#And putting it through a plagiarism checker

[molecularhomosexual]

wanted to add some thoughts on this thread. i've seen a lot of responses from professors and educators who care quite a bit for their students and create space for them to be able to put effort toward understanding things--and this latter perspective synergizes with being against using AI for essays at school. i wanted to add some more thoughts onto this with the context of: getting to work in teaching and learning shops at universities, i've found a huge variance between the care and patience that professors have for their students with essay-style assignments.

higher ed seems to be becoming quite interested in checking for ai-based plagiarism in essays (might be happening in k12 spaces too, i'm just not familiar with it as much). turnitin, the company that does the whole plagiarism checking software for schools and colleges, now has an ai detection tool that clients can purchase (that also, in our testing, pulls up far more false positives and false negatives than what they advertise to clients). the company always publicly claims that the turnitin similarity checker (this is the main "plagiarism detection" tool) is not exactly a watertight tool, it is a tool that can help with starting conversations about academic integrity with students, and it needs to be paired with instructor expertise on the topic. this ends up conflicting with a common-enough attitude among some faculty that turnitin is getting a perfect match on whether a student has plagiarized or not. combine this move in higher ed with:

depending on how a course is run, the fact of activities being graded in those courses can add a great deal of pressure on students that may not be conducive to learning. i think Jesse Stommel has some compelling stuff to say here through his concept of ungrading: he notes how grading systems have become increasingly comparative and numerical over time, he notes that grades in and of themselves aren't great incentives for learning or the best indicators of feedback in learning, grade-based education tends to favor (or at least be more amenable to) the banking model of education over critical pedagogy--and he backs this up with in-class experiments and experience. i've noticed that creative writing programs have often been at the forefront of finding alternatives to grading systems that are more supportive for their students (Asao Inoue talks about labor-based grading contracts as more equitable than grading systems that connect grades to an evaluation of quality, though I do think even this system could cut out the grading component altogether and still retain its interventional value).

these two points can lead to the following: students often have to do two tasks in an essay being graded: a) write an essay in and of itself, with its intent of critical thinking, effort, analysis; and b) get a good grade, because regardless of the actual material efficacy of grades in getting future work outside of the university (this will cash out differently sometimes based on the field you're working in as well), there will be students who feel a pressure to get good grades (for a variety of reasons). multiply one essay in a course with taking 4 or 5 more classes (common in undergrad) and working a job at the same time (common at my alma mater at the very least), and we're creating a recipe for students to feel absolutely unsupported in the academic environment to actually work on practicing analysis without additional outside pressure.

i think the current conditions across a lot of academia help create conditions for students to use cheating as a strategy to get a better grade: "i can either put all the extra work in to doing this right and possibly get a bad grade anyway, depending on how my professor is deciding to grade the quality of essays; or given that i have a shift to run to after this and family to take care of at home, i can see if there's a quicker solution to take, even if that could also have a risk of ruining my grade. what's worth it, to me?" and in response to this, academic integrity offices will start wondering how to discourage students from cheating, and in happy and hawkish response, academic integrity software companies can get new product contracts on their ai detection tools, that instructors, in their variance of usage of plagiarism tools, can use to either have conversations with students about work in the best case scenario, or punish students through grading them poorly in the worst.

i dunno. i am a philosopher at the end of the day--in my experience with the kind of writing philosophy demands, i don't think that AI writing passes muster in the first place (i imagine this is the case with... most any field that involves any amount of creative writing). but i just want to keep in mind that in my experience working at the university space, for every professor who is genuinely interested in their students' learning and who does everything within their capacity to set them up for success, there is a professor who, regardless of interest, generates a great deal of distress for their students by dispensing with punitive measures in the learning space.

i think that this is likely a reason why some teaching and learning shops have tended to build guidelines for how to use or discuss AI writing with students instead of recommending faculty to discourage its use by students altogether: even though i think a shop should ideally be able to recommend the latter, that doesn't do a lot for the reactionary portion of a faculty community who will consider the shop backwards for making such a recommendation, then continue on with teaching practices that are harmful to students' learning and well-being. (i think the defensive position also comes from not having any deciding power over the business contracts for AI software happening with leadership doing kingdom-building far away from the rest of us [unionize, anyone?], where if there's an evaluation that there's nothing the institution can do to prevent AI usage, then it makes sense to have a damage mitigation strategy to do the least harm to students as possible).

