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leomitchellart · 4 years

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So… about this latest Inktober controversy….

Time to begrudgingly chuck in my two penneth… (Remeber you can always press “J” to skip this post altogether)

As most of you may or may not know, Alphonso Dunn released a Youtube video wherein he publicly accused Jake Parker, and creator of the Inktober challenge, of plagiarising his book. Both of these men are public figures, artists specialising in pen & ink. In the video Dunn looks at the preview pages and flip through footage of Parker’s “Inktober All Year Round” and says they draw many similarities in the illustrations, language and layout that he used in his own book, “Pen & Ink Drawing”. Parker’s book was set to this month. Hense why Dunn only used footage and not a physical copy.

Since the video’s release, the art community has been very spilt down the middle. The book’s publisher has halted the launch of Parker’s book until the matter can be investigated. Even DeviantArt cancelled their own Inktober event thing (I’ll admit I don’t keep up with these things DA keeps doing). Parker has since released a statement in the matter. Now it’s up to the courts to decide what’s happening next. The video itself is an hour long, but it’s crucial to see it yourself.

People are, understandably, outraged after seeing it. This seems like a shitty thing to rip-off Dunn - not to mention stupid. Since Dunn is the more popular pen & ink artist with more social media followers and name recognition. Many have called to boycott inktober and condemn Parker. I’ll admit, I was right alongside them at first, at least for feeling outraged. The similarities are there. But if YMS’s Kimba video has taught me anything, it’s that, even if an accusation of plagiarism may be obvious at a cursory glance, sometimes it’s important to take a more critical eye and do more research to learn that things aren’t as cut and dry as they first seem. If there’s a lesson I can take away from the internet as a whole, it’s that no one thinks about the consequences of mob mentality.

The most common defence of Parker is that because they’re both books about pen and ink drawing, then they’re inevitably going to be similar. I’ll admit that, when you pick-up so many art books, a lot of them will cover the same basic grounds of materials, tutorials, strokes, techniques etc. The parts about rendering textures on spheres and cubes isnt new. Look up “texture study” and you’ll see so many examples of artists rendering these kinds of things digitally. I’ve also noticed a common theme of people more formally educated in art pointing out how none of these are original. Everything down to the steps and illustrations are things they’ve learned from years ago. Since I'm a pen & ink artist, inspired by my love of comics, I have quite a few books about inking: Dunn’s included. I own both his books and still highly recommend them. I didn't even preorder Parker’s book. Ironically because I didn't think it could offer anything new that my other books hadn’t already.

While Ethan Becker took the time to cross-examine Dunn and Parker’s books with several others, there weren’t many of the ones I actually owned. So I looked to my shelves to see what I could find. Books like:

“The Art of Comic Book Inking” by Gary Martin & Steve Rude

“How Comics Work” by Dave Gibbons & Tim Pilcher

“The DC Comics guide to Inking Comics” by Klaus Janson

“Making Comics” by Scott McCloud

“Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics”

I’m sure there’s plenty more examples out there. I was planning to go through all of these and take pictures. But ultimately that’s not the core point of these post. Plus it would’ve taken WAY too long and this post itself, is long enough.

Of course, none of the them are 100% close to Dunn’s in the way they’re displayed. Not as close as Parker’s could be considered. That being said, I know Dunn is trying to claim that he invented these techniques. The nucleus of the issue is how similar they are in terms of order and how these pages are displayed. Some I can chock-up to standard practice, while others seem more coincidental.

If there’s one thing I’m adamant about, it’s that I think that Dunn should’ve messaged Parker first before making the accusation public. Some try to dispute that this would've made it easier for Dunn to be “silenced”, whatever that means; but that sounds a bit conspiratorial to me. Ideally, you confront him about it in private, if he makes any threats or blows you off, get your lawyer on the phone and then make the video. Not only is it the more civil thing to do - but it’s the smarter thing to do. This is a serious legal matter, not just internet drama. While I’m sure Dunn had no intention of tearing Parker down or getting a mob onto him, that’s unfortunately what’s happened. A backlash both from the general artisan community and several companies. Wherein it was left to Parker himself to make this an official legal matter. If Parker’s found not guilty, then this could easily leave the gate open for him to sue Dunn for damages, loss of revenue, defamation of character or whatever else, should he see fit. As could the publishers, given how this affected their sales. Companies responded to the accusation of the video alone, before an investigation could be launched. Sure, it wouldn't be “acting the bigger man” but he’d be well within his right to do it. Dunn showed that Jake has mentioned him before, shown admiration for his career and referenced him in other posts. If it comes to light in court, that Dunn is even cited as an inspiration or source in the book itself, then it’s case closed.

