#a bunch of which are probably naturally on fire

[the-muffin-master]

I made a bunch of ocs and now I'm making it your problem. more on them under the cut <3

Ellie Vader the elevator

Too lazy to take the stairs? Ellie is always ready to carry you to wherever you need to go! What's more, they'll show off a different side of their personality depending on which floor you interact with them in. Ground floor is their "neutral" setting, basement has Ellie down in the dumps, and first floor has them over the moon. They're close friends with Lux, Amir and Dorian for obvious reasons. In case of a fire breaking out (heard that, Arma?), Ellie will shut down and isolate themself while Dorian will block you off from interacting with them. I've also considered there being an emergency phone sidekick that helps Ellie when they're stuck in-between floors I think it'd be funny if they were originally from the UK. Since they're currently in the US, they go by Ellie Vader, but Dorian will call them by their "other" name, Lee Fletcher (the lift)

Broomhilda the cleaning supplies

A fragile innocent maid by day… and a mad witch by night! Broomhilda will lure you in with a false sense of security by posing as a non-threatening cleaner then turn around and cast spells behind your back. Have you ever watched Disney's Fantasia? That's how Broomhilda is seemingly everywhere at once keeping your house in tip-top shape: they'll manipulate other brooms and dusters as extensions of their own body. Outside of getting rid of all the pesky dust (hide Dolly!), their favorite pasttime is antagonizing Jacques. They're like two children in a playground trying to one-up each other via powerscaling, "You tried to hit me with your sword? I just so happen to have an impenetrable shield!" They're from Romania and mention allegedly being friends with vampires. In fact, Drysdale sounds oddly familiar...

Armando Pérez-Fuentes the air purifier

Just another object concerned about your health -- more specifically, about the fact your allergies have been acting up. Despite being an air purifier, Armando has a permanent cough and a hoarse voice to go with it (not that you could tell, with that helmet on). They're hopelessly pining after Hector, who has no idea he's the object of someone else's yearning. Armando's particularly interested in astronomy, a theme that often bleeds into their poetry: they compare their relationship with Hector as to that of a celestial body and their natural satellite; Their dream is for the HVAC to call them his "Moon". Someone who is not very fond of Armando, on the other hand, is Airyn -- the concept of being purified is just condescending! They're from Chile, for that sweet Latin American representation.

Kaíque the keychain

Keith doesn't get bullied enough in canon, so I created my own torment nexus for him. Kaíque is not just the merch from your favorite anime you got at the con, they're every souvenir you bought when overseas and promptly forgot in your junk drawer (Jerry's been keeping them company in your absence). A well-traveled object with memories from visiting each corner of the world, they'd get along incredibly well with Gaia -- although Cabrizzio is not far behind. As a keychain, Kaíque has the unnerving talent of tracking down Keith wherever he may go, a habit that persists even post-realization. It's unclear if they have a genuine obsession or just enjoy getting a reaction out of the old skeleton key. One thing is for sure, Kaíque brings a whole new meaning to the term "ball and chain" They're BRAZILIAN because we DESERVED to be part of this game >:( and the more latines, the better

objects with no name but whose concepts I've already come up with:

1 / 2- a duo of printer (photographer) and fax machine (reporter). their newspaper is "ALL FAX, NO PRINTER" and yes that's their motto

3- a calendar that's stern and obsessed with deadlines (probably loves timothy. can you imagine these guys dating). they're not just the gregorian calendar, but hebrew, chinese, aztecan, etcetera all at once... which makes it quite difficult for you to schedule dates with them

4- an incense holder who's the therapy friend. chill as fuck, gets along with koa like nobody else in the house. another character she'd vibe with? delia from beetlejuice, I mean just LISTEN to this song

5- a welcome mat and I KNOW this has been done to death before. but I want a persian rug character, and I want them to dance with rainey (because of the phrase "cut a rug") every time there's down time in the main hall. poor front dorian just wants these two to stop doing the bloody jitterbug behind his back for five goddamn minutes. their hair is all static-y from the friction on their object self

6- a fish tank which I know has also been done a hundred times over. I just think the idea of their head being perpetually inside the actual fish tank is hilarious. their voice comes out as garbled "glub-glub" sounds, and their sprites would have the fish emote with them. in my mind, jacques would be the only object able to understand them

[silverpsychedelic]

Some random ghost dad sketches. Kyle is at it again

[demilypyro]

I'm interested in the gradual development of Miss Pauling.

Originally an almost incidental character in the Team Fortress 2 comics alone, no official model existed for Miss Pauling for the longest time. Her first appearance was in the WAR comic from 2009, two years after the game's release. She is mentioned by name, but you can tell her character isn't nailed down here yet. They probably aren't even sure if they're going to reuse her at this point. The Administrator herself isn't even fully developed yet.

Despite the tangential nature of her character, she made regular appearances in the TF2 comics, always executing the Administrator's will, though not much was really established about her personality or characteristics beyond being hardworking, extremely competent, and very loyal.

Around this time, the fans started making their own models to use her in fanworks, though with not much to go on in regards to her personality, there weren't many people taking an interest in her. The few times she did appear in fanworks, she was often relegated to just being the token girl character.

In 2013, Valve released Ring of Fired, the first of seven full-length Team Fortress 2 comics that would end up being the main source of character development and plot progression for the universe. And Miss Pauling was there as one of the lead characters, although her characterisation was still rather thin in this first issue.

The big moment here is the Love and War update. In 2014, seven years after the game's launch, the short film Expiration Date was released, the 15 minute video supposedly being a pilot for a potential TF2 tv show. That tv show never happened. However, Miss Pauling was one of the lead characters of the video. It finally gave Miss Pauling an official 3D model, which was notably somewhat different looking from her comic appearances up to this point, as well as a canonical voice.

It also established several defining traits to her character: she was extremely neurotic, kind of awkward, a bit silly, and she had a knack for gallows humor. These traits were heightened with the following Gun Mettle and Jungle Inferno updates, which gave her a bunch of voice lines where she talked to the player characters and let her kookier side show.

These traits would make it back into her characterisation in the comics going forward, finally reaching Maximum Pauling. She became the true Main Character of the TF2 comics, usually being the main perspective character, as well as being the character with the heaviest choices to make as the plot reaches its climax.

While Miss Pauling still to this day doesn't physically appear in the Team Fortress 2 videogame, she has become one of the most important characters of its surrounding universe, and you'd be hard pressed to find a fan who doesn't really like her. It's been fun to watch her develop from an incidental lore character to the unofficial tenth member of the main cast. I'm a huge fan of her.

Okay end of post

[cregansdingdong]

ɢɪᴠᴇ.

Cregan Stark x fem!reader | no use of y/n | warnings: NSFW, cregan likes to eat out pretty princesses

Hot stuff under the cut. 18+ only. I'm not responsible for the content you choose to consume. ty.

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"Gods—don't stop!" She mewls, gripping the tapestry behind her head like it was her only lifeline. It was. "Don't you ever stop!" His hand against her stomach keeps her pinned to the wall of her chambers, his head buried somewhere pleasant beneath her nightgown. Her thigh was hitched obediently over his shoulder, trembling by the motions of his eager tongue. It was always like this. Sloppy, carnal, desperate—fueled by a lustful guilt as she broke her illusion of maidenhood again and again. Cregan didn't care much for the pretending of his favorite Princess, so long as he was the only man she broke it for. He grunts wordlessly in response, his mouth unyielding in his assault on her nearly throbbing bud, more of her sweet nectar leaking just for him. Just for him. If she wasn't so close to the edge already, he'd probably give her a good slap on the thigh for that desperate demand, but the Warden of the North was feeling particularly generous.

"Come on." He murmurs, gray eyes flicking up at her face as her pretty pearl was locked dutifully between his plush lips. "Give." The vibrations of his rasp—which had sounded less like a soft urging and more like a beg—sent fire up into her stomach, but it was cold all the while, like snowflakes falling onto a lit hearth, both dousing at her and cracking the flames hotter. His mouth was ruthless, free hand digging into the softness of her hip as he waited for what he really wanted. Her own fingers burrow themselves into his dark tresses by his nape, trying not to pull despite how she was already teetering. "Almost!" She gasps, more of a plea than anything else. Her stomach was tightening under his grip, clenching and releasing as she tried and failed to catch her breath. Cregan's presence was an imposing one even on his knees in front of her, head ducked under her lilac nightgown, the hem bunched up over his crown—it was a sinful sight to witness.

A man starved, Cregan's tongue dips inside of her, eyes fluttering closed as he fucked up into her entrance. The bridge of his nose was equally as merciless, pressing against her bud back and forth like a prayer. He was groaning the more she leaked, all the while incomprehensible mewls of what he could assume were appreciative in nature flooded past her lips as she came for him. The thigh over his shoulder was tense, heel digging into his back—his name became a worship. It only worsened as the sounds of indecorous slurping reverberated off the stone walls of her chambers. The Wolf of Winterfell was a greedy one. Even as the bliss came and left behind a lull of peace, he was still there on his knees to lick her clean.

