#does that make sense. anyone else feel that with worldbuilding. like it sort of takes a life of its own

[exagides]

a list of some the info i'm working on for wikstrom, but writing out the actual doc is taking a while and i just want to get my thoughts out into the world. kind of a long ish list, but hey! wikstrom hcs.

his last name is 'chevalier', which was at first a placeholder joke name in my doc but it's there now. why not. everything about him needs to be knight-themed.

his actual full name is sir wikstrom thyméo chevalier. he is legitimately knighted.

he has two dads. one of them is trans. trans dad is the one that's directly connected to the knight legacy.

he's the oldest of five siblings. that's partially why he's the protective and caring figure he is now.

as the oldest sibling, wikstrom was in the position of taking care of his younger siblings. he was never made into an extra parental figure like some oldest children are, but instead took it on himself. he can care for young children pretty naturally and he's a decent cook.

man loves poetry and prose. he was ( and still is ) an avid reader and can recite several stories and poems from memory. he adores the chivalric romances, for obvious reasons.

the shakespearean way of talking is just how his family talks. all of them. even the ones that didn't stick with the knight thing. one of his sisters lives full-time in lumiose and works with fashion boutiques. she just talks like that in her daily life.

when excalibur was still a doublade, wikstrom gave him the choice of when to evolve by offering him a dusk stone, but telling him to use it only when he's ready. wikstrom later had a rough fall off of a rapidash and when cali wasn't able to help brace his fall, he made it clear he wanted to evolve to better protect him.

speaking of his aegislash, wikstrom has a tighter bond with him than any of his other pokemon - he's close with all of them, but since wikstrom and cali met when wikstrom was still extremely young, they've spent nearly their entire lives together. they're family at this point. they can communicate through glances and subtle body language. wikstrom will attest that an aegislash can be extremely easy to read when you know one well enough.

wikstrom keeps his keys with his klefki, oberon. and when oberon is in his ball, sometimes he'll mess with wikstrom by simply not coming out when wikstrom needs his keys.

he attends and participates in historical re-enactments, festivals, etc. a lot of the time people don't know it's him, as he wears full helmets along with more decorated plate armor. he is a fan-favorite ( under a stage name ) during jousts.

being part of the elite four wasn't exactly a major career goal for him, but he's grateful that he got to where he is. he tries his best to use his position to make sure others get help or have a voice through him.

he looks up to diantha as a trainer, his boss, and a friend. he's also her biggest cheerleader when it comes to competitive battles ( even when he's her opponent )

actually, he just never stops cheering other people on. trainers that come to battle him might get more encouragement than they expected.

[definitelynotshouting]

i literally can't stop rotating hunger au worldbuilding and lore in my head. forgive me if you've ever touched on this in an ask before, but... re: the existential horror of being a parasite that has the sense of self of the host it ate. if one of grian's friends ever did get taken and used as a watcher larva host. how do you think he would feel about the watcher that came out the other side? would he want to see them as still the same person as his friend, or...?

Ive been staring at this ask since i got it with like. I need you to picture the most comically heartbroken expression right now okay. like this is me reading that and thinking about it in great and terrible detail:

Gods he would be devastated if this ever happened. He knows what thats like. He knows just how much it hurts-- and that its not a hurt that can be quantified, because its just that intense, that scalding, that encompassing of an experience to go through. I think, genuinely, Grian would be so utterly horrified and grief-stricken for whichever friend went through the Watcherification process that it would trump every other potential feeling on the list

But i think, ultimately, he would still view them as his friend, and treat them in the same way. There's a little bit of hypocrisy in Grian's character that i enjoy engaging with while writing him, and a good part of that in hunger au is centered around how he's firmly designated himself as the monster, and everybody else is the victim, and theres no room for nuance because he sucks and theyre the only people who are valid. When in reality, yes he hurt them, yes he did terrible and invasive things, but he did them out of pure survival rather than maliciousness, and that does make a subtle difference. And... hes not the only one who has fucked up, either!! The entire point of hunger au is how everyone has fumbled the bag in various ways and now they're all trying to clean it up together. Its just, yknow, Grian is so wrapped up in his own pain that he cant see those grey areas yet

And the thing is, if one of his friends got Watchered™, so to speak, and was standing in front of him, i think he would treat them with SO much compassion. Theyve been through possibly the worst thing anyone can experience and come out the other side-- at his core, Grian is i think a character who wants to do good, and do good by other people, and in this hypothetical that would translate into a lot of kindness he doesnt usually afford for himself. Honestly i think he'd spend the time trying to show them the ropes, get them set up in a better position than he found himself in, and provide his own fumbling emotional support as best he could, just out of sheer solidarity. Like, he gets it. He's been there. He may as well help out.

And i think he wouldnt even realize how hypocritical he's being until someone else pointed it out to him, about how he treats this friend with so much care but is simultaneously cruel to himself. I dont think he'd know how to handle that-- he's sort of dug himself a rut in the road with the way he thinks about and treats himself, and the cognitive dissonance would be really uncomfortable for him. Ultimately a good thing!!! Growth is often very uncomfortable. But imo Grian has a tendency to run from things like feelings of discomfort, so i think it'd take him a while to reconcile his previous ways of thinking with whats being presented in front of him essentially in the form of a mirror.

So uh. tl;dr: he'd be a little hypocrite about it and would feel a lot more compassionately inclined towards the friend than he does himself, and would try to help them out as best he could. Thank you for the incredible question that has given me the opportunity to rotate this worm at even higher speeds than usual inside my brainpan DKNFEKNDSKDJKDKD

[not-poignant]

Hi! I apologize if you've spoken abt this already, bur how come ruts aren't really a thing in the UtR verse? Anton mentioned he's never had one, and they're very rare - is there a biological reason for it? Did Gary ever have one? (Starting to see what he is like during regular sex, I feel like he'd commit actual murder-by-cock during ruts fjfnfjnfjf) Anyway, love your writing to bits!!

Hi anon!

So I'm gonna write an essay, buckle up (I always write an essay on this stuff, I can't help it, I signed a contract at birth that said I would)

Firstly, ruts are sort of a 'new invention' in the omegaverse landscape. And by new I mean I'm really old and some people don't remember omegaverse without it. But I sure do! Only omegas went into heat, because heat indicated hyperfertility, and alphas were already hyperfertile without a rut. That was the whole point. You know, that's why they make such a perfect match. Hyperfertile mate meet hyperfertile mate.

They didn't need a rut.

Ruts came along later, and honestly in most of the fiction I've read that have them, ruts are very rarely written, and are often more like a threat hanging in the background. A sort of 'lol make sure you have food and water because like people go to hospital if they're in rut / heat at the same time.' Literal just about fuck-or-die situation. Or fuck-and-die. Probably more like fuck-and-who-cares-about-anything-else.

Anyone who has ever fucked a lot in a marathon session knows that eventually you just need carbs. *coughs*

Ruts are conceptually a TON of fun to think about. It's like authors went 'you know what hyperfertile alphas need? Something like a heat, that also makes them completely out of control.'

The thing is... alphas could already go completely out of control around an omega for a lot of reasons. It happened in fated mates stories. It happened in 'an omega is in heat and I just can't help it' (oh bless all those noncon omegaverse stories we have which are literally 'you just smelled so good you had to be mine'). A lot of the things ruts are supposed to achieve, already can easily be achieved in omegaverse.

Conceptually, ruts can be interesting as 'the alpha is also super vulnerable and helpless and needy during this time' but it's almost never written that way and it's not how I like to think about it. And in terms of worldbuilding, the places where it's made the most sense has almost always been as a dystopian thing that's almost dreaded by both the alphas and omegas (and everyone else) alike, and is just as much likely to be controlled by suppressants as heats, because no one likes to turn into an Automatic robot rapist. (Even though that's basically what many alphas become if they smell an omega in heat, I'm not saying ruts are the Department of Redundancy Deparment or anything, but they're a little bit like City of Redundancy in the shire of Redundancy population Already Covered In General Omegaverse tropes in the country of But It's Fun Anyway continent of Redundant.)

I love reading stories with rut worldbuilding but I have to suspend my disbelief so hard. And I know, I know, you kind of have to do that with omegaverse anyway, but there just comes a point where it's like 'but...the heat...triggers a response in alphas...thats mean a rut...is not needed...because that's what the heat does.' In some ways it takes some power and strength away from the symbolism of the omega's heat (romantically it's very interesting as the trope that renders the often hypermasculine character as so helpless to the omega that they basically have to have sex with them (guess what a rut is? Same same not different! Okay it can be different. It's often not though.))

As a result, I personally like worldbuilding that differentiates a general alpha response to an omega's heat, to a rut. And therefore if a rut is the more extreme version of a general 'must fuck' alpha response, it's likely to go pretty not...great. Much like unfulfilled heats are often characterised as agonising, I like to think of ruts are potentially very fatal. (Warning! Warning! The hypermasculinity levels are critical, boss! He's gonna blow! This time his heart! Not his cock!)

The worldbuilding mentioned in the chapter you're referring to - in the Underline the Rainbow universe - states that ruts are vestigial. It's killed too many alphas who have experienced it.

It basically knocked itself out of the genetic line, in the same way that peak alphas are going the same way because people just don't do great living like that in a functional society.

