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rockatanskette · 8 months

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Semi-related to my post on how human conservation practices, but I have a cold today, and it's got me thinking about biological altruism—the biological imperative to put other creatures ahead of yourself, to benefit the group.

When talking about possible interactions with other species, we talk a lot about humans being crazy and thrill-seeking and impossible to kill. Never use a warning shot as an incentive to keep humans out of a fight; it'll just make them angry. And that's true. But a valid criticism I've seen in the "Earth is a death world" community is that according to our understanding of evolution, every planet must be some form of death world. Competition fosters evolution—the wolf with sharper claws survives when its litter mates die. You can't reach space travel without some casualties along the way.

But the dog survives because it makes friends with the strange ape carrying a sharp stick. And the strange ape survives because it befriends the wolf. Underneath the death world is an inextricable and undeniable layer of the bond world; the love world; the world, together.

I imagine some worlds are not death worlds. They're peaceful and tranquil. I suspect there are worlds far more deadly than Earth, where the skies rain diamonds, harder than any substance we know with the species to match. And I imagine that they are united in their confusion at the duality of humankind.

Today is a great example: I have a cold, and I want someone to take care of me, but the people who would are immunocompromised, also sick, or live 8 hours away, respectfully. I also want no one within the walls of my apartment or I will eat them. I feel gross, I feel tired, and I don't want a single human being anywhere near me, even if they did bring soup.

In my constant scrolling through my phone today, I decided to look up why the hell I feel so bad—why everyone feels so bad when they're ill. And the answer surprised me. I always thought it was because your immune system is active, so it's using a lot of your energy. That is part of it. Another part is that your brain and body are communicating across the blood-brain barrier to fight the infection, which is rare and energetically expensive.

But that doesn't explain everything, and according to more current research, it could also be what's called the Eyam Hypothesis: that we feel so gross, so we instinctively isolate from other people. We're too tired to deal with others, and so we don't infect them. Misanthropy for the good of the species. Of course, it can also backfire: one of the criticisms of the Eyam Hypothesis is that humans also instinctively care for each other. If my brother has a headache, I drive to the store for Advil.

Personally, I think it's a little bit of both: biological altruism. Either way, the majority live on. The first thought I had this morning when I woke up wasn't "I feel gross" it was "there's no way I'm going to work today." And while that might not be everyone's first thought, you don't even have to be a particularly altruistic person to not want to leave your home or your bed when you're sick. It's inborn.

And so when the human named Ismail comes down with a case of the interstellar common cold, his alien friend Dyos grows very concerned. Ismail is usually intensely social, almost off-puttingly so. Some crew members joke about how his quarters are for sleeping and prayer only; if he's home alone? You should be worried. But when Dyos demands an answer to the severity of Ismail's malady, the other humans just nod knowingly.

"Nah, he's okay, the medics already cleared him. It's not a severe infection."

"But there are so many...fluids. And his body has changed color."

There is a moment of confusion there until they remember that Dyos's species can see in the infrared color spectrum.

"Nah, that's just a low-grade fever. It should break in the next couple days."

"But he doesn’t want to play chess today," Dyos insists.

"Ohhhh," says human Claudia, finally understanding. "No, that's normal. Humans don't like being around other people when they're sick, it's supposed to be one of the major evolutionary advantages. Protect your community from your illness and the genes live on."

"So we're just going to leave him alone?" Dyos is troubled by this. He can go for weeks without speaking to another life form, but he has seen Ismail grow despondent when unable to participate in social gathering.

"Oh, no," human Claudia says, laughing. "We're going to employ one of the other most longstanding human evolutionary advantages."

There are many to choose from and Dyos settles on, "middle age?"

"Sort of," human Claudia opens up a small shipping container and holds up a brown paper bag tied with a colorful ribbon. It glows brightly in Dyos's vision, almost as brightly as human Claudia's smile. "His nanni's hot soup, express delivery."

#i feel like this is the one that's going to get discourse and to that i say:#stop it i no feel good #we can talk about other human responses to disease when my skull goes back to being the right temperature #send good feelings the us postal service won't let my babushka send me soup #anyway #humans are human #humans are space orcs #humans are space australians #earth is space australia #earth is a death world #earth is a bond world #lemme know if i forgot any of the main ones

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lizziebylife · 1 year

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International shipping seems to be FINALLY sorted! So my Etsy is back open for International orders 😌👌 Come in and have a lookie for your Moira, Moicy, Orc and general queer needs 💕

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boombox-fuckboy · 1 month

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Do you know any podcasts with transfeminine main characters?

Apologies for the delay. I have a few:

Between Heartbeats: (Urban Fantasy) In a city of incredible abilities and mundane struggle, we follow Sundiata, a time-manipulator struggling to stay employed. During a a quick break from waiting tables to go help in an emergency, she instead finds herself caught in a bizzare mystery. Unfortunately release seems to have stalled following the first episode, but I'm eagerly awaiting its return.

Inn Between: (Fantasy, Adventure) What the adventuring heroes get up to at the tavern, between the grand adventures. Cleverly fills the listener in on the adventures using "previously on" and "next time on" segments. You'll need to wait (or jump) to Season 3 to meet our transfem lead, but she is an absolute delight.

