#Hope I understood your question

[dunmeshistash]

Do you have anything on the aristocracy of the DM world?

Sorry took me a while to get to this ask.

I don't think there's anything definitive about how the aristocracy works in general there? My vague understanding is that it varies depending on region. The elves seem to be the ones with the biggest monarchy since they seem to be united for the most part (perhaps because there is less of them than of the others?)

From the Adventurer's Bible page about Elves.

"The majority live on the Northern Central and Southern Central continents. Their largest nation, an absolute monarchy governed by a 372-year-old queen, is located on the Northern Central Continent. There are also primitive villages deep in the woods and underground, in some regions cannibalism is still practiced."

Meanwhile the dwarves seem to be more loyal to tribes rather than nations.

From the Adventurer's Bible page on dwarves

"Despite this, dwarfs have no group that's equivalent to the elves' Canaries. This may be because dwarfs' ties to their blood relatives run deep, and they're skeptical of national organizations; since they have no concept of coming together as a nation, putting together an investigative organization would be difficult."

Gnomes seem to have a similar way of living to dwarves so I imagine it might not be so different?

We do get a glimpse of important people from both races but it isnt clear what they are or I missed something.

Perhaps they do have a nation like the elves but just don't have as much control over their people?

Tallmen on the other hand seem to be as varied as real life, Laios comes from a Village where his father was a chief, Melini was a kingdom, The Island has a Governor (althought that was given to him by the long lived races as I understand they're in dwarf territory? Or was it elf?), Shuro's family is said to work for a "local lord" and I imagine things were different in Kabru's home continent too. Unfortunately I don't know enough about history to comment on that...

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

My Cabinet of Tiger Ministers is in shambles.

[clumsypuppy]

i feel like im not making any sense but does anyone else feel like there are stories that let u run with them and ones that spell everything out for you

[mxtxfanatic]

Do you he xuan is sad and can’t move on after he got his revenge because he regrets it or do you think that just head conen fueled by shipping, personally didn’t see that much of a regret from him but also his story is narrated in the eyes of others so we will never know i guess

I think post-canon He Xuan is doing just fine on account of the fact that he cameos in the final big party at the end of the novel. Just because the story isn’t about him and, thus, there’s no real focus on him past his story arc doesn’t mean that there’s legitimacy to the assumption that he’s “sad and can’t move on.” I think people partially make this assumption because shipping goggles has them crediting his lack of dissipation post-blackwater arc with his destroyed relationship with Shi Qingxuan (“if what he really wanted was revenge and he got it, then why is he still alive?” logic). But it’s established in tgcf that it’s not inherently resentment or any negative emotion that keeps non-mortals attached to the realm of the living but obsessions. He Xuan may have been dedicated to his vengeance for hundreds of years, but that doesn’t mean that that was the root obsession keeping him alive as a ghost.

[spiritedstars]

Hi. It's been a while since I read ACOWAR. Is there an untold conversation between Elain and Lucien? I don't remember that.

Hello darling! Outside of the scenes in the library, when they sit for tea after the healer sees Elain, and when he finds her and Feyre after the battle, we don’t see them having a conversation alone.

There are two instances where they were left to chat alone: before he goes to find Vassa and after the war when they go to wash up. Whatever was said, we obviously didn’t get to be there for it SADLY.

[dailykafka]

I wanted to ask if there any quotes about November!!

Well, not about the month November but yeah there are entries from November. You can look them up in my blog's search!

[psychicthepsychic-daily]

what circumstances do you think psychic would have to be under to try to read someone's mind?

given that he normally refrains from reading minds unless he has to due to its taxing nature, I can think of a few scenarios where he would do it.

1. if he’s interrogating someone for information, especially if he knows they’re prone to lying. this also brings up another part of my interpretation of Psychic’s powers, in that he can tell whether someone is lying more easily than he can read their thoughts. this is partly due to his perceptive and observant nature and is partly a more shallow manifestation of his mind-reading ability. hence it probably doesn’t take as much energy to deduce someone’s honesty. but that doesn’t mean he necessarily knows what the truth is even if he knows they’re lying to him.

anyway, reading someone’s mind during an interrogation is probably more reliable than just torturing information out of them or something like that lol bc otherwise they could say Anything. and I think Psychic is smart enough to recognize that.

