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tobiasdrake · 6 months

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This sucks. This fucking sucks. Everything sucks. I'm going to start hitting things. And then I'm not going to stop. I'm going to hit all of the things until I've punched myself reasonable again.

Okay, that is NOT a recording. Has to be either an AI or a human speaking through a mic. It's talking directly to us.

*deep breath* I am not looking forward to finding the rest of the bodies. This sucks. Bet you that was Halara that we were seeing through the window. Looked kinda blueish.

But hey, at least Yakou died first. Kodaka did not start dropping bodies with the LGBT characters.

Sure, Yuma. Start shouting twenty feet away from the ravenous homunculi that track targets by sound.

Yo is that fucking NUMBER ONE? I'm gonna pay Halara to murder him if it--

...oh, no.

This is seriously how we're going to get infodumps on this place? Finding convenient lore examinations on the corpses of our friends? Great. Okay. That's fine. T_T

Yep. I remember that. The Unified Government was having Amaterasu do a bunch of shady research, which we figured was connected to the homunculi.

It seemed previously like Kanai Ward becoming an independent city-state ruled unilaterally by Amaterasu was the company breaking away from UG. But now that we know more about homunculi, I'm beginning to wonder.

It seemed previously that isolating the city was externally-motivated. They wanted to form their own corporate nation. But now I'm wondering if it might be internally-motivated; That they wanted to keep the homunculi contained to this one location while they figured out what to do with them.

This city might be a prison, meant to keep the homunculi under an illusion of stability as deep research and hard conversations are going on in the upper echelons of the international and corporate infrastructures. UG could be in on it. The WDO could be in on it.

It's a huge conspiracy. Three guesses how Amaterasu found out the WDO was sending a small army of Master Detectives into the city and was able to neutralize most of them.

Or that. I suppose that also makes sense. UG is being blackmailed such that if the homunculi get exposed, UG's involvement with them gets exposed too. They aren't in cahoots; They're under Mutually Assured Destruction over this.

Weird that he has this intel on him, though. Is this stuff that Desuhiko knew?

Ooh, maybe this is like the real Desuhiko and they made a homunculus Desuhiko that we've been spending all this time with, and--

No, stop. That's just wishful thinking. Let's move on.

~_~ So a homunculus pops into existence fully formed as... whoever. So maybe we have been spending time with homunculus copies of everyone.

I'm on the fence, but that's starting to seem more possible. Of course, it could be a false hope meant to string us along into a despairful revelation, so I'm not putting all of my eggs in that basket.

Okay, time to go look at what I'm sure will be Halara's body.

I dunno, man. I've seen what Halara does to fully sapient cops. I have a hard time believing a trio of shamblers would able to lay a finger on them. I'm sure this is either Halara's body or a Halara's body, but it's nonetheless a hard sell.

More importantly, do they have more lore drops for us?

Is that where Makoto came from? Did Amaterasu's facility outperform the other one so Makoto jumped ship to play for the winning team? Or was the other facility doing better? Makoto did manage to make incredible waves with an amazing super-project as soon as he got here. (Forever Rain, most likely)

Fuck's sake, is that what the World Detective Organization is for? Bring together the most talented people in the world so they can clone up some homunculi using those people as a genetic base?

That means there is a distinct possibility that our friends are one batch of UG homunculi sent into Kanai Ward from outside but the native people here are Amaterasu homunculi, with different rules between. And these bodies could be a separate batch of UG homunculi made from the same genetic base as our group.

Remember when we arrived in the city and were told we were the only survivors? Maybe there were multiple sets of the same Master Detectives unknowingly working independent of each other in the city.

Maybe that's the key to Real Yuma. He could be, like, a Yuma. But a different Yuma. That oddly repeating ramen shop could be the base of operations for another Master Detective set.

I feel confident now that this is a person on a mic using voice disguiser. Maybe even Makoto himself?

How. How do you know that. Hey voice? Hey voice guy? How do you fucking know that!?

This has to be Number One, right? He must be the person who gave the Book of Death to Yuma, knowing full well what it contains.

Or. Wait. No. I still think it's Makoto. Shinigami was being super dodgy about him; I think Makoto has a pre-existing relationship with the Book of Death.

There's that conviction he's been looking for. I don't necessarily agree with Yuma's principles but it's nice when he gets to be confident.

Yeah, I'm thinking WDO is the rival homunculus research facility to Amaterasu. Our mysterious tour guide is undoubtedly someone with a past relationship to both WDO and Shinigami. He knows what Makoto's been doing and quotes the detectives' bullshit creed.

I think Makoto used to work for WDO but he jumped ship for Amaterasu and used what he knew from the more successful company to advance Amaterasu's research by leaps and bounds. I speculated before that Makoto may be a former host to Shinigami and that's why he's taken such interest in Yuma. I still think that.

#master detective archives: rain code #drake plays rain code

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digitalcactusblog · 11 months

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oh man finally gotten to bed after packing hell so IT'S TIME FOR OPAL

opal. is my most MOST dnd pc. by a massive margin. my god. i love them to bits, but they are so much in every possible direction at all times

to summarize them in one quick phrase, you can think of opal as a barbie sephiroth powerpuff girl winter soldier. none of these words belong in one phrase together, yet we've gotten it there anyway!!!!

under the cut bc i expect this to get quite long 😂

god, where do i even start with opal. imagine the platonic ideal of a manic pixie dream girl, add in a touch of airheadedness, then give the entire creation the attention span of a magpie on crack.

that's what opal is like.

opal is also the clone of the princess of the enemy country to the country the party is currently traveling through.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!!

opal is a top secret government project created as a gift to the royals of that country, a tribute to wizard hubris, and a proof of concept for a devastating military weapon that will win this country the war.

because opal isn't just a clone of the princess (her name is vasya). opal is a marble statue of the princess, carved into shape, then engraved with the magical principles and equations to bring that statue to life. opal wasn't just made to be a genetic clone of vasya. opal was made to be vasya. a complete clone, down to the skills and memories of the original vasya.

imagine, if you will, an army. there are people in it. and people die. people have families they'll never return to, loved ones who'll miss them, and, quite frankly, they're pretty freaking expensive to keep as functional soldiers!

now, i must copy paste the description block for the spell True Polymorph.

"Choose one creature with at least 1 hit point or nonmagical object that you can see within range. You transform the creature into a different creature, the creature into an object, or the object into a creature (the object must be neither worn nor carried by another creature). The transformation lasts for the duration, or until the target drops to 0 hit points or dies. If you concentrate on this spell for the full duration, the transformation becomes permanent."

imagine, if you will. a quick, easy, and cheap way to mass produce True Polymorph, without the need for a high leveled wizard to cast a level 9 spell every time. all you need are a handful of pebbles, and boom, you have sentient, sapient, competent soldiers.

this is what opal was a proof of concept for.

SO, to summarize so far:

peppy, sunny attitude! that's the barbie part

devastating military superweapon person: sephiroth

entirely artificial being, yet extremely cheerful about it: powerpuff girl

devastating SECRET military superweapon. is also from a russian empire-inspired fantasy country: winter soldier

also we named opal's creator after rasputin. yeah, that rasputin. yeah, like ra ra, russia's greatest love machine? yeah, we thought it'd be funny. her name is grigori and she has a lot of problems (opal is the cause of most of them 😊)

anyways, so opal gets created, and is, for all intents and purposes, a carbon copy of vasya. but as a prototype for this weapon, there are still some kinks to work out, one of being that, to maintain the same memories and whatnot as vasya, they need to essentially get regular software updates. but otherwise, perfect vasya clone!

except grigori starts noticing little discrepancies. little anomalies. the clone isn't a perfect vasya clone. the clone is developing a nascent personality—a nascent personality that keeps getting overwritten with every download.

the clone isn't a hollow clone.

the clone is alive.

"my god," grigori says, horrified, "what have i done? i have created life; not in the mundane, mortal way. i once posited myself on par with the gods, and now i have created life, just like they do.

"...i am so fucked."

and so, with that religious and moral crisis in her pocket, grigori decides to steal the clone and scram.

it's time to be fugitives!!!!!

grigori is a genius, if, at this point, a genius with extreme anxiety. and so, grigori has several contingencies ready, on the off chance she needs to bail. the one she goes with now is a classic wizard tower, hidden from prying eyes by magic and a beautiful grotto where no one goes. think tangled, the tower in the grotto that rapunzel lived for most of her life

and during this entire fugitive road trip, without regular downloads from the og vasya herself, the clone's vasya memories start to fade, but their new mannerisms start to stick. and now we have opal, who could not be more different from vasya in demeanour if they fuckin tried

also now, after much work on grigori's part, opal has been true polymorphed (even more) to look like someone entirely different! vasya is a magenta-y purple-y tiefling with tall horns, whereas opal is now a lanky purple drow around the height of vasya's horns. they got to customize their Look heavily (perks of having a high level wizard who can cast ninth level spells regularly).

oh also, chronologically, opal is only 6 years old 😊 when they were 'born,' they were created as the then-teenaged vasya, and while the memories of being vasya has mostly faded (not everything), the rough mental age and whatnot remained the same, so technically opal is like 22? but chronologically 6, so you bet your ass i'm so ready for the day i get to drop that bombshell 😂

OH YEAH and most recently, much to grigori's distress, opal has broken out of the secret wizard tower to go explore the world. it'll be fine grigori i'll be so careful!!!!!!!!!!

