#state of awareness Tumblr posts

[b4ddprincess]

stop being a control freak.

give up. like- actually give up. seriously. give. up.

it's time to let go and trust yourself. pure consciousness is naturally induced when your awareness is away from the 3d, and is only on your 4d. when you lay down, sit up, get comfortable, relax, and dayream/let your thoughts wander/count/etc. your awareness will unintentionally move away from the 3d, and will only be on your 4d.

when you try to force yourself, you'll be doing things that keep your awareness on the 3d. for e.g. you get impatient, so you try counting hoping that something will happen. you try breathing exercises hoping that something will happen. you listen to a subliminal hoping that something will happen. all this while keeping your awareness on the 3d— time, body, surroundings. and then you wonder, "why did i not induce pure consciousness yet?" or "what am i doing wrong?" when pure consciousness is something effortless to induce. remember that.

[productiveandfree]

Leveraging the Power of Strengthening the Mind-Body Connection to Assist With Personal Growth

Most individuals live their lives while experiencing varying levels of stress each and every day. While has challenges or obstacles they face, there are many unique situations for women that can make this reality of life even harder to manage.

Whether juggling their careers, tending to their families, or dealing with prejudices that have been pre-established through society, the weight can be difficult for any woman to bear on her own.

Thankfully, there are strategies that anyone can put into practice to help create more resilience through life and make everyday challenges more manageable. This is where strengthening the mind-body connection can be invaluable.

Why Women Are More Prone to Stress or Trauma

All humans experience and respond to stress or trauma in various ways. However, while each person is unique and may come across their own struggles in life, women have been shown to experience much higher levels of debilitating stress when compared to men.

While this isn’t to say that all genders don’t have difficulties confronting the pressures presented to them, there are certain stressors that are amplified for women that can and often do leave a lasting impact on their physical and emotional well-being.

For example, the physical and emotional challenges during pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum depression, and menopause are all experiences that can be difficult for other genders to fully understand how to navigate. In other situations, women can become victims of abusive relationships or workplace harassment that can leave them traumatized with deep emotional scars that can be hard to heal.

In many of these situations, professional guidance and support is the only effective way to continue moving forward in a healthy way. Trained therapists can help individuals through specialized counseling and help them discover healthy coping mechanisms they can use.

How the Mind-Body Connection Works

One of the coping strategies used by mental health professionals when teaching individuals how to better deal with and manage their stress levels is developing a strong mind-body connection.

The mind-body connection references an internal recognition that everything we’re experiencing - whether in our minds or how we feel physically - are connected. Rather than being independent feelings or emotions, both are equally connected together and can influence one another either positively or negatively dependent on various factors.

Another way to better understand the mind-body connection is to remember when you woke up in either a great or awful mood. How did that mindset impact you throughout the day? Maybe you tried to avoid social situations or were more eager to start conversations. Were you more motivated to go to the gym, or did you feel exhausted all day?

The type of mindset you’re in can trigger a multitude of physical responses in your body. Neuroscientists have studied this interplay of emotions and sensations and confirmed that there are a large number of communication pathways between the brain and body. These communications can be impacted by the type of environments we’re in every day and the information we choose to absorb.

Strategies for Creating a Stronger Mind-Body Connection

Learning how to strengthen your mind-body connection can be a powerful way to help manage the emotions you’re experiencing.

However, establishing the mindset in this area often requires more than simply attending therapy sessions. It’s about taking action in your everyday life and incorporating healthy routines to help you add more harmony between your mental state of mind and physical well-being.

Becoming More Mindful

Practicing mindfulness throughout the day can be a highly restorative way to better cope with and manage everyday stresses in life. Through meditation, you can create a peaceful space to help you unwind and temporarily step away from any struggles you may be going through.

Having more mindfulness helps to create a heightened state of awareness when it comes to your thoughts and emotions while embracing them openly instead of hiding from them. When you combine this type of exercise with meditation techniques, it can help you to anchor yourself in the present instead of being overly focused on what’s happening next.

Staying Active

Your physical health is a significant factor to how well you’re able to manage both your physical and mental well-being. This is why taking the time to engage in regular exercise can be so important. Exercising releases dopamine and other beneficial brain chemicals that are responsible for reducing stress and improving your energy levels along with supporting better cognitive function.

