#acquired needs framework

[serpentface]

Do you have any information on the root scholars that you can share? They’ve always been a cool cult/organization to me

Ok it’s a facet of the Eterhimhamdli religion, which is The most widespread single belief system east of the inner seaway (which isn't saying much in terms of scale but it's still pretty significant) and also one I've barely introduced so I'll go over it a bit here.

Eterhimhamdli has spread past its initial sphere of old (~500 years BP) southern Lowlands Yuroma kingdoms, has many folk practices, and has schismed a few times, so there's a good deal of cultural variation. But its basic tenants/tendencies are:

-Creator deities are wholly rejected, the universe is an interplay between non-personified dualistic forces of Body(evil)/Mind(good). In one schism, the interplay of these two forces is the Dream, in others dreaming is an aspect of Mind.

-Deities in general are not wholly at odds with Eterhimhamdli, but their importance is de-emphasized and worship is usually discouraged in favor of making them objects of contemplation and/or tutelary figures.

-The Mind of the universe exists as a collective soul from which human souls emanate

-every person has two souls: an egoistic soul that animates the body and an ethereal soul that animates the mind. The latter is conceptualized as a single drop from a greater sea of the collective soul.

-belief that true wisdom is derived through access to this collective soul.

-belief that the trappings of the the ego-soul and the body's demands inhibits access to said collective soul.

-belief in the concept of enlightened beings who gain full experiential knowledge of the collective soul while remaining in a body, thus becoming capable of directly communicating aspects of their wisdom to the masses.

the biggest schism in this religion is over whether enlightenment just means experiencing full knowledge of the collective before you die, or whether it means transcending the limits of the body entirely and functionally becoming an immortal, godlike being.

deities of older/other religions absorbed by Eterhimhamdli are often reframed as enlightened mortals.

-most sects believe that only sophont life (or sometimes Only humans) have a etherial-soul along with the ego-soul, while animals exclusively have the ego-soul. Plants and inanimate objects Usually aren't ascribed souls outsides of heavily syncretic folk practices.

-belief in a fundamental good-evil cosmic dualism, though in a fairly complex way (evil is a necessity for life that is to be tempered and grappled with, rather than outright vanquished from the world entirely). The notion of 'evil' here is most associated with bodily desires (this includes all bodily needs like hunger and thirst, necessary to support life but viewed dangerous in excess, and being the root of conflict and pain).

the evil nature of bodily desire is not About sex, but does translate to non-procreative sex being frowned upon to varying extents.

-belief that life is a state of internal warfare between the evil ego-soul and the good ethereal-soul, with the former being more powerful and influential. To lead a good life is to bring the ego-soul into equilibrium with the ethereal soul. To live a wise and venerable life is to fully tip the balance in the latter's favor (this is not an expectation for lay followers, as it is considered profoundly difficult and requires separation from worldly life).

-lay followers practice forms of temperance to bring these forces into equilibrium, priests practice forms of asceticism to subdue the ego-soul and gain experiential wisdom in the process.

-The way you balance your life has consequences for the afterlife. An evil life causes an eternal death (this is usually posited as an underworld), a life in equilibrium causes one to be reborn into a new human body (a neutral fate), and a good life results in full return to the collective soul (this is a state of complete peace and contentedness and access to infinite wisdom).

-A selection of hallucinogenic plants are central to the monastic/priestly aspects of the religion, being seen as the key method through which the body can be transcended and the ego-soul can be quieted in order to tap into the collective. Lay followers do not participate in this facet on a regular basis.

-Priests also participate in self-flagellation, as the struggle with physical pain is a key microcosm of the broader internal war with the ego-soul, and can be a source of wisdom and contemplation. They are extensively tattooed for partly related purposes. Laymen are not expected to flagellate as a practice but rather to apply teachings to/learn from struggles with everyday pain.

-Very complicated relations with violence as a concept. Some strains of Eterhimhamdli philosophy see violence as an exclusive result of evil to be avoided whenever possible (usually more completely by priesthoods than the wider societies they live in), others see it as a neutral tool in of itself that Can be a force for good when used wisely. (Large scale 'wise usages of violence for the sake of good', shockingly, tend to favor the in-group's position in preexisting ethnic/religious/territorial conflicts).

-Most sects are proselytizing and see conversion as a necessity to create a better world, and have broadly unfavorable views of other religious practices.

This does not extend to seeing all societies that practice Eterhimhamdli or even The Same Schism Of Eterhimhamdli in a positive light (the birthplace of this religion is currently about 60 semi independent city-states organized into leagues that are frequently at war with each other)

-Highly favors education, literacy, rhetoric, debate, and the acquisition of material knowledge along with deeper spiritual wisdom. Knowledge and wisdom are venerable traits and societies should be led by the learned, or at least by people under their guidance.