i would have been lucky to have any of the teachers on this thread as my own when i was going through undergrad. unfortunately, what i faced far more were instructors who didn't care very much--either from being tenure-track researchers who weren't particularly committed to teaching, or from (understandably) reacting against being overworked adjunct lecturers who didn't have the capacity to care as much as they should have. what i faced in undergrad quite a bit, barring some notable exceptions here and there, were instructors who didn't care anyway whether i could think critically about something or put effort into writing about a certain perspective. what i faced in undergrad, primarily so, were instructors who were just checking if i could say the correct thing back to them in the correct way--and instructors who would punish me or my peers for failing to do this, no matter how much work they put into an assignment.

if universities as an institution want students to not use AI for essays (something that i'm generally aligned with), they need to give adequate resources to faculty and students alike to be able to focus on essays without fear of academic punishment and without generated lack of capacity from overwork. (but of course, universities is an abstraction here--faculty/staff unions and student worker unions do push for those resources, because university leadership isn't otherwise interested in granting them, because it's not particularly profitable to care about the conditions of learning.)

[damiemontclair]

The good news is: I will be alone at home from friday till monday afternoon. Freedom to work how I want without being bound by other peoples rhythm and needs!

[0alanasworld0]

i will use anything else i've been tagged in as shameless self promo cos i deserve it.

[sea-salted-wolverine]

My brothers girlfriend learned some things about our family this Christmas holiday and AFAIK shes still here so good for her.

So she got screwed over by her boss and it lead to her resignation. And while there is some expected level of sympathy in that situation, my family will go full fucking mercenary at the slightest opportunity. So she shows up anticipating, idk, commiseration about shitty employers, and in the 24 hours since she quit, we have done a full background check on the guy, pulled him up on Courtview and LinkedIn and are investigating the dissolution of all 3 of his marriages. I'm putting all of his academic publications through a plagiarism checker and mom has not only a directory of active lawyers in town, but also a list of attorneys who owe her favors specifically.

[mx-pastelwriting]

hi how are you hope you are well

I wondered how the slashers would react if you hugged them from behind (^-^)/

Oooooo I like this one its so cute to imagine!

I would definitely want to make a full post later down the line with this prompt! As I'm not taking request for full posts at the moment. But heres a bit of what I think!

Slashers x GN! Reader

Summary: Prompt up top^ Small Headcanon!

I'm not open for requests, but little asks on thoughts on something is okay~

Thomas Hewitt: If it were the first time, he would jump a bit, but when realizing it was you, he would melt in your arms. He is such a gentle giant when it comes to love. Learning from it, he would do the same when he caught you with a turned-back.

Michael Myers (78 Michael): Would not understand what you were doing or trying to do. When asking what he was doing by the tone of your voice, he would understand it was another show of affection. Still working on getting used to the feeling of love and how it works, he slowly looks forward to you coming up behind to hug his waist. Little by little, considering trying it himself.

Jason Voorhees: Ticklish, for sure. Hearing him laugh a little as he squirms at your arms wrapped around his waist. Leaving you to tease him a little about it. When doing it again, you learn to do it quickly, making it less ticklish. Jason would only attempt it when having come home and cleaned up, not wanting to get mug and sweat onto you.

Brahms Heelshire: Would love it. Really love it if you get what I'm saying. Putting aside his touch-starved state, he would beg for you to do it again after that. Rarely does it to you, wanting to be the one receiving the hug. Tall man is needy.

Bo Sinclair: Spooked by it. Makes him blush hard, worse when you kiss his neck or back, making his face burn a hot red. Though rarely lets you see him in that state, Bo loves it from the first time you do it. Does it to you as well, attacking your neck and shoulder while chuckling.

Vincent Sinclair: If it wasn't for Lester's romance movies or Bo's special movies, he would have no idea what you were doing. Understanding mostly from Lester's movies to be a loving act, he smiles under his mask, though continues to do what he working on. Moving less to not spook you into letting go.

Lester Sinclair: Getting all blushy and mushy about it. Stopping what he was doing just to melt in your arms. Asking if you could just stay like that for a little longer. It would become a daily thing for the both of you taking any chance to embrace each other.