Whether you like to dance, play sports, or simply take a trip outdoors to go hiking, the more active you are, the more you’re able to build a deeper connection between your mind and body.

Prioritizing Self-Care

Good nutrition is another factor that comes into play when it comes to our overall moods and the energy levels we have throughout the day. Making more conscientious decisions regarding our dietary choices helps to make sure we’re taking in the necessary vitamins and nutrients we need each day to fuel our bodies and support our mental health.

Practicing self-care can also be expressed through the actions we take to help recharge and refresh our physical and mental states. Whether you’re reading a book, taking a long batch, or enjoying a peaceful day outdoors - all of these forms of self-care can play a major role in helping to minimize the amount of stress you’re under.

It’s important not to associate self-care with being selfish. It’s essential that you feel empowered to take care of your own needs and recognize it as a primary ingredient for living a more balanced and fulfilling life.

Creative Expression

Another way to help balance your emotions and create more positive influences on your physical health is to explore healthy forms of creative release. Some of the activities you could get involved in include painting, playing music, sculpting, or finding other methods of creative expression that you enjoy.

Creativity can be a powerful, non-verbal way to release certain thoughts or feelings in an incredibly therapeutic way. All of these activities help to turn the stress we’re experiencing into something beautiful and unique and can be a great way to improve awareness about what we’re feeling on a day-to-day basis that may be hard to express in words.

Leverage Your Mind-Body Connection for a Happier Life

It’s important to remember that your state of mind and physical state aren’t separate entities. They are intertwined with one another, and how you decide to nurture the balance between the two can make a significant impact on your ability to confront and manage the stress you experience on a daily basis.

By working to strengthen your mind-body connection, you’ll be empowered to navigate life's challenges with a clear mind, embrace the good days you experience and continue living a fulfilling and healthy life.

Dr. Hannah Yang

Visionary and healthcare entrepreneur by passion, Licensed Psychologist by training, Dr. Hannah Yang loves creating new possibilities in the world of mental health and wellness. Dr. Yang established Balanced Awakening in 2015 as a niche psychotherapy practice for women. As Balanced Awakening flourishes in Chicago, and soon Miami, she also loves to tap into her passion for design and Feng Shui to create fabulous environments for herself, her team, and clients.

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[barbs111claims]

Imagination is the true reality

There is nothing called 'True reality/ Original reality/ Current reality/ Desired reality'. It all exists in your mind.

Your Consciousnesses.

Your decision to get aware of a certain reality IS your true reality.

'Reality' exists only when there is a perceiver.

There is only consiousness which creates perception.

Things exist only when you become aware of them.

So become aware of your desires which becomes your reality.

That's why the moment you start accepting your desires consciously is when your subconscious reproduces it. People think subconscious is the real shit BUT It is literally the sub of your consciousness. You are the consciousness. Whatever you focus on, your subconscious takes that as truth and reproduces it. You are not tricking your subconscious to thinking you have your desires. You are getting what you want by choosing what you want.

You were always having your desires.

The moment you get aware of your old assumption, you go back to that reality.

Some people feel that it's hard to grasp this (it's not)

that's why loa bloggers say simply that your-

Dominant thoughts create reality.

The moment your dominant thoughts are your desires being manifested, you change your awareness. You change your reality.

People really weren't lying when they say manifesting is literally the easiest thing in the world.

All you have to know is, you were never manifesting.

You always had had your 'desires'.

Now c'mon, do you understand that you were never really desiring or manifesting but waiting. And ofc you can't have your 'desires' when you are waiting to have them.

You are always having. You can't see it because you place your awareness on your old assumptions.

Now, go and actually have your desires.

[inkskinned]

they want to talk about mental illness and acceptance and how everyone is a little ocd it's cute and quirky and their "intrusive thoughts" are about cutting their hair off and you say yours are about taking a razorblade to your eye and they say ew can you not and everyone is a little adhd sometimes! except if you're late it's a personality flaw and it's because you are careless and cruel (and someone else with adhd mentions they can be on time, so why can't you?) and it's not an eating disorder if it's girl dinner! it's not mania if it's girl math! what do you mean you blew all of your savings on nonrefundable plane tickets for a plane you didn't even end up taking. what do you mean that you are afraid of eating. get over it. they roll their little lips up into a sneer. can you not, like, trauma dump?

