#Cluster Assets

[psychopurr]

ULTIMATE CLUSTER A TRAITS.

pt: ultimate (link) cluster a traits. end pt.

a term for when one has traits from every cluster A disorder, even though one might not qualify for all of them.

ULTIMATE CLUSTER B TRAITS.

pt: ultimate (link) cluster b traits. end pt.

a term for when one has traits from every cluster B disorder, even though one might not qualify for all of them.

ULTIMATE CLUSTER C TRAITS.

pt: ultimate (link) cluster c traits. end pt.

a term for when one has traits from every cluster C disorder, even though one might not qualify for all of them.

COINED BY nameless.

REQUESTED BY anon.

TAGGING: @vndead-pvppy @rwuffles @isurvivedtheinfinity

[jcmarchi]

GridCARE Emerges from Stealth with $13.5M to Solve AI’s Power Crisis with Generative Grid Intelligence

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/gridcare-emerges-from-stealth-with-13-5m-to-solve-ais-power-crisis-with-generative-grid-intelligence/

GridCARE Emerges from Stealth with $13.5M to Solve AI’s Power Crisis with Generative Grid Intelligence

GridCARE, a pioneering grid intelligence company, has officially emerged from stealth with a $13.5 million seed round, aiming to solve one of artificial intelligence’s most pressing bottlenecks: access to reliable power. The oversubscribed round was led by Xora, a deep tech venture firm backed by Temasek, with participation from a coalition of climate, AI, and infrastructure-focused investors.

The timing couldn’t be more urgent. The global AI market is projected to reach $757.6 billion by 2025 and grow to $3.68 trillion by 2034, according to Precedence Research. This explosive trajectory is placing unprecedented strain on the world’s power grids. The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that electricity demand from data centers will more than double by 2030, with AI leading the charge. The U.S. alone is expected to see data centers account for nearly half of all new electricity demand growth, soon surpassing the energy use of entire heavy industries like steel, cement, and chemicals.

“Power is the new kingmaker in the AI arms race,” said Amit Narayan, CEO and founder of GridCARE. “Companies that secure reliable energy fastest will dominate the next generation of AI. GridCARE gives our partners that critical speed advantage.”

AI-Powered Grid Analysis to Accelerate Data Center Buildouts

Rather than waiting five to seven years for new substations and interconnections, GridCARE enables developers to bring AI infrastructure online in just 6–12 months. The company’s platform uses Generative AI and grid physics modeling to pinpoint underutilized electricity capacity across thousands of utility networks.

This “time-to-power” optimization allows developers to deploy GPUs and CPUs faster—essential in a competitive landscape where the AI model arms race is defined not just by the best algorithms, but by who can run them at scale first.

GridCARE acts as a bridge between utility companies and hyperscalers, simplifying complex, fragmented processes around grid access. Developers can offload the burden of power acquisition while utilities gain new revenue opportunities and better utilization of existing assets.

“GridCARE uncovers previously invisible grid capacity,” said Peter Freed, former Director of Energy Strategy at Meta and now a partner at New Horizon Group. “It opens a new fast track to power, enabling power-first AI data center development.”

From Stanford to the Smart Grid Frontier

GridCARE’s team is steeped in experience at the intersection of energy, AI, and sustainability. CEO Amit Narayan holds a PhD from UC Berkeley and previously founded AutoGrid, a climate-AI company acquired by Schneider Electric. He began applying chip-level signal optimization techniques to the electric grid over a decade ago while collaborating with Stanford’s Precourt Energy Institute.

Co-founders include:

Ram Rajagopal, Stanford professor and AI-for-energy systems expert

Liang Min, Director at Stanford’s Bits & Watts initiative

Arun Majumdar, Founding Dean of Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability and former VP of Energy at Google

Their collective mission: to unlock strategic flexibility from the grid without building new fossil-fuel infrastructure.

Utilities Embrace GridCARE for Smarter Infrastructure Planning

GridCARE isn’t just popular with developers—it’s quickly gaining traction among utilities like Portland General Electric (PGE) and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E).

“The rise of AI presents the biggest new electricity demand surge we’ve seen in decades,” said Larry Bekkedahl, SVP at PGE. “Collaborating with GridCARE enables faster, more confident infrastructure decisions.”

PG&E’s EVP Jason Glickman echoed this sentiment: “Smarter use of the infrastructure we already have is one of the most promising solutions to AI’s energy demands. GridCARE helps us unlock that potential.”

GridCARE also promotes a forward-looking concept known as Power Caching—a localized energy strategy akin to edge computing. Just as edge networks bring frequently accessed data closer to users to reduce latency, power caching co-locates energy generation near AI data centers to reduce grid stress and transmission losses.

By supporting localized generation at the site of consumption, Power Caching improves resilience and eliminates long-distance power congestion—an increasingly common issue in gigawatt-scale AI clusters.

Strategic Backing and Vision for Scale

GridCARE’s backers include:

Breakthrough Energy (founded by Bill Gates)

Sherpalo Ventures

WovenEarth

Clearvision

Clocktower Ventures

AI and energy visionaries like Tom Steyer, Ram Shriram, Balaji Prabhakar, and Gokul Rajaram

Their involvement reflects growing recognition that solving AI’s power crisis will define the next decade of innovation.

“GridCARE has found a solution to AI’s most limiting constraint: energy,” said Phil Inagaki, CIO of Xora. “Their generative AI platform has the potential to reshape how we think about grid access and scale.”

Powering the AI Revolution Starts with Reimagining the Grid

As generative AI reshapes everything from search engines to scientific discovery, the race to scale these models hinges not just on algorithms, but on electricity. GridCARE is stepping in where others are stuck—transforming how power is sourced, modeled, and delivered for the AI age.

With deep tech roots, a founding team shaped by Stanford’s sustainability mission, and a platform that turns gigawatt-scale grid complexity into actionable opportunity, GridCARE isn’t just accelerating infrastructure—it’s laying the foundation for AI’s next leap forward.

[occidentalavian]

Full map of Exandria, 2024 update!

Map images and Wonderdraft file download [HERE]

Hi everyone! It's been about 4 years since my last map. In that time more of Exandria has revealed itself to us, and while it is still not a complete picture, we now have enough that I felt it was time to make an update.

The biggest change from my previous map is that I am no longer using the Elven Tower Cartography assets. This is because previously I installed them incorrectly, in a way that meant that people who downloaded the map file were unable to see the assets unless they installed it in the same weird way that I did. Rather than fixing this, I instead opted to use the default Wonderdraft assets, that way it can be viewed out of the box without having to download something else first!

As before, Tal'Dorei and Wildemount are the most accurate to official maps, and we also have an official map of at least one arrangement of the Shattered Teeth, which is re-created here. We have a portion of Marquet via the Oderan Wilds and Hellcatch Valley maps, but the rest, including all of Issylra is still mostly made up, based loosely on a very old and tiny map briefly shown on screen by Sam in episode 103 of Campaign 1! Naturally when any new maps come out, this map will (eventually) be updated to reflect them.

There are some locations that are new to this map as well, such as the Demithore Valley in Issylra from Campaign 3 and all the towns visited in The Re-Slayer's Take up to episode 10, these being Himblewood, Josgren's Hollow, Shoresight Isle, and the Hug Hive. Ta'Dorei has a few new towns, Mooren and Heldenfaire, which were mentioned in Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, as well as a few unnamed village clusters, the Foramere and Vues'dal villages. For these and the Mornset Countryside I included some non-canonical paths connecting them to the main roadways. Also included in Mornset is Roch Mar, the village that Vox Moronica visited all the way back in Episode 12 of Campaign 1, before Critical Role even did separate numbering for one-shots and thus included this unrelated episode in the campaign. This town isn't officially confirmed to actually exist in Exandria, so consider it my headcanon and a paper town. Moving on to Wildemount, Vo Village got upgraded to proper town status, and I've also included Yardel from The Nine Eyes of Lucien, Ghostwall from The Tales of Exandria: The Bright Queen, and Galgarad from the Dark Star adventure on DnDBeyond!

