#i like calling this an aberrated form of the original design for any of you dredge enjoyers out there

[corvidaearts]

ive made some updates to the sashimi's design

anyway go read lost in the dark (he's got a heavy heart)

[paragonrobits]

Transformers AU where Transformers cannot change the basic shape of their alt mode, which is determined by a very complex number of factors based on their environment, the terrain they live in, their lineage (which is itself a complex factor because they reproduce in extremely complex ways) and more, but the end result is that they can ADAPT their forms to things around them, but they can’t completely alter what they are except through surgical means, which is considered incredibly extreme and equivalent to gender reassignment surgeries. Some approve of it, some don’t, but it is usually considered a very important identity detail to want a particular form badly enough to go through this process.

A truck-type transformer can’t become a car. They can’t become a plane, or a submarine, or a boat, or a spaceship; they might become a semi-truck, or a flatback truck, because these are close enough to their native Cybertronian forms that they can mimic these things, but they can’t outright bend it out of shape.

And the whole point here is that a beastformer cannot be anything but a beast.

Exactly how they feel about this varies from one to the other. Some are proud of their shapes, particularly in those from the city-state of Simfur which in this context is presumably populated heavily by beastformers. Others, in the modern day of the Autobots, regard being a beastformer as not really any different from being any other alt mode; in their modern culture, all are equal regardless of the utility of their forms.

Those from older generations, though, remember a different kind of Cybertron. They remember the functionalist era, when to assume the shape of a beast was to be a beast.

To be legally designated as an animal. A thing. Below even the ranks of the disposable castes, to be designated as aberrant animals flawed enough to intrude on the domain of true Cybertronians, allowed to live only as attack dogs and killing machines in Functionalist-dominant regions. They were treated as monsters by every corner of society, and it was drilled into their heads.

Some of them really let it sink in, growing bitter and angry and determined to think: well, if the world treats them like animals, and will never allow them to be anything but monsters born to kill with nothing else they’re good for, then they’ll slagging well act like monsters. This may be a valid origin for the Dinobots, and Grimlock in particular; centuries if not even longer of rage building up and up, and when the Autobots rebelled he let it loose, and when the Decepticons rose up to ensnare the galaxy in tyranny he turned it against them, and he’s just been unleashing that fire over and over again for eons, with no end in sight. Maybe he hates himself. Maybe on some level he internalized the idea that he is a monster, a thing with claws and fangs and no wheels or engines; if an alt mode is a purpose, what purpose has a terror-beast but to kill other Cybertronians?

But this ultimately amounts to a digression. What this boils down to, is this:

When you call a beastformer a furry, and thus implying that they chose to transform into beasts (whether that is a native mechanical-like form, or the use of Pretender technology to disguise themselves as the fauna of a world), at BEST you’re probably insulting them on some level. At worst you might get hit while they start snarling ‘you think I CHOSE to be a slaggin’ ANIMAL??’ and at worst, you might just end up ripped into pieces. (And to refer to Onyx Prime, oft worshiped by beastformers as the progenitor of all things monstrous and yet loving them all even as the Functionalists decried them, as a furry is deeply sacrilegious and insulting. The Black Prime did not choose to be all beasts in one, they simply are.)

The most angry among them decided a long time ago that if they’re legally treated as animals, might as well act like it. That doesn’t go away even after the perpetrators are long dead.

[ikusayu-no-hana]

guden thought dump

(pronouns will vary, it's not deep I prommy)

the OP is so so so hot everyone is x100 more beautiful somehow . FANS. truly whats hotter than women dancing w fans. actual fav op after kiden's.

ok so im v bad at parsing lyrics in songs of any language by solely hearing them but im p sure they mention Ishiyama - the temple at which it is said murasaki shikibu wrote out the entire tale.

i've heard that ayana has a background in ballet?? norimune could high kick me any day of the week

being bi really amplifies things

hajimeyouka ^^

well the goal here is to make the tale of genji into actual history. that would implicate and fuck up the existing imperial lineage ig.

its soooo weird to see kasen being so friendly and vibing w his teammates bc usually he has a massive stick up him . he even lets ookurikara go his own separate way pursuing the shikigami (?) like???? thats a step up from the hostility theyd share n he's more trusting of kara in this honmaru.

individual fights now. norimune really is stealing the show i cant tear my eyes off herrrr.

its so cute how nansen and himetsuru call each other hime no aniki and nan-kun........ and nansen being taller than hime too. like an elegant elder sibling indulging the younger scruffier one.

hmmm so in GM the 'rainy night conversation' scene where genji and co. r dissecting what kind of woman would be the best to pursue takes place in hahakigi, literally the second chapter, and the opinions of women they put forth in the text r presented as worldly advice that spurs genji to realize that he loves fujitsubo, and in the long run, also shapes his motivations behind kidnapping wakamurasaki ("it is probably not a bad idea to take a wholly childlike, tractable wife and form her yourself as well you can"). while the entire thing does reek of misogyny its more nuanced and bealievable given that the characters justify their opinions w anecdotes (also very fucked up in their own right). guden sort of downplayed the nuance there by solely having genji, to-no-chuji et al focus on beauty and a few quick lines resembling a summary of one or two paragraphs of to-no-chujo. it serves its purpose but......i would have liked it to be a bit longer.....

OHHH MY GOD one of them says 「美しさは人を惑わせる」 / beauty leads people astray which is just like kasen saying 「美しさは兎角人を狂わせる」 / beauty tends to drive people to madness' in kiden. didnt realize my blog title could fit both sutes

*touken danshi roasting the misogynistic convo* this has so many layers bc. written by a woman -> story centred around a casanova -> adapted into a stage play for a franchise that only has male characters -> all of the roles are played by actresses

this kasen uses his hands while talking and its such an extrovert trait its throwing me off lol.

gyoukan: between the lines of the text vs honpen: main story. so gyoukan is the designated period where the people behind the roles of the characters of genji monogatari retain their original sense of self, while during honpen they completely become the characters n forget their real selves. so koshosho no kimi (one of murasaki shikubu's close friends) is the antagonistic empress mother of the tale, kokiden no nyogo.

hmmm i wonder what the mechanism that determines the turnover of gyoukan/honpen is. the touken danshi arrive in heian-kyo, and find the entire era under control of this dichotomous influence, but how did the hra even manage to pull off smth on this scale? and why even give leeway to the touken danshi to break this process by keeping the gyoukan as a loophole?

but actually id say gyoukan serves its purpose in expanding upon the finer aspects behind the work and working it into the narrative.

so murasaki shikibu's caught on to the fact that the novel's story should be destroyed to stop this historical aberration and passes the book onto koshosho no kimi's keeping and thats why shes been resisting the forced characterization even tho its honpen rn

they made rokujou no miyasudokoro an ONMYOJI

koshosho hands three books to kasen. im glad they kept this little detail bc in fact genji monogatari is divided into three parts: the first two deal with the life of Genji and the last w two of Genji's prominent descendants, niou no miya and kaoru. theres much academic contention abt how much of the later chapters murasaki shikibu herself wrote, whether there were supposed to be more chapters, all the complications added from the fact that no original text exists etc etc but sute's understandably not involving itself w all that.

how come rokujou Knows shes in a story,,,,

like what is the criteria for someone to be aware theyre an actor

norimune's so Pretty its like hes a statue in a display case made to be revered . the curves of your lips rewrite history etc

kasen literally has sparkles in his eyes when talking abt how genji is a tale of love + how his prev master was one who lived alongside love and nansen paws him and says 'you bring up your former master everytime' wwww

norimune and himetsuru whispering to each other behind norimunes fan is,. literally the peak sexy use of a fan

apparently hosokawa yuusai used to be regarded as an authority on genji .... and thats why kasen is so passionate in his explanation of it. what a nerd (affectionate)

nansen being disgusted by the fact that genjis #1 love was a woman that resembled his mother . girl it gets worse hang on tight

make way for the hottest most haunting fucking part of this sute (starts reciting th names of all 54 chapters) boy am i glad i read all the chapters guden covers

honpen time....utsusemi's chapter. really fun that they included the snippy remarks towards genjis lecherous insistence and nansen's tsukkomi to genji flattering himself. this man keeps getting more and more disgusted by genjis actions towards women its so funny

yeah they did the sex.

the poem that earns utsusemi her name in genji monogatari (just gonna shorten that to GM from now on) is: 'underneath this tree, where the molting cicada shed her empty shell / my longing still goes to her, for all i know her to be' referring to the kimono she leaves behind while escaping him. but the poem kasen recites is 'just as drops of dew settle on cicada wings, concealed in this tree / secretly, oh secretly, these sleeves are wet with my tears' which is actually utsusemi's own reply to genjis aforementioned poem in GM.

RARE kasen boke moment. at least he realized he shouldnt make utsusemi accept genjis advances for the sake of distorting GM's plot bc that would be against her wishes. consent > tentatively correcting history. rare W there. genji could never.

interesting moral conflict here...norimune and choumou would rather cut down petty things like consent for the greater good of protecting history.

ookurikara went on a solo mission to confront genji while the rest (all 5 of them) go witness utsusemis chapter. so their plan mutsve been to break apart the story by either distorting the women's part of the story, or killing genji himself. what kind of insane confidence did kasen have to let kara go on his own to kill genji lol. also whats with the uneven team distribution....

ookurikara smack cam😔😔

genji cant die bc it isnt his time to die, as per GM. so he has infinite revival and plot protection to back him up

ironic that genji calls kara dekuningyou/ wooden puppet as an insult for a hollow and manipulated being bc at the end of the day isnt he also supposed to be bound by the story thats woven around him? yeah hes gained sentience now, but originally he existed inside the fourth wall, just like originally touken danshi used to be metal. but then again, this role-reversal has been brought about precisely so that his story will be recorded as reality, as his own actions, and that would make him better than sword puppets who will always be invisible and obedient toward the saniwa.

kasen: thank you for your hard work, i appreciate it ^^

kara: im not ur errand boy

kasen: ya thats why i expressed my gratitude (classist nod)

no one perfectly knows what the creator intended save for the creator themself, so only murasaki shikibu can know the contents of kumogakure, and she alone will be able to kill him.

thats the 'lack' in GM which leaves the death subject to interpretation. what genjis last moments are like, who he was surrounded by, etc etc will never be known to us. but since theres no description of his death, in what manner will he die....

for the love of god theyre SOOOO. (not meant in a shippy way tbc)

rokujou's actress is so good. thats a fucking villain alright.

hmm when the characters place blame on murasaki shikibu for making them the way they are, theyre also discounting the coherence and agency of the tale that has its roots in courtly affairs

with sentience also comes the indispensable fourth wall . and the newfound denial of free will.

chilllllls when genji wraps the manuscript around kasen as the newly formed genji.

"a tWeLvE LAyErEd KiMiNo woNt SuiT yOU" BET

ughfjdhjsdhvjksnj aoi no ue's baby fjkdsnfkjsdnvjkdsbnfjbwkjfnrkjfnekfnjewbfskdfnrkfnuejfnskjfnjsefnefkjbejkfn this scene is so kfjsndjfkjdnjvkbfgjbdfvnwsedrftgybhnjkmnhbgfrdecfvgbhjbgfdsrxcgvhbjnkmjhuygtfrdtfwghdvbcehefbiuwgnuwifn 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 FUCK😭😭😭😭😭😭KASEN AS GENJI HOLDING HIS BABY 😭😭😭😭😭

BECAUSE THATS SOMETHING NO TOUKEN DANSHI WILL EVER GET TO EXPERIENCE IT MAKES ME A LITTLE INSANE

hes a father....like an Actual Biological father......

ok but that doesnt happen in GM like in no shape or form do they share a happy-married-couple-cradling-their-child moment like that but also i am not complaining

youve got to fucking wonder when aoi says "resembling hikaru-gimi, how beautiful you are!" to her baby is it resembling kasen. Like does she mean the abstract concept of beauty that is general rather than particular or does it have purple hair blue eyes etc. sorry

ach whys sanchoumou spouting nikkaris battle lines. and norimune's saying kogarasumaru's and hime's doing hasebe's

actually i really like this. the government's actually outdone itself . using the power of anecdotes of swords and attaching them to unrelated swords to make them stronger...well ofc the expected end result is for mkzk and to sort out the number he's done on the timeline, but this is still! so! delightfully fucked up!! the end result of increased power takes precedence over individual stories!!! the ichimonji themselves dont seem to mind the fact they might just be an experimental citadel after all .

does that mean that kasen having gracia as master wouldve made him stronger than if he was regular old kasen w tadaoki ..? and ookurikara being stronger without the date attachment ..? but they still do retain their original characteristics. except that kasen is not as intense. <-idk if thats just the way kaichan interprets him or it's intentional writing

hello ms murasaki shikibu finally. fitting that the author takes the role of she who is forever out of genjis reach, and the person playing genji is an avid GM fan thats willing to doom history as we know it to save the author. get you a man like that etc etc<- NOT.

its so very sad that genji has to find a replacement for fujitsubo in a child of all places.

'Because it's from zuka and the cast is all female, the harshness is alleviated, and because it's a female cast, the hellishness of the women who live the story as reality stands out' <- someone i follow on twt said this and its so so true

ive read a bit of murasaki shikibus diary + the context of it and the reason why people were so dissuasive of murasaki was bc she was keen on pursuing the chinese texts and those were, as a rule, male territory. while men concerned themselves w chinese characters, women wrote in kana, and . that is why the big fabric of script they use in guden has only kana on it !! bc its a tale by a women for women. 'The Tale of Genji’s readership too has been naturalized female, at times discussed as if women were the exclusive audience of the tale, not least because by Murasaki’s time in the Heian period fictional tales had long been identified as a generic category for women.' (x)

lmfaoo suetsumuhana's actress-courtier saying she didnt like sei shonagon's makura no soushi as much as shikibu's GM (<- context is that shonagon served the empress teishi and was the literary jewel of her entourage while shikibu was empress soshi's. shikibu had some not-so-polite words to say abt shonagon in her diary w)

rattles cage DEATH OF THE AUTHOR DEATH OF THE AUTHORRR

perhaps soshi asking shikibu abt why she decided to write a tale of 'man and woman' is the only instance she was asked abt her intentions behind it

i like shikibus answer actually. it doesnt advocate for separatism of the 'man' and 'woman' binary, but shelters the motivations and flaws of characters under the umbrella of simply 'people'. ofc the book is a criticism of male whims and ofc guden does take it that way, but the motivations and fates of all characters cannot be put solely in the neat category of 'due to gender', bc in the end even the characters and ofc shikibu herself realize that this is how the wider society has molded them to be. so, it is 'a tale of people'

thatd mean touken danshi are outsiders with no relation or stakes in the tale, they are neither women who have loved/endured affairs, nor are they men that whimsically toy around in love. they are there to voice (ours, the audience's) morality.

so the logic used by th Nobody is: waka and poems are permissible bc they r expressions of the heart, but not prose that contains fiction, which is why writers like izumi shikibu and sei shonagon will be spared while murasaki shikibu will fall into hell. all out of respect for buddhist precepts. (mental note to translate shiotsuki shu's blog entry soon)

and making the lie that is GM into reality/truth will absolve shikibu of her sins

just realized...didn't Ishiyama temple become a sort of tourist spot for allegedly being the spot where GM was completed? Ironic how such a 'heretical' piece of work could come into being in the house of god.

really good stuff in this paper

seeing how protests only arose from the 12th century on and there arent any surviving records of such criticism from the time shikibu wrote , im inclined to think that maybe the unnamed man that confronts shikibu is literally some rando guy from the latter centuries that got picked up by the HRA, from when the availability of printed books led to GM being way more accessible . bc come to think of it - its highly unlikely shikibu would Not know a courtier, the only class that was in the know abt GM. but then again, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, so maybe putting that 'nobody' there as a placeholder male aristocrat is so he can serve as vehicle for the problems that arise when fiction is come across by those who were unintended as target readers in the first place, in this case, men.

also its sort of ironic how the guy (the nobody) is overly concerned with the metaphysical fate of shikibu while the flow of history has proved agin and again that she remained not only an author that was respected and idealized, but also a historian that was treated as a valuable source on heian noble etiquette. typical patriarchal delusion stemming from misplaced concern.

well either way, whether all this is true or not, its p clear that there have been exaggerations and unproved myths surrounding shikibu and GM all along, whether be for or against, so should another lie really make any difference in the grand scheme of things?

'....aren't we also a big lie? what a sinful existence are touken danshi' norimunes fucking line deliveryyyy

i bet real genji made quick work of koremitsu during gyoukan to appear in front of genji!kasen as koremitsu himself lol

ah the ave maria from kiden

when the fuck did they discover they can travel to diff chapters by flipping pages ???????? itd be funny if kasen just realised that spur of the moment

fitting that empress soshi mentions chuang tzu's 'butterfly who dreams' analogy to describe their situation bc historically, she was so interested in chinese lit that she studied it under shikibu's guidance

wait so this has strayed far enough from reality that the intention has transformed this genji monogatari re-enactment into a genji kuyo? oh this FUCKS

norimune's old man laughter >>>>> mkzk's old man laughter

'the only actual person here is that man playing genji?!' theyre in platos cave. theyre all in platos cave. we were all in platos cave until now. we were all butterflies dreaming we're humans.

its the fact that everything was truly black and white until now history was history and GM was a story that was well liked until some guy came along, threw everything into chaos, managed to mix up actual existences with falsified ones, gave rise to incoherence in the story due to the existence of multiple genjis at the same time, with the sole hope that in the future some people would dig up his bones and recognize GM as a true story, but the only way to stop this contradiction is itself a contradiction: killing the main genji in kumogakure would indeed lift the altered existence of heian-kyo, but it would also accomplish his death which was what he hoped for in the first place. is this really then a plot with no holes?

good lord but that is quite a nose on suetsumuhana. it looks like...something else entirely. not gonna say what

wakey wakey @ ookurikara. congrats to date masamune for appearing in three difftypes of stage adaptations

ive said it already but its so striking how different the types of scenes we're shown of kasen as genji and kara as genji are. kasen's always romancing and getting the best scenes while kara isnt shown romancing at all

norimune is a beaut x100

GOD himes fight sequence w all the wings flapping sfx and the twirling is so elegant ..... what was that HRA formation tho lol they were just being goofy

did i mention norimune is so mesmerizing everytime she's onstage . the sex appeal is off the charts like genuinely

i keep forgetting its a woman in ookurikaras role bc she looks so cool.

I will literally never get tired of the sute trope of having kasen's fight sequences the last w dramatic music precluding his appearance onstage and him spreading his arms wide and going ware koso wa nosada ga hitofuri, kasen kanesada nari! and then wrecking shit up (god there r so many similarities between this fight and kidens hissatsu fight)

shut upppp shut up the kuyou spotlight circling the kikyou spotlight as he realizes his true story >!>!!>I!UH@*#$%^&*(struggles to breathe

final form genji looks like hes stepped out a wuxia novel. jun wu vibes fr

yayyy final fight

i think so far in the entire play norimune's had her stomach slashed in the same place thrice

i like how they include little waltz (?) dance steps into hime's fight choreo

CHILLS as norimune says theyre not the ones who'll kill genji and then all the women walk on stage

ummmmmmmmmmmmmm

🔪⁉️

uhhhhhhh

-_-

the honpen retains its influence on them....ofc they wont be the ones to kill genji. that would be incoherent with the storyline . what do you call it when the characters drawn by a woman for women are in the end too crippled by love to kill the source of their suffering? .... someone who is until the end mean in his love....

after rewinding multiple times......yes wakamurasaki does stick the knife into herself . the thrust overlaps w kasen pushing his sword into genji + lights go off so its jus t silhouettes

ah

its so fitting that genji dies right after wakamurasaki here since kumogakure follows right after maboroshi (the chapter in GM where wakamurasaki dies)

whats a little homoerotic cheek cupping between enemies...heh

we cannot leave heiankyo in any media without mentioning shuten douji ofc

kasen................why . how do you justify that

they let th HRA fucken run off w genjis dead body like bro. BRO I AM SHAKIGN YOU SO HARD . HIS CORPSE WAS RIGHT THERE HOW COME NOBODY THOUGHT OF HOLDING ON TO IT TO YKNOW, ACCOMPLISH THE MISSION THEY CAME HERE FOR IN THE FIRST PLACE .

