#over what is literally just a difference of opinion

[metalheadsagainstfascism]

My issue with stating anything as "inherently reactionary" implies that we as human beings with opinions and complex thoughts can't have an opinion on something just because it's popular.

I can list all of the copyright issues with generative AI and you can call me reactionary. Sure.

I can say I hate AI art and you can assume I'm reactionary. Sure.

But the issue with that is it's a knee-jerk reaction assuming there's no complex thought behind my brain providing to that opinion.

Okay let's set aside all if the AI that has 6 fingers and doesn't know how lighting works for 5 seconds and let's get into real human created art.

One of the biggest issues with animation in video games and movies is always the face. More specifically something called uncanny valley. Basically there's something that looks just not quite right in the features. Not just right in how the human emotes or how the eyes express. It looks like it's mimicking a human and it creates a deeply unsettling feeling in us.

That is why so many old school video games characters looked so not human. Because if we couldn't copy that soul it would be more unsettling then not.

Human animators have come a long way since then. An animator may correct me, but it's stronger computers more able to capture fine muscle movements?

Anyways. Human artists are REALLY REALLY good at this. Some can draw images that look better that a photograph. They emote so well that it enacts a FEELING in you. You see the emotions even in a still image.

Ai art...

The fuck is this?

That's fucking unsettling as hell. I'm fucking uncomfortable. And I've determined a consistent way to determine why. Cover the bottom half of the face and it's not in he eyes. Literally the only part of this face emoting is the grin. There's no emotions in that face. I use this kind of stuff as inspiration for a character that gives fake smiles.

A lot of AI compensates by not emoting at all but...

That's not much better. There's not a singular emotion in that face. It looks like he's staring right through you and it makes me uncomfortable.

Tldr; Moral failings aside, AI art is bad because it's inability to emote has a level of uncanny valley that makes me so uncomfortable that I literally have a negative physical averse reaction to it.

"Umm... but what if we train it to not be shit?"

Well then my issue with AI art will be how it oversaturates hundreds of pictures that are like... the same handful of guys just in different poses.

The fuck is this crap? It's literally just the same guy.

And these characters are almost always based off some character that's a popular media. The people that make this crap have no originality.

I have aphantasia so sometimes I'm looking at Pinterest to visualize the characters I'm creating to see if they'd give the right vibe. But the problem is, if I want a 30 year old male with light skin, long black hair, no tattoos, a side shave, and not smoking. I can't find that. Their skintone is either too dark, or they're too young, or they're portrayed as some type of yakuza (probably for racial stereotype reasons).

And don't even get me started on how POC characters drawn by AI look like a white person with brown skin.

The fuck is this crap? The palm? The nose? The overall face shape? That is not a black man.

Moral failings of Gen AI aside. I hate AI because it's crap. It doesn't know what human emotions look like. It doesn't know what POC looks like. It oversaturates the market with shitty garbage. And there's no original character design in places that I used to be able to find good character inspiration because people don't know how to be fucking creative with it. Maybe before making 5000 pictures of the same character with your shitty Gen AI bots and plastering them all over the internet you should check if someone else already made 5000 shitty ai pictures of that character and maybe you should try being fucking original. (The "you" in this statement isn't aimed at the person I'm replying to but towards shitty AI "artists".)

-fae

my issue with the argument that "disliking ai art is inherently reactionary" is that it acts like pro-ai art people are somehow less reactionary on their views on art, when like the majority of defense's of ai art as like a higher form art are indistinguishable from the arguments people use to defend the art of like. hitler

[waiting-drives-you-crazy]

ok but, even as someone who doesn't dip into the omegaverse often, there's a vast difference between alpha sam and omega sam; and while both are incredibly, incredibly delicious, it's hard to pick which one fits him better. so much of sam's character is him fighting against what's already been decided for him, and yeah.

if sam's an omega, you bet your ass he'd fight that presentation for as long as he could. his dads an alpha, his brother's an alpha, why should he be the omega of the family? as if he'd want anything with more of an ability to paint 'disappointment' across his forehead, of course he'd get omega. there's the possibility for both intense coddling and being shunned by john and dean because of said omega status that i won't delve too deep into, but just know, sam would still fight against either treatment. He'd wanna be strong, so strong, and when he gets taller than both his dad and his brother, taller and strong enough to pass as something other than omega, he's close to where he wants to be in life, and he'd run with that so well, till eventually he runs away to stanford. buttt he'd also be reminded of it, time and time again, ya know? big brother uses the voice on him, and he goes all soft and whispery. not to mention!!! werewolves, and vampires, and demons, oh my; scent blockers only go so far!!! plus, sam gets hurt so much in the show, and he breaks. literally, we don't see the same sass and attitude from sam reminiscent of the kripke era post his run (we get close), because too much has happened to him for him to stay the same. and it just gets worseeee as the seasons go on (free my baby please), because when purgatory and all the stuff after happens, he'd want to be so good for his big brother, he'd give dean anything to get him to fully trust sam again; he'd just roll over and take it, ya know? there'd be the initial fights of course, but he'd just get so tired of always fighting; and his big brothers always known how to take care of everything so well, so what if sam just hands it (control) over to him after twenty years? i'd also like to point out that if sam was an omega, he'd probably eventually delude himself into believing that being obedient and submissive and omega-esque was the 'right' way, simply because it would have had been beaten into him.

