#also their story plans takes place across multiple seasons

[rowanthestrange]

Yep, yeeting the vicar was me. You just spun-off a good point in my head too…

The birds say between them that they’ll then become members of government and start wars. (Possibly just in-character playing ‘Baddies’, I maintain that’s why the “breaking spines! removing tonsils! live vivisection” line is there because while murdering, they have done literally nothing like that, and it’s the sort of silly thing a child would say when playing a monster trying to think of the nastiest things a monster could do). “We still have the big finale wedding to come. And then... London. We can play our games on a magnificent scale. Parliament first, then royalty. I can be King. And we can start wars with the French and the Spanish and the Portuguese, and everyone who doesn't look British.”

But uh. Rogue wasn’t there for that. They were well away by then.

So when in Rogue’s non-stop barrage firehose waterboarding of the Doctor he says: “They’ll kill us. Then this house. Then London. Then the world. You know that. You absolutely know it.”

He can’t have logicked that out. There were a few deaths sure, but one housekeeper and a duchess not only isn’t ‘these are extremely dangerous and fast killing machines’-worthy, that leap doesn’t make sense.

It’s not even true in their possibly-just-roleplay Baddie Plan. ‘And we’ll start wars with x y and z and everyone who isn’t British! Bloodshed, cannons, gunpowder!’, like that is a lonnnnnnng plan. Like I said before this situation is no ‘we don’t have time to run away and regroup’ thing, they’re slow killers, and especially with Ruby with battle mode engaged she at least would be fine. But it’s that taking over London bit. Very specifically.

He claims he hasn’t met them, doesn’t know how many there are, he’s not admitting to any prior knowledge of these guys.

So the only way he comes up with that line is if he already knew what they wanted out of their campaign in the first place.

And why would a bounty hunter sent for the money who claims to not know anything about Planet Earth’s ‘ancient traditions’ from cosplay to homosexuality (…didn’t mean it that way but keeping it, it’s funny) also know so many random little details about this time and place, down to what the capital is?

(Also the bird ship is already fucky in that regard - an Asteroid Hopper wouldn’t be able to travel in time, you can tell by the name - short hops from ‘landmass’ to ‘landmass’. How’d they all get to 1813 while still having a playlist with Kylie (or for that matter D&D)? It’s not really one, it just looks like it is.)

imo if he was just a random guy doing a package deal you’d have covered it in the episode, no need to stretch that plot out to multiple ones and across multiple seasons no less - making some assumptions about the finale anyway, it should be Ruby’s time to shine not anyone else’s. And we do really need more Pantheon rather than random characters, we have two so far, two. If Susan and Flood are both pantheon, four. Not a “legion” yet by a stretch. Same if he was also a bird in psychic disguise, but you could possibly make it work still, just seems at minimum like an odd choice to do literal-meta wise with the limited time we have at only 8 episodes per season/half-season ykwim? And we take very ‘I know about those episodes with Jack Harkness and am referencing them a lot’ approach in an episode about ‘the aliens have watched british tv’, so that means at minimum he probably is someone who watched Doctor Who, so unlikely it’s a complete random, and only the Pantheon can be confidently said to have done so so far, but maybe a lot more people will have later??

But I certainly think the Chuldur are The Rogue’s friends (perhaps for a given value, and they’re a bit dim, but a god creature that understands friends if not ‘npc life’ could be cool, even if when one of their ‘characters’ dies, he’s like well, that’s D&D for you). And I think that he’s clearly going to a lot of effort building the story for them, so we’re six of one and half a dozen of the other really on that score. Could be a for-payment thing, but either way he certainly seems concerned and careful to maintain their wellbeing when any real bounty hunter would have shot them on the glue trap etc.

Maybe that’s why the ship’s so fucky actually, DM’s love their props, this is about playing D&D In The Real World, so maybe he got one originally, but now they’ve just kept magically editing it over time as the campaign and rule of cool needed. Appearance, time travel etc. “It should look like a bird!” “…Yeah! It should look like a bird! Great idea Emily, we’ll work that in!”

And yes, that there was going to be another story here originally is definitely relevant, and who was he in it?

We know they were going to have a big wedding, but maybe that they’re also Baddies going to take over the world muhahaha! Cus they went into that real quick but also they said that the panicking and screaming is their favourite bit - so there must have been a plan to cause that after the wedding part of the game! They were playing Baddies! So, thinking like what our lead bird would want for a moment, if you were to DM that, maybe he’s both playing the bounty hunter sent to catch them …But maybe also was going to do an “I Object!” scene too. Let’s say Rogue doesn’t know the Doctor was coming in advance. He’s already got ‘I’m The Bad Guy’ playing if this wasn’t a live magical edit on seeing him. Maybe that’s why he chose to look like Mr Darcy. Maybe he was going to woo one of them - a good reason to already have the ring. Cus a big wedding can’t go right, that’s not drama, that’s boring. We know he’s probably cloaked - not only do they not recognise him but we have Ruby’s earring interference pointed directly at him (same tech frequency problems?) and even mention the psychic jewellery’s ability to mask a scent with a false one. So he was an NPC just meant to turn up and add some of their beloved drama. So he’d woo a Chuldur, he’ll object and then he would reveal himself as a bounty hunter with his Big Glowy Gun and trap! It was a dastardly trick! You knew he was a Rogue and a cad all along, you just let yourself fall for his deceit! *teleports to ship rather than incinerator*

BRO. Even the bird’s D&D plot would naturally be the ‘I was tricking you and am actually your enemy’ twist!

highly influenced by @rowanthestrange i am now starting to be in favour of the chuldurs having paid Rogue, or the company he works for, for an all-inclusive fully-immersive LARP experience

like. they came together in the bird ship maybe (while it's bird shaped it's awfully messy to be transporting your customers)

Rogue is the dungeon master, making sure they have an interesting time and even luring the doctor there for the ultimate excitement. as a lot of dungeon masters do he also provides the adversaries for the players/is an adversary. they have to evade capture or they "get teleported to the incinerator"

(he . has a gun. why would he not just use it . why teleport them to death? unless he is actually just sending them home, a little disappointed they lost the game)

i do think the chuldurs might've gone off-script a bit, and that they're not meant to try to take over the english government of 1813 and start wars with everywhere. like they were trying to go beyond the LARP they paid for maybe, the Immersive Earth LARP company isn't trying to steer humanity's history off-course, that'd interfere with their business model

and at the end, i saw someone (rowan likely) point out that if the transport triangle thing just needed Some other body in place of Ruby's, he could've at least tried to give the vicar a rather unceremonious burial into another dimension.

and again he could've just shot the chuldurs and deactivated the gate once they were dead. the doctor would be a bit cross he killed them but like. that'd make sense for his character as a selfish bounty hunter who is developing a bit of a crush on this timelord guy

unless they're working together and he's not sacrificing at all

i doubt this theory explains everything (well right now it's definitely not explaining everything, but it has the potential to explain slightly more than it's doing now, but maybe not the whole episode) but i wanted to put it out there

[yuurivoice]

It is the season of the GIANT CINNAMON ROLL

I've followed your channel for a while. Like, yuuri katsuki years old

I love all the stories you create Bittersweet especially! I love the way everything ties together slowly and the overall world build.

I like how each character has standalone plots that develop with them THERES SO MUCH I LIKE ABOUT YOUR WORK!

I love your work :) I hope you have a great day!

This was very sweet! Thank you, I love BitterSweet very much and am excited for the Director's Cut and all the fun things on the horizon.

Not to use an ask about BitterSweet to pitch my Echoes of Evalas shit, but...

One thing I'm really enjoying about the planning and creation of Evalas' side of things is that I'm using a lot of the lessons and experience I've gathered over the years working on BitterSweet and the additional spinoffs to create a whole new adventure that also has deep roots in BitterSweet!

The whole "each character has their own thing as well" deal is a fundamental part that I think is going to come across really enjoyable for folks as a way to really sink their teeth into the characters and story, and the world itself.

I will always be a sucker for "we follow multiple povs to the point of convergence" type of thing in media, and this is sorta like that. At least the information divulged and the events taking place all lead to this critical juncture that is Echoes of Evalas.

Alllll of that being said, I can't wait to also get back to BitterSweet and explore what is next for the trio!

[insipid-drivel]

Toxins, Venom, and Poisons in Historical Western Medicine: How Are We Not Extinct From Doing Some Of This To Ourselves?

This piece is an involuntary piece inspired by @writing-with-sophia's awesome post "Poison list", which is an accurate and succinct list of commonly known (and ancient!) poisons, venoms, and toxins that have been and were used for causing poisoning in ancient and recent history. I wanted to write this because what struck me by their post crossing my dash was, the sheer number of poisons listed that were - and even still are - used as mainstays for healthcare around the world throughout the ages!

OBLIGATORY DON'T BE A DUMBASS PSA: If you're planning on incorporating these poisons into your HISTORICAL-era writing, it's also important to remember that many of them were used for medicinal purposes at one time, too, and it's great you're interested in learning about the subject! And also, you shouldn't try ANY of these! I will not tell you how to do it at home if you DM me, so don't! You are not appropriately trained to do it! You will harm or kill yourself and possibly your loved ones if you fuck around with any of these and it will be 100% your fault and you absolutely should feel bad bout it! I've seen some of you idiots believe 4chan posts about making home-grown crystals using recipes for actual mustard gas and seen you being wheeled into the ER on the news! I will not feel bad if you get yourself hurt if you screw around with any of these plants, elements, or animals!

