#paratropic

[that-dreaming-dragon]

Divinity

What is the divine?

Honestly, I'm not too certain. It feels like I'm talking about different thing when I speak of it in English than if I speak it in Chinese or understand it in a Japanese context. Or just my lack of context. I grew up with Asian culture, after all.

That's probably something to write about for another time.

The idea of spiritual creature, youkai and the like, or the idea of asian dragons who are occasionally some sort of divine, that does resonate with me on some level. Specifically my various draconic identities.

If I say my various non-draconic type (except Mew) are "down to earth", because they are, literally, my draconic types are "up in the sky". Well, I tried to make word parallel.

My kardiatype, the Japanese ocean dragon was a local guardian, hailed as a guardian, a deity, a divine entity. It's this sense of, grandness, but also protectiveness, sense of great responsibility, which arguably can probably just be regular "being a guardian" thing. The sense of awe and reverence towards my kardiatype is a interesting one. Noemata tells me that's how the villager treats him. But I myself feel like that towards him too.

Aurelion Sol exudes immense power. Awe inspiring and a literal cosmic being, one of the very synonym with divinity. There isn't much to say about this vaguetype.

Flammie can be seen as a divine beast of sort. On the Wiki of Mana, Flammie is described as

shy, though otherwise joyful and friendly creatures. They sometimes are special creatures created by the Mana Goddess or Tree to help protect the world, and other times just a normal, if somewhat rare, creature.

- From Flammie, Wiki of Mana

It really draw a connection, a resonance, with what Mew paratrope is for me. Perhaps there's a more complete way I can call these common theme?

My own sense of divinity is a bit tricky to say. Would I call myself deific? Hard to say. It's going back to the whole "RPG monster" thing. I'm a sort of spiritual entity. I would categorize myself as celestial being but not quite. I mean, I am embodiment of dream in a way. Or more like those river that took the form of a dragon or serpent? I'm not sure. Morikai (my kardiatype) was definitely the other way around, a dragon first and then tied to the element which he governs. I think I am so too, a dragon before a dreamling. Calling myself using words like "deity" "kami" "youkai" are all incorrect. Once again I'm looking towards my paratrope with Mew, the mythical category of pokemon. That's my sort of divinity, mythical, folkloric. I do utilize the label folcintera for myself.

Side note a bit, some folks dislike being referred to as entity or being. I think I like being called that way due to my own relation with my own form of divinity. Just like how I see myself as a category: monster, instead of as a animal, because I am not a animal.

[herpsandbirds]

Any colorful roaches?

Colorful Cockroaches:

Of course my little chipmunk, lets see what I have...

Ball Cockroache (Perisphaerus spp.), family Blaberidae, Singapore

L - exuvia (shed exoskeleton) R - actual cockroach

photograph by Melvin Yeo

Mitchell’s Diurnal Cockroach (Polyzosteria mitchelli), family Blattidae, order Blattodea, Bunjil, Western Australia

photograph by v_winter

Eunyctibora bicolor, family Ectobiidae, Peru

photograph by Geoff Gallice

Cloud Forest Cockroach (Paratropes cf. bilunata), family Ectobiidae, Costa Rica

photograph by Matthew Kritzer

Ladybird Mimic Cockroach (Prosoplecta sp.), family Ectobiidae, Los Baños, Luzon, Philippines

photograph by George Beccaloni

Eushelfordia pica, family Ectobiidae, Ecuador

photograph by Andreas Kay

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

@seimsisk great question!

During the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, the entire world rapidly warmed due to the activity of the North Atlantic Igneous Province, which caused rapid release of carbon and, well, we know the rest from today

That warming lead to the entire planet - the whole world - having one climate: tropical. Above the usual tropical realms, it's called "paratropical".

So we call the regions of the world during the PETM by their current names - the polar region, the temperate region, etc. - but the climate of each of these was still Tropical

[syrupspinner]

i am obsessed with roman sands re:build

so now im gonna talk about it for a looooooong time. you can hit j to skip posts

roman sands re:build is an upcoming game developed by arbitrary metric (paratropic) and published by serenity forge (ddlc+, lisa definitive edition, slay the princess pristine, basically if it has text boxes and is an updated release it was these guys). notably, it is a remake of a visual novel just called roman sands, but ive deliberately avoided learning anything about the older release because I don't want spoilers

it's hard to pin it to one genre. you could call it an adventure game? you take first-person control of someone... interchangeable. nobody cares about your name, and people seem to use whatever pronouns is most convenient for their perception of you in any given moment. anyway, it's your job to be the busybody at this resort. fulfill requests until the day ends, which takes four room transitions. you start in the morning when you first enter the main doors, then it goes to noon, then afternoon, then evening, then you quit

then it's the next day. you're in a time loop... probably. this is also just what working in retail is like, I've been told. every day has you do the same thing for the same people. oh, speaking of,

everybody hates you. there are four hotel guests: Betty, who will yell about hoe youre awful at your job and you should be ashamed; her husband Harold, who is scatterbrained and weak-willed but at least knows how to say thanks: Sylvia, a high-class lady who condescends at you; and... bunk