Then there’s the other possibility that Parker might not have done this on his own, but that he has a team behind the book. If that’s the case, the most I can accuse Parker of is being a hack. I worry Dunn has kneecapped himself for just how badly he’s handled this situation. Made worse by him not having an actual physical copy to assess and just had footage of preview pages to go on. So far, the circumstances don’t seem on his favour.

I don’t think ill of Dunn. I do think he believes he’s been wronged and no malice in his intentions. I just think he’s made some critical errors on how to handled this. As for Parker himself, I couldn't give a donkey’s doo-dah about him. I’m sure you could accuse me of playing devil’s advocate earlier, but to me, he was the guy who released the annual prompt list. If it really does turn out that he’s a plagiarist and had malicious intent, then fuck ‘im. I never regarded him as an inspiration of mine or paid much attention to him outside of that. It was the community that made Inktober what it is. I’ve never met Parker. Maybe he’s a cool guy? Maybe he’s a bellend? I don’t know.

Granted this isn't the first time Parker has proved himself to be a controversial figure: - Last year people were upset about him trademarking (not copywriting, as many have erroneously claimed) the word “Inktober” and some artists were stopped from selling their related work or zines. Parker would issue a statement: claiming the takedowns were a mistake of “overzealous lawyers” and it’s just a matter of the logo being trademarked. People can sell their Inktober works and even mention they are Inktober-related. Just not use the official logo. On the one hand, from a business standpoint, I get it. It’s the bare minimum you need to do to protect your IP, especially when you have a store. BUT, like most people, I don’t like how, what’s intended as a community challenge, has slowly become more of a brand associated with one man. Hardly a surprise it left a bad taste in so many people’s mouths. But, since it doesn't actually effect anyone’s ability to take part in the challenge, outside of personal principle, I went ahead with it the previous year.

- The year before, when asked if one can do Inktober digitally, Parker said the following:

I know some are still bitter about that, but speaking as someone who inks traditionally and digitally, this came across as needless whinging and blowing things out of proportion. Claiming that Jake had derided digital artists and said they were invalid etc etc. Take it from me, challenging yourself to try out different methods to ink traditionally can greatly improve the work you do digitally. It’s like how learning traditional fundamentals of art can still be applied to digital. Plus he never said “No.” he just gave valid reasons about how it makes it a different experience. That said, if you’re someone who can’t afford any kind of inking equipment or pens and only have a selected application to draw on - then none of this applies to you. Just the aforementioned few who took it upon themselves to get angry over nothing. Recently I’ve heard from subscribers of his newsletter that he’s now embraced the idea of people doing inktober digitally, to the point of selling digital brushes for inktober. I’m sure some will call this “backsliding” or “money grubbing” because people aren’t allowed to change their minds or update their statements.

For weeks I’ve been torn on what to do, not being able to solidify one stance over another. One minute I thought #JusticeForAlphonsoDunn then I wonder “Wait maybe I should look again?” to “But wait, those are way too similar!” Having splinters in my arse from sitting on the fence for so long. The longer this went on, however, I began to realise that I can’t take one stance over another. This case is far too muddy and complicated. I don’t have enough sufficient knowledge or evidence. Nor do any of you. We literally only have Dunn’s video to go on. While it’s a good start, it’s not enough to be taken 100% as gospel when it’s the only thing to hand.

As previously mentioned, a lot of artists have decided to not take part in Inktober at all, or follow different prompt lists. That’s completely fine. A lot of them are based around a specific theme: halloween, kinky stuff, bears, transformers, OCs, Disney or whatever. That has massive appeal. I just can’d do it myself. I prefer the focus on random words, rather than all centred on a single subject; allowing me to be creative with my ideas and execution. I actually did try to make a list of my own random words. Problem is, I worried that because I was choosing my own, I might be subconsciously bias towards certain prompts and not truly challenging myself. Even narrowing down my options was taking too long. In the end…. I’ve decided to just do the official prompts again this year.

For me, that’s what it ultimately came down to. TIME. It’s the middle of September. I can’t afford to wait for the court case to be settled. No other prominent artists I respect have released their own prompt lists. I know there’s been some shitty people who are condemning this choice. Attacking others, accusing them of supporting plagiarism, looking to block anyone who does the official prompts. Even trying to make this a racial issue. Just…. no.

If someone doesn’t want to take part in Inktober, that’s fine. If someone wants to do the official prompts, that’s fine. If someone wants to do their own prompts, that’s fine.

Don’t go around aggressively making snap judgements or accusing people of taking a side. Do whatever makes you feel comfortable. This has been a shit year, let people enjoy something.