Hannibal Lector: Wouldn't physically react, greeting you as it happens and smiling, loving every one of your affectionate acts. Continuing to work on whatever he was doing, allowing you to hang onto him, whether in silence or talking about each other's day.

Will Graham: Would chuckle at you hugging him from behind, feeling as his muscles relaxed against your touch. Preferred to let the air stay quiet, with your arms warped around his waist, feeling the fabric of his flannel shirt smelling of aftershave and dog.

I didn't proofread this one too much, but I did put it through a grammar checker, so if there are any mistakes, blame Grammarly.

Hope you liked this little headcanon!

Fanfiction is protected under copyright law when plagiarism is involved. If you plagiarize my work, either a piece or whole in any language, I will take legal action. Inspiration or the same idea does NOT apply to this, only word-for-word plagiarism in any language.

♥ mx-pastelwriting does not consent to their fanfiction being copied, copied & credited, translated, used in videos and/or audios, screenshotted, used in AI, or reposted on any other platform without permission.

♥ mx-pastelwriting does give consent to "reblog," sharing links to direct work, and being in recommend lists.

[fishermanshook]

TO THE STARS ABOVE.

( night watch ) + gn!reader

happy birthday @rieuvie ♡ , ooc probs , grammar and spelling warning

INTRO

Night Watch is undoubtedly one of the more ruthless Hunters found in the Oletus Manor. Most if not all of his matches end in the Survivors being obliterated��and their bodies left with aches and scars that only time can heal.  

However, there has been someone who’s broken through the fortress he’s put up to protect himself [ somehow… ] and has helped him learn what it feels like to be loved all over again. 

Happy Birthday, Riel.

꒰wc꒱ 529

“Ithaqua, for the last time,” you say, trying to attract his attention. “where are we going?”

Unfortunately, your plea has fallen on deaf ears, as have the thousands of others you’ve thrown his way in the past 10 minutes. All that’s happened is your boyfriend picking you up bridal style and saying he’s taking you somewhere special. Nothing more, nothing less.

He hums before ‘answering’ your question. “I think you’ll know soon enough.” As if it’s the best response he could give you. And, in truth, maybe it is. Ithaqua has been a bit distant from you lately. Chances are that it's due to the onslaught of stress and depression the manor already provides, but your mind likes to jump to other conclusions. Conclusions of leaving you to side to try and survive these retched games.

The halls of the manor are eerily quiet and void of anyone in sight, minus the clacking of Ithquas stilts, making his presence known to whoever hears them. The only person you manage to spot is Orpheus, knee-deep in a newspaper burnt at the edges. He catches your eyes and gives you a knowing look. 

You wonder what it meant. 

- 

You groggily rub your eyes and stretch your arms into the heavens above you before looking around.  You're not sure when [ or where ] you fell asleep, but the view outside is nice at least. 

You feel your arms wrap around your waist, and, at first, you don’t recognize the hands of your lover. Nor have you noticed the checkered red and black picnic cloth you’ve been sitting on. The cake though is a delightful surprise and— where are you? 

You whip your head around and almost clang it against Ithaquas. Your eyes widen as only now does his face come into view and now you're falling into the bushes right next to you and—

“Baby, are you alright?” He says in such a sweet voice that it almost sounds out of character for him. [ cause it is, bitch. ] Although, it doesn’t take you long for you to nod your head and step out of his lap and into the scene he’s set up all by himself. 

“Wow, Ithaqua, it’s beautiful.” You say, gazing at the colors in front of you. 

“Me or the Sunset doll face?” He chuckles, making you let out a small giggle at his idiotic remark. “I thought I’d do something nice for you ‘cause, I know, it’s your birthday and all.”  

You kiss his cheek. “It’s lovely. Now, how about we celebrate a little, huh?” You say, draping your arms around his neck before he picks you up and spins you around. 

“Happy birthday, idiot.” 

a/n: SO out of character because god knows this is the first [ and probably last ] time I’m ever writing for him,,,,but I’d do it again for you Riel. Happy birthday 🎂.

© fishermanshook — no stealing , translating , plagiarizing or reposting my work on other any other sites + reblogs adored !!

