#im completely normal about these two factions

[urethrachr0nicles]

had a (poorly made) vision

[jessepinwheel]

parex is deliciously dark, love it!

what happens during the coup and who survives it? im picturing three or more assassins after jango (one from the obi-clones, one from death watch, one from the rebellion, others from other factions) all showing up having picked the same assassination time lol

well, you're not entirely wrong. the coup does involve two assassination attempts happening at the same time--one by the obi-clones and the rebellion, and one by death watch

basically what's going on is that every year on empire day there's a ceremony where someone can challenge the emperor for the right to rule. if the challenger wins, then they get to be the new emperor. obviously, because this ceremony takes place in keldabe, the only people who are available to make this challenge are generally high-ranking mandalorians. anyways, the emperor generally does not lose these fights because the emperor is allowed to use the darksaber which is kind of an unfair advantage. basically this is a public way to defend your legitimacy to rule as well as kill people who disagree with you. jango, for all his faults, is still very good at fighting, so this has worked very well for him despite death watch sending people year after year to try and take the throne from him (because if they assassinate him the normal way, right of succession goes down to cody, and death watch doesn't want the emperor to be a clone)

anyways. the very start of parex begins on empire day right after jango kills his last challenger, duke adonai kryze, a leader in the traditionalist movement that basically hates everything jaster and jango have done. they thought that would work because jango was recovering from getting horribly poisoned during the conquest of zygerria, which led to him needing an organ transplant. obviously didn't work out, jango still killed the shit out of adonai, but obviously killing a major leader in death watch and friends shook things up and they decide that they need a new strategy to get rid of jango and seize power for good

in the meantime (I'll get to the coup in a bit don't worry) jango hates the jedi so much that he has a secret weapon developed: a giant space laser that will be able to wipe their entire settlement off the map. this is why he's hankering so hard to try and find where the jedi are hiding because he needs to send the death laser there to kill them all. as you might expect this death laser plays a pretty major role over the course of the story

well, death watch has a plan to seize control of mandalore: they kidnap cody and steal his armor, then use fox (who's brainwashed all to hell by the empire and then brainwashed again by death watch) to identity theft cody and challenge jango for the throne. death watch has been training fox to fight with a lightsaber, so he won't get unilaterally fucked over by the darksaber. the idea is that if he wins, he takes power as the new emperor and acts as death watch's puppet ruler. if he loses, then death watch uses the death laser that they have seized control over, and blast keldabe off the map.

meanwhile, the obi-clones and friends have a more traditional assassination/coup plan, which is to have cin snipe jango in the face on live television, and then simultaneously kill pretty much everyone in the line of succession as well as all the major leaders in the empire, which will cause a huge power vacuum which hopefully leads to mandalorian factions infighting as they are wont to do, causing their eventual collapse. there's also a bunch of jedi and friends who are going to infiltrate the death laser so that keldabe (and all the people inside it) don't get atomized

well, cin gets interrupted and isn't able to shoot jango in the face, and fox is about to stand up and challenge jango, which is when kote makes the snap decision to step up and make the challenge himself. jango, who was under the impression that kote was in love with him, is obviously completely taken off-guard by this. kote lists out all the reasons jango sucks on live television, and jango's like 'you're not a real mandalorian etc' to which kote is like sure I'm not, and strips all of his armor so he can fight jango with just himself.

anyways, kote kicks jango's ass. kote's been sparring with jango and helping him put on his armor for a year now, so he knows exactly how jango fights and this time he's using the force to help him win. with jango defeated, obi-wan takes over kote's body and destroys the darksaber on live television, then beheads jango with his own lightsaber (which jango has been keeping as a trophy for the last fifteen years) which kicks off the coup

after that is chaos. a whole lot of death watch get murdered by their obi-clones including pre. satine kills bo-katan because she found out that bo-katan killed ben. ventress kills her handler. rex has to fight fox and gets his arm cut off. myles gets boba and obi-wan out of the palace. cody gets backstabbed by his obi-clone (but not killed). a lot of obi-clones die though not our named ones (who are still alive at this point anyways). the end result is that obi-wan finally gets out of jango's torture basement, while mandalore is in complete shambles with the entire line of succession taken out and the darksaber destroyed leading to massive infighting and the collapse of all the empire's main enforcement mechanisms

so basically, obi-wan's plan to make 2000 clone sons to help him destroy the mandalorian empire totally worked :)

ask me questions about parasitic extraction, the role reversal mandalorian empire au that I have

[greatwargospel]

My thoughts on the commonwealth BOS

I think the brotherhood of steel is really interesting and is kind of ignored in a lot of ways past the gung-ho militancy, so im posting abou it :). inspired by recently doing blind betrayal and my sister having an oc of a brotherhood member who gets maxson court martialed by the other elders. A lot of this is my interpretation and what ive read on the wiki. Essentially, the brotherhood as it stands in the commonwealth is bad, not only by normal means but by brotherhood means in some regards.

Outsider Recruits & The Codex

The codex, much to my disappointment, is not completely written out rulebook for the player to read in any of the fallout games, so we must take what is given to us. There are two or so different instances where the codex is quoted to reaffirm the isolationist polices of the brotherhood, in both FNV and FO3.

"We do not help them, or let them in. We keep knowledge they must never have" - Elder McNamara (FNV)

Despite it being ruled that outsiders are only allowed to join under very specfic circumstances, the Maxson allows for multiple unimpressive wastelanders to join the faction, following the precedent set forth by Elder Lyons in DC (Despite their iteration looking down on Lyons' leadership as a whole). The reason Lyons had to recruit wastelanders was due to Lyons not recieving as much support from Lost Hills council and other western chapters.

The Chain That Binds

I am really surprised that no one brings up the chain that binds in discussion about the commonwealth brotherhood, especially in reference to blind betrayal.

"Orders are to observe the flow and not skip ranks. A superior may only give orders to his direct subordinates, and not to those beneath them..." - Hidden Valley Terminal Entries (FNV)

As a knight, you are sent to answer to Maxson about Paladin Danse's synthhood, after convincing him you were none the wiser, Maxson gives you a direct order as elder to execute danse. This order skips roughly 12 different ranks that couldve given the order. The issue is that danse is your sponsor and direct commanding officer. The immediate and emergency gap in chain of command causes an issue but i do feel like there were either senior/head knights or paladins that you could be placed in their charge to give you the execution order.