AND DNA TESTING EXISTS????????????? COULDNT THE GUY'S BONES BE TESTED AND THEREFORE PROVED NOT TO BE GENJI BC HIS GENE POOL WOULD NOT MATCH THAT OF THE PREVIOUS IMPERIAL LINE OR SMTH. I DOUBT THE HRA METICULOUSLY PROGRAMMED THE STORY TO MAGICALLY ALTER THE GENETIC MAKEUP OF THE GUY

kasen says its alright bc itll be imperceptible but. no ? if GM is proved to be real it won't be the first fictional novel discovered anymore??? that's a Big thing

nyan's silliness is so refreshing after That

what. was that contradiction. why . what was the neeeed for a flimsy ending like that. just to secure their citadel's destruction? semt-san i know youre better than thisss i know you can write a complicated ending to your complicated premise but this really wasnt it

'even though you might be broken, gozen sure is carefree' lets just carry on like normal after saying that yeah

hime saw kasen stuck in platos cave slowly realizing he should turn around and said no we hold on to the illusion that everythign right in frotn of us is reality. harsh ? maybe, but it coheres. the ichimonji are after all government tools.

hell is other people hell is us . theres so much potential here for sequels of zukatousute, esp since they brought up og tousute's manba and mkzk. feels cruel to leave that honmaru hanging.

curtain call now

shu is so cute she talked abt how she was out of letter sets so she couldnt send her honmaru's nansen for his kiwame

sayato sumiki saying she'll feel #gudenloss

noooooo maomao is so close to tears ;-; but also WOW the gap moe

so ayana's voice is so much higher than what she uses for norimune... i could listen to her for hours ….. heart is taking -1000 dmg

zachouuuuuuuuuuu aaaaaaaaa. [mimes closing a book] "i believe its time to close this story." *someone from the cast whispering "kawaii!"*

all in all, i think the genji monogatari + jinbutsu storyline was pretty solid and did make for a gripping plot but the ending that the touken danshi chose troubles me to no end......ideally kara wouldve snatched genjis corpse and theyd have given him a proper cremation and theyd have pondered the same things they do after the hra take away genji

or what would also have been fun is kasen and kara realizing their altered stories were due to the government's tampering and thus letting go of genji was a conscious decision between two of them setting up for a nice kurikase / ichimonji-seifu dichotomy where they chose to remain true to themselves while the ichimonji willingly give their stories up and resign themselves to being mere tools

......plus the fact that none of them ever mentioned smth like hope to see you in another sute work! in the curtain call...........aaaa it's too sad

[heraldofzaun]

This is a post I’ve been thinking about making for quite some time, especially due to looking at how my own personal depiction of Viktor differs from what seems to be the general fandom interpretation - especially after the LoR cards released and gave us a few canonical acolytes.

I won’t beat around the bush here: this is going to be about why I personally believe that associating the Glorious Evolution specifically with headcanons about Viktor or his acolytes being trans, or Viktor performing gender-affirming surgeries, or things in a similar vein is a poor decision, and why I don’t include this interpretation in my writings. This isn’t meant to discourage people from writing Viktor or his acolytes as trans, of course - my Viktor is agender, although he’s not aware of it, and it would be absurd to say that his followers have to be cis - but I think it’s important to look at the implications that come from writing Viktor as explicitly someone who helps people relieve and manage their dysphoria through his work with the GE.

Firstly, no matter how you spin it: Viktor’s idea of the Glorious Evolution has always been painted in a negative light. I’ve done my work to portray it as idealistically as possible, but at the end of the day his goals have always been about removing (at the very least, negative) emotions from himself, as well as mechanizing himself and others.

“Desiring both to revolutionize his field and to eliminate the jealous human emotions which festered inside him, he engineered parts to replace and improve his own body... He saw himself as the patron and pioneer of Valoran's future, a future in which man would renounce his flesh in favor of superior hextech augmentations.” (Original lore.)

“He saw human involvement in any part of a process as a grossly inefficient aberration - a view that put him at odds with a great many of his fellow students and professors, who saw the very things Viktor sought to remove as the source of human ingenuity and creativity.” (New lore.)

“Jayce reported the incident [of Viktor creating a device that allowed someone to “effectively control” another person]  to the college masters, and Viktor was censured for violating basic human dignity - though, in his eyes, his work would have saved many lives. He was expelled from the college, and retreated to his old laboratory in Zaun, disgusted by the narrow-minded perceptions of Piltover's inhabitants. Alone in the depths, Viktor sank into a deep depression, enduring a traumatic period of introspection for many weeks. He wrestled with the ethical dilemma he now faced, finding that, once again, human emotion and weakness had stood in his way. He had been trying to help, to enhance people beyond their natural capabilities to avoid error and save lives. Revelation came when he realized that he too had succumbed to such emotions, allowing his naive belief that good intentions could overcome ingrained prejudice to blind him to human failings. Viktor knew he could not expect others to follow where he did not go first, so, in secret, he operated on himself to remove those parts of his flesh and psyche that relied upon or were inhibited by emotion.” (New lore.)

This, when combined with how Viktor has also always been intended as a more villainous character - his visual design language, voice lines, and how he leans into the “evil Russian scientist” stereotype all confirm that - mean that from an out-of-universe standpoint, we’re meant to see his ideas as wrong and misguided. Multiple other champions have lines specifically about how he’s wrong - Ekko calls him “everything wrong with Zaun”, Camille (who is morally grey at best, and a cold-blooded killer at worst) calls his work “quaint”, implying that it doesn’t go far enough for her liking, and Heimerdinger makes the point that without humans, no one will be left to appreciate Viktor’s work. It doesn’t matter if Viktor has good intentions - the narrative tells us time and time again that his path leads to a very dark place, especially in new lore where he’s comfortable with violating free will for the sake of preventing death.

It seems obvious to me that a character who auto-amputates as a way to cope with overwhelming emotions, who decides that emotions themselves are a burden, who is repeatedly described as having an obsession with the Glorious Evolution regardless of lore, who is described as who you go to when you’re desperate in new lore... is clearly someone whose surgeries (at least of himself, where they are implied to be unnecessary - again, auto-amputation) and end goals are supposed to be read as a violation of human nature and dignity. Here we pivot to talking about trans issues in specific.

I’m of the firm belief that it’s not a good idea to associate gender-affirming surgeries, HRT, or any other thing used for transitioning with a character whose surgeries are supposed to be read as a violation of the human form. This plays directly into the anti-trans idea that transitioning is, well, a violation of the human form. It is not a good idea to write the man who cuts off his own limbs to poorly cope with his emotions as a patron of trans rights. It’s drawing a direct parallel between Viktor’s auto-amputations, which we are supposed to read as not only a very bad thing and the product of obsession, but arguably self-harm, with life-saving medical care.

(There’s also the issue that some people seem to assume that transhumanism is, in any way, inherently related to being trans - but that’s a whole other topic that I don’t feel very qualified to write on. I consider myself someone interested in transhumanist concepts, when applied appropriately (i.e. not ending up in eugenicist territory), but I am far from an expert on transhumanist thought. I think it’s enough to say that no, they’re not related. They’re just two things with the same prefix. Please don’t confuse the two.)

In my opinion, Viktor should not be seen as someone whose work is a direct benefit to trans individuals. (Again, not to say that Viktor can’t have followers who are trans. But please, please consider before making him the person that they go to for help with transitioning. The man doesn’t even have a medical degree, and his canonical work is described as being all about function over form. He’s not the surgeon you want.) I don’t think that Viktor’s gender identity, whatever it may be, should be associated with his obsession with the Glorious Evolution - or at the least, it shouldn’t be portrayed as a positive association. (In the sense of Viktor using the GE/his own surgeries as a positive affirmation of his gender... I’m struggling to precisely define this at the moment, apologies.) The GE is, textually, an unhealthy coping mechanism.

(There’s maybe something to be said for a Viktor who has disassociated himself so far from humanity that he no longer considers gender applicable to himself... but please, be careful if you write this. I’m speaking as someone who’s agender: I’m tired of my identity being used as shorthand for someone or something becoming or being nonhuman. I’m tired of people treating Blitzcrank being reskinned as a they/them pronoun user as something revolutionary, if they themselves don’t use those pronouns or aren’t nonbinary. I’m not going to pretend that I’m the arbiter of what people can and can’t write, but I’m tired of seeing myself - as an autistic and agender person - represented solely by unfeeling aliens and machines and whatever else, and being told that it’s good, actually, because any representation is good representation. I’d like for people to be more mindful in what they write and promote, but I think that this is becoming a tangent.)

I guess it comes time for me to defend my own depiction, then, since as I’ve mentioned above I do write Viktor as agender. I admit that I want to see aspects of myself in the characters that I like, but I also strive to be aware of the implications that these aspects may have. My Viktor’s gender identity has absolutely nothing to do with his idea of the Glorious Evolution - he has no dysphoria that he attempts to relieve through his surgeries, he does not see roboticization as a way to move past the gender binary... he doesn’t even realize that he’s not a cis man, because he hasn’t had the time or tools to introspect on that aspect of himself. (He’d be rather confused if you told him that people generally tend to feel as if they’re a certain gender - he’s just... himself.) I’ve written him in this way to try to make it clear that he has always felt this way about himself - that the GE has nothing to do with it - and that it has no influence on his actions as the Machine Herald.

There isn’t really a good way to wrap this up. Again, I am not saying that Viktor or his acolytes shouldn’t be written as trans, nor trying to stop people from writing that - only that their transness shouldn’t be directly associated with his idea of the Glorious Evolution. I think that we need to be mindful of what kinds of tropes that our depictions can fall into, and in this case a non-mindful depiction of Viktor as trans can seen as equating being trans to what’s easily read as self-harm/a violation of human nature. I doubt that anyone genuinely intends this association, but it can be made regardless, and so I prefer to keep the two concepts wholly separate in my depiction.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. I’m willing to answer any questions that arise from this.

[doctorslippery]

Inhuman creatures from other dimensions are classic horror tropes. As are temptations of power that encourage the protagonists to walk the line between good and evil. The Host are inspired by the creatures in the classic horror film, “From Beyond“, while their Host Spawn disease is built to tempt the infected creature to give in to its power.

The Host

The eel-like creatures known as the Host originated from a twisted plane of inhuman hunger and madness. How they crossed the boundary between their home plane and the Ethereal remains a mystery, but luckily their numbers remain small.

The Hosts themselves are ethereal beings, floating through the Material Plane unaware of its inhabitants until one of them makes their presence known. Often the hosts’ victims are arcane researchers, alchemists, or theologists experimenting with forbidden forces, but no living creature is immune. Magic surging along ley lines may allow the Host a glimpse into the Material world, making any living creature a potential victim.

Creatures that fall prey to the host are called the infested. The host sees through the creature’s senses and fills its mind with knowledge few can fathom. It then begins to multiply. Those who can see invisible objects or into the Ethereal plane will notice an armored, hive-like growth, typically on the creatures back or chest. This growth becomes the host’s home as it breeds.

The innate spellcasting gained by the infested is in actuality the host’s spawn being sent to affect a target. The hosts’ link with the infested, as well as its spawn, allows the infested to ignore the need for concentration on its innate spells. When an infested’s spell expires, the ethereal spawn dies.

Any creature that fails their saving throw against an infested’s dominate beast or dominate person spell must make a Charisma save against the infested’s Intelligence-based save DC, 24 hours after the spell’s duration ends. A failed save means the target gains Host Spawn disease. A creature affected by more than one of these spells in a 24 hour period makes only one save 24 hours after the first spell’s duration ends.

Host Spawn Disease

The personality of those infected by Host Spawn are slowly overridden by the creature growing inside their body. Unlike typical parasites, the spawn does not have a physical form and cannot be affected by non-magical disease treatments. While infected, the target can hear the ancient memories of the spawn echoing through its mind, tearing at the target’s personality.

After the original failed save, an infected creature with less than 14 Intelligence increases their Intelligence by 2. They also gain advantage on Intelligence checks as the host’s ancestral memories flood into their mind. After each full rest, the target may make another Charisma save against the disease’s current DC + 1. A creature may voluntarily fail the saving throw after each full rest. Each failed save increases the creature’s Intelligence as above and provides the following benefits:

2nd failed save: Advantage on Intelligence saves 3rd failed save: Advantage on Charisma checks 4th failed save: Advantage on Charisma saves against all effects except this disease and the innate spellcasting of a creature with the infested template 5th failed save: Advantage on Wisdom checks and saves

Saving throws against the disease continue until six saves are failed, at which time the disease ends, the creature gains the Infested template, and its consciousness is subsumed.

While under the effects of Host Spawn, the infected creature is susceptible to the voices in its head. The infected creature blacks out and performs some act at the behest of the spawn as determined by your DM (recommended no more than once per day, but that’s up to your story needs). Examples include having the infected creature act as if under the effects of a confusion spell in combat for 1 round per save they’ve failed. Or if out of combat the DM determines what, if anything, the infected creature does for up to 1 hour per failed save.

A successful save removes the most recently gained benefits (including increased Intelligence), though the increased DC to resist remains the same. Once the infected creature returns to its normal state, it gains 1 level of exhaustion and the disease ends.

Magical spells and effects that remove disease remove all benefits granted by this disease and ends the disease. The break enchantment effect of dispel evil and good will also remove all benefits and the disease.

Host Spawn at your Table

The infested template and Host Spawn disease are ideal for one-shot Halloween-themed horror games, though folding them into a long term “Invasion from Beyond” campaign can be incredibly satisfying. Unlike most other diseases, the more saves the infected creature fails, the more power they gain. This is designed to create moments of “if I fail one more save, I may have enough knowledge and power to defeat the evil!”

DMs are encouraged to make the PC’s initial saving throw against Host Spawn in secret. Keeping the infestation a secret and hinting at the disease’s effects slowly over time can build the tension. Allow the affected PC to gain advantage on a few key Intelligence checks, exhibiting knowledge about things they’ve never known before. If the knowledge is helpful to their immediate task, the PCs may not question this “divine intervention”. After a few failed saves, the PCs will realize the PC is gaining access to knowledge they couldn’t possible know as well as a new-found and unnerving presence; whether that presence is intimidating or charming is up to your DM or group.

If the PCs weren’t able to see the host or the host’s spawn during the fight in which the PC was infected, it may take them awhile to cast detect poison and disease or similar spells. It’s recommended to allow Medicine checks to understand that what is happening is similar to a parasitic disease, but the DC should be very high (25 or more).

DMs are also encouraged to fold the disease’s “black outs” into their storyline in classic ways, allowing the players’ out-of-character horror-movie knowledge to plague them. Revealing the PC’s “blackouts” only after the disease has progressed for several days or more can build inter-party tension. Is there a serial killer at work in the city that the PCs now suspect is one of their own? How were they ambushed at a key moment in a heist when they thought no one else knew their plan? Is the spawn secretly working with the big bad in your campaign, undermining the actions of the heroes while they sleep? Is the spawn twisting the PC’s bonds, flaws, and desires into brutal reality?

Parties with easy access to spells and effects that automatically remove diseases (including paladins) may decide to ride the disease to its limit. Make sure to increase the duration and consequences of the PC’s blackouts to encourage hard choices. Should the party decide to remove the disease immediately, you may want to put obstacles in their way that require the knowledge the disease offers. Each time a PC is infected with the disease after the first, increase the number of spells or effects required to remove it by one.

Infested Template

Any living creature of Small to Huge size can become infested, including beasts and aberrations. Once infested, the creature’s skin, fur, or scales appear sickly for its type and its eyes flicker a dim red in the darkness.

When a creature becomes infested, it retains all of its abilities except as described below. Creatures with legendary or lair actions may retain them, or gain new ones at the DM’s discretion.

Ability Scores. The infested creature’s Intelligence score increases to 14 if it is less than 14.

Otherworldly Senses. The infested creature gains blindsight to a range of 30 feet and may see creatures in the Ethereal plane up to 30 feet.

Languages. The infested creature gains the ability to speak and understand the language of aberrations if it did not already.

Resistances. The infested creature gains resistance to psychic damage.

We are Legion. The infested creature gains advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws and ability checks.

Innate Spellcasting. The infested creature gains the ability to cast the following spells without the need for components. The infested creature may also ignore the concentration requirement on one of these spells at a time, allowing it to have two concentration spells active simultaneously. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence.

At-will. detect thoughts, dissonant whispers 3/day. charm person, crown of madness, hex, hold person 1/day. dominate beast, dominate person

Infested Lizardfolk Shaman

Medium humanoid, neutral evil

Armor Class 13 (16 with barkskin)

Hit Points 32 (5d8+10)

Speed 30 ft., Swim 30 ft.

STRDEXCONINTWISCHA

14 (+2)10 (+0)15 (+2)14 (+2)15 (+2)12 (+1)

Skills Arcana +4, Nature +4, Perception +4, Stealth +4, Survival +6

Senses blindsight 30ft., see ethereal 30 ft., passive Perception 14

Resistance psychic damage

Languages Draconic, Undercommon (or other aberrant language)

Challenge 4 (1100 XP)

Hold Breath. The infested lizardfolk shaman can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to its Constitution score (15)

Host Spawn Disease. Creatures that fail their save against at least one of the shaman’s dominate beast, dominate person, or hold monster innate spells must succeed on a DC 12 Charisma save 24 hours after the spell’s duration ends or contract Host Spawn disease.

We are Legion. The infested creature gains advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws and ability checks.

Innate Spellcasting. The infested creature gains the ability to cast the following spells without the need for components. The shaman may ignore the concentration requirement on one of its innate spells at time. Its spellcasting ability is Intelligence. Spell save DC 12, spell attack bonus +4

Spellcasting (Lizardfolk form). The infested lizardfolk shaman has access to the spells of a 5th level druid. Its spellcasting ability is Wisdom. Spell save DC 12, spell attack bonus +4.

At-will. detect thoughts, dissonant whispers 3/day. charm person, crown of madness, hex, hold person 1/day. dominate beast, dominate person

Cantrips. druidcraft, produce flame, aberrant whip (as thorn whip, except damage is psychic) 1st level (4 slots). entangle, fog cloud, healing word 2nd level (3 slots). barkskin, heat metal, spike growth 3rd level (2 slots). call lightning, plant growth

Actions

Multiattack (Lizardfolk form). If the infested lizardfolk shaman casts a cantrip, it may also make a bite attack.

Bite. Melee Attack: +4 to hit, Hit: 1d6+2 (5) piercing damage. If in its crocodile form, the damage increases to 2d6+2 (9) piercing and the target is grabbed if it is Large or smaller (DC 14 to escape). A grappled creature gains the restrained condition. The grapple ends automatically if the shaman reverts to its normal form, or if it uses its bite attack against a different target.

Change Form. The infested lizardfolk shaman takes on the form of a Large crocodile for up to 1 hour. Other than the change in size, the shaman’s traits remain the same. It may not cast druid spells in this form, though it may maintain concentration on spells it cast before changing. The shaman may still use its innate spellcasting ability while in crocodile form.

Artwork provided by the fantastic, Dean Spencer!

[theonyxpath]

Today’s blog is going to be a bit different. It’s one of the rare Mondays we aren’t holding our weekly meeting, in that it’s the Labor Day holiday here in the US and a bunch of us are all over the place taking care of everything from finishing up conventions to driving a kid back to college.

So, while we still have our updates and all that, I don’t have a meeting’s worth of notes to share with you in some mutated form. Instead, I thought I’d selfishly take the opportunity to talk about one of my processes; specifically, the process I go through to design the look of one of our game line’s cover treatments.

In this case, I’m talking about the cover for Trinity Continuum: Aberrant.

