#Railroad agency

[drawn-twogether]

My 4 favorite companions in the Commonwealth! Deacon will always be my #1, but Nick is a very close 2nd~

I've been working on this mini project for about 2 months now, I'm really glad it's completed! At least, I think it's done...I might go back and do more edits ^^;

Preston was the easiest to draw, while Nick was definitely the hardest! Here's the list of the reference photos I used:

Deacon Danse Nick Preston

I'm probably going to draw more New Vegas fanart next. But my followers on IG requested Bioshock first! And I have some Smiling Friends doodles to share soon as well :3

-Lasercats6

[clamsjams]

oh okay so now the eggs wellbeing and continued survival is entirely dependent on cooperating with the federation

[vounoura]

the tightrope of making a PC feel like a real character with agency and motivations while also allowing players the freedom to make and play who they want and the intense limitations that imposes is something I find so utterly fascinating in RPGs that focus on choice-based stories bc every game / series attacks it a little bit differently

[batboyblog]

Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #35

Sep 20-27 2024

President Biden and Vice-President Harris announced new actions to curb gun violence at the one year anniversary of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. The Office is the first ever White House office to deal with the issue of guns and has been overseen by the Vice-President. President Biden signed a new Executive Order aimed at combatting the emerging threat of machinegun conversion devices. These devices allow the conversion of semi-automatic firearms to a rate of fire that can match military machineguns, up to 20 bullets in one second. The EO also targets the threat of 3-D printed guns. The EO also addresses active schooler drills at schools. While almost every school conducts them there is little uniformity in how they are carried out, and no consensus on the most effective version of a drill. President Biden's EO directions the development of a research based active shooter drills, which maximize both student physical and mental safety.

President Biden celebrated the one year anniversary of the American Climate Corps and announced new Climate Corp programs. The Climate Corps has seen 15,000 young people connected to well paid jobs in clean energy and climate resilience jobs across America. The EPA and AmeriCorps announced a new Environmental Justice Climate Corps program which will connect 250 American Climate Corps members with local communities and over the next 3 help them achieve environmental justice projects. In addition HUD announced it will be the 8th federal agency to partner with the Climate Corp, opening the door to its involvement in Housing. Since its launch the American Climate Corp has inspired 14 states to launch their own state level version of the program, most recently just this week the New Jersey Climate Corps.

The Biden-Harris Administration announced that 4.2 million small business owners and self-employed people get their health insurance through the ACA marketplace. Up from 1.4 million ten years ago when President Obama and then Vice-President Biden rolled out the marketplaces. The self-employed are 3 times as likely as other Americans to use the marketplaces for their insurance, one out of every 5 getting coverage there. The ACA passed by President Obama, defended and expanded by President Biden, has freed millions of Americans to start their own businesses without fear of losing health coverage for them and their families.

The Departments of Transportation and Labor pressed freight railroad companies to close the gap and offer paid sick time to all their employees. Since 2022 under President Biden's leadership the number of Class I freight railroad employees who have access to paid sick days increased from 5% to 90%. Now the Biden-Harris Administration is pushing to finish the job and get coverage to the last 10%.

The EPA announced $965 million to help school districts buy clean energy buses. This comes on top of the 3 billion the EPA has already spent to bring clean energy buses to America's schools. So far the EPA has helped replace 8,700 school buses, across 1,300 school districts in all 50 states, DC, tribal nations, and US Territories. 95% of these buses are zero-emission, battery-electric. The clean bus program is responsible for over 2/3rds of the electric school buses on the road today.

The Biden-Harris Administration took another step forward in its historic efforts to protect the Colorado River System by signing 5 water conservation agreements with local water authorities in California and Arizona. The two short term agreements will conserve over 717,000 acre-feet of water by 2026. Collectively adding 10 feet to Lake Mead’s elevation by 2026. The Colorado River Basin provides water for more than 40 million people and fuels hydropower resources in seven U.S. states.

The Department of The Interior announced $254 million to help support local parks, the largest such investment in history. The money will go to 54 projects across 24 states hoping to redevelopment or create new parks.

HHS announced $1.5 billion to help combat opioid addiction and prevent opioid overdose deaths. The money will support state and tribal governments and help pay for mobile clinics, naloxone kits, and treatment centers. This comes as nationwide overdose rates drop for the first time since 2020, thanks to strong investment in harm reduction efforts by the Biden-Harris team.

