#fodder grinder

[tomorrowusa]

On the 1204th (or is it the 1205th?) day of Putin's "3-day special operation", Russian losses have exceeded 1,000,000.

Russian military losses in Ukraine exceed one million since full-scale invasion

The total combat losses of Russian troops from February 24, 2022, to June 12, 2025, in the war against Ukraine amount to approximately 1 million 340 people, of which 1,140 were lost in the past 24 hours.

From the main article linked on top...

The scale of losses since the full-scale invasion in 2022 is a direct result of Russia’s “meat grinder” approach to fighting, which relies on sending waves of troops into enemy fire, sacrificing many so that a few can get through. Vladimir Putin’s strategy has allowed Russian forces to make steady – but painfully slow – advances into eastern Ukraine, but at an estimated cost of 53 casualties per square kilometre seized. [ ... ] One response is to return wounded soldiers to combat duty before they have fully recovered. Some Russian soldiers have reportedly complained that they are being forced to return to the front before their medical treatments are finished. CNN reported that Ukrainian drone operators have released video footage appearing to show Russian soldiers on crutches in combat zones. Military recruiters also visit Russia’s prisons with the offer of full pardons for those who survive a combat tour. Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service says Russia’s ministry of defence has recruited an estimated 180,000 soldiers using this method, which was introduced by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in the summer of 2022. [ ... ] This influx of money has transformed the lives of people living in some of Russia’s most economically deprived regions. This increased prosperity has bolstered support for Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. But the departure – and, in many cases, permanent loss – of so many men has shifted the demographics of many small communities, which are now populated largely by women, young children and the elderly. [ ... ] Although Russia has a large population, its human resources are not endless and have been under strain even before its mass invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, bringing enormous combat losses and seemingly endless demands for more and more soldiers. Russia was already experiencing a demographic crisis. The proportion of society of child-bearing age is low, reflecting a dip in the birth rate in the 1990s. The COVID pandemic increased the mortality rate among Russia’s adult population, while hundreds of thousands of young men left Russia in 2022 to avoid military service. A long-term legacy of this war will undoubtedly be a shrinking population, despite the state’s efforts to encourage women to have more babies. Even those Russian women who aspire to earn the newly reinstated “Mother Heroine” award by bearing and raising ten or more children may struggle to find men to father them.

So Putin has been using convicts, North Korean mercenaries, and already wounded soldiers to fight his illegal and pointless war.

George Barros of the US Institute for the Study of War spoke with the Kyiv Independent. Much of the conversation centered on Russia's vulnerable economy.

Here's an article on Russia's war exhaustion.

‘War Exhaustion’ Could Mean Russia Is Defeated in Ukraine

And here's the latest daily information update on Russian losses compiled by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It's the first release to show Russia over the 1,000,000 mark.

^^^ I wonder if the number of tanks (10,933) includes the ones captured by Ukrainian farmers early in the war when Russians were retreating.

To me, it looks like Russia is the one running out of cards. Share this with people who think Russia is winning or those who are unaware of Russia's massive losses.

[specialgradefckr]

tw: explicit content. satoru/reader. dark dark DARK, bad end au, sorcerer breeding programs, consent is not a thing for sorcerers, all sorts of bad shit.

ultra dark dystopian au where the public knows what cursed spirits are and jujutsu society isn't controlled by the higher ups.

it's controlled by the government.

sorcerers are national assets. tools, property, born and raised to be weapons against cursed spirits.

they're taken from their mothers at birth. indoctrinated and trained in facilities until they're old enough to be sent out to kill curses. they start somewhere around 13. most of them don't reach adulthood.

with attrition rates so high, where are they getting all this fodder?

special grades like satoru gojo don't spend most of their time out in the field.

as soon as he was of age he's sent to a suitable mate. breeding stock like him should create more sorcerers.

for what? to be killed?

the questions come to his mind every now and then, but he knows they're useless. he doesn't think much about why things are the way they are.

he's a weapon. he's been a weapon his entire life. this is what he's good at. what he's meant for.

however he feels about his life, satoru gojo was born and bred for sorcery, in every universe. he loves it. what do the details matter?

things aren't so different for satoru in this au. he wakes up, kills curses, creates new sorcerers, gets maybe 3 hours of sleep and does it again.

he doesn't get to pick who or when he's bred with. he's a stud. his partners are broodmares. sorcerers who managed to survive the meat grinder of exorcism.

when satoru gojo meets you, he doesn't know you. doesn't even know your name.

he doesn't need that to get you pregnant. he's sent to a room, locked in there with you, crystal-clear instructions on what you're meant to do.

it isn't his first time doing this. it's not your first time either, he's sure.

it's not romantic. it's not even sexy. it's quiet, practical, and methodical -

but oh. oh, does it feel good.

he doesn't know if it's just your body, or if this is something you actively do but it feels like you're clenching around him, like your cunt is embracing him and refusing to let go.

you're touchy, too. touching his face, his hair, his body. satoru is used to roving eyes (he's instructed never to say no; after all, what if a woman who fucked him bore a sorcerer child?) and hands.

but your hands aren't greedy. they're tender. gentle caresses like the sigh you make when he buries himself to the hilt inside you.

he nearly jerks at the feeling of your lips on his neck. kisses littered up to the underside of his jaw, featherlight fleeting. ghostly, even.

when he's rutting into you, quick, efficient motions to get him closer to the edge, you meet his ice-blue gaze and press your lips to his -

it's the first time he's been kissed on the lips.

