#but partially through cult brainwashing

[cyberphuck]

Must… hold in… Neil Gaiman situation… opinions…

[scoobydoodean]

#okay wait do y'all think that she wasn't going to try and murder Dean?#Do you think he was going to get through to her?#convince her somehow to not try to stab him?#that she was telling the truth at all in that scene?#because she was totally going to try and kill Dean#like 100% that was going to happen#and if Sam hadn't shot her then Dean would have had to kill her and that would have been so much harder on Dean#like it was disturbing that Dean had a 3 day old monster child that wanted to kill him but who was then killed by her uncle Sam instead#and even more disturbing that they then never mention her again#but these are also the guys who left their half brother in Lucifer's cage and didn't lose any sleep over it so...#and I love Dean but killing Amy was an asshole move#and there's kinda a difference between killing an active imminent threat and killing someone in cold blood after the fact @jinkieswouldyoulookatthis

I didn't want to clutter someone else's post but this was partially directed at me? I've talked about the whole "Emma vs Amy" debate quite a few times, but I'll share a few thoughts.

Amy is a present, unrepentant, fully cognizant, adult, serial murderer. She is not actually sorry about what she did in any way. She believes that slaughtering humans like cattle to feed them to her son was the morally correct action even if it wasn't the ethical action because it kept her son alive. She is not correct.

Emma is a brainwashed child who's been psychologically conditioned for a few days. She has never killed anyone and only wants to kill Dean because some women who abused her told her to.

Hunters like Sam and Dean primarily deal in punitive justice, not preventative justice—and what I mean by that is that Sam and Dean try not to kill people (with powers or without powers) who have never killed anyone.

While I think you're right to point out that a preventative justice component is in play, that is not primarily how Dean makes the decision to go after Amy, and the reason we know that is because Amy's son swears to kill Dean and Dean does nothing about it because the boy has done absolutely nothing wrong.

Dean's application of his personal code is consistent here. He kills Amy, who is a murderer who killed four people, but he does not intend to kill Emma or Amy's son—both of whom wanted to kill him—because neither has actually killed anyone and both may choose not to.

You say that Emma was going to kill Dean 100%, but you don't actually know that because we never got to see that future. You assume Amy would never have killed again, but when you add up "murderer who regrets absolutely nothing" and "child vulnerable to catching illnesses" you get "Mom who absolutely would kill again as necessary and who would feel zero remorse doing so just like the last time".

I don't personally think SPN gives us any reason to suspect that three days of psychological conditioning from a cult is too much to overcome. We have seen other characters overcome much more serious levels of psychological conditioning intended to make them killers. For example, Cas and Alex. I'm not saying Emma wasn't trying to pull the wool over Sam and Dean's eyes in the scene where Sam shot her, but I am saying that doesn't actually mean in any way that she couldn't be convinced to actually choose a different path.

Under the same litmus test with which you suggest Emma's condemnation, we'd also condemn season 2 Sam for his potential "future" crimes. We are killing monsters before they actually become those monsters... because of the dark path someone else intends for them to go down. Amy—again—is an active present unrepentant serial killer.

I think sometimes people misremember the scene where Sam kills Emma—recalling the scene as a scene where Emma lunges at Dean with the knife and Sam steps in just in time to save his life, or where Dean is unarmed and Emma has him at knife point. But that is not what happened. Emma quite literally brought a knife to a gun fight. Dean had a gun pointed at her, and if she was thinking straight at all, she would have left to avoid being killed if given the chance—especially when Sam arrived. And had she not, Sam could have shot her at that point—but Sam didn't wait to see what she'd do. He wanted her dead, because even if she ran, he didn't think they were equipped to deal with surprise attacks from Dean's Amazon child. That is the decision Sam made after a brief moment to consider, and it makes sense to me given the headspace he was in at the time and his assessment of Dean's headspace as well, but it does not make his decision consistent with his previous or future behavior regarding people who have been psychologically conditioned to kill.

My own frustrations are more with fandom, for a thought process that really really does not make sense to me, where Emma deserves to die but Amy deserved to live. I do not agree with that premise. I do not understand why so much of fandom has the perspective that a child who hadn't shed a drop of blood and who was acting in response to a cult's torture, who brought a knife to a gun fight and had already been driven into a corner where she had no choice but to surrender or run—doesn't deserve a chance to choose something else before she's barely lived and before she's heard a loving word in her entire life, but an adult with full cognizance of their actions who went through with killing four people and doesn't regret it should go on with their life and is "just a good mom doing what she had to" and killing that person is the bad thing. I don't understand that. I don't think Dean killing Amy was wrong at all in the "hunters kill supernatural murderers" show. The only thing Dean did wrong was lie about it and not take enough care to keep her son from seeing it happen.

[autistichalsin]

I think a lot of non-Americans don't realize just how deeply meat eating is tied in with conservatism here, and a lot of Americans don't realize just how much that isn't a thing in a lot other cultures. Like yes, duh, there are a lot of cultures where due to the local ecologies, a diet made up of a lot of meat is the norm. But what I'm talking about here is the specifically American style of meat eating.

Here, not only does meat-eating get conflated with gender, but it does with national identity as well.

Meat eating is seen as masculine; vegetables (and sometimes even just sweets!!) are seen as feminine. "Soyboy" and "soyjak" are called such because soy is seen as feminine, partly for being a vegetable, and partially because of some fearmongering over the estrogen content of plants, especially soy. The most common rationale for vegetarianism- compassion for animals- is relentlessly mocked, and stereotyped to be for teenage girls in a rebellious phase. In fact, there was a national chain restaurant a few years ago that introduced a veggie burger to its menu and advertised it as "for when you teenage daughter is going through a phase." South Park had an entire episode mocking the main characters for a temporary decision to not eat meat, saying it would literally make them grow vaginas, because veggies are for women and women are STOOPID.

Further, meat eating gets conflated with American identity, particularly if it's beef. People make all kinds of noise about supporting farmers (even though, hint, there's a 97/100 chance your steak did NOT come from a cow farmed by a local, small farm, but instead by a corporation, unless you specifically go out of your way to shop local). And it's no coincidence that so many Americans are so against even token efforts at environmentalism considering just the strain ranching and the infrastructure to support it (I.E. growing feed for the cows) takes on the environment. Environmentalists get branded as woke commies because trying to take even the tiniest efforts to stop ranching from fucking up the environment (take a look at what's happening in the Amazon due to ranching, fascinating stuff. And yes by fascinating, I do in fact mean horrifying) means less beef and that means you HATE AMERICA and just want our MEN to be a bunch of weak SOYBOYS.

This insanity goes so deep, in fact, that multiple hardcore Christian cults literally instruct their members that their kids expressing a desire to become vegetarian or eat less meat is a sign they are being brainwashed by satanist cults.

America has set up this ridiculous, bizarre, utterly insane meat-worshipping culture where tossing a slab of beef on a grill and charring it is seen as the epitome of masculinity and Americanness and being a Good Christian, where skipping meat for ONE MEAL will turn you into a degenerate satanist leftie commie soyboy, and it's as hilarious as it is frightening. There are even movements to ban "Meatless Mondays" from public schools (some school districts will pick a single day of the week not to serve meat in the cafeteria) because it will "corrupt the youth" and/or is "unhealthy" for them to not eat meat for one meal a week. It's absolutely bizarre beyond words.

[m4nlov3r]

any Domina headcannons? 🥺

(I’m starving for Domina content season 3 needs to release NOWWW)

YESYESYES HES MY FAVORITE BOY

A Compiled list of Lux's Domina headcanons cuz hes literally me:

• He was completely sheltered from his brothers //excluding Epi// until age 10, and doesnt really know them well, nor does he like them.

• IZ has a 'plan' he goes through w/ all his kids to brainwash them bc hes a cult leader. Domina is the *least* damaged from this and is the most likely to return to a "normal" life after heavy therapy.

• IZ also has *✨special✨* ways he traumatizes all his kids. Domina was 'given' to Epidem as a test subject at around age 8-10. He didn't know they were siblings.

• None of the quintuplets were 'given birth too', they were all artificially made by IZ bc in a world w/ THIS much magic influence you cant tell me thats **not** possible.

- Because they arent *technically* humans, and Domina was the only brother who got a fake heart thats more like a shitty prosthetic than a demons heart, that aforementioned 'test subject' bs? Yeah, Domina doesnt have real blood. All his blood was slowly replaced by a Darkness magic variant, making it black, and giving him the same healing properties given to his brothers by the demon hearts.

Summoar lighthearted 1s:

bc im sure u didn't just mean my super edgy body horror hcs

• A rare time when Domina was granted to leave Walkis, he went with the Walkis six to visit Charles mother, and she absolutely loved him, spoiled him rotten, and left him confused with a lot of extra apple pie to take home.

• In combat or training, Domina often helps the others. Specifically, he helps Kenny alot, obvi, bc ice is just frozen water.

• Despite both being traumatized from being abused, Lévis and Domina are the only two who are aloud to come in close contact with eachother. //i am a DIEHARD lévis x domina shipper i apologize(not really)//

• Charles acts like the mother of the group //for obvious reasons// and bc Domina is the youngest //16, while the others are 17 and Charles is 18// and *arguably* the most traumatized, he gets babied by Charles the most.

• He doesnt really know how to be a normal person, so when they all first hungout outside the school, Domina had no idea what was going on, kinda exactly like Mash's first time out w/ his friends, they both enjoyed it.

• Domina jokes that he like Lovie more than Lévis, Lovie plays along and it pisses Lévis off ALOT.

• Post-eclipse arc, Domina quietly laughs at Kenny's puns more.

and just 4 tha hell of it, 1 moar sad one :3

Doom is the second least traumatized by their father, bc after he was born with a disability, IZ just neglected him in favor of his able-bodied children. Doom subtly tried to protect his siblings from their father, yet ultimately failed until Domina, tho it wasnt rly him stopping his father.

Doom realized Mash could deafeat their father and save Domina, at least, thats why he suddenly gave up fighting at a point. He met someone stronger, lost, and was sure his father would lose too.