---

The Scholarly Order of the Root is one order of Lowlands Eterhimhamdli monastics, functioning as a closed cult/mystery religion. They’re based out of Suurota (one of the biggest Yuroma city-states and dominant member of its league). They're at the top of the league's hierarchy of monastics, very wealthy, and have some involvement in governance (being an advisory body to the magistrate).

The Scholars primarily interact with the general public by hosting many of the league's institutions of scholarship and philosophy, and some of the biggest libraries in this part of the world. Their institutions are used by laymen Suurota citizens and members of government for study, and they host monks and priests (uninitiated to the inner cult) in their halls.

Actual membership to the Scholars cult is limited, they neither expect nor want associates to participate in their rituals. Rather, they position themselves as teachers- revealing small aspects of their secret knowledge to laymen and the lesser monastics as a form of guidance, while keeping dangerous knowledge for only the trusted inner circle.

Their baseline belief system aligns with the general schema of Lowlands Eterhimhamdli (one of three major schisms of this belief system), but their closed cult practices revolve around fairly unique interpretations, understood to be the ultimate underlying truths of this worldview.

The Scholars focus on an extention the Mind-Body model of the universe where their synthesis is the Dream (this itself is not unique to this cult, but the depths of their focus is). Under this model, the world is the dream of the collective consciousness, and achieving enlightenment or even temporary lucidity can allow the dream to be shaped to one's will.

One of their most secretive practices is god-building, in which they utilize altered mental states to shape the fabric of the dream into entities they can use as personal teachers of secret knowledge (also as a type of magic in general, they use it to 'build' guardians and curses and the like).

The process involves using mild doses of Ur-Root brew (mostly derived from roots of the clonal Ur-Wood colony, whose bark has notable concentrations of dimethyltryptamine and also hosts milder fungal hallucinogens) while maintaining an object and concept as a focal point of concentration. The altered state provided by the Root allows the user some access to the wisdom of the collective soul, and they will experience secret knowledge and revelations about this object, how it can best be used (this will be supplemented by material knowledge about the subject). This process is repeated until the user experiences a sense of Presence in the object, which must be interacted with, given a name and a face. Through more repetition, the object is believed to be shaped into a sort of thoughtform god which has come into material existence via manipulation of the dream.

This is considered to take immense time and effort to come to completion, god-building projects can last for years and be the combined effort of multiple Scholars. In the end, you have shaped an entity to your will that can operate independently of you.

The Ur-Wood itself is the center of Scholar cult practice, as it is both the purveyor of their most important hallucinogen and believed to have been the first god ever shaped by this form of lucid dreaming (it's a pilgrimage site for Eterhimhamdli where thousands of followers have undergone Ur-Root trips over the past four centuries, using the woods as an object of contemplation). To them the Ur-Tree is the ultimate teacher of their cult, an extremely powerful built-god that has been involved in almost every journey to enlightenment and contains all these journeys within its substance.

They believe that communing with the tree via Ur-Root can grant access to all enlightened mortals- full trips (with a DMT breakthrough type experience) will often involve sensations of encountering entities, which they interpret to be these historical figures. Within their religious framework, they're kind of speedrunning enlightenment. Under most conventional frameworks, the teachings of wise and/or enlightened people are conveyed in writing or speech as things to Contemplate on one's own journey- you might be able to understand them Conceptually but true understanding is Experiential, a process that can take a lifetime. In their framework, they're both receiving these teachings directly AND embodying states in which they can experientially comprehend them.

That summarizes most of their secret practices, and the rest of their practice is pretty standard for devout Lowlands Eterhimhamdlist priests. They live a partly ascetic lifestyle, they bear extensive tattoos as a contemplation of pain and marker of their journeys, they flagellate, they use tutelary hallucinogens, they refine their non-experiential body of knowledge through debate and rhetoric, they work to accumulate both worldly and spiritual knowledge, they work as scribes, etc.

[thecaduceusclay]

Alright, I’ll bite. Devil’s Minion in both the book and the show feels very connected to the AIDS crisis… but I’ve only ever acquired knowledge about that period through osmosis, so I’m curious if you have any thoughts/connections or information. 👀

I put out a call for people to ask me fandom-related queer history questions since I know a lot! I want to remind people this is open and that I welcome any fandom questions about queer history!

Ok this is going to get long because I have a lot of feelings on this topic especially. For those who just want some resources, further reading, and my sources, you can find those at the end. I'll pepper some links in, but I'll try to put the bulk of it there. But Daniel Molloy in the show especially is a man heavily impacted by the history of the AIDS crisis and I have a lot to say about that. I'm also assuming a knowledge of what HIV and AIDS are in the first place. You can do some quick reading here.

