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newhorizons-paleozoo · 3 years ago

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Welcome

Ladies, gentlemen, non-binary folk, and everyone else around and inbetween; welcome to New Horizons Paleozoological Sanctuary! As with many paleozoological locations around the globe, we specialize in the study and conservation of prehistoric creatures, all under the safety of our borders. As part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, we strive for the best of the best in the habitation and health of our animals, with 45 different de-extinct species and nearly 200 individuals in total in our North Carolina location. New Horizons is dedicated to our mission to learn, preserve, and nurture these remarkable animals.

Our Mission

The New Horizons Paleozoological Sanctuary was founded with three key principles:

To protect our animals and help them grow

To learn from our animals to better understand them

To share our knowledge with the public

These three goals are the foundation of New Horizons at its core. We have state of the art facilities and top researchers from around the globe to both find new information and study the information from all other paleozoological locations to make sure we are up to date with all the information we have. We are proud to be accredited as members of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the International Zoo and Aquarium Fund, and the Global De-Extinction Group.

History

History:

The New Horizons Paleozoological Conservation Park was conceived in 2034 by Dr. Jade Onyx, a paleontologist who was on the forefront in the de-extinction conversation on news and social media. As a world-famous paleontologist, she was steadfast in her voice to protect the resurrected species. With their help, zoos all over the world began housing extinct species until the new locations were created. After becoming a paleobiologist and studying abroad, Dr. Jade Onyx discovered a group of feral Psittacosaurus’ in North Carolina. Receiving funding, they housed them until the International Zoo and Aquarium Fund paid for a proper facility, which then grew into New Horizons.

New Horizons officially opened to the public in 2038, and is now one of the most famous paleozoological locations in the world.

Founder:

Dr. Jade Onyx is a world famous paleontologist who has loved dinosaurs since they were a kid. In her own words, she watched the Jurassic Park movies and was not deterred by them. Instead, they fell deeper into fascination with prehistoric life, which only grew as time increased and watching famous paleo-documentaries such as Walking With Dinosaurs (1999) and Prehistoric Planet (2022). As the process of de-extinction was being finalized and perfected, Jade became a paleobiologst to study these magnificent animals, until she was on the frontlines of the de-extinction debate.

Dr. Jade Onyx is publicly AMAB non-binary and uses she/they pronouns. They received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte; a Masters in Paleontology at North Carolina State University; a Doctorate of Paleontology at North Carolina State University; and a Doctorate in Paleobiology at North Carolina State University. They are an award winning scientist who puts the health of her animals first, and we at New Horizons are proud to call them our Founder.

Telephone Number

+1(302)-867-5309

Social Media Handles

@NewHorizonsPZS

Address

5 New Horizons Road, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA

[email protected]

Inspiration

New Horizons was heavily inspired by the incredible work of Joschua Knüppe that I found on Instagram, and the Thomas Henry Huxley Paleozoological Gardens that I discovered on Tumblr. Links will be posted below to those locations. While these two projects reignited my interest and gave a framework for New Horizons, I have also had my own prehistoric creature zoos in the past, but none of them came to public. I had a project called Sanctuary Gardens that I lost interest in, as well as several Minecraft worlds where I designed zoos for prehistoric creatures.

#New Horizons Paleozoological Sanctuary #paleozoo #paleo zoo #paleontology #zoo #prehistoric planet #dinosaurs #digital illustration #digital art #park #fake park #natural history #geology

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theonyxpath · 5 years ago

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Our Legendlore KS only has days left to run, and actually ends on Thursday this week, so as my final push for folks to check it out, I’m not going to try and convince you like last week. I’m going to let two excellent writers do that!

Here’s a great description of Legendlore, written, as only he can, by our own Matthew Dawkins:

But why should you back it? Well, in this time where some gamers are clinging on to the notion that “all orcs are evil from birth”, “disability has no place in fantasy adventures” and “there’s no such thing as a good drow” (they haven’t heard of Drizzt), Legendlore says the opposite.

