#stupid stupid candelas

[anonymouscapybara]

people say the worst SI unit is the mole. "ohhh but it's just a number it doesn't even have anything attached it doesn't deserve to be an official unit" BZZZ WRONG

the worst unit is the candela. the candela is stupid.

what's the candela, you ask? well, it measures the brightness of light

"oh that sounds reasonable" you say, "just measure the energy or power emitted!" nope. they would not do anything nearly so simple. a lightbulb emitting a watt of yellow light is more candelas than a lightbulb emitting a watt of red light.

"ok that's weird" you say, "but maybe they're adjusting for that somehow? maybe it measures number of photons?" again, that would be far too reasonable. a lightbulb emitting a fixed rate of yellow-light photons is more candelas than the same rate of purple-light photons.

but what are they even measuring then? what else is there to measure? clearly they ran out of ideas while making up units, because what they're actually measuring is the SUBJECTIVE BRIGHTNESS OF LIGHT TO THE HUMAN EYE. the candela is STUPID

a reasonable question to ask is: how would you even measure the brightness of light to the human eye? aren't a lot of human eyes different? don't different things look bright in different circumstances? aren't there colorblind people in the world?

surely the General Conference on Weights and Measures, which spent millions precisely calibrating magnetic quantum flux to avoid basing the kilogram on a random block in France, has a clever solution!

no. no they don't. the candela is stupid.

as far as I can tell, what you do is you first measure how much light of each wavelength comes in. Then you multiply each measurement by a "luminosity function", which measures brightness to the human eye:

you will notice that there are multiple functions shown in this diagram. the SI system has five of these, for different lighting conditions. do your lighting conditions not exactly follow one of the Five Official Standardized Lighting Conditions? guess you're out of luck then.

and whose eye are we using? why, the Official Standardized CIE Photometric Observer, of course: the "ideal observer having a relative spectral responsivity that conforms to a CIE-defined spectral luminous efficiency function for human vision"

(and no I can't show you this function because the fine people of the ISO put it BEHIND A PAYWALL. who puts measurements determining a fundamental SI unit BEHIND A PAYWALL. the candela is stupid)

all right, so we're measuring a fundamental unit using a (nonexistent) idealized observer in one of five random lighting conditions. how did they find the values for this? i'm...not entirely sure. but here's a glimpse, based on a few of the most recent studies I found used for this:

"...heterochromatic (minimum) flicker photometric data obtained from 40 observers (35 males, 5 females) of known genotype..."

"To obtain an estimate of the mean L-cone fundamental, we weighted [weird variables] according to the ratio of 0.56 L(S180) to 0.44 L(A180) found in the normal, male Caucasian population...and averaged them together"

that's right, our Official Objective Brightness Unit is probably sexist and racist. none of the other SI units have a chance to be sexist and racist. a meter is a meter in every country on Earth. 6.022*10^23 For Women is still 6.022*10^23. but the candela is-- probably-- the white man's candela, because you can absolutely bet that genetic drift around the world gives different values for this stuff.

in summary: my opinion, as you might have guessed, is that the candela is stupid. hopefully you agree with me after reading this that we need to completely eradicate it from the planet. failing that could we at not give it the same level of officialness as the meter or the kilogram?

[pocketgalaxies]

imogen 🤝🏻 arlo

[funscarypdr]

arlo: my fiancé was sucked into a void never to be seen again, and when i tried to save him my hand withered and split and took a talisman of the void with it. i carry the necrotic reminder of it every day and hear the inexorable ticking of the clock, counting down until the day i could turn into the same kind of monster that took him from me

auggie: so what you’re saying is you’re single?

[elemental-plane]

i wish we could see the 1-on-1 candela sessions just because i need to know how aabria reacted to half of these character pitches

[hauntedfalcon]

something something Jinnah’s father wished he could teach her to sew, something something she felt his ghost kiss the back of her neck (okay weird??), something something that little lace cameo covering part of her neck, something something Dad Basar was Newfaire’s Dr. Frankenstein and he stitched himself a daughter

[roxan-world]

Stupenda💙💙💙💙💙

Ricordati di trattarla come una “Principessa”

perchè è questo che tutte le donne sono

delle “Principesse”

Ricordati che quando guarda il vuoto,

pensierosa e triste,

ha bisogno di una tua carezza

senza fare troppe domande..

Ricordati che dopo aver fatto l’Amore

per lei

è importante che

tu

rimanga abbracciato

e la stringa forte..

..sarà bello farle capire che

sei presente anche dopo..

Ricordati che la mattina appena sveglio,

sarà bello darle un bacio sulla guancia..

mentre ancora dorme…

Ricordati di fermarti un istante a guardarla

mentre lei non ti vede..

per ricordarti quanto meravigliosa sia

nel suo viver quotidiano

Ricordati di portarle un fiore

quando meno se lo aspetta

perché dire “Ti Amo”

non ti autorizza a dare tutto per scontato

Ricordati che quanto le dici

“Ti Amo”

lei ci crede…

sussurraglielo in un orecchio

ma poi diglielo sempre

guardandola negli occhi…

Ricordati che le attenzioni

che le hai rivolto

per conquistarla

devono durare in eterno…

perché lei non è di tua proprietà

Ricordati che tutto ci�� che fai con lei

anche le cose stupide

sono speciali…

proprio perché lo fai con lei….