[EDIT: Danse only gives you one mission during the entire BOS questline. Maxson mightve broken the chain the moment he asks you to Fort Strong. The other quests given by the Proctors and Lancer-Captain Kells are more iffy due to them not being your commanding officer but being roughly above rank but in different fields]

Requisitions

Upon meeting Proctor Teagan for the first time in the Prydwen he informs you that you will have to purchase your own...everything from him, rather than it being assigned to you like a regular military. This in itself is not a big issue like breaking a codex rule but more on the difference the commonwealth order between western branches as members traditionally do not have to pay for the services within the brotherhood unless you are an outsider recruit.

"I'm sorry, but you are an outsider. After you're in the Brotherhood for ten years or so I'll be able to do the operation for free." - Dr. Lorri (Fallout)

This can be bypassed once again by extenuating circumstances and the outsider member being a higher ranking member, but due to the BOS allowing more outsiders to join up.

So What?

I am a fan of fallout and the writing and worldbuilding of the brotherhood, so i want to take ceratain aspects and not change them but enhance them, allow maxsons chapter to be fucked. There are certain things that the BOS participates in like harrasing/threatening settlements into giving over crops and looking down upon Lyons attempts at altruism that could be really interestingly handeled, thats just kind swept under the rug. This is just a list of like codex and brotherhood rules that the commonwealth chapter doesnt really abideby though.

[skybristle]

im just gonna dump a ton of starlight thoughts i had from my dms with mac moonsofmachinery because ast is Really fucking hard for me to write and. Idk. What do you think? my brains kinda mush rn but.... shakes her around... a lot of this is disorganized sorry it was very train of thought when i was writing it. @arsonstick come get your thangggg. i cut out what mac said where it wasn't relevant but some of it was important for flow of conversation

I think its very like. Interesting??? How ast went from being so hardworking towards the problem and nobody bothered her [partially because of adversion after maw, partially because of the group being generally a disorganized clusterfuck] but she was basically the only bh iterator who like

Actually. Did their job.Besides sparks but sparks is doing it for fucked up reasons

So im like. Very intrigued by whatever sent it spiraling and its motivations and feelings through it

Especially being rather asocial

If i hadddddd to guess [idk why im talking like this with my own characters it makes sense in my rambling work with me here mac] it Probably has something to do with the triple affirmative and iterator soceity basically descending into chaos

and factions

probably aligned with some fucked up form of sliverism for a time in regards to seeking personal ascension??? Maybe the only way she saw would be to take the old path. A blend of her very traditional and devoted beliefs and all of this new stuff it was introduced to via aurora

And that begins to stir in asts mind and makes a very. Very deadly combination

i think it would be fun too if like the culture of her city really rejected the streamlining of ascension and void fluid these days. Probably believed you had to actually make the pilgrimmage- otherwise you're not REALLY going to the void sea are you?

So maybe i won't move the rift. It would be really cool if there was all of these religious tunnels and stuff baked into the walls of it as you descend down, down, down. Like two pathways of religious ruins damaged by rain in a v shape sort of region if it was in the game

i think the sliver fiasco would have really enlightened her to like. The futility of it all and what she was doing. Inherently seeking a solution kind of went against the very traditional and grounded principles of her ancients- and she DID genuinely believe in her ancients. in some fucked up twisted way by breaking taboo and doing what ast does to whispers and etc etc etc it believes its following what they would have wanted. What silk truly would have wanted for their daughter

Because i think starlight at least in the beginning was seeking the solution, well, for her parents. And believed in their cause of freeing the world after they left. But after sliver left them with no answers whats the fucking point? Which i feel like is the mindset of a LOT of iterators. But. You know. She has weird and strange diseases

Got to imagine talking to basically no-one and being left in asts own echo chamber was. Uhm. Not good for it being sane and normal about it. Like yeah a lot of unstable iterators were effected badly and are also isolated but you know most of them like. Chat to people regularly and have friends and shit. starlight DIDN'T

which is why despite her apathy she gets SO ATTACHED to people who indulge her. Its why she answers to maws beck and call. Especially when maw frames herself as a 'higher power' and starlight is still kind of in a way scrambling after its beliefs in ascension were so shaken

I genuinely like. Believe that starlight did that to whispers with the intention of freeing them. She knew better. They were scared and didn't know themself and were trapped in a body that didn't let them live. Ast had to free them. Ast had to

Maybe the price to pay is some proding, some experimentation, some data points for next time

To it its completely fucking reasonable!! which just goes to show how FUCKED she's gotten

MAC: "honestly the fact starlight thinks ast is doing the right thing 'freeing' whispers makes it so much worse to me than if. it'd just been out of pure maw-like malice

ITS SO FUCKED UP..."

YEAH. AND I THINK ITS EXTRA FUCKED BECAUSE MAW IS MALICIOUS. SHE WANTS TO HURT PEOPLE AND HAS STARLIGHT WRAPPED ALL AROUND HER FUCKING FINGER

MAC: "Dude starlight could've been a fine person given different circumstances, she's not. actively malicious. but god do her actions tend to end in the worst things possi.... ohhhhhh heyyyy wait, sounds like THE ENTIRE PLOT OF BENDING HORIZONS!!!!"

I think starlight seeking aurora originally is like... so interesting too. Ast probably heard MANY of her citizens bitch and whine about albedo but you know. When the gears start turning and she starts diverging. Maybe. Maybe aurora knows something. Maybe aurora can put this all to bed- can make her feel normal and go back to work and be fine and content again. But aurora just opens the fucking floodgates and basically gives it all the sliverist and taboo chats and etc

TO him its like. He doessnt see consequences but also not much direct responsibility in things because 'well anyone can find anything eventually' which. Uhm. Aurora honey starlight would NOT have gone on global had you not gone 'welllll I don't know but all of these people seem to be talking about it :3"

i think starlight genuinely saw aurora as someone with such interesting and open perspective and ast was SO goddamn desprate to be affirmed. and. i mean. Aurora blew it off but Boy Did It Get Affirmed

[idv-hc-center]

happy 100 followers!! can i request smut 19 for jose with a submissive pre surgery trans man reader? man thats a mouthful.. but no harm in being specific right?

dw i don't mind, im more than happy to write for you

19 - "how funny do you think teasing is now?"

warnings: nsfw, unprotected sex, edging

words: 1.2k

nsfw under the cut

Duo hunters matches were almost never taken seriously by both factions. Many times hunters went friendly, or survivors just did anything other than decoding. It was a relief from normally tough matches, not to mention the joy of being able to shoot a hunter with a flare gun.

