#for someone who supposedly loves art i sure do hardly ever make any art anymore 🥲🥲🥲

[denkisauce]

AH sorry just feeling proud bc i just realized that most of my denkis look consistently like the same person 🥺🥺

[bladekindeyewear]

HS^2 bloggin’ mainline 2020-09-15

This caught me laaaate at night gosh I’m tired but I’m gonna get it outta the way so it won’t stick in my craw!  Already saw the first page, so it’s time for:

> CHAPTER 13. The Funeral

Church with chess symbols at the peaks and a Prospit/Derse or Hope/Rage split color theme on the stained glass windows.

JANE: Dearly beloved...

> (==>)

Trolls, humans, and papparazzi.  Oh, hm, this church is RATHER carapacian isn’t it?  Between the chess and the continuing Prospit-Derse themes, like how this corresponds to how they align in the incipisphere top-left to bottom-right if I recall:

(Minus the outlying orbs to the left and right for symmetry.)

That twisted pattern is interesting, and not quite a spirograph.  Is that gonna be important later?  If we’re going to get some sort of class chart later in the comic, it’d be easy for them to hint at the chart’s graphical structure subtly by dropping it places like here.

JANE: Ladies... JANE: Gentlemen... JANE: News outlets... JANE: And other valued members of the Human Nation State.

Technically true, but still odd to hear--  ...oh right, I forgot this was asshole dictator-wannabe Jane, too.

I read an interesting twitter thread recently about the intense psychological distinction between wanting to BE the best, and wanting to be TREATED like you’re the best.  Epilogues/HS^2 Jane is kind of written as a case study on the pitfalls of leaning on the latter instead of the former.

> (==>)

They brought Yiffy WITH them-!?  --Oh right.  The hostage exchange was supposed to happen here wasn’t it.

Yiffy definitely looks like a Harley-Lalonde daughter in this shot.

JANE: Gamzee Makara, High Court Jester, exalted saint of the purple veil, has left us to traverse that grand, gay carnival in the sky, where, I am told by various members of the clownly cloth, he will spend the rest of history, honking in grand tribute to the Mirthful Messiah.

SINGULAR???

Weird.  Is it because Alt!Callie “won” here?

Or is Jane just forgetting because she’s culturally used to monotheism (ironically) and is insensitive.

JANE: And my first memory of our Purple Prince, was his robust codpiece--

Wow.

> (==>)

JANE: --As he offered me his friendly support, along with the sacred blood of his brethren, the holy sacrament--

He STILL killed trolls??! (EDIT: No, a friend points out that she's talking about when she met him first in Act 6 and he tried selling bottles of troll blood to her. EDIT2: -which may be another inconsistency, since Vriska supposedly overwrote that post-retcon.)

> (==>)

It takes Jake a few seconds of puzzled eye contact before he catches exactly what it is Yiffany is tossing down. In his defense, he is distracted by his wife’s speech, which is doing the emotional equivalent of wringing him out like a wet towel, before using that towel to slap the sweaty buttocks of a large, odorous man. Even if he knows everything she’s saying is a load of horsefeathers, it does nothing for his composure to hear her heap praise on that smelly, homewrecking clown.

Bad things about Gamzee deserve to be said here, yes.

Jake wonders what she’ll say about him, at his own funeral.

Now those are some uncomfortable thoughts.

He narrows his eyes in Yiffany’s direction. She’s a lovely girl, really. He wishes he could have gotten to know her under better circumstances. He’d known she existed, of course--Jane had complained about her often enough--but they’d never had much chance to get acquainted. He rather believes her and Tavvy would have been fast friends.

Then again, perhaps it’s better that she never had much of a chance to get to know his family.

He lets go of the leash.

Yep, there’s a plan to set in motion that he’s probably already discussed with her privately.  Gotta unite this four-kid team after all.

> (==>)

Wait, are you ATTACKING?!?  --Of course you’re attacking.  You would even if the plan was something different, wouldn’t you.

JANE: And I know that at times like these it is easy to want to give in. JANE: To throw in the towel, and turn our faces away from the light of democracy and moral fortitude that we, the citizens of the human kingdom, are blessed with from birth. JANE: God knows I’ve had my own faith tested in the last few weeks.

Jesus Christ, what has she turned the place into, a fucking theocracy?

She sounds like the leader of some screwed-up, fundamentalist country!  Like the United States!

*rimshot*

JANE: As many of you know, I did not grow up with the same privileges that all of you enjoy.

Jesus.

JANE: I was born on proto-Earth, that half-finished dystopia mangled by the ravages of foolish leadership and endless war.

Jesus, she really IS a self-evident takedown of hypocritical entitled political figures.  With the bonuses having Jasprose explicitly ADDRESS said entitlement to make things even clearer cut.

JANE: And as for Gamzee, well, his upbringing was even worse. JANE: He was born to a violent and uncaring home, a lonely child with few natural gifts.

...Some natural gifts and status.

> (==>)

She’s just, shaking with fury here isn’t she?  And about to perform an impressive corpse-lob.

JANE: It would be simple to let this disgusting, vile, SHAMEFUL act of spiteful revenge turn us away from the blinding light of the sword of justice that hangs over us all--

This sentence seems suspicious so I’m quoting it to refer to later if I need to, but is probably just platitudes.

> (==>)

JANE: Poised

> (==>)

JANE: Trembling

Okay maybe the sword’s a dick, but what exactly is Yiffany doing??  I’m finding it difficult as usual to tell between some of these image transitions.

> (==>)

JANE: Ready to burst forth--

Bad PR to shock-collar a kid mid press junket.  (Very dicks description.)

> (==>)

Click.  (Did they swap the shock function with Jane’s necklace somehow, that’d be fun.)

JANE: I want to give up, at times. I understand your pain.

While shocking a kid?  GREAT PR.

> (==>)

JANE: I sympathize with your pain.

Wow, those horrified audience members.  She REALLY can’t even see herself anymore can she?  Not even hear herself.  And they’re making sure this is pointed out to EVERYONE watching.  They described this as in large part a PR campaign to defeat her, didn’t they?

