#and for those that have no reading comprehension

[angelofthemornings]

A People's Education

I dropped out of school when I was thirteen due to epilepsy, schizoaffective disorder bipolar type, and an abusive home environment. Probably the 'tism didn't help much either. I have put together a curriculum for those in my position. If you didn't finish school or if your education was otherwise spotty, this resource is for you.

Some of this is free internet content, other things will need to be purchased - alternatively, if you don't mind piracy, I've made sure all recommended materials are on Anna's Archive (annas-archive.org) or via a link or linked torrent (I'll explain how to use torrents in the guide). You can therefore access everything in this guide for free.

Everything is ordered by subject and it begins with resources for learning study skills and developing abilities such as critical thinking and reading comprehension. (Recommendations from people who know more than I do about pedagogy are needed and welcome.) All resources were chosen for accessibility in the sense that even the history and literature are not too hard to read and should be pretty entertaining, and they don't build on each other so you can pick and choose. (I worry a little bit that this will only give people the *appearance* of an education, so I encourage you to search deeply into whatever interests you to the extent that you are able.) If some of this stuff is confusing or hard and you're not ready to tackle it yet, don't be afraid to come back later once your skills are better. Also, I've made a note of which materials are harder than others.

Please bear in mind that, although I've prepared the curriculum to the best of my ability, I'm a white American man and therefore this education is likely to be white, male, and Amerocentric. That and everyone creating a curriculum has an agenda; mine should be rather obvious. It may also be inaccurate: if this post takes off, I recommend you check the notes for people going "I have a PhD in this topic and that rec is full of BULLSHIT!" In general, if you have experience relative to the topic and there are issues (or recommendations!) please reblog and describe them as thoroughly as you like. I will add recommendations and notes of dissent to the document as they appear, but I won't be adding commentary to any additions (or getting into any arguments defending my choices), so think about them critically. I will add these recommendations and notes of dissent to the “commentary” section.

Share And Enjoy

(Please reblog, this took ages to put together.)

[gravestoneghost]

People should stop associating being asexual with being sex repulsed or I'm going to lose the last crumbs of my sanity

[lovereadandwrite]

“I shall protect you, & you alone… even if…you stand as the last person on this earth”

[thekijs]

Lack of reading comprehension, I assume. For instance, not understanding the difference between a reference and a source. You should reference wikipedia! It's articles often have all kinds of great sources, then use THOSE as a source!

[the-way-astray]

i know tumblr isn't inundated with fitz haters like other platforms are but i still see people (wrongly) assume that fitz talks about being cognates with sophie a lot (even if they say it affectionately). so. here are all the times fitz canonically says something along the lines of "but we're cognates!" in the entire series:

“I’m aware,” Mr. Forkle said. “But I only need Miss Foster and Mr. Sencen for this.” “But I’m Sophie’s Cognate!” Fitz argued.

“Doesn’t matter,” Sophie said. “Wylie needs my help.” “For what it’s worth,” Blur chimed in, “I think she’s right. I think you should take her.” “Take us,” Fitz corrected. “This has Cognates written all over it.”

“Last chance to change your mind. I can handle myself.” “Oh, I know. I’m planning on hiding behind you if we end up facing anything scary. But we’re Cognates. We’re stronger together.”

“And you can ask Gethen about it,” Fitz added. “I still can’t believe you’re doing that without me—what’s the point of being Cognates if they don’t let us work together?”

“Wait for it,” Keefe jumped in, right before Fitz added, “We’re Cognates.”

“But you went in alone,” Fitz reminded her. “Now we’d be taking him on together.” Ro clapped her hands, jumping up and down. “Oh! Oh! This is the part where he’s going to remind you that you’re Cognates!” “Well, we are!” Fitz snapped back, looking like he’d had about all he could stand of Ro’s interruptions. (is it just me or is this one sort of dubious. because it's not actually fitz that says it. or whatever. idk i'll count it anyway i guess)

so fitz uses the "but we're cognates!!!!" excuse a grand total of six (6) times (once in neverseen, thrice in lodestar, once in nightfall, and once(?) in legacy) over the course of the entire series to try to get in on a plan involving sophie. it works exactly two (2) times, both in lodestar. he also only actually says the words "but we're cognates" one (1) time in the entire series

