#Blog priority: Primary

[balladofbeasts]

Name: Dakota Donovan Dude Species: Anthropomorphic Bovine Eyes: Duke Blue Height: 6’ Birthday: May 12 MBTI: ISFP

| ✩ |

Personality: Quiet and soft spoken, despite his rough voice. Usually coordinated, serious, and observant. He may not smile frequently, but he has a heart as large as he is. He can be as fierce and intimidating as he can be gentle and comforting. Although he may not always give the best first impression due his frequent frowning and muscular size, he is great with animals and children, and has tended to many an orphaned critter or minor injury acquired during child’s play. His pride will not allow him to back down from a fight if provoked, but he is usually a protector, not an instigator. Succeed in wearing out his patience or pressing too many buttons, however, and you will face the wrath of an angry bull. He is brave, unselfish, and sticks to the country manners he was raised to have.

Relatives: Moo Montana (cousin), Cowlorado Kid (cousin), Babe Dude (father), Bessie Dude (mother).

A few other things:

His physical strength is incredible.

He owns and plays a concertina.

His faithful companion is a brown draft horse named Rebull (pronounced rebel), and while Dakota is not fond of heights, Rebull is actually afraid of them.

He cannot carry a tune without music, but with music, he’s not quite so bad.

{ VERSES }

The Western LawcowDefault, Show Based Background, but with some headcanon thrown in. Posts for this verse will be untagged.

Dakota is a Deputy Marshal that works alongside Marshal Moo Montana and part of the band of cowboys who enforce the Code of the West across the mesa they call home. He is never without his gray stetson, and unlike most of the lawcows, he does not wear a pistol. In combat, Dakota mostly relies on his strength, but he does carry a rifle on his saddle for times when there’s nothing around for him to throw at the enemy.

Toon variation: As I am known for fourth wall breaking, and this is often the easiest for many interactions, I do not feel the need to tag posts set in a Roger Rabbit, Epic Mickey type world.

Although in this case, an explanation for the anthropomorphic Westerners’ existence is far simpler than the mutation concept: they are Toons. They were created for television like many, many other cartoons, and although not nearly as famous as Disney and Looney Tunes, they live with other Western-based Toons who once worked for various companies, small and large. The C.O.W.-Boys work and socialize with many other officer and hero creations in film history, and they are much more familiar with technology and humans than in show. Dakota does not care much for technology, and his serious personality is unchanged, showing no sign of adapting the slapstick and silliness of some other Toons. That doesn’t mean he can’t find some of it amusing, however, even if he does not participate (unless his physics-defying strength counts).

[wip]

Please make it possible to hide users' posts without blocking them. Like, in cases where a person hasn't done anything wrong to be blocked, but you just don't like their posts.

Answer: Hello, @deithwen!

As it turns out, we’ve received this feature request a lot over the years. Usually, it comes in as wanting the ability to “mute” other blogs on Tumblr. While we would love to build it, we’ve balked at it a bit because of its technical and product complexity. Let us explain what that means:

In terms of technical complexity, our current blocking feature is closest to how “muting” would work. Our current blocking feature may seem simple, but it’s very complex because of how big Tumblr is. Every time we fetch a list of blogs for you or anyone on Tumblr, we have to also fetch the list of who you’re blocking, and who’s blocking you, and filter out anyone with that block relationship. This mapping of who’s-blocking-who is stored in a directional way right now, so the “cost” of loading that list gets higher the more people you’re blocking and the more people who are blocking you. If you’re blocking 1,000 blogs, we have to check that list a lot. If you’re being blocked by 1,000 blogs, that’s another big list to check against.

In technical terms, this is a “many-to-many” relationship, which is almost always incredibly difficult to manage while not degrading the experience of using a platform like Tumblr. The more people who are blocking, the harder it is to store those lists in a way that’s easy to check, but we’re working on making it smoother. The vast majority of people don’t block many others, if at all, so it’s never been a huge problem. But the outliers who block thousands of others (or are blocked by thousands of others) can degrade performance for everyone over enough time.

Adding muting would throw on top of that yet another list of blogs to check, increasing the complexity of something that’s already pretty complex. It helps that muting would be one-directional and not bi-directional (as in, it doesn’t matter who’s muting you), but, as that list of muted blogs grows, your experience may degrade further. So we’d need to solve for that, which is definitely doable. It would just take time—and lots of it.

And, as a product, Tumblr is already pretty confusing to people trying to figure out what “blocking�� means already, as well as our other filtering options. Up until fairly recently, blocking was almost entirely one-directional, the opposite way you’d expect: blocking made it so the blocked person couldn’t see you, not that you couldn’t see them. We’ve been updating blocking to work both ways instead, which is more common on social media these days. Similarly, the options to filter tags versus content cause a lot of confusion because they don’t work the same way as each other.

So if we wanted to add another filtering option to that mix, “muting” blogs, we’d need to be conscious of how all of those options work together—and are confusing in context with each other. We should really clean up that experience to be more streamlined and simple, not more complex. And I didn’t even mention the oddity of how different settings apply to your primary blog versus your sideblogs if you have more than one blog!

Taken together, it is a great idea for us to clean all of this up, improve our existing options here, and add “muting” for even more control and granularity. Sadly, however, it just isn’t high enough on our list of priorities to tackle anytime soon. We don’t want to simply tack on muting for the sake of doing it—we want to do a better job than that. I hope that makes sense!

Thanks for your question. It was an important one to address. If anything should change here, you will get news through the usual channels: here at WIP, or at @changes. 

[writers-potion]

Do you know how to come up with names for a fantasy race?

I've been trying to mix words but it comes out ugly sounding and looking. I've also tried to follow what we do in the real world, and use Greek words as suffixes, but whatever I combine it still comes out ugly... Help?

I've been trying to mix English+Greek, or just greek or just english.

Naming System For Your Fantasy Creatures/Races

Hey there, thanks for the ask! If English + Greek isn't working, try these combinations instead:

Greek + Latin

English + Latin (there will be a lot of overlaps)

French + English/Latin/Greek

Sanskrit + Greek + Latin

Latin has some pretty useful suffixes and prefixes, and it is the primary language used for flora/fauna scientific names (as well as in the periodic table, in fact!).

