#how about THREE NEW WAIFUS????

[missmisnomer]

Outta' the way, Hot Girl Summer!!

This year belongs to the Hot Toxic Babes !!! 🌊😈☣️

[deathbxnny]

Alrighty, time for a follow up on my previous request.

So, I'd like to request Baizhi (not "Shinxi" lmao), Jianxin and Chixia in the same scenario as Yangyang and Jinshi, that being with an S/O who is immune to poison. Because it's fun imagining these virtual waifus almost having a heart attack because they think their S/O is gonna die only for them to... not, lol.

Hello there, Anon! Thank you again for clarifying your error, and I'm sorry this took so long to get to. Life hates me, lmao-

Content: Unserious, established relationships, poison consumption, sfw

Reader has no set pronouns!

((Not proofread))

》BAIZHI

"Very well... the liquids should be ready for testing." Baizhi hummed whilst gazing down on the many vials in great interest. They had been delivered to her personally to check whether or not they were poisonous/harmful, and you just happened to pass by that day. "Testing? Isn't that going to take a while?" You ask with a frown, remembering that you were supposed to go on a little dinner date right after. But Baizhi just nodded with a sigh.

"I'm afraid so... my apologies, I know you were looking forward to our outing." She said before beginning to prepare the work area and putting on some gloves. Turning away for a moment to grab some testing tubes, she didn't hear you slipping off the chair you were resting in and approaching the table.

"That's fine! I have a quicker way to test these anyway." Baizhi raised a brow at your reply, her head turning to you carefully just in time to see you casually gulp down one of the vials. Her mouth opened, eyes widening to tell you to cut it out... but all you did was shake your head as though you've sipped on some strong liquor before giving her a thumbs up.

"One down, three more to go." She watched you with an unreadable expression, as you easily found out that only three of the four were filled with poison. Writing this down, you handed her the paper with a wide grin. "Well? Our date still stands, let's go."

Baizhi blinked until she just sighed and allowed you to drag her off. She honestly was too tired to even bother asking how the hell you did that... but she hoped that you wouldn't mind her conducting some harmless experiments/studies on your unique condition later...

》CHIXIA

You and Chixia were just casually patrolling the area around the city when you bumped into a traveling merchant who was trying to sell you two a mysterious bottle of liquid. You were both 99% sure that it was probably poisoned and tried to wave the man away, yet he didn't stop pestering you.

Sighing in slight annoyance, Chixia crossed her arms with a frown. "Hey now sir! We already said no." She huffed, obviously really irritated with the situation. Giving the man an unimpressed glance, you pointed at the bottle with a tilt of your head.

"If I drink it all in one go, will you leave us alone already?" You asked, as you ignored Chixia's concerned whisper of your name. The merchant had no chance to answer however, when you just snatched the bottle out of his hand, popped the cap off and tilted your head back to drink it all down just as you said you would. Chixia and the merchant were flabbergasted, practically frozen in surprise before the girl finally grabbed your arm in panic. "Hey! What the-" "-Oh... this actually tastes pretty good... You're still getting arrested for attempting to poison us, though." You threw the now empty bottle back to the man who just barely caught it. You should've dropped dead seconds ago and yet, you still stood there as unimpressed as you did before.

"How... what?" Chixia asked, practically speechless, before she let out a sudden laugh at the absurdity of the situation and called for backup to take the defeated man away. "When were you going to tell me that you were able to do THAT?" She was rather excited about this new thing she learned about you and definitely wanted to know every small detail on your way back home.

》JIANXIN

You and Jianxin were meditating somewhere in the mountains together. It was perhaps a rather odd way to have a date, but it fit your girlfriends vision of what a relaxing day should be like. With that said, she eventually handed you a bowl filled with an unfamiliar liquid. You glanced at it curiously, the urge to drink it, making you hold it up to your face in wonder.

Closing her eyes with a wide content smile, she sighed in relief. "This is truly a good way to end the day! Now, this liquid is there to help us relax further and tap into our inner world -" As she spoke, she didn't hear the sound of slow sipping in the background. "In order to do so, however, we have to hold out this bowl of water mixed in with poisonous flowers and recite a prayer." The silence was deafening when you chuckled awkwardly.

"... so uhm... You're not supposed to drink it?" "... Huh?" Cracking an eye open, Jianxin felt her soul leave her body when you casually held out the now empty bowl to her with a sheepish smile. She didn't know what was worse at that moment. The empty bowl that she worked hard on preparing or the fact that you just drank something that could absolutely kill you in a couple of minutes?

"Hey, Hey, don't worry, I won't die from this-" You quickly waved away her concerns before putting down the bowl next to her still full one. "Sorry, I should've waited for you to finish, haha..." The silence stretched on until Jianxin held her chin in thought. "Hm... maybe this is a sign from the spirits..." You chuckled again, alot more relaxed this time, as you were glad to know that she just brushed over that instead of questioning it too much for now...

[arkus-rhapsode]

Fire Emblem and Aesthetics-A Mini Discussion

So for those who don't know, I don't really play Fire Emblem Heroes, but I still have an interest in seeing what units they release. Usually for fanfic purposes or just keeping track of new resplendent designs. But recently, FEH had an update for the original character of Dagr and it got me thinking about how resplendent from jotunheim look

Combined with FEH's ongoing storyline of taking from Norse mythology it really made me think-"Wait, why don't we have a Norse Fire Emblem game?"

Now look, I'm not here to bemoan that FEH don't have a console version, non gacha style game, but it really got me thinking about how we may be missing out on something relating to the use of a rich mythology and it only being in a mobile game more about collecting waifus and husbandos.

You see, Fire Emblem is no stranger to cribbing from existing mythologies like Norse in Genealogy, Arthurian myth and the matters of France in Elibe, and several characters just straight up being named after mythological/classic literature characters like Beowulf, Sampson, Priam etc. But its always done in this relatively Anglo-Saxon-British-French homogeny of aesthetics for their tales. So we can have a character named Sigurd, but he's not gonna look like he's fresh off the Viking Ship. Now Fire Emblem isn't the only franchise to do this, many pieces of media made by other countries draw upon these sort of exaggerated/romanticized look for fantasy stories all the time. And I want to be clear I am not advocating for "Medieval accuracy," I think that's silly. What I'm more getting at is I feel like FE could do with changing up its setting/aesthetics to perhaps inspire newer experiences.

Now I'm not saying FE as a franchise needs to be reinvented. In fact, I think FE has one of the most universal accessible mechanics in turn-based gaming. Simple to pick up, but still able to create many difficult maps and challenges. And by this point has made the support system one of the most iconic in gaming. But if the mechanics are good, doesn't that mean it could be transplanted into another setting? Well, In a way, yes. But once again, I'm not advocating for FE to stop being this fantasy style sword and sorcery story and become like the Napoleonic wars.

(That is a real Nintendo game by the way. Its wild!)

No what I'm saying is that the broad terms of "Middle Ages Warfare" is much more than simply a certain type Eurocentric fantasy.

I'll tell you what, as much as people like to rip on Birthright, I'm still shocked how it took so long for Fire Emblem to have a game where Japanese culture and aesthetics is super prominent and a main setting for a game. Fire Emblem tends to have one character who is obviously inspired by Japanese culture or even sometimes a single country. But a full blown game where so many characters come from and embrace this Japanese backdrop was unique.

Now of course it was still Birthright, so while you got these cool glimpses of a unique world and story like the Oni inspired Flame Tribe, the start of having a lot of retainers as main characters, the monk class and using fans as a weapons, and even roping in Kitsune. It still doesn't really do much than an average FE adventure with them. But it did at lease prove the the FE formula *could* still work removed from its conventional trappings.

Another in the different aesthetic, but missed opportunity category would be Fire Emblem Three Houses country of Almyra being pretty heavily inspired by Persian/Middle Eastern culture. A country that was gesturing so hard at an interesting idea that its left fan artist and fanfic writers to swoon over the idea of a possible FE game set in Almyra.

And if you want an even more recent example, for all the desert backdrops we've had in Fire Emblem, its kinda astounding it wasn't until Engage that we got a lightly (And admittedly exaggerated) African inspired country.

When I see stuff like this and what FEH is doing it makes me realize that we could be getting more. Im sure the next FE will likely still lean on its typical fantastical Anglo-Saxon look, but eventually there's got to be some spice to it. Sure it may be different, but Fire Emblem is a franchise that with each entry does try to be something different while maintaining certain core gameplay elements. So what is the harm of trying to approach something that looks a bit different?

Im not asking for an extreme change right away. Maybe start lighter. We have tons of pirates in Fire Emblem, why not a pirate/sea based game? We've even had the rare few pirate as a playable character. Its a type of story that could be told within the typical Fire Emblem world.

Then perhaps maybe something a bit more culturally ubiquitous like Greeco-Roman inspired FE? There's plenty of gods and magic, but also swords and spears to draw forth on. Heck, that may even open up new potential enemies or stories to tell with like an Evil Senate or a Gladiator culture. It could even push FE to maybe drop or reinvent certain tropes like how they approach the knighthood type of character where a certain culture's version of knight is different. Maybe even make new classes the way Birthright had to.