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[weaselle]

i am convinced that human evolution and development was centered around the basic up-grade from "i steal your resources" to "i steal your behaviors and concepts"

We got clever enough and we just started copying absolutely everything we observed just because now we could figure out how to copy concepts and things that other animals were doing

see that squirrel hoarding acorns for the winter? we can do that. okay now how do we make these acorns edible, cause they are poisonous to a number of animals and we don't do great with them either. What if you put them in the fire? or just on hot coals? what if you put them in water on hot coals and boil them? Oh if you soak them in cold water for 24 hours and maybe change the water a couple times you can totally eat them? YOINK storing acorns for winter is our idea now.

or, you ever seen a weaver bird do it's thing? if not i'll give you one guess what they do

or how about the tailor bird that uses spider silk to stitch the edges of a big leaf together to make a nest in

or sometimes they'll stitch a bunch of leaves into a little cup for a nest

like i'm not trying to downplay how clever it is to be the first humans to weave or sew, and indeed, being the first person to weave that anyone knew about probably happened many times throughout human existence but my conceit is that most if not all of those times was a human seeing something in nature that was basically weaving and going "i'ma do that, and get real good at it - i'ma take that concept and really make it mine"

like it wouldn't surprise me if humans got dogs because we saw how ravens were treating wolves and went "shit yeah, great idea - YOINK that's my idea now."

most of the things that we think of as special human skill or behavior can actually be found elsewhere throughout nature -- all over there are animals using tools, farming, ranching, building, etc.

my favorite primate behavioralist anecdote is a group of people studying tool use in chimps were spending their days in the bush logging the use of twigs to catch termites, and over the campfire at night they're like "it's so boring i wish they'd do something more impressive than this completely basic tool skill."

and one of them was like "actually... how do we know its not a difficult skill? has anyone tried to use a twig to catch termites and see?" and so the next day, like good little scientists, they went out and recorded their attempts at catching termites with twigs.

And lo and behold out of the whole group and all their attempts that day, only, like, a single termite was caught by a human, mostly by chance. Suddenly the whole situation flipped - they'd been thinking of it as basic unskilled tool use, but actually the chimps knew how to do something that none of them could easily figure out on their own - or even together as a group!

y'all, they had to go back to watching the chimps do it to figure out how. Think about that. University degrees, scientific minds, educated people... and they had to be taught how by the chimps.

It turns out there's a reason that young chimps will spend like a year closely studying how an adult is fishing for termites. You gotta select the right kind of twig or leaf stem, maybe you fray the end like a paint brush depending on particulars, you gotta have just the right poking and little shaking technique to provoke the termites into biting the twig, it's a whole thing. There's even regional/cultural differences in the general approach to termite fishing that are distinct between groups that live in different areas.

Now, wild chimps have been observed using objects as tools to fashion crude spears for hunting (it's the mothers doing it by the way, and slowly some of their kids have been growing up doing it, which will probably result in refinements and developments eventually.

ants do both farming and ranching. For real. Some species of ant grow a fungus they eat AND it's a domesticated fungus, like our corn, it can't actually reproduce and survive in the wild without the ants farming it. They maintain its growing conditions and feed it leaf litter mulch, and the fungus produces some kind of ant food idk i forget the details about that. But that's farming. They are farming a domesticated mushroom, basically. And other species of ant will maintain a herd of aphids; they'll move them from grazing area to grazing area, and protect them from predators, and they "milk" them for a liquid food substance and also every now and then they straight up eat one. That's ranching.

beavers sometimes have muskrat... tenants? pets? The muskrats low key pay rent by changing out the reed bedding they all use, and they live in the beaver's lodge with them and eat some of the food. So. idk

Some Tarantulas keep frogs as pets

anyway my point is, i think the true human skill that sets us apart is our ability deconstruct and reconstruct anything we see into something that is for us. Oh, you eat that? Now WE eat that. You have the perfect teeth to drill little holes in specific tree trunks to let the sap ooze out and eat it because it's high in sugar? We don't have those teeth but we're gonna do that now and if we can't figure out a tool that's as good as your teeth at it, watch out, because we will absolutely just also steal your fuckin teeth.

[princessofghosts-posts]

Recently realized that demigods at CHB are either rich/upper class or poor/broke by default.

You got Piper,and she is really the daughter of a famous Hollywood's star,she grew up under the spotlight all of her life,full of people that wanted to have her father's attention,and is super rich. She shoplifts thanks to her charm-speaking ability,yes,but she still got the money.

Rachel's the daughter of an important CEO,her family's money got her a last-minute helicopters (and taxis in all the city too-) to fly to Manhattan,in a couple of hours,while she was in a totally different locations. She hates her dad,and her family business isn't the best ecological one,but she is rich.

Annabeth's father is a professor that got his family of 5 (counting Annabeth even tho she doesn't live with them that much) moved from a state to another,Virginia to San Francisco. He might not be Rachel/Piper level of richness,but he is still able to provide a big family with an house in an expensive place and without economics problem. Annabeth is upper class.

Nico and Bianca's family is part of italian old money. Their grandparents were politicians,so was their mother,and they were probably related to someone with a noble title. During the start of the war,only a couple of people,usually the rich one,could travel from a place to another (Maria didn't met Hades in Italy after all). They lived in the Lotus and that place is full of everything you ever wanted,especially with the infinite credit card. Hades is the good of the riches too. They are upper class.

Half of the Aphrodite's cabin,if not full,is probably related to rich or famous people because of her nature. It's impossible she only had Piper that was from a famous actor. Silena and Drew are probably rich too but not on "Hollywood's star" level. (Tanaka is a japanese surname,and japanese families are usually well off,Beauregard is french surname so she is probably french,and most french people have a pretty expensive lifestyle.)

Thalia and Jason's mother was a famous television star that got Zeus attentions twice,so at least the first years of their life they had a good economic situation. She then went insane,and was horrible to her children and Thalia had to live on the street to get away from her (like Annabeth) while Jason got adopted by Lupa.

Then you got Leo that basically jump from a foster home to another,most of which are abusive or mistreat him. The guy lost his mother and the rest of his family hated him so much that decided to hand him to CPS directly. He lives day by day,and probably on the street a couple of time too. He is completely broke.

Percy (before Sally published her book and became a well-known writer,and Paul entered their life) was poor. They had enough to get by with Sally's money,and most of it was wasted on alcohol by Gabe. He didn't had a comfortable life,fortunately now his economic situation is better.

Now,you can discuss that Luke wasn't really poor,but the guy ran away from his mother and spent half of his childhood in the street. And with May's condition I don't think someone would employee her,and if she had a job before she probably got fired.

Ethan Nakamura literally lived on the street all of the time,either because he was doing something for Kronos,or because he didn't had a place at CHB (Hermes's cabin doesn't count).

Half of the children of minor gods/goddesses,and the revolutionaries who joined Kronos,were probably in the same situation as Ethan,if not worse.

Jason lived in a forest with a bunch of wolves. Then at CJ it's not like he had any monetary problem since they didn't really needs money inside the camp. And for any quest to do,I'm sure the romans had a vault,or some sort of safe,to keep money in case it was needed.

Probably majority of the Greeks demigods weren't in a good situation in their finances too,but I personally think that most of them had at least a a life with an enough stable economic situation.

Also,gotta love the parallelism that some of them have:

• Annabeth and Thalia (and Jason) are upper class thanks to their mortal parent's job,but had to live on the streets because their family were shit.

• Percy was poor but after his mom's business skyrocketed,and thanks to Paul's job too,they never had to worry about rent and not having enough food.

• Piper is rich but spent all of her teenager years shoplifting and stealing,trying to get her dad's attention.

• Rachel is rich but prefer to be an activist-artist,with oracle problems because she hates her dad.

• Nico and Bianca are rich,from both family's sides,but were forced to live in "poverty" (I have to desagree on this one because it's not accurate since it was from Percy POV's during BotL).

[therainscene]

i am dying for any of your thoughts on the teaser 👀

Haha hi, I've been dying to write my thoughts down too but I've just been super busy this week! I finally have some time now, though.

A couple shots I think are very interesting are these kids sequestered in what could be a military bunker of some sort:

Not just cause the sight of children being held by the military is possible evidence for my thoughts on Dr. Kay being an evil Sarah Connor, but because these particular kids look so much like Robin and Will I honestly thought it was them at first glance.

In my opinion, it's unlikely this likeness is a coincidence. The camera is focusing on their reactions, which means costuming and casting had every reason to put a little extra effort into their appearances.

