#are they far enough re

[bogcreacher]

clangen keeps delivering me morally reprehensible lesbians 

[laylakeating]

NEW GIRL REWATCH | 1.01, Pilot

[serpentface]

Retconned Wardi firearms- a basic handgun, a highly decorative ceremonial handgun (belonging to Faiza), and a lance-gun.

Gun tech has officially been nerfed down to hand cannons (press F) (this has been a long time coming but I'd been fallacy of sunk costs-ing myself out of retconning).

Handguns are held similarly to a shotgun, with the butt pressed into the user's shoulder, one hand gripping under the barrel, and the other free to ignite the gunpowder. These represent the most advanced firearms in contemporary usage, both in make and in their use of uniform iron projectiles built to match the gun's bore for greater range and efficiency. Lance-guns are the more basal form, usually larger and mounted with the pole held over the shoulder, and are most effectively used by two people (one to hold and aim, one to light the gunpowder).

The spread of firearms is currently mostly limited to the Eastern Inner Seaway peoples (with some additional distribution via overland trade), and actual manufacture of hand cannons and gunpowder at Significant scale is limited to the region's core powers.

The reason for this limited spread is partially due to specific elements of the technology's history. Gunpowder was first synthesized by Burri alchemists and considered to be the discovery of the legendary divine weapon + solar fire of the deity Inanariya, and its formula (along with techniques for ideally refining its components) remained a closely guarded state secret. It was used predominantly in priestly contexts to generate flame and explosive sounds (in conjunction with earlier practices of generating multicolored flames with use of other chemicals), then integrated into combustible weaponry in the forms of fire lances, which would eventually develop into early handcannons.

The treatment of gunpowder as a guarded sacred or semi-sacred substance continued with Wardi adoption, where knowledge of its making is considered a closed rite. It's name (inya tsatsul or just tsatsul, a derived adoption of the Burri iñazatsūya) still reflects a divine solar association (the Burri word means 'sun's thunder', the Wardi 'inya' invokes the sun, 'tsatsul' is an adapted loanword and has no meaning independent of the substance itself), though its priestly use is now predominantly associated with the firearm'ed Odonii (rather than priests of the solar Face Inyamache). The composition of gunpowder can no longer be regarded as a Secret by any means, though efforts to obscure the methods of its creation are still moderately successful and has kept knowledge of gunpowder manufacture more limited than the total sphere of firearm usage itself.

The actual strongest limiting factor of firearm usage is the rarity of natural saltpeter deposits necessary for making gunpowder. The practice of actively producing saltpeter via nitraries has not been developed anywhere in the setting, and all is instead obtained via natural sources. These sources are rare and limited within the current spread of firearm technology, and result in gunpowder being a limited and expensive substance to produce. The weapons themselves are also very expensive to manufacture (a good quality steel SWORD is far too material-cost prohibitive for most people to own), particularly high quality firearms designed for use with standardized ammunition.

These guns are also very basal, and logistical difficulties in their use (weight, very slow loading and firing speed, high visibility, Relatively low reach and accuracy) along with the restrictive cost of production has kept firearms far from rendering conventional weaponry, armor, and projectiles obsolete (even within the societies that have access to them). They are still, however, very devastating in use within their contemporary context, particularly in that high quality guns have a longer range than the best arrow-based projectiles, and utterly negate most contemporary forms of armor at close range.

[vagitterian]

The birth of Ianthe, Coronabeth... And Harrow

I imagine this has been discussed prior/refuted, but I've been thinking about Ianthe and Coronabeth during my re-read and obviously with the knowledge we have from the end of Gideon the Ninth about Coronabeth not being a necromancer, and the deception they have built... It got me thinking.

“—were inflexible—the household’s backing—born at the exact—both the adept—”

The mayonnaise uncle was talking to the anaemic twin, his probable future bride. “I was removed by … surgical means,” Ianthe was saying calmly, her long fingers toying with the stem of her glass. “My sister is a few minutes older.”

A brief pause to appreciate the comedy of Ianthe and Silas's fantasy betrothal.