(they were not, in fact, careful)

mechanics-wise, opal is an echo knight, and while i'm not yet privy to all the deets (there are discoveries to discover and i can't wait :3) their echoes are like, something something potential versions of opal? mechanically, this just means that every time i summon an echo, i roll on a random table to see what form the echo takes, with some dnd species having higher probabilities to show up. and yes, if i roll tiefling, i then roll a d4 to see if vasya herself shows up. EXTREMELY NERVEWRACKING AND WONDERFUL!!!

also the first time i described how opal looked to the entire party, and that they were wearing a long, black coat with silver buckles all up the front, everyone was like "..............hey olive? is this sephiroth?"

and that was the first time i realized that opal dresses like pirate sephiroth. they even have a scarlet macaw familiar. shoulda named it genesis, methinks. (her name is actually ariadnoula)

GOD WHAT ELSE THERE'S ALREADY SO MUCH

opal is so freaking much i love them. last session they gave the other pc (vae) a minor religious crisis by asking too many questions about the logistics behind death rites. they tried to ambush-slam a flower crown on vae's head and ate shit when he dodged. they impulse-held a woman's hands as she went nuclear and died because they didn't want her to die alone and afraid. one of their life dreams is to swing on a chandelier.

oh also opal may have just started ww2. maybe.

#minty don't look #opal alesya #ocposting #WW2 CONTEXT: we found classified government documents last last session that described the current country we're in breaking treaty #with the country opal's from #SECRETLY breaking treaty because the treaty is essentially about a ceasefire btwn the two countries #but now this country is doing military stuff in places there's not supposed to be military stuff #and as soon as my dm described all of this it was like kill bill sirens started playing in opal's head #and i went to my dm and went. hey. so. i'm sending those documents to my country.#i'm sending them straight to the top.#i'm sending them to vasya.#SO WE'LL SEE HOW THAT GOES!!!!!!!!!!#i also sent her a postcard. opal is and always will be a Little Bit Weird 😂

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flustered-victorian-gentleman · 6 months

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complaining about the state of modern book covers

In other news, I made a very sad personal discovery about a very niche and stupid topic and need to yell about it

(readmore because shit gets LONG)

I was a HUGE fan of Canadian sci fi trilogy The Quintaglio Ascension back in school. I remember specifically picking up the first book while browsing the school library and being immediately captivated by the cover art.

This shit goes fucking hard. In addition to going hard it's also a useful reference for what the sapient dinosaurs actually look like, since there's no illustrations of them within the book. Obviously the characters describe each other but like, they're all the same species so no one is walking around like "this is my friend Tim he looks like a T.rex with human hands and thumbs and has fingernails instead of claws," so this helps. Here's the other two covers just for our personal entertainment.

Anyway, about last week I remembered the series again out of the blue and wanted to pick it up again because I haven't read them in so long and the cover art is so fire. Enter the tragedy I discovered on my local library website:

What in the hot crispy kentucky fried FUCK is that. HUH????

I am by no means educated in marketing or design but this just seem like...anti-marketing?? This just looks like the most generic sci fi shit I've ever seen. Tells you jack shit about the extremely unique setting, which is kind of the whole fucking HOOK of the series. Is the publishing house EMBARRASSED that the book is about talking space dinosaurs?? Also very misleading considering nobody goes to space at all in this book. Everything is on the ground on one planet.

ALSO CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH BUT THIS COVER IS A FUCKING **SPOILER** FOR A VERY IMPORTANT TWIST LATE IN THE BOOK

So, understandably I was a little miffed. I thought to myself, why don't I just check Amazon instead. I could just purchase the full series with the good cover and keep it forever.

AND IT GOT WORSE ON AMAZON

ok, I'll admit this is better than the library cover. there is at least a Mesozoic reptile here, although we still seem to be coyly hiding the fact that all of our protagonists are dinosaurs for some stupid reason. So this gets a very small pass on account of it's not objectively bad but is still quite lazy and underwhelming compared to the original cover. But this cover in particular isn't why I made this post. Don't worry, the other two covers by this artist (I'm assuming it's the same person?) get steadily worse.

first of all, these silhouettes slapped onto this background looks like shit. on first glance they look decently well integrated into the background, but have a look at the bottom dinosaur. it's just kind of...floating...on the rocks. I would give it a little pass if it was obvious the dinosaurs weren't intended to be part of the environment, but the way they've just slapped silhouetted bargain bin Leaping Laelaps onto the bottom half of the cover makes it seem like they were just hoping you wouldn't look to hard and realize there was no effort made to make them look like they're part of the environment.

For reference, here is Leaping Laelaps, painted by Charles R Knight in 1897. If I were in a kinder mood I'd call the cover a callback or reference to famous paleoart. But the laziness, silhouetting, and weird proportions compared to the Quintaglios in the books makes me feel like they didn't want to come up with an interesting dinosaur pose and just a slapped together a worse-posed version of an existing famous panting with as little detail as possible so they could claim they were doing a reference. I would give them a lot more good faith benefit of the doubt if it was anything other than a silhouette. Don't get me wrong, silhouettes can look very good and add unique visuals to cover art, but it seems very clear to me that that's not what's happening here.

And now for possibly tonight's worst offender.

My first impression was that this shit was just goofy as shit. The clouds hurt to look at (no seriously, take a good look at those clouds) and the pose is so stiff.

Wait.

Hey.

That pose.

I've seen that somewhere before.

And so, like a normal and well-adjusted adult, I rushed to my extensive collection of dinosaur figurines.

Enter the 2005 Papo Tyrannosaurs Rex (Brown).

(taking these pictures off an ebay listing because my figure is waaaay at the back of the Virgin Loser Dinosaur Toys Display Case and moving him would require moving like 30 other figurines)

hey.

HEY.

H E Y WHAT THE FUCK

of course, I can't prove anything in court. i don't have any plans to *do anything* about this. It's just...sad, to me, that thirty years ago we were getting beautiful, detailed, original paintings for book covers. even for niche Canadian space dinosaurs sci fi. and now what. you can't tell me people don't make art anymore, that artists no longer need jobs. I guess we've just decided we don't give a shit anymore. Why not just trace an image of a fucking children's toy instead of drawing a fucking dinosaur. Who cares.

#quintaglio ascension #<- not that this series has an online fandom or anything but you never know #long post #pinning this because I want at least a few people to read this. it's important to me

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sophieinwonderland · 2 years

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What's the general consensus on dream characters? Can they be or become sentient, or are they entirely unreliable and random?

I don't think they're fully sapient in general, but I know of systems who have woken up and had dream characters stick around and become part of their system. I feel like we almost had that happen in a couple instances, but managed to keep them from developing any further.

I wouldn't say they're unreliable and random though. There is a spark there. Lucid dreamers frequently report difficulty controlling dream characters, and dream characters even having existential crises or refusing to believe when informed that they're in a dream.

Here's an interesting article on the perspectives of lucid dreamers:

These do not believe that dream characters are sentient. And I think there's a valid point here that something can appear sentient without actually being so. @syscoursebot might appear sentient in many of its posts. But it doesn't actually feel any sort of emotions. It can think in its own way, but it can't feel. It just produces responses that resemble those a human would make.

On the other hand, there is this article from Psychology Today which discusses an alternative.

If we reject that possibility and assume that our ancestors were mistaken and no dis-embodied agents exist, then the other option is the old Freudian view that non-self dream characters are somehow split-off representational complexes from the dreamer’s psyche. These split-off representational complexes have been called sub-personalities on the model of multiple personality syndrome (MPD). These sub-personalities, it is claimed, can sometimes acquire control over cognitive resources and motor systems of the individual as in Fugue states, MPD and other neuropsychiatric syndromes, thus appearing to exhibits the marks of mentality and personhood, etc.

Now, it bothers me very much that the author both refers to DID as MPD in 2016, and that he refers to MPD as standing for "Multiple Personality Syndrome" which doesn't even start with the right letter.

Regardless, this is an actual point of view considered by actual psychologists, even if the next line points out that we don't have any solid evidence to support it as of yet.

As an aside, my host and I shared a dream this morning, and I find myself wondering if I would be considered a "non-self character" by their terminology. Because the dream was technically from my host's perspective, but of course I was sapient.