Also consider the...setting of the story if you will. This is a place where we're rehabilitating omegas and helping them recover from extreme trauma. The professional response to 'I go into rut all the time' alpha companion candidates is 'see a health professional, you can never ever ever ever ever be a companion here, because we...care about our omegas, and don't think your rut takes precedent over their health during a heat. Go away.'

None of these alphas go into rut! None of them should! It would be terrible from a story perspective (I mean, for me. I'm writing trauma recovery).

The only alpha on the grounds who potentially could go into rut is Caleb, I think he has the disposition for it. And I think it would be speedily suppressed with heavy doses of medication for the safety of any omega near him.

The thing that really frustrates me from a worldbuilding perspective is that in some ways, heats make sense. It's a fertile period for an animal that cannot afford the physiological cost of being that fertile all the time. That's it. In humans who already have menstrual cycles (which create fertility windows so the woman or person with the uterus doesn't have to be consistently fertile the same amount all the time), this makes actual biological sense.

Ruts in omegaverse don't even mean what they mean in nature, it's so frustrating. In nature, ruts are sort of connected to mates, but not about fucking them endlessly most of the time. It's about competing with rivals. Going into rut is marking your territory, attacking fellow stags (sometimes to the death), and keeping hold of your herd or flock. This makes...much less biological sense. It's not how it's written in fiction most of the time, and it's really just 'what if heat but alpha.' I'd love if ruts were 'HHH I have to FIGHT every ALPHA I SEE to the DEATH or at least MEASURE MY HEIGHT against HIS or SHOUT to see whose VOICE is LOUDER we are DICK MEASURING NOW my dick is BIGGER I am going to FUCK AN OMEGA IN TRIUMPH. YOU! THERE! COME HERE! No wait where are you going? Stop running!' That's... that's the world I want to live in sdalkfjsaflksaj

I have no problems with that, most omegaverse is just pure mindless pornography for fun, or very thin worldbuilding for fun, and orgasms are had by many and it achieves it's purpose.

But I can't justify something like that making sense in the Underline the Rainbow as a thing these characters experience. I like it as a 'oh this used to happen but we couldn't just go around killing each other and also we died so...' I'm pretty sure it's taught about in schools, lol. In the same way that alphas dueling each other to the death is now pretty much illegal in most places, some things you either just culturally change for the betterment of society (which is...literally the purpose of Hillview), and some things you X out of your own genetic lineages because the thing itself kills you.

Since ruts are in most serious omegaverses presented as extreme events, and alphas are already hyperfertile (in worlds where betas exist), they're just redundant.

Fun in PWPs, and fun for angst, but not the kind of angst I'm personally going for.

Thanks for coming to my really-not-a-TED Talk! :D

(Er so no, Gary has never gone into rut).

(In webtoon Define the Relationship one of the alphas goes into rut but because he's like a submissive alpha he basically needs to be fucked like he's in heat by another alpha and I just actually do kind of love the subversion of 'what if heat but alpha' where it's like 'no literally what if they have to be knotted and they have a whole bunch of shame about that.' But almost no one is writing it that way so aslkfjdsa)

[on-the-shoulders-of-rootstock]

What The Fuck Is On The Shoulders Of Rootstock?

If you're anything like me, you have a love/hate relationship with the Human Domestication Guide writing project - which is not to say that I hate it. There's a lot to love!

I love the indulgent depictions of post-scarcity, I love xenobiology and xenoculture, I love the ten-foot plant-monster mommy-dommies, I love seeing capitalism and imperialism smashed into teeny-tiny pieces over and over. I can't get enough, and it's what sucked me in.

However, I also personally disagree with the way certain aspects are handled, and believe they impede HDG in general:

My kinks are not your kinks.

The Affini are too perfect.

Over-focusing on kink.

No sense of scale.

I've started this blog to set up an organised central worldbuilding reference for anyone else interested in taking the same tack with HDG. You should absolutely send in asks if any of this interests you.

Why don't I just go start my own post-scarcity worldbuilding project specifically tuned to my own tastes? One, I've already done that (like, twice). Two, HDG still has the aforementioned elements I love and want to work with, and I want to riff on them alongside others I know who also play within HDG's space.

More detail below:

1. My kinks are not your kinks. This is the big one for me. I acknowledge that HDG was originally started explicitly as noncon intox hypno brainwashing petplay erotica, but that's not my speed. My relationship to submission is about maintaining self-control and making the decision to obey, rather than having my decision-making forcibly taken away from me. Intox, hypno, brainwashing, etc. all run against my ability to enjoy the HDG themes I do like, and I am picking and choosing what's on my plate while still leaving room for others to add the usual stuff in.

2. The Affini are too perfect. This is with regards to the way the Affini are written in "canonical" HDG media as being perfectly-competent supreme overlords who can do no wrong and have negligible rates of failure at anything they do. For me, this is boring. Characters in media are fun because they are imperfect, because they fuck up every once in a while, because things don't always go their way. Mistakes are how people learn, and a character that doesn't learn is very dull. I want to introduce fallibility and limits to the character that is The Affini Compact as a whole, making them a more compelling and interesting force within HDG stories. Conversely, I also want to depict the Affini as having earned their seat on the galactic stage. I want to see them engage in the sort of logistical and political exercises needed to remain such a powerful civilisation. I want to see the kind of underhanded and manipulative tactics you need in order to invade and pacify other cultures without harming them. It makes them feel more powerful and alive.

3. Over-focusing on kink. Just like #1, I feel that most depictions of Affini in canonical HDG stories flatten their biology and psychology to the bare minimum required to be titillating objects. Every single Affini is reduced to a slavering predator eager to abduct and mindbreak her next victim. Yes, HDG is erotica, but where's the nuance? Where's the rest of the iceberg? What do the Affini do when they aren't fucking aliens? How do the Affini maintain such a dominant political position in the galaxy? These things are missing, and so too is any sense of the Affini being real people.

4. No sense of scale. Canonical population estimates sit at some silly number like 10^30 individuals, with a territory covering at least a dozen galaxies. This is comically large, and makes the Affini a dominant supermajority crowding out just about every other species. Also, where are the Affini going to find a floret for everyone? It's just silly.

Q: What does all this mean in practice?

A: It means I'm currently worldbuilding a bigass lore document for Affini, My Way and it's growing every day. It's still in a very rough, draft-y state but I'd love to hear what others have to say about it if this project catches their interest. My personal favourite highlights are "Affini are omnivorous heterotrophs" and the name for Matter Trainers. See below!

Further up on this canvas are my notes for outlining a planned HDG story set in this style, but they're not ready to be shown to anyone just yet (would love to chat about my ideas, though).

[ragnarokproofing]

author ask tag game

Thank you for the tag, @catchingbigfish! I'm tagging @sarahlizziewrites, @moonandris, and @sam-glade with no pressure, and with an open tag for anyone else who is interested. Apologies if you've already done it, this has been sitting in my drafts for like a month.

All of these answers are in regards to my thesis, which is a large-scale dark fantasy novel with an alternating third-person PoV.

(1) What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

I don't like to conceptualize my fiction as having "lessons." It's not so much that it's inherently inaccurate as that it's not constructive, or conducive to deep and resonating fiction; I have found that this presentation lends itself to moral absolutism. Furthermore, I don't tend to have my characters learn objective moral lessons, but rather learn or decide something about themselves or the world, and make a choice about how they are going to act in the future.

So to phrase it in that way, "what does your main character realize or decide about himself," my main character Fasenil decides that there is enough in the world that makes it worth saving even though it's largely hostile to his existence, and that he is willing to sacrifice himself in order to save it.

(2) What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

I am very aware that the first thing that any of my readers think of when they read my drafts are Skyrim. While it is an inspiration to some extent, my world is far more inspired by real-life cultures, primarily real-life Viking Age Scandinavia. I take historical research very seriously, and I take great pains to maintain historical accuracy when relevant. I have a frankly massive number of sources that I'm not going to cite here.

That's the main inspiration for the area of my map where the novel takes place; inspirations for the larger world include the Holy Roman Empire, 20th century fascist movements, and more.

(3) What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

I think that this question runs up against the same problems as the first. I don't desire to teach readers any sort of specific lesson with my fiction. If they take lessons away, that's nice, but it's not something that I concern myself with.

To answer a related but separate question, I hope that some small fraction of readers who feel the same things as I do feel on some level seen; not the shallow "validation" that is so often talked about in online art and fandom spaces, but with the sort of universe-reordering forcefulness and urgency that I've felt so few times in my life. Not saying "you are a market that it is advantageous to target," but "you exist, I see you, and I know." I am writing, in that sense, to my younger self.

My characters both are in an abstract sense seeking to transcend their pasts, and to find belonging. At the beginning, Fasenil is at first balancing his desire for "success" and accolades with the growing threat that visibility presents to him. Hallbjorn is trying desperately to carve out a life that is free from the obligation of violence, but can't seem to do it. I don't consider it my job to pretend that any of these struggles have objectively correct or moral answers. I can only have my characters make decisions, and do their best to forge a way forward.

(4) How many chapters is your story going to have?

I mean, there are thirty in my outline, but that is extremely fluid. It is possible that it will eventually be divided up into a duology.

(5) Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

It's an original fiction novel, also functioning as my MFA thesis. I don't plan on posting anything more than snippets and supplemental content (art, memes, etc) anywhere; it will be traditionally published.

(6) When and why did you start writing?

I've been writing since I was a little kid. I've only been taking it seriously as a craft and as a career path for about a year and a half.

(7) Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

I follow many, many writers of tumblr, too many to name here.

