#supernatural event category polls

[luulapants]

Which Supernatural event was more extreme?

Extremity should be rated not on a scale of moral superiority but based on which event caused you to see more shrimp colors, which was more shocking/delighting, or which caused more of a fandom-wide meltdown.

This is not a bracket which will have a winner but an effort to rank and categorize Supernatural events on a scale like natural disasters.

[antidiluvianobservatory]

We have a tie! Shadow Sea Pirate or Twilight Silk Tailor? I'll break the tie by deciding on Shadow Sea Pirate and we'll have a pirate princess! Next we'll pick a Quirk. In the rulebook there's another step before this called Traits in which you pick two Attributes (stats) to be higher than normal and one to be lower than normal, but I've skipped this step to simplify the process here.

A Quirk comes with both a buff and a debuff. They come in five different categories which I'll briefly describe below. Since we're a Rai-neko, we don't have access to the Eldritch or Robotic categories outside of houserules. Now, there are far too many options to list in a tumblr poll, so I'll pick three from each category we have access to.

Spirit - Mostly personality traits. Includes Curious, Stylish and Miser.

Physiology - Physical traits, whether it's your appearance, your physicality or something unusual about your body. Includes Adorable, Big Eater or Grasping Tresses.

Fate - Mostly magical traits or unusual events that had a big impact on you. Includes Mage Breaker, Past Injury and Dread Orator.

Eldritch - Weird traits or very magical ones. Often has a powerful buff and equally powerful debuff. Elves, Dwarves and Goblins have access to this instead of Fate Quirks.

Robotic - Traits specific to Bio-mechanoids representing different models or roles you were made for. Bio-mechanoids only have access to these and Spirit Quirks.

After we pick the Quirk the last step of character creation is choosing the finer details such as name, gender, appearance, equipment, etc. I'll skip this step and go straight to the story. If anyone has any ideas for any of these details, this is your last chance to suggest it in the comments.

[ao3feed-destiel-02]

Untitled Destiel Choose Your Own Adventure Fic

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/T2SQckL by Lilybob Dean is drinking a lot. Jack can't find Cas. Eileen and Sam are happy together and living in the bunker. Eileen and Bobby chose to come back to life. No one else did, though Jack offered. Dean can't figure out how to go on in world without his angel. *** You voted on Tumblr and I wrote it! This is the result of Untitled Destiel Choose Your Own Adventure Fic (UDCYOAF) tumblr polls. I will continue to post polls on tumblr where you can vote for tropes and events for the story. Winning choice gets written. I'm @alyssarabil on tumblr. So far you've voted for a post-finale, canon divergent, hurt/comfort story where Dean drinks too much because Cas is dead. But don't worry! They'll be reunited soon. Words: 1924, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Supernatural (TV 2005) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: F/M, M/M Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Jack Kline, Castiel (Supernatural), Bobby Singer (Supernatural), Eileen Leahy Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Dean Winchester, Lost Castiel (Supernatural), Jack Kline as God, Protective Bobby Singer (Supernatural), Binge Drinking, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Widower Dean Winchester, UDCYOAF, Choose Your Own Adventure, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Finale, POV Dean Winchester, POV Castiel (Supernatural), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/T2SQckL

[moonlighthollowss]

Adrienne’s Bachelorette Challenge - Casting Call

I’ve been itching to see the lovely Adrienne Vatore-Crow again, and to start a more interactive challenge for the blog. Well, the mysterious poll I made had a reason for being posted... :)

Meet the Bachelorette -

Adrienne Vatore-Crow, 25 Years Old, Vampire  

Traits: Outgoing, Foodie, High Maintenance

Adrienne Vatore-Crow, daughter of Markus Crow and Lilith Vatore, has been the longtime best friend of Nils Carla since they were teenagers. She’s an up-and-coming Style Influencer who is rarely involved with the mercurial politics of the occult world. Ever since Nils left Evergreen Harbor as a contestant of Christian Troyer’s Bachelor Challenge (created by @kalissimsblog) life has definitely changed for Adrienne.

Having broken up with her now ex, Scarlet, Adrienne is ready to start over in the relationship department. Why not broadcast those relationship attempts on television?

Contestant Rules -

Adrienne is a lesbian. Female / feminine presenting contestants only, please!

Supernaturals are welcome, but make sure they can blend in with the human world.

Vanilla/Banilla Sims only! I have plans for a Berry Sim related community challenge, but it isn’t now.

I am a Maxis Match CC user so Maxis Match CC is preferred to Alpha.

CC is fine, but please keep it to hair, skin details and one everyday outfit. The rest of their outfits’ CC will come from my own collection of CC. Please make sure to give me an idea of their style.

Please include at least two everyday outfits, two formal outfits, and one outfit in the other categories.

Traits wise, no romantic trait and no custom traits.

You can give them a maximum of five skills, but none above level three.

Additional Contestant Rules -

Contestants should have a bit of a past. Give them skeletons in their closets and flaws~ The contestants should have flaws that make them well-rounded.

If there are secrets to their past, that will not be revealed in their introduction post, DM me, on either (tumblr or discord) before the challenge begins. I’m good at keeping secrets.

Eliminations will be based on Adrienne’s relationships to the contestants. The sim with the lowest relationship will be eliminated from the competition. In the event of a tie, sentiments will be taken into account as well as various romantic/friendly interactions.

How to Submit a Contestant -

Make a post on tumblr introducing your contestant.

Give me an idea of their personality, traits, age, and where they are from. Feel free to give me as much or as little information as you want. The more information you include gives me a better understanding/writing your contestant.