For inspiration, try searching up scientific names for random animals and flowers, which will help you discover some useful suffixes.

pig = Sus scrofa domesticus rose = Rosa rubiginosa > These already sound cooler than the average English name!

Examples:

Creature = Fire spitting elf with green skin Greek for fire = Fotia Latin suffix for elf = -pha Sanskrit for green = haritah -> Fictional Name = Haritah Fotipha (or just "Fotipha") or Haripha or Fortiah?

Creature = Water dragon Sanskrit for water = Jalam French for fly = lavion -> Fictional Name = Jalavion or Laviam?

When combining word, join them at the vowel for better flow.

Hope this helps! :)

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* . ───

💎If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 

💎Before you ask, check out my masterpost part 1 and part 2 

💎For early access to my content and priority questions,  become a Writing Wizard 

[thebreakfastgenie]

It’s dangerous because you should be voting for people who have polices that you like. Under Biden this country has gone to shit. Kamala was in charge of the boarder and it was horrendously run. She is an ag who locked up the most black people for minor offenses in ca history. you supported blm now you’re gonna vote for someone that locked up a ton of them for minor offenses. she’s not good at her job and if she wasn’t a democrat black women id guarantee you would not vote for her you’d trash her. Look up who you vote for on neutral websites before casting your vote. And most don’t like that they bypassed a primary and the rich and powerful got to hand pick your candidate for you. So much for defending democracy am I right?

I’m not happy about bypassing a primary either, but what’s done is done. There is no path forward now that gives the primary voters a say. I voted for Kamala Harris for Vice-President in 2020. I voted for President Biden in the 2024 primary and he endorsed Vice-President Harris. Democratic voters are rallying behind her by choice because we don’t want to waste time fighting each other or open ourselves up to Republican attack. We want to beat Trump. You're underestimating how callously partisan I am this year. I want to beat Trump. Everything else comes after.

But let's talk about you. This message isn't just badly type, it seems reads like a response to a post, but none of my popular political posts are that post. I haven't really talked about Kamala Harris being a Black woman, because although it is significant because the base of the Democratic Party is Black women they've already begun incredible organizing for Harris, the most relevant point to me and the point I have chosen to focus on is that Harris is the candidate endorsed by the president, with access to the president's campaign funds, and has quickly secured united support, averting chaos. I was against Biden leaving the reason because I was terrified of chaos. I do support BLM and I'm sure I reblogged posts about it at the peak of that movement's mainstream attention, but most of the content on my blog is not BLM posts. A lot of my posts about racism and antiracism take a more academic stance. This ask feels like a copypasta, something you just sent to any Democrats you saw supporting VP Harris. I wonder why you'd want to undermine support for VP Harris. Could it be that chaos I'm so afraid of? Could it be because you want Trump to win? I mean, you didn't say anything about Trump in this ask. Not even a cursory "of course Trump is bad but." You do go in on "defending democracy," which is a big priority for a lot of Democratic voters. It's almost like you're trying to dissuade people who care about that from supporting/voting for VP Harris. I wonder why?

But this is what really sticks out to me:

Look up who you vote for on neutral websites before you cast your vote.

"Neutral websites?" What exactly are these neutral websites, pray tell? You certainly didn't provide any examples. There's just something about this phrasing that's incredibly strange. This is not, in my experience, the way leftists with left criticisms of Democratic candidates approach this issue.

All this is giving me the gut feeling that this anon is a troll designed to suppress support for VP Harris and the Democratic Party. Maybe a human troll, maybe a bot, but the goal is the same. If I get more asks like this I might just delete them so as not to platform them, but I wanted to post this one so everyone could see what I'm talking about.

[possessionisamyth]

Since the most popular posts are being extremely useless and defeatist when it comes to the presidential election, I'm reminding you of the democratic primary. If you absolutely do not want to vote for Biden, here are your other options, and you have to VOTE and SHOW UP for your state primary to push them forward.

Marianne Williamson is running for the Dem Primary. Here is her site leading to her stances on current issues.

https://marianne2024.com/issues/

Dean Phillips is also running for the Dem Primary. Below is his website. Click on the Priorities tab on the right to see his stances on the issues.

https://phillips.house.gov/

Robert F Kennedy Jr. is running as an Independent. Click on the Policies tab on the upper left to see his stance on the issues.

https://www.kennedy24.com/

Cornel West is running as an Independent. Click on the Platform tab on the upper right to get his stance on the issues.

https://www.cornelwest2024.com/

Here is the schedule for the primary by state for 2024 so you know when to hit the ballot box.

https://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/2024-primary-schedule/

The US Government has always been a shit show. Due to Biden winning 1 election already, everyone who has already secured their democratic seat will be pushing for him to win a second term. That's what being incumbent means. The primaries will look like how they did when Bernie was running against him. The news will not be on any of these people's sides, and they will be showing as little of them as possible to ensure a Biden win.

If you are a USA citizen of voting age and all you've been doing is reblogging/making posts about how no one should vote for Joe, maybe take the next step and READ up on the other options. If you actually don't want Joe or Trump to win this next election, you need to pick a candidate from these links to hype up. You have to start being their voices in places where people don't watch the televised news. You can even volunteer your time to do phone calls for them to spread the information.

If your entire blog is only never vote, or never vote for Joe, then yes you are not helping the problem. You are making things worse when we literally have time to try for another option. Be angry. Be pissed, but do some footwork for people you want in office in addition! This is actually how you shift things and send a message.

[tapintorealities]

*Edit to note: my concept of reality and the terms I use to try to explain the vastness of, y'know, Everything, is evolving. I also don't claim to have The Answers; you're the only one who can find those for yourself just as I'm the only one who can find them for myself. I'm here to share my journey through all its fascinating turns as I discover Myself; feel free to follow along but remember we're all on our own journeys. ♥️

I may make a more detailed post about each Reality later for those curious, but I decided that since I have multiple Senses of Self as a Reality Shifter (and overall Freak 😜 /j), I'll give a basic intro.

"The God State": 0

My way of conceptualizing my Core, the I AM, the infinite possibilities that Exist whether I am actively Aware of them or not at any given moment.

It's the state of being Everything, Everyone, Everywhere, Everywhen... And so on and so forth.

It's Source, it's Creation, it's God... I call it Zero.

