#the gathering cloud

[united-in-cyberspace]

The Gathering Cloud by J.R. Carpenter

[onewinged-sephiroth]

MAGIC THE GATHERING ART

[avakkins-alter]

Final Fantasy | Magic: The Gathering

[vintagerpg]

UK7: Dark Clouds Gather (1985) is the last of the series and, the final product designed by TSR UK (or close to it). It is firmly in the genre of D&D modules that I enjoy reading and would never in a million years decide to run. It’s an in-the-air adventure, which initially might seem unusual, but in execution shares many of the same problems that, for me, make underwater scenarios a pain in the ass.

Still, it’s a fun read. The aarakocra (who have a pretty dope temple) are in conflict with the ba’atun, also known as snow demons, but, come on, look at the cover art: that’s a flying monkey. They’re pretty cool antagonists that use ice-based attacks and swarm tactics to be a pretty effective problem for the players. Kind of surprising that this is maybe the only time they have appeared in an official publication? They kind of remind me a bit of the flying sabreclaws from CM3: Sabre River.

The problem is actually an evil sorceress flying monkey who leads them and who is able to possess other creatures — in this case, a cloud giant. The stakes are epically high (oof, sorry for that pun) and require the retrieval of the sky fish, a magical flying machine shaped like a manta ray which seems like a clear precursor to Spelljammer designs. The bits in the air seem tedious to run, but the stuff with ground in it is pretty good — I like the initial episode in which a local zealot is plucking an imprisoned aarakocra to get it to confess to being a demon, at which point he’ll burn it to death. The intent is for the players to intervene, which man, I hope your players do because that shit is effed.

Brian Williams art throughout. I love his color covers but the interiors seem a bit rushed here. In all, the look of this module lacks a bit of the pizazz I expect from a UK production.

[cleverreports]

We report: this wind is meant for moving things along, a steady wave rather than a succession of gusts. There is no chasing and pushing, barely even any rushing. We stay for some minutes, watching the clouds each on their path, and how their shapes change along the way.

[tlmtwelve]

Banner by @littletroggo

@galactic-gift-gathering : Gift for @leapingbadger

Prompt: Wanderlust

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Cloud Key

"A key only unlocks a door. Its wielder must choose whether to cross the threshold." —*Hurkyl's Metaphysics, vol. II*

Artist: Trevor Hairsine TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[a-book-of-creatures]

Okay maybe I'm being nitpicky but

this is not remotely what a cicada looks like

or any insect for that matter

[jamiethebee]

(In which I spiral down a rabbit hole with Midoriya that has little to do with @codenamesazanka 's original post that started this (x).  FYI I sorta separated Deku/Izuku to indicate Deku as the hero and Izuku as the person outside of heroics.)

I started thinking about this post again (see the link above) and how Deku doesn’t really understand that non-perfect or sanitized victims exist AND still need to be saved and not by destruction. (The "maybe killing someone does save them" thing is a great way to assuage guilt but it's a stupid copout.)  Deku (hero) and more importantly Izuku (person) doesn’t really understand that though because he WAS a “perfect” victim.  Midoriya stayed quiet and inconspicuous and didn’t make a fuss about the bullying or discrimination he faced, he just kept his head down and hoped that something would change without any real effort on his part.  And if he had died as a result from the bullying he would’ve been hailed as an unfortunate victim (of who? or what? Don’t worry - isn’t his death so tragic? oh well now on to our next news story -), so any critique of society and the individuals who reinforce the status quo don’t actually have to do anything.  I know there’s more nuance here and lot of cultural things happening with this all but I’m not gonna dig into that right now.

Moving on!  Quite frankly the boy didn’t live long enough to get out of his childish mindset and get some “righteous" anger at the wrongdoings and failings of society.  All Might came along when he was still starry eyed and hopeful to lift Midoriya out of the trajectory of his life and Izuku never had any time to get to the point where he comes to terms with the hurt caused society’s rejection of his self and get angry about it.  As such, he can’t understand the league.  It probably doesn’t even occur to him that he's missing that understanding because for him it worked out - he got the attention and support to be able to escape the circumstances of his birth/quirklessness and to leave the box (deku) that society shoved him in. Twice and Toga never had that support – they both lived how they needed to in order to survive in a world not meant for them until they broke down.  (Maybe that's why Vigilante Deku AUs were so popular back in the day - they speedran Midoriya past the hopeful kid stage and to a point where a lot of the fanbase was in their own lives - seeing the issues in the world and wanting to affect change.)