I want to give a special thanks to Don Farland for his original fan map of Exandria, created all the way before the release of Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, upon which I originally based my map of the Shattered Teeth. Incidentally, I believe that this depiction of those islands was the basis upon which the official map by Andy Law is based upon. I would also like to thank Niko Vanhala for his fan-made maps of Marquet and Issylra, upon which I have loosely based my maps of those continents. And of course thank you to Andy Law and Deven Rue for the official cartography of Exandria!

[purplealmonds]

Finished this just in time for the new trailer drop! This is my Mononoke illustration featuring assorted merch from the anime, movie, and stage play! How many can you recognize? ⚖️👹

(Yes, please send answers in the replies! Answers, progress pics, artist commentary will be drafted on a separate post when I'm less tired) ⭐️ UPDATE 04/03/24: Abridged artist commentary is now available under the cut! For the full version, please see the Google Doc linked in the replies.

👁️Overview 

Late last year, I rather belatedly discovered Mononoke’s 15th anniversary came and went, and with it, an entire swath of new content to manically pore over. This is an illustration of the various Mononoke merchandise, props, and set dressing I discovered.

---

🔎Scope

Some fun facts regarding the work that went into this illustration!

Not including research time, this project ran for roughly two months, consuming much of my waking hours outside of my full time and freelance jobs.

While the illustration does not depict all of my findings, it does feature over 120 unique props and set dressings!

The majority of the props and set dressing were modeled to varying degrees of detail in SketchUp.

To model prep, I often put together schematics on Photoshop or Illustrators. Some were created from scratch. Others were created with the liberal usage of the Photoshop transform and perspective warp function. 

The master file is 1.5GB. The dimensions are 6400x3600 at 300 dpi, and contains over 2,200 layers. 

Near the end of production, the master file became so unwieldy I created a separate working file. This way, I could create assets lag-free then import the layers into the master file. 

---

Past this point is where most of the commentary cuts were made for the sake of brevity. Again, look in the replies for the Google Doc link containing the full version with a table of contents for easier navigation!

---

🗳️3D Layout

As you can see, the backbone of this illustration is the 3D model. I spent perhaps 30-40% of my production time on this stage.

And this is the lit version. The lighting ultimately got downplayed in favor of showcasing the vibrant colors. I like how simple it looks though!

---

🎬Production-Based Set Dressing

In addition to merchandise, I wanted to insert set dressing and props from the various Mononoke productions. 

🦊Kusuriuri

It’s odd to have a section dedicated just to him, but his unique appearance warrants it. His garb and overall appearance is an amalgam of the anime and movie. The original intent was ambiguity– kind of like the blue/black vs. yellow/white dress phenomena a few years back. But after doing the color flats, I rather liked how the rich, unaltered colored fit with the overall composition so it became more blatant. I’m surprised that nobody has commented on this since I published the illustration. Maybe because I didn’t feature him in a close-up?

🐈 kai ~Ayakashi~Bake Neko (2006)

Finding props iconic to this story arc (outside of the Kusuriuri’s tools of trade, of course) was somewhat difficult. While the environment was richly decorated, it mainly consisted of 2D artwork which I wasn’t keen on retracing. I opted to paint objects that characters interacted with or featured heavily in the show.

Salt Jar

Candlestick

Rat Trap

🦋Mononoke (2007)

The props fall into three distinct categories here: Kusuriuri’s tools and trinkets; things featured in the opening and ending credits; and objects iconic to each of the five story arcs in the series. I tried to keep most of them clustered on the tatami, but as space grew scarce some props trickled up onto the deck as well.

Medicine Box

Exorcism Sword

Tenbin

Paper Talisman

Mirror

Ring

Geta Sandal

Necklace

Paper Umbrella (Zashikiwarashi)

Daruma Dolls ( Zashikiwarashi)

Gunpowder Ball (Umi Bozu)

Smoking Pipe (Nopperabou)

Genjiko Blocks (Nue)

Train Ticket (Bake Neko)

Lantern (Anime OP)

Butterflies (Anime EP)

☂️Mononoke: Karakasa (2024)

Pretty slim pickings for the new movie since I only had the teaser, first trailer, and movie poster to reference from. Kusuriuri’s tools of trade were a given, but finding memorable and narratively significant objects was a tad troublesome.

Thankfully, the set dressing ended up (however subconsciously) strikingly similar to the movie’s environment design, down to the green tatami and multicolor shoji screen. I suppose at this point I was so immersed in Mononoke content that its aesthetics subconsciously informed my design choices! 

Exorcism Sword

Tenbin

Paper Talisman

Comb

Movie Poster

Butterfly (Custom design)

---

🪭Official Merchandise

Goods related to canonical narratives and/or productions.

🎊15th Anniversary

Mononoke Shu - A light novel by Hideyui Niki & illustrated by 2964_KO

Whiskey Glass & Box

📖 Key Frame Art Books by Hashimoto Takashi

Ayakashi Key Art Frame Book (2010)

Key Frame Art Book vol.9 (2017)

📚Manga by Yaeko Ninagawa

Kai Ayakashi: Bake Neko Vol. 1-2

Kai Ayakashi: Mononoke Prequel

Mononoke Vol. 1-10

🎭Butai Mononoke

Bakeneko Pamphlet 

Zashikiwarashi Pamphlet

Zashikiwarashi Acrylic Standees

Zashikiwarashi Manegi

💿Physical Media

Official OST CD

DVD Box Set

Yokai Pattern Fabric

---

Common Collab Merchandise

This category consists of goods that are generally more affordable and feature graphics from the source material with minimal alterations.

Amnibus

Wall Scrolls

Tenugui Fabric 

Shot Glasses

Minoyaki Bean Plates

ANIGA-TER

Stickers

Can Badges

Canvas Prints

Anique

Diorama Acrylic Stand

Acrylic Blocks

Challenge Kuji

Kusuriuri & Hyper Clocks

eeo Store Online

Folding Fan

Keychains

Can Badges

gj character G

Cushion

Acrylic Charms

Neo Gate

Satchels

Mini Badges

Mini Badges by Mame Shinoda

---

High-End Collab Merchandise

Goods which derive motifs from the characters, props, and patterns from the production and transform them in an elevated manner through abstraction or usage of precious materials.

gj character G

Exorcism Sword Ring

Goodsmile

Kusuriuri Nendoroid Figurine

Folding Screen

Kusuriuri & Hyper Plush

Tote Bag

Kaya

Umbrella

Tenbin Kanzashi

Tabi Socks

Dress

Kotobukiya

Figurine

Mayla

Pump Heels

Kusuriuri & Hyper Hairpins

Tenbin Earrings

Hyper Earrings

Noitamina Apparel

Perfume

Tenbin Necklace

Folding Fan

Super Groupies

Purse

Wallet

Watch

Tsumuji Design

Exorcism Sword Necklace

Ofuda Bracelet

Useless Use Lab

Fragrance Set

Air Purifier

Three-Sided Mirror

[heretyc]

Take Your Meds! [Outlast Trials characters Drabbles]

With the way that ableism is unfortunately making a rise with Borderline Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and cluster b disorders in general becoming the target of therapyspeak and unfair labeling, I thought it best to make a collection of drabbles that's accepting of mental health [all mental health, not just cluster B disorders]. I don't care how OOC this is, I feel like we can afford to have a bit of OOC when it comes to comfort. :D

The mental illnesses and medication needed aren't specified, which I hope makes immersion easier. If this is received well [and you guys want more], I can write more mental health-care esque fics and headcanons. :) We need to take care of ourselves, especially in a world like this.

Enjoy, and...take your meds. :P [With milk and food! Whatever your pharmacist or pill bottle tells you.]

Included: All prime assets, Emily Barlow, Easterman, Ex-pops [Pitcher, Night Hunter, Danny], Amelia, Dorris.

TW for Dr Futterman threatening to give Phyllis a lobotomy. With...fatherly love, of course. I guess.

Easterman —

"You know, darling...medication is medicine for the brain."

Obviously. But you kept your eyes on Easterman with intrigue; he was able to capture you with a simple sentence. His talent.