If you look at this situation and it makes you feel angry, and you don’t feel comfortable in taking part in a challenge because of it’s creator. I get that, I literally get that. It’s why I haven't done Mermay. And please don’t mention Pinktober, I’m aware of it, but given his insta video on the subject and the things he said, I quickly came to the conclusion that I can’t take this person seriously. I’m sure this might make me seem hypocritical, but how this differs, if only for me, is the sheer amount Inktober means to me. It’s more than a simple challenge. Inktober's the one thing I’ve been most excited about all year. As it was ruined for me in 2019, when I lost my home and I didn't get to complete every prompt. (Long story, I’m okay now). As we all know, 2020, has been an AWFUL year. We’ve got to take whatever joy we can. As I’ve looked longer at the official prompts, I found ideas I’m really excited for.

Once I started to really dedicate myself to it, it became a massive event. I hype myself up as I prepare for the busy month. Buy in supplies, clean the house and workspace, cook and freeze meals in bulk to save time, printing off a sheet that allows me to jot down ideas as I plan ahead. Then once it’s done, after so much work, it makes the reward all the sweeter: Ordering a takeaway, celebrating a great halloween night and still rocking those vibes throughout November. Feeling proud of myself for doing it and seeing myself improve my technique, discipline and earning a few lie-ins to make up for the sleep I lost working. I’m like a kid waiting for Christmas. That said, don’t think that there’s something wrong with you when you understandably can’t dedicate that amount time for a simple art challenge. If anything that’s plenty of reason to why you’re smarter than me. You have a life and don’t push yourself too much.

Now, I need to crack on with the preparations. If you want to boycott Jake Parker, just not buying any of his products should be enough. Doing the inktober challenge doesn't bring attention to him, as I doubt most people even know him as the creator, nor does it even line his pockets. I just hate how cancel culture can do such serious damage like this and then try and put pressure on others to act accordingly without even doing any research themselves.

As long as you’re not harassing anybody. Just do what YOU want to do. That’s fine.

#Inktober #Inktober 2020 #My two penneth #Jake Parker #alphonso dunn

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ocprompting · 5 years

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Hey everyone, we put this together and i think this is a good blog to put it on. it’s a big text document we made thats like a big oc bio/questionnare like thing, its just a bunch of questions about your oc. i realize its very slightly biased to fantasy settings but only slightly, so ignore the magic section if yours isnt fantasy based. if you do decide to fill it out, you can skip any parts that dont apply to your oc, and just please do link back to this blog if you post it! i dunno who would actually fill it out or if its any good but uh its here if u want it! (im not claiming this post to be good - its just useful for us so i’m sharing it incase it is useful for others too)

Fun Character Bio

Name

What is it?

Does it mean anything, who gave it to them and why?

Do they like it?

Is it a common name for their setting/culture, or is it obscure?

Other basics

Age?

Species?

Personality traits

What are their most defining traits to their personality? What sticks out as soon as you meet them, what kind of first impression do they make?

What are their good traits?

What are their bad traits?

Any other traits?

How do they describe themself, how do they view themself?

How do others describe them, how do others view them?

What parts of their personality always prevail and are always present no matter what the situation is?

Are they a different person when you first meet them than when you get to know them, does it take them time to open up? Or are they an open book from the get go?

Appearance

Height?

Body build/shape/weight?

Facial shape - What are their eyes like? How about their nose, or lips? Shape of cheeks? Eyebrows?

Hair - Is it short? Long? How is the texture/shape? How is the style? Do they wear it different ways or only one way? What colour(s) is it, and is that natural or changed?

Skin tone?

Anything such as glasses? freckles? dimples? scars? any wrinkles?

Do they look younger, average, or older than their age?

Anything else such as a tail, unusual ears, wings, etc?

How do they feel about their appearance? Do they like it, do they dislike it, is it mixed, or do they not place much value on their looks?

Is there anything they would want to change about their appearance? Is there anything they refuse to change about their appearance?

Gender identity/etc

What is their gender?

Are they intersex or perisex (non intersex)? Or does their culture not even have different "sexes"?

Are they cis or trans? Or does their culture not even assign genders?

What are their pronouns?

Orientation/attraction (if oc is aro and/or ace, skip the ones you feel not applicable)

Sexual orientation?

Romantic orientation?

Are they dating anyone? Are they married? Do they want to get married? Or do they prefer 'one night stands'?

How do they react when they first fall for someone?

How do they react when they first begin being intimate with someone?

How do they react further on down the relationship? Do they change or do they stay the same but stronger feelings?

Do they have a lot of dating experience, a little, or none?

What ways do they express intimacy or love? Hugs, Kisses, Giving gifts, Doing favors, Creating things for them, Verbal flattery, etc?

Are they casual or intense in the relationship? Do they value the relationship as important and lasting, or just fun and fleeting? Are they fast or slow in their relationships?

Are they dominant or passive in the relationship? Do they take the lead, let their partner(s) take the lead, a mixture, or is there no lead in their relationships?