also ro pisses me off . . . you'll notice all the times fitz says "but we're cognates" or something to that effect happen before ro is even introduced to the series so there's no way she could even realistically know that fitz says that a lot ("a lot" . . . obviously he doesn't actually say it a lot). shannon is just using her to brainwash you into thinking fitz says that a lot when he does not. same thing with keefe. he wasn't there for all the lodestar ones, so he's only heard fitz say something along the lines of "but we're cognates" one time. once. oh my goodness. the only reason people act like fitz says this a ridiculous amount is because the narrative is constantly telling you that it's his catchphrase when it is not

so in conclusion people that act like this is something fitz is constantly saying lack basic reading comprehension. he doesn't even say it once for all of flashback. the one from legacy barely even counts. he doesn't say it even once for all of unlocked and stellarlune. idk what to even tell you atp if you genuinely actually think this is something he says a lot

[mai-komagata]

The other issue people is -- you can own a calculator. you can own a book. You cannot, and will never, own the resources to have your own gen AI unless you are a billionaire.

That means if your ability to think, write, express yourself, do your job with the amount of training you received, etc requires AI, your ability to do all those things is gated by a billion dollar corporation.

If you only know how to utilize your highschool or university training with AI, you cannot work anywhere without AI.

If your reading comprehension or writing ability requires AI, your interpretation of facts and how you express yourself is gated by the agenda of that company's ai.

If the skills for your hobbies and free time require AI, you cannot enjoy your free time without paying for AI.

generative AI literally makes me feel like a boomer. people start talking about how it can be good to help you brainstorm ideas and i’m like oh you’re letting a computer do the hard work and thinking for you???

[eyrieofsynapses]

why Aurora's art is genius

It's break for me, and I've been meaning to sit down and read the Aurora webcomic (https://comicaurora.com/, @comicaurora on Tumblr) for quite a bit. So I did that over the last few days.

And… y'know. I can't actually say "I should've read this earlier," because otherwise I would've been up at 2:30-3am when I had responsibilities in the morning and I couldn't have properly enjoyed it, but. Holy shit guys THIS COMIC.

I intended to just do a generalized "hello this is all the things I love about this story," and I wrote a paragraph or two about art style. …and then another. And another. And I realized I needed to actually reference things so I would stop being too vague. I was reading the comic on my tablet or phone, because I wanted to stay curled up in my chair, but I type at a big monitor and so I saw more details… aaaaaand it turned into its own giant-ass post.

SO. Enjoy a few thousand words of me nerding out about this insanely cool art style and how fucking gorgeous this comic is? (There are screenshots, I promise it isn't just a wall of text.) In my defense, I just spent two semesters in graphic design classes focusing on the Adobe Suite, so… I get to be a nerd about pretty things…???

All positive feedback btw! No downers here. <3

---

I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the beautiful, simple stylistic method of drawing characters and figures. It is absolutely stunning and effortless and utterly graceful—it is so hard to capture the sheer beauty and fluidity of the human form in such a fashion. Even a simple outline of a character feels dynamic! It's gorgeous!

Though I do have a love-hate relationship with this, because my artistic side looks at that lovely simplicity, goes "I CAN DO THAT!" and then I sit down and go to the paper and realize that no, in fact, I cannot do that yet, because that simplicity is born of a hell of a lot of practice and understanding of bodies and actually is really hard to do. It's a very developed style that only looks simple because the artist knows what they're doing. The human body is hard to pull off, and this comic does so beautifully and makes it look effortless.

Also: line weight line weight line weight. It's especially important in simplified shapes and figures like this, and hoo boy is it used excellently. It's especially apparent the newer the pages get—I love watching that improvement over time—but with simpler figures and lines, you get nice light lines to emphasize both smaller details, like in the draping of clothing and the curls of hair—which, hello, yes—and thicker lines to emphasize bigger and more important details and silhouettes. It's the sort of thing that's essential to most illustrations, but I wanted to make a note of it because it's so vital to this art style.

THE USE OF LAYER BLENDING MODES OH MY GODS. (...uhhh, apologies to the people who don't know what that means, it's a digital art program thing? This article explains it for beginners.)