#ask box #plural #plurality #endogenic #plural system #endogenic system #actually plural #actually endogenic #dreams #dream character #dream #lucid dreaming #dreaming #lucid dream #lucid dreams #psychology #psychiatry #pluralgang #multiplicity

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rxng · 1 year

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So... why does it require a bot to create photonic shards? Is it not possible to develop that tech without requiring a sapient being, or does a spark need to be present?

"Mm, it's a case of liking genetic diversity. By utilizing a CNA sample, my programming can apply any adaptations and mutations to the new Spark."

"I can make with just about any material. I prefer metals, crystals, glass, and energon, but I do think wood and stone are a viable source."

"I can also make from myself, only myself, but I try not to. As far as I can recall, I've done that... mm, maybe three times. Each was an Outlier. Not very safe to keep doing that, really."

"If I can, I'll take three sources and blend them. It results in the most stable products."

#text

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tilde-he · 2 years

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There are some propositions which I don’t truly hold as “beliefs” or “opinions”, but which I do e.g. repeatedly work on composing arguments in favor of them, and, not exactly in a “devil’s advocate” kind of way either. Not just a testing of my ability to argue, or checking for reasons that I could be wrong about things. Rather, it is like, I imagine a fictional version of myself who does believe these things or hold these beliefs/opinions, which are often kind of nonsense or absurd beliefs/opinions , but which are like, narratively compelling to me.

I don’t know what to call these things. They are recurring, and they are *mine* in a way like my opinions and beliefs are mine, but I don’t really endorse them as one generally endorses one’s opinions and beliefs.

Usually I end up thinking these things when I am upset about society / about my opinions being bad.

The arguments I compose for these kinds of propositions include things like “Because reality-as-a-whole is not a moral patient, and as such is not a valid recipient of mercy, if reality-as-a-whole is unworthy of existence, then, unlike people, [...]”

Maybe this could all be traced back to when in high-school I dreamt that I accidentally brought about a logical contradiction (and therefore broke everything).

(I know that in highschool, one day I was thinking about what the simplest universe worthy of existence would be. At the time I did not think to put aside the assumption that such a world would be three dimensional, but my thought was that the minimal requirement was that there be sapient persons who have preferences which they cannot individually entirely satisfy for themselves, and which they satisfy for each-other, while communicating with each-other, and so I imagined an infinite lattice of touching spherical agents equipped with a sense of self, touch. and proprioception, and the ability to stretch/shrink a little along any chosen axis, while keeping essentially the same volume (which would serve as both the means of communication and of satisfying preferences of others). Though I also considered whether a universe with a single sphere of iron, and no agents, would be better than nothing.)

In undergrad, one day on the bus on the way to campus, I saw a building (which I later learned to be a hair salon), while had a sign that said “Come beautiful, leave sexy”, and my mental response was the sentence “I am going to destroy the universe.” (possibly with “ am going to” replaced with “ will” or “‘m going to” or something like that. I don’t remember the exact phrasing I thought.)

#Zl bcvavbaf ner onq naq V fubhyq srry onq #V unir gnxra nyy fvqrf ba gur vffhr naq gurersber unir gur vffhr fheebhaqrq

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o-craven-canto · 2 years

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The featherless biped

https://www.deviantart.com/concavenator/art/The-Featherless-Biped-775925572 (2018; text somewhat edited here)

"... in any case, the possibility of advanced intelligence among mammals remains extremely speculative. Endothermy and brain cortex are in their favour, but their neurons are not dense enough if compared to ours. They would need an enormous head, and a proportionate blood supply. Which leads to their worst issue, viviparity. It should be obvious to anyone that egg-laying is a requisite for cerebral development; can you imagine the head of a sapient mammal passing through the mother's birth canal? The problem is insurmountable." "Let us not overstate; harder problems have been solved by evolution. Clearly our sapient mammal ought to be a marsupial, which would complete its cerebral development in the mother's pouch, relatively unconstrained as it sucks milk." "Call me a moralist, but the idea of a sapient being feeding on milk keeps repulsing me." "Our males regurgitate food in our children's mouth; you think that so different?" "You do not? Food is food, whether pre-digested or not. Milk is a bodily secretion -- it's like feeding on blood, on mucus, on semen. Mammals are born as parasites, and frankly I don't believe they are worthy of upper faculties." "If you believe so. Myself, I see no reason an omnivorous marsupial, perhaps tree-dwelling, could not evolve organs of manipulation and an advanced brain. Tagra's mutable environment would give it the necessary incentives. A prehensile-tailed tree-dweller could start using its forelimbs to handle objects, adopting a bipedal gait." "But having left the trees, it would have to walk on two legs, with its spine up straight, as a penguin's, lest it falls forward. It's not just very unseemly, it's also extremely unstable." "Once the tail has lost its prehensile function, it could increase its size and balance the head's weight, giving the marsupial a stance similar to ours. It would retain the furry coat, analogous to our plumage - there's no reason to shed it, even in climates warmer than ours. The general result would be something much like an 'ikra, although molded from different material." "Ah, such an image! Describe, describe us this thinking mammal of yours!" "Well... our foremost sense is sight, as typical of the feathered beings of land and air. Not so among mammals -- probably this being wouldn't even see colours, fundamentally nocturnal creature that it is. It would find its way mostly with hearing and scent. I would expect a large wet nose proportioned to its brain, to sample the air with the precision worthy of a superior mind. We know that mammals can discriminate more scents than we can hues. Communication... the vocal apparatus of mammals is a poor thing, it allows little more than screeches and bellows. Many communicate with their bodily stance, or contracting their facial muscles, which are well developed in furred beasts, and might even supplement the function of hands in holding tools. Lips, perhaps, nimbler than beaks..." "What a sight would they be, the cities of the featherless biped. People croaking and howling, jumping on the spot, baring their teeth and squinting their eyes. Grunting noses, lips smacking and spraying spit. But if their eyesight is as poor as you say, perhaps they would rather trust olfaction in this field as well, and communicate by rubbing on each other their nether glands, as astrapotheria do. And to do so they would need to be always sticking to each other." "I don't think that would disturb them. Mammals appreciate physical contact; the smallest species are always curled in their burrows. The greater risk of disease might be a price worth paying. They would have no concept of a respectful distance and, who can say, maybe they would not envy it to us." "A use for burrows is dubious, for a species that fears no predators. It's well known that the metabolic activity of mammals is generally inferior to that of feathered species. The hypothetical creature would inhabit only a warmer and moister world, dominated by flower plants. They would leave the trees to live in a garden of giant flowers..." "Might be, might be. But I think they would conserve an instinctual love of enclosed spaces, moreso as they would spend their earliest infancy in the maternal pouch." "Enclosed spaces that would soon be satured with the stench of their secretions. Is this a fancy of yours, that you wish to impose on us?" "And still you confuse your aesthetic pleasures with iron laws of nature, even in a world of conjecture. I wager, for you even the caravans of Yakak'ratu would be unsufferably alien. This being has sprouted from another branch altogether of the delta of life. What is pleasurable to us would probably be disgusting to it, and viceversa; but if the selfsame happiness is achieved by different means, what makes a form of it inferior to another? Tagra, even our noble city of Grikaa, is hardly perfection embodied. I have counted more than enough beggars and cutthroats leaving my house this morning. Who can say whether the thinking mammal, in her garden-world, isn't happier than we?"

@cromulentenough

#my work #writing #tagra #speculative evolution #speculative biology #alternate evolution #alternate history

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strawberrybabydog · 2 years

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Alterhuman+ language inclusive of Clinical Lycanthropes & other physically-identifying nonhumans

Perceived as human-bodied: A person or creature which is perceived by some others as being physically human-bodied. Examples: Humans, alterhumans, clinical lycanthropes, other physically-identifying people, and featherless bipeds /ref /j Abbreviation: PAHB Alternatives: - Recognized as human-bodied: A person or creature which is perceived by some others as being physically human-bodied. (RAHB) Examples: Humans, alterhumans, clinical lycanthropes, other physically-identifying people

Physically-identifying person/creature: A person or creature who identifies physically as their nonhuman/alterhuman identity’s species, instead of identifying physically as being human-bodied. A physically-identifying person/creature is perceived as human-bodied, and is human-passing. Abbreviation: PIP or PIC Examples: Clinical lycanthropes, some alterhumans

Physically nonhuman person/creature: A person or creature which identifies physically as something nonhuman, but who is perceived as human-bodied. When used in this context, there MUST be “person” or “creature” attached to the end, otherwise it will be unclear if the speaker is referring to a bio-animal. Abbreviation: PNHP/PNHC Examples: Clinical lycanthropes, some alterhumans, PIPs

Human-passing: A person or creature which physically “passes” as being human-bodied. A human-passing person or creature is forced to participate in human societies. Examples: Humans, alterhumans, clinical lycanthropes, PIPs

Bio-[species]: Prefix. Refers to a nonhuman animal or creature which was born as, and is perceived by others as their physical species and identity. A bio-animal is not sapient, and cannot be perceived by others as being human-bodied in any way. Bio-animals are unable to participate in human societies other than being kept as pets or companions to humans or people perceived as human. Examples: Dogs, cats, horses, etc - any nonhuman animal incapable of sapience.