Legendlore is a fantasy setting where diversity is a strength, we don’t shy away from complex societies and cultures, and where you can damn well buy yourself a wheelchair especially designed for dungeon crawling, or sit on a bloody floating disc! This is a game that embraces the fact that it’s magical, it’s wondrous, and yes, there’s evil out there in need of vanquishing, but there’s also a brilliant world to discover and enlightenment and wisdom to be found.

I’m in love with the art, the writing, and skilful design of this game, which uses the 5th Edition system to amazing effect. I’m impressed by the effort and energy Steffie De Vaan and her entire team of writers have poured into it. It’s a game I want to play, and if you feel orcs are better only as black and white villains, I invite you to read the manuscript – which is available as a free download from DriveThruRPG.com – and feel as impressed as I do.

And here’s developer Steffie De Vann’s excellent take on why she loves the game:

Legendlore offers a rich and layered world. No one is born good or evil, nor does it have ‘evil races.’ People come in all colors, genders, orientations, and alignments. You can be a black trans feminine elf & be right at home in the Realm. Our iconics put our ‘money where our mouth is’ – our elf is a trans black woman, our pixie a non-binary person, our dwarf is a combat veteran in a wheelchair, and I could go on. This is a game that believes diversity is strength. It’s an isekai/portal game, and we created Backgrounds ranging from ‘Activist’ and ‘RPG Aficionado’ to ‘Working Poor.’

The world of Legendlore is home to a sentient 1974’s Ford Mustang, parasite mushrooms that try to kill you by YELLING VERY LOUDLY (trust me, it’s effective), sacred Chipmunks, and the descendants of Amelia Earhart running an aviation nation. It pairs this whimsy with a genuinely complex world. For example, the orcs used to live in what’s now the nation of Drohm. Orcs ambassadors are petitioning the other nations to recognize their sovereignty, but doing so would give Drohm the excuse it needs to go to war – and make no mistake, Darkoth the Darklord *wants* to go to war. Are the orcs right? YES. Should the other nations help them out? HECK YES. Is it understandable that the nations are dragging their feet because war is good for no one except the Generals? Also yes. If that sounds like a conundrum you want to tackle, and sway the fate of Azoth, this is a game for you.

If that sound good to you, go check us out on KS. And if you’re still on the fence – there’s a link in there to a free preview manuscript.

In fact, Steffie has been posting examples of the Legendlore characters she mentions above:

This is Aaliyah, our elven iconic. She’s a Black trans woman who uses a mix of ASL and forestspeak signs to communicate. She’s a peaceful ambassador foremost, but doesn’t back down from a fight when it comes to that.

This is Najda, our dwarven iconic. She is a Muslim army vet who was wounded during her tour in Afghanistan. She now works in a Los Angeles comic book store, where she discovered a crossing into the world of Legendlore.

Here’s Jada, our pixie iconic. Pixies are born agender, and choose a gender as they grow up. Feminine pixies have 2 antenna, masculine pixies have 0, and non-binary pixies have 1. Pixies are as fierce as they are small, they love laughing and hate bullies.

There you go, and here’s the link to the Legendlore Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/339646881/legendlore-rpg-setting-for-5th-edition-fantasy-roleplaying-0

Let the Streets Run Red art by Oliver Specht

Besides Legendlore, What Else?

Just a warning, and it may just be a short-term issue, but right now it seems that we can’t ship anything to Canada or Mexico. We haven’t yet heard whether we can receive packages from those countries, but since our most prolific printers are based in Canada, we may experience some delays in our traditionally printed projects.

Right now, we’re only having issues with getting the physical printer proofs sent back and forth for approvals, and not the actual books themselves.

You’d think after all the panels and Actual Playing I did during the Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Con a few weeks ago that I’d be all talked out. Well, that does not seem to be the case. Ever.