Overall, I think Fire Emblem is and always has been a malleable franchise. And because of that, I think it can afford to take certain risks on something as simple as drawing from another culture during the medieval magic era, while still being able to provide things that people still love about the franchise like the combat system and support system. Will there be push back on it looking different? Of course, I remember when Three Houses first teasers dropped and everyone was wondering what was up with the military school outfits and what even race was Claude. And of course a different aesthetic doesn't make the game automatically good. But let's remember, that people were judgmental of Birthright not because it went all in on looking Japanese, but because the general story and writing was lackluster for many.

But if you can make an interesting and likable cast of a characters that elevate the story, and make a memorable world for people to wage war in, I see no reason why you couldn't make Fire Emblem work set in the Netherlands.

If there is a personal aesthetic or theme you'd like to see Fire Emblem tackle, sound off in the replies. I'd love to hear what you guys think.

[grailfinders]

Grailfinders #336: Manannan mac Lir (Bazett)

happy valentines day! I hope y’all are enjoying your new year’s ships and a waifus, and… uh… whatever else alloromantic people get up to. I’ll be enjoying the cheap chocolate on the fifteenth. today on Grailfinders we’re building Manannan mac Lir, but they’re mostly just Bazett again.

we’re mixing up this build a bit- she’s still a Monk, but an Astral Self monk this time. the Death portion of the build is taken over by her Cleric half this time.

check out her build below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

next up: Infinitiger, R.I.P.

Ancestry & Background

Bazett’s literally a Human, no getting around that. with variant rules, you get +1 Constitution and +1 Wisdom, as well as proficiency in Arcana because you are a mage, and the Mage Slayer feat because killing mages is kind of your job. with this feat, you can slap people who cast spells within 5’ of you, and your attacks force disadvantage on anyone who needs to maintain concentration. on top of all that, you get advantage on saves against spells cast by people within 5’ of you. so, slam your hand into the wall to keep that wizard from escaping and kiss them beat them up. what. I’m not being weird you’re being weird.

speaking of weird, your background! there’s a spell I want that we could only get otherwise through convoluted class nonsense, so you’re a Gruul Anarch for your background. they don’t like magic either, and I gave the Mesopotamian gods Ravnican backgrounds, so I guess this is still consistent? you get Animal Handling and Athletics proficiency for free, plus an extended spell list to prepare from. when you learn spells you can pick between Compelled Duel, Speak with Animals, and Thunderwave at level 1, Beast Sense and Shatter at level 2, Conjure Animals and Conjure Barrage at level three, Dominate Beast and Stoneskin at level 4, and Destructive Wave at level five. we’re only really here for conjure animals, which I’ll explain when we can cast it, but anything that breaks stuff or makes you harder to break is a good pick too. don’t worry about coloring inside the lines too much, we can’t afford to send out Enforcers.

Ability Scores

your highest score should be Wisdom, that’s how you hunt down mages, summon weapons, use spells, and avoid dying. it’s a good skill, you should be good at it. after that is Dexterity. you can’t summon your weapons right away, so being good at regular punching is a good idea too. third is Constitution. you don’t die easy, a good trait for any PC to have. I wish we could make your Strength higher, but it’s still positive, and we can cover that with wisdom later. that means your Intelligence is also lower than I’d like, I assume you have to be clever to fight mages, but honestly the power scaling in this universe is pretty inconsistent, so who knows. that means we’re dumping Charisma. you just don’t plain get along with other people. thank goodness you’re not a paladin.

Class Levels

1. Monk 1: we’re starting off as a monk so you can fight in a suit, dress, or whatever the fuck that second outfit is. that’s because you have Unarmored Defense, adding your Wisdom modifier to your AC for some extra protection. everyone should have extra protection on valentines day, unless you want little bazletts toddling around in a year or so.

you also learn how to beat people to death with your bare hands thanks to your Martial Arts. when attacking unarmed or with a monk weapon (simple weapons and/or shortswords) you can use your dexterity for the attack and damage rolls, always deal at least a d4 (or more as you level up) in damage, and you can make an unarmed attack as a bonus action! you can bring all the fancy toys you want, but sometimes you just have to get your hands dirty. make sure to trim those fingernails.

starting as a monk also gives you a bonus to Strength and Dexterity saves, as well as History and Stealth. you fight servants a surprising amount for a human, and you need to fight those servants with your bare hands.

2. Monk 2: second level monks gain Ki equal to their monk level each short rest, which you can spend to dash, disengage, dodge, or attack twice as a bonus action. you can also make a Dedicated Weapon as part of your short rest, turning a non-monk weapon you’re proficient in into a monk weapon for the rest of the day. right now this does nothing, but your cleric subclass gives you proficiency with all weapons, so if you’re hankering for more weaponry it’ll be along shortly.

you also get Unarmored Movement this level, increasing your speed as you level up. your fists aren’t ranged weapons, so you’ll need a gap closer.

3. Monk 3: third level monks can Deflect Missiles as a reaction, reducing damage from a ranged attack and giving you a chance to throw it back if you spend a ki point. it’s not quite fragarach, but it’s a good point to start.

you also start getting in tune with Manannan, and unlock your Astral Self. at level three this grants you the Arms of the Astral Self. spend a ki point and your bonus action, and boom, magic weapons floating around you. when you enter this mode all creatures near you need to make a dex save or take force damage, and then it lasts for a whopping ten minutes, no concentration required. now you can use Wisdom to make attacks, using your new arms to make unarmed strikes. you get increased range with these, and they deal force damage instead of the usual kind. you can choose your arms’ appearance, so they can be literal arms or any kind of weapon you want. of course, if you want a “real” ranged weapon you can always stock up on throwing knives.

4. Cleric 1: now that we have your basic weapons and ascension gear down, we need a horse. yes this is important. as a Death cleric you start off as a Reaper, giving you a bonus necromancy cantrip like Toll the Dead to really beat the hell out of children, or anyone else who gets in your way. if the target fails a wisdom save, the take a moderate amount of necrotic damage, with the damage die growing if they’re not at full health. you can also hit two creatures with it instead of one if they’re next to each other. you’ve got two hands, after all.

you also learn how to cast and prepare spells using your Wisdom this level! since you can pick and choose every day, don’t stress too much about getting the perfect spell list down. that being said, you get Guidance and Resistance for cantrips to be better than most mages, as well as Light for a little holy background.

at level one you get False Life and Ray of Sickness for free, but I’d pay more attention to Thunderwave from your Gruul spell list, as well as Inflict Wounds for a major suckerpunch and Detect Magic to make fighting mages a lot easier.

5. Cleric 2: second level clerics can Channel Divinity once per short rest in two ways. all clerics can Turn Undead to make skeletons run away on a failed wisdom save, but you also get a Touch of Death, adding a bit of necrotic damage to a creature when you hit them with a melee attack. thankfully, both your astral arms and regular arms count as melee attacks. but not melee weapon attacks, which is why we didn’t go paladin.

6. Cleric 3: third level clerics get second level spells this level, you get Blindness/Deafness and Ray of Enfeeblement for free, but I’d like to draw your attention to the Gruul spell Shatter. punching through walls is usually hard, but not for you. you can use Protection from Poison for some debuff resistance, or you could summon a Spiritual Weapon if you’re still miffed you’re not technically summoning swords most of the time.

7. Cleric 4: fourth level clerics get their first Ability Score Improvement, and it’s also your first ASI. sorry it took so long to get your Wisdom higher; we needed a good base to build on first. now your wisdom helps you out in every conceivable way, so I hope it was worth the wait.

you also learn the Thaumaturgy cantrip this level- you’re part god, you might as well sound like it.

8. Cleric 5: fifth level clerics can Destroy Undead when they’re turned if they’re CR ½ or lower. you also get third level spells, so if you want chocolate skeletons of your own, Animate Dead can help out there. you also get Vampiric Touch for free, but again we’re here for the Gruul spell Conjure Animals. you need a horse, and it was this or going paladin for find steed. on the plus side with this spell you’ll get plenty of replacements for when your horse is inevitably shot out from under you. you can also use Dispel Magic and Remove Curse for some retroactive debuff immunity, and Protection from Energy to kind of counter magic.

9. Cleric 6: okay, we’re done with walls of text each level for a bit. at sixth level you can channel divinity twice a short rest, and your Inescapable Destruction sounds cool but just means your spells and CDs ignore resistance to necrotic damage, so that touch deals a near-guaranteed 17 bonus damage now.

10. Monk 4: fourth level monks also get an ASI for more Dexterity for those times you run out of arms and spells, as well as Slow Fall to counter gravity as well. you can also spend 2 ki and an action for some Quickened Healing, taking a breather to keep up your fighting spirit. It’s Second Wind, but worse!

11. Monk 5: fifth level monks get an Extra Attack each action for up to four fisticuffs a turn. you can also turn any one of those into a Stunning Strike, spending ki to force a Constitution save on someone you hit. if they fail, they can’t do much of anything for a round, and melee attackers get advantage to slug ‘em again. finally, you can also spend ki on Focused Aim to nail a jumpier target, turning ki into attack bonus.