This goes a little more in depth on how i think Doom's Master Cane works, butttttt he threatened the judge/ whoever to not put Domina in prison cause hes **16** and can still be healed from his issues, at least partially.

There ya go :D thank u 4 the self indulgent ask X)))) 🦴

[dededaio]

the reason a lot of people largely unfamiliar with modern kirby go "forgotten land did X thing for the first time in kirby, it's so cool", even if it's often not the case, is not only because they probably barely played kirby, but also because forgotten land puts most of the series best qualities at the forefront the way no other game did.

big post follows where i ramble with comparisons to other games while highlighting what i think forgotten land did right.

first of all, it's very upfront about it's theming. and it's very important in how it stands out.

i ADORE kirby triple deluxe, don't get me wrong. and I LOVE the fairy tale theming of the game, but if you weren't *aware* that this is what the game goes for, it can easily fly over your head.

kirby is inherently whimsical series, so a lot of fairy tale-isms in that game don't stand out nearly as much as it was probably intended. it could've been easily remedied if the game framed itself as a "fairy tale" more rather than them keeping this subtle. similar to how classic paper mario games had storybook intros, for example.

star allies similarly has a big theme about friendship but due to various factors, it feels superficial at best or unnoticeable at worst. because a lot of aspects that theoretically could make it work are not highlighted enough.

if you don't have prior context of other games, it doesn't come across as this game celebrates friendships kirby acquired over the past 25 years of the franchise's existence and more like he's casually brainwashing them for his own cause.

i understand that with big amount of playable characters you can't possibly make unique animations for every single one of them to sell you on this idea, but if you can't handle the scope, then don't go for said scope.

jambandra cult's dark parallels to the franchise's main cast are likewise not highlighted enough because most of it is not shown via gameplay or cutscenes but through easy to miss pause screen text.

robobot and now forgotten land are partially so loved because it's very clear what's the overall theming of the game and it's stages is. in robobot it's funny robots, capitalism, industrialism, colonization. in forgotten land it's memories, responsibilities, nature, abandoned civilizations. it's not me just reaching, game is called "forgotten land" and part of leon's motivation (albeit when he was under id-f86's influence) is his frustration with being left behind by the former leading civilization of the planet, aka them up and leaving their responsibilities behind.

forgotten land stands so much to people because it gives it damn ALL to stand out by making every facet of itself being connected to underlying themes the game presents.

second, game goes out of it's way to SHOW the player what kirby is all about. it's not shying away from exposing the casual player to lore or the importance of post-game content. instead of only hinting that all of this stuff might be important, game demonstratively nudges you into the right direction, whether you were initially interested or not.

"the lore" is tied to the main secondary collectible. a gameplay element. if person playing the game is invested to 100% it, they will most likely try to collect them all and read all of the flavor text in the process. likewise, even if player is not interested in 100%-ing the game, they might be hooked by the flavor text itself and be interested what it has to say about other copy abilities, characters, objects.

previous modern kirby games didn't try to make you feel engaged with the lore the same way. sure, there were some benefits of the pause screens that FL can't replicate (we lost the classic type of flavor text where the final boss directly addresses Kirby and we hear their thoughts), but it's a small loss in grand scheme of things.

simply pausing the game to read the flavor text is not stimulating the same way as directly working to get it. it becomes more intriguing this way, RNG element ironically making it even more special when a figurine with especially juicy lore pops up.

similarly, post-game content was made explicitly all "canon" in FL. not entirely new concept, we had similar cases in "revenge of the king" in super star ultra and "heroes in another dimension" in star allies, but FL is the first game that actively encourages you to do more stuff after you did the main story. it literally baits you with the "to be continued" screen after the credits.

not only it helps the game to beat "it's short!" allegations by making it clear that even besides main story there's plenty of stuff to sink your teeth into, it also simplifies the importance of post-game modes too. there is no "what if scenario" or "parallel story" bullcrap. it's straightforward. "isolated isles" picks up where main story left off, "ultimate cup z" picks up where "isolated isles" left off.

and the last, but certainly not least, the characterization.

i will argue that forgotten land is the best kirby game since kirby 64 in terms of giving personality to the main cast. some people accused elfilin of being a little bland, and admittedly his personality is not as fun as, say, magolor or susie, but he's still likeable and fleshed out in his own way. we actually get a lot more dialogue from him than you might expect, he has a lot to say in the waddle dee town and he comments about various locales on the world map, even ones where he would be kidnapped during the main story.

likewise, bandana dee, meta knight and king dedede all got their moments to shine. this partially ties to flavor text being easily accessible, but due to said flavor text no longer being tied to SIMPLY boss fights, it means that their characterizations and side-plots can be expanded upon further. making their roles in the story feel more thought out than it might come across otherwise.

and even outside of that, each of them gets a shining moment that shows what are they all about. meta knight casually challenges kirby on a training duel and gives his all. the first fight we have with meta knight where he's not under some sort of mind control since squeak squad. bandana dee constantly reminds us that he's very much willing to help us and canonically accompanies us through out entire adventure even if we don't take him with us. king dedede, while brainwashed for majority of the game, gets to do single coolest and selfless act through his entire history of existence, finally putting final nail in the coffin of "dedede is a villain" crap.

forgotten land might not be the first game to do any of the things i just mentioned, but the presentation means EVERYTHING. forgotten land impressed a lot of people, left a strong impact, precisely because it had way better presentation than any kirby game that came before it. this is precisely why it resonated so much with so many different people and will continue to do so.

[kevin--of-desert-bluffs]

So I'm back on his bullshit again lol

If the Joyous Congregations story of how Kevin wrote The Book of Devouring and delivered it to them are correct I wonder again what the timeline is.

They say he found an Old Oak Door and went through, returning eventually with this book and a whole religion which he spread through his shows. Was this before, or after Strex?

He vaguely mentions sitting on the lighthouse as a child following on Frown Night which is a holiday related to the Smiling God religion, right?

But if he discovered the otherworld and it's Smiling God as a child he couldn't have spread it through his radio show at least not immediately.

But Kevin and Pastor Munn are both unreliable narrators anyway.

The one thing that is certain is that Kevin cares about the Smiling God a whole lot but he very well did not understand what was going on in the otherworld (which does canonically contain evidence of an ancient religion and a real Smiling God) and helped Strex use the religion to further control people whilst genuinely believing in it himself. Turned a capitalist overlord into partially a cult. Good for him. No wonder he's obsessed with being a Smiling God's favourite little meowmeow.

Actually actually what if it's all fake. What is it's all manufactured by Strex, who discovered the DOW and a Smiling God themselves and as part of his brainwashing they convinced Kevin he was a prophet so had a duty to spread the message. Maybe Pastor Munn just made up stories to make the new book of notes he wrote following his being thrown into the DOW by Steve and she somehow got sound more legit and holy?

Lauren actually gained powers when she was genuinely deemed special by a Smiling God but Kevin has nothing she this clearly bothered him because he believes himself important and is so dedicated to a Smiling God.

A Smiling God is real. But the religion they adopted around it? Oh boy.

[eric-coldfire]

the fact that the Tau are resistant to chaos with like non of the prerequisites of the adeptus sororitas or even the grey knights is so boring, and really makes them.not fit I to the world. Like imagine how cool if they were to run face first into WHY the galaxy is so shit, when their weaponssmith gets a flash of inspiration for a new railgun, and then when fired it spawns tzentech daemons, or the partying Tau celebrating a new convert, gets joined by a Slaneesh cult and fucks the up. The lack of them interacting with like a prime part of the setting is partially why I don't like them, and presents a real false image of "they're the good guys(tm)" that's only achieved not through careful world building, but just authorial fiat to have them be the 'good guys'

Haven't really looked much into Tau as they just don't seem interesting. I mean if I wanted "mechs/gundams in 40k", Imperial/Chaos Knights are right there.

From what I'm absorbed through osmosis, Tau seem very much like they were created to appeal to a new player base who felt "uncomfortable" playing the Marines, Imperium, Chaos, or the current Xenos.

So in come the new xenos who are "good" and just want to do the peaceful exploration/expansion akin to Star Trek with the most advanced technology of any culture, and they're stuck in this horrible universe.

They seem so out of place fitting into the "grim darkness of the far future", that when it's revealed all the cultures they absorb for "the greater good" all end up brainwashed, it feels like an afterthought addition to their lore.

Maybe it's different, but again, that's just what I've skimmed as they're a faction that just doesn't mesh with me.

[katie5000]

Ok, here's episode 7 from OP's blog. This one didn't piss me off quite as much.

One comment was on how Wolfwood and Vash don’t need to become friends since it is Wolfwood’s job to take Vash to Knives.  That is totally correct - however, the ‘98 anime and manga both make it a point that Wolfwood and Vash become friends as it adds to their character development.

And I still think they're gonna go in this direction. Be patient. There's three or four episodes left, at least in this season.

The episode starts off with everyone panicking as the Sandsteamer is off course and under attack.  And it is heading straight for Hopeland.  Cue Wolfwood panic even further!  The map labels the Hopeland Orphanage but the dialogue indicates it is also a town.

There was a small town at the base of the cliff in the prior episode's flashback.

Honestly, it would have been best to label it as the town of Hopeland and note it has an orphanage through context than making that the key landmark.

That's fair.

The original stated that the Church orphanage is located 300 iles from December according to Wolfwood.

It did. But again, this series is not that series.

Again, the fight sequence between Wolfwood and Livio is brutal and the July MPs remark that the two of them are monsters.

Well, yeah. What would you think if you grew up knowing nothing about Lost Tech or weird cults, and then found yourself watching two men with overpowered guns shoot the shit out of each other only to immediately heal themselves right after? They understandably noped the fuck out of there.

While this is happening, the Bad Lads gang is raiding the Sand steamer and not really doing that much honestly.  They are doing a hit and run.  No B.D.N. - personal sadness.

I have to admit, I was also disappointed that he wasn't there. I thought for sure that there would be a standoff between he and Vash while Wolfwood fought with Livio.

We had more 2D flashbacks about them and Wolfwood is resolved to take him out by insulting him and pretending him like he does care.

You mean "pretending like he doesn't care." Otherwise this sentence makes no sense.