Tag the post with #adrienne’s bachelorette challenge or #adriennevatorecrowbc and @ me.

Submissions close: March 1st 2022 at 11:30 PM EST.

[kakairu-rocks]

Yo! We’re back with some more forum news, and updates on the range of KakaIru events taking place!

Announcements

We have a new shining star in the Creator Spotlight; and that is the wonderful @hkandiu​! You can read about Hkandi and her creations here!

Our Meta Mondays have changed slightly! Instead of the random questions & discussions you’ve come to know, we’ve decided to try themed ones each month, instead! Come and see all our questions & discussions here!

If you’re a member, you can pledge your loyalty to one of the Great Five Nations, and earn a Hidden Village badge!

We also encourage you to visit us, and catch up on the activities and things you may have missed!  

These include:

The latest Meta discussion - What Winter Olympic sport would Kakashi & Iruka play?

The latest Naruto poll - Retired Gai vs Adult Lee: Who can handstand the longest?

The lastest Fic Recs - BAMF Iruka Umino Edition!

Doodles & Drabbles from our last Doodle Drabble Night!

New creations in our Fanworks category!

Events

Please keep in mind that the following KakaIru events are only the ones that we know about that you can still sign up for/ participate in, and that there may be others we’re not aware of.

If you know of one that we haven’t shared, you can add it to our Events Calendar or What’s Happening category, and we will promote them in our next update!

Forum Events:

1. June Doodle Drabble Night! This will be run on 24th June 8:00pm - 11:00pm US EST!

1. KakaIru Maze Challenge 2022: The Supernatural & Paranormal! You can SIGN UP for the mazes until 30th June, then on 1st July, the event kicks off!

Other Events:

1. Kakashi Week 2022! You can see the prompts now!

Thank you!

If you have any questions about what’s happening, please don’t hesitate to ask!

[krovscastlerpg]

Krovs Fight Club 2020 – Poll

Hello players!

We would like to have a second annual Krovs “Fight Club” as our August event this year, but we’ve been discussing some changes from last year. Staff will be allowed to participate and we are debating including vampires as well. However, given that vampires are notably much stronger in Krovs’ universe than most other species, we’d like to ensure that fights are still fair and many characters will have a chance to become champion, even if they square up against a vampire. 

We have created a mandatory poll HERE for all players interested in participating in this year’s Fight Club event. If anyone would like to have their characters join, please complete and submit this form by 11pm EST on Wednesday, July 29th. Please do not miss this deadline as we need these responses to determine how to run this event with the addition of vampires. This is so we can get a feel for which vampire characters would definitely be involved and precisely how strong they are compared to most of the slave/staff characters joining this year’s tournament. 

While players with multiple characters can include all of them in our Fight Club event, we only need to know the ones with the highest Fighter Points values for vampires and slaves/staff. Please see below for the Fighter Points calculations and include your highest scores where needed in the form. There are two separate calculations for vampires and non-vampires so please ensure you’re using the right one! If you’re unsure the final result you received is correct, you may reach out to us on the main and we can help double check the total is correct.

Players, please LIKE this post so we know it has been read. 

Thank you!

– Krovs Castle Admin Team

NON-VAMPIRE SPECIES FIGHTER POINTS

Please refer to our species and hybrids pages and start with your character’s power level number. 

For tri-hybrids and quad-hybrids, take the individual species power level numbers, add them all up, divide them by 3 (for tri-hybrids) or 4 (for quad-hybrids), and round down to the nearest whole number – this will be your character’s power level. 

AGE

Age plays a large factor in a character’s strength and power. The older the character, the more knowledgable and powerful they can be with their abilities. Add the following points to your character’s power level based on their age:

18 – 99 (0)

100 – 199 (+1)

200 – 499 (+2)

500 – 999 (+3)

1,000 – 4,999 (+4) 

5,000+ (+5)

FIGHT EXPERIENCE

Has your character had any of the following experience in fighting BEFORE this event? Add all options that may apply. (Please be honest based on your character’s bio and/or anything mentioned in threads/headcanons – don’t make something up just to make your character stronger than they actually are)

No experience (0)

Self defense / boxing / martial arts / wrestling / any other regular fitness training before this event was announced (+1) (NOTE: You may include any training done before last year’s fight tournament.)

Street / gang / underground fighting / supernatural hunting (+2) (NOTE: If your character participated with active threads – regardless of completion – in last year’s fight tournament, you may add an additional +1 to this bonus. Headcanons and non-dash participation do not count to gain this extra point bonus.)

Was involved in a rebellion against vampires before Krovs (+3)

Military training / participated in at least one war in their lifetime (+4)  (NOTE: This includes active thread participation from the fae battle against Lokie event in May 2019 – this does not count if your character was not involved in any actual threads on the dash)

FIGHTING STYLE / ADVANTAGES

Based on your character’s species and abilities, what sort of style/advantages do they have against other species? For hybrids, please check our hybrids page for your combined species and add the appropriate number.

No special abilities – Humans (0)

Enhanced physical abilities – Werewolves, Shapeshifters, Some Hybrids (+1)

Magical abilities – Witches, Faeries, Mermen, Elementals, Some Hybrids (+2)

Both enhanced physical abilities and some sort of magic – Demons, Celestials, Phoenixes, Spirits, Dragons, Some Hybrids (+3)

VAMPIRE SPECIES FIGHTER POINTS

SPECIES

Please refer to our species and hybrids pages and start with your character’s power level number. 