Bear with me, I just finished my second Photoshop course, I spent months and months working on projects with this shit so I see the genius use of Screen and/or its siblings (of which there are many—if I say "Screen" here, assume I mean the entire umbrella of Screen blending modes and possibly Overlay) and go nuts, but seriously it's so clever and also fucking gorgeous:

Firstly: the use of screened-on sound effect words over an action? A "CRACK" written over a branch and then put on Screen in glowy green so that it's subtle enough that it doesn't disrupt the visual flow, but still sticks out enough to make itself heard? Little "scritches" that are transparent where they're laid on without outlines to emphasize the sound without disrupting the underlying image? FUCK YES. I haven't seen this done literally anywhere else—granted, I haven't read a massive amount of comics, but I've read enough—and it is so clever and I adore it. Examples:

Secondly: The beautiful lighting effects. The curling leaves, all the magic, the various glowing eyes, the fog, the way it's all so vividly colored but doesn't burn your eyeballs out—a balance that's way harder to achieve than you'd think—and the soft glows around them, eeeee it's so pretty so pretty SO PRETTY. Not sure if some of these are Outer/Inner Glow/Shadow layer effects or if it's entirely hand-drawn, but major kudos either way; I can see the beautiful use of blending modes and I SALUTE YOUR GENIUS.

I keep looking at some of this stuff and go "is that a layer effect or is it done by hand?" Because you can make some similar things with the Satin layer effect in Photoshop (I don't know if other programs have this? I'm gonna have to find out since I won't have access to PS for much longer ;-;) that resembles some of the swirly inner bits on some of the lit effects, but I'm not sure if it is that or not. Or you could mask over textures? There's... many ways to do it.

If done by hand: oh my gods the patience, how. If done with layer effects: really clever work that knows how to stop said effects from looking wonky, because ugh those things get temperamental. If done with a layer of texture that's been masked over: very, very good masking work. No matter the method, pretty shimmers and swirly bits inside the bigger pretty swirls!

Next: The way color contrast is used! I will never be over the glowy green-on-black Primordial Life vibes when Alinua gets dropped into that… unconscious space?? with Life, for example, and the sharp contrast of vines and crack and branches and leaves against pitch black is just visually stunning. The way the roots sink into the ground and the three-dimensional sensation of it is particularly badass here:

Friggin. How does this imply depth like that. HOW. IT'S SO FREAKING COOL.

A huge point here is also color language and use! Everybody has their own particular shade, generally matching their eyes, magic, and personality, and I adore how this is used to make it clear who's talking or who's doing an action. That was especially apparent to me with Dainix and Falst in the caves—their colors are both fairly warm, but quite distinct, and I love how this clarifies who's doing what in panels with a lot of action from both of them. There is a particular bit that stuck out to me, so I dug up the panels (see this page and the following one https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-30/):

(Gods it looks even prettier now that I put it against a plain background. Also, appreciation to Falst for managing a bridal-carry midair, damn.)

The way that their colors MERGE here! And the immense attention to detail in doing so—Dainix is higher up than Falst is in the first panel, so Dainix's orange fades into Falst's orange at the base. The next panel has gold up top and orange on bottom; we can't really tell in that panel where each of them are, but that's carried over to the next panel—

—where we now see that Falst's position is raised above Dainix's due to the way he's carrying him. (Points for continuity!) And, of course, we see the little "huffs" flowing from orange to yellow over their heads (where Dainix's head is higher than Falst's) to merge the sound of their breathing, which is absurdly clever because it emphasizes to the viewer how we hear two sets of huffing overlaying each other, not one. Absolutely brilliant.

(A few other notes of appreciation to that panel: beautiful glows around them, the sparks, the jagged silhouette of the spider legs, the lovely colors that have no right to make the area around a spider corpse that pretty, the excellent texturing on the cave walls plus perspective, the way Falst's movements imply Dainix's hefty weight, the natural posing of the characters, their on-point expressions that convey exactly how fuckin terrifying everything is right now, the slight glows to their eyes, and also they're just handsome boys <3)

Next up: Rain!!!! So well done! It's subtle enough that it never ever disrupts the impact of the focal point, but evident enough you can tell! And more importantly: THE MIST OFF THE CHARACTERS. Rain does this irl, it has that little vapor that comes off you and makes that little misty effect that plays with lighting, it's so cool-looking and here it's used to such pretty effect!

One of the panel captions says something about it blurring out all the injuries on the characters but like THAT AIN'T TOO BIG OF A PROBLEM when it gets across the environmental vibes, and also that'd be how it would look in real life too so like… outside viewer's angle is the same as the characters', mostly? my point is: that's the environment!!! that's the vibes, that's the feel! It gets it across and it does so in the most pretty way possible!

