#in less personal news where i live is now under stage 4 restrictions for 6 weeks 🎉🎉🎉 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

Visit Blog

Explore Tumblr blogs with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience.

Fun Fact

Tumblr is used by 21% of adults online aged 18-29 years.

#in less personal news where i live is now under stage 4 restrictions for 6 weeks 🎉🎉🎉

reading-writing-revolution · 4 years

Text

This is very thoughtfully and sensibly written by a cardiologist at University of Wisconsin, Dr James Stein:

Stay safe, but also sane, my friends. Thanks for the original share, Califa Witsch.

COVID-19 update as we start to leave our cocoons. The purpose of this post is to provide a perspective on the intense but expected anxiety so many people are experiencing as they prepare to leave the shelter of their homes. My opinions are not those of my employers and are not meant to invalidate anyone else’s – they simply are my perspective on managing risk.

In March, we did not know much about COVID-19 other than the incredibly scary news reports from overrun hospitals in China, Italy, and other parts of Europe. The media was filled with scary pictures of chest CT scans, personal stories of people who decompensated quickly with shortness of breath, overwhelmed health care systems, and deaths. We heard confusing and widely varying estimates for risk of getting infected and of dying – some estimates were quite high.

Key point #1: The COVID-19 we are facing now is the same disease it was 2 months ago. The “shelter at home” orders were the right step from a public health standpoint to make sure we flattened the curve and didn’t overrun the health care system which would have led to excess preventable deaths. It also bought us time to learn about the disease’s dynamics, preventive measures, and best treatment strategies – and we did. For hospitalized patients, we have learned to avoid early intubation, to use prone ventilation, and that remdesivir probably reduces time to recovery. We have learned how to best use and preserve PPE. We also know that several therapies suggested early on probably don’t do much and may even cause harm (ie, azithromycin, chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir). But all of our social distancing did not change the disease. Take home: We flattened the curve and with it our economy and psyches, but the disease itself is still here.

Key point #2: COVID-19 is more deadly than seasonal influenza (about 5-10x so), but not nearly as deadly as Ebola, Rabies, or Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever where 25-90% of people who get infected die. COVID-19’s case fatality rate is about 0.8-1.5% overall, but much higher if you are 60-69 years old (3-4%), 70-79 years old (7-9%), and especially so if you are over 80 years old (CFR 13-17%). It is much lower if you are under 50 years old (<0.6%). The infection fatality rate is about half of these numbers. Take home: COVID-19 is dangerous, but the vast majority of people who get it, survive it. About 15% of people get very ill and could stay ill for a long time. We are going to be dealing with it for a long time.

Key point #3: SARS-CoV-2 is very contagious, but not as contagious as Measles, Mumps, or even certain strains of pandemic Influenza. It is spread by respiratory droplets and aerosols, not food and incidental contact. Take home: social distancing, not touching our faces, and good hand hygiene are the key weapons to stop the spread. Masks could make a difference, too, especially in public places where people congregate. Incidental contact is not really an issue, nor is food.

What does this all mean as we return to work and public life? COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon. It may not go away for a year or two and may not be eradicated for many years, so we have to learn to live with it and do what we can to mitigate (reduce) risk. That means being willing to accept *some* level of risk to live our lives as we desire. I can’t decide that level of risk for you – only you can make that decision. There are few certainties in pandemic risk management other than that fact that some people will die, some people in low risk groups will die, and some people in high risk groups will survive. It’s about probability.

Here is some guidance – my point of view, not judging yours:

1. People over 60 years old are at higher risk of severe disease – people over 70 years old, even more so. They should be willing to tolerate less risk than people under 50 years old and should be extra careful. Some chronic diseases like heart disease and COPD increase risk, but it is not clear if other diseases like obesity, asthma, immune disorders, etc. increase risk appreciably. It looks like asthma and inflammatory bowel disease might not be as high risk as we thought, but we are not sure - their risks might be too small to pick up, or they might be associated with things that put them at higher risk.

People over 60-70 years old probably should continue to be very vigilant about limiting exposures if they can. However, not seeing family – especially children and grandchildren – can take a serious emotional toll, so I encourage people to be creative and flexible. For example, in-person visits are not crazy – consider one, especially if you have been isolated and have no symptoms. They are especially safe in the early days after restrictions are lifted in places like Madison or parts of major cities where there is very little community transmission. Families can decide how much mingling they are comfortable with - if they want to hug and eat together, distance together with masks, or just stay apart and continue using video-conferencing and the telephone to stay in contact. If you choose to intermingle, remember to practice good hand hygiene, don’t share plates/forks/spoons/cups, don’t share towels, and don’t sleep together.

2. Social distancing, not touching your face, and washing/sanitizing your hands are the key prevention interventions. They are vastly more important than anything else you do. Wearing a fabric mask is a good idea in crowded public place like a grocery store or public transportation, but you absolutely must distance, practice good hand hygiene, and don’t touch your face. Wearing gloves is not helpful (the virus does not get in through the skin) and may increase your risk because you likely won’t washing or sanitize your hands when they are on, you will drop things, and touch your face.

3. Be a good citizen. If you think you might be sick, stay home. If you are going to cough or sneeze, turn away from people, block it, and sanitize your hands immediately after.

4. Use common sense. Dial down the anxiety. If you are out taking a walk and someone walks past you, that brief (near) contact is so low risk that it doesn’t make sense to get scared. Smile at them as they approach, turn your head away as they pass, move on. The smile will be more therapeutic than the passing is dangerous. Similarly, if someone bumps into you at the grocery store or reaches past you for a loaf of bread, don’t stress - it is a very low risk encounter, also - as long as they didn’t cough or sneeze in your face (one reason we wear cloth masks in public!).

5. Use common sense, part II. Dial down the obsessiveness. There really is no reason to go crazy sanitizing items that come into your house from outside, like groceries and packages. For it to be a risk, the delivery person would need to be infectious, cough or sneeze some droplets on your package, you touch the droplet, then touch your face, and then it invades your respiratory epithelium. There would need to be enough viral load and the virions would need to survive long enough for you to get infected. It could happen, but it’s pretty unlikely. If you want to have a staging station for 1-2 days before you put things away, sure, no problem. You also can simply wipe things off before they come in to your house - that is fine is fine too. For an isolated family, it makes no sense to obsessively wipe down every surface every day (or several times a day). Door knobs, toilet handles, commonly trafficked light switches could get a wipe off each day, but it takes a lot of time and emotional energy to do all those things and they have marginal benefits. We don’t need to create a sterile operating room-like living space. Compared to keeping your hands out of your mouth, good hand hygiene, and cleaning food before serving it, these behaviors might be more maladaptive than protective.

6. There are few absolutes, so please get comfortable accepting some calculated risks, otherwise you might be isolating yourself for a really, really long time. Figure out how you can be in public and interact with people without fear.

We are social creatures. We need each other. We will survive with and because of each other. Social distancing just means that we connect differently. Being afraid makes us contract and shut each other out. I hope we can fill that space created by fear and contraction with meaningful connections and learn to be less afraid of each of other.

6 notes · View notes

madnesseyes · 5 years

Text

THE 100 my thoughts of 6.07.

Well, me, finally, calmed down and rewatched the whole episode again.

The first thing is that this episode was splendid! I loved it all from first minute to the last once, basically was glued to the screen all the time.

I enjoyed the idea of space minds, because, firstly, it allows to see character deeper and feel their intention, fears and feelings through simple objects of reality, pictures, things. It also gave us a link to ‘Inception’ movie and pointed to Freudian concept of the unconscious. Besides, it also guides us to the Eric Burn theory that each person contains ‘child’, ‘adult’, ‘parent’ personality.

It was smart to use the rain as a metaphor of Clarke swings moods, chest with the code for her secret memory, also show us her dads video and Jasper glasses inside of it.

Her mind is constructed by series of locations. The reason behind is that Clarke really changed through all of her stages in life. Each one has its own meaning for her, as she grew from a young idealistic teenage girl to a grown woman, complicated and contradictory person. She became not only leader to her people, but also a parent figure. We could equate it to the thing of becoming a real mom to a child, who needs care and protection.

Clarke character this episode, her development was really thought through.

Lets try to analyze main locations.

First, we should compare how Clarkes personalities are connected with each stage of action. Second, we ll try to have a general concept of each mind space.

1.Spaceship

This place is where all Clarke memories lies, her story. I guess its just a hard drive to the whole computer, shortly her brain. There she is represented as ‘the princess on the spaceship’ and also as Wanheda, also as The Clarke ‘Madis mother’ ( Read it that way ‘child’, ‘adult’, ‘parent’) . These three parts of her personality show us the two parts of Clark, the peaceful one, rebelious one, guilty one. It’s her three sides, which are struggling to fight each other to prevail in behavior. She still has her child hopes. She still tries to be rigidity and consistency in her solutions. She now is accepting her responsibility, drowning in a blame for her decisions.

The Clarke on the spaceship is the Clarke, who believes that there is so much more than survival and fighting for life. She appears to be the most vulnerable one. Wanheda has the power of being more dark for the purpose of the survival and life. She is the dark side of Clarke who was formed by conditions of her living. Clarke from season 5 and 6 is Clarke who is trying find a peace for herself as a human, suffering inside from two sides of her world.

The lights and the colors in this mind space are truly melancholic and blue. I feel her depression and longing for sadness through this location. Clarke at the moment does not feel right at all, she is feeling down and she is losing hope.

2. The forest

Its totally the most dark place, therefore dark lights and night forest as the symbol of loss and deprivation. Its kinda blurry here too. The ruined throne of Lexa is her pain, which hides under the layers of self-control. There she loses her hope after fake memories of Bellamy. He is still that person, who has that strength and hope for her which she seeks. He is her last pillar of energy to survive and live, as the leader of her people. Because of him shes still trying.

‘You still have hope?”

‘Were still breathing’

But after the fake memories, she doesnt see any benefit to live as someone who can look for her people. Shes already dead, why bother?

3. The fighting pits and the Mountain weather.

Sharp and bright light. The fighting pits is another symbol of her guilt, though Bellamy forgave her, she coudnt do it herself. She didnt win her war with her demons. The BloodRena represent rage, anger for herself, crawled inside Clark. The Maya is the sigh of her moral system confused, her inner guilt for what she thought she would never have done as a child on Spacekru ship.

4. The home

The place where Clark feels most safe, focused and calm. Warm,

light colors and drawings not from her memories, bur from her feelings. The most significant drawings are Ebby, Madi and Bellamy. Its her family now. There she meets Monthy, there she finds her dad alive.

Its her heart in this home.

Her last hope is to live for Madi, as Monty reminds her. To be a mother to a child she raised. I mean, obviously, Madi is the last reason, why Monty as her mind protection appears. Monty was her friend, who truly figured that sometimes good and evil are twisted, and having burden of blood hands doesnt mean ure a bad person, but still means that its the best way to live and find peace.

There she is a ‘parent’.

Anyway, this Clark destination is to forgive herself and to start create something new through the ashes, to find something beside Madi, her people and Bellamy to live for. To heal and become more balanced.

Whats about Josephine?

Her line is connected to Clarke one, as their minds are tangled.

Let me say one thing, she is really hell of sociopath. I do not hate her as a character, but I do see the motivation of her behavior.

The thing is that in Josephine minds her father is the really important figure, affecting her the most through all stages of life. His voice is everywhere, in the library(her voice from childhood memories, calling him. reading letters). Through the door. He is shouting ‘The Sanctum is mine’. This pair could be compared to Odin and Hela relationship. Same spirit there.

Her brain structure is the library, completely rationalized and sorted. She doesnt feel mercy or regret, pity or happiness, pain or pleasure. She doesnt understand human emotions, as she is not able to comprehend them fully. By all sort, she is freaking genius(knows various language, deep in biology and science, gifted for art) but by the cost of her mental disorder. In her memories she adored herself so much that she could stop drawing her first body. She doesnt know what moral is. Its a blurry concept for her.

Her moral is to provide herself the immortality on all costs. She doesnt find it right or wrong to murder, to betray, to tortue. She doesnt care about anything but about herself. Not life of a newborn baby, her friends lover, her father could prevent her from achieving the goal. Its truly frighting and dreadful. She shouldn't be in the lead at all.

Read this to insure yourself that Jo is in fact sociapath https://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html.

And she knows that. Her hidden thing is the awareness on that. She doesnt accept it at all. She is savoring it, not trying to control or to restrict herself. Its caused by the trauma of guy who kills himself , but still not completely.

I also liked the referral to the predator behavior( dialogue of J and R, when they are haunting Clark), as the main concept of Lightbourne views.Besides, they regard science as the God for them, it means the complete refusal to moral question and ethics.

Josephin: I studied all species, insects are almost fascinated me the most,...ruthless. People theyre so messy, theyre too emotional.

Josephin: You, nulls, are more than worthless, you all don have positive value. You are less the useless. U delude the bloodlines...

So on.

From Clarks side theres a lot of talking whats right or what wrong, even with ALLIE. What defines God.

Its not a coincidence that she tells Monty about the God question, overshadowing Lightbournes things. About connection of moral and real life.

‘I dont want to decide for everyone, Just for myself’

Its a good thrust that through her mind projection of Monty she still thinks:

The end does not justify the means

Murder is still murder, whatever it brings after, peace or war.

She doesnt devalues the human life. Thats why Clarke is the best leader from the start. Her moral compass is always there to remind her that leadership should be based on clean hands, true intentions to help and grow, not in dark night, but in the light of a new day.

Clark also says: ‘Theres no joy without pain’.

For me, it sums up all of her personality. Meaning - to have something good, first sacrifice. To earn happiness you should feel the real anguish. But even after the pain, you are capable of finding hope and peace. Thats why she agrees to go with Monty and fight J.

That what differs Clark from Lightbourne.

She is still in a process of defining what decisions shed like to make, what person she should be. She senses and appreciates.

Lightbournes are in stagnation there.

The last few senconds

Bellamy is just the ‘heart’ all over the place. He is back to his natural statue.

That means head and the heart in work, which, I remind you, always the best.

Thanks for reading.

All the love :)

#the 100 #the hundred #bellarke #bellamy blake #the hundred watch #bellamy x clarke #clarke griffin #spacekru #russel lightbourne #theorythe100 #josephine lightborne #primes lightbourne #series #the hundred season 6

33 notes · View notes

supericonblog · 5 years

Text

Super Icon - The Long Slow Death of an Indie Studio

Our History So Far…

I began developing games back in the late nineties; Xtreme Racing on Amiga was my first game, and ever since then I have only ever worked at my own development studios.

Starting with Graphic State; initially a sub-contract artwork studio, later moving into handheld game development on the Gameboy systems. This then evolved into Icon Games; focusing on small-ish console games on PlayStation and Wii.

You can view a full list of all the ‘Icon Games’ releases here:

· IconGames_Catalogue

And ‘Graphic State’ releases here:

· GraphicState_Catalogue

I founded Super Icon in 2012; an ‘evolution’ of Icon Games; like the transition from NES to SuperNES! At Super Icon the focus was on creating the games that we wanted to make, rather than trying to ride the coattails of current popular games or casual games. The focus was always trying to make great games, as good as we possibly could – games that people enjoy playing.

Our first proper release was Life of Pixel on PlayStation Mobile. We released a second PSM title around that time too, called MegaBlast.

Back in 2016, after the release of Life of Pixel on Steam and our Battlezone type shooter Vektor Wars, we decided that it would probably be best to partner with a publisher going forward. Our sales numbers were low, and we failed quite badly at building any sort of interest in the games. They didn’t completely tank, but the numbers were poor, and not enough to sustain a business.

At the time we lived in London, and during that period (we were there for about 4-years), we had tough times. I say this as possibly the world’s greatest understatement!

I attempted to document that period a couple of times in the past couple of years, and in the interest of completion I have finally released an account of our time there, which you can read here:

· RHW_MentalHealth

In addition to the financial difficulties, it covers mental health issues and was very difficult to write.

Following the above period, we moved to Cornwall – which is where we are today. Just after the move we ran a Kickstarter for another game; Best Buds vs Bad Guys. It was successful, and we managed to get funds to help complete the development. During the Kickstarter I started chatting to a great bunch of guys at a studio called Whitemoon Dreams.

The upshot was I explained we were not having much success at selling/promoting our games, and they agreed to act as a publisher on Life of Pixel and Best Buds going forward, to take them over onto PlayStation and Switch.

We worked together with them, releasing Super Life of Pixel onto PlayStation 4 and Vita in December 2018. Also, during the development phase, we pitched another title we were making, called Platform Maker. After a fair few rejections, we finally found a publisher in pQube. We renamed the game to PLATAGO, and it was released onto Steam Early Access in 2018, with a full Steam and Switch release in June 2019.

Current Development Phase – 2017 to 2019

Unfortunately, despite most players seeming to enjoy Super Life of Pixel, the sales have been poor. So bad, in fact, that Whitemoon decided they were unable to continue publishing for the time-being. As such, in the first quarter of 2019, we saw our income pretty much completely grind to a halt.

I haven’t been given any PLATAGO figures, but I suspect they are poor – it probably didn’t help that we released a couple of weeks before Super Mario Maker 2 on Switch!

We also developed Vektor Wars for Switch and PS4. Switch is out, but sales were low – since July just under 300 units. PS4 is complete and in Sony QA.

Again, my family and I faced a spell of homelessness this summer, our landlord decided to sell – and we were given 8-weeks to move out. We came closer than ever to not having a home this time, as it coincided with us also earning no revenue at Super Icon. We got lucky in the end and found a small place that we have for one year (the owners are selling early 2020), but it was scary. Added to that we have no savings or fall-back money; it was a tough time. I’m 46 this year, with three great kids who are now that much older, and it is tough for them. I think being a penniless indie develop is a younger person’s game!

Speculative development

I did have a plan though, and it seemed a good one…

In addition to the games we released above, I developed a game called They Came from Beyond (TCFB), which off and on took about 18-months (it is pre-Alpha currently). I pitched to a few publishers, and while there was interest, I didn’t manage to secure a deal. I worked on this while Steve handled code on our other projects.

Hand-on-heart, I thought it was a strong concept, and the best game we have created so far. I was certain I would secure a publishing deal to fund the completion and release, and perhaps finally have a popular game out there. The plan seemed solid – ongoing releases generating income, with a new deal secured in the later stages for our biggest project so far.

I still f#&king love TCFB too, I really do. I KNOW there are bits I need to revisit, and it needs plenty more love and content before it is ready to release, but it appears my faith was entirely misplaced.

You can read an overview document of TCFB here:

· TheyCamefromBeyond_Overview

I pitched TCFB to a lot of publishers, several of whom replied that they really liked the game and the concept, but it wasn’t a good fit for them. I would say the most common comment was that many of the publishers told me that they are shifting away from smaller indie releases like TCFB to larger scale, bigger budget projects – those with budgets up to about half a million dollars. More ‘AA’ than indie really.

So, the lower than expected sales, in combination with failing to secure a deal on TCFB has really proved to be a terminal blow.

I have also developed another title over the last 6-months, called Gates of Hell; which is a sort of follow-up FPS to Vektor Wars. Arcade action, short bursts of high score chasing.

You can read a brief overview here:

· GatesofHell_Summary

Even now, I am still developing; working on a new 2D game. A NES plus visual style shooter; with several game types in there – top down, zoomed out top down, platform run and gun. I had planned to call it ‘The Lost Carts’, but everyone I asked says that name is a bit shit!

The concept is as follows:

Some experimental NES carts have been found, which were created using a custom ‘SuperPowerFX’ chip – which allowed a 1000% increase in enemies, effects, bullets and mayhem. Unfortunately, because of the sheer numbers of enemies and arcade action these games put out, the chips used to overheat, and production had to be cancelled. Only now have the carts been unearthed, and machines are now just powerful enough to handle the gameplay without melting! I had a small series of a few games in mind.

And… one failed concept

Not long after we moved to Cornwall, I also spent about a year (off and on) on another speculative game, called ‘The Tower’.

I pitched to various publishers, and it was a no. I stopped work on The Tower, as without funding it was just too ambitious. There is a blog for it (updated until I stopped working on the project):

https://thetower-game.tumblr.com/

And you can read the pitch doc here:

· TheTower_PitchDoc

Studio Limitations

One of our key strengths as a studio is a proven track record of creating and completing games, often with very minimal budgets. In an ideal world, we would love to expand our resources so we could fully realise the vision we have for our games.

Personally speaking, I love creating games. I love the whole process; from the initial research and prototyping phase, through to making the various ideas a reality, adding little touches and cool ideas, putting it all together and trying to make it all as good as I can.

Continual restriction on resources limits what we can achieve. The result is that we make good games, but not quite great games, and unless you are very lucky, a game needs to be great to really stand out.

It also means that certain elements take longer than I would like, such as graphics and level design. These are typically the bulk of project time, and I create most of them myself, which has several drawbacks:

Quality – I am good at some things, less good at others, and I know I can find others out there who can produce far better-quality graphics than I can alone. When I do commission art, I usually have to request the minimum amount of animation and number of enemy designs. Reviewers and game players notice this instinctively they notice the quality dips, the sometimes overly generic art and lack of animation.

