#The results would vary *wildly* depending on who it was

[pkmnprofloblolly]

(@icetypelover) Hello, since biology is your thing I wanted to ask, how uncommon is a mutation where a Pokémon has two heads? I've seen it happen in Ekans and similar Pokémon rarely, but someone I know has a two-headed Houndoom, he was born with them. He's a gift from her father, back when he was a little Houndour pup, he's very well raised and gentle, though some fire can leak from his mouth when he's excited.

He's from a family of breeders who have been working with her father's family for generations where Houndoom are a Pokémon of choice, and they can't remember if it has ever happened before. The heads don't snap at each other and he's given a bit more food than a Houndoom his size would need since he has two brains, split in half so each head can eat, and he has no health issues.

I'm curious because there are two mythos I know, of Houndoom-like creatures with two and three heads, so it has to come from somewhere right? Since they're both represented as similar to Houndoom, does that mean it's maybe a mutation that can happen not so impossibly rare you wouldn't believe it in Houndoom?

wow, that's very fortunate that the fellow's gotten one just fine with two heads! extremely cool, what an exceptional lil guy, i'm glad the two get along.

polycephaly (literally "multiple headed") is a condition found all over the animal kingdom- including in humans!- and it isn't actually a mutation (with a notable exception we'll get to later). mutations specifically refer to changes in the genetic code- whether that's the flipping of a base pair, duplication of chromosomes, or so on- while polycephaly is actually a way that conjoined twinning can be expressed.

so, identical twins. identical (also called monozygotic) twins happen when a fertilized egg splits into two separate wholes at some point early in development- compare with "typical" development, where 1 egg + 1 sperm = 1 baby. identical twins happen when 1 egg + 1 sperm = 2 baby. compare with fraternal (or dizygotic) twins, which are formed from two separate eggs fertilized by two separate sperm. identical twins share a genetic code while fraternal twins do not (like any other sort of sibling). identical twins aren't super uncommon, though their rate of occurrence changes depending on where in the world you go.

now, usually this separation of the zygote into 2 embryos is complete. rarely, though, this splitting happens particularly late and doesn't quite finish, resulting in the two twins being connected in some fashion. this can result in an organism with one body and two heads, such as in your houndoom example, but can express in tons of different ways- for example, you may be familiar with the term "siamese twins" for conjoined twins: this originates from a famous pair of conjoined human twins from 1800's siam, chang and eng bunker, who were joined around the chest. in other cases, twins can be fused at the back of the head, the abdomen, the back, and plenty of other configurations.

survivability of these conditions varies wildly. some are easily separated, some live fine while conjoined, some must be separated for either of the two to survive, and unfortunately some are unable to survive at all, dying soon after birth.

the last case is usually what happens with two-headed organisms (something something, twice as many stars), but obviously, there are exceptions. while rare, organisms (of any sort- it's most famous in reptiles as you mentioned, but mammals (including humans!) can obviously exhibit it too) can live with these conditions as well.

also worth noting- when two complete heads are present, two complete brains are present! they may share organs and sensation, but the brains do function independently- so it's good that in your example the two get along! two-headed examples of less social species will often be much more antagonistic towards one another, since the two heads can recognize their counterparts as potential competitors or aggressors. this can cause problems in wild pokemon, who may waste precious time and energy squabbling over who gets to eat something that's going to the same stomach anyways (assuming the individuals share a stomach- sometimes there are two), leaving them vulnerable to attack.

(you may be familiar with 12-string, a polycephalic seviper(s) owned by virbank gym leader roxie, who famously featured in some particularly intense PWT matches- two heads means two sets of venom glands, which means REALLY effective poison type attacks!)

this also raises the question of individuality- whether polycephalic organism(s) are considered one or two beings- and perspectives on this vary. some polycephalic twins consider themselves two separate people, while some consider themself one. in what way you consider polycephalic organisms without the ability to self-define in that way is up to you, really (which is to say, if a person with two heads considers themself one person, they are one person, and vice versa, but most nonhuman animals can't decide that for themselves and probably don't care how you refer to them).

now, uh, back to pokemon specifically, and those notable exceptions i mentioned. while polycephaly is exceptional in the vast majority of species, there are of course a few where having multiple heads is the norm: doduo/dodrio, deino/zweilous/hydreigon, and girafarig/farigiraf (there are a few others- like weezing or cherubi- but i'm talking about animals specifically here. also not to be confused with conglomerate pokemon like dugtrio or magneton, which are multiple separate individuals working as one). these instances are indeed genetically programmed.

the mechanism by which these pokemon develop their multiheadedness varies. doduo could be considered to be a conjoined twin- the zygote's partial split happens in much the same way, though enforced by genetics.

(this process can indeed lead to an inverse of polycephaly, in which the two heads of the doduo fail to separate while in development. while rare, this condition is rarely fatal, and dodrio evolving from single-headed doduo tend to be two-headed. note how the dodrio's heads are asymmetrical, with one middle and one left head.)

girafarig does not develop by partial fission- the anterior and posterior heads develop separately, just the same as you develop two of each limb, girafarig develops two heads.

in cases where a pokemon gains more heads as it evolves, such as in dodrio and zweilous, the process is somewhat similar to how it happens in embryos- the head essentially separates into two in the split-second process of instantaneous evolution, with new growth making up the material lost to each head (or in hyderigon's case, the middle head keeping all the brain). in doduo->dodrio and zweilous->hydreigon only one of the two heads separates: the right head in doduo, and the left in zweilous. you can see in the two-headed dodrio above that the singular "right" head split into the middle and right heads, leaving a "blank" space where the left head would be.

you also mentioned the various mythos surrounding multi-headed creatures- indeed, some think that mythological beasts like hades' hellish houndoom cerberus may have been inspired by real-life examples of polycephaly, though we don't know for sure. cases of polycephaly are indeed extremely rare, so it'd be entirely understandable for folks in ancient times to think they're some sort of legendary beast, and you can find records of conjoined twin animals labeled as miracles or similar in some medieval texts.

#art #pkmn #seviper #doduo #dodrio #note as said above polycephaly and other forms of conjoined twinning are real things that happen to real people and i want to handle it sen #sitively because of that. ive tried to but if anything ive said comes off as rude or callous do please call me on it #pkmn irl #pkmn rp

[veliseraptor]

Okay, but consider: Groundhog Day Yi City, a tragic-comedy of repeated errors with drama sprinkles on top (results vary depending on who’s Bill Murray)

a secret that I have never seen the actual groundhog day movie. I feel like I should admit that, as a big fan of time loop stuff, I have not seen the trope namer. I just feel like that should be out there.

also if you saw me post this before it was finished: no you didn't

but to the substance of your ask: yes, I have considered this, I have considered this a lot and I actually technically have a fic in progress for it from xiao xingchen's pov but I might need to start it over, we'll see. and it is so much fun! because the success states vary wildly for each character, like:

xue yang: xiao xingchen alive, himself alive, nice domestic life preserved

song lan: xiao xingchen alive, himself alive, xue yang not alive, xiao xingchen never knowing about who he was living with

xiao xingchen: song lan alive, a-qing alive, doesn't even know what he wants with xue yang??? ahhhhh

a-qing: xiao xingchen alive, all else optional and only relevant inasmuch as it serves that end

so there are three of them aligned on the "xiao xingchen alive" goal, at least (xiao xingchen's a little more wobbly on that one), and only one person actively invested in xue yang being dead, and nobody actually putting as a definitive condition song lan being dead (though xue yang operates on a low key assumption, most of the time, that the win condition of "himself alive" depends on the condition "song lan dead"; he is not necessarily right about this but he tends to assume it's the case. however, it's not something that's necessary; I think if xue yang knew how badly things could go, he would be fine with letting song lan live if it didn't ruin the other stuff).

however, these points of agreement come into conflict with each other in several key places. I feel like I'm also thinking about these in order of priority (i.e. what's most important to least important) in which case it looks like:

xue yang: xiao xingchen/himself alive (either/or is not acceptable, has to be both), nice domestic life preserved (terms and conditions may apply, he'll make it work), song lan dead (possible condition but not required, particularly the longer he has to go on trying)

song lan: xiao xingchen alive, xue yang dead (at least initially, though I think it might eventually swap places with), xiao xingchen never knowing about who he was living with, himself alive

xiao xingchen: a-qing alive/song lan alive (I don't think he could deal with either not being true), still doesn't know what he wants to do with xue yang (affectionate/derogatory/deeply confused)

a-qing: she's got a very clear single priority and she's sticking to it.

so how this fic looks, and what the resolution is, could go any number of ways depending on who is trying to "fix" it and what the individual author decided a fix-it looked like (someone who is not me might think that just killing xue yang fixes the problem, but they would sadly be incorrect. common misconception! but inaccurate.). which is why my favorite version of this, I realized as I've been writing this post, is a version where all of them are time looping but none of them knows anybody else is, and every time one of anybody's primary win conditions are violated it starts over (i.e. if xue yang dies, even though it's only his win condition that stipulates his survival first and foremost, it still cycles back to the beginning).

just please consider with me the mutual frustration both song lan and xue yang in particular experience on discovering that they cannot, in fact, fix the problem by just murdering the other person in the right way. I feel like that alone makes this entire concept worth it.

also a-qing just getting xiao xingchen the heck out of dodge and being like "GREAT DODGED THAT BULLET" only to end up cycled back because one of the other two died. she didn't sign up for this