First, a note on the books since I mostly want to talk about the show. Queen of the Damned was published in 1988 when the AIDS crisis was in full swing. The peak of deaths was in 1993, but 1988 wasn't exactly early in it. The previous year saw the start of the AIDS memorial quilt, the founding of ACT UP (we'll talk about them later 💜), and Princess Diana publicly shaking the hand of an HIV positive patient. The shadow is cast over the culture, Anne Rice was not immune to the zeitgeist. Hell, she was living in the Castro district at the time and that is a notably queer area. (Her son Christopher talks about that briefly here.) I don't this the parallels are an accident. Armand is a man watching his lover slowly waste away while he can do nothing about it. Sure, it isn't AIDS, it's the alcohol and lack of care to his body. Sure, Armand could turn him. But despite their fun and their arguments being such a focus, that helplessness and fear permeates their relationship in the Devil's Minion chapter. Like so many gay men at the time, Daniel is wasting away. Armand is tormented by this. That is one of the most prominent faces of queer men at this time!

Daniel in the show has more going on in relation to the crisis.

I'll start by saying this in case it needs asserted, Daniel is a leftist journalist. And I don't mean in a casual liberal way. He's clearly passionate and involved and these things matter to him. He makes flippant and offensive comments in the interview sure, but I'm not saying he's perfect. His books give this away. He wrote about environmental issues in Under the Burning Sky, the prison industrial complex in The United States of Prison and Profit, and seemingly the surveillance state in Homelandia and likely in his book on Snowden. I'd also like to gesture to his work with "the barb". The Berkeley Barb was a leftist underground student paper. I'd recommend taking a look at their archives linked here and their website to get a grasp for what he was writing with at the time. (Warning, the archives are often NSFW). But in short the barb's attitude was largely anti-war, sex-positive, fuck the establishment kind of writing. He was already like this when he ran into Louis in '73. This will inform our view of him moving forward and will be our framework for understanding how he interfaced with the AIDS crisis.

I think it's important to note Daniel's proximity to AIDS too. I mean, subtextually, he had a brush with it when Louis nearly killed him in '73. Louis was a silent killer sweeping through the queer men of San Fran. Gay men were likely seeing lovers and friends disappear after going home with a stranger. Risky sex and drug use leading to a death going unacknowledged, one that's largely impacting gay men? I think the subtext of it is queer-- I mean clear. (Louis is not an all around metaphor for AIDS, but the ties between it and vampirism in the series seem clear, and in this instance the connection is there specifically for Louis, no one come for my ass).

Speaking of, the proximity is there in his behaviors too. He's a drug user who goes home with random men. (Casual sex was a big part of gay culture back then, see the hanky code and cruising for this.) Both of these actions put him at high risk of contracting HIV and put him among populations more likely to contract it. He was using heroin, and needle sharing is a huge risk factor in the spread of bloodborne illnesses, which can lead to the spread of HIV (which is why needle exchanges are so important.)

Finally for incidental proximity early on, Daniel was living in San Francisco. We know he frequented Polynesian Mary's at least, and possibly other gay bars. He also likely lived near or in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood (given his memoir being called Hate and Ashbury). This area is very notably queer, historically. By 1990 HIV was the leading cause of death for young men in San Francisco at 61%. That's frighteningly high, and sure this was much later, but San Francisco was an epicenter.

AIDS was first identified in 1981 as a spread of Karposi Sarcoma and PCP (or "gay pneumonia" colloquially) in gay men in areas like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The first KS patient to go public (Bobbi Campbell) was in San Fran. He later wrote the first pamphlet on "safer sex". The first KS clinic was opened here, and later the first dedicated AIDS clinic (which Daniel seems to have written an article about according to his LinkedIn). By 1982 this epidemic was known as GRID, or Gay Related Immuno-Deficiency. (Interesting parallel that s1 notes Daniel as having an auto-immune disease, which Parkinson's is not primarily known as...). Daniel was covering these early years. His book A Shadow on the Skin was about this! It was a collection of articles he wrote on KS in the early years as he documented it becoming the AIDS crisis! He was routinely writing about the early epidemic. (s/o to @cbrownjc for this post where I found the blurb on the back of the book).

So, while living in San Francisco, this deeply politically involved young man was watching the early crisis unfold. He saw gay men dying slowly. Some gay men at the time described watching the AIDS crisis sweep through as watching their cities become ghost towns. This was something terrifying, something haunting, and something attributed largely to queer men. I mean, it was called GRID until 1982/1983. It wasn't until Ryan White, a 13 year old boy, contracted HIV from a blood transfusion in 1984 that people began seeing it as anything but just a gay disease. Even then, public perception didn't change quickly. It was so heavily associated with gay men, even, that getting national medical authorities to recognize women could contract it and treat it in women was a struggle.