Resource blog plugs and PSA over, now for the Hilariously Poisonous Medicines:

If you're writing something that's meant to take place prior to the advent of our more modern understanding of poisons, venoms, and toxins, factoring in "this is toxic to me NOW, but what about 500 years ago?" can add a lot of opportunities for interesting plot elements to your story.

These can include someone accidentally poisoning themselves with a toxic drug or substance that wouldn't have killed them if they'd handled it properly - like tansy? Grows all over the place in Europe and England? That'll kill you if you harvest it too late in the season, but it's good for intestinal parasites when it's harvested early in the year and processed right.

Did the lady's maid really kill her mistress with belladonna? Or was she trying to secretly help her mistress get rid of an unwanted pregnancy?

The protagonist's children can't survive to make it to weaning age! Is the wetnurse a poisoner, or does the milkman hide that he sells sour milk by pouring Borax into it so no one could taste it and has no idea he's killing his clients' babies?

Nuance and cultural mores regarding historical views about poisons and toxins can make writing even more fun, dynamic, and interesting! Explore 'em!

Just... please don't try any of this crap yourself. You will poison yourself, it will hurt, you will die, and you will hurt the entire time you're dying. Using OP's master list alone, here's the flip side of these lethal beasts through the eyes of our distant ancestors who believed illness was caused by "vapors", "bad air", and "imbalanced humors":

Hemlock:

Used across multiple different cultures in history. When properly administered to treat a disease, poison hemlock was used to treat asthma, whooping cough, bronchitis, joint/bone pain, muscle cramps, and insomnia. Hemlock was most often used as a sedative and antispasmodic.

Arsenic:

Arsenic is a heavy metal, and so has been used in everything from making specialty dyes for wallpapers (Scheele's green is the most infamous arsenic-based paint; Queen Victoria once had a guestroom in her palace redone with Scheele's green wallpaper. The first dignitary to stay there had to be carried out and taken to emergency care after breathing astronomical amounts of arsenic dust from the wallpaper's paint), to medicine. Arsenic was especially commonly used in history to treat skin ailments ranging from acne, to psoriasis, to syphilis sores. It was also sometimes prescribed for menstrual cramps, upset stomachs, colic, and arthritis, among many, many other things.

Cyanide:

Uh... I have literally never found any evidence of cyanide in medicine, outside of its use in modern medicine as part of certain chemical lab tests for measuring urine ketone bodies that involve no contact with a patient whatsoever. Cyanide literally works in less than a few seconds to render your entire body incapable of absorbing OR using oxygen in your lungs or already existing in your blood. Cyanide is really only good at making things that breathe not breathe anymore.

Nightshade:

There are a lot of different "nightshades", so being specific is essential here. Potatoes are nightshades. Tomatoes are nightshades. Calling anything a "nightshade" does not inherently mean it's lethally toxic. Belladonna is probably the most notorious of the "deadly" nightshades, but to this day, is still used medicinally, and would actually be seen as a health and cosmetic mainstay in historical fiction, especially if your setting is in Italy!

Belladonna is an Italian portmanteau for "beautiful woman", because tinctures (water-based drops) of belladonna were commonly used by Italian women as eyedrops to dilate their eyes and appear more attractive, aroused, and desirable. Today, belladonna's eye-dilating effects are still used by optometrists to dilate the pupils! Belladonna has been, and still sometimes is used as an NSAID, general painkiller, motion sickness treatment, asthma medication, and even as a treatment for IBS.

Ricin:

As OP said, Ricin is derived from the toxin found in Castor Beans, and is surprisingly new as an official "the only reason this is made is to make someone dead" poison. Not only is ricin a popular "nobody would think to test for this!" choice in mystery/thriller writing, but it has been used for political assassinations in real life before. Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian anti-Communist dissenter and writer, was killed in 1978 with a 1.7mm diameter ricin-coated pellet shot into his thigh muscle by an unidentified assailant using a modified umbrella as a gun. He died 4 days later.

Historically, castor OIL has been used for medicinal purposes, especially for treating constipation, inducing labor in pregnancy, and as a topical skin moisturizer. If you've ever watched the opening scene in Disney's "Peter Pan", when the childrens' mother is trying to give them a spoonful of medicine each, she's actually giving them castor oil! Castor oil tastes really bad (so much so that flavorings like cinnamon were often added to try to muffle the taste), so the childrens' reluctance and disgust at their mom making them take their medicine is very realistic for the era the movie came out in!

Strychnine:

Another lethal poison that started life as a medicine/food additive. Strychnine is no longer used medicinally at all today, but historically, it was used to stimulate the heart, treat bladder and bowel incontinence, and limb palsy. Strychnine is a deadly-powerful muscle stimulant that, as a poison, causes horrifyingly painful full-body strictures (spasms) and destroys the cardiovascular system. (Fun fact: Strychnine and hydrochloric acid were historically mixed into cheap vodka to make knock-off gin, especially during the Georgian Era in England if the brewer didn't have or couldn't afford juniper berries!)

Snake Venom:

Seriously, do your research before you write an actual, real snake species using venom they don't produce! The Big 3 Forms Of Snake Venom are: Hemotoxic, Neurotoxic, and Cytotoxic. Specific snake species exclusively generate the same kind of venom (so a hemotoxic snake will ALWAYS produce baby snakes that also make hemotoxic venom). Aristotle himself wrote in 380 BC that certain snake venoms could be applied for treating fevers, smallpox, and leprosy, and there is even some evidence in the historical record prior to the 1800s that different cultures have experimented throughout the eons with using venom for converting into antivenom, but I've never found a source citing anyone making a successful form of antivenom until around the 1850s.

Digitalis:

OP really nailed the important thing about Digitalis, and that is it's cardiac benefits for certain people - particularly for treating congestive heart failure. Vincent van Gogh was actually prescribed epilepsy medication that likely contained Digitalis, aka Foxglove, and there are some prevailing theories about van Gogh's love of bright yellow paint as being either caused or exacerbated by the symptoms associated with digitalis use, which can cause an attraction to and increased visual sensitivity to the color yellow. In several portraits, including one of his own psychiatrist, van Gogh shows subjects presented alongside foxglove flowers. Digitalis is absolutely lethal if consumed or taken without expert guidance, however, because it's the mother ingredient of Digoxin. Digoxin isn't used as frequently as it used to be a few decades ago, but it's still used and prescribed today for certain forms of heart failure and heart disease. Digoxin was also, at one time, was also sometimes used to induce chemical abortions.

Lead:

Dear god, lead. Not only is it so slow to kill you that you'll think that the only way to manage your symptoms is with more lead, but lead poisoning can be a life-long crisis for a person who is regularly exposed to it. Humans have used lead for everything from plumbing, to paint, to our cutlery, to cosmetics, to medicine. While yes, it is very possible to ingest enough lead in a single sitting to die within hours or days, most sufferers of lead poisoning experience it for years or decades before the symptoms become obvious. Some archaeologists believe that the Romans used lead cutlery because lead has a unique reaction when we lick it: when you have lead coating your tongue, it makes EVERYTHING you eat suddenly taste 10x better. I learned this myself from going target-shooting with my mom at a gun rage as a teenager, inhaled gunsmoke (which contains lead), and went for lunch immediately after. Even though I was just eating a $5 meal from In-N-Out, my burger tasted so good I thought I was gonna have to change my pants. When I asked the rangemaster at the target place about it later, he literally said, "Oh yeah, lead makes the worst cooking taste like heaven."

The ancient Romans ate a lot of rotten, spoiled, and sour food, and so lead would've made it easier to eat it back then. But the neurological effects of lead poisoning are nightmarish. It's suspected that, in America, the #1 reason we had so many active serial killers in the country from the 1940s-2000s was because of leaded gasoline. Ever since leaded gasoline was banned? Serial and random violent crime rates have dramatically gone down, especially in metropolitan cities. Ancient Rome, too, gradually became an increasingly violent city as its population went up and its reliance on lead did. We're only just now starting to figure out how toxic lead actually is, so go nuts with using it as a plot element regarding subjects like "Why Are You Like This?"

Mercury:

Mercury is also known as quicksilver, because in spite of being a heavy metal, the temperature at which it melts into a liquid is very, very low compared to most other metals. The first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, was rumored to be so obsessed with the notion of immortality that he would send his doctors on doomed voyages around the world searching for a legendary substance that would, indeed, make him immortal. Legend has it that some doctors who were tasked with the job found out about the last guys, and produced mercury before Emperor Qin Shi Huang and cried, "Here it is! I got it!" so they wouldn't end up doomed to drown at sea. Qin Shi Huang became so obsessed with ingesting and medicating himself with mercury that, when his legendary tomb was being constructed, he had a small-yet-accurate-to-scale map of China+the known world about the size of a football field with every body of water full of fountains of running mercury in his burial chamber. His tomb was rediscovered in the last couple of decades after archaeologists found suspiciously high levels of mercury in the soil on top of a "hill" that had been sitting in the countryside untouched for thousands of years. It turned out to be Qin Shi Huang's long-lost tomb.

