#or maybe a video game that has influence from both religions

[ameliathefatcat]

On my TikTok fyp there’s a Jesus video game that looks amazing. Like it looks super cool and I would play it if it wasn’t about Jesus.

The one thing of jealous of Christians because of how cool their content is. I wish us Jews had half of the wild crap Christian’s do. Like I want a Moshe video game or Judah Maccabee video game

[ckret2]

What would be Bill's hobbies in the nightmare realm? Like ok he's been there for a million years, what would he do? Aside from partying, ruling and planning world domination?

Hate to nitpick—but one trillion years. To me the difference isn't a trivial "okay they're both impossibly big numbers" if we're considering what Bill's life must have been like; because one million years ago, humans had already evolved. One TRILLION years is 72 times longer than our entire universe has existed. We're talking about a life where for most of his existence, the universe he would ultimately try to conquer—much less the species that would help him do it—didn't even exist yet.

But to the actual question:

Genuinely I think partying took up most of his free time lmao. Maybe not at the start; but over time, getting absolutely smashed and "having fun" would have become an essential strategy to hold on to what was left of his fraying mental health, so it probably became more and more of his schedule while he waited for an in to a universe. And it combines several of his top hobbies: socializing, meeting people, dancing, substance abuse... But even something that takes "most of his free time" could leave billions of years unaccounted for, SO:

I mentioned yesterday that meditation is one of his unexpected hobbies. It's useful for refining his dream demon skills & various other psychic tricks; but mostly it's just, if you can drop into a trance for a thousand, a million, a billion years, then that's a lot of waiting & boredom you can just skip.

He's got a lot of eyes in other dimensions. It's like television to him.

He's unable to visit other dimensions before his portal is built, but he is able to visit other dimensions' mindscapes. He can't interact with things, but he can look around like an invisible tourist, and he can invade people's dreams.

We see what looks like weirdness bubbles scattered all around the Nightmare Realm in Don't Dimension It. I headcanon that Bill didn't just invent them on the spot in Weirdmageddon, he made them ahead of time in the Nightmare Realm; and thus that they probably take some time and skill to create. He doesn't control the end result but he can influence it based on what materials he puts in and how he creates it, kind of like an acrylic dirty pour painting. It's like art to him. He's proud of it.

He's never had higher education but he's book-read and self-taught on a wide variety of subjects. At bare minimum, every time he sees a new universe and goes "maybe I can conquer this," he has to teach himself that universe's rules of physics (often before a species in that universe has evolved enough to study it themselves), and one of the intelligent species's available engineering capabilities and native languages, all so that he can translate his portal blueprints into a form someone in that universe can build. That adds up to learning a LOT of languages, engineering, and physics. Ours is far from the first dimension he tried to conquer. Plus throw in all the other stuff he's probably learning on the side while trying to get something going with a new species: local politics, religion, chemistry, biology, pop culture...

He DID pick up piano at some point. Probably not the only instrument he's learned. I headcanon piano is conceptually similar to an instrument in his home dimension.

He likes playing games. Sometimes games of skill, because dice rolls and card draws would be easy to manipulate & cheat in a dreamscape; but sometimes games of chance, because he wants to cheat lol. He's not athletically inclined, so his preference is board games, card games, word games, pen-and-paper games, video games, etc.

Any time something falls into the Nightmare Realm, he can sense it; sometimes he goes and checks out the new arrival. It can be anything from objects (new stuff to scavenge through) to people (new friends and/or torture toys and/or networking opportunities) to whole worlds (there's a LOT of fun you can have with a planet—especially a populated one).

He spends a lot of time cultivating mini-cults and pockets of worship toward him amongst alien species. He claims this is all in service to his ultimate conquest plans, but honestly, he just really likes being worshiped.

There were a few survivors of Bill's home dimension. Not many, with a starting population of billions (and that's not even counting alien life); but a few thousand. Most of them ultimately moved to other dimensions and tried to start new societies. Early on, Bill tried to keep in contact with them, and that took up a fair amount of his time; but as they rejected him or he rejected them, he cut them off. Now the only people from or descended from his universe that he still talks to are the shapes in the Henchmaniacs.

Imagine if all the oceans on Earth were ruled over by a single pirate king, and also he knows any time something—from a cargo ship to a surfer—enters his domain, and he COULD just teleport to where they are and wreck their day if he wants to; so any nation that wants to safely ship goods or maintain a navy has to bargain with the pirate king; but also the pirate king is an immature clown who's easily flattered and distracted by shiny toys. That's the relationship Bill has to other dimensions. For cultures that have discovered interdimensional travel, transit through the Nightmare Realm COULD be very useful... if it weren't for this one guy who's somehow borderline omnipotent within the NR but can't leave it. So Bill spends a lot of time politicking and bartering with neighboring dimensions that don't trust him, know he'll violate treaties on a whim, but nevertheless need access to his realm.

There's also some uneasy politicking and socializing with the few powerful entities that Bill thinks might be able to wreck his day but isn't quite foolhardy enough to test, like the Axolotl.

Sometimes he just makes stuff that sounds cool. He made the Quadrangle of Qonfusion. (Amorphous Shape helped, they're better at the architecture side of things.) He also sometimes just goes and gets stuff that strikes his fancy, like his throne made of optical illusions. The Nightmare Realm is riddled with unfinished projects and impulse purchases.

[jacegem]

1. I tend to go with Callibri. It's just... the easiest on my eyes for some reason.

2. I could, but man would I not wanna. I used to write by hand in high school but uh, wrist pain nowadays says absolutely not. It'd be slow going but I could make myself do it.

4. It isn't English but the word for Dragon in Finnish drives me up the goddamn wall. Lohikäärme is LITERALLY just 'Salmon' and 'Snake' shoved together, makes me crazy. Every other Nordic language's word for dragon looks relatively normal, Finnish just has to be a little weirdo about it. And that shit just keeps going for the whole language.

9. Kinda, yeah. I don't really think there's one clear and straightforward answer to what happens when a person dies, though certain religions would have you believe otherwise. A soul sticking around after they pass? Yeah, could be plausible.

13. Imagery isn't the easiest thing for me but I am getting better at it all the time. Emotion and dialogue are very easy though, once I get in a character's head.

19. I started way back in 2012-ish, maybe super early 2013, when I was around 16. I started with fanfiction for the Invader Zim fandom, eventually moved to Homestuck, Hetalia and Undertale (yes I was extremely cringe, I freely admit this, and often say that I would like to go back and hit my teenaged self with a fish) and then... kinda took a few years hiatus. Didn't really write anything until 2021 when I was making things for my long running D&D game. As I kept getting further into the game I just... kept writing. Eventually got introduced to a TTRPG server that has since become my home, and I RP with my characters there a lot. It's really helped me nail down both characterization and imagery. Now, I'm still writing fan fiction (for different fandoms) but I've also got this whole world I made myself and I'm adding to it all the time, and I have characters I've thrown years of work into and I couldn't be happier to have made something that is wholly mine.

21. No, I don't think so. Not forever anyway. I take breaks, I walk away from the desk for awhile, but I can't leave it forever. It brings me joy to build and create, and to lay that down would worsen my quality of life. I write for the sheer joy of it, and for sharing my work with others, why would I deprive myself of that?

24. Depends on what I'm writing. If I'm writing something relating to my setting's cosmology then I dive into my astrophysics notes which I love doing because, shocking nobody, I'm a big space dweeb. Same can be said if I'm writing for my setting's fae wild, that's where all my radiation notes get used. But if I'm just writing a comfy slice-of-life piece or something similar? Chill music, a cup of tea, and I go where the vibes take me.

29. Music, video games, and my friends' work are the biggest inspirations I have. I've got entire playlists for specific characters that I put on when I need to get in their heads, and watching my friends write things gives me ideas because they have some incredible (horrifying at times) ideas. When the well runs dry, I stop. I take a break and consume more writing and media to recharge the inspiration batteries.

