#short explanation for the people who don't follow all my personal posts on main

[daily-whistlepaw]

daily whistlepaw until grr becomes PoV day 1368

that event from last night might have affected me more than it should

[jadevine]

Preindustrial travel, and long explanations on why different distances are like that

Update March 1, 2024: Hey there folks, here's yet another update! I reposted Part 2a (the "medieval warhorses" tangent) to my writing blog, and I went down MORE of the horse-knowledge rabbit hole! https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/741423906984951808/my-post-got-cut-off-so-i-added-the-rest-of-it Update Jan 30, 2024: Hey folks, I've posted the updated version of this post on my blog, so I don't have to keep frantically telling everyone "hey, that's the old version of this post!" https://thebalangay.wordpress.com/2024/01/29/preindustrial-travel-times-part-1/

I should get the posts about army travel times and camp followers reformatted and posted to my blog around the end of the week, so I'll filter through my extremely tangled thread for them.

Part 2 - Preindustrial ARMY travel times: https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/739342239113871360/now-for-a-key-aspect-that-many-people-often-ask

Part 2a - How realistic warhorses look and act, because the myth of "all knights were mounted on huge clunky draft horses" just refuses to die: https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/732043691180605440/helpful-things-for-action-writers-to-remember

Part 3 - Additional note about camp followers being regular workers AND sex-workers: https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/740604203134828544/reblogging-the-time-looped-version-of-my

--

I saw a post on my main blog about how hiking groups need to keep pace with their slowest member, but many hikers mistakenly think that the point of hiking is "get from Point A to Point B as fast as possible" instead of "spending time outdoors in nature with friends," and then they complain that a new/less-experienced/sick/disabled hiker is spoiling their time-frame by constantly needing breaks, or huffing and puffing to catch up.

I run into a related question of "how long does it take to travel from Point A to Point B on horseback?" a lot, as a fantasy writer who wants to be SEMI-realistic; in the Western world at least, our post-industrial minds have largely forgotten what it's like to travel, both on our own feet and in groups.

People ask the new writer, "well, who in your cast is traveling? Is getting to Point B an emergency or not? What time of year is it?", and the newbies often get confused as to why they need so much information for "travel times." Maybe new writers see lists of "preindustrial travel times" like a primitive version of Google Maps, where all you need to do is plug in Point A and Point B.

But see, Google Maps DOES account for traveling delays, like different routes, constructions, accidents, and weather; you as the person will also need to figure in whether you're driving a car versus taking a bus/train, and so you'll need to figure out parking time or waiting time for the bus/train to actually GET THERE.

The difference between us and preindustrial travelers is that 1) we can outsource the calculations now, 2) we often travel for FUN instead of necessity.

The general rule of thumb for preindustrial times is that a healthy and prime-aged adult on foot, or a rider/horse pair of fit and prime-aged adults, can usually make 20-30 miles per day, in fair weather and on good terrain.

Why is this so specific? Because not everyone in preindustrial times was fit, not everyone was healthy, not everyone was between the ages of 20-35ish, and not everyone had nice clear skies and good terrain to travel on.

If you are too far below 18 years old or too far past 40, at best you will need either a slower pace or more frequent breaks to cover the same distance, and at worst you'll cut the travel distance in half to 10 or so miles. Too much walking is VERY BAD on too-young/old knees, and teenagers or very short adults may just have short legs even if they're fine with 8-10 hours of actual walking. Young children may get sick of walking and pitch a fit because THEY'RE TIREDDDDDDDDDD, and then you might need to stay put while they cry it out, or an adult may sigh and haul them over their shoulder (and therefore be weighed down by about 50lbs of Angry Child).

Heavy forests, wetlands and rocky hills/mountains are also going to be a much shorter "distance" per day. For forests or wetlands, you have to account for a lot of villagers going "who's gonna cut down acres of trees for one road? NOT ME," or "who's gonna drain acres of swamp for one road? NOT ME." Mountainous regions have their traveling time eaten by going UP, or finding a safer path that goes AROUND, so by the time you're done slogging through drier patches of wetlands or squeezing through trees, a deceptively short 10-15 miles in rough terrain might take you a whole day to walk instead of the usual half-day.

If you are traveling in freezing winters or during a rainstorm (and this inherently means you HAVE NO CHOICE, because nobody in preindustrial times would travel in bad weather if they could help it), you run the high risk of losing your way and then dying of exposure or slipping and breaking your neck, just a few miles out of the town/village.

Traveling in TOO-HOT weather is just as bad, because pushing yourself too hard and getting dehydrated at noon in the tropics will literally kill you. It's called heat-STROKE, not "heat-PARTY."

And now for the upper range of "traveling on horseback!"

Fully mounted groups can usually make 30-40 miles per day between Point A and Point B, but I find there are two unspoken requirements: "Point B must have enough food for all those people and horses," and "the mounted party DOESN'T need to keep pace with foot soldiers, camp followers, or supply wagons."

This means your mounted party would be traveling to 1) a rendezvous point like an ally's camp or a noble's castle, or 2) a town/city with plenty of inns. Maybe they're not literally going 30-40 miles in one trip, but they're scouting the area for 15-20 miles and then returning to their main group. Perhaps they'd be going to an allied village, but even a relatively small group of 10-20 warhorses will need 10-20 pounds of grain EACH and 20-30 pounds of hay EACH. 100-400 pounds of grain and 200-600 pounds of hay for the horses alone means that you need to stash supplies at the village beforehand, or the village needs to be a very large/prosperous one to have a guaranteed large surplus of food.

A dead sprint of 50-60 miles per day is possible for a preindustrial mounted pair, IF YOU REALLY, REALLY HAVE TO. Moreover, that is for ONE day. Many articles agree that 40 miles per day is already a hard ride, so 50-60 miles is REALLY pushing the envelope on horse and rider limits.

NOTE: While modern-day endurance rides routinely go for 50-100 miles in one day, remember that a preindustrial rider will not have the medical/logistical support that a modern endurance rider and their horse does.

If you say "they went fifty miles in a day" in most preindustrial times, the horse and rider's bodies will get wrecked. Either the person, their horse, or both, risk dying of exhaustion or getting disabled from the strain.

Whether you and your horse are fit enough to handle it and "only" have several days of defenselessness from severe pain/fatigue (and thus rely on family/friends to help you out), or you die as a heroic sacrifice, or you aren't QUITE fit enough and become disabled, or you get flat-out saved by magic or another rider who volunteers to go the other half, going past 40 miles in a day is a "Gondor Calls For Aid" level of emergency.

As a writer, I feel this kind of feat should be placed VERY carefully in a story: Either at the beginning to kick the plot off, at the climax to turn the tide, or at the end.

Preindustrial people were people--some treated their horses as tools/vehicles, and didn't care if they were killed or disabled by pushing them to their limits, but others very much cared for their horses. They needed to keep them in working condition for about 15-20 years, and they would not dream of doing this without a VERY good reason.

—

UPDATE January 13: Several people have gotten curious and looked at maps, to find out how a lot of cities are indeed spread out at a nice distance of 20-30 miles apart! I love getting people interested in my hyperfixations, lol.

But remember that this is the space between CITIES AND TOWNS. There should never be a 20-mile stretch of empty wilderness between City A and Town B, unless your world explains why folks are able to build a city in the middle of nowhere, or if something has specifically gone wrong to wipe out its supporting villages!

Period pieces often portray a shining city rising from a sea of picturesque empty land, without a single grain field or cow pasture in sight, but that city would starve to death very quickly in preindustrial times.

Why? Because as Bret Devereaux mentions in his “Lonely Cities” article (https://acoup.blog/2019/07/12/collections-the-lonely-city-part-i-the-ideal-city/), preindustrial cities and towns must have nearby villages (and even smaller towns, if large and prosperous enough!) to grow their food for them.

The settlements around a city will usually be scattered a few miles apart from each other, usually clustered along the roads to the city gates. Those villages and towns at the halfway point between cities (say 10-15 miles) are going to be essential stops for older/sick folks, merchants with cargo, and large groups like noble’s retinues and army forces.

Preindustrial armies and large noble retinues usually can’t make it far past 10-12 miles per day, as denoted in my addition to this post. (https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/739342239113871360/now-for-a-key-aspect-that-many-people-often-ask )

[tired-fandom-ndn]

any tips for being outed as a proshipper/freak on main? i had it under wraps and now everyone knows and i'm getting a lot of hate and threats

I am so sorry you're dealing with this, anon. It sucks so fucking bad and depending on how public it is, it could get very rough.