Ricorda di farla partecipe delle tue passioni

perché magari non è vero

che lei

non ne capisce niente

Ricordati di darle un bacio

tenendole il viso tra le mani..qualche volta..

perché..

perché è bello

Ricordati che prima di fare l’Amore

i preliminari sono importanti,

soprattutto quelli che tu fai a lei

E ricorda di dosare bene

dolcezza e forza insieme

perché oltre che una “principessa”

è soprattutto una “Donna”

e tale la devi fare sentire

anche a letto

Ricordati che quando l‘accompagni

a fare shopping

un tuo consiglio può essere più importante di quanto pensi

Ricordati che lei a volte

ha bisogno di sensazioni forti,

di piacevoli imprevisti

Ricordati che è stupenda una sera sensuale

a lume di candela..

..ma che a volte è bello anche tirare il freno a mano

dell’auto all’improvviso

e fare l’amore

nel primo posto che ti capita

e fidati, fallo tu

prima che lo faccia qualcun altro

Ricordati che

le parole “Ti Amo”

non sono un saluto

Ricordati che quando ti parla ha bisogno di essere ascoltata

Ricordati che lei non è “tua madre”

ma a volte può essere “tua figlia”

prendila per mano e asciugale le sue lacrime

Ricordati

che lei è una stella

non farla cadere

Ricordati di custodirla come

un fiocco di neve su un palmo aperto

se lo chiudi si scioglie

Ricordati che per quanto tu possa soffrire….

…ne sarà sempre valsa la pena

Ricordati se ancora non l ‘hai fatto

di dirle che l’Ami

non solo quando siete soli

perché è bello gridarlo al mondo

Ricorda tutto questo

prima che lo ricordino le sue spalle mentre vanno via... 💙

Elio Mancuso.

[utilitycaster]

What would you say are the CR cast's individual weaknesses? I'm always trying to improve for my own games and also curious to see if I can spot them in the episodes.

Hi anon,

This is super subjective, heavily biased towards my own personal likes and dislikes, etc, so I don't think you should per se use this as your own metric, and also a lot of these are not mechanical but more broadly about structure or acting.

Travis: bias immediately begins here; I think he's one of the strongest actors and one of the strongest people mechanically at the table. He also really knows what he wants and likes to do, which, spoilers, is essentially my biggest criticism of almost anyone else; and I think as part of that he addressed what would have been my biggest criticism in the past (namely, a hesitancy towards emotional roleplay which was present in C1 and was very much part of what he proceeded to push his boundaries on with Fjord and in some ways even more so with Chetney). Anyway I think my current main critique is that I would like to see him play a character who really isn't good with melee/is a full caster and I think he's been more hesitant on that, but also, it's valid to have a strong preference for one type of build so like. he can keep doing what he's doing and I will not be mad.

Marisha: I've talked about this before but I think she really needs to do more involved backstory planning that dives into motivations more, or, failing that, simply have very goal-oriented characters. I think that even when there's been vagueness in the backstories of her other characters (basically everyone but Keyleth) their motivations were enough to carry them through, but this has been a campaign-long struggle for Laudna. I will also admit that I find her acting choices as Laudna specifically to be rather overwrought in a way that doesn't particularly, work for me but I have a really strong personal bias towards naturalistic styles. She's also capable of much subtler work, and both Bee and Patia I think showed that off.

Sam: Kind of a weird in-between situation in comparison to the above. I think Sam knows his sweet spot and capacity for humor and so he rarely goes as dark as say, Oscar Grimm, but he is absolutely killing it already over there. In general I think Sam needs to be more willing to leave his comfort zone and push himself more because he can play it a bit safe. I think he does have a sharp learning curve re: complex mechanics (this is why early FCG was rough) exacerbated by the fact that I think he really tends to assume what he can do is way more limited than it is, and I suspect the much simpler Candela system is working to his favor, but like, he does eventually get there and, should we get a campaign 4, I'm going to tape "BE PATIENT WITH SAM, HE ALWAYS GETS THERE" on my laptop to remind me.

Ashley: Bit like Sam actually! I think she can and should go harder on mechanics (and for the most part has been; I think she underestimates herself a lot), and I also think she needs to make wilder choices. Fearne has been a delight in this regard but I want to echo the cast at one of the recent convention Q&As: please push the red button more, please go absolute as hard as you want. Will say her acting is maybe my favorite in the cast.

Laura: ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO PUSH MORE BIG RED BUTTONS. Like...man. I feel this mindset; I don't really play video games other than stupid phone games but I'm That Person who's like "I only have 100 erasers in Two Dots, I must ration them". But I think she's doing a fantastic job with Imogen and my one criticism would truly be Go Bigger And Weirder And Harder. This is why I mentioned her; she was willing to take such massive risks as Arlo, and I think part of that was because it was a short campaign and she didn't feel that need to hold back but like, please, press buttons and take more risks. Her RP is always stellar though. Like, truly, I think Laura, Ashley, and Travis often appeal to my personal taste in acting choices and themes the most, and I just want Laura and Ashley to make similarly wild choices to Travis sometimes.

Liam: This is 100% purely a very me thing; I find he acts like a stage actor (which he is!) when there is a camera like 10 feet from his face and it can at times be a bit much for me, a person who is annoying re: subtlety. When he hits, he fucking hits though. Vax sometimes got a little overwrought for me but when he went quieter it was top notch; Caleb was fantastic because I think he counteracted this tendency; and there's been a couple moments with Orym I haven't loved but so many that I have. Mechanically he is great and while I'm a noted Rogue Disliker, Wizard/Fighter/Cleric are all flawless and much as I'd like to see him play other classes he is valid for his core four choice.