32. Oh yeah big time. That one Terry Pratchet quote never leaves my head and it actively influences how I write certain characters.

"All witches are selfish, the Queen had said. But Tiffany’s Third Thoughts said: Then turn selfishness into a weapon! Make all things yours! Make other lives and dreams and hopes yours! Protect them! Save them! Bring them into the sheepfold! Walk the gale for them! Keep away the wolf! My dreams! My brother! My family! My land! My world! How dare you try to take these things, because they are mine!

I have a duty!"

33. I draw too! I've drawn some of my characters before, but I haven't gotten to the point where I draw specific scenes from my stories yet. Maybe someday.

36. I know... a lot. Astrophysics and astronomy, Kirby lore (though I only pull inspiration from it since... it'd be silly and also illegal to straight rip Kirby lore into my stuff), radiation and nuclear technology to a certain degree, to name a few things.... my knowledge is quite niche and I accept this.

Weird Questions for Writers (because writers are weird)

1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

2. If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil?

3. What is your writing ritual and why is it cursed?

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

5. Do you have any writing superstitions? What are they and why are they 100% true?

6. What is your darkest fear about writing?

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

8. If you had to write an entire story without either action or dialogue, which would you choose and how would it go?

9. Do you believe in ghosts? This isn’t about writing I just wanna know

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

11. Do you believe in the old advice to “kill your darlings?” Are you a ruthless darling assassin? What happens to the darlings you murder? Do you have a darling graveyard? Do you grieve?

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

14. Do you lend your books to people? Are people scared to borrow books from you? Do you know exactly where all your “lost” books are and which specific friend from school you haven’t seen in twelve years still possesses them? Will you ever get them back?

15. Do you write in the margins of your books? Dog-ear your pages? Read in the bath? Why or why not? Do you judge people who do these things? Can we still be friends?

16. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever used as a bookmark?

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

20. If a witch offered you the choice between eternal happiness with your one true love and the ability to finally finish, perfect, and publish your dearest, darlingest, most precious WIP in exactly the way you've always imagined it — which would you choose? You can’t have both sorry, life’s a bitch

21. Could you ever quit writing? Do you ever wish you could? Why or why not?

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?

23. Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture.

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?

26. How do you get into your character’s head? How do you get out? Do you ever regret going in there in the first place?

27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?

28. Who is the most delightful character you’ve ever written? Why?

29. Where do you draw your inspiration? What do you do when the inspiration well runs dry?

30. Talk to me about the role dreams play in your writing life. Have you ever used material from your dreams in your writing? Have you ever written in a dream? Did you remember it when you woke up?

31. Write a short love letter to your readers.

32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

33. Do you practice any other art besides writing? Does that art ever tie into your writing, or is it entirely separate?

34. Thoughts on the Oxford comma, Go:

35. What’s your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens?

36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice...what do you Know?

37. If you were to be remembered only by the words you’ve put on the page, what would future historians think of you?

38. What is something about your writing process YOU think is Really Weird? If you are comfortable, please share. If you’re not comfortable, what do you think cats say about us?

39. What keeps you writing when you feel like giving up?

40. Please share a poem with me, I need it.

[etakeh]

After listening to this two-parter on Dr Dobson, I realize that I, and my kid, kind of dodged some bullets.

I'm at a particular age where I was a small child in the early Dobson years, and had a small child in the late 90s, when things got really rolling for him.

This is going to be long, but I'm feeling some things. Feel free to skip my commentary and go listen to the podcast, I won't be offended. I do think it's worth listening to, especially since Garrison Davis is the guest, who has a personal connection to the "gay conversion" stuff from the second episode.

If you want my personal feelings on the thing, read on.

My dad was religious, after a lapse of two wives between his religious parents and his current wife. They were the type of Christians where...well like this.

I grew up with my mom, visiting dad on holidays. The one time I spent actual Christmas day with his new family, he sat me down and asked me if I knew what "the true meaning of Christmas is".

I was maybe 12. Not exactly the age where I could have avoided this knowledge, but he (I'm sure at the prompting of his new wife) assumed I didn't know. That I hadn't been exposed to that information, somehow.

If he'd been a better father, he'd know that I went to church with my great-grandparents, that I'd gone to Sunday school and Christian day camps. I mean not because my mom was particularly religious, but it was a free babysitter for a woman raising three kids with, you know, no father. In fact, when she talked about god, she was angry. "Why does god let babies die" etc.

anyway. They assumed it was ignorance that kept me from being a full-blown Christian. There's no way I could have heard The Word and not want to be actively Jesusing.

So, I have anecdotal evidence that I was a "strong-willed child". I have recently found letters from my mom, to my dad, detailing how "out of control" I was. Begging him to play a more active roll in my upbringing. or maybe just visiting every now and then.

I was kindygarden/1st grade when this book came out.

Not having had my dad take an active part in my childhood, I didn't have this "parenting advice" visited upon me. Thanks? I guess?

Fast-forward to the late 90s, and I am a single parent with a "strong-willed child" of the kindygarden/1st grade age. I now lived, by a long string of situations, not far from my dad and his not-so-new wife. It's nice, they are remarkably good grandparents. She did all the grandma things, baking and crafts and reading to my kid. My dad let my kid tromp around with him around the property, played video games with them, and built a pretty badass playhouse for the two grandkids.

But they kept trying to sneak in religion. He'd get them a new video game that was cartoon Christian history, she'd read a fun illustrated book of bible stories. That kind of thing.

And they both started suggesting I took these parenting classes that were being given at a local gathering place. I wasn't super smart about it, but when they gave me a flyer and it mentioned "Focus on the Family" I absolutely struck it down. I didn't say that was why, I just let it slide til they stopped asking me. They didn't want to push and stop letting them see my kid, and I didn't want my kid to lose the legitimately good time she had with them.

And now I'm listening to this podcast.

I sent my kid this message after the first part

I was fully joking. My kid is not neurotypical, so the kinds of "discipline" they were promoting would absolutely not have worked. And if it had, it would have fucked my kid up. like it probably did to a lot of kids.

Then I listen to the second part. that gets heavily into gay conversion therapy.

And send my kid this

cause you know what? my kid is queer. It wasn't a recognized thing when they were kindygarden aged, and I'd like to think I wouldn't have gotten overly influenced by this program, but I'm sitting here thinking, What if I had?

What if I'd decided to run with it. How fucked up would that be.

There's a chance my kid would have gotten sucked in as well. and/or that we ended up having a falling out because of it. and/or that my kid could have ended up dead.

It's honestly kind of terrifying.

So I guess thanks mom for being so angry at god, and thanks to dad for being so annoying about god. Between the two of you, it worked out.

and to my kid, You're welcome . Where's my prize.

[mizakikimoto]

I post this picture all the time: me dressed up as a scientist.

Science is the other half of my religion. It's not a subject, or a career, or something political. It's an element of reality, that explains the laws of the physical realm.

Just like Jehovah and Jesus have influenced my worldview so do these truths.

I don't like titles, tribes. I hate the idea of being reduced to one thing. But...I think Christian Humanism says a lot about me. About one part of me.

I hate the idea of pollution, but I've waited years to have a day where I can safely burn this résumé. Maybe just tear it up. That's probably a better idea.

There's a lot to me; theoretically, ideally. The part of me that spends hours a day reading random articles about “stuff” is just as equal to the part of me that wants to play video games for hours. It’s the same part honestly.

I used to have a life. Among other things I used to do science experiments in my great-grandmother's condo in Matteson (IL).

I have a mind that isn't like most, too. I have more horsepower, if you want to put it that way.

But for the past 23 years society has refused to acknowledge me. 

When I lost access to the burbs, all I had were the stereotypes based on certain “demographic attachments”. People needed me to be some “helpless urban youth”. People always wanted to put me in “programs” to try to solve problems that clearly didn't exist.