Naw, I love telling folks about what Onyx Path is and the game worlds we make! I just can’t help myself, we have so many exciting and fun things going on!

Last week, Mike and the gang over at the This Week In Geek podcast interviewed me about WW and Onyx Path, and it turned into a sort of oral history of how the companies transformed into each successive version, and just where game lines branched off to different companies and editions.

If that sort of stuff is interesting for you, here ya go: http://thisweekingeek.net/news/interviews/fan-service-interview-rich-thomas-onyx-path-june-2020

Then this weekend, I sat in on a retrospective of the Art of Mage at Ascension Con 2020 along with Satyros Phil Brucato and artists Mark Jackson and Echo Chernik. Echo took on the slideshow duties and we all discussed the Mage art that came up as it appeared.

That was pretty great, and it was certainly a treat to chat with folks I haven’t talked to in years. Hopefully, that recording will show up on YouTube soon and we’ll get you all a link.

Cults of the Blood Gods art by Thomas Denmark

What wasn’t great last week were a couple of issues that we needed to deal with. While we dealt with them as best as we could, we realized that at core our little crew of folks here are simply not HR experts. And more importantly, we shouldn’t try to be.

We need to concentrate on making great games and amazing worlds, like we do.

Which means that tomorrow, I’m interviewing our current best prospect for an HR point-of-contact for the company. Someone who is HR trained and has worked in HR at other companies. And very important for us, someone who is unconnected to Onyx Path and has never been a gamer or in the TTRPG business.

We need someone who doesn’t have the connections or baggage that might make it hard to be objective when they review HR concerns. Hopefully, my interview is the one, and once everything is good to go we’ll include info concerning them prominently on our website so folks know who to contact.

I mean, it’s important that our worlds are all about excitement, and fear, and victory, and defeat. What our creators and community go through in the real world shouldn’t also require all those moments. We want everyone playing our games and reading our books to be safe while they explore our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

Blurbs!

Kickstarter!

The Legendlore Kickstarter is in its last few days and ends this Thursday, and now we’re really building towards Stretch Goals: the GM’s Screen, and starting the Legendlore Companion book PDF!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/339646881/legendlore-rpg-setting-for-5th-edition-fantasy-roleplaying-0

Grab your friends and escape to another world!

You’ve found an enchanted portal — a transition point — between worlds. The portal, called a Crossing, takes you to a world you thought only existed in novels and films: a magical land where dragons roam the skies, orcs and hobgoblins terrorize weary travelers, and unicorns prance through the forest. It is a world where humans join other peoples such as elves, trolls, dwarves, changelings, and the dreaded creatures who steal the night. It is a world of fantasy — of imagination.

It is the Realm.

It is Legendlore.

Next Up On Kickstarter: They Came From Beyond the Grave!

Onyx Path Media!

This week: the return of the return of the Scion Actual Play as Eddy and Dixie’s characters dig further into the machinations of the gods!

As always, this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

All our panels and games from Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Convention are still available on twitch.tv/theonyxpath! All you need to do is head on over to the website and subscribe. If you have an Amazon Prime account, you can do so for free and access our entire catalogue of videos!

Legendlore‘s Kickstarter is coming to an end, but Jen Vaughn’s actual play is still going on our Twitch channel every week on Friday night! Lost in the Crossing is an amazing story played through by a fantastic GM and excellent roleplayers, and handles the Legendlore world from the perspective of visitors and native inhabitants of the Realm! Make sure you’re tuning in every Friday or catching up afterwards by subscribing.

That’s not all for Legendlore, as we have actual plays by Steffie de Vaan and Corinne McCrory over on our YouTube channel, which you can find here https://youtu.be/UaQXSlEatDw and here https://youtu.be/RRvnJOrmNzM! Please give our GMs some support and tune in!

This week on Twitch, expect to see:

V5 – Chicago by Night

Realms of Pugmire – Paws & Claws

Legendlore – The Metal Scourge

Dystopia Rising: Evolution – Thieves of Old York

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – They Came from Devil’s Reef!