Interference: (Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Romance) A human tabletop podcaster and an orc researcher get their broadcast signals crossed between worlds, and start a dialogue. Cross-reality research, and a budding romance, ensue.

The Magnus Protocol: (Horror) Seeking employment, Sam gets a job working with his friend Alice for a bizzare little government office. The work? Night shifts listening to, and then cataloguing, bizzare and unsettling material trawled from the internet. Despite Alice's warnings, Sam may be getting a little too invested.

The Night Post: (Supernatural) Concerning the conscripted nighttime couriers/postal workers of Gilt City, and the otherworldy encounters they have on the job.

PSST: Paranatural Support Services Team: (Supernatural) Struggling with a supernatural entity or haunting encounter? The PSST's got you covered. Meet The Agent at the other end of the phone as she gives advice, unravels mysteries, and tries to work out just how long it's been since she went home.

The Silt Verses: (Horror) In a modern world where gods are abundant, frequently both commercialised and restricted, two devotees of an outlawed river god go on a pilgrimage. You'll meet the character in question a few episodes in.

Breathing Space: (Sci-fi, Space Western, Anthology) Included more as a special mention (as this is an anthology and the leads change every episode), Breathing Space is an array of stories set in the early age of space exploration that leans hard into the "Western" part of "Space Western". A not-insignificant number of the stories feature trans characters. If you don't vibe with the first story, do me a favour and listen to the second before you bail.

Additions are, of course, always welcome.

#between heartbeats #inn between #interference #the magnus protocol #the night post #paranatural support services team #the silt verses #breathing space #audio drama #fiction podcast

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y-rhywbeth2 · 5 months

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Lore: Life in Faerûn, Part 1

Disclaimer & Other Stuff [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest]

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Demihumans in common society (ie human society); common is not a daily language; the postal service; some stuff about gender, gender roles and body modification in the Realms; social strata... Plus some details about other things - most of which will be built on in other posts.

Also featuring; what to do with your leisure time in the realms: like literature, theatre, cafés, where to go clubbing aaand the festhalls.

Education: church school, rich idiots at academies, bardic colleges, etc.

And how good medicine is on Toril, if you can't find a spellcaster to heal you. Baths are both mandatory and freely available, we shall have no unwashed peasants in this setting.

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Humans are the dominant peoples of the Realms, and the vast majority of cultures one will find oneself in are human cultures. Nine-in-ten people are human, with the one remainder being one of any of the eight non-humans (some of whom are more commonly encountered than others).

Most of what is said here refers to human lands and cultures (which is 99% of the world anyway), and non-human cultures I'll cover in their own write ups.

Humans mostly know the other "common" races - elves, dwarves, halflings and gnomes, whom they call "demihumans" or "humanoids" - as trade partners or as neighbours belonging to minority groups within their home cities.

Demihumans are mostly accepted as fellow citizens within human lands, although the elves are often viewed with mistrust due to the stereotype that they are fickle fey creatures who get uppity when you start tearing down nature and building your cities in their lands. This tolerance is not extended to people who are categorised as monsters, including the Underdark races, tieflings and "goblinkin" - a category that includes orcs, goblins, bugbears and so forth. Half-orcs usually find themselves being sorted into this category, and most have to deal with a lot of respectability politics in order to be accepted into their human family's lands. Elves and dwarves also share this hostility towards orcs, and have a long history of wars with them.

The hin (halflings, to non-hin) and gnomes who find themselves living in human cities are accepted by being seen as useful in the eyes of the Big Folk. Both are known as being useful as couriers, tinkers and repairmen, and for running laundromats. Gnomes in particular are the chief inventors and innovators of the realms, and due to their tendency to be quiet and helpful they are heavily overlooked by others.

Dragonborn are a rare sight, but have mostly built a reputation of respect.

Most humans do not know much about non-human cultures, knowing them only through story, rumour and whatever personal experience they have. Stereotypes are often taken at face value, and being more used to the likes of lightfoot halflings and silver elves, the average person would probably be quite surprised by the different cultural attitudes and colder receptions they'd get from, say, ghostwise halflings or gold elves.

Outside of cosmopolitan areas, where your neighbour can punch you in the face for stupid comments, humans feel no particular pressure to be respectful to demihumans and foreigners, and would roll their eyes at what their Earth equivalents would call "political correctness" if you told them off.

On the nonhumans' end, humans are watched with concern, as they do tend to cause their fair share of disasters that rapidly become everyone's problem.

Many of the people of Faerûn move around a lot; religious pilgrims, traders, immigrants and those bloody adventurers transcend the boundaries of culture and country on a daily basis. For this reason, the Common tongue was invented.

People do not use Common as a daily language, though certain terms may enter daily speech as loanwords. Common is a pidgin trade tongue that grew out of Chondathan, the language spoken in Western Faerûn. It's a simple language, easy to learn and spread around, and useful for exchanging basic information with people from other lands who don't share a language with you - but it's useless for daily life. While it has a written form, most people can't read or write in it.