12. Monk 6: sixth level monks have Ki-Empowered Strikes, so your unarmed attacks are all magical now! you could’ve gotten around those sorts of defenses with your mind fists already, but a free alternative is never a bad idea. speaking of those arms, you can either spend a bonus action or combo together with your Arms of the Astral Self to summon a Visage of the Astral Self for 1 ki point. while masked up, you see in all kinds of darkness for 120’ and have advantage on Insight and Intimidation checks. your charisma’s bad, but seeing someone punch a car and keep going will put the fear of god in anybody. on top of that, you can mute your voice so only one person can hear you, or amplify it so everything in a 600’ radius can. beating mages to death tends to be either very loud, or very quiet. now you have options for both.

13. Monk 7: Seventh level monks can counter fireballs with ease thanks to Evasion blocking half the damage of failed dexterity saves and all the damage of successes. you also get Stillness of the Mind which shuts down effects charming or frightening you as an action. hooray for more debuff immunity!

14. Monk 8: of course an ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure, so let’s max out that Wisdom this ASI for stronger saves, attacks, spells, and stuns. wisdom: it’s what’s for dinner!

15. Monk 9: ninth level monks get Unarmored Movement Improvement. now you can run up walls and over water, though you’ll fall down if you end your turn off solid ground. is it really an anime fistfight if you haven’twalked on a wall at least once?

16. Monk 10: at level ten, monks have a Purity of Body that makes you 100% immune to disease and poison. given how much chocolate the average master has to eat every year, you’re going to need that.

17. Monk 11: eleventh level astral monks get the real fun stuff when you start making the Body of the Astral Self. it’s a free bonus you can put on if you’ve summoned up both your arms and face. with this you can counter magical attacks better with Deflect Energy, using your reaction to reduce incoming elemental damage. of course your counter attack also uses your reaction, but you can’t counter something if you’re not alive to do so, so it’s kind of a moot point by then.

the real reason this level’s great for counter attacks is your Empowered Arms. once per turn, you deal an extra die of damage when you hit someone with an arm. an astral arm. your regular arms are nice but they’re not magic. probably. I mean they are magic bc of the ki-empowered strikes, but- yknow what? this is getting too confusing, next level!

18. Cleric 7: whew, now we can talk about something simple, like… fourth level spells! you get Blight and Death Ward for free, but I’m more interested in the gruul spell Stoneskin. it gives resistance to nonmagical physical damage! that doesn’t sound so great, but when you punch through one too many support pillars you’ll be happy to have it. Locate Creature is also a great spell to hunt down whatever your mark of the day is.

19. Cleric 8: you get one last ASI, so bump up that Constitution for extra health. it’s retroactive, so that’s 19 bonus HP! your fight plan is to deliberately get hit with someone’s strongest attack- trust me, you need that health. also, Destroy Undead works on CR 1 creatures, and once a turn you can make a Divine Strike, adding 1d8 necrotic damage to the target of a weapon attack once a turn. remember, your unarmed attacks are both melee attacks (so they work with Touch of Death), and weapon attacks (so they work with Divine Strike), but not melee weapon attacks (so they don’t work with Divine Smite). this is all completely reasonable.

20. Cleric 9: ninth level clerics get fifth level spell. I hate to be repetitive, but once again your freebies Antilife Shell and Cloudkill aren’t really what we’re after. That being said you do get Destructive Wave for a big stompy AoE attack, as well as Holy Weapon if you’re really itching for a shiny white sword. whatever weapon you touch deals extra radiant damage, and it can explode if you end the spell early. you could also use something like Dispel Good and Evil to knock a servant back to the throne early, if you wish.

Pros & Cons:

Pros:

as mentioned in Cursed Arm’s build, monks have great mobility, and being able to use that mobility without ever having to enter an enemy’s melee range is a huge bonus to a monk’s survivability. you got long arms, basically, and with those and your speed boosts, you can deal all the damage you want while staying pretty safely out of the range of most monsters.

if you really want to fight at long range, you have access to one of the best spell lists in the game, only made better by the additions from your background. I know we didn’t touch on many spells in this build, but that just means you have even more wiggle room to work with when you prepare each day.

for once, we have a build that isn’t Multi-Ability Dependent! I know that’s not much to say, but monk builds usually tend to be a bit messier than the others. being able to hard-focus on wisdom makes your whole experience a lot smoother.  also I didn’t have anywhere else to put it, but you deal a lot of damage in a single hit, which is unusual for a monk. this, plus your usual monkly number of attacks, means even the most nimble of enemies only needs to get unlucky once to feel the brunt of your power.

Cons:

you have a lot of resources to keep on top of. two that recharge on short rests, and one that recharges on long rests. add in the flexibility of ki, spells, and divine channeling, and you’re bound to get a headache from all that thinking.

of course there’s a good chance you won’t even be able to use most of that if you spend your time trying to counterattack like you’re supposed to be able to. we still never really found a better option than simply holding your action, and that sucks! it eats up most of your turn on the off chance someone else does something cool. you’re the PC! you should be the one doing cool stuff!

we took a whole background just for a horse. it’s not even a special horse. just flavor something else as a horse and pick a more fitting background, it’s really not worth it. cleric already has damage spells and protection spells up the wazoo, the Gruul spells mostly add flavor tbh. they don’t hurt, but you won’t be using these horses in a fight, and outside of a fight you can just buy some.

[ot3]

omg thank you for being the first normal person I've seen so far about AI who's also an artist T-T like obviously all the stealing is horrible and it's good it's talked about but almost everyone really is acting like the idea of computers being capable of creating images killed their firstborn child

(also I don't mean it as one of the weird AI art bros but as an artist myself I'm just glad that there are other artist with open mind to the concept)

no right like its insane to me to see how many other people who seem reasonable and level headed are falling for the kneejerk response to say ai Isn't Art Can't Be Art ! It's throwing out the baby with the bathwater to an almost incomprehensible degree.

Unfortunately the fact of the matter is that we live in an era where essentially all new technology's first and prime purpose will be for ghoulish, capitalistic, anti-human ends. But to reject any other uses for the technology doesn't do anything other than make you look like an anti-tech weirdo. This is genuinely insanely impressive and revolutionary tech! There are a TON of legitimate artistic uses for AI image generation.

It also seems weird that everyone is delving into this false binary of 'dont use AI, learn to draw' as if there is any conceivable reason for these things to be mutually exclusive? Like, before all of the AI discourse really popped off i was doing some experimenting with using AI in my process.

the texturing used in this drawing was made by VQGAN + Clip (different type of image generation than the stable diffusion model that is producing most of the AI art that's up for debate right now) running through google colab. I made a bunch of these weird, ethereal images that would have been almost impossible for me to produce under my own power - it would have taken a titanic amount of time, effort, and design to produce any of these through illustrative or photo editing techniques.

here's a sampling of some of the textures i made. Now I think it would be a real struggle to try and claim that these images made are plagiarisms. However, I stopped messing with the google colab generation for one key reason: i didnt know enough about the image databases being used to train these models. That's the real stumbling block

the internet is CHOCK FULL of images that are free to use commercially and repurposes, there's stuff like wikimedia commons, the smithsonian open access, unsplash and pexels which have free stock photos, etc. I honestly think a nonzero amount of artists would consent to having some of their work used in image generation databases if they were promised noncommercial use of the resulting images, also. But the problem is the people training these AI don't give a shit about any of that. It's just the complete entitlement to other people's work and neglect for creative boundaries that makes AI generation bad.

The fact that people are attempting to replicate the art of living, working artists, or people like kentaro miura who by all accounts were so dedicated to the craft that they worked themselves to death sickens me. And the fact that the companies responsible for this are using that as an active selling point for their product is even worse. It's a pretty miserable time to be an artist, and this is just the icing on the cake.

But I don't want silicon valley greed and bizarre, impotent jealousy from redditors who want custom waifu jpgs to mean that nobody who could really benefit from AI image generation gets to use it.

like, my dad for example. he's been a creative person his whole life but it never really went anywhere. He drew a lot as a kid and then went and got a degree in filmmaking. My parents were living in LA when I was born, with my dad managing a filming/sound studio and the two of them trying to break into writing screenplays. This did not happen because they had three kids, and for the past decade and then some my dad had been doing database programming on contract for the CDC. Now, in his mid 50s, he's finally got a permanent and secure position and, rather than spending all his free time raising children or getting PMP certified to try and angle for a string of promotions, he can start having hobbies again. there's a comic he's been wanting to draw for as long as I can remember.

only, one big problem - in 2021 he had surgery on his cataracts and never healed properly. He's got severely impaired vision and looking at stuff too hard for to long causes him a ton of eye strain and pain. He has to look at a lot of screens for his job so by the time he's off work for the day he's pretty much too fatigued to do all the intense visual stuff it'd take to make a comic.