All of this horror was occurring and the government ignored it. When they didn't ignore it? Ronald Reagan, then president, laughed at it. Hospitals were terrified of gay men, some refused to touch or treat AIDS patients. The FDA and CDC were slow to respond and to treat it.

In season one, Daniel is dismissive of his own queerness. He shrugs off his being in gay bars and hooking up with men, acts like it wasn't a big deal and it was just to score. I think this dismissive attitude likely stems from the AIDS crisis, at least in part. Lingering trauma from Louis' attack in '73 may play a role, after all, the body keeps the score. But I don't think we can overlook AIDS as a factor. The writers clearly didn't overlook it in his characterization, as exemplified above. I think they mean for this to impact who he is and how we view him! He watched some of the most terrifying years in recent queer history, of course he would downplay his queerness, of course he would marry two women even if he wasn't happy with them. (Not denying he may be bisexual, but he's certainly closeted.) And in the end, despite distance from his queerness, he still ended up having to waste away slowly from a disease with no cure, just uncomfortable treatments, much like men in the early AIDS crisis. (Early AIDS treatments were all trial based, you were lucky if you got in. You were lucky if you didn't end up in the control group. But the gamble was all you had, and those were the lucky ones. Even then it may not work, it was a trial for a reason. It wasn't until 1987 that AZT was approved to treat AIDS. It wasn't until the mid-90's, years later, that AIDS was considered survivable. I can't help but see his levadopa and how it only slows the inevitable as a parallel to this. A terrible reflection of earlier fears. Parkinson's has no cure. He'll deteriorate until he succumbs, even with medicine. He's lucky if it improves his quality of life, if it doesn't just make him more miserable. He'd be lucky to get a few more years.)

If Devil's Minion happened in the past, Armand watched his lover engage in high risk activities, while clearly aware of the risk given his coverage of AIDS. He watched Daniel writing a book worth of articles on KS and AIDS clinics. He knew how horrifying it was, he knew Daniel knew, and he watched his lover play with fire by using heroin anyway. And in the end? He still watched Daniel deteriorate slowly with medicine that only slowed it more.

If Devil's Minion is only coming and wasn't in the past at all? I think the impact of AIDS mostly falls to Daniel. After being turned he embraces life so fully. Yes, because he was dying before. But his style feels more queer once again. He doesn't have to fear any human diseases! He can fuck men! He can be gay! The shadow that hung over his youthful queer exploration, that interrupted it, is gone for him. And now he doesn't feel it's too late for him, I imagine. I mean, before he didn't have many peers, so many his age died. But now he's a vampire, he's outside of this. He can fuck young men, vampires, whatever. He's now outside of society whether he likes it or not, he's the "other", in for a penny in for a pound, right? And I think that's all going to impact who he is as a character going forward now too.

If there's interest in a Part 2 on the impact of AIDS activism in New York, since Daniel likely saw a lot of it up close, I'll gladly write it. I have opinions and info to share.

For now, stay safe everyone. I love you. And here's some further reading.

~~~~~~~~

A timeline of HIV and AIDS (1981-2024)

Only Your Calamity: The Beginnings of Activism by and for People With AIDS

HIV Infection as Leading Cause of Death Among Young Adults in US Cities and States (1993, about 1990)

On the impacts of the AIDS crisis on gay culture

The Queer significance of San Francisco

1 2 3 4 5 6

AIDS Memorial Quilt

Princess Diana's AIDS Advocacy

About the Berkeley Barb

How Ryan White impacted the view of AIDS

Daniel Molloy's LinkedIn

Practicum Page

[literaryvein-reblogs]

hello, i was wondering if you could help me with describing hands? one of my characters is using sign language to communicate, and while the facial expressions are fine it's the hands i struggle with. thank you for your hard work!!

Describing Sign Language in Writing

Sign language - a nonverbal communication method that relies on physical movement instead of spoken words.

The figure shows the well-defined structure that distinguishes sign languages from simple gestural communication or mime, imbuing them with the complexity and depth characteristics of the spoken language.

Sign languages, distinct from the many communication methods employed by humans, exhibit expressions of complex linguistic systems rooted in visual-manual modality.

Rather than merely gestures, these languages are structured and intricate, evolving in response to cultural and societal influence.

At the core of sign language lies manual articulation complemented by non-manual elements (such as facial expressions and body posture).

This combination yields a rich communication tapestry in which each sign or gesture has a specific meaning organized by syntactic and morphological rules.

Visual-spatial language uses visible cues from the hands, eyes, facial expressions, and movements to convey meaning.

Although sign language is primarily used by individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, it is also used by many