The Department of Agriculture announced it'll spend $466.5 million in food assistance and development worldwide this year. Through its McGovern-Dole Program, the United States is the largest donor to global school feeding programs. The USDA will help feed 1.2 million children in Angola, Bangladesh, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Laos, Malawi and Rwanda. Through its Food for Progress the USDA will help support 200,000 farmers in Benin, Cambodia, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Tunisia shift to climate-smart agriculture boosting food security in those nations and the wider region.

At a meeting at the UN First Lady Jill Biden announced a partnership between USAID and UNICEF to end childhood exposer to lead worldwide. Lead exposure kills 1.5 million people each year, mostly in the developing world.

The Senate approved the appointment of Byron Conway to a federal judgeship in Wisconsin. This makes the 213th federal judge that President Biden has appointed.

[cavegirlpoems]

I see we're talking about XP!

@thydungeongal and @imsobadatnicknames2 have interesting posts up, and now it's my turn to throw my thoughts out there. SO. I think of XP as the game itself offering you a little bribe. Do the things the game wantss you to be doing, and the game gives you an XP to say thank you. Get enough XP, and you're reward is greater a permanent bump in power, meaning greater ability to exert your will over the world and therefore greater agency. (Systems like Fate Points, Willpower, Inspiration etc work the same, except the increased agency is a temporary one-time thing, not permanent, so at times I'll lump them in).

So. Let's talk about a few different systems and how they handle this.

Let's start at the very begining (a very good place to begin). In the very early editions of D&D - back when Elf was a class - you got XP for treasure. Every gold coin you got out of a dungeon (or equivallent value of other treasure) was 1 XP. This worked well; the game wanted you to go into a dungeon and explore it for treasure, while trying not to die. If you succeeded, you got XP, which made you better at doing that so you could do it again in a more dangerous dungeon. And because treasure is XP, and treasure weighs you down, getting it out is a meaningful activity. Hell, many of these games measure weight and encumbrance on a scale of 'how many coins' to drive this home. It was a good loop. Early D&D has many faults (like the weird racism in the MM) but the xp system is something it absolutely nailed.

Next up, let's look at classic vampire the masquerade. At the end of each session, you get 1 xp just for being there, and then another if your character learned something, if you portrayed your character well, and if your character was 'heroic'. So, what's classic VtM rewarding? Ultimately, it rewards the player for being the kind of player the game wants. If you get into character, engage with the game world, and act like an interesting protagonist, you get rewarded for it. It's a bit fuzzy, and at the GM's discretion, but its very up-front with what it wants to incentivise. It was the 90s, they were still working out how to be a narrative-driven game, but you can see where they were going with it.

OK, now lets look at something a bit weirder; monsterhearts. The main source of XP here will be Moves. Rather than a bolted-on rewards mechanic, each game mechanic you engage with might grant you xp. You can use your strings on another PC to bribe them with XP when you want them to do something. Lots of abilities just give you an XP for doing a thing, such as a Ghost ability that gives you XP for spying on somebody, or aa Fae ability that gives other players XP when they promise you things. Here, XP is baked into the game, but its very up front about being a bribe. Act the way the game wants, or go along with other players' machinations, and you get rewarded for it. And, critically, XP is just one part of a wider game-economy of incentives and metacurrencies; it links in with strings and harm and +1forward in interesting and intricate ways that push the game forward. Monsterhearts is a well designed game, and you should study it.