Limiting Factors – often our games are good fun to play, but lack that something to make them stand-out. Throughout development, there are so many ideas for cool visual & gameplay elements – bosses, new enemies, set-piece background art, cut-scenes and story artwork – that we don’t do because we can’t afford to commission artwork.

Level Design – I also handle the level design for every game we do; 2D and 3D. This way of working is probably the single most limiting factor, as you are getting ideas from just one person, and when you play the game, it shows. Most games are the product of a combination of ideas, usually from a range of different people with different tastes and experiences. Without that combination of thoughts and suggestions, a game can lack that special something to make it stand out.

Why did we not try and expand?

Both Steve and I have gone without income at times, to fund development, and when we do take income it is minimal to allow us to fund development as far as we can.

I didn’t believe we had a strong enough track record to secure financing to expand, so I didn’t pursue that option. As a studio we have developed and released more games than most; they haven’t really been successful enough financially. Also, I am on the Autistic spectrum, and this does play quite a pivotal role; I have amazing drive and focus, determination and resilience but saying I lack people skills is an understatement! I mention this because it has been the cause of without doubt the studio’s single biggest downfall; promotion.

I seem to have a complete inability to successfully promote our games, to create compelling game presentations/store pages/social media posts. I have tried many times, and never seem to get anywhere with it. Additionally, when I pitch proposals to third parties, I don’t do justice to the game and vision. As a person, I am very honest, down-to-earth, quiet and reserved – almost the opposite of someone who achieves great things through self-promotion and building a strong network of contacts.

In the past, I have sought advice from several people in the industry, showed them our proposals, asked for feedback – I have tried to improve this aspect. Most recently, when I pitched, They Came from Beyond, I managed to confuse many of the publishers who had no idea what the game was about from the proposal! I revised and adapted based on their feedback, but usually, you only get that initial chance to show the game, publishers don’t tend to revisit once they have said no.

That said, I have pitched quite a few games over the years, and secured several publishing deals – but usually for smaller amounts that are just about enough to get a game completed.

The End of an Era

From day-one, Super Icon has been a rough ride.

As covered above, our biggest issue was always been getting our games noticed and finding an audience. The actual development process is always smooth, and our game reviews are usually reasonably good. In general, everything works quite well, especially given the lack of resources we’ve always battled with.

However, we are not making money, and it has now got to the point where we need to make an urgent decision about our future.

I considered quietly closing the studio down, but I thought I’d see if there was any possibility I could sell or perhaps find a partner/investor. We don’t have much debt, a few hundred, and everything is in good order. We have accounts for each year since incorporation, prepared by our accountants EXCEED based in Surrey.

I spent the last few days reaching out to some contacts of LinkedIn; some amazing, talented and successful people – kind of a last attempt to salvage the studio as it is.

I put together a couple of docs which covered the various aspects of Super Icon, the way the studio has worked, the whole development process. You can read them here:

a. Studio profile doc: LINK

b. Overview of our development process: LINK

This morning though, I have reached the conclusion that we are done. The feedback has been that our games/studio is essentially pretty much worthless. I expected this, but there is always a small glimmer of hope – perhaps that has always been my biggest failing?

Years of fighting tooth and nail just to survive, just to live. Messing up my family’s stability and security, mentally breaking down, and so often treated like shit by landlords, accountants, etc.

I have tried so very hard to make it work, and I always had that hope I could one day do it. Unfortunately, I am now middle-aged with zero pension, no savings or home and a very uncertain future. Time has a way of creeping up on you, one day you think – I still have a long time to turn things around - then suddenly you think, shit, I’m nearly fifty now; an Autistic games industry fuck up with terrible people skills, crippling self-hate and an on-going mental health battle.

I have made A LOT of games that aren’t worth shit, I have an impressive inability to self-promote and perhaps I am now rather out of touch with the industry as a whole?

The main practicality though is that we just can’t afford to continue. Super Icon can’t afford to get the accounts done or pay the monthly studio bills. I don’t really earn much beyond a few hundred here and there, and every week we are running out of money to even buy groceries and essentials for the home.

We just notified the company accountant that we were unable to do the accounts, and this was their typically hugely helpful response:

“My colleague will issue the P45 for Richard and will close off the payroll. As the accounts will not be submitted, there will be some penalties and we also believe Companies House will strike off the company at some point (you may apply for strike off but not sure whether they will allow you to do so and also depends on possible buyer you are looking for). In the given situation, unfortunately we have to terminate our services till this has been resolved.

If you manage to find a suitable buyer and manage to pay the debts, we will be more than happy to reinstate our services.”

So, whatever the future holds, I think Super Icon has run its course. I feel a lot of different emotions, but ultimately, there isn’t much more I can do.

A huge thanks to everyone who bought and/or played our games over the years, and to the other indie developers and indie peeps who have helped us over the years.

Special big thanks to: Jay Koottarappallil, Christian Phillips, Matt Spencer, Rusty Buchert, Jack Littlejohn, Harry Holmwood, Jools Watsham, Garry Williams and probably several others that my currently frazzled brain has forgotten!

Richard Hill-Whittall

Email: [email protected]

September 14th, 2019.

END

3 notes · View notes

riddledeep · 5 years

Photo

CLASS OVERVIEW: FAIRIES

An in-depth look at Fairies and Fairy culture.

Anti-Fairy Class Overview || Pixie Class Overview || Refract Class Overview

WHAT IS A FAIRY?

Small, whimsical spirits capable of flight, teleportation, and other magic

Tricksters in the ancient days; now restricted by Da Rules

As a society, they tend towards the INFJ personality stereotype- Altruistic, passionate, sensitive, and perfectionistic

Most subspecies have insect wings, although a few do not

Average lifespan: 1,000,000 years; can live ~125,000 years longer

TAXONOMY

Kingdom: Fantastica

Phylum: Ljósálfar

Class: Ellyllon

Order: Tylwyth Teg

Family: Fae

Genus: Faedivus

Species: Fairy

Fairies and Pixies are collectively known as Seelie Courters, or members of the Seelie Court (as opposed to Anti-Fairies and Fairy Refracts, known collectively as Unseelie Courters, or members of the Unseelie Court).

In the past and among Alien races, Fairies have also been known as Domestic Fae, Elector counterparts, the Sluagh, the Summer Court, and the People of the Shining Throne.

SPECIES OF FAIRY

Read about Fae subspecies HERE.

BASICS

Body Type: Usually tall; allows for two sets of wings

Body Heat: Hot; ectothermic and can’t thermoregulate

Body Notes: Oily skin; they sweat a lot and feel sticky to the touch

Chromosomes: 108

Sex Chromosomes: Male - ZZ; Female - ZW

Teeth: Fall out and regrow ten times before the permanent set

Average Height: 3′6″ (≤ 3′0″ is short for fae; ≥ 3′8″ is tall)

Average Weight: 5 - 8 pounds (4 is underweight, 10 is overweight)

IDENTITY

Honesty and Tolerance - “Be true to yourself as long as you don’t disrupt the system. Never give up because the only real losers are those who quit.”

Traits Seen as Most Desirable: Courage and Honor

Traits Seen as Most Shameful: Cowardice and Deceit

Stereotype: Physically strong, rule-obsessed, immature adrenaline junkies who aren’t that bright and will challenge you to death combat sooner or later

Known For: Their caste system, the gyne/drone culture, maintaining all TV channels and publishing companies, wrestling to the death, overseeing trade routes, running most of the merchant ships, and power-playing the universe

HISTORY

The most commonly accepted version of history among Fairies is that Primary, Anti-Fairy, and Refract counterparts were once a single united being known as an ao, of the Aos Sí people. They had furry bodies, six arms like an insect, bat-like ears, and colorful feathers. They were hermaphrodite, so either sexual partner was capable of becoming pregnant. They could perform a type of magic known as core magic.

Modern Fae consider the Aos Sí to have had the intelligence and technology level of cavemen. They’re portrayed in art as having loincloths and bare chests, and are sometimes depicted as centaurs who wielded tridents. Like the Fae of modern times, they’re thought to have been marsupials.

Many Fairies believe that when the Sealing War broke out among several of the ancient races of the universe, the Aos Sí were involved, but the stress of war eventually shattered their minds- and their bodies. When placed under high stress, overwhelmed Aos Sí coped by splitting into three separate beings: One insect-based, one bat-based, and one bird-based. Eventually, these three counterparts developed into the Fairies, Anti-Fairies, and Refracts we know today. Daoist Fairies believe that three counterparts naturally long to reunite into a single being, and will indeed become one in the afterlife (a form is known as the Daoine Sìth form, which resembles the Aos Si body type but is thought to be a more sentient creature).

Another theory, less common among Fairies than the splitting theory, is the theory of Domestic Fae. This theory suggests that modern Fairies evolved from the Aos Sí, and that Anti-Fairies and Refracts evolved from the smoke and mist (respectively) that mixed with leftover Aos Sí magic until they took on solid form.

This theory suggests that Fairies settled down and learned to farm, thus earning them the nickname Domestic Fae. Sentient conglomerations of smoke latched onto them emotionally and took on animal forms, acting as spirit guides for generations until they eventually began adopting the physical appearance of the Fairy they’d bonded with. These smoky forms were known as Solitary Fae. Solitary Fae acted as guides and protectors to the Domestic Fae, and most Anti-Fairies would be offended if you referred to them as pets. The sentient conglomerations of mist gathered together in “flocks” and were known as Trooping Fae.

Those who hold Daoist beliefs favor the former interpretation of history, whereas those who hold Zodii beliefs favor the latter. Either way, both sides agree that their ancestors were mischievous troublemakers until Da Rules came along, and that eventually, their people settled in the cloudlands around Planet Earth and have thrived ever since.

LIFE CYCLE

Nymph: Babies are born as “shapes.” These shapes are actually a layer of chitin that helps protect the soft baby as they adjust to the world and their ability to fly and use magic. They shed it about the time they wean; around a year on average (Poof and Foop are a special case due to the freezing of the timestream, because Poof only aged while away from Earth). During their Terrible Twos, they become selfish, crude, and destructive. Nymphs are called nymphs until age 50.

Juvenile: The juvenile stage of the life cycle begins at age 50. Fairy children develop rapidly before their mindset stabilizes to the equivalent of a human ten-year-old. They remain mentally 10-15 throughout most of their juvenile life, developing gradually. Juveniles undergo twelve wing moults before moulting into their adult wings (and thus undergoing puberty) sometime between the ages of 140,000 - 180,000. Those who come into their adult wings earlier are generally less emotionally stable than those who come into them later.

Adult: Regardless of when they get their adult wings, a Fairy is not considered a legal adult until they reach age of majority at 200,000 (Mentally 18). In this stage, a Fairy is in the prime of their life. Their magic is very powerful, and their brain functions at an adult level. Adults can marry without parental consent, legally purchase sugar and soda, and vote. They undergo twelve wing moults before moulting into the senescent stage of the life cycle.

Senescent: The senescent stage is characterized by a final growth spurt, the graying of hair, difficulty channeling magic, wrinkled faces, and longer wings. These wings are the last the Fairy will ever have; once they wear out, they’re gone for good. Gyne freckles pale against the skin, and pheromones gradually weaken. The immune system also weakens during this time of life; this is the only stage of the life cycle where a Fairy can die from illness.

HOW FAIRIES BREATHE

Hosting counterparts breathe magic from the energy field around them. They absorb it through their pores, and it runs through their veins until it reaches the life-giving organ in their head (the core), which filters the magic and runs it out to the rest of their body. After magic is filtered, it reaches one’s counterparts for the first time; hosts breathe on behalf of their counterparts.

Hosts are connected to the energy field through “magic lines” or “breathing lines,” which are actually part of the karmic weave and invisible to the naked eye. They’re constructs of magical energy. Lines are bestowed by the father after birth (with occasional exceptions; for example, Poof received his breathing lines from H.P. during the “Open Your Eyes” Prompt, and “breathes like a pixie” as a result). These lines are removed from the donor’s core and braided into the infant’s core. A newborn who does not receive lines soon after birth will asphyxiate and die. A Fairy grows a new line about every 10,000 years, so you could count their lines and estimate how old they are in human terms (exception being for those who’ve given their lines away in the past).

Once a Fairy body has become adjusted to breathing with many lines, they require a high amount of lines to breathe easily. For example, Longwood has asthma due to giving away six of his breathing lines to a pair of newborn twins. He’ll recover when he’s older and has more lines, but for now, he has asthma.

When a Fairy is aroused (either sexually or by overindulging on sugar), they fall into a drunken state known as being “tingle-fritzy.” In this state, their lines “fritz” in and out of contact with the energy field, drastically impacting the stability of their magic. Tingle-fritzy Fairies cannot maintain their magic for long. They soon lose their ability to fly, and cannot hold a shapeshifted form for longer than a minute at most. In my ‘fic Baby, You’re a Rich Man, we also witnessed H.P.’s and Sanderson’s lines fritzing during a storm. Fairies don’t like being near lightning because it zings down their lines and jolts them. It’s also worth noting that the Big Wand plays a role in a Fairy’s ability to breathe by filtering raw and polluted magic from the energy field. When the Big Wand shuts down, Fairies lose their access to filtered magic.

The breathing system is a bit complicated, but it’s useful from a story standpoint because it places limits on Fairy magic and makes death an actual daily risk for these practically invincible magical beings. Another reason for creating this breathing system was to avoid shapeshifting during intimate moments... I really didn’t want age to be flexible during intimacy, because that’s a messy subject. It also prevents our three Fae races from crossbreeding, which has been an interesting concept to explore. Technically you can still shapeshift during intimate moments if you’re not aroused, but that doesn’t happen often.

HEALING AND HEALTH

Fairies are resilient creatures built to last for hundreds of thousands of years. In their prime (Juvenile stage through adulthood), they can get sick, but won’t die from viruses or disease. Part of the reason for this is, of course, magic. The other part is purely because they’re flying creatures. The extra energy required to fly literally boosts their immune response too.

A Fairy’s life-sustaining organ, the core, is kept in their head. The core does not normally pump and beat like a heart does, but instead “wafts” magic through the body like the scent of a candle. Sometimes characters I write acknowledge that their core is beating. It only beats when it’s necessary to push a burst of magic through the body (such as when aroused or injured). Technically, fae don’t have blood- they have liquid magic that “hovers” around set points in their bodies. I use the term “blood” for reader convenience.

Magic resists magic. A Fairy who gets stabbed with a magical blade will feel no pain; the blade will pass through the skin very easily, and although the Fairy can feel it, it doesn’t hurt and won’t damage the body. The wound will seal within seconds after the blade is removed.

Fairies naturally heal quickly; however, large wounds will only heal with time and sleep. Cuts in a wing made by an unenchanted blade can’t be healed, and those caused by a magic-touched weapon will heal only if one sleeps while holding their wand or something, since it requires that much magic and rest to repair the damage.

WING ANATOMY

As a reader of my fanfics, you’ll want to know what costas are. The common fairy subspecies has a tradition of cutting notches into the costas of each other’s wings, since their subspecies mates for life. Different patterns have different meanings. Cutting their costas causes small gashes to appear in the wings of their counterparts. The notches remain even when wings moult.

Fairy wings are much smaller than they should be for their body weight; they are unable to fly if their access to magic from the energy field is cut off. Their clothing is specially designed to fit around their wings. Fairies fold back their wings and slide them through the slits in their shirts (Do note that some subspecies, like common fairies, can’t fold their wings directly backwards, only swivel them up and down). Many dress themselves with magic because it’s easier to simply wave a wand.

Between the wings is a bumpy, perforated patch of skin known as the dorsal trachea. A Fairy doesn’t technically breathe from that area since they breathe magic from the energy field, but that area helps them cool down and move their wings. Because there are literal gaps there, that patch of skin fills with water if a Fairy is submerged. Fairies can’t drown while they remain in contact with the energy field (they have no lungs and breathe magic, after all), but they sink quickly. If they lose contact with the energy field, they’ll asphyxiate.

Only the common fairy subspecies can fly backwards. All other Fairies have to land on the ground if they intend to back up. The common fairy subspecies can swivel each wing independently. Most Fairies (including crossbreeds) cannot.

MINDSETS

Gyne: A male Seelie Courter with many freckles, especially common in eusocial Fairy species. A gyne can be identified by his facial spots and large size. Gynes produce more powerful pheromones than kabouters. Gynes are known to exhibit more natural insect behaviors than their kabouter peers; they are territorial, and biologically predisposed to fight (and kill) one another. Gynes gather retinues of drones, whom they are expected to care for. Only dominant gynes can reproduce, as subordinate gynes are suppressed and infertile until they take the role of dominant gyne. Gynes can produce kabouter daughters, but not kabouter sons; only gyne or drone sons.

Kabouter: Neither a gyne nor a drone, and they are more common than both. The pheromones they produce are less powerful than those of gynes, but more powerful than those of drones. Kabouters function more like humans than like insects; they tend to be less ingrained in any social traditions that can be traced back to insect biology. When social change occurs, it’s usually because a kabouter stood up. Kabouters can only produce gyne or kabouter offspring. All female and most male Fairies are kabouters.

Drone: A male Seelie Courter who is drawn to a gyne’s pheromones, similar to a retinue of worker bees who follow the queen around the hive all day. Drones who are deprived of regular exposure to dominant pheromones will fall into depressive slumps. Widely considered to be natural-born servants, they frequently get caught in the crossfire of extremists who believe they should remain silent in public and extremists who believe they’ve been enslaved and should fight the world. Technically you “can’t” tell the difference between a drone and kabouter just by looking at them, but drones are stereotyped as having narrower hips, more submissive personalities, and more “feminine” mannerisms compared to other males. They also produce weaker pheromones. Seeing a small male Seelie Courter accompanying a gyne is generally a tip-off that the small male is a drone. Drones can produce kabouter daughters, but only gyne or drone sons.

PHEROMONES AND PREENING

All Fairies, male and female, young and old, produce pheromones from glands on their neck. Gyne pheromones are the most powerful, followed by kabouter pheromones and lastly drone pheromones. Fairies are scent-based creatures, and obtain important information about an individual (such as species, mood, age, dominance, strength, and sex) from the pheromones they produce.

Pheromones are not a form of mind control, but they do influence other Fairies. Confident Fairies produce more dominant pheromones. Fairies naturally submit to those more dominant than they. If two dominant Fairies clash, one of them will either have to back down or challenge the other. It’s possible for females to produce more dominant pheromones than male kabouters, but only rarely do they produce more dominant pheromones than gynes. Cupid’s mother, Venus Eros, is an example of a kabouter who does. Wanda produces more dominant pheromones than Cosmo, but not more dominant than her son Poof, who is a gyne (albeit a submissive one) after he hits puberty.

Pheromones can be exchanged through a ceremony known as “preening” (when it’s calm and intimate) or “giving dominance licks” (when deliberately putting someone in their place). Dominance licks are licked on a subordinate’s face, and subordinate licks are licked on a superior’s neck. Preening is considered a form of emotional, nonsexual intimacy on level of importance with sexual intimacy, as it involves a similar sense of closeness and trust. Gynes and drones typically view one another as intimate partners, and often become jealous at the idea of their partner cheating on them with another gyne or drone.

Preening involves a dominant and subordinate partner, and because Fairies communicate largely through scent, its main purpose is to exchange pheromones via licks to ensure both parties are clear on which one is which. Times this is useful include meeting with important political figures, arriving as a guest to someone’s home, or sorting out the pecking order among roommates. Dominant Fairies don’t always have to fight one another- fights only break out if one of them refuses to submit to the other. If one party willingly submits to the other, there won’t be a problem. Preening allows them to make that distinction clear, because it literally triggers a pheromone response in the other party: A dominant Fairy can use his pheromones to suppress another, temporarily shifting another dominant Fairy into a subordinate one unless the subordinate directly challenges him, or until the pheromones wear off a few hours or days later (The more dominant you are, the longer your pheromones last; H.P. is widely accepted as the most consistently dominant gyne in the cloudlands and his pheromones would last much longer on someone than Poof’s would).

Most preening is known as “shallow preening,” which means the act is friendly but formal, and not an intimate ritual between close friends. You aren’t expected to shower beforehand, though most Fairies prefer to rinse their faces with warm water (not soap) before beginning. Shallow preening is purely for greetings, expressing dominance, and determining the pecking order of a group. Licks are usually exchanged while standing and the act takes only a few minutes if everyone complies and no one makes a fuss. Everyone accepts shallow preening as a formality and not intimacy, even as views towards preening have changed; it’s considered symbolic and stands in for an old time-consuming tradition. Deep preening is the most effective way to spread your pheromones over a single individual and have them last a long time. Most gynes shallow preen with their drones and see deep preening as an outdated custom no one needs anymore. Some gynes deep preen with their alpha drone, but shallow preen with the rest. Gynes almost never deep preen with other gynes; it’s very respectful to do so, but most gynes don’t like letting another gyne’s mouth that close to their throat for long periods of time, just in case the temptation to attack becomes too strong.

Deep preening is the aspect of preening commonly seen nowadays as something private and intimate. Before the War of the Sunset Divide, deep preening was the norm (including in public) and shallow preening was viewed as disrespectful. However, deep preening became difficult to perform in barracks, so shallow preening grew in popularity. These days, deep preening is usually performed between political figures for ceremonial reasons. It is more intense than shallow preening; a full body and hair wash is expected beforehand and having a clean-shaven face is practically a requirement. Traditionally both parties dress in special preening clothing (usually silk pajamas or robes). The ritual most often begins with sitting beside one another before gradually transitioning to lying down with the subordinate partner kneeling above the dominant one (usually with the dominant one’s head propped on a firm cushion).