he remembers your eyes watering the first time he penetrated you. next time, he makes a point to whet his fingertips, rub over your clit, kiss your breasts, your neck, until you're dripping over him.

he doesn't know why. it's unnecessary effort. all he has to do is release inside you.

but he supposes if you're both stuck here for a while, it might as well be... nice.

and it is nice. this time he feels one of your hands grasp his, a strange feeling churning in his gut as you guide his hand to your clit.

with just a few careful swipes, timed to the rhythm of your hips bucking into him, the sonnet of your little gasps and moans, he watches you start to shiver and quake.

you clench around him and something inside him lights up, tugging, bright and hot and bursting along with his climax.

it's never been like this before, never been this good. you squeeze around him like you're milking him, panting with your mouth slack and opened wide, eyes glossy and dilated.

irrationally, he leans in to cover your mouth with his, lap at your tongue, steal away your desperate breaths and feel you moan and squirm beneath him.

when he moves to pull out, your arms dart around him, holding him close. like you don't want him to leave.

and even though it's never been like this, even though he's never tried this hard or liked it this much, satoru still thinks this is the strangest part.

laying there, bodies entwined, chests rising and falling as you fall asleep against one another.

it's warm. it's hot and sweaty and full of the stench of sex and bodily fluids, and it should be disgusting, but it's not.

maybe he's just too tired to care. when his six eyes finally close, the darkness that embraces him is warm, enticing, and absolute.

he can only just make out your heartbeat within it.

there's a few days of that, until your fertile period is over and you part, without words.

in fact he can't recall if he even spoke to you. you might not even know his name, though he's rather infamous, and with his hair and eyes he's hard to mistake.

satoru thinks about you sometimes. in the dead quiet of the night when his brain refuses to stop churning. in the midst of battle.

in the beds of the others he's meant to breed, cooling bodies laying against him as he brings himself to climax inside them and then pulls away.

it doesn't even feel that good anymore. not now that he'd had it with you.

sometimes he wishes he'd never had you. most times, he wants you there with him.

none of it matters. he knows that. he kills curses, he mates with fellow sorcerers. they're walking wombs, and he's a sperm donor. an impersonal exchange.

the worst is when he's summoned to fight a curse that seems just a little too low grade for him.

usually because the sorcerers originally dispatched failed.

in jujutsu sorcery, failure is death.

but high-level sorcerers like him aren't usually dispatched against lower level curses. it's almost invariably weaker sorcerers - younger ones.

it takes him an instant to exorcise it. seconds, really.

how many people died trying to do what was second nature to him?

how many of them were children?

it's his fault, in the end. for not being able to be everywhere at once. having to breed more to replace the sorcerers that wouldn't have been lost if he didn't have to spend so much time breeding.

the system churns through sorcerers like a meat grinder. anyone who comes out alive is squeezed for raw material, to make more of them.

an unending marathon. all that's waiting for them on the other side is death, death or being reduced to breeding stock.

he wonders what happens to female sorcerers who can't be bred anymore. are they just worked until they die?

do they ever get to see their children?

it's been years. if he'd gotten you pregnant then his children might be old enough to be sent out by now. if he has any children.

at the rate they've been having him fuck, he must have at least a few.

where are they? where are you? useless questions.

there's only been one fellow sorcerer he was able to keep track of throughout the years, and he...

well. he won't be seeing him again.

but he does see you again. years later.

do you remember him? he remembers you. how many others have you been bred with? was there a dark, long-haired sorcerer among them?

someone with sharp violet eyes and a warm smile and large hands? did you have any children by him?

is there anything left of his friend in this world?

the questions bubble in his chest, staining the back of his throat like bile.

if he asked, he's sure you would answer. you smile when you see him.

but instead he buries himself inside you, in your arms, your tight embrace. this is the only time he gets to feel good.

is this the only time you get to feel good, too? during this week of your fertile window, when they send you in to anonymous sorcerers to get fucked pregnant?

breeding stock, he remembers. what will be done with you when you can no longer bear children? what do you have to look forward to?

satoru wants to ask. did you have any children by him? did any of them survive?

but instead he buries himself in you to the hilt. until you keen and stretch underneath him.

even if he did ask, you wouldn't know.

you hold him too tightly for a brood mare, for an encounter that will only last as long as your fertile window.

do you yearn for these moments, too? do you miss him, do you want to see him again?

did you bear his children? did you want to show them to him when they were born? did you want him there?

did you - you're looking up at him hopefully, arms that hold him close, it's time to leave now and your eyes are wet and empty and your shoulders drop as you lay back on the bed limply -

geto was right.

[halfphoenix]

the thing is we NEED characters like oisin and ruben. They were kids at some point- maybe not normal kids, but kids nonetheless. if we didn't have oisin being gay wizard fodder charming and apologetic and ruben being vulnerable we'd be losing out on the tragedy of the rat grinders' story, because they were children, and now they're some of the most cold, calculated, cutthroat (sorry) antagonists of the series.

them being complicit in truly heinous acts doesn't taint their story, it makes it so so much more compelling

[slotumn]

My personal headcanon about the Agarthans is that they actually began as a political/ideological movement, rather than a culture in the ethnicity sense.