The problem was that I was being abused. But ALL South Side kids are bad, according to stereotypes, so I was clearly lying. The problem was that I was in a school that was like daycare to me. But ALL South Side kids are bad, according to stereotypes, so I was being difficult. The problem is I WAS dealing with racism, but…how can a *Black” kid who doesn't look “Black” deal with that?

For years I’ve told people in plain English, with different phrasing: “I need to get back to my life”. But there’re these lenses people refuse to stop seeing me through.

I am homeless. Being pushed towards public housing. Being given information on hotels hiring. What the hell does that have to do with me? Or those dumb “youth programs”. Or all the “sit downs” people have tried to have with me?

I’m constantly being painted as mentally ill. No. No. I’m super smart. But that goes against people’s prejudices, assumptions. So…my words are a lie to these people.

But let me tell you motherfuckers something:

I think it's possible that cancer is the body's faulty attempt at rapid evolution. Like the body trying to grow an organ or appendix to deal with things it wasn't made to deal with.

I got the idea when I was maybe 16. I was standing at a bus stop across from the Bank of America Theater, I think. It was cold, during the winter, in the evening. I was shivering, and thinking about how shivering served a purpose: to warm the body.

I don’t know why: but I thought about something I read or watched on cancer. It reminded me of something I read or watched on how organs develop in the womb.

And so...most adaptations/changes in the body are due to generations of exposure, blah blah blah.

But then everything changed super fast: in lifestyle, diet, environment. The body wasn't used to that, and the changes were so radical. So...it had to adapt, quick. But it's not used to doing what might take thousands of years...in one lifetime. So its quick attempt at doing it...just doesn't work. It hasn't figured it out, and it hurts us instead.

So, if this is true, to stop cancer from killing us: do we guide this evolution to the intended result, do we stop it, or are both options?

…

But people are relentless in their view of me.

I will fucking be acknowledged again. Fuck your own ignorance, prejudice, and all that shit. 

Fuck that résumé, and these job applications.

I have 23 years of shit to catch up on. And that’s what’s gonna fuckin’ happen.

I will be acknowledged.

-Chris

[interact-if]

Final day of interviews! Last but not the least... the talented Aalaa!! :chinhands:

Aalaa, author of Thrill Seeker

Religious Diversity Month Featured Author

Upon coming back to the family home from college, you find the corpse of your mother mutilated almost beyond recognition. Apart from the terrible scene, there is seemingly no evidence found by the police and no suspects are brought up.

The lack of answers is driving you crazy, and so you set out to find out who has killed your mother yourself. This job will be difficult– there will be friends that can help you along the way, but some of them have darkness that runs through them bone deep, and to trust the wrong person can be deadly.Still, if you can find it in yourself to trust them… or to simply look past your own judgement– you might be able to romance them, as well.

There is corruption all around you– make sure you know who to trust. Make sure you can trust yourself.

Will you be led into corruption, yourself?

Thrill Seeker Demo | Read more [here]

Tags: horror, mystery

(INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!)

Q1: Tell us a bit about your project! 

My project is Thrill Seeker, a modern horror/mystery game. You play as a normal, albeit burnt out student that has just come back from college to have a small holiday with their mother, but then finds that she has been brutally murdered. When you call the cops, their investigation is unsatisfactory and they find nothing. At the funeral, you are united with some people who may be able to help you-- but the corruption runs deep, and you don’t know who you can trust. Indeed, right now, even you aren’t trustworthy. 

The story explores how you take your fate into your own hands and make all the wrong decisions. The line between black and white fades, and all you can do is stare at the puddle of gray in front of you. You decide your own morals, you decide what becomes right or wrong.

Q2: Why did you settle for interactive fiction? What drew you to this format? 

There are a few reasons I gravitated towards interactive fiction. One could be that I’ve always been interested in writing. I’ve been making small video games since I was very young, and so I’ve tried a bunch of different forms of game making. Mostly, I’ve stuck to 2D, but it was getting kind of boring, and I was stumped for ideas. When I found interactive fiction, I was just blown away, and I knew I wanted to change the way I made games. 

I think I love it so much because it feels like a new life. Every new character, every choice, it’s like writing your life again. Maybe one could call it escapism, but I feel like it’s more about the thrill of the choice. There’s something about taking control of the narrative that is very exciting, not only as a consumer, but as a creator, too. I love the feeling of both knowing what’s coming next, but knowing that it’s something I designed, a fate I created. It’s better than any other format of game in it’s uniqueness.

Q3: How have your identity and beliefs influenced your work? 

I think my identity has rubbed off in every single aspect of my writing. I'm most used to writing fantasy, mostly for the fact that’s what I’ve been raised with. I find themes in my writing that I can see in the stories my mother read to me as a child. I am welcoming to others like I have been taught. 

Anything I didn’t have then, I do now. The representation I didn’t see in the stories of my childhood, I now write them myself. I hid my personality when I was younger, but now I represent it, and I put a little of myself into every word I write, every character I create, every scene I draw out. I have the opportunity to do what I want and to show the aspects of myself that I haven’t always gotten the opportunity to, and I think that’s the biggest way my identity has changed my work-- it has given me strength and the bravery to continue what I love.

Q4: What aspects would you like to be more explored or represented in media involving your religion? 

When looking at media representation, there is almost none for muslims, and all of the ones that exist are typically stereotypical and demeaning. I also see them always kind of having a bad relationship with their family and parents, something that they try to ‘break away’ from. And it almost feels like they have a blueprint for the ‘regular muslim’-- but there are so many different types of muslims, and they can’t fit under one bubble. I would like more muslims of colour (other than the usual pale brown), more muslims in fields that aren’t science related, and more muslims who are secure in themselves and their relationships. I want to see muslims be treated with respect and kindness, just like anyone else. 

Q5: What are you most excited about sharing related to your project? 

I'm looking forward to establishing the different ways that the main character interacts with the ROs. I see in many interactive fiction stories the ROs are kind of separate-- they don’t influence the RO a lot. However, I want to write a story where your personality actually changes with your RO. Maybe they make you more deranged. Maybe they make you more calm. It’s really up to the character, and I think it’ll be very interesting to write about the point where control starts to fall into someone else’s hands.

Q6: A tiny bit unrelated, but, what's your favorite religious holiday? 

My favorite holiday, by far, is Eid. I look forward to it all year. It’s a time that I get to share with my loved ones, a time that I can really be closer to them. It gives us all a break from hardships and allows us to celebrate! All aspects of Eid are wonderful-- the colors, the clothes, the food… the list goes on. Eid is a time of brightness and giving, like a rainbow christmas! Eid is a day that makes me feel that I can unapologetically be myself, and I wear my culture and personality like a badge of honor. It makes me feel human, the kind of humanity where you realize you are one in a web of extraordinary beings who are just intricately designed as you are, the kind of people that are just as worth celebrating as you are. It reminds me to love. 

Q7: Any other thoughts or advice you'd like to give to fellow authors or readers? 

To my fellow authors, I would say to find a community that supports you. It doesn’t just have to be writers-- just someone that can help motivate you. I myself like to rely on my family to encourage me to keep going, as well as a few other talented writers that inspire me to keep working on improving. Having someone as an example and having someone to encourage you is priceless, and so you should definitely look for a community that supports you. 

To my readers, thank you so, so much for coming along this journey with me. You are a community I can rely on, and your support is what keeps me going. I was in a bit of a rough patch before writing this story, but now that I’ve started I’ve gotten so much encouragement and I’ve been a lot happier. Thank you so much for everything, and I hope you enjoy the development of the game!

[demonicintegrity]

I posted 5,991 times in 2021

1060 posts created (18%)

4931 posts reblogged (82%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 4.7 posts.

I added 1,575 tags in 2021

#rambles - 451 posts

#ask - 362 posts

#hollow knight - 261 posts

#prismleo - 118 posts

#the owl house - 88 posts

#reblog game - 66 posts

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#current events - 57 posts

#ask game - 57 posts

#kataow - 54 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#cancel culture needs to understand that some things do have a ‘satue of limitations’ of sorts and aren’t deserving of the same consequences

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

My favorite type of Pure Vessel and bby hornet drawings are ones where Hollow is a terrifying unit and Hornet is barely as big as their hand.