My first bit of advice is to close your inbox IMMEDIATELY. That means no asks off anon either. Also check your DM settings and switch them so that you can only receive messages from blogs you follow. Switch your reply settings too while you're at it. If the callout or posts are on a different site, like Google docs or archive.org, consider making a report or putting in a request for them to be removed. It may not happen, but it's worth a try.

Do NOT respond to the hate. I know it's tempting to try to make a snappy comeback or even to express how much you're hurting, but it is absolutely 100% not worth it. Report any threats and harassment, then block the person and move on. If you have any side blogs that are associated with your main, make sure to block them on those blogs too.

If you want to make any sort of posts about it, severely limit yourself with what you say (try not to get too emotional, again I know it's tempting but it WILL be used against you) and try to keep it short; a simple explanation of why you're a proshipper and why you are NOT ashamed or embarrassed of that will suffice if you really want to talk about, then TURN OFF THE REBLOGS. If you don't want to acknowledge it publicly, then don't. That's your right.

Depending on how bad things are, you may want to take a break from tumblr. Whether that's for a few days or a few months, take all the time you need. Harassment on tumblr is very much based on the victim's responses; if you don't give people the satisfaction of being publicly hurt, then a lot of them will lose interest and move onto something more interesting. Taking a break from tumblr both lets the hype die down a bit and gives you time to recalibrate without that stress.

If you want to make a new main blog, that is also totally fine; people will tell you that it's cowardly to "run" like that, but remember that those are the people harassing someone over fiction. Taking care of yourself is not cowardly. I switched all my side blogs to a new (and "secret") main before and it was a huge weight off my shoulders and the mutuals who were chill followed me.

Again, I am so sorry that this is happening to you, anon. It is an absolutely miserable situation to be in and I hope things get better for you. Feel free to vent in my inbox if you ever need a place to just lose your mind a bit.

[ros-sauce]

Tumblr ate the ask before I could get to it, but here are my two cents on why viewing a transfem-coded character as Not That is Not a neutral act. Other people have worded this better than me, but I can't find their posts, so my janky explanation will have to do. Discourse post ahead, check the tags and scroll away if any of the things I mention will make you upset, let's go

I recognize that a person's beliefs regarding fiction aren't 1:1 with reality; like, someone who writes about murder is 99.99% likely to not actually be a murderer. But there are times that beliefs regarding fiction and reality do come a little closer together, and this is most present when it comes to prejudices.

An example I can think of, of the overlap between these beliefs, is... If someone uses racist stereotypes when writing a character of a certain race, it's fairly likely that they also hold this belief about that race in real life. Reading that racist depiction, too, can affect real life people's thoughts. Because marginalized people are already subject to a lot of stereotypes by other sources in real life, the presence of those stereotypes in fiction reinforces a belief that the reader has already heard. Since the reader presumably enjoys and respects what they're reading, the thought "Oh, the author thinks x race is like this too, maybe there's merit to that belief." can reasonably follow. And thus, their opinion of x race is worsened, and this opinion can then influence their actions towards actual real life people of that race.

It's also worth noting that the person being stereotyped will feel hurt by the stereotype. If a person of x race sees how unkindly this person writes about someone like them, they're obviously not going to feel excellent about that.

That was a lot of talk that didn't relate to transgenderism, for a post that is about transgenderism, so now here's the part about transgenderism.

Misgendering and degendering are, as we know, tragically very prevalent in the world. Many folks do not like trans people, and invalidate their identity. From what I've seen and heard, transfems are especially affected by this. The majority of transfem people I know have spoken about how they're often incorrectly they/themmed by people around them, even if these people are aware that they/them isn't in that person's pronoun set. More well-known than this degendering is aggressive misgendering. "That's a man in a dress", "that's a pervert who wants to peep in women's bathrooms", etc etc. A lot of people in the world do Not want to recognize trans women as women. They will do anything other than recognize trans women as women, from comparatively small microaggressions to violent aggression-aggressions.

Basically, "trans women aren't women" is a popular prejudice. So, when someone says "Despite the subtext that categorizes this character as a trans woman, that is not a trans woman.", the "Oh, the person I respect believes in this popular thing? Maybe there's merit to it, then" response can happen. And then those people become more likely to be biased against trans women in real life.

The feelings aspect also comes in here. Transfem Mizuki fans don't feel very good when people are like "this character who's just like you isn't a woman."

With the main point out of the way, now I'm going to reply to the other parts of the ask! Which I'm hoping I'm remembering right. Sorry if you didn't ask me these things at all.

How is headcanoning a trans character as Not That any different from headcanoning a cis character as Not That?

I think the difference is that there isn't a violent stereotype being reinforced. That's not to say that stereotypes aren't reinforced when cis characters are headcanoned as trans; they definitely do exist. People love to look at canonically-cis-girl characters with short hair or masc clothing and say "that character is transmasc."

But! Stereotypes like that, like "boys have short hair", don't really further the existence of hate. I'm not saying they're perfectly pure and good stereotypes!! Obviously there are girls with short hair who get harassed over looking masculine. But I can't say that that form of harassment is anywhere near the severity of the harassment marginalized groups face.

Why did you start shit with someone on the internet? What do you gain from that?

If you believe I did a Bad Thing by starting shit, I'm not going to disagree with that! Part of why I instigated that was just that I was mad. That's definitely nowhere near the Top 10 Most Mature Things I've Done In My Life.

I would also like to defend myself a little bit, though! I feel like, by making that piece, that artist was entering a conversation. I was entering the same conversation, albeit viciously. I think entering a conversation means opening yourself to other viewpoints, even if people who hold them are mean about it. If someone decides to be harsh to me about what I said, I obviously won't enjoy it, but I will recognize that I signed up for it.

As for what I gain from that: Lowering the artist's reach, hopefully. If people rescind their internet clout, or analyze that piece and notice that it supports something they might not want to (refer to how large the trans flag is on her as opposed to the "crossdresser" note, which is so small that it escaped some viewers' notice), then it won't go quite as far in the algorithm. And the prejudice present in the work won't get as many eyes. Maybe it will have slightly less of an effect on the real world!

[cheekinpermission]

Happy 500 followers!!

How about 1 and 10 for the ask game?

Thank you for you participation, anon! Ask game is here! Send them in if you want <3

1. Who's hand did you first grab? Why? Would you choose someone else if you could do it over again?

I grabbed Idia's hand! When I first got into TWST, I had absolutely no clue what I was getting into so I really just went based on which voice actors I recognized LOL. I know Kōki Uchiyama from a ton of different anime (JJK, Buddy Daddies, Haikyuu, BNHA, Yuri on Ice, etc.) so I just went with his character. While Idia doesn't crack the top 5 for me, I don't think I'd choose again. The only reason I would is if it impacted the story somehow but I really doubt it will. I'm COMITTED.

10. Top five favorite characters?

Grim occupies all top five spots. BUT since that's boring, so I'll limit my choices to the main cast lmao. (My love for the dire beast is PROFOUND) I got VERY wordy here so here's the short answer: 1. Riddle Rosehearts

2. Vil Schoenheit

3. Malleus Draconia

4. Ruggie Bucchi

5. Kalim Al-Asim Explanation below the cut! (I got very excited to talk about my favorites and wrote a lot so I figured I'd condense it for people who didn't want to scroll through it all lol whoopsies.)

