#arbitrarily sort them. <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[reanimatestar]

non-exhaustive list of top x things on itch.io that fuck severely

[homunculus-argument]

The thing about perfect pitch is that it's a combination of having an inherent knack for it, and having that skill honed with a musical education. Someone who could recognise a specific note by the ear but was never taught notes cannot do it, and someone who simply wasn't born with the potential for it can't learn it no matter how thorough of a musical education they have.

I think the same thing applies to what I've come to refer to as "a few raisins is five raisins" type of instruction-giving. The ability to instinctively assess how much information and detail somebody wants or needs when they're asking for instructions. People who cannot do this are enraged by the idea that someone thinks they can, btw. How dare somebody arbitrarily decide to withdraw information and take away someone's agency concerning choices that they don't want to make and whose outcome doesn't matter much.

I'd consider that I have a pretty good knack for it, myself. It's been honed by working both with people who refuse to give exact instructions, my own difficulties in asking for sufficiently exact instructions when I've needed them, and working with people with varying preferences towards instruction-exactness.

People who refuse to give clarifications to their instructions and guidelines in things that they are familiar with leave you no other choice than to demonstrate just how wrong their vague answers can be interprated before they're willing to clarify. If you ask someone "how long does this usually roughly take?" and they just go "I cannot answer that, it varies so much from person to person, every single individual case is different" on and on, refusing to give the roughest of rough estimates, all you can do is say "okay so it can take anything between 20 minutes and 20 years." And only then will they say "oh no, it's more like 3-6 years on average", which was the exact answer you wanted in the first place.

It's not really a comprehension thing, but a moral code to them. I don't believe in having ethical principles that serve no other role than inconvenience absolutely everyone including myself, so I have no qualms about giving simplified instructions. If someone who needs exact instructions is trying to follow a recipe that tells them to add "a few raisins" freezes at the vagueness and asks "how much is 'a few' raisins?" they want an exact number.

Someone who isn't comfortable trusting their own assessment of how much is 'a few' won't be helped by being told to follow their heart and make their own choices. They specifically want somebody to just give some sort of a guideline about this. And being the type that's more comfortable just eyeballing things, I can assess that in this context "a few" means roughly half of a small handful of raisins, and quickly estimate that one half of a small handful is roughly 4-6 individual raisins.

And instead of getting needlessly difficult about refusing to say it, I can just say "oh, that's about five raisins", and everyone can carry on with their day.

[insanelyadd]

Found a way to combine the SkeleChara and Fingers In His Ass Prompts. ANYWAYS! Happy Let Papyrus Say Fuck Day! I hope you all have a fun time seeing him swear today! <3 I feel like this sort of thing is essential if you have a kid tbh. Growing up I was only ever told after I used a swear that I shouldn't use it, and then I got in trouble for using a word I didn't know was arbitrarily designated as "bad", so I think teaching your kids about swearing and when it is appropriate to use them is a good thing.

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

Hi Slug! If possible could you please translate the new updated timeline from the second guidebook? Thank you so much 🙏

I typically don't want to translate any sort of paid content, but I'll make an exception just this once so we can publicly shame Hypmic for its ludicrous timeline have this as a resource.

The guidebook's timeline is split into two halves corresponding to Chuuouku and the six Divisions featured in the storyline. For ease of reading, I've combined them into one and placed them in order (as much as possible).

The translation is as direct as possible. I do not translate word by word by the dictionary when there are more straightforward or natural-sounding equivalents available, and I do not incorporate features of the source grammar and punctuation that are nonsensical in English. Apart from that, this is super cut-and-dry. It's a timeline lol.

Finally, a note about the "H Age" (H歴) year system: While treated as its own calendar system similar to BCE and CE (or BC/AD), the H Age notation is otherwise similar to Japanese "eras." In real life, a new era corresponds to a new emperor taking the throne, so Otome's rise to power and the subsequent beginning of the H Age marks a paradigm shift. Eras can start in the middle of a calendar year, so Year 1 of the H Age isn't necessarily from January to December (in so much as Hypmic has months anyway). Let's arbitrarily say it started in June 2024. (Did it? No idea. I made this up for argument's sake.) That means Year 1 is June - December of 2024 while "one year prior" is January - May also of 2024. Therefore, "two years prior" is January - December of 2023. And so on and so forth.

Under a cut for length

19 years prior to the H Age

Rei joins a military R&D program.

Otome founds the Party of Words.

13 years prior to the H Age

World War III begins.

11 years prior to the H Age

World War III ends, but smaller violent conflicts continue.

Rei leaves the military and assembles an independent Hypnosis Mic development team.

4 years prior to the H Age

Rei creates a working Hypnosis Mic.

3 years prior to the H Age

Otome purchases the Hypnosis Mics from Rei.

The military creates a working Hypnosis Mic prototype.

Rei begins development of the Hypnosis Canceler.

2 years prior to the H Age

Rei creates a working True Hypnosis Mic.

1 year prior to the H Age

The Party of Words stages a coup d'tat.

Rei creates a working Hypnosis Canceler and gives the first Ramuda to Otome.

Year 1 of the H Age

The H Age begins, ending violent conflict with weapons.

The Party of Words overwhelms the preexisting government, thus subverting the state.

The Party of Words founds Chuuouku and distributes Hypnosis Mics to select candidates.

Ichirou and Kuukou form Naughty Busters.

Samatoki and Sasara form Mad Comic Dialogue.

Ramuda meets Jakurai and Yotsutsuji. The former two go on to form Kuujaku Posse.

Otome purchases the True Hypnosis Mic from Rei.

