#i mean maybe a little yassified for sure

[strangegrapefruit]

Saw a sim that reminded me of prince Nuada the other day, so I of course had to try making him

[deus-ex-mona]

when the slowburn makes the ship extra cute~~~

[kal-sharok]

Hi!! If you’re willing to talk about it/up for it I’d love to hear more about the slavophobia BioWare has in relation to their dwarves. No pressure at all of course bc I’m sure it’s taxing, I’ve just not seen this before and would love a resource to reblog about it if that’s okay. Thank you love your blog ❤️

hello! im actually glad you asked, i'll try to be as coherent as possible 😅 and no u i love yr blog!!

i'd like to preface by saying i don't think bioware invented anti-slavic sentiment in games or in general and isn't the only company, game or otherwise, perpetuating it. it's found all over the western world, most notably in western europe (where we're still regarded as 2nd class citizens, pairs really well with imperialism towards people outside of europe imo), but it also gained a significant boost thanks to the red scare in usa in particular (and continues to thrive thanks to the absolute chokehold mediocre american media keeps everything else in the world in).

im also no social sciences expert, but i do have first-hand experience on the short end of the stick and a couple of books in my have read list so let's say im qualified to rant on 🤭 it turned out quite lengthy so i've hidden it under the cut below!

when it comes to bioware, the first hurdle is already at their utterly haphazard character naming policy. there's a considerable number of dwarves who bear names that range from mockingly slavic-esque to full-blooded backwater serbian, now in yr local fantasy rpg! examples:

gorim saelac. while i do appreciate they tried to give a dwarf a mountain-y name (gora is basically any kind of steep pile of rocks with trees and dew and wildlife over it), "gorim" is how you would say "i am burning" in multiple slavic languages. this is one of the rare ones that are not hurtful and are hilarious instead (and tbh naming him goran, which is what i assumed they were going for, would probably be more ridiculous in the long run. for example i still can't take jowan seriously despite my love for the mage origin bc someone really yassified jovan and thought nobody would notice. wrong!)

lucjan and myaja. these two (along with maybe wojech "we couldn't spell wojciech" ivo) are the classic example of non-slavs butchering the hell out of slavic names bc it suits them better, which is also something commonly experienced by all non-western cultures and communities and a worldwide sign of disrespect. the in-game pronunciation during the provings gave me a physical rash. "myaja" in particular is still in my top 5 wtf moments in origins bc 1) what kind of stroke induced spelling is that 2) it reminds me of kids speaking dialect A mocking kids' dialects B by adding y sounds (which is what set the dialects apart in the first place) at unnatural spots and 3) maja /ma-ya/ would've sufficed perfectly for ethnic coding if that was the sole purpose of her character. do better! sure it was 2009 but from the little i happen to know about the world beyond the atlantic, you're just bound to run into someone of slavic descent in alberta (maybe not exactly polish but anyone would give you a closer phonetics match than... this). it's kind of amusing how 3 of bioware's founders have very slavic surnames and this keeps happening.

bogdan vasca. we don't know anything about him apart from the fact bianca davri was forced into a marriage with him and that his very dwarven parents considered him to be 'a gift from the god' (which is what his name means. theodore would be an equivalent) when naming him. the same clan of dwarves that preserved castes topside (which is why the marriage was arranged) and thus are likely to either believe in the stone (that they do not worship as a god) or nothing, certainly not a very human god with a very human, quite possibly mage (a completely alien concept from common dwarven pov) prophetess and a very human doctrine of considering anyone not human as lesser. the jokes are writing themselves at this point.

all of this naming business falls more into petty territory rather than being outright offensive, but it does bring us to the more serious manifestation — typecasting. the western media simply cannot fathom slavic people in roles that are not violent, volatile (i.e. berserkers, though there are other influences in there), constantly infighting and better off killing e/o (i.e. the diamond quarter, the merchants' guild, the carta) and relating back to thievery, addictive abusable substances and trafficking (i.e. the carta, but also official channels of lyrium supply from orzammar to the rest of thedas). as a slavic woman, it was exceptionally painful to see bioware join virtually everyone else in depicting us as women whose major purpose seems to be to engage in prostitution and surrogacy lite (i.e. noble hunters, most evident in beraht's grooming of rica brosca into the role of one). while these practices are tied to societies of woman-hating — and orzammar, if not all of thedas very much is one — i just take incredible offence in someone naming them integral (dwarven birth rates and the blight anyone?? i hated every moment of that) for a society that's previously been coded with people like myself in mind. of course im going to relate to how someone who looks like me is treated, that's the very purpose of casting. doesn't help bioware's cause that the bulk of npc's with slavic names tend to be lower-caste or castless - with exceptions such as some minor noble houses (houses ivo and harrowmont, possibly meino too) and branka (who's again smith-born and a whole villain).