Do they enjoy sexual aspects to their relationship more, or romantic aspects more?

Do they have any sexual interests that they do with their partner(s), either for themself or for their partner(s)?

What do they do if there is something upsetting in their relationship, how do they handle slight turmoil in their relationships? (as in, not abuse, but a small/singular problem)

Are they confident when with a partner, or are they insecure? If they are confident, how do they feel about confident partners? How about insecure partners? if insecure, then how do they feel about confident partners? or insecure partners?

Do they have a 'type'? Personality wise, what do they enjoy in a partner(s)? Looks wise, what do they enjoy as well?

How well do they handle heartbreak?

Platonic relationships

What kinds of people do they make friends with? What kinds of people DON'T they make friends with?

What kinds of things do they enjoy to do with friends? Do they like to chill at home, go out somewhere exciting, hang at a quiet coffee shop, etc?

Do they enjoy a large friend group or small? Would they rather a few great friends, or many good friends?

Do they make friends with anyone easily, or are they selective?

How long does it take them being around a person to consider them a friend?

How do they handle a fight with a friend?

How do they express their friendship? What kinds of things do they do to/with friends to let them know they care for them?

Animals

How do they feel about animals as a whole? Do they view them as friends, helpers, tools/rescources, equal companions, annoyances, or enemies?

Do they have a favourite animal, for any reason? A least favourite animal?

Do they have any pets? Have they formally had pets? If no pet, do they want one?

Are they good with animals or are they bad with them?

Food/Diet

What kinds of food do they enjoy?

What kinds of foods do they not enjoy?

Do they eat a little, a lot, or somewhere inbetween?

If a little, Do they only eat a little due to being poor/conserving, or is there another reason such as culture/religious/etc? If a lot, do they do so due to money/abundance of food, or would they still find a way to eat a lot even if poor?

Do they have any food allergies, or restrictions such as vegetarian/vegan/pescetarian/etc? If the latter, is it a personal belief, a cultural belief, a religious belief, due to allergies, or something else?

Do they view food as just sustenance or as a pleasure? Or balance it out?

If given a big plate of food, do they eat their fav food first or last?

If given a big plate of food, do they eat it all at once, or save some for later?

How do they feel on sweets? How do they feel on sour foods? How do they feel on spicy foods? How do they feel on bland/basic foods?

Are they good at cooking/baking, or do they instead just buy premade meals? Do they cook basic storebought foods or do they make food from scratch? Or if rich, do they pay someone else to prepare their foods?

Social/political beliefs

What are their views on social groups? Are they open minded or close minded? Are they progressive, or do they dislike if their society changes?

What is the government like in their setting? Do they like the way it is set up, or not? Do they like their current leader, or not?

Fashion

What kinds of clothes do they like? What kinds of things will they include in every outfit?

What kinds of clothes do they dislike? What kinds of things would they refuse to wear?

Any accessories they always wear, like a bracelet, hair tie, ring, locket, etc? Does it have any significance?

What is their relationship with clothing? Do they wear what's comfortable, what they aesthetically like, what is easy to work in/what fits their profession, something formal, something casual? Do they view clothes as just fabric to cover their body, or do they consider it an important/integral part of their identity, or somewhere in between?

Do they prefer to have less or more skin exposed in their outfits? Do they wear as little as possible, or maybe do they use clothes to hide something about themselves?

Do they live somewhere with the same temperature/weather all year, or does the climate change? if it does change, do they change their clothes by the changing seasons, or do they stick to their "brand" no matter what? if it doesn't change, do they like having the same style clothes all year or not?

Disabilities

Do they have any physical disorders/ailments/etc?

Do they have any mental disorders/ailments/etc? What about, are they neurodivergent?

Do they have any other sort of disability?

Is their disability something formally diagnosed or understood in their setting, or is it something not well known or understood in their universe?

Does their culture offer accomodations, treatments, and services for their type of disability, does their culture just ignore or not recognize it, or does their culture view it negatively?

How does their culture/setting view their disability(/ies) in general? Is their society open to help those disabled, or quick to shun them?

Hobbies and talents

Do they have any hobbies or recreational interests? Do they practice them a little at a time/during whatever free time, or are their hobbies more time consuming and take up a good deal of their day/week/etc?

Is their hobby to de stress, to bring fulfillment, to build up a skill, or another reason? Why do they do their hobby?

What made them pick up/do this hobby?

Is their hobby something done in their alone time, or something done in a group setting/with friends?

What kinds of talents do they have? What are they good at? Is it something more well regarded like singing, dancing, painting, etc.. or something more obscure like quickly organizing things alphabetically, remembering what kind of flowers their friend likes, or another skill that isnt as widely seen as a typical "talent/skill"?

is there any type of hobby they detest and would never partake in?