MOVING ON!!! if sam's an alpha, yeah he makes john proud, family full of alpha winchesters, but sammy's always been the odd one out; more sensitive, more feeling. there's no need for the macho man facade with him, especially not when he's around his big brother. even if sam was an alpha, dean would still be all over him. dean's job is to take care of sammy no matter what. and getting sam to submit to him, matter of fact, dean being the only person sam submits to, willingly, that'd be like crack to him. he'd practically overdose, i promise you, he's sick. aaand with all the stuff that happens to sam (my poor poor baby), getting tortured and kidnapped and beaten and betrayed, over and over and over again, that would break him; and it would chip away at the one facet of sam's identity still forcing him to be strong.

anywayyyy, in the end he ends up a total slut for dean so i don't mind either way. thank you for tuning in to my silly little opinion, i hope to see you, maybe never (read: very soon)!

[sieglinde-freud]

oh im obsessed with this actually… who ever wrote this one i am kissing u on the forehead and hugging you real tight… inigo is such a loverboy im kkkhhhhhhijnsdnfng

[w-40-k]

First of an addition to my previous post (I forgot about);

The son who was the inside help to steal the panacea, participated in the conflict to free the lion,

(partially in an attempt to redeem (read atone) himself, but also what is basically a suicide mission from the rest of the honour guard

[bit of a sink or swim thing, if he lives great! If not, well thats one less hazzard to deal with, (the conflict to free the lion is *brutal*)])

and he is gravely *injured*, but surrives to see the lion freed by Mortarion.

(*Dying* is easy, it's what he's bred and raised to do; *living* with the knowledge that you are part of the reason for all of this suffering on the other hand, now *that* can break a man.

'I didn't *die*; this is a sign from the Emporer that i am to do do my penance by living'

[he's banished from the home guard by the sons and would've also never again be allowed to set foot onthe 500 worlds itself too, if not for the intervention of Guilliman.

Who, whilst disquieted by the fact that the gambit can be exploited like that, sees that the son (I propose that he's named Archillies; for how his one weakness was exploited) is genuinely remorseful for his actions and so finds Archillies a suitable task to accomplish that keeps him out of the sons way (there are those within the home guard, who hold the opinion, Archillies should've died in the Liberation of the Lion)])

On the Emporer;

The emperor isn't actively *malicious*, just suffering from a case of 'my way or the highway' in addition to thinking he knows whats best for humanity (and also having been around long enough to witness every single single combination of fuck up).

He was also very much on a *time crunch*, with the human webway project as his his no. 1 priority.

Love or hate the guy, he just plain doesn't have *time* to care about anything that doesn't involve his plan for humanity.

(The horrors beyond your comprehension are very much out to *get* you and they would love nothing more then to see you fail [and will help *make* it so if given half a chance])

Also 'carring' from the perspective of an imortal (perpetual) who's additionally also made up off like a million spykers is going to be different to that of your average (trans)human.

(YMMV on if the emperor rid himself of parts of his humanity over time to better focus on his plan without distractions. Because if he *did*, that means he literally *can't* care about the fates of individuals.)

'Oh Angron is sad about his friends and he also has *literal* nails in his head? Can he still do what I tell him to though? Yes? Great. Moving on to issue no. 1,687,777'

On interactions between the trio;

That's going to be a dozy.

Because you've got lion, who *looks* the oldest but is actually the youngest in terms of actual *lived* experience.

(YMMV on how the warp fucked with how long the infant primarchs spent in the warp and on their planets prior to being found by emps.)

And Lion and Guilliman are going to discuss things that happened ten millennia ago like they recently happened (because to them it *is* recent) and Mortarion can only go 'huh, I guess that *was* a thing that happened back then'

Mortarion who has, for the most part (because warp), actually *lived* through most of the past ten millennia, get's to occasionally fill in blanks in the other two's knowledge with first hand accounts of events.

In general things are going to be *akward*.

You have Guilliman; whom he killed (in a very gruesome manner even. oh and because of his eideitic memory he remembers *every second* of it ), and who actively has to suppress his fight or flight instinct when they interact.

And Lion whom he freed (from a very long time of improvement) but who also wants to show solidarity with Guilliman.

(Lion and Guilliman have some very long conversations, because they each other are the only people (on the same level as a primarch) who *gets* what they went through.

The wide open sky, suddenly narrowed to just a window, the knowledge that there's nothing you can do to change it *either*. The sheer bloody difference of being able to do *everything* to suddenly *not* fucks with them the most.

In addition to the broken trust for Guilliman and the knowledge that this could happen again to the *both* of them.)

But Mortarion is an older, male figure who has been around the block and knows this galaxy like the back of his hand. He's turned over a new leaf (both to free his sons and for the hope of a brighter future) and he is *reliable* because he has an incentive to do so.

That's to say he is someone who can watch *over* the other two,

(Guilliman has conflicted feelings on this; is his death at Mortarion's hand *worse* then feeling of betrayal he felt when the sons enacted their plan to collar him?

The feeling of helplessness at decaying alive in real time without anything to do about it [primal fear of death] vs helplessness at having that collar forced on him out of a twisted sense of love from the sons [primarch reduced to just a man]

And Mortarion may be gruff, but in his own way he's making an effort to acomodate Guilliman's needs.

He does this partially out of practicality;

Guilliman is more useful if he can actually focus on the task in front of him. But also because, seeing another primarch -a demigod for all intents and purposes- acutely try to *suppress* his fight and flight instinct, unsettles something deep within Mortarion.

Mortarion does not regret what he did to Guilliman [godblight] itself, but now he is confronted with the active consequences of his actions and decides he wants to do something about it.

