#some shameless self-advertisement ;)

[markscherz]

Happy World Frog Day! 🐸

I hate to make this a commercialised holiday, but you may be interested to know that I sell some frog-related merch on RedBubble, including the poster shown above, stickers, and other fun stuff like an awesome froggy shower curtain! I have one at home, and it’s excellent. Profits go towards supporting your local frog scientist.

[mossy-paws]

Dreamgraft and Jestergraft (PHIGHTING!)

Hi to my tumblr followers sorry for neglecting you all again I SWEAR I JUST KEEP FORGETTING TO POST ALL OF MY ART LMAO THERE WILL BE A LOT MORE FOOD FOR YOU ALL SOON

anyways,,,, my sons,,, my boys,, my la creaturas,, I don’t think jester is a repost but he may be LMAO but!!! Enjoy these two :3!!!! I’m currently trying to speed run all of my overdue artfight refs so art may be a bit slow once I get all of my doodles and TMA au teasers done! Speaking of the TMA designs also- I’m getting close to being done with a really good chunk of them, so I’ll probably be posting more teasers soon, after I do get all of the lineart bits for them done that’s when I’m going to start coloring all of them (most likely after summer/artfight) so be sure to keep an eye out for those!

[bogcreacher]

Bi-annual Pathogen update (I wish this was an exaggeration)

[catpocalyptic-world]

Yay! 🎉 In a few days I will publish the final chapter of my first FrostIron fic. 😊 Which also happens to be the first multi-chaptered one, the first which includes explicit sexual content and my second published story ever. 😁😏😊

And as a person who:

was scared sh*tless of posting even a tiniest comment online for more than 20 years (apparently, becoming a plaything of an organised haters group while being a teenager can do that to some people 🤕), 

has always considered most of her stories and ideas to be too idiotic to ever write them down, not to mention publishing them 

I am really. Proud. Of myself! 😊😁💪

Have I stopped caring about what people might say, write or think about me? Nope. Still do. 🤷 But I’ve decided I'm getting too old for that sh*t and I need to have some fun instead of living in fear all the damn time. 🔥 And maybe I've finally understood that the fact that someone hates your content does! not! mean! that something is wrong either with you or the things you write. 💪

It also doesn't matter whether you write better or worse, have more or less original ideas, consider yourself too kinky, too sappy, too whatever… There are always some people who will have fun reading it and whose day will be nicer because of your work. ❤️ And even if it’s just one freaking person - it's still worth it! 🔥 The same applies of course to all other types of art, visual, etc. 🙌

So please do! 🙏 Do create, do have fun while doing it, do publish it whenever you feel like it! There will always be someone who appreciates it! ❤️🥹😍

(Ummm… Yeah… I just wanted to brag about my work a bit. 🤷 But apparently, I needed to get some things off my chest. 😉 It's not like anyone will read it anyway, so it's fine, lol. 😂) 

[empressofmankind]

[Part I] [Part II] [Part III] [Part IV] [Part V] [Part VI] [Part VII]

Oh damn. This is so not the kind of stuff Crocodile is into, omg. Resting bitch face, whomst. C'mere babe, it's OK, you can skulk back into the shadows in a minute you sad reptile.

You look up 'playing along' in the dictionary, it gonna have their faces right next to it. Mihawk is so done.

Love the dramatic music score under it, and the crowd noises. Buggy is loving this shit. You do you honey, this is what you're good at. Don't let the meanies ruin your moment.

Gotta do another shout out at my boy, Cabaji. You'll figure out why when Part 3 of 'The Show Must Go On' drops, lol.

Man, I love that drama clown?

Also, every close up of him so far has been flawless.

THE MUSIC???

Crocobi's face. He's suffering in such silence.

Mihawk still with the exact same resting bitch face.

...I don't think that's why Bugsby is crying, guys.

OMFG CALLED IT??

Oh Buggy, you poor dumbass let me hug you. You stupid stupid clown.

Hot damn, that was a whole experience.

SEE YOU ALL NEXT WEEK? I GUESS???

In the interim, why don't you check out some of my outstanding content, if I may say so myself?

'The Show Must Go On' - Buggy x OC - Poor Bugs continues to be life's favourite punching bag. My guy, just ask her like a normal functional adult? It's really not that hard.

'On My Silent Days, I Miss You A Little Louder' - Crocodile x OC - Welcome to Cross Guild content absolutely nobody asked for. Solid plotline, this one. 0/10 do not recommend kissing your ex. That never ends well. Oh, it's the same OC. For bonus points on drama.

I make arts too!

[dragoneggs]

Hello, hi. I'm opening a skin & accent shop, starting with this coyote-headed skincent for pre-order. 900g each, and submitting to print once at least 6 people have signed up & paid for the 1st run. You can find more info on my forum thread here :]

[delulluart]

Only way to make Copia's 'stache and side burns even better is adding in grey and white hairs. Like 🥵😳

Thank you anon! Agree!

