#arcane has NOTHING to do with this blog except for the fact that arcane is setting universe canon standards and rewriting canons so...

[diemon]

this is not the blog for me to talk about arcane spoilers of any kind ( and i won't on here ) , but arcane makes my runeterra brain go brrrr . just imagining all the stories to be told across runeterra . . . and the little easter eggs that do pop up that you'd recognize if you know league lore . . . its so fun to see and think about . so many conflicts, factions, dramas . . . and i'm starting to see a thread where we might be headed in future series .

[lcftyambiticns]

Alright, forgive me if this is stated somewhere on your blog already but I am curious: why do you think he has such a big inferiority complex? (If you also think he has one, I think I did see it in your hc somewhere) And if you don't think that's the reason, what do you think caused him to be looking for outside admiration so much?

꧁ ℋEADCANON.

No worries and thank you sm for this ask!! <3

He has a superiority complex. But to be fair, the difference lies mainly in the symptoms and behavior, from what I understand. However, I don't want to delve too deeply into the psychology of it all.

In a nutshell, yes, the way I see it, Lorroakan harbors feelings of inferiority, which he doesn't acknowledge and copes with by overcompensating in the other direction: putting others down to elevate himself, having an exaggerated sense of self-importance, entitlement, and superiority over others.

While he claims not to care about the opinion of others, that's not entirely true. He craves admiration and worship, especially from people he deems his peers, such as city patriarchs/matriarchs, fellow wizards, etc.

Impressions matter greatly to Lorroakan, as they serve to validate his inflated ego and reinforce his (deluded) belief in his own greatness. Also... connections, you know? It's a means to elevate his social status, get support for his endeavors, influence, and so on.

It's one of the reasons Ramazith's Tower is so important to him (wealth and power aside). Lorroakan relishes in his newfound prestige within the arcane community as his (wizard) peers now flock to him, seeking access to the knowledge and artifacts that are now his. The canonical fact that he won't share any of this knowledge is very telling imo.

As for what caused this (and this is entirely my HC, though it kinda makes sense for him, doesn't it?); growing up in the Slums of Athkatla in a household with a drunk father and being the middle child of six siblings wasn't exactly a great start.

Imagine growing up dirt poor in one of the most wealthy cities in Faerûn, while you have nothing and feel like a second-class citizen. You catch glimpses of that wealth almost daily, yet it remains just out of reach. This sucks. But I also think this really stoked his ambition. I want to live like this one day.

Aside from that, his family life wasn't great. His father was a mean drunk who mocked Lorroakan's ambitions to become a wizard and make something of his life, because a) It's forbidden and you're going to get us in trouble and b) Just accept the harsh truth that you're a poor wretch like the rest of us, and you'll never amount to anything.

His father was miserable and seemed intent on spreading that misery to everyone around him. It's easier to wallow in self-pity than to actually try and fight for something, which is precisely why Lorroakan has zero tolerance for it. Except when it comes to his own, naturally. He is allowed to whine as much as he wants, HOWEVER he is a fighter, a hustler, amibtious af and when he's done whining, he'll adjust his crown and get off his ass. Anyway.

Then there was his older sister, a sorceress, the only one in their family. She wasn't allowed to practice magic either, of course, but Lorroakan's family respected her a lot more simply because she was "gifted". She could easily do what Lorroakan had to study hard for, and she belittled him for it. A lot. She also got a lot of attention. Lorroakan didn't get much attention at all unless he was being told off for getting in trouble.

Phew. That's a long read :,)))

[menotthatkindoforc]

Sleepover!!!

your tumblr crushes

talk about your favorite ship/fictional characters

rant about anything bad dog grooming

okay idk if we define tumblr crushes like we did back in the day which was like, your most interacted with blogs which currently is actually none of my mutuals according to tumblr (sorry idk how that math works) otherwise um jeez idk. i think you're all pretty cute and tbh if i've ever directly interacted with you more than once you're in my list of crushes because i am easy well you're very familiar with one of the characters i consider to be my favorite from any of the things i'm into and in fact the way you write her is one of the things that made me so interested in your works early on (and still!) but other than Marjory i've always liked Vi from league of legends and when arcane pulled in the best parts of her lore and character she shot up in my list Xellos from Slayers is also one of my old time favorite fictional characters and fun fact I used to use that name for some stuff when i started having gender issues with my deadname and got detached from it. he has purple hair and that is one of my favorite things about his design. im a simple creature. UM also GARROSH HELLSCREAM and more problematically his father GROMMASH HELLSCREAM (needs to be typed in caps for effect) because grom is a fucking dilf fun fact i specifically got the physical disc rather than the digital version of the warlords of draenor WoW expansion because the box was textured and therefore i could touch grom's titties also i love Amethyst from SU :) OH. BAD DOG GROOMING. well, i personally don't like to judge other people's grooms UNLESS they act like they know what they're doing and they clearly really don't. inviting me to judge u then. BUT i will talk about things i dont like in dog grooming!! SHAVING DOUBLE COATED DOGS. ESPECIALLY AT HOME. STOP. NOTHING MAKES ME MORE UPSET THAN THOSE PICS U SEE OF A HUSKY THAT HAS BEEN SHAVED EVERYWHERE EXCEPT THE NECK UP and shaving legs on double coated dogs in general!! STOP!! and blend the fucking head in to the body length!!!! i don't like to shave double coated dogs. no one does!! we all try very very hard to avoid it but some owners are dead set on it or have already been doing it for years. but there is a right and wrong way to do it! and you should never ever shave the legs down unless the owner specifically requests that because it looks terrible and i hate it sm unless you mean grooming bad dogs which is actually something i sometimes enjoy depending on the cause of the badness. i've always been the recommended person for really anxious dogs that have given other groomers problems 'cause i'm patient af and way to chill with (small to medium) dogs biting me (the typical gnawy bites or little snaps. not the i am going to fucking kill you bites). outright aggressive dogs are something i'm willing to work with depending on how much the owner does to help (i.e. meds and work on their end) though im much much more wary of this with large dogs. admittedly german shepherds and rottweilers both make me a bit uneasy (to groom. not in general. i have met some really really sweet dogs of these breeds but certain things stick with you) because i've seen some very poorly trained and bred dogs and these are both breeds i've had very close calls with in terms of almost getting the shit bit out of me. also they are both big and very good at biting. also very iffy with huskies despite owning one just because so many huskies are SO SO bad. mine is.. moderately bad.

[raphaelapproves]

RAPHAEL AND HAARLEP // MAIN // @thishouseofhope

This will be a long post largely as the other writer involved is not on tumblr and all of this has been plotted and written on discord. This is the relationship between Raphael and Haarlep, as written with my friend Bro.

This is the default when interactions are specific/isolated to this blog rather than a plotted wider verse with others, or with writers of the characters involved, such as Shadow's Haarlep at hopeteased [ with whom I have another verse and will be making another post about that relationship at some point; theirs is the main Haarlep I will write with outside of my default canon explained below ].

Though Bro and I have two different verses that depend on in-game choices, the gist of it remains the same at the start and only diverge later. In the one verse, Haarlep doesn't betray Raphael to the adventurers when they go to the House of Hope. In the other verse, he does.

|| two halves of heart and soul || { Raphael & ███ }

Raphael had always been an outcast in his father's home, from the furthest back he can remember. By nature, he was more of a bard than a wizard or a fighter or any other such useful thing. He loved reading—historical accounts, arcane knowledge, though nothing so much as poetry. He loved everything to do with drama and theatre. He was also very fond of the arts in general, and has a certain knack for drawing and painting and so on. He was an artist and a poet, and that was unacceptable to his father and fitting of mockery in the eyes of everyone else in his father's halls. All except one, a young incubus who was, comparatively, quite near to his age, and not quite yet in service. ███ was intrigued by Raphael—by the oddity of him, by his love for poetry and learning, by the fact that he was far softer than all the others within Mephistopheles' domain, perhaps even in all the hells—and befriended him, showing compassion when others of the stronghold would harass or harm him. To be accepted for exactly who he was when everyone else had made it quite clear that he was wrong, broken, lesser, weak… That meant the absolute world to Raphael. To have one person who didn't look at him with derision or scorn or hatred or disappointment… but who, instead, marveled at his difference, at his mind, at his passion for his crafts. The two became close friends. Were it not for Raphael fearing how his father might react to his interest beyond use with a 'lesser' creature, they would have been inseparable. As it was, they stole moments to sit and talk together. The incubus became his muse and his confidante and his best friend as they grew older and, though it never crossed into sexual intimacy, the two were extremely close in every other way. Raphael even swore to them that one day he would see them freed from his father and he would steal them away to remain with him. The two were deeply in love, even if the words were never said, even if it was never openly acknowledged, even if Raphael didn't realize it until only just before it was too late. Because, in the end, it was only a lovely fantasy that could never become reality. His father knew, had known for some time but allowed the absurdity to continue to play out for his own amusement, all the while mocking his son to others. He assumed Raphael had become enamored, charmed by the incubus, but that it was a passing fancy. When it became clear that it was otherwise, Mephistopheles intervened. ███ disappeared. Raphael could find them nowhere. He was utterly distraught, but had to disguise it lest his father wield it against him the same as he did every other perceived weakness or wrongness. Mephistopheles was the one who broached the topic, all saccharine condolences for the 'loss'. He refused to say more, claiming that the details would only upset his son—as though that had ever before mattered to him. Raphael knew it was only his way of torturing him further, perhaps for the embarrassment of his son having been running about with so lowly a creature. Had it merely been a physical relationship of convenience, Mephisto might well have left it alone. But the truth of it, the fact that it was actual love, was an embarrassment. Raphael never really recovered from the loss. On the one hand, it motivated him to become stronger and more powerful, made him aspire to one day be rid of his father, to prove himself enough, perhaps even better. [ Nevermind that he pushed himself so hard because he hadn't been enough then, when the person closest to him in all the realms needed him to be. ] However, it also only aggravated already existing insecurities and issues, as well as made him unwilling to get truly close to anyone again, often keeping people at arm's length, all the while making them see him as a friend, an ally, a savior.