[The person who caused you so much pain, also being the one to try and ease it, is the most conflicting for Guilliman; it would be easier to deal with, if Mortarion would be cruel or even indifferent]

He offers lion similar accommodations, but since there's less bad blood [read trauma] between these two it's... easier.)

almost like the emperor, if he actually *cared* (YMMV on if the emperor has the capacity to care, re: discarded humanity).

Also speaking of Mortarion;

Now that he's with the Emporer and out from under Nurgle's thumb, he's (also the DG to a degree if were honest) probably going to have a midlife crisis at some point.

Because he had ten millennia to grow (no pun intended) and settle into the person he is now.

Detangle the mess of what is actually him and what is Nurgle's influence on him (because deamon princes shift over time such, that their desires and wishes align with those of their patron)

Figure out what parts of himself he wants to keep and what to get rid of.

Figure out who he wants to be as a *person*.

(Boy's got *alot* of introspection to do, but at least he has his sons, who are in the same boat.

Though he doesn't tell them that,

[bit of a conflict between, happy he isn't alone in this and wishing his sons wouldn't have to go through this, even as he's *glad*, his sons are finally *free* of Nurgle and have the choice to be anything that they want to be (well, within reason, those are *still* astartes)])

All of that in addition to the at mimimun severe body dismorphya he (and the DG) deals with now.

(That's to say, even if the emperor *only* gets rid of the millions of diseases he carries in addition to the actual rotting bits

[just to the point that it is *safe* for your average baseline to exist in Mortarion's general vicinity]

that's still a *huge* adjustment to get used to! [actual *acceptance* is a separate matter *entirely*]

Because whilst those changes [Nurgle] were forced on him, they've been a part of him for long enough that they became *him* [Mortarion].

The emperor also can't draw the process of removing them out for *too* long, because of the eventuality that Mortarion actually needs to fight *alongside* baselines, who would very much prefer *not* decompose on the spot [like Guilliman (also this is would be terrible for Mortarion's and the DG already less then *stellar* reputation)])

Now that I think on it this would actually gain him some newfound sympathy towards his sons and astartes in general.

(The process of turning a baseline into astartes and also astartes into primaris [also, dreadnoughts] are some pretty drastic changes that most don't get to have a lot of say in. And those changes fundamentally *change* you up to the *molecular* level.

That's at a minimum some pretty severe body *dismorphya* if not outright body *horror*.)

On Lorgar;

OK, I wrote that bit about lorgar's vision to essentially be lorgar seeing that vision at some random point and going 'huh, neat. Anyway moving on' but now that you mention the possibility of redemption...

The emperor has his fingers in many pies and with the chaos god distracted (angron dead, morty a turncoat) he was able to manipulate the warp such, that lorgar saw this vision of a future that was not to be.

(more like lorgar sees fragments of *something*, gets curious and investigates [i imagine lorgar to be similar to the religious scholars of the islam during the middle ages, religious but also a man of learning] only to see the whole thing for himself in the end)

This (lorgar) was the emporer's back up plan in the eventuality that Mortarion would've either hesitated to long or outright *refused* the emperor's offer (morty *didn't*, but it never hurts to be prepared)

Also this would've been a plan in the making for a *very* long time (relatively speaking, because warp). For the emporer knows a vassal, who you can convince and agrees with you, is more loyal then one you brought to it's knees by force.

(None of the deamon princes, sans *maby* lorgar have actually been properly *seduced* to join chaos and the emperor *knows* and can *exploit* that. So lorgar gets the *propper* seduction treatment.

But like, for our purposes, imagine lorgar as a deamon who gets seduced by whats essentially an angel [biblical accurate angel].

Also Lorgar is *the* religion guy; would be a missed opportunities if we *didn't* take advantage of some classic themes you know?)

In general I don't know a huge amount about lorgar, so any corrections are very much appropriated (do right by your favorite guy).

However anykind of redemption would include only lorgar and exclude the WB (what with faith and your personal approach to it beeing a pretty *intimate* thing, like, say with the Anchorrite.)

Speaking of the Anchorrite;

That reunion would go over relatively well I imagine. With the Anchorrite gladened that his father finally, at last has returned to the light (no pun intended).

Pherhaps there might be something of an exchange of roles for those two; with the Anchorrite taking on the role of a guide for newly returned lorgar.

Help proppely aquaint lorgar with the imperial cult, smooth over tension between lorgar and others of the faith (show him the ropes so to speak).

Also Lorgar (after figuring out how to fit his personal views on religion and emperor into the established canon of the imperial cult that is) will be *fascinated*, at a *minimum* from a religious scientific standpoint, in regards to how the imperial cult diverged from his original scriptures over time (because scholar).

And after he has had time to prove his mettle, I could see specifically the adepts soriatas taking a shine to him.

(faithful, zealous and with a scholar focus for lorgar that would gel pretty well with the branches that have a greater focus on the *nun* aspect of the sisters.

I'm now also remembering that the sisters actually respect the imperial guard quite a bit and *that* in turn reminds me of the repentias and penal legions in general.

Say, lorgar becomes to be regarded as something of a patron for the rempetias and penal legions (everyone who does penitence). Because if something as *wretched* and *corrupt* as a *deamon prince* managed to find the light, then *surely*, *they* can as well?

On training between the trio and apologies;

Frankly, I think it's too early for anyone to even be willing to give the people, who might feel inclined to offer an apology, the time of day to listen to.

Let the *traitors* prove their mettle, who knows if they won't just turn turncoat *again* at a critical moment.