they love it on them they like to wear pieces of your suffering like jewels so that it hangs off their tongue in rapiers. they are allowed to arm-chair diagnose and cherrypick their poisons but you can't ever miss too many showers because that's, like, "fuckken gross?" so anyone mean is a narcissist. so anyone with visual tics is clearly faking it and is so cringe. but they get to scream and hit customer service employees because well, i got overwhelmed.

you keep seeing these posts about how people pleasers are "inherently manipulative" and how it's totally unfair behavior. but you are a people pleaser, you have an ingrained fawn response. in the comments, you have typed and deleted the words just because it is technically true does not make it an empathetic or kind reading of the reaction about one million times. it is technically accurate, after all. you think of catholic guilt, how sometimes you feel bad when doing a good deed because the sense of pride you get from acting kind - that pride is a sin. the word "manipulation" is not without bias or stigma attached to it. many people with the fawn response are direct victims of someone who was malignantly manipulative. calling the victims manipulative too is an unfair and unkind reading of the situation. it would be better and more empathetic to say it is safety-seeking or connection-seeking behavior. yes, it can be toxic. no, in general it is not intended to be toxic. there is no reason to make mentally ill people feel worse for what we undergo.

you type why is everyone so quick to turn on someone showing clear signs of trauma but you already know the fucking answer, so what's the point of bothering. you kind of hate those this is what anxiety looks like! infographics because at this point you're so good at white-knuckling through a severe panic attack that people just think you're stoic. even people who know the situation sometimes comment you just don't seem depressed. and you're not a 9 year old white kid so there's no way you're on the spectrum, you're not obsessed with trains and you were never a good mathematician. okay then.

mental illness is trending. in 2012 tumblr said don't romanticize our symptoms but to be fair tiktok didn't exist yet. there's these series of videos where someone pretends to be "the most boring person on earth" and is just being a normal fucking person, which makes your skin crawl, because that probably means you are boring. your friend reads aloud a profile from tinder - no depressed bitches i fucking hate that mental illness crap. your father says that medication never actually works.

you still haven't told your grandmother that you're in therapy. despite everything (and the fact it's helping): you just don't want her to see you differently.

[omniverseexplorer]

“I AM”

“I AM” may seem like a couple of words that create a sentence of your sense of identity, but it is so much more than that. In other words, the “I AM” is the truest essence of the Omniverse/God/Pure Awareness, which is YOU! The “I AM” has also been referred to as the “void state” within the law of assumption and reality shifting community, which once again is just you in your truest essence of pure awareness aka the “I AM.” The “I AM” encompasses everything that could possibly exist, if you can imagine it (or can’t), it exists. The “I AM” is infinite, eternal, omnipotent, and limitless. Everything is possible and exists right now. This is what grants us the power to reality shift and manifest. There is no such thing as nonexistence, impossible, limitations, separation, fiction, or illogical. Therefore, nothing can exist outside of “I AM”, it is everything and nothing. We are literally the “I AM” experiencing itself; we are nothing, everything, everywhere, all at once. We are all One with the “I AM.” When our physical body dies if we assume it dies then we return to our original truest essence of pure awareness aka the “I AM.” When you manifest or reality shift you are identifying and being the person who already has the desire or is already in your desired reality and become aware of the other reality, which always begins with “I AM”. Therefore, when you simply identify with “I AM” you are limitless, infinite, omnipotent, eternal everything, everywhere all at once, and nothing at the same time of the Omniverse/God/Pure Awareness which is YOU. The “I AM” is the ultimate foundation of the Omniverse/God/Pure Awareness aka YOU. 

[dooblebrain]

Wow look at them all cozy and sleepy i bet nothing bad will happen to them

Drew these to keep descriptions for something I'm writing all squared off, but STILL I can't decide what the Frick bubby is wearing lol sorry dude you get the X of death

[sweetchaosbabe]

Do you know how to set an intention before sleeping? I want to wake up in the void by just setting the intention.

Hey babes! 💖 Setting an intention before sleep is such a powerful way to align with your desires, including waking up in the void state. Here’s a simple way to do it:

1. Clarify Your Intention: Decide clearly what you want, which is to wake up in the void state. Keep it simple and specific, like: “I will wake up in the void effortlessly.”

2. Affirm as You Fall Asleep: While you’re drifting off, repeat your intention in a calm and relaxed way. You can say, “When I wake up, I’ll be in the void,” or “I easily wake up in the void state.” Let this be the last thought in your mind.

