#just has no experience with other cultures

[nothosaurus]

This is partly/entirely why I tune out all online media crit I see. The most searing critics are usually just disillusioned ex-fans looking through a distorted lens of their own making. And whenever there's a controversial new development in a fandom, it always becomes fashionable to dunk on the property as a way of acknowledging fan grievances.

I think, in the current culture of fandom, being critical has turned into somewhat of a pose. It signifies that you're smarter and savvier than Those Other Fans, are keyed into all the discourse, and thus have special "permission" to like the property that those uncritical masses don't. By making a show of continuing to like something despite bitching and complaining about how bad it is the other 90% of the time, you adopt a pose of being deeper and smarter than the rest of the fans. Yet ironically this "critical" lens usually applies very rigid and one-sided metrics of "good" and "bad" in its analysis, usually tailored to the self-proclaimed critic's own preferences.

Another thing: most armchair "critics" aren't working writers or creators of any sort. Which tells us a great deal about how much experience and knowledge their "analysis" actually draws from. It's easy to watch/play/read something and rant about why it's apparently bad and a failure on every level, but it's another thing entirely to actually go through that monumental task of creation and come out the other side of it. And by "creation" I don't mean something you'd post on Ao3, but something that's actually fit for sale and distribution.

is that piece of media actually bad, or is it just not following the blueprint you projected onto it? is that work actually not good, or are you just demanding something from it that is absolutely antithetical to its themes, genre, tone, and narrative goal? is that story actually poorly written, or do you just dislike that it is not the specific things you wanted from it that it never set out to be, never was, and never is going to become? is it actually bad, or is it actually well-executed and you just dislike the story it chose to be because it isn't catering to your specific desires and expectations?

[imbecominggayer]

What Are Archetypes And How To Use Them!

Character archetypes are one of the many tools in a writer's arsenal to write believable and universally relatable characters which transcend geography, time, and culture!

Throughout this post, I will be discussing what archetypes are, how to use them, and how to subvert them.

What Are Character Archetypes?

What are character archetypes? Archetypes are kinda like templates that are grouped into categories depending on their traits, experiences, and actions.

When thinking about "archetypes", your mind may jump to the archetypes in the major Arcana which represent different aspects of life! Like character archetypes, the archetypes represented in the Arcana encompass a multitude of various traits, experiences, and meanings depending on the reader of the tarot or, with character archetypes), interpretations by the author!

Archetypes are meant to transcend time, geography, location, and the differences between other individuals to communicate universal truths about humanity.

But it's important to use archetypes correctly! All characters require character development and if you don't use character development or there isn't enough character then the characters are going to be flat, boring, and unoriginal.

The difference between "stock characters" and "archetypes" is the fact that stock characters aren't meant to be main characters. Stock characters are the strict librarian that tells the lovers to be quiet, the mean bully that gets humiliated, or the MC's lovingly dead mom.

They are static, flat characters who are meant to serve as filler. Archetypes are the foundation to create complex, changing characters!

Mixing Character Archetypes

Most characters fall into multiple character archetypes depending on the perspective that you are looking at. Mixing character archetypes allows your characters to be familiar but not cliche!

Character Archetypes (And How To Subvert Them)

There are way too many archetypes so I'm just going to give a quick run-by!

The Caregiver

The caregiver is a character who selflessly and whole-heartedly supports their loved ones. They often tend to fall into the Mentor role, the Best Friend role, or something else. It's common to see the Caregiver as an accompanying character to the Hero.

Traits: Selfless, Kind, Compassionate, Honorable, Loving

Pitfalls: Too selfless, tends to lack growth or goals, a bit too dedicated to assholes

Subvert: Caregiver can serve as an enabling force who encourages the Hero or the Villain to follow all of their desires and will force their loved one to deny any healthy accountability for their bad behavior. The Caregiver can be a shallow individual who has a tendency of nearly abandoning the group when things seem hopeless. The Caregiver can show some selfishness

Everyman

The Everyman is your regular Joe-Shmoe who isn't smart enough to be a Mad Scientist but not dumb enough to be the resident Idiot. They aren't particular ugly nor particularly attractive (but they tend to get the love interest anyway). They are kinda average in most respects.

The Everyman is humble and cooperative but not stand out.

Traits: Humble, Hard-working, Grounded, Relatable, Cooperative

Pitfalls: This is the protagonist for 95% of stories. Tends to flail around so much that the audience wonders why they are even needed.

Subvert: The Everyman tends to fall into the Innocent type. Basically, oblivious as all heck and a bystander. The Everyman could be a secret mastermind behind the whole operation and more aware than anyone suspects.

The Creator

Constantly creative and constantly making something. Their creation can be physical (inventor) or in the divine sense. To the Creator, there is nothing that is more important than what they are trying to make, and they are willing to sacrifice themselves and others to reach their goal.

Traits: Obsession, imaginative, strong-willed, egotistical

Pitfalls: The Creator tends to be unsympathetic and not that obviously relatable to the non-creative types.

Subvert: Actually try and make this Mad Scientist or God relatable. Many people have that one thing that they would sacrifice their time and life for whether that be their job, their family, their identity, or their creative pursuits. Connecting that creation to these universal truths will turn your one-dimensional character into a tragedy or masterpiece.