(Lion and Guilliman make an *effort* to to not have anyone call those formerly aligned with chaos that to their *face*, but they very much understand the sentiment, even if the duo disproves on the basis that name calling is pretty disadvantageous from a unit cohesion standpoint)

And because of the eventuality of them fighting on the same battle field is a fact that happens regardless of the preferences of those involved,

(far way in case of Guilliman and sons because of the trauma they have because of Mortarion, also to a lesser extent lion and sons in regards to lorgar [who wasn't *personally* a part of the fighting, but very much *orchestrated* the whole thing].

The are also countless numbers of imperial citizens, who *suffere*d at the hands of lorgar and Mortarion in some fashion, directly or otherwise)

training *needs* to happen, because the Imperium *needs* every ally it can get and it cannot afford anything but *absolute* cohesion if they want a *chance* at standing against any of the millions of foes constantly asaling them from all sides.

'Oh, you have trauma from this honestly very fucked up thing that happened to you? Well to bad! The thing trying to eat us isn't just going to wait for you to pull yourself together. If you falter and slow us down, we are *all* going to be screwed!'

In regards to the sons (UM and DA) I could pherhaps imagine some pretty extreme form of exposure therapy beeing employed to get a lid on the gambit (they cannot afford to be distracted trying to murder their allies when the tyranid swarm in front of them wants to eat that hive over there)

Like, start out by put singular DG behind glass walls so the sons can't murder them and thus to get used to their cousins presence.

Guilliman (accompanied by lion) forces himself to have polite conversations with Mortarion face to face (first a distance away and slowly reducing the distance over time, then at some point escalate to unarmed sparring.)

But this is very much a long term plan that needs to be enacted in an unfortunately short amount of time.

Interestingly, some of the fallen would secretly (deathwish if that comes out) hold some measure of admiration for Mortarion for returning their father to to them. Also because if someone like a deamon primarch can find the light then surely they can *too*

(Specifically Mortarion because, he turned turncoat in the hope for a brighter tomorrow and to safe his sons, oposed to lorgar who was outraged at future that was not.

Morty's slightly more approachable in that his motives are viewed as somewhat more *selfless*, compared to the somewhat more *self-centred* motives of lorgar)

On lion forest walking and corvus;

OK, from what I understand the lion's forest walking thing is just him able to enter the warp, but with a caliban flavored aesthetic because lion's the one perceiving things and the warp (made of emotions, dreams ambitions works on *concepts*) accommodates.

Corvus would probably want to keep an eye(s because he's more warp entity then primarch at that point) on lorgar. He'd probably have an easier time just shadowing (no pun intended) lorgar on his quest of the truth (lorger during the time he's still a deamon prince and given hints of a vision from emps), as oposed to having to actually track down lion in the warp (neddle in a haystack essentially).

I think corvus might prefer to stay independent from the Imperium (not join emps, because emps is very much both a god-but-not and in the end a *tyrant*, something corvus very much doesn't gel with), but would assist if called upon. He takes on something of the role of a guidance counsel in regards to lorgar (emps puts corvus on the task, but corvus was planing to do that *anyway*)

Lastly, a point in general;

With Angron dead, Morty and Lorgar turned turncoats (and Corvus being Imperium-aligned), this puts chaos at a pretty *severe* disadvantage.

(Chaos; Fulgrim [EC], Perty [IW], [WB], [NL], (AL), [BL/SoH], Magnus [TS] = 10

Imperium; Guilliman [UM], Lion [DA], Mortarion [DG], Lorgar, (Corvus) [RG], [S], [IF], [IH], [SW], [WS], (AL) = *15*)

This isn't just a numbers issue *either*;

Without morty and Angron that's two chaos gods without a deamon primarch(prince), in *addition* to the knowledge morty and Lorgar have on chaos that the imperium can use to it's advantage.

That doesn't only mean strategic advantages but also a loss of *faith* in chaos

(also from an in universe, meta perspective the imperium is seen as *winning* and the warp *thrives* on meta.

That's going to weaken the influence of the chaos gods as a *whole*, but also *specifically* Nurgle and Khorne. In turn this actively *strengthens* the Emporer, who can more easily intervene because of this)

And as fun as it is for our little guys to win for once, we need to even the playing field.

(Wouldn't really be 40k if the Imperium isn't bearly skidding by *just* by the very skin of their teeth you know)

[I also had this whole spiel about how chaos makes for an excellent *personal* antagonist.

Because corruption is very *intimate* and there's a whole spectrum of motivations for *why* a person can be corrupted (Erebus to Archillies) and whilst there is a ton of other foes for the Imperium to fight, a guardsman Turing traitor for the tau vs getting corrupted by *chaos* will always just hit different [*literal* alien life form vs actually *eldritch* abominable]

The closest a faction gets to that aspect are the gene steelers, but there it's more about *generations* as oposed to actual *individuals*]

[I would like point out that i didn't set *out* to give khorne and Nurgle replacements, but it kind of just worked out that way!

Also this is very much playing on the seductive, manipulative nature of chaos]

Then I remembered that fun little tidbit about how Russ vanished trying to find the fruit of life, in an effort to restore the emperor to life.

The fruit of life which is theorised to be related to Isha (eldar goodness of healing), or located to be within nugles garden.

So, say Russ actually managed to find and gain entrance to the Garden but he has been lost within it's maze like depths.

Russ is stubborn and above all *loyal* but in the face of a *god* he is but a man.