3. Feel Confident: As you set your intention, feel the calm knowing that it’s going to happen. Don’t stress about the "how"—just trust that you’ll wake up in the void. The key is to feel relaxed and expectant.

4. Let Go: After you’ve affirmed your intention, let go of the need to control the process. The more relaxed you are, the easier it will be for your subconscious to guide you to the void state naturally.

Remember, you don’t have to force anything. With consistent practice, your subconscious will start aligning with your intention, and you’ll notice it happening more effortlessly. 💫

You’ve got this! 💖

xoxo, sweetchaosbabe🌙

[laokim]

aphroditeapprenticee

the void obsession is anti-neville, anti-law, anti-mental health, anti-well being, anti-manifesting, anti-everything. i hate it. it's all coming from the lack of understanding of the very fundamental foundation of the law. creation is finished. nothing and no one to change but SELF.

but, do you really understand that creation is finished? because if people did, i highly doubt they'd try to get into the void. creation is finished means you don't "create" anything. everything you can ever conceptualize is already created. if creation is finished, that means there is nothing to achieve, nothing to change, nothing to try, and nothing to fix. all you need to do is align yourself with that reality(state). you shift to that reality(state) in imagination/consicousness. that's literally it. here is a great post i highly recommend reading regarding the concept of creation is finished. If you're in your room right now, do you have to build a kitchen in order to be in a kitchen? no. you leave your room and go to the kitchen. because your house is already built. it's the same thing. you don't "change" your 3d. you leave your current state and move to your desired state.

the reason you're trying to get into the void is because you don't like your current life and because there are so many aspects you want to change, you're carrying the burden of changing the 3d on your shoulders, you're viewing the void state as something that will magically change and solve everything. so you're trying to get into the void so you can finally change the 3d. but again, nothing and no one to change but SELF. you're not changing the 3d. I need you to understand this, you're NOT changing the 3d. you're changing your SELF. when you change self, the 3d changes on its own because everything and everyone is SELF pushed out. i have no experience with the void, so i can't give you any advice on how to get into the void except for relaxing and just focusing on being.

but if i were you, I'd let go of the void. what is your obsession with the void helping you in any way? how long have you been obsessed with it? please let go of what does not serve you.

you're lacking. you're feeling lack. you're desiring. I suggest you scroll down my blog and read my other posts and replies to other asks. the very first step is to stop desiring NOT by suppressing your desire, but by fulfilling it all in imagination only. there is only fulfillment or lack, you have to make a choice. will you fulfill your desire in Imagination or will you continue to live in lack in imagination. in imagination, which is your kingdom, where all things exist and fulfillment is totally unconditional?

leave the 3d alone. i mean it when i say manifesting has nothing, i mean NOTHING, to do with the 3d. it's all about you. your inner self. you're not changing your face, you're changing your SELF. you're not changing your body, you're changing your SELF. you're not changing your bank account, you're changing your SELF. you're not changing your family, you're changing your SELF. YOU'RE NOT CHANGING THE 3D YOU'RE CHANGING YOUR INNER SELF (state of consciousness aka self-concept).

if you were my sister, i'd do anything to make you completely give up on the void state and study and apply the law instead. but, i can't do that to you because the choice is up to you. will you continue to do yourself a disservice by obsessing over something that doesn't get you anywhere or will you let it go and study&apply the law which guarantees the fulfillment of your desires?

your 3d doesn't need to be changed. no matter how horrible it looks, there is nothing wrong with your 3d. your 3d is perfect as it is. it's your consciousness. you have to change your consciousness, your SELF.

if you have time to obsess over the void, read neville. read edward art's series. You think manifesting is about changing the 3d. that's why you see manifesting as something that requires hard work, that's why you're obsessing over the void because you think the void will remove the "hard work" you think you should do to manifest. when you realize that all you need to do is literally just fulfill your desire in imagination only, you will no longer be interested in the void. the void obsession started last year. never have i ever once tried to get into the void. because to me, manifesting isn't about changing the 3d. it's all about my imagination/ consciousness.

if you want to take my advice, which i hope you do, unfollow every single void blog you follow. delete void information you wrote down anywhere. unsubscribe to every channel relating to the void. cut off every online friend you made talking about the void. let go of it. and i can guarantee you this much, if you focus on changing yourself in imagination, your results will show up in the 3d SO fast you'll be scared(in a good way).

it's up to you whether you're going to obsess over the void for the next 3 months and get nothing out of it but worse mental health OR spend the next 1 month on studying&applying the law and reap a good harvest, if you do, your results will be satisfactory.

