#rising phoenix campaign

[snugleaf]

Betrayal

[thorias]

Since season 2 looks to be so jam-packed with stuff, I thought it would be fun to try to break down the episodes using the stories continuing from season 1 and the spoilery bits we learned from D23 and... yeah, there's a lot here.

I'm just making educated guesses right now, but I could easily see this happening in the show.

2x01 - Ancient Egypt. 'Rise of Apocalypse' adaptation. The team helps En Sabah Nur defeat Rama-Tut and Rogue makes her Faustian deal with him to get Remy resurrected. Bishop shows up at the end to collect everyone.

2x02 - The Future. 'Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix' adaptation. Scott and Jean spend some time raising teenage Nathan and are warned of the horrors that would be unleashed upon the world if Apocalypse were to ever rise to power. Bishop and the others show up at the end and the X-men return to the present.

2x03 - Present day. Bottle episode focusing on Forge's makeshift team, presumably consisting of some combination of Cable, Havok, Polaris, Iceman, Colossus, Archangel, Shadowcat and Emma Frost. They deal with the continuing fallout of Genosha/Asteroid M/the EMP and the ensuing chaos as Graydon Creed is poised to win the presidential election. Apocalypse begins positioning his chess pieces. The new Four Horsemen (let's say Deathbit, Madelyne/Pestilence, Shaw/War and Dazzler/Famine) make their first appearance and give the team a thrashing. The X-men return from the past/future at the end.

2x04 - The X-men are reunited, get caught up on everything they missed while they were gone and find Jubilee wherever she is. Magneto attempts to mend fences with Lorna, but it goes horribly since he did after all try to wipe out all life on Earth while she was, ya' know, on Earth. She doesn't forgive him, but convinces him to turn himself over to the authorities and answer for his crimes. Mags' second trial goes much worse for him than the first one did and he's thrown in a plastic prison like in X2; the last we see of him for a while (probably wishful thinking on my part, but you never know). Rogue leaves to search for Deathbit.

2x05 - Rogue confronts Deathbit. It goes horribly. She tries to absorb the Death persona out of him like she once did for Archangel, but Apocalypse has accounted for her powers this time and Deathbit is immune to them now. She's forced to fight him, shocked by Deathbit's ferocity and resentment toward her and not yet understanding what she needs to do to break Apocalypse's hold on Remy. The battle ends in a stalemate. Rogue is left confused and heartbroken as Deathbit escapes.

2x06 - Wolverine spotlight. Logan travels to Japan, searching for a way to get his adamantium back (I don't like this happening so soon, but we can assume from the D23 sneak peek that it'll probably go this way). He seeks out Lady Deathstrike since her father created the adamantium bonding process and has to fight Sabretooth for it.

2x07 - Nightcrawler spotlight. With the election looming, Kurt confronts his half-brother Graydon. It goes horribly. Mystique reveals herself, having infiltrated Graydon's campaign months earlier. Kurt tries to make peace with his family, but neither of them are interested in peace. The episode ends with Mystique assassinating Graydon and her continued allegiance to Apocalypse is revealed. She then takes Graydon's form and replaces him, meaning Apocalypse would control the White House if Mystique/Creed wins the election.

2x08, 9 & 10 - On the eve of the election, Apocalypse makes his move, committing acts of terrorism, giving Mystique/Creed more ammunition for the anti-mutant campaign Creed was running on, which Apocalypse has been secretly fomenting in order to provoke a human/mutant war. Xavier aides Rogue as she faces Deathbit again, allowing her to confront Remy on the psychic plane. He recreates the gala scene from 'Remember It' in Deathbit's mind, so Rogue can undue that little blunder by dancing with Remy this time and finally confessing her true feelings. Remy learns that Rogue had chosen him, not Magneto, and that she really does love Remy, which gives him the motivation to fight off the Deathbit persona. Meanwhile, the X-men battle the remaining Horsemen and Apocalypse. They're losing badly until a re-adamantiumed Wolverine, Xavier and Rogue, with Gambit, now free of Apocalypse's influence, arrive to turn the tide. Poccy is defeated, and with his machinations revealed, the public is swayed and President Kelly is re-elected.

Afterward, Gambit is back with the team, though he's left with trauma and PTSD from his death and resurrection. Xavier and the X-men are lauded as heroes in the media, so public perception is back on their side and things are looking up for a change... but unbeknownst to everyone, something is not right with Xavier as we get our first hint of Onslaught for season 3.

I think this accounts for every storyline we've confirmed so far, (or most of them at least) but that's just the stuff we've heard about. Who knows what else they've got in store for us that they haven't revealed yet. I'm crossing my fingers that we get longer episodes in s2 because they're definitely going to need more time to cover all this.

[redfish-blu]

People asked to drop the Danger Days tl from my last post so I’ll do that.

*Disclaimer: Not canon at all this is just my personal idea and take on like. How all that happened. Based on what they said in the videos and comics sort of.

*Disclaimer 2: I have not read National Anthem and I don’t care if this doesn’t line up with that.

Zones Timeline

1947:

- Cold War begins.

1987: Dr. D is born (hey legend).

1991:

- Cold War does not end.

1996:

- 1st Helium War starts.

- NATO and the Warsaw countries exchange declarations of war.

- Most of Eastern Europe is destroyed first, followed by the Middle East. Russia remains intact, as do a few Western European countries. Not including Great Britain or Germany.

- Other countries fall into isolation in fear of being the next targets of war, and either disappear into themselves or join pacts with one another. Some disperse entirely.

1997:

- America dissolves into civil unrest after attacks on the mainland result in various important political figures’ deaths.

- A number of American states cede from the nation and become The Confederacy of California, as per their secession being definitely illegal, and they take the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Wyoming.

- Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas are disputed.

- The rest of the states are assimilated into The Federal Republic of The United States, however they are in constant political battles between themselves because now everyone either wants out of the nation or they want control of it.

1997-98:

- Technology stagnates, but still advances. Just nowhere near as fast as it did in our lives.

1998:

- 1st Helium War ends.

- Cherri Cola is born.

- Tensions between the COC and the FRUS are high strung but not hostile.

- This is generally considered peacetime, if peacetime can be defined as you and the person you just fist fought in the bathroom being forced to sit next to one another in the principal’s office. Alone.

- A company specializing in chemistry and weapons manufacturing under the name of “Better Tech” rises in the COC and the FRUS.

2000:

- 2nd Helium War starts.

- Jet Star is born.

- War is declared on the FRUS by the COC, and various military campaigns take place in the disputed states.

- Better Tech supplies resources to both sides in a kind of double entendre situation where neither side knows they’re actually being played.

2001:

- Party Poison is born.

2006:

- Kobra Kid is born.

- Fun Ghoul is born.

- Helium Wars end when a series of nuclear bombs are dropped around the Rocky Mountains.

- The FRUS is never heard from again, and radio/electronic communication is disrupted by damage to the earth’s electromagnetic field.