I mentioned your perception is inconsistent. Betty sees you as maliciously incompetent, Sylvia is equally insulting but in a way that's more concerned with emphasizing her own superiority, and I'm not sure if Harold even knows you work here. but bunk can flip-flop in the moment. sometimes, he sees you as one of the guys that he can talk with about the good old days where you could complement women on their bodies without them calling hr. sometimes he sees you as one of those women. he doesn't care about who you are in the slightest, you're just a means of gratifying whatever whims he has. well, the others are like that too, but bunk is the most obviously carnal.

the main gameplay loop sees you routing the most efficient way to maximize your XP gain. since entering a door advances time, and the tasks reset every loop, you can do stuff like... getting Betty's pills before she asks for them, and going through the side door so you can fetch Harold a chair before he asks for it. cutting down on backtracking means you can do as much work as possible in as short amount of time as possible, just like a real overworked minimum wage service worker!

the games design and atmosphere does a great job at distilling this sense of frantic pace-keeping. I could never play stuff like diner Dash cuz I always got overwhelmed by having to keep all the orders straight and worrying about customers getting even a little unhappy. RSr:B fixes both of those problems, the former by making everything predictable enough to plan around and account for with previous attempts explicitly not mattering. the later is addressed by making everyone a stupid jerk.

also, just because i dont realy dwell on it, the aesthetic is amazing for non-thematic reasons. i love the use of cool colours despite the tropical setting, it emphasizes the tranquility that is intended by the location, and heavily contrasts with the presence of the sun as a threat to the narrative, which emphasizes the threat's dismissal. wait shit thats a thematic reason again, fuck. i love pretty dreamcast beaches and shiny y2k ui elements and the stupid stretchy noodle people. it just looks so cool man. im and english student not an art studen so i cant really articulate why i think that without just saying its pretty and i like looking at it.

anyway, there are so many minor mechanical things that are built to goad you into hurrying the fuck up. you start each day with two minutes on the clock, and if that clock runs out, you... miss out on a little xp boost. if you walk on an arrow path to whatever task is closest, you go way faster, encouraging you to move straight from one request to the other without breathing. and you cant select responses by scrolling through a menu, you have to select it from the number row. its like in a shooter, if you couldnt use a weapon wheel and always had to quick-select, which of course encourages you to be quick

there's enough that encourages you not to get too stagnant with your loops too. first, there's a sense of mutual exclusivity. there is only one drink, and two people want it. second, there's unlockable items! this is the main use of leveling up. for example, you can get a mop to clean bunks puke (don't actually you'll softlock and the demo doesn't save) or get that checkbook Silvia wants you to sign. or a simple toolbox

ooo, another thing is the tutorial. just when youre about to enter the doors, you get a pop-up of a girl telling you stuff lie "keep your head down" and "hurry up" that dont actually tutorialize much of the gameplay itself. i think this is another deliberate satire of capitalism. the most important part about getting and maintaining a job isnt your skillset, its who you know and how well you adhere to the culture. it doesnt matter how well you do the skills if you dont know your place

also, the game is really good about teaching you things naturalistically. betty asks you for a marg (with the pop-up lady redundantly telling you to get her the marg, but this would be really helpful to the players that were very understandably overwhelmed/disoriented by being yelled at by three people at once). bring it to her and she immediately barks another order at you, which tells the player that you talk to people to get requests. then, you go outside and get her pills like she asked, and you learn about the mechanic where time pass when you go to a different area.

the main goal of the demo, the main thing you're working towards, is fixing the elevator. well youre in luck, because the thing that you get from being level 3 (which you can get in your first day if you know what youre doing) is a toolbox. its not robust enough to fix the boiler in the basement, but... actually no it cant do anything about the elevator because its too sulfur-y. from here im going to spoil the central puzzle to completing the demo, so if anything ive said sounds interesting, leave now and play it

so! if you take some time to look around, youll notice the orrery. yes thats its name, yes thats a real word, yes i also misread it as ossuary and got super concerned for a minute. the orrery it has a large yellow chunk in the middle, and a planet missing from the display. theres a solar system display in the main lobby. so take the planet thats logically missing from both displays (or just take em all and just see which one fits - its mercury btw) and put it into place. now just... rotate the display until the planets align and beam the sun from the left into into the yellow chunk and... it retracts, showing you the idea of sulfur. you can use that to fix the elevator, and then the demo ends! nothing noteworthy or worth mentioning happens after that point. nope, not even [withheld]. look i know too many people that ignore spoiler warning but i still wanna leave something for them to discover when they play the demo, because you are going to play the demo

now, with everything (audible wink) established about what this game is, lets talk about why it is that way. i know i usually jump right into the analysis assuming that the reader already knows about the game, but like, there are three people who have posted about this on tumblr. two of them are developers and im the other one.