[unadulteratedkr]

~Let's talk about credit~

(not financial credit trust me you don't want to take financial advice from me lol)

No, today I am inviting y'all to the table to talk about the importance of crediting other creators in fandom!

Because, listen. We don't have a peer-review system. We don't have to submit our stuff to a plagiarism checker or go through stringent editing when shitposting on tumblr; we operate in an honor system of crafting folklore using our favorite blorbos, and that means that inspiration and using the specific words and images from canon creates a grey area on what ought to be credited, and how to do it in a way that creates a solid, strong community.

Here's a little of my philosophy and how I give proper credit where it's due, so I figured I'd share them to hopefully encourage others in making sure no one out there ends up becoming fandom's James Somerton

1. Links are your friends, use them enthusiastically

Drooled over a gifset that made you write a poem? Read a fic that made you pull out your embroidery hoop? Saw some art that made you write a song? Link to the original! Tag the original artist, hyperlink to the giffer, share the fic via the amazing shortcut button on Ao3, it's what those creators deserve! Even if it's a shitpost, that creator is where your idea started, and it's the right thing to do to share directly where your audience can connect with the person who inspired you.

This holds INFINITELY true if you are directly quoting someone. If you've used someone else's words to create your own work, link back to the original. No one wants to be sent a fic or a funny post on tumblr and then feel the sinking pit in their stomach when they realize that post is their own words with someone else's name on them.

2. Ask for permission when you can

Now, the reason I threw the addendum on this with "when you can" is because knowing when to ask for permission is more of an art versus a science. I myself have written more than one fic inspired by art where I didn't reach out to the artist before I shared the fic because I had no contact with them (the joys of me refusing to touch the garbage that is the bird site). BUT this is why point number one is to always link back to the original inspiration, because I believe that should always be the bare minimum.

THAT BEING SAID.

If you have a way of contacting the original fellow fandom person who inspired you? Reach out and ask them if they'd feel comfortable with you creating something! 999 times out of 1000, they're gonna be over the MOON you want to create something inspired by what they made, and they'll be really fucking pleased you reached out to check.

3. Ask yourself: is this a "two cakes" situation or am I putting my name on someone else's cake?

This is another one that can absolutely fall into a bit of a grey area. I have written many a fic that started out with me reading a take or a fic that went in a WILDLY different direction from what I was expecting or wanted, and I went "okay, fuck it. I'll write my own." And that's absolutely been a great motivator for me to start a project!

HOWEVER.

That is me creating a different flavor of cake, putting my own frosting on it, and probably adding something weird like lemon zest and instant coffee for a lemonade cappucino chiffon that shouldn't work (but definitely does, trust me)

If I were to have read a fic or a take and then gone, "Oh, yeah, definintely, here's the same idea but now I've rephrased it juuust a little and now it's under MY username on my blog".... that's slapping a different color of frosting on the same cake and claiming it's mine. If you find yourself doing that, I really invite you to pause and consider why you felt the need to do so instead of sharing the original post.

Like, not to bring Shakespeare into it (they say, poorly concealing their icon), but fandom can be exactly like how Juliet views love. Sharing joy in what others have created absolutely can be as "boundless as the sea [...] the more I give [...], the more I have, for both are infinite". It does not take away from the joy your fellow fandom friends will have in your own original work to share the work of others.

4. Hyping up your inspiration is FUN

Finally, this is more of me going "no really, proper credit isn't going to mean people love YOU less" because I truly believe in the power of how much FUN it really is to give credit where it's due. I was buzzing for WEEKS in anticipation of publishing Objection! and The 'I Duoy' Newlywed Special because the marvelous @jackuntiljune had brainstromed with me on the name for the boat my boys eloped on. And I get so fucking giddy when I see someone comment on those fics about the name of the boat because I get to take a giant breath and go "MY FRIEND JACK CAME UP WITH IT, AREN'T THEY AMAZING?!"

If you practice giving credit where it's due, I promise promise PROMISE it will become a joy. It's FUN getting to bring more people into the sandbox to play, and I know I love it when there's more than one person out there I can yell at (affectionate) when I've been emotionally destroyed (again, affectionate) by a gifset or art or fic <3

Thanks so much for reading this far! I can't wait to keep sharing inspiration with all of you out there

[javob]

Something that worries me about schooling in relation to ChatGPT is the ratcheting effect it will have on work load and assignment design.