Taliesin: Here is the thing. I think whereas Laura takes a somewhat hesitant, afraid to let her character die stance, Taliesin does in fact have sort of a parallel issue of taking huge risks and then being very pikachu face when his character does die. Big swing of the pendulum in the other direction. However, Taliesin tends to hit on themes I find fascinating, consistently, and has a truly impressive breadth of mechanical skill. Even when I don't like his characters (only happened once) I absolutely respect what he's doing, and perhaps most importantly, he truly does not care what I or others in the fandom think, which makes me respect him more. Like, you know what? Molly isn't for me, and that's valid! Anyway. I hesitate to suggest more caution bc episodes 3x77-78 were so good and I loved all the wild shit Percy got up to (I also loved Caduceus but he was a much more laid-back character by design) but I do think that lack of caution is his weakness.

Matt: Judging more on the basis of being a DM than a player here just for sheer quantity but I think that his two greatest weaknesses are first, communicating highly specific risks (the main ones being the Iron Shepherds and the Otohan fight; you can't do that in pitched combat my man); and for lack of a better way to put it, I do still think he needed more firmness in the character creation stage of c3 and then looser reins during the campaign itself. I've been thinking about this a lot because I think that when I have frustrations with Aabria's style it's weirdly sort of...needs slightly looser reins but in a totally different way, and like, when Matt needs to loosen up, RP moments fall by the wayside and plot is fine, whereas when Aabria needs to loosen up, RP is still stellar but plot suffers.

[iiitsnotbase]

18 Raj/elsie/oscar??

This takes place in my College AU! 1 year later than we are now!

Rajan walked into the familiar hospital room to find his Elsie and his Oscar, one lying back on the bed, with the other older her hand, his thumb passing over her knuckle again and again. Oscar looked up when he saw Rajan enter, nodded to him. Rajan walked over first and kissed Elsie on the head, and then moved to kiss Oscar on the head, having to take off his hat to do so. 

“How is she?” He asked. It was a silly question, but it still felt important to ask. Oscar glared at him and looked at Elsie, who was wincing on the bed. Her eyes opened, and she looked between the both of them. When she sighed, it was a rattle, and she glanced at Oscar.

“I told you not to tell him, I didn’t want anyone else worrying.” There was a spot of blood on her bottom lip. Rajan reached out and stroked it away with his thumb, but she caught his hand before he could react it. “I’m fine.” Rajan wondered when she had gotten so skinny. She had always been small, but this was a change. A rather dramatic one, in fact. 

“I didn’t tell him.” Oscar said, “But I’m happy he’s here.” Elsie, judging by the bleak expression on her face, was not. “El. Come on.” Her thumb traced over Rajan’s as Oscar traced over her knuckle, and sighed, looking up at the lights. She hated hospitals, Raj remembered her telling him, when they first met. 

“Fine. He can stay.” Raj smiled as Elsie resigned to him being there, knowing that if he left he would just be thinking of her. It was such a strange thing to be ashamed of when over the past ten months she had seen him naked and prone (and he her) in several different ways. Her voice was horse. 

“Are you allowed to drink?” He asked. She nodded. Grateful for the small things, as always, he pulled out a bottle of tea and poured a cup. “Drink this. It’ll make you feel better.” 

“Is that a promise or a threat?” Oscar said, in the tone of voice he only used when they were alone. Raj helped Elsie sit up and laughed at his partners stupidity. 

“Why can’t it be both?” He asked. Elsie took a drink and glared at them. 

“You two are impossible.” She said. Her voice already sounded slightly better. She took another drink. Oscar shrugged. 

“You chose us, El.” Raj laughed as Elsie squinted at him. 

“Funny, I seem to remember you showing up at my door. What was it?” She pretended to think. “Oh, yes. You,” She looked at Oscar, “showed up at my bedroom door and begged me to have you.”

“I didn’t beg.” 

Raj would not stand for that, but soon he was Elsie’s next victim. 

“This one,” He rolled his eyes but kept smiling, “said he would give me everything you couldn’t. I said to Delia ‘He’s gonna last three weeks not kissing Oscar’, Delia disagreed.” 

“How many did Delia say?” Oscar asked, genuinely curious, and Elsie let out a raspy laugh. 

“I think she suggested locking you two in a room together and waiting. So does that sound like I chose you, or you both showed up at my door?” It was rhetorical, she could say the word and they’d both leave (though they wouldn’t be happy about it), and she kept them around. Raj kissed her temple and she melted into it. “I’ll be out of here soon.” She promised, holding both of their hands. “I swear.” 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

lil' angsty, but its impossible not to be with these three!!! if anyone wants to play the game is send me a candela duo/trio/group (platonic or romantic) and a number from this list and I'll write it! (feel free to send me asks about this au too!!) (please give me an excuse to talk about it) (love y'all)

[colorfulandblack]

Ok, serious question time gang

Sean is the youngest of the circle members right?

I mean Auntie Bee is the oldest of them that's a fact. And at first I though that maybe Nathaniel was second when it came to age because he was a lieutenant but then I remembered that because he came from money it's pretty certain that he had this position bought so it doesn't mean necessary that he'd be old or older.

However, I cannot imagine putting an somewhat barely an adult in charge, back in the day of the beginnings of the war. Or during the war. I think that when he enlisted he was an adult at least meaning he was over 18.

It is possible that Dr Jean is second in age since she is a doctor and I imagine she graduated university and her studies and if the wold of Newfaire is at least a little like the 1900 then she must have been 18 when she graduated if not older and then she had some practice. She did mention that she either learned or rather put her learned skills to use during the war in the trenches.

