#skillbased

[charlesangels03]

"One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

This is another Camus-related post. This quote is the final sentence of his essay The Myth of Sisyphus. The essay addresses the philosophical problem that is suicide through the story of Sisyphus, a figure from Greek mythology condemned to roll a boulder towards the top of a hill only for it roll back down. Camus, an absurdist philosopher, believes that the world is irrational and meaningless. However, he is firmly against suicide. While we live in a meaningless world, Camus argues, we rebel against it. In order to rebel against absurdity, we do so through our very existence. Contradictory, isn’t it? That’s because committing suicide would be saying “my life has no meaning.” But since the world is absurd and has no inherent meaning, what difference does it make? The reason is that, just as people futilely try to define their lives, they continue trying to define it endlessly.

For example, let’s say your dream in life is to finish an engineering degree, get a high-paying job, marry someone, and have a family. But what happens then? When you check everything off your bucket list, will you be content? I don’t think so. If you don’t accept the absurdity of life, you’ll keep wanting more—you’ll crave more in order to define your small existence. That is the futility of trying to find meaning in life.

Now, when someone commits suicide, they are attributing worth or meaning to existence. But if there’s no meaning to existence in the first place, the act only makes your existence more absurd. Camus believes that you must accept the absurdity. Because no matter what has happened, what is happening, or what will happen, the universe is indifferent. You must wholly accept that the universe has no meaning. And while we accept this, reaffirming our existence through art, beauty, or simply continuing to live, is an act of rebellion.

Everyday life is filled with never-ending problems. Like Sisyphus, who carries his boulder uphill only to watch it roll back down once it reaches the top and repeating this process for eternity, we too carry our own boulders. It would be impossible not to, because, as long as we live, we will encounter sadness, strife, grief, and conflict. But when you overcome a problem, have you ever felt that deep sense of satisfaction? Yes, that's it. And if you pair this satisfaction with the acceptance of the absurdity while continuing to live, you rebel against it and become happy. That's why we must imagine Sisyphus happy. That’s why one must imagine oneself as happy.

To close this lengthy explanation, I would like to cite one of my favorite quotes in connection with Camus': a poem by Dylan Thomas, which goes, "Do not go gentle into that good night. Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

From Camus' quote, this is my quote:

Elijah's 13th Blogging Entry: Skill-based

[randomishz]

A Countdown of My Top Favorite Hobbies

Top 5. Dressing Up

As a girl, there’s something so satisfying about dressing up and putting effort into my look. It heals my inner child who never had the chance to buy clothes she liked. I remember feeling a bit haunted seeing other kids in beautiful dresses with styled hair. Now, dressing up is my way of giving that little girl the joy she missed out on.

Photo source: Pinterest

Top 4. Drawing

Drawing has become my therapy. During the pandemic, I started noticing the beauty in art and gave it a try. Since then, I’ve found real comfort in putting time into my sketches, letting them be a way to unwind and express myself.

Photo source: Pinterest

Top 3. Writing

I love to write anything—non-fiction, diaries, lyrics, poems, creative writing. Writing lets me create my own world and gives me that sense of satisfaction you get when you put thoughts into words. It’s like putting pieces of myself on a page.

Photo source: Pinterest

Top 2. Reading (with coffee and jazz music)

Reading is pure comfort to me, especially with coffee and jazz playing softly in the background. Books—whether they’re poems, novels, or something else—give me a different view on life, like I’m experiencing things beyond my own reality. Even if I haven’t been through certain things, books make it feel like I have.

Photo source: Pinterest

Top 1. Cooking

Cooking is my ultimate passion. Making food for the people I love, sharing it around a table, and just talking over a meal—it’s how I show love and feel fulfilled. It’s more than just food; it’s a way to bring everyone together.