The politics and ideology in question is along the lines of "the fact we are in the place we are (both in terms of economic status and the ideology they subscribe to) prove that we are inherently (genetically) superior" + "the unwashed masses are a waste of space and resources that will reproduce more shitty genetically inferior subhumans and were only ever good as cheap labor (slaves) for us to use, but we have reached a technological singularity where we don't need to rely on them for that either; therefore the correct and natural thing to do is liquidate them and make the world our playground"

The main reason why they dislike Sothis is that 1. she can hard counter their technological singularity because she has full mastery of everything it was built on in the first place, and 2. she is a definite and unlimited safety net for the "inferior unwashed masses" to turn to, which is a big obstacle to Agarthans making Soylent Green out of the underclass

As one might expect, the movement is mainly lead by the ultra-wealthy, but there are actually a disturbing amount among the "unwashed masses" who agree with the Agarthans, thinking they are somehow an exception. Probably not a majority, but enough. Because you are not immune to propaganda etc and of course the Agarthans have money to spend on that.

Meanwhile, even when the goddess quite literally exists in physical form, the decline of religiosity in a post-industrial society still applied. The goddess and her children are there as a form of public service/social safety net, are generally well-respected, and still worshipped/revered by religious people, but overall their social authority isn't as absolute as it was back when humans needed to rely on them for more fundamental survival and safety needs.

So after getting enough bullet fodder on their side through relentless advertising and propaganda, the Agarthans declare war on Sothis for daring to have the concept of public good (in a "they are all my children and I must care for them" way) and not being a eugenicist. Ultimately they lose, but they do succeed in killing off most other humans. And the fact they survived this war at all reinforces their belief that they are superior and everyone else in the old civilization were inferior fucks who Deserved It.

As for the the "new" humans that Sothis repopulated Fódlan with, whose DNA is most likely reconstructed from the humans who sided with Sothis?

Obviously they are genetically pre-determined to be shitty subhuman slop, and Sothis is a bitch for daring to give the "untermensch genes" another chance in the world.

Anyway elitism, social Darwinism, and eugenics are definitely great things to base a "civilization" on and broil in for thousands of years. Treating the "subhuman slop" as lab rats and disposable tools to use against Sothis and her kids will not come to bite them in the ass at all.

Tl;dr what if you suggested that social safety nets should exist but then the We Love Putting Poor People Into Grinders Society started screaming about how you are an untermensch who has been brainwashed by the woke commie goddess* and launched an ICBM at your city

(*said goddess has essentially just been doing the same shit she always did ever since she arrived, long before the development of modern ideologies)

[erabundus]

❝  it  only  takes  an  ounce  of  common  sense  to  work  out  the  PROCEDURE  —  i  was  more  curious  about  who  you  plan  on  using  as  the  subject ... considering i'm  unfortunately  not  applicable.  ❞

" Give it a think. It doesn't take a scientific mind to devise a protocol to assess the prospects of recovery from death. "

[bloodyshadow1]

I genuinely love that this last episode proves the bad kids would have stomped the rat grinders in a party v party battle. The rat grinders are very powerful, but don't know what they were doing, they needed a legendary barbarian and sorcerer to keep the fight even.

Not to mention that this was after the bad kids fought a huge pack of dragons in the sky, including an ancient blue dragon. low on spells and class features for some of them and they still turned the rat grinders into fodder for the last combat of the season.

The rat grinders have hated them for 3 years, they've plotted their demise this whole year and to the Bad Kids they're just in the way of the real villains. It's so fitting

[mariacallous]

Russia’s horrific casualties in its invasion of Ukraine, now estimated to have surpassed the combined total from all of Moscow’s wars since 1945, have put its infamous “meat grinder” tactics in the spotlight. Ukrainian soldiers have described waves of poorly armed, ill-prepared Russian troops thrown into battle as cannon fodder, leading to extreme rates of death and injury among the invaders. At the same time, Russian soldiers have themselves engaged in extreme violence—not only against Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war, but also against each other.

Why are Russian troops, who are treated by their commanders as “disposable infantry,” willing to put up with and engage in such widespread brutality with so little protest? Fratricidal coercion, violence within units, and mistreatment among soldiers are not unique to the Russian military, but they have seldom been seen on this scale in recent decades. And while soldiers throughout history have resisted orders—most famously, U.S. soldiers engaged in so-called fragging against their officers during the Vietnam War—this sort of defiance is largely absent among Russian troops. The ongoing invasion of Ukraine, uniquely documented through widespread online coverage, reveals how an ingrained culture of violence in the Russian military fuels a brutal cycle of coercion and complicity.

There have been various attempts to explain docility among the Russian rank and file. Many focus on the financial incentives created by the war, including exorbitant enlistment bonuses (worth many times the average annual wage in some regions), soldiers’ salaries above the median wage, and compensation for families in case of death. Some observers have advanced sweeping cultural theories, suggesting that Russians are beset by a unique fatalism and nihilism. Others have argued that soldiers’ motivations may stem from a genuine belief in the conflict. Marlene Laruelle and Ivan Grek, Russia specialists at George Washington University, have argued that the war provides an opportunity for the “restoration of male self-worth” in a deeply dysfunctional society, creating a scenario through which “millions of Russians at the bottom of the social ladder can emerge as the country’s true heroes, ready for the ultimate sacrifice.”