Those facts would put both Nathaniel and Jean in their early 30 I'd say? Or just turned 30? Also, their character are just much more authoritative which may came from their position in society and profession but it just fits that sort of age. We know that Nathaniel was younger sibling but we do not know how much younger he was from his brother that drowned so that doesn't give us much perspective.

Then Marion. He said that he tagged along with Sean and his brothers Tony and Jimmy all the time. That would put them similar in age. That being said through I'm almost certain that Sean was the youngest of the siblings and we know for a fact that he enlisted illegally when he was 16. I'm assuming and knowing his character he did so because his brothers also enlisted. Which leads me to think that maybe Marion was closer in age to Sean's siblings even if it were by 2 or 3 years because he just doesn't strike me as a person that would enlisted illegally. Unless if course he saw Sean doing a big stupid and decided that someone has to keep an eye on him.

But even if they all (except for Auntie Bee) were of similar age there could be 2-3 or more age gaps between them. And we know, we KNOW for a fact that Sean enlisted ILLEGALLY.

Also, this is a shot in the dark but notice how Auntie Bee sort of feels like a motherly figure to Sean. She said that she promised his mother to keep an eye on him. If Sean and Marion has been friends from young age and if Auntie Bee knew Sean from way before the Candela can means two things. One, which is quite reasonable, that she doesn't feel that Marion needs as much protection and attention because he's more reasonable of the two (although very protective of Auntie Bee, the amount of bleed he took for her and she does treat him almost like a son) or TWO, she did made a promise to Sean's mother to keep an eye on him not only because he's a impulsive idiot but also he is simply young.

Brennan said that Sean is in his mid twenties, we don't know how long was the war but if it is based on Great War that means it lasted 4 years (at least!) I'm saying at least because if Sean enlisted at the beginning that would put him at 20 and if he enlisted later he'd be even younger.

Now come to think of it I might be stupid but I though I remembered that in Chapter 1 it was said that the war lasted a decade? I'm not sure, someone let me know so I can fix it but either way that would put Sean at 26.

So yeah, unless we know more in my mind Sean is the youngest of the Needle and the Thread.

[shyshiny]

Hello everyone! Good morning, afternoon or evening depending on when you see this post. Honestly, the direct that the creators of Monkey whench had with those of Lackadaisy (I hope I wrote it well) was fun! even though I didn't say much in the live X,D So after the live show I thought of the silly idea that both Shrike and Beebs were preparing to be interviewed or something stupid like that and well, this drawing came out. If anyone is wondering, the girl is another OC created by me, her name is Candela (or Cande, whatever you prefer to call her)

[grigori77]

Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 66

Stray Gods? Ooooh ... yeah, that does look pretty cool. And yeah, shout-out indeed to our own girls on board! And ... oh boy, here we go ... Sam's singing ... great ... and it's bloody awful as always ... that's it, Sam, make my ears bleed ...

Yes, last Candela Obscura ep coming SOON ... but I heard it's only the FIRST story, apparently there are more on the way?

Oh sweet, Daggerheart? Cool. Can't wait ...

And so we begin. Again. And I'm like STUPID excited about this one ...

Yay! Zephrah! Sweet! I've missed this place ...

And yes, Orym is home ... I'm so happy for our boy ... super nostalgia for him ...

Wow, that's a SHIT roll for Chetney's sense of smell, Travis ...

Strength Save? Already? Gah ... roll good, guys ...

It fucken wimdy ... and now we're losing THREE OF OUR PEOPLE!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

Oh, so it's just a welcoming committee? Sort of?

Yes! Hello Orym, yes, he's a welcome defuser of tension, definitely.

Maeve? Half-elf? Wait ... HIS SISTER?!!! Really? Awesome! Awwwww ... hello, cutie! :3

Take forms? Oh, so she's a druid? Cool! I mean yeah, of course she is, but still ... COOL!!!

There's a Nexus close? Crap ...

Whoa ... Maeve was AT THE BATTLE!!! Okay then ... and now it's all fucken CRAZY ... yeah, it would be ...

No communication with Whitestone? Crap ... but not unexpected ... and folk got scattered? Again, not a surprise ...

YOUR mom ... oh, so she was WILL's sister ... yeah, I get it. But slso awwww ...

No, I'm ahead of you, FCG. They're IN-LAWS.

Yeah, he was in love, very much ... and my heart's breaking all over again just remembering ...

Matt once again reminding us that Zephrah is one of the most beautiful places in all of Exandria ...

Maeve (regarding Laudna): "Is that her? She looks cooler than I thought." Awwwww ... :3

More reunions ... yeah ... awkward ... but yeah, hello Leeta ...

Red dragon? Thordak, yeah ... cool ... Nice trip down Campaign 1 memory lane ...

KEYLETH!!! Yay!

FCG tries to bow and just faceplants cuz he ain't got knees ...

Ouch ... that's gotta hurt ... that looks NASTY ...

Oh yeah! THE Staff! Nice!

Yup, just as we thought, it's that nasty shit poison again ... a remedy? Blue Perennium flower? Oh boy ... no, not LIKE THAT!!! Matt is irritated by the smutty jokes that now ensue and I don't blame him ... oh, how many PCs is he gonna kill for this? XD

So this COULD heal her? Oh yes ... so ... quest time again, maybe?

It grows in places marked by strife? Hmmmm ...

So there are THREE others hurt like her? Two dozen more dead? Ouch ...

The last thing SHE saw ... yeah, OF COURSE it was Vax ... this is gonna be hurting her WAY worse than her wounds ...

The white light? Hmmm ... so what, Illianna might have sent them all away to SAVE THEM? Interesting ...

