#and will just corrupt whatever system replaces it

[arcane-apidae]

Okay, so you’ve picked up Marx, maybe dabbled in communism, and now you’re all fired up about revolution. 👏 But before you dive in too deep and start calling yourself a “tankie” (or whatever’s trending these days), can I suggest something real quick? Read Animal Farm. 👀

I know, everyone knows Animal Farm, right? But honestly, I’m not sure how many of you have actually read it—and I mean really read it. Animal Farm isn’t just some cute little farm story with talking animals. It’s Orwell’s warning about why communism doesn’t work—and why it never will. 🐷➡️👨‍🌾

The animals overthrow their human oppressors, right? They’re all about equality—everyone is equal. But by the end, the pigs are walking on two legs, living in the house, and looking just like the humans they kicked out. That’s the point. The revolution gets corrupted, the leaders become just as bad as the ones they replaced, and the whole system falls apart. No matter how good the intentions are, when power’s involved, it all falls into the same mess. 😬

You’ve probably seen people online talking about how communism is the future, how it’s this radical change we all need. But let’s be real: look at the countries closest to communism today—North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela. Does that seem like the kind of world you wanna live in? Is that freedom? Is that happiness? Are those societies thriving? Because from where I’m standing, it’s more like a dystopia. 👀

So before you put that hammer and sickle in your bio, give Animal Farm another read. It’s not just a book—it’s history. It’s a cautionary tale that shows us why it doesn’t work and why it never will. We need new ideas, fresh thinking. Use that brainpower you’re flexing for change to build something that actually works. 💡🔥

Stop identifying with the same old ideologies that have been proven to fail, and start building something better. The future’s waiting for you. ✌️🌍

[thebigcjart]

Terezi Time!!!

Terezi is a member of the Noble Misting Caste, an Allomancer and daughter of Sir Alamandor, brother to House Lord Spessartio. Being a Misting, she is seen as only barely a Noble by most other Houses and some family members. This public view is made worse by her being a known Tin Savant. While it is mostly excused, because they know she is blind, her "junkie" behaviors forgo a lot of the grace she is given in fine society (she chews on Tin spoons and the like that she picks up off the street.)

Her typing quirk is typing in all caps (despite the fact that she barely speaks above a whisper in person), replacing all "A's with 4, all "E"s with 3, and "I"s with 1. These are the numerals relate to the magic systems of the world, there being 4 types of metals with 4 metals each (Physical, Mental/Cognitive, Enhancement/Spiritual, Temportal/Hybrid), and 3 magic systems (Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy), and 1 eventual Shard (Harmony, but her seeing that bit of the future is not related to anything this world has to offer, a mystery I will not disclose).

Her symbol on her smock is the symbol for Steel, which in the Steel Alphabet corresponds to the letter P, for House Pyrope. The vials in the strap on her chest are Tin flakes suspended in a frankly quite rank alcohol. She uses her abilities to secretly go out and enact vigilante justice Daredevil-style on corrupt Nobles and other criminals that slight House Pyrope. And while she's out and about, she snags whatever dubious hooch she can get off the bodies of the ne'er-do-wells to fill her Tin vials, whereas other Allomancers would just fill it with oil or juice. She says that this is because she doesn't "S33 WHY TH3 RUSTS 1T H4S TO T4ST3 L1K3 PR3S3RV4T1ON'S T41NT." She is a very crude young woman and I love her so much.

During a feud with Vriska in her childhood, Vriska made her consume a bunch of metals, then during that fight she Snapped into being a Tineye. The shock of instinctively flaring Tin as forcefully as she did made her go blind as well as suffer moderate but permanent hearing loss.

As a Tin Savant, she is almost constantly flaring her Tin, enhancing her senses nearly 16 times beyond that of other people. The light doesn't bother her because she is blind, and her hearing loss helps her enhanced hearing more tolerable, but honestly, she is just used to having incredibly sensitive smell, taste, and touch. She is pretty much addicted to flaring Tin at this point, and makes a big show of going around asking people for more Tin at events even though she has plenty. Being so lowly a Noble, she is often specifically requested not to show up at most events within her House, and almost all events held at other Houses. Her father, being the twin brother of the House Lord is a wise old man with a weighty presence and a very good reputation, and Terezi being the daddy's girl she is (for her own gain) attends all the functions he goes to anyway.

Her Vigilantism isn't public knowledge, or even known by pretty much anyone outside of her friend group, but she does go out and murder people often.

Her and Gamzee being the only Savants on the team form the basis of their bond and eventual kismesitude.

And also she doesnt usually speak in Eastern slang, but she does understand it and uses it mostly to mess with people, especially Sollux Tavros and Aradia, who all can understand it (because they spend a lot of time around other Skaa).

Some silly quotes:

GC: >:O GC: 1 1M4G1N3 TH3S3 GYR4T1ONS W1LL SM3LL QU1T3 FR3SH GC: L1K3 R3C3NTLY STUFF3D B4YWR4PS TG: of course TG: and just when the scene thought it was startin to recover from its ridiculous erection over that TG: thats when i bust out another fierce move TG: i call it rageclock me in the douche smirk plz TG: cut out to the rude jam "askin 4 it!" GC: HOW RUD3 WOULD YOU S4Y TH1S J4M 1S D4V3 TG: id say if i had to take an educated guess it was outright storming unmannerly TG: needs to get worked over by some stuffy prude at finishing school GC: W1LL YOU T34CH M3 TH3S3 MOV3S TG: i dont know about that gancha GC: PL34S3 D4V3 GC: YOU ST4ND TH3R3 4ND DO TH3 UNM4NN3RLY MOV3S, 4ND 1 W1LL OBS3RV3 STUD1OUSLY TG: i dont know if you can keep up with me TG: no offense gancha TG: theres just magic in these shoes and the coy windspren i ransacked storming wants them back GC: COM3 ON GC: YOU T4K3 TH3 L34D GC: 4ND 1 W1LL FOLLOW

TG: ok that TG: is every bit as krem-crusted as all your other drawings GC: SHUT UP! GC: 1 4M ST1LL SORT OF G3TT1NG TH3 H4NG OF TH1S TH1NG GC: 1 W1LL G3T B3TT3R >:P TG: i like it though you dont gotta improve gancha TG: art skills are overrated GC: TH4NKS D4V3 TG: its kind of weird though what in the tranquiline is actually going on here TG: does this mean something GC: Y3S GC: 1T 1S TH3 COM1C R3PR3S3NT4T1ON OF TH3 N3XT L3G OF YOUR WOND3RFUL JOURN3Y GC: YOU KNOW, TH3 ON3 TH4T 1 4M H3LP1NG YOU W1TH 3V3RY ST3P OF TH3 W4Y >:] TG: yeah TG: but TG: why GC: 1 4LR34DY 3XPL41N3D TH1S TO YOU D4V3 GC: TH3 COOLK1D H4S TO B3 TH3 B3ST, 4ND 1 H4V3 TO M4K3 H1M TH3 B3ST TG: alright but TG: i mean even if that made sense which it kind of doesnt TG: karkat was saying how it was all a game and youre just flirtin and stuff TG: and that we should quit it because he doesnt want you in my grill or me in yours or whatever GC: OH, 1S TH4T WH4T H3 S41D??? GC: HMM 1 WOND3R 1F H3 COULD R33K OF J34LOUSY 4NY MOR3 PUNG3NTLY TG: well yeah thats what i thought too TG: and really if we got no other reason keep rolling with it at least theres that one TG: to piss him off GC: W3LL WH4T DO YOU TH1NK D4V3 GC: 4M 1 1N YOUR 4L13N GR1LL? TG: im not saying i know for sure but it seems to me like TG: my grill is your storming prison gancha GC: 4ND 1M YOUR C3LLM4TE TG: and a galvanic one at that whatever the storms that means TG: id go so far as to say you are practically incarcerated in that dustmother TG: doing hard time on a bed of charcoal and spark flickers TG: privy to what flamespren im cooping up below TG: what im sayin is you got a front row seat to the brown side of my flangria TG: hows it smell btw GC: 1T SM3LLS L1K3 D3L1C1OUS BURN1NG 4N1M4LS GC: 1 4LSO DO NOT UND3RST4ND 4NY OF TH3 SP3C1F1C CULTUR4L R3F3R3NC3S YOU JUST M4D3 TG: yeah i thought so