> (==>)

Great furious businesswoman-villain look, that art.

JANE: But when that pain! Becomes too hard! To endure! JANE: Remember poor, lifeless Gamzee! Who suffered pain far worse than any of us could ever fathom! JANE: THE PAIN OF BETRAYAL!

Click click click.  This is a fun sequence.

> (==>)

DIRK: Dude, didn’t you lower the voltage on that shock collar? DIRK: Little Red isn’t looking so hot. JAKE: Yes of course i did but the damn doohickys got the kick of a donkey! JAKE: I couldnt remove it completely shed know i was the one who did it! DIRK: Well, if that supervillain cuntwaffle doesn’t stop, she’s going to kill her. Not really the best at hostage management, is she.

Decent plan.  (And of course Dirk would pull out the word cunt.)  When’s the cavalry coming?

> (==>)

JANE: But we cannot allow his memory to be in vain! JANE: For Gamzee Makara taught us that even the most loathsome degenerate can take their place in society. JANE: All they need is the right redemption arc - !

Trying to hammer home some of the Epilogue’s trolly-critical themes a little less bleakly, I take it.

I kind of like the violent vibration in ALL of these gifs in a row.  It makes the scene seem small, slow, teeth-clenching but still full of steady action, emphasizing the importance of the relatively small events from panel to panel while giving them the sense with the animation of them being [i]drawn out[/i] and tortuous instead of just “occurring”.  It feels that way to me, anyway.

> (==>)

If he got up alive here, that’d be hilarious.  (Presumably he’s been treated and done-up like a normal funeral body, not “dormant” and undecaying like a dead god-tier.)

> (==>)

CORPSE PUNT w/ CLEATS

> (==>)

That face is just.  I love that face.

> (==>)

SHE MAD

JANE: Young lady, I am just about at the end of my rope with you. JANE: Throw all the dog bowls you want at the walls of my warship. JANE: But don’t you dare act up in front of a JANE: Live JANE: Fucking JANE: Newsfeed! YIFFY: Grrrrrr

What did you expect to happen?  Do you expect to shout her down from this, Jane?

JANE: After everything I’ve done for you--paying for your education, helping your parents cover up your existence from the world! JANE: Just imagine what Rose and Jade would say if they could see you now, even dissidents can have a little decorum! JANE: Get down from there at once! YIFFY: Grrrrrr

But this is GAMZEE.  --I guess it’s seriously disrespectful to his followers, though.  Still.  If you wanted civility from her, a shock collar, leash, and food bowl wasn’t the way to go about it.

JANE: Don’t you threaten me, young lady. Not today! YIFFY: GRRRRRRRRR

What is your PLAN even, Jane?  You’ve completely disregarded her.

JANE: There’s nowhere for you to go. My agents are swarming this church. Be reasonable, Yiffany. JANE: Ugh. JANE: Disgusting name. JANE: But that’s hardly your fault. You were always just a footnote. Your parents’ little prank. JANE: Honestly, that’s why I helped them all those years ago! I do love a good jape. JANE: But let’s be serious. JANE: You don’t matter. If you did, they would have come for you already.

Can all the press hear her being such an asshole?

Okay, stereotypically, their arrival should be the next couple panels:

> (==>)

Jake, do something useful like hoping harder.

> (==>)

And she knocks the remote away.  Excellent.

And she does. Seemingly at the end of her tolerance for insults toward her name, social status, and heritage, Yiffy performs an impressive backflip off the podium and down onto the church floor. One that, if it hadn’t been happening amidst a sea of other newsworthy events, would surely have ended up on someone’s instagram story within thirty seconds. She gives Gamzee’s corpse one last parting kick: a hard, proper kick that proves those cleats aren’t just for fashion. Although they are certainly also for fashion.

Good, good.

He vanishes into the seething crowd, and we are confident that we will never have to deal with this asshole ever again.

God damnit.

> (==>)

Jake watches this from a safe distance, poised on the edge of intervening to pull Yiffy out of there. But in the end he doesn’t have to. Instead he watches in admiration as she tears the place to utter shreds. An echoing sympathy swells inside of him as she rends apart the funeral flowers and punts Gamzee into the shrieking congregation. Here is a girl who felt the cold, indecent hand of fate wrapping around her, and instead of submitting to it and slowly sublimating down into morasse of boiled doormat, she slapped it away from her with a lively oh, no thank you.

All at once, Jake feels immense affection for his granddaughter. He hopes the two of them can make up for lost time.

Lessons belatedly learned, but learned nonetheless.

> (==>)

JANE: Enough of this. JANE: Seize her!

Kind of Red Queen of you.  (Are those stained glass windows in back of the frame about to burst?)

> (==>)

Yep.

The stained glass window shatters inward, obliterated to stardust. The war is knocking.

Even attacking a disgusting faith’s church is pretty bad form, though.

Tired and busy, seeya next upd8.  <3

[secretsfromwholecloth]

So if I want to be able to play Forgotten Sanctum in a reasonable timeframe after it drops, I ought to get started on a playthrough so I have a Watcher ready to go, right? (And if you think I was ever going to just do another playthrough with Clelia rather than take the opportunity to come up with a new character, you don't know me very well. I've learned too much and gotten too many things out of my system not to take advantage.) So it's now time for season two of Brightoncemore Has Opinions about the Pillars of Eternity Games. Strap in, enjoy.

Our Watcher this time is Oriol Gori, ocean folk Darcozzi Paladin from the Deadfire. He's a friendly hedonist who just wants everyone to enjoy life as much as he does but hasn't yet learned not to run his mouth in front of the wrong people. (He's 22, he'll learn eventually.)

Look, it's one thing to tell your sergeant to eat your ass when it's just you and your squad, quite another to do it in front of a captain who's a notorious stickler for discipline and known for making public examples of people. When you’ve already got a reputation as a problem child, at that. He wasn't thrown out of the Paladini, but he can come back when he can demonstrate a willingness to act right and submit to discipline, and why doesn't he leave Old Vailia in the meantime? See some more of the world, learn how things work. Hey, there's a ship leaving for the Dyrwood in a few days...