Ichirou and Kuukou begin working with Mad Comic Dialogue.

Year 2 of the H Age

Ramuda clones use the True Hypnosis Mic to brainwash Sasara and Kuukou. Kuukou tells Ichirou their friendship is over and leaves for Nagoya. Sasara does the same and returns to Osaka.

Ichirou, Samatoki, Ramuda, and Jakurai form The Dirty Dawg.

The Dirty Dawg gains supremacy over every Division in Japan. A Ramuda clone puts Yotsutsuji in a brainwashing-induced coma.

A Ramuda clone brainwashes Nemu. She goes on to join the Party of Words.

Ichirou and Samatoki battle one another in accordance with a Chuuouku plot. At the same time, Jakurai and Ramuda fight over the Yotsutsuji situation. This leads to The Dirty Dawg disbanding.

The Party of Words disables all preexisting Hypnosis Mics distributed [through their program in Year 1] and recalls the mics.

The Party of Words creates the Division Rap Battle program.

Year 3 of the H Age

Ichirou, Samatoki, Ramuda, and Jakurai receive mics from Chuuouku.

The Division Rap Battle program begins.

Ichirou forms the Buster Bros with Jirou and Saburou.

Samatoki forms Mad Trigger Crew with Juuto and Riou.

Jakurai forms Matenrou with Hifumi and Doppo.

Ramuda forms Fling Posse with Gentarou and Dice.

Preliminary matches begin within each Division. The Buster Bros, Mad Trigger Crew, Fling Posse, and Matenrou win their respective preliminaries, thus advancing to the finals.

Ichijiku uses a Hypnosis Canceler for the first time.

In the first DRB tournament, Mad Trigger Crew wins round 1 against the Buster Bros.

In the first DRB tournament, Matenrou wins round 2 against Fling Posse.

In the first DRB tournament, Matenrou wins the final match against Mad Trigger Crew and takes the championship.

Hitaki Tsumabira, Vice Director General of the Criminal Bureau, and the Tobari brothers attempt to lay a trap for the Buster Bros, Mad Trigger Crew, Fling Posse, and Matenrou. Their plot fails.

Ichijiku has Tsumabira purged from the Party of Words for using the Tobari brothers to traffic the Grasshopper drug.

The Party of Words announces the second DRB.

Kuukou and Sasara receive mics from Chuuouku.

Rei meets Sasara and Roshou. The three go on to form Dotsuitare Hompo.

Hitoya introduces Juushi to Kuukou, who takes Juushi under his wing as an apprentice. The three go on to form Bad Ass Temple.

Ichirou notices Nemu's name on a list of missing persons and meets up with Sasara and Roshou to find out more. Rei meets with Jirou and Saburou. He reveals that he is their father and that Ichirou has been lying to them.

Nemu becomes the Vice Director General of the Administrative Inspection Bureau.

Nemu, still brainwashed, shows up in front of Samatoki with other Chuuouku members. Ramuda confesses to Samatoki that he brainwashed her.

Gentarou and Dice learn that Ramuda is a clone.

Chuuouku approaches Jakurai for his crucial assistance in improving the True Hypnosis Mic in order to bring Yotsutsuji out of his coma. Jakurai and Hitoya reunite. Meanwhile, Hifumi and Doppo meet Kuukou and Juushi.

Chuuouku decides to have Ramuda killed. Honobono enlists the Word Wreckers to join her in hunting him down. Gentarou and Dice come to his rescue and spirit him away to safety, but now all three are wanted as outlaws.

Dice performs a trade with Otome, giving her the Chuuouku expose left behind by Gentarou's older brother. Ramuda is allowed to go free, and Fling Posse is granted permission to participate in the second DRB.

Jakurai agrees to cooperate with Chuuouku under certain conditions. Honobono pays a visit to Hifumi's club.

Juuto arrests Sekirei Hanmyou, the man responsible for the drug that led to Juuto's friend and parents' deaths.

Nemu arrests Tsumabira, now escaped from prison, and her coconspirator in crime Misago Haebaru. Honobono rises to position of Vice Director General of the Criminal Bureau in Tsumabira's place.

Ichirou battles Jirou while Saburou battles Rei. The brothers make up afterward.

After receiving advice from Rei, Sasara and Roshou battle one another and come clean about their feelings. With that bad blood washed away, the team comes together stronger than ever.

Juushi comes face to face with the boy who bullied him and took his grandmother's life. Through his own fortitude, Juushi prevails through the mental distress. After talking with Kuukou, Hitoya lets go of the past in seeking revenge for the death of his brother. The team comes together stronger than ever.

The second DRB preliminaries come to an end. The Buster Bros, Mad Trigger Crew, Fling Posse, Matenrou, Dotsuitare Hompo, and Bad Ass Temple advance to the finals.

In the second DRB tournament, the Buster Bros win round 1 against Dotsuitare Hompo.

In the second DRB tournament, Matenrou wins round 2 against Bad Ass Temple.

In the second DRB tournament, Fling Posse wins round 3 against Mad Trigger Crew.

In the second DRB tournament, Fling Posse wins the final match against the Buster Bros and Matenrou, thus claiming the championship.

Sasara and Kuukou learn that they were brainwashed. Ramuda opens up to Jakurai and tells him the truth. Ichirou and Samatoki learn the truth as well, thereby resolving the feuds between the team leaders.

The Party of Words announces the third DRB.

The Party of Words locates and seizes control of Rei's laboratory. In an exchange of hostages, the Party gains control of the True Hypnosis Mic and Ramuda clones.