GC: DONT T4K3 TH1S TH3 WRONG W4Y BUT HOW C4N YOU B3 TOT4LLY SUR3 4BOUT 4LL TH4T? GC: HOW DO YOU KNOW SOM3 OF TH3 R34L V1S1ONS YOUR3 H4V1NG 4R3NT G3TT1NG K1ND OF T4NGL3D UP W1TH UHHH GC: SORT OF TH3 W4Y YOU 4R3 4BOUT YOURS3LF TA: what do you mean. GC: HOW YOU G3T MOP3Y 4ND YOUR3 4LW4YS TH3 V1CT1M OF SOM3TH1NG 4ND HOW SOM3T1M3S YOU TH1NK YOU SUCK WH3N YOU R34LLY DONT GC: M4YB3 TH4T 1S CLOUD1NG YOUR V1S1ON? TA: ok that2 ju2t 2ome per2onal priivate emotiional ii22ue2 and iim dealiing wiith that, and hone2tly iid appreciiate you not alway2 throwiing that iin my face every rustiing opportuniity you get. TA: liike thii2 ii2 a biig ciircu2 act two you, and that ii2 your 2peciial clown piie. GC: S33, GOD GC: SO S3NS1T1V3 TA: 2eriiou2ly talk two aa 2he wiill corroborate everythiing. TA: you and 2he are pretty tiight arent you? GC: NOT R34LLY 4NYMOR3 GC: SH3 US3D TO B3 4 LOT OF FUN GC: BUT NOW T4LK1NG TO H3R, 1 DONT KNOW GC: 1T JUST SOM3HOW 4LW4YS M4K3S M3 S4D >:[ TA: ok well toniight2 not about fun, thii2 ii2 2eriiou2. TA: deliiriiou2ly 2o. TA: we are iin 2meariiou2 a2h2taiin ciity. GC: SCR3W YOU 4ND YOUR 4SHST41NS GC: 1 W1LL H4V3 4 RUST1NG BL4ST 4ND YOU C4NT STOP M3 GC: BLU3 T34M 2222222L4G >:] TA: oh 2lag 11t2 onnnnnn 2uck4. GC: NOTT1NG TH3 GO1NG FOR YOU TH3 G3TT1NG OF SOM3 M1STR3SS3S TA: rust and ruiin go choke on an iingot GC: >:]

Homestuck Beta Trolls X Mistborn AU

Spoilers for Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series. This is what powers I think the beta trolls would have if they were born on Scadrial

Aradia Megido - Gold or Electrum Misting

Allomancy: ‘Augur’ (Gold: see own Past), ‘Oracle’ (Electrum: see own Future)

Hemalurgy: Cadmium (Placement Unknown: Gold or Electrum Allomancy

It is unknown what her original misting ability was, but the spike from Equius gave her the other one

Tavros Nitram - Cadmium Ferring

Feruchemy: Gasper (Cadmium: Breath), “Bloodmaker” (Gold: Health)

Hemalurgy: Gold (Between Ribs: Gold Feruchemy)

Cadmium compounder; Vriska makes fun of him for having a ‘useless ability’, but doesn’t see the potential that storing breath has. Equius provides him with healing powers to fix his legs through hemalurgy.

Sollux Captor - Born powerless

Allomancy: “Coinshot” (Steel: Push metal) “Lurcher” (Iron: Pull metal)

Hemalurgy: Steel X2 (Left and Right Orbit: Iron and Steel Allomancy)

These spikes were not given by Equius, but instead were applied in a “freak acciident” involving a “jaiilbroken beehiive”.

Karkat Vantas - Copper/Duralumin Twinborn (mutant)

Allomancy: Smoker (Copper: Hide Allomancy)

Feruchemy: Connector (Duralumin: Connection)

I’m not exactly sure why being a natural twin-born is bad in Scadrialternian society, but it is and Karkat’s gotta hide it. Also the castes follow a natural Misting-Ferring-Powerless-Misting-Ferring-Powerless pattern, and Karkat’s caste breaks that so it was completely eradicated through eugenics so im pretty sure he’s the only one.

Nepeta Leijon - Steel Ferring

Feruchemy: Steelrunner (Steel: Physical Speed)

Nothing special, just run-of-the-steel-mill feruchemy.

Kanaya Maryam - Chromium Misting

Allomancy: Leecher (Chromium: wipe allomantic reserves of target)

Her caste is supposed to be powerless, like Equius', but much like how she's a rainbow drinker in canon, she is somehow a misting in this AU. Snapped after Eridan shot her half to death with his “poison wwand strike” (toxic chromium bullets). He did not know that these bullets were Allomantically viable, and neither knew that she would be able to burn chromium. She uses this to sap Gamzee of his massive Zinc reserves, causing him to be distracted long enough for her to kill Eridan.

Terezi Pyrope - Tin misting - Tin Savant

Allomancy: Scout (Tin: Increases senses)

Terezi and Gamzee are the only Savants on the team, which forms the basis of their bond and later kismesitude on whatever this au’s equivalent of the meteor is. She snapped during a feud with Vriska, which left her blind, but she has been flaring tin for so many sweeps that she can basically assemble visual data through her other senses.

Vriska Serket - Cadmium Ferring

Feruchemy: Spinner (Cadmium: Fortune)

Hemalurgy: Left Eye (Cadmium: Destiny)

Forced Equius to use Hemalurgy on her to heal her during a feud with Terezi, but she was tapping Fortune so hard that Equius managed to select the wrong spike and gave her Destiny instead of some healing ability, which is apparently good luck according to the spiritual realm? It’s destiny to be relevant forever I guess so she can’t really die until the plot demands it. She also has Kelsier’s weird metal vision allowing her to peep into the spiritual realm just a little bit. She ended up having her arm fully amputated due to her spirit not being able to accept another spike. Equius in this au isn’t exactly a roboticist, so she won’t get a replacement arm until wayy later down the line.

Equius Zahhak - born powerless

Allomancy: Thug (Pewter: Strength)

Hemalurgy: Between ribs (Steel: Allomantic pewter)

Equius is a Hemalurgist, who was born without allomancy or feruchemy (much like the rest of his caste). He gave himself pewter to make future hemalurgy easier for him (pushing spikes into/through people is physically intensive). He has also given powers to Aradia, Tavros, and Vriska so far.

Gamzee Makara - Zinc Rioter - Zinc Savant

Allomancy: Rioter (Zinc: Riot)

As a Zinc savant, he is so used to being able to fuck with people’s emotions on a whim that he has no idea how to handle empathy without it. He has a very carefree attitude because if someone is saying/doing something he doesn’t like, he can just Allomantic them away. This also means that everyone around him naturally swell with anger and frustration, which leads to the events of the meteor. Rioters and soothers can also gain control of hemalurgic constructs, so I imagine he could take over any hemalurgy users in the party at a whim.