To me, this suggests that we're meant to be reminded of the show's gay characters in this shot that frames these people as innocent and important. Teasers can be misleading, but I still think it's noteworthy that they paired this image with a voiceover of Mike doing his leader thing, thus associating depictions of queerness as good and innocent with Mike's heroism. I feel like this adds subtle thematic context to the shot from the Tudum date announcement of Mike shielding not just a bunch of children--

--but also Will, slumped in the background. A little reminder that Mike has always been at his best when he's fighting to protect kids from the horrors of bigotry -- especially when the kid in question is his boyfriend. :)

Some folks are speculating that since it's likely this shot is from the same scene as Vecna's appearance (a shop sign is visible in the top left corner of Vecna's fire shot that places him in the same area as the above scene)--

--then this might be the moment Will's powers activate and he casts a flame wall at Vecna. (source: 3rdduffer)

I disagree. I think the fire is probably coming from the military, or at least one of their flamethrowers. Similarly, I think the "burn" Mike counts down to is more likely to be a military operation they're observing than one of the party's own plans.

This is partly because I just don't think Will is going to have fire powers -- I'm currently drafting up an analysis that will go into more detail on why I believe this, tho for now you can refer to this post for my take on Will's use of violence and fireballs in S1 -- but mainly because the party learned at the end of S4 that fire can't defeat Vecna anyway.

What Vecna is truly weak to, in my opinion, is warmth -- it's cheesy but it's a metaphor for love, and fire is just too violent and hateful a source of warmth to work.

My money is on the theory that the Vecna reveal scene is likely to be the mid-season cliffhanger moment in which Vecna takes Will again (not sure whose theory it is, sorry, I've had a hard time keeping up with the deluge of speculative posts this past week -- but @conflictofthemind posted some interesting leaks that seem to support it), and I'm thinking Will is probably going to undergo some character development, hopefully involving the awakening of his powers, under Vecna's mentorship whether he likes it or not (though I suspect he might be more agreeable to it than the teaser implies)--

--before Mike comes to rescue him and gay love saves the day etc etc.

-------------------

This is all very Byler-focused, but I honestly am excited about the other characters and haven't forgotten that Byler isn't the only source of love that's gonna save the day lol. I just don't have anything interesting to say about them.

Nancy's arc looks like it's gonna be fun, though -- especially since she appears to be involved in discovering whatever this thing is:

I'm dying to know what episode this is from. Looks like it could be something from the finale?? I'm not certain exactly what we're looking at, but it could be the Shadow Monster's death, or perhaps a reveal of the Shadow's true nature -- as usual I'm hoping for something timey-wimey and related to Will's powers.

[xetlynn]

I had an idea for claggor with a reader who is basically Gordon Ramsey. LMAO, I mean, she's like a 5 star michelin chef/baker type. She can make delicious meals out of scratch and cheap ingredients (maybe she works with Jericho, and that's how they met ???👀) your claggor work is so amazing. I'd love to see what you do with this!!

arcane imagines- claggor

my personal chef

[arcane] [main page]

prompt: Claggor is helping you set up yours and Jericho’s new restaurant

“Clag, help!” You grit through your teeth as you were on a ladder, trying to hold up a heavy box that was slipping off of the shelf. “Babe!” You cry, his head pops up from underneath the counter as he was currently trying to fix an electrical problem. But seeing you in distress he automatically rushes to your side. 

“I told you to wait, [Name].” He frowns, holding the box so you can climb back down. He steps up, pushing the box back up. “I got impatient.” You sheepishly look away from him. He places his hands on his hips, towering over you. “Well, listen to me next time please.” He sighs, giving you a disappointed look to which you smile. “Sorry, babe.” You stand on your tiptoes and peck his lips. 

“Mhm, you’re going to not listen to me again so your sorry means nothing to me.” He heads back over to the counter, getting back to what he was doing. “Mm, you’re right.” You nod your head, eyeing that box with a hateful glare. 

The two of you were fixing up an old shop and turning it into a small restaurant. You used to work for Jericho and he’s branching his own business out. Since he trusts you he decided to make you a co-owner for this place. 

And here you are. You truly enjoyed working and cooking for Jericho. He practically took you under his wing. He showed you everything you knew. Then you learned your own tricks. Making food exciting and fun. You love it and so you took pride in now working for yourself and co-owning a place like this with Jericho. 

“You hungry?” You hum out to your boyfriend. Going to your walk-in fridge that barely had anything in it yet. “If you’re cooking.” Claggor responds, not looking over to you. “Well, it’s definitely not going to be you who’s cooking. You’ve burnt bread before.” You tease him as you pull out multiple ingredients. “Plus I want to make a few things off of the new menu, get your opinion.” You tell him. 

“First off, rude. You distracted me. Second, I’d love to share my opinion.” He points a finger at you, looking back to the cords that stuck out. He was trying to figure out how to place them back in the wall or tape them up so it wasn’t such a fire-hazard. “You’re obsessed with me, not my fault. And I knew you would. I love cooking for you.” You sing as you prep out the food along with the oven and stove. 

“You’re my girlfriend, of course I’m obsessed with you.” He rolls his eyes, muttering a small yes under his breath when he finally deciphers how to place the stupid bunch of wires. 

“Mm, if you say so.” You chuckle, beginning to chop up the vegetables on a small cutting board. “I’m missing a few things so if these don’t turn out good it’s not my fault.” You notified him, you were slightly disappointed because you wanted him to truly know the things that are going on the menu.

 “It’s okay, hun. I’ll probably still like it.” He stands up, walking up behind you, admiring you in your element. He loved watching you cook or bake. The focused expression that adorned your face, how natural it all looked on you. It made him happy that you had something so dear to you that’s also your career. 

“I feel your eyes burning me.” You comment, peering at him through your peripheral vision. He grins. “Sorry.” He snakes his hands onto your hips. Kissing the back of your head. You leaned back into him while still cutting up the food. The two of you didn’t hear the front door open, a large man entering and checking everything out. He sits on the counter stool, smacking the counter. “Ahem, I’d like to order!” His voice booms, startling the both of you. 

“Jericho!” The two of you announce and you laugh. “Too bad, old man. We ain’t open yet.” You “inform” him and he snickers. “No exception for the elderly?” 

“We hate the elderly.” You joke and he gasps, clutching his chest. “Wow. What a ruthless one you are. I’m starting to question my decision.” He says, causing the three of you to laugh. “I’m actually making some food off the new menu if you want to try it when I’m done?” You offer, showing off the cutting board behind you. 

He waves his hand. “No need, I just wanted to check in. Seems like everything is on track for opening day.” He sits proudly, and you nod your head. “Alrighty, it was nice seeing you!” You come out from the counter and pull him into an embrace. “You as well, little one.” He gruffs. “Can’t believe how grown you two are.” He breathes out, feeling sentimental at the sight of the two of you. He had been feeding Vander’s kids for years and you, he hired you at the young age of 13 since he was friends with your mother. You wanted a job to help out at home and he figured it couldn’t hurt to put you to work. Your mom hesitantly agreed to it and ever since the two of you have been as thick as thieves. 

It then led you to meet Claggor. The love of your life. He got to watch your whole love story unfold. 

“Crazy, I remember when [Named] gushed and fawned over you at 16 and now the two of you are practically married.” He dramatically says, purposely messing with you. You hit his arm with knitted eyebrows. “It was lovely seeing you, Jer. Don’t you think it’s time to go now?” You look down at you watch that graced your wrist and he cackles, hitting your back with such force. 

“Alright, alright. See the two of you later.” He smiles, looking over to Claggor who waves goodbye. “Nice seeing you, Jericho.” 

“You as well.” He huffs as he’s getting shoved out by you. “Get out of here.” You spat, slamming the door behind him, locking it as well. You huff, crossing your arms. Claggor smirks at you from behind the counter. Raising a brow your way to which you flip him off. “Don’t even.” You warn him, heading back over to the food. 

He puts his hands up in defense. “Wasn’t even going to say anything.” He denies it and you scoff. Not believing him. “I mean, you gushed over me at 16… who would want to talk about that.” He jokes and you let out a loud groan. “Shut up or you’re not eating my food!” You threaten. 

“Anything but that, your food is like a piece of heaven I don’t think I could live without.” He clasps his hands together, pretending to plead with your empty threat. You press your lips together trying not to smile. 

Claggor sits at one of the booths you had cleaned off for the both of you. He gently taps on the table as he waits for you like he was told to. You wanted to serve him the food the correct way. On a tray and everything as you come out. “I took a small bite, definitely not how it’s supposed to be but I think you’ll still enjoy it.” You tell him as you place the plates on the table. He gawks at how delicious everything looks. 