Otome announces plans for world domination before Rei attempts a coup d'tat. All Hypnosis Mics are disabled, and Otome and Ichijiku are sent to maximum security prison by the very Ramuda clones Rei created.

Public order breaks down following the disabling of the mics.

Ichirou discovers Rei's connection to the Hypnosis Mics due to Gentarou's brother's expose. The main cast, led by Jirou and Saburou, hold a music festival to bring courage to everyone struggling with the political turmoil.

Honobono frees the inmates of Chuuouku's maximum security prison. After staging an attack on the music festival, she disappears from the eye of Chuuouku.

Rei and Ichirou have a fistfight over their respective moral positions. Rei acknowledges his defeat, reconsiders his moral stance, and reactivates all Hypnosis Mics.

Armed with a working mic once more, Nemu takes command and restores order within Chuuouku. Otome decides to step down from her position in government.

[bat-connoisseur]

I turned your Baldurs Gate 3 characters into furries. Sorry. Actually no I'm not I won't pretend anymore.

General notes and specific species under the cut.

Astarion: He is a Ghost Bat! I like to think him being a vampire and being a bat are entirely unrelated, it's just a coincidence and he's honestly pretty mad about it. Ever since I first started playing bg3 I had him assigned as a Ghost Bat or a Spectral Bat in my brain, just arbitrarily, and I went for the former just because the colours work.

Gale: He's a Eurasian Lynx! I had to make him a cat. I just had to. And I trawled through the wikipedia pages for pretty much every type of cat and Lynx was about the only one that fit in my brain. The fluff kinda evokes his beard and hair I think, and I almost didn't have him have proper hair, just the fur, but in the end I wanted to be consistent about it so he got it. Peep the greying muzzle because mans is stressed and dying.

Karlach: She's a Bongo Antelope! I knew I wanted her to be some kind of large hooved mammal, because of the horns but also because their builds and general sturdiness really suit her I think. It was a tough pick, there's so many cool ones, and when sketching I was actually going to have her be a Mountain Nyala, but I changed my mind last minute just because the colours of the Bongo fit SO well. They're also my favourite antelope. Let me have this. She's so cool and she gets to be one of my favourite animals.

Lae'zel: She is a Pterosaur! My specific reference was Dorygnathus, but I was fairly loose on the details and so she doesn't super resemble them beyond the teeth and tail. I wanted her to be something prehistoric since the Gith are aliens or something (i dont know dnd lore that well), and so I wanted her to be in her own sort of category apart from the rest so, prehistoric! I considered making her a dinosaur but the idea of a Pterosaur just really appealed for whatever reason. Kind of parallels their dragon riding if they can fly, I suppose? And their Enhanced 10 Foot Vertical Leap.

Shadowheart: She's a Hare! Very specifically a Hare rather than a rabbit. Hopefully that comes across. I wasn't super sure what to do for her honestly, but in several scenes she has these big scared eyes, and she's generally just kind of having an awful time and being harmed by the gods for the whole game and I was like 'hey I know an animal that looks like it's been personally slighted by the gods' and so Shadowhare was born. There is a part of me that wishes I'd made her a cat for the warrior cats joke though.

Wyll: He's a Pine Marten! I just kind of got it in my head he should be a Mustelid of some kind, I'm not sure why, he just has that kind of vibe to me? Maybe it's the way he moves, maybe it's his skill at killing, maybe I'm just biassed because I love him and I love mustelids, who knows. I looked through em all and I didn't want one of the bigger sturdier ones like a Wolverine because. Strength stat of 8. So I went for one of my smaller favourites, the Pine Marten. The reason he's not an animal with horns naturally like Karlach is because I still wanted them to look out of place on him! I toyed with giving him wings (because they're cool) but ultimately didn't wanna stray toooo far from Pine Marten.

And that's all! Perhaps I'll get around to anthropomorphising the non origin characters, but who even knows. Halsin would almost be too easy. I could make Jaheria a cool ass fox or something though. Much to consider. If I do them then I'm gonna be doing my Tav Deimos and my Durge Lethe though. That's da law.

[adobe-outdesign]

Have you reviewed nimmos by any chance? They arent my favourite pet but i do think my dislike of them comes from how theyre posed rather than their actual design

We actually have two different frog Neopets, but I will say they're pretty different from each other. While Quiggles are inherently silly guys and very short, Nimmos are tall and considerably less silly. In contrast, hey have a sort of meditative guru vibe to them, which is sort of evident in the pose with the hands and the stance.

In terms of the design, I like them overall. The wide mouth makes for a fun kind of :3 expression, and the body has a pretty distinct shape to it that makes it so they're not too much like a real frog. I could kind of take or leave the underbelly—I don't mind it, but they're thin enough that it doesn't feel like it's needed to break up the space, and it feels like it should go under the mouth as well or something.

I also agree that the posing of these guys is a little weird, as they're stuck in like a weird sideways slav squat. I like the idea of them having long frog legs in contrast with the Quiggle, but the problem is that the knees of the legs go to the side instead of the front, when in reality they should be facing forward like at least 20% more and the top part should be more horizontal to the body. The butt being above the ground rather than on it also doesn't help anything. Oddly, there also aren't many options that let you break from this pose—even colors like Faerie maintain the same off putting leg structure.

Nimmos have mostly stayed the same after customization and arguably improved, with minor fixes like adjusting the feet so they're actually at the right perspective relative to the body.