The Explorer

They want to break boundaries, take risks, and travel the world for something new. They yearn for something more than a normal life. They want to find their purpose and they don't believe their purpose lies in the mundane life everyone wants them to live.

Traits: Courageous, independent, nonconforming, driven, curious

Pitfalls: Explorer types tend to be the garden-variety " I want to explore this place". Highly common protagonists.

Subvert: Have the Explorer be a little bit lost in the world. They aren't courageous about their desires and they don't even really know what they want. They just know they don't want to spend the rest of their life here. They are afraid of stagnation. They are afraid of looking back on their life and only being able to feel regret. Make it spiritual. Make it about fear.

The Hero

The Hero rises to the challenge. They can't or refuse to stand by any longer to the injustice surrounding them. They fight the villains.

Traits: Honorable, Justice-Orientated, Strong

Pitfalls: One-Dimensional. "really? another story about Superman going rogue and killing people because angst?"

Subvert: At this point, having a character who is genuinely a good person who wants to try and be a good person is a subversion. Seriously, if you can only write an interesting character when they are evil or "morally complicated", they you are putting yourself in a box. They aren't perfect but they try. That's the thesis statement for heroes.

The Innocent

The Innocent is defined by their unending optimism and naivety with a child-life attitude (if they aren't an actual child). The Innocent tends to be the starting place for a character who will eventually have their comfortable life radically shifted by worldly events until their ignorance is swept away from them.

Traits: Trusting, Loving, Sincere, Open, Powerless, Oblivious

Pitfalls: So innocent to the point where they are obnoxious and not relatable to anyone above the age of 7. "Why is a man who has the ignorance of a child the Chosen One?"

Subvert: What if the Innocent isn't this childish person but actually acts serious? A story could have a character going on this journey to become the Innocent in an effort to get rid of their memories of the horrors of life that they have deemed unbearable. And they succeed. The Innocent could be someone whose naivety about the world often has them acting in cruel and insensitive ways.

The Lover

Ranging from the hedonistic players to the dreamy romantics, Lovers are guided by their heart. Like Creators, they also have an all-consuming obsession and dedication, although, in this case, the object of their obsession is the receiver of their love whether that be a person or an object.

They often overlap with the Caregiver.

‍Traits: Devoted, compassionate, caring, protective

Pitfalls: They often tend to be one-dimensional and horribly problematic.

Subvert: The recipient of their love could be an object, a friend, or a family member. Their love could also be demonstrated as purposefully toxic as their codepedent traits have the potential to intersect with Superior Complexes, Inferiority Complexes, and/or Savior Complexes.

The Rags-To-Riches Orphan

While not always a literal orphan, the Orphan starts in a state of poverty and unimportance who transitions into a life of opulence and excitement.

Beyond that, Orphans tend to fall into Found Families, as a desire for belonging often reunites them with either social outcasts or the Riches group.

‍Traits: Survivalists, empathetic, determined, driven

‍Pitfalls:  Another orphan? Really? Wow, you got picked up off the street and became unbelievablely rich? How relatable.

Subvert: The Orphan uses their skills and resources from their time in poverty to secure power, influence, and popularity from the masses as their relatable upbringing, connects to the underground market, and survivalist mentality leads them to be even more cunning and manipulative than the natural-born. The Orphan isn't as innocent and ignorant as everyone seems to think they're. The Orphan falls from their rich status. The Orphan hates their found family and relishes in the opportunity to leave them.

The Rebel

The Rebel leads the charge against flawed leaders and power structures when the balance of society is threatened. They might be the public head of a rebellion, a charismatic outsider, someone who works in the shadows, or just someone whose another James Dean- knock-off.

‍Traits: Natural leaders, courageous, inspiring, strong, charismatic

Pitfalls: Romancization of rebel groups and abusive behaviors as , more often than not, rebel groups establish a new order that is the same or even worse than the previous group.

Subvert: What if we didn't contribute to the massive romantization of rebel authority and instead investigated how extremists groups can manipulate desperate citizens into horrible governments. Because Hitler was a rebel who instigated a national rebellion. What if we explored the topic of co-option as previous signs of rebelliousness and civil rights are being commercialized for right-wing non-pocs and "rebellious" teens?

The Mentor

The Mentor is the character who is typically off in the corner, training the protagonist with life advice such as "life happens man" and "if you klll a killer, that's somehow worse than being that killer".

Because writers don't know how to write actual wisdom so they copy facebook quotes and look up a thesarus for some "fancy" words

‍Traits: "Wise", caring, patient, insightful, rational

Pitfalls: "Author! Arthor! This a serious topic with a huge diversity of variables and an imperfect solution as humans are inherently imperfect! This advice seems really oversimplified and kinda biased!

Subvert: What if the mentor's teachings are revealed to be heavily biased and based on misinformation which is reflective of the mentor's upbringing? What if the mentor is secretly working with the antagonist to feed the fledgling Hero with false beliefs? What if the mentor genuinely hates the Hero but is still on Team Good Guys?

[air3d3lalm3na]

This was always the inevitable result, considering that the term was ripped off and stolen from its actual original context, intersex children and the medical institution's forcible medical/surgical reassignment of intersex infants' bodies.

This literal unmistakable appropriation was done by a group of very self-serving trans perisex people who imagined that like their dysphoria meant they could say that they were "forcibly assigned into something," and spread by their encouragement. Anyone who protested this misuage, not only the directly affected intersex people, but even other trans perisex people (speaking from experience) got shouted down and told they were wrong for even mentioning this basic fact.