1. Riddle Rosehearts - I have no explanation for this?? He's pretty much the opposite of my usual favorite characters so idk what happened here. I've always been drawn to the Alice in Wonderland aesthetic so maybe that has something to do with it? He's got such great character writing, too?? Everything about his personality just makes sense when you know his backstory. When we learn that Riddle's tyrant of a mother was strict and controlling over him, the pieces just seem to fall into place. His whole life was just following her rules and studying like a good little boy, and when he stepped out of line even a little bit he was reprimanded harshly for it. Of course, he's going to the exact same thing once he's in a position of power. It's all he knows. He's just another version of his mother. Not only does he uphold the tradition of punishing rule breakers rather severely as he was when he was younger, I think there's also an element of fear there as well. Like, his mother just instilled an innate fear of breaking rules because bad things would happen if he didn't follow them exactly. I really do see Riddle as a scared little boy who is suddenly realizing that he was set up for failure by his own mother. And THEN he makes an honest effort to improve himself post-overblot?? His transformation after the fact is one of the more obvious ones and I'm just so proud of him. A THOUSAND HEAD PATS!! Okay, I'll stop rambling about him lmao I love Riddle sm (Also want to make clear I'm not saying Riddle was right for anything he did, only that I appreciate how his character was handled. Added for legal purposes so people don't come after me :c ) 2. Vil Schoenheit - This one comes as no surprise to me. Pretty boys who challenge gender stereotypes are RIGHT up my alley. Like Riddle, I think Vil has some great character writing is one of the more complex characters in the game. He just feels so compassionate to me?? I don't know how to explain it - he just gives such nurturing vibes. I'd trust this man with my drink at a bar fr fr. And then he tells Epel off for saying ballet is too "girly" for him?? Thank you TWST for bringing me this man. I pray at the altar of Vil Schoenheit. 3. Malleus Draconia - Doesn't Malleus top everyone's lists LOL I think my favoritism for the dragon man is more to do with his relationship with Yuu than anything else tbh. He's like one of three characters that actively engages with the main character and I think they've got such a fun relationship. Two people who feel very alone in the world finding friendship (or something more for you malleyuu shippers) in each other is so beautiful. I'm glad they can be there for each other like that. Side note: I adore romantic Malleyuu for sure, but I think it's equally as endearing if all of Malleus's flirtatious lines were never meant to be romantic but he's just really bad at communicating his feelings in a platonic way. Like, he doesn't mean to flirt he's just socially inept. 4. Ruggie Bucchi - Gremlin hyena boy is just too good for words. Ngl, I started off not really liking Ruggie all that much because of what he did in the Savanaclaw book. My mans was basically shoving people down flights of stairs?? I'm not really sure where the turn around happened tbh. Mischievous personality types do tend to draw me in in fiction so that probably has a lot to do with it. I also felt really bad for him at the end of the Savanaclaw book when Leona was ready to Thanos him out of existence despite everything Ruggie had done for him (and continues to do for him). I appreciate his work ethic, I can respect the hustle, and he's got such a cute little laugh. I wanna pet those big ole ears of his. Leona - pay this man more smh 5. Kalim Al-Asim - SUNSHINE BOY!!

He's such a breath of fresh air in this game LMAO. As much as I love the fact that most of the cast are unapologetically flawed, it's nice to have a few characters that are genuinely good people. His VA (Kazuki Furuta) absolutely kills it imo. I can hear his laugh in my head as I'm typing this - it's just so warm and happy :D He also breaks the sterotype of most rich characters in media by just being a nice person? He's not evil or greedy (although naive and entitled) and he just wants to be bffs with Jamil. Break his heart Jamil and we're gonna have WORDS. Also just like FORGAVE JAMIL??? His bfffl yeeted him across the desert, brainwashed him and admitted to wanting to get him kicked from the school and Kalim didn't really hold it against him. He was so understanding and sweet about everything AHHHHH

[tgmsunmontue]

What to write weekend...?

Friday afternoon again, start of my weekend (although, I schedule this post, so I am usually still working when this appears). I've got my usual adulthood stuff happening over on main. It's nowhere near as interesting or fun as deciding what fics people would like me to dedicate some words towards them this weekend.

I do have to work this Saturday, also my kids are leaving for 8 days away to stay with family, so my Saturday is pretty much a write-off, but I need to have something to aim for.

NUMBERS:

Online and Anonymous - 13/16 Hangster who are anonymous Grindr buddies for YEARS. (Tumblr post)

Sagas of Solitude 5/? - IceMav with side Hangster AU - angsty Nepo!Baby

CURRENT LETTERS:

A, B, C, D, E, G, H, I, J, K, L, M (descriptions under the Read More)

If your curious about wordcounts etc. I have a spreadsheet here.

As it's been nearly a month since I've done this, here's an explanation of how it works:

You pick 1-3 of the above and either:

reply

Message

Send an ask (Anon is on)

with the letters/Numbers of the fic/s you wish would hurry up and get finished/posted already. (Yes, you can pick the same one three times - some of these fics are that close to getting parts/chapters finished that would be enough to tip them over, you also don't have to pick more than one).

Numbers indicate fics I am consciously working on updating/completing, and likely have a completion date in mind.

Letters are fics that are often getting completed because people ask for me to work on them through things like this. (I usually do this every weekend).

Doing this keeps me on task and makes me accountable. It stops me from procrastinating and I really appreciate people providing their numbers.

THANK YOU!

A) Upon which our souls touch - 2/? - Hangster TGM AU involving dragon riders and shape shifters and fantasy...

B) Bradshaw Twins - Hangster (Tumblr post)

C) To wake, perchance to dream - 2/? - Hangster Jake wakes up in the future, gets a glimpse of what their life could be and then wakes up back right before being called back to Top Gun for the special detachment (e.g. TGM). (Tumblr post and the beginning of the fic)

D) Together or not at all... (SEQUEL) - Hangster - years after Javy/Nat get together they think their best friends (Hangman and Rooster) could maybe try dating each other. It'll either end in disaster or not.

E) Cyclone/Maverick - Cyclone is struggling to deal with being attracted to the most annoying person he's ever met. Why does he like him so much?

G) Celebrity Chef Bradley

H) From the top - 1/? - an Ice/Mav epistolary fic where Jake and Bradley matchmake them, not realising exactly who it is they've matched together.

I) Life is too short to waste time matching socks... 3/? The peach and eggplant socks as an anonymous gift as an incredibly unsubtle hint that someone would like to fuck them. (tumblr idea unspooling here...)

J) Barista Jake who cannot spell Bradley's name. (HERE)

K) Caring, Keeping and Collecting Transformers - A Guide - 4/?Transformers cross-over.

L) Hangster Soulmates, Bodyguard (leftover from the Bingo...)

M) IceMav Florist/Undercover Agent AU (also leftover from Bingo)

Those of you that know I put stuff down here, or follow me on my main, know that I've been in a weird place mentally the last couple of weeks, seem to be coming out of it. Getting things done at work and around the house are helping.

Personal writing goals for the weekend:

Finish my Secret Santa piece (which I really don't like, my first and last fest piece, I swear - it's like drawing blood from a stone and one definitey one of the reasons why I've been in a funk writing wise).

Online and Anonymous Chapter posted!

250 words on each of my Glee WIPs, poor neglected things that they are.

[moreespressoformydepresso]

So to expand upon this TreeMina post since I have my computer... @crazycriter

I am now officially using lore I've thought up for a potential book of mine. In case Hannah reads this, no it's not the one I told you about. That's a different thing entirely.

Lets start with my (probably disastrous) attempt at explaining the world and magic in short fashion. As stated, the magic society is a hidden one. It exists in plain sight, but only those who are a part of it can see it. This hidden society has two subcultures: Order and Chaos. They are, naturally, in a constant conflict with one another since they're polar opposites and all that. Order's hidden city has very grandiose buildings with a very structured general layout that doesn't vary much between buildings. Walk into one and you have a pretty solid idea of what all the others look like. They have personal touches but everything is very, well... orderly. Symmetry is key in everything for them. They call themselves reglarians and use order magic. As you may expect, they believe that order is the correct way to be and are very much lawful on the alignment chart. What kind of lawful depends on the person. In terms of clothing they certainly have similar outfits. You can tell someone's a reglarian if you know what you're looking for, even though the clothes themselves are very different. It's a similar, recognizable theme rather than a uniform. It's about patterns and styles, and they tend to stick with light color schemes and very much consider themselves the "light side" in general. Because order is good, and chaos is bad. Their buildings are higher up in every city they reside in, some are even in the sky and hidden by magic. Very divine-esque aesthetic, like they're trying to literally be above chaos. For some extra spice you can go with my version where the two sides actively call themselves Light and Dark, to feed into the conflict you may start to see growing here already.