Photo source: Pinterest

By Sidrich Sorila | October 26, 2024

[openlettersforyou-blog]

Ganda-ganahan effect

By: Sílene

Nag gaganda gandagan na namn ang oat na ito

[phonemantra-blog]

Calling all Free Fire Max survivors! Gear up and prepare to dominate the competition with the power of exclusive redeem codes. These coveted alphanumeric sequences unlock a treasure trove of in-game rewards, propelling you toward victory and upping your character's style game. This guide delves into the world of Free Fire Max redeem codes, equipping you with everything you need to know to leverage these potent tools. Get ready to unlock weapons, character skins, diamonds, and more – all for free! Garena Free Fire Max The Rise of Garena Free Fire Max Garena Free Fire Max, the visually enhanced and power-packed iteration of the highly popular mobile battle royale game, Free Fire, has taken the gaming world by storm. Since its launch in 2021, it has garnered a massive following, especially in India after the original game's ban. Free Fire Max boasts: Over 100 million downloads: A testament to its widespread appeal and engaging gameplay. Stellar 4.2 rating on Google Play Store: Highlighting its quality and ability to entertain players. Exclusive focus on skill: Victory hinges on strategic prowess and lightning-fast reflexes, not just heavy spending. The Power of Redeem Codes While Free Fire Max prioritizes skill, there's no denying the allure of flaunting unique character skins and wielding top-tier weaponry. This is where redeem codes come in. These limited-time alphanumeric codes, typically released daily, grant access to a variety of in-game rewards, including: Weapon skins: Infuse your arsenal with a touch of personality and potentially strike fear into your opponents' hearts. Character skins: Stand out from the crowd and personalize your avatar with unique outfits. Diamonds: The premium in-game currency used to acquire exclusive items in the store. Redeem codes offering diamonds can be a game-changer for budget-conscious players. Other exciting rewards: Keep an eye out for additional goodies like weapon crates, parachute skins, and more! Redeeming Your Codes: A Quick Guide Ready to unleash the power of redeem codes? Here's a straightforward walkthrough: Visit the Official Redemption Website: Garena provides a dedicated website specifically for redeeming codes. Ensure you're accessing the correct version for your region (Indian servers in this case). Log In: You'll need to be logged into your Free Fire Max account to redeem codes. Enter the Code: Carefully enter the 12-digit alphanumeric redeem code into the designated field. Redeem! Click the "Redeem" button and watch the magic happen. Important Redeem Code Pointers Act Fast! Redeem codes typically have a short validity window (12-18 hours) after release. One-Time Use: Each code can only be redeemed once per account. Server Restrictions: Some codes may be specific to certain regions. Double-check if a code is applicable to your server before attempting redemption. Unveiling the April 5th Redeem Code Bounty Here's the exciting part! Today's bounty of Free Fire Max redeem codes, valid for April 5th, 2024, awaits: ZZZ76NT3PDSH XZJZE25WEFJJ V427K98RUCHZ FF9MJ31CXKRG FFCO8BS5JW2D FFAC2YXE6RF2 FFCMCPSUYUY7E EYH2W3XK8UPG UVX9PYZV54AC FFICJGW9NKYT MCPW3D28VZD6 The Neverending Quest for More Codes The Free Fire Max community eagerly awaits the daily release of redeem codes. Here are some tips for staying on top of the latest codes: Official Website: Regularly check the official Garena Free Fire Max website for announcements and redeem code releases. Social Media: Follow the official Free Fire Max social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) for updates and potential code drops. Gaming Communities: Engaging with online Free Fire Max communities can often lead to the discovery of shared redeem codes. FAQs: Q: What are Garena Free Fire Max redeem codes? A: Garena Free Fire Max redeem codes are 12-digit alphanumeric codes released daily, offering in-game rewards such as weapons, skins, and diamonds for players to enhance their gaming experience. Q: How often are redeem codes released for Free Fire Max? A: Redeem codes for Free Fire Max are released daily, providing players with regular opportunities to unlock exclusive in-game rewards. Q: How do I redeem Garena Free Fire Max codes? A: To redeem codes, visit the official website and input the unique alphanumeric code within the specified time frame. Each code can be redeemed only once. Q: Can redeem codes be used multiple times? A: No, each Garena Free Fire Max redeem code is valid for a single use only. Once redeemed, the code cannot be reused.