But while financial and ideological factors help explain why Russians choose to enlist, they do not account for the continued acquiescence of soldiers once they face the meat-grinder tactics and systematic acts of violence perpetrated by their superiors and peers. Although some soldiers desert, the true number remains unclear. Many of those listed as AWOL are actually casualties, while other missing troops eventually return to their units. Nevertheless, most soldiers maintain a relative quiescence as they continue to face high casualty rates, a lack of equipment, and widespread mistreatment by commanders and fellow soldiers.

Soldiers’ compliance with such high levels of casualties and brutality can best be understood as a product of the pervasive and deeply ingrained culture of violence within the Russian military. This culture perpetuates a cycle that instills obedience and reinforces violence—as both victims and perpetrators—as part of a soldier’s identity. Repeated exposure to brutality, which is treated as normal and starts as soon as soldiers join the military, breaks down some of them to such an extent that they accept the tactics of their commanders without question. Brutal routinized hazing, extreme punishments, and other excessive violence is so routine that it becomes second nature to many Russian soldiers, enabling them to continue the cycle of extreme violence against Ukrainians and their own side alike.

Most militaries employ controlled, sanctioned forms of violence to prepare soldiers for the stresses of combat and to foster unit cohesion. For instance, the British Army’s Parachute Regiment engages in “milling,” which requires recruits to exchange repeated punches to the head. When unsanctioned hazing does occur in Western armies, efforts are typically made to combat it. In the Russian military, however, a particularly brutal tradition of hazing known as dedovshchina has been institutionalized into its very culture. This form of barracks violence, which occurs during the first part of a conscript’s military service, stands out for its severity and has become a central aspect of Russian military identity-building.

Within this system, recruits learn to endure and later carry out violence, becoming both its victims and perpetrators. Soldiers’ accounts describe treatment by senior conscripts involving extortion, beatings, and rape. Some have reported being forced into prostitution by senior officers. In one notorious case in the mid-2000s, a soldier was abused to such an extent that his legs and genitalia had to be amputated. In another, from 2018, a conscript allegedly killed himself after a demeaning expletive was cut into his forehead with a razor blade.

According to human rights activists, many suspicious suicides in the Russian military are linked to hazing and extortion, with some deaths suspected of being disguised as suicides to conceal murder. (The Russian military does not release official statistics on deaths among its ranks.) In 2019, a conscript stationed in Siberia opened fire on his unit, killing eight people, later explaining that he was driven to the act by the abuse that he suffered at the hands of his unit.

In Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this deeply ingrained culture of violence persists—even though many soldiers are sent to fight on the front lines almost immediately after conscription or enlistment, leaving little time for training and for the typical cycle of dedovshchina to unfold.

Violence against and among soldiers continues to be a mechanism to maintain obedience. Russia has reportedly used barrier troops to kill or otherwise stop its own soldiers from retreating. Those who complain, step out of line, or ask to leave have been forced into “punishment pits,” placed in detention centers, or executed by their commanders. Outside the battlefield, drunken soldiers have killed civilians and each other. Indeed, soldiers turn on each other at rates we would not expect from a well-organized military; in an extreme case, a group of Russian soldiers tortured a fellow soldier to death after he attempted to curb their drinking and misbehavior. All this violence endures with relative impunity. When soldiers are extrajudicially executed or otherwise killed, their deaths have been disguised as combat casualties or desertion.

The Russian military’s use of violence against its own creates a cycle of behavior in which violence is routinized and internalized, conditioning soldiers to accept it as the norm and undermining their ability and will to dissent—whether out of fear, resignation, or the normalization of violence itself. Indeed, violence becomes a building block of soldiers’ identities, expectations, and self-expression. It’s an enduring legacy that spans generations: Both the Russian and Soviet armed forces have historically used fear and violence against their own recruits, civilians, and opposing soldiers in order to terrorize these groups into obedience or capitulation, respectively.

The result is twofold. Given their exposure to extreme violence and their inability to organize mass resistance, some soldiers feel powerless against the military, ultimately resigning themselves to their circumstances—whether those circumstances are being ordered to commit war crimes or deploy in a suicide attack—with minimal active resistance. While some might complain about their situations, most do not. This large-scale quiescence stems not from an acceptance of the military’s culture of violence, but rather from a fear of the consequences that it enforces. Knowing that the consequences of any dissent will be extreme, soldiers comply out of self-preservation, offering little resistance even when given orders that will all but certainly lead to death.

For another group of soldiers, however, this legacy of and repeated exposure to violence teaches them not only to acquiesce to violence, but also to actively participate in it, even to the extent that they defy the rules of war. Those who do engage in such brutality, such as one of the brigades accused of committing war crimes in Bucha, are often rewarded by the Russian government, which further normalizes and entrenches lethal violence in the Russian ranks.

Conditioned by a brutal military culture, Russian soldiers are trapped in a cycle of violence from which they are unlikely to break free. This has profound implications for the country’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its fourth year. First, since astonishingly high casualty rates have not prevented Russian soldiers from following orders, Russia is likely to continue its war of attrition, with Ukrainian soldiers facing more waves of supposedly disposable Russian soldiers sent to the front. Second, Russian soldiers will persist in their systematic repression of Ukrainians, committing human rights abuses and war crimes against civilians and prisoners-of-war.

As the world knows from the liberation of Bucha and Irpin—and from numerous testimonies of survivors of Russian violence—the Russian military continues to follow its policy of extreme brutality. Far from giving soldiers second thoughts about fighting, their own side’s violence only encourages them to follow along and perpetrate more of it.