MORE BELOW THE CUT.

Upon Raphael acquiring a house for himself, Mephistopheles presented his son with a gift, a mockery aimed at his previous 'secret' relationship—an incubus named Haarlep. Mephistopheles' oh so gracious 'gift' was in poor shape when Raphael received him and brought him to the House of Hope. Whether it was simply the condition of the other, the fact that Mephistopheles had meant to mock him, the fact that this was just another broken being due to his father, or perhaps something else entirely. Regardless, Raphael set about the course of getting him cleaned up and healed, on a path to recovery. Knowing that he had little interest in keeping a lover after he had lost his dear one, yet knowing that the other would require certain things to feed, he drew up a contract to make sure he saw to what was required. During the course of this, Haarlep took up Raphael's form, originally as an ill-conceived attempt for Raphael to better invest in the other and, in a more practical sense — for most, the benefits of your personal incubus taking on your form would be rather *mindblowing*… [ A Not Safe For Work Sidenote: Raphael had no prior experience with such matters, as surprising as some might find it, and, as it turns out, he gets overstimulated very easily. Hence the commentary about him being 'bad in bed'. The fact of the matter is that it was just way too much and he wasn't able to be quite so present during. Without the experience to what the issue was, Raphael just assumed he was the problem and just had to bear with it and eventually it would get better with exposure. It didn't. The issue persisted, which only made him more convinced that he was somehow the problem, hence the insecurity over the issue and how angry and hurt he gets when the player characters says what they can say. He hates not being good enough. He hates even more being bad at anything. It was a constant source of frustration for him, as well as for Haarlep who just started to assume he just wasn't interested. ]

But, back to the topic at hand. Over the years Raphael and Haarlep did grow close, despite Raphael knowing why Mephistopheles had gifted him. What better way to keep an eye on a threat? Much like a widower, Raphael carried guilt over the feelings slowly developing for Haarlep as he never really stopped grieving his first love, which led to a lot of guilt and turmoil. Much as Raphael's mind itself is a rollercoaster of extreme highs and devastating lows, as I have mentioned in another post, the relationship was no different, several periods of the two being quite close, interspersed with periods of Raphael being distant and moody, throwing himself fully into his work to the detriment of everything else—and Haarlep being frustrated, feeling helpless to solve the problem that he knew existed when, truly, only he could. For more details as well as events leading up to the game and during it, with permission of my friend, I have copied the threads into my carrd, that they can be read like fanfictions by anyone who is curious to know more. It is broken into the two verse categories: The Devil You Know [ non-betrayal ] and A Devil of a Time [ betrayal ].

They can be found here: || two halves of heart and soul ||

[heraldofzaun]

This is my “Viktor has never been a stereotypical evil villain, you guys are just mean” post.

Hi. Well. That says it all, really, but I guess I should elaborate. I think that Viktor has always been a victim of society [cue Joker meme], it’s just that what society has shifted over the course of his lore update.

With new lore, it’s very clearly Piltover casting him out for his (in my opinion, pretty unethical from the get-go) ideas on free will/worker safety/etc. and that subsequently making him worse. But with his previous lore - what I run off of on this blog - I’ve seen a lot of commentary about how he’s always just been “evil”, or that his motivations weren’t defined, etc. And while I can agree that his old lore certainly has less of a word count (5x less, actually) and doesn’t make his motives crystal-clear, it’s just not true that his original incarnation was just a villainous scientist. (Nor is it true that he was perceived as one by his old fans!) It takes a little bit of looking at Blitzcrank’s lore, and the Journal of Justice (hey, remember that?) to see, but it’s there... So, here goes. I’m sorry for how long this ended up being (2k words!) - it ended up touching on a lot more than just Viktor.

Viktor’s always been stolen from. (Except for Blitzcrank’s newest lores, which contradict Viktor’s new lore, which... That’s a topic for another time.) It’s always been Professor Stanwick Pididly (now Professor Stanwick) who’s done the stealing - originally, he was a professor at Zaun’s “prestigious College of Techmaturgy”. In new lore, he’s a professor at an unnamed academy in Piltover. I think the best way to track the new/old changes is bullet-points, rather than writing this all out. Tumblr doesn’t allow T-charts, sadly.

Professor Pididly in old lore:

Zaunite professor.

Stole Blitzcrank (well, the accolades for developing Blitz’s sentience) from Viktor and Viktor’s doctoral team. (While this is headcanon, I’ve always assumed that Stanwick was Viktor’s (and Viktor’s team’s) doctoral advisor. I can’t quite imagine how else he’d pull off stealing a group project like that.) Viktor subsequently withdrew from the college and “barricaded himself in his private laboratory”. (Which is his house in my personal take, because really - what sort of doctoral student can afford a lab?)

Blitzcrank’s case reached Zaun’s legal system, resulting in a “legal maelstrom” (Blitz’s original lore) that ended with Stanwick presumably being legally declared Blitzcrank’s creator.

Blitzcrank’s lore states that “most now know the truth” in regards to who his creator is. This is important for later, so stick that in your back pocket.

Pididly is referred to as “Professor Pididly” in JoJ issues 3, 18, and 23, which are given the dates of August of 20CLE, March of 21 CLE, and June of 21 CLE.

Side note: According to Orianna’s judgment, which is dated May of 21 CLE - stay with me here, it’ll make sense - Blitzcrank entered the League “years before”. As League at this time was mostly running in time with the real world, this makes sense - Blitzcrank was a 2009 champion and Orianna was released in 2011. Judgments seem to be dated to a few days before a champion’s release, in order to tie with the lore - one had to be “Judged” before made a champion... but I’m rambling. Anyways, years before, back pocket.

Is referred to as “Chairman Pididly” in JoJ issue 27, dated August of 21 CLE. “Chairman” seems to be a title given to those in political power in Zaun. Another example is Chairman Magnus Dunderson, Zaun’s “Chief Executive” (issue 5). (I could’ve sworn that there is canonically a “Board of Executives” in old lore Zaun, but scrubbing through the JoJ on the wiki hasn’t turned it up - just Blitzcrank’s lore mentioning the “Council of Zaun”. Maybe it was fanon? Anyways.) Back pocket!

Also stole some work from Viktor in order to revive Urgot. Urgot’s revival was reported on in issue 3 of the JoJ, and the confirmation that it was from Viktor’s work is in Viktor’s original lore.

Professor Stanwick (Pididly? I feel like they ditched his last name because it was “too silly”, also because Stanwick sounds British-adjacent anyways and that’s Piltover’s “thing” - but anyways) in new lore:

Piltovian professor.

Stole Blitzcrank from Viktor alone, who made the robot to help clean up a specific chemical spill. Viktor went to Zaun for a few weeks and came back to find that Stanwick had “held a symposium on Blitzcrank and presented Viktor's research as his own”. Viktor subsequently continued on his studies, culminating with him later being expelled for “violating basic human dignity”. Viktor returns to a laboratory that he had in Zaun.

Blitzcrank’s case is solely a university matter. Viktor petitions Jayce to help support his claim, but Jayce is Jayce and doesn’t help out. The “matter [is] decided in Professor Stanwick’s favor”.

Blitzcrank’s lore doesn’t really say anything about if people know that Viktor made him (them, technically, but Riot doesn’t get to make the robot non-binary), but I guess it’s implied in the 3rd iteration? (That would be the first new one, after the IoW retcon making most champions’ 2nd lores being the same lore with any reference to the titular League of Legends removed.) He works with Viktor in that one. It doesn’t fit with Viktor’s updated lore at all, actually, because it mentions Stanwick absolutely zero times. (A post for another day...)

Has nothing to do with Urgot, since Urgot’s different now.

So, the general plot of “professor rips off a student” is there, it’s just got an added layer of “professor rips off a foreign/out-group student” in new lore to tie into the overarching idea of Piltover exploiting Zaun. (Is Zaun considered foreign? Yes? No? It’s sort of textually implied sometimes to be another city, but can it actually be when it’s physically underneath Piltover? Is the metaphor in new lore a class thing, then? Is it both? Am I supposed to take Viktor’s Russian accent into account when reading this text? I don’t know.) Anyways, so far so... same, in the broad strokes. Unless Viktor’s villainy in old lore is specifically because someone from his city ripped him off, I don’t know how you can compare new/old lore and say that old painted him as a villain.

But what about the everything else I put there? We’re getting there - that’s part of Viktor’s in-universe stuff. I’m taking a quick detour out of universe, to Jayce’s very first lore...