Is there any sort of skill or subject they are just completely bad at?

Is there a hobby they wish they could try? Is there a skill they wish they had?

Are their hobbies or skills more practical and useful in a job or career, more suited for social life/aspects, more creative and for fun, or do they serve a different kind of purpose in their life?

Do they have skills they don't know about yet, or hobbies they haven't tried, and maybe even don't even know to try (on either)?

Religion and spirituality

Are they religious? Are they a part of a group or place which practices their faith in an organized manner, or do they practice it on their own/by themself?

Are they spiritual? Are they part of a group or place which practices this in an organized manner, or do they practice it on their own/by themself?

Do they consider religion and spirituality to go hand in hand, or are separate things in their life? Do they do one without the other?

What parts of their beliefs do they enjoy the most, what speaks to them the most? What is the core reason they are a part of that faith?

Is there any part of their faith they don't like? Be it the faith itself, or the people within?

If they are not religious, is it due to indifference, due to it being not of interest, due to a more scientific view, or even a personal grievance with the faith, the deities, or the people within the faith?

Is their belief a widely practiced one in their culture, or is it a lesser known practice? Is it the only religion established in their setting, or are their multiple?

Where they raised on their faith, or did they convert in later?

Were they raised in one faith and left it for another faith? Were they raised in one faith and left it for something like athiesm/agnosticism/etc?

financial status/job

What financial class do they belong to? Are they a ruler/royalty, nobility, upper class, middle class, lower class, or poor as can be?

Were they born in to this class, or came in to it later on?

What is their job, if they have one? How do they earn their money, or at least things like food and other necessities?

Do they enjoy their work, do they only work for the money, or do they detest their job? Is work something enjoyable or is it stressful?

Is this their dream job, or is there something they'd like to be doing more? What is stopping them - do they not have the social class, do they not have the money or ability to achieve it, or do they maybe just not believe they're capable?

Phobias

Do they have any phobias or fears? Anything that scares them beyond belief or something that they reguarly avoid out of fear?

When confronted with their fear, how do they handle it?

After escaping the situation, how do they recover? How long does it take to do so?

Is their fear easily able to be overcome after facing it once or twice, or is it something more chronic and they have the same response no matter how often they experience it?

Does their fear come from a frightening life experience, or is it more 'random' and not 'derived' from anything?

Magic

Is there anything equivalent to magic/etc in their universe? If so, can they use it?

Where does their magic come from? Their own body, an object/book, a deity, their universe, etc?

What powers do they have?

How do they recharge their powers?

When do they use their powers; what situations, how often?

What kinds of drawbacks do their powers have?

Fun/misc

When playing truth or dare, which option do they take when asked?

If hypothetically stranded on an island for a week, what three objects and three people would they take with them?

If given 3 wishes, what would they wish for?

What's their fav music genre? What's their fav tv/book genre? Fav video game genre?

Do they like board games, or do board games frustrate them?

Do they sing in the shower? Do they sing when they cook? Do they sing when doing chores?

How do they react to having an annoying song stuck in their head for 3 days?

Are they good with kids?

What's the quickest way to make them smile/laugh?

Quickest way to make them cry/break their heart?

Quickest way to get on their nerves/piss them off?

How do they sleep? Light sleeper, heavy sleeper, do they snore? do they toss and turn or are they a brick?

Do they own a comfort object? Do they own a sacred object? Do they own a useful object? Any sort of thing they own that they heavily rely on for something?

Zodiac sign? Do they care about this sort of thing?

How do they react to/act when they are sick?

How do they react to/act when in pain?

How do they react to/act when hungry?

Any tropes that apply? Or, what is their basic "character type"?

Three words that perfectly describe them?

ok cool thanks have fun -claude & irak

#character development #character prompt #oc development #character bio #character questions #character questionnare #oc questions #oc questionnare #oc prompt #by claude #by irak #long post/

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lumen-tellus · 5 years

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been kinda thinking Again (rip) about what kinda Cool Things my nephilim ocs can do

the short ver. has me deciding the following:

it is officially certain - as far as my own ability to be certain about anything tbh - that Sylvia has a god damn broken ability to “bring possibilities into existence” aka kinda extreme reality warping except it cant make the impossible happen. i think? i think?? i honestly have no fucking clue im probs still gonna tweak this later

the long ver. has me rambling this bs instead:

ok so, i said i was thinking about Cool Things that my nephilim ocs can do, but i mean Specific Cool Things.

bc all of em have the base ability to affect reality as they like - theyre just limited in terms of physical-mental capability and their individual........ i guess, aptitudes? bc sure technically they could do ANYTHING if they took the time to study and try, but otherwise, there are just some things they’re already kinda naturally inclined to in a sense ww

this is a bit of a toughie to do because i dont have a few nephilim ocs alone... ive got. a bunch. be it canon-ish ones or ocs that are nephilim in my stupid ass indulgent AUs lmaooooo

so, im gonna list em out for a sec wwwwwwww:

Origin Branch---Lilithud: has the two twin sisters, one still unnamed, the other going by Maud for now.