Anyway, so the fifth house lied about the circumstances of the twins' birth to get them all into Canaan House. Perhaps because the summons from the Necrolord Prime asked for the first fruits of your household and Coronabeth was born first and was not an adept? Regardless, the ruse is not meaningfully called out because Teacher/associated personnel know that they have only brought Naberius Tern and therefore the problem (Only having one cavalier between two "adepts") will be theirs as they cannot both be lyctors.

Anyway what interested me is this:

“Your parents,” he said, in his unexpectedly deep and sonorous voice, “risked intervention?” “Yes. Corona, you see, had removed my source of oxygen.” “A wasted opportunity, I’d think.” “I don’t live alternate histories. Corona’s birth put my survivability somewhere around definite nil.”

At the time I was operating on the idea of limited medical science, and later I settled on the possibility that gestating parents were struggling to support multiple lives, especially if they themselves were necromancers, because necromancers are liable to use their own thalergy and this can compromise the developing foetus/soul thereof. It brings to mind the problems Harrow's mother was having giving birth -- and that today got me thinking.

Are twins specifically unlikely because one of them is likely to consume the other's life force to become an adept, a la Harrow and the genocide of Ninth children? The gestator might be able to control their necromancy and protect the foetuses, but is a developing foetal necromancer able to perform necromancy? Can a non-adept foetus consume a twin and become an adept if exposed to the thanergy of their demise?

Are foetal necromancers likely to steal the thalergy of a non-adept twin foetus as they both grow? Or are they perhaps born sickly as they consume their own?

Even as I consider this I think about how Coronabeth was born healthily, regardless of this theory. But I do wonder at the concept of birthing twins in general within this series and why they are considered an ill omen. Surely they would be excellent genetic batteries on the Eighth, for example. And in houses where people are struggling to reproduce, wouldn't twins be a blessing?

[vincentbriggs]

Writing sewing video scripts is a whole lot of "Is this too complicated? I don't want people to be confused!" and "Am I overexplaining this? I don't want to sound condescending!" and the glove video is even worse than normal, but I finally recorded the voiceover today and I think it's fine! I show and explain all the pieces before I even get into the drafting, so hopefully this'll all makes perfect sense to everyone and you'll all make fancy gloves and it'll be great

[breadedsinner]

Tagged by @sunflowerdales, @elvenmother, @daisymeade, and @ammoniteflesh

I'll tag @dwarvenales, @dandenbo, and @shadoedseptmbr

[inkedinserendipity]

this is a rendog singing appreciation post

because he is really good. he goes off! i mean, the vibes of that whole scene were impeccable - the creaking forest, the crackling of the campfire, the calm of night - but ren's voice goes so hard. vibes, and also technically speaking!

ren's got this gorgeous vibrato on low notes (you can hear it most times he holds a note at the end of a measure for more than a second) that is so warm and so inviting. scratchy, and deep, and always held for just the right amount of time. and he only does it on some long notes, not all of 'em - which is hard to do! holding notes at a constant pitch is harder than hitting vibrato on everything, and he has a beautiful blend of both that he makes seem effortless. (and he holds vibrato on hard sounds too! he hits it on the first "rising sun" which is on an n, which is imo hard to pull off well)

he also has the whole song down pat! there's a brief point (two notes, maybe three?) where he diverges from the melody, but he's still picked notes in the key of the song, which implies he could probably harmonize with the song too. and that is also very hard to pull off!

and just the whole - he has such a unique voice. it's emotive and warm and encompassing. technicals aside, it's a uniquely moving voice and it fits rising sun particularly well.

not to mention he's freaking playing guitar! which means at least part of his brain is focused on notes over the technicalities of singing, which means that all of his skill is instinctive! like he's probably not focusing on vibrato!

like when jimmy said "that's very good!" jimmy was correct! i was shocked when i heard ren singing. like that is Not what i was expecting from my minecraft youtuber!

anyway this is a pitch for ren. PLEASE sing more. please. a cover of the song maybe? for me??