Which had Viktor stealing a techmaturgical device from Jayce. While I can’t cite this, sadly - thank you, Riot deleting the old forums and me not having the patience to look through archives at the moment - there was a backlash around this on the forums. Why would Viktor, a character who’d been stolen from, steal in turn? So Jayce’s second lore, the one that most people were familiar with before the new lore update, was made. Now Viktor stole a crystal after trying to partner with Jayce, Jayce was less well-established as an inventor, he had a bit more character... All good things. (Also, this is probably where the new lore direction of them being former college colleagues come from.)

Also, as an aside: this is the first use I can see of crystals specifically being described as arcane power sources... The only other discussion of magical crystals was the Brackern... which was then merged into magical crystals having to be from the Brackern... Which means that...

But anyways! Clearly Viktor fans didn’t see him as a villain in 2012, or at least not one that would victimize others in the same way that he’d been hurt. They made such a fuss about it that Jayce’s lore was changed to paint Viktor more sympathetically! (When’s the last time that there’s been that much backl- oh. It’s Seraphine again. Anyways.) So, again, Viktor’s perception as an evil scientist mostly seems to have come from people who weren’t really familiar with his lore. So... case closed?

Except that I also want to talk about in-universe things! Everything that I told you to put in your back pocket! Because this post is already over a thousand words and I have thrown myself firmly into this vortex.

Viktor’s victimization by society [Joker meme] is actually probably worse in old lore, which is a fact that I think has been pretty overlooked. While new lore Viktor gets kicked back down to Zaun and gets his work stolen in academia - with Stanwick presumably never being questioned on whether or not he made Blitzcrank, because there’s that whole “Zaunites are bad” thread that is both in and out of universe... Old lore Viktor sure does get it worse, although I admit that this requires some interpretation of canon. His thing with Blitzcrank was, again, a “legal maelstrom” - and with Blitzcrank being considered a Zaunite celebrity before this court case, it seems relatively easy/logical to infer that this maelstrom was a very public case.

So all of Zaun gets to see Viktor crash and burn in court. I’d say that’s a bit worse than just academia seeing it, as is the case in new lore.

And then there’s Blitzcrank’s lore flat-out saying that “most now know the truth” about who made him. (While this lore does predate Viktor’s existence - isn’t it odd to think about a Blitzcrank made by a faceless team of generic doctoral students, rather than Viktor... and a faceless team of generic doctoral students? - I see no reason not to take it as canonical for Viktor’s original lore. There’d been minor lore touchups before, so if Riot wanted Viktor’s creation of Blitzcrank to be an unknown... they could have edited Blitzcrank’s lore.) But Viktor’s still on the fringes, and nothing in his lore (which, again, was written years after Blitzcrank’s) seems to acknowledge that by the time he enters the League we have confirmation, date-wise, that it’s been years since the truth came out. (Orianna Judgment, etc.) That’s to say: people knowing that Viktor made Blitzcrank does nothing for him - he gets no apologies or anything like that.

Of course, if you take League lore as happening concurrently and nix the Judgments and the League, I guess that this is tenuous - but working within the framework of when he was released, it seems clear to me that the implication of all this lore is (whether it was intended by Riot to be read this way or not) that no one in Zaun cares that Viktor was stolen from. It’s an open secret. No one’s seeking justice for him. But it gets worse...!

So, it’s generally known that Stanwick didn’t make Blitzcrank by the time that the JoJ is running. And he’s just a professor for most of the run of that part of the lore, until... Issue 27. In which he becomes Chairman Pididly, someone who is now implied to have political power. (I have to assume he gets the position due to the political goodwill from Noxus that his revival of Urgot must have brought Zaun, but that’s just interpretation.) But! Even though most people know that Stanwick didn’t make Blitzcrank - that he stole Blitzcrank - he ends up not losing his university job (he’s still Professor Pididly for most of the JoJ, after all) but... gaining political office!

All of this is to say that Zaun is so crooked that you can have the fact that you stole from someone and ruined their life revealed... and get a promotion to government! You can shatter an idealistic man who had a “hope to better society” and make him into someone like the Machine Herald and face absolutely zero repercussions. I think that that is significantly worse than how new lore Viktor’s victimization by Piltover consisted of an academia-only dispute that left him with just some bitterness... New Viktor was, after all, kicked out of Piltovian academia for ethics violations, not for Blitzcrank.

Everything surrounding old lore Viktor is a bit harder to piece together, since you have to look through a few lores and make a few inferences, which is why I think that people don’t realize exactly how bad he had it... (That and time erasing memories, or people being new to the fandom, or people not being interested in Viktor, or...) But he had it bad, and I’m honestly disappointed that we never got to explore much of Zaun’s particular brand of corporate corruption in canon. Now they’re the perpetual underdogs, both victims and villians, and Riot isn’t quite sure how to write them beyond constant exploitation from Piltover. (Even the chem-barons have taken somewhat of a backseat lately in new lore, from what I’ve seen - Piltover seems to be the primary cause of Zaun’s ills, because the combined region is now an upper city/lower city metaphor about class. The chem-barons just seem to be written as a result of Piltover’s ignoring of Zaun - because Zaun seems to be more of an undercity than a sovereign city or state, but that varies depending on whatever piece of lore you’re reading and... Another post, another time.)

So. TL;DR: Viktor’s always been a character who was victimized by a city, be it Zaun or Piltover. Viktor’s always been a character more complex than just a maniacal villain, although it takes more work to see that in his old lore as compared to his new. (His new pretty much screams “we are trying to make him and Jayce morally grey”, after all.) This victimization is arguably worse in old lore, as it’s implied that he went through a very public legal case that ended with Stanwick taking credit for Blitzcrank. In addition to that, Stanwick’s subsequent shift to politics implies that Zaun is so corrupt that most everyone knowing that he’s a thief isn’t an issue at all. He’s untouchable.

Viktor’s always been the result of an idealistic man being crushed by a society that doesn’t care for him and his dreams. That’s nothing new.

[goose-books]

it’s this blog’s two-year anniversary! did anyone ask for a smudgy goose from straight out of my sketchbook? no! but he’s here and he’s dispensing love! since i made my writeblr, i’ve been lucky enough to meet so many fantastic people with incredible work. so it is time. for me to share my love. and to shout loudly about the people you should follow if you are on this website for good fiction

yves. // @yvesdot​​

oh this is gonna be a massive shocker for anyone who’s followed me for more than one day. but if you aren’t following yves. yet, you absolutely should be. not only are they a gem of a human being vampire with incredible hot takes on everything and a wonderful sense of humor, but ALSO their writing makes me go batshit insane. they have a whole archive of incredible lgbt and jewish speculative fiction (in fact they are the person who got me into speculative fiction as a concept), but in particular let me note: their published book of short stories (buy!!! it!!! i have read it three or four times!!!), KAY RAINIER (can’t believe yves. invented he/him wlw), and their latest Reedsy-contest-winning short story (the last paragraph of which i wrote a multi-paragraph analysis about).

waya // @dogwrites​​

another incredible shocker, i know! but in case you weren’t aware, waya is the creator of Genuinely One Of My Favorite Characters Of All Time, the one and only benji russells, a funky little genius and cat parent who lives in my brain rent free and will never be evicted. waya has such an incredible talent for creating multifaceted and lovable characters, and their passion for their characters and work is so infectious. they also just have... such wonderful vibes. such a kind and lovely person; i am always excited to see they’ve posted. you can read their current work, Edge of the Lonely Quiet (wolves!! werewolves!!! cults!!!! cross-country adventures!!!!!), and their (discontinued/archived) older work, Crime of Mind (secret agents! so much benji!) here!

logan // @albatris​​

for the record, logan, if you’re reading this, i have no idea whether you consider yourself a writing blog. but guys. holy shit. logan’s book in progress, All The Doors Are Open, is SO goddamn good; i could (and have!) reread the posted excerpts over and over again. the apocalypse! but it’s not malicious so much as just incredibly and extravagantly weird! compelling characters! (tris in particular flipped my “i would die for you” switch and so i’m obligated to shout him out by name.) a happy ending! good messages about recovery and friendship! also logan is just so cool, as a human being, excellent vibes, excellent music taste, 10/10 all around.

avi // @avi-burton-writing​​

avi was one of the first people i followed when i ventured out into the uncharted waters of writeblr, and i have literally never regretted that decision once. he literally can just... write anything and it immediately makes me do a motion blur as i scramble over to look at it. i first fell in love with (the now shelved) To Bet Your Life, because the characters were so well-written (can i get a hell yeah for conflicting but extremely important goals!!!), and now i’m eagerly keeping up with An Arcane Magic, which has... just... such cool worldbuilding. it is so so cool. (also a shoutout to Mercurial Beasts because i would kill for jester!) all of avi’s work is so well-thought-out and sticks in my head all the time! and his writing style is gorgeous and complex without being overly flowery!! i simply await the day he will be famous!

ari // @guulabjamuns​​

okay, i’ve only known ari for, like... not even two weeks? but as soon as i read one (1) excerpt from her writing i had to immediately sit down and go through her entire blog archive. something about ari’s work just... picks me up by the collar and shakes me but like! in a good way! in a fantastic way!!! i go particularly feral thinking about Anchor-Point (WLW... RIVALS... IN A DARK ACADEMIA SETTING... ARCHERY... RIVALRY AS A WAY TO VENT SELF-LOATHING... THREE INCREDIBLY COMPLICATED WOMEN IN A TRIANGLE TRYING TO TANGLE WITH THEIR IDENTITIES...) but she recently also posted the first chapter of her incredible sci-fi-noir WIP The Moon Siever and it is fanTASTIC! (also. she is just. so wonderful to talk to, so much fun, impeccable vibes!)