He was born into an ethnic Vailian family (yes, I know, another Vailian) with connections to the Príncipi old guard (a few sailors in the family, no one illustrious). The thing about the Príncipi old guard is they're kind of assholes, and late-teens Oriol decided to strike out for the homeland to see if it was as bad as they said or if they were just mad they weren't in charge anymore. (It's not what it supposedly was under the Empire, but it's hardly the pit they make it out to be.)

I waffled between explorer and drifter for his background; as someone doing the Eoran version of a gap year, he was kind of a mix of both. I went with drifter and somewhat regret it, as none of the options it gave me in the dialogue with Calisca fit my idea of his backstory, but I'm not about to reload and wipe out a night's progress.

I also went back and forth on his gender. I didn't want to be that person who only plays women (the "you so-called non-binary people are just cis bitches who want to be special" brigade is enough of a problem without me handing them ammunition), but I knew I wanted this Watcher to romance Xoti in Deadfire, and I also didn't want to be that person who only plays het pairings, for reasons that should be obvious. In the end, I decided to make him male and queue up a man romancing Aloth and a woman romancing Maia for my next two.

Where Clelia was based almost entirely on my younger self with enough tweaks to allow her to function in the world, Oriol is largely a mix of people I've known over the years. There's some of me in him, of course, since I'm the one making the decisions for him, but there's a lot less puppet therapy going on this time.

So. The superficial stuff: He's got the standard ocean folk coloring, with dark skin and eyes, black-brown hair in resplendent waist-length curls that make me jealous, and a short, well-kept beard. If he had the proportions of a normal person, he'd be of thoroughly average height, but his disturbingly long legs bring him to an even six feet. (Why yes, that is one of the details I nicked from someone in real life. Wait, I can look you in the eye when we're sitting, how are you this tall? Ohhhh.) He's always been on the thin side, but Paladini training has made him solid enough. While he's no world-class beauty or anything, he's fairly pretty and has never had trouble getting boys or girls.

Between the Grand Vailian Culture™ imparted to him back home, the Hylean church's love of song and poetry, and the Paladini's expectation that their members be urbane sophisticates with a solid arts education, he has a perfectly serviceable baritone singing voice and quite a repertoire. Some of which—OK, rather a lot of which—is on the bawdy or suggestive side. If he's separated from his companions and doesn't see a need for stealth in the moment, all they need to do is follow the singing.

So far he's done all the local quests in Gilded Vale, taken over Caed Nua, and picked up Aloth, Edér, Durance, and Kana. Yes, in one night of play, and I started late, too. Story mode making fights go quicker + speed-clicking through conversations I don't feel the need to fully re-experience = whee!

Aloth is pretty, but he's so fussy, and he's clearly hiding something. Needs to relax, that one. That said, if he crawled into Oriol's tent at night, he wouldn't send him away. (The same could be said for any of the other current companions except for Durance, because ew.)

Edér is friendly, reliable, and good to have around. Oriol is probably underestimating him right now and thinking of him as a mascot more than a friend, but he'll learn in time.

Durance is, of course, a flaming asshole (pun only partially intended). But while Oriol was never the most pious of Hylea's followers, the idea of getting on a priest's (and presumably a deity's) bad side makes him uncomfortable. Durance may spout a lot of crap, but what if he's right about something important? What if the real test here is whether he can keep from taking his pollaxe to the vile son of a bitch, and failing would bring disaster? Is this a note of life's song he's supposed to be living?

Kana is pleasant and fun to geek out with, though he sometimes tries a bit too hard. Oriol usually likes his partners smaller and slighter than he is, but put Kana's mind into Aloth's body and you've got something close to his ideal man. Sure, he's Rauataian, but he's clearly not like other Rauataians. Not even physically, just look at the man.

[evolutionsvoid]

If anyone has even the slightest idea of what a mancer is, then they would know well enough that Mancer Syndrome is a dangerous and deadly affliction that humanity faces. The use of mana and magic can already be dangerous enough if put into the wrong hands, and history has already proven this time and time again. Mancers are an even greater threat, as they lack any form of humanity or reasoning. They are primal creatures of immense power, capable of wiping out towns and leveling castles. Not only is it a major threat to the citizens of the land they inhabit, but to those who train in the art of magic. With great patience and practice, one can use mana to gain great powers and bring about change to the world around them. Mages who use ice to preserve food for trade, water magic to save sinking ships and flames to warm freezing villages during brutal winters. Those with morals and a conscience can help many people, but even the purest of heart is vulnerable to Mancer Syndrome. No matter how noble your intentions or how great your control is, those who do not practice safe mana usage will slowly poison their internal mana and can potentially lose everything. That is what makes Mancer Syndrome so insidious, as it can effect anyone at any time. Many who go into magic and mana training often do not take the warnings seriously. No matter how often the teachers or mentors may warn them, there are dozens of students and users who do not think such a disease could affect them. Some would think "oh its just one little spell. It won't hurt too much," or "this spell isn't tied to an element, so it shouldn't cause any harm." So many times people think that they know best, that they found some loophole that they can exploit. In the end, though, they are always proven wrong, as their mind degrades and their bodies warp. For so long, people work on assumptions and half-baked ideas to get the maximum usage of their mana while supposedly avoiding mana poisoning. This is where we get these scourges, from people who think they know better or believe they are invincible. In fact, there is a type of mancer that was birthed solely by the belief that "this type of magic doesn't cause poisoning." That would be the Psychomancers. Before records revealed their existence, many believed that magic that birthed Psychomancers was "safe." There was no element tied to it, and it came so naturally that many schools claimed it was a pure form of mana use. To this, I am referring to telepathy and telekinesis. Powers that rely on the mind and use one's thoughts as a tool. Sending messages directly into one's brain, or using your mind to create false images out of thin air. All magical abilities that relied purely on thought and the human brain were thought to be safe from mana poisoning. It was spells that used real elements, like fire and ice, that caused such problems. Using mana on one's mind and natural body surely couldn't do any harm? It turned out that it did. It caused a lot of harm.