#conversating #anonymous #aggressively headcanons #i'm not equipped to write this right now but i'm kind of eyeing it now like in the future....maybe #but if someone else wanted to do it. please do #songxuexiao #song lan #xue yang #xiao xingchen #a qing

[difeisheng]

Hi!! Hope this isn't too much work for you rn, and no pressure answering this! But your constant endorsement plus knowing so many of these DMBJ men from various other dramas has convinced me to give it a go. If I wanna watch all the seasons + movies, which order do you suggest I go in? (came across a whole bunch of different opinions on this, so decided to come to the resident DMBJ expert on my dash <3)

omg welcome to dmbj territory!! hope you end up staying hehe, these stories are a good time :P

alrighty, watching order: first things first, dmbj is not broken up into different seasons, but rather a timeline of individual dramas + side movies adapting different parts of the book series. the casts shift between dramas (some actors do reprise roles), and they were not adapted in chronological book order nor necessarily in continuity with one another. the tone varies wildly between shows/films as a result, and a lot of things in different dramas will not line up between them. timeline whomst. don't think about it too hard just go with it shhhh

for starting points, i've seen people who've started at wildly differing places along the dmbj timeline and made the most of it. others are correct, and there's no 'right' starting point. however, you asked for my opinion, and so with the proviso that i've only actually finished 4/7 of the dramas released so far and can only speak from those experiences, imo the best starting point would be Ultimate Note (2020), or The Lost Tomb Reboot/Reunion: The Sound of the Providence (2020).

Ultimate Note covers most of the latter half of the original book series, and feels made to offer an entry point for people who didn't break into watching the adaptations releasing since 2015. it's the first dmbj show i watched, coming off of heroes because it had a younger cast including zeng shunxi and liu yuning, and i'd say it was a really good experience. the production is snappy, the pacing is decent, and the plot keeps you well engaged for its 37 episodes. for what it's worth, it also feels like the show that tried its hardest to be a bl hehe. one thing to warn is that the ending of the show does not wrap up well, as it's supposed to tie into the next installment in the dmbj chronology (that has not been adapted yet and may not ever), but aside from that it's a satisfying story.

The Lost Tomb Reboot is set ten years after the end of the main series, and adapts one of the sequel novels. like Ultimate Note, it feels like a natural start point, and i'm pretty sure a lot of people went through Reboot as their first dmbj show. it's an older-led cast including zhu yilong, chen minghao, and chen chuhe, with characters who have long settled into their relationships with one another. for me that's where this show shines, as the character dynamics are great and there's a full ensemble cast that gets their own arcs. the production values on it are also decent and the plot twists are good. i will say that for me this show struggled with very uneven pacing, and Reboot is a longer commitment than other shows with two seasons at ~30 episodes each. but overall it was still worth it!

after one of those shows, you have a general grasp of the worldbuilding, and so honestly you can pretty much go anywhere depending on what vibe or maybe actors you're looking for. my personal trajectory was Ultimate Note → Sha Hai/Tomb of the Sea (2018) → The Lost Tomb Reboot, which are all in chronological order, and then i doubled back and watched The Lost Tomb 2 (2019) which is set before Ultimate Note. that's all been a lot of fun for me, but there's a lot of choices.

something that was really helpful for me in deciding what to watch was foxofninetales' guide you can find here, which gives a more in-depth overview of each drama adaptation as starting points and the pros and cons of each. (while we're at it, this character guide may also be useful for tracking who's who across adaptations.) the side movies are not essential to understanding the main dmbj narrative, but are nice for filling in parts of different characters' backstories and events in between/after various shows :)

okay, uh, i'll stop talking now. i hope this was at least somewhat helpful or gave you a place to start looking, and i'm looking forward to seeing your journey through dmbj 👀

#not quite connected to the main post but sha hai is my baby. it's the part of the dmbj universe i find the crunchiest and i love it #also don't listen to anyone who says tlt2 isn't worth watching #there's so much good character stuff and it's got cheng yi!!! i don't recommend it for starting personally but it's Good #dmbj #ashton answers #nutcasewithaknife

[cee-grice]

Another Worldbuilding Wednesday, another post about the world of WWCC :))

The topic of today:

🧚Venemagiks🧚

DEFINITION

Venemagik - a person who was born part human, part magical creature. This happens due to impure magia (see the previous post) that their parent breathes in during their pregnancy. To a born person, this impure magia is relatively harmless. As a baby is developing in the womb, however it is much more susceptible to outside influences. Because of this, impure magia may cause mutations that result in non-human traits. The majority of the time they're not inheritable. The intensity of these traits can vary wildly. What kind of magical creature parts get mixed in depends on the kind of impure magia most prominent in the area. Impure magia is produced by magical creatures, and so it's tainted with their essence. Thus, the more dominant a specific type of creature is in a given place, the more likely that the venemagiks born there will have its traits.

HISTORY

As people started settling in the continent, it didn't take long for venemagiks to start being born. At first, this caused a panic, especially since many children with adverse traits died early or led difficult lives as people hadn't yet known how to handle them. At the time, only a number of priests had emerged as magic was first granted to the people by the deities, becoming a science much later. They were the ones that could give any sort of reprieve. They also tried to explain the phenomenon, claiming these children were either cursed or blessed by the deities, depending on the kind of traits they were born with. When a group of scholars began studying magic, however, and discovered it was an element that existed outside the deities, with its own physicality and laws, the explanations began shifting. In the present, the venemagik phenomenon is well-researched and understood. Many countries have taken precautions against it, such as driving out magical creatures whose traits would be the most adverse from their territories into the Wilderness. Pregnant people are also strongly advised against travelling anywhere outside their city until birth to minimize the risk. As such, most venemagiks are born in the Wilderness—a lawless land in the middle of the continent, scattered with independent settlements, and with the highest population of most magical creatures.

RELATION TO MAGIA USAGE

All venemagiks have a higher concentration of magia in their bodies than regular people, making them less susceptible to the negative effects of using magia. Because of this, they can make for excellent mages whose specializations require them to use larger amounts of magia, such as area-wise illusions or abjuration. Sometimes, however, a venemagik can be born as a freecaster. These are people who have traits of a magical creature that's able to cast at will. In short, freecasters don't require a conduit to command magia. The extent to which they can do that varies person to person, as it does with creatures. Some can even be more adept at specific types of magic if their creature is. For example, if we have a water creature that can command water with frightening precision, a venemagik of it may be gifted at elemental magic. The emergence of freecasters signified a huge shift in the perception of magic as a whole. Before, it was believed that only priests were able to perform magic through their deities, but this was undeniable evidence that it is possible to use it without being a priest. After that, interest in magia as a study field skyrocketed. The one issue that freecasters present to the wider mage community is that, since they don't need a conduit, they may not apply for a license and get official training. Because of this, a registry of freecasters is trying to be enforced, just to at least keep an eye on them, but some still slip through the cracks.

SOCIETAL PERCEPTION

How venemagiks are viewed by the larger population varies by area. In Quil's home country, for example, Merridie, they're no different than anyone else. There, they're generally able to get most accommodations for their traits, if they're something that can be accommodated for. Merridie, however, is the most magia-wise advanced country in the continent, so this isn't the case everywhere else. In places where magia in general is more looked down upon, viewed as a pollution and unnatural, venemagiks may have a tougher time getting by. Some still view this phenomenon as either a blessing or a curse from the deities, as they did in the old days, and treat their venemagiks accordingly. Some venemagiks, however, have traits that may pose a danger not only to themselves but also those around them. A touch that freezes the skin, for example. A look that melts. These people are lucky if they're born in a place that not only understands the reasons but can also help them live with these traits. If they're born somewhere else, however, well. It's undeniable that there's a number of venemagiks that face persecution for one reason or the other. Because of this, there are entirely or semi-isolated societies that function as a refuge for them.

EXAMPLE

To take Miriam as an example, she is a venemagik of a creature called Vaidekel. They reside in the south of the Wilderness where her family had been living for many years. They're isolate creatures that are said to be neither dead nor alive, but rather somewhere in between, and are most distinguished by their translucent reptilian-like bodies. While Miriam is very much alive, the line between life and death for her is much thinner, too, as she's able to sense spirits and death, to an extent. Here's an illustration of how her skin looks like:

next time we're gonna look at magia conduits, so stay tuned for that:))

taglist (let me know if you wanna be added or removed): @writerfae, @tate-lin, @iriswords, @sternenmeerkind, @thecrookedwriterspath, @pure-solomon, @moonshinemagpie, @arowanaprincess, @scribe-of-stories, @thesorcerersapprentice, @stuffaboutwriting, @doriians

#writeblr #worldbuilding #writers on tumblr #wbw #writing community #wwcc wip #wwcc worldbuilding #wwcc art #<- aee new tag #all art that you're gonna see is gonna be done by me btw btw #c: miriam #i wanted to draw more but ahhhhh gonna be for next time ig lol #oof this got long

[a-gay-old-time]

I just found your blog, and that by-hand cover work is amazing! Just wanted to ask, how do you get your edges nice? Failed miserably trying to cut my text block with a box cutter and am always stumped by how people ever get the edges nice and pretty

Thank you so much! This is probably not going to be super helpful to you, because I trim my edges with a box cutter/utility knife and a ruler. It's by far my least favorite step of the process and something I still fail miserably at occasionally even after almost a year. I can give you some advice on how I do it with a box cutter to maximize the chances of it turning out well and then I can also direct you to some resources for other methods!