- Better Tech rebrands themselves to Better Living Industries and gain influence over the COC government with the aim of salvaging the country and fixing the physical damage done by the war as well as the mental trauma of the citizens.

2010:

- BLi attempt to take control of Latin America but are flushed out by rebellion, and Mexico’s border is closed.

- Canada follows suit soon after, and America is officially cut off. Trapping everyone who remains there within the country (legally).

2012:

- Pig Bombs drop, eliminating Texas and New Mexico, whose governments were still kind of functioning independently after Helium 2 and building resistance against the COC.

- Fires of 2012 destroy Phoenix but leave Las Vegas intact. All remaining military units are pulled to Los Angeles.

- This is where BLi’s intense propaganda machine starts working to cover up all the crap they do. Working in tandem with how technologically challenged most people are at that point.

- BLi take what’s left of the lower 48 and establish Battery City as the new capital of America. Their borders define the nation as California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona.

- However, BLi becomes notoriously bad at maintaining and “cleansing” their proclaimed territories; and most of the area outside of Zone 3 sees little to no substantial BLi presence at all.

- Dr. Death Defying makes his first radio broadcast as a rebel.

2013:

- Analog Wars begin.

- Battle of Utah takes place wherein Salt Lake City is destroyed in a series of Killjoy v. BLi battles.

- Destroya was used for its first and only time during this battle, and was abandoned in Zone 3 during BLi’s retreat.

2015:

- Analog Wars pause after significant damages to both sides prompt an unofficial ceasefire, giving way to a long period of relative inactivity.

- BLi uses this time to build its presence in everyday life, establish the Zones, and advance it’s scientific research and development.

2028:

- The Girl is born.

- Girl’s mom is Drac’d

2029:

- The Girl is found by Killjoys.

- Analog Wars start up again when her existence is uncovered.

2029-35:

- These years see the most one on one fighting between kj factions and BLi since the Analog Wars first started.

- Generally remembered as a sort of Zones Renaissance due to the re-popularization of art, media, and philosophy within the killjoy community.

- Who had fractured off in the years after the armistice and became very detached from one another rather than a collective movement.

2035:

- The Killjoys die.

- Analog Wars officially end.

2036-47:

- The schools of thought built up during the renaissance period fade into the background once again as their figureheads either die off or become irrelevant.

- This is the era in which the Val Velocity era of killjoys grow up in. They were all born well after the Helium and Analog wars began and ended, so they have little to no connection to the values or customs of pre-war life.

- Its very Lost Generation-y in that everyone just kind of wants to party and forget about how their lives suck underneath all the glitter.

2047:

- California Comics events.

- Cherri Cola dies.

- Dr. D dies (rip legend).

- BLi is destroyed.

[fierath]

random top gun headcanons bc I'm bored part three ✨ secret Santa edition ✨

(I actually drew names for this) (while I was at work and doing nothing better)

1. Jake draws Mickey's name and gets him a set of blue copic markers. Mickey mentioned on a double-date once that Delta Airlines had lost his other set of markers (fanback and hangster go on double-dates this is fact). Jake pretends he doesn't pay attention to other people's lives but we all know that's a lie

2. Mickey gets Bob and gets him a hoodie with his helmet design on the hood and "Badass On Board" on the back. (Jake feels bad for calling him baby on board but Bob doesn't hold grudges)

3. Bob has Reuben, he gets him a tall purple orchid (idk orchid varieties so that's all I got) and some exotic flower seeds (Reuben's a plant guy)

4. Reuben gets Natasha a blown glass ornament: a phoenix rising from ashes. Bob has to convince her not to glue it to their plane

5. Natasha gets Mav (Mavdad is part of the squad, they had to include him) and she has no idea what to get him so she enlists Bradley's help. she gets him a handmade model F-14 with "Maverick" and "Goose" painted on the sides

6. Mav gets Javy a custom set of DnD figurines, each modeled after the squad. now he has more leverage for the squad to join his campaigns

7. Javy gets Jake a new pair of cowboy boots (they are sorely needed but according to Jake if the soles aren't falling out, he doesn't need new shoes). they have custom stitching based on things in Jake's life (the navy, horses, Bradley, etc.)

8. Bradley draws his own name. he's supposed to tell someone so that they can redraw, but he doesn't. he decides to use secret santa to get himself a gift that he wants but doesn't want to admit to wanting. he buys himself a t shirt that says "cowboys make better lovers"

[lazysload]

Thanks to author @eeldritchblast for the detailed and authentic game character sheet template. Link to the template. From myself, I only added the character voice paragraph because it's important to me :D

Loa can't be older than 135 years old. Time of Troubles took place in 1358, the events of BG3 take place in 1493. My guess is that she's about 87 years old.

Loa is a shortened form of Lo'larox, the name given by her drow foster parents. But she doesn't remember it after the lobotomy, and I'm afraid she never will. And I've never mentioned it before. Names are a problem for me, yes. In board games, I'm used to the shortened form of a name having to be no more than 4 letters.

Gale and she had professional conflicts over who was the better wizard or sorcerer. I was just thinking of Qara and Sand from NWN2. With Halsin, Loa has an incompatible worldview. She's still close to the philosophy of the gods of death to understand people like him. I think Loa should be able to have a lot of common topics of conversation with Nameless One. What can change the nature of a man?

Cassima is a star in the Forgotten Realms universe. Also known as the Bird of Paradise, or the Phoenix. Although elvish in origin, humans have also adopted the story of Cassima, a young maiden who was held to be an evil witch and burned at the stake. Before she dies, a god (Hanali Celanil to the elves, most often Selune or Lliira to humans) reaches out and transforms her into a Phoenix, a bird of flame, whereupon she rises up and joins the goddess in the heavens. This strongly echoes the full form of the name Loa. Also, my first selunite char for the Curse of Strahd campaign is named after this star.

[ilikeapples01]

Phoenix Rising (all hail empress pink au) (art by HellMick)

The Pink Diamond surveyed her latest campaign from orbit. It took a lot of research and development to make this view possible, but to see the light show below? Worth every Currency. From this heavenly vantage she could see every bombardment, every burning city, sometimes even a strike from her own vessel against a particularly stubborn entrenchment, and there was no shortage of these on this miserable rock. She had half a mind to depopulate this one completely, ship any survivors off to her less morally upstanding allies for their impudence… And yet she couldn’t help but admire their refusal to roll over, their dedication to what they believed in even unto extinction. Would that all of Homeworld’s citizens could be so devoted.

The doors behind her crashed open, though the tiny little gem that emerged from them couldn’t have opened them alone. “My Diamond! Empress!” she huffed, clearly worked up over something as she saluted and keeled appropriately. Pink for her part said nothing, simply turning just enough to look over her shoulder at one of her trusted seers. “Forgive me, please, but I bring grave news from the ground campaign.”