Since those days, mercury has closely been associated in early medicine as a sort of cure-all, since it literally kills anything it touches (including people). Captain Blackbeard himself, the most notorious pirate in Western history (Western specifically; google who Zheng Yi Sao was), was known or widely believed to be a syphilis sufferer, and desperately sought infusions of mercury from ships he'd capture (and the doctors onboard) to treat it, believing like everyone did that mercury could cure syphilis. It can't. They just didn't understand back then that syphilis starts off surface-level, and then eats your brain years after the initial infection.

Aconite:

Again, ridiculously toxic outside of specific medicinal applications that still aren't safe today! Aconite, or wolfsbane, has historically been used as a heart sedative (for slowing the heart), diuretic, painkiller, and even used to induce sweating. Evidence of wolfsbane being used for medicinal purposes has been spotted here and there over thousands of years throughout the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Empires, but its original use came about in Ancient Greece for hunting and culling wolves by poisoning bait-food with it. That form of hunting died out long before the European Middle Ages, but the name "wolfsbane" stuck. Mostly because in the Middle Ages, a lot of people believed werewolves were a huge problem, and kept wolfsbane handy to deter said werewolves.

Thallium:

Today, thallium is mostly used in the production of camera and eyeglass lenses. Before its toxicity was known about, it wasn't strange to hear of thallium being used topically to treat fungal infections like ringworm. Thallium was also sporadically used in treating typhus and tuberculosis, along with a wide array of sexually transmitted diseases.

This list doesn't even touch the tip of the toxic iceberg when it comes to the sheer quantity of hilariously dangerous toxins people have, or still continue, to use for medicinal purposes! In a Victorian-era English London middle-class townhouse setting alone, there were dozens and dozens of ways to poison or otherwise harm yourself just by going about your daily life. So, if you've got a period piece you're working on, or are just bored, you can pick an exact date and time in our history and learn just how terrifyingly comfortable our ancestors were with upsettingly dangerous substances and home remedies. You can also watch a massive docuseries, called "Hidden Killers" and hosted by historian Suzannah Lipscomb, among other historians and archaeologists, which deep-dives into the hidden and unknown dangers of living in eras from Tudor-Era England, to the Post-WWII Reconstruction Age.

As a final note: I am NOT bashing Chinese or Eastern medicinal practices here, and in fact deliberately have gone out of my way to not include any references toward culturally-sanctioned medicinal practices in Eastern and Southeastern Asia. This post is specifically related to the history of WESTERN medicines and their associated history. I am not, nor have I ever been, a doctor of any traditional Eastern medicinal practices, and do not pretend to know better. Sinophobes are unwelcome in my blog space.

[lingulaca]

It's hilarious when Ewan says Aemond is a victim of bullying, just wants his mum to love him more (which justifies all terrible war crimes he commited and will commit), the only thing he wants is love, he's misunderstood, all his life, he was looking for a proper mother figure and for a match (although nothing in the show indicates he has any interest in romantic relationships, just sees him and maybe some other, purebred Targaryens as gods), his fans acts like it's the Word of God, but when he admitted he was looking forward to delving into the Aemond and Helaena dynamics in season 3, because their relationship could be interesting now that he knows she's a seer, they were dead sure he lied because he wanted to troll helaemond shippers. It's especially funny given the same people want HOTD to follow the book and battles of Honeywine and the Gullet happened when Aemond was still in KL. Also, I don't think actively hating on helaemond shippers is Ewan's favourite leisure activity (I'm not saying he likes this ship, but given it could give him more clout, he wouldn't have anything against it becoming show canon). Of course we can assume he had no clue what he was saying, but if he just talks nonsense, we cannot take his pro-Aemond the Misunderstood the Love Starved seriously, either. Plus, something tells me they want Aemond to head over to Harrenhal asap becsuse they wish the Aemond and Alys "love story" to be the most important subplot. I came across people claiming alysmond will outshine daemyra and Condal and Mess will give up on rhaenicent a d focus on alysmond instead

lmfao if people seriously think a ship as trash as alysmond could ever outshine daemyra they're crazy. i honestly hope the whole rhaenicent thing stops but at this point the damage to rhaenyra's character caused by that ship being marketed so weirdly has already been done. not to mention that weird scene where rhaenyra kisses mysaria in response to hearing about mysaria getting sexually assaulted. weird, just weird all around. the writers are def trying to ruin daemyra though now that i think about it, so maybe the plan is to "replace" it with alysmond. imagine if they start portraying alys as like, lovesick for aemond or something omg

i think it's really weird how tg feels the need to constantly act like certain characters (cough cough, aemond and alicent) are incapable of fixing their issues, even though they are definitely the direct cause of their own problems and are given multiple chances. like in the moment viserys died, alicent had all the power and made a choice to support aegon's claim instead of the true heir's, and both the show and delusional alicent fans frame it as her believing that was his dying wish. like no, she's a usurper on the side of usurpers and that's it. she's not overly complex lol. or even before viserys died, alicent could've and chose not to support rhaenyra even though (and we know this because of how alicent's influence manifests in the form of ridiculing rhaenyra's family) her support would have meant a lot as queen consort. alicent could have made sure rhaenyra ascended the throne at a certain point. and then they give her lines like "this senseless war must end" even though the war started because of her,,, and people STILL think the show favors team black. people are so stupid. i don't wanna talk so much more about alicent but ykwim.

with aemond, if we're meant to believe aemond fans that he just longs for connection, he's ruling in aegon's place. he, like alicent when she was queen (because viserys was permissive), has all the power at the moment. he doesn't use this power to connect with anyone, in fact he decides to try and force helaena to fight in the war. if he wanted connection so bad, he could've simply,,, been nice to his sister LMFAO. what people do after obtaining power/influence says a lot about them; aemond having power and still choosing to be a piece of shit shows that that's always what he was, and what he'll always be. and aemond fans will just tell you that's cause he's traumatized and "poor little baby aemond 🥺🥺🥺"

still waiting for a good daemyra sex scene, that shitty one they had on the beach does not count

[manorpunk]

To Seize and Hold - Act II

Distracting myself from election scrolling.

+++++

Jacob Martin Rider is modeled after a very particular type of guy, a type of guy who is intimately familiar to grand strategy gamers, central European history buffs, and anyone else who knows what a ‘Hussar’ is. That type of guy is the cavalry dandy.

The cavalry dandy is a grizzled, battle-tested, hard-drinking killer, a 17th century Rambo who charges into the nearest fight before he even knows who’s at war. The cavalry dandy is also a vainglorious fop obsessed with preening and fancy clothes. He is a perfect example of how changing and nebulous something like ‘masculinity’ is: the military is supposed to be the domain of masculine manly men, hard-eyed killers fighting other hard-eyed killers, but it is also a place of elaborate ritual, fancy uniforms with braids and sashes, dance-like ceremonies of precision movements, even those big dumb Air Force swords. Martial culture is the epitome of homiesexual. Or, to put it in Jacob’s words:

“If you want success on the battlefield, you need a fag. Alexander the Great? Huge fag. Frederick the Great? Huge fag. Napoleon? He’s French, so it’s complicated.”

But seriously, who the hell is this Jacob Martin Rider guy? Here’s what has been pieced together from a combination of primary sources, interviews, and good old-fashioned rumor, as will be revealed throughout the story:

Back in the day, JMR was a self-defense instructor who worked with queer groups, training people in martial arts and shooting. By 205X, when the remnants of America were bogged down in multiple wars with massive fronts, Jacob gathered his former students and lovers together into a small army and offered his services to the New US Army. He was hastily given the rank of Major by general Tony Poolsupplies and stationed in the northern Michigan front of the Quebec War.

Tony had little faith or trust in Jacob, however, calling him a “dollar-store Napoleon,” and he plunked Jacob down at a quiet outpost along Michigan’s coastline and refused to give him any orders. Jacob, meanwhile, privately referred to Tony as a “McClellan-ass bitch” and accused him of deliberately prolonging the war to get kickbacks from arms manufacturers.

Despite being roadblocked by his superiors, Jacob worked tirelessly on scouting, surveying, and reconnaissance, and noticed what appeared to be a contingent of the Imperial Quebecois Army preparing to reorganize by transporting reinforcements across Lake Huron in unarmed and unarmored ships. He recognized the opportunity for a rapid attack that could isolate and scatter the opposing army, potentially winning the war in one fell swoop. When Poolsupplies left him on read, Jacob decided to go ahead with the attack anyway. The Battle of Lake Huron was a resounding success for the Great Lakes Republic, and his use of small-arms drones for screening has arguably been influential in the development of mid-21st century drone tactics.

Despite his success, Jacob was immediately stripped of his rank and put on trial for disobeying orders, or lack thereof, and launching an independent offensive. And also for a lot of procurement fraud, that’s how he got rich but everyone forgets about that part.