140 notes • Posted 2021-10-01 13:27:05 GMT

#4

Honestly? I wasn’t a Lil Nas X stan or anything and I still won’t consider myself that because I’m not overly into his stuff.

But this? Montero? Important. Or at least, the reaction to it is very important to note. Y’see Nas isn’t the first one use satanic or other occult imagery. Hell he isn’t even the first mainstream one to use it (if you count P!atd Emperors new clothes. Mainstream and religious themes, tho it wasn’t up to this level I think.) but he is the first mainstream one to use it in reference to his sexuality and completely reclaim it. Again, not the first one, but the first mainstream one. And that’s important. Whether you care for the mainstream or not, you can’t deny the reach and influence they have.

(I think) what conservative Christians’ biggest problem with is that the video showed him going “fuck it” and went to hell and wasn’t afraid of it. After all, if Heaven wasn’t going to accept him for who he is, he doesn’t want that then.

The key thing is not being afraid of hell and rejecting Heaven altogether. These two are antithetical to the entire Christian doctrine. You must desire Heaven and God’s favor and you must fear The Devil and Hell. If you don’t do that, the rest starts to fall apart, maybe. When Christians butt heads with others, they often get most bothered when the other person states they don’t want God or Heaven and what not. A very “how dare you not want what i want” sorta thing.

And idk if Lil Nas X is Christian or not, but this is how he chose to reframe the religious themes for his story. But there are ex-christians, both atheistic and theistic, who have had this same line of thought. If God/Heaven/The Church won’t accept this about me, then I don’t want it. Hell, I think part of the revival of witchcraft and rise of neopaganism and satanists in the past decade comes from people rejecting the church. People, who more often than not, were harmed by the church.

idk idk. Yes this music is important for the gays reclaiming the doctrine that has harmed them. This probably means the world for some queer folk. But for me, this is an indicator of something I was wondering about for a while. I think this is another sign that there’s about to be a major shift in how religion is going to be perceived and interacted with, at least in the western world at least.

153 notes • Posted 2021-03-30 14:06:19 GMT

#3

I’ve been working through Leverage because it’s been a hot second since I’ve been into a show.

And in S2E1 you can see Nate’s new condo?apartment? Is empty as hell. Within the group coming together you can see a new dining table, big enough to sit the entire group. New couch as well.

Its cute. The condo was never a home until the gang moved in.

185 notes • Posted 2021-04-27 18:02:26 GMT

#2

Re: Tumblr+ allowing you to monetize fandom content

Don’t do that. That is diving headfirst into lawsuit territory. And the fact that it’s Tumblr+ strikes me as too much like Disney+ which makes me think it’s gonna bait Disney into paying attention to tumblr and they will sue your ass. You cannot make money off of intellectual property that is not yours, do you hear me?

“But what about Ao3–“ Ao3 does not make money off its platform. Tumblr does. Ao3 is a nonprofit through and through. The funds they do get is entirely through donation and most of it goes to server upkeep and then legal funds to keep fanficiton up there. Ao3 puts in the hard work to play by the rules so everyone gets to have fun with it. It’s also why you’re not allowed to say you were commissioned to write a fic or even link back to a place where someone could support you financially.

“But what about being commissioned to make fanart or fanfic? What about small shops selling fandom stickers and pins?” I’m going to be 100% honest when I say I have no idea why that is allowed to fly under the legal radar. I think being commissioned allows wiggle room because only your artistic skill is being sought out and bought, not the actual intellectual property. But that’s entirely it, it’s flying under the radar. It has not been noticed. It’s small businesses making very little comparatively to a huge corporation, it’s not on their shitlist (usually.) But Tumblr is semi-known social media, none of this has or will ever be under the radar. Corporations will poke at it to see if it’s of use. And Tumblr absolutely will not even try to protect you and if they do, it’ll be shit compared to any other Corp.

I know this might sound like common knowledge or common sense to a lot of us, but the last thing I want is some young creative who genuinely likes this platform trying to monetize their stuff because they need it only to tumble head over their ass into trouble. Tumblr does not care about you. Tumblr does not care about helping you make money, it cares about making themselves money. Honestly, all the cutesy staff things that have been going on the last year makes sense now, they probably were trying to scope out the site and fix it up here and there in prep to make it make money.

237 notes • Posted 2021-07-22 14:22:28 GMT

#1

I need y’all to understand that the canonical Hooty & Duolingo friendship is sending me.

And yes I will take Hooty wanting to impress Luz’s mom as canon because it’s cute and I love it

313 notes • Posted 2021-06-13 16:22:36 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[patchun]

1, 11, 17, and 30?

I think to understand my sense of humor it would help to watch several videos from the YouTube channel "Barats and Bereta" as well as a few SBaHJ comics, as those two things heavily influenced my development, and got me to my "what if this absurd bit happened. That would be funny I think" humor I have today.

Of course I'd say to both read and watch Twelve Kingdoms for its focus on empowering women and its interesting philosophical themes relating to power, oppression, and social responsibility. I am, not a woman. But wow have I had a journey from fundamentalist mysoginistic Christian to... me now, in my life, and my wife was a huge part of that and has really helped me see the importance of all this in media.

Also might help to watch various documentaries about Alabama and Christian indoctrination. Or maybe just God's Not Dead! Those two key parts of almost my entire life don't define me, but do define where I came from and exactly what I'm not anymore. They're things that I'm passionate about that may not make complete sense to someone who wasn't brought up in the same environment. I've been through the ringer with almost every social issue, I disagree with the vast majority of people I interact with on any given day on any given subject. It can feel isolating.

Finally, Touhou lore, for how interesting its concept of religion is, AND. The garbage fanservice anime, "Sora no Otoshimono", aka my comfort show. I went through a really lonely rough time in middle school and early high school where my parents moved me to a Christian school, lost all my old friends and acted like an idiot to ruin my friendship with my new ones. In that time anime was all I had and I very nearly became one of those incel types. I thought girls worked like they did in anime, was constantly hoping I might trip into a skirt. If you've read my light novel, "Reincarnated as a Cactus in an RPG World's Desert Kingdom", you perhaps can understand my psyche at the time. I've experienced that shit. But the thing is, as a result of that time of my life, the poor treatment of women in anime and I became somewhat intertwined. Now I find it difficult to continue to pursue my hobbies while also considering the fact that some of the content within them is legitimately harmful.

Well that was a long answer! So let's see, I wake up and my son Udon is in my arms. Stay in bed for a bit, then get up, have some green tea, rice and miso soup, then play a video game for a bit. Make lunch, more game, then maybe hit up a bar with my buddies from Florida and have an Acai sour. Then go home get drunk and drunkenly watch some garbage to make fun of it.

Yeah, perhaps more of an accurate representation than real world me at times

Gotta be this one.

But seriously, this is tough for me, I don't read much... kid patchun adored the following quotes though

"The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes" -KH

"Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality" -Tales of Symphonia: DotNW

My favorite modern quote is probably this, from Jeremy Bentham:

"The question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but Can they suffer?"

[frauleindermorgen]

the 巫女 thing

this post brought to you by both fire emblem wikis putting micaiah’s light priestess and deidre and julia’s starting classes on the same page. tldr; yeah, mechanics aside, i’ll buy it!

So. I’m fairly new to Fire Emblem but born and raised on JRPGs in general, therefore whenever I see a female lead in a support class with ties to said video game’s religion my mind goes straight to the shrine priestess/miko archetype.

The wikipedia article on real life miko does not quite cover the oft portrayed archetype in modern anime and manga adjacent media but it’s a good start. I like this quote on the English wikipedia page especially:  "A far distant relative of her premodern shamanic sister, she is most probably a university student collecting a modest wage in this part-time position." 

Shrines in modern Japan are common, as are shrine maidens, but their portrayal in Japanese media very much harkens back to a mysterious, almost legendary past era where local laws and religion were inseparable and women who could channel gods some of the most important political players rather than part-time students.

