#i want to support Tumblr yet this campaign is quite something

[gleefulpoppet]

If anyone is being upset/triggered by that rather large clown lurking in the lower right of the desktop version, I heard back from support that it's a 24-hour thing. Also, you can filter the word "clown" to blur it.

Also, we are encouraged to send feedback about these types of campaigns through the support system.

[aingeal98]

The part of the Zionists rhetoric I've seen online especially here on tumblr that really... not so much confuses or disturbs me because every part of supporting racism and genocide is disturbing, but the part that makes me nauseous in a very specific way, is how many of these people claim to be leftists. Not the Israeli government or the majority of Zionists obviously, they're proud racist right wingers. But here on tumblr you have people who believe in feminism and queer rights and would agree easily enough with surface level takes on how racism in America is bad. And when it comes to conservatives and red fascists they can easily tell when a right wing racist or homophobe is arguing in bad faith, they can make long posts explaining the harm behind terf rhetoric and how it differs from the actual fight for women's liberation. They can look at the Russia and Ukraine conflict and use critical thinking to call out bad actors with ease.

But then with Israel and Palestine they just... Flip. All the bad faith arguments they criticised before is now their modus operandi. They ignore the ongoing genocide and the Palestinians talking about it and focus on the oppressors, only reblogging the same one or two Palestinian voices once every now and then that say everything they want to hear and nothing more.

I think the most striking example is that "antisemitism bingo" someone made where the ongoing genocide was something to be laughed at and the blog made fun of Palestinian civilians being tortured. And yet when a blocklist went around of people who interacted with that ghoulish blog, clearly explaining why we should avoid them, (Hijt:The racism and dehumanisation of Palestinians) these "leftist zionists" immediately were like "Oh its a block list of Jewish blogs! It's only blocking us because we're Jewish!"

Like it's the most bad faith easily disproven illogical argument that every random 4chan troll can make. It's not my actions it's because I'm white! It's not my homophobic remarks it's because I'm straight!

I still struggle to understand how they're able to flip so easily from intelligent historical and societal discussions of oppression and intersectionality to denial of the Nakba, denial of the apartheid and racism that has ruled the Israeli state since its conception, denial of the Israeli terrorism and colonisation ongoing in the West Bank that Palestinians have been speaking up about for years (The save Sheikh Jarrah campaign and the murder of peaceful Palestinian activists predates October 7th by quite a bit and yet received far, far less coverage by western media) and denial of everything the government and soldiers and many citizens are currently doing to murder as many Palestinians as possible. How do you go from pointing out cult tactics to a Maga style tribalism enthusiast just because it's Palestinians being oppressed and not another group?

The only reason I can think of is that unlike say, white people or straight people, zionists DO have an understandable, real fear that they can use to promote their racist cult. Antisemitism exists worldwide and is a problem in every single country. Unlike ridiculous concepts like "white genocide" or misandry, there is grounded, factual and understandable reasons for Jewish people to want a community where they can feel safe. And anyone who truly cares about equality for all must be committed to stamping out and dismantling antisemitism in every country and neighbourhood, because Zionists sure as hell aren't. The more antisemitism exists the greater their fuel for justifying and promoting Israel as the One True answer to it all.

But the solution of Israel involved ethnic cleansing in order to built their majority Jewish state, and relies on racism and genocide to maintain it. Just like any other coloniser state, it's not sustainabile and is constantly spiralling towards fascism. (America currently contending for loudest spiral) And that is obvious to anyone who reads up on the history or just like. Talks to Palestinians for five seconds. Israel exists due to racism and dehumanisation of Palestinians, and anyone who considers that an acceptable sacrifice is blatantly morally bankrupt. But the tribalism is simply too strong for that sort of logic and understanding, and whatever reasons they may have for falling into Zionism, it's still unacceptable. If you're still on here talking about "demonising Israel and exaggerating genocide (for the woke agenda, is what they're two steps away from saying) then I have no sympathy or time for you. One day you will be forced to reckon with your cognitive dissonance and willful ignorance, and the self righteous racist narrative you cling to will no longer be enough to protect you from judgement. Normal people with their morals screwed on right don't support fascism and racism. Leftists sure as hell shouldn't support facism and racism. (And yes this goes for those who defend Russian and Chinese imperialism too.)

You talk about feeling isolated, about having no one but fellow zionists to rely on. No one else will accept how complicated the situation is, you say over the sound of ten thousand murdered children killed and celebrated by the fascists you're carrying water for. Everyone else is just too antisemitic! You say as the Israeli government and military celebrates Hannukah by bombing Palestinians and joking that they're lighting one of the candles.

I genuinely can't tell if these people are aware they're full of shit or just so scared that they've dived deep into cult mentality with zero critical thought allowed. But either way, there should be no more space for them in our community than a nazi, a homophobe or a Trump supporter. They may have parroted similar ideals of equality and justice for long enough, but when push came to shove and the issues began to hit too close to home, they decided that supporting facism is how they want to cope. So be it. Palestine will be free with or without them and I will mourn the intelligent principled people they could have been, but at the end of the day you have to draw the line somewhere. And supporting genocide is generally a solid line to go with.

[eveninglottie]

state of the charlie 2024

hello babes I know I've been quiet on here for a while, so I figured I would update y'all on some things I'm doing soon because while normally it would be bad if I were quiet, it's actually quite good! I've been having like, a weirdly great start to my year, and while I have been hibernating for the past two months I am gearing up to overextend myself soon getting back to work and I am gonna do the excruciating thing and tell you what I'm doing in the hope that you might support me (this is just the update. the begging will come later.) so, what am I doing?

first, I am going to be posting my book, wilderblood, here on tumblr! I realize that's kind of weird and silly but I feel very connected to tumblr and I am scared of trying to self-publish it right away. I also don't have the money to commission a good cover (that's part of the later begging) and I refuse to put a naked man and a moon on a generic night sky background on my cover. no shade to the people making bank with those covers but I just can't.

I will be posting it on a separate blog dedicated to the book (reblogging here, of course), so if you're interested in keeping up to date with it, you can follow me over there at wilderwolves. obviously there's nothing on there yet, but I'm going to be posting the first chapter in the next few days. I will also be restarting my patreon to hopefully make some money which would allow me to commission a gorgeous cover. also, for like. money in general. because capitalism has forced me to monetize my hobbies. patreon will get early access and bonus stuff, but the book will be free to read.

speaking of, I am also going to start making candles! super random, I know, but it's something I've always wanted to do and writing this book made me want to find something else that isn't writing that could allow me to do something fun with my hands that isn't playing final fantasy fourteen. it's called Wilder Candle and I'm gonna be putting it up on etsy so if anyone wants some candles for sad girls (gender neutral) that are darker and less cheerful than other candles, that's something I am also doing. yes the candle company has the same name as the book series. yes I will eventually be making self-indulgent candles of the characters of my book. no I will not be taking any criticisms at this time.

in other, non-money things, I have recently gotten back into dming and am currently running an End of Camelot king arthur campaign that has so far been WILD and everything I could have hoped for. my players are level 20+ and the game is broken and it's great. my friends are such freaks, I love them. I am also currently ill with what is probably the flu (but not covid, thank christ) and feel like my head is going to explode, but I managed to get out of my bed today so everything's coming up charlie over here. my cats are flourishing and they're beginning to tolerate me trying to pick them up, so really 2024 is starting pretty swell.

I hope your new years are not too stressful, and I'm really excited to show you what I've been working on. <3

[utilitycaster]

@burr-ell replied to your post “Just saw someone posit that Bor’Dor is secretly a...”:

hold up i think im missing something, what's moon theory??

So: it's been long enough and we've gotten enough actual moon lore since that I no longer go full Kill Bill sirens, and I've had several dubious wine cooler freezer pop...things so let's do this.

The basic gist of the most well-known moon theory is that Fjord is from the moon. I do not recall if it specified which moon. I am not, to be honest, entirely sure if the people who put forth this theory were aware that Exandria had two moons. I think they were aware it had multiple moons but I am not positive that at the time of the theory they could name them.

Of course, there is lore. I'm not up on all of it and as mentioned, drinking, and it was like, not quite three years ago when it reached its height and I haven't rewatched the video that caused this to circulate on Tumblr since. If you want to watch the full video, which is very stupid and poorly edited, you can watch it here.

Anyway: the theory was that Fjord, a half-orc, was actually one of the space orcs from the Spelljammer setting, which are "cleverly" called Scro. (This is also the origin story on why I immediately assume that anyone super into Spelljammer has the cognitive capabilities of a grilled cheese sandwich, an assumption that has not yet failed me.) The reason why was that he was "too small" to be a half-orc (he's on the small side but, contrary to what fanartists will have you believe, well within normal bounds of half-orc sizes) and also he was too smart to be an orc. This, when you realize this video was made in August 2020, ie, many discussions about racial essentialism in general and in D&D specifically are being had, really gives you a sense of the brain trust we are working with here.

The basis of the theory beyond that is...incomprehensible. It mostly rests on panels in which Matt is like "yeah Spelljammer sure does exist" or the fact that Travis, when asked point blank if Fjord was from the moon, gave the sort of "what the FUCK" stare one might expect. Apparently the video is about other moon theories as well but I could not tell you what they were because it's mostly just a series of (poorly) edited clips in which the moon is mentioned. There is no thesis. There is no argument. It's the Moon Moon of YouTube videos. I do distinctly remember that Keyleth being a Circle of the Moon druid is mentioned for no particular reason other than the word "Moon" is there. It's essentially a compilation of times the word "moon" exists. It's so fucking stupid. It also, as I recall, and I want to note at this point that I've done a significant amount undergrad-level work in astronomy and cosmology so you can see how painful this is to me, rested heavily on not understanding that the Astral Plane and Outer Space are different locations. But it is almost an hour long, and again, it aired in August 2020 with all that entails, so it unfortunately caught on like Circle of the Moon Wildfire.

Anyway. The point is that some people took "if you can't blind them with brilliance, dazzle them with bullshit" very much to heart and there was a month or so in the CR fandom where everyone was like "lol Fjord is an alien from the moon haha" which very much sucked, but fortunately, and I cannot believe I'm saying this, the shipping discourse of Rumblecusp served as a fucking balm in comparison since at least it was fandom bullshit as usual rather than a no intelligent life on this planet scenario, though it was definitely being unfunnily joked about for quite some time after. I'm sure it has pockets of supporters somewhere but I think anyone watching Campaign 3 can feel confident that it's been soundly debunked.

Anyway I searched my blog and I found this from that era which, if I do say so myself, is pretty funny.

[cookinguptales]

I promised I'd update on the efficacy of blazing that post once it was done and I... think it's done. So here's some thoughts on the experience. Put under a cut for length, but maybe some of you will find it interesting, especially if you're interested in trying to market your own art.

Now that the blazing is done, it's a little difficult to see how much good it did. I actually got more impressions than they promised, so I can't say that they didn't hold up their end of the deal. And I certainly got more attention on the post than I did just by putting it in the tags or posting it on my own blog.

I got 45 likes on the post, as opposed to the 1-2 I often get when I just post things to the sideblog. Five reblogs from strangers. It seems like Tumblr would release it in little bursts, so I'd see nothing for like 6 hours and then I'd get like 10-15 notifications all at once. That made it really difficult to tell whether all of those likes were people who'd seen the blazed post or whether one or two people were reblogging it each time and that was driving the likes.

I'm apparently supposed to get a report about the campaign, but it's been 12+ hours and that's not here. It also still says the post is blazed when I look at it, so I'm not really sure what's going on there. The impressions aren't still going up so I don't think it's actually blazed, but maybe it just says that until the report is assembled and emailed to you.

I'm assuming that the report isn't automated? And that's why there's a delay. Which I suppose could be a good thing, if it means an actual person is looking at it.

I got quite a few hits on AO3, but I'm not sure it's many more than I would have been getting already. I've already been getting a surprising amount of momentum on AO3; I was already getting 100+ hits a week on the fic before I blazed the post. (Which is kind of shocking, compared to other original fiction I've posted on AO3, and I'm very pleased with it.)

I'm also not sure how many of the people who liked the post intended that as a bookmark so they could come back and read the story later, perhaps over the weekend. (Weekend readers happen a lot when you post long fic on AO3, and considering about 32k is up on AO3 now, I suppose that qualifies.) So it's hard to say whether the blazing gave the post (and project as a whole) actual legs or not.