Anyway, Wolfwood is trying to steel his resolve to do something that he doesn't want to do, but feels he has to do.

...when he goes to shoot him at point blank range, his shot is knocked off course and destroys Zazie’s monitoring insect. This is where he turns to Vash in shock, since this is one of the few times Vash has fired his gun in the entire series...

And now that Wolfwood knows that the insect was there, it becomes clear to him why Livio was there - meeting him was no coincidence.

Vash keeps pushing him to try to find a way to connect with Livio...

And Wolfwood listens. Wolfwood watches Livio change the magazine in his gun using a characteristic flick of his wrist. There is a flashback that shows kid Wolfwood doing this same thing with a cigarette lighter to show off for kid Livio. Kid Livio is impressed and attempts it himself, but can't do it. In the present, Wolfwood takes out his cigarette lighter and flips it the same way, in an attempt to connect with Livio again. It works, at least partially.

But all of the brainwashing from the Eye of Michael kicks in and he staggers about pointing his guns at Roberto, Meryl, Vash and Wolfwood . . . before he snaps and shoots himself in the head and falls off the steamer.

Okay, I have to admit this shocked me the first time I saw it.

Wolfwood is clearly concerned and looks over the railing and notices a car that he knows is likely Legato and others. 

..."Clearly concerned?" Wolfwood is freaking distraught - even he's not sure that Livio could heal from a head wound. But yeah, he sees that car, and that just confirms that none of it was coincidence.

Legato...state[s] that Wolfwood’s ‘lack of faith’ is an issue and in order to get him to serve Knives better they need to destroy everything he cares about; Livio and the orphanage. Once Wolfwood no longer has these important connections, it will be no problem to control him...

Jesus Christ, OP, and you were saying just last week that you missed Legato's sadistic tendencies. Well, there they are.

...In the last episode we already had Legato establish that this version of Wolfwood has a very strong will and attachment to others...

And this is what Legato is trying to break. Legato had nothing as a broken man himself until Knives came along, and then Knives became his everything. Now he assumes that if he can get Wolfwood into a state where he has absolutely nothing as a broken man, then he will make Knives his everything as well.

What is throwing me for a loop is that Legato is the ‘religious’ one in this version.  That was squarely Wolfwood’s thing in the manga and ‘98 anime.

Not necessarily. In Trimax, Legato says that when Knives spared him and allowed him to tag along after destroying the town he lived in, he was "born anew" or "born again" - an interesting choice of words.

He seems to (based on his dialogue) believe that faith in something is greater than emotions.  Yet, in this episode, we do get some actual anger from him in his voice as well as a more sinister facial expression indicating our bad boy has emotions.

Legato wants to believe that his faith is all he needs, and that everything else (including emotion) is unimportant. But I would imagine that from time to time he "slips" and his emotions get the better of him - he is not as "devout" as he'd like to be.

(Incidentally, this is probably the "good word" that Legato talks about wanting to spread - if one just has enough faith, one doesn't need anything else anymore. Not emotions, not attachments, not anything. However, this line of thinking only serves to betray Legato's underlying trauma and mental instability.)

He seems to be going through somewhat villain motions...

What do you mean, "somewhat"?? He's absolutely going through "villain" motions. Everything he's done so far has been villainous.

I’m also missing his Knives worship.  We have no indication that he’s a man craving validation from a person he’s obsessed with.  Granted, we didn’t get that early on either, but he made it clear he was there for Knives’ agenda.

I mean, he's made that clear here, too. Legato outright states in the previous episode that Wolfwood will be the "Punisher" of heretics in Knives' noble plan, and you even said yourself, OP, that Legato is trying to destroy everything Wolfwood cares about so that he will serve Knives better.

As for Knives worship, well. The official website quite literally states in Legato's character profile that he worships Knives like a god - just because we haven't seen it yet doesn't mean it's not there at all. I have a feeling that we'll be seeing Legato interact more directly with Knives soon.

Part 2.

[whalleyrulz]

it is so frustrating to me how many people keep missing the very specific criticism of mattel and Straight Feminism within the barbie movie

i know it had to be kind of subtle about it to get past corporate brand approval but i keep seeing SMART people miss it

barbie spoilers below the fold

so the movie is like. super critical of gender essentialism and gender prioritization in societies. it's pretty blunt about it

one of the first things it does is show "hey all barbies are super happy but in this society that caters only to barbies, it sucks to be an aware ken, because life is shitty when you're not the Right Gender. we then see that there's a barbie that doesn't perform gender the Right Way, and she's also excluded from society and not allowed to be a part of things, only useful when people want a Weirdo, and everyone's aware they're treating her like shit as they explicitly address this. barbie also feels awful living in this society. addressing this makes her an outsider.

we then go to the real world where barbie learns oh shit, it sucks when you're not the Dominant Gender. ken gets excited because holy shit, a place where i can be valued, through the only lens i have been taught. during ken's learning of the patriarchy, we cut directly to a girl who, much like weirdo barbie, rejects gender norms and fitting into the gender essentialist cult. she directly calls barbie a fascist. this is correct. barbie is a gender fascist.

cut from there back to barbie land, where the patriarchy has taken over because nobody's been taught shit about equality, and it's making everyone upset. partially because the patriarchy just sucks, and partially because nobody fuckin wants this. we also meet more people who're siding with weirdo barbie, aka the only person who wasn't brainwashed by the new school of gender fascism. they're all queer coded. they all hate this. an alan points out alans have run away from this before. by "this" he means "a gender essentialist society" because the kens have never risen up like this. barbie is taught that it's actually okay to not fit in.

and then we come to the big finale, the big closer, and as the audience, we've been shown three times QUITE DIRECTLY that gender essentialist thought and a monogendered ruling system sucks and makes people feel bad. it's not a good way to live. for anybody. and what happens?

barbie, after basically being crowned the voice of mattel and gender essentialist feminism, says "i saw how inequality sucked, and actually the system where i'm on top is best." there's direct and blatant lines about how the kens want some degree of equality but that would get in the way of barbies having ultra fascist power. the weirdo barbie ends the movie saying "fine i mean call me what you will." the queerdo outcasts are sent back to the shadows. and barbie chooses the "Power of the Vagina," despite the movie showing that trans barbies exist, despite the movie joking that genitals don't matter, and she IMMEDIATELY has to go and see a doctor about it

like

it makes this point in such a blatantly cinematic rule of threes it can't be an accident

the barbie movie outright says that gender essentialist societies are Bad, and that mattel as a corporation is Fine with it, and that the mainstream brand of feminism that only accepts femme women as women is Fine with it, and that this is a problem that harms everyone

and yet every critical take i see is either "the barbie movie supports a shallow version of feminism" or "the barbie movie hates men"

i feel like i'm taking crazy pills or like i saw a different movie to the mainstream or something

anyway

barbie's such a good movie

[saschaederer]

- Numerous times since recently, the shadow of me holding my phone on the wall next to me, grabbing my attention

- The headlights of cars apparently driving on the street, reflecting on my ceiling, like pictographic eyes (A threat in initial reference to 'No ones' (In this context, Delta alters programmed to brainwash) as villains, in initial reference to me as a victim)

- 'Farin Urlaub - Petze' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut9zRsJxZUs) playing in my head, several times

- "The beginning (of Tiesto - Suburban Train playing in my head)" (in 'cult alter Taylor Swift' voice *I don't remember anymore to 100% whether it was to this song, and I also don't remember anymore to 100% if it played in my head or I was otherwise made to remember it. A threat in initial reference to Josie Glabach (X.com/trhlofficial) getting prostituted to 40+ men in a row)

- Some of my bodily feelings, feeling slightly like being manipulated by the tentacles of an octopus (in initial reference to the system)

- "At the top" (in initial reference to https://youtu.be/dt-BeOTiNvk?si=DN1V0rSZHhFsJlu0&t=4493, a threat in initial reference to me getting tortured (potentially, for a lifetime))

(Note: I think, the speech he gave was probably in the style of ‘As above, so below’, where in the first part he spoke extemporaneously, and in the second he lied, basically.

In my perspective, you are all that you are, although that is not the same as your authentic self, which you find by pursuing the truth of your being (for example by pursuing what you value positively, and rejecting what you value negatively). The core of your identity might be your soul, which I conceptualize as the birthplace of all your psychic contents. The reason why identity has and had been weaponized is due to tribalism, and the reason why it worked is because no one but Jordan taught people to pursue the truth.

But I don’t think that those are the answers Jordan wanted to get to. I think that his actual question was: “Who am I, really?” And I imagine that the answer he would’ve gotten to, here https://youtu.be/dt-BeOTiNvk?si=7ZfOxwpN6VbCsXpY&t=2267, is that it’s only something anyone can find out with freedom of speech.

But after having pivoted away from the actual question and the actual answer, he arrives at the answer which furthers his agenda - but in my eyes, it’s a trick. The whole of the universe for example is incomprehensible, nothingness is incomprehensible, and what bridges the gap might be just that: Incomprehensible. But by identifying it, we give ourselves the illusion of the obtainability of godhood, through such easy means. But this is simply not how things work - actually, work.