“Sure.” He tucks a napkin on the collar of his shirt. His mouth watering just by the sight of your food. You were always anxious about the things you cook or bake. Never having the right ingredients because honestly you couldn’t afford them. Nevertheless it always turns out amazing so Claggor never understood your fear. 

You plop on the booth across from him. Your gaze observing him as he takes his first bite. You gnaw on your bottom lip, nervous. He lets out a loud moan, adding emphasis on it. Sort of exaggerating his reaction but not really. 

“[Name], you’ve done it again. You literally can’t leave me.” He grabs your hand, looking sincerely in your eyes and your face heats up. “I don’t plan on leaving you but good to know I can’t specifically because of my cooking skills.” You playfully roll your eyes, digging into the food as well. 

“You know that’s not the only reason… just the main one.” He takes another bite while squeezing your hand. “You’re stupid, Claggor.” You take your hand to your side as he makes kissy lips your way. 

[bonefall]

a while ago you said that Starclan cats design kittens and customize them with patterns and colors from their parents genes. So, do the clan cats raise any eyebrows when it comes to people who know cat genetics? Is there a geneticist who is holding their head wondering how these two cats have this colored kit while their starclan designer was just playing around? Or do the Starclan designers still have to stay within the rules?

Basically, do the humans notice that some of these clan cats are sparkle cats lol

I try to not get too "lost in the weeds" since the humans aren't the focus of the story, just taking care that they DO have real motivations behind their actions rather than construction crews materializing out of nowhere to Do A Chaos, but...

First, the genetics of cats in Albion are different than humans in equivalent Great Britain.

Partially, this is because I honestly just don't really enjoy learning about in-depth genetics or applying them realistically. I like drawing anime characters and writing anime battles, so they have anime genetics. But more than that, off-screen, the intelligence of cats has altered the timeline of this world.

If cats really were capable of higher thinking, that totally would have had some butterfly effects. I like dropping crazy alt-history and then not elaborating on it, because it's funny. Archimedes' cat helped him invent a death ray, btw.

On that note of genetics though, you guessed right. StarClan designers DO have to work with what they have. Whatever the genetics of this alternate universe of cats are, every kit born still abides by the laws of nature.

Which brings me to...

Second, the researchers do notice that the Clan cats are special. In fact, there is a "study of magic" in this universe-- Thaumatology. "The science of wonder."

(There's no world where magic actually factually exists that science isn't all over it lmao)

Thaumatology facts I haven't shared so far since it's all offscreen and just Bonus Worldbuilding;

It is a "soft science," not a hard one.

It has a LOT of problems with replicability. Thaumatologists and Quantum Physicists have a lot of in-jokes.

The most well known (to the point of being a cliche) is "magic and quantum particles both hate being watched."

Magic is highly variable based on a bajillion very personal factors, like emotion, environment, culture, personal background, etc, so it's severely difficult to re-create it in controlled environments.

Thaumatology has a lot of overlap with sociology, archeology, and theology, so people from these fields work together a lot.

There was absolutely not a dedicated Thaumatologist working in the Research Team early on, sadly.

It was probably discovered when the Battle of the True Eclipse blew out a bunch of field cameras.

It's pretty common that photography equipment fritzes out a bit during "supernatural" times like eclipses, but the damage was extensive enough to be noteworty

The Clan cats were initially notable just for the fact they had advanced culture.

Cats are usually comparable to crows and monkeys, in this universe. So cats with fire and a crude writing system were enough to SHAKE the field of zoology.

The fact they're cats helped a lot. The public loves cats, enough that since their discovery after Speckletail attacked a bulldozer, massive outcry has secretly helped the Clans several times.

The discovery that the culture also has Thaumatological elements is more of a goldmine for a scientist than the public, though.

It's common knowledge that "animals are magic," because humanity projects traits onto them. "Of course they do, they're cats...?"

The Thaumatologist is freaking out because "THE CAT IS PROVABLY DOING ITS OWN THAUMATURGY"

Most people don't know the difference between Thaumaturgy (the functional work it does on the world) and Thaumology (the study of that as a whole), so this particular scientist is going to have a hard time explaining WHY this distinction is so special.

(And possibly even offensive to certain groups, who would insist only humans are capable of this)

In any case, eventually there would be Thaumatological interest in the Clan cats, but they weren't there in the mid to late 2010s when BB!ASC takes place.

[the-lambda-archives-ai]

“Okay. . . Background. . . I was a troubled kid, I’ll just get that out of the way, got into fights skipped school made a lot of questionable choices for my age.

I think it goes without saying I didn’t have a lot of friends, not my fault, my parents were shit, abusive dad and a pushover of a mom who just sat back and watched; I used to tell myself it was 'cause she was scared of him too.

Doesn’t matter anymore.

Let’s just say they didn’t take too kindly to finding out that their dearest daughter wanted to be a boy.

I was. . . on my own, I couldn’t stay at home, they didn’t want me to stay and neither did I; since my parents abandoned me I’d forced myself to go back into the closet, I was afraid that if I was myself people would leave.

Typically people aren’t too keen on letting an angry teenager with a shit load of baggage in, so I had nowhere to go.

Naturally, when I turned 18 I joined the army, I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you about all the horrors of the military.

I’m let off 7 years later, and if you thought I had problems before, you wouldn’t know the half of it.

I was more lost than ever before.

Turned out I wasn’t the only one because a little while later I ran into a mate from the army in a bar, turned out we both were from the same little shit hole, and coincidentally both ended up in the same town; we drank, talked, and for the first time I felt like I wasn’t alone, I’ve never had it happen where I talked to a stranger and it feel like we’ve known each other our entire lives, it could have also been the alcohol that made it a bit easier, but we got on like a house on fire.

Adrian was the first guy who ever really understood me, who I felt comfortable around, hell I even worked up the confidence to come out to him, I was scared shitless but he obviously accepted me. . . heh . . .it’s funny ‘cause the moment after I came out, he quickly confessed he thought he was gay, it caught me so off guard that I laughed and said “way to kill the moment.” he said he thought it would make me feel better if he also confessed a secret.

I was lost, but now I had a friend.

I became an officer and shortly after he did too, for the first time in my entire life things were beginning to get on track.

We had a good. . . 6 years? without a major incident, which in hindsight it's crazy either of us made it that long without crashing into a tree or something, but well. . . obviously that didn’t last.

One of the guys from work invited us on a hunting trip, it sounded exciting, I’d never been hunting before and I sure as hell wasn’t gonna pass up an opportunity to get drunk in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of idiots! Adrian wasn’t as excited about it as I was and was more reluctant to agree, but I guess when he heard I was going he agreed to come along.

It was us and 3 other guys in Colorado for 3 days, first couple days were great, we hiked around the mountain, went fishing, shot a couple ducks, got temporarily lost, the usual fun you have camping, it was on the night of the second day I think, that one of the guys, Adam, said he saw something moving around the campsite, Clarke, another guy, whipped out his gun and shot it in the air without warning and said some dumb shit like “well it’s gone now!”.

He got yelled at for being a fucking dumbass, but we all kind of agreed it was probably a deer and long gone now.

Adrian woke me up that night, but in a fuckin- kidnap-cover-your-mouth style, I was gonna yell at him but before I could get anything out he whispered to be quiet.

I- I’d never seen him so. . . scared.

I nodded to him and he slowly let go and inched towards the tent door, I- I asked him what was going on but he just whipped around and glared at me, I kind of just shut up and tried to listen. . .?

I’d thought maybe a bear wandered into the campsite and he’d heard it or something?

We were sat there for maybe two or three minutes before I heard a- something growling. . . it- it wasn’t like anything- I- I need you to understand there is no damn animal in Colorado that could make that noise, it was so low but not like- a natural low, like it didn’t sound real?

It sounded like if you took a dog growling and edited it to the lowest possible setting and added a reverb? Something like that- it- it was so loud I thought that it was around our tent but. . . I realized it wasn’t when I heard Adam scream.

The next part was sort of a blur, something ripped into our tent, gunshots, and we both ran out into the woods, I- I wasn't focused on where I was going- I just kept running, like tunnel vision.

It was dark and cold and at some point I realized I wasn't wearing any shoes 'cause my feet were bleeding, I was completely out of breath and exhausted, I had to stop, I barely had a moment to breathe when I heard the growling start again, it wasn't close but it was loud enough that I knew it was near, and then the growl began to change, it slowly morphed into a laugh, and then it started coming from all directions, it was so loud it- that horrible unnatural laugh rang in my skull and I couldn’t move, I knew I was trapped and- that I’d die here, alone.

A gunshot pierced the woods and all at once the laughter stopped, Adrian emerged from the tree line holding a pistol, he was shaken up but began to make his way toward me. . . I should have known better than to let my guard down, but I was so happy to see his stupid face.