"And when one is sick...tell me, is it shameful to take medicine?"

"...No," you answered after a moment of silence. He looked at you expectantly, a brow raised. "Would you shame a veteran, who shed blood for this country, for taking pills to silence the screams in his head?"

"...No."

"You could, arguably, brave it out. But who are you trying to impress?"

"...Nobody."

"My point exactly, my dear." Easterman took a sip of water as he shook your bottle of medication, "So why is sickness of the mind any different?"

...He had a point.

He held out your medication, his expression soft. "Life is not about suffering to impress others, I hope you come to learn this."

Emily —

"You took your medication?"

"Mhm."

The silence was comfortable as Barlow's manicured fingers took the little cup full of pills into them, her brows furrowing. "Now, what did Easterman say about lies?"

Some pills lay at the bottom of the little paper cup, her gaze questioning. To be fair, she never specified which medication. The ones you were on, or the ones you were forced to be put on.

"You're not pathetic for needing them, you know," she murmured, "The other reagents in here suffer for the same reasons you do. They just aren't..."

It took her a moment.

"...Eager, to accept their issues."

She refilled your glass of water, "Better to be sane than insane in this place, darling."

Amelia —

Behind her glasses, you could see Amelia's gaze was concerned as she noted the two little pills still left in your cup.

"Gotta take em, y'know," She whispered, sitting down in front of you; the other reagents were engaging in armwrestling, unable to hear you or care.

"They'll force em down your throat. It's not pretty."

You just hummed, wiping your face. "I know."

Amelia gnawed on her lip for a moment, reaching into her attire to pull out a chocolate bar.

Used as payment around here due to its rarity, it was almost as if she was paying you to take your medication.

"For each pill...you get one quarter of the chocolate bar. Deal?"

She got you good.

Dorris —

"Still not takin' them fuckin' meds, huh?"

Dorris exhaled smoke from her mouth, her body laid against the table with a carefree manner; despite that, her tone sounded pressed.

"You gotta, darlin'. Lest you want them freaks forcin' em down your throat." She raised a brow. Did you truly want that?

You were silent, the cup of medication still in your hand. She bit her lip before murmuring,

"Henrietta would want you to."

That's good enough for you.

Leland Coyle —

"Medication? That helps ya feel better?"

His scoff was one of disbelief, his brow raising behind his glasses as he stared at you. "And you're not takin' em? Are you fuckin' stupid?"

"They make me feel horrible."

He simply clicked his tongue, shaking his head slightly as the cigarette between his lips bobbed, "But they'll also make you feel better, ain't that the fuckin' point? It's worth it."

Having a cop scold you for not taking medication was...odd, but...he seemed to know it was working.

"Take em and I'll fry the next sonovabitch that spawns in here, eh?" He smirked, "That good enough?" Good enough for you, bad enough for the Pusher that just came through the elevator's doors.

Mother Gooseberry —

Motherlike in every sense of the word as her free, puppet-less hand guides a small, white pill to your mouth. "Open up, dearest! Pills make us happy!"

But you did no such thing, keeping your face stoic. The theme park around you did nothing to sway you, either.

"No no, Phyllis, the BLUE pills are whats make us happy," Futterman scolded, "White makes your brains hurt."

"Hush now, Doctor Daddy," she scoffed, "You're a dentist, not a head scientist."

"If I was, I would've given yous a lobotomy a long time ago!"

You just took the pills so they'd stop yapping.

Franco Barbi —

Instead of his usual "take the pacifier", this time it seemed to be;

"Take the medication."

His gloved fingers had a small white pill between them, almost carefully. He wasn't new to pills. Shit, he marketed them at one point. Just not the...head kind, if you catch his drift.

"Come on, sweetness," He whistled, "It ain't gonna fuckin' hurt ya. I'll even hold ya hand- you want that? You wanna hold my fuckin' hand?"

And that's how you ended up holding Franco's hand as you swallowed each pill, his eyes eagerly watching your throat shift to push the pills down into your gut.

"Good job," he patted your cheek, "Now, uhh...be a dear and stay away from my mules, capiche?"

He doesn't even have to ask.

Otto and Arora —

"You know..."

Otto moved the pill around in his fingers, looking at it with amusement. "This is usually where we bribe a poor, innocent fool with money or something grander."

"Are you suggesting Reagent is a poor, old fool?" Arora questioned, her hand by his neck toying with your fingers.

"Not at all, my dear. But I do think bribery is a must in this circumstance if they refuse to take their medication."

Arora hummed. "I see."

You stared at him with confusion, blinking lazily. "And what exactly can you bribe me with?"

He looked around for a moment. "Well, my dear...I do think this shopping mall is at our disposal, no?"

"A...lowly shopping mall," you could hear Arora's disgust, "in exchange for their health. An insult, really."

Otto simply rolled his eyes, but you took the pills anyway.

Pitcher —

"Aggghhh."

In Pitcher language, that clearly had meant, "take your medication you little shit". You knew him well enough to know that; he loved using threats. He never went through with them, but you wouldn't exactly deny a guy coated in molotovs ready to be lit.

"Not worth the brain fog I'll have, Pitch."

He gave you an unimpressed expression, the gasoline coming off of him swaying your nose. Pitcher gave you brain fog, but it was consensual brain fog. You even got physical affection out of it.

Not like you remember most of it, but whatever.

He gently smushed the pill against your closed lips, his eyes unblinking. "Raggghh."

...He meant business.

Night Hunter —

"Glooow woooooorm," his accented voice was quiet and yet so bold as he roamed the dark hallway. "I told you to take those little pills, and you've defied me."

It took no effort to find you, hiding behind the curtains. The orphanage was full of wonderful hiding spots, such as...those.

"Really?" He scoffed, pulling the curtains away. "An insult. An insult to me, I tell you!"

"I'm not taking them. Fuck that."

"Well fuck you, too. I won't if you refuse to do what I've asked of you."

Shithead. He cared...somewhat.

Danny —

"A tiny little thing, this is."

The pill looked like an ant in the giant's large fingers, his eyes scanning the pill to the best of his ability. "And you're afraid to take this lil thing, honey?"

"Not afraid. Just not...happy with what it does."

"Hm."

And that was that until he bent down, placing the pill into your hand. "I can't force ya to do anythin' ya don't want to, but...if it can make ya feel better, why not take that shot?"

...Dammit, he was good.

[ckret2]

YOU FOUND PSYCHOLOGY BOOKS THAT ARE SYMPATHETIC TO NARCISSISTS???? Please, please, the holy grail!!! I've been trying to reverse engineer some shit from other Cluster Bs and my experience writing villains!

I've got one "yes" and one "maybe."

The "yes" is Unmasking Narcissism by Mark Ettensohn. The perspective is "you're friends, family, and/or coworkers with a narcissist who's stressing you the fuck out; here's what's going on in their head that makes them act that way (✨it's the trauma✨) and here's ways you can reach out to them that'll defuse the tension in a way that's honest but gels with their needs & perspective."

It's written with the assumption that the narcissist in question isn't acting with malice and isn't trying to hurt someone's feelings, and also with the assumption that the reader's relationship with the narcissist might not only be one they have to maintain (i.e., their boss), but also one they WANT to maintain (i.e., their spouse). It portrays narcissists as people you can like and who you can have reasonable conversations with. It spends like one page on "sometimes, a narcissist actually might be a mean abuser. If you've got one of those, get outta there. but we're not talking about those guys, we're talking about all the other perfectly decent narcissists with crummy social skills" and moves on.

I'm about halfway through it, but like, I don't expect its perspective to radically change in the second half.

The "maybe" is "Narcissism: Denial of the True Self" by Alexander Lowen. I picked it up because it looks promising, BUT I HAVEN'T READ IT YET, so this isn't a recommendation, it's a "this one might be worth looking into."

But just based on the blurb: the writer entertains the possibility that the reader might have picked up the book because they're a narcissist that's trying to understand themself better; it says that "contrary to popular belief" narcissism isn't rooted in excessive self love but rather in anxiety and an attempt to mask their true self; and it's geared toward advising narcissists on how to heal & improve (rather than advising "victims of narcissists").