To do that, we need to go back to when I was designing the overall look of the entire Trinity Continuum line. Sitting down and considering what direction to go with it, I made the a call to make sure the covers let folks know that they were part of a series, rather than the direction of the original editions where I wanted each core book to reflect the genre the game was designed to emulate.

I’m talking about the funky and unique plastic binding of Trinity (Aeon), the graphic novel look of the Aberrant cover, and the pseudo-distressed look of an old pulp magazine for Adventure!.

I think we did a pretty nice job on them way back when, but now that we are emphasizing the fact that these game lines exist in a Trinity Continuum, I was looking for a way that the cover treatments would also relay that information.

A timeline sort of feel – something that could be read as moments along the Continuum – was what I was looking for, but my first idea, a single illustration that we’d cut sections out of for each main book, just wouldn’t work as intended. After all, we expect to add all sorts of new time periods and genres, so how could those be worked into a single illustration before we even could know which ones we were doing?

Instead, what if each point on the timeline that represented a new slice of the Continuum was represented by a vertical illustration that collaged together the high points of that setting? I could picture them springing up all along the timeline, with maybe the “tent pole” game settings of the Trinity Continuum: Core, TC: Adventure!, TC: Aberrant, and TC: Aeon, getting the largest and most involved images for their covers, and other books having treatments that were as involved as the books warranted.

Something like this:

That would give us an underlying structure that tied into the Continuum concept – and it is always a good thing to try and put new concepts into some sort of visual design that reinforces and even explains that new concept – yet not have a design that would constrict our ideas and cover visuals.

Here’s what the TC: Core and TC: Aeon covers look like:

Now for TC: Aberrant, I was able to start with continuing the structure set up with the previous covers, and I had the original edition’s collage cover by the awesome Tom Fleming to draw imagery from to give us the quite accurate sense of a connection between the two editions. So things like a cityscape at the bottom, and making sure we got a T2M logo somewhere in it, were natural choices for imagery.

Which scenes, which head-shots, and which full figures to be featured were a different matter entirely. A lot depended on just what we wanted this edition to have as themes, or basically, what kind of moments and characters best show off the setting folks will find past the cover?

For the biggest, focal-point full-body figures: we’d talked about the changes to The Fireman’s story, so I knew he was still an inspirational figure – maybe even moreso in this edition. I even played around with having the central image be his statue, but decided on keeping the focus on the living hero.

Divas Mal, of course, needed to be in a position of prominence, and I wanted the swirl of his cloak to talk about one of our most iconic characters also being a comic book character. Around him, the leading figures in his movement, since Mal was still a messianic figure that movements coalesced around in this edition.

Some rough sketches along the way to the cover design.

Then between them, another iconic and powerful character, Antaeus – even before we knew the lead-in webcomic would feature him. Smaller figures would run the gamut of the various kinds of Novas – mercenary Elites, celebs in the public eye, T2M members, etc. I also wanted a wide range of physical types.

Some head-shot characters as a call back to the first edition cover, and to break up the figures on a visual level. I knew Matthew and Eddy were anxiously awaiting a chance to pitch a supplement detailing the Nova wrestlers that featured way to prominently in first edition (IMHO), so Lance Stryker reprises his head-shot, along with the iconic Cestus Pax to reassure long-time fans that the hero you love to hate was still in there. (Especially since Ian Watson had already made some strong changes to the character).

Just like on the previous two book covers, the three characters above the cityscape are new ones, but again, I was pushing to hit some archetypes and expand some physical types. Plus, we had discussed a long time back that “inventor” type characters would be able to go all Tony Stark, so a powered-suit character needed to be on there to suggest that change in this edition.

For iconic scenes, I started with the Galatea explosion, and the attack on the Lincoln Memorial by Geryon. Both of those have also been moments from which a lot of the further events of the setting sprung. Then a few more, like a T2M rescue just to get the team into the cover a tad bit more, as even tweaked, I know they were still a great entry point for lots of folks coming to TC: Aberrant already aware of the idea of superhero teams.

Because, even with all that pre-planning, there were still tweaks to be made. The biggest came late in the actual illustrating when I was reminded that in this edition’s continuity Slider isn’t murdered. I’d designed the cover before the writing was done, and forgotten I’d included the Slider assassination as one of the cover moments. Whoops! We had to get that fixed even later than Mirthful Mike’s cover mock-up for the Kickstarter.

And please, lest you think this whole blog is me suggesting the covers are all a RichT production of a RichT idea, directed by and starring RichT, let me be clear that most of my efforts end by handing off my sketches to Mirthful Mike Chaney, who not only art directs the cover illustrations based on the sketches, but follows up on the illustrator’s versions and my notes on them, and then makes the illustrations sing by how he has done the graphic design for the covers.

Fantastic artist Shen Fei, who has illustrated the covers for all three books so far, has so far blown away and improved my ideas by a quantum level – and I expect that TC: Adventure! will also be for more beautiful than I imagined as I sketched it out! (And I can imagine a fair bit of beautiful.)

So, that’s pretty much it for this week. Just a little peak behind the scenes on how we do the voodoo that we do so well in order to illuminate our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

Keep an eye out in this space as well as on our social media for the Deviant: The Renegades Kickstarter that will be launching later this month!

Onyx Path Media!

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features recordings from GenCon! Go to https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/ or to your favorite podcast venue!

The Onyx Path News show went out live today, with talk of Vampire, Werewolf, Chronicles of Darkness, They Came From Beneath the Sea!, Dystopia Rising: Evolution, and all kinds of other games, along with lots of meandering nonsense from Matthew! https://youtu.be/ZVmX1n_54Fc

Our Twitch channel has a bumper crop of content coming up this week, with almost every day populated with a show! There’s Scion, Scarred Lands, Vampire, and more! Check us out and give us a follow on www.twitch.tv/theonyxpath

Here’s a special treat for fans of Mage: The Awakening! Occultists Anonymous have four new episodes for you right here as follows:

Episode 37: Forging Futures With Atratus still within her soul and tensions running a little high, Wyrd and Songbird split the party. Plans are made for the future of the cabal and the individual mages. https://youtu.be/ay54wbYhs7Y

Episode 38: In the Wings Wyrd the Seer and Songbird work to restore a wounded Hallow. Atratus experiments with the new strength of her Matter Arcana. https://youtu.be/ZsMa26FER4g

Episode 39: Lady of the Lake Wyrd the Seer delves into her Oneiros to confront the conflicts within her own soul. Songbird prepares for his UFC fight. Atratus speaks with her dead brother. https://youtu.be/AD2UTOzWSq8

Episode 40: He’s Back Acanthis, the fighter formerly known as Songbird, returns to a UFC fight, then the cabal goes to Jimmy “Smalls” Patinko’s place for a party. Enjoying the nightlife in New York City… https://youtu.be/yULxjFKo-iE

The Story Told Podcast continue their excellent Dragon-Blooded actual play. As the Dragon-Blooded set out again on the road to Daric, Kai discovers evidence of a small band of travelers attempting to hid their presence. The Dragon-Blooded decide to investigate. https://thestorytold.libsyn.com/

Our Scion: Athens, Ohio actual play is now on our YouTube channel right here https://youtu.be/gQv3599lczo along with promo videos here https://youtu.be/drNIV5G8Vys and here https://youtu.be/9_1X8l1RXaQ Expect more to come in the coming weeks!

Drop Matthew a message via the contact button on matthewdawkins.com if you have actual plays, reviews, or game overviews you want us to profile on the blog!

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!

As always, you can find most of Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, Night Horrors: Shunned By the Moon for Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd will be available in PDF and physical book PoD versions on DTRPG!

Conventions!

Save Against Fear: October 12th – 14th GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd PAX Unplugged: December 6th – 8th 2020: Midwinter: January 9th – 12th

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Creating in the Realms of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Redlines

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)

Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Development

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Manuscript Approval

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

W20 Art Book (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Post-Approval Development

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

V5 Chicago Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Scion LARP Rules (Scion)

Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Editing

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Post-Editing Development

Memento Mori (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e Companion)

DR:E Jumpstart (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Indexing

Geist 2e (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

Contagion Chronicle

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Ex3 Lunars – Contracted. Sketches rolling in.

TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

DR:E Threat Guide �� Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties – Contracted.

Deviant (KS) – Contracted. Putting together KS graphics.

Trinity RMCs – Contracted.

Cults of the Blood God (KS) – Sending out art notes.

Chicago Folio – Art notes going out this week.

Mummy 2 (KS) – Got Matthew’s notes.

Memento Mori – Small book, throwing it to Drew and Luis.

In Layout

They Came from Beneath the Sea!

Dark Eras 2 – Files with Aileen

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds

VtR Spilled Blood – With Josh. Everything is in, so he should be cruising.

Aeon Aexpansion – Need to do cover.

Proofing

C20 Cup of Dreams

Signs of Sorcery – Inputting errata.

M20 Book of the Fallen

DR: E – Back to Eddy for XXs.

DR:E Jumpstart

CoM – Witch Queen of the Shadowed Citadel

At Press

Dragon Blooded – Shipping wrapping up.

Dragon-Blooded Cloth Map – Shipping wrapping up.

Dragon-Blooded Screen – Shipping wrapping up.

Trinity Core Screen – At Studio2.

TC Aeon Screen – At Studio2.

Trinity: In Media Res – PoD proofs coming.

Trinity Core – Printing. PoD proofs ordered.

Trinity Aeon – Printing. PoD proofs ordered.

V5: Chicago – Prepping files for press.

You Are Not Alone (TC: Aberrant Comic) – PoD proof ordered.

Shunned By the Moon – PDF and PoD physical book versions available this Wed. at DTRPG!

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Thanks to Impish Ian Watson for posting this: “50 years ago today, two computers at UCLA were connected via a 4.5-meter cable, giving birth to what we call the Internet. Happy birthday, Internet.” Because without the internet, Onyx Path would just not work – we need the connections around the world to do what we do!

[the-constant-project]

Interview with a Magical Girl

What was my childhood like?

I don’t remember much of my childhood. Not due to it being bad or something overtly traumatic, it was just average (Upon discussing stuff with my therapist, I have since learnt this is not true in the slightest.). I was neither particularly skilled academically or physically, though I soon learnt later in life that this was due to how my brain worked. A smart little awkward cookie who just couldn’t handle the pre-packaged Baked Goods that was expected of all younglings. I was bright, devoured what I read and caught my interest, but it didn’t suit what the Adults expected, and thus I was branded an outcast. The interest in cephalopods definitely didn’t help with my peers either, atleast not until my 20s. Eventually the growth hormones kicked in (Fuck being a teenager. Those who miss those days are either incredibly delusional, or they lucked out during their teenage years. Lucky sods.), and changes wracked my form. Some grew interested in the other sex, others were interested in the same but kept quiet about it. Whereas I......just wasn’t interested. There were times when desire would flood my body, but I was lucky that I had read about what hormones could do to me, so I understood what I was feeling would only be temporary. The few who truly did spark something, recoiled from me upon learning so, due to either them having only been faking friendship with my for whatever reason teenagers do so, or preferred us being friends. I was fine with the latter, it was nice knowing how I could interact with them. It was the former that started the process of breaking me, of learning the difference between being a person, and being an object. And it was the loss of all of them at the end of my final high school year that started the cracks in my psyche. I had spent my formative years making myself into someone they all liked, actively avoiding the things that, upon reflection, would define my adult life. The realization I had wasted my formative years on people who had been happy to drop me once they didn’t have to deal with me.............hurt. I had denied myself, and torn myself into the wrong shapes, and it had not been enough for them. I don’t remember the couple of years between High School ending, and starting my stagnant job. I just remember the hate, the rage, the pain and the anguish. Its still there, buried deep. I have long since accepted those parts of me. Those parts of me help when something tries to break me again.

 You may have noticed I haven’t mentioned my family. My mother is a good woman, who has had the world repeatedly try and beat her down and break her. It succeeded, but she refused what it gave her and fought her way back to something resembling normalcy. Atleast, as close as she can manage. My siblings.....I resent them for how they were growing up, but I’ve since come to terms with them and we enjoy a nice peace between us. Not living in the same house helps a lot. We won’t speak of the man who put me in a hospital. He’s lucky my mother and I still, for some unknown and most likely fucking stupid reason, allow him to stay in our lives.

  My stagnant job was just that.....stagnant. I was one of their better employees. But I was neither Good Enough(tm), nor did I perform the needlessly complicated social rituals needed to bypass the Good Enough(tm) necessity required for getting promoted.

 I was secluded, but it helped me start healing. But it stagnated at some point, and I became stuck in a rut, unable to leave.

It wasn’t until my Ikō-ki came that my life truly started.

************ Whats an Ikō-ki, you ask? I’m not sure myself, to be honest. I was alone in my tiny apartment, my own little stagnant marble of reality, when it just appeared with a flickering of the light, a strange dark metallic rod, eldritch tendrils of energy keeping it afloat. The ‘head’ of rod is vaguely bulbous, with 8 undulating bands forming the patterns along its length. Heh, it just occurs to me, but it kind of looks like someone had attached a small octopus to a rod (This is how I knew it was mine.) It called itself an Ikō-ki. The strange mind voice it uses to talk to me is a strange blend of my masculine voice and a Japanese accent I’ve never had, and if it weren’t for the fact I hated how the words sound when they come out of my mouth, I would call it a soothing voice.

They seem to help transition small pools of stagnation, based on the stories it has shown me. My Ikō-ki (I can’t help but claim it as Mine) has shown me multiple stories: a princess become a prince and bring ruin to their prosperous yet corrupt state; a young boy became the Belle of the town and helped reunite the warring clans within falling in love with each of their heirs and tying their futures to one another; an adult who claimed bloody retribution on those who had claimed their body against their will. But those are the Phantasmal stories, the ones meant to bring hope to those who have fallen to despair, to give them the motivation to rise above the masses or to sink deep into their minds and bring forth a new dawn for those who follow their darker paths.

 But that was not meant to be my Story, atleast, that is my hope. I want my story to be a stopover, like the smaller stories of local heroes and vigilantes, of those who guard the dreams and become the nightmare that nightmares fear within the dreamscape, those who sleep the wakeless dream and help heal the minds of their peers, of those whose only job is to look after their Ikō-ki until it comes time for it to move on. I’m getting off track. My mind can’t help but wander when I think about my Ikō-ki.

My Ikō-ki is a strange magical artefact that most likely either originates from Japan, or spent enough time there that it has permanently affected its.....mind? I’m still not sure how its ‘mind’ works. My Ikō-ki definitely has its own mind, since while we share tastes and opinions; it has since developed its own opinions and tastes, which I find fascinating. The small few others we’ve encountered have ranged from nothing more than inanimate magical objects, to semi-autonomous drone-like constructs, to full-fledged sentient beings. They seem to specifically be attracted to women, since I have yet to see any we’ve encountered with a masculine form. But considering they make us physically transform when we use them, I can’t trust what I see, I can only take the words of the strangers who are in similar situations to me. ........did I not mention I can transform? From the sounds of it, My Ikō-ki was surprised at how accepting I was of the concept. I had grown up watching cartoons of girls being able to transform into magical warriors, so this was just my childhood dream coming true.

 My new form.......is too much for my liking. Don’t get me wrong, I love the design of my outfit. The cephalopodan dress is the stuff of eldritch nightmares, all dark blues, greens and browns, endless flowing in non-existent currents, the great red Mantle headpiece towering above me, 4 larges tendrils wrapped together like hair, ready to flare up and be used if needed.. The ammonoid shield stands tall and impassable, its eternal spiral unyielding to any. The strange spraying creature on my right wrist, at time filled with a viscous ink that flows through air as if underwater, yet capable of delivering a highly venomous bite to anyone who isn’t me if they venture to close (This strange symbiote seems to share a link with me, since I’ve recently learnt that, if threatened outside of my magical girl form, my bite can be just as venomous). But as with the strange curves of all cephalopods, my own body becomes much fuller, curves appearing where I typically lacked them. While gorgeous, it’s not my thing. I prefer being on the ‘less filled out’ side of the body spectrum. Though if the only downside to my form is that its curvier than I like, and I get a awesome cephalopod aesthetic as the positive, I’ll take that deal. I’ve seen some of the lingerie others have been saddled with. What do I do with this form?

.......just watch it move and react. Its more cephalopodan than human, and its fascinating watching the eldritch form just.....move. There are times I go exploring the city, and stopping some of the worse crimes if I stumble upon them. But exploring the dreamscape is what I mainly do. Redirecting the mental eddies and currents around me, helping keep their lives just that little bit less miserable. .......I once tried to probe into That Man’s thoughts, to see why he put me into the hospital. I couldn’t handle what I found, and now I fear to dive into anyone else’s mind. If I’m a Magical Girl, who do I fight? Thats a hard question. In theory, The Decline. The literal concept of humanity falling into entropy. But as My Ikō-ki has shown me, The Decline just haven’t been active lately. My Ikō-ki is of the belief that we’ll see a resurgence in the next few years, given the state of the world’s political climate. But at the moment, I’ve mainly been ‘fighting’ other Magical Girls I’ve encountered. Not to the death or anything. Only some of the newer girls try that, due to a rise in darker media. But those of us with experience quickly weeded out those thoughts. At most, We spar and train. As I said, supposedly The Decline is coming, and someone needs to be ready. I’m hoping my shift will be over by then, but it can’t hurt to keep the others who have an active interest in protecting the world on their toes. Also helps keep me fit and in top form, when some of the more ‘morally straight laced’ Girls come and ‘hunt me’.

 Why do I get hunted?

Because I have the Power, yet I don’t do anything obvious with it. Plus, as you can tell from looking at me, they ‘normal’ girls consider me an aberration. I once asked My Ikō-ki if Magical Girls were inherently good. He told me that each magical Girl is different, and we all walk different paths. Most walk the lighter paths, and some are consumed by that light. I walk one of the newer paths. Because it is new-ish, and isn’t inclined towards ‘The Light’, they get it into their heads that theres something wrong with me, and I should be purged to allow my Ikō-ki to pass on. Its not their fault. Society has taught them to fear the alien and the unknown, and one of our baser instincts is to fear what hide in the Dark. But thats why I walk the Darker path. I shall shield those outside of the Dark from their own fears. Luckily, I haven’t had to kill any of them. I almost did once, when I learnt my symbiotic sprayer could bite. The problem with young creatures with venomous bites, is that they don’t know how to regulate their venom. That girl was lucky the Medical Girl was nearby. Five more minutes and her lungs would’ve been paralyzed. *************

[mthvn]

Truth and simulacrum: whose timeline is it? — Maja Bogojević on Possessed

Factuality itself depends for its continued existence upon the existence of the nontotalitarian world (Hannah Arendt)

Possessed, the latest film made by Metahaven—the collective name of artists and designers Vinca Kruk and Daniel van der Velden—in collaboration with documentary filmmaker Rob Schröder, takes their radical aesthetics and progressive politics a step further from their previous film The Sprawl: Propaganda about Propaganda. Their new hybrid artwork revisits the themes of contradictions and paradoxes of multiple realities, geopolitical landscapes, new technologies, power discourse and ensuing alienation in the age of “post-truth.” Similarly to The Sprawl, this film is not easy to categorise, as it explores the notions of consumer discourse, privacy, secrecy, transparency, surveillance, veiling and unveiling, the impact of social media networks and anarchic utopianism of the internet architecture on our individual and collective lives. Through a documented collage, blending a series of drawings, photographs, animated graphics, documentary footage and fictional reconstruction, it refers to various socio-historical narratives and their processes of subordination, power and inequality, commented upon by a single but multi-fold voice-over in a non-linear narrative, which breaks and fragments in order to not only reflect the fragmentation of multi-layered realities we live in, but also to challenge them.

Possessed begins with the images of burning smart phones, war-devastated cities and landscapes, and a water spring flowing over large dark stones, overlapping with the opening narrated question:

“Would you believe?”

These first spoken words trigger a series of questions relating to the search not of the ultimate truth, but of potential truths amidst fakeness and a fixed set of beliefs regardless of the information overload diversity. The answer is, inevitably, “no”. 