But wait. That’s a lot like King Arthur and Britain, isn’t it? Speaking of Arthur, that’s a pretty common name in Fire Emblem. In fact you’re much more likely to find references to him or the Mabinogion in the first eight FEs than you are any priestesses. Which brings me to my next point:

Fire Emblem wants you to think it is very, very European and for a video game produced in Japan by a bunch of non-historians it does a pretty good job of creating its own authentic world building and terminology for each nation in that frame of mind.

So, while, the noun 巫女 was used to occasionally refer to women like Deirdre who fit that archetype in the actual dialogue per this reference. It is not actually used as an in game class until Fates/IF as a unique Hoshidan base class, because Japan!

Okay - that isn’t technically true, Micaiah’s third tier class known as Light Priestess in English is also 巫女 but we’re getting there.

Up until FE14 the support and clergy classes were split by gender with female units falling into “sisters”, and male units known as “priests.” The localization choosing to use cleric for the sister class kind of muddied this, but I think it flows a lot better that way and corresponds to similar Western style RPGs so I get why they did it.

(Also. When characters like Sara and, er, Mist are categorized as basically akin to nuns in FE verse it does seem rather silly.)

Because Celica in both FE2 and its remake is so clearly based on the ideas of a warrior shrine maiden I was pretty surprised to find her class, and the female class mages like Mae and Delthea can opt into is actaully written as  神官, which is Shinto in nature but refers to a male priest. But that’s different from the aforementioned Priest / プリースト... moving on.

Thematically, I do think Micaiah being a priestess makes sense. She isn’t in any formal sense i.e. she did not grow up in a priory or receive any formal training but she’s a child touched by a goddess given healing powers. Both goddesses in the Tellius games are, despite their connection to a Biblical flood, much more representative of Daoist concepts. The good ending is the accepting of a goddess representing Wuji, rather than Ashera’s yin or Yune’s yang for instance.

(Daoist concepts later come to influence both Buddhism and State Shintoism. I’ve connected the two dots. I’ve connected the)

OKAY!!! You say. But Nel. How does this have anything to do with the class unique to Deirdre and Julia known as シャーマン ?? And it. Ok. I’m going to skip over the gba shaman classes entirely because, they aren’t relevant. Here it is, short and simple:  シャーマン is simply used as the katakana/furigana reading in Micaiah’s 巫女 class.

This is the only really bad pic I could find. Thankfully! Pegasusknight has a chart.

FE10, maybe because of FE’s previously popularity in NA, or maybe just for the hell of it, has as far as I know the only case where every one of its classes has a kanji reading and a proposed English translation to it right in the game itself.

So Soren starts with the 風魔道士 class. It’s the kanji for wind in front of the kanji for magic user! And the suggested reading on top is ウインドマージ -> Uindo Me - ji -> Wind Mage.

Likewise, you can see above that the suggested reading for Micaiah’s 巫女 class is  シャーマン. And as people have pointed out before it works not only as a cute reference to Genealogy’s mother-daughter duo but also a fairly apt descriptor of Micaiah’s final role in the story: a holy woman who channels the spirit of a god, thus, a medium or shaman.

[rosecorcoranwrites]

What to Put in Your Story (and What Not To)

I have been contemplating writing or filming a piece on “Why I (Book) Blog”, which may at some point be forthcoming, but the long and the short of it is, I find it useful to analyze stories. Note, stories, not books. As you’ll know from my Rant Rave Reviews to my four-part series on different mediums of fiction, I consider books, movies, video games, and so on to all hold value in terms of narrative structure and choice.

Despite their differences, all stories have one thing in common: someone wrote them. Which means that someone, or someones, chose what to put in them and what not to put in them. This might seem obvious, but the import of this fact seems to allude many an amateur writer and book critic. Particularly when talking shop, writers seem so focused on what taboos to avoid or what structures to follow that they forget the most basic question: what should go in the story? And its mirror image, what can be left out.

If this all seems opaque, let me illustrate with some examples.

3rd Person Omniscient: In Frame and In Focus

Someone on Twitter asked if, when writing 3rd person omniscient, it would be cheating to have a twist, since that would mean keeping facts from the reader and thus, I suppose, no longer be omniscient. I told her not to worry. As the writer, she gets to decide what is in frame in focus, and what is out.

Think of 3rd person omniscient as the lens of a camera in a movie. It shows the scene, apparently without bias, and may focus in on one character or another, or have wide shots, close ups, etc. The skilled movie-maker can still pull off wild twists, simply by decided where and how to point their camera.

Similarly, the author can choose what to focus on. Nay, she must choose, as it is literally impossible to describe every object, every action, and everything else that happens in a given scene. Even if possible, it would be boring.

This is why I think it’s helpful to analyze non-book media. What do those storytellers do, and why, and can that translate to a book? In this case, the eye of the camera is a perfect analogy for the view of omniscient 3rd.

Memoir and Other Nonfiction

In another online interaction, I mentioned that, if I ever get around to writing a memoir of library life, I might just leave COVID out (probably not, anymore, but this was back in May, and I was young and naive). Shocked, someone replied that it’s such a huge event and part of everyone’s lives; why would I do that? They might well have said how can I do that.

Because it’s a memoir, basically. Memoirs, unlike autobiographies, focus on one aspect of a person’s life. They don’t need to include everything. If it hadn’t dragged on for months and actually affected the type of experiences I want to put in my book (ie, weird things that patrons and staff do at the library), there would be no point in including it.

One can write a memoir set during the year 2001 without delving into the World Trade Center Attack, though it was the most influential event on that year and the next decade for two countries. I was in middle school then; my “middle school memoir” would include, mostly, adolescent girl and Catholic school silliness. Maybe two pages might be devoted to the attacks, because, at that point in my life, they pretty much affected two days of my consciousness. It wasn’t for a while that my focus, my lens, really realized all the repercussions.

And though this is particularly true of memoirs, all nonfiction has to leave some events and individuals on the cutting room floor, again, by nature of the bookish beast. More interestingly, in my mind, is what nonfiction writers choose to include. One of the reasons I love nonfiction is that those authors are some of the most skilled meaning makers, weaving together seemingly disparate aspects of history into a cohesive narrative.

A wonderful example of this is The Apparitionists: A Tale of Phantoms, Fraud, Photography, and the Man Who Captured Lincoln's Ghost by Peter Manseau. Manseau takes the American Civil War, the early history of photography, and the Spiritualist religion and examines how each one influenced and was influenced by the others. Note that most books about the Civil War don’t focus that much on photography, and almost none mention Spiritualism. They don’t have to, because that’s not what those authors are trying to talk about. Manseau takes a different perspective, not about battles or the fight against slavery, but about the cyclical influences of technology, religion, and war on society. Neither focus���the general Civil War view nor Manseau’s—is wrong or misleading. Both are historically accurate; they are simply about different aspects of history.

Mystery: Clues and Red Herrings

Finally, we come to my current obsession, and one where the question of what to include and what to leave out is particularly relevant: mystery fiction. Not only am I writing a mystery, I’m on a mystery binge. Poirot, Miss Marple, Father Brown, and The Red House Mystery: by soaking my brain in these, I am hoping to gain the ability to write a satisfying puzzle and denouement.

Any classic mystery relies chiefly on two things: clues and red herrings. Rather than excluding relevant details, and thus pulling the solution out of nowhere, the skilled writer’s ability to satisfyingly fool the audience relies on putting in more details that necessary and then obscuring which are relevant to the actual case.

This is deliberate on the writer’s part. When throwing in a red herring, they have to decide why it would be misidentified as a real clue, what it’s actual meaning is, and how the clever detective comes to figure out the difference. They then have to do the opposite for important clues: why does this get overlooked or misinterpreted? How does the detective discover the truth?