When I was in high-school, I didn’t cheat, but found out later my peers had been using some apps and websites (among other things) to effectively cheat on tests and assignments. The teachers had an inkling that such cheating was going on, and their solution was to make the assignments much more difficult than before to overcompensate for the perceived cheating. My grades didn’t suffer, but only because I ended up putting in way more time than normal for those assignments.

I’m sure other students simply suffered grade losses or got intel from other students on how to effectively cheat. But none of the students who used web clients to write papers or plagiarized answers really saw their grades suffer (other than not being able to answer easy content questions during class and looking stupid).

A more concrete example could also be the relationship between AI being used to write papers vs AI being used to check for cheating.

I was in school before ChatGPT was a thing, but I was still forced by the school to put my papers through plagiarism checkers.

There is no doubt in my mind that my school signed away the rights to my writing content to be used in the large language models that would become iterations of ChatGPT. And I would say the process is still ongoing, that whenever you submit a paper to be checked for plagiarism, no matter the service, that it is being used to train a large language model somewhere.

Which begs many questions and shows many problems, a significant one being, once a large language model is able to perfectly imitate my writing style, would I ever be able to escape the charges of plagiarism or honor code type violations involved using ChatGPT? If the plagiarism checkers feed the chatbots, and I feed the plagiarism checker, shouldn’t I be able to escape some culpability if my writing style matches to some degree? Where does that point lie, and can it even be measured?

All of this is also contingent on an even bigger question and that is “Can your average public school teacher even tell what good writing looks like anymore?”

I don’t really know the answers to any of these questions, but I can say that it seems like ChatGPT creates a lot more problems than it solves for an educational environment.

[jasminejava]

November 15 ~ 4:30 - 10:30 A.M.

I woke up a little later because I did end up staying up to do my lab, too. This weekend I’ll definitely be able to catch up on my studies, and the understanding I have and resources accessible to me will help me with chemistry. On that note, putting my lab through an ai/plagiarism checker gave me a big scare yesterday because it said I had 100% plagiarism and 100% ai usage. Funnily enough, when I explained the situation to my teacher and showed her my work, I got 100% on the lab the next morning. I’m not doing poorly in chemistry as I feared I was, so I’m more confident in my studies

Morning Pages ☀��

Exercise 🏃🏽‍♀️

Chem Homework before class starts 🧪

Chem Class 🧪

[formula-fun]

there's been lots of plagiarism happening in lestappen fandom lately so can you please provide evidence you wrote your fics?

Hi! i was waiting to get this since it seems like all my friends have been getting it in the last 2 minutes as well!

i recently found out that someone i thought was a fellow writer and a personal friend is in fact just a plagiarist and was lying to my face for a few weeks, so believe me when I know this issue is extremely common right now and hurts everyone, especially writers. That being said, as a writer it's pretty hurtful to just throw accusations around, and especially to mass-send them to writers' inboxes the way that you're doing. We're the ones who are the most hurt by plagiarism in communities that we trust with our work, so it's a bit ridiculous to decide we're all guilty until proven innocent, don't you think?

I would love for you to look through my fics and find anything that would suggest they've been copied from somewhere else. Given the time I put into researching irl events to include them into fics, the energy I spend on interpreting these people's personalities into fictional characterizations, and the attention to detail of settings and timelines, I think it would be pretty difficult to copy anything from another fandom. The same goes for the sole fic I've written that's a true au, and even that has enough connection to the canon (real life) that I think it's pretty obvious it wasn't copied.

That being said, you're welcome to use a plagiarism checker if you're still concerned. Believe me, I use them all the time on my own fics to make sure nobody is plagiarizing me. So far I haven't found any cases of that, but if you decide to check them and find that they've been copied to somewhere else I'll be more than happy to prove that I was the original author. It will help you, you know, actually catch a plagiarist, too, rather than just throwing accusations around left and right.

Thanks!