Maps are rare, and if you want an accurate map you'll usually find it in the possession of local rulers and temples (which supply the Realms with most of their scribes and such). Each realm has a book of maps (atlas) available for the use of their military and other officials.

If you want to send a package or letter in the Realms, temples often double as a post office. The delivery will be sent from temple to temple until it reaches its destination and will be delivered to the addressee,

Most of the Realms does not consider men or women to be inherently lesser or greater than the other and all genders are equal under all laws, though they do have traditional gender roles that it's believed most are better suited for - or at least areas where one gender is more represented than the other. Women dominate in trade and domestic areas, while men dominate in war and crafting, however it isn't considered immoral or unthinkable to see somebody defying the gender norm. If your daughter picks up a sword, learns to use it and runs away to fight dragons your primary concerns are less "oh no, a girl is fighting" and far more likely about the threat to her life and who in the hells is going to help you run the family store now if she has no siblings? Gender roles can be looser or more rigid, depending on where in the Realms you go. Some realms may be Patriarchal or Matriarchal, but it's not the rule and some of these places have grown more egalitarian over time.

Organisations do not generally discriminate in any way based on gender when it comes to their members.

The term for transgender in the Common tongue is sildur. (Elven: Alur, Dwarvish: Thulol, Gnome: Thoulal, Hin: Zalshaer) Transmutation magic is the primary form of body modification and transitioning on Toril, although apparently most people will turn towards divine magic before trusting a wizard to do it. Mages are expensive to hire and viewed with some measure of fear by the common person.

You can petition the gods at their temples for body modifications in return for sufficient offerings, if you don't trust wizards. Be that "I want to be blond" or "I don't want these breasts." Exactly how much and what the god is going to expect in exchange for this varies on the faith of the petitioner and the past relationship between them and the god. Naturally, certain gods are favoured above others for this kind of thing. You're more likely to petition Sune (love and beauty) or Liira (joy and freedom) than the likes of Bane and Shar. ---

Faerûn has its social classes, defined by wealth and family lineage, but they do not have true feudal or caste systems, or any system where upwards social mobility is totally impossible (though the upper classes will certainly do their best to prevent that. (Hi, Waterdeep, I'll give you your own post)). Any commoner could theoretically gain a noble title to the distress of the hereditary nobility. In Sembia if you have enough coin, you can just give yourself a title and everyone has to shut up and go along with it, because money. And that's how most of them got theirs anyway.

Slavery is illegal in all of Faerûn with the exception of Dambrath, Thay, Mulhorand and Unther. The slave trade still exists underground elsewhere, and is quietly overlooked in some places, but it is considered evil by the world at large and somebody found to be a slaver will be met with violent reprisal.

Nobles are... well, nobles. They're rich and have powerful friends and the law is far nicer to them than to the lower classes. They're mostly corrupt and constantly scheming against each other. Their kids go through rebellious stages and do drugs and cause chaos for the commoners and join weird cults.

Landownership outside of kingdoms and such with codified property law generally follows the rules that you can do what you like with whatever land you hold; charge rent, put up signs, make the rules... but you own it only by the tolerance of your neighbours. If they don't like the way you do things, you're quickly going to find yourself in trouble. Also led to my one of my new favourite quotes:

“If you set up an inn and then murder everyone who stops there and keep their goods, even if that’s morally acceptable to you as a devout follower of Bane or of Cyric, it will not be suffered to stand."

Yes! Screw you, edgelord!

Crime and punishment varies depending on where you are, but carries fun stuff like fines, brandings, prison labour, floggings, stockades and executions. I think the concept of the law, "justice" and court proceedings will be left for another post where I will passive aggressively judge a young Astarion and his corrupt magistrate ways.

Leisure:

Literature: Literacy is a hit and a miss in the Realms. Some people prize literacy, and it's common enough that broadsheets and newspapers are in business and PCs can read and write by default; but there are still others who can't and couldn't care less if they can't read some bard's chicken scratch. The ruling class in particular gets a little nervous about the idea of a fully literate populace, since that would allow them to be educated, and better suited to communicate with each other and get ideas. That bit varies though. Cormyr, for example. has encouraged its population to learn to read and get educated for several reasons including making it harder for the country to be infiltrated by enemy spies.

Chapbooks are serially published cheap little paperback things. They contain all sorts of things, like children's tales, donated recipes, political opinions, random bits of advice from people on trades and such, gossip from other countries disguised as news, memoirs, and smut. The rating of that last bit varies in rating. In Waterdeep they favour romantic stories over sex and over in Amn they're just flat out publishing porn about the goddesses of love and sensuality, Sune and Sharess - with the full support and encouragement of their churches.

The most popular genre of actual novels is the personal travel logs of explorers and other wanderers. The Realms are flooded with such books.

There are also non-fiction books available. Philosophy (which is written through the lens of religion, as a rule); books on rulership (controlled by the noble class, sometimes outlawed); and on business (which are subject to attempted control by the likes of merchant guilds)

Book printing is a sketchy business. Authors may one day discover that there are whole new best selling reprints of their books they've never been informed of (or paid for). Plagiarism is also a common problem.