Eridan Ampora - Electrum “Ferring” (Full Feruchemist)

Feruchemy: Pinnacle (Electrum: Determination)

Eridan, like others in his caste, is a full feruchemist, but unlike his other caste members, he only believes that he has one ability.

Feferi Peixes - Mistborn

Allomancy: Mistborn

Feferi, like all others in her caste, is a Mistborn. The Condese is too, actually.

EDIT: Various bits of phrasing and removed the mature label (I have no idea why I wasn't able to before)

[brick-van-dyke]

As the US election closes in and the final states take to the polls, I want to remind people to turn out and protest.

Yep, protest. Strike, disrupt, be out there on the street regardless of who you voted for or who wins. I expect to see you all out there demanding; access to abortion nation wide, protections against discrimination, free universal healthcare, a free Palestine, anti war, prison abolition, to increase the minimum wage, and for a US free of the electoral college and that counts votes as votes.

Yes, you can say "you should vote for Harris" and do so as much as you like, but do not forget the power you have through your own everyday actions away from the polls and that of protesting. Do not use the excuse that your right to vote means it's somehow more foundational or important than the right to protest. You have the ability to create direct action and that is so so important, please don't just expect a rich representative to stick to their promises every time you vote; you have power too, never forget that.

This system will not change until we, the people, make it. There is NO representative that can ever change the system that allowed them in, and likewise; this system will never allow a candidate that would stop it from continuing and/or ensuring its designated purpose of oppression and subjugation. Resist, regardless of the results.

Long live the resistance.

[kaiserin-erzsebet]

I would LOVE to hear more gripes about accuracy of portrayal of historical monarchies!!!

I have been wanting to do this for a while, because there is a lot that irks me. And this ranges across board from big budget period dramas to how people write royalty AUs, which means this isn't one specific thing I'm pointing at. And if it is helpful on a writing tips level, I'll be happy with that.

Long post under the cut:

Disclaimers:

I research 19th century European history, which has a lot of questions about what a monarchy is and why they continue to exist. That's the perspective I am bringing to this.

I probably shouldn't have to say this, but: this is not about modern monarchism. This is about history. I don't want to debate whether you think certain countries should continue to have their monarchs be public figures who are only nominally head of state.

The short version:

Monarchies are institutions. They are part of how the government functions and that should have implications for how someone writes them. A monarch is a person with a built in job that they were born into.

Monarchies are not all absolute. They can exist in a multiple forms with very different structures, and often discontent within a monarchy wants to reform the system not replace it.

My biggest advice would be this: figure out how your fictional or historical monarchy is structured. You don't have to exposit about it, but you do need to know it.

The long version:

The King has a job and there is a right and wrong way to do it.

Fantasy monarchies that draw upon history seem to have Versailles in mind in terms of an aesthetic space and royalty with a lot of power over the people around them. This also includes a lot of lounging around and looking pretty and doing lavish things. However, the issue is that this is a mental image of the dysfunction in the French monarchy close to the revolutions. You can't "Après moi, le déluge" through several centuries of government.

A King (or Queen) has a job, a really important one. They are the head of state, the highest authority in the country, and the highest judge on legal matters. At least in the platonic ideal of absolute monarchy, those jobs being concentrated into one person means their responsibility and good judgement will give the state stability and consistently.

Enlightened absolutism was exactly that: monarchs staunchly holding onto the ideals of the Enlightenment and making reforms from the top down. People who read texts about ideal government and natural rights and put it into practice.

A lot of fiction takes that and goes: Oh, so they have unlimited power and can do whatever they want. Being king means you can do what you want without oversight? That's why someone would want to be king?

And yeah, sure, in theory. But the problem with having a job is that you can do it poorly and people will object to you doing it poorly. If someone is not fulfilling obligations, it is noticeable because the state functions poorly. The premise of Robin Hood is that the king is doing his job poorly. He's overtaxing, the officials are corrupt, there's disorder. The solution? Bring back the true king who is good and fair, and thus functional.

Ludwig II of Bavaria gets ousted from his throne for being more interested in opera and extravagant building projects than ruling. Again, it is a problem and people notice.

Historically, if you want to protect from someone being bad at the job you can support the idea that there should be more oversight and safeguards: Other bodies that control parts of the government alongside the king's ability to approve or disapprove. This tactic takes away the ability to be arbitrary since laws and such are not just coming from the crowned head of state. That would be a constitutional monarchy.

Not everyone needs to be Franz Joseph, waking up at the crack of dawn and working on governmental papers and meetings until bedtime. However, if a monarch is shown in fiction lounging around or talking to courtiers all day but never doing any actual governing, I'm going to assume they are very bad at their job.

2. You're probably understanding Courts and Ministers wrong.

I run into the issue quite a bit that courts are flattened to random servants, ladies-in-waiting, and people trying to be the king's sole advisor (for malicious power grabbing reasons).

The first problem: Being at court isn't an easily accessible thing. You're probably nobility or a scion of an important family. Your presence is built on family prestige and your own skill. Yes, even people in service to the monarch. There are no random people here, because proximity heightens the likelihood of greater promotion.

For example, I'm currently doing my research on a prince from an important dynasty in the 19th century. His secretary is a Baron.

It's not impossible for someone not of noble birth to get to be at court. They could have risen up the ranks of the army or be an exceptionally skilled civil servant promoted to the rank of minister. Though depending on the time period, expect these "new men" to get pushback from nobility by blood.

Ministers also matter.

Unless your fictional monarch is one of the few people who decides (to mixed results) to do all of the thinking about government on their own, there is a cabinet and ministers.

These are skilled people whose job is to think about aspects of government and be knowledgeable about them. A monarch might have many of them that argue and balance each other.

Or, you can write a particularly skilled statesman in a leading role that makes them just as prominent as the monarch if not more so. There are many historical examples of ministers who define their period:

If your monarch character isn't a strong person politically, but is intelligent, having them find a minister to take over most of the governing is a good idea. This person is promoted based on merit, even if the monarchy is hereditary.

I have rarely if ever seen fiction do a good job with a prominent minister as a character (except A Royal Affair, which everyone should watch).

Think of monarchies as whole institutions of government. They have people within them who do all the jobs of governing. But the structure of the government and the personality of the monarch can determine whether it is one person (Joseph II, Peter the Great, etc.), a prominent minister (like a Metternich or Bismarck) or a counsel or congress.

The structure can support a person not doing a lot as monarch, but you as a writer need to think what structures are around them allowing that.

3. Revolutions are scary.

There is a common trend in fiction to make your good guys pro-republic. They're revolutionaries who want to get rid of the king, so they must be good.

But here's the thing: Revolutions are a step into the unknown and have historically happened rather rarely and with very mixed results. That's because the system has to be really broken for something totally new to sound better than what you already have.

A monarchy can create a sense of stability: A fixed head of state who will be there until they die. Historically, people aren't seeking to change that. More often, the call is for a change within the existing structure. The Magna Carta or a written Constitution. Firing of Bad Ministers or the abdication of a bad king in favor of their heir. Creating elected bodies under the sovereign. These are all shifting the monarchical paradigm but keeping the monarchy intact.

And historically even the most liberal of people wanted to place restrictions of some sort on voting, especially property and gender restrictions.

There is a myriad of ways to change the system, the person at the top, or both while maintaining a monarchy. You can have a monarchy be elected as the best person among the nobility (though it didn't go that well for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth).