Obviously, the identity of anyone like he’s mentioned would be humongous (whatever it’s worth), but from the perspective he took, the relevant answer would’ve actually been: Spirit. That's what you pass on - that’s what matters. You’re not gonna convince anyone to resist by torturing me, and you won’t be able to create irrational anger in anyone who resists by torturing me, either (like you did with 9/11 for example, making people more militaristic))

- Numerous ovulation smells (In initial reference to male Delta alters of Taylor Swift (in initial reference to the male figure with the hammer, here www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLtFIrqhfng&t=13s and Heather Baron-Gracie in her yellow costume, here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nQessUrdk0) having potentially been ("torturing", in initial reference to SRA, Sodomy Of Wounds) raping Taylor Swift fans (with a strap-on) and/or in partial reference to such still being ongoing threats)

- Mental images from the girl on this cover https://images.app.goo.gl/4CrBpQDtbvUQc5QX6, projected unto my Himalayan salt lamp ('lamp' being a coded reference among other for 'lamb', standing symbolically for sacrifice)

- Artificially remembering this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Wd-Q3F8KM) (A threat in initial reference to Jordan Peterson as a villain)

- Many sounds of a cow mooing, outside of my window

- Sounds of a cow mooing outside of my window + Drilling sounds from in front of my kitchen (A threat in initial reference to Mikhaila Peterson getting tortured)

- Sounds of a cow mooing & deep bass oscillating at around <50 Hz, from outside of my window (A threat in initial reference to such a number of people getting tortured (SRA, sodomy of wounds) and/or such threat in partial reference to Swifties specifically (potentially, instead) and/or a threat in partial reference to me and/or Sebastian Haßlinger (a friend of mine) and/or Mikhaila Peterson getting tortured (SRA, sodomy of wounds) by such a number of people (potentially, instead) and/or a threat in partial reference to Mikhaila Peterson getting prostituted to such a number of people in a row (potentially, instead)

- "Alles nur nicht Mikhaila" (Ger: 'Anything but Mikhaila')

- A threat in initial reference to me potentially not even getting 40 years or old or in partial reference to me getting tortured for 40 years (potentially, instead) (in initial reference to Josie Glabach as having potentially commanded, negotiated, abnegated or perpetrating such) . "40 sleepless nights" (A threat in initial reference to me getting raped and/or tortured, such as in manners mentioned here: https://imgur.com/a/IE2LnIl)

- "You really love to fuck" (to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Wd-Q3F8KM playing in my head. A threat in initial reference to girls / women I fantasize about while masturbating, getting ’fucked’)

- Mental image of the pornstar 'Elly Clutch' (in initial reference to KarissaEats (https://www.youtube.com/@KarissaEats)) swiftly turning into a mental image of the pornstar 'MilaSolana' (in initial reference to Mikhaila Peterson), performing a titjob

- "Sascha (Ederer)" (in 'Denise (Oppitz)' (my ex girlfriend) voice, in initial reference to her and/or Scarlett Peterson (Jordan Peterson's niece) having potentially commanded, negotiated, abnegated or perpetrating harm unto me)

- "Japanese" - "ugly" (A threat in initial reference to my penis getting tortured)

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=yutsIpLK2Rs (in initial reference to some Delta alters potentially being coerced into this type of thinking)

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jnWGEH2xZE&list=FL-o3Ymivi7CRxkgpV1Ph9cg (A threat in initial reference to me getting tortured for a lifetime (the thumbnail being a partial reference to the character 'Squealer' in the Anime 'Shinsekai Yori - From The New World', who's suffered a similar fate towards the end of the Anime) and/or a threat in partial reference to me getting castrated (potentially, instead))

- https://youtu.be/4AOpOXMChuw?si=R2X_NaSxw9iB1upT&t=65 (In initial reference to me having potentially gotten raped and/or tortured by male cult alters of Taylor Swift, such as in manners mentioned here https://imgur.com/a/IE2LnIl)

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUH0fZ6KbQc (Threats in initial reference to me)

______________________________________________

REPORTS:

______________________________________________

PLEASE READ:

How I handle threats I receive (Last Update: 25. 1. 2024):

Modified into the following:

- “To avoid being potentially, endlessly overloaded with work, I give myself 10 minutes (currently reduced to 3 minutes due to my burnout) to remember and be reminded of the threats from the day”

(Note: I considered only reducing it down to 5 minutes, however 5 - 7 minutes is how long it usually takes to enumerate them, so it wouldn’t have made enough of a difference)

[1-50thofabuck]

OSR conversion at the end.

Cuculas

Class 84M/84C, B90%, #1/1d4, Doctrine: Chaos

D15, HTK: 8d10+2, Speed: 40cm

M1 49%, M2 48%, M3 50%, M4 35%, M5 46%

M71%, 1d10 hits(dagger, short sword, spear), or 1 hit + venom(bite) 

2x R71%, 1d10 hits(bow)

Special: Bite, spit venom, hood eyes(fear, hypnosis), enchantments, +10% to mitigate transformation, mutation, petrification

Bite

Anyone bitten by a cucula must mitigate M1 or die in 1 turn.

Spit

A cucula may blind by spitting venom by means of a successful ranged attack at -20%. On a success, their victim will be blind until they wash their eyes out thoroughly, at which point they may mitigate M1 to determine if the blindness was permanent. If said washing does not occur within 2d10 rounds, no mitigation will be possible. The cucula may spit this way 3 times a day.

The cucula can also attempt to spit a stream to hit multiple targets at once. Such an attempt counts as 3 uses, so they will not be able to spit venom again that day, nor can they attempt this if they've already spit any number of times. They may target up to 6 human-sized individuals that are adjacent to one another. No ranged attack is made; instead, the targets mitigate M1, with a +5% bonus for every target including the first(so if there are 6 targets, each will gain +30% to their mitigation chances).

Hood Eyes

The “eyes” on a cucula’s hood can be used for a couple of magical abilities possessed by the creatures. When used, the eyes glow subtly, discernible only in shadows or complete darkness. It’s possible that these could also be used as focuses or material components for spells by caster cuculas, and/or that some cuculas could randomly possess, or develop, special or unique “hood eye” abilities(all GM’s discretion). 

The eyes’ powers are as gaze attacks, and can affect anyone looking at them. A cucula gains certain bonuses if doing nothing but concentrating on the power of their “eyes” and other factors as well as which ability they’re utilizing.

Doing nothing but focusing causes a -5% penalty to mitigate any “hood eye” effects.

In general, a cucula using their powers in appropriately shadowy surroundings, so that the glowing of their hood eyes can be seen, cause a -5% chance to mitigations against them. In total darkness, with the eyes penetrating the souls of their victims through the blackness, the penalty is -10%. Other factors can modify as determined by the GM. Appropriately intimidating surroundings or situations can separately increase the penalty for the fear effect by up to -10%. Hypnosis can also be modified by up to an additional -10% if in situations or scenarios conducive to mind control and brainwashing(surrounded by cult members, correct use of stimuli etc). 

Primates(including humans) and felines suffer an additional -10% to mitigate fear effects from a cucula’s hood eyes. 

Intelligent avian, lizard, and rodent races suffer a -10% to mitigate hood-eye hypnosis.

Fear

A cucula can channel the power of fear through their hood eyes, causing anyone that looks to mitigate M5(or potentially something else, should you decide the “eyes” act as rods or wands or something, i.e. the aforementioned “focuses/material components”) or flee in terror for 1d10 turns. If the victim is bound or unable to flee(or only able to flee a short distance - they’re still trapped!) they will volunteer whatever information the cucula desires, or give them whatever they ask for. The target, in fact, is considered as if beaten in combat and under the temporary control of their cucula captor.

If the cucula uses this ability in shadows, allowing their gaze to partially illuminate the darkness, their targets take a -5% penalty to their chances. If in complete darkness, -10%. Furthermore, a cucula that sets up an appropriately intimidating or terrifying scenario or situation may cause the total to reach as much as -20%, or -25% if they’re focusing(and if they went through all that other effort, why wouldn't they be?). 

This means even "tempory captures"/situational captures can lead to individuals completely submitting to a cucula, spilling everything they know. And since primates get another -10% penalty, it’s sometimes easier for the cucula to get what they want from them out of fear rather than hypnosis.

Hypnosis

Those observing a cucula’s hood eyes is subject to hypnotic suggestion unless they mitigate M5(or whatever). Each suggestion implanted grants a +5% bonus to the chances to mitigate. The suggestions may be almost anything, but the initial ones usually revolve around the cucula being a god or the chosen one of God or the last of the line of true prophets or some such. The normal modifications for darkness are applicable, as is the one for concentration. Furthermore, being surrounded by a group of already mind-controlled cultists will grant -5%, and other factors such as proper use of incense and music, another -5%.

Appearance

Reptile people with hooded heads and flat faces like cobras. Their colorations can be nearly anything from white to black, various yellows and browns, greens, sometimes even blue. Red is rare except in cuculas with stripe or band patterns, which are sometimes red. Cuculas never have zigzag type patterns.

They rarely wear armor since they can only cast spells while wearing enchanted armor, and very few of them possess any. Thus, among their many adornments will be at least a single protective item, such as D15 enchanted bracers or a protective +D10 ring. 

Since they at least attempt to enjoy a lavish life with fineries and servants, they tend to dress as elegantly as they can, with as many rings and armlets and necklaces and brooches and gems studded to their outfits or their scales as possible, with a circlet or a crown and a fine scepter if they can manage. Clothing is as well-made and as expensive as possible, including valuable or forbidden colors such as purples and rich, dark reds. Since they’re colorblind, they take no notice of how any of these colors compliment or clash with their own, and must rely on lackeys to praise how fine the shades are and how well the clothes suit them.

Despite their affinity for magic, they are resistant to transformation, and they lack the mutative nature of other chaotic and inherently magical creatures such as trolls. 

Combat

They can spit venom to blind, or bite and inject it. Most often they will spit, attempting to escape, since they tend to avoid physical confrontations. Many carry spears, so that they can launch them at a distance or use them in melee if forced into it, but when willingly engaging in hand-to-hand, they relish being up close and personal, using a dagger or short sword, if not their fangs. If they have enough distance they will defer to their bows or their fear power.

Their chaotic natures make them very able casters, especially enchantments of the illusory(or mirror magic, specumancy) types. They advance as both martials and casters, and can use enchantments even when wearing armor, so long as the armor itself is enchanted. 

Possessions

Their possessions, aside from the items given previously, include 4d10 gold nomismas, up to several thousand in silver kermas, 4d10 gems and precious adornments, 2d10 valuable works of art, 1-3 random, but generally low-powered enchanted items(weapon with moderate bonus or ability, wand or staff, whatever), 1-5 enchantment scrolls, 1-3 potions, and a vial or two of venom, to be traded or used as necessary. Naturally, any useful enchanted items they own will be used to their advantage, so if you determine that one has an enchanted weapon or armor you should adjust their statistics accordingly. They will also have their grimoires, though these will be hidden and protected. Like other casters, they might have “traveling spellbooks.” Cuculas can be customized by their enchantment lists.

