#Fluent Design System

[txttletale]

do you have any feelings on any of jenna moran's ttrpg systems?

yes! i fucking love them. i like chuubo's and nobilis for all the usual reasons people love them (i haven't had the time to check out glitch) but also what's so great about jenna moran's systems is that every last word of them is dripping with voice. every mechanic and piece of flavour text has a perspective, a clear perspective, usually a playful and fun one but sometimes a mournful or angry or wistful perspective too. it's what makes them masterpieces.

honestly though my favourite jenna moran game is one i haven't played and likely never will because it's not super playable and it doesn't really seem meant to be played: wisher, theurge, fatalist is a masterful and fluent thesis on game design disguised as a shitpost disguised as a tabletop roleplaying game. some highlights:

[goldenvulpine]

ok here is a helpful guide for Superman fans in Tumblr when referring to different eras of Superman:

Golden Age Superman: Kal-L. The Original. Very cocky. Very charismatic. Couldn’t fly as a kid. Has no solid code against killing. Chaotic Good. Can actually fly now. Has a disturbingly high kill count. Loves Toxic Women (Lois Literally Drugged him one time). Literal WW2 veteran. Not from Kansas. Smallville, East Coast (likely New York). Is now married to Lois. Head of the Daily Star (not Planet). Is Power Girl’s cousin. Is very aggressive. Still saved people from suicide canonically. Canonically religious (Married Lois in a Kryptonian Ceremony). “What trauma?” Seen everyone he loves die.

Silver Age Superman: Kal-El. The Most Popular. Speaks fluent Kryptonese. Total “50’s Dad”. The Strongest. Also the most conformist. Strict Code against killing. Lawful Good. From Smallville. Is canonically Religious (For Rao, his culture’s God). Has multiple cousins. From Smallville, East Coast (likely Maryland this time). Says he wouldn’t hit a woman. Probably has. Sneezed a Solar System Away. Somehow the WEIRDEST one. Also the biggest Prankster. Was Superboy. Was part of the Legion. Saw Pa die. Refuses to acknowledge his trauma. Needs a hug but won’t say it. Works for the Daily Planet. Alan Moore loves him.

Bronze Age Superman: Kal El. Actually just Silver Age Superman but “weaker”. Still the Strongest. Your favorite writer’s favorite Superman. Neutral Good. Originator of the Clex Drama. Met God. Is a pure scientist. Has Three Canon Endings. All of them are literal tragic endings. Is best bros with Batman. Is the Original Nightwing. His cousin is the Second Nightwing. Dick is actually the Third Nightwing. Loves his bro Jimmy Olsen. Smarter than Batman. Made a vow to protect life. Newscaster. Grant Morrison and Mark Waid love him.

Dark Age/Byrne Superman: Clark Kent (Kal El). Still moody. Weakest Superman. Thinks he’s Neutral Good, still Lawful Good. Doesn’t like Krypton. Designer Baby. Best Journalist. Canonically a Porn Star. Died. Came back. Most insecure Superman. Loves ‘Murica. Killed like three people one time. Strict code against killing. “Superman is what I do, Clark is who I am”. Legion who? Superboy who? Supergirl who? Football Star. Pure Sarcasm. Agnostic. People say they hate him but is the reason Smallville, Man of Steel and STAS exist. Literally wants to fuck Jimmy’s Mom. Triangle Era (90’s) Superman: Clark Kent (Kal-El). Is less moody now. Makes more Jokes. Still a drama queen. Smarter. Stronger. Wants to write a Novel. Married Lois. Jimmy is the Best Man. Good Leader. True Lawful Good. The Superman you probably think of the Most. Coolest guy. 90’s Superboy (the best) 90’s Supergirl (Matrix). Was once Gangbuster (Chaotic Neutral). Mind so strong, he killed a psychic in his sleep without knowing it. Christian (Married Lois in a Church). Still knows Kryptonian Kung Fu (Torquasm Vo/Rao). Dick Grayson’s 3rd Dad. Tim Drake’s 4th Dad. Slept with a Mermaid in Collage. Is fun.

Post-Crisis/2000’s Superman: Clark Kent (Kal El) Retcons out the ass. Kara comes back. Knows Boxing now. Knows Kung Fu. Held a Black Hole in his hand. Destroyed Moons. Agnostic. Still Lawful Good. Loves his wife. Loves his adopted son. Chris Kent. His son is Nightwing. His other son is also Nightwing. Walked the earth one time because of war crimes. Saves people from suicide again. Was a Kryptonian general one time. Literal Genius. Smarter than Batman. Is the GOAT. Hates the President.

New 52 Superman: Clark Kent (Kal-El) Very cocky. Very charismatic. Couldn’t fly as a kid. Has no solid code against killing. Chaotic Good to Neutral Good. Lower kill count than Post-Crisis. Loves Toxic Women (Loves the craziest version of Diana). Had a Mid-Life Crisis in his Mid-20’s. Was a Wrestler. Talks like Jason Todd/Wally West/Nightwing/Peter Parker/every mid-20’s white boi in the 90’s-00’s. Everyone hated him. Wasn’t as bad as they say. Is the Andrew Garfield/Spider-Man of Supermen. Killed off without good reason.

Rebirth Superman: Clark Kent (Kal-El). Is literally just Triangle Era Superman. With kids. No Chris tho. Still Lawful Good. Strongest of the Post-Crisis versions. Tries to be a good dad. Is a decent dad. Except for the time where he left Jon alone. So he’s a bad dad. I’m still not over that. Bendis loves him. Says please alot. Watches Anime. Kind of a dead beat. I miss Chris.

if you want summations of other Supermen I didn’t cover you are welcome to ask.

[k9emote]

Hi. Virgil here 👋 I know some people have been wanting some "get to know us" posts but we are literally so bad at talking about ourselves on the spot despite the narcissism. So what I'm gonna do is give you some info on us as a system and a list of people who if you comment a number will get a post including faceclaim, terms, sys role, source etc :)

Here's a little information on us

We are wasian, japanese & american

We are a minor

We coined our own term Anifaux which you can find on our page and we identify as canid&felidfaux which are subtitles of that identity.

We are verbal flux and we were completely nonverbal as a child before speech therapy

Our first language is ASL and we were fluent as a child but have forgotten a lot of since we started speaking verbally. We were shunned for being nonverbal as a child but now that we are realizing our verbality is not anyone else's business we are getting back into it for our comfort

We have NPD, ASPD and more.

We originally started a blog because @tontoemojis inspired us to 🫶

We've never drawn emojis or used tumblr at all until a few days before our blog started

We've been drawing and animating to cope since age 7

We are a Virgo

Our Special interests include Undertale, Character/Story Design&Development, Literature, Mythology, Art Theory&Animation, ANIMALS, Psychology, Warrior Cats, DSMP((THE ROLE-PLAY STORY, NOT THE CREATORS.)), and MUSIC !!!!

1. Kain / Techno {17, he/she}

2. Nick / Pandas {18, he/him}

3. JS {18, he/rot}

3. Chris {ageslider, he/him}

4. Thien {ageslider, he/she}

5. Reaper {28? he/she}

6. Atlas {24, he/thy}

7. Rev {late 20's, she/he}

8. Warden {22, he/vault}

9. Rannyx {20, they/them}

Those are all the frequent fronters besides littles that we won't be giving info on 🎉 Just comment a number and they'll get their own intro post

[angel-of-the-moons]

A Rose Under The Moon

Moon Knight System (Marc/Steven/Jake) x Fem!Reader

TW/CW: Violence, graphic violence, blood, fighting, human trafficking, mentions of abuse, drug use, child abuse, sex trafficking, angst. So much angst.

MINORS DNI: I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR CONTENT YOU CONSUME

A/N: Whew! I'm proud of this one! Many thanks to my bestest friend, Artemis, who himself has DID and helps me understand this condition and describe them (hopefully) more accurately! His system is a big help in me learning more about this subject! (Extra note: any Spanish spoken in this fic is in italics. As I am not a fluent speaker by any means, it is mostly translated by Google. Have fun!)

🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒🌒

Chapter 2:

Inside Voices

(Steven, no…) Marc's voice groaned out, glaring at him through the shared reflection in the glass door.

"But Marc! I've lived here for ages and didn't know this shop was here!" Steven beamed, smiling widely. Thankfully the wireless headphones he had on made him look like he was on the phone, and not completely off his rocker…

Marc ran his hands through his curly black hair. (You have enough books!)

"But this store might have books I don't have!" He pointed out.

(Just let him look, hermano.) Jake sighed, his reflection staring up at Steven from a puddle on the ground.

"Yes, thank you, Jake. At least somebody encourages my hobby!" Steven huffed indignantly at Marc.

(Jake, stop babying him!)

(Hey, nothing wrong with having a hobby?) The man snorted.

Marc rolled his eyes and slumped his shoulders, he directed a tired glare back at Steven.

(You gonna go in or just stare at the front door?) He finally asked.

Steven grinned like an excited boy going into a candy shop.

Marc really needed to have a talk with Jake about this. Steven already had too many books in their flat!

Steven pulled the headphones out of his ears and shoved them in his pocket as he opened the door, nearly jumping when the bell dinged.

He looked around, rather impressed with how much was inside a small space. Steven almost jumped again when the clerk spoke.

"Hi! Welcome to Here Today Books!" She said cheerfully.

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(I'm just saying, Steven… that's too many fucking books.) Marc said, crossing his arms at Steven through the reflection in the window across from his desk, cluttered with papers, folders, and books on various subjects of the Egyptian religious pantheon, architecture, etcetera.

"Oh, hush." Steven hummed, pushing his glasses up his nose as he examined the pages on one of the old books he held in his hand.

(Steven…) Marc sighed, exasperatedly. 

"I know, I know." He sighed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. The stubble there was getting rather coarse. Maybe he could talk Jake out of growing that mustache or goatee he was thinking about…

Steven looked over and picked up the bookmark, sighing deeply as he looked at the gold-tipped rose sealed so lovingly in the plastic. Small vine-luke designs had been penned into the colorful sheet of paper inside the plastic as well.

(Very Beauty and The Beast, no?) Jake mused, his reflection from the mirror on the desk looking at Steven with a cocky grin.

It helped them, they found, to have as many reflective surfaces as possible in their flat; it enabled them to talk to each other simultaneously and "see" one another. Sure they could all talk in the headspace, and when they co-fronted it was almost like they could feel each other; rubbing shoulders, as it were, but sometimes you just needed to see the other person, y'know? Outside of your own head? Shared head? The terms still confused poor Steven, at times.

"I s'pose." He hummed, holding the plastic in his fingers gently, as if it were made of the thinnest glass. Absentmindedly, he pulled the sleeve of his shirt up and looked at the inside of his left wrist.

A mark was there.

A rose, to be precise.

Sometimes it would look like it was wilting, other times it was blooming and vibrant… other times it was closed, not ready to bloom.

Right now, it was somewhere between wilting and blooming. He wasn't sure what it meant. He thought back to Marc's ex-wife, Layla. And how he practically fell head over heels with her when they first met.

He had hoped, with Layla, that she had a corresponding mark… but she didn't. Layla was one of the few who didn't have a mark, or in the very least it hadn't shown up yet. Which isn't entirely implausible… But… something happened. After escaping the Duat, coming back to life, fighting Ammit… finding out about Jake.

They just drifted apart. The sparks that may have been there snuffed out, any hints at romance gone from the equation. They all decided it was better to leave it at that.

Well, at least they were all still on friendly terms, Steven mused. Layla still spoke to he and Marc via phone, or even email. It took Steven forever to convince Marc to ditch that "old dinosaur piece of plastic" he called a phone, and stick with his touch-screen.

Except… Jake. Ah, Jake. Layla never fully trusted him.

(Steven.) Jake said, getting his attention, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Hm?" He hummed, turning the bookmark over and over in his hand thoughtfully, eyes fluttering back to their mark on their wrist.

(It's my turn tonight.) Jake reminded him softly.

"Oh… right." He cringed. "Bollocks, I hate this…"

(I know, hermanito. But it has to be done, or the bad guys roam free…)

"All right, just… don't let me see any of it, yeah?" Steven sighed, placing the bookmark on the table as he put his hands in his lap.

(Of course.) Jake replied.

Marc stayed silent.

Suddenly, eyes flew closed, the jaw clenched; a bit of a sharp pain fluttered briefly through the brain at the sudden switching. They were getting better at seamless transitions, but sometimes some form of discomfort lingered. The body sat, almost like an empty vessel waiting to be filled. Whether it was five minutes or five seconds, it was unsure. 

When the eyes opened again…

Jake was sitting where Steven sat. Steven's reflection wasn't in the mirror as Jake's had been, previously. He was left alone with Marc staring at him from the inky-black reflection in the window.

(I really hate that we have to do that to him.) Marc sighed, shaking his head.

"He's too gentle for our work, Marc." Jake said, clicking his tongue as he stood, walking over to the wardrobe in the corner and reaching out to grab his old leather coat. "He's too… good."

(I know.) Marc's reflection was in the fishtank now, where Gus the Second was swimming alongside… they really should think of a name for the other two.

Jake tugged the old worn garment on and pulled the gloves out of his jacket pockets with a sharp yank, flexing his fingers as they filled out the soft, well broken-in leather. Lastly, he pulled out that golf cap and slid it on his head, and looked at Marc.

(You don't have to see this, either, Marc.) He said to him.

(Somebody's gotta bear the weight with you, brother.) Marc said intently.

"Gracias por eso, hermano." Jake mumbled, twirling the flat's keys in his fingers as he walked to the front door.

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He sat, kneeling on the rooftop, his body hunched in a way that made him look like a gargoyle, unflinching and unmoving in his gaze; the cape gifted to him flared out almost like a long, tattered set of broken wings.

He wasn’t sure why he decided here of all places was a good place to talk. Why here? What drew him here? Was it the lingering joy and comfort Steven felt when he came in earlier that day?

The sign was hand-painted and in need of a new coat. Flecks of it had chipped away, the exposed wood beneath bleached by years of exposure. But… why was the bookshop important enough to stand outside now?

He looked down below, the curtains were pulled back still in the flat above, old lightbulbs casting a soft, orangish glow to everything inside. He could barely see from this vantage point across the street the boxes of books and book stacks lying on a desk in front of the window. Small knick knacks lined the sills, a hanging plant pot on the outside containing flowers of different kinds, slightly wilted from the lack of sun from the past few days, and now the night.

He stirred when he watched the young woman inside walk to the window in the living room and close the curtains; then tracked her movements as she went about her nightly rituals.

She seemed relaxed. Comfortable. Safe.

She didn't need protection tonight.

He felt the air chill around him, seeping through the wrappings of his armor.

“Jake Lockley.”

There it was. The voice he was waiting for. The voice that always knocked him away from his personal thoughts. The voice that told him of his duties during the night.

Khonshu.

“Yes, father?” Jake asked, standing up, turning to see the large imposing silhouette of a gaunt man, enshrouded in ancient, wispy linen wraps, a tattered shawl hanging from his bony shoulders, clenched in his fist; in place of a head was the dessicated and fleshless bone of a bird skull, small web-like tendrils wafting about here or there. Large, eyeless sockets fixed him in a crushing gaze, the skull tilting in an almost inquisitive manner.

(I wish you’d stop calling him that…) Marc grumbled from within. 

“Have you located the evil-doers I sent you after?” Khonshu’s ancient and ethereal voice grated out.

“Yes. I plan on taking them out tonight.” Jake replied dutifully.

Khonshu tilted his head at Jake, and stood from where he sat on the aircon unit. “Now… Why are you here? This is not where you usually prefer to speak with me.”