Meanwhile, Chaos (they call themselves warlings) lives mostly in the actual, literal underground of the city. In a complete opposite to Order, their buildings are all very different and openly uniquee, often making no sense in layout on purpose. Honestly everything about them is the complete opposite of Order. Generally darker color schemes and a very nonsensical... everything, really. That's not to say that there's nothing homey about them though, because they know how to make places cozy. If dizzying, given how they will use their magic to actively confuse anyone who comes into the house. It's a go down the steps into the basement to enter the upstairs bedroom kind of situation. Their clothing is alike in how different it is. Some like very practical clothes, some wear the most extravagant nightmare to move in you've ever seen. The only consistency is that their main color is almost always dark, but even that has exceptions. Really, the only common theme that holds true for every single warling is mayhem. They are, well, chaos. Gotta give it to them, they are dedicated to their brand. Rules are made to be broken and their whole culture is built around causing as much mayhem as possible. Not in a way that hurts people, but they've been designated the bad guys by their magic so why not follow their nature? It's not like they can change how they're perceived. Warlings have their strong opinions on the good vs evil debate and they don't necessarily like being seen as "evil" for something they had no control over, but it's not something they actively oppose. They do cause mischief on the regular for kicks, so it's not like they're helping their image.

Ykw I'll save the actual history and conflicts between these groups for a later post and stay focused on the worldbuilding for now. The magic system! Order is pretty straightforward. Their magic is very structured, with rules on what they can and can't do and explanations for why those rules exist. It's something you can study and understand completely if you take the time. Most of their magic comes down to rules, actually. Changing the rules of nature to some extent. They call upon the world and make it do what they want, working within the limits of whatever they're working with. Water can turn to ice, but it cannot naturally turn into wine. So order cannot turn water into wine because that's not how nature works. Those are against the rules. Chaos, on the other hand, works pretty much the exact opposite way. There are limitations but there aren't. They can't do absolutely everything except sometimes they can. Does this make sense? No. That's the point. The magic system is that there is no magic system. In a sense it's more worldly, because it changes with the moon. Metaphorically, because no order is allowed here. That's actually a conflict between Treech and Lamina. Mostly it's a problem for Lamina, though. She's been raised with order drilled into her head from the day she was born. The world works on order, she was told, and that's what makes them better than chaos. They are the world, and chaos tries to destroy them. Good vs Evil. But Chaos magic is a direct refutation of that, because it's entirely natural and there isn't a single semblance of order involved. Yet it exists just fine. She was taught chaos only destroys, yet it's existed for years.

She and Treech fight several times because he "refuses to explain" his magic to her, but the thing is that he can't. It makes no sense. That's all there is to it. You can try all you want to figure out how it works but you'll only drive yourself insane because the whole point is that it doesn't make sense. There is nothing logical about it. It's disorganized and chaotic, because that's its nature. A direct opposite of Lamina's entire life and worldview. By the end, the resolution to the conflict is her finally realizing that maybe her people don't know everything. It ends with her finally accepting that sometimes, things just don't make sense, and sometimes you just gotta live with that. Yes, there are parallels to psychology there that I may explain later.

[bizarrequazar]

Hi. I have read some of your updates and may I ask what happened between Gong Jun and Zhan Zhehan? I don't speak Chinese and I am a fan of their drama Word of Honor. I am following Gong Jun's career in other productions but I have never seen or heard about Zhan Zhehan. I am not in a country where you can easily follow Chinese media. I understood from Zhehan's wiki english page that they had some controversy going on but the gist of it is evading me. I am just curious. Thank you for your time.

Hello!

First of all, please check my FAQ for the explanation of why you never see recent stuff about Zhang Zhehan. In short, he was unfairly blacklisted by an industry organization and is currently pursuing a lawsuit against them, and he is staying out of public view while that is in progress. The blacklisting incident and its immediate aftermath is referred to as 813.

With regard to what has happened between Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan:

As far as can be seen through reputable sources (aka primarily Gong Jun himself), the two of them still have a good relationship and care very much for one another. While we have not had any confirmed interactions between them since 813 due to the aforementioned blacklisting and lawsuit (with Gong Jun as well being unable to talk about Zhang Zhehan without risking his own career), Gong Jun has often given hints that the two of them still see each other, has shown disapproval of people/groups that engage with the slander against Zhang Zhehan, and has never said or done anything against Zhang Zhehan despite his own career being so associated with Zhehan's. (A large part of why I do my update posts is to record these things, [this post] gives some highlights.)

If you have heard that there is some sort of controversy going on between the two of them personally, this claim primarily originated from the zhangzhehan_super3 Instagram and is completely unsubstantiated. The jist is that the Instagram account, which was previously Zhang Zhehan's, is currently in the possession of the industry organization Zhang Zhehan was slandered by, who are using it in part to further the slander against him. Gong Jun's continued quiet support of Zhang Zhehan is one of the main reasons that fans have continued to support the two of them, so the organization (CAPA) were quick to try to break the public's opinion of their relationship when they first reactivated the account. All of the claims related to this have been thoroughly debunked, and CAPA being the ones in control of the account is known concretely and backed up by a mountain of evidence. I have written extensively on this, and a full section devoted to it can be found in my masterlist.

You also mentioned Zhang Zhehan's Wikipedia page: unfortunately this is a case where your teachers' ranting about Wikipedia not being a reliable source is very right. The page has been monitored since 813 by an editor who is maintaining slanderous "information" on it while removing any attempts by others to correct this. This actually recently came up again because of other information that was discovered about the editor's unsavoury activities.

If you have any other questions or anything you would like clarification on, please don't hesitate to ask. 💙

[missnight0wl]

Don't you ever get annoyed how the game literally deleted Bill Weasley in y6 and y7? I thought that since Bill is an actual professional Curse-Breaker he'd be more involved with the MC and the cursed vaults especially since Griphook knew the MC and her adventures with the vaults and I expected him to ask Bill to investigate these vaults especially since he was in every vault in from years 1 to 5 with the MC. but nah the game decides to forget about Bill and shove Merula into our face along with Ben (no hate I love Ben, I have no objections about him). It broke my heart going to the final cursed vault in y6 without Bill. He's been here for us ever since the beginning, we went to every single vault with him, we should've finished what we started together with Bill 😭. I didn't mind Ben and Jacob being present at the final vault since I love them both (don't murder me for loving Jacob since we know he's a fugly slut for you 🤣)

So how do you feel about Bill being less involved after his graduation, do you think it makes sense?

People “apologising” for liking Fugly Slut never fails to make me cackle 😂 It’s fine, guys! Like I don’t exactly approve of it… but you do you! 👍🙂

As for your question though – I think it makes absolutely no sense. I actually even ranted about it in my longer commentary about the Sunken Vault in this post. It covers more problems than just Bill, but yeah, Bill’s absence is just a misunderstanding.

That being said, I have to point out that Bill wasn’t necessarily with us in all of the Cursed Vaults. HOWEVER, he was the only character who had a chance to be in all of the Cursed Vaults. Bill was a set companion for the Vault of Ice and the Portrait Vault, and one of the options for the Vault of Fear and the Forest Vault. And personally, I always felt that it might be meaningful in the future. You know, even aside from the fact that he actually ends up being a professional Curse-Breaker.

Also, the thing that makes it even worse is that it’s not even that he was totally forgotten after he graduated. The writers went through the effort of bringing him back for our private DADA classes in the evenings. And sure, it could be simply explained by: “Oh, JC didn’t want to get rid of DADA classes and so they needed a teacher”. But no! It can’t be the only explanation! Because Bill was actually pretty damn involved in the main story after Rowan’s death! Like, remember this?

For a short time, Bill became the brain for this group of idiots – the brain that we really needed. And sure, our return to the crimes scene led to absolutely nothing, but still. Bill showed that he could be our PROPER leader. But nope! After that point, JC totally forgot about any plans they might’ve had for the eldest Weasley brother.

Honesty, that’s a big reason why I still claim that after Rowan’s death, JC started changing the original plans for the story in general, mixing Y6 and Y7. I still believe we weren’t supposed to reach the final Vault in Y6 yet. So, because the writers stopped following the set course, they also started forgetting things and messing everything up. And we got a dumpster fire as a result. I mean, look at this scene from before Rowan’s death:

Yes, Bill still wasn’t involved in the end (even though it'd make sense), but at least it was addressed. Before the Sunken Vault, we didn’t even acknowledge Bill’s existence – which is simply ridiculous.