so first and foremost, ripping the bandaid off, this game is anticapitalist as fuck. you play as a service worker that has their humanity brushed aside at best for the sake of fulfilling menial tasks. your paycheck is sporatic, and they only things you can spend it on are consumerist trash that literally does not matter. at the end of the work day you vanish into the sea, crawling right back out when the next day starts, as a metaphor for how the people being serviced by these workers see them as their job and nothing else, dehumanizing them to the point that nobody in the game realizes that youre a human being first and a worker second. your opinions and feelings dont matter, just your labour. and i dont have to tell you that the time loop represents the banal repetition of the 9-to-5.

also, its getting hotter. every day is one tick off the countdown where the sun fucks the big one and... maybe youll die, maybe youll just be in hell. this is also anticapitalist, because this is pretty obviously... fuck i dont even wanna call it a metaphor because it just kind of is climate anxiety. its mentioned once as something too far in the future to care about, if its even a problem at all, and youre expected to go about your day without thinking about it. but at the end of every day you still see it. n days until the sun dies. just ignore it, you cant do anything about it

the aesthetic plays into this too. you know im a sucker for paradise-like locals, and my favorite thing you can do in them is explore what goes on behind the curtain to make them paradise. like, in Paradise Killer, a lot of ink is spilled over human "workers" sacrificing their lives to build something that will just be scrapped for some trivial imperfection. here, you essentially play as one of the humans trying to upkeep the illusion of perfection. its supposed to be incongruent to your gameplay experience because youre just a worker, your experience doesnt matter, this is all for the guests sake. your frantic gameplay is deliberately contrasted with the serene locale and calming music

oh! the calming music! theres one track in the game that isnt a chill beat, and its... the level up music. the first thing i thought of when i saw it? a slot machine. did you know theyre often designed to have flashy and appealing scenes play out both when you win and when you lose? its to subconsciously trick your brain into thinking youre doing a better job than you are, that youre winning in some way just by continuing to pour your money away. i dont think thats a coincidence. first, slot machines are a great symbol of the evils of capitalism, a machine that only offers the "service" of a slim chance of receiving money that, realistically speaking, is dwarfed by what youve already lost. the purpose of a system is what it does, and gambling as a systemic part of life is successful in bankrupting as many vulnerable people as possible.

how does that play into roman sands re:build? well, like a slot machine, the extravagance of the music and the visuals exists to play up what youre getting. on one hand, this is just a reasonable way to design a game, emphasize gameplay rewards with something flashy so players have an increased sense of accomplishment. on the other, this is meant to convince the player that slow incremental progress towards finally earning the right to use a mop bucket is something worth celebrating. it reminds me of how often employers try to trick their employees into being satisfied with stuff like pizza parties instead of, like, raises. this may sound like a stretch to you but id like to take a moment to remind you that this game includes a gacha system for literal useless trash for no other reason than to satirize how consumerism encourages you to spend money on things that cost as little as possible, valuing consumption for consumption's sake rather than the actual value of what youre consuming. why wouldnt they extend this to also satirize how capitalism undervalues workers by withholding basic amenities and minimal compensation as a reward for doing as much as you can as fast as you can? keep working, motherfucker, maybe youll get that better toolbox soon

wage theft is one of the most common forms of abuse done to the working class. it follows, then, that it is one of the most normalized. it takes many forms, like unpaid overtime and withholding benefits. perhaps the most notable are forcing employees to purchase mandatory equipment out of pocket (a central game mechanic as discussed earlier) and asking employees to do things outside of the scope of their position. of course, this is how the gameplay works on a fundamental level. you are asked to do the work of a receptionist, a janitor, a bartender, and even a masseuse. notably, this is done by the customers and not the administration. I'll get into the lack of a distinct employer figure later, so for now I'll go into how the layman's complacency in abusive systems seems to be a major theme of the game

yknow what im gonna talk more about harold. the other guests are actively disrespectful and directly abusive to you, so Harold definitely stands out. he requests things from you politely, and shows you sincere gratitude. here's the thing though, he's TOO accepting. Betty arguably treats you the worst out of the four guests, and Harold is never seen even attempting to oppose her. he's on to something when he hears the vmmmmm vmmmm noise from the basement, because there's a giant ominous machine if unknown purpose, but Betty yells at him until he stops caring. his abuse towards you, the working class, is not through shouting insults at your capability or sexual assault or insulting your personhood directly. it's through witnessing you be mistreated, and embracing it as the status quo, making the most requests to you out of everybody. at least when the others dehumanize you they're blunt about it, but Harold being the nicest person while still only seeing you as a worker to be commanded stings in a special way. being treated this way is normal, it's the best you can hope for

not only does Harold serve an important role in showing how complacency in an abusive system helps perpetuate it just the same as active participation, but he also more specifically connects to the climate change metaphor. just as all the guests mistreat you in a unique way, they all dismiss the growing heat in unique ways. bunk notices it, but is too caught in his vices and self-loathing to really care that much about the realistic consequences inplied by the fucking su dying. betty says that shes fine with an awful thing happening to everyone because itll probably hurt the people she hates, meaning she definitely votes conservative. and Harold, having heard all this, questions it but soon blissfully dismisses his concerns, a toxic positivity urging him that things always turn out for the best. the other viewpoints are selfish in self-explanatory ways, with Harold representing the climate deniers who see the topic as too confusing and complicated to hold a proper opinion on. Harold I'm shoving a microphone in your face how do you feel about the conflict in the middle east

did you notice i didnt mention sylvia? she doesnt comment. she takes the moment to passively insult those shes around. between you and me, i think she knows more than she lets on, it seems too much like shes deliberately dodging the topic. also, from the way she talks about couture later, specifically upholding it as something godly and unfit for mere cattle (the player) it kinda feels like she has to be in some higher position. or being on the same level as the lower-class that she demonstrably hates is really starting to get to her, and she feels the need to distance herself from the likes of us.