When I feel more "tapped into" that Energy than anything else, I'll tag posts with #from 0.

"Home Base": 🐿️

I don't like putting too much weight on the terms "Current Reality" / "Desired Reality", because it implies that my "Desired" Realities aren't already mine, here and now. But this is what you might think of as my "Current Reality".

I call it my Home Base, because it's the one I primarily shift from and come back to, and where I record all my experiences with shifting and manifestation. I won't call it my Original Reality, because, to my other Selves, they have their own Original Realities! This is just the one I use to get ideas for shifts and to shift to/from, while retaining memory from each shift (if I choose to).

Age Range: Late 20s

Gender: Nonbinary, he/they pronouns

Orientation: Aegosexual

If I'm speaking primarily as my Home Base Self, I'll tag posts with #from 🐿️.

Reality One: 🌇

My primary "DR". My highest priority in terms of how often I shift there and how long I stay. It's the 1980s in Los Angeles, and I am living a lavish life after a stressful youth. I have a love story playing out with my longtime friend, and I'm going to get a cozy beach house with him in a couple years.

I've chosen to not retain any memory of my Home Base (or any other realities) while in Reality One. All I know is the life I live in that moment. I stay for several months at a time, and shift back in my sleep so I can record details and update this blog and whatnot.

Code Name: Lindsey

Age Range: Mid 30s

Gender: Cis Guy, he/him pronouns

Orientation: Bisexual

Often, I'm "tapped into" this Self even if my 3D "reality" doesn't reflect it. Part of this is the manifestation concept of Living In The End, but part of it is also that 🐿️ is autistic and latches onto characters so hard they assimilate into their very Being.

If I'm posting primarily about (or am "tapped into") this version of Reality/my Self, I'll tag posts as #from Lindsey 🌇.

Reality Two: 🦆

This is almost exactly the same as Reality One, but I am a different Self. Uh, to be exact, I'm Lindsey's partner.

Because why wouldn't you wanna see your own love story from the other side? And because our Souls are very close to 🐿️'s (they're like a combo of both of us), so it makes them real happy to explore all these different worlds where we're safe 'n happy 'n fulfilled 'n all that.

I'm also pretty into the Oddity of the Universe, so I might go on a few alternate reality trips myself. But usually, 🐿️ shifts here and back. Sometimes I'm aware of the shift, sometimes not. I think it's all a bunch of wild fun! 🤠

Code Name: Mackenzie

Age Range: Mid 30s

Gender: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (he/him but any pronouns are fine)

Orientation: Queer

I (Mackenzie) often pop up in Home Base's psyche, too. If I'm talkin' or reblogging, you'll see my code name like #from Mackenzie 🦆. (Code names are so fun. 😁)

Home Base 2: 👻

This "DR" is actually more like an alternate "CR".

I am basically 🐿️ (with a few adjustments), but I'm from a reality where, among other things, my friends and I experiment with "other dimensions". (That is to say, we're scientifically studying reality shifting, though we haven't been using the same lingo as this reality does.)

It's 1989 in New York City, and my friends and I all work together in handling various "paranormal activities".

I volunteered to explore another Reality first, because I have one of the strongest imaginations among my friends, but I guess my imagination was too strong 'cause they've been having trouble getting my consciousness back to my body. 🤪

But I know I'll be home soon. And from there, we can refine our shifting techniques and I can come back here (or go anywhere else) with much more ease than this "first shift" has taken. But really, Home Base 2 is my true Home Base, where I explore worlds from. I just got caught up in this one because it was so much more immersive than I thought it'd be. 😅

Code Name: Grayson

Age Range: Early 30s

Gender: Gender Nonconforming Trans Guy, he/they pronouns

Orientation: Gay

I'll tag any relevant posts with #Home Base 2 👻.

There are other Realities in the works that I want to actively explore someday, especially since 🐿️ is an author and has many original characters they want to experience. But these are my main focuses at this point in the 3D concept of "Time". 😛

DMs/Ask Box: Open 💌

[flimsy-spoon]

⚢ Blog Guide ⚢

You May Refer To Me As Primary : Esther Yes! : Mommy, Ma'am, Baby, Doll, Princess, Love, Pretty Girl, Slut, basically anything else No! : Masculine terms

20 Years Old Female she / her Lesbian Femme 4 Femme Dom lean | Switch more about me

DNI Minors : this is an 18+ blog ONLY Men : I am a lesbian and this is strictly a sapphic blog Homophobic, Transphobic, Racist, Pedo, Proshipper/Comshipper

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Random Horny Posting #random

Rants or Vents #rant

Asks and Chats #asks , #chats , #anon

Yes :  ⚢ Mommy / Mistress Kink ⚢ Vanilla ⚢ Degrading  ⚢ Praise / Worship ⚢ Dirty Talk ⚢ Sadism / Masochism  ⚢ Orgasm Control / Denial / Overstimulation ⚢ Bondage / Restraints  ⚢ Spanking / Marking / Hair Pulling ⚢ Audios / Photos (okay giving and receiving all)

No :  ⚢ Ageplay / MDLG (mommy as a term is fine) / Petplay (pet as a term is fine) / Raceplay ⚢ Rape / CNC / Incest / Pedo ⚢ Piss / Scat / Vomit / Feed ⚢ Extreme Violence / Guro ⚢ Breeding / Pregnancy  ⚢ Intoxication (especially weed) ⚢ Dykebreaking / Use of masculine terms (daddy, cock, etc.)

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Trans women welcome!

Asks are open for everyone, I’d love to meet and talk to you! Be as horny as you want to be, baby.

My DMs are open! Sexting and photos are fine but I'm more likely to respond to mutuals. Women only!

Do not post anything of mine on any other platform, especially without credit. 

I do not have a sub or dom at the moment.

I am single and not looking for a girlfriend or any kind of relationship. I'm not opposed to getting to know someone but it is not a priority of mine.

> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

My Anons  🌸🍄🌱🐞💟🦆🫧🥝👑🌹🐈🌾👙🍒🌻

[gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan]

Shuddered

Author’s note: More of Divergence AU with Selkie Squad. Thanks to @sleepyfan-blog for letting me borrow Cedric.