[cloudmancy]

I have no desire to get you in trouble but I would be curious to hear your thoughts on the new episode and the preview because I also have.. thoughts and I'm interested in what other people clocked as not great or kinda.. idk. other people's concerns, because I have had a lot of them and I never see people really talk about those things

they're doing a new format this season where they film a bunch of rp episodes in a row then take a break when there's a battle so the crew can get the battleset ready, so I understand the dissonance. but the tone of this episode from the tone of last episode was SO jarring. I was ready to chew drywall at the end of episode 17 but we head into the episode 18 fight and at the end all I can say is... damn! that sure is a battle that happened. the entire fight felt really low-stakes even though objectively a few of the bad kids were in mortal danger, but the mood at the table was so relaxed and chill and there was almost no roleplay at all... which drove me so crazy

>no rp except for fun silly party stuff (no callbacks to the adaine elven oracle in a storm thing? after all the fun setup last time??)

>fought 8 different antagonists and none of them said a word

>nobody questioned why or what oisin's grandma or all those dragon were doing there they just started taking them out one by one like raid battles in world of warcraft

>cassandra/nightmare king showed up only to not make any impact or get a single word in

>dos2 lady vengeance fight did the floating boat/ballistas/dragon fight better SMH

and then after all of that we're headed straight into ANOTHER battle episode judging by the preview... and it's against the rat grinders and porter/jace! let me out I want PLOT & DIALOGUE fhjy cannot end like this (5 hours straight of battle where they just kill everyone that moves). there's 2 eps left so I really hope they do the last ep as a 4 hour long roleplay only epilogue episode because as we've all seen ending campaigns on a battle leads to frankly really rushed character and world decisions. it's ultra disappointing too because I loved this entire season so much so far. the setup and buildup and plot points and mystery of fhjy is the best they've ever done it in dimension 20 period

ep 18 fhjy battle was a letdown to me... not giving the party an rp episode after 3 hours of loredump + going straight into a final battle without being able to interact with the world after gaining info is bad. they should've had a chance to process everything they learned about house sunstone, porter's plan, the rat grinders being used as ascension fodder, whatever the whole deal behind ambrosia and lucy frostkettle and why they needed a helios cleric in buddy IN ROLEPLAY. I don't want all this stuff explained to me after the battle by brennan or in some throwaway lines in the adventuring party - I want the bad kids to talk to people! I want them to investigate! I want fig to pull some BS with porter knowing the full extent of all his plans. it really sucks for us as an audience too to be hit with all this lore and get approximately 0 time for it to sink into the implications of how the worldbuilding was shaped by it or realizations of "ohhh that's why that happened at the beginning of the season" before we go straight into killing everyone.

with the way this is going I don't have any confidence they're gonna be able to actually empathize at all with the rat grinders too before they start lopping heads off because in battle episodes everyone kind of just. becomes numbers and an objective to take out except for pet favourite npcs of the cast. and they've mostly been interacting with the rat grinders as nuisances all season 😭 I'm PRAYING to be proven wrong and the last 2 episodes of this are fantastic but it's not looking good folks

[evolutionsvoid]

The Envoys of Silver would have their own flock, those who hungered for ascension within the flesh of a dead god. However, compared to the Church, their numbers were quite low. A death cult like theirs did not have the same enticements that the golden faith had, with promises of blessings, peace and prosperity. Their mass would grow upon those abandoned by life, with little hope and disdain for the world that betrayed them. The thought of being free from misery and becoming part of something far greater had its temptations, but oblivion at the hands of Alkahest was still a hard pill to swallow for some. Thus, the Envoys would not have the sheer numbers that the Church had at their side, which would make opposing them difficult. However, Mrdyu had long unlocked the power of Alkahest and knew how to bend its properties to his will. If they could not convert the forces necessary to help fight their battles, then they would simply make them. 

The Alkahest pools within their necropoli were fed followers and foes alike, dissolving their essences and returning them to the dead god below. While the golden faith would say that those victims of this terrible faith are forever gone, the Silvertongue of the Dead God knew how to beckon forth what had been given. They would not call upon all that had been sacrificed, instead drawing up minute scraps of being that resided in these pools. With a mere fractions of essence, he would sculpt it with Alkahest to create the Hollows. 

The Hollows were disgusting creations, skeletal beings of silver and sludge. They were raw bits of essence given crude flesh to create a mindless husk. Their bodies were incomplete and malformed, with gaping holes in their form. They had no organa within them, and thus no humor that gave them proper life. These were merely shells shaped by sacrificed life, risen in mass to bolster the numbers of the Envoys and to terrorize their foes. Hollows were the fodder of their forces, sent out in great numbers to overwhelm and distract. Though they appeared quite frail, their crude thin bodies made them difficult targets to strike with the likes of arrows or magic. Melee fighting was better suited at taking them down, but these husks would not go down easy. Like the Envoys, they took a lot of punishment before finally dying, with severed limbs still flailing and fighting. Cutting off limbs weakened them, but it didn’t finish the job. Slicing off their head also didn’t work, because there were no organa to target or disrupt. Soldiers trained to go after weakpoints would struggle to figure out how to end these miserable wretches, all while they shambled forth with silvery claws and howling faces. 