I wanted to tell him AI image generation could help him make the kind of stuff he always dreamed about making as a kid but instead I had to tell him that as it stands, the predatory nature of AI modeling means it's insanely hard to use it without ripping off vulnerable creatives. Instead we chatted a bit about combining 3d assets, digitally edited photos, or photobashing/digital kitbashing methods to try and make a pipeline he could do without drawing, but the time commitment to learn these methods is probably just not feasible unless his eyes make a pretty unprecedented recovery in future years.

Like, that's the worst thing about all of this. The idea that AI makes the production of certain kinds of art more accessible to people with disabilities isn't just a 'gotcha' being used by the pro-AI people, it's also true. I would love for my dad to be able to make his comic. I myself also have a huge string of health issues and sometimes the main thing stopping me from drawing is that it hurts to do so. Anything in my process that could reduce the strain drawing puts on my body is an accessibility concern in some ways. Eventually degrading so much that I can't draw at all is one of my biggest fears.

But that doesn't counter all of the negatives! It just doesnt! Which fucking sucks man it just sucks so fucking bad that we have this cool incredible thing and we can't use it without being complicit in some stuff i am fully ideologically against! As things stand I really cant imagine that 'ethical' AI image generation will ever exist, so unfortunately it will have to be in the hands of the people using it to decide for themselves if they are using it in a way that is predatory or harmful, or as a legitimate tool to make meaningful works of art.

[enbyleighlines]

Leigh plays Tellius prt 2

We got Soren's first crit on this map! Btw, this stupid pirate map took me THREE tries. Once I lost Mist, and twice the houses were burnt down before I could get to them. Ugh. This was the first map that gave me any trouble.

And unfortunately, it wouldn't be the last.

The prisoner's map! I decided not to do the stealth thing, and just killed everybody. I think I took a little too long, though, so I didn't get much bonus exp from this map. But it's okay, because I now have Nephenee and Kieran, two more fruits to add to my basket. And Brom, too, of course. I love him, but I'm sorry, I will probably never use him. Armored knights and I don't get along too well.

Gosh, I absolutely love the dynamic between these two characters. I 100% believe that Kieran has a crush on Oscar, and that's why he took Oscar's discharge from the military so personally. One day, Kieran will realize why Oscar's squinty-eyed face makes his heart go all pitter-patter. Until then, I will fully enjoy getting these two to A rank.

Yeeeee, Nephenee!! I have said it before, and I will say it again. I love how there is just a series of chapters in early PoR where you get to recruit a new anime waifu each map. In any other FE game, these would be Ike's love interests. But not in this game! I just love how Ike collects this group of cute girls with fun, quirk personalities, and then remains platonic friends with all of them. And of all the "recruitable waifus", Nephenee is definitely my favorite. She's just too damn adorable.

I made a terrible error on this map, and accidentally put Mia within the boss's range. Thankfully, she survived with 1 HP, and I was not forced to redo this map. Whew!

It's Port Toha time! I love that Ranulf pays such close attention to Soren. Apparently, in the Japanese version, it's implied in this scene that Ranulf knows Soren's secret, which explains why Ranulf keeps such a close eye on him. I wonder if this is Ranulf's first time meeting someone like Soren. I really wish the game had expanded on this. I bet Ranulf and Soren would have some really interesting conversations. If they ever remake these games and add support convos to RD, I hope Soren and Ranulf have a support chain.

The fucking humor in this game is so great.

I don't even know what to say about this line, but man, does it make me feel a certain sort of way. Mackoya is not the only character who expresses this sentiment, but I do believe it is the first we see it, this idea that soldiers will become weak without "a steady diet of war". It's a key aspect of Ashnard's entire philosophy. I like how this completely contradicts with what Mist says later, about "Doesn't everybody want peace?" Because no, they clearly don't. There is no use for soldiers in a world without war, after all.

Someone much smarter than me could turn this into an entire thesis paper.

I respect Zihark 100%, but man, his introduction is wild. Entirely unprompted, he's just like "how many men do you want me to murder? Give me a number and I'll start hacking!" It's a shame I never use him, because I love him as a character. I do wish we got to learn more about his past, or had his past tie into the plot.

I always snort out loud at this line, because like, what steps are you taking, Nasir? There are two defining features of dragon laguz, which are the forehead markings and the pointed ears. You have decided to conceal neither of these things. You could easily hide your ears in your hair. Your hair is long enough. And what is the point of those things around your forehead? Could you not put some dangling gem or something to cover up your forehead marking?

I will accept that most beorc probably don't know what dragon laguz look like, but still. Nasir has taken exactly 0 steps in concealing his identity.

This might be my single favorite line from Ike. Gosh, he's so funny, I love him.

And that's it for part 2! Next time, we fight some pirates!

[mememanufactorum]

Things I've said to my friends out of context (August 2023 edition)

* FEEL FREE TO SHARE AS YOU PLEASE, NO CREDIT NEEDED. CHANGE PRONOUNS OR ANYTHING ELSE AS DESIRED.

It feels tiny in my hands.

He's not naked, he's just not wearing a shirt.

Wherever I am, I must also shitpost.

So I look over at my TV and all I see is fucking SKELETOR.

You're gonna love his waifus. You don't have a choice.

You want to pay near full new game release price for a board game?

Boomshoot serotonin brain is buzzing pretty good right now.

Nevermind, summer sucks.

Oh shit a quad-barreled shotgun that just deletes whatever I point-blank fire it at.

Oh god the timelines are merging.

They fight one RELATIVELY little eldritch horror and go insane.

Wake your ass up too, you sleep too much.

What if you wanted to go to heaven, but Nine-Ball said: "Target verified. Commencing hostilities."

You like burning to death right?

Your AP does not exist as a measure of health. Your AP is actually a time limit mechanic.

You seen those Waffle House fights videos? Those people are always ready to fuck someone up.

That spaghetti be cooking.

Time to initiate plan: Get The Fuck Out.

Tiny controllers for people with baby hands.

Dear God fucking shoot it.

Nope. Bail. Do not invest. It's already tainted.

Only legends can trick the staff into giving a speech.

Regular reminder that honey badger don't care, honey badger don't give a fuck. Three leopards? Bitch numbers. Honey badger ain't never scared.

It's almost like you work in a dentist's office or something, you tooth fairy.

So, uh, I woke up and I have a lizard for a pet now, I guess.

That is not how you wear a sweater. You are not supposed to cut off most of the sweater.

I'm squeezed in the middle. SMACK DAB IN THE MIDDLE. SQUEEZED IN THE MIDDLE.

Why you gotta be a jerk about it?

All you fucking do is eat cookie and be mean. This is why you're a gremlin.

If you give a [name] a cookie, she's going to ask for a glass of boba. When she's finished, she'll ask for a bed. Then, once she's slept for two lifetimes, she'll want to get up and play gay otome games.

You know what this core makes me think of? Jack Nicholson.

OH GOD I PICKED UP A GIANT FUCKING SPIDER.

I AM EXISTENTIALLY SCREAMING ON A LEVEL YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND.

IT WOULD BE A SHAME IF I HAD A PILE BUNKER.

Yeah. Let's set aside the several missions I've done up to this point where I have specifically fucked you over.

Yeah but Merlin was a total shitgoblin though.

We have to test [name]'s blood.

You're meeting for a drug deal. You're meeting for a fucking drug deal.

Should ask them if they like bread.

[kingofpuppets]

Can we hear your opinions on why Ranni's ending is futile? It's really just too interesting to hear any opinions that aren't the mainstream "best ending, even has waifu" stuff.

I should start by pointing out that I don't believe in The Greater Will as a deity with goals of their own and this belief too extends to the other Outer Gods. For me, the Outer Gods of Elden Ring are at best higher beings that just exist, whose mere presence are capable of influencing the Lands Between, an influence not directly intended on their part – beings with no morality, who simply are. At worst, which is what I'm leaning more towards after the DLC, the Outer Gods are simply the deification of scientific phenomena. I'm currently working on a full theory regarding the gods of Elden Ring but it'll take a while as there’s just so much to gather and put together; besides, this is not the focus here.

So, let's talk about Ranni.

First, what is an Empyrean? Ranni answers this herself:

“(...) I was once an Empyrean. Of the demigods, only I, Miquella, and Malenia could claim that title. Each of us was chosen by our own Two Fingers, as a candidate to succeed Queen Marika, to become the new god of the coming age. (...)” [Speaking to Miniature Ranni at Nokstella, Eternal City]

An Empyrean is, to put it simply, a candidate to godhood. There are 5 in total we know of from base game: Marika, The Gloam-Eyed Queen, Miquella, Malenia and Ranni (the DLC opened up the possibility of two new Empyreans – Messmer and Melina, but this too is a conversation for another time). What I want to focus on is the word candidate. We know very little of the age before Marika ascended, much less about The Gloam-Eyed Queen's own ascension to godhood (if she ascended at all) but we never hear of more than one candidate to godhood – if there were, their existence was completely erased from history. From here, it's simple math: there's only one throne, but three candidates.