Summary: Korvith and his brothers find a dead Primaris Tech Marine in Black Templar colors in the forest and call it in.

Warnings: Mentions of a dead body. Let me know if I need to add anything else.

Tagged: @barn-anon, @bleedingichorhearts, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @egrets-not-regrets, @kit-williams

Tagged: @sleepyfan-blog, @ms--lobotomy , @thevoidscreams, @i-am-a-dragon34, @gra93fruit-blog

Tagged: @felinisnoctis, @undeaddream

Korvith and his squad- they were helping Charbdis squad with a few things in and around Gannet Point. One of his squad mates- a Tech marine, had thought he'd heard a distress call and they were headed in the direction of the call.

What they found is the dead body of a Black Templar Primaris Marine- a Tech Marine, and from his wounds, as they check his body for any signs of life, none. He was killed- and from the way some of his wounds were partially healed and not-healed.

Someone had killed him on Ancient Terra. Korvith swears softly and sends a Priority message to Zariel about as he listens to his brother, who's also a Tech Marine murmur prayers to the Omnisiah among other things.

They make a stretcher and take the poor dead soul to the Loyalist base near Gannet Point- taking a path that wouldn't alarm the locals, or be watched as closely by their brothers and cousins in the base.

For some reason, Korvith hears the impossible flutter of feathers as he looks around and then up.

"No!" He hears some one call out in distress and looks up.

A young blood angel, with wings of the Primarch flies down and Korvith dodges the swipe of the younger marine's blade as the mahogany of his eyes turn more red.

"We found him dead," Korvith says dodging the youngster.

"A Likely story, first born," Jophiel hisses at the mixed squad of First Born cousins as they set his dead brother-cousin down and focus on him.

There are tears in his eyes- he'd gotten a nightmare-ish vision. He'd been too late to find Castiel- but he'd be damned before he'd let these bastards steal his body to desecrate it.

"We need to get his body to the Apothecaries." Korvith says firmly.

"One is on his way," Jophiel snarls at them trying to be as Big and Large as possible, "as is a Chaplain, both of the Black Templars. Body thieves!"

"We were taking him to the Loyalist Base nearest to Gannet Point." Korvith continues.

"A likely story," A different voice calls out and Korvith sees another Large, yet Scout aged ... raven guard? Night Lord? step out of the shadows, eyes flashing towards them in dislike, his eyes flashing, "Teal. Begone, you opportunistic bastards."

"What?" Korvith says sounding terribly confused, "are you talking about?"

"I bet you are taking this body to Apothecary Zariel," Claude says, scowling at Korvith.

Korvith and his squad are trying to calm the pair of Primaris Marines down- when they hear the stomp of running boots of Ceramite on forest floor.

He looks and sees a couple more Primaris Marines- both Black Templars, ah, Apothecary in Training Cedric, and Judicar Chaplain in training Ramiel. Both with scowls, and the set of their shoulders, meaning they are ready for a fight if needed.

Korvith sends a subtle signal and his squad backs off, "We are here to help."

"Yeah right," Jophiel snaps back, "Pull the other one, it has bells on it."

"We aren't lying," Korvith says, trying to keep his temper.

Ramiel and Cedric are on either side of their dead brother. Ramiel is murmuring and reciting the prayers to the God Emperor. While the Cedric is assessing Castiel's body and pulling out the gene-seed and organ jars to do the grim duties of an Apothecary to their honored dead.

[another-lost-mc]

I love how you did a better job with the worldbuilding than solmare ever did. I’m literally still interested in this game because of your blog. I had a discussion with my sister about how annoying it is that some characters always behave the same, like beelzebub being hungry all the time. I dislike how solmare didn’t put a lot of effort into understanding the sins. They were just like, 'Oh, gluttony? Let’s make this demon hungry all the time' while the actual sin is more about overconsumption in general. So, I was curious how you felt about that lack of depth. Like for example when you write about your oc’s or other characters where the sins play a role, do you have like solmare’s version in mind or do you go think deeper than that?

Oh, that's such a nice compliment that you enjoy some of the world building nonsense I like to ramble about. 🤗 I can literally talk about this stuff all day.

The upside to Solmare's neglect of those nitty-gritty details is that players have more room to explore the other possibilities. I love how everyone in this community has their own headcanons and beliefs to shape their view of the game world and its characters. This community is so creative! I've read so many other ideas that are fascinating and more in-depth than what Solmare have written themselves, and while my ideas won't appeal to everyone, it's nice to have this space to explore them anyway.

When it comes to my personal worldbuilding, sins are really important to fleshing out all the different motivations and goals characters have. I agree that a lot of the characters have the odd moment to shine, but otherwise are lumped into the lazy stereotype of their character. It's really annoying.

Part of the problem with having so many characters and trying to give them screen time is that none of them get developed beyond easily recognizable traits: Beel eating nonstop, Satan being obsessed with cats, Mammon complaining about being broke, Asmo's narcissism and flirtations. Even with the events, some of their choices are missed opportunities to highlight characters in ways we don't normally get to see. Beel being the highlight character for a Fangol or sports-themed event? Nah, throw Barbatos in there because Beel can show up when there's food around. Like yes, okay, we get it. But what else is there? If Solmare won't explore beyond the bare minimum interpretation of their sins, the players just have to do it themselves.

My personal solution for that is two-fold: assigning a secondary sin for each character to add more nuance/depth to their view of the world and their place in it, and expanding the interpretation of their sins beyond the literal meanings. Demon royalty, as leaders of the Devildom and the most powerful embodiments of sin, may have multiple sins that influence their leadership styles and priorities.

(I have some ideas for angelic virtues and elemental alignments, but that's a subject for another post.)

Some other ideas tied to my headcanons about sins include:

Demons have extremely long life spans and I think it's natural for their secondary sins to shift over time as their environment and circumstances change. (I think in extreme situations, a demon's primary sin may also change - this is something I imagine happened with Diavolo's father.)

Certain types of demons are naturally drawn to one sin more than others. Crow demons, as a part of Mammon's cohort of demons, tend to be Greed-aligned. Not all Lust demons are incubi, but all incubi/succubi are Lust demons. Lesser demons - the ones that make up the foot soldiers of the Devildom's legions, tend to be aligned with Wrath or Envy which empowers their capabilities in times of war with the angels/other realms.