And another thing re: rain, the use of it to establish perspective, particularly in panels like this—

—where we can tell we're looking down at Tynan due to the perspective on the rain and where it's pointing. Excellent. (Also, kudos for looking down and emphasizing how Tynan's losing his advantage—lovely use of visual storytelling.)

Additionally, the misting here:

We see it most heavily in the leftmost panel, where it's quite foggy as you would expect in a rainstorm, especially in an environment with a lot of heat, but it's also lightly powdered on in the following two panels and tends to follow light sources, which makes complete sense given how light bounces off particles in the air.

A major point of strength in these too is a thorough understanding of lighting, like rim lighting, the various hues and shades, and an intricate understanding of how light bounces off surfaces even when they're in shadow (we'll see a faint glow in spots where characters are half in shadow, but that's how it would work in real life, because of how light bounces around).

Bringing some of these points together: the fluidity of the lines in magic, and the way simple glowing lines are used to emphasize motion and the magic itself, is deeply clever. I'm basically pulling at random from panels and there's definitely even better examples, but here's one (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-16-33/):

First panel, listed in numbers because these build on each other:

The tension of the lines in Tess's magic here. This works on a couple levels: first, the way she's holding her fists, as if she's pulling a rope taut.

The way there's one primary line, emphasizing the rope feeling, accompanied by smaller ones.

The additional lines starbursting around her hands, to indicate the energy crackling in her hands and how she's doing a good bit more than just holding it. (That combined with the fists suggests some tension to the magic, too.) Also the variations in brightness, a feature you'll find in actual lightning. :D Additional kudos for how the lightning sparks and breaks off the metal of the sword.

A handful of miscellaneous notes on the second panel:

The reflection of the flames in Erin's typically dark blue eyes (which bears a remarkable resemblance to Dainix, incidentally—almost a thematic sort of parallel given Erin's using the same magic Dainix specializes in?)

The flowing of fabric in the wind and associated variation in the lineart

The way Erin's tattoos interact with the fire he's pulling to his hand

The way the rain overlays some of the fainter areas of fire (attention! to! detail! hell yeah!)

I could go on. I won't because this is a lot of writing already.

Third panel gets paragraphs, not bullets:

Erin's giant-ass "FWOOM" of fire there, and the way the outline of the word is puffy-edged and gradated to feel almost three-dimensional, plus once again using Screen or a variation on it so that the stars show up in the background. All this against that stunning plume of fire, which ripples and sparks so gorgeously, and the ending "om" of the onomatopoeia is emphasized incredibly brightly against that, adding to the punch of it and making the plume feel even brighter.

Also, once again, rain helping establish perspective, especially in how it's very angular in the left side of the panel and then slowly becomes more like a point to the right to indicate it's falling directly down on the viewer. Add in the bright, beautiful glow effects, fainter but no less important black lines beneath them to emphasize the sky and smoke and the like, and the stunningly beautiful lighting and gradated glows surrounding Erin plus the lightning jagging up at him from below, and you get one hell of an impactful panel right there. (And there is definitely more in there I could break down, this is just a lot already.)

And in general: The colors in this? Incredible. The blues and purples and oranges and golds compliment so well, and it's all so rich.

Like, seriously, just throughout the whole comic, the use of gradients, blending modes, color balance and hues, all the things, all the things, it makes for the most beautiful effects and glows and such a rich environment. There's a very distinct style to this comic in its simplified backgrounds (which I recognize are done partly because it's way easier and also backgrounds are so time-consuming dear gods but lemme say this) and vivid, smoothly drawn characters; the simplicity lets them come to the front and gives room for those beautiful, richly saturated focal points, letting the stylized designs of the magic and characters shine. The use of distinct silhouettes is insanely good. Honestly, complex backgrounds might run the risk of making everything too visually busy in this case. It's just, augh, so GORGEOUS.

Another bit, take a look at this page (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-15-28/):

It's not quite as evident here as it is in the next page, but this one does some other fun things so I'm grabbing it. Points:

Once again, using different colors to represent different character actions. The "WHAM" of Kendal hitting the ground is caused by Dainix's force, so it's orange (and kudos for doubling the word over to add a shake effect). But we see blue layered underneath, which could be an environmental choice, but might also be because it's Kendal, whose color is blue.