(...) No wonder, as one god, and one king consort, is all the world needs. [Light of Miquella]

There's an argument to be made about the possibility of these three ruling one after the other. Say, Miquella ascends to godhood but eventually his age comes to an end, Ranni could then ascend to godhood and start a new age herself. However, nothing is stopping new Empyreans from being chosen, not to mention Miquella's offspring if he chooses to do as Marika did. Ranni might never have needed to ascend to godhood herself. And everything points to her not having to – Miquella was the most likely successor, even without taking the DLC into account. From trying to grow his own divine tree to the Oracle Envoys present in only two locations: Leyndell and the Haligtree; there’s little doubt that, without interference, the next coming age would be his. But there’s someone we’re forgetting, someone who’s existence should put into question some things.

Miquella and Malenia are both the children of a single god. As such they are both Empyreans, but suffered afflictions from birth. One was cursed with eternal childhood, and the other harbored rot within. [Remembrance of the Rot Goddess]

Malenia's character has always fascinated me. She, too, is an Empyrean but, like Ranni, harbored no plans to ascend to godhood, although for completely different reasons. However, Malenia's condition is quite special. Without the help of her brother, the poor thing would have long since rotted away – how could she become a god? Except, she does, does she not? Time and time again Malenia is referred to as a goddess – by NPCs, by item descriptions, by her own second phase title. But she did not become the new vessel of the Elden Ring nor did she ascend to the Gate of Divinity – how can she have become a god? Interestingly enough, the term "god" seems to be used quite loosely in the world of Elden Ring. What exactly is a god? At first, it seemed that to become a god one must become the vessel of the Elden Ring. Then, in the DLC we learn that's not necessary and one must use the Gate of Divinity. But what about the Gloam-Eyed Queen? If she did ascended to godhood, there's no evidence of she ever going near Belurat. What about Placidussax's god?

The Dragonlord whose seat lies at the heart of the storm beyond time is said to have been Elden Lord in the age before the Erdtree. Once his god was fled, the lord continued to await its return. [Remembrance of the Dragonlord]

If the age before Marika's was Placidussax's god's, then how come we too have no traces of it in Belurat? How did it ascend to godhood, then? What does it even mean to become a god? I see it more as a symbolic title than anything – a title above that of a common monarch. In Imperial China, they had something called the Mandade of Heaven – the emperor was given the right to rule by a higher divine power and would be its representative on Earth. In European Christianity, they had something similar with the Divine Right of Kings. Doesn't this sound familiar? A person supposedly chosen by a higher power to become its representative and rule on their behalf? Isn't this Marika's ascent to godhood? But if this higher power doesn't exist at all, what then? If there is no Greater Will or it has long abandoned the Lands Between, then on whose behalf is Marika ruling if not her own?

But back to Ranni. We already established that she was unlikely to directly succeed Marika with Miquella still in the picture. Now, let's talk about another interesting subject in the world of Elden Ring – fate.

“(...) The stars alter the fate of the Carian royal family. And the fate of your mistress, Ranni. But long ago, General Radahn challenged the swirling constellations, and in a crushing victory, arrested their cycles. Now, he is the force that repulses the stars. If General Radahn were to die, the stars would resume their movement. And so, too, would Ranni's destiny.” [Giving Seluvis's Introduction to Sellen]

“The fate of the Carian royal family is guided by the stars. As is the fate of Lady Ranni, first heir in the Carian royal line. But General Radahn is the conqueror of the stars. Who stood up to the swirling constellations, halting their movement in a smashing victory. And so, if General Radahn were defeated, the stars would once again resume their movement. As would Lady Ranni's destiny. Perhaps, even, revealing the elusive path. That leads to Nokron.” [Meeting with Jerren then talking to Iji]

“Well, I am much obliged. I can hardly believe it, he’s divested himself of his very eye… Tender Miquella’s eye is no mere morsel of flesh. It is a vessel of soaring grace. Proof of his Empyrean lineage. I wonder, does Miquella the Kind intend to sever his very birthright? His fate as a child of the Erdtree?” [Speak of the cross where the eye was abandoned to Ansbach]

(...) Miquella set off for the tower enshrouded by shadow, abandoning everything—his golden flesh, his blinding strength, even his fate. (...) [Miquella's Great Rune]

(...) The fate of the one who sounds the hanging bell will be guided by the stars. [Hole-Laden Necklace]

The subject of fate, as shown above, is a recurrent one in Elden Ring. But does it exist? I won’t be discussing the topic of Miquella’s fate because that would derail the conversation and also make an already huge post a lot bigger, so let’s talk about Ranni’s fate. Supposedly Ranni’s fate is to ascend to godhood and bring forth a new age, dictated by her title as an Empyrean. However, this is when things get even more interesting. According to Iji and Sellen, as a member of the Carian royal family, Ranni’s fate is dictated by the stars. Once we defeat Radahn, the stars resume their movement and so does Ranni’s fate. But wait a second. Ranni is on a quest to sever her fate as an Empyrean and to slay her Two Fingers but if her fate is in fact ascending to godhood and said fate is resumed once the stars are released, then how come these very stars open the way to the tool she needs to sever her fate? Wasn’t her fate to become a god? Then how come it's working in favor of her severing her fate as an Empyrean? On the other end, if her fate was instead to slay her fingers and free herself of the title of Empyrean, then wouldn’t halting her fate be counterproductive? Wouldn’t it be better staying put? However, if she did so then she wouldn’t have slain her own Two Fingers and she’d remain an Empyrean, and her fate supposedly wouldn’t come to pass. Great, we’ve landed ourselves on a paradox. This, however, can be easily solved by the conclusion that fate does not exist. The stars weren’t actually holding back Ranni’s fate, they were merely the only way to open up a path to Nokron. If the hole on the ground wasn’t open, we never could have reached the Fingerslayer Blade.

So, we’ve established that Ranni was unlikely to succeed Marika, that “god” is more of a title than anything, and that fate might not even exist. What’s left is discussing The Age of Stars ending.

"(...) To every living being, and every living soul. Now cometh the age of the stars. (...)" [Age of Stars ending cutscene]

"(...) Mine will be an order not of gold, but the stars and moon of the chill night. (...) Which is why I would abandon this soil, with mine order. (...)" [Speaking to Miniature Ranni at her chambers]

In her ending, Ranni restores the Elden Ring, takes the Tarnished as her (Elden) Lord, and together they go off to space, bringing forth the Age of Stars.

Huh, this is so weird. I could swear I’ve heard of a type of person capable of bringing forth a new age before.

“But Ranni did not ascend to godhood!” Does it matter? We’ve already established that godhood seems more of a status thing than anything. What does it matter if she didn’t go through the formalities? Just like Marika, she is now responsible for the Elden Ring, just not the direct vessel of it. She also took a consort, like Marika, Miquella and Placidussax’s god. She also brought forth a new age, the Age of Stars. So, what exactly is she doing different? The Empyrean title never came with direct instructions of what kind of age they must bring. Bringing forth her Age of Stars is no different than bringing forth the Age of Order or the Age of the Duskborn. Their purposes are different but their core model is the same.

This is why I say Ranni’s struggle with her “fate” as Empyrean is futile, in the end. Had she settled on just slaying her flesh and Two Fingers, she’d have her complete freedom. But her insistence in supposedly pursuing everyone else’s freedom as well is what made her relinquish her own. I’m sorry but you can’t convince me that her ending is the freedom she envisioned for herself. Everything she did to free herself just so she would spend the rest of her days isolated from the rest of the world? Yes, no one has power over her now but at what cost?

[centrally-unplanned]

Alright, last batch:

The first half of these are "Official" Anime Books. We have the Official Guide Books for Yuru Camp & Bocchi the Rock, modern buys from a Kinokuniya. They are what you would expect: character designs, concept art, episode & story guides, cast & crew interviews, etc. I was very happy with the level of photography they have - Laid Back Camp of course has a ton of pages comparing photographs of the actual camp sites with their anime depictions, while the Bocchi book has a bunch of Shimo-Kitazawa scene spotting. The Bocchi book also has a page laying out all of the art used in its EDs, which I really love for their pastel-chibi style, very kino:

But I will admit how standardized this style of book has become is a little sad - these two unrelated anime have nearly identical layouts, because that is how it works these days. There is a reason I am drawn to the earlier history of anime so much, it was way more unfiltered. A minor note though on otherwise very fun buys.

Finally we have Haruhi-ism: The Art of Noizi Ito. This is a full-on waifu book, just a big collection of splash art of Haruhi being Haruhi and the rest of cast dealing with her bullshit with erotic flecks sprinkled throughout. A real whim buy as I picked it up for a few dollars; the used book market in Japan is truly amazing, I get now how people build such massive collections. What is cute though is that Noizi Ito is the illustrator for the light novels; she didn't work on the anime in any real way, and it shows:

Kyon and Mikuru have the greatest difference in design, but the style difference hits them all in some ways. The anime's visual design is of course far more omnipresent that the light novel illustrations are; it makes this book feel like its from a slightly parallel universe, where Ito was brought on to do the designs for the anime so its entire concept is shifted just a bit to the metaphorical left. The Berenstein Bears branch of Haruhi's multiverse, if you will.