Fast-forward, and enter Sunny Roosevelt. She thinks that JMR would make a perfect candidate for her defense advisor - talented and experienced enough to be useful, and crazy enough that she could always find a reason to drop him like last season’s merch. There’s the perfect opportunity to test him, too. Northern Michigan looks like it’ll be crawling with right-wing forest militias - again, sigh - so he can start off by getting a lay of the land and drawing up some contingency plans. What Sunny does not know is that there’s nothing Jacob loves more than strolling into a small town and pissing everyone off with his public flamboyance.

It does not take long for Jacob and Liam to both capture each other’s interest. The attempts by Liam’s father to keep the two of them apart other only gives it the sweet, sweet allure of ~*~forbidden love~*~. After Jacob saves Liam from being cornered by Byron Weber (one of Remington’s large adult sons), Liam enthusiastically agrees to be whisked away from his hometown to live at Jacob’s mansion.

<gratuitous sex scene>

And what a life it is! Peace and luxury, no need to work, and he can finally get in touch with the side of him that he’d had to keep hidden for all his life. Things slow down a bit as we take some time to develop the relationship, reveal Jacob’s backstory, adjust to the new routine, and have lots of gratuitous sex scenes. The fun and games before we raise the stakes and have the big midpoint moment, to put it in plotting terms.

<gratuitous sex scene>

Liam gets to know the new cast of characters, including a trio of maids who seem to share a special, as-yet-undisclosed relationship with Jacob:

Anton Smolenski, from Moldova. Short and somehow has naturally pink hair. He is the stern and serious one of the trio, perpetually scowling with his hands on his hips or his arms crossed.

Brandi Hyde, from Tidewater. Tall, gaunt, and stooping with long blonde hair, facial scars, and a wide, unsettling grin. The creepy one of the trio, fond of eye shadow, knives, and giggling slowly.

Ismai’l “Izzy” al-Iskander, from Balochistan. The suspiciously sweet one, with sleepy eyes, perpetually tousled hair, and a fidgety smile.

Still, it’s not long before a sense of unease starts to nag at Liam, although everyone else assures him that it must be him shaking off the results of his upbringing. For instance, he gets some odd looks for practicing Founderism - the fun new Christian heresy where the Founding Fathers are worshipped as saint-demigods. It’s not just Liam’s upbringing, though, it’s also his knowledge that he won’t be able to stay here forever - and even if he could, he wouldn’t want to. He wants to keep a sense of independence, the knowledge that he’d be okay if he ever had to leave, but he quickly learns that it won’t be easy. First, he’ll need to get his future-GED to qualify for citizenship. Classes are all online, and he tries to find a study group or a way to meet with other students, but other people tell him shit like “oh yeah if you have a Buck.it account you can sign in through Toastr. Do you have Bip? You need Bip.”

<gratuitous sex scene>

Liam continues to play Aivrcade, but one day when he signs in, he’s suddenly locked into a private server that he’s never heard of before. When it loads, he’s in a room with Sunny Roosevelt. She is distinctly not cute and bubbly. In fact, she’s dressed like a mob boss, with a red suit and large shades. She tells Liam that Jacob’s been talking about him - not a lot, but she picks up on these sorts of things. Jacob seems to like him. A lot. And that’s a very useful bit of information. Especially since Sunny needs someone to keep an eye on Jacob. Hint hint.

Liam objects - after all, he hasn’t exactly been trained in espionage. How could he pull this off?

Don’t worry, Sunny says, you grew up queer in a small town, so you obviously have some practice with hiding things. Besides, there’s a lot of money in it for you if you say yes. You’re trying to be independent, right? Don’t look so surprised, of course I knew that, I’m Sunny. With the money I can give you, you’ll be set for life without a sugar daddy.

Liam asks if he has to go along with this or if he can say no.

That’s a very good question, Sunny says. Can you say no to me? I suppose there’s only one way to find out. If you really want to know the answer that badly. :)

Liam says yes, and Sunny gives him the password for the private server he can use to contact her to give her all the juicy details.

As a result, Liam starts to look at Jacob differently, the things he says and does and what they mean. He listens in on Jacob’s conversations, and 

Turns out the maid trio have been with Jacob since the Battle of Port Huron - they look much younger than they are thanks to future-drugs. Anton thinks Jacob has been going soft and has been privately goading him to get back to his roots. What happened to the old Jacob, the one who trained people, taught them how to protect themselves? Goddammit, it’s time to bring back the Battletwinks. Anton is like a foil to Liam’s desire for self-reliance and autonomy, taking it in a more aggressive direction - “autonomy means forcibly carving out a niche for yourself and remaining vigilant in a cruel world.”

I notice now that this is a bit messy - I mean obviously, it's an outline, and it's the middle parts, it's the different threads that will have to be bound together very carefully. Setting up the dominoes to have a satisfying payoff.

<gratuitous sex scene>

[kitkatt0430]

So I think part of the problem of Savitar in S3 was that there was a lot of build up for this character in the front half of the season. He was billed as the god of speed across multiple Earths, possibly the entire multiverse. He had people who followed and worshiped him. He wiped out an entire dig site just to possess Julian and take advantage of Julian's ability to create new metas.

And then in the back half of the season, a lot of that gets dropped. We don't really see much, if any, of Savitar's cult after Killer Frost takes over Caitlin. Savitar's plan to spread himself across the multiverse is his back up plan for after killing Iris fails, so it doesn't really make sense that he was known across the multiverse before that point because... that wasn't his plan? We never find out where the cult came from. We never find out where it went? (Why didn't Godspeed co-opt it for his own uses?)

Suddenly Savitar isn't this multiversally feared god of speed, but an angry, pouty version of Barry with an entitlement complex. His timeline looked more like a series of loops leading ever further back in time. He's created in the fight to seal Savitar in the Speed Force Prison. So he goes back in time to that fight to ensure he's created. Maybe before that he goes back to position Julian to ensure that he'll be able to manipulate him later with the Philosopher's Stone.

Given that the stone doesn't exist post crisis, it may not have existed pre crisis either. At least not the ancient version that gets talked about. There is a strong implication in S3 that the stone was created as a result of the Speed Force Prison, so it may have always just been confused with the legends of old and placed in the past by Savitar playing fast and loose with time. Which also explains the origin of the Savitar cult. He had time to do that before meeting up with his self-creating fate in the future. And once within the Speed Force Prison he would have had to ready himself to face the moment that knocked over the first domino that led to his existence.

But it's just... all these story elements ended up wasted. Savitar gets built up to be this huge threat to Team Flash and Iris specifically and then... all of it gets dropped to focus on the concept of Barry-as-Savitar with Frost as his only real ally.

None of Alchemy's metas ever turn out to be truly useful to Savitar - except perhaps Wally since he did end up setting Savitar free from jail. And maybe that's the role Savitar originally intended for The Rival?

Anyway, it might have been interesting to have at least brought the cult back later on. Maybe Godspeed takes advantage of it since he, like Savitar, was claiming to be a god of speed. Or maybe Savitar!Barry was just taking advantage of what he thought was just ancient superstition? But turns out there's a real Savitar - the original speedster, closer to the character from the comics - out there. And it's his cult that Savitar!Barry appropriated for Alchemy's use?

But a lot of season 3's plot threads just get dropped or retconned afterwards, leaving us with canon basically saying that there's a cult for Savitar out there and Team Flash just kinda... forgot.

[photographerseo]

Find a Professional Food Photographer Near You in Switzerland

If you are searching for a food photographer near you in Switzerland, you are likely looking to take your brand, restaurant, or food product to the next level. In today’s visually driven world, high-quality food photography is essential for capturing attention, building trust, and making a lasting impression on your audience. Whether you are launching a new menu, promoting a culinary product, or growing your digital presence, working with a skilled food photographer in Switzerland can transform the way your food is seen and experienced.

Switzerland has a vibrant and growing food culture. From gourmet restaurants and boutique cafes to organic brands and local artisans, the demand for professional food imagery is constantly increasing. When people search for places to eat or products to buy, their decisions are often influenced by what they see online. That is why it is important to work with a photographer who understands not only how to shoot food, but also how to create a visual story that matches your brand. Hire a Professional food Photography

A professional food photographer in Switzerland brings technical expertise, creative direction, and a deep understanding of styling to every shoot. They know how to use lighting to enhance color and texture, how to compose each frame to draw attention to the right details, and how to bring out the freshness and appeal of every dish. Whether you are promoting seasonal ingredients, capturing beverages, or styling complex recipes, a local food photographer can adapt the approach to suit your needs.

Searching for a food photographer near me in Switzerland will lead you to professionals who offer flexible options. Many work on location, visiting your restaurant, kitchen, or studio, while others offer shoots in fully equipped photography spaces. Depending on your project, you may need full-day packages, half-day sessions, or content creation plans for social media. Having a local photographer ensures clear communication, efficient scheduling, and a better understanding of your audience and market.

Choosing the right photographer also depends on your goals. For restaurant menus, you may need clean and consistent dish photos. For product launches, you might focus on packaging and styled product shots. For online marketing, you may want a mix of editorial and lifestyle food photography that feels authentic and engaging. A Swiss-based photographer can guide you through this process and help you create visuals that align with your marketing strategy.

Working with a professional also means gaining access to food styling, prop selection, and post-production editing. These services ensure that every image is polished, on-brand, and ready to be used across multiple platforms. Whether you are updating your website, running an advertising campaign, or creating visuals for food delivery apps, having access to professional content can make a significant difference in how your business is perceived.