[youmagnificentbeast]

A Mild Electrical! - A Compilation of Greg Davies in "This Is Jinsy"

[ghosts-of-love]

various people from dating apps etc have been chatting with me but the conversations have been feeling quite one-sided/involve me putting in a lot of effort with little response and I've tried to let it slide Until Today when someone just responded "aw" to me saying that I had THE BEST DAY EVER at the zoo with my friends. Just "aw"???? like if someone said that to me I'd be asking which zoo as the bare minimum, then asking for photos, asking what their favourite animals that they saw were, asking what animal they'd like to BE. but literally no follow up questions?? and someone else too just said "oh cool, I'm sleepy" like?? bro I'm sleepy too i was at the fucking zoo i saw meerkats and otters and tigers and a maned wolf and strange dinosaur statues and capybara and I have PHOTOS why don't you want to see them!!!!

[ichthyorelationships]

an idea i invite anyone else to write about / run with lol....

the premise that The Change gets all messed up for alberto, say it's something that can happen from stress, &/or happens rarely and you just have to wait for it to resolve itself....used as some parallel to struggling through some emotional turbulence / upheaval / questioning / Realizing Things, etc etc

[cheriekos]

these are super, super informal and unorganized thoughts but god these panels are haunting me so:

it’s interesting to finally be reading some of the issues that i assume influence general fanon perception of damian because there’s so much emphasis on the actions against tim (and like yeah fair, fucked up let’s not move past that) but also there’s little moments sprinkled throughout that made me go “…this is a child. This is a whole child.”

like idk man! These two pieces of dialogue are very striking to me! “See? I can be useful!” And “Look at me, Mother!”. Maybe it’s just because I work with kids but i read this and very clearly hear a child’s voice! And sometimes i think because a lot of people get caught up in the “formal” way that damian speaks that people forget he’s a kid. A very competent, highly trained kid. But he’s a kid.

Again, i don’t think Damian’s actions can be brushed off just because he’s a kid, and (within the content of the Morrison run), has had some fucked up shit going on. But like - for fanon, I’m just begging folks to strike the balance between talking about Damian being held accountable for his actions and also understanding that in this point in time he’s like maybe nine or ten-years-old. Idk! I’m tired of reading analysis and fan fiction that absolutely crucifies Damian and doesn’t try to find the nuance at all.

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

[cws: drugging, SA and SA apologia, fantasy racism/ableism, forced institutionalization.]

-

i know i never shut up about it but god i am still just. So Salty about how the show handles the dynamic between mayor jones and pericles for many reasons, and one of the biggest is that there are really strong overtones here of sexual assault.

a character who already brings to mind the Slimy, Shady Cis White Guy with Buried Allegations archetype:

takes advantage of the trust of someone who's doing something with him in secret--

(which will get that person in a disproportionate amount of trouble compared to him, if they're discovered)

--to catch him off guard so he can grab him, drug him, and do violent things to his body while he's unconscious; scars him for life in a way that is disabling and should cause a lot of ongoing suffering, which, like many other things that should have a strong negative impact on him physically or psychologically, the writers ignore; and dumps him there alone to discover what's been done to him when he wakes up.

specifically, he does this to someone from a marginalized group that's highly unlikely to be believed if they tell anyone what he did--and going by the fact that mayor jones never got in any trouble until present day, he wasn't.

goes out of the way to ruin the life of the victim and discredit him as thoroughly as possible, because he's a loose end and he needs to shut him up.

flees the scene and gets away scot free with this for twenty years, has a successful privileged career and is considered a pillar of the community in the meantime.

when his dirty secret, which he's been paranoid about finally facing consequences for after the victim has recently become a risk again, is discovered, it's a huge career-ending scandal.

is redeemed by the end, while his victim goes on to be the Monstrous Irredeemable Pure Evil Main Villain and also sexually abuse someone himself, which is played as horrific and traumatizing (as it should be).

more specifically, is portrayed as showing redeeming, heroic anti-villain qualities by backhanding the victim into a wall as hard as he can in present day.

me: hm. yeah fuck this

[angelofchaos001]

Wings of Rain Directory Post

[A WIP Post that, when completed, will contain links to each major character's info post and lay out the basic premise of the AU as well as a timeline]

Info + Links (Currently not out) Below!