When I trim my edges, I measure and mark how much I want to cut off (usually about 1-2/8ths of an inch--it's somewhat easier for me and I get better results if I'm cutting off a larger amount, you would just want to take that into consideration when setting your margins) and then place my ruler there to give me a straight edge to cut against. When I was starting out, this was all I did and I had wildly varying success with edge trimming and a few major disasters. One thing that helped was placing a weight (I use a 15 pound dumbbell I have lying around) on top of the textblock closer to the spine/behind the ruler. This keeps the textblock from shifting around as I cut it. Then I hold firm pressure on the ruler so it doesn't slide around. And what was most helpful was adjusting the speed and pressure with which I am cutting with the box cutter. I find I have better results when I am going slower and with less pressure with a very sharp blade (I usually change blades at least once halfway through a textblock if not more, depending on length). It's definitely a learning curve, and I am often at least a little frustrated with my results using this method because I'm still not super consistent and often end up not cutting at the same angle all the way through. But practice helped and I don't have the tools for a better method yet so I'm working with what I've got. Here's a video from DAS bookbinding about trimming with a knife that I started with.

There are other methods for trimming edges as well! I know a popular/fairly accessible one is to get a chisel and rest the flat edge of the chisel against your press/what you are holding your textblock with while you slowly slide it across the textblock to cut through a few pages at a time. Here's a video of that process. I am very interested in trying this at some point since I think it would fix the problem I have with an inconsistent angle of cutting, I just don't have a good way of sharpening a chisel and you would need a very sharp edge in order to use this method.

I hope this was at least somewhat helpful, I'm sure the folks in the @renegadepublishing discord would have more advice about some different methods since there's plenty of people in there who have more experience with them!

#a gay old resource #bookbinding

[eldritch-spouse]

fuck it, i have no shame here, no more anon for me! it's not like i have any irl people who know i have a tumblr account anyway, and even then they couldn't guess what my username is

i was the anon who's been asking about demon hybrids and tails, and mayyybe behind some other asks (i only remember the ones i had typed out in my notes app before sending them, cuz tumblr doesn't have a "save draft" for asks)

anyway with all that out of the way, another thought occurred to me: i remember you talking about the demon brothers' eyes before and if my memory is correct, they have to keep their eyes squinted if not closed all the way because of their powers. i tried looking for that exact post again but was on a time limit cuz i got errands to run.

would half-breeds need to do the same, depending on how much they inherited from their parent? and speaking of eyes, would sloth demons have a different range of eye colors and appearance compared to lust, anger, pride, etc., or is there no limitation on eye variety among all demons?

This would be the post you're mentioning, I hope.

If you're talking about half-breeds that come from any of the triplets, then you have to consider they're mid-rank demons. Which is to say, based on the hybrids ask, there's a 50/50-ish chance they may or may not inherit the trait. If they're very lucky, they could end up with a much softer version of this feature, one where the pain is not as acute, but the effects are also not that extraordinary (such as, instead of total paralysis, slowing down someone's movement to a degree, or a very diminished radius of effect, or partial paralysis- Among those lines).

Katia (note the lashes, one of her parents is a concubus) is a sloth demon, you'll see that there's nothing all that distinct about ther eye color or shape. Matter of fact, the appearance of a demon's eyes varies wildly from individual to individual and the type of sin doesn't really dictate most traits. There's a couple of notable features however:

Concubi tend to have "whiskers". These appear as longer lashes connecting to some part of their eyes. They will twitch occasionally and grow as one becomes more powerful. Bigger "whiskers" are therefore more attractive. (Some other types of demon may have this as a result of one parent being the lustful sort, though they are generally short and don't grow.);

Sloth demons have sensitive eyes, in the sense that lights will easily annoy and exhaust them. The most sensitive, like Zizz, will attempt to cover them;

Folks from greed and envy tend to, but don't always, have more eyes than usual.

#general tce #schtoat

[itsbrucey]

hihihihihi bruceyyyy as someone who is now interested in monsters/monster people thanks to you/pos i would love to know your oc lore/nf!! (I LOVE BIRD MONSTERS SO MUCH MAN)

EVRRYBODY needs to be madly in love with monsters. Such is my decree /j

Ok my OC lore in regards to my harpies + my slimes ( bc I wanna talk about Dulcie a lil) mainly revolves around species that I'm making/editing. A cut for Sanity.

For my Harpies, I have the three tiers I already rambled about: Matriarch Harpies, Mother's Blood Harpies, and Mother's Tears Harpies. Vali, picture below, is a Matriarch Harpy!

( I'll finish her ref one day)

And again, yadda yadda, the tiers of harpies kinda determine how Bird you are. Matriarch Harpies being the largest and most bird-like, and Mother's Tears Harpies being the most human and typically the smallest. Matriarch Harpies are the most rare bc they're primarily born female and have matriarchal societies/flocks, but there are male Matriarchal Harpies born occasionally! You basically ONLY get a Matriarch Harpy from two of them breeding. They're also the harpies that get hunted/killed the most bc they're considered monster-enough to slay for a bounty by monster hunters.

Mother's Blood Harpies are usually what happens when a Matriarch Harpy ( any gender ) has a kid with a humanoid/non-harpy. They're usually taller/larger than their humanoid parent's race average and still very bird-like, but aren't considered full monsters and therefore aren't hunted legally.

Mother's Tears Harpies are usually from a Mother's Blood Harpy and another humanoid, or two Mother's Tears Harpies. Very unlikely that a Matriarch Harpy and a humanoid will have one, but probably not impossible. They're the least birdlike and tend to be average height and are considered closer to Human than Monster at this point.

Appearance of the Harpies vary wildly depending on the bird species of the Harpy and the other parent, but they all tend to have feathers, wings, and talons; wingspan, size, flight ability, feather patterns, etc. are case by case. In my thing, most current Harpies are seabirds ( Vali being a Laysan Albatross) but there have since been growing populations of inland Harpies due to migration/hunting.

For their origin, it's basically just myths that get passed around from sailor to sailor or merchant to merchant. One origin is that sailor's used to throw women and rebellious crew overboard, but their souls would get trapped within fish when they drowned. When seabirds ate these fish, the souls inside possessed them, turning them into the original harpies. The Harpies would then terrorize sailors and fishermen within their waters as a form of vengeance. ( This myth isn't true but people use it to explain why harpies exist + why they tend to be territorial ).

Matriarch Harpies tend to live exclusively with other Matriarch Harpies while Blood and Tear harpies are more inclined to humanoid cities, but some Matriarch Harpies take up jobs/interact with people. Vali, for example, flies between islands and ports to deliver people or goods! She frequents a lot of human markets as a result, but makes good money to feed her flock .

For my slimes, it's something similar! There's a couple different species, but there was originally The OG Slime which was basically just bacteria and sludge and primordial goo. Over time the bacteria evolved and adapted as the slimes split off, specializing themselves to eating certain things. I've worked less on my slime species but there are Flora, Fauna, and Aqua slimes, with Flora and Fauna especially having offshoot. Aqua Slimes remain mostly water and have a thick gelatinous skin that traps water in and keeps it out at the same time, being like a living water balloon ( and are one of the only species of slime to not dissolve in water).

Flora slimes adapted to be primarily vegetarian and digest/compost plant matter instead of meat, making them kinda slow and docile. Fauna slimes are omnivores and adapted/evolved alongside humans, resembling them the most. They'd hunt animals/people, but also acted as scavengers who could easily absorb rot and carcasses.

Fauna slimes developed quite a few species and subspecies bc of human interference and development, eventually making Food slimes! They lost the bacteria and ability to breakdown rot and raw meat in exchange for cooked food and spices. Food slimes further developed a sub-species of Dessert/Sweet slimes, who have a diet of sugar and carbohydrates. ( This science is all made up by one guy who is kinda dumb aka Me)

Slimes also reproduce mostly(?) asexually, where an offspring is usually made by combining material from two+ different slimes in a container of sorts ( any gender of slime can create an offspring together). From there, it takes a baby a while to knit itself together, but you eventually get one! Slimes can also make miniature versions of themselves but purposefully or accidentally split mass from their body, and they can grow larger again by recombining/consuming relevant for their species and mass.

Ummmmm and Dulcie is an Ice Cream slime, being a Dessert/Sweets slime! I haven't decided her parents yet, but I was thinking a Custard slime ? Maybe? Also her ex-boyfriend is a Flora slime, specifically based on moss balls.

#brucey answers! #oc time woooooo #THANK YOU LAAAARRRKKK apologies for word vomit #oc stuff #anyway this is what im thinking about when i scheme about harpy henry #i kinda. have some naga stuff with Eli but its not enough to build Naga Glenn in the same way yknow #ALSO THIS USNT LIKE. THE RULES???? its just my guideline for henry's appearance. a reference if you will

[unma]

The Heretics - An Undertale AU

The Heretics AU is an AU I came up with mid-October while thinking up a Halloween fic. I never did post the Halloween fic (I posted a preview and the first draft was 90% done by Halloween) because I got busy, but that doesn't mean I'll just let it collect dust (like 90% of all my other wips). I've spent a bit more time thinking about it, and while a lot still isn't final, here's the premise.