While I'm happy to get 45 likes, especially if even a fraction of those people actually read the story, it's unclear whether that's actually going to translate into more readers going forward. Like blazing got a lot of likes but very few reblogs, and that could just be because people haven't had a chance to read the story yet, and it could be because people wanted to be supportive but don't actually want to read the story.

One thing that's true about fiction (and art in general, I guess) is that word of mouth is pretty imperative. The best book in the world simply will not move if people don't know about it. And advertising might get the project to more eyes, but one person telling their friends/followers about it would probably have a much further reach than paying for a few thousand impressions.

Look, I might be shitty at marketing myself, but I have actually worked with authors who are better at it lmao.

What I'm saying is, I think it's too soon (or too difficult) to tell whether doing this got me 45 new readers or 45 people who stopped scrolling enough to be like "yeah, I'll like that" or potentially many more readers than 45 if any of those people read it this weekend, enjoy it it, and tell people they enjoyed it.

I know that any creative on tumblr kind of pulls their hair out about the likes/reblogs thing if just because we're always mindful of how many people even know that we created something in the first place, but... idk, I have hope that this at least got a few more eyes on this project than it would have otherwise.

That said, actual money was involved here, so... ROI? Hmm. I mean, there might be a few more readers, which is what I really want. Monetarily, unless there's a big influx of subscribers or something this weekend, probably not. I did actually get two new Patreon subscribers over the last 24 hours (something I'm thrilled about, tbh) but I don't think either of them were from the campaign. One explicitly told me where they'd found me (bluesky) and one was anonymous but intimated that they'd been wanting to read this for a while and only now did so, which tells me that they were already aware of it prior to the campaign.

I'm not doing all this for the money, precisely, but money is a consideration when you're spending money to advertise a project. I love this story and I desperately want other people to love it, too, but I'm not made of money, either. I can't keep spending money on this if it's not making any, after a certain point. I'll just have to let it do its own thing.

So would I blaze this post again in the future? Hmm. Maybe. I'll wait a few days and see if this actually translates to people who read the story, keep reading the story, and maybe tell their friends about the story. I'm not opposed to funneling the money I get from Patreon back into a campaign once a month, if the campaign actually does anything.

Like, I'm not exactly making much from Patreon, but running a low-level blaze campaign with what I get isn't the worst thing in the world. Feels kind of like an easy-come, easy-go situation, financially. At least this hobby won't be costing me money, if you get me.

I unfortunately have to be pragmatic about my hobbies lmao. But at the same time, if I think about it like "well, I spend money to get thread for embroidery" I guess it's not a terrible expense for, again, a hobby. Just maybe not a lot and not often -- and only if advertising actually results in people reading it!

I guess you really only need to hit the right person at the right time once, though... On tumblr, if the right person reblogs something, you can go from two notes to two thousand notes in an hour. And if the right person talks you up on any social media site, that could lead to an explosion of new readers in a way that none of your own efforts ever could.

Trying to reach that one person kind of feels like trying to win the lottery, though. lmao. Like I said, I don't have the personality for marketing! I feel guilty and annoying when I talk myself up and gambling stresses me tf out. I do not have the hustler mentality. I just wanna write stories. haha.

This is long and meandering and I gotta go take a shower, so I'm gonna leave it here! But I'll update in a few days when I get my report and when people have had a few days to read!

[keydekyie]

You absolutely don’t have to answer this question, and if you do, don’t feel like you need to give literally any details.

So, I’m a writer, and I have a book series I want to publish. The problem is, it’s super niche. G/t niche, iykyk. I was wondering generally how much success you’ve found marketing to the Tumblr G/t audience? I’m sure it’s been accumulative too, but do you believe it’s something worth pursuing?

Thanks so much! (Love your work btw)

Thanks for your ask and the kind words!

I'm going to be totally honest, I have not ever made a profit on my books. I've spent more on my website, author copies, and little experimental marketing forays (ads, blaze campaigns, etc) than I've ever made back. It's why I kept working my day job until recently, and I quit that because (among other reasons) I needed to travel to work on this house we're renovating.

That being said, publishing on kindle is completely free and pretty simple! So I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in trying it. (As long as you have a stout enough heart to withstand the indignity of someone posting your cover art on a website making fun of bad self-published cover art (yes I'm speaking from experience)). If you need any help with that, feel free to let me know. I think it's a lot of fun and very worth it!

As far as marketing goes, my advice would be not to spend money on it. I might just be downright bad at marketing my specific books (Slow-burn adventure/mystery/romance set in medieval fantasy Russia?? With giant bear monster people???) but I've never had good luck with real "marketing". I've had the most luck just occasionally posting doodles or bits from the story and hoping someone big interacts with it. When they do, I sometimes sell a couple books. Yay!

I do feel really weird asking said big "popular" gt people to reblog/interact with my posts (I'm shy, what can I say), but I think if you did that you'd get a huge audience. Just sending them an ask like "Hey, do you think you could reblog my post about my book that's coming out soon? It's about [blank] Thanks!" would probably go over well. If you're active in the community in any capacity, you will find an audience, I promise.

I guess in conclusion: of all the socials, I've had the best luck on gt tumblr. The community has had its ups and downs, but generally it's very supportive and chill. There are several really nice people who've been here forever and I trust them the most. I'm more wary of talented newbies who jump in and gain huge audiences very quickly. I don't know who you are, Anon, or how long you've been here in gtville, but it's a nice place to be and a nice place to publish books! <3

Just don't quit your day job yet lmao

[malaismere]

Campaign 3 Predictions - Compiled

So, as a fan of compiling statistics, I've been keeping track of race/class predictions for campaign 3 for the past...at least a year, from tumblr, reddit, and twitter. with EXU over, and my spreadsheet hitting 400 (?!), I figured I'd share the fandom's current predictions

Travis

Human (30), Dwarf (29), Elf, Shifter (11), Half-Elf (10)

Cleric (103), Bloodhunter (63), Wizard (50), Fighter (49), Druid (46)

Lycan bloodhunter (41), Forge cleric (26), War cleric (16), Eldritch Knight fighter, Bladesinger wizard (14)

Marisha

Elf (16), Genasi, Tiefling (14), Dwarf (13), Dragonborn (11)

Paladin (112), Rogue (53), Fighter (43), Cleric (40), Warlock (37)

Eldritch Knight fighter, Glory paladin (14), Artillerist and Armorer artificer, Battlemaster Fighter (8)

Liam

Dwarf (25), Halfling (18), Tiefling (13), Elf (12), Warforged (11)

Druid (77), Cleric (72), Bard (71), Fighter (59)

Stars druid (16), Dreams druid (10), Eloquence bard (8), Alchemist artificer, Whispers bard, Twilight cleric (7)

Sam

Dwarf (34), Kobold (24), Goliath (17), Warforged (15), Kenku (13)

Sorcerer (106), Cleric (98), Druid (63), Wizard (47)

Wild Magic sorcerer (61), Wild Soul barbarian (14), Twilight cleric (8), Life and Forge cleric, Wildfire druid, Divination wizard (7)

Laura

Elf (21), Human, Tabaxi (19), Genasi (15), Gnome, Aasimar (10)

Barbarian (75), Sorcerer (74), Bard (64), Warlock (60)

Wild Soul barbarian (14), Wild Magic sorcerer (12), Glamour bard (10), Shadow monk (9)

Taliesin

Warforged (16), Elf, Changeling (14), Gnome, Genasi, Tabaxi (8)

Sorcerer (68), Rogue (65), Warlock (55), Bard (45), Wizard (43)

Aberrant Mind sorcerer (18), Whispers bard, Phantom rogue, Soulknife rogue (11), Mastermind rogue, Clockwork sorcerer (9)

Ashley

Elf (26), Human (18), Tiefling (17), Half-Elf (12), Dwarf (11)

Rogue (95), Bard (91), Monk (43), Ranger (41), Warlock (38)

Swashbuckler rogue (21), Glamour bard (13), Mercy monk (9), Drunken monk, Wild Magic sorcerer (8)

I also (although less consistently) collected continent/setting predictions. Marquet was the top (49), then Issylra (29) and the Shattered Teeth (22). For non-continent settings, some form of Spelljammer was the top (19), followed by the Age of Arcanum (17), and Planescape/Planehopping (15). Underdark, Ravenloft, Blightshore, and a return to Tal'Dorei were also suggested multiple times.

Much longer and rambly discussion (and my own predictions) under the break.

Top predicted races were Dwarf, Elf, and Human (~100). Dwarf and Elf haven't been played before, so that tracks, and I don't think it's out there to assume we'll get at least one human again. Also, post the whole thing with Essek and long rests, people really started jumping on Elves (which, fair). Warforged, Dragonborn, Tabaxi, Genasi, Tieflings, and Changelings all are pretty prominent (~50).

Of the races not yet established as existing in Exandria, Warforged and Changeling were the most popular (Warforged now dubiously canon post-Aeor, and Changelings dubiously canon with the LoVM bartender), followed by Shifters, Leonin, Kalashtar, Fairies, Grung, Ravnica races (Loxodon, Simic Hybrid, Vedalken), Van Richten's Races (Dhampir, Reborn, Hexblood). Locathah and the other Feywild/Strixhaven races are the only officially published races at 0 suggestions. The lowest previously seen race is Gobins at 2, one of which was for Sam again, and the lowest PHB race was Half-Orc at 17.

Class wise, Sorcerer was actually the most predicted class (which kind of tracks, as it's the one that hasn't shown up even as multiclass), followed by Cleric (generally assumed as compulsory), Paladin (only as a multiclass), and Rogue (also assumed as compulsory, but way less so. Not surprisingly, Bloodhunter, Ranger, and Artificer were the lowest.

Wild Magic Sorcerer was far and away the most suggested subclass, the only one to break 50, although it hasn't hit 100 quite yet (I think it will by the time the final characters are announced though). EK Fighter, Lycan Blooodhunter, Forge Cleric, Swashbuckler Rogue, Wild Soul Barbarian, Stars Druid, Glamour Bard, Bladesinger Wizard, Eloquence Bard, and Echo Knight Fighter are the other top subclasses.

Every official subclass has been suggested except for Berserker Barbarian, Grave Cleric, and Transmutation Wizard (previously played), Battlerager Barbarian and Banneret/Purple Dragon Knight (SCAG subclasses, which are widely unpopular), and the dubiously-official Planeshift subclasses. Open Seas Paladin is the only Matt homebrew to not be suggested at least once. For dead UA, Satire Bard, Brute Fighter, Giant Soul and Stone Sorcerer, and Raven Queen Warlock have all been suggested, usually only once, although many of the suggestions were collected while classes were in UA for Tasha's, Van Richten's, and Fizban's which is technically still UA but announced so...

With Travis, the predictions bounce between two main ideas - a melee spellcaster (Forge/War/Tempest cleric, Bladesinger/War wizard), or going back to a melee class (Bloodhunter, Fighter) but with a bit more mechanical interest (Lycan, EK/Echo/Rune/Battlemaster). I think those are both solid predictions, and while I really, really doubt we'll see a Lycan bloodhunter or a Forge cleric, I think the general vibe is probably spot on.

My own prediction is one of the more out there, but still in line with the general thinking - Artillerist Artificer. Travis is definitely a very tactical player, and it would be cool to see him get a turret for the battlefield, plus all the general utility/versatility of the artificer. Alternatively, I really could see a rogue, although more like what Mastermind or Inquisitive is trying for as opposed to how they actually turned out, if that makes sense.

Race wise, the top guesses are fairly plain, outside of shifter (which is mostly tied into the "werewolf" vibe). None of them would shock me, but I don't have any predictions.

I think that everyone's right on the money with Marisha as a paladin. Her next character being high charisma seems spot on, and I think moving to a half-caster also tracks. EK/Echo/Rune/Psi fighters would also fit, although they don't lean towards high charisma, or a warlock, maybe a more melee one.

Rogue seems unlikely purely due to the fact she's played one before, kind of. Matt and Marisha have both talked some, but her first game wasn't Vox Machina, but a previous game Matt had run where she'd played an assassin. You can do non-assassiny rogues, but still.