Main Branch---Circletti: theres Evan, Ange, May, and Sylvia.

Alternate Branch---Diana: theres Claude and [Spoilers]

Descendant/AU Branch---Xiao: only applicable to another one of my countless indulgent af daydreams based on my Dreamland project, but yeah. Yulia gets to join this tragic dysfunctional mess too when i feel like it!!!!!!!!! lol

so!!!

of these charas, ive got like. only two charas totally figured out. everyone else is ?????????? tbh rip

for now, im putting aside the Lilithud, Diana and AU Xiao branch aside bc those. arent. super big priorities? like i sure as fuck want to figure em out now over later but lmao it can wait a liiiittle bit, i guess ww.

(tho i get the feeling Maud and her sister has some form of shitty or perfect immortality but it feels like a haphazard assignment right now wwwww)

that leaves the Circlettis!!!!!!! yay!!!!!

so, Evan and May are totally certain for me. (note how i dont say i figured them out, which is different. i still have no idea how their powers work at times.) Evan gets the sick ability to endlessly, automatically regenerate his existence when his soul gets damaged, resulting in occasionally defective immortality, while May gets the pointless ability to freely tamper with her own soul without repercussions - which has resulted in her ability to astral project with potential complete disregard for space-time barriers.

now. Ange and Sylvia. rippy. so far with them, ive got a....... uhhh............. something????? lots of. wild ideas really lol

i honestly have no idea what Ange’s specific deal is. like, the only notable things ive figured out for her is that she unconsciously and unintentionally affects the god damn weather in the local vicinity when her emotions are intense enough - which has led me to another hc that when her emotions are at peak intensity, similarly, she causes a burst of energy somewhere around her as she unconsciously and unintentionally tries to vent her emotions. this latter hc has thus resulted in Ange experiencing a couple of confusing, small-scale but explosive accidents such as suddenly broken windows, broken furniture, mirrors cracking, lightbulbs exploding, sudden electrical outages, small fires erupting outa nowhere, thunder and lightning rumbling in the sky when there isnt a single cloud in sight, so on and so forth.

like, honestly, all of this just points to Ange needing to learn how to fucking express her emotions better instead of god damn bottling them all up like a dumb dumb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! rippy.

it also points to an ability to manipulate energy, but. like. that kinda already comes under the base ability of affecting reality maybe so like. idk?? rippy.

so, here we are, moving to Sylvia. im still not 100% sure on her either. i mean, i could give her something based on Ange but im not even sure on Ange’s deal so rip. also looking at Evan and his two daughters who dont seem to have a shred of his auto-immortality business, i mean, Sylvia could totally have some aptitude or ability related to the ones her family members possess, but its also p clear from my own lazy worldbuilding that it doesnt necessarily need to be so. wwwwwwwwwwwwwww

notable hcs for Sylvia that could kiiiinda point to whatever her deal is - well. tbh, i dont have any hcs. i do however have a FUCK TON OF WILD INDULGENT DAYDREAM IDEAS lmaoooo

long ago, i. drew a super shitty comic thing that was supposed to evoke an ambiguous ending of whether Sylvia is a master at fooling her own mind via self-induced illusions and pseudo-amnesia - or a master at fooling her own mind via being a master at constructing the world and people around her into existence. somehow. SOMETHING like that, essentially, i think. this comic is diddy fucking darn old and idr where it is right now rippy

i also have a dumb ridiculous AU where Sylvia has a nice imaginary friend called Lilia except this friend isn’t quite imaginary. shes imaginary in the sense that she isnt supposed to exist - at all, like, were she to be born and thus existing, the world would need to make some darn major changes to accommodate her. however, just for the sake of this AU, there is nonetheless a possibility she could have existed, had the world indeed been different enough that she could have been born. as such, in that way, shes not an imaginary existence but a possible existence. so in this AU, Sylvia somehow “grasped the possibility that is an existence called Lilia” and “brought this existence into reality” - note, tho, that Sylvia doesnt change the entire darn world in order to do this, she literally just makes Lila exist, poof, there we go, just like that. It Just Fucking Happens.

and Lila isnt a blank slate when this happens. Lilia has all her memories of having existed - except shes an existence in a reality that simply didnt happen. its partly bc of this and partly bc Sylvia was a mere smol child when it happened, that Lilia ended up manifesting as a spirit attached to Sylvia. which is why she ends up being an imaginary friend to her, since she can disappear at will from most people’s sight, and she isnt tangible for Sylvia to acknowledge really ripppyyy.