Pink scowled, but her countenance soon softened again, at least enough to be clear there was no ill will to her Padparadsha. “Elaborate,” she commanded.

“Th-there’s been an accident… I don’t know for sure but something happened with our bombardment, one of the shots hit our own troops, hundreds are dead and more are casualties-”

“That’s not my concern, there are lower ranks that can deal with such incidents. I suggest you report to the guilty party’s commanding officer and inform any next-of-kin.”

(Full post on reddit)

Padparadsha stammered and squawked before at last mustang words once more. “I-I-I did, m-my Diamond… and I am.”

“...What?” That can’t be right. “What do you mean ‘you are’? That-” No. No chance in hell. There is no way THAT happened. “I thought your visions were accurate, why are you implying this- this heresy!?”

https://www.reddit.com/r/AllHailEmpressPinkAU/

[darkmaga-retard]

Last Friday, in a speech in Phoenix, Arizona, the independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. suspended his campaign and endorsed Donald J. Trump. 

As Kennedy noted, the problem with democracy in America in recent decades has been its absence, decrying the Democratic party’s departure from democratic norms. In defense of what amounts to America’s own “managed democracy” the party erected almost insurmountable barriers to the RFK Jr. candidacy, first by putting up onerous petition signature requirements, then by suing Kennedy’s campaign in court. 

The irony of a party obsessed with Russia acting in such a manner should not be lost on anyone; indeed it is unarguable that Russia has indeed used the same methods as today’s Democratic Party. When, for example, Lyubov Sobol (an associate of anti-corruption crusader Alexei Navalny) sought to enter the Moscow City Council race in 2019, her candidacy was derailed by challenging her ballot petition signatures.  This same device has frequently been used to get rid of other unwanted opposition candidates. In 2018, Pavel Grudinin, a successful businessman and populist, ran for the presidency against Vladimir Putin as a candidate of the reformed Russian communist party. When Grudinin became too threatening to the establishment and started to rise in the polls, the mass media went into action with hit pieces that quickly sidelined him. 

Sound familiar?

[kp777]

By Sophia Cai

Axios

August 5, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris is eyeing a broader path to victory than President Biden's 2024 map, with an army of enthused volunteers and piles of cash.

Why it matters: Harris' entry could put Georgia, Arizona, and North Carolina back in play, forcing Trump to spend in states he considered safe.

A new CBS poll shows Harris and Trump are tied across the collective battleground states, erasing Trump's previous lead over Biden.

TheHarris campaign is counting on a strategy that involves engaging Republicans who have endorsed Harris, growing her coalition with minority, female, and young voters and investing heavily in mobilizing the groundswell of volunteers who have raised their hand.

Zoom in: In the last two weeks, the Harris campaign added 370,000 new volunteers — including 15,500 in Georgia, 21,000 in Arizona, and 10,500 in North Carolina — three states with diverse or changing electorates that have seen the most uptick in enthusiasm.

In Georgia, there are 100,000 votes up for grabs, former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) told Axios in an interview.

"Kamala Harris puts all of those votes back in play. The number one excuse that I heard [about Biden] was, 'My gosh, he's just so old. I just can't imagine him governing for 4 years.' She takes that risk of physical and mental failure off the table," Duncan said.

Harris is looking to continue to build her coalition including Black and Asian communities in and outside of metro Atlanta, in addition to reaching out to the numerous Trump-skeptical Republicans and independents in the state.

In Arizona, the campaign has trotted out border mayors who have endorsed Harris. And Republican Mayor John Giles of Mesa has also endorsed her.

It's perhaps the second state with the most significant surge in momentum for Democrats following the Biden-Harris switch, and it'll be a test for Harris' border messaging offense on the ground.

"We had a weekend of action this past weekend that was more than double the size of any previous weekend over the course of the campaign," Harris Arizona coordinated campaign manager Sean McEnerney told Axios, adding that Democrats "are really fired up to run through the tape."

In North Carolina, whichhas voted for a Democratic president just twice in the last fifty years, Harris has an uphill battle.

But the Harris campaign has forced the Trump campaign to spend on ads in North Carolina for the first time, a sign that they are taking Harris' prospects seriously.

Democrats are counting on turning out more favorable voters who have more recently moved to the state and highlighting what they see as GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson's extreme record and tying him to Trump.

Between the lines: Pennsylvania is still the most important state where both campaigns are going all-in.

In Biden's 2020 race, "we campaigned on the theory that you make marginal gains in those places that are still going to be Republican," senior advisor for Pennsylvania Brendan McPhillips told Axios.

"That general philosophy, still applies right now, even though there's this wave of enthusiasm. We are not just going to rely on turning out our base."

What's next: On Tuesday, Harris will kick off her weeklong swing state tour in Philadelphia with her vice presidential nominee.

The duo will also hit western Wisconsin; Detroit; Raleigh, North Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Phoenix and Las Vegas.

The bottom line: Harris will need to contend with the reality that many Americans are frustrated with the economy and the cost of living.

With unemployment rates rising to the highest level in three years, the Biden-Harris administration can no longer point to job creation as a positive economic indicator.

Harris over the past two weeks also has not given any interviews or hosted a press conference.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

The Guardian:

Climate change will be a lesser priority in Florida and largely disappear from state statutes under legislation signed on Wednesday by the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, in a move which experts say ignores the reality of Florida’s climate threats. The legislation, which comes after Florida had its hottest year on record since 1895, also bans power-generating wind turbines offshore or near the state’s lengthy coastline. Florida is facing rising seas, extreme heat, flooding and increasingly severe storms. The legislation takes effect on 1 July and also boosts expansion of natural gas, reduces regulations on gas pipelines in the state, and increases protections against bans on gas appliances such as stoves, according to a news release from the governor’s office.

“This purposeful act of cognitive dissonance is proof that the governor and state legislature are not acting in the best interests of Floridians, but rather to protect profits for the fossil fuel industry,” said Yoca Arditi-Rocha, executive director of the non-profit Cleo Institute, which advocates for climate change education and engagement. DeSantis, who suspended his presidential campaign in January and later endorsed his bitter rival Donald Trump, called the bill a commonsense approach to energy policy. “We’re restoring sanity in our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green zealots,” DeSantis said in a post on the X social media platform. Florida is already about 74% reliant on natural gas to power electric generation, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Opponents of the bill DeSantis signed say it removes the word “climate’ in nine different places and moves the state’s energy goals away from efficiency and the reduction of greenhouse gases blamed for a warming planet.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) kissing up to climate change denialists with signing a bill to remove "climate change" from state law.

See Also:

Florida Phoenix, via Daily Kos: Gov. Ron DeSantis signs bill erasing the term ‘climate change’ from Florida law

[thryth-gaming]

Characters played in TTRPGs since 2000

I'm reposting this to my gaming blog. I'm updating it and I'm also going to mark which ones I've got Hero Forge minis of. I probably won't catch them all, there've been a few games in the last 23 years.