Ah yes ... so here we go ... revealing Imogen's connection indeed ... Keyleth: "But you're here to help?" Oh yes ...

So the Ruby Vanguard are OPENLY recruiting now? That can't be good ...

Orym: "I've been struggling with the blood in my eye for weeks now. I've never been so fucking angry!" Oof ...

Keyleth: "Sometimes it's just what you need, so don't let go of that anger. Learn how to use it."

Orym: "I promise you I'll give you every last breath to make this right."

Keyleth: "Together we'll rain the fury of every power in Exandria down on these ... shitheads."

Get hold of the toxin, reverse engineer an antidote? Smart, Chetney, smart.

Yeah, Keyleth never really had that much to do with the gods, generally.

"The Ascension and the Sealing". Oh yeah ... so cool ...

Letting the Voice of the Tempest rest, then ...

Laudna: "We dropped the airship." Leeta: "That was you? That was GREAT!!!" Yeah ... :3

Ah yes, finding out what happened after they all got shunted away at last ...

27 ... Whispers! Yay! What's Leeta hiding, Fearne?

Wait, MOLES? Really? Like another Bor'Dor situation? Hmmmm ...

Thollo? Okay ...

The Scattered War of Gwessar? Intriguing ... so the Grey Valley is ... a creepy, fucked up place ... sounds about right. And apparently this is the SAFEST place for them go look for the flower? Ye gods ...

Liam: "We all know what you WANT to hear, Travis Willingham." XD

The Hishari helmet? Intriguing ... oh, here we go, then ... so Ashton COULD finally get some answers after this? Cool ...

So, going to meet Orym's mum ... sweet ...

Home sweet home! Cottagecore? Cute! :3

Awwwwwwwww ... she's the sweetest mum ever, hi Alma! Oh yeah, she DOES know Fearne already. And she's definitely fascinated by FCG ...

Oh yeah, Laudna does love her some biscuits ...

Oh, intriguing, the possibility that Chetney might hit on Alma ... XD

Such a lovely cosy place, I love it ...

Muffins? Really? Cool ...

No stealing stuff, Fearne. "I would never steal from a mother." Okay then ...

Yum! Freshly baked goodies! Yay!

Alma: "I worry about you, Orym. You carry a lot of weight on your face."

Whoa ... the Ashari have means to delay births to prevent babies from becoming Ruidusborn? Intriguing ...

Alma:"Just don't be a hero if you don't have to." Orym: "I just do what I have to, mom."

So Orym was a truly TINY baby? I mean OF COURSE he would have been ... awwww, the cavalcade of baby memento-based embarrassment for Orym, I love it ... XD

Recipes to go for FCG? Adorable ...

Chetney's carved a little wooden Orym for her? That's so cute ... is this Chet flirting? Wait ... Orym ACTUALLY HAD C-POP toys when he was little? Oh my gods ...

Orym: "Did you invent Optimus Prime?" Chetney: "I killed him, too." LOL

FCG trying to work out if Orym looks a little like Chetney ... 4 perception roll? Yeah ...

To Torth's shop for fresh armour, now ...

Sage and herbs in the metal AS IT'S BEING TEMPERED?!!! Intriguing ...

Old Fanny Z? Hmmmm ...

Oh, this place looks FASCINATING ... oh, and Fanny is too ... wow ... oh yeah, she is just FABULOUS, definitely ... XD

Fanny: "Anti-hero chic?" Oh yes ... that's perfect Ashton, definitely ...

Marisha: "Whitestone's for lovers, Zephrah's for fuckers." LOL

Meanwhile Laudna's flying Pate on a string like a kite. Pate: "Hey, there's a big hawk up here, circling! I think he wants to be friends!" O.O

Big-ass backpack? Okay ... so they need to fill THIS with the flowers ...

Oh boy ... a shit ton of healing potions ... NEVER a good sign of things to come ...

Whoa ... so Orym's fighting style is like THE regimental style of Zephrah? That's so cool ...

Maeve can do the tree portal thing too? That's so cool!

Matt: "And we're gonna go to break!"

Oh, so they're actually Blue Perennum flowers? Ah ... so basically Matt dug his own grave there ...

Liam: "I'm just glad we don't have to find some Taintweed." Snort ...

Always nice to get to see a pair of Jesters drawing little cartoon dicks in the air ... XD

Back to the game ... and the Grey Valley ... hmmmmm ...

The smell of ash and BURNED FAT?!!! That's not, like, foreboding at all ...

The whole place is COMPLETELY monochrome ... fascinating ... in a really creepy way ...

Perception check for blue flowers ... 30? Fucking hell Orym ... no joy, though. Not here ...

FCG doing a Divination spell on the inside of Orym's shield to find the way from the Changebringer ... oh ... is it working? Intriguing ... cool, another genuine divine visitation ... ooooooh ... and a marker? Cool ... go west, young man!

Chetney trying to get a read on the burned fat smell ... what ... a Religion check? Hmmmm ... oh, it's a smell of demons? Oh shit ... not great ...

Hello again, Pate ... he turns invisible and goes looking for possible demons and blue flowers ...

Single file, to hide their numbers ... and Pass Without A Trace? Okay ... sneaky sneaky ...

Lightning split trees? Yeesh ...

Bits of tarnished metal? Hmmmm ... that's suspicious ... not fresh, at least, but ...

So it's a helmet ... with a skull still in it? Not good ...

Nothing inherently fancy about any of it ...

Pate sees fuck all ... with a Nat 1 ... oof ...

FCG casts Death Ward on Orym in order to make sure they can get him back to his mum ...