claire // @chalkflint​​

i was lucky enough to find claire’s writeblr just as they were starting their blog and i am so so glad i did because i absolutely must see all of their content or i will perish. their WIPs are SO engaging and fascinating; they’re doing epic fantasy and political fiction in new and wonderful and very homosexual ways and i am obsessed. i particularly recommend checking out lightning on the skin (magic with sci-fi concepts! political drama!! betrayal!!! gay people!!!! and also trans people!!!!!). (also, their art is FANTASTIC.)

blue // @bluejaybabbles​​

last but CERTAINLY not least, oh my GOD. blue was one of the first folks from writeblr i ever spoke to, and in the two years since they have been NOTHING but kind and creative and enthusiastic and wonderfully supportive! they are one of the SWEETEST people i have met online and they have an INCREDIBLE aesthetic, litcherally iconic, 10/10 babey!!! their kindness is just contagious what can i say!!! they also have a super fascinating WIP that does fantastic things with changelings and faeries, and has a delightfully interesting fantasy setting.

in conclusion! if you are not following these people already! please follow them and check out their work! and to these people, if you’re reading this!!! thank you for being amazing!!! i’m so glad i’ve gotten to talk to all of you!!! [throwing confetti with my goose hands except i only have wings so i’m not very good at it]

[samsbastardzone]

Hey, you know that 35 d&d questions ask meme? I answered all of them.

This is a long ass post. Be warned. It took up seven and a half pages in google docs. Original post here.

1. A favorite character you have played.

Would have to be Zize Fortier, dragonborn gunslinger. Their tag on this blog is #zize and you can find their bio and info on my character page. Love that bastard!! He’s sweet and bratty and a total delight to play (we are such an OP party, y’all).

2. Your favorite character that someone else has played.

UM UM gonna talk about a few here. To be fair to people I play a *lot* of games with, I’m only gonna  talk about one PC per person.

- The bastard trio in my Wildemount game– @toomanyorphans ’s Nakoria, @overplannedbutunnamednpc ‘s Zier (also an NPC in the campaign Zize is in), and @glasyasbutch ‘s Nissy. They all really suck so bad but in SUCH funny ways. They’re varying degrees of self centered and awful, but we trust each other in this campaign, and those 3 players are SO funny in their RP.

- (RIP) Avri in my Wildemount game. They and Bly named each other,,,,  they were parent and child…… VERY sweet. huge goliath with tiny bird in backpack.

- @bekahdoesnershit ‘s Raini. Zize’s BFF, and her tag on that blog is rich. She’s SUCH a bitch but we love her.

- @bhissar ‘s Saela. She is a dream character for me to DM for– very little fleshed out backstory with room to explore, with still-concrete events in it. Consistent character choices and personality, to the point I can sometimes predict what she’ll do. Very cool aesthetically. And overall? EXTREMELY sweet. Baby, baby bird.

3. Your favorite side quest.

Either the one going on right now in amnesia, where we have to collect brain matter from big powerful elementals, or the stop we made at a family of vampires in Acarnya (the one I played Osfyr in).

4. Your current campaign.

There are five of those, with two on hold. 

-Wildemount, aka the Frozen Sick module from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount (we’re almost done with that, my PC is Bly). 

-Amnesia campaign aka high level campaign: we woke up in hell with no memories! PC is Zize. 

-Hoard of the Dragon Queen module, near the beginning of that, PC is Pointy. 

-Horror campaign, only two sessions so far, but we’re trapped in an alternate dimension carrying out tasks for a creepy dude. PC is Vinny. 

-Kithan, where we’re high level monster hunting guild members searching  out ancient artifacts of the gods (campaign based on the Monster Hunter games), PC is Topaz.

-Silas, party is currently trying to help dragons free themselves and stop a… dude? No spoilers! I DM. On hold because I had too many campaigns going at once.

-Silas v2: extremely vaguely based on the plot of season one of the web series Carmilla. A tweaked version of the first arc the Silas party went through. On hold because it was played in person at school.

5. Favorite NPC.

I don’t really have any NPCs in my campaigns that I’m super attached to, except– Nikeo, a goliath rogue PC in Silas 1, had many adopted children. Three of them– kobolds– sometimes stand on each others’ shoulders, put on a long coat, and help out around their parent’s store. They’ve named themselves Koby.

As for favorite NPCs in campaigns I’ve played, I can think of… a lot. The first is Laurel, a blue dragonborn loner type who followed Osfyr and friends in Acarnya. They were kind of broody and dark, but they really drew me in. They were the first NPC we really talked to– they were sitting on top of the post office laughing at the mob scene of people protesting not getting their mail delivered.

I’d also pick Osfyr’s partners in that campaign– Yelkian, a backstory love interest I came up with, a flamboyant soft sorcerer. Jupiter, politician’s niece, who took pity on Osfyr’s attempts to seduce information out of her and let them succeed on both counts (seduction and information). Xerxes, extra AF rogue with a big loving family, who swept in after a fight on the back of an eagle-wildshaped Brysth (npc druid). 

There’s a blue dragon in the HOTDQ campaign that we don’t know much about. I really enjoyed the way @dungeonsanddraconicqueer played him. He’s just a dude! Lex’s warlock made a Deal with him to leave the town alone. We still don’t know the implications of that. It’s fine, guys.

And then, there’s Stewart the Skin Steward, a servant of False Mystra. Fun dude.  Very cavalier– nigh, enthusiastic!– about the fact that his entire city was made of skin. Something of a skin connoisseur, in fact!

6. Favorite death (monster, player character, NPC, etc).

Saela, hands down. She got breathed on by a dragon, yo. We then had to stop playing for 4-5 months because a player lost access to the Internet. I wrote a vision/speech from her warlock patron, the Raven Queen, the night she died, and basically didn’t touch it until I read it out in game. It involved a confession that the Queen was  tired of being a god, and showing Saela all the lives she’d touched. Then we used Matt Mercer’s rez rules for her. She came back– but it was her choice.

7. Your favorite downtime activity.

Fucking tinkering dude!!! I don’t get to do it enough as Zize and that is entirely my fault. @ morgan, eyes emoji

8. Your favorite fight/encounter.

I LOVE creepy shit. There was a train car with people dancing in it, and party members got enchanted to dance along and eat the food,  and the revelers were clearly in pain, and snuffing out a candle caused a reveler to disappear. Creepy shit!

In Kithan, we had to climb a staircase, and we timed it with produce flame which is a 10 minute duration cantrip, and we were climbing for 50 minutes. We started to see things in the edges of our vision. Then someone realized it was an illusion, and it all vanished. It freaked me out so bad.

In amnesia campaign, at level 19, we were traversing a cave, and our shadows started dripping the same black goop we were there to investigate. We killed one and it took down the max hp of the person whose shadow it was, and then they straight up didn’t have a shadow until they long rested. It really freaked us out, realizing the shadows were actually creatures, but they were like CR 1. Really effective use of a low level monster.

9. Your favorite thing about D&D.

The way it has something for everyone… the way it’s brought me so many friends… the way it’s inspired my OC creation like nothing else.

10. Your favorite enemy and the enemy you hate the most.

I’m not sure if this is asking about NPCs I’ve had as enemies, or any monster in D&D canon? The longest campaign I played in didn’t have long term enemies  per se. I’d say I was frustrated with the cultists that ambushed us last session in HOTDQ,  but I didn’t hate them! I just couldn’t seem to hit or dodge them. As for a favorite… probably False Mystra: the demon lord Orcus who’d taken over  the position, and therefore the duties, of Mystra, the god of arcane magic.  We killed it,  but then whoopso!! Our wizard lost her powers.

11. How often do you play and how often would you ideally like to play?

I play an ideal amount, honestly: four times a week, for about 2.5-3 hours a session. HOTDQ Tuesdays, Kithan and horror campaign switching off Wednesdays, Wildemount Thursdays cause we miss CR, Amnesia Sundays.

12. Your in game inside jokes/memes/catchphrases and where they came from.

Amnesia: Yocheved, the party barbarian/full time fish, has a secret third arm and/or a prosthetic ass. Cylthia, the druid, does arson (but actually). Relentless is a Crown paladin, so she puts her fingers in her ears when we do crime/lie. She also has a rod of lordly might that, immediately post amnesia, she made into a 32 foot climbing pole. Yocheved eats pounds and pounds of raw fish for every meal.

Wildemount: just the shenanigans and sabotaging each other that the Bastard Trio get into. Example: Nissy was tasked with buying Zier a cloak for cold weather and purposely got him an  ugly one. Zier then prestidigitated it to be a nicer color.

13. Introduce your current party.

Oh boy, I have 6 of those. Here goes. Keep in mind many of these characters are played and games are DMed by my friends who have OC blogs of their own: Raini and Ayen are bekahdoesnerdshit, Ezra, Nissy, and Roona are glasyasbutch, Horror DM, Lent, Eve, and Nakoria are toomanyorphans, Wildemount DM, Saela, Daecyne, and Cylthia are bhissar, HOTDQ DM is dungeonsanddraconicqueer, and Amnesia DM, Zier, Nyxi, and Sarril are overplannedbutunnamednpc. Not an OC blog, but Yocheved, Avri, Arbor, Thraf, Nikeo, and Whisper are mickgoesabsolutelyhamforbarbie.