Finally, let's look at how D&D 5e does it, as a What Not To Do! We have two different options. The first is XP for combat. When you use violence to defeat something, you get XP for it. Under this option, the only way to mechanically improve your character is by killing things. So, we can conclude that D&D is a game that wants you to engage in constant violence. The other option is 'milestone XP'. IE: you level up at the GM's whim, when they feel like it. What does this reward? Fucking nothing. Or, at best, you're rewarded for following the railroad and reaching pre-planned plot moments in a pre-scripted story. You either have no agency in the matter, or are rewarded for subsuming your agency to the will of the GM. (This pattern continues with inspiration rewards, which are given 'when the GM is entertained by you'. Fucking dire.) "Oh!" the 5e fandom says "But a good GM can write a list of achievements that will trigger milestone XP". And yes, they can, but that's not how the text of the game presents it. That's a house rule. That's the GM doing game design to add a new, better, mechanic to the game to fix its failings. Is it any wonder, then, that the 5e fandom puts so mucn weight on the GM's shoulders, and has such a weird semi-antagonistic relationship between GM and player? Is it any wonder that absolutely brutal railroading (and the resulting backlash of disruptive play) is so rife over there? Look at how the incentive structures are built? It's either killing forever or GM-as-god-king! Anyway, yeah. Consider what you reward with XP, because that will become what your game wants. And if you're hacking a game, one of the most efficient hacks is to change what you get XP for and suddenly the game will pivot to something very different.

[internetskiff]

Something about Gordon Freeman that's extremely fascinating is how he was basically forced into the "Messiah" role by complete accident. Dude was on his way to work, caught in an extremely awful lab accident, and he was just fighting for his life so brutally that he ended up taking down an entire army, making the other less capable or equipped scientists assign him as the one that would go in and take down the Nihilanth - I mean, they basically didn't have many other options, or at least not many better options at their disposal. The whole time he basically doesn't have much of a say in any of it, which means he was practically railroaded into becoming the G-Man's employee by pure circumstance.

Doesn't get any better in Half Life 2 either - the surviving Black Mesa staff have turned this man they potentially sent to die into a legend amongst the resistance movement. The Vortigaunts chant his name as they draw murals on the canal walls. The Lambda - a symbol of both the Lambda Labs but most notably the symbol on the HEV suit - now symbolizes liberation. Therefore, of course, the man who bears this symbol is the liberator. By the ending chapters of Half Life 2, Freeman commands entire squads of rebels, appointed the leader regardless of how good a tactician he actually is - if they die, they died for him, not because of him. As long as he gets to the Citadel and breaches it's wall, all those deaths would be worth it - once again, others send him into a near-inhospitable environment to take down a near-invincible threat.

I think that despite us being in control of Freeman for most of the series, the real protagonists of the story are the Vance family. Eli, too, was right at ground zero when the Resonance Cascade occurred. He is the leader of the Resistance. It's very possible that he's the one who spread word of Freeman throughout City 17. The fall of Nova Prospekt AND the Citadel occurred as a result of Eli's capture. In the Combine's eyes, the Vances are a threat equal to, if not greater than Freeman himself. That, and the Vances have something Freeman doesn't - agency. They're beyond the G-Man's control. They're beyond the Combine's control. Their actions are completely their own, with no third party to control every single step they take. Over the course of the Episodes, it feels as though the dynamic shifts, with Alyx becoming a much more vital figure. The Combine are specifically after her now, because she carries the code capable of disrupting the portal through which the Combine could send reinforcements and finally consume Earth. In both the Epistle 3 script and in Half Life Alyx it ends with her basically taking Freeman's position under the G-Man's employ. She quite literally takes the role of the Main Character away from Gordon. This, of course, is nothing to envy, because it's been repeatedly shown that any character assuming this role in the series ends up being reduced to nothing but a pawn for those who control them. It's an extremely fascinating spin on the linear nature of the games, canonically acknowledging you're doing nothing but marching along a path someone else made for you. Despite being the one free man, you're not offered much of a choice.

[elle-thereafter]

Brennan Lee Mulligan has a gift for taking a story whose tragic ending we already know — a story that should by rights lack all suspense and stakes — and breathing so much god-damned player agency into it. The setup of Downfall is that the Gods will destroy Aeor, a recipe for railroading. So he crafts into the inevitable a heart-wrenching choice: the players as the Prime Deities must choose between destroying Aeor or allowing Aeor to destroy the siblings who Betrayed them. There is no action or inaction that can be taken where the Prime Deities are not culpable in either the destruction of a mortal city or the destruction of their family. Even if they step back and let the Betrayers strike the blow that stepping back is no less a heart-wrenching choice, just the most cowardly one.

In this the Prime Deities must become Betrayers themselves: either betray the mortals whose value they have weighed higher than their relationship with their siblings, or betray their siblings by allowing their complete destruction.

