#bane's another great example

[dairy-farmer]

Was thinking about what would happens if an author on Ao3 I loved died and their subscribed readers never knew why they stopped uploading. I mean it happens all the time for various reasons not just on Ao3 either. People grown out of interests. Life gets in the way or something as simple as getting locked out of an account.

There was that Stan ((maybe a swifty or Arianna fan on twitter maybe?!)) account that went to prison and posted to say they wouldn’t be active for a while a few years ago and everyone was joking about it. Or another example; that famous screenshot of a blog saying ‘ sorry I haven’t been posting I got diagnosed with bpd and I take meds now and I don’t like BTS anymore’ or something like that.

I just think it’s hilarious and Ao3 authors are kinda knows for being comically unbotherd. Like ‘sorry I didn’t upload this week, my house burnt down’. Or something that crazy. I know it’s a running joke but think it a great prompt for identify porn.

Like Tim as a huge Batman and robin fan with unsupervised internet access definitely had read and subscribed to all kinds or ao3 content. Maybe one of his fav Batman authors stops updating there ongoing fic randomly dispite having weekly uploads. Turns out the updates stopped the week Jason Todd died. Tim never figured it out or maybe he does or just has a hunch about it. No wonder he likes the writer so much they always had such an accurate depiction of the Batman and his dynamics with others. Tim liked that this author wrote Crackfics that put Batman in the stupidest situations, or wrote the most heartbreaking sentimental masterpiece about love and found family and robin and Batman’s dynamic 😍🥰😩

Either way I bet Jason never touched our thought about it again after comping back to life pretty much blocking it from his brain and pretending it never happened.

Tim on the other hand though about their work years and years later even after becoming robin would go back to that authors page and wonder what happened :(

//

Or later in life Tim being a writer/blogger/art account* with a big following and being alarmingliy honest when he updates his like;

‘sorry this is late :( got kidnapped again’

‘Not going to post next week bc I think someone is planning on bombing my school”

‘Update early today because I won’t be in a good mood later because I have to fire some people in a meeting this afternoon. Yes I’m a CEO’

‘Sorry ending this story because I’m depressed again bc my dad died. #officiallyanorphan’

‘Quick one shot that came to me in a fever dream while I was recovering from a stab wound’

*((obviously in the hero fandom, who are we kidding)the weirder and more obscure the better like he likes to draw Condiment King making out with different JL members. And exclusive writes batcest))

People LOVE his stuff and he gains fans anda reputation for posting very accurate and high quality stuff. People make fan pages and discussion his posts and works. His occult following notice he has a tendency to accurately predict things like Bane bomings and Arkham breakouts. They know he’s obviously a Gothomite and people like that they don’t know who he is. Either way he’s a Gotham legend in his own right.

Or maybe he has several different accounts non of them linked

I just love to imagine little Timmy becoming famous/gaining notorotiry in different ways over the year for different reason without people knowing it’s all the same person

He’s a child actor/model/ comercial baby 👼- (your au)

He’s an omen to criminals, a ghost a legend. A sighing of him means Batman is close by ((little Timmy with his camera running around at night)🥷 -(another of yours I think)

He gives anonymous tips to the GPD the news and the general public about rogue attacks to keep pls safe.🕵️‍♂️

ROBIN obviously. 🦸‍♂️

He’s a twitter art account 🧑‍🎨

Maybe has a porn account too! 🥴

A tumblr conspiracy theorist 🧑‍🏫

An Ao3 author 👨‍💻

Hes also Timothy Drake COE and Gothams youngest Bachelor 🕴️

He maybe even streams with his face covered on twitch or something stupid👾

All of these different identities have a huge fan base and no one ever knows that Tim is like famous 10 time over. Then he goes looking for Bruce after his ‘death’ and all his followers from separate fan bases are like :(((( oh no he probably died in a Gotham attack!! 😫😭 bc Gotham



so i actually do have an answer for the first part of your ask! there's such a thing as a fannish next of kin on ao3! where you can choose someone and they can get access to your account after you're incapacitated or pass away!

but tim becoming famous like a million times, some of which the family knows about and some of which they don't (like when he became the poster child for no man's and they're all so wild and different only a handful of people on the internet probably put it together. im also losing it at the idea of tim being known for 'predicting' things in gotham with his fics because it reminds me of this meme:

the idea that some fic author is managing to accurately predict bad things happening in gotham BEFORE they happen 😭 tim getting kidnapped because some shitty criminal was paying too much attention to fan forums and actually ended up believing the 'this fic author can see the future'. tim absolutely beats the shit out of them before anyone notices he's gone so it doesn't get discovered why he was kidnapped because he'd never live it down.

and the baby tim as a commercial/little tv star au!!❤️❤️❤️ i love that au so much but i can't take credit for it, it was actually created by orlovbats on twitter!!!!

also the tim as an omen also isn't mine- i don't think i recognize it either but the closest thing i found was this tumblr post so i think this is what you may have been thinking of?

i LOVE the thought that time never stopped being a fanboy- he just got better at hiding it because he knew he'd be teased ❤️!

[elminx]

Since I have seen a lot of posts about correspondences in witchcraft going around again, I wanted to stop for a minute and talk about how correspondences work and why you might want to make sure that you understand the correspondences you are using in your own craft.

This is likely an oversimplification, but I think that we can break down correspondences into three main categories:

Cultural Correspondences - these are often heavily steeped in the mythology and folklore of a particular region. They are often but not always correspondences of items found in that region. This is where correspondences become the most varied because, despite what you may have read in Those Bad Witchcraft Books, culture is not universal. A great example of this is that most Western cultures associate the color black with Death and Mourning but a lot of non-Western cultures have the same association with the color white. It stands to reason that this type of correspondence will work the best for you if you are sticking as close to the correspondences of the bioregion that you grew up in as possible (1) and that they will be most effective when used magically on somebody else from that bioregion (2).

Material Correspondences - these correspondences are based on the physical properties of the item in question. Some plants are edible, some medicinal, and some poisonous. Things with thorns can hurt you when you touch them. Quartz has high levels of electric conductivity. The idea here is that if Rosemary repels insects, it can be used in a banishment spell to repel that unwanted "insect" from your life. These are, in my opinion, the immutable correspondences - the item you are using will ALWAYS carry its physical characteristics with it into your magic. Spicy peppers will always be Hot and Burning, so-called "Weeds" will always grow tenaciously, and Sugar will always be Sweet. It is worth keeping in mind here that when using plants, the part of the plant may affect whether it carries that correspondence. Sometimes only one part of the plant carries a particular property - consider the difference between the sweet scent of rose petals that we use in love spells versus the sharp thorn that would be better used for protection. 3. Sympathetic Correspondences - The base concept behind sympathy is that two things that are alike in some way share a connection with one another that can be harnessed magically. The more alike that two things are, the deeper the connection. There are many ways that this is used in magic. A lot of herbal correspondences involve sympathy through the Doctrine of Signatures. This is the thought process that anything shaped like an ear can be used to affect ears/hearing magically. The Doctrine of Signatures gets rolled in a little bit with Cultural Correspondences as it is heavily rooted in Western herbalism, but it deserves a mention on its own. Another way that sympathetic magic makes its way into correspondences is the idea that an object from a particular place carries some of the energy of that place which can be harvested for magical intent. You see this in the use of bank dirt in money spells or cemetery dirt in baneful magic. This is also where Holy water, moon water, and stormwater come into play - here we are assuming that something that has been done to the water (being blessed by a priest, charged in the moon, or collected during a storm) carries an inherent energy that can be then transferred to your spell. Depending on your viewpoint, you may or may not agree with the concepts of sympathetic magic.

And that's the whole point of this. Witchcraft, as a whole, isn't the sort of path where you are supposed to proceed based entirely on blind faith. If you're flipping to a certain page in Scott Cunningham's infamous Green Book and finding the first money herb you come across to use in a spell, you are probably doing yourself a disservice. I suggest that you look closer. Not only will the physical correspondence change how your spell manifests (I've written about this before) but you may find that you don't even BELIEVE or AGREE with that correspondence at all. And maybe that's not important to you (but if that's true, why are you even reading this?). But I suggest that it should be. That understanding of a correspondence deepens your connection with the energy of the item you are looking to use. Moreover, exploring it further may give you all sorts of juicy ideas for spellwork to augment that energy.

Do you like my work? You can support me by tipping me on Kofi or purchasing an astrology report written just for you.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

Man, I like Daily Wire in concept but Matt Walsh needs to shut the fuck up about video games. The same guy who tried to resurrect the tired old "violent video games are harmful!" crap is now acting like he's the first person to notice that video games are pushing woke nonsense (even though there are about a hundred channels and outlets that have been talking about this for years) but his solution is to, of course, for the right to stop playing video games.

No. Just, no.

This is the same "bury our head in the sand and pretend pop culture doesn't exist" mindset that got us into this situation in the first place. You can't win a war (and there is a culture war going on, no matter how many people on both sides want to pretend otherwise) by retreating from every battlefield. You win by raising awareness of a problem and then offering a real solution.

And it's especially stupid seeing this cultural retreat mindset from someone working for DW because DW actually knows exactly how to fight this battle. They created their own media company to fight against woke Hollywood. Are all their movies and shows good? No, not at all. But they still did the right thing. They put their money where their mouth is, and created an alternative.

A much better example is Angel Studios, which is probably the only Christian movie studio I've ever seen that puts out top quality content with great acting, writing, and production values. They're raking in money and getting their content onto mainstream streaming services as well as theaters. In other words, they're taking their message to the people who need it the most. The ones who aren't already in the echo chamber. Unlike Daily Wire, which only offers its content on its own website through a subscription service to its own audience, and never advertises anywhere.

Another successful example outside of movies is Eric July's Rippaverse. He's been killing it with his comics, with every single one of his campaigns raking in over a million dollars, every cent of which is reinvested back into his business, helping it grow, creating more content, and expanding his already impressive roster of writers and artists. Mainstream writers and artists, by the way. Like Chuck Dixon, the guy who co-created Bane and wrote the seminal Tim Drake Robin comics, among many other credits, and Mike Baron, who wrote some of the best early Punisher comics. Eric had a following before he started the Rippaverse. He runs a successful YouTube channel and he's a regular contributor to The Blaze. He could have walled himself off with his fanbase, wrote comics about ancaps saving the world from the evils of government, and made some money while pandering to the people who already agreed with him. Instead, he went big. He invested his own money, runs his own distribution center, owns his own business with zero outside investors, hires the best talent he can, and offers a product that focuses on story and characters over messaging. His work isn't even "anti-woke". It's just not woke.

And that's what we need in video games. We need alternatives. We need to roll up our sleeves and wade into the deep waters and actually contribute our ideas and our talents. Offer an alternative. Hire people who know what they're doing, who care about quality content first and social engineering never. There is a huge untapped audience who would pay hand over fist for good video games free from microtransactions and woke nonsense.