[faggot-friday]

puts my word doc through a cheeky plagiarism checker knowing full well i've copied everything almost directly

[roguemonsterfucker]

Sorry to talk about it again but I'm just still flabbergasted by the whole plagiarism thing

Like... When watching hbomb's video the first time and seeing him point out the rewording of stuff to change it *just* enough to (hopefully) not get caught stealing... I flashed back to my college days of when I did exactly that. 😅

There was a limit on how many actual quotes I could use, so I got around that by literally looking at my sources and rewording it enough to get past the plagiarism checker (TurnItIn.com my belothed) without losing the meaning of the text that I honestly didn't fully understand because I was writing on topics I had no real knowledge of myself.

BUT BUT BUT

I still cited my fucking sources.

Yes, I was using other people's words so I could get through the hell that was college, but if you read my stuff, you'd know exactly where I got it from. I never claimed credit for all the ideas.

And... again... I was just doing it to survive. I wasn't making money. I didn't even end up actually graduating, so it didn't even help me academically.

Somerton on the other hand not only rarely *if ever* credited the people whose words he stole, he was doing it for money, while also putting down fellow queer creators. He *wanted* full credit for all the ideas in his videos. To cite his sources would be to pass the credit on to others. And he couldn't do that.

Edited to add: It's probably a bit extreme to say I "stole" anything for my papers. Like I said, I cited my sources. I just paraphrased what I could when needed, probably to a degree that was questionable at worst. I just have anxiety and feel like "OH NO I"M A TERRIBLE PLAGIARIST."

[magnetocerebro]

PSA About AI in the news

Okay, so. In my professional life, I’m a fact-checker for a news organization. I get an email that an article has been completed, and it takes me a few hours to go through every paragraph to check the claims and make sure it’s both accurate and not plagiarized. 

Recently, I was asked to be part of a “new program” at my organization. This program would involve making listicles/fluff pieces purely from AI, and I would be in charge of fact-checking those articles.

I turned them down. I equivocated for a minute, because I don’t think AI articles should be going out without fact-checking, but I also didn’t want to be the fact-checker that allows them to stop hiring writers.

Now, I’m not getting nearly as much work as I used to. That’s okay. I’m lucky enough to be in a financial place that I can take that stand. But not everyone else in the industry can do that.

So, get ready to see AI-generated news stories. And get ready to scrutinize every one of those stories, because I doubt that every organization is going to care as much as mine did about putting those articles through a thorough fact check.

And the worst part? The worst part is that these articles, as far as I can see, are going to require just as much work on the backend as they would have taken to write in the first place. The human writers I worked with cited their sources, for one thing, which made fact-checking much easier. Sure, I had to go sleuthing for anything they didn’t source, and I had to get on to more than one writer for thinking rewording is the same as not-plagiarizing, but I could find where all their ideas were coming from. With AI, that’s not the case. A good fact-checker is going to be working twice as hard to avoid plagiarism when every single sentence could be pulled from a different place. 

Check the bylines of your news artiicles is what I’m saying. Misinformation and Disinformation is already a problem. 

Also, screw everyone who thinks automating creativity is anything less than dystopian. 

[0alanasworld0]

ty for bringing this to my attention. If y'all would like to do a plagiarism checker on me, PLEASE do go ahead lmfao. i dont even have a wattpad or AO3 account!

"Various authors from wattpad and ao3" - please do name those authors cos i would LOVE to know for myself. i will not stand for being slandered just because i played a part in exposing a serial plagiariser. the claims i made the other day were backed up with links and substantiated by various other people.

if you guys get these anons, i beg you to PLEASE report them. tumblr can now trace back to these anons and act accordingly if enough reports go through.

when vague-ass accusations like this are being thrown around, i beg u to please do some research for yourself. thats exactly what i did yesterday and why i acted so harshly. i, among others, put the "writer's" work through a checker and came to my own conclusion through that. this is NOT the same.

i will ask you all to use some common sense. isn't it weird that literally a day after i had a pop at a serial plagiariser and provided evidence of the fact that now myself and @footballerimaginess are now being accused of the same thing. except with extremely vague and baseless statements. i urge them to provide links of the works we allegedly plagiarised as well as screenshots of the messages that were sent because i can assure you that there were none.

[hellcab]

Roth's new bio ( VER-2 )

Among the living, Roth ( Marion ) Kruger was a mordacious, contemptuous jerk. Damnation made him worse.