Another thing that makes me believe that Bill was supposed to play a much bigger role overall is actually his relationship with Rakepick, which got quite a lot of attention in Y4 and Y5 and then never had any conclusion. For example, Y4:

And then Y5:

And sure, it might be just a fanservice referencing Bill’s future, but if you ask me, it got way too much screen time to be just that. The problem is that it makes absolutely no sense for Rakepick to be so invested in Bill if she was always evil. Like, she only wasted her time, really. It’s not even like it could’ve helped her manipulate MC or whatever because Bill was never like: “I trust Rakepick, so you should too”. In fact, he’s pretty chill about your different opinion if you choose that option in Y5Ch21:

So… What was the point of building that background relationship between Bill and Rakepick??

And you know what makes it even worse? When we go to see Bill in the DADA classroom after the Portrait Vault, he admittedly is very upset about Rakepick’s betrayal, but then we talk about his job at Gringotts, and he’s like… totally happy??

But like… YOU GOT THIS JOB THANKS TO RAKEPICK! AND WE DON’T EVEN MENTION IT!

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m certain that Bill’s own talent and hard work also played a big role in getting this job. But he literally said earlier: “She’s even getting me a job at Gringotts”. And now we’re pretending it didn’t happen??

So, to sum up, I believe that both Bill and his job at Gringotts were originally supposed to play a much bigger role when it comes to the final Cursed Vault. Interestingly, when Diagon Alley was added to the game, Gringotts was a location to open in Y7. They changed it much later when they decided to make the Adventures in Curse-Breaking TLSQ taking place in Y6. And look at that, it happens that this quest was released after Rowan’s death, too – so when I suspect they started really changing the original plans for the story.

[aria-benedetto]

Author Ask Game

I was tagged by @verkja. Thank you for the tag!

I am going to leave this as an open tag.

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

I didn't consciously choose a lesson, but I do think most of my stories/daydreams end up having themes that might be taken as lessons or morals (which I mostly put down to my fascination with tropes, concepts and media analysis. I cannot stop overanalysing every story I read, including my own).

To answer the question, for A Hero's Death, I think you could take "be careful what you wish for" as a lesson, although there is definitely a case to be made that there is something in there about hero worship and unquestioningly accepting explanations and narratives offered by autority figures? Kind of? *squints* Not sure that any of them are coherent, though, since a lot of the time my themes are less a lesson and more my own attempt to essentially debate nuance with myself.

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

I guess the biggest inspiration here is a mix of common superhero narratives and my personal pet peeves with them.

To give a concrete example, it never made sense to me how supervillains could take over major US cities and the government and military just... accept that? What? Because of that, in my worldbuilding, each city is essentially its own country and they are losely connected in something resembling the EU. That way there is a lot more leeway for different laws, supervillain takeovers and vastly different political landscapes in different cities.

There is also some inspiration in there from the real world and some things are just there because I wanted them to be there.

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

My MC is trying to solve a crime.

As for what I am trying to achieve, that differs strongly between pretty much all my MCs and Michael (the MC of this story). Usually, I find them interesting as characters and they work well in the scenario I want to invent a story about.

For Michael, I needed a complete outsider to the backstory (which is where this story actually started), because otherwise the plot wouldn't work. So what I am trying to achieve with him is have a narrator who can view the entire backstory through an outsiders point of view.

How many chapters is your story going to have?

... am I going to have to count now? *goes to the doc and starts counting*

Counting Prologue and Epilogue and provided I didn't miscount, 22. Probably.

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

Original content and I'm planning on posting it to tumblr.

When and why did you start writing?

This story? At the beginning of July, because I had been reading Writblr and Whumplr blogs for about a year at this point and wanted to try actually writing a story myself instead of sticking to daydreams.

Writing generally - I used to write short stories as a child and young teenager, but mostly stopped once school assignments moved from creative writing to essays. I still regularily write non-fiction though, mostly for university ... or because I write essays on topics I'm invested in in various forums.

Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

*blinks* I have no actual idea. Maybe that it helps (me at least) to not get invested in the idea of having a big reach? Writing niche stuff is fine and makes the handful of people who enjoy the niche really happy, because it is usually very difficult to find stuff for that niche.

I mostly follow a handful of blogs whose writing I got really, really invested in before I made an account. And I am really, really bad at remembering urls and I don't want to miss anybody, so I'm not going to list them, but they are all really great. Some are whump writers, some in the superhero and/or fantasy genre. Some write a mix of a lot of stuff.

Blank questions:

What is the main lesson of your story (e.g. kindness, diversity, anti-war), and why did you choose it?

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding (like real-life cultures, animals, famous media, websites, etc.)?

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, help readers grow as a person?

How many chapters is your story going to have?

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

When and why did you start writing?

Do you have any words of engagement for fellow writers of Writeblr? What other writers of Tumblr do you follow?

[frogcraftingg]

hi! I hope it's ok to ask this but. Ive been wanting to do more MC content and came across your stuff, which has inspired me more to do more content! I was wondering how much success you see posting on other platforms to promote your YouTube channel and all? Ive been doing shorts on YouTube, along with posting on TikTok and Instagram, but a lot of people state that YT shorts are unreliable if my main goal is long form content... Ultimately I'm looking to build a community around my stories I tell on Minecraft. And I'd love to hear from someone with more experienced in the area I'm interested in!!

Hi! Such a great question!

I'm a bit newer to trying to promo my content via different places, so I'll give you the short version and then explain.

TLDR: I'd say there's some success to be had in cross-promoting, though I've had the most success via Instagram first and TikTok second, but I follow trends and try to apply them to my niche, or show off different bits of my worlds and promote my videos on the worlds that way. It has varying success.

Explanation: So I wanna start off by saying I don't post ANY short-form content on YouTube. Similarly, I stopped posting anything except for Let's Play/SMP content + the occassional tutorial as that's pretty much what I want to make and the audience I want to build. Posting short form (as well as long form) content to YouTube can be tricky because those videos can pop off with a certain audience but then other types of videos can have trouble getting to the audiences you want them to (i.e., less regular watchers than usual watching the videos). I think there are people who have success but I've not caught on to what that is, exactly. I think it's easier to convert people over if they like to watch long form rather than short form content.

TikTok can be hit or miss. TikTok imo really values educational and/or highly entertaining content. There is room for story content, but it has to grip people right from the first second and as an amateur storyteller (me, I'm just starting out on that journey haha) that is very hard to do!! I really look up to people like GeorgeIRL (this video is my favorite), but most of my success there is about the packs I use and recommending other packs/mods. I've had a few other random videos/memes do well, and sometimes I do have people come into Twitch streams/find me on YouTube and recognize me from TikTok. If I have a trending video about my hardcore world or whatnot, I will usually reply to comments saying I make videos (link in bio) if they are interested.

Instagram is where I've personally seen the most success, as it has a really untapped market for Minecraft imo. I apply trends via the reel sounds there to my niche (like this video here or another example that popped off) and this has definitely brought people to my YouTube and Twitch channels in the last month.

I wish I had more info on storytelling specifically for you, but as far as rates for getting people to one place to another.... Conversion rates, no matter how good your content is, are usually pretty low, I'd say maybe 5-10% max at their "best." Even with a combined ~90k on TikTok/Insta, I definitely don't see those numbers on Twitch or YouTube yet (via live-views, views per video, subscriber/follower counts, etc).

I didn't really try to promote my bloodlines content as it's lore-based but also new to me, so i wasn't 100% sure how I wanted to present it. I may have better feelings in the future once I get the hang of insta reels a bit more on how to do it.

As far as pure numbers go though...Truthfully, the best conversions for me have come from Twitch and I think there's a lot of room for storytelling and creating a world (together) there that people enjoy, though I did also have a lot of luck there with the twitch recommended algorithm and live-streaming in general based on the start circumstances that I had.

Overall though I love that you are doing something fun and including a story in your worlds, it's absolutely amazing. Wishing you the most luck, let me know if you wanna chat anymore about anything!

hugs!