2. in a life or death situation where reading someone’s mind, be it an enemy or an ally, would grant him some information to plan an escape or a way to fight back. maybe not even necessarily life or death, but if he or someone/something he cares about is in sufficient danger Psychic might go to the trouble of reading someone’s mind if he thinks it’ll help him.

3. if it’s simply easier than directly asking the person whose mind he’s reading whatever it is Psychic is trying to find out. Psychic’s very awkward by nature, and typically hides it by being distant and chilly towards most people. so it’s plausible if he wanted to learn something specific about someone he’s not very close with, Psychic might peek into their mind instead of asking them upfront. while he’s definitely blunt, unafraid, and confrontational, Psychic is also self-aware and he does understand there are moments when he’d best keep his nonexistent mouth shut.

this is probably the least common/likely scenario because of the energy expense he has to weigh, the general discomfort Psychic has with getting to know most people, and the fact that he’s probably less reserved around his master(‘s family), who he spends most of his time with. but I could still see it happening as a one off thing. with people like Void, mayhaps.

I also don’t really see Psychic reading minds for the helluvit, mostly only when he’s looking for something specific or is trying to find information that could give him an edge.

[buginacup]

do you think games that are made for a niche appeal still have a future?

I think they have as much of a future as they have a present.

I think capital is always going to put financial and social pressure on artists to make things for mass appeal. No matter what circle you're in you will find a group of (probably well-meaning people) who think that making art for a select audience is a kind of moral or artistic failing.

But as new as it seems it's the same obstacle that every inspired artist has wrestled with under a capitalist system. For every weirdo niche game that gets streamed by some Twitch boy and sells gangbusters there are thousands that go unnoticed by the larger culture perhaps forever.

That being said, I have to believe that the audience one finds by being raw and honest and specific is stronger and more artistically fulfilling than the bigger audience that moves from game to game turning everything into a fandom machine. Being able to share art with people you know will give it a fair chance, and will think with it in new and interesting ways is the greatest joy of artmaking to me.

So if your idea of "a future" is big fandom and financial riches, probably not - but I don't think they've ever consistently had that. The internet may wash away into something unrecognizable, but for better or for worse there will be people sharing their weird art with each other online for as long as there are computers.*

(Footnote below)

*It's worth noting that since games are so expensive to make and often financially unrequited the only people who can typically afford to take the L and keep making their own weird games are those with a degree of privilege or comfort. That plus the material reality (cost) of computer technology means that a lot of even the more niche art is rather singular in terms of perspective.

As much as I like what the internet can do for people who struggle to have a place elsewhere there's always a degree to which it's infinitely more accessible to white people in the United States than anywhere else. I think there are a lot of voices who'd have a lot more trouble building an audience even if they had the resources - anyone who waxes poetic about the power of the web has an obligation to at least be aware of that.

[wannabe-twunk]

How would one try to execute a lifestyle in which 1/3rd of the time you're a girly girl, 1/3rd of the time an alt twink, and 1/3rd of the time a butch?

Cause that's basically me 24/7, and idk how to explain that to people lol

Tbh how you just described your experience is a great way of explaining it to people! If you want to use a sort of simpler umbrella term like genderfluid, it sounds like that might suit you, but don't stress too much about labels!

Quick aside: I feel like labels are great for helping people understand that there are other people like them -- enough that there's a term for their experience -- but when labels start to be policed or restricted or exclusionary, or when you start to feel like you're trying to fit a label onto yourself or to fit yourself into a label... then they lose their usefulness. (This is also why i love the word queer so much-- the whole point is that it doesn't have a strict definition)

And like, it's nice to have a quick word to describe ourselves, but for a lot of us, in order for people to really understand our experience, we have to use multi-sentence explanations 😅 and that's totally okay!

So ya, you could say you're genderfluid? Or you can take the time to say "1/3 girly girl, 1/3 alt twink, 1/3 butch" (And who cares if it takes longer to say! Youre worth a few extra seconds.)

