#6 Crowns Campaign

[ashleyrowan]

You may remember this lovely mermaid from a piece I did for Mermay. I figured I ought to share her full ref because she's absolutely gorgeous. I love mermaids who you can just tell can and will drown you.

[carelesscuriosity]

I am desperately trying to get through Crown of Candy so I can watch the Ravening War and atp, I think I’ve just gotta ask… If I haven’t been invested from the jump, is there a specific episode/turning point of Crown of Candy which makes the season really click? Because no matter how hard I try and focus/care, I just can’t feel myself getting immersed in the world/story like I did with Neverafter and Fantasy High.

Alternatively, how spoilery is A Ravening War so far? Like would someone be able to start with that and still enjoy Crown of Candy?

EDIT: Thanks for recommendations everyone! I’ll try to stick with it till at least episode 9! :D

[attila-werther]

I need to finish that one d20 comic I started last year. I did rough page layouts and everything and immediately forgot because I turned the page to do (squints) something. indecipherable

[twoheadedcalfsanctuary]

GOD I fucking love acoc

[the-bed-gremlins-reading-list]

My Marriage to the Cursed Royal

Demo: Twine on Itch.io Last Update: 9/6/2024

Rating: 18+

Synopsis

When you meet with an unfortunate accident in the real world you find yourself cast into the role of the younger Medulloi sibling. Your elder brother is the Duke of Ausones, a small and recent addition to the Nasennii Empire.

For three hundred years the Imperial war machine has fueled the Nasennii expansionism across the continent of Fantasia. A war machine that has been unable to advance across the northern expanses that make up Ithel.

Imperial superstition maintains that it is unlucky for a commander to remain unwed - so when the Royal Bastard, the Emperor's cursed child, makes little headway in the campaign a marriage in absentia is arranged.

A marriage to you.

It's a new world with a spouse you have never met.

Oh, except one itty-bitty thing - Fantasia Crown Wars is one of the most popular media franchises to exist. (Oh, and a savvy fan knows that Auberon Medulloi's younger sibling died.)

Characters

Auberon Medulloi - The Duke of Blood

Your new half-brother. He's famous among fans for his brutality as a military commander and the cold calculus with which he approaches his alliances when he's introduced during the third book of the main series. You know him as your warm, slightly fussy elder half-brother who frets himself silly over taking care of your family's lands and makes you sweets when you feel sad. He's joined you in the Imperial Capital to insure that you're safe and have all the support you could possibly stand. In the books he becomes the most feared leader of a rebellion against the Nassenian throne. One that was destroyed by your spouse and leads to Auberon's eventual execution.

Lucius/Lucia Nasennia(us) - Your Spouse, the Cursed Royal (RO)

They are the emperor's eldest child, the illegitimate one whom misfortune follows like an old friend. They were born in the dead of a moonless night and gifted with the ice magic of Ithel through their mother's veins. The priesthood has sworn should they ever take the throne it will be the end of the Nasennian Empire. And yet they are among the most gifted commanders of the age, it is on them victory against Ithel and peace among the conquered lands depend. The books described them as cold and calculating. The blockbuster movie saw them behead their younger brother after arranging the death of their father. They were also supposed to be unwed.

Marcus Nasennius - The Golden Prince (RO)

The third child of the emperor and the heir to the throne after the death of their sister. Marcus has always been the charmer of the royal family, the one for whom life was easy and joyful. He's said to have been blessed by the Empire's gods - born on a bright summer day in the heat of noon, and gifted with command of light magic he has always been placed in competition with his elder brother by the court, but they were friends once. Marcus was one of the main characters of the books - and the classic prince charming had always quite popular. So popular, in fact, that after his tragic demise in the movie he was brought back to life in the television show.

Rossella Catilia - The Red Mage (RO)

The Catilia family has stood behind and beside the throne of Nasennia since the War of Sparks founded the nascent Empire. They are wealthy and powerful and Rossella is the same age as Prince Marcus. She was brought to court at a young age and raised with the expectation that she would be among those considered as his match. A marriage she's openly appalled by due to her close friendship - and lack of romantic feelings for both the royal brothers. Still she's publicly considered the picture of what an Imperial Lady should strive for. Like many Imperial nobles she has some talent as a mage with a reputation as a skilled healer. In the books Rossella played the part of peacemaker between the brothers until her sudden foreign marriage removed her from the picture during TFCW's brief period as a graphic novel. (A move her fans hated almost as much as the scarlet color her hair was colored with on those pages.)

Caerwyn - The Assassin from Ithel (RO)

Bright, obnoxious, oh, and a vampire. This Ithellen assassin was meant to be your death. You're still not sure what changed his mind, nor why he's decided to serve you as your personal "spy-slash-assassin-slash-bodyguard-slash-gossip-gatherer". Caerwyn's appeared in the plot far earlier than he should have based on the books, where he only emerges out from the shadows after Ithel's defeat. Following the demise of his homeland he had come to serve your brother, Auberon. Caerwyn is among those that is supposed to be killed by your spouse, having dramatically sacrificed himself to ensure the escape of the rebel army and leading to that arc lasting much longer than anyone expected it would.

Rune Leleux - The Knight? (RO)

Like the assassin Caerwyn, Rune Leleux has shown up in the story far earlier than they should have. In fact you have a strong suspicion that the next book that was suppose to release in a month will reveal that the person introduced as a wandering bounty hunter and oath-breaking knight stole the real Leleux's identity. The Rune Leleux you know serves as your brother's faithful knight and right hand. They've been your friend since you were children. You can't see how the soft-spoken, if sometimes sarcastic, warrior who helps you live in Fantasia could possibly be the brutal and heavily scarred murderer draped in wolf skin that the Bastard Royal hires to help assassinate the emperor and sabotage the capital's defenses.