(Other fun facts about this game because it's wild: apparently the session she sat in on before playing involved half the party getting eaten by ghouls. the party joined up with another half-tpk'd party (marisha and the replacement characters) to get the raven queen to bring their dead friends back, and a fate-touched rogue swore service to the Raven Queen in order to bring the last party member back.)

My prediction for Marisha is also paladin, although I don't have any thoughts on the subclass, with genie warlock as a second because they are fun. No real thoughts on race other than I too would love to see tiefling Marisha.

Most people are going with a support caster for Liam, which I totally buy. Caleb definitely leaned towards support caster, even if he usually did end up played as DPS. Druid has taken the top given the polymorph->wildshape vibe, although it's still very yclose with Bard and Cleric. Suggestions for fighter dropped after EXU, and while Liam does play a lot of fighters, I doubt we'll see it for C3.

Honestly, Liam is the one I have no predictions for outside of 'support caster'. I'd lean away from Cleric and towards Druid or Bard, but it's hard to say. I also think Artificer deserves to be in the running, as it seems like something Liam would really enjoy, but also...might not want to go Int-caster to Int-caster. My only real thought on race is that I want to see whether Marisha and Liam choose the same again.

Top guesses for Sam is, far and away, Wild Magic Sorcerer. This was also the top guess for C2. I do not think Sam will play a Wild Magic Sorcerer. In general, though, the vibe is going back to fullcaster - Sorcerer, Cleric, Druid, Wizard. I think full caster is probably right.

Sam is so hard to predict because it isn't what he'd choose, but what Liam chose for him. I think it's either something really standard or something really out there, and since I can't guess the really out there, I'll go for the standard - Elf Wizard or Dwarf Cleric, leaning towards Dwarf Cleric, due to the support class and the fact that Sam's mentioned never playing a religious character.

The main vibe for Laura is definitely "DPS" which is understandable. I don't know if I agree with it, but I understand it. Aside from Barbarian, the rest of the vibe is spellcaster - and I don't think we'll see a completely no magic character from her either.

Prediction wise...I understand barbarian, but I'd actually go with Ancestor or Beast over Wild Soul. I could actually see a Bloodhunter from her too, although leaning away from Vex vibes. I think I'd want to go with Wizard, though I'm not certain on that. I would bet Tabaxi but idk, I could see her avoiding that for Travis' sake.

Everyone always names Taliesin as the hardest to predict (he had the lowest count at 354, under even Ashley at 365, to everyone else's ~380/400) but I don't think he's harder to predict than Sam. The thing that makes him hard to predict is that he likes to build characters to fit the party, which he (probably) won't be doing, same as with Molly. The other main thing he tends towards is mechanical complexity in a way that suits his characters.

The main driving influence in the top suggestions is Eldritch Weirdness. Aberrant Sorc, Whispers Bard, Phantom Rogue, Warlock in general. I don't disagree with any of the subclasses, but I really don't think he'd go eldritch for eldritch sake, if for at the very least being...he has always been this weird and it's yet to be a driving force behind any of his characters before. Like the Taliesin-is-an-elder-god thing, I think this is mostly people who don't hang out around occultists. Look, I've had multiple people sell me their actual souls, and you don't see all my characters being warlocks.

That being said, I don't think I disagree with the top classes, just the subclasses. I definitely agree with Sorcerer as a good choice for him, although I'd actually go Clockwork, as I think it has a fuck-with-the-DM vibe. Taliesin is the most heavily suggested for dunamancy subclasses, which wouldn't surprise me, but I think he might avoid on the sole point of not wanting something too tied with the last campaign. A lot of people also name the psionic subclasses, which I'd be more likely to second if they had kept the weird mechanic from the UA, but don't disagree with, excepting my issue with Aberrant Mind.

My out there guess is that he's going to choose a multiclass build. He definitely enjoys playing around with weird builds (Owlbear, he did a non-CR oneshot as a monk/stars druid). On the one hand, a lot of these builds work best for oneshots or starting at higher levels, as they can take a bit of time to come online, but with such a large party, I think it will still function.

(my actual prediction for Taliesin is that his character is weirdly reminiscent of either the aasimar echo knight or the elf blood cleric from the exandria game I'm running.)

Ashley is being predicted as a Dex/Cha build, and I'm totally here for it. Pre-Fearne, I was leaning Ranger, especially Fey Wanderer for a fey build, but post-Fearne, I'm going Rogue, especially Swashbuckler. I agree that seeing a high Cha Ashley would be great, especially to let her be more center-focused than Yasha had been, and swashbucklers are just...really fun. Also, the whole Aeor arc really left me wanting to see Ashley as the go-ahead-and-scout character, just to watch her push buttons.

For continents...I understand why people are guessing Marquet, since it's currently the most explored. I think that if they're going to do Marquet, then Matt will sit down with a cultural consultant. I say will over should, because I won't make any value judgements, but I think it's in line with what Matt and CR would do in that situation.

I can't really tell whether this is a prediction or what I'd like to see (the two are distinct but often difficult to untangle) but I'd actually go with Issylra, and specifically playing up the (at least initial) set up of explorers and adventurers heading out into the wilds. I will also place my bets on them having some sort of more steady home base, and my hopes on that they get an airship. My wildest out there guess is that the plot will move towards either planescape/spelljammer in the upper levels, tying into some of the seeds from the end of C2.

I have seen a handful of people predicting table seating order, which is both very minor and also the thing that I may be most interested in. A while back, someone made a post pointing out that the main romantic relationships were all cross-table, while the strongest platonic relationships were same-table or side by side. Because I am the sort of person that I am, I did statistical analysis on ao3 fics....and it's statistically significant. So I am trying to see whether or not, based purely on C3E1, I'll be able to predict what the top ships for the campaign will be.

This rambling has mostly gotten out of hand because I don't have much opportunity to talk about this, but, you know. If you send me predictions I will give you the current odds gambling style, so that you'd know how much you'd win if you'd place a bet, because I did the tables up as a joke for something else and now I kind of want them to be used for something.

[alt--h]

Hey all.

It's been a little under three weeks since we launched the #WolfGetsReal campaign. And after many varied responses to it, we had some reflecting to do. Thank you to everyone who responded with constructive feedback, whether in support or criticism. Every piece of good faith feedback was taken on board and heard, and helped inform our response here. These are the conclusions we've come to.

I think one of our biggest takeaways is that social media is not something our team is equipped to manage. In an environment where saying or not saying the right thing in the right way can get your whole message mis-read, and where companies profit from anger driving engagement with their platforms, none of our team members are equipped to handle that work. We have tried in the past to bring on specific social media management, but it hasn't worked out so far. Which leads us to the next point:

We're just not a big enough team with enough energy to keep up with what we've built up for ourselves. We had bigger visions, but quite frankly they just haven't practically worked out. Our skeleton crew of 6 disabled systems/people, all with busy lives, is not big enough to keep up with what we used to. We try recruiting new volunteers, but have yet to see many applicants when we do.

We also can't help but feel like there's a number of bad faith critics who responded to us not with constructive criticism, but attacks. This is part of a bigger problem of only ever recieving feedback as a group when we do something "wrong," but never getting engagement on the projects we do start that people share and seem to like -- and even ask for. One criticism asked why we don't do writing or discussion prompts like the 30 Day Otherkin Challenge, and I think people forget that we once did this. Years ago, we tried doing this and almost never got engagement. It ended up being more stress and effort to run than it was worth, because absolutely nobody participated. Similarly, our Wikipedia editing initiative was outright mocked for "failing" when ... that relies on y'all. If it failed (and it did not) then it would be because the community did not respond to the call.

We did get helpful feedback during this, the first of which was an anonymous modmail message letting us know more about why there were suddenly issues around zoophiles being brought up on one of our staff member's posts (that was not made as a whole staff response). Once it was explained that a handful of animal abusers were particularly vocal in some communities we weren't really aware of, we responded quickly on Twitter. I think the criticism of us being suspicious in not having spoken up yet was levied at us in bad faith, when it had never been asked of us before now. When it has come up in the past on our server, we have addressed it the same way. For instance:

We were also told that perhaps if we aren't on social media enough to manage it, don't do a hashtag campaign. And you know what? Fair! Lesson learned. We could sit here dissecting all the things we did right and wrong with this (and have in the staff room), but frankly with this being our main lesson I don't think it would be productive to future projects. The one thing we acknowledge is that we could have collected more public feedback for longer on how to do this. Some of us wanted to push this in part because we have a history of dragging things on unnecessarily long by asking for too much feedback, so we overshot. Oops. We will adjust.

But what we plan to do from here will first and foremost be looking for a platform off Tumblr. Our general ability to handle managing a social media presence aside, Tumblr has been a uniquely toxic environment for us. We'll be keeping our Twitter for the purposes of networking and announcements only. Where we'll go is uncertain, though our Discord, forums, and website will all remain right where they are.

We're also dissolving the LTD. It's been $200/yr almost entirely out of staff pocket for various business expenses, and it's giving us a corporate feeling that we don't really want and might be holding us back at this point. This will involve shutting down the patreon as well - the remaining $40ish in the account will go toward site hosting until it runs out. Along with this, we will be narrowing and re-focusing our scope to work on pamphlets and very ground-floor advocacy work like we were initially. The Wikipedia editing initiative will also continue as usual.

This has been stressful for us. It's also been a big learning experience. Ultimately, we feel pretty confident that we'll do better things going forward (and do better by our own mental health at that). If you'd like to continue to follow along with what we're doing, and you haven't already, do consider joining the Discord or the forum. That's also where you can go if you've got feedback about this post - we won't be responding to things on Tumblr. You don't have to have been verified on the server to use the modmail, if you'd like. You can also reach out to us by email at staff@alt-h.net

~ Aster (The Flock)

[gendercensus]

Gender Census 2020: The Title Question

This report is the third in a series, analysing the >24,000 responses from the 2020 Gender Census question-by-question.

[ Report #1: On “enby” and age // Report #2: The Identity Question // Report #4: The Pronoun Question ]

~

This year’s Gender Census, aimed at everyone whose gender(s) or lack thereof are not adequately described by the gender binary of “always, solely and completely male OR always, solely and completely female”, was open from 12th February until 7th April 2020. There were 24,576 usable responses. (Unfortunately the spreadsheet of responses won’t be available until I’ve written up the report for every question, sorry about that!)

This report will summarise the responses for the second question, regarding honorific titles.

As in previous years, I asked:

Supposing all title fields on forms were optional and write-your-own, what would you want yours to be in English?

(Please note that you should currently be entitled to use it - for example, you should only enter Dr if you have a doctorate.)

There were 10 radio-button options presented in a random order, based on which answers were chosen by over 1% of participants last year:

No title at all

Mx

Mr

Non-gendered professional or academic title (eg: Dr, Rev)

Ms

Unknown

Miss

Ind (individual)

I choose my title on the day depending on how I'm feeling, even for long-term things like bank accounts

A standard title that is used only by people other than men and women

Here’s a graph of the results:

No title at all - 34.4% (up 1.4%)

Mx - 28.0% (down 3.3%)

Mr - 8.6% (down 0.1%)

Non-gendered prof/acad. - 5.3% (down 0.2%)

Ms - 4.9% (up 0.2%)

Unknown - 3.9% (up 0.4%)

Miss - 3.3% (up 0.2%)

Ind ("individual") - 3.3% (up 0.3%)

Choose on the day - 2.7% (up 0.5%)

A standard NB/GQ title - 2.6% (up 0.1%)

This year I collected rough information about age, in order to add type-ins that went over 1% among under-30s and/or over 30s, which means I was able to create this graph:

Some notes:

People over 30 were a lot more likely to prefer no title over Mx, but no title was preferred across the board.

Mr was more popular among under-30s, and Ms was more popular in over-30s.

People under 30 were more likely to choose “unknown”.

Over-30s were more likely to claim a non-gendered professional or academic title, such as Dr, Reverend, military titles, etc.

The most popular type-in title was M, with 40 entries (0.2%).

This is all fairly consistent with previous results, and nothing reliably stands out as particularly noteworthy on a long-term scale. Here’s the graph of how it compares to previous years:

You can see that the first two or three years are a bit squiffy, while we found our feet and added all the title options that needed to be there. (As we added options, “no title” became less popular.) Things settled down a lot from 2018 onwards, one year after the last title option was added. Identity words tend to fluctuate in popularity, as do pronouns, but titles are for some reason very consistent from year to year.

