#there but for the grace of god

[khive-cauchy]

ever since i was really young ive spent a lot of mental energy thinking about how to constrain human behavior automatically, with no additional human in the loop. it probably started in terms of governance. you can pass laws to get people to do or not do things via threat of violence or promise of reward, but what constrains the lawmaker to make good laws? before you point out how dumb that framing is, i was 6

unfortunately the two means we have of setting up systems which constrain behavior without intervention are microeconomics and cryptography. so basically i spent my entire childhood dreaming of crypto while bitcoin was just a gleam in the eye of satoshi. i avoided being a terminal crypto guy by 4 years at most. i can say with 100% certainty that if i didn't personally witness the entire scene get taken over by idiots who think token price go up is a good thing to optimize for before i was able to join in id have been there. that's why i love sbf. it could have been me trying to make super weird new derivatives with the power of crypto. it could have been me

[spockvarietyhour]

Specifically out of these three, limiting it to the 90s and the first instance of it.

[lostinthelxghts]

besties pls tell me someone has a gif set of daniel in there but for the grace of god doing his lil finger dance when he’s talking to catherine

[thelazybutler]

The one thing about being in your 30s that no one tells you about is the sudden realization that most of the people whose writing and acting you consume are either about your age or younger than you. Not like pop stars or something but that podcast you love where some fucking guy is just telling you about some thing he's hyperfixated on this week is like, your age. And he's probably getting paid better than you. For living your dream. And it's just like... fuck. I should've taken some way bigger swings when I was younger. I could be getting paid for my dogshit takes.

[eaissilyy]

A kinder mother would sure seek her sons, even if it was her who abandoned them.

(Just a Thought of Marika in ragged clothes and covered in veil, unfortunately didn’t hide her grace, descending down to the shunning ground she made to cage her rage and grief from the time long past, just to see her sons who she refused to hold and look at their births. SADLY THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED AHUGHGAHHHHH)

[floweroflaurelin]

I’mma sing you a sacred psalm

On your knees, pray along…

—

We did a Hatchetfield marathon recently and my decade-long on-again off-again Starkid obsession came ROARING back!! Grace Chasity was designed to appeal to everything I love to paint, so naturally here I am ✨

[who-always-pays-their-taxes]

okay but brucie wayne IS a single mom WHO DOES work two jobs who LOVES his kids and never stops!!! he has gentle hands AND a heart of a fighter!!! HE’S A SURVIVOR!!!

[thaliasthunder]

pjo series: a summary

[manny-jacinto]

FLEABAG (2016-2019)

[spockvarietyhour]

just a room full of tesla coils. oh wait.

maybe they're the ones from there but for the grace of god.

[percabethcoded]

this mf has 5,467 kills

[vaguely-concerned]

I understand and agree with a lot of the frustrations about the shortcomings of Inquisition as a story. but sometimes when I hear people complain about the chosen one narrative in it I do want to just be like... you know it's a deconstruction of the concept more than anything, right. the inquisitor isn't actually chosen by anything except stumbling into the wrong (right?) room at the right (wrong?) time because they like, heard a noise or whatever. or if you think they are chosen, as many do in-universe, that's something you have to take on faith, the maker-or-whoever moves in mysterious ways indeed-style. the Inquisitor isn't actually a Destined Chosen One, they're a Just Some Guy in a fancy hat, self-delusions of grandeur to taste as you'd prefer.

a running thread that goes through all of the personal quests of the companions is the concept of a comforting lie vs. an uncomfortable truth, upholding old corrupt structures vs. disrupting them, and the role of faith in navigating that. (blackwall the warden vs. thom rainier the liar and murderer. hissrad vs. the iron bull, or is that the other way around? cassandra and the seekers -- do we tell the truth about what we find, even if it means dismantling the old order of the world? and so on.) and your inquisitor IS at the same time a comforting lie (a necessary one, in dark times? the game seems to ask) and an uncomfortable truth (we are the result of random fickle chance, no protective hand is held over the universe, it's on us to make a better world because the maker sure as hell won't lift a divine finger to help anyone, should he against all odds exist). faith wielded for political power... where's the point that it crosses the line into ugliness? is it before it even begins? what's the alternative? will anyone listen to the truth, if you tell it?

interesting how you also get a mix of companion agency in this -- you have characters like dorian who ALWAYS choose one side of the comforting lie vs. uncomfortable truth dichotomy. he will always make up his own mind to go back to tevinter and try to dismantle the corruption of the old system no matter what you say, or how you try to influence him. meanwhile iron bull is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum -- so psychologically trapped and mangled, caught in an impossible spiritual catch-22, that his sense of identity is left entirely to you and your mercy. you cannot change dorian in any way that matters; you can be his friend or not, support him or not, but he is whole no matter what. you are given incredible and potentially destructive-to-him power over bull's soul. it's really cool (and heartbreaking) to think about.

this is a game about how history will eat you even while you're still alive, and shape you into whatever image it pleases to serve it, and for all your incredible power right now you are powerless in the face of the gravitational force of time -- of more than time, of History. you won't recognize yourself in what History will make of you, because you belong to it now. you don't belong to yourself anymore and you never will again. the further you were from what it needs from you to begin with, the more you will find yourself distorted in its funhouse mirror. (why hello there inquisitor ameridan, same hat!)

and to me this is so much the core of what Dragon Age is about right from the Origins days -- how and by whom history gets written, the inherent unreliable narration of it all. I hope you like stories, Inquisitor. You are one now.

I do think it's probably still the weakest of the games narratively, and it's hampered by its structure and bloated systems. but I also find it disingenous to say that there's nothing deeper or actually interesting going on with it, thematically. if you're willing to engage with it there is Some Real Shit going on under the high fantasy-tinted surface.

[rowanrowlandridley]

Also a very strong inspiration in Velinxi's designs in her AU "Young gods". 👋✨

[shorthaltsjester]

when people think delilah just completely takes over and laudna has no control. when people think jester is just an uwu child who has been manipulated by every man she’s met. when people think vex is an empty husk of daddy issues without her brother by her side. when people think fjord is an arrogant asshole who doesn’t pay attention to the party around him. when people think scanlan saying that vox machina doesn’t care about him is an accurate assessment.

[murderandcoffee]

oh shit, ink5oul doesn't know what's happening to them

they're becoming an avatar (or the closest thing the protocol universe has to them) and they don't know why

that must be fucking terrifying jfc

[wonderciaaan]

Our Percy