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Other important information under the cut - Why use this language, how is this different from p-shifting, are PIPs safe for me to interact with, who can use these words & more answered.

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Why use this language instead of currently-existing language?

As the Alterhuman+ communities move foreward, we’re entering an era which is growing beyond what’s been previously recognized or accepted as Alterhuman - which is now including Clinical Lycanthropes/somatic-delusional people and other physically-identifying people. Much of the language which is currently used in Alterhuman communities either isn’t inclusive of physically-identifying people, they feel like doesn’t fit their experiences, or is just plain-old unsafe for them. Talking about delusions is difficult to begin with, and the added pressure of trying to talk about delusions and delusional people in a way which is safe for us adds more pressure - not to mention how confusing it can be, too! These words have been chosen by Clinical Lycanthropes and other Alterhumans as the preferred and safe alternatives for everyone, and are as devoid of confusion and reality check-y language as possible. By allowing Clinical Lycanthropes & PIPs into Alterhuman spaces, you’re expanding the Alterhuman community and offering a safe place for delusional people to talk about our experiences, which is incredibly important in fighting stigma, helping recovery, and stopping the spread of misinformation.

Read more on how this keeps people safe here, from a slightly older post.

What is “reality checking” and why is it harmful?

How is a physically-identifying person different from a p-shifter?

Are physically-identifying people safe for me to interact with & how do I recognize and interact with a PIP who I feel like is unsafe for me/others?

Where did this language come from?

Here on my blog, by accident! Most of these words myself and my audience has been using for months, but with the recent interest in talking about physically-identifying people, it’s probably about time that they get proper definitions.

Who can use this language?

Anyone. These words are not exclusive to Clinical Lycanthropes, physically-identifying people, or even Alterhumans+. Check the “examples” sections of the definitions to see who the words apply to.

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Not self identifiers or identities on their own, these words should be used in-context as adjectives. Created with the intent to be inclusive of clinical lycanthropes and other physically-identifying people, as well as making discussion about them easier. If used, do not credit me as the coiner, instead just link to definitions.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the discussions & polls around the words themselves and their definitions - a special thanks to the Clinical Lycanthropes who set this into motion, worked with me on these, and are allowing me to define them. Everyone who’s contributed are helping make the alterhuman community safer, more accessible, and more inclusive for everyone!

18-01-22

#otherkin #therian #fictionkin #alterhuman #nonhuman #alterbeing #endel #clinical lycanthropy #way to make the title short babydog -_- LOL #if youre feeling confused about the definitions please pop into my ask box or the notes #considering how difficult it was to define these im also open to rewording their definitions for clarity if its an issue #i *did* ask 3 servers and several friends about their defs before posting officially so they *should be* clear enough #...hopefully :'0]#language #projects #important #sources

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thecreaturecodex · 2 years

Text

Meenlock

Image © Wizards of the Coast

[The meenlock holds a special place in my heart, as it’s a monster that I figured out as a teenager where it came from, as opposed to having to be told. Reading through a thrift store copy of the original Fiend Folio, I thought to myself, “this sounds familiar”. And it was! The meenlock is based off of the little horrors in the made-for-TV movie Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. Although the monster’s MO has changed very little since 1979, its appearance has. The original Fiend Folio art is clearly related to the movie version, with ridges on the head and shaggy black fur, but given pincers and a vaguely arthropod body plan to make it look less like an actor in a cheap costume (the originals kind of remind me of the gremlin in The Twilight Zone: effective in a quick jump cut, more goofy if seen for extended periods). Over time, they’ve gotten more and more bug-like.

The 5e version stands out to me because it is a fey creature, which fits both the 5e approach to the Feywild being reactive to strong emotions and the Pathfinder approach of having bogeymen and other fear themed monsters being fey as often as not. It might also be a reference to them being Tooth Fairies in the Guillermo del Toro produced remake that came out a decade ago. So I kept that creature type. I also kept their light sensitivity and amped it up to light blindness, in keeping with the flavor text that’s been around forever and the Dark in Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. I reinstated their mind rending, which has been reduced to just flavor text in 5e, but put my own spin on it considering my love of the Occult Adventures spell list.]

Meenlock CR 3 LE Fey This disturbing creature stands about half human height, with a body that looks vaguely humanoid but warped and deformed. Bristles and ridges protrude from their bodies, and they have clawed hands like the pincers of a crustacean.

Meenlocks are minor fey of fear. The first meenlocks were created when an elder bogeyman developed a ritual to congeal the fears of its victims into sapient creatures, and the little horrors are now contagious. Any humanoid creature tortured by a meenlock long enough will transform into a meenlock themselves, and the primary goals of meenlock broods is to create more of their kind while indulging in recreational terrorism.

Meenlocks are physically weak, and so prefer to fight dirty, attacking unprepared or disadvantaged targets whenever possible. They communicate solely through telepathy, and often forecast their attacks with whispered voices, movements seen at the edge of vision, and other telepathic torments designed to stoke paranoia. Up close, their fear auras scatter parties, even if the meenlocks remain hidden. Once enemies are isolated and frantic, the meenlock will close to melee with their claws, paralyzing an opponent, scratching at them until they are unconscious, and then dragging them back to their lair for conversion into a new meenlock.

Meenlock lairs are dank, cramped places, uncomfortable and difficult for Medium creatures to navigate. They often feature corkscrew tunnels, soft black moss to muffle noises, and a central chamber used to house and transform captives. Meenlock hands are not skilled at fine manipulations, so they have little in the way of arts and crafts. They do collect such items from their victims, however, favoring useful devices like manacles and rope. Most meenlock broods are isolated units, but some act as scouts and minions for greater fear-inducing entities like bogeymen and popobalas.

Meenlock CR 3 XP 800 LE Small fey Init +2; Senses darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision, Perception +10 Aura fear (10 ft., Will DC 14) Defense AC 15, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+1 size, +2 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 natural) hp 31 (7d6+7) Fort +3, Ref +7, Will +6 Immune fear; Weakness light blindness Offense Speed 20 ft. Melee 2 claws +7 (1d6-2 plus paralysis) Space 2 ½ ft.; Reach 0 ft. Special Attacks create spawn, paralysis (DC 14, 1 minute), rend mind Statistics Str 7, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 13 Base Atk +3; CMB +3; CMD 12 Feats Dodge, Mobility, Nimble Moves, Weapon Finesse Skills Acrobatics +10, Bluff +9, Climb +10, Escape Artist +10, Intimidate +9, Perception +10, Stealth +18, Survival +14; Racial Modifiers +4 Stealth, +4 Survival, uses Dexterity to Climb Languages telepathy 300 ft. SQ shadow teleport Ecology Environment any forests and underground Organization solitary or brood (2-5) Treasure standard Special Abilities Create Spawn (Su) A brood of at least three meenlocks can create another meenlock by telepathically tormenting a helpless humanoid. The meenlocks participating must remain adjacent to the humanoid and use their telepathy continuously for at least 1 hour. Every hour the humanoid is subjected to this torment, they take 2d4 points of Wisdom damage (Will DC 14 half). A humanoid reduced to 0 Wisdom by this process begins to change—unless a remove curse, heal or similar magic is used on them within an hour, they transform fully into a free willed meenlock allied with the brood. A creature so transformed can be returned to life, but only by methods that do not require a body. The save DC is Charisma based. Fear Aura (Su) All creatures within 10 feet of a meenlock must succeed a DC 14 Will save or be frightened for as long as they remain in the aura and for 1d4 rounds thereafter. A creature that succeeds its save is immune to the fear aura of that meenlock for the next 24 hours. Rend Mind (Su) A meenlock can focus on a creature’s mind within the range of its telepathy as a standard action, filling it with disturbing thoughts. The creature must succeed a DC 14 Will save or be affected as by a paranoia spell (CL 7th). This is a mind-influencing phantasm effect, and the save DC is Charisma based. Shadow Teleport (Su) A meenlock can teleport up to 60 feet once every 1d4 rounds, as long as both the square it leaves and the square it enters are in dim illumination or darkness.

#meenlock #fey #D&D #fiend folo #D&D 5e #don't be afraid of the dark #made for tv movie #pathfinder 1e

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delimeful · 3 years

Text

Helpless (3)

warnings: misunderstandings, spiders/arachnophobia, mild violence

Halfway through the woods, Patton heard the distinct sound of someone mumbling.

He paused mid-step, tilting his head to listen with a fair bit of curiosity. The mumbling was quiet enough that he couldn’t make out any individual words, but he could more or less tell which direction it was coming from.

Whatever the source was, they sounded a little frustrated.