It begins with small things (wispered hints about clues if only he would listen during moments of respite, the last words of some corrupted wretch who despite everything still clings to it's former self before he cuts them down) and slowly but steadily increases over time.

And Nurgle has all the time in the world.

Russ knows this, for as much as he excelled at playing the brute he is far more *intelligent* them many would give him credit for. Thus he decides to pick his battles whilst he still *can* and makes a *choice*.

The fruit of life safly delivered to the Alfather to restore him to life in exchange for Russ' loyalty and soul.

Nurgle -gladdended by a plan coming to fruition and the prospect of another child to embrace his ways- eagerly agrees.

The bargin is *struck* and all comes to pass as was agreed upon.

The fruit is delivered within the emperor's very own throne room and would indeed restore the emperor back to life.

However; such would be life by the definition of an alien god. Who does indeed love all his children equally, but does not differentiate between a microbe and a human.

Russ for his part knows only that his journey is at it's end, glad to have sentenced himself to an eternity of damnation if it means the Alfather restored to life.

(Ok, so in my mind russ knows everything within the garden is corruption itself, so he basically subsisted of off stubbornness and pride, still alive *only*, because his nature as a primarch allows him to draw on the warp.

At some point he falls into a bog and has to crawl his way out on hands and feet. During which he turns into a bit of a bog mummy [complete with red hair; a nod to the old red haired russ designs], not yet *fully* mummified but *definitely* on his way towards one.

After he strikes the bargin he turns into a full bog mummy but with tons of moss and other wet land plants growing on him

[Growth and renewal as oposed to morty's theme of death and decay)

Basically he turns into something akin to mummified ganondorf from the second breath of the wild game in terms of looks [id reccomend watching a trailer for extra spooky] but with more plants.

At this point the SW in general, but especially any of the Rune priests (SW version of spykers) feel a *disturbance* in the force. And even without a stomach Bjorn the Fell Handed, get's the phantom feeling of a sinking feeling in his gut, like something is seriously *wrong*. This actually awakens him and spooks whoever happens to be close by.

The emperor for his part sees the fruit, puts the pieces together what his loyal son *did* and orders the caretakers to relocate the fruit to the vaults beneath the imperial Palace [the place he keeps everything powerful and dangerous enough that he doesn't want people to have.]

Russ himself even post bargin isn't just going to become a deamon prince or champion, no that needs to be something he *ears*, but the influence Nurgle has on him now could make it so that Russ might one day become that.

[For the purposes of this au let's say he won't, but in the event of the emperor's *return*(to life) this might be reconsidered.])

After Russ I *also* remembered a comment under a YouTube video discussing the possibility of Dorn's return.

The commenter wrote that a returned Dorn would be *disgusted* by the state of the current Imperium and want nothing to do with it. Then they went on to write, that they would want a returned Dorn to play into the disgruntled soldier aesthetic.

So let's do just that.

Rogal was last seen fighting abord a traitor ship during M31 and is presumed to be dead or missing. [YMMV but I'm going with the version of him missing with only his hand recovered (in posession of the IF and treated as a chapter relic)]

So, say he's been fighting all this time, pherhaps alongside a small group of various individuals,

(human or otherwise, because frankly, if there's *deamons* the actual *alien lifeform* isn't so bad now [at least *those* actually *stay* dead when you kill them))

fighting to surrive, to pherhaps some day get out of here (warp) and back into the *realspace* itself.

(You wish and you shall receive)

During a long winded conflict, Rogal Dorn and his Companions actually manage to enact a highly dangerous plan with a great chance of failure that let's them transition to realspace successfully!

They are out!

Except they are confronted with a large scale battle in which they are immediately forced to defend themselves from because the vessel they arrived in happened to be of xeno orgin.

After another harrowing conflict that they managed to escape with their lives only by the very skin of their *teeth*, they take refuge in what for all intents and purposes is a pirate heaven (xenos and human).

They have but a moment to breath before they are pressganged into joining one of the many pirate crews.

Dorn, for the sake the Companions who he has surrived and fought alongside with bears this though unhappily, for truly, this is still an improvement in comparison to the horrors they faced in the warp.

They once again bide their time, adjusting to existing within the materium once more. Taking a moment to just finally *breath* and truly take in that they are *out*.

However what is harder to adjust to is the sheer *cruelty* and *inefficiency* they encounter at every point. Dorn, who still remembers a time when enlightenment and reason where the bulwark of the Imperium takes this the hardest.

But they endure for they cannot do anything else.

They slowly work their way up the ranks, the resourcefulness and craftiness as well as the bond of their little band shares not going unnoticed (as well as primarch charisma).

After long enough that their time within is not so fresh anymore they, though a combined of stubbornness, competency and sheer *reasonableness* gained enough connections and loyalty to take the heed of their very own small fleet.

They set out determined to bring about the future Dorn remembers he must have laid the foundations for.

Yet whilst they succeed in some minor endeavours, many more times they are stymied and undermined at every point. Where they go to offer aid on one front, three others are over run.

An ambush from an ally who has no choice but to betray them.

A corrupt offical taking more then his cut and thus forcing good men and women to turn to more desperate means.

The incompetence of an overseer which sees those in his charge make mistakes and face punishment as a result.

Warfronts that begin to resemble mass graves rather then battle fields because of the delayed survival of supplies.

Dorn -stalwart, reliable, *patient* Dorn- may have a long memory and hold the might of a primarch but there is only so much he will take before he decides 'enough is enough' and turn to more drastic measures, because if every attempt at employing reasonable means *fail*, unreasonable means *will* be taken.