Shameless self-advertisement: click, if you want more grey and more beard on him

Also, the Cardinal masks (especially the OG, the first and last ones) did have grey hair in the mustache and sideburns, too! Let me hijack this ask for a grey whiskers appreciation minute:

Sources (there are some better pics but I don't know their source, so I won't post them) in order of appearance Jeremy Saffer, 2018 (1,2,9) Shawn Wiseman, Columbus 13.05.2018 | David Zeck, Port Chester 15.05.2018 Christophe Meng, Download Festival 15.06.2018 Hughes Vanhoucke, Graspop 21.06.2018 | Ralph Arvesen, Austin 20.11.2018 Damaris Navarro, Miami Beach 24.11.2018 John McMurtrie, Paris 07.02.2019 Gretchen Smither, Hershey 24.10.2019 | Mick Burges, Leeds 23.11.2019

[cinnamonest]

Head empty no thoughts just daydreaming about incel scara with groupmate/project member!reader

Imagine them sitting together in a library. They need to be close to share one screen and go over everything while one or the other does some explaining. And scara is just DISGUSTED by her very clearly, very obviously whorish behavior aka her casually jutting her chest, pouting/biting her lips, getting close to him when she needs to lean, when she bends over away from or next to him, he can see her cleavage if he tries hard enough, or see her skirt ride or her lower back getting exposed and if he moves juuuuust a bit closer he can touch her boobs-

Just outright disgraceful and shameless behavior typical of the female 😤 and no, that's not his boner wdym. And reader is just earnestly trying to understand what he's trying to say because he seems so indifferent and almost looks as if dislikes her.

Ahhh it must be because he's annoyed, this isn't her subject after all. In which case, ALTERNATIVELY- consider CS major scara with darling in some non-STEM field passively calling her dumb and insulting her intelligence whenever they come to "study" because: what? She doesn't know how to install Windows? Ha

Only reason she has a decent gpa is because you don't actually need brains or talent for those art "subjects" and they are more suited to females anyway because it's not like they contribute much to society or are very intelligent, unlike him-

I remember my university had these little rooms in their library that were basically tiny study rooms with a couch and chairs, but like no windows, and were advertised as two-way soundproof to help you study and let me tell you. Y’all. People had sex in those. A lot. It happened a lot.

But the thing is they had no tables with desk-type chairs, only like coffee tables and lounge chairs, so if you wanted to work with someone else on something you kinda had to use the sofa which could be very awkward. Anyway

Oh he's absolutely a STEM snob that looks down on humanities majors. They’re for people with no real skills, who lack the ability to do more important stuff… or God forbid, you're a fine arts major of some kind. Very typical girl stuff, they waste money on useless degrees because they insist on having equally useless jobs. You’re probably going to be a future HR person, getting random guys fired for harmless comments and such.

So he always talks to you in such a condescending way, as if the things he’s explaining are so very obvious or simple that it’s a chore to explain it to you. You need to be aware of how intellectually inferior you are.

Also he’s one of those boys for whom “disgusted” is really just turned on, he lacks the ability to distinguish it — like it’s arousing, but it’s irritating that it’s arousing because he can’t do anything about it, so he identifies that feeling as disgust when it’s really just unbearable levels of sexual frustration compounded with bitterness. Ugh.

And as for you, it has to be intentional. You know what you're doing. It's on purpose. You just think it's funny or amusing to torment someone who can't do anything about it. In a fair world, you'd pay for your actions somehow.

And maybe you're even getting good grades in exchange for "favors." That makes sense, it's the only way that explains how you remain enrolled really. Maybe you'll eventually do the same for him, try to get him to do work for you in exchange for something. Not that that would work, he would never ever enable you like that, and definitely has the self-control necessary to reject you.

There’s something so wrong with how things are, that this situation can even arise, that you’re allowed to waste so much money and time on your dumb degree when you have better uses. He’ll probably go home and make some long vent post to some niche corner of the internet about the woes of having to tolerate this situation. Tragic.

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

*trying to understand WHY i feel like Vaggie would love having Susan around despite ppl hating her*

no see it's like this- there's a DIFFERENCE between someone like Susan and someone like Adam!!!

Susan, she's grumpy, stubborn, rude, insulting, BUT!!! If you give her a reason to think her criticisms weren't accurate or convince her she didn't have the full picture while making them, then she WILL change her mind!

She goes from booing Charlie's stammering speech to the Cannibals (and being all fuck you blue blood eat the rich which XD love it) pointing out how Charlie is NOT making anyone feel confident in her... but then once Charlie comes back with a rousing song, Susan listens. She chimes in just to clarify some things (if she fights for the hotel will she get to EAT PEOPLE) and once Charlie really gets into the whole fuck heaven it's time to fight back (lining up with Susan's eat the rich frame of mind) Susan switches around and NODS along with it! She changes her mind about Charlie! She follows Charlie back to the hotel and into war!

This old lady might be a piece of work but she's not an arrogant self-entitled one who won't give people a chance. She will let people try to convince her. She'll hear them out. She does change course once she feels she was wrong.

Compare THAT to an angel like Adam, who only listens so he can interrupt and laugh at Charlie. He's so convinced he CAN'T be wrong he'll scribble divine rules of getting into heaven on a sheet of paper on the fly and then act like they really ARE rules even though he clearly made them up on the spot- he submits them to court as EVIDENCE while IGNORING every other piece of contradicting evidence shown to him!

Adam isn't an asshole bc he's rude or mean, he's an ass bc he never thinks he might be wrong or should maybe change what he thinks or does. If it doesn't build him up then he won't listen to it. Arguing with him was useless- he wasn't ready to be convinced of anything he didn't already believe in.