You were one of those survivors who wanted to do anything other than decode, but right now, you were stuck with your boyfriend, Jose. He was a bit of pain in the ass, saying how you should also treat this kind of match seriously and making you decode with him despite your whining.

He ignored your every protest as he tried to focus on decoding, but you weren't going to leave it like that.

"Can I at least check if they are friendly?" you complained, following being shocked by the machine after missing the calibration.

"At least two different people got hit already. I don't think they are." he responded in a cold manner trying his hardest to focus on the machine.

You let out a loud sigh when an idea popped into your head. With one hand still on the machine, you put the other one somewhere on his chest. Jose let out an annoyed sigh. "Please just focus on the-" but he was quickly silenced with you pulling him into a kiss.

"You're really that interested in that machine? Maybe we could do something more pleasurable." you chuckled. You were more toying with him than actually expecting him to do something. You knew he wouldn't dare to do anything like that during the match, so you could tease him as much as you pleased.

Jose let out yet another annoyed sigh. He knew damn well what you were doing, and well, it was working. "I swear to God if you don't stop now, I'm going-" you interrupted him once again by brushing your hand past his crotch. "You are going to do what, captain?"

You could see something snap inside of him when you just pushed him away. "Oh! Look, someone got chaired! I think you should rescue them." you smiled at him innocently. And oh, Jose was pissed. He had to take few deep breaths in order to collect himself before leaving. He didn't say anything, but you could see his stare on yourself. Yeah, you were going to pay for that.

Quickly after the match ended, you got dragged by Jose back to your shared room. You got pushed on your bed as he was standing looking at you. "So you think teasing is so funny? Well, we are going to check that." Jose smirked as he went over to you. He quickly began taking off your clothes while kissing every piece of your revealed skin.

He was taking his sweet time with it, leaving marks all over your body but still omitting your more sensitive areas. He was leaving a trail down your chest and then stomach, but when he got to your crotch, he quickly moved up, leaving you whining. As if oblivious to it, he kept kissing you with his hands tracing your body. After some time, you got frustrated and almost mindlessly grabbed his hand, trying to pull it down your crotch, but he quickly pulled it away.

"Oh, is someone already had enough? Well, too bad we are only starting." He chuckled at your helpless attempt and went back to marking your body. After many instances of you whimpering and jerking your hips trying to get any friction, he finally paid some attention to your crotch. He ran one of his fingers across your entrance and smirked. "You are already this wet."

You whined again, trying to rub against his hand for any friction, but he just smirked in response. He pushed his fingers inside you, but the tips of them were barely kissing your entrance. You tried to push down to force them deeper, but he immediately pushed your hips down, keeping you in place. He was toying with your entrance, never pushing, deep enough for any satisfaction, just growing irritation.

At this point, you were a panting mess begging him just to fuck you, but he was taking his sweet time examining your body. With every beg and curse, his smirk just grew wider. "How funny do you think teasing is now?" he finally pushed his fingers deeper what resulted in your cursing loudly. "Stop being such an asshole and fuck me already." you hissed, but when he took his hand away, you let out another whine.

"Okay, I'm sorry, just please do something more..." you squeezed his arm, begging for anything. Jose thought about it for a while before unbuckling his pants. Finally. You thought to yourself, letting out a relieved sigh, but he wasn't done with you.

You threw your head back as you felt him brushing his length against your entrance. You let out a shaky moan when he started to push in, but Jose was taking his time even with it, making you again move against him, trying to push him deeper inside.

"Oh, you want it that bad?" He let out another chuckle before suddenly moving, causing you to yelp. Jose seemed to forget about his revenge as he started to move faster and deeper without any teasing, which resulted in waves of pleasure coming through your whole body.

Your head was completely fogged up, as you continued to moan his name without any care in the world. "I'm close." you shoved your nails into his arm. All this teasing was enough to bring you over the edge, so it wasn't surprising you were already close. But to your surprise and disappointment, when you were about to reach climax, Jose stopped.

He pulled out, looking at your expression change as you whined again. "You asshole..." you panted as you felt your orgasm pass right by you. Jose just chuckled, watching you struggle to calm down.

It was too much. You didn't know whether you wanted to beg him to let you finish or curse him out. Meanwhile, Jose was just smirking at you. When he felt like you were finally over it, he moved closer to you before kissing you.

"If you are going to do that again, I would prefer you just to go." you scoffed. It wasn't necessarily true. You were just pissed.

"Oh really?" you felt him move away before you grabbing his arms to stop him.

"No! Just...uh, let me finish this time." you moved him closer.

"I will think about it." Jose smiled before kissing you to silence your whine and pushed inside you once again.

You moaned but got quickly silenced as he started to move inside you making you gasp for air. Through your lips slipped occasional begs and praises towards him. Quickly you were in the same state you were a few minutes ago before he decided to be an asshole and pull out. This time you just begged him to continue, and to your surprise, he obliged, making you reach your climax.

You threw your head back as you basically screamed his name before falling down on the mattress. Well, that was a lot. You loudly panted as you felt him lay next to you.

"You're such an asshole."

[oswednesday]

the marks i like the most in the magnus archives are ones that arnt physical but a Feeling that leads to compulsion, like the traveler marked by the lonely as they looked out to sea, or jon frightened by that spider thing so that’s what i was going with in backstory but ive been Thinking like whatever statement i write for them i think itll be focused more on the book and less of anything so backstory update:

so its like super obvi that all the other siblings are a bust for the beholding cult’s american branch’s schemes, like m was pre-discarded for not showing promise early on and that intintla disappointment like had lowered the evil expectations of the next set of children, with the one that was like the Best posible outcome like sabotaged by fate and very dramatically stolen away by the closest thing to an enemy faction, so the only one left on the Path is m because theyre that kind of accomidating and thats met with like oh its you thats better than nothing, saving face kinda thing from the haviland branch