Demons that are exorcised and respawn later may have different sin alignments than their previous incarnations.

Fallen angels demonstrate early "warning signs" of their sin(s) at some point prior to being cast out of the Celestial Realm. Their natures truly manifest once their transformation from angel to demon is complete after falling to the Devildom.

The canon cast and OCs all have designated primary and secondary sins. I know some of the combinations for the OCs in particular might seem a little...odd...but that's because the interpretation of their sin goes beyond "greed = money-hungry" or "gluttony = over-eating". Some of the sins have some overlapping tendencies too. Here are examples of how the OCs' primary sins manifest for them:

Karasu & Greed - Karasu might not appreciate spending or earning money the way Mammon does, but he appreciates wealth of all sorts. Not only money, but knowledge. His nest is a hoard of the riches he's accumulated over his long life, earned through his lifetime's work. Other hints of this sin peek through in his romantic relationships: he wants to be praised, to worship and be worshipped, to have his lover's time and attention and focus solely on him. He gives all of himself in return - an equal exchange, but not one made lightly either.

Azra & Lust - It's not just about sex, but it does play a significant part in how his sin manifests. After a long list of poor choices made with good intentions, he ultimately fell from the Celestial Realm because what he wanted - his relationship with Meta, one that he didn't think was possible if they remained angels under Father's strict thumb - outweighed everything else in his mind. When he fell, he became an incubus, and in a way it damned him to a life where he is forced to feed his sexual appetites with anyone but the one person he desired most.

Tenebris & Gluttony - He was obsessed with finding ways to make himself powerful and worthy in the eyes of the nobility and his father. He embarked on a very selfish and relentless pursuit of knowledge and power that would enhance his naturally gifted magical abilities. Those efforts led to him gorging himself not on food but on humans. Not just their souls either, but their flesh and blood and bones - all harvested without guilt or shame, to be used for his magical experiments and to fuel his spell work. He nearly killed himself in the process but he justified it in his mind as necessary. It was only his indirect involvement in Bathin's exorcism, and the shame and guilt that came after, that finally convinced him to stop and reflect on what he had done.

Related world building posts:

Primary and Secondary Sin Alignments

Demon Royalty & Sin

Diavolo's Father: Sins of the Demon King

[wordsnstuff]

Hiya! Just wondering, what unusual and unique ways have helped you get out of a writer's creative block?

Let's talk *briefly* about writer's block.

Yes, this will be long, but I think it will help you.

It's been a long time since I was in a regular posting schedule for this blog, and that is upsetting to me (and many of you, I'm aware). For a significant chunk of that time, I considered writer's block to be the primary reason for this, but looking back on the nearly three years I've spent attempting over and over to return to the schedule and routine I once maintained, I have accepted that writer's block was never the problem. Not the way I thought.

I have, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, always thought of writer's block as if it's a tangible condition or something that happens to you, like a cold. That conclusion always prompted me to seek a solution (for instance, motivational content or exterior inspiration or anything that would enhance my capacity for self discipline). Because I thought of it as something that just developed naturally, I focused very little on the root of the issue and consequently it never seemed to improve.

For most of us, the past three years have ranged from severely abnormal to deeply traumatic, and though a lot of mythology around the process of art and inspiration tells us that conflict and pain inform a good portion of creativity, I have to admit that none of what the world has been through recently has made me want to write. When you and everyone you know have been in a survival mindset for several years, the seemingly trivial pleasure of creating fiction or sharing content about the process feels overwhelming. Every time I've returned to this space that I created long before experiencing any of this turmoil, especially because this turmoil occurred during the dawn of my adulthood, it has felt like a silly attempt at denial.

My writer's block, and I'm sure many others', was not simply a case of burnout or lack of inspiration. It's not that I had been pushing myself too hard without allowing for reasonable time for rest and recharging my mind, or that I simply ran out of ideas or reasons to want to continue. Even when you have the deepest of passion for a craft, you will always be human and therefore always affected by your environment and the events in your life. When you find yourself unable to put the pen to the paper, instead of asking what you can do to change that, ask why you're struggling in the first place. Focus on the cause, not the effect.

For me, a lot of my difficulty with writing has come from my environment and the mindset it has put me in. I am currently in university, so whether I like it or not, I have to write here and there and pull myself together to be able to do that. Every time I do so, I wonder why I can't enforce that same authority on myself for my personal projects, and it's because, for a long while, my environment has not been conducive to that effort. I haven't had the control over my schedule and responsibilities that I used to have, and finding a balance between these responsibilities and my personal goals has has a learning curve. All of these circumstances, for better or worse, have affected my mental state and my ability to write.

I did not have the freedom or even the energy to put in practice the exercises that helped me before, and as a result I haven't been writing. Coming out of that struggle hasn't been a matter of waiting for things to change or get better, it's been putting my energy toward a new process of trial and error. Since accepting that my new reality is here to stay, the priority has been finding new ways to work around it and specifically, work with it. This acceptance can require a lot of difficult reflection, and this can reach beyond your desire to write and into your desire to live a good life in general. It can feel silly or humiliating or patronizing to approach this reflection from the very bottom of things, and this includes the basics.

It may seem silly to consider the basics when the problem feels so extreme, but when you're consistently forgetting the casual maintenance of your mind and body, you will consistently find yourself failing to accomplish much beyond the bare minimum. If you struggle with mental health, this will be even more evident. Basic things like hydration, diet, sleep, movement, interaction, and joy will always be the most effective place to start when addressing why you cannot write. Once you have verified that these needs are met, then the presence of a deeper problem will reveal itself, but you'll never know if that's the case unless you check the other boxes.

So, you've checked the basics and they're all fine but you're still experiencing writer's block. Have you made time in your daily schedule for intentional rest? Are you coming home at the end of a long day and jumping straight into writing or keeping up with your duties at home or simply falling in front of a screen for a few hours? None of these things are rest. Distracting yourself with noise or housekeeping is not rest, and when it's all you do after a full day of other responsibilities, you haven't truly spent a moment with yourself finding fulfilling joy or relaxation. Yes, they can be compelling and very difficult habits within your routine to let go of, especially if you struggle to function without something occupying the back of your mind, but rest is extremely important to the creative process. If you like to scroll online a little bit or watch an episode of your comfort show after you get home to unwind, that's great. But in order to truly take advantage of your free time, try to optimize it by being intentional about the way you're experiencing it. Try not to fall into a routine of distraction because that isn't rest and it won't satisfy any of your needs.