[speckeltail]

one fascinating thing I’ve noticed about myself ever since I started making an effort to not mask as much once I’m home from work is just how abrupt the transition from “doing good/playing games/chatting with friends” to “notable issues coordinating, attending, articulating myself” is. then I need absolutely no social interaction and to read/write/unwind before going to bed. this is a very solid and predictable routine at this point and I wonder if anyone else has this sort of deal

[the-giik]

there's this guy that shows up on our srb2kart server named "Feature Special" and we know absolutely nothing about them besides the fact that they show up, kick ass and be chill. they're really cool. he's been a regular for years now.

it's been said a lot before but this is what skillbased matchmaking destroys; familiarity. you only see a player once and then they're gone forever. with consistent servers you get consistent people and it becomes another home.

Iunno if Feature Special is even on tumblr, but if they are, hey! you're cool!

[astralcities]

i fucking hate the sims 4 remember how in the sims 3 you had to manually stock ponds with fish you caught (TEN OF THEM!) and it was like a whole ordeal and implemented game feature because progression was tough and skillbased. and if you wanted a pond of deathfish you had to first max your fishing, then go to a location that had them, then catch enough that you could fill a pond in your yard.

you can catch a single fish in ts4 and then stock your pond with it forever. for free. literally no drawbacks or limitations. you don't even have to have it in your inventory it could be cooked and eaten for all the game cares. because the sims 4 is not a game so much as it is a 2000 USD decoration simulator

[jossujb]

Accepting personal limits sure ain't easy. As far as I know, few people on orange who started around the same time as I did have a permission to attempt green belt despite skipping more classes than I have.

But that's thw thing with martial art, and sports and art and writing and just about everything skillbased: some people will progress faster, with an ease compared to you. I've never been that person, in every goddamn thing I have to do more and still be quite a bit worse.

But it's not a competition against others. Given time you will learn. It seriously matters zero percent if I grade green this year or next year, if I have decoded to grade. I just have to accept it takes what it takes, and that's that.

...

Can't say I am not annoyed, like how do you just pick up techniques like that, and here I am, struggling with my junzuki like a white belt xD

[the-craftsman-and-mover]

🎵

// keeper cannot figure out music. it can only really play instruments that are more funny then skillbased.

[fulgursmediaanalysisdrama]

Ok I gotta say the last boss of a link between worlds is just stupid and poorly designed

Uncharacteristic of an otherwise well made and relatively easy game if you know what to do, even in hero mode.

The boss moves faster than you, takes up nearly a third of the boss area while dealing damage on touch itself and not just the attacks, moves faster than you, ranged attacks move faster than your movement speed and follow you, boss aims at you with piercing attacks whos hitbox is larger than the weapon itself which sucks because it's impossible to manipulate area of impact/dodge

Paired with the lowest amount of healing within the boss and highest consistent damage output of any boss Yuganon is unfun and not skillbased in any way.

Buy as much healing before entering, it's the only skill you need

[charlesangels03]

As a writer, I am very active in the creation of the visuals of my works, going so far as to create them myself. I see this as an avenue to enrich my connection with them, translating my personal visions into ones that other people may consume. This not only makes the experience enjoyable for me but introduces the opportunity for viewers to have a peek into my mind and its creative manifestations.

DELIRIA is one of my most ambitious works, and I'd dare say that it's also one of the most successful. It was initially an entry in The Gateway's horror writing competition in November 2023, bagging 2nd place. Despite being a fever-induced, crammed short story, it had me in a chokehold, leading to the development of several visual accompaniments aside from the first one used upon its submission.

I am an avid horror fan. It is actually a common misconception when people assume I primarily devote myself to the genres of romance and fantasy. In fact, it is in horror where I write best, exploiting the fears of the mind and manipulating the machinations of the macabre to do just that.

With the app Ibispaint in hand, I took inspiration from pop culture elements. DELIRIA centers itself on the narrative of female rage and psychological horror, raising the mystery of whether or not entities are bothering the unnamed protagonist. To this, it only felt right to pull from the movie Pearl (2022) and its gore.

