#prefix magazine

[amygdalae]

Karlach and Null back there just outcunting Astarion like crazy

[physalian]

25 Cheap and Easy Tricks for Naming Your Characters

Because I hate coming up with new names. I hate it. I write fantasy. Why do I do this to myself?

The credits of your favorite movies, video games, and TV shows

Scroll through your old yearbook

Pick a theme and go with it a la Sirius, Regulus, Arcturus or Pearl, Opal, Amethyst

Any baby names list, pick a year

Obscure mythological figures, full name or nickname derivative

Obscure or famous historical figures, like philosophers, politicians, artists, and reformers

Unabashedly Latin-based

Unabashedly literal a la every character in My Hero Academia

Biblical figures

Scrabble/Bananagram word salad until you get to something legible (my personal favorite, highly recommend)

Pick a regional dialect, go ham, a la “Mc-” or “Mac-” prefixes, “-sky” or “ski” suffixes (just make sure you aren’t being racist)

Rare colors, especially if they’re themed after said colors or color associations

The She-Ra/Thundercats method

The Transformers method

Pick two names. Create a ship name. Voila

Pick a letter and go with it, especially if they’re siblings or all related, like Jane, Jill, Julie, Jackie, Janet

Old magazines, newspapers, and local news, both author and subject

Go to library/bookstore, pick a random book off the shelves and scavenge their names

Wander Google Maps, steal the names of roads and towns

Dusty phone book/encyclopedia for address and authors

Your own ancestors

Name them after their hometown/region a la “da Vinci”

Name them after their most infamous act or notable trait a la “Frederick Hamhands”

Pick a real name. Make up a nickname and have them go by that

Let them pick their own name so it’s weird/quirky/unique/boring/cringey, but with reason 

[middle-ans]

may i ask for arranged marriage ceo lewis and model georgie pretty pls? <333

This one is so delicious to play with, thank you for the ask! To you and couple of anons who also asked for arranged marriage au (1599 words)

Lewis exhaled with the weight of his latest sleepless nights, rocking back against the solidity of the back of the chair in Sebastian's office. He hadn't taken a shred of relief from the fact that, on the advice of his assistant, he'd let other people's ears take the burden of his troubles.

“So this Rosberg situation isn't improving in any way?” Sebastian frowned, drifting his gaze over the man's inherent creases of imperfection on the silk shirt beneath. Not at all like Lewis.

“He's so intent on nibbling off as big a piece of the cake as humanly possible, that's all the lawyers have come up with. This farce, I don't know, sounds like madness, but the only legal way to stop his expansion is just this.”

“Marriage,” raising his eyebrows, Sebastian sighed. “With someone trustworthy and not mouthy to take over some of your assets, as well as property, real estate, cars-”

“Thanks,” Lewis rolls his eyes, tapping fingers on the armrest. “You're not helping matters by voicing all of that.”

“Your former business partner, co-owner of a stake in your magazine and part-time a man with little more than the prefix ‘ex’ to other roles in which I wouldn't imagine him anywhere near you, wants to strip you of the lion's share of your corporation,” he shrugs, letting out a disbelieving chuckle. “One has to make sure.”

“And by marrying someone who can divest part of the ownership with me I can salvage the situation.”

“Well,” the blond man's broad palm circles the spacious office, the most obvious of all. “You happen to be in a place that's a little more than just a friendly company to you. A twin company, I'd say. Vesper House has partnered with Hamilton Inc. for as long as it's existed, our models are on the covers of your magazines, where else would you find a confidant? Trustworthy enough for people to believe - yes, it could be Mr. Hamilton's husband.”

Lewis lets out a breath through his nose with a gasp of eagerness, turning back to the glass wall revealing the entire busy floor hallway. Faces worth a million and bodies on bars of gold wander routinely in grace between offices, pick any one and a few people will choke on their dry Martinis at an Upper East Side party. Still, that wasn't all Lewis was looking for.

“Any of them with the wisdom to carry on someone else's legacy?” he squints, clinging his gaze to the passing figure of a long-legged model, immediately abandoning it as the very idea, rejecting the option. “Knowing he has no real right to any of this? Someone capable of playing a love story believably for all the world to see?”

“As a matter of fact, yes, there is one someone.”

Pushing his foot off the floor, Lewis swings his chair back toward the CEO's desk, arching an eyebrow in intrigue.

“Who?”

“He's a relatively new face. But oh, what a promising one. I believe you haven't met him before? I put him on Vogue Italia, GQ once, but not - Samantha, can you check if George is here? George Russell, Susie's boy, ask him to come to my office - yeah, not your magazine. Bright, doesn't talk out of his ass, very dignified at parties, the only one who'll be sober and cheerful for the rest of the event. And, well. Something, a good feeling about him, yeah. I guess in a case this delicate, it has to be.”

Maybe there was something Lewis wanted to say there, but a brief knock came at the door behind him and it opened with a quiet noise, letting in the sound of the bustle of halls for a bit.

“Mr. Vettel, you wanted to see me?”

A snippet of Sebastian's smile is what Lewis sees first before shifting his gaze and body to the side to look at the model. And prejudice be damned, his easy short walk from the entrance to the vacant chair in front of the desk in loose white slacks, a simple shirt buttoned up to the beginning of the rise of his collarbones up over tanned skin, the casualness of the welcoming smile that someone who must be George Russell turns to Lewis makes the man settle a pool in his own mouth. He waits until George looks at his boss again to swallow spit, not wanting to appear an idiot, and of all times now he's definitely not in a position to prioritize a pretty face above his immediate concerns.

“I believe you've never met before?” Sebastian readily points his hand toward the man so far unfamiliar to the model, but Lewis foils his attempt with his own outstretched palm for George, mastering a relaxed curve of his mouth in a smile for a first impression. Sebastian holds back a surprised noise at the bottom of his throat, not at all the way Lewis usually prefers introductions to come, waiting for his name to escape another man's mouth, no, he parts his lips himself, all too turned torso towards the model rather than the man on the other side of the desk.

“Lewis Hamilton,” he lets out softly, taking the pleasant weight of George's hand in his own. “Hamilton Inc.”

“Oh, I know who you are,” George chuckles, squeezing fingers subtly in their relaxed grip beneath each other's wrists. “Magazines, fashion houses, TV shows. Nice to meet you, Mr. Hamilton.”

“Pleasure is very much on my side. And Lewis, please.”