What made the Hollows deadly, despite their frail frames, was their razor sharp claws. Imbued with Alkahest, these jagged nails could easily slice through flesh, bone and armor. A single swipe could easily take down a common soldier, cleaving through their basic protections. Add dozens more, each flailing and clawing for living flesh, and you had a terrible meat grinder that could reduce platoons to chunks. The sight of these wretched shambling things struck fear in many hearts, made even worse when the wind howled through their open heads and torsos. Accompanying these hordes was that unsettling drone of air that rushed through their orifices, like the mindless moans of the dead. The mere sound was enough to whip villages into a panic and cause soldiers to freeze up in fear. At first, these surprise attacks by the faceless husks claimed many, but eventually defenders would learn the weapons that best destroyed them. Heavy hitting bludgeons could knock them into pieces, smart sword wielding could slice them into useless chunks and siege weapons could fire large payloads to crush many. But they would soon find that even in death, the Hollows still torment the living. 

When a Hollow is finally broken into enough pieces that they can no longer function, the energiai that held them together will drain away. With it gone, the crude flesh and bones will melt away, into Alkahest infused sludge. This is to return the essence that had been borrowed to serve, but it winds up also destroying the environment around them upon death. Soldiers who succeed in felling Hollows will watch as the corpses burn through the ground and anything they are touching. They may only dissolve a small hole with the amount they have within, but when that sludge is on valuable equipment, important fortifications or splattered on one’s armor, you realize the danger within. Combined with their sheer numbers, a successful strike against them may cause even more damage than when they were alive. This is why these shambling masses are sent after things like siege weapons, phalanxes and barricades, as their death may spray enough Alkahest to render any of these useless. So now the fighters for the golden faith had to be smarter and more precise when fighting the Envoys and their Hollows, which was not easy to do when they burrowed into your fort and began swarming you with reaching silvery claws…  

-----------------------------------------

Every death cult needs its zombies, except this world already has zombies so we got ourselves a different undead with a different name! Also way less pleasant than the Phlegm zombies! You wish these things would stop everything to try and sell you used arrows!

[the-most-humble-blog]

💰 U.S. TAXPAYERS: SPONSORING MIAMI CLUB ROUNDS & UKRAINIAN WAR GRAVES One’s a Hero, the Other’s a HOE-ro! 🤡

🪖 Expendable War Meat vs. 👠 Escapist Bottle Rat

Wanna hear the biggest scam since student loan forgiveness? We’re out here funneling billions into Ukraine’s war machine while their men are physically locked in a meat grinder with no escape, and their women? Oh, their women are out here in Miami, getting plastered, shaking ass in VIP sections, and collecting American simp bucks like a side quest in Grand Theft Welfare.

Meanwhile, back in their "homeland," any Ukrainian man caught trying to escape is immediately snatched up and shipped straight to the front lines like a disposable Walmart-brand Stormtrooper. Doesn’t matter if he’s 18 or 58—he’s getting sent straight into the meat grinder where he can either die in a trench for "freedom" or get blown into government-issued confetti by a drone strike.

But women? Nah, they get a free pass. No forced service. No accountability. Just a direct pipeline to American sugar daddies and a fast-track entry to bottle service culture.

WHERE’S THAT "EQUALITY" YOU LOVE SO MUCH?

Oh, I know exactly what some weak-minded clowns are about to say— "Men are the protectors, women are the providers." 🚨 Bullshit detected. 🚨

🔹 Israel makes both genders serve in the military. Try again. 🔹 Russia isn’t stopping Ukrainian women from going back to "fight." They just don’t want to. 🔹 Feminism mysteriously vanishes when these club rats are dodging the draft in stilettos.

These Ukrainian women aren’t "providers." They’re out here being provided for by clueless American men, drinking $30 cocktails and slurping up tax-funded handouts like government assistance was their birthright.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is selling the "bravery" of their men as cannon fodder, trapping them in a warzone they never asked for. If a man dares to run? He’s getting dragged back kicking and screaming like a medieval serf, because Ukraine isn’t a "democracy"—it’s a government-run kill box.

WOULD UKRAINE ACTUALLY BE WORSE OFF UNDER RUSSIA?

This is the question that no one wants to answer. The U.S. and Europe have been funding this dumpster fire like it’s a GoFundMe for military-industrial kickbacks, but let’s get real:

🇺🇦 Under Ukraine:

Men are forced to fight and die. No escape.

Women are free to party, get ran through, and post "support Ukraine" hashtags while sipping mojitos.

The economy is a black hole that only survives on unlimited Western handouts.

🇷🇺 Under Russia:

The same level of corruption, minus the illusion of democracy.

Ukraine wouldn’t need infinite U.S. tax dollars to function.

The same women would still be hoeing overseas, but without the victim narrative.

Be honest—what’s actually different? The West gets to pretend Ukraine is fighting some grand battle for "freedom," while the reality is that the entire country is just a high-yield money-laundering scheme with a body count.

Meanwhile, in Miami, Ukraine’s "victims" are deep-throating Grey Goose bottles and getting flown out by NBA benchwarmers. Yeah, let’s keep writing blank checks for that. Sounds legit.

WHY SHOULD I GIVE A SINGLE F*?**

Ukraine doesn’t care about the lives of its own men. Why should I?

The entire country has become a human sacrifice ritual where men are treated as expendable chess pieces while the women get to ride out the war with luxury shopping sprees. And you’re telling me I should care? For what? So Ukraine can keep existing as an open-air money-laundering operation? So its women can keep racking up American simp dollars while their men get body-bagged?

Miss me with that nonsense.

