#portal 2 community maps

[ngeruma]

"Cuboid" | Perpetual Testing | Portal 2 Community Maps & Mods

By Storm

When you’re as good at overcomplicating things as I am, it really should be considered a skill. Even GLaDOS acknowledges it.

Full Video

More Test Chambers

[ajizunp]

Portal 2 Map W.I.P. #1

So, might as well show off a map I'm working on! Been working on this for a while, honestly need to buckle down and just finish it, it's basically done just needs an ending.

I suspect it releasing at the end of the month

[bixels]

Portal 2 is still the perfect game to me. I hyperfixated on it like crazy in middle school. Would sing Want You Gone out loud cuz I had ADHD and no social awareness. Would make fan animations and pixel art. Would explain the ending spoilers and fan theories to anyone who'd listen. Would keep up with DeviantArt posts of the cores as humans. Would find and play community-made maps (Gelocity is insanely fun).

I still can't believe this game came out 12 years ago and it looks like THIS.

Like Mirror's Edge, the timeless art style and economic yet atmospheric lighting means this game will never age. The decision not to include any visible humans (ideas of Doug Rattmann showing up or a human co-op partner were cut) is doing so much legroom too. And the idea to use geometric tileset-like level designs is so smart! I sincerely believe that, by design, no game with a "realistic art style" has looked better than Portal 2.

Do you guys remember when Nvidia released Portal with RTX at it looked like dogshit? Just the most airbrushed crap I've ever seen; completely erased the cold, dry, clinical feel of Aperture.

So many breathtakingly pit-in-your-stomach moments I still think about too. And it's such a unique feeling; I'd describe at as... architectural existentialism? Experiencing the sublime under the shadow of manmade structures (Look up Giovanni Battista Piranesi's art if you're curious)? That scene where you're running from GLaDOS with Wheatley on a catwalk over a bottomless pit and––out of rage and desperation––GLaDOS silently begins tearing her facility apart and Wheatley cries 'She's bringing the whole place down!' and ENORMOUS apartment building-sized blocks begin groaning towards you on suspended rails and cement pillars crumble and sparks fly and the metal catwalk strains and bends and snaps under your feet. And when you finally make it to the safety of a work lift, you look back and watch the facility close its jaws behind you as it screams.

Or the horror of knowing you're already miles underground, and then Wheatley smashes you down an elevator shaft and you realize it goes deeper. That there's a hell under hell, and it's much, much older.

Or how about the moment when you finally claw your way out of Old Aperture, reaching the peak of this underground mountain, only to look up and discover an endless stone ceiling built above you. There's a service door connected to some stairs ahead, but surrounding you is this array of giant, building-sized springs that hold the entire facility up. They stretch on into the fog. You keep climbing.

I love that the facility itself is treated like an android zooid too, a colony of nano-machines and service cores and sentient panel arms and security cameras and more. And now, after thousands of years of neglect, the facility is festering with decomposition and microbes; deer, raccoons, birds. There are ghosts too. You're never alone, even when it's quiet. I wonder what you'd hear if you put your ear up against a test chamber's walls and listened. (I say that all contemplatively, but that's literally an easter egg in the game. You hear a voice.)

Also, a reminder that GLaDOS and Chell are not related and their relationship is meant to be psychosexual. There was a cut bit where GLaDOS would role-play as Chell's jealous housewife and accuse her of seeing other cores in between chambers. And their shared struggle for freedom and control? GLaDOS realizing, after remembering her past life, that she's become the abuser and deciding that she has the power to stop? That even if she can't be free, she can let Chell go because she hates her. And she loves her. Most people interpret GLaDOS "deleting Caroline in her brain" as an ominous sign, that she's forgetting her human roots and becoming "fully robot." But to me, it's a sign of hope for GLaDOS. She's relieving herself of the baggage that has defined her very existence, she's letting Caroline finally rest, and she's allowing herself to grow beyond what Cave and Aperture and the scientists defined her to be. The fact that GLaDOS still lets you go after deleting Caroline proves this. She doesn't double-back or change her mind like Wheatley did, she sticks to her word because she knows who she is. No one and nothing can influence her because she's in control. GLaDOS proves she's capable of empathy and mercy and change, human or not.

That's my retrospective, I love this game to bits. I wish I could experience it for the first time again.

[condensed-ink]

I've been thinking a lot about #FixTF2 and I know that some might have their doubts about the movement, however, I've realized that, even if it does not succeed in getting Valve's attention, it will end up contributing towards an important development in recent years - the shift in the public perception of Valve.

If you are person who was growing up in the early 2010's then you obviously remember how Valve games were essentially the cultural zeitgeist of the time, how you would see pictures of King Gaben on every meme/YouTube thumbnail during a Steam Summer Sale. As I understand it, Valve essentially rode this wave of good will throughout the 2010's. Even when everyone was getting frustrated with the lack of sequels for games such as HL2 and L4D2, some people would just excuse it with "ah y'know Valve, not communicating and not doing anything is just their style, this is just probably part of Gaben's 5D chess - tier master plan". However, the cracks in this image have been slowly showing up for a long time:

Portal fans haven't had anything since Portal 2's release back in 2011. We have had some small VR titles but that's hardly any consolation.

Left for Dead 2 came out all the way back in 2009 with nothing afterwards. As of June of 2024, the game still has more than 10 thousand concurrent players yet it is also unplayable for a significant amount of people due to reported DDos attacks.

The suffering of Half - life fans at this point is a meme in itself. The only thing we got was HL:Alyx back in 2020 and, even though it's a very good game, it was inaccessible to a lot of people at launch due the costs and lack of VR hardware. We were left on a cliff-hanger AGAIN and four years later we have no news of any follow-up.

In my opinion, Valve to some extent could ignore these fandoms since they were smaller compared to their big earners. But it is the recent issues with these bigger titles that have started to test everyone's patience and tolerance for Valve's bullshit:

Team Fortress 2 - I mean what else is there to say: rampant cheating and idle bots, bot hosters doxxing and swatting people. The bots crisis has been destroying the game for the past 5 years. If we remember the original SaveTF2 movement, it had a more positive tone, i. e., people talking about how much they love the game and pleading Valve to fix it. Well, one shitty tweet and two years later the tone has gone from "Please fix the game" to "FIX THE FUCKING GAME YOU ASSHOLES" and rightfully so.

CS2 also has a myriad of issues. CS:GO became CS2 after the game jumped to the Source 2 engine, but the resulting game, by many accounts, is a downgrade. A lot of game modes and maps from the original game were not included and are still not present as of June of 2024. Cheaters are rampant. To what degree I cannot say but it is to an extent where a significant enough portion of the player base is affected. Also, the game hasn't had an operation (major content update) since 2021. The player count is still high, but a lot voices in the community have been chewing out Valve for this level of incompetence.

With DOTA 2 I cannot say for sure. Some people talk about neglect whilst others say the game is in a decent state considering the game still gets frequent updates and patches. At most I can say that there is a portion of players that are dissatisfied with the state of the game but most likely to a much lesser extent than in the previous cases.