And speaking off, take a look at the right-most panel on top, where Kendal grabs the spear: his motion is, again, illustrated in bright blue, versus the atmospheric screened-on orange lines that point toward him around the whole panel (I'm sure these have a name, I think they might be more of a manga thing though and the only experience I have in manga is reading a bit of Fullmetal Alchemist). Those lines emphasize the weight of the spear being shoved at him, and their color tells us Dainix is responsible for it.

One of my all-time favorite effects in this comic is the way cracks manifest across Dainix's body to represent when he starts to lose control; it is utterly gorgeous and wonderfully thematic. These are more evident in the page before and after this one, but you get a decent idea here. I love the way they glow softly, the way the fire juuuust flickers through at the start and then becomes more evident over time, and the cracks feel so realistic, like his skin is made of pottery. Additional points for how fire begins to creep into his hair.

A small detail that's generally consistent across the comic, but which I want to make note of here because you can see it pretty well: Kendal's eyes glow about the same as the jewel in his sword, mirroring his connection to said sword and calling back to how the jewel became Vash's eye temporarily and thus was once Kendal's eye. You can always see this connection (though there might be some spots where this also changes in a symbolic manner; I went through it quickly on the first time around, so I'll pay more attention when I inevitably reread this), where Kendal's always got that little shine of blue in his eyes the same as the jewel. It's a beautiful visual parallel that encourages the reader to subconsciously link them together, especially since the lines used to illustrate character movements typically mirror their eye color. It's an extension of Kendal.

Did I mention how ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL the colors in this are?

Also, the mythological/legend-type scenes are illustrated in familiar style often used for that type of story, a simple and heavily symbolic two-dimensional cave-painting-like look. They are absolutely beautiful on many levels, employing simple, lovely gradients, slightly rougher and thicker lineart that is nonetheless smoothly beautiful, and working with clear silhouettes (a major strength of this art style, but also a strength in the comic overall). But in particular, I wanted to call attention to a particular thing (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-12-4/):

The flowing symbolic lineart surrounding each character. This is actually quite consistent across characters—see also Life's typical lines and how they curl:

What's particularly interesting here is how these symbols are often similar, but not the same. Vash's lines are always smooth, clean curls, often playing off each other and echoing one another like ripples in a pond. You'd think they'd look too similar to Life's—but they don't. Life's curl like vines, and they remain connected; where one curve might echo another but exist entirely detached from each other in Vash's, Life's lines still remain wound together, because vines are continuous and don't float around. :P

Tahraim's are less continuous, often breaking up with significantly smaller bits and pieces floating around like—of course—sparks, and come to sharper points. These are also constants: we see the vines repeated over and over in Alinua's dreams of Life, and the echoing ripples of Vash are consistent wherever we encounter him. Kendal's dream of the ghost citizens of the city of Vash in the last few chapters is filled with these rippling, echoing patterns, to beautiful effect (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-14/):

They ripple and spiral, often in long, sinuous curves, with smooth elegance. It reminds me a great deal of images of space and sine waves and the like. This establishes a definite feel to these different characters and their magic. And the thing is, that's not something that had to be done—the colors are good at emphasizing who's who. But it was done, and it adds a whole other dimension to the story. Whenever you're in a deity's domain, you know whose it is no matter the color.

Regarding that shape language, I wanted to make another note, too—Vash is sometimes described as chaotic and doing what he likes, which is interesting to me, because smooth, elegant curves and the color blue aren't generally associated with chaos. So while Vash might behave like that on the surface, I'm guessing he's got a lot more going on underneath; he's probably much more intentional in his actions than you'd think at a glance, and he is certainly quite caring with his city. The other thing is that this suits Kendal perfectly. He's a paragon character; he is kind, virtuous, and self-sacrificing, and often we see him aiming to calm others and keep them safe. Blue is such a good color for him. There is… probably more to this, but I'm not deep enough in yet to say.

And here's the thing: I'm only scratching the surface. There is so much more here I'm not covering (color palettes! outfits! character design! environment! the deities! so much more!) and a lot more I can't cover, because I don't have the experience; this is me as a hobbyist artist who happened to take a couple design classes because I wanted to. The art style to this comic is so clever and creative and beautiful, though, I just had to go off about it. <3

...brownie points for getting all the way down here? Have a cookie.