Ukraine is not a democracy. It’s not a victim. It’s not our problem. If they don’t even care about their own men, why should we?

🔥 REBLOG if you’re tired of funding foreign wars while Americans suffer.

💬 COMMENT if you see through the Ukraine scam.

🚀 FOLLOW if you’re here for the raw, unfiltered truth.

⚖️ LEGAL DISCLAIMER: This post is written for the purpose of artistic expression, cultural commentary, and psychological exploration of social and gender dynamics. It does not condone or encourage violence, harassment, or discrimination of any kind. Any references to power, strength, restraint, or critique are metaphorical, symbolic, and rooted in historical and cultural analysis. This is not a call to action — it’s a cultural mirror. If you feel offended, ask yourself if it’s from actual harm — or from seeing something you hoped no one would say out loud.

✨ TL;DR: If you're mad, it’s probably not because it’s wrong — it’s because you know it’s true.

[dumbbullet]

post canceled interview pending

I have GOT to figure out how to make drawing comics my livelihood

[mr-kench]

Theirs something brought to my attention about Helldivers that I don’t think many thought of but the Warhammer Fans pulled through again with the comparisons. For a bit of back story let me explain to you the most valuable Cannon Fodder that exists within Warhammer 40k. Everyone thinks of Space Marines when they think of Warhammer but they’re actually rare on a battlefield with most wars being preformed by their normal army, typically known as The Imperial Guard. Within the Guard is a Corp (or as they call themselves the Korps) Called the Death Korps of Krieg, or Kriegsman for Short. Long backstory made short they’re a group of Loyalistic Fanatics that were in Civil war for so long the planet turned into a nuclear wasteland and resorted to nothing but Trench Warfare. The winners surprised the Imperium by not only returning to the Imperium but already having a large contingent of Soldiers ready to enlist in the Imperial Army. Keep in mind that the Empire wrote them off as dead centuries ago and just abandoned the planet.

The Kriegsman are notable for the fact they do not fear death and instead embrace Death. They’ve been raised since birth to treat their own lives as expendable just to win a Centuries Long Civil War and that every death was worth it for just a few inches of land. Whenever a War Front gets too perilous and turns into a Meat Grinder the Empire says “Send in the Kriegsman” they’re thrown into hellish fights almost exclusively because they’re borderline suicidal and will do anything to complete a mission even if it means climbing on the bodies of their fallen comrades.

Helldivers are Kriegsman. They consist of the most Fanatic Among enlisted soldiers. Helldivers aren’t thrown in to win wars. In fact you’re not expected to survive your mission. Your thrown deep into enemy lines with no other support but your Fellow Helldivers, you Sabotage, Distract, Destroy Points of Interest and evacuate priority targets. Even if you die it’ll be considered a successful mission if you complete your goals. You’re Cannon Fodder given the illusion of being the best Super Earth has. You’re just there to jam the gears while the real fight takes down the enemy forces. You surviving is just a happy accident and you get to be more experienced Cannon Fodder for the next fight.

[ronqueesha]

Humbly requesting more lore or fun facts about the Astra Militarum and/or the Imperial Guard in general. For absolutely no biased reasons at all! :3

Ok!

Most of you guys probably already know this, but the Astra Militarum and the Imperial Guard are the same thing. It used to be known as the Imperial Guard only, but there was a slight retcon in 2012 that gave them their new High Gothic name. It's still called the Imperial Guard in low gothic.

There are so many people in the guard, all across the galaxy, that it's impossible for the Imperium to have an accurate count of exactly how many soldiers they have. Interstellar communication is too slow and battles happen so often that the meat grinder of the 42nd millennium means we will never truly know.

The common image of Imperial soldiers wearing tan uniforms, with green helmets and chest plates, is actually the standard uniform of the famous Cadian regiments. Other regiments and divisions of the Guard across the galaxy have their own equipment, visual style, and color schemes. (Although many other regiments blatantly copy Cadian styles for practical reasons, and to emulate their legendary status)

The average guardsman or guardswoman fights with a lasgun. A rifle-size weapon that shoots a powerful laser beam. There are memes on the internet that say lasguns are about as powerful as a flashlight, especially when they're shooting at powerful alien warlords and space gods. But the truth is that lasguns are extremely powerful, especially when compared to weapons of today. And the guard can put SO MANY OF THEM into people's hands that even flashlights can burn a god.

The Astra Militarum employs more abhumans than any other force in the Imperium. If only because they serve practical uses. Such as ogryn being living meat shields and battering rams, as well as unthinking bodyguards for important people. Ratlings are excellent scouts and snipers. Even beastmen have been said to fight for the Guard, even if they were forced into a cannon fodder role.

"To each of us falls as task. And all the Emperor requires of us Guardsmen is that we stand the line and we die fighting. It is what we do best. We die standing."

[vounoura]

I love the SDs I really do but did literally all of their leadership except one guy really need to be Altus mages. Does the entire abolitionist movement need to come out of Tevinter’s nobility, who have never faced the serious threat of being a slave, being forced into indentured servitude (a system Tevinter has that the citizens can sell themselves into) to pay off debts or whatnot, living as second or third class citizens in a constant cycle of poverty, having their literal human rights determined by their caste system, who are never going to be forced into a forever war as cannon fodder for the Seheron meat grinder like the Soporati are, being forced to be part of the rat race the Soporati are in terms of moving up to Laetan, or being used an abused by the upper echelons of Tevinter society who don’t give a single fuck about them

[heliza24]

Not gonna lie to you all, I do not feel good that we spent the first half of this finale in combat trying to kill a bunch of high schoolers who were manipulated and corrupted by evil teachers who were supposed to be taking care of them. The Rat Grinders deserved so much better than this. They were not inherently evil, they were kids, and they should have had the chance to become uncorrupted. I hope maybe there will be room for some role play resolution in the last ep, but don’t know. The whole thing does not make me feel good!!!