by only allowing us to fulfill such roles, we are effectively barred from actually engaging storytelling to spend our eternity on the writers' back-burner. hell, even the witcher has been sanitized for the western eye (despite literally being made in poland) and i am yet to find a piece of modern media that doesn't reduce baba yaga to a quirky chicken-legged aesthetic (while also forgetting she's specific to the eastern slavic people). not to mention that if tevinter and par vollen are truly inspired by byzantine and the ottoman empire respectively, guess which mfs were both their vasals. now guess who built the deep roads and guess what tevene mages need to fuel their magic. if dwarves have already been declared the slavs of thedas, let's at least give them/us some space to be such.

[m1ckeyb3rry]

OOOH that’s true there’s a lot of scenes of Karasu looking villainous so maybe they are hyping him up for that role in the third selection…ok as much as I love the color blue it’s so overused atp like they’re running out of shades to blue to even use as colors! Like when Kaiser got blue I was like ok……and then kiyora needing to be peacock blue was the last straw like CJOOSE A DIFF COLOR??? I’m also very disappointed that his eyes are some red leaning shade I was fully expecting like a more purple leaning burgundy but wtv ig…..I also lowk think that the combo of having the same eye color as hair is a little boring like I GET IT they like to give characters their own colors but imagine having eyes that really pop out or contrast their hair color hssidjisns

LMAOO the way I grinded so hard to get the special Blu and Jewel birds to use….but FR we’re literally just the same person it’s insane

You’ve convinced me I’m gonna go watch LMAO I also want more bllk content soooo I’m glad whoever the voicing director was added all those nuances…seems like it feels a lot less stiff/unreal in a way compared to some other dubs? Also bro some chigiri fans….or more like chigiri commenters like whenever I see comments on tiktok it’s always those “chigiri tighter” type comments…..please kindly stfu like wtf

I COMPLETELY forgot about the self proclaimed pacifist thing…oh nagi you’re so funny those are NOT pacifist activities LMAOOO

STOP THE “Emo? You mean ego?” IS CANON ISAGI SHSHSHSIS yeah the off brand Rin is too real unfortunately…

FR!! The baddie of the week concept is exactly what I was thinking but I NEED MORE BAROU INTERACTIONS!! That LN really just made me more of a Barou fan likeeee

FRRR finally a nagi crumb LMAOO but I’m ngl umm Rin’s face…..um….lets just say I’m not the biggest fan of these destroyer visuals errrr but I agree!! I def feel like the title is alluding to Kaiser and Isagi more than Rin and Isagi..I’m gonna trust kaneshiro on this one but also since we both thought this to be the case I think it’s safe to say it’s canon atp

- Karasu anon

no fr they’re def going to make karasu so villainous in at least the first half of season two LMAOAOA and YESS omg pick a diff color PLEASE 😭 honestly i didn’t mind the red eyes + black hair for kiyora it was actually super pleasing imo!! but apparently kaneshiro said they made those his colors before they were decided in the manga but his manga coloring (like how it is in the cover w blue + blue) is the final coloring so ig they’re going to change it?? idk i’m sad though because his manga colors are also giving offbrand rin i rlly liked his anime coloring 😕 BUT ALSO SO TRUE i wish there was more contrast sometimes too!! this is why barou slays i loveeee his color palette like the black hair and crimson eyes are sooo 😩

I WAS BUSTING MY ASS OFF TO GET THE SPECIAL BIRDS i also used to play angry birds star wars and i would try sooo hard to get the birds of the characters i liked 😭 the coincidences line up to well fr HAHAH we’re essentially twins