He is a builder and he knows sometimes the only way is to tear everything to the *ground* and build *anew*.

(Ok, imagine the competence and reasonable attitude of caiaphas cain, but with the luck of the lamenters mixed with general 40k nastiness.

And dorn in this embodys the last part of the proverb; 'there are three things all wise man fear; the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.

Whilst i wouldn't nessecarily describe Dorn as gentle per say, he is someone who's honest, patient, competent, reasonable and *compassionate* who tries to do the right thing in a time that, more often then not, actively *punishes* that.

And whilst he is stoic this doesn't make him unfeeling, moreso akin to a very deep still lake.

He tried for a *very* long time, but at some point even he recognises he's fighting a lost cause.

[A bit like a child who is outraged to discover that the world is cruel, but instead of accepting that, he is determined to change things so the world *becomes* kind, like the way he *knows* it can and *should* be.]

Khorne in this, would *love* to have Dorn as a deamon prince. Because in a universe as cruel as 40k, Dorn will never run out of things to *fight* [a fundamental clash of interests].

So whilst he knows Dorn would never make a pact with him (knowingly), that isn't going to stop Khorne.

Whilst he *prefers* a good, straightforward fight, this doesn't mean he can't be either underhanded or patient. He is a god of *war* and as they say, 'all is fair in love and war'.

So, khorne's been taking a page out of thzeench's book and working things from behind the scene, organising the pieces so that Dorn for the most part only sees the worst of things in all of their ugly, cruel, petty *glory*.

And he doesn't ever have to interact with Dorn (directly) to slowly turn him on his side either.

Have some wretch inform Dorn of some injustice or another with a sufficient target on the other end, and Khorne doesn't even need to lift a finger to point in the direction.

Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows, only that it does.

[In general, Dorn doesn't ever become a propper *worshiper* of chaos (deamon prince or otherwise) but he battles and that's enough for now.

Dorn wants to tear down *everything* and rebuild from the *ground* up. (Bit like how the emperor might [if he hadn't been put on the throne that is])

Looks wise Dorn rocks a beaten down uniform and pieces of something that *migt* at some point have been part of his armour; a mishmash of whatever they managed to get their hands on and because of all of the fighting he's become very lean and unkempt, like he doesn't take care of himself (his Companions *try* but there's only so much you can convince a stubborn demigod to *listen*) and doesn't sleep (primarchs can *theoretically* function on no sleep, but that's going to have an effect)])

Got an angsty idea:

-In Short-

Yandere ultramarines binding/caging/disabling Guilliman at all costs for his own safety. Even if they must hurt him, even break him to do it. No more fulgrim/mortarion incidents.

-In Long-

Basically, what if after witnessing his reckless personal behavior towards personally fighting his brothers and his "death" at the hands of fulgrim as well as his LITERAL death at the hands of Mortarion (regardless of the fact he was brought back, he fucking DIED), the Ultrabois just fucking go full Yandere and try to keep him out of battle and under watch as much as they possibly can to ensure his absolute safety from ANY harm, even himself? And what if this desire, this NEED to keep their primarch, their FATHER, safe went to the extreme as he inevitably tried to get back to business, including personally fighting? He's a primarch after all, weapon first, human second, and his duty is to guide and safeguard the Imperium...

My brain basically had an idea of a gilded bird-caged and bound Guilliman and spun a background around it. Some mental images even include a blindfold and gag for the Ultrabois benefit cuz you know Guilliman's words are some of his best weapons (best way to talk them out of it- to a point).

Very OOC, I know, but with the way the Ultrabois were willing to die in droves to get him away from fulgrim as he was dying AND to protect his stasis before his revival, it seems it could very easily become a possibility via Slaaneshi influence, Lord of Excess and all...

GOD I wish I could draw bodies or write 😭

[lord-squiggletits]

Honestly it annoys me that pride, ambition, and generally having a big ego are always villainous/evil-coded personality traits because personally I think if you genuinely are a prodigy at what you do you are 100% within your rights, perhaps even deserving, of flaunting your skills and being proud of the fact you can do something that only a small fraction of other people can do. Is it even ego at that point if you genuinely are as good at your field/skill as you say you are? Are people not aware that becoming a prodigy at something is something that takes lifelong sacrifice and practice sometimes to the point of giving up on having a normal life, relationships, etc even potentially destroying your own health???? God I fucking hate how pride in your own skills and ambition are so villain coded all the time. As if it's evil to want to be good at something and be recognized for what you rightfully earned

[tear4years]

1. So you think Vi, the one that constantly thinks about her family and does things with everyone in mind would do something as selfish as this? well I mean she could idk teenage angst and well deserved anger so let's say for your arguments sake that maybe she did

but then, after Silco where they all just work with him bc of free will? Vi and Caitlyn say it so many times "They are forced to choose between a drug kingpin that wants to exploit them and a government that doesn't give a shit" that doesn't seem like they have many choices

2. Bc I was relating my first thought to my next thought? I went into a group of people that's related to the subject (the kids) to the other group of people that's related to the subjects (the adults). They're both TO ME exploited thanks to Topside and thanks to Silco, and they shouldn't be charged as criminals for trying to survive.

My family had to immigrate to a whole different country bc since 2016/2017 there are absolutely no job opportunities nor access to food or healthcare, and me and my sister even spent 4 days without eating literally anything and a bunch of other horrible stuff. So many people from my country became criminals to survive, do I think they deserve to be jailed? no. They are the consequences of their environment. And no back to your first statement I don't think badly of poor people because I myself was and kinda still are (not as much as before, thank god)

And yes I'll try to over explain my thinking process next time, even tho you're the first and only one (at the moment) to complain. I'll even take up english grammar classes for you how about that.