Amnesia (Zize): Lent, tiefling paladin, former crownsguard who “fell” (became an oathbreaker), then un-fell when we lost our memories. Cylthia, tiefling/elf druid who can shift between tiefling and elf forms and loves setting things on fire. Yocheved, 14 foot tall nereid (fishfolk) barbarian with a dry sense of humor, is the party parent. And Raini, aasimar wizard, sass machine and Zize’s bff.

HOTDQ. My PC is Pointy. Ezra, quiet human paladin. Theata, moon elf rogue. Freya, sweet (human?) light cleric who sometimes misreads situations. Eve, 13 year old (!!) human warlock who kinda sucks, but like, she’s 13. Nyxi, motherly gnome bard who Is going to adopt Pointy. 

Wildemount (Bly): Alene, human barbarian. Quiet and with somewhat of a parent instinct. Some sort of Mysterious Backstory. Delta, aasimar rogue, similarly shady backstory? Unclear. Sticks with Alene. Nissy, drow rune knight, sucks. Zier, drow sorcerer, also sucks. Nakoria, dragonborn warlock, ALSO sucks. (Those three make up the Bastard Trio.) Avri (F for them), goliath bard and Avri’s guardian, died last session by falling on a floor full of knives. 

Horror campaign (Vinny): Roona, halfling bard, very impulsive, eats exclusively with her spoon that says ASS, and chills in Vinny’s fanny pack. Ayen, elven teenage warlock with a dark backstory. Sarril, Ayen’s not-dad, half elf beast barbarian who got it from his wife. Arbor, dryad  monk, who wears an all white plague doctor outfit at all times.

Silas v1 (DM), Original party before 1 left and 1 died: Hacka (RIP), human luchador-styled drunken monk. Nikeo (left), goliath rogue with so many adopted children. Inferno, fire genasi paladin/phoenix sorcerer with anger and impulse control issues. Saela, babiest aarakocra warlock of the Raven Queen. Hacka’s player now plays Voda, a stoic water genasi tempest cleric who cast Raise Dead successfully on Saela. Nikeo’s player now plays Whisper, a tabaxi astral soul monk.

Kithan (Topaz): Thraf, monsterborn (universe-compliant dragonborn) barbarian. Very social, very outgoing, very stupid, and very traumatized. Fucks majorly. Daecyne, sweet tiefling druid and Topaz’s good friend. Viosa, aasimar homebrew class I forget the name of, uses her small stature and allure to her advantage. Damur, half-orc eldritch knight, the party’s only braincell.

14. Introduce any other parties you have played in or DM-ed.

Acarnya. My PC was Osfyr. Soraphine, traumatized halfling bard. Azalea, human fighter. Durzuell, haughty high elf sorcerer. James, nerdy half elf wizard. Drago, erratic Russian dragonborn monk. Kairon, slightly edgy ranger/paladin (but we love him). 

Nordenheim. My PC was Cap. I will admit: we only played 2 or 3 sessions, so I don’t really remember  most of the other party members except Rory, a fire genasi ranger who almost burned to death.

Silas v2 (hopefully will continue; I DMed): Kysseris IV. Half-elf paladin, uptight. Tower 1-6, warforged wizard who crawled out of the desert and is looking for info on how he was made. Mae “Pock”, gnome rogue, very small and  sweet. Josh, human trickery cleric, kind of an asshole, but in a way that’s funny and hasn’t bled over into IRL annoying.

[school] West Marches campaign (Ner): by the nature of West Marches, there was never a consistent party, but a few stood out to me. Red Foot, a hyperactive kobold sorcerer who’s level 8 against all West Marches odds. Lyra, Great Old One warlock of Tzee’Mhor, an abomination goat that a party I was in accidentally created. Fildo Baggins, divination wizard who can only affect allies whose toenail clippings he has in his vial.

15. Do you have snacks during game times?

Hell yeah babey!!! I mostly play digitally, especially during COVID, and I need something to munch after DMing for a while. Shit’s exhausting.

16. Do you play online or in person? Which do you prefer?

Welp! Online mostly, since everyone I want to play with has the audacity to live far away, and now exclusively online because of COVID.

17. What are some house rules that your group has?

Our Amnesia party is so rich that we just don’t keep track of money. In Kithan, a lot of rules that make characters less powerful are just… abolished (like the bonus action spell rule). (The DM likes super OP characters so she can throw SUPER OP monsters at us.  My character has a necklace that gives 5 additional uses of channel divinity.)

18. Does your party keep any pets?

Nope. No opportunities for them. Zize’s party has a little water snake on the druid’s arm but I doubt that will last very long.

19. Do you or your party have any dice superstitions?

Absolutely. Cursed dice get j a i l.

20. How did you get into D&D? How long have you been playing?

Acarnya got me into d&d, it was my first campaign, and it was happening at the place I lived. I’ve been playing almost 2 years. (Critical Role inspired me to DM)

21. Have you ever regretted something your character has done?

Not sent a fucking letter to say goodbye to their boyfriend before the world-fate-deciding bullshit that was gonna happen and possibly destroy shit. It was fine in the end though!

22. What color was your first dragon?

Red. Man, that guy sucked, he almost killed Osfyr. We were investigating a monastery secretly run by dragons disguised as humans.

23. Do you use premade modules or original campaigns?

Original campaigns. I’ve never run a module before! I’m not opposed, but most of my campaigns came from ideas  that I had. I’ve never been short on ideas for a game.

24. How much planning/preparation do you do for a game?

As a player, I just open my character sheet and get out dice. As a DM, I try and think about what material I want to get through this session, and write some narration and/or stat things out if I feel like it.

For DMs

25. What have your players done that you never could have planned for?

A lot of times, Inferno has rushed into battle from what I’d built as a stealth mission, and gotten her ass and sometimes the party’s asses kicked. I should really have learned by now.

26. What was your favorite scene to write and show your characters?

Definitely Saela’s resurrection ritual and vision.

27. Do you allow homebrew content?

Yes! I’ll check it first,  but I’m all for expanding the boundaries. I homebrew items and monsters all the time, why shouldn’t my payers get to homebrew their shit?

28. How often do you use NPCs in a party?

Too often in my first arc. I had like 7 NPCs running around at all times (they were Carmilla characters). Super not recommended. I have 0 right now.

29. Do you prefer RP heavy sessions or combat sessions?

I’m still finding my groove with RP as a DM. I like encouraging my players to RP amongst themselves. I consider myself fairly good at combat on both sides of the equation, DM and player, so that’s always fun to me, especially when my players enjoy it too.

30. Are your players diplomatic or murder hobos?

I have one actively reforming murder hobo player, the rest are diplomatic. (The character, Inferno, is having a great growth arc. I’m super proud.)

For Players

31. What is your favorite class? Favorite race?

I fucking love genasi as a concept. Favorite class would have to be rogue or cleric, but gunslinger’s up there too.

32. What role do you like to play the most? (Tank/healer/etc?)

I  honestly don't have the patience to not play DPS. I love doing lots of damage. Healing is satisfying, support is satisfying, but there’s a reason I picked rogue twice and tempest cleric over other domains.

33. How do you write your backstory, or do you even write a backstory?

Sometimes the backstory is part of the character concept– especially for Pointy, because I had the name first, then went hmm why would she have this name. Almost always, though, more backstory gets written during the campaign when I have an idea. Sometimes a character will act in a way I don’t expect, and it’s fun thinking of a justification to fill backstory gaps.

34. Do you tend to pick weapons/spells for being useful or for flavor?

Mostly  usefulness honestly. I’ll make choices among several for flavor, but I’m a big proponent of using mechanics to build character. What I mean is, think about Magnus in TAZ Balance– his protection fighting style contributed a lot to the way Travis played him as a protective person. I love that shit.

35. How much roleplay do you like to do?

I like to do a lot, but unfortunately my  energy is pretty down lately so I haven’t been doing as much.

[bekahdoesnerdshit]

no one else has reblogged ask meme Mondays so I'm just going fucking apeshit with u. from the big boy: b7 for raini bc it's funny, c1 for cog bc it's inchresting, h3 for brilliance bc I know there's some gay shit going on and I want to hear more, then a17 (character proud of themselves or ur proud of ur rp as them) L5 and L6 for whomsoever u want to talk about

I won’t need a readmore for this one, I tell myself. There’s not that many questions, and they’re not proseboys. I was a fool. She’s too long to be allowed to run on people’s dashboards unrestrained 😔 Thank you! For going apeshit!!

Raini

B7. How do they respond to babies crying in public? I guarantee the image you have for how Raini would react to a crying baby is 10000% correct. She’s unhappy. Uncomfortable. Unimpressed. Can you please make that thing be quiet. Why did you have it if you can’t mange it. This is why she’s never having kids. Like she’s not gonna say anything to the parents or shoot them dirty looks, because she’s not that specific flavor of asshole, but she’s going Mind Her Business and vacate the premises if possible. People who want to take care of something should just get a cat. Goddamn. There is ONE (1) baby that may qualify for an exception, and that’s Red. This is because (and please, picture Raini, the absolute picture of ‘fed up’, squatting down to look a fussy Red in the eye while she says this) “Baby Lent. You’re better than this. I know you are, and you’re letting me down. You need to stop making that noise.” This is unrelated to the question, but please also picture a Raini who was asked (blackmailed?) into babysitting using her Mage Hand to change Red’s diaper. It has nothing to do with the question but I think it’s a Very funny mental image. Thank you.