I had to consider this in the chapter I wrote—then re-wrote—recently. The first draft had all the facts of the case, but essentially laid it bare for the reader. It was not only too obvious, but also not punchy or interesting. So I went back to the drawing board, mentioning important clues but only hinting at their true meaning. I’m not sure I put enough physical red herrings, but I have several misleading conversations and assumptions on the part of the detective’s assistant.

Will it be satisfying? That remains to be seen, as I’m but a novice at mysteries. I may just need to adjust the focus of my lens a few more times.

[whenallelsefails-eatpie]

Finally Answering Questions for y’all

Q1: How tall or short do you wish you were?

I used to wish I was taller because I already am tall for an (AGAB)female (5′8 1/2) but then I learned about platforms so. 

4: What was your favorite video game growing up?

Monkey Ball or Sonic Adventure Escape the City...I only had a Gamecube.

6: If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

Warning: Uses humor as a defense mechanism but will quickly become extremely invested in you  and give you immense amounts of unending love if they vibe w you

8: What is your Greek personality type? [Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric, or Melancholic]

Melancholic

9: Are you ticklish?

extremely, on my back and sides (use this information wisely. I take no responsibility for involuntarily punching anyone who tickles me)

10: Are you allergic to anything?

absolutely nothing, allergies are to weed out the weak. (jkjk no eugenics here sis you slay that epipen)

11: What’s your sexuality?

~ pansexual  ~ (prefer agab [not cis, those are two different things] females)

12: Do you prefer tea, coffee, or cocoa?

tea, then coffee with cocoa. I don’t enjoy cocoa or coffee as much separately.

37: What is your eye color?

hazel/green 

38: Introvert or extrovert?

I’m ambiverted but lean toward introversion. 

44: Do you like tattoos and piercings?

oh yeah absolutely, I personally just prefer that the tattoos aren’t on your face.  Or with piercings that they don’t take up so much of your face that I can’t see what you really look like.

54: What color would you like your hair to be right now?

pink, red, or platinum 56: Something that calms you down?

reading, playing instruments, taking a bath, cooking or baking

57: Have any mental disorders?

yessir. ADD, anxiety. and I used to have really bad depression. Now my depression is simply manageable lol. 

73: What is your MBTI type?

INFP (enneagram 4)

86: Can you run a mile within ten minutes?

surprisingly yes, will I come close to passing out? Maybe. But I can.

87: Do your socks always match?

never, I hate matching my socks unless the socks are funky and need to match to give them the biggest bang for their buck. 

92: A store you hate?

Dick’s sporting goods. I have been dragged around that place for hours and absolutely nothing there interests me. (edit: I found a beanie that I liked but my previous opinion still stands)

93: How many cups of coffee can you drink in one day?

start counting and never stop. If you mean in terms of actual measurements like cups/ounces, I can drink 20. What can I say I’m from New England.

94: Would you rather be able to fly or read minds?

Definitely fly because that might help lessen my fear of heights

95: Do you like to wear camo?

literally shoot me if you ever see me wearing camo. please, I beg you. that will be me at my lowest point 

96: Winter or summer?

Autumn. Next question.

97: How long can you hold your breath for?

3-4 minutes. It’s all that breath control from musical theatre.

99: Someone you look up to:

Jughead Jones. Yes I said that, fight me. He is completely himself and he allows the different facets of his personality to shine through to people that he loves and cares about. He is loyal and caring but also unique and resilient. Plus his fave food is burgers which is an instant win for me.

100: A store you love?

Hot Topic, Barnes and Nobles, Savers or any thriftstore 

102: Where do you live?

New England bb (; gettin that dark academia aesthetic straight from the source

104: What is your favorite mineral or gem?

Amber

105: Do you drink milk?

You mean out of the glass? Like a psychopath? Like a serial killer? Absolutely not

106: Do you like bugs?

I do! Except for spiders and mosquitoes (although I’m warming up to spiders)

109: Can you draw:

Eh yeah ig, well enough. I draw realistically but I’m not great at animated style. 

111: A question you hate being asked?

“Are you a boy or a girl?” (like why? does it personally affect you? are you planning on boning me? if not then buzz off)

113: Do you like the sound of waves at the beach?

Yes, but only at night when the beach is quiet. I’m not a huge fan of the beach during the day

114: Do you prefer cloudy or sunny days?

Rainy or sunny. Don’t go givin me the clouds with none of the drizzle.

119: Favorite thing about a person: 

Personality first and foremost. Humor and kindness. But physically; their smile and mannerisms. 

120: Fruits or vegetables?

Veggies (or berries i like berries)

121: Something you want to do right now:

Run away... ahah. But in all honesty I would love to go mushroom foraging rn, or possibly go on an adventure. Maybe go put on clothing meant for an entirely different time period and run around Target idk.

123: Sweet or sour foods?

Definitely not sour I hate sour. Spoonfeed me wasabi, that I can handle. But if you make me eat a Warheads I will cry. 

129: What would you want written on your tombstone?

I personally have a lot of problems with the funeral industry, so I would rather not take up space and rot preservation chemicals into the earth. But if I had an interim tombstone with no body underneath, it would read “Live Laugh Love” bc ~irony~

131: What is something you love but also hate about yourself?

that I’m very individualistic and stubborn

132: Do you smile with your teeth showing for pictures?

Yes absolutely, that’s what they’re there for.

134: Do you like roller coasters?

Do I like feeling like I’m about to full send through the crust of the earth and die? No. No I do not. (I am a simple person, I go to carnivals for the food and to feed off terror.) 139: What nicknames do you have/have had?

Cookie

141: Have you ever seen a therapist/shrink?

OH YEAH absolutely, I am a repressed gen z homosexual raised in a homophobic religious atmosphere, I am practically born with a therapist assigned to me.

142: Would you say you are a good or bad influence to others?

Definitely good -_- unfortunately. Catch me bein the mom friend.

143: Do you prefer giving or receiving gifts/help?

I prefer giving, but I am learning how to recieve. 

144: What makes you angry

People who live their lives in willful ignorance despite the endless resources available to them and let that ignorance hurt others.

146: Do you prefer boys, girls, and/or non-binaries?

All of em. Gimme em all. I don’t like boys as much currently but I would still probably lay my life on the line for some. 

147: Are you androgynous?

Yes. It’s more fluid than it is being in consistent limbo between masc and femme. Usually I’m androgynous but I often swing wildly between both ends of that socially perceived spectrum. 148: Favorite thing about yourself physically?

My hands or smile(product of bracesTM). But I have been told I have nice hands. 

149: Favorite thing about your personality:

I am a very strong blend of wise and class clown. I can do em both, I can do em well, and I can do em whenever. I also care a lot about others but I don’t change myself to be accepted by them. 

150: Name three people you would like to talk to right now in person.

MLK Jr. --> I want to gain perspective on some of the current global issues. Jesus --> I’ve got a lot of questions for that dude. JRR Tolkien bc he’s incredible or Joan of Arc for the same reason

151: If you could go back into time and live in one era, which would you choose?

Ooh well, as a woman not many eras are desirable. But um probably either the 70s or Ancient Greece

154: Do you like to kiss others’ foreheads or hands for platonic reasons?

YES. GIMME UR FINGERS > i meant that to sound much less threatening than it did but my statement still stands. 155: Do you like to play with others’ hair?

Yes it’s literally one of my favorite things to do. I hab empty lap. *pat pat* U may lay your head on it and watch Rilakkuma and Kaoru with me while I play with your hair. pls. 157: Something that makes you nervous/anxious:

Women..... That’s it. That’s the tweet.

158: Biggest lie you have ever told:

That I am not a member of the alphabet mafia. (It’s not currently safe for me to come out) Now tell me *shines light in your face* who are your contacts?

164: Do you have long or short hair?

I have medium hair. It’s around the length of a bisexual bob or a good mullet. 

165: Shortest/Longest your hair has ever been:

Shortest was a pixie cut, almost buzzed, amazing. Longest was to my butt and was literally the worst experience in existence. I shall to this day actively rebel against having hair like that again. 