Robin Watcher - The Bard (RO)

This sweet natured bard is a minor character in the canon - like your new identity is. Or at least, she must be, because you definitely can't remember her from anywhere. (Maybe she was one of those unnamed extra in that one made-for-tv movie that everyone prefers to forget exists?) Whoever this bard is she always seems to know quite a bit about whoever happens to be around - and, well, she's rather curious about you. (In more ways than one.) Also, no one seems to know who she is or where she came from, just that she's great with instruments and has a very pretty voice.

WIP Warning: Any information contained in this post is subject to change as the project develops. The same goes for information posts on this blog.

[minmos]

while you're here...

ghada is a 32 year old currently trapped in gaza with her family. she is displaced with her parents, 3 of her brothers, and 6 children.

here, they have no access to clean water, shelter, or medicine. polio is currently spreading through the children. gaza's infrastructure has been destroyed, leaving them surrounded by sewage.

they cannot live like this. while we wait for a permanent ceasefire, people are currently suffering and dying of disease, exposure, bombing, and starvation. they do not have time to wait. they need help now. every day is full of extraordinary risk.

ghada is fundraising to keep her family alive and, hopefully, cross the rafah border. the last donation was 2 days ago.

this campaign has been verified, and is #6 on GazaVetters' spreadsheet.

please, if you have even $5, donate to ghada's gofundme. share the link, tell people her story. thank you.

tagging for reach:

@pcktknife @postanagramgenerator @valtsv @velvetys @beetledrink @bunjywunjy @bixels @nabulsi @mintaii @amygdalae @hotvampireadjacent @lady-katherines @pocket-deer-boy @itwashotwestayedinthewater @thatdiabolicalfeminist @emil @3000s @wayneradiotv @sayruq @90-ghost @magnus-rhymes-with-swagness-blog @rickybabyboy @zzoupz @omegaversereloaded @annabelle--cane @beserkerjewel @sporesgalaxy @punkitt-is-here @weirdmarioenemies @sawasawako @danijaci @thatdiabolicalfeminist @that-house @tamamita @feluka @ot3 @jehadism @apas-95 @communist-ojou-sama @komsomolka @tpwrtrmnky @redbuddi

[anarchotolkienist]

you’re attacking that neopagan kind of birthstone post about druid plants, but could you please elaborate or at least clarify the explicit trope that is being used that has been historically weaponized?

I used to spend about a good third of my time on this godforsaken website attacking that idea, but sure, I'll do it again. This will be a bit of an effortpost, so I'll stick it under the readmore

There is a notion of 'celts' or Gaels as being magicial and somehow deeply in touch with nature and connected to pre-Christian worldviews that the people who decided to make up the "Celtic tree astrology" used. This is also why Buffy used Irish Gaelic as the language of the demons, why Warhammer uses Gaelic as Elvish, why garbled Scottish Gaelic is used by Wiccans as the basis for their new religious construct, why people call themselves Druids to go an say chants in bad Welsh in Stonehenge, or Tursachan Chalanais, or wherever, etc etc. This stuff is everywhere in popular culture today, by far the dominant view of Celtic language speaking peoples. Made up neopagan nonsense is the only thing you find if you go looking for Gaelic folklore, unless you know where to look, and so on and so on. I could multiply examples Endless, and in fact have throughout the lifespan of this blog, and probably will continue to.

To make a long history extremely brief (you can ask me for sources on specifics, or ask me to expand if you're interested), this is directly rooted in a mediaeval legalistic discussion in Catholic justifications for the expansionist policies of the Normans, especially in Ireland, who against the vigourous protestation of the Church in Ireland claimed that the Gaelic Irish were practically Pagan in practice and that conquest against fellow Christians was justified to bring them in like with the Church. That this was nonsense I hope I don't need to state. Similar discourses about the Gaels in Scotland exist at the same time, as is clear from the earliest sources we have postdating the Gaelic kingdom of Alba becoming Scotland discussing the 'coastal Scots' - who speak Ynglis (early Scots) and are civilised - and the 'forest Scots' (who speak 'Scottis' (Middle Gaelic) and have all the hallmarks of barbarity. This discourse of Gaelic savagery remains in place fairly unchanged as the Scottish and then British crowns try various methods for integrating Gaeldom under the developing early state, provoking constant conflict and unrest, support certain clans and chiefs against others and generally massively upset and destabilise life among the Gaels both in Scotland and Ireland. This campaign, which is material in root but has a superstructure of Gaelic savagery and threat justifying it develops through attempts at assimilation, more or less failed colonial schemes in Leòdhas and Ìle, the splitting of the Gaelic Irish from the Gaelic Scots through legal means and the genocide of the Irish Gaels in Ulster, eventually culminates in the total ban on Gaelic culture, ethnic cleansing and permanent military occupation of large swathes of Northern Scotland, and the destruction of the clan system and therefore of Gaelic independence from the Scottish and British state, following the last rising in 1745-6.