The Heretics AU takes place in sorta medieval times (I am not the best at writing that period so there will be inconsistencies. Also, magic) and is centered around Frisk and Sans. It's Frans, of course.

Frisk is a nun (not really) isolated in a nunnery while Sans is a curious demon who stumbles onto her while bored one day. Frisk can't leave (for reasons that will become apparent once I finally post the goddamn fic) the town surrounding the nunnery while Sans sees this as an opportunity to laze around and cause mischief.

Frisk, Sans, and Ivan (a character unique to this au) are the main characters of the fic I was working on, as the rest of UT's cast doesn't show up. I planned for them too, but that would leave the oneshot even bigger than it was. Then again, I might split said oneshot. It's grown far too large.

More about the mechanics of the world under the cut.

In this AU, monsters are known as demons or devils, both are interchangeable here and will be used as such, though I prefer devils. I tend to slip into saying demons cause I called them that at first. They, of course, aren't malicious. They act as devils do, and get summoned to earth to perform wishes to the best of their ability. They aren't godlike or anything and more difficult wishes (or those out of the realm of possibility for normal humans) get sent to high-ranking demons. There isn't a hierarchy, ranks for demons determine how difficult the requests they take can be.

The payment for a wish varies wildly depending on both the difficulty of the wish and the devil's whims. For example, Sans can and will overcharge or undercharge depending on how he feels (or so he says, but it tends to do with his feelings on the task). Payment is decided before the wish is completed, and devils can always just pop back to hell if they decide against it taking the job.

While devils can and often will refuse jobs they deem morally evil, such as killing the vulnerable for reasons of greed and such, some devils will take the jobs anyway and go ahead with it. There is no rule against performing tasks of this kind, though it is frowned upon. Those who do it tend to with a catch; for example, Sans (yes, most of my examples will involve Sans as I by far focused the most on him) rarely takes the tasks but always puts a twist in them, to the detriment of his summoner. Perhaps overcharging to the point it isn't worth it or causing a riot that gets the people they wanted dead, but leaves them with much worse problems to worry about (like surviving).

Humans who die are brought to hell through reapers, two being the Sans and Undyne. Papyrus is a Reaper in training and Undyne acts as the leader of the Reapers. Reapers don't take humans directly to hell however, they gather their souls and bring them to the River Person, who ferries them to hell.

Most demons (Sans is one of the exceptions to this) tend to stay in hell. While it is possible and open to any with a good reason to roam the earth as a devil, appearing in front of a highly religious group is a surefire way to get hunted down, so many avoid it. Those that do, tend to hide their appearance using disguises, whether magical or non-magical.

Devils don't (usually) claim the soul of their summoner, as at the end of the day it brings about the same results as just straight-up killing them. Instead, they extract some of the traits and determination from a soul, for use back in hell.

When humans die, they are (whether immediately or eventually) reincarnated. More despicable humans may suffer in hell for their actions, but it's temporary and eventually, they too become reincarnated. Devils are quasi-immortal and live for extremely long periods of time. Falling down is still a thing, but it simply means the demon will be gone for a century or two before reforming, which is only a fraction of their lifespan. Devils usually retain the same form between lifetimes. Boss monsters, or rather, boss devils have never been recorded to fall down and seem to age even slower than normal devils. They do begin to age normally once they have children, just like in classic Undertale. Asgore and Toriel remain the only adult boss monsters, while Asriel is still alive.

A note here: Asriel is another monster who remains on Earth, for the single reason of travelling around with Chara. It's not impossible or unheard of for demons to extend the lifespans of humans, so yes, they have been together for a few hundred years or so.

The cycle of reincarnation is powered by determination and the other traits. As for how or why this works, not even Asgore knows. Gaster, who is at this point Schrodinger's devil, is still unsure of this. And who God is. The devils were created and put in place by something, they just don't know who or what. Angels are simply a thing of theory, even to the most knowledgeable. The prophecy remains, though it speaks of the queue of reincarnation and judgement, rather than Hell itself. While Frisk is the angel, how the prophecy comes to pass is still undecided (And the contents of said prophecy, because little old me forgot about it till now).

While magic is something that all of monsterkind shares, it isn't impossible for humans to learn magic. Witches and Wizards exist, though revealing oneself to be one is a surefire way to get hunted down for blasphemy.

To end it off, the abbey (or nunnery, I don't think there's much of a difference) that Frisk stays in has been abandoned for a good while. It fell into disrepair due to a certain man constantly fighting to get rid of it and finding ways to drain its funds and cause problems for the nuns till it was simply too much trouble for the nuns there to stay anymore. It was abandoned and no one bothered to meddle with it, either due to the fear of God or other, more troubling matters to deal with.

Sans is allowed to roam around Earth because he fulfils his quota swiftly and efficiently, as well as being skilled at disguises, stealth, and escaping from dire situations. He does show himself as a demon to people for fun occasionally, but it often doesn't harm him (due to his skill as a good judge of character).

A lot of this is subject to change and additions, but I thought I would put this out there. And yes, feel free to do whatever you want with this concept if you want, as long as ya credit me for it.

#Heretics AU #Heretics #frisk x sans #frans #undertale au #original au #a lot of this is based off of the Afterlife system in an original work that I've been planning for literal years #and also from the first 14 years of my life as a dedicated Christian #Agnostic now #but who says I can't put all that knowledge to use in writing #I've thought for a good while that Hell and Heaven were kinda pointless #but I'd be remiss to not put my own spin on things #I'm mostly done with Frisk Sans and Ivan's characters #so I'll move onto Papyrus Gaster and Undyne next #halloween au #but it's not Halloween anymore

[ask-the-elden-lords]

Wylde Family Lore!

Evelyn Wylde

Disclaimer: This character sheet is outdated and will be edited soon.

Evelyn Elise Wylde - yes her initials are EEW - is a fourteen year old demihuman, and granddaughter of the famous Orokin scientist Doctor Cedric Wylde - though their relationship is one of father and daughter so they refer to each other as such. She identifies as bisexual and her pronouns are she/her.

Evelyn is 5 feet 6 six inches (66 inches) in height and is usually seen wearing cleated snow shoes, jeans, winter snow pants, a long sleeve shirt, a jacket that she's "borrowing" from her girlfriend, @doll-the-zombie-drone, and a magic talisman from her late mother that protects her from harm. She has elven ears, a round face, soft lips, tanned skin, freckles, a button nose, piercing sapphire-blue eyes with slitted pupils, braided shoulder-length silver hair with purple, blue, and light green highlights, fangs, sharp claws for nails, well toned muscles, and an Australian accent. However, her most notable features are her molted green prehensile lizard tail, the tip of which boasts a razor-sharp blade, a pair of bat wings she keeps hidden under her jacket when she's not using them, and - though she'd almost always hiding it - a vivisection scar on her chest. Unless you want to be punched in the face at full force, it would be wise to not touch it.

Depending on who she's talking to, her personality varies wildly. Thanks to her childhood she has trust issues and is slow to warm up to people. Of course, once she does she goes from cold and distant to a lovable goofball cinnamon roll who loves to snuggle. She is also capable of purring and adores physical affection - that being said, don't touch her tail without permission, as it's extremely sensitive. She is surprisingly touch-starved and as a result physical affection has become her love language. She also adores praise, and especially likes being called a "good girl." The one thing that remains constant throughout the two sides of her personality is that she's a massive tomboy and ready for a fight at any time, including when she's asleep. The girl keeps a hatchet under her pillow for Void's sake. She is also autistic - high functioning - and has a hard time telling whether or not someone's being sarcastic, subtly making fun of her, or being genuine. She's also also insecure, has abandonment issues, hates loud noises, and is terrified of driving her loved ones away.

After learning the truth of the Absolute Solver in episode six, Evie has developed a strong phobia of Solver-infected Drones and the AS itself.

Thanks to Evie's great great grandfather, who's name has been stricken from history, she and her entire bloodline are effectively immortal and while they can be killed, they will eventually come back to life. Preventative measures can be taken to slow the self-resurrection process, but it cannot be stopped. The family also has supernatural powers, with Evie specializing in Pyromancy, or fire magic. She also also has a familiar - a phoenix she named Sol. She is very protective of Sol and will deck you without hesitation if you hurt her bird.

In terms of combat, her options are surprisingly varied. Not only does she have the aforementioned fire magic, but she is also incredibly strong, a black belt in jujitsu, carries multiple knives on her person at all times, and has a substantial collection of weapons that she can pull from and summon into her hands at will. She is also one of exactly three people who wields the Delta Solver - a variant of the Absolute Solver created by her grandfather. The Delta Solver is much less powerful than the AS, but more versatile, not sentient, lacks the biological aspect, and can only be given to others by an Admin.

As an added bonus she is capable of turning into a Disassembly Drone with blue lights instead of yellow, though she usually only uses this form to fluster her girlfriend.

RP Rules:

All crossovers welcome

No NSFW of any kind

NSFW asks will be deleted

Keep it PG/PG13

Explicit/18+ roleplay is strictly prohibited and will result in an instant strike

Racism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. will not be tolerated

Please keep in mind that the mod is religious - just in case

Try to change my lore without permission. Try it. I dare you.