But retreating is not an option. It's not brave or moral to hide in our echo chambers and scoff at anything fun. Entertainment is necessary. And maybe more importantly, it's not going anywhere. We will never live in a world where people go to work and spend time with their families at home and do nothing else. We need to engage with the world as it is. Not wait around for whatever our idea of a perfect world is to magically form so we can finally interact with it. You can't change society if you keep pretending large swaths of it don't exist.

[solitudeandseclusion]

SPOILERS. ALL of my thoughts while watching love next door ep 9 (i don't think i've done this since crash course in romance)

every time i see a new love next door episode is longer than the last one, i feel more alive. let's feast.

in most (almost all) kdramas i've watched till date, they don't really show intimacy between an ex-couple, especially no kissing (marry my husband is a recent example). even in flashbacks. love next door at least has some physical affection which is nice to see. seokryu really seemed happy with hyeonjun in the past.

seunghyo being all chivalrous is indeed weird to witness, but i guess he's trying. also the car he drives is ugly af (i guess i'm chatty today 😂).

god, the loneliness of being in another country and not being able to tell your parents about your health issues.

at least seunghyo is still a bit objective even when he's jealous. jung mo-eum, ily you're a great wingman. your love story is gonna be fun.

SHE STILL CAN'T TELL HER PARENTS. THAT HOUSE IS NO GOOD FOR HER!! and now she's feeling sick again :/

ooh choi seunghyo's parents romancing a bit. LOVE IT. lmao the difference between them eating that ramyeon. i hope their past wasn't too ugly 🙈

dramatic ass seunghyo screaming for that milk carton. boy, you already have a photo of the thing, that carton is not so important. desperate loser you're never in the office to care of that tree 😭😭

WHEN WILL THEY ADDRESS THAT HYEONJUN CHEATED???? CAN HE STOP ASKING HER TO GET BACK WITH HIM??

look i love seokryu to bits but she was rude to negate seunhyo's feelings like that. i know there must a reason but it's hurtful. and i'm glad my boy said it.

you can't convince me that danho DIDN'T know what he was doing with that t-shirt. poor mo-eum lol. really really enjoying seokryu's knowing look when she looks at mo-eum praising dan-ho.

oh fuck off chris. i am glad she beat you up & you got fired.

oh so hyeonjun didn't cheat. but i don't like his attitude with her anymore. i get it, it's hard to be with someone who is depressed. i wish they could've talked it out instead of letting it fester and him then blowing up in her face. but well, that's how it goes.

she's rejecting love entirely noooo i'm gonna kms. i hope she gets better pls pls pls.

i don't ever care about anyone's occupations in a kdrama but i have to say seunghyo is a good boss. oh now i see why he was so mad at the end of ep 6. seokryu really does drive him to madness so much so that he is actually unwell.

the child actors are so good. (the last time i was so happy with child actors was in the good bad mother). AARRGHHH. his mother is always away from him and seokryu is always by his side all through his childhood. and now when his feelings for seokryu are making him sick, he sees his mother. OH now seokryu's there too. both women the bane of his existence at different points in his life.

aww my lovely mo-eum being so awkward lmao. every interaction between her and kang danho makes me happy.

ohh so seunghyo's mom wasn't really there then? nooo don't look into her stuff, that's rude. nooo seokryu don't brush it off girl wth? he is DEVASTATED. no great now i'm crying. GIVE ME EPISODE 10 NOW.

[chronurgy]

Gortash Week Day 2 - Worship/Betrayal

The inside of the church’s inner chambers was near black, befitting of the Black Lord. It also did a great deal to disguise a certain creeping age and shabbiness in the theoretically opulent furnishings, though it could not escape Enver Gortash’s critical eye. The congregation in Baldur’s Gate had always been small and thus tolerated by the civic authorities for its insignificance. This insignificance, in turn, ensured it received little and less in the way of funding from the higher clergy. There had been attempts to combat this, of course. But they had lacked vision. The whole of it was lacking, archaic, and insisted on clinging fast to crumbling stone. He would see an end to that nonsense.

A figure, enrobed and enthroned at the massive oaken desk that bore the room’s only lamp, resolved itself as he approached the back of the darkened room. He bowed deeply, as appropriate, and waited for the figure to speak.

He hung suspended for a long, lingering moment as the man’s quill scratched without pause. A deliberate show, he knew, meant to emphasize their difference in rank. Icar Exeltis was nothing more than a wastrel. A disreputable third son with little access to the family coffers playing at power. The man lacked imagination, lacked a deft touch, lacked the will to truly wield power yet held the highest church office in Baldur’s Gate thanks to his name. The church had shriveled under his headship, but he had seen no challenges from the congregants. He was a patriar and son of the last Dark Imperceptor besides. It was his place, they held, in the hierarchy – and thus they must submit unto the order of things. Or so the old blood said. The new blood could see. The new blood chafed against these dynasties old and rotting.

Dark Imperceptor Exeltis finished whatever inane nonsense he had cooked up to occupy him so, at last returning his quill to the inkpot and setting his letter aside to dry. He made a show of shuffling papers on his desk, placing them in one pile or another according to some whim all his own. Gortash knew it all to be thoughtless. He was well aware of those who actually handled the sort of useful paperwork necessary for running any sort of organization, well aware of those who offered value. Serviceable people. For all this man’s insistences at rulership, all the time he spent faffing about with obnoxious make-work, he ran nothing of the church. Not in all the million little practical ways that mattered.

His desk cleared at last of his dross, the Dark Imperceptor wound his languid way around his desk to lean insouciantly against the front of it, weight braced against his palms. “You are seen in this place, my Willing Whip, by both my eyes and the Lord Bane’s. Now give us the obeisance we demand.”

Gortash dropped to his knees without hesitation. He must keep the game going a little longer, and it would not serve him to balk now at this last moment. Pride and scruples were for other sorts of men, men who did not see the greater whole as he did. What was one moment, one lie, one simpering smile in the face of a lifetime? He kept the proper forms and pressed a kiss to the top of the man’s proffered boot. He sat up, the picture of the wide eyed naif he must soon no longer play, not here.

Exeltis ran a hand through his hair as he returned to his kneeling form, his hands so smooth from lack of work that he had no calluses, not even those of a dedicated writer, to catch upon the strands. “It’s good to see you on your knees, young Gortash,” he said, voice rough with desire.

Gortash remained kneeling. He must, until this claimed superior gave him leave to rise. “We are all well suited by our proper place within the hierarchy. You, for example, have always been at your most imposing like this.” He looked up at the man through lowered lashes, a calculated coyness. “It flatters you so well, Dark Imperceptor.”

The idiot was blind to his own failings, and thus agreed readily to falsehoods. He preened pathetically at his false complement, with no more thought in his head than in an ornamental bird’s engaged in the same. “I was born suited for this,” he agreed, his hand still stroking through Gortash’s hair. “We’re of a better sort of stock. Our birth entitles us to stand above the rabble. It’s good to see you know this, pet.”

He continued his irrelevant and incorrect rambles, coddled in the warmth of his self-delusion. But Gortash was not listening. It was not his usual tune out for his own sanity. No. He’d seen a flash upon the back wall, a hint of light in all this black that would never have been allowed were there not exceptional circumstances. He knew those exceptional circumstances, arranged for them himself. He knew who it was standing on the other side of that door. All the pieces in play at last.

“My lord,” he started, “I heard something in the antechamber just-”

“Insolent!” Exeltis hissed. “To think to use a lesser title for one of your betters! I ought to see you flogged for such impudence.”

He raised a hand as if to strike Gortash, but he had played supplicant long enough. And now, with his little army just outside the door, he was free to return to his proper place. He stood. “Oh, hold your tongue,” he told him carelessly. “Who are you to declare that the title of our Lord is too low to suit you? Dark Imperceptor, Grand Bloodletter, Vigilator, this is nonsense. I tire of this hysteria for titles. Lord will do well enough for us, as it does for Him.”

Exeltis was near gibbering with rage, spouting half remonstrations that he was too apoplectic to finish. They mostly concerned his failure to observe the proper hierarchy and indeed, the general conventions of propriety. “You dare,” he managed, spit flecked, at last. “You worthless, lowborn little whore, you dare speak in such a way to me? I will see you hanged for this.”

He does not understand, Gortash thought. He does not see the way the current had turned on him. He has not noticed the glances. He has not seen the others draw away. It has not coalesced yet, not for him. How delightful.

“You haven’t noticed,” he breathed, making no attempt to hide the relish in his words. “I suppose you shouldn’t have. I’ve been very careful, you know. But surely, I thought, surely you had to have guessed. Well then. Allow me, Icar, to enlighten you about your past and future.”

He grinned, wide and sharp. “If you were to look in the drawers of that desk you’re leaning on, you’d find so many interesting things Icar. You’d find them in your house, too, if you looked there. Every inch of it, all the way down to your bedchamber. It’s even in each and every one of your nasty little bolt holes. You’ve been so very profligate with this very, very sensitive information. How dissolute of you, to hide your tracks so poorly. But you’ve gone and done it, left evidence of your crimes all over the Gate from the hills to the harbor.”

“I haven’t done anything, you idiot,” Icar snarled at him. The man still hadn’t caught on. He still hadn’t realized what he was dealing with. An irredeemable failing in a Banite. “I don’t know what nonsense you’ve gone and gotten in your head but there is nothing to find because I have done nothing wrong!”

Gortash laughed, let the shimmering ecstasy of it roll off his tongue. “Like that has ever mattered,” he said, buoyant on a sea of victory. “But perhaps more to the point – I know the evidence is there because I put it there. I put it everywhere. Piles and piles of it, in any place you’ve ever so much as stepped foot in. And then I went to the rest of the leadership, ever so concerned about the things I’d found. I had seen things, I told them, things that implied that you were not so committed to our Lord as you professed to be. They went looking and found all that and more. You’re to be brought before the Black Courts on charges of apostacy and intentional sabotage. They will see you convicted on overwhelming evidence.” He leaned forward, pushing into the man’s space and sending him quailing backwards. “And while you are busy with your sham trial, I will be sitting on that throne of yours, shaking things up around here.”

There was fear tempering his rage now, Gortash could see it creeping through the man’s eyes. He rallied admirably for a fool. “They’ll know it was you,” he insisted defiantly. “And you’re nothing, Gortash, nothing. They’d never make some low-born rat whore like you Dark Imperceptor.”

“But that’s the brilliance of it, don’t you see? Who could ever suspect the lord’s young favorite?” he laughed again, the triumph of it sweet as honey. “Ah but you underestimate me still. I’ll have the recognition for this to trade on, and I’ve been making allies, Icar. Willing and unwilling. So many secrets in these halls and I know all of them. They’ll pick me. They won’t have a choice.”