let's get back to the lack of an employer figure. depending on how you interpret [withheld] it can be theorized that kara (yes thats her name no you didnt miss anything) holds this role, especially since it seems to be her in the tutorial pop-ups. I disagree with this for more wide-scope reasons, I think you sincerely washed up in shore one day. the doyalist explanation is that it is how all workers are seen to operate. the working class is not envisioned by those they serve as having lives outside of their job. how often have you considered what your cashier's hobbies might be? their family, their weekend plans, their politics? youre probably just waiting for the card reader to let you scan and go home, all you're worried about is the service provided by their labour. I'm using "you" but I do this exact shit all the time too, to be clear. anyway, it further emphasizes the guests dehumanization of you in their perception. they can imagine that when a human works at a job, they answer to a boss. but when presented with a service, a worker just becomes a means to that end, and their humanity is replaced by their labour.

even if you didn't disappear into the sea, it wouldn't make any difference to them, they only think about you to acknowledge when you're not performing with proper efficiency, just like how you don't think about your clothes until they stop fitting, or you don't comment on roads without potholes, because there's nothing remarkable about meeting expectations.

so. what's up with that anyway. I've yapped about metaphors and figurative representation for a while now, but what's the lore? well, fuck if I know, it's a demo. but I've got some theories

theory one, it's a simulation. that would make sense with what is presented to us in the [withheld] segment, and also explain the time loop succinctly. the vmmmmmm machine could be some sort of core of the simulation? the lobby is full of larger-than-life paintings and sculptures, which may be foreshadowing that the entire world you're in is also man made (also, since i dont bring it up anywhere, i like how youre surrounded by art by never encouraged to interact with it, highlighting how capitalist obligation prevents us from truly appreciating the artistic). it is all but told to you that you're an interchangeable replacement for a previous employee, whatever happened to them, and some sort of matrix-style disposable humanity schema would fit right in to that. for the rest I can just say "it's like that one visual novel" and I think most of you will get it

theory two, it's the afterlife. it would make sense considering the location is called paradise in marketing. sulfur as an element is heavily associated with demons, so perhaps there's meant to be some symbolism that's made more solid in later parts of the game? here i can say its interesting that you obtain it by stepping outside of your role and not adhering to commands, which can parallel an angel disobeying the will of god. and using it to actively solve the problem could represent breaking traditional thought with new ways of thinking outside of doctrine? i dunno, it's hard to really say what it represents in the grand scheme before I've like, played the whole thing. also, that could mean [withheld] is a flashback to before you were conscripted into servitude (read: died), especially since the store page specifies that its post-apocalyptic. the cow imagery gains a double meaning here as well: they're seen as livestock meant to be literally churned into product, but hinduism sees them as sacred. something something essential worker, most see the proletariat as a disposable beast of meat, the animal itself just a means to an end of what they produce, but a select enlightened subsect of the world understand their importance to upkeeping society. which i guess are marxists in this metaphor? again ive only played the demo so this is 70% extrapolation

oh, speaking of cows, you can find a cow that has suffocated from neglect. I think this can connect to the whole worker dehumanization theme, but my intuition tells me it'll be more relevant to the [withheld] parts, in a way that is complimentary but still stands alone. god that part is so interesting, kara just could not wait to talk about dying. the voice actress nailed that shit

okay one last thing. the release was originally planned for summer 2023. its almost 2025 and the steam page still says "coming soon". completely sincerely: good shit. it would be hilariously pathetic to overwork for an arbitrary metric deadline when the entire game is like, about how shit that specific practice is. I love to see devs taking their time to make things the best they can.

if you can't tell I'm. kind of excited for this game. i dont usually go this in-depth but the thought of this thing instills the innate autistic urge to yap deep within my soul. but like i said earlier i dont really have the capacity to talk about stuff like how it looks and how it plays without just blindly gushing. did you know in the gameplay reveal trailer on serenity forge's youtube channel, your character nudges forward a little bit whenever they pick something up? this doesnt seem to still be the case, as interacting with objects now gives a full-screen prompt with the option to pick it up or examine it. also you dont seem to be any further forward when the prompt goes away.

okay. im gonna try and be less biased and come up with a critique. um, the demo could benefit from a save system, since its pretty easy for players who are taking their time and taking in the atmosphere to spend over an hour on this. you could argue that since the game is about going fast and being efficient through time loops that its not that big of a deal, and i agree! if a player quits the demo halfway through they can get back to where they were pretty quickly. but the demo does have a few glitches, like moments where it softlocked on a selection menu and it forced me to alt+f4. i know this'll be fixed in the full game anyway though so who cares.