Roth’s life was a nightmare of circumstances, outside his control. Abandoned by his parents, Roth became a ward to the state at eight years old. He spent his childhood at Saint Emiliani Orphanage, in New York City. Eventually, Roth was aged out from the system, thrusting him into the world. Despite his rough upbringing, Roth wanted to make something out of himself.

Yet, failure was his only option. The first domino was being framed for plagiarism at New York University, by someone he once considered a friend. Despite his pleas, Roth’s protest fell on deaf ears. He was ushered out, blacklisted to further his humiliation. From there, Roth’s life spiraled out of control.

Struggling for work, Roth found employment with the checker cab company. The job, though grueling, kept Roth above water to survive. Around this time, he collected a group of friends, notably Nina Roberston and Scott Holden. Nina was a self-made fashion designer living in Harlem, whom Roth dated. Nina was the light in his life, a reminder that there’s still good. Scott was a troubled veteran, who was disgraced after it was revealed he shared information with his North Vietnamese captors. This “betrayal” was to save a wounded comrade, whom The Vietnamese were withholding medicine from. It was Scott’s fate that eventually broke Roth.

After a heated argument, Roth abandoned Scott at a bar. Scott was forced to walk home, where he was accosted by two NYPD officers. Without much provocation,  the officers started beating Scott for “resisting arrest”. Scott though, managed to fight back and try to escape, not wanting to hurt anyone. For his trouble, he was shot. The bullet pierced his back and paralyzed him. Scott later died during surgery, when doctors tried removing the slug from his spinal cord.

Nina was the first to tell Roth, which devastated him. Unable to process the grief and regret, Roth suffered a nervous breakdown. In his madness, he took out his pain and frustration out on Nina. The result left her heartbroken. On that night, Roth lost all his friends and his religion. Proclaiming that, there’s no God. Roth’s erratic behavior saw him fired from his job, losing his apartment and becoming an outcast.

In 1979, of that same year, Roth was murdered.

At night, Roth was on the Brooklyn bridge. He had nothing left, no friends, no home, and no hope for the future. There, he struggled to jump. Someone came along, to choose for him. The Wire, an infamous serial killer, ambushed Roth on the bridge. Despite the surprise, Roth fought back with every inch of his life. Unfortunately, The Wire won in the end.

Roth was thrown over the bride, landing into the freezing waters below. The impact didn’t kill Roth, but the drowning took him. A week later, Roth’s corpse was found by harbor workers. Police ruled his death a suicide. Nina, still heartbroken, had Roth buried with money she earned through her shop.

In Heaven, Roth arrived well ahead of time. He was shown in, thinking he somehow made it. Roth’s delusions were soon crushed, as he was put on trial. A committee of angels decided Roth’s fate, while his guardian Angel defended him. For prosecution, Dearie made the argument for Roth’s damnation. The committee sided with Dearie, much to Roth’s horror. Out of desperation, Roth blindly thought he could escape the courtroom. At the door, he was greeted by an Exorcist.  

The Exorcist subdued Roth, dragging him away as he screamed and begged. He was soon thrown into Hades, into Hell.

In Hell, Roth was surprised. It wasn’t the inferno described by Dante, but a world of excess and vice. It reminded Roth of New York’s seedier parts, all condensed into one and overexposed. But Roth was still frightened beyond belief. Even more so, he was horrified by his demonic appearance. In his first few weeks into eternal damnation, Roth once again became a fervent follower of Christ. Though, he soon accepted that his prayers of rescue could never be answer. Alone, with just his grit and gut-instinct, Roth survived.

In 1983, Roth landed a job with The Gehenna Cab Company, one which provided enough to afford his own apartment. He found friends, he even found love. That love being Maple Kovacs, an erotic dancer who dreamed about becoming a song writer. Maple worked at Club Ice, owned and operated by Eduardo, an iguana demon.  Together, Roth and Maple had a fun and romantic life together.

This was not for long.

In 1987, Eduardo was “convinced” into selling Club Ice to Valentino. He was later found dead in his apartment, by an apparent overdose. Valentino now owned the club, including every single contract. He sought to make sure his new “employees” stayed loyal.  Soon, Valentino was informed about Roth’s relationship with Maple. Seeing Roth as an unnecessary distraction for Maple, Valentino sent his problem solver to educate Roth. It was here Roth first met Robert Milhaud, the man who would ruin his life again.