Moreover, "Deliria" in and of itself is not an actual word, but "Delirium" is. My writing is intuitive in nature and it felt right to make use of a term conceived by a quite literally fevered mind. Coincidentally, the context in which it was made and its use reflects the story's elements of being rendered a prisoner to illusions and disorientation.

Apps such as Ibispaint are critical to creatives like me. They provide an avenue for introducing art in different formats and are essential in the exploration of our craft. With its features, Ibispaint allows me to share my creativity with the world while enjoying the process of doing so.

-

Charles' Eleventh Week Blog Entry: Reflections on Web Tools / Skil-based

[randomishz]

If I could describe my perfect day, it would be spending time with my loved ones.

As someone who deeply values quality time, bonding, and meaningful moments, even the smallest amount of time with my loved ones brings incomparable happiness.

Whether it’s any day, at any time, in any weather, or for any occasion, being with them is what I cherish the most.

By Sidrich Sorila | November 20, 2024

[gammaliminal]

Neon Troupe: Unused Classes

A buncha ideas that didn't make the cut, maybe for expanded universe stuff!? (plus, buncha stashed characters for other stuff >:D)

Offense: The Designer - A class with no proper primary or secondary, instead using their misc to build their weaponry, mainly focused around different offensive capabilities, weapons are combined woodworking, robotics, and gunsmithing projects The Daredevil - With an inbuilt augmentation built off of adrenaline, this class starts out weak but gains speed, damage, and resist the lower their health goes, with 30 health making them the epitome of a glass cannon The Gambler - Main mechanic is based around a random snowball effect, changing per shot and with your primary being stronger at higher numbers but with your secondary being stronger at lower numbers The Assassin - Combat Spy in brief, with the ability to backstab with stock melee, with their primary being a VSS rifle and having the ability to do a short-ranged teleport The Mortician - A healing class that can hold a fight on their own, their healing is a spray that's harvested from dead enemies, with their melee being a shovel

Defense The Pilot - Taking to the sky not by jetpack but by mechanical wings! Different from the Recon by being focused on gliding (with a way to boost yourself into the air) and defensive oriented, maybe being long-ranged focused? The Brawler - A tanky melee class with high-knockback, depending on traps and enemies coming TOWARDS them to get at them, with their stock melee forcing enemies hit by them to their next weapon (Primary → Secondary → Melee) The Physicist - Using magnets to their advantage, their almost-magic-esque abilities are highly skillbased, being projectiles that can ricochet and headshot The Worker - A heavy lifting bot for ocean liners and a walking blockade, with middling damage all around and no health (death at 0 armor) but a complete immunity to most crits and a 50% damage resist (stuff that pierces armor does +50% damage to the Worker) The Paramedic - For those who want to play combat medic, their weapons spread heals when it hits enemies, though they do have a weak alternative for healing

Support: The Glitch - A glitched program in an extremely versatile body, each of it's three weapons has three versions which are switched with the reload key (one offensive, one defensive, one supportive), with speed and armor being decided by which version of the melee is currently active The Intern - A semi-generalist, with a makeshift gun and a primary that's for various supportive effects, also they're super tired of EVERYTHING The Producer - Like the Trickster, but being Spy+Spamton+Salesman instead of Spy+Jevil+Rockstar. Focused around getting picks and causing confusion though illusions and copies of themself, plus mad ranting, all of their gadgets are stuff disguised as innocuous objects (not including their primary) The Observer - A shadow in the dark, they have what's basically the Cloak & Dagger, placeable cameras that automark enemies it sees, and a manual mark function, with their primary minicritting enemies that are marked

[bersergner-blog]

Escape from Tombstone - Learning Outcome Matrix (pt.3)

Skills learned/Knowledge advanced:

Photoshop- I spent a lot of time polishing my Photoshop skills and I feel like I'm starting to catch up on the skill-gap (still only switched over from traditional art 4 years ago). So I incorporated more things like subtle gradient, editing saturation, lightness and contrast, utilising the lasso and magic wand as well as Layer styles and modes to enhance my art. This manifested in ways such as more warmth to skin-tones and more effective shadows and colour co-ordination.