[bamf-jaskier]

RE: Your post. Here's my two pence as a WOC who grew up outside of western media culture and is engaging with it only now as an adult. I feel like a big part of it is

a) that there are POC in more visible and important roles. Most POC tend to get sidelined ALOT and dont tend to get enough screen time and promenence to challenge racists perception of what's 'right' according to their little self-absorbed bubble. You see this most visibly in MCU etc. With the reaction to black panther, Sam Wilson and the like. Even in a diverse film or show the main character is always white and their love interest (if not white) is always an acceptably light skinned person (colourism is A BIG problem even in non western media)

2) alot of these characters are WOC who pretty much ALWAYS get the short end of the stick and get basically a double dose of racism and misogyny. Especially if they aren't light skinned enough or suitably white looking. (Tangen but related is the way that Disney cast a half white-half Indian actress as an Arab princess even though there are so many talented middle eastern actresses for the position and the use/exploitation of actors with mixed white heritage as basically [insert race] lite [tm] which is unfair to everybody involved except for the system the profits from this whole thing). WOC are more vulnerable to harrassment, racism and criticism because we arent protected and supported the way white women facing misogyny tend to be black women especially bear the brunt of this. Companies especially wont bother to protect their POC actors look at all the star wars sequel trilogy actors who were harrased and threatened off of social media and had their characters and work ruined by white fans using shipping as an excuse for their internalised racism.

Personally I've left the fandom after season one and tend to move on from fandoms pretty quickly because I just don't have the energy to deal with all the casual racism anymore. Sorry for the long rant! I've just been bottling this up for a long time. Thank you so much for doing all you do and bringing up and challenging racism in fandom! I really appreciate it and follow you even after having left the fandom behind! Sorry if some of my explanations don't make much sense. I've tried my best to explain things in English but it isn't my first language and it's hard to verbalise these concepts without making it seem like I'm hating on people or being stupid. Much love x

First, thank you SO MUCH for sharing your thoughts. I read every word and you are right on every count.

I’ve loved fantasy since I was a kid and The Witcher was the first time I saw woc being centered in the story. And it was the first time I saw so many woc in a fantasy show, and the fact that they keep adding more woc to the cast is amazing!!

And we absolutely see backlash when any characters of color get starring roles. The abuse that Anthony Mackie had faced as Captain America is disgusting.

And you are SO right. The fact that there are so many woc in prominent roles puts a target on their back.

I am so disappointed in the executives and media team behind The Witcher and even outlets like Redanian Intelligence because they do NOTHING to protect their cast who constantly get shit on. Lauren tried to make a point about diversity but she ended up falling into the tolerance paradox and engaging with racists. And she did apologize and learn from it…but one half-assed attempt from a show runner is not nearly enough.

And the colorism point. SAY IT LOUDER. Because the show itself has some serious colorism and texturize problems when it comes to characters like Triss and Francesca. And to be honest, some of that problem comes from the fans demanding actresses of color conform to a white standard of beauty.

I totally understand you leaving the fandom. I’ve had so many fandom friends leave one by one because they couldn’t handle the racism anymore. Almost all of them were woc or poc and it fucking sucks and it’s sad but completely understandable. Honestly I feel really humbled and grateful that ur still following me despite leaving the fandom —- so thank you 💛

Also this was INCREDIBLY well verbalized and written!! You know exactly what to say and how to say it in a concise and knowledgeable way.

[honeypleasejustkillme]

BLOCK DON’T REPORT,, IM NOT IN CRISIS

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transguy — twenty — he/they — irl mlm yandere

this is a vent account, i am not pro or romantizing any aggressive behaviors. i just have bpd and obsess over him!!

★ all things on this blog are trauma related or intrusive thoughts and should NOT be portrayed as sexual or romanticized content.

look at hashtags, i always forget to put tw in the post

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do not interact if:

nsfw, pro anything (unless recovery), pedo or any other gross person

any of the phobics (homo, trans, etc.), racist or ableist

age regressor; for your own safety, not because of you <3

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main tws - sui talk, angry vents, intrusive and violent thoughts, love pining, obsessive love, splitting

feel free to dm or ask as long as it’s not sexual :)

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yan mbti: RAHL (reverent, aware, honest, lenient)

personality mbti: infp-t

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definition of favorite person; a favorite person is someone that a person with a mental illness will rely on for support and often looks up to or idolizes them. it’s most common with people who have borderline personality disorder (bpd) to have a fp and they usually only have one, but some people can have many - for the people that ask in my comments :)

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★ my main account that i follow and reply from, for anyone interested:

@honeypleasekillmemain

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reminder: if you are a nsfw account, minor or age regression account i will not interact with you. it makes me uncomfortable, and i will not engage in conversation or reply to anything you dm, comment or ask. nothing against against anyone but i am 20 years old and minors and age regressors are not encouraged on this account for triggering content let alone to message me. i have no interest of nsfw accounts asking or replying to my content either so i will not reply.

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FOR ANYONE CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT BPD IS:

MORE IN DEPTH EXPLANATION OF SPLITTING:

[scover-va]

The fandom-determined The Hex Sexyman (among other things)

The google form has been open for, what, a month ish now? So I'm documenting the results now. Hoorah. Edit bc I forgot to add a read more and this is fairly long

Sexyman Results

Am I surprised by this one? No, absolutely not.

First place goes to Irving! I am in no way whatsoever surprised, I'm very aware of the grip that guy has on this fandom, so hey, kudos to him. Proud of him, or whatever. His prize here gets to be art. Kinda. If any of you have been following a recent trend here on good ol' Tumblr then I'm sure you know what to expect here.

Second place goes to both Lazarus and Vallamir, which I'm once again not surprised about in the least. I wouldn't exactly give mr wet paper towel of a man the title of sexyman, but hey, the guy probably has the highest or the second highest kill count of the main characters. So, he gets that. Vallamir doesn't surprise me, though. I mean all this in the nicest way possible btw

And then finally, third place goes to both Bryce and Lionel! Which! Both of those surprised me! Especially Lionel. But hey, glad to know y'all like him or whatever.

If enough people ask I'll add the written explanations for everyone's picks. I'm gonna wait til people say it's okay, just in case

Sexywoman Results

This one obviously had much slimmer pickings compared to the guys, and I would be lying if I said I was surprised by the results.

Sado gets first place, which was expected, she IS on the Sexypedia Wiki AND fits the criteria much better than a lot of other options. I mean. Colour palette, being evil, being chaotic, clown, suit, blah blah blah. She fits the bill perfectly, and I'm sure she'd be flattered. Or she'd kinkshame you guys. I don't know.

Rebecha got second place! Also not surprised! I'm, like, 99% convinced at least half of the fandom played the game post-Inscryption just for Rebecha content, so her coming up right behind Sado is NOT a surprise to me. She's fucking earned it though. Her reward is some goddamn sleep, because holy FUCK.

And then third place goes to Chandrelle, which to be fair, she's the only remaining reoccurring female character with a design. So, her getting third doesn't surprise me, especially since she's up against Sado and Rebecha.

And also shout out to my girlfriend, who voted every single female character. Without her, Catarina, Town Girl, Trish, and The Kraken would be forgotten about. Which, fair. Catarina appears the most out of the four by a whopping, what, 5 or so times? Maybe 6 or 7. Actually now that I'm thinking about it she does kinda pop up a considerable amount. Huh. Anyways,

Dilf Responses

And surprising no one at all with who got the most votes for this,

Rust! Who's winning by a whopping 60%! Good on him, he's earned it, despite technically not having a kid anymo-

And while Reggie getting a couple votes doesn't surprise me, VERY surprised to see the gay dads both get a vote each. By different people, too! But they've been through a lot, they've earned it.

Genderless Swag Results

A simpler one than above, but the canon nonbinary/agender character vs the one who's commonly hc'ed to be nonbinary.

I'm not really surprised. I mean, Steambot Willy's never acknowledged by the fans meanwhile FPP obviously is, so hey! I'm just happy to see Steambot Willy managed to score two votes. Good on them <3

Babygirl Results

Now. Usually, this is where I'd insert an image, and continue on talking about it. But. For some reason, the short answer question results are formatted like. This.

So. I'll just list them

Lazarus: 6 votes

Lionel: 1 vote

Rust: 1 vote

I'm not surprised Lazarus is #1 babygirl, I mean LOOK AT HIM. Like one person said, he's a pathetic wet cat of a man. Absolute sopping wet piece of paper towel. He is THE malewife AND babygirl. No one's doing it like him. AND he scored second on the Sexyman section. Shout out to him fr, I'm so proud of him

Twink Results

Wizarro: 3 votes (Deserved. I mean, look at him)

Moji: 2 votes (Personality wise? Yeah I can see it)

Junior: 1 vote (Like father like son, ig?)