Theatre: Aside from actual theatres, there are a few ways to catch a play.

Traveling caravans are known to sport a few actors, who can make a bit of extra money for the group by putting on a performance as well as advertising the stock their caravan carries (product placement everywhere). Most bards have the "classic" scenes of famous plays memories, so as to perform them on demand.

Theatres often hire doppelgangers, as their shapeshifting ability is very useful in realistically portraying monstrous characters too dangerous to actually hire. Of course there's also this little issue where your doppelganger hirelings may start killing people outside of work hours, but eh. The show must go on.

There are also puppet shows like Punch-and-Judy called Oldboots - because the shows are actually done by wearing worn old boots on your hands instead of actual puppets.

Establishments: Alehouses - Pubs and bars, existing primarily for those looking for an alcoholic beverage. The term "barkeeper" is unknown to Torilians, who would refer to them as tavernmasters. The word "mug" and "pint" also do not exist. Inns and Alehouses don't have menus, you're eating whatever's being cooked.

Dining-house or Feasthall - Known to us as a restaurant. Establishments are also known by the Chondathan word skaethar which is used as a formal term in Common in other parts of the world. In larger inns, one might find a section of the building that acts as a dining-house. Most of the time the menu is a chalk board on the wall, informing customers what's fresh. The really fancy ones, visited by the rich (or those who want to seem so) get paper menus printed by machine or made with fancy calligraphy.

Kaeth house - A café. Coffee is known in the Realms as kaeth or kaethae - or "fireswill", colloquially. The drink is rare and expensive northwards of Calimshan, but is available in large cosmopolitan trade cities, as far North as Waterdeep. Calishite coffee is taken black with nuts and spices like ginger. Sembian and Chessentan styles of coffee are often mixed with chocolate and liqueur. In lands where coffee is widely known, they tend to have their own drinking utensils and customs around it, but in the north it's just served in tankards. Hot chocolate is also on the menu. Teas exist, but are less popular and are seen as a medicinal drinks.

Temples of Liira - The goddess of joy and revelry charges her followers with hosting parties and making everyone they meet is having fun and feeling happy. As such, going to her temples is kind of like going clubbing. The main hall of the temple is a dance hall, with other rooms branching off to include lounges and a well-stocked bar. Liirans also offer dance lessons.

Temples of Sune - As devotees of the goddess of beauty, Sunites are obligated to give you a makeover if you ask, so this is a good destination for a haircut, pedicure or fashion consultation or whatever. As Sune is also the goddess of love, Sunites can also be asked for matchmaking services. The church also sponsors schools and classes teaching all forms of art (including music, song, performance arts, etc).

Festhalls - Try not to confuse these with feasthalls, or you're going to have an embarrassing time. Ah Festhalls, where to start. They're spaces considered outside of society; everyone leaves their real life, identity, social rank and all of that outside and comes here to just let go for a few hours. Festhalls will provide you with a warm bed for the night; they'll wash, mend and dry your clothes; they have hot baths and spa services; you can dance to music, or just lounge around enjoying a good drink and some company; it's also something of a casino, where you can play cards and gamble or even just play normal board games or something... And they're strip clubs, BDSM scenes and specialty brothels! You got a kink none of the brothels can scratch? Festhalls provide and cater to goddamn anything that turns you on, so long as it's legal, safe, sane and consensual.

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Education: What counts as an education varies from place to place and depends on what the realm desires of its public. Some places will emphasise the commoners knowing the basics of military drills, the chain of command and such in case of the need for a levy. Other places, like trade centres such as Waterdeep, prioritise maths and literacy.

In most of the Realms - especially in rural areas, a basic informal tutoring involves teaching basic maths, local laws and customs and some basic knowledge of the alphabet and market/road signs.

Most schooling is done by priests, which is free to the public. Unless you're dealing with the sketchier gods or the ones with deeper mysteries, all clergy are also happy to teach everything about their faith when asked. While some may obscure less savoury details, no follower of any god will outright lie about the details of their faith, as that is considered a sin.

If you're not rich you can get a basic education by hiring "low sages" - the likes of book shop owners, hedge mages, retired adventurers and other people with access to information who can share with you what they know. Of course, what they know may not be the most accurate information in the world.

You can also purchase some basic short paperback school books.

Most trades guilds will provide a basic education in that trade in exchange for a coin or two. Although some of this will simply just be "don't do this at home, hire a professional." They also hold classes open to the public now and then.

Schools as educational organisations also exist and are usually founded by bards or monastic orders in large cities. Most schools and academies are simply a handful of ageing, well educated people with a house who provide lessons for enrolled children there - though larger establishments exist.

For nobles there are Academies, which will also teach their children social etiquette and other things the upper class needs to worry over lest their reputation drop so low it falls into the Lower Planes and dies in the River Styx. Sometimes these Academies are actually just social clubs for young rich idiots to get drunk, do drugs and have orgies in, but that's not so common and gets shut down when it does happen.