the university they go to is like, affiliated with the compound (which is also just a reputable school like if scientology was the Settlers religion its like a really fancy elite boarding school as its face) and the university has basically a beholding avatar pipeline program thats like Library Science that theyre enrolled it, they find out very quickly that how they grew up wasnt normal at all and like their classmates are just like wow you came from There? [rich person impressed voice] so they just make up a completely Rich Person Normal life to have and blend in with their classmates the best they can, they go to their dorm on a friday (the sibling name that became an avatar for the end, its perhaps unrelated to this event, perhaps not) to their roommate like hanging in their shared space

like irrationally taking the blame for it (or maybe not irrationally, like a biggest like I Guess delusional dread of mine is i make people sicker like that, so maybe theres like some passive powers at work here already), they spend the weekend discarding of the body and learning everything they can about this person, they were an art major but were dropping so many classes it wasnt full time and they have few to no social connentions and barely kept up with anything so, m just like fully takes over this person’s life rather than report the death, like they go to the classes and somehow it seems like no one noticed the difference (maybe there’s a statement somewhere about that where someone Did but not the same effect as the not thing) they learn enough through stuff to mimic their texting style keep up with that, it gets so involved they have a separate friend group for them, join an arts club, get in touch with estranged relations via text/email

and all this insane nonsense is going really well until someone from the compound in a different program recognizes them and they just Snap from fear of being exposed (like its totally a none insidious event like you went to fancy school go to the next fancy school), they become like super convinced theyre being monitored like bash up their dorm looking for camera, they take to looking for tracking devices in their body, first in the privacy of their own dorm and then around campus in bathrooms just like digging into their skin looking for it, they have an episode of that where they’re doing that in the hall of the dorm just like their arms gouged open and digging, two people recognize them from the separate lives theyre living, and its emergency care to longer term mental health facility 

so theyre like, okay im going to tell the truth and get better, and the staff treat it like a delusion cause its like an all seeing evil eye god and cults and I Likely Have Evil Magic Powers and i was a rejected messiah and all that, the person whose idenity they assumed just has no records their doctors can find so they go to assume thats all fabricated as well (its just covered up as you do)

on the way to group therapy they just get like dissociatively lost and end up in an old pre-renovation rec room with like faded grinning wall art, faded bright plastics, they cant get out cause the room had been sealed off to start with and a book on like the frozen in time remains of a bookshelf catches their eyes

it’s the cow’s head and they get Nice and Lost in it, when the staff eventually find them their body is like catatonic, everything out from there is the same like a relative comes to collect them, that relative is a house, they get married, there’s the great twisting, then there isnt the great twisting

SO their beholding mark is physically a bunch of scars on their body that the conceptual body doesnt share and the dream body doesnt either, the lonely mark is less literal but def is like martial cuffs links which they can bring into the conceptual body and they do which effects their abilities like even when they dont theres still an Effect 

[vore-scientist]

Fantasy Soap Opera #1: Ice Princess

I honestly don’t know where I will ever put this into a story in it’s entirety so im putting it here... It’s a really weird disjointed infodump. 

No vore or GT sorry, just really weird shit. Nothing that needs warnings. it’s just odd and crazy. 

What are Fantasy Soap Operas? They are Soap Operas that exist in Mystic Woods. People use magic mirrors to watch them performed live*. Each episode is performed for one week, three times a day (note: weeks are 8 days). There is then a 7 day break as the next episode is rehearsed. On the 8th day the episode is performed one more time (well three more times in one day), the next day the new episode starts airing. 

[each show has several casts, usually 4, each one performing two days a week]

*(Magic Mirrors are VERY EXPENSIVE MAGIC ITEMS! With the advent of Fantasy Soap Operas, simplified mirrors were made that can connect to only the mirrors of the desired theater companies, like buying a cable subscription. This is significantly cheaper than a True Magic Mirror which can connect to any mirror and even find/show things where mirrors do not exist if a spell is applied and the right question is asked)

Soap Opera Summary #1: Ice Princess

This is a world much like yours and mine, but always on the brink of calamity thanks to unseen factions that were always fighting. Witches, wizards, warlocks, sorcerers, magicians, and archeologists. 

They are all after The Ice Princess. A legendary diamond unearthed and cut by one of The First Mages. The tales say that it contains unlimited magical power.

But it was just a story...

Until recently, as Archeologists uncover evidence of it’s existence, the magical powers that be all want to find it.

Backstory ( That is slowly revealed in show!!! and of course, in many versions, each time more is added or the story is retold very differently!!!)

The Ice Princess is/was a diamond. The First Mage found it, cut it, and then gave it life, gave it a soul. As the Mage aged he feared his knowledge would be lost! He needed to extend his life. He got progressively crazier and moody, and eventually bonded the Ice Princess to his heart. Either his life would extend and or the Ice Princess would take over, but retain his memories, which achieve the same goal.

Note: the First Mage was one of 6 First Mages, all identical. They were arguing over who would bond to the Ice Princess , but one of them eventually did it in secret. Two of them ended up dead, killed by the Ice Mage who went insane. The other three fled with their notes to the far corners of the world.

Anyways, the process didn’t even work the way The First Mage had hoped. Instead of extending his life it shortened it [note: He was like 30 at the time, the 6 mages were just stupidly worried about the future]. But bonding his soul to the Ice Princess, becoming The Ice Mage, did gain him it, they, something. Clarity. They were going to die soon, but the Ice Princess could live on, it just needed a body that wouldn’t rot away. So The Ice Mage built an automaton, powered by their now crystal heart. Separating the Heart from the Body separated the souls of Mage and the Princess, but not perfectly. So desperate was the soul of the Mage to live on, as the body without a heart used it’s final breaths to install the heart into the automaton. It managed to “leave fingerprints” on the Princess, leaving it with memories, and some of the Mage’s personality. So traumatic was the experience of the soul being torn, the automaton shut down only a few hours after activating. Laying dormant in the ancient Mage Laboratory. So powerful was the magic used to even attempt this feat, the ground had shaken, and the Laboratory sunk into the earth, buried. Volcanoes had risen around it, and lava flowed over top, sealing the laboratory. The land was reclaimed and is a lush jungle now.

A thousand years later, when his siblings made an attempt to find him, they found nothing. No trace. And while they had each individually extended their lives (One by body jumping (evil), one by becoming undead (less evil), one with a terrible curse to live forever in a cycle (no longer evil). Such cycle is undefined as of now). They go their separate ways again.

