#Community citations and resources

[curlicuecal]

playing science telephone

Hi folks. Let's play a fun game today called "unravelling bad science communication back to its source."

Journey with me.

Saw a comment going around on a tumblr thread that "sometimes the life expectancy of autism is cited in the 30s"

That number seemed..... strange. The commenter DID go on to say that that was "situational on people being awful and not… anything autism actually does", but you know what? Still a strange number. I feel compelled to fact check.

Quick Google "autism life expectancy" pulls up quite a few websites bandying around the number 39. Which is ~technically~ within the 30s, but already higher than the tumblr factoid would suggest. But, guess what. This number still sounds strange to me.

Most of the websites presenting this factoid present themselves as official autism resources and organizations (for parents, etc), and most of them vaguely wave towards "studies."

Ex: "Above And Beyond Therapy" has a whole article on "Does Autism Affect Life Expectancy" and states:

The link implies that it will take you to the "research studies" being referenced, but it in fact takes you to another random autism resource group called.... Songbird Care?

And on that website we find the factoid again:

Ooh, look. Now they've added the word "some". The average lifespan for SOME autistic people. Which the next group erased from the fact. The message shifts further.

And we have slightly more information about the study! (Which has also shifted from "studies" to a singular "study"). And we have another link!

Wonderfully, this link actually takes us to the actual peer-reviewed 2020 study being discussed. [x]

And here, just by reading the abstract, we find the most important information of all.

This study followed a cohort of adolescent and adult autistic people across a 20 year time period. Within that time period, 6.4% of the cohort died. Within that 6.4%, the average age of death was 39 years.

So this number is VERY MUCH not the average age of death for autistic people, or even the average age of death for the cohort of autistic people in that study. It is the average age of death IF you died young and within the 20 year period of the study (n=26), and also we don't even know the average starting age of participants without digging into earlier papers, except that it was 10 or older. (If you're curious, the researchers in the study suggested reduced self-sufficiency to be among the biggest risk factors for the early mortality group.)

But the number in the study has been removed from it's context, gradually modified and spread around the web, and modified some more, until it is pretty much a nonsense number that everyone is citing from everyone else.

There ARE two other numbers that pop up semi-frequently:

One cites the life expectancy at 58. I will leave finding the context for that number as an exercise for the audience, since none of the places I saw it gave a direct citation for where they were getting it.

And then, probably the best and most relevant number floating around out there (and the least frequently cited) draws from a 2023 study of over 17,000 UK people with an autism diagnosis, across 30 years. [x] This study estimated life expectancies between 70 and 77 years, varying with sex and presence/absence of a learning disability. (As compared to the UK 80-83 average for the population as a whole.)

This is a set of numbers that makes way more sense and is backed by way better data, but isn't quite as snappy a soundbite to pass around the internet. I'm gonna pass it around anyway, because I feel bad about how many scared internet people I stumbled across while doing this search.

People on quora like "I'm autistic, can I live past 38"-- honey, YES. omg.

---

tl;dr, when someone gives you a number out of context, consider that the context is probably important

also, make an amateur fact checker's life easier and CITE YOUR SOURCES

[crowbraincoin]

Where to make friends as an adult.

Recently I saw a devastating citation stating that most adults find it hard to make new friends as it feels like there is a lack of community and resources to do so. It takes nearly 50 hours of time together to move from mere acquaintance to casual friend. For more advanced levels of friendship, it can take more than 200 hours before you can consider someone “close”. (source)

So, though I'm not an expert by any means, I thought I'd offer some examples, ideas, and tips on finding and making friends as an adult! Check below the break :>

Ideas on where to find friends:

🆓 Local free (or cheap) events. I went to a presentation that included a free beer in the ticket cost and I had a blast! Most cities have an events calendar you can look at. Soon I'm attending a free event for the transgender community honoring those that came before us. 📖 Library programs. Most libraries that I've seen don't even require a library card, just your email or phone number to sign up for a program! Be it a presentation, class, or event, the library is the place to be!

❕Events of interest. I think about what I'm interested in and what I would like to connect with people about, and I search around to see what I can find. I use sites like Eventbrite to help me search.