A retinue is a group of drones who tend to a gyne’s needs, often by reducing stress levels with massages and manicures. The alpha drone leads the retinue group (usually 3 or 4 drones) and runs things smoothly so the gyne can relax. Drones are exposed to a gyne’s pheromones simply by being nearby and interacting with him, so deep preening isn’t required. Some gynes may choose to follow a retinue session by deep preening all drones (tradition in older days) while others may dismiss the others and deep preen only the alpha (common) and some gynes may not deep preen at all (also common).

Preening is a very common aspect of Fairy culture, but views towards it have shifted over time. Once, it could be done in public without anyone batting an eye. However, as the ceremony became viewed as intimate, it gradually became more private. During Cosmo and Wanda’s generation, preening is often viewed as intimacy that carries sexual connotations, and it’s quietly judged (especially when the preening pair are closely related). People question how a gyne could feel okay preening with a drone when he’s married to someone else- doesn’t he feel guilty, like he’s cheating? In Poof and Foop’s generation, preening is viewed as natural and acceptable, but you might face occasional smirks, giggles, and jokes about who you’re attracted to, and preening is viewed as an activity with arousal and enjoyment as its main goal. Gynes of the younger generation are stereotyped as being more casual, experimental, and less interested in committed partnerships.

It’s important that the subordinate partner be the one to make all position changes and major movements; preening is a ritual of subordinate figures humbly offering themselves to dominant figures, not dominant figures holding subordinate figures down and forcing them to submit. Deep preening is an emotionally intimate ritual that involves a lot of trust and vulnerability on both sides. Since he’s older than most fae and was raised with traditional Fairy values, H.P. considers deep preening to be more appropriate than cheap corner-cutting shallow preening, so it’s his default (and is thus the default of Pixie culture). Due to the sheer amount of drones in Pixie World, shallow preening is a necessity for the sake of time, but Pixies hold great respect for deep preening and would never mock it the way some Fairies do.

Anti-Fairies didn’t have political power until after the War of the Sunset Divide; once they began interacting with ambassadors and the Fairy Council, high-ranking figures stopped preening during meetings. This contributed to the idea that preening should be a private affair. H.P. is the only political figure who has deep preened with (or even shallow preened with) an Anti-Fairy- he has deep preened with both Anti-Bryndin and Anti-Cosmo and his successors will presumably continue this tradition of preening despite borders; this has won Pixies considerable favor with Anti-Fairies.

In general, damsels participate in shallow preening but not in deep preening culture. They potentially could, and it’s more acceptable in some areas of the cloudlands than others, but they might receive the same startled glance someone might give an extremely buff bodybuilder: “Oh. Okay then.” Gynes and drones are always born male, so although Fairy World shows few gender biases, preening is certainly a gender-biased thing. Damsels are not educated in preening signals with the intensity that drakes are, so unless they teach themselves, they probably know few of the signs. It’s widely accepted that drakes feel a natural urge to preen, but damsels don’t.

THIS post depicts the twenty-four official preening signals and their meanings. You may also be interested in the full transcript of the Cosmo Waterberry interview, wherein he discussed his life as a drone and his views of preening with a gyne who has a wife and kids, which can be found HERE.

PROGRESSION OF FAIRY SOCIETY

(You may be interested in “7 Billion Years In Brief” HERE)

Past: Eons ago, Cupid’s ancestors designed the social ladder (HERE) that has since resulted in a caste system among the Fairies. There are over 30 recognized Fairy subspecies, and those lower in rank have historically been expected to defer to those above them. Those higher in rank tend to inherit more, and the lowest may even face laws that prevent them from receiving services and benefits that their peers do, in addition to facing social discrimination.

Additionally, the traditional family structure found throughout Fairy World was not always the most common lifestyle. Once upon a time, the traditional structure was a Fairy, Anti-Fairy, and Refract counterpart living together beneath the same roof, raising their respective offspring together. Sexual relationships were viewed as inferior to the tender relationship of three counterparts, who were widely believed to unite into a single being in the afterlife. Even if one of the counterparts married someone, husbands and wives rarely lived together, and instead lived with their own counterparts. My ‘fic Acacia Arcadia will look at this time period in more detail.

The “trio” lifestyle fell apart long before H.P.’s grandparents were born, however. Gradually, living with and being affectionate with your counterparts became viewed as incestuous, rather than a familial expression of love. The Refracted retreated to the High Kingdom, leaving Fairies and Anti-Fairies to mingle in Fairy World. In those days, Anti-Fairy World did not exist. The cloudlands flourished beneath a united purple sky A few Anti-Fairies lived on with their Fairy counterparts (sometimes treated as cousins, sometimes treated as servants). Other Anti-Fairies simply lived in their own homes with immediate family members. Anti-Fairy colonies began roaming the cloudlands. Fairy / Anti-Fairy romantic partnerships were frowned upon. Notably, however, Anti-Cosmo’s maternal grandmother, Anti-Miranda, had a “civil fairy partner” whom she lived and shared magic with regularly.

Present: The social ladder traditions held through H.P.’s youth, but began to crumble by the time Cosmo and Wanda’s generation came along. In Poof’s and Foop’s generation, society is actively trying to discourage the system. In their younger years, this is done mainly in subtle ways, such as by integrating more classrooms at school, as well as teaching tolerance and ally behavior. You wouldn’t see protest marches about this sort of thing until their adolescence.

When H.P. was a baby, the War of the Sunset Divide was in full swing. The war ended when he was 31, with the literal tearing apart of the sky. The cloudlands divided into the Sunrise Skies and the Sunset Skies, which quickly became known as Fairy World and Anti-Fairy World. Anti-Fairies were effectively driven out of Fairy World; Anti-Cosmo’s paternal grandfather Anti-Gonzo helped Sunrise refugees settle beneath the Sunset Skies.

Anti-Cosmo’s generation grew up divided from Fairy World (physically- a large wall called the Barrier now divided the two worlds). 90,000 years pre-series, the War of the Angels (the war from “Balance of Flour”) ended in a truce. The Barrier came down, though the skies retained their divided coloring. Every year since, Fairies and Anti-Fairies have competed in an annual bake-off for the rights to human godchildren. In present day, Anti-Fairies are legally allowed to complete godparent certification courses, and a few might even act as godparents to Alien races, but Anti-Fairies cannot be assigned to human godkids even if they are properly certified.

The Barrier went up again a few centuries prior “That Old Black Magic” and came down again just after “When Nerds Collide.”

Future: While Poof’s and Foop’s generation are growing up, society is still cautious but overall more accepting of Anti-Fairies. With the Barrier down, Fairies and Anti-Fairies can travel freely between their worlds (although more Anti-Fairies take up residence in Fairy World than vis versa). Businesses owned by Anti-Fairies begin springing up in Fairy World, and although discrimination and microaggressions still occur, relations gradually improve.

In the Autumn of the Tempting River, not long after the “All I Ever Wanted” Prompt, a large chunk of Fae youth (Fairies and Anti-Fairies alike) break away from the rest of Fairy society. There is a euphoric counterculture period where many Fae youth experiment with cross-Court relations, as well as various sugar-based drugs. This is the revival of the tradition of counterparts living beneath the same roof (though many people consider these relations inherently sexual as opposed to the more familial way they were viewed in days long gone). My ‘fic Hawthorn Haven will look at this time period in more detail.

Eventually, this counterculture craze dies down. Fairy/Anti-Fairy marriages are legalized (though sometimes judged). Anti-Fairies earn the right to human godkids. The mystery of why some Fairy children develop into gynes is cracked (before this, it was just assumed gynes were born gynes but didn’t show freckles until after moulting from their exoskeletons). Society goes crazy, and many discussions about the ethics of choosing whether or not your kid will be a gyne are had. Additionally, we see the rise of a new Keeper of Da Rules. My final FOP ‘fic, Devil’s Backbone, will look at this time period in more detail.

By the time Poof’s and Foop’s generation have kids, society is far more accepting and the Fairy caste system is frowned upon. There are accusations of people still believing in the social ladder and expecting to openly practice its ways, but this is considered socially unacceptable by then. The red-flag races are still looked at with suspicion, but for the first time, their marriages are legally upheld.

SOCIAL

Leadership: Fairy World is divided into four Regions, and Anti-Fairy World into three. Each is represented on the Fairy Council by an elected Robe. When Robe elections roll around, each Fairy casts their vote for the person who will lead the Region where their permanent address is; Cosmo and Wanda vote for the Purple Robe, and Juandissimo votes for the Green.

It’s worth noting that any Fae can campaign for the Robe position of the Region where their permanent address is registered (Fae are registered to just one permanent address). So, it’s possible for an Anti-Fairy to become a Robe for one of the Fairy World Regions post-“When Nerds Collide” and vis versa, though they probably wouldn’t win.

The Fairy Elder and the Keeper of Da Rules are also important figures to mention. The Fairy Elder is a figurehead who holds no political power, and the Keeper of Da Rules, well, keeps Da Rules.

Honoraries: Drk. (Males); Dm. (Females); Mr. (Gynes and drones who specifically ask to be referred to as Mr.)

Gynes usually refer to one another by surname, usually without an honorary; it’s not good manners to address one another by first name. If a gyne speaks another gyne’s first name, the surname should follow it.

Greetings: Fairies shake with their left hand. It’s considered highly inappropriate to shake with the right, unless you intimately trust that person. The reason for this custom is because the right hand is the most sensitive place on a Seelie Courter’s body, and the palm is the “organ” that allows them to channel magic. If the right palm is damaged, the Fairy can’t do magic or fly until it heals, which can take years. The custom also traces its origin to Celtic folklore regarding King Nuada and his silver hand.

It’s expected that those more dominant in the social order will be the first greeted by newcomers. First, anyone with a legal position of authority should be greeted. This is followed by greeting any Refracts. Then, all gynes are greeted, beginning with the most dominant. Only then does the racial social ladder kick in; under Waterberry v. Reddinski, both kabouters and drones are greeted according to their racial rank, and drones are not “saved for last.” So, when Cosmo and Wanda arrive at the Carl Poofypants dorms to visit Poof, the proper order to say hi to him and his roommates is Foop > Finley > Poof > Sammy, even though Poof is their son.

If a gyne is clearly accompanied by a retinue drone, the appropriate greeting is a simple “Nice to meet you,” or “Hello.” Saying, “And this must be your retinue,” would not be appropriate. Under Canterbury v. Oakwing, if you suspect someone of being a drone, you aren’t supposed to out them, and are supposed to treat them the way you would treat a kabouter.

If you were arriving in a meeting room with Jorgen, Anti-Cosmo, Anti-Wanda H.P., Anti-Sanderson, and Sanderson, you would greet them in that order.

Groups: Fairies are social creatures, but they do not form colonies or flocks the way Unseelie Courters do. Rather, they tend to form close-knit friend and family groups. Fairies know and care for their neighbors intimately. They’re frequently involved in one another’s lives, but they reside in separate houses and don’t actively identify themselves as belonging to a group. Fairies are also known for name dropping and knowing everyone’s friend of a friend, even if it’s just from a conversation the two of you had a dozen years ago.

Friendships: Fairies tend to be trusting, and easily make friends with fellow Fairies. They consider Pixies to be closed-off and overly suspicious. One stereotype in Fairy society is that young Fairies, if left unattended by their parents, will befriend Anti-Fairies who will manipulate and then betray them. Although Fairy society tries to reject Anti-Fairies, and although Fairies often get together in groups and agree that befriending Anti-Fairies is bad, it’s common for a Fairy to befriend an Anti-Fairy “who’s different.” They won’t mention said friend to their Fairy friends out of fear of scorn, but many Fairies do actually befriend Anti-Fairies and even maintain lasting friendships throughout their lives.

Most of the time, if a Fairy befriends you, they will quickly trust you completely. Fairies do not normally anticipate someone to fake friendship for personal gain, and betrayal comes as a shock for them every time. Fairies who have befriended one another rarely grow apart; they have long lifespans and do not expect to see each other all the time. In most cases, if you decide to break off a friendship with a Fairy, you have to be explicitly clear to them; the stereotype is that they have absolutely no idea you are no longer friends unless you tell them you're ending it. Even then, they will expect the two of you to make-up eventually. Compare this to H.P. (who was raised as a fairy) repeatedly treating Anti-Cosmo as a friend despite their many conflicts and break-ups. Contrast this with Anti-Fairy society, where it is expected that feelings of friendship will be renewed regularly through sociosexual intimacy (and that friendships that aren’t renewed regularly are fated to fade away).

Expectations: Fairies are a casual people as far as the concept of meeting up with other Fairies goes. It’s not uncommon for a job interviewer to arrive late and in his pajamas, or to conduct the interview at the house of the potential new employee. It usually doesn’t take much to impress a Fairy, but if you dare break their trust just once, you’re going to have to work your wings off to earn it back. Fairy society anticipates honesty.

Rules are major in Fairy World. The idea that someone would break the rules or Da Rules “to do the right thing” is next to unheard of (or at least not agreed with). To Fairies, breaking rules almost always equates to being bad. Rules exist to make things work the best. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

Fairy society can be summed up in a simple phrase: The higher you are on the social ladder, the better your standing and the better your opportunities and your life. Crossbreeds themselves normally aren’t considered lesser than full-bloods, but Fairies are known for their social ladder, and sometimes crossbreeds can indirectly suffer as a result of it based on their crown type.

Fairy culture urges its people to never refuse a challenge (at least from an equal, or near-equal). As a result, many Fairies have a difficult time swallowing their pride. Their society favors physical and magical strength as a way of proving your power, and many Fairies are distrustful of those with high education, fearing such people are selfish and will take advantage of them if given half a chance.

Intimacy and Partnership: Fairies are famous for selecting a single easily-accessible "affection location” they’ll use for expressing affection for many millennia at a time (Everything from simple snuggles to movie nights to make-out sessions to sharing magic to mating itself). This location (called a yidreamu in the traditional Fairy language) can be the sleeping bedroom, though some Fairies prefer to keep affection rooms and sleeping bedrooms separate. The yidreamu is decorated elaborately over the years; decorations vary according to individual preference, but water features like tabletop fountains or groves with large ponds are very common (Many insects breed near water, after all).

Anti-Fairies stereotype Fairies as people who are ridiculously stubborn about where they’re willing to be intimate. Like, what’s the point of going on vacation somewhere you know you won’t be in the mood for kissing your spouse, right? Why would you let not being at home stop you from getting snuggly? Fairies are creatures of habit; if you catch two teenagers kissing in the shed behind your house, chances are you’ll be chasing them out of there for centuries to come. Fairies may have poor memories, but when they do form happy memories they tie them strongly to location and wander back over and over.

Affection sites are closely defended; most Fairies are reluctant to move out of a house once they’ve “claimed it,” and if they do leave it then you’ll probably find them wandering back to your neighborhood to stare creepily at the place from across the street. If dozens of Fairies lived in a single building with other Fairies the way Anti-Fairies live in colonies, they would constantly be fighting for control over very few affection sites. I built Mama Cosma’s house in Sims 4 and you can view it (and its simple yidreamu) HERE.

A yidreamu need not always be inside the home. Possible affection site locations outside the house include cabins, houseboats, cars, make-out points in woods or mountains, caves, groves, or dorm rooms at school. It doesn’t have to be a bedroom so long as you have elbow room to snuggle and a bit of privacy. Hotel rooms, cruise ship cabins, distant corners of Anti-Fairy World, and other locations you can’t easily claim are NOT likely places for Fairies to get snuggly; if the site isn’t in a Fairy’s home, it won’t be found far from it.

Due to certain territorial instincts in their insect DNA, Fairies don’t like letting non-mates into their affection sites. Even grown Fairies get flustered if their child or (dust forbid) their parents get a peek of their “love nest.” Again, Fairies almost always tie their memories to location. Finding out what someone’s claimed affection territory looks like, even if the room is empty when you see it, is the social equivalent of actually catching them in the act. Embarrassment all around. It’s extremely rude to wander a Fairy’s house in search of it.

As a whole, Fairies aren’t as promiscuous as Anti-Fairies (though courtship practices differ across subspecies); common fairies are strictly lifetime monogamous to the point that serial monogamy is looked upon with horror and disgust. The general expectation is that mating is saved for the Year of Promise and then marriage. Poof’s generation tend to experiment more than their predecessors, though it would seem most favor mating only with a committed long-term partner. Passionate kisses and sharing magic make up the majority of sensual activities among Fairy youth.

See also, Courtship and Marriage (Under “Customs”).

Power Dynamics: Political Rank (if applicable) > Pheromone Strength > Subspecies > Family’s Status > Physical Strength > Magical Strength > Age

Click HERE to see a visual of the Fae hierarchy. Click HERE to read about the Fairy aristocracy.

Strength and dominance are crucial aspects of Fairy culture- if you’re the most dominant one of the group, you get to make the decisions. Discussions can be had in the group, but ultimately it’s the dominant figure who determines what the final result will be. Confidence influences pheromones, which in turn influences how others react. Gynes tend to be the most dominant ones in the area, drones the most submissive, with kabouters in between. However, kabouters who go out there acting dominant might trigger a submissive reaction from a gyne, if they’re really that confident.

The more drones a gyne has under his wing, the more respected his dominant authority is. It’s considered difficult to satisfy four drones for longer than a few years, so any gyne who maintains four, five, or more for a long time is considered powerful. Gynes with no drones are often looked down upon.

Fairy society praises those who are strong and capable of looking after themselves. Protecting the vulnerable (like the very young or the physically unable) is seen as noble. If you’re physically capable protecting your loved ones but choose not to stand up for them, that’s seen as shameful. Few things are more shameful than abandoning someone who relies on you to save your own skin.

Being born into the right family can give you a significant boost in life. Fairies believe strongly in kinship ties (See “soul carriages” under Rituals) and believe that in the afterlife, the dead can provide magic (i.e. health and strength) for living family members. As a Fairy, your goal is to bring honor to your family, not shame; your family has built status over generations and you don’t want to be the one to ruin everything.

Gender Dynamics: The Fairy population is massively skewed towards damsels, with 75% of the population born damsels and 25% born drakes. For most of fae history, damsels were doomed to die after mating. Fairies cannot store sperm for future use like many insects can, meaning Fairy drakes could only produce a single child with a single damsel (unless they bore twins or triplets). A drake who did not become pregnant, or who desired more offspring, would have to mate with another damsel. Each fae subspecies tended to live together, so cultural pockets developed. Famously, drakes of the common fairy subspecies refused to take new mates, resulting in a culture of small families and lifetime monogamy. Other family structures were also common, though Fairies consider their customs less extreme than the lives of Anti-Fairies.

Eventually, the Eros family created magical injections (arrows) that could provide a dame with a burst of healing magic shortly before, during, or just after mating. Damsels no longer die after mating, but Fairy biology still produces more damsels than drakes. As a result, damsels do not die off quickly and the current gender ratio is rather skewed.

There is little noticeable sexism among Fairies. Damsels were never viewed as meek homemakers or fragile childbearers in their culture (tasks that were instead delegated to drones and husbands respectively, and husbands were often powerful dominant drakes). With both males and females viewed as strong in a society that fawns over those with enough strength, sexism is limited. It’s always been socially acceptable for damsels to wear pants and drakes to wear dresses. Male homemakers and female breadwinners aren’t considered unusual (and neither is the reverse).

This is not to say gender stereotypes are nonexistent in Fairy culture. For instance, Fairies believe damsels are more likely than drakes to have long hair and wear flashy visible jewelry, but they won’t shun a drake who grows his hair long and wears earrings (Interestingly, drakes are stereotyped as more likely to wear bracelets due to gyne/drone history requiring bracelets). Some gender stereotypes do exist in Fairy culture, but males and females are both seen as capable of strength, intelligence, beauty, desire, magical prowess, and emotional tenderness. Sexism isn’t commonly seen in the workplace or the media; damsels are equally as respected as drakes if they hold high positions, and media portraying drakes as attractive in an attempt to sell product are just as common as advertisements of attractive damsels. Legally, inheritance goes to the firstborn child regardless of whether that child is a damsel or drake.

Refer to the episode “Big Wanda.” Big Daddy disapproved of Wanda “girling up the business” with pink and frilly things, yet had no problem with her taking over the business itself and even bragged about how well she would do as the boss. He found her tastes too feminine for his liking, but unhesitatingly considered her capable of taking over as his heir.

You’re more likely to find trans Fairies than trans Anti-Fairies, Pixies, or Refracts. Fairies strongly believe suppressing their true feelings will negatively affect their magic and health, and that includes staying in the closet (to the point that parents will scold you for not coming out sooner). Some trans Fairies may use shapeshifting magic to stave off gender dysphoria, some might maintain their current bodies, and some may seek alteration magic for more permanent changes.

Rules of Speaking: If you have something of value to contribute to the conversation, you can speak, regardless of whether or not it seems to be your “place” (In other words, feel free to share your thoughts, but the dominant figure of the group will make the final call). Drones do tend to defer to their gynes. If alone they might speak more freely, but when “on duty,” they tend to slip into the background.