Sebastian rubs his forehead in surprise, deciding whether to interfere with the flow, but clears his throat nonetheless, and a sharp sound breaks the contact of their hands, still gently, with the proper slip of fingers over skin in a brief goodbye.

“I called you in to discuss a potential job. Not exactly your profile, if I may, but no pressure to choose, you know. You see, Mr. Hamilton-”

“Lewis,” the man corrects insistently, continuing to consider the intricate shades of blue, green, and gray in wide eyes.

“-needs a special favor. And his case is quite-”

“That was you on the April cover of Vogue, wasn't it?” Lewis curves his mouth in a wider smile, exposing a blinding row of teeth, and George reciprocates in the most natural way possible; if Lewis pulls his chair a little closer he's sure to capture the blossoming blush on his cheeks, the lines of dimples in his generously presented toothy smile.

“I was, indeed.”

“That Brioni you wore, was exceptional.”

George tilts his head curiously, some strands of his curls flopping up against his high forehead and he squints in pleasant surprise.

“The finest of Italian, isn't it?”

“And the Loro Piana knitted collection for the February issue, yes, now I remember the face.”

“I might be hurt that you once forgot it, but if you pop a guess at my favorite shoot of the year for the third time right, I can excuse the offense,” George throws a leg over his foot, the whole elegance of his body shifting in an axis closer to Lewis, and men are the weaker sex to resist something that represents a true, delicious beauty of the whole expansion of skin even when all he sees of it is a few inches of chest, wrists, and ankles. He's already into it, desperate to find out more.

“That's a high stake,” Lewis smiles, licking his lower lip in the most humble way available. “But maybe, ah, I'd bet on Dior Homme, but you're a much more intriguing bird. Ermenegildo Zegna, perhaps?”

A giggle pouring from flushed pink lips smoothly, effortlessly, George nods, leaving one hand wrapping around the waistband of his pants, relaxed on the curve of his hip.

“You're very much right.”

Sebastian has to clear his throat not so glibly, raising an eyebrow at Lewis, but throwing a businesslike smile at George, and the model switches in the most discreet way, setting his attention back to the man at the table, still not getting rid of the soft smile.

“Husband,” he blurts out with a rush, Lewis rolling his eyes, pinching himself on the bridge of his nose. Couldn't have done it more subtly. “Lewis needs a husband to protect his share of assets in what is essentially his company, and he's looking for someone trustworthy, able to carry himself around safely in public for what should be a very public and convincing affair.”

“Couldn't have laid it out better even coming out of Harvard, Sebastian,” Mr. Hamilton sighs, turning his head again to the model, pleased not to find instant rejection there. “It's not as bad as it sounds, really.”

“Being your husband, you mean?” George drawls teasingly, baring his snow-white smile while the man next to him chuckles, shaking his head.

“As a matter of fact.”

“A marriage of convenience,” the model quietly savors the intrigue on the tip of his tongue, tilting his head. “For the world to see. It's high melodrama.”

“But worth playing, I hope?”

“Whoa, hold your hats, first we need a very clear legal framework-”

“Do you find yourself free for tonight?” Lewis leans on the armrest with his elbow, dancing his fingers along the edge of his lips. Sebastian drops his hands tiredly into his lap.

“I don't have any plans for the night, do I, sir?” George glances across the table, and Sebastian shrugs, playing with the clicks of his pen.

“You're your own man.”

“Well,” the model returns his attention to Lewis, replicating the shrug easily and casually. “Then I'd very much like to hear the backstory, Lewis.”

[lunastrophe]

Prayer to Eilistraee from BG3

I found this prayer to Eilistraee in Dedications to the Pantheon - below the original English version is my attempt to translate it to drow language.

I used drow name tables from #267 Dragon Magazine to translate "Silver Lady" into something that would look more like a proper name / title than like a literal translation of "silver" and "lady". So, female prefix May- (beautiful, beauty, silver) + female suffix -inil (lady). I really like this result ❤️

Drow version of the prayer written in 3e Espruar would look like this...

...and High Drowic version - I suppose this script would not be used for Eilistraean prayer, but I really like how it looks:

If you need more info on D&D drow scripts, feel free to check my other post with some ideas 🙂

[toychest321]

(I wanted to apologize for my lack of activity on this page. I had so many plans for posts I wanted to make for Ramadan, but this past month has been so horribly stressful. Whenever I have time free from schoolwork I'm so incredibly burnt out I lack the motivation to post. Now there's barely any time left before Ramadan is over, even though there were other posts I wanted to make. I'll probably still make them in the future, though, and highlight Islamic culture through dolls however and whenever I can!)

With that said, I'd like to introduce you to the most recently-released Muslim doll, Umm Amirah!

As far as I can tell, Umm Amirah was released in February of 2023 by the company Allova, a family-owned company based in the UK.

While the name "Umm" literally translates to "Mother" or "Mother of", it can also be used as an additive prefix for whatever trait follows. "Amirah", meanwhile, means "Princess", so (as far as I can tell) her name roughly means "she who is like a princess".

And that name certainly fits! While her outfit is relatively simple (which makes sense, since her primary demographic is those aged 3-7), the sparkling tulle outer skirt shows that subtle princess-y influence!

The doll comes in pink and purple outfit variants, and comes with a prayer mat, a pink bag to carry it, and a pink hairbrush. She has fair skin, blue eyes, dark or blonde hair beneath her hijab, and 11 points of articulation! Umm Amirah's is meant to be a cultural education tool, and introduce the practice of Salah to children.

As I mentioned in a previous post regarding the Morning (Fajr) and Evening Prayers (Isha), Salah is the daily process of giving prayer to Allah. It is the second pillar of Islam, and must be done facing Mecca.

A couple of months ago in February 2024, Allova also released this Princess Fashion Set. While it's not an official Umm Amirah fashion pack, I still feel like it could somewhat be classified as such with its name and their doll used for modelling.

The pack comes with 6 dresses: pale pink with dotted skirt; pink with puffed sleeves and ruffle skirt; blue with silver detailing, top, and belt; a blue summer dress with white and yellow pattern; purple; and black and white with white flower buttons and a polka-dot skirt. It also comes with four headscarves in blue, lilac, black, and gold, 3 handbags (tan, white, and pink) , and 3 pairs of shoes (black, silver, and fuschia(?))

I obviously cant post for each outfit combination, but I would definitely say that the blue summer dress is my least favorite of those available. The material looks the cheapest out of those in the pack, its design is comparatively simple, and the pattern is sorta tacky. I feel like the central concept could've been executed better.