OMG YAYY HAVE FUN!! and yeah i agree some dubs can feel kinda awkward or weird but this one felt really natural and fun which was great!! omg chigiri fans…there’s like the weird tik tok fans but there’s also like the annoying ones that have like yassified him almost?? it’s kinda like how fanon rin is an fboy for some reason i feel like fanon chigiri just does not behave how i see a lot of people describing him 😭 like i see a ton of content where he’s made out to be SUPER princessy and bratty but honestly while he’s high maintenance for sure he’s definitely no worse than barou JFWFSKDK like give me more cocky sassy chigiri!! that’s how he ACTUALLY is in the anime/manga LMAOO his trash talk game is so underrated he’s just as bad as the others

nagi probably only calls himself a pacifist because he hasn’t physically beat anyone up yet (even though he def could) like he’s too unbothered to actually get in a fight but he will instigate all day long 😓 like bro you’re not a pacifist you’re just problematic

isagi is just so…isagi LMAOOO he gives me very strong “tullia’s love interest” vibes like if he’s ever in a long fic of mine that’ll be the most major role he’ll ever get but i don’t think i could ever write him as a main love interest unfortunately 💔

i’ve BEEN a barou fan but YES the ln of him is so good 😩 i’m convinced the only reason barou isn’t as popular as nagi and rin (considering he’s in the first season for abt as much time as them) is how DIRTY they did him in the first half of the season…like the animators have a crush on nagi so he was spared and rin came along later on + he has a rlly basic design so it’s hard to fuck him up but barou…my poor man they did him horrendous (not that he’s much better in the early chapters of the manga i fear but if they could do nagi justice they could’ve done it for barou too!!)

yeah last chapter was giving heavy horror manga vibes 😭 i do think it’s interesting because it adds a layer of difficulty to the game but i’m not a huge rin fan so i’m not as hype as i was in the manshine city game w nagi’s super goal or the uber’s game when barou popped off yk?? but yeah i think an isagi and kaiser team up would be super satisfying and much better than rin just being like “yeah fuck you isagi we’re not rivals anymore” because i really cannot see that happening in just one chapter 😰 HAHA our combined manifestation powers will ensure it comes true 🙏����

[plumassieres]

Stuart knew how to take a hint. She didn't want him prying into her business, that much was obvious, and maybe she didn't feel like talking to him altogether. And he wasn't anyone's dog either; he wouldn't chase or follow at every command—but Rosa's invitation wasn't just out of courtesy. So, take the hint he did and he chased her like a dog. “It wasn't... Rosa, I didn't mean it as an insult, you know that, right? Well, maybe to her—” His face made an involuntary twitch of expression, a Wybie's grimace, for less than a second before he immediately backpedaled in fear of Rosa's wrath. “Kidding! Just kidding, I promise. Okay, let's hurry before I say something stupid. Being me is really hard. It's like having a bomb countdown on your mouth at all times.” At least Stuart was good at counteracting his own flaws. So was Rosa, with her brusque attitude, like she didn't care about a single thing in the world, but cared a lot more than she'd ever give herself credit for. Sometimes he couldn't help but think that she didn't give herself credit at all and how nice it would be if she could see herself through his eyes, see that she didn't need to settle for anything or anyone. But they weren't quite there yet, maybe they would never be. It was like she was always a little out of reach, a silhouette coming in and out of a dark fog; whether she was angry with him or grief-stricken, she was nothing but memories, some good, some bad, but never a tangible moment. Now that she'd brought Valentina as her date, Stuart wasn't entirely sure if there was ever room for him in her life, not even as just a friend. She was the passing ship to his lighthouse. “Mm,” humming around the rim of his now empty shot glass, he turned his attention back on her, gripping her shoulder with a gloved hand. One night. Surely, they could do at least one night without any false pretenses or murder. “Shall I give you the grand tour of the museum? Not that I'm qualified, but I know a bunch of random trivia and I won the storytelling contest in third grade. Just a bit of a-uuuh-humble brag.” Stuart puffed out his chest and wrapped an arm around Rosa's shoulder, leaning in far too close for comfort to the point of directly breathing down her ear. “For starters, that statue?” Once it was pointed out with a finger, he lowered his voice to a whisper, an unsettling harmony of seduction and tone of a true crime podcast. “That's actually a real person from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Just, y'know, kinda yassified a bit.”