💻 Online Communities. For those who can't make it out very often, consider joining online communities by searching for fandoms or topics of interest and see if there is a discord server, bluesky feed, tumblr community, or other communities on socials!

How to make friends:

Consistency. Once you find a place you enjoy going to, an organization you whose events your enjoy attending, or a series of events that takes place KEEP GOING!! Consistency is key, you have to keep interacting with folks to become friends with them.

Transparency. Just be yourself, but that doesn't mean you should be trauma dumping! Sharing personal detail allows us to feel closer to people, but make sure you're not sharing too much information! That can always come later when you're closer friends.

Confidence. You have to believe that you're someone that people want to be friends with. Don't believe it? Well ask your current friends why they are friends with you! You'll not only get a confidence boost, but also hopefully share a touching moment with your existing friends.

Follow up. If you want to be friends with someone you've met, you have to build up the nerve to further connect with them. This means sharing phone numbers or socials.

Start talking. The best way to do this is by asking questions or by giving a non-threatening compliment. Try not to make it all about you, though it is easiest to talk about the one thing we know best (ourselves) it typically won't help you make new friends! Show that you're interested in them, their thoughts and feelings on the topic of the event or a neutral topic such as musicians or food.

Questions. Ask open ended and non-invasive questions and follow through. Examples below!

Invite them out. Once you've established an acquaintance, invite them to hang out! BUT if you're the one inviting them out then you need to make sure you have some plan in mind. This could be going to a trivia night, a local event, or going to a new place together.

Further questions or topics of discussion:

I'm new to this [place or reocurring event] how long have you been coming here? Do you like it so far?

If you could be a crab or a lobster, which would you be and why? (make sure you have an answer ready!)

How long have you known about [place or event theme]? What got you interested in [place or event theme]?

(If at an event with drinks or food) I'm having trouble deciding what to choose, what should I try?

What superpower would you want and why?

What do you do for work? Do you like it? (follow by asking non-invasive questions about their job. This is easier when you have no clue what the job position actually is, lol).

Hey, I really like your style! Where did you get your outfit?/Who or what are your fashion influences?

What questions or topics of discussion do you typically go for when meeting new people?

[anomalymon]

The Plural Community Needs to Write More Essays and Make More Resources

This has been a pretty big push in the alterhuman community, but hasn't quite reached the plural community yet. So

Systems: Write about your experiences! Post them!

It doesn't have to be good or coherent, but we want to see more experiences that aren't just bland, blanket positivity posts or term coining with zero substance. Some of our favorite writings we've read have had poor grammar and disjointed paragraphs!

Reasons to write about your experiences:

It can make people who have that experience both realize they're not alone and learn ways they can explore that experience

It can be education for people who don't experience that so they can learn what it's like

It gives more potential for citation for those who are making more comprehensive resources

They can be used several years down the line to track trends and events within the plural community

Also want to combat anti-endos? Write about your experiences. Humanize yourself (for lack of a better term). Create solidarity with others and encourage them to be out about themselves. Don't let psychiatric texts, syscourse rants, and simple definitions be the only information about your group!

We'll tack on what we're interested in seeing, but feel free to reblog and add anything too:

Guides! Guides on how your system does things, or guides that can help other systems

How plurality intersects with other disabilities or neurodivergence

Headspace tours, art about your headspace, collages

The effects drugs or medication has on your system

Non-traditional roles, or even how traditional roles do their day to day tasks

Different types of plurality intersecting (i.e. systems who fit more than one of DID, endogenic multiplicity, medianhood, soulbonding, etc)

Spirituality and religion intersecting with plurality

Seriously, whatever you want to talk about

[autismlitmag]

essay finished! brief intro time

hello everyone who doesnt know me, i am wash librarycard @librarycard from tumblr.com (they/them) and i want to make a magazine/journal/art-thing by autistic people for whomever is curious about quite literally whatever they're autistic about.

a tl;dr from a large body of text i wont write is that im a library student with a research/professional focus on digital archives and the digital humanities. i have four years of experience in libraries and DH in particular. im published but have never published, if you know what i mean, so i will be using my resources (other librarians and friends who have published) as collaborators or guides to get the framework for this established.