The piece of advice that I repeat to myself most often is, "good prose is a renewable resource." What this means is that you must trust in your ability to be able to generate good prose in the future, and not stay married to ineffectual passages just because they are well-written or you are fond of them. My first priority is the function of a paragraph/passage/scene within context, because that is much more difficult to revise than prose itself, which can always be improved.

Also, participate. Write weird essays and post them. Read more. Pick a topic that interests you and read half a dozen papers about it on jstor. Ask questions and offer to workshop people's stuff for them, and then get good at workshopping. Form your own opinions instead of just absorbing whatever's popular in the social media-sphere that you're in.

[waywardsalt]

i dont have a specific question but tell me more about the dark mage au :)

Oooohhh the dark mage au... In simple terms, the basic premise is that this au is the one that my ganonbeck fic 'Where the Seas Meet the Sands' takes place in, so it is therefore The ganonbeck au, and is named 'dark mage' au because the secondary premise of this au is that Linebeck learns magic! Dark magic, obviously. It's also called 'dark mage' specifically over any other magic-related subtitle because I am personally obsessed with Fire Emblem Awakening's male dark mage design and thus imagine Linebeck in it every so often.

It's... lacking plot right now, but I hope I'll be more motivated to hash out a further plot once I finish up WtSMtS. It’s intended to take place a but before and then directly after that fic, with that fic’s events being… somehow slotted in. that’s my biggest issue with making them effectively the same thing, but that really only applies for if/when I actually write this au.

As said before, this au is effectively half romance and half drama, likely beginning with most focus on the relationship between Ganondorf and Linebeck, before more serious plot threads start appearing- yknow establishing the relationship of the two main characters before muddying the waters a bit.

Some of the worldbuilding is lightly figured out; the majority of it takes place on a large continent where the Hylians, Zora, Rito, Gorons, Gerudo, and Sheikah live (kind of just the botw smattering of groups), while places like Holodrum and Labrynna exist across the sea as other continents. I don’t think anyone will actually go to Holodrum or Labrymna, it’s just worth mentioning since Linebeck does sail around a few times, and it generally makes the world feel a bit bigger. Plus they do get mentioned as places sending or receiving goods.

Back to the ‘dark mage’ part of things, I have a light magic system hashed out across a few of my aus, but it originated with this au and is most important to it. There’s a bit of a focus on how magic works, with Ganondorf being a skilled magic-user, Linebeck learning to use magic, and magic being generally known and used across the story by many other cast members.

The general gist if the magic is that anyone can learn to use magic so long as they know how to, and there are a few types of magic, mostly divided by element. Some groups and people have a specific inclination towards one or two elements and therefore would learn and handle them more easily, but everyone more or less has equal chance to learn magic. No one is more or less automatically superior at magic than anyone else, it’s all based in how much you practice, and there are some specific conditions that can temporarily boost someone’s magic ability.

The magic system is intended to be important to the plot, but first I need to have an actual plot set up. Some crumbs of it are present in WtSMtS, with tension and unrest directed at the Hylain kingdom, and Ganondorf’s more hostile thoughts towards it, so I think the plot that does arise will revolve around a conflict with the Hylian kingdom, not just between them and the Gerudo but also involving a few of the other groups, since they have their own stances on the Hylian Kingdom. The finer details haven’t been figured out yet, though.

Beyond all that, though, at it's core its a ganonbeck fic with some real plot mixed in later on, with actual usage of the loose and basic magic system I've decided on. In a sense, it's one of the few that's actually been a bit written and posed via WtSMtS?? I haven't thought about that much, but it also makes it easier for me to properly write this au using that fic as a sort of springboard.

[aplaceofstone]

AO3: faceofstone

(with treats enabled!)

Dear Yuletide Writer,

All prompts and ideas are just suggestions, if you are the kind of Yuletide writer who likes to follow them. If not, cool, they are certainly not the end-all of what I love about these fandoms and characters.

If you like visual prompts, this entire blog is 20% recipes and 80% aesthetics that mostly fit my requested fandoms…

I like found families, oddball friendships, sympathy toward outcasts, characters who fully embrace being outcasts, melancholy, a sense of place, bittersweet accomplishments, and a stubborn flicker of hope in an overall bleak world. Dreamlike atmospheres that aren’t necessarily scary, some sort of reassurance that can be found in the weird and the profoundly unnatural.

My only ship in these three fandoms is Atrus/Catherine. DNW CW/Farley and Margot/Turner.

Myst: any (Atrus, Catherine, Yeesha, Worldbuilding)

30th anniversary! 🥳🍉 how about "30 years later" as a prompt? Counting from whenever you want. 30 years after Myst 1? After Yeesha left Tomahna? After Atrus (or either other nominated character) first made contact with the people of an Age he wrote? After the ice cream expedition first brought cones to the Cavern? Or "celebration" or anything with a celebratory twist. Atrus and Yeesha reuniting after End of Ages? Catherine having a nice day? Yeesha in Chiso Preniv?

I love the whole cast, so feel free to set the fic in any era of canon, following pretty much anyone along with the worldbuilding or nominated characters. If you want to play with, idk, Ri'neref or the Watcher or Gehn or Esher or Zandi or Nelah or some schmuck on Releeshahn or whatever, go for it! I am not particularly well-versed in pre-Fall D'ni shenanigans - I’d be interested in reading something set anywhere in those millennia, just please write it assuming that your reader may not be already up to speed on what was going on historically at the time.

Obduction: any (Farley, CW, Josef, Worldbuilding)

What’s your favorite spot on Hunrath, dear author? What’s your favorite odd item (is it RIUM+’s Myst book or the Unwritten manual)? Tell me a story about it. Or tell me about how it’s like to live in that new world, humans, villein, arai and so very few mofang, and Farley’s plan was what got them there for better and for worse. Or a night at that cute little pub they added with the patch. Tell me about the differences between Farley’s worldview, since Hunrath is all she knows, and CW who misses his life on Earth so much. What’s Josef’s story in this regard? Or focus on any aspect of Earth culture that got lost on Hunrath, or one that got preserved, or how the 19th century habits of some obductees clash with their neighbors who come from a few centuries later, and how it all eventually becomes Hunrath’s unique culture. Or what are your favorite character’s feelings on the Sorian sky hanging on their head? Is there someone in Hunrath who insists on calling the seeds #spacepinecones, to everyone else's dismay? What's the smallest recorded obduction, a tiny seed that barely got the person from hair to toes, and what's the largest?

I don’t ship any combination of main characters but I am interested in all platonic interactions between the main trio (as well as actually seeing them forced to act like a trio. What would it take?). I am also interested in seeing any of the characters who are only mentioned in the various journals getting fleshed out a little: if your story needs an additional character or two, you could see if anyone there suits your needs! (and if nobody there does, actual OCs are welcome)

Firmament: Margot | The Mentor, Worldbuilding

Journals? Got any journals, dear author? Notes? Codes? Anything to make the Realms feel more lived-in, from the perspective of Margot or any Keeper? Or what do they find after the end, how do they settle?

I'm not necessarily looking for a fix-it for Margot, but if you've thought of something, I'm listening. Or at least, is it possible for the survivors to know what she's done for them, and to understand who she was as a person, what she went through? (which I suppose brings us back to "journals?" ;^; ) In general, has anyone ever tried to hack the memory loss situation through the written word? Were songs composed and shared from Keeper to Keeper until at last they made it back to the ears of their author?

While I didn't request Turner, and I'm not interested in fic about his character pre-amnesia, I'd be good with any worldbuilding idea that features him freshly post-canon coming to terms with being a blank slate with such a weighted past.

If you're into any of the irl Founders, I'd also love a deep dive in-universe on what their angle was in sponsoring the expedition. Like, Marx, I have Some Questions, and I'm sure there's plenty to say about the others as well! What they hoped for, which of their ideals were pivotal to the eventual success of the expedition VS which ones could've been thought through a bit better maybe…

[akari-hope]

no but fr xvi makes me so upset bc it has some things in it that are really fun and compelling. joshua as a character just has very good writing, dion is genuinely a revolutionary kind of character for the series, torgal is a delightful companion even if he's not very useful aside from making me smile, a lot of minor characters are charming, there's a couple of really beautiful tracks in there, the combat can be fun at times when it decides to be. but i have to lampshade all of my praise with the fact that basically everything else is either lackluster or straight up bad.

jill is...god we talk about people not knowing how to write women but jesus fucking christ why does she get the same amount of importance as the fucking dog (sorry but a blip of "oh she has trauma but we won't actually get into that save for an excuse for a boss fight" isn't enough to actually make a character). the romance feels so awkward i literally don't understand how anyone thinks it's compelling, how do you write two characters naked on a beach and still have it feel like they don't have interest in one another. it's a problem when side characters feel better written than your leading lady. not that clive is much better, but his interactions with other characters can bring out more interesting sides of him. there's a lot to be said for the game being a little eager for its m rating, and it comes through every now and then in the form of "did they need to be naked for that" and "was 'fuck' really the most natural word there". it's not bad exactly, just very...baby's first time at the grown-up table.