Something's flying in ... TWO somethings, in fact ... bug and black ... black SMOKE?!!! Oh hell ... they don't spot thd party, but ... creepy ...

Chetney climbing a big rock to get a look round ...

Smells like a volcano? Lovely ... that's not a good sign ... and part of the forest is smoking ... great ...

Everybody's doing Pate impressions while Matt looks stuff up ... it's adorable. XD

Oh, the TREES are smoking? Hmmmm ...

FCG casts Owl's Wisdom on Fearne? Intriguing ...

Orange glow under the tree bark? Hmmmm ... FCG casts Detect Thoughts ... nothing in particular ...

Some kind of potential damage site? Hmmmm ...

An ash MARSH?!!! Seriously? Urgh ... hard going now ... no surprise there ...

Back onto solid ground without incident ... phew ... or not ... some kind of ancient battlefield now ... lovely ...

Something got badly charred here ... and there's some kind of dark crater? Hmmm ... AND there are flowers ... okay ... is it a trap?

Bollocks ... turns out Pate is colourblind ... THAT'S not exactly useful for finding the flowers ...

Pate land on the bush ... and falls into it. "They're thorny!"

Chetney goes in to try and see what's what ... and starts doing an English accent when he finds himself interacting with Pate.

So THESE are the flowers ... BINGO!!! Chetney starts cutting blooms, also casts Hunter's Bane just in case ... and he gets a little prickle of SOMETHING ... hmmmm ...

Oh fuck ... some of the bodies start moving ... great, it's undead time ... and there's something else there too ...

Okay, this thing definitely SOUNDS like a demon ...

Chetney pretends he doesn't actually see this thing znd starts to nonchalantly walk away ... yeah, this thing ain't convinced at all ...

Oh yeah ... "Roll initiative." HERE WE GO!!!

Battlemap time! Wow, that shit is BLEAK!!!

Top of the round, then ...

Here come the undead! Aaaaaaaah! Chetney's under attack ... crap, and he is now GRAPPLED ... oh shit, they're Ashari! It's some of the missing warriors!

Chetney: "Nuke us!" FCG: "I'm a healer! I don't Nuke!" Chetney: "Bring the falling fire!"

FCG casts Compulsion and they both FAIL!!! Now they're dragging Chetney through the nasty ashen mud ...

Imogen's up ... Laura has a very dubious plan ... Watery Sphere? Interesting ... she tries it on the demon ... a strength save? 17 plus more ... nuts ... then she uses her Telekinetic Shove to try snd free Chetney ... nope, it's like FREAKISHLY strong ...

The demon just SINKS INTO THE GROUND ... andnow it's FUCKING CLOSE to them all ... CRAAAAAAAP!!! A Soul Rend Vortex? WHAT THE FUCK?!!!

38 points of Necrotic damage to Orym and FCG, 19 to Fearne ... ouch!

Ashton RAGES!!! YEAH!!! Yeah, he's making some crazy gravitational wave as he charges the thing ... Density Well? So cool ... BOOM!!! 18 points of bludgeoning damage AND it's knocked prone ... AND some fire damage? 8 points! Nice .. but it's fiendish, so not yhat much of zn effect ... another attack ... another 19 points of damage because it's BIGGER than he is? Awesome ...

Orym performs a Disarming Attack to free Chetney ... yes! Success! AND 11 damage on the undead! Second hit ... only 8 points more? Not so good ...

Oh man ... Orym KNEW this guy? Crap ...

Chetney wolfs out ... he charges and while taking damage from the undead (8 Necrotic) as he moves away, inflicts LESS damage on the demon within ice attack than he'd like ... hmmm ... how CAN they kill this thing?

Fearne speaks Infernal? Of course she does ... "Stop it!" And here comes Mister ...

Laudna casts Mirror Image on herself, then ... oh man, that is HORRIFYING ... oh! Hey! It's the wolf! Laura is DEEPLY impressed! Matt: "That's your girlfriend!"

Here we go ... the wolf attacks the demon ... 14 piercing damage! Nice!

Oh crap ... now there are creepy shadow wraiths coming out of the marsh... great ...

A TOTAL MISS on Imogen! Phew ... now Ashton ... Erratic Defence? What is THAT?!!! Cuts it down to 11 points of Necrotic damage, but Fearne's fancy aura softens it ... now he's just chucking one of the wraiths around ...

An attack on FCG ... but Silvery Barbs from Laudna AND Fearne's spell saves the day AGAIN!!!

Undead longbow attack? Really? Both miss, though ... but the other one hits Orym with its sword ... crap!

Orym strikes back HARD!!! 15 points of damage! Nice ...

Spiritual Weapon from FCG ... a chainsaw? Really? Crazy ... attack on the undead! 7 points of radiant damage? Hmmm ... not THAT impressive ...

Imogen tries to get the Watery Sphere to actually DO SOMETHING this time ... okay, that's more like it ... ooh ... 4th Level Lightning Bolt AND it's Quickened by Ashton? Wow ... double hit INCLUDING the demon ... okay ... NINE D6 OF DAMAGE?!!! Fucking hell ... 24 points ... wow ...

Demon boy VANISHES again and reappears in front of Fearne? NO!!! Shit ... 10 slashing damage PLUS 13 Necrotic? Oof ... second attack CRITS ... 13 slashing and 21 Necrotic? AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! Damn, that hurts ...

Soul Rend? Crap ... EVERYBODY but FCG has to save ... oh man, this is all round SO BAD ... pain all round, but SOMEHOW Fearne still maintains her concentration ...