My favorite looks, though, would have to be:

The full black and white look sorta gives me girlboss vibes, like something she could wear at her desk writing articles or modeling for the cover of a magazine! The blue dress, meanwhile, is sooooo elegant, like she's going to a fancy party in the evening! My absolute favorite though would have to be the gold hijab with the pink frilly dress, which takes the "princess" part of Umm Amirah to a whole new level!

In spite of my thoughts on the summer dress of the pack, I'm in love with this doll and its outfits as a whole! It's been fun putting out this post I'd been meaning to make for a while. A lot of the Muslim dolls I've found, while impressive, unfortunately don't seem to be in production much in the current year, so it's nice to see there's still options available! If you're still looking for a potential Eid gift, I'd highly recommend getting her from Allova's website!

Ramadan Kareem!

[theladyregret]

Drow Name Tables

Something I did as a special favor to @kimmurielsscryingmirror (@eldritchmist ) who showed interest. Because it’s...pretty big I decided to make it into it’s own post.

These are a few Drow naming tables that were originally found in an issue of Dragon Magazine. It’s two d100 tables of prefixes and suffixes commonly used in first names. The second couple of tables is a list of common house name prefixes and suffixes.

EDIT: Just a little something for those who care which I didn’t add before because it took me so long to finish the transcription I just wanted to post it lol. The gender difference is noted in the related Dragon Magazine article as being significant. Non Drow may not notice but a Drow will notice the difference. Female names sometimes borrow parts that are normally only considered male and this is considered fine...but a male with a name that borrows a typically only female part would be seen as extremely taboo.