For tri-hybrids and quad-hybrids, take the individual species power level numbers, add them all up, divide them by 3 (for tri-hybrids) or 4 (for quad-hybrids), and round down to the nearest whole number – this will be your character’s power level.

AGE

Age plays a large factor in a character’s strength and power. The older the character, the more knowledgable and powerful they can be with their abilities. Add the following points to your character’s power level based on their age:

18 – 99 (0)

100 – 199 (+1)

200 – 499 (+2)

500 – 999 (+3)

1,000 – 2,400 (+4) 

2,500 – 4,900 (+5)

5,000+ (+6)

FIGHT EXPERIENCE

Has your character had any of the following experience in fighting BEFORE this event? Add any and all options that may apply. (Please be honest based on your character’s bio and/or anything mentioned in threads/headcanons – don’t make something up just to make your character stronger than they actually are).

Since most vampires are older than 1,000, for every 2,000 years of age, these choice options may be doubled. For example, a 4,000 year old vampire with both self defense (1 x 4 = 4) and military experience (3 x 4 = 12) would add a +16 to their total experience value. 

No experience (0)

Self defense / boxing / martial arts / wrestling / any other regular fitness training before this event was announced (+1)

Street / gang / underground fighting (+2) 

Military training / participated in at least one war in their lifetime (+3) (NOTE: This includes active thread participation from the fae battle against Lokie event in May 2019 – this does not count if your character was not involved in any actual threads on the dash) 

FIGHTING STYLE / ADVANTAGES

Based on your character’s species and abilities, what sort of style/advantages do they have against other species? For hybrids, please check our hybrids page for your combined species and add the appropriate number.

For vampire tri-hybrids, consult your individual species pages. If your combination of hybrids contains both enhanced physical abilities and some sort of magic, you would go with the second option. If your trio combination does not contain any magical abilities, you would stick with the first option’s value. 

In vampires, age equals strength, so the older a vampire is, the stronger his abilities are. For every 2,000 years of age in each of these categories, add another +1 or +2 to the base value. For example, a 6,000 year old Vampire/Demon would have a bonus of +8 (2 (base value) + 2 (2,000) + 2 (4,000) + 2 (6,000) = 8). A 5,000 year old Vampire/Shapeshifter would have a bonus of +3 (1 (base value) + 1 (2,000) + 1 (4,000) = 3).

Enhanced physical abilities – Vampires, Vampire/Humans, Vampire/Werewolves, Vampire/Shapeshifters, Vampire/Spirits (+1)

Both enhanced physical abilities and some sort of magic – Vampire/Mermen, Vampire/Witches, Vampire/Dragons, Vampire/Faeries, Vampire/Demons (+2)

[teaespensonawards]

T.E.A. Nominations Are Open!

It’s 2020 T.E.A. Nomination time!

Dearest Rumbellers, at last it’s time to go back and look at the fics and artwork that you enjoyed during the last year and let us know which of them you want to see on the 2020 T.E.A. ballot. 

We have just a few updates in regards to categories again this year. Rumbelle Revelry and May Day Menagerie are not on the list this year because they didn’t happen. Best Post-Ep Fic will be staying this year, but the Ratings category is gone. The Anyelle category is open for all Anyelle pairings, including Ogilvelle and Sutherelle. There have been a few additions thanks to both the poll and reviving older categories from previous years - you’ll find those when you have a look at the Nominations list below.

As for the dates you’ll be able to nominate between…

Nominations begin January 3, 2020 Nominations are due by January 20, 2020, 11:59 pm (CST)

Just in case you may need a refresher on the T.E.A. Rules, there's the link.

Here is the Submit Page, where you’ll send in your nominations. Don’t forget to include the work’s title and its creator when nominating fic and art! And please be sure you have the creator correct.

Keep in mind that during the nominations phase, you can submit as many nominations as you like. You are not limited to one nomination per category. Nominate out the wazoo, if you feel like it! And if you forget something, you can come back and nominate more creations all the way up to the due date.

Hit up our Ask Box if you have any questions!

And now, the categories for the 2020 T.E.A.s! Below is the list you’ll copy and paste into the blank on the Submit Page to send in. Please click through the read-more here to see the full list of categories for which you can nominate fandom creations for this year. Look out below!

2019 NOMINATION CATEGORIES

FLUFF

Family

Comfort

Fix-It

Reunion

Best Child Fic (fluffy fic centered on children in the Rumbelle family)

SMUT

Kink

Romance

Comedy

Threesome

Best First Time

Best Afterlife Smut

PWP

BDSM

ANGST

Why?

Death

Oops

Hurts so good

ROMANCE

Best Date (Overall)

Best Hamburger Date

Best Courtship

Best First Meeting

Best RomCom

Best Bathing Scene

GENERAL AWARDS

Best One-Shot

Best Drabble

Best Post-Ep Fic

Best Comedy Fic

Best Movie AU

Best Book AU

Best TV Show AU

Best AU Inspired By Other Media (including but not restricted to video games, musicals/plays, and graphic novels)

Best Historical AU

Best AU

Best AU!OUAT

Best Series

Best Novel Length Fic (does not have to be finished, but must be a minimum of 40k words to qualify)

Best Holiday Fic

Best Remix

Best Crossover Fic

Best Dark Castle

Best Storybrooke

Best Travel (taking place outside of Storybrooke or Dark Castle)

Best “Missing Years” Fic (taking place between Gideon’s birthday party and That Thing that happened in ‘Beauty’)

Best Argument (Angst)

Best Argument (Fluff)

SPECIAL CATEGORIES

Best Golden Lace

Best Woven Lace

Best Woven Beauty

Best Rumbelle Poly Ship (ex: Golden Swan Beauty, Mad Golden Beauty)

Best Background Swanfire

Best Side Pairing

Best Afterlife Fic

Best Crack!Fic

Best Drama

Best Supernatural

Best Sci-Fi

Best Horror

Best Creature AU

Best Unexpected Twist

Best Dark One Lore Fic

Best Bobby Squared (a fic featuring more than one Bobby character, including multiple instances of Gold and/or Rumple)

Best Trope

Best Trend

Best Meta

Best Prompter

EVENTS

(All fics in these categories are limited to 2019 events only.)