Anyway we can and should use words that describe our actual realities better rather than continuing to do a disservice to intersex people. But this all started easily 10-12 years ago on this hellsite, so people have had it so unnecessarily normalized to them that they can't begin to imagine putting the term away in favor of better ones. That would mean actual effort to not lean back on habit out of laziness and selfishness, oh no!

And the term just feels too good to too many people, who feel like it emotionally describes their dysphoria and the injustice of their trans (perisex) lives (really self pitying IMO). When no, no one forcibly reassigned us, physically or socially, no one faced us with the violence that intersex kids went through, ever...we just went though an upbringing and puberty that privately pained us for trans reasons. Boo hoo. This is not and has never been a word about that. We already had created our own words for that, for years, and should return to them.

It just obscures reality and facts in favor of some intersex-disrespecting immature feelings.

Equally bad if not even worse cultural appropriation than the misuse of "two-spirit". (Because the word "two-spirit" doesn't describe a violent medical process but "assigned (x) at birth" does, so to appropriate it as a metaphor is erasing of that medical harm as real.)

unfriendly pissed off reminder that “afab” does not mean “has a vagina/uterus” and “amab” does not mean “has a penis/testes”

agab is something that happened to you, not something you are. and frankly, it’s not generally useful even in a medical context. there isn’t really any context in which agab is more useful than just saying “has a uterus” or “has a penis”

stop using “agab” terminology to make your bio-essentialism sound progressive

[codenamesazanka]

the leaks:

skimming through the entire chapter 431 with my rough translation skills.

Uraraka's Quirk Counseling expansion seems to be her (and Tsuyu) trying to single-handedly screen for problems and child abuse by spending one month at every single (elementary) school/school district? They're helped by volunteer heroes.

She's also helped by Hawks, who negotiating with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and other organizations to provide support to change quirk education.

She is the best hero. 😭😭😭

My worries about quirk counseling have been slightly mollified by this. Slightly. It's geared towards very young children, and we don't see the actual counseling, just Heroes spending time with kids to make sure they're not showing signs of distress, but it's nice to see this tiny glimpse.

Uraraka has dreams about Toga, and wonders if Toga left her blood/quirk/will inside of Uraraka similar to how OFA functioned. Uraraka can't remember the content of the dreams, though, and wonders if Toga is trying to send her a message.

Deku says he's developed a policy to help students develop their quirks. He also goes around to elementary schools and facilities and give lectures, sharing his experiences with young girls and boys.

Shouto has taken up pottery-making classes, after thinking a lot about fate and inevitability and his path

The entire class mobilizes to capture a car thief who may or may not have used his quirk - alert said that if he does just his quirk, it might cause a big accident? idk about this part.

When Deku asks Uraraka out, Uraraka finally remembers her Toga dream, which is Toga telling her that just like how Toga lived as she liked, Uraraka should live as she likes. So Uraraka says yes to going out with Deku.

.☠️☠️☠️.

Laughing so hard because 'go live as you please!' is so Toga! It's Toga's ideal and guiding principle. She clung to being her quirk-influenced, bisexual-love, creepy-smile self, fighting to love and die as herself. She would be happy for Ochako following her heart! But did it have to be the most conventional hetero cutesy romcom shit.

The OFA-esque accumulation of will and power of Toga's quirk and love and ideals............... to encourage Ochako to date Deku.

I don't believe the League is mentioned at all by name except for Toga via Uraraka's dream, and one line from Shouto saying he was praying at Touya's altar (thus confirming that Touya is dead).

AFO is mentioned but in context of young heroes deriving their impressions of heroism from the AFO battle? idk about this part.

Two flashbacks to Shigaraki, from Deku.

First is Deku flashbacking to him inside Tenko's heart, holding Tenko's hands, as he talks about how even if he had OFA, he would still come to want to be a teacher.

(Feel like this is interesting because AFO has always been 'Sensei'/teacher to Shigaraki. In a way it feels like Deku is trying to be a Good Teacher to AFO's Bad Teacher, I guess?)

Second is Deku ruminating on Shouto's talk about 'inevitability' and how he's doing everything he wanted, and he's blessed. He flashes back to Shigaraki's "Really, do your best," which is when he also notices Uraraka laughing and get heart eyes.

So i'm laughing again that even without a dream ghost, Shigaraki's words about destruction also gets used and recontexted to fuel Deku/Ochako.

Did that extra panel of Shigaraki's almost-smile in Chapter 423 come about just to give us this ~*~parallel~*~???

It's pure gold. Villainous creeds (Destroy everything / Live as I please) ultimately used to not even prop up the Heroes doing heroic stuff related to the society that the Villains were rebelling against... but rather to get Deku and Uraraka on a date.

[kitsuneechoes]

Otherkin Questionnaire

Free to use, no credit necessary! You can change it to fit however you need it!

//from this post

★ General Information

What is your kin type or species?

When did you first realize you identified as Otherkin?

What inspired you to explore or learn about being Otherkin?

Do you identify with a single kin type or multiple? If multiple, what are they?

Do you have a specific name or title for your kin self? If so, what is it?

★ Self-Perception and Connection

How do you experience your connection to your kin self? (e.g., spiritually, psychologically, metaphorically, etc.)

