#please feel free to add stuff

[hesperocyon-lesbian]

since when are you pro-chat-gpt

I’m not lol, I’m ambivalent on it. I think it’s a tool that doesn’t have many practical applications because all it’s really good at doing is sketching out a likely response based on a prompt, which obv doesn’t take accuracy into account. So while it’s terrible as, say, a search engine, it’s actually fairly useful for something hollow and formulaic like a cover letter, which there are decent odds a human won’t read anyway

The thing about “AI”, both LLMs and AI art, is that both the people hyping them up and the people fervently against them are annoying and wrong. It’s not a plagiarism machine because that’s not what plagiarism is, half the time when someone says that they’re saying it copied someone’s style which isn’t remotely plagiarism.

Basically, the backlash against these pieces of tech centers around rhetoric of “laziness” which I feel like I shouldn’t need to say is ableist and a straightforwardly capitalistic talking point but I’ll say it anyway, or arguments around some kind of inherent “soul” in art created by humans, which, idk maybe that’s convincing if you’re religious but I’m not so I really couldn’t care less.

That and the fact that most of the stars about power usage are nonsense. People will gesture at the amount of power servers that host AI consume without acknowledging that those AI programs are among many other kinds of traffic hosted on those servers, and it isn’t really possible to pick apart which one is consuming however much power, so they’ll just use the stats related to the entire power consumption of the server.

Ultimately, like I said in my previous post, I think most of the output of LLMs and AI art tools is slop, and is generally unappealing to me. And that’s something you can just say! You’re allowed to subjectively dislike it without needing to moralize your reasoning! But the backlash is so extremely ableist and so obsessed with protecting copyright that it’s almost as bad as the AI hype train, if not just as

[nightmaretour]

Happy disability pride month to disabled people who even other disabled people can't seem to be normal about in particular.

Happy disability pride month to people with paralytic disorders, people with moderate to severe brain damage and people with IDs.

Happy disability pride month to people with facial and limb differences, people with congenital deformities and people with extensive scarring.

Happy disability pride month to people who experience incontinence, people who drool, people with colostomy bags, people with feeding tubes and people with ventilation machines.

Happy disability pride month to people who struggle to or cannot bathe or keep their home clean, people who are fat either because of their disability or not, people who rely on takeout and pre-packaged meals, people who can't exercise, people who smoke, drink or take drugs and people who aren't "doing everything they can" when it comes to managing their disability.

Happy disability pride month to schizospec people, people who experience psychosis, people with stigmatised personality disorders and other widely misunderstood, misrepresented or unknown mental health disorders.

You're all amazing and I'm proud of you even if you're struggling to be proud of yourself. You deserve to be represented, heard and treated with respect. You deserve to be included in discussions about disability just as much as everyone else.

[hegory-grousing]

im not a writer so this doesn't have real dialogue. mad libs I guess. I imagine this happens often on their lunch dates hehe

[thatmooncake]

Share silly thumbnail/WIP hour

[57sfinest]

theoretical entroponetics: the post

okay. LONG post incoming. i have summarized all available information on the pale, separated into confirmed objective truth & in-canon speculation that may or may not be true, and then appended my own very detailed theory on the pale! this post is meant as a resource; please feel free to add things of your own in replies/reblogs (please tag me if you do!) or point out any errors i may have made. you’re welcome to use any of my personal theory in your own work but please credit me if you do!! (and tag me in that/send it to me, i really want to see what you do with it!)

Here’s what we *know* about the pale, according to in-game and concept art: 

It erases data, at least the kind stored on radiocomputer filament and magnetic tapes.

It has no dimensions of its own- pale latitude compressors serve to force dimensions on raw pale and allow navigation. 

The pale is referred to in the context of entropy

It arrived with mankind, but not immediately- there are 8000 years of written history, but the pale was first recorded 6000 years ago, implying that pale either didn’t start forming immediately or that it was so insignificant/distant that it went unnoticed for 2000 years. 