Animation- I learned to apply Animation concepts such as squash and stretch without breaking the semi-realistic feel of the game. Animating for games in general requires specific understanding such as attack timing (a jab wants to be snappy and efficient, long, detailed animations can slow down combat dramatically and make the game difficult to enjoy) I also tried very hard to keep consistent anatomy while adding some stylistic motion and bounce.

Maya- I learned to utilise Maya for quick Greyboxing of ideas in the service of Environmental Concepting and consistent perspective.

Unity- I dove into Sprite scaling and filtering, generally learned the full ins and outs of the Sprite Editor and slice tool, was forced to edit Pivot points to make my animation work, learned 2D Rigging and utilised Layer order for sprite rendering distance correctly.

Programming- I learned some new Character controller programming patterns from the tutorial I was following. Making sprite flipping simpler.

Character Art- I pushed my Character designs hard this module, particularly Portraiting, focusing on expressing personality and creating intriguing, memorable faces. This carried through into Posing, which I used even outside of animating to get character personality across, such as the Goon aggressively preparing to swing his pipe at the viewer. I also pushed my understanding of Anatomy, especially hips and legs, which was always a problem area for me artistically. I also really pumped out those Clothing variations as my portfolio was missing them.

Environmental Art- Environmental concepting does not come naturally to me. Imagining the places and putting them to paper still took a lot of time, trial and error, but I am very proud of the results and believe I have made major and irreversible advancements that make me confident in approaching Environments.

Light & Colour- I explored Colour and Light even further this module as it's always been a low-key problem area for me. learned about colour emotions and 60-30-10 rule as well as exploring expressing character through colours and tones.

Props- Weapons and Environmental Set-dressing. Another area my portfolio was lacking in, so I was happy to rectify this during this project.

Presentation- Another problem area (can you tell I had lots of them). I would often abandon images before they were fully complete, in an inherent effort to 'catch up' and broaden my skillbase but this developed into an inability to get a "finished" look out of my images. So I really doubled down on the process from sketch to final picture and the final graphic design and polishing that gave it that extra oomph. Still a lot to learn here, but we're making strides.

Efficiency- Incorporating AI into the idea-generation phase has been helpful in breaking deadlocks and creating an influx of unique concepts. I also pushed my Thumbnailing by re-using good anatomy as mannequins to provide a lot of variety in concepts efficiently. Greyboxing in Maya has also been a huge time saver for environments and consistent perspective combining this with my new understanding of the Shapes tool for filling makes it much quicker to design geometric areas in perspective.

Project Management- Through the process from concept to final product I learned valuable skills in Time management, adapting to change, finishing, finding solutions and not shying away from a challenge, maintaining productivity without burnout and was forced to adopt a self-promotion mindset.

Video Editing- Something I've been meaning to get around to for ages, being forced to make a self-promotion video finally got me to engage with my editing software. Forcing me to adapt and learn. However I never did manage to figure out the audio balancing which gives it an amateur feel.

[talenlee]

The Laewaes Dramaturgists

Arcane magic represents the most important discipline available to us in which people across all the world can come together to share our notes and experiences in order to construct a vision of how this system functions that is coherent and precise and replicable and also probably in some way, fundamentally wrong.

Archmagus Laewaes I

Look I just want to tell you about a cool adventure site and backstory hook from Cobrin’Seil that’s about something I care about a lot recently, which is a university system in-setting. It just takes a bit of a walk to get there because it involves understanding Arcane magic and how it differs from Divine magic, Primal Magic, and Psionics in the setting.

Arcane magic is a magical force that permeates most of the world of Cobrin’Seil. It’s best considered the way that you may think of radio waves or background radiation. Everywhere has it, and everyone can interface with it if they have the right technology on hand. For some that technology is wands and scrolls, but for others that technology can be mental, memorised and prepared, or potions and poultices. It is the absolutely accessible, democratic form of magic; no relationships necessary (unless you’re a warlock) and not even any innate talent. Arcane magic is largely, predictable and reliable, and a lot of what goes into its study is the management of safety protocols and ways to make it reliably reusable.