AU Premise

-Wings of Fire x Rain World

World State

Harsh rain comes naturally to this world. Nobody is for sure how it happened, but it is believed to be the unintended side effect of an animus spell upon the land to bring rain to the dry land.

The Ancient Tribes were the groups that lived on the structures scattered around. From an original 9, they split into smaller groups, and through the isolation and unique climates, adapted into even more tribes. All documented new tribes are gathered in a classified document (Will be linked when I figure out the best way to do it).

Biggest of all, there is no cycle of death and rebirth. There is nothing, and when you die once, you die forever. It's no longer something craved and unachievable. It's real. Terrifying. And permanent.

Across the land, dozens of huge structures loom out of the ground and extend far into the clouds. What do they house? What purpose do they serve? How long have they been here? These and many other valid questions have been posed by outsiders. These structures once housed thriving populations of dragons, tribes that united and mingled with one another, and in some cases bred entirely new tribes due to isolation. Each one was filled with live, power, and joy. Treasures of gold and gems sparkled from almost everyone, and the attention was never unnoticed.

Far below, greedy creatures would bravely climb the structures to try and steal the precious treasures. And while the dragons fought them off easily, bit by bit, they began to lose more and more gold. Eventually, guards were appointed to dedicate their life to fighting, before moving onto automating the process instead. With the power of technology and modification of the guards, they turned them into weapons of destruction. All their vital functions would be automated, and their flesh and bone turned to steel and iron so they could not be harmed. But underneath the fancy enhancements, they still had the mind of a dragon, and still had emotions. Becoming these sworn cybernetic defenders was the highest honor a dragon could seek. There was only one to each structure, since they were so highly efficient, and as cities migrated towards only the tops of the structures, the insides of it became a warrior's home, being shaped in their image and tailored as they saw fit.

But now, long after those dragons have departed, the guardians remain. Still performing their sworn duty, even when the scavengers united with the slugcats to produce even more dangerous raids.

Dragons lived together in units called 'Wings', prefaced by some descriptor of the tribe or their territory (SunWings, DuskWings, NightWings, SilkWings, etc). These Wings could have multiple structures with multiple guardians, but together would still be referred to as a 'Wing'. An old name resurfaced for what to call all structures as a whole: A Tribe.

Timeline

Moon 0 (Also known as the Scorched Moon Cycle) - Dragons unite and kill other intelligent creatures en mass, becoming the new dominant species across the world. (Previously, it had been Scavengers)

- Founding of 'Wings', or small civilizations of dragons that live together as a group. Often led by an elected ruler referred to as a King or Queen.

- The first structure is built to house a city where dragons can live out of reach of the remaining scavengers, as well as the other hostile flora and fauna. They live both in and on the structure, and it served no purpose other than a glorified foundation.

- The first guards are appointed to defend the cities from raids by intelligent creatures: Mainly groups of scavengers.

- After time and effort, the first cybernetically enhanced guards are made and appointed. They turn out to be extremely effective, and become widespread throughout the structures.

- Obscurity, a DuskWing, is appointed as the guard of her structure. She would go on to be the first guard with animus magic, and would not be the last.

- The second guard with animus magic is appointed, a NightWing named Darkstalker. In a short time, however, as Darkstalker goes mad with power, he is stopped by Obscurity and Conch (another animus guard) and trapped in a far weaker form. The restriction of 'no selfish spells' is added to the code of all animus guards.

-Obscurity attempts to flee her structure for unknown reasons, likely due to no longer seeming as powerful. She is unsuccessful and causes another restriction to be added: The inability to leave one's structure without permission.

- A mysterious plague begins in the IceWings, possibly linked to the temporary disappearance of Darkstalker's weaker form, that is highly infective, lethal, and has no cure. After learning that the robotic sentinels are unaffected by the plague, Obscurity refuses to help anyone as vengeance for them not letting her leave.

-As the plague begins to spread through tribes and structures, entire tribes of dragons die off, leaving their structures empty except for their guardians.

- The last dragon catches the plague and eventually succumbs, leaving behind only empty husks of cities with their guardians. A few eggs remained, unaffected, but most dragonets either did not hatch or died young, though there are a few exceptions.