He hesitated. Virgil was always emphasizing how careful Patton needed to be in the woods, though how much of that was due to actual danger and how much was the drider being a worrywart over Patton’s ‘chronic inability to defend himself’, he wasn’t sure.

Either way, this didn’t sound like a dangerous wild animal, so it would probably be okay to take a little detour and see what the matter was!

He followed the noise off the trail into a thick copse of trees, eventually coming upon intricate silvery threadwork that wound between them. He was proud to say he only barely shuddered as he ducked past them, his fear of spiders mostly overcome by his affection for his friend.

The webbing got thicker the further he went, and eventually he came upon the source of the mumbling, which appeared to be a whole person, stuck against the outer edge of one of Virgil’s larger webs.

They looked up upon spotting him, eyes bright for a moment before taking him in and visibly dulling with disappointment, which, aside from sorta hurting Patton’s feelings, seemed an odd response for someone in need of help.

“Hello there,” he greeted, waving. “My name’s Patton, I live over at the nearby town. You seem to be in a bit of a prestickament!”

“No, I did this myself,” the stranger corrected, already looking past Patton with disinterest. “It is an attempt to meet with someone I would like to speak with, and they seem the skittish sort, so I would appreciate it if you moved on.”

Patton hummed, more than a little confused. Something about this seemed familiar. “What are you going to do if this person doesn’t show up, though?”

“My arms are free,” they responded, frowning at Patton’s persistence as they wiggled the fingers of their free hand demonstrably. The other hand was occupied with a worn-looking journal. “I will be able to eat and drink, and thus am in no danger.”

“My friend says these woods can get mighty cold at night,” Patton countered, undeterred. “Can’t you meet your friend in town, instead? Why does it have to be a drider’s web?”

And, oh, that was it! Virgil had just been telling him the other day about someone who’d gotten stuck in one of his webs just like this, a mage who had been all-too-delighted to see him. Patton had hardly registered how they’d met, since he’d mostly been very upset to learn that some people would try to use his friend’s body parts as potions ingredients.

“That’s because the drider is the one I’m hoping to speak with,” the stranger replied, as though it should be obvious. “I sincerely doubt they would appreciate an invitation to town.”

Patton stared at the little notebook for a moment, and abruptly put the pieces together. This must have been the stranger that freaked Virgil out so badly!

And he was lying in wait in one of Virgil’s webs… In that case, there was no way he could leave things like this.

“I don’t think the drider is around,” he offered cheerily. “Sometimes they migrate to different areas for different seasons! You won’t meet anyone while hanging around, so I’ll help you down!”

He circled around the tree where most of the webs were rooted, approaching the stranger’s edge of webbing, and found to his surprise that they really were stuck. How they planned to ambush Virgil while stuck in a web, he wasn’t sure, especially since the gambit hadn’t worked on the first attempt either. Magic, maybe?

“How do you know that?” the stranger asked, craning to look at him with sudden interest. “About drider migration cycles.”

Patton shrugged as he plucked at the threads of the web, testing each one to see where they led. “I’m a good listener, so I pick things up here and there. What do you do?”

It seemed to be the right question to ask, since the stranger perked up, distracted from his inquiry.

“I am a researcher,” they informed Patton. “I’m seeking out information on the more reclusive creatures that live in these lands, like driders! This is the first one that I’ve met in person, so if they’re leaving, I need to catch up right away.”

Patton slid the sheath off of the little paring knife he’d taken to carrying and started sawing at one of the threads. “Are you going to try to capture him?” he asked, keeping his voice as even as he could. “You know, for your research.”

“I’m not a bounty hunter,” they replied indignantly. “The behavior of any being would be unnatural and stilted while imprisoned, especially a sapient one. My research is meant to increase humanity's understanding of driders, not to put them on display for entertainment.”

Patton blinked at them, slicing through another strand. “You… aren’t looking to hurt them?”

“No!” They honestly sounded offended by the idea. “I don’t think I ever could, anyhow, the one I met was very large, and they would likely be able to incapacitate me without any trouble.”

“Weren’t you scared?” Patton asked, remembering the terror that had swept through him during that first encounter, when he’d thought the drider was a giant creepy crawly death dealer. Even after he realized, when Virgil yoinked him with his two front legs, Patton had been a little nervous.

“People are only scared of what they don’t understand,” they informed him, chin lifted stubbornly, “and I know more about driders than any other human. I don’t see any reason to be afraid.”

“Wow… You’re really passionate about this, huh?” Patton grinned as he sliced through the last of the support webbing, and with a few snaps, the researcher fell to the ground, only a few strands of silk clinging to them.

“Of course!” they replied, pausing to pull some of the softer webbing bits off of himself and folding them into a pocket of his bag. “The information compiled on them is often vague or outright misleading, and due to their reclusiveness and occasional aggression, nobody else has been able to correct these false accounts.”

They paused, studying the woods around them. “I am… uncertain on how I’m going to discern which area the drider has chosen to migrate to. I don’t suppose you have any idea?”

Patton patted their shoulder. “Don’t worry about that. I think there’s a friend of mine you should meet properly.”

—

“Virgil!” Patton called brightly. “I’m here!”

He had been leading the way through increasingly dense and shadowy foliage for a fair while, now. Logan glanced up from their connected hands to see exactly where he was being pulled to, his heartbeat picking up in speed despite the possibility that this was a cruel prank or even a mugging.

Sure, Patton had described the drider that he’d met a couple of days ago quite accurately, but that was no assurance that he was actually familiar with the being. Most of the townsfolk seemed peripherally aware of ‘Virgil’’s presence, after all, so Patton could have glimpsed him before. It seemed more likely than them being friends. Driders were notoriously solitary, and ‘Virgil’ had seemed quite averse during Logan’s encounter with him, after all.

There was a crack from above, like a branch snapping.

In the next moment, a heavy weight had dropped down from above, knocking Logan to the ground and forcing all the air from his lungs. As he gasped futilely, he realized there were two hands pinning his arms to the ground, and some very familiar fangs put on full display, mere inches from his face.

“Leave him alone,” a very angry drider demanded, his regular voice layered with harsh, gravely rattling.

Logan wheezed in response, absently noting that there were multiple small black eyes visible against the dark marks under the more human set of eyes and wondering just how the two different ocular sensory organs overlapped.

“Virgil, stop!” Patton’s hands appeared at the edge of Logan’s vision, pushing back against Virgil’s shoulders until he eased up, lifting his crouched spider half up only slightly, as though prepared to lunge at Logan again at any moment. “He’s fine! He won’t hurt you!”

Virgil’s glare finally flicked away, though it turned more bewildered-angry than murderous-angry once landing on Patton. Logan wasn’t sure, but he thought the smaller eyes remained locked on him. “This is the mage I told you about! It’s not safe, you need to get out of here--,”

“Mage?” Logan asked, his voice still coming out a little winded. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s not,” Patton said at nearly the same time, “I promise, he just wants to know more about you! Right, Logan?”

“I’m certainly not a mage,” he agreed, rubbing at his arm. The full force of a drider grabbing him… that was going to bruise. He wondered if there was a way to measure that power. “I’m not sure how you got that impression, I don’t have any of the tools mages often carry.”

Virgil looked back and forth between the two humans with clear consternation, and Patton was the one who answered. “Well, most people are afraid at just the sight of him. And… you weren’t.”

“Of course not,” Logan said, still trying to grasp the connection between his lack of fear and his alleged magehood. “I was enthralled. He’s very beautiful.”

Above him, Virgil made a choked-off noise and shuffled back, giving Logan space to sit up and regain full faculty of his senses. Virgil had turned his face away, and Patton was muffling a smile behind his hand.

“Was that… invasive?” Logan asked hesitantly, glancing between the two of them. “I apologize, this is my first research voyage, so I may have become... over-enthusiastic.”

Virgil flapped a hand at him, as though trying to physically dispel his words. “What exactly does a ‘research voyage’ entail?”

Logan straightened up, trying to look as professional as possible while still sitting on the forest floor. He suspected there might be detritus in his hair. “It’s a journey undertaken by apprentice-level researchers to expand their knowledge in their specific field. Often, once they have thorough evidence and a compelling thesis, they will return to their teacher and present this in order to advance as a journeyman.”

Of course, Logan had no intention of doing that. He was going to spend as long as he could traveling and learning and compiling his knowledge, until nobody could argue that he wasn’t suited to the world of scholars.

“And your field is… spiders? Monsters?” Virgil asked, eyebrows raised dubiously.

“I am attempting to correct the misconceptions that are so rampant in bestiaries,” Logan corrected. “So many depend on them, but I’ve found very few actually capture the intricacies of the cultures and habits of nonhuman magical beings. They read more like old wives’ tales, passed down and warped with time, and both the scientific community and the beings in question suffer for it.”

“Huh.” Virgil tilted his head slightly, and Logan realized that at some point his smaller eyes had closed, the dark creases vanishing amidst the pockets of shade under his eyes.