Have you incorporated things into your routine that will contribute to your motivation to write? I don't mean you should put Stephen King quotes as your desktop screensaver or watch videos of people writing to make you want to participate. Those things help some people and that's great, but consuming things that make you think or bring you pleasure like books and well written movies or shows or music or podcasts can be just as impactful as anything else you do for your creative process. It's not just about what you do, it's about how others inspire you, and it's one thing to say you love books and reading and learning, and it's another to actually do them every day like you would wash your face or brush your teeth.

Whether you write as a hobby or an aspiration or a job, the creative process remains the same. It's important to remain consistent with the things you do to maintain your ability to write as much as it is to remain consistent with your actual writing routine. As a general rule of thumb, writer's block doesn't come from nowhere. If you want to alleviate it, you have to target the root of the problem or it will continue appearing on the surface. There is no one-size-fits-all cure to it and there are no "top ten wacky ways I solved years of executive dysfunction with the right chrome extension or tea flavor or candle scent or by typing upside down". This is internal work you will need to do, but it starts with trusting yourself. It is never too late to return to your passion. You will build it back up like a muscle, but you have to heal first.

I sincerely hope this helps,

Kate

–

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[balladofbeasts]

Name: Duques “Duke” L'Orange Species: Alien Anthropomorphic Duck Eyes: Honey Brown, although the one concealed by his eyepatch is red. Height: 5’ 10" Weight: 185 lb MBTI: ESFP

- ⚔ -

Personality: Bold, brave, and chivalrous. Observant, affectionate, and interested in unfamiliar things as well as classics that’ll never get old. Level-headed, protective, assuring and supportive. His wit and openness make him rather good with people, and he enjoys causing others to smile or laugh. Despite his attitude and confidence, Duke is more emotionally sensitive than his relaxed nature usually suggests, and certain things can offend him easily. He’s sensitive to others’ emotions as well, which sometimes affects the judgement of his actions (whether this is a good or bad thing depends on the situation). For him, it’s rarely a bad time to make a wisecrack, even in threatening situations, in an effort to keep up spirits and hope. Although conscious of his appearance and taking care of it, from feathers to attire, he does not usually act too egotistical.

Relatives: Celestyna (mother), others statuses are unknown, including Lance (father)

A few other things:

He’s agile and acrobatic, an amazing swordsman, and possesses various ‘thief’ skills, such as lockpicking, safe cracking, stealth, etc.

My singing voice claim for him is Nick Cordero, and here is an example of his work.

{ VERSES }

He’s got style, he’s got grace, he’s a duck from outer space. Default, Show-Based Background. Posts for this verse will be untagged.

Duques L'Orange is a member of the Mighty Ducks team, although few actually know his first name– he is far more commonly known as and calls himself Duke. Like the rest of the Mighty Ducks, he is from Puckworld, but currently living in Anaheim, California after arriving on Earth in pursuit of Lord Dragaunus’ ship. Duke along with the rest of the Mighty Ducks defend Earth from Dragaunus’ attempts to take over, as well as other threats to humans, whether alien or not. They are rather famous for their heroism and for playing professional hockey; Duke’s number is 13 and he plays center (offense).

In the past, Duke was a jewel thief, the most famous in Puckworld, and leader of a gang called the Brotherhood of the Blade. After Dragaunus invaded and became the tyrannical ruler of Puckworld, however, he joined the underground resistance against him. He switched from stealing jewels to stealing food and other necessities for the enslaved people of his world, causing havoc/destroying Dragaunus’ forces in the process. His loyalty and honesty has been questioned from time to time because of his past, but he has always proven that he has indeed gone straight, and his experience and skills are used for the good of his team.

Toon variation: Considering the show breaks the fourth wall often, I do not feel the need to tag posts set in the more Roger Rabbit type scenario.

Duke is still part of the Mighty Ducks Hockey Team and plays by human physics, as he was of later design and does not have the same extent of classic flexibility and immunity as older Cartoons. He also still helps some of the other ‘good guy’ Toons from time to time. Other than that, he sometimes assists in choreographing fencing scenes for films, and gives lessons in agility and swordplay to those who have an genuine desire to learn.

[talon-dragonbeast]

gender and sex: an essay about dragon Roles

[content warning for dragon mating habits and reproductive biology]

so i was reading the My Gender Is (Not) Human zine that came out a couple days ago, and in it there was a writing from a fellow dragon called Noel (blog is @opal-claws) who explained the 4 gender variations that existed in their species. it's a very interesting read, that describes the roles each dragon takes (which are Suitor/Prospect and settled/nomadic) and all the little facets of each one of them.

and i guess it got me thinking a bit. yes, my dragon species has two traditional sexes, male and female, but the majority of dragons dont have a 'gender' as humans do. we are mostly agender, and only those dragons who have spent lives with humans have more traditional genders. being male or female doesnt matter in the grand scheme of things, and only if youre actively looking to mate. but even then, you dont even have to choose a partner of the opposite sex for it! because, at least with females, we are capable of having offspring without any kind of sexual contact (we are awesome like that). it's a process called parthenogenesis, and occurs in many species of lizards including komodo dragons. the end result of this process is a genetic clone of its respective parent, and the dragonet will always be female (of course, this leads to a bit of a loss in genetic variation, but its useful if you dont have any males available, or if youre a lesbian). there is also another option, at least in females (males really do get the short end of the stick in reproduction tactics, dont they?), of mating once with a male and "saving up" the seed inside of the cloaca so you can still lay fertilised eggs for many years without having to mate again.

but thats only the "biological" part. in dragon society, there are gender roles, but not in the way humans think of them. as i said, our genders are not tied to our sexes at all, and they are not influenced by reproductive habits either. our Roles are more about your function in society, what your instincts tell you to do. for example, my instincts are primarily of protection. im a solitary dragon, and my territory is always my number one priority. i patrol, i watch over it, i drive out possible intruders, and i never leave my forest. at the end of the day, i return to my den with my hoard and my nest, and just sleep until the next day. so id say my 'Role' would be Protector. there are other types of dragons, like Provider (primarily a hunter, the one that brings resources for their mate or dragonets; very nomadic, they dont like to stay in one place for too long) and Carer (theyre by far the most social role; as the name implies, they are the primary carers of our young, but they also keep balance in a community).

as you can see, none of the Roles are related to the capability of producing offspring, as both males and females can have any Role; but you dont even have to have offspring at all to feel fulfilled in your Role! its just about what kind of dragon you are; your function in society.

just thought it was interesting.