[thatscarletflycatcher]

"Everything went wrong after David Bowie died" "everything went wrong after the Reformation"

Me, whose Metaphysics studies and medievalist interests have been heavily shaped by Dominicans: everything went wrong after Ockham et al. sustained the primacy of Will before Good in the nature of God.

[kiisaes]

SURE LOL making this its own post so I don't bother op with how genuinely annoying I am

"what's your educated take on bakugou" (this is the primary litmus test. if you have a dogshit opinion about him I am terminating the conversation effective immediately)

"what do you ship in this series, if you ship at all, using strictly the text with no fandom interference" (testing to see if you can separate canon from fanon, because fanon has severely warped many's perception of canon. I think most, if not all, big ships in this series were sabotaged by the fandom - either by misinterpreting the characters in the ships or artificially inflating/deflating their importance to the story)

"what are some general themes and takeaways of this narrative"

@bakugous-broken-toothbrush

[jewish-sideblog]

Some of you are having some trouble with your reading comprehension skills, so I’ve added color coding to help you out.

This post is not commenting on who counts as Jewish. I did not and will not attempt to invalidate people’s Jewish identity. I am very specifically referring to how people misuse the term ethnicity, and by extension, how they misuse the adverb ethnically in the phrase ethnically Jewish. I am not talking about observing halacha. I am not talking about race science. I am in fact not talking about Judaism at all! I am talking intentionally and exclusively about ethnicity. Ethnicity is a sociological term which refers to cultural communities. While genetics and religion are important to some cultural communities, ethnicity is not defined by genetics or religion.

Jumblr talks a big game about how Judaism is a tribe that can’t be easily defined as a race, religion, or ethnicity because it predates all those modern concepts. but some of you still act like only some of those things count when defining who is a Jew

local sociologist deeply fucking tired of people on the internet using basic soc terminology incorrectly and harmfully

[crimsonalchemistress]

So... let me get this straight...

Ymir was essentially trapped in a timeless eternal stasis because of her yearning for King Fritz... and she chose Mikasa to set her free... Mikasa who was similarly hopelessly devoted to a powerful figure who could never fully return Mikasa's affections... and Mikasa liberating Ymir ended the Curse of Ymir and all the Titan fuckery...

And people still want to say that Mikasa would be hung up on Eren for the rest of her life and never move on.

'Kay.

[cowboy-robooty]

im not going to lie i have an illuminati type theory that fanfiction has gotten so fucking bad recently as yet another consequence of the pandemic

[aroaessidhe]

2025 reads / storygraph

The Memory Hunters

scifi/fantasy set in a postapoc future US

follows a hunter - a woman who uses a certain kind of mushroom allows her to dive into memories from blood, collecting them for the institute she works for, and her bodyguard / best friend, who needs the job to care for her family in the storm-torn south

when they come across a site with memories that uncover secrets about the past and the hunter’s religion that diverge from the official accounts of history, it tests their relationship and causes them to question everything

f/f

arc, out July 29

[karanseraph]

debated whether I should reblog this older post, considering I have posted maps and lists and lore here myself.

But, when I share the lore related to my WIP fic, I know what aspects are canon and where canon(s) lack and the needs of the work mean I have to worldbuild. And I worry now I haven't always been clear what parts are canon or headcanon or possibly fanon.

I know one work doesn't make fanon. The memetic repetition *does*.

And this week, It's breaking my brain that we, collectively in Transformers fandom, now have fics using "servo" to mean hand (literal, anatomical).

And I just wish our fandom could grasp, that's not what a servo *is*.

There's likely servomotors all through a mechanism.

in Transformers Animated "servo" does get used in place of "hand" in *some* contexts.

Those contexts mainly involve "anatomic euphemism". There's a dedicated page about these euphemisms on tfwiki.

OK?

Lend a hand becomes "lend a servo". No one is literally detaching a hand in this case, it's about contributing assistance and effort, often involving hands, where the hand is figuratively lent.)

"Don't just stand there with your pistons in your servos" would be too crude for TVY7 if they didn't use the euphemism. It doesn't mean all bots literally have a piston in reach of a servo or that servos can be *in* pistons. It's figurative.

"Five Servos of Doom" is clearly making allusion to "Five Fingers of Death". It doesn't mean servos is literally a finger or digit, either.