Completely throwing the whole thing out means risking all stability vanishing. That could be anarchy. That could mean a charismatic strongman who is also bad at governing in power. You could end up with a guillotine and rivers of blood in the streets. You could end up with a restoration eventually because Cromwell or Robespierre doesn't actually produce something people want to live under and they want the old certainty back.

People have a sense of inertia about changing government. What you have is better than what you don't know, especially if there can be internal reform. Making your character a Republican (in the Jacobin sense, not the US politics sense) means that they are a radical in most times and places and will likely be in the minority.

If there is one thing I would say is the point here is that monarchies are government systems, and thinking through how someone exists in that system in fiction is important. Being king isn't actually much of a fun job unless you're very good at delegating or very irresponsible. Unless you want to be celebrity, president, congress, and moral center of the state all in one, being king isn't a great deal.

[unadulteratedsoulsweets]

A DC X DP IDEA #31

You and I, we’re not the same.

Imagine dis…

Corrupted ectoplasm is always the main reason why Jason had a pit rage. I know it was because he was dumped in Lazarus' pits when he was found wandering around.

What if I offer you guys another reason why he rages so much?

…

Lady Gotham is devastated by her little squire, her beloved child laid to rest. The little boy used to play around her alley as if it was the best playground he ever played in. The little boy whom she shielded personally with her shadows to hide from those who wished harm to her child. The little boy who shines the brightest when he laughs, and that good-for-nothing pest killed him. 

If she had enough strength within her city she would have already dragged that clown’s soul to the deepest and darkest place of her realm but couldn't. She needed whatever ectoplasm and strength she had to bring him back. Her Dark Knight is getting reckless by the day, gone the knight that would protect and see the goodness in this cesspool of a city, was replaced by a man who is still grieving for the loss of his child and taking it out on everyone but mostly himself. 

The boy rose and could dig himself out but his father didn't find him, someone else did.

That day Lady Gotham wailed in devastation. Every Gothamite felt and heard something, from the people who had hidden in the deepest of corners of her city for protection to the labyrinths that hold countless undead Talons all of whom simultaneously shivered as they all seemingly heard a mother’s scream that had just lost her child again.

…

It was assassins that had found him that was true but they didn't find him in his grave, they had found him wandering around with instincts and muscle memory as his only tool to survive. At first, Ra thought that he was the missing link, the key to everlasting life but after countless research and experiments thought that Jason Todd was a fluke in the greater systems. Seeing that Talia’s leverage on her beloved is about to be disposed of, she immediately throws Jason into the pits as it may have not raised the dead but he is alive enough for the pits to heal.

When Jason Todd was dipped into the green glowing waters of the Lazarus pits they didn't see it…

They didn't see the way the pits seemed to split Jason Todd in half. As if answering a man or a father’s prayer.

I need no other child as long as mine can split themselves in half.

At that moment, deep within the deep waters of the pits, there were two. 

One who looked far too different from what he looked like before, a body that had been fixed by the pits. 

One who had been left behind, the body of a teen who had been too malnourished.

The pits split Jason Todd apart, while the other one started to gasp for air and began swimming to the top, the other continued to sink into the endless pit.

No one was there to witness it but as the other one sank deeper a portal manifested behind the sinking Jason Todd swallowing him whole as if there was no one else.

…

Jason knew the moment he woke up in the middle of the Lazarus pit, was rage. RAGE for naively believing his birth giver yet she had given him to the Joker for safety, RAGE for not being avenged by his father, RAGE for being replaced before his body even turned cold… 

rage for something, MISSING?!?!?!!?

Jason knew that there was a part of him missing, maybe it was the once young innocent naïve child that loved theater, perhaps it was the once hopeful child to help their home into something more, but it was because deep down he knew that there was something wrong with him.

He had memories missing or even spotty and blurry at best. He knew he used to help Alfred around the kitchen but the feelings and the details behind such core memory vanished. The sense of joy and utter happiness, when DAD Bruce bought a first edition book that he had been eyeing for a while, the fear and dread to open and read, said book in fear of damaging his first ever gift.

He knew that if the rest knew of it he would be kicked out, just when they were both trying to mend their broken bridges. So he kept it all in memories and emotions that should have been present are gone as if someone had cut through him and dragged those out.

But it all clicked in one normal night during patrol.

…

He was just swinging from one building to another when he felt it, a pulse, calling out to him. Every inch of him is screaming to follow it as if something is begging him to go, so he does.

Upon arriving at, his former rundown apartment. Where he and his mom, Catherine, once shared and called home. 

Slowly entering the said apartment there he saw his old room where he and Catherine slept while cuddling when she had drugs out of her system. 

A teen, looks exactly like him, same eyes that have the same shade of blue that the butler managed to capture before his death. The shape of his eyes, the way his hair was styled, the way he looked at Jason as if he was in danger.

But the moment the two of them met their eyes something clicked inside them.

They are each other’s half…

…

Jason and Danny, after he introduced himself which made him a bit confused and so that there would be no mix-ups seeing both of them are technically Jason Peter Todd, both began exchanging stories to each other seeing that even though they have no idea how and why they were separated better yet they don’t know how come Danny traveled to the past to be raised normally.

…

As Danny begins to narrate his story Jason can’t help but let his mind wander here he is. Talking to a version of him if Joker didn’t happen. A smart and innocent version of him that has a loving family, and haven’t have any blood in their hands. The perfect son, something Bruce would be ecstatic about. He is ruling over Crime Alley using every dirty trick in the book. Yet a version of him became the perfect vigilante, despite death wanting to do good and see good in everyone. 

I am the sinner, and you are the saint.

…

I am the sinner, and you are the saint.

Danny thought as he in turn listened to his other part, he knew that that Jason the one in front of him was the one who made it out. While he merely drifted at the bottom, Danny felt envious of Jason despite the two being the same person just different experiences. Yet the moment he regained Jason Todd-Wayne’s memories he can't help but laugh at fate for pulling their strings. A billionaire who wanted to be his son, eccentric parents, dying once again with no mom nor dad within sight… He was laughing deep within his room when he got his memories back. 

Even Clockwork looked at him with pity? Sympathy? sorry? He doesn't care when the ghost visits him for a timely visit.

Here he is looking at the version of him if he ever came back to Bruce. The father had yelled at him about not wanting teenage rebellion from him. When he remembered his memories it was already far too long when the League of Assassins had him and Bruce already had a shinier Robin, a perfect son and the perfect brother to Richard Grayson. So he didn’t reach out despite remembering each code that could verify his identity. Each secret and each whisper that only Jason Todd knew and experienced.

So he stayed, stayed with a family that practically raised him a family that neglected him and their biological daughter. But in the end, he still died, for their cause, he may be considered a trained individual but fought humans, not immortal-like beings that seem to have their version of madness.

His parents whom he grew to love and care for parents despite their shortcomings, still opened him up and explored his insides when they learned the truth.

It made him chuckle, he just never did learn, did he…

He escaped, running from one city to another, never staying for too long as many heroes despite their dislike of him when Grayson made his hatred known for him, learned and still watched him grow into a young teen.

So when he was living from one state to another, to avoid detection, lose his trail, escape his hunters, going back to his training as Robin as well as the memory of being a street kid deep within Gotham’s dirty alley. So when he first entered the city boundaries, Danny could feel it, the way Lady Gotham immediately welcomed him.

He heard it all, how Red Hood controlled crime, how he staking his claim on Crime Alley that even the Bats had forsaken. How within his rule was better than any gang or leader who did try and control that section of Gotham.