The rage had now been swamped entirely by the ever-growing tide of fear. Icar could barely manage a pathetic whisp of a protest, but he tried nonetheless. “Someone will figure it out. They have to,” he gasped out between shaking breaths.

“Some will,” he agreed amiably. He would certainly mark this chain of events as suspicious and had no doubt that others would as well. “But those who can put the pieces together will respect me all the more for it. They’ll have promotions waiting for them to the last man. I have need of talented lackeys.”

There was a single loud rap upon the door. The final signal. He straightened up. Icar remained half bent backward over his desk, mouth gaping open like a particularly dumb fish. “That’ll be them,” he said. “Enjoy the Black Courts, darling. I’ve heard ever so much about them.”

They piled into the room, every high ranking Banite and their bodyguard (he’d need one of those himself, soon). They did not bother to list the charges. All here knew it did not matter. Icar went with them quietly, out of either shock or fear, and the whole thing was discharged so neatly and efficiently that Gortash found himself alone in the inner chamber within no more than five minutes, all told.  

He turned to the altar at the back of the room. It was a simple thing, made of a solid, glossy block of black obsidian, all the more imposing for its austerity. He knelt before it and pressed a kiss to its base as he had knelt before the former Dark Imperceptor not more than moments ago. “I hope this has pleased you, my Lord,” he said. “And that it has shown you the value I bring, how well I keep your tenets. You see now only a fraction of what I can do in your name. Lend me power, my lord, that I might further bring your order to the world. That we might throw down these petty pretenders, these puppets grown fat on easy slaughter the strength of a true ruler. Let us glut ourselves upon their fear before they are ground beneath our unstoppable rise. Let us see them weep.”

At first he thought there would be no answer. But then he felt it, felt the darkness thicken and densify, felt it curl around his throat as if to crush it. But it stopped short, stopped at a pressure that would not kill him but would let him feel each and every one of the five fingers that extended from the broad, black hand to encircle his throat.

You will serve, the voice said, as all must serve. But first, a lesson. The hand tightened. Spots danced in his vision. There is no we, boy. There is only me. You are a fleeting thing, born only to serve. And serve me you will. Ably so, young Gortash. I look forward to your next offering.

The hand on his throat vanished with the voice. “Of course, my Lord,” he said to the altar. “Of course I will serve. That is the purpose of those born to my station.”

Gortash smiled alone in the dark.

“I would never seek for more.”

[izunias-meme-hole]

My Top 10 Batman Villains (Revamped)

(Because I currently need to get this off my chest, also a lot of these are just in my opinion)

Honorable Mention: Bane (Various) - Despite being misrepresented as a dumb brute and the fact that one of the best adaptations of him somehow gets his voice and nationality wrong, Bane is a villain with QUITE the deserving reputation. A walking tank with a luchador mask that has the brains to match his brawn.

Number 10. Scarecrow (Nolan Trilogy) - Crane wasn't a big villain in the grand scheme of the trilogy, but my god Cillian Murphy does a great job with the character. Like I wish that his supervillain outfit wasn't just a bag over his face, but Scarecrow manages to be quite the dangerous and cowardly loon with a mask of sanity in Batman Begins, an active member of the underworld in The Dark Knight, and the guy actively sending folks to their deaths in The Dark Knight Rises. Could we have had more of him? Yes. Did he use up his screen time well? Absolutely. Though his fear toxin could've been infinitely wilder.

Number 9. Mr. Freeze (BTAS: Heart of Ice) - I feel like this is a "to the surprise of absolutely nobody" moment, but this show reinvented Mr Freeze as a tragic and vengeful figure, and his debut was a perfect example of that.

Number 8. The Phantasm (BTAS) - The Phantasm is one of the best darker counterparts to Batman a lot of levels.

Number 7. Harley Quinn (BTAS) - The minor side villainess turned breakout character of the show. If anyone has seen B:TAS and then seen the rest of the media she's in, then you know why this is the best version of her. A good amount of things about the character being based around her actress (R.I.P Arleen Sorkin), her interactions with half the cast, Peak HarIvy content, the best representation of how bad her situation with her abusive ex was, and the perfect mixture between being a not-so-great-person and a precious lil' thing who deserves better.

Number 6. Ra's Al Ghul (Various) - Ra's Al Ghul may be a more international threat in comparison to the other antagonists I've listed, but he's undeniably one of Bruce's greatest foes. A very rich and powerful older man whose mission and persistence is similar to that of the caped crusader. Though unlike Batman, Ra's is willing to do more than just kill, he's willing to commit genocide, and he's willing to use other harsh and controlling methods in order to create his ideal world. Ra's is pretty much the the worst elements of Batman shoved into a singular self-righteous figure, and when done well he's easily one of the greats.

Number 5. Two-Face (Various) - Harvey Dent is a man split down the middle, a two-faced dude in more ways than one, and an irredeemably tragic figure no matter the perspective, though funnily enough he's always a victim of chance. He's a victim of the one worst possible outcome that had just as much of an opportunity to be the best possible outcome. It's part of the reason why he makes choices based off a literal coin flip. Chance put Dent in the circumstances to become a villain, and as he surrenders his entire being to chance as Two Face.

Number 4. Oswald "Penguin" Cobblepot (Various) - He's just a pathetic and horrible little man. No I'm serious. Oswald has had various portrayals over the years, but they can all be summed up at "pathetic and horrible little man wanting respect" and its great to see in action because despite the fact that he can be legit menacing and sometimes tragic, Oz is just inherently ridiculous on some level. It's great.

Number 3. Catwoman (Various) - Selina, Selina, Selina... she's cool. Sure she is a classic example of a "femme fatale," but aside from that Selina has always been a thrill seeker in some way or another. Be it as a jewel thief who proudly shows this, or an anti-hero that covers this part of herself with actual justifications, there is always an aspect of Selina that enjoys what she does when she puts that mask on. Mrs Kyle is enjoyable, idk what else to say.

Number 2. The Riddler (Various) - Genuinely impressive intelligence and creativity mixed with an ego as big as 3 Russias and as fragile as a glass bottle. That's what you're always bound to find in Riddler. Be it in the 60's show, BTAS, Batman Forever, The Arkham Series, Gotham, or The Batman, Riddler is a Redditor with the theatrics of a gameshow host and the resources of John Kramer.

Number 1. The Joker (Various) - Come on. We all knew this was gonna happen. The Joker is a crook who fell into a vat of chemicals and got a clownish makeover, who ended up becoming the nemesis of Batman. While the other rouges have their particular danger levels, they all have some type of cause they're fighting for or they're purely out to benefit themselves. Joker just causes chaos, death, and suffering, for the sake of his twisted sense of humor. He is willing to kill and ruin lives in the most creative way possible, so long as he finds it funny. Yet despite how twisted he is, this evil ass clown actually can be funny. Not only that, but he's the most effective contrast to Batman, even more than the other rouges. Batman is a frightening figure with a semi-demonic visage who suffered one bad day in his youth, yet he is a hero dedicated to the cause of justice and protecting the innocent citizens of Gotham City. Joker is a colorful figure with a big 'ol grin on his face and a jovial demeanor, yet he is perfectly okay with causing as much unwarranted harm to others for the sake of artistic chaos. Ultimately, the Clown Prince of Crime is a villain that's managed to last for decades, despite the ever marching clock, for these exact reasons.

[khaire-traveler]

Sniffing Out The Bullshit: Spotting Misinformation

Ah, misinformation - the bane of any pagan or polytheist's existence. With information in general spreading faster than the speed of light these days, we must be able to discern when something isn't as true as it claims to be. This post delves into different methods of verifying sources and noticing misinformation. It's, by no means, exhaustive; it's simply meant to serve as a guide for those who may not know how to do discern falsities otherwise.

Spreading misinformation is ahistorical at best and immensely harmful - hell, even deadly - at worst, especially when it comes to physical/mental health and marginalized groups. Misinformation is how conspiracies about "drinking bleach to cure XYZ illness" start (among many other factors, of course). When people listen to the loudest voice rather than the most credible, they are easily misled into believing falsities and spreading those harmful lies to others. It's best to stay accurately informed about topics so that you both know what you're talking about and can't be easily misled by someone with potentially malicious intentions.

-

Now onto how to actually discern misinformation online. Here is my guide on sniffing out misinformation (numbered for your convenience, but you don't have to go in order):

Are there any logical fallacies in the person's claims? Here is a website that explains each individual logical fallacy. People will often use logical fallacies to twist an argument in their favor, despite having no real evidence of their own. You'll see this a lot within online discourse. I've noticed "appeal to emotion", "strawman", and "tu quoque" are quite prevalent online, especially on this website.

2. Is this fact, opinion, belief, or prejudice? This website offers a good explanation of how to distinguish each. I see people often confusing these with one another, and it contributes greatly to how misinformation is spread. Someone will share an opinion on something historical or historical-sounding, and others will take it as fact. Not being able to differentiate fact from opinion, belief, etc. can lead us to assume someone knows a lot about a topic that they actually know nothing about or are simply not qualified to speak on. Someone who is not a doctor diagnosing people with certainty and conviction is a great example of this and something I see, unfortunately, quite often.

3. Is the source emotionally manipulative? Although WebMD is admittedly not the best source of information, this website discusses emotional manipulation in detail and what to look out for. Believe it or not, people do use emotional manipulation to spread their ideologies and misinformation online. This is actually a form of control often employed by cults. Be on the lookout for anyone who seems to be emotionally manipulating their audience.

4. Is the information claiming to be historically accurate? If so, are they providing any sources? If you're unsure whether or not something has any historical accuracy, I recommend looking it up on Google Scholar. Run the information through a general search as well to see if you can find other sources claiming similar things. Remember that just because the same information appears in an online article does not make it accurate, as some websites are more trustworthy than others. Honestly, I'd recommend reading books by credible authors over looking things up online, but for looking up a random fact, that's not exactly always helpful.

5. Does the source seem credible? Here is a website that provides a guideline for distinguishing credibility. This is probably the hardest question for people to answer when looking into a topic. Websites that have ".org" or ".gov" tend to appear more trustworthy, but keep the website name and the other content present on the site in mind. For example, if a site claims to be historically accurate but also advertises articles about "top ten celebrities who turned their lives around", it is not a trustworthy source. Also, keep in mind the date of the article or website. Is it over ten years old? Five years old? If it seems dated, try to find information on the topic that is a bit fresher. It can be difficult to find newer sources on certain topics, however, as some topics are just not discussed often, even within their field.

6. Are the claims being made UPG (Unverified Personal Gnosis)? Wikipedia defines UPG here. Not everyone will state when something is their UPG or not. A good way to immediately verify a claim is to search it up. Does have any root in the actual history of the deity? If not, do many people still have the same or similar experiences? If yes to the second question, it may be considered an SPG (Shared Personal Gnosis) which is a belief or experience shared between several or many people but is still historically absent overall. Just because something is a UPG also doesn't automatically make it misinformation; it's simply a part of that person's individual practice and belief system. It only becomes an issue when the person with the UPG is masquerading it as full-fledged fact. It's still important to be able to tell the difference between concrete fact and UPG - fact or belief. I feel earlier information covers this topic better, but I figured I'd at least address it more directly.