The canon use is idiomatic or euphemistic.

You can just use "hand" in your fics. I promise.

You can just use hand. If that specific bot has a hook, a pincher claw, talons, etc. you can use those terms. You can minutely describe what type of digits a given bot has, if you want, including saying servos are located within.

But literally using "servo" to indicate the whole hand, like some bots lays their servo on another bot's body/frame/chassis/parts just makes it sound like we do not know what a servo is.

You can be mad at me and keep on doing this and have a cleric lay servos on a bot. But I have read fics and glossaries very recently that use "servo" to indicte the whole literal hand and the rest of that fic can be lovely and that part really bothers me.

It bothers me because we didn't have good enough fandom resources, here on the reading comprehension website or elsewhere, to teach fans entering the fandom the nuance of euphemistic and literal usage of terms. It's our collective fault. I'm sorry.

Beware of Transformers misinformation, fans!

There are a lot of blogs out there who try to act like lore masters. They make charts of Cybertronian history and/or try to make long deep posts that reference Transformers lore. They seem complex and researched so people gobble it up and happily reblog . . . More often than not, I know they got facts wrong. It's painful to see everyone eagerly spreading it like the gospel! Especially when it is Transformers Prime lore. I own the books, I have read them many times, I have carefully summarized them in videos. Some people just skim a few wiki pages then feel knowledgeable. Gah! Tips for everyone else:

~Don't assume common trends like in fanfiction are canon. Concepts like "femme" and "mech" and "spike" and "valve" and "sire" and "carrier" are fandom creations. Traits given to certain kinds of Cybertronians like Seekers (example: Seekers are more sensitive) are also fandom creations. Characters may also be adopted by the public and re-displayed with character traits not truly found in their original source material.

~Don't assume the rules of one Transformers series applies to another.

~Don't assume charts created by fans are fully accurate. For example, a chart of Cybertronian lengths of time. Units of time are unclear and have different meanings in different Transformers universes. There is no one truth. Also, charts of Cybertronian Ages, from what I have seen, have been wrong. For example, excluding the Age of Origins.

~Do not use the fandom wiki for any research. Use TFwiki, which is accurate and links to sources!

I will always try to be a very reliable source of Aligned Continuity lore. I will crack open the books and point to whatever you need. Please be more critical and double check info before reblogging and liking people's lore posts, including mine.

[higgsbison]

Anything involving Ciaphas Cain (Hero of the imperium) is pretty good for WH40K. The main book series is an in-fiction auto-biography written by the titular Ciaphas Cain, commisar and self-proclaimed coward. His series details how all his great victories and most cunning strategies were (According to him) blind luck and him running away screaming.

well he got recommended like 5 seperate times so I guess I do gotta, can't be helped, can't be helped

[adventurepunks]

"The part that you decide I need to visit Jason and not him asking for my help if he requires it" she answered this question directly.

"Would it sway any favors to your cause if you strangled me? Because you can. I will let you-" she remained ever as dispassionate never truly expressing whether his threat was amusing, threatening or insulting.

"I will not read your leaves, John. You who is meant to See ignore what is right in front of your nose, your calling as ever ignored, like a child you claw and paw for attention to forces beyond your comprehension" Scolding him like she would chastise a child, to her he was a child. The curse of the ancient, he too was but a fleeting moment in her life. Xanadu would still relay the message, winding a music box to play as the crystal ball laid at the moment dormant.

"Tinker tailor soldier tailor, rich man beggar man thief.."The Mists swirled in the John image. "Ploughman, painter,preacher, jailer" she pulled her hood up John dug for a corpse with Nick Nolan, drew sigils on a wall, exorcised someone, banished another. "Bard, scribe whisperer of grief.."

"Dreamer, jester, falcons eye" His simulacrum of Life splitting John in half being birthed right out of his middle. "Moon mad scholar, a key keeper of the shadowed ground" Indeed Nick Nolan and his simulacrum escaped Hell and in that the last seal holding it's boundary with the Dreaming broke. "Song singers of Forgotten ones" The Enchantress banished by Tim Hunter's will. Meddling, meddling, meddling.

"If you seek answers...pay their prices" With inhuman strength she smacked his head against the crystal ball, a drop of his Nergal tainted blood falling out of his nose . In her crystal ball Etrigan, Etrigan, Etrigan. Etrigan never claimed a banner so those he held dominion over raised his name on every castle, spiked heads of demons that fell to him around the perimeter of Etrigan's ground, his father now a war totem impaled and carried to their battlefields.