Changeling: The Dreaming – The Last Faerie Tale

Mage: The Awakening – Occultists Anonymous

Legendlore – Lost in the Crossing

Scarred Lands – Purge of the Serpentholds

Chronicles of Darkness – Tooth and Claw

Deviant: The Renegades – A Cautionary Tale

Get watching for some fantastic insight into how to run these wonderful games.

Come take a look at our YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/theonyxpath, where you can find a whole load of videos of actual plays, dissections of our games, and more, including:

Legendlore – The Metal Scourge: https://youtu.be/ECRrErPLm64

Storytellers with Coffee – Safety Tools: https://youtu.be/FjG-YbG_Q1k

Mage: The Ascension – Technocracy Reloaded: https://youtu.be/9Al7ZdkLGiM

Even more Legendlore – The Metal Scourge: https://youtu.be/RRvnJOrmNzM

#OnyxPathCon | How to Write for TTRPGs [Panel]: https://youtu.be/UKmJQEhInP8

Subscribe to our channel and click the bell icon if you want to be notified whenever new news videos and uploads come online!

Occultists Anonymous continues right here with their excellent Mage: The Awakening chronicle:

Episode 108: Car-V Heist While Songbird prepares for a dangerous summoning, Atratus and Wyrd hit the junkyards with an overly elaborate plan to make an overly elaborate gift. How very Mage of them… https://youtu.be/wSy3c74jkfM

Episode 109: Crown of Blood Wyrd and Atratus enjoy the joy of a well-made gift and the good vibes that comes with that. Songbird joins together with Hadramiel to summon an Angel of Death to anoint a Vampire Prince in power. https://youtu.be/QxB6Ml6uStY

A Bunch of Gamers continue their actual play of They Came from Beneath the Sea! and conclude it with a mini review: https://youtu.be/qIMwcOZmR8k

The Botch Pit have released a wonderful new guide for Changeling: The Lost right here. Do give them a like and a subscribe: https://youtu.be/Bd0UZQZt2OM

Please check these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games! We’d love to feature you!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost Second Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And now Scion Origin and Scion Hero and Trinity Continuum Core and Trinity Continuum: Aeon are available to order!

As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

On Sale This Week!

Available this Wednesday, we present Dystopia Rising: Evolution shirts and posters on our RedBubble store!

Conventions!

Though dates for physical conventions are subject to change due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, here’s what’s left of our current list of upcoming conventions (and really, we’re just waiting for this last one to be cancelled even though it’s Nov/Dec). Instead, keep an eye out here for more virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with:

PAX Unplugged: https://unplugged.paxsite.com/

And now, the new project status updates!

Development Status from Eddy Webb! (Projects in bold have changed status since last week.):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep.)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Adversaries of the Righteous (Exalted 3rd Edition)

The Devoted Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

Saints and Monsters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Anima

M20 Technocracy Operative’s Dossier (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

Squeaks In The Deep (Realms of Pugmire)

Redlines

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Hundred Devil’s Night Parade (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Novas Worldwide (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Exalted Essence Edition (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Wild Hunt (Scion 2nd Edition)

CtL 2e Novella Collection: Hollow Courts (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Second Draft

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mission Statements (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

Dead Man’s Rust (Scarred Lands)

The Clades Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

V5 Forbidden Religions (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

M20 Rich Bastard’s Guide To Magick (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

V5 Children of the Blood (was The Faithful Undead) (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Development

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Assassins (Trinity Continuum Core)

V5 Trails of Ash and Bone (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Manuscript Approval

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Under Alien Skies (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Post-Approval Development

Editing

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

TC: Aberrant Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

LARP Rules (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

The Book of Lasting Death (Mummy: The Curse 2e)

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (They Came From!)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Dearly Bleak – Novella (Deviant: The Renegades)

Post-Editing Development

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Indexing

Art Direction from Mike Chaney!