Favorite Colours:

Baby: First off, having the baby Nimmo just be a tadpole is a great concept, and secondly, it's pretty cute as well. The face is just similar enough for it to still look like a Nimmo, and the dark spots on the body provide nice contrast with the more teal-ish colored tail. There's both a converted and UC/styled version, though this is a rare instance where the converted is way better—the pose is more lively, the pupils are larger so it looks less dead-eyed, and the shading has been improved.

Toy: The toy Nimmo is actually based on the IRL Sand Critters frog plush, but even if you didn't recognize it off the bat, it's still a great design all around. The green and orange striping makes for a nice palette, the subtle spotting adds a nice texture, and the red eyes pop. Also, this kind of highlights what I was talking about earlier with the underbelly—it looks a lot more natural extended up onto the jaw.

Wraith: The wraith Nimmo is not the best wraith pet or anything—the swirls are very arbitrarily placed over the body instead of contouring and playing with the body's actual shapes, and the bulk of the swirls are a bit too low-contrast. However, the big thing here is the lovingly detailed face... on the stomach, with a regular face to match. I have no idea why it's like this because no other Wraith pet does this, but damn if it doesn't look cool as hell, and more than makes up for the lack of flow in the rest of the body. I also really like the neat swirly pupils they used here.

BONUS: The Maraquan Nimmo is both one of the worst and yet also one of the best Maraquan pets, and I absolutely hate and love it. Why is it a spider crab? Why does it just look like a normal crab with a Nimmo's face? Who cares. 10/10 get this thing out of my house

[scarlet--wiccan]

Sorry, on that last question they referenced (I’m just going by the covers they presented with the caption “Since people apparently havent kept up with the comics they claim to read. Marvel officially made Magneto the Maximoffs' adopted father after saving them from the mob before conscripting them to his Brotherhood years later This is why they all call each other family now.”):

- Who Is... The Scarlet Witch Infinity Comic Vol. 1 #1 [2022] (they referenced this one multiple times so this is probably the basis for what they’re saying)

- The Trial of Magneto Vol. 1 #1 [2021]

- Scarlet Witch Vol. 3 #3 [2023] +

- Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver Vol. 1 #1 [2024]

.... Right, so, my point stands that it was never retconned, they just started arbitrarily referring to Magneto as Wanda and Pietro's adoptive father. And by "they," I mean Steve Orlando. He wrote three out of those four comics and contributed to Trial behind the scenes. This is his angle and he's been pushing it consistently in his work, but there was never a true retroactive statement that Magneto adopted the twins.

Who Is... The Scarlet Witch was a recap montage of Wanda's history, not a canon plot event, and it was published as a standalone issue on Marvel Unlimited, so I don't think it's fair to blame people for not reading it. There is one interesting line here, which sort of implies that Magneto took the twins in as a guardian, but it's really vague and the comic makes no effort to reconcile the fact that it contradicts canon. Which, you know, is what a retcon is supposed to do.

[archduchessgortash]

Banite Ranks

For my fics, I'm reworking Banite lore, the church ranks in particular.

In the established lore, after Bane was killed in his mortal form, Cyric stole most of his worshipers and wiped out nearly all of the rest (Circa 1361 DR). During this time, the High Imperceptor of the Church of Bane was on the verge of converting to open worship of Cyric. There had already been a schism, and the church was kind of a mess. An offshoot group began worshipping Iyachtu Xvim, Bane's son, and Bane would eventually use him for his own resurrection. Upon reclaiming his portfolio, I imagine the Dark One would have been none too pleased with his faithless previous High Imperceptor.

Fzoul Chembryl, a Chosen of Bane, helped bring about Cyric's downfall and aided greatly in restoring the church of Bane, but I haven't found reference to Chembryl having the rank of High Imperceptor. He was so loyal that Bane raised him up as an Exarch for his service.

Fast-forward the age of Bilbo Baggins at the start of the Fellowship of the Ring (111 yrs for the unlettered, spoken in a Gale-like voice), and we have the Banite-laden plot of Baldur's Gate 3, without a single character I can find using the rank names in the previous century's lore for the church. Because of this fact, I arbitrarily decided, for the purposes of my fics, that Bane recreated all the positions in his new church so I could have rank names to use that felt less off than incorprating the old ones. Deleting the entire rank system that included the unfaithful feels like a Bane thing to do, ya know?

I decided that since, in more recent years, the church fosters cooperation to gain power and influence, I'd create a small ruling body with new titles, incorporate the titles found in-game into the ranks and flesh those out a bit.

Thus was born the Black Hand of the Church of Bane...

The Black Hand includes the Chosen and four others, or the Chosen may sit above all five ranks if they prefer to be less hands-on (pun intended). Should they wish to be part of the Hand, the Chosen is granted the highest rank, whether or not that seat is currently occupied. What happens to the current occupant is entirely at the whim of the Chosen.

The Chosen's rank will be the Prime Digit, Black Sovereign, or Dread Patriarch/Matriarch. All these names are the same rank/person. The leader of the cult (the Chosen in this case) selects their preferred title.

The Chosen corresponds to the thumb of the hand. It is the digit without which a hand loses the most versatility. Hence, one of the names for the top rank in the cult is simply the Prime Digit.

The other four are the 1st - 4th Digits and are sometimes called the Fingers of the Hand. They have titles as well. They work in conjunction with one another and report directly to Gortash. He doles out the orders, but status reports, etc, go to his assistant.

The thumb is the Black Sovereign (Gortash).

The first finger/digit is the Black Claw.

The second is the Black Gavel.

The third is the Black Binder.

The fourth is the Black Needle.

Sometimes, we drop Black from the titles.