The stages of Psychomancy are not as obvious as ones for Cryomancers or Mycomancers, as they mainly occur in one person's head. Those who are focusing solely on mental powers and telekinesis will seem perfectly normal for the longest time. They will just seem a bit too reliant on telepathy and telekinesis. Some colleagues may point out that their friend is using their normal voice less and less, or that they hardly pick up anything with their hands anymore. To a watchful eye, this would be signs of mana poisoning, but many miss it. Mages, sorcerers and wizards are always guilty of showing off, and mental powers are an easy way to show their abilities. Students in schools and colleges love to use these simple powers for tricks and day to day routines, seeing it as perfectly harmless. The use of telepathy never raises any eyebrows, and people using their mind to pick up objects is just as normal as a knight sparring with a friend to hone their skills. With this mindset, mana poisoning in the department of Psychomancy is usually missed until it is too late. At some point, the user will cease all bodily movements and activities. No more walking, talking or moving in general. Every word is sent through their mind, every object needed is used solely with their mental abilities. The infected mage will become bedridden, voluntarily, as they see any form of physical movement as "primitive" and "obsolete." If it ever comes to this stage, it is too late. I do not care what any other professor or master says. They can ramble on about cures and ways to nurse them back to health, but I say it is all rubbish. The whole reason why no one does what is necessary is because they want that power. An esteemed school would never want to lose such a genius headmaster, so they make excuses. An army would never wish to remove a mage of such power, so they act like nothing is wrong. In the end, it is always the lust for power that causes such downfalls. So I beg of the reader, if you know someone who is gone that far, kill them. Don't believe in the cures or the remedies. Do not believe that they could get better, or that they are strong enough to resist. Kill them before they can achieve the final stage. The final stage of Psychomancy is a horrifying one, as the poisoned mana warps the body and brain. Those who succumb to Mancer Syndrome will feel their muscles turn to dust and their brain surge through their own skull. Body and limbs will atrophy, as the head splits open to reveal a massive brain. Membranes and tendrils will form from the warped tissue, as the body twists itself into a new shape. What remains of the mage is a drained useless husk dangling from a wrapped, pulsating brain. A human turned into some kind of jellyfish, who drifts through the air on waves of mental energy. Though disgusting in appearance, many do not see the threat Psychomancers pose when they first encounter them. Floating in the air as if it was water, they will see the Psychomancer drift across the landscape. Limbs dangling in the breeze as it lazily floats along. If they didn't look so gross, people may find it beautiful. The rustling of leaves, the quiver of grasses as the Psychomancer drifts upon the breeze. That is until they realize that there is no wind. Psychomancers do not use such obvious things as fire and ice, as their powers are more subtle. It is all in the mind, and many do not see it until they get too close. Seeing the movement of grass or leaves on a calm day is a way to spot a Psychomancer's field. If one is especially daring, they can chuck a rock at the creature and watch it stop in midair. Though they may appear harmless, a Psychomancer has mastered the skill of telekinesis to a terrifying degree. They are surrounded by a field of magic that they have absolute control over, allowing them to pick up and shatter boulders without a second thought. Ranges may vary between individuals, but most exude a sphere of influence of about fifty yards in diameter. To some, this may seem insignificant, or exploitable, but it is much more powerful than you would imagine. Though they cannot affect anything outside of their field, those that enter their range will be exposed to every ability they have. Worst of all is their telekinetic abilities, which has ascended to a point that it is literally the way they see the world. Looking at a Psychomancer, one would assume that they are blind, deaf and completely lost to the world around them. This may be true in the realm of sight, sound or taste, but a Psychomancer is much more aware than one thinks. To make up for their lack of sensory organs, Psychomancers use telekinesis to an extremely refined degree. They can use their mental powers to feel the world around them, creating millions of tiny hands to feel around their environment. Every inch, every crook and cranny is felt and registered. They use this to such a degree that they can "see" and "feel" everything that falls within their sphere of influence. Anything that is not within their range is just darkness to them, but they honestly don't care. If it truly matters to them, it will eventually enter their sphere, or they will simply run into it as they drift. This field is emitted constantly as they drift along, using their millions of invisible hands to feel the new environment that enters their range. That is why the grass ripples as the Psychomancer moves, or why the trees shiver at their presence. They are just checking them out, constantly keeping an eye on every little thing that is around them. Though it is used primarily for navigation and observation, their telekinesis becomes terrifying to behold when a new moving object enters their field. Be it a wandering leaf, a fluttering bird or a charging warrior, the Psychomancer treats it all the same. When something new enters the field, they will seize it in an invisible grip, stopping it in its tracks. A bird that flies into their field will be snagged out of the air, as the Psychomancer wonders at the new presence. It will feel over every bit of the animal, enjoying the soft feathers, marveling at the sharp talons and curious about its desperate struggling. Like a child, it will play around with the bird, moving its wings, spinning it around in the air and eventually tearing it to pieces. Anything that gets too close to a Psychomancer's field will be subject to its curiosity, and it loves to explore and discover to a dangerous degree. Their mental strength can bend steel and pull apart armor until it is mere shards. This is a strength they do not fully understand, as they will turn animals into dust without a second thought or an ounce of guilt. They just see it as exploring and understanding, curious observations that cover every fiber and drop of a being. If they shred a human being during their studies, oh well. It was a curious thing, and they had their fun. Something else of interest will eventually wander in. To fully understand the abilities and dangers of a Psychomancer, it is best to know their mental state. With a glance at the brain, people will instantly assume that it is an all knowing being, one that could understand every aspect of the universe. It turns out, though, that it is the opposite. Psychomancers are extremely dumb. They have zero understanding of what is going on around them and are bewildered at the simplest of creatures that get near them. This is because of their abilities and brain growth. As