While the rich and powerful have the opportunity to send their darlings to Academies, they'd rather not. It's... embarrassing. It means you can't afford a private tutor (or that your darling is a brat with a personality that suggests they're a demon spawned in the Abyss).

Bards are usually trained at Bardic Colleges - these vary in quality and specialty (some may be better for certain instruments, for example). The only requirements for entry are that one passes an audition, impressing their interviewers enough that they are taken on.

Civic information is typically freely available to anyone who asks for it, and courtiers and scribes are obligated to share the information.

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Medicine: Medicine is primarily the practice of demihumans, who've been around for much longer than humans and had more practice. They also tend to hold the market, finding a place for themselves in human lands by offering their services as physicians and herbalists.

Faerûnians have an almost Earth-level awareness of human anatomy; the organs and their function, the function of blood and the cardiovascular system as well as the risks of shock and infections are common knowledge. While the concept of microbes and spread of disease is unknown, the importance of hygiene in staying healthy is known, and there are establishments that offer baths and laundry services to travellers and homeless people. The filthy unwashed peasant is not a thing on Toril. Plagues are not as disastrous as they were in Earth history - most households and communities will avoid being totally wiped out, but they are terrible and mysterious things and the afflicted are avoided.

Medicines as we know them - called "physics" - are expensive and hard to get ahold of, and most people rely on herb lore or priests like clerics and druids. Herbal anaesthetics are widely used. Cauterisation is a common practice, and many people have scars from it.

Most trade towns have apothecaries, be they part of a shrine or a business.

Physicians are often in conflict with divine spellcasters, since they're competing over the same market.

Some diseases are known by different names in the Realms: Windchill fever - Pneumonia Sallar - Typhus Whitewasting - Leprosy Foamjaws - Rabies And a heart attack is known as a heartstop.

#hunting down Ed Greenwood's notes and twitter posts can be a pain #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #long post

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netherworldpost · 1 year

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From 2016 through 2018, Evil Supply Co. (hi, it me, we are rebranding) published 21 monster newspapers detailing the lives and tomfooleries of ghosts, witches, mermaids, monsters, dragons, gorgons, wizards, rock creatures, goblins, orcs... etc.

The Complete Evil Supply Co. collection is available for free via PDF by clicking this link here.

Please feel free to share. Please feel free to link to it on your own blog or media or whatevers.

The link will take you to a Google Drive page, so when I say "there is no obligation or sign ups" I mean it. I won't even know that you downloaded it.

You can of course tell me. But you don't have to.

The entire point of making this public is to give you something without asking for something in return.

Every issue. Every in-universe ad. A few extra rambles at the beginning and end discussing the future. It's just over 100 pages and something like 40- 50,000 words. I counted once and it took forever.

I've been making it free for years and have given away several copies because the community of folks who love monsters and Halloween and mermaids has provided me an audience to build an unimaginably fun life.

A company can exist for many reasons. Making the world a better place via a utopian paradise is one of mine.

When I say this project is my life's work, I mean it.

I'm getting far too sappy.

Let's talk about the future a moment.

I have been exploring various printed versions of the book for months. I'm hoping to narrow down a company to work with sometime before the store launches (Autumn 2023). Did you know that books are absurdly heavy?

The printed version will not be free. The link above (and here, we love utility in this crypt) is formatted to print fine on 8.5" x 11" paper. It is again though 100+ pages, so do be aware. The PDF will always be free, even after said printed version launches.

Onwards to next, non-secret things

Remember this? I've signed a contract today to build a microsite on the blog that will house the Dispatch in web format. This is third in priority --

blog (April 2023)

shop (Autumn 2023)

Dispatch microsite (...?)

-- for obvious reasons. The PDF will be available for free for as long as I run this company, this is not a limited time offer. I mentioned that above but I like mentioning things, including "I like mentioning things."

The existence of non-secret things implies... secret... things?

Kinda.

One of the features of the blog that I'm really excited to offer is advice columns and in-character pen pal exchanges. "Hey Strawberry, how does magic work underwater?" and then you'll get a reply if your ask is chosen.

And by reply I mean a published thing online + an actual physical letter in the mail as this company is a non-governmental postal facility after all. A post office, if you will. A Netherworld Post Office, even!

The stories from Evil Supply Co.'s dispatch are serving as a near-final draft of new stories.

Or maybe a solid starter. Anyway, the point being:

All of the plot points and characters (etc) are sticking around (with the exception of Atticus, as a fictional character in the newspaper, I've decided to just be a semi-fictional character in actual real life).

The direction of new stories is "more of everything" and "cleaning up minor plot point holes" and/or "using plot point holes for comedic purposes and strategic hilarity."

There will be a brand new character replacing the Atticus character.

I really liked running the Dispatch. It was one of the things I'm most proud of -- a monster newspaper?! all original content!! I drew it all, I wrote it all!

I want to explore bringing it back in some form.

And.

I recognize I have a lot on my plate at the moment. So the best path forward is, as above, giving away the base + building the microsite.

One of the beautiful things, I have come to realize after surviving my 2020 traffic accident + ensuing as well as not related legal battles to get people to pay me what they owe:

I have a lot of time.