Rumbelle Secret Santa

Rumbelle Christmas in July

Fluffapalooza

Monthly Rumbelle (Non-smut)

Monthly Rumbelle (Smut)

Rumbelle is Hope

Rumbelle Monsterfuckers Ball

Rumbelle Big Bang

CHARACTER AWARDS

Best Belle

Best Dark One!Belle

Best AU Belle

Best Lacey

Best Detective Weaver

Best Dark One

Best Mr. Gold

Best AU!Gold/Rumple

Best Spinner!Rumple

Best Woobie!Rum

Best Wish!Rumple

Best Gideon

Best Baelfire/Neal

Best OC Rumbelle Child

Best (Worst) Villain

ART

Best Fan Art

Best Cover Art

Best Graphic Art (GIFs)

Best Graphic Art (Still Images)

Best AU in Art (encompassing traditional art, gif sets, still photo sets, etc.)

Best Fluff Art

Best Angsty Art

Best Smutty Art

Best Comic/Graphic Novel

Best Dark One Form

Best Use of Color

Best Video

Best Artist

Best New Artist

- BEST AUTHOR

- BEST NEW AUTHOR

- BEST RUMBELLE FIC

- BEST ANYELLE FIC

- BEST ANYEM FIC

- Rumbelle Fandom Lifetime Achievement Award Awarded to a person who has done something spectacular in the fandom. Either by making people feel welcome, organizing events, or simply embodying the Rumbelle fandom as a whole.

- Newbie Spotlight This award goes to people who began contributing to the Rumbelle fandom since the last T.E.A.s. Those eligible include new writers, artists, gif-makers, etc. Anyone who creates content for the fandom. This category is not voted upon - every newbie whose name is put forth is added to the Spotlight list so that older members of the fandom can get to know them and their work!

And that’s it! Those are our categories for the 2019 T.E.A.s!

RELEASE THE NOMINATIONS!

[usuknetwork]

USUK Halloween Bash 2019

 It’s that time of year where spooky ghouls come, all types of supernatural occurrences happen, and people try on ridiculous costumes to get a piece of candy. America and England are dressing up this year for their annual Halloween bash. But as what? We’re holding a contest to see your ideas!

RULES

ARTISTS

 The rules are simple! Design a costume/outfit for both Al and Arthur to deck out in and draw it out in a standard illustration. The image drawn should be a full-body of both characters (Arthur Kirkland & Alfred F. Jones from Hetalia, regular or nyotalia, any Halloween-related AU).

WRITERS

We have two costumes already designed for you in our prompt images. Write out a scenario based on these images. Note that this scenario is not restricted to arriving at a costume to wear for Halloween, so if these images inspire you to create a supernatural AU that details the meeting of these two and their relationship, go for it! The writing has to have some relevance to these images, however, so we expect the writer to intersperse detailed descriptions of what the characters are wearing and their overall appearance here and there. 

BUT HOW DO I SUBMIT WORK?

When posting your piece on Tumblr, please tag the submission with #USUKHalloweenBash2019 and @ us! Cross-posting to other social media platforms is allowed, but we will be using Tumblr exclusively to keep track of submissions.

JUDGING PROCESS

After everyone has submitted by the deadline (October 31st), we will send out a link poll through email form for a popular vote within a week or so. The voting period closes 3 weeks after the event deadline on November 22nd in order to give everyone ample time to review all the wonderful content created for this event. For those participating in the event, voting is MANDATORY to have your piece counted and you need to vote for someone other than yourself! 

As this email form will require each participant/voter’s email address and Discord username, we will contact the winners through the given information before December 1st.

PRIZES

1st place prizes for the winners in both the writing and art categories:

Three separate USUK glossy prints in 5x7 size, and the Halloween Event sticker (as shown in the banner above) presented by @naueth

Three custom one-shot fanfictions (SFW, @thenarcolepticone, @whymsical-for-you, and @rantingfangirl. 

Samples of each author’s work: Narco Whym Katie

(Both winners of the contest – that means one writer and one artist – will each win this prize pack!)

Have a very spoopy Halloween, and good luck to all those who participate!

[thinkersplayground]

It is really laughable to see what different ideas are prominent in various naturalists’ minds, when they speak of ‘species’… It all comes, I believe, from trying to define the indefinable. —Charles Darwin, letter to Johnathan Hooker (December 24th, 1856)

One of the ideas that still misdirects thinking in much of the world is Creationism: That life and all of its diversity came into being through a supernatural act of God, rather than through natural forces that are gradually developing over time.

Despite an ever-growing amount of evidence, creationists, under the guise of Intelligent Design, still try to oppose the natural origins of life with specious argumentation.

Although nearly every culture had creation myths, the Judaeo-Christian story that God created the Universe from nothing in seven days has thrived for almost three thousand years, and is undoubtably the most prevalent creation myth.