the combat for the most part is a "press square" simulator and there's zero meaningful strategy, not to mention elements have zero meaning and status effects are gone (despite having an enemy infamous for inflicting status effects appear multiple times in the main story??). there's too much reliance on the eikon battles to be spectacle and as someone that doesn't really care for spectacle or action in general it REALLY fucking shows. i end up not caring as much about the main cast since they hardly seem relevant half the time, and the fact that party members are really just for show and they do almost nothing practically is kind of just insult to injury. there's almost no accessibility features of any kind, and those that ARE present are either not great (different control layouts that are all equally awkward as opposed to just button mapping) or are tied to in-game accessories that take up a slot bc apparently equipping those means you don't actually need other accessories according to yoshida.

the story doesn't really feel like it does much between the prologue and the very end - things HAPPEN but they somehow don't feel much like it due to how episodic it feels, and most of the events are bogged down by poor quest design that feel primed to pad playtime rather than actually be engaging (I had to get past the 20 hour mark to not feel just straight up bored). most side quests are not rewarding either, neither by giving you in-game rewards or compelling stories/worldbuilding/etc. there is an archive of lore/events/etc. but you can only access it by either using the actively changing entries that are always available but are not comprehensive OR by going and talking to specific npcs, which is a decision i still cannot understand and made me literally never care to engage with it. not to mention that the worldbuilding makes almost no sense when you take a step back to contemplate for a minute. aside from those few tracks i find genuinely beautiful, the music is forgettable; not bad, just unremarkable. the end of the story ALMOST gets to a point where it feels like it's interesting and actually doing something cool, but it sort of just...doesn't?? and it isn't made better by that post-credits scene.

and yet somehow this title is critically acclaimed and has a huge amount of people in love with it too. i can't even use the "maybe it's just not for me" excuse bc i have always been a big fan of the series and the ways it changes and transforms (i've played and enjoyed every mainline game aside from v, xi, and xiv, and my favorite titles are iv, viii, xii, and xiii so like...). i genuinely have never understood praise LESS than with this title and it honestly drives me insane.

idk if i wanted to play an action rpg starring a protagonist on a revenge quest who turns into a "monster" and relearns how to find meaning in life through companionship that features engaging combat, a memorable soundtrack, compelling characters, and a story that feels meaningful...i'd just play tales of berseria. at least that has a well-written female lead.

[lnterjection]

Revival Powers AU

So what are the powers of everyone, exactly? As fun as it is to see people guess (wrongly) in the comments I realize I should have a post detailing it, 

(Revival Powers AU is the name I’m giving to the superpower au I’ve started, with the first work Into the Night being here.)

Powers! 

Tommy - When he dies, he (his power) takes someone else’s life to revive him, usually that of the closest person. However, he also dies whenever someone touches him, meaning skin contact with him is fatal.

Wilbur - He can use his voice to compel people to act in some way. It’s at its strongest when he’s singing, but when he just uses it a bit in causal conversation most people never realize they were ever under his influence. 

Techno - While Wilbur influences people’s actions through his words, Techno influences people’s emotions silently! This means he can instill enough fear in anyone to automatically trigger the “freeze” response in fight, flight, or freeze, thus rendering people unable to think coherently or at all. Or, he can use his power to calm people down and make them feel more at ease, as well as change other emotions. This also means he’s an empath as he can automatically feel what other people are feeling. 

Philza - Wings he can fly with, but also! He can individually manipulate every feather he has, sending them to different places, make them sharp enough to use as knives, feel when someone else is touching them, even change their size to some extent! So basically his power is Hawks’ from My Hero Academia like no joke I just straight up stole the whole concept. 

Sam - He can control metal, though not in large amounts and there’s a limit on how precise his movements can be. It’s definitely enough to jam guns and a variety of other machinery.

Tubbo - Intangibility! He can make parts of his body intangible (unable to be touched or grasped), which also makes them invisible. Yes, this does mean he can make it so people can see his internal organs. However, if he applies this to his eyes or ears he’ll lose sight/hearing respectively, and the same concept goes for the rest of his senses. He can float though!

Karl Jacobs - In any location he’s at, he can “rewind” in his mind and experience past and future events at occurred there. He can sort of control what time he goes to, but the power is naturally attracted to events which involve a lot of death. 

That’s about it for the powers of the major characters of the first fic! This is a large, extended au I’m planning, so this list will definitely expand as things progress - a lot of characters whose powers aren’t mentioned here don’t have them finalized yet, so feel free to leave suggestions! Also feel free to leave questions and stuff about anything, especially the worldbuilding and character backstories and stuff :D (also join the dsmp/fanfiction centered Discord where there can be more chatting about this)

[thosewickedlovelies]

we could be Dreamers - Prologue

Pairing: Marcus Moreno x GN!Reader

Rating: T

Summary: How this world came to be

Word count: 1,671

A/N: Hiii friends 🤗 soo there’s not really a lot of plot or Marcus Moreno :( here, but consider this a prologue/worldbuilding for a Marcus Moreno x reader fic I may eventually write lol. I’m really interested in how this universe got from The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl to We Can Be Heroes, because like. Sharkboy and Lavagirl were literally just some kid’s imaginary friends that somehow magically became real, so what does that mean for the other Heroics? Where did they come from?? So I kinda wanted to write something that would make you Think :) and explore the ramifications of such a transformed universe.

Consider my previous Marcus Moreno fic a prelude to this prologue 💗

--

It was a little unnerving sometimes, being in a room with so much power. No matter that this particular training arena at Heroics Headquarters was at least the size of an American football field- when all of the Heroics are gathered in the same confined space, focused on a single purpose, you can feel it. Like their power prances tauntingly in the corner of your eye, slipping away when you try to look directly at it. Like it winds through the air, worming its way into your veins, so your very blood breathes at you to run, run, run.

Not all of the individual Heroics gave off such uncanny vibes; some were simply ordinary people with extraordinary abilities. Techo-No, for instance, and his gift for creating fantastical gadgets. The implications of his works relevant to the world at large could be worrying, but he had limits. He was just a man. Determined, and creative (even more so with his son throwing ideas at him), but ultimately human.

Not like those with powers who’d been Dreamed.

Take Sharkboy. The temper for which he’d been infamous in his youth had cooled, but when he snapped, he did so literally- blade-sharp teeth an audible clash when he bared them in a ringing snarl. Any water in the room would roil and froth- but the most hair-raising sight was his eyes, tinged with the unreadable, abyssal blackness of his namesake. Focused with a predator’s calculation on the object of his fury. (It made you think that, ironically, his temper had cooled too much- concentrated into something as icy and merciless as the depths of the sea. Just as well his wife was a lava goddess).

It was well-documented that Sharkboy could influence his oceanic kin, seeing as he was half-shark himself. Some marine biologists postulated- in low voices- that fluctuation in his emotions could unknowingly influence shark activity no matter how far from the sea he was. But nobody at Heroics Headquarters had ever dared suggest attempting a study.

That you knew of, anyway. You wouldn’t be surprised if there was a classified government branch somewhere which dealt solely with more insidious studies of the Heroics. Their weaknesses. Ways to defeat them.

Just in case.

Sharkboy and his emotions had stabilized as his Dreamer matured, but not all Dreamers were so invested in the well-being of their creations, or of the world they inhabited and could inadvertently affect. It was suspected that not all Dreamers knew that they had Dreamed at all, that they unintentionally brought Dreams into being far from where they were located and simply never became aware. This resulted in some Dreamed individuals being...unstable. Incomplete, really. Brought forth from a child’s mind, a young person who didn’t yet fully grasp the complexities of existing in this world, or indeed, the intricacies of what made one human at all.

Dreamers were children, more often than not. Their imaginative abilities generally far outstripped those of adults, worn down as they were with the grind of building a real life. The younger the person, the more time and creativity they maintained. The fewer methods they possessed to process their struggles which were grounded in reality, and not their imaginations.

--

Despite the years that have passed, nobody quite knows what happened to lead up to the Incident. How a single young boy had imagined so powerfully that it had warped reality; how his imaginings had given him the ability to design the universe at will.

The Daydreamer.

Max, as he later insisted on being called. An almost disturbingly innocuous name for a boy who had changed the world. Who had all but envisioned himself into having terrific powers- and enabled others to do the same.

In the years following the Incident, Sharkboy and Lavagirl continued to visit him in secret (Later, scientists realized that this why they recorded occasional, inexplicable disturbances in seismic and marine activity). But it wasn’t long before a larger threat to the entire Earth appeared- and so did they. To defend the place which they declared to be their new home. Though they had been willed into existence to protect Planet Drool, as Max determined to relinquish his daydreaming abilities and by extension, his dreamworld, so did the planet and its life diminish. Their presence there was no longer required, they’d explained. But earth could still benefit from their protection- especially after the reality of the threat came to light.

Someone else had Dreamed.

It wasn’t clear who, or how, or what their intentions had been. But once it had been said, everyone was forced to acknowledge the truth of it- or at least, admit that there was no other explanation. The villain’s origins were not terrestrial in any previously established sense.

Anyone who had ever met a child could have a predicted it. Too many young people ended up feeling outcast, overlooked, by both their peers and adults in their lives. It should have been obvious from the way they whispered his name. Not Max- a moniker far too average and relatable- but what they reverently regarded as his true title. The Daydreamer. A near-holy figure who had changed the game for youths everywhere. Now they had a way to combat those who plagued them. A way to create or become the superheroes who previously only existed in comic books and TV shows.

Or some did, anyway. Individuals with the strength of will and heart to Dream weren’t rare, but they weren’t quite common, either.