HOWEVER

All of that is just one part of the double whammy, the second part is probably is much worse than the first - a lack of continuity for Valve's legacy.

I mean, let's think about it for a second here: most of us who grew with the Valve classics are probably in our mid-to late twenties at this point. Of course, I'm not saying that there aren't any younger fans but the bulk is the old guard. I'm pretty sure a lot of kids and teenagers don't even know a lot about these games and it's not their fault, they weren't old enough to experience them. The blame lies SOLELY with Valve because they have done NOTHING to boost the visibility of their older series due to the fact that they haven't bothered to make a single proper sequel for any of them.

And speaking of visibility, Valve's advertising strategy is non - existent and downright insulting . They really have this holier-than-thou perception of themselves, where they think "I am THE Valve softworks, makers of TF2 and Half-Life! How could you NOT know of us?!?!" and then expect everyone else to spread news of their games through word-of-mouth. Like, I'm sorry, Gabe, but we don't owe you shit. I'm not gonna advertise your shitty card-game and upcoming mediocre 5v5 hero shooter just because I had fun playing TF2 back in high school. Like, it's no surprise that you're not gaining any new fans when this has been your modus operandi for the past 10 years.

TO CONCLUDE

This is where we are right now: the old guard is either apathetic or straight-up hates Valve for their negligence, the younger generation barely knows about most of Valve's OG game series due to the lack of any meaningful output. At the end of the day, Valve isn't going to bankrupt, they're gonna keep taking their 30% cut from Steam and peddling gambling addictions to kids via cases. However, the era of good will is over, nobody is cutting them any slack anymore and, frankly, they deserve all the shit that's going to get thrown at them.

[samgirl98]

Wail of the Silent 2/?

Prev | Next

TW: this chapter mentions suicide and thoughts of self-harm. Proceed with caution. Do not read if this triggers you

Danny Fenton, aka Phantom, flew over the smog-ridden city. It was cloudy, the sky threatening to release rain. He couldn’t see the stars.

(Not that it was possible to see them in the crime-ridden city.)

He had finally reached Gotham City.

“Of all the places Spectra could’ve run off to, it just had to be Gotham.”

Of course, considering all the city's misery, it made sense that Penelope Spectra would find her way there.

“Now I have to dodge the stupid Bats while looking for her.”

Still, as much as he grumbled, he was responsible for protecting people from ghosts. Ever since he told his parents the truth two years ago, they more or less accepted him (even while they kicked him out of the house.), and he had had more time to capture ghosts.

They gave him gadgets and access to the portal (as long as they supervised.) and paid for his apartment while giving him some money. And, bonus, they no longer shot at him and didn’t want to dissect him.

(Did they love him, though? They had kicked him out of his only home when he was eighteen…)

Thankfully, Danny had been able to make his patented inventions that focused on protection from ghosts instead of offensive weapons, so he was getting some income from that. After all, the people of Amity Park would rather have something that protected them than fight ghosts.

He had been able to graduate high school, but he couldn’t go to college. Jazz was encouraging him to take some courses in community college. She argued that since his parents were helping with capturing ghosts (and releasing them instead of experimenting on them.), he should at least think about doing more than ghost hunting.

He couldn’t. Danny had a responsibility to Amity Park. Besides, he had powers; he couldn’t not use them to protect his town. It was his fault the ghosts were coming through in the first place.

 If I hadn’t opened the portal…if I hadn’t been a stupid teenager…

The portal was mainly closed now, but natural portals spawned almost weekly in Amity Park, allowing any ghost to get through. This time, Spectra had come through again. She had caused havoc in Amity Park. Three had died, two by their own hands by the time he had figured out that Spectra had had a hand in it. When she figured out Danny was after her, Spectra fled Amity Park.

So, he followed her.

At the moment, he had left Amity Park in the hands of the Red Huntress and his little more capable parents. Spectra was not a ghost that should be allowed in the mortal plane. He’s seen what happens when she feeds on someone too long.

(He could still see the shadow of a hanging body…)

Danny made it invisibly to the top of the tallest building he could find. Wayne Tower was in the middle of an island Danny had found out was called Old Gotham. (Thank you, Google Maps.) He could see the city sprawl in front of him. Danny decided to remain invisible in case any Bats were around. He knew he wasn’t a meta (he was dead, it was a medical condition), but he was sure Batman wouldn’t see it that way.

Looking at the city before him, Danny had no idea where to start. There were so many angry shades and ghosts hanging around that he couldn’t pinpoint Spectra’s unique ectosignature with the Ecto-finder he had with him. And Danny’s ghost sense was useless as it kept going off every other street.

Danny sighed. He decided to go in a random direction when he heard it—no, he felt it.

A ghost was wailing in pain. It was broadcasting its agony and torment to every ghost, shade, and Danny. The wail turned into a roar before suddenly cutting off. The silence that followed left Danny feeling disoriented.

Danny went in the direction that the ghost had projected its pain. He had to help. No one should have to deal with that suffering alone. Besides, if he could feel it, Danny knew Spectra would pinpoint the misery still coating the air.

Danny flew into the night, determined to help.

____

Jason got up, knowing he couldn’t sleep any longer that night.

His shoulders curved inward from the heavy feeling he felt on his back.

(Spectra smiled as her shadowy hands held onto Jason’s shoulders.)

He started making a cup of tea when his feelings reached a crescendo. The cup Jason was holding on to hit the floor and broke. Jason stared at the shattered pieces and felt the sudden urge to use one to stop the crawling under his skin.

(Spectra amplified the need to hurt himself. She smiled as the boy’s emotions fed her powers.)

It was only Jason’s stubbornness that stopped him from doing it. He ignored the broken pieces of glass and sat on the couch. Silent tears left tracks on his cheeks. He wanted his dad, his family—anyone to stop what he was feeling.

He felt he was going insane!

(Spectra smiled and inwardly hoped the boy would last longer than her other victims. His misery made her youthful quicker than any other victim, and more powerful.)

Just as Jason felt his mind was going to break, the feelings went away suddenly, leaving Jason panting hard.

(Spectra felt when Phantom got close and left.)

Jason pulled his hair, wanting, needing the physical pain to ground him to the present.

What was happening to him?

(Spectra smiled as she stared at her reflection at a random window. Her skin was glowing, and her face was free of wrinkles. Spectra’s hair was shining and luxurious. Yes, she hoped the boy would last a while.  

Her smile grew as the ghost boy flew overhead, completely missing her.)

____

Though the city of Gotham seemed like a cruel, cold mistress, she cared for her people in her way.

Every vile villain, hero, anti-hero, and citizen was welcomed into her dark and shadowy bosom. The shades and ghosts who had lived and died in her dark alleys and streets knew their mistress would take care of them.

So, when a new ghost showed up and started targeting one of her knights (not just any knight but the one who had been born in her old buildings, the one who had been raised and shaped in her streets. The one she could not save as he had died so far from her soil.), she felt a visceral anger deep in her being.