I don't need to rush things.

Whoops!

Wrong link.

Try this one instead.

(That terrible joke was as immensely satisfying to write as you think it was. Doubly so if you get that the link is from Ocarina of Time and I was just talking about time okay I'll see myself to the door this post has gone on way too long.)

Let's wrap this up!

NetherworldPost.com has the email signup.

If you've signed up before, the auto- duplication- resolution- witchcraft- tech- things will take care of it. You won't get a ton of emails.

First email will go out saying "blog is launched" when said blog launches and then rambles thereafter.

(Bugs Bunny and others gifs used in this post do not appear but are included as helping legibility of said this post.)

#peyroux dispatch #monster stories #monster fiction #ghost fiction #halloween stories #monster newspaper #evil supply co #evilsupplyco

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myclutteredbookshelf · 1 year

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Book Review: Legends and Lattes

Author: Travis Baldree

Published: 2022

★★☆☆☆ (2/5)

I'm usually pretty wary about books that are popular on the internet, mostly because my past experiences have been largely disappointing. So, when I discovered this novel through TikTok recommendations (I know, I know. Judge me all you want.), I was surprised that I had any interest in it. To be honest, the main reason was because the title made me laugh. After reading the synopsis, I was under the impression that this would be similar to the Discworld novel Going Postal by Sir Terry Pratchett, in which a conman finds himself put in charge of a fantasy realm's postal system, and so, I sat down expecting a funny read about an orc struggling to attract clientele who have no idea what coffee is.

That isn't what I ended reading though.

Read the full review at My Cluttered Bookshelf.

#legends and lattes #travis baldree #book review #my reviews

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talenlee · 1 year

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Story Pile: Unseen Academicals

When considering the Discworld series of books, it seems at times that it’d be almost boring for me to discuss them, because they’ve been so important to my personal history and interests that it’d be a bit like ‘oh, hey, this thing I like, but obviously I would, wouldn’t I, because I’m that basic that I kind of got my personality from a series of fantasy novels.’ Every single one of the books that I love, I can almost hold up and say ‘this book was basically written for me, as a person,’ given my interests. And if I could pick the one Discworld book to hold up as an example of me in a book, the things and ideas and experiences that all hold together for me, I think there are definitely books that I think of as cooler and better and having amazing moments and important lines in them. I could name Men at Arms with its maxim that a good man will kill you without a word. I could name Hogfather with its line you have to believe in the small things that don’t exist. I bet I could look stylish as hell if I could invoke Feet of Clay‘s maxim that all days are holy or none are or Monstrous Regiment and you are my little lambs, so many cool lines that would flatter my ego to talk about how this book is a good insight into me.

But there’s a Discworld book that kinda, without meaning, hits me with both barrels, reveals a second shotgun, fires another pair of barrels, and then reloads both of them again.

Hi.

This is me, pretty much.

SPOILERS after the fold.

Unseen Academicals is a 2009 main-series Discworld book centered around some new, original characters, and includes the Wizards of the Unseen University as your structure around it. In the Discworld you can kinda lay books into (overlapping) plot tracks that show progression of kind of greater meta plots. One example is that the city of Ankh Morpork, a single location, goes through stages of development under the reign of the Patrician Lord Vetinari, the city-state’s Tyrant. At first the city is a wreck, then there’s a story about the institution of a useful multiracial, cosmopolitan Watch, a legal system separate from the political system, newspapers, the postal service, the mint, and here, the conversion of street gangs playing football into an actual established league with standard rules and culture. It’s one of the charming things about the series as it grew over time, where Pratchett kept wanting to address the question of ‘how does this world exist the way it does,’ in those ways of worldbuilding, where things don’t just spring into existence because we have them here.

It’s a story about football.

Except it’s not really about football, it’s about everything else but football.

It’s about how people react and what they use football to do and how they live and react and interact in the context of football. It’s about the people who play and why they play and why they don’t play and what it is to be part of the moments of the play and the way that chaos can be shaped and shared and connected to one another and it’s about the crab bucket and it’s definitely, definitely about football.

Soccer, I guess.

But wait, that’s not all, it’s also following the story of Mr Nutt, who is an orc. He’s the only orc we’ve seen in the Discworld so far, and only the second mention of orcs at all. The fact he’s an orc is central to the mystery of the story, but that mystery is secondary to the point of the story; being an orc is not that remarkable, but being seen as an orc, being treated as an orc is extremely remarkable. The story has all these questions hanging on it, built around the idea of being an orc, with the stereotypes of what people believe, where those stereotypes come from, and what that lived experience is if you don’t have a society telling you what you are.

Indeed, the question of living in a society is a big part of Nutt’s story: There’s how one society treated him, and how the society of Ankh Morpork reacted to him agnostically, then how they react to him as an orc, and how people, expecting those reactions prepared for that reaction.