The only truly neutral positive of the Dreamer evolution was that governments everywhere suddenly accepted the need for increased mental health resources. Designed to increase healthy socialization for all ages and give young people ways to process and communicate their emotional needs, such programs were approved seemingly overnight in schools from elementary to university aged. “Small town life” flourished, and many city quarters and apartment buildings took to implementing “community builders” or, less charmingly, “social facilitators”- positions designed to create cohesive areas of living and minimize the kind of isolation and negative feelings that could leave someone to Dream of improving their life.

--

Nowadays, not all super-powered individuals were Dreamed. The second generation of Heroics was a testament to that. As if the universe itself had reckoned with the self-inception of the Dreamers, and seen fit to provide reality-warping countermeasures of its own.

Less than a year after the Incident, babies with...unique qualities began to be born. Few and far between, it seemed at first. Whispered reports swept from far corners of the globe, a phone tree branching from frantic parents to anyone who could provide even the slightest bit of reassurance. It seemed like doctors everywhere were swapping glances, no one willing to admit what was happening- until a second Villain appeared.

Every incident report said the same thing: a baby started crying, and then the hostages were saved by a power outage. A wash of sparks that darkened half the city.

Webbed with red lightning.

You sneak a look at the fully grown Heroic now, the long braids of her ponytail slipping over the shoulder of her characteristic red training outfit. Red Lightning Fury flexes her fingers as she listens to the head trainer explain today’s exercise- the usual sort of ‘heroes versus villains’ battles, with you and your fellow specialists assisting as villains- but judging by the lack of the smell of ozone, she isn’t yet using her powers. Blinding Fast, on the other hand, appears to fritz in place every few seconds, and you guess he’s running invisible laps to pass the time. It’s hard to tell if that’s what’s causing Lavagirl’s hair to tendril like neon pink smoke even though she’s standing still; usually the hypnotic heat shimmer of her lava flow causes the effect naturally.

You stretch in place while team arrangements are announced. As the majority of the Heroics filter into the stands to wait for their match, the buzzing, writhing presence of their power fades, and you can breathe more easily.

A figure flickers into being beside you, and you jump. “Jeez, Visi! How many times have I told you not to do that?”

Having anticipated your reaction from the countless previous times she’s snuck up on you anyway, Invisigirl laughs. “You think you’d be used to it by now.” Your closest Heroic friend grins at you, all pearly teeth against smooth brown skin.

And she’s right, which is why you were so disgruntled. Having been caught unawares too many times by the invisible hero’s silent movements, you had once asked her to give you lessons. Her instruction had improved your own stealth immensely, and now that you knew what kind of signs to listen for, her attempts at startling you didn’t work nearly as often as they had. But- “It’s hard to focus on anything with all of your powers clogging up the air,” you grumble. The birthed heroes understood what you meant- they felt it too, the nagging hiss of something other in the Dreamed heroes’ energy.

Across the arena, it looks like Miracle Guy and Marcus Moreno are waiting to be your opponents. Interesting. Miracle Guy, with his Dreamed up Superman-like abilities, was the only one who had a way of seeing Invisigirl. What it was precisely, you couldn’t recall. You make a mental note to ask Visi later.

Marcus, however, telekinesis aside, is clearly meant to be the counter to your strengths. The two men are discussing intently, but as if feeling your assessing stare, Marcus glances over. He lifts his eyebrows at you in playful challenge, a hint of a smile quirking his shapely lips before he’s pursing them at his duel-mate again.

Suppressing the pleased flutter down your spine, you turn your attention to the task ahead as Invisigirl dips her head toward you. Planning something clever, you realize, intrigued by the glint in her eye. “Let’s talk strategy.”

When the starting bell rings, your partner vanishes, and your smile curves as sharp and gleaming as the blade in your hand.

[the-nysh]

P1:I find it both fascinating and frustrating when it comes to Katsuki's wrong doings because I can't fully agree with the sentiment "bullying is bullying" and I feel Bakugou is a good character to explore that in examining the different severities of bullying which doesn't have to equate to invalidating victims experience (which are also variable) by doing so - discussion tends to describe it as so awful and he must apologise (which I don't disagree with) but awful can describe well more awful-

P2:-kinds of bullying, like actually going out of your way daily to harm someone and relentlessly take away their sense of safety and dignity. Maybe I care because the extent of the bullying itself (and his behaviour at UA, which I think is still bad but distinct from bullying) sets the tone to Deku introductory relationship to him and Bakugou's apology (which was wonderfully taking responsibility for his behaviour but works with his actions in part because it was not worse behaviour in his - P3: -past). Bakugou's behaviour in response to his insecurity, jealousy, fear and intolerance makes sense, his bullying was to push Deku away and coloured all his interactions with Deku, but he aimed to have those interactions be infrequent which feels like it plays a role in how Deku's (besides his own inners strengths) early feeling is that Bakugou is a conceited jerk in response to Bakugou's attitude towards him. In the story it all feels in proportion (well except Bakugou almost having to - P4: - to die, but that is more about him having a moment in Deku's shoes which in turn informs his understanding, his apology and how he goes about making things right from that apology, while also experiencing that panic of potentially not getting a chance to apologise to Deku), meanwhile it often feels like things are never aligned and in proportion on fandom and even nice takes veer towards implying bullying veered towards severe because discussion lacks the language to talk about nuisances.

So basically....what Hori’s created and written thru Kacchan’s character arc is proportional, consistent, and hyperspecific to his own fictional settings (world building) and his characters’ circumstances. But when fandom tries to discuss it objectively, Hori’s intent & nuances often get colored by people failing to separate the text from their own personal experiences & projections with bullying (ie Deku is not them, and Kacchan is not their childhood bully). Or things just get flat out misinterpreted by poor translations (ahem, including the lasting damage from Fallen Angels’ harsh mischaracterizations), including cultural differences and the like. Leading to a frustrating time trying to discuss what’s actually canon. :O Oh yeah, I can understand that.

Because the truth is that Kacchan’s past shitty actions (cause he was a shitty kid, who understands what he did was hurtful) were not nearly as severe or constant as many people were misled to believe in fanon assumed they were. He never sought Deku out in that daily, oppressive & controlling way (it was the opposite; he tried to keep away from him to avoid how Deku made him feel, except when Deku voluntarily got in his way and Kacchan lashed out to get him to stop) and what transpired between them was not the familiar case of ‘american’ bullying in media either (none of that stealing lunch money or undignified shoving into lockers kinda stuff - cause Kacchan was also trying to uphold a clean record before entering UA), because it was again, all hyperspecific to Hori’s worldbuilding with quirks & heroes.

Consisting of their hero society’s view on quirklessness & people’s worth/usefulness, Kacchan recognizing quirkless Deku still held a heroic ‘strength’ (in his heart/spirit), which threw all his understandings off balance and made him feel like shit in comparison (lesser, inadequate). And Deku recklessly never taking himself into account (without a rational reality check or adequate power/training/preparation) would only lead to Deku stupidly getting himself killed by following his ‘dream’ this way. Leading to a mix of confusion from what young Kacchan couldn’t understand, pain from his wounded pride/self-worth on what best makes a hero, including the fear of Deku’s potential surpassing his and the concern for Deku’s life exacerbating all his frustrated anger towards him. That and their miscommunication from all their avoidance - cause once Deku suddenly shows up at UA wielding OfA, now Kacchan thinks Deku’s lied to him their entire lives. D: Having felt like shit before, and now thinking Deku’s betrayed him with the perfect reason to believe Deku had truly been mocking & looking down on him the entire time...?! (Which we know was untrue.) Oh what a mess of misunderstandings! Which makes their plot riveting to see how it all unfolds though.

So basically, here we have all these complicated, different factors at work to explain (not excuse) the mix of hurtful behaviors that happened. (Kacchan kept trying to push him away, which failed both because Deku kept coming back and cause Kacchan couldn’t reject the lingering feelings of concern for him as a friend either - by keeping an eye on him at arm’s length anyway.) But it gets so easily misconstrued in bad faith, or Kacchan gets unfairly flat-out demonized (one-sidedly) to the extremes, that people simply want him to suffer in proportion to their own personal revenge fantasies, incongruent with the actual text presented. Thankfully, Hori shows healing and improvement (even from rock bottom) in a much more constructive way.   

Personally, I feel Hori making it a public apology was a little disproportionate, because this was a longtime private thing between him and Deku to finally come clean & sort out their feelings, and not really anyone else’s business to spectate or judge. (Which I also didn’t expect to happen right now either - with me prepared to wait another 50chs or so til the end for it.) However, for Kacchan to reach Deku’s heart - speaking from a place of experience he knew best, to get Deku to realize where he was currently failing and being hurtful/dismissive of others - it does the job. :’) Their classmates now have the full context behind his behaviors (now understanding where they misjudged Kacchan too), and...they double as witnesses, such that no one can claim they ‘forgot’ or missed this important moment in its entirety either. Hori lays it all down very clear (consistent with everything that attentive manga readers have already known & followed), while handholding the message so there’s no misunderstanding his intent with this. While also setting things up for Deku to return a private response from his side later. To finally complete & bring everything together full circle. :’) I’ll be waiting~ 

[utilitycaster]

as a fellow member of the tribe lol i think jewish caleb hc get a bit uncomfy given the zemnian = d&d german connection and liam explicitly stating that he took a lot of inspiration from the german student resistance to the nazis. i dont think itd be fair to matt/liam to call the volstruckers d&d nazis but when you start throwing jewish hc in there it gets a bit awkward

So the OP of that post is Jewish, I believe, and iirc Liam actually said that he explicitly tried to distance from the Nazis specifically because he was doing a character with a German accent [which, and this came up as a fandom discussion relatively early in the campaign, is itself complicated; growing up as an American-born Jewish person in an Ashkenazi synagogue, the first German accents I heard were primarily from survivors, and I happen to have a very German-sounding last name for a combination of Yiddish/Ellis Island name change reasons despite being of more eastern European Jewish descent]. I believe he stated the inspiration was more from the KGB (though there are definitely some parallels with Nazis, particularly the Vollstrucker final exam). So that’s actually not what made me say “this doesn’t make sense!” I fully get if other Jewish people are somewhat uncomfortable, but based on how the Empire and specifically the Vollstruckers act I actually agree that a Cold War secret police model (KGB/Stasi) seems much more in line with the depiction in the show.