The bottom three are more unique - additions to what I would call the "otaku studies" collection, books by otaku doing media or cultural analysis of anime or otakudom itself. First is A New Millenialist Perspective on the Daughters of Eve, by Mari Kotani, which is a feminist & post-modernist exploration of Evangelion. This whole genre of books...well, here is the back cover, in English for your convenience:

"Here, post-structuralist psychoanalytical theory will enable us to define Angel as the representation of 'abjection' in-" okay buddy, put down the weed and step away from the graduate studies applications, lets go for a walk. Seriously, stuff like this was absolutely in the water in 90's Japan; it was going through a huge wave of psycho-analytic sociology that broke into the mainstream. Back in the day there was a tendency to use this stuff as a way to "understand Eva" - that is backwards, Evangelion is not that deep. But instead, you can see works like these as a byproduct of fandom and the media mix - how Evangelion's brand as the "intellectual's show" was propagated and reinforced over time, and how a certain kind of fan related to it. Eva-as-show does not need these texts, but Eva-as-cultural-event was built from bricks like these. Its not the biggest "Eva philosophy" book but was well-enough known in its day, so it should be fun to read.

Okay, I'll be quick on the others: next is Kurahon, by Hideyuki Kurata - manga author of works like Read or Die. This books is a bunch of autobiographical-style essays about him being a complete hikikomori shut-in otaku collector maniac, complete with 2D Girl supremacy tracts and manifestos for the life of the outsider. Its extremely 2000's in its genre, this kind of ideology would die down as otaku culture transitioned fro- NOT NOW, deep breaths, whew, back on topic. Anyway, this books is insane, this is literally the first in-line image in the book as you go through his text:

Kurata is a lunatic, but he is my kind of lunatic, and this text has a level of raw, intense honesty and cultural reflection in it that really makes it stand out.

Last book is an edition of the print series Eureka! Haruhi Suzumiya Edition, which was a literary & cultural studies joint that collected essays on topics. Wait, one sec...sorry, not 'was', 'is', they are still at it! They have an upcoming collection on Tolkein, cool. Anyway, this of course falls into a similar genre of the Eva book as being quite high-concept, but is from a more diverse set of authors and is a bit more grounded. It has a whole section on Doujin and meta-textual elements in the anime fandom of Haruhi, excited to read that.

Okay okay, that is the Japan books, generally. Though I did realize that I had imported a few things before that I never posted about when they arrived, I might throw those on the stack and do a post about a few...

[the-acid-pear]

I hate how the PT subreddit misses the point w the topping gals specially when they are like "oh fandom prefers gay sex to normal sex" like. ONE the straight sex is not the issue the issue is making over sexualized versions of the characters because apparently some ppl can't enjoy shit without a waifu to jerk off to which is extremely annoying, TWO the characters are already male this is why gay shit is accepted because we are not making up new characters just to jerk off about if you want women go play with Noisette or get some t girl milfs you coward and THREE the gay stuff they talk about is most of the time played for laughs like that bara video or hell even the official stuff like the time Noise kissed Peppino or whatever Anton and Pep have going on.

Like, the topping gals are alright but their sheer existence and popularity is just plain obnoxious and unnecessary.

[sagesariadnd]

Please Watch March on Faewunder. I Just Think It's Neat.

I'm waiting on a few things before I start posting pictures like I promised, so in the meantime, I have a recommendation if you're looking for a D&D actual play show that isn't one of the Big Three.

I've fairly recently started dipping my toes into the World of Io, a collection of streamed short campaigns set in the DM's homebrew world of, well, Io. I started with, and am still in the middle of, March on Faewunder. I started it because my current parasocial squish Tom Fawkes is in it, and I'm sticking with it for some of the most wholesome and funny roleplay I've ever seen. A warning now that the following is an unhinged infodump about how much I love this campaign, but I promise a link is at the bottom!

Highlights include:

Actually streaming session zero! I don't know if other shows have done this, but it's the first time I've seen it and found it really cool to see the process in action. This includes an introduction to Io's history and world makeup and answering the players' questions about it, so it's great for onboarding new viewers because they don't have to have watched the other campaigns. Plus, hearing the players talk about the kind of characters they were making made me immediately excited for the campaign and the dynamics within the party, which was clearly the case for the people watching too because there was fanart literally that night.

Mark Hulmes - the host of High Rollers...you know, that actual play show that did the one-shot with the Baldur's Gate 3 cast last year - playing a half-lagomon paladin with the energy of DiC dub Sailor Moon. Yeah that's right, a grown-ass man is shamelessly playing his ideal bunny girl waifu and nobody judges him for it because Gloria is a precious cinnamon roll and must be cherished.

A southern belle dhampir ranger named Vidalia whose parasol is both a sword and a gun...crossbow...thing. Also she's a swarmkeeper ranger and her swarm is birds! Used to be corvids, now I think it's hawks. And she's the sweetest damn person you'll ever meet and doesn't even hide that she's a vampire.

An elf bard named Pandora who got her name literally because her player thought it was fun to say in her character voice, and she says it to herself in character when she's anxious. She's also a vampire hunter who's afraid of birds.

Disclaimer: Pandora is an emotional wreck of a character with a heart of gold and she WILL make you cry at least every other session.

Did I mention those three are totally in an awkward disaster lesbian cuddle puddle? Cause they totally are. Vidalia even calls Gloria 'hunny bun' and it's the most adorable thing in the world.

Hey, you wanna have lots of emotions about skeletons? Well Tom has you covered with Ribeye, the skeleton bard who wants to be a chef! (Gee, DM, how come your mom lets your campaign have TWO bards?) Don't be fooled by his punny name or his Ed Wynn voice, this skeleton will fuck you up emotionally almost as much as Pandora. This youtube funnyman has made his fellow players wail loudly into the microphone like Rocky freaking Lockridge.

And you wanna know why there's so many emotions about skeletons? Well for one thing Tom's just really good at roleplaying but the big catalyst is that neither Ribeye in character, nor any of the players out of character, know Ribeye's HP. The DM just tells him if he gets knocked out. The DM rolls his hit dice for him. And he can't be healed by normal healing magic, only necromancy. Yeah uh...nobody in the party can cast necromancy. They found a backup, but it's VERY temporary and the DM plays the game HARD. Your butt WILL clench every single time Ribeye takes damage. The party's butts sure do. No really, it's genuinely sweet how hard they all work to protect their skelebro.

I feel bad that I don't have a lot to say comparatively about the last member, the changeling monk Kagami. I think he's just along for the ride. But he's there, and he's as badass as a monk should be, and he's the source of a good few funny moments, including the ever optimistic statement "I haven't exploded yet!" (no you don't get context, watch the show) and the pure D&D energy of spending all your money on a stupid carnival prize because it's so ridiculous you just HAVE to have it. It even comes in handy, how the heck did that happen???

If you like crafting, Faewunder has you covered with all sorts of fun homebrewing! Every long rest is an adventure! Ribeye whips up all sorts of fun dishes and names them! Kagami supes up everyone's weapons and armor! Pandora desperately tries to keep up the supply of potions Ribeye can drink! The DM has a chart of all sorts of fun buffs they can unlock and put on their gear, so long as there's time to make it. It takes up a decent chunk of the sessions, but the party makes it work through...

Camp RP! Banter and sharing feelings around the campfire almost every long rest, including the ones that come from just travel time with nothing happening! I've never seen a party so willing to share their feelings with each other and they're so delightfully close, even if Kagami's still keeping things close to his scarily muscular chest at the moment.

Intense combat with some of the wildest luck (or usually lack thereof) I've ever seen on a VTT. I thought it was roll20 that hated us, who kicked Foundary's dog???

Crazy fae shit

Fucked up trees! Every DM needs to have at least one fucked up tree encounter.

Fun with voice modulators!

Distinct and lovable NPCs!

A disclaimer that the NPCs will never flirt with the PCs unless the PCs initiate. That's just a good rule of thumb to have in a DM-player dynamic! I mean, check that the DM is comfortable with it too, but really I'm just sad that 'not sicing a horny NPC on my players' is noteworthy.

A channel in the Io discord exclusively for rules lawyering, so the DM can receive feedback on goofed up rules (or ignore the ones from people who forget his houserules) without them cluttering up the twitch chat or distracting him from running the game! Now THAT'S innovation, y'all!

Fanart every night, and bingo cards that the DM fills out with the chat!

The DM is a racoon wizard! Seriously, how can you say no to that?!

Anyway it's really good, and if any of this sounds appealing the playlist is below. It's a relatively short campaign - 13 sessions averaging around three hours apiece. I'll definitely be checking out the rest of the Io campaigns after I finish Faewunder, but I feel like it's gonna be hard to top this group.

[novankenn]

Coco's Search for a WAIFU or The Purgatory of Jaune

= Fifteen = (Master Chapter List)

Ren and Jaune were riding down to the main level in silence, until about the possible half-way point when Ren spoke.

Ren: So what are you going to do?

Jaune: About?

Ren: Pyrrha and Coco.

Jaune: I'm not sure, but why do you ask?

Ren: Nora was able to get it out of Pyrrha about what you and her talked about, and then confronted Coco about it, who broke down crying and admitted what happened as well... now Nora is being a cheerleader for the pair.