7. Keep yourself educated. As much as it would be great to not ever have to research things or read more about them, the fact of the matter is that paganism, of any sort, kind of requires some level of research. Even if you are only looking up who a specific deity is and what their domains are, you're still doing research on that deity. For some pagan religions, information is also rather hard to come by. Norse paganism, for example, doesn't have much information on it, mostly due to the fact that it was more oral-based. That's why it's crucial to educate ourselves, at least to some extent, by reading educational books and articles or even researching ancient art, ensuring that we don't fall into the traps of misinformation by, hopefully, already knowing the answer ourselves. If we already have the base knowledge required to debunk something, then we're less likely to be tricked. However, we can't know everything about every pagan religions, and some religions, such as Greek/Hellenic paganism, have A LOT of information about them, to the point where it can be overwhelming. Regardless, knowledge is power, and the more you know, the more power you have over misinformation when it rears its ugly head.

-

I hope that fellow pagans and polytheists alike are able to find use in this post. It took a lot of work to make, but my goal is to hopefully help people stay educated and avoid misinformation. I'm sure it's not perfect, but nothing is. I wish the best for you all. Take care, and thank you for reading. <3

[sweetlikehoneystingslikeabee]

Can I ask for a ranking of which rogues have the most to least rizz (ability to flirt) and why?

"The Rizz" General Rogues Party

OKAY. Best flirters to Worst! Note that a several of the middle people are same-ish in my mind so take solid rankings with a grain of salt.

Tw: Mentions of crimes such as drugging, hypnotism, etc. One suggestive line.

Poison Ivy- Before being poisoned by her colleague/boss, Pamela was incredibly shy and socially awkward. The poisons and toxins injected into her body did something... peculiar. She became an expert in knowing exactly what to say to ease into people's minds. That plus the chemicals she can leak out as an aphrodisiac, it doesn't take much to pull someone to her embrace.

Ra's Al Ghul- He's been around the metaphorical block so many times. He has the charm, the wit, the looks- It's probably a good thing he's so invested in his own plans and less on romance, or he'd be sweeping people off their feet right and left. His powers of seduction would be unreal.

Mr. Freeze- Okay, hear me out. You hardly see the game because he's so in love with Nora. That and the genuine trauma and angst of his whole backstory. However, he is a romantic man and knows the meaning of a gesture. If he was able to find room in his heart for another, they would know the what real devotion felt like.

Riddler- The main reason he's considered good at flirting is that silver tongue. He has the intelligence and grand vocabulary to charm the pants off of someone. His big issue comes down to him being so fucking arrogant and smug. If you ignore that, though, and embrace any awkwardness that he shows... he's still on the end of good flirter.

Killer Croc- Honestly? He's average. He's not bad at flirting but he's not particularly great, either. The real problem for him tends to be past anger issues flaring up which is very not sexy.

The Penguin- He's not the worst at flirting but he's decidedly below average. He doesn't have the best table manners, sometimes he can be rather crass and he's used to having to buy things to get them. Like "people" and "affection", for example.

Harley Quinn- She's her own brand of flirting which can be very hit or miss. You love it or hate it. It's goofy, in your face and sometimes she takes it that step too far. It's needy. As confident as she is, there's still this gnawing desperate need for the approval of people she likes.

Two-Face- The unfortunate thing about Two-Face... Harvey is all schoolboy loveliness, considerate, and caring. Harv is adrenaline rush, passion and "showing you a good time." While they're technically good at flirting, having both styles in one person and sometimes back to back can be disorienting, particularly if one puts you off.

Mad Hatter- Listen, it's not that he doesn't know how to flirt. He knows how to court someone and make them feel special. If he's lucid, he can have the most stimulating conversations. The problem is that he tends to make most romantic interactions incredibly creepy. That's leaving out the drugging, hypnotism, and abduction habits.

Bane- It's not that he can't flirt with someone he's comfortable with, but just meeting someone? He's blunt, calculating and sometimes even smug. Growing up in a prison didn't do a lot for his social skills, particularly soft, intimate ones. Logically he knows what to do and might even be able to play at it if he wanted, but really a lot of his genuine rizz wouldn't come out until later on in a relationship.

Scarecrow- For all his intelligence and capacity for witty wordplay, flirting is not this man's game. He is bristly and a lot of his ideas of romance is very macabre metaphors of fear and death. For some people that works and for others it's just way too intense. That, and he's just arrogant enough that if someone doesn't get his gestures, he writes it off as them being the problem.

Black Mask- Anger issues, entitlement, gruff as hell, and has enough of that rich douchebag in him still that he thinks negging is a valid form of flirting. The sex is hot as hell, though.

Zsasz - Anything he thinks is romantic or even sexy flirty is going to be obscenely sleazy and/or threatening. At one point he used to be charming which eased his path to the criminal life. Now he'll make gestures that are not only creepy, but zero grace or finesse behind it.

[you-would-turn-it-off-halfway]

Let's talk about the DC animated movies.

I'm 28 years old and I still see them. So ...

DC animated movies I would make!

The Killing Joke

Honestly, I expected more.

The animation is pretty good and fits the plot pretty well... There's just one small problem.

The film, like the Batman:Hush adaptation, has very little to do with the comic. And honestly, I watched both movies because I liked the comic and I was hoping to see an adaptation of them, and I didn't expect that result.

And there are many insignificant details in the movie, for example, Barbara's prominence, the best thing about the killing joke is the point of view of Batman and the Joker's relationship. And, as we all know, Barbara is a pretty insignificant character in this comic (I love Babs, but it's true)

After saying this, many of you will be thinking: "But if there is already a movie, why make another one?"

Well...

Well, to correct all the errors of the previous one!

One detail I hate about the movie is definitely the delivery of the joke. When the Joker tells the joke, he doesn't stop moving from side to side, gesturing, exaggerating. This detail was removed from the film, the Joker is next to Batman and only moves his hands.

The joker is a drama Queen, it deserves an adaptation in which it is.

Batman: Europe

Oh~ One of my favorites...

I've been thinking about this shit for at least four years, and I'm determined, it would be the perfect movie.

We all know the perfect animation of movies like Batman: Hush (the only good thing)

And I have the impression that this animation (and the universe to which it belongs) has experimented very little with the relationship of Batman and the Joker, and what better opportunity than that.

Plus they have everything to do it. because? They have drawn all the characters in the comic:

Killer Croc, Batman, Joker, Bane and Alfie ( And Nina is quite easy to draw)

Besides, who doesn't want to see the best enemies AND lovers causing problems throughout Europe?

Justice

Ahh!! So many plot twists!! I love it!!

Many of you will think that there are already many League movies, but these comics are a classic.

It's a comic that explores most of DC's characters, each one having a little bit of prominence and the opportunity to have a fight against one of their biggest villains.

Why this comic is not only about the heroes, the villains also have a great role in the plot.

Being able to explore villains like: Cheetah, Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Riddler, Poison Ivy,...

And of course having appearances by the Joker and other villains in the background. For example:

Two faces, the ventriloquist,...

Of course, with a slightly darker animation, you know to give it atmosphere

Well, I hope you liked it!

Would they make another movie about another comic? Which?

[theworldbrewery]

saturday d&d tip: your subclass contains most of the flavor of your character — if your class is Chicken, subclass determines whether you’re serving Chicken ala King or Chicken Teriyaki.

But subclasses also determine a lot about how your character is meant to show up in the game — almost as much as your class does. Are you a frontline melee attacker with triage healing, or a frontline melee attacker with battlefield manipulation? a DPS ranged combatant and dungeon delver, or DPS ranged combatant and sneaky spy? When choosing your subclass, don’t just think about how the flavor lines up; you should also consider whether you’ll enjoy playing the mechanics.

For an example under the cut, let’s compare and contrast two core Paladin subclasses: Devotion and Vengeance.

All paladins are expected on some level to be front-line combatants, tanking damage and doling it out. Lay on Hands is good for rescuing downed allies, not for keeping your own HP high. And Divine Smite, the keystone ability, focuses on doling out massive amounts of damage on a single hit. This is a DPS, tanking and triage healing class. Your subclass choice will help decide which of these you will focus on. (The base paladins also get spells, but they’re mostly non-combat spells or spells that increase the paladin’s own damage-dealing).

Devotion paladins kick off with channel divinities that increase your odds of hitting (Sacred Weapon) and manipulate enemies (Turn the Unholy). Their oath spells add versatility to the paladin playbook; while there are no outright healing spells, they do land largely in the realm of protective magic (6/10 oath spells are abjuration, and another conjures a protective guardian), non-combat utility, or both.

This is solidly a Tanking and Triage subclass; obviously you’ll still be able to deal massive damage with a Divine Smite, but the subclass doesn’t especially lead to dealing huge damage; even Sacred Weapon only grants a Charisma modifier bonus to the attack roll, not the damage. If you’re a melee combatant, Turn the Unholy actually slows your damage roll since you won’t be able to hit a creature if it runs beyond your range). Instead, it supports doling out regular hits with Sacred Weapon, preventing enemy attacks (Turned enemies can only use their action to Dash or Dodge, wasting their attacks), and protecting yourself and your allies with spells. It’s a great subclass to choose if you’re playing in a party with a lot of DPS and glass cannon characters.

Meanwhile, Vengeance paladins start with a channel divinity that imposes disadvantage on an enemy’s attacks (Abjure Enemy) and a channel divinity that amounts to crit-fishing for divine smite, with advantage on attack rolls against a chosen enemy (Vow of Enmity). The spell list supports debuffing, dispelling, and pinning down enemies, (bane, banishment, hold person and hold monster), dealing bonus damage (hunter’s mark), and improving your battlefield positioning (misty step, haste, dimension door).

This is a classic DPS and debuffing subclass. You’re not going to be doing much healing or protection other than extreme emergency healing or self-heals; you’re also ill-suited to tanking many enemies at once since most of your features that target enemies are single-target effects. This subclass expects you to stand next to one opponent and hit them really, really hard until they die, using channel divinity to improve your odds. If the opponent tries to leave, you use spells like hold person or hold monster to pin them down, haste or misty step to increase your movement speed to keep up with them, etc. It’s ideal for smaller parties or parties with a focus on healing, battlefield manipulation, or multi-target spells to take out minions while you tackle the boss.

Is Oath of Vengeance “better” than Oath of Devotion? Only if by “better” you mean “deals more damage on average, in a party that needs more damage output.” It’s a great fit for people who like dealing high amounts of damage and totally overpowering enemies in single combat. For those who enjoy a more support role and soaking up damage while others dole out the biggest hits, Devotion will probably be more enjoyable mechanically.