Do you feel a sense of longing or homesickness related to your kin type?

What traits or characteristics of your kin self feel most prominent in your day-to-day life?

Do you experience shifts? If yes, what triggers them?

Do you feel your kin self influences your personality, behavior, or decisions? How so?

★ Memory and Identity

Do you have any memories or visions associated with your kin self?

If applicable, how do these memories manifest (e.g., dreams, meditations, sudden flashes)?

Do you believe your kin self is connected to a past life, an alternate reality, or something else? Explain.

Are there specific eras, locations, or cultures that feel tied to your kin identity?

How certain do you feel about your kin type, and has it changed over time?

★ Physical and Sensory Experiences

Do you experience phantom limbs or sensations associated with your kin self?

If yes, what do these sensations feel like, and how often do they occur?

Do you feel more attuned to specific sensory experiences (e.g., sounds, smells) tied to your kin type?

Do you experience any dietary preferences or aversions that feel connected to your kin identity?

Are there physical environments that feel particularly comforting or resonant with your kin self?

★ Community and Relationships

How has being Otherkin influenced your relationships with others?

Do you feel comfortable sharing your identity with friends, family, or the general public? Why or why not?

What role does the Otherkin community play in your life?

Do you prefer in-person or online spaces to connect with other Otherkin? Why?

Have you ever met someone with the same or a similar kin type? If so, how did that feel?

★ Spiritual and Psychological Aspects

Do you see your kin identity as part of a spiritual path or practice? Explain.

How do you reconcile your kin identity with your personal beliefs or worldview?

Have you ever questioned the validity of your kin identity? If so, what helped reaffirm it?

Do you feel your kin identity is influenced by external forces (e.g., energy, fate, deities)?

How do you distinguish between your human self and your kin self, if at all?

★ Expression and Creativity

Do you express your kin self through art, writing, music, or other creative outlets?

If so, what mediums or themes resonate most with your kin identity?

Do you incorporate your kin identity into how you dress, decorate, or design your personal space?

Are there specific symbols, colors, or aesthetics tied to your kin self?

Have you created a persona or character to embody your kin self? If so, describe it.

★ Personal Reflections

What challenges have you faced as an Otherkin, and how have you overcome them?

What joys or comforts has your kin identity brought into your life?

Do you think being Otherkin has shaped how you view humanity and the natural world? How?

How do you feel your identity might evolve in the future?

What advice would you give to someone just discovering their Otherkin identity?

[leandra-kinard]

you could just not respond and keep the slurs to yourself. have you ever considered that? maybe a post by someone affected by the slur isn't the place to harp on why it's so hard for you to not be able to type it. you can have your opinions, you're grown and obviously not open to change. but consider respect and decorum when you decide to invalidate the feelings of marginalized people on their own fandom experiences. blocking is free, scrolling is free, be fucking decent.

Sigh. I am going to respond calmly to this one because it comes from a place of wanting to be supportive and understanding to other people's struggles.

However, I still disagree. Firstly, I've seen posts like these many times, and the logical fallacy in it has always rubbed me the wrong way. So I felt like I wanted to say something this time in the hopes of opening people's eyes to the logical fallacy. The assumption that I could do this on here was, admittedly, too optimistic.

Secondly, I understand not wanting to be faced with things that are uncomfortable to us, but that's not how the world works. And in many ways, that is good or at least neutral.

There are many things that make us - in our own personal contexts - uncomfortable, and the feelings as such are valid. But what is not - in my understanding of fairness and common sense - valid, is making your own problem (that is valid in your limited personal context) everyone else's problem.

I find that kind of behavior not only annoying and irrational but actually dangerous.

To elaborate on what dangers I am seeing in it in detail would go beyond the scope of this response, but to pick out one factor, it's dangerous because it creates the attitude and assumption that things are universally something because they are that thing to you.

That automatically creates injustices for people in wider and different contexts, and an atmosphere of anxiety and over-caution that is detrimental to human interaction.

We are all different, we all come from different social and cultural contexts. We have different personal and societal needs, different expressions of ourselves. To measure everything by one standard you automatically apply bigotry towards other standards.

This 'trend' to find offense in things and limit the ways in which we can communicate and express ourselves is so fucking detrimental to us as human beings. People preach for tolerance and acceptance but then are incapable of applying it to others when others' needs clash with one's own.

Example: the whole "queer is a slur" discourse. There are people who have VALID lived experiences with the word "queer" being used against them as a slur, often combined with physical violence; there are gay men who have been beaten up or even killed while being called that.

On the other hand, you have a mostly younger generation (but not solely) who have reclaimed the word and feel empowered by describing themselves as such; there are many neutral usages for the word as well, such as "queer theory" in academia.

So what do you do with that? Who gets to decide which side is right and which side is wrong?

If we were to apply the principle of who feels the strongest about it, who has known the most violence/discrimination in connection with the phrase, then we would HAVE to concede to the "queer is a slur" faction (and to the "ABO without dashes is a slur" faction). If there are just a dozen non-straight people out there who get literally (not over-used figuratively) triggered back to violent and abusive experiences when hearing/reading the word "queer", then we all have to stop using it, right?

Well. For some reason we (society/the LGBT+ community at large) have decided that no. We care more about the utility of the word queer in the contexts we have created than we care about the valid and lived experiences of those people. Because it HAS utility and means something positive to many people.