How dare this spirit come and target her favored knight? She would not let the ghost get away from it. Lady Gotham let her consciousness spread throughout the city, trying, needing to find a way to help…There! A young half-ghost, looking, searching, wanting to help.

She guided the young ghost to her knight—the one who had suffered at the hands of the Joker and his father. (Even now, she doesn’t protect Bruce Wayne as much as she used to, only if it was necessary. The shadows of the city no longer covered him as tightly as they used to.)

She would do whatever she could to help Jason Todd.

The last part was a surprise to me. I hadn't intended to make Gotham a sentient city, but she decided to come screaming out in full force. Yes, Lady Gotham is holding a grudge against Bruce for hurting Jason.

[merchant-wizard-and-jerry]

“Hello, I’m the friendly wizard _____. My name got taken by a fey prince but it hasn’t really hampered my life. Anyways I am new to this wider wizard community and would like to get along. I have a magic book, a cart, and a friend. His name is Jerry, he is a fungus colony that has taken over my magic book and acts sort of as my patron. He…is a little weird but great fun.”

*sound of an explosion in the background, a book flys by being chased by goblin shamans casting fire ball*

“He is…”

“He is fine.”

“Anyways, I am here to sell goods and make a small profit. If you need something I’ll see what I can do : ) ”

“Also apparently I helped smuggle an amnesiac @fattocatto-wizard out of the city in my wagon. That was a shock, though he was just a cat.

Character Cheat sheet

( 3 currency to 16 silver crowns and 2 copper crowns)

(3 skulls to a coin)

(2 currency to 1 gold)

(100 currency to a 1000 grams gold bar)

(1 currency per 10 grams of gold)

(Current balance 89,359.250,001 currency, one penny, 23 meat pucks, 14 pounds, 2 gold coins one with Julius Cesar on it, 3 naturally-grown mana stones, 2 highly enchant able metal pieces, and one bar, 1 special bug corpse, 1576.5 gold, silver 18, 70 aus, 5kg silver, magic dirt house size. 24 counterfeit currency. Moss/lichen-coded bio stone. An inverse cold torch. 99 BG silver. EMERALD LINCOLN, GOLDEN CARROT, 200 SALTED MEAT DISKS, 200 POLISHED ROCKS, 82 FIGET SPINNERS!, A FULLY EQUIPPED LICH'S DUNGEON, and a cardboard box (magic black marble).” Invisibility stone, a bundle of drake feathers, quantum locked rock, raw gold. 9 Gold coming from the green goblin empire, 50 mushrooms, 92 secret society emblem. 5 trans enchanted gold coins, 2 skull coin, ancient lost civilization fragment, 5 glistening green metallic coin, 31 writhing bugs of gold, jade coin. Pile of gold coins and gold coin bugs, pile of shines from harpy, dust, quantum glass shards, bag of tooth shaped candy, 6720 candies from the festival, bag of holding money bag, 68 money bags, 500 flat Foxen, double sided dollar coin, 3 floppies, a Brahman horn, a medkit, a few candy bars, and an umbrella, 130 goblins eggs (goblin cooked chicken eggs.), 17 bars of pure gold, 1 crate of guns, temp singularity potion. 762 grasshoppers glow in the dark.Book on the formation patterns of natural portals - @serious-tabaxi. Edward Evandrian’s expired library card. Gems and frenicx mother gem and a junkarian leap amethyst. white mithril sapling. Timeseed, infinite note book, time tunnel. A nice gold bag. bag full of candied scorpions 💰, large gem stone. 💰 💰 💰, gems = 70currency. 1/3rd a gold bar. Compass map, it's keyed to the Island of Silence. N=10^7 menger sponge. 2416 shadow cloaks, 52 shiny stones. 20$, 3 gold coins 100 grams. Gummy worms. 100 journals of Ventus Asamuran, Last Peacekeeper of Har Aminas. car keys, box of a 27 rusted necklaces with warding spells. an amulet made of stone, with blue rectangular crystals growing out of it. 48 shiny stones, 30 currency worth of silver. 3 sets of custom made chips @crickled-thorn-thug. Gold potion It opens a portal to the realm of metals! It causes any land within 20 feet to be transmuted, temporarily, into a variety of metals. If left untouched, the land reverts after a day. If harvested, the stuff stays metal and can be used. It also causes uhh 20 gold peices to spawn, and anyone within the radius to get a bit of vertigo. Causes slight iron deficiency, for some reason. 23 bouquets of metalic flowers. They're grown beneath volcanic chambers, uses the heat of magma as a supplement for sunlight. Given their environment, they grow petals sharper than claws and harder than steel. They can be used for creating armours and weapons. one box of nightmare inducing Mac and cheese)

(Currently holding baby dire bunnies. A ring of mana (covers energy into mana. Only suitable if you don’t have mana)

(Jerry’s balance 13 gold, a fancy rock, 1 coin, flower petals (snacks for later), harpy eyes, feathers, vocal cords, and talons, a coin with @informis-the-many-faced on it, it is locked away for emergencies. bottle of magic mold rejuvenation powder, wooden key @crickled-thorn-thug)

(Warlocks of Jerry @fungal-boy-witch-yay @ignisuadaroleplay @life-is-okay-rn2 I think that is who it was…)

(Possessions - wealth stone, Antidote stone)

Owner of membership cards

——————————

@the-final-knight-2

@confused-sorcerer

@bi-gender-sorcerer (+ 10% off for employee discount)

@the-mighty-dalob

@detectivewizzard

@goblin-wizard-in-the-making

@serious-tabaxi

@weltreths-wanderings

@ignisuadaroleplay (will)

@shittest-wizard-ever

@wizard-wylin-wylerian

@akronus-and-associates (the primordials)

—————————————

@hallowed-the-silver-gun

@jormungand-seas-champion

@crow-natures-wrath

@antros-ember-of-fear

@akronus-the-redeemed

@clockwork-time-watcher

@aldira-born-anew

——————————

@wizard-ghost

@yeast-wizard

@crickled-thorn-thug

@sorcererest-sorcerer

@damnable-druid (+ 10% off for employee discount)

@informis-the-many-faced

@kittycatwizard

@gun-sorcerer

@crime-wizard-conglomerate

———

Perks

———

5% off all purchases

Special requested items

More favorable bartering

———

[thothxv]

myhouse.wad-adjacent facts and blatant shilling for the musicians who soundtracked it

As has been largely disseminated, new mappers making levels based on their own houses are a common trope in the doom community, and they are often referred to generically as "myhouse.wad". The earliest myhouse maps are actually some of the oldest Doom maps in existence, predating Doom 2 (also at least one Doom 2 map was based on Sandy Peterson's house...)

A lot of people are impressed with myhouse.wad's room over room. I'm more impressed that in the first house myhouse used a boom-style silent teleporter to implement room-over-room sloppily so that the illusion very easily breaks (just step back up the stairs while one of the basement doors is open: it will snap shut because you are being teleported back into the version of the house with an upstairs, and thus there can't be an open door there), just like an inexperienced mapper might in 1999, before using modern GZDoom portals to do it more convincingly in the second house.