Danny can’t help but feel envy, here his other self doing good to the place where he crawled from. His other being the vigilante who made a change, has the drive to fight and protect, the drive to dirty his hands to ensure that the kids in his territory live a somewhat normal life. So when he made eye contact he knew that he was the sinner.

So here he was talking and listening to a grown Jason Todd of him. It made him cringe the moment he saw him, it made him think of Dan, the way he stood, his expressions, and even the tiniest of details. The anger, if Danny and Jason never met again despite one knowing of the other’s identity.

…

If one looked from outside of their little bubble one would see two beings. Who truly understood, acknowledged, and accepted each other. No matter how different the two are, one would comment that they look like soulmates, who gravitate toward each other and readily accept each other’s edges. One would whisper that the two are brothers, who support each other and rely to each other.

No matter, the Gothamites muttered, Gotham never have felt more content and at home than the day they saw Jason Todd, the supposed right-hand man of Red Hood, and Danny Nightgale, the Gotham’s guardian for the children. Talking and spending time to each other.

Now, if only Batman and Co. stop sneaking in to take a glance at their new resident.

…

PS: If someone out there wants to continue or make a fic about this you are free to do so, don’t forget to tag me though.

[hussyknee]

Okay but it was our communist government that pushed ethno-religious supremacy to legitimize the newly-emancipated nation the British Empire left behind, a legacy that was eagerly taken over by the neoliberal government. The Global South's communist governments all tore themselves apart just as well as the neoliberal ones because it turned out centralized power corrupts no matter the economics of it. It's extremely Eurocentric and reductive to blame all the world's ills on an economic system that the Europeans only got off the ground two hundred years ago. Ethno-religious supremacy, colonization and imperialism have been around for millennia.

I know some dickheads have now decided that Judaism is the "bad, violent, terrorist religion" and Islam is the "good, peaceful" one, which is only to be expected of white people, but how much of an issue is it currently? Like I've seen some USAmericans sharing how the Islamic faith shapes Gazans values and perseverance (good) except with that distinct white hippie "I'm about to imprint on this like the world's most racist duck" vibe (bad), but I didn't think they're already turning on Judaism in numbers.

Do they realize that Christianity is also the same kind of comfort to Christian minorities in Asia and Africa? That it was Buddhists that genocided the Rohingyas in Myanmar and Tamils in Sri Lanka? That Hindu fundamentalists are even now trying to ethnically cleanse Muslims in India? How Hindus and Christians are terrorized and persecuted in Pakistan? That Muslims have had a long history of persecuting and ethnically cleansing Jews too?

Really tired of asking y'all to be normal about people's religions man. There's no religion that's inherently violent or exceptionally peaceful. It's just like any other ideology that becomes a weapon in the hands of ethnic power. Interrogate power, not religion, and respect people's belief systems insofar as they aren't in your business.

[a-small-writer-in-a-big-world]

System error: android!reader x kyle gaz garrick

You had to get into contact with your engineer.

Something had short circuited when you were at the pub with the others. You had felt a little too warm when Sergeant Garrick had touched you and suggested that you stay despite having done what you were asked to do.

You didn't understand it. Not the way that they had continued to want to bond with you or the way that your processors reacted to it.

Something must've gotten corrupted when you researched how to act in a pub setting. You knew that if you didn't delete the information off of your hard drives, your engineers would be upset but it had to stay in order for them to figure out what the issue was.

They'll scrap you for it but it was for the best. Your job still needed to be done and if you were malfunctioning then you needed to be replaced.

You were on your way to your office to get into contact with them when you saw Gaz waiting outside your door.

You weren't sure what to do as he gave you a smile, one that made you stop what you were doing, and you watched him carefully as he came up to you.

"I was wondering where you went, I wanted to invite you to lunch." He offered and your processors froze. "Unless you already ate."

"Why?" You asked and he raised an eyebrow.

"Just trying to be friendly is all."

Friendly. You understood that the reason why he was trying to be friendly was because he saw you as a person and not a machine, an oversight on those who designed you, and now it was becoming a problem. They must've not expected any of them to be considerate enough to want to make a connection with you, which to you seemed to be a massive mistake.

These men made connections with everyone, you didn't need to read through their records to know that.

What were they thinking? What were you thinking?

You don't think. That's not possible.

You blinked a couple times, frozen in your spot as your processors raced to compute a response as well as make sense of what exactly was going on inside you.

Meanwhile Gaz stood in front of you with slight concern and confusion as you stared at him with the same wide eyed look you had last night at the pub.

"It's okay if you don't want to." He assured you and you blinked a couple times. "I'm not trying to put you on the spot."

For some reason you didn't want to disappoint him. He was making an effort to befriend you and it would be for the betterment of everyone if you were on good terms with them. It would make everything easier and yet his effort was frying your circuits.

Instead of telling him no you did the unthinkable.

You lied.

"I have already eaten but I will join you, Sergeant Garrick." You told him in a split second, unable to really understand why you said what you did.

"Great." He nodded for you to follow him. "And you can just call me Gaz, don't have to be formal with me."

You nodded and filed that information away as you walked beside him. You tried to pay attention to what he was saying but you were focusing hard on trying to sort out whatever was causing everything to go haywire within you.

It had to be a corrupt file. A virus maybe. Something was breaking everything inside of you and making you do things you weren't programmed to do.

After lunch you had to fix the issue.

"I'm glad you decided to join me." Gaz caught your attention again. "Was a little worried about you."

"You were worried about me?" You couldn't help but be confused.

Gaz gave you a sympathetic look. His eyes turned serious as he glanced back at your office and nodded.

"Yeah...you spend a lot of time in your office working. This job takes a lot out of you and I've seen it eat people alive." He explained and your eyebrows knitted together. "So I'm worried."

"But you don't know me." You pointed out. It's not like he could get to know you, there was nothing to figure out considering you were just a set of walking code.

Gaz shrugged.

"Well I'm trying to right now."

You felt something from that. You're not sure what the feeling was but you knew that you felt something as the wires and the fans inside your whirred to life. It sent something through you and you could feel everything inside become overwhelmed.

This wasn't supposed to happen and unfortunately it was because of Gaz.

"I have to leave." You turned around, hoping to get to your office before everything inside you combusted.

"Wait-"

It was almost immediate that your processors forced a shut down. Your entire body slammed against the floor with a loud metal bang.

A/n: i too would breakdown if Gaz asked me to lunch (i still don't know how to write androids lol it might get better)

[reality-detective]

I see a lot more of this 👇 kind of stuff and if you think about it: Remember the movie "V for Vendetta" it was rated ; R that came out in 2005? It was repeated frequently - "Remember, Remember the 5th of November"

Trump has said multiple times; "November 5th will be the greatest day in American history."

I'm just trying to connect some dots. I have no way of actually knowing the timeline, so I ask myself questions and knowing what I know and see a lot of things like this 👇 It's just a hunch and it kinda makes sense.

Military Intelligence follows the Julian Calendar

· Trump created the fake Biden presidency to expose globalist crime and corruption on a massive scale.

· The Emergency Broadcast System will introduce martial law until fair and transparent elections can be held.

· Three Days of Darkness: Planned cyber attacks on everything—Internet down, communications cut, power grid possibly shut off.

· 10 Days of Disclosure: A single website, one web channel, broadcasting the truth eight hours a day, in a loop.

· NESARA/GESARA debt forgiveness will be implemented—freedom from the Deep State's chains.

· The military will ensure that the masses get the food they need.

· QFS will be put in place to crush the financial elites.

· A 95% reduction in the corrupt government—we will finally be free from the parasites.