But the answer to the question “Would you believe in angels?” is, in the age of cynicism and hypocrisy, a surprising “yes”. This abruptly shifts the initial dystopian tone, foreshadowing the underlying final humanistic message of the film, although “there is no hope” (“what for?”) and there is no answer to the question “would you love?”, followed by the sound of a human breathing next to a smartphone. In this prologue, before the opening credits unfold, Possessed suggests in medias res that the centre of the human universe is a smartphone. The next image shows more clearly a girl lying on a bare mattressed bed, in a ruined house devoid of any furniture, with the presence of only one object—a smartphone. She greets the viewers with the words—both vocal and written—“welcome to the modern age”, followed by:

“You may think that this is a house. But there is no house. You may think that this is a girl. But there is no girl. Don’t ask me who I am.” 

Examining the complex mutual relationship between the socio-political context and the work of art which documents the historic period it emerged in, the words are intercut with film negatives of houses, a helicopter, the ‘invisible’ humans (“you never noticed me, I wouldn’t be missed”), a footage of Pope Francis, all accompanied with smartphone selfies made with a raised arm in front of the masses of people and monuments.

 “When I was young, I was quiet, I didn’t talk with the others, we never talk, we message… All tenderness is radical in a broken world”… “I want to know, what is a devil today? Do you want to hear the truth? Let the suffering speak. I am a breathing fragment of nothingness. Who lives or dies to care for me.”

This verbal segment is intercut with the images of the cross and a drawing of a hand collaged with the real human arm holding a smartphone, as the new disease to be cured of (by exorcism) seems to be—the reality. The raised arm holding a smartphone becomes the pervasive film symbol—it is present in Vatican, over the heads of a faceless mass, in restaurants, in shopping centres, in our empty homes, in the streets, it is everywhere—questioning the beliefs of people. Religion becomes a kind of superstition, because no matter what people ‘know’ in the information age, they still interpret the world and the reality according to their pre-existing fixed set of beliefs.

As Hannah Arendt puts it (in The origins of totalitarianism): “The true goal of totalitarian propaganda is not persuasion, but organization of the polity. ... What convinces masses are not facts, and not even invented facts, but only the consistency of the system of which they are presumably part of”.

Reconstructing artefacts of the recent and not-so-distant past, the film combines images, videos, TV, satellite/drone footage and an original narration into a seemingly incoherent and fragmented filmic reality, with many (meta)textual/discourse references, including videos of: Pope Francis in Rome, ruined Vukovar, Cologne, Aleppo, US soldiers’ flash mob dance in Afghanistan, Dubai fire and sandstorms, hurricane Katrina, migrant lines in Slovenia, queues of people in urban centres, glacier bridge collapse, statue of Liberty etc. Images of war-torn countries show demolished buildings, torn books, deserted homes with personal belongings left behind, posters hanging on the walls, newspapers, religious symbols etc. 

The multiplication of simultaneously run narratives and realities and fragmentation of both the individual and the collective are reflected in the film along the axis of mainstream media/state/corporate structures vs. people/media users/consumers, conveying the notion that our agency in the information process is taking less and less responsibility. The more fake news we are served, the more the ‘truth’ becomes important: the mainstream media (and political leaders) have never been more obsessed with it, insisting in their marketing slots that they are all “telling the truth”, echoing Hannah Arendt’s visionary words: “Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow.”

And:

“The danger is not actual despotic control but fragmentation—that is, a people increasingly less capable of forming a common purpose and carrying it out. Fragmentation arises when people come to see themselves more and more atomistically, otherwise put, as less and less bound to their fellow citizens in common projects and allegiances.” (The origins of totalitarianism)

But because of the new media interface, there is a new level of complex fragmentation along the axes privacy/secrecy/transparency/surveillance and control/enslavement, causing a ‘mental implosion’, in Baudrillard’s terms—“simulacrum has been brought to perfection in the 21st century thanks to media interface.” The collaged images of face recognition software, smart phone pervasiveness, the statue of Liberty, war-devastated buildings, torn books, “god land” with a Vodafone tower in the background suggest that mainstream media and dominant consumer discourses tailor their surveillance methods according to the selling/consuming axis or what they perceive as fit for their consumers’ needs. What the overload of information has brought is the illusory display of capitalist consumers’ choices (various kinds of coffee, carrot cakes, brownies, smoothies), but there are no nuances in interpretation of cultural texts, and this precisely helps to sustain the capitalist order. As corporate profit dictates consumers’ privacy, Baudrillard’s “mental involution” (a phone is melting like a brain could be melting) is bound to materialise, leading to the loss of the autonomy of the agency, the collapse of subjectivity. The imaginary enemy is ‘identified’, the crisis is created, and innocents die as a result. 

“The truth?”, the narrator asks and answers: “Let the suffering speak”.

Metahaven’s concept of black transparency is reminiscent of Baudrillard’s concept of simulacrum “Simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth, but the truth conceals that it’s not there. Simulacrum is true.” One fact can arise from many models simultaneously and this anticipation and confusion between the fact and its model leaves space for all possible interpretations, even the most contradictory ones.  This is how the politically anomalous - what was regarded as political aberration – can become normalcy.

Hypocrisy, carnage of profile, masked identities, faceless multitudes…

“I grew up in a city of great wealth and beauty” – these words, as it is made clear by subsequent images, allude to the baroque town of Vukovar, destroyed in the Yugoslav war - the first majorly destroyed European town in a battle since World War 2.  A sign reads “18. 11. 1991 - Vukovar, sjecate se?” (“do you remember?”), with a series of images of a ghost town, with decaying, deserted streets, demolished buildings and houses, dead bodies, streams of survivors fleeing… reminiscent of today’s devastated Syria. The authenticity of such footage images evokes the importance of the responsibility of the human race in the face of war crimes and atrocities committed by humans.

Possessed, therefore, wants to remind of and challenge human indifference. The shots show rooms empty of furniture but full of books and papers from the period of the existence of Yugoslavia (which was also the leader of the non-aligned movement of the so-called  third-world countries): Marxism, Kumrovecki zapisi, Danas: Jugoslavija, samoupravljanje, svijet, Class struggle and socialist revolution etc. These and images of “red” books bargains, Mao posters, Russian symbols, accompanied by the sound of a Croatian traditional song (“Spavaj spavaj diticu”, to make a clear reference to the war in Croatia), are a testimony to the recent European past, as well as a statement against general amnesia that has marked both post-industrial and post-communist societies.

But, “the war is always somewhere else”. The photo of a passport is aligned next to the photos of war tanks, weapons and military airplanes. Footage shows US soldiers rejoicing and dancing to the sampled “music” of gunshot sounds in Afghanistan.

 The ‘others’ imply that their bodies are more disposable and mortal, and the pain of ‘others; seems to be peripheral to the human masses, in spite of the power of  photography and media. We have face recognition software, but what and how much of human suffering do we recognize in a photo/image? We get an easy automated response to our (consumer tailored) needs (Siri, hello?), but show no reactions to others. We appear to have google maps that locate everything, but there seem to be no ‘maps for human suffering’. “As one can become habituated to horror in real life, one can become habituated to the horror of certain images,” states Susan Sontag in Regarding the pain of others.

Statements such as “we obey a fictional eye” and “our faces were attuned to a watchful eye—to adjust to being seen and shared” question and interpellate the capacity of reason and observation, even ‘common sense’ of the uniform masses, as well as the authority of god.

Indifference ‘to the pain of others’ is underscored by the repeated images of selfies and posing smilingly for selfies with a stick – a prolonged arm for the phone, restaurant images of food and drinks and a supply of a crane for “the ultimate selfie” in order to share the ultimate happiness with the world. Thus, we have cranes for photos to be shared on social media and drones for more arrogant photos and bombs. In parallel realities, innocent people die and disappear in wars, but we insist on more of our presence around the globe, offering our joy to the world.

But is this happiness fake or real? If it is real, how real is it? Do we know we are happy or do we act by orders? “Smile, be happy.” The collapse of the subject in post-modern age of neo-totalitarianism, post-truth and post-Trump?

In The origins of totalitarianism, Arendt stated decades ago: “In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true. ... Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement  was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness”.

As the mutations of the image follow the shifts of historical narratives, so the collapse of the subject as well as networks seems to be imminent. A pamphlet-like verbal segment declares: “Delete your own self, the networks collapse… the screen is crushed, instagram and facebook collapse”, raising a new set of questions: have smartphones become more clever than our brains? Do we base our knowledge on networks? Will our subjectivity collapse with the collapse of networks? Will our arm break together with the stick for selfies?

 “The arrogance of the camera. This helicopter won’t come to the rescue. It will patiently film my killing”.

These words echo Susan Sontag’s statement that “the shock can become familiar: the ultra-familiar, ultra-celebrated image—of an agony, of ruin—is an unavoidable feature of our camera-mediated knowledge of war”. By analogy, they also mirror Glauber Rocha’s famous words that “the camera is a lie” or Jean-Luc Godard’s that “film is a reflection of the reality or the reality of reflection?” 

The irony and powerlessness of the proliferation of narratives and realities can be demonstrated further by another example (not shown in the film): the phenomenon of Ron Haviv’s photo taken during the Bosnian war in March 1992, and used by Jean-Luc Godard in his video masterpiece Je vous salue, Sarajevo (1993), which pictures the Serbian soldier Srdjan Golubovic treading over a Bosnian female victim’s head; Srdjan Golubovic later became a famous DJ Max performing in various night clubs in Serbia, until he was arrested in 2012 not as a war criminal, but for possession of drugs. 

“Good citizen, happy citizen, legal citizen, undocumented person, see-through person… I travelled here from far… I tried to forget what happened to me before I fled. No one believes me.  I have to be the evidence. I’m my own document”

This verbal narrative is intercut with the images of identity papers shown at borders, finger print scan check at airports, and “Ausländer” signs & grafitti, showing that, in spite of techno advances in industrial capitalism that might signal the arrival of a cyborg citizenship, the Western context, actually, reflects the return to hierarchy of white capitalist patriarchy, struggling with transculturality (which is one of the most significant influences of late post-modernity in Europe) and becoming more homogenous, closed and insecure at a time of increasing fascism and racism.

“You were quiet, you never talked”. “I” becomes “you” as an older “I” (the new generation) speaks to “you” in the future “that you never saw coming”. 

“Will it be enough to love yourself?”

Contradictions and paradoxes of technology suggest that human bodies have become a source of maximum exploitation in the visual age: is it the end of the image, the end of knowledge, of imagination? Is the future foreseeable based on facebook, instagram and twitter? New forms of expression and representation are needed to reflect the changing and challenged subjectivity in the process of becoming autonomous agents of knowledge.

As the film title suggests, we are all ‘possessed’ by multiple master narratives: by technological advances, corporate structures, general amnesia, by the collapsed subject, beliefs that border on superstition, by our “shared” need to broadcast our lives to the world, selfies, fake smiles, illusory happiness (“the device did one thing really well – it made us always smile”), fake choices, fake needs created by fake consumerist capitalist discourse, by our own voyeurism and exhibitionism, by insanity and monstrosity of political leaders, powerful consumerist discourse, by our own powerlessness and indifference, failure to take responsibility, by the absence of empathy and love (“love yourself”), possessed by our own negligence to use our ‘cultural mirror’ in the midst of the collapse of the notions of self, knowledge and truth. We have timelines, but no time in the age of multiplication of signifiers and the collapse of the signifieds. 

“If I had all faith, but have no love, I am nothing. Love is patient and kind, it doesn’t envy or boast, it’s not arrogant or rude… it rejoices with the truth.”

The acknowledgement of the ‘fact’ that we forgot how to love adds a new ontological dimension to Metahaven’s visual research, a more hopeful one than most current sci-fi dystopian narratives, as the present reality we live in, not the imaginary future, is already dystopian.  In other words, the imaginary of the social and technological can be equally democratising and constraining, but if approached responsibly, it will rather be the former.

By analogy to Alain Badiou’s Eloge de l’amour (2009), this new neither/nor space, which is not free of imperfections, but is free of estranging social confines and prohibitions, can work as an “angel of love”, a new imaginary space for a human encounter that may never occur, but could create a new unrestrained space of love and empathy.

Such an ending, in spite of the detached, almost robotic youthful voice-over, may offer a much needed disalienating, humanistic message, simultaneously subversive and self-authenticating, as the technological and hyper-rational advancements don’t necessarily imply human progress - to paraphrase Hemingway’s words: the invention of an airplane doesn’t mean that we move faster than a horse. An alternative to this ending is the return to pre-social, pre-linguistic, pre-discursive and – pre-technological, as the final images show warehouses in ruins, desolate lands and several masked women, wearing scarves to hide faces (with emojis, stickers & comic strip captions, designed by Metahaven), whispering inarticulately with their black shadows and holding big stones instead of smartphones.

Finally, in a call to challenge the structure of subjectivity, socio-political relations and the social imaginary that supports it, Possessed transforms the current debate of the binary opposition truth/facts and lies into questions of interpretation and epistemology, contextualising them, further, to not only how something is interpreted but who it is interpreted by (are we ‘preaching’ only to the converted?), who are the agents of knowledge and how newly gained knowledge serves to justify the existing beliefs of the masses. In other words, whose timeline is it? 

This is, of course, only one of possible interpretations of the multilayered filmic reality.•

Maja Bogojević (PhD) is a freelance film theorist/critic, founder and editor-in-chief of the first Montenegrin film magazine, Camera Lucida, founder and President of the Fipresci section of Montenegro, and a member of FEDEORA and UPF. She has been, until recently,_ _film theory professor and Dean of Faculty of Visual Arts at Mediteran University Podgorica, and, previously, the Dean of Faculty of Arts at the University of Donja Gorica.

[syzygyzip]

The Myth and Meaning of MissingNo

A few notes about this essay: first, I have removed the period from the name “MissingNo.” for ease of transcription. I also refer to MissingNo’s sibling as Bar ‘M Bar or [][][][] ‘M [][][][] because its real name is irreproducible in Unicode:

Also, for the purposes of this essay it is helpful to think of Pokémon less as animals and more as a gamut of spectral entities: yokai, devas, fairies, sprites, genies, elemental intelligences, ghosts, servitors, unincorporated astral matter, etc. All those strange and elusive beings who populate world mythology and the collective imagination. In contrast to our world, however, people in Kanto are universally aware of these entities and their relation to ourselves. Much more can be said on this subject, but allow the basic premise to inform your reading when it feels appropriate. The subject before us is liminal by its nature.

Myths, Stories, and Suspicions

When we encounter a glitch in a game the temptation is to say that it broke our immersion. Maybe it’s because children are more easily entranced, but as a child my experience with MissingNo did not feel particularly incongruous with the narrative. The encounter, though strange, didn’t contradict the world of the game -- it expanded it in a psychedelic direction. When I met MissingNo, the battle played out more or less as normal. It was only the image of the creature, the arcane initiation, and the haunting after-effects that were atypical.

As soon as Pokémon Red & Blue came out, one fact of life became very clear: Kids love to spread tall tales about Pokémon. It was quite common to hear about Mew hiding under a truck or Togepi skulking around in the inaccessible wilderness behind Bill’s house. But the purported apparition of something called “MissingNo” or “Bar ‘M Bar” held an especially uncanny sway, because everyone believed it to be true. The basic story was that you talk to an old man, and then fly to an island where you meet bizarre and game-glitching Pokémon – but the many accounts which peppered the playground and Internet each held idiosyncratic details. Some said Mewtwo would turn up on the island, others said they found Pokémon native to the Safari Zone, or rogue trainers, or that you could multiply your items by 100. When I finally initiated what came to be known as the “Old Man Glitch”, I performed it in the prescribed manner:

Talk to the Old Man in the North of Viridian City. He will show you how to catch a Weedle.

As soon as the Old Man is finished, fly to Cinnabar Island.

On the island, walk over to the eastern edge and use Surf.

Surf the very edge of the water, moving up and down.

And sure enough, there appeared a fuzzy Tetris-looking rando named [][][][] ‘M [][][][]. Armed with a little background research, I succeeded in slaying this entity, and came away with 128 rare candies, a glitched out Hall of Fame record, and a whole lot of questions. The experience was so simple and tidy, and the performance of the glitch was just dreamlike enough that my young mind felt the thin silver light of meaning shining dimly from behind the supposedly arbitrary method of contact.

MissingNo and its glitch siblings became well known in the Pokémon community as reliable and functional game exploits, and stuck in the imagination for the peculiarity of their presentation. The programming quirks behind MissingNo’s operations are well understood, and the character has wormed its way into a sizable number of fan theories and creepypastas. Something about this strange little block of static resonates with players, and it seems to have surrounded itself with cryptic clues as to its true nature.

The Method of Contact

The first step to understanding a mysterious aberration in a game is to consider the events that lead up to it. What must the player do in order to find MissingNo? The trip begins by talking to an old man in Viridian City who shows the player how to catch Pokémon by snagging a wild Weedle in a brief scripted encounter. This is an interesting motif right off the bat, because we are meeting a teacher figure who shows us how to catch the worm. In dreams and in myth, the worm is often a symbolic representation of the Kundalini serpent, the principal driving force of life itself which coils at the base of the spine. The Old Man is found near the beginning of the game, and he will show you this tutorial as many times as you like. After all, he is teaching an essential lesson: catch the Pokémon around you to expand your team; or more abstractly: integrate the aspects of nature which complete you.

Viridian city itself is a special place, in that we begin and end our Pokémon journey there. It is the first town we come to after leaving home, and it is also host to the final gym and provides a road to the Pokémon League – the culmination of a trainer’s journey. The next step to MissingNo is to fly to volcanic Cinnabar Island, which is incidentally the last town a trainer discovers. So we have leapt from the site of our first lesson to the final city. Here on Cinnabar we walk straight east to the beach, and use surf to ride a Pokemon up and down the edge of the water. If we venture further out to sea, the ritual is forfeit and we must restart. So we glide up and down and up. Here along the crashing waves, apparitions greet us according to our name. The letters in the player’s name are the values that determine which Pokémon appear – and what form MissingNo takes. With this, contact is made. So let’s take a look at this setting. The island is a classic symbol of self-conception: a crystallization of identity emergent from the undifferentiated ocean. There happens to be a volcano on this island, which is also a timeless symbol: that of the eruption of unconscious content; hidden energy and power which has formerly lain dormant and unknown. We encounter MissingNo in a rather narrow area: a single column of tiles representing the edge of an island. We move up and down this coast attempting to trigger the event, swimming/surfing/pacing along the seashore. This is an incredibly profound detail, because the shore of the ocean signifies the mediation between the mundane terrestrial (the land) and the vast realm of the unconscious (the ocean).  The fact that it is the Eastern coast is a bonus, as that is the place where the sun rises in its most prolonged glow, and gives birth to the new day. The island itself is named Cinnabar, home to a research facility that serves a major role in the game’s plot. As we discover through research notes littered about, Cinnabar Mansion was the site of a series of experiments to re-create Mew, which is thought to be a primordial Pokémon. Famously, this resulted in the creation of Mewtwo, an anthropomorphic “clone” of Mew who lacks the originator’s genetic purity (Mewtwo cannot learn any TM, as Mew can), but appears to have gained a humanlike awareness, a trait lengthily elaborated in the first Pokémon movie. Mew as Prima Materia

So what does Mew symbolize? It is known to resemble an embryo, and believed to be the ancestor of all other Pokémon. It is a light pink, which is interesting given that the alchemical prima materia – the formless substance that composes the primeval material of the universe – is said to be dually white and red. In the original games it is only attainable through the metatextual experience of an IRL promotional event, and was allegedly inserted into the game secretly. Mew is clearly meant to be a transcendent being, notoriously elusive and often depicted in space.