Respect my boundaries

Everyone gets three chances. First violation and I'll let you off with a warning. Second violation and I'll block you on the related blog. Third violation and I'll block you on all of them. Any attempts to contact me after that will be seen as harassment and will get you blocked and reported.

Main Blog: @how-and-why-do-i-know-this

The Vivisection Incident (how she got the scar):

Evelyn's theme:

#wylde lore #wylde family lore #oc character sheet #evelyn wylde #evelyn #murder drones rp #Youtube

[hellomynameisbisexual]

There are a decent amount of arguments against accepting bisexual men, which I'm going to analyze here, since I think it's important that we understand the arguments that are used against us.

STI Transmission-this is the main reason for why there’s a stigma against bisexual men. It is widely believed that STIs (especially HIV) are mostly or exclusively spread through homosexual sex, and therefore bisexual men are the reason why women get STIs. This argument has a few flaws.

1. ⁠Now, it is absolutely true that STIs are more common among men who have sex with men, and we need to do more to address this. However, this argument conflates sexual orientation with sexual behavior. STIs are easily spread through anal sex, which gay/bi men are more likely to do anal. But not all gay/bi men do anal, sides exist. Homosexual behavior is not risky if you don’t do anal.

2. ⁠There isn’t a ton of evidence for the concept of a bisexual bridge. I’ve read every study I could find on this, and it doesn’t seem to be super common. Obviously having unprotected sex with different genders is risky, but the idea that bi men are the reason women get STIs is not super well supported by the evidence.

3. ⁠This argument generalizes the behavior of a minority of gay and bisexual men. A lot of gay and bi men are monogamous and aren’t promiscuous. However, men on average have higher sociosexuality than women. Straight men can’t easily get casual sex, but gay/bi men can, because there’s both supply and demand. To put it in more simple terms, there’s no straight version of Grindr. Having a lot of partners increases STI risk, so this promiscuous group skews the statistics. Additionally, some medications like PReP require regular testing. More testing means more opportunities for STIs to be detected.

Bisexual men cheat- I’ve read every study I can find on cheating by sexual orientation. Most of these studies are quite flawed. They either combine cheating and being cheated on into one category OR code consensual nonmonogamy and cheating the same. Besides this, rates of cheating vary wildly depending on the source. Some say only ~10% of straight men cheat, while others say ~60% do. You can’t trust people to be honest with regards to reporting infidelity. Basically, there’s no good evidence to support the idea that bi men cheat more. Even if there was, for this argument to be valid, it would have to prove cheating is inherent to bi men and not caused by other factors. I believe that the reason this stereotype exists is because someone cheating on their partner with someone of a different gender is shocking, and people remember that more than they would if it was the standard man cheating on a woman with another woman.

Bi men are criminals-this comes from a study that claimed bisexual men and women were the most delinquent sexual orientations. The issue is that this study defined bisexuality as being a true neutral 50/50 Kinsey 3. Straight-leaning bi men (called “mostly heterosexual” in the study) were somewhat more delinquent than straight men, but gay-leaning bi men (and gay men) were less delinquent than straight men.

A flaw with this study is that it’s entirely based on self-reporting. Since some of the crimes it asked about are felonies, I’m skeptical people would be honest in their answers. Additionally, the first wave was done on high schoolers, who might have trolled the researchers by giving inaccurate answers. Finally, due to their definition of bisexuality, the sample size of bi men was only 34. While not a terrible sample size, a few weirdos could have really affected the results. At most, you could say that Kinsey 3 bisexuals commit more crimes. But even then, there's no causal relationship that's been established yet. It could just be a spurious correlation.

There was another study that found a similar conclusion. However, it also had a strange definition of bisexuality.

“To determine sexual orientation, we used responses to the following item:

“When imagining sexual relationships, the individual with which you imagine interacting is

a member of the opposite sex -% of the time.

a member of the same sex -% of the time”.

Since the sum of the 2 percentages always should have equalled 100% (only in a couple of instances

did they not do so), only the per cent preference for members of the same sex was recorded. We found this fantasy measure correlated very reliably with an experiential measure of having had sexual relations with the same sex/opposite sex (r = 0.90; Ellis et al., 1987).”

The study even contains a disclaimer.

“Extreme caution needs to be exercised in interpreting the above finding, however, given our

extremely ‘liberal’ definition of ‘bisexuality’ (i.e. it included several individuals who reported

fantasizing about sex with the same sex in only 1% of their sexual fantasies). Perhaps, many of

these ‘barely bisexual’ males were simply overly conscientious in completing their questionnaires. In the sense that they took every reasonable opportunity to report even the most minor deviations from conventional normality. This possibility could be checked with a larger sample in which several degrees of bisexuality are compared in terms of criminal and violent behavior.

The fact that the definition of bisexual is so broad makes it difficult to determine the true sexual orientation of the participants. A straight guy who had a same-sex fantasy one time to see if he liked it and found out he didn’t would be bisexual. Same with a gay guy who had an opposite-sex fantasy, which is very common due to comphet. Also, the sample size for bisexual men was 25, and for gay men it was 29. The minimum recommended sample size for accurate results is around 30, so I would be skeptical of the accuracy of the results.

Bisexuality is a leftist plot to destroy the family-historically, LGBT activism was associated with the left in the US. So some right wingers believe that anything pro-LGBT must be leftist. Since conservatives often see LGBT as being against the traditional family, it’s not much of a leap to say that bisexuality is a far left plot to destroy the family and western civilization. The flaws in this argument:

1. ⁠The left doesn’t necessarily support bisexuality. There’s a lot of biphobia on both the left and the right. On average the left is more accepting, but that’s not saying much. Go on Twitter and you’ll find tons of leftists who hate bisexual men.

2. ⁠The left doesn’t want to destroy the family. Marxists and anarchists generally do, but they’re the far left. Most people on the left aren’t far left, at least in the west.

3. ⁠Left wing policies can help the family. I’d say I’m center left to left, and one of the reasons I have for being on the left is that I support family values. I support universal healthcare, which will help families. I want paid maternity/paternity leave so families can spend time together. I want universal childcare so having kids is less expensive. I support conservation efforts so animals can have families. I support unions so workers can get paid more so they can work less and spend more time with their families. Most social democrats, democratic socialists, market socialists, etc. support the family.

4. ⁠Bi men exist across the political spectrum. You can be bisexual and be a liberal, libertarian, conservative, socialist, communist, etc.

Bisexuality is unstable-this really depends on what you mean. Bisexual identification, especially during adolescence, is very unstable. A lot of people use "bisexual" as a synonym for questioning, or they really are bi but get pressured by society into IDing as straight or gay due to their lean, or any amount of other things. But after adolescence, sexual identification is more stable. Also, this is often misunderstood to argue that sexual orientation itself changes. This is not true. When genital arousal is measured, there isn't much change over time.

Homophobic men are secretly bi-this is believed by some groups in the gay community. The reason they believe most homophobes are bi is that it’s shocking when a homophobe is caught in a gay affair. It’s selection bias. There’s no good evidence for this. I know of studies that show homophobes get erect to gay porn, but later research showed this is due to anxiety

#bisexuality #bisexual community #lgbtq community #lgbtq #bi #support bisexuality #pride #bi tumblr #bisexuality is valid #lgbtq pride #bisexual #bi pride #bisexual nation #bisexual pride #bisexual education #bisexual youth #support bisexual people #bisexual men #respect bisexual people #bisexual rights #bisexual facts #bisexual info #bi guys

[parasex-jamboree]

Me vs Hypnokink

I don’t mean to bill myself as an export in hypnosis or even particularly accomplished. I’m just trying to collect my thoughts. Hypnosis evokes romantic and mystical imagery, but it’s a mess to figure out. And if you want to kink on something, you need knowledge and knowledge needs organization. It’s easy to restrain someone and inflict pain. It takes knowledge of the body in order for the subject to (eventually) walk away afterwards, with no loss of functionality. One should expect a similar standard for mind games.

My problem with hypnokink was that it felt unclear how to do it safely. From the start, I had two real world examples that I considered illustrative - the role of hypnotic memory ‘retrieval’ (often resulting in false memories) in the Satanic Panic, and the use of mind control myths such as MK Ultra as a method of control in abusive relationships. My time absorbing the chatter of hypno twitter presented me with a third example - online communities built around ‘addictive’ or ‘personality erasing’ audio files, that despite their outlandish claims, seemed to leave people with genuine distress and/or dissociative issues. Hypnosis seemed to do real damage, at least. 

I encountered multiple models of how hypnosis worked, without any citation and sometimes directly contradicting mainstream psychology (like my personal experience with cognitive-behavioral therapy). I felt that If I couldn’t trust the how of it, then I couldn’t trust the how it could go wrong. There seemed to be a dangerous optimism about hypnotism. The emphasis tended to be on the hypnotist being responsible with their influence, which struck me more as leaning into the desired fantasy of power rather than giving useful advice about when and why one’s influence might be greater or different than anticipated. Moreover, there was obvious reliance on the placebo effect, but it was rarely named and discussed circuitously. It began to feel reminiscent of the double-speak of pseudo-scientific conspiracy podcasts I used to listen to out of morbid curiosity. 