Jaune: Shit. Who else knows?

Ren: Do you mean after Nora found out? A better question would be who doesn't know.

Jaune: Shit! Shit! Shit!

Ren: Jaune?

Jaune: I wanted things to be less public, until I could figure out for myself what is happening. I'm still... trying to figure things out. This all being public is going to make things... complicated.

Ren: Possibly.

Jaune: How can it be, possibly? People are going to expect something to happen. They're waiting for some heartbreak drama.

Ren: You're forgetting... this is Coco and Pyrrha. They've already had... words with some of the other students.

Jaune: How much damage?

Ren: None. It was surprisingly very civil.

Jaune: That's... good.

Silence once again fell upon the two young men for the remainder of the short ride. The ding of the doors sliding open, sounded to Jaune like a death knell. He had some serious things to figure out, and he was on a timeline. This couldn't be drawn out... there had to be an answer, and Jaune needed to figure that out. It was the only appropriate thing to do.

Jaune's escort of Ren peeled off to head for the cafeteria to meet up with Nora, leaving Jaune alone with his thoughts as he made his way directly back to JNPR's dorm. He forced his mind from the physical attributes of each of his suitors, and tried to consider other things.

Jaune knew the most about Pyrrha, her being his partner after all. He knew a little about Coco, mainly from what she admitted to him during the confession at the top of Beacon tower. Which meant he would need to spend extra time with her. Butterflies twisted in his stomach as he reached the dorm.

Finding the room empty, he sighed in relief, and made his way to his bed. He climbed upon the soft mattress and sat cross-legged, his back against the headboard. With his hands clasped in his lap, he closed his eyes. Jaune needed to really think, so pulling from memories of his transformation, he centred himself and opened his mind to the world beyond him.

He didn't understand this new ability, but he instinctively knew how to use it. So he did. Reaching into the beyond, he emptied his mind and sought out the answers that were evading him.

While Jaune meditated, seeking answers to the dilemma he found himself in, Coco and Pyrrha sat side by side awaiting Ren's return. The rest of JNPR and even team RWBY knew what Coco had done. She had come clean to them about her actions, and surprisingly it was Blake who took the fashionista aside for a private talk.

So there she was like the last three days, waiting with bated breath, much like Pyrrha for word from Jaune regarding their situation. She almost jumped out of her seat when she saw Ren approaching, a tray of food in his hands.

Coco: So?

Ren: (Not even seated yet) He hasn't said anything, but I could tell he's bothered by the situation. To the point that I feel he's doubting his ability to give either of you a decision.

Pyrrha: We should go talk to him.

Coco: Let him know that he can take his time?

Pyrrha: I think that would ease his mind. Jaune is a... very self-deprecating person.

Coco: Is his self-image that low?

Pyrrha: It is, and I'm not sure how to help him look past his perceived flaws. I've tried and so has Nora and Ren to give him positive encouragement...

Coco: Let me guess, he takes it as if you're just trying to make him feel better, and still focuses on his weakness?

Ren: He does.

Coco: We can't let that continue, we have to... have to do something.

Pyrrha: As a team, we've tried. It has done very little.

Coco: Then maybe it needs to be something less informal... and more personal.

Pyrrha: Are you saying?

Coco: I am. We need to show him, he means something to us.

Pyrrha: Does HE really mean something to you, though? You did try and change him into a woman for your own needs.

Coco: I know... I know. That is something I deeply regret.

Pyrrha: To be completely honest with you... I don't trust you. I don't think you really care for Jaune...

Ren: Pyrrha...

Coco: No, let her continue... this has been hanging over our heads for a little while now. It needs to come out.

Pyrrha: You've no idea what you want, and you're latching onto Jaune like he's some magical answer to your confusion about your own desires. You shouldn't be anywhere near him... and I doubt anyone here at this table thinks any differently.

Coco: (Letting her eyes scan the collection of Jaune's assembled friends) Is that true? Do you all feel like that?

No one said anything, but a few did nod, while others averted their gaze.

Coco: (Starting to rise from her seat) I see, then I guess... (feels a hand grasp her wrist and looks down to see that it is Pyrrha who has taken a hold of her) What?

Pyrrha: But... it is not our decision, and just because we don't trust you, because I feel like you're playing a game... in the end it's Jaune choice.

Coco: I...

Pyrrha: Don't say anything... because I so very much want to grind your face into the floor for what you tried to do.

Coco: Then try it.

Pyrrha: What?

Coco: Training room one. Me and you. Get this out of your system... then we both can concentrate on Jaune.

Pyrrha: (Releasing her grip) Training Room One. After classes?

Coco: After classes

[queenlua]

let's see about 5, 11, 12, 13 for the ask meme?

5. What game would you recommend to someone new to the series?

ugh this is so HARD because i don't think there's any game that's perfect for this...

if they're new to the series but have enjoyed at least a couple older video games at some point (and thus have some tolerance for a bit of gameplay cruft and GBA-era rough edges), i'd be really tempted to throw Sacred Stones at them. absolutely gorgeous sprites, good music, probably the most solid/focused/best-executed story in the series, fun support conversations, and very good gameplay whose only flaw is "it's kinda too easy." but it's satisfying and if someone likes everything about it but "too easy," then that's an easy problem to fix with subsequent games lol

i suspect Awakening is probably the objectively-better answer, though. first "modern"-feeling FE in terms of how streamlined and nice the mechanics feel, the depth/multiplicity of strategies, the storyline is weaker but still has definite highlights (especially when the kids show up), etc

Three Houses is a solid contender but the game is kind of bloated with extras that i think can make playing it feel like a bit of a drag; i know a lot of people who just kinda flaked out or gave up b/c of all the monastery stuff, and i wouldn't want someone's first FE to end that way

i do love the Tellius games but i wouldn't recommend them as starter games. the 3d sprites are kinda ugly and it definitely shows its age a bit in terms of gameplay cruft

11. A character that deserved better?

Edelgard, tbh. she's fantastic when the game isn't trying to make her all woobie/waifu/etc. wouldn't even take many changes to fix this one!

also Renning. i love what's on the page but he gets so little and shows up so late. give the dude some damn base conversations plz

also Meg. the game is so mean to her, goddamn.

12. A game that deserved better?

oh boy. the problem here is, if i finished playing an FE game, that means i liked it well enough over all, even if there's stuff i didn't like. like, i wish Awakening's storyline was stronger, but it definitely feels like it executed on exactly what it wanted to do, so i wouldn't say the game deserves better per se

so i guess i'll say the two FE games i tried and failed to play:

fe6: i ragequit on the map with the fucking reinforcements that move the same turn that they spawn. motherfuckers. why

fe14: i was already pretty "eh" on the story and then that one fucking "defend [x] turns" map (unhappy reunion iirc) took SO much finicky effort to survive that by the time i finished it i was like. ugh. i'm so tired. and then i put it down for a while and never picked it back up oops

13. What do you like most about Fire Emblem?

...god this is going to make me sound SO uncultured but, the support conversations, especially in the older games, are just so delightful. delightful in-and-of-themselves (especially when they would happen DIRECTLY ON THE BATTLEFIELD lmao), and also, were probably weirdly influential in how i thought about game writing / writing generally. conveyed a huge amount of personality & implied huge things about the world & in a relatively small space; and also refused to let anyone be just a rando soldier in your army; you can look back at short fiction i wrote in middle school and see how much i was striving to get that huge-cast-small-space-feel in that format. simple but effective approach

also it's nice to have a big-name game series that executes so well on story and gameplay, on average. i've played a lot of Final Fantasy and i love those games but. often the gameplay is just kinda mediocre/grind-y, right, and i'm forcing my way through for the story? could NOT be fire emblem lol

[nighthazerpg]

Patch Roundup: July 2nd

It’s been a while! I’ve been busy! I have a new animation!

I fixed the problems I was having with the theme so now the description displays the correct version number!

✨ New ✨ Company Scrip! It's money, but worse! Each of the three megacorps issues their own form of internal currency (Sunrise Stars for Dawnray, ClearCredits for Cleartech, Advent Points for ASC) that you can only spend with that company. Make no bones about it, a contract that pays out in scrip sucks. It is a bad contract from a client who thinks you're a chump. But sometimes you're in situations where that's all you can get. It also doesn't work if your Credit Score is too high and you can't buy illegal stuff with it!

Scrip can be traded on the black market - if you roll well, you can trade different kinds of scrip on a 1:1 basis (at the cost of a Barter slot), but the best you can generally get in real money is about a third (0.3kB per 1 scrip) of the face value of your scrip, because nobody really wants to buy Itchy and Scratchy Dollars unless they're in a weird situation.

Lowered the thresholds for "expensive" and "very expensive" difficulty modifiers for Item Selling in line with the general deflation of item prices.

Shield Pack changes: Instead of having two "charges" and four "hits", these have been combined into 8 charges - so you're only tracking one number. Toggling the shield on and off is free and charges are consumed when the shield takes damage. This removes some of the ambiguity over "what happens if I put a partially damaged shield away" - some Operators could interpret that as the charge being spent, some might refund it. So depending on your Operator, this could be either a buff or a nerf. The shield also now has a defined height!