Another thousand years pass and that’s where the current story really takes place (aside from flashbacks, which more of then not are inaccurate and constantly ret-conned) 

Unbeknownst to the factions, several high ranking members are direct descendents of the First Mages. And some of the new rookies as well.

Several of the factions have members who are in secret relationships, or spies for other factions, or related to people in other factors, or a mix of all of these. Members who are also undead, or monsters, or have ulterior motives of revenge unrelated to the Ice Princess.

Each episode focuses on one faction, rotating through the six, and sometimes pausing to show seemingly unrelated groups, normal guilds like blacksmiths or tailors, people with normal lives who end up falling into the mess of the Factions.

---

Where the show is currently::

A group of rookies, an unlikely friendship of one person from each faction, were each sent to the same jungle on a fools errand. They found each other and keep finding odd creatures, mutated, magical, otherworldly, as they get closer to the center of the jungle. (that’s the recap. But there’s been like 100 episodes of crazy treasure hunting and maps and conspiracies and lies and switching sides and betrayals, red herrings, battles! The new season started with introducing these rookies, or rather, bringing them to the forefront, following them each into the jungle)

Now to the current episode:

Where they find a massive tree growing over the chasm entrance to a cave. Inside is even weirder, plants and animals that are living on magic, not light. The cave starts to be less natural, more constructed.

The lab has been found! The automaton activated by the presence of other lives, and spotting one of the rookie Wizards, attacked, convinced they were their sibling come to steal their heart. Turns out that rookie is one of those direct descendants who just didn’t know. They are lauded and a bunch of people love and hate them for their famous lineage (so far, no other descendants have been revealed, that comes later, most of the backstory is completely unknown. Right now it’s 1 First Mage though pieces of a story about some love between the diamond and the mage and soul bonding is being pieced together).

Escape the Lair: The terrible automaton tries it’s best to kill the rookies, and does kill the sorcerer (who will rise as a undead thrall), maims the archeologist (who slowly becomes infected with some magical disease from the wound). Getting out is very difficult as crystals are springing from the walls ceiling and floors, but they make it out, only to find every nasty beast converging on the cave. They escape and the massive tree uproots itself to try and snatch the fleeing people, but falls into the cave. It cannot get out, but it also effectively is guarding the hole.

They get back and within each faction they are celebrated. They do not mention the others, they tell it as if they were alone.

The episode ends with the reveal that The rookie of The Warlocks is actually one of the original First Mages. But after so many cycles they stopped trying to retain memories and just, lives new lives. They dont remember. They remember now, but do not show it. They are given a few days off to recuperate, and go to The Mages, as they are secretly sleeping with a head magician. they do have sex that night. The Magician notes that they seem different, they did things tonight they had never done, it was like they slept with a different person]. They reveal who they are and kill the magician. (end episode. Note: that magician does not stay dead, and comes back for revenge!)

-----

If you are still confused at the airing schedule for the show I made a kinda calendar that shows how a month of episodes works out (about 2 episodes per month, example if the first day of the month was also the first day of the week). A checkmark means the episode airs that day, at three different times. 

months all have 32 days

[fipindustries]

i finished warbreaker

i have lots of thoughts on the matter, let’s break it down into parts

the book itself

not as good as mistborn. perhaps aesthetic preference, perhaps mistborn had three books to fully develop into a complex intricate world, perhaps i just really fucking like victorian gothic.

there is a line between “not explaining everything to the reader but let it be known that there is more to this world” and “tease interesting story beats and do nothing with them”. im afraid that warbreaker errs on the latter.

specially with it’s magic system, there is so much more that could be done if someone wanted to fully explore the limits of what can be done with it. i liked the idea of a world filled with relics of a distant, more powerful and more dangerous past, when ancient magicians tried to break the system and munchkin their way into a better world and all they got as a result was world war I. it reminded me of the treatment HPMOR has with objects such as the erised mirror or the deathly hallows. This world seems ripe for a singularity and i would really like to see how that would look. but we didn’t get that, in fact we barely got a few glimpses of it, and even that, only near the end of the book. i don’t want these elements just as a twist or a quick reveal of how deep this would could go if we only bother explore a bit further, i want to actually explore all this dammit. but that is not the conceit of this story so i can’t fault it for that.

overall 7/10.

now let me go a bit more in depth about...

the writer

brandon sanderson is very much a worker writer. a guy who won’t spend months and years nursing an idea into perfection like, say, neil gaiman, but rather he just sits down a writes a novel and he corrects it and then he publishes it and then he moves on to the next thing, rinse repeat. the strength that comes with it is that you get to develop a lot of experience and practice this way, you get to live comfortably off your work and your readers have a bountiful trove of books to plunder through. but there is, i feel, a bad side to this.

usually when you are this kind of relentless writer your novels will tend to be... how to put it?

is like all your books will have [intresting plot] that will involve [complex characters] within [careful worldbuilding], and that is it. not a lot more, not a lot less. All the elements to make [good novel] will be there, and indeed it will be a [good novel]. Yet, to me, a truly fantastic book is something that has to feel unexpected, not just in the plot, which very well could have all sorts of meandering twists and shocking turns, but the execution itself. @nostalgebraist said it in his review of too like the lightning:

I could, perhaps, try to convey what is good about this book by listing everything it does well; by telling you that, for a great range of things readers might want out of a novel, this book does them, and with impressive execution too.

But there is another thing, beyond this, where one says instead: "I don't know what you're doing, not anymore. You have passed into a territory not found on my charts, where you move through hoops the like of which I have never seen, and perform feats of magic that leave me unable to say what the trick was, if indeed there was a trick at all. I am not testing you anymore. This is a different kind of interaction. You have me in your clutches. More, please."

all of this is specially interesting to me when i compare branderson with wildbow. And i think the comparison is fair considering wildbow is also very much a worker writer, in fact he might be the poster child for worker writers all around the world, sorry stephen king.

i used to complain that wildbow’s prose didn’t have a whole lot of flavor to it. That he only wrote, again, [good books] with [interesting characters] within a [intricate plot], because that is all you can really do when you are writing serially with no editing, no revision, no items, fox only, final destination.