(theres also the REAAAALLY dumb meta sense of how Lilia is also imaginary bcs shes based on that long ago crack child of two of sylphie’s ocs that i made up as a really lame joke back then ripppppppppppppppyyyyy)

additionally, in my much underdeveloped Evanescence Project - ive been toying with the idea that one of the charas that appears in it is a personified embodiment of all the possibilities Sylvia could turn out to be - or the embodiment of the abstract concept of a descendant, tho that latter thought is a little too wild so im frankly thinking of tossing that one out rippy. (theres also the more recent idea of this chara just being an AU ver. of Sylvia but......... lmao, its so recent, thats literally all ive got; the bud of a possible new idea ww.)

ESSENTIALLY THO, all these fuck damn wild ass ideas so far point to the veeeeery generalized idea of possibilities, and granting these possibilities form and genuine existence in reality.

so. perhaps. maybe?? Sylvia might have the cool nephilim-y power to make possibilities into reality.

the rules i suppose for this tho would be:

the possibility in question needs to have a chance to actually exist. Sylvia can’t bring into reality something that has a 0% chance of existing, because they just don’t exist so there’s nothing to bring into reality to begin with. as such, i suppose, Sylvia’s power isn’t to ‘make’ or ‘create’ possibilities in reality but to simply manifest what could be or have been; think of it as kinda like borrowing a book straight from the storage of a library. The library represents reality, with the books outside of the storage being events, people, worlds, existences that do indeed exist in the now. the books in the storage reflect events, people, worlds, existences that may or will exist in the near or far future---aka, being new books that might or will get put out on the library shelves at some point---or have already come to pass but for some reason were ‘ovewritten’ into non-existence---aka, being old books that were on the shelves but were then pulled down and taken to storage and left there to gather dust or something. (i guess this explanation sounds more like an explanation on how store stocking works but fuck it ive wrote this much already im too tired to fix it rip)

the library analogy is nonsense in places, tbh - so if you think thats dumb, maybe the infinite monkey theorem will work instead? bc i just thought of that, and maybe that theorem will work as a better analogy?

for those who dont know: the infinite monkey theorem describes the hypothetical idea of a monkey given a typewriter, who will proceed to type for an infinite amount of time in an infinite amount of combinations. ultimately, the theorem states that this monkey will have eventually typed out a whole work of Shakespeare, if not ALL of his works - but the chances of this happening even within an infinite duration of time are really fucking low---but not zero. as such, simply, Sylvia’s powers work in accordance to the theorem - it can manifest literally any possibility, so long as there is a chance of it existing at all. however, as the monkey’s typewriter uses the english alphabet, it can only type english pieces; it can’t suddenly type in god damn chinese. similarly, Sylvia’s powers are confined to any possibility, but they need to have the chance of existing to begin with.

essentially, Sylvia can’t use her power to manifest events, people, worlds, existences that didn’t or don’t exist in the past, present, or future AT ALL. what she wants to manifest has to be a plausible existence; the subject itself will exist, exists, existed - or the conditions that can allow the subject to exist will exist, exists, existed.

so Sylvia can’t use her powers to bring into existence a person born on planet Earth who inhales carbon dioxide and exhales oxygen with our planet’s present history of biological development, bc that kind of person literally does not fucking exist. the only way this kind of person could exist is if said person had some kinda power or trait that allowed them to do just that, or arent even human ww---in which case, they really could exist, and thus Sylvia could do her magic lol. as you can see, as such, Sylvia’s supposed ability here will require her to be REALLY FUCKING PRECISE or else its either gonna do Nothing orrrrrr Bring Out Something Or Someone That She Didn’t Intended To Bring Out At All Because She Wasn’t Being Damn Specific Enough About What Or Who She Wanted Rip.

another rule btw is that the actual effort to bring a possibility into reality scales with how complex it is. a small trinket wouldnt break any sweat, but a person would be much more difficult for sure. theoretically, with this power, a whole world could possibly be brought into existence, but that is probably gonna require a LOOOOOOOT of fucking mastery and mental concentration or something, if it isn’t outright impossible bc of how taxing or just plain difficult it would be to construct an entire damn planet or something really

ANYWAY YEAH THATS. P MUCH IT?? i cant fucking think tbh. remind me to add a section on how this power works with parallel worlds or something later maybe jksakudhaukhakds my head is spinning into fucking circles ashkhakuhk

#rp stuff #i wanna rest my eyes and fingers and keyboard

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the-mayor-of-space · 7 years

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1-20 for the OC thing

oh jeeze thanks

[fair warning im no writer, my oc probably isnt super interesting. at least shes not just a stock character though]