If you are undecided between two subclass options, hit me up! I’m happy to provide a breakdown of the impact of each choice on your gameplay.

[conostra]

Griffith's Relationships (5)

The White Hawk. The White Phoenix. The King of Falconia. The Savior. Femto. The Blessed King of Longing. Once, the greatest mortal to ever wield a sword. The bane of the Black Swordsman. The most beautiful man alive. Him with a stature nothing short of pure magnificence. You know him. You love to hate him. I’m talking about one of the greatest characters not just in manga, but in all of fiction: Griffith.

Griffith is one of many examples of how masterful Kentaro Miura was with a pen, be it pressing against a notebook or a panel. An incredibly written character, as complex as they can come, with some of the most complicated, deep, and tragic relationships I’ve ever seen put to any form of media.

Today, I’ll be discussing what is inarguably a core tenet of Berserk: Griffith’s relationships. With two exceptions, there is no dispute that Griffith’s relationships are not the singular most important part of the media he resides in, there is no debate over whether or not they are still crucial parts of understanding both Guts’ disposition, and the world of Berserk itself. Griffith’s different approaches to interacting with those in his vicinity warps the very world itself, and his whims shape the very nature of the conflicts the protagonist engages in.

Here, we will be discussing Griffith’s most important relationships through Berserk, how they shaped him, and what they explain about who he is and how he got to where he is now.

Part 1: The Boy, and The Hawks

Part 2: The Governor.

Part 3: The King.

Part 4: Charlotte.

Part 5: The Wings of the Hawk (1)

Part 6: The Wings of the Hawk (2)

____________________________________________________________________________

Part 5: The Wings of the Hawk (1)

Casca is many things. She is the most skilled woman to ever pick up a blade. She is the third-best swordsman in the Hawks, behind only Griffith and the Raider Captain. She is a great strategist, a good face, the former right hand of history’s greatest leader. But most importantly to Griffith, she is affirmation. Not that what he is doing is correct. Not that what he is doing is the good thing, or the bad thing, or anything at all. She is the first, and greatest affirmation he gets into his worldview. To Griffith, Casca is an object. Not an object of desire, an object to use. She is, more specifically, a tool. A tool not only through which Griffith wields his strength, an extension of himself in a way, but also a tool for him to manipulate and utilize to his wishes and whims. She was his to use, abuse, to break. And he did.

But it was not always like this. Before Guts joined the Raiders, before Charlotte was thrust into Griffith’s arms, before a young boy would change the trajectory of the man destined to be king, there was a young girl. She belonged to a village which had unfortunately been caught on the front of the war. Resources were scarce, and safety scarcer- between evacuations and skirmishes, there was barely enough food to survive every single day. And then, a miracle for Casca’s family struck- a rich noble rode through their town, for some reason or another, and offered to buy her as a castle maid. The gold was nearly necessary for the rest of her family to make it through, and one less mouth to feed would mean that they could stretch it further than they could if they had her in the first place. And she would not go hungry, nor have to work as she did, nor lack any amount of resources this nobleman would have to offer. And despite this, her father did something she considered odd, if only for a bit- he hesitated. But eventually, he caved. And off she was sent.

Of course, this would be proven too good to be true- how could it not be? Nearly instantly on the cart, after a bit of observation, the man attacked her. How could she be so ignorant, she thought to herself, as they both tumbled out of the wagon. He landed on her, stripping her chest bare. There was nothing she could do, her arms pinned to the ground. And then, his left ear was gone.

“Does being born of the nobility mean that you’re chosen by God?”

The words rang through Casca. An angel, sent by God from Heaven, had descended to be her savior. But this angel would not be her savior, so much as her herald. A herald of the life she had to come. He threw his sword down, offering her a choice. Was she willing to fight for the life she wanted to live? Or was she merely going to take the life that was to come? Did she have something she was willing to fight for? To die for? To kill for?

“If you have something to protect… take up that sword.”

And this herald watched. Watched as the two scuffled, for a moment, the noble lunging for the sword, Casca grabbing it, pulling it out the ground. And a moment later, the noble was impaled on its blade, collapsed on the ground next to the poor girl as she began to weep. And the herald said no words. He merely rested a comforting hand on her shaky grip, and she smiled. Her fear did not abandon her. But her guilt, her regret, melted away. This was the hand of the angel she thought had been sent. She was scared as he began to ready to ride away. What should she do, she asked?

“Do as you wish.”

This was her providence, and to follow him was her destiny. She decided, then and there, that she would follow this angel, and be his right hand, his flaming sword against all he dictated. 

And in this moment, Griffith’s perspective showed. He gave the girl a warning. “You might die, you know.” And she knew. And she followed him regardless.

Later, tragedy strikes. A young boy dies under Griffith’s command. A boy even younger than him, even younger than Casca. A boy that shatters Griffith’s worldview. In the beginning, he was colder, more calloused. His attitude to people joining, even children, was simple: “Do as you wish.” It was other people’s dreams to follow his. But the death of this young boy stirred something in Griffith, something that had not been stirred until this point; was it fair of him to hoist his dream onto others, and to expect them to risk life and limb for his own sake? Was it fair of him to jeopardize their lives for him to continue to pursue his goals? And furthermore, could he stomach sending children, over and over, to die in battle at his behest? Time and again, until he achieved his dream that, at the moment, was a far-flung passion?

He could not. And so, he allowed himself to be violated, putting himself on a cross to bear the weight of all his follower’s lives, their passion, the fires of their own desires and dreams, so that there was even a sliver of a higher chance of them being allowed to live to see them come to fruition. But allowing yourself to be sexually used by a disgusting creep simply to be able to afford to live another day is a mentally taxing process. And this took its toll on Griffith. He broke down one day, Casca as his only witness. 

“Am I…

Dirty?”

Casca could not bring herself to say no. Instead, after a moment’s hesitation, she instead asks why the two of them were alone that night. She tries to reason herself out of her suspicion. A war council, she presumes, was the reason why they were together. But no, Griffith says, she’s right. It was exactly as she saw. It was exactly as she assumed in the first place. Griffith claims he used the man for his exorbitant wealth and sordid tastes. Griffith claims that amassing the strength of the Hawks through combat is too timely, requires too much risk. Griffith lets slip that it is too dangerous, and that he cannot afford the lives of the men who follow him. And he claims it all is through sound, cold logic. 

But Casca does not see in front of her a cold, logical machine. She sees a masterful tactician, an incredible warrior, her herald, her angel. Cold. Soaking. Alone. Literally tearing himself apart. Viscerally reminding himself through the rending of his own flesh, the spilling of his own blood, that he is of no greater worth than the men he sacrifices, and that he must do everything in his power to attain his dream, for the sake of the thousands of dreams that have been snuffed out on his path, for his sake. And she is terrified. She begs, pleads for him to stop. And eventually, it becomes all too much. He pulls himself together after she leaps onto him in the river, calming down, asking him to stop. And his recovery is nearly instant. But you can see the very instance Griffith swallows his anguish, and puts on the brave face for Casca. And that face, for her, has not changed since.

Casca’s eventual replacement by the Raider Captain, Guts, is a burning spear in her side. But it changes nothing for Griffith. Ever since that very day, where Griffith is but a young boy thrust into a position of leadership that he is in every way qualified except in experience, and Casca is a young girl, dealing with the shattering of her image of the legend who saved her life, their relationship is marred. She was not equipped to help him in his time of need, nor is it fair to have that thrust upon her. And he was not equipped to deal with it himself, or the leading of a thousand more people just like her. And so, he closes himself off to the rest of the Hawks. None ever manage to see Griffith vulnerable. See his secrets. Hear his heart. None but Guts.

In fact, after this moment, Griffith almost abuses his position in Casca’s mind. He makes her use her body to warm Guts from his deathbed. He orders her around, sending her to clean up other people’s messes or assist them in their results. And she abides. All because, in the end, she wished to be his sword. She took that as an honor. But after that fateful day in the river, Griffith treated her exactly like that: a sword. A tool that, although it must be taken care of, is to be used when needed, kept by your side, but sheathed until required. And nothing more. What else was it good for? 

This is the first we see of Griffith’s actual manipulative tendencies. Perhaps not consciously, perhaps not to harm her, but after she splayed her hands across his chest that day, they both revealed something about themselves that only he could use. Being the object of another’s desire was a position to be utilized, he had concluded. And utilize he would. If the Governor was his first encounter with this prospect, then Casca was the beginning of his warped understanding, sharpening his mental and emotional sword until he met Charlotte, where he could truly use the skills he had unfortunately honed. Casca may have started as his sword, but she ended her tenure as his whetstone, no matter how he may have actually cared for her at any point. Those feelings simply could not stand in the way of his one, true shot at his dream.

Until his new right arm, Guts, becomes a figure of betrayal in his mind, and Griffith has the opportunity to test himself against Casca’s heart once again after his rescue. And after everything he had gone through, and everything she had done to retrieve him, she rebukes his advance, laying on the ground with him, crying. He lays no claim over her anymore, and he believes she sees him now as a figure to be pitied, to be ridiculed. And he overhears that his ultimate betrayer, his Judas, his old best friend, and perhaps, the one he loved above all, is the reason.

And so, on the eclipse, he finally concludes his usage of Casca as the tool she became to him. He shatters his whetstone, which had become Guts’ heart. And in the process, severs any emotions he held towards the man who had become the definition of his life, and even perhaps, could have been the one who took him off the very road that he had, instead, inadvertently cemented him on. She was an object to be desired, but no longer by him: and still, she meant nothing to him anymore. To be viewed as subhuman allows much to be excused against you, and there was only one figure left in the world that made Griffith feel anything. And Casca was caught in the crossfire.

At least, from his point of view.

Casca was more than well aware of how Griffith had changed, especially after Guts’ arrival. She knew she'd been cast aside, she knew she was no longer the favorite. She had been his confidant, his greatest admirer, far too long not to see. And still, she stuck by his side. Her reverence knew two bounds: the end of her life, or its change. And when given the option, she chose its end as her preference. And it took Guts for her to both break and reconcile with that, starting at the waterfall and ending, unfortunately, at The Eclipse.

Casca was far from just some toy to be used and cast away, strung along under false hopes and the pretense of a broken dream. Deep down, Griffith felt for her, and she knew that even in her darkest, she knew he felt… something. And deeper still, she knew it did not matter. And she resigned herself to that. And regardless of her intentions, her following, her obedience to his pull on her strings, fueled his puppeteering all the same.

She is the embodiment of Griffith’s humanity, and the personification of his negative affirmations. She was there when he realized he could feel, and was the reason he ‘realized’ he should not. She carries with her every era of Griffith, and when he broke her, he shattered anything left of himself.

[robo-cryptid]

What are some common writing mistakes you see in fic that are easily remediable? (also, i love your writing a lot & it has inspired me to start writing as well, sending much love!)