The concept of distinct groups of living things is tacitly baked into Judaeo-Christian belief. God created plants, animals, then humans on different days; The entire sub-order of snakes (Serpentes) was cursed by God to crawl on its belly for deceiving Eve; Humans are considered to be distinctly different from animals, and were granted dominion over them; and didn’t God instruct Noah to take two of every kind on his Ark to preserve them (species is Latin for kind)?

Western philosophy has also played a key role in shaping how we perceive and organise various categories of living things, with Plato and Aristotle being the most notable contributors. Plato’s introduction of Universal Forms claimed that there are ideal forms of each thing, and that all of the real things we see on Earth are merely copies of them. In other words, somewhere outside of space and time, there exists a perfect blueprint for a dog, and your pet dog is an imperfect attempt to copy this perfect dog. This claim presupposes the existence of a particular thing called “dog” that has always existed and will always exist, cementing the species dog for eternity.

Aristotle was, in many ways, a more sensible philosopher than his predecessor Plato. He laid many of the foundations for modern science, including the idea that the Universe is made up of continual and causally connected series of events—everything is part of a single continuous process. However, in an effort to better understand the world, Aristotle named and categorised every living thing around him—which again, enforced the notion of separate and distinct categories of living things.

One doesn’t have to be an ancient philosopher to conclude that there are separate and distinct groups of living creatures. When we look around, we see that butterflies are different from bees, and dogs are different from dandelions. And for most of our history, people would only come into contact with a handful of the different forms of life that we now know of.

It should be fairly uncontroversial then to claim that our personal experience, our shared belief systems, and the roots of our cultural philosophies have all trained us to perceive the natural world as being separated into different and distinct groups of living things.

On the Origin of Species

Until about two hundred years ago, this way of thinking remained essentially unchallenged, but started to shift when a group of scientific thinkers known as “naturalists” began to recognise and speculate over the dynamics of evolution. Most notably, Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species presented an alternative view of life in which the diversity we see gradually emerged over an immense amount of time, and that all species probably shared a single common ancestor.

I believe that animals have descended from at most only four or five progenitors, and plants from an equal or lesser number. Analogy would lead me one step further, namely to the belief that all animals and plants have descended from some one prototype… Therefore I should infer from analogy that probably all organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial form, into which life was first breathed. —Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species

Around the same time, fossils of extinct species were beginning to be discovered and studied, and the science of palaeontology emerged. Our increasing understanding of the historical fossil record, and advancements in genetics and microbiology have all tested and validated the essence of Darwin’s ideas.

Still, recent Gallup Polls show that over 40% of people in the USA believe that God created all life on Earth in its present form.

“Intelligent Design”

Religious opposition to the view that life’s origins are natural tends to centre around deliberately misleading claims. Proponents of Intelligent Design (creationism disguised as science) can often be caught misrepresenting scientific ideas in the hope that their audience is not able to recognise the flaws in their arguments.

One of the most common arguments against a natural origin of life, which intelligent designists like to make, is to claim that:

Evolution can only occur within a species, and cannot create new species.

In other words, dogs can be domesticated from wolves, but breeding dogs could never create something that is not a dog. New species, it is presumed, can only be created in the mind of the Creator.

The problem with this argument is that it’s based on a somewhat false premise, and one that was created by biologists.

The problem with species

Many biologists have struggled with providing clear rules for defining what makes a species distinct from another. When scrutinised, the rules for separating the different types of living things all seem to have problems with them. There isn’t even an agreement on the number of different definitions of species, let alone an agreement on a definition (some consider there to be seven main definitions, some twenty-six, some thirty, and so on). This is known as The Species Problem.

This is not a new problem. In On the Origin of Species, Darwin wrote:

Nor shall I here discuss the various definitions which have been given of the term species. No one definition has as yet satisfied all naturalists; yet every naturalist knows vaguely what he means when he speaks of a species.

To provide just a few examples of species definitions: The Phenetic Species Concept defines a species as a group of organisms that look significantly similar to each other. The Recognition Species Concept defines a species as a group of organisms that will recognise each other as mates. And the Genealogical Species Concept defines a species by how genetically similar organisms are to each other in comparison to other groups

But the definition that has become the most popular, is what is known as the Biological Species Concept, which describes a species as the largest group that can potentially breed with each other, and share in a gene pool.

No term is more difficult to define than “species,” and on no point are zoologists more divided than as to what should be understood by this word. —H. A. Nicholson

Proponents of Intelligent Design use this Biological Species Concept to argue that natural selection can not explain the diversity of life, since a species can, by definition, only interbreed within its own gene pool, and will only produce offspring that are also of their same species. And so, organisms are perpetually trapped to share genetic information only within the confines of their species. In technical terms, they allow for microevolution (which is irrefutable), but not macroevolution (which may challenge deeply held religious beliefs).

But the slow and gradual process of small changes producing new species (which they deny) can be seen in action in a phenomenon known as ring species—populations that can share a gene pool with a more distant population through an intermediary population.

For example, suppose population A and population B are similar enough to interbreed. And population B and population C are similar enough to interbreed. But A and C are geographically separated, and A is too genetically distant from C to interbreed. In such cases, A and B could be considered the same species, and B and C the same species, but A and C are, by our definition, distinct species.

There are numerous examples of ring species in nature, sometimes with many compatible intermediary populations, but two or more that are incompatible at the extremes. This can be thought of as a geographical example of what has probably taken place over time, for hundreds of millions of years—just replace the geographical barrier separating the different populations for a time barrier instead.

It should be apparent then, that even our best working definition of species cannot accurately model the reality of the diversity found in nature.