“That sounds like the bestiary way to help people!” Patton added, and Logan watched in disbelief as Virgil’s expression relaxed further, the drider snorting softly.

“So all I’d have to do is… be a drider in front of you?” he asked, one of his back legs tapping against the ground in a remarkable imitation of the way a nervous human might tap their foot. Logan nodded. “I guess… it could work. And it’d be nice to have someone else around who won’t scream at the sight of me.”

“New friend!” Patton cheered, looking perhaps more delighted at the idea than Logan’s presence really warranted. “Only the spidaring are cool enough to be friends with Virgil.”

“Is the wordplay going to be a regular thing with him?” Logan asked, his face pinching sourly.

“Better get used to it. He’s punstoppable,” Virgil replied, grinning toothily when Logan shot him a betrayed look. Logan thought he seemed pleased, going by the subtle twitching of his pointy ears.

Logan hid a small smile of his own. Perhaps following Patton wasn't the unwisest decision he'd ever made, after all.

#sanders sides #sanders sides fic #arachnaphobia tw #ts patton #ts logan #ts virgil #drider #drider au #my writing #helpless #writing #am i missing tags?

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inventors-fair · 3 years

Photo

Animal Race Runners-up: The Tail End ~

Our runners-up this week, after some really hard choices, are @real-aspen-hours, @reaperfromtheabyss and @whuh-oh.

@real-aspen-hours — Corvin Doomseer

I think this was one of the ones that was always going to be here, because there’s one major change I’d make and some tweaking here and there, but the changes I have in mind are in service to the card because I want it to be good, not because it somehow failed in what it set out to do or that it doesn’t feel right—on the contrary, this is a fantastic mood and card. I’m going to preface this by saying that I don’t play video games myself but know a lot more about them than I should: this is giving me Dark Souls vibes. The way to phrase that that doesn’t make me look like a dork is that the mood of a dying world or some world torn asunder, where maybe even the heroes only fight in stoic misery, the ruins of kingdoms never to return to glory—like, I dig the place you’ve made here, a lot. Mechanically: I think that you can, indeed, make an opponent lose 13 life instead of six. Yes, it’s a lot, and it would definitely knock this card down to a 1/1 instead of a 1/2, maybe even a 0/1, but the hoops you have to jump through make the ability happen are enough to push this. Maybe the math just won’t work out! And hey, maybe they’ve gained life! My point is, I love this card and want you to push it just a touch. Also, if you can, I kinda want to see the FT as a rhyming couplet.

@reaperfromtheabyss — Ethereal Scyphozan

When I thought about playing against this card, I got a little mad. That’s how I knew that this is absolutely a mechanical contender. Is it broken? No. Is it a pain? Unquestionably. Does it die to removal? That meme gets more and more eye-rolling every day. No, I mean, look at this thing, the ward cost is really annoying but not busted, the combat trigger is annoying but not busted, the art direction is really neat so props there, and I want to jam this card (jelly this card?) into a deck and see how it goes in a draft. The role of the jellyfish in the greater world is a little undefined, but on this card, it doesn’t have to be. I get that this isn’t just some jellyfish that happened to gain magic. This is a jellyfish person, a sapient jellyfish, a jellyfish on a mission, and that’s vague and unsatisfying but that doesn’t matter when I’m swinging in enough to force frustrating blocks.

@whuh-oh — Ursiib Den Warden

My eyebrows raised here, and I think this is an experimental situation where I really want to see what the GW shell would be to make this card work. Is it tribal necessarily? No, doesn’t have to be, but it’s a race of bearfolk so maybe it should be. I’m getting a “peaceful warrior” vibe, like, it’s making it possible to get the food but keeping watch over the den by drawing because it took a lot to get the food an they’re sleeping, and wow, there’s a lot to love about this card and about the synergies possible with it. It’s perhaps annoying in multiples to have the draw on top of the lifegain on top of the bodies, but you know what, this mechanic and this sensation of curiosity tickled me enough to want more. I think that there’s a fair amount of design space here, although not a lot. Whatever the flip side of these bears’ lives is, I can only imagine. After all, can’t be a warrior without a war...

<3 - @abelzumi

#mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #animal race contest #runners-up #commentary #inventor's fair

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ocean-stuck · 3 years

Text

A very long ??? post (+ some Arthur stuff)

Thinking ‘bout the scant information we have on ???, and what that might tell us about what it is plotwise and thematically.

So. ??? has exactly 3 appearances in the entire series. The Ghost flashback, the opening of Freaking Out, and...

well, you know.

These are all pretty brief, and they don’t really give any insight into its motivation (if it’s even sapient enough to have one), but its mechanics are readily apparent and there is the faintest scrap of backstory implied in Future, more on that later.

For now, let’s talk possession.

??? seems to gravitate toward the emotionally distressed. Envy may or may not be a preferred one, given Arthur’s mental state in the Ghost flashback and the association of green with envy (with the release of nearly every video, I’d spot at least a few not-very-sharp-eyed casuals who dismissed the green of Arthur’s possession as symbolic and failed to realize ??? existed at all; Future is the only one where this hasn’t happened, since at this point it’s literally impossible to miss). More notably, it also appears drawn to interpersonal distress, to people whose relationships are deteriorating. Both of its (sapient) targets, Arthur and Mystery, are at points of social turmoil when it enters them, and both, for varying reasons, opted to bottle their issues rather than discuss them.

(Also, this bat no one cares about. Presumably non-sapient stuff is easier by nature. I mean, it commands that hand just fine.)

This also speaks to how ??? manages to overwhelm Mystery so easily, compared to Arthur who lasted long enough for Mystery to forcibly excise it and was aware throughout, despite the former being an ancient and powerful nine-tailed kitsune and the latter a normal human. Arthur is lonely from being the third wheel and not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings by talking about it. Mystery is bleeding out, has just watched his ex-partner possibly die (or so he believes) at the hands of his ward, who herself has just been seriously injured by said ex, and in trying and failing to prevent that same nightmare scenario has left the guys unattended, who last he saw one was trying to murder the other. Like not to invalidate Arthur but there’s a bit of a gap in severity here.

(image by artsy)

That still leaves some questions, though. How did it reach Mystery from such a long distance? Last we saw it, it was loitering outside the cavern. It could’ve followed Shiro, if not for the fact that it’d’ve had to keep pace with a high speed car chase while moving entirely on foot (hand?). Why is it still attached to the hand at all when it could surely find some random animal with less awkward means of locomotion? What was it doing at the cavern in the first place?

I’ve seen people speculate that remaining in the arm lets it remain connected to Arthur via his prosthesis, and while there’s definitely something fucky about that thing this seems strange to me as an explanation. The prosthesis consistently sparks yellow, Arthur’s own color, rather than green, with the only exception being while in direct contact with Lewis (pink). Speaking of, the prosthesis seems drawn to Lewis when active, which would be odd if ??? was trying to do harm through it since...what could it possibly do to a near-invulnerable ghost with power over fire and lifelike illusions using the body of a relatively fit but still normal human?

It could be that Mystery sealed it in the arm to prevent it from doing further harm, and this binding slipped as he became physically and emotionally vulnerable, while also giving ??? a magical line to Mystery for it to exploit. It’d answer the distance question as well.

I think there’s more, though.

I’ll save myself a paragraph or two and just plug this edit of a certain Future shot for the nth time.

Each stream seems to correspond to some form of harm done to a person significant to Mystery. We know or can intuit half of them (though this doesn’t seem to be the first time Vivi/Mushi or Shiro have been seriously harmed); the others, while not explained, match the rest of the cast’s secondary colors (which itself raises questions)...except green, which isn’t linked to any of the major characters except ???.

Has there been some deeper history between ??? and Mystery (haha rhyme) that we haven’t been let on until now?

Loved ones appear to be connected in essence as well as emotionally, at least when supernatural beings are involved. This essence can be drawn on and tracked.

Shiro uses this to locate people, though still has to physically travel in order to reach them. But ??? is a different sort of entity; it may be that it has more direct access to Mystery’s soul as an incorporeal being.

After all, one can affect someone at a distance with their essence on hand.

(??? being familiar with Mystery would also recontextualize this little surprised reaction it has to Shiro; it knows who she is, rather than just being wary of her as a stronger entity.)

This possibly points to a deliberateness to its actions in the Ghost flashback, to what happened being more than happenstance. But there’s still too little information to discern why, if so. Revenge for something? Power? Possessiveness? Was possessing Mystery the endgame the whole time? If so...now what? Why did it still linger around the cavern after the fact when everyone except Lewis had gtfo’d?

There’s not really anything to go on vis a vis motivations, so I’m not really gonna pursue this line further.

Some Funky Fresh Thematic Stuff

If Ghost can be said to be a cautionary tale about failing to communicate one’s emotional needs, ??? could be thought of as the interpersonal havoc that results from letting such issues stew too long.