In Art Direction

Tales of Aquatic Terror – Handing off to Meredith to AD.

WoD Ghost Hunters (KS) – Prepping KS assets.

Aberrant – AD’d. Sketches from HIVE in.

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Mummy 2

Deviant

Legendlore – KS running.

Technocracy Reloaded (KS)

Cults of the Blood God – Rolling along.

Scion: Dragon (KS) – Waiting on art notes.

Masks of the Mythos (KS) – Pinging potential cover and fulls artist.

Scion: Demigod (KS) – Art rolling. KS assets AD’d.

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (KS) – Prepping KS assets.

TC: Adventure! (KS) – Shen Fei cover art finishing.

Geist: One Foot In the Grave – AD’d.

In Layout

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad

Vigil Watch

TC Aeon Terra Firma

V5 Let the Streets Run Red – working layout now.

Pugmire Adventure

Scion Titanomachy

Proofing

Trinity Aeon Jumpstart – Errata gathering.

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate – Page XXs.

Contagion Chronicle – Backer PDF out to backers, gathering errata.

Cavaliers of Mars: City of the Towered Tombs

Magic Item Decks (Scarred Lands)

Yugman’s Guide Support Decks (Scarred Lands)

Dark Eras 2 Screen and booklet

At Press

Scion Companion – Awaiting errata from devs.

TCFBTS Heroic Land Dwellers – PoD files uploaded.

TCFBTS Screen and Booklet – Files at press.

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Press proofs signed off on, PoD files uploaded.

Creature Collection 5e – PoD proof ordered. Traditional files sent to printer.

Pirates of Pugmire – Files at press. PoD proofs ordered.

Pirates of Pugmire Screen – Files at press.

Pugmire Buried Bones – PoD files uploaded.

Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition Dark Eras Compilation – Creating PoD file.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

This coming week is a big one for our household with the birthdays of two of our widdle kiddies (really not widdle at all any more), and the July 4th celebration of the American colonies’ independence from Great Britain! “And just as Tom here has written, we say To Hell With Great Britain!” Sorry, Matthew…

In sadder news, we acknowledge the passing of Jim Holloway, noted artist for Paranoia and Star Frontiers and many early issues of Dragon Magazine. Personally, I very much enjoyed his style, and he brought a technical expertise and a sense of humor to the early TTRPG business that it sorely needed.

#Onyx Path Publishing

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cowboyjen68 · 7 years ago

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Heyo jen! What's your opinion on nonbinary lesbians? I'm one, and Ive been feeling kinda bad about it lately because I tried to join a lesbian groupchat and was denyed and laughed at because apparently I can't be a lesbian and nonbinary....

I had a whole bunch of stuff typed and then my cat Onyx walked over the key board and...gone... all of it. It was a sign from the universe to rest and think it over and have some inner dialogue. It just so happens that a non binary person messaged me and told me their story and experience. I appreciated the trust and honesty they showed me.

I can’t always change my mind, or heart, but it never does me any harm to learn. What I learned was that I hold some of the same biases as the women in the chat group do, the difference is, I try very hard to never be an asshole just because I don’t understand something.

I strongly believe that we all have the right to form spaces to be with people we chose to be with and to set boundaries, as long as the “group” is not tipping the balence of power in an aggressive way. BUT I also think kindness is best. It is okay to say “this group is not a space for non binary lesbians”. It is not okay to be a jerk about it.

SO I am going to tell you my honest thoughts from BEFORE I had some dialogue, both on line and in person. I understood non binary to mean that a person exists sort of between both genders, not always feeling like one or the other. i also knew that there are a myraid of reasons why someone might choose to ID as non binary.. some based in escaping our cultural issues some on internal feelings, some of what aesthetic the person is comfortable in from day to day. My opinion was that in my head.. I get it.. Not connecting soley to male or female based on phyical sex traits. That is is not the same as trans, although they can intersect for sure.