this will be a free, community-oriented, autism-proud body of work that is intended to give people a space to infodump. there are going to be some important """rules""" (regarding citations, pre-formatting, and general approve/deny criteria based on if i think your stuff is discriminatory or whatever, not that i expect it to be much of an issue or plan to be incredibly picky about things)

the point is for us all to come together and talk about the things we love to people who genuinely like to learn. do not expect this to be incredibly stuffy or professional as it is for fun first and foremost. i dont want this to be super academic-forward (not that works in it cant be) but i want things to be fairly credited, accurate, etc and to maintain a minimum workload for people who will be working on this (hence the pre-formatting which i will be more detailed about). this will be multimedia supported because i dont believe in limitations.

i am going to open submissions as soon as i get some actually workable guidelines typed up so that we can get started ASAP. please keep this mag in mind and that right now im one little guy trying to connect with autistic people everywhere because i love autism. <3

-w

[s-soulwriter]

Research Tips for Writing Your Book

Are you diving into the exciting world of writing and researching for your book project? Here's what you need to know to make your research journey a success:

Define Your Purpose: Before diving into research, have a clear understanding of your book's purpose and goals. Know the themes you want to explore and the message you wish to convey. This will give your research a focused direction.

Create a Research Plan: Outline the specific areas you need to research, set milestones, and establish deadlines. A well-structured research plan keeps you on track and helps you manage your time efficiently.

Use Multiple Sources: Diversify your sources. Books, academic papers, interviews, and digital resources each offer unique perspectives and insights. This diversity enriches your understanding and adds depth to your writing.

Organize Your Notes: Keep your research notes well-organized. Consider using digital tools like note-taking apps or physical notebooks with labeled sections for different topics. Efficient organization will save you time and effort later.

Fact-Check: Ensure the accuracy of your research. Verify any details that are crucial to your story or argument. Misinformation can erode your credibility and disrupt the reader's immersion.

Cite Sources Properly: Keep meticulous records of your sources and be diligent about citations. Use a recognized citation style (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago) to give credit to the authors and avoid plagiarism.

Interview Experts: Reach out to experts or people with firsthand knowledge relevant to your topic. Interviews can provide you with valuable insights, real-life experiences, and unique anecdotes to enhance your book.

Visit Relevant Places: If your book is set in a particular location, consider visiting it if possible. Experiencing the environment firsthand can help you capture its atmosphere, culture, and nuances more authentically.

Take Breaks: Research can be mentally taxing. Don't forget to take breaks to recharge and maintain a fresh perspective. Stepping away from your work can also lead to new insights and ideas.

Stay Open-Minded: Be open to unexpected discoveries during your research. Sometimes, the most profound insights come from unrelated sources or tangential information that you stumble upon while researching.

Keep a Journal: Maintain a research journal where you can jot down notes, ideas, and thoughts as they occur. This journal can serve as a valuable resource when you're writing your book.

Join Writing Communities: Connect with other writers in person or online. They can offer guidance, share their experiences, and provide emotional support when you face challenges during the research and writing process.

Revise and Refine: Don't think of research as a one-time activity. Continuously revisit and refine your research as your book evolves. New ideas or directions may emerge, and you may need to adjust your research accordingly.

Respect Copyright Laws: Understand the copyright laws applicable to your research. Ensure you have the rights to use specific materials, especially if you plan to incorporate them into your book. Obtaining permissions or licensing may be necessary.

Balance Research and Writing: While research is crucial, there comes a point where you must transition from research to writing. Avoid getting stuck in a perpetual research phase. Once you have enough information to start, begin writing and integrate research as needed in your work.

Remember that your research phase is an integral part of the creative process. It's where the foundation of your book is built, and it can be a fascinating journey in itself.But keep in mind, as you're writing your first draft, you can never know everything, never research everything. A second opinion is always good, and for that, you can ask friends, family, or even me on this blog.

