#but I'm worried about the running/upkeep costs

[dribs-and-drabbles]

Help me decide (because why not make a huge, important decision through a tumblr poll).

Would you rather live in/buy...

An old house (like 100 years old) with character, which will need repairs/some upgrading and will incur greater monthly bills (and be cold in the winter) but has a lot more space (86 sqm/926 sq ft) and is in a better location (closer to town/work - 15 min cycle/35 min public transport to work)?

OR

A brand-spanking new home, which has a two year warranty on defects and a 10 year warranty on the 'technology' (solar panels and ground source heat pump for hot water and central heating) and won't cost much to run (and more likely to be warmer in the winter) but is very small (62 sqm/667 sq ft) and a bit further away (30 min cycle uphill/40-55 min public transport to work)?

Both cost the same. The new one could be available in a month. The old one might take anything up to 6 months (or more) to become available.

[echoequinox]

I'm thinking about making a video essay on this topic already - or something similar to it - but here's my rewrite of the Starfield factions so that they're less Fucking Dogshit (no spoilers until the big red spoilers tag)

The main foundational crux of the game is the United Colonies vs the Freestar Collective, essentially the idea of Big Government vs Small Government. Within UC systems, the UC is pervasive and present at all levels of security and government, while in Freestar space, you've got planets like Neon that have self-governing security forces while the Rangers only actually go after like, interplanetary criminals and stuff that affects the whole of Freestar space.

And if that's the way you want to play it, fine, but I feel like this is fiction, and worse, this is SCI FI, so these tropes should be MORE polarizing and different.

The United Colonies should be a fascist near-police state. The ever-present panopticon argument that is "should we sacrifice freedom for safety". HEAVY citizenship laws, even more focus on what is essentially the drafting into Sysdef they do to gain legal citizenship. Slates could be designed by Sysdef - or maybe run their updates and core processes through the MAST on New Atlantis - so nearly all communications within UC space (and, hell, even from outside UC space) is monitored by the government.

The Well on New Atlantis should be worse. Treatment of their citizens should be noticeably worse, raids into the Well to sniff out outliers and insurgents. It could lead to a fun hard leftist group in the Well that's like, kind of a parody of leftist infighting, you've got the people fighting to demolish the UC and install something more just and citizen-focused in its place rather than security-focused, and then you've got the people who think we need to burn it all down and get rid of any and all governmental structures, and having them tear at each others throats until the Spacefarer comes along and gives their two cents.

The Freestar Collective, on the other hand, would be closer to a Southern American's dream. This idea of manifest destiny made absolute and concrete, this idea of carving out a place for yourself and Standing Your Ground. I like the idea of Freestar citizens being less critical of their government than the UC, but more critical about the fact that they just... don't show up as much. Hell, maybe certain sectors are just being paid off by gangs. Taking that idea of "we don't interfere in local affairs" and conflating it to a large degree, the idea that they don't protect anything that isn't a Freestar interest.

Maybe in direct opposition to that is a force of like... legitimate bounty hunters. A sort of rising vigilante force that is slowly gaining favor amongst the people for coming to help far before the Ranger kicks their stupid asses into gear. A grinding conflict between the two, where the Rangers are trying to put bounties up on the hunters because they're making the Rangers look bad and helping to add to anti-Freestar sentiment, and they're worried that their hold on the people of the Collective will loosen if they don't rely on them for their security.

The League of Independent Settlers could've been something more than a bullshit Minuteman side-quest provider too. One of the things I read on the wiki described them as a "service provider" and I think that's a fascinating read on them, comparing them to the modern day service provider. This idea of like, investing in settlements to eventually make back their profit, requiring a fee and upkeep instead of an upfront cost for the resources required to kick it in the black.

Maybe they've got repomen who go out and collect, should the settlements they fund not return to them. It could lead to more interesting side quests: finding settlements torn apart by Terrormorphs, facing the barrel of a gun by a farmer whose land isn't turning the profit they promised due to shoddy LIST tech, ending up in land disputes between several colonists because LIST overlapped the properties on the demarcation, etc etc etc. It could've been a neat bounty system and a possible moral quandary later on as well.

The Va'ruun are, obviously, underutilized. My assumption is that Shattered Stars (the first Starfield DLC) is going to be about them, but I know what going into a Bethesda game with assumptions is like. Even if that was the case, they could have seeded the Va'ruun a bit more heavily through the main game. Va'ruun outposts (abandoned or not), space stations, more defectors like Andreja.

I think that with the UC and Freestar being reflections of America's current (broken) political climate, the Va'ruun would provide a much needed reflection of its (broken) religious climate. This idea of an evangelical force that literally believes in a space worm who will kill all life eventually is very close the Christian version of Hell. "Don't commit sins or the Great Serpent will devour you". It could provide interesting context for both the Enlightened and the Universals - the Enlightened could be initially founded by disenfranchised Va'ruun and the Universals could be moving toward the same "God" that the Va'ruun worship, albeit not in a way either side understands.