[mimicteruyo]

Hellooo, how did you get into Touhou? Is that okay to ask you? And do you think there's a path readers should follow? I've heard the final question is at times contentious. I like your blog a lot, and I hope these questions aren't too general!

Hello! I'm old-school enough that my first encounter with Touhou was Marisa Stole the Precious Thing. The way I actually got into the series, however, was that I somehow wound up watching Youtube videos of someone beating the Extra stages. I can't remember which one I saw first, but by the time I reached the one against Ran I found the combination of music and bullet patterns so beautiful I just had to get to experience it for myself. I downloaded PCB and the rest is history.

At the time, there was far less official Touhou material besides the games themselves than there is now, and it was typical for people to get into the series via fanworks instead. I'd say people can pick whatever game or manga or piece of fanwork appeals to them the most and start from there. One way I can think of doing it is by seeing if there's any particular character they find appealing from the get-go and initially focusing on them to narrow the scope a bit.

(Also, thank you for your kind words!)

[dearweirdme]

What do you think the reason why JK and Tae spend more time 2022/2023 as in every month their hanging together.

Hi @tinyrabbit23 !

I don’t actually think this is a new thing. I think Tae and Jk were always together a lot. The reason why it’s been more obvious last year is because we are seeing them in solo era.

[white-cat-of-doom]

Odd question, but do you think the cats wear clothes?

Apologies for the delay, Anon!

This is not a weird question at all! Throughout the show we see many Cats wearing song costumes or changing between their chorus character and song character designs and some of them can definitely be assumed to be wearing clothing, even if never explicitly stated. This is, of course, not mentioning collars as I do not consider that clothing.

As with basically everything in the show, it is up for interpretation whether the Cats wear clothes as we see them in the show, or would wear clothing at any point outside of the context of the musical. Depending on how fantastical you want to be also plays a role in this thought. If you want them to be more like an actual cats, it becomes a very narrow field of characters, but adding more of the magic of the Jellicle world can increase that number.

For me at least, I think only a small portion of the characters actually wear clothing at any point. Most of the context in the musical related to clothing seems more to accentuate the theme of the song or appearance of a character more than the fact that they are dressed a certain way. You can see this most prominently in how the Cats dress up as Pollicles or Beetles, where the costumes are more thrown together and silly than actual articles of clothing.

From a canon standpoint, Skimbleshanks is the only Cat that I think routinely wears clothing, more specifically a fun train conductor uniform that was made for him as an 'employee' of the Midnight Mail. This is further shown in his 2019 design, where he is always shown wearing clothes.

From here, it becomes a bit more unclear of who might be wearing clothing, but I will focus one those who change costumes during the show.

We see Jennyanydots go through two costume changes in her song, but I do not think she wears clothing often, more donning the Gumbie Cat and Tap costumes for special occasions, if viewed from a Jellicle standpoint. From an actual cat standpoint, she has never actually worn any costume and those song costumes are only meant as fun additions to how she is viewed as a lazy cat during the day, but then zooms around the house at night.

Gus has the appearance of wearing clothing to an extent, but I view it more as an older cat wrapped in a nice blanket that he has owned for many years and is embedded with his familiar scent, and which acts as a point of comfort as he begins to be effected by a decline in physical and cognitive health. This works in either a realistic or fantasy point of view.

For Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, I do not think they actually wear clothing, outside of the pearls that Rumpleteazer has and wears infrequently, either given to her by her owners or obtained another way. Their respective song costumes are strictly to poke fun at the fact they look very similar, and, like Jennyanydots, only for a few minutes of fun in the Jellicle world.

I do not think Rum Tum Tugger actually wears a belt or has bandanas, and that this is meant more as a design choice to show him off as a 'rockstar'. In a Jellicle view, he would be more inclined to dress like that all the time, as opposed to those mentioned above who only wear things on occasion.

Bustopher Jones is a chubby tuxedo cat, and does not wear any clothing as a normal cat. Even in the Jellicle world, I do not think he actually wears a special suit with spats, and it is only his rich coat that is emphasized in context of the costume. Saying that, he does have a monocle because he is a fancy cat with some poor eyesight.