In conclusion, hiring a food photographer near you in Switzerland is an investment in quality, professionalism, and visual storytelling. It allows you to showcase your culinary creations in the best possible light and stand out in a competitive market. From concept to final delivery, a local expert can provide the creative and technical support needed to bring your food to life through powerful, mouth-watering images.

[leicamoments]

Harrogate CC Women v Crossflatts CC Women

WYWGCL Division One Sunday 25 May 2025

Last Minute Change of Plan I’d planned on covering the Cullingworth CC Women against Hartshead Moor game on Sunday, but I’d found out on Saturday evening that it had unfortunately been postponed; so, I needed to have a look around for another game at the last moment.

The weather on Saturday had been poor, with the forecast in many places in Yorkshire looking worse on Sunday. As heavy rain and lightning was forecast in a few places, I tried to find a fixture that was away from the epicentre of the squally weather, and that was easy for me to get to.

I noted that Harrogate CC Women were at home to Crossflatts, a short stone’s throw from my home. I’d covered Harrogate last week when they had travelled across to Headingley to take on St. Chad’s Broomfield…but I haven’t covered Crossflatts Women this season.

It was an easy decision to make…so packed the cameras and headed down to St. George’s Road, getting there an hour ahead of first ball.

I was fortunate enough to catch up with Rachael Mackenzie before the game, who is currently recovering from surgery on her eyes…and wasn’t playing. It’s aways a real pleasure to chat with one of the most inspiring sports people you could wish to meet, I hope her recovery is a speedy one, and that she is back in the field [and ring] soon.

Game On Crossflatts won the toss and decided to put Harrogate into bat first. The weather was threatening to do all sorts at this point…it had been sunny and overcast, there had been a few drops of rain but also dry, however, the constant was the blustery wind that swept across the wicket and down from the top of Harlow Hill towards the town centre.

My write up last week tells the story of the young Harrogate women’s team; a squad filled with a lot of young talent and given another season of experience, will grow into being a formidable team to play.

Crossflatts on the other hand are a superb cricketing club right now. I’d taken photos at one of their last games of the 2024 season and had been impressed by how they played, Sunday would be no different.

Harrogate started brightly, scoring ten runs in the first twelve balls, but over the first five overs also losing wickets to the visitor’s superb bowling. Settling after the first few wickets falling, Immy Hartley and Joanne Harrington dug in and began to add runs to the Harrogate tally over the next ten overs.

By the time Joanne was caught in the 14th over, the pairing had put on 40 runs, and the scorecard was looking pretty healthy. A Devastating spell of accurate bowling was to follow, and Harrogate were to lose their remaining wickets over the next four overs, ending on 65 all out. Immy Hartley and Joanne Harrington had starred with the bat; Arya Raval (three wickets for nine runs), Yvonne Baines (Three wickets for four runs), and captain Charlotte Boulton (two wickets for 11 runs) had shone with the ball.

Crossflatts bowling and fielding had put them in a superb position…even before they had to bat!

The away team’s openers Qanita Inayat and Emily Hall looked so accomplished at the crease, scoring quickly and stroking the ball around the ground with a look of ease. Harrogate’s Holly Thompson was to catch Emily leg-before when she’d reached 32, but that was to prove the only fly in the ointment, as the visitors overhauled the home team’s total to win by nine wickets.

Wrap Up With the win, Crossflatts were briefly sitting at the top of the West Yorkshire Women & Girl’s Cricket League Division One table (North Leeds moving ahead of them by one point at the conclusion of their fixture), and with Pudsey St. Lawrence, Bradford Park Avenue Ladies, St. Chad’s Broomfield, and North Halifax Women all following closely behind…this season is already shaping up to be one of the best ever.

At the risk of repeating myself on multiple articles, it is way too early to be looking at the league table…with many twists and turns to come in the next few weeks, it will be a while before you will be able to read anything into the league standings.

From my point of view, I think Crossflatts will be up there come the end of the season; with a team filled with talented players, they look to have it all…good batters, great bowlers, and some excellent fielders who can get the ball in over the stumps quickly from the outfield.

Harrogate’s young team have so much potential. You can see each of the players growing into the game, and when it all clicks into place, they will be fighting up at the top of the table. That may not happen this season…but I wouldn’t back against them for next. It is a case of slowly putting something together and is exciting to watch right now.

[orwostudios]

The Importance of Standing Film Sets in Film Production

Standing film sets play a central role in modern film production. These are permanent or semi-permanent structures designed to replicate real-world locations like streets, houses, diners, offices, or entire towns. Unlike temporary sets built for a single shoot, standing sets stay in place for ongoing use. You’ll often find them on studio lots, ready to serve multiple productions. Their practical benefits make them a smart choice for filmmakers working under tight budgets and schedules.

One of the biggest advantages of standing film sets is time savings. When a set is already built and dressed, your crew doesn’t have to start from scratch. You can begin shooting almost immediately. This is especially useful for TV shows that film multiple episodes a week. A show like Friends used a standing apartment set for all ten seasons. That consistent space saved time and helped maintain visual continuity.

Standing sets also reduce costs. Building a new set from the ground up takes money, materials, and labor. When you reuse existing structures, you spend less. Productions can focus their budgets on other areas, such as lighting, special effects, or talent. A show like Brooklyn Nine-Nine filmed many scenes on a standing police station set. That setup allowed the team to keep costs down without sacrificing production quality.

Filming on location can mean dealing with permits, weather issues, noise, and unpredictable foot traffic. With a standing set, you avoid those problems. You can shoot a rain scene on a sunny day or simulate night during the day. You control the entire environment. That means fewer delays and more predictable days on set.

Standing sets are also flexible. You can redress them to fit different time periods or genres. A street set used for a 1950s drama can be updated for a modern crime show with new signage, props, and wardrobe. Studios like Warner Bros. and Universal have standing sets that have been used for decades across hundreds of films and shows. The same backlot street has appeared in everything from Back to the Future to Gremlins.

Speed and convenience benefit not just directors and producers but also actors and crew. Familiar sets make blocking and camera setups more efficient. Everyone knows the layout. The lighting team knows where shadows fall. The sound team knows which spots cause echoes. That familiarity shortens setup times and keeps production moving.

Standing sets also help with continuity. When you return to the same space over multiple shoot days or episodes, you avoid mistakes in positioning, lighting, or prop placement. That consistency helps the final product feel smooth and connected. For long-running projects, this reliability is essential.

Studios also lease out their standing sets to other productions. This creates an extra revenue stream and increases the set’s return on investment. A well-maintained courtroom or hospital set might be rented out dozens of times in a single year. It becomes part of the working infrastructure of the studio.

While standing sets offer many benefits, they do require regular maintenance. Paint, wood, and props wear down with frequent use. To keep them usable, studios often assign staff to touch up paint, replace damaged elements, and store backup props. This upkeep keeps the set looking fresh and ready to shoot at all times.

If you’re working on a tight schedule or limited budget, consider using a standing set. It can save you time, reduce costs, and give you control over your shoot. Whether you’re making a short film, a web series, or a full-length feature, having access to a standing film set could make your production smoother and faster.

Standing film sets continue to shape the way stories are brought to screen. Their value goes beyond convenience. They offer structure, consistency, and creative flexibility—all things that help you tell your story well. If you plan to shoot often or want a reliable space to return to, investing in or renting a standing film set might be one of the smartest decisions you make during production.

[ironmakers]

Worldbuilding and Story Writing Tools | Abound Worlds

Abound Worlds offers a comprehensive suite of tools designed to help story writers and worldbuilders plan, organize, and write their stories or worlds with ease. This is done with a multitude of tools such as an intuitive file system, custom documents, image galleries, and event timelines.

Every writer knows that crafting a compelling story requires more than just inspiration. It takes organization, structure, and careful planning to weave together plotlines, characters, settings, and themes into a cohesive narrative. Whether you're an aspiring novelist, a seasoned screenwriter, a game developer, or a creator of tabletop role-playing campaigns, Story Planning Software has become an invaluable tool for bringing your creative ideas to life.

Story planning software provides the structure you need to transform your abstract ideas into a fully realized story. From outlining chapters to mapping out character arcs, these tools offer comprehensive features that streamline the entire storytelling process. In this blog, we'll explore the essential aspects of story planning software, why it's crucial for writers, and how it can elevate your creative process.

What is Story Planning Software?

Story planning software is a category of digital tools designed to help writers, storytellers, and creators organize their stories. These platforms provide structured methods to outline plots, develop characters, track themes, and manage various story elements throughout the creative process. Story planning software is ideal for creators who want to go beyond brainstorming and move towards a clear, well-structured plan for their story.

These tools typically offer features that allow users to visually map out story beats, keep track of subplots, define character motivations, and build intricate worlds. By centralizing all your ideas and keeping them organized in one place, story planning software makes it easier to maintain consistency, stay on track with your creative vision, and ultimately complete your project more efficiently.

Why Do You Need Story Planning Software?