but now i have to revise that assessment. i think what was actually happening was that i have been tasting wildbow for so long that his flavor grew dull to me. i got so accustomed to reading him and nothing else that i forgot this is not the normal standard style of writing. wildbow manages to imprint a level of raw, visceral emotion to his narration of the like which i have not found in sanderson. on top of that his worlds feel a lot more alive, whatever problems the protagonists are facing, they are never the one problem the whole world cares about and is dealing with in their own way. in a sanderson book (as far as i have seen, admittedly, i have only read two series of his) there is the one conflict, the one doomsday scenario. it might be broken down into smaller, discreet issues, but is all the same plot. in wildbow there is not limit to the different, completely unrelated problems, multiple factions, multiple villains, multiple plots, yes, even multiple doomsday scenarios.

of course that is the advantage that comes when your story doesnt have to be shorter than the chrysler building when physically published. and i will say this for sanderson: is nice reading a book that can actually get it’s point across and move things along and be done with it, all in the span of one book.

to conclude

brandon made me appreciate wildbow a lot more. It also made me appreciate the fact that im kind of finnicky when it comes to books.

as of lately im starting to feel more and more the huge investment in time and effort that can be reading a whole novel, time and effort that i should very much be investing on other things. so if anything rubs me the wrong way at any point, no matter how petty it might be, i will immediately discount points. i will not enjoy a book unless it gives me something not only well done but actually mindbogglingly spectacular. problem is that to find (and get into) those books is a huge investment all it’s own and i don’t want to give up reading just because a novel doesn’t pass my arbitrarily high standards.

so yeah, branderson is as good as people led me to believe, and not a single bit more.

[shanny-tired]

Old Friends

“Maybe I will visit Naz. It has been awhile since I have had her cooking. Farewell, little one.”

The words Shanaris spoke after what she felt was a job well done held true. A few nights passed, and Shanaris was in Moonglade during something of a downpour. Shanaris loved rain, but not when it ended up drenching her hair and ruining what could usually be hours of work. Regardless, she kept moving. Luckily where Naz resided had its own roof-- it was the public shelter for visitors after all. Those who wished to intake the sanctity of Moonglade and see what true peace is like usually end up staying for more than a single day. Since not many wished to enjoy a pleasant nap in a barrow or tree, a longhouse fit for multiple people held furnishings suitable for the spoiled. No doors or windows, everything was open. It meant to still give a natural experience with more modern comforts.

Shanaris strolled on in, not entirely drenched thanks to the canopy that covered a majority of the grove. Naz stood there, cleaning cups. A vibrantly blue troll with signs that dipped into primal natures but still held such a sophisticated sense of self; for a troll at least. It only took a moment for Naz to notice Shanaris. She snapped her head up to catch the elf walking toward her. She smiled, setting the cup down and leaning against the table.

“Shanaris! Ain’t seen ya in awhile. Y’smell different, mon. No more jungle?” Acute senses as ever.

Shanaris shook her head, softly chuckling as she took a seat in front of Naz, resting her hands on her knees. Her head bowed, 

“Naz, keen as ever I see. I relocated due to the state of the world. Un’goro is far too close to Silithus, and I am sure we both know how things continue to escalate in such a land.” 

Her head shook, as if to shake away such a thought. 

“I missed you Naz-- not just for your cooking this time.”

Naz hummed with a grin by the compliment, but such was quick to falter when thoughts returned to the subject that the world was in a state of crisis over. 

“Azeroth in hurtin’ Shan. So many of us were killed, or worse, with the Legion attacks. Now with that sword pokin’ out like an orc at the sight o’ meat, and the two factions at it again, there are even fewer around. Moo’s and Trolls be supportin’ the Horde while the elves and fur rugs support the Alliance. Only gonna get worse. ‘Ole teach said there a darkness comin’. Been here to protect Moonglade since I started this path, I ain’t gonna let blue or red try to disrupt what’s been a sacred land for thousands of years.” 

With confidence she pounded at her chest. Shanaris’ chuckle was brief from the display given.

“Been practicin’ my skills. I can do some pretty crazy stuff since before the Legion invaded. Cookin’ skills and druid skills. Loa blessed me to be great and damnit I’m gonna. Met a pretty cute dude along that ride. Took awhile to convince ‘im to not be such a pride-baby. ‘Horde this, Horde that’! Stuff is tedious Shan. Still a fighter n’ all, but he been protectin’ Darkspear villages instead of heavy stuff. What about you huh? What’s y’take on all this mon’?”

Shanaris took a breath, amazed that Naz had been so busy in only a few years. In made Shanaris remember that not all took things as slowly as one of her own longevity would. Her hands began to idly fold and braid strands of hair as she spoke.

“I have seen the sword do more than tear the world in two once more. Druids, be they weaker or more susceptible to nature’s cries, grow mad from the pain Azeroth is in. I only hope you and those I know do not involve themselves too deeply with this war. I intend to stay away from it. Pandaria seems to be untouched by the two factions, and it is where I will be staying now. Maybe Kalimdor will be a home once more...but not for years it seems.” 

Shanaris sighed, and Naz followed thereafter. A sense of gloom peeked out from within the elf. To her, the people of Azeroth were hopeless. Avarice and hate flood the land to create war without care for the lands around it. Shanaris gripped her melancholy thoughts and buried them back just as the rest of her emotions.

“All is not totally doomed however. Despite the world, I think... I am happy.”

“Whoa there mon’. Happy? Where’d y’put Shanaris? The Shan I know wears that cute grumpy look ever since we were still little tree witches.” Naz chuckled, obviously on the ride to make a lighter atmosphere as to not keeps things entirely serious. Shanaris rolled her eyes, but not due to complete annoyance of Naz’s jests.

“Oh be quiet-- content then. I am content. Children, peaceful settlement. I could retire from everything right now if I wanted and live the rest of my days in peaceful solitude.”

“Why don’t ya then? Y’always been talking about taking it easy. Already cut ties with the Circle from what I heard.”

“I still have to protect things. Once nothing I cherish needs protection then I will rest. That...reminds me-- two favors?” Shanaris asked with a bit more emotion in her voice than the norm.

“Sure, whatcha need mon’?”

“The first is a meal. Your specialty. One for me right now and the other sealed and packed for the trip-- a little surprise for someone. I have told them about your cooking and it even made me hungry for your food.”

“Easy! Ain’t gettin’ much customers as of late so I’m expecting some coin in return for this.”

“Of course. Money is hardly an issue for me.” 

Naz took a state of bewilderment, “Sheesh, gotta figure out where ya workin’ nowadays if you can just toss money like that. What’s the second favor?”