For Gortash, when he isn't called simply the Chosen or Director, he prefers Sovereign and Prime. The leader he replaced in my fics preferred Patriarch, and to say Gortash did not get along with him is putting it lightly.

Classes:

The Claw and Gavel are usually high-level fighters or clerics.

The Binder is invariably the most powerful magic-user in the cult.

The Needle is always an alchemist.

Black Gauntlets are the most numerous Banites in-game. I've placed their ranking directly below the Hand, as the stronger ones act as Gortash's guards in Wyrm's Rock. Low rank Banites wouldn't be given that responsibility, though some Iron Consuls are considered his bodyguards, so I put them directly below the Gauntlets. I've decided that Black Gauntlets are similar to high-ranking military, and the Iron Consuls are lower ranking but still are officers of a sort.

For my purposes, I've decided that the strongest Black Gauntlets can obtain a rank on the Black Hand. Thus, some in-game Black Gauntlets will have Hand ranks in my fics.

Almost every Banite we fight is a cleric or a fighter, and this feels truly silly to me. (Though I do love how laughable their clerical powers actually are, befitting Bane's current status as a quasi-deity). I've also seen no instances of them using healing magic. It makes sense from a might-makes-right deity, but it also makes his clerics comparatively weak.

I've created additional consul ranks for more variety in function.

The new consul ranks I've added are as follows:

Iron: Fighters (and the uncleric-like clerics), Rangers & Monks

Bronze: Rogues & Warlocks

Gold: Wizards, Sorcerers & Bards

Obsidian: non-combatant thinker types (Gortash's assistant is this rank)

Malachite: bottom rung office workers

Below these are the Fists of Bane.

I'm debating whether it was Bane who changed the rank names or if Gortash did it instead. His memoir notes say he re-established the Banite cult (though I have beef with so much in that document's timeline, particularly in how it deviates from the tiny bits of Durge's actual memory that come through in narration). The scrunkly tyrant is arrogant and ambitious enough to have arbitrarily decided to alter a hierarchy that had been in play for thousands of years. He's going to rule the world, after all.

[spotsupstuff]

Questions about the recent art post!

1. You said the first karma/natural urge glyph relates to the Anemons’ chitin skeletons— how so? I can see it as a pictograph of a few different things, but it’s so simplified that the connection ain’t obvious- at least to me.

3. Why were the lower caste kept intentionally stressed? That seems particularly spiteful.. though of course real life class- and casteism is just as arbitrarily cruel.

2. What role did the CitID drones play in population control? Was it primarily as a surveillance tool, and thus an implicit threat? Or were they like, literally designed to kill people

The relation is in the question of ,,Why would the very first prohibition/warning be related to violence?" and the answer of ,,Most likely because they indulged a lot in it at some point. It says not to do indulge in something, so the opposite had to be true beforehand to a meaningful degree." A religion spawns out of a prompt from physical reality, so what real events inspired pieces of their religion? It's related to my ideas about their "technological" development. Rather than evolving their abilities likes us through machines, they went through the biological aspects (getting to those purposed organisms not out of sadism, but because that is how they knew how to do elaborate complicated things). To know biology, they had to do a lot of research and, with the "respawn" mechanic real to them, they could have had the means to "ethically" brutalize each other (and animals) for the sake of researching how things work, what the limits are, how can they be used and augmented. Mentioning they are of chitin, not of bone, is a reassurance that they are not wearing the remains of their own species.

It's related to the idea of the Caste system, but also to keep them more vigilant since they are down there with all the animals (you could say the High castes can allow themselves the pleasure to be calm and slow about things) and then the fact that stress does cause physical issues and kills. This is a major wip currently that I'm trying to figure out: they could be biologically immortal, what with sea anemones sharing phylum with such things as the Hydra and the Immortal Jellyfish. They have incredible regenerative ability, one of the traits defining the Cnidaria phylum. They have the Small Cycle, which is the respawn mechanic from the game explained in-world (though might be changed around yet for better definition). But I'm a writer and I want my characters to die, have to confront it as a fate and as on-lookers (Sparrows dying is important for Caper's character, for example), I want them to have different past lives that could plague them, that they would need to reflect on. There needs to be some kind of stake in the story to make it interesting. There's also no explanation for how they don't overpopulate the planet (just Sparrows is one of 13 children from one pair of parents), from sociological outlook immortal people who remember things are also disadvantegous to manipulators with political power. So I'm trying to figure out limits for their abilities, what *could* kill them enough to result in a reincarnation we are familiar with, what they should be afraid of, give good reasons that make sense. Stressing out the Low castes to make them die and therefore have them in a sort of monstrous rotation and in somewhat controllable numbers would be beneficial for the Elites, while they get to live on for as long as they want. Nineteen Spades, Endless Reflections I imagine was over 900 when he took the Void way out. Sparrows dies in her 110s, some of her siblings in their 70s-90s. Still a wip though, needs troubleshooting and confirming it doesn't poke holes Somewhere in the logic and if things feel right.

Surveillance tool, yes. Secretly keeping track of the citizens' indulgence and location next to the public knowledge of being helpful tools for things like navigation and circumventing karma gates.

[notsoterriblymisanthropic]

1 and 3 for the end of year books ask :)

1 How many books did you read this year?

Well, the year's not over yet and it sort of depends where you draw the line between something being a book or a zine or whatever, but I'm currently counting it as 37. Hoping to finish The Nice and the Good soon though.

