#Year Of The Phoenix

[vintagerpg]

Year of the Phoenix (1986, no relation to Phoenix Command) was the last RPG published by Fantasy Games Unlimited before they shuttered. It represents one of the stranger military RPGs to come out in the ‘80s. Actually, in all honesty, this is basically a percentile skill-based system and not deeply preoccupied with the minutia of tactical small arms combat, so I dunno if it is technically a military RPG. On the other hand, combat is still annoyingly complicated and features ten hit locations (four more than RuneQuest), so, pretty heavy. Again, though, I don’t really care about these as games, I am interested in how they are weird jingoisticly infected artifacts of Cold War-era gaming. And boy, is Year of the Phoenix that.

There’s an elaborate set-up here. Players make their characters as members of a near-future space program. They go up in the rocket to deal with a hostage situation on a space station and the Libyans (of course) detonate a bomb, after which they come down in the year 2197. Guess what? While they were gone, the USSR won World War III and took over North America. Their grip isn’t tight, and there are plenty of resistance groups to join, which the players presumably do, and the game goes from there. The vision of the future is…naive. It could maybe be fun if you got rid of stuff like the fact that resistance in the southern states is a reborn Confederacy and the implication that all this happened because of “godlessness.” For instance: it is revealed at the end of the introductory adventure that some folks on Staten Island have the Statue of Liberty hidden in a secret underground bunker?

I dunno, its hard to take it all seriously and is sort of baffling it exists at all. And it is a pretty elaborate product, especially for an FGU game, with cardstock counters and a color map. What a one for a company to go out on.

[deviiancetv]

Closure and Innovation; An Analysis of The Collectives Energy for 2025

Since 2024 is a universal year 8, the themes of ambition, success, and manifestation are particularly strong both personally and globally. The energy for the collective was to feel more aligned by stepping into more power, and push towards long-term goals.

“A year 8 is a powerful time for achievement, material success, and manifestation. It focuses on authority, financial abundance, and personal growth. In this year, you may find yourself driven to achieve more in your career, pursue leadership roles, or make significant financial decisions.”

However, I’ve been theorizing that after the solar eclipse in April, we shifted into a different timeline and began experiencing the negative side of a year 8. The opposite of a good year 8 is one that feels intense and challenging. While this year was about power, control, and success, it was swiftly became a year of mental, emotional, and financial stress, for lots of people.

I know for me personally I felt extremely overwhelmed in April through June, and even more so in August through November. Nothing fell into place and I felt like my prayers, manifestations, and thoughts were being ignored by the Divine and others around me. It was a year of lots of dark thoughts as well, which I will not share or get too delved into, but if you’re interested to know my mental state and why I’ve been so— *read here*

Other than that, I will say the personal growths did feel tremendously grandiose for me. After leaving my very problematic and overworked job at Dress To Be Depressed, I started feeling like I could show up authentically as myself at my job. I felt the most confident at my new job and stepped into more challenging arenas that were easy for me to navigate after speaking up for myself, and letting that spark of fire in me kindle a bit into the phoenix year I’m bound to experience!! We’ve all had a very tough year, it was a draining year for everyone, and if we’re being real the last 9 years have felt extremely difficult, some lesser than others, but this decade started with many unfortunate events that have happened, and it seems like now with Mr.Orange being president we’re back to the basics of Ahmurican divisive culture.

I will say, 2025 has a very high chance of being a slightly better year for our personal lives. 2025 being a universal year 9 is all about endings, transformation, and reflection. A year 9 is one of completion, letting go, and transformation. This year will serve as a time to reflect on what you've accomplished and what no longer serves you. Release old patterns, relationships, or situations that are holding you back, preparing you for a fresh start in the next cycle.

And with Pluto now being in the sign of Aquarius, it’s really starting to feel like shifts are happening for the better. It’ll take awhile, but things will be happening soon and we’ll start to see the beginnings of what the next 20 years will look like.

[leggalese]

A doodle regarding the Tumblr Fandom 2024 Year In Review...

Based on this:

[lucifers-simp]

Well, that was fun but now it's time to put him back in the freezer

[toorumlk]

the weasleys, circa 1995

[callonpeevesie]

I'm onto something I'm telling you

[baker-chan-senpai]

dumb doodles

merry christmas, people

[demaparbat-hp]

The Perfect Prince

[snailianz]

untimely reunion

[sabertoothwalrus]

phoenix you gotta law something

[ceeejus]

break in the case

[kiwimansi]

bridge to the turnabout —

[deviiancetv]

Unearth The Light, Set Thy Soul Free

It’s strange how fast time flies by when you’re going through the undercurrents of life. Sweeping you off your shore of comfort, taking you deep down into the depths of your inner world, and as everything crashes down around you, you feel helpless — submerged far away from who you used to be. That’s what this year has felt like, it’s been an amalgamation of the worst parts of my twenties and some of my adolescent years.

I’ve been trying to tap back into my excelsis, regaining the urge to create again, but life has come in the way of that, and even my own procrastination has as well. I am glad to have gone through a rebirth of sorts, by finding the confidence to speak up for myself with a situation that happened at my former job. I’ve met a lot of new people, and reignited friendships with people I had lost contact with.

My relationship with my family is still strained, and honestly the last goal of mine is to finally be free from the cage my mother has mentally placed me in, in fear of being my authentic self, in fear of losing support and stability, even though I haven’t been in a stable state of mind since I started living with her.

As the new year approaches, my new desire for this year is to stimulate my mind from woe. It could be from a potential lover or a new friend that teaches me more about myself or lets me experience many firsts in my life, I’ve had yet to experience a lot of things and all I currently want is to live my twenties to my fullest as soon as possible.

I’m claiming 2025 as a year of cleansing and rebirth to my mental state, to be at peace for once, and to experience more things I haven’t experienced yet!!

[righteousenjoymentofthunder]

just. dropping this here

[rendevok]

Act I ~ The Prince

A tapestry for Let No One Sleep by @azalawa-scroggs on ao3

[tizzymcwizzy]

happy holidays if you celebrate!! :D