What's relevant here is that the attitude of Gaelic barbarity, standing lower on the civilisational ladder than the Anglo Saxons of the Lowlands and of England, was continuously present as a justification for all these things. This package included associations with the natural world, with paganisms, with emotion, and etc. This set of things then become picked up on by the developing antiquarian movement and early national romantics of the 18th century, when the Gaels stop being a serious military threat to the comfortable lives of the Anglo nobility and developing bourgeoise who ran the state following the ethnic cleansing after Culloden and permanent occupation of the Highlands (again, ongoing to this day). They could then, as happened with other colonised peoples, be picked up on and romanticised instead, made into a noble savage, these perceived traits which before had made them undesirable now making them a sad but romantic relic of an inexorably disappearing past. It is no surprise that Sir Walter Scott (a curse upon him and all his kin) could make Gaels the romantic leads of his pseudohistorical epics at the exact same time that Gaels were being driven from their traditional lands in their millions and lost all traditional land rights. These moves are related. This tradition is what's picked up on by Gardner when he decides to use mangled versions of Gaelic Catholic practice (primarily) as collected by the Gaelic folklorist Alasdair MacIlleMhìcheil as the coating for Wicca, the most influential neo-pagan "religion" to claim a 'Celtic' root and the base of a lot of oncoming nonsense like that Celtic Tree Astrology horseshit that started this whole thing, and give it a pagan coat of paint while also adding some half-understood Dharmic concepts (three-fold law anyone?) and a spice of deeply racist Western Esotericism to the mix. That's why shit like that is directly harmful, not just historically but in the present total blotting out of actually existing culture of Celtic language speakers and their extremely precarious communities today.

If you want to read more, I especially recommend Dr. Silke Stroh's work Gaelic Scotland in the Colonial Imaginary, Dr. Aonghas MacCoinnich's book Plantation and Civility in the North-Atlantic World, the edited collection Mio-rún Mór nan Gall on Lowland-Highland divide, the Gaelic writer known in English as Ian Crichton Smith's essay A real people in a real place on these impacts on Gaelic speaking communities in the 20th century, Dr. Donnchadh Sneddons essay on Gaelic racial ideas present in Howard and Lovecrafts writings, and Dr. James Hunter's The Making of the Crofting Community for a focus on the clearings of Gaels after the land thefts of the late 18th and early 19th century.

@grimdr an do chaill mi dad cudromach, an canadh tu?

[whencyclopedia]

Battle of Hastings

The Battle of Hastings in south-east England on 14 October 1066 saw the defeat of the Anglo-Saxon king Harold II (r. Jan-Oct 1066) by the invading Norman army led by William, Duke of Normandy (reigned from 1035). After a day of heavy fighting, the Norman cavalry eventually proved more effective than the Anglo-Saxon infantry.

William claimed the throne of England had been promised to him by Harold's predecessor, Edward the Confessor (r. 1042-1066) and he had invaded England to take by force the kingdom he considered rightfully his. Harold was killed in the battle, according to tradition, hit by an arrow to the eye and then hacked to pieces as he fell. The victor would be crowned king of England on Christmas Day of the same year and, over the next five years, his conquest of England would earn him the title of William the Conqueror. Hastings brought an end to 500 years of Anglo-Saxon rule and innumerable political, religious, and cultural changes over the coming decades as the Norman elite installed themselves throughout their new kingdom, setting up castles and creating such innovations as the Domesday Book.

Harold Godwinson

In 1066, the momentous year which would change English history, Harold Godwinson had only just become king of England. Formally the earl of Wessex, Harold was crowned on 6 January following the death of Edward the Confessor who had no heir. Harold had acquired the throne in unclear circumstances although Edward, on his deathbed, had personally nominated Harold as his successor. Harold was the foremost military leader in the kingdom and had built his reputation on his successful campaigns in Wales in 1063-4.

Continue reading...

[queer-geordie-dyke]

I've posted about this before but in the current climate, especially, a signal boost can only be a good thing.

There is an excellent organisation here in the UK that I have an ongoing donation to, Campaign Against Antisemitism.

From their website:

"HOW WE FIGHT ANTISEMITISM

Campaign Against Antisemitism consists of eight directorates which collaborate closely to expose and counter antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law:

1. Investigations and Enforcement

We work closely with police forces around the country, the Crown Prosecution Service, regulatory bodies and the government to ensure that antisemitism is detected, investigated and punished with the full force of the law. We focus on criminal antisemitism and antisemitic acts committed by professionals or institutions which are subject to special regulation, such as lawyers, teachers, sportspeople and charities. We also provide training and advice to the authorities, whilst also scrutinising their performance and holding them to account when they fall short.

2. Awareness and Communication

Working closely with senior journalists and advertising professionals, we run proactive campaigns to ensure that the public is aware of anti-Jewish racism and the immense societal danger that it poses. Through our advocacy work we seek to mobilise public support for the fight against antisemitism, whilst also generating pressure on the authorities to pursue a policy of zero tolerance for antisemitism. We also provide information and comment to the media through our media centre.

3. Outreach and Education

We strive to reduce anti-Jewish prejudice by providing education and training to all in society who wish to find out more about being Jewish, antisemitism, and fighting racism. We also reach out to other minority communities and anti-racist groups so that we can work to strengthen each other.

4. Public Affairs

We have forged links with the government, local authorities, regulators, police forces and the Crown Prosecution Service, as well as with companies such as the major social networks. We meet at the highest levels to tackle the roots of antisemitism and ensure that the law is upheld effectively, consistently and firmly.

5. Mobilisation

Antisemitism is a societal problem and we believe that individuals should be at the forefront of the fight against antisemitism. We recruit, train and mobilise volunteers, empowering them to leverage their talent and expertise against antisemitism.

6. Litigation

We have recruited some of Britain’s most formidable and acclaimed legal minds. Our lawyers give their time to provide guidance on specific cases and also takes action to hold the authorities and private companies to account when they fail to act against antisemitism effectively. Our legal experts include specialists in criminal law, charity law, regulatory law, administrative law, employment law, media law and litigation.