3 What were your top five books of the year?

Ooh, I'm very bad at ranking things but I'm going to arbitrarily say Claire Dederer - Monsters, Anne Boyer - Garments Against Women, Miranda July - All Fours, Hilary White - Holes, and Don DeLillo - White Noise. Listed in order of when I read them. But 1982, Janine or Humboldt's Gift or Zone One or Goblinhood or Thank You For Everything could all totally be equally deserving of a spot on the list, if TYFE counts as a book. And I think the Nice and the Good will be among my favourites once I've finished it.

Thanks!

[girlcalledwhatsername]

Genuine question, I'm not trying to say the studies you linked are wrong or anything, but if a serotonin imbalance isn't the reason for depression, then why do SSRIs seem to work for so many people? Are we just accidentally treating the wrong problem with the right medication, or is it a huge placebo effect?

That's a great question!

Let me preface by saying that in the absence of any actual science as of yet about "causes" so to speak of these symptoms, someone like me who isn't a scientist cannot comment properly on this. However there are quite a few people for whom a bunch of meds work out. We're actually quite exaggeratedly told that most people find the right medication eventually when it tends to be more of a trial and error split down the middle. Here's what I think is happening from what I've observed and people I've talked to and their experiences:

1. Yes it is possible that for a small portion there is a sort of placebo effect. For eg, even when I was worse off on my medication(s) throughout a whole bunch of different combinations and psychiatrists I tried, I had convinced myself that what I am experiencing is still okay and would probably just be worse and was worse when i wasn't on meds. It's only after the costs got too high and I left the meds that i realised the case was quite the opposite (this is particularly a problem with anti-psychotics, where reportedly a lot of psychotic people have their psychosis worsened under those meds, while others - like with SSRIs - report that it helps them). My therapist had me believe that very very VERY few people exist for whom meds never work out but admitted later (and I learned from other psychotic people later) that it's far more of a 50/50 situation.

2. I do think that a placebo effect cannot be extremely widespread. Yes it can be the case that a lot of people felt they had to justify the medication like I did with mine but I still do not believe placebo explains away a large chunk of these experiences. I would hazard a guess that because, while serotonin is not proven to have anything to do with mental illness it does have an impact on your sleep and sleep cycles, which are often disturbed in some way or the other in most mental disorders. It is possible (but again, studies would have to be done honestly on the same) that SSRIs are alleviating a few symptoms like sleep issues and related stress, and the people who experience those symptoms hence feel better in some respects. Which is great actually, I've always said you should figure out what works individually for you and stick with it. Which brings me to the third and very important point -

3. Bipolar people or even psychotic people are told that SSRIs will make them worse and should not be prescribed any. I personally haven't gotten any relief from them as a bipolar person but many others have and they simply aren't prescribed it. I want you to keep this in mind because this next bit is the foundation of what is wrong in the present systems:

Mental Illness Categories are Arbitrary

That is KEY. They aren't set categories scientifically proven or with any sort of basis. There are overlapping symptoms. There are a whole variety of issues that we all experience, these are human differences that have been pathologised and arbitrarily given a name. Mental Illnesses as set categories are simply constructed. SSRIs help some people, they don't help other people, they help people they aren't "supposed" to and harm people they aren't "supposed" to. Much like with any psych meds. And I'll go a step further, much like with a lot of alternative methods of coping people use from medical marijuana to a ton of different kinds of therapy to peer-based support groups. Coffee helps some people stay awake and puts other people to sleep, it's the same sort of difference. Maybe SSRIs helping have absolutely nothing to do with 'mental illness' and 'depression' and 'bipolar' as we have been taught to categorise, but rather just a matter of more specific issues and individual differences in what alleviates them.

4. There is one more thing I would add that is not exactly an explanation for why SSRIs help but has more to do with the statistics we see again, like point 1. People who try meds a while and then quietly stop taking them when it doesn't help don't get considered in studies very often. People who are anti psychiatry and refuse to be forcefully medicated aren't counted, are labelled as non-cooperative, and then if they are force-fed meds their opinions aren't taken into consideration. People who say anything negative about meds often find themselves ostracised even from circles of mental health advocacy. People who tell their doctors their meds aren't helping often get told to stick with it, to find the right meds combo, or get given higher doses, or in many cases are simply forcefully medicated by family members whose care they are in. There are a lot of blind spots in studying these meds which need to be fixed.

I would conclude now by saying that I do not believe at all that SSRIs are completely unhelpful in every situation. I do think that people who say their meds aren't working for them tend to be dismissed, erased, and forcefully medicated a LOT more. I also know that some psych meds have better results than others (ADHD meds like Adderall for instance, definitely and noticeably have a higher success rate than, say, anti-psychotics). But we will never be able to find what meds are helping who for what reasons without honest research which includes letting go of the biomedical model. And people should have the freedom to find which meds and methods work or don't work for them and tailor their recovery to their individual needs. But that won't happen till we keep forcefully medicating people and show utter disregard for consent when it comes to mentally ill/ neurodivergent people. And that won't stop happening till we dismantle psychiatry as an institution.

I apologise if I said anything scientifically inaccurate but I have refrained from making any scientific claims besides proven stuff (serotonin shit) for that very reason. If you find anything amiss feel free to send me the issue along with sources. 