There's been a lot of theorizing about myhouse's author, probably because veddge is a very very competent mapper and also because everyone who does know who the author is has stonewalled inquiries at the author's request, implying that the author has a meaningful identity in the Doom community. Or maybe they're just shy. However, DavidXNewton noted in his analysis series on myhouse that it does a lot of things in a ways that are unnecessary using modern UDMF and ZScript but would be familiar to someone coming from a less advanced mapping format like Boom or Old ZDoom. This is indicative of Veddge being more along the lines of what he says he is: either someone truly returning after a long absence, or at the very least someone who isn't terribly familiar with modern GZDoom mapping. Either that, or the entire map was mapped in character. I genuinely don't know which I'd find more impressive.

"doomcute" is a term used to refer to maps that recreate real-world items or environments in doom (usually because the immediate reaction from players is "oh that's adorable!"). Myhouse maps are invariably trying for doomcute, but another early doomcute map was Shamus Young's Doom City from 1995 (yes, Shamus Young of DM of the Rings fame. I discovered while researching that he actually died last year. Rest in peace). Doom City recreated a couple of real-world looking buildings, but the thing everyone seems to remember about Doom City is its recreation of... a gas station. Food for thought.

Hilariously, myhouse almost got lost in the shuffle on Doomworld, because most people weren't looking for a myhouse.wad to play. Several of Veddge's collaborators posted in the thread to keep this from happening.

I believe Veddge's confirmed collaborators on myhouse are Kevansevans, esselfortium, and Jimmy. I don't know much about Kevansevans, but I believe he helped with the scripting and some of his scripting work from other sources made it into the wad because he's officially credited (as is everyone whose work was used in the map: it's all inside the PK3). Essel and Jimmy are credited only in anagram form because they are responsible for the music, which is actually wholly original (also Jimmy gave no indication he was involved until it was revealed by players unscrambling the anagram, which was very very funny).

I'm actually going to talk about Essel and Jimmy in detail over the next few bullet points, because I feel like it. And they're both really neat.

Sarah "esselfortium" Mancuso is responsible for memory=entryrrrr/////, the piece the plays in the burned house and various other places throughout the wad. She's composed professionally for video games and has several albums, but in the Doom community she's probably best known for creating and managing the Back to Saturn X project, a trilogy of megawads (only two of which are presently released) being developed by a massive team of modders, with custom assets, a custom palette, a complete original OST, and some very impressive maps... all intended to be playable with a vanilla doom2.exe. Which is insane: Vanilla Doom is brutal to map for, on account of harsh limitations that it's hard to be confident your map or project falls within. Back to Saturn X was so ambitious that it found previously undiscovered ways that Doom can crash. Of course, in addition to running the project, Essel also mapped for it, made textures for it, and composed a significant portion of the soundtrack. And because that was not impressive enough apparently, Essel also (with some help from a few others) created Knee-Deep in Knee-Deep in ZDoom, a joke wad that takes the (in)famous Knee-Deep in ZDoom, a mapset designed to show off the features of ZDoom, and recreates as many of its tricks as it can entirely in vanilla. A feat I can only describe as black magic of the highest order. She also went out of her way to say Trans Rights during her bethesda interview, so that's cool too.

James "Jimmy" Paddock is responsible for the increasingly glitchy and messed-up version of D_RUNNIN that plays in the second house. Which figures, because Jimmy's music is everywhere. He takes commissions for music, he's contributed free music to the community, and his music is very very popular. Notable wads he's contributed tracks to include Plutonia 2, Speed of Doom, Reverie, Back to Saturn X Episodes 1 and 2, Eviternity, and Doom 2 In Spain Only, and the MIDI soundtrack to John Romero's SIGIL, which some consider to be even better than the Buckethead soundtrack. He also is the project lead and mind behind The Adventures of Square, a standalone, free game made in GZDoom, he's done texture work, he's made several award-winning doom mods (cacowards, that is), mapped for numerous other projects, and had just done a whole ton of stuff. The doom community gave him an award for lifetime achievement. Oh, and he did an alternative MIDI OST for Prodeus? Genuinely didn't know about that.

While researching this I learned that Jimmy is going to be evicted in a month, so now's a great time to check out his music online and see if you're into it. I'm not a super fan of his vocal delivery, but I really like some of his instrumentals and MP3 versions of his MIDIs.

[thatonebirdwrites]

I feel like this chapter isn't up to my usual caliber. I usually use more immersive details, but I just have been so ill that editing and cleaning this up for posting has taken up more energy than expected.

One more chapter to end Act 2, and then we're in Act 3.

EXCERPT:

Lena wakes to the scent of coffee brewing. She stretches in bed, not wanting to leave its warmth and the smell of Kara on the pillow she hugged. Humming echoes in harmony with the taps of a spatula and an almost purring noise that undercut it all. Intrigued, Lena slips out of bed, grabs her robe, and walks into Kara’s kitchen. 

Kara stands at the stove making pancakes again, and the purring is definitely from her. It’s not the first time she’s heard the deeper tones in Kara’s humming, but it’s almost like throat singing and yet not at the same time. 

She’s not entirely sure how to ask Kara about it or if it is rude, but she’s curious about their anatomical differences, not just from a scientific standpoint but also because she wants to map those differences with her hands and tongue. Which is a bit too heated a thought for a soon to be busy day.

After a cold shower, she walks into the kitchen, kisses Kara's cheek, and takes Kara’s offered plate. “So what is your plans for today?”

Kara sighs and pours the syrup until her plate is basically pancake soup with syrup as the broth. “Nia and I are checking on our contacts in San Jose Barrio, and we’re trying to get a more accurate number of afflicted. Nia says her roommate isn’t feeling well, and most of her drag friends are also ill. So it’s hitting humans now too.” 

Lena frowns. “It’s spreading faster than we thought. Do you know how many in total affected? I will check the clinics today with Sam, and I'll see if I can drum up a solution with Florence in our lesson.” She uses her portal watch for the hour lesson, timed for eight am so it's two pm for Florence. Just in time to help tend the garden before the magic drills. 

Kara shakes her head. “They don’t trust me yet, so I can't get accurate numbers. Supergirl hasn’t earned back the trust of the alien community, and as Kara Danvers, I’m too close to Supergirl.” She grumbles and takes a large bite of her soupy concoction. Syrup drips off her fork to splatter over the top of the second pancake.

“What if you go as your alien self?” Lena takes a small bite.

“That could expose me?” Kara tilts her head.

“No, I mean.” Lena cuts another piece of her pancake and arranges her thoughts in a more coherent manner. “Kara Danvers is human to them. But a reporter than is an alien? Nia’s half-alien, and they trust her.” 