Prefix (Female/Male) - Meaning

Akor/Alak                 beloved, best, first

Alaun/Alton             lightning, powerful

Aly/Kel                     legendary, singing, song

Ang/Adin                  beast, monstrous, savage

Ardul/Amal               blessed, divine, godly

Aun/Ant                   crypt, dead, deadly, death

Bae/Bar                      fate, fated, luck, lucky

Bal/Bel                       burned, burning, fire, flame

Belar/Bruh                 arrow, lance, piercing

Briz/Berg                    graceful, fluid, like water

Bur/Bhin                     craft, crafty, sly

Chal/Chasz                earth, stable

Char/Kron                  sick, venom, venomed

Chess/Cal                  noble, lady/lord

Dhaun                          infested, plague

Dil/Dur                         cold, ice, still

Dirz/Div                       dream, dreaming, fantasy

Dris/Riz                        ash, dawn, east, eastern

Eclav/Elk                      chaos, mad, madness

Elvan/Kalan                 elf, elven, far, lost

Elv/Elaug                     drow, mage, power

Erel/Rhyl                      eye, moon, spy

Ethe/Erth                    mithril, resolute

Faer/Selds                   oath, sworn, vow

Felyn/Fil                       pale, thin, weak, white

Filf/Phar                     dwarf, dwarven, treacherous

Gauss/Orgoll              dread, fear, feared, vile

G'eld                              friend, spider  

Ghuan                           accursed, curse, unlucky

Gin/Din                         berserk, berserker, orc, wild

Grey/Gul                       ghost, pale, unliving

Hael/Hatch                   marked, trail, way

Hal/Sol                           deft, nimble, spider-like  

Houn/Rik                       magic, ring, staff

Iiv/Dip                             liege, war, warrior

Iim                                   life, living, spirit, soul

Illiam/Im                         devoted, heart, love

In/Sorn                           enchanted, spell

Ilph                                  emerald, green, lush, tree

Irae/Ilzt                           arcane, mystic, wizard

Irr/Izz                               hidden, mask, masked

Iym/Ist                            endless, immortal  

Jan/Duag                       shield, warded

Jhael/Gel                       ambitious, clan, kin, family

Jhul/Jar                         charmed, rune, symbol

Jys/Driz                         hard, steel, unyielding

Lael/Llt                           iron, west, western

Lar/Les                          binding, bound, law, lawful

LiNeer/Mourn            legend, legendary, mythical  

Lird/Ryld                   brand, branded, owned, slave

Lua/Lyme                       bright, crystal, light

Mal/Malag                     mystery, secret

May/Mas                         beautiful, beauty, silver

Micar                                lost, poison, widow

Min/Ran                           lesser, minor, second

Mol/Go                            blue, storm, thunder, wind

Myr/Nym                       lost, skeleton, skull

Nath/Mer                        doom, doomed, fate

Ned/Nad               cunning, genius, mind, thought

Nhil/Nal                 fear, gorrible, horror, outraged

Neer                                  core, root, strong

Null/Nil                             sad, tear, weeping

Olor/Omar                       skin, tattoo, tattooed

Pellan/Relon                    north, platiunum, wind

Phaer/Vorn                      honor, honored

Phyr/Phyx                        bless, blessed, blessing

Qualn/Quil                        mighty, ocean, sea

Quar                                   aged, eternal, time

Quav/Quev                        charmed, docile, friend

Qil/Quil                               foe, goblin, slave

Rauv/Welv                         cave, rock, stone

Ril/Ryl                                 foretold, omen

Sbat/Szor                           amber, yellow

Sab/Tsab                            abyss, empty, void  

Shi'n/Kren                          fool, foolish, young

Shri/Ssz                             silk, silent  

Shur/Shar                          dagger, edge, stiletto

Shynt                                 invisible, skilled, unseen

Sin/Szin                              festival, joy, pleasure

Ssap/Tath                          blue, midnight, night

Susp/Spir                           learned, skilled, wise

Talab/Tluth                        burn, burning, fire

Tal/Tar                         love, pain, wound, wounded

Triel/Taz                           bat, winged

T'riss/Teb                           blade, sharp, sword  

Ulvir/Uhls                           gold, golden, treasure

Umrae/Hurz                       faith, faithful, true

Vas/Vesz                            blood, bloody, flesh

Vic                                       abyss, deep, profound

Vier/Val                               black, dark, darkness

Vlon/Wod                           bold, hero, heroic

Waer/Wehl             deep, hidden, south, southern  

Wuyon/Wruz                      humble, third, trivial

Xull/Url                                 blooded, crimson, ruby

Xun                                       demon, fiend, fiendish

Yas/Yaz                       riddle, spinning, thread, web

Zar/Zakn                             dusk, haunted, shadow

Zebey/Zek                        dragon, lithe, rage, wyrm

Zes/Zsz                              ancient, elder, respected

Zilv/Vuz                             forgotten, old, unknown

Suffixes (Female/Male) - Meaning

a/agh                  breaker, destruction, end, omega

ace/as                                savant, scholar, wizard

ae/aun                             dance, dancer, life, player

aer/d                                    blood, blood of, heir

afae/afein                         bane, executioner, slayer

afay/aufein                        eyes, eyes of, seer

ala/launim                          healer, cleric

anna/erin                            advisor, counselor to

arra/atar                             queen/prince

aste                                      bearer, keeper, slaver

avin/aonar                           guardian, guard, shield

ayne/al                       lunatic, maniac, manic, rage

baste/gloth                         path, walker

breena/antar                   matriach/patriarch, ruler

bryn/lyn                               agent, assassin, killer

cice/roos                             born of, child, young  

cyrl/axle                               ally, companion, friend

da/daer                                illusionist, trickster

dia/drin                                rogue, stealer

diira/diirn                             initiate, sister/brother

dra/zar                                  lover, match, mate  

driira/driirn                         mother/father, teacher  

dril/dorl                                 knight, sword, warrior

e                                           servant, slave, vessel

eari/erd                                 giver, god, patron

eyl                                       archer, arrow, flight, flyer

ffyn/fein                               minstrel, singer, song

fryn              champion, victor, weapon, weapon of

iara/ica                                 baron, duke, lady/lord  

ice/eth                                 obsession, taker, taken  

idil/imar           alpha, beginning, creator of, maker

iira/inid                                 harbinger, herald

inidia                                     secret, wall, warder

inil/in                                     lady/lord, rider, steed

intra                               envoy, messenger, prophet

isstra/atlab               acolyte, apprentice, student

ithra/irahc                         dragon, serpent, wyrm

jra/gos                                 beast, biter, stinger

jss                                          scout, stalker

kacha/kah                            beauty, hair, style

kiira/raen                              apostle, disciple

lay/dyn                               flight, flyer, wing, wings

lara/aghar                         cynic, death, end, victim

lin                                         arm, armor, commander

lochar                                   messenger, spider

mice/myr           bone, bones, necromancer, witch  

mur'ss                                   shadow, spy, witness

na/nar                                 adept, ghost, spirit

nilee/olil                             corpse, disease, ravager

niss/nozz                           chance, gambler, game

nitra/net                              kicker, returned, risen

nolu                                 art, artist, expert, treasure

olin                                   ascension, love, lover, lust

onia/onim                           rod, staff, token, wand

oyss/omph                       binder, judge, law, prison

qualyn                                 ally, caller, kin

quarra/net                           horde, host, legion

quiri/oj                                  aura, cloak, hide, skin

ra/or                                     fool, game, prey, quarry

rae/rar                                   secret, seeker, quest

raema/orvir                         crafter, fist, hand

raena/olvir                            center, haven, home

riia/rak                       enchanter, mage, spellcaster

ril                                 bandit, enemy, raider, outlaw

riina/ree                     enchanter, mage, spellcaster

ryna/oyn                         follower, hired, mercenary

ryne/ryn                      blooded, elder, experienced

shalee/ral                 abjurer, gaze, watch, watcher

ssysn/rysn          artifact, dweomer, sorcerer, spell

stin/trin         clan, house, merchant, of the house

stra/tran                             spider, spinner, weaver

tana/ton                           darkness, lurker, prowler

thara/tar                             glyph, marker, rune

thrae/olg                          charmer, leader, seducer

tree/tel                         exile, loner, outcast, pariah

tyrr                    dagger, poison, poisoner, scorpion

ual/dan                                speed, strider

ue/dor                                  arm, artisan, fingers

uit/dar                                  breath, voice, word

une/diin                         diviner, fate, future, oracle

uque                              cavern, digger, mole, tunnel  

urra/dax                       nomad, renegade, wanderer

va/ven                             comrade, honor, honored

vayas                         forge, forger, hammer, smith

vyll punishment, scourge, whip, zealot  

vyrae/vyr                     mistress/master, overseer

wae/hrae                           heir, inheritor, princess

wiira/hriir                           seneschal of, steward

wyss/hrys                          best, creator, starter

xae/zaer                             orb, rank, ruler, sceptor

xena/zen                         cutter, gem, jewel, jeweler

xyra/zyr                             sage, teller

yl                                          drow, woman/man

ylene/yln         handmaiden/squire, maiden/youth

ymma/inyon                      drider, feet, foot, runner

ynda/yrd        captain, custodian, marshal, ranger  

ynrae/yraen                       heretic, rebel, riot, void

vrae                                   architect, founder, mason  

yrr                                         protector, rival, wielder

zyne/zt                                finder, hunter

House Name Prefixes - Meaning

Alean                        the noble line of

Ale                             traders in

Arab                          daughters of

Arken                        mages of

Auvry                        blood of the  

Baen                          blessed by

Barri                           spawn of

Cladd                         warriors from

Desp                          victors of

De                               champions of

Do'                              walkers in

Eils                              lands of

Everh                         the caverns of

Fre                              friends of

Gode                          clan of  

Helvi                          those above

Hla                              seers of

Hun'                           the sisterhood of

Ken                            sworn to

Kil                               people of

Mae                           raiders from  

Mel                            mothers of

My                              honored of

Noqu                         sacred to

Orly                            guild of

Ouss                           heirs to

Rilyn                           house of  

Teken'                        delvers in  

Tor                               mistresses of

Zau                              children of

House Name Suffixes - Meaning

afin                              the web

ana                               the night

ani                                the widow

ar                                   poison

arn                                fire

ate                                the way

ath                                the dragons

duis                              the whip

ervs                              the depths

ep                                  the underdark

ett                                 magic

ghym                            the forgotten ways

iryn                               history

lyl                                  the blade

mtor                             the abyss

ndar                              black hearts

neld                              the arcane

rae                                 fell powers

rahel                             the gods

rret                                the void

sek                                 adamantite

th                                    challenges

tlar                                 mysteries

t'tar                                victory

tyl                                   the pits

und                                 the spider's kiss

urden                             the darkness

val                                   silken weaver

viir                                  dominance

zynge                             the ruins

[walkergirlsposts]

