#calamity speaks

[calamity-unlocked]

Lark and Sparrow are on opposite sides of the empathy spectrum.

Lark definitely has compassion, even if he doesn't show it, but he lacks empathy. He usually acts with a disregard for people's feelings and says things without seeming to put much thought into how his words will impact people.

Meanwhile, Sparrow has lot of empathy, but when he puts himself in someone else's shoes, it gets filtered through his own feelings and biases. "Oh, my son doesn't have friends; this is how that would make me feel." His empathy for his brother also gives him a blind spot: prioritizing Lark’s feelings over his own.

[the-phantom-peach]

🗣️ huh?? what do you mean I haven’t posted any Link signing propaganda yet??

[ludinusdaleth]

there is SO MUCH to talk about but i personally am obsessed with silaha. to be the god who created elves & fae, to have created beings of utter magic & wild, choosing to be molded by mortal hands as an aeormaton. to be the paragon of a fae's whimsy and yet act the part of rigid robot under watch, switching between the two as rapidly as a cloud passes over sun. before you was dweomer & loquatius, aeormaton & fae, watching the calamity begin. after you will come fearne & fcg, fae & aeormaton, watching ludinus rip the sky apart. before you was the tree of names, a fragment of the limitless potential in your once infinite home, swallowed, gone, by something that seeks to hunt you. after you comes the malleus key, a ghost you thought you completely destroyed, promising to hunt you. thank you abubakar salim for my entire LIFE

[arklayraven]

soft. Luci soft. 💙

[justanothercalamity]

How about this?

Kind of hilarious to me how poorly the title "Mob Psycho 100" localized to English-speaking areas. To someone whose first language is English, it scans as:

Mob (Yakuza, Mafia)

Psycho (violent person with "crazy" behaviors)

Thus: a particularly violent member of organized crime.

But in Japanese it scans as:

Mob (background characters in crowd scenes in manga or anime)

Psycho (short for psychic)

Thus: a psychic who looks/acts like someone you'd never pick out of a crowd scene in a comic.

[nellasbookplanet]

In the wake of FCG' fate I've been thinking about death in ttrpgs, and how it kind of exists on three levels:

There’s the gameplay level, where it only makes sense for a combat-heavy, pc-based game to have a tool for resurrection because the characters are going to die a lot and players get attached to them and their plotlines.

Then there’s the narrative level, where you sort of need permanent death on occasion so as not to lose all tension and realism. On this level, sometimes the player will let their character remain dead because they find it more interesting despite there being options of resurrection, or maybe the dice simply won’t allow the resurrection to succeed.

Then, of course, there’s the in-universe level, which is the one that really twists my mind. This is a world where actual resurrection of the actual dead is entirely obtainable, often without any ill effects (I mean, they'll be traumatized, but unless you ask a necromancer to do the resurrection they won’t come back as a zombie or vampire or otherwise wrong). It’s so normal that many adventurers will have gone through it multiple times. Like, imagine actually living in a world where all that keeps you from getting a missing loved one back is the funds to buy a diamond and hire a cleric. As viewers we felt that of course Pike should bring Laudna, a complete stranger, back when asked, but how often does she get this question? How many parents have come and begged her to return their child to them? How many lovers lost but still within reach? When and how does she decide who she saves and who she doesn’t?

From this perspective, I feel like every other adventurer should have the motive/backstory of 'I lost a loved one and am working to obtain the level of power/wealth to get them back'. But of course this is a game, and resurrection is just a game mechanic meant to be practically useful.

Anyway. A story-based actual play kind of has to find a way to balance these three levels. From a narrative perspective letting FCG remain dead makes sense, respects their sacrifice, and ends their arc on a highlight. From a gameplay level it is possible to bring them back but a lot more complicated than a simple revivify. But on an in-universe level, when do you decide if you should let someone remain dead or not? Is the party selfish if they don’t choose to pursue his resurrection the way they did for Laudna? Do they even know, as characters, that it’s technically possible to save someone who's been blown to smithereens? Back in campaign 2, the moment the m9 gained access to higher level resurrection they went to get Molly back (and only failed because his body had been taken back by Lucien). At the end of c1, half the party were in denial about Vax and still looking for ways to save him, because they had always been able to before (and had the game continued longer it wouldn’t have surprised me had they found a way). Deanna was brought back decades after her death (and was kind of fucked up because of it). Bringing someone back could be saving them, showing them just how loved and appreciated they are. Or it could be saving you, forcing someone back from rest and peace into a world that's kept moving without them because you can’t handle the guilt of knowing you let them stay gone when you didn’t have to. How do you know? How would you ever know?