It's an unavoidable yet impossible choice, with no answer more moral or righteous than the other. And the players must choose. We know that Aeor falls and the Betrayers survive, but even still what we don't yet know is who strikes the city down. Will it be the Prime Deities, protecting those who betrayed them? Will it be the Betrayers, with the Prime Deities watching or turned away, unable to take part in the felling of a mortal city? Or will it be the alliance of Primes and Betrayers together, one last act of unity acknowledging they are still in their own hearts a family of refugees? Will one make the choice for all? Will they make it together? Talk about fucking stakes.

I know how the last Downfall episode ends and yet I'm on the edge of my seat because I have absolutely no idea how the last Downfall episode ends. Brilliant.

[thydungeongal]

Reading your recent posts about "DMS make it work" and like, I'm a pretty new GM, I have a home-brewed campaign I want to run for my players and attempted twice so far, this second time is working a bit better, but lately I've been noticing that genuinely, the reason why this isn't working out well is because noone wants to engage with my goddamn world, my players make up characters and I have to tell them how to fit them into my world or make up while new tribes etc to make them fit.

And when I try to U know, actually have them follow the path I've set I get really worried about "railroading" when I'm still far more open than a actual adventure module. Every time I think about like adding in some cool epic moments I would also enjoy I remember posts about "DMS who want players to play prebuilt stories should just write a book" but like ... Modules are prebuilt too?

Yeah, there's definitely a balance to be struck between, you know, players actually being willing to engage with the GM's prep and the GM prepping their games in such a way that there are meaningful ways for the players to actually interface with the game.

Like okay, a lot of the objection to GMs plotting out a story ahead of the time also applies to a lot of modern adventure modules: a lot of modern adventure modules are basically presented as a linear succession of events that need to happen for the story to progress, which just completely turns player narrative agency into an illusion. This is why whenever I talk about GM prep I stress the fact that the GM shouldn't just prep a linear succession of encounters but more like a situation or a location and then let the story be whatever happens when the players engage with that situation or location. On the player side, conversely, as part of the give and take it is important that players be willing to engage with the GM's prep without needing to be led by the nose and being proactive, engaged players.

And since you mentioned modules, I think it's important to mention that older (I'm talking late 70s and early 80s) adventure modules for RPGs rarely presented any kind of linear narrative that required a succession of events to be completed, but they were more like. A place or a situation for the characters to get stuck in. And that sort of adventure design still has value imo!

So yeah, there is a lot of nuance to this discussion, but I do need to make a point here: these past few posts have been very much about players rejecting the premise of the game itself. Part of being a good player (including GM!) is respecting the effort the other players put into the game. There can always be an ongoing discussion about what players want out of the game and how the game should progress. But outright refusing to engage with what the player actually bringing the game to the table has actively set up for you is downright hostile and an expression of a toxic player culture that treats the GM as a special type of guy who must serve the other players.

[probablybadrpgideas]

Tabletop game where there’s no dice rolls or character sheets. There’s no roleplay or agency. The players sit in silence while the DM reads them a little bedtime story. Maybe tucks them real cozy with some Warm milk. But the haters call it railroading

Pls I want to be in a many year long campaign of this.

[lobstersinmyhouse]

Ohio

The simple truth is that this was easily preventable. This is what happens when maintenance is deferred, repeatedly, for decades. Norfolk Southern already had two major derailments in the last six months. The writing was very clearly on the wall. NS refused to follow basic maintenance schedules. The NTSB and FRA refused, failed, or were unable to enforce existing standards. This is a massive failure all thanks to the race to maximize short-term profit that governs the big national railroads. NS was the butt of jokes in the industry for decades due to the shoddy state of both its trackage and rolling stock, but the reality of it was no joke. One of the largest environmental disasters in US history, unfolding before us, is a result of unbridled capitalism and toothless regulatory agencies.

This was preventable. The people who caused this have names and addresses. People will suffer for decades because of this.

[everydayyoulovemeless]

FO4 companions attempting to give Sole a haircut but they fuck it up really bad? I just got back from a horrible hairdresser visit and I need the cope

Fo4 Companions Accidentally Giving Sole A Bad Haircut

➼ Word Count » 0.8k ➼ Warnings » None ➼ Genre » Platonic/Romantic, Hurt/Comfort? ➼ A/N » It's been a few months since you've requested this so I'm praying you're feeling better now!