So when Vaggie cheers for HIM dying, I think of Susan and how- to Vaggie- this old snarling cannibal lady would be like, the anti-Adam.

And the anti-Alastor too bc Susan glares and rudely lays out the truth as she knows it damn the consequences, instead of smiling while slipping lies by omission to ppl to get what she wants from them.

(a la Alastor in ep one trying turn helping out with the hotel advertisement into a favor, first by making a shitty one and then pressing Vaggie about not having anything better, until Vaggie points out that she KNOWs he'll get nothing out of the hotel if it fails anyway, meaning him helping it isn't some big gesture of trustworthiness it's literally just Alastor helping himself, dressed up to make Charlie and Vaggie feel grateful and indebted to him, which Vaggie at least has no patience for)

(add him not mentioning the dead angel thing until after he's gotten a deal with Charlie out of it, and of course miss hates-herself-Vaggie, who held back on her angel past for years to protect herself from more trauma would see too many similarities there)

(even tho one case was- as far as Vaggie can tell- a shameless power grab from Alastor taking advantage of Charlie being at her lowest, and the other was Vaggie being so ashamed of her past she couldn't stomach admitting to it)

Susan is NOT like that.

Sharp teeth is where her similarities with someone like Alastor ends. Surface level bluntness is also where her similarity with Vaggie might end too, for now

I look at Susan and see someone I think Vaggie wishes she could be.

Susan is someone who is honest. Someone who gives no fucks and isn't scared of being tossed aside (again) or being powerless

(like Vaggie and Alastor are scared)

Everyone in Cannibal town CRINGES when Susan shows up, no one looks or sounds HAPPY to see her or hear her speak up and does she seem to care? No. Do they all seem to also respect her and what she says...?

Yeah. They do. Susan is not talking out of her ass or being an ass. She's just sounding like one.

Vaggie miss "cut the crap" and "formerly an exorcist until she saw signs of how that might be wrong actually" would like having someone like that around, I think

(especially if it pissed off Alastor)

(Carmilla, who only keeps secrets to protect her family and seems to listen to advice even when she doesn't take it, would probably NOT like being challenged by a rude Susan either.... but Susan mainly just didn't want to blindly follow someone she didn't have confidence in, or fight without seeing what the reward for the risk would be. Carmilla would respect that, I think. Carmilla doesn't have time for bullshit either and also likes to cut right to the facts of a thing, as seen in her and Vaggie's meet up, so a Susan would be.... tolerable... in small doses. And worth having around. Occasionally)

(but only OCCASIONALLY, vaggie)

(charlie would probably also have to draw the line on ONLY inviting Susan over once a week or month or bi annually or so)

(it's a mental health issue and and a safety issue of Charlie not strangling Susan with her own dead fox boa when she gives an honest bad opinion of Vaggie's new wings or something)

(vaggie thinks it's hilarious)

(then again vaggie hates herself soooooo)

I headcanon Vaggie would love a Susan in her life but would need a Charlie around to balance it out~

GRANNY SUSAN! GRANNY SUSAN!!!!

[scienceoftheidiot]

do you have any royai fic recs?

Ah Nonny, I have been wanting to make a royai reclist for ages, because some of my faves never make it on the ones I see ! So thank you so much for this !

Let's talk about the good stuff.

There's some I haven't re-read in ages, so if I don't say much about them it doesn't mean they're not good, just that I need to read them again 😜 also beware, I like Royai FOR THE ANGST so there'll be plenty of it there. I've decided to share fics that aren't smut (doesn't mean some of them can't be explicit but the smut isn't the only thing in them). I might make a smut rec list one day, we'll see.

(PS if I don't tag authors who are on Tumblr feel free to manifest yourselves so I can tag you !)

First and foremost, here's my fave fic ever in this fandom, one of the first I have read and still so good for me, Your Warmth Against My Scars by @lassusog characterization is on point, and it never fails to make me feel so much when I read it.

and when you can't rise (I'll crawl with you on my hands and knees) by starsinherblood. A great story, with tension and action on point, and perfect angst 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

The Last Train Home by @rizaposting who has awesome 03!Royai fics, and this one makes me all warm and fuzzy inside 🥺

Under a Blood Red Sky by @liber-what-ia Ishval angst, great characterization and I was so happy to see Charlie ! It's not complete but I just love it anyway, especially the way the prose flows, it'w just beautiful (no pressure, friend! I just don't want to stop myself at only complete works!)

you can only touch him when he's dying, by lilantis. I love to see the story progress. So angsty and bittersweet, aaahhh ❤️

Like you do by wordslinger. This is a very intriguing story both in subject and the way it's written. Also I bawled my eyes out. Haha.

The meaning in each keystrokes by WorryinglyInnocent. Riza centric Violet Evergarden AU, knowing that : I don't know anything about Violet Evergarden AT ALL, never heard about it before, and I tend to avoid AUs most of the time for reasons, and yet I found this one randomly and it caught me. I really like the premises, and the fact that Maes and Gracia especially play such a big part. It was a very refreshing read.

Couldn't finish without The King's Counsellor by @qs63, since she's my partner in crime in writing royai, and while we share the exact same brainrot, which is already a perfect reason to share her fic(s) there, I love how much more gravitas she manages to give to Royai than I do.