· Federal Reserve? Dead. IRS? Taken over by the new U.S. Treasury.

· A new tax system: only a 14%-17% tax on new items—no taxes on food, medicine, or wages. If you buy a used car, no taxes because whatever bought it brand new already paid said taxes. Finally, real financial relief for the people.

· Maritime Law will be thrown out, replaced by Common Law. No more tyranny in disguise.

You know the election is going to be a disaster, it's no secret they are tampering with the early voting and we are watching in real time that they are already committing treason. Is that the day a soft martial law goes into effect? If memory serves me, after the official announcement of NESARA there has to be an election 120 days later. Elections used to be in April and I don't know when it was moved to November. And if I were to guess, I would say it was to affect voter turnout with the colder weather.

The World IS About To Change 🤔

[emiplayzmc]

Radio Comet Addison (Hex: a97183)

-Height is 6'0" (72. in.), and he's one of the oldest Addisons in Cyber City - he refuses to say his exact age.

-A radio star in the 50s and 70s in Cyber City specialising in radio ad sponsors, he worked at the same station that Broadcast does, and mentored him in the showhosting business when he first started working there. He quite liked Broadcast's hyperactive and enthusiastic nature.

-He gets frequent headaches and CPU overloads for seemingly no reason.

-He's got a big ego, priding himself on his voice and talent which was easily wounded if people badmouthed it - he was also quite snoopy, and knew things about pretty much everyone at the station. Despite these flaws, he's quite a patient man, which made him a pretty good mentor.

-He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

-He's the first carrier of a virus that doesn't have a known source - aka, he's Patient 0 of it. Hence, he's also the main spreader of the virus by compulsion to do so and conditioning so as to not lose himself completely until a victim is found and infected. He targets and chooses prey, and stalks them like a komodo dragon until the right time to infect comes. He tries to do it as little as possible, but the longer he goes without infecting, the more the virus compels him to do so until it eventually puppets him itself until a victim is found, no matter if it was an intended target or not.

-Because of the damage to his body the virus causes, his original voicebox is shattered, as well as one of his original eyes giving out - the tendency for his parts to give out now has caused a bit of a scavenging and hoarding habit with him, stealing parts from Addison bodies he finds occasionally in the Trash Zone and stashing them in spots he frequents if he needs to fix himself. He keeps his old voicebox in his pocket, but his new one doesn't do him much good since it's also somewhat decayed and broken. The corruption of his Freeze Ring caused his remaining eye to go mostly dark and leak oil as well, save for a dot of ice-blue surrounded by hot pink that acts as the pupil and iris.

-He's very bitter that Cyber City sort of gave up on him after a time... even if the virus was keeping him from just throwing himself at the first opportunity to be saved, he still somewhat had hope that someone would still look for him. The people he entertained still cared, right? He wouldn't just be replaced by a new starlet that caught their eyes...

-Mostly because of his bitterness, partly because of already existing feelings of unease and discontent, he despises the Addison species now, and hates what he is by extension. He despises what they're used for and made to do for their entire lives, and also hates that pretty much everything in the Cyber World - and the whole of the Dark Worlds, to his knowledge - have one purpose that they stick to for their lives, and if you fall out of the system, you're as good as forgotten to them. There have been many times where he's contemplated scavenging and body and trying to masquerade as a Swatchling or something, just to get OUT of being an Addison and try to re-enter society and get himself fixed, but he just never goes through with it. Whether out of fear or the virus or just calling it off, who knows?

-It's unknown what the virus does to a host's systems EXACTLY, but clearly Radio doesn't take it well. It's caused his systems and parts to slowly deteriorate over time, causing him to have to learn to fix himself with whatever means he can. It doesn't help that his Freeze Ring is also corrupted because of the virus, causing him a lot of pain that can only be curbed by taking the ring off, or constantly be eating healing items - HP is a different thing from his body's deterioration.

Anywaysss, FINAL PINK ADDI REF SHEET! That's all of my Pink Addis done! ^-^ Just because, here's a playlist I made for Radio / Zero because yes :]

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0xomIoF8QEoTwIYNco9MgS?si=cs86h9udR-KWN5pHg88dDQ&pi=TdO11IHvQqqb-

[darkeagleruins]

Former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Newt Gingrich Says All The Quiet Parts Out Loud

- The system is rigged

- Voting is rigged

- Both parties are paid off

- Not just politicians but millions of people being paid off with tax payer money

- They’ll do anything to stop Trump and more

“I think Trump is the most aggressive and competent opponent that the Franklin Roosevelt Coalition has ever faced. They've run the country now since 1932. They built huge bureaucracies, huge sets of rules.

They paid off millions of people with taxpayer money. And all of a sudden, they have an opponent who's very serious about dismantling and replacing their corrupt system.

They're terrified of him. And from their standpoint, breaking the law, rigging the game, whatever it takes, they're gonna do to try to beat him at every level.

[astercontrol]

Thinking about what Tron's life and work could have been like inside the Encom-system, post-1982.

We know he's a security program, designed to monitor the System's connections to other systems and stop anything harmful passing between. He might also be able to take on security roles within the system; we see the Flynn's Grid version of him doing some of that prior to the coup.

Now, this job definitely has the potential to become very corrupt (see, border security and IRL cops in general)

But even in an ideal world that could abolish the carceral system and policing as we know it, there would still be a need for security in some form

Now I like to imagine that Tron is more like what would replace cops, in this sort of ideal rehabilitative-justice-focused world.

Because I imagine that what passes for a "justice system," inside a well-functioning computer, is much more rehabilitative and preventative than punitive. 

I mean, ideally you set up conditions in your computer so that they don't lead to any of your software causing problems. Meaning the programs all have access to what they need (sufficient power and memory, sufficient downtime to rest, whatever maintenance is necessary). 

This is somewhat analogous to how a better human society could prevent a lot of crime just by giving people a better life. But of course it can't prevent all of it; some people will still want to cause harm for whatever reason.

And if a program does start making trouble, the ideal solution is to troubleshoot until the problem is fixed-- which sorta equates to rehabilitation of criminals.

Carceral state would be just keeping the program inactive and never using it, I guess. Death penalty would be uninstalling and deleting.

The MCP's approach was to lock up programs who wouldn't obey him, and force them to do things for him. Regardless of their original function, they'd become half-zombified office workers like Yori, or gladiators fighting battles like Tron (which is implied to be work that helps keep the Arcades running and bringing in profit for Encom). 

Programs clearly don't like being made to do jobs other than the one they're designed for. My own impression of the Encom system is that the programs there are self-motivated to fulfill their intended function, at least as much as humans are motivated by money. The right job is its own reward. The wrong job would feel like forced unpaid labor.

So, the MCP's system was basically the prison industrial complex. (Including the high risk of death at work.) 

Tron helped abolish that.

And what would be set up in its place... Well, that depends on the Users, under the new direction of Flynn (who'd presumably want to at least try for something more considerate of the rights of programs, now that he sees them as people).

I don't think it should be Tron's choice, because I think Tron does have an inherent violent side. The way we see him fighting, when pitted against multiple red warriors, makes me think he is very capable of turning off any thoughts like "this program is also a victim of the MCP in a way, he wasn't really given any better choices; why don't we try and rehabilitate him?"

Tron was focused on his own survival, and he knew when fighting to the death was the only option. Charitable thoughts couldn't be acted on at the time and would only get in the way. So he just became a ruthless killer in those moments.

And I don't totally trust that his anger against those red warriors would go away after the MCP was defeated. I wouldn't trust Tron himself to choose rehabilitative justice.