You know MacCready messed something up when he begins chuckling nervously, rests a shaky hand on your shoulder, and starts talking way more than usual. He tries to stall you looking in the mirror for as long as possible but, when you eventually do, he’s biting his fist in awkwardness. He won’t lie, this is not his best work, but he never promised perfection. Nevertheless, he feels awful for what he’s done and will let you wear his hat to cover it until it grows back.

Nick will tell you flat out when he messes it up. He'll sigh apologetically, saying he should've just waited to have Ellie cut it or, I don't know, taking you to Kathy and John's Super Salon, right across the street from his agency. He doesn't do anything more to it and takes you straight to the salon to see if you can't salvage it. He feels awful about it, and will never touch your hair again.

Cait knows she isn't going to do a good job with it, but she doesn't tell you that and agrees to cut it anyway. Normally, when she wants to cut her hair, she'll just take any shape object she can get a hold of and start chopping away, and that's exactly what she does with you. She'll sit you down, pull out a pocket knife, and slice whole chunks off at a time. The worst part is that she's got no shame in it.

Preston will gasp quietly and cover his mouth with his hand. He refuses to move and will just stand there, completely still until you ask him what's wrong. He doesn't even know where to begin telling you how badly he's messed up and will instead, just apologize, rest his hands on the back of your shoulders, and rub reassuring circles into them with his thumbs. There are plenty of generals who don't have good hair! Nothing to fret over!

Codsworth will let out a silent 'Oh dear' and turn his buzzsaw off. Eventually, he'll begin reminding you of a separate time when you'd come back from the barber with you're hair all fucked, before explaining that he did exactly that. He tries to be light-hearted about it, but he's just as devastated as you are, possibly even more. He's a Mr. Handy, for Godsake! And he can't even do the basics!

Piper isn't even subtle about it. She'll just immediately begin comparing it to Atomites she's met through investigative journalism. She'll tell you that she's just giving you the 'wasteland special' and you shouldn't feel too upset about it. There are loads of people with this style! So, cheer up! It'll grow back!

Curie doesn't even realize she's messed anything up. In her opinion, any hairstyle any person has looks good. She doesn't quite understand the emotional attachment many people have toward it and just cuts it really short to help with mobility and whatnot. When you explain it to her, however, she starts to feel really guilty and will apologize nonstop.

Strong will just shave you bald. Now you look like him! What's there to be upset over? No support whatsoever from him.

Hancock will also just cut it with his knife, although, he's a lot more sympathetic than Cait. He'll hug you out of remorse and tell you it could be worse. You could be a ghoul and have no hair at all! Look at him! He can't even grow hair anymore so, don't feel too bad about it, alright?

Deacon will immediately fall to the ground in a squat, head in his hands as he simultaneously tries not to laugh or cry. He's cut his own hair so many times before with no issue - he cuts everyone in the Railroad's hair! - and it shatters him to know that he messed up on a craft he thought he perfected. He's supposed to be good at this! After a moment, he'll stand again and find you a wig in his collection for you to keep until your hair grows back. At least now the two of you can be wig buddies? Yay?

X6-88 will hum in defeat when he's messed it up before saying that he told you you should've gone to someone who actually knows how to cut hair. He can't comfort you for shit and probably just blames you for asking for help from someone who can't cut hair.

Old Longfellow knows how to cut hair. So, if he's messed it up, it means he was drunk. But, hey! Now you have a story to tell the folks at The Last Plank! So, he'll take you straight there so you can, hopefully, drink it off and laugh with the other regulars about it. No harm done!

Gage will tell you straight out that he's fucked it up badly, but he's not that concerned with it. If you seem upset, he'll just shrug and tell you it's not as bad as some of the other raiders in this place. If it bothers you that much, though, he'll get you a helmet for you to wear for the time being. It's safer for you anyway.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Vermont has become the first state to enact a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of the damage caused by climate change after the state suffered catastrophic summer flooding and damage from other extreme weather.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott allowed the bill to become law without his signature late Thursday, saying he is very concerned about the costs and outcome of the small state taking on “Big Oil” alone in what will likely be a grueling legal fight. But he acknowledged that he understands something has to be done to address the toll of climate change.