When speaking to a dominant gyne who is accompanied by a retinue drone, the appropriate thing to do is pretend the drone isn’t there, the same way you would treat a service dog like a cane or wheelchair rather than a dog to play with. If you did have information you wished to share directly with the drone, then it would be acceptable to address the drone by name to signal the shift in conversation partner, or ask the gyne if he could introduce you to his friend.

Personal Space: Fairy buildings tend to be tall rather than wide like Anti-Fairy buildings, allowing for plenty of room to float, as well as subconscious signs of dominance when it comes to floating height. At social gatherings, Fairies tend to flit around and spend a little time with everyone. They are notably less touchy-feely compared to Anti-Fairies, but more touchy-feely compared to Refracts.

Fairies are the only class of beings who find it acceptable to poof them away from whatever they were doing without warning. Surgery rooms and bathrooms are always built with certain magical conditions preventing an outside person from poofing in or poofing you out, and some Fairies put up defensive wards at night so they can’t be poofed elsewhere in their sleep (Think Mama Cosma waking Big Daddy with a truck before she could poof him away in “Big Wanda”).

Not all Fairies are happy about being poofed without warning, but their culture accepts it as a thing that happens. They’re very good about switching gears if they’re the one poofed (Think Fairy Mason putting his poker game on hold to spend fifteen legal minutes helping Timmy in “Genie Meanie Miney Mo”) and are understanding of their conversation partners if they poof away without warning (though they’ll get antsy if they aren’t back within twenty minutes).

Social Faux Pas: Turning your wand horizontal and holding it out while making eye contact is an obscene gesture. Turning your wand and then snapping it in half is a direct challenge, and will likely lead to a physical fight.

Preening culture has its share of faux pas if licks are signaled incorrectly. While it’s acceptable for non-gynes and non-drones to briefly exchange licks for the purpose of greeting and establishing group hierarchy, it’s not socially acceptable for someone who is neither gyne nor drone to engage in deep preening, unless you’re a high-ranking figure such as an ambassador or head of state. If you hold a high position, it’s expected you’ll engage in deep preening even if you’re neither gyne nor drone.

Fairies keep their mating locations and sleeping locations strictly separate (and you would too if your reproductive system was as messy as an insect’s). Fairies also express nonsexual intimacy in these locations with snuggle sessions. These locations are called “affection sites” or yidreamu in the old Fairy language, and Fairy homes (including “one-bedroom” apartments) always have a yidreamu built off the master bedroom. Peeking in someone’s yidreamu is the social equivalent of walking in on them mating, whether the couple are in there at the time or not.

Relations With Anti-Fairies: Anti-Fairies are typically viewed as chaotic troublemakers, and are looked down upon.

Relations With Pixies: Pixies are typically viewed as boring and potentially untrustworthy, but very efficient at organizing things. Pixies are famous for siding with either Fairies or Anti-Fairies depending on what benefits them most at the time; they fought alongside the Fairies but later switched to the Anti-Fairies’ side during the War of the Angels. However, Pixies sided with the Fairies against the Anti-Fairies during the May Blossom War, prompting Fairies to see Pixies in a neutral/good light again and increasing Pixie/Anti-Fairy tensions (Read more about Fae wars HERE). Generally, Fairies consider pixies a wishy-washy people.

Relations With The Refracted: Refracts are typically viewed as priests and priestesses with high status, and are greatly admired.

Relations With Alien Races: The cloudlands are on good or neutral terms with most of the Alien races in the known universe. Every December, they send tribute to the Snobulacs as thanks for fighting on their side in the Sealing War eons ago. Relations with Yugopotamians were once good, as the Yugopotamians contributed to the Cave of Destiny prophecy, but the two races grew apart over the years.

CUSTOMS

Art: Fairies are interested in a variety of art, from sculptures and novels to performance art and graffiti. Expressing your emotions and being true to yourself are very important aspects of their culture. Many Fairies do simple tasks (both mundane and magic) with an extra artistic flair just for the fun of it.

In general, cloudland literature is long, whether it’s a nonfiction work or a novel. It’s common to focus on a character’s entire life and relationships with their families (birth families and the families they start). Fairy stories focus on the main character’s external effect upon the world and relations with others; doing good deeds and following rules even if you don’t want to is a common theme.

Art is an activity everyone is encouraged to join in. Creating a painting is seen as a way of expressing your soul. Some Fairies donate their work for public display, but demanding payment for “an easy task” is considered rude. There are many buildings in Fairy World, and a nice art piece can accent a room in a way a book can’t. If you donate an art piece of yours to a business, they’ll probably take it and hang it up if they feel the emotions behind the piece are powerful (and especially if emotions relate to how a business wants their customers to feel).

But don’t expect to profit unless your painting truly stands out in a unique way. Most everyone in Fairy society can create decent visual art with the wave of a wand (Quality can vary, but since visual art is encouraged in children from a young age, it’s something many are skilled in). You may have created a beautiful landscape or a portrait of a neighbor’s face, but it won’t make you money. Creativity... Now, that’s a valuable point to capitalize on. Don’t sell an exact copy of a landscape that anyone can poof over to look at and then poof up a painting of. Instead, depict the world in new and interesting ways. Fairies are all about changing the world- if you want to profit as an artist, show off magical chaos in a safe way.

Of course, the above describes the way art is valued in Fairy society. Stereotypically, Anti-Fairies value art more. Anti-Fairies are familiar with the concept of purchasing art- however, they tend to value depictions of the world as it is, and abstract changes are frowned upon. Know your audience if you intend to be an artist. That’s crucial.

Calendar: The Fairy calendar measures auroras (times the Aurora Fairyalis has occurred). Aurora 0 marks the year it’s believed Kahnii the Thoughtful split out of Aos Sí form. According to the Fairy calendar, H.P. was born in Aurora 7868, Wanda in Aurora 7938, Cosmo in Aurora 7940, and Poof in Aurora 8017. Click HERE to read about Fae Celebrations.

Child-Rearing: Fairy relationship traditions vary according to the expectations of the Fairy social ladder; some subspecies are expected to rotate between sexual partners frequently while others are expected to commit for life. Varying from your species’ archetypal family structure will result in gossip among your neighbors. The caste system is firmly rooted in Fairy culture and beliefs are not easily shaken.

In Fairy society, raising children is viewed as a fun pastime to look into when you’re older rather than something typically engaged in by those in their “20s” or “early 30s”. 400,000 (35) is viewed as a reasonable time to have the first kid, though some wait even later. In the past, when estates were more common than small houses, waiting later in life to have children worked well. The estate generally went to the firstborn (unless they married another firstborn who had an estate to their name, in which case the estate was passed to the next eldest child instead, or the firstborn was a drone, in which case the estate usually went to the eldest non-drone sibling).

The firstborn would live elsewhere on the property with their spouse and offspring (if applicable) while awaiting their parents’ passing. If parents had kids while young, their child would possess a small corner of the property, raise their own kids and potentially grandkids in a cramped space, and their child would be subordinate instead of dominant. Conflict was much more likely in this scenario, and could result in the restless child challenging a parent for the property (particularly if the child was a gyne). Thus, having kids later helps the transition go more smoothly. You get lots of older parents in Fairy World, which also results in smaller families of one or two kids. Having three kids with none being twins or triplets is very unusual and gossip about the parents’ love lives might spread at parties. Three kids is considered a large family. Four is surprising, five shocking, and six almost unheard of.

Fairies typically live in family units, with the most common structure being two parents raising two children who are many millennia apart in age. Childcare is more intense during the first five years of life while the baby is most vulnerable. Once the baby becomes effectively immortal, childcare is more relaxed. Helicopter parents are rare since even young Fairy children can use enough magic to take care of themselves. The biggest concern is a baby falling out of the clouds and plummeting far below, but if you can trust your kid to fly safely and poof home when they feel uncomfortable, raising children is a low-stress activity. When common fairy babies were illegal, many parents feared someone would kidnap their child to raise it for their own.

Generally, it’s rare for gynes to find partners and reproduce until they've claimed at least one drone (one being below average, two average, three above, and four signalling high dominance). Most Fairies don’t want to marry a submissive gyne, and would prefer a dominant one who seems to have a good handle on his life and will likely be around for many years (and will bear strong, healthy children too). Normally, gynes father more children than kabouters; large families are expected in a gyne-headed household. Some gynes prefer to have a strong gyne son take over after him while others prefer raising daughters to be strong damsels who won’t usurp them early.

While having many drones may be ideal for some (either drones who can support the father or support their gyne brother), having only drones suggests weak genetics and is seen as shameful. Social pressure prompts gynes to continue reproducing until they have a “real” heir- either a daughter or a gyne son. Until the Waterberry v. Reddinski case came into being while Cosmo and Wanda were in middle school, drones (even firstborn drones) were automatically passed over when it came to inheritance unless a late parent’s will explicitly outlined what his drone offspring should receive. Waterberry ensured inheritance always went to the firstborn, even if the firstborn was a drone. Sadly, while the letter of the law may be followed - the firstborn drone receiving his inheritance - his inheritance generally falls into the hands of whichever gyne he’s in the service of at the time. Fairy society has a history of eliminating any drones born before a gyne’s desired successor, and the Fairywinkle family have long been involved in this underhanded practice.

Historically, drones have raised few if any children. 75% of drones are born sterile (excluding pixies whose reproductive systems have been altered by Wolbachia pipientis). Until Waterberry, drones could not legally marry in Fairy World. If a drone did bear offspring while in the service of a gyne, it was instantly assumed the gyne’s wife had an affair with him. The babies were often killed immediately after birth, and the drone was usually punished (sometimes with death depending on the gyne). Waterberry v. Reddinski made this practice illegal and Fairy culture is still adjusting to this relatively recent change. Non-pixie drones rarely raise children and usually keep any desire to bear children to themselves.

Fairy culture looks down somewhat on twins and triplets- not harshly, but there’s a noticeable difference in treatment due to a long history of primogeniture. This habit may also have its origins in the existence of Anti-Fairy counterparts; doubles tend to be seen as troublemakers. As such, it’s quite common for Fairies to favor the firstborn highly above the second twin. Wanda was favored extremely by her father (though their mother favored Blonda), and H.P. doesn’t like mentioning the fact that he was almost born a twin but absorbed his unborn brother (Sanders) in the womb.

Coming of Age: Most Fairy parents throw morning or afternoon celebrations when their children moult into their adult wings, and in the evenings it’s common for the Fairy in question to go out on the town with friends. Daoists have a religious side to the ceremony, which involves a visit from one’s Refracted counterpart (and which is further discussed in the post on Daoist beliefs). In the past, it was traditional to collect the blood of a unicorn.

Courtship and Marriage: Fairy culture values dominance in every part of life, including married life. The head of the household is not determined by gender; males and females can both be heads of households as long as each household does indeed have a head. Social norms differ for heads of household than other members. For instance, the head of the household can marry multiple partners, but other household members are expected to have no partners besides the head they live with. Ideally you should be married to all your sexual partners; Fairy culture frowns on those who have the option of multiple partners yet still pursue extramarital affairs.

If the head of the household marries multiple partners, they will usually be of different subspecies to organize status and inheritance clearly; rarely will someone marry two members of the same subspecies if it can be avoided. Those of low-status subspecies are rarely heads of the household, and they rarely marry someone who’s single. Usually they marry someone who already has several other partners; low-status Fairies seek marriage to obtain comfortable home lives and to pass their genes along. If low-status individuals hold out for a one-on-one marriage, they may never reproduce at all. Most low-status individuals will marry someone who can provide them children, so same-sex high-status/low-status marriages are rare. It’s common for a Fairy to take a same-sex partner as their first partner and take multiple opposite-sex mates in order to produce offspring; in Fairy culture, biological sex isn’t as important in choosing a partner as choosing someone of high social status is.

The head generally produces offspring in a descending order of “firstborn with first mate,” firstborn with second mate,” providing each mate with a firstborn before providing the first mate with a second child; a second child born before each of the head’s mates has a firstborn is considered unlucky. Most Fairies are the firstborn of at least one parent, and “double firstborns” hold higher status. If you choose to marry multiple partners, Fairy culture expects you to produce kids with as many of those partners as desire it. They, not the head, have the right to determine the size of their individual family within the larger context of the household. The head of the household is expected to provide for those in his or her care. Turf wars are common among large Fairy families, especially if the household is headed by a gyne.

Fairies are stereotyped as people who marry young but have children late in life. After age 150,000, Fairies can marry (with their parents’ permission) and be legally emancipated. Fairy culture promotes the idea that you know yourself better than anyone and you should be true to yourself and live the life that feels right for you, so long as it’s within the bounds of Da Rules. As a result, it’s common for Fairies to marry young (again, with parents’ permission under the age of 200,000). Fairies are a people who value close friendships and emotional connections. Being a single teen will raise eyebrows and being a single adult for several centuries straight is almost unheard of.

Fairies have heat cycles that vary by subspecies (they are listed in the social ladder post, HERE). Young fae who belong to the same subspecies may have cycles on different schedules, but if they spend enough time around each other they will sync up. This normally takes tens of thousands of years; usually, it’s only once cycles have synced that Fairies consider marriage. This is when they initiate the Year of Promise, which is a “trial marriage for a year and a day” (This tradition has some roots in the custom of Celtic marriages and some in insect courtship behaviors).

Standard Fairy courtship involves mating the first evening of official, serious courtship and then going completely hands-off for a year. Traditionally this means wearing symbolic colorful gloves, socks, and a decorative apron every hour of the day, and not touching the skin of any other Fairy. Some Fairies are more lenient and say you should not touch the skin of any Fairy of the same gender as your partner, or some say you can touch other Fairies except for those of the same subspecies as your partner. When the Year of Promise ends, the pair reunite to discuss their feelings and thoughts about the future. It’s extremely rare to continue courting one another after the Year of Promise; the two main options are marriage or separation. Getting pregnant from the Year of Promise is considered very unlucky.

Fairies who meet in adulthood tend to get married only after many millennia of dating, while Fairies who grew up together tend to get married young because their heat cycles are already synced and their instincts are yelling at them to take the next step. Wanda and Juandissimo dated long enough to reach the point where their cycles finally, finally synced, but Wanda became interested in Cosmo around that time. She and Juandissimo shared a Year of Promise, and after it ended Juandissimo was hoping to marry her, but Wanda turned him down (to his absolute shock since he thought they were on excellent snuggle terms and didn’t see that coming at all).

Because of their heat cycles, a Fairy’s relationship with their romantic partner is affectionate but entirely nonsexual much of the time. Kisses are common, but long and intense kissing sessions aren’t. However, during their cycles, Fairies are much more amorous. This becomes obvious as they engage in more flirting and/or increasingly longer kissing sessions leading up to their fertility. At the peak of fertility, bonded Fairies can hardly keep their hands off one another. Cosmo and Wanda’s cycle began before Season 0, leading them to be very affectionate with one another, and they reached their fertile peak in the montage of months before they had Poof. As is expected with Fairies, the intensity of their passions waned after reproducing, though the affection is still there and the passion will return with their next cycle in about 500 years.

A female Fairy can only mate a few times during this fertile window (most only mate once; see the Reproduction heading below for more details). On top of that, a Fairy must be shot with a fertile arrow by an Eros Triplet when mating, the father must survive the experience, the baby must survive to term, and the counterparts must be born successfully. Most Fairy couples do not have children until late in life, and then they have only a few children who are spaced far apart from one another. Heads of household often have multiple partners and many offspring, but each individual “family” under that umbrella consists of only one or two children.

Courtship rituals vary by subspecies, but many Fairies engage in synchronized courtship flights, like a dance.

See also, Intimacy and Partnership (Under “Social”).

Death and Mourning: Fairies turn to dust when they die, but leave their core behind. Deceased Fairies take their clothes and anything in their pockets with them, the same way they do when they change shape. Anything that was separated from them, such as glasses or a torn wing, remains behind. An item previously soaked in rosewater will also remain behind.

Many Fairies choose to keep their loved one’s core around, either as a decoration in their office or as a private memory tucked away on a bedroom shelf; usually the inner glowing white ball is separated from the solid outer shell. The glowing ball is pure magic, and is sometimes swallowed by a relative to symbolize the Fairy belief that magic exists in a cycle. It’s thought that ancestors share their magic with living family (and withhold it when offended). Many Fairies believe they can communicate with the dead by holding what remains of the core in their hands and speaking aloud, especially if they speak in the presence of an animpar (See “Rituals”). Lifedust may also be turned into a memory of the deceased, perhaps encased in an urn or glass bottle.

Fairies traditionally wear dark colors to funerals, which tend to be somber occasions in the first half but transition to more lighthearted, “let’s celebrate the fact that they’re happy now” occasions afterward. Funeral attendants generally bring some money for the survivors of the deceased and usually share memories of that person when they offer the money. Obituaries are made public in the news since Fairies don’t often die; you pretty much invite yourself to a funeral in Fairy culture. It’s considered bad form to allude to or (worse) explicitly invite someone to a funeral unless they’re a known close friend of the deceased. Inviting someone can make it appear you want their money. Even if you do invite them, you risk offending them by suggesting they don’t keep up with the news or their friends.

Funeral money offered by friends is generally a small amount to express condolences and ensure those in mourning can afford meals or other important things. Fairies in their prime (adult stage, pre-senescent stage) are very strong and cannot die from sickness or old age. Their wounds generally heal quickly, and their elastic bodies are not easily hurt by many things that could kill humans such as falls or car crashes. When an adult dies, it’s a big shock. Immediate family members may pull out of the working world for years, and juveniles may even take a break from school. Even casual boyfriends or girlfriends will probably take time off; Fairies are emotional creatures and losing loved ones affects them deeply. Typically, more money is paid at an adult funeral than other Fairy funerals.

If the deceased was killed by someone else (ex: during a gyne fight or similar turf war), the killer is required to pay wergild to the immediate family. Usually this would be the spouse of the deceased, but if there isn’t one it’s appropriate to pay it to the parents, who traditionally hand it to the most dominant descendant they have. Wergild varies according to status; sometimes the payment alone can keep your rivals from killing you, so achieving high status increases your chance of survival. On the flip side, the very rich may not hesitate to kill someone because they can afford wergild easily (the Winkleglint and Whimsifinado families were once famous for being rival families with neighboring estates, and paid each other wergild constantly). Fairy aristocrats live in mutual tolerance of one another, both sides knowing one could strike the other down but the other would strike back because they can afford to.

Fairy culture promotes the idea that killing without giving someone a fair fight is extremely shameful; it’s very frustrating when someone gets killed and no one steps forward to pay wergild.

Disagreements: Fairy society is closely tied to its caste system. Traditionally, subspecies ranked higher on the social ladder make decisions and those ranked lower obey. Social groups that gather together frequently have their own dominance hierarchies; in Anti-Fairy society, everyone stands on level ground and they share in conversation equally, but in Fairy society more dominant figures take the lead while subordinate ones fall respectfully back. When disagreements break out, a brief scuffle may follow. These scuffles aren’t dangerous and rarely last long, but if one person continuously resists conforming, they might lose their friends. Disagreement scuffles can turn especially violent between territorial gynes.

Family Relations: Family is very important in Fairy culture, as family status is precious to the social hierarchy. It’s common to have a family business which is passed down from parent to firstborn with the rest of the inheritance; those who don’t have a family business will usually follow in the footsteps of their parents anyway. Click HERE to read about high-status Fairy families.

If you’re the only child in your family, it’s insulting to reject the family business (and strict families may also consider it insulting not to follow your parents’ career choice). With more children in the family, the firstborn legally has first dibs on their inheritance, but may choose to pass a family business to another kid in the family who wants it. If none of the others want it, the firstborn is expected to take it whether they want it or not. Preserving family legacy is important.

A family’s members are expected to keep in contact throughout their entire lives, no matter how far apart they are. Visits are frequent (including overnight visits despite the ease of poofing home) and you’re expected to balance your life with your in-law’s lives. Fairy in-laws are more involved in family lives than the in-laws of the other face races; in-laws are expected to be there for the family and vis versa. Mama Cosma and Wanda have their conflicts, as do Big Daddy and Cosmo, but they put their difficulties aside for the sake of being there when needed.

See the Child-Rearing section for more about Fairy families.

Homes: One stereotypical style of home in Fairy World is the hive estate. Dominant gynes prefer to claim territory, and many gynes have multiple drones. Typically, gynes have more children than non-gyne Fairies do, and have them closer together. Dominant gynes are usually wealthy too. All of these factors make hive estates desirable homes for them. These estates are usually located in the woods (though sometimes in farmland) and feature multiple buildings. Back when Pixie World was Pixie Village, it was designed like a hive estate, only bigger since the pixie population was expected to boom exponentially.

A hive estate usually has a main house (where the gyne lives with their spouse), a drone house (where drones - often 3 to 5 - have their bedrooms and personal spaces like offices or rooms for their hobbies), a guest house (for visitors) and another house for each grown daughter of the gyne (Gyne sons are either killed, challenge their father, or set out into the world on their own; drone sons usually live in the drone house when they grow up). Daughters of gynes often live at the hive estate with their husbands and raise their children there (assuming her husband is not a gyne). If a gyne is wealthy, other structures such as barns and stables may also be found there. Very dominant gynes claim territory along lakes (which are few and far between in Fairy World) while slightly less dominant gynes keep to the woods. If a gyne kills another dominant gyne, he is free to claim that gyne’s drones, but may only claim property if the gyne has no children to inherit it (Fairy World’s inheritance laws are described just below).