“But I can’t say I’m alien as Danvers—”

“Hey,” Lena reaches over to gently lay her hand over Kara’s restless fingers, “I understand, okay? That needs to stay a secret. Be strategic on who you talk to, don’t name where exactly you’re from, maybe avoid your last name. I can do a glamour charm to make your face harder to remember.” 

Kara raises her eyebrows. “Huh. Well, that's an idea. Glamour?”

“What Florence calls illusions. She’s having me read an old tome about various magical styles, so I can derive their origins.” She slices into her second pancake with the edge of her fork. “Since, as she put it, ‘Yuh too curious for yer own good. So here, be safe about it.’” Lena mimics the accent with a roll of her eyes. “I’m simply trying to be accurate. There must be rules governing all this.”

“It’s magic, Lena. And can you really do a spell like that?” Kara’s eyes shine with wonder. 

“It can’t be that hard.” Lena wipes her hands on her napkin, stands, and picks up the book from the coffee table. It’s a thick tome with a brown cover with leave etchings on it. She flips through the yellow-stained pages, until she finds the right one. She taps the page. “Ingredients rather simple. Will need to enchant an item near your face. Scarf and hat best. I don’t recommend glasses since you use that for your human self. This needs to be an item you don’t associate with Kara Danvers.” She reads through the incantation, which is a mixture of Irish with the last line in Latin. 

[profounddestinyrebel]

Pretty much my ideal dcxdp coexisting world

Danny had all his canon happen before Bruce and the JL started their vigilante careers

Before Bruce was born or Martha and Thomas even got married

Phantom Planet never happened and the world never realized that they were almost dead in the first place (I apologize for mentioning it)

Danny retires after blowing up the portal and designing a new system of gov for the Infinite Realms (why the hell is that a monarchy anyway? Fighting being a way of communicating AND the way of determining a ruler does not make sense so I'll choose the better one)

Danny still visits the Infinite Realms but mostly lives his life

He still has interesting things happen to him but more because he apparently has a curse placed on him than anything else 'may you live in interesting times'

Danny manipulates the curse by getting into situations on purpose and then resolving them without getting attention drawn to his civilian id and normal life

He keeps track of immortals and big names that deal with death magic so as to lower the chances of being summoned

The more powerful the Realm Being the more powerful the summoner has to be to summon them and with how powerful Danny is there aren't many he has to keep an eye on

Ra's has been losing Lazarus water at a steady rate for over a decade but only now has it become a noticeable loss. The day the that he notices is a Very Bad Day for the League of Assassins (the day Danny lets himself get caught satisfies his curse for 2 whole months)

Danny hasn't aged much at all since he left Amity at 17. He's still short but mimics the effects of age with stage makeup and other tools used by actors to look older they actually are. This is how he meets a certain Alfred P. who remains a good friend even though they never really meet in person.

His parents blow themselves up and wipe their house off the map when tinkering with a device designed to lure realm beings to them. Danny isn't really sorry they're gone. He finds out after leaving Amity that he wasn't really their kid and he wasn't even adopted. They made him in their lab while distracted from their obsession with ghosts then completely forgot they had done so when they refocused on ghosts. His growth chamber (terrible name) was coated in ecto which allowed the device to reactivate and allow Danny to finish incubating into a toddler then (suspicious) it mysteriously popped him out before his the fentons noticed the growth chambers success.

His parents never took any notes on the clone experiment out of the house due to it being a (perceived) failure. After going back to their ghost obsession they completely forgot about it so no one knows. Jazz only found after Danny told her and he only found out after growing older and continuing to look less and less like either of his parents.

Danny finds the notes and that's what inspires him to leave Amity, to start looking for his bio parent. The Fenton's had no clue that the clone they grew was Danny. They dismantled the growth chamber when Danny was four (actually two) and never realized that the toddler they adopted was the clone of wonder woman they made. They never said anything to anyone about Danny being adopted so Vlad has no idea that Danny isn't Maddie's child.

Vlad starts to age drastically after the portals are destroyed and Danny figures out that Vlad isn't a halfa after all. He's just a normal ghost who can prey on people like spectra but with an obsession directed at Maddie originally and then Danny. Afterwards Vlad gets shunted off into Walker's prison because of all the toxic and human crimes he's committed among them brainwashing, mind control and mind wiping various wealthy and not so wealthy individuals into giving Vlad their money and companies.

Ellie has to explore the Infinite Realms (literally Infinite though so she's not confined) only because she can't really produce her own ecto. She has to absorb it from her surroundings so she can wander safely all over the Infinite Realms (so long as she calls for help when she gets in over her head) but not the human realms unless she takes a buddy who can produce a steady stream of ecto for her.

Vlad makes Danny his heir so now he's rich enough to travel even after giving all the people Vlad stole from their money back. It turns out that Vlad was good with making more money once he had it.

just Danny being a crptoid for the entire magical community and them being unable to talk about it if they even know of him

while danny runs a NASA and space account where he talks about NASA's recent achievements, newly discovered stars, planets and new alien races that Earth has been in contact with

[leafofkudzu]

Slightly delayed posting this, but hello again! The first Saturday of a new month fast approaches, which means it’s soon time for yet another community art party hosted by [VS] Verdant Shield! Last week I ran our first ever location-selection poll, and the winner by just a teensy margin was The Grove, so let’s try out a new location in the same map!

For those not in the loop about what an art party is, they’re an idea carried over from Final Fantasy XIV - big (or small!) get-togethers for artists/writers/creatives of all kinds to hang out, chat, and create together! Get your most eye-catching outfit together, find someone else who strikes your fancy, and create! Afterwards, everyone shares their creations on social media (mostly here on Tumblr for us) using a party-specific tag (ours is #VSArtParty) so others can see and spread the love around via reblogs! The tl;dr is the same thing I’ve been saying every time I make these posts, and will continue to say ad infinitum: the ‘goal’ of an art party isn’t to be drawn, but to draw others, and share with the community!

General party details are in the image above, but a text version with some additional details such as /squadjoin information is under the cut!

Location Details:

The last time we were in the Grove we tried Dawngleam Pergola as a location, but it very quickly overflowed during the NA party and has as such been disqualified from future large-scale events (sorry!). The Omphalos Chamber (aka the place where you go to visit the Avatar of the Pale Tree) is also limited in size, but is easily spilled out of onto the main floor immediately below it should the need arise (which it very well may). The closest waypoint is Upper Commons Waypoint, and the easiest way up to the uninstanced Chamber would be via a mount such as a springer or skyscale, but you can also use a teleport-to-friend or just kinda yell in an upwards direction to summon a helpful portal-bearer should the need arise. The map looks a little weird when viewed from Chamber-level, but here’s a screenshot just in case you aren’t familiar. If you still aren’t sure, just go the middle of the top floor and look up!

Time & Squad Details:

As always, the party will consist of two separate events, with an hour break in between (though technically people jump from one to the other immediately anyway so weee).

The first party will be on EU servers and begin at 9pm Central European Summer Time (aka 3pm Eastern Daylight Time or 5 hours before in-game reset). I’ll be hosting on my EU alt account, so to join either /squadjoin or whisper Aemryn of Dusk for an invite.