7. Organisation and Finance

Our volunteers need central support in every area from systems administration to finance. Working with senior professionals, we ensure that our volunteers receive the support they need, and that our charity complies strictly with regulatory and financial requirements.

8. Fundraising

We are proud to operate with extremely low overheads, relying almost entirely on volunteers, however our work costs money, whether it is to pay court fees when we litigate, or to commission important research. We fundraise throughout the year to raise the sums needed to enable our work to continue."

They also have a podcast that recently aired its 100th episode, that I highly recommend. They talk about the current work they're doing, media bias, representation, and over 5 seasons have included interviews with Jewish public figures, Holocaust survivors, and more recently, survivors of Oct. 7 and family members of hostages:

https://antisemitism.org/podcast/

[judesmoonbeauty]

Vogel’s Extravagant Leisure Time - All Characters Inclusive

Not 100% Accurate. Cybird owns everything. This is their twitter campaign that is available for viewing on the X account.

Post #1 Nica: So, now that there’s three of us free with free time, what are we going to do? Darius: I was thinking of playing a game of giving each of the Crown members a nickname. Ring: ….What great way to kill time. Are you a genius? Nica: That’s the height of boredom. OK, let’s start with the Self-Righteous Monarch.

Post #2 Nickname Target #1 💟William💟 Darius: He’s so flawless I can’t choose one♡ Nica: Red King Ring: Piano Man Nica: Dari, you really like William don’t you. Darius: Yes♡ Ring what’s Piano Man? Ring: I saw him playing the other day. It was good. I want to listen to it again. Darius: I want to hear Will’s performance too.

Post #3 Nickname Target #2 🐈Liam🐈 Darius: Mr. Beautifully Shaped Cat Nica: Smooth Talking Stage Actor Ring: Sparkly Pink. Nica: But I can’t see past the sparkling pink. Ring: …Because he’s flashy? He looks sparkling. And, his hair is pink and cool. Darius: You look like a child looking up to a hero, Ring. Ring: Ah, n-not really…..it’s not like I particularly admire ….him.

Post #4 Nickname Target #3 🦊Harrison🦊 Darius: Mr. Troublesome Fox Nica: Lie Detector Ring: Droopy Tear Mole Ring: Harrison Gray. Is he troublesome? Darius: Perhaps. He might seem aloof, but I think he’s quite compassionate. Having a kid like that makes things nice and unified. Nica: Ahhh, well then my hard-work has increased.

Nickname Target #4 🍎Elbert🍎 Darius: Mr. Greedy Beauty Nica: Bisque Doll Ring: The Desired Nobleman Darius: A bisque doll is rather blunt, Nica. Nica: Elbert was looking at a butterfly in the garden the other day, and I thought it was a real bisque doll. Ring: …..Maybe someday, we can talk about butterflies together. Nica: What was that, Ring. Ring: N-no…..nothing!

Nickname Target #5 🪞Alfons🪞 Darius: Mr. Lewd Illusionist Nica: Shameless Mirror Man Ring: Perverted Mirror Nica: Ahaha! “Perverted mirror”, that’s a bit much. Ring: I- no different than you calling him “Shameless Mirror Man.” Darius: When I look at both of you, there are times I realize, you really are twins. It’s amusing. Nica & Ring: Really?

Nickname Target #6 ⌛️Jude⌛️ Darius: Mr. Ruthless President Nica: Extremely Heinous President Ring: The Angry One Darius: I get the strong impression that he’s a President. Nica: Hey, Ring. That evil looking guy probably has a lot of money, next time why not ask him out to treat you to a meal? Darius: It’s as if my family doesn’t eat. Ring: Sorry, I eat a lot, but…it’s never enough.

Nickname Target #7 🔫Roger🔫 Darius: Mr. Double-Crossing Doctor Nica: Muscle-Glasses Doctor Ring: Dog Loving Brother Darius: Roger has a dog? Nica: According to my intel, it seems he has one kept at home. A corgi named Ale. Ring: Her butt is plump and cute….I wonder if they’ll let me play with it if I ask. Darius: I want to play with it too. Nica & Ring: ……

Nickname Target #8 ⛓️Ellis⛓️ Darius: Mr. Dangerous President’s Assistant Nica: President’s Personal Assassin Ring: Kind Bean Pole Ring: Ellis Twilight’s an assassin? Nica: That’s right, he approaches as easily as breathing and then- whoa! Ring: ! T-that surprised me…. Nica: Ahaha, what’s with that face? Just like you when you were a kid! Darius: Yes, both of you should make sure you don’t get killed.

Nickname Target #9 💀Victor💀 Darius: Absolutely not, I don’t want to give one♡ Nica: Long-Haired Eccentric Guy Ring: Energetic Cooing Pigeon Nica: I’d like to pursue an investigation of Dari’s secret dislike of the Queen’s Aide, but Ring what’s with the cooing pigeon? Ring: He’s amazing. He can send out pigeons at will, and there’s lot of them. Nica: That can’t be true!/Das kann nicht wahr sein!* Darius: Ah, that sort of thing irritates me.

Final Post: Darius: Ha~♡ It was fun to see so many cute Crown members. Ring: As usual, I don’t understand Dari’s meaning of cuteness. Nica: Hey, let’s go now, I’m hungry. Darius: -Before that. Did you two notice that I’ve been dropping hint the entire time?