(Personally, I am very much in two minds about this issue and understand both positions.)

And this example is even different than the ABO one, because we are talking about "queer" with the same main meaning in the same language. It's not like "queer" means "wood shoe" in Swahili or is a company that makes knitting needles in Korea. "Queer" means the same thing, whether it's used as a slur or used as an empowering/neutral term to describe non-straight people.

Whereas ABO means a myriad of entirely different things in different languages, most of all as an acronym for completely innocuous things like the "American Board of Orthodontics" or my cited wind energy corporation. So there you even have a much more washed out and very much broadened variety of meaning and context.

So, then why is it we say "Fuck them older queers who have been hate-crimed and killed while being called this slur that we like to use to describe our identity" but don't apply it to ABO fanfiction where the meaning is completely removed from the meaning of the slur?

It's not only inconsistent, it's even going much further into the restrictive!

So no, I do not play along, I do not keep quiet, I do not simply accept it. Because it is IMPORTANT to remind people to THINK. To see context, see meaning, see intention. And to also understand that the world cannot be fair to everyone because every fairness to you is an unfairness to someone else.

We HAVE to be able to tolerate and understand that. Or else we have to succumb to tribalism and all stay in our small little niches where everyone thinks and speaks exactly like we do, and if you only fall one millimeter out of line, you have to find your own community, because you can't be part of ours anymore.

THAT is the danger in this way of thinking.

If we ban saying "abo fanfic", we have to ban saying "queer community", we have to ban Brits smoking "a fag", we have to ban Spanish speakers saying "libro (or other masculine noun) negro", and so on.

And we CANNOT do that because it creates more injustice than it initially strives to fight.

[specialagentartemis]

This is a common way people have been taking my post—“you need to meticulously Research Every Single Thing”—and that’s not what I meant and not what I said. Which is why it doesn’t focus on research or even “write what you know,” it focuses on being curious.

Curiosity doesn’t mean you have to know exactly what year doorknobs were invented or are required to work out the orbital dynamics of the planet your fantasy kingdom is on. If you find that fun (I often do!) more power to you. If you don’t, I’m not gonna get on your ass about unrealistic placement of tectonic plates. But my point was that you should wonder how it would affect the world and the story you’re telling.

I make fun of tropes like “this fantasy empire has lasted 10,000 years” not because ~ oh that’s impossible~, but because the dynamics of it as presented usually make it clear the author has not actually sat back and thought about how long 10,000 years is or how much will inevitably change in that amount of time. This is the FIRST time a succession crisis has ever come up? Really? This not only strains credulity, it makes the fantasy world seem flimsy—for 10,000 years nothing happened, now everything is happening at once. That’s the kind of worldbuilding I’m criticizing. If you wrote an empire that lasted 10,000 years, you don’t have to write down every single king and what they did and the whole history of every ethnic group in the empire and build a proto-language for a set of conlangs that have shifted into non-mutually-intelligible languages in different parts of the empire—but it should occur to you that there must have been some of that happening, and that would affect the empire as it exists now and the lives of the people in it.

I’m not saying you need to write a comprehensive history textbook of your fascist space empire—I’m saying you should be curious about how fascist empires actually maintain control of disparate places and how that would affect how it operates and how people live in those places now, if you’re going to be setting a book there. Otherwise, you end up repeating stale tropes about what you vaguely think fascism is and empires do.

Generally, I think worldbuilding energy is best spent 20% on how it happened, and 80% on how it affects the characters. If you have your Exotic Fantasy-Middle-Eastern Market Bazaar, you can justify why that evolved, culturally, in your world, but much more important is actually learning about the social context of what people actually do there and how it shapes daily life (and in the process you will likely make it less stereotypical and insulting). If you want to write a fascist space empire, you can write a history of how it expanded and what planets it controls, but more important is wondering about why it’s an expansionist empire, what resources this planet-setting has that it wants and why it wants them, and what life under imperial rule is like in the core vs. the periphery and how that will affect the life and experiences and opportunities and worldview of your characters.

There’s a reason half of the examples I gave in the post were about characterization choices, not worldbuilding research! Curiosity means thinking beyond a surface level about what you’re writing, asking yourself why you’re writing what you’re writing and if it grows out of what you actually wrote or if you’re just unthinkingly repeating tropes or making assumptions that makes your story weaker because you’re defaulting to surface level clichés rather than thinking about if these characters in this setting with these experiences would do or think or say that. It’s about characters who are gung-ho anti-imperialists when it’s unclear what in their background would lead them to think this way other than that they’re the Good Guys so Of Course They Do. It’s about a scene where a fisherman lets a fish suffocate in the air without the author ever wondering if that’s actually how you kill a fish you caught. It’s about characters who stop the story dead in its tracks to have a conversation about asexuality when their characterization so far has led me to think that the ghost that stole their memories and the government hunting them down for a murder they don’t know if they committed would be a much, much more pressing concern for them right now. It’s about this post about Kendra from Buffy. It’s less about research—although frequently the conclusion will in fact be “I need to do more research about this”—it’s about critical thinking and asking yourself questions about what you’re actually writing.

“Be curious about what you’re writing about” is not stock Common Writing Advice but it really, really should be. There are a lot of written works that fail due to the authors just being obviously incurious about what they are writing about.