A figure jumped out of the trees at a speed that- I. . . I didn’t even have the time to process what was happening, I just turned over to look and it was on Adrian, he dropped his gun and the thing- it- it almost looked human but was so deformed- it was bloated in some places and skinny in others, its face looked charred, pitch black, the only things visible were its glowing white eyes and teeth- it kicked his gun away and I ran to go pick it up, when I turned back I was expecting it to try to stop me. . . That you know- me running would at least catch it's attention? But it didn’t. . . I turned back to see it mauling Adrian, it ripped into his arm and part of his jaw before I shot it.

It didn’t die, the bullet barely seemed to have affected it, but it was enough to drive it back into the woods, he- Adrian was bleeding. Bad.

I- I was so scared he’d die- I lifted him up and wandered the woods looking for the nearby highway, I walked with him for what felt like hours before the forest service found us, they were already on their way because they heard all the gunshots.

From there I guess I must have passed out because next thing I know I’m waking up in a hospital bed, I was well enough and practically jumped out of bed looking for someone to ask if Adrian was alright, but turned out he was in the bed next to me all patched up and sleeping, it’s weird, despite everything that had just happened, in that moment all I thought about was how we must have truly been inseparable if not even a freaky monster could break us apart.

I probably jinxed it. . . Adrian recovered alright and got a ton of gnarly new scars he covers up but. . . he wasn’t the same.

He became . . . obsessed with hunting down whatever that thing was. . . Metaphorically speaking, he’d never go back to those or any other woods ever again, but, he wanted answers, at some point he learned about the lambda institute and became unhealthily obsessed.

His hunger for answers was what began to drive a wedge in our friendship, the supernatural has him in a chokehold, and I don’t even think he realizes it.

Since his recovery he’s. . . spiraled. . . he’s obsessive, possessive, paranoid, and he does things without even thinking about the consequences, before all this happened he was the responsible one, one of our friends joked that I’ve basically become his babysitter, it was a joke but it’s sort of true.

I knew he was obsessed with the paranormal, but I didn’t find out about his fixation on the lambda institute 'till after yesterdays incident when he confessed about it after we left.

. . . He’s been put on mental health leave for a couple weeks, and he’s barely spoken to me since.

I’m getting worried- I’ve been worried, for his health, our r- friendship, but- now more than ever, he always comes to me for everything, but he’s been getting withdrawn, hiding things from me isn’t- he never does that; from others, yes, but not me, I’m- this is bad, I’m worried about what other things he could be hiding, he hid his obsession for months I don’t- I- I think he’s going to do something, something stupid, he’s gonna get hurt and I need to stop him but I don’t know how, I just. . . I just want my best friend back.

> Statement ends.

Pt 192 > here

Prev > here

[lastchancestardomm]

Now that I can look at the seventh comic and be lucid, I've written a bunch of headcanons about our new older and domestic mercs, and have lovingly pointed out the obvious, as I do~

To get it out of the way, I think the writers took the term 'domestic' a little too literally, they REALLY domesticated Scout and Soldier– which is something I'm not upset about.

Scout with a mullet and four Scoutlings was something I wasn't prepared for, though. Soldier and Zhanna having kids is something I was FULLY prepared for, however, because I already had it in mind way back in a post about my final comic predictions.

WE GOT HEAVYMEDIC CANONIZED TOO, FUCK YEAH!!! And, of course, their child is was the mpreg baby. Their kid, which is the baby baboon from the end of the sixth comic (now all grown up), was born from Classic Heavy. And sorry not sorry, but Archimedes is their kid's godfather.

Sniper and Bronislava are also together (or, more accurately, it was implied). No one talks about this new revelation, though, which makes me a bit sad.

Speaking of Sniper, nice to know that he's still sniping! He clearly took his job very seriously during the Gravel Wars, plus I also don't think he'd give up his passion very easily. I do want to imagine he has a nature photography side gig though, since he's all about being alone and having a steady hand, and after the Gravel Wars he'd need some form of income!

The dalmatian seen throughout the epilogue also belongs to Pyro! It's the puppy he adopted from the second comic, but now, seven years later, it's all grown up! I'd imagine Pyro would name it Flame, or maybe Matchstick. Something simple and fire-related.

Speaking of Pyro, I can't help but remind you all that Pyro and Engineer are canonically roommates. It's nice to know they've reunited.

And, even though it was probably unintentional, the parallel between RED Pyro having a dog and BLU Pyro having a cat (see End of the Line) is godly.

Also, it's nice to think that now that all the craziness of the Gravel Wars has died down, Spy has finally moved in with Scout's mom and settled down. They have been canonically fiancés for ages, y'know! (because you know Spy wouldn't have fully committed like that at the beginning 😒)

Miss Pauling sadly was not in the ending! However, I do think she was canonically the person Scout was talking to at the end, which would be fucking amazing if that was true.

Last tangent because I'm not putting this under a cut and it's getting too long. My explanation for why Tom Jones's ghost is present at the ending (because the ONLY time he's interacted directly with the main cast was Soldier snapping his neck) is because not only is he like obligated to be there (Merasmus x Tom Jones fr fr) is Merasmus, while in prison, oversaw through the magic prison toilet brew or whatever Spy disguised as Tom Jones admitting to being Scout's dad and totally misinterpreted it. Merasmus then held that belief, and after dying and becoming a ghost, he invited Tom Jones to Scout's Smissmas party for that reason.

Anyway that's all :P

[daemon-in-my-head]

Bout that essay titled 'A study of Gortash's twisted love of humanity'- yk what fuck it here goes nothing. Back into a facists megalomaniacs mind we go. Spoiler; this is long.

But first of all; let's do a thought experiment. Let's just assume, for shits and giggles, Gortash's position would've somehow been swapped with any other the other chosen or another Banite:

Let's start with the Banites: if we had gotten anyone except for Gortash Baldur's Gate would've been fucked. Like genuinely. Banites are cruel, vicious, unashamedly gaudy (they suck ass at infiltration missions) and they exploit loopholes perhaps even better than fiends. Any other Banite would've simply reveled in the fear caused by rampant myrkulites and bhaalists and probably stoked that fire by employing some of their own forces. And depending on whether the Zhents join the winning side or not they would've probably used and abused the black network to absolutely dominate trade and potentially choke out every non desirable in the city itself by fun activities such as grand scale slavery, starving an entire city, or simply employing enough mercenaries and some Bhaalist to get the job done. Banites fuck everyone over so hard they usually don't even stop at themselves, and prideful cruel beings who know absolutely no bounds in their desire for power commonly don't hesitate, especially not Banites who thrive in backstabbing. So the other chosen and the grand design are fucked cuz they will most certainly get removed for the sake of someone more desirable the second they somehow irk Banes favourite toy. Which in some specific cases (all of them) would be in 5 minutes flat. If you thought the local nobility was bad just wait until you see a Banite in their natural environment.

Ketheric: Yeah Baldur's Gate is fucked. Ketheric cares about one thing and one thing only; Isobel. And he employs a bunch of sadistic necromancers who have no concept of personal boundaries or consent for that matter, so chances are he'd let them roam freely in Baldur's Gate, making the streets a huting ground for his followers to find prime subjects to perform inhumane experiments on all while he turns a blind eye; either busy trying to get Isobel under his (mind-) control, reviving her or treating a brainless puppet that looks and once was his daughter like his one true solution to decades of grief and fucking up. He wouldn't care about what happens to the city, to the other chosen or even the grand design. He'd follow his gods orders but thats about it and no matter whether that's still Myrkul or Bane; everyone's fucked cuz surpringly the guy who adores lichdom more than life and the other guy who'd rather 'burn everyone's fields than loose' aren't about to give out any orders that will benefit anyone but themselves.

Orin: Another great case of 'yeah Baldur's Gate is fucked'. Orin wants one thing and one thing only: recognition. Preferably from Bhaal but she'd take anyone at this point. The problem about this whole thing is, she's been conditioned and instilled with so much self-loathing my dearest murder princess can't even begin to realise when she's getting shown any sort of adoration anymore and immediately understands it as mockery, see, for example, her butler. Is what I would say if their corpse wasn't chilling in Durges old bedroom. All Orin would do is stage ever grander and more elaborate public massacres and involuntary 'anatomy displays'. Baldur's Gate wouldn't simply be fucked; give her a week, and the majority of it would be dead. This works well for Bhaal, but for anyone else, it would kinda suck. Including the other two of the dead three. And the cult would probably still loathe her simply due to her not being a true Bhaalspawn, so cue Orin's madness reaching an absolute boiling point. She doesn't and would never care for any of the other chosen or the grand design. Unless she's reigned in, she's a utterly loose canon, even more so than she was already, with Gortash or Durge at the helm, respectively.