Starting from the bottom because THANK YOU. Inspiring other people to start creating too is probably the best compliment a writer can get. ;o;

As for "mistakes," I don't know if I'm qualified to answer, lol, but I guess one thing I see a lot (and deal with when I'm writing too!) would be using more words than you need. I talk about this a lot, but I don't think I've ever gotten specific about what I mean, so here we go. This answer got pretty long!

The first way I see this is in the "turned and went" category. I was betaing for someone who wanted me to help with pacing specifically, and we figured out together that what made it feel slow and stilted was that every few sentences, they'd use "he turned and went..." or "she stood and walked..." or something like that. You just don't need both verbs. Your readers will know that if the character was sitting and now they're walking, at some point they also stood up.

I also see a lot of overuse of modifying words. "Really," "somewhat," "a bit," etc. The banes of my personal existence are "just" and "a little." I have the words "just" and "a little" in my editing list so that I do a search and delete most instances of them before I post a fic, lol. It's a writing tic that I can't get rid of. A lot of these modifiers are unnecessary 99% of the time, and they clog up sentences so they take longer to read for no good reason.

Next would be over-describing. Sometimes you get into a fic, and the first thing you get is an immediate description of what a character looks like. Because it's fanfic, it's probably a character we've met before, so it's not strictly necessary to include at all. But sure, maybe your POV character is cataloging some details when they first meet. That happens, and it can be an easy way to imply some attraction if this is a romance. Still, they're probably not going to make a laundry list, like, "his hair was black and pulled back with one strand that hung in his face, and he had big brown eyes and a bold nose and great cheekbones, and he had a goatee, and now here's the full detailed list of everything he was wearing too." We also don't need to know every single object that's in a room, or what the journey from one place to another looks like, or the "hello, how are you?" parts of a conversation before they get to the meat of it, or where every person is standing if it's a whole group, etc. You only need enough details to ground your readers, and the details your POV character is most likely to notice. For example, I remain obsessed with Hanzo's huge, expressive eyes in the "Dragons" short, and also I'm just partial to brown eyes, lol, so I often have Cassidy notice their color and maybe that Hanzo's really muscular or something. But I don't give you a rundown of every detail of his face all at once, and you probably only get a quick sense of what he's wearing. Obviously, this is not a hard and fast rule. If your character is especially observant or obsessively detailed or something, having them do this can be a way of showing that. For some people, maybe they want the setting to feel like a character itself, so you'll get a lot more description to get people to really know the place. But in general, most of the time, you only need a quick handful of descriptors and you're good to go.

The other type of over-describing would be microinteractions. Fandom lives and breathes these things. This is probably the one I struggle with the most, too, lol. Fanfic writers give us every minor piece of body language in a conversation, and honestly, that can be fun to read and fun to write, but it can also get tedious fast. Do readers really need to know every time someone sighs? Probably not! In fact, a lot of them are skimming past those details altogether, lol.

I'm of the opinion generally that a desire to over-describe everything from characters' interactions to setting to clothing, and using a ton of words in the prose, is actually us as writers trying to control the readers' experience. Like we don't trust them to "get it" or have imaginations of their own, so we're micromanaging every detail. Not only does this not work (I have had readers who did not understand something I took pains to make extremely clear, and readers who picked up on subtle stuff I barely hinted at), but it's also a pain for you and the reader.

You have to know readers' experiences of your writing are going to be different than you intend. It doesn't make you a bad writer or communicator; it means readers aren't passive sponges, but actively bring their own interpretations, backgrounds, and baggage to what they read. You have to trust that most of the time most of your readers will get it and even enjoy filling in some details themselves, and you have to let go of that desire for control.

Anyway, my final piece of advice on this is that if you're worried about any of these issues, challenge yourself to trim as many words as possible from your fic. (You can paste it to a new document so you don't have to lose the old one!) Seriously, delete things until you're afraid the structural integrity is about to crumble. Then see how much of your fic still makes sense, and which parts might need some description put back in either for further clarity or simply for flavor. Learning to write to word maximums is, imo, as important as, if not more important than, learning to write lots of words.

[heyclickadee]

I've had this sitting in my drafts for a few days and just forgot to post it. Anyway! Thoughts on "Entombed" (sorry, this got long): 

1. There's an ancient mechanical creature hidden under a mountain on an uncharted world activated by a mysterious crystal and implied to have razed its entire planet. Why? How does this technology work? Is the mechanical creature alive or sentient in some way? What is it about the crystal that activates the creature? Is this just technology, or is it force weirdness, or both? Why did somebody (potentially the Zeffo) build a planet destroying giraffe of terror? Why was it in the mountain? Did someone hide it there? Did the engineer who designed it base its appearance off of a real animal? Did it hide itself? I have questions.

2. I had to watch this one twice to decide what I thought. I enjoyed it the first time, but I was so thrown by how completely different it was than what I was expecting that I had to give it another shot. Second time around? I loved it. Sometimes Star Wars is profound and serious. Sometimes it's silly Indiana Jones shenanigans in space, and I love it for that.

3. I'll talk about the whole "filler" discussion lower down, but one of the throughlines that's been carried through to this episode from the very beginning of the season is the idea of these characters exploring life outside Kamino, the army, and even the "hunker down and survive" mode they were all in last season, along with the choices they are or could be making as individuals regarding what kind of lives they want to live. Echo, for example, wants to go back to being a soldier, but this time in a fight against the empire; Crosshair is still choosing to be a soldier (for now), and he's miserable about it but having to live with the choice he made to stay; Tech's gotten to explore a bit of what he wants and likes through the riot racing episode but, more than that, he's being presented with the idea that the galaxy is broader and deeper than he considered and that he maybe has more to offer it than just what he was designed to offer; Wrecker...honestly needs an episode where he's in focus because he seems to be the most content of any of them and I'm not sure what Wrecker wants, besides being with the people he loves; and then this week was Omega's (and sort of but not quite) Hunter's turn. I'm an adult, so I tend to focus on the adult characters, but Omega's such a good character and it's great that she's also getting a chance to explore what kind of person she wants to be. This is the second episode we've seen that really focuses on her being a bit of an adrenaline junky with an interest in treasure hunting. And given what Romar said to her about how happiness is worth all the treasure in the galaxy, that's probably going to be a theme for her this season, and I'm curious to see where it goes.

4. Theres. An inexplicable megazord. Just. Out there. On a dead planet.

5.  Hunter's...Hunter's not okay. And not even in just a "tired dad" sense, I mean that Hunter's probably been crying under his helmet since "Aftermath" and that he's getting to the point where he can't hide how bone-tired and sad he actually is. It's almost shocking going back and watching the first half of season one and comparing Hunter there to how he's been in his season so far, because he was so much more open back then. He was exploring options, asking questions, trying to find a new life for all of them, and came across as pretty confident in his decisions, but after the one-two-three punch of encountering Crosshair on Bracca, getting shot by Cad Bane, and losing Omega? The man shuts down. And he only shut down more after what happened with Crosshair on Kamino. I actually suspect that Hunter agrees more with Echo about what they should be doing than he lets on, even taking his opinion that Omega shouldn't be forced into become a soldier the way they were into account. He's not happy about what they're doing, he doesn't like going on dangerous missions for someone else, and he really only got involved with Cid because they were broke and desperate and because she kind of blackmailed them into doing it, but he keeps digging his heels in and refusing to move. It seems like he feels like he's a failure as a leader, a brother, and maybe even as a father, because he hasn't really been proactively leading the group since episode nine of last season. He isn't really making decisions about what they should or shouldn't do--he's mostly letting other people decide on their missions and then letting them guilt, blackmail, or push him into it because he's so scared of making a decision that get's another one of them hurt or results in them losing another person the way they lost Crosshair (or worse) that he's mentally and emotionally paralyzed AND emotionally isolating himself from everyone else. And that paralysis is starting--more than starting--to cause friction on the team, and I'm curious to see how that's going to affect the story moving forward.

6. Seriously, someone get this beautiful bandana man some therapy.

7. Likewise, the vibe between Echo and Hunter this episode was interesting. As much as they're (at least outwardly) disagreeing on what their next steps should be, there doesn't seem to be any animosity between them, at least not yet.  All those silently exchanged glances? They disagree, but they trust each other, and I kind of think they both think that they other one is going to come around to their point of view. Eventually.

8. Omega is me if someone sets me loose on a scavanger hunt.

9. They gave me the space archaeology (kind of) and I am VIBRATING

10. I WISH archaeology was this fun. I spent an entire season walking surveys up in Wyoming, and did I ever come across a map to an ancient mecha-beast? No. No I did not. (I kid, real life archaeology is very fun and I have absolutely cried about lithic debitage and fingerprints on potsherds because someone it means someone lived and breathed and died and that stuff might seem boring but it's evidence of a human life and that's beautiful.)

11. Phee! All hail our pirate queen!

12. Phee is fun and her fashion sense is impeccable. And she has a sword. She's got a vibro-cutlass. Or something like unto a sword. But in space. And regardless of how anyone interprets them, I really liked the scenes with her and Tech at the beginning (characters being a bit snarky towards each other? I'm going to have fun), and Omega imprinting on her like a little baby duck was adorable. It's similar to the vibe Ezra had with Hondo, but where Ezra was a bit of a little shit (and I mean that affectionately) with a tendency to give Hondo chances he knew Hondo didn't deserve because he thought Hondo was a fun dude to have around (and maybe because he saw in Hondo a lot of the kind of person he would have turned into if the ghost crew hadn't picked him up and given him a chance), Omega's just all starry eyes with Phee. Is Phee trustworthy? Probably not. Is she fun for now? Oh yeah.

13. It would be hilarious if Phee turned out to be a former jedi who worked in the archives but left the order well before the war or order 66 because she wanted to go treasure hunting. This is the crackiest of crack theories and I do not expect it to happen. But it would be funny.

14. I loved how into the treasure hunt Tech started to get. Asking questions? About the puzzles? Doing his own investigation on the age of the site? Yes.

15. "I suspect that this is not, in fact, a treasure vault," as the aforementioned inexplicable megazord shambles to life once again proving that Tech, with his deadpan one-liners, is the funniest damn character on this show.  

16. Not much Echo this episode, which was a little disappointing, but I liked what little we got. Hopefully there's more in the next one!

17. There's a MAP to an TECHNOLOGICAL MONSTER that PREDATES THE REPUBLIC just OUT in SPACE and I am HERE FOR IT.

18. I didn't think it was possible to make something that vaguely resembles an ankylosaur look scary. I've been corrected. I'm glad Wrecker was able to throw the ankylosaur from hell out the window. (But also I feel a little sorry for it). 

19. Mel??? Running from the death ray??? And not making it??? Corbett and Rau I AM IN YOUR WALLS WHAT THE HELL??? But no, actually, that was a pretty good way to up tension without taking out one of the regular characters.