This is a weakness of DnD as a medium; there is no mechanism for diplomatic or even just nonlethal resolution to conflict. But it’s also the result of a stupid structural limit that Dimension 20 has placed on itself. There’s no reason that this season NEEDED to end with a battle ep, except for the fact that this is the way the IH seasons always end. (The battle at Seacaster Manor was so close to the end too, this battle feels especially redundant.) This season has been so strong in terms of mystery, role play, and character development. They could have come up with a really emotional and fun conclusion that was based on role play instead of combat.

I would argue that a lot of times D20 is good not because of DnD, but in spite of it. Or rather, D20 works because it recognizes DnD’s inherent flaws (generic fantasy world building, a lack of story mechanics, a self seriousness that can be irritating) and leverages the talent of its cast and crew to counter act those issues (creative genre usage and world building, Brennan’s strong sense of story structure and character arc, the players’ incredible comedic chops). Which means the uncreative decision to reduce this season’s most interesting and developed antagonists to canon fodder feels especially out of place. We just ceded all this great story work to DnD’s insistence on thoughtless violence, and quite frankly, it sucked!

Not to mention that this whole thing seems to go totally against the established themes of the season. So much of this season was about maintaining relationships in the face of anger and stress. It was about redeeming gods who were corrupted by rage. It was about the thin line between vengeance and justice and mystery and fear. What does it say if we drop all of that, and tell the rat grinders that they deserve to die because they were manipulated into rage?

My condolences to everyone who invested fannish energy in the Rat Grinders. They deserved the fan art and fic and meta you made about them. And they deserved better than that battle.

[opttwoodrow]

The Ballad of Bighole

Prelude

The Myth of Magnaformus, known to locals as 'The Ballad of Bighole', is a retelling of the events of the Bighole gangwar of late M41. This gang war, while not more than a footnote in the annals of Necromundan history, became legend among the drudges of the House of Iron, eventually being turned into the eponymous ballad sung by road gangs across the planet as they traveled the ashroads. Here follows its inciting incident:

Vivian Merdena is missing, and gang warfare is kindling throughout Bighole. Nobody knows for sure where she has gone or what has happened to her, but everybody has heard a rumour or two and has an opinion to share

Some say she wasn't happy with a stationary life and has run off with a Roadboss to live life on the roads of Necromunda. Others say that a Delaque assassin put her down in one of the cavernous ore silos that dot the upper levels of Bighole. And furtive whispers are passed that she is making a move against her father, laying low to bait him into an ambush.

But no matter the cause of her disappearance, it has left a power vacuum that gangs of every house are scrambling to fill. From the lowest flooded sump level to the highest enforcer compound, all have something to gain from the coming anarchy. And all the while, a strange signal has been detected emanating from the toxic depths of the pit, could this have something to do with Vivian's disappearance, or could it signal something more esoteric is afoot? Is this the start of a new golden age or the first signs of rust tearing into the settlement of Bighole?

The Ballad of Bighole is a Necromunda 2017 Dominion campaign with narrative elements set in Magnaformus, a settlement carved into the side of an ancient pit mine north of the Primus Cluster, known by the locals as Bighole.

This campaign features 4 players and their gangs:

The Mavens of Magnaformus- Escher

Rad Watch - Van Saar

Corpse Wives - Corpse Grinder Cult

An as yet unnamed Delaque gang (how fitting)

This campaign is a long time in the making and really was a call to action for a different and much grander project i have used as daydream fodder for many years now. But with my regular play partner soon to be emigrating to Australia, it seemed like it was now or never for a narrarive campaign of some kind, and Necromunda was there to scratch the itch.

To show the kind of stuff i have been accumulating for the evenual dream campaign, here are some photos of my accumulated '40k adjacent roleplaying minis' featuring lots of different factions, civilians and hangers on, and a few wee beasties for good measure. There is a whole extra pile of shame dedicated to this project that will remain unphotographed.

So to prepare for the camapign, as its host and architect, i needed terrain. I already have plenty of 40k style terrain, but its a bit too 'ruined cathedral' for my needs. Plus to fill a necromunda board I would need much much more. Perhaps make my own out of cardboard and other crafty type mateials? Maybe, but i needed this quick as my emigree friend and I are known for our wandering eyes when it comes to big projects and i would have to learn from scratch if i was to do thia. So how was I to do this quickly, but without breaking the bank?

My plan was simple: cheap on the bulk, spend on the details. i.e TTCOMBAT MDF terrain for most of what I needed, and then a few GW kits thrown in to give it that truly 41st millenium feel. This would allow me to have a variety of terrain that could be used in different ways and would all be of a similar scale. So I got to work. I could go through all the details, but here is a photo montage of putting together and painting the core of the terrain.

With the gangs gathered and enough terrain to play a game, we gathered arms and had a day of gaming! I shall go into detail about the test game and the 2 propper battles we played in a different post as I have run out of photos allowed in the app, but the Ballad of Bighole has officially begun!