you should know, the massive wrinkled brain is the source of all their power and their very existence. It is this organ that creates the sphere and allows them to manipulate matter at a microscopic level. It also allows them to exude their mood and feelings into the air, which any person in the field can pick up and feel. It allows them to enter minds with ease and read thoughts as if they were books. All of this power, though, takes up a lot of brain space. Every square inch of the wrinkled mass is devoted towards these powers, allowing them to function at such a high degree. Anything else is seen as useless and is promptly erased. So while their powerful brain can pull the legs off a gnat with ease, it can't remember anything past five seconds. The memory parts of the brain are severely reduced and practically atrophied. Any memory that is older than a few moments is forgotten and lost forever, as the brain simply cannot hold it. Thus, Psychomancers have the power of gods, but the mind of a baby. Everything that enters their sphere is brand new and exciting, and they are quick to poke and prod it. They are extremely simple of mind, where they like the things that are good and absolutely hate the things that they perceive as "bad." It is not uncommon to see a Psychomancer drifting about with several objects floating within their sphere. This is because a Psychomancer may favor a certain texture and will keep it around so that they can always enjoy it. Stories tell of Psychomancers drifting about with entire trees caught in their field, as they are pleased by the feel of bark. Another Psychomancer was said to love the feel of fur, and thus had several  desperate, dying mammals hanging around them. Terrible to imagine, but just think, that is what they do to things they like. Anything that is seen as dangerous or "mean" is met with unstoppable destruction. I have seen a Psychomancer turn a hunting hound into a fine mist after the trapped animal growled at it. Things that squirm too much in their grip may be seen as "annoying" and then quickly dispatched. If the being within their field exudes any feeling or thought of aggression or anger, the Psychomancer usually gets mad and then promptly obliterates them. When it comes to dealing with mancers, Psychomancers are one of the hardest to fight. Their sphere of influence creates a 50 yard death zone to any person or projectile that enters it. Arrows and catapult shots are turned to dust, and any stupid warrior that rushes in will be turned into a red stain within moments. So I highly advise that anyone trying to fight a Psychomancer should stay far away from their field. Don't even risk it, stand 100 yards away. You don't want to be anywhere near them. If they grab you, you're dead. There is no escape from that grip. If parts of your body start to tingle or vibrate, start running. That is a sign that the field is getting close. Even if you are clear from their field, be mindful of what direction they are headed. Since they are dumb and blind to the outside world, a Psychomancer just picks a direction and goes with it for hundreds of miles. This makes them easy to individually avoid, as one just needs to step aside from their range and let them drift by. It is not so easy when the thing is drifting straight towards a city. It has no clue what is ahead of it outside of the field, and it doesn't really care. If you are caught in a situation where a Psychomancer is floating towards a populated area, the first thing you should do is get it to change direction. Fighting a Psychomancer takes a lot of time, so don't think you can stop it before it starts liquidizing peasants. The best way would be to find which direction is the safest for it to travel, and then try to draw it that way. If the northeast direction has no cities or towns in its path, then stand to the northeast and start chucking stuff at the Psychomancer. Fire volleys of arrows and launch dozens of rocks at its field. Do everything you can to get its attention or arouse its curiosity. All you need to do is make it think "hey, what's over there?" just for a single second. It will then change direction to head towards the source of all the weird stuff, promptly forget why it changed direction but then keep drifting that way regardless. Once its path is clear of all bystanders, than try to fight it. One should throw away all physical weapons immediately, as they are worthless. No physical object is going to last within the field long enough to hit the brain. What you need is magic. Spells and magical projectiles can still be affected by telekinesis, but they are harder for Psychomancers to grab and can move fast enough to overwhelm them. It would be nice to say that all you need to do is toss one fireball at it and call it good, but that is not the case. Most likely you will need to call in a platoon of mages so that they can throw hundreds of spells at the mancer until one makes it through and strikes the brain. Thankfully, Psychomancers are incredible frail and will often go down after a single solid hit to the brain. The hard part is just getting something to do that. Other tactics can be used. Trapping the Psychomancer in a field of fire may work, but it needs to be very strong and very hot. It will use its field to push away the flames and keep its body from frying. A long enough burn, though, will dry out its brain and cause it to weaken, giving a chance for the fire to overwhelm it. The best way to do this is to burn an entire forest around it, adding more fuel to the fire to keep it raging hot. (Note: Do be aware of dryad habitation within the area. You start lighting up trees near their homes and they will flay you alive.) This tactic can be flipped around, using ice instead of flame. Long enough exposure can freeze the brain, which can disrupt the field long enough for someone to land a hit. All of these are extremely hard to do and very time consuming, but it is worth it in the end. One less Psychomancer haunting the land makes for a safer world. One final note for dealing with Psychomancers: NEVER TRY TO MENTALLY LINK UP WITH IT. There are those who think they can communicate with it telepathically or use their superior minds to outwit the beast, but they are all dead wrong. Exposing your mind to a Psychomancer is a fatal move, and those who try to reach out to it never last more than a few seconds. Though they are dumb, their mental strength is ungodly. Mages who think they can override the dumb brain will have their own minds ripped from their skulls, as the Psychomancer senses a new thing and pulls it close. Some of the most well trained sorcerers in their time have had their consciences yanked out of their brains, leaving their bodies as empty, drooling husks. The mind that is seized never takes such a violent separation well, and will promptly panic. This irritates the Psychomancer and it will literally tear the conscience to pieces. Even if it didn't, it would mean an eternity trapped within a primitive mind that could end you in a moment. Your spirit floundering in a maelstrom of mental energy and insanity, desperately trying to appease the Psychomancer while not falling into the void of forgetfulness. Imagine that death, fading into oblivion because someone literally forgot about you. It chills me just thinking about it, and hopefully should be a good enough deterrent from such a stupid idea. Cavarious Shaid