[disabilityjusticeandyou]

About this subject guide

A subject guide is a collection of annotated citations that can be used as a starting point for research on a specific topic. In this subject guide, you'll find sources to help introduce you to the language used by disability studies – the academic study of the position of disabled people in society – and some introductory sources on disability justice, as well as resources for already disabled people. I hope this guide will serve both the disabled and nondisabled community and facilitate more engagement with disability justice!

So, what is disability justice?

Disability justice and disability inclusion are facets of the disability rights movement that gained momentum in the 1990’s and 2000’s and sought equal rights for disabled people in the US and internationally. Disability inclusion argues that simply fighting for access rights for disabled people is not enough; instead, disabled people need to be actively and intentionally included in daily life by going above and beyond the minimum required level of accessibility. Disability justice goes further by demanding the broader disability rights movement fight for justice for all disabled people, highlighting the imperative to learn and incorporate the liberatory practices of other historically marginalized peoples.

Table of Contents

Reference Books:

"Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally"

"Handbook of Disability: Critical Thought and Social Change in a Globalizing World"

"Introducing Disability Studies"

"Routledge Handbook of Disability Studies"

Books:

"Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice"

"Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century"

Databases:

Disability in the Modern World

Disability Studies Quarterly

Web Resources:

Disability & Philanthropy Forum

Project LETS

UC Berkeley Disability Lab

World Institute on Disability

[pkmnirl]

Bit of an aside here feel free to ignore this one. Reflecting on the past few years and the occasional talks of the community being better in the nebulous past.

I really don't believe there's an idealistic time that everyone in this community knew each other personally, and everyone was nicer, and everyone was interacting with one another—not entirely. I think anyone telling you otherwise is trying to sell you something. There were just less of us here a few years ago and so it might've felt that way in some circles. And quite honestly I think some people make it out to be that way to make themselves sound better, like it was kinder and better when they were the blog we all revolved around [citation needed]. In reality there's never been a singular blog that dictates how everything else is conducted. There not now nor ever been a singular face of rotomblr. There is no gatekeeper.

It's why I hope it's clear this blog is not intended to be that either, it's just a resource to maybe help and a place for me to talk about roleplaying as a medium because I'm passionate about it. My college thesis was on collaborative storytelling and the values of it! This blog was made as I was writing that thesis as an extension of that love! And it could've been a general roleplaying resource blog there's plenty of those and I enjoy them, but I wanted it to be pkmnirl because that's the space I've been in for over 2 years now.

But I can promise you a couple years ago there were still folks who didn't put in the effort to read other's writing, or who did but still struggled to be noticed because of dumb luck, or who felt somehow they joined too late and now they'll never be one of the larger blogs, or cliques formed of larger blogs that seemingly only interact with each other.

There's always been people who spring plotlines on their roleplay partners without discussing them or people who didn't tag sensitive topics. We as a community would try to introduce tags and methods to help with these things, but they've always been there. There's always been drama! People obsessed over numbers and interactions and all of that stuff then too. The only difference is none of us really had an idea of how exponentially the community would continue to grow.

Some things about how the community is run have certainly shifted—I mean we don't typically have big open-participation events anymore—but some things will always be the same. We've always had our different approaches and different cliques because as a decentralized community there is no singular approach or list of blogs to follow that magically make you part of the rotomblr in-crowd. Cliques will always happen because "cliques" are just friend groups, and people are always going to make friends, and selective roleplayers will always want to roleplay with their friends. And sometimes those people are rude about it for one reason or another. Sometimes you catch people on a bad day and they get irritated with you, sometimes your canons don't mesh, sometimes you misunderstand each other, sometimes they're just a bit of an ass.

We've always as a community had our issues and our blindspots. As much as I believe we should be aware of them and combat them I doubt they'll ever fully disappear. There's no perfect roleplay tradition we as a community must strive to get back to, there is only the path in front of you now as a writer. It's finding what brings you joy for however long. This community grows and changes as its writers do.

-Mod Sneasel

[talenlee]

Meet The OC: Bec Querel

This is an explanatory writeup of one of my Original Characters (OCs). Nothing here is necessarily related to a meaningful fiction you should recognise and is shared because I think my OCs are cool and it’s cool to talk about OCs you make.