Mew is the only pokemon that learns Transform, except of course for Ditto. This has spawned a highly popular fan theory that Dittos are failed clones of Mew. There are some supporting reasons for this idea: they share the same coloration (in both common and shiny iterations), the same weight, the same stats, and Ditto is present at locations relevant to Mew’s story (notably the Pokémon Mansion and the Cerulean Cave, where Mewtwo is found). Unlike Mew, which cannot breed in game, Ditto can successfully mate with any non-Legendary Pokémon. But Mew, critically, is a psychic type. Ditto is “normal.” It is as though the scientists succeeded in recreating the prima materia, but only in a purely physicalist sense. Ditto contains the genetic potential of all current life, but it does not generate new forms. It does not even learn new moves by itself, it must be taught. Science has apparently replicated the form and fertility of immemorial cosmic life, but not its potentiating vitality, its breath of life, its pneuma. I wonder where that pneuma went. Mewtwo, though not having begat novel lifeforms of its own, nevertheless expresses the pneuma in its thoughts and deeds. But maybe pneuma, as a formless concept, could only be expressed allegorically to the player as the enigmatic and varying being known as MissingNo. Revealingly, MissingNo is a Bird/Normal type Pokémon, birds being classical symbols of the spirit. Its cry upon encounter is the default “blank cry”: an unaffected cry of the male Nidoran (the only gendered Pokémon in the original release). But when MissingNo is viewed in the Pokédex, it makes the sound of a Rhydon, the first Pokémon ever designed; we could interpret this therefore as a reference to the voice of creative impulse. There is a caveat to discovering this: the player can only view the Pokedex entry if they have not seen a Cubone. This is another mythic peculiarity, as Cubone’s defining characteristic is its knowledge of loneliness, and its desire for reconciliation with its ancestors. If this sense of separation has never been known, only then can we “read” Missingno’s information, understand its primal utterance, and order it in our Pokédex-pantheon (as #000)

Curiously, Cubone is also host to a popular fan theory: that its missing mother is Kangaskhan. This is believed mainly because Cubone always pines for its perpetually absent mother, and Kangaskhans bear their young in their pouch, but the young are never seen independently. It is therefore supposed that when Kangaskhans die, their young don the skulls of their mothers and become Cubone. I have no strong opinion about this story, but MissingNo closes the circuit thematically. Just as MissingNo has ties to Cubone, its sibling Bar ‘M Bar mysteriously evolves into Kanghaskhan. Additionally, one of the appearances MissingNo can take is the “Ghost” sprite. In the main game, this sprite is only used for the ghost of Cubone’s mother in a unique encounter. Until a special item is used, this ghost isn’t affected by the player; with this guise MissingNo tells us it cannot be grasped.

4 Visions of MissingNo

In addition to the L-shaped white noise and the ghost, MissingNo can appear in two more ways. It can take the form of the fossils glimpsed in the Pewter Museum: a skeleton of Kabutops or a skeleton of Aerodactyl. These constellations of bones further suggest that MissingNo is an ancestral spirit. Kabutops is a water dwelling primordial life-form, whose development name meant “Atlantis,” and who symbolizes the origin of physical life from the first primal waters. Aerodactyl resembles a dragon or wyvern, an intermediary of heaven and earth. These two beasts, like the ghost, are no longer embodied. Though all 3 are potential symbols of the dead, they embody that sentiment differently. Kabutops comes from the water, Aerodactyl from the sky, and the ghost, as a veiled Marowak, would be terrestrial, but its image taken independently refers to the realm of the etheric.

To see these alternative forms, the player must have a certain letter in the 5th, 7th, or 9th slot of their character name: W for Kabutops, X for Aerodactyl, and Y for the ghost. The natural form of MissingNo gives us 4 forms, an apparently timeless property of visionary and mystic experience, from Ezekiel to mandala art and the platonic elements. In fact, there are over 150 such amplifications found in Carl Jung’s General Index, so it’s rather difficult to catch them all. Like many mythological quaternaries, 1 among the 4 is qualitatively exceptional. In this case, of course, that is the so-called “Normal” form, the fuzzy L-block which appears as a result of a much greater variety of player names. Though this natural form is less definite in criteria and appearance, it is actually more definite in its character. The other three forms take their base stats and moves from the last Pokémon in the party (a dittolike effect!); and their sprites, when viewed from the back, are taken from whichever Pokémon’s data was most recently accessed. So when these entities are in use by the player, they resemble something else entirely; they are phenomenologically reordered to resemble a known quantity. The natural form however, has a constant square-shaped sprite when viewed from the back. Though this form is exceptional among the 4, it is reductive to say that this is its “true” image: each of the 4 is a different capitulation of the same idea which itself is formless. Though there is one more peculiarity about the natural form! MissingNo. and Its Twin MissingNo’s natural form is identical with Bar ‘M Bar, as is its Pokédex number, leading many to believe that they were the same creature. However, there are many differences between them. Their height, weight, and stats are different, and they learn slightly different moves. Bar ‘M Bar does not cry like a male Nidoran, but instead sings a pitched-up version of the Zapdos call. This sound resembles birdsong with a background buzz indicating electricity. This pitch-shifted voice tells us that Bar M’ Bar resides even higher in the heavens than the sky-streaking legendary bird of thunder. Its “height” is also coincidentally tied in value with that of Rayquaza, a sacred serpent whose name means “firmament” and is the canonical lord of the skies. Another difference previously mentioned is Bar ‘M Bar’s unique ability to evolve into Kangaskhan. This happens at level 0, but if you glitch it to level 128, it can also evolve into Clefairy. Clefairy is a symbolically rich Pokémon as well; it was the main character of the original manga, and originally slated to be the main character of the anime. It is strongly indicated to be of extraterrestrial origin and is also plainly representative of the fairy kingdom, as indicated by its name and type. Additionally, it happens to be the Pokémon that Bill, a famous internet architect, accidentally transforms into as he is playing with time and space in order to construct a teleporter. We therefore can surmise that Clefairy relates to that which is alien: the alienation of the creature from the franchise, the alien origin of the species within the narrative, and the truly alien experience of inhabiting another body. This changing of bodies is perhaps what Bar ‘M Bar does when pushed past the realm of possibility, into level 128. There is of course a practical programming reason for the number 128, but it also happens to be double the number of possible codons in DNA. The “clef” in Clefairy means “musical key,” or in French simply “key.” Clefairy’s trademark move is metronome, which replicates most other Pokémon moves through the magic of synchronization. What would the world be like if this memetic sprite succeeded in its role as mascot of Pokémon? Would the world be all the more entranced?

When it comes to seeking an audience, Bar ‘M Bar is even wider in its accommodation than its sibling MissingNo. It can be encountered with any name at all – besides the preset options! Bar ‘M Bar’s own actual name, [][][][]M’[][][][] is certainly its most obvious difference. The bars on either side of the ‘M are determined by the actions of the player – Bulbapedia sums it up nicely:

It is most commonly known as 'M, since these are the only typographical characters in its name—its real name is impossible to produce with text, and some tiles in its name are not constant. It is also called 'M Block due to either the glitchy blocks next to its name or the Pokémon's boxy shape.

The first two tiles in [][][][] ‘M [][][][][]'s name depend on which sprite is occupying the spot where the player's Pokémon appears. In battle, the tiles on the left of its name will copy part of the sprite in the bottom-left corner of the screen (the player's Pokémon), while the block on the right will copy part of the sprite in the upper-right corner of the screen (the opponent's Pokémon). Out of battle, the blocks in its name will change depending on the player's location.

We know that MissingNo’s name is constant, and its form is undefined, a result of the player’s bestowed name. On the other hand, Bar ‘M Bar is a definite outcome for any bestowed name, but its own name is defined by the player! Yet it always retains the ‘M in the middle, which is tempting to interpret as the conjunction n’ (and). It looks as though Bar ‘M Bar’s name is something like “This n’ That.” And indeed, that’s what the sprites which comprise the bars draw from: the player’s Pokémon and the opponent’s Pokémon. The fact that these two glitchy blocks are separated by something close to “and” is a beautiful detail. It takes these two oppositional beings and phrases them both, but does so with the separation intact. If it lacked the ‘M between the two samples it would give a different impression. It is the difference between hendiadys (good and ready) and a modified adjective (well ready). It acknowledges that the two things are distinct and in concert, yet they are termed by Bar ‘M Bar in a single body. There is an endless mystery surrounding the mythological motif of 2-in-1, but it is often explored in alchemy and Jungian psychology through the image of the coniunctio, the holy marriage, the reconciliation of opposites.

Can we even say that Bar ‘M Bar is a single entity? It certainly has the strong dual aspect of its twin, MissingNo. Are these two glitch Pokémon the same or not? In the coding of the game, they are not. None of MissingNo’s forms share the constitution of Bar ‘M Bar. Yet they are defined in the Pokédex – the pantheon of the player’s understanding – in the same place, #000, and therein utter the same cry (Rhydon’s). They share an identical sprite and learn nearly identical moves. They cause the same glitch effects to occur in game. The strongest evidence for seeing them as representations of the same essence is in popular conception: Bar ‘M Bar is frequently referred to as MissingNo, and was the first of many other glitch Pokémon subsumed under the generic description of “MissingNo.” It is almost technical trivia to separate them. And most tellingly for the sake of this investigation, they complete each other’s symbolism. So, they are discrete entities AND they aren’t. The mystery of the coniunctio is thus further embodied in this dual being.   The Lingering Presence Now that we’ve outlined the taxonomy of MissingNo+, we can begin to look at the consequences. The two most well-known effects of meeting MissingNo are the Item Duplication Glitch and the Hall of Fame glitch. Item duplication occurs after any encounter with MissingNo or Bar ‘M Bar, regardless of whether the player has fled, caught the creature, or knocked it out. When examining the bag after the battle, the player will find that the 6th item in their inventory has been increased by 128 (although this does not occur if the value is already over 128). Given that a player can reorder their inventory at will, this was a famous exploit for getting hundreds of Rare Candies in order to quickly max out any Pokémon’s level, or generating 128 Master Balls ensuring the capture of any creature you meet from then on. Indeed, this is the most common reason for performing the old man glitch, and likely the critical factor in MissingNo’s renown. And what fuel for the legend: a bizarre seaside vision that grants a wish. Another popular exploit is duplicated fossils, normally given only once per game, so that you could resurrect 100 Kabuto, Omanyte, or Aerodactyl. But any item is fair game: you could effectively wish for infinite wealth, health, lives, moves, defense, speed, power, whatever. You hooked the magic fish, what you do with it is up to you.

The experience also corrupts your Hall of Fame data, replacing some of the images with blocks of static, and scrambling names and values of your champion Pokémon. This is a largely inconsequential effect, but it has symbolic weight. Each Pokémon that exists is a symbol of some kind, representing an attitude, or an attribute, and as you go along meeting them and incorporating them into yourself, they accumulate further personal meanings. So consciously or unconsciously, the Pokémon that accompany you to your final battle are in some sense a mirror of the player: they represent your priorities, values, and appreciations. These are the ones canonized by the game in the Hall of Fame. MissingNo then transforms this composite irreparably. This act can be seen a psychic realignment of the player-character.

Summary

Let’s imagine the story of meeting MissingNo as a fairly tale. The protagonist, Red, talks to an Old Man at the edge of town who shows him how to catch a worm. Next, Red flies through the skies to a volcanic island. There on the Eastern shore of the island, he swims the coast. Attracted by his name, some number of foreign beasts appear before him, culminating in the appearance of a totally unexpected entity which defies easy categorization (though there are partial physical descriptions in some versions of the story). He then defeats, captures, or flees from the apparition. Then looking in his bag, he finds some object or capacity of his has been magnified to a superhuman extent. Finally, we find that some of his major psychic precepts have been mysteriously and radically altered for evermore.

So what then what was the encounter? An alien? A deity or holy ghost? The pneuma which animates life? Is it an unconscious complex made manifest? A psychotic break? The disorienting eruption of the Real? Is it a highly coherent and synchronous glitch-experience, or a pareidoliac imprint in static? I don’t believe that any of these answers satisfy in themselves. Like the images of MissingNo, the interpretations are interdependent, forming points along the circumference of a subject whose middle cannot be approached by the intellect. What is easier to parse is the influence of MissingNo on the fanbase. MissingNo is so famous as a glitch that it has become the common shorthand for any glitch Pokémon throughout the series. MissingNo and Bar ‘M Bar have inspired not only countless tall tales, but tons of fiction, fanart, merch, and a featured article on Bulbapedia. Using our imagination, it is rather easy to place MissingNo into the narrative context of the game, conceptualizing it any of the above ways. As much as this being seems keen to disrupt our in-game immersion, it seems equally willing to stride across our imagination, as though it were walking a bridge leading into the world of Pokémon, or our own reality, or wherever its place of origin.

[outofgloom]

Mask Maker (CH10)

CH1 Labor CH2 Deadline CH3 Last CH4 Embrace CH5 All Wrong CH 6 Ages CH 7 Invert CH 8 No  CH 9 Door

Goodbye

[bzp post]

The shadows had grown long in the Temple of Fire. The Sacred Flame sputtered as it burned low within the ring of stones, and pungent smoke floated upward toward the domed ceiling. No sound intruded except the crackle of fuel in the firepit, and even that was almost at an end. For a moment, the twisting pattern of flame seized together, burning against the encroaching darkness, and then it finally released. The tongues of fire hissed and retreated downward, and only embers glowed there now.

Turaga Vakama breathed in and out, still staring into the remnants of the fire. He was alone. The temple was cool. No light shone through the high windows or the rounded doorway. It was all dark. Night must have fallen upon the world as he meditated in the vision. How long had he sat here, undisturbed? At last he shook himself, felt his limbs creak. A light layer of dust fell from his mask as he stood up, and he coughed, blinking the sand out of his eyes. It must be very late. For a moment, he considered rebuilding the fire and simply staying in the temple for the night. He was tired, and it would be an easy thing…But no, somehow he felt that had stayed long enough. He had better return home.

Home. The thought pierced through him sharply as memories raced through his weary mind. Pain. Sadness. Fear. Anguish. Defiance. Wonder. Never before had he experienced a vision of such power and vividness, a vision that absorbed him so completely that he came away…changed. It frightened him, but, after all, he had sought it out, hadn't he? He had desired it above all things, to see the future again.

But not now. Not anymore. He had had his fill of visions, of masks and destinies, of betrayal and despair, of Great Beings and death. He strode down the length of the temple, between the stone pillars. It was over now. It was done. Now all he wanted was home. 

He increased his pace as he neared the temple entrance, and a strange lightness rose in his spirit at the thought of leaving the Sacred Flame behind. No more visions. No more fear. Almost running now, he plunged through the doorway, out into the calm night.

And there was Nothing.

===

He fell for a long time, or what felt like a long time. There was nothing to measure by anyways. There was only…Nothing. There was no more temple. No more street. No more light from the Sacred Flame. No more smells or sounds. Nothing to touch. Nothing to feel. After a while, the Nothing began to seem solid to him, but he knew that this was only his mind grasping for something real. Even the sensation of falling was soon lost, and he imagined that he stood now in a dark place, with the eternal emptiness seeping into his bones.

His mind wandered and departed and returned, but it didn’t matter. Was this death? Perhaps that didn’t matter either. He simply remained, and the nothing went on forever. He even began to wonder if he truly existed anymore, or if he had ever existed...the void was so complete.

But then there was another presence with him, and he knew that he did exist, for he was separate from that presence. Small lights veered into focus above him...or was it below? The lights were like stars, but far clearer than he had ever seen. They stabbed his eyes like knives, but it was like sustenance after enduring long hunger.

The figure was beside him. He could see its outline where it blocked out the starfield. It was larger than him...the same size as...as...

Eyes blazed out of the figure's face. It was the being that Velika had called by a strange, ancient name. Marendar, he had said...But no, not Marendar. Not anymore.

He began to remember everything again, though he didn’t want to. Voporak struck down...Velika destroyed...the terrible approach of the Great Beings...He had hoped that it was all just a vision, not real. All that suffering and loss. How could one endure it all?

“Vakama,” the Being spoke his name, and its voice was many voices, “forgive us.”

“Forgive you?” Vakama’s voice sounded dry and weak from disuse. “Why?”

“Forgive us for leaving you in this place. We became separated on the journey, and only now have we found you again.”

“What journey?” he asked. “What has happened? How did I…we…come to be here?”

“You are the one who made it possible, this fulfillment of the desires of our Creators…”

“Me? How…” he trailed off for a moment, then another thought impressed itself upon him:

“Tell me what you are,” he said.

The Being did not reply at once. It stared at him out of the darkness. Did it know what it was? A suspicion had grown in Vakama’s mind from the time that he witnessed the being’s full power on the beach. A story from his earliest days as a Matoran, one of the oldest stories, perhaps, that he could recall…

“We are…together,” the being said at last.

“Are you a Toa?” Vakama asked.

“We are,” it replied.

“Are you a Kaita?”

“No.”

Vakama should have known this. A Kaita would not say ‘we’. The spirit of a Kaita was a melding of its members, but it had its own distinct designation.

“Then what are you? What is your designation?”

“There is no designation. We are not a thing ordained by the Great Beings.”

“But you are a Toa.”

“This is true…but we are greater.”

No doubts remained to Vakama now. He stood in the presence of a Legend incarnate, all the power of the Toa somehow embodied in one form, focused and unified.

“I know what you are,” Vakama said. “You are Toa Nui.” 

It had been an abstract concept whispered with uncertainty and doubt, a product of the Matoran imagination gone wild. The Toa Nui was never destined to exist--not by the Great Beings, at least. But perhaps imagination made its own destinies, after all. It was fitting, then, that the creature that the Great Beings had designed to end Toa-kind had been the catalyst for a new creation.

The Toa Nui stared at Vakama for a lingering moment, and he felt the weight of its eyes, as if it were processing this new designation and what it signified. Then it turned its mighty gaze back to the star-filled void, inscrutable.

It struck Vakama quite suddenly that there was no floor beneath them, and yet somehow he was grounded, stable. After all the madness, they were far away, standing in the void, and the void could not touch them. He was safe—more than safe. He felt that now he had gone further than any of his kind had before. He doubted that the Great Beings had planned this. It was a fearful thought, to go so far, beyond destiny itself, but perhaps he could bear it, for he was not alone. His eyes returned to the face of his companion, and he perceived that it still wore the Vahi Nuva.

Time passed—he couldn’t be sure how long—and he felt that he should speak again.

“Surely…” he said, haltingly, “Surely there must be a way…a way to go back.”

The Toa Nui turned toward him again. It did not speak.

“The Mask of Time has brought us here, has it not?” Vakama asked.

“This is true,” the Toa Nui said.

“Then why can’t we go back? With such power, we could change things. Undo things. Undo…all of this.”

The Toa Nui blurred, and its mask altered. A gray Suletu stared at him now, and the voice that whispered softly from it was familiar—a Toa named Krakua. Vakama remembered him.

“Is that what you desire, Vakama?” Krakua said, “To change what has gone before, bend it to your will?

“Maybe…yes,” Vakama said. “If I could, I would make things right.”

“Well then…perhaps it is possible,” Krakua replied.

The Toa Nui raised a mighty arm, and the Vahi Nuva blazed through the features of the Suletu. An image appeared in the dark space, indistinct at first, but slowly clarifying. A cliff-face towered into view, robed in mist above and below. A tiny speck of color stood out against the vastness of stone, clinging to the jagged rock, and with a shock Vakama recognized the titan Voporak staring out across the waters of a silver sea. His friend was still alive! He wanted to cry out to the titan, but somehow could not. The image seemed to wash over his senses, and he was helpless before it.

Far below, he saw another figure break the surface of the sea. It was Toa-sized, and its armor was deep red. In one hand, it held an object that glowed orange. In that moment, Vakama realized what he was seeing. It was himself. Himself as he had been long ago—a Toa, still young in mind, still burdened with destiny and self-doubt…

He was seeing the past. It was the time when he and his fellow Toa had been traveling to their new home on the island of Mata Nui. He had departed from them for a time, drawn inexorably to retrieve something that he had lost…the Vahi. Even then it had been calling him, trying to guide him back to his original destiny. He could see the threads of destiny clearly now, tying everything together, binding him to one purpose, one function within the grand design of the Great Beings. It was inescapable.