General Details

Cuculas exist on the outskirts of the world, among the desolate desert sands and other ruinous areas. Their preferred environment is hot and dry, and so they’ve spread from the deserts beyond Ta-I’wy to the wastes outside Mayorr and Ke’ih’nun and the rocky, dusty hills and mountains of Rasenna, and other places(wherever you want them).

They are masters of magic and advance as both martials and casters. They specialize in the magic of the Netherworld, of the land of faerie, specumancy, and can wear enchanted armor and cast enchantments at the same time.

Relationships

Their closest allies are the fire giants, who respect their dedication to worldwide destruction, and the scorpion people, an equally chaotic, not to mention venomous, species that also aims to desertify the circle of Kiae. 

Cuculas will sometimes ally with goblin tribes too strong or inconvenient to dominate, trading venoms and poisons for slaves, especially ikhnuemen, whom the cuculas sacrifice along with many mongooses to their gods. They may make similar alliances with groups of lizard people that are too powerful to be conquered, but could be manipulated to their advantage.

Cuculas and vampires both work through cults and secret societies, and both largely take advantage of their charm/mind control abilities to amass followers. This can often bring them into conflict, and the chaotic and destructive nature of both can lead to spectacular confrontations. On rare occasions, a cucula will act as a retainer or other servant of a vampire for as long as it’s convenient.

These serpentine creatures will aim to dominate any avian, lizard(when possible), or rodent based species in the area, both because they enjoy their taste and because they’re easy for them to control. 

Tactics and MO

While they’re dedicated to the destruction of the world, they’re also egotistical hedonists, too chaotic to carry out any extensive or detailed plots, as they lack the organizational skills and discipline required for such things. Rarely would one attempt to foment one, and if they did, they would surely ruin it due to their own whims, ego, or impatience.

Corruption & Disruption of Society

The cobra-people act through secret agents of one kind or another, whether it’s some resistance-style organization, a secret society or mystery school, or, most often, a simple cult. They enjoy setting up rebellions and revolutions, even creating enemies for their revolutionaries to fight, for both fun and profit. Destroying social order is as important as expanding the deserts, particularly when they can replace that order with their own. Leaders often have wealth, so that’s a nice bonus for them, too. They will also use their various channels to disrupt agreements and deliberately botch peaceful resolutions, pinning something violent or heinous on one or more sides to not only ruin the growing understanding, or peace agreement, or whatever, but to inflame and exacerbate the problem, making the chances of coming to such a position again in the future much more difficult. If a leader is good, and noble, and seems to be leading the people into some sort of golden age, the cuculas will fall all over themselves to ruin it somehow, causing some disaster that can be blamed, through their agents, on the leader, or even framing them for a crime that is horrendous enough that not even their position will exonerate them, at least in the eyes of the public. 

“Rule” by Secrecy

Cuculas are masters of brainwashing and manipulation, and can break anyone, even without use of any special powers, in 1d10 days. The individual may mitigate M5 to resist, and attempt the same mitigation each day that passes until the attempts end or they fall to them. This requires the cucula to have a fully-stocked base with a special area specifically for indoctrination, with ready-brainwashed agents, or actors, as necessary. 

Cuculas are generally solitary, as their hedonism makes it difficult for them to play nice and share. However, they will sometimes partner with a mate and raise young, for a time; and some cuculas will take in “disciples,” mostly to feed their own ego, but sometimes to bolster the power of their cult.

Plotters and schemers, their plans are haphazard, short term, simplistic, and quickly altered or abandoned. They will attempt to hide in the shadows, but sometimes botch their own plans because their ego will not allow themselves to keep their role secret, and they reveal themselves too soon. Sometimes some influential traitor from another species will act on behalf of a cucula, one chosen as a stooge, whose role will then be compromised because the cucula cannot stand to see the individual taking credit for their own scheme - even though that was the entire purpose of the stooge.

These creatures model themselves as powerful prophets, sheiks, and emperors, but in a terrible irony for them, they are merely king rats. Even the most accomplished pale in comparison to a true ruler, being pitiful and wretched snakes revelling in a handful of silver, squalor in comparison to their ambitions, desperately latching onto what little power they have the wit and the competence to maintain, themselves only pawns in a greater game that they are too caught up in to recognize.

Most cuculas enact small plans with subtle or minor results over a long time, such as slowly amassing followers in different fields and positions, setting up factions, influencing through those channels in ways that cause conflict and occasional upheaval; or they manage one major plan that causes enormous disaster, such as destroying a city, summoning a powerful demon, or coming together to create some cursed relic or artifact. See the rites section below for another possibility for incredible danger caused by these serpents of Chaos.

Xiolufes

Another sentient species of serpents, called xiolufes, look very similar to cuculas, having hoods, but their colorations are limited to mostly yellows, browns, and blacks, and they have a banded “zigzag” pattern unknown of in cuculas. (This, in fact, references their origins as vipers and not as cobras.)

The aquatic man-serpents are mildly venomous, of the balance doctrine, possess no inherent magical abilities, and prefer hot, humid wetlands and rainforests to the cuculas’ hot, dry environments. 

At times, members of both species end up within proximity, especially as the cuculas have spread to expand their evil or find easier hunting grounds. In these instances, the cuculas enjoy using the xiolufes, especially as patsies upon which to pin their crimes. When the xiolufes have outlived their usefulness, the cuculas will sometimes destroy them. This may be out of spite due to their whimsical, chaotic nature, or to silence them on the off chance someone actually attempts to communicate with them. The cuculas do not specifically harbor any more ill will towards the xiolufes than they do to anyone else. On the other hand, should some group of xiolufes be reaching any kind of understanding with another species, the cuculas will attempt to sabotage it. This is, again, not out of any special malice or resentment for the xiolufes, it is merely the nature of cuculas. 

Religion

Different cuculas worship various deities including the primordial sea-dragon Tahmtoom, the volcanic giant of destruction Sootr, the father of monsters Tyfyes, and the primordial sea-serpent of darkness, chaos, and uncreation Ahfoff, whom they adopted from the pantheons of the mountain and hill gnomes of Mayorr, the fire giants, the legends of Rasenna, and the ikhnuemen themselves. The ikhnuemen are the cuculas’ ancient archenemies, with the razing of Ta-I’wy their primary goal outside of the general ruin of the world and the acquiring of wealth and power. 

As they move through the world, they may adopt the worship of one of the enemies of the popular god or gods of the region, if such enemy is generally, or can be interpreted as, a being of ruin, destruction, chaos, and violence.  

Important (un)holy days include eclipses, solstices and equinoxes. During these days rites are carried out which climax at an appropriate moment, such as the height of a solar eclipse, when the sun is as darkened as possible. The rituals include praise and worship of their god or gods, in order to strengthen and empower them, and Chaotic rites to curse the sun and any appropriate associated deity or deities. Those that worship Ahfoff will tend to curse Ray, those that worship Tahmtoom curse Utu and so forth. 

Rites

Rites have evolved enough to be considered ceremonial but are still highly sympathetic at their core, and thus curses against the sun take the form of ritualistically defacing, defiling, and destroying symbols of the sun, or of the sun god, especially holy symbols(and in these, they too are similar to vampires). These rites, while they have become very involved with a complex spiritual logic that they follow, also vary wildly from one rite or one worshipper to the next. They can be experimental, with cuculas attempting to try new rubrics or adapt new black magic that they’ve learned into it. While they are generally solitary creatures, they do sometimes gather together on their holy days to perform their rituals. 

Sacrifices of living beings, especially sentient ones, are carried out on these holy days, ikhnuemen and mongooses being most favorable.

Most cuculas level their curses on solstices when the sun is at the peak of its power, but about to decline, and their empowering praises upon their god during solar eclipses, when the sun appears to be in combat with the powers of darkness. 

Some reverse these, empowering their god during the solstice, when it’s needed, and cursing their enemy as it struggles with the darkness. Some, given the chaotic nature of the cuculas, switch these up now and then when they feel like it, and even believe such confusion will aid them(kinda catch the sun off guard, or allow some to curse and some to empower so that their god gets empowered as the sun gets cursed).

The worshippers of Ahfoff in particular see the eclipse as a struggle between Ahfoff and Ray, whom Ahfoff is attempting to devour. They create edible balls that they swallow whole at the height of the solar eclipse, to reflect their god swallowing the sun. Other forms of destruction include lighting holy symbols or effigies of the sun or a solar deity on fire, and then tossing it in a pit, covering it with sand or soil at the height of the ritual, snuffing its warming flames - extinguishing it - and through sympathetic magic, hopefully, the sun itself. Simply smashing the object, slowly defacing and desecrating it, burning it up, using magic to freeze and shatter it and so on are all tried and true. Even making a circle in the sand and then kicking it away can work. Like the vampires, the cuculas will sometimes learn rites to some sun god or another and then produce a reversed “black mass” version for the purpose of blaspheming the deity. Also like with the vampires, it’s all the better if they can get real priestly goods to carry out the heretical rites, such as an actual image of the god from the temple, raiments used for the idol, food or drink used for ritual purposes, holy water and the like. The more “authentic,” in terms of supplies, the better.

Rasenna cuculas will often use images of Usil, the sun god, or Apulu, the god of fire with whom Usil is often conflated or even syncretized(Usil is often depicted with Apulu’s fiery bow). Worshippers of Tahmtoom will often use images of Utu or his holy symbol, worshippers of Sootr will use symbols and images of Sol or of Beldej(hero-god of the Spring whose repartre, like Apulu’s, has begun crossing over into Sol’s). General images of the sun, discs, balls, and so forth are also used. It’s not unheard of, especially given the chaotic nature of cuculas and their rites, to mix all these up, especially in rituals of multiple cuculas.

Success?

It’s possible, should the GM desire it, that an event will occur, or some cucula(s) will discover an effective ritual, or something else, or some combination, that causes a measurable result, as vague or as extreme as might be desired, being the subject of a single adventure or a more extended campaign as you see fit. Effects could be as mild as the sun being less warm, Summers being noticeably shorter, or nights being longer, to as extreme as the sun being literally blotted from the sky or devoured by an enormous serpent.