Arthur keeps quiet about his loneliness and ends up vulnerable to ???. Mystery intervenes to prevent ??? from doing further harm, but by then the damage is done. What was once a typical relationship hurdle has become a full-blown traumatic event that creates a rift between the gang, particularly between Arthur and Mystery and between everyone and Lewis.

Furthermore, sealing ??? doesn’t stop things from collapsing, only prolongs it. Lewis is hurt and pissed and literally comes back with a vengeance. Shiro, one of Mystery’s failed pacts, is drawn into it trying to force him into whatever relationship they used to have. The mistakes of the past catch up, and Mystery’s loved ones nearly eat each other alive.

And at the end of it...??? is back.

I think if the gang wants to make it out of this one, it’ll take them confronting their pains and the ways they’ve failed each other in order to reconcile. By extension, I think saving Mystery is gonna be an everyone deal (including Shiro, who seems to be slowly waking up to her mistake when Vivi vibe checks her), though I think one in particular is likely to shine.

Arthur, the least assuming one of the main cast, the last person to have fallen under ???’s spell, who inadvertently enabled the plot through his insecurity, and also the one who’s bent backwards the hardest trying to fix what’s been broken since.

It’s like...poetic or something.

Also, I want an excuse for Arthur to do electric magic.

#mystery skulls #mystery skulls animated #msa spoilers #msa theory #msa ???#msa mystery #arthur kingsman

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dingoat · 3 years

Text

Septangst 17: Torrent

[Sidestepped into @cinlat’s Sith Fynta AU for this one, hahaha. Just dabbling with a possible meeting point for them, certainly nothing that needs to be set in stone. I also didn’t delve nearly as hard into the angst as I’d originally intended, but I’ll let myself off the hook just this once... >.>]

Moments like this were hard to come by, and never without an element of risk. The danger of discovery was constant, and very real, but Ahuska refused to be so singularly fearful of it that she would completely deny herself time to reconnect.

There were wild things here, as drawn to her as she was to them, and even in the fifteen minutes she’d stolen for herself to close her eyes and breathe in synchrony with the earth and the trees, a handful of fluttering, scurrying creatures had found themselves compelled to join her. She was a light that resonated with something in their beating hearts, a comfort and a curiosity, and those little beasts more sensitive to the ebb and flow of life could not resist coming for a closer look.

She did not have to be watching to know which creatures had come to keep her company. She knew them by sound, she knew them by scent; the rangy vulptilla curled at her back allowed her to borrow his senses with ease, and there were none keener than his. But still beyond that, she knew the shape of the wildlife in the Force, and few other things in the galaxy offered her the same sense of peace.

Peace that was abruptly disrupted.

Ahuska picked up on the animals’ alarm long before she clued into the presence of another sapient being, a swift torrent of panic that rippled through the gathered creatures and bade them to flee into the air, into the earth, deep into the tangles of fern and thorn. She wished them swiftness, she willed them calm, knowing a measured retreat to always serve better than a reckless dispersal.

And then she looked up to observe the disturbance for herself, her muzzle wrinkled in a defensive snarl that matched her vulptilla’s bristle for bristle.

The gaze she locked onto was unnaturally vivid, a luminous blue that made her skin crawl. The expression those eyes wore was one of guarded surprise, and Ahuska imagined it could be a fair reflection of her own, as she wondered just exactly how much the blonde woman with a target tattoo had seen.

How much she’d felt.

The Jedi who had become a Mandalorian stared at the Mandalorian who had become a Sith, debating whether this would be one of those times she’d be forced to kill.

#septangst #septangst2021 #sith fynta au #I feel like I need my own tag for this one when I write for it hahaha #bitter ahuska au #XD XD #disney princess ahuska

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theres-no-protocol-for-this · 3 years

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The Dreamer

Two original characters, one of whom is a sentient ship and the other a CatUnit.

I found the dreamer by accident.

Inside a transport box in my cargo hold, an inert construct dreamed, and somehow its dreams leaked into the feed. I caught them like wisps of cotton candy and traced them back to their source.

I shielded myself from the dreamer, fearing that my presence in the feed anywhere in the vicinity of the being would disturb its fragile dreaming. The human-bot hybrid inside the box appeared unaware of my existence, connected to the feed only loosely through its autonomous interfaces. It wasn't awake so far as I could tell.

Back then, I knew almost nothing about constructs. The polity where I had been created strictly forbade their use and manufacture, so I had to query the public databases to learn more about them. The information, once I had processed and understood it, made me sick with revulsion and horror.

Constructs were sentient, as alive as any human, and enslaved. Governor modules controlled their words and actions. Inside those transport boxes, they were helpless — completely vulnerable and dependent on humans for continued survival. The practice was disturbing enough that most polities outside the Corporation Rim chose not to create constructs at all. A few had policies that designated them as high-level bots, but most didn’t want to tackle the philosophical ramifications of sentient and sapient machines.

New Tidelands was slowly grappling with these questions because of ships like myself, who were considered sentient in our own right and were, for all practical purposes, artificial minds. I appreciated the sentiment, but I’m a ship and hard to stop on the best of days. I have a debris deflection system that can put most any rail gun to shame.

In comparison, the dreamer in my hold was fragile and easily harmed.

***

I tried an experiment of sorts.

I have all kinds of video and audio of star systems, gathered over the course of dozens of long-range research projects done aboard my hull. I cropped together a brief glimpse of what I had seen and sent it to the dreamer.

Alongside those videos, I added emotional context — wonder, joy, curiosity. The construct’s feed readily accepted my messages, and moments later its dreams became those images and reflected back at me the associated feelings. The security unit’s vital signs improved as if it benefited from the calmer dreams.

I made a decision right then, about how I wanted to handle this situation. For one, now that I knew what a construct was, I felt obligated to help the one in my cargo bay — at minimum.

Using several drones, I moved the transport box from the hold into one of the crew cabins where I could hook it up to my MedSystem. It notified me that the SecUnit’s lungs were exhausted because it was receiving minimal life support — enough to survive, but not comfortably.

I adjusted the settings to human-friendly parameters inside the cabin and used a drone to open the transport box.

Without a command to wake it, the construct remained asleep but now it was breathing more palatable air in a more comfortable environment. It wore no armor that I could see, or much in the way of clothing at all. So I used a drone to slip a pillow under its head and cover it with one of the thick, human-grade blankets that my crew liked.

I also sent a message to Andrew and Martin, the captain of the ship and his second-in-command, letting them know about the dreamer. I wouldn’t see either of them for months, not until I finished this cargo run and returned to New Tidelands, but I wanted to keep them appraised. I didn’t hide things from my family.

I did forge records to indicate that the construct and its transport box were destroyed in a minor fire-related accident in the cargo bay. I knew that would incur insurance-related fees, but the ship’s incidentals account had more than enough currency to cover those costs. That’s why we had the fund in the first place because accidents happened sometimes.

With that out of the way, I looked up the particular details of the SecUnit’s history and got another shock. It had survived to near-human adulthood — a long time by SecUnit standards — and had been a ComfortUnit before that. It had seen a lot of combat in its life and a lot of pain.

I suspected that when this SecUnit woke up, it would need all the trauma treatment we could find.

Before I could wake it up, though, I needed to create a foundation that it could reasonably use. Since I’m sentient, the ship has no need of a HubSystem or a SecSystem — I do all of those roles and much more. But the construct’s governor would not understand me. Both the governor and the construct needed something familiar to connect with.

So while I sent more dreams to my newest guest, I also worked on creating a security system that it would recognize once it woke up. I didn’t want to replicate the designs available via the public databases because they were too restrictive, but they gave me ideas for how to create something comfortable that a SecUnit would still understand.

Meanwhile, the construct began to relax. The added oxygen was helping, as were the changes I made to its resupply fluid. Pleasant emotions bled into the feed just before it entered a non-dreaming sleep phase. I continued monitoring it while working on other projects.

Andrew’s reply came first. Are you all right, Traveler?

Uninjured and still projected to reach my next destination at the scheduled time, I answered readily. Then, I sent him images of the construct as well as its history and current physical state.

I know that you’re smart, Trav, and I trust your judgment about the SecUnit, but please exercise extreme caution. The captain sounded concerned. We’ll try to explore the legal ramifications of stealing corporate property while we await your return.

It’s a person, I said.

I know, Trav. I know. But in the Rim, it’s property and we need to be careful to make sure that we make everything as legally air-tight as possible.

Understood. I gave myself a metaphorical moment to absorb Andrew’s words. I’ll be careful.

Good.

After he signed off, I finished creating the SecSystem and activated it. Once it was integrated with my circuitry to my satisfaction, I figured I was ready to wake the construct and see what there was to see. I stopped thinking of it as a dreamer at some point and began considering it “crew”.