Izuku, for all that he claims to want to connect to the villains, hasn’t given enough thought or empathy to understand how continuing to live a life where you don’t fit in with society can be deeply hurtful as well as the emotional repercussions of having unchangeable parts about yourself be reviled.  This isn’t to say Izuku had it easy -  of course Izuku went through hardships but.... there’s a big difference between living through stuff as a kid and finding a way out of it vs living through that, growing up, maturing, and in turn looking critically at society.  But I can’t bring myself to fault Midoriya for those exact reasons because he's just a kid. He doesn’t have the perspective to see outside of himself – at least not for the villains.  Because that seems to be too far of a stretch for him?  But Todoroki was close enough to Izuku’s mindset for him to help back in the sports festival arc.  I also acknowledge that he's a teenager and IS capable of critical thinking, but from what we've seen, his schools have never actually made the students examine the world they live in - which is a different skill from quirk analysis or historical or literary analysis or the various writing exercises that students go through. 

(Believe me – you can have the brightest kid but, most of the time, unless you point out the shortcomings of their mindsets, it won’t occur to them to look further.  (Not necessarily assuming that they’re wrong, but rather that their consideration of life is not as expansive as it should be. Especially for a kid wanting to be the greatest hero and save everyone.)  For example: many abled bodied people don’t realize how inaccessible places can be until someone brings it up to them or they find themselves in that situation (like a temporary crutch or wheelchair).  It’s through no fault of the able bodied person that they weren’t aware enough to consider it in the first place, but what they do once they realize physical accessibility is an issue, is on them.)  Back to the point – hero society never calls attention to it’s own shortcomings despite the proof quite obviously existing and the people within society don’t seem to spare much thought either. The adults who have seen more of these instances are then of course more culpable in this than the kids who haven't.

So, Midoriya was also failed by society (cough all might cough) as well, but he chose the hero path - to save people. We see him starting to consider the deeper issues in his talk with Uraraka, and the few times he “tries” to talk to various villains shows that he is aware enough of underlying issues - which makes it his duty as a hero to do something about it.  In that way, he is at fault. He chose a profession to devote his life to that should require this of him.  And through his hero work, Midoriya has seen the problems in society and yet he’s chosen to turn away from them (and by problems/them I’m referring to the villains “too far gone to save” and the issues they represent). 

(Sorry Midoriya, but considering we’re nearing the end and you haven’t shown any growth in this area….. I am faulting you for metaphorically pushing your head in the sand.  I do want to be wrong though.  I really want the kid to prove me wrong.)

And he’s able to turn away from them guilt free, in part, because he’s gotten the proverbial thumbs up by his classmates that it’s ok and that they’ll just be better and be model minority heroes and that will fix the problem! Because they’re positive representation!  Or something?  If you can put your mind to it that will fix things! Just try harder! Again, very idealistic but they are kids, so it comes with the territory.  (Horikoshi didn’t have to make them unquestionably right in that approach though.  Toga and Uraraka coming together for the win! The Shoji and Spinner match up not so much.)

Overall, there’s something about how Deku still fit into society's boxes in an acceptable way and never truly faced what existing outside of "acceptability" was like.  Don’t get me wrong it’s tough to live in the mha world as a quirkless person and of course it has its problems and restrictions, but that’s still a box that society provides for, even if the society in question doesn’t like it. 

And I'm not saying that Izuku had to live through a terrible life to understand the villains!  Just that, he has the capacity to look outside himself and be empathetic, but the application of it is lacking, despite knowing there’s problems, despite having LIVED with some of those problems. Extrapolate, boy!!!! You don't need empathy to reach out to others but the whole compassionate/kind Midoriya thing has been touted since the beginning! So I want to see it!

(Not sure how much sense this will make to people, but there’s a maturity that comes about with either time or certain circumstances that can be hard to grasp unless you’ve lived through it.  And quite frankly, Midoriya hasn’t. He went from a perfect/acceptable victim to the top tier of society (heroes).)