Cog

C1. Does your OC have a moral code? If not, how do they base their actions? If so, where does it come from, and how seriously do they take it? Absolutely! The way Cog approaches the world is defined by three main mantras: - Kindness is a discipline, not a character trait. - Doing the right thing isn’t always easy, but it is always worth doing. - If you are able to help someone, you have an obligation to do so. Between these three things, Cog sees the world in pretty black and white terms. There are right decisions, and wrong ones. The difference between the two is usually clear to anyone who cares to look, and so most of the evil in the world is born of selfishness. Consequently, Cog does very poorly in morally grey situations. She will commit without hesitation to any course of action that she deems “right” and “kind” no matter how drastic or dangerous it is, but she pretty much shuts down the second she’s faced with a decision that has consequences for someone regardless of what she does.  I’m sure that has not, and will not, come in her life ever at all. Ahah!  I think originally, this worldview was born of naivety. She grew up that religious kind of super sheltered where everything in the secular world was dangerous and dirty, and so when Cog began to realize that definitely wasn’t the case she made the choice to intentionally see the best in people and the world around her to fight what she was told growing up. When she started traveling with her party and actually seeing more of the world than the extremes of a) shitty cult town b) shiny clean magic school, she began to realize that the true state of the Wasteland was somewhere between what her Mama had told her and what she wanted to believe it was. But I’ve never in my life made a character who is stubborn as hell deep down, so instead of letting the world she found herself in change her Cog took a deep breath, rolled up her sleeves, and settled in to be the one changing it by loving and helping the people around her.

Brilliance

H3. Does your OC believe there’s only one ideal partner (or multiple ideal if not monogamous) for everyone, or that there are many people who could be right? I think Brilliance absolutely adores the idea of two people being made for one another. Two souls, wandering the world looking for one another? Who slot together so perfectly that when they find each other it’s clear they never could have fit anywhere else? Bruh. Yes, she knows love takes work. Sometimes you and your partner are going to disagree, and sometimes there’s going to be conflict. The world isn’t “love at first sight” then smooth sailing for the rest of your life. But you put in the work to make your lives better, together, because the universe gave you this person to care for. Maybe there are many people who you could be happy with, and those relationships aren’t anything to look down on. But when you find The One, Brilliance thinks, you know. She certainly did.

Don’t Worry About It

A17. What’s one of your OC’s proudest moments of themselves? Gonna hijack this question to talk about rp moments I’m proud of because Alex sorta kinda gave me permission to do that! Alright! For Raini, the biggest rp moment I’m proud of was her “I’m getting our memories back” speech a few sessions ago, specifically the line, “We’ve been fighting with one hand tied behind our backs for too long. If we’re going to die fighting this thing, I want to know exactly what I’m fighting for.” Morgan and I had been planning to kick off our return from July Hell Hiatus with Wish Two for a couple of days, which meant I was lucky enough to be able to spend a little while planning what to say. I feel like that line in particular embodies Raini’s unwavering confidence in her magic, her determination, and her specific brand of caring for the people around her without actually admitting that’s what she’s doing. I also really liked the way the scene of her apologizing to the party for being Bitchy post losing Magic for a minute went! Idk if anyone else remembers it, because it was pretty short in game, but! I thought it was a very good moment of Raini finding the most Roundabout way to say “thank you for looking out for me while I was defenseless”.  If I can pat myself on the back a little, my Cog monologues kick Ass. The most recent one was when she was talking to Ace about how War is Bad (radical, I know) and there was a moment where she looked at him and said, “...I’m not going to ask for your help, because I don’t know what I’ll do if I do and you say no.” Which. OOF. That was her and I realizing in real time that she and Ace were very much on different sides of this issue. When the session ended everyone said they Loved how good and hurtful that conversation was and I :’) Also, there was a really small moment when Cog was pleading for Maelo’s life (when Sunny’s dad had him locked in a cat carrier. It’s a Long story, made slightly better by the fact that Maelo was wildshaped into a cat at the time) and Cog went Straight for the dad heartstrings by sniffling and asking if, please, would Robert at least let her say goodbye to her friend before he killed him? Please? 😢  She is using her baby face for EVIL!  And oh my god how could I forget! Arcane Timeout! When the party went back to New Alexandria and was confronted by Ace for helping a prisoner escape (which, in fairness, Maelo did do) and Cog brought the encounter screeching to a halt by casting Wall of Stone to make a timeout hut with herself and Ace inside. She then sat herself down, looked Ace dead in the eye, and told him that the wall wasn’t coming down until he actually talked to her, or until he broke her concentration on the spell. She banked hard on him not being willing to hurt her, and it paid off. There were tears all around, both in and out of character. It was Wonderful. Also! I do just want recognition for the fact that I did not give into my impulses to be a little Shit as Cog last session by subtle casting Heal in Ace’s face after he Counterspelled my Healing Word. it was what I Rebekah wanted to do more than anything; unfortunately Cog is a better person than I am. There is No worse feeling than wanting so badly to do something you have no choice but to admit isn’t in character. Rip.  For whatever reason, all of my favorite Brilliance rp moments came during combat. Pressing her forehead to Sabre’s after he died in silent grief, forcefully taking a Narzugon off his Nightmare and then using Misty Step to mount it herself and take off after her friend, planting herself in the chokepoint of a hallway to stare down three minotaurs so she could keep her party safe behind her, pushing deeper into the hellwasp nest to rescue Dembe and Sabre despite knowing that doing so all but destroyed her chance of making it out alive, the list goes on. There were good out of combat moments too (despite the rest of the party’s best efforts 🙄), but I feel like for once I made a character who really shone in combat.  oh GOD I just remembered one really really good rp moment, when our rogue Zihro died when he got separated from the party during combat. We finished taking care of the main devil we were fighting, then began searching the dungeon for Zihro and the npc he was with. We, instead, found both of their corpses. Dembe looked to Brilliance, our healer, and demanded to know why she was just standing there instead of fixing their friend. We were only level three or four at the time, so Brilliance had to tell Dembe, again and again, that she couldn’t fix Zihro. It was too late, she wasn’t powerful enough yet, her goddess wouldn’t answer a prayer like that- It was a rough scene, and without question one of the best rp moments I’ve had with that group. Tae, if you’re reading this, you’re the only one with rights. Also, please unfollow this blog immediately.  Now as a quick pick-me-up after that mess, Pip’s best rp moment was when our barbarian Durokal -who couldn’t read and had a habit of running off and causing Problems- found a plaque he could tell had five words on it, and called Pip over to read it for him when Pip finished chasing him down. Pip, annoyed and out of breath and all of two feet tall, looked up at this 7 foot half-orc and told him, “It says: I’m. Gonna. Kick. Your. Ass.” Also, he regularly called very powerful figures in Barovia by sweet nicknames with “Mr.” in the front. As a sign of Respect. Because he’s the Best. sdfhsdkfj he also he couldn’t think of a fake name quick enough one time so he told an npc that is name was Dick and he was Very embarrassed about it. She: bought it!

Brilliance, Again

L5. Which OC do you think is the most decent morally or behaviorally?  AKA, which is supposed to a “good guy”? The answer is Cog, but we already went in depth on her morals this ask. She’s HAD enough screen time let’s move on. Brilliance is the only other character who, if asked, would say they saw themselves as a good guy instead of just “a person”. She strives to do right by the people around her, and to protect the light and beauty found in the world. She doesn’t have the same illusions about the world wanting to be a good place that Cog does, and she very much understands that sometimes the best thing you can do for the world is to put the things that make it dangerous six feet under. What’s interesting I think is that, despite being a paladin, she isn’t Lawful Good! She’s Neutral Good, because you know what? She wants to do the right thing, and laws aren’t always right. It’s up to you, as a person with a mind and free will and agency, to look at a situation and decide what you think is the right thing to do. And, for Brilliance, generally the right thing to do is heft her sword, raise her shield, and face trouble head on.

Raini, Once More

L6. Which OC do you think is the worst morally or behaviorally? AKA, which is supposed to be a “bad guy”? I don’t have any evil aligned characters, because I personally find things like “getting along with my party members” sexy, but the character who’s the shittiest and the worst is obviously Raini. She’s not a bad person per say, she’s just selfish and results oriented. Very much “the ends justify the means” and in a party like hers she’s aware that somebody has to be the bad guy sometimes, and she’s not afraid to make sure that’s her. She’s also very very likely to fall victim to her hubris making her feel like she definitely knows what’s best, and acting on that maybe without consulting other people (see: the whole fucking premise of the campaign). She sees a goal, she sees a way to accomplish that goal, so why shouldn’t she begin taking the necessary steps to reach it? I think the events of the game have mellowed this flaw out a little bit, but you can still see traces of it in the way she, for example, wordlessly handed Lent a bunch of diamonds before launching her consciousness into the Abeast and very nearly dying in there without consulting with the party first. It happens!  Also, behaviorally, she’s just. I mean. She’s like that. The worst. And that, I promise, will never change. 