After bouncing off a few popular resources, like Mind Play, my search started to lean academic - specifically, the writings of Dierdre Barrett, Stephen Jay Lynn, and Marty Sapp. Here, I began to understand hypnotism and its problems as an issue of a subject’s ability to stay grounded in reality. What was often flattened into a scale of ‘hypnotizability’ or ‘responsiveness’ was actually the overlapping shadows of several tendencies such as credulity, visualization, dissociation, focus, etc. What created the extreme reactions to hypnosis was when a subject took one of these tendencies to the point of disorder. Also important is the assertion that nothing happens under hypnosis that isn’t possible under other circumstances. Hypnosis is not a state of the subject, but a formalism and a ritual.

My current opinion is that there is no objectively, hypnosis isn’t a useful descriptor – rather, my impression is that there are diverse would-be hypnotists of diverse traditions who all claim what they do (sometimes wildly different from each other) is hypnosis. I think it may be better to consider ‘hypnosis’ as an aspiration term akin to perpetual motion or anti-gravity. Hypnosis is a hypnotist’s attempt to communicate with some part of a person’s mind they have no conscious awareness of (roundly, “the Unconscious”). What constitutes the Unconscious Mind, if an Unconscious Mind even exists, or what can be gained through communication with the Unconscious are also vague and vary from hypnotist to hypnotist. From scientists to showmen, from therapists to thaumaturgists, the mythology of hypnosis keeps branching and changing as new would-be hypnotists find the idea too tempting (or romantic) to let go.

Because of this, I think it’s useful to separate “hypnosis” from “hypnotic techniques” – the actual techniques that hypnotists employ on their subjects. While there is no dependable evidence for hypnosis-as-claimed, various hypnotic techniques can produce effects recognized by mainstream psychology: task absorption, imaginative anticipation, relaxation, dissociation, etc. The ability of hypnotic techniques to elicit these effects is what fuels the myth of hypnosis. The hypnotist-and-subject dyad merely provides a ritual context where eliciting these phenomena can be (consensually, hopefully) agreed on. All of this is amplified by the Placebo Effect, where authority + ritual + expectation can give the subject the illusion of change or to misattribute the cause of change.

Why I think this differentiation matters is four points. First, while the narrative of hypnosis is part of the fun, I think it makes for poor organizing principle if you want to understand the psychology behind various hypnotic techniques. How these states work and the dangers posed by them can be researched completely independent of hypnosis. Second, I see the huge emphasis on the Placebo Effect as a consent issue. Placebos expressly depend on a difference between what the expert knows and what the subject knows. That’s not conducive to mutual risk agreement. Third, I think one of the dangers is when a subject mis-attributes the cause of what they experience. Developing the for-real conviction that anyone saying a trigger word can (for example) alter your memory is itself mentally dangerous. And fourth, I think that asserting that harm rendered by hypnotic technique is a unique class of harm may discourage victims from seeking appropriate professional help.

To be honest, I do feel better about hypno kink after parsing through all this. The climb is different than I expected, but I do feel like some storm clouds have parted from around the mountain. I’m not sure I’m saying anything particular new, but I do think there’s much that gets obfuscated just by universally applying ‘hypnosis’ – a pseudo-scientific term that twists to whatever’s being claimed – instead of demanding specifics. I’m learning and growing, and I’m trying to make sure I know what I’m growing into - not an all-powerful mentalist, but someone who knows what he can and can’t promise.

#hypnosis #hypnokink

[ateliaers]

@frysse requested plots, please, for henri, or rapunzel, or any other muse that might tickle your fancy !

henri & elsa. the man, the myth, the murderer himself, good god. henri’s default interaction is always one of pursuit — six wives down looking for lucky number seven, & so audaciously arrogant about it that he has no problem pressing his suit on those wildly out of his league, & depending on at which point in elsa’s timeline you prefer to write, he could very easily fit in there on the edge of arendelle, hans But Worse, intent on pursuing elsa & / or anna for his own gratification & causing friction there ? for all that he thinks he’s suave, he’s far from subtle, & it wouldn’t be hard to glean his intentions. but then there’s also the fact that, even though it’s usually under - explored as a result of focusing on The Horrors that are part & parcel of his tale, since getting his hands on his bloody key, henri has had a deep fascination with magic, what it can do, how it can be of service to him, who & what it can bind to him, & he has pockets deep enough to take him all over the world as he chases it, & knowledge of it — rumours of a queen of ice, a spirit made flesh, & the woods she walks would intrigue him like nothing else, honestly ! he’s not a nice person to deal with in a lot of his verses, despite the superficial charm, so his dynamic with elsa would probably be on the antagonistic spectrum, but if it’s something you’re up for, then so am i !

rapunzel & elsa. oh isolated youth buddies hello <3 i’m very interested in the contrast between them, to be honest, elsa incorporeal against rapunzel who is desperate to be grounded, but also the similarity in hearing that call from something beyond, though rapunzel’s is much more mundane compared to the spirits who called elsa ! rapunzel is a little um. emotionally volatile, or unstable, honestly, choose your own adjective about it, as a result of her odd upbringing, but she wasn’t always a prisoner in the tower, just as elsa wasn’t always kept locked away ( something something about how it was quote unquote for their own good, & how tremendously that backfired, actually. ) but ! the potential is there for them to have crossed paths briefly as children, to meet again as adults once rapunzel has escaped / been pushed out of the tower, circumstances depending ? or, if following the thread of the latter, where she’s left to wander the world with little instruction on how to make her own way, they could cross paths, & spin off from there ? while i don’t have a tangled – based verse for her, so no sundrop & associated powers from that, i’m always down for making new verses in the service of plotting, & considering her mother was a witch who explicitly used her magic on her with regard to her hair, god alone only knows what other effects that could have had on her, & what powers it could have granted her. two magical girls, alone in the woods ? always a good time, as far as i’m concerned !

signy & elsa. while i’m not sure if you have a grishaverse … well, verse, for elsa, signy’s an easy one to pull out of that setting & place anywhere else, because when you boil it down to basics, she’s a silver – tailed mermaid with a powerful singing voice, the magic in which can be used to summon storms, bring varying objects into existence, hypnotize others, &, during certain rituals, turn them temporarily into humans. a little summary quickly here just because her bio has still to go up, but signy spent a bit of time on land in her youth which went … disastrously, resulting in her becoming queen of the sildroher at the expense of her best friend’s body, voice, & goodness, & as an adult, it’s heavily implied she ends up becoming the mother to the grishaverse version of the little mermaid, with the friend she left for dead becoming the sea witch who sends her to her doom, but her timeline is flexible, so ! even on land, the sildroher are pretty powerful, & given that neither she nor elsa are fully human, while i don’t know it’s right to say they would bond over looking human – but – a – little – to – the – left, there’s a natural fascination in signy about people who walk on land, & elsa having one foot on it & one foot elsewhere would absolutely captivate her for sure ! & once signy becomes queen beneath the waves, & her kids start doing stupid shit like making bargains with a sea witch she had an intensely homoerotic relationship with as a teenager … well, her husband’s a prick, to put it nicely, so i can see her either reaching out to any spirits she can get in contact with on land to ask for help with them, or even carving herself a set of legs once more to pursue them, & potentially looking to ally with elsa as a result of that !

( & while i’m sticking to three just for the nature of the prompt, i’m also pushing forward elody & gerard of greenleigh for interactions, in the vein of the pair of them being another set of muses who have, essentially, lived past the end of their myths, & luna, the buried moon, who is shaking elsa’s hand regarding being a spirit / of another world, but who was forced into a corporeal / human form, & struggled to deal with it ! )

#frysse #◆ ― ask meme. ooc. #ty for sending this in lovely !! <3 #your take on elsa is fantastic so if any of these tickle your fancy i'd be so down to plot through them a little more !! #& if they don't hit i'm always happy to explore other plots with different muses !! god knows i have enough of em sdkfjasjdsdj

[strangeoctober]

The Problem With Wishes

An excerpt from a lecture led by Casimiro the Conjurer, professor laureate of the Inter-Cosmic University for Quintessential Magics & Eldritch Studies

Good morning, class! Please put away your orbs, mirrors and crystals as it quite time to begin. Today we will be discussing the fascinating and sometimes perilous topic of wishes! Now, I am sure many of you are quite familiar with wishes. Indeed, I’m sure that is how some of you achieved attendance at this fine institution, eh?

But we shall cover the basics nonetheless. Wishes! Considered by many high wielders of the eldritch and arcane to be the more powerful and flexible form of magic. With enough imagination, and an accurately elucidated desire, almost anything can be accomplished with but one request. But the nature, form and provider of wishes can vary wildly from one cosmic realm to another.

To begin with, we must understand the structure of wishcraft. A successful wish requires three integral components to function. The Vessel, the Wish Granter and The Wisher.

The Vessel provides the arcane power to the spell, which is either drawn from a source, allowing for unlimited wishes, or empowered at it’s birth or creation, granting wishes only until that power is depleted. Depending on the supply of arcane energy from the source, some vessels will need to recharge between wishes. But some sources are so abundant that there is no need to even pause between wishes! I do, however, recommend you pause between wishes as a matter of course.

Speaking of common sense, the Wish Granter is the being or magical device that facilitates the form of the wish and in some cases, enforce limits on the number of wishes it will grant. The classic ‘three wishes’ is a good example of those limits. It is difficult to make generalisations about wish granters as even within a single cosmic realm, they can take many, many forms. But broadly speaking you have sentient and non-sentient wish granters. Non-sentient wish granters are objects, machines or even magical phenomena that will simply follow instructions. They will give you exactly what you wish for. No more, no less. While this may seem a safer option at first, a poor turn of phrase can wildly alter results. Also, a creator of non-sentient wish granters can introduce biases that can manipulate the results of wishes. As they say, caveat emptor, eh?