Bec Querel lived the life – such as it was – of every child genius. Attaining truly prodigious achievement before adolesence, she burst onto the scene of national significance as a child prodigy and mutant, and just as quickly faded once it was realised that she wasn’t going to do anything of particular noteworthy significance compared to the latest celebrity starlet inclined to lose her underpants in public.

Furthermore, Bec realised that she was in possession of knowledge and understanding that was well beyond her means to communicate. Without a solid social grounding – she had blurred her way through her schooling in pursuit of more knowledge – she had realised she lacked a mature communication base. While in this state, she was approached by Dr Marion Shepherd of Project Corona, and asked to rejoin the project.

Seeing an opportunity to expand her skill base, and to perhaps use her mathematically-refined powers for some good, Bec agreed, and began her two-year journey through high school once more.

Bec Querel is a genius. She’ll tell you as much, but only if you ask. It’s not something she feels the need to volunteer, because that isn’t a thing that Ordinary And Reasonably Standardised experiences involve. An insufferable child genius she has resolved to redo her adolescent education to pursue not an optimal path through to maximised resources and instead stabilising social experiences that result in her not being a potentially Morally Ambiguous Doctorate Scientist (M.a.D).

Bec Querel is a living star, her biology somehow managing to overcome the herculean task of room-temperature fusion. She absorbs solar energy and emits heat, and her body operates like a nuclear furnace. Many of her internal organs are nonfunctional or vestigial, and her digestive tract is almost ornamental [citation needed]. Her body sustains itself through a superefficient permutation of breathing – as long as she has oxygen and carbon atoms to access, she can continue generating energy. Further, her cells emit most of their waste in the form of low-key emittant radiation, which she can focus into concentrated bursts and blasts.

As a hero, as an ally, she is a point of blatant utility. Since her mutation is effectively a nuclear fusion energy battery inside her own body, she is capable of powering some truly ludicrous devices, and uses that energy to drive devices that would otherwise be untenable to use in combat scenarios. It’s all very good to have a flash-vaporiser that can knock people unconscious by dehydrating them for an instant or overloading their optic nerves, but unless you can power that kind of device repeatedly, it’s not going to be useful in most active conflict environments. Bec is the power supply, and everything else she does is filtered through those tools. This even includes the imps that follow her around, three small fire goblins that she keeps contained with an electrically-powered rune portal to give them freedom to hang around her.

Bec’s powers are ultimately limited in their finesse. She wields radiation the same way one might wield a club, and lacking any good visual metaphor for the practice, she instead has to rely on fine-tuned processes and mathematical formulas that need adjustment on the fly. With this in mind, rather than causing irreperable harm, she has to keep her radiation tools somewhat inexact and imprecise – reducing people’s reaction times and making them feel nauseated is often the limits of her radiant prowess. Further to that, her ability to use heat and light to blind and confuse enemies are fairly two-dimensional in their applications, meaning that most enemies who come prepared can best them, usually with heavy optic shielding.

Finally, Bec may be a genius but that doesn’t make her cunning; her ability to outwit enemies often relies on an understanding of what they would or should do, and her lack of social familiarity with most social strata means that she’s not very good at predicting the sensible behaviour of even normal street gangs. All her theories work just fine, for spherical villains in a vacuum.

Mechanics

Bec was a fire control/radiation emission controller.

I don’t have a current build for her and really, if I did have a copy of her build to open it I’d first need to find an earlier version of Mids, open it in that, then export that build to a current version and daisy chain the build to curent Homecoming standards.

If I was building her today, I would deliberately be trying to give her a build that hit the goal of:

Permanent Accelerate Metabolism. This is doable around 130-140% global recharge, with Hasten, and then feeds into it. This would necessitate two ‘auto’ buttons – which I’d get by binding hasten to my ‘back’ button, a trick I’ve been doing on almost all characters these days.

A single-target attack chain of (probably) Char + An Epic Attack + Ring Of Fire, and a ranged aoe fireball effect. Treating these as attacks before controls is a bit risky, but remember that this is a character with a ludicrous amount of recharge; single target holds lasting a long time isn’t that important because she’d be attacking with it every few minutes.