Planning a story involves juggling multiple elements at once: the narrative arc, character development, setting, pacing, themes, and more. For many writers, trying to keep track of all these components in their head or across a dozen documents can be overwhelming. Without an organized system, it's easy to lose track of important plot points or miss critical details, which can ultimately lead to writer's block or a disjointed story.

Story planning software addresses these challenges by providing a centralized digital workspace where everything is interlinked and easily accessible. Whether you're outlining a novel, scripting a movie, or developing a role-playing game (RPG), Story Planning Software allows you to break down your story into manageable sections, identify potential weaknesses, and see the big picture in ways that traditional methods just can’t match.

Core Features of Story Planning Software

Story planning software typically comes packed with a range of features designed to make the planning and organizing process as smooth as possible. Some of the most common features include:

1. Story Outlining and Plot Structuring

Outlining is one of the most fundamental aspects of story planning, and good story planning software makes this process intuitive and flexible. These tools allow you to create detailed outlines of your story, breaking it down into chapters, scenes, or acts. Many software options come with pre-made story structures (like the three-act structure or Hero’s Journey) to guide you, but they also allow you to customize the outline to fit your specific needs.

You can use these tools to organize plot points, visualize the sequence of events, and track how different storylines will unfold across the entire narrative. This is especially helpful for complex stories with multiple characters, subplots, and twists.

2. Character and Worldbuilding Tools

Story planning software often includes dedicated sections for developing characters and building your world. These tools help you create detailed character profiles, including motivations, backstories, and relationships with other characters. You can also use these features to define your world’s rules, geography, history, and lore, which is crucial for creating a cohesive narrative in genres like fantasy, science fiction, or historical fiction.

In addition to profiles, these tools may allow you to keep track of character arcs, ensuring each character grows and changes throughout the story.

3. Scene and Chapter Management

Managing scenes and chapters is a crucial part of story planning. These tools allow you to map out your story scene-by-scene, making it easy to visualize pacing, transitions, and conflicts. You can add detailed descriptions, notes, and links between scenes to ensure continuity, track progress, and stay focused on the story’s goals.

Some software also includes a “drag-and-drop” feature that allows you to rearrange scenes or chapters to experiment with different narrative flows, giving you the flexibility to restructure your story as needed.

4. Timelines and Calendars

Creating a timeline for your story can help you visualize the passage of time within your world. Many story planning tools offer timeline features that allow you to track key events and how they relate to each other. This is particularly useful for stories spanning long periods or involving multiple characters, as it helps prevent plot holes, continuity errors, and chronological inconsistencies.

Some software also integrates calendar tools to help you map out specific events or milestones, ensuring you remain on schedule with your story’s timeline.

5. Theme Tracking and Symbolism

In addition to plot and characters, themes are a critical component of storytelling. Story Planning Software often includes tools to track and develop themes, symbols, and motifs within your narrative. This can help you maintain a consistent tone and message throughout your story, ensuring that your themes evolve organically as the plot progresses.

6. Notes and Research Management

Writers often accumulate a wealth of research and background information as they develop their story, especially for historical fiction, fantasy, or science fiction projects. Story planning software allows you to organize notes, research, and reference materials in one place, making it easy to access important information without interrupting your writing flow.

Some tools also support the attachment of images, links, and documents, allowing you to build a comprehensive resource library for your story.

7. Collaboration and Sharing

For writers working with co-authors, editors, or other collaborators, Story Planning Software provides a centralized platform for teamwork. Many tools allow multiple users to access and edit the story, making it easy to work together in real time. This is especially beneficial for collaborative projects like screenwriting or game development, where teamwork is key to success.

Conclusion

Story planning software is an indispensable tool for writers, storytellers, and creators of all kinds. Whether you're drafting a novel, writing a screenplay, or building a narrative for a video game or tabletop RPG, these tools provide the structure and organization needed to bring your ideas to life. With the ability to manage complex plots, characters, timelines, and more, Story Planning Software empowers you to stay focused, stay creative, and tell the best story possible.

[deepestmusicfire]

Indoor Wedding Décor Magic: Transforming Halls and Banquets in Coimbatore

The Beauty of Indoor Weddings in Coimbatore

Weddings in Coimbatore are a harmonious blend of tradition and modern elegance. While outdoor weddings have their charm, indoor weddings offer a canvas of endless creativity, convenience, and comfort. Whether it's a grand banquet hall or an intimate indoor space, indoor weddings can be transformed into a magical setting with the expertise of experienced wedding decorators in Coimbatore. The magic lies not only in the venue but in the vision, execution, and details that bring a couple’s dream day to life.

Why Indoor Venues Are Gaining Popularity

In Coimbatore, indoor wedding venues are gaining popularity for several reasons. They provide a controlled environment where weather is never an issue, making planning easier and safer. From lighting to climate control and acoustics, indoor venues offer flexibility that outdoor setups may lack. However, the real transformation happens when the space is handed over to seasoned wedding decorators in Coimbatore. These professionals know how to elevate a simple hall into a luxurious or themed celebration space that leaves guests awestruck.

The Power of Lighting and Fabric

One of the first things guests notice when entering an indoor wedding venue is the lighting. Warm fairy lights, majestic chandeliers, LED spotlights, and ambient glows all play an essential role in setting the mood. Expert wedding decorators in Coimbatore understand how to use lighting to enhance the overall feel of the space. Combine this with rich drapes, flowing fabrics, ceiling hangings, and thematic color palettes, and you’ve got a setup that feels nothing short of magical.

Fabric draping across the ceiling, cascading backdrops, floral curtains, and intricately designed stage décor all bring personality and elegance to an indoor venue. Whether it's a minimal white-on-white scheme or a royal red and gold palette, professional decorators tailor every detail to match the couple’s story.

Creating a Focal Point with Stage and Mandap Design

In any Indian wedding, the stage and mandap hold immense cultural and emotional significance. These areas serve as the heart of the event, where rituals take place and photographs are captured for a lifetime of memories. That's why wedding decorators in Coimbatore spend extra effort creating focal points that are both beautiful and functional. A combination of floral arrangements, thematic props, mirror work, vintage elements, and contemporary structures are often used to craft breathtaking stage setups.

Indoor wedding decorators make sure that even with a confined space, the mandap stands out—making it the centerpiece of the celebration. Their experience in managing symmetry, spacing, and lighting ensures that the setting complements both the rituals and the aesthetics.

Tablescapes, Centerpieces, and Guest Seating

Another area where indoor weddings shine is in table décor and guest arrangements. Banquet seating allows for personalized touches in every corner. Beautiful centerpieces, elegant chair drapes, and thematic table runners can transform a simple dining area into a grand, cohesive part of the overall design. Top wedding decorators in Coimbatore know how to maintain consistency in color schemes and themes across multiple elements—from table settings to welcome signs, photo booths, and even the cake table.

Many couples today opt for interactive installations, custom name tags, and floral arrangements that are not only decorative but also meaningful. Every element can reflect the couple’s personality, be it rustic elegance, royal grandeur, or minimalist sophistication.

Indoor Floral Décor and Fragrance Play

Floral décor takes on a different charm in indoor venues. Since the atmosphere is more enclosed, the freshness and fragrance of flowers can enhance the ambiance significantly. From the entrance to the aisle, from stage corners to ceiling hangings, flowers are used innovatively by skilled wedding decorators in Coimbatore to breathe life into the venue. Jasmine strings, rose petals, marigold garlands, or exotic imported blooms—every flower has its place and purpose.

Fragrance diffusers are also being used in coordination with florals to keep the entire venue smelling divine. This multisensory approach adds emotional depth and aesthetic beauty to the wedding celebration.

Thematic Concepts That Come Alive Indoors

Indoor weddings provide the perfect environment to implement theme-based décor. From vintage Bollywood and royal palace settings to pastel garden themes and modern geometric aesthetics, the options are unlimited. With the help of creative wedding decorators in Coimbatore, couples are now turning simple banquet halls into immersive worlds inspired by their favorite films, destinations, or even love stories.

These decorators bring in customized props, stage props, theme-specific furniture, and lighting techniques to create unique atmospheres. The consistency of themes across all elements—from invitations to return gifts—is handled seamlessly when experienced decorators take the lead.

Working with the Best Wedding Decorators in Coimbatore

If you're planning an indoor wedding in the city, working with reputed wedding decorators in Coimbatore is your best move. These experts have local knowledge, strong vendor networks, and hands-on experience in transforming even the most basic venue into something unforgettable. Their ability to bring your vision to life while handling logistics and coordination behind the scenes is what truly makes your big day stress-free and magical.

Choosing the right decorator means you get access to creative minds who understand lighting dynamics, fabric flow, spatial design, and thematic aesthetics. They bring with them not just skill, but a passion for crafting memorable wedding experiences.

Final Thoughts

Indoor weddings in Coimbatore are more than just celebrations—they are artful productions brought to life by visionaries. With the guidance and creativity of top-tier wedding decorators in Coimbatore, your wedding can become a storybook dream, no matter the venue size or style. From mandaps to entrance arches, from floral trails to ambient lighting—every detail is an opportunity to express love and joy.

[extracube]

Just finished AHS: 1984

Eh, fuck it. I binged 1984 right before binging Coven so I’ll talk about it while it’s still relatively fresh in my mind.