There exists a group of people who are actively trying to expedite entroponetic collapse; the ideology is called entropolism

To this point, pale isn’t immediately visible. Pale has molecular structure, but manifests as a waveform, and only becomes visible at a certain distance from the origin, once wave frequency is sufficiently high. 

During pale exposure, people experience “sense objects”: visual or auditory hallucinations and/or vivid physical recollections of memories. These hallucinations may originate from their own consciousness or someone else’s. c

People require physical and mental examinations before interisolary travel and are allotted a certain number of days per year as their pale exposure threshold. 

Overexposure results in a pale “addiction”- these individuals crave pale exposure, and it’s unclear if this addiction can ever be broken. It’s also unclear whether there is a point at which pale exposure becomes lethal, but given that it dissolves matter, we can be fairly certain that a given length of continuous exposure will kill. 

Radio signals, cold plasma torches and anodic sound are all used to manage the pale to permit travel through it. Plasma torches destabilize the molecular structure of the pale to create gaps, anodic sound widens and maintains these gaps, and radio signals rationalize the pale into recognizable dimensions.

Radio signals are, in return, susceptible to corruption by the pale, resulting in entroponetic crosstalk, where signals from the past or the future are transmitted to the present. CCP is one such phenomenon and is directly related to the formation of new pale through magpie interpretation.

There is a dedicated Union for people who work in and with the pale (the Pale Workers Union). They have two slogans; “The light purifies; The sound absolves; The pale no more” and “Son et Fureur” (sound and fury)

Here’s what we may choose to believe about the pale, based on the thoughts and beliefs of in-game characters:

In conversation with Soona, the pale is described as a “curdling milk” phenomenon: “repulsive, but natural”

In this same conversation you can theorize that the churches were meant to contain the pale origins; out of the seven churches, six were destroyed during the suzerain or the revolution

The phasmid and whatever other lifeforms it’s communicated with believe that entroponetic collapse is comparable to an oxygen holocaust (i.e. the great oxygenation event), implying mass extinction due to a toxic overabundance of sapient thought

Harry refers to it once by saying “The wolf is at the door. It’s going to eat the sun.” so take that as you will

It’s likely that Tiago’s “Mother” is some manifestation from the pale, if you choose to believe that the 2mm hole is in fact a pale origin point (the concept art does confirm it’s a pale origin, but the game offers other explanations, so I won’t say it’s the only answer)

Inframaterialists believe that revolutionary action (NOT thought) may create a counter-force that will prevent the spread of pale; it’s unclear if any reversal is possible.

The world will be fully consumed by the pale in 27 years (I put it here because you may or may not believe that shivers and harry are reliably sourcing this information)

And now my personal speculation about the pale:

A quick and easy point: it’s confirmed that the pale has a measurable EMF “exhalation” frequency that varies with proximity. Strong enough EMF pulses can actually tamper with magnetic storage- radiocomputer filaments! Electronics! Fortress Accident data loss! This gives us a tangible explanation for why pale can delete data :)

This may also explain its ability to cause radio interference- radio frequencies are just a subset of EMF frequencies, so it’s possible that pale exhalation on *just the right frequency* is what’s responsible for the entroponetic crosstalk we get on radios sometimes

The pale canonically has an atomic structure, but it also has wave properties, so it’s possible that the pale has wave-particle duality on its subatomic level, like photons do

Based on this, entroponetics is likely a very similar field to quantum mechanics, which might be an interesting source of ideas for anyone (like me) who wants to explore pale-related possibilities

The pale could be a manifestation of raw patterns. That’s why math “forces dimensions” on it- it rationalizes or “tames” the patterns, which allows it to be manipulated to a certain degree.