[judginess]

dramione post of the day (kinda):

1. slytherins say gryffindors the way people in real life say liberals lol. bleeding heart gryffyindor is sooo funny and they say it so much

2. i said i'd quit because muggleborns are secretly also descended from wizards annoy me but not with a bang... approved for having a reasonable level of groveling

3. there are just so many marriage law fics i do not even slightly understand why but i have come to basically accept it as a quirk of the genre. a way to make everyone more miserable i suppose and an easy shortcut to a plot

4. i think it's funny when hermione is really behind a cause and that's like the whole plot and draco is just sort of there letting her throw him under the bus so that she'll say he's useful. tbf he doesn't not suck in these fics generally

5.

i mean they're living in a rape dystopia and he's like i need to fix this. so she'll like me

6. my collection of draco malfoy being jealous of cats quotes is like if the library of alexandria instead of burning down was just really messy. and made up entirely of dramione fanfiction quotes about draco malfoy being jealous of cats

7. i seriously need to stop reading fanfiction and romance in general my brain is rotting my sinuses are failing. finished all the romance i have arbitrarily decided i have to finish before the year ends though so that's a good start

8. you always need to make all dramione posts unrebloggable because you never know when a rando will come around and reblog all of them no exceptions

[magnuficent76]

■□○•°▪︎ Art Wrapped 2024 -★

Hi ! I was bored and figured it'd be fun to round out my art statistics for the year comparing it to last year. I dunno ! I like arbitrarily sorting and this felt like a good option.

In total, not counting W.I.P images, I drew give or take 250 pieces, and with wips that number goes up to about 430, which means most of my art this year was in sketching and doodling in general. Last year's was around a thousand drawings, so you can really tell this one was a bit rough on me hahaa. Fuck <3

First ("Finished") drawing of the Year (I watched Trolls 3 with my sister and it was such a banger I had to make an oc. Shame I never used him afterwards)

Last ("Finished") drawing of the Year (It's the Accursed !!! Her cuteness :])

Most of my art was very Original Character Heavy, with a couple exceptions having backgrounds or otherwise being fanart. My average for drawings every day was about a 2.2, but it seemed to drop around the middle of the year. Weird !

In total, I was commissioned 14 times, which doesn't sound like a lot but it's weird it happened 14 times to begin with, right? I've never done them before, so it felt like a lot of fun.Most of them were from Nat, with hers totaling in for 4 of these, but I did have a lot of returning costumers ! Which is nice :] Here's some of my favorite comms for this year !

Andddd here's both my Art Summary and Art vs Artistfor the year ! I like doing these yearly to compare and contrast how I'm doing in artistic terms, and honestly ? Not bad at all, all things considered.

Overall, 2024 was a pretty mixed bag. I definetly don't feel as though I studied enough / experimented enough with my art, but on the other hand I do like that I was able to be more consistent with the quality of everything overall. I've had a lot on my plate just in general, trying to juggle getting into the job market and draw at the same time, so the fact I was even able to draw this much at all feels like a bigger accomplishment. Art shouldn't just be about going for bigger and better everytime even as I struggle to remember that, but yeah. It's been a year ! Here's to hoping for a kind 2025 and for plenty more opportunities :] –★

[runwayrunway]

what do you think about other types of vehicles (trains and automobiles, etc)

Automobiles: don't like them. I think modern cars are ugly (design peaked at like the Citröen 2CV and the 70s Lincoln Towncars) and they're also dangerous and they're also completely ubiquitous. I live somewhere with fantastic public transit and am still unable to apply for some jobs because they arbitrarily require a driving license. Which is a problem because I think I've mentioned a couple times I'm epileptic. THAT SAID I have a couple of close friends who are about cars like how I am about airplanes so I respect them for that

Trains: I feel a profound solidarity with Trains People. I think model trains and model planes are two sides of the same coin. I could have been a trains person in another life I think. I like trains a lot. I like to point at them and go WOW! TRAIN! and I used to force my family to ride the Cape Cod brunch train just because I liked being on the train. Also I <3 public transit even though the trains where I live are sort of notoriously not fantastic (we have a big light rail network though which is neat)

Ships: not mentioned but I like them. I used to be licensed to operate very very small sailboats but I'm fairly sure said license has long expired but the thing is I somehow enjoy ships and being on them but know nothing about them. I know a fair bit about maritime history but cannot tell a schooner from a frigate. I'm a fraud in this department. I <3 public transit though fast ferries are awesome if you live somewhere not landlocked

Helicopters: also not mentioned but I do feel the need to clarify that I know next to nothing about them and do not find them as charming as airplanes but I do...respect them, and sometimes I think they're very cute. I like the preposterously round ones. Robinson 44? I like it. Good shape

Submarines and submersibles: HUGE fan. Really like them. Never been in or near one but would love to. I think these are the only ones that aren't airplanes that I really understand but moreso because they're just the opposite of an airplane in most ways. I just think they're neat. I'd like to see a fish if possible.

Spacecraft: they're neat but I don't understand rockets at all. That's so many maths. Space shuttle/Buran are planes though. To me.

Vehicles that people don't conventionally think of: I am a MASSIVE fan of the humble ekranoplan. I think the USSR should have put all their resources into ekranoplan development, not for strategic reasons but because I like them

[nostalgebraist]

@dubreus replied to your post “it's going to be fun to watch the realization...”:

this seems like a very straightforward bet that you could specify the terms simply, and also one where you're obviously wrong.  how about "on mar 1, 2024, will (bing/google) show RLHF GPT results on the main (bing/google) search page, for 50% of users for 50% of search queries?"  bet you 85% that they do.

Sure, I'll take that bet. DM me?

That said, the OP does not imply any specific forecast like this. We should be clear about the difference between

The right answer to the question "do 'people want' RLHF GPT search?"

Whether or not the companies in question will eventually converge on the right answer (whatever it is), given enough time

In the case where they are initially wrong, how much time it will take them to converge

What a change in this belief would look like in terms of publicly visible behavior

My OP was about taking a position on 1, with 2 as a background assumption.