Mistoffelees is a normal black cat in my opinion that is just cheeky. He does not really light up or sparkle extraordinarily as a normal, and even in a Jellicle setting I do not think he would have a separate jacket like they show. He can do the above more as an illusion rather than magic to alter his appearance. (Depending on your interpretation, he may be able to shape shift, and it is implied that he is magical in some way, but that requires more explanation than here).

Grizabella is tricky in the sense that she is very obviously dressed up in a form of clothing, but I do not think she actually wears anything, again coming down to it more showing her as a past Glamour Cat in a design context rather than her in costume. The revised design make this point harder to separate, but viewing the older design, or what is currently used in Japan, and you can understand more what I am getting at. She is/was a glamorous cat that in my view was a show winner, being well groomed and taken care of until something happened and (depending on what you think) she was abandoned/left the Tribe/was exiled or whatever reason for her to fall into disarray. The tattered clothing in her design is meant to empathize that transition into despondency from fame rather than her actually wearing a dress.

I view Growltiger and Griddlebone as a seperate characters who look like their costumes, so Gus or Jellylorum dressing up is not actually meant to be themselves in costume from a certain standpoint, but they are portraying the two is the context of the musical, as a homage to past theatrical performances. Outside of that (perhaps confusing) circumstance, I already mentioned Gus above and Jellylorum would not wear anything.

For everyone else, I cannot see them wearing clothing at really any time other than maybe a one time thing for fun, but not as actual cats.

I view everyone more as actual cats that gather together and see themselves in these more grandiose situations as seen in the musical itself, rather than say having special cat sized clothing that they can or will wear.

[fishandships]

Do you think Rosario met the f/o when they should have? Like if they met any earlier than that (maybe in their teens or even as a child) their relationship with their f/os would be significantly different?

Would it be right person wrong time type of situation or something else entirely?

that's a really good question

tbh in Rosario's storyline, like other people who come to the Manor, they arrive when they're at their lowest, most desperate point, ready to give up on the hope of ever finding acceptance and human kindness. so i did deliberately set them up so that they meet their love interest(s) exactly when they should - not so that their love can save them, per se, but to set both parties up for a mutual support system.

that said, i have toyed with the idea of an AU were Rosario meets and befriends Andrew when both are children, and they grow up together. i think that situation would change them both completely, since they would have that support system they both need, and neither would have a reason to go to the Manor at all. maybe Andrew would never take on his "side job" and get himself in trouble, and Rosario would still be a schoolteacher so the two would share expenses and not have the financial strain they both experience in their main/canon stories. it's a much nicer AU, for sure, but definitely not as interesting to write, imho (sorry, Andrew and Rosario ;w;)

[heroesspirit]

Sorry if this sounds confusing but, any reason why you chose the way to make the character designs in your Loz comic? Was it just art style or was it based of someone else’s? I just love the way they look it’s so adorable!

Thank you, I think I'm understanding correctly! A lot of it was just the vibes, or I took inspiration from things in the games. Sailor's look is meant to compliment Tetra's, Twilight is in his Ordon outfit but more cowboy, and Eras I wanted to invoke almost a Roman General sort of vibe. And so on! I didn't really have much prior inspiration since I hadn't heard of Linked Universe, though I did read the comic while I was in the process of making mine so I could make sure none of my designs didn't look too much like LU.

As far as the actual artstyle, that's just how I draw! I'm sure I've drawn inspiration from elsewhere, but there's nothing really specific I can think of? A staple for me as long as I can remember is big noses and fluffy hair. I use a pretty obscure art program (art studio pro) and have default brushes that aren't really in the popular programs from what I can tell? So I think that also helps give my art a certain look to it.

Thanks again! <3

[teratart]

to @fossilprep :

At first, hello to paleo enthusiasts from the other side of the planet!

In October, we are waiting for the arrival of experienced paleontologists – Pavel Skutschas and Alexander Averyanov. I'm sure they'll be able to say more about who it dino was. And yes, we are going to make one or two sections from this specimen for histological analysis.

[cult-of-the-eye]

nothing like five phone calls in a day with your father to remind you that there's something intrinsically wrong with the way you were brought up