I’d have to choose between using Hot Feet and standing near people to do more area damage and control, versus flying around at range and relying on ranged defense to protect her from mezzes and damage. The former wants Smashing/Lethal defense, the latter wants Ranged defense and resistance armours. This could hinge on how endurance-hungry her build is. If she’s an end hog, turning off Hot Feet and relying instead on resistance armours could play into Cardiac.

If I was building her today, I probably wouldn’t spare any expense. This is an old, beloved character with a very fun playstyle and a beloved characterisation. If I could get her friends back into the game, or even make comparative friends, there would be in my mind, no problem with literally bankrolling everyone to have fancy builds like hers.

Of course, that won’t happen, but it’s still a thing to think about. I still have this character occupying my headspace after all.

History

That is the description I wrote for Bec Querel, sometime before January 2010, and Bec herself was made in 2007. This is at least 15 year old writing. It is, in my opinion, weak, and part of what makes it weak is that it tells you a backstory at the expense of the character you’re going to interact with.

Bec Querel is an autistic supergenius nuclear astroscientist who noticed she was lonely at the age of 15 and decided to re-do highschool as an Optimal Social Experience. She did this because she did all the super-science she needed to do and now she wants friends, and she’s bad at having them. To do this, and not give up on the super science, she took on the task of a High School Hero (which I would, now, probably position at college rather than high school).

I don’t think I even have Bec Querel’s name camped anywhere now. It seemed to me to be one of those free, perfect versions of its name; a character who cared about temperature and radiation, where the unit for measuring those things was itself, also pretty believable as a name? I think it’s clear in my mind that she was a Rebecca, and therefore Bec, and maybe even had some degree of a semi-public identity (when she was publishing academically), that she turned into a private identity by inventing a fake surname for her hero identity. Papers that were published at first pseudonymously because of her age and then declared connected to a superhero identity strike me as a thing for her.

Ultimately, the history of Bec Querel is a tangle because she was one of my important milestones of a character. She was almost my first hero 50; she was easily one of my highest level heroes as I played her in a dedicated team, even if I wasn’t good at it. Bec was my introduction to the Virtue roleplaying server and becoming part of that roleplaying public space. Also, and this is important: Bec is defined in my memory by disappointing other roleplayers by being a butthole.

Also, Bec is a character whose sexuality I had to work out. I’m still not sure where she lands, but for a while there she was genuinely curious as to if she had a sexuality or not.

Oh! And she’s where I first used keybinds to do something impressive (in her case, singing all of ‘O Canada’ one line at a time). I’ve since become very familiar with the keybind system and now I like doing specific things to squeeze function out of the interface.

Conclusion

I miss what Bec was about. I miss the friends I had with her. I wish I’d been better at being a friend and I wish I’d been better at talking with people about what they needed and how they were feeling. I wish I’d been better at talking about what I felt.

Like I dunno, maybe I was specifically, kinda trash at being a good friend because of a hole blown in my high school life.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[sophieinwonderland]

In regards to the debunk you put. Pro endo ≠ Pro fakers

Hope this helps :)

Are you the person who made those posts?

Sending this on anon after your hostie got tired of you publicly humiliating yourself, made you delete your blog and put you in a time out?

Anyway, reminder that willogenic and protogenic systems are not faking and are largely the ones who created the endogenic community. You would know this if you had even the slightest understanding of plural history.

But you don't seem to have the slightest understanding of anything at all.

Is the reason you consider "thinking" a "strange phenomenon" because you are so fundamentally incapable of doing it?

Psychologists have studied tulpamancy. They've affirmed it as a real psychological phenomenon.

They've published peer reviewed studies on it through reputable publishers like Oxford University Press.

Frankly, even the suggestion that tulpamancers have written hundreds of guides for a practice that doesn't work, some of which are novel-length, and distributed them for free with nothing in return is pretty absurd. As is the suggestion that tulpamancers somehow can't distinguish between an inner monologue and a dialogue.

"Scientifically proven" how???

Where is the study? What was its methodology? Who conducted it? What was its scope and limitations? Did the study actually look at nonpathological forms of plurality or ONLY at DID? Heck, did it even look at other forms of CDDs?