The glaring problem with the creationist argument about species is that species don’t really exist—at least not in the way that they would like them to. Rather, they are a construct created by humans to help us make sense of the world.

The concept of a species is a concession to our linguistic habits and neurological mechanisms. —John B. S. Haldane

Often in nature, things change gradually, slowly, and by degree. It’s only when enough changes in degree have taken place that we perceive them to be a difference in kind. In reality, the natural world is a near-infinite collection of individual entities that are more or less related to each other by degree.

To help us organise and make sense of the infinite diversity found in nature, we have to create some system that allows us to identify and describe the differences and similarities that exist at every level of life, and biologists have done well with this Herculean task. But these groupings will always be arbitrary, or suitable for certain purposes but not for others.

The claim that evolution can only occur within a species, and can never lead to new species, can be demonstrated false by recognising that there isn’t such a thing as species to begin with. The bold lines and distinct categories between different groups of species that creationists would like there to be, simply do not exist.

[ficswithluv]

Week 17 voting is open!

Every week (excluding special events such as birthday weeks or holidays), our followers get to pick what our rec category will be! We try and give suggestions that encompass the following: aus, genres, kinks, sfw tropes, nsfw tropes. It’s up to you to decide which category will be chosen! We will always have one nsfw option and one more sfw option, to cater to all readers!

Voting closes Monday 8am KST, when the winner will be posted.

Options for this week:

Jimin + Coworkers

Jimin + Exhibitionism

Jimin + Supernatural

Want to send in your votes? Access the poll here! ⏤ Please note that if your ask doesn’t contain one of these three categories, it will not be counted. We welcome category suggestions for future weeks and will note any down, but these are the three options for this week. ⏤ One vote per person per week.

[luulapants]

Which Supernatural event was more extreme? ROUND 2

Extremity should be rated not on a scale of moral superiority but based on which event caused you to see more shrimp colors, which was more shocking/delighting, or which caused more of a fandom-wide meltdown.

This is not a bracket which will have a winner but an effort to rank and categorize Supernatural events on a scale like natural disasters.

[catdemontraphouse]

#ALOUIJA CHALLENGE

In Black Butler season two, Earl Alois Trancy was viciously killed by a nearsighted demon with no life. May he rest in peace. To honor this little shit, I will be hosting a series of supernatural Alois challenges! 

To enter, just put the hashtag #alouijabb on your entries and specify which challenge it’s for, and I’ll check it out! This event will be held on both tumblr and Black Butler amino.

Prizes:

1st place category winner: A free tarot reading by me with whatever tf deck u pick that I have lol

2nd place category winner (or if you already won first for another category, you greedy bastard): Alois Trancy themed edit for your profile on either Amino or Tumblr

⚜️👻Challenge one: if you were to contact Earl Trancy from beyond the grave with a ouija board, what would he say? Funniest one wins!

⚜️👻Challenge two: Draw a spooky image of Alois pertaining to ouija boards/ghosts/etc. IT NEEDS TO BE SPOOKY OK? Think halloween type of shit; supernatural stuff!

⚜️👻Challenge three: Cosplay a spooky Alois... ONCE AGAIN, IT NEEDS TO BE SPOOPY I’m talking ghosts and shit, man! Picture, video, whatever you feel like doing for the medium is fine. (no pun intended) 

⚜️👻Challenge four: Write a short story pertaining to the theme of Alois Trancy and ghosts! 

⚜️👻Challenge five: Make a video/photo edit with the same theme as I’ve listed above five times already lol. I.E. ALOIS TRANCY SPOOPY GHOST 

You can enter as many of these five categories as you’d like, but you can only enter *once* per challenge! 

CONTEST ENTRIES CLOSE MAY 31st [ that gives you like, four weeks]

your entries can be serious, comedic, whatever; I don’t really care what sort of vibe you go for lol 

Winners will be determined by public polls on both platforms BUT I WILL INCLUDE ALL ENTRIES IN A MASTERPOST AT THE END BECAUSE I WANT TO SHOW OFF ALL THE LOVELY ART

[ao3feed-destiel-02]

Untitled Destiel Choose Your Own Adventure Fic

Untitled Destiel Choose Your Own Adventure Fic https://ift.tt/jxmT43q by Lilybob Dean is drinking a lot. Jack can't find Cas. Eileen and Sam are happy together and living in the bunker. Eileen and Bobby chose to come back to life. No one else did, though Jack offered. Dean can't figure out how to go on in world without his angel. *** You voted on Tumblr and I wrote it! This is the result of Untitled Destiel Choose Your Own Adventure Fic (UDCYOAF) tumblr polls. I will continue to post polls on tumblr where you can vote for tropes and events for the story. Winning choice gets written. I'm @alyssarabil on tumblr. So far you've voted for a post-finale, canon divergent, hurt/comfort story where Dean drinks too much because Cas is dead. But don't worry! They'll be reunited soon. Words: 1924, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Supernatural (TV 2005) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: F/M, M/M Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Jack Kline, Castiel (Supernatural), Bobby Singer (Supernatural), Eileen Leahy Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Dean Winchester, Lost Castiel (Supernatural), Jack Kline as God, Protective Bobby Singer (Supernatural), Binge Drinking, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Widower Dean Winchester, UDCYOAF, Choose Your Own Adventure, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Finale, POV Dean Winchester, POV Castiel (Supernatural), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence via AO3 works tagged 'Castiel/Dean Winchester' https://ift.tt/GQDr5HN August 19, 2024 at 11:40PM

[spellboundinks]

I Want Your Opinion!