Start tonight. start with at your command and the power of awareness. the law and the promise contains over 50 success story letters neville eceived from people. Read this series, his interpretation of neville's teaching is amazing and he also touches on subjects neville barely did that people may be struggling with. neville and edward art are the only teachers you need imo. debunk everything you know about the void and read what i linked above and apply. You will reap a good harvest.

[isagrimorie]

Star Trek Voyager 4x09 - Year of Hell, part 1

Janeway: We're going through their space whether they like it or not.

[darkfluffydragon]

White Lily Cookie's braids were giving me a hard time so I decided to draw how Pure Vanilla's appearance would look instead lol. I was going to make him a jester like the faeries but then remembered that Shadow Milk Cookie likes plays and stories. A story wouldn't be fun if everyone was the same character, and Pure Vanilla was supposed to be more of a main character, unlike the faeries. So, going with the jester theme, I decided to make him a puppet king instead!

His appearance doesn't change in the animation because Shadow Milk Cookie figured that it would hurt White Lily more if Pure Vanilla Cookie betrayed her while still looking like himself. Casually planting seeds of doubt in her mind.

I also realised kings have knights, so I'm giving PV a knight :D (to be designed later). Also, I headcanon that Shadow Milk Cookie is a theatre kid who likes dancing.

edit: I spelt Knight wrong in the image XD

[hurtmyfavsthanks]

Dude I see so much of average drugged whumpee just being spacey and out of it, but I raise you, a drugged whumpee that’s happy. A whumpee dosed with a euphoria drug that has them wonderfully higher than a kite, laughing, looking at streaming shimmering hallucinations around them, blissfully relaxed and unaware that whumper is behind it

bonus points if whumper flees from wherever they’ve been hiding, leaving a happily drugged whumpee behind as a “present” for caretaker

(content warning: nudity, the vague references to non-con touching)

YES. YES. YES.

I ADORE happy little drugged out whumpees! And Caretaker finding them like that? Especially when it’s such a far cry from whumpee’s typical personality? I could explode.

It’s all about the dichotomy between their behavior and their situation. Anything would be more fitting. Helpless terror as they shiver in the corner, hiding from horrors only they can see. Numb listlessness because their body is overburdened by exhaustion. Those all make sense, they fit.

But joy? Near manic euphoria, a smile stretching across their pale and dirty face? They’re not screaming or crying, but laughing, a drunken giggle that bounces against cold walls.

I think there’s an extra layer of helplessness there that is absolutely amazing. They’ve been stripped of their freedom, their dignity, and even their ability to properly respond to their situation. They’re not even given the right to anger or sadness. They’re trapped in an unthinking joy, and they can’t even begin to understand why it’s a bad thing.

And left as a prize? Absolutely. I love the idea of Caretaker finding them like that, at their most vulnerable. Presented like a trophy. Wrapped in thin silk and rope too weak to bind them under normal conditions, bruises peppering otherwise bare skin.

It’s humiliating, it’s painful, but Whumpee has no awareness of that. They simply feel good, relaxed and peaceful in a way they haven’t been for months. They’re barely aware of the exposed state they’re in, too out of it to even feel shame. They can’t remember the mocking words Whumper spoke as they pushed the needle into Whumpee’s skin, can’t remember the sicking mix of fury and terror they felt in those first few minutes, laying there with nothing to do but wait for the drug to kick in. All that’s left in their head is pink, sparkling joy.

Finally, Caretaker arrives. Whumpee doesn’t register the look of horror on Caretaker’s face. They barely respond as they’re searched for injuries, barely respond to Caretaker’s presence at all. When they do respond, it’s with slow, slurred speech, the words incoherent and muddled with uncontrollable laughter.

It sends a chill up Caretaker’s spine. It’s a state they’d neve expect to find Whumpee in, a state Whumpee would never allow themselves to be found in. It's frightening, seeing Whumpee act so unlike themselves.

Knowing that Whumper was around them in this state makes Caretaker sick. Knowing that Whumper had them at their most vulnerable, was free to mock them, touch them, do anything, and Caretaker wasn’t there to stop it, makes them feel sick.