uhhh i can see people being thrown off my having to click the mouse to advance dialogue but not being able to click menu options? i explained earlier how i think thats thematically resonant, but themes or no themes its still an inconvenience that players might have a problem with. the game has the colours and animations so built-in to how it works im not sure how robust the accessibility options are gonna be but that remains to be seen. but players are already complaining that the demo made em motion sick so i hope people sensitive to that kinda thing still have a chance to enjoy this. theres also how it isnt very obvious that you can select other planets in the lobby solar system but the dev said theyd improve that for the full release so im not gonna make a redundant suggestion.

um. there are probably. other things? accessibility/approachability is pretty important, but im just trying to be considerate of other potential players. if youre asking about what i, personally, think needs to be improved i can think of much. maybe if you play you can find a flaw, cuz i sure didnt. when you play the demo, let me know if i missed anything! i feel like i discover something new to talk about every time i launch this thing, which... is too often i think

this post is 4000 words. its almost 4 am. play the demo for roman sands re:build and add it to your steam wishlist.

[unhonestlymirror]

"Exactly 32 years ago, the world was watching the ‘Moscow coup attempt’ unfold.

It’s a story usually told from the russian perspective: Soviet hardliners wanted to seize power & reverse Gorbachev’s reforms, but were defeated by Yeltsin & his supporters.

But events were also unfolding in the Baltics - usually presented as a minor subplot to that coup attempt.

Well, one positive from these past few year is that more people than ever before around the world are realising they’ve only been taught the russia-centric version of history - and there are so many incredible stories about russia’s neighbours that have been overlooked until now.

In reality, the Moscow coup attempt was the subplot.

Because the key catalyst and key outcome of it was the fact Eastern Europeans were breaking free from Moscow’s occupation. And arguably, the most consequential events of the ‘Moscow coup attempt’ happened here in the Baltics.

To us, it was the culmination of the Singing Revolution that had been underway for several years.

Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians were defying the attempted crackdown on re-independence and instead proceeding with the nullification of the nazi-soviet pact. Lithuania and Latvia had already both formally declared the continuation of their independence - yet faced violent reprisals from Moscow.

As chaos unfolded during the August coup attempt by soviet hardliners, Estonians seized the opportunity - exactly 32 years ago at 23:02 on 20 August - to follow their Baltic neighbours and formally declare the continuation of their independence and order occupying troops out.

Unlike today, there was no time to celebrate. Soviet paratropers were quickly dispatched to seize the airwaves and sever Estonia’s communications with the world.

It was the same playbook already used against Lithuania and Latvia where soviet forces had recently attempted coups by first attacking broadcasters & publishers - while murdering unarmed civilians in the way. That included the murder of 13 civilians during the soviet seizure of the Vilnius TV Tower.

This was ordered by Gorbachev - the guy hailed internationally for supposedly allowed the peaceful breakup of the soviet union. 🤷‍♂️

So the Estonians knew what to expect.

That’s what this picture shows. It’s ordinary Estonians ready for the battle of Tallinn’s TV Tower. They knew what happened in Vilnius. They all knew they could soon be killed.

But the Estonians had some surprises planned.

Firstly, the Estonians had figured out the comms channels that the soviets were using for their attack on the TV Tower. They launched an unprecedented information counterattack, jamming the soviet channels. It caused immense confusion among soviet forces around the TV Tower waiting to hear what they were supposed to do.

Also, Estonian defenders had secured the control room of the TV Tower. They used a box of matches to jam the only lift, ensuring that soviet troops would have to all come up the fire escape. When they reached near the top, Estonian defenders informed them that if they proceeded any steps further, then the tower’s fire suppression system would be activated. That would rapidly de-oxygenate the tower and kill both sides inside.

Both knew the Estonians would die for their freedom but nobody wanted to die for the already dead soviet union.

The soviet troops went back down, and the rest is history. It helped set off a chain of events that caused the collapse of the soviet empire. This is just one of many stories that it’s time for the world to hear about more.

Funnily enough, it’s believed that the fire fighting system didn’t actually work. It was a communist system, after all. 🙂"

Author

[loopingpyre]

So I was looking over my coursework and I found that the current unit I've just started had this really weaksauce document as part of the assessment. So I posted about it.

Forcing a moral arguement and branching structure, seemed super 'making stories as a formula' without substance.

AND THEN OUT OF NOWHERE COMES DOC BUFORD, THE GUY BEHIND KINO GAME ADIOS (available on steam and switch now, play it, it's so good), AND WRITER ON PARATROPIC, to just let loose.

Love Doc's stuff.

Turns out the document is just lifting from the executive and producer hackjob book, Story.

Good fucking god. What a joke of a course design.

Good think I never wrote out who's course it was.

[that-dreaming-dragon]

Gonna do it all in a short of writing info format, as if prompted. And people can do an Ask for further detail.

Numbers of Alterhuman ‘Type I have

I have, depending on how you count flickers, 8 identitype. And a couple hearthomes tied to the ‘types.