Rust: 1 (Fair. His dietary options in the Wastes couldn't have been the best)

Irving on account of people don't know what a twink is: 1 vote (God, yeah,,,Granted skinny dudes always get beef'd so ig it's a 2 way street. If the fandom was popular, Irving would DEFINITELY be woobified, though)

Reggie: 1 vote (Yeah fair he can't exercise and his diet probably consists mostly of fucking root beer. What the fuck, Reggie)

Closing Statement Or Whatever Idfk

And THAT, everyone, is the results. Obviously Lazarus got 10 votes on malewife, he was the only option because really, who's a better option than him? So he doesn't get his own section on that, but yeah! Again, I'll post the typed up explanations if people want me to, up to you guys! But that's about it for now. Expect some celebratory art for Irving soon

[saturdaysky]

hello! i hope you don't mind a message, but i am just excited to see someone else who liked AMCE and would love to know if you have recs for books that are similar, because i've been thinking about it for like a month straight since i finished reading it and would love something else to occupy my brain the way that it did. no pressure to answer ofc, just happy to share good vibes over a book :)

I do not mind it at all! <3

I do have some books that scratched a similar itch as A Memory Called Empire! I looooved the thoughtful focus on culture and language and identity within an intricate setting, so these recs follow that pattern somewhat.

Under a cut because this got kind of long.

The Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie

Liked the exploration of culture, identity, and imperialism in AMCE? You will probably like these books, since they also grapple with those themes. Also present is the exploration of personhood, who has it, and who does not -- because our main character is a person who used to be a starship. Or well, sort of. Wikipedia has a decent blurb:

The novel follows Breq—who is both the sole survivor of a starship destroyed by treachery, and the vessel of that ship's artificial consciousness—as she seeks revenge against the ruler of her civilization.

These books are honestly some of my favorite books ever. They combine a really thoughtful and deliberate focus on all the stuff mentioned above, fascinating plots and world-building, and characters who absolutely made me Feel Things. Highly recommended if you like, say, emotionally closed-off and damaged characters learning to care and be cared for while also skillfully navigating an intricate web of power to pursue their goals and reckon with the harm they've caused. But with bonus smart thoughts about robots.

The Foreigner series by C.J. Cherryh

I haven't fully made my way through this series, but it's rewarding every time I sit down to read another book. The books follow Bren Cameron, diplomat to an alien court, as he negotiates the intricate web of politics and intrigue involved in making sure the crash-landed colony ship he represents doesn't get obliterated or obliterate anyone else, despite humans making some monumental fuck-ups in the recent past.

And when you live and work and eat among one people, how much do you really belong to the people you came from? Of course, neither side really trusts someone who straddles both worlds, and to cap it off, the atevi people he lives among are different from humans in a fundamental way: they have no word for friend or love because those are alien concepts to the atevi. They do not feel such things. Instead, they live by an intricate web of obligation and favors. Trust is something a little more practical and a lot more deadly, for the atevi.

But these are not heartless novels -- part of the joy is watching the main characters grow meaningful relationships, even though the form is fraught and strange and never quite means the same thing to the people on either side.

If you like slow and thorough explanations of culture where meeting with your friend's grandmother is a potentially perilous activity (because the tea might be poisoned, because she might take you on a hunting trip you won't come back from, because she's a formidable political power and might be trying to assassinate your friend, because your friend might know all of this and have sent you anyway, also your friend is the king) these are books you might like.

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

If you like deep dives of culture, language, identity, and loyalty within the deadly intrigue of a fantasy court, I hiiiiighly recommend this book. The book follows Maia, the youngest and least-favored heir to the throne who gets unexpectedly crowned when everyone else in line dies and must quickly learn to survive the cutthroat politics. But Maia isn't cutthroat by nature; he is kind and must negotiate how to keep that kindness in the face of pressures that would be easy to solve with cruelty, as well as people keen to take advantage of what they think of as a weakness.

This book'll hit you with a lot of fantasy language at first (it's a focus of the book), but if you stick with it you'll be fine. You're learning all this intricate court language at the same time as our protag; he too is a little out of his depth at the start.

Steerswoman series by Rosemary Kirstein

I dearly want to go back and read these -- it's been a few years, but they absolutely sucked me in. The books follow Rowan, a steerswoman, as she tracks down the mystery of a strange and incongruous gemstone. In-universe steerswomen are basically traveling scientists and naturalists who have taken an oath of truth.

The books start out in what seems like your fairly typical Standard Fantasy Setting with wizards and dragons, but as Rowan learns more about the strange gem, it's clear that this Standard Fantasy Setting is...not as it seems. There are three things that I loved about these books: the sense of wonder and discovery as our fantasy scientist protag reasons through problems and begins to discover she lives in a sci fi world, the interesting relationship between the main characters, and the excitement you as a reader have when YOU realize exactly what mysterious object Rowan is describing and what the implications of that are for the setting.

The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

Riveting series -- brutal and beautiful. Straddles the line in some respects between sci fi and fantasy. Follows characters who live on a far, far-future Earth plagued by catastrophic climate events called "Seasons" that last generations. There are some people born who have power drawn from the earth; these people are alternately hated and ruthlessly trained to hone their powers to attempt to prevent another Season. (This sort of sounds like the setup to a YA coming-of-age novel, but it is really really not.)

The world and fantastical aspects are fascinating (cyclical post apocalyptic societies! geology magic!), and the books themselves explore family bonds, racism in both a personal and systemic sense, and broken systems and the wounds they leave upon the people within them even as those people wound others. The series is not a light read, but it is a good one.

Literally anything by Ursula K. Leguin

All of her work could be recommended if you liked AMCE. Her writing spans fantasy and science fiction, and includes thoughtful and moving explorations of some similar ideas: culture and cultural exchange, gender, different societal setups, you name it.

If you're looking for a good novel, The Left Hand of Darkness is a classic for a reason. If you'd like a sample platter of interesting short stories, The Birthday of the World and Other Stories is wonderful.

[brawltogethernow]

So, I don't think I've ever asked you this... what IS the whole point of the Spider-Sense? It really seems like something that only exists for writers to ignore or work around when they want to inject Legit Tension into a story.

I’ve thought about this power so much, but never with an eye to defend its right to exist, so I needed to think about this. The results could be more concise.

Ironically, given the question, I have to say its main purpose is to ramp up tension. But it’s also a highly variable multitool that a skilled creative team can use for...pretty much anything. It does everything the writer wants it to, while for its wielder always falls just short of doing enough.

I went looking through my photos for a really generic, classic-looking example to use as an image to head this topic, but then I ran into the time Peter absolutely did not reimburse this man for his stolen McDonald’s, so have that instead.

A Scare Chord, But You Can Draw It

That one post that says the spider-sense is just super-anxiety isn’t, like, wrong. It’s a very anxious, dramatic storytelling tool originally designed for a very anxious, dramatic protagonist. I find it speaks to the overall tone of the franchise that some characters are functionally psychics, but with a psychic ability that only points out problems.

Spidey sense pinging? There’s danger, be stressed! Broken? Now the lead won’t even KNOW when there’s a problem, scary! Single character is immune to it? That’s an invisible knife in the dark oh my god what the fuck what the fU--

Like its counterpart in garden variety anxiety, the only time the spider-sense reduces tension is in the middle of a crisis. But in the wish fulfillmenty way that you want in an adventure story to justify exaggerated action sequences, the same way enhanced strength or durability does. Also like those, it would theoretically make someone much safer to have it, but it exists in the story to let your character navigate into and weather more dangerous situations.

For its basic role in a story, a danger sense is a snappy way to rile up both the reader and the protagonist that doesn’t offer much information beyond that it’s time to sit smart because shit is about to go down.

Spidey comic canon is all over the board in quality and genre, and it started needing to subvert its formulas before the creators got a handle on what those formulas even were, and basically no one has read anything approaching most of it at this point, so for consistent examples of a really bare bones use of this power in storytelling, I’d point to the property that’s done the best job yet of boiling down the mechanics of Spider-Man to their absolute most basic essentials for adaptation to a compelling monster of the week TV series.

Or as you probably know it, Danny Phantom. DON’T BOO, I’M RIGHT.