OSR Conversion

FREQUENCY: Very Rare

NO. APPEARING: 1

ARMOR CLASS: 7

MOVEMENT: 12”

HIT DICE: 8

% IN LAIR: 90%

TREASURE TYPE: F, T, W

NO. OF ATTACKS: 1

DAMAGE/ATTACK: By weapon, or bite for 1d3 + save vs poison or die, or spit poison(see details)

SPECIAL DEFENSES: +2 save vs petrification & polymorph

MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard

INTELLIGENCE: Average

ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil

SIZE: M(6’ tall)

PSIONIC ABILITY: Not inherent(some may possess)

Details are as given for StG!, with a few notes:

The stock cucula is assumed to be a 5th level Illusionist, though they don’t have to be. On Kiae, they are generally “specumancers.” Specumancy incorporates enchantments of illusion, which would include, in OSR games, spells like “phantasmal force.” It would also include anything that creates duplicates, or mentions mirrors or their function(“gaze reflection,” “mirror image”), features multiple colors(“color spray”), that could be thought to use pure magical power or create/summon magical things(“floating disc,” “shield,” “unseen servant”), anything described as fay, faerie, or pixie type magic(“fairy lights”) or generally oddball or ���prankster” spells(“erase,” “grease,” “mending”). If you wish to give them more specialized spells like these, of course you can do so.

Use of hood eyes as “focuses” such as “wands” reflects the different manner in which these items work in the world of Kiae. In OSR games this should probably be ignored, unless you want to let some cuculas use their eyes as spell storage devices for whatever reason. (Using them as power point multipliers in Rolemaster would be nasty.) 

“Avian races” would include, in general OSR settings, creatures like aarakocra and dire corbys. “Lizard people” include lizardmen/lizardfolk and possibly troglodytes(DM’s discretion). “Rodent races” would not include lycanthropes such as wererats. I can’t think of any rodent-based races off the top of my head, and an internet search is producing only fan creations, but it's noted here in case your setting contains them. “Feline races” of course includes rakastas, tabaxis, and rakshasas(unless you decide that they should be excluded due to their magical nature). 

The setting for which cuculas were written, the world of Kiae, has not designed avian, rodent, or feline races and this is why such references have been kept generic. 

“Lizard people,” on the other hand, have been developed, and are more broad than in games like D&D and AD&D, but the need to mention them all by name seemed superfluous. (Incidentally, it was the creation of these reptilian races that inspired the cucula, though it was also a race that I had wanted to write since my teenage years, strange as that may seem. The working out of various reptilian races just gave me the push to finally develop these cobra-people.) 

Ikhnuemen are a mongoose race, whose main home is an Egypt-like nation called Ta-I’wy. These elements, gods referenced and so on should be modified or replaced as necessary in your world.

“Scorpion people” can be replaced with “manscorpions” if desired, or with a monster more fitting for your campaign.

Vampires in the world of Kiae are a bit different than in OSR games, but not terribly. Among other things, they’re greatly influenced by the Hammer Dracula films and their Satanic “Cult of the Vampire.” If these elements don’t fit your world, you can ignore references to the relationship between vampires and cuculas, or replace them with a more appropriate monster(illithids or whatever). 

All checks are made using percentile rolls. Thus, modifiers should be converted from a 100% scale to a 1-20 scale by dividing by 5(so that a -20% penalty becomes a -4). Saves against magical effects are almost always made as saves vs spells, magic, spells and staves, etc.

A turn should be read in most OSR systems as a round.

[theknightlywolfe]

I got maybe three hours of sleep last night but when I crashed, I crashed hard enough to dream and it was ... surprisingly coherent plot wise. Usually it starts one place and just goes off the rails.

Reading through all the Blackhill fic on AO3 clearly influenced as it started off with Romanoff running from SHIELD because she thought they betrayed her and Hill went after her trying to bring her back but along the way Nat swiped a cargo truck (like the big uhaul style) and Hill ended up in the right spot but Nat had parked the truck on the side of the road next to a field across from some shops and hid in there for a while and Maria left after being unable to spot her on the streets.

And then there was a time jump and Nat was living as Doctor something something and had become a local fixture in town and everyone thought pretty highly of her because publicly she was arguing for peace and community support yadda yadda but in reality she was following in Melina's footsteps on brainwashing. But instead of chemical subjugation she went the route of audio and visual input and had a bunch of brainwashed followers. And the cargo truck was still where she had originally parked it but everyone in town knew she had converted it to like a mobile tiny home that she stayed in when she was back in town and not traveling.

So SHIELD, seeing signs of a quickly growing and super loyal cult start investigating and there's a young agent who stumbles across a brainwashing set up in the backrooms of a complex and on the verge of getting discovered she pretends she is one of the new recruits and sits down and lets them put the headset on her, thinking its just some gimicky way of showing the promotional video but ends up going fuzzy because its the first brainwashing session.

Then it jumped to one of Nat's acolytes going to a household of followers telling them to prepare, and they get rid of most of their stuff just keeping minimal furniture, a handful of specific clothing, and a duffel by the closet door to stuff the clothes in when they get the signal.

Then Sharon and another SHIELD agent are in a followers group house posing as journalists there to learn about their lifestyle and the TV is on in the background, playing a live stream from HQ. And the only reason the house members agreed to let them be there is because the other SHIELD agent has been "converting" and went through a couple sessions in the headset. Suddenly there's loud noise and flashes from the TV and the partially converted agent tells Sharon to close her eyes and keep them closed and she does but the overload causes her to fall out of the chair she is in. And the noise and flashes go on for a while while Sharon is in agony from the noise but resolutely keeping her eyes closed but she can still see muted flashing lights through her closed eyes and they're hurting her too. Suddenly it stops and Sharon opens her eyes and the only people left in the house are the two agents, the followers and their duffels are gone, and Sharon has trouble getting up because she is in so much pain, and the other agent is still sitting but half out of it but haltingly explains that she somehow knew that what happened was incredibly harmful to uninitiated but something about having gone through the sessions made her safe but she hadn't gone through enough and so it had still put her in a fugue state.

And then I frakking woke up! Little pissed because I wanted to find out how Nat went from oh no I'm in danger from SHIELD and everyone they had previously protected me from and I need to be safe to the only way to be safe is brainwashing people so imma start a cult not-cult.

[margridarnauds]

Tav asks, 4, 10, 13, 14, 22

4 and 10 answered here for Kitrye and Malla

4. Is there a reason why your Tav starts out as Level 1?

For Ana, I think that the reason she starts out at level 4 is partly the tadpole, partly that she's genuinely not had that much time OUT. She's been relatively sheltered, despite or because of everything that her father's been doing.

10. What was your Tav like as a child?

Boisterous, mischievous, incredibly clever, and very good at wrapping her father around her finger to get whatever she wanted in the few instances that he actually was willing to visit her (Raphael was...not a particularly attentive father as far as the day to day minutiae went). She was mainly raised by Kitrye, in Kitrye's own manor in the city, which she quietly bought after the game and kept running with a skeleton crew of servants and a couple of people to manage its affairs when she isn't there (which is often, since Raphael prefers for her to stay in the House of Hope). (There are. Many local legends about it being haunted or cursed. For obvious reasons.) At some point, when she was slightly older, about 8-10, her father's enemies were able to pinpoint her location, causing her to be raised for the rest of her childhood in the House of Hope. She showed an early aptitude for the violin, which her father eagerly encouraged (at least partially out of a sense of narcissism, because He Made That), becoming a master by an early age, with a penchant for the dramatic and the extra.

13. What was your Tav's first reaction to Lae'Zel?

Lae'zel is a fantastic character to demonstrate how what you do/don't do in this game can really impact your impression of the characters because Kitrye? Was generally fine with Lae'zel. The reason? She forgot. To bring her to Zorru. Before the Tieflings left. (Also didn't even REALIZE Dammon was there, oopsie.) So she never had time to see Lae'zel's idea of an "interrogation" or got to be called a "subordinate." Yes, some of what Lae'zel said put her teeth on edge, but she was also, from personal experience with the Drow, able to recognize a fellow victim of cult brainwashing when she saw one, so...she made a lot of decisions that Lae'zel disapproved of, but she also was quiet enough and discrete enough that Lae'zel didn't fully know, while, at the first opportunity she had, she worked to undermine Vlaakith. A fun fact is that I actually had planned to kill Lae'zel in Kitrye's run, specifically killing her for trying to kill Orpheus, but as the run progressed, I realized it would be out of character for her to do the actions required for that, and so Lae'zel fully turned against Vlaakith and supported Orpheus by Act One.

Malla? Even though she DID take Lae'zel to Zorru, she was honestly not fazed by any of it. She could respect pragmatism and she could respect martial strength, and they worked well together. They were Murder Girlbosses through the first act and even hooked up twice after Minthara left for Moonrise, even though Malla eventually called it off in the Underdark because she quickly realized that she was developing actual feelings for Minthara and meaningless sex wasn't really what she wanted anymore. (It's going to be gut-wrenching because, unlike Kitrye, it WAS in character for Malla to encourage Lae'zel to turn to Vlaakith...only to realize, later in her character development, what a monster she'd created. So she *is* very likely going to kill Lae'zel.)

(Ana unfortunately can't stand Lae'zel and I am actively considering sacrificing her early in Ana's run, simply because ANATHEMATISMA, PRINCESS OF THE HELLS is *no one's* subordinate and ALSO she got pissed at some of Lae'zel's commentaries on the tieflings maybe deserving to die, because these are her people.)

14. What was your Tav's first reaction to Shadowheart?

Kitrye honestly got along wonderfully with Shadowheart, specifically because it isn't in her nature to pry. It would be like "I have a deep, dark secret that I can't tell you yet" and Kitrye would be like "Okay, fine" and then ten minutes later it would be like "HERE IS MY DEEPEST, DARKEST SECRET" "Okay" and each time she didn't pry, I would get "Shadowheart approves." (She was calling Kitrye her close confidant by. Like. The goblin camp.) BFFs, quiet cleric girls forever, Shadowheart absolutely does not know Kitrye as well as she thinks she does but she's still probably the closest thing Kitrye actually has to a genuine friend who's in her corner in the camp, as opposed to "people who she does favors for and travel with her."