There are several references to the pale that refer to mathematical concepts and patterns, saying that the world dissolves into “a tangle of azimuths and cosines” as it blends into the interisolary pale- more on this later

Steban comments that the pale is commonly theorized to be nostalgia or “historical inertia”, but it’s largely agreed that it’s “the past” in a broad sense. Thinking about the idiom that history repeats itself, it could be that history/the past is part of the pattern that comprises the pale, and that it’s also the type of pattern most readily perceived by people (people don’t viscerally *perceive* math, for example, but we experience memories)

To first define entropy: Chemically speaking, “the measure of a system’s thermal energy per unit temperature that is unavailable for doing useful work. (per encyclopedia britannica).” Physically speaking, it’s a measure of randomness or disorder in a system. Less work/less order = more entropy; it’s a physicochemical “winding down” of a given system

It’s commonly thought that pale is the entropic force, but what if it’s the opposite? (Keep in mind the chemical definition: less ability to do work = more entropy) Consider: the pale as less entropic, a cleanup force, recycling the potential lost by death and destruction in the universe. This in part explains why a dead person’s memory is present in the pale- their potential has been recycled into the pale in the form of their memories (their life’s *pattern*)

Enthalpy is a related concept to entropy and is defined as the total energy contained within a system. Holding the system enthalpy constant- saying the universe will always have the same amount of total energy, no matter what, according to thermodynamics- results in an entropic tug-of-war between the pale and the world. The pale wins through sheer inertia (again, inertia is mentioned specifically in game)

Overall: think of the world as “cooling”, losing heat and energy through war and death and complacency. Think of the pale as steam and heat, melting down old materials to start it all over again. (Kim says, *through entroponetic interference*: “it’s been a long, cold winter.”)

Consider: the pale as a sinusoidal function, eternally repeating. The pale recycling the universe to start a new cycle, “spending” itself, resulting in pale not being present in the beginning. Then, as the new things begin to settle- with the advent of the human mind, specifically- the pale reforming, slowly reclaiming potential, eventually ending the cycle to start again.

In comes CCP and magpies. Consider: CCP as a backwards transmission from the next “cycle” (after all, pale has no sense of time). Magpies as *pattern-sensitive* people who are able to decode CCP into something useful called novelty. They reach into the potential of the next cycle to build the potential in their current one- this paradox could be what creates more pale, because (and this is where it gets weird, I apologize) doing this retroactively increases the total amount of energy/work/potential in the current cycle to have been reclaimed by the pale for the next one.

Think of the pale as the compost bin for every single thought in the universe. The pale is the exact right size to compost every little atom and thought in the universe, and can hold nothing extra. But magpies reach into the future, the next cycle, and bring in extra. This paradox forces the pale to grow to accommodate the additional material, which also increases the starting potential of the next cycle. This process allows each cycle to accumulate minor changes from the previous one, which can snowball over many cycles.

Furthermore, to the inframaterialists’ point: revolutionary action would be such a radical shift in inertia that it would increase the potential in the world, forcing the pale to pause/shrink to “balance the equation” in terms of pale-vs-world thermodynamics. So maybe they’re right after all :)

And some diagramming, to explain the utter bullshit I’ve just dropped:

[i-like-forcefem]

Sometimes all a guy needs is to become my cute little barbie doll

[royalarchivist]

If you’re looking for resources to support Palestine, I highly recommend checking out:

The resource page created by Fit's mods

Ceasefiretoday

The resource thread created by RichasUpdates

The TTRPGs for Palestine charity bundle

While some of the information and links are about previous strikes, the majority of the information and resources listed are still relevant to the current strike and current events!

[sweetpeapoppy]

With every season of Drive to Survive, I violently mourn the fact that we did not have it 2009-2013. I mean that era had so much…

- everything about Brawn GP

- Slagcaren

- Mark and Sebastian (I mean that’s a story line that would run and run)

- not knowing who was going to win in 2010 & 2012

- Mark and Fernando (saying they wanted each other to win, Mark telling Fernando he was retiring on the podium, easy homoerotic subplot)

- Kimi and Michael returning

[sonntam]

I don't think I've seen a write-up on various fairy-tale and Russian sayings references in the English translation, so I'd like to make one.

"Puddles make poor drinks" and "Gorkhon water will turn you into livestock": what's up with that?

There is a fairytale about a big sister and the little brother. They walk for a long time and the brother is very thirsty. His big sister keeps telling him to keep going and not to drink from the puddles, like a goat. Eventually the little brother drinks from the puddle.

And promptly turns into a goat.