Writing is hard. Anyone who has tried to form words in a sentence probably knows that. I have 100+ wips. It is not helping me at all. This is where you all come in. I have chosen the wips that are closest to my heart (and the most thought out). By a nice turn of events I have exactly 25. A pretty nice number and nearly a quarter of my ideas. 

I have set up a poll, and I would like you to select which works you find the most interesting. I desperately need to focus my attention vs trying to work on everything at once.

My WIPS:

Atlatica - A fantasy land with twenty different kingdoms, a princess about to become queen, and a warrior trained alongside wild animals. 

Nellie - An elf princess who seeks a way to prevent the death of magic in her community, accompanied by a genderfluid sorcerer.

The Protectors - Long ago a sorcerer put up barriers to keep other dimensions and the creatures they hold away from ours, now they’re falling. 

In the Heart of the Woods - Faerie magic is quickly and quietly becoming a thing of the past. In what used to be one of the most thriving faerie communities, faeries are turning up dead at an alarming rate. 

Servants of Death - Reapers train in an academy before they reap souls, and new graduates are assigned to other reapers to gain experience in the field. One reaper, Michael, did not want to take on an apprentice. 

The Tower of Victory - In a small town, there is a tower that extends to the heavens with no end in sight. Every year, a group of volunteers make it their quest to climb the tower to its full extent. None have ever returned alive. 

Elementals - Elementals are individuals whose families were gifted with special abilities from the Divine. It is essential that the elements work together to keep balance in Caelum. When the shadow elemental, Vissarion kidnaps the light elemental he creates a power imbalance that threatens the lives of everyone. 

Guardians - At birth, humans are assigned angelic guardians to watch over them. Guardians pose as real people in an individual’s life. Ares is the older brother and guardian of Stephen, but unlike other guardians, he doesn’t know he isn’t human. 

Ace Pendleton - Ace acts as a doorman in the underworld, leading souls from one side to the next. Until an important soul escapes on his watch; a girl destined to defeat the Devil. Ace has seventeen days to retrieve the girl, facing eternal punishment if he should fail. 

The Magic of Us All - A series of fairy tale retellings set in the present day. Brielle’s neighbour lives secluded on his family’s farm, cursed as a beast; Ketsia’s only family is her grandmother until she reconnects with a brother she thought was dead; and more. 

The Wrong Kind of Magic - At a camp for mages, campers are divided into two categories – red and blue, which depend on the type of magic at their core. The camp has a history of missing campers, however, and it doesn’t take long for Nianzu and his friends to discover why. 

In Darkness We Run -  Laelia and Bel have trained all their lives to become explorers like their grandmother. To seek out other realities and master traveling between dimensions. It is in the darkness between worlds that they run for their survival.

Fate Connects Us - Two siblings are cursed at birth to share the same fate. If one is injured, so shall the other. If one dies, they both die.

The Elevator Game - Five teens decide to partake in the elevator game; an urban legend that insists by visiting a number of levels in a particular order, players will open a door to another world. 

Wayward Souls - A young girl’s sister is possessed by a demon, and she lights candles and lanterns to attract supernatural assistance. 

Behind the Glass - A girl finds herself to be dead and part of an exhibit at a museum for haunted and possessed artifacts. 

Age of the Beasts - A group of scientists take a time machine to the dinosaur age and become stranded. 

The Race - In the future, a dangerous and highly competitive race is televised annually. Three years ago, Tyler’s sister entered and died. Despite the risks, Tyler decides to finish the race her sister never could. 

Clones -  Two superheroes - one is real and one is a clone. Neither knows who the real one is. 

Children of Monsters - Ms. Nancy fosters a group of magical and supernatural children who would otherwise have nowhere to turn. 

The Nighttime Express - Seventeen year old Foster Salcedo doesn’t remember boarding the Nighttime Express, but knows wherever its headed is no place he wants to be. 

Experimentation - A group of teens are experimented on with the DNA of various mythological creatures. 

Monsteria - In a world of monsters, Monsteria is a 24 hour diner staffed with all kinds of monsters. Including a vampire baker and clumsy angel dishwasher. 

Matchstick - A young superhero accidentally travels to the future where he meets and joins the most famous team of the time, lead by the hero Matchstick.  

Septima’s Ravens - A retelling of the classic fairy tale The Seven Ravens in which a girl has seven brothers who are turned into ravens.

THE LINK TO THE POLL: http://pollmaker.vote/p/FH2YYUBI

Please help me out and spread this. The more votes, the more helpful this will be in making a decision. You can vote for more than one. 

Feel free to ask me any questions about any of the wips!

[kakairu-rocks]

Yo! We’re back with some more forum news, and updates on the range of KakaIru events taking place!

Announcements

We have a new shining star in the Creator Spotlight; and that is the wonderful @llsilvertail​! You can read about silvertail and her creations here!

Come and sign up for Forum Missions to work your way into our next Seasonal Raffle! You will have until 30th June to complete just one line of super easy tasks on your 3x3 card. Do this three times in a year (or complete your card just once), and you will go into our End Of Year Raffle, which has an even greater prize to win. We definitely recommend giving it a go!

If you’ve ever wanted to be a part of one of the Hidden Villages, you can also pledge your loyalty to one of the Great Five Nations, ready to aid your village when duty calls…

We also encourage you to visit us, and catch up on the activities and things you may have missed!  

These include:

The latest Meta discussion - What jobs would Kakashi & Iruka have in a Harry Potter AU?

The latest Naruto poll - Who would play the most unique instrument?

The lastest Fic Recs - Domestic Edition!

Doodles & Drabbles from our last Doodle Drabble Night!