Shanaris’ lighthearted, at least for her it was such, expression faltered. “My father. He lives in Darnassus. Normally Trolls would not be welcomed but we as druids and yourself as a member of the Circle can enter with permission. I will give you as much gold as I can carry if you just...ensure his safety during the coming tides. I already lost my mother, I do not wish to lose my father as well.”

Naz slowly nodded her head, a hand reaching over to place onto Shanaris’  shoulder. “I ain’t had much family, but we’ve been knowing each other for so long y’pretty much family to me. I’ll make sure your Papa is all safe and sound, don’t even gotta pay me, but I want ya to visit more-- help me out around here sometime. Y’got kids and you don’t know how to cook yet? Idiot.” 

Naz released Shanaris’ shoulder, but the elf was quick to take Naz’ hand in her own. She placed the hand to her forehead, a gesture familiar to Naz and Shanaris. It was the symbolic manifestation of the trust and friendship Shanaris had for Naz. None other alive save for one had the same amount of acceptance as Naz. if such a thing was comparable to another gesture, it would be the same as an embrace.

“Thank you.” Shanaris stated with a softness layering her natural tone of voice. She released Naz’s hand and returned her own back to its previous placement.

“Don’t worry about it Shan. S’what friends are for.” Shanaris grinned, an genuine grin that nearly forgot it had its place on the elf’s face. It was faint, an ember that sparked into the smallest flame to grant wamrth on a cold visage. Naz dipped her head in a nod before turning around and heading to the kitchen.

“Three Specials comin right up!”

“Wait-- I only asked for one.”

“I’m hungry too mon’! Could use a bit o’ eating!”

“Of course.”Shanaris sat in silence for few minutes before moving from her seat, and around the counter. She joined Naz in the kitchen to help, if not make conversation to further catch up on their past dealings. Even after Shanaris received the meals and the pairing ate their share, conversation remained.

[rassilon-imprimatur]

Something I only realized recently is that Lawrence Miles’ Interference, on-top of the many, many things it set out to do and say, is retconning the entirety of Goth Opera into a Faction Paradox plot. 

One of the cooler parts of Lawrence Miles’ mythos-breaking duology is the revelation that several organizations and cults encountered by the Doctor and the Time Lords were all actually creations (and “jokes”) of the Faction. Amongst them are two of Gareth Roberts’ villains, the Luminous (Tragedy Day) and the Order of the Rectangle (The Plotters), the latter being a hilarious retcon and explanation of the novel’s very noted (though intended) historical inaccuracy. Even more interesting is the mention of the Faction creating a Cult of the Black Sun, which truly could be no other than the Order of the Black Sun, the brotherhood of Green Lantern pisstakes who faced Gallifrey in one of the first of the early time wars. 

However, there’s another scene where Sam experiences propaganda created by Faction Paradox, and she witnesses Rassilon and an unnamed Omega placing the containment shells on the entry points for the Yssgaroth, progenitor of the Great Vampires: 

THE ENGINEER [defensively]: They’ll work. In a couple of thousand years, you won’t be able to tell that from any other planet. [Indicates the black sphere on the screen.] The only risk is if someone blows it up. Those things have still got followers in this universe, remember. Half the Council still thinks they infected you. 

[RASSILON rubs his neck. He looks uncomfortable.] 

RASSILON: I prefer to think of myself as ‘inoculated’. And we’ll just have to look after this planet’s wellbeing, won’t we? The same goes for all the other shells. We’ll make sure we keep monitors here. Get some of our agents to keep an eye on things.

While this scene was already doing a bit of revising and retconning of Virgin New Adventures ideas (The Pit, in this case, something which Miles would do more of in The Book of the War), I think it’s meant to be giving a clue about Goth Opera. 

In the novel by Paul Cornell, an old friend (and, I think, implied lover) of the Doctor, Ruath, has become obsessed with the Great Vampires, even going as far as to join the Cult of Rassilon the Vampire: 

“In a certain volume of those works of legend, there is a marginal illustration of an owl being overcome by a bat. Now, the owl is of course a bird associated with Rassilon, and I needn't explain the significance of the bat. The story itself dealt with Rassilon's battle with the vampires, how he defeated them using his bow-ships, and cast them into eternal darkness. Translating from old Gallifreyan, you can read between the lines, work out certain riddles that older translators have entered in the text. What it all comes down to is that before overthrowing the Great Vampire, Rassilon took something from him. Genetic material. In the most direct way possible, by being bitten by him!"

A Chancellery Guard passed by. Concentrating, Romana just nodded to him. 

"But that means - " 

"Yes! Lord Rassilon was a vampire towards the end of his life! That's why Time Lords and vampires share ninety-eight per cent of the same genes, why so much regeneration technology is similar to natural vampire traits. Of course, I couldn't keep this discovery to myself." 

"Of course." 

"So I sought out other students of the Undead. Together we found that inside the Capitol, in the ducts and serviceways where none but the workers go, there are vampire shrines even now. Tiny bands of heretics have kept alive the cult of Rassilon the Vampire.”

Adding to this theory, Terrance Dicks’ Blood Harvest and Cornell’s Blood Invocation (a comic “prequel” to Goth Opera) both show that many of the Great Houses (that’s not just me blending DW and FP terms as I typically do, Dicks was one of the first authors to normalize the term!) were tainted with vampirism during the Eternal War, and that some bloodlines actually managed to survive in the depths of the Citadel. 

I think there are two pretty cool interpretations we can glean from this. Firstly, Ruath and the Cult are completely wrong, and the Fact sowed the story into Gallifreyan history for the shits and giggles. Secondly, Ruath and the Cult are right, and the Faction was making the ugly truth known (for the shits and giggles). 

And really, I think the ambiguity is cool as hell. While Time Lord regeneration in many sources (such as Zagreus or The Crystal Bucephalus) was created by Rassilon, other sources, such as Titan comics and televised Who itself, implies that the base ability is a natural evolution that Rassilon later “perfected” (explaining how IM Foreman’s order and presumably the Eremites were able to create a version of the Rassilon Imprimatur). The Book of the War, on the other hand, continues to play with the idea that something vampiric exists within the Time Lords, placing the idea in our heads of the Mal’akh grotesques (the babwyns for readers of The Adventuress of Henrietta Street) are the result of early regeneration experiments with the Yssgaroth taint. 