The image changed again. Now he saw himself crouching in a dim place. His face was obscured by something…something that was mask-like, but which pulsed as if alive, clinging over his eyes. It was horrible, he remembered, the krana-like creature which had taken control of him. But then he also remembered what had happened next. The creature had shown him things…more visions. Had that been a part of the Great Beings’ plan, or was it an aberration? He had seen Toa Krakua, spoken with him. Could it be that after all this time, the two moments had finally converged? There was more to be said. So much more. He could change everything, stop his visions from coming true. By the power of the Mask of Time, he could thwart the destiny ordained by the Great Beings, sever the threads that had bound him and all his kind. He would do it. Yes!

Vakama moved closer to the image, placing a hand on the Toa Nui’s arm.

“Can I communicate with myself?” he asked.

“Perhaps,” the Toa Nui said, and its voice had changed again. It turned its gaze upon him, and its face was no longer the face of Krakua. It was Gali now, and her eyes were sad.

“What will you do, Vakama?” Gali asked quietly.

“I will save all of you. Somehow it can be done. The Mask of Time has the power to do it, I’m sure.”

“You will make a new future for us, then?”

“Yes!”

“A better future?”

“Better, yes! Anything would be better than this.”

“A future that you have ordained.”

“Yes. It’s the right thing to do.”

“Then you are aptly named, Vaka-ma,” Gali replied. “Master of the Future, Ordainer of Destinies…”

The Toa Nui raised mighty hands to its face, and Gali’s mask vanished.

“Wait…” Vakama said.

With a click, the Toa Nui removed the Vahi Nuva. The image wavered, but remained. The Vakama of the past crouched, frozen, in the grip of the mask-like creature, seemingly waiting for something to happen. Vakama sensed that there was something about this moment—something unique and different—that provided an access-point across time. If there was any change to be made, it would be made here. He only had to take the opportunity.

The Toa Nui held up the Mask and offered it to Vakama. Its face was the face of Krakua once more.

“Take it,” Krakua whispered, “and do as you have said.”

Vakama took the Mask—his own creation—in his hands, and felt the infinite power that surged from it. This was the culmination of all the Great Beings’ efforts. All their plans and designs had led to this one point, and now it had been taken away from them. Now it was his decision to make. The Mask called to him, sang to him. Make the choice. You must choose.

He raised the Mask to his face.

But then he stopped. He did not put on the Mask. Something seemed to release deep inside him, all grief and anguish. Finally he wept, his tears falling upon the surface of his creation. He wept for all the loss that he had seen, all the disappointment. Now the power to undo it was his to command, and yet something stopped him. It was a simple thing that stopped him, but perhaps the most painful realization he had yet dealt with in his long life.

“I cannot do this,” he said at last to the Toa Nui. “I can’t.”

“Why, Vakama?”

The words seemed to spill out of him:

“I am a creature of the Great Beings. That is what I am, though I hate them now for what they’ve done. They shaped me and formed me to their purpose, and no matter what I chose, I was always drawn back to it. Always, without end, until my purpose was fulfilled, and so it was for everyone else. All of us, the creatures of the Great Beings. We are bound by our destinies. We cannot overcome them, and it has all led to this. Death and separation and loss…I can hardly bear it.”

Vakama drew breath. The Toa Nui listened on.

“But…something has changed now. I am free. I have fulfilled my destiny, and yet it is not the end. I am a paradox. We all are. We are more than what the Great Beings intended. We have grown and learned. And although I want to go back and change everything—I want it more than anything—that is exactly what the Great Beings would wish. To start over, to unmake their mistakes. That was what they wanted, wasn’t it? To go beyond Time…”

He trailed off again, squeezing his eyes shut against more tears.

The voice of Gali fell upon his ears.

“And so, Vakama, I ask again: What will you do?”

He opened his eyes.

“I am a creature of the Great Beings,” he repeated, “but I am not bound to follow in their footsteps. I will not become the same thing as they are. I will not bind up the threads of destiny to suit my desires. I cannot do this, though it is my greatest desire.”

Vakama offered up the Vahi Nuva, saying: “You are something outside the plans of the Great Beings. You are something new. Take the Mask and do what you will.”

“Very well.”

The Toa Nui took the Mask once more, gripping it on both sides. With a shock, it pulled the mask apart, and the Vahi Nuva was no more. The image of Toa Vakama vanished, and a sudden lurch of movement made Vakama’s stomach churn. The stars began to wheel around them slowly.

“Now,” said the Toa Nui, “we shall make a new thing.”

The Toa Nui handed Vakama one of the halves of the Mask of Time, and Vakama took it once more with trembling fingers. A pang of sadness went through him, knowing that his creation was undone, even though he knew that it was right in the end.

“It is over,” the Toa Nui continued, “We are far beyond the reach of the creators, but you cannot remain here forever.”

“Where am I to go?” Vakama said, clutching the remaining fragment of the Mask.

“You must go forward,” the Toa Nui said. “You shall make your own path.” Gali’s face wavered before him again “…but do not forget us, Vakama. Hold us in your mind, and know that we endure.”

The Toa of Water faded into a sea of faces, a sea of voices speaking to him, almost chanting:

“When the need arises, we shall aid you. This is our purpose, our duty--to appear when times are dark and all hope seems lost. In that time, call upon us. Evoke the power of past and future, and look to the stars for an answer. We are timeless, and so we shall remain. United, the elements hold the power to defeat evil…”

“…United, but not one. Never again."

Vakama stood before a small fire. Around the fire sat many figures. Six sat closest to the fire. Blue, White, Green, Red, Black, Brown. He knew them all. They smiled at him.

"Goodbye, my friends."

And then there was only the brightness of the Toa Nui's eyes, and a rushing noise all around him. The stars flashed from points into sharp lines as he sped away toward some new destination. A blue point reared up in his vision, expanding to a vast sphere. Was it Spherus Magna?

Had he come home at last?

Next: CH11 Mask Maker

[noblecrumpet-dorkvision]

Dungeon Crafting: Mechanic-Driven Design

image credit: tooth-w

Something that all DMs can learn from is video game level design. One aspect of this is called mechanic-driven design, which is shaping the environment to be a challenge for the main character’s abilities or the game’s mechanics. Mario can jump, so he has platforms and enemies that can be jumped on and question-blocks to jump up and hit. His jumping mechanic defines his environment and lets the players overcome the environment.

The best way I can think of to post about this for a dungeon master to use is in list form. This way, a DM that is making a dungeon can look through what aspects their PC group is composed of and make a sort of checklist of ways to challenge them! Be advised that this is merely a jumping-off point, so just checking off one challenge per player may challenge each player, but it also may not. Maybe that social interaction meant for the bard gets killed by the bloodthirsty barbarian instead. Having multiple challenges for each player will make the dungeon more fun for everyone, eventually.

Another note, players will eventually overcome almost any obstacle you give them, given enough time and resources and persistence. Don’t be afraid to give them a challenge that they might not be the best suited for, mechanically. Maybe add a locked treasure chest despite the PCs not having any characters with thieves tools or sleight of hand to unlock it. They will find a way to open it, and that is part of the fun!

Anyway, the list:

Mechanically Favorable Challenges For…

Barbarians:

big boss monsters (lots of HP, AC and sustained damage)

traps (avoided by Danger Sense)

athletics checks (high STR score)

monsters with attacks needing CON saves (high CON save)

Bards:

opportunities to rest in the dungeon (Song of Rest)

roleplaying encounters (high CHA score)

acrobatics checks (high DEX score)

group efforts like big encounters (Bardic Inspiration)

Clerics:

deities/religious symbols to identify (religion proficiency)

undead to fight (Channel Divinity: Turn Undead)

monsters that apply condition debuffs (Restoration spells)

moral quandary/test (to test loyalty to alignment/deity)

monsters with attacks needing WIS saves (high WIS save)

Druids:

animals/plants to identify (nature proficiency)

outdoor area (to get best of out spells)

hard to reach areas (to make use of Wild Shape)

roleplaying encounter with animals/plants/fey

monsters with attacks needing WIS saves (high WIS save)

Fighters:

big boss monsters (lots of AC, Action Surge, and sustained damage)

lots of monsters (several attacks per round)

athletics checks (high STR score)

monsters with attacks needing CON saves (high CON save)

tactical environments (more interesting fights)

Monks:

lots of monsters (several attacks per round)

athletics/acrobatics checks (high DEX and STR scores)

tall ledges (to use Slow Fall)

stealth encounters (high DEX score and often stealth prof.)

moral quandary/test (usually strict about alignment)

Paladins:

evil monsters (to detect)

big boss monsters (high burst damage from Smite)

moral quandary/test (paladin’s code)

someone to protect (paladin’s code)

deities/religious symbols to identify (religion proficiency)

overland travel or outdoor areas (to use mount)

Rangers:

long range encounters (archery style)

lots of monsters (dual wielding style, attack with companion)

big monsters (colossus slayer, flank with companion)

animals/plants to identify (nature proficiency)

favored enemies to track (survival proficiency)

outdoor areas (for companion, spells, and long-range)

Rogues:

traps (to disarm or avoid)

locks to pick

acrobatics checks (high DEX score)

monsters with attacks requiring DEX save (high DEX save)

single targets (to ambush and burst down)

places to hide (while in midst of combat)

stealth encounters (stealth proficiency)

Sorcerers:

lots of monsters (plenty of area of effect spells)

ranged encounters (to snipe with spells)

dragons (if draconic power origin)

spell-based traps, arcane things to identify (arcana proficiency)

scrolls (to temporarily expand limited spell list)

tense situations (to use sorcery points for quickened spells)

opportunities to use Fly spell

Warlocks:

fiends/fey/aberrations (depending on power origin)

big boss monsters (to burst down with eldritch blasts)

spell-based traps, arcane things to identify (arcana proficiency)

scrolls (to temporarily expand VERY limited spell list)

hard to reach areas or spy missions (if Pact of the Chain)

consistent challenges for their chosen spells

Wizards:

spell-based traps, arcane things to identify (arcana proficiency)

spellbooks and scrolls to loot (to add to spellbook)

opportunities to use Fly spell

unique challenges to be overcome (versatile spell list)

challenges that relate to their specialized school of magic, fight fire with fire

lots of monsters (plenty of area of effect spells)

big dumb monsters (for spells requiring WIS saves)

Characters with strong alignments:

moral quandary/test (to test how they adhere to that alignment)

Dwarves:

stonework to identify (Stonecunning)

Goblins, Orcs, or Giants (dwarves war with such factions)

Elves:

wandering nocturnal monsters (elves don’t sleep)

nature checks (elves often have an affinity for such things)

fey (elves have fey ancestry and will appreciate the encounter)

Halfings:

crawlspaces (that only they can fit into)

fear effects (they are resistant to fear)

other halflings (they are a community-driven race)

Gnomes:

crawlspaces (that only they can fit into)

INT/WIS/CHA saving throws (they have adv. against mind-affecting spells)

stealth encounters (tinker gnomes can use trinkets to distract)

Half-Orcs:

smaller, weaker NPCs (intimidation proficiency)

racial tension (often outcasts amongst both humans and orcs)

racial ambassador (roleplay between humans and orcs)

Half-Elves:

racial tension (often outcasts amongst both humans and elves)

racial ambassador (roleplay between humans and elves)

Dragonborn:

monsters that use energy damage (to complement their resistance to certain energy types)

dragons (to roleplay with)

racial tension (their scarcity and monstrous appearance can create obstacles)

Tieflings:

racial tension (their scarcity and fiendish origin can create obstacles)

fiends (to roleplay with)

monsters that use fire damage (to complement their innate resistance)

Basically, know your players. Know what spells they have at their disposal, which items they have, and whether they took any feats. Then you can tailor your levels to challenge each player and make each player feel special.

[souichipresents]

Souichi Presents: Tomie, tOmie, toMie....

Kyahaha! Welcome, welcome back to Souichi Presents! The home of a true madman's task... to one day have reviewed every single Junji Itou story ever made! However... perhaps if you’ve noticed, even leaving aside the holiday hiatus, there’s been an unusual uptick in Non Mr. Itou Reviews. 

Why would this be? Well, I could say that I try to take in new horror as much as possible, to keep refreshed... but if I had to be honest in myself, it’s possible... I might be avoiding something. 

THERE'S JUST SO MANY OF HER. THEM. THESE STORIES. There’s so many of them. But that can’t stop me in my sacred duty because I swore an OATH... well I had a random idea when I was a freshman in college which I picked back up again for absolutely no reason I can recall and I’m sticking to it. 

Of course this is a labor of love, make no mistake. And there’s still a lot to love, as we get to... 

JUNJI ITOU’s, TOMIE: THE BASEMENT

(See part 1, MORITA HOSPITAL, here.)

Alright so if you weren’t here for the last part of this series, here’s a QUICK rundown. 

A girl is in the hospital while her not-boyfriend visits, until oh no! Tomie does that weird thing she does where her only enjoyment in stringing dudes along eems to be tormenting girls about it which isn’t weird at all. Sad hopsital girl is very sad, and also absolutely dying from Vauge Anime Organ Failure. But luckily for her, she’s able to get a transplant! Bad news, it’s a Tomie, signed off for the transplant from the sketchiest man alive claiming to be Tomie’s father. Again. Which is creepy because he is 100% actually the teacher from the very first Tomie story who may have impregnated her, was absolutely dating her, and 1000% killed her. So that’s creepy. 

Then it ended with ‘everyone with a uterus screamed internally during THIS bit’, alternate title ‘Aliens but with Tomie’. Now that we’re all caught up... 

(remember this is one of the very early translations, back when official publishers mirrored the art, so it’s left to right. God forgive us.)

Oh right, so this is early EARLY translation here, so it’s left-to-right again. My favorite part of this is that if theres a RUMOR about this, it indicates two things, really: one is that a patient happened to SEE this, which is just hilariously terrible. You get up, maybe getting some water, see- oh hey they’re operating and hhHOOOPS THATS A TINY HAND BYEEEE. 

Or option two: just some real gossipy nurses. “You would not BELEIVE the shit I put up with... yeah between this and whoever put the plastic wrap over the toilet seat, I’m out. I don’t care if it includes dental.”

...sorry, the heck is this?

Why it’s Fumihito! He’s... totaly unrelated to the story so far, and any future stories! But he’s sure here now. Good for you, Fumihito. 

Sure I make fun, but I’m pretty sure he might actually make it out of this ALIVE. Maybe the secret to surviving Tomie is to lack personality. Well he has one personality trait: checking out creepy things for No Reason. It might not get you very far at a party, but it;s gangbusters for moving a horror plot along. 

Well so much for my recap. This one’s probably more factual. Also can I just say I appreciate how in stride these doctors are taking this? Maybe they got all their ‘NO, THIS CAN’T BE’ out of their systems earlier. 

Well this has to be better then the goldfish bowl of hydrocloric acid the last tomie head was in. But whatever THIS is is... opaque... but not from... this side...?

....Mr. Ito, did you just have worries about drawing the doctors through the water at an angle? Well, god knows I wouldn’t want to. 

Now this is interesting, because it’s really the only go at a scientific explanation for Tomie’s... tomieness. But all he’s *really* saying is, hey, she can regenerate! I don’t think the real secret to this story is that Tomie turns out to be a large pile of planarians. ...though that would be amazing. 

...though it does speak badly for earths survival rate... do you eventualy wind up with a Tomie ‘apocalypse’? Crowds of tomies... gigantic tomies, like terrible lighthouses of adoration? Who knows, maybe every second tomie just kind of wanders into the ocean to keep overpopulation down... but still, you imagine it ends poorly. 

Yes well luckily rules don’t apply to NOSY MALE PROTAGONIST MAN! Able to use his amazing powers to satisfy his own vauge curiosity with a single bound. 

“And why are you in my room exactly?” “Plot contrivance! Need a character to follow to see the story happen, you know.” “...Isn’t that *me*?” “Don’t... don’t worry about it. 

This really highlights the difference in horror as a genre, you know? In most other stories someone being able to miraculously heal from major surgery would be a GOOD thing. Or at least even odds. 

See also: reading mysterious books, talking to strange new people, investigating odd noises. Don’t blame horror protags for doing those things; any other genre going into the magic furniture leads to narnia instead of hell. 

Similarly, only in horror is it possible for cancer to not be the worst outcome.

Now, I do feel the urge to make a joke here about just deciding to irradiate the monster why not, but they do actually have a logical train of thought here. They’re assuming something like cancer is happening; so they’re trying to see if radiation therapy could destroy the cells. 

WHICH is in turn interesting to me, because the “rules” of Tomie aren’t... clear. But they do seem to work. For the record-

Acid works. Fire works but you gotta be REAL thorough. Cutting is the opposite of working, bludgeoning not really much better. Water- laughable. Poison- untried. Concrete- ???? Radiation... well you’ll see in a minute. 

Meanwhile we get more of this. You wanted more of this, right? 

Tadashi sucked. Suuuuucked. This guy... exists. 

This does clarify a little more about her- it sounds like she has kind of a lonely life. ...I’m also going to throw this guy a bone and assume whatever he said in the original japanese might have been more of a “Oh, is that right?” then... that. 

Oh right, the monster. Radiation turns out to just make Tomie go from a kind of head-disaster to “barbie doll left on the stove.” Why? It’s a little late to want a scientific reason why THIS happens, because tomie already endlessly self replicates with no apparent need for outside energy... kind of. 

More then a few times we see her eating things (people) to regenerate from, but theres also times where nothing like thats around. Maybe having outside energy just speeds it up...? Or maybe she’s a nonsense curse monster. 

You know, I really didn’t think I’d like RE7 when the demo was out, but I like a lot of what they wound up doing with it in the main game. 

...And you are....?

Okay. Y’all. My dear friends. I love these comics. I love mr. Ito. I do. But we spend FOUR PAGES on, essentially, “Freddy hears noises behind the door, and briefly sees a walking figure.” I’m hitting the fast forward. 

There she is. The crux of this mystery- this and so many more. A living ghost? An endlessly self replicating memory? The guilt and fixation of a murderer imprinted into a endlessly replicating form? The grief of a murdered (pregnant!) teen girl horrifically cut down by a man?

If nothing else, a strange naked girl, in a fishtank, in a hospital basement he just saw a dude walk out of. What a strange sight. What a genuinely beautiful panel, highlighting a subtle, aberrant moment. 

...well. I mean, from a meta point of view, he took the safest available route, but... you can’t help but be disappointed, right?

Well Tomie has better things to do anyways. People to see. Short haired girls to loom over. 

No seriously, always with the short haired girls. Tomie has a.... type? Is that even what you could call it?

I’m not sure it really is about Tadashi, Tomie. I’m not really sure it is. 

Speaking of which, this is actually really unusual for Tomie. While she tends to generate terrible violence and suffering around her, I can’t really think of any time when she actually directly attacks someone. Usually she would have male ‘lackeys’ that she’d assign or manipulate to kill someone for her. This is an unusually direct motion on her part. 

Hey remember when she had slightly curly hair? We’re in the odd midpoint art wise where her design takes a odd turn. I can never figure out if it’s just a drift, or if it’s closer to how Mr. Ito wanted Tomie to look. 

Anyways it was nice knowing you, Dr. McDoctorson. 

Meanwhile, this is going to get a lot worse, and never get better. Note the interesting framing of the flowers here. I wish I knew if this was made before or after Dying Young. It feels like a very similar story thread, but Dying Young focuses more cleanly on the specific idea of ‘an illness making you beautiful, but at a terrible cost’. While this is... well. Tomie tomie tomie tomie. 

In the meantime, the doctors have been debating if tomie material can be used to cure illnesses (spoiler: hhhhooo boy no), and our main character went to visit John Smithee here. Who... does... this. 

...What the hell is he talking about? Her only personality change is she’s suddenly a little happier, and flirting with him. Also, he’s the one who’s been nonsensical in her grill hitting on her? Is this supposed to be like, ~oh I liked you for how you looked before~. 