Five years on this planet counted for 245 in the third Layer of Hell where Jason was trapped inside the Demon prince.

Etrigan left, Nergal and Buer feasted in the power vacuum.

Maybe now John would understand how much Jason endured in his absence.

Xanadu then wiped John's nose blood and through her door walked to Jason's bedroom holding John by the wrist, sometimes she broke this whole do not interfere thing and lead men to their destinies.

"Xanadu?" Zatanna jumped out of her skin seeing her and the soothsayer grabbed her ever so gently to dip a tissue in the corner of her eye.

"Gone, gone o Etrigan rise once more the form of man. "

"Whispers soft and shadows deep, Now's the time for peaceful sleep. Close your eyes, let worries cease, Drift away on waves of peace. From the stars, a silver gleam, Guiding you to a happy dream. Breathe in calm, breathe out the day, Slumber calls, come what may. Sleep, oh sleep, your wrathful power, Rest until..." she used John's bloodied tissue on a symbol that absorbed into Jason's forehead, her last words to the Demon prince whispered in a language very few that did not reside in Hell knew, the same tissue turned over and Zatanna's tear rolled down into Jason's eye.

"You will bring me a feather of the Morning star by next new moon, willingly given by the owner, offered unafraid. The Symbol of the Seven by the first dawn of the next leap year and a blessing of the Maiden before the Constant Defender loses her maidenhood. That is the price." Didn't have to be straight from the Morning star, there were people out there had owned, well four of them to be precise in the whole of existence and one of them was the Hornblower. John wanted answers, he'd get answers.

"It is the price of binding the Demon to slumber, Jason's mind will never be the same but for now, I placed a barrier in his memories. The Archduke of Mendacity will slumber too, no advancement will be made...pay your first price on time or face Prince and archduke for your meddling in their battlefield in court of Bone and Blood" she warned stroking Jason's hair ever so gently, if they both wanted so badly magical solutions then they best pay the price for old ancient magic, she doubted either of them wanted to be faced with the Judicial system of the Hellplane.

"What?" Zatanna asked. "Who is the archduke of the mended city and what? John?" Mendacity.

"What did you do?"Zatanna grabbed Xanadu by the shoulders to turn her around while she was knelt down by Jason's side. Xanadu's eyes were bleeding tears.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US!" Zatanna slapped her and yet the soothsayer barely reacted.

"You asked for peace in time of War, Jason's fate is postponed not halted. 21 days to make it permanent....21 days or you both face consequences when Etrigan awakens. Three years to pay your toll or the same hands that guided you will control your Fates, the Mists do not show me the Defender...maybe a day maybe a lifetime before your Coins end on the bargaining table of the Hellplane. Pay your prices on time and with debts to Existence paid no consequences left to be claimed"

It's not Etrigan's wrath that worried her.

Life was about to get more complicated, the dawn of the 13th month was approaching and where would Baron go on his one day of freedom if not to his close friend who returned...a shell.

"Why could you not stay with me my love" Nimue stroked Jason's hair. Children would not understand the lengths some would go to protect their love. Now he was waking up would Jason ever forgive her for saving him? For making him forget the torment for a bit?

She too had now a price to pay for her involvement. She felt cold...and alone...now as bling to the Tapestry of Fate as any of them...until the first price was paid.

“Christ, woman! Which part o’ yer ex needs yer ‘ta go ‘n ‘ave a gander at ‘im didje nah understand?”

John was close to just scooping Nimue off her chair, crystal ball and tarot cards and all, to bring her face-to-face with Jason…it was the Tim-Tams that had him stop short.

He hasn’t had them much ever since leaving the Sanctum. Not even the double-coated ones.

“I dunno, X. If yer gunna drown me wiff riddles rite now instead o’ being o’ any actual ‘elp, dun mind if I reach across dis bloody table ‘ta choke yer.”

He did sit down. Who knows, maybe something here may help with poor Jason’s situation, or maybe it’ll all be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Fates were sketchy like that.

“Fine. Read me fokkin’ tea leaves.”

He smacked the eastwards Tim Tam off the table to show his displeasure, then gulped the tea and slammed the cup back down.

“Now tell me sumfing useful.”