“I… don’t know.” Jake admitted softly. “Felt like I had to be here.” 

“Hmm.” The god hummed, stopping to stand next to Jake, looking down at the flat below. “Indeed.”

“Was there… anything else, father?” Jake asked, looking up at him.

“No. You can leave. I will issue new orders when our quarry is dead and dealt with.”

“Of course.” Jake bowed his head, pressing his fist over the moon on his chest; sparing one last glance down at the woman before walking away, leaping to another rooftop with superhuman strength.

Khonshu stayed. Observing, just for a moment longer, at the woman inside the safety of her home. 

“Interesting.” He mused to himself, stamping his staff down and vanishing in a haze of mist.

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Jake panted, pulling one of his darts out of the chest of the man who had tried to previously shoot him just now. He sheathed the weapon and approached the shipping container, hesitating for a moment before smashing the lock open with his bare fist and hauling the heavy doors open.

Inside were half a dozen women and young girls, and children. Some of them naked, others half-dressed. Many of them were dirty and half starved, injuries evident on their poor bodies.

He noticed how they all flinched, backing away from him.

“I won’t hurt you.” He said, in a tone as soft as he could possibly manage, trying to ease their worries. “I’m here to save you.” 

Jake leaned down and pulled the jacket off the dead body of the man he had just killed, stepping over the corpse to the young woman nearest to him. 

She was clad only in her underwear, bruises and track marks lining her body. He draped the jacket over her shoulders, zipping it closed for her as he guided her arms through the sleeves. 

“The police are on their way. You’ll all be safe, soon.” He said, his glowing white eyes fixed in the black abyss of his mask immediately zeroed in on three women, clinging their arms around a group of small children.

The youngest couldn’t have been older than three years old. Her eyes cold, far too ancient and haunted for one so young, clouded by the things she’d been forced to endure for the profit of her traffickers; her tiny body already bearing the scars of the abuse and trauma. Jake’s fist balled at his sides as he forced his breathing to try and calm; adrenaline surging through him again, a hot coal of rage dropping deep into the pit of his stomach.

He wished he could kill them all over again. He wished he could make them all suffer in ways they could barely process for the things they’d done. He wanted to–

His cloak was tugged on, snapping him out of his seething.

He looked down, and a small boy, all skin and bones looked up at him. He looked to be about seven. Could be older, as malnourishment can inhibit growth. His big green eyes looked up at Jake as he wrapped the edge of his cloak around his shoulders like a blanket, his dirty and grimy fingers clinging to the blood-soaked material, seeking comfort he so desperately needed. Jake felt his heart crack in two. He looked almost like...

He closed his eyes for a moment and kneeled, getting as eye level with the boy as he could.

“You’re safe now. They can’t hurt you anymore.” Jake said, his voice quiet, almost broken. He reached for a ratty blanket on the ground and covered the little boy with it, the sight of him covered in a bloody cape almost too much for him to bear. 

He felt his breathing hitch when the little boy smiled up at him, gap-toothed and happy. He handed the boy off to a woman who looked to only be maybe nineteen.

“Stay…” He cleared his throat, looking at everyone within the container, standing back to his full imposing height. 

“Stay here while I make sure it’s safe and I got them all. Someone will be here soon to get you all out of here.”

“Thank you.” One of the women sobbed quietly, clutching onto what looked to be her own child. They looked too similar for them to be anything but related.

Jake turned, his cape flowing out behind him like a white shadow as he stalked into the warehouse beyond, his fists already tight; the spiked knuckles on the back of his hands ready for blows he was all too eager to deliver.

He stepped over bodies, beaten, broken. Lifeless. 

All at his hand. They deserved worse.

The eerie quiet of the cavernous space was only interrupted by the tinkling of chains suspended from the rafters, wind whistling through unseen cracks. 

He could hear the sirens in the distance closing in, but he didn’t relax. He wouldn’t. Not until he was sure.

Not until he knew they were all dead.

Jake’s hands trembled with anticipation as that coal of rage ignited into an inferno, burning hot and low in his belly, sending sparks through his bloodstream. He was so far into that haze of red, he missed the man rushing him with a kabar knife. 

He must have missed that one, the coward was probably hiding the moment the carnage broke out.

The moment he turned, he felt the blade slip easily through the wrappings of his dark armor, piercing the flesh and organs beneath, the pain tearing through his body like a macabre tsunami.

He brought his fist out, slamming the spiked knuckles into the face of the man.

The coppery scent of blood, the crunch of bones and cartilage filled his nose and were deafeningly loud in his ears. He was sure he watched his eyeball dislodge, hanging over the crushed and bloody expanse of his cheek as his body was sent flying into the cargo loader nearby.

The sound of his bones turning almost to powder overpowered the haunting ambience of the dark lair.

Jake marched over to him and gripped him by the shirt, rearing his fist back for another punch, even as his body hung limp in his grasp. 

Only… he couldn’t land the blow. He just couldn’t. It was one thing to kill to protect. But it was another to beat a corpse that he’d already wrought with one blow. His ears picked up the sounds of shouting, sirens, bootfall. A helicopter whirred above, spotlight shining at the carnage below.

He stood, clutching at the knife still sticking out of his side as he dragged his feet, pulling the shell of his body outside, where he was met with armored police officers, wearing what he assumed was some kind of riot gear. The pain in his side was maddening, he almost didn’t hear them demand he kneel. But he did hear a woman cry.

He lifted his gaze to see the woman he’d handed the boy off to; the child still clutched in her arms as they looked over at him, their eyes locking with his.

“He saved us!” She cried.

“Don’t hurt him, please!” Another shouted.

“He’s a nice man!” A child sobbed, clinging to the emergency blanket around her frail body.

Jake felt like he could cry, he felt his heart swell to bursting; not able to tear his gaze away from the innocents he’d saved, that he killed for. Not even when one of the officers approached him, gripping his elbow to keep him steady.

The older man sighed, unable to cuff the man that the human trafficking victims were shouting and crying accolades for. Even if he apparently killed all these monsters bare-handed. “Come on, lad. Let’s get you looked at. We can’t leave that knife in ya.” 

“I’m fine.” Jake mumbled, looking at the ground. His shoulders slumped.

“Like hell you are.” The officer turned and shouted for a medic.

“Perdóname, mi corazón." Jake muttered to himself. To someone else.

But as the man carrying the equipment bag jogged towards him, Jake gripped the handle of the knife and wrenched it free in one tug, blood spurting from the wound.

“Good God!” The officer gasped, reaching out to press his hand over the gushing wound. “Are you insane, boy?”

“Yes.” Jake mumbled, pulling his hand away from him, with gentle care that betrayed the violence his bloody fingers had wrought mere moments ago. He felt the wound close, the magic and blessed armor already performing its duty. Just as he had, so violently.

Jake straightened his posture as the medic and the officers backed away in a strange mixture of fascination, horror, and awe.

“Who… what are you?” The medic breathed.

Jake turned away, his gaze to the sky.

“I’m Moon Knight.”

And with that final goodbye, he leapt up, disappearing into the blackness and depths of the night, his heart heavy but relieved, cloak streaking across the shadows, as if to chase them away.

Chapter 3: Link

[qs63]

Amestris Military Training

This is the fourth of my series of long posts about the Amestrian Military. This is the speculative part of this meta. Little is known about the training the Amestrian soldiers receive, the most we have seen about it comes from the OVA “Another man's battlefield” and a few scenes in the manga. However, as we have seen through this series of posts, Arakawa took a lot of inspiration from the real world. The Imperial Japan military training seems to match a lot of what we see in FMA. Brace yourself, this is long and history heavy. 

Once again, I'm not a historian and I'm not fluent in Japanese. Please let me know if there's anything I missed or got wrong.

To see the rest of this meta series check out the Main Post.

First a little background about the Empire of Japan. It was the Japanese nation-state that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the reformed Constitution of Japan in 1947. Its history is divided in three periods named after the emperors that presided over them: Meiji (1868-1912), Taishō (1912-1926) and Shōwa (1926-1947).