[kayroseoldblog]

iPad Pro w/ Apple Pencil vs. Wacom Cintiq Companion

Hello everyone!For Christmas this year, I received an iPad Pro 12.9in and an Apple Pencil!

As someone who has been practicing digital art for almost 10 years now, I thought it made sense to throw my two cents into the internet about this tool. I also included a few other people's thoughts on each device to try and make the review as well rounded as possible!

Keeping in mine that my Cintiq Companion 1 is three years old now, and my iPad is the latest 2016 edition, you can take this review with a grain of salt if you like.

Let me first start by listing the tools I have used to draw with...

Drawing Tablets I've used:

Wacom Bamboo Tablet (No longer available)

Wacom Intuous 4 Tablet (No longer available?)

Wacom Cintiq Companion (First gen, 2013, Windows 8)

and now:iPad Pro 12.9 w/ Apple PencilDrawing 

Programs I've used:

Photoshop Elements

Corel Painter

Sketchbook Express

Paint Tool Sai

Fire Alpaca

Photoshop CC

Procreate App

Medibang Paint App

The Cintiq 

I've had a Wacom Cintiq Companion v1 since 2012-2013 ish, and I have always loved it. I took to drawing directly on the screen pretty fast, and since beginning to use it, I've always had a slight disconnect when returning to regular drawing tablets. I'm just not as used to it anymore, but I do use them in a pinch.

The Cintiq has an amazing Tempered Glass screen which gives the texture of the drawing a really nice feel, though it seems to make its accuracy suffer, it's very easy to tell that you are drawing on a SCREEN and theres a bit of glass between you and your drawing, but you hardly notice it when drawing usually.

However, Wacom recently, in my opinion, has been going down hill with its portable tablets...I haven't tried out/seen anyone usng the Mobile Studio, but maybe that one is better! Sure looks promising!

My cintiq's charger has been broken for some time now, and after doing some research I found out that any tablet manufactured before July 2014 has a really bad charging problem...and Wacom will fix it for free, but it's been known to just be a band-aid fix. Many friends have said this about their external drawing tablets from Wacom in recent years as well. It makes me miss my old Intuos 4!

My Cintiq has a battery life right out of the box of between 8-10 hours. I use photoshop extensively to draw, and sometimes switch between that and other programs, making 8 hours about the max I can get out of it. After a year or so, that went down to 5-8. So I wouldnt use this more at home than on the go.​

Pros:

OS is up to you (Mac or PC available)

Desktop Applications (Creative Cloud, etc)

Pen w/ eraser on back- Comes with Stand/Case/Pen in one cost

Sort of Portable

Custom Brushes/Downloadable Brushes

Can use on its own w/ no external monitor​

Pressure Sensitive

Cons:

Heavy heavy heavy!

Very thick

Fan gets loud

Included stand is pretty bad

Calibration is off near the edges (Granted, not many people draw near the edges)- Wacom usually has problems

Horrible Battery life

Takes a long time to charge

Screen resolution is odd

Colors are always slightly off

While my review is of the Cintiq Companion 1, I've noticed not much difference in my friend's Cintiq 2, aside from the battery charge lasting a little longer, and it being a bit lighter in weight, but they had this to say:

"Haven't used the iPad so i'm biased - t's the industry standard, I like having the touch keys while drawing, i like the texture of the surface, and it's powerful enough to run Adobe programs without lag, I also like that it's fairly portable if you don't mind the weight. The color on screen I think is sliiiiightly off bc whenever I transfer it from there to my phone or elsewhere something is just... off with the colors. Cintiq is powerful. Use it if you're like professional, because Adobe programs and other stuff. Plus it's a laptop. But if you're just looking for something to do digital art on, the iPad is cheaper and will do it for you from what I hear.  I enjoy [my cintiq companion 2], it does what I need it to and that's all I asked for."

The iPad Pro 12.9in w/ Apple Pencil

Now to be fair, I've only had my iPad for a week and a half, but I think that's even more impressive, because I love it WAY more than my cintiq

The battery life of the iPad is already way longer than my cintiq ever had. I've charged my iPad once since unboxing it. (it was unboxed at about 70%) and thats with extensive drawing every day. Apple says it gets between 10-18 hours of life depending on what you're doing, and boy is that true The downside is that this thing takes FOREVER to charge again, but for how long it lasts, I suppose it's a small price to pay.

The Apple Pencil has an amazing battery life and charges incredibly fast. I've topped it off once since getting it, and it charges fast. Charging it for 15 seconds supposedly gets you another 30 minutes of life. I haven't tested that out, but I wouldn't doubt it honestly. I was able to charge it from 12% to 100% in just 20 minutes, and that's the only time I've had to charge it!

The Apple Pencil feels great on the iPad, and glides really nicely and naturally. It didn't take me long to get used to it at all, it's very much like drawing on the cintiq screen which I liked. However the pressure sensitivity is even more accurate, and the ability of the pencil to draw exactly where you put down your tip is INCREDIBLE. It's very much like drawing on paper.

The size is also great, as it's like drawing on any A4 paper if you draw portrait, and the real-estate of the screen drawing landscape is even nicer. The resolution is much more comfortable than the cintiq's, and I don't feel like I'm drawing in a super cramped area. (Though this all depends on the App you use, I'm not a fan of Medibang Paint as I feel like everything is so squished!)

The Apple Pencil also has the ability to draw tilted. The cintiq's stylus has this too, but it's not as accurate or helpful. This is what makes the Apple Pencil a PENCIL and not a stylus.

However, the Pencil and iPad, which are sold separately, don't come with anything to hold the Apple Pencil in, so I had to buy a sling for it, which was only 6$, but still. It's an expensive item and you're going to want to keep it, not lose! Before buying the sling, I was constantly worried about misplacing my pencil. I don't mind not having a stand as the iPad Pro is so comfortable to draw with it in your lap, sitting anywhere you like. If you're looking for a stand for it, they're pretty cheap on Amazon

Pros:

Better Pressure Sensitivity/Accuracy

Amazing Battery Life

Extremely Portable

Cheap or free Apps W/ Great Quality. Bridging the gap for Photoshop.