20. So...I'm not saying that spite is low-key a good motivator, but spite might low-key be a good motivator. I'll just leave it at that.

21. No one calls the clone characters by their names. I didn't think this was anything at first, but the more of this season I see, the more I think it definitely is. No one who isn't a clone addresses a clone by their name. And it's not just the villianous or morally ambiguous non-clone characters, no one does it. Not Phee, who has a couple different nicknames for everyone in the batch (including Tech, even though she asked what his name was), not Cid, not Rampart, not even Romar, and Romar was definitely a good guy. The only exception was the announcer and the crowd using Tech's name in "Faster," because that's the name he gave when he signed up (and there's a pretty good chance no one suspected he was a clone) and even then the announcer had to comment on how weird it was and questioned whether or not that was even a name. It's an interesting trend and is probably playing into the idea of how clones were viewed by most of the galaxy during the war--basically as non-people--but I also want to see where it goes before I come down on any hard conclusions. Apart from the overall trend, I do think that every character we're meeting is doing it for a different reason. Rampart pointedly calls clones by their CT numbers as a sign of disrespect. They are not people to him and he doesn't care if they know that. Cid? I think it's so she doesn't get attached. She doesn't want to like them too much. It might be the same for Phee, buuuuuut I'm not sure. And then with Romar...I kind of wonder if he kept calling Tech "Ace" partly because he didn't realize that Tech's name was Tech. Same with the announcer in "Faster" scratching his head over "Tech" being a name. Romar could have thought that "Tech" was a codename or a squad designation, because...I mean...clone names are unusual. Even within the galaxy far far away with the exceedingly silly names, clone names are often etymologically weird. And every person in the batch is named after their job. It'd be like going to the store and finding out that the person loading the shelves is just named "Stocker." And--hey, sad thought about clones--I kind of wonder if most people in the galaxy just assumed that clones didn't have names. After all, they're manufactured people, people who didn't--from what people could tell from the outside--have families. Who would name them? is probably what a lot of people who didn't know the clones would ask. The only people who called the clones by their names were the jedi and other clones; now the jedi are gone and most of the clones aren't in a position to even use their own names right now.

22. I just made myself sad about clones.

23. I LOVED the look of...well, of everything in this episode. It honestly felt like half the purpose of this one was to allow the art and effects teams to flex and flex they did.  

24. This whole episode is like if someone decided that Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Castle in the Sky, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Godzilla: King of Monsters were the same movie, and I appreciate that energy. 

25. I love that the batch's reaction at the end was basically just, "Well. That just happened." I need Crosshair to come back so they can tell him this story. Them just saying, "While you were off with the Empire we were awakening the ancient horrors," and him jokingly threatening to leave again because there's no way he's believing that this happened.

26. What is the kingdom of Elweys? I need it. I need to know. (For real, though, I'm actually glad that none of the crazy ancient technology stuff in this episode was explained. It gives the GFFA a bit of temporal depth that it doesn't always have and I'm here for it.)

27. Regarding the filler discussion: Not every story has to be serialized. It's okay for some shows to just be a series of putting characters in different combinations and scenarios and seeing what they do. In fact, that used to be the norm. For decades. That was how television worked. It's only in the last decade or so that serialized television has become more of a regular thing. 

Furthermore, there's a spectrum of ways to serialize something. On one end of that spectrum you have your eight-hour movies--things like Kenobi and Moon Knight, where pretty much every episode begins where the previous episode ended, and where no episode is complete without the overall structure of the entire show. On the other end of that spectrum you have your tentpole episode shows--think something like the first season of the Ducktales reboot--where you can mostly watch the episodes in any order you want because most of the episodes are the characters getting into various shenanigans while most of the plot is reserved for big event episodes, usually mid-season or season finales. And then elsewhere on that spectrum you'll have shows that are written a little more like a novel. Every single episode or chapter will have its own story, its own miniature inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, and its own mix of plot, character development, and worldbuilding (sometimes focusing a little more on one than the others), but the successive episodes or chapters build up to an overarching story and overall structure, and it can be hard to see how or what that overarching story is until you get to the end of the whole story. That's what The Bad Batch is. It's that kind of serialized story. 

And--just a last thought--if we're going to say that an episode is filler and doesn't contribute to the plot, we've got to one, consider that maybe story is more than plot, and two, ask ourselves what the "plot" actually is. Anyway, this is just me being a little bit salty, but the unending "filler" discourse whenever The Bad Batch isn't Crosshair's Agony Half-Hour got old last season, and this will probably be the last thing I say about it. (Also, this is just me and my two cents, so take it with a grain of salt). 

28. Jumping off of that, this kind of episode does make me suspect that we are getting at least a third season, because it feels like the writers are taking their time taking us we're they're going. I am more than okay with this.

29. DID I MENTION THE INEXPLICABLE MEGAZORD???

[rmorde]

With talks about RCT output and worries about Shoko getting shafted regarding her powers... let's see the rough translations.

Warning: Spoilers

Sukuna: No, when you use RCT on another person, the efficiency is usually less than half compared to when you heal yourself.

Kinda make sense? It was already established long ago that RCT is incredibly difficult to pull off.

Shoko doesn't have any Innate Technique. Since her name implies that she is not part of a clan, she likely has no Inherited Technique either. So all she has is usage of Reversal (RCT). Considering how highly valued she is by the school, she must be incredibly good at it.

Now, her feats were said to be healing and re-growing limbs. However, we saw how Toge is still missing an arm and so does Hana. Maki is also heavily scarred.

But it's not all failures tho, Shoko is the one that healed Nanami after fighting Mahito the first time and he seemed perfectly fine the next day. Another example is Geto who was severely injured in the afternoon, but was back to normal within 24 hours.

And... that's about it. We do not have any further clue regarding her powers. This is both a boon and a bane.

Let's start with this lack of info as bane.

Sukuna: Her RCT isn't even as powerful as me or Gojo Satoru

This is what people are worried about. Frankly, so do I. This devalues Shoko's skill. It is not helped by the fact there are other characters introduced already that possesses RCT.

Sukuna's observation here could be taken as Shoko being not that special after all especially since we do not really have much information about what she can truly do so far. With her confirmed heals being 2 Perfectly Fine and 3 Not Exactly Fine, it may seem Sukuna is right.

HOWEVER!

#1 Sukuna has been wrong before. He has a habit of underestimating people right until he spent a lot of time knowing them through fights.

Case in point #1: Gojo. From fish to the guy he never shuts up about, Sukuna seem to like/respect (?) him in the end. I mean, just an observation here, Sukuna tends to name drop Gojo a lot actually like with Megumi.

Case in point #2: Yuji. Sukuna is practically annoyed with Yuji because he doesn't see any value in him. Yet, in this very recent chapter, he acknowledged Yuji at last! Sukuna hates it but he admits that Yuji isn't as bad as he initially thought.

#2 Sukuna is comparing Shoko to Gojo. GOJO who is The Strongest sorcerer?! IMO, Sukuna is being extremely biased here. Like really?! What did he expect? For every single sorcerer Gojo hanged out with to be on the same level as he is in terms of everything he does?! Then again, Sukuna fucking expected Hiromi to pull off the insane feats Gojo did during their showdown (and Hiromi delivered! My beloved! He was taken away so fast.)

Therefore, Sukuna saying Shoko isn't as great as him and Gojo is not really a downgrade exactly. They're two monsters on an entirely different scale. Shoko not being on their scale is just expected.

Seriously. Wtf is up with Sukuna? He's like a heavyweight champion whining why a featherweight champion (Shoko) couldn't compare to him and his rival (aka Gojo) in punching power right after beating the lights out of a promising rookie (aka Hiromi).

#3 We still lack information about Shoko's RCT to fully judge her. So far here are the solid facts:

She can heal people and help them regrow loss limbs which is legit since they are keeping her away from any fights.

There is probably a time factor for her abilities. -> Nanami & Geto probably got healed immediately by her so they recovered 100% -> Maki, Toge*, and Hana* probably missed the time window to become 100% healed -----> *Maybe Sukuna being the one to maim Toge & Hana is a factor too.

Her power level is not Sukuna/Gojo Grade.

The new info that RCT is only 50% effective when applied on others seems to be a general fact which may or may not apply to Shoko. Maybe she is greater than 50% effective at using RCT on others provided she heals a patient within a specific time window.

This could be copium but we actually haven't seen for ourselves Shoko healing someone. What we often see is the result/aftermath of her work.

I may misremember it (if I am please tell me) but I think this is the only image we have of her actually doing RCT... until she got distracted by Satoru and Suguru's shenanigans with Yaga that is.

I just don't want my baby girl be done dirty. Shoko is THE jujutsu doctor for fuck's sake.

GIVE HER RESPECT!!!

[candy8448]

Meet the DnD party!

Me and my friends have a dnd campgain, and i have fully designed my character, but everyone else has not. While two of them have like one drawing of their characters but not designed fully, a few of them don't draw, and i really wanted to see them so i asked them to describe them to me with any references they have (i sent picrews and doodles quick examples which they could pick from and they had their own resources like heroforge and their minatures and doodles they did and other apps for other details which i tried to incorperate) and this is what i came up with:

Traditional character sheets drawing time: unknown

Digital drawing/colouring time: 3hrs 36mins

(It was honestly do fun drawing and constantly sending images on the chat and asking for anything they want changes and then editing it. They all also gave me a lot of creative freedom which was super fun)

(My favorites to design were the satyr and vulpin (goatman and foxman) because you could get so much more creative with them

Now i will introduce each character, left to right

(These are the drawings i drew first, before tracing them digitally to figure out colours):

You all know and love him, you've seen her a lot on this blog, it's Toby! He's my character (and was designed forever ago) a gremlet outside of the dnd context, but a tiefling fighter in dnd. You can find details and backstory here

Here is Kinraeg, a half-orc cleric for the goddess Hecate. He is a drug dealer on the run. Saved us from dying so many times (the guidance spell is great) and he's always telling us not to die. Only thing keeping the party alive.

The owner on the character does draw and gave me one of the two most detailed references, so i basically copied it exactly while changing a few details he didnt manage to change himself on time. I also did get to play with colours thoug since he only gave me a pallette and told me that he wants the skin green and white hair and the other colours for the clothes.

The bane of my existence, Lagos. The satyr bard who became enemies with Toby in the first 30 mins of them meeting. I call it a lego piece. Im not sure Lagos' backstory but it came up on a small rowboat, half starved and suffering to our ship, where we took it in.

Lagos was probably the most fun to design, the owner gave me full creative freedom but with enough picrews and her own doodle do give me some guidence. I was allowed to go ham with the goat features and had fun thinking about where the fur would go and how the clothes would work. The skirt is based on trousers i recently bought and i thought the crop top was cool everything was also so fun (im so happy with the design, the goat eyes and the round head with a pointed chin to immitate a goatee and such. More details are in the image)

Grog the barbarian gnome is a guy Toby seems to interact with a lot. After all, they are both the tanks of the party. Im not sure the backstory but he does get drunk a lot. He bought daesyn's (the next character)'s griffin, Nala, and is the one who is seen carrying her all the time, second to daesyn himself.