But on the other hand: the book was first published 40 years ago. And just from the blurb it sounds like the research is at least a liiittle out of date.

But even if the info is dated, that also means it's from WAY before the most recent trend of rampant vilification of narcissists, so dated might be an asset if you're willing to take it with a grain of salt and compare any claims against more recent research.

Again, though—this is based on me literally judging a book by its (back) cover. It's possible that the blurb is misleading and the first line of the book is "Narcissists (or, as my colleagues and I call them, Satan's Manipulative Little Bitch Babies)—" So if you read it and it turns out it sucks, 1) sorry about that, and 2) let me know so I don't waste my time on it.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Antitrust is a labor issue

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me SATURDAY (Apr 27) in MARIN COUNTY, then Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

This is huge: yesterday, the FTC finalized a rule banning noncompete agreements for every American worker. That means that the person working the register at a Wendy's can switch to the fry-trap at McD's for an extra $0.25/hour, without their boss suing them:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-announces-rule-banning-noncompetes

The median worker laboring under a noncompete is a fast-food worker making close to minimum wage. You know who doesn't have to worry about noncompetes? High tech workers in Silicon Valley, because California already banned noncompetes, as did Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington.

The fact that the country's largest economies, encompassing the most "knowledge-intensive" industries, could operate without shitty bosses being able to shackle their best workers to their stupid workplaces for years after those workers told them to shove it shows you what a goddamned lie noncompetes are based on. The idea that companies can't raise capital or thrive if their know-how can walk out the door, secreted away in the skulls of their ungrateful workers, is bullshit:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/02/its-the-economy-stupid/#neofeudal

Remember when OpenAI's board briefly fired founder Sam Altman and Microsoft offered to hire him and 700 of his techies? If "noncompetes block investments" was true, you'd think they'd have a hard time raising money, but no, they're still pulling in billions in investor capital (primarily from Microsoft itself!). This is likewise true of Anthropic, the company's major rival, which was founded by (wait for it), two former OpenAI employees.

Indeed, Silicon Valley couldn't have come into existence without California's ban on noncompetes – the first silicon company, Shockley Semiconductors, was founded by a malignant, delusional eugenicist who also couldn't manage a lemonade stand. His eight most senior employees (the "Traitorous Eight") quit his shitty company to found Fairchild Semiconductor, a rather successful chip shop – but not nearly so successful as the company that two of Fairchild's top employees founded after they quit: Intel:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/24/the-traitorous-eight-and-the-battle-of-germanium-valley/

Likewise a lie: the tale that noncompetes raise wages. This theory – beloved of people whose skulls are so filled with Efficient Market Hypothesis Brain-Worms that they've got worms dangling out of their nostrils and eye-sockets – holds that the right to sign a noncompete is an asset that workers can trade to their employers in exchange for better pay. This is absolutely true, provided you ignore reality.

Remember: the median noncompete-bound worker is a fast food employee making near minimum wage. The major application of noncompetes is preventing that worker from getting a raise from a rival fast-food franchisee. Those workers are losing wages due to noncompetes. Meanwhile, the highest paid workers in the country are all clustered in a a couple of cities in northern California, pulling down sky-high salaries in a state where noncompetes have been illegal since the gold rush.

If a capitalist wants to retain their workers, they can compete. Offer your workers get better treatment and better wages. That's how capitalism's alchemy is supposed to work: competition transmogrifies the base metal of a capitalist's greed into the noble gold of public benefit by making success contingent on offering better products to your customers than your rivals – and better jobs to your workers than those rivals are willing to pay. However, capitalists hate capitalism:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/18/in-extremis-veritas/#the-winnah

Capitalists hate capitalism so much that they're suing the FTC, in MAGA's beloved Fifth Circuit, before a Trump-appointed judge. The case was brought by Trump's financial advisors, Ryan LLC, who are using it to drum up business from corporations that hate Biden's new taxes on the wealthy and stepped up IRS enforcement on rich tax-cheats.

Will they win? It's hard to say. Despite what you may have heard, the case against the FTC order is very weak, as Matt Stoller explains here:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/ftc-enrages-corporate-america-by

The FTC's statutory authority to block noncompetes comes from Section 5 of the FTC Act, which bans "unfair methods of competition" (hard to imagine a less fair method than indenturing your workers). Section 6(g) of the Act lets the FTC make rules to enforce Section 5's ban on unfairness. Both are good law – 6(g) has been used many times (26 times in the five years from 1968-73 alone!).

The DC Circuit court upheld the FTC's right to "promulgate rules defining the meaning of the statutory standards of the illegality the Commission is empowered to prevent" in 1973, and in 1974, Congress changed the FTC Act, but left this rulemaking power intact.

The lawyer suing the FTC – Anton Scalia's larvum, a pismire named Eugene Scalia – has some wild theories as to why none of this matters. He says that because the law hasn't been enforced since the ancient days of the (checks notes) 1970s, it no longer applies. He says that the mountain of precedent supporting the FTC's authority "hasn't aged well." He says that other antitrust statutes don't work the same as the FTC Act. Finally, he says that this rule is a big economic move and that it should be up to Congress to make it.

Stoller makes short work of these arguments. The thing that tells you whether a law is good is its text and precedent, "not whether a lawyer thinks a precedent is old and bad." Likewise, the fact that other antitrust laws is irrelevant "because, well, they are other antitrust laws, not this antitrust law." And as to whether this is Congress's job because it's economically significant, "so what?" Congress gave the FTC this power.

Now, none of this matters if the Supreme Court strikes down the rule, and what's more, if they do, they might also neuter the FTC's rulemaking power in the bargain. But again: so what? How is it better for the FTC to do nothing, and preserve a power that it never uses, than it is for the Commission to free the 35-40 million American workers whose bosses get to use the US court system to force them to do a job they hate?

The FTC's rule doesn't just ban noncompetes – it also bans TRAPs ("training repayment agreement provisions"), which require employees to pay their bosses thousands of dollars if they quit, get laid off, or are fired:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/04/its-a-trap/#a-little-on-the-nose

The FTC's job is to protect Americans from businesses that cheat. This is them, doing their job. If the Supreme Court strikes this down, it further delegitimizes the court, and spells out exactly who the GOP works for.

This is part of the long history of antitrust and labor. From its earliest days, antitrust law was "aimed at dollars, not men" – in other words, antitrust law was always designed to smash corporate power in order to protect workers. But over and over again, the courts refused to believe that Congress truly wanted American workers to get legal protection from the wealthy predators who had fastened their mouth-parts on those workers' throats. So over and over – and over and over – Congress passed new antitrust laws that clarified the purpose of antitrust, using words so small that even federal judges could understand them:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/14/aiming-at-dollars/#not-men

After decades of comatose inaction, Biden's FTC has restored its role as a protector of labor, explicitly tackling competition through a worker protection lens. This week, the Commission blocked the merger of Capri Holdings and Tapestry Inc, a pair of giant conglomerates that have, between them, bought up nearly every "affordable luxury" brand (Versace, Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Kate Spade, Coach, Stuart Weitzman, etc).

You may not care about "affordable luxury" handbags, but you should care about the basis on which the FTC blocked this merger. As David Dayen explains for The American Prospect: 33,000 workers employed by these two companies would lose the wage-competition that drives them to pay skilled sales-clerks more to cross the mall floor and switch stores:

https://prospect.org/economy/2024-04-24-challenge-fashion-merger-new-antitrust-philosophy/

In other words, the FTC is blocking a $8.5b merger that would turn an oligopoly into a monopoly explicitly to protect workers from the power of bosses to suppress their wages. What's more, the vote was unanimous, include the Commission's freshly appointed (and frankly, pretty terrible) Republican commissioners:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-moves-block-tapestrys-acquisition-capri

A lot of people are (understandably) worried that if Biden doesn't survive the coming election that the raft of excellent rules enacted by his agencies will die along with his presidency. Here we have evidence that the Biden administration's anti-corporate agenda has become institutionalized, acquiring a bipartisan durability.