Pencil feels great to draw with

iOS Updates

Custom Brushes/Downloadable Brushes

Feels more natural to draw on

No Lag

Cons

Pencil/Tablet sold separately 

Slow to charge

Case/Accessories all sold separately (I'm told Mobile Studio Cintiq will also have everything sold separate)

No Desktop Apps (Photoshop, Creative Cloud, etc)

No cursor to show how big your brush is (in Procreate at least)

ONLY compatible with iOS for iPad

Not a full computer

I was lucky enough to have professional Comic Artist, K. Lynn Smith of "Plume" give me her thoughts on the iPad Pro as well!

"Pros, extremely fun to draw on, it replicates pencil and paper perfectly and it's portability is amazing. You can draw anywhere. Cons: not a lot of storage space on the iPad, sometimes the airdrop goes wonky, and though the programs available are amazing, there are some options not available...like assistance in drawing a perfect circle or stamp/clone tool. "

You can read Plume here!

The Final Word

In all Honesty, I think I'll be using my iPad Pro for most of my digital work from now on. Between all the apps and features, especially with ProCreate, this tablet is really bridging the gap between a Ciintiq and an iPad. Procreate specificaly is missing a few things such as a crop tool, and a text tool. It also doesn't have quite as many ways to edit as Photoshop does, but it's got most of them and enough that it doesn't bother me. You can also save your files from this app as JPEGS, PNGs, PSDs, and GIFs, to name a few.

My Cintiq is currently on it's way out and wheezing its way through life , but I don't think I'll be totally getting rid of it in case I need to bring something from my iPad over for photoshop, but honestly, I do that with my traditional work already so that really isn't an issue to me.

If you're looking to get into digital work, I recommend the iPad Pro 12.9 and Apple Pencil over the current Cintiq Companions. When adding in all the things you'll need, it comes out to the same price as a Cintiq Companion.

While the Cintiq and Wacom ARE the "Industry Standard", you really cannot tell the difference any longer, and I know of many professionals who use strictly the iPad Pro 12.9! Most studios/Art Directors care about what the work looks like, not what you made it on. (unless you're animating!)

[rockandrollportlandor]