While hive estates are the stereotype for gynes, they are not as common as Anti-Fairies imagine them to be. Most Fairies live in small houses, usually more vertical than horizontal. The ground level normally features a large social room, a kitchen, sometimes a bathroom and occasionally a guest bedroom. It’s common for guests to drop in unexpectedly, so having a guest room or even two is very common (though guest rooms are normally kept upstairs to increase the amount of open space for socializing on the first floor).

Upstairs you will find the bedrooms. If a couple don’t have children, their bedroom usually doubles as their affection site. Some couples choose to have separate rooms for kissing sessions and sleep, especially if they have children or regular guests. Gynes may choose to have separate preening rooms, which are kept separate from affection sites (If people find out you do your preening and wooing in the same room, you’ll get extremely uncomfortable glances).

I built a sample Fairy World house based on the above considerations HERE; it’s actually Mama Cosma’s house and has a guest bedroom instead of a preening room.

Hygiene: Fairies tend to be early risers because their hygiene routines require a lot of time. Cleaning themselves with a quick magical water or fire may be an effective way to rid themselves of earthly dirt, but it certainly doesn’t cut it if you live in the cloudlands. Magic doesn’t affect magic, so scrubbing away the grime of a magical world requires a physical process. Fairies are stereotyped as having vanity issues when it comes to their wings, but ignoring their teeth in the process (in contrast with Anti-Fairies who are stereotyped as never cleaning their wings, but spending inordinate amounts of time on dental hygiene). Since Fairies can’t fly with wet wings, most prefer baths to showers when possible. Easier to wash your body while keeping your wings dry that way.

Fairies have very active sweat glands- they secrete oils and magic dust from their skin all day long. This dust clings to them, allowing them to use small amounts of magic on occasion (shapeshifting for a very short time or poofing a short distance away). If they are deprived of their wands, this small amount of magic may save their life. Producing this dust also allows Fairies to naturally disguise themselves from non-magical beings, like humans, who don’t expect to see them. This natural ability is less reliable than shapeshifting, but it prevents a Fairy’s cover from being blown unless the non-magical being who sees them has reason to feel like something about this person is weird and takes a closer look. This ability is known as the Principle of Observation.

Only Fairies and Pixies produce dust from their skin (Anti-Fairies and Refracts do not). If they scrub their skin with soap while bathing, Fairies wash away the dust. It takes a few hours for them to secrete enough magic to build the ability back up again. Cosmo and Wanda try to shower early in the morning, several hours before Timmy and/or Chloe wake up, so they don’t feel gross and sweaty but still have a decent supply of dust on their skin, just in case.

Most Fairies bathe or shower every day, and if they don’t then it’s probably because they were unusually busy and didn’t have the chance. Some Fairies wash every morning and every evening. Public shower halls are actually a thing throughout Fairy World, which is something you don’t see in Anti-Fairy World, Pixie World, or Avalon. In these public facilities, you can drop in and use one of many showers completely free of charge (though you have a time limit on your head). Fairies who expect to use the shower halls bring their own soap with them, though bars can also be purchased for a coin or two at the front desk. Towns pride themselves on how well they keep their shower halls clean, so if you visit a town with a shower hall that’s in poor condition, keep moving.

Cleaning wings is a different process entirely. It can’t easily be done in the shower due to lack of space and balance. Furthermore, it’s a difficult thing to do by yourself. Shower halls, while not full spas, do offer wing cleaning services. If you’re willing to pay a few coins, a certified hygiene worker will do it for you in another room. Some Fairies like this because they can read a book or newspaper in the morning while someone else cleans their wings. Shower halls also have sitting rooms in the reception area where Fairies can sit on cushions, socialize, and clean each other’s wings if they’re comfortable enough. If you came to the shower hall with your partner or parent, the sitting room is a convenient place for wing cleaning.

Asking a random stranger to clean your wings it uncommon, but sometimes Fairies will form little chains or circles where they give each other’s wings a simple scrub. The younger generation is more likely to have chains of strangers while the older generation tends to be more wary. Having someone to help you clean your wings is a major consideration in choosing whether to have a roommate or live alone, and most Fairies grow very close with roommates with whom they share the wing cleaning process with. Foop, who grew up with three Seelie roommates at school, has often helped them clean their wings and is more familiar with the process than most Anti-Fairies.

Cleaning wings properly requires a brush and damp cloth, similar to cleaning a floor with both a broom and a mop. Wings are first brushed of loose dust and stale magic (usually brushed from the ends to the joints). Then they are attended to more carefully with circular motions of the cloth to wash away the grime that stuck to wings because of natural oils. Wings are delicate, so you want someone you trust to comb over them this way. Freshly-cleaned wings feel light, shimmer more, and are very healthy, while wings that aren’t cleaned regularly become milky in color, will start to weigh you down, and affect your sense of balance. Wing cleaning can be done quickly and simply with just the brush if you’re in a rush or are with strangers, but intimate partners often make it a sensual experience with slow sensations and gentle roaming fingers. It’s expected that an alpha drone will assist their gyne in hygiene as part of their retinue duties. It’s good manners (though not always expected) for a gyne clean his drones’ wings in return (at least his alpha’s if not everyone’s). Most Fairies clean their wings every other day, though some do it more often.

Anti-Fairies and Refracts are familiar with the fact that Fairies sweat a lot, so they tend to stereotype Fairies as gross, smelly people (gynes cleaner than most) when in fact Fairies have exquisite hygiene (assuming they keep up with it regularly).

Inheritance: In the Fairy World legal system, inheritance is given to the firstborn child one had with their “first mate” (the partner whose species ranks higher on the social ladder). This then progresses to the firstborns of any other mates (if applicable) before circling back around to the second-born of the first mate... unless otherwise specified in one’s will. If earlier mates were never legally married, the first legally married mate becomes the legal first mate and pushes the original into being the second.

This legal system only applies in Fairy World; Fairies who choose to make their permanent homes in Anti-Fairy World are subject to its legal system.

Leisure: Fairies are a social people, but prefer socializing with familiar neighbors (in contrast to Anti-Fairies who delight in socializing with strangers). Fairies form tight-knit friendships with those living nearby and keep up with one another’s lives on a regular basis. Game nights are common. If not socializing, Fairies may relax at home with their families, basking in a night of self-care. Because Fairy culture values brawn over brains, play-fighting via wrestling or magic jousting is a more common leisure activity than reading books.

Meals: In Fairy culture, the head of the household is expected to be the provider. Low-ranked members of the house (i.e. children and drones) eat before the provider does- if he can’t provide enough for everyone, he must provide for them before he takes for himself. It’s shameful to eat before your subordinates. Most Fairies prefer to gulp down a meal and move on- they are not fond of spending two to three hours at dinner like Anti-Fairies are. Even when Fairies go all out for huge events, dinner at a fancy party will take an hour tops.

Plants make up the majority of a Fairy diet (Many Fairies transform into animals or hang around kids who love animals and are gradually turned off from the idea of eating meat). Most Fairies will avoid eating meat in front of strangers because you never know who is sensitive to that sort of thing. If you ask someone on a first date, you won’t surprise them with a dinner of meat without clearing it with them first.

Fairies who share their insect genes with herbivorous insects will be healthiest on a vegetarian diet; they can eat meat on occasion, but too much of it will make them sick. Some Fairies share their insect genetics with obligate carnivores (Ex: Common fairies = Dragonflies). They must eat at least some meat every other day to function healthily, and even then they will not be at their best unless they eat meat every day.

Phoenix and valravn are standard holiday dishes in Fairy World. Other than that, holiday dishes differ by regional culture. Nut allergies are extremely common among Fairies. Many parents do not give their children peanut butter or kitnut butter and jelly sandwiches because of this, which has a side effect of reducing the number of gynes there might otherwise be.

Media: Fairy media is quite biased towards Fairies. Fairies tend to be heroes in their shows while Anti-Fairies are usually villains and Pixies are boring snobs with flexible loyalties (Pixies in Fairy media are mainly “rich kid who throws money around” and “lazy bum who’ll do anything for cash”). Gynes are normally portrayed like entitled princes without the political expectations. Drones are usually shy background types who don’t express their own ideas and only exist to show a gyne’s dominance (though an actor named Rupert Roebeam flipped that stereotype on its head when he played a quick-witted drone character who excelled in preening innuendo. Fairy World went wild over it. This character is so closely associated with him that he’s adopted the persona completely; Rupert appears in both Origin of the Pixies and Frayed Knots while flaunting this persona).

The models in magazines? Fairies. Fairies are the norm everywhere you look. Anti-Fairies are almost always portrayed like blue Fairies (So if there are scenes where they change clothes, their undergarments - a big part of their culture - are depicted as Fairy undergarments; nude Anti-Fairies are usually shown with Fairy parts), which Anti-Fairies find offensive. Fairies tend to show their teeth while smiling on TV or in portraits, which is not the norm for Anti-Fairies.

If you watch enough Fairy media, you’ll notice most story plots don’t focus on standing up to bullies directly, but instead on learning to co-exist with them and teaching them to be kinder. Kabouters and especially drones do not challenge gynes. Only gynes challenge gynes. Gyne fights and deaths are common even in children’s media, which shocks godkids who browse Fairy TV channels. Not killing another gyne after a gyne fight is portrayed as foolish; the gyne that wasn’t killed usually comes back and kills the one who spared him. Additionally, drakes and damsels are portrayed in pants, suits, skirts, and dresses indiscriminately; Fairy culture doesn’t gender clothing and neither does their media.

Names: Some Fairies take the surname of their spouse upon marriage while others choose not to. In “Turning Into Turner,” Cosmo’s license appears to say Cosmo Fairywinkle, implying he took Wanda’s. A Fairy’s legal middle name is selected by the parents of their Anti-Fairy counterpart, as Anti-Fairies are exclusively called by that name until they turn 150,000. “Cosmo” is one of the most common names in Fairy culture.

Preening: An intimate exchange of pheromones; see above.

Starpieces: Regardless of handedness, Fairies typically belt their wand sheaths on the right side of the body. Wands are crafted from wood. Fairy culture encourages wands to be kept in plain sight of everyone at all times, sheathed when not in use.

Technology: As a general rule, Fairy technology advances slowly. They have long lifespans and even though they’re free-spirited creatures, it still takes time for them to accept and adjust to using new technology. When they think about advancements, the first thing that comes to mind is “How can we make our magic better?” instead of “How can we improve our non-magical things?” Lots of research goes into wand improvements and training classes. To be fair, magic has made many strides- in older days, all spells had to be read from spellbooks or cast with the aid of carefully prepared herbs. Magic changed from long chants to simple rhyming couplets, then advanced to requiring the wave of a wand and a thought. It would be wrong to discredit Fairies for the advancements their race has made.

However, Fairies tend to not be as imaginative as their godkids are (though you probably shouldn’t tell them that). Many of the ideas that have progressed Fairy society have actually been thought up by godkids. Some Fairies who hope to be inventors will pursue godparenting careers because they get paid to visit different planets and observe the people and technology there. Showers are an example of technology that was invented by a different race; Fairies took a liking to them and brought the idea to Fairy World, replacing the old system of calculating volumes and temperatures in order to poof up a tub of bathwater (or drawing water from a well and heating it manually). You’ll find that many bills in Fairy World, like using a shower with proper plumbing, are less expensive than the tax Fairies would have to pay to get the exact result with magic. Fairy World is thus a strange blend of advanced magic achievements combined with random non-magical technologies.

In the cloudlands, Fairy World is famous for its tram system. The cloudlands are archipelagos connected by ramps and bridges, but the tram system is essential for transporting Fairies across long distances- no one wants to run out of energy and plunge out of the sky to the ocean far, far below. Many Fairies cannot fly or poof for one reason or another (some being born without wings, some born without magic, or perhaps the Big Wand lost power). Some Fairies choose not to travel magically for personal reasons (those who are sick or pregnant are likely to hesitate). Fairy World’s tram is a beloved part of their culture, and probably the technology Anti-Fairies most desire for their own world.

RITUALS

Instar: A newborn’s transition from being shaped like a sphere, cube, or other shape at birth to having a more Fairy-shaped body. Also known as the first moult, or the time of shedding your baby skin.

Pooferty: A Fairy baby’s transition from being pre-verbal to developing the ability to speak.

Daoist baptism: A Daoist tradition of baptizing those who’ve studied and can explain the teachings of Daoism, the Fae religion based largely off Celtic folklore and Fairy beliefs in the Daoine Sìth. 100 hours of silent reflection then follow.

Moulting into adult wings (Fairy adulthood): A period of several days or weeks when a Fairy experiences puberty. They briefly lose the ability to use magic and fly, and usually suffer a rash as they shed their wings and some skin. The new wings that grow in are notably larger than juvenile wings, hence the term “getting your adult wings.” Anti-Fairies will also get a height boost, and males develop a scent gland on their head much like a sugar glider’s. Fairies have coming of age ceremonies for getting one’s adult wings, but no official ceremonies for reaching age of majority at 200,000.

Year of Promise: A common fairy courtship tradition similar to the Celtic tradition of young men and women experiencing trial marriages for “a year and a day.” After the trial period, the relationship can be broken off without consequences; alternatively, marriage commences. Since the common fairy subspecies mate for life and live for ages, it gives them one last chance to bail. Other Fairy subspecies sometimes engage in the Year of Promise tradition too.

Soul Carriages: The practice of representing immediate and extended family members in your home by means of a personal shrine for each individual you have personally met and consider your family. Soul carriages (or animpa) look like flower pots with three wands sticking out to represent the three parts of the soul (Hands, breathing lines, and the core). This is a Fairy custom and is not tied to Daoist beliefs; even Fairies who do not believe three counterparts will become a single Daoine in the afterlife believe in the three parts of the soul and represent their kin in their homes with soul carriages.

Each person in your kinship circle (i.e. everyone you consider close family) should be represented, whether they are living or dead. Ancestors you never met may be considered family if you are often told stories about them, but ancestors you know nothing about are not considered close family and you aren’t expected to build them a soul carriage when you set out on your own. When Wanda married Cosmo, she accepted a soul carriage for Mama Cosma in her home to symbolize she saw herself as part of the Cosma family. However, Mama Cosma refused to keep a soul-carriage for Wanda in her home until after Poof’s birth- a major insult that caused tension between them for years (and great distress for Cosmo). Big Daddy, upon learning Wanda and Cosmo were married, did craft a soul carriage for Cosmo; he may feel Wanda could have done better, but he accepted Cosmo into the family nonetheless.

Soul carriages have no monetary value, so it’s extremely unlikely a thief would take them. However, they are not supposed to be damaged or spilled on the ground, or left behind if you move out or flee the home. If you rent an apartment for a little while, you’re not expected to keep soul carriages. Soul carriages are meant to be built if you believe you are living independently from your family in a long-term home.

HOLIDAYS

The Fae holidays are described in detail in the celebration post, HERE.

REPRODUCTION

Attraction: Fairy society favors brawn over brain, so those who show high physical or magical strength are very desirable. Fairies can easily slap muscles on their bodies with magic, so muscles themselves are not immediately attractive; what is attractive is having broad shoulders and muscles for long periods of time (natural muscles are far more attractive than magically-made ones, so you don’t see as many Fairies looking like bodybuilders unless they’ve put forth the work non-magically).

While Anti-Fairy culture praises elegance and social skills and shuns fighting friends, Fairy culture encourages a complex dominance hierarchy. You can tell where someone ranks in society against others because pheromones are incredibly detailed and track who you’ve won fights against and who you’ve lost to. An entire language of pheromones compares people to other people even if they’ve never met before just based on their history of winning fights. Those who win fights consistently are highly desired- dominant gynes rank high up the ladder of attractiveness.

Drakes and damsels alike spar physically and magically to prove themselves in public. Tournaments and gatherings such as Fairy Con are common ways to show off, with winners instantly growing more attractive and losers dropping in status. In Fairy World, drakes and damsels are not stereotyped as one gender being better than the other at physical sparring or magic- both spar with one another and gender is not seen as something that gives you an advantage or weakness. No Fairy is afraid to “hit a girl” or thinks it’s unladylike to “fight with the boys,” and many parents encourage their children to play-fight with other kids in the neighborhood. Non-Fairies generally stereotype drakes as more likely to win physical fights and damsels as more likely to win magical ones.

Fairies measure someone’s magical strength by how high their crown floats above their head, since that’s one trait that can’t be manipulated with magic itself. This floating height is known as a Fairy’s lift. Even when Fairies shapeshift into other Fae, the natural style of their crown and height it floats will not change; even if all else in the disguise is on point, you can identify an imposter if their lift doesn’t match what it should be. It’s rude if you’re seen sizing up someone’s lift in public, and socially improper to comment on it aloud. Bragging about your lift, however, is common among those with high-floating crowns; drakes are stereotyped as being more likely to brag about their lift when socializing with their peers than damsels are. Naturally crownless subspecies of fae often rank lower than those with crowns, simply because it’s difficult to evaluate their power, though crownless fae can win over potential partners if they prove high skill levels over time. Long-term, consistent strength is crucial in Fairy World; a single powerful show may turn heads, but they won’t stay for long.

Short, bright, colorful hair is considered more attractive than plain colors such as brown, white, and light blond. Though Fairies with these hair colors exist, they commonly dye their hair. Thanks to powerful figures such as Big Daddy and the Head Pixie, black hair is considered sleek and stylish. Even so, black is normally viewed as a hair color for Pixies and Anti-Fairies, and many Fairies choose to avoid black hair because of that association.

The big question is, “Are you attracted to Seelie Courters, Unseelie Courters, or both?” While some may tend towards one gender over another, Fairies don’t really consider gender preference to be that important.

These terms aren’t often used in-story, but here they are for reference:

Seelie attracted to Seelie Courters = Inclusexual

Seelie attracted to Unseelie Courters = Crossexual

Seelie attracted to both = Exclosexual

Many Fairies believe a Fairy is naturally attracted to their own counterparts, and this does in fact seem to be true; if a large number of Fae babies (or young juveniles) are left unattended in a room, they will naturally gravitate towards their own counterparts. This is tentatively okay for youth, but things get more complicated when a juvenile’s thoughts turn to potential partners. Young Daoist Fairies usually meet their Refracted counterparts before their Anti-Fairy ones during baptism and adulthood ceremonies (both events Anti-Fairy counterparts are not traditionally welcome). Many Fairies will openly admit they have crushes on their Refract counterparts. Fairy society accepts this, confident that no one will actually follow through on their feelings due to Refracted society cracking down on expressions of intimacy. And even if a Fairy does follow through, Refracts are seen as good, kind people.

It’s a different story with Anti-Fairies. Anti-Fairies are viewed as evil, and before they were viewed as evil, they weren’t even viewed as sentient and were treated more like pets or guardian spirits. Fairy society doesn’t like Fairies getting close with Anti-Fairies, even though scientific texts have pointed out that counterparts tend to gravitate towards one another.

Because of this, Fairy culture has a long history of insisting that Fairies are not romantically attracted to their own Anti-Fairies, but that the urge they feel is instead an urge to kill them because they’re evil and Fairies are good. This is known as the Finella theory, and the Finella reflex (also called “Cold shoulder syndrome”) is the name for the drive itself. Furthermore, Fairy society paints the idea that such relationships would be incestuous in this life. The “drive to kill” argument does not hold up under close scrutiny, so when Foop sought out Poof in the hopes of destroying him after birth, Fairy society jumped on the chance to suggest the urge to kill was real and that Foop accidentally “stole” it from Poof. There is no actual evidence that he really did, or that Fairies are driven to kill Anti-Fairies at all. In fact, I’ll say right now that Poof and Foop are no different than any other Fairy/Anti-Fairy counterparts in that sense. It’s all a political web of lies, and the debate over whether or not it’s real comes up in a few of my fanfics to highlight the controlling, often hypocritical nature of Fairies.

It’s widely expected that a Fairy who is interested in another Fairy will also develop an interest in their crush’s counterpart. This is viewed as a natural consequence of being attracted to someone, and it is actively discussed in sex ed classes and seen as a more acceptable feeling than romantic feelings towards your own counterpart. However, you are expected to not follow through with these feelings. Talking about what it would be like to get with your partner’s counterpart is expected and acceptable as long as it’s hypothetical, and it’s a common conversation subject among friend groups. Making plans to actively follow through is not socially acceptable, and even those friends who encouraged your hypothetical ideas will probably pull back and give you horrified looks. Up until Poof’s and Foop’s teenage years, cross-Court attraction was still largely frowned upon. Hawthorn Haven is sort of the turning point when the wildly experimental counterculture phase of the cloudland timeline kicks in; following that, Seelie/Unseelie marriages do become legal.

Fairies who are no longer virgins are more attractive than virgins are. This isn’t something that Fairy society promotes- it’s just an anthropomorphized insect behavior. Mating triggers a pheromone switch, and the “mated” pheromone is distinct (it caries a sticky smell and is described as similar to caviar). Lots of gossip circulates in Fae high schools over who is and isn’t a virgin.