1. What's their full name? If they're an alien and their name is in their native planet's language, have you thought about what it means? - Myla. i dont think tieflings have last names usually? so she just has the first name. also its not an infernal-sounding name because she was born and spent the first few years of her life in a major city with lots of humans, so the closer to “”normal”” she was the better, discrimination-wise

2. Say your OC made a playlist on Spotify. What bands would be on that playlist? Any specific genres? - she would probably listen to a lot of indie/alternative stuff, and would probably gravitate towards moody acoustic stuff

3. What kind of video games would they play? Any specific titles? - anything with a focus on puzzlesolving, mystery, or exploration. i think she would be more likely to spend hundreds of hours on a few games rather than play a whole bunch of games just once, and she probably wrote the gamefaq walkthroughs for those games that she did focus on

4. What would their favorite cartoons be, and why? What would their favorite characters be? - off the top of my head, gravity falls, again for the mystery component. but also because bill would provide some inspiration for applications of the thaumaturgy cantrip.

5. What's their favorite type of weather? Do they like to do anything specific on days when the weather is how they like it? - shes quite a recluse, so she probably prefers overcast or light rain. those would be the days when she’d go off into the forest to scavenge for anything potentially useful for spells/magic

6. If they're a fan of Hot Chocolate, Tea, or Coffee, how do they like either of those drinks prepared? - normally tea, but if she really needed to feel cozy then she’d go for hot chocolate

7. What kind of animals would they like as a pet? What names would they give their pets if they got any? If they already have pet's what are their names? - she doesnt have a pet, but she’s been practicing summoning a familiar. no name for it yet because she hasnt commited to what form she prefers it to take yet, but she’s leaning towards either a mongoose or some kind of bird.

8. How does your OC keep track of time? Do they have a planner? A calendar? - poorly. not that she couldn’t if she wanted to, she just doesnt care most of the time. when the need does strike her, she tends to just peek out through the blinds.

9. How do they write? Do they write in cursive? How do they dot their i's and j's? Do they have specific ways that they write certain letters? - a messy scrawl to the point of near illegibility, but she still dots the i’s and j’s. she writes very quickly to try and get as much information written down as she can as efficiently as possible. the downside of this is that half the time it will take her a second to figure out what she wrote down.

10. What's their favorite time of day? - early night, the best time to pour over research without still being groggy from sleep, or needing more yet.

11. What kinds of foods and drinks do they like? Do they like certain foods to be fried? Do they prefer certain foods to be prepared hot/cold? - as a tiefling, she probably prefers most food she eats to be warm, but thats about it. low effort foods would be her best friend, i doubt she cares to spend the time cooking. too much stress to make a big meal.

12. If they were an actual character in an animated film or TV series, who would they be voiced by? Do they have a certain accent that the person would need to perfect? - her voice is mostly just a slightly more strained ms pauling, so i guess ashly burch would be her actress.

13. If you are an artist, and if your OC can draw as well, could you replicate what their artstyle looks like? Or, if you can't, could you describe it? - she would mostly be drawing diagrams, so they would be some sort of facsimile of realism, but without many artistic flourishes

14. If your OC owned a Tumblr blog, what kind of content would they post? - she would have two blogs. one: a doccumentation blog detailing any and all discoveries she made, with diligently maintained masterlists for every concievable topic, and two: a forest/astronomy aesthetic sideblog

15. How do they type? Do they use emojis? Do abbreviate and shorten words? - she probably types with some semblance of grammar during doccumentation, and when writing things impersonally, but during regular conversation she probably uses very little, to the point of it being kind of hard to tell what shes saying. she probably wouldnt use emojis unless it was ironically, but she definitely abbreviates words a lot, again to the detriment of the legibility.

16. If your OC was a film director, what kind of movies would they make? - a doccumentary. about magic or something.

17. If your OC was a musical artist, what genres would they do? - same stuff as on the playlist from one of the earlier questions

18. What type of singing voice does your OC have? - probably not one very good. she spent enough years completely alone that her normal speaking voice isnt very strong, though she can preform magic phrases with near perfect resonance.

19. Does your OC like to collect things? What kind of things do they collect? - literally any and all information. she’s gotta doccument everything she can.

20. Was your OC inspired by anything? Another character? A person? - honestly she was based a little on cornifer, and to a lesser extent quirrel, from hollow knight. i liked the idea of having a character who goes around exploring for the sake of gaining knowledge and writing it down, collecting a huge supository in the process. then i figured she would have spent a lot of time cooped up studying before she would need to go out into the world, and from there i got the fact that her social skills probably suffered on account of that. then i just added a semi-tragic reason for her to have withdrawn into study in the first place.

god that took longer to do than i thought it would

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