1 kintype, 1 hearttype, 1 kardiatype, 1 collectively linked vaguetype, 1 para-linked hearttype, 1 vagueflicker, 2 archetrope (1 paratrope, basically paratype + archetrope).

Awakening When

The “when” of awakening is always a weird one. I had always on some level know myself to be nonhuman identifying. But I learn the word dragon before 10 years old, learned what sort of dragon I am roughly a near decade after, and then have more discovery for new forms as a shapeshifter. My “awakening” of the kintype self is gradual. For my other identities, they all happened during my years within the alterhuman community, so within the recent 5 or so years.

The Sources

For myself, I’m not found within known media, or myth or folklore.

My hearttype is from fiction, as well as me and my headmate’s collective vaguetype. My flicker and the paratrope as well.

My kardiatype, that’s a tough one. The perception of realness lies within individuals. And to me, that was very real, in a way. I guess spiritually metaphysical folklore would fit.

My linked hearttype is from myth, more commonly tied to symbolic heraldry.

My other archetrope is also arguable, potentially historical, but it is a role.

Enjoyment of Alterhumanity

I very much enjoyed all the experience and exploration I had with my various identitype. It made life interesting, and contemplating existence is but a natural course of being. To put simply, I enjoy being a alterhuman.

Origin Theory

I don’t usually bother with identifying what or how or where my identitype came from. Nearly, if not all, of them are tied to one another, which also influenced their origin in a way. What do you say about a paratype that seem solely psychological, when it was based off of a metaphysical ‘type? All of my identitype are spiritual, psychological, metaphysical, and whatever other origin theory people use, there’s probably some paralell for me to draw as well.

Belief and Faith

This is yet another tricky one. I think on some level I’m a bit agnostic, but also I do believe in a lot of stuff. I’m brought up with buddhism, and some other folklore and beliefs that may have influence from taoism and shintoism. I believe in alternative universe amd multiversal world, and I do believe in magic and ghosts. I do not know if my belief has any bearing on my identities.

Queering the Queerness

I’m nonbinary solarian maverique.

I’m demipan, unsure the romance or sexual composition. I have inclination towards enbian, and I guess I’m diamoric.

I say I’m ambiamorous.

I don’t know most of my identitype’s gender or attraction type, though it seem like my kardiatype is somewhat masculine-neutral in a nonhuman way. My fictohearttype, I align with the idea of them being genderfluid, even if canon says man. Besides my archetrope, which is also masc-aligned but human way, the rest are vague nonhuman, if there even is gender involve for them. I don’t really bother feeling out the attraction.

Gearing Up

The only item that I can call gear, is my fuzzy fur tail that’s my(kintype) tail.

Gosh, must I write kintype as if it’s something separate from me every time??

I want to get more stuff in the future. I really want a Uzushio whirlpool forehead protector.

Queer Community

Heck yeah I’m lgbtq+! Kinda answered that up above, oops.

The Shifting

I experience many type of shifts, most often phantom shift. I’ve had mental—berserk shift, dream shift. Donno if I have had envisage or sensory shift, and I think I have had astral shift, but that is so confusing.

Alterhumanity Slice-Of-Life

On the daily, I am a near perma-shifted dragon. I don’t really know what it’s like to not live as I am, because I grew up with my draconity as a very constant thing, sometimes my family have inside joke about me being a dragon. Usually I’m even more creature-like when interacting with my partner, and occasionally have a hard time not growling or make creature noises outside. There is certain thrill with acceleration in a vehicle, especially with the windows down, or while being stealthy. Ocean draws me in, and despite occasional nightmare and potential added exhaustion, I always loved having lucid dreams. Not sure if that’s tied to my alterhumanity or not.

I donno, it’s hard to clearly see what is attributed from my alterhumanity, and what isn’t. Is my love of birds a paratype feeling? Is my penchant for stealth game due to my archetrope? I mean, my love for orange everything is definitely kinity related.

Early Bird or Night Owl

No idea. Many of my identitype operate outside this society or this reality. Even the human hearttype, I have no idea of their internal clock.

The Knowledge of Self, A Chronology

Since I can remember, I’ve always been a dragon. So roughly 3 decades.

For knowing about my kardiatype, I’d say roughly for 16 some years.

As for the rest, roughly within the 5-6 years.

Otherborn, a Discourse

Because of my kardiatype, I’m really uncertain if I may be born with my draconity and later realized, or not born with my draconity but had enlightened to the fact, aka awakened to my draconity. That’s a silly debate and only a source of insanity.

The rest of other identitype I’m not sure about. There has been seeds for some of them before I have the terms provided by the alterhuman community, but it’s hard to tell. I know I said the “awakening” to be recent, but I count the “naming the feelings” to be a sort of awakening. In actuality, regarding ninja, hearttype, which in turn is tied to the paratype feeling of kitsune, all these I’m uncertain if they had been there before I’m aware of them this life.

Dietary Preferences

I believe my love for seafood, especially raw fish/sashimi, is due to my kardiatype. My love for the Japanese cuisine could partly be attributed to the kardiatype, potentially my hearttype, and where my archetrope came from.