“I understand the desire to seek funding to mitigate the effects of climate change that has hurt our state in so many ways,” Scott, a moderate Republican in the largely blue state of Vermont, wrote in a letter to lawmakers.

The popular governor who recently announced that he’s running for reelection to a fifth two-year term, has been at odds with the Democrat-controlled Legislature, which he has called out of balance. He was expected by environmental advocates to veto the bill but then allowed it to be enacted. Scott wrote to lawmakers that he was comforted that the Agency of Natural Resources is required to report back to the Legislature on the feasibility of the effort.

Last July’s flooding from torrential rains inundated Vermont’s capital city of Montpelier, the nearby city Barre, some southern Vermont communities and ripped through homes and washed away roads around the rural state. Some saw it as the state’s worst natural disaster since a 1927 flood that killed dozens of people and caused widespread destruction. It took months for businesses — from restaurants to shops — to rebuild, losing out on their summer and even fall seasons. Several have just recently reopened while scores of homeowners were left with flood-ravaged homes heading into the cold season.

Under the legislation, the Vermont state treasurer, in consultation with the Agency of Natural Resources, would provide a report by Jan. 15, 2026, on the total cost to Vermonters and the state from the emission of greenhouse gases from Jan. 1, 1995, to Dec. 31, 2024. The assessment would look at the effects on public health, natural resources, agriculture, economic development, housing and other areas. The state would use federal data to determine the amount of covered greenhouse gas emissions attributed to a fossil fuel company.

It’s a polluter-pays model affecting companies engaged in the trade or business of extracting fossil fuel or refining crude oil attributable to more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions during the time period. The funds could be used by the state for such things as upgrading stormwater drainage systems; upgrading roads, bridges and railroads; relocating, elevating or retrofitting sewage treatment plants; and making energy efficient weatherization upgrades to public and private buildings. It’s modeled after the federal Superfund pollution cleanup program.

“For too long, giant fossil fuel companies have knowingly lit the match of climate disruption without being required to do a thing to put out the fire,” Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, said in a statement. “Finally, maybe for the first time anywhere, Vermont is going to hold the companies most responsible for climate-driven floods, fires and heat waves financially accountable for a fair share of the damages they’ve caused.”

Maryland, Massachusetts and New York are considering similar measures.

The American Petroleum Institute, the top lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, has said it’s extremely concerned the legislation “retroactively imposes costs and liability on prior activities that were legal, violates equal protection and due process rights by holding companies responsible for the actions of society at large; and is preempted by federal law.”

“This punitive new fee represents yet another step in a coordinated campaign to undermine America’s energy advantage and the economic and national security benefits it provides,” spokesman Scott Lauermann said in a statement Friday.

Vermont lawmakers know the state will face legal challenges, but the governor worries about the costs and what it means for other states if Vermont fails.

State Rep. Martin LaLonde, a Democrat and an attorney, believes Vermont has a solid legal case. Legislators worked closely with many legal scholars in crafting the bill, he said in statement.

“Most importantly, the stakes are too high – and the costs too steep for Vermonters – to release corporations that caused the mess from their obligation to help clean it up,” he said.

[readyforevolution]

IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW THIS YESTERDAY THEN TODAY WOULD BE A GOOD DAY TO LEARN THIS.... "All stories don't have a happy ending"

In 1866, one year after the 13 Amendment was ratified (the amendment that ended slavery), Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, and South Carolina began to lease out convicts for labor (peonage). This made the business of arresting Blacks very lucrative, which is why hundreds of White men were hired by these states as police officers. Their primary responsibility was to search out and arrest Blacks who were in violation of Black Codes. Once arrested, these men, women and children would be leased to plantations where they would harvest cotton, tobacco, sugar cane. Or they would be leased to work at coal mines, or railroad companies. The owners of these businesses would pay the state for every prisoner who worked for them; prison labor.

It is believed that after the passing of the 13th Amendment, more than 800,000 Blacks were part of the system of peonage, or re-enslavement through the prison system. Peonage didn’t end until after World War II began, around 1940.

This is how it happened.