Ring: Hints? Darius: The initials related to the cursed from the Alice In Wonderland group. Nica: Ah, ahaha, I see. Certain words pop up in the order they were targeted. Ring: I am the only one who doesn’t know what you’re talking about? Darius: Maybe something fun will happen if you solve the mystery.

*I'm not sure if I translated this line correctly or not.

Tags list: @theimaginativelyreticent @sapphire-323 @sh0jun @letter-from-afar

Divider: @/natimiles

[misfitwashere]

The Muskrat Goes Global

Why is the richest person on earth with the largest political platform in the world and the next U.S. president in his pocket becoming a global neo-fascist? What can be done to constrain him?

ROBERT REICH

JAN 7

Friends,

Elon Musk repeatedly asserts, without evidence, that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer covered up the abuses of young girls by gangs comprised largely of British Pakistani men, in cases that date back to before 2010 when Starmer was head of Britain’s public prosecutions. 

“Starmer was complicit in the RAPE OF BRITAIN when he was head of Crown Prosecution for 6 years,” Musk posted to the top of his account on Friday. “Starmer must go and he must face charges for his complicity in the worst mass crime in the history of Britain.”

In fact, Starmer, who heads the Labour government, did not cover up abuses. Instead, he brought the first case against an Asian grooming gang and drafted new guidelines for how the Crown Prosecution Service should deal with cases of sexual exploitation of children, including the mandatory reporting of child sex offenses. 

Musk also calls Jess Phillips, the Labour government’s under secretary for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, a “rape genocide apologist” because she pushed back on calls for a national inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham, a town near Manchester. 

In fact, Phillips, who has long campaigned for women’s rights, has called for a local investigation by Oldham authorities rather than the central government. Women’s rights supporters say Musk’s labeling Phillips a “rape genocide apologist” is threatening her safety.

Yesterday, Starmer warned publicly that Musk’s baseless accusations “crossed a line,” adding that “once we lose the anchor that truth matters, in the robust debate that we must have, then we are on a very slippery slope.”

Musk’s global reach

Musk’s lies about the left-wing British government and his support for far-right groups are parts of an emerging pattern. Musk is also: 

boosting the far-right party in Germany with neo-Nazi ties, known as Alternative for Germany (AfD), before elections early next month. Musk signaled his support for AfD in mid-December, writing in a post on X that“only the AfD can save Germany.” He also penned an oped in a German newspaper recently, describing the party as the “last spark of hope” for the country. Musk is planning an online “discussion” on X with the AfD’s leader and candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel, amplifying the party’s neo-Nazi ideology. 

attacking the Italian judiciary for curbing Italian Prime Giorgia Meloni’s hardline anti-asylum immigration policies. Musk has met regularly with Meloni, who has called him a friend, and appeared at a youth event for Meloni’s party. 

urging support for Britain’s far-right MP Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform U.K. Party. Musk says he might donate upward of 100 million pounds ($127 million) to Farage’s group. 

demanding Britain “free Tommy Robinson,” the far-right founder of the English Defence League — an Islamophobic, nationalist group and anti-immigrant agitator whom, Musk charges, is in jail for “telling the truth.” In fact, Robinson is in jail because he was found to have defamed a teenage Syrian refugee and then defied a British court order by repeating the false claims. (Robinson has been previously jailed for assault, mortgage fraud and traveling on a false passport to the United States, where he has sought to establish ties with right-wing groups.) 

allowing on X inflammatory lies of a kind that incited anti-immigrant riots in Britain last July, following the killing of three girls in a mass stabbing in the town of Southport. After Britain arrested more than 30 people, Musk condemned the government for what he called an attack on free speech.

calling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau an “insufferable tool” over comments Trudeau made in support of Kamala Harris, and predicted he “won’t be in power for much longer.” (Yesterday, Trudeau announced he will resign.)

Where Musk is getting this power

As the richest person in the world, politicians everywhere now recognize his capacity to pour money into their parties and political campaigns, as he did by investing a quarter of a billion dollars to get Trump elected. 

He also owns X, formerly Twitter, which (as of December 2024) has 619 million monthly active users. He has manipulated X’s algorithm to boost his own posts, which now reach 210 million. 

But Musk’s real power these days comes from his proximity to and presumed influence over Donald Trump, soon to be President of the United States. 

Musk has hardly left Trump’s side since the election, meaning that Musks’s opinions (amplified by his social media platform) cannot be ignored by politicians around the world who are trying to decipher Trump’s opinions. 

One prominent member of Germany’s center-left Social Democratic Party is asking that Germany determine “whether [Musk’s] repeated disrespect, defamation and interference in the election campaign were also expressed in the name of the new U.S. government.”

This combination — the richest person in the world, owner and manipulator of the biggest political messaging platform in the world, with direct influence over Trump — puts Musk in the position of being able to move other nations toward the neo-fascist right. 

Why Musk is doing this

Not for money. As it is, he has far more than any human can utilize. 

Partly, it’s ideological. He calls himself a “free speech absolutist,” which puts him at odds with Europe’s and Canada’s aggressive responses to hate speech online. (Britain, Musk says, “is turning into a police state.”)

But the roots of Musk’s neo-fascism probably go deeper. 

I am no psychoanalyst but I imagine that as an immigrant from South Africa, Musk is especially triggered by poor people of color moving into white nations. His father smuggled raw emeralds and had them cut in Johannesburg.

Part of his shift to the radical right also comes from Musk’s transgender child. As Musk told conservative commentator Jordan Peterson, “I lost my son, essentially,” claiming she was “dead, killed by the woke mind virus. I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus after that.” (Musk’s daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson, now 20, told NBC News that Musk was an absent father who was cruel to her as a child for being queer and feminine.) 