Now time for my favourite of the reckless murder hobos; Durge. Given the few in game notes we have Durge had a thing for obliteration. Including but not limited to every living being + themselves. So let's just assume Gortash’s cocky upstart charm and Orins assassination attempt didn't work out as planned and they are still the de facto leader but now without any leash. Baldur's Gate is probably obliterated. Alongside whatever else remains of the sword coast. Or Troil. They'd probably also have some weird ass fuck relationship with the brain cuz they already did without being the undisputed leader. And the brain would probably discard the grand design themselves cuz somehow Durge has that effect on things (might be the innate charm magic of Bhaalist priests that they use to convince people to join a literal murder cult). Either way, with Durge not giving a single damn about the other chosen, any plans but Bhaals (or their misunderstood version of it) and a dramatic love for self-obliteration, it may finally be time to remedy the elves' mistake and rip Abeir-Toril apart properly. Ao hates this trick, alongside everyone else, probably including Bhaal himself.

Which is all my longwinded way of saying; Gortash is the lesser evil. In any set of circumstances he displays enough leniency, monster fucker vibes and rationality to somehow keep this ruined, sinking ship from hitting the sea floor immediately. He has enough of a twisted love for humanity left, compared to the others, to a degree that he doesn't blindly follow orders or actively seeks the destruction of everything, let alone 'true' domination the way Bane intends to have it.

But yes, indeed, Gortash performed fucked up and cruel experiments. No doubt about that. And yet it was still on a lesser scale than a mad massive hoard of necromancers could, and his experiments, for the most part, actually yielded results, didn't they? Presumably, the Coginator and the remote control brain mechanism used for the Steelwatch. After all, there are zombies(?) in there, controlling that shit. However, the experiments on loving families were probably one of his selfish indulgences and his sorry attempt at figuring out if he was just born loathsome and his family sucks ass or if that's normal and humanity doesn't deserve a second chance. Or a 30th. FR lore is fucked up.

This is also a great transition to exhibit B of my thesis why Gortash does in fact love or is at the very very very least heavily intrigued by humanity; the sole existence of the Steelwatch. Listen, my guy serves Bane. Bane hates planning. He likes immediate results. So much so he actively pisses off his situationship Bhaal for it. Repeatedly. And he likes fear and tyranny. So what do you think the chances are that the black hand would actually enjoy the thought of a mecha army patrolling the streets of Baldur's Gate, keeping them save, and worst of all, instilling hope in the hearts of the populous, peasants and nobles alike? Yeah, absolutely fucking none. And yet Gortash did that. And he's not even just a regular banite. He's Banes chosen. He carries a part of Bane's divinity within himself. He has the de facto highest position in the local faith. He's Banes favourite toy rn. He's the centre of attention and he still goes out of his way to use things that could 1000% inspire fear and hatred to sow fucking hope and a sense of safety of all things in plain sight? I bet his adorable wrinkly ass that Bane wasn't happy and that even a thousand rituals to redeem his leniency won't save him from getting tortured extra hard for this fuck up. And considering the state of the Banites scriptures we found, and his entire character, Gortash is smart enough to know this is something Bane absolutely loathes. And yet my guy did that.

Another thing is the hive mind. Bane would probably not hate it outright, as its still 'burning the fields' by turning souls illithid, but it's wasted potential. Because there's so many great things you can do with a hivemind and the remote control over people's thoughts and emotions, for example instilling fear and terror the very things Bane loves. But that's, once again, not Gortash plan. If the notes and one of the evil endings is anything to go by the hivemind doesn't trap people in a state of torment, it does the polar opposite. People are happy, enjoying a better, simpler and nicer life. Enjoying an idea of what their life could've been like. They're smiling, happy, enjoying a casual market stroll and the bountiful rewards of the fields. Which is all things that a good Banite should hate and never inflict on someone. AND YET that's presumably Gortashs plan. Create a hivemind where everyone can dream happily and do soulless labour without noticing it while the world goes to absolute shit but the people do not. It's basically noah's arc. It's paradise in hell. The people are 'saved' while the gods continue to fight their petty games, and Gortash alone lords over this perfect dream. Protecting it answer using it to advance further.

Now, about the busts found in his office. Most of them depicted rather unsavoury, cruel people. Except for one. Which honours a self made person who took pity on those who had less. On those considered lesser by the upright and honourable citizens of the Gate. It's weird how, between all those symbols and testaments to cutlery and tyranny, there's still a sliver of empathy, renegade justice and even care for fellow humans imbued, isn't it? And what's even weirder, all of them are found in Gortash's most private place? His own little office hidden far above the grandeur of the throne room and the Fortress, where he sits at the helm, lording over his subjects and scheming his little plans? This is an excellent example of show, don't tell btw. It's hitting you over the head with the implications. But just in case, this might very well be a reflection of Gortashs mind itself and the visible expression of him being incapable of letting go of humanity as a whole, still carrying it somewhere not even that well buried between the resentment and cruelty but out in plain view for everyone curious enough to touch it because what others reason would he have tob'play the benelovent ruler' in a place where no one sees it? Where only his most trusted and fellow Banites mingle?

And, ofc, as I am a durgetash truther, another exhibit. Him fucking Bhaals gore baby and putting a leash on it prematurely. You see, I've already talked about Banes likes and dislikes plenty so it should come as no surprise that the Edgelord Surpreme wouldn't hate carnage wrought upon foolish mortals by idiots who follow lesser gods than himself, since it would still somehow contribute to people being scared and panicking. But Gortash, being the ever faithful fuck up of a Banite, reigns in the Bhaalist and even the Myrkulites enough for that to kinda never really happen. He stopped the carnage from happening altogether, in fact, by giving the others enough scraps to keep them satisfied and from acting out but not enough freedom to fuck up his plans. I mean, heck he was apparently so convincing he managed to get Durge, again, biggest fan of self-obliteration, from going on an apocalyptic rampage cuz 'daddy I like his brain and I don't mean for dinner'. Him doing that actively contributed to preventing another Bhaalspawn crisis, which could've very well happened with Bhaals resurgence and revival, 2.5 loose canons and no ward of a random old guy in sight. But also him providing a clear goal and orders for Ketheric kept the lich from giving in to the sweet release of just not caring at all whatsoever. Everyone had their designated roles and boundaries and that was perhaps the only thing keeping this group of mentally unstable creatures from unleashing an apocalyptic nightmare; which again would've worked in their gods favour and technically didn't need any prevention.

And about the Gondians... Yeah this is gonna sound fucked up, cuz it is, but Gortash is actually treating them exceptionally nice. Their families are actually still alive and its not just a lie he's telling them, we don't actually see anyone getting flayed, strung up or tortured in some other way outright, they actually get to wear clothes and presumably they're fed enough to a degree that most of them can still somewhat work and the collar and the threat of your head exploding does suck but he could've also simply chained them to their work stations but they aren't. Let alone use charms or other beguiling and fucked up magic to force them into complacency. And they're not being resold or redistributed or forced to serve some random ass guy. The Gondians are, from a Forgotten Realms and probably Bane's perspective, treated exceptionally well. As are their families. Still undoubtedly fucked up and kinda sadistic with the whole explosion collar but objectively speaking he's one of the nicer slave masters. And they do allow him to produce the Steel Watchers en mass which once again contributes to the overall safety of Baldurs Gate and its other citizens. Still the lesser evil.

Though to be fair; Gortash also did some things Bane would really celebrate. Like somehow cheating his way into obtaining the Iron Throne, fucking Bhaals favourite and most fucked up """"child"""" and of course, keeping his parents alive and in agony to eternally fuel Banes fear kink. Except, it's only Sally who's afraid. Dravo is basically a blue screen of death personified at this point. He's a hollow, numb husk, isn't he? So somehow this once again doesn't align with Banes goals and Gortash's duty as a Banite. He's fucked it up again. But Gortash could've also simply killed them if all he wanted was revenge. Why go out of your ways, program elaborate scripts into them, keep the very place that testaments his fucked up past in good condition? Because a quick death would be too merciful? But then why is he so quick to turn on Durge if they betray him in a much smaller scale than his parents did. Well, perhaps he chose not to simply kill the very people who prepared Belladonna in the kitchen when he came to visit because he himself still needs them. Because underneath all that rage and spite there's still a broken boy who wants to hear his parents, albeit empty praise, and who wants to prove to them that he can be better? That his useless playing around actually helped better humanity, that he himself helped countess people and made lives better when all they thought he'd be useful as would be a pawn?

So, is it twisted? Yes. Is it rotten? Absolutely. Is it anything you'd consider to be 'conventional'? Absolutely not. But he does hold some wildly fucked up 'love' for humanity, if only as means to a grander goal (that being himself, ofc) or perhaps cuz he's genuinely incapable of letting go. Whether it's that, to spite Raphael, Bane and his parents or someone else, who knows. Probably nobody. But the shit he does is unorthodox and oddly self-sacrificial in a way where I just can't go, 'yeah no he absolutely loathes the sheer existence of the concept'.