The 13th Amendment declared that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." (Ratified in 1865)

Did you catch that? It says, “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude could occur except as a punishment for a crime". Lawmakers used this phrase to make petty offenses crimes. When Blacks were found guilty of committing these crimes, they were imprisoned and then leased out to the same businesses that lost slaves after the passing of the 13th Amendment. This system of convict labor is called peonage.

The majority of White Southern farmers and business owners hated the 13th Amendment because it took away slave labor. As a way to appease them, the federal government turned a blind eye when southern states used this clause in the 13th Amendment to establish laws called Black Codes. Here are some examples of Black Codes:

In Louisiana, it was illegal for a Black man to preach to Black congregations without special permission in writing from the president of the police. If caught, he could be arrested and fined. If he could not pay the fines, which were unbelievably high, he would be forced to work for an individual, or go to jail or prison where he would work until his debt was paid off.

If a Black person did not have a job, he or she could be arrested and imprisoned on the charge of vagrancy or loitering.

This next Black Code will make you cringe. In South Carolina, if the parent of a Black child was considered vagrant, the judicial system allowed the police and/or other government agencies to “apprentice” the child to an "employer". Males could be held until the age of 21, and females could be held until they were 18. Their owner had the legal right to inflict punishment on the child for disobedience, and to recapture them if they ran away.

This (peonage) is an example of systemic racism - Racism established and perpetuated by government systems. Slavery was made legal by the U.S. Government. Segregation, Black Codes, Jim Crow and peonage were all made legal by the government, and upheld by the judicial system. These acts of racism were built into the system, which is where the term “Systemic Racism” is derived.

This is the part of "Black History" that most of us were never told about.

[fade-and-loathing-in-thedas]

I've been thinking about the bioware decision to make only three decisions matter for DATV. I'm disappointed for many reasons—the misleading, the abandonment of storylines set up in dai, the loss of agency, and many others—but I've realised why I personally am so demotivated by learning this. When I make an OC for each game and for each of my worldstates I think about a character shaped by the world created by the choice I made previously. I don't have that for Rook. They will be an OC dictated by the World bioware has decided for me. It has removed some of the joy I have playing these games. I would have honestly preferred a reboot similar to Andromeda, a world completely removed from the choices made in previous games. Why even bring back the Inquisitor, Varric, Lace, Morrigan, Cassandra and Anora if none of the decisions that potentially could have impacted them matter? They have clearly decided what happened to these characters regardless of my choices. It's no longer my Inquisitor or the Varric, Lace, Morrigan, Cassandra and Anora that lived in the worlds I created. Idk. It's disheartening and destroyed some of my excitement because I was planning Rooks and now I'm at a loss. How do I create an OC for my worldstates in a world where bioware has decided what those worldstates look like and my decisions never mattered. They keep harping on about how choices matter in DATV, but it turns out just not yours. Rook, Solas and Bioware's matter and their disregard has really degraded my trust that Rook's will because what's to stop them doing this for DA5. Headcanons are good and all but how does that work when you railroad your players?

Rant over, and sorry for the negativity all.

[amaryllis-sagitta]

Hiiii, I've read some of your DAV criticism - which I agree with - and was curious to know your thoughts specifically on how Solas was handled in the game, the reveals we have in DAV and what it does for his character. Sth feels off about it imo but I can't articulate what.

There is something I can't quite place yet either, it's like they throw the Polarity of Solas onto us and try to make Rook's choice between trusting him and trying to outsmart him to be... more dramatic? All while fully trying to railroad us into hating him, based on the ceaseless reminders of his treachery and Codices and echoes of people who anticipated Solas to be a new despot, people who got sacrificed for the rebellion or punished for disobedience? Because I've only ever heard MorriMythal point out that a Rook who chooses the angry, resentful assessment of Solas might be making assumptions and not going deep enough. His characterization in DAI was more subdued out of necessity, so if you were interested in him, you devoured every single hint. Now, there seems to be a stronger dissonance between a Message you get when you talk to Solas without sassing him, a message from statuette murals that points at Solas having less self-determination and agency throughout history than we expected due to his codependent dedication to Mythal, and a MESSAGE that is constantly shoved into our throats that wants us to be hostile. The overall vibe is much more Baldur's Gate 3 Emperor-y than I expected. And the MESSAGE consistently foreshadows a very particular unhappy ending through Varric's fate, so as Rook we don't really have an incentive to trust Solas and choose sympathy at all since the moment we witnessed that stab.

