awww, Anakin gives Padmé his Padawan braid just like in the micro-series. ❤️

Pg 44, Why do all these authors keep referring to all children as younglings? In the movies the term was used for children at the Temple, not children in general, why do they keep doing it?

Sometimes this book isn't clear about who is doing what where. More than once I've had to reread a description of someone's actions multiple times to try and parse exactly what's happening. Help me out here Mr. Chen!

I do like that Padmé and Anakin at least seem to like each other unlike in some shows *cough* the Clone Wars *cough* so that's nice.

Chapter 7

Pg 52, Obi-Wan has to rely on thoughts of Qui-Gon to not lose his composure when speaking with Dooku...

Pg 52-54, Obi-Wan maneuvers himself into a terrible diplomatic situation so that highjinks may commence. *sigh*

Pg 55-56, Palpatine is asking for Padawans to be drafted and Mace says well, "We are at war" I swear some people have no respect for that man. Then Yoda says for Obi-Wan not to worry his little head about it and focus on the bombing and Obi-Wan takes it as a sign of faith in his abilities? Why is Obi-Wan so dumb here?

Pg 56, "Even Jedi had interpersonal conflicts" just, what? A monastic order where these knights regularly have to depend on each other for their lives and ya know, it's just like any workplace where people don't get along with the office Karen.

Pg 56, This chapter just won't let me gooooo. "A decade had passed since Obi-Wan handled the responsibility [of teaching younglings]...and he cringed a bit inside. It quickly turned into a grin at the thought of Anakin Skywalker...the Chosen One, the young man who charged headfirst into Count Dooku's lightning attack, now headed toward the biggest challenge of his life." This whole paragraph is just...yikes. If this was supposed to be funny it did not manage that.

Chapter 8

Pg 58-59, Temple droids *sigh* "Professor Huyang" *sigh* Random little girl who we don't even know the age of *sigh* Referencing lots of Padawans dying at Geonosis despite none actually being there *sigh* Female zabrak with horns *sigh*

Chapter 9

Everyone is still at the Temple btw, almost 10 chapters in and we are still not on an adventure.

Pg 63, Anakin reconfigures Temple screens to show podracing... something he never so much as mentions after Episode I.

Pg 63, Referring to the place where the Jedi take their meals as the refectory like in a monastery is good, I like it.

Pg 64, Anakin telling childish lies about changing the screens to show podracing... am I supposed to believe that Anakin is 19/20 here or 13/14? 'Cause that's the vibe I'm getting.

Also, this is chapter 9 and the first chapter where Anakin and Obi-Wan actually talk to each other. What's the deal? Isn't this book about them and their relationship? Shouldn't they at least spend a little time together?

Pg 65, Obi-Wan chooses not to have a heart-to-heart with Anakin because he wants to stay focused on the bombing... you know, work and rules is all Obi-Wan thinks about, no time to think about his closest friend/pseudo son...

Pg 67, Anakin thinks he's too good to train younglings...

Chapter 10

Skip.