[thattheater-kid]

Aroace culture is accidentally writing all your characters to be aspec because you have a hard time writing romantic and sexual relationships.

[serpentface]

Do psychotropic drugs and/or ritual play a role in any of the blightseed cultures? A pretty broad question, lol

Yeah that’s a very broad question, the answer is about as much as it tends to play roles in real history. Alcohol is pretty ubiquitous (outside of cultures that abstain from intoxicants) and used for a variety of purposes, opioids are commonly used in some parts for pain relief or recreational purposes, stimulants (usually in mild, natural forms) are used to provide extra energy, and hallucinogens are most commonly used as part of a larger religious framework (rather than for recreational purposes). Any more elaborate answer kinda has to be case by case in a certain culture or part of the setting.

I'll just take this as an opportunity to talk about the one established sect that pretty much REVOLVES around psychoactive use. This is the Scholarly Order of the Root, which is a sort of mystery religion + elite community of scholars who currently occupy the Ur-Tree and its forest in the far southern Lowlands (southeast of Imperial Wardin, on the same land mass).

The Ur-Tree is the obligatory Huge Fucking Fantasy Tree (and its surrounding forest). It’s a mass of vegetation about a mile tall and almost as old as Plant Life Itself, its upper branches are primeval plants, which become more modern the nearer they get to the ground (and each 'level' holds tiny ecosystems, some containing descendants of LONG-extinct arthropods/other small animals). Its lowest branches and the surrounding forest are contemporary plant life, and all is connected and protected by an incomparably MASSIVE fungal mycelium network (which is itself a living god).

A lot of the Scholars' more secretive practices revolve around experimentation with substance use with the goal of expanding the Mind and transcending the body to fully connect to the Dreamlands, and they have a supply chain of traders and mercenaries called Rootrunners who traffic substances into the Lowlands. Most of their psychoactive use is in a very intentional capacity and not just like, for fun, but a LOT of them are just straight up addicted to cocaine (in the form of alchemically refined bruljenum, which is used for practical purposes of its stimulant effect during long hours of work).

All known psychoactives are desirable for experimentation (particularly hallucinogens), with each having properties that either allow expansion of the Mind, transcendence of the body, or outright divine communion. Their effects are logged in great detail and interpreted to form the basis of the Scholars' understanding of the natural world and reality itself.

The most important substance is Ur-Root, which is root matter from subterranean levels of the Ur-Tree that have both their own intrinsic psychoactive substances and a very, very high concentration of living god mycelium. The tree root contains DMT and the mycelium has its own wholly unique effects (being an actual living god). They alchemically refine it into a purer, more potent form, and use it to expand beyond the body and directly commune with the Giants, a group of entities they have identified as the only true gods.

An Ur-Root trip starts off with minor visual distortion, which turns into shifting fractals that slowly obscure the vision. Eventually the senses are entirely taken over by a 'tunnel' of rapidly shifting fractals and geometries. In a complete trip, the experiencer gets a sense that they have been pushed through a membrane and entered another realm, finding themselves in a distinct experiential Space.

At this point they may encounter entities which communicate to them in a language impossible to describe but wholly understood. These beings are understood to be the Giants, or at least aspects of the Giants that mortals are capable of comprehending (they often take familiar tutelary forms of the Mantis or the Snake, or appear resembling the same type of sophont that the experiencer is, all composed of ever-shifting geometries). The experiencer often feels a sense of unconditional and endless love from these beings, though the Giants may be more hostile and may appear in the form of the Trickster (usually a cultural figure regarded as malicious, be it an animal or otherwise) in a bad trip.

(^Up until this point, this has mostly just been a DMT 'breakthrough' experience ft. 'machine elves' and the like).

They are then removed from this space and returned to something that feels like the real world, but is nearly unrecognizable. They have a sense of rapidly moving through time, and will usually see 'the spires' towards the beginning, which just so happen to look like this:

(source + some context via Implication- the spires are exactly what this art is depicting)

The experiencer continues to move across an unfathomable amount of time, occasionally 'seeing' other such flashes of unfamiliar landscapes and creatures, and yet also being devoid of all their senses, the 'seeing' is pure, unfiltered experience. There is a sense of interconnectedness with all life, and that one has become the forest (or even Life) itself. The sense of time is wildly distorted, the trip lasts only about 5 minutes but feels like an eternity and is understood as literal hundreds of millions of years.

The experiencer has usually lost any remaining sense of Self and individual consciousness during this phase (in which case this time distortion is usually a neutral or even peaceful experience), but some retain a fraction of their identity, and find themselves trapped and conscious while experiencing what feels like eternity (which can be LIFE-CHANGINGLY distressing, even after the fact).

(^This latter part of the trip is the effects of the Ur-Tree fungus).

The trip ends with a sense of rushing through the ground and back up into one's body, at which point they will abruptly return to their senses and consciousness. The details are then immediately retrieved via interview and recorded in immense detail. The whole experience is understood as having been full comprehension of the Dreamlands, communion with the Giants, and then a tour through the act of creation.