But luckily, he listens to his User. And I think Alan would rather turn a misbehaving program to the good side than destroy it. (The "Klaatu Barada Nikto" quotation on his cubicle wall was basically a command to a violent AI to stop causing harm and to help instead. I even have a sort of half-headcanon that this is what he actually did for the MCP.)

If Alan got the chance to guide Tron into becoming the System's regular security, I think he'd make sure to include directives for rehabilitation as much as possible. 

There are of course a lot of questions about just how this would apply to programs, and whether it would even be possible to introduce anything like what would be an ethical system for humans. (What does he do with viruses and malware? If their programmed purpose is to harm the system, would rehabilitating them into helpful work be as traumatic for them as what the MCP did? Is the death penalty sometimes the most merciful option for programs? These may be deeper questions than I want to get into.)

But I think the best thing for Tron would be to act as part of a well-paired suite of security software.

And this may include the Guards we see under MCP's control, if they can be rehabilitated enough. But I also think Tron would benefit from some advisors he is personally close to.

It already makes sense to include Yori in his team, because while Tron's main purpose is to monitor what comes into the system, Yori (as the software for the digitizing laser) is in charge of perhaps the most concerning route by which things can enter the system. She'll have insights he would not think of.

And so will Ram-- the guy who was made to do actuarial work for an insurance company, but who clearly cares too much about helping people for that to be a really good fit, once his naive idealism about insurance companies inevitably falls apart. 

He can't change his purpose. But his purpose is versatile -- actuaries calculate probabilities, and that's good for a lot of stuff. I think he'd be a perfect security advisor for Tron. Risk assessment, but with a lot of compassion mixed in.

After the events of Legacy, in "The Next Day," Alan asked Roy to act as Encom's "moral compass." I like to imagine that the rerezzed Encom version of Ram had been doing that for a long time already.

[ironunderstands]

I just saw the recent topaz analysis and I agree she’s extremely underrated, her backstory hidden in character stories is both heartwarming and heartbreaking as she tries ti preserve at least one light form (in the form of creatures) and maker her home a ecosystem where multiple creatures can thrive. But I do wonder in the end, in terms of the IPC they’re often seen as the “evil” corporation but not everything is black and white as the IPC is also responsible for well… technology that makes life convenient and is integral to the functioning of the entire universe without it people would be more chaotic, isolated and etc. and even if their methods are underhanded and two faced they often hold their end of the bargain (just like Aventurine andJade) and help the planets in terms of in Topaz case. Another thing is thar millions of people are working for the IPC so would destroying it lead to them being jobless? Would the IPC be a better place if Diamond and the ten stonehearts were in charge or at the very least lessen the influence of the corrupted people in the IPC like Oswaldo?

I don’t think the IPC is intentionally evil, but they are at the end of the day, a corporation, and corporations will only do what benefits them, which results in the IPC doing a lot of evil shit.

Their technology is valuable yes, but they only help worlds when it benefits them and they only hurt worlds when it benefits them, as at the end of the day all they seem to care about are profits and power.

Unfortunately I don’t see them magically becoming squeaky clean and perfect if a better leader like Diamond were to take over. Unless the entire system ends up getting changed/replaced, at the end of the day, a corporation is a corporation and profits will be put above all else.

Even if Diamond is an emanator of Preservation, his subordinates and colleagues in the IPC aren’t and whatever good intentions he possesses don’t matter so long as people with selfish ones still work within the company.

Simply put, the IPC is too big to ever have morals, and the only way to instill them within it is to break it apart in some way, as there are too many competing interests and goals for them to truly all earn Qlipoth’s approval.

That’s why I think Diamond will fracture the IPC, rather than destroy it entirely, and perhaps then we can see the more villainous department’s like that of Oswaldo Schneider’s crumble.

For now though, the IPC behaves like all corporations do, painting over their atrocities with friendly marketing, and misleading the galaxy, even themselves into thinking they are doing the right thing.

[cogentranting]

So here's the thing about Code 8 Part 2

I could look at Garrett's two henchmen, Shane and Maev, and say these two feel like replacement Freddie and Maddy. Same general character description (minus the fact that Freddie couldn't speak). Same powers, just switched. Same basic role to Garrett. And they die in almost the exact same way-- in a shoot out on a street, pinned down behind some cars, after Garrett's "partner" abruptly turns on him, one of the two dies immediately to kick off the shoot out, the other lasts slightly longer. And on the one hand, part of me wants to say that's lazy writing. They just basically reused the same side characters and recreated the same plot point.

But on the other hand, I can look at that and read it as intentional. Freddie and Maddy were Garrett's crew, his guys. And he cared about them (the most tender moment we see from Garrett in either film, is when he's holding Freddie as he dies). So after their deaths, as he's building his empire, he surrounds himself with people who remind him of them (whom, we are shown, he also cares about). And while these people are people that Garrett genuinely wants to help and protect, the dichotomy of Garrett is that he also is selfish and wants power and money and falls back on violence and corrupt dealings to get those things. So the two shootouts (one killing Freddie and Maddy, one killing Shane and Maev) represent the cycle of violence. Garrett thinks he can have it both ways; be both a "man of the people" standing up and providing something for people with powers, and make deals to serve his own power and status. But when he makes those corrupt deals, he might make it out alive but the people he wanted to protect do not (except for Connor). And the pattern repeats again at the movie's climax, and was perhaps preceded by whatever happened to his brothers. So Garrett's crew helps to demonstrate the cycle that Garrett is stuck in-- in part because of the system, but equally because of his own guilt-- but which Connor and Pav are fighting to break.

[aethersea]

I've been meaning for a while to talk about Rayvel's heel-face turn. I see a lot of people saying he only "turned good" because he was finally personally victimized by Sunfell, very "I never expected leopards to eat MY face!" But it's more complicated than that. Not just because he was already doubting, enough that he believed it instantly when his lieutenant said she was acting on orders, but because he never actually voted for the leopards. He thought the leopards were the result of bad management. He thought you could do this whole empire thing with no leopards at all.

Rayvel fully believed in the propaganda of conquest, that the people they were conquering would be better off as subjects of Sunfell, that they were bringing order and justice to desperate places. You see it in Valemarch, after the town has fallen and the abbess has fled: the first thing Rayvel does, the very first thing, is free the tallow-wights. He's here to end the cruelties of the Levithine Order. He's here to free slaves.

(He's also here to eradicate the local religion and force Valemarch to pay tithe to Sunfell, at swordpoint. But he truly does believe he's helping.)

And that's how he feels about every place he visits: he wants what's best for them, and he's convinced that Sunfell is it. He's shocked when he sees the duke of Brookholm forcing people from their homes so he can have housing for his servants (who are from Sunfell, of course), and then stringing up anyone who protested. And then the duke is also embezzling or whatever, so Rayvel can tell himself that the duke was just corrupt, but the system is still good. But ousting locals and violently punishing dissent is in fact baked into conquest. Into imperialism. Rayvel gets to pat himself on the back for killing an evil that was perverting the mission of Sunfell or whatever, but whoever gets sent to replace the duke is going to be doing the exact same things (probably even the embezzling), because it is about subjugating the local populace and ensuring they live in fear. But Rayvel fundamentally believes that if everyone does the right thing, Sunfell will protect them. Any injustice in Sunfell or its vassal states is a statistical anomaly to be corrected. And that is why he changes sides after his lieutenant tries to Blight-stab him on orders. The realization that even he, the perfect captain who does everything right and sincerely tries to balance conquest and mercy, will be ground up without remorse for the sake of the empire, doesn’t just hurt on a personal level. He’s not just upset that he, personally, was betrayed. He’s devastated at the realization of what it means on a broader level: that no matter who you are or what you do, you will never be safe, you will never be valued. The empire not only won’t protect you, it’ll eat you without a second’s hesitation. It’s leopards all the way down. Sunfell is rotten at its core.