I think that people should've been more disenfranchised about the Colony War. I think that it should've sparked a lot of revolution and a lot of disharmony amongst the people. The idea that out of the HUNDRED star systems, each government can only possess 3 is... insanity. And not only that, but the entire war and thousands of lives lost hinging on a LAND DISPUTE between two sides of the same fascist government is insane. I'm amazed more people aren't up in arms about it. (Also, I haven't checked, is there not even a fucking colony in Vesta?? Are you telling me that the Collective didn't continue working there anyway? Nobody from LIST set up there? That's fucking insane to me)

Anyway SPOILERS below

The last faction is obviously the Starborn, and while I do like their individualistic nature, I think that it would make more sense - especially as time went on - if the Emissary and Hunter had more Starborn falling in under their wing. The Emissary being a member of Constellation means that they're always going to be a good person and some Starborn have to fall under that category, and the Hunter seems like he genuinely wants to side with you and cares about your well-being when you're traveling with him (albeit in a jaded way) and also he was a priest, for god's sake, people aren't FLOCKING to hear what he has to say about Unity?

I personally would have each loop grow their status. The Emissary and Hunter are, initially, alone in the universe. Just like you. But as time goes on, as they iterate over and over, they find like-minded individuals. Some Starborn who are also on their 6th or 7th loop see them and say "Fuck it, why not team up? It's easier together and I vibe with what you want." By the Spacefarer's 5th loop the Emissary/Hunter have fully staffed ships. By the 7th they've got a small flotilla.

By the 10th loop, they'd truly be political powers in their own right. Existing on the far reaches of space, ready to wage a war against one another for control over the Unity. THAT would be a worthy way to play them.

[untilteddocument]

After-Action Archive Phoenix Point 2nd Gig - Hack the Planet, Part 2

Note: Being that this is an ending-related entry, unmarked spoilers ahead!

Welcome back, one and all, to my After-Action Archive! This is the second part of my recap of the final Phoenix Point mission when aligned with the Disciples of Anu. Let's get to it.

Last we left off, we'd just gotten past the Pandoran gatekeepers. The only thing left between the Exalted hijacking the Yuggothian Receptacle and turning into Good Nyarlathotep is...the Yuggothian Receptacle itself, plus a few elite guards and gradual but endless reinforcements.

First off, we parked ourselves at the gate, waited for the fire to burn out (it was a little close and I didn't want any careless moves to result in unnecessary damage), and slowly refreshed our Willpower Points. It took a few rounds, but we weren't speedrunning this, so patience was our ally. After everyone was good and ready, we put in.

The final charge was a bit trickier than the gatekeeper battle. For one, fewer and tougher enemies with more space between them and starting farther away from us means even a Terminator or Jedi would have trouble starting and sustaining the kill chain.

Micaela was able to get some shots in on the Siren and Chiron who were crowded together over on the right side, and the Siren in the central hallway was pretty easy pickings, but that Chiron on the left side was able to get off a shot...

...that totally missed, so fuck 'em! Ms. Howard and Ms. Brown with some support fire from friends below paid it a visit and brought it down.

There were some reinforcements that managed to catch us, but they were of little concern. However, it wasn't entirely sunshine and rainbows.

The Yuggothian Receptacle doesn't have immediate power on its side, but Mark of the Void offers inevitability, and every turn we spent dealing with the bodyguards was one more turn it had to wear us down. The good thing is, thanks to the Legacy of Ancients weapons having no ammo requirements, we definitely had more kick than it had ass. The trick was bringing it to bear fast enough. Cue montage.

Aside from a few required heal-ups from the Technicians, it was pretty steady going. There were a few rocks in the grind, though, in the form of those reinforcements. Two of them had the Tar Shadow ability, and I was running low on incendiary grenades. 'Course, killing them with fire isn't the only way to deal with the problem.

There's also...not killing them.

The first one, a gun-toting, grenade-launching Scourge which appeared during our approach, I had the Exalted mind control. No need to worry about it dying if it's helping us out. As a plus, Ms. El-Haddad's Synod head was paying the upkeep cost of the mind control, so all the Exalted had to do was stick nearby her.

Next up was another Scourge that came up from the rear, and Milas Johnston was the rearguard. In addition to sidestepping Tar Shadow, the benefit of not killing reinforcements is they don't send more reinforcements to replace them. Aside from mind control, the other way to safely not-kill them?

Paralysis.

That Athena sniper rifle put its two cents in nicely, stymieing both the Scourge and a Shieldbearer that tried to hold the line. Two shots each was all it took, and while the Scourge did manage a Return Fire burst on him, it wasn't anything that a Technician couldn't patch up.