This is a period of transformation for Japan, where they opened to the world and tried to modernize themselves and catch up with the western nations… by copying them. Meiji Japan is almost a pseudo European country. Their laws, government organization, education, etc. was reformed and modeled after the contemporary European nations and the United States of America. The influence of the third French Republic was especially strong in the early Meiji period, with it getting revised and remodeled in favor of other systems — mostly German as the relationship with the USA and its allies soured — throughout the years.

This is also the case in their military education. 

Officers training  During the early Meiji, the military cadets (meaning candidates to become officers) received a French style training which was later changed to a German style cadet system. The main difference between the two systems is that the German style required for the cadets to gain experience as Non-commissioned officers before graduation, while the French one didn't. 

Based on what we see in Fullmetal Alchemist they follow the German style system that lasted from 1887 to the American intervention in 1945. The main indication of this is that we see Riza Hawkeye in Ishval as a NCO.[1] She would've never been there under the French system. The time frame of the German style training also matches what we see in FMA. I'll explain this a bit later. 

For now let's concentrate on who and how someone could enter the Imperial Japan Army Officers Academy.

Three types of students could enter the academy: graduates of the Army's Children School, graduates of  Junior high school (both these schools covered ages 12 to 16), and selected active Non-commissioned officers who applied for officer training. 

The graduates of the army's children school didn't need to pass any exam to enter the academy, but only the best were selected. They had to compete for positions with the external candidates, those aged 16 to 19 who passed the recruitment exam (which required at least a junior high school education). Both of these students would enter the academy as cadets.

While the program was revised many times, the longest standing program was the 2 courses 4 years system. 

In this system the cadets would first take a two year military officer preparatory course that was equivalent to regular higher education. They were taught science, history, geography, etc. by civilian teachers. Their rank (the equivalent of private first class), military branch, and unit were designated upon graduating the preparatory course. 

After graduation the cadets would serve in their designated unit for six months (during which time they were promoted to corporal), afterwards they would be given the rank of sergeant upon entering the main military officers course. 

The main course was 1 year and 10 months long, and it was where the actual military training happened. The cadets would be taught tactics, military history, military system, weaponry, marksmanship, etc. they would also receive training in camp duty, shooting, swordsmanship, gymnastics, horsemanship, etc. in addition field trips were also conducted. 

Upon graduating they would become Apprentice Officers (a rank equivalent to Sergeant Major, the highest of the NCO ranks) for a trial period of about six months. Afterwards they would be officially appointed as 2nd Lieutenant (the lowest of the officers ranks) on the recommendation of their original troop's officer corps.

Now you might be wondering why I think Arakawa used this system (or rather one inspired by it) in Fullmetal Alchemist. I have a few reasons.

The first is the characters' ages. We know Roy and Hughes are 18 in “Another man's battlefield”, and we see them training in marksmanship and military tactics. We also see they have upperclassmen which implies the course is longer than one year.[2] We also know that Roy is 20 years old when he graduates the academy and visits the Hawkeye family, thanks to brotherhood giving us the date of Berthold's death.[3]

This all matches with the imperial Japan German style cadet system, where the majority of students would enter the preparatory course at 16 upon graduating from junior high school or the military school, they would then be 18 at the time of starting the main course, and 20 upon graduating from the academy. The ages of the characters and what we see on screen matches the system’s time frame.

Riza Hawkeye is yet another example three years after her father's death and conversation with Mustang, during the Ishval war, she is yet to graduate from the academy.[1][3][4] Either the Amestris academy lasts more than the two years we see Roy and Hughes go through, or she waited about two years to enter the military Academy (otherwise she would have already graduated by Ishval). I don't think it makes sense for her to wait so long to join the academy, specially if it has an age cap (of 19 in Imperial Japan). So assuming she entered right after her father died, that would put her in the last year of the German style system by the time we see her in Ishval, perfect for getting pulled into a war with her already assigned unit. 

This brings me to my second reason for believing Arakawa is using this system: the ranks.

I mentioned before that the cadets in FMA don't seem to have a rank, this makes sense when you consider that in imperial Japan they were given ranks that do not exist in FMA. Instead of adding ranks or messing up with the system Arakawa might have just completely skipped them (much like she seems to have done with the military police). 

I also mentioned that graduates (the so called Apprentice Officers) are assigned a temporary rank of Sergeant Major. In FMA we know that you graduate with a rank of Warrant Officer[1][3][4]. But hold on, that's not the same… well not in name, but yes in practice. Sergeant Major was the highest NCO rank in Imperial Japan. It's not in FMA, that's Warrant Officer. So technically they're equal ranks. Furthermore, It doesn't make sense for a graduate of the OFFICER school to be officially assigned an NCO rank, unless that's for a trial period like in the German style cadet system. For reference, the French style system assigned graduates the rank of Second Lieutenant (the lowest officer rank) upon graduation, since it didn't require the cadets to gain NCO experience. The fact that we are shown both newly graduated Riza and Roy with the rank of Warrant Officer can only mean there is also a trial period in Amestris.

Further proof of this is that within a year of us seeing the freshly graduated Warrant Officers Riza Hawkeye in 1909[1][3], she's already a full fledged 2nd Lieutenant by the time we see her in Resembool in 1910[5], and again she's a 1st Lieutenant a year later when Ed becomes a State Alchemist[5]. Riza is good, but that's a lot of promotions in a short time. It makes more sense if you think that she was officially assigned her 2nd Lieutenant rank after completing her 6 months trial period, and then she was promoted around the same time as Roy got his Colonel promotion, perhaps for her work in Ishval + whatever cases they worked together. Now, that seems a lot more reasonable than Riza averaging a promotion per year in her early military days.

Another hint towards this system is the number of 2nd Lieutenants we meet: Havoc, Breda, Ross, Catalina, Henschel, Darius, Heinkel, Jerso, and Zampano. This is the rank we see the most of, and it makes sense if they all got it by going through the Officers Academy. We know this to be true for at least Havoc and Breda.

Havoc's and Breda’s graduation.[6]

Now you might notice I haven't mentioned the third type of student, the active non-commissioned officers (aka Second Lieutenant candidates). This is because while they go through the academy too, they're very different from the cadets:

They must be under the age of 38 and pass the Army Preliminary Course recruitment examination, which is different from the cadets exam.

They do NOT live on campus.

Their training only lasts 1 year (during peacetime), unlike the cadets 4 years. 

Because they are older than the cadets at the time they become officers, their promotion ceiling is lower as they hit the active duty retirement age before achieving high ranks.

Falman would fall into this category as he was a Warrant Officer for more than six months and clearly looks older than the rest of team Mustang. However, a year does not pass between him getting appointed to the North and him getting his promotion. My explanation for that is that the North has a shorter program for Second Lieutenant Candidates. In imperial Japan not only was the program shorter during war time (10-2 months), but the time also depended on which branch, region, and school you enrolled in. Since the North is quite hostile and is technically in a cold war with Drachma, it makes sense their Second Lieutenant Candidate program is short. The other explanation is that Falman started the program before being transferred. 

That more or less covers the Officers military training and education. Feel free to ask me if you want a more day to day explanation of the cadets’ life at the academy. You can also check this article. There's at least one documentary about it, available on Amazon Prime Japan.

Non-commissioned officers training  NCO’s training in Imperial Japan was first performed by the training corps (1871–1899), then by each unit (1899-1927), then after a decline in quality it was done at a training school (1927-1938), and finally back to the training corps until the American intervention. It's impossible for me to know if Arakawa used this system for the NCOs, and which period she chose to use, given how little information we have about the NCO characters. I still mentioned it in case anyone was curious about Fuery’s training. The training school lasted just one year and it was focused on general education, military education, and technical training.