Ashton hits HARD on one of the wraiths ... POW!!!

Orym jumps over Mister and charges in to pull Bait and Switch on Fearne, then attacks the demon! POW!!! 18 points of damage all round! Oh shit ... another Ashari inside the demon? Not good ...

Chetney tries to just JUMP attack the demon ... in the end just GRAPPLES it ... okay ... second attack then ... still not that heavy with the ice damage ... hmmm ...

Fearne casts Daylight right on its chest ... oh shit! Oh, and that HURTS IT BAD!!! Nice! AND it repels EVERYTHING!!! Okay, then!

Mister chucks some flaming shit! XD 7 points of damage ... meh ...

FORM OF DREAD!!! YES!!! Always awesome ... Laudna sends Pate into the Watery Sphere and then twins a Shocking Grasp through him ... NAT 20!!! Oh shit! Pate: "Special delivery!" She electrocutes the guy ... and gets the HDYWTDT!!! Nice ... oh shit ... TWO kills? Way to go, dead girl!

Now the wolf attacks the demon again ... 11 damage! Sweet!

Undead attack on Fearne! Crap ... Laudna casts Silvery Barbs, but it still hits ... 12 slashing damage! Double crap ... and she's unconscious! NO!!!

FCG casts Mass Cure Wounds! Phew! 16 points all round! Nice! Fearne's back up!

Buzzsaw attack from FCG! Oh, Divine Strike? No ... ALMOST killed that zombie ...

Imogen chucks a 4th Level Witchbolt at the demon ... 42 points of damage ... and she gets the HDYWTDT!!! YESSSSSSS!!! Oh yeah, she full on LIGHTS THIS FUCKER UP!!! Oh yeah, the demon is TOAST.

For the sake of brevity, Matt lets the rest of the thralls die ... yeah, seems fitting ...

Orym finds a fading spirit within the demon's body ... oh man ... it's tragic, but bittersweet ... at least he gets to put her to rest in the end.

Ah, they at least found enough flowers before they died to fill a 3rd of the satchel ... cool. Meanwhile Orym's looking for personal effects, then performs last rites in the Ashari manner.

Moody, mournful wind ... hmmm ...

Matt: "And that's where we're gonna end the night."

All round, EVERYBODY is in awe of Ashley saving the day so it wasn't a TPK ...

[halffulltubofmintchip]

Recently celebrated my birthday and had the thought of what each pkgo character would get me. This is very self-indulgent and not at all serious. Slightly NSFW in Arlo's part

Prof. Willow: probably a bag, I'm a backpack boy for the space it provides and compartments

Candela: weights. She will watch me use them as weapons against Arlo as I aim them at his frontal lobe

Blanche: they like books, I like books, they'd get me a set of bookmarks or a list of recommendations (probs abt evolutionary biology)

Spark: he'd be the type to get anyone a gift bag filled with sweets. I'm a savory girly but if you give me those sour watermelon candies I'm having a ball

Giovanni: a pipe bomb on my doorstep, what a king!

Arlo: uh. He uh. I should keep this sfw but tbh I'd climb up into that stupid fucking balloon and join the 600 meter high club OSHA guidelines be damned. That's his gift to me

Cliff: a bag of buttered popcorn jelly beans (my favorite flavor) and he'd watch me tear into it before saying something like "you eat like a larvitar"

Sierra: go girl give us nothing! She'd just say "happy birthday" and make fun of me for liking Arlo because I deserve it

[elemental-plane]

hello welcome to my very official 100% correct definitely not insane or nonsensical tide and bone predictions

madam glask is actually the only normal one or she's the most fucked up one in the entire circle, no in between

the maw isn't gone yet don't ask me why i feel it in my bones

more beast shit?? perhaps??? maybe??? elsie being a badass bc she deserves it

oscar dies (again) and has to give up what memory he has left of cosmo, his wife, or himself

cosmo dies (I HOPE NOT I REALLY HOPE NOT BUT HE IS 97 LET'S BE REALISTIC HERE i'm sorry to my fellow cosmo enjoyers)

more with the locusts / hive with raj - maybe more info about his sister?

aabria makes me cry. this isn't a prediction it's a guarentee i'm just letting you all know that THE aabria iyengar will make me cry at some point

[hauntedfalcon]

I say I don’t think Sean was really talking to Peggy as he died, I think that was the dream hormone flooding his system in a moment when he was so happy and believed he earned the chance to apologize to her,

but

I’m also 5000% on board with Peggy having the Sight

[roxan-world]

Stupenda❣❣❣❣❣

Ricordati di trattarla come una “Principessa”

perchè è questo che tutte le donne sono

delle “Principesse”

Ricordati che quando guarda il vuoto,

pensierosa e triste,

ha bisogno di una tua carezza

senza fare troppe domande..

Ricordati che dopo aver fatto l’Amore

per lei

è importante che

tu

rimanga abbracciato

e la stringa forte..

..sarà bello farle capire che

sei presente anche dopo..

Ricordati che la mattina appena sveglio,

sarà bello darle un bacio sulla guancia..

mentre ancora dorme…

Ricordati di fermarti un istante a guardarla

mentre lei non ti vede..

per ricordarti quanto meravigliosa sia

nel suo viver quotidiano

Ricordati di portarle un fiore

quando meno se lo aspetta

perché dire “Ti Amo”

non ti autorizza a dare tutto per scontato

Ricordati che quando le dici

“Ti Amo”

lei ci crede…

sussurraglielo in un orecchio

ma poi diglielo sempre

guardandola negli occhi…

Ricordati che le attenzioni

che le hai rivolto

per conquistarla

devono durare in eterno…

perché lei non è di tua proprietà

Ricordati che tutto ciò che fai con lei

anche le cose stupide

sono speciali…

proprio perché lo fai con lei….

