#ecosystems matter

[padawan-historian]

As we fight imperialism abroad, remember the people who are suffering under apartheid at home. Help Marcellus Williams by signing the petition to stay his execution! Read to learn more about Mr. Williams situation.

[protoctist]

i know ryoko kui is a real one because she wrote 97+ chapters of a manga about fantasy ecosystems and food chains and not once did she write the phrase "survival of the fittest" (it's a bad phrase) (it's a social darwinist phrase even) (hated amongst biologists) (doesn't make sense) (darwin didn't use it) (coined by an business major) (one of the worst phrases in pop science) (no good)

[neocurio]

tHIS PLANET 

[artgletic]

case study of the self-identified god

[999-roses]

I dont know where you people are finding or trusting (!!) places like Chuang or Lausan but come on.

1. pieces using terminology like authoritarianism or totalitarianism should at least give you some skepticism, if not in taking them seriously, then at least in having some understanding of how those terms are positioned geopolitics, eg, western imperialist motives in smearing their enemies who have the most power and ability and organization in fighting back.

2. theyre very purposefully unclear in their exact positions or affiliations. say, their funding for operations - especially when it's not just one guy and clearly they're not asking for viewer/follower support. they may (supposedly) seek collaboration with indigenous and anti-imperialist groups and then turn around and either insinuate or openly call china imperialist. unserious. and then have the gall to say they support a revolutionary global leftism

[toaarcan]

In theory, the ramifications of the choices the party are making on Exandrian politics should be, uh, interesting.

Like, these guys come out of nowhere, they present themselves as the ones that are going to stop Ludinus, and the Exandrian Accord are pretty sceptical about them, especially given their professed lack of skin the game and frequently-expressed contempt for the gods.

But Keyleth, leader of the Ashari and one of the members of Vox Machina, personally vouches for them, gives them all fancy new titles, and promises that they really are going to be the ones to pull it off.

And then they (probably) kill Ludinus, and in the space of a few minutes, doomer themselves into deciding that "Well Predathos is getting released eventually anyway so we might as well do it", go into its cage, let it out, and then create a plan that doesn't kill the gods, but does render them mortal and strip of them of their power, which they feel is a solution because it satisfies the anti-god streak among them but doesn't account for the myriad problems with removing the gods from the table, like:

The massive amount of demons waiting to do an incursion

The potential for certain gods to hide and maintain their divinity until Predathos is gone, then becoming the sole god.

Non-Tengarian gods like Vecna potentially not being on the menu

Fucking Tharizdun

Every Cleric or Paladin that wielded divine power from a god losing their powers and having to learn to channel divine magic for themselves, wiping out magical healthcare because every priest on the planet got level-reset.

The Unseelie Fey being obvious heirs apparent to the gods' thrones.

The fucktons of rogue Celestials and Fiends this would create.

It also adds a new one: The gods incarnated as mortals before, and became gods again. If that possibility isn't blocked off (which it very well might not be), the gods could regain their divinity, which could not only potentially bring Predathos back to Exandria, but also basically guarantees Calamity 2 instead of averting it, by turning the Betrayers into mortal time-bombs.

"Welp, Torog just remembered who he is, we're all fucked."

It really is incredible that these guys were stood up in front of the world, got vouched for by a hero that they'd been looking to for support all campaign, convinced the world to trust them to save the gods, and then decided to not save the gods, or at least, not do it in any way the people asking for the gods to be saved can appreciate.

[spacerard]

dark matter gee (MOND theorists get rekt /lh)

𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐒𝐨 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝.

[maeve-is-annoying-about-books]

I didn't really wanna talk ahead of the Dungeon Meshi anime but I had this thought bugging me as I was skimming the manga. So, spoilers for what's to come.

I don't think it's any coincidence that Laios' party, out of a cast of infinitely more capable people, makes it to the final floor of the Dungeon. Why? Cause they aren't heroes.

Look at Kabru, he's the poster boy for anime protagonists. He has a tragic backstory, a personal beef with the dungeon, skills trained by a master of the crafts, and a large party who seems genuinely friendly together. He has everything going for him to one day dive to the bottom and gain closure for his story but he just can't. He never will, because the dungeon does not work on his logic. It turns out that there is no plot armor against hearing a siren sing for the first time.

What about Mithrun then? Personally wronged by the Demon, he's the paradigm of vengeance. A tragic hero who will do anything it takes to get to his goal and probably die achieving it. He has a party full of dark history and interesting dynamics, really laden with moral greyness. Not Berserk but a step closer to it than Kabru's story. But he is, unfortunately, also a classic hero archetype, and although his skills are impressive they aren't fit for the ecosystem around him, singleminded vengeance will see you killed by changelings, the cold, or starvation.