So maybe this is an opportunity to throw a question to Solavellans: have you felt gaslit by Veilguard at any point, as far as Solas is concerned? Have you felt like trying to show him benevolence comes off as stupid in the broader context?

I'll definitely go back to this once I've finished the game.

[melanieph321]

Ruben Dias x Reader - Top Spies Part 1/8

Ruben and Reader are super spies, who have to pretend to be a married couple on vacation as a co-signed mission. A enemies to lovers fic, very sweet and funny!

Enjoy!

"Listen up team. We have a big one!"

Captain Harlow order everyone to join him in the meeting lounge. It was more of a den, with black leather couches and dimmed lighting. You were the last one in, leaving you stand as there was nowhere left for you to sit.

"What's up captain?" Asked a man. He was an agent like you.

"Drugs Franklin, that's what's up." Captain tossed a bundle of files on the coffee table before them. "Alejandro Martinez, Portugals most infamous druglord. Last year he managed to import nearly 700 kilos of cocaine into the country."

"How?" The team of agents questioned in unison.

Captain shrugged. "That's for you to find out. Is he using drug mules, an underground railroad..."

"A submarine...." Another agent muttered. His name was Ruben. Although his remark was followed by laughter, knowing Ruben,  he probably meant what he said. He always seemed so serious, never cracking jokes intentionally.

"All we know for sure..." Captain put an end to the chuckles. "...is that we can't have a warrant for his arrest without this information."

Like your fellow agents your brows were furrowed with your mind in deep thought. Importing 700 kilos of cocaine into a country was highly impressive, but also impossible to do, at least in one go.

"Dias, Y/N!"

You raised your head with the calling of your name, so did Ruben.

"My office, now!"

You left the meeting lounge, follwing Captain Harlow towards his office. A giant shadow was casted after you as Ruben walked slowly behind.

"Please have a seat." The captain said, shutting his office door, gesturing for you and Ruben to take the seats before his desk.

"All agents will be on this case in some type of way, but I'm going to need you two to go undercover for this one."

"Understood." Ruben nodded.

"For how long?" You questioned.

"A month, but depending on the progress of the case the period might be longer or shorter."

You nodded.

"Glad you're all aboard. It will be demanding but I see you two as the perfect fit for this job."

"What's the mission Cap?" Ruben said, leaning forward in his chair.

"I need you two to pose as husband and wife on a exclusive vacation to Madeira."

"What?" You and Ruben exclaimed. It was the first time he turned to look at you today. Although it was a brief look, a displeased look.

"You can't be serious Captain? I thought you were assigning us solo missions?" He protested.

"Well I'm not. From now on you'll be Mr and Mrs Moreno, a knewly wed couple enjoying a month at Resort de la Martinez. Alejandro Martinez owns a private vacation resort on the Island. We suspect that some of his illegal shipping trades happens there. The resort is a great way for him to keep an eye on his operations. Which is now your jobs."

"To keep an eye on the merchendis?" You said, eager to get on with the the mission. Ruben however looked to have a headache coming on, impulsively rubbing the side of his scalp.

"Exactly. Any suspicious activity you see reports back to me. Enjoy the mission agents."

"This is unbelievable."

You followed Ruben with quick steps as he stormed out of Captain Harlows office. You followed him all the way back to his desk.

"Well, you better believe it." You said. "Captain has us on a plane to Madeira tonight. "

Ruben turned to look at you, arms crossed before him. "What's your name again Rose?"

You rolled your eyes "It's Y/N."

"Right, Y/N. Look, I know you're new here and all, but you must know that I don't do co-signed missions."

"Oh, I know." You snorted. It had only gone three months since you switch agencies, however it didn't take you to long to figure out the hierchy around here. For example, Ruben was considered to be one of the top agents. You, as a woman and a newbie, considered to be at the bottom.

"There is a first for everything, Ruben." You said.

His eyes widen in surprise. He took a good look at you, considering that it was the first time that he actually looked at you twice.

"Anything else you wish for me to know about you?" You asked.

Ruben grunted in response, turning his back on you to sort out the many files on his desk.

You shook your head, returning to your own desk.

It was going to be a long month.