I hate that. I hate every half-witted story where some boy is praised for seeing a girls ~natural beauty~. Like the discover of a girl is more important then whatever her plans for how she wants to look and feel are. And while this isn’t exactly because she just straightened her hair and got makeup, he doesn’t actually know that. So it just... grates on me. Endlessly. 

WHY IS THIS DUDE IN THIS STORY. 

Like this is supposed to be GASP TOMIE IS TAKING HER OVER but the problem is I don’t LIKE him, and his reason for turning her down is as shallow as anything Tomie has literaly ever said. 

It’s not sweet! And he has no functional personality. This story is supposed to be about her, but because she’s going through this transformation, it feels like he’s there so we see it from outside her point of view. But he just... sucks. 

Me too, totes-not-Tomie. 

Yeah his investment in how much more docile and quiet she was before really makes me feel the emotional weight of this terrible transformation coming over her. Which I guess is really my problem. 

This horrible thing happening to HER is being framed in how it’s affecting HIM. How HE feels about how she looked and behaved. And I could not care. Less. 

WHY CAN’T WE SEE MORE OF HOW SHE FEELS ABOUT THIS. 

meanwhile, Tomie accidentally saves many, many lives by getting rid of the other half of Kidney-Kaijulet, because these morons were going to inject more people with Tomie. 

Then this happens, and it kind of sucks. Even though it’s ~tomie~ and she’s evil or whatever... it... just kind of sucks. Which I guess is what winds up wearing me down in this series. We’re not short of media where ladies get hit and killed a lot. And I fully recognize there is context for this series as existing in japan that I’m not privy to, and will never actually be able to speak to. 

But to me, what the Tomie series has thats genuinely something different gets overshadowed by the monotony of the violence in it. For how little Mr. Ito work in later years includes outright slasher type violence, Tomie just... keeps goin. 

Also, she keeps dying but Creeper Teacher Dude here keeps being alive still, which also Just Sucks. 

Blink and you’ll miss it, here’s the whole reason any of this happened! It’s... this shithead again. Womp womp. 

Unintentionaly this might be the funniest page Ito has ever made. Poor bearded doctor just. 

WHY ARE YOU CUTTING HER UP? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WI- WHY THE FUCK DO *YOU* HAVE A CAN OF GASOLINE. WHY IS ANY OF THIS HAPPENING. I SHOULD HAVE JUST TAKEN THE JOB IN KURÔZU-CHO. 

Also.... “squeak squeak?” That cannot possibly be the right sound effect. 

...alright this guys a total shitstain in five directions, but this is also pretty funny. He’s basically doing a Loony Toons exit in a dark horror story. 

Don’t listen to that too long by the way, it’s kind of hypnotic. 

And this... this one page makes, to me, the whole rest of the story.... 

The intensity of the reveal. The tight closeups from her face to his, the way she seems contained inside the arc of the fire. The slant of the panels around them- leading to such a sense of unease, and drawing the eye.  

This. This is a beautiful horror moment. 

What a strange moment. Do they leave together? I don’t remember if he comes back again, though I suspect he must. What happens to her....? 

Is she really completely gone?

And that, at last, is the end of BASEMENT. 

This is a really muddled one for me. I feel like theres so MUCH in it I could enjoy, but somehow it both has too many ideas, and feels stuffed with filler. 

I’d loved to see some of these ideas. A hospital researching tomie? A girl being corrupted BY tomie and slowly losing her sense of self...? Those are both amazing ideas that I wish had been their own stories. I wish the girl becoming tomie had kept the lense on HER. On how she felt, on what she was doing. 

I think in a way I find this pair of chapters to be more frustrating then others because... if there weren’t good moments, I could just freely mock it, and maybe even skip past it. But there is a good story in it! There really is. 

It just feels like it’s happening somewhere else, while the ‘camera’ follows this unrelated person. With a level of decompression that... doesn’t work for me. 

I suppose thats a greater problem I have with Tomie. It can just feel like so MUCH, but it almost never gets bad enough i can comfortably abandon it. 

Almost. 

That’s all for this week, folks! Join us next time won’t you? I’m hoping to get to more Ito, and talk about the hauntingly strange short “Madame Tutli Putli”, and possibly talk about the great classic of horror cinema, Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. And of course, the souichi presents patreon is now on monthly donations, and I’ll be updating it’s milestones soon! Even a dollar or two makes a really big difference. 

And as always, Souichi WILL... return. 

[academicatheism]

Addressing A Stereotype About Christians

Christians get so worked up because a lot of atheists think themselves smarter than Christians. Or they go further and claim that Christians are just plain dumb. Well, if you take such issue with the stereotype, act like you’re intelligent. Where can you start? Start by not asking “if god doesn’t exist, why does belief in god make atheists so angry?” Anyone who isn’t looking to annoy, frustrate, or anger atheists knows better than to ask such a stupid question. 

Atheists actually aren’t angry that you believe in god. What makes us angry is what results from belief in god. Belief in god can lead to belief in faith healing, for example. Belief in faith healing results in the deaths of children. Parents literally refuse to take their children to the hospital or even give them medicine because they truly believe god will heal their child of a flu. Belief in exorcism has also led to the deaths of children. Belief in god can lead people to thinking that flagellation is a valid form of worship. Children will then whip themselves and be crucified as a form of worship.

Sure (!), the Christian will then claim that these aren’t representative of real Christians. They’ll employ a No True Scotsman fallacy. Or they’ll go with the “at least all Christians don’t believe such things.” But we can be more general! How many anti-intellectual, anti-science, pro-Trump Christians are there? How many misogynistic, anti-homosexual, xenophobic Christians are there? Would I be wrong to be angry at “innocent” belief in god knowing that a given believer definitely sees homosexuality as a sin, as an aberration from god’s original design? Would I be wrong to assume that some of these believers would go on to mistreat people who are homosexual? Even if it’s something as simple as refusing to provide them goods or services? Of course I won’t be wrong.

So we’re not angry about belief in god because god exists. We’re angry about belief in god because of where belief often leads. There are any number of routes you can go as a Christian, but adopting some detestable view is a guarantee. Every wannabe apologist in the blogosphere is haughty, pompous, and believes they’re far more knowledgeable than they actually are. They may not support Trump or bash gays, but they have Dunning-Kruger syndrome and, as years of having debates with such people has proven, they lack respect for atheists. They ignore their bias because only the atheist’s bias matters. They ignore the atheist’s evidence because either, they shift the definition of evidence so that it can be whatever they deem evidence or they ignore evidence contrary to their beliefs. 

That’s your start. Now where do you go? Try being honest with yourself. Doubt isn’t “of the devil” or some such nonsense. If a belief is dubious, doubt is inevitable. Perhaps doubt happens to every Christian because Christianity isn’t true? Why isn’t that an option? Think of it this way and I’ll keep it very simple. Do you doubt that your parents are actually your parents? Do you doubt the location of your school, workplace, or the nearest grocery store? Why isn’t doubt inherent to these facts? To save Christianity from this contrast, the wannabe apologist will most certainly go down the “brain in the vat” avenue. “How can you trust that you exist?” Descartes gave us a simple process to arrive at “I think, therefore I am.” If that’s the route you want to take, start by refuting the work of one of your own brethren. But it should be clear that if you have to go that outside the box to push away doubt, something is off about what you believe to be true. When something is true, there’s simply no room for doubt. Who my parents are, where I am, the various places I frequently go to, etc. are beyond doubt. That is to say that I know the truth about my parents, my current location, and the various locations I frequent. Should the truth change, my claim would change.

Say there’s a fire at the local grocery store. The fire debilitates the business and it never recovers. Now I would say that the supermarket used to be there. Or I’d say that this burned down space was a supermarket. I wouldn’t continue to speak as though it’s currently there though it’s not. So-called religious facts simply don’t work this way. That’s because there aren’t any religious facts. There are no facts about god. The facts per Christianity aren’t actually facts either. Truth and doubt simply don’t work in tandem. If one is present, the other isn’t. Truth and doubt never occupy the same space in the same respect. In other words, with respect to my parents, there’s truth and absolutely no doubt. Even as a Christian, the supposed existence of god wasn’t such a truth; the claim that Christianity is the one, true religion didn’t stand as such either. There was always some doubt and it was a doubt I entertained.

I reasoned as follows: if god truly exists and Christianity is true, all roads would lead me to that fact. I can ask around. I can get genetic tests. I can get legal documents. I can get medical records. All roads will lead me to the fact that my parents are, in fact, my parents. No matter what I do--even a denial in a fit of anger--would not change that. You can read about Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or even the occult; you can consider science and its multifarious theories, philosophy, history, and other disciplines, and no matter what you find, what you read, what you come across, one fact will persist: god exists and Christianity is true. In my Christian days, I believed that that would be the result. Set sail with that same belief and see what ensues; indulge your doubt and see what comes of it. 

The truth is tested in futility because doubt will never enter its space. If someone has sold you a truth that can be doubted, I’m pretty sure I don’t have to make any suggestions as to what’s going on. If the stereotype bothers you so much, conduct yourself as intelligent people do. Be skeptical wherever warranted; indulge your doubts because the mere fact that a doubt exists is hinting at a clearer understanding; ask questions and honestly seek the answers; don’t accuse someone of bias simply to shield your own bias; be as objective as possible, showing absolutely no favor to a given conclusion--even if that particular conclusion is the one that you find most preferable; this last one is hard in a time of so-called alternative facts and post-truth, but honor the facts, whatever they may be. This is how intelligent people proceed. Want to rid yourselves of the stereotype? Change your behavior because honestly, as it stands, the majority of Christians I speak to act as though they lack intelligence. That being the case, it can’t be no wonder and neither is it the atheist’s fault that they think as they do about Christians.

[theredherb]

Review: Resident Evil 7

[Originally posted on When Nerds Attack.]

“You’re about to see something wonderful.” Jack’s freshly charred skin is peeling off his body. But he’s still alive, and strong. He’s clutching your wrist, pulling it to his face. He wraps his mouth around the handgun you just plucked from the desiccated cop now lying dead on the floor. With a resounding pop, a chasm erupts from the top of his skull. His body falls limply to the ground. You survived, but you didn’t win. Jack will be back. He deliberately ate a bullet just to prove a point.

It’s been a long time since Resident Evil has scared me. For the better part of a decade, Capcom remodeled the franchise that coined “Survival Horror” into gun-centric action games meant to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Familiar draws were included to bait fans that remember the fixed perspective, tank controlled days of yesteryear — whether it was tangential ties to the sinister Umbrella Corporation, hulking bio-weapons, or the franchise synonymous living dead. More often than not, though, these nostalgic additions felt like window dressing. While latter day sequels like Resident Evil 6 coated their levels in shadows and foreboding atmosphere, at their core, they were third-person shooters. True horror, the kind that the original trilogy is lauded for to this day, was left behind.

With Resident Evil 7, Capcom has finally returned to the franchise’s roots. It takes inspiration not only from its own past but from other stand-out horror experiences in order to rework and revitalize the genre they helped inform. The result is an expertly paced, incredibly tense hell-ride through a literal madhouse — and it’s actually pretty goddamn scary. Long-time fans have been yearning to hear this for years: Resident Evil 7 is pure survival horror.

SWEET HOME

Eschewing the tradition of military trained, boulder boxing heroes, you assume the role of prototypical everyman Ethan Winters, whose wife, Mia, disappeared three years before the story’s start. Beckoned by an ominous email from his estranged love, Ethan travels to an abandoned homestead located in a forgotten slice of southern Americana called Dulvey, Louisiana.

The Dulvey estate is a decaying wreck slowly being digested by the thick marsh that surrounds it. Inside, what’s truly unnerving isn’t how empty the house is, but how lived in it feels. Family portraits and hand-scribbled notes lie side by side with festering trash bags and dirtied pots filled with putrid meat. Somehow, people live here, and your surroundings do a fantastic job of letting you know that there’s something very, very wrong with them.

The new first-person perspective (rather than the third-person view in previous entries) introduces a newfound sense of dread since you’re vision is narrowed and you can’t see what’s behind you. It serves to make the experience eerily intimate and allows you to soak in every meticulously rendered inch of house. Passageways are splashed in pervasive darkness (some of the best shadow effects I’ve seen in a game) while the sound design pummels you with constant creaks, groans, and distant footsteps. Walking through the house is gloriously nerve-wracking.

I won’t spoil the first thirty minutes or so, but I will say the proceeding goes from Zero-to-Evil Dead fast enough to blow a gasket. It’s a joyfully malicious intro that perfectly sets the tone for the game to come — one that’ll have you laughing and recoiling in disgust in equal measure.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Before long you’ll encounter the main villains of the show: the Baker clan. There’s Jack Baker, the stern head of the household; his wife Marguerite, whose disposition flashes between motherly and vitriolic in a heartbeat; and their son Lucas, the only one of his kin that could pass for normal until you see the bottomless pit of insanity swirling in his eyes. There’s a certain level of camp to the Bakers that the game is unafraid to play with. Only horror aficionados would get this reference, but they call to mind the maniacal Sawyer family specifically from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (just one of many cinemacabre influences found in the game).

It’s apparent there’s more affecting the Bakers than a simple case of the batshit crazies. They’re inhumanly strong, can regenerate severed body parts, and worship the notion of ‘family’ with a murderous zeal. Figuring out what’s wrong with them, and how it pertains to your missing wife, reintroduces a story component absent from the series since the very first game: an engrossing mystery.

Each Baker is tethered to specific areas of the plantation — castellans of their hillbilly castle. But they serve a more dynamic role than just the inevitable boss fight earmarking a section. Jack, for instance, will patrol parts of the house, and if he spots you, will relentlessly chase you down until you he buries a shovel into your soft dome. There’s a sick thrill to tangling with Jack. He’s a walking bullet-sponge and difficult to shake-off until you learn to out maneuver him by running serpentine patterns all around the house.

Marguerite will also guard her part of the residence with a lantern in hand in case an intruder is hiding in the shadows, and when she finds you… well, I hope bugs don’t freak you out. Unlike the horror games these segments are derived from (namely Outlast and Amnesia), RE7 has little interest in being a hide and seek simulator, and uses these encounters sparingly. That restraint goes a long way, making an appearance from “Daddy” feel more surprising and random, keeping players constantly off-kilter as they trek through the house.

BACK TO BASICS

Given the change of perspective and overhauled, backwoods-y tone, you might wonder why Capcom bothered to slap a number on this seeming reboot. Despite its modern influences, the gameplay is most reminiscent of the original Resident Evil. Just like the granddaddy of survival horror, there’s a huge emphasis on exploring your environment, managing inventory, and picking which battles to fight or take flight from.

You’ll navigate the Baker house in search of keys that unlock new parts of the homestead and its surrounding areas. Arcane puzzles will block your progress, but they can typically be solved using simple order-of-operation: find Item A, combine it with Item B, slot Item C into hole. Not exactly Witness level headscratchers by any means, but they serve to break up the tension. And they’re just so quintessentially Resident Evil— a kooky house filled with inexplicably placed puzzles.

Apropos to the genre, the amount of items you can hold at once is limited. Thusly, item boxes — the bottomless chests that are magically linked to each other — return along with the save rooms that harbor them. Whereas completing some puzzles will condemn you to do battle with some unholy aberration, save rooms are the one true respite that allow you to breathe and collect yourself. (Special shout out goes to the calming, ambient melody that plays whenever you reach one of these bastions — that shit is lit).

There’s also an extra meta to how you organize and use items you find. You can find healing herbs and use them raw (I guess… I guess Ethan chews them?) but they become much more potent if you combine them with a Chem Fluid. If you hang on to the very same Chem Fluid until you found some loose gunpowder, on the other hand, you can craft your very own handgun bullets instead of having to forage for them. Combining items also frees up inventory slots which in turn can be filled up with more ammo, health, or key items. It all cleverly underlines the “Survival” in “Survival Horror,” rewarding savvy mixologists with a longer lease on life.

You’ll attain weapons to beat back the creatures of the night, and the UI lets you organize them within your inventory so that they’re mapped to the D-Pad. It’s a useful appropriation of one of Resident Evil 5’s better ideas especially given the fact that digging into your inventory doesn’t pause the action (you’ve been warned).

FIGHT NIGHT

It wouldn’t be a Resident Evil game without monsters. Enter the Molded — humanoid tarman formed from a viscous black goo. They’re mostly slow but they have wolverine claws, their faces are roughly eighty-percent teeth, and they’re dangerous in numbers. Helpfully, they haven’t mastered the art of opening doors, so they’re easy to trap, and you can also block incoming attacks to soak up the brunt of their damage. Eventually, though, you’ll have to go on the offensive.

You’re equipped with a pocket knife early on, but that’s only a rung more effective than harsh language– it’s the handgun and shotgun you’ll be relying on. It’s important to note that, despite the viewpoint, this isn’t a first-person shooter. Aiming down the sights slows your movement to a crawl and can actually put you in harm’s way which means placement is as paramount as precision — a concept not altogether foreign if you played the original games. There’s a value play to using weapons, too: if you mow down every single critter that jumps at you in the dark, you’ll find your clip empty the next time you’re truly up shit’s creek.

Ammo scarcity forces you to plan and act accordingly. Do you feed your last few bullets into a Molded so you can search an area in peace? Or can you evade long enough to save those shots? There’s few things more satisfying than the pus geyser that erupts whenever you relocate a Molded’s head, but I was more thankful to have those shots whenever Jack would burst through a wall like a redneck Kool-Aid Man. It’s the kind of on-the-fly strategizing that has been sorely missing from Resident Evil.

True to genre form, you’ll be tasked to engage in boss fights. Unfortunately, not every battle is a memorable showdown of wits and brawn. I’ll keep it vague, but there’s one sore thumb in the bunch, early on, that forces you to rely on the game’s clunky melee mechanics. Thankfully, the bar raises as you contend with the Bakers. Again, I’m being purposely vague, but one cool bit has you hopping between levels of a decrepit greenhouse as you hunt down a baddie, expertly making use of space, and another is such a wickedly good callback to Resident Evil 4, it’d bring a tear to Leon Kennedy’s dreamy eye.

FOUND FOOTAGE

When you’re not juggling items or tip-toeing in the dark, the game has you watching VHS tapes. Playing tapes isn’t as passive as that, however, since you’ll be tasked to play as the character within the video. It’s a really ingenious narrative tool that not only gives you insight to what the hell happened before Ethan arrived, but also spotlights crucial clues in your current environment. One tape stands out in particular — “Happy Birthday.” In it, you play as an ill-fated cameraman that has to solve an intricate puzzle to escape from a sealed room. The Saw inspired conundrum is by far one of most impressively realized pieces of design the game owns — it had my jaw to the floor by its conclusion.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY

Biological terrorism, global domination plots, superhuman villains… Resident Evil’s stories have arguably degraded into over-the-top comic book fare as the years have gone on. RE7 wisely reigns in its scope to tell the most grounded story in the series since the original. It follows the beats of a low-budget horror movie, and it’s a great direction. Like a lot of micro-budgeted horror movies, this is a plot driven vehicle.

Subsequently, character work is on the thin side, especially in regards to Ethan. His few spoken lines keep him from being a silent protagonist but it’s obvious he’s meant to be a blank slate for players to project onto — sort of in the vein of Half-Life’s Gordon Freeman or mute soldiers from early Call of Duty games. Mia, his wife, fares a little better — and she should; she has five times the amount of lines as Ethan — but at no point would you even think her and Ethan are married if it wasn’t explicitly stated. But it’s a double-edged sword: much of the momentum of the plot is owed to the fact that it doesn’t linger on personal details.

Whereas the first two-thirds of the game are brilliantly crafted and paced, RE7 loses a lot of steam on its march to the endgame. Again, in an attempt to not spoil any surprises, I won’t name the location you reach in the third-act. I will say that it like feels by-the-numbers horror fare — a disappointing contrast to everything the game so confidently builds beforehand. Disappointing, but nowhere enough to derail the experience.