Insofar as it took any position on 3, it was a mixture of explicit but vague ("slowly"), and implicit and sort of trivial ("not so slowly we will never observe it"). And in any case, taking these positions was not the point of the post.

It took an implicit position on 4 ("some relatively unambiguous signal"), but mainly as a background assumption akin to 2, about companies not being arbitrarily irrational. This also was not the point of the post.

This is very different from the positions taken by the party on either side of your bet. I'm happy to do that too, but as an additional thing, not as an operationalization of my post.

[starplusfourletters]

The comprehensive analysis of Ahsoka-related AO3 shipping tags no one asked for

Abstract: The data wants Ahsoka to be gay

Methods: AO3′s surprisingly good tag search was used to list all Star Wars characters (defined as “characters with a page on Wookieepedia”) who share at least one two-person relationship tag with Ahsoka Tano. The number of works in a given “/” tag and “&” tag were recorded separately. The sex of each character was also recorded. Raw data downloadable here

First, a look at overall trends:

Figure 1: Total works sorted by tag type and sex of the paired character (A), tag type only (B), and sex of the paired character only (C). Significantly more works are part of “&” relationship tags than “/” relationship tags, and significantly more works pair Ahsoka with male characters than female characters.

Figure 2: Male character pairings only (A) and female character pairings only (B) sorted by tag type. While “&” works are more common than “/” works in male pairings (as is true of the works overall), “&” and “/” works are almost equal in female pairings.

Figure 3: Common pairings ranked by number of total works. Bars display the sum of “/” and “&” works (hereafter referred to as “total works”) for each character with total works ≥ 20. (A 20 work cutoff was chosen arbitrarily.) Bars are marked blue for male characters (M) and red for female characters (F).

Figure 4: Common pairings ranked individually by works with “&” tags (A) or “/” tags (B). Bars display the number of “/” or “&” works for each character with total works ≥ 20. Bars are marked to distinguish male characters (M) from female characters (F). 

Even though the total number of works in female pairings is lower than that of male pairings, we can already begin to see a trend: While the top ranked “&” tags are mostly with male characters, the top ranked “/” tags are more evenly split male and female. I knew rexsoka was a thing I was not aware of the extent to which it’s a thing

Figure 5: Common pairings ranked by the frequency of “&” works to “/” works for each character with total works ≥ 20. Bar values = number ”&” works / number total works - 0.5. Therefore, a pairing with 100% “&” works and 0% “/” works has a value of 0.5, while a pairing with 100% “/” works and 0% “&” works has a value of -0.5, regardless of the number of total works. Bars are marked blue for male characters (M) and red for female characters (F).  

The skew toward F/F over F/M becomes even more obvious here; when considering characters individually, female pairings generally contain a higher ratio of “/” works than male pairings. The only male character with more “/” works than “&” works is Lux. Maul’s doing his best tho

Figure 6: All clone pairings ranked by the frequency of “&” works to “/” works (see Figure 5). Most clone relationship tags only contain “&” works, with clones that feature more prominently in TCW tending to have a lower but still positive &:/ ratio. Four clones are exclusively in “/” tags. Interestingly, there is one work each for these “/” relationship tags for all of them except Howzer, who has 6. Go figure.

Figure 7: Rarepairs ranked by number of total works. Bars display the sum of works for each character with total works ≥ 3 but < 20 (cutoff was chosen arbitrarily). Bars are marked blue for male characters (M) and red for female characters (F). Rarepairs and common pairings display a similar frequency of female characters (38% vs. 34% female, respectively).

Figure 8: Rarepairs ranked individually by works with “&” tags (A) or “/” tags (B). Bars display the number of “/” or “&” works for each character with total works between 3 and 19. Bars are marked to distinguish male characters (M) from female characters (F).

Figure 9: Rarepairs ranked by the frequency of “&” works to “/” works for each character with total works between 3 and 19 (see Figure 5). Bars are marked blue for male characters (M) and red for female characters (F).

The trend for “&” tags to include male characters and “/” tags to include female characters is true for rarepairs as well as common ones. While the bulk of Ahsoka’s relationship tags are with male characters, female and male characters are more or less equally represented in the “/” tags.

Other miscellaneous items of note (as of writing):

Nyx, a character who doesn't technically exist, and whom the Martez sisters replaced, has more total works than Rafa Martez

There is one more Ahsoka / Luke work than Ahsoka / Leia. C’mon folks don’t let the heteros win

Fortunately, Steela Guerra is beating Saw in the / front 24 to 5

Anakin | Vader edges out Anakin in the & works

While the tag exists, there are no works in the Ahsoka & Ahsoka’s Father tag

I was also surprised that there were no works in Ahsoka / Bail OR Ahsoka / Andor. Yet. There is, however, 1 work each in Ahsoka / Bail / Breha and Ahsoka / Andor / Kallus.

I am absolutely amazed Morgan Elsbeth (from the Mandalorian) only has one work with an Ahsoka relationship tag and it's an &

I didn’t know I wanted Ahsoka / Holdo until I saw the tag. And there are NO WORKS IN IT. :( I was like they’re even the same age <3 and then I remembered that Ahsoka is actually ~15 years older than Holdo and then I had one (1) Feeling about Oldsoka

Limitations of the study:

Assumes all works on AO3 are tagged correctly, which they are not. 

Data was gathered between 2022-11-18 and 2022-12-11. Data represents a snapshot and can not be used to predict trends over time

Similar tags (i.e. “Anakin | Vader” and “Darth Vader”) are treated separately