This is done as part of the initiatory practice into the inner mystery-religion of the scholars, and as needed for study by high scholar-priests. It is not taken lightly, both as it is absolute communion with the gods and reality, and in that it can be a very, very difficult experience. People who have gone through this often walk away with a permanently shifted perspective, often in a positive and/or comforting way- a sense of interconnectedness with all life, a peace with the concept of death, seeing less of a point in individual ego and the concept of Self, and comfort in the sense of divine love they (may have) experienced. This heavily influences the philosophy of the Scholars and has had effects by proxy in the religious worldviews of the region.

Details of this experience are closely guarded, and initiates are given absolutely no prior knowledge and expectations for their trip. This is seen as a necessity- their naivety will allow for a true, unfiltered experience, and can be used to gauge whether they should or should not be accepted. Those that have a distinctly bad trip upon initiation may be assumed to have been 'rejected' by the giants and thus denied full priesthood, though this largely depends on How they interpret their distressing trip- those who identify this as a test and harsh lesson in a journey to enlightenment may be accepted (as this is how fully initiated scholar-priests interpret and handle their bad trips).

This inner priesthood is only a small fraction of the Scholarly Order, and its greater function is as a hub of education and repository of knowledge, and Scholar-trained doctors can provide some of the best medical care available in the setting ('best medical care in this setting' only means so much but it's pretty solid, relatively speaking). Only a chosen few Scholars ever get to commune with the Ur-Root, and most of the divine secrets revealed in the process are kept hidden (though they indirectly influence the politics and worldview of the entire order).

[itspileofgoodthings]

I go off about Catholic/christian religious influencers of all kinds and I do so for many reasons but one of the main ones is just. the feeling they’re selling (and it is a feeling and they’re selling it, even if just for views) it doesn’t feel like that for everyone. That whole simplistic set-up of struggle struggle struggle, breakthrough, clarity, emotional peace, tears streaming down the face. That’s not real. Or at least it’s not real much of the time in MANY cases and even when it is real that isn’t the only part or the most important part of having a relationship with God. It’s probably the least important part, the feeling. and so it fills me with RAGE when the emotional part of religion is sold and packaged and paraded and presented on Instagram as “inspiration”! it distorts the whole reality of a relationship with God and puts a literal and figurative Instagram filter over the whole thing.

[musingsunderstarlight]

@niiwa-angel everything OP has said is right, but I find it odd that you chose to talk at length about the West on a post that didn't even mention the West at all. Technically, her wording in the original post could be more accurate. She said “many cultures are deeply rooted in misogyny” which implies that there are some that are not. The more accurate way to put it is that many cultural practices and beliefs are deeply rooted in misogyny, and the problem is that many cultures continue to engage in these overtly misogynistic practices that lead to unique challenges for female liberation as a result. Cultures are not stagnant objects. They evolve and shift throughout time, and not just in linear fashion.

All patriarchal societies have misogynistic cultures by default, yes even the West, otherwise you wouldn’t have nearly a hundred men in one locality in France frothing at the opportunity to rape a possibly dead woman. The only reason why women were able to achieve the equalities you listed—some of which were achieved fairly recently and others which have not yet been achieved entirely—is because women happened to succeed in fighting for laws that helped secure their financial and reproductive autonomy which resulted in some degree of liberation from male control, most of which in the U.S. men are now fighting to reverse.

So what does this comparing and ranking of “levels” accomplish exactly? Was that goal accomplished by you singing praises about the West on a post that was meant to call attention to misogynistic practices in Nigeria through another woman’s own experiences? Do we need to compare these practices to the West or other cultures at all in order to give them the attention they deserve?

Also, you were one of the people here defending redberryterf when she was making racist and hateful jokes. Clearly your beliefs on sexism and racism have you led to believe that racist jokes are justified, and you are therefore not the best person to be talking about this issue and your call to acknowledge both sides rings hollow. And the fact that you so casually used the term “female equality” here is telling as well, because I do not want “female equality” with men—I want female liberation.

OP, I hope you know I don’t agree with killallxys2 speaking over you like that, as I believe it’s important for users like you to share your experiences with misogyny from outside the West, but I just felt the need to say something as the user who appears to be defending you has displayed a pattern of blatantly racist comments before.

I hope you continue sharing your experiences with misogyny and sexism in your own culture and don’t mind that I offered some of my own two cents. You’re right that we need more women uplifting us and amplifying our voices, but unfortunately some "radfems" on here will use us an opportunity to make dismissive comments about the misogyny we face from Western men to promote racist propaganda.

Bottom line is, women from every culture face unique challenges to their liberation, and this is a worthy discussion all on its own.

i’m not afraid to say that many cultures are deeply rooted in misogyny, including my own. im half nigerian and there’s an expectation that women kneel before men and elders, sit in the kitchen while the men talk, and serve the men before anyone else. perhaps it’s why i’m so distant from my dad’s side, i won’t kneel before anyone

[mohntilyet]

​

[blood-orange-juice]

Sex pollen fic but the characters do it recreationally, like psychedelics

(any number of participants, could be poly)

There's one sober person who ensures everyone gets a good experience

Someone complains about it not working right before the effect hits

The pollenned person gets a lecture on what they should expect

There's That One Scientist who documents everything and loudly announces which region of their brain is shutting down currently

Food is prepared in advance and it's honestly the best part of the experience

There's generally a Procedure and a Culture around it

The pollenned person gets handed sleeping pills if it's a bad trip

I unironically think it could be such a lovely setting for a very sweet and awkward kind of intimacy

[hanzajesthanza]

"the michael kandel translation of "the witcher" short story can't hurt you!!"

the michael kandel translation of "the witcher" short story:

[imminent-danger-came]

i don't know why people think the writers hate wukong so much. making a character flawed doesn't mean you don't like them and wukong getting yelled at twice isn't the writers putting their grievances in the characters' mouths

The news come in: writers have things happen in their stories

Tbh, the people who have that sort of take are probably just not writers, for the most part. Having characters make bad choices and face consequences for those choices is really fun! It's also just not indicative of how much you "like" that character.