Jewish headcanons make me kind of uncomfortable in fantasy media not set in the real world because of a couple of reasons I’ve stated before. The main one is that Judaism is an explicitly monotheistic religion; it flat out does not make sense in a world that canonically has multiple, objectively real gods. It makes sense in a setting like the Unsleeping City, which is modern day NYC except there’s magic (and the only cleric is really more a cleric of a concept than a god) and I think that was fairly well-done representation, but in Exandria it’s the same idea as having an atheist - a monotheist in this world is just an idiot. So you end up with cultural markers, and there are plenty of people irl who are culturally but not religiously Jewish, which is entirely valid - but those people exist within a backdrop of Judaism being an ethnoreligion and the culture comes from that, and if you take away the religion you cannot really have the rest of it make sense. At this point I should note I’m probably thinking about this more than anyone asked, but I’ve never had a taste for headcanons that aren’t consistent with the worldbuilding because the worldbuilding is the framework on which I build everything else.

Culturally speaking though Caleb just doesn’t strike me as having a Jewish approach to things! I think it’s an older post - it just crossed my dash so I’d have to check to see where it lined up with the main campaign - but Caleb talks about being irredeemable and damned in a way that strikes me as, especially if you get into the meta-narrative of the actor not being Jewish, very culturally Christian. I have a lot of thoughts that probably belong on a different post but I find a lot of the discussion on redemption arcs in fandom to be super culturally Christian, too, which is fair! I think someone raised Catholic is going to feel very differently about the concept of redemption than I do. I see it as a very positive term that is highly subjective, and a process, not a binary state, but I also think that my view of it is influenced by my religious and cultural upbringing.

Meanwhile I do actually think a case can be made for Jester’s morality to fit Jewish philosophy - that she tends to judge people on their current actions rather than any general ideology, for example - but I have to say I don’t get how tieflings are supposed to be Jewish-coded in Exandria, at all, unless we are either dipping into some pretty unfortunate stereotypes; tieflings are pretty heavily based on like, the mythology of hell and devils, which is explicitly very Christian.

I guess while I’m explaining myself, I’ve found Caduceus’s arc, of someone raised within a small minority tradition, who is still deeply connected to it but is starting to question quite how he fits in, to be very resonant with me - I was raised moderately religious and became less so as an adult, but still find a lot of meaning in some religious rituals. I also find the Wildmother approach to death and dying to be much more in line with Jewish traditions (specifically simple burial, “you are dust and to dust you shall return” as a neutral or positive concept, and an emphasis on the people left behind by death vs. the dead person) than the Raven Queen who always struck me as having a view of death I just could not connect with on any sort of philosophical level. Like, again, I don’t headcanon Jewish characters in traditional D&D settings; it always kind of feels awkward and token-ish, but Caduceus has by far been the character I could relate to the most in terms of religion.

I suspect OP was just having fun with a modern AU or something though; I just found the part about Caduceus so weird because I had the exact opposite feeling that I had to comment.

[tsu9live]

Before I start, this is in no offence to anyone else’s opinion. You are all valid and probably make more sense than me. This is a bit of a rant and then a short character study.

Warning: This got too long.

I tend to come online for manga updates and ended up reading through opinion posts because I am a curious cat. Most of the time I come across really well-thought out posts, really valid points. But then MHA is also a soap opera/family drama where the main character is not supposed to have any progress in his story unless its to bolster or move along the other favs . But then they shouldn’t be bolstering his story either because why is a story about Deku’s journey all about Deku?

But then there are people who are happy Deku is finally edgy and they want him to wipe the floor with his classmates who love him and are willing to fight him if only to get through to him. So there are both extremes and honestly there is validity in all these thoughts because despite the writer’s intentions, a reader brings the story to life.

I personally hate making my own predictions because most of the time I feel it ruins the experience of reading a work for me. I go in with different expectations and when the story goes a different way I don’t enjoy it as much but I feel its more my fault.

So I do understand and respect the difference of opinion because there is no fandom without discourse.

In my opinion though, this Deku solo arc was a long time coming and I think Horikoshi has handled it really weird. I’m still trying to understand what he wants us to think about.

A story about heroes and putting your life on the line for someone else is controversial, but, I thought it was a given. Recklessness had been part of Deku’s character but an overly-cautious character would do nothing. Deku’s lack of self-preservation wasn’t unnatural for a hero, he rushed in to save Bakugo from the slime-villain when Pros stood by putting himself at risk but it spurred AM to act. Katsuki experienced it as well during the war arc, when his body moved to save Deku.

Going to Kamino to save Bakugo was suicidal, reckless and potentially flawed but story-wise it made sense. How is hero-work anything than risky? Kirishima and Todoroki initiated it.

Disclaimer: Deku, Bakugo, Uraraka, Momo, Toga and Shigaraki are characters that are very dear to me because they have had me extremely invested since the beginning of the story. This is my personal opinion, flaws, rant... basically me working through my feelings about this manga I had been obsessed with recently.

1) There is an opinion where Bakugo had a right to be upset/angry/bully Deku because he wanted to be a hero but did nothing for it. Firstly, I don’t understand the need to justify his behaviour when he himself has expressed regret on it. People want others to move on from the “go jump off the roof comment” but won’t stop talking about how everything about Bully Bakugo was justified. Deku was weaker, but he had the same dreams, dreams that were the basis of their friendship earlier on. Regardless of how Deku wanted to achieve them, Bakugo had no right to keep trying to stop him from doing so. No, 5, 10, 14 year old Bakugo did not do so because he had the brilliant foresight that Deku would be self-sacrificial and it was for his sake, he was an angry kid and Deku was a timid, wannabe that confused him, intimidated him even. Taking out his anger was a way of working through those feelings. He was in Deku’s words “a punching bag”. In a world where the powerful reign, Bakugo couldn’t understand how a quirk less, weak little boy could think he could stand shoulder to shoulder with someone as gifted as Bakugo. Yeah, society is very much to blame. The change and maturity Bakugo goes through where he is humbled by a cast of amazing hero students who are just as gifted yet with inspiring personalities and then traumatic consequences of being kidnapped, watching his hero use the last of his powers to hold back a great evil, having that fight with Deku where he bared himself open, failing the licensing exam, training with todoroki, the internship... the war has changed him in a way that has brought out his full potential as a hero and a person. There is a lot to admire about him yet I see so many people fixate on headcanons that glorify his every action/word instead of praising the amazing person he has become/how well written his growth has been.

2) “Deku wanted to be a hero and he did nothing for it”. “He could have been a quirkless hero like Batman.” Listen, the story is about AFO vs OFA first and foremost. Hori has done a good job of worldbuilding and adding a cast of interesting characters that its easy to forget what the main plot point of the story is. But it really is about a weak/timid boy who was born with a sort of handicap who dared to dream to be someone strong enough to have others rely on him instead. A lot of the times people want to become something they feel they needed, someone who gave people hope just by existing. Its natural for someone who is ‘considered useless’ to want to be the most useful person ever. His mother didn’t believe he could do it, Bakugo told him repeatedly he shouldn’t even try, everyone else made fun of him, and his hero gave him a wake-up call, no... you can’t be a hero without a quirk. Deku studied heroes and quirks all his life, hoping he’d find something that could work for his advantage. Not every hero relies on physical strength, their bodies are adapted to the nature of their quirks. Deku’s analysis, quick-thinking and impulsive nature is what helped him progress even after getting the quirk because he didn’t gain control until really late. People act like he was handed power, seem to forget he has just learned to use it without consequences. His studies of quirks also made him the best candidate to get new quirks, quirks that he has learned to utilise as tools quickly and efficiently. He was doing what he thought was going to help him become a hero without guidance, without backing and constant discouragements. Its admirable and relatable. If you don’t relate to him that’s fine, your life was different.

Batman was loaded. Deku is not an inventor. The Editors shot that idea down because it would not have survived in a genre where power fantasies are the main hooks. Aizawa, sure he’s training Shinso because he sees his potential now but he would have either expelled Deku/moved him to General studies on that first day for scoring the least in that test. He changed his mind not because of Deku’s quirk but because of Deku’s ingenuity.