On X, Musk continuously criticizes transgender rights, including medical treatments for trans-identifying minors, and the use of pronouns if they are different from what would be used at birth. He has promoted anti-trans content and called for arresting people who provide trans care to minors. Last July, Musk said he was pulling his businesses out of California to protest a new state law that bars schools from requiring that trans kids be outed to their parents. After Musk bought X, then known as Twitter, in 2022, he rolled back the app’s protections for trans people, including a ban on using birth names (known as “deadnames” for transgender people).

Perhaps the major reason for Musk’s recent effort to push other nations to the neo-fascist right is his newfound thirst for right-wing global politics. After effectively (at least in Musk’s mind) winning the presidency for Trump by spending more than $250 million and unleashing a maelstrom of pro-Trump and anti-Harris lies over X, he now seeks even more of an authoritarian rush. 

It will not be the first time in history that someone is seduced by the thrill of unconstrained power, although it may be the first time that so much of it is concentrated in one unelected megalomaniac. 

What should be done about Musk?

For the time being, particularly under Trump, there is little that we in America can do to constrain Musk except by boycotting Tesla and X. 

Canada and Britain and other European nations, meanwhile, should, at the very least:

enact laws and regulations to prohibit non-citizens (like Musk) from financing activities that could affect their elections.

maintain, if not strengthen, laws and rules against hate speech, and ensure that they are applied to social media companies, such as Musk’s X. 

refuse to contract with Musk’s Space X and its Starlink satellite division, or with Musk’s other corporations (Tesla and the Boring Company).

disengage from any joint ventures or technology transfers involving Musk, including xAI, his artificial intelligence company. 

(If you’ve got other ideas, please include in the comments.)

[tellmeallaboutit]

Reasons why Asmodeus should stay king of hell, a shittily written list of indulgence and propaganda (Praise Asmodeus!)

1. My non-OC OTP: Asmodeus x Mephistopheles, is sexiest when mephistopheles gets put in his place. (Which needs Asmodeus being a higher rank)

2. Asmodeus is sexy (the art by kooks I shared awhile ago)

3. Asmodeus is smart (he outsmarted heaven in their own court...)

4. Asmodeus is strong (one billion examples here)

5. Asmodeus is a greater deity (sexy)

6. He's just a cute gigantic snake... He's never done anything wrong ever (ignore the many awful things he's done)

7. He's playing 5d chess while everyone else plays connect four while drunk

8. Pretty snek

9. Mephistopheles hateboner must stay strong

10. Because I said so

- Asmodeus propagandist (totally not Xy)

Hail Asmodeus! Hail the Great Serpent!

You speak the truth, totally not Xy. As part of the joint propaganda campaign, I will quote this vision of Asmodeus from HWLL:

The Great Serpent wriggled through the cosmos, worlds, planets and souls and beyond. This great cosmic maw, the great eater, capable to force rip the fabric of space and time, to erase reality, to shatter it into trillions of tiny particles, to consume quadrillions of whining fleas, you included.

You could not comprehend the true form of the Great Serpent. To look upon him and comprehend his scope was to have one's humanity extinguished like a candle flame.

What have you ever known of power? The crown, the weave, the magic itself, it was all nothing compared to the primordial cradle, the original sin, the seed of evil in every being that can breathe as long as it is forced to breathe. Every existence started not with bliss, but with a scream of agonizing pain.

Every vice, every lie, every sin slaked the Great Serpent, and he multiplied them in return. The Great Serpent loves us all. Without our multitudes, he is nothing, and we are nothing without him.

[utilitycaster]

Level-Up Post: Mighty Nein: Echoes of the Solstice addendum

This is going to be short and sweet (ish) and covering deviations or clarifications to the pre-show post.

Everyone (except Luc) (and Aggy): level 20!

Fjord: I stand by my opinion that Open Sea Paladin 7's Aura of Liberation is superior to Hexblade 14's Master of Hexes, but both are very solid and the important thing is that Aura of Protection from paladin 6. We don't know his invocation but we do know his L13 Warlock Mystic Arcanum, Crown of Stars, or, more accurately to how he flavored it,

Beau: She DID take the mobile feat, and I'm so happy. 70 ft/round base walking speed. Monks, y'all.

Caleb: has the Wish spell; is using it solely, currently, to replicate lower spells, which is iconic of him. Responsible casting at its finest. One of his at-will 1st level spells is Fortune's Favor, but I don't think we got any of the others, and I believe his feat is also unknown.

Veth: We do not know; truly hilarious of Sam to do this. Don't worry; I'll talk about Luc in a second.

Jester: Her feat is Flash Recall, which is in the TCSR and allows you to replace a prepared spell with another spell of the same level without a long rest. Very good for Jester, whose spell prep is iconic in its eclecticism (complimentary).

Caduceus: much like his careful evasion of any questions from others asking how he was doing during the campaign (also complimentary), his feats - level 19 and level 16 remain a mystery (though we know his INT increased with his level 16 feat). In short:

Yasha: Took barbarian levels and has the CON and STR to prove it; also took Great Weapon Master, which is a solid option.

Our guests:

Rab "Aggy" Agg: Level 5 monk; no subclass we die like Bertrand Bell.