Now, a sentient Wish Granter can be a much more reliable or troublesome affair. A sentient wish granter can be negotiated with, entered into long conversations about the nature of your wish and, most importantly, ensure your wish results in what you actually want and not simply what you asked for! The troubles begin when we consider that sentient wish granter are, when we get down to it, people! They have opinions, biases, moods and preferences. All of which will colour the results of your wish. All of this should be taken into account when employing a wish granter. A benevolent or cooperative wish granter can accomplish great things. A malicious wish granter… Will be your worst nightmare. Recommended procedure for employing a sentient wish granter involves a lot of careful questioning, verification and thorough background checks. But in all cases, be polite and respectful. Even the most kind hearted wish granter will put you in your place if you’re a boor.

Finally, we come to the Wisher. That’s you! Or me. Or us… It is the one with the dreams and the wishes to be granted. The wisher decides the function of the wish and what it actually does. At least, in theory. Wishing is a tricky business and those who would wish are often not as careful as they ought to be. The wish you make could be very different from the wish you think you’re making. There’s a reason ‘Careful what you wish for’ is such a popular adage.

We mortals are such fickle creatures, are we not? But it is this fickle and clever nature that also gives us our edge! We seek out problems, solutions and loopholes! Through this mortal essence, we have secured great power, unlocked the secrets of the cosmic realms and glimpsed the very soul of reality. Wishes are, perhaps, the greatest example of these wily tendencies. Why, I’m sure even now many of you are thinking about what wishes you would make, how you would word them, and perhaps even how to get more wishes out of the wish granter if they tried to limit your wishes!

Yes, I’m seeing some smiles. What did you wish for? Another three wishes? Grant wishes until I tire of them? A wish that were no limit on the wishes I could make? Perhaps even… Infinite wishes? Ah, some smirks now! Yes, I’m sure many of you have been told or heard that infinite wishes are an impossibility. Ask for more, certainly. But infinite? absolutely not. An absurd idea. What if I told you all today that you have been misled? That in certain cosmic realms, infinite wishes are quite real and very possible.

Now we come to the crux of this lecture. The Infinite Wishes Problem. In most Cosmic Realms there is a limit upon the kind of wishes that can be made. These are either enforced by the wish granters themselves or are simply a result of a dearth of latent magical energies in a given realm. But sometimes, very rarely, a realm has enough freedom and magical power that an individual can wish for infinite wishes. A fact that almost inevitably results in the complete destruction of that realm.

Recall the role of the Wisher in the wish dynamic. A wisher decides what a wish does. A Wish Granter can only influence how that wish is delivered. But to wish for infinite wishes is to wish for everything. If every possible wish were not granted, that would be less than infinite wishes. Thus, if you wish for infinite wishes, every single wish that could possibly be wished, is immediately granted. We call this the Wish Cascade. It is as close to complete and utter manifested chaos as can exist. Studies can only be performed from outwith the cascaded realm, as no one who has risked a visit to these realms has ever returned. The experiences of the people who have had the misfortune to be in the realm during a cascade is unknown, but a wish cascade is instant and inescapable, so we hope that it was over quickly for them. But… Well… We cannot know. It is a small mercy that these cascades are contained to a single cosmic realm by the natural laws of magic.

Wish Cascades are considered one of the great risks of cosmic exploration, as there is no way to know for certain if an unsurveyed realm is at risk without a thorough in-realm investigation. But, there are some tests one can perform to determine the likelihood and pointed conversation with a wish-granter can confirm the possibility. This is the highest priority of explorer-wizard teams visiting a newly discovered realm as a Wish Cascade can happen at any time without warning. Those cosmic realms that are known to be at risk are marked in cosmic gazetteers with the highest hazard rating and visitors are strongly discouraged. If you are curious about the state of these realms, we recommend sending magical probes and sensors in your stead. Indeed, we have a department for doing just that so we can record the fate of these realms when the inevitable happens and perhaps learn something from it.

Now, whenever talk of the risk involved in infinite wishes is raised, we always find ourselves asking, what can be done? After all, a wish cascade destroys countless lives… Surely we can do something…? It has been tried. Over the years, many have made it their mission to save these realms. Some have tried to warn the people living in those realms about the danger they are faced with. Disseminating the information through authorities or education. But someone always decides we’re trying to keep them from something. or they simply haven’t heard the warning… You can’t always reach everyone.

Others have moved to these realms and, by whatever means, put all Wish-Granters under their direct control. Despite their assurances that they were trying to protect them all, the people of the realm always find a way to defeat their protector or sneak past their security for a quick few wishes. With tragic results.

We even had one memorable occasion where it was wished that no one in that realm could ever wish for infinite wishes! We thought it was a very neat solution! Until some bright spark wished that the preventative wish had never been wished…

Unless a firm solution can be found, we can only assume that a wish cascade is inevitable. It may take years, it may take centuries, but as long as the power is attainable, someone will someday make the wish that will end it all.

It is a somewhat depressing thought, I know. But please, do take heart that teams of specialists have been working on this problem for a long time and we hope to have a solution to the infinite wish problem someday!

Now, we’re going to take a brief recess as I prepare for our practical lessons. Don’t go far now, we’ll be covering the correct syntax and grammar for accurate and effective wish crafting!

#fiction #wizard #wizardry #wish #wishes #story #infinite wishes #magic #wishcraft #writing #creative writing #fantasy #multiverse #cosmic #lecture

[lightcrowe]

No Classpect is inherently bad for a session

Hello everyone, this post is going to be relatively short. Today, I'm going to talk about a concept relating to Classpects that I believe a lot of people have misconceptions about. Let's get started.

Part 1: The topic

The topic in question is the idea that some Classpects are inherently bad for a session. To be more specific, it's the idea that the role that certain Classpects will perform is always going to be bad for a session and is likely to result in failure or the player going rogue. This is most often attributed to 3 Classes in particular, but sometimes is used on others. This usually depends on their Aspect.

Part 2: Classpect Functions and personalities

I think the idea of "Bad Classpects" stems from a much bigger misconception about how Classpects work in general. As I stated in an earlier post, I don't believe Classpects to be based on your personality or to even have much of an effect on it. The way I see it, your Classpect is only representative of your role in Sburb, nothing else. A lot of people seem to believe otherwise. Many people try to pin down the personalities of players based solely on their Classpect or even try to create OCs with a personality based exclusively on their Classpect. I'm not going to try to claim that I'm objectively correct in my assertions, people can use their own interpretations as much as they want. Their opinions are no less valid than mine. However, when it comes to this topic, I don't see any reasonable way to interpret Classpects as having much at all to do with your personality. The personalities of canon characters vary wildly, even among those with the same Aspects and Classes. My point in bringing all this up is that people assuming that Classpects have a large impact on personality tends to lead into people believing that your Classpect dictates exactly how you will perform in a session. This is false. Your Classpect lays out the general idea of what you will do in a session, but that's where it ends. You have a specific Function, but it's up to you and you alone to put your role to use. 2 different players of the same exact Class and Aspect - a Rogue of Time, for example - are likely to perform their Function in 2 completely different ways. You cannot determine how a session will go based purely on the Classpects of that session's players. (The only exception being that a session with no Time and/or Space players is null, barring the possible use of Doom or Light powers to somehow fix it.)

Part 3: Justice for Bards, Thieves and Princes

There is another piece to this puzzle that should largely explain why so many people think like this. For just a second, picture in your head who the biggest antagonists out of the Beta Trolls were. No Bec Noir, no Lord English, no Condesce, just the Beta Trolls. Who do you see? Did you imagine Gamzee Makara, Vriska Serket and/or Eridan Ampora? If you did, you were right. These 3 were easily the biggest antagonists out of the 12 Beta Trolls. These 3 are some of the most passionately debated characters and you can find every opinion under the sun about them online. However, they are generally painted in a negative light and few will (unironically) deny that their actions were, largely, bad. Namely, the murder and maiming. The bigger picture here, however, is their Classpects. Gamzee is a Bard, Vriska, a Thief and Eridan, a Prince. Would you happen to guess which 3 Classes are the most often considered to be "volatile" or, more bluntly, dangerous for a session? That's right. Bard, Thief and Prince. This, to me, is the biggest reason why people take one look at these Classes in a hypothetical session and go "Ooh, that's not good." There is absolutely no reason to assume that a session will go poorly simply due to the presence of a Bard, but when people think of a Bard, they think of Gamzee, and that's all the evidence they need to deem a character "dangerous". Some might point out "Oh, but the Function of a Bard is to destroy. Isn't that dangerous by very definition?" The idea of destroying something is only dangerous if used improperly. Imagine this: A Prince of Life. One who destroys Life or destroys through Life. That character would most likely be incredibly adept at killing, literally destroying Life. However, this does not mean they are trigger-happy, this does not mean they are out of control, this does not mean they are likely to use their power in situations that don't call for it. They would likely be an incredibly powerful fighter, capable of straight up killing their opponent easily. Does this make them dangerous? Not any more so than one who exploits Time, or one who manipulates Space, or one who knows a lot about Doom. The word I would prefer to use is powerful. They are likely to be a strong fighter, but why would you assume they would want to harm their allies? That's a completely baseless assumption. Think of it like this: Would you consider a Sylph of Life harmful, because despite their powerful healing abilities, they might betray you and use their power to help your enemies? No, of course you wouldn't. That's a ridiculous assumption to make. It's just as ridiculous to assume that that Prince of Life is a threat as it is to assume that that Sylph of Life is a threat. You cannot reasonably assume that these Classes will use their incredibly powerful Functions for bad things. You could do so based on the player themself, but their Classpect alone will not determine that.