ok, I checked seasons 4-15 and the opening credits are looking like this: season 4 - series regulars Jared and Jensen. Misha is on the guest stars list season 5 - series regulars: Jared, Jensen, Misha season 6 - series regulars: Jared, Jensen, Misha season 7 - series regulars: Jared, Jensen. Misha has his own one person category between series regulars and guest stars - he is here as a "special guest star" season 8 - series regulars: Jared, Jensen. Misha as a "special guest star" season 9 - series regulars: Jared, Jensen, Misha season 10 - series regulars: Jared, Jensen, Misha, Mark A. Sheppard (without any prefix) season 11 - series regulars: Jared, Jensen, Misha, Mark A. Sheppard (without any prefix) season 12 - series regulars: Jared, Jensen, Mark A. Sheppard, Mark Pellegrino and Misha (with "and" prefix before his name) season 13 - series regulars: Jared, Jensen, Mark Pellegrino, Alexander Calvert and Misha (with "and" prefix before his name) season 14 - series regulars: Jared, Jensen, Alexander Calvert and Misha (with "and" prefix before his name) season 15 - series regulars: Jared, Jensen, Alexander Calvert and Misha (with "and" prefix before his name) And because I love information - do you happen to remember the source of the info that Misha had to take a pay cut after season 12?

Lol-jackles has a link to it on his blog. There have been several sources, one from Mark Sheppard, the other I think even from Misha himself, it's just something you can deduce by everything that's happened after season 12. Both Mark and Misha had to take pay cuts in order to secure Alexander, Mark said no, but Misha took a pay cut and was on magazine covers then along with J2. "And because I love information." No. You just love being right. Lol

[propalitet]

propa s obzirom da si ti hrvatski influenser tm jel mogu iskoristit ovu priliku, kad već pričamo o domaćoj kulturi, da promoviram Strip PREFIX? T_T <3

ugl to je strip magazin (na kojem sam i ja urednica :3) kojeg izdaje HAS (Hrvatski autorski strip, udruga) i objavljujemo super kul kratke regionalne stripove (HR+region+jugoistočna europa), pa ako ikoga zanima trenutna autorska regionalna strip kultura u HR koja je super bilo bi kul da bace oko ^-^ jer ima super uradaka

i općenito ako ikoga zanima šta ima u hrvatskoj od autorskog stripa, hrvatski autorski strip na fejsu je aktivna grupa di domaći umjetnici objavljuju svoje stripove :D

to i OHOHO zine! ustvari, ako je iko u zagrebu, trenutno se održava OHOHO festival i imaju izložbe i svašta :P

Nisam nikad prije čula za ovo al zvuči super zanimljivo!

[eziojensenthe3rd]

Midnight Gaming: Ancient Egyptian Sleep Aid! How to handle your inner and outer demons through healthy sleep habits and overwhelming violence!

Hey all, happy new year and all that jazz. 2024 was only slightly better than 23 and hopefully 2025 ends up being better than how it appears. I suppose since this is the first MG post of the year, I feel its only appropiate to dedicate the news segment to an explanation. And hey in return you'll get 4, thats right, 4 games I had played past midnight during the december break.

So Midnight Gaming is a series born out of a strange coincidence in 2024. One night I played Crime Boss Rockay City and decided to check twitter a bit before heading to bed when news broke of trump having been shot at. I thought it was just an isolated incident and went on my merry way until the next event.

Another day, I played Fallout 76 past midnight, checked socials again and lo and behold, biden caught covid. Ok so 2 times thats happened, nothing to make a big deal of. Mostly just enough to make a doofensmirtz meme out of but surely it wont happen a third time.

Later on another day, I played Divinity Original Sin past midnight, checked socials and wouldnt you know it, biden stepped down and kamala replaced him in the presidential running. So now I have a thrice coincidence where I've played a game past midnight only for some major event to have happened. Hell later after I started this series, I played Deathspank past midnight, right as the stock market crashed. Seems like a good time as any to start a blog series intent on recreating those conditions.

Best way I can describe this series is that of a guy sitting by himself at the corner of a bustling bar, drunkenly rambling to himself about video game media and current events and maybe occasionally says some compelling shit. Thats pretty much it. As for what this series is to me, its mainly a means for me to get back into writing and creating stuff again since I used to do that in my early teens before burning out and just stopping.... so now Im finally trying to get myself back into that with this series, but it also helps push me into playing more games instead of just browsing youtube and social media, try and get into the backlog a bit.

I usually pick a game to play to or past the stroke of midnight, look up any major events or news, mostly gaming related, and then write about them the next day. Thats the gist of this series.

Honestly when it comes to opinion based thinkpieces about video games, theres bound to be a risk of someone getting irate over what I said. Sometimes its entirely my fault and I wouldnt mind the criticism, hell its why I usually ask for feedback at the end of these. But other times.... look, there are people who spend their working days writing articles with clickbait headlines, with paragraphs of what are arguably just expanded hot takes, who collect a paycheck at the end of the end of the week.

I dont get paid to do this, Im doing this solely for the love of the game. So if I say an opinion that you disagree with please understand that I am sorry, it will happen again.

Of course thats assuming anyone reads this....

ANYWAYS GAMES NOW

First up is Nightmare Reaper which is a rougelike fp... get back here. Yeah I get a lot of people might be feeling a bit of roguelike fatigue nowadays but this game is definatly worth checking out, assuming you havent already. Ypu're a mental patient in a asylum, go to sleep and murder your inner demons through various enviroment with any weapons you find in there. The combat feels pretty damn punchy with all the weapons you come across being effective and varied between either melee weapons, conventional firearms, explosives or even just magic.

Alot of the guns do seem to follow the borderlands formula of having different stats depending on the item rarity, with prefixes such as leech chance, reload speed, magazine size and of course the lovely random projectile which changes what your weapon shoots to one of several different projectile types which could either be plasma balls, ice shards, knives or in my case.... vegetables. Most of the time I just get vegetables as the projectile.

Of course you'd need to scour the map to kill every enemy, find every secret and collect every treasure (which can be irritating when you're stuck on a level looking for that crack in the wall hiding a secret) so you can get all the gold bonuses for completing them per level so you can use them to buy upgrades in an upgrade screen that has you play a super mario bros like game to get the upgrades. You use the gold to enter a level, complete the level and you get the upgrade. Its how you're going to unlock the double jump and dash abilities as well as your typical upgrades like max health and ammo counts.