The military police To end this, I will mention that the military police had their own academy separate from the officers’. They also had their own ranks equivalent to those of the army, i.e. Police First Lieutenant. It is possible this is the case in FMA. They're at the very least not trained together with the military personnel.

Thank you so much for reading all the way to the end. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please don't hesitate to reach to ask questions or just rant about this. I love discussing FMA.

Source Fullmetal Alchemist Manga

Chapter 24: Fullmetal Alchemist [5]

Chapter 58: footsteps of ruin [4]

Chapter 59: the immoral alchemist [1]

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Episode 30: The Ishvalan war of extermination [3]

OVA: Another man's battlefield [2]

The complete art of Fullmetal Alchemist [6]

[magz]

Windows PowerToys, an open source app that adds many quality-of-life utilities, just got a major update.

"Keyboard Manager can now map shortcuts to start applications and supports shortcuts with chords.

The Color Picker has a new look that matches Fluent design sign throughout Windows.

You can now use Peek to preview drives."

Amongst other features.

If you're a power user and use Windows 10 or 11 for whatever reason, we would recommend using Windows Power Toys !

It's what we use to transcribe text from images, color pick our screen, change accents in text, and a bunch other stuff.

Source:

Github:

Microsoft store:

[talenlee]

Game Pile: Princess Wing

Princess Wing is a Japanese indie TTRPG, by Hayato Suzumiya, in which players take on the role of Princesses at the prestigious Princess Training Academy, who defend earth from mechanical monsters called Void through their cool outfits that also double up as multi-purpose military machinery and short skirts. Drawing heavily on a particular kind of anime genre that I mostly know in the terms of ‘like Symphogear, right?’ it’s a card-based RPG where players use a predetermined micro-deck to make strategic moves and drive their narratives forward, and everything novel about it I can think of I pretty much describe in this opening paragraph.

Yeah, uh, I don’t know what I’m going to tell you about this one. Come with me on the journey to not really understanding a book that I’ve spent several days reading and the reasons why I think that is.

Just a note: I’m reading an unofficial translation of Princess Wing. I’m not fluent in Japanese, and any time I think a phrase is badly written or clunky or strange, I let it go. That’s not important to this and treating the game as if that’s vital is a great way to cut yourself out of a lot of really cool translated TTRPGs.

Straight up, the things in this game that stood out to me, from my initial notes:

I like the way it suggests players recruit other players to play NPCs in scenes. That’s a cool idea to make part of the recommended text.

I appreciate the idea of dealing players a hand they get to use over the course of a scene, meaning you can have good and bad moments that you get to pace out, without full control over the.

It includes a section on pronoun use in the game.

And then the followup notes…

Wait, the pronoun use splits everything into a hard dichotomy where players are all ‘she’ and the enemies are all ‘he’? Kinda simple binary there.

Hang on, what’s the resolution mechanic for this game? What do I do if something comes up that’s not in one of these specific tables?

Wait, character creation starts when?

At which point I realised I kinda had to give up on treating this book like I would one written in a more familiar language to me. I think it’s very it’s important to look at games outside of my genre interests and my readership space – I love Golden Sky Stories and had a lot of fun engaging with the hot mess that was Gensou Narratograph, after all. I am an anime fan, but something like Symphogear that this game is pretty explicitly referencing, has never been my interest. What’s more, this is a translation of a Japanese RPG — which means there’s a range of ways I think things should be done because they appeal to me and make clear sense to me, that are culturally signified. I won’t know what I don’t know if I don’t look.

Now, you may think, hang on, but you don’t know anything about Symphogear, so why should we care what you say about the Symphogear-inspired TTRPG? And if you need an expert’s opinion on whether or not it’s delivering on its ideas, then yeah, I suppose that’s a thing. I cannot tell you if this is a game that’s good at being Symphogear and crucially, anything I learn about this game will not be useful for interpreting Symphogear. After all, if I was to just look at this book I might assume that Symphogear is about some very specific, complex machinery that’s designed to work under specific rules and conditions, almost like a kind of murder mystery of a mechanical construction, a system of combat rules that remind me a great deal of Bleach in the way that it relies on hard-to-decipher but consistently-applied rules and mechanisms that don’t actually make the narrative they construct meaningfully engaging.

Y’know, Bleach and Symphogear, two very similar anime that I’m sure won’t annoy anyone with that comparison.

Here’s the thing: I think this game is explicitly and delicately tuned to its audience. I really do, and this is an assumption based on the idea that this game is trying to do a good job, by people who are confident in what they are doing. It has the presentation of a thoughtful, creative, well-made book, after all. How then do I grapple with this mechanically uncomfortable system, awkward problem-solving mechanism and system for narratives that need the whole thing mostly created ahead of time, across a language barrier, and not come across as being, at the very least, a little bit of a dick?

I do not know this audience. I do not know who this book was written for. It is a mystery to me and even obvious inferences – it was for people who read Japanese, probably in Japan, and probably used to other Japanese TTRPGs, of which I know exactly one – can’t be treated as representing a meaningful truth. I am peeking through a keyhole and what I am seeing makes no sense to me.

When I talk about games, I describe them as a machine that makes stories. TTRPGs, then, I tell people, are a machine that makes a machine that makes stories. It is a system that you then use to construct your game, and then you play that game to find out what happens. And twice now I’ve looked at Japanese TTRPGs that seem to instead take one step back from that freedom, away from that creativity.

I think that this game hooks you instantly if you like its pitch. Do you already have a Symphogear OC that kinda works in these five general overtones? Do you already have a character you think of as ‘An Amanda’? Well, here’s what you want, here’s the onramp, let’s go. For me? Someone who doesn’t know what it’s about and doesn’t have a reason to resonate with its looks and vibes? It has no time for me and I don’t find a reason to want to belong to a universe that is primarily about teenaged girls with multiple pages dedicated to showing you the components of their uniforms.

At the time of writing I am coming off watching another strange set of interactions about Dungeons & Dragons by people who do not like it remarking on the behaviour of those that do like it. This space is interesting because there are some valid criticisms in deep and thoughtful ways and some shockingly headassed takes that don’t make any sense to me. One criticism is that it’s really weird that the official D&D tiktok is boasting about the new Players Handbook being the largest one ever, as if to say that getting more book in your book means the game is better. To that end, I’d like to submit that Princess Wing is a game that wants to make sure before you start, you’ve already watched twenty plus episode of an anime ahead of time. By that marign, I think it’s fair to say that makes this one of the best games ever.

I don’t think this game has a bad approach, I just think the approach is one that misses me, and unlike other games I criticise for a bad approach, I think this is a good thing here. It doesn’t want me. It has no interest in me, and it does not care about informing me about its world.

You have to admire the purity.

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

[lucid-daydreaming-art]

intro post whoopee!!!

hi guys im lucid :D you can also call me daylin i don’t really care but i may be like woah how do you know my name (i will forget about making this post 2 seconds after posting it) also I AM AN ADULT im 22 and i do not use pronouns just use my name pleaseeeeeee if you have a disability that makes words hard to process i understand if that’s difficult you can just use they/them instead

first off just getting this out there if youre proship, zoo, pedo, incest supporter, endo system supporter, any kind of discriminatory against protected minority groups, and anti-otherkin, shoo. dont want you here youre not welcome. bye bye my content isnt for you.

immmmm an infp-t 4w5 sanguine-melancholic existential-intrapersonal-visual learner seer of heart prospit dreamer true neutral rogue shifter airbender and dragon type trainer for all you personality label freaks

i like to DRAW!!!!! this is an art blog!!!! i will only post art here, all of my reblogs will be on @trickstergemini save for the posts my close friends make that i want to support here. sometimes i will post just text but thats only if i really need to let you guys known something or im answering a question

my commissions are OPEN!!!!!!!! dm me for commission info im too lazy and busy to make a sheet

if my requests are closed that means theyre closed dont ask me to draw shit please and thank you

im AUTISTIC i am on that mf spectrum been diagnosed since i was three. for me this means im not naturally fluent in social norms or what’s expected from an interaction or how to read others very well. i also have heavy special interests and find it really hard to turn the conversation away from something im fixating on or specially interested in. i also have extremeeeee sensory issues and a hard time being completely flexible when im comfortable in a routine so just be patient with me man adjustments are hard for me. my empathy is also extremely low and im a really really high masking person so if i come off as well versed or allistic just know that i either took a million years to format the right way to say things or i am entirely going off a predetermined script and will fumble if caught off guard. other important stuff ive got adhd bpd cptsd and major depressive disorder which all those combined makes me really flaky when it comes to responding or follow through. i may not reply to you for like 500 years or maybe i will be gods speediest most motivated soldier. just don’t expect me to be a readily available fully capable robot ok?? ok.