And while there hasn't been a lot of press about that anti-corporate agenda, it's pretty goddamned huge. Back in 2021, Tim Wu (then working in the White wrote an executive order on competition that identified 72 actions the agencies could take to blunt the power of corporations to harm everyday Americans:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/party-its-1979-og-antitrust-back-baby

Biden's agency heads took that plan and ran with it, demonstrating the revolutionary power of technical administrative competence and proving that being good at your job is praxis:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/18/administrative-competence/#i-know-stuff

In just the past week, there's been a storm of astoundingly good new rules finalized by the agencies:

A minimum staffing ratio for nursing homes;

The founding of the American Climate Corps;

A guarantee of overtime benefits;

A ban on financial advisors cheating retirement savers;

Medical privacy rules that protect out-of-state abortions;

A ban on junk fees in mortgage servicing;

Conservation for 13m Arctic acres in Alaska;

Classifying "forever chemicals" as hazardous substances;

A requirement for federal agencies to buy sustainable products;

Closing the gun-show loophole.

That's just a partial list, and it's only Thursday.

Why the rush? As Gerard Edic writes for The American Prospect, finalizing these rules now protects them from the Congressional Review Act, a gimmick created by Newt Gingrich in 1996 that lets the next Senate wipe out administrative rules created in the months before a federal election:

https://prospect.org/politics/2024-04-23-biden-administration-regulations-congressional-review-act/

In other words, this is more dazzling administrative competence from the technically brilliant agencies that have labored quietly and effectively since 2020. Even laggards like Pete Buttigieg have gotten in on the act, despite a very poor showing in the early years of the Biden administration:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/11/dinah-wont-you-blow/#ecp

Despite those unpromising beginnings, the DOT has gotten onboard the trains it regulates, and passed a great rule that forces airlines to refund your money if they charge you for services they don't deliver:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/04/24/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-rules-to-deliver-automatic-refunds-and-protect-consumers-from-surprise-junk-fees-in-air-travel/

The rule also bans junk fees and forces airlines to compensate you for late flights, finally giving American travelers the same rights their European cousins have enjoyed for two decades.

It's the latest in a string of muscular actions taken by the DOT, a period that coincides with the transfer of Jen Howard from her role as chief of staff to FTC chair Lina Khan to a new gig as the DOT's chief of competition enforcement:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/2024-04-25-transportation-departments-new-path/

Under Howard's stewardship, the DOT blocked the merger of Spirit and Jetblue, and presided over the lowest flight cancellation rate in more than decade:

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/2023-numbers-more-flights-fewer-cancellations-more-consumer-protections

All that, along with a suite of protections for fliers, mark a huge turning point in the US aviation industry's long and worsening abusive relationship with the American public. There's more in the offing, too including a ban on charging families extra for adjacent seats, rules to make flying with wheelchairs easier, and a ban on airlines selling passenger's private information to data brokers.

There's plenty going on in the world – and in the Biden administration – that you have every right to be furious and/or depressed about. But these expert agencies, staffed by experts, have brought on a tsunami of rules that will make every working American better off in a myriad of ways. Those material improvements in our lives will, in turn, free us up to fight the bigger, existential fights for a livable planet, free from genocide.

It may not be a good time to be alive, but it's a much better time than it was just last week.

And it's only Thursday.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/25/capri-v-tapestry/#aiming-at-dollars-not-men

[lele5429]

Retired Assets One Year Anniversary DTIYS! 🎨

I started playing with this story idea in March, 2024. In the same month, I decided to do Retired Assets illustrations primarily in this black-and-white style. The first chapter was published on May 26, 2024. By the end of the first act, the story will probably hit 30,000 words! I cannot thank you enough for your support of my first fanfic (also first fic written in English) and my art.

To celebrate having posted more than 100+ entries — art, memes, and chapters combined— I am launching a Do This In Your Style (DTIYS) challenge!

I invite you to draw “Cursed Victorian Child ™️” Ravio in your style. The illustration below is the title art for the Act 1 Finale (Act 1 Scene 8, or Ch. 9 on Ao3).

🖼️Artists — feel free to do whatever you like! Change the composition, add colors, ditch or enhance the decorative elements!

🖌️Writers — anything you do will fill my heart with joy. A familiar chapter in a flipped perspective? An evocative description of a favorite scene? Creative translations and poems? Anything!

Tag me @lele5429 and #retired assets anniversary, plus #retired assets DTIYS

📃Visual description of the illustration:

This is a black and white illustration in the style of a paper cut or woodblock print. The composition shows two figures: Ravio and the shadow of Sheerow.

Ravio is in a three-quarter angle, as if he’s turning his head to look directly at the viewer. His right eye is covered by a tight bandage. His expression is neutral given the stylization, but there is a touch of melancholy or introspection. His dark sideburns lift slightly, as if blown by the wind. The lower part of his body is not clearly visible. It blends into stylized flames that rise around him, making it hard to tell where his body ends and the fire begins.

He wears a thick, striped scarf. It stretches upward and to the right, trailing behind him. The edge of the scarf looks torn, or possibly catching fire. The flames around him flicker upward, rising from a pyre in the bottom right corner of the composition.

The rising flames gradually become the tail and wings of Sheerow’s shadow. Sheerow is shown in profile, with her wings spread as if soaring. Her feathers sweep past Ravio’s scarf but do not merge with his body. Her eye is closed. The shape of her eye curves downward gently, and her lashes are drawn like a trail of pearls.

Behind their heads, two circular shapes glow like halos. The background is mostly dark. On the right side of the image, simple, stylized flame shapes rise in a repeating pattern. Scattered around the flames in the foreground are clusters of small dots, like embers floating in the air.

[psychopurr]

ULTIMATE PERSONALITY DISORDER.

pt: ultimate personality disorder. end pt.

UPD is a term for those that either have all or a majority of personality disorders across all clusters. this is intended to be a less serious flag based off of an inside joke. this is NOT a MUD.

COINED BY nameless.

REQUESTED BY none.

TAGGING: @sillynessmogai hi (ask to remove tag!!)

[chestcongestion]

"Hhnnk! Hhhdt-! Hh-hhhHhtzhh! Hhnt-"

A pinches their nostrils shut, clenching their jaw and grinding their teeth as watery mess rumbles around in their sinuses, tickling their sensitive nares and making their breaths hitch.

They peek around the wall they're using as a hiding place, gazing at the gaggle of silhouettes across the street, sighing in relief when they realize they haven't been noticed.

"H-HhhDdt'shoo! HnK'tSHH-shoo!"

A's shoulders hunch up around their ears, and they struggle to let out a small, watery sniffle, dabbing at their nose with a cloth and wincing, noticing a few mutters of "Did you hear that?" from the cluster of shadows.

"Real smooth, A, what happened to 'silence is our greatest asset'?!" B whispers, imitating A's previous statement with rolled eyes and a mocking inflection.

"There's a difference, you were gabbing like a schoolgirl, I'm hunched behind a brick wall in the rain with a head cold!" A hisses, still whispering far more effectively than B, even with the scratchiness of their voice.

"Oh boo-hoo," B teases, sticking out their tongue.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

upon his grace 2

No tag lists. Do not send asks or DMs about updates. Review my pinned post for guidelines, masterlist, etc.

Warnings: this fic will include dark content such as noncon/dubcon, age gap, power dynamics, cheating, bullying, and possible untagged elements. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This is a dark!fic and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: You are called to court after the end of the civil war, but find yourself facing many challenges, expected and not. (fantasy medieval au)

Characters: king!Steve Rogers

Note: friday!

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me.

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!) Please do not just put ‘more’. I will block you.

I love you all immensely. Take care. 💖

You are summoned to the queen’s chambers shortly after your arrival. You come together with the other young ladies from courtyard in the corridor just before a set of painted doors. Within, Queen Margaret keeps court with her ladies, of whom you are to be one of. The thought alone has you devilishly unnerved. 

The guards in their livery greet you with dull eyes. The groom announces your purpose and receives little in return aside from the one soldier’s lazy reach to tap upon the door. He lifts the lever and eases a space between the wood. 