You'll also unlock two other upgrade minigames with their own unique currencies, the topaz game being a pokemon game with pills that act as modifiers with drawbacks and the jade minigame which is a space shooter with the jade being gained from playing the arena gamemode accessed via a different bed. You can thankfully turn the minigames off if you dont want to bother with them and just buy the upgrades outright. Overall good game, made it to the end

So next up is Powerslave Exhumed, a remaster of the saturn/ps1 version of Powerslave that has been released on most consoles. If you didnt know already, there were two versions of Powerslave with the pc version being a build engine boomer shooter while the console version was more akin to a metroidvania with you collecting upgrades and backtracking to earlier levels to get past obstacles you didnt had the right item.

You know a game aint fucking around when it throws an m60 light machine gun as the 2nd weapon you find. Anyways aliens are invading egypt, the spirit of ramses offers some help and guidance as you travel to a number of locations, lighting up bugs, mummies and catgirls as you look around for the next item that lets you progress, as well as any transmitter pieces if you want that good ending.

The nightdive port does work fairly well, though in fairness I havent really played powerslave before so if there were changes or differences, im afraid I wouldnt notice. I can however say that I played this first on the easy skill to gauge the difficulty before bumping it up on hard and it definatly feels like a jump since not only do you face more enemies, there attacks do hurt a bit more. A lot of moments in my session resulted in me having low health, trying to find jars in the hopes they drop health power and of course dealing with the damn mummies who can't seem to decide whether their skull projectiles are homing or not. Sometimes they go forwards into a wall, sometimes they chase me with a bit more efficiency than doot skeletons rockets from doom.

From what I played so far, Its a neat lil game and I like the egypt locales and themes, especially since you dont end up in only desert temples and tombs. Theres some abandoned mines, a swamp, a lava cave zone and of course theres the lands that the aliens terraformed that you can go to near the end. One major complaint though, whoever made it so that the breakable jars can sometimes explode when broken, sending out exploding snakes that can damage or outright kill me when I was needing health or weapon power?

I hope you stub your toe. Anyways next game.

I played Blood West back when it was in early access and enjoyed it for what it offered. The 1st act where you rise as an undead cowboy in a wild west teeming with monsters and cryptids is.... well not really original. There are several other bits of media that cover a weird west kinda vibe, heck there's even a game called that made by ex-arkane devs. But were not gonna critique this on originality, just on what it does and if its fun. And what it does is pretty good and is pretty fun.

For one, stealth is prioritised heavily since a lot of enemies can either close the distance to maul, shoot at you with firearms and spells or a mixture of both and the rusty revolver you find early on wont do much to stop them unless you aim for the head, so you better do your best to sneak past them or find better equipment.... or just whack em up the head with an axe when they aint looking.

Yeah I havent really done a proper melee build in Blood West but you could handle a lot of early game enemies with just a rusty axe and some stealth so you can sneak attack some enemies. Heck if you pick the perk that improves your stealth as well as save up cash to buy the bone knife from the shaman early on, you can sneak around and backstab a good amount of threats like a spy from Team Fortress 2 doing a montage for his texas audience.

Doing a proper melee build would be neat to do since theres a good number of skills that work with it such as improving swing speed and doing more damage along with a berserker skill that lets you get health back with melee kills. Mostly I try to stick with the bow for early game before moving towards the sawn off shotgun and lever action rifle, though I mostly just use melee anyway to save on ammo. Hmmm.... I should actually get around to doing that run huh?

Anyways blood west is good, they have the VA for Garrat from the thief series voicing the cowboy, used to be a guy called Jake "the voice" or whatever but they replaced him with Nick Valentine. Also a dlc released recently for this called dead mans promise that has the Shadowman VA in it. Go play it.

So now, finally, we are at our final game for this 2025 start for Midnight Gaming and its a game I've been playing a lot past midnight, all night in fact. From 2024. Its pokemon sleep.

Given the formula I've settled for this series, sleep is gonna be something I have to balance to make sure I dont burnout again while doing this. So I figured I try to use a sleep app to help with that.... and I have a bit of history with Pokemon given I played a lot of blue on gameboy... I was pretty into pokemon as a kid to be honest. The games, the show, the films, the card game, nearly all of it at the time.

So I decided to go with Pokemon Sleep to try and build a healthy sleep schedule via means of bulking up a snorlax with berries and meals. And sleeping, that too is involved. You basically catch some pokemon by feeding them biscuits before enlisting them into indentured servitude to gather berries and ingredients while you feed them candy to make them stronger and get better helpers in your weekly sleep campaign.

So important thing I found from online reasearch early on was that getting a pokemon with the main skill Energy for Everyone gives them a chance to recover some energy for all your helpers, making them perform better throughout the day. Of course its best if the pokemon has a nature that boosts main skill chance as well as sub skills that boost the chance of an activation or a double activatiob, that way you can proc the skill and keep your "helpers" topped up like a living energy drink.

Igglypuff is a good pokemon to catch early on since they have the skill, evolving takes less resources and every evolution levels the pokemons main skill up by one, meaning getting a pokemon that you can evolve 2 or 3 times means you can level their main skill up a bit. Me though I went with a sylveon since they're apparently good. Though it takes a bit to get one. You need an eevee along with 80 eevee candies and about 150 hours of sleep logged with the eevee you want to level in your party. At the very least, I have them now and they have a good nature thats boosts chance along with chance boosting skills, so they occasionally trigger a double skill activation which raises the teams energy by a lot.

And I named them Astolfo. You might say its because they're both pink and you'd be half right.... buuuutttt its also because they remind me of a can of monster energy, so I named em after a character related to that drink thanks to a.....certain......picture.

If you know, you know.

Biggest complaint about Pokemon Sleep is that I have never gotten to track my sleep at all. The hours were saved but any other information beyond that is gone, an error that says they couldn't track my sleep info so I just get a balanced sleep type each time and left to go my merry way since the sleep points, pokemon attracting and other stuff still works.

Also the diets you feed your weekly snorlax are a bit strange. Theres three categories of recipes you can make that your snorlax will want to eat and only eat for their daily meals. Each week a different snorlax will have a different type so you end up cooking those foods for them. First off, Curries and Stews? Makes sense, you can build a decent diet out of that, I think. Salads? Again fine, pretty healthy though, since your aim is to bulk up your snorlax, there isnt very much calories that you can shove into them to fatten them up. And finally, Desserts and Drinks? Yeah... feed your Snorlax a breakfast of fizzy soda that sounds great and definatly not agonising on an empty stomach. Whats for dinner? A hot cup of milk, fuck you.