Friendship is Magic

I have alterhuman friends that later become irl friends. But majority of them are online. Tis the unfortunate thing.

Home is Where the Heart Belongs

As a dream dragon, my natural territory is the place between the awake and unconcious mind.

My kardiatype came from the ocean, and I felt drawn to the ocean because of that. So did possibly my hearttype. The two are also tied to the land of the rising sun.

Our vaguetype belongs to the star and cosmos.

My para-heartlink and paratrope feels more your typical “mystical creature in the woods” vibe, so perhaps that is their natural habitat.

“Here we are again” 🎶

When folks talk about “being a animal”, you have to assume they are talking about animality, because otherwise, human is also by definition, an animal.

But I’m a bit spiteful (or a lot) towards these sort of question that can be unintentionally exclusionary.

Simply, I am not, and a couple of my identitype are not, some are. My hearttype is. My kardiatype isn’t. My para-heartlink is, kind of. My paratrope isn’t, my archetrope is. Our vaguetype isn’t. Really not sure how to categorize my vague-flicker.

If you know the respective ‘type (hint, they are on my profile description), you will understand my cheekiness.

Alex's alterhuman ask game!

Reblog this post to let others ask you question(s)!

I tried to make this accesible to all alterhumans.

🌈 - how many _types do you have?

🌌 - when was your awakening?

👾 - is your _type real or fictional?

👽 - do you enjoy being a […] (therian, otherkin, ect. Just put your label here)

🧷 - what's the reason of your identity? You can say that you don't know. (Ex. "My theriantrophy is spiritual)

💚 - what are your beliefs? Does it affect your identity?

⚧️ - does your _type have a different gender/sex than you? Do you even know your _type's gender?

🧤 - do you own any gear? If yes, what is it?

🏳️‍🌈 - are you also a part of the LGBT+ community?

🌚 - do you experience shifts? If yes, what kind of shifts do you experience most often?

🌝 - how does your identity affect your everyday life?

💊 - is your _type more nocturnal or does it prefer daytime?

🤖 - for how long do you know about your identity?

🍁 - do you think that you were born with your identity or has it "started" during your life?

🧸 - does your _type affect your diet?

🛍️ - do you have alterhuman friends? If yes, in real life or in the internet?

🍂 - what is your _type's natural territory/home?

😺 - is your _type an animal?

That's all byeeee :3

[brokenightlight]

[warpdoor]

Paratopic (ParatopicTeam)

"As an assassin prepares for her kill, a man is strong-armed into smuggling contraband VHS tapes over the border, and a young girl finds the rusted remnants of illicit industry deep in a dark forest." - Author's description

$5.49 on Itch.io (Windows)

[that-dreaming-dragon]

Archetropy

In some way, I see archetropy as embodying one's own symbolism. Or is it perhaps becoming a symbol yourself? To take on a role, to be in the framework, to embody or identify in some way with a archetype, trope. Compare to being something monstrous, or mythical, or celestial, to have a archetrope feels like to wholly embrace and live being something, and a bit more. It gets a bit fuzzy and there has been discussion of how having archetropal identity can share similarity to having conceptual identity. Yet, the distinction is there, for one is a solid identity, being it, or existing alongside it (conceptual alterhumanity), and the other is something more like symbolic or metaphorical relationship (archetropal alterhumanity).

If I were to say I have a solid relationship with orange or dream, I'd call those conceptual alterhumanity. For me, Mew, ninja, and Affinity Weaver (name pending) are the roles, archetype that I have, took on, or is already. They are not solid identity, but almost like a lifestyle, something that has a shape, a hole which I myself fill in.

In the case of Mew, it's the mythical, whimsical, cryptid nature of Mew. But it's also a sort of special side character in a game that isn't all powerful like the big L Legendary pokemon, yet it fills its own niche. The little mischievousness are also tied in, and a flavor of chaos. I am not a Mew, or identify with mew, but because of all these attribute that I have, my impression of what Mew is, the role Mew filled, which I myself have, Mew is a paratype-archetrope (or, paratrope) to me.

I feel like ninja is self-explanatory. This is definitely one of those chicken-or-egg situation. Is it because of my Naruto hearttype being a potential past life that I have this something with the archetype of being a ninja? Or is it something more generic, a past life outside of Naruto, which I'd suspect to be some sort of Japanese warrior, potentially a shinobi. And it's not just ninja, I have a penchant for stealth genre game, sometimes you are some sort of assassin, sometimes you are some thief. I guess ninja wrap those two up neatly into a single package.

What is Affinity Weaver?