If you look at the pattern over the six years shown in the graph, Mx and “no title” have swapped places until the last two years, when Mx has been in decline - while titles such as Mr and Ms are increasing. Anecdotally, Mx has certainly been the “default” nonbinary title here in the UK, so I am wondering whether the dramatic increase in participants (11,000 last year, to 24,000 this year) might be a factor, as the survey leaves the geographical and social media bubbles more every year. Perhaps Mx is less popular further afield and outside of that bubble? I am curious to see what happens over the next few years. If I am able, this year I will make a UK-only report to find out how Mx has fared in the UK alone.

No typed titles were entered by over 1% of participants, so there will be no additions to the radio button list next year. All the provided specific titles were selected by at least 3% of participants in at least one of the under-30 and over-30 age groups. “I choose my title on the day” and “a standard nonbinary-exclusive title” have both been fluctuating at just under 3% for some years, but the title list is relatively short and those options will become very difficult to count if I don’t provide a pre-typed option for people, so I won’t remove them from the list next year.

The option "a standard title that is used only by people other than men and women” is also quite useful for further investigation. (I refer to it as a hypothetical “standard nonbinary-exclusive title” for convenience, but obviously one doesn’t need to identify as nonbinary to claim it and if the most popular identity word shifts from nonbinary to something else I will refer to it with the newly-popular word.) It sends relevant participants to a question that asks what that title is or might be.

641 participants (2.6%) said they preferred a standard nonbinary-exclusive title. When they did, they were taken to this question:

In the previous question you chose "a standard title that is used only by people other than men and women." If you know of any, please type them here. This question is optional.

The participant was then presented with five textboxes. About 12% of participants who saw that question had something to type, and the following titles were entered more than once:

Mx (26 times)

M (4 times)

Friend (2 times)

That’s a title that is established as one that can be used by anyone regardless of gender, a title that is masculine in French, and a very familiar word that would be used specifically in a quite formal context.

Ind (”individual”) could fit the nonbinary-exclusive title niche if it were to be used that way consistently, and I could see it happening, but it has also consistently been claimed by only about 3% of participants since the survey began. It seems that we don’t have a nonbinary-specific title to stand alongside Mr and Ms yet.

So, this year there is not much to report! Only a slight decline in the popularity of Mx, which could reflect survey-related factors, so I will hold off on making any assertions until we have a few more years of data.

As always, these results support the important point that when designing a form the title field should always be optional. One third of participants in this survey have preferred to have no title at all for many years, so any nonbinary title-related campaigning should demand that title questions be optional in addition to adding Mx to the list.

~

SEE ALSO

A list of links to all results, including UK and worldwide, and including previous years - summary page / results tag

The mailing list for being notified of the final report and next year’s survey

~

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed it and would like to give something back, you could increase your chances of taking part in future surveys by following on Tumblr, Twitter or the Fediverse, or subscribing to the mailing list. Alternatively, you could take a look at my Amazon wishlist.

[gusu-emilu]

orange segments

Ship: Jiang Cheng / Qin Su (one-sided, sorry JC)

Summary: Jiang Cheng and Qin Su share a few moments (and an orange) with Jin Ling and each other.

Rated G, Fluff, brief mention of canon-typical violence

Read on AO3 or on Tumblr below

* * *

A-Ling passes the orange back and forth between his tiny hands, nearly dropping it once. His eyes shine bright with mirth at this simple game.

He's still so little. Jiang Cheng has seen plenty of children in Lotus Pier, yet he is always surprised by how small A-Ling is if he thinks about it too much. Both of his hands, still fiddling with the orange, could fit in Jiang Cheng’s. His nose is a little bump; his oversized ears stick out and somehow make him look even smaller.

Perhaps it is so difficult to process how little A-Ling is because it seems like every time Jiang Cheng visits Jinlintai, A-Ling is a bit bigger. Today he's two years old—and a half, as he’s been proclaiming.

With a sudden peal of laughter, A-Ling places the orange on the floor and rolls it to Qin Su, who is kneeling in front of him with Jiang Cheng. The round fruit gently thuds into her knee. “Shenshen!” A-Ling calls. “Make it for me?”

“Alright,” Qin Su says softly. She glances at Jiang Cheng with a smirk, then picks up the orange, cleans it, and begins peeling it. “How come you don’t make your jiujiu do any work?”

“He makes me do plenty,” Jiang Cheng counters before A-Ling can erupt into one of his new favorite remarks to offend him. It doesn’t make a difference.

“Jiujiu is too busy pouting!” A-Ling says through giggles, and Qin Su laughs with him. He undoubtedly learned this jab from her.

Qin Su has only been in Jinlintai for several months, her lavish wedding to Jin Guangyao still a fresh memory in the cultivation world, yet she has taken a liking to teasing Jiang Cheng quite rapidly. Somehow, they’d become friends over A-Ling after just a few times meeting each other. Qin Su, eager for a child of her own and perhaps even more eager to make pleasant acquaintances outside her maids—a difficult task in the snake pit of Jinlintai—latched onto him and A-Ling quickly. Although Jiang Cheng is not sure how he counts as a pleasant acquaintance.

As for how he ended up taking a liking to Qin Su…he supposes that anyone who treats A-Ling well will inevitably gain his favor. The fact that Qin Su is warm-hearted and sensible, intelligent and down-to-earth enough to see through the vacuous opulence of her new clan, and stubbornly cheeky enough to poke fun at Jiang Cheng of all people—and also that maybe Jiang Cheng is a bit lonely—that could have something to do with it, too. Potentially.

He might also have a miniscule crush on her.

But Qin Su is a married woman, expecting her own son in the coming months, and even if three quarters of the matchmakers have blacklisted Jiang Cheng like he’s some threat to womankind, he isn’t so much of a monster that he would dare disrespect Qin Su’s honor. A crush is not an idea he can entertain.

They're just friends who happen to look after the same little boy.

“If I did pout,” Jiang Cheng says, shooting a stern look at Qin Su, “which I don't, it wouldn’t incapacitate me so much that I can’t peel an orange.”

“Ah, this is good to know,” Qin Su says as she delicately removes another strip of orange peel, then holds the fruit out to Jiang Cheng. “Then I suppose your scowl right now will not hinder you from finishing my work for me.”

A-Ling cackles. Little brat. He probably doesn’t even know why he’s laughing.

The boy watches with twinkling eyes as Jiang Cheng sighs and takes the orange. The bittersweet fragrance of orange rind swirls around Jiang Cheng as he peels the fruit, while Qin Su starts playing a clapping game with A-Ling.

These moments in A-Ling’s room every few weeks hold Jiang Cheng over until the summers, when A-Ling lives in Lotus Pier. Although, now that Jiang Cheng gotten used to Qin Su's company, he’s beginning to wonder if he will miss her during the months he no longer needs to travel to visit A-Ling.

He’s formed comradery with his senior disciples during the war—the cultivators he’d trust with his life—in a way he’d never been able to while he was still the sect heir during times of peace. Watching your home be burned to the ground and fighting back-to-back soaked in blood and mourning the lost can build strong bonds with one's clansmen, if not happy ones.

But this is different.

This might be the closest glimpse of something like family that Jiang Cheng has had since…since two years ago.

Peace, for once.

Half an hour later, A-Ling falls asleep, and Qin Su tells Jiang Cheng about her hometown as they watch over him. Her voice is soft and quiet as she speaks about trips to the ocean and the time she and a friend found a giant sea creature’s fossils sticking out of a crumbled cliffside after an earthquake. Jiang Cheng tells her about the boat racing games he’d play on the lake and the time he got buried under lotus pads, although he doesn’t mention who accompanied him back then.

It’s nice, to share these lost memories, with a child’s cheerfulness between them to break what otherwise might be sorrowful. Qin Su has been separated from her hometown. Jiang Cheng lives in an empty hometown.

Sometimes, he wonders what his life might be like now if it had been he, not Jin Guangyao, who saved Qin Su during the Sunshot Campaign, and if she had pursued him instead. He had never truly wanted a wife (or he at least tries not to think about the one time he considered it), but if marriage could be like this…comfortable, like sitting beside a friend…

What is he doing thinking this way? Even if these wandering delusions weren't about a married woman, he has seen how marriages fail. With his days and his entire mind revolving around his sect when he isn't with A-Ling—or isn't wallowing in his own miseries or isn't lashing out in anger—he's just tired. Callous. He has so little care to offer that the matchmakers were probably right to blacklist him.

Qin Su slides an orange slice between her lips. “Jiang-zongzhu. May I ask—your birth name is Jiang Cheng?”

Surprised by the sudden question, Jiang Cheng just nods.

“Cheng as in chengzi (orange)?” She smiles wryly.

He crosses his arms. “No. Cheng as chengqing (clear). No parents would name a sect heir after a fruit.”

“I think it would have nice imagery. A river of oranges to go with the lotus lake.” She separates a piece of fruit and hands it to him. Although he glares at her, he takes the orange segment, careful not to brush her fingers. But just as he is about to eat it, she adds, “It could also be inspiration to give the Jiang Clan robes a makeover.”

His hand drops to his side, fist closing over the orange segment. “You don’t like our robes?” he asks with more distress in his voice than he intended.

She laughs, eyes bright. “I do. Don’t worry. Violet is a nice color.” She focuses her gaze back down on the orange half she holds in her hands, lips quirked. “You know that I was only pretending to insult you; do not insult me. Eat the piece I gave you.”

“Hmph.” Jiang Cheng pops the orange slice in his mouth and looks away.

“Thank you, Chengzi.”

“You—”

She shushes him. “If you start yelling, A-Ling will wake up.”

Across the room, A-Ling breathes deeply, eyes closed, one side of his faced smushed against his hand. The sight calms Jiang Cheng, although he is still offended.

“Have I ever yelled at you?” he asks.

“You haven't,” Qin Su says thoughtfully. “You can be a bit loud, though.”

Heat rises to his cheeks.

Qin Su doesn’t look over, but somehow she notices the faint blush, as if she has some magical sixth sense for detecting embarrassment. “I enjoy the color violet, I enjoy the company of people who are a bit loud.” She gestures toward A-Ling with the orange in her hand. “So does he, when he's not napping."

"Understood,” Jiang Cheng says, and nods. "A-Ling...A-Ling likes your company, too."

Qin Su smiles and hands over another orange segment. Holding back a smile of his own, Jiang Cheng eats it quietly.

The comfort of a friend, and a glimpse of something like family, is already satisfying enough.

* * *

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this story, you can be a supportive sibling like Jiang Yanli by visiting me on AO3! :D

江澄 - Jiāng Chéng - "river" and "clear, transparent" 江橙 - sounds exactly the same! - "river" and "orange" hence the "river of oranges" joke shoutout to @qi-ling for mentioning this a few days ago lol

I'm not sure if shenshen (father's younger brother's wife) is what Jin Ling would call Qin Su but I think it's right? Feel free to correct me.

[a-room-of-my-own]

Hi! Did you see the NewStasteman interview with Judith Butler? The way she framed the whole debate about gender is so depressing, I cannot believe it... And that's without going into the Rowling debate, the more I read about it on Twitter and tumblr and the most depressed I get. How can womanhood be reduced to a feeling anyone can claim?

https://www.newstatesman.com/international/2020/09/judith-butler-culture-wars-jk-rowling-and-living-anti-intellectual-times

I had not seen it so thank you for giving me the opportunity to read it. She’s really manipulative and that’s pretty scary honestly. I picked up a few examples to show you 

“I want to first question whether trans-exclusionary feminists are really the same as mainstream feminists. (…) I want to first question whether trans-exclusionary feminists are really the same as mainstream feminists. (…)I think it is actually a fringe movement that is seeking to speak in the name of the mainstream, and that our responsibility is to refuse to let that happen.  

It’s “our” responsibility to act on something she cannot prove? It’s quite easy to observe that trans-activists are an active minority within the feminist movement. On the other hand, it’s much harder to prove than most people support modern trans-activism in all its implications. She doesn’t give any source, proof or figures to support her claim but ask people to fight for it, nevertheless. That’s faith, not fact. 