Its fine, Poke Sleep is fine. Add me on there so I could mooch candy from you.

So thats that. First post of 2025 and it was a big one. Hopefully I can get back to talking about one game and one bit of news for this series agaib and I hope to continue working on it. I generally want to do something that gets me creating something, while also pushing me to play more games. And if any these posts convince you to play any of the games I talked about, thats cool.

Anyways, thank you all SO much for reading this issue of Midnight Gaming. Feel free to leave feedback or game suggestions and I'll talk you all another time.

Ok you know what, it was this pic here and its comparing the size of the can to his co...

[coldalbion]

"The modern meaning of bisexuality, which describes sexual and/or romantic attraction rather than sexed or gendered characteristics, only developed in the 1910s. However, for many years the different meanings of bisexuality were used at the same time and sometimes in the same texts. Sigmund Freud made his famous claim about ‘universal’ bisexuality in 1915, but referred to this both as a combination of masculinity and femininity and as a sexual or romantic attraction, writing, “the sexual object is a kind of reflection of the subject’s bisexual nature”. .... It’s also important to note that this terminology is particular to English-speakers in the West, and that elsewhere in the world there has been a diverse range of approaches to sexuality and gender that often reject binary categorisations. In many cases, these approaches have been restricted or prohibited as a legacy of colonialism.

It wasn’t until the late 1970s that the current understanding of bisexuality, as an orientation or capacity for attraction, became widely accepted in the UK as "the more common usage". Around this point, we started to see bi groups and events being established. The UK’s first bi group, London Bisexual Group, was formed in 1981, followed by other groups in Edinburgh (1984), Brighton (1985), Manchester (1986) and Glasgow (1988), as well as a London-based Bisexual Women’s Group. A magazine, Bi-Monthly, was founded, as well as two bi helplines in London and Edinburgh, and the UK’s longest continually-running LGBTQ+ community event, the annual BiCon.

Bi terminology and politics have continued to evolve since the 1980s. While definitions of bisexuality initially focused on attractions to ‘both’ genders, over time it became more common to refer to ‘attraction to more than one gender’. The term ‘pansexual’ became popular in the 1990s in response to concerns about bisexuality upholding the gender binary, using the prefix ‘pan’ (‘all’) to suggest attraction that is not limited by gender. But this doesn’t mean that bi people are therefore only attracted to two genders. Some people attracted to more than one gender identify as both bi and pan, some as one or the other, and some as neither. The 1990 manifesto of Anything that Moves, a US bi magazine, explicitly stated that bisexuality shouldn’t be understood as binary: “Do not assume that bisexuality is binary or duogamous in nature: that we have “two” sides or that we must be involved simultaneously with both genders to be fulfilled human beings. In fact, don’t assume that there are only two genders”.

[oblivionrecords]

Fred McDowell: The farmer who emerged from the woods and made a masterpiece

I thought it might be good for newbies to Mississippi Fred McDowell –like I was when I recorded “Live in New York”– to find out about where Fred came from, recording wise. This article in the UK webzine, Far Out, lays it out pretty well. You might want to dig deeper into folklorist Alan Lomax, but more importantly, you'll get a glimpse of the ambition that drove Fred from a Mississippi farm to his well deserved worldwide acclaim. -Fred Seibert.

By Tom Taylor @tomtaylorfo Far Out Magazine   Sat 18 November 2023 22:00, UK

Some blues players can get their guitars to tell a story; Fred McDowell could get his to sing an opera akin to a southern Les Mis. “With Fred McDowell, I just love the way he articulates the notes,” fellow blues guitarist Bill Orcutt explains. “I’m hardly unique in that, but there’s just something about that that I love.” He’s not alone in that love either; everyone from Keith Richards to Bonnie Raitt have cited him as a star that they have attempted to emulate.

However, the one element nobody could ever copy was the humble backstory that brought him to the world. Long before he earned the prefix of Mississippi and became a big attraction at juke joints, got swamped backstage at folk festivals, or had his track covered by The Rolling Stones, he was just strumming away to an audience of nearby wildlife on his porch after a long day at work. Occasionally, he’d find himself in a situation where someone might toss him some loose change, but any notion of fame seemed unfamiliar.

But his skills were profound all the same, and fate would drag him towards another American numen on his travels. Alan Lomax was a roving ethnomusicologist, which is a big word for a curious fellow with a portable recording device that could capture the nation’s true folk on the move. One day, during Lomax and Shirley Collins’ great Southern Journey expedition, they rocked up in Como, Mississippi. They were intent on capturing the music at a local dance and the Young brothers’ fife and drum ensemble.

It was 1959, and McDowell was a 54-year-old wondering what his legacy would be beyond the farm he kept. So, without much fanfare and no warning, he decided to pick up his guitar, weave his way through the local woods, and rock up at Lonnie Young’s porch, where the recording was said to be taking place. Lomax and Collins lent him their ears, hit record, and old McDowell began to play.

Half a century later, if you close your eyes while listening to the masterpiece now known as The Alan Lomax Recordings, you can almost see the overalled maestro on the creaking porch ahead of you, hear the rustle of the southern breeze through the lowering tupelo trees, and smell the dancehalls buffer in the air. Of course, some of that is due to the suggestion of the cover art on the Mississippi Records pressing, but what I’m trying to convey is the dogeared sincerity that renders this authentic tape so beguiling.

Even at the time, Lomax and Collins were so flummoxed by the humility and skill of this unknown farmer that they quickly whisked their tapes off to a blues label, and in his autumn years, McDowell became an internationally renowned star, typifying what was best about the blues when the revival movement had somewhat muddied the waters — he was the new (old) find that the kids were craving.

He would soon rub shoulders with the next generation, teaching Raitt how to play slide guitar, touring with the likes of Big Mama Thornton and John Lee Hooker, and embracing the flattery of being covered by rockers despite declaring himself that he did not play rock ‘n’ roll. He left the farm behind and enjoyed a good 13 years of fame until his death in 1972, aged 68, but his old porch was never truly that far from his artistic thoughts, so even beyond the masterful Lomax Recordings, he’s the bluesman who can capture the earthiness of the South with more verity than anyone.

[qrjung]

Last line tag

tagged by @scifimagpie ; the last line you wrote.