3. I think I understand pretty well how drugs can be especially deadly to a country/city that has literally nothing else to soothe their needs. And I think that's what's happening bc that's what the narrative leads me to believe?

And I'll never view a Zaunite who resorts to drugs as a "moral failing" drug addiction isn't something to be ashamed of (if you're ashamed of it it gets harder to actually acknowledge you have a problem.) and also because that's the consequence of their environmenttttt

Same with Silco, yes he did crazy shit and I will never EVER be a Silco apologist but you can't act like he just woke up one day and decided to be evil. Agaaainn he is a consequence of his environment.

He is violently oppressing Zaun but he isn't the one that threw the first stone, so to speak. Piltover has always been the bigger issue no matter how much season 2 writers try to convince me otherwise.

And you're acting like Silco just said "hey I got this drug ;)" and they all went in because they could and not because they HAD too. It's harder for me to believe that, especially since we see it being used as a means to get stronger (to be able to fight back) with Jinx and Vi we also see how they resort to it because they have no other choices to recover from their injuries, hell we even get to see how VIKTOR uses it himself to soothe the symptoms created by the exploitation of Topside (The Grey — Silco also probably lost his eye from polluted waters from the river too but I won't treat it like a fact bc I'm not 100% sure, that's just my personal opinion)

So if the writers wanted me to think they had other choices why did they have Caitlyn say that to her mom? Why did they show it as a medical aid too? Why did we get the full view of it literally SAVING Jinxes life?

If the writers wanted me to believe they were well enough to not have to resort to work exploitation why did they make Vander and Silco work at the mines even with the Grey damaging their health? Why did all the kids in Zaun wear clothes that seemed to be made from scraps of fabric? I thought you said they had job opportunities.

Something that bugs me about the "Caitlyn only gassed the Chembarons" discourse is that we saw in season 1 how many children are exploited by the chembarons so like... wtf happened to them? are they dead? are they jailed up?

‎

‎Also how many of the chembaron workers work for them because they literally have no other job option, bc there are no jobs at Zaun other than mining & working with the chembarons, so do they deserve to be jailed for working for them when they just wanted to support their family?

[deadallover]

Studies of how the design of my first fursona, bandit, changed over the years. Interesting to literally nobody but me.

[mybreadsmybutters]

i love the cycle <- guy in best part of the cycle voice (doesn't remember whats coming)

[delightfuldevin]

Been seein some rather cold takes about Daisy lately…

I’ve seen some people say that she has no personality outside of fanon, but that’s just not true. There is a very very common misconception among the fandom (at least that I’ve noticed) that if a character doesn’t appear in a “mainline” game, then they have no personality. But I’d argue that the spinoffs actually offer waaaaay more in terms of looking into character personalities. And no, I’m not talking about the RPGs ala M&L and Paper Mario as those are obviously full of personality (and Daisy isn’t in those). I’m talking about the Party, Kart, Tennis, and other sports games.

Yes, Daisy hasn’t appeared in any mainline game since her debut, but she’s been in nearly every sports game and her traits, stats, abilities, victory/loss animations, and various other tiny details add up to her personality. The fact that she’s nearly always yelling or just speaking really loud in general (noticeably more than any other character), the fact that she constantly feels a need to say her name and make herself known, how she loves flowers and considers even a small patch of flowers worth protecting, how she’s easily bored by tasks that don’t excite her and isn’t so reliable for them. She tends to jump around a lot, and spin and dance around when she’s excited! She’s apparently a rather fast runner and that is considered her specialty! These are all traits that are displayed in the spinoffs, and there’s probably soooo many more that I just can’t remember right now.

Now, I do think her tomboyish nature is probably fanon, as I don’t really remember seeing anything to show that she acts that way in the games. I think people probably think she’s tomboyish due to how loud and energetic she is. But hey, there’s plenty of fanon for just about any character from any fandom out there. And what’s so wrong with that? Isn’t the whole point of making fanworks to expand on the framework already provided by canon? If we want to stick to what’s actually “canon” then nearly everything the fandom has created would have to be tossed, because there really isn’t much to work with. Fanworks and fandoms thrive on what fans can create based on the canon work, not just sticking to it perfectly.

It’s fine if you think the “fanon” Daisy outshines the “canon” Daisy and you dislike that. But to say that she has no personality aside from fanon interpretations just tells me that you have a very narrow idea of what counts as “canon” in an already rather simplistic world. The Mario games are very simple and straightforward without much consistent lore that actually makes sense cohesively, but the characters are what keep everything tied together despite that. The characters are nearly always consistent, and that includes Daisy. Even when the setting is completely different and some random new villain shows up with some random new power source to steal or species to torment, our same well-known lovable characters will be the center of the story and that’s what makes it fun!

[n0heart]

.

[moonlit-orchid]

good evening to everyone except a certain few fucking anons

[whump-it-like-its-hot]

Heading to school now to finalize my decision to retake the year. Set your bets NOW on whether I’ll start crying again, completely shut down and will be unable to speak, or the third, secret option! (Not even I know what the third secret option is yet, but we’ll see!)