Heaving a sigh, Rosa could already tell what angle their conversation was going the moment Stuart complied with her request. It was like he couldn’t help it, insult paired with his quick shuffle to a stand. It’s not like Rosa could blame him or get rightfully mad, Val left an impression and it wasn’t always a good one. But Rosa was also disastrously out of her mind - with grief, from drinking, from the Ambien finally kicking in. She was being swept away by the sea-side tide that was the mush of her brain, and focusing on a single point was the only way she could function, so she pin-point zoomed in on what she could only assume was judgement radiating off of Stuart. “Don’t.” Was all she simply said, crossing her arms and wrapping her hands tightly around her elbows - effectively cocooning herself in her own grasp from protection. Still keeping her eye out because even though they weren’t giggling and pseudo-flirting anymore, it could be just as damning for Stuart if Valentina saw them arguing. But his question snapped her back to attention, brows rising slightly. She knew how it looked, coming with Val to this event. It was amongst one of the many things Rosa couldn’t bother to care about anymore, but for some reason it struck a chord now - Stuart just seemed so disappointed, and it’d hurt. All Rosa could do now was be annoyed with herself for being so affected. “Y’know, that’s not really your business. And saying ‘don’t get mad’ doesn’t really do anything when you ask insulting questions like that - I need a shot. You can come with if you want.” She sighed, brushing past Stuart dismissively, but desperately hoping he’d join her. Even though she was mad, and nervous he’d pry further into the subject, she’d missed him so much her heart panged then, at the thought that this might be it and the conversation would be over.

[captainsspnanon]

C3E21 - reaction

Overall thoughts:

This was a much more satisfying aspect of the dungeon crawl to watch. I’m not sure why the first half of last episode wasn’t hitting with me, but I’m glad the rest of it is.  As much as they were technically In Combat, it felt very strategic and honestly well done. I’m also very pleased with the fact that the other team was able to use their tactics against the PCs (though I am sad the EverSmoking bottle got stolen) because despite feeling like in some ways Matt was letting the PCs get there first, he certainly wasn’t making it a breeze.  And even then, maybe it really was just the rolls that had the PCs get there before the Verdict, but I have suspicions that unless they spent like the ENTIRE last episode fucking around, that they’d always get there at least just before.

I also really appreciate Ashton.  They’re outrage at what the groups were put through, for something that wasn’t meant to be anywhere near as deadly, with the turnaround once the paperwork was found… I just feel like I’m steadily getting a much better grasp on Ashton’s characterization as the episodes go by, and I’m really liking what I’m seeing.  I still need more from FCG, but this may just be due to Sam’s RP.  As much as I love Nott, I also struggled with her for a while because Sam’s jokes came through more clearly than Nott’s character choices.  Saw it with Scanlan, see it with FCG.  I’ll get there eventually, and I’ll retroactively love FCG, I’m sure, but I’m not there yet.

I’ve been enjoying it since the very start, but now that the relationships are starting to settle in, I am REALLY enjoying the different dynamics we’re getting between the characters.  There’s something so beautiful about a group of close friends ‘meeting’ each other and ‘learning’ each other over and over again in different ways.  I’m also very excited to see over the next years which dynamics will deepen and which won’t.  Which PCs will have wonderful depth for 30 episodes or so and then switch dynamics where the relationship is still good, but is often hidden because of how frequently other dynamics among the party are explored?  I cannot wait.

I am a bit disappointed Matt went right into survival checks for the journey, they had at least two stories they wanted to discuss with the group (ultgar and chetney wolfing out) and it kinda pushed them past that.  I’m sure they’ll get around to it, but I wanted it now.

Sporadic live reactions:

Sometimes, I don’t actually have energy to watch something spoiler free.  SO!  Things that I already know about the episode: they get the earring, they put it in FCG’s mouth, they beat the other team and set off a trap three times (probably fire), Laudna goes down once?, Sam’s mug is photoshopped yassifying, Ashton is pissed at the lethality of the traps, JH is smuggling something in boxes, suspected to be the luxon or brumstone?, Chetney talks a little about Oltgar, they hit level 6 at the end and Travis is considering maybe a level in rogue, FGC doesn’t think animals have souls, and they return the horses safely?  Pretty sure that’s all I know, and pretty much all the context I have for it as well.  Oh, and of course I know that Ashley is out due to COVID.

THIS IS MISSING ASHLEY HOURS.  T.T

They do not know how to do Ashley’s voice and are just doing breathy sexy voice XD

Also, Fearne has now used Burning Hands without flavoring it as touch.  Can the internet now shut up about Ashley and her spell usage????  ffs (and it looks like she had intended mister to teleport her out too, which would have also shut up other people. Unfortunately Laura acted before reading.  Texting in real time to a probably-delayed stream is hard!)