Finally allow me some shameless self advertising, because I myself am a royai fic writer, so linking you my masterlist 😅

This is by no means a complete list ! I will probably come back and reblog with more if I think about others or find new ones ! I just wanted to reply quickly, because I have been trying to make such a list and always let it drag because I felt I was missing some good ones. I still know I am missing them. I'll just add them later 🥰 thank you again !!

[spyroforlife]

ohh god one of my old BillFord smut fics has gotten an explosion of kudos since Book of Bill came out. I see you filthy lil shippers out there. But I do find it interesting how it's one of them in particular that's getting most of the attention, and the other E-rated one I have isn't getting as much. But hey I figure. Why not share them both to Tumblr for the masses because I still like them both hehe

First up, the one people are devouring like mad:

Two Old Friends Bonding Again

Bill manages to claw his way back into the lives of the Pines after several years, but luckily for them, the summoning ritual was botched and he was stuck in a frail vessel that was easily put on lockdown so he couldn't get back out of it. Everyone is getting used to his presence... except Ford, who isn't keen on trusting him so easily. Perhaps all they need is some bonding. Word Count: 4,489

It's a pretty straightforward one, it was my first attempt at writing BillFord and I wanted it to focus more on their feelings and it turned explicit because I'm just like that. Human Bill (sorry), top Ford, bottom Bill. Pretty vanilla overall. Yayy

But then there's

Shut Up

Bill and Stanford like to relieve their frustrations with each other through sex. And this time, Ford is tired of his loud mouth. So he decides to do something about it. Word Count: 1,665

A shorter one, featuring much rougher sex and NOT very safe at all breathplay. But eh Bill can heal. Top Ford and bottom Bill again.

Both of these were written in 2016 so they're not the same quality as some of my newer stuff but I like them anyway. So YEA if anyone wants some BillFord smut here is my shameless self-advertisement. Enjoy!

[tavyliasin]

Making the Most of Discord - Fandom Server Layout

As I've had more than a few positive reviews of my delightful House of Hopeful Sinners (aside from the fun fake reviews we put together for the post in my pinned advertising the space) I figured I might use the setup to help demonstrate the potential ways to use the features when making your own server.

This is by no means saying "this is the only right and correct way to set up a server" it's more of a "this is how I manage it and it has worked really well for our purposes, feel free to use what we learned from it in your own spaces!"

I'll put different headings below the cut as we go so you can skip to what you need, and a little shameless self promotion right here for our creative focused 18+ NSFW Baldur's Gate 3 Fandom space~ CWs - Screenshots show mention of NSFW topics and titles. There are no details but some of the topics are words that would be on CW lists.

Rules, Ownership, and Mods

Starting out your own server is exciting, and we don't like to sit here and think "we're going to have problems", but it really is best to try and anticipate issues and put rules in place to prevent them. This is really going to vary based on the kind of place you are running, but as long as everything is clear your users can feel confident in the space. Nothing can damage a community more than a disagreement that is blown way out of proportion or an incident that gets out of hand. None of us are immune to mistakes, either, so being prepared is the best first step!

Make Your Rules Clear

Ambiguity in the rules is a very easy stumbling block. Keep your rules nice and clear, as specific as they need to be, and make sure that your moderation team are happy with the rules and how you would like them to be enforced when needed. I strongly recommend using a reaction role bot with your rules post so members agree they have read and understood the rules before entering the main server (more on roles and bots later!)

Choose Your Mods Wisely

Temptation might be to choose mods from friends, and that can be a good way to go! However, even with the best intentions, not everyone is going to mod in the way you would like them to. It can often be better to be a little more selective, and either offer the position to people who have mod experience already or use an application form with some questions that will help see if the mods will uphold your server values the way you prefer.

It can also be helpful to cover different time zones if your server is international, and having enough people will mean that nobody feels pressured or guilty if they need a break for any reason. Remember too that mods are volunteers, if you're the owner then final decisions and responsibility will come down to you in the end.

Age Restriction and User Safety

If you want to host NSFW content you need to be aware of user safety. Your most basic tool here is to set channels as age restricted. This is technically enough to cover you legally as the user has to manually confirm via a popup that they are old enough to view the content.

Personally? I prefer spaces that are explicitly 18+. I ensure this in HOHS by having people specify to a mod what year they were born. People are less likely to lie to someone directly than they are to click away a popup. This said, I do not recommend taking IDs or personal details due to Data Protection laws in various countries (as well as your members' rights to privacy, should they wish it). Verbal confirmation of the year of birth is fine. If you find someone is underage later, you can kick/ban them.

If your space is open to all ages with only some 18+ channels, you may want to verify birth year with users before they get a role to access those channels.

The reason for this is twofold. First, obviously, is safeguarding minors in online spaces. Although we are all well aware that minors access unsuitable content on their own, it shouldn't be encouraged or openly allowed, particularly with socialising with adults. The second reason is that any adult discussing NSFW topics with a known minor - even from an informal educational point of view without any unpleasant behaviour or intention - is very much at risk of ending up on a watch list. I'm very serious on that one. I have friends who have seen entire Discord servers and all their members in real legal trouble and on offender registers because the server knowingly allowed minors to participate in NSFW content channels.