When Deku did find his guidance, he tried to do years of work/training in a short period of time. He acknowledges how far behind he is, that the rest are leagues above him and all he wants is to be able to stand side by side with those incredible people and he would go to all lengths to do so. DEKU has never said he wants to be the number one hero. He always says he wants to be one so reliable he saves people with a smile and later on, he wants to be a hero that can save without having other people worry about him. Bakugo works hard, he’s not just exceptional he works hard for it, all of 1A do but saying Deku does nothing when he is constantly shown, studying, training his body, understanding his shortcomings and working on it is just petty. You don’t like him because of his saviour complex, newsflash, that is a hero thing. Hero course is about that, Deku’s is just highlighted because of how often he gets hurt. How can you be a Todoroki stan and hate Deku (although to be fair its your right, I’m just making a point), the kid saw Shouto and decided that it was more important for Shouto to stop hurting and gave him a hell of a fight. I still remember Shouto’s smile, it gave me goose bumps.

Deku’s lack of self-preservation is a part of his programming so much that he hasn’t noticed it yet. Deku broke his bones, but he didn’t realise the permanent damage. When Deku got injured with Muscular, he was never intending to fight him alone. He wanted backup, his phone was broken and he wanted to get Kouta out and tried but Muscular gave him no opening. He was driven into a corner and fought his way out. Like Aizawa said, “He got that injured because he has no intention of dying.” Before rushing to find Bakugo, he informed his superior first, knowing she can spread the message.

The fight with Stain, he messaged his location to all his classmates, didn’t intend to fight Stain alone, just defend Iida long enough for help to come along. Fight with overhaul, he just wanted to get Eri away and when he understood Eri’s power, he gave her the opportunity to fight back against her oppressor by teaming up with him, keeping her secure with the cape made out of Lemillion’s hair. During the whole fight he was present-minded enough to take the fight away from civilians and managed to prevent damage and casualties. During Natsuo’s rescue he played support.

During the war arc, he realised with despair that Shigaraki was coming in all his destructive glory for him and tried to stop him before but he didn’t object to Bakugo joining him. In the movie Heroes Rising (the initially planned ending) he willingly gave OFA to Bakugo, because he trusts him with his life, and was willing to be quirkless again if that’s what it took to keep the kids safe, and himself and Bakugo alive. Its mostly been good decisions on his part.

Its the war arc that’s been his downfall. Watching his childhood friend/rival almost die, his best friend, his mentors almost die while he could barely hold Shigaraki back set off a fight or flight response in him. The seriousness of how Shigaraki came for him and left such death and destruction in his wake because he was not strong enough and AFO is a monster and the sight of Shigaraki and the reality of his situation pushed him down the current path. His solo arc started well because constantly training in the field has helped him master his quirk, and he had the backup of the vestiges who trained and guided him in learning to use it as a toolset instead of a one-punch solution. Then coming face to face with the flaws of hero society and the power, manipulative nature and destructive intentions of AFO has prepared him emotionally. He is not acting like AM, he hasn’t in a while. He is acting like NANA and i don’t blame him because she’s in his head. No adult stopped him from doing this, instead using him as bait to lure out the league.

When they started realising he’s spiralling out of control, that’s when they realised they messed up.

He’s running on adrenaline/fumes alone and I think he’s actually terrified.

“AFO is OFA’s responsibility” “Tell the world I am here” “You’re not as strong as me yet,” “You are not a worthy successor”

Deku isn’t self-centered and but I agree with the screw loose comment (its years of “you are useless, not good enough, not worthy and I bet a dozen or so concussions, bloodloss, dehydration lol). I know Bakugo means well and that’s how he talks. At the moment, he’s probably the only one whose sole goal is Deku’s survival. Deku’s like a wild animal, terrified, lost and as always backed into a corner. AFO has him where he wants him and I am curious to see how class 1 A are going to get through to him. I don’t want them to fight, all those fanarts of Bakugo reaching his hand out to Deku and then maybe punching him in the face would have been a lot better then the mocking (the slow clap was a little triggering for me) but again maybe it just bothers me and Deku needs it. I’ll just have to wait and see. Deku and his class together would be an unstopabble force and I am waiting for that to finally happen.

P.S. Class 1 A looks so mature, everyone going crazy about Bakugo and his tie and I’m here like, look at baby Kirishima and his roots <3

I’m sorry if I gave anyone a headache lol.

[mallowstep]

For the love of god, please consider renaming some cats, I've seen names like

"One-Eye, Halftail, Oddfoot, FLIPCLAW (what kind of prefix is 'Flip'?) Twigbranch, Clawface etc. Don't get me started on those atrocious SkyClan names with KITTYPET PREFIXES

Harrybrook, Snookthorn, Rileypool

Like tf?

so i'm going to start with saying! as a general rule, i love these names. i will address them each in turn, but i don't have a problem with warriors having "bad names," i have a problem with names that don't make sense given their context.

it does not make sense for blackfoot to be named blackkit, when he's mostly white. (and, as a colorpoint cat, i assume, would be born entirely white.) etc.

but i have no problem with bellaleaf, because well, yeah! makes sense to me.

after all, leaf was named leafdapple, why shouldn't bella be named bellaleaf.

i'm going to discuss each name you brought up in turn, and then, under the cut, i'm going to ramble about naming philosphies.

one-eye: i'm fine with this. i don't mind cats being named after their disabilities, not when it's an established part of warriors culture. (even if it doesn't happen anymore because people would be pissed about it.) i don't know if i think it's right, or if i think cats would have a problem with it, but i think it's good. i'd like to think most cats wouldn't have a problem with it, though. that said, for one-eye in particular, her name was already white-eye, so it feels redundant. food for thought, i suppose.

halftail: i'm not okay with this, because he lost...half his tail? trust me, as someone who had a cat with half a tail, you don't notice it. doesn't make sense. he can keep sparrowpelt, altho tbh i almost always forget about him.

oddfoot: oops i forget him initially! i actually assumed he was named odd because of numbers or something, but apparently it’s a deadfoot situation. we don’t know his kit name, so i’ll assume he was named as either an apprentice or a warrior to fit. it wouldn’t make sense for him to just have the prefix odd, and i’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he didn’t. if he did, however, i would have a problem with it because that makes his name a compound name, not because his leader renamed him.

flipclaw: i don't have a problem with it. what kind of name is flipkit? the kind of name a mother would give who looks a lot like the cat who traumatized her, i think. more importantly, i think it's cute! doesn't bother me. would i name an oc flipkit? probably not, but that's just me.

twigbranch: oh no i love her name. i love it! it's so cute. it means something, too! it has meaning. nope. no one is taking twigbranch away from me. i love it.

clawface: mixed. i don't really have a problem with a cat being named clawkit, but it feels...violent. shrug. i don't like it, but like, i also don't like sandynose.

and i won't directly address skyclan because uh i already stated my thoughts on them.

skyclan in particular, tho, it actually makes a lot of sense for their names to be like that. there is no reason to apply any clan norms to skyclan names.

i really hope they keep their names, too. tradition and legacy of names is important to them (pebbleshine and violetshine for the most direct example, but it's everywhere), and i want that to stay. i love that leafstar named her kit harrykit. never change skyclan.

as always, i want to say that i do not have a problem with anyone's methodology of naming cats. i do not care. i support every single name in existence (barring certain combinations of color and "-face," and anything in that vein), and i do not want to come across as telling you what you should do.

that includes you, anon! i do not think you should listen to me when i say i like these names. i think you should rename them whatever you want. (i strongly suggest reconsidering skyclan renames, tho. there's established reasons in canon for them to have those names, and i think it's a cool cultural thing worth exploring. i keep meaning to write a funny lil one-shot about it.)

but you know! if you want to rename them, go for it! i support you!

that said, here is what i think (and i am not an authority on this in any way, shape, or form) about names:

i've written extensively about naming traditions in the clans. if you want to read that, "names. leaders. meaning" and "names part two" are where i recommend you look. (note: first link is to my main, before i migrated warriors content here.)

i'm not going to go over any of that in detail, because well, i'd rather talk about something new?

anyway, i don't think there's a reason to rename the vast majority of cats. i have very, very, few rules. heck, in ashes, i even had squilf come out and say that there's not even a problem with cats sharing a prefix.

the two cats i have renamed are yellowstorm and runningcloud, both for very specific reasons: -fang is a suffix that only makes sense if you're a warrior, and yellowfang names runningpaw runningnose, but in this au, sagewhisker names him, and she doesn't seem like the type to give that kind of name.

in yellowfang's secret, which i do generally treat as canon, yellowfang explains runningnose's name. i don't have a problem with her giving that name to him in the slightest. i just don't think sagewhisker would, and that overrode my general conservative approach to cat names.

but i do think, to an extent, cats are named for the world around them. i explored this in "without warning," where cats can be named after all sorts of strange things (elevator is my favourite), because well, they don't know what strange names are and are not.

so, for example, if there was a kit named, say, chaffinchkit, i would probably rename them, because i've set my warriors in the pnw, and there are no chaffinches in america.

i would just name the kit finchkit, because really, a chaffinch just a specific type of finch anyway.

i also refuse to name a kit maggotkit. there are probably other canonical prefixes in this nature that i refuse, but maggot is the big one that comes to mind.

but i don't care that ferns are green and cats aren't green. maybe it's a name passed down through the generations, one they don't even remember the origin of, but now, it is a thunderclan name.

or maybe, it is given to a riverclan cat simply because their mother thinks ferns are nice and soft.

none of that matters to me, because i personally find limiting name to appearance is incredibly boring, and gives up a really nice chance to worldbuild.

in "fair is the night," ivypool and tigerheart have a brief conversation exploring this.