If we look closely at the example that you characterise as “mainstream” [the problem of men claiming to be trans to access women’s space] we can see that a domain of fantasy is at work, one which reflects more about the feminist who has such a fear than any actually existing situation in trans life. 

Then again, no proof, when many gender critical bloggers have lists of dozens of examples of men using self-ID to access bathrooms, women’s shelters, women’s prisons, some of them sex offenders.  

The feminist who holds such a view presumes that the penis does define the person, and that anyone with a penis would identify as a woman for the purposes of entering such changing rooms and posing a threat to the women inside. It assumes that the penis is the threat, or that any person who has a penis who identifies as a woman is engaging in a base, deceitful, and harmful form of disguise. This is a rich fantasy, and one that comes from powerful fears, but it does not describe a social reality. 

That’s a lot of words to call women who are afraid of men “hysterical”. #sorority 

Trans women are often discriminated against in men’s bathrooms, and their modes of self-identification are ways of describing a lived reality, one that cannot be captured or regulated by the fantasies brought to bear upon them. The fact that such fantasies pass as public argument is itself cause for worry. 

Word salad that could be translated like this: our priority shouldn’t be protecting women from men, it should be accommodating men, because #notallmen are predators, so it would be very unfair to them, uwu. Men’s concerns should always be considered while women who are afraid are irrational. 

I am not aware that terf is used as a slur.  

I’m 99% sure that’s a lie, but okay. 

I wonder what name self-declared feminists who wish to exclude trans women from women's spaces would be called? If they do favour exclusion, why not call them exclusionary? 

Women who want to have spaces without men should be called exclusionary, because we define women based on their relationship with men and how they include them. Suuuuure. 

If they understand themselves as belonging to that strain of radical feminism that opposes gender reassignment, why not call them radical feminists? My only regret is that there was a movement of radical sexual freedom that once travelled under the name of radical feminism, but it has sadly morphed into a campaign to pathologise trans and gender non-conforming peoples. 

We’re not the ones telling you can cure a psychological problem with cross-sex hormones and amputations, but we are the one pathologizing trans and GNC people. That’s hi-la-rious.  

My sense is that we have to renew the feminist commitment to gender equality and gender freedom in order to affirm the complexity of gendered lives as they are currently being lived. 

Meaningless word salad > "women should let men redefine the word woman as they please"

Let us be clear that the debate here [between people who support JKR and others] is not between feminists and trans activists. There are trans-affirmative feminists, and many trans people are also committed feminists. So one clear problem is the framing that acts as if the debate is between feminists and trans people. It is not. One reason to militate against this framing is because trans activism is linked to queer activism and to feminist legacies that remain very alive today. 

TLDR: Real feminist can only be trans-supporters. 

Feminism has always been committed to the proposition that the social meanings of what it is to be a man or a woman are not yet settled. We tell histories about what it meant to be a woman at a certain time and place, and we track the transformation of those categories over time.  

That’s gender for you Judith, not biological sex. Social identities vary, biological sex is a constant. Saying that isn't essentialism.

We depend on gender as a historical category, and that means we do not yet know all the ways it may come to signify, and we are open to new understandings of its social meanings. It would be a disaster for feminism to return either to a strictly biological understanding of gender or to reduce social conduct to a body part or to impose fearful fantasies, their own anxieties, on trans women...  

“Women who are afraid of men are irrational” third instalment.  

Their abiding and very real sense of gender ought to be recognised socially and publicly as a relatively simple matter of according another human dignity. The trans-exclusionary radical feminist position attacks the dignity of trans people.   

Men are whoever they say they are, women are whoever men say they are.  

One does not have to be a woman to be a feminist, and we should not confuse the categories. Men who are feminists, non-binary and trans people who are feminists, are part of the movement if they hold to the basic propositions of freedom and equality that are part of any feminist political struggle.  

Many feminists consider that men can only be feminist allies, so the debate is clearly not settled.  

When laws and social policies represent women, they make tacit decisions about who counts as a woman, and very often make presuppositions about what a woman is. We have seen this in the domain of reproductive rights. So the question I was asking then is: do we need to have a settled idea of women, or of any gender, in order to advance feminist goals?   

Does “woman” need to have a *gasp* definition? Judith is saying it doesn’t. You’ll notice that she doesn’t say that anything about “man” not having a stable definition. She believes it’s possible to fight against misogyny while having no stable definition for what a woman is. Laughable. 

I put the question that way… to remind us that feminists are committed to thinking about the diverse and historically shifting meanings of gender, and to the ideals of gender freedom. By gender freedom, I do not mean we all get to choose our gender. Rather, we get to make a political claim to live freely and without fear of discrimination and violence against the genders that we are. 

Word salad > “we don’t get to choose our gender but we get to choose it I am very smart"

Many people who were assigned “female” at birth never felt at home with that assignment, and those people (including me) tell all of us something important about the constraints of traditional gender norms for many who fall outside its terms.   

Many women have internalized misogyny and homophobia, which in turn had a huge impact on their sense of self and self-esteem, but that doesn’t mean they’re not women Judith. And I don’t think any woman who was forcefully married, who had her vulva mutilated for religious reasons, had to wear a veil since she was a toddler, or was sold as a child into prostitution ever “felt at home” with having been born a girl, you absolute unit.  

Feminists know that women with ambition are called “monstrous” or that women who are not heterosexual are pathologised. We fight those misrepresentations because they are false and because they reflect more about the misogyny of those who make demeaning caricatures than they do about the complex social diversity of women. Women should not engage in the forms of phobic caricature by which they have been traditionally demeaned. And by “women” I mean all those who identify in that way. 

That was going so well until the last sentence 

I think we are living in anti-intellectual times, and that this is evident across the political spectrum. 

JB, darling, just read your own word salad and get some self-awareness. 

The quickness of social media allows for forms of vitriol that do not exactly support thoughtful debate. We need to cherish the longer forms. 

Tell that to your supporters Miss I Wasn't Aware TERF Were A Slur.

I am against online abuse of all kinds. I confess to being perplexed by the fact that you point out the abuse levelled against JK Rowling, but you do not cite the abuse against trans people and their allies that happens online and in person. 

Kindergarten argument, but sure. Also, yet again, no proof. 

I disagree with JK Rowling's view on trans people, but I do not think she should suffer harassment and threats. Let us also remember, though, the threats against trans people in places like Brazil, the harassment of trans people in the streets and on the job in places like Poland and Romania – or indeed right here in the US.  

“Threats against JKR are bad BUT have you seen what’s happening in Brazil?”. I’m sorry what? Also, could trans-activist please stop instrumentalizing Brazilian stats, since they reflect the situation of prostituted homosexual transsexuals ?  

 So if we are going to object to harassment and threats, as we surely should, we should also make sure we have a large picture of where that is happening, who is most profoundly affected, and whether it is tolerated by those who should be opposing it. It won’t do to say that threats against some people are tolerable but against others are intolerable. 

NO ONE, literally NO ONE said that threats against trans people were acceptable. In fact, most, if not pretty much all threats, especially physical threats, don’t come from radical feminists, but from men. Basically, what she’s saying is “who cares about threats against JKR, trans people (men) matter more”.  

If trans-exclusionary radical feminists understood themselves as sharing a world with trans people, in a common struggle for equality, freedom from violence, and for social recognition, there would be no more trans-exclusionary radical feminists.  

♫ Kumbaya my Lord, Kumbaya ♪ 

It is a sad day when some feminists promote the anti-gender ideology position of the most reactionary forces in our society. 

All radical feminists are right wingers, sure. 

Anyway, it's terrible that this kind of article is taken seriously when it could be summed up as "women are irrational and hysterical, men can be women and redefine the word woman if they so wish"...

[loopy777]

RE: WIPs game: do I even want to know what Dicebenders is is it another scam how many times are the Gaang gonna get arrested for scamming

No, this time it's me scamming people. XD The dice in question are the RPG Dungeons & Dragons kind.

For a while I was doing a screencap webcomic in the style of "DM of the Rings" and "Darths & Droids" with another creative fan named Captain Boomerang. I was the scriptwriter and selected the screenshots for each panel, and Capt-BA would assemble the comics and improve my scripts (a process that did frustrate me a little, as I felt locked out of the revision process, but I did like the results. I just felt like I wasn't holding up my end of the partnership a bit). I wrote a story bible explaining the characters and storytelling rules, planned out the adaptation of the entire AtLA premiere, and had less detailed plans for the rest of the series, but we only got 6 comics in before Capt-BA went on a trip and never returned to the internet. I did manage to re-establish contact with her long enough to get permission to continue the comic, but the problem is that I have no image-editing skills whatsoever.

If I could find comic-making software that I know would do what I want and be easy to use, I wouldn't mind dropping some money on it, but everything I've looked at is trying to do lots of things I don't need. I only want a way to import existing pictures into comic grids, and then easily add dialogue bubbles. That's it. But the stuff I've found is more about image-editing than comic assembly, and it takes me an hour to put together a dialogue bubble that looks good. So I have 3 scripts that were never produced, which along with the planning docs are what's in that WIP folder, and I don't ever see myself going beyond that.

Besides, someone else already managed to complete something like this, and while I'm not a fan, I don't need to be. At this point, Dicebenders is dead. I'm glad I tried it, and it's a shame it didn't work out, but I'm happy with the other projects I've done instead.

I am squatting on an empty Tumblr for it, though.

Anyway, to share something new, here's the first section of the Story Bible I wrote to make sure Capt-BA and I were on the same page in terms of characterization. The rest of the bible details the plotlines for full series.

AVATAR: THE LAST DICEBENDER

BIBLE

Premise- A small group of players attempt to run a fantasy martial arts RPG that winds up essentially becoming the Avatar saga, or something very close. The main point of the series is comedy, based mostly on ridiculous links between Avatar and RPG's. Sometimes the humor will be in the vast difference between what happens in the comic, and what happens in the cartoon with the same screenshots. Other times, the funny will come from the unexpected ways they converge.

SPIRITUAL PREDECESSORS

DM of the Rings- The original, and my personal favorite. It's a good showcase of how to run a single quest together, while using narrative jumps to skip to the good bits.

Darths & Droids- A similar project, this stands out from its predecessor in two main ways. The players and GM are more friendly with each other, and are more or less having fun with each other. There is also a running, coherent storyline in both the game and in the lives of the players.

Benders & Brawlers- This is actually an existing attempt to do Darths & Droids with Avatar. This is helpful as an example of what we DON'T want to do, retell the Avatar story in a completely straightforward manner, with RPG players behind the characters.

CHARACTERS

None of the characters will be given real names. The players shall always be referred to by their character names, although this can be done in a teasing, ironic manner. When the characters are speaking, their dialogue bubble must always be attached to an image of the character.

The Gamemaster- The GM is a female in her early teens. She is a geek, and a bit of a social outcast for it. Nevertheless, she's trying to make that work for her, although she's not quite mature enough to make it happen yet. She has just discovered RPG's, and in her enthusiasm has gone all out in starting her own campaign. The only problem is that she doesn't know how to recruit players, so she ropes her best friend and little brother into playing with her. This is the GM's first campaign, so she'll a little in over her head. She knows the mechanics of play, and what she's supposed to be doing as GM, but doesn't have the fine skill in crafting an engaging RPG experience. Still, she wants to do her best, is willing to learn, and has a positive attitude about the whole thing. The GM has a strong crush on the Sokka player, but the only way she can express it is by having all the female NPC's flirt with the Sokka character.

Katara- Female in early teens, and the GM's best friend. Katara's player was friends with the GM from when they were both in grammar school, so while they have grown up into wildly different personality types, they are fully loyal to each other. Katara is popular, and outgoing, and doesn't care or know about geek stuff at all. She's only playing the game because the GM begged her to. At first, Katara is clueless about RPG's, and frequently questions or ridicules the mechanics of the game. She never quite gets into the idea of role-playing, but quickly takes to the idea of meta-gaming. She'll have her character act like a righteous do-gooder, because completing missions and fighting bad guys earns XP. She hoards items that will boost her stats. She'll advocate abandoning a mission/plot if it doesn't pay out enough rewards. Katara's player also can tend towards trying to Mary Sue her character, but this is inconsistent and usually shot down by everyone else.