Malla wasn't AS close, honestly, but she saw her as a valuable ally, and she was and remains part of Malla's Standard Party. (Malla only allows a maximum of one male companion in the party, because Drow.) Both her and Kitrye are naturally suspicious people and hold their secrets close to their chests, but Malla is a little bit more...plainly distrusting and wanted more of Shadowheart's secrets earlier (and Shadowheart clashed with Malla's bestie, Lae'zel, which, before I reloaded, actually led to Shadowheart's death during the confrontation with Lae'zel, oopsie.) (Kitrye would never.)

Ana is better socially adjusted than either of them, aka she asks questions, and so gets much more prickly responses. She doesn't HATE her, but she's a lot more wary.

22. What is your Tav's first impression of the other companions (Astarion, Gale, Karlach, Wyll ...)

Astarion

Astarion and Kitrye? Worsties. Every time I would be like "THIS is the point where Kitrye warms up to Astarion", they just. Ended up hating one another more. They didn't actually ever get below the bad side of neutral, but like. He was constantly disapproving. She was willing to keep him in camp even after he revealed himself as a vampire, but she made it clear her neck was off limits.

Astarion and Malla? She's seen weirder, he was a valuable ally, even if he was a man, and so she never had a problem with him (though she did just. Interact with him rarely enough in Act 2 that she was able to just? Break Yurgir's contract? Without him being pissed?) She's actively toying with letting him ascend for the power. They're not ridiculously close, even though he tends to approve of her actions.

Astarion and Ana? Regrettably, chaotic besties who are also sleeping with one another and might develop more. I didn't even want them to sleep together but regrettably, they had too much chemistry. God help us all. Faerûn is not prepared for whatever comes from this.

Gale

Kitrye and Gale, despite how their arc ended up, started off on great terms. She liked having someone who agreed with her heroic actions, and she naturally likes wizards anyway. Don't. Don't think about her sacrificing Gale and then finding out that the house wizard who was her mentor growing up was executed while she was away from Menzoberranzan. Don't. She turned down his romance because she was pining after the devil she thought they needed to focus on the task at hand, but she liked him and, honestly, didn't even hold it too much against him for keeping his secret, even though she did call him out for endangering them all. In another lifetime, those early moments could have led to a great romance, but unfortunately, Kitrye's taste in men is too shit for that and, as the story progressed, she became too distrustful of him. In some ways, I feel like he intuited more about Kitrye than Shadowheart did, but, like with Shadowheart, he truly didn't know everything that was going on under the surface. So, yeah, just very doomed and tragic all around, especially because they started off so WELL. If you'd told me from their early interactions that Kitrye would have ended up sacrificing him, I wouldn't have believed you.

Malla and Gale? Less warm and fuzzy, she saw him as rather annoying, because, again, Malla is incapable of seeing a man as an equal (she DID make the comment to Elminster about "So we get rid of the Absolute AND Gale in one fell swoop? Win/win", which I was very pleased to hear Elminster call her out on), but he was a semi-regular part of her party because, even though she had very little personal respect for him, she IS used to having a house wizard. I did have her stay with him that night stargazing, just because. Even Malla has standards.

Ana...I wouldn't say thinks about Gale that much. She saved him, she gives him artifacts and doesn't really care about it, he's useful, he's there, but she just doesn't have a really interesting dynamic with him one way or another. She's definitely grown up hearing whispers of what her mother had to do the first time around and she's definitely committed to saving him, but she's too busy having the messy personal life you'd expect of Raphael's Spawn.

Karlach

Karlach and Kitrye...Kitrye helps her out, but, like with ALL of her companions, there's. A lot that Karlach doesn't and can't know, specifically as of Act 3 but even going as far back as their first meeting. She cares for her deeply, she likes having a friendly companion who cares about other people, but she's also wary of how hotheaded Karlach is, because that's a danger. A lot of Kitrye's work has involved a combination of diplomacy, strategy, and a lot of smiting when the other two have either failed or been deployed -- she doesn't know how to work with a barbarian class fighter. (She still picks up and gives Karlach every teddy bear she can get.) I'd planned on killing Karlach off at the end of Kitrye's run, I had actually written out a great monologue that Kitrye was supposed to give to Zariel in a fanfic set postcanon...but after losing Gale, I knew that Kitrye wasn't going to lose another companion.

Karlach and Malla is easy -- Karlach found Malla after Malla may or may not have committed Crimes that led to the Grove being raided (the Tieflings were already dead, fwiw, Malla did NOT commit genocide...she just set things up so that the druids committed genocide, MASSIVE difference), Malla was able to persuade her to not attack...and then Karlach said "fuck you" and one thing about Malla is that, unlike Kitrye, who takes a lot of insults quietly, she does *not*, and so she killed her and now she wears her camp clothing. (It suits her tbh.) RIP Karlach. We barely knew you.

Karlach and Ana have a bit of chemistry, along the same lines as Ana has with e v e r y o n e. (No, really, never have I considered installing a poly romance mod so strongly.) Karlach's boisterous and friendly nature works really well with Ana's, and Ana has to appreciate a woman who's response to almost anything is "FUCK YES".

Wyll

Kitrye knew Something was up with Wyll from the beginning -- not in a way of him being EVIL, but in a way of knowing that there was more to his story than he was letting on. Because she could recognize an eldritch blast when she saw one, recognized the sending stone in his eye, drew the connection that he was a warlock, and drew the connection from THAT that his source was very likely his patron, and so she used privately "killed" and then resurrected Karlach to shut Mizora up and then convinced Wyll to listen to Karlach. She saw a man who was incredibly earnest, not evil or monstrous, but also who was in over his head. Who does THAT sound like, Kitrye?

Wyll just...disappeared with Malla. Because she was too busy getting Drow Girlfriend points, then the whole "oopsie committed a genocide" thing happened, and he just. Disappeared. No body, but he's nowhere to be seen. RIP Wyll.

Ana could, like her mother before, recognize a devilish pact when she saw one, and she also used that exploit, but since this was post-patch, Mizora was unfortunately smarter and still gave Wyll the Tiefling horns. She's been supportive of him in his attempts to get used to the changes -- in many ways, he represents a sort of ideal that she doesn't think she could ever have or want, someone who IS heroic and who believes the best in people, but she's also wary because. She isn't JUST Not A Regular Tiefling, she is the daughter of a man who both Wyll and Karlach HATE and who, in her own timeline, is Archdevil Supreme. (And it's vital to note that she DOES love her father. Despite everything about their relationship, complete with her doing everything she possibly can to piss him off....she does love her father.) Anyway, quite a love triangle brewing. Can't wait to see the carnage.

Halsin (Bonus)

Kitrye...respected Halsin's knowledge of the natural world, as an alchemist. He reminds her of what her father could have lived to be (he is only a couple of decades older than Kitrye, but he's still lived longer than her father had), and so there's...a sense of trepidation there, almost? Regrettably, still not old enough for her tastes. Ngl, along with Minsc, she did the least with him.

Malla...actually freed him, as a bear from the cell, because she isn't MINDLESSLY cruel, but also then he just...disappeared. I hear that if you free him and raid the Grove, he's supposed to come after a couple of long rests to take revenge...but he never did. Also in the second act we had the option to say he was dead, so I guess he's dead. RIP Halsin.

Ana doesn't really HAVE much of an impression of him beyond "guy who might have what I need." A little too...paternal for her tastes. (And not in a "daddy" way.)

Minthara (bonus)

Kitrye was a strange type of conflicted between "talks shit about me being a 'half-breed'" and also, as a Paladin of Eilistraee, WANTING to convert Minthara and show her the world above. But also. She had to die for racism crimes. Kitrye took her armor and used it throughout the first act up until Grymforge, and it really represented her starting to come to terms with her identity in a way she hadn't. She didn't regret it, not really, but it was a really important moment for her character development.

Malla...kind of started to fall for Minthara BEFORE first sight, becoming intrigued the second she heard about a Drow woman leading the goblins and only becoming more so when she actually met the woman in person. I like to think that she actually first heard of Minthara on Menzoberranzan, since Minthara was very much part of high society there. I don't think they KNEW one another or bumped into one another, but Malla might have had a certain respect for her beforehand. Malla actually willingly defied Lolth's command to kill apostates by letting Minthara live, and Minthara, in turn, let her live after they slept together. (#Romance).

Ana...didn't have the personal connection that either of the Symryvvin girls had (though now I'm going to have to revise that because like. OBVIOUSLY in the timeline now, Ana would have to be aware of her Aunt Minthara), she was plotting to murder Ana's people, she had to go down, and she didn't think twice about it. She briefly wore Minthara's armor like Kitrye did, only to meet Raphael and switch it out for the bardic attire she'd been wearing. (I like to think that Raphael told her to STOP trying to mindlessly follow in her mother's footsteps.) (She still wields Phalar Aluve like her mother, though.)

[starry-blue-echoes]

Another AU to SO

I'm surprised that i didn't saw someone with this idea before (or maybe i'm just a idiot) but basically Weather wasn't stolen and grew up as Domenico together with his siblings and the whole thing with Perla didn't happen :D

How much change would this brought? I have no idea but it's going to be alot :D

Ooooooooo yessssssss. I've had passing thoughts about an AU like this, but never thought about it for too long so this could be fun

I do love the idea of these three being able to grow up together. Of them being allowed to become friends and love each other the siblings are supposed to and being able to have that bond without any outside intervention

Pucci would still meet Dio but everything after is going to be wildly different. For one, there wouldn't be any lynching, partially because the aforementioned thing with Perla wouldn't happen and Pucci wouldn't hire that guy, but also for another reason. After all, the whole reason they targeted Wes instead of Pucci was because he didn't have the money or status to protect himself, money and status which Domenico does have

However, I still think the twins would get Stands. After all, Domenico or no, the arrow is still going to be attracted to Pucci, and given how he seemed to regularly carry it around in his breast pocket it's only a matter of time until it does what it did in canon and stabs him.

But this time Pucci isn't going to be on the same metaphorical mental and emotional edge and make any rash decisions. And Domenicon isn’t going to go apeshit and kill everyone in town with death rainbows because he simply wouldn't posses the same rage, hell he would probably just be confused at where this strange Cloud Thing With Horns came from. 