I thought that non binary people were mostly aligned with their physical sex, but chose to ID as male or female as a way of ‘controlling” circumstances that make them uncomfortable. I don’t think I am way off base, because I have heard this as a valid reason many times. I spoke to many non binary people who id as “him” or male in mixed company but when with lesbians are comfortable with “she” and “her”. This bothered me for one reason.. I see women as powerful and amazing and beautiful in many forms so to “hide” behind being male means feeding into the idea that female or woman is “less” and given a choice, we would pick male.. I still struggle with that.

BUT and this is a HUGE BUTT: I have some to understand that it is often way more complex that this idea. That gender to someone who is non binary likely means something and feels very different to them than it does to me. Soo , Yes, I think you can be a lesbian and be non binary. To me, the only reasons some one can’t be a lesbian is if they are a man OR not a woman who loves women. I think with gender being not as black and white as our culture would prefer, someone who is non binary is NOT discarding the “opposite sex” but embracing those parts of themselves that fall within a grey areas. I was taught that someone who uses him pronouns, maybe even takes testosterone or presents often or always as male is still very capable of relating to other women as a woman.

As an old fart lesbian, I will be honest and say that I do think the introduction of testosterone to a body that does not produce it or require it to be phyically healthy can change the dynamics or “chemistry” that person has with and towards other women. BUT I am just me and I am not the end of the conversation.I have not seen it all and I have understood only some of what I have experienced.

I am always going to be that person that tells others that their body is theirs and they must do the research, ask the questions and seek the answers as to what decisions they make about their own body. The onus never falls on another person, once adulthood is reached. So learn and listen... and encourage others to do so.. It is what I strive to do.

#nonbinary #lesbians #hope i don't sound like a babbling idiot

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trihearts-bull-corner · 6 years ago

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Love

Let's go by these step by step...and looking back I actually have six... each love has a gender for it that applies

L: It was young and foolish. Long distance. And I was strung along and lied to. I wanted it to be real but I was a game.

A: it was the first time I wanted to say I liked a girl, and she was my best friend. And when she dated in highschool, I remember thinking "no one deserves her" not even myself. But I loved her as I thought a girl was to love a girl

D: It was.. in love with the idea of love. I was 14 when I met him and I loved him for five years, we were together for 3. It wasn't silly reasons to grow apart. It was nasty and lies. Looking back, I would have died being with him. My soul would have died to stay with him. And never would I have come to realize my bisexuality or non-binary orientation.

J and J: I loved them, and they are the newest, the rawest. I thought, so foolishly, that we three could overcome everything. I thought they could love me and my demons. I wasn't always a part of the whole, and my demons made me push them away. ....they wait for the insure message that I've finally taken my own life or died from whatever is slowly killing me. So when my mind and body turned on me, I just wanted them to catch me on their arms, or dive after me and pull me to safety. But I fell, plummeted to the earth alone. And I'm still finding my broken pieces.

R: I cry any time I let myself think of him. I was getting over a serious trama. Just trying to be me...to find who i was after this horrible event. And he blew in like a hurricane. It was something instant neither of us wanted to acknowledge. We were never perfect. We fought. We made up. We healed one another. He saw me for all my darkness, and he didn't pull away. He didn't try pulling me into the light, instead he looked around the dark and said "let's build our kingdom here". We found beauty in the dark, and our castle was jet onyx and obsidian with warm fire burning from within. His love was beautiful in its imperfection and when he died I screamed and raged to every God to exist past/present/false.

????: I don't want it. I can't bare it again. I can't bare a world changing love that consumes all of me again. I can't bare someone glancing at my cover and saying they can handle what's within only to cast me aside again. I don't want love again. Some people just are not meant for it. And I've become okay with this. I'll find a way to love myself enough.