And mixed in with that it’s this story about a guy, isolated from people with a lot of catechism in his head struggles to try and live a life as a person with only the rules in his head to try and tell him how to be anything. Especially since he’s obviously very smart and capable of intense violence that he always keeps extremely under control, because he’s supposed to keep it under control. Being an orc, and being therefore, associated with intense, military campaigns of, for lack of a better term, zerg-rushing people in wars, is also used as a sort of example of the overinvestment of military research used badly. Orcs in this setting are basically impossible to kill (there are methods, but you don’t get a lot of opportunities to get good at them), strong enough to kill any human one on one, get back up from being heavily injured, intensely prosocial and inclined towards teamwork.

And they acted violently because they were forced to.

They were cutting edge super soldiers, a generation of Captain Americas, and then they were deployed in blind droves, lions led by donkeys but like, also materially like lions proper. Crafted by Igors, led by humans and left over as a result of a dreadful experiment, almost exterminated and left sad, lonely, and isolated. The idea, as with so many things in Discworld sciences, is that people, almost universally, are people, and we are shaped by our experiences, that our surrounding circumstances are a big tube you get poured down and what spoots out the other end is you. Orcs, sure, you got the history, a real history, of orcs as a war machine in full Tolkeinesque fashion, but that was a thing that was done to them, as well as a thing they did.

Know what else is one of the major plot threads in this? University life. The life and management of the educational facility, the ways that these groups were in communication with one another, and just what it meant to have a lot of meetings. So many meetings. It’s a weird thing I grew up into, working at a university and seeing the ongoing question of researchers and tutors as we interact with students and lectures and the comedic angle of what a university looks like when the university and teacher treat the whole arrangement the same way.

It’s a funny B-plot but it’s also got all these elements to it that feel weirdly congruent. The way that you have to plan everything, that sort of strange, slow, grinding, the way that a narrative built out of the process of making a game, of formalising a street game, is presented as being like parking a big slow bus. And then there are so many jokes, so many jokes, that are about the way people in university spaces tend to be. Then that gets amplified by the way that the book serves as a sort of multi-layer reference document.

Because when I started reading Discworld books, I started from the first book, The Colour Of Magic, and I thought that Discworld was the story of Rincewind. I thought this because I had played the demo of the videogame and I got it in my head that okay, this guy is the central character of the whole story. That is a false idea, but that idea can be mistakenly constructed if you read the books in a rush – The Colour of Magic chains into The Light Fantastic then we have a diversion to Equal Rites and Mort and then, we get Sourcery and… suddenly a dead nothing and no appearance of Rincewind for six years and eleven books with the book Interesting Times. But that meant that I did see those stories as being ‘the proper’ core of the stories (which wasn’t even vaguely true).

Those four Rincewind books (Eric wasn’t considered part of the core at this point) were in my mind ‘default’ Discworld. They were about what Discworld was meant to be about. And that meant I reread those books and I noticed a lot there. And Unseen Academicals is full of little nods and winks to those earlier books – like Rincewind pulling off a sock to interrupt a wizard duel with a brick, or the danger of the Luggace, or how in Sourcery there’s a single, minor mention of orcs and that’s the only other time they show up in Discworld.

There’s more, of course. There’s story about the Crab Bucket. About star power, about skills and talents and pursuing your dreams and about the way we unconsciously hold people back while we try to draw them in, about how we learn to be people and how we don’t respect people when we treat them like they need us and they didn’t ask us to, and god damn there’s so much in this book that feels like it was written so I could wave the words of someone much better at writing than me over my head so you could get it by reading it.

This is a book about games, about rules, and about culture.

In Half Real Jesper Juul describes games as being made of real rules and fictional worlds. In a game’s context, the football doesn’t know what the football is, but football knows what football is, and it only knows those things as much as there is football happening, as long as the fiction of the goals mattering is being recognised by the real rules.

And of course, there’s the poem, from near the ending, which is as best I understand it, an almost rapturous, shamanic expression of what it is to be part of the game, and why the game matters.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Media #StoryPile

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d1c3r · 1 year

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Топ по годам

Сначала указаны игры, которые мне удалось пройти и оценить. Полужирным выделены игры, на которые следует обратить особое внимание.

После этого курсивом выделены игры, в которые мне не удалось поиграть, но хотелось бы или которые, на мой взгляд, оказали сильное влияние на индустрию.

В топе не учитывались дополнения и DLC, за исключением некоторых, позиционирующихся самостоятельными играми. В дальнейшем этот пункт может быть пересмотрен. Также, некоторые крупные игры отсутствуют в списке, поскольку не вызывают у меня никакого интереса. Если не нашли важную игру, но считаете необходимым включить её в этот топ - пишите в комменты.

Топ будет дополняться и исправляться по мере выхода и прохождения игр или по иным причинам.

Можете поделиться своим топом или впечатлениями в комментах.