Liam is standing and reseating himself a lot, I hope he’s physically comfortable!   Having to sit in a chair for four hours if you’re dealing with discomfort sucks. :(

Bah, the fact that I looked up spoilers in the reddit thread earlier means that I’m just annoyed with people.  Luckily I do this rarely, but the people who were saying that Matt was clearly going easy because he was going to throw Fearne rather than attack?????  There’s a hefty chance that he would have set off the trap room and fucked them ALL.  How is that going easy????   Ugh, must ignore people on the internet.

Can I talk for a second about how much I adore Travis when he freaks out on Matt?  Because it is wonderful every single time it happens! And it’s always a very clearly joke!arguing, it never comes across as a bit too ‘true’, which I think has happened for most of the players one time or another.  And he just full on SHRIEKS or BEGS when it happens.  I love it so much.

New Ashton rage of adding a d4 to an allies attacks when in 10 feet. ...I still have mixed feelings about this homebrew, but at the same time I think of the wild magic barb where all the magic effects are really good….so I guess I’m more comfortable with it.

Orym does not feel 3’3”.  He feels more like 2’ at most, with how teeny Liam makes him most of the time.  I think it’s because he reaches above his head for things that would be around head level, adding that discrepancy.

Imogen setting off the traps three times with the group OOC totally for it!  I loved seeing Liam’s face quickly slip from delighted OOC ‘horror’ to completely serious IC horror.  I remembered seeing a mention of this, and I do hope to have some interparty play a little bit.  ESPECIALLY between Liam and Laura.

Mmmm, still not a fan of how Taliesin asks for Guidance each time. It’s just, he’s out of character most of the time, and while it’s super valid optimal play, it just ends up feeling like min-maxing or meta gaming because of how frequently he does it.  He’s been doing it all episode, and not just for himself.  Not all checks need to be guidanced!  (I’ll also be super fair, this isn’t something that would bother me at a home table or anything like that, so my dislike is complete bias, just because this is presented more show and RP heavy than mechanical.  I can freely admit when I’m in the wrong, and I am here!  ...still don’t like it though.)

“Guards, kill them.  I’m kidding!” OMG I want to hate this guy but I love him.  I’ve seen this expressed a lot and it’s super true.

Did not expect Ashton to not punch Evon in the face.  Wondering if this is him being content with the papers/glasses they got, or if this is some sort of reaction to authority that he can’t really fight?  All his anger seems to have vanished pretty much instantly.

Ah, just him being content with the paperwork.

ULTGAR DRAMA this has been utterly glorious and I love every second of it.

I am loving the Orym and Chetney dynamic so much, I really hope this gets explored more in the campaign.  Vax and Grog didn’t have too much interaction, Fjord and Caleb were wonderful early campaign but then in mid-to-late campaign more interacted with other PCs than each other, I’m hoping the Orym Chetney pairing continues to be wonderfully wholesome the whole campaign through.

Fun Ashton info!  *deleted massive paragraph where I went off on a rant on a portion of the fanbase*

LOL at Evon clearly having faked everything.  Good to give to Jiana for the embarrassment/humiliation aspect.  Hope they get paid well!

@suicidallyreckless

[jecroisenmoi]

Daily Log 7/1/22

Hello another month! Another step closer to another school year—yikes!

So here I am again, thinking that books could solve my every problem. I mean from my previous post you must have realized how I had a roller coaster of emotions for today. First, the book I wanted, suddenly got sold and became unavailable, there are two copies and both suddenly gone, abd it was just when I arrived at the decision that "fvck it, I'll just buy it" and yep, I regretted it the moment I realized it was gone. So much for contemplating to buy it. I've been eyeing it for days, then poof! It's gone. So had to find another shop that sells it, and found one but a little bit more expensive than the first one. That's when I really realized how rare that book on that site is. I made up my mind and just bought it. I've contemplated about which copy I should get and sent the seller a message to send me pictures. Seller didn't reply till like past nine and I messaged at like 6. So at the time she replied, I already put in the order and paid for it. Well, I'm more than happy and relieved, I'm sure to have a copy now. No regrets.

So that's the anecdote of the book for today. Also, I have a hard time typing this, because my nails got yassified. Yep, got my pressed on nails today. I love me long nails. I can have'm now, that mom's paper works are done. Gotta enjoy them while I can.

Hoping for a hair cut tomorrow or not. Who knows? Maybe I'd be with Christal tomorrow, but I don't think she went home, so we'll see what will happen tomorrow.

XOXO