166: Why do you like, dislike, or have neutral feelings about religion?

Organized religion can suck it. You can’t organize your relationship with God, nor can you stick it into a little manmade box and pretend that you have the ability to create a perfect faith which others have to either follow or perish. It’s arrogant and damaging and hurtful and not at all what Christianity is supposed to mean. 

167: Do you really care how the universe and world was created?

I do. I think it’s important and something we need to think about. I do believe there is something after death, and I like to believe that my life has meaning. I think that questions of creation are important questions to ask and we can’t just ignore them.

168: Do you like to wear makeup?

Yes! It’s fun! Pretty colors!

170: Did you answer the questions you were asked truthfully?

Absolutely. And the ones I didn’t feel like answering I simply omitted.

[diamondnokouzai]

fallout 5: america’s dairyland

takes place ~115 years after the bombs dropped

no fucking super mutants i mean it. they make me mad now im sick of them.

faction system!

the brahmin herders: wisconsin, being the dairy state, obviously had a very large bovine population during the great war, and that tradition continued even after the cows had mutated beyond recognition. brahmin are the cornerstone of the post-war midwest commonwealth’s economy. however, cattle rustlers and brahmin-tipping are both still problems, and theres lots of problemss to be dealt with.

ghoul brahmin farmers vs. normie brahmin farmers: the ghouls are pre-war farmers who are concerned about being overtaken by brahmin monopolies and by well-meaning people who are trying to re-establish the government. normie brahmin farmers took it up as a way to survive in the wasteland and generally dislike the ghoul farmers because, beyond being ghouls, theyre ‘old-fashioned’

the tunnelers: so for those who dont know, there are tunnels all under the east side/downtown madison that connect various buildings. im picturing these in fallout-verse being designed as bomb shelters, but since the bombs dropped on a saturday, not many people were able to get there in time, and they didnt have everything they needed, so they just stayed there. maybe a vault is also down there, but separate from the tunnelers- the wealth divide comes up.

trading opportunities- its a whole little city down there, plus the vault. people think the vault is haunted cause the first thing anyone in wisconsin does is blame their problems on ghosts.

the university: so for those who dont know, the uw system has something called the ‘wisconsin idea’- the influence of the university ends at the state borders. uw system as a whole is known for agriculture mostly, so they have ties to the brahmin herders. uw system ALSO is a huge research campus, so they have ties to vault-tech as well. sort of like the institute, but they have goals- true neutral/neutral evil, focused on studying the effects of the apocalypse on peoples’ psyche and biology. evil villain, but you can side with them.

one guy is like, a little conflicted? had family who worked for vault-tech. can be recruited as a companion

mccarthyists: so joseph mccarthy was originally from wisconsin. so i think there can be a pseudo religion built up around him- like he tried to protect america from the commies, and if it wasnt for him, then america wouldve been destroyed. or something like that at least i think its funny when we make fun of capitalists in video games.

i dont want this to be a faction but i DO want wisconsins native peoples to be a part of the game in a way that doesnt suck. especially with the mounds!!

player character

so im really fucking sick of vault dwellers being  the PCs in fallout. so your guy isnt a vault dweller- im thinking a member of an exploratory/science/information gathering team from the university (but thats a secret end-game spoiler) and choosing your SPECIAL score is how you decide what role you played in the crew. anyway you have amnesia after the whole crew got massacred by mirelurks. cause madison is fucking full of lakes.

the main plot would revolve around recovering your memories also cause im a sucker for that plot device. its my fantasy fallout game and i get to choose what the plot is.

also there would be fishing. because this is fallout fucking five: america’s dairyland.

[asifindmypath]

Pop Culture Paganism: A Mental Exploration

My own personal thought experiment regarding a mental exploration of Pop Culture Paganism and Witchcraft. Don’t like it, you don’t need to read it. Flamers will be ignored. Constructive discussion and rebuttal is encouraged.

It’s worth noting that I’m a fairly recent “convert” to a pagan setting. I consider myself an eclectic polytheistic pagan witch. I worship a number of gods from different pantheons, and have a generally mixed Eclectic spirituality. I’m still learning and experimenting and discovering my craft and my path. I am not an expert by any means, and the following are my personal opinions. The only reason this post is not Private like most of my entries on this blog is because I feel this discussion may be validating for some who are put down for their faith. 

Now without further ado, if you’re interested, check under the Cut. ;)

I’ve been doing a lot of research recently. It started by my looking up if it’s offensive to the gods to watch/enjoy/associate them with pop culture. Is Hades offended by my love of the Disney version of him? Would Bast or Serket be offended by my using images of them as they appear in video games like Smite? 

I’ve come to answer myself with; it depends. It’s going to require experimentation, meditation and asking each specific god their preference, but in general, I think the answer is mostly no. If you have the proper intent, I think the gods appreciate it all the same.

I found an interesting Reddit Thread in which their was a discussion about Pop Culture Paganism. I didn’t realize that was even a thing, but reading the discussion was fascinating, and validating. While some are offended by the mere thought of not strictly following the old ways as closely as we can, others argue that myths of the old gods began as stories. 

It’s doubtful that if these gods existed as real people or divine beings before humans, that these stories we know of them are one hundred percent accurate. Humans are fallible, we embellish, we exaggerate, and even when trying to be as accurate as possible, we still insert personal bias into everything. We can’t help it, it’s in our nature. So any story, true or not, is going to, at it’s core, be subject to the bias both of the original first-hand account, by every subsequent retelling, and by the person hearing it. 

Therefore, why is it offensive to the gods to follow a new retelling of them? a modern version of a god, like, Loki and Thor, for instance, should be just as valid. It’s doubtful that the comic writers and film producers over at Marvel have consciously been contacted by Loki and Thor to tell them how to depict them, but does that mean that the gods weren’t influencing their own stories? Could Loki not have inserted the ideas, placed sources of inspiration into the lives of the writers? Of course he could have.

Another point that was brought up was that new gods spring up all the time. There is a new goddess being worshiped in India by the Dalit community. There are authors who have unwittingly created new gods or religions with their writings. There are sects of people who worship the Valar from Tolkien’s universe, the Jedi Way is a recognized religion now, Lovecraftian monsters are widely accepted as actual ancient beings and have permeated so many areas of culture. Some Celtic deities are traced back to seeming works of fiction.

Some people use pop culture figures as associations for their gods; more tangible, relate-able and realistic than their ancient stories. I recently made a strong association between Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock and Thoth. I’ve also used a Tolkien Mantra of sorts to honor Anubis; Patience being a struggle for me, and one of His attributes, I will occasionally find myself thinking of Treebeard’s signature philosophy, “do not be hasty.”

Some do actually worship fictional characters, even those not intended to be deified. Some use archetypal characters for worship and find pop culture associations for them, but some literally worship Batman or Sailor Moon. Some use fictional characters in spirit work, or create spells around them. The concept of the energy, the love and adoration, the living and breathing history and collective thought poured into and about these characters, this whole process makes absolute sense to me. I’m not sure if I’ll go quite so deep into it, though perhaps. Vi has already mentioned potentially worshiping Clavicus Vile. I’d be okay with that. 

Given that many works of fiction draw from real life mythology, legends or properties, a lot of fictional deities and characters have some real-life counterpart. One can find strong correlations to the Gems in Stephen Universe having similar properties to their real-life crystal and stone counterparts. Many fictional deities are amalgamations of real gods. Hell, many “primary” sources of old gods are works of fiction in and of themselves, such as the works of Homer. While there may be truth the stories, they are embellished and theatrical to make it interesting to read, and are at best an artist’s interpretation of events.

I saw another post today that was so validating. Can’t find it right now, or I would link it. Basically it said that a god becomes a god when someone believes they are one. It could be a single person. They are a god. The older the god, the more energy put towards it, the more followers they have, the stronger they become. So in my mind, old gods like the Egyptian, Roman, Norse, Celtic, ect. gods, those of ancient civilizations, most of these will be far more powerful than a new god with a small following. Millions of people did and still do worship Anubis. There are probably only a select few who worship Dipper Pines (though given GF’s cult following, I’m sure I’d be surprised at that number-). Therefore Anubis has more influence and power as an established god, able to reach out even to those unaware of him at the time, and sometimes bring people to the fold this way. Versus Dipper, if deified, would have a harder time calling to a random new child to join the cult of the Mystery Twins. 