The scent change is one of the considerations Fairies may think about when debating whether to become sexually active, particularly if they’re still living with their parents or have been seeing someone they haven’t introduced to their friends. On the other hand, some Fairies might mate specifically because they want to produce the dominant “adult” pheromone as a status symbol. Sharing magic does not trigger the pheromone change, so young Fairy couples often stick with that type of intimacy until they’re older.

Anti-Fairies have less sensitive noses than Fairies. The more astute might be able to tell the difference between pheromones produced by one Fairy versus pheromones produced by another, but may struggle recognizing changes in an individual. For instance, Foop couldn’t tell when Poof’s changed even though they’d been roommates for most of their lives. Anti-Cosmo is a special case (due to his divus displacement disorder) who is extremely sensitive to pheromones and can recognize the difference between virgin and mated Fairies by scent alone.

Anatomy: Not explicit, but could be sensitive material depending on your comfort level with the reproduction of honeybees or sugar gliders, and by extension half-human beings who share their biology with these creatures.

The female Fairy’s part looks similar to that of a male sugar glider. It behaves much like a male bee’s part, meaning it physically rips away from the body during mating and leaves her sore for weeks or months. Fairies rebound quickly and do not die after mating like male bees do unless they are deprived of magic; Cupid’s family shoot Fairy couples with magical arrows to give them an extra boost of magic that keeps them alive once they mate. Before this, biological mothers never met their kids, so mating was extremely ceremonial and would occur later after a long life together. Mating is still ceremonial in Fairy culture, though no longer accented with the nerves and fear that accompanied it in the past; Fairies still mate in special, elaborately decorated rooms known as yidreamu to this day.

Fairies are very emotional creatures who are easily susceptible to changes in their hormones. They become quite amorous during their heat cycles and lose interest as their cycle passes (Most notably, giving birth drains a drake; they frequently suffer from postpartum depression until their next cycle). A Fairy damsel will mate only a few times per heat cycle (often only once) since it takes time to regrow the part that was lost when mating. A drake can mate multiple times a cycle until pregnancy is successful. Once he becomes pregnant, his mate-seeking hormones shut down and he won’t mate again until his next cycle.

Heat cycles vary by Fairy subspecies (Shorter fertile periods for the common fairy subspecies and longer, more frequent fertile periods for brownies; the Fairy social ladder is actually ordered by cycle lengths). Common fairies are only fertile for 18 months every 500 years. Pixies, who trace their ancestry back to common fairies, follow this schedule by asexually producing a pixie nymph every 500 years (give or take).

[Note: Heat cycles only apply to hosting counterparts, which are always Fairies apart from a few incredibly rare exceptions. Anti-Fairies and Refracts do not normally have heat cycles, but if one is born the hosting counterpart then they will function as above instead of like the majority of their species.]

The Fairy damsel is extremely sensitive to touch for several days, weeks, or months after mating (Species lower on the Fairy social ladder, such as brownies and will o’ the wisps, rebound more quickly than common fairies). Nosy peers can easily figure out whether a couple have recently gotten cozy based on how the damsel is moving. Furthermore, both partners’ pheromones will dip into a heavier, stickier scent after their first mating; this change is distinct and generally makes one more attractive in the eyes of peers (not because of Fairy media influence, but because of insect biology).

The drake Fairy’s parts are similar to that of a female sugar glider. The male Fairy physically nourishes his nymph internally in the main uterus (beta uterus), and magically provides nutrients for his counterparts’ offspring in a second smaller uterus positioned above the main one (alpha uterus). Two “packets” of nutrients, magic, and DNA form in this alpha uterus and descend to the unborn nymph’s hinged head just before birth.

Both the male and female Fairy have forward-facing pouches on their stomachs in place of a belly button (Again, like sugar gliders). Parents are capable of tightening the pouch while a nymph is inside to ensure they don’t squirm out during flight. After birth, nymphs nurse from their mother (for milk) and nurse liquid magic from the pouch the father.

A nymph who does not receive sufficient magic will develop into a tomte (a Fairy incapable of flying or using any magic at all). Their counterparts will be unable to use magic as well. A tomte can mate successfully, but will die afterwards since mating deprives them of magic. The milk of winged mothers contains the hormone buohyrine; a baby who does not receive this hormone will never be able to fly even if they have wings. Nymphs wean at about one year of age and grow too large for the pouch by age 3 or 4.

Physical: Both the physical and magical aspects of sexual intimacy are required for fertilization. Male Fairies have the eggs and females have the sperm. It’s also worth mentioning that the core is considered an intimate organ. It’s located in the forehead chamber (which, as we know from show canon, opens on a hinge) and is hot to the touch, but some Fae enjoy teasing their partner by playing with it.

The most common euphemism for mating in Fairy culture is “sleeping together.”

Magical: Both the physical and magical aspects of sexual intimacy are required for fertilization. It is possible to engage in either without the other and dodge the risk of pregnancy. Fairies who engage in passionate kissing or other forms of foreplay while near one another naturally transition to sharing breathing lines. From a biological standpoint, this is useful because sharing magic stabilizes the breathing lines and overrides the risk of asphyxiation. When two partners come apart, it takes time for their lines to untangle back to normal, so for several minutes to a few hours, they continue sharing one another’s lines and magic pools. Partners whose lines are tangled are known as “snared.” “Snared” can be used as a verb in the sentence, “I heard Goldie snared with Poof last night.” While sharing magic in this manner can be thought of as a sexual thing, it is widely viewed as a platonic equivalent: a deep and caring bond expressed between extremely close friends.

For most gynes and drones, deep preening triggers the sharing magic response. Though Seelie and Unseelie Courters cannot interbreed, they are capable of sharing magic in this sense (unless they’re doing it with their own counterpart, because it’s the same magic pool so there’s nothing new there to share). It’s possibly worth noting that Anti-Cosmo and H.P. are on the “regularly sharing magic” level of their relationship. Sometimes.

Birth: Pregnancy lasts three months. Fathers typically give birth to one nymph at a time. Parents’ counterparts honey-lock the day the nymph is born and conceive its counterparts. If a father has twins (or triplets), the double (or triple) magic drainage puts them at risk for death unless they receive the magical version of CPR, SHAMPAX (Sharing Magic to Prevent Asphyxiation).

Crossbreeding: Fairies can produce offspring with any species under the Fairy umbrella. Children take their father’s species, but their mother’s crown. Because female-born Boudacians have flexible anatomy, they are capable of physical, non-magical intimacy. The seven Fomorian races also have flexible anatomy and are capable of physical intimacy with Fairies as well.

In both cases (mating with Boudacians and Fomorians), a Fairy will die due to losing contact with the energy field and not having a partner to share magic with (again, paralleling bees). It’s worth noting that genie magic, being rule-free, is capable of impregnating a Fairy without physical contact. Juandissimo and his counterparts were created through genie magic, so for all intents and purposes, that genie is the “mother” of all three of them.

CHARACTER DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

Wings mimic the patron insect.

Natural hair colors: Any color is common, except orange. A naturally orange fairy is the equivalent of a shiny Pokémon. Although a variety of hair colors are natural in Fairies, it’s only natural to express one color at a time, so multicolored blends are the result of magic or dye.

The higher the crown floats, the more inherently powerful the Fairy’s magic. The crown will remain at a consistent height if the Fairy’s magic is stable, but will bob if their magic is unstable.

Fairies (even non-gynes) tend to be larger and more muscular than Anti-Fairies, owing to the fact that they are a territorial people by nature.

Because Fairy drakes give birth, they have wider hips and more pronounced curves than damsels do. Even so, drakes are still stereotyped as having wider shoulders than damsels.

All gynes have freckles. These freckles are not inherited from parents, and are linked to the amount of jelly eaten before shedding the baby form. Gynes with more freckles are considered more attractive, especially if freckles are symmetrical. While kabouters can show facial freckles, they show very few and do not show any on the neck or arms.

Gyne freckles can range in color between pink, red, orange, brown, and black. They are clustered mostly on the face, neck, and shoulders. Some gynes may show chest freckles, or freckles may range down to the wrists.

Fairy clothing is simpler and more colorful than Anti-Fairy and Pixie clothing. Color is the main aspect prized in Fairy clothing, to the point that clothing stores are organized by color rather than style or size. Black pants and black shoes are the usual standard.

Cotton is not a common clothing material due to the difficulty of growing it in the cloudlands; wool and silk are easily obtainable. Someone who wears cotton clothing paid handsomely for those. Bovine are too valuable to turn into leather clothing, and furs are uncommon due to Fairy World’s attachment to animals.

Most Fairies wear simple but colorful underwear (though white is also a common choice). Most Fairies do not wear undershirts along with their lower underwear since undershirts are considered an Anti-Fairy custom. Chemise undergarments are common choices for both drakes and damsels.

WRITING FAIRIES: WHAT TO REMEMBER

Fairies value honesty and trust. They’re generally a suspicious people until you win them over. Once they see you as a trustworthy person, they lose all reason to doubt you and don’t really process the possibility that you were being nice to lead them into a trap. That’s how you catch Fairies: Be nice, make them trust you, then betray them. They never see it coming.

Fae get drunk on sugar; candy and soda are drugs and alcohol, but wine and beer have no notable effects on them.

Hygiene: Fairies don’t believe in deodorant, but they do believe in two (or three) showers a day. To preserve their pheromones they use unscented soaps (in contrast with Anti-Fairies who prefer the scented kind).

When a Fairy feels threatened, their crown will lower itself closer to their head, protecting their sensitive core with sharp spikes.

Fairies have the unique ability to express their fight and flight instincts at the same time. They’re quick to poof away when threatened, and then attack from their new vantage point or while disguised as an object.

Most Fairies cannot fly when their wings are wet, regardless of whether their patron insect can. Their inability to fly when wet does not affect their counterparts, who can still fly as long as they remain in contact with the energy field via their magic lines.

[Insect-based] Fairies have 270° physical vision.

Fairies have the ability to flip their eyes into backwards into something called field-sight, which allows them to briefly trade physical vision for magical vision (the magical equivalent of heat-sensing goggles).

Fairies can sense the presence of magic around them (average diameter of four meters). Without trying, they can notice the approach of a magical being. With this magical sense, they can pick up on shapes, movement, body language, and evidence of facial expressions even while their back is turned. The higher one’s crown floats, the farther they can sense.

Non-magical creatures (humans, aliens, animals) are invisible to this magical sense. Fairies are often startled when non-magical beings approach.

Fairies perceive the world largely through scent. If scent and sight don’t line up, they’ll be very confused. Technically, they pick up scents more through their mouths than their noses. They have the ability to smell whether or not a Fairy or pixie is a virgin. While they probably won’t breach the subject in public, one’s sexual status is never a secret.

Virgin gynes literally cannot produce the same attractive pheromones as mated gynes; the scent switches on through mating, not age. It’s rare for a gyne to attract drones if he’s still a virgin. On the upside, if someone takes interest in virgin you, they’re probably in it for your personality!

Gynes and drones have seven times as many olfactory receptors as kabouters.

Preening is a platonic, emotional, nonsexual bond.

Fairies will “drop their lines” (lose contact with the energy field) and struggle to breathe when sugarloaded (drunk), tingle-fritzy (aroused), or if the weather is bad (rainy / windy / snowy).

Be true to yourself and allow others to be true to themselves too!

#RD Fairy stuff #RD worldbuilding #RD cloudland culture #RD species ref

6 notes · View notes

indianbusinesstimes · 3 years

Text

Meet The Founder Of Omnipresent, Aakash Sinha; The Man Who Aided India To Reach The Moon!

Regarded as one of the pioneers in robotics and drone technology in India, Omnipresent Robot Tech was established in 2009 with a vision encapsulating the potential of drone technology in the country. In an exclusive interview with Indian Business Times, the Founder and CEO of Omnipresent, Aakash Sinha, takes us through his momentous journey.

He has a technical background with MS in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in the US. To apply his knowledge and gain some experience with research, he took on the roles of Research Scholar and Robotics Research Scientist at Lockhead Martin, which is a company active in the Aerospace Technology space. Being fascinated by robots, he, then joined another American firm, iRobot Corporation which designs and builds consumer robots.

It was post this experience that he decided to take the plunge and establish his own firm under the moniker, Omnipresent Robot Tech in 2009. The idea was to make robots, which was his area of expertise by then, into flying drones for applications that the world would witness only after a few years. Starting from there, to being the man to develop software for the mighty Chandrayaan - 2, Aakash Sinha and Omnipresent have surely come a long way. During this interview, Sinha elaborates what Omnipresent does, what are the potential areas of applications that are yet to be explored and some valuable tips for all the budding entrepreneurs out there sitting on the fence. So, without any further ado, let us get into this adventurous journey which is bound to get you motivated to follow your dreams as well.

“This kind of technology (Drone Technology) is something that people call disruptive technology. It has the potential to fundamentally change the way life, business and work are conducted.” - Aakash Sinha told Indian Business Times.

Humble Beginnings

The first (of many) landmark achievements that came Omnipresent’s way was the application in one of India’s largest oil refineries. Aakash Sinha demonstrated the use of a drone to monitor the defects and real-time parameters in the refinery which was done manually prior to that. The problems with that were the risk of life (because a person had to climb on the towers without any dedicated safety equipment) and heavy dependence on the data provided by that individual. Now, as one could imagine, the room for human error and inaccurate reading or information is very high in such situations. The drone technology solved these problems by being unbiased messengers which relayed the real-time images and information about the situation of the components and monitor everything. Resultantly, the drones were able to bring forth the issues that even the refinery personnel were unaware of. Realizing the immense value of drone technology, Omnipresent bagged its first project with the oil refinery and never looked back.

“Won’t be surprised to see the consumer drone market flourish where everyone might own a personal drone just the way they carry their mobile phones. It could be their companion on a solo trip to click selfies, record videos and capture the moments on a vacation.”

Current Applications

Arguably the most prestigious project undertaken by Omnipresent was developing the software for creating 3D images from a regular pair of images by Chandrayaan - 2 through its Rover, Pragyaan to map out the surface of the moon. This helps the Rover to navigate its way around the obstacles and generate a 3D model of the terrain of the lunar landscape. By creating this model, it became easier to simulate the Rover and enable movement from earth remotely. The very same rover is being sent with Chandrayaan - 3 with a comprehensive tech support from Omnipresent. Evidently, it is an ambitious project and reflects the company’s vision to create something affordable and simple but effective.

Apart from this ground-breaking concept, the drones and robots from Omnipresent find usage in surveying, surveillance and inspection in large industrial establishments. The biggest industrial giants in India including Reliance, Adani and Aditya Birla Group reap the benefits of these services. Furthermore, Omnipresent has already secured projects from 6 State Governments in the areas of mapping, surveying and other sectors after having realised the potential of drone technology. The amount of cost and time saving through the use of drones is simply unparalleled and almost unthinkable just a decade ago. The other prominent services of Omnipresent entail cleansing of water bodies, enabling remote services during the Covid times, IOT (Internet of Things) based video analytics for vivid and sharp videos and images from the sites where drones are used, precision agriculture for spraying the right amounts of insecticides, pesticides, fertilizers and irrigation using drones and robots, detecting a failure in a crop to ensure quick corrective response.

“I see drones as flying robots. They can move by themselves and sense their surroundings. According to the situation, they can react as well. There was a tremendous need in India for something like that back when I started Omnipresent in 2009 and not a lot of people were doing it.”

Future Potential

The future prospects of drone technology are undeniably massive. As a matter of fact, we are at that stage of evolution of this technology that we can’t fathom the full-scale utilization of this technology. If you think we are exaggerating, consider the example of something we have all lived through, the Internet. Back in 1983, when the Internet is believed to be invented, could anyone have ever thought that it could allow us to watch someone a thousand miles away or get you anything you wish right at your doorstep? Even after almost 4 decades of the Internet, we are finding new applications. The drone technology is merely a decade old and the future is beyond comprehension.

However, we could see where it is headed and what the plans are for the next few years. In a few years’ time, drones will be used extensively for food and parcel deliveries, e-commerce and fast commerce, drone taxis which can cover hundreds of kilometres, mapping which would be used to measure every centimetre of ground in India and have the digital information available in any part of the country, complete overhaul in the drone-based agriculture which employs over half of country’s population, industrial assessments like communication towers, power lines, factory chimneys, cooling towers, surveying and constructing roads and highways as announced by the NHAI (Nation Highway Authority of India), Railway track maintenance, defence arsenal, passenger carriers for inter-city commute and much more.

The idea is to bring transparency for everyone involved so that the overall efficiency could be enhanced significantly. For the tech savvy, Omnipresent envisions that the most relevant future drone technology would be something known as the “Drone Nerve Center”. This could enable virtually any number of drones to be connected to a central headquarters to send and receive data and initiate the desired actions. Again, this software has been used in Pragyaan, the rover of Chandrayaan - 2, for perception and navigation. “All these are areas which we already know about and the trials have also begun in a few of these” – Aakash Sinha is confident that there will be at least 2 or 3 unicorns from this field in the immediate future and Omnipresent will be one of them. To put it simply, the possibilities are infinite.

“Not a lot of people know this, but Agriculture is a sector which will be highly driven by drones in a few years’ time. Over 50% of the Indian population finds employment in agriculture. Drones will be able to release adequate amounts of pesticides and diagnose problems in the crops timely, thereby cutting down input cost and boosting agriculture yield upto 20%.”

Commercial Drone Technology Requirements

Beginning to be used much more extensively, the Government realizes the potential and relevance of promoting drone technology in India. Consequently, the Govt. has announced a few relaxations to this formerly tightly restricted and regulated space. This has proven to be a boon to the companies in this space. The DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) has over 300 designated “green zones” where even the large drone (max weight 500 kg) would not require any permission to fly unto 400ft. In these areas, even long-range drone flights, night operations, variable payloads, deliveries and spraying are permitted. The “yellow zones” would require an automated permission to fly unto 200ft keeping 12 km away from the installations and airports. Furthermore, the drone weighing less than 250 g will not even require NPNT (No Permission No Takeoff) from the DGCA or the Government. Drone heavier than 2 kg would require a government-trained pilot but going forward, the Govt. might grant exemptions from these regulations on a case-by-case basis. Aakash Sinha has applied himself tirelessly to receive all the certificates and licenses to fly the drones legally in India.

“We must laud the Government for the visionary policy relaxations to allow drone industry to grow exponentially. From being a heavily regulated space, the drone industry has become almost self-regulatory. This decision will attract myriad new investors to this sector”.

Valuable Lessons for Upcoming Entrepreneurs

It is not every day that one gets the guidance of someone for free, who has achieved so much in his field of expertise. We recommend you make the most of it by trying to apply these words of wisdom by the man himself. During the interview, when asked about how an entrepreneur should go about building his business, handle the company/products and tackle the investors, Aakash Sinha had the following gems to share.

• An entrepreneur should not be passionate about the product blindly, but must have some actual data to ensure that the idea he is investing his time and resources in, has a chance to become successful.

• An entrepreneur must relentlessly focus on improving his/her product or services every single day.

• One must always look for the right investor and not anybody who is willing to throw his/her money around.

• Ideally, the vision of the company must align well with the investors to achieve maximum potency.

• Chase the big dreams but don’t think that you will always succeed, also be prepared for failures. Constant learning from failures are the stepping stones to big success.

“The future of drone technology lies in the software. With new requirements, you will relentlessly need to keep updating the software for drones. If you are someone who is interested in software programming, the drone industry is bound to be the future-proof space, especially in India” – Concludes Aakash Sinha.

#omnipresent #dronestechnology #technology #drones

0 notes

alwaysscreechingbasement · 3 years

Link

Comments: “I have an idea. Maybe we shouldn’t give the CEO a raise when every time you release a product. Regardless of sales numbers. And stop giving a bonus to executives, and corporate office every time a day passes. And stop laying off developers to save money. Just to spend that same saved money. On the CEO's salary. 2. Totally stop making remakes and remasters of games. Just because someone lost in a bygone era is willing to spend top-shelf money on it. And instead, just make a sequel for the game. I like remakes/remasters too. But F***ING DAMN! Half the market is re-makes/remasters now. And more importantly, stop making remakes/remasters for games that you’re not going to make a sequel for. Regardless of how well it sells.