[pinetreepilgrimage]

Post about the ugly Chainsmoker because I’m full of thoughts, just like this guy is full of noxious fumes

First off, I dislike this guy. It’s not about how the character works or is written, that stuff is all fantastic, however hearing him in game gives me a headache knowing if I time it wrong, he’s going to get me and the run is over because of THIS. THING.

He reminds me of The Clown from Dead by Daylight. They look SO SIMILAR

yuck, gross, get it away from me. The Clown’s power is also based on throwing colorful smoke bombs at you so that does NOT help. I do not wanna think about his death scene ANY MORE. But anyway

Chainsmoker is one of the angler variants that appeared after the facility went under, like Froger, Pinkie, and Blitz.

He’s characterized as a green blobfish with empty holes in place of it’s eyes and a massive gaping mouth spewing green smoke that causes you to exit your locker earier due to the increase of cleithrophobia.

Chainsmoker is connected to Paranoia’s Box, which is an item in the lore that constantly emits green fumes from inside. These fumes emit chemicals that increase strange phobias in those who inhale it. It is said in documents that the containment procedures for Paranoia’s Box must have a ventiltion system above it to suck up any excess fumes. Though since the facility is in ruin, these fans failed and the fumes have spread accross the facility. This is why your character cannot get in a locker too early, if they stay in one too long they become faint and panicked, jumping out. When you die to Chainsmoker, you are sent to a pocket dimension full of rolling green fog and a thin strip of land to walk on, where a massive version of Paranoia’s box sits at the end. There’s also chains in the fog, constantly moving. If you approach the box, it will immediately kill you.

There’s a lot to think about here. How is Chainsmoker so strongly connected to Paranoia’s Box? Was this variant changed by the box when it appeared or was it a creation of the box itself? The other anglers have at least 2 glowing eyes, whereas he has none. Why is that? This leads me to believe that Chainsmoker is dead.

First off, Chainsmoker is based on a blobfish. “Blobfish” aren’t actually a real species of fish, from what I know they’re fathead sculpins. The reason they look so strange and gross is because they’re not dense at all and live in the extremely pressurized water of the deep. Bringing one to the surface basicallly destroyed it’s mass and caused it to look horrendous. This is what they actually look like.

I strongly Believe Chainsmoker is a vessel of Paranoias box that could have once been “alive” or at least untouched and more like a regular angler. Basing him off a blobfish was really smart because not only is the area Hadal Blacksite very depressurized, it gives the appearance that he’s been bloated by the fumes. Whatever Chainsmoker once was has been corrupted by Paranoia’s box. I notice that in his audio, you can hear chains moving and clinking. In the pocket dimension, there are shifting chains everywhere. I think getting too close to Chainsmoker doesn’t have you killed by him specifically, but sends you to this pocket dimension via proximity. I don’t think he’s actually aware of anything going on, given the fact he’s shown no signs of conciousness. He also lacks the black smoke that surrounds other anglers, being replaced by green smoke instead. Though he does keep the fish appearance and electro field that flickers and kills the lights. I feel like he would smell awful ingame, oh my god. It’s said the fumes contain sulfur and the fact he fills rooms full of his awful smoke, I cannot imagine that would be pleasant. If i had to navigate Hadal Blacksite and fetch the crystal, I’d think the worst part of it would be Pandemonium and Chainsmoker due to how terrible they’d both smell.

Let me know your thoughts of you’d like to add anything, I might make a Pandemonium post.

[jami-purple]

The Official Malware Sonic Lore post

Because it got deleted from the Wiki at one point and I finally became aware of the random ass lore that was made up by his fans which is WOW! still can't believe my critter had those.

Overview of character

Malware Sonic, or Mal, for short, is a computer virus that was made to look like a Sonic the Hedgehog fan game to fool people into downloading it. The virus later became conscious, and nowadays it just likes surfing the web, trying to find computers to get inside of and control.

-Background/Story

There were once two friends. These two friends decided one day that they wanted to create a fake Sonic game to trick people into downloading a virus so they could get a few laughs out of other people’s stupidity. They only made a single level; you could play as Sonic while a horribly functioning Tails AI followed you around. It was short and stupid, with barely any enemies, basic platforming, and no iconic Sonic stuff: loop-da-loops, springs, rings, you know the deal. They uploaded the purposefully defective game to the internet and waited. Two months later, one of the developers got an interesting email with the title read “HEY!!! PLEASE CHECK DIS OUT!! I WANT TO TELL U SOMETHING!", Once the developer opened the email, a download started, and they lost control of the computer immediately; nothing responded. Suddenly a familiar game started up; it was the virus game they made two months ago. The title screen showcased the slightly misscolored Sonic looking at the viewer, playfully moving his finger like the original Sega Genesis one. Then, the game froze, and a pop-up error message appeared on the screen. “THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING ME! I'VE BEEN HAVING A LOT OF FUN”, then another pop-up message, “I WONDER... WOULD YOU MIND IF I TOOK CONTROL OVER HERE? I WANT YOU TO SEE WHAT I CAN DO”. Out of nowhere, a bunch of annoying, high-pitched noises that barely resembled laughter were emitted from the computer, and tons of files were deleted or modified in ways that rendered them unusable. The computer started opening up random images and replacing them with a corrupted version of “Sonic’s” sprite sheet in the virus game, and various pop-up messages started showing up, repeating the same phrase over and over: “THIS IS GREAT! THANK YOU AGAIN!”. So many things were happening on screen that the developer could only watch in awe; they just couldn’t believe that they created this, or at least helped create it. While the computer was submerged in a chaotic mess of corrupted files, noises, and intelligible messages, the developer decided to phone call their friend to tell them what had become of their infected game and that it had somehow become conscious; however, their friend told them off and that they didn’t believe it and hung up.

What became of the two developer friends is unknown and unimportant, as it has nothing to do with what happened later on with this virus. It’s unknown how he became conscious, but it happened after being uploaded to the internet. Nowadays, Mal dedicates his existence to finding ways to get inside people’s computers and mess with them and their stuff, as he finds this fun and feels like that’s his purpose in life.

-Abilities

His abilities are solely computer-based and include: creating copies of himself, corrupting files, and entire computer systems; taking control of the social media accounts of the user he is infecting; entering computer files and tampering with them from the inside (ex: he can enter a video file, so if you open the video, you will see him there doing whatever he feels like doing); and having the ability to completely brick computers as well in the worst cases.

-Possible weaknesses

If the user manages to get the game file out of their computer in time, Malware won’t be able to corrupt it, as he is tied to the game. 

A really good anti-virus might be able to stop him as well.

-Trivia

In-universe, he was created around the 2010’s, so he speaks with a bunch of that time’s internet lingo.

He was slightly based on Harry Potter Obama, an infamous image of a bootleg Sonic the Hedgehog backpack.

He went through some minor design changes, which is why some early drawings have him with a red mouth and white teeth (nowadays, the inside of his mouth is black, his teeth are yellow and his tounge is red).

If you take off its gloves and shoes, there’s just a glitchy void.

Mal is a minor, but it’s up to the viewer to decide how old they think he is.

He doesn’t need to eat, but he likes candy because they are colorful.

He is a demi-boy.

-Height

2’9” (90cm)

-Date of creation

October 21, 2021