Definitely didn't catch all of them, but here's quite a few.

Campaign

D&D 3.5

Angwiel - snake-person (elf mechanically) Sorcerer/Cleric

Jhessail Crackstone - wererat (hengeyokai mechanically) Paladin/Rogue

Kya'Rei L'Di'Shinabon - Drow Ranger/Cleric

Yroling Xian'ri - hengeyokai cleric

Teryna - human (reincarnated fox familiar) ranger

Medora - human sorcerer/disciple of Medusa (homebrew prestige class)

Lheru - hengeyokai (spider) druid

D&D 5e

Shui Baenre - half-drow Lore Bard acolyte (child of Liriel Baenre and Fyodor of Rasheman) - Phandelver

Aisha Yethtai - tiefling knight in silver battlemaster - Storm Giant's Thunder/Dragon Heist (Hero Forge mini exists)

Weary - tiefling monster slayer - Curse of Strahd (Hero Forge mini exists)

Zihu - Yuan-ti Celestial Warlock (ancient couatl) Acolyte - homebrew (Hero Forge mini exists)

Zohuital - Yuan-ti Celestial Warlock (lillend sisters) Hermit - homebrew

Ranveig - scourge aasimar soldier valor bard - homebrew (Hero Forge mini exists)

Kanti Messner - Changeling Lore Bard/Celestial Warlock (Book of Exalted Deeds) - homebrew (Hero Forge mini exists)

Aramis Hopps - Harengon Drunken Master/Mastermind Charlatan - homebrew

Caress Melani - Yuan-ti Ancients Paladin, Courtesan of Sharess - Phandelver/Hoard of Dragon Queen (Hero Forge mini exists)

Proper Ruin - Yuan-ti Battlesmith, Lyceum Scholar - Netherdeep, (Hero Forge mini exists)

Mariah the Blue - Variant Human Draconic Sorcerer city investigator

Nesali - yuan-ti archaeologist Beast Barbarian, full of anxiety and self-esteem issues - Candlekeep (Hero Forge mini exists)

Nishan Domine - yuan-ti mercenary Totem Barbarian, tranquil fury, battlefield redecoration

Teena Valle - halfling Inquisitive rogue... died to a vampire in one session

Karen Essakye - Seattle resident githyanki law student turned scout rogue stuck in Ravenloft

Pathfinder 1e

Ide Shika - Human Fighter/Chevalier - Rise of the Runelands (Hero Forge mini exists)

Ahriah - Tiefling Witch - Homebrew

Pathfinder 2e

Sevic Rasitoria - Fetchling Beastkin (Bat) - Swashbuckler (Gymnast), Anathema Vaults

Vihra of Charity - Vishkanya Scalekeeper, Witch (Faith's Flamekeeper), Season of Phoenix - Urban Fantasy merger of Season of Ghosts and Fist of the Ruby Phoenix

Fabula Ultima

Only - Rogue/Tinkerer/Wayfarer - An uplifted harpy trying to uplift her species.

Scion 1e

Sang-Yoon Koga - The Trickster Fox, Las Vegas magician, daughter of Susano'o.

Juri Como - Daughter of Benzaitan, The Great Mangaka, "Social Ninja", Expert at Obfuscating Stupidity (Hero Forge mini exists)

Delilah Samson - Child of Loki, shapeshifter, illusionist, ex-cop, private eye, assistant to Hel (in her guise as a mortal lawyer)

Sa - Dark avenger, brutal slayer of criminals. [redacted]

Scion 2e

Lily Watson - Child of Inari, brat, tomb raider, reckless and selfish

Hilde Sifgard - Child of Sif, youtube daredevil

City of Mist

Patricia Althius - war vet, PTSD, vampire vigilante, daughter to a family of war profiteers and generations of shady dealings. Rift of Count of Monte Cristo/Lamashtu (Hero Forge mini exists)

Random - lab rat, feral teen, Rift of the Movie Monster, non-binary and ace AF (Hero Forge mini exists)

Indira Yi - Rift of Arthur Dent, streaming journalist, improbably lucky.

Fate

Katrina Stnad/Voivode Valeria Draculesti/The Wallachian - doctor, martial artist, ex-terrorist. Steampunk/Dieselpunk game.

Irene Breholm - Divine Blood game, dhampir, sidhe, born to the Breholm Sorcerer family... kinda a big civilian dork in over her head.

Jocasta - Sorceress, librarian, daughter of a Greco-Japanese crime family who just wants out. Constantly getting kidnapped. (Hero Forge mini exists)

Hero System

Megumi Morisato, aka "Greyskin" - dimensional phaser, tank, really damn hard to bring down, geeky fangirl with lots of superhero historical knowledge and trivia. (Hero Forge mini exists)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Cadynce Baker / Nya'd'cebrac - demon of blessings and protection, one sister of a paired set of demons, her sister being the spear to her shield. Professional game designer. (Hero Forge mini exists)

BESM 3rd

The Wallachian - see Fate, that campaign started in BESM and moved to Strands of Fate later.

Himura Tai-Wen - NSFW campaign, oni lady with lots of girlfirends ended up ascending to higher plane of existence.

Water Tribe Swordsman whose name I forget in Avatar game

Shadowrun

Keina Isawa - Oni shinto magician, wanted to be an idol singer, ended up a shadowrunner instead. (Hero Forge mini exists)

Lacey Chambers - human adept (social/pistol) spy, burned (Hero Forge mini exists)

Leyti - Finnish Changeling (foxlady) mystic adept, bar owner, fixer. uncertain on the name

Legend of Five Rings - 4th Edition

Moto Hotaru - born a scorpion, trained a shinobi, married a unicorn, became a diplomat, died to the Kargat, but tricked them into doing things that scuttled their operations in the area.

Chronicles of Darkness

Emma Terreal - Sin-Eater/Geist, bank accountant suffocated in a bank vault during a robbery. (Hero Forge mini exists)

Suzume Armitage - A young woman unknowingly a creation of magic.

Annika Walsh - engineer working on the space elevator

Key 13 - (Shadowrun setting with CofD rules) street samurai with experimental soul-active implants.

Monster of the Week

Niamh Miller - The Searcher, a teenager on the swim team who experienced a cosmic insight and is now eager to explore the supernatural.

One-Shots/Short-Runs

Monster of the Week

Whisp, The Libram of Whispered Prayers - The Talisman, a sentient magical book who can take human form.

Persia Mason - The Changeling, a teenaged gorgon living at a secret agency for monitoring supernatural things. (Hero Forge mini exists)

D&D 5e

Meesha Canidae - Shifter Merchant Diviner, socially awkward but unaware of it. (Hero Forge mini exists)

Valaine the Morbid - Shifter Swarmkeeper Entertainer, a bat shifter with a swarm of bats she performs shows with

Yuina Kendrick - a bitchy jurogumo (custom lineage) from Urban Arcana who got stuck in Ravenloft... and deserved it.