But of course, I can’t resist, we gotta spice things up a bit with good old Gravity :) 

What if for a pinch of extra fun, Domenico wasn't..... completely ready for his Stand. What if he gets a tad bit of Stand Sickness because while he had the potential to be a Stand User he hadn’t quite reached the peak of it yet. It’s nowhere near as bad as when Holly or Josuke had it and he'll be fine after a few months of adjusting to the Stand, but it’s still enough to worry the hell out of his siblings and parents. Pucci especially is freaking out because he feels responsible for this, and as we saw in canon he is FIERCELY protective of his family and willing to go to great lengths to keep them safe

So he decides to track Dio down and get answers.

And he does! However, he's also high key internally freaking out the whole time because he's 99% sure Dio isn't human and also running some kind of cult. He goes along with it and does grow to be genuinely interested in some of the man's ideas, but the whole familicide and literal brainwashing via fleshbud really creeps him out. Plus, while he does blame himself for Domenico’s sickness, he also blames Dio quite a lot because he was the one who gave him the damn arrow in the first place

He does learn more about Whitesnake and gains several disks in the process, but he's still coming up empty in his search for a possible cure for his brother. The best idea he's got is removing Weather Report with Whitesnake, but he's not sure what possible affects that could have on Domenico and wants to leave that as a last resort

and what if because of said research, Pucci is able to convince Dio to let him go to the mansion and look through his books

what if Pucci happens to be in the mansion when the Crusaders attack

And just. The parallels between Jotaro and Pucci here. Two 17 year old boys throwing themselves right into the jaws of danger from which they might never return, risking life and limb, all to save a family member from a sickness that was forced upon them indirectly by Dio

Maybe Pucci befriends the Joestars. Maybe he helps them during the fight. Maybe he tells them about Domenico and with some strings pulled on the SWF's part they're able to help him

In one life Pucci and Jotaro were the worst of enemies

What if in this one they become the best of friends

[homunculus-argument]

For some reason I've been reading through a lot of accounts of people who refer to themselves as "homeschool survivors", essentially people who grew up being deliberately isolated from common society by their parents, almost always in some sort of a christian cult, and who received a partial, botched, deliberately misinformed or practically nonexistent education as a result.

There's other reasons too - the second-most common one besides religious brainwashing has been their parents' untreated school-related trauma, usually from an undiagnosed learning disorder, being neurodivergent, and definitely also from bullying, and the decision to homeschool with zero skill, research or any interest in teaching was a well-meaning but terribly misguided attempt to spare their children from the same experience - but by and large most of the stories are of parents wanting to keep their children in a confined, religious bubble and not "straying from the right path".

One interesting thing I've noticed specifically with the religious background homeschool survivors is that while introducing themselves, besides age and gender, a lot of them also specify being cis and giving their pronouns, regardless of whether gender identity plays any part in their personal story.

Which, naturally, isn't wrong, but man, does it drive home how fucking confusing and exhausting it has to be to suddenly realise that the community that you were born and raised in was wrong, harmful, never had your best interest in mind and occasionally flat-out lied to you, and now that you've left everything you've known, you have to start figuring out what is right, normal and good all on your own, even if you can find people you can trust to help you.

Like shit, it has to take a lot for a person to even start with realising that people you were taught to hate not only mean you no harm, but are actually willing to help you. More nuanced details like "it's not wrong, and it is polite, but in most circles it's still largely considered a bit of an odd thing to do" can definitely come later.

[hauntedselves]

Introduction to: Other Specified Dissociative Disorder (OSDD)

Other Specified Dissociative Disorder (OSDD) is a diagnosis in the DSM-5, and covers Partial Dissociative Identity Disorder in the ICD-11. This post details the different subtypes of OSDD according to the DSM-5, and provides the ICD-11 equivalent.

OSDD is a dissociative disorder diagnosed when the patient has significant dissociative symptoms but doesn't fit the criteria for any other dissociative disorder (Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder (DPDR), and Dissociative Amnesia (DA)). OSDD has four specifiers - type 1, which is equivalent to Partial DID in the ICD-11, type 2, 3 and 4.

OSDD type 1

OSDD 1 is perhaps the most well known of the OSDD types. In the DSM-5, it's called "Chronic and recurrent syndromes of mixed dissociative symptoms", and gives the following description:

"This cate­gory includes identity disturbance associated with less-than-marked discontinuities in sense of self and agency, or alterations of identity or episodes of possession in an in­dividual who reports no dissociative amnesia."

Simply put, it's DID but missing a symptom. The "less than marked discontinuities in sense of self and agency" part refers to someone who experiences DID but their alters aren't fully elaborated or separate, which in DID communities is referred to as "OSDD 1a".

The "alterations of identity or episodes of possession in an in­dividual who reports no dissociative amnesia" part refers to someone who experiences DID without amnesia between alters. In DID communities this is called "OSDD 1b".

(See this tumblr post for more info on the differences between OSDD 1a and b).

In the ICD-11, OSDD 1 is a separate diagnosis called Partial DID. It describes DID where only one alter is active in daily life with occasional switches or passive influence from other alters, usually fragments. This diagnosis covers OSDD 1b, but doesn't account well for people with OSDD 1a. It also doesn't account well for people with OSDD 1b who have well developed alters. See this tumblr post for more information.

OSDD 1 is the only disorder other than DID that involves alters.

OSDD type 2

OSDD 2 is described in the DSM-5 as "identity disturbance due to prolonged and intense coercive persuasion". A person with OSDD 2 has gone through some kind of experience that resulted in questioning their identity and sense of self. This could be torture, brainwashing, thought reform, political imprisonment, indoctrination, or involvement in a cult or terrorist organisation.

For example, an atheist adult who became involved in a religious cult eventually leaves, but is confused and distressed over their new religious beliefs.

OSDD type 3

OSDD 3 is a diagnosis given when a person experiences short term dissociation to a stressful or traumatic event. The dissociation doesn't last longer than a month; if it did, the diagnosis would be changed to a different dissociative disorder (e.g. DPDR).

OSDD type 4

OSDD 4 is a diagnosis given when a person experiences a dissociative trance. The dissociative trance can include involuntary movements or transient paralysis.

In the ICD-11, this is equivalent to Trance Disorder.

FAQ

1. Are alters part of OSDD 2, 3 and 4?

No. DID and OSDD 1 are the only disorders that involve alters.

2. Can I be diagnosed with more than one type of OSDD?

No. Clinicians don't diagnose "OSDD type 2", they only diagnose "OSDD", although they may specify on paperwork, or during a session, that it's type 2. OSDD is a singular, catch-all diagnosis with 4 examples given of different presentations.

3. Can I be diagnosed with OSDD and another dissociative disorder?

OSDD is supposed to be a diagnosis for someone who doesn't meet the criteria for any other dissociative disorder. So if you meet the criteria for DPDR, for example, you probably won't be diagnosed with OSDD.

4. Can I be diagnosed with OSDD and another disorder that isn't dissociative?

Yes! OSDD can be diagnosed alongside any non-dissociative disorder.

5. What is Unspecified Dissociative Disorder?

UDD (or USDD) is a short term diagnosis given when there's not enough time or evidence for a more thorough assessment, or if the diagnosing clinician chooses not to specify what dissociative disorder the person has.

6. What are the other dissociative disorders included in the ICD-11?

The ICD-11 includes DID, Partial DID, DA, Trance Disorder, Possession Trance Disorder, DPDR, OSDD, and Dissociative Neurological Symptom Disorder.

7. What is DDNOS?

Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified was the name for the DSM-IV's version of OSDD. When the new DSM came out in 2013, DDNOS was changed to OSDD. You might still see people who were diagnosed under the old DSM use DDNOS, since that's what they were diagnosed with at the time.

Glossary

Dissociation: Dissociation is essentially a feeling of disconnection. There are five types of dissociation: depersonalization, derealization, dissociative amnesia, identity confusion, and identity alteration. Identity confusion is feeling unsure about who you are, which goes beyond normal, healthy questioning of identity. Identity alteration is only experienced in DID and OSDD 1 and is caused by alters switching.

DID: Dissociative Identity Disorder is a disorder caused by childhood trauma. A person with DID experiences amnesia in daily life, caused by (separate & elaborated) alters fronting.

DPDR: Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder is characterised by chronic dissociation. Depersonalization is feeling a disconnection between you and your body, memories, emotions, and/or sensations. Derealization is a disconnect between you and your environment or reality.

DA: Dissociative Amnesia is amnesia, not caused by another condition, that goes beyond ordinary forgetting. Usually the amnesia is for traumatic events.

Alter(s): Also called parts, alternate personalities or personality states, self states, identities or identity states, and ego states, as well as many other names. These are parts of the self that have become separated due to childhood trauma. They can range from fragments, which are alters that don't have a strong sense of separation or differentiation, to fully formed alters, which often do feel strongly separated and differentiated. When one alter stops being in control of the body and another alter steps in, this is called switching.

Resources

DID/OSDD Self Help Masterlist

DID Archive

This is not Dissociative * not all content available

Positive Outcomes for Dissociative Survivors (PODS)

The Dissociative Initiative

International Society for the Study of Trauma & Dissociation

Sidran Institute

Multiplicity And Me

The CTAD Clinic

Trauma & Dissociation

The DSM-5-TR, ICD-11 & PDM-2

Lots of downloadable pdfs of therapy worksheets

Help! I'm dissociating!

Dissociating and need some grounding tools?

Self Help Masterlist for DID/OSDD (see the trauma, self care and dissociation sections)

Self Help for PTSD

Grounding Techniques

Grounding Kits

Managing Triggers

Using Anchors to Manage Triggers

How to manage triggers in DID/OSDD

3 Types of Triggers and 3 Techniques for Taming Them

More grounding techniques

A loved one is dissociating and you don't know what to do?

Dissociative Crisis

Understanding Emotional Flooding

How to help someone who is experiencing dissociation

Ideas for dealing with dissociative symptoms

How to help someone who is having a flashback or panic attack

I would love to hear from you if you have any resources or experience (lived or otherwise) with OSDD 2, 3 and 4, as information about these subtypes is hard to come by!