#Azra #and their love #or what's left of it #hard truths of love #love #self love #heart break #heartbreak

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leatherbeacon-blog · 8 years ago

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Leather Series - Beacon's Travels

Leather Series - My Travels Goal of this series: Over the past year or so, I’ve been having evolving thoughts on people of color, women, femme, GNC (gender non conforming) and trans folk in the leather and kink community, “old guard vs new guard” and what that debate actually means, leather contests, how they are run and what they mean to the community, who and what is leather and what we as leatherfolk should be doing. My intent is to share my thoughts on these topics and to encourage discussion. My travels: I've had the opportunity and privilege of traveling across California and to Cleveland for three different leather events, back to back to back. Starting with IMsL/IMsBB in San Jose, then off to CLAW in Cleveland and finally International Olympus Leather (IOL) in San Diego. I was a virgin to all three events and all three events gave me new experiences and a new understanding of leather and the leather community. Since IMsL/IMsBB I have been thinking through my growing understanding of leather and the leather community and I have teased that I will be sharing my thoughts, for what they are worth, with Facebook. Over the next several posts I will be doing just that. I don't claim to have a perfect understanding of Leather and of the community, I acknowledge I am still young in my journey, but this is my understanding as of now. I hope these posts will create a dialogue so that we a community may have a better understanding of Leather and of each other. TL:DR - Yesterday I was asked "you've gone to all these events, what have you learned?" I've learned the leather community is better when there is a seat at the table and space for everyone: men, women, GNC (gender non confirming), femme, trans, etc. IMsL/IMsBB - International Ms. Leather/International Ms. Bootblack This event has had such a profound impact on my understanding of Leather and the leather community, more so than I possibly could have imagined. I flew into San Jose late after the first night of the contest had already started. I made my way into the main room and watched the contestant introductions and listened to the speeches (more on the speeches later.) My first impression upon arriving? It's kind of great to be at an event where men aren't the focus. Let's be real, men have access to a lot of shit, especially in the leather/kink community. Don't get me wrong, I am a proud gay man, I love being with other gay men, and I respect and cherish our spaces and our events, but sometimes it's refreshing to see and experience how others express their leather. Whether they be women, trans, gender non-binary, gay, lesbian, straight, bi, pan or anyone else who doesn't subscribe to a set societal category. Being that this was an event for women, I could have walked the halls, the vendor mart, the hospitality suite and not be acknowledged and I wouldn't have been upset because I didn't expect to be acknowledged, just as women aren't acknowledged at men's events. And yet, everywhere I went I had women coming up to me telling me how glad they were that I was there, that men were there supporting their event. They even sold "Men of IMsL" shirts. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't been to many men's events that have "Women of ____" shirts. It was such a fun, positive event all around. Every few hours a different group would host the hospitality suite. The folks from Alaska had Alaskan salmon, jams, and even bear meatballs....yes, bear. I ate bear at IMsL. Onyx was invited to host at the hospitality suite as well and we had so many women coming up to us saying how glad they were that we were there. I can go on and on about how fun and positive the event was, but what it comes down to is acceptance. Every gender representation, ethnic group and sexual identify was out loud and proud at this event. I didn't see anyone shamed for expressing who they were. Everyone had a chance to be themselves and to be celebrated for who they are and what they give to the community. If you are preparing your leather calendar for 2018, I would highly recommend you write in IMsL/IMsBB before anything else. One last thing: Girl Complex, you took me to church for the first time in years. Praise be!!! CLAW - Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend I've been excited about going to CLAW for years. CLAW has, for better or for worse, become overrun by puppies. Naturally, it seemed to be the perfect event to take my puppy to for his first big leather event. Before I go any further, I have to gush a little bit and talk about how incredible my puppy is. He's loyal, supportive, caring, kind, sadistic, patient, can be the most submissive pup or the most Dominant man. He's incredible. During CLAW, we got to "share" a pup that we have our own independent relationships with. It brought me so much joy to see my pup go from being submissive to me, to dominant to our shared pup. Seeing him run around