Rest of the fairytale is about the big sister returning the little brother to his original form.

So, this is where the talks about puddles and water turning you into livestock is about.

The Akela joke did not work at all in the translation.

It comes from Mowgli, which is well known due to the USSR cartoon. In the book (and in the cartoon) the elderly wolf leader Akela misses during a hunt... after which he promptly is deposed as a leader of the pack. Mowgli loses his protection and this is a Big Deal.

So whenever a boss in real life makes a silly mistake (say, throwing a paperball into the bin and missing) everyone thinks it's very funny to say "Akela missed!" implying that they will get a new boss now and the current one will get deposed for this mistake.

Here "Akela never misses" means that Khan being at risk of infection and coming into the nutshell does not diminish his importance at all and his dogheads are just as loyal as before, happily delivering loot to him.

There is a saying: "Better a sparrow in hand, than a stork in the sky."

It means that you should treasure what you have, instead of preferring that which you can't get (so easily).

Lara Ravel references that she can't be happy with the little she has. She wants to help others and for this she needs more.

"Maybe I could be useful to you" is a classic thing that various animals say to people in fairytales, once they are caught and plead for their lives.

I think, this is a popular trope in English fairytales as well, but the phrasing here is lifted directly from fairytales in Russian, so pointing it out either way.

"Everyone's shirt is closer to their skin" is a well known Russian saying.

It means that your happiness and comfort is always more important to you than the comfort of other people. Hence: your shirt is closer to your skin, so you care about it more.

"Silence implies assent" is another popular saying (it even rhymes in Russian).

If someone proposes a course of action and no one speaks out against it or for it, then people usually say "silence is a sign of assent" and consider the matter settled. (Or, more often, people then suddenly say that they disagree and you get a more lively and productive conversation.)

I can't find another screenshot, but Dankovsky says something similar about "I wore down seven pairs of shoes getting to this town".

It obviously could be taken as a factual statement, but most likely it's a reference to fairytales.

In a lot of fairytales the protagonist will be given on a long journey seven pairs of iron boots. Once all of them break, the hero has reached his destination.

Same here: it's a fairytale way of saying that you had a long and arduous journey (or in Capella's case, ran around the whole town for years).

"I'll just peek with one eye" is another popular Russian phrase.

"Can I look?"

"No"

"How about if I look with just one eye?"

Obviously, it's nonsense, but it's a typical thing to say if you REALLY want to look at something, so you just say "pleeeease, I will just look only a little".

[proshippers-against-censorship]

You say pro-contact MAPS & Zoos does it means MAPS/ZOOs that let their feelings flow and Walk free and have contact with their attraction in any form even If its not direct (Visual contact, watching the things that attract them, using things that remind them of their attraction ) Or does It only means direct physical interaction with their object of attraction?

I confess im still confused what pro-contact acctually means.

Like, having a crush on a kid or animal from far a away count as pro-contact? Or is It only the moment they choose to touch/talk to them ?

Pro/Neu/Complex Contact all hinges around justifying direct sexual contact with the object of the attraction. Having a crush from afar but not making any physical move isn't pro-contact, but instead just a thought.

[jamiethebeeart]

Lineart by me! (extra info for colorists in og tags) I couldn't resist a dappled light variant on this. @green-with-envy-phandom-event

fun fact: this lineart originally had the actual lunch/picnic table ridges and then i realized that was too much, especially without access to the layers of lineart (personally, I would color the lineart for the table and then the support bars would be colored and the layer moved underneath the table top. I decided not to put colorists in a position to try to color it with one layer of lineart, but I did get quite far before making that decision)

[desired-misery]

Lyrics that apply to Luis Serra

You're the scar burned into my skin // You're the weight beneath my sin ("Weight Beneath My Sin" by Five Finger Death Punch)

And there's no going back, if I get trapped I'll never heal // Choose a god you think is fair ("Monsters" by Shinedown)

My name is searching since you stole my only soul // It's over, it's over now, you're done wearing me out // You'll be ancient history but who am I right now? ("My Name (Wearing me Out)" by Shinedown)