Kori the Storyteller - dhampir Spirit Bard, a dreaming soul animating her comatose body.

Erased - Variant Human Sage Undying Warlock (angel of death), absent-minded scholar who accidentaly got her name erased from reality.

Eve Niah - Halfling Undying Warlock (amused lich) with a bone whip, weirdly very cheerful

Cael - wood elf gorgon sorceress, former servant with memory problems.

Mutants and Masterminds

Queen Snake - doctor, martial artist, ritual mage, awakened snake-like powers when an experimental treatment mixing magic and medicine was injected into her during a hostage event. (Hero Forge mini exists)

Masks

Serpent Princess - The Beacon, daughter of Queen Snake, very eager to be a great hero and huge flirt.

One-Ring

High elf sorceress pre-gen character, forget the name

Apocalypse World

Nameless - doctor and gunfighter with snake-like mutations, seeking revenge on the one who changed and maimed her.

Fight with Spirit

Maeve Dumas - born to a martial arts family, secretly part of a competitive dance team

[ckerouac]

Alright, for @spaceorphan18 my list of the books I’ve read in the first chunk of this year (Jan-Apr) that I’d highly recommend. My 4 stars & above.

Fiction

Paladin's Faith by T Kingfisher

Marguerite Florian is a spy with two problems. A former employer wants her dead, and one of her new bodyguards is a far too good-looking paladin with a martyr complex. Shane is a paladin with three problems. His god is dead, his client is much too attractive for his peace of mind, and a powerful organization is trying to have them both killed. Add in a brilliant artificer with a device that may change the world, a glittering and dangerous court, and a demon-led cult, and Shane and Marguerite will be lucky to escape with their souls intact, never mind their hearts…

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez

A young father and son set out on a road trip, devastated by the death of the wife and mother they both loved. United in grief, the pair travel to her ancestral home, where they must confront the terrifying legacy she has bequeathed: a family called the Order that commits unspeakable acts in search of immortality. For Gaspar, the son, this maniacal cult is his destiny. As the Order tries to pull him into their evil, he and his father take flight, attempting to outrun a powerful clan that will do anything to ensure its own survival. But how far will Gaspar’s father go to protect his child? And can anyone escape their fate?

Death Valley by Melissa Broder

A woman arrives alone at a Best Western seeking respite from an emptiness that plagues her. She has fled to the California high desert to escape a cloud of sorrow—for both her father in the ICU and a husband whose illness is worsening. What the motel provides, however, is not peace but a path, thanks to a receptionist who recommends a nearby hike. Out on the sun-scorched trail, the woman encounters a towering cactus whose size and shape mean it should not exist in California. Yet the cactus is there, with a gash through its side that beckons like a familiar door. So she enters it. What awaits her inside this mystical succulent sets her on a journey at once desolate and rich, hilarious and poignant.

The Pisces by Melissa Broder

Lucy has been writing her dissertation on Sappho for nine years when she and her boyfriend break up in a dramatic flameout. After she bottoms out in Phoenix, her sister in Los Angeles insists Lucy dog-sit for the summer. Everything changes when Lucy becomes entranced by an eerily attractive swimmer while sitting alone on the beach rocks one night. But when Lucy learns the truth about his identity, their relationship, and Lucy's understanding of what love should look like, take a very unexpected turn.

Nonfiction

The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party by Daniel James Brown

In April of 1846, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Graves, intent on a better future, set out west from Illinois with her new husband, her parents, and eight siblings. Seven months later, after joining a party of pioneers led by George Donner, they reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. In early December, starving and desperate, Sarah and fourteen others set out for California on snowshoes, and, over the next thirty-two days, endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors.

Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism by Rachel Maddow

Inspired by her research for the hit podcast Ultra, Rachel Maddow charts the rise of a wild American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge of our politics for the better part of a century. Before and even after our troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded the country with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis, not against it. It was a sophisticated and shockingly well-funded campaign to undermine democratic institutions, promote antisemitism, and destroy citizens’ confidence in their elected leaders, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the U.S. government and installing authoritarian rule. While the scheme has been remembered in history—if at all—as the work of fringe players, in reality it involved a large number of some of the country’s most influential elected officials. Their interference in law enforcement efforts against the plot is a dark story of the rule of law bending and then breaking under the weight of political intimidation. That failure of the legal system had consequences. The tentacles of that unslain beast have reached forward into our history for decades.

Ice: From Mixed Drinks to Skating Rinks—A Cool History of a Hot Commodity by Amy Brady

In Ice, journalist and historian Amy Brady shares the strange and storied two-hundred-year-old history of ice in America: from the introduction of mixed drinks “on the rocks,” to the nation’s first-ever indoor ice rink, to how delicacies like ice creams and iced tea revolutionized our palates, to the ubiquitous ice machine in every motel across the US. But Ice doesn’t end in the past. Brady also explores the surprising present-day uses of ice in sports, medicine, and sustainable energy—including cutting-edge cryotherapy breast-cancer treatments and new refrigerator technologies that may prove to be more energy efficient—underscoring how precious this commodity is, especially in an age of climate change.

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake

Sheldrake’s vivid exploration takes us from yeast to psychedelics, to the fungi that range for miles underground and are the largest organisms on the planet, to those that link plants together in complex networks known as the “Wood Wide Web,” to those that infiltrate and manipulate insect bodies with devastating precision. Sheldrake reveals how these extraordinary organisms—and our relationships with them—are changing our understanding of how life works.

Toxic: Women, Fame, and the Tabloid 2000s by Sarah Ditum

Welcome to celebrity culture in the early aughts: the reign of Perez Hilton, celebrity sex tapes, and dueling tabloids fed by paparazzi who were willing to do anything to get the shot. Toxic tells the stories of nine women who defined the hell of celebrity in the 2000s and explores how they were devoured by fame, how they attempted to control their own narratives, and how they succeeded or (more often) failed. These women come from all walks of fame—pop music, acting, reality TV, and WWE wrestling. Some of them you think you know already, and others will be less familiar, but Toxic reveals these women neither as pure victims nor as conniving strategists, but as complex individuals trying to navigate celebrity while under attack from a vicious and fast-changing media.

Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen

There is only one scenario other than an asteroid strike that could end the world as we know it in a matter of hours: nuclear war. And one of the triggers for that war would be a nuclear missile inbound toward the United States. Nuclear War: A Scenario examines the handful of minutes after a nuclear missile launch.

UFO: The inside story of the US government’s search for alien life here - and out there by Garrett M. Graff

For as long as we have looked to the skies, the question of whether life on Earth is the only life to exist has been at the core of the human experience, driving scientific debate and discovery, shaping spiritual belief, and prompting existential thought across borders and generations. And yet, the idea of extraterrestrial intelligence has been largely seen as a joke, banished to the realm of fantasy and conspiracy. Now, for the first time, the full story of our national obsession with UFOs—and the covert, decades-long search by scientists, the United States military, and the CIA for proof of alien life—is told by bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Garrett M. Graff in a deeply reported and researched history.