i am one half of @ask-kas-n-lamp the other half is some guy i don’t know he just hacked himself into the account and now i have to deal with him. the blog is no longer running though i apologize. we got burnt out from the shitty fans

in all seriousness mod dum, aka @unoriginal-and-dumb or unodum or unoriginal or whatever u know him by, thats my qpp thats my platonic soulmate my bestest friend my number one crate my brain cyst the doctor has to surgically remove from me my parasocial relationship my stalker my servant i keep locked up in my basement and i feed him cement and staples for every meal and for dessert maybe he gets rust shavings. he will be featured in my art like a lot or in my comments and reblogs and i will also be present in his stuff sometimes. if have drawn kasper it is his design, that design is not made by me its made by him sooo you should check him out and support him if you like that style or how about instead we get a mass unfollowing going there and you all come to my page and i exclusively will draw his design of kasper and get all the credit lets do that instead

uuueeehhhmmm my special interests are pokemon, homestuck, geography, taxonomy, my ocs, and personality psychology. i guess i also am specially interested in dragons because i like and think about them more than all of the above and have to incorporate them into everything but its less of an ill infodump to you interest and more of an i want to be surrounded by this thing because it brings me extreme comfort because it feels like me.

i am otherkin im a dragon and i look like this:

i will also represent myself like this if im feeling it:

yes i know i am not actually a physical dragon and im not a spiritual kinner i kin for identity purposes and the fact that i feel some pretty intense crippling species dysphoria idk ive been like this since i was 5 i don’t really have memories of my life where i wasnt experiencing animalistic behaviors and instincts

my favorite music artists are s3rl twenty øne piløts onerepublic imagine dragons of monsters and men thefatrat glass animals ajr queen nine inch nails and muse my favorite medias are httyd movies pokemon homestuck regretevator invader zim our flag means death infinity train gravity falls rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead doctor who my little pony fim dont starve and the mcelroy brothers content

heres some more characters i represent myself as:

ok BYE

[mundanemoongirl]

Iris

Honestly, I constantly forget Iris exists but I was just writing a chapter with her and remembered she’s one of my favorite OCs.

Iris is a lady so she has a lot of power in the social system, but she’s very far down the line of succession. Unlike Daron, who is supposed to be the perfect image of a lady, Iris is very mischievous. She’s also lowkey a pirate, but we don’t learn that until much later.

Iris has one of my favorite designs, partially because she looks similar to me, but I also had a lot of fun with her look. She has dark brown skin and waist-length twists. She has orange eyes and red runes tattoed up her arms and across her chest.

Iris’ clan is very important to her character. The Arsonite Clan is the only clan that originated outside the mainland, so they have a different culture than the other clans. The Aquatic Clan stole their land, which started a war between all of the clans. After the war, the Arsonites were left with no land, money, or allies, and their language was on the cusp of death because they had to assimilate. Iris is very involved in her culture. She’s fluent in Arsonean and is experienced in their traditional dance.

The Arsonite Clan being left with nothing is how they ended up as pirates. They sink human ships despite the fact that humans and witches are not supposed to interact at all, and keep the spoils. When their betrayal is discovered, Iris shows absolutely no remorse. She stands by what they did to survive (as she should). I honestly want to write a spin-off of Iris’ pirate adventures when I’m done with the main story.

Iris has had a lot of development since the first draft. I didn’t know how to characterize her mischievousness, so she ended up coming off as tone-deaf and kind of annoying. In my second draft, there’s more of a balance between her causing chaos and her tenderness. I think it’s perfectly summarized when Daron asks her for a favor and Iris asks what Daron will do in return. Daron knows that Iris would help unconditionally and just wanted to stir the pot.

Fun fact: Iris was originally named Aralea after a classmate I had in second grade. Upon further thought, I realized that was too similar to Ariella—Aria’s full name—so I changed it to Iris, a goddess a learned about at a Ramses exhibit.

Spiritwalker taglist: @the-golden-comet @pixies-love-envy

[meoproject]

Yeah. Well. Val knows Beriith is tall compared to her, but she lacked context as to how tall Beriith is compared other members of his race. And. Hm. Yeah. Beriith is tall, even compared to his own kind. Not, like, unnaturally so? but tall enough for other goets to note it as a significant feature of his.

I also never draw Val's and Beriith's actual height difference unless it's a full body picture :') she's just lunking around several Scully boxes so she can fit in the frame better.

(the map also isn't a representation of any region in the story/world, i haven't made any maps for the world so i had to whip up something map-like for this piece.)

(also Goet language isnt like. a real conlang and not even a real cipher, its just nonsense, i should redo the font too.)

BONUS!

One significant Beriith feature that I can't really convey well is that he speaks with a noticeable accent. I've thought about phonetic accents a lot (thanks to another of my projects which has a character with severe speech impediment of not having lips) and since the balance of fun and annoying is quite delicate, I don't really write them out unless I really have to, and even then I'd downplay it. Beriith's accent isn't meant to be to thick anyway.

More accent talk under cut for those interested.

If we take "middle common" (the language Val and Beriith speak with each other) to be non-diegetic "English", Beriith has, in comparison, fairly flat intonation, and he trills his Rs and has some trouble with "ng" sounds and Ws, which he generally pronounces more like Vs. He also pronounces "th" sounds leaning towards Zs, which sorta runs into the slight logic bomb of "wait, doesn't his name end in 'th', but the watsonian explanation is, of course, that transliteration of his name from Goet to middle common isn't perfect and the h just implies a sightly softened t sound :) (the doylist explanation is, of course, that I decided the name before figuring out how accents work, but if you explain it away, it's not a mistake, just worldbuilding!)

As mentioned before, Beriith's accent isn't thick or anything, definitely not Hollywood-thick, but everyone who hears him speak either knows where he's from or wants to guess where he's from (though you can know but looking at him, Goets are distinct enough, but you know what I mean.)

Val, by the way, speaks the most generic middle common imaginable, like only a step or two below news casters; that's by design (of her parents). They sent her (and her siblings) to a school that specifically taught middle-common without any strong regional accents to give her the most easily-understood accent imaginable. Her family are big into business, mostly in export/import, so her parents figured out having children with neutral, easy to understand, "trustworthy" way of speaking would be the best. Yes, this means Val's parents have a completely different accent than she does, and Val speaks their variation of Elvish with a middle common accent. It does cause some bitterness, Val is kinda... not okay with it, but since her studies are all in middle common anyway it's kinda... whatever, not good but could be worse, but her younger sister is especially upset with not really knowing Elvish that well.

Val is fluent in three languages, middle common, high common (it's occasionally used as a language of magic studies, it's kind of an older version of middle common, or rather a version that has more in common with the older version of the language and branched out a bit differently) and Elvish. Beriith is fluent in like five languages and conversational in several more and "can sort of understand" in many more.

(this wasnt the vignette i was talking about earlier but i needed to get this out of my system.)

[danikore-does-pole]

Y’all camp halfblood would be THE place to figure out how much of ADHD and dyslexia are social disabilities or medical disabilities.

For those of you who haven’t stumbled upon the social, medical and combined theory of disability before lemme give you the run down.