DP is Spider-Man with about 2/3 of the serial numbers filed off and no death (ironically), and Danny’s ghost sense is the most proof in the formula example of what the spidey sense is for: It’s a big sign held up for the viewer that says, “Something is wrong! Pay attention!” Effectively a visual scare chord. It’s about That Drama. And it works, which won it a consistent place in the show’s formula. We’re talking several times an episode here.

So why does it work?

It’s a little counterintuitive, but it’s strong storytelling to tell your audience that something bad is going to happen before it does. A vague, punchy spoiler transforms the ignorant calm before a conflict into a tense moment of anticipation. ...And it makes sure people don’t fail to absorb the beginning of said conflict because they weren’t prepared to shift gears when the scene did. Shock is a valuable tool, too, but treating it like a staple is how you burn out your audience instead of keeping them engaged. Not to go after an easy target, but you need to know how to manage your audience’s alarm if you don’t want to end up like Game of Thrones.

The limits of the spider-sense also keep you on your toes when handled by a smart writer. It tells Peter (everyone’s is a little different, so I’m going to cite the og) about threats to his person, but it doesn’t elaborate with any details when it’s not already obvious why, what kind, and from what. And it doesn’t warn him about anything else-- Which is a pretty critical gap when you zoom out and look at his hero career’s successes and failures and conclude that it’s definitely why he’s lived as long as he has acting the way he does, but was useless as he failed to save a string of people he’d have much rather had live on than him.

(Any long-running superhero mythos has these incidents, but with Peter they’re important to the core themes.)

And since this power is by plot for plot (or because it’s roughly agreed it only really blares about threats that check at least two boxes of being major, immediate, or physical), it always kicks in enough to register when the danger is bearing down...when it’s too late to actually do anything about it if “anything” is a more complex action than “dodge”.

Really? Not until the elevator doors started to open?

That Distinctive, Crunchy Spider Flavor

The spider-sense and its little pen squiggles go hand in hand with wallcrawling (and its unique and instantly identifiable associated body language) to make the Spider-Person powerset enduringly iconic and elevate characters with it from being generic mid-level super-bricks. Visually, but also in how it shapes the story.

I said it can share a narrative role with super strength. But when you end a fight and go home, super strength continues to make your character feel powerful, probably safer than they’d be otherwise, maybe dangerous.

The spider-sense just keeps blaring, “Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong! God, why aren’t you doing something about this!?”

Pretty morose thing to live with, for a safety net! Kind of a double edged sword you have there! Could be constantly being hyperattuned to problems would prime you for a negative outlook on life. Kind of seems like a power that would make it impossible for a moral person to take a day off, leading them into a beleaguered and resentful yet dutiful attitude about the whole superhero gig! Might build up to some of the core traits of this mythos, maybe! Might lead to a lot of fifteen minute retirement stories, or something. Might even be a built in ‘great responsibility’ alarm that gets you a main character who as a rule is not going to stop fighting until he physically cannot fight anymore.

Certainly not apropos of anything, just throwing this short lived barely-a-joke tagline up for fun.

One of my personal favorite things about stories with superpowers is keeping in mind how they cause the people who have them to act in unusual ways outside of fights, so when you tell me that these people have an entire extra sense that tells them when the gas in their house is leaking through a barely useful hot/cold warning system that never turns off, I’m like, eyes emojis, popcorn out, notebook open, listening intently, spectacles on, the whole deal.

It also contributes to Peter Parker’s personality in a way I really enjoy: It allows him to act like an irrational maniac. When you know exactly when a situation becomes dangerous and how much, normal levels of caution go out the window and absolutely nothing you do makes sense from an exterior standpoint anymore. That’s the good shit. I would like to see more exploration of how the non-Parker characters experiencing the world in this incredibly altered way bounce in response.

It’s also one of many tools in this franchise hauling the reader into relating more closely with the main character. The backbone of classic Spidey is probably being in on secrets only Peter and the reader know which completely reframe how one views the situation on the page. It’s just a big irony mine for the whole first decade. A convenient way to inform the reader and the lead that something is bad news that’s not perceivable to any other characters is youth-with-a-big-exciting-secret catnip.

Another point for tension, there, in that being aware of danger is not synonymous with being able to act on it. If there’s no visible reason for you to be acting strange, well...you’re just going to have to sit tight and sweat, aren’t you? Some gratuitous head wiggles never hurt when setting up that type of conflict.

Have I mentioned that they look cool? Simultaneously punchy and distinctive, with a respectable amount of leeway for artists to get creative with and still coming up with something easily recognizable? And pretty easy to intuit the meaning of even without the long-winded explanations common in the days when people wrote comics with the intent that someone could come in cold on any random issue and follow along okay, I think, although the mechanic has been deeply ingrained in popular culture for so long that I can’t really say for sure.

It was also useful back in the day when no artists drew the eyes on the Spider-Man mask as emoting and were conveying the lead’s expressions entirely through body language and panel composition. If you wiggle enough squiggles, you don’t need eyebrows.

Take This Handwave and Never Ask Me a Logistical Question Again

This ability patches plot holes faster than people can pick them open AND it can act as an excuse to get any plot rolling you can think of if paired with one meddling protagonist who doesn’t know how to mind their own business. Buy it now for only $19.99 (in four installments; that’s four installments of $19.99).

Why can a teenager win a six on one fight against other superhumans? Well, the spider-sense is the ultimate edge in combat, duh.

Why can Peter websling? Why doesn’t everyone websling? Well, the spider-sense is keeping him from eating flagpole when he violently flings himself across New York in a way neither man nor spider was ever meant to move.

How are we supposed to get him involved with the plot this week???? Well, that crate FELT dangerous, so he’s going to investigate it. Oh, dip, it was full of guns and radioactive snakes! Probably shouldn’t have opened that!

Yeah, okay, but why isn’t it fixing everything, then? Isn’t it supposed to be why Peter has never accidentally unmasked in front of somebody? ('Nother entry for this section, take a shot.) That’s crazy sensitive! How does he still have any problems!? Is everything bad that’s ever happened to characters with this powerset bad writing!? --Listen, I think as people with uncanny senses that can tell us whether we are in danger with accuracy that varies from incredible to approximate (I am talking about the five senses that most people have), we should all know better than to underestimate our ability to tune them out or interpret them wrong and fuck ourselves up anyway. I honestly find this part completely realistic.

*SLAPS ROOF OF SPIDER-SENSE* YOU CAN FIT SO MANY STORIES IN THIS THING

The spider-sense is a clean branch into...whatever. There is the exact right balance of structure and wishy-washiness to build off of. A sample selection of whatevers that have been built:

It’s sci-fi and spy gadgets when Peter builds technology that can interface with it.

It’s quasi-mystical when Kaine and Annie-May get stronger versions of it that give them literal psychic visions, or when you want to get mythological and start talking about all the spider-characters being part of a grand web of fate.

Kaine loses his and it becomes symbolic of a future newly unbound by constraints, entangled thematically with the improved physical health he picked up at the same time -- a loss presented as a gain.

Peter loses his and almost dies 782 times in one afternoon because that didn’t make the people he provoked when he had it stop trying to kill him, and also because he isn’t about to start “””taking the subway’’””’ “‘’“”to work”””’’” like some kind of loser who doesn’t get a heads up when he’s about to hit a pigeon at 50mph.

Peter’s starts tuning into his wife’s anxiety and it’s a tool in a relationship study.

It starts pinging whenever Peter’s near his boss who’s secretly been replaced by a shapeshifter and he IGNORES IT because his boss is enough of an asshole that that doesn’t strike him as weird; now it’s a comedy/irony tool.

Into the Spider-Verse made it this beautiful poetic thing connecting all the spider-heroes in the multiverse and stacked up a story on it about instant connection, loss, and incredibly unlikely strangers becoming a found family. It was also aesthetic as FUCK. Remember the scene where Miles just hears barely intelligible whispering that’s all lines people say later in the film and then his own voice very clearly says “look out” and then the room explodes?? Fuck!!!!

Venom becomes immune to it after hitchhiking to Earth in Peter’s bone juice and it makes him a unique threat while telling a more-homoerotic-than-I-assume-was-originally-intended story about violation and how close relationships can be dangerous when they go sour.

It doesn’t work on people you trust for maximum soap opera energy. Love the innate tragedy of this feature coming up.

IN CONCLUSION I don’t have much patience for writers who don’t take advantage of it, never mind feel they need to write around it.