So. Keep all of your members safe, check when you need to, and set up your channels and rules in the way that suits your space.

Categories and Basic Layout

Layout and Category Names

Your top category should be your welcome area if you have one, with your rules and whatever channel you want people to arrive in first at the very top. It can be tempting to put your admin section at the top, but this can make it more awkward to make your server invitations. Each category should also be nice and clear as to what is found there, so members can find the channels they want even when all the categories are collapsed.

This is how I arrange my welcome area, which is several channels which all technically contain rules (Contract Signing is the main rule list which users are directed to manually when we verify their age and give them access - more on that later!) but I personally prefer to make it easier for people to find things separately rather then being overwhelmed in one long channel. Use the layout that works for you!

A lot of servers also prefer to have separate categories for NSFW content, which is a very good way to run things if you want to have specifically separated content for peoples' comfort. You won't see that in the HOHS channels though as we are set up to be NSFW by default, and there is essentially only one pure SFW chat channel.

Naming Channels and Server Maps

I also personally prefer easy channel names. Whilst fun nods to fandom things might be an aesthetic/flavour choice, it may not be as helpful for your members to know where a piece of content or conversation belongs~ Having a map with a brief description of each channel's purpose will also help members to navigate, especially in a larger space.

Whilst it can be nice to use symbols or emojis in your channel names to denote the content (particularly using the 18 symbol for NSFW areas) this might make it a lot harder to link the channels in your server map or for users to link the channel to say "let's move our chat to this channel" when the topic changes, or "there's more on that topic over here". Emojis can work at the end of channel names with less interference, and honestly is something I am considering for aesthetics, though it's a lower priority.

Text Channels, Forum Channels, Voice Channels, and Threads

This is a big one for organisation so I'm going to go over them in sub headings one by one!

Text Channels

These are your bread and butter basic chat channels. They're wonderful for discussions and general chat, but in my opinion their weakness is in content sharing. Things like fan creations can get lost quickly when people respond to them, so you risk either discouraging the chat about a piece of work or losing work in the sea of conversation.

You can, of course, use slow mode in text channels so that users can only post once in each period of time. For extra busy servers, or open public servers, this can be a useful tool in spam prevention too!

Messages can be pinned in text channels which is handy for instructions, references, or other important information, but you are limited to a maximum of 20 pins and they might not be obvious to all users.

There are other ways to refine your text channels. For example, you can select whether people can post images, voice notes, files, and links into a channel. This is very useful if you need to prevent spam in a more important channel, or if you do not want to moderate the use of voice notes (more on those later).

For things like WIPs, some people like to have a slow mode so one new post every 6 hours and contain the discussion on that post to Threads. This can be helpful for some setups and work well, but it may still make older works harder to find so it's better just for more regular progress rather than a library of works.

Threads

Threads are essentially a side conversation within a text channel. They're fantastic for certain purposes like discussing an item that was shared, or containing a long conversation on one topic, and particularly things like discussions on lore and research that people might want to come back to at a later date without having to search through a text channel.

Text channels have a setting for how long threads will remain visible in a channel list.

After this time, threads are still available within the channel from the threads tab, but won't show up in the channel list until there is new activity inside the thread. Below is what threads might look like when active in the channel list - we use them in HOHS for Kink Specific Chat which means that only the people who have joined the threads will see them when they're active, and allows for people to choose which of those in depth conversations they want to be a part of. Informed Consent, really, and I keep a list of links to the threads in the CW list channel so people have an easy reference to find the content they do want to engage with more.

But these could be used for anything you like, from character specific chats to off-topic discussions, and you have the choice in your role setup to allow any members to create/use threads or have them only created by your mod/admin team so you have more control if you don't want a lot of threads popping up that are harder to moderate. This is how our kink specific topics appear in the channel list, but they are only visible here to those who have joined them. Like text channels, users can mute threads at any time and they won't get the white dot of new activity, or users can also leave threads if they want to leave that conversation entirely. Threads can be locked by moderators or put into slow mode too, so you do have options for control where needed.

(I also just want to note that the Feminization topic thread is not in the slightest bit transphobic or problematic, though it is here because not everyone is comfortable with that content and we respect that in this house~ HOHS is a very LGBTQIA+ positive and inclusive space)

Forum Channels

These are my absolute bread and butter for sharing fanfiction, art, and resources. Forums are newer to Discord, so it might take a bit of learning and convincing for more experienced users to get used to them, but trust me on this one; when you have Forums set up they are a much better way to display and discuss creative works.

The reasoning really is that works are searchable, taggable, and people can confidently discuss a work without worrying about clogging a chat channel.

Forum posts can look a lot like threads in the channel list, and have a similar timeout method for how long they stay in the channel list with no new comments/activity in them.

This is an example if how I've arranged the HOHS FanFic "Library" - I have covered the names of most of the fic post titles for other users' privacy and left my own visible as the examples for you. Similarly to Threads, only the posts that a user has interacted with will show up in their channel list, so you don't need to worry about everyone's channel lists being swamped with forum posts that aren't relevant to them.

So here, each of the speech bubble headers is the Forum Channel title. When you're actually in a forum channel you (or any member) can refine how the posts are viewed. Here's some of the art share channels. I have covered the images to protect the works, as I do keep strict rules that art must have a link to the original artwork on a public share by the artist unless the artist is the one posting (ie, no sharing paid patreon only works or things the artist has not made public) so that proper appreciation can be shown to the original.