The second party will be on NA servers and begin at 7pm Eastern Daylight Time (aka 1am Central European Summer Time or 1 hour before in-game reset). This one I’ll be hosting on my main account, so to join either /squadjoin or whisper Kirslyn for an invite.

IMPORTANT NOTE (mostly for the NA party): If you join and the squad is at or above 45 members, please just taxi into the right map and then hop out of squad to allow others to do the same! Essentially all conversation now happens in say chat so you won’t miss out on anything by being outside of squad!

Closing Words:

For those who missed it, a week ago I posted a poll in the party tag where people could vote on one of the five main cities as a party location, with the promise that I’d select a location different from the previous party held in that map for whichever won. Going forward this will be the general format, with the poll going up 2 weeks before and the announcement 1 week before (yes I know this one is delayed I’m sorry D:). If you have suggestions for locations outside of the racial cities that are low/no combat and wouldn’t interfere with events/metas, feel free to DM me and I’ll scope them out for possible inclusion in future polls!

Anyway, that’s all for now! Sorry if I worried anyone by not having this posted back on Saturday - I had some irl stuff going on that delayed me a bit. Thank you so much to everyone who comes out to these and helps make them so memorable and fun, I can’t wait to see you all again soon! ♥

[purplecritter]

Dragon Age: Vows and Vengeance (Ep. 4)

Official episode transcript here

My notes while I was listening under the cut... Spoilers ahead!

I did not miss the templars bro…

I am really hopeful that Arlathan will have similar vibes to the Brecilian in Origins! I loved the talking trees and lurking demons etc etc. Bring back the whimsy to Thedas ya know

This was wayy too offtopic to go in the main post but the beginning with Bellara hidden in the trees reminded me of (improbable reference in 3, 2, 1…) Jasmine in Deltora Quest: The Forest of Silence

Yikes I bet Tevinter has some pretty stocked up museums with all these artifacts 💀 No wait we literally already know they do, the fucking Archives in episode 1 were full of things that didn’t belong there

“Call me rabbit again and I'll run your throat, shemlen dog” Bellara 🥰

I love a duo that can slip into scathing banter so easily but they actually like each other a lot. I’m so glad the writers didn’t go the (overused) “I insult you and create a huge argument but you didn’t realize that it was only as a distraction and I meant none of it but now it’s too late and you’re mad”

(Said by Bellara to temporarily animate the surrounding trees, using an amulet) Var vhen'alas var vallasdahlen. Should translate to something like “Our land, our life-trees*” *vallasdahlen = trees planted in remembrance of those who dedicated their lives to the Dalish kingdom

I want to bring our Inquisitor to this river specifically so they can walk on it and maybe learn how to stop drowning in puddles 👉👈

Bellara’s 10 steps ahead of everyone and I love that for her

Bellara loves books! Which tracks with her fangirling over Neve heh. I wonder if she’s ever read anything of Varric’s lmao

Bellara & Drayden: nerd to nerd communication

Every time Nadia refers to Elio as “my love” I go 🥺

Ohhh Bellara wanting maps of the tears but also not having been able to save someone important to her vs Aldwir Rook losing a map specifically to save other veil jumpers... If you hear distant barking that’s just me

The Flicker = ancient Elven device, built with secret metallurgical techniques lost to time, that can act as a guide = technomancy → Dagnaaa where are you

Arlathan having “lyrium fields” makes me so nervous

Drayden: “I get the feeling our paths have converged here for a reason. This all feels connected” 🧐🎤agent of Fen’Harel

Drayden’s whole backstory 🥺

AWE Flicker sounds ADORABLE

“Remember Nadia, the Fade is capricious. It lies and it obscures. There's also truth. In all of my research and experience, I've learned one thing above all else: Trust your mind more than your heart. The demons beyond the veil, they will use your feelings against you. They will reshape reality. You must put a thought in your mind's eye and weight it like an anchor, immovable and untouchable. Focus on–” “Elio. I will focus on Elio.” “But focus on how you know him to be and not–” “–on how you want him to be.”

The Fade without being a mage / conscious that it’s being manipulated by a Demon is nightmare fuel btw

The bridge specifically being described by Elio as being made of obsidian makes me 100% sure that the obsidian part of the previous episode’s mirror/eluvian/portal was at least fade-touched, if not directly from the Fade

“I can't leave the way you came. In order to protect myself here, I had to cast a spell disguising me as an inhabitant so the spirits of this realm didn't come for me [...] I can't [end the spell] unless I destroy the font that I used. But I hid it for safekeeping. Back there. Just outside of the Black City. I know it sounds crazy, but that's what made it safe.” 🧐Eliooooooo what did you doooooo

Mhkay demon Templar raising an army of lyrium-corrupted knights from the Fade. What.

dathrasi = qunlat for animal (derogatory)

[ngeruma]

"Portal: 2005 - Reimagined" | Perpetual Testing | Portal 2 Community Maps & Mods

By dn2rafael

Experience dn2rafael’s reimagining of the 2005 Portal Beta, featuring 8 recreated, Combine-themed test chambers and an all-new original ending. A unique blend of Portal and Half-Life. Nostalgic, yet refreshing, and pretty damn creepy.

Full Video

More Test Chambers

[darlingdawnauryn]

How I Use Technology in My Practice

I know we've all been watching the online world disintegrate in real time -- and the rise of spiritual psychosis on Tik Tok is something I definitely don't want to think too much about -- but I'm here to tell you that it's not all doom and gloom and modern-day technology can still be utilized in a beneficial way. Here are some ways I use it to aid in my practice.

Music for Meditation and Ambience. There are a lot of premade playlists to help people meditate, consisting of binaural beats, eastern inspired zen music, and instrumentals and chants to help connect to a specific deity -- and that's probably only scratching the surface. But what I like about the modern-day landscape where anyone can post anything is the specificity: we're not limited to what could previously only be found on a CD your mom might've gotten from the back of a magazine; instead, there are playlists like "you're taking a bath in ancient greece," "2 AM," and one of my personal favorites, "T h e D r e a m p o o l s." There are people who post their own compositions too, like in the case of help me.'s channel! Most of the time I don't even use it for meditation; I put it on in the background when I write spells and hypersigils, when I work my herbal magick, when I feel like working energy by dancing, etc.

Liminal Portals. Speaking of the poolrooms, I use liminal spaces a lot in my work. Due to my mobility issues and my inability to drive, I can't exactly visit a cemetery, a crossroads, or even an abandoned house whenever I want. So I do the next best thing: pull up a picture of a liminal space and meditate on it however I see fit. Similar to the wider variety of music, this affords me the opportunity to pick a specific, sometimes niche location to harness a specific energy -- it's not like you can go to a funzone midday and expect it to be vacant, let alone expect to work magick with all the kiddos running around. I also like using the images as portals: something to focus on before I sleep so I can conjure it in dreams and do work in the astral.