1984 is probably my favorite season of American Horror Story. It’s SO GOOD!!! And I’m like a little mad at myself for waiting this long to watch it (I haven’t watched Arcane yet. Everyone tells me to, I know I should, but I just don’t for some reason lol)

I know part of this season’s appeal was the 80s nostalgia, but honestly I was expecting it to be sorta shoved in there the whole time with a bunch of simple references or needle drops (it has both of these things but they’re not frequent enough to be annoying imo). The intro theme is awesome this time around. I always loved Cult’s addition of a horn to the intro, and in this season it’s replaced with like a synth and it sounds awesome! (AHS’s intros are honestly always super cool and really well done. I love how the spinoff gives each episode a unique visual intro)

I was surprised at how different of a tone this season had compared to some of the others, new and old. You don't see a lot of horror movies/shows take place in broad daylight. Yeah a lot of this season takes place at night, but I’d argue that we actually see more events happening during the daytime.

The season STARTS like a typical summer camp slasher movie, but it very very quickly diverges into its own incredibly unique and emotional story.

Despite the typical AHS levels of gore, horror, and brutality (physical and mental), 1984 actually felt like one of the more lighthearted seasons of the entire show. The writing also felt much more comedic this time around so it wasn't constantly punching you in the gut. There are a lot of good characters and jokes to fall back on if you feel things are getting too heavy, which is something I can always appreciate.

Quick but related aside - the reason I haven’t watched and don’t really plan on watching AHS Asylum is because of how upsetting I’ve heard it can be. I don’t mind shows or movies that deal with heavy or upsetting themes but apparently, Asylum really puts the “horror” in American Horror Story. I don’t need to get messed up that badly.

1984's story was fantastic. It is genuinely impressive how well the writers were able to introduce multiple twists very early in the season and manage to have everything still make sense. If you should know anything about me, it’s that I can be one dense motherfucker, so if a story is not clear then you better believe I’m gonna tell you about it lmao. But I was genuinely super engaged with the story and my opinions on the different characters shifted numerous times due to how they were portrayed in the beginning compared to the end.

Spoiler town: Population, you (if you’ve seen the show)

Mr Jingles is such a fantastically written character. I love John Caroll Lynch’s work in AHS but to me this might be his best role in the whole series (cry about it Twisty stans). The way he starts out as our Jason Voorhees stand-in but then turns out to have actually been a victim is fucking insane and I love it!

In fact, this season has some of my favorite characters across the entire franchise. Brooke and Montana are easily my favorite characters played by Emma Robert’s and Billie Lourd respectively. But the spot for my number one favorite has to go to my boy Trevor. He seems like such a cool dude and is like one of the few characters in this season who isn’t really evil at any point in time. At least not that I can remember.

Each episode was super fun to watch, and the Night Stalker was a surprising but welcome return character. It’s all super campy (ha!) slasher movie goodness but with some genuinely heartwarming moments - Brooke bringing Trevor over the camp property line; Brooke, Donna, and Jingles’ son getting an actually happy ending with no rug pulling or sucker punches; Margaret Booth’s chipper finale (the most wholesome scene in the show imo)

1984, as dark as it gets, is just an incredibly fun watch. It’s hard to be scared for too long when I’m suddenly listening to I Ran (So Far Away) by The Seagulls.

AHS 1984 was so fun to go through and I only wish I could get more of it. Definitely my favorite AHS season of the ones I’ve watched.

[danidoesathing]

Wasn't Jayce dealing with an arcane infection after due to his time in the other reality?

Because if so, I think one of the few things (compared to the rest of the cast) I criticize about his arc in season two: he(they) should have amputated that leg.

yeah his leg was shown to be infected, and it's likely that since his back cut hadn't healed yet (i think it was also implied that he even reopened his stitches when working on the hextech rifle) his back was infected as well (although we never see it so). his wrist too is also infected i suppose? but that's a whole complicated other thing so idk.

i mean i think that would've been a interesting plot line, especially if he got a prosthetic leg for it (both as more of a contrast to his league self and a reminder of his mom's prosthetic fingers, but instead of magic saving them, it took away from him (even more with her line in ep2s1 where she tells him magic cant save everything. yay </3)). but im gonna be honest man we did not have time for that. this season was clearly already compacted as much as possible to finish up everyone's arcs as fast as possible (poor sevika didn't even have a full arc this season rip girlie you deserved better). like in s1 they clearly planned for more seasons but both seasons cost a 250 million fucking dollars so they certainly weren't getting it, which is a good amount of s2 feels rushed. because it is. Ekko Viktor and Jayce's are the only story arcs i feel worked well with the pacing (mel's too somewhat, but she's almost definitely getting a spot in the new show so her story isn't over yet). i would have loved to see an arc about Jayce losing a leg and struggling a lot more with the changes in his body but i can't say im not satisfied with his arc as it is.

(also i have no clue if the wild magic infection actually does to the body. i think if it is lethal it would take a long while (possibly years?) to kill, given jayce was in that at least around six months and ate infected lizards as his sole food source. Jayce being alive long enough to have his leg heal (incorrectly but) and still be physically well enough to travel across the cities twice and climb makes me believe that either slow acting/long term or nonlethal. it possible that it's not lethal, but could leave them with lifelong symptoms and pain (woe! chronic illness be upon ye). it's clear that by the time he leaves the hell world Jayce isn't well mentally or physically, likely feverish and dealing with overlapping timeline issues, however by the time act 3 comes around he seems to be...not well but physically way better and somewhat stable mentally (still dealing with some nasty fucking PTSD and multidimensional glitching but what else is new). hes no longer delirious at least, which makes me think a lot of the symptoms we see in the pit and right after (the fever, the hallucinations, lashing out violently, etc) was more caused by the starvation and isolation taking a toll on his body and mind. though im sure the magic in his bloodstream contributed to it. given all that i am under the assumption it's not lethal)

(additionally given that he's infected in his arm (and likely his back) as well so while i think amputation could do something, it's in multiple places and already been in his bloodstream for a looong time so i dont think it would do much.)

(none of this is meant to criticize this ask or your take btw im just now thinking about a magical illness's the effect of it on the body and am kinda fascinated by it)

[ear-worthy]

Hot Pod Goes Cold; Substack & Spotify Team Up; IAB’s Digital Advertising Report

 Podnews reported lastweek that Hot Pod, one of the longest-running newsletters about podcasting, is to suspend publishing. Lead reporter Ariel Shapiro has announced that her last week with its owner, The Verge, will be next week. Deputy Editor Jake Kastrenakes added: “We won’t have a new writer in place by next week, so we’re planning to put Hot Pod on hiatus while we figure out next steps.” The publication’s writers, Ariel Shapiro, Ashley Carman, and Nick Quah, have been a vital part of the industry since 2014 and Podnews reported that "Hot Pod inspired them to produce this daily newsletter in 2017."

I'd like to start a campaign to convince The Verge to hire one of these three people to take over Hot Pod. All three are tremendously talented and know podcasting 

The three are Arielle Nissenblatt, Wil Williams, and Samantha Hodder.

First, Arielle Nissenblatt is well-known and highly regarded in podcasting circles. In today's fragmented media world, there are TikTok celebrities, Instagram influencers, and YouTube stars who are unknown outside their media universe. If you've been involved in podcasting in any way over the last few years, you know Arielle Nissenblatt.

"I've been working in the podcast space since early 2017 when I started a podcast recommendation newsletter called EarBuds Podcast Collective,"Arielle notes. "Since then, I've managed podcast studios, worked as an in-app curator, gone to school for audio production, produced several podcasts, run successful marketing and PR campaigns for several dozen shows, have organized podcast communities on Twitter, Discord, and Slack, and much more."

Arielle confesses to "love working in and around audio because it's my favorite way to consume content. I want to help more people find their next favorite podcast."

Arielle is the founder of EarBuds Podcast Collective, a podcast recommendation newsletter. She is on the community team at Descript, an AI-powered video and audio editing software service. She hosts three podcasts, Trailer Park: The Podcast Trailer Podcast,  Feedback with EarBuds and Daily Tips That May or May Not Help You with Arielle and Ned.

Then we have Wil Williams, who is currently a marketing specialist for Tink Media. Williams has written for Discover Pods, Polygon, Vulture, and The Takeout. She has appeared on KQED's Forum, WAMU's 1A, Slate's ICYMI; has cried listening to Wolf 359's "Memoria" at least five times.

Williams is also the CEO of Podcast Problems LLC (If you have a podcast, you have problems), and you should read her website if you are a podcaster. You can read her articles there, including Your Podcast Needs Better Show Notes, Your Podcast Needs Better Metadata and my favorite, How I Know So Much Shit.

Williams also writes and manages the Substack Podcast Marketing Magic. When it comes to podcast journalism, Wil Williams is one of the very best.

Then we have Samantha Hodder, who is a multihypenate -- someone who does several different jobs in the entertainment industry—and does them well. Her Substack newsletter Bingeworthy is the mother ship for narrative podcast opinion, review, trends, and analysis. Hodder began the newsletter in September 2022 and has already amassed an impressive following.