GOOD CHEER RECORDS HOLIDAY SHOWCASE

I've expressed before my affection for Good Cheer Records, a local label that emerged from the DIY all ages indie rock scene in Portland, but whose personnel have connections and influence in the mainstream of local and national indie music. Geek rockerMo Troper, also a writer for the Portland Mercury (cleverly disguised as Morgan Troper), even scored the coveted Pitchfork review, something which has eluded many of the best bands in town at the moment. Troper, the label's co-founder with Blake Hickman, has vanished to Los Angeles, replaced by Maya Stoner, a performer in several GC bands. Kyle Bates' project Drowse has seen praise from Vice's Noisey blog and SPIN Magazine, while another one of the label's star acts, Little Star, have gotten great reviews all over the place, including here on ROCK AND ROLL PORTLAND, OR. My favorite Good Cheer band, Mr. Bones, is sadly over, but the label, with so many other good acts, has hardly been damaged by these shifts--or a scandal that saw Jackson Walker, a member of Good Cheer band Naked Hour, excommunicated in the wake of his much younger ex-girlfriend's allegations of physical/emotional abuse. Good Cheer's bands are each unique, but broadly speaking they traffic in a hyper-sincere, heart-on-sleeve, guitar-based pop/rock that seems to trace its roots back to the 90's and early 00's, a time before MP3s--or at least a time when a single MP3 took a whole morning to download. It's the art-damaged cool and guitar abuse of bands like Pavement and Sonic Youth injected with the bloodletting melodicism of emo and the sweetness of twee-pop. It's a reminder of the truth in that old quote about Pavement being "the band that launched a thousand Weezers." These tendencies make the label's roster a refreshing departure, perhaps even a necessary counter-reaction, to the various fusions of psychedelic rock, dream pop, and blissed-out oddball party music so often seems to dominate Portlandian "pop". The earnestness of Good Cheer's bands, which the label proudly declares free of "mercenary ambition", makes a lot of what was represented by 2016's now-tainted "Mt. Portland" compilation seem positively decadent. On the other side of the coin, that comp's hip groups, often resented across the music scene for their perceived complacence and supposedly undeserved "fame", offer a sense of easy fun and trippy euphoria that the Good Cheer bands often lack--the label's name is pretty ironic, since good cheer is just about the last thing you'll get from most of these bands. Rather, they provide what Kurt Cobain ambivalently called "the comfort in being sad," the paradoxical sense of suffering as painful but life-affirming. At best that means a strangely joyous catharsis on the other side of the pain, at worst it might be written off as wallowing, navel gazing, and irksome preciousness. It's not for everybody, but it's way up my moody emo kid alley. These bands' music is about intimate feelings--even at its most bombastic, it's introverted almost as a rule, and perhaps that's how they create the feeling that they're Your Special Band, even when you're, as I was on this December Wednesday night, surrounded by a bunch of other people watching them. Good Cheer maintains the sense that their acts are the best band in your shitty hometown, who you see in some basement when you're 17, and finally, you've found a place where you fit in, finally, some people who speak for you. Perhaps the ideal place to see these bands is indeed someone's basement, but it was also fitting to see them in a major mid-sized venue like the Holocene--it was a sign that Good Cheer have emerged from a scrappy underground operation to become a major force in that vague genre known as "Portland pop". I didn't catch the entire show, which crammed six acts, successfully, into three hours, but the first group I caught was ALIEN BOY, one of the moodier bands on this moody label. Frontwoman Sonia Weber sings with the lovelorn yearning of Morrissey, but without the sass--unlike with the Moz, we never wonder if she's just milking it. The guitars hiss like TV static and twinkle like stars seen out a car window in the vanishing autumn, the rhythm section sprinting with teenage energy, paradoxically despondent and enthusiastic. At the Holocene, Weber's vocals seemed pretty off key a lot of the time, but it didn't really matter. The melody's largely in the guitars, and even the melody isn't that important. It's the mood the band creates with all of these elements that makes them such a powerful emotive unit. Even off-key, Weber's vocals are the definite not-so-secret weapon here, her contralto timber pitched perfectly in the dead center of the human vocal spectrum, neither male nor female, and therefore unusually universal in a social order still cleaved traumatically in two by a gender binary inherited from a religious order no one even believes in anymore. The group's latest EP, "Stay Alive", is a fantastic piece of gothic power pop, the fury of the instruments on tracks like "Burning II" contrasted to heart-rending effect with the vulnerability of Weber's vocals. These guys are one of my favorite acts Good Cheer has in its corner for 2017. Next up were a pair of musical twin bands, both involving Kyle Bates: DROWSE and FLOATING ROOM. Drowse is the more ambient of two, creating a storm of darkly psychedelic mood energy, as if Bates were some mad scientist attempting to isolate The Feels in their pure plasma form. Bates has been admirably candid about his struggle with clinical depression, even in his press releases, and some of his music is meant to be a literal translation of these horrifying experiences in musical form. As a person who's visited similar hells, I can definitely relate, and if you haven't, Drowse can give you a taste. It's the kind of music you bathe in almost more than listen to. I find it pretty hard to articulate with a vocabulary developed for pop songs--do yourself a favor and just listen. Undergirding the pure emotional whirlpool is a theoretical edge, at least according to Drowse's bio, which references Roland Barthes and Sarah Manguso alongside Mt. Erie and Unwound. I'm pretty sure those are uncommon influences for an indie music bio. Floating Room is the more conventional indie rock side of Bates' muse, but he still hangs in the background, and Maya Stoner writes lyrics and sings lead, while he continues his role as a sound-sculptor. Under this moniker he deals in his version of the Good Cheer house sound, described on the group's Bandcamp page as "the type of sadness felt at 4 in the morning, reserved for the heartbroken and the nervous." The guitar squalls of Drowse, almost more like weather patterns than music, wash over the structure of the songs like photo filters, providing a depth and texture that the more purely rock n roll acts on Good Cheer can't touch. Eschewing the crunchier "alt rock" guitar tones and punk rock enthusiasms of Alien Boy, Mr. Bones, or Cool American for a generously reverberated, fuzz-soaked, more plodding sound, Floating Room crosses definitively into shoegaze territory. It's gloriously eerie and ice-cold in temperature. It's the perfect soundtrack for walking through the woods in the snow, when all sounds are muffled by the falling flakes a the beautiful deathly calm seems to pervade the landscape--and it is a landscape, one you can seemingly gaze far into. On some tracks, the band is almost too delicate for this world, and the sounds seem made of glass, or icicles, ready to crash and fall the moment the temperature gets back above freezing. It's music for winter, for the low-hanging winter sun, gone as soon as it comes up, peering over the leafless treetops, secretly gathering power again once the solstice has passed. TURTLENECKED, the stage name of Harrison Smith, came up next, playing a very short set. Lanky and nervous, he paced the stage, singing R&B songs about being neurotic and narcissistic and romantic, all from electronic backing tracks played from his laptop. It was a very amusing break from all the intensity--even as he sang about heartbreak or unrequited love, Smith was funny, unlike anyone else who I saw perform that night. The stuff on his Bandcamp is mostly minimal indie pop, just electric guitar and drums, very dressed down and sparse, focused on Smith's deadpan vocals, both snarky and pathetic, but always charismatic. An older album, "Pure Plush Bone Cage", was fuzzier and noisier, but Smith's newer style, clean and clear, works better, matching the music's emotional exhibitionism. This presumably even newer R&B stuff is another pretty much genius leap forward. Turtlenecked captures the fine line between self-pity and self-aggrandizement, or rather signals its non-existence, refusing to apologize for anything--or else apologizing for everything--it doesn't really matter which--who ever believes an apology anyway? Good Cheer's brand can, as I said above, come off as overly precious, but Turtlenecked is an exception--one gets the wonderful sense that he barely even believes himself, but it's only the same sincerity of his labelmates doubling back on itself. Morrissey knows this trick well--it's basically his bread and butter. While most of the Good Cheer bands seem to work as band entities, Harrison Smith of one of the few who doesn't really need a band, or for whom any backing band would only be a backing band. He's just an entertaining and engaging enough figure in his own right--perhaps only Mo Troper, among his labelmates, rivals him for sheer personal charisma. Finally was the band I was most keen on seeing, COOL AMERICAN, named for a brand of Doritos. It's the project of singer-guitarist Nathan Tucker, a serious-looking dude who blew through the set with apparently great anxiety, often failing to sing directly into the microphone, seemingly wound tighter than a human can be wound. The band's tall bass player, Tim Howe, with his goofy grin and a santa hat borrowed from Maya Stoner, provided the necessary humorous counterpoint. Cool American's style is a pleasantly loose but melancholy power pop, filled with breezy riffs, mid-tempo grooves and smoothy shifting tempos and beats. But there's also a punk edge in it--at some point in every song, Tucker upshifts into a cathartic yelp, from which I felt sympathy pangs in my own vocal chords, before this explosion of his nervous energy receded, and he began to recharge again. Tucker's vocal range is limited, but the melody's in the guitars, spinning circles around each other, swirling and looping when they aren't exploding. Probably the most direct example of my Pavement-meets-emo description above, Cool American's unusual combination of mellowness and tension feels very much like West Coast life as I've come to know it, the cycle of putting up a veneer of "no worries" chillness and having it break down in the face of un-chill reality, only to put it up again, because fuck life, life should be better than it is. Better to try and fail to be chill and hopeful than live in cynical detachment. And for all their moodiness, the Good Cheer bands are never cynical. They don't just express heavy feelings, they believe in them, affirming their value and meaning in a society that usually runs scared from them. Unlike so much of the buzzy music in Portland, these bands never come off as careerist--you get the sense that any day one of them might break up because so-and-so had to move away for school or whatever. One could be cynical in response and argue that this sincerity is just another brand, but if so, I'll take it over the glassy-eyed smugness and empty glitz of so much of what passes for indie music these days. Long live Good Cheer.