[eroticalamity]

Didn't think I would have to say this given how I describe my art, but terfs/"gender criticals"/radfems etc will be blocked on sight. fuck off.

[justanothercalamity]

@littlebitofadaydream and I made a similar observation when we rewatched TPM a while back, which led to us briefly wondering what the movie would've been like if Jar Jar didn't exist and Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan encountered Roos Tarpals instead

Done rewatching phantom menace & my fav thing about Jar Jar Binks is that none of the other gungans are like that

[immult]

ugh. sarenrae lost her entire followers bc she trusted asmodeus' words and gathered them around him to work a miracle. then sarenrae lost her only follower bc she trusted lolth, saying i am glad you're here, and left cassida alone with her. with "ioun".

something something fool me twice shame on me and when i tell you torog Clocked her for that.

its name is trust mercy and kindness. her mercy killed people. they have died for her trust. and her kindness will make sure the cycle continues.

[cosmicrhetoric]

funny as fuck when one piece characters withhold extremely important information because they dgaf. bonney going "hm i should probably mention to luffy that i like just saw sabo at the reverie. ah whatever ill do it later" and then she doesn't. robin 100% absolutely knowing that sabo was luffy's brother but sitting on the life changing news that he was alive until sabo got to made a grand entrance himself. toki is the one that really gets me though lol. like of course the one person who is FROM/ESCAPED the void century (aka the person who knows the answer to the biggest mystery of the entire series. not to mention oden hinted the laugh tale reveal to her) never says a single thing about it. why? cause she dgafs.

[danwhobrowses]

I have to say when it comes for episode 107 I'm on the camp of this feeling wrong. Like, two gods' plan is to just let Ludinus just have his way? And just assume that the vessel won't get them? The Wildmother showed Orym the time Predathos came to town, it took out two of them in a blink and the Titans did the heavy lifting, it chased them from Tengar to Exandria without concept of navigation so it's foolish to think they won't do the same this time around. Running forever isn't a life even the infinite should be pursuing. Corellon is cheeky and flirty but it's a mask for being deflective and honestly a little cowardly. What you're asking and trying to persuade with gifts requires the Hells to entertain sacrificing one of their own, which they shouldn't (and I'm hopeful they won't, because that'd be to me at least be a character betrayal since they have always prioritized each other over the gods) consider doing even for any kind of promise, and treating it like it's a necessity, as if leaving like you've decided you want to do now is your 'sacrifice'? Even if being a vessel and still being of sound mind was a viable option with proof that it can work that way, there are too many unknown factors that it seems not even the gods have answers for, so it should all trail back to the fact that this is STILL not a risk worth taking and Ludinus should not be having his way.

I guess part of this feeling comes down to the fact that this was not what I was hoping to get out of the episode; I'm always open to being surprised (because I often am) but it has to be in a good way, this was not a good way. But we'll have to see where it goes, this is a proposal of two gods against a majority yet to say their piece and could still be heard out, I still trust Matt's vision and Abu DM's like smooth butter, but the god debate admittedly continues to wear on me - we were already in a state where we were open to talk but now they're conspiring against one another too? Can we not just focus on Plan A: Unite to Stop Ludinus from releasing Predathos? Evoroa literally said Ludinus' plan is to divide why are we sowing more division? Couldn't just kill Zathuda and take his dragon for Fearne...this should've been Bell's Hells' big win to make up for Otohan but now for me at least it feels a little sour.

[justanothercalamity]

'Tis some visitor, I'd wager, tapping at your chamber door—only this, and nothing more.

I think I hear a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

[ludinusdaleth]

while i really dont have strong opinions on adaptation vs campaign and dont mind changes, i do wonder if zerxus believing evandrin & elías lived normal lives without him in lovm is because asmodeus tried to scrub his brain of the hope in his own redemption that he left with his family (as well as trying to cut zerxus off from any suspicion about the origins of the gods, which his family sought). it's obvious from other comments he makes that his perception has been warped with time in the worst place imaginable for 1000 years, and we know that zerxus is very prone to getting his memories fucked with

[arklayraven]

Still one of my fave moments from the manga. 💕

[zeldaseyebrows]

Can Link from your modern AU fold a fitted sheet? Is he truly perfect besides his fashion sense?

He can.