My concept, which I originally considered a sort of excuse or explanation of my odd and unusual spiritual beliefs, is that energy is a force, it’s neither created, nor is it destroyed. If magic is just channeling one’s will into existence, expending your energy and maybe using other energy aids (a burning candle, a charged crystal, stored energy in plant matter, ect) to yield a desired effect, then why can’t the same concept be put towards anything? If we can will the spirits to read our futures, if we can will two people to fall in love, or will the universe to cause someone bad luck or harm, why can we not will a new being into existence? 

In the same way that offerings, prayers and even uttering the name can strengthen older, established gods; in the same way, why can I not make offerings, prayers and epitaphs to Smaug, or Winnie the Pooh, or any fictional character? 

Personally, the concept of pop culture magic is also fascinating to me, and that makes even more logical sense to me. If we take a character like Ash Ketchum. A character of indomitable spirit, fierce determination, immortality, and innocence; a character beloved by millions, who’s journeys have inspired generations of children, even shaped the lives of some - there is magic there. There is so much collective thought, energy, love, adoration there. So many know his name, his image, his stories. There are myths and legends about him, theories about other adventures, other possibilities. Artwork is made, statues created, there are buildings dedicated to his world, his friends and family, the animals and creatures of his world. 

Even if you don’t see the correlations to a god from an outside perspective, that amount of power centered around some pixels on a television screen is real. It’s there, it exists. No witch or magic user should be able to deny that. Using that stored energy in a spell would be simple when looking at it from this perspective. In the way we can take an animal, look over all its aspects, and channel it into our spells. In the same way we can invoke Mother Bear for strength, maternal protection and love, we could invoke a character like The Doctor for wisdom, compassion and a drive to do what’s right. 

The other angle here, is that anyone who subscribes to the Many Worlds Theory can’t really deny the possibility of most of this. This theory proposes there are an infinite number of universes full of infinite possibilities. There is a world where the Roman Empire never collapsed and we’re all living under the new Caesar. There is a world where modern day man is still living alongside dinosaurs. There is a world where ours does not exist. There is a world exactly the same as this one, except that you ate cereal for breakfast today instead of scrambled eggs. There’s a world where dogs are the dominant species and keep humans as pets. There is a world where the Avengers are fighting against Thanos. One where Luke Skywalker is teaching younglings in the Jedi Temple. One where Ash and Pikachu are traveling to another new region in the Pokemon world. One where we live in a giant computer simulation. Infinite. Possibilities.

I’m not here to convince anyone, I may or may not even practice any of this, it’s just some interesting thought exercise. I like thinking about things like this sometimes. I also think that in a world where we are beginning to pave our own Paths; we’re inventing identities for ourselves, discovering new genders, sexualities, magics, gods, everything; that we should be kind to each other as we discover these new avenues. To each their own, and live and let live <3

Blessed be, everyone, and may you all find whatever Path you wind up on fulfilling and full of joy.

[war--lords]

Hi lovely! I have a (bullet point) request, please write it if it inspires you, if not feel free to ignore it~! We know it's possible for people from the past to travel into the future... What would Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Masamune (as MC's s/o) think of/like when they travel to the future? If you could include both some broader topics and details (like foods or technology) that'd be wonderful quq Thank you so much, have a wonderful day!! I can't wait to read more of your things ❤️❤️❤️

Hi! Interesting ask you have here! I’m gonna do this as a warm-up before I write for the event, and I hope you don’t mind me assigning them to different categories!

(EDIT: DID YOU INTENTIONALLY PICK 3 OF MY MOST FAV CHARACTERS ;V;)

Nobunaga— Politics

Nobunaga canonically picks up on things quickly, even those that are of faraway concepts. Combine that level of intellect and logic with his general interest in politics, and you have a very curious warlord. 

All the better if you can talk to him about systems like capitalism, discuss countries with closed door policies like North Korea, explore the effects of religion on the governance of certain countries, etc.

Let’s be honest, if you weren’t with him in the future, he’d borrow all books on politics and law (domestic and international) in the library and read every single one of them.

Thinks that maybe he should be the boss of United Nations lol

He’ll appear to be that Guy™ who works too hard even on vacation, what with his studious efforts like going to the library or reading the daily paper or watching Crash Course videos online. Even so, he still makes sure to take it easy and enjoy life with you. After all, there are so many other things in the modern world that he just has to experience.

Supplementary interests include: going to the candy store and trying all sorts of sweets (in moderation—he always shares with you), a Japan tour to scope out the land he is supposed to rule and experience the strengths of each province (he wants to understand how they can thrive and overcome potential problems), and just. Lounging around in the hotel with you. Or hanging out somewhere, preferably with a balcony, so he can hug you from behind as if the two of you were back in his tenshu again.

Hideyoshi— Art & Architecture

Hideyoshi marvels at the physical forms that take up the surrounding space. Buildings are tall. Very tall. And things don’t catch on fire or get destroyed as quickly. Not only that, it gives him different feelings. A particularly curvy skyscraper may give him an eerily futuristic vibe. He’s interested in buildings built during the Meiji/Taisho/Showa periods because of the Western influence in the design. 

Takes lots of pics after you taught him how to, acts like a total tourist. He picks up on some camera skills quite fast! There will be lots and lots of museum or bookstore dates. It’s kind of adorable watching him geek out at the visual art history or poetry.

Often worries if he’s tiring you too much, since he’s practically dragging you everywhere just to visit and stare at buildings. Will feel guilty until you tell him that you’re genuinely enjoying yourself. In return, he’ll take pictures of you with buildings or architecture, and though it takes some practice at first, at the end of the day you’re gonna have a shit ton of aesthetic pics to post online.

Supplementary interests include: Going to the zoo to look at animals that are not introduced during the Sengoku era yet (like how often do you get to see a lion in Japan? Lions don’t freaking live in Japan. Neither do penguins! He freaking likes seeing you gush over things), getting his hands all over you because he can

Masamune— Culinary 

Obviously, am I right? Since fighting and weapons are illegal, he doesn’t have any other source of entertainment other than cooking (and you, of course. You’re his greatest source of amusement). But the future and the resources available in the future are just so fascinating to him. Imagine bringing Masamune to a local grocery store and feeling like you’re babysitting a three-year old—except he actually knows some of the produce. 

BINGE-WATCHING COOKING SHOWS. BAKING SHOWS. TUTORIALS. MasterChef, The Great British Bake Off, freaking Tasty from Buzzfeed. Everything. And boy is he gonna learn! He’ll be so eager in asking you to involve him in the kitchen. You’re not surprise to find him a very adept learner, and soon enough he’s going to be cooking for you.

Lots of eatery dates. You two need to watch your health. He’s going to eat, eat, eat, eat. And when he eats, he expects you to eat too. You have a shit ton of food photos on your phone, as a result. Also: the two of you are that Couple™ who feeds each other parfait. Sickeningly sweet, inducing jealousy from people around you. 

Moms and aunties at the grocery store notice him. A lot. Refers to him as the hot hunk that goes shopping, presumably (and unfortunately for them) to cook for his spouse. They can only hope.

Supplementary interests include: other than porn technology in general? Games, arcades, VR stuff, gym equipment, memes, mukbang videos. Tours Japan for each region’s special dish. Amusement parks (to win you a tiger soft toy!!!) and weird game shows, including the Japan mascots competition. Thinks Barii-san is cute.

P.S. I recommend that they watch Bill Wurtz’s ‘history of the entire world i guess’ and ‘history of japan’ when they arrive in the future. 

P.P.S. I love Bill Wurtz

[jimmie19751230-blog]

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