[leareadsheresy]

Fulgrim (the book, and not the other book also called Fulgrim but with a subtitle)

This post contains spoilers for Fulgrim, by Graham McNeill, originally published as a novel on (as nearly as I can tell) July 2nd, 2007. It does not contain spoilers for Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix by Josh Reynolds, published in October 2017.

Fulgrim is the story of Fulgrim, the Palatine Phoenix, Primarch of the Emperor's Children Legion of Space Marines, and his fall to Chaos during the leadup to and events surrounding the initial steps of Horus's rebellion in the Istvaan system as told in Galaxy in Flames. Like Flight of the Eisenstein, it starts by covering events significantly earlier than Horus Rising, beginning with the the Emperor's Children prosecuting a war of extermination against an alien race called the Laer.

Here's a plot summary:

The Emperor's Children exctinctify a species of sneople called the Laer and steal a magic sword from their central temple; the temple is very clearly (to the reader) dedicated to Slaanesh, one of the four big Chaos gods, the one that's all about sensation and excess and has become less and less about sex over time as GW realizes that gets in the way of parents leaving their kids at GW stores. Fulgrim takes the sword as a trophy; it starts talking to him but because he doesn't know what Chaos is he just assumes it's intrusive thoughts. Also the artists and documentarians ("remembrancers") who travel with the fleet go down to document the glorious conquest etc. and when they go to the big Slaanesh temple they all get obsessed with pursuing sensation and excess, kicking off a B-plot that'll be important later. Also also, the Emperor's Children's chief apothecary, Fabius, gets inspired by the Laer to invent cool new combat drugs and enhancement surgeries, which he sells Fulgrim on with the help of Fulgrim's evil sword intrusive thoughts.

Then the Emperor's Children fight a fleet of divergent humans called the Diasporex who have some aliens working with them; during this they meet up with the Iron Hands Legion and their Primarch Ferrus Manus who has literal iron hands on his flagship the Fist of Iron. The book talks about how Fulgrim and Ferrus Manus are bestest of best friends who each wield a weapon forged by the other, so Ferrus Manus has a big hammer made by Fulgrim and Fulgrim has a flaming sword made by Ferrus Manus. The Emperor's Children and Iron Hands wipe out the Diasporex. During this campaign, Fabius's combat drugs get widely adopted by the Legion and they start being less about pursuing perfection and more about pursuing combat highs.

Then the Emperor's Children explore a region of space where lots of ships disappear and find a lot of unsettled paradise worlds, and are approached by a space elf named Eldrad Ulthran who warns Fulgrim that Horus is going to turn traitor. Fulgrim's evil sword intrusive thoughts tell him this is a lie and Eldrad needs to die so they fight. Fulgrim kills an Avatar of Khaine and then gets mad and goes around virus-bombing all the unsettled paradise worlds they found.

Then Fulgrim takes the fleet to meet with Horus and is like "You're not planning to turn traitor, are you?" and Horus is like "So what if I am?" and the evil sword Fulgrim's intrusive thoughts go "Horus is awesome, if he does turn traitor you should totes follow him" and Fulgrim thinks "That seems reasonable" and says "I suppose if you were going to turn traitor I'd side with you" and Horus goes "Well, I am turning traitor."

Fulgrim then goes off to try to convince his BFF Ferrus Manus to join with Horus while the majority of the Emperor's Children stay behind and do the Istvaan III Atrocity, as told in Galaxy in Flames and the middle part of Flight of the Eisenstein. It does not go well, Ferrus Manus is like "I could never betray the Emperor, you're not my brother" and they fight, and then Fulgrim goes "You'll always be my brother" and wins the fight but doesn't kill him, hoping they can reconcile later. Fulgrim does have his fleet blast the shit out of the Iron Hands fleet, though.

Fulgrim then returns to the Istvaan system and, by Horus's order, spends a couple of months fortifying Istvaan V for a followup operation, during which time elsewhere a very angry Ferrus Manus and his Iron Hands (and also his iron hands), along with the Raven Guard and Salamanders, get ready to serve as the first wave of an assault on Istvaan V, to be followed up by a second wave consisting of the Alpha Legion, Night Lords, Word Bearers, and Iron Warriors. Just as they finish fortifying the planet, the Emperor's Children attend a musical concert called the Maravaglia put on by those Slaanesh-crazed remembrancer artists, which ends up being one of those King in Yellow dealios where the play performs them, a bunch of demons are summoned, everyone in the audience goes crazy and sexmurders each other (well, all the non-space-marines, anyway), and Noise Marines get invented, though later on when 30k gets its own game the 30k-era Noise Marines will be called Kakaphoni.

Finally, the Iron Hands, Salamanders, and Raven Guard launch their assault on Istvaan V, followed by the Alpha Legion, Night Lords, Word Bearers, and Iron Warriors who land behind them and then open fire on the first three because it turns out those second four are also secret traitors. Ferrus Manus is on the planet charging towards Fulgrim to have a duel when he sees this, gets extra mad, and they fight again. Fulgrim really doesn't want to kill Ferrus Manus but his intrusive thoughts goad him into it, and as soon as he cuts off Ferrus Manus's head he realizes that his intrusive thoughts have actually been the demon sword all along and that he's damned himself, at which point it starts laughing at him. He tries to stab himself, but it's like "No, you shouldn't risk doing that, because who knows what agonies of regret your spirit will suffer after death; you should let me give you oblivion instead" and then Fulgrim in his moment of despair accedes to this, at which point the demon in the sword just possesses him and shoves his consciousness into the back of his mind to watch and scream forever as the demon pilots his body around for the rest of the Heresy. The end!

So Graham McNeill seems to be improving. In part this seems to be him developing as a writer and in part it's that he's just... writing fewer arguments. There are a few arguments in the book and they are just as stupid as every argument he wrote into False Gods and "The Kaban Project," but they take up less space. I... don't know if it's good? It clarified an order of events for me, and it continues to hammer home the theme that Chaos works quickly and destructively, like it's not subtle at all, you start out going "There's no harm in touching this sword" and then you're cutting off people's faces and stapling them to your knees in no time flat, and in the meantime murdering anyone who isn't inclined to degrade as fast as you.

I dunno, it's decent for what it is. It's not aggravating the way his earlier works were. I liked it, I guess? This is not high literature.

There are some peculiarities, four of which stick out to me.

First, uh... there's a bit where some remembrancers are talking about how they wish they could go down to the surface of Laeran more freely to document the Emperor's Children victory, but are being prevented from doing so because there's "still resistance" on the surface, and then in the very next paragraph they mention that the Laer have been rendered extinct. So... did the sneople have vassal species? Robot drones? It'd have been nice to hear about them if so but I guess not.