Aang- Male in junior high, and the GM's little brother. He plays simply because his sister has cajoled him into it, and there are hints that he's getting some kind of reward or payment for it. He abuses his position by forcing the GM to give him what he wants in the game, even if it breaks the rules- access to the restricted Airbender class, the ability to bend all four elements, overloaded stats, an Avatar State that protects him from dying, a magic super flying cow ride, etc. However, it's important to note that Aang's player isn't a jerk. He's just immature, and like all kids, just always goes for what he wants via the easiest path, and doesn't realize that he may be causing trouble or hurting feelings. He's enthusiastic about trying out this RPG thing, but he has trouble coming up with any action beyond attacking or retreating. He's also hyper aware that the GM and Katara are girls. He is too old for cootie concerns, but thinks that girls are fundamentally different creatures with their own incomprehensible concerns. Having a big sister, he doesn't find this a big deal, just part of life. Aang's player is too young to be a geek. He likes cartoons and sports and fantasy and school-dramas. He also tends to follow whatever his sister likes.

Sokka- Male in late teens. This guy is your quintessential RPG player. He has is own top-quality dice, he's played campaigns and systems of all kinds, and knows the tropes of the hobby cold. He's a huge geek for all things geeky, but roleplay is easily his favorite. He's a social outcast, but he's made friends among his fellow geeks, and thinks life is just fine. Sokka's player joins when he meets the GM at the comic/games shop they both frequent. The GM was buying some sourcebooks and material to support the fantasy martial arts game she's running, and Sokka noticed, asked about it, liked what he heard, and got permission to join the game. What Sokka doesn't realize, because he is a geek and neither has experience with it or realizes it's even possible, is that the GM is sweet on him. This manifests in the character Sokka's canon luck with the ladies, only kicked up a notch. *Every single* female NPC flirts with him, whether it's appropriate or not. Sometimes player Sokka notices and tries to roleplay it, and sometimes he's just plain confused. Sokka has a few quirks. His best set of dice are his Lucky Red Dice, which always roll high when he needs it, but have been tested and proven to be fair dice. He also mandates that every character he plays use a boomerang; he was turned into a geek by the first video game he ever played, a Legend of Zelda title, and his favorite weapon from those games are the boomerang. Each of his characters has a unique, named boomerang.

Zuko- The GM's favorite NPC. She created him to be a compelling, dramatic character, with a complicated back story, moral struggles, badass loner personality, angst about his existence, a darkly noble quality, and a cool scar. The GM intended Katara to get to know Zuko, for her to try to woo him away from the side of evil, and perhaps to even have a romance with him. The PC's, however, couldn't care less about him. To them, he's just another mini-boss, and the fact that most of his character development is happening "off screen" means they don't realize that he's recruitable. A frequent gag is Zuko delivering a stirring monologue while no one pays attention.

Iroh- Background NPC. The GM tries to use him to give (ignored) hints to the players.

Toph- (tentative) A male munchkin gamer who picked a long list of weaknesses in order to get superbending. Toph's player is a friend of Sokka's player, brought in after an "incident" with his old group, and causes some initial resentment in the group when tries to show the n00bs how its done. Cowing Toph's player is a major victory for the GM.

Momo- NPC, but maybe make him a talking sidekick who gives the players hints when the GM is really exasperated?

Azula- the GM's best favorite villain. Azula is the GM unleashed, letting her take out frustrations on the players in both combat and harsh taunting. Eventually the GM comes to like the character so much, she retcons mental health issues into the character's backstory, and has her pet NPC, Zuko, spare her.

[grimoire-of-geekery]

I’ve had quite a few questions thrown in my direction regarding this image, so I decided it would probably be wise to talk a bit more about the Holly Jolly Tumblr Squad badge.

So, what is this image about? The original image is of a pin, sold in a set, and created by a pair of artists who go by the name Fiendies.  They used to create ornaments and all manner of cool, occult/spooky-themed merchandise, and my family and I fell in love with their stuff as soon as a friend showed them to us.  Being as we weren’t terribly well off, we couldn’t afford their merch, so they (along with many other sites and vendors) went onto our “maybe another year” dream list.  We did that a lot with things, my family isn’t well off. Anyway, I’m kind of a huge winter-holidays fanatic, thanks in large part to my friend Samantha (who kind of made a campaign one year to cure me of some trauma-based Grinchness).  I’m a big believer in spreading good during this season, trying to help people remember their empathy and their hope during the winter.  Sama coined this “warrior of holiday spirit” mindset “the Holly-Jolly-Pants.”  She was, and of course will always be, the first wearer of said Pants, and my inspiration every year. In an odd turn of events last year in 2018 while the boys and I were trying to construct a happy holiday for our recently expanded family, I received this pin from my ex in the mail, as a holiday gift.  It was particularly timely and significant to me, as I’d spent about two days designing little holiday things for people, including a bunch of little graphics.  I’d grabbed a bunch of images off google search trying to find a way to represent the magic of the Yule season, and had settled on some crossed peppermint sticks which shaped into a heart, so getting the badge at the end (before I’d even sent those images to anyone yet) was particularly surprising.  It felt like I’d made Santa’s list, y’know? Yeah yeah, I know, I’m sentimental.  Anyway, I took it up as a call to “keep up the good work,” sort of a mystical kudos from my gods and spirits, and I wore it all through the winter until just before March. That’s when I found out that Fiendies was shutting down their site, and no longer making ornaments or merchandise, because people were copying their ideas and undercutting their sales (their prices weren’t even that high!) and basically driving them out of business.  That was seriously uncool.  I put the badge away for next year, used it briefly in 2019 for some magic on my Facebook, and then COVID and my breakup happened, and I didn’t get a chance to think about any of it again until November. Fiendies reopened, in a more limited capacity, which I say is badass and yay for their triumph!  And I decided that this year, I was going to make their pin an emblem of hope, joy, and everything Holly Jolly.  Their merchandise sat on the wishlist of my boys and I for years privately, and so I created and offered up the image to Jasie’s Witchy Wishlists, as sort of a thank you and a tribute.  It represents the spirit of Holly Jolly, so feel free to use it as you like!

Ok, but why’s it blue?  The original image was red and gold, right? Yup.  The image I used in the crafting of the above image was the original promo image Fiendies used to sell their pins.  I didn’t use an image of my own pin, for several reasons, not the least of which is that I’m a terrible photographer. Anyway, I recolored their image blue for a couple reasons.   First, Tumblr’s blue, and this image is specifically for Tumblr folks.  Y’all inspire me, and I wanted to make something that represented everything I was feeling. Second, red is one of my favorite colors, but not this year.  I live in the USA, it was an election year and... let’s just say seeing blue everywhere is very much a sign of hope for me and everyone I care for. There are other reasons in addition to this, but those are a good enough explanation.

What should it be used for? Well, I don’t get to decide that entirely.  It was a gift, after all.  I made it for anyone following and participating in Jasie’s Witchy Wishlists, originally.  It stands for hope, compassion, and it’s hopefully a banner to those who care for others and protect the good in this world. If you want to repost it (and yes, feel free to just repost it, I don’t need credit or anything), I hope you’ll do so as someone who lifts a banner for those virtues, against the cruelty of winter and hardship.  I also would personally take it as a kindness if people posted it as a banner against bullying, abuse, and theft, considering what Fiendies went through.  That’s what I’ll see when I see it posted elsewhere- someone who’s joined the Holly Jolly Tumblr Squad, and is trying to promote and support those virtues.

Anything else? Please support Fiendies and go buy things from them!  Please support the Witchy Wishlists and Jasie!  Those are the only other important things I can think of.  Oh, and please stay safe and healthy this season.

[devourer--of--books]

I’m mad about Hunter being written off and here’s why you should be too

You: wasted potential.

Me, an intellectual: ah, Hunter and Nicola’s friendship

I have strong opinions about Hunter.

Yeah, you heard me right.

Look, I have strong opinions about many, many, things. Today, we are taking a dive on Hunter and Nicola. First I’d like to blame this post on Kate, as I decided to make it after I tried to articulate why Hunter being written off TCY makes me so angry in a huge comment under her latest OTK post but it ended up being too big and messy so I deleted it. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone elaborate on it, so if you were also mad about this, bro, not to be intense, but like, are we soulmates or...??

Before anything else, as I usually do with my text posts (which I haven’t done in a while, opsies), I shall provide you with arguably unnecessary context. Sit down, grab yourself some snacks, make yourself at home, I’m about to rant you into oblivion.

Since I know many accounts weren’t around back then, I’ll also give you the socio-political vibes of the time period, as any self-respecting half-baked essay written last minute should.

POV, you’re 14/15 year-old me. You flat iron your hair, you don’t use sunscreen, you think you’re straight and your school makes you wear those horrid low rise uniform pants, but at least you can somewhat do your make-up decently now that you grew out of your emo phase.

The year was 2016. The Ever Never Handbook has just come out. You re-watch the handbook trailer on youtube for the fifteenth time. Everyone is losing their minds over OcTObeR 14tH and “a student named Agatha ~ now Agatha of Camelot~”, as well as the portraits and the teasing for a new SGE book. Quests For Glory is announced just a few days later. 2016 tagatha ship week happens a few months down the line. 

This is the SGE Tumblr Fandom Peak.

Now, let’s start right there, two-ish weeks after the release of the Handbook, right as the QFG announcement comes out.

We all knew Soman wasn’t done with SGE after TLEA. He definitely had been teasing something in his weekly blogs (lol, remember when I used to check the blog, what a time to be alive) and once we got the ENH, we got quite lot of info to theorize. Here’s some that I can think off the top of my head: 

- The coven was going on a mission to find a new School Master.

- Tedros and Agatha were struggling financially in Camelot but were going to get married soon (even if Sophie doubted Tedros would have asked Agatha yet, as of the time of the Ever Never RoundTable, but we’re taking that with a grain of salt, because she was written to sound jealous here, and I won’t acknowledge that kinda of bs, she is happy for her friends okay, we’ve been though this-)

- Sophie had completely remodeled the School For Evil and was getting on Dovey and the rest of the faculty’s nerves (except for newly hired history teacher, Hort).

- The rest of the supporting cast had just graduated third year and was to be off in quests soon.

- The School was now accepting applications, and two of those applicants are Nicola and Bogden.

Now, I’m not even gonna bring up how it was mentioned in a video in EverNeverTv that Bogden would be an important character in TCY, and yet, I can’t think of anything relevant about him other than the fact that he knew tarot apparently, or how his application had more personality than him in the entire series, or how he was basically there so we could look at him and Willam and be like “oh, representation”, or how he’d be a good insight on how Galvadon perceives Sophie and Agatha post-TLEA, or- I’m just not gonna.

Oh, no. Instead, we are here to discuss Nicola’s application.

If your memory is foggy, let me remind you:

Nicola’s application is submitted, according to the Handbook, by her friend, Hunter. For convenience sake, we’ll assume Hunter is a guy (I’ll tell you why Hunter being a guy works better for me in a bit), but his gender is not mentioned anywhere in the ENH. I don’t think he has been gendered in any version (correct me if I’m wrong) or if there are any pronouns for him during TCY, but I’m fairly confident he isn’t mentioned at all.

Hunter tells us he is applying on Nic’s behalf, as she’d never apply for herself. He mentions that she is more or less the Galvadon equivalent of an activist for women’s rights, founding a rugby unisex team and campaigning for pants instead of skirts for the local school uniform, as well as having a feminist sounding book as her favorite book. It’s heavily implied that she is a jock, as he lists that, if marooned on a desert island, Nicola would want to have a soccer ball, a hockey stick and a set of dumbbells (“and none of this 5-lb nonsense”) with her.

Upon asked why Nicola should go to the school, his answer is: “because there’s a greater place for her in the world, where she can learn a girl’s true worth, and I don’t think it’s here.”

Then you have a note from (*rolls eyes* *suppresses a gag* *tears hair out*) the very late, long, long gone, absolutely dead, August Sader, telling the Deans to accept her application, despite having no reason to do so, as Nicola was to “play a crucial role in it’s [the school’s] survival.” Dovey and Sophie agree to flip a coin to decide which school will take her, which Sophie must have lost, as Nicola is accepted into the School For Evil.

By now, I think we all agree that Nicola was done dirty. If you check my QFG re-read you’ll notice that I complained about her there. As I had to go though her introduction chapter again to make this post, let me tell you why: Nicola wasn’t written to be likeable.