I'm writing exactly one (1) fic for spooktober (or another prefix-tober event, I don't know)

Leo Manfred is a very hyperactive human. He can barely relax into the sofa he's seated in without tapping his fingers or shaking his legs or tugging at his clothes. Simon doesn't think he realizes that he does those things: they're all subtle movements beyond his conscious control. He is a stark contrast to the almost eerily still Markus who sits opposite him, slowly scrolling through a magazine.

tagging (I'm not sure if you have anything being written but no pressure either way); @iwonderwh0 @blurredout10 @advictoriams @icebear4president @the-worlds-tempest @leelany-world @marzipan-corner

[untitled-writing-projects]

Today's lore tidbit!

The MIP Axiom-4 is the assault rifle of choice for Chyro. Characteristic to their high-tech and bleeding-edge philosophy, the weapon employs several technologies that Gilden and Tanniter haven't so much as started using on Kin-portable weapons. The long magazine loads seven stacks of 6 caseless rounds on top of eachother, and an internal mechanism lifts the top 6 rounds into the barrel, where they're fired in sequence. Needless to say, an electronically-fired caseless superposed load rifle is a bit ahead of the equivelants.

The other notable thing about the Axion is ots prefix. MIP stands for Municipal Improvement Plan. This is because it was created by a branch of the Chyran government that was originally in a very different business. Chyro has had some serious creeping reach from the government, and this gun is a testament to that.

[cuteloot]

Level 26 Plump Spitter

Spitters are a great weapon for mid/close combat. This one in particular features a Vladof grip for further increased firerate, as well as the Plump prefix for a deeper magazine. It is also equipped with a Dahl stock to help manage the recoil.

[lunastrophe]

Hi! Do you have a preferred list/generator of drow names you refer to, or drow naming conventions if that exists? I want to write a story with a drow family but the names I see are obviously really specific. I found a dictionary that lists conventions but it seems like it's possibly just for naming things/objects and not actual drow 🤔 thank you for any help!

Hello! For creating drow names, I use mainly tables from By Any Other Name: The Drow (Dragon Magazine #267, 2e). There is some information about drow naming conventions there, and tables with prefixes and suffixes that can be used for creating names for individual drow (with translation of their meaning). There are also separate tables for creating names of drow houses, also with translation.

A few months ago, someone posted them on BG3 Reddit and they can be found on some older D&D-oriented sites too, since they are probably the most popular source for drow names.

In Drow of the Underdark (3.5e), there is a short info on drow names, and tables with prefixes and suffixes for creating names - but I do not really use them. They differ in many places from those from Dragon Magazine #267, since in 3.5e, the whole concept of drow language was changed.

Although - since drow language canonically can differ between regions and cities - I suppose that roleplay wise, they might be useful for creating names for drow from distant, secluded settlements, for example.

In older version of Drow of the Underdark (2e), there is a short chapter about drow nomenclature, list of female and male given names, list of drow last names and house names (without translation of their meaning). There are names of already existing drow characters mentioned in novels and games among them - so they may not be the best choice if you want to create unique names for your characters.

There are also online name generators - but since I prefer to stick to official sources, I cannot really say much about them. I tried one or two a long time ago, but they did not seem to be based on D&D drow language sources.

[tanadrin]

Is there like a popularity threshold below which you'd allow people to act/perform music/create art for the public? Or must it all be automated to save people from the potential negative effects of fame?

hmm, first off, disclaimer: posts prefixed with "hot take" are intentionally inflammatory, not carefully considered proposals, and are not things which i necessarily actually endorse wholeheartedly (or at all). this particular post was inspired by me stumbling across a reddit post on r/all where a ton of people who as far as i know do not personally know joe jonas and sophie turner were intensely discussing if and why they might be divorcing. like jesus christ, people. you don't know these two, you never will, and you have no reason whatsoever to care even an iota about their lives, except that the Monkey Status Module sitting on top of your limbic system is telling you "ooh! high-status monkey! let us pay attention to them!"

actors, and certain kinds of musicians, for whatever reason seem to come in for this kind of obsessive treatment most of all, second only perhaps to the british royal family. probably because they're intensely recognizable, and often attractive. they serve, i suppose, as a canvas for projecting our own hopes and insecurities. every once in a while i get served a tiktok which alludes to the existence of the people who secretly believe that a) taylor swift is a lesbian, and b) she is carefully sending coded messages about her lesbianism to her die-hard fans through her music. this is objectively insane behavior. just truly a monumental waste of time. the people who spend their time and energy thinking about this sort of thing are the equivalent of sovcits--deranged, if frequently by the grace of god not quite deranged enough to qualify for a clinical diagnosis.

there are celebrities of other categories who 1) tend not to achieve fame until a little bit later in life (and so are less prone to actual exploitation) and b) even when they do so tend not to attract the same kind of obsessive, rabid maniacs. writers rarely make it big before their 30s; even prodigies like christopher paolini don't become objects of obsession, or superstardom. jk rowling became like the first or second person ever to make it to billionaire status off her writing career, but people still don't really give her deference, or obsess about her personal life. politicians are very well known, but frequently held in (IMO) a healthy degree of contempt and suspicion simply by virtue of their profession. you get exceptions like Trump--but they're obviously divisive figures, often as deeply unpopular with the broader public as they are popular with their own core constituency. many smaller or more workaday musicians, who are not the subject of marketing pushes by large labels, but who may still be widely known.

we could imagine a system where all entertainment and celebrity gossip magazines were simply banned, and nobody was allowed to act in TV or film until they were 45. that would have a certain charm to it! it might help revitalize struggling regional theater scenes, as people honed their craft in anticipation of competing for film roles once they came of age. and, of course, it would be great to see child roles played by, like Hugh Jackman walking on his knees. all drama is artifice, after all; what we take as acceptable deviation from reality now (like 20 year olds playing high schoolers in TV shows) is simply a result of convention and habit; we could form new convention and new habits if we really wanted to. personally, i think gary oldman could play any role he set his mind to if we gave him a chance.

but technology offers us a better way. really, we've had the technology since we invented animation, but i suppose there is always a desire to achieve a certain verisimilitude in certain kinds of art. we no longer have to compromise. between AI and sophisticated computer graphics, why not simply abolish those professions that tend to produce figures that (for reasons of marketing or simply a defect in our ape-minds) we cannot be normal about? we can create sui generis faces for each film or TV show. maybe we can demand all pop music stars go about masked like the daft punk duo.

that's no help with the royals or for sports stars, though i think i am pretty much on record as saying both those jobs would, in the best of all possible worlds, be abolished for other reasons anyway.