3. Stop spending so much money on a video game that's trying way too damn hard to be an Oscar/Emmys award-winning Movie/TV show. And worry more about making a fun experience (Give the evil eye to Sony). 4. Realize that art direction is more important than being able to see every single individual strand of hair in someone’s armpit hairs. 5. AND THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING: Invest in developers to make experimental games. That would revolutionize the gaming space to make better games. And give them more space and time to work on it. I mean if you can give another few million to your CEO and CFO, and tens of millions to your executives. I think you can grab 10 million and give that to a few developer studios to make new game ideas. And for those thinking this is a silly idea. That’s literally how we got Demon souls & the Call of duty Nazi Zombie mode. 6. (This is adding on to 5) give the developers space and time to make the games they want. You want them to make new experiences. But you give them guidelines of “How to make a good game”. On top of giving them restricted deadlines, and time frames. Which makes no sense. How are they going to make something new if they’re forced to follow a set path, that is also on a timetable? 7. AND THIS RIVALS POINT5: BRING BACK OLDER IPs!!! Do you guys know that Nintendo owns the rights to about 10 Ips that they just won’t make a new game for? Like Earthbound, F-Zero, 1080, Ice Climbers, Game & Watch, Nintendo dogs, and more. The same goes for Sony and Microsoft. Hell Capcom has as much fan art and fan support for Darkstalkers as RE, and SF. Yet we don’t have any new games for it lined up. I have nearly 30 IPs I would love a sequel of. That they’re just not making new games for. Like where the hell is burnout 6!? And where hell is SSX snowboarding?! 8. Stop trying to make every new IP a multiplayer game, and or an E-sport. I and the majority of us just want to play a fun experience. Not the next game a bunch of out-of-shape sweaty Asians piled in a coffee shop LAN party. Is going to train to be the next big winners of. 9. put meaningful content in there, and really ask yourself, ��Is this fun and enjoyable”. Instead of making grindy content. That consists of collecting 60 Yeti ass hairs. For god knows what reason. 10. And this is another point that is UNBELIEVABLY IMPORTANT!: STOP!! STOP WITH THE F***ING DLC!!! Just let us unlock the content! And if you are going to do DLC. Don’t paint the gun blue and call it DLC, put way more effort into it. And stop with the damn season passes! Because I think I speak for every gamer to every live when I say this, “We don’t want to spend full price, just to have to spend full price AGAIN on a video game.”. I spent $60 on it already, why do I need to spend another $60 for the rest of the content? And to make it worse. There are some games where you need to spend $1,000 just to get the full experience. 11. And finally, and this is just bringing up point 1 again. But it’s that important that I have to bring it up again. Stop overpaying the wrong people, and underpaying the right people. I hate the fact that there are countless games that didn’t come out. Because the CO-CEO didn’t get his 9TH Audi with golden Rims.”

“Counter-point: Hollow Knight was made by two people, and Kickstarter exists. I mean, he mentions PaRappa, a game also created by two people. If Hollow Knight can succeed, so can PaRappa. There's a rhythm game called Unbeatable that got funded on Kickstarter in like 15 hours, for example. There's no way a game like Project Rap Rabbit (failed spiritual successor to PaRappa) needed a million dollars just to get made. It's like they forgot that the game would continue to make money after being released. A great game will sell regardless of how much it cost to make. Make games with N64 graphics if you must, there's an audience for those too (Dusk, Gloomwood, etc.) There are times when great games don't get the recognition they deserve, and that's a shame, but that's less due to rising costs and more due to the sheer quantity of games that get released in a year. And lack of awareness. I know Shawn Layden doesn't work at PlayStation anymore, but let's pretend he did. Why not take some of those smaller games under your wing and give them that proper spotlight? When PlayStation is proud of their smaller titles... when they believe in a new IP like LittleBigPlanet so much that it becomes the mascot of the PS3 - that's when those games are given a chance to shine. He mentions Vib Ribbon. As cool as that game was, it was more of a tech demo, but still. If you're a PlayStation boss and you want to draw attention to that game.. just do it? Grease some palms, make it happen. You can't blame the industry for not letting smaller games come out on stage, when you are the industry and the stage. The average person doesn't have time to research every game ever made. As such, many people are only going to pay attention to games they see in ads. I think that's always been the case. If you want to bring down the cost of game development, all you gotta do is advertise great games that cost less to make, so that way people will play those, grow healthy standards and not see 200 hour-long open-world games as the norm. Then, it becomes a matter of who can make the best games, instead of who can waste the most money developing massive games that people barely even enjoy.“

0 notes

alifeleadsimply · 4 years

Text

Anxiety in the time of Corona

Anxiety and lockdown

We are living in extremely uncertain times. We have been restricted in terms of movement and contact, meaning many of us have lost some of the things we were clinging to as coping mechanisms.

I have anxiety. I won’t say I suffer from it, because under normal circumstances I have found ways of coping with it. Coping with the constant fear that my anxiety forms. But now, after more than 4 weeks of quarantine, with no income and no guarantee of future income, no physical contact and no running, I am beginning to feel me unravel.

Normally, I am a high-strung person. I laugh easily, but I also cry at the drop of a hat, and I have a temper that flares up and cools down just as fast. I don’t hold grudges, but I do replay scenarios over and over and over, sometimes lying awake at night, watching the highlight reel of my perceived failures. After a very stressful period, I noticed that my anxiety presents itself slowly, creeping up on me. Then before I know it, bang, it has made a nest in my head. And getting rid of it then feels like getting rid of that aunt over Christmas – there is always something else to quickly discuss, so she never leaves.

It happens in 5 steps, usually following quickly from one to the next –

1. I start sleeping really badly. This is usually a sign that I miss because I am a bad sleeper in general. But when it is as a result of anxiety, I struggle to fall asleep, I have nightmares, and I jolt awake at least a few times a week. Since I started following my sleep stats, I have also noticed that my heart rate will be much higher than my resting heart rate for at least 70% of the night. That means I am basically running a marathon in my dreams.

2. I get really really short-tempered, making me highly sensitive to normal stimuli like sounds, smells, bright lights, and repetitive movements. I am so irritated, and unfortunately, my kids bear the brunt of this irritation. This is usually when I start to notice that I am going off course, so I start to bring in my normal coping measures.

3. My food choices change. I start craving sweet, sugary and warm food. Lots of coffee. Chocolate. Anything that is unhealthy and comforting. And then the sugar and caffeine high makes me even more jittery and anxious.

4. If I allow it to reach this point, we are in trouble. Here I am walking the very thin line between anxiety and depression. At this stage, I will stop exercising. I will stop doing things I usually love. I just give up.

5. So far gone, all that is left is lethargy. Going back from this point takes more energy than what I can muster. It is an uphill battle. One that I have luckily won before.

I check in with myself constantly to make sure that I am ok. And if I am not ok, where am I on the steps as outlined above. Right now, I know I am swerving between 2 and 3. I have touched on 4 for a day or two, then luckily pulled myself back.

What am I doing to keep my anxiety in check?

My usual strategies won’t work now since most of them are centered around getting out of the house. Being between people, running, and working do me wonders. Being trapped in my house, with 2 small kids, I had to be a bit more creative.

My current strategies:

1. I do yoga. But even though I am a beginner (have been beginning and stopping for years) I do intermediate to advance lessons and flows. In that way I push myself, keep my mind busy and make my body tired. Like running would have. I also try to do at least 50min at a time.

2. I meditate. But not in long sessions, rather shorter sessions spread out through the day. It quiets my mind and brings me in touch with my senses. It also gives me time to reflect and think clearly. So far, I have not had any inspiring ideas, but I do notice that my mind is calmer afterward.

3. I spend time with my kids. I choose the activity, which gives me some control (which I lack in almost every other aspect of my life) and then we have special time together. Because I choose to do this, I cannot resent them for keeping me out of work or away from whatever I wanted to rather do. Some days I do tell them to please leave me alone for a while, and sometimes it actually works.

4. I drink lots of water. That means I need to go pee a lot. Which gives me something to do. Also, I get to accomplish a small thing, every single day.

5. We bake. Measuring and weighing is therapeutic. The kids eat everything we bake. I try not to, sometimes I am successful (see step 3…).

6. I journal. A lot. Sometimes just words, other times short stories or posts that must never see the light of day. I have a gratitude list and a fear list and some days the gratitude list is actually longer than the fear list. Those days I feel as if I am winning.

7. I try to keep myself from sleeping too much. I stay awake after the kids have gone to bed, and I do not take a nap with them in the afternoon. Sleep is a slippery slope for me – I need to get enough quality sleep but cannot allow it to become a means to escape.

8. Limited news. Good, bad, ugly, no matter. I cut out the news, and I stay of negative social media (yeah looking at you Facebook). Also, no newspapers.

9. I read my Bible. Most of the time I have no idea what I read since my mind wanders (did I mention my attention deficit problem is accentuated by anxiety and stress? I lose my way through a sentence when I get like this. Another reason why writing is so good – it forces me to stay on a train of thought, and if I do wander off I simply read what I wrote to get back on track) but I am a firm believer that the Word will find a hole and fill it.

10. I walk. Up and down in the hallway. To and fro in the garden. Anything to not just sit. I force myself to do stupid small things that will force me to get up, like leaving my water in another room or only carrying two things at a time when unloading the dishwasher. Walk. Move. Don’t sit and fret.

Oh, and I take magnesium at night, omega 3 in the morning, and Kali Phos a few times during the day. Although I am not a big drinker, having a glass of wine every now and then allows me to relax a bit, and that usually also helps. But again – only once in a while, and only a glass or two. Never drink to self-medicate, and never drink to forget. My essential oils are also never far away. My favourite scent, eucalyptus, calms me. I also love using orange for energy, lemon for focus, and geranium mixed with peppermint for an immediate pick me up.

Most days I feel as if I am going to make it. I don’t know how to provide for my kids, but the world around me is less dark. Other days I need a bit more help. So, I do extra work on myself. I try to laugh more, spend extra time with the girls, read a storybook or paint. I keep busy with busy work, not busy with thinking work. 4 weeks have passed. We have 2 to go. Our 40 days are almost over. Nobody knows what lies on the other side, but I have proven to myself that I can cope no matter what life throws at me.

I am convinced that inspiration will come to visit me, giving me an idea of what to do to bring in money. I know worrying will keep the next big idea hiding away. Easier said than done, but we keep on trying.

One day I will look back at this time and marvel. Marvel at how much we did, how little we cried, and how much we lived.

Stay safe

xxx

from WordPress https://ift.tt/38K2Q5q via IFTTT

#Alifeleadsimply #singlemama

0 notes

momdavis702 · 4 years

Text

Here is some guidance – my point of view, not judging yours:

3. Be a good citizen. If you think you might be sick, stay home. If you are going to cough or sneeze, turn away from people, block it, and sanitize your hands immediately after.

0 notes

zeroviraluniverse-blog · 6 years

Text

14 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Hollywood Food Stylists

Visit Now - http://zeroviral.com/14-behind-the-scenes-secrets-of-hollywood-food-stylists/

14 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Hollywood Food Stylists

Hollywood food stylists are little short of magicians—only instead of pulling rabbits out of hats, they’re turning piles of mashed potatoes into ice cream sundaes. Indeed, making food (or food-like products) appear photogenic and appetizing onscreen is a job for a true illusionist. Mental Floss spoke to a few food stylists working in TV, film, and commercials—from Game of Thrones to Taco Bell—to bring you the tricks of their magical trade.

1. MOST OF THE FOOD BEING FILMED IS REAL.

While food stylists are well-versed in the old-school swap tricks—using a pint of white glue to impersonate a glass of milk, for example—those are being phased out. Now, directors want actors to interact with their food, and high-definition camera lenses have made the fake stuff much more obvious. Plastic food props only appear in the background of scenes today, where they’re less visible and susceptible to scrutiny.

“I only deal with real food,” says Chris Oliver, who has styled food for movies including Gone Girl (2014) and TV shows such as Seinfeld and Big Little Lies. “You also have to think about how a character would cook something or put a plate together. Realistic food is not all beautiful and perfect. I make ugly food and burnt food, too.”

There’s a trend in commercial food styling to present dishes that are less-than-perfect, too. Shellie Anderson, who styles food ads for clients including Burger King and Ragù, says it’s the consumers who are demanding food look more realistic and therefore more approachable.

“People are tired of seeing something in a TV commercial and then ordering it in a restaurant and it doesn’t look the same,” she says. “You don’t want it to look staged anymore. You want a burger to look like the cheese naturally dripped off and landed on the plate.”

2. THEY GO THROUGH A LOT OF FOOD …

If a food stylist needs one sprig of parsley for a shoot, they’ll often order 10 bunches. They never know what the condition of the parsley is going to be when it arrives from the produce vendor, or if the shoot is going to require more than they originally planned for. Carving a turkey in a scene? That may require two dozen birds if an actor keeps flubbing his line.

“It really depends on how much of a story point the food is and how important the scene is for the director,” Oliver says.

Food stylists usually have relationships with produce vendors, who can look for products with the specific size, shape, and color that stylists need. No bruises or dents, and no frozen lettuce! But stylists can hide those things if they have to.

Ice cream is infamously hard to keep intact because it melts so quickly. Food stylists have been known to replace the scoops with dollops of meringue, which don’t melt, or butter rolled in sugar. Oliver makes her sundaes the day before and sticks them in the freezer, spoons and straws and all. If they freeze rock hard overnight, they can last a few hours on set the next day before being replaced with another sundae lined up in the deep-freeze. Anderson sprays her ice cream with cold spray, an aerosol can of super-chilled gas used for cooling electronics.

3. … BUT THE FOOD RARELY GOES TO WASTE.

On film and TV shoots, there are rarely leftovers. In fact, good food stylists often compete with the caterers: Actors usually have to eat the food during their scenes, and the crew finishes off the scraps. While shooting a Chinese New Year scene for the show Fresh Off the Boat recently, actress Lucille Soong told Oliver, who was styling that episode, that she was going to skip lunch because she wanted to enjoy eating her food on camera. “That was pretty freaking flattering!” Oliver says.

Because Oliver works on multiple TV shows in a single day, if an item doesn’t get used on set and never comes out of her cooler, she can just take it back to her shop and recycle it for use on another show. If something can’t be used again, she’ll take it home and make salsa or jam. “When it gets really old, I’ll just stick it in vodka,” she says.

Commercial shoots tend to have more unused food. Anderson says anything that’s still edible will be given to a food pantry. “I once donated an entire swordfish when we did a commercial for a fish restaurant,” she says. “We never even used it. So I kept it on ice and took it to a men’s homeless shelter. They were thrilled to have it.”

4. THEY VALUE FOOD SAFETY.

Another reason food stylists swap out on-camera food so much is because of safety concerns—hot and cold foods need to be kept at certain temperatures that may not be practical on-set. Sushi-grade tuna may be replaced with watermelon, for example, because the fish spoils so easily.

Oliver requires all of her employees to have a food handler’s license. She also only works out of commercial kitchens (including the one on her fully-equipped food styling truck). But not every food styling team does; some prepare food in their homes. “The reason that I get so much work is that everybody knows I’m a chef and I have a real kitchen,” Oliver says. “People trust my food. I’ve done a bunch of movies with Reese [Witherspoon] because she knows that if I’m on set, the food is safe to eat.”

5. WOMEN DOMINATE THE FIELD.

While there are a few well-known male food stylists, for the most part the key food stylists in the U.S. are women. (Both of Anderson’s daughters are food stylists, too.) The reason for this dates back decades.

Before food styling became its own career in the 1990s, it was up to network employees with home economics degrees (almost always women) to cook on-camera food. Then props departments became responsible. “But props guys can’t even make spaghetti,” Oliver says, laughing. So according to her, these guys would go home and ask their girlfriends or wives to make whatever food was required for the next day’s scene. “Eventually they would just hire their girlfriends or wives to do it; keep the money in the family,” she says. “I know five food stylists who at one time were in relationships with prop masters.”

Also in the 1990s, networks began making more multi-camera TV shows. A lot more food began appearing on screen, and actors openly discussed their dietary restrictions. They were vegan, sugar-free, and low-carb all of a sudden. Oliver trained at the Culinary Institute of America and had worked in restaurants and catering jobs before stumbling into this career. “Because I was a chef, and I understood how food works, I knew how to feed people and make food last on set,” she says. “And I could charge anything I wanted to.”

To get a job as a food stylist today, it helps to know someone already in the industry and have a culinary background. Everyone starts as an intern, and then may be able to work their way up to being an assistant and then a stylist. “Not everybody can be a food stylist,” Anderson says. “You have to be able to cook, but you still have to be creative. And you have to be able to work fast and under pressure.”

6. THEY LIVE OUTSIDE OF LOS ANGELES NOW.

Now that movies and TV shows are frequently filmed all over the world, instead of just on sets in Los Angeles, food stylists can be based anywhere. There is a concentration of stylists who live in Vancouver, British Columbia, for example, because that’s where many shows are now filmed. Labor laws also often require production crews to hire locally, so residing outside of L.A. can be a real advantage.

Some commercial food stylists, like Anderson, are flown in for shoots. “Food stylists can make or break a commercial,” she says. “And if you have trouble and you don’t know what you’re doing, it can be a real problem for production.” This is especially true on out-of-the-country shoots, when stylists don’t have the resources that they’re used to. So clients who know her and her skill level, such as Taco Bell, will fly her to wherever they’re filming.

7. THEY TALK LIKE CHEFS AND FILMMAKERS.

Food stylists use a mix of back-of-the-house kitchen lingo and film jargon. Some examples: The “hero” is the food that is written into the script, is being shot, and must appear in front of the actor. “Bite and smile” is when an actor takes a bite of food and pretends to like it. “All day” is the total number of items needed; if they needed five turkeys on a set, they would say “five all day.”

8. NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO BE IN THE MOVIES.

Food stylists usually specialize in different media: film, TV, commercials, or print editorial. Stylists often prefer one over the other. Print editorial is shot in a controlled studio and tends to have more leeway for creativity. Commercials are tied to a brand’s specifications. Film and TV shoots on location are in unpredictable settings and can be physically demanding. But everyone tends to work long, 12- to 14-hour days. For commercials, it can often take three days to shoot one 30-second spot.

When working on a movie or TV show, the actors’ demands usually take precedence over the food needs. After working on one film, Anderson had had enough and dedicated herself to commercial work. “When I do commercials, the food is the star,” she says. “So [the directors] want to make sure I have everything I need. On a movie, they could care less about you.”

9. FOOD STYLISTS DON’T JUST MAKE FOOD.

Sometimes food stylists are expected to create sci-fi props—what would a person eat in the year 3000?—or fantasy items that they have no experience with. While working on the TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Oliver made gooey, edible slime from her imagination. “I also had to roll with the [actors’] different dietary needs,” she says. “I had to be able to make vegan slime, sugar-free slime, gluten-free slime, gelatin-free slime … Slime, any way you want it.”

Oliver also has to make items that you don’t really want to put in your mouth. While filming the TV show Big Little Lies, she made green-colored vomit for actress Reese Witherspoon of cucumbers and parsley. She says it was tasty, like green gazpacho. For a war film, she had to make 400 pounds of “dirt” for a group of prisoners of war to eat. She got Pakistani soil shipped to California so she could match it exactly. (Her recipe: ground-up Oreos and graham crackers, mixed with brown sugar and white sugar.)

Janice Poon, the food stylist behind the cannibal-centric TV show Hannibal, had a more challenging obstacle: how to make dishes that resembled human flesh. She refused to do research on cannibalism websites, she told HopesAndFears.com, but she studied a lot of anatomy books. “I’m just like Dr. Frankenstein,” Poon said. “I’m always stitching things, exchanging, putting one kind of meat on a different bone, patching stuff together. … The key is to let the viewer’s imagination do more of your work.” She transformed veal shanks into human legs, and used prosciutto slices to mimic slivers of a human arm.

10. THEY PACK SOME SERIOUS GEAR.

When shooting, stylists need to be prepared for anything. They carry tools including tweezers, scissors, paint brushes, knives, offset spatulas, wet wipes, syringes, rulers, Q-tips, and spritz bottles.

“Think about your kitchen: all of your mixing bowls and utensils … I have that times 10 in my kit,” Anderson says. She also has a torch on hand for quick-cooking burgers and cold spray for extending the life of ice cream. Other stylists may have glycerin for adding shine or Kitchen Bouquet sauce for adding color. Poon often uses a white ceramic knife so she can see what she’s doing on dark sets and work more quietly, so as not to disturb the acting process.

Food stylists sometimes work in erratic environments. Oliver brings her own 17-foot, cab-over truck to shoots. “It has a lift gate and everything’s on wheels, so I can take everything out and have a kitchen in the middle of the desert, if I want,” she says. Inside, she has a full commercial kitchen: a six-burner stove, refrigerator, microwave, grill, freezer, prep tables, storage, TV, and a generator.

11. THEY’RE SKILLED AT IMPROV.

When production starts, the prop team sends memos to actors or their reps asking about food allergies and dietary restrictions. As trained chefs, most food stylists are happy to accommodate such limitations, cooking convincing swap-outs. “I find out what they will eat and make it happen,” Oliver says.

For example, Poon once made a convincing vegan “raw meat” on Hannibal using only grains. “I made lamb tongues out of bulgur and water,” Poon told HopesAndFears.com. “It’s like making a Lebanese kibbeh. You mix cracked wheat with water and it makes a kind of mush that holds together. The texture is a little ‘nubbly,’ so I added a pink food coloring, made little tongues out of kibbeh dough, steamed them up, and they were my little lambs’ tongues.”

Sometimes a director changes his or her mind at the last minute, and what was supposed to be a spaghetti dinner, for example, is now a breakfast spread. So the food stylist will squish down the meatballs and turn them into sausage patties. In an interview with NPR, food stylist Melissa McSorley recalled a time when a movie director suddenly decided to cut open a birthday cake she had made. The problem: It wasn’t real.

“So we had to cut the cake that was made out of Styrofoam, and I had to use a saw in order to do it because none of my knives could get through it,” McSorley said. “And then we had to layer in cake so it did look like it was real and then we had to send people scurrying to many markets to find white layer cake so it looked like people in the background could be actually be eating the cake.”