the vendor mart like a kid in a candy store, looking at all the leather that no, he didn't want to buy, he wants to make. I would ask him about a piece, trying to buy it for him and instead he would say "no, I can just make it myself when we get back". And you better believe he's already in his shop working on incredible designs of his own. Everyday he makes me more proud and makes me strive to be a better Sir for him. Onto the event itself, after a couple weeks of thinking on the event, I've come to the conclusion that I didn't enjoy the event itself. I loved getting to see my friends, both again and for the first time. I loved the POC in leather panel by Tyesha. I loved spending time with my pup and our shared pup. But the event itself, meh. First of all, there wasn't enough time. If I go again, I'm going to have to arrive a day earlier and not volunteer. Between volunteer shifts for all three of us and many of my friends who were also volunteering, it was hard to feel connected with anyone that was there. That's not a fault of the event, just something to consider in the future. Critiques of the event: I felt, note I'm not accusing, as though the event had a forced masculinity to it. From the marketing, to the music selection, to the promotion for the pool parties (not blaming the hosts), to the playspace. To me, it seemed like it was a weekend embodiment of "Masc4masc". As for women at the event, the majority of them that I saw were either bootblacks or volunteering behind the scenes. The ones I did see, seemed to be downplaying their femme side or at least not expressing it. Same goes for the male femmes or GNC femmes. To go a little further and address specific concerns: The pool party. I understand that last year's pool party was held at the host hotel, which was at a different location than this year's hotel which doesn't have a pool. I get that. That being said, given that there were two other official CLAW hotels, which did have a pool, it seems like the possibility could have existed for CLAW to hold the pool parties at those hotels as opposed to at FLEX which is cis-male only. I could be wrong. But I would hope that the board at least considered the optics of removing access to women and trans men for the pool party. Next is the play space. The way it was advertised as "7 play spaces, the most of any year!" I assumed it was going to be 7 different suites or some combination of rooms at the hotel when in fact it was just an office with a handful of smaller offices. Before CLAW, I was critical of the event for having 7 male only play spaces and not a single pan play space. Given where the play space was located, I understand why it was male only. In the future, I would encourage CLAW to consider either moving the play space or at the very least, dedicating a suite or a meeting room in the host hotel as a pan play space. I am one gay man who would attend a pan play space. There were some other elements of the event that didn't make it as enjoyable as I had hoped. All in all the event was, meh. It won't be on my calendar for next year, perhaps it may be in the future One last thing: Watching Ray feed my puppy donuts was the cutest thing ever. Gainer porn IRL. IOL - International Olympus Leather I didn't know much about this event going in, other than my half boyfriend was competing and I was voluntold to help them with their fantasy scene in the contest. The first night featured a few musical numbers by a woman who has been singing at AIDS benefits since 1983, bless her. She was the sweetest woman with a kind heart, a rogue tooth and a pair of breasts that did everything they could to pop out of her shimmering gold top. Between the opening act and the tireless emcee for the weekend, this was the most fun I've had at a contest since IMsL/IMsBB which was the most fun contest I've been to maybe ever. More on that in a later post. One of my favorite aspects of the event was how familial it felt. All of the former IOL titleholders and producers who helped put on the event acted like family. They supported each other and teased each other just like family. We always talk about how the leather community is a family. IOL displayed that perfectly. I'm so glad my half boyfriend Matt is now a part of that family. Watching them compete and connect with their fellow contestants was such a joy and privilege. You are enough. One last thought: Singing along to "When you're good to mama" from the musical Chicago with a room full of queer leatherfolk has to be one of the best things to ever happen in my leather journey thus far. In conclusion: I've been so spoiled to be able to attend so many Leather events so far this year, with a few more to go. Meeting other leatherfolk from across the country (and the world) and seeing how other communities through contests and events has opened my eyes to just how big and impactful this community is. When we are doing leather right, we are supporting each other, creating space for each other, loving each other, beating, fisting and fucking each other. It's a beautiful thing. I'm so happy to be a part of this wonderfully perverted community.

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