Faction lies or Faction truth? I can’t decide which is the better option! 

(NOTE: The super beautiful element about Miles’ retconning the Order of the Black Sun, and therefore Star Death, 4-D War, and Black Sun Rising into Faction Paradox meddling is how it transforms Gallifreyan history. In that version of the story, without the Order’s agents attacking Gallifrey, Omega would not have been lost in the black hole, Rassilon’s rise to power would have happened differently, and the directional units for TARDISes would not be discovered. This turns all of Gallifrey history (and timeship history!) into a bootstrap paradox... to the undoubted snickering in the Parliament of the Eleven Day Empire.)

[kylandara]

Im just gonna talk on one of the points incest/marriage. I have to ask, do you guys think she'd be bothered by the incest. If she had grown up normally in Westeros she would literally have married Viserys. Jon on the other hand is a complete unknown for me.

There are a few reasons I think he would marry Daenerys

1. I hate it but DnD are pushing for the love angle as of season 7 end, can't sidestep that no matter how much I dislike it.

2. I know he grew up in the Stark household, but considering there were two uncle/neice marriages in that history of the Starks and he would have learnt about them in his history lessons. For me he might just justify this reasoning to the other Lord's on why he wants to marry the woman he has come to care for.

3. Which lead me to: I am of the faction that believes D will get pregnant. His absolute loathing of fathering a bastard when he was young will fuel this decision to marry.

4. And fourthly I don't believe in political Jon namely because I don't think DnD are smart enough. It would be shocking story telling, but I feel like D is one of their faves and it would also go against the feminist image / rah rah girl power thing they have going. This would make Dany look like a dumb character.

Just my two cents no one asked for 😂

I feel bad for Daenerys: A Spicy Take

So I definitely subscribe to the Dark Dany/Jonsa theory, but sometimes I’m like….damn, nobody feels bad for Daenerys?

Daenerys is about to:

1) Learn that she doesn’t have the strongest claim to the Iron Throne

2) Find out that her boyfriend is her nephew

3) Meet the man who killed her Daddy

4) Find out she burned her boyfriend/nephew’s best friend’s Daddy

5) Possibly get tricked by Jon or Sansa

6) Betrayed by Varys

7) Possibly betrayed by Tyrion (whatever he discussed with Cersei)

8) Betrayed by Cersei

That’s a lot to dump on someone at once. We’re all missing what would be natural here: a complete emotional breakdown. The brain and the spirit can only handle so much bad information without starting to fall apart. I expect some rage crying.

And then the next morning, everybody would expect her to clock in at work to fight the Night King. Excuse me? If I’m Dany, I’m having three emotional breakdowns before breakfast. I had sex with my nephew! Sex. With. My. Nephew.

But unfortunately, they do not have therapy in Westeros. No hotline. But we do have dragons! ….Uh-oh Dany.

If Daenerys has an unusual emotional outburst, it’s kind of inevitable. But this is why we shouldn’t give emotionally unstable leaders access to nuclear weapons. It’s risky.

#TherapyNotDragons

[travelinghermit]

I awoke this morning slightly confused and unsure for a few seconds where I was. A common occurance while travelling especially when I was so used to waking up in Envigado for three weeks and now im in some strange town in the foothills. Once it was clear where I was I then felt the unbearably annoying feeling like I had been dreaming the night before but couldnt remember what. Yet It wouldnt really matter whether I could remember or not because for once my reality is better than my dreams as I realised the agenda of the day. Which was to ride my motorbike through some gorgeous scenery along a mostly empty road.

I am currently in Quidbo the capital of the Choco. I have been driving for two days now and im about half way done the Choco loop im calling it. This route is completely unnecessary in regards to getting to Ecuador but as I was planning my route the night before departure I noticed the only main road that goes in and out of the Choco and it connects with Medellin and the loop ends perfectly where I am going south so I had no choice. I knew so few people go to the Choco in the first place and I already knew that the scenery would be out of this world and thankfully I was right.

Through the 125 or so kilometers that were in my way the morning I set off. The road is about 50/50 in quality. Some parts are smooth as butter as im zipping in and out of turns like nothing and then the road would suddenly come to an end and the rock, gravel, mud, and dirt would come into play. Each element I stated would be more prevalent than others along various moments of the ride but nothing detered me. The only thing that I thought was strange as I went deeper and higher into the Choco was that either Colombian Military or FARC soldiers were stationed it seemed every couple kilometers or so but then they would disapear for a while then come back out. I dont know what faction the soldiers belonged to but either way they didnt stop me or give me any trouble. Some gave me thumbs up, smiles, or nothing at all. I tried to acknowledge them with a nod as I passed.

Something so weird happened along the trip from Ciudad Bolivar to Quidbo today. I left Bolivar in the morning around 845 and had my rain jacket on, at about eleven I felt it get hot so I took it off but nothing crazy, then about an hour or so before arriving in Quidbo it was sweltering hot somewhere in the high 20s near 30s. I now have sun burns on my arms and hands. No way I could have prepared for such a radical shift in weather after the mild rain the day before. But the ride today was magnificent with the beautiful weather. It really makes the colours pop out of the scenery, something I wish I could have seen more of in Vietnam but we went during the cold season. The terrain is very similar to Vietnam, almost feels like im getting flashbacks.

Once I got to Quibdo I found a hotel room which im paying nearly double for a eve shittier room I was staying in Yesterday. Its not just the accommodation the meals here are also pricier than Medellin or Bolivar. A good reason to get back on the road tomorrow. Anyway after I was pretty wiped from the ride and the heat so I layed down for a bit then got I out for a walk around the city. Theres nothing great about Quibdo, theres not much to do but I just like how its different from the rest of Colombia that ive seen. The people are predominantly African so just roaming the streets makes me feel like im far away even from South America. The Choco is known as the poorest region in Colombia, could’ve fooled me in the city there are tons of busseling shops, just normal people doing what people do. Maybe those stats come from a overwhelming native population that choose to live simply in the outskirts of the Choco I dont know. I met a guy who offered me a ride on the river on his boat. I said no at first then I thought screw it lets try it. I overpayed and the experience wasnt great. He took me to a small village with literally nothing to see and the people couldnt seem more unimpressed by my sudden appearance and the river was just a river. Oh well.

Tomorrow we continue on.