Luc Brenatto: I don't know how by how much the potion increased his level; at least to level 7 rogue (Evasion) from his base Arcane Trickster Rogue 5/War Mage Wizard 3. For a quick refresh on Arcane Trickster and rogue low levels, Luc has expertise, sneak attack, and uncanny dodge as well as the special arcane trickster mage hand abilities. He has 3 cantrips and 4 spells known from his rogue subclass. Meanwhile, as a wizard he has arcane recovery (not used; a long rest but no short ones), can prepare 6 spells from his spellbook, and he is treated as a 4th level spellcaster (1/3rd his rogue level rounded down plus his wizard level), so he can cast up to 2nd level spells. War mage is, on its own, notably a kind of shitty wizard subclass, but it's actually hilarious and pretty great as a multiclass option here. Luc used Arcane Deflection, which lets him use his reaction to grant either an AC bonus or a saving throw bonus, although when used you cannot cast spells other than cantrips until your next turn. This sucks if you are a wizard, but Luc is a rogue with an Aeorian security cannon, so it's fine. He also gets a +3 (INT mod) to his initiative.

[chronurgy]

Hi all - unfortunately one of my players had to drop out because of some life stuff so I'm looking for a new player to fill out the group!

Sessions are every other Saturday from 3 to 6 PM PDT

The premise of the campaign is that you've recently received a letter informing you that not only is your father not actually dead, he also has numerous other children and is better known by his stage name - the Blazing Bard, the Singing Sensation, the one and only Russell R. Stone! You and your brand new siblings have all been summoned to the capital by the Crown Revenue Service. It seems like your father wasn't just dodging his children, he was dodging his taxes as well, and the underfunded and understaffed CRS is more than happy to put you all on the payroll to track him (and his erstwhile earnings) down.

They've already sent our party off to his last known location - Grauvulmox's lair on Drakon's Peak, only to learn from Grauvulmox herself that their father had recently stolen some books from her horde and run off! While waiting for any information on their father's whereabouts, the party acted as paranormal exterminators in a recently repossessed house and met its violently (and automatically) evicted vampire master, whose thralls (now trapped in the basement) had also unionized against him.

If you're interested in joining, fill out the survey! I'm also happy to answer any questions you have

[tyrantisterror]

No Small Feat Art Pt. 6 - Chaos at the Menagerie

By request, I’m gonna show off some of the artwork for No Small Feat, a Midgaheim story my friends and I told through the TTRPG system Fabula Ultima. I drew a lot of characters and monsters for it, and my friends - in particular, @dragonzzilla, @scatha5, and @dinosaurana - helped line and color them so we’d have cute little sprites to use on our online battlemaps, which really helped sell the whole “we’re playing an oldschool turn based RPG” vibe that Fabula Ultima’s system is going for.

In this part, we’re gonna look at the many NPCs introduced in the campaign’s fourth arc, Chaos at the Menagerie!

All the way from session 0, my player characters had heard rumors of a fabulous menagerie of arcane beasts kept by Sir Peter Hammerschmidt, a merchant who possessed so much wealth and influence that he was knighted and made part of the nobility for it. Some of my players, being nonhuman (or transformed into nonhumans at any rate), were almost poached for the menagerie, in fact, so when they finally got to the town of Sumerlie, they had some idea of what they were getting into when asking Peter whether or not he had a crown jewel in his possession too.

They came on an auspicious day, as Peter was finally opening up his full menagerie for visitors from the creme de la creme of Engelsex, including Prince Huxley Monbatten, the eldest son of the previous king of Engelsex who would be the frontrunner in the competition to become the new king if the crown hadn't been destroyed. Peter was also assisted by Clara Saddel, his trusty chief maid and assistant, as well as Ranzacor, the wizard who designed all the magic safeguards meant to keep the menagerie safe and secure.

The first floor of the menagerie did contain several arcane beasts, but most weren't particularly noteworthy as menageries in Midgaheim go - a couple designer griffins (very trendy, but everyone rich enough to have a menagerie can afford them), some drats (cat/puk dragon hybrids that are heavy on the feline and light on the dragon), flederwyrms (bat/lizard chimeras), one very ill-looking bonnacon (fire breathing and/or shitting oxen), a hoogah (related to dragons but far less vicious), a grotesque (arcane agamid lizards that superficially resemble dragons as a defense mechanism), a hunkypunky (big nasty-tempered arcane tegu lizards), an amphibaena (arcane serpents that are born as conjoined twins), and some sprinting basilisks. Impressive to commoners, sure, but nowhere near the show Peter promised.

But then, in the center of the first floor, there was the first true wonder: a truly wild catoblepas, one that had never been domesticated and subjected to years of selective breeding for docility by human beings. Enormous and magnificent, it was a taste of the wonders that lay below.

While the cockatrices nearby, with their quick two-legged sprinting and devious minds, were a preview of how it would go wrong.

The second floor contained far more dangerous beasts. They spanned different countries, from a knucker wyrm with hydra syndrome from Mediterra to a waterhorse from Celpict. There was a bonafide Chimaera, which Peter had been assured was made to be a perfect replica of the first Chimaera created by Typhon and Echidna in the times of antiquity, and a largemouth wyvern dragon with talons capable of crushing a man in their grip.

But perhaps most telling on this floor were a trio of beasts denied their purpose: a gorgon whose eyes had been gouged out to deny her the ability to turn men to stone, a unicorn whose horn was shattered in its capture, and a Questing Beast - a creature whose entire existence is built on being impossible to catch and imprison - that was born in captivity and never knew life outside the menagerie walls.

The third floor had fewer residents, but for good reason, as it held not only the most valuable creatures, but the most deadly as well. There was an Afanc, an enormous crocodile whose mastery of water magic allows it to create deadly sea storms and floods. There was the Ox Dragon, an enormous and powerful greater drake with a notorious temper. There was a peluda, a lesser drake whose armored hide was covered in thick, sharp spikes.