She simply wasn’t. That’s the one conclusion I can draw. Whether that’s intentional or not, I can’t tell, but the backlash she received was fairly useful, as it meant Soman could write her off the main story without much backlash from his target audience (aka, not us, pesky pretentious older readers).

The Nicola I was introduced to, not only in the Handbook but on her trailer for QFG was not the girl on QFG. 

Nic is there to be the smart  girl™, and while I do appreciate having a character who is a bit cocky about their brains, it just doesn’t work well there. Because her bond to other characters and the way she earns their respect feels so weak, she just comes across as pretentious. Characters like Hester and Agatha, who are supposed to be smart, feel dumbed down to show us how clever Nicola is. Agatha is supposed to be the resourceful thinker and Hester wanted to be class captain, you bet she studied like crazy, she probs knows every fairytale in existence. 

Then you add that to the (*rolls eyes* *suppresses a gag* *tears hair out*) Nicola and Hort fiasco and Nic feels like a weirdly written OC insert.

Handbook!Nicola sounded like a smart jock kind of character (read, more Gryffindor than Ravenclaw). Handbook!Nic was a Reader who read the tales as a hobby, but her favorite book is not a tale, it’s a non-fiction book (as far as I can tell). She might not be the fairytale expert, but she sounds like a practical thinker, as sport requires strategy, which is not Hester’s strong suit, given she is rather impulsive, or Agatha’s, given she is often unwilling to make hard decisions due to her Good nature and her own insecurities. C’mon, Handbook!Nic would have taken one look at Hort and sent him running to hills, because she would be able to smell his bs three miles away. She’s no one’s replacement, least of all Sophie’s (whom she probably would not have gotten along with (at least they got this part right) given Sophie’s “my prince will sweep me away from an ordinary life” phylosophy). To be honest she doesn’t sound like she’d be interested in dating at all.

But this post is about Hunter right? Let me remind you, Hunter is not mentioned in Nicola’s introduction, when she talks about her life in Galvadon. Canon!Nicola tells us that she has two brothers who want to inherit her father’s pub in order to sell the place, but Nicola is close with her father and likes working there to some extent, even if she has bigger ambitions. She believes her brothers sent her application as a way to get rid of her.

Back when I still had some faith that Soman had an arc for Nicola that included resolution, I had my theories as to why she wouldn’t mention Hunter: maybe he was to appear in later books and they’d have a huge backstory explaining their friendship, as well as a dramatic confession that Hunter sent her application because he felt Nicola deserved to live an adventure, and Nicola would either realize that she was meant for something more or that she wanted to live a quiet life, honestly either would be nice. I would have taken anything. Truly, if Nicola’s k-pop boyfriend in the OTK epilogue had been replaced with Hunter, I might be able to hate it less.

Especially if they came to the (*rolls eyes* *suppresses a gag* *tears hair out*) school wedding as friends. Because you know what?

We are starved for male-female friendships in the SGE universe.

Tedros’s only female friends (all his friends in general) are Agatha’s friends (who all tried to get rid of him at some point, save for maybe Dot) and his actual friends are all dead (Bettina/Chaddick). Hort could be counted as Agatha’s friend, if only he didn’t bash her every five seconds like a moron (he literally pitched the idea that Agatha should be executed by Tedros in OTK, just because he was envious or her relationship with Sophie (not jealous, envious, because Sophie wasn’t his to begin with)) over his delusional sense entitlement of Sophie’s affections (which I hate, but as this is not a Hort-bashing post, I won’t get too much into), but the coven, Beatrix, Renna and co. would not touch him with a stick. Merlin’s friendship with Lady Of The Lake is gone, and Dovey is dead. Rhian and Kei both had that frenemies thing with Sophie in ACOT/beggining of OTK, but I think it was supposed to be romantic? It wasn’t ew (I hate Rhian but he’s also wasted potential, and so was Kei, whom I liked, rest in peace). Japeth hates women for??? Whatever. Willam and Bodgen are such background characters I could not care less about them. The new students weren’t memorable enough for me to remember their names. I think this about covers the main male cast.

There’s a lack of male friendships too, but we kinda have (*rolls eyes* *suppresses a gag* *tears hair out*) Tort and whatever was that rushed Tedros/Chaddick friendship.  Rhian and Kei were gay friends (yeah, right, sure, very platonic). Tedros and Rhian could have been friends if Rhian redeemed himself, but otherwise no. Tedros and Filip… gay. Japeth literally killed Rhian, so also not very good friendship between brothers. Hort has no friends, because Ravan would so not be here for his bs. Willam and Bogden are a couple and (*rolls eyes* *suppresses a gag* *tears hair out*) so were Aric and Japeth, I guess.

Still don’t believe Hunter was wasted potential? Okay, let me tell you what my ideal Nicola arc would be, mixing Handbook!Nicola with some canon!Nicola and including Hunter.

- Nicola is the one inheriting the pub (once she gets married), despite Galvadon’s pre-TLEA sexism and conservative views, because she is her father’s only child and her brothers are actually her older half-siblings from her mother’s previous marriage.

- Her mom died at some point early in her childhood. Not a childbirth tho, because Callis, local witch gynecologist (have you checked my post on this yet? no? you should) was there for her, even if it was a high risk pregnancy because the mom was already older.

- Because of that, Nicola’s father actually sells bread to Callis for cheaper prizes, but don’t tell the elders, shhh

- Anyway, because her mom was gone so early, Nicola was raised by her dad, brothers and by the employees (mostly men, as I don’t think it was all that common for women to work jobs in Galvadon) of her father’s pub. Due to being a girl, most guys weren’t willing to befriend her (sexism, am I right), but because she was a tomboy she had difficulty bonding with the other girls at school, even when they weren’t outright hostile (cof cof Sophie). 

- Example: she and Belle had a tentative bond over their love of cooking, but often ran out of things to talk about and the conversation fell flat.

- Which is how she ends up befriending Hunter. 

- Hunter is the only boy in a family of many girls and his father works all day. He has a good heart and is rather emotional, but he always feels like he has something to prove, which leads him to being rather impulsive. Both Nicola and Hunter love sports and are very competitive people. Once Nicola gains his respect, he feels very protective of her and often feels the need to stand up for her, even if she doesn’t need it.

- Nicola knows Hunter feels overlooked in his family, so she is always inviting him over and taking care of him, keeping him out of trouble. Her father begins to see him as his own son, and soon he spends more time at Nicola’s house than at his own.

- Everyone thinks they’ll get married some day. His sisters tease him mercilessly about it, and so does Nic’s father, but frankly, Nic and Hunter see each other as family.

- You can bet Hunter is the one teaching Nic about periods after asking his sisters, so she wouldn’t have to suffer with Galvadon’s horrid Sex Ed. (go check the Callis headcanon’s okay, give me clout, that it my favorite post I’ve ever made)

- They tried to kiss once. Nicola vomited and Hunter gaged.

- Hunter is Nicola’s number one supporter and fan, 100% had those gender-equality pins she made for her campaigns all over his bags and jackets.

- Since most wedding matches are arranged by the elders before girls even graduate, it was settled that Nic and Hunter would get married to each other and then inherit the pub. It would of course, be a secretly platonic match and they would suspiciously have no children (Nicola even had a plan to visit Callis to get a potion for infertility, just in case the elders wanted to check on her... okay, I’ll stop).

- Hunter doesn’t tell her, but Nicola knows he wants to marry for love and have a family of his own. She tries to talk him out of marrying her, but he insists that he would be doing it out of love for her, even if not romantic, because Nic didn’t deserve to be matched up with some stranger she barely knows who would no doubt be less tolerant of her more radical views.

- She tells him it’d be fine for him to have a affairs then, but he insists he would never do that to her, because people would talk about Nic if that was the case and her reputation would be ruined.

- The night of Sophie and Agatha kidnapping Nicola tells him she would rather be taken to the School than to stay there and make him live an unhappy life.

- Hunter is horrified (remember, everyone thought going to the school was a fate worse than death) and makes her promise to never treat her life so fickly.

- Sophie and Agatha get taken, come back, but during Tedros’ reign of terror in Galvadon, right before they return to the Woods, Nicola’s father grows very very sick.

- Nic thinks he’s going to die, and she frets, not only because they’re close but also because she can’t inherit the place if she doesn’t marry Hunter. But, well, she sort of always knew, but now that feels very real, she thought she had some more time before that.

- They set a date for the wedding, but thankfully, Tedros and Agatha’s escape ends up causing the ceremony to be delayed.

- By the time the new date is set, there’s no more elders and Stefan is now mayor.

- But just because he is the mayor doesn’t mean the law and the sexism is gone overnight.

- Nic’s father is getting somewhat better, but she is still very worried about him, because of his old age.

- Once SGE starts having applications and has been proved to be, well, somewhat safe, Hunter suggests that Nicola applies, but after the scare that she might lose her father sooner rather than later, she tells him she can’t bring herself to leave him.

- Hunter doesn’t want her to throw her life away, specially now knowing that in the Endless Woods there were people like her and that progress would get there before it ever got to Galvadon 

- (He also wants to not marry someone he views as a sister, pls).

- So he files her application in secret.

- Nicola gets accepted, upon Sader’s request and Sophie’s bad luck, into the School For Evil. She and Sophie still don’t get along, the Evil castle rejects her and she gets pushed to Good, becoming an Ever, but she’s only staying until Christmas, because she is worried sick about her father.

- She thinks the application was a plot from her brothers because she doesnt think Hunter would ever betray her trust like that, after she specifically told him she wouldn't go.

- There’s no Hicola, instead, she and Hort become friends and she talks him out of his delusions with Sophie, because as much as Nicola dislikes her, Sophie was a girl too, and deserved to have her feelings respected. 

- She also punches Hort into giving up his envy of Tedros and Agatha while at it, because she is just that efficient.

- Everything else up to OTK can be pretty much the same because I can’t remember what happens, other than everytime Nicola is smart girl™, it’s not “because she reads”, but because she is practical. 

- Example: on the boat scene where she very pretentiously sasses Agatha for not saying hello to her (canon!Nicola, girl, she just suffered six months of loneliness at Camelot because Tedros shut her out and is now on a quest to save her happy ending, probs didn’t get much sleep, maybe cut her some slack) and then tells her how to sail a boat (despite the fact that there are no boats in Galvadon and I’m sure you can’t just read Peter Pan and learn to sail a boat, unless I did it wrong or something, maybe the storian version comes with a crash course). Here, instead, Nicola presses Hort (who is a pirate’s son) to remember literally anything to help them (therefore making him not completely useless on this quest), and he does and they tell Agatha and she’s like sure and does it.

- Now, in OTK, I literally can’t remember where Nicola was for most of it and I read that book not too long ago, so I’m worried. 

- Okay, so, have the Knights Of Eleven actually serve some purpose, include a scene where Tedros and Nicola stress-play rugby and get her some internal conflict.

- Nic now loves this world. She just spent the last few weeks fighting to protect it. She is now a Knight, and she loves the adventures and the new friends she made. Can she really go back to Gavaldon to take care of a pub? Well, she needs to, doesn’t she? That’s what a good daughter would do.

- After Japeth’s execution, Nic goes straight home.

- Her father’s condition is stable, as he is being treated by Hunter and his new wife.

- Oh boy, Hunter has some explaining to do.

- Nicola is furious that he broke her trust, but at the same time, she’s happy he’s happy and well, Hunter what do you have to say for yourself?

- “Damn, Nic, nice armour- ouch, my arm!”

- Apparently, since Nicola was taken, Stefan approved a law for people to be able to leave their inheritance to whomever they wanted. And since Nic was gonna be at the Woods, her father was more than happy to leave it to Hunter. Of course, unless Nicola wanted to stay at Gavaldon. 

- Does she? She’s not sure.

- Hunter and Nicola attend the tagatha wedding at Camelot (what, like I wasn’t gonna fix this part?), Hunter is Nic’s plus one.

- There, Hester, Anadil and Dot show her Sader’s note, and ask her, not to become School Master, but to become Dean Of Good, because she would be perfect for the new brand of Good to match Sophie’s Evil. You know, since she is all for gender-equality, good manners, practicality and was particularly good at dealing with Sophie’s bs.