Ricorda di farla partecipe delle tue passioni,

perché magari non è vero

che lei

non ne capisce niente

Ricordati di darle un bacio

tenendole il viso tra le mani....qualche volta....

perché....

perché è bello

Ricordati che prima di fare l’Amore

i preliminari sono importanti,

soprattutto quelli che tu fai a lei

E ricorda di dosare bene

dolcezza e forza insieme

perché oltre che una “principessa”

è soprattutto una “Donna”

e tale la devi fare sentire

anche a letto

Ricordati che quando l‘accompagni

a fare shopping

un tuo consiglio può essere più importante di quanto pensi

Ricordati che lei a volte

ha bisogno di sensazioni forti,

di piacevoli imprevisti

Ricordati che è stupenda una sera sensuale

a lume di candela..

..ma che a volte è bello anche tirare il freno a mano

dell’auto all’improvviso

e fare l’amore

nel primo posto che ti capita

e fidati, fallo tu

prima che lo faccia qualcun altro

Ricordati che

le parole “Ti Amo”

non sono un saluto

Ricordati che quando ti parla ha bisogno di essere ascoltata

Ricordati che lei non è “tua madre”

ma a volte può essere “tua figlia”

prendila per mano e asciugale le sue lacrime

Ricordati

che lei è una stella

non farla cadere

Ricordati di custodirla come

un fiocco di neve su un palmo aperto

se lo chiudi si scioglie

Ricordati che per quanto tu possa soffrire….

…ne sarà sempre valsa la pena

Ricordati se ancora non l ‘hai fatto

di dirle che l’Ami

non solo quando siete soli

perché è bello gridarlo al mondo

Ricorda tutto questo

prima che lo ricordino le sue spalle mentre vanno via... ❤

Elio Mancuso.

[utilitycaster]

the thing is, the accounts on cr twitter who have these wild takes aren't even shippers

they're all about nuance about the gods, aeor, ludinus, ruby vanguard.....but then have these extreme views about orym, say he's got bloodlust and pretty much equate him to a cop/military soldier

Hey anon! So I will admit as I have in the past that I largely avoid CR Twitter because I hate Twitter as a platform and the community of CR Twitter specifically (more below) but I will say the tweets I have seen have largely been from people who are, if not the most rabid of shippers, shippers. I did in fact just go there and click on "Orym" as it was trending, and the tweets to this effect are largely from people with black and purple hearts in their names. I don't think they're necessarily conscious that this is the reason why they try so hard to discredit Liam's characters (and I think the desire for Laudna to be a Traumatized Innocent rather than a person who has done her own share of harm is an even larger factor) but I do think it is part of it.

I should note: a significant point of reference for me is that the person who famously said "do not uwuify this" re Orym post episode 63 is Wally Wests on Twitter. Look, I know I use the word "stupid" a lot, and I'm trying to reduce it not because I think it's a problem to use but because it reduces the impact and also heavily implying people are stupid without outright saying it tends to be more effective on every level but god this person is the dumbest motherfucker in the fandom and I'm not even kidding. Like, they're the "Australian white person who writes like Rupi Kaur but worse" I've referenced. Because of The Algorithm they are weirdly popular in that space and it baffles me because I honestly don't understand why every single thing they say isn't just filled with replies saying "are you fucking stupid." Like I physically cannot understand how you can have a brain and read a single word they say and go "this is a person I should listen to." They are also not a big shipper, but they do like the ship from what I understand. Specifically on Tumblr, the people echoing this nonsense are pretty much shippers.

With that said yeah, I do think it's worth addressing the soldier aspect. First off, if we're talking cops, why is Bryce, pleasant but forgettable minor NPC, inexplicably popular in this fandom despite them being an actual crownsguard of an actual authoritarian government. Like are all fictional cops bastards or no (fwiw my opinion is no, because the context of the world in which they exist is extremely important; I'm just pointing out the inconsistencies)? But also...I've run into this with Worlds Beyond Number too, and it actually came up on the Fireside chat, but there are words people hear (empire, religion, soldier) and automatically go "BAD BAD BAD" and don't spend any time thinking about how we've come to these conclusions. And for what it's worth I think Empire is always ultimately going to be bad because of its source in conquest; religion is neutral with the potential to harm or hurt; and soldier is deeply contextual and inherently gray; but all are very valid things to explore in fiction, where the war crimes and abuses aren't real. I remember seeing a take about Candela Obscura shitting on how half the party is former soldiers, and like...the messaging of this season of Candela is undeniably about the immense psychological damage of war, and the soldiers were defending their home against a colonizing force rather than doing any sort of invading, but some people are so high on a paper-thin unexamined concept of what I presume they tell themselves is leftism that they cannot see that. Orym's husband did not die trying to invade a nation for their oil. He died because people trying to unleash a horror ran an attack on their town as a practice run. Orym's experience as a soldier has always been one of defense, never conquest or destruction, and that is important to understand. It doesn't mean that in the future Zephrah couldn't become an oppressive power (and various worldbuilding in Exandria does explore the idea of small community watches or protective guards growing deeply corrupt or expansionist over time, but god knows the people saying this shit have the lore knowledge of a dead pigeon), but the aspects of being a soldier he is engaging with are those of personal sacrifice and protecting one's own, not killing for resources or ideology (which, let's be real, is usually an excuse to take the resources of those you disagree with).