1987

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1988

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1991

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1992

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1993

Disney's Aladdin

Doom

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Secret of Mana

Sam & Max Hit the Road

1994

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1995

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1996

Quake

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1997

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Star Wars: Dark Forces II

Quake II

Blood

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MDK

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Postal

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1998

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Shogo: Mobile Army Division

Blood II: The Chosen

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Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines

1999

Heroes of Might and Magic III

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

Unreal Tournament

Planescape: Torment

Silent Hill

Final Fantasy VIII

System Shock 2

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

Shenmue

2000

Diablo II

Deus Ex

The Sims

Hitman: Codename 47

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

Final Fantasy IX

The Operative: No One Lives Forever

Vagrant Story

MDK 2

American McGee's Alice

2001

Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Max Payne

Halo: Combat Evolved

Serious Sam: The First Encounter

Grand Theft Auto III

Silent Hill 2

Devil May Cry

Final Fantasy X

Red Faction

Black & White

Ico

Onimusha: Warlords

Aliens vs. Predator 2

Shennmue II

Clive Barker's Undying

2002

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault

Dungeon Siege

Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Neverwinter Knights

Freedom Force

No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way

Resident Evil

2003

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

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Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

Need for Speed: Underground

Freedom Fighters

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Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

Manhunt

2004

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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within

Sacred

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Need for Speed: Underground 2

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Halo 2

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay

Far Cry

Sid Meier's Pirates!

Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines

The Suffering

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth

Painkiller

Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault

2005

Star Wars: Republic Commando

Jade Empire

Need for Speed: Most Wanted

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

Sid Meier's Civilization IV

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Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30

Dungeon Siege II

Serious Sam II

2006

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Gears of War

Prey

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Company of Heroes

The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II

Final Fantasy XII

Tomb Raider: Legend

2007

BioShock

Assassin's Creed

Mass Effect

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

The Witcher

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

Portal

Crysis

Halo 3

World in Conflict

Stranglehold

Hellgate: London

Timeshift

2008

Grand Theft Auto IV

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Dead Space

Prince of Persia

Bully

Fallout 3

Spore

Far Cry 2

2009

Assassin's Creed II

Dragon Age: Origins

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Bayonetta

Halo 3: ODST

2010

Red Dead Redemption

StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty

Mass Effect 2

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Fallout: New Vegas

Sid Meier's Civilization V

Shank

Alan Wake

Limbo

Call of Duty: Black Ops

BioShock 2

Halo: Reach

Metro 2033

Darksiders

Medal of Honor

Vanquish

Alpha Protocol

2011

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Dragon Age II

Rayman Origins

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Bastion

Portal 2

Assassin's Creed: Revelations

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Dead Space 2

Crysis 2

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

L.A. Noire

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

2012

1. Max Payne 3 2. Far Cry 3 3. Spec Ops: The Line 4. Sleeping Dogs 5. Hotline Miami 6. Dishonored 7. Diablo III 8. Mass Effect 3

The Walking Dead: The Game

Journey

Mark of the Ninja

Assassin's Creed III

Halo 4

2013

1. Rayman Legends 2. BioShock Infinite 3. The Last of Us 4. Tomb Raider 5. Brother's: A Tale of Two Sons 6. Grand Theft Auto V

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

The Stanley Parable

Metro: Last Light

Rogue Legacy

The Wolf Among Us

2014

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Far Cry 4

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

South Park: The Stick of Truth

The Banner Saga

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Transistor

The Evil Within

Assassin's Creed: Unity

Watch Dogs

Sunset Overdrive

2015

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt

Ori & The Blind Forest

Life is Strange

Mad Max

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Fallout 4

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Undertale

SOMA

Crypt of the NecroDancer

2016

Fury

Doom

Owlboy

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Hyper Light Drifter

Firewatch

Final Fantasy XV

Inside

The Banner Saga 2

Titanfall 2

No Man's Sky

Gears of War 4

Quantum Break

The Last Guardian

Super Hot

Dishonored 2

Ratchet & Clank

2017

1. Assassin's Creed: Origins 2. Horizon: Zero Dawn 3. Cuphead 4. Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Nier: Automata

Pyre

Little Nightmares

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

Middle-earth: Shadow of War

Prey

2018

1. Red Dead Redemption II 2. God of War 3. Assassin's Creed: Odyssey 4. Gris 5. Into the Breach

Return of the Obra Dinn

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

A Way Out

The Messenger

Far Cry 5

Octopath Traveler

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Shadow of the Colossus

2019

A Plague Tale: Innocence

Death Stranding

Disco Elysium

The Outer Worlds

Katana ZERO

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Control

Resident Evil 2

2020

1. Ori & The Will of the Wisps 2. Desperados III 3. The Last of Us Part 2 4. Cyberpunk 2077 5. Doom Eternal

Ghost of Tsushima

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

2021

The Forgotten City

The Artful Escape

It Takes Two

Deathloop

Halo Infinite

Psychonauts 2

Life is Strange: The True Colours

Far Cry 6

Kena: Bridge of Spirits

2022

Neon White

Stray

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

Cultic

Starship Troopers: Terran Command

Horizon Forbidden West

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

2023

Baldur's Gate 3

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Diablo IV

Resident Evil 4

Dead Space (Remake)

Starfield

Alan Wake 2

Assassin's Creed Mirage

Hi-Fi Rush

Final Fantasy XVI

Hogwarts Legacy

Atomic Heart

RoboCop: Rogue City

#игры #games #топ #top

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