It’s right around here that the game decides to increase the amount of Molded you fight by tenfold, totally inoculating players of any fear the bizarre tarmen might’ve wrought. We’re talking a small island nation’s worth of Molded. While there’s three distinct types of Molded to contend with — including a spider-y leaper who I hate so much — more enemy variety would have spiced up this last stretch considerably. If you can get through this gauntlet of pus-bloods, you’re treated to a Big Reveal, and get to find out what the hell’s really going on in Dulvey. As a fan, I was pleasantly surprised that they found a way to tie these seemingly discrete events back into the greater whole of what Resident Evil is about (while also leaving us with plenty of questions).

HAIL TO THE KING

After one of my very first sessions with the game, I took a break (game manuals used to suggest you do this often when game manuals were still a thing). Naturally, it was night and, of course, I was alone. I absorb a ridiculous amount of horror media, games and otherwise. They don’t get to me very often. Yet, my skin was crawling. I started jumping at small noises. I was watching shadows. I was still bugged out from my time inside the Baker house. The last time a horror game lingered with me like that was when I first played Resident Evil 2 on the Nintendo 64– I was 10.

Resident Evil 7 is phenomenal course correction for the franchise. It’s unashamed of celebrating established cliches but, like any great horror movie, knows how to subvert them. Capcom’s crafted a legitimately harrowing ride that also manages to never sacrifice its playability. While other games of its ilk will try to depower the player as much as possible to instill a sense of vulnerability, Resident Evil 7 smartly balances its challenge with fun gameplay mechanics. I wanted to get right back into it even as the credits rolled (and I did… four times since).

The game feels fresh, yet it builds on time-tested conventions of the genre. Capcom has proven they understand why we loved the original games, and have found a means to modernize that formula. I can’t see the series going back to the over-the-shoulder, co-op shoot-fests. This is the path to stay on. Not just because Resident Evil 7 is one of the best games in the series, but because it’s one of the best survival horror games ever made.

[If you purchase the PS4 edition of the game, you can enjoy/endure the entirety of Resident Evil 7 in PlayStation VR. I’ve yet to make the $400 plunge into Sony’s virtual space, but I did get to play the Beginning Hour demo in VR at Capcom’s booth during last December’s PSX. Though my time with the VR version of the game was brief, I was thoroughly impressed. Anecdotally, I’ve heard it’s the scariest and most immersive way to experience RE7. Apologies for not having more extensive impressions!]

[jacewilliams1]

That other ice

Structural ice is a known flight hazard and there are plenty of forecasting products to help a pilot avoid it. Failing that, there are volumes of text and hours of videos to advise the unlucky or the unwise on how to deliver themselves from its grip.

Curiously, there is another type of icing that has sent its share of airplanes to the salvage yard, and pilots to the graveyard. Because it is mainly an affliction of low-performance aircraft, it doesn’t receive as much attention.

Remember carb ice?

Many of us (I’d guess most) had our initial training in carburetor-equipped airplanes where the drill of applying carburetor heat before landing was strictly enforced. I did it mechanically with no conception of what would, or wouldn’t, happen if I ever stopped. We’d purchased a Cessna 150 before I began instruction and would be wedded to it for some time. The 150, being what it is, does not confer any claim to expertise on most aviation subjects. One exception is carburetor ice.

Conventional wisdom holds that certain engine designs are predisposed to carburetor ice. Notably the Continental O-200/300s and the older O-470 series, while Lycoming engines are resistant to icing because the induction piping efficiently transfers engine heat to the carburetor. I can’t dispute that but icing susceptibility also depends on the engine installation in a particular airframe and it can vary considerably between airplanes, even of the same model.

Sooner or Later

Our 150 had a Continental O-200-A and its Marvel carburetor would pick up ice under a cold stare. My first encounter with it was while practicing a hold on a clear, cool morning over a large body of water. I’d pulled the throttle back to 2200 RPM while circling but every couple of minutes the RPMs would slowly drop off and I’d need to add a touch of throttle. I tightened the throttle tensioner until my hand hurt but it still seemed to be creeping back. Then, and with no warning, the engine went silent. “This must be carb ice,” I thought and reached for the carburetor heat knob.

Sure enough, the engine came back for one second and then quit outright. In a panic, I tried to undo everything but before I could remove the heat, the slug of melted ice passed through the engine and full power was restored. I learned two things.

First, if there is a substantial amount of ice present, the engine will go into distress when carb heat is applied. Just wait it out, power is coming. Second, there is a fine emotional line between the smug pride someone feels handling a situation which is well understood, and the panic that sets in when it isn’t. The first lesson never needed reinforcing. The second seems to require periodic re-exposures – like a tetanus booster.

Fool Me Twice

Working toward a private certificate, I cannot remember anyone telling me that carburetor heat might not always resolve an icing problem. That it might have limitations. During my instrument training, one instructor mentioned in passing that he had an issue flying a Piper Apache (not a stellar performer in ideal conditions) where he’d been unable to remove, or even arrest, the ice building in both carburetors. He’d applied full heat, adjusted mixtures, manifold pressures, RPMs. No combination of anything helped. I asked what he did then. He answered, “I got scared.”

I took what he said to heart, but in the succeeding years I logged a fair amount of time flying the 150 in visible moisture without any ice control issues. We had a routine in IMC. Every one or two minutes I would pull the heat control, whereupon the RPMs would momentarily drop and then recover. Engine roughness and RPM decrease would determine how often the heat needed to be applied. Sometimes I just had to leave it on, lean the mixture, and live with the power deficit – undesirable in such a low-powered airplane.

Carburetor ice in the Low stratus over California’s central valley is easily managed – with some exceptions.

Much of that flying was done at low altitude in the stratus layer which often forms in California’s central valley. Those conditions were fairly benign but, eventually, my flights extended into more varied geography and weather. Two of those stand out. The first caught me by surprise while crossing the Sierras. The flight originated in Truckee, California, with temperatures in the mid-30s (F) and melting snow on the taxiway. I kept the carburetor heat on while taxiing until advancing the throttle for takeoff.

Climbing east-bound at full throttle over Interstate 80, the engine wouldn’t maintain power. Full heat, and jockeying the mixture, preserved what power remained but it would not clear out the accumulated ice. Over the next 15 minutes, the highway relentlessly out-climbed the airplane, raising the specter of a forced landing on that steep, twisting concrete ribbon. A few miles before reaching Donner Summit, the ice began to clear.

Entering drier air from the valley rescued my situation with a scant 500 feet between the landing gear and the pavement. Using mental sleight of hand, I convinced myself the experience was an aberration unique to mountain operations. I clung to that conceit for a couple of years until it was stripped away during an instrument flight across the Sacramento Valley.

This hop was at lower altitude in somewhat warmer temperatures but it was heading toward a deep low pressure system moving in from the Pacific. The FSS briefer assured me structural icing would not be a factor but gusting winds would.

With a clearance in hand, I launched from Auburn and contacted the approach facility at Stockton. As soon as we leveled off at 4000 feet, there was a perceptible decay in power. So the heat came on and the throttle went forward to the stop. It may have been the higher moisture content in that warmer air, or convergence around the low, or something else, but power continued to drop (although more slowly).

I asked Stockton for lower, but sector MVAs and conflicting traffic wouldn’t allow it. Intense wind held down the ground speed, further delaying any relief. Finally, negotiating 3000 got the 150 below the clouds and gained a little manifold pressure. But the engine was just holding its own. Meanwhile, twilight fell – along with the dew point spread and visibility – as a one-hour flight morphed into two. The next controller expedited a VOR approach into Tracy.

After leaving the approach fix, I suffered for a couple of minutes in genuine anxiety knowing that the missed approach procedure called for an initial climb which was, by now, beyond the capability of the airplane, and conditions for maintaining power were rapidly deteriorating.

That night the low deepened and passed directly over the airport, ripping an airplane from its moorings behind our 150 and flipping it on its back.

The 150 is not known for its thrilling performance.

In order to gain the full utility from a low-performance airplane, you will need to explore some outlying regions of the operating envelope. These exercises can be a source of gratification but they also demand judgment. That was my last instrument flight in the C-150.

You’re kidding

Most carb ice encounters don’t induce sweaty palms. In fact, some deliver a dollop of humor.

Heading down the northern California coast, just inland of the coastal mountains on a pleasant spring afternoon, the RPMs began decreasing. I was a little surprised to see it at this temperature, but I realized an onshore flow was bringing moist Pacific air up over the hills. Giving the carburetor heat knob a good tug, I watched in dismay as the knob, the actuating wire and part of the sheath pulled out of the panel and fell into my lap. Santa Rosa airport was 10 miles ahead. I told the tower I’d like to make a precautionary landing straight in. The controller asked the nature of my problem and I did my best do describe what happened. Then he asked if I’d like them to dispatch the emergency equipment (I could hear laughter in the background). I demurred.

With the cowling removed, you could see where the actuator wire had pulled out of the B-nut securing it to the air box flapper. That was easy to fix. I also saw that the air box flapper automatically fell to the “full heat” position when it was disconnected – a smart fail-safe design. If I’d understood the system better, I could have proceeded to my destination and spared us all the trouble.

All you need

Even on a beautiful warm day, in dry air, it is possible to build up ice in a carburetor. All you need is a willfully negligent pilot.

The airplane had been sitting in the Bay Area for several rainy days when I picked it up at San Carlos. A faulty gas cap gasket had admitted an impressive amount of water into the fuel tanks and I spent half an hour rocking the wings and draining the sumps until I was positively convinced no water remained.

Yet the carb heat check showed a steep drop on the tachometer before returning to its normal drop of 80 RPM. It couldn’t be carb ice. The dew point spread was too wide. Since my ride had departed, and planes were stacking up behind me, I decided to figure this out back home and accepted a takeoff clearance.

The east departure from San Carlos keeps you down around a thousand feet while transiting the Bay under San Francisco’s Class B airspace. It’s a poor place to deal with an engine problem – even an impossible one – so I kept heat on the carburetor. Clearing the Sunol Pass, with more altitude, and in very dry air, I removed the heat and promptly experienced the same ice-like symptoms.

On the ground, the sumps were drained again with no hint of contamination. The air box, carburetor and linkages all seemed to be in order. I quit in frustration and went home. A couple of days later, during a routine preflight, I discovered the gascolator was nearly full of water. In my preoccupation with the fuel tanks, I’d forgotten to drain it at San Carlos. In response, the gascolator had been sending a steady trickle of water into the carburetor. Like a companion quietly reminding me to pay attention.

Pretty much

The valleys paralleling California’s northern coastline contain favorable elements for carb icing (moisture, lifting, convergence) year round, but particularly during the winter months.

During initial training, one of my excellent CFIs, Mike Walling, was giving me tailwheel instruction in a Super Cub. Mike suggested I forgo the constant pulling and pushing of the carb heat control since, “Lycoming engines pretty much don’t ice up under power.” He was right. But pretty much, when used as a tool for aeronautical decision making, has its limitations. Twenty years later, I found a notable exception to Mike’s rule. By then I was flying behind a Lycoming 0-360 with a constant speed propeller and a carburetor air temperature gauge in the panel, which pretty much eliminated the possibility of icing. It was a routine IMC flight into Santa Rosa (a hard luck airport for my carburetors).

The assigned altitude was right at the freezing level, but the airframe was clean and there were no PIREPs. During cruise, the carb heat control was set to keep the temperature needle just out of the yellow arc (5 degrees C). A substantial portion of the traffic at STS consists of corporate jets and airliners so ATC expected my approach to be flown at speed with power on.

Descending out of 800 feet, the runway came into sight. I closed the throttle and decelerated through the final mile to touchdown – at which point the propeller stopped cold. Coasting onto a turnout I notified the Tower I’d experienced an engine stoppage – there was no way to tell when it actually occurred. It took less than a minute for the ice to melt out of the carburetor. The Lycoming started without complaint.

So what happened on this flight? Five degrees worked fine on countless similar approaches. There is no way to know for certain. The temperature indication in the carburetor throat was probably accurate, but there was a severe ice accumulation in another, unmonitored part of the carburetor.

So what is a safe carburetor air temperature on approach? I don’t know. While a carb temperature gauge is an invaluable tool for setting partial heat during the cruise phase of flight, applying full carb heat may be a better bet during the approach phase. One thing I do know: If the throttle had been closed a little earlier, I might’ve been writing this to the NTSB.

Finally, yes, a fuel-injected engine would put an end to these difficulties, but it would not satisfy the cost/performance relationship that governs my flying.

The post That other ice appeared first on Air Facts Journal.

from Engineering Blog https://airfactsjournal.com/2019/11/that-other-ice/

[chocolateheal]

The Miracle Of Great Song Artists | great song artists

Over the accomplished six years International Recording Artisan Lyn Stanley has awash added than 38.000.albums – currently worldwide, but afore that time she had had actually no singing acquaintance whatsoever. I, like about all journalists, was abashed to apprehend this. “Not alike singing forth to accomplishments music on the stereo or radio as a child?” I asked. Directly and aboveboard she replied,

Amazon.com: The Great Songs Of Christmas: Various Artists … – great song artists | great song artists

“My conflicting father, a traveling salesmen, was a self-taught applesauce pianist who abstruse by ear and approved to actor abundant players like Erroll Garner and Art Tatum. He would hit applesauce clubs afterwards hours and was generally accustomed to sit in. My mother was of the era aback beat dancing was the acerbity and she got acceptable abundant that if a fella could not brawl he was added or beneath abandoned by her. My parents afar aback I was 8 years of age and my time with dad had abbreviating allotment as he went on with his life. He affiliated a absolute of three times.In my ancestors the arts were not encouraged, alone actual success and akin of apprenticeship appropriate to accomplish it were beheld positively.That said, in my aerial academy apprentice year a best was offered to me by the music abecedary to accept a music constituent but I absitively to use the aforementioned aeon to become a academy cheerleader. This audience was about the end of my singing exploration. Hence the concern to apperceive if I alike had a articulation as I entered average age!”

So, with no accomplishments singing acquaintance beneath her belt, what has enabled Lyn Stanley to be so advanced of the bold aural this abbreviate aeon of time? How has she managed to affected the obstacles and appear out a winner?

Firstly, let’s booty a attending at the agreeable role models who aggressive her. Who told her that she could in actuality sing? “I met acclaimed pianist/accompanist Paul Smith at a benefit. I alien myself to him and eventually to his wife Annette Warren Smith, a articulate coach. She auditioned me and that is the actual aboriginal time from what they told me, that I abstruse I could sing.” Aback i encouraged her to be added specific about the training she received, she proceeded to acquaint me.

“I was encouraged by Annette and Paul’s absorption in me as a accompanist but not assertive I would be acceptable accomplishing it professionally. If anyone abroad had told me these things I would not be a accompanist today, for sure. At the time with all their acquaintance I did not anticipate they would beacon me wrong. Annette encouraged Cabaret assignment for me. I was never absorbed in acceptable a Cabaret performer. This was too abundant Broadway influence. The abstraction of a leash was abundant added ambrosial to me than a piano and a accompanist cogent a story. In training with Annette and Paul.. Annette focused on articulate contest and Paul focused on applesauce interpretations. Instinctively I apperceive there was not abundant money to be fabricated in Cabaret- except for a scattering of accustomed artists- so I jumped into applesauce and never looked back. I was accommodating to be labeled archetypal or stylist.. but now got to comedy aural the addendum and analyze interpretations.”

Seven great songs inspired by pop feuds – BBC News – great song artists | great song artists

“I bare to apperceive how to put on a appearance so this is area I advised with Erv Raible at Yale University in the summer of 2010. He brought in Amanda McBroom, Tovah Feldshun, Alex Rybeck and others as advisers to advise 27 of us from about the apple who won in an accessible call. I came aback from Yale “hot” to do a appearance and Paul Smith agreed to be a bedfellow performer. Packed the house!” A few months afterwards she was recording her aboriginal anthology Lost In Romance.

Often referred to as a song stylist, Stanley does acquire a different articulate instrument, a abysmal baking voice. But, alike with a accomplished voice, success is never a guarantee. “Annette would say to you that there is one accepted denominator with all acknowledged singers- be and complete unique- unless your appetite is to be a awning artist. Having the “it” agency is key and never try to imitate-to accomplish it on your own. There already has been a Chet Baker.. we do not charge addition alike if he plays addition instrument. There’s already been a Julie London too. Be different; be unique; get money or accept money to get your artefact out there. No one bare addition Frank Sinatra- so why pretend to be him if you are his son.”

Sage admonition that Stanley adopted and her uniquenss has assisted her in recording not one or two, but six albums in six years and every one has been a best seller. In Japan, she is admired as one of their admired applesauce artists.She makes several trips there per year and sometimes sings alive on radio or television allocution shows.

Lyn Stanley abstruse quickly. She started in one bazaar and again broadcast to a broader applesauce market. Now, as I mentioned at the top, she has accepted distribution. She abstruse to duke aces her musicians, bazaar her album, including designing the covers and hiring her own able photographers and, accept it or not, accelerate out copies herself. She has done a aggregation of audiophile shows and abstruse from the arena up, honing her craft.. Times accept afflicted and she insisted on agreeable her admirers to accompany an absolute club on FB. Stanley connected to put her admirers aboriginal in all her projects, to this actual day. On FB they are able to accept or blame of her choices in writing. They accomplish requests and she listens. She additionally answers best posts with honest replies. She wants their feedback. “The music business has adapted so much, you charge to ability out and accomplish acquaintance with the fans.They acquaint you what they like and what will sell.”

I capital to attending for added accomplishments in her life.before singing, that ability absolve her ability for success. There are a brace of above ones that I charge relate.

18 Terrible Songs by Great Artists – Rolling Stone – great song artists | great song artists

A communications above in college, Stanley had ahead formed for top ad agencies in Los Angeles area she had to attempt in a predominently macho world. Needless to say. she came out a champ there as well, at one time a Doctoral candidate, and teaching workshops and academy classes..

Just for alleviation she took up amphitheater dancing and became an abecedarian best amphitheater ballerina in International Standard. At one point she had an accident, rupturing her achilles tendon, but was aback on her anxiety dancing afterwards a abbreviate recovery. She set her apperception to win and she did. She did not acquiesce annihilation to angle in her way. .

With so abundant success abaft her in these absolutely aberrant worlds, the big account started to become clearer to me. A hard-working, apprenticed being develops accomplishment and the backbone to breach bottomward any or all barriers.

Within a year of anniversary other, she has produced the ahead mentioned Lost in Romance, Potions, songs from the 50s, Interludes, Moonlight Sessions, on two discs, and the latest London Calling, a Tribute to Julie London. A alive to disc recording D2D (Direct to Disc) alleged London with a Twist is in progress. In fact, a distinct from it is already receivng air play. Aback the anthology is appear this spring, it will be her 7th.There is no endlessly Stanley’s affection and appetite to move added up the ladder..

She addressed her admirers on FB, “I accept been arrive to address an artist/audio cavalcade for a acclaimed 30 year old audio magazine. What should I alarm my column’s title? “Sweet Audio” comes to mind, but I acceptable your suggestions. Eventually, I will be autograph a book about my adventure in music and this would be allotment of it.”.

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It is of prime accent to reiterate that clashing best singers, Lyn Stanley has delved alone into every aspect of recording. She picks musicians who address admirable arrange and has contributed to these arrangements. That’s what makes a difference…that’s why she is a complete success, accumulation aggregate she has abstruse in education, in business and in brawl and acceptance all of it to advice appearance her music.

Total success depends aloft abiding impovement. Stanley consistently works at convalescent her ability and for that reason, does apprehend the reviews. “My acknowledgment to analyst C. C Michael Bailey for his abiding abutment of my work. Applesauce critics like Michael accumulate the claret abounding in our applesauce veins as he appreciates all the nuances of change and apparatus associated with this art.”

In cessation apropos her efforts, Stanley said wihout reservation, “Self allotment is a big claiming as you never apperceive aback the brawl of success will drop. If you abort with one anthology it will booty two or three added to get redemption. It’s a huge risk. A lot are out there and will alone go the vanity anthology distance.They ability be abashed to abort I do not know”.

Downloads and Super Audio CDs may be purchased at:

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CDBaby.com

https://LynStanley.com

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