Some quick terminology:

Arcanist refers to any person using Arcane Magic as a multi-purpose field of study.

Mage is a loose term used to refer to practitioners of magic who seem to have a similar aesthetic, usually involving standing distant from things and casting magic with gestures and words. Mage is the typical term used to refer to an obvious spellcaster, but it’s a wobbly term; some people wouldn’t consider Artificers or Swordmages as a type of mage, and some would consider Clerics or Invokers as mages too. It’s not an exact term.

Magewright refers to a person using rituals for some work product.

These terms get a little confused together, of course. Magewrights are people who, initially, took advantage of the reliability of arcane magic to do things that you’d normally summarise as a ‘a job.’ This reliability has led to the in-world practice of people who have enough time to dedicate to broadening their skillbase to have some form of magic they do in their workplace, often by some single specialist whose job it is to do it. Many laborers know a single ritual, simply executed, and sometimes do it hundreds of times over the course of their career. A bricklayer may use a ritual to make a huge number of bricks a uniform shape. A bartender may have a ritual useful for preventing unconscious people from drowning or being ill in their sleep. A butcher who knows exactly the spells for long-term preservation of meat, cleaning all surfaces, and patching up a short term injury is a butcher who can do more work more easily. This is magewright training, and it’s not uncommon for people in these disciplines to train an apprentice in them. If you work at the cobbler’s, you’ll eventually learn the ritual they use to straighten all the nails to save money over time.

Thing is, not all rituals are arcane? I don’t know if I need to say that here, but just because arcane magic is the reliable, globally accessible and consistently predictable, it’s the kind of thing that people write down in libraries and textbooks. Most industrial applications of magic tend to use arcane magic, because that’s the kind of magic that’s the most predictable. This means that magewrights aren’t necessarily arcanists. There are all kinds of magewrights who are using a different source of magic. A lot of magewrights are arcanists, but the two terms are non-overlapping.

This idea of unified arcane study theories is an idea that comes from what’s known as the Visible Colleges. The Visible Colleges refers to the idea of Arcane research as a public good handled by researchers willing to share research and publish it to one another. Visible Colleges share notes on magical research but also certify to one another the skills and techniques of graduates – if you have a qualification from one member of the Colleges, other Colleges will recognise it, meaning the skills of any given mage travel really well. Countries like having skilled mages within their borders, so encouraging people to travel to other members of the Visible Colleges, build their skills and come back is an acceptable tradeoff to help resources even out. It’s a university system, but because the Visible Colleges have to encompass a lot of different ways different experts in different spaces have engaged with Arcane research, there’s a sort of vagueness about what they are, and what it means to be a mage, included in the Visible Colleges.

Part of why magewrights consider themselves outside of being mages is because of the common perception of what a mage is, which, typically, means a Visente wizard; an intellectual with access to immense magical power and a superiority complex, usually in some kind of long, flowing robe that doesn’t accommodate travel well and often with a big fancy staff that’s obviously expensive. Normally, Dal Raeda and the Eresh Protectorate would be the representatives of this kind of thing in the common cultural consciousness, but the problem is both nations’ connections to the Visible Colleges are varied and complicated.

Instead, Visente has three large, successful, prominently competitive Magic Universities, and they also publish media about those things, the typical assumptions most people have about what Magic Universities are like, basically, Visente’s. Complicating this is that Visente’s universities have some very specific idiosyncracies that can’t happen in other locations. Visente universities forbid Sorcerers; most other universities don’t. Visente universities are relied upon for mass teleportation of goods; most other universities use the King’s Highway. Visente universities are awash in party culture because they’re connected to the upper class of the city’s elite. Most other universities are positively pedestrian. In fact, so powerful is the Visente University’s image across Bidestra that there are people who have attended their own members of the Visible Colleges who don’t realise that they’re part of the same system. Several people live in towns built around some form of Magic University that don’t realise the wizard tower in their own town counts as the same kind of thing and that education they want is more attainable than it would be if they could save the money to travel to Visente.