Am I worthless? Am I filthy? Am I too far gone to be a remedy? // Will you help me because I'm dying to be something more than a memory? // If I reach out, can I trust you? Will you help me see the light of one more day? ("Take the Bullets Away" by We as Human ft. Lacey Sturm)

I can't escape this hell, so many times I've tried, but I'm still caged inside // Help me believe it's not the real me // I can't escape myself, so many times I've lied ("Animal I Have Become" by Three Days Grace)

You may take control by sucking all the hope away // Stripped me of my freedom // Stripped me of my identity // I am sick of my life hanging by a thread ("Puppet" by The Dreaming)

Tell me does it take a war to start a revolution // I see the look in your eye // Hope is a broken battlefield of disillusion // It's gonna take sacrifice ("Antigravity" by RUNGAGROUND)

Chemicals and entropy and all the other things that we make up // Hide and seek, blood and all that it's made of // Chemistry and symmetry and blasphemy, below and above ("Gravedigger" by Gemini Syndrome)

Oh, our flag is tattered, and our bones are shattered // Double vision from the blood we've shed // The only way I'm leaving is dead ("State of My Head" by Shinedown)

I will learn how to live // Dying but standing on my feet // My fate unfolds // It's all getting clear // Lighting the darkness that once set in ("Break Me Out" by Mindflow)

[xiakeponz]

for modern AU fics - what chinese media did diaspora consume?

making this post because some of us in the diaspora server were having a chat about what Chinese media "Diaspora Chinese" watched in the 90's - 2000's (and even sooner than that) while not having access to satellite chinese media or streaming services - this is in the context of writing modern AU fics based off Chinese media/novels (so your main character's grandpa or uncle is not, in fact, watching an episode of Friends or Shortland Street or something as flavour text because sorry what the hell-)

We generally watched a lot of stuff on VCDs, including bootlegged and non-bootlegged movies, shows, anime/donghua. My household had a whole VCD album of this, and a lot of VCDs (even if they were pirated editions) would have a fancy hardcover box with a magnetic clasp and some artwork representing the show on it.

All of this is Mandarin - so not TVB stuff, because I'm from Northern China and I don't know any cantonese - but Canto friends, please feel free to add to the list! This is mostly stuff my parents liked to watch, or I liked to watch with them, with the exception of a few which I mainly watched with friends/cousins when I was maybe (in most cases) eleven/twelve years old onwards. This is a pretty personal list, meant to give people general idea of a possible "ballpark" of sorts, and by no means exhaustive.

Now, for the list of shows which I can confirm I had or someone I know had on VCD or some kind of offline media format lol (I'll try add release year stamps and links to the EN wikipedia where possible):

Period dramas (mostly Qing Dynasty stuff):

Huan Zhu Gege 还珠格格 (1998, April-) This is a classic, so many memes come from this show; hugely popular series, basically cemented Zhang Tie Lin's face as the face of the Qing Emperor for about a decade. Tie Chi Tong Ya Ji Xiao Lan 铁齿铜牙纪晓岚 (2002-2010) - I loved this show as a kid and watched all four seasons on repeat with family... The "trio" in this show are well known and loved.

Amazing Detective Di Ren Jie / 神探狄仁杰 (2004) A very popular and addictive show. Ok now the Big Four:

Romance of 3 kingdoms 1994 / 三国演义 (1994) - a classic that has had many remakes, my older cousin would play this on repeat...

Hong Lou Meng/红楼梦 （1987） - another classic with many remakes, but I think the most recognised by the public one is the 1987 one.

Journey to the West / 西游记 live action (1986) - I think the 1986 version of the live action is the most recognised one. *Shui Hu Zhuan / 水浒传 (1998) - I am not too familliar with the live action of this one in my household tbh bc my mum doesn't like it lol (she keeps saying it's too depressing) but I'm sure it's up there with the rest of the big four, if anyone has an opinion on this one please let me know!

Modern setting shows:

My dad loved all the Sun Honglei (孙红雷 - actor name) stuff, iirc it was a lot of MinGuo period espionage stuff, your shanghai 1920's sxc aesthetic. This actor has been around since 1999? Qian Fu （潜伏）was very famous, and Ren Jian Zheng Dao Shi Cang Sang （人间正道是沧桑）。 These were around '08 and '09.