“Your highness, you’ve some ladies requesting an audience,” he drones through. 

There is some movement from within. A lady servant appears in her white cap and beckons you inward. You are further intimidated by the formality of it all. Marcia and Marigold rush ahead to be first and the three earls’ daughters from the White Plans take up their train. You glance over at Calliope and trail after her. 

The doors shut at your back and the lady maid retreats, her soles scuffing amid the murmur around you. You look around the skirts of the other debuts and see women in recline, others perched upon cushions and stools, all at leisure with needle, book, or frame. There is another at the window, sat between two ladies on the bench, the late afternoon breeze stirring the long waves that hang around her face, the rest of her chestnut hair twisted up behind her hood.  

The lady maid stands at the wall in deference, “your highness.” 

The brunette raises her chin and her eyes narrow at the lot of you. You can barely see much past the shoulders of the twins and the other ladies clustered closely in shared apprehension. Still, the twins stand tall and the other ladies hardly seem as wrought as you in the ceremony of it all. 

“The twins of...Mawsley, is it?” The queen declares, “yes, your father proved himself a valuable asset, didn’t he?” 

“Your highness,” the twins recite in unison and bow, “Marcia,” the first introduces herself, “Marigold, the second adds. 

“How keen,” the queen chimes, “you look as the same person. How amusing.” 

“Thank you, your highness,” the sisters chirp. 

“And those gowns, wonderful. I may have to ask after your tailor,” Queen Margaret preens, “and where is the Countess’ daughter? I recall I met you once when you were still a child.” 

Calliope steps dutifully, “my mother sends her regards.” 

“Oh, yes, that poor widow,” the queen bemoans, “she is ever steadfast despite her plight.” She takes pause as you sway to see her, “and the rest of you, forgive me, these last days have been a whirlwind and I’ve heard an endless slew of names one after another. 

“Lady Selene,” the very lady proclaims. 

“Lady Ameri,” she bows in quick succession. 

“Lady Dorida,” the last shows her courtesy in an elegant bend. 

As you come forward, the twins push their arms together as if to block you out with their sleeves. You sidle side to side and sweep around their skirts with an ungraceful stumble, “your highness,” you greet as if you have something stuck in your throat. You swallow before you can muster your own name and title. 

“Woodsdam,” the queen tilts her head and looks from the lady at her left shoulder to the one on her right, “I’ve never heard of it.” 

“Neither have I,” the leftmost agrees. 

“Farmland,” the right says. 

“Yes, your highness, my father is a farmer, but an earl as well,” you supply. 

“Mm,” the queen looks down her nose as her lips thin, “it appears the Woodsdam style is much... defined. I don’t think I’ve seen that style gown since my grandmother was still on earth.” 

You look down at your modest cotton. The square cut of your bodice is much different than the other ladies’ rounded collars. Your mother crafted the dress from pieces and the seams are tidy, yet it does lack a similar flair to the others around the chamber. You raise your eyes and keep your composure as best you can. 

“Many thanks, your highness.” 

The queen scoffs, “quaint, indeed.” She sits straighter though her posture is already unyieldingly staunch, “ladies, please acquaint yourself. And be certain to pay heed to these ladies who know well the ways of court. For all that’s changed in these past years, we will retain as ever our elegance and our etiquette.” 

You peer around, uncertain what comes next. A lady stands and calls to Calliope, “Lady, it is me, Gwendolyn, of the Spades. Near Clovers, you will know it?” 

Calliope accepts the initiation and there is a swift storm of voices swirling around the lot of you. You flutter hopefully that someone might think of Woodsdam or might’ve been to the waterfall near Aquil, not far from your father’s hold. The twins confer still with the queen and her ladies, trilling and giggling, as Serena and Dorida marvel over another ladies’ sewing frame, and Ameri is overly familiar with a lady swollen with child. 

You drift away from the centre of the chamber, trying not to draw unwarranted attention. It would do little for any to note your insignificance. You’ve all to soon faded into obscurity. No one cares for a farmer’s daughter. 

“Eh, do you read?” The question startles you and has you spinning to face its speaker. She looks as she sounds; squawkish. Birdlike. Her blond waves are woven with strands of silver and her hooked nose is not unbecoming. 

“Yes, lady, I do,” you answer, uncertain if she is genuine or she means it as jab. 

“Have you read Corswin? He wrote a fair tale about a shepherdess.” 

“I’ve not heard of him,” you recover your confidence at her interest. It is clear she humours you, that she is speaking to only keep you from floundering. 

“I must lend you a book or two,” she insists, “come sit with me. These old hens grow tiresome.” 

“Many thanks, my lady,” you accept and claim the stool next to her, shifting it closer. 

“Sarah,” she gives her name, “Woodsdam. I’ve never been. I hate the swamps.” 

“Oh,” you nod, “yes, it isn’t very swampy. Only in the rainy seasons but we get the sun.” 

“Mm, still, I’ve been down Ashton and I hated the place. My horses caught some sickness there,” she gripes, “perhaps though, your home is more pleasant. A woman old as me, though, I don’t venture far as it is.” She tuts and taps her oval nails on the book in her lap, “if my son wasn’t so foolish as to take up his sword, I’d still be in my library, hidden away from these chits.” 

You clasp your hands together and smile. She’s amicable and you wouldn’t want to bother too much. She flutters the pages of her book and huffs. You look around, sensing some intrigue from the other ladies though they do their best not to let their flitting eyes be caught. 

“All these birds know how to do is cloister themselves up like nuns,” she bemoans, “I’d as soon be out in the sunlight. If I were home, I’d be in my courtyard with a better book than this,” she wags the volume in agitation, “and you, lady? What is it you do on the farmstead? Chase hens?” 

“We have geese,” you say, “though they aren’t truly kept. They sort’ve linger around. And some cattle.” 

“It does sound rather bucolic, this must be all so drab to you, castle walls and dusty tapestries.” 

“Oh, it’s all so wonderful,” you expound. 

“It is?” She drawls tritely, “aren’t these ladies of ours so polite? The way they whisper about our hems and our titles. Don’t let yourself be fooled, though I suppose that should be as good a warning against myself. Ladies of the court are like crows; the like shiny things and the hold grudges, and sometimes, they needn’t even a reason to peck your eyes out.” 

You close your lips and swallow. Her tidings only underline the unwelcome forged in the queen’s introduction. All you might forgive is at least she seems genuine in her girding. You look down at your skirts and run your fingers down a crease. 

“The dress is not so hideous,” she assures gently, “some of the ladies do forget we did just fight a war. There are those without silks and without food in their bellies. They should weigh their fortune that they are still alive and well.” 

Your eyes meet and she looks a little less stony. She turns her head to the window and her gaze drifts into the distance. You follow them with a sense of solemnity. Again, you snare a few glances from the others. Many men died, women and children too. It wouldn’t do to care so much for what people think of your wardrobe. 

👑

Your first day at the castle ends in a fine supper of freshly baked bread, beef with gravy, and seasoned scallions, onions, and sweet herbs. It is not so hearty as your mother’s stew which you share as often with the servants nor so delicious. It’s a different sort of taste but not unpleasant. 

You retire at the queen’s behest. She declares she must see to her husband and several of the other ladies claim the same of their own. You rise and wait courteously to tail after other ladies, not wanting to get underfoot as you so often did on the farm. As you stand aside, Lady Sarah swats you with her book. 

Skirts swish against the rows of chairs and benches that line the long table. The dining chamber is set with the portrait of peregrine and similarly hawkish depictions woven into tapestry and tablecloth alike. Despite the uniform decor, the furniture is mismatched and the hews of wood and metal alternate with each piece. 

“Don’t fear the stampede, little calf, run with it,” she chides, “ah, I’ve decades upon these sows and they plod like heifers.” 

He uncouth words draw your surprise. She laughs at the look you send her and waves you off with the hardcover. She shoulders past you without pause. 

“One day you will see, it is better to speak the truth than let it shred up your soul,” she tosses over her shoulder. “Ah, naivete, how entertaining you are.” 