[justdishonoredthings]

Reminder that Delilah has blamed her sister for most of her pain when she should be blaming the spy master for punishing her in a unnecessarily cruel way used her power to hurt people who are trying to use their power and wealth to fix the isles Leads a cult of personality that FORCES PEOPLE TO EAT THEIR FRIENDS and kills civilians that did nothing wrong and used people like Bille as pawns for her plans Daud is a bad person but Deiliah is just worse But her witches hate sexism so its okay.

Well, yeah, the spymaster who threw her and her mother out is to blame. But consider that he was probably dead by the time she was in any position to get back at him. She played a long game, bribing and seducing her way into positions of increasing knowledge and power. She sets up her cult and devises multiple plans to take over the Empire as a way of getting back at all the cruel people who tarnished her life, not just those who were immediately responsible. She knew that society was corrupt to the point of it letting her slip through the cracks - in letting her mother go to prison for example - as well as it being made up of so many gangs that she simply posed her cult as another one and slowly built up influence and wealth that way.

Her personal quest to put her face on banners, her statue and her image everywhere is literally about reclaiming her name and her image. She refuses to bow down to society’s rules that have led to her being mistreated in the past. In her mission to take back what she believes is rightfully hers, she doesn’t mind if she steps on a few toes or murders a few innocent civilians and she doesn’t personally oversee the actions of every witch, so if she did know about the witches making the overseer eat his friend, then she apparently wasn’t bothered by it. But what you should consider is that Daud is content to maintain a group of assassins posing as a gang. Delilah eventually wants to rule the world. Her mistreatment of people is obviously going to be on a larger scale than his.

I don’t know why people act like me saying Daud is bad automatically means I’m absolving everyone else of their wrongdoings, or at least saying that they’re not as bad. Daud has done some pretty distasteful things and that exists at the same time as, and without diminishing, the similarly distasteful things that Delilah has done. Delilah’s deeds do not just go away when I spend 2k words talking about how reprenhensible Daud is, and vice versa. I cannot deny, anon, that there is the tendency for Delilah’s witches to be viewed in a more favorable light because many of them represent stories of women who would otherwise suffer terribly at the hands of men both familiar and strange if not for the call of Delilah’s Arcane Bond power; but that fact doesn’t erase or censure what Daud has done, either - both the fact he killed so many people for money before Jessamine without regretting it, and that he attracts or otherwise rescues orphans off the street and inducts them into his organisation of assassins.

I previously talked about Daud vs Delilah here. I didn’t bring up the comparison, instead it was this anon who made the comparison and prompted me to respond. (I think)Anon sent this in because I made a few one-paragraph responses to asks about Daud, which weren’t really well written and didn’t really explain things well. I don’t always want to write several thousand words in response and I’m sure y’all don’t want to read a wall of text every time someone asks a question either. But that’s what happens when you read the last three posts instead of weeks or months of discussion. I realise it’s not always possible to follow every single bit of discussion on this site, but it’s all there. I don’t delete the posts containing these discussions, they’re either tagged as “anonymous” or the blog asking if named, while the JDTs are tagged as “justdishonoredthings” without exception, so they’re all there in the archive and they’re not going anywhere.

Also - villians using their power to hurt poeple who are trying to use their power and wealth to fix the Isles is like, the standard state of affairs in the world of Dishonored. It’s an alternate reality fictional universal that was created in order to explore the themes of Power and The Abuse of Power and as such it’s a microcosm if not a representation of the real world. So it may be cynical to say, but perhaps realistic as well, that we should expect some level of this downright abuse of power in the game.

[dorothydelgadillo]

The Only Thing Stopping Your Successful Tech Career Is…

Let me guess: you’re so over your current career, and—from everything you’ve read and heard—tech sounds like a dream path for getting to where you’d rather be. Working on interesting, creative projects in a cutting-edge industry? Check. Getting paid a salary that can actually help you get ahead on your bills? Check. Being able to work a flexible schedule from outside a traditional brick and mortar office? Check on that, too. So why aren’t you already learning tech skills, like yesterday? Whatever reasons you feel are holding you back from pursuing the tech career of your dreams, I bet they have something in common with what we hear from our students on a daily basis.

The good news is, no matter how real and overwhelming these reasons might seem to you, they’re not nearly as big a problem as you might think—in fact, they might not even be a problem at all. So sit back and read on as we round up the top five reasons you haven’t started your tech career yet, and you’ll see why each of these myths need to be returned to the Fiction section—stat!

I Don’t Have the Time

Perception of time can derail any kind of career change —specifically the amount of time needed to learn the skills and acquire the credentials or certifications necessary for taking on a new job. Flashbacks to years spent languishing in college classrooms are enough to send even the most iron-willed career change prospects running for the hills, and an industry like tech—with its arcane sounding acronyms and terminology—seems like a particularly intensive time commitment.

The Facts:

But feel free to breathe a sigh of relief—it won’t take that long to learn the basics you’ll need to break into tech. Unlike careers that really will take years to transition into, tech is realistically approachable within a year or less of training—a statement that’s been consistently affirmed to me by tech professionals. Whether it’s a tech pro like Wendy Zenone, Application Security Engineer at Lending Club, who worked adjacent to tech in marketing and established her foundational tech skills through a 12-week coding bootcamp, Blair McKee, Digital Marketing Manager at DNS Made Easy who entered tech in a non-technical role as a copywriter and taught herself web design over the course of a year, or Matt Hubbard, Director of Operations at Fullcontact, who worked in foreign policy and landed his first tech job before he’d even finished taking classes in information systems, I have yet to hear a story where it took someone multiple years to gain the skills they needed to start in tech.

The serious time investment in tech comes more on the back end, after you’re already employed. Although it’s a short timeline to get started, once you do start working in tech you’ll begin a lifetime of learning, adapting, and improving—it’s simply part of the industry. As Izzy Piyale-Sheard, Community Manager at coding bootcamp Lighthouse Labs, told me, even instructors with 20 years of experience at his company are still constantly learning. The upside with tech is that all this learning is on the clock and built-in as part of the job. So if concerns about time have been holding you back, let them go. The time is now!

It’s Too Expensive

Even if tech skills don’t come with a prohibitive time investment, what about the money? The term “tech” brings to mind self-driving cars, commercial space flights, and inflated real estate markets. That all sounds expensive, so it must mean learning tech skills is ridiculously pricey too, right? Wrong! While there will, of course, be a money investment if you attend coding bootcamps or enroll in coding classes online, with average yearly college tuitions for state schools coming in at a staggering $14,210, any amount you pay will be a fraction of what it costs to get a conventional degree. What’s more, there are two significant factors that ease the sting of paying to learn tech skills.

The Facts:

The first is the fact that entry-level tech jobs have a track record of returning on their investment within months of employment. In speaking with Skillcrush alum Chi-Chi Ross, she told me that she landed her first tech job two months after she started a Skillcrush course (and three weeks before the course was even finished). “I was able to make back the money I spent on the course and keep earning significantly more that I’d been able to make before,” Ross said. “Once I started working at my new job I more than doubled what I was making—in fact I saw a 108% increase in my income.”

Similarly, Emily K. Olson told me that by the time she finished learning HTML and CSS through Skillcrush, she’d already landed a remote job with a New York City based company, allowing her to make back the money she’d spent on classes while working from her home on the West Coast (in between travelling the world). “Not only did I earn back the money I invested before I really had a chance to miss it,” Olson said, “but learning tech skills has changed the way I feel, the way I see myself, and improved my life overall for the better.”

However, even when a return on investment is imminent, it doesn’t mean you won’t miss the initial cash until then. But there’s good news on that front too: unlike what you might remember from college or other certification programs where high tuition was accompanied by outrageous materials and textbook fees, free tech resources abound! Whether you’re learning tech skills or once you’re working in the industry, so many of the tools and information you’ll need cost absolutely nothing. Of particular interest if you’re just getting started are free blogs and forums like Codrops and Stack Overflow where you can find tutorials, web design blueprints, Q&A forums and more, all totally free of charge. So don’t believe the hype—99-percenters can afford to learn tech skills, too!

I’m Not Smart Enough

When people want to assure someone that a skill or task doesn’t require any exceptional level of intelligence or know-how, they often trot out the old cliche, “it’s not rocket science.” But when we’re talking about tech, it’s not as easy to dismiss that way. Computers, smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and all the apps and software that run on them sure seem pretty “rocket sciencey,” which leads to doubts that those of us who aren’t already rocket scientists or preternaturally gifted with genius IQs are simply “not smart enough” to learn tech skills. This fear seems to come from a misunderstanding of tech more than any genuine intellectual challenges, and “smart”—more often than not—really translates to, “I’m not good at math,” something that might seem to be a requirement for tech, but totally isn’t.

The Facts:

When it comes to thinking that math is a big part of tech, no one will fault you for that preconception—I mean, the whole thing is built on 1’s and 0’s—but it really isn’t the case in practice. When I interviewed tech pros on the subject last summer, Monica Lent, Lead Front End Engineer at SumUp, told me that she personally struggled with math all through school. “I was terrible at geometry, terrible at algebra, didn’t complete calculus. I’m even slow at arithmetic,” Lent said. Still, that hasn’t stopped Lent from managing a team of five web developers and proving that math and computer science aren’t the only direct routes to a tech career. Web Developer Charlotte O’Hara, who also described having no background in math outside of basic arithmetic, says this is possible because most web development projects don’t rely heavily on math at all. According to O’Hara, critical thinking and an eye for design are far more important as a web developer than math calculations.