Chuang Guan Dong - 闯关东 (2008) (Baidu link, sorry - couldn't get an EN wikipedia one). This show was huge when it was airing, everyone was watching it. I was pretty young but even I watched it and got invested ... and I thought it was such an "old person" show at the time lmao. Xiao Bing Zhang Ga / 小兵张嘎 （2004） (sorry, again Baidu link) - yo, anti-japanese war movies set between 1937-1945 were crazy popular - this is one of them and was very popular):

Donghua/Anime (all the stuff kid me watched and some which I didn't but were popular):

喜羊羊与灰太狼 (2005-) Calabash Brothers / 葫芦兄弟 （1986-1987） Black Cat Detective / Hei Mao Jing Zhang 黑猫警长 （1984-2010） Lan Mao Tao Qi 3000 Wen 蓝蓝猫淘气3000问 AKA 蓝猫 (blue cat) (October 1999 - Present) Legend of Ne Zha 哪吒传奇 (2003) Journey to the West/Xi You Ji 西游记 This was truly the Donghua I grew up on from when I was a bb, the OP song and ED song are classic bangers all kids know. Slam Dunk/ 灌篮高手 - People truly watched a lot of anime that may or may not have been terribly dubbed into mando (possibly canto too). Late 80s and 90s kids were all over this, and Dragon Ball, Crayon Shinchan (labixiaoxin).

Taiwanese Dramas:

This is mid-late 2000's, I would be remiss to not talk about the Taiwanese dramas of this era. Mike He, Rainie Yang, Wu Zun (amongst many, many others) were huge. Stuff like Dou Niu Yao Bu Yao, it started with a kiss, Hua Yang Shao Nv (Taiwanese version of Hana Kimi) were all pretty popular. Not sure if these shows all hold up in 2023, but boy were they popular at the time.

Note about CNY:

For CNY, people would try to tune into 春节联欢晚会 (the CCTV official CNY show) at that One Friend Who Had China Satellite TV's house. Zhao Ben Shan / 赵本山 was a comedy staple, and the show would often feature people from the music industry to perform. Eventually these people became more and more relevant to my gen and Jay Chou etc started appearing.

Last but not least Xian Jiaaaan 仙剑:

In 2005 I was all over 仙剑奇侠传 (Chinese Paladin), based off the video game. This show was crazy popular and probably sent me and a whole lot of other kids into Xianxia / Wuxia hell (and Hu Ge hell, and later I came back to love Liu Yifei). Thank you. The OST is a true banger.

[zackstriker]

the demon phannie iceberg

(cw // post contains references to drama, discourse, and sensitive dnp topics)

[greensolsikke]

After spamming y'all with my gig pics (haha), here's another try on a gig report:

Joker Out in Munich Strom, 26.03.24

- I arrived rather "late" for queueing, at 15 o'clock. Got nr. 50 general access, which was more than fine. The queuing people were really nice and lots of bracelets and fan art were exchanged.

- the weather conditions were so much better than in Cologne and the venue had way more infrastructure around (restaurants, shops with toilets).

- the venue itself is rather small. The stage was packed with the four boys in the front. Jure wasn't easy to spot ☹️ but no barricade!

- Sector 5 and JC Stewart were performing really well. People were singing along and cheered.

- Kris seemed to be on better terms health wise. He smiled and was more expressive with his face.

- they were given lots of gifts and crowns. Unfortunately, there's still people throwing stuff on stage. One item even hit Jan 😳 Guys, don't do it, please!

- besides the regular tracks, they played Omamljeno Telo (😍) and Barve Oceana. New songs were Sta Bih Ja and Schlager

- At some point, Nace circled around Jan and he kept on pirouetting

- Not to forget the ALMOST kiss of Kris and Nace: Kris was grabbing Nace's white button-down and shook him affectionately. While pulling him close, his face got super close to Nace's.