It makes them sick to think this is all part of some game to Whumper. It makes them sick to think that they’re playing along, that saving Whumpee is somehow part of Whumper’s plan. But there’s nothing else Caretaker can do.

Caretaker removes their coat and drapes it over Whumpee’s body. Carefully, they pick Whumpee up, not trusting them to walk in their state. Whumpee’s body is warm despite being left on the cold floor, skin flush as the drug works through their system. Whumpee’s shivering, though they don’t seem to notice that either.

Whumpee presses themselves into Caretaker’s chest, humming contently. Caretaker holds them close with trembling fingers, and swears to never let them go again.

[b4ddprincess]

"but the problem is, i keep focusing on my body"

i've been getting a lot of these lately, and the most i can say is

you gotta find ways to let go.

if focusing on your body is a problem then relax your body until it can't relax any further. take deep breaths. you can even do progressive muscle relaxation. you'll be focusing on your body then, but only for a period of time.

you may realise that after your body seems asleep that your mind is wide awake. you can challenge yourself by focusing on counting backward from 500 – 0. if you mess up while counting, start over. everytime you mess up start from the top. if you fumble, start over. if you miscount, start over. don't worry about the time that's past. trust me. this way, you'll unintentionally hyperfocus on your 4d. you'll also end up inducing pure consciousness randomly while counting.

if you're not into counting, you can get lost with your thoughts, you can daydream, etc. and it doesn't have to be forced.

the problem is that y'all are waiting for when you can't feel your body anymore, but you have to let go of all that too. yes, i am aware that a lot of my posts are recycled info that are worded differently, but it's because it seems to me that y'all are still holding on to something that you shouldn't be holding on to. y'all actually have to apply.

let go and relax 🩷

[livvivviss]

Shifting (My opinion)

(Not for people who struggle with information overload problems)

Shifting is not the "change of reality" or "moving consciousness" (I don't mean that the concept is wrong)

• "Moving consciousness" sounds like astral travel and we know that: astral travel ≠ shifting

• Your consciousness does not move from HERE to HERE:

If not, when you shift, you are being aware of THAT reality (DR), you were always there and you will always be there just that (before shifting) you were not aware of that, And once you shift, you become aware of your DR

- Example: when you are normally dissociating, you stop being aware of your surroundings, your current reality, and you become immersed in your thoughts.

• So, that's why the "distraction method" can be very good for some people.

The methods "dissociate" you (as a way of saying), they make you stop being aware of this reality so that you can become aware of your desired reality.

•And when you become aware of your DR, it is not that here (cr) you stop existing, you continue to be there, you are just not aware, it is not that there is "a clone" left as they said a few years ago.

• And the people who "do nothing" to shift it is because it is easy for them to stop being aware of this reality (who knows why)

-Illustrated explanation 😜:

Yellow: Our conscience

Green: Things about our current reality that we perceive with our senses and of which we are aware

Red: Stop being aware of things in our current reality

The stickman alone: ​​the "void state" (as a way of saying it)

Red again: Still not being aware of the things of our DR

Blue: Things about our desire reality that we perceive with our senses and of which we are aware

(I did my best with the drawings lol 😭)

Summary: What mean is that shifting is not something external like "moving through realities" it is about you and your infinite others self's and on which you want to live as

[barbs111claims]

Once you decide that you have it, you have it.

Not the 3D, not your friends and family saying against it.

None can validate absence of your true reality. Your own validation is required to change your reality.

You don't need subliminals, affirmations, or any techniques for that matter.

Persist in the new fact that you have it. Not because it is needed.

Persist like how you persist that you are breathing. Persist doesn't mean reminding yourself but knowing to the point you don't have to remind yourself. Persist in the new assumptions because they are your true reality but not to get your desires.

Persisting is not a technique but a state of mind.

Again, state of mind is not a technique, its simply having. You already have it, you don't have to be in a 'state of mind' to have your desires.

Spare no attention to 3D because Imagination is truly your reality.

[beastwhimsy]

pretty janky gif but I wanted to compare my simon design to my ice king design. behold! old person

[utilitycaster]

I like that the Raven Queen, who made the decision to take on an immense and (at least to her understanding at the time) unending responsibility is the one who calls Bells Hells out on their endless indecision.