Inspiration and Motivation! Like a lot of people who came of age alongside the Internet, I now spend more time on Youtube than I do watching TV or even using other streaming services. I use it for shits and giggles as much as the next guy, but I also try to be conscious and intentional with my screentime. I find more and more that I use Youtube for a place of inspiration: magickal as well as mundane. As I've said in previous posts, journaling and writing are serious hobbies of mine. I watch a lot of junk/journal Youtubers, so this video popped up in my recommended the other week -- decidedly un-witchy and completely separate from anything magickal. But I ended up using it to make a journal for my hypersigils, and it feels so much more personal that way. As far as witches go, I'm way more intrigued by Q&As and those in the community interviewing each other; I find the candid conversations more practical than short little how-to videos. Plus, they're a great go-to when I feel disconnected from my practice. Listening to a back-and-forth between two people who are clearly passionate about their Craft gives me the kick to get back into mine again!

Mapping Out the World. This one is a bit headier than the others, so bear with me. First and maybe most importantly: I've been a supporter of the New Age movement since before I knew what it was -- I've always been in contact with spirit guides, fairies, and other nature spirits, and I've always had an affinity for crystals and Hippie Culture (TM) and seen firsthand how the Law of Attraction can be both beneficial and detrimental to one's overall health. While I don't interact much with that side of the Internet anymore, owing to the alarming turn to far-right mindsets and some other problematic beliefs in that community -- as well as my pseudo-disillusionment with the movement at large -- I still think there's something to be said about some of those principles -- particularly the LoA. In a sense, the algorithm as we know it is a mini version of our lives. Do I think every word, thought, and emotion should be policed in an attempt to achieve the myth of ~high vibration~ and enlightenment? Of course not. But let's look at an example that's completely free from any kind of spiritualism: if I ask you to look around the room you're in right now and count as many red objects as you can in ten seconds, that should be a relatively easy task, right? But if I ask you to then conjure up the number of yellow objects without taking another look around, you won't be able to. Why? Because you were focused on the red ones. And in my experience, the world works much the same way and technology exists to reinforce this belief: what we watch, read, and give our attention to online will multiply; it's up to us to curate our experience.

The second thing I'd like to touch on is something that's completely personal -- what I've taken to calling Small Living. Maybe this was brought on by collective nostalgia for the aughts, but lately I've been preoccupied by early-days Internet (web 1.5?) and how much more contained everything felt back then. People can make their filtered edits and try to recapture the vibe by creating bygone-feeling analog horror, but it truly was an experience, going on Youtube and watching "ghost caught on camera" videos or logging onto Quizilla to read anything from local urban legends to proto-creepypasta. It goes without saying that a lot of this stuff was bullshit, but there was something exciting and transgressive about semi-hidden forums dedicated to paranormal and occult information -- back when nothing was monetized yet and people were earnestly either trying to spread knowledge or scare the shit out of unsuspecting viewers and readers.

In a way, getting into the Craft has brought me back to that smallness. Despite the paranormal boom that happened twenty-odd years ago, it was still rare to find people who actually took it seriously: ghost hunters, fellow witches, and the like. Now that "alternative spirituality" has gone mainstream, books about opening your third eye and connecting with nature spirits and high frequency diets are a dime a dozen, meaning it's the same handful of points regurgitated by people who are most likely just looking to make a quick buck. (And don't get me started on the bastardization/commercialization of metaphysical shops.) Thinking about this objectively was one of the biggest things that led me to starting this blog: compared to Insta, Tik Tok, Reddit, and even the cesspools that are Facebook and Twitter, Tumblr is almost a dying breed. I like to think I'm not too far off in feeling like those who stumble across my page looking for first-hand experience and/or potential pointers had to do some digging in order to find it. I'm also getting a kick out of older, secondhand copies of occult books for the same reasons. (Related sidenote: turning my attention to helping my immediate community instead of giving myself IBS flare-ups stressing about every worldwide issue has helped my mental health astronomically. Another pro of Small Living.)

[aquadestinyswriting]

Ayyyy, Aqua! :D Happy STS! So I'm making my way through Titan Modern AU, and . . . actually, take two questions on it. 8)

I have legitimately looked everywhere, and I am severely curious. :') Have you thought of a title for this one, or is its title literally just Titan Modern AU?

More importantly, tho, how much did you have to change to make the world of Fangthane's Folly fit the modern day? (And what did you end up keeping? I notice there's magic and dwarves, but how different are these bits compared to their DnD roots?)

Hope this ask finds you well! :D o/

Hi Jax, this is technically a day late, but not really because time zones are a thing :P. I am very well, thank you. I am enjoying the fact that the words seem to be flowing quite easily for the time being and taking advantage of that to write a lot for all my ongoing series and creating new ones. Thanks very much for the questions, I have a lot to talk about with this AU :D. Answers are under a cut because the second one is going to get quite long.

Question 1

I don't currently have an actual title for this one yet. I have a tendency to title WIPs towards the end of writing them and this one is no exception. I have some vague ideas, but I'm not too concerned about it just yet. Especially since there's a high possibility that this one is going to throw some major curveballs my way once I get into the thick of the plot that might well change the kind of title I want to give it.

Question 2

Ah, the dwarves are technically not a thing for this one. Everyone is more or less human, unless it's directly stated otherwise. The reason Fangthanian women can have beards at all is down to a slight genetic quirk which means they are pre-disposed to much higher testosterone levels than average. The Throffite community, in particular, is very insular and tend to inter-marry within themselves due to a history of discrimination against them.

As to how I changed the setting to fit with the modern aesthetic:

I've modelled Fangthane city a little bit after towns like Fort William, since the location of Fangthane in Allansia has a relatively similar geography to that of the Scottish Highlands. So Fangthane city is no longer built into the mountain, but is a city that was built very close to the mountain (which is now called Ben Oir). Extrapolating from there, and taking into account the maps that exist of Allansia, it was a a matter of figuring out how and why there would be outposts for the kingdom that are so far away from the capital. In that case, an old empire made a lot of sense, and taking into account the relative time period this AU is set in (roughly the 90s to early 2000s), it also made sense that said empire had been disbanded, but that communities deriving from it still exist (hence why Stonebridge and Firetop are still mainly natively Fangthanian). So, yeah, culturally speaking Fangthane is basically the UK transplanted into Allansia at this point.

I wanted some of the history of Toreguarde to remain intact because there are plot things related to that that will pop up later in the story. The city was almost destroyed, officially, by what is considered to have been a terrorist organisation that was working on behalf of another state and/or one of the ruling council of Toreguarde of the time who went just teeny bit mad with power (Greydown was an absolute ass in canon, and is in this AU too).