Arriving home one late night, Roth and Maple were greeted by Robert and his associates. Despite fighting back, Roth and Maple were both subdued. Forced to watch, Roth was beaten nearly to death in front of Maple. Taking Maple to Valentino, Robert warned Roth that if he continues his relationship with Maple, he will hurt her. Roth despite loving Maple, choose ending the relationship rather than risking her death.  Over the next couple of weeks, Roth received call after call from Maple, begging Roth to see her.

Roth ignored every message, not wanting to risk her safety.

On Extermination Day, of 1989, Maples apartment ( her prison ) was destroyed by Adam’s exterminators. Though Maple was never found, it was assumed she died. Roth couldn’t attend the funeral but watched from afar. He felt nothing but hatred towards Valentino, for what he had done. More than anything, he hated himself for what he allowed. He failed Maple. Just as he failed so many people before.

In 1992, Roth was growing more and more resentful towards Hell. He wanted desperately to escape. There was nothing left, no future, no peace down below. It was around this time; Roth had a chance encounter with Vincent Andras. Demonstrating a simple magic trick, Vincent connected with Roth and eventually brought him to Ultima Discordia. The group were dedicated practitioners of chaos magick. Vincent Andras, a man stepped in the new wave of occult knowledge during the 1970s, wanted to share his knowledge with Roth. Perhaps, even, a way to escape Hell.  All he wanted was Roth’s unquestioning loyalty.

Roth accepted his offer. Willingly.

In the coming years, Roth studied under Vincent Andras, with both men becoming close friends. Yet, slowly, and surely, Roth started questioning how genuine his friend was. Andras was determined, caring little about the personal dangers of magic. This drive for knowledge withered the collective sanity and health of the cult. Discussions soon turned to arguments, as Roth and Vincent’s relationship was strained. In 1995, the cult came into possession an ancient Tibetan Scroll, named ཨ་ཀོ་ཧ་ཐི་ཡི་སྒོ་མོ། , or Doors of Agharti, contained thirty intricate Mandalas. Vincent explained that “Doors of Agharti” was their key to freedom. A doorway to the realm of ultimate peace. After four years of grueling work, they finally translated the scroll.

Om October 25th, 1998, the cult underwent the ritual to reach Agharti. The journey was harsh, as Vincent, Roth and the cult suffered both hunger and hallucinations. Yet, after so much suffering, the final mandala was reached.

The ritual failed.

All laws of reality were made void. Something arrived, something hungry. During the confusion, insanity and ravenous violence, Vincent and Roth managed to escape. Despite their fear and weakened mental states, they knew they must seal the doorway. Miraculously,   they managed to seal the doorway, sending whatever came back through. Yet, the price for this victory was steep. The cult was dead, with Vincent and Roth being the only survivors.

Both men blamed each other for the disaster. Roth rebukes Vincent, swearing he will never work with him again. Severa days later, Roth suffered an acute nervous breakdown, screaming about “Thousands and Thousands of Teeth”. He was admitted into psychiatric help, at The Walter Freeman Memorial Hospital. There, Roth was eventually diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder.

From 1998 to 2002, Roth was given the help he needed to resume a normal life. It was around this time, he met Guns Akimbo, a mercenary and gun dealer based on Pride. Guns Akimbo was instrumental in arming Gehenna Cabs during the “Great Cab War” of 2003, which saw widespread violence through Pentagram City. The event was even covered by Alastor, with great amusement.

Afterwards, Roth and Guns assumed a sexual relationship, that blossomed into romance. Unfortunately, their conflicting personalities caused their breakup. They remain on rather hostile terms.

Now, in 2024, Roth Kruger is still trying to escape Hell. He believes that through magic, he can defy Lucifer, Heaven and everyone who ever doubted him.

But, then again, his magic comes at a price. His own sanity is slowly and surely being drained. Resulting in Roth becoming more and more unhinged.

There’s also on important Rule, Roth has broken in magic.

A knocked door cannot be unknocked.

[jauniegal]

put my paper through a plagiarism checker then panicked cause it said it had a high risk of plagiarism and panicked

...then remembered I haven't added any of the sources yet