So this is in "Gallery View" where each post appears as a square with an image preview if there are images. You'll also see tags on the posts - these are a great way to find works and sort through them! You can have up to 20 tags available, and members can apply up to 5 tags to a single post. The tags can then be selected in the gallery menu to show works with that tag on them. This is what I have under "Main Character Art"

You can choose the emojis, and you are able to use your server emojis for these tags too if you like! Unfortunately though this is going to be a tedious part of setting up forum channels, you can't copy them over.

As an example of tag filtering and List View of a Forum, here's the Villain Fic Forum. So again we have those friendly grey boxes to protect the privacy of other members, but I've left my content uncovered for you~

Here you can see I've selected the Haarlep filter, so it is showing works with the Haarlep tag starting with the most recent. List view shows a shorter preview of each piece, and I hovered over the +1 part of the tags on the third post to show you how the extra tags can be seen. The most recent comment is displayed in the preview as well.

So essentially this way people can share their art and fics without worrying they'll get lost. People can also discuss each work in its own post without a long list of threads, and browse older additions based on the tagging system or searching by title in the top bar.

I think that mostly covers forums other than the setup of them which is relatively straightforward - similar to text channels you can use slow mode for both new forum posts and/or comments on forum posts, and the tags can be whatever you want them to be. Just remember you have a maximum of 20 tags for each forum channel and a maximum of 5 per post.

The only other thing is when you are adding tags there might be errors if you have made any other changes to the channel - save those changes with this button before trying to add tags!

Voice Channels

The last area to look at is Voice Channels. These are going to be harder to moderate, so you may want to consider what your community is like and what you want and need from voice channels.

Voice channels come with their own chat channel attached which can be useful for those who don't use a mic, those just dropping by who haven't joined the voice (so you can see here I'm not actively in the VC but I can open the chat window), for sharing images/links that you're discussing in voice, and similar.

Some people prefer to have a separate text channel to chat in alongside voice, which can be better for when you're streaming or running activities, because the attached text chat takes up a part of even the popout window for the voice/streaming/activity.

There are more options like stage channels where you can have a limited number of presenters and the audience are muted. This is great if you want to host talks or specific events and watch parties!

Lots of options so you can age restrict the channels as needed, as well as setting user limits. When a voice channel is active you can also set a status to it. You can choose if members are allowed to do this or only certain roles, but it's a good way to let members know what's going on without joining.

You might need to be cautious with the quality and settings on these if people have difficulty participating with connection quality.

Again, moderation is going to be a concern in a larger or open server, so make sure you have rules established and that members know who to contact in case of issues. But when used well, voice channels can be a lot of fun and even comforting or inspiring for members to get together and play games or work on creative pieces alongside one another. You can even host watch parties with some services.

Roles and Permissions

Roles are going to be the backbone of your member organisation. Beyond the usual Mods and Member roles, you can use them for a number of different organisational and interactive features within your server.

The Order Of Roles

The function of roles will go in the order you have them in your server. This determines where they show up on the member list (it is optional to have roles separate like this), the image that will show up with a member's name who has the role (this is for level 2 and 3 boosted servers), and the colour of a user's name who has the role.

So here even if a Haarlep's Helper Mod had the Swinger of Swords role, their name would be that red tone. Similarly if a user chose both Healer of Souls and Friend of Nature, their name would be Yellow because Healer is the higher ordered colour.

Role Colours

The main thing to remember with Role Colours is to ensure that they are easy to read for people using the default light or dark mode of Discord. Those who pay for Nitro may have more options for background colours, but most members will use the defaults. You will see examples when setting the roles that can help you determine if the colour you have picked will work. The default list are balanced relatively well to have contrast to show up in a readable manner for you, so it's more the custom colours that you might have trouble with.

So that standard dark red is pretty clear on both, but this custom blue is somewhat painful on the dark mode version:

Similarly this pale yellow is perfect on the dark mode, but against the light mode background it's almost invisible.

Commonly Used Roles

Some of the most commonly used roles are for pronouns, so users have an easy way to know how to refer to their friends in chat. Some servers like to assign a colour to these for a quick visible reference. I've used images with them in HOHS

So this is also in the order so that the highest role is the one that appears next to the name (you can only have one image icon unfortunately), and hovering over the image will also show the role name.

This is just one way you can make use of the roles for your members~ I'll go over making it easy for members to choose them a bit lower down but I would like to mention one of my favourite uses of roles:

Optional Pingable Roles

These are some of the more basic alert roles I use - members can opt in, and some of them are able to be pinged (notification tag) by any members. So people can use "@ Beta Reader" to ask for those with the role if they're available to help read and edit a WIP, and the admin/mod roles can alert members to server changes with the Server News Alert role.

One way I really like to make use of these for member engagement is character based pings which are perfect for fandom servers like ours~

These are just a few, I've got them set up for a lot of characters, and allowed anyone to mention the roles. I encourage members to use them for both fics and art, so people with the role know there is new content for their favourite and where to find it. With the bot setup, people can remove their role at any time if they find the notifications overwhelming.