Grog was the first one i designed, and it was a bit hard. Im not familiar with the body shape so it took a bit to get it right, but i eventually managed to get the shaped down. He was kind of okay to design, a good warmup, since he was a basic gnome with simple clothes, the most interesting part was the markings on the forehead which was the one image reference the owner gave me, since he cant draw (he sent some model headshot from some game or something)

Daesyn is the father of the group and navigator/ unspokenly decided captain of the ship. The human paladin (for the god Possidon) was once a man with a family, wife and daughter who he lost in the war. He has since left his ruined country and joined a group of travelers who found him drinking his sorrows away in a bar. He has since taken up the possition of of dad of the ship, and own a griffin named Nala

Daesyn's owner was another one who gave me detailed reference, a figure made with heroforge which had a ton of detail that i honestly dont want to include since i like having simple to draw characters so i basically copied it one for one, while simplifying the armour down quite a bit. It made this one kind of boring to draw, but it was easy as i didnt have to think of anything new

And finally, the "accidentally" arsonist is Fizer, the vulpin. The alchemist helps Kinraeg with his drug making and totally accidently set our ship on fire which was the owner saying "im going to roll to accidently make an explosion when making potions" and then rolling to do just that... =_= he does make potions... sometimes (he rolls real low) but a few times they really did help

Fizer was the other most fun to design. The owner gave me a picrew which was just a headshot of a black mask with black hood and nothing else, so i had to decide how i would implament it. I think it turned out good, even though i thought it wouldnt work that well. I also drew various head and tuft shapes (with my warrior cat oc making knowledge) and told him to pick a combination of different options (kinda like a picrew) to decide fluff and ear shapes since he couldn't visualise it himself. It was fun to constantly go back for feedback, sincw he was also the one who most was telling me to change things, it made me glad cuz i want these characters to be their own and not just hem being fine with whatever i come up with. Same things with the colours

(I also drew this diagram with all of their eyes)(im glad that i was able to give everyone unique eyes and things because i struggle with that so much usually)(also i always draw boots as brown blocks with maybe some laces or something cuz i dont know how to draw good shoes, so im glad i made them all unique)(combining all of my different artstyles for each character and implamenting things from them into each character was super fun)

In pur campgain, we are on a pirate ship on an adventure to find and steal Possidon's trident (not sure why tbh), sailing through normal ocean, acid ocean and the such. With wonderous recurring npcs such as Jimmy the orc, Dave the shopkeap, Gobby Gobkins the 5yr old trickster (we hate him, how did we trust him with out court case), the slave who's name i forgot who we won by Grog winning an armwrestle in which the reward was eachother's souls, various pokemon: meridia napolean greg scooby and unicorn, our griffin Nala and Toby jr my rat who is... somewhere

[joshmedin]

Not Equal At All

Not Equal At All

Game Design Essay

Introduction

Many game systems offer a variety of choices or options during character creation; the general thinking among these options is that they are, in theory, “equal” to one another.  In other words, while there may be specific reasons to pick one or another for certain purposes, they can all be chosen without fear of one choice being clearly superior to the others, or at least close enough to not hinder gameplay and player enjoyment.  But this isn’t always the case, and in some games where very coarse-grained choices are part of the process, a wrong choice can have a heavy impact on character capabilities.  Let’s look over some examples.

(For the purposes of this essay, I’m NOT looking at comparative resource costs to get the same result, which is the bane of certain more-complex character creation systems, but instead circumstances where players may have a handful of choices to make.  The topics are similar, however.)

Broadness of Application

One area that this will often matter is broadness of application; if a character has a trait that can only be used in limited circumstances, they may feel very limited in play compared to a character with traits that can be used in a variety of ways.  Extremely freeform traits, such as Aspects in FATE, are susceptible to this problem.  (The FATE rulebook does provide guidelines, but it can still take experience to see the difference in application between Can Make Machines Purr and “Okay, I’m going for it!”  One is good for technological challenges, but the other could be used for almost anything.)

But sometimes, these issues with broad application are actually built into the system.  One example of this is the Sentinel Comics RPG.  PCs built in this game have two Principles in their Abilities list; without getting into game mechanics and probability too heavily, these are actually a very important resource for characters, because they allow characters to use the Overcome action with a dramatically improved success rate.  (The odds of complete success jump from extremely roughly 2% to 43%; PCs should rely on them a lot!)  Principles are selected off a list (and the full range of choices is sharply curtailed depending on character type), and everybody will always have precisely and only two of them, so they should, in theory, always be comparable.

But they aren’t.  An Overcome in SCRPG is, roughly speaking, beating a challenge that is not an opponent, whether it’s persuading an official, solving a puzzle, rescuing a drowning victim, or infiltrating a warehouse.  The Principles, among other things, have a triggering circumstance in which they can be used.  For example, the Principle of Lab says “Overcome while in a familiar workspace or when you have ample research time.”  That’s good when those very specific things are involved, but it becomes a very hard stretch to rescue a drowning victim or shift a boulder out of your way.  For contrast, the Principle of the Tactician says “Overcome when you can flashback to how you prepared for this exact situation.” For that one, it becomes almost impossible for the GM to deny its use, and fairly simple for a player to justify it.  Shift a boulder?  Studied leverage just in case.  Drowning victim?  Took lifeguarding classes to know what to do, anticipating trouble.  Persuade an official?  Did research on the profiles of all of them.  One is much more broadly useful than the other, period.  A player who plans ahead and picks at least one Principle that they can use in a wide range of situations will have a distinct advantage, but a random choice might find a character who is great at knowing locals and their own business and at situations where being small and young is an advantage and nothing more.  

(And yes, very creative and/or persuasive players may be able to somehow stretch and distort their Principle to fit anything, but there’s a point where it just goes outside rational use.)

Scenario Specific

During a scenario at a gaming convention I attended last year, one of the pregen PCs had their one-and-only special trait be a bonus at piloting extraterrestrial spacecraft.  In the course of the scenario, our characters wound up on a spacecraft that we couldn’t control or pilot in any way, arriving at another spacecraft that we then took over-- and that wrapped the game.  That player never had a chance to use their specialty; it was irrelevant to the game.  Now, that’s not good design, since it was a convention game with pregen PCs, but it showcases another kind of problem with unequal choices-- scenarios where some of the options for characters don’t matter.  A classic one is a character built for social encounters who finds the group frequently in deadly combat, but there are countless other examples that are possible.  (At the same convention, I wound up with a character whose major resources were related to hacking and communications, which was fine, but the only conflict involved very dangerous enemies attacking us while we were on a highway in the middle of nowhere, and it was set in the 80s, so there wasn’t much I could do with that.)  This is at least easier to solve if the GM is involved with the characters during the creation process, and can guide them into roles relevant to the scenario, but if that doesn’t happen, it’s all too easy for a character whose focus is not relevant for the game to simply be unable to participate in the way they wanted to, and that feels like a serious loss.

Combat and Noncombat

One key area where this matters in games is, of course, combat; woe betide the player whose character lags behind others in this arena, it is known, lest they simply die!  And that’s certainly a concern-- many RPGs involve a lot of combat, combat almost always involves the entire group, often takes up a lot of table time, and inability to participate meaningfully can get somebody killed.

But that’s actually not the only consideration here.  Being combat-capable is so ingrained into game design and character design that it’s almost not the largest concern compared to noncombat application in a number of game systems.  

One of the classic examples of this is the most popular game in the US and probably worldwide-- Dungeons and Dragons, notably the current edition.  In D&D, one class is “Fighter”; Fighters… fight.  They are good in specific aspects of combat; otherwise, they have skills.  But everyone gets skills; likewise, everyone can participate in combat, often challenging Fighters in their specific area of greatest strength (Single-target combat), and utterly triumphing over them in other aspects of combat (Crowd control, for example.)  It’s doubtlessly necessary for gameplay-- it wouldn’t do to have other classes be helpless in combat, which is a large part of D&D-- but outside of combat, things change.  Fighters can have Skills, as can all classes.  But spellcasting classes gain abilities that let them bypass Skill challenges, or let them do things that no Skill could ever accomplish, and this gap grows larger and larger even as the combat abilities of spellcasters grows with it.  

But this can also impact other systems!  In a relatively freeform system like Cortex, creativity can let a trait like Senses outperform Super Strength.  It’s easy enough to justify using Senses in combat-- analyzing a foe’s movement, spotting their weaknesses and strengths, and so on.  But Senses can also be used to solve puzzles, track enemies, potentially even have application in social settings.  Likewise, in some games, it’s very possible to even use social or psychological skills in combat, perhaps by creating “Good morale” assets for other to use.  However, conversely, it’s often much, much harder to apply combat skills to noncombat situations as broadly.  Being a master archer is much harder to apply to debate than it is to find a justification for a master of persuasion being able to distract a foe or boost an ally.  In this regard, it’s a serious issue if combat-themed characters can’t do anything out of combat, but the reverse isn’t true, and it’s something that needs to be considered, either in game design or in campaign design.

Does it even matter?

Does it actually matter if characters are unequal?  This is a delicate question, and depends in part on the group and the specific players.  If the differences aren’t great, of course, it surely matters less no matter what.  But sometimes it’s easy to see where one character has noteworthy advantages over the other… and I think that it does matter, broadly, and it’s worth addressing. Some players, for example, can become frustrated with their inability to contribute, or to act effectively, and that frustration isn’t fun, the more so when it’s not obvious that some choices aren’t as good.  Likewise, even if one player doesn’t mind being less capable, other players may become frustrated with that player’s weakness and having to cover for them; the GM, in turn, may find it more challenging to balance encounters and challenges while still allowing that player spotlight time.  Overall, the less inequality between equivalent choices, the more desirable the results will be, even if it’s fine with certain players.

Solutions

When making characters, of course, one should look at options and choose carefully, but that’s not always very satisfactory.  What if one’s character concept depends on certain choices, or if it’s not obvious that there’s a problem?  Another good place to work on this problem is at the design phase of a game, of course, but that’s not an option the majority of the time; most of us play games other people have already made.  (I’m a game designer, but for a variety of reasons, mostly play other people’s systems.)

Sadly, this means that a certain amount of work on the part of the GM becomes necessary; it is, however, worthwhile.  It’s good to see what choices players make, and then play to them.  Is the player immune to something?  Make sure it shows up so that they can have their moment!  Do they have a Principle that’s great at stealth?  Give them lots of chances to sneak in places!  Make sure to give players a chance to shine by adjusting scenarios to their characters, rather than making the players adjust to the scenario.  Sometimes, it’s the only solution, but I think that it’s the best one.