And you know, Lmk is fundamentally about loving flawed people. That's it. That's the core theme. So it's like, of COURSE Wukong and everyone else are going to be flawed. That's why MK's so flawed, he's gotta realize he's worthy of love in spite of and with his mistakes (you know- his actual mistakes and flaws, not the fake ones from 4x01 lol). He's gotta accept the ways people hurt each other.

[estranhossonhos]

History and fashion nerds rejoice, I hadn't anticipated the post stretching out quite so much, but I think you might enjoy it - or at least I hope so! 🤍

- note added after final review because, well, it's about my latest adhd induced hyperfixation.

Ok, first of all - LOOK AT THE DETAILS ON THAT ILLUSTRATION!! ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! 🥹 Congratulations and please keep up your amazing work, @marichka! 💗

But you know what I loved the most?

The fact that this post showed up, out of nowhere (I didn't know nor followed @marichka's art until now - I suggest you do the same and follow them) when, for the past few weeks, I've been on Pinterest, pinning illustrations and old photos that showcase Portuguese* folk/traditional clothing.

On the left an example of a girl wearing the Ukrainian shawl; on the right, a girl wearing the Portuguese shawl.

A little background story:

after avoiding it and even ignoring this part of my ancestors' history, I've recently fell in love with it, after receiving two traditional black scarfs. And I've been reading a lot more about them, after looking for some inspiration on Pinterest, on how I could experiment and include it in my daily outfits, for this season.

They resembles a lot with the Ukrainian scarfs, and from other countries as well, that were heavily influenced by Moorish, Mediterranean, and Atlantic cultures.

I mean, they all have obviously their own differences and charm, but this is why I love to study history so much: it's always fascinating to notice how we are all connected.

Through language, costums, clothing, and/or other aspects that we think are uniquely our own, but somehow - through positive influence or sometimes (impossible to not mention human's dark nature) through appropriation, invasions, war, etc.

Whether this commom thread that unites us has its origin on genuine admiration, positive cultural exchanges or in malice, I just wanted to congratulate @marichka's amazing attention to detail with those scarfs, and the rest of her work, of course. Which, by the way, is part of their new illustration series, on Ukrainian headdresses. 😍

Ugh, I just love when these tiny life coincidences happen - it always makes my day!

But before I post this long rambling, I hope the artist doesn't mind if I take the opportunity to showcase some photos of the Portuguese shawl (and the rest of the Portuguese traditional clothing), that I above-mentioned.

Extract from @marichka's post, that started this never ending post （〃'◡'〃）

__________________

All 6 photos taken from Pinterest, and linked to the original pin.

If I got you curious about this subject, you can read more about them on the website Portuguese Folklore (linked below). Or you can start with the following articles:

★ The Variety of traditional clothing in Porttugal/ A variedade dos trajes tradicionais em Portugal - Folclore.PT

★ The shawl/ O Xaile | Trajes tradicionais portugueses - Folclore.PT

Note: each one of these photos are hyperlinked to their own article of origin.

Part of the Vianesa Traditional Dressing, which is now considered an icon of the city of Viana do Castelo.

«A woman from Minho with a algibeira» - algibeira are pouches that women would add to their waist apron (in front or underneath) and depending on their status they were either have lots of colours, motifs, etc.

Lavradeiras da Abelheira (Cliché of the distinguished amateur Mr. Emigdio Freitas, from Porto) in "Ilustração Portuguesa", nº709 – September 22, 1919

This photo was not taken from the website Folclore.pt website. Had to take it from here, to show you a similar to the one I got.

Different ways to wear, as a headscarf - depending on your region, weather, status, work-life, etc.

And finally, I just now this found website that apparently is a «project for the preservation of European culture in the field of customs related to traditional dances», and this page summarises Portugal's:

★ Portugal – 4DCulture Platform

The Wedding Dance (1566) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

For now they only have information on Bulgaria, Germany, Lithuania, Portugal and Greece. But it has the European Commission's support and we need to, now more than ever, elevate and keep on supporting all cultural databases (online* and offline - check what you can do locally: on your local library or museums, for example).

*I don't want to prolong this any further, but regarding those online databases, I am again talking about the incoming digital dark ages, that every day seems to become more and more real. You can, and should, read more about it by searching the latest Internet Archive news, or you can start here: - Shining a Light on the Digital Dark Age - Long Now - We're losing our digital history. Can the Internet Archive save it? - The New Digital Dark Age | WIRED - and this video essay (that's already pending urgent updating, but that is still a valid complement to the 3 articles highlighted above):

Uhhh, I've been drawing these ornaments for so long💙 I like to dig in some kind of ornament, or leaves, or a forest and just decoratively draw everything, it's like meditation for me The only downside is that I draw such things for a very long time, and sometimes I disappear from social networks How do you like this illustration?