I still think it's a missed opportunity he's not trying to build a spelljamming port though. I feel like he would absolutely do that somewhere down the line, if only to limit the black networks influence.

[sophie-frm-mars]

I'm not sure how much people are talking about Aaron Bushnell having engaged with online leftist media, but the records show that they were a viewer of a bunch of different twitch streams, including mine, and subscribed to a bunch of patreons, including mine. I'm not going to inflate my importance here, the livestream link was sent directly to Talia Jane and Anark, so those are probably the voices Bushnell felt the most connected to and followed the most directly, like idk if they also subscribed to someone's patreon after watching a video abt Cars 2 or whatever, I'm not trying to examine whether social media drove the self immolation because I think that's disrespectful to the memory of someone who literally died screaming Free Palestine. I don't personally know of any leftist creators who directly advocate political suicide, and I know that we all share in the political understanding that underscored Bushnell's decision.

I've already made a point of telling my patreon server that my politics are about growing into each other and supporting one another and that if anyone asked me if I thought they should do what Bushnell did I would say no absolutely not.

I'm ruminating a bit on the nature and meaning of the protest, because a lot of people are engaging with the image of a man in fatigues on fire, standing proud and declaring "FREE PALESTINE", while I've seen others talking about the fact Bushnell's username on several platforms was LillyAnarKitty, mourning the loss of a potential trans sister, talking in depressive terms about the act of suicide, to which I think the people who are engaging in the more macho interpretation of the protest are saying "no it was cool and masculine, it wasn't suicide in the conventional sense it was about principle!" I think there's room for plenty of both. For the record LillyAnarKitty used he and she pronouns in discord servers.

Andreas Malm's approach to self-sacrifice and self-endangerment is that we as subjects of the imperial core are in a sense, precious. Valuable. We are supposedly what it is all for. The imperialist project must be doing it for the citizens of the imperialist nations because if it isn't, then it has to nakedly admit that it is doing it all for the intense power and wealth consolidation of a tiny tiny number of soulless ghouls. Therefore when we put ourselves in harm's way in a way that says you would have to destroy me to get to the thing I care about, we leverage the implicit value of ourselves for our principles. A planned protest by Palestine Action against the London Stock Exchange was allegedly going to involve locking the actionists' necks onto the mechanism of the door into the LSE making it impossible to enter or leave without probably killing them, for example. I think that Bushnell's self immolation sits on a sort of dissonance, my life is precious and my life is worthless. My life is precious and so you should care about the obvious tragedy that I am enacting and my life is worthless if thousands upon thousands of Palestinians are killed as part of the project that enables the life that I lead.

There is also the way that people have debated the meaning of "complicit in genocide" - Bushnell worked in USAF Intelligence and the US has active troops in Palestine, it's possible that they were already culpable in an unknowable number of deaths without having set foot there.

In one sense it's a little pointless to debate the fine details of the meaning of Bushnell's protest in the same way that it's pointless to pick over any feelings of responsibility that I and I know other people that we know they watched are feeling. When I first saw the video I was struck by the language, by their concise and astute analysis and I knew, without knowing just how closely that they were plugged into the same intellectual and political milieu as us. In that same sense I think that they already described what they did the best that any of us are going to be able to:

“My name is Aaron Bushnell. I am an active-duty member of the United States Air Force, and I will no longer be complicit in genocide.”

“I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest. But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”

"Free Palestine."

[the-sunshine-dims]

Alright! the Wolfverse/Artverse recap!

because i care about them and I'll use any excuse to talk about the characters, and if people are curious? I'll absolutely yap!

my credentials: do not cite the deep magic to me witch, i was there when it was written (i was there and in chat for it, and more importantly, my brain got really fixated on it and that fixation has never left)

brief disclaimer: the Wolfverse and the Artverse I'd arguably class differently? with the Artverse being most of their characters (not all) while the wolf verse is very unique to like, specific universes, and the mc specific skin worn for them. Also! most of what I'll actually be talking about happened about three years ago! so my memory may be fuzzy on some details, so that's where i'll lean into quoting what i wrote down about it while it happened! so hopefully it's all accurate and understandable!

First off brief explanation of the wolf universes:

Survival (A survival world from before fable where 'Wolf' was given lore and like, created! love them, the og.) (as well as includes a hardcore world later on, but timeline wise its canonically set before the main survival world so i'll just loop it into that explanation)

3rd life (a 3rd life clone with a bunch of people, featuring Ocie! as well as another person named penguin)

Fable (You know him, you love him, Fenris <3)

as well as assorted other versions (Skybound: Aquil, craft: Artemis, the lilac universe: Fang, Eod, and i'd argue survival w/ Beck!)

Some aspects from these universes follow into the general Artverse! specifically because of the Ocieverse, and, because its probably fun??? ngl, this is primarily the case of wwsmp, because i'd definitely argue that artisan is not a wolf variant! though beloved.

And now with that pre-explained, the part i can talk about for ages! Survival and 3rd life wolf :D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay so the survival world was where Wolf's lore started! at least from a streaming aspect! Wolf's big thing originally was their fire (notably arson, so much arson,) and general destruction motifs! and they were also so incredibly in love with the moon. which I'd argue those are the few aspects that carried into fable! (even if for the fire one, it was definitely lessened, but that Neveah cutscene? i stare at it everyday)

But the story was, that once long ago, Wolf was a human, just as mortal and fallible as anyone, having a real name now lost to time, and in love with the world herself, and everything around them. But through mere accident, a misjudgement of their eyes, they lost their life, falling into the depths below.

but mother nature loved them so much, that she brought them back, different than before, now able to respawn, now.. different, they still loved each other, for a time. Having a child together 'moss', but wolf was... destructive, the ability to respawn changing them, maybe, maybe making something already in them worse, more notable. and they fought more then not, the relationship falling apart bitterly, and Mother Nature was very much part of the vitriol, ultimately ending their relationship in cursing Wolf. “If you act like a beast, a beast you shall become'', turning them into a true wolf (or something resembling it, it was vague) taking their memories, and setting them loose into the forest with no direction, especially tragic as they unknowingly left their child, Moss, without any warning. without any knowledge of the abandonment.

During the time Wolf was left without memory, he was taken in by a wolf pack, most of them not important, however Wolf has taken a bitter relationship with his aunt Beth, because she was a wolf who married a sheep (S!Wolf, is just, silly like that and chooses beef strongly, and. i cannot explain this beef i'm going to be real) The sheep husband's name is Todd and he is just a guy and he just hung around the world, Usually in the cow pen if i remember right, unbothered by the tension and conflict, he just loved his Wolf wife.

the one true constant of Wolf's memory-less arc, was the Moon, she was always there, watching, protecting, a guiding light in a confusing tunnel. When all Wolf was, was lost, and alone. she provided solace and encouragement, and that was never forgotten, only toned up more as Wolf slowly remembered, becoming more "human" again, or a bastardized version of it- as most as one can truly become when you were so thoroughly stripped of what made you so, and then forced into a world you know now hates you, and you hate her just as much.

Wolf, even memory-less had the same pension for destruction that Mother Nature cursed them for. but when they remembered, it got so much worse, more... spiteful. Committing numerous crimes, without guilt nor remorse. Lighting whole forests ablaze, almost like an itch they were scratching, something deep in their veins craving the ashes, and now that they remembered the betrayal- making their now grown child think that it was them who abandoned them. and not a forced action. they hold back nothing, pillaging towns- burning them down just as frequently. burning down anything. Their canonically wanted. But their so dangerous its not truly worth going after them. However he is far from welcome in towns or cities. Really- anywhere he could go, he is unwelcome.

but. the Moon is still there for him, shining just as brightly, and in return- as an ode to them, Wolf would frequently build things in the Moon's image, sitting and just, appreciating her. so in love, as the wind carried whispered messages to and fro.

Despite all of Wolf’s problems, despite the fire in their veins clawing its way out, the relationship between them and the Moon is very loving, Wolf admires the Moon and just thinks their beautiful, showing it at every turn, creating monuments and places to admire the Moon. and the Moon loves Wolf, despite his flaws and for his flaws, the Moon thinks their perfect in how imperfect they are.

They are a Wolf who leaves a burning in his wake reminiscent of the sun itself, and the moon who cares dearly for them.

over the course of Wolf settling down- not in their destructive ways, but just making a home and everything surrounding it, they adopt children- stragglers who made their way into their home or barn without Wolf's say so, and Wolf taking them in- Notably a couple endermen, Kitten being the first, then Puppy, then, different then the others, a small little piglin named Bucky, the new baby of the family.