New creations in our Fanworks category!

Events

Please keep in mind that the following KakaIru events are only the ones that we know about that you can still sign up for/ participate in, and that there may be others we’re not aware of.

If you know of one that we haven’t shared, you can add it to our Events Calendar or What’s Happening category, and we will promote them in our next update!

Forum Events:

1. KakaIru Maze Challenge 2022: The Supernatural & Paranormal! We are looking for PROMPT suggestions for the mazes until 31st May, then on 1st June, sign ups will open!

Other Events:

1. Kakashi Week 2022! You can see the prompts now!

Thank you!

If you have any questions about what’s happening, please don’t hesitate to ask!

[teaespensonawards]

T.E.A. Nominations Are Open

It’s officially Nomination time!

My dear Rumbellers, it’s time to pore over all those fics and pieces of art that you fell in love with over the past year and start telling us which you would like to see on the ballot! 

There have been some changes to categories this year - but only in the addition sense. Nothing has been taken away. All of the categories from the 2018 T.E.A.s are still there. We’ve just added a few that, according to the poll last month, a large number of you would enjoy seeing awards given for! As for this part of our schedule...

Nominations begin January 4, 2019 Nominations are due by January 20, 2019, 11:59 pm (CST)

Just in case you may need a refresher on the T.E.A. Rules, there they are.

Here is the Submit Page, where you’ll send in your nominations. Don’t forget to include the work’s title and its creator when nominating fic and art!

Please keep in mind that during the nominations phase, you can submit as many nominations as you like. You are not limited to one nomination per category. Nominate out the wazoo, if you feel like it! And if you forget something, you can come back and nominate more creations all the way up to the due date. 

And hit up our Ask Box if you have any questions!

All right, without further ado, the categories! Below is the list you’ll copy and paste into the blank on the Submit Page to send in. Please click through the read-more here to see the full list of categories for which you can nominate fandom creations for this year.

2019 NOMINATION CATEGORIES

FLUFF

Family

Comfort

Fix-It

Reunion

Best Child Fic (fluffy fic centered on children in the Rumbelle family)

SMUT

Kink

Romance

Comedy

Threesome

Best First Time

Best Afterlife Smut

PWP

BDSM

ANGST

Why?

Death

Oops

Hurts so good

ROMANCE

Best Date

Best Courtship

Best First Meeting

GENERAL AWARDS

Best One-Shot

Best Drabble

Best Post-Ep Fic

Best Comedy Fic

Best Movie AU

Best Book AU

Best TV Show AU

Best AU Inspired By Other Media (including but not restricted to video games, musicals/plays, and graphic novels)

Best Historical AU

Best AU

Best AU!OUAT

Best Series

Best Holiday Fic

Best Remix

Best Crossover Fic

Best Dark Castle

Best Storybrooke

Best Travel (taking place outside of Storybrooke or Dark Castle)

Best “Missing Years” Fic (taking place between Gideon’s birthday party and That Thing that happened in ‘Beauty’)

SPECIAL CATEGORIES

Best Golden Lace

Best Woven Lace

Best Woven Beauty

Best Rumbelle Poly Ship (ex: Golden Swan Beauty, Mad Golden Beauty)

Best Background Swanfire

Best Side Pairing

Best Afterlife Fic

Best Crack!Fic

Best Drama

Best Supernatural

Best Creature AU

Best Unexpected Twist

Best Dark One Lore Fic

Best Bobby Squared (a fic featuring more than one Bobby character, including multiple instances of Gold and/or Rumple)

Best Trope

Best Trend

Best Meta

Best Prompter

EVENTS

(All fics in these categories are limited to 2018 events only.)

Rumbelle Secret Santa

Rumbelle Christmas in July

May Day Menagerie

Fluffapalooza

Monthly Rumbelle (Non-smut)

Monthly Rumbelle (Smut)

Rumbelle is Hope

CHARACTER AWARDS

Best Belle

Best Dark One!Belle

Best AU Belle

Best Lacey

Best Detective Weaver

Best Dark One

Best Mr. Gold

Best AU!Gold/Rumple

Best Spinner!Rumple

Best Woobie!Rum

Best Wish!Rumple

Best Gideon

Best Baelfire/Neal

Best OC Rumbelle Child

RATINGS

Best of General Audience

Best of Teen+

Best of Mature

Best of Explicit

ART

Best Fan Art

Best Cover Art

Best Graphic Art - Gifs

Best Graphic Art - Still Images

Best AU in Art (encompassing traditional art, gif sets, still photo sets, etc.)

Best Fluff Art

Best Angsty Art

Best Smutty Art

Best Comic/Graphic Novel

Best Dark One Form

Best Use of Color

Best Video

Best Artist

Best New Artist

- BEST AUTHOR

- BEST NEW AUTHOR

- BEST RUMBELLE FIC

- BEST ANYELLE FIC

- BEST ANYEM FIC

- Rumbelle Fandom Lifetime Achievement Award Awarded to a person who has done something spectacular in the fandom. Either by making people feel welcome, organizing events, or simply embodying the Rumbelle fandom as a whole.

 - Newbie Spotlight This award goes to people who began contributing to the Rumbelle fandom since the last T.E.A.s. Those eligible include new writers, artists, gif-makers, etc. Anyone who creates content for the fandom. This category is not voted upon - every newbie whose name is put forth is added to the Spotlight list so that older members of the fandom can get to know them and their work!

And that’s it! Those are our categories for the 2019 T.E.A.s! 

GO FORTH AND NOMINATE LIKE ALL HECK!