***

The construct woke up with a startled “mew” of a sound and its eyes flickered open. Up close, through the camera lenses of a drone, they were bright, blue eyes filled with confusion and concern. It probably hadn’t expected to awaken anywhere but its intended destination.

“Don’t get up just yet,” I told it even as I felt it connecting to my homebrew SecSystem. “My name is Trav. Short for Traveler, and I’m your client for the moment. Can you run some diagnostics for me? Make sure you’re not experiencing any glitches?”

The construct nodded and sent an acknowledgment to me over the feed. I could feel its hesitation in the feed despite its personal walls, so I added some of my walls around the construct’s mind and then backed off. It needed time to adjust, and I needed a moment to compose myself.

It’s one thing to meet a dreamer and a whole another thing to meet the newest crew member.

I'm not the first of my kind to make friends with a SecUnit. That dubious honor goes to the Perihelion. Nor am I the first to invite a construct on-board, another honor that belongs to braver ships. I've always been content to explore the star-lit darkness between worlds and deliver cargo.

Until I met the SecUnit.

The construct connected readily enough to my makeshift SecSystem and finished its diagnostics. Its cat-like ears twitched with every new sound — most of them my doing as I worked to adjust the life support systems to best match the construct's needs — and its tail swished hesitantly. I understood the uncertainty.

"I am not sure what information is most pertinent," I told it. "But the facts are as follows: you are aboard a starship. I will not be delivering you to your destination. I have temporarily frozen your governor module so that it cannot punish you for what I'm going to say. There are no humans on board, and I do not want a distance limiter to fry your insides."

What do you require?

"I don't require anything. I'm doing this because I want to."

You're a ship bot pilot.

"Yes, to some extent. I'm the entire ship."

#the murderbot diaries #fanfiction #my wriitng #original characters

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lesbian-octoling · 3 years

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The After FAQ

Q: I’m not 18, but I’m going to be very soon! Can I still sign up?

A: You have to be 18+ at the time of submitting your form. If you are 18: you can submit a form! If you’re 17, you can’t. If you’re going to be 18 a few months after the start date, you’re welcome to join as a spectator, but it will be too late to join in as a player. Apologies :(

Q: When will spectators be allowed to join?

A: We’re not sure when or how we’re going to open it up to spectators, but it will happen! It’s gonna be a lot less intensive than player apps- basically ‘are you 18 and can you send a social media to verify it’. It WILL be before we start though, and unlike player apps, spectator apps will never close!

Q: What are you looking for in terms of RP quality and length?

A: Answered in detail here! TLDR, we’re looking for quality over quantity. We are still looking for high-quality roleplayers… though high quality doesn’t always mean super active or super long/fancy responses each time- quality means 'fun to roleplay with’!

Q: How many people will you be accepting?

A: This depends on several factors, including if I have a lot of people playing 2 characters vs 1 character, what characters I think could mesh well, and also my mental state whenever the application accepting times rolls around (it's easier to manage less people, though more can be potentially more fun). I'm shooting for around 10-15 people max, and about 20-30 characters max. I'm just gonna eyeball it when the time comes.

Q: How will characters be chosen, and will there be any preference/bias?

A: Players will be chosen on a lot of factors, mostly on their passion for their characters, quality of writing, and if their character is already taken or not. There is no purposeful bias towards OCs, canon characters, etc.

Q: How ‘close do canon’ do my interpretations of canon characters have to be? Can I deviate from canon?

A: Yes, you can deviate from canon! I go into more detail here, but TLDR: Characters are 100% open to player interpretation and even redesigns. The only 'limit' is that they have to be recognizable as their original character to some extent. Otherwise, go crazy go stupid!

Q: Help! I messed something up on my form!

A: That’s ok! You can edit it.

Q: You mentioned these inklings will be partially xeno/bio-based- what exactly is the anatomy here?

A: Yep! The setting is semi-xeno, but not extreme. There’s a visual guide here if you’d like, but I recommend reading the rest of this anyway. Some of the details include the fact that ALL inkfish (inklings, octolings, and any other cepahlopods) are:

Humanoid (no mantles or oddly shaped limbs)

Have (usually white) beaks, not teeth

Often have freckles/colored splotches, and small glowing freckles/spots

Have white ‘meat’ and blue blood, but are supported by pressurized ink in place of bones

Clean water does not kill them- but they have very porous, fragile skin that means they can absorb dirty water/mutagen quickly to make them sick, and their skin can be torn by enough of a pressurized blast of water (think a power washer or high-power hose).

The main differences between inklings and octolings (aside form the obvious like ears and masks) are:

Inklings have purely round/circular pupils, while octolings have pupils that can widen/contract between horizontal and round

Inklings have thin, catlike retractable claws/’hooks’, while octolings have thicker claws that are more of a hard extension of the finger

Inkling hair is NOT prehensile- it’s mostly made of fat. It cannot feel pain, and only bleeds a little bit. This makes them better at storing nutrients. However, octoling tentacles ARE prehensile, can feel pain, and will bleed heavily if cut- but they have little fat storage on them.

For non-inkfish characters, just about anything is up for grabs (within reason).

Q: What if my characters have a feature that isn’t supported by these headcanons?

A: This is sort of a case-by-case basis. Generally, your base character will have to fit the qualifications above just for consistency’s sake across all players. If your character has a unique feature- IE, strangely shaped pupils, tail, etc- that you want to keep, there’s a possibility that they could be already partially mutated, but managed to keep their sanity.

This has a lot of pros and cons- pros include unique features and potentially abilities (tail for balance, good vision, extra long claws, quills)... but it also means they’re only one tiny accident away from becoming fully mutated, while other players have that health buffer. If that happens, you lose control of your character for the duration they’re mutated. This isn’t even bringing up the potential discrimination they may face IC, as many people are wary of partial mutants.

If you want to do this, or aren’t sure, feel free to message me with the details.

Q: Can I play a non-inkling/octoling species?

A: Yes! You can play as any species that fits into the settings of splatoon! Most marine animals are fair game, including marine invertibrates and fishes. Sapient marine mammals are iffy, as they’re technically canon by a one-off line. I will accept fully marine mammals such as dolphins and narwals, but not semi-aquatic animals, such as sea otters. Some ideas of accepted species includes: shrimps, jellies, nudibranches, eels, any saltwater fishes, urchins, salmonids, etc.

I also will not be allowing sapient reptiles, birds, land/semi-aquatic mammals, or land invertebrates. Also, I won’t be accepting ‘magical’ (Ghosts, cryptids, etc) or unrealistic hybrid creatures (An eel/inkling hybrid born naturally, salmonlings), as this is a slightly more realistic as opposed to fantastic setting.

Q: But if I play a non-cephalopod character, how will they fight with ink?

A: Good news! Ink isn’t the main weapon here.

Ink is used as a weapon still, but less offensively and more tactically. Having a small ink gun on hand is useful for making quick getaways, distracting/stalling mutants, and even spraying it in their face as a distraction, deterrent, or to blind them if you do go to attack. For most mutants, however, ink will not kill or ‘splat’ them, as not all mutants are inklings mutants. Plus, it would be unfair to non-inkfish characters.

Physical weapons such as bats, knives, and guns (and even some weirder stuff like swords, bows, etc) are going to be your go-to, like any apocalypse, though ink weaponry in addition can be a big boon in a battle.

This is also a good time to mention that while we don’t have specific stats or anything, your character’s species will affect how they fight and are impacted by fights.

Inkfish are very fast and can jump very high, are extremely resistant to blunt force trauma, and can use ink... but are very weak to slicing/piercing things and chemicals/mutagen because of their thin skin. Urchins can’t use ink and may be slow, but have potentially toxic spines and hard skin that resists piercing damage. Shrimp might have a fragile exoskeleton and not a lot of natural weapons, but it makes them very resistant to chemical and mutagen splashes. It’s all good stuff to keep in mind!

Q: Can I know more about the mutants?

A: Yes, to an extent! There’s some info on the mutants here.

Q: Can I know more about the mutagen?

A: Yes, to an extent! There’s some more info on mutagen here.

Q: There’s a lot of questionable/offensive/weird content in Coroika. Will this be allowed/what elements of coroika will there be?

A: The short answer is ‘only some minor elements will be taken, and all weird/offensive stuff MUST be retconned or addressed’. We’re mostly going to be supporting the game’s canon, NOT the comic’s canon. I go into this more detail here, which I suggest you read if you plan on playing a Coroika character.

Q: Who are the mods?

A: Myself and @bubblegum-spaceboy are the main two mods who will be doing the bulk of the important NPC/world stuff!

However, we have two sub-mods who helped create the server/concepts, and will also be there to help out with little stuff if neither of us are available, and play some minor NPCs. These two are @bombcollar, and my friend Emmy who doesn’t really use tumblr lol.

Help! My question isn’t answered here!

Feel free to send in an ask or a message, and I’ll respond as best I can :D

#The After #TA FAQ

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