- The guardians still did their jobs, slaughtering raids of scavengers that tried to steal treasure and now sometimes, even dragon eggs.

- Scavengers eventually team up with the other intelligent life, slugcats, to try and have more success with the numbers of the scavengers and the focus of the slugcats.

- Obscurity disappears from broadcasts and conversations, but is known to still be alive from camera feed and observation. Most guardians design small creatures for such a task, named Overseers for their ability to oversee anything.

After this, it's current events and is portrayed similarly to the canon slugcat timeline.

- After a struggle in a raid, Lilypuck is ambushed by stragglers and knocked off her structure. Overseers, unable to locate her,

- Snowblind sends out their last citizen to try and find Lilypuck. This dragon, Kata, was also sent out with an informational pearl to give to Garnet as she passed through the region next door.

- Around the same time, Vigilance sends out their last citizen, Sharpclaw, to try and find Lilypuck as well. Sharpclaw and Kata end up teaming with each other since they share the same task.

- Garnet becomes infected by a strange plant that grows in certain regions, able to take control of their minds at will. He used it in an attempt to control the scavengers of his region, but it backfired horribly.

- Heatwave, a mother slugcat, becomes the first (and only) creature to have a Guardian's protection. She, along with her two pups, become a fearsome legend among colonies and serve as a cautionary tale for new ones.

- Bear becomes the first slugcat to rule a colony, taking over in Stonewall's region after the Chieftain was killed.

Links to Info Pages

Guardian Programming

Biology and Physique of a Guardian

Links to Character Info Pages

Stormcloud (Survivor)

[dkettchen]

My most male trait is the "ye I can do that" attitude abt stuff I have no means of actually knowing whether I can do

[adolin]

Do you have any recommendations for feminist theory books?

genuinely I'm not as well versed on it as I'd like to be! I mostly read, like "contemporary mainstream" books rather than academic lit — currently I am reading delusions of gender by Cordelia Fine which is very good but it's taking me literal months because I need to stop in between chapters and yell a bit. as one does.

anyway. speaking of more academic-ys stuff: this is a cool reading list I'm working my way through. my all-time favourite work of feminist theory I've read was sister outsider by audre lorde, which should also be on that list iirc, or at least some essays from it.

also copypasting the OP note from that reading list because I think this is a very important context note that people often forget when it comes to academic & historical feminist writing lmao. especially on this website

I urge you to be highly critical of all of these authors. Take notes. Write a rebuttal and reason why you are opposed to or concerned about the aspects of some theories. Compare one author to another. Write down key notes that you find profound or impactful on how you think about something, and reason why. Analyze key points and think about how they can be expanded on and applied to current events. Write down a list of further questions to research later.

[triangle-strategy-notes]

Geela's reference/concept art!

Translation notes under the cut.

I'm really not sure about the "Is she the Minister of Animals!?" caption. The sequence of characters there appear to be "さま大臣動物!?" The first two characters (さま) are the sama- honorific, indicating it's referencing someone of higher status. The last two characters (動物) mean "animal." The middle ones, however, are kinda weird. "大" can be read as "large," or possibly "university," and "臣" means "retainer or attendant." So, taken at face value, this would read something like, "Sir/Ma'am, [are you/am I/is this] the retainer of large animals?!"

However, for what I'm guessing were grammatical reasons, no automatic translator would translate it that way no matter how much I fiddled with things; and would always default back to just spitting the Japanese words back out. However, if two of the characters are switched around (臣大 becoming 大臣), every automatic translator was suddenly able to interpret it, and I could successfully find the characters as words in a dictionary--but it was translated as "Minister of animals" instead of "retainer of large animals." So it would have read more like, "[Are you/am I/is she] the Minister of Animals?!"

Given the sama- prefix and the way the sentence is formed (as well as the fact that "Minister" is the big title we see used in Hyzante), I decided to go with the "minister" translation, but I'm making the assumption that there was a little bit of a typo there. There's a pretty good chance that this is just a grammatically-shorthanded version of "Ma'am, are you the retainer of large animals?!" Or, as always, it's possible there's a completely different potential meaning that I missed.