Samantha is an award-winning audio producer and writer. She has been making media across multiple formats for over two decades. She publishes regularly on Mediumand on Substack. Her narrative storytelling podcast This is Our Time launched in 2017. It is a memoir-based story about an all-women’s expedition to Antarctica for women. Season 2 was featured in the Hot Docs Podcast Festival in 2021. She works as a freelance podcast producer, editor and narration script advisor. This year, she began to teach and mentor students at TMU and OCADU in narrative podcasting.

She also works with other writers and creatives one-on-one to help them find a winning narrative structure for their projects. To see if this approach could be helpful to your work, find her free 5-day email course Find Your Fish, which draws on lessons from screenwriting, podcasting, journaling and mindful meditation.

Over the last two decades her writing has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines and her interactive work has premiered at festivals internationally. She was the recipient of the Al Waxman Calling Card for her first documentary, The Mantelpiece, which was broadcast on TVOntario, and premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Festival in 2004. Her short film The Nothingness That Is Everything opened in Venice, Italy in 2018. 

And if all this information doesn't persuade you, Samantha is from Canada.

So I ask The Verge to consider these three talented women for the role at Hot Pod.  This esteemed publication deserves a person with a deep knowledge of podcasting and a lifelong passion for audio.

 **********************************************

Before I extol the virtues of this latest collaboration between Substack and Spotify, I must confess that I am a little wary. Spotify entered podcasting in earnest four years ago, and since then has created an industry-wide asset bubble that since has burst, purchased accomplished podcast studios like Parcast and Gimlet and dismantled them with no remorse, and produced and released a lot of crap. 

So, we'll see how this goes.  Podcasters on Substack are collectively earning more than $100 million in annual revenue, a number that has more than doubled in the past year. The number of active podcasters on the platform has also more than doubled in the same time span. And it’s not just that new opportunities are available to podcasters bringing their shows to Substack—it’s benefiting existing Substack publications too. Those writers and creators who have added audio and/or video to their Substacks grow their revenue more than 2.5 times as fast as those who haven’t.

Substack makes it dead simple for anyone to independently create, publish, distribute, grow, and monetize a show.

“We used to have two different feeds, one for our paying subscribers and one for everyone to listen to free shows,” says @Alex Kirshner, a host of @Split Zone Duo, the biggest sports podcast on Substack. “We were looking for a way to put everything under one roof and make the experience as easy as possible for the people who pay us for our work. Moving to Substack from Patreon has let us do that and been very, very good for our growth in not even half a year.”

**************************************************

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. Its membership comprises more than 700 leading media companies, brands, agencies, and the technology firms responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital ad marketing campaigns. The trade group fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing.

I know that's a mouthful, but the IAB holds an annual in-person and virtual meeting introducing new podcasts from some of the largest podcast networks.

 The IAB's report on advertising revealed that digital advertising revenues reached a record-high of $225 billion, increasing by 7.3% year-over-year overall (YoY) between 2022 and 2023, according to the newly released “IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report: Full Year 2023,” conducted by PwC. The report found that Q4 saw the highest growth rate of 12.3% from the year prior (4.4%), with revenues rising to $64.5 billion. “Despite inflation fears, interest rates at record highs, and continuing global unrest, the U.S. digital advertising industry continued its growth trajectory in 2023,” said David Cohen, CEO, IAB. “With significant industry transformation unfolding right before our eyes, we believe that those channels with a portfolio of privacy by design solutions will continue to outpace the market. For 2023, the winners were retail media, CTV, and audio, which saw the highest growth.” Audio advertising also saw a robust expansion, growing 18.9% to reach $7 billion. It is still the fastest-growing channel, albeit at a slower pace than last year. 

I know that most podcast fans have little interest in advertising trends and finances, but ads pay the bills for many podcasts.

[sobbingdistantnoises]

I am sending start of 2x22 Dean to Doom Hell to kill his brother to get him back.

Sam does not realize yet that the "innocent person" he killed is literally just a zombieman demon and he's already killed like 10 of those.

The place I am modeling where Sam and Dean are/will be is E2M1 which makes like 2% sense (E2M1 aka episode 2 map 1 takes place on Deimos, which is one of Mars' moons and not actually Hell even though I have made it very clear that Sam is in Hell; E3M1 is actually where Hell starts in Doom 1, but I don't properly know my way around it and also the pinkie hallway makes me mad because of their stupid path finding here thus I did not consider it <3; technically I could have maybe done E1M1, but I already described E1M1 in excruciating detail in my fic in which Tommy and Dee Dee go to Doom Hell and do not particularly wanna do it again, so...E2M1 aesthetics are really cool though, so wooo for that) and also I've fricked up monster counts because I was going off memory but also this really doesn't matter.

^ Me from later here. FREAKING NEVERMIND ???? " It is later revealed at the end of Episode 2, The Shores of Hell, that the entire moon had somehow been transported to Hell" says doom wiki.org. SURE. OKAY.

In all, HAHAHA. Time to discuss actual writing snippets :)

^ I think I am really neat with how the demon doesn't get anything proper, actually, because the contract went to Lilith and the demon didn't really get anything despite being the one to make the deal with Dean. She just died via Sam later, HAHAHA. The way I split it up looks like a shopping list to me. Like a proper contract (???)

^ Industrial Revolution comment may not fit the mood of literally anything, but also Sam called the household with no salt "low sodium freaks" under high stress that one time, so I feel like it is in character. It's also funny to me, and considering my target audience that consists of 1 person is me, I am keeping it

^ I feel so evil for this actually. Dean counting the hours, minutes, and seconds is. MMMM. This can also help contribute to eventually realization by the fellas that there are multiple Hells, because they do not have this information yet and probably won't get it until after 4x1.

This is a snippet that isn't quite part of anything yet. In this fic, Doomguy talks about eating demons since he's sort of spent hundreds of years in Hell, and that has stuck with me for months <3 Combined with how Sam restricts what he eats...There are evil thoughts in my head. Dear Sam: I am sorry I hurt you this way <3

^ I want to remove the Hell smell bit so that I can use the words in a Dean description of Doom Hell.

About where I plan to take this: currently uhhhh, not sure. I'm considering doing a canon diverge after spn season 4 end, but the issue with that is that I do not actually know how s4 ends yet. I also don't know half of Doom's lore because it is kind of insane. I am writing a crossover between two pieces of media I overall do not even know half the events of. Incroyable. (This is honestly just kind of funny to me, HAHAHA.)

I am thinking maybe the reason Sam goes to Doom Hell the first time in the first place should be because of something Doomguy and Vega do. I feel I am falling into the trap of introducing vital characters too late without ties to earlier parts of the story.

Maybe I could also do a silly Time Is Wrong Sometimes in Doom Hell bit with Castiel from a later season going to Doom Hell and ending up at the same time as s3-4 Sam and Dean ??? Hmmm. If I go with this, it could be interesting for me to compare Cas and Vega. Castiel is an angel, and Vega is like...basically God except he originally wasn't and actually "retroactively altered history to make himself the creator deity" between him and the guy who made him, but then he went into hiding from that guy and lost his own memories of being God since he became an AI made by one of his "angels" (maykrs, who are worshipped across a few universes but don't actually have anything divine about them that is known), and that's Vega.

Currently reading doomwiki.org, and hm. Some things I want to note as interesting in the context of this fic:

"Doom Eternal reveals that some demons were once humans that were forced to wander the depths of Hell; as their souls and life essence were siphoned away, their bodies became demonic over a period of eons. Following the aid of the Maykrs and the Argenta, a new process was designed in which a human was tortured to the point of complete despair, at which time the soul was forcibly extracted with a device called the Evulsor. The soulless body was then dumped back into Hell, where it would rapidly become a new demon. The essence of the departing soul is then used as energy, either on its own or after being converted into Argent energy." And apparently souls are used as an energy source at least a few times spn!

"Urdak is in effect on the "opposite side" of the universe from Hell" Urdak is also run on the power of tortured souls via really old agreement made between the Lord of Hell and the Maykrs, who are actually sort of machines things (?) created by the Dark Lord Davoth (guy who made Hell when it was really great, even better than Urdak) to figure out how to make Davoth's people immortal who then realized immortality for Davoth's people would be a threat to the rest of the universe and thus did NOT tell him how to get immortality. The MAJORITY of tortured soul energy actually goes to Urdak.

Vega, before Doom 2016 happened, ran on Argent energy (basically human/other living beings suffering power) in the UAC base.

"During the construction of the tower, [Samuel Hayden] was diagnosed with terminal stage 4 brain cancer, and put all of his efforts toward devising a scheme for his personal immortality." Who remembers that one episode in season 3 where Sam (Winchester) was like "heehee, let's become immortal zombies so that you don't have to go to Hell, Dean". Insane about that still, actually.

Other assorted heeheehahas:

"Much like in Doom 3, the incarnation of the UAC in Doom (2016) was secretly aware of Hell's existence for some time before the game begins, so much so that the inner corporate structure of the company has transformed into a cult."

"[Samuel Hayden] then steals the Crucible by somehow pulling it through the air into his hand" "SOMEHOW" HAHAHA.

You can't just shoot a hole into the surface of Mars...

I am a GOD by the way (I was bored and had no internet but yes offloaded google doc, so I actually did WRITING STUFF)