To this end there is a push amongst members of the Visible Colleges to ensure that where possible, the mages doing study and teaching apprentices, of all varieties, have some form of public facing presentation and some way to ensure that they are recognised for what they do. Regular magical shows, public recruitment events, student exchanges, whatever they choose, but have a public identity. This is one of the reasons why small towns and remote locations where an old, powerful spellcaster owns a retirement home and laboratory, the wizard makes a point of visiting the rest of the town while being extremely wizard-looking. It’s important to have a public persona. It’s also why some other members of the Visible Colleges maintain and present an extremely obvious public presence in other ways.

Members like Laewaes Dramaturgy.

Laewaes is a Eresh technically-a-city. Surrounded on three sides by dense evergreen forests, which itself spills down a mountainside of a nearby mountain range, it has a lovely crisp temperature most of the year, with mild summers and snowy winters. It’s not very dense as a population centre and it’s not particularly heavy on industry; it imports a lot of food and material goods, but it just doesn’t have that much room for people to live, and a lot of its residential space is dedicated to short-term lodging – not just students for a few years, but also because Laewaes is a place people visit for holidays. This is because Laewaes is a very nice place, with parks, food, art galleries and museums but also because Laewaes is a place renowned for having nearly constant theatrical performances of all sorts of varying scales of cost.

Laewaes is a place where a lot of the laborers doing jobs in the towns are short-term residents who show up to do a bit of work to finance visiting the place and then moving on, with a little experience and some of the theatre. Laewaes is also a place that is built around Laewaes Dramaturgy, the sprawling campus of buildings and research centres that produces a number of arcanists every year – whether short-term magewrights or the more long-term disciplines.

This campus is where all the theatre comes from.

If you attend Laewaes Dramaturgy you are doing it on one of two possible education pathways. One, you are there to be a magewright and your class takes six months. You’re showing up, you are doing three or four days a week, you are drilling on a tiny number of spells, you learn almost no theory and you’re going to walk out of the place knowing how to do something and with no application beyond what you were taught in that environment.

The other pathway is as a form of arcanist, usually considered in lights of one of the major discipline groupings. There are those who are interested in arcane magic’s interaction in fluids and materials, known commonly as artificers, there are those interested in arcane magic’s application to physical interfaces within the body, known as sword mages, there are those interested in arcane magic’s expression through innate access, known as sorcerers, and then finally, those interested in arcane magic’s expression through controlled expression of linguistics, known as wizards.

There are two asterisks here, where we look at warlocks and bards. We’ll get to those.

Thing is, you show up to the college and apply for one of the Arcane study tracks, one of the long-term, make-me-a-mage kind of disciplines. And your first year is composed of literally zero applied magic studies. No spellcasting. In the context of your studies, you will neither be taught how to nor expected to demonstrate any magical skill or abilty at all. Half your workload will be non-stop magical theory, often very dense, with a strong focus on safeties, protections and margins of error and safety.

The other half of your studies, no joke, is theatre.

The Dramaturgy courses are varied in their application but if you show up to study magic, you are also doing a lot of theatre first. You might be doing dance for your cardio, you might be doing stage fighting to prepare you for proper fighting, you might be doing prop building to ensure you’re studying materials and measuring twice before you cut once, and if you’re doing anything at all for the wizard path, you are absolutely doing oratory and enunciation.

The theory underpinning the Dramaturgy was that magic is dangerous and volatile, and therefore, before you ever engage with it, you need a way to safely play with the same skills. When this was practiced, it worked out, but importantly, it also put the students in a position to listen to and engage with one another on projects where there were practical outcomes. Students had to become directors, and communicators, and technical students not just of what they were doing but also to understand why other students were doing it. The resultant practice served well and also winnowed out students who took themselves very selfseriously. It’s a bit of a selection bias: Graduates of the Dramaturge tend to be balanced and competent and have a flair for the dramatic and theatric, but also, the students most likely to turn out to be bastard mages of dark bastardry just don’t stick around.