- Since Tedros has the Storian Ring, the pen doesn’t need actual protection, well, not more than it can get from Nic and Sophie.

- Sophie herself insists that Nicola accept the position, not because she doesn’t want to be alone at the school now that Hort and Dovey are dead, no, of course not, since when did Sophie ever need anyone, she was just asking cause… cause Nicola looked lonely. The pretty boy who came with her was not her boyfriend, was he? Sophie was prettier than him anyway. Who needs a boy when they can have her?

- Whether they become a couple or not, I’ll let you decide.

- Bonus: years later, Hunter’s eldest daughter is accepted at the School for Good. Nicola is her godmother, and her favoritism shows.

There, if nothing else, the reason you should be mad about Hunter and the Handbook in general is because this didn’t happen.

[tigerkirby215]

5e Psychic Ninja build (Theory Build)

(PsyOps Zed artwork done by David Villegas of West Studios. Created for Riot Games. This wasn’t meant to be a PsyOps Zed build but strangely this artwork works.)

Here’s a post in the not-quite-continual series of “random D&D builds I write at 1 AM and then queue to post at 11:40 because lol Tumblr because I can’t sleep and am waiting for the Worlds livestream to start at 6 AM EST.”

Do you wish that thrown weapon fighting was more viable? Do you think that Barbarians are boring and could use some more damage types? Do you wish that Rogues could be played with Strength instead of Dexterity? Do you think that throwing weapons as a Monk should actually be viable?

Do you want to protect your teammates not through heals or buffs but by intimidating your foes? Do you want to be the dark mysterious edgy character in the party but still play a support? Do you want to play a character who by all accounts is essentially a Monk and has pretty much zero connection to a Barbarian yet is somehow a Barbarian? Or do you just want to play with the Psionics UA stuff like I do?

I present to you: The Psychic Ninja

SOUL KNIFE (UA) 14 / ANCESTRAL GUARDIAN 6

When distributing stats prioritize Strength, then Constitution, then Dexterity. You need at least a 13 in DEX for this build to work though a 14 would be ideal for a +2 to DEX. Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma are all secondary in this build. (Though if you want to be Chinese Knockoff Shen invest in Wisdom.)

Start off as a Rogue (proficiencies duh) then get to at least level 3 to pick Soul Knife for Psychic Blades. After that go 6 levels into Ancestral Guardian Barbarian for Ancestral Protectors (the main one), Spirit Shield, and an Extra Attack. After that go all the way down Soul Knife until you hit level 14, but this build is honestly done at level 9 which is pretty nice as most campaigns end around level 10 anyways.

PROS

Okay so let’s talk about Ancestral Protectors from Ancestral Guardian. First of all: it has NO RANGE LIMITATIONS. (Thanks to Dungeon Dudes for pointing this out to me and no I had a build like this in mind long before seeing this video.) The effects of this ability work as long as you hit the enemy and as long as you’re raging. And let’s talk about its effects: firstly your foes just have disadvantage on anyone other than you. Secondly if they don’t hit you your ally resists the damage! That’s half damage practically for free!

Normally as a Barbarian you’re limited to melee range but that’s where Soul Knife comes in. Boom! 60 foot range! This means that you can sit in the backline while taking half damage and doing +2 on all your attacks and still “tank” for your team.

Beyond that? I mean there’s just a lot of general synergies between Barbarian and Rogue. Reckless Attack gives you guaranteed Sneak Attack (which is why you’re maxing Strength instead of Dexterity), Danger Sense plus Evasion means you basically won’t ever get hit by a Fireball (and it really ups the “ultra instinct” ninja flavor of this build), Fast Movement synergizes with Cunning Action (and again makes you feel more like a Monk.) Oh also your Soul Knife features aren’t spells, so you can use them while raging.

There’s so many characters you can make with this! Make an unassuming assassin who leaves no trace, make a bodyguard who disarms you and takes you down with their mind, make an unassuming detective with secret powers to help him on the case, make bumbling idiot whos ancestors pilot him like a meat puppet. Hell make a Warforged and be the weapon!

CONS

Other than the fact that you’re playing UA and I have no idea what Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything will do to my sweet Soul Knife boii?

The main thing to mention is that you have no armor and no actual “weapons”, meaning that magic armor and magic weapons are not an option for you. What’s more is that since you’ll be investing in Strength for your knives you likely won’t be investing much in Dexterity for armor. With the best case scenario of +2 to DEX and +5 to CON your AC will be a 17; not horrible but not exactly amazing either. You’ll still have a ton of meat points to soak up damage but even then the healer isn’t going to want to be pumping you with hit die all game.

Your going to have to invest a lot in physical stats which means your mental stats will be rather subpar. You can fix this in roleplay by getting Expertise in the skills that matter but you’ll still get screwed by saving throws.

Spirit Shield only reduces damage by 2d6, and it only has a 30 foot range. It takes your Reaction which could be used for Uncanny Dodge.

------

And that’s honestly about it. This isn’t a build I’ve tried it’s just something I’m theorycrafting as a cool idea for the Soul Knife subclass. In short I’m tired as hell and am waiting for the Worlds broadcast to start, even though by the time this is posted the stream will be done and I’ll probably be asleep.

Spooky builds still coming no they’re not Seraphine.

[fallintosanity]

One Ardyn to Rule Them All

I’ve been stuck for a while on writing the part of What Stays and What Fades that comes shortly after the last bit posted to Tumblr, and I realized a couple of days ago that this particular flavor of stuck-ness is familiar: it’s the stuck of trying to write a story in which Ardyn Izunia is involved. 

This is something I struggled with quite a lot in The Basis of Reality, and for much the same reason: Ardyn is billed as the villain of FFXV, but he’s not. He’s tied up in the resolution of the canon story in a way that makes him impossible to ignore in any fic that deals remotely with the canon plot and the Cosmogony’s prophecy about Noct’s destiny, but he’s not the antagonist. Instead, he alternates between being a Trickster Mentor and a more-violent-than-usual MacGuffin.

To put it another way: Ardyn isn’t Sauron. He’s the One Ring. 

(what the fuck that means under the cut)

To expand on the LOTR analogy, the Starscourge itself is Sauron (personified to a certain extent by Bahamut and the Crystal), while the Niflheim Empire is Saruman and his army. This isn’t to get drawn into any Dawn of the Future “true ending” arguments over whether Bahamut is actively evil, just doing the only thing he can, or simply indifferent either way. That’s not really the point. A character doesn’t have to be objectively “evil” or “bad” to be an antagonist - they only have to be the one providing the primary conflict, the one asking the question the narrative answers.

Let’s talk for a second about antagonists. The antagonist of a story is the thing that drives the plot, whether it’s a bad guy with a goal, a force of nature or society, or an internal opponent. A story is created by asking a question spurred by the antagonist, which is answered in the climax by the hero’s actions. For example: Will Darth Vader successfully wipe out the Rebellion by destroying its last hideout? Will the volcano’s eruption kill the intrepid scientist? Will the scrappy underdog team’s lack of training and confidence defeat their shot to win the championship? Will depression drive a teenager to suicide? 

Basically, you can’t have a story without conflict, and the antagonist is what provides the conflict.

So now we’re back to FFXV and Ardyn. For the first twelve chapters of the game, the narrative question is, “Can Noctis reclaim the Crystal and defeat Niflheim to save his kingdom?” It has nothing to do with Ardyn, and indeed, Ardyn does not provide any meaningful conflict to Noctis, our hero. In fact, while he’s smarmy about it, he’s pretty helpful! The closest he gets to providing direct conflict is killing Lunafreya: a cruel thing to do, but at that point all it appears to do is raise the stakes for Noctis - stakes already placed by Niflheim. At least on the surface, Ardyn is simply continuing the Empire’s campaign to wipe out the Lucis Caelums and the Fleurets in its quest for world domination. After that, he’s offscreen for all of Chapter 10 except a brief cameo. Even his mischief on the train in Chapter 11, switching places with Prompto and tricking Noctis into throwing Prompto off the train, simply continues to raise the Empire’s stakes of world domination by killing Noctis and co. 

It’s not until Chapter 13 that the narrative question is called into doubt. In fact, I would argue that one of the reasons Chapter 13 is so unsettling on first playthrough is for exactly that reason: the player understands that the original narrative question no longer applies, because the Emperor is dead and the Empire has been destroyed by its own daemons. But it’s not until the very last few minutes of the chapter, when Bahamut reveals Noctis’s true purpose, that the new narrative question arises. Therefore, it’s distressing at a meta level to the player because the player no longer understands what the goal is, mirroring Noctis’s own distress.

In those last few minutes of Chapter 13, Bahamut tells both Noctis and the player that, in effect, none of the conflict up until this point matters. The only real question is, can Noctis save the world by destroying Ardyn before the Starscourge wipes out humanity? 

Sound familiar? The primary narrative question in The Lord of the Rings is, can Frodo save the world by destroying the One Ring before Sauron wipes out all the Free Races? 

(As I’m writing this I’m realizing that there are a whole lot more parallels between FFXV and LOTR than I noticed before. I might have to do a separate meta on that.)

So we’re finally all the way back to my original point, which is that Ardyn isn’t Sauron, he’s the One Ring. Which means figuring out how to write him into a fic isn’t simply a matter of setting him directly opposed to Noctis & co, because that’s not what Ardyn does. It’s not what he wants, any more than the One Ring wants to stop Frodo from taking it to Mordor. Just as the One Ring frequently helps Frodo (albeit often at a cost) along his journey, so does Ardyn help Noctis. The One Ring also occasionally hinders Frodo in ways intended to support Sauron, just like Ardyn helps the Starscourge along by killing Lunafreya, but for the most part, neither the One Ring nor Ardyn have any reason not to help their respective heroes get them closer to their destructive goals. 

The one wildcard in all of this is that while the One Ring is only sort of sentient and cannot significantly act on its own (outside of doing things like managing to slip onto fingers or fall out of pockets), Ardyn is both fully sentient and (mostly) autonomous. In other words, he has a will of his own and can act on it if he so chooses. The problem is that it’s never made clear in canon precisely what Ardyn does want. 

We can infer some things based on his actions, but depending on whether you consider the various DLCs, and in particular Episode: Ardyn, to be 100% canon, many of those inferences run directly counter to one another. Ardyn wants the prophecy to succeed so he can finally die after two thousand years of torment. Ardyn wants the prophecy to fail so he can rule a world of daemons. Ardyn wants to be the Chosen King and wipe out his brother’s descendents. Ardyn only ever wanted to help people by healing them. Ardyn is a gleeful participant in setting up the ending of the Cosmogony to achieve any of the above goals. Ardyn doesn’t want to be a part of the Cosmogony at all but is forced to act out his role by the gods. Ardyn is a cunning mastermind puppeteering a grand plan. Ardyn is completely insane and doesn’t care about anything except sowing chaos and ruin.

On top of all that, if you count Ep:Ardyn as canon, we have Bahamut explicitly telling Ardyn he doesn’t get a choice. He’s only allowed to be a good little prophecy puppet, playing his part until he dies, and any attempt to deviate will be quashed with extreme prejudice. This adds yet another layer of potential motivation for Ardyn: regardless of his own personal feelings about the Lucis Caelum line in general and Noctis in particular, Ardyn may have sufficient motivation to flout the Cosmogony simply to defy the god who told him to play along. 

This leaves us with a MacGuffin with a will of its own but no clear motivation or end goal, and a villain who, like Sauron, is too remote and uninvolved for the vast majority of the plot to be useful in driving direct conflict in a fic. (This is, incidentally, why Saruman, the Uruk-Hai, and the Ringwraiths exist in LOTR: they provide smaller narrative arcs of conflict along the journey to face Sauron himself. Niflheim and its various commanders - Aranea, Loqi, and Caligo - plus the miscellaneous daemons you face on the road, serve the same function in FFXV.) 

None of this really helps get me unstuck, unfortunately, but it does help me understand the core of my problem: I’ve been trying to fit Ardyn into the role of Sauron when that’s not, narratively speaking, what he’s set up for. Which isn’t to say I can’t have him escalate from One Ring to Sauron, but if I’m going to do that, I need to find a motivation for him that pits him directly against Noctis and co. Because while he might be a MacGuffin in canon, that doesn’t mean he has to stay one in fics.