Her voice carries and you notice how the other women shy away from her. There’s a glint of deference to the tilt in their chins as they part for her like a like drawn in the sand with a stick. You wonder how she can be so bold and why the other might tolerate it. As Queen Margaret girded, you are to maintain propriety. Sarah seems to carry the same manners as any farmhand you’d known. 

You hurry to meet Calliope near the door as she departs. She seems the tamest of the lot thus far. Sharp-witted but not needlessly cruel. She turns her head slightly in acknowledgement of your presence. 

“There you are,” she mutters. 

“Did you enjoy the afternoon?” You ask brightly. 

“Enjoy? I tempered it,” she retorts, “I’ve the measure of most ladies.” 

“The measure? They were all quite friendly.” 

“You are too friendly,” she admonishes, “this is court, you cannot be so simple. Each lady is attached to a lord, thus they work upon his purposes. Her ears are always listening, eyes always seeing.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“You represent your father and though mine may be in the ground, I carry his mantle all the same. We are our houses, not ourselves here,” she keeps her voice low and slows markedly to keep away from the others, “you should count yourself fortunate for my wise counsel, lady, for no other would give it.” 

You chew on her words, tasting their bitterness, “so why do you, Lady Calliope?” 

“For I despise those twins and I know they aren’t so keen on you,” she sighs, “and I saw you as any other did with the dowager.” 

“The dowager?” You echo. 

“The king’s mother, Lady Sarah,” she sends you a sharp look, “don’t tell me you didn’t realise?” 

“Oh? No? She spoke of books and her gardens, she didn’t mention...” you peter off and snap your mouth shut. But she had, she did say her son ran off to war. “Oh!” 

“Oh! Indeed,” Calliope mocks and shakes her head. “Look, I’ve not the patience for these women, but you’re not so bad. You don’t speak without meaning. Shall we be companions?” 

“Pardon?” You let your surprise bleed through. 

“I need at least one person I might stomach, how about you? I don’t think the others are so eager to be friends. Marcia did say how you look like a peasant.” 

“She did?” You frown. 

“Hm, you need me,” she insists, “you can’t let yourself be so whimsical. Never mind what they say or think. What do they care so much for anyhow? They are a duke’s daughters, they will do well enough.” 

You carry on next to her. You feel as if you’re being pulled in all different directions though all tell you just the same. Be wary 

[imjustexistingtbh]

guys!!! i decoded the sleep missile screen!!

M.O.R. SEQUENCE Primary launch bay at 92% readiness. Silo doors disengaged. Launch azimuths calibrated for maximum yield within optimal fallout vectors*. EMP detonation window locked to coincide with power grid reset across poctashka* and serngrad*. submarine group KAQIRA-4 confirmed in launch position of krimsahv* coast. atmospheric pressure readouts within acceptable variance for high-altitude* burst. countdown held at T-minus 90 pending authentication code LLTBP. Awaiting command from strategic command council. Interceptor sweeps complete. Entry radar arrays in nostrovya*, trubetsk, and molchevik rendered blind. Silo clusters V-9 and V-10 standing by for Tier 3 launch package. atmospheric distortion within tolerable margins. Estimated impact dispersion: +/- 75 meters. Command relays uplinked* to mobile units in Yalokovska border region. Auto-target acquisition confirms hostile air assets inbound via corridor GR-12. Initiate thermal fog protocol to scramble orbital optics. Confirm executive override to proceed.

from there on it started repeating the first part again.

*starred words were slightly blurry, I'm not super confident in their translation.

ANYWAYS!! yeah :) i think it's cool that the authentication code is LLTBP

[artbyblastweave]

Whatever else I may say about the writing of Fallout 3, Oasis is excellent on every level. Genuinely totally siloed from the main quest and the rest of the game world's communities, isolated from any area of the game world that you'd be likely to pass through on your way to another quest objective (maybe Fort Constantine, but you'd still have to detour pretty heavily.) Despite that, allusions to the place are seeded throughout the game- Three Dog talking about it on the radio as an urban legend, a single insane wastelander ranting about it before dropping dead in front of you. One of your rewards for completing the Arefu quest is that you'll have a cluster of locations in Arefu's general area marked on your map if you hadn't found them already; one of those locations contains an exiled, berserk Treeminder with coordinates to Oasis on his person, albeit without any explanation of what Oasis actually is. Actually finding the place is a very self-directed activity even if they hand you everything you'd need to get there. I feel as though there's a level of restraint on display from Bethesda here that you wouldn't get for settlement with a named quest these days- an asset as visually unique as Harold would absolutely end up with top billing in the main quest, you wouldn't be allowed to miss him. And anyway, once you get there, I dunno, there are interesting parallels. Inasmuch as Fallout 3 has any kind of actual deliberate theme, I'd argue that the theme is that you can't run from your problems, and you can't stick your head in the sand. A lot of the settlements you visit over the course of the game have the vibe of a whole bunch of people who are just sort of holed up and waiting to die, even the outwardly successful ones like Megaton and RIvet City. The entire main plot is triggered by James deciding to try and do something about the state of the world instead of just waiting to die of inbreeding along with everyone else under the Overseer's thumb. Everywhere you visit is experiencing some kind of watershed moment- something's gotta give. And then you get to this place that's outwardly a pretty sweet setup, but only because they're obscure- and that's not sustainable. You found this place, other people are going to, the only actual choice on the table is on what terms they're going to come into contact with the outside world and on what timetable. The possibility of reforestation is complementary to Project Purity; they make a big point of the fact that Harold can't do jack about the irradiated water even if the restoration of greenery would still be a major net positive. And it's not hard to draw a connection between the ending where you convince Harold to keep living because the Treeminders are dependent on him, and the whole "abandonment issues" beat that the Lone Wanderer is given room to have with their own father- you don't get to duck out on the world that easy, James Number 2. Lots of interesting little parallels swirling around in there, if you're an overly charitable apophenic such as myself

[drunkenskunk]

Been thinking a lot about Lancer lately, in case you can't tell. And a thought has crossed my mind.

The various military powers that exist in the world of Lancer. Union. The Karrakin Baronies. The Aunic Ascendancy. The corpro-states like Harrison or SSC or IPS-N. Even the smaller independent nations in the diaspora outside the control of Union or anyone else. How are all the various armies of these different powers organized, and what are their respective doctrines actually like?

Let me explain.

When you play Lancer, the book makes it VERY clear that what you, the players, are doing when you're in the combat part of the game is... the exception and not the rule. 3 to 5 people in absurdly customized and overpowered mechs is not normal. You are exceptional people, piloting exceptional machines, constantly being thrust into exceptional situations.

So how are the armies of regular mechs organized, and how are they deployed against one another in actual war?

By way of an example: Battletech. When it comes to the armies of the Inner Sphere (at least during the Succession Wars), forces of mechs would typically be organized like:

4 mechs in a Lance

3 Lances in a Company

3 Companies in a Battalion

3 to 5 Battalions in a Regiment

Now, obviously I'm oversimplifying here. There's gonna be some variations, depending on the time period and the Successor State in question, and anything larger than a Regiment has it's own problems... but that tends to be the starting point. Usually. And there's also many different variations when it comes to the organization of things like aerospace assets, armored vehicle elements that are NOT mechs (like tanks and artillery), and infantry units. Because even in a setting dominated by heavy metal, the humble footsoldier has never truly gone away.

But that's just how the Successor States of the Inner Sphere do things. Mostly. The Clans have a very different way of organizing their armies:

A Point is the smallest unit for the Clans, either being a single mech, two aerospace fighters, two armored vehicles, five power armored infantry, or a 25-man platoon of conventional infantry.

5 Points in a Star

2 Stars in a Binary

3 to 5 Binaries in a Cluster

3 to 5 Clusters in a Galaxy

The Clans like thing to be simple and organized, which... can be both a good and a bad thing, depending.

In terms of battlefield doctrine, the way the Successor States wage war is an absolute clusterfuck. Tactics can vary wildly depending on which house you're talking about, and when, but for the most part? They're going to employ some form of combined arms, with mechs spearheading an assault, supported by infantry, armor, artillery, and aerospace assets. The Clans, on the other hand, have a completely different doctrine: their Batchall, or "Battle Challenge."