Part 4: Conclusion

At the end of the day, my point is this: Don't assume things about how a session will go based solely on the players' Classpects, it's a hollow and largely meaningless analysis. You could make the absolute best possible calls about a session based on the players and their Classpects, but then the session itself could go a completely different direction than you were imagining. It's a little frustrating to see the occasional post on r/homestuck which asks the community how a given session might go, only for the comments to tell the OP all about how dangerous that Bard of Space is and to keep the Seer away from that Prince of Mind. Please, don't boil down these players to the basic Functions of their Classpects. -Crowe

#homestuck #classpect #classpect analysis #classpect guide #homestuck class analysis

[trillgutterbug]

tagged by @malewifemanhunter ty!!

name: trill q gutterbug, the q stands for queer

star sign: who knows or cares

height: 5'10, which means i can definitively say coffee doesn't stunt your growth, even if you start drinking it age 4

time: 9:38am 😓 i do NOT want to be awake rn but the rest of my family is gone atm so the grisly burden of letting the chickens out at ass o'clock fell to me. (eta it is now 12:13 bc i fell asleep for two hours before posting this)

birthday: the day laura ingalls wilder was wed

favorite bands/artists: of montreal, why?, clipping., and nine inch nails are the eternal faves i can't get sick of, but im also tremendously partial to kendrick and lil nas and hozier and mcr and twenty one pilots and the like. also i listen to a lot of chillhop and electroswing, because im a good person with good taste

last movie: i think mad god, which was fantastic and completely incomprehensible. i don't usually have the attention span to sit through a movie if im watching it alone, so.... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (eg, the way i still have to finish everything everywhere all at once, which i got an hour into last week, enjoyed tremendously, then got up to walk around and listen to a podcast and play a video game and jerk off or whatever the fuck, and just haven't gone back!)

last show: i believe the latest ep of what we do in the shadows.... or maybe sunny? or euphoria? whatever it was, i was watching it with jackie im sure!

when did i create this blog: idk where to find that info, but im p sure 2014, after LJ shat the bed and i dipped from active fandom for a couple months and when i came back it was like.... owo where'd everyone go?! here, apparently.

what i post: constant thirsty nonsense about a rotating string of fandom obsessions, shitposts, sometimes a bit of tumblr-brand anarchism and socialism bc even the junkfood buffet churns out a smidge of healthy caloric content every once in a while

last thing i googled: i don't use google but the last thing i duckduckgo'd was........ where's wade wilson from, bc i saw something that said vancouver and one of the movies implied regina but i swear to GOD i know it's winnipeg from some other source. results annoyingly inconclusive.

other blogs: @truelevelb1tch, my rick and morty side, which is going to pop off again in a MONTH (!!!!!!!!!) when s6 starts dropping 😱😱😱. i do not apologise for the person i become when r&m occurs, fair warning

do i get asks?: not enough to worry about, thank goodness

following: idk where to find that info either, but it's probably a few hundred, the vast majority of which are inactive at this point. i probably see <50 blogs on my dash??

average hours of sleep: like eight, which is NOT enough for me, but it varies wildly between 5 and 10 depending on what im doing for work on a given day/whether i have to get up early for animal-related reasons/if im up reading fic until 3am/time of year/blah blah

instruments: flesh flute....,,,

what i’m wearing: nuthin

dream job: I Do Not Dream of Labour

dream trip: i hate travelling! but i am partial to visiting my cousins' farm on the reg, so let's say that

nationality: canadian

favorite songs: the trapeze swinger by iron and wine has been my fave song for about ten years. it's almost ten minutes long and if stats across various laptops and ipods and phones could be collated, it would show a playcount in the thousands lol. i first heard it as the closing music on the amazing podfic for the inception fic presque vu and it gutted me on the spot. ode to the mets by the strokes is also on the same trajectory. otherwise, my fave songs come and go in the usual way, by liking something and listening to it repeatedly until i can't stand it. (eta: just went into my music app to see if i'd forgotten anything, and literally the only thing on my "most played" list is the trapeze swinger, so...)

last book i’ve read: currently reading (aside from the massive eternal stack of ww2 ref books) the half life of valery k by natasha pulley and grimscribe by thomas ligotti. most recently before that i read borne by jeff vandermeer, the kingdoms by natasha pulley, blood meridian, the d&d 5e player's handbook, and some postapoc scifi thing that was so forgettable i genuinely cannot conjure up the name of it or its author!!

top 3 fictional universes i’d like to live in: idk, they all seem uniquely bad in ways that do not necessarily improve upon the unique ways in which our current universe is bad. but to be sporting i'll say star trek of course, anything jared harris is in bc i want to fuck him more than im afraid of space terrorists or freezing to death or nuclear radiation, and the fictional universe i've been manifesting in my imagination for years where we never invented agriculture and i died at birth for simplistic umbilical cord-related reasons

lowkey tagging @kaasknot, @collapsinghorizons, @mollynoble, @twobrokenwyngs, @pohjanneito, @lingua-mortua, @sloppyplanetary, @alakeeffectgirl, and @quiescentire

#meme

[straightfromthetorturedpoetsdept]

please do not get your autism information from people on tik-tok, even self-dxed autistic people are still ableist as fuck.

I saw someone say that "autistic people have a better innate sense of justice" in order to justify why autism isn't an excuse for bigotry and that whole line of thinking is baked with neurotypical and specifically ALLISTIC assumptions. I've already made a similar post to this but it bares repeating, autistic people are NOT inherently better at seeking out justice. Autistic people are more sensitive to PERCEIVING injustice, and this will vary WILDLY based on the individual's masking needs and biases.

I've already touched on why I absolutely 100% think autism is a valid excuse for bigotry but I will summarize here: basically, autism is highly dependent on social norms and if being racist/sexist/homophobic/whatever makes you seem more normal, then why wouldn't an autistic person adopt that as part of their mask? If being sexist gets you internet clout, why would an autistic know any better than an allistic person about how bad it is to be sexist? All masking is after all is analyzing your environment and trying to figure out the rules of social interaction. If being racist makes people accept you more, why wouldn't an autistic person be racist? especially undiagnosed autistic children, and before anyone says that my perspective is limited by my whiteness, I don't think so.

Autistic black children tend to "act whiter" than their black peers do, partially because they've recognized on some level that "acting black" is bad and holds you back in life. A lot of these black "oreo" children (sorry for all the racist terminology, i hope y'all understand that i'm not making these judgments. im describing society's judgments to make my point that autism is a valid reason for bigotry) will speak in "white" english, dress in "white" clothes, and listen to "white music." many watch anime, which is dominated and fetishized by white kids in america. many will grow up to be fairly republican in values, or more accurately "libertarian" and the backlash that they receive from their black peers just further reinforces the racist biases these autistic black chilren have developed as a result of the greater white supremacy system at play as well. I bring up this type of black autistic child because it is an issue that i've heard "ex-oreos" black autistic adults talk about and I want to make sure that I am elevating black issues with my privilege and I make a full-rounded cultural assessment of autism and bigotry.

It seems like undiagnosed autistic children are at a greater risk for falling susceptible to conservative ideology because that is the ideology that rewards you the most social protection in America. Regardless of skin color, autistic children are still autistic children and if they are not given the tools to properly identify and discuss the norms they are witnessing in society, as well as why those systems are in place to begin with, how can you expect any autistic child to come to an independent conclusion that racism is bad? or sexism? or whatever form of bigotry they've fallen prey to?

the reason I bring this up is because there is a huge undiagnosed autistic to alt right pipeline that is largely going unnoticed because most of the pipeline affects undiagnosed autistic white men and I think that does a huge disservice to all the non-white male teenagers who briefly dabbled with alt right propaganda online whose intersections of oppression could not afford them the level of safety these isms afford white autistic boys so they often grow out of it way faster and earlier than these white boys are and I think that's because white autistic men are in a special kind of hell. They have to mask to survive but because the world expects them to behave a certain way, they're rarely given the message that they are better than what society tells them.

Like non-white autistics, non-male autistics they have other communities besides autism community to reaffirm their worth as a human being. And undiagnosed autistics all are united by one underlying sense of : maybe I'm an awful psychopath and that's why nobody likes me. they can see it but I can't and I think combine that with the "white men suck" movement, these white autistics are basically never given the chance to grow and be better. Like, if you're black autistic, you got "black is beautiful" and if you're gay autistic, you got "homosexuality is natural" and if youre a woman autistic, you got "gender is a social construct" but if you're a white male autistic, you got "if you think like this, you're an evil disgusting human being who's trash and everyone is right to hate you maybe YOU are the problem" and that works for neurotypicals but I don't think it works for autistics.

wow this was a long ass post, did y'all enjoy it as much I enjoyed it lmao

#anyways #autistics can be ableist too #autism #personal