Turns basically started to blur together.

Step 1) Find hole

Step 2) Fill with bullet

It's like the most bare-bones summary for TF2 porn ever.

Still, we kept the pressure on, and before long, we were listening to the sweet, sweet sounds of victory.

The Exalted was able to handle her end of the plan, and we were able to head out, fulfilled and comforted by the knowledge that our god was a hot giant squid lady, and she was right over there.

Thanks to everyone who stuck with me for this recap, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! I'm not sure if I'll do any more of these even if I do another playthrough, but never say never, I guess, so until next time.

[mevekagvain]

Chapter 173 - Raskreia wears at least two rings on her right hand so I'm just gonna hc she wears them on each finger. Let her punch people please.

- Extremely hilarious how Seira's all "I cannot lie to the lord, it is illegal and ignoble." Meanwhile Gejutel's just "Now what bullshit am I gonna spout today ^^?" The reason he and Frankenstein are unwilling friends is because they have that in common even if neither will admit it.

Chapter 174 - Ludis and Karias,,, adorable. In fact, Karias' first panel appearance had him at peak pretty boy. Love it. Otoh, Rozaria and Kei are intimidating. Between Rozaria, Seira, and Raskreia, and even Claudia and Edian, all noble women are intimidating as they should be.

- The fact that Ludis keeps his coat's top buttons unbuttoned so you can see his plain white shirt underneath 😶. Works perfectly with my 'he's bffs with Rozaria and is closest to Karias since he's the only one who can handle and understand him completely' hc since that means the two rubbed off on him.

- Raskreia ily but could you not destroy the throne room just by raising your voice. That shit is expensive. Worrying that the clan leaders have no reaction though like okay maybe their infrastructure and architecture just all sucks.

- Ludis being the first to speak up,,, love him. Son.

- Still super fucked up that clan leaders who don't enter eternal sleep with the lord are looked down upon. Mvp lord obvsly was fine with it but the current generation? Yeah uh...

Chapter 175 - His smile to the Central Knight reporting to him 🥺 son boy ily

- M-21, Takeo, Tao, dw about Frankenstein. Man only needs like 30 minutes of sleep canonically so he had plenty of time to write up your shit.

- Regis darling hasn't mastered the art of jumping down from impossible heights yet. I guess that's something nobles actually need to train for.

Chapter 176 - Imagine going home and learning your house, garden, and surrounding land is now forbidden territory like, I wouldn't know whether to be flattered or insulted. Like mostly I'd be worried about the state of the house ofc but aside from that.

- I still can't get over the size because it's not even just one building, it's multiple buildings for two people. Raizel and his brother.

- Tao electrocuted the Central Knight so hard his clothes turned white goddamn.

Chapter 177 - Awfully romantic of you to give Raizel jewellery, esteemed lord. And even more awfully romantic of you to go find said jewellery as your first priority, beloved noblesse.

- Maybe mvp lord just trusted the traitors because he's only seen them mayne 10 times in his life. Nothing in canon proves me otherwise.

Chapter 178 - Raskreia, rebuilding costs. I'm begging you to stop destroying the throne room 😭

- Maybe it's cold because the entire estate has been abandoned and not had any upkeep for centuries. Ever thought about that?

Chapter 179 - The sanctuary only opening up on full moons is so dumb and inconvenient so I'm just gonna pretend that what it means is that it opens up for everyone else on full moons but noblesse can enter at any time.

- I do hc that the statues leading to the sanctuary/in the sanctuary are of previous noblesse but I also find it hilarious because... extremely buff noblesse. I bet unlike Raizel they'd beat people up and only use their powers as a last resort which is ofc exactly what he should be doing. In fact I bet all noblesse did that and he's just dumb. Angel noblesse whacking a noble with a stick until they die while still looking holy or perhaps looking like the devil <3 Door lady is just a noblesse with super high self esteem who wanted to make the sanctuary door cool.

Chapter 180 - Better suited to be lord how??? Raizel would be a horrible lord he doesn't know how to do anything. I still say he's illiterate in Lukedonian. He struggles to learn to press a singular button. You want him to run a nation???

- So mvp lord 100% just uses Ragnarok as decoration yes? I bet he hangs it up above his bed.

- The "I am glad you are safe" at the end of the message in the noblesse' sanctuary always makes my heart hurt like god for all his humour and personality, Ashoka truly and deeply cared for everyone and everything.

Sidenotes - Raskreia looks so pretty with her red eyes and just extremely regal as always. I love her. Wonder if she ties that cravat herself though, or does she just magic it.

- I've said this before and I'll say it again, Rajak truly has no reaction to anything. He does not care. The guy does not give a fuck as long as the laws are upheld.