If you've ACTUALLY done the research, you should have zero problem answering these questions. But something tells me you've never read a single peer reviewed paper in your entire life.

See, I've actually read academic papers. I've compiled my own list of resources for easy citation.

But you strike me as someone who is pretending. You're pretending to be educated and pretending to have done your own research when you've probably just formulated your opinions from random posts on the internet and TikToks.

In all this time, I've never once see a single instance of a psychiatrist or psychologist even claiming that you need negative experiences to be plural. I don't think the sources you're talking about actually exist.

This whole "scientifically proven" claim is just an argument by assertion. You're hoping that if you repeat it loudly and often enough, eventually people will believe it.

I mean, it was a "single" spelling error you made twice. If you make it once, it's a typo. When you make it twice, it's you honestly thinking factitious disorder is "factive disorder."

And I think that does demonstrate how little research you've actually done into psychology and how YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT.

Yeah, I'm calling you an anti-endo and a sysmed because you are through your actions, regardless of whatever label you might identify with.

I think even the coiner of 'endogenic systems' would agree with my assessment seeing as they already told you off.

In the end, this is all you have.

Arguments by assertion and personal attacks. You cling to these because you have nothing else to offer an intellectual discussion. And in the end, you just have to resort to endless childish namecalling.

[songoftrillium]

Meet The (Updated) Writing Team

Hello Kinfolks! These last two months have been quiet for y'all in terms of updates, but BUSY in terms of the work being done by the sept of contributors to this project!

At the start of October I put out the call for help, saying that this project cannot succeed without the help and support of the Werewolf fandom. I'm happy to report that you as a fandom have responded phenomenally, and production on this series is now underway! These last few months have been dedicated to recruiting team members, and researching our book framework. We've about filled in the main core of the team, and have already gotten started writing Book 1: Cliath!

October through November has been dedicated entirely to research, both putting together a collection of citations we'll be using in this first book, and passing out initial writing assignments. This list is sure to grow in time, but for now we have plenty of work to do!

With that all said, I'd like to introduce you to the team that are showcasing the Gaians.

Amy Waller (she/her)

Bluesky

Ms. Waller is a freelance writer and massage therapist based in not-quite Northern Virginia, and is a contributor to D.W.A.R.V.S. . Werewolf the Apocalypse was her first RPG, and she loves the themes of shapechanging as self-actualization and of trying to balance instinct and wisdom.

Amy has joined the team to depict the journals of Cryptobiologist Esme "Leaping Ghost".

Bek Andrew Evans (He/They)

Linktree

Mx. Evans is a freelance writer and illustrator from Jackson, Mississippi. He explores themes of mental illness, disability, abuse, poverty, queer themes and the intersection of these statuses. He uses body and psychological horror, meticulous attention to medical details, and deep character dives as some of his favorite methods to achieve those goals.

Bek has been indispensible in book research, and will be taking his experience with M20 Sorcerer and writing for the Hearthbound, and fictitious news article citations.

Evie Emerson Smith (She/It)

Tumblr

Evie is a programmer and designer of video games living with her pack in Pittsburgh, PA. She uses primarily anthropomorphic characters to tell stories about identity, queerness, and the power of community.

She has joined the team as a technical writer, and contributor to the opening comic: Cracking The Bone

Excelgarou (She/Her)

Carrd

She's been described as a Werewolf: The Apocalypse academic, and wears this title proudly. She labors at all hours on resources for Werewolf fans - particularly as regards aggregating otherwise obscure information - such as the Build-a-Veteran tool or (especially) the Werewolf Index Project.

Excelgarou is our lead researcher, ensuring our book citations and narrative voices remain consistent through all editions. She has also been conscripted to write the introductory passage on the World of Darkness, and to redraft the Children of Gaia.

James E. Deeley (He/Him)

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Jim has been playing, running, and writing for tabletop roleplaying games since he was first introduced to them over twenty years ago. Jim has presented on the subject of writing for games since 2010, and has been contracted to write mechanics and to do character design by the likes of High Level Games, Lostlorn Games, and Renegade Game Studios, but is equally skilled at writing lore and narrative, skills honed over two decades of running roleplaying games and medieval studies, lending a deep historical context to his writings.