See, the Clans treat war like a game. It's a sport. It's not (usually) about annihilating the other side; it is (supposed to be) a means of settling disputes in a "civilized" manner. Clan Wolverine would probably have some choice words to say about that description, but that's a topic for another day. See, they want things to be an even fight. A test of skill, rather than a test of who can buy the biggest weapons or field the largest number of troops. For example: if your side has warships, and your opponent does not have warships, then you're expected to bid away your warships and you don't get to use them in that fight.

It is a very fair, but very stupid, way of waging war, and that battlefield doctrine came to bite them in the ass in 3052 when the ComGuard beat the shit out of them at Tukayyid.

... I think I may have drifted slightly off topic.

Right, yes, Lancer, that's what I was talking about.

What got me thinking about this? Well, I was reading through the rulebook earlier; specifically, going through the GM part of the book where it has the list of all the different NPC types and the templates you can apply, and how to build encounters and such. And I was also fucking around in Comp/Con. Doing things like trying to figure out how strong I could make the "squad" NPC using the rules available (is it even possible to make a squad of infantry a threat to mechs?), and trying to see what stats a tank would have, that sort of thing.

And as I was futzing around with all this, I noticed that the way you build encounters reminded me a lot of... well, building a Lance of mechs to fight an opponents Lance of mechs in the tabletop wargame version of Battletech. And then that got me thinking about organizational structures and battlefield doctrine, and...

I suppose the point my autistic ADHD-addled mind is trying laboriously to get to is: would it be possible to modify the rules of Lancer to play it like a tabletop wargame instead of an RPG? Y'know, like...

Well, Battletech, I suppose.

And, y'know, from a lore side of things: what would an army of mechs in Lancer actually look like (beyond the squad of player characters who are special by dint of the narrative), and how would those armies be organized?

[milanvenuss]

Living Dead Girl- Rob Zombie

Crawl on me Sink into me Die for me Living dead girl

Scar map + physical details (TW: scarring, self-harm, medical discussion below the cut)

Continuing with the inherent horror of Bell's existence

Perseus's symbol tattoo on her left arm, a bit below their shoulder. Would have loved to get more tattoos but time got cut short

Apart from that one, has a big Medusa tattoo on her right shoulder. Not used in the modern interpretation of Medusa, but rather using the Gorgon as a symbol of protection while also tied to Perseus

Scarification on their right thigh, in the shape of two stars

One scar over their left eyebrow: obtained during the interrogation under the CIA

Scar over the lip, obtained during a former KGB mission

One iris slightly clouded, with visible blood vessel stress, result of repeated seizures and long-term neurological damage

Persistent redness from burst capillaries and exposure to stimulants; nose gets red like they've been drinking (has not touched a bottle in like 5 months)

Darkened, bitten fingernails, some split or regrown at wrong angles

Skin bruises easily, heals slowly

Traces of chemical burns or rash-like scarring along ribs, thighs, and collarbones—evidence of electroshock pads done by you know who

A distinctive injection scar cluster on the inner left bicep and wrist—some crusted with faded tattoo ink from asset marking

Post Duga:

Slight limp in the right leg, from an untreated fracture

Discoloration along their side: faint yellows and greens that never fully go away, hinting at a stressed liver or past internal bleeding

Scar tissue under the ribs forms a raised, knotted mass—possibly from surgical implantation or organ rupture

Occasionally stops mid-sentence when her memory loops or vision blurs, fills the gap with an empty stare. During this timeline of events, their time on Earth is still short. Will overwork themselves despite their injuries to compensate for everything that has happened; ironically enough, it's Perseus who tells Amanzholov to slow down and recover (neither of them will).

Projecting my migraines into Bell. This was also written for physiology class

[distant--shadow]

The Witch and the Widow - Chapter 6 - Ostrea Edulis

Imogen admittedly doesn’t have much experience steering a horse from the driver’s box of a carriage.

She had done her best to get some practice in, of course; following the reasonable road to and from Fairfield Farm a handful of times, testing which of the horses wore the harnesses, pulled the weight of the carriage, and paired up together with the most ease.

But it is not second nature for her (more like a third), and she does not sit on the wooden bench comfortably; a gnawing anxiety stirring in her stomach as if she were on a boat and at the whims of the sea.

She had only been on a boat once, and it was for quite the journey.

vicious waters

terribly treacherous, with their habits of reciting rumours to estuaries and rivers that feed into the communities.

If she blinks too slowly she is presented pictures on the backs of her eyelids;

broken wheels, head-on collisions, carriage-carved tracks leading paths to final destinations off of the lip of a cliff.

(Not images of the future gifted by her powers - at least she hopes. These such images are only the boons of an anxious mind.)

A number of times she considers climbing over the wooden enclosure shelving her feet and onto the rear of one of the horses; straddling their unsaddled ribcage between her legs and putting more faith in the feedback of a certain halt instructed from direct contact rather than the separation of who knows how many manufacturers’ hands and the mechanical pull of a lever below her seat to a spring to a break to a wheel.

Certain as her pull on Ceviche’s reins when he attempted to buck the Lady - Ms Laudna - off of himself in fright, as a mummified corpse of a horse surfaced from the lake, disrupting its mirroring of the sky.

How much of Ms Laudna’s attention does she divide between the view from the window and what Imogen assumes of a book in her lap? Does she wish to know the route with an accustomed year-round seasonal familiarity as she does the belt around the lake? Or does she wish to hurry the passing of each signpost? Ask Sorcha to read her home-library-loaned paragraphs, praising the girl’s ability in spite of the jostling of narrow wooden wheels-

“I can read the labelling on the grain bags an’ all, I’m a real asset.”

“Absolutely -I must show you the library sometime, though you certainly are an outdoor being, even if a grass-grazer at that.”

praise-

(she hadn’t left what a thorough job Imogen had done of cleaning and buffing the carriage of its years of collecting cobwebs and dust and bringing it back to its ‘former glory’ unremarked.)

-would she identify the family of trees that gave the wheels their timber? Tip her bonnet to them as they pass in communal cluster, communing through touching roots, bordering one stretch of rolling hills as it sprawls into another?

Would Angharad have gotten sick from the motions of her own carriage ride? Imogen can’t imagine that she would feel too timid to entertain herself as a distraction with the presence of whoever it was escorting her.

Perhaps the plan was for that carriage to be the one that veered off track.

Maybe it will be a coincidence;  a convenience that the Lady leaves her estate for the first time at the very least since Imogen had been under her employ, a coincidence that they would pass an opening ploughed through the hedgerow decorated with timber and axel,

Angharad without her apron on; the blood soaking her dress her own

body limp for the next moon’s deadweight to be lifted over the horse-

 “Imogen!” Ms Laudna calls, fortunately not sounding as though alarming her to the approach of another oncoming carriage.

The road stretches out before them uninterrupted, not a hole in the hedgerow to be seen, so Imogen feels somewhat at ease with her decision to turn and look over her shoulder (not that she would have disobeyed her Lady’s call regardless).

“Yes, m’lady?”

Ms Laudna leans outside of the carriage window, holding her hat to the scalp of her tilted head as the wind whistles past her (not quite the bowing of her skull in acknowledgment to the trees Imogen had pictured).

She has never seen her hair so dishevelled-

She likes how it looks on her.

“I think we should stop for lunch!” Ms Laudna projects around a smile, unthreading errant hairs as they try to weave in between her exposed teeth.

Imogen almost forgets to reply.

They stop at the turn-in for a gate to a large and open field, Ms Laudna - with Sorcha’s assistance -laying out a patchwork blanket anchored in one corner by a ribboned square wicker picnic basket.

Imogen does her best to not address Ms Laudna by her name in front of Sorcha; despite the noticeable lack of meats in the spread of cheeses and home-grown fruits and preserved vegetables and freshly-sliced bread.

Their journey resumes; uninterrupted by carriage tracks veering off into the hedgerow.