The social model says you aren’t actually disabled it’s society that is disabling. If everywhere was wheelchair accessible and designed to be used from a wheelchair would you still be disabled. Same with if the world was designed to minimise sensory overload would you still be disabled by your sensory issues. If everyone was blind the world would be built for blind people so you wouldn’t be disabled if you were blind. Basically the social model says it’s a systemic issue that you’re experiencing rather than your body being the problem.

The medical model of disability says that you are disabled by your body and by treating the symptoms and causes you become less disabled/ able bodied. Here you get things like chronic pain, autoimmune disease, paralysis, brain damage, epilepsy. Things that even in a world built to accommodate you would still probably impact your functioning.

The combined model of disability is the combination of both previous models. You might be disabled by your chronic pain making it hard to leave the house and get things on your to do list done but also by a lack of accessible infrastructure which might force you to push past your limits to get things done and injure yourself in the process. These can be having stairs but no lift, or having to walk further than expected due to inaccessible transportation.

Now back to CHB

Camp halfblood is designed by and for demigods, the majority of which are children with ADHD, dyslexia and probably many other mental health issues. So why would CHB be designed the way the rest of the world is?

Here you can actually work to accommodate campers instead of trying to make them fit within a system. Are new campers given stim toys? Are they encouraged to pace while listening to instructions? Is information given in 3 or 4 different formats to help people remember what they need to do?

While being dyslexic because they’re hardwired to read Ancient Greek instead of English doesn’t sound right (to my knowledge dyslexia applies to all written words and it’s probably that there’s godly magic that gives them this skill that mortals interpret as dyslexia) let’s assume Demigods are born fluent in reading Ancient Greek and find it easier than English, are all the maps, sign posts and pamphlets in Ancient Greek? Why wouldn’t they be if everyone finds it easier?

In a place designed for neurodivergent children what changes? And how different is it to the rest of the world? Are there quiet zones for people who can’t focus with noise? Are there noise zones for people who need music and TV to focus on hard tasks?

In what ways does ADHD still impact campers negatively? The social model suggests that if everyone was disabled no one would be, is that the case? How does executive dysfunction get managed? What about hyper focus? We know Annabeth often forgets to eat when she’s working on a big project, does camps scheduled meal times help with that?

I just have questions about this

[pastacrylic]

I've been curious, is your url "pasta-crylic" or "past-acrylic"? A secret third thing?

it is both!!!!!!!

long story short the acrylic part is actually in reference to the acrylic material used in fluent design, windows' design system since the Windows 10 Creator Update.

and pasta because im fucking obsessed with it and its been my entire personality since i was a little kid. pretty much the only thing i consume.

[ibeta]

I need to focus, but my focus went to other drafts, and I wrote kustard so many times.

The plot bunnies are breeding so fast. I don't know what to doooo

My brain works on one, but every word is like a stupid prompt that makes me write a different draft, and I can’t stop making plots. And writing plots. Help, I'm trapped in a cycle of this never-ending writing hell ;^;

Ugh. What is this called. I'm all over the place and not in the place I want.

I have written drafts like:

- Purple TJOS!Sans x Mafia Don Sans

This TJOS Sans carries everyone in his domain, Don Sans protects everyone in his city. TJOS Sans can use his perseverance to keep monsters inside his inner world that has sunlight and sprawling green grass and everything a monster could desire. He travels universes, trying to find a place for his monster wards to keep as home. He becomes attached to the Don Sans that has similar responsibilities as him, except the mafia don doesn't have the ability to keep monsters inside a domain.

- Orange TJOS!Sans x Playboy Singer Mafia Red

Red wants that skeleton as a companion for a few months, so he flirts. In a phone call, Sans tells Papyrus that he's being hit on, and Papyrus tells him to hit them back harder. Sans thinks Papyrus wants him to bag a skeleton flirt, so he hits on Red. Misunderstandings happen, Sans has to run away, and Red has tasted a rare wine that is Sans and needs to get drunk on it, but Sans wants more.

- Travelling Temp Judge Sans x Lovestruck Mob Red

Sans shortcuts to a shootout in a wedding dress because of Toriel. Red sees this beautiful skeleton in a wedding dress suddenly appear in a gunfight and he's lovestruck even as Sans shoves the wedding dress in his arms and he sees the smaller skeleton destroy the human side and intimidate every momster on the battlefield.

- Star Red x Starstruck Sans

Sans falls in love with a literal star, no joke. He also has strange dreams... in this dream, an empty planet is above him. He uses it as a training ground for his magic... until the next dream comes, and it's suddenly full of monsters, the skeleton monsters have been wiped out, he finds two skeletons still alive... etc. His bones have been used as the base for crafting things. And he actually might own the planet and hadn’t known it.

- Octopearl Red x Blue Star Sans

Ocean Nerd Red, who is half-cephalopod and Space Expert Sans, who is actually a star. Red surfaces to figure out ways to save the ocean because humanity has messed it up and spilt basically everything in it. Sans had already been there long before Red and has been a famous space expert known for keeping his identity a secret. Sans one day picks up a pearlescent red bone attack and sets off on a boat to find the rest. In the night, he meets Red, who is pretending to swim naked since his half is still full of tentacles. They click with their ocean and space nerd. They become fast friends... Conveniently, Sans is revealed to be a skeleton monster afterwards.

They want to woo each other hard, but something bad happens, and they get one kiss before Red dies.

Note: Red collects all the pearls, builds an underwater nest, and he gifts Sans a "friendship" pearl that he uses to help him hear Sans' fluent mumbles. Sans collects ocean planets to put into his star systems. Because he... owns many stars. And because if Red wanted to preserve the ocean, Sans wanted him to have a choice on the location. Several of them... Neither know that the other skeleton isn't fully a skeleton OR a monster.

- Dynamics Professor Sans x Lost Red

It came from a Fontcest version. The Professor is a detached... professor that owns a dynamics club and teaches monsters all about the different types of desires. He uses a silver stick as a tool to help him point things out and always bas a designated cuddler for his "subjects" when they need it... and then a lost Red falls into this strange world, and he needs to feel danger to keep moving.

Red's session with The Professor proves that he can touch a subject that makes him feel "safe." Cue surprised monsters that had always wanted to bag that prof.

- Manipulative Sans x Vengeful Red

It's super sweet and creepy, Sans is actually stealth dating Red’s SOUL... basically using subtle soul luring techniques, while Red is trying to get revenge on his cheating ex and the fake innocent lamb that replaced him. In this story, Red finds Sans, who is collecting evidence of the fake innocent lamb's plots and pays Sans to help him. Sans agrees and finds that Red is loyal and he likes it, so he uses every means he knows to subtly seduce Red’s SOUL while Red doesn't know he's being seduced, since he's full of 'getting even.'

...

I have now realised it is kustard season because these are a dragon's favourites. (I'll edit the summaries later so it reflects more of what the plot is.)

Yes. Some of these have 3k words or more. It hurts. I need to write TDAHM 7-8 so I can finally have that scene. Where Red gets dumped, and he's relieved since he doesn't have to deal with Bun's straying mind.

Why is everything kustard? Where is my fontcest? Well, there are also fontcest drafts it's mostly classic, and they're all not related conventionally. Not true brothers, just a white mage and a black mage.

I need... to snap out of it because I'm all over the place, and now I want to nap

[drelldreams]

Mars in Mass Effect: A series of headcanons

Mars is not one of the largest human colonies due to not having the best conditions to be terraformed. Still, despite those circumstances it maintains a relatively large population of 90,000.

Extra efforts were made to create good conditions on Mars due to humanity’s long dream to colonize Mars. The planet also being the first to be discovered to have signs of alien life played a large role in the amount of resources spend to make Mars inhabitable.

Unlike on other planets there is no natural animal life but through artificial means scientists were able to introduce microbial life to Mars.

Due to the large amounts of Prothean ruins to be found on Mars, a lot of people who live on Mars are researchers or scientists. Archaeologists, cryptologists and xenolinguists are incredibly common. Other common professions of Martians include civil and environmental engineers, geologists, biologists and technicians.