As the setting, rather purposefully, appears to be lacking in magic, no mentions are made of demons, portals or the breaking of reality, even by those who were present at the time. The remaining Heroes still exist, but I'm working out what their exact roles in all that were. Egrim is still a priest, so that's him covered. Alexis, upon talking to Dru about it, was probably a sniper that was a part of the military forces of Toreguarde at the time, while Selene was probably some sort of science-y nerd person brought in to help explain some of the weirder stuff that went on that was kind of acknowledged and then later given plausible and sensible scientific explanations. She just happened to be somewhat decent at this diplomacy lark when communication with the reinforcements from Fangthane started going south, hence her current role in the story. She probably worked quite closely with Ivan, who I have yet to figure out the details of, with regards to that. I also need to figure out what Fai did and what happened to him...

I am doing a lot of this worldbuilding and adjusting Fantasy canon on the fly, to be quite honest, so not a lot of it is set in stone just yet. However, I have given some thought to the Throffite community both in Fangthane and in Toreguarde and some of their history and culture, drawing a lot on what I established about Throffism in the fantasy canon and doing some major research into the irl history of such things to make sure that anything I write about it is handled as sensitively as possible. I have also written copious notes on the hows and whys of the fractious relationship between Fangthane and Toreguarde that would fit in with more modern (Western, as that is what I'm familiar with) political norms.

[shower-racoon]

ran out of storage space from downloading too many Portal 2 maps. how do I delete just the community-made maps and nothing else?

[thisisnotthenerd]

alright people. it's time for another edition of thisisnotthenerd's d20 stats. this time, we're talking in-world campaign settings.

there have been a fair few that we've cycled through in the dome; some that we've come back to, and some that we haven't.

d20 campaign settings

in chronological order:

Spyre:

the world of teen adventurers; a combination of classic dnd cosmology and dungeon-delving with modern technology equivalents and a school system

seasons: fantasy high, fantasy high sophomore year, pirates of leviathan, the seven, fantasy high junior year

Elna:

Lord of the Rings parody world, where evil reigns over the lands of gorgar

seasons: escape from the bloodkeep

Magic NYC/The Unsleeping City:

it's on the can--the magical side of New York, pretty parallel to our Earth

seasons: the unsleeping city, the unsleeping city chapter ii

Thimble Lane:

a normal neighborhood to the naked eye, but if you look a little closer, a world of tiny inhabitants blooms to life

seasons: tiny heist

Calorum:

a food-based medieval society with multiple nations, complex societal and religious dynamics, and a lot of magic, both free and forbidden

seasons: a crown of candy, the ravening war

Tufting Meadows:

an all animal community, whose local lord resides in loam hall. in the countryside of england

seasons: mice & murder

Gowpenny:

a british magic school that's recently opened its doors to a few american students

seasons: misfits & magic, misfits & magic holiday special

Bram University:

a university founded by bram stoker and dracula, where humans and monsters/cryptids coexist

seasons: shriek week

AnarchEra:

it's only ever called the galaxy, but it's home to the starstruck comics, play, and now a starstruck odyssey

seasons: a starstruck odyssey

Transylvania:

set in the late 19th century, this is transylvania as ruled by the great count dracula

seasons: coffin run

Fey Realm:

a fantastical plane of magic and whimsy, home to many courts, including the court of wonder, the seelie and unseelie courts, the court of craft, the goblin court, the lords of the wing, and many others. connected to the material plane via portals.

seasons: a court of fey and flowers

Neverafter:

a land of stories where people live their lives by the ink and pen of godlike authors, and archetypes rise amidst the tales

seasons: neverafter

Kelvorda & the Underworld:

a classic dnd world with exploration of the underworld and the after life

seasons: dungeons & drag queens

Mentopolis:

a city of noir archetypes and mysteries in the mind of elias hodge, a junior researcher at gobstopper industries

seasons: mentopolis

The Blue Forest:

a forest of nuclear fallout radiation, that's home to some 20000 magical, sapient stoats

seasons: burrow's end

now that we've gone through all of the d20 campaign settings, let's consider how tey could plausibly be connected. there's the one dimension theory by porkchopsensei on reddit from a few years ago, among with a few others that i've seen, but i'd take a slightly different approach to it.

that being, instead of a singular world/dimension in which these stories take place, there are parent worlds and offshoots. offshoots can involve different places, or even different timelines.

parent world #1: the world of spyre. the individual world we've spent the most time in so far, with 5 seasons to date. spyre has a lot to offer between the classic adventure and the high school drama.

offshoots:

elna: if you recall my previous comments about connecting spyre and elna, there's several reasons, one of which is that the elves could be the same, and that fallinel and the celestine sea separate what's shown on the map of spyre and what's shown on the map of elna.

calorum: in the world of spyre, the timeline would be very condensed. the funny theory is that calorum exists inside gilear's minifridge.

parent world #2: the unsleeping city, or TUC-Earth. as the modern with magic representative, this parent world has a lot of room to encompass other campaign settings.

offshoots:

thimble lane: notably in the heartland of america. while there's the obvious connection of gladiator, there's also a straight up mafia of tiny people. where have we seen that before? it's got connections to the fey, and to a bunch of magic that tracks with what's happening in the unsleeping city.

gowpenny: another notably modern with magic setting, but it's funny to me that the british are the way they are about magic in this setting. when evan says 'that's some american magic, bitch!' he means it.

fey realm: there's consistent references to the material plane and the fact that they have their own magic there; the streets of gritty los angeles, wannessa, chirp's family, binx's warlocks and court. also very funny to imagine rowan berry showing up to the next bloom after her court has been established. we don't really see much of the seelie court beyond the oberon scene and lady sylmenar, so i think the events of tuc chapter 1 plausibly could have happened before the bloom.

and for a timeline offshoot: the Blue Forest. instead of the unsleeping city hiding, the presence of magic comes with a bunch of super radioactive stoats

parent world #3: anarchera (the starstruck galaxy). it's already plenty full with comics and plays and lots of chaos, but hey! why not add some more!

offshoots:

mentopolis: elias hodge works for gobstopper industries in a 'retrofuturistic world'. given the breadth of the galaxy, who's to say that elias hodge isn't from a much earlier cycle? also knowing that psychics exist, mentopolis is a very funny concept. he created an artificial cerebroslug.

parent world #4: dracula's transylvania. this isn't an offshoot of the unsleeping city because it's anachronistic 19th century with vampires and other creatures.

offshoots:

bram university: in my mind, after the fang gang gets the castle dracula back they have a good few years of running along, before a bram stoker comes along with a novel about dracula's exploits. this prompts a deal that resulted in bram university.

individual worlds:

neverafter: as a multiverse of stories, the neverafter kind of exists on its own. if you get really theoretical about it, every single story could be encompassed there, but it doesn't really connect meaningfully with other worlds that d20 has used.

tufting meadows: while i'd love to group tufting meadows with some of d20's other period settings, it is fully a bacchanal of animals who are living the story of sherlock holmes sylvester cross. there are no humans.

kelvorda/the underworld: dungeons & drag queens takes place in a very classic dnd campaign setting. one could make the argument that nekronomikron of spyre could plausibly connect to thanara's underworld, what with there being a similar gauntlet to pass through, but i think this adventure stands better as its own story in its own world.

anyway, that's all for this time! check out the spreadsheet to see this analysis in chart form.