[piglii]

I think the reason most video game to movie adaptations (and book adaptations, too) suck is that most people in charge of making movies just do not give a shit about video games as a medium and literally see it as a 1:1 conversion of money. like, “hey that hot new mario or zelda game came out this year and made $800 million dollars! if we make that into a movie, surely it will make the same amount or even more!” because most literally just see other forms of media as crude oil waiting to be made into gas. like it’s crazy to me that it seems really hard to understand the appeal in engaging with a piece of media personally yourself (or like with friends in multiplayer) as opposed to just watching it play out on a screen.

[not-poignant]

Some characters are not going to be into sex at all.

Some characters into sex (and kink) are not going to be into romance.

Some characters into romance are not going to be into sex (or kink)

Some characters not into sex are going to be doms/subs

Some characters are not going to be doms or subs and also not going to be into vanilla sex - it's crappy when people think that everyone in kink is a dom/sub, this is so reductive/incorrect.

Some characters into kink won't touch the terms dom or sub with a 10 foot pole actually.

Some kinky characters also enjoy vanilla sex

Some dom/subs do have vanilla sex. And it's weird to think they don't.

The world isn't made up of 'kinky dom/subs who never have vanilla sex and people who only have vanilla sex and never do kink' etc.

Basically permutations are great.

If you're being this reductive with your characters in the first place that you're dividing the world between 'doms/subs' and 'vanilla sex', you might be substituting sex with personality full stop.

nothing but respect for our troops (smut writers) but listen. i dont want to be the person to tell you this, but not every character is going to be a dom or a sub. some people. and i know this is hard to hear. but some people do have vanilla sex. and some of those people might even be The Character.

[valeriehalla]

I am so utterly fascinated by “Saki”, the 18-year-running mahjong manga in which you, the reader, become gradually, frog-boilingly aware (over the course of nearly two decades’ worth of mahjong tournaments) that none of these girls are wearing underwear and most of their boobs are slowly expanding.

I need you to understand that I have, like, an anthropological level fascination with this comic. From the perspective of someone who is also a comic artist and writer, two things delight me about it:

the fact that I understand completely how an artist gets from “the fans can have a little hint of skirted asscheek” to “the pussy is completely out on center page” over the course of 18 years; and

the way in which the pussy being out is treated by the characters and diegesis as being utterly unremarkable.

Okay. Point 1. The frog-boiling.

Let me put this in perspective for you. There was already a meme about how the characters in “Saki” don’t wear underwear when I was in middle school. I am thirty now. Okay? And it’s still going.

In the time since, this has stopped being a joke. It is now indisputable canon. This is not because anyone outright says it at any point. It’s because the underwear ran out of places to hide. I’m obsessed with this thought: somewhere in the over 20 volumes of “Saki”, there is a panel in which underwear was objectively deconfirmed. And it would be so hard to figure out where that panel actually is. Maybe the artist didn’t even realize it when she drew it! The frog? Boiling!!

And of course there is also the breast expansion. I don’t know how to put a spin on this. They are just expanding. Like, this happens a lot with artists: you define a character as being, in your mind, “the one with the big boobs”, and over the years you emphasize that trait further and further so that the signal doesn’t get lost in the noise. It’s just that normally—in like a wildly popular manga series about mahjong published by literally Square Enix, for example—normally there would be a point at which the boobs stopped getting bigger. Like, an editor would step in or something. Or you would get to the point where you cannot draw the character in the same panel as her mahjong tiles without her breasts spilling over the tiles, and you’d go, “Well, this is now untenable.”

That did not happen. There is no ceiling. The frog is soup.

Point 2. The complete and utter mundanity of all of this.

It’s like this, okay: there’s no shortage of trashy ecchi manga out there. There’s a million other comics doing wildly bawdier things with wildly more improbable bishoujos.

The vibe with “Saki” is different.

It’s hard to explain this, but it feels like the world of the comic is fundamentally uninterested in the fanservice happening on the page. I cannot describe it as “leering”, because I cannot conceive of a person in the story from whose point of view one would leer. I think the artist is probably into it—I can’t imagine anyone is making her do this—but “Saki” the comic has no opinion on the matter.

There are essentially no male characters in “Saki”. Like, there was one guy? Kind of? At the very beginning? But he is gone now. They put him back in the toybox. He does not exist. It appears to be some level of canonical that in the world of “Saki”, almost all humans are women. Those women are sometimes romantically into each other. According to comments the artist has made on Twitter (which I cannot source), they have lesbian baby technology, so it’s no problem. It’s so much not a problem that the story is about mahjong, instead of any of that.

So, like, the fiction here appears to be this: this is the, like, meta-narrative of the fanservice of “Saki”, right: it’s just normal that they don’t wear underwear and their boobs are arbitrarily big. It’s been normal. It was normal before the story of the manga began. It’s just how things are. Nobody bats an eye about it, and if they do, it’s in sort of a lesbian kind of way so like what’s the problem, we love lesbians here. This is literally normal for girls.

The fanservice simply diffuses into this all-encompassing aura of disembodied, ambient sluttiness. The framing of the panels demands you acknowledge it, and the story demands you already be over it, because it’s mahjong time now, and we’re playing mahjong.

Do you get??? why I’m so fascinated??? Are you not a little enraptured???

Anyway, I have no idea how to end this weird post. I guess the conclusion is that women stay winning????

[pumpking64]

.

usually i’m a very accepting person but right now i wish that whoever is playing music with pounding bass in a neighbouring building just loud enough for me to hear it for the last four hours to go fuck off. so hard.

it’s two in the night. i know it’s a weekend. but by all that is good in this world will you please just shut the fuck up