It is something I already embody and live by. I have a self-made title, 糸編むの夢化竜, Thread-weaving Dream Dragon. The thread in question, currently English translation is much lacking and doesn't translate well at all, possibly due to not having such a cultural concept. I'm talking about yuanfen, Wikipedia translate it as "fateful coincidence", a concept in Chinese (and other Asian culture that has Chinese root, potentially Buddhist root) that talks of one's potential connection in life that was due to past lives, like a seed that's planted, a web that had been woven over centuries. I like to talk about it a lot in my earlier alterhuman community life, and I really wish to introduce the concept more in a more official setting, it is such a wonderful concept. Some may thought of only "fate" or "destiny", or even "soulmate", and they are all kinda touching a bit on the concept that is yuanfen. It's like trying to translate certain Chinese word into English, the complexity within a single or two characters is so difficult to express, even with a dozen English word used, it still can't really encompass the whole thing. Yuanfen is like that. I had wrote a bit on my view of how it is very prominant within alterhumanity, and just in general what it could be. I will transcribe it over to tumblr and dreamwidth at a later date, or write up a new one.

What I do on the regular, is that I connect others. If someone express a need for specific sub-communities, and I happen to know or are in them, I try to get them a invite into those spaces. Or if some folks share similarity, if not identical experience, I try to connect them to each other. Sometimes it is me learning niche word and to toss them at people should they need it, but that's something the community already do. Sometimes it's simply me sitting down with someone, and help them figure out their alterhumanity, in their appearance, or any possible way they connect to something. These all seem like something any community member does, but I'd like to think that I especially embody the role of being someone that Connects others. In a punny sort of way, perhaps that's why I enjoy and like Othercon and Otherconnect so much. Maybe I can jokingly call it a Otherconnect archetrope.

Really though, if English weren't the community's primary language, or if it were to be more accessible, I'd probably call myself a Yuan Connector archetroper. Or just have my title directly used, ("Fate") Thread-Weaver archetroper.

[thelightfluxtastic]

Paladiary Day 23: Paratropes- Right Hand Man/Lancer

Now, I previously covered a few paratropes in my Day 8 essay. These are essentially tropes and archetypes that, like paratypes, can result in strong feelings due to overlap, resemblance or relationship to the existing archetype.

The Lancer is, broadly speaking, the closest narrative foil to the protagonist. They often have either opposing or complimentary powers, strategies, personalities, etc. Commonly they are rivals or second-in-commands or both, but the dynamic can cover a lot of different relationships. The points of the lancer that stick most with me are the idea of being powerful, but not in charge, being the champion or follower to another figure.

I really, really cannot overstate how much this trope/dynamic feels core to my very being. It is in every possible aspect of my life, in alterhuman, professional, personal and even intimate spheres.

From my youth and well into the present day, my favorite characters in media tended to be the Lancers. Gokudera Hayato from Katekyo Hitman Reborn comes to mind as an example. Drumknott from the Discworld books. Own Burnett from Gargoyles. Tygra from Thundercats. Lucien the librarian from Sandman. Sometimes they weren't lancers specifically, but were "powerful character who is not the protagonist" was a common thread. In school I was the teacher's pet, the "gifted kid" with a frankly unquestioning loyalty to teachers and authority figures. I enjoyed martial arts and got a genuine internal satisfaction from the honorifics and respect structures.

As an adult working as a research assistant (between undergrad and grad school), I remember having the realization that I really liked being a research assistant, but never wanted to be a PI. It felt viscerally satisfying to be the one counted on (and seen as competent enough) to be lab manager or run studies or be the one teaching newbies, while still not being the one designing the big picture or calling the shots. I discussed with my therapist the cultural pressure to always be advancing higher in one's career while genuinely being happiest in the position of a secretary or assistant.

The idea of being a right hand man or part of a paired set of rivals/friends/nemeses also manifests in my romantic and sexual attraction, though this isn't the place to explore that in detail.

I feel like I'm rambling for paragraphs and still not getting across how fundamental this trope is to me. When Overly Sarcastic Productions released their trope talk on The Right Hand Man, I literally happy stimmed for several seconds.

Frankly, this trope might be more fundamentally part of my personality and psyche than being a Paladin. If I'm honest with myself, I would still gain some amount of validation and alignment by being the Black Knight to a Dark Lady, or a minion to a supervillain, as a champion/White Knight. Paladin still covers a lot of other ground- my religious background, my personal and professional calling, my spirituality and ethics, my aesthetics. But the idea of being a Champion (to another person) is just one facet of being a paladin that is disproportionately or particularly significant to me. "Lancer/Right Hand Man", being broader tropes, can cover a lot of different character types and dynamics.

I guess the way I would put it in short is, I am fundamentally (at the level of personality, soul, nature) a Right Hand Man, and I choose to be a Paladin as a way of manifesting that, as well as incorporating other facets of my life.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Ellesmere Island Paratropical ecosystem my BELOVED

I Love Prehistoric Ecosystems So Much

yeah individual taxa are cool and everything but no species is an island. What did it live with? What did it eat, what ate it? Did it have "friends" (term used loosely)? What was the environment like, where did they get water, what was the climate?

Tell me the whole story

Tell me how they lived

[smash-brethren]

cutie paratrooper!

[ecuadorlife]

Cockroach, Paratropes metae by Andreas Kay Via Flickr: from Ecuador: www.flickr.com/andreaskay/albums

[mourningmaybells]

Playing Paratropic. This better scare the shit out of me, but in a confusing, slow-build, non-linear way

[snapsicle]

Paratropes Metae “Pretty Cockroach”