Even so, it’s also important to remember that your own perceptions of being “smart” or “good at math” are often just that—perceptions. Ultimately, my previous look at math and coding led to a 2017 Science Magazine study that suggests our perception of our ability (and not our ability itself) is a huge determinant for success. So rather than convince yourself what you can’t do, think about what you can do, and couple that positive attitude with the encouraging examples of others who have paved the way before you.

It’s Too Risky to Make a Change

Yeah, your job sucks, but you know it’s there and you know what to expect from it. What happens if you take the time and spend the money to learn tech skills, but then can’t find a job in tech? And even if you do find a tech job, can you count on it being secure going into the future? For the risk averse, this kind of gamble might seem too high stakes—but it turns out, tech isn’t really a gamble at all.

The Facts:

I recently looked into the question of tech job security, and the first thing I found was data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics listing software/application developers as the 5th-place growth job between now and 2026. What’s more, of the 30 occupations listed, developers came in second place for median salaries ($100,080). This paints a pretty clear picture that tech jobs will be plentiful and high paying for the foreseeable future. And, as Dasha Moore, Chief Operating Officer and Founder at Solodev explained to me, tech job growth doesn’t just mean more numbers of the same kind of jobs—instead, it speaks directly to the fact that tech is continuing to penetrate more and more industries and positions, meaning more opportunities and greater job security with every passing year. As tech becomes increasingly entrenched in every aspect of business, government, manufacturing, healthcare, etc., the concern should become less about whether investing in tech skills is risky, and more about how risky it is not to!

I’m Too Old

A question we hear a lot when helping with customer support at Skillcrush is whether prospective tech learners are “too old” to learn tech skills. Interestingly, the “old” in this question is all over the map, as it comes in from enquirers aged 16 to 65 (and all points in between). On one hand, it’s a very easy question to answer (simply, “no”), but this age issue often becomes a very real (if very unnecessary) obstacle in learning tech skills (or making any major career changes). As someone who started working outside the home again in my 40’s after 12 years as a full-time parent, I can speak to the fact that I let the “too old” hangup get in my way for a long time.

The Facts:

Last September we started a blog feature titled “Who Codes?”, looking at diversity in the tech industry (believe it or not, tech consists of a lot more than the proverbial dudes in their 20’s high-fiving and wearing hoodies), and—over the three installments we’ve run so far—four of the six coders we’ve featured are in their 40’s, well outside the stereotype of the tech wunderkind. One of those 40-something coders—Jill Caren, owner of digital agency 2 Dogs Media LLC—didn’t even start coding until she was in her 30’s. After spending a lot of money hiring someone else to build a website for her retail business and being disappointed with the final product, Caren taught herself PHP, CSS, and HTML so she could be the designer, and—in the process—realized web development was what she actually wanted to be doing career-wise (and what she’s still doing successfully today).

Precisely because tech skills are so accessible, and—as discussed above—are neither prohibitively time consuming or expensive to learn, any time and any age is the right time to add them to your toolkit. If you let your age fears win, all that happens is you’ll be another day older tomorrow, but you won’t have started learning tech skills—and even then, you STILL won’t be too old to start!

from Web Developers World https://skillcrush.com/2018/01/03/the-only-thing-stopping-your-successful-tech-career-is/

[etalablog]

Et Al a Blog: It’s always the Cover-up that gets ya.

It’s always the Cover-up that gets ya. Just ask Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, Christie et al. It’s always the cover-up in the end, not what they did wrong or embarrassing to begin with. “Cover-ups” are much easier to prove than the typical malfeasance and shenanigans which prompt them.

And so it is with now President Trump and his former National Security Advisor Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.

What cover-up?

Let me employ the old, arcane and little used concepts of “common sense” and, of course, the enemy of politicians everywhere, dreaded “logic”. Both fly in the face of political discourse as we have come to know it of late, but alas, they are the only tools available, since video tape confessions are no longer considered reliable apparently.

Let me start with the “facts” as we know them. No, I am sorry, I will not consider your “alternative facts” or “The President’s beliefs”, they don’t count. If you insist on using them, just stop reading now.

As was acknowledged a month ago, following news reports, National Security Advisor Designee Lt. Gen Michael Flynn called the Russian Ambassador on the day after Obama imposed significant “sanctions” as a result of Russian hacking operations directed at our 2016 Presidential campaign, successfully as it happens.

It was then we all learned about, for the first time I am sure, the “Logan Act”. Now, no one has ever been prosecuted for violating this act, and it is unlikely anyone will, but in responding to the “news”, Flynn himself, Conway, Spicer and even the Vice-President explicitly denied that the sanctions were discussed in the off chance someone, like an evil Democrat, would actually attempt to do so. “No” they all said. “Gen. Flynn never discussed the sanctions with the Russian Ambassador”.

The call was only to either arrange for forth coming contact numbers and/or, depending on who was speaking, merely conveying Christmas greetings to the Ambassador. The latter would have demonstrated a remarkable cultural insensitivity given that the Russian Orthodox Christmas was still almost two weeks away. But, of course, that is not what the call was about, thank goodness, so that faux pas was probably avoided.

We now know, thanks to selfless Patriots within the US Intelligence community, that there was a “tape”. Of course there was a tape! Did you not learn nothing from Nixon or even Edward Snowden?

And on this tape, of course, we all now know Flynn, did in fact, explicitly discusses Obama’s Sanctions, urging the Russians not to respond as the sanctions were to be “re-examined” when Trump assumed the Presidency. Subsequently, Putin publicly states they will not respond and President-elect praises him for doing so.  

But here is where the wheels start to come off.

Within days of Trump becoming President, the acting Attorney General notifies the White House of the phone call transcript(s) and its contents. Moreover, she advises them that since, apparently, Flynn has “misled” them all, including V.P. Pence, and the Russians obviously knew he had, he had left himself subject to “blackmail”.

With this “new” information, the President immediately suspends Flynn from the National Security Council (we all know “National Security” is President Trump’s number one issue!) and has him apologize to VP Pence and others pending a full investigation.

Except, of course, this is exactly what did NOT happen. No, instead, two days later the Acting AG is fired for not enforcing the infamous “Muslim Travel Ban”, among other reasons it would seem. And then three more weeks of Flynn leading the National Security Council. Three more weeks of Flynn receiving the very highest top secrets of our intelligence operations.

A clearly desperate Intelligence community now alarmed that nothing was being done about the “lies” of Flynn and his exposure to Russian influence, now “leak” the existence of the transcript to the Free Press and the CIA’s publicly refuses to give Flynn’s Senior Aide a security clearance.

And then last night, Flynn resigns because he has “lost the trust of the President” presumably because he lied to everyone about his phone call. But here is where you have to use “common sense” and a little “logic”. He didn’t lie to Trump.

I don’t have a transcript of his discussions with Trump but it truly beggars belief that Flynn, his closest National Security Advisor for over a year, the source of all news “Russian”, would unilaterally, on his own prerogative, make such statements to the Russian Ambassador without having discussed it with Trump first and again, afterwards. Why would he? At that time, he apparently had no idea the call, let alone the transcript would ever become common knowledge.

And then why did Trump do nothing for three weeks following the notification about the transcript? Because Trump knew the Russians had nothing on Flynn (presumably) that he didn’t already know! Trump already knew about the sanctions conversation and was trying to find a way to make good on his assurances, through Flynn, to the Russians.

But the public knowledge of the call required that they all keep a low profile and wait for it all to blow over. It’s not like there wasn’t plenty of other things to talk about.

So Trump knows. THIS is why he does nothing about Flynn for three more weeks to see if it all just quiets down and goes away. And oh, common sense also informs us that Bannon, recently appointed to the NSC (apparently by his own hand and Trump’s signature) was equally aware of what was happening from the git go.

Friday night and the existence of the transcript becomes known, they all head for cover. And now they are all in full blown cover-up mode. A couple days of duck and cover, during which they manage to blow security at Mara-a-lago, etc..

Finally, it becomes clear there is only one answer.

Blame Flynn.

So much for the ever loyal “Stand by your Man” Donald J. Trump of lore. Now, like Christie, like Manafort, like Giuliani, he is to quietly disappear and take one for the Trump team. “What ever happened to that guy?”.

And now we begin the next phase: “the cover-up”. Duck, evade, spin.

Except, of course, we are not going anywhere. Nor are Senators “He’s no hero” John McCain, or Lindsey “nut job” Graham and 47 Democrats. This WILL result in his impeachment. The investigation will finally reveal the depth of Donald Trump’s involvement with the Russian Government and the pieces which explain his bizarre fixation with Russia will be revealed.

These will form the High Crimes and Misdemeanors upon which the articles of Impeachment will be filed.

And Pence? Perhaps our next President? It is entirely credible he knew nothing of any of this. Moreover, we already know his ability to detect bullshit when he hears it is…. faulty. Why else would he accept the job of investigating the “millions of illegal votes” in the last election? Gullible is a defense if not exactly an attribute we would want in a President. Of course, in the Age of Trump, the bar set for being President is low indeed.

Unfortunately for Trump, he himself understands very little of American history and reads even less. So it is that he will finally learn, as he is led to the helicopter for the last time, that it is the “cover-up” which always gets ya.