Shuro, it's gotta be Shuro right? A man from a distant land but a familiar one to the primary readerbase. He goes back to train, hone his mind, collect a party, and save the love interest from a cruel fate. Perhaps he will learn there is no saving her, and tragically be forced to slay the monster she's become. His journey ends the second Faligon dies, so he has no chance, ever, of becoming the Dungeon Lord. There doesn't need to be any extra traps to deter him, he'll get what he wants at the fourth level and be gone, his desire simply isn't pointed that way.

Laios, on the other hand. None of his party are heroes, they're all here for selfish reasons and have absolutely zero illusions about heroics and greater goods. Laios is here to save Falin, he only wants his sister to be safe. And to eat and document monsters. Marcille is here for forbidden magic and Falin, and her two desires coincide with her resurrection. Chilchuck is here because he got paid up front and can't leave without rumors spreading. Senshi was always here and he just wants to live in peace with nature. None of them have heroic intent, broadly. But it also means they don't have heroic conceit either.

Laios' party will eat anything. They'll run from battle, take shortcuts. They treat monsters not as grand challenges to overcome but something to fight for their lives with. With their teeth if need be. There is no honor here there is only living. Honor gets you strangled by treasure bugs. Revenge will see you abandon your party to giant spiders for the mere shot at your target. Duty sees you skipping meals because your goal is so important. It is striking how different the dungeon is between Laios and the others. They all treat the dungeon as their personal hell to be striven against and conquered, only Laios sees it as an extension of the living world and understands his place in it. And I think that is so fucking cool, it's so multifaceted. Like, their exact skill set is perfect for getting through the dungeon because of how they all treat it. But also because the dungeon wants them there, because they have very personal, strong desires. Desires that shape their skills, and desires shaped by their skills in a kind of Ouroboros.

And it's an interesting question of how much of both factors into their progress in the story.

[padawan-historian]

If you can't show up in person, make a phone call. If you can't call, write a letter. If you can't write a letter, an email.

In order to liberate our communities from this lovecraft country's Jim & Jane Crow violence, we have to upRoot white supremacist politics and practices from the root.

[benotafraid111]

[gayford]

so so cruel that the fid.dautho.r tag looks like this rn

[evaceratops]

enlightened beings realize that izuchaco being canon changes nothing as it is simply one facet of the dekusquad rotating polycule

[comfortfrogblog]

so i went inactive here because life got busy as i finished high school, and then i started posting about autism on instagram in my senior year and just random things and i kind of amassed a huge following after a year and i learned so many things about myself and the world (some good and some bad) and i’ve grown a lot. but that’s over now because there is a lot of the world that is scary and bad and it’s hard to be vulnerable for that long in front of an audience and i frankly got sick of it and my body and mind became sick of it too. there were so many good people and i built a good comfy community of neurodivergents and such, but it’s still impossible to filter out the bad noise. then there was the fact that i was a young girl being pushed into the feeds of men aged 18-35, with only less than 9% of my audience being female, so that made it strange and parasocial with most of the people who were watching me. so in case you ever need anyone to tell you that blowing up on social media with your face is not as good a time as you may think, listen to me! i can tell you many stories that will make you very certain you do not want to post on big social media if you were not sure before!

so hey im back maybe and i may start comfyposting here again, or at least reblogging good stuff. there are still so many things in my inbox that i never got to answer, and even recent things—i’ve read them all. i apologize that i can’t answer at the moment or at all, but i see you. it’s still always a place you can dump thoughts and burdens, just to know someone sees it and is thinking of you, even for a minute.

here’s to tumblr’s beautiful anonymity. here’s to the comfort of being Social on Media without the horrible parts. i love tumblr so much. tumblr i love you

[pinksilvace]

it's ultimate blorbo hours

[the-everqueen]

swan thought i have permission to paraphrase/post: dreamling as a ship posits that the only thing that eludes hob, the embodiment of britishness and all that entails, who has an unquenchable hunger for life and all the time in the world to claim it (an empire the sun can never set on, because it cannot/will not die), is the heart of his stranger - the personification of the collective subconscious. empire can devour the world but it can never colonize the dreams of every person! except that the larger fandom's insistence on him as the universal human implies what if it could. and this is not explored as or considered to be a horror.

[orcboxer]

half the people that use fightin words don't even expect a fight. they are surprised by the fight.