Children of scientists often grow up on research stations on Mars. Those are designed to be very family friendly.

Mars is known for its Prothean museum, which features many artifacts found by the asari archaeologist Liara T’Soni. A lot of historical information of humanity’s first contact with signs of alien life is to be found there. Museum curators will often go into depth about the effects of this revelation on human culture.

Crime rate is exceptionally low on Mars. Due to being located in the relatively safe Sol System, it is not commonly attacked by pirates and raiders like other planets with lots of Prothean ruins.

Mars’ capital city is called New Capetown, due to one of the most influental countries to work on the project of terraforming and colonizing Mars being South Africa.

There is no official language in New Capetown. Large parts of the population speak English as their first language, but Afrikaans, Zhulu and Xhosa are also common mother tongues.

Healthcare is universally free on Mars and one of the finest in the galaxy. Medical technology is quite advanced.

Despite not having as impressive scenery as more life friendly planets such as Eden Prime, Mars has become a planet humanity takes pride in. The whole idea behind the colonization of Mars was to create the utopia that humanity has dreamed of finding on Mars.

Students on Mars are multilingual. Due to large part of the population being native speakers of Afrikaans, this language is offered in every school on Mars. The idea behind this is cultural/linguistic preservation. Other languages that are found in all Martian schools are the most common human languages English, Chinese and Spanish.

Classes are taught in English, but it is possibly to take bilingual classes. For example, students who have learned Spanish for a few years to be fluent enough can take history courses in Spanish.

Mars is a good place for teachers of foreign language to earn a respectable salary due to it’s education systems focus on language preservation.

One of its most beautiful towns is Lillyfield, located in New Capetown and known for its unique aesthetic. Lillyfield is full of street artists and known for its colorful graffitis thematizing peace, the idea of an utopia, philosophy, and retrofuturism.

Lillyfield features a large shopping mall of retrofuturistic style, minicing the visions of Mars colonialization humanity had back in the 20th century.

Aside from offering many shopping opportunities, Lillyfield also offers a diversity of human foods from different cultures, a 20th century themed sci fi skating hall, polaroid photobooths and other means of entertainment and cultural enrichment.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

*SLAMS MY HANDS ONTO THE TABLE* hoo boy I have way too many hcs about mer language So disclaimer first, none of this has any basis in canon, it's just what I like to think about mer physiology. Moving on from that, I hc the mer language to not require breath, so their vocal cords are shaped rather differently from humans. Since mer have some sort of gills, based on the tweels and Azul's design (and if they don't and I'm remembering wrong that's honestly kinda stupid), they don't need air to breath. If they don't need air to breath, then how do they talk? My hc is that mer vocal cords are activated some other way (anatomy isn't my strong suit so I haven't decided the exact way). So mer do have their own language, but it's hella difficult for landdwellers to learn - so it's usually not taught on land. As for mer learning common language, that would be for emergencies - not many mer who aren't in service ventures or go to learn on land learn it well, but it's kinda like how Spanish is learned in the US - not learned well, but can be kinda understood. Anyways I have too many thoughts on mer biology and such, but ty for reading

[Referencing this post!]

ADDENDUM: Real life octopuses and moray eels don’t have gills in the shape or form we traditionally think of them on like… fish. I took a recent look at the Magical Archives and it seems that Jade and Azul’s pages talk about the markings on their sides (and some on their backs not seen in the usual frontal view) are fish-like gills. Weirdly enough, gills of this nature aren’t seen at all on more “human” merpeople. I talk a little more about that and the differences between them and the more human-like mermen guards stationed at the Atlantica museum here.

*puts on life science nerd glasses* 🤓 I’ve actually formally studied speech formation and A&P, so I can talk a bit about how normal (aka irl human) compares to some of the headcanons you shared! Of course, we don’t 100% know how merpeople anatomy and physiology is different and similar to humans (or how much fantasy races really borrow from real life), but I thought it would just be interesting to share the knowledge!

Firstly, breath is a requirement for speech because it is the movement of air across the vocal cords that results in the vibrations which become speech. Now, it’s not clear how or why merpeople are able to breathe underwater or why they don’t necessarily need to breathe air to survive; the respiratory system that typically brings air into the body must not be the same as a human’s, as that would likely result in water getting into the lungs and drowning them or crushing them from pressure. It’s entirely possible that merpeople have a hybrid respiratory system between that of a human and marine animals, so merfolk could have adapted such that the movement of water across their vocal cords produces a similar result as air does for humans. This, in addition to potentially having different shaped vocal cords, could mean a potential merlanguage has sounds that are very difficult or even impossible for non-merpeople to replicate.

Of course, that also begs the question 💦 would merpeople be able to even properly speak in their language if they were on land??? Because they wouldn’t be in the same kind of environment (and thus don’t have the same conditions as they do when they usually speak the language); this would impact how certain sounds are produced by the speech systems and then perceived by the ear.

I think merlanguage vs human languages isn’t exactly the same as Spanish vs English?? 🤔 Yes, some students may be in circumstances where their schools require them to learn a language other than the native tongue as part of their curriculum, but that’s because it can have practical applications even if they don’t become totally fluent or pursue higher level language difficulties. For example, especially in America, Spanish-speaking communities are a considerable part of the population and continues to grow, so Spanish is a popular second language. Mandarin Chinese is also on the rise globally, as China is becoming a powerhouse (so knowing how to communicate in Mandarin is smart for global enterprises). Many schools internationally also teach English as a universal second language because English is so prominently used.

In comparison, merpeople are so far geographically removed from humans and are given lore which states the majority of merpeople don’t really go to the surface world. It makes me wonder what the benefit of teaching human languages would be?? It’s not the same situation as the real world because it’s not a system where speakers of different languages would interact with each other super frequently (due to the split between land and sea). I understand maybe learning a second language for emergencies if there’s a good chance you’ll engage with populations speaking that language (like Spanish in the Americas), but it isn’t the case for merpeople because the chances of them interacting with a human doesn’t seem to be very high in places like the Coral Sea. It makes more sense to me that (if there is a native merlanguage or dialects) maybe merpeople would pick up some basic phrases of human languages (like “hello”, “thank you”, etc.) in their free time/by chance. There is no incentive to try learning another language even at a basic or conversational level unless maybe this was a path a merperson planned on pursuing further or professionally.

Again, can’t believe rubbing my two brain cells together to talk about how the fuck anime fish boys breathe and talk and are even theoretically possible—

[archoneddzs15]

Sega Mega CD - Shin Megami Tensei

Title: Shin Megami Tensei / 真・女神転生

Developer/Publisher: Atlus / SIMS Co. Ltd.

Release date: 24 February 1994

Catalogue No.: T-44044

Genre: RPG

Demonic socially adept Pokemon, 20-plus years ahead of its time. A deep, dark adventure for those who may be a little fed up with the constant barrage of Final Fantasy discussion on the internet and in the real world. It is really too bad that the game never saw an English translation for the Mega CD just like the countless RPGs on the system that were not brought over by the likes of Working Designs for an English release. Shin Megami Tensei has one of the most intriguing plots and some of the densest atmospheres of early ‘90s RPGs.

The demon summoning mechanic is also a fun and memorable addition, setting it apart from other games of its time. The three-dimensional dungeon crawling sections may not be everyone’s cup of tea though, and the enemy encounter rate is irritatingly high. On the other hand, the Mega CD is leagues ahead of the Super Famicom original (and to a certain extent the PC Engine Super CD port) in terms of presentation, and it fixes a few of the former’s issues like adding a more manageable world map, actual textures in buildings, and close-up portraits of important NSCs.

If you’re interested in a morally complex and very mature RPG and either fluent in Japanese or willing to patiently pave your way through the game with a translation guide at hand, give Shin Megami Tensei a go. You won’t regret it. Even if you imported a Japanese Sega Genesis Mini 2, that version has this game on it.