You can now use AI training to produce outputs with a GUMBaLL unit - everything from a chatbot to a virtual video call. This basically works like an illusion - the successes on your roll is how difficult it is to spot the fakery.

The ASGARD Project background now has the added ability to spot this stuff right away.

New Phone app: Consorrt is an AI waifu that can pass for a conversation with a real person... temporarily. A bit like the GUMBaLL powered output function, except in exchange for not setting it up yourself, it's Connected.

Added some flavour text to the Hybrid Heritages because it's kind of warranted, especially for things like Meergrifs which I just made up from whole cloth

New: Social Media apps! Chirrp has been scrapped in favour of six whole entire new ones. They do nothing, it's just flavour. Except...

Added new sub-options for the Addiction trait for Gambling and Social Media! Since these aren't drugs that can stress your system, these are represented by requiring you to have specific apps on your phone, and either raising your Credit Score every month, or eating one of your crafting slots at random and denting your Concentration. I'm not 100% happy with these mechanics but I don't feel too bad just dropping them live because these are sub-options of an optional trait with no benefit. How these work may get another draft when it's not 3am.

[tangibletechnomancy]

This is an AI art blog.

This is not a "generate something shiny to muscle in on that sweet sweet furry and waifu money" blog. This is, in fact, an anti-AI-as-a-tool-for-devaluing-artists blog.

I've been an experimental artist for as long as I've been able to hold supplies more varied than baby's first crayons and markers and fingerpaints. I've done a bit of everything from drawing and painting, to sculpting, to beadwork, to sewing, to photography, to assemblage - and I've won awards for a lot of it. My favorite thing to do with art is to incorporate unconventional processes and materials - some of my favorite pieces have been made primarily with industrial tools and processes.

All this to say - I'm not some random corporate clown who hasn't held a marker since 3rd grade and thinks artists who want to be recognized as PEOPLE who PERFORMED LABOR, not nebulous anonymous sources of pretty pictures to look at, are just uppity peasants who don't know their place. I AM an artist. I am INTIMATELY familiar with the unending barrage of "oh your work is so pretty, you should sell it! How's $25 for this piece you spent 3 months on sound?" It's been the persistent background noise of my life for about as long as I've been doing art beyond what is culturally expected of a child.

Which is why I made the decision to start aggressively adopting AI - and when I say "aggressively", I don't just mean "zealously", but primarily "with destructive intent toward both the philosophy of the worst of the people currently creating and using it, and the dangerous reactionary ideas getting bundled in with the resistance to that usage."

It's disgustingly common to see and hear people talking about using AI to put illustrators out of jobs, like that's some cute fun idea and claiming that this new tech means everyone who refined a passion - let alone turned it into a career - wasted their time, and while my own experience in the time since making this blog suggests that this is most likely a loud minority, even just one prominent voice acting Like That is shitty enough to be worth complaining about. I will waste little time on how infuriating this is and just say it makes me wish for a technological development that lets me taze people in the genitals through the internet and mostly leave it at that-

But no matter how disgusting that attitude is, I know image analysis and generation AI is here to stay, because it has way more purposes than simply enabling even more privacy violations than we already had to worry about in the modern connected age and enabling entitled goons to devalue artists even more than they already do - for instance, that time a scanner invented to make checkout at bakeries easier was modified to detect cancer cells. To say we need to roll it back completely is both impractical and potentially harmful - and it often gets just as needlessly cruel as the assholey usage if not more so; realize that most of the people I engage with who use AI as an art tool do so because of a disability, and there's a lot of dangerous trad-lite "REAL ART will die FOREVER this is the DOWNFALL OF WHITE WESTERN CIVILIZATION" rhetoric floating around which, surprise surprise, doesn't actually become good even when there is a legitimate economic and privacy concern.

So, there are three areas where what to DO with it comes into play.

First is the legal end: how can we define what counts as fair use in AI training, in such a way that will protect conventional artists, ethical AI artists, anyone who posts or even just appears in any content posted online, and people who want to train image-processing AI for non-art, potentially lifesaving reasons alike, rather than in a way that's just a beautifully wrapped Christmas present for megacorporations and a flaming shit-covered middle finger to everyone who actually wants to use the technology for good, from scientists to experimental artists looking to make a statement to disabled artists who just want to be able to express themselves? I have a few thoughts on it but this is...largely outside my wheelhouse.

The second is the technical end: how do we write and train the software to respect any laws made about the above, as well as any requests that may not be encodable into law but are still a matter of decency, without completely kneecapping the technology in such a way that may have implications beyond the art world? How do we build the technology to check to make sure these kinds of limitations are implemented? This is...less outside my wheelhouse, but still not my strongest area.

But where I can make a difference pretty easily is in the third area: the end user's.

See, AI art, in its most basic form, is easy. You type words. You get a picture. Don't like it? Add more keywords. Maybe repeat some like you're trying to pull some SEO trick. You can get something visually appealing at an EXTREMELY low skill level.

You know what else that can be said for? Photography. Yet, you can't pass off a basic vacation snapshot as something that deserves to compete alongside a gallery of plein air paintings despite often being visually similar, and unless it's the luckiest snapshot in the world, it would almost certainly lose in a photography contest, because photography has found its own rules for what makes it good or bad.

My aim is to make the same happen to AI art - to be part of a movement to redefine "good AI art" from "a shiny result that lets some entitled douche with 5 minutes and a keyboard exploit art economies and MCU-ify even custom art" to "something that shows distinct expression by an actual human artist, and ideally, utilizes the unique quirks of the medium."

[enbyleighlines]

Reasons why the Fire Emblem franchise peaked at Tellius:

main characters have an actual personality, backstory, individual goals/desires, established flaws, and a character arc

no dating sim elements

the sheer amount of queer coded characters (Kyza, Heather, Ike & Soren, Tibarn & Reyson, etc)

Seriously, Kyza is a silver-haired cat-person with they/them pronouns. They are almost literally the "has blue silver hair and pronouns" meme

the running gag of Ike having absolutely zero interest in dating women

the laguz, which are a race of people who can transform into cats, lions, tigers, wolves, hawks, ravens, herons, and dragons

an anti-prejudice message which, while not perfect, does explore, among other things: being willing to have uncomfortable conversations, classism, the ramifications of war on the underprivileged, and how religious doctrine can be twisted to justify prejudice

Soren and Micaiah being the best narrative foils (sharing nearly identical backstories and strikingly similar stoic love interests, yet having opposite personalities)

a plot that's driven by character actions and motivations and not just something that happens to the characters

the ultimate ally Ike Fire Emblem who doesn't always understand what he's talking about but damn does he have the spirit and the willingness to learn

the greil mercenaries literally inventing the found family trope

not allowing the player to vicariously date whichever scantily-clad anime waifu strikes their fancy

Ike betraying everybody's expectations by, instead of growing up into a heart-throb bishonen pretty boy, evolving into a bara muscle man

Ike also betraying everybody's expectations by rejecting any fame, noble titles, or other fancy gifts others try to bestow upon him, preferring to live the simple life of the everyman, because that's where the true heart of humanity lies

Ike's absolute brutal honesty and snarky one-liners

did i mention that there are characters that can turn into cats and wolves?

Ranulf especially has the most early 2000's high school OC aesthetic possible with his blue hair, ears, and tail, his cheshire cat energy, and his heterochromia. Arguably Ranulf is Claude's spiritual predecessor, with his playful personality hiding a sharp intellect, except Ranulf actually has a paired ending with the male protagonist

I'm not saying PoR and RD don't have their flaws (they're borderline unplayable at times with the difficulty spikes, the lack of support conversations in RD leaves the new units with much to be desired in terms of characterization, the offensive stereotypes of Heather the man-hating lesbian and Kyza the flamboyant femboy, the lack of racial diversity, how much grinding the Dawn Brigade needs in order to become decent units, the English localization team screwing up the translation in several key conversations or outright adding extra content to push their Ike/Elincia agenda, etc)

But in comparison to the newer games, with their blank-slate protagonists, dating sim elements, and lack of attention on creating a cohesive plot that isn't segmented into three or more routes that all only contain a fraction of the entire story...

Well, the Tellius games are just superior.

Like sure, Heather being a stereotypical man-hating lesbian is not great. But I'd rather have that than have a small number of bisexual options that exist solely for the representation points, while also ensuring that they don't have to be bisexual, if the player so chooses, to avoid hurting the feelings of the cishets

So far I have played PoR, RD, Shadows of Valencia, two of the three Fates games, and the golden deer route of Three Houses

Shadows of Valencia was also very good, if too short. And I will forever hold my golden deer students close to my heart. But I really hope that future FE titles start putting more focus on developing good characters and stories, and less focus on things like character customization and player choice. I'm not saying those things are bad, but they're not what I play Fire Emblem for. I came to Fire Emblem for the high fantasy world politics, the world-building, and the compelling narratives. I don't need 10+ romanceable waifus and the ability to change the main character's outfit in my war strategy game.