The skills are transferable. Stage fighting lessons make you capable of taking a fall and get you familiar with the weight of a practice sword before you start with the real ones and real falls. Prop construction and makeup gets you thinking about what people’s skin can handle and how light and chemicals react to one another for effects. Audiences can help you focus on things that are inherent to the self and quelling anxiety such as a spellcaster may need in a moment of stress. And oratory teaches you about sound and its reach and most importantly, allows you a way to test being good at extremely specific linguistic constructions where the failure case is ‘a bad reaction from the audience’ and not ‘you summon the fireball inside one of your cheeks by mis-stating the spell.’

There was that asterisk, though, upstream. About the bards and warlocks.

See, there are a lot of bards in Laewaes. They tend to show up for the theatre culture. But the nature of a bard is that there may be a formal path to get accredited as once, but the number of bards with that accreditation are a small fraction of the whole. Bards, typically, ‘pick stuff up’ and augment other fields of study, and the nature of magic based on communal harmonies (music, oratory, performance) is something that a lot of people stumble into without needing a formal educator giving you insight. There are a lot of Bards coming from Laewaes, but it tends to be because they showed up for some general magic study, picked up a few credits and didn’t like the places it was pushing them. There’s a joke amongst alumni that ‘bard’ means ‘indecisive.’

The other thing is Warlocks. Thanks to the reputation of Visente barring sorcerers and Warlocks from their universities, there’s a common idea that Laewaes doesn’t allow Warlocks. But it does. It in fact involves Warlocks very thoroughly, and if you want to become a Warlock and arrive without a patron, there’s a course of theory that’s all about composing a good contract and negotiating new parameters.

Thing is, that’s if you come in and say ‘I want to be a Warlock.’

If you come in and say ‘I’m a wizard’ and turn out to be a Warlock, then you get bounced because you lied to the faculty. Warlock power is very tempting and it works on a different axis to most other kinds of arcane magic, and that means that it’s not uncommon for patrons to prey on students who are otherwise failing in their studies. You know, your grades are down, you’re concerned about failing, a patron appears in your bedroom and offers you a deal to give you power and handle the magic for you, you sign a contract without meaning to, and now you’re able to ace all your tests. It looks suspicious and it violates the promise of fairness the university is built around.

Broadly, the Dramaturgy wants people who are Warlocks to train their magic within the facility, for the same reason they want sorcerers to come too: Because they don’t want people experimenting with magic in circumstances that can get them or others hurt!

It’s not just magic students at Laewaes Dramaturgy of course. There are mundane studies building out of the existing curricula. You can transfer your magical studies to just be a full time dedicated theatre performer, and plenty of places have Laewaes tradition playwrights and actor troupes in their towns. Many of them are magewrights, too – nobody needs to know how you can clean a whole theatre in an hour, they just need to know the hourly rate for your turnover between shows, right?

But nobody forgets, when the graduation ceremonies happen and magical displays are brought out to emphasise and preserve memories, that Laewaes is a Magical University and that every one who studied there has some advantages from the study.

Nobody needs to be from Laewaes in particular. There’s no associated mechanical benefit yet. It’s just a place that has a vibe, that suggests a way your wizard may not necessarily look like a pointy hat and floppy robe. It’s a way to consider how archetypes are informed by what they’re supposed to do and how we can make that wider and more interesting.

It’s also probably a lot gayer than the conventional ‘wizard style.’

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[holmoris]

Indiegala's got a little skillbased farming game (which may or may not be down at random) that can give you two free steam keys per day and one of the random challenges (grape farming) is deterministic to the point where the same set of inputs will always win on both difficulty levels. I just recorded an autohotkey macro and used it to farm keys pretty much every day of the pandemic. Reload tab until it's grapes, push start, run macro, receive keys. Be aware that the keys it gives you are mostly shovelware to the point where you know instantly on seeing the screenshots, but periodically it gives good stuff (Beholder and the Prince of Persia remake trilogy are ones I remember). For a while I considered doing a short daily stream where I blind-played whatever it gave me, but a lot of them are bad to the point where even five minutes in them is excruciating.