So this is an example where I used them for a fic, tagging the character roles. We do the same when sharing found works and art, which means those looking for the content don't miss their favourites.

Role Permissions

Your roles can all be customised to have global permissions, and each channel can have its own permission overrides where needed too. So for example you might want a role to be able to post images and files in most of the server, but you might not want that role to post them in a specific channel that you want to keep as text only.

It takes a while but properly setting up each channel will give you better control over the content to reduce the moderation work in the long run (ie, you won't need to ask people not to put things in the wrong places).

A Note On Voice Notes

Voice notes are going to be a very personal preference thing. I generally prefer not to use them, because users may not be able to listen to them at the time which makes moderation more difficult too. I have also seen issues arise from the use of voice notes, especially when people post them with no context note of what to expect.

So, personally, I disable voice notes in my server. I have seen them well used in other places, and they can arguably be an accessibility feature, however if you leave voice to text and text to voice enabled then those who need to hear or use voice instead of typing should still be able to interact as they need to.

I would generally advise asking members to leave at least a few words with their voice note, for example "replying to [username]" or "impression of [character]" or "discussion of [topic]" so that people know what to expect when they hit play. It's entirely up to each of us how we run our own spaces, however, so choose the best option for you and your server~

Helpful Bots and Setup

Bots can help you get the most out of your server without too much hard work once they're all set. These are the ones I personally use and recommend for different features, but there are a number of options out there to choose from!

Reaction Roles

If you have roles, this is the easiest way to allow people to choose and assign them for themselves and change them when they wish!

So this is using Carlbot https://carl.gg , which I have renamed "The Archivist" for a theme in our server. There are a lot of functions to Carlbot, but the most commonly used are these reaction roles.

It's relatively easy to set up, but you will need to manually type or copy the emoji code for the reacts you're using for the roles. There are a few other settings you can play with there too, like only allowing those with certain roles to pick up a new role.

It's also a great one to have people confirm they have read your rules to access the main server if you role lock your main channels to the member role.

Starboard

One fun feature that Carl (and some other bots) have is Starboard. This is a way for members to highlight their favourite messages on the server and look back at those moments! You can choose how many star reactions are needed for a post to go there, then they will automatically be sent to your starboard channel. You can also choose whether or not to include NSFW marked channels, so if you want Starboard to be SFW only that is an option. One that I didn't take for HOHS given that we are NSFW by default~

Ticket Bots

This is one of your easiest moderation tools - you can use a bot like https://ticketsbot.net/ which will allow users to raise an issue privately with ease. The command is often /open to bring up a new ticket which mods can then join - it'll show up as a thread for you. It doesn't take too much setup on the dashboard and there are other options, but this can be a lot easier than asking people to DM a mod directly.

Automated Messages

Carl and other bots can send automated messages on a schedule for you. This can also include notifying certain roles, so if you want to have a weekly progress check-in set up for creative communities, or even self care reminders a couple of times per day, that's all very easy to get running and can help you to keep the community ticking over with engagement on a semi-regular basis.

Post Embed Fixing

Meet one of my favourite content bots - Keto (Click here to add it to your server). This one takes site links to Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and others and puts a proper visible or playable version in the server.

This is so useful particularly for TikTok where the standard Discord setup will show you a still image with a play button on it.

You can see here that the bot automatically takes the link and converts it to a playable video (which is a still image here, but you can see the buffering bar on there). As with other bots, I gave it a nickname in the server for flavour and fun~

Good Gods That's A Lot Of Work

I know, right? Setting up a server isn't something you can do overnight, not if you want to have a larger space. Often servers will reorganise as they go, making more space as they find what their needs are, but if you can set up how you want it from the start, that can make things a lot easier so people don't have to adapt and adjust as much to a change.

Any Questions?

I think I covered pretty much everything other than the very basics of server setup, but I am more than happy to help any of you with questions about the setup, use of forums, channel layout, and anything else you need with your Discord organising~

And as always, those who share our values are welcome in my House of Hopeful Sinners~

[isadomna]

Fourteenth Century: Fredegund the Fierce

Amid the many crises of the fourteenth century, Fredegund was portrayed as a warrior king would be, leading her troops into battle and overseeing the torture of her enemies.

Fifteenth Century: Victim of Ambition

Fifteenth-century illuminated manuscripts reveled in the gruesome execution that cleaves through the queens’ story. Alarmed by the power wielded by the likes of Isabella, the She-Wolf of France; Yolande of Aragon; and Margaret of Anjou, chroniclers used these images as a warning to other women with political ambitions.

Seventeenth Century: Shameless and Cruel

This deck of playing cards designed for a young Louis XIV showcases various queens. While some are described as saincte (holy) or a bonne femme (a good wife), Brunhild and Fredegund are cast as murderous villains, the sort of women the young king ought to avoid.

Eighteenth Century: Foremothers of France

A century later, both queens were rehabilitated. The rise of nationalism led to an obsession with the great men of the past. Brunhild and Fredegund were transformed into the respectable wives of the kings they overshadowed in life.

Nineteenth Century: Defiant Heroines

At a time when the ideal woman was submissive and self-effacing, Brunhild and Fredegund were cast as fighters. In a woodcut, Brunhild is carried by her warriors, and in an illustration, Fredegund battles with her daughter.