[centrally-unplanned]

Going to try to do some Japan trip blogging about relevant things. First up: I went to Comiket!

['Tokyo Big Sigh' indeed, to quote the discord friend ^^]

There was this tweet going around before the event, which to paraphrase the translation went something like "If you are hoping to have fun this weekend, get off the metro at Odaiba Beach instead. Comiket is a struggle for survival; be prepared to fight or get ready to die". And I laughed at that tweet, but my dudes it was absolutely true. Comiket's combination of scale, intensity, and sprinkle of heat stroke on the wait to get in is unlike anything I have ever seen. Over 250,000 people attended this summer's Comiket; vendor booths numbered in the thousands. Many of them are marked as 'hot commodities' - like the animation director for Bocchi the Rock, Kerorira, tabled there selling a booklet containing production docs from the show, and the line for that booth alone rounded a city block:

These people had priority lists and backup targets; I abandoned this entire idea from the get-go, arriving later and accepting that some things would be sold out. Absolutely the right call, but even then it was still just dizzying to try to take it all in; you can't possibly cover everything, I saw maybe half of the booths at most, and everyone's frenetic energy drags you along too into feeling like you are missing out. Its fun as well as intense though; everything being sold is unique to the event, a deeply precious work from the group that made it, and you find some extremely niche products. It was a bit surreal running into over a dozen artists & writers who I follow on Twitter from across a language barrier, in person, selling their work. It is not a convergence that happens anywhere else.

What I found interesting was that Comiket has this sort of reputation in the west as Japan's "Anime Con", despite them not being similar at all, actually! Comiket is a marketplace, not a con, as the "Comic Market" name implies - the similar starting letters are just a coincidence. While American cons do have large merch halls, and one can argue that they are merch-first affairs for many, that merch is very much not the 'point' of an anime con; the community-focused events that bring attendees together, and connect attendees to panelists, is the core focus. Meanwhile at Comiket the vendor is the focus; as an attendee you are customer, and interface with the event that way almost exclusively.

This is trivial in a certain sense ofc, but I think has knock-on effects; the idea of me, as a customer, "making friends" at Comiket seems like a non-starter. It happens the way it always can of course, but the design of the event generally mitigates against it, including making even the logistics of 'hanging out' difficult with absolutely no seating around. People can't even cosplay in the main hall! Cosplay is in its own hall, where you stand alone and have strangers take photos of you - then you change to go to vendors if you want. Western anime cons meanwhile were (initially) built to promote this directly, with events built around that. However, vendors at Comiket have an intensely different story; sharing tables, helping cover each other's booths for breaks, organizing stock together, etc. You can see how this event builds a sense of community for doujin authors; given their limited financial returns that community is imo a vital source of the longevity of Comiket as a successful event and cultural lodestone for the otaku community.

I think I sort of have a question of "why Comiket" in the back of my mind for this - why is Comiket the symbol of otakudom? Japan does have other events, more con-like ones, of course - but also Japan's fandom is just so much more focused on fanworks, and has been for way longer, with fanwork consumption as a primary mode of expression. It is a bit of a chicken vs the egg issue here; is that focus the reason Comiket is the center, or did having well-organized events like Comiket promote fanworks in a way other communities didn't have? Of course its gonna be a some of each and many more reasons besides, but attending it definitely highlighted that distinction. Comiket is a symbol of cultural difference.

Anyway will post about some of the things I got soon, gotta wax sociological for the brand first ^_^

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Two principles to protect internet users from decaying platforms

Today (May 10), I’m in VANCOUVER for a keynote at the Open Source Summit and later a book event for Red Team Blues at Heritage Hall; on Thurs (May 11), I’m in CALGARY for Wordfest.

Internet platforms have reached end-stage enshittification, where they claw back the goodies they once used to lure in end-users and business customers, trying to walk a tightrope in which there’s just enough value left to keep you locked in, but no more. It’s ugly out there.

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/10/soft-landings/#e2e-r2e

When the platforms took off — using a mix of predatory pricing, catch-and-kill acquisitions and anti-competitive mergers — they seemed unstoppable. Mark Zuckerberg became the unelected social media czar-for-life for billions of users. Youtube was viewed as the final stage of online video. Twitter seemed a bedrock of public discussion and an essential source for journalists.

During that era, the primary focus for reformers, regulators and politicians was on improving these giant platforms — demanding that they spend hundreds of millions on algorithmic filters, or billions on moderators. Implicit in these ideas was that the platforms would be an eternal fact of life, and the most important thing was to tame them and make them as benign as possible.

That’s still a laudable goal. We need better platforms, though filters don’t work, and human moderation has severe scaling limits and poses significant labor issues. But as the platforms hungrily devour their seed corn, shrinking and curdling, it’s time to turn our focus to helping users leave platforms with a minimum of pain. That is, it’s time to start thinking about how to make platforms fail well, as well as making them work well.

This week, I published a article setting out two proposals for better platform failure on EFF’s Deeplinks blog: “As Platforms Decay, Let’s Put Users First”:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/platforms-decay-lets-put-users-first

The first of these proposals is end-to-end. This is the internet’s founding principle: service providers should strive to deliver data from willing senders to willing receivers as efficiently and reliably as possible. This is the principle that separates the internet from earlier systems, like cable TV or the telephone system, where the service owners decided what information users received and under what circumstances.

The end-to-end principle is a bedrock of internet design, the key principle behind Net Neutrality and (of course) end-to-end-encryption. But when it comes to platforms, end-to-end is nowhere in sight. The fact that you follow someone on social media does not guarantee that you’ll see their updates. The fact that you searched for a specific product or merchant doesn’t guarantee that platforms like Ebay or Amazon or Google will show you the best match for your query. The fact that you hoisted someone’s email out of your spam folder doesn’t guarantee that you will see the next message they send you.