"ThunderClan is different," he says. "You don't use names in the same way. You don't know the Ivy before you. But ShadowClan isn't like that. Dawnpelt knows Dawncloud and Flametail knows Flamefur, but...I have Tigerstar." "That seems ineffective," Ivypool says. "You can get more mileage out of your names. Here, Ivy is for grey kits, right? But wiry ones. We need strong roots. And Dove is for grey kits, or white ones, but its for the ones who are born soft."

they go on, but i would never pass up an opportunity to explore that type of thing. (and yes i see the typo)

similarly, i like the renaming system. i am like, this close to saying i love it.

the only reason i don't make brightheart lostface in everything i write is because it'd be too much of a headache to remind people, and i also don't want to needlessly invite arguments about it.

she keeps her name in "saccharine tithes of love and glory" because it's the kind of au where i can throw small things like that, without worrying, because it fits, tonally.

i wish it didn't set a fic in a very specific tone, but it does, and so, i usually use brightheart.

(also, it's clear that she prefers brightheart in the books, and i respect that. i don't think, in my culture, that makes sense for her, but i've talked about my works as being on a spectrum between canon and me, and most stuff is far enough away from me that i call her brightheart.)

anyway.

part of it is, renaming cats is imposing my rules over canon. i feel that saying "flipclaw should be named something else" asserts that my world is correct, and canon is wrong.

like, tallstar as a name does not make sense in my windclan. a kit can't be tall, and i've established that windclan names are very literal. but i've let it go, because i chose to make that a rule, and now i live with it.

i hope i didn't come off as prescriptivist, here, because i honestly believe if you want to rename cats, you should. i'd even be happy to discuss alternatives.

for clawface, might i suggest scorchface? (the suffix is malleable, frankly, but i don't feel like thinking much about it.) scorch deliberately has negative connotations in shadowclan, so you keep the same effect as clawface. especially since it just kind of sounds ominous.

but as for what i will do, it is not rename cats. i like their names (especially skyclan's), in all their idiosyncratic glory.

[concerningwolves]

Hey I'm doing a short story for class about an autistic girl who discovers she have telekinesis and I want to knows how to portray her properly and how beint autustic affect her powets with makint autism sounds baf

Hi anon! I’m very sorry if I’m answering this too late for you; I barely had time to even look at my inbox in October and November, and then when I got time to do so this month, I got overwhelmed by the backlog. Nonetheless, I’ll answer this and hope that even if it’s too late for your original purpose, something in it will help you (/help anyone else who reads this) :]

AUTISM, SUPERPOWERS & FAIR REPRESENTATION

Okay, so, the basic answer to “how not to make autism sound bad” is approach the story with compassion and/or empathy – but that’s a very broad answer and probably not overly helpful for specifics. I’ll start with the “how to represent autism well” part and then break down the superpower-specific stuff from there.

1) Autism should be an integral part of your characters’ personhood, but not their entire personality

As an autistic, I struggle to define where my autism ends and my personhood (i.e., my sense of the “self”) begins, because they’re so deeply entwined with one another.  Autism is a condition that alters how I think and interact with the world, and therefore profoundly impacts how I perceive both myself and the things around me. That doesn’t mean, however, that my only personality trait is autism. It all gets very convoluted and existential – would I still be ‘me’ if you removed autism? What is ‘me’? Is it even fair to think of autism as a separate Thing? – but it is worth considering if you want to get inside your autistic character’s head.

A trap that allistic creators tend to fall into is “this character likes [X] / does [X] because they are autistic”. For example, I once saw someone say that their OC likes blue because it’s a calming colour and therefore sensory-safe. This is a valid process on its own: I also like pale blue (+ other pastel shades) because it’s a sensory-safe colour! But where many allistics fall down is in not considering that an autistic character’s likes, dislikes and hobbies don’t have to relate to their autism.

Although the show has its flaws, I do think that Sam Gardener from Netflix’s Atypical is a positive example of an autistic character just liking something because they like it. His special interest is all to do with penguins and antartic wildlife/explorations, and he also enjoys art as a hobby because... he just does. That’s not to say these things don’t intersect – he takes a scientific illustration class in college precisely because it combines two things he likes; it’s also fair to say that autism gives him an edge in drawing because autism brain is excellent at grasping theory/technicalities. But ultimately it’s nice to have an autistic character whose interests and personality traits go beyond the stereotypical special interest.

For more on representing autistic characters, check out [this post] where I go into a bit more depth. (NOTE: that post is on my list of things that I want to revise/rewrite/flesh out, so it might change soon, but the basic stuff is still the same).

2) Autism isn’t inherently “bad” – but that doesn’t mean it’s without issues, either

Autism is not the devastating tragedy that neurotypicals like to present, but it does come with its own difficulties and pitfalls that you should acknowledge if you want to write a well-rounded autistic character. There’s often discourse/debates on my dash about whether it’s fair to call autism a disability. I’d say it is – there are definitely aspects of autism that are disabling, i.e., sensory overload, burnout, trouble communicating, etc. – but it isn’t a disability in the way that allistics/abled people think.  

Some aspects of autism are “double edged”, in that they have useful and troublesome sides. Speaking for myself, hyper-empathy means that I’m good at grasping why emotions Do The Thing, which is incredibly useful in filling in gaps in my social sense! But. It also means that I struggle to draw a line between my own emotions and someone else’s, and am simply awful at creating healthy emotional boundaries. As the writer, you create good representation by showing both sides. Let your character have meltdowns! Let them have trouble in social situations! Let them get burnt out or overwhelmed! But also make sure to show that this doesn’t make them inherently burdensome to other characters, and explore the good/neutral aspects of autism, too.

3) So, how would all of this impact superpowers?

A lot of that depends on your world’s magic/superpower system. Some things to consider are:

Does your character need to be concentrating?

Do emotions influence how controlled the power is?

Does the power take a physical or mental toll on the user?

etc.

These are laws you ought to think about as part of worldbuilding, regardless of a characters’ neurotype or ability, but I do believe that autism will have an impact on how a character interacts with their powers. For example, many autistic people have difficulty with fine motor skills and spatial awareness, either as part of autism or due to a co-existing condition [1]. This could theoretically cause trouble if a character needs to gauge personal space/use spatial perception when using telekinesis to direct objects. Where emotions effect a power, emotional dysregulation or rejection sensitive dysphoria could also come into play by disrupting a characters’ concentration or control. 

Make sure to show your character working with or around these sorts of issues, and keep a balance between the pros and cons. If sensory input throws off her concentration, what are ways she can get around that? Earplugs for noise, dark glasses for light sensitivity, seamless clothes, headphones... etc etc. On the more negative side, I can only imagine the chaos I might cause during a meltdown if I had telekinesis: objects flying everywhere, lightbulbs bursting, general pandemonium. That said, telekinesis would be great if I could levitate myself and just hang there without any sensory input. Also useful if I needed to get stuff and didn’t have the energy to move because of burnout, or if I could use telekinesis to “weigh down” a blanket on top of me during meltdowns. There are some really fun possibilities here! 

Another way to avoid showing autism as a burden/something bad is to give your character a support network and/or accommodations in the story. Have your character find ways to work around issues just like a neurotypical person would, yes, but also have other characters be understanding and ready to help. Thriving support systems are just as important as the autistic character themself.

Basically, address the fact that some aspects of autism are difficult to cope with/require aid but don't overtly focus on that, you know? Your character can get upset, frustrated, or be resigned. She can beat herself up! All autistic people live with this feeling of "not good enough". But show her overcoming this, show her with a good support system, and show her being a person as complex and developed as any other character.

FOOTNOTE(S)

[1] general practise in diagnostic circles is to avoid diagnosing with things like dyspraxia if another developmental disorder is present (i.e., autism), but we’re still learning about what the big ice-cream bar of autism actually covers. What traits an autistic person has can vary hugely from one person to another.

[sparklecryptid]

This might be a strange question, but what advice would you give to someone who's struggling to write for themselves? I always feel bad coming up with self-indulgent ideas because I was told to write for an audience, but I want to do something for myself in the hopes that it'll kickstart my motivation to write for others. If that makes any sense. ;-;

okay. so i do have advice. but it's both trite and repetitive and requires some work on your part.

I understand wanting an audience, however, one thing that took me a while to understand is that if you aren't having some sort of fun or enjoying writing your work then your audience probably won't like it too much either. like. imo i enjoy a novel or a work or a fanfic a lot more if i can get the vibe that the author likes what they are doing and having fun.

so.

write for yourself first. take your most self indulgent idea and promptly write the shit outta of it. not for an audience, not for anyone else but just for yourself. writing for yourself is something that does take a bit of self work because sometimes you're like 'well if im not writing for anyone then WHY am i writing at all?' and the answer is that if you're writing for yourself you should be having fun. and the audience will come eventually! people like consuming media for some reason idk why

so yeah. fun is the answer. and when i started writing i was way too focused on an audience and what they thought and while i enjoy hearing others thoughts if its not like. a Work I'm Going To Publish With A Publisher. I am going to be the most self indulgent asshole ever.

(of course I am assuming this is for fanfic reasons and if it was for Publishing Novel or Poem reasons I would have slightly different Advice *stares at my pile of notes and worldbuilding for my og verse* ThisIsFine.png)

Anyway! the Point of this is that Writing for Yourself starts by casting aside notions of what you should and shouldn't do and what is Cringe and just. going for it. just go for it! have fun! make the most embarrassing self insert or whatever! it will still gather an audience! and as long as youre having fun like.

fuck the haters.