Nineteenth Century: Opera Darlings

By the end of the nineteenth century, both queens enjoyed newfound popularity. They appeared as the subjects of poems, the protagonists of plays, and, most notably, the leads of operas.

Twentieth Century: The Catfight

Illustrators lampooned Brunhild and Fredegund’s decades-long political rivalry. The two queens box one another on the back of a turn-of-the-century magazine; by mid-century they have progressed to yanking each other’s hair out in a lottery advertisement.

Shelley Puhak, The Dark Queens: A gripping tale of power, ambition and murderous rivalry in early medieval

[watchoutforintellect]

Shameless self-promotion warning I am selling some of my photography as prints/digital downloads, 50% of any sales are being donated to War Child's Gaza Emergency appeal

[mybookof-you]

IR: Which of the virtues in Lavinia's era do we most lack in the present?

UG: I usually dodge this kind of question, but an answer came to me so fast and clear that I guess I better say it: Shame.    Not that shame is a virtue, but it seems to me it's a ground from which several virtues grow -- or anyhow it keeps people from some of the vices we seem to specialize in at the moment, such as greed, deliberate lying, violence against the defenseless, breaking a promise, limitless self-indulgence -- shameless behaviors, modeled for us by our government and on TV, and preached to us through advertising by the corporations who run our world.      Lavinia's era was the Bronze Age, and I don't think they'd yet worked out a moral code that would fully satisfy you or me if we had to live by it. But still it's amazing how a sense of shame can control some of our uglier tendencies -- I guess because it involves an awareness of what others think and admission that it matters.

[porta-decumana]

A Masterpost of My Gaius and GaiusWoL fanfics

Putting these here because I’ve sensed a spike in GaiusWoL lately (particularly after 6.4!) and I figured I’d do a bit of shameless self-advertising!  Here are all of my GaiusWoL and Gaius-centered fics.

The Last Light of Dawn - Explicit | 379,213 Words | Ongoing -  A Dark AU fanfic that posits the question “What would happen if the Garlean Empire rallied itself in late Shadowbringers and took over Eorzea?” The Warrior of Light is taken captive by Garlean scientists and wakes up to a world that is much unlike the one she knows.  The Eorzean Alliance has fallen.  The Scions have scattered.  Hope now remains in the Wild Rose Rebellion, led by Tataru Taru, Gaius Baelsar, and Estinien Wyrmblood.  

Alea Iacta Est - General | 29,458 Words | Ongoing - A scene collection that takes place during the Sorrow of Werlyt questline.  Most of the scenes take place outside of in-game cutscenes though some chapters features slightly edited scenes.  Features WoL Kaida Asagiri and Gaius pre-relationship and how they ended up starting to fall for each other.

And Love You Shall Find -  Explicit | 82,707 Words | Ongoing/on Hiatus - The sequel to Alea Iacta Est, And Love You Shall Find takes place in the gap between Shadowbringers and Endwalker.  The Warrior of Light is called back to Terncliff to help Cid Garlond do some test pilot work for the G-Savior with Gaius Baelsar as her copilot.  Meanwhile, old phantoms from Gaius’s past start to appear and Kaida must deal with her growing feelings for him.  “And they were copilots!” basically.

Respite -  General | 2,527 Words | Complete - A cutesy oneshot that happens sometime prior to Endwalker.  Sparring and flirting-- a good trope. For your fluffy needs.

Wolves Howl At Night - Teen and Up | 4,428 Words | Complete - A oneshot that takes place prior to 1.0.  Features Gaius and his lover, Cassius.  Angst-driven. Mentions of Gaius/Midas.

Reunited - Explicit | 3,583 Words | Complete - A smutty oneshot that takes place prior to Endwalker.  Features hits such as implied armor kink and praise kink.  Very light on the story, heavy on the action.

Risks Taken - Explicit | 3,777 Words | Complete - Gaius gets injured on the Warrior of Light’s behalf and proves to be an unruly patient as she tries to mend his wounds.  Very light on the story, heavy on the action (smut).

Favorite Scars - General | 2,393 Words | Complete - A fluffy oneshot where the Warrior of Light asks Gaius where he got a certain scar from.  She was not anticipating him telling her that she had given it to him years ago.

Undone - Explicit | 4,300 Words | Complete - may get a sequel though! - OT3 smut between two of my OCs and Gaius Baelsar.  A “we’re stuck in a cabin in a rainstorm and there’s not much else to do” situation.  Takes place after 6.0′s MSQ.

Who Hunts Shadows - General | 4,227 Words | Complete - A oneshot of Alphinaud’s time with the Shadowhunter gang in Stormblood.  Features Alphinaud realizes who Gaius is. 

Tension - Explicit | ??? | Being redone - A smutty fic of Gaius’s sexual exploits with multiple partners in the capital city.  Prior to 1.0.  Polyamory and orgies galore.

Purgatorio - General | 11,960 Words | Ongoing/on Hiatus - A fic about the Warrior of Light’s journey from the Aitiascope into the aetherial sea.  Meanwhile, Gaius and Allie struggle to protect the people of Werlyt from the second Final Days using the G-Savior.  

Sunlight in Her Eyes - General | 4,059 Words | Complete - Kaida and Gaius’s reunion in the Burn.  “Oh no, he’s hot” basically as a fic.