An end-to-end rule would create an obligation on platforms to put the communications of willing senders and willing receivers ahead of the money they can make by selling “advertising” in search priority, or charging media companies and performers to “boost” their posts to reach their own subscribers. It would address the real political speech issues of spamfiltering the solicited messages we asked our elected reps to send us. In other words, it would take the most anti-user platform policies off the table, even as the tech giants jettison the last pretense that platforms serve their users, rather than their owners:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/10/e2e/#the-censors-pen

The second proposal is for a right-to-exit: an obligation on tech companies to facilitate users’ departure from their platforms. For social media, that would mean adopting Mastodon-style standards for exporting your follower/followee list and importing it to a rival service when you want to go. This solves the collective action problem that shackles users to a service — you and your friends all hate the service, but you like each other, and you can’t agree on where to go or when to leave, so you all stay:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/19/better-failure/#let-my-tweeters-go

For audiences and creators who are locked to bad platforms with DRM — the encryption scheme that makes it impossible for you to break up with Amazon or other giants without throwing away your media — right to exit would oblige platforms to help rightsholders and audiences communicate with one another, so creators would be able to verify who their customers are, and give them download codes for other services.

Both these proposals have two specific virtues: they are easy to administer, and they are cheap to implement.

Take end-to-end: it’s easy to verify whether a platform reliably delivers messages from to all your followers. It’s easy to verify whether Amazon or Google search puts an exact match for your query at the top of the search results. Unlike complex, ambitious rules like “prevent online harassment,” end-to-end has an easy, bright-line test. An “end harassment” rule would be great, but pulling it off requires a crisp definition of “harassment.” It requires a finding of whether a given user’s conduct meets that definition. It requires a determination as to whether the platform did all it reasonably could to prevent harassment. These fact-intensive questions can take months or years to resolve.

Same goes for right-to-exit. It’s easy to determine whether a platform will make it easy for you to leave. You don’t need to convince a regulator to depose the platform’s engineers to find out whether they’ve configured their servers to make this work, you can just see for yourself. If a platform claims it has given you the data you need to hop to a rival and you dispute it, a regulator doesn’t have to verify your claims — they can just tell the platform to resend the data.

Administratibility is important, but so is cost of compliance. Many of the rules proposed for making platforms better are incredibly expensive to implement. For example, the EU’s rule requiring mandatory copyright filters for user-generated content has a pricetag starting in the hundreds of millions — small wonder that Google and Facebook supported this proposal. They know no one else can afford to comply with a rule like this, and buying their way to permanent dominance, without the threat of being disrupted by new offerings, is a sweet deal.

But complying with an end-to-end rule requires less engineering than breaking end-to-end. Services start by reliably delivering messages between willing senders and receivers, then they do extra engineering work to selectively break this, in order to extract payments from platform users. For small platform operators — say, volunteers or co-ops running Mastodon servers — this rule requires no additional expenditures.

Likewise for complying with right-to-exit; this is already present in open federated media protocols. A requirement for platforms to add right-to-exit is a requirement to implement an open standard, one that already has reference code and documentation. It’s not free by any means — scaling up reference implementations to the scale of large platforms is a big engineering challenge — but it’s a progressive tax, with the largest platforms bearing the largest costs.

Both of these proposals put control where it belongs: with users, not platform operators. They impose discipline on Big Tech by forcing them to compete in a market where users can easily slip from one service to the next, eluding attempts to lock them in and enshittify them.

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

[Image ID: A giant robot hand holding a monkey-wrench. A tiny, distressed human figure is attempting - unsuccessfully - to grab the wrench away.]

Image: EFF https://www.eff.org/files/banner_library/competition_robot.png

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/

[misguidedghostie]

❀ hello beautiful people of writeblr!

i’ve been lurking in this little corner of the internet for a while now, so I figured it was about time to introduce myself.

my name is kayli (she/her) but you can call me kay or ghostie! this is actually a side blog, so i follow from @bookishfreedom (and you can also find me on instagram at @bookishfreedom !)

❀ what i write

I write a little bit of everything, although most often fantasy and romance, and i always have multiple WIPs floating around. I’m really good at starting things, but not so good at finishing them… so I’m working on keeping one focus at a time

most of what i write is original work, but i used to be pretty into writing fanfic, and it’s something i’d like to get back into, if only a little. just as a low-pressure way to keep the creative juices flowing

❀ why I’m here

i’ve been writing for fun since i was old enough to hold a pencil, but i haven’t always been good at making writing a priority. i figure if I’m ever going to achieve my dream of someday being traditionally published, that needs to change

this blog will probably be a mix of things - writing excerpts, inspo, and whatever else writing related I come across :) hoping it’ll help keep me accountable, as well as being a fun way to track my writing journey.

and most importantly, I’d really love to make some writing friends 💖 so come say hi in the notes, i’d love to find lots more writers to follow and chat with. (i’ve never done them but consider me a tag game -friendly blog!!)

❀ my current (primary) wips

project birdsong - wlw romantasy (drafting)

• witch hunter x witch, enemies to lovers

• elemental magic

• lesbian mc & bi love interest

project red hood - low fantasy (outlining)

• loosely a little red riding hood retelling

• feminine rage, burn down the world vibes

• bi assassin FMC

❀ misc fun facts about me

I’m 24, bi, and recently diagnosed audhd

I’m a software engineer by day, and by night i have far too many hobbies fighting for my attention (incl but not limited to: reading, painting, video games, hiking…)

in college i minored in both german and creative writing (because i am an indecisive bitch at heart)

I don’t have any pets of my own, but at any given moment I am almost certainly fostering at least one animal!

❀ if anyone read all of that

you have earned my undying love and devotion. let’s be friends? 🥹 my dms are always open if you ever need someone to rant about writing with

[lunarfey]

it genuinely makes me sad when i see people making posts like 'sorry for shipping so much' so here's a reminder that it's okay if shipping is your primary focus in rp. don't apologize for writing what you enjoy & what makes you happy. if people don't like it, there are plenty of other blogs out there. as long as you're not forcing ships on people, there is absolutely nothing wrong with shipping being your main priority.