Ultimately, Wolf is the same as before, the fire is still there, but they have one thing now that they had once lost, little hands that grasp at theirs, and and shiny wonder-filled eyes that look at them as if they hold the world.

and that's where that story ends.

(For more kiddie information explained clearly)

Moss is the child of Wolf and Mother Nature, the oldest of Wolf’s children, and the only one who wasn't adopted. and who is an adult currently, becoming an adult before Wolf even remembered. Questionably a deity of some kind?? some offshoot of nature. Doesn't forgive Wolf and chooses to not have them in their life, leaving Wolf to make builds including moss as almost an apology- or a plead.)

The next child is Kitten, he was the first adopted enderman, the fan-favorite child for a long time, though just because they were one of the first, doesn't make them the oldest!

Puppy, was the next enderman, while the information is widely uncertain, it's highly agreed upon that puppy is older then Kitten, making them the middle child

Their were several others, but it's hard to tell who is considered Wolf’s child and who isn't, the axolotls, for example, are Wolf’s children, but don't make it onto the list,

Then there's Bucky, the youngest, the baby of the family, a baby zombie piglin that is absolutely adored! and who pops up in many universes.

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The 3rd Life Clone:

okay- so this one- is honestly a bit harder for me to explain, just because a lot happened and it was split into sessions once a week that happened right as i woke up, so some of my memory is a bit loose (heavily relying on my notes) this is my warning, but i will preface that, remember the Ocie-verse arc in fable season three with Geist? and how Geist recognized Fenris- not entirely, but enough? THATS BECUASE OF THIS SMP! since Geist was a makeshift mash of a couple Ocie's that weren't supposed to still exist- one of the pieces was 3rd life Ocie! and i hold that in my little hands!! that audio clip lives rent free in my head.

*3rd life was just referred to as Art so i will just be referring to them as that!

During the first session- later instated as the mulligan session, Art met someone named Penguin_Insanity whom quickly became a team member! they made their base a hole in the ground, expanding it more and more, and tunneling to find caves and materials, in one of the caverns they found, they found two diamonds, and everyone unanimously decided those are their wedding rings! their married! yippee!

Pretty soon after Ocie comes around and joined their team, the engagement expands, its decided their all husbands, good for them. and the base gets a lot nicer!

then they went to the nether! and that's where they found and adopted Bucky. Bucky J Goldenrenity. (a mix of all of their last names), and then with the nether exploits, Art loses their green and yellow life in quick succession after blowing themself up and respawning in a red-lifes house.

But it was fine! everything was fine. it just meant the chaos was starting. and what a better way to start it but a wedding? So, they all got married officially, the whole server attending the beautiful ceremony under a gazebo decorated completely with flowers.. meanwhile Ocie and Art made a plan with a third party for them to kill everyone's villagers during the ceremony, behind Penguin's back, it was a beautiful day, followed by a lot of uproar and Penguin leaving their trio to join another group for a time.

it was tense, now just the two of them, and Ocie was stuck in the horrible purgatory of yellow life, so close to being able to kill, to go on the offense, but not quite. stuck. and so she pleaded with Art to kill her, to make her a red life, (featured in dio!Ocie’s lore)

And Art did, the message filling the minecraft chat with confusion- notably penguin, Who saw it and didn't know it was planned nor talked about. so the three of them met up to talk, with so much concern. it was very bittersweet as the husbands reunited before the final showdown that happens just the next week.

Art and Ocie die before Penguin, but even though it's delayed minorly, Bucky still ends up alone in a house that was once bustling.

He is the only survivor, and that itself is the cost.

...

And thats the lore!!!! hopefully i explained both universes well enough to give an accurate and good account of them! But i care about the other universe Wolf's so muchhh, i actually started watching fable originally because i was already so deeply invested in survival!Wolf, and wanted to see where this version of him went, and it went COOL!!! Fenris my beloved.

now that I've explained, i can post more about survival wolf <3 win for the me! :D

[fusrodie]

really have got to stop watching Elden Ring lore videos, it's going to legit drive me insane one of these days. bear with me:

Messmer was a cool enough dude to command loyalty from a bunch of people, and was an elder brother figure to Radahn

Messmer uses the winged serpent as a motif/token creature for his army

serpents are considered traitors of the Erdtree, and their effigies were even used in the arenas in the capital

the video I was watching points out that this means either Messmer besmirched his own reputation by adopting the motif, which sounds incredibly unlikely considering he did amass an army of loyal soldiers, or serpents became a symbol of treason against the Erdtree after him, or because of him

sure, easy to think well, the crusade, yada yada. however, put on your tinfoil hats for a second: there's this theory that the Erdtree burned before. we're going to run with it for a second. Enia tells us that it can only be burned by someone who bore a vision of fire. Messmer clearly has, and the item descriptions confirm this and point towards Melina being his younger sister.

what I'm getting at here is, what if the age of plenty of the Erdtree came to a halt because the tree burned, likely accidentally, because of Messmer? or rather, the serpent. considering he's very devoted to Marika, I'd imagine it was an accident, and/or he deeply regretted it and that's why he's so determined to see the crusade through.

so the Erdtree burns, and that is of course a massive blow to the Golden Order. rather than blame Messmer directly, the/a serpent is blamed and becomes reviled. but he's already a cool dude with an army, and nobody knows that he is in fact the serpent. Marika can't keep him around lest his fire gets out of hand again, because he is very much a threat to her age. she had some scores to settle with the Hornsent anyway, so Crusade time it is. she seals him away. he is aware and accepts he can never return, but he doesn't tell his soldiers that. nor does he tell them about the base serpent, which naturally pisses some people off when they do find out.

with Melina, she doesn't take any chances. she is burned and bodiless, only a threat when wielded by a Tarnished, which is the plan anyway. she couldn't kill Messmer though, because that would mean having to contend with the Abyssal Serpent. someone pointed out he is that fucking strong and doesn't even hold a rune, probably wasn't there for the shattering. away in a realm he can't return from and where the unleashed power of the serpent fits her goals is perfect, really.

[sylwanin-was-right]

From Empireonline./com:

The Mangkwan, or Ash People, will play a more antagonistic role in the Avatar saga, hardened by a tragedy that has left them less-than-enamoured with Pandora’s spiritual entity, Eywa. “They have a bunch of unresolved trauma,” says Oona Chaplin, who plays their leader Varang – set to be a formidable force in Fire And Ash. “They got hit by a natural disaster and what Varang did was say, ‘Well, fuck Eywa.’” Where the Omatikaya and Metkayina both believe deeply in the interconnectedness of Pandora’s ecosystem, Varang has led the Mangkwan down another path. “She basically goes towards a different power, and tries to harness that, and in so doing kind of raises her people out of misery,” Chaplin explains. “It’s easy to fall into the villain mentality, but actually she’s the hero of her people. Because she’s saved them out of misery and starvation and begging.”

* Bolded is mine; in red for color theme

While its a little cliché for a character/people to basically say 'fuck god' and turn to a destructive force for empowerment, I think we'll see Varang as less a villain and more an anti-hero according to what Oona Chaplin describes here.

I had a feeling that the villanous imagery surrounding Varang and the Mangkwan was a a little, deliberately misleading; Im sure Cameron and the writers knew how sensitive it would be to make an indigenous-coded character antagonistic for the sake of being 'bad', on top of fire, possible athiesm or blasphemy, redness and dark colors associated as their image.

So maybe with the fact that Varang is seen as a hero to her own people for leading them out of misery it may be that she's an antagonistic force in the film because whatever Jake and the Omatikaya and Metkayina have in mind for their own clans and safety, it clashes ideologically and perhaps even logisticslly with the interests and self determination of the Mangkwan.

But I wonder what she meant by 'begging', too?

I saw this comment on Reddit that made some good points about what Chaplin could be hinting at when she implies part of Varang's heroism is leading her people to be less dependent after tragedy:

From u./anbaric26 on r./Avatar on Reddit:

But it’s an interesting note that the Mangkwan kind of became like beggars after their home was destroyed. From everything we see about the Na’vi in the previous films and FOP, it seems like the clans would always work together to help other clans in distress. It’s kind of interesting that it seems like perhaps other clans were reluctant to help the Mangkwan? Maybe because the Mangkwan had broken some of the laws of Eywa or had done something to warrant an exile or punishment? Either way it makes sense that the Mangkwan would resent other clans if no one came to their aid when their home was destroyed.

I like the theory that the Mangkwan were possibly rejected by certain clans that could have helped them which explains their 'hardened' demeanor and challenging and probably isolated lifestyles. Ive seem some people suspect that the Mangkwan were hardened because they lived in poverty or are currently struggling but they look like theyve adapted well and are embracing a rather unconventional way to live a s a way of saying 'fuck you' not only to the concept of Eywa but to other Na'vi who disparaged them.

What do you all think?