Second... the decision to have Ferrus Manus know about Horus and Fulgrim's treachery seems to cheapen the events of Flight of the Eisenstein a bit. Like the whole thing with the Eisenstein is supposed to be that it's the last, desperate hope of the loyalists doing an Odyssey to get news of the Horus Heresy back to Terra in time to counterattack, which tragically results in the Istvaan V Dropsite Massacre when Horus turns out to be one step ahead of them, but here it kind of comes across as that all would have happened even if the Eisenstein hadn't escaped. Dramatically it's an odd choice. I might have written it so that Ferrus Manus comes out of that first fight convinced that Fulgrim is a traitor but not knowing Horus is or something, that feels to me like it would have worked better.

Third, and this is specific to me: At some point during the book Fulgrim is introduced to the work of ancient Terran poet Cornelius Blayke, who is clearly just William Blake, and starts quoting him. Like he has him say "He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence." And that works well for the book... but I've played Devil May Cry 5. Anybody else who's played DMC5 will understand the effect this might have -- and indeed does have -- on certain dramatic moments.

Fourth, this is less important but I think very funny... okay, so the book establishes that Ferrus Manus and Fulgrim, when they first met, had a crafting competition -- Fulgrim made a big hammer and Ferrus Manus made a flaming sword. At the end of it, each of them proclaimed the other the victor, and they swapped weapons and that's why they became BFFs. And during the first fight, they're fighting with the weapons they made each other, so Fulgrim's got the sword and Ferrus Manus has the hammer. Fulgrim breaks the sword and then takes the hammer when he wins and leaves, and later Ferrus Manus fixed the sword. So when they fight again on Istvaan V at the end of the book, Ferrus Manus has the flaming sword and Fulgrim's got the Laer blade, but when he sees that Ferrus Manus intends to fight him with the flaming sword he made, Fulgrim stows the Laer blade and spends most of the fight using the hammer, so it's an inversion of the previous fight, with each using the weapon the other used last time, the ones they made themselves instead of the ones they gave each other. It's honestly pretty neat!

GW sells minis of these two characters, and they're meant to serve together as a diorama of the fight on Istvaan V as well as serving as minis to use in games of Horus Heresy. Fulgrim's got the Laer blade, which, fair, that was what he was using at the end of the fight, but Ferrus Manus has the hammer, because he's a hammer guy and his game rules are for fighting with a hammer. And I get it, if you're making a Ferrus Manus mini he'd better be wielding his big hammer! But if you put the two of them together as a diorama that means Ferrus Manus is wielding the weapon that his opponent was wielding in the fight that it's a diorama of. I am choosing to interpret this as symbolic of the way the Horus Heresy's status as a commercial product will forever be in tension with the artistic aspirations of the people who work on it.

[head-post]

Houthis attack two tankers in Red Sea, shell US military base

Military tensions are rising in the Middle East as the Houthis again attacked tankers in the Red Sea and fired shells at US military bases in Syria.

The attacks in the Red Sea

Two crude oil tankers were attacked in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen on Tuesday, but neither was injured, maritime security agencies said.

The attempted attacks on the vessels, identified as the Liberian-flagged Delta Atlantica and the Panama-flagged On Phoenix, have the hallmarks of attacks by Iran-linked Houthi militants on international cargo traffic in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.

The Houthis have not claimed responsibility. The ships and crews in both cases were unharmed and continued on to their next ports of call.

Since November, the Houthi military campaign has sunk two ships and killed at least three sailors. It continues despite US and UK strikes on equipment and launch pads in Yemen.

The threat of Houthi attacks has forced many ships travelling through the Suez Canal between Asia and Europe to reroute around Africa. This raises shipping costs, delays cargo and increases pollution.

Shelling of a US base

Shells fired towards a US airbase at a gas field in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province did not hit the facility, two US officials said on Tuesday.

Earlier, a security source told Reuters that an Iranian-backed group fired six shells at the base, all of which landed in close proximity to the US base, adding that the US-led coalition responded to the attack with artillery.

A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the shells did not hit the base and no one was hurt. He referred to early reports that could change.

Lebanese pro-Iranian TV channel Al Mayadeen reported that US warplanes were flying intensively in the skies over Deir ez-Zor after the attack. ConocoPhillips said it was aware of reports of damage to a US and coalition base in eastern Syria bearing the Conoco name, but its assets in Syria were withdrawn in the early 2000s.

The Pentagon said on Tuesday that eight US troops were injured in a drone attack on a base in Syria last week.

Read more HERE

[arrozaurus]

As the effects of climate change become impossible to ignore, the crueler side of the denial project—now lurking as subtext—will become explicit. It has already begun. At the end of August 2011, with large parts of the world still suffering under record high temperatures, the conservative blogger Jim Geraghty published a piece in The Philadelphia Inquirer arguing that climate change “will help the U.S. economy in several ways and enhance, not diminish, the United States’ geopolitical power.” He explained that since climate change will be hardest on developing countries, “many potentially threatening states will find themselves in much more dire circumstances.” And this, he stressed, was a good thing: “Rather than our doom, climate change could be the centerpiece of ensuring a second consecutive American Century.” Got that? Since people who scare Americans are unlucky enough to live in poor, hot places, climate change will cook them, leaving the United States to rise like a phoenix from the flames of global warming. Expect more of this monstrousness. As the world warms, the ideology so threatened by climate science—the one that tells us it’s everyone for themselves, that victims deserve their fate, that we can master nature—will take us to a very cold place indeed. And it will only get colder, as theories of racial superiority, barely under the surface in parts of the denial movement, make a raging comeback. In the grossly unequal world this ideology has done so much to intensify and lock in, these theories are not optional: they are necessary to justify the hardening of hearts to the largely blameless victims of climate change in the Global South and to the predominantly African American cities like New Orleans that are most vulnerable in the Global North. In a 2007 report on the security implications of climate change, copublished by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, former CIA director R. James Woolsey predicted that on a much warmer planet “altruism and generosity would likely be blunted.” We can already see that emotional blunting on display from Arizona to Italy. Already, climate change is changing us, coarsening us. Each massive disaster seems to inspire less horror, fewer telethons. Media commentators speak of “compassion fatigue,” as if empathy, and not fossil fuels, was the finite resource. As if to prove the point, after Hurricane Sandy devastated large parts of New York and New Jersey, the Koch-backed organization Americans for Prosperity (AFP) launched a campaign to block the federal aid package going to these states. “We need to suck it up and be responsible for taking care of ourselves,” said Steve Lonegan, then director of AFP’s New Jersey chapter. And then there is Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper. In the midst of the extraordinary 2014 winter floods, the tabloid ran a front-page headline asking its readers to sign a petition calling on the government “to divert some of the £11 billion a year spent on overseas aid to ease the suffering of British flood victims.” Within days, more than 200,000 people had signed onto the demand to cut foreign aid in favor of local disaster relief. Of course Britain—the nation that invented the coal-fired steam engine—has been emitting industrial levels of carbon for longer than any nation on earth and therefore bears a particularly great responsibility to increase, as opposed to claw back, foreign aid. But never mind that. Screw the poor. Suck it up. Everyone for themselves.