[plecos-whatifs]

Evil comes in threes

Today we have the alluded to Parsely story! I'll vary the ages of the boys to be a bit more realistic

---begin---

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" The dwarf walks inside to the usual clamor of her brothers. A few were at the forge with her father, Tumeric. The younger ones were playing in the garden, some game they made up on the spot. But her mom, Coriander, was nowhere to be seen.

"hey dad, where's mom?" Parsely asks. "I thought she'd be here to meet me"

"she's in the study" he tells her. "seems she wants to talk with you in private. Brought out her family's storybook."

"huh, I wonder why?" She asks and walks up. Coriander was waiting, the book opened to a seemingly random chapter. "Welcome back Parsley dear. Please come sit down. How's school? Have you made friends?" She was happy, but there was a tinge of worry behind her voice.

"School's going well, I learned a lot about smithing! And yeah, I made a few friends."

"good, good" she sighs. "Parsely, have you noticed anything... Strange... At your school?"

"well... There is the rot, and the disappearing magic springs... Why?"

Coriander rushes to flip through the book, much as one would flip through an encyclopedia. "That's how it started the last time too" she sighs.

"...last time?..."

"Yes, a thousand years ago, in the grand city of Dwelvin, where my... And your... Ancestors came from. They wrote about a mysterious trio that came bearing magical items and the promise of making life easier. At the time, Dwelvin was known for the fantastic magical weapons and skilled artificers. But the trio came and for a few decades, Dwelvin lived in prosperity. This came at a smaller cost at first. Artificers changed profession to polishing and upkeeping the items brought in. But their magical attunement was slowly lost. Then the blight came, causing a famine. And then, the dwarves themselves were drained of their life energy, as if the blight affected them too. The dwarves nearly went extinct! Our ancestors escaped to the woods in the beginning, as they were artificers hired by a human township. That saved our family."

"what? And what does that have to do with the school?"

"Parsely, does a council of three run the school?" She asks

"yeah, the triad. The maiden, the mother, and the crone, but why does that matter?!"

"Because they are decieving you! Evil comes in threes, Parsely. The three that invaded Dwelvin may be in control of your school! Although ... There was talk of a counterpart. Three men behind the scenes and a trio of dames in front"

"wait... You think the triad is... Evil? Mom, how could you? They've been nothing but helpful to us? And why would they want to hurt us"

"that isn't discussed, so I'm not sure just yet"

"and what, are you going to pull me out of school?!"

"No, parsely, settle down! I just want you to be careful there. To give you the necessary tools if something does happen" she sighs.

Parsely was stumped at that. But not for too long. "Thank you mom, I'll let you know if anything happens."

"thank you Parsely. Now, lets go collect your brothers for brunch"

The pair walk out, and Parsely thinks. "hey mom, do we still have that magic attunement?"

"we should, but it would take a lot of work to make a magic weapon. It's not like forging, you have to make moving parts, and chambers for combustion. And then you need a core for your weapon. There are many rituals involved to ensure you balance your magics. I'll give you a few books on the subject. We can use a good artificer with what's to come."

"alright mom" she nods, a new fire lit in her spirit. This was going to be interesting.

----fin----

If this was a show, the exposition would look like an animated storybook

At this moment, Parsely is skeptical, but as things develop, she'll understand the meaning of the story.

And yes, the school is corrupt, all the way through. The reliance on new magic, the too dangerous missions, why not tie it all together. But that's the next story!

[duchessofostergotlands]

What does Sovereign Grant mean? Sorry I'm new to this 😩

Hey :) Don’t apologise! If you don’t know something the best way to find out is to ask someone who does know!! 

The Sovereign Grant is the funding that the government give to the Queen to run her and her family’s official work. The Sovereign Grant comes from the profits of the Crown Estate, a portfolio of property and land. Basically back in the day the monarch had to run the whole government and all that property and land on their own and manage millions and millions. It was unsustainable and they were in epic debt. It was agreed that they would give it to the government so they didn’t have to worry and in exchange they’d get a portion of profits for their upkeep. All of the money from the Crown Estate goes to the government. They agree to hand over a sum of money to the monarch in exchange which is equivalent to 15% of the profits from two years earlier, known as the Sovereign Grant. This has been upped to 25% to cover BP restoration costs. This covers travel, staff, events, maintenance of official properties etc. The Queen can distribute as she sees fit and anything they don’t spend goes to reserves. There are two other things to know. One is that the money can never decrease based on falling profits- in an age of austerity when public budgets are all being slashed this is not popular- and the other is that there is a cap on the reserves so they have an incentive to spend most of the money they have. So when you hear people talking about how renovations to KP or wherever cost us x million, that is not new money. That money was always going to go to the royals and they were always going to spend it. Harry and Meghan being supported by the Sovereign Grant will not cost us any more money as of now. It just means that a higher percentage of the money from the Sovereign Grant will go to them than it currently does and a higher percentage of their total costs will be publicly funded. Hope that makes sense!