Jim will write the Western Concordat, showcasing the Silver Fangs, Fianna, Get of Fenris, and Glass Walkers.

J.F. Sambrano (They/He)

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J. F. Sambrano is an author of horror and (urban/dark/depressing?) fantasy and an advocate for indigenous rights. He lives in Washington (the state) and is originally from Los Angeles (the city); the differences are staggering but the ocean and the I-5 are the same. He is Chiricahua Apache (Ndeh) and Cora Indian (Náayarite). He may or may not be a believer/practitioner of real world magic. If he were, he would not be interested in your hippy-dippy, crystal swinging, dream-catcher slinging garbage.But magic is real, let’s not fuck around.

Beloved Indigenous World of Darkness author J.F. Sambrano is joining our team to depict the Bastet in the Dawn Tribes! A friend and frequent topic of discussion on this blog, we are honored to have him on the team to bring the Werewolf: the Apocalypse he's long-felt the world deserves to life!

LeeKat (She/Her)

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Lee is a freelance artist, writer, and English teacher based in Brazil. The bulk of her content is furry, homoerotic, and TTRPG-centric works. Her writing focuses on exploring the depths of emotion with tales of self-discovery, queerness, and finding hope in a desolate world.

A huge lover of Werewolf, themes of generational trauma and rediscovering oneself in a world of turmoil resonated deeply, as well as themes of spirituality and ancestry. Writing for this project, she hopes to bring others the same catharsis she felt through exploring the books and their many themes.

Mórag (it/its)

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Mòrag is a writer and botanist from Te Wai Pounamu. It writes both botanical articles and horror stories, the former to raise awareness of ecological issues and the latter to explore what it means to be human, represent trans and autistic experiences, and addiction. It's horror writing is best recognized for its use of visceral first-person perspectives, body horror, and the grotesque. It is influenced heavily by works such as the Hellraiser films and the philosophies of Georges Bataille.

It has joined our team to write the story portions of the Song of Trillium, showcasing the legend of Tawatuy.

[racefortheironthrone]

sorry to send an ask about such an old post (loved it by the way!!!), but do you have any citations for charles' education history? (tumblr dot com / racefortheironthrone / 650366189549338624)

its kind of become a running joke among charles obsessives (theres dozens of us! dozens!) that he's actually just adding degrees to a list whenever he needs to seem qualified 😭 bc he's always assigned this long list of degrees, but its so hard to find individual confirmations of them in the text! and even when you think you've found one, there's a detail that contradicts a different supposed confirmation. but he IS clearly, to reference your stellar phrasing, superfluously educated

thanks! + thank you for sharing a perspective on 616 charles that is interested in who he is as a person — we desperately need more of that 🥲

Hi, not a problem - always happy to chat about Xavier and X-stuff.

I got the info about his educational background from the Marvel wikia (which is a very handy resource for anyone who's into X-stuff, btw), so I would look to the footnotes there.

It's possible that Xavier's engaged in credential fraud; that happens quite a bit in elite higher education. As I said in the post, however, I think it's more likely that:

"Charles has difficulty with social interactions, because he didn’t have much in common with his chronological peer group and spent a lot of his life in a bubble of other academics."

As a coping mechanism for his social awkwardness, he became a perpetual student and then a perpetual academic, so that he could stay in his bubble and avoid having to grow as a person by interacting with people with different backgrounds and life experiences.

And this tendency is quite common in the Marvel Universe: T'challa has 5 PhDs, Hank McCoy has 6 PhDs, Reed Richards has 18!

Now from a Doylist perspective, this is just due to the fact that comic book writers don't understand or care about the economics of academia and are just looking for a simple way to communicate "this character is a genius."

But from a Watsonian perspective and an insider perspective, it suggests a lack of self-confidence and sense of direction, such that rather than going out on the job market, getting a job and having to show their intellectual community that they can drive a coherent research agenda, these people just want to stay in the psychological womb of studenthood where they can keep trying to "find themselves" with disconnected dissertations in different fields.