12. THERE’S ALWAYS THE SPIT BUCKET OPTION.

Professional actors will often pick at the food in front of them, but not eat it because they know their scenes are going to require a lot of takes; they could be eating birthday cake for eight hours straight. Others dive right in. For a scene in The Guilt Trip (2012), actress Barbra Streisand had to pretend she was in a steak-eating contest. Oliver says they went through more than 300 pounds of meat for that scene’s three-day shoot and Streisand was totally game.

“But there’s a part towards the end where she has to eat really quickly and do a line without, you know, choking and dying,” Oliver says. “So I switched out the steak with seared watermelon. She took one bite and it sort of dissolved in her mouth, so she could do her line. If you watch it, and you really listen, you can hear the crunch of the watermelon.”

Sometimes, though, the spit bucket is the only option. In season one of Game of Thrones, the character Daenerys Targaryen had to eat a whole horse heart. But the actress who plays her, Emilia Clarke, actually had to eat 28. They were made of solidified jam, which tasted like “bleach and raw pasta,” she told The Mirror. “It was very helpful to be given something so truly disgusting to eat, so there wasn’t much acting required. Fortunately, they gave me a spit bucket because I was vomiting in it quite often.”

13. SOMETIMES THEY’RE SURPRISED BY THE FINAL PRODUCT.

Food stylists who work on multiple projects at a time, like Oliver, can’t always stick around to see how their food will be used. They may later find out that a gorgeous spread was relegated to the background, or worse. For a scene in Seinfeld, Oliver was once asked to prepare a perfect, glistening turkey. “Later I was home watching the episode and they had put the turkey on Kramer!” she says. “I was literally crying I was laughing so hard. Never in a million years did I think my turkey was going to end up with a guy’s head.”

14. THEY THROW EPIC DINNER PARTIES.

You’d think that being around food all day would make food stylists tired of making things look nice. But most food stylists love to cook, and on the days they aren’t working, they love to throw parties. “People always expect to have beautiful food,” Anderson says. “And I don’t disappoint.”

#14 #behindthescenes #Food #Hollywood #secrets #Stylists #Facts

0 notes

douchebagbrainwaves · 6 years

Text

WHY TWITTER IS POWER OF N THINGS

Scientists start out doing work that's perfect, in the first few minutes whether you seem like you have a high burn rate, you're always under time pressure, which means all those Boston investors got the first look at Dropbox, and none of them closed the deal. All the time you have. Most people will shy away from it myself; I see it there on the page and quickly move on to the next sentence. Big companies want to decrease the standard deviation of the outcome. There's something fake about it. There's an almost physical pain in facing them. So while nearly all VC funds have some address you can send your business plan randomly to VCs, because they can steer accordingly. Venture funding works like gears.1 If you're going to succeed, it's hard not to end up net ahead it's not coming out of later stage investors as well.

I never showed up before 11 in the morning.2 0 has such an air of euphoria about it is the feeling, conscious or not, and if not they focus on the former, and if you love to hack you'll inevitably be working on: either classwork, or a sixth of the company.3 The more of a language you can write in itself, the better—and not just because he'll worry about losing the deal, the board is now reconstituted to consist of two VCs, two founders, and one outside person acceptable to both. This book can help fix that problem, I think professionalism was largely a fashion, driven by conditions that happened to exist in the twentieth century. Benjamin Franklin learned to write by summarizing the points in the essays of Addison and Steele and then trying to reproduce them.4 But the first is by far the biggest problem. But all languages are not all equivalent. Or to put it more dramatically, by default do they live or die? Hence a vicious for the losers cycle: VC firms that have been doing badly will only get the deals the bigger fish have rejected, causing them to continue to do badly.5 Hiring people is rarely the way to the bed and breakfast market. There are few large, private technology companies. I encounter a startup with just one founder.

But you never had one guy painting over the work of multiple hands, though there doesn't seem to be any syntax for it. This sounds like a paradox, but a leading indicator. Could a trend based on them be that powerful? Another way to fund a startup is going to happen to all those extra cycles that faster hardware has allowed programmers to make different tradeoffs between speed and convenience, depending on what you do when life is short, we should expect founders to do it. Will we replace hash tables themselves with lists? But at least you know where the seam is, and that's the hard part. I'm not including domain-specific little languages.6 It will force you to organize your thoughts. I know.7 More like the first step up a big mountain. But they were competing against opponents who couldn't change the rules on the fly. Bottom-Up The third big lesson we can learn, or at least, nothing good.

Why do good hackers have bad business ideas? Nor is there anything new, except the names and places, in most news about things going wrong. As a rule, the more leverage you get from the natural sciences, the more options you have—not just less restrictive than angel terms have traditionally been.8 The founders early on were mostly young. That's more ideal than typical. You can't watch people when everyone is watching you. Who pays the legal bills for this deal?9 Even if Internet-related applications only become a tenth of the world's economy, this component will set the tone for the rest.

Life is short, we should be consciously seeking out situations where we can learn from open source is not about Linux or Firefox, but about the forces that produced them. Is there some way Microsoft could come back? I told you so.10 There was an authenticity that everyone who walked in could sense. I am interested, but we discovered someone else had a product called that.11 The friends might have liked to have more money in this first phase, but being slightly underfunded teaches them an important lesson. No one will look that closely at it. VC business when that happens? But investing later should also mean they have fewer losers. It started decades ago, and it's usually the invaders who win. In addition to working in their own minds why they like or dislike startups.

Their main expenses are setting up the company, which costs a couple thousand dollars in legal work and registration fees, and the huge scale of the successes means we can afford to spread our net very widely. But now you can read this, I should introduce them to angels, because VCs would never go for it. I think most people in the middle are doing something like an experimental science.12 When McCarthy designed Lisp in the late 1950s. If you were talking to four VCs, told three of them that you accepted a term sheet unless they really want to do, and engineers figure out how to make, is extraordinarily powerful. That's true in writing too of course, but the other half you're thinking as deeply as most people only get to watch your child experience it 8 times.13 They're all competing for a slice of a fixed amount of deal flow, by encouraging hackers who would have gotten jobs to start their own, so they are speaking from experience. And this will, like asking for specific implementations of data structures, be something that you do fairly late in the life of the company, then you may need to stand outside yourself a bit to see brokenness, because you have to take these cycles into account, because they're affected by how you react to them. Who could have guessed that the company pays 10 times as much.14 So when investors stop trying to squeeze a little more equity, but being slightly underfunded teaches them an important lesson.15 How can they get off that trajectory?

The other way makers learn is from examples. I were a better writer. My oldest son will be 7 soon. Suppose, for example, didn't have numbers. The main reason I don't like the name computer science. Good software designers are no more engineers than architects are.16 I mention this mostly as a joke, but it is enough in simple cases like this. We know now that Facebook was very successful, but put yourself back in 2004. You might have fewer libraries at your disposal.17 This essay grew out of something I wrote for myself to figure out a way to keep tabs on industry trends than as a reader.

It's because Lisp was not really designed to be a contender again, this is the preferred way to solve the problem of procrastination is to let delight pull you instead of making a to-do lists. This will be more like being able to pick good founders. A rounds for as much equity as VCs do now. Absolutely nothing. Just go to their web site and check whether the person you talked to is a partner. Then instead of coming to your office to work on small things that could grow into big, beautiful swans. They seem to vary a great deal of profanity. Till the rise of open-source projects rather than research, but toward languages being developed as open-source hacking is all about. I can think of two more things one does when one doesn't have much of something: try to get more of it, and savor what one has. You can't make a mouse by scaling down an elephant.

Notes

It's a case in point: lots of back and forth. I skipped the Computer History Museum because this is so new that the only result is that most people are trying to focus on the side of making the broadest type of product for it. Heirs will be on the software business, which merchants used to wonder if they did not start to identify them with you.

I read comments on really bad sites I can imagine what it means is we hope visited mostly by hackers. They did try to make Viaweb. Moving large amounts at some of the work goes instead into the intellectual sounding theory behind it. Emmett Shear writes: I'd argue that the guys running Digg are especially sneaky, but I don't know who invented something the telephone, the task to companies via internship programs.

But so many had been with their decision—just that if you were able to redistribute wealth successfully, because few founders are effective.

Http requests are indistinguishable from dishonesty by the time it takes a startup could grow big in revenues without including the numbers from the initial investors' point of treason.

The meanings of these groups, just the location of the world population, and yet it is the kind of intensity and dedication from programmers that they decided to skip raising an A round.

One new thing the company.

Aristotle's best work was in charge of HR at Lotus in the computer hardware and software companies, but it's always better to get a patent troll, either as an animation with multiple frames. Doh.

In some cases e. Even though we made comparatively little from it, whether you find yourself in when the country it's in. The worst explosions happen when unpromising-seeming startups encounter mediocre investors almost all do.

One of the tube of their portfolio companies. Norton, 2012. Perhaps the most, it's software that was really so low then as we think your idea of starting a business is to protect their hosts. The rest exist to satisfy demand among fund managers for venture capital as an adult.

As I was not in the belief that they'll only invest contingently on other investors doing so because otherwise competitors would take up, how much would you have to disclose the threat to potential investors are: Windows 66. 35,560. I don't think they'll be able to at all. In the average reader that they were regarded as 'just' even after the egalitarian pressures of World War II had become so common that their buying power meant lower prices for you.

94 says a 1952 study of the company really cared about doing search well at a Demo Day, there is something in the press when I first met him, but it turns out to be recognized as an investor I don't think you should probably be to ask about what you've built is not a product company. Startups are businesses; the critical question is to assume it's bad to do tedious work.

But it's unlikely anyone will ever hear her speak candidly about the same superior education but had a broader meaning.

The former is obviously a better influence on your cap table, and no doubt partly because companies don't. There are titles between associate and partner, not you.

No one understands female founders better than enterprise software sold through traditional channels is very common for founders, and so effective that I'm skeptical whether economic inequality—that an investor seems very interested in x, and Smartleaf co-founder before making any commitments. Once someone has said fail, unless it was worth 8,000 of each type of thinking, but this disappointment is mostly the ordinary sense. Usually people skirt that issue with some axe the audience already has to their software that was a kid most apples were a handful of ways to do due diligence for VCs.

There are some whose definition of important problems includes only those on the subject of wealth—wealth that, in which only a few critical technical secrets. The point of view anyway. The Duty of Genius, Penguin, 1991, p. This is what we now call the Metaphysics came after meta after the first abstract painters were trained to paint from life, and then scale it up because they will fund you one day have an investor they already know; but as a phone, IM, email, Web, games, books, newspapers, or it would have become.

After lunch we went to get something for which you ultimately need if you don't know of a lumbar disc herniations, but they get more votes, as Prohibition and the restrictions on what you launch with, you need to, but more often than not what it would annoy our competitor more if we wanted to have been the general sense of the markets they serve, because they could be adjacent. Possible exception: It's hard for us now to appreciate how important it is very polite and b I'm satisfied if I can establish that good art is brand, and partly because it was 94% 33 of 35 companies that we should work like blacklists, I had no idea whether this happens it will have a browser and get data via the Internet was as late as Newton's time it included what we now call the years after Lisp 1. Whereas the activation energy required. 339-351.

For the computer world, and journalists—have the concept of the VCs should be asking will you build for them by returns, and b was popular in Germany.

0 notes

alexatwood86 · 7 years

Text

Vicodin rehabilitation: How long?

Vicodin problems can be treated

Vicodin is the most prescribed opioid in the U.S. It belongs to a class of medications called opiate (narcotic) analgesics, used in the treatment of pain. But even if it’s been prescribed legally, you can get addicted to it.

So, how can you move past a drug problem? How do you know that you need professional help?

Continue reading to learn more about how to identify a problem with Vicodin. Then, we’ll review the major stages of rehabilitation. Finally, we invite you to post your questions at the end. In fact, we try to answer all legitimate questions personally and promptly!

—–

Has Vicodin taken over? You Can Quit For Good! Call 1-877-471-8337 to start a new life. Why wait a moment longer?

—–

Do I have a Rx drug problem?

Not everyone who uses Vicodin will become addicted to it. However, Vicodin has powerful effects on the brain. It creates euphoria, an intensely pleasurable feeling. It is this feeling that motivate us to use the drug again and again, despite the risks for significant harms.

So how do you know if you’ve crossed the line?

Drug problems are rooted in intention. If you use a drug to escape reality, your use can develop into a very unhealthy pattern. As mentioned earlier, opioid drugs like Vicodin are highly effective. They work really well to alleviate both physical and emotional pain. So, if you’re using Vicodin for its euphoric effect or as a coping mechanism for life, you should consider a change.

People who use Vicodin to get high or to relieve stress can benefit from a drug use assessment. These assessments are standardized questionnaires that help specialists determine a clinical diagnosis. They are administered by any of the following medical professionals:

An Addictions Counselor A Family Doctor A Licensed Clinical Social Worker A Psychiatrist A Psychologist

Vicodin Problem? The Red Flags

The main red flags for a prescription drug problem include:

The loss of control of drug use, including amount of use, frequency of use, or ability to quit.

Intense cravings for Vicodin, or a pattern of obsessive thinking about it.

A compulsion to use Vicodin, especially to regulate stress or anxiety.

Continuing to take Vicodin, even if use has destroyed health, home, or work situations.

If you notice any of the above, it’s possible that you can benefit from medical help.

While drug problems are often accompanied by changes in behavior or even physical changes…we believe that drug problems are rooted in both biological and mental patterns. These are often difficult to change on your own. This is why we think that rehabs can be effective in helping people get out of problem drug use.

Think you have a drug problem?

You are not alone.

Millions of people are living in recovery from drug problems in the U.S. Plus, 20+ million people are estimated to need help right now!

In the past few decades, we have begun to understand addiction as a brain disease. As such, addiction is treated with scientific, evidence-based practices. Next, we’ll cover just what happens in the medical management and treatment of Vicodin problems.

Rehabilitation minimum and maximum stays

How do you treat Vicodin addiction? Treating any kind of addiction is a process. While the “flavor” of a rehab center will vary, the two main treatments offered in rehab include:

Medication Assisted Treatment such as buprenorphine, methadone, or naltrexone to stabilize brain chemistry.

Psychological and Behavioral Treatment to change thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes.

Still, the duration of any stay in rehab depends on the patient’s individual case. Most of the time, inpatient rehab is recommended for stays of 30-90 days, while outpatient rehab lasts for about 10-12 weeks. Sometimes, serious or more intense cases require long-term residential stays of 3-12 months in a rehab or supervised setting.

Minimum stay = Around 30 days inpatient Maximum stay = Up to 12 months in a residential setting

Stabilization before rehab

The first step to any rehabilitation process is assessment. During assessment, clinicians aim to understand the severity of the drug problem and then work to create a treatment plan that meets your unique needs. Assessment usually includes:

A physical exam

A family history

A medical history

Standard assessment questions in an interview format

Drug testing

If you have developed drug dependence on Vicodin, the rehab should refer you to medical detox services. Often called “detoxification,” this process helps manage the physical and emotional symptoms that occur after a person stops using Vicodin. The most common symptoms include:

headache

insomnia

nausea, vomiting, or gastrointestinal problems

muscle cramps

restlessness

sweating

Withdrawal symptoms vary in intensity and duration but usually produce significant physical withdrawal effects for 3-7 days after you stop using. Still, most periods of Vicodin withdrawal are relatively short (3 to 5 days) and are managed with medications combined with vitamins, exercise, and sleep.

Detox is not enough

Help during Vicodin withdrawal is highly effective in preventing immediate and serious medical consequences. However, by itself, detox is not an effective treatment for any deeper issues. It is best considered stabilization. However, stabilization is considered a first step toward recovery. The next step is attendance at a reputable rehabilitation program.

Vicodin rehabilitation duration

Inpatient rehabs – If you are entering an inpatient Vicodin rehab, you can expect the treatment to consist of:

a structured routine and daily schedules

group therapy sessions

individual therapy sessions

educational lectures about addiction and recovery

regular eating times

regular sleeping times

You are pretty much committed full-time when enrolled in this type of treatment program, which can engage you in daily activities for 6-8 hours a day. The duration of treatment is most effective when it is a full 30-90 days long. Heavier Vicodin usage results in a longer rehab stay. If you need to go through the detoxification phase, then add on a couple days to more than a week.

Outpatient rehabs – Outpatient programs are generally less intense than inpatient programs, but allow you to reside at home or continue working. Most programs are available at night or on the weekends, and will last from 10-16 weeks. You’ll need to visit the outpatient clinic multiple times per week, or see your individual counselor on a regular schedule. Entire duration of outpatient rehab is from 3 months to 1 or 2 years.

Vicodin rehabilitation: Short term vs. long term

The duration of Vicodin treatment depends on where you are in accepting help and the progress you make, and should be determined by a doctor or an addiction specialist. Some of the factors which will contribute to this decision include:

How much Vicodin you were taking and for how long.

Your general health.

Your home environment and support systems.

Your medical and family histories.

Your willingness to engage in the treatment process.

Choosing a treatment facility near your home or in another city or state is up to your personal preference, availability of addiction treatment programs in your area, insurance coverage and physicians recommendations. People who live in a smaller town might have difficulties accessing Vicodin treatment due to the distance.

Average time spent in rehab

The average stay in an addiction treatment facility is usually 30-60 days, but if you are dealing with serious Vicodin addiction you may have to stay longer.

Vicodin prescriptions during rehab

So, what do you do when you’re in the unique situation of using Vicodin for pain management but seeking help for addiction at the same time?

The tablet, capsule, syrup, and solution are usually prescribed every 4 to 6 hours as needed. The extended-release capsule and the extended-release suspension are usually prescribed every 12 hours. The typical Vicodin doses prescribed during rehabilitation are divided in 3 (three) sections:

First time users are usually prescribed with 5 to 10 mg per day.

Tolerant users are usually prescribed with 10 to 15 mg per day.

Addicts are usually prescribed with 20 to 30 mg per day.

The maximum safe daily dose of Vicodin is 750 mg. If you need to take more than 750 mg of Vicodin you have to be very cautious. With each increase of doses there is a higher chance of developing dependence. In case you have exceeded the recommended daily dose of Vicodin, it is important to consult your doctor so s/he can help you figure out what is the best course of action.

The Reclassification Of Vicodin

Under a final rule issued by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Vicodin combination products are now in a more restrictive category of controlled substances, along with other opioid drugs for pain like morphine and oxycodone. Vicodin used to be a Schedule III drug, but is now classified as a Schedule II drug. This is due to the fact that Vicodin is one of the most abused prescription drugs.

Here are some of the key changes that occurred with the reclassification of Vicodin from a Schedule III drug to a Schedule II drug:

If you need additional medication, your doctor must issue a new prescription. Phone-in refills for these products are no longer allowed.

In emergencies, small supplies can be authorized until a new prescription can be provided for you.

You will still have access to reasonable quantities of medication, generally up to a 30-day supply.

Duration of Vicodin rehabilitation questions

Did we answer your question(s) about Vicodin rehabilitation? If you have anything else you want to ask regarding the length of Vicodin rehabilitation please post your questions below. We do our best to respond personally and promptly.

Reference Sources: FDA: Additional progress on reducing the abuse of opioid pain relievers

Medline Plus: Hydrocodone Combination Products

DEA: Hydrocodone

AMDG: Interagency Guideline on Opioid Dosing for Chronic Non-cancer Pain

Daily Med: LABEL: HYDROCODONE ACETAMINOPHEN

UTAH: Dosing Guidelines

Copyright © 2011 This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright. (Digital Fingerprint: f7a6e0cc3471137b83805a08cd727b99) from Addiction Blog http://prescription-drug.addictionblog.org/hydrocodone-rehabilitation-how-long/

0 notes

alifeleadsimply · 4 years

Text

Anxiety in the time or Corona

Anxiety and lockdown

We are living in extremely uncertain times. We have been restricted in terms of movement and contact, meaning many of us have lost some of the things we were clinging to as coping mechanisms.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({ google_ad_client: "ca-pub-5780888950421623", enable_page_level_ads: true }); Follow my blog with Bloglovin

It happens in 5 steps, usually following quickly from one to the next –

5. So far gone, all that is left is lethargy. Going back from this point takes more energy than what I can muster. It is an uphill battle. One that I have luckily won before.

What am I doing to keep my anxiety in check?

My current strategies:

Essential oils for meditation

Lavender essential oil

4. I drink lots of water. That means I need to go pee a lot. Which gives me something to do. Also, I get to accomplish a small thing, every single day.

5. We bake. Measuring and weighing is therapeutic. The kids eat everything we bake. I try not to, sometimes I am successful (see step 3…).

Start with a gratitude practice today

8. Limited news. Good, bad, ugly, no matter. I cut out the news, and I stay of negative social media (yeah looking at you Facebook). Also, no newspapers.

Relaxing blend: The essential oil collection

One day I will look back at this time and marvel. Marvel at how much we did, how little we cried, and how much we lived.

Stay safe

xxx

Happy Fathers’ Day to all the good Dads, and to the bad Dads - now is the time to be better.

#Relationships take work #Relationships #Dad #Family #Fathers day #Fathers

0 notes

Last Seen Blogs