It's been...interesting, shall we say, tracking this "party of NPCs," and tracking the fandom response throughout. The initial reception to "party of NPCs" was actually a rather cold one. This took place early in the campaign, prior to the Gnarlrock fight, and at the time a lot of people who shipped Imogen and Laudna were actually extremely resistant to the idea that Imogen was the "main character" of the campaign (as seen in the fallout from the gnarlrock fight, in which the bulk of attacks from the fandom were on Imogen). I've had complicated feelings on Taliesin's reads of this campaign specifically - he tends to have a very good understanding of his own characters that doesn't necessarily expand beyond them - but that phrase was indeed pretty valid. I think about the WBN interludes, in fact, in which the cast plays using NPC statblocks, and what a true party of NPCs for Bells Hells would look like, since it would be quite simple to draw up.

Allied NPCs in TTRPGs rarely act without guidance from the PCs. I've cast a critical eye in the past towards certain meta (particularly romantic in nature, regarding Yeza or Essek or Gilmore not making moves) for this reason, because while villains and antagonists move throughout the world generating obstacles, allies exist to be directed. They have their limits, of course; they have their own priorities and motivations and cannot be persuaded against their nature, but they can be guided at oblique angles from the GMs initial intent given enough work from the PCs. They're still people with thoughts and feelings and dreams, to an extent, but rarely do they make decisions that would conflict with those of the PCs.

That's the problem with a party of NPCs. NPCs take direction. They serve as support, but they're not in the driver's seat. And the Raven Queen has noticed.

The attitude within the fandom towards "Party of NPCs" became far more positive over time, and I wonder if it should have. People began to lean perhaps too heavily on how Bells Hells were people from nothing and nowhere, discarded. This is of course objectively false when comparing across parties (can we really say Imogen had a worse childhood than Vex? Chetney to Caleb? Even Ashton to Fjord?) but were it true, that in and of itself wouldn't be a problem. D&D backstories are often tear-stained and blood-soaked, full of unjust accusations, dead or neglectful parents, failure and regret. D&D is a game about coming from very little but a disproportionately good stat block for a commoner. It is unavoidably about amassing power. Starting off as a party of NPCs is fine. You should not still be a party of NPCs at the endgame.

I mentioned the gnarlrock, and I've mentioned an emphasis (or overemphasis) on this party's lack of agency and I think that remains the problem. Ludinus's villainy is rich, complex, and multifaceted, but a consistent element of it is his eternal false insistence that he - Martinet, founder and head of the Cerberus Assembly, Archmage - is just a little guy, chaff in the wind of the will of the gods, without free will of his own (he says, as he places his thread outside the reach of the Matron). That too is a theme in fandom discourse: free will and intent. Is Imogen justified in being angry at Laudna for breaking the rock if that wasn't Laudna's intent? (yes.) Is Orym on a quest of vengeance, with a death wish? (no, but if he were it wouldn't matter.) Was it wrong to pressure Fearne to take the shard instead of letting her make her own choices? (yes.)

Did any of you, perhaps in preschool or kindergarten, since that's about the age when this happens, have someone pull your hair and for adults to say "it's because they like you?" I find this is a good way to convey the importance, or unimportance, or intent. Because when your hair is being pulled, at least if that is the extent of the problem, it doesn't matter if it comes from the misguided affections of a four-year-old admirer who doesn't know how to use their words, or a six-year-old who just grabbed the most obvious material with which to test the limits of the safety scissors, or an eleven-year-old bully. Your hair is being pulled and you want it to stop. It doesn't matter if the person secretly likes you or if they want to hurt you; it matters that no matter the intent behind it, they are doing so. And if you reject the affections of your fellow preschool classmate because you think they might pull your hair, that's a fair consequence.

Bells Hells' indecision is some sort of cosmic hair pulling. They have reasons for faltering, and some of those reasons are understandable balking at an immense weight placed upon them and some of those reasons come from a deeply self-centered place in which their individual pain is used to blot out the suffering of countless others. But in the end, even that doesn't matter. Their histories don't matter. We don't need another series of introductions of where they come from and what they've done. We need people who can make decisions and who will act.

The Raven Queen seems to have been convinced they will. I'm not sure. But I think we are in agreement that inaction is, regardless of the intent behind it, no different than active harm. It would be irresponsible to continue to be a party of NPCs; if they truly are lost and forgotten fuck-ups, they have a responsibility (as the god of death once did) to abdicate and find a replacement.