This Changes Everything, by Naomi Klein

[nottoofondofgaypeople]

In Regards to Gene

Content warning: abuse, r-pe, and light discussions of World of Warcraft

In a previous post that I have since taken down, I discussed the idea of the Shadow Knight Polycule and their victims in Laurance and Vylad. And in this discussion I really got away from myself and wrote some stuff that seemed... well not great at the time, but fitting for the characters and the story I wanted to tell. This reading wasn't very kind to Gene, but I've never been kind to Gene. I've been treating Gene like a punching bag since I first had to suffer through Phoenix Drop High Season 1, and it only worsened when I had to suffer through Lovers Lane.

As a result I hadn't thought about MCD Gene in a more sympathetic light until after that post went up. It was after that post went up that I started doing more ruminating on the Nether, The Shadow King, and the absolute horror of a Shadow Knights existence. It was after this ruminating that I realized that what happened with Gene was that I was treating him well...

Like Arthas Menethil. For a bit of context for those of you who haven't lost brain cells over World Of Warcraft, Arthas is basically the biggest evilest villain in WoW, but he's a villain the player can see the entire rise and fall of. The first campaign puts you in his shoes as a young paladin, and you watch as he constantly makes the worst, most violent, most evil choices through the entire campaign. Arthas is just an absolute and unapologetic monster who creates so many victims through his entire miserable existence that he keeps mementos of them.

And a lot of WoW fans try to characterize Arthas' story as a hero's fall thing? Like he was a good person who was corrupted by bad forces, even though you're shown him being a vile evil person before Frostmourne and the Lich King start fucking with him. Arthas was just a monster looking for an excuse. And I think I let that color my perception of Gene because he really is similar to Arthas in a lot of ways. He's pretty evil, manipulates people like nobody's business, uses magic to do so a lot, has a tense bitter relationship with an old companion, harasses one particular woman with white hair and an association to the color purple a lot, and the actual text of MCD never encourages the viewer to take a sympathetic look towards him, just like WoW.

As a result, I wrote him a lot like Arhtas, which in hindsight, might have been too harsh. Gene does have some redeeming qualities, and honestly with enough work he could possibly have been redeemed at some point. The tragedy of Gene in my rewrite is that said point in time has long past. Anyone foolish enough to try doing so now won't succeed.

Gene was not a good person before the Shadow King found him. A person worth understanding? Yes. A person with a chance of redemption? Maybe, depends on how Dante feels. A person who was also a victim of the Shadow King? Yes.

And that's where I changed my tune on Gene. While I hold the belief that Gene was far from perfect before he got turned, he still had a chance to be a good person before said turning. And the process of being broken down from the person he was into essentially an extension of the Shadow King was not kind to the remnants of a good person left in Gene. So, I want to be a little kinder to Gene.

Cutting the idea of him using Laurance I think it happened exactly once, and the context of it changes the scene from being outright r-pe into a dub-con territory. My previous characterization was dangerously close to the territory of "abuse victim becomes abuser", which I never want people to take from my work. I think that whole thing happened partially out of Gene's control and was really one of the moments that made him doubt what he was doing. These doubts are really too little too late though.

The degrading of Gene's relationship isn't entirely his fault either. While he still clearly loves Sasha and Zenix, the Shadow King calls on him more and more, pulling him away from them. And when the Shadow King breaks Zenix it only gets worse. Gene and Zenix are pitted against each other because the Shadow King realized they were both having silly little thoughts about free will and would turn against him. This polycule was never going to last because if the three of them got along and were normal and without the Shadow Kings influence for like two days they would have started a rebellion before Laurance ever even entered the Nether.

I think Gene struggles to show affection while around others. If Sasha or Zenix flirts with him around other shadow knights, he gets really tense and uneasy about it. But the minute they're alone it's endless kisses and apologies and reassurances. Despite having a skewed understanding of love, Gene is very good at showing it. Gene feels like someone who loves in an overwhelming sense, you feel like you're drowning in his love, for better or for worse.

Gene is not going to get redeemed in my rewrite. But he will be humanized. People will try to call him a violent thoughtless monster, and Sasha will gladly assure them that he is a violent calculated monster with thoughts and emotions that's being tormented by the voices of the departed. Gene will never be seen as a hero by his family, but he will likely never know if he has a family to begin with. Gene is a character who deserves better, but has lost every chance at it he possibly could have had.

[kuch-toh-garbad-hai-daya]

Indian Election Results (Part 3)

Part 3 is here and I reallyyy hope it's the last one.

Independent candidates lead in Jammu & Kashmir with 3 individual seats, BJP in tow with 2. Congress remained on zero. Independent candidate wins the only seat in Ladakh.

BJP shocks in Himachal Pradesh by winning all 4 seats. Modi factor shines here because despite being in power in the Vidhaan Sabha, Congress remains on the zero mark. Personally, I believe that the credit to Kangana Ranaut's Mandi win is due to Modi Ji's campaign, because Kangana's speech during the campaigns are lack charisma.

Congress isn't able to bring it's phoenix rise in Uttarakhand, remaining on zero while BJP wins all 5 seats.

10 seats of Haryana are equally divided b/w BJP and Congress with both 5 seats each. Congress also wins the 1 seat of Chandigarh.

The 50-50 division is also seen in Goa, where both parties win 1 seat each.

INDIA sweeps Punjab with Congress winning 7 seats, AAP 3 and Akaali Dal 1. BJP loses 2 seats, falling on zero. Even if Congress leads here and it's been year since the incident, I'll forever be bitter that they let go of Amrinder Singh. He practically revived Congress in Punjab, highly experienced.

In Sikkim, Regional Party {Sikkim Krantikari Morcha} wins the 1 seat.

BJP leads with 9 seats in Assam, Congress getting 3 and Regional Party {Asom Gana Parishad} getting 1.

To no one's surprise, Congress with the 2 seats of Manipur. BJP remains on zero, rightfully so. No one is more right in voting against BJP than the Manipur public.

Both BJP and Congress remain on zero as Independent candidate wins 1 seat in Mizoram.

Congress wins the only seat of Nagaland.

BJP wins 2 seats of Tripura and 2 seats of Arunachal Pradesh, Congress remains on zero.

Independent candidate and Congress win 1 seat each in Meghalaya, BJP on the zero mark.

Congress wins the 1 seat of Lakshdweep, 1 seat of Pondicherry while BJP wins 1 seat of Andaman & Nicobar.

That's it I guess! I think I covered all the states in these 3 parts, but do tell if I forgot some.