- UM was done without Bojan in the crowd. He tried keeping it short, kinda, but... Well... Lots of Slovenian versions, one from a child from the crowd, a Finnish one, German and Swiss-German.

- Jan and Nace were snickery hubbies again. In Cologne, Jan wore a white shirt, in Munich it was Nace. I'll just leave that information for you

- All in all, it was a good and joyous concert.

- After the concert, the boys had headed to the bus quite quickly. Jan was seen shortly, but other than that mainly Kiki and Dean. They have a gig in Milano today so they probably had/wanted to leave early.

- But that gave us time for a spontaneous Tumblr meeting. It was so lovely to talk and interact with you 🫶

[tathrin]

A Bit of Mirkwood World Building:

The amethyst deceiver mushroom, Middle-earth style.

Commonly called Violet Despair, Violet Deceiver, False Delight, Purple Liar, and Shadow Deceiver in Westron.

*elvish name pending someone better at Sindarin than me devising one.

They grow in the southern part of Mirkwood, near Dol Guldur, and in the poisoned lands around Minas Morgul, where instead of arsenic they absorb the Shadows of the place, becoming darker and richer in color, and capable of swamping you with despair and paranoia if you eat them.

They predate the Shadow, but without a source of evil and corruption to feed upon they were nearly harmless: used often for dyes and decorations, although rarely for eating, for even then the Violet Deceiver was known for feeding on the rot and echo of darker feelings, and thus their flesh often became tainted with these sensations and capable of inducing fear, sorrow, and dismay in those who ate them.

Those fungi which found Evil on which to feed were, of course, much worse.

They are not quite bioluminescent, but their coloring is vibrant enough that in the black shadows of Mirkwood's trees and Mordor's gloom, they can trick the eye into thinking that they glow; but it is a glow that sheds no light to drive back the surrounding dark.

The Rangers of Ithilien encounter them much more rarely than do the elves of Mirkwood, for the Rangers do not brave the lands close to Minas Morgul; but they have come across them often enough to know to be wary of them also. (Among the Rangers, the mushrooms are sometimes referred to as "Violet Joys," as a form of bitter irony.)

Their spores exude a mild compulsory effect, tempting those who smell them to eat them, even when they know better.

The initial taste of the mushroom is sweet, almost too sweet, thick and cloying; this is followed quickly by a sharp sensation of peppery heat, and then a heavy nauseating muskiness (although few people are paying much attention to the taste at that point; mostly the latter is noted as a foul, rotten aftertaste lingering for a while in the mouths of the survivors).

Their scent is distinctive: alluring and floral, like lilies or lilacs, but with a hint of the sickly-sweet stench of rotting flesh lurking beneath that floral fragrance. By the time you notice the latter, you are already close enough to be imperiled.

Consuming even a single mushroom is enough to trigger the effects, engendering overwhelming sensations of despair and paranoia. Most victims report simultaneous symptoms of both, but some experience primarily hopelessness, while some suffer predominantly from the fear, and others vacillate between the two extremes.

Eating more than three or four will leave one in a fraught emotional and even hallucinatory state for several hours, or even days.

here have been no known cases of fatal poisonings from consuming the mushrooms, but many folk—elves and mortals—have died while under the effects, whether as a result of blundering into some peril they could not properly comprehend, being too absorbed or apathetic to defend themselves against another threat, or from breaking under the despair and terror and taking their own lives before their senses clear.

The Unhoused Shades that haunt Southern Mirkwood are prone to lingering near the mushrooms as well—or perhaps it is the other way around, and it is the rot of those trapped souls upon which the mushrooms feed.

Either way, the sight of them is a sign of peril.

These mushrooms were devised for @tathrin's fic And In The Darkness to Unmake Them and @babybat98's fic The Last War of the North, but are offered free for use of anyone writing in the Tolkien fandom who wishes to add them to their stories.

Ideally we ask you to link back to this post so that other readers can likewise make use of this bit of shared world building, but that's not a hard requirement for inclusion in your works.

All you have to do it not claim the idea for your own, and continue to freely share it with anyone else who wants to play too. Thank you!