(Basically: Midoriya never **matured in the restrictive environment he grew up in and can't emotionally connect with the league who did, because of that. Instead he seems to have internalized the "if they were better" or "if they were truly good" then there wouldn't be a problem because just look at his classmater!, so villains being villains is their own fault and no one else is culpable.)

**centers on the idea that someone starts off as hopeful in regards to their discriminated position in life and over time matures to understand how society supports that discrimination and come to terms with the hurt that it's caused them personally (and in this case to fight back against it)

also, if you made it this far, i'm just having a fun time reading codenamesazanka's posts about the latest chapters

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Magic the Gathering is getting a Final Fantasy collaboration? Oh my gosh, these are gorgeous!

[neon-dynasty]

Final Fantasy First Look Stream

[ffmtg]

Four Face Commanders Revealed

The face commanders for the four Commander decks have been revealed. For those of you unfamiliar with Magic, Commander is a 4 player Free For All format where you play a deck containing 99 cards and a legendary creature called the Commander, which you can cast at any time.

That means these decks are all themed after specific Final Fantasy games (VI, VII, X, and XIV specifically) and we will probably see other cards for these characters in the main set too.

First up:

Terra is a main character in Final Fantasy VI and the face commander of the VI deck. For those of you unfamiliar with VI, the reason I said a main character instead of the main character is that the title of main character of Final Fantasy VI is actually a somewhat controversial question.

Her creature types are Human, Wizard, and Warrior. Wizard and Warrior both make sense. She is one of the few people innatly capable of using magic, and she's a good swordfighter too. Human is actually a bit surprising to me since she's half Esper, but I guess Esper won't have a dedicated creature type.

Her first ability, Trance, is a reference to her in-game ability Trance. When used, Terra transforms and gains several buffs to her stats, represented on this card by gaining Flying. I don't think milling is really representative of anything, it's just supposed to be synergy for the second ability.

The second ability is a bit strange to me. It would have been a perfect fit for a Celes, another main character of FFVI, who reassembles the party after they all get seperated partway through the story. I don't really see how this ability relates to Terra, but I guess it relates to Final Fantasy VI as a whole, and this card is supposed to be the face commander for the entire FFVI deck.

Spearking of which, considering this ability it's probably safe to assume that the rest of the FFVI party members will have power 3 or less.

Next up:

Cloud is the protagonist and main character of Final Fantasy VII.

His creature types are human, solider, and mercenary. Soldier is probably going to be used for all SOLDIERs, which is kind of funny since it is a creature type typically used for lower-power fighters and not elite troops like SOLIDER. Mercenary references how he works as a mercenary for a while at the start of the game, initially joining the story by being hired as a mercenary by Avalanche. Human is kind of interesting again here because SOLDIERs aren't fully human, I was actually expecting Mutant or something similar.

Cloud has haste, which allows him to attack the turn he enters the battlefield, which I think is mainly there for gameplay purposes.

Also when entering the battlefield, you can attach an Equipment to him. Equipments are artifacts that power up your creatures and can be equipped to them for varying costs, but Cloud lets you get around that cost by attaching something for free. This is probably a reference to his iconic Buster Sword, which will probably be an equipment in the deck.

His third ability rewards you for attacking with multiple creatures that have Equipment attached to them. This initially struck me as strange since aside from the Buster Sword, there's not much iconic equipment from FFVII, but then I realized that it'll probably be used for Materia. Materia are orbs that contain knowledge from the ancients, which in gameplay terms typically means that they unlock new spells or abilities or provide a boost to stats. They are the main way to build your characters in FFVII so making the FFVII deck about them seems logical to me.

His last ability, which creates two treasures if his power is 7 or greater, is not just a reference to the 7 in Final Fantasy VII but also to the fact that the number 7 is refrenced quite frequently in the game, most notably in the really strange "All Lucky 7s" easter egg, which occurs when a character's HP hits 7777, causing them to attack 64 times for 7777 damage, effectively winning most fights. Also I assume the Buster Sword will give a bonus of 3 power so that it brings his power to exactly 7.

Next up:

Tidus is the main character and protagonist of Final Fantasy X.