But they weren't the deadliest beasts in the menagerie.

The most valuable creatures imprisoned in Hammerschmidt's menagerie were, oddly enough, local finds - tatzelwyrms, specifically, a variety of two-legged dragon that normally doesn't get particularly large by dragon standards. The clever tatzelwyrms that lived in the first paddock of the third floor illustrated this well, with each being roughly the size of a wolf. But there were a few exceptions, and one of them was the aptly named Terror Tatzelwyrm, a fifty-foot long dragon with powerful jaws and an astounding running speed for its size. One such tatzelwyrm was a local celebrity in Sumerlie, and Peter had caught the creature in a moment of weakness - namely, sleeping in her den over a nest full of eggs that she had been guarding for weeks without finding food for herself. He caught her and imprisoned her while she was too exhausted to fight back, and sold her eggs to make the funds to get the rest of his prized specimens.

The Terror Tatzelwyrm was, mechanically speaking, the Villain of this arc, though like some of the previous Villains, she was far from unsympathetic.

I imagine by now you've figured out the "joke" of this arc. It's Jurassic Park. Which, of course, is not a fairy tale, but listen, we had to make sure 100 monsters appeared somehow, and isn't Jurassic Park a modern day fairy tale in its own right? A rich merchant, believing his wealth gives him power over nature itself, employs the best wizards he can find to bring impossible nightmare monsters to life so he can show them off as prized possessions, only for the monsters to break free and tear him to pieces. There's a nice tight little moral in there, tell it to your kids!

Gonna post the sprites in a followup since tumblr has an image limit per post.

[dimension20pcbracket]

round 1 statistics

hi, gamers! while we wait for the round 2 polls to close, here are some interesting stats and tidbits from round 1 that I noticed :)

total votes: added up, the 52 polls in round 1 had a total of 28,221 votes. holy shit!

largest percentage of votes: sometimes the polls were tight, and other times they were... not. the top 5 most decisive winners were:

Fig Faeth (93.6%)

Kingston Brown (93.2%)

Sofia Lee (90.3%)

Chirp Featherfowl (89.7%)

Pete Conlan (88.8%)

the thinnest margin of victory to eke out a win went to Rue, who beat Amethar Rocks with a slender 52.2% of votes. notably, Rue kept up the trend in round 2, with their even slimmer 50.2% defeat of Gerard of Greenleigh, so it will be interesting to see if they're able to keep clinging on through round 3.

polls with the most votes: some polls really got you fired up, and brought Dimension 20 fans running in droves to vote for their faves...

Lapin Cadbury v Pinocchio with an unparalleled 1,636 votes

Squak Airavis v Kristen Applebees (838 votes)

Sam Nightingale v Colin Provolone (818 votes)

Katja Cleaver v Prince Andhera (767 votes)

Kingston Brown v Gangie Green (718 votes)

... while other polls had less fanfare. polls with the least votes:

Tuti IV v Maggie (347 votes)

Vicar Ian Prescott v Bob (388 votes)

Saccharina Frostwhip v Megan Mirror // Twyla v Marcid the Typhoon (392 votes each)

Bean v Amangeaux Epicée du Peche (409 votes)

Sunny Biscotto v Binx Choppley (416 votes)

it may not surprise anyone to know that it looks like none of the winners of these least-voted-on polls will be advancing to round 3; it seems the passion isn't there for these particular PCs :/

winning PCs with the most individual votes:

Lapin Cadbury (851 votes)

Kingston Brown (669 votes)

Fig Faeth (573 votes)

Evan Kelmp (509 votes)

Kristen Applebees (487 votes)

winning PCs with the least individual votes:

Maggie (255 votes)

Bob (260 votes)

Sam Black (269 votes)

Cody Walsh (274 votes)

Gunnie Miggles-Rashbax (285)

evidently, individual votes accrued in round 1 aren't a great basis for predicting future success - Kelmp was the fourth most-voted for PC in round 1 but won't be making it to round3, and Gunnie was the fifth least-voted for character in round 1 but on track to head into round 3 by a pretty decent margin.

campaign stats:

the most to least successful campaigns, by % of characters that won their round 1 polls:

Fantasy High: 100% (6/6)

Misfits and Magic: 100% (4/4)

A Starstruck Odyssey: 83.3% (5/6)

A Court of Fey and Flowers: 83.3% (5/6)

The Unsleeping City: 77.8% (7/9)

A Crown of Candy: 75% (6/8)*

The Seven: 66.7% (4/6)

Neverafter: 66.7% (4/6)

Mentopolis: 66.7% (4/6)

Burrow's End: 66.7% (4/6)

Coffin Run: 25% (1/4)

Dungeons and Drag Queens: 25% (1/4)

The Ravening War: 20% (1/5)

Escape from the Bloodkeep: 16.7% (1/6)

Pirates of Leviathan: 16.7% (1/6)

Tiny Heist: 0% (0/6)

Mice and Murder: 0% (0/6)

Shriek Week: 0% (0/4)

*ACOC: while Amethar was passes on to round 2 to compete against Pinocchio, he did lose his initial poll against Rue. if we included Amethar as a winner, ACOC would have a considerably higher 87.5% success rate, making it the third most successful campaign overall.

it's definitely interesting to see how the success of various campaigns has changed over round 2! Fantasy High stays strong, while the MisMag crew has been wiped out, and several campaigns have lost all of their remaining PCs. it'll be exciting to see how the numbers look when all of the final votes for round 2 are in.

thank you all so much for playing along with this bracket! I hope you're all still having fun and are getting hype for round three :)