His first ability is a bit strange. The most common type of counter is the +1/+1 counter, which raises a creature's power and toughness by 1 each, but there are many other counters. The ones I assume will also be relevant here are ability counters, which grant creatures abilities such as Flying or Trample. Moving these around is a bit reminiscient of the Sphere Grid of Final Fantasy X, a grid of abilities that your characters move on to unlock new abilities and become more powerful.

His second ability, Cheer, is a reference to his ability in Final Fantasy X, Cheer. Okay, it's not technically his ability, since the sphere grid allows anyone to unlock any ability, but he can unlock it immediatly while everyone else would need a lot of late-game spheres first. In-game, cheer raises everyone's strength and physical defenses, and this is represented here by proliferating, which means choosing any number of permanents (or players) with counters on them and putting another counter of each kind on them. Proliferating +1/+1 counters would represent raising strength and defense but proliferating in general also just represents Tidus raising the power of those around him.

Needless to say, the Final Fantasy X deck will probably be focused on counters.

And last but not least:

Y'shtola is honestly not that important in Final Fantasy XIV until the 3rd expansion Shadowbringers and even then shares the spotlight with a lot of other characters but for some reason she keeps being chosen as the character to represent FFXIV. I assume the reason is that she's hot. This card specifically shows her during Shadowbringers.

Her creature types are cat and warlock. Using the cat creature type to represent a Miqo'te might seem strange to someone unfamiliar with Magic but the game generally uses creature types like this to represent animal people. For example, Ajani, a leonin (kind of lion person) is also a cat. Warlock might seem a bit weird if you're only familiar with the term from D&D but it is the creature type typically used for witches, which I'd say fits Y'shtola pretty well.

Y'Shtola has vigilance, which means she can attack without needing to tap, thus still being able to block after attacking. This might be representative of how she's defending the night's blessed but I feel like it's mostly just a gameplay conceit.

Her second ability allows you to draw cards when players lose 4 or more life in a turn. Notably, this doesn't require you to be the one who is dealing the damage and you can even draw cards of your own loss of life. This is especially interesting in a multiplayer format like commander. Again, I'm not sure if this is actually representing anything of her character? Drawing cards is associated with gaining knowledge and she is a researcher, but needing pain to gain that knowledge feels like it's mostly supposed to synergize with her last ability.

Her last ability rewards you for casting big noncreature spells. Noncreature spells include Artifacts, Enchantments, Battles, Planeswalkers, Instants, and Sorceries, but I assume that the last two will be the most relevant since they typically represent spells and Y'shtola is a mage.

In fact, most of the Scions of the Seven Dawn, your close allies in Final Fantasy XIV, are various kinds of mages, so making the deck focus on Instants and Sorceries seems like a good way to represent that.

[khattikeri]

nie huaisang may say "i don't know" all the time but the person who Really doesn't know or even want to know is lan xichen. thanks for coming to my tedtalk

[skyscratch-wc]

Skyfall: Timeline of Thegns - The Song of Stars

The Song of Stars is an era of peace for the shires, with a few exceptions. The final laws of the Shire Code are established during this period as are many of the ceremonies, holidays, and religious festivals, hence the name of the era.

Notes:

Law #8 is established under Boulderstrike, Smokefur, Ospreyclaw, Feathersong, and Maplewhisker. This is the Law of Ascension.

Law #9 is established under Graystorm, Flowerstem, Fogwhisper, Acorntail, and Maplewhisker. This is the Law of the Moon.

Law #10 is established under Finchswoop, Marshscar, Reedslash, Dovefur, and Hawktalon. This is the Law of the Truce.

Law #11 is established under Lionfang, Beetleshell, Ivycurl, Fallowbreeze, and Rowanleaf. This is the Law of Patrols.

Law #12 is established under Vinetail, Yellowshine, Ivycurl, Fallowbreeze, and Darkfang. This is the Law of Protection.

Law #13 is established under Vinetail, Yellowshine, Talonswipe, Birchtwig, and Darkfang. This is Darkfang’s Law or the Law of Command.

Law #14 is established under Morningheart, Sedgeleap, Willowsway, Rabbitear, and Fennelseed. This is the Law of Mercy.

[bardic-tales]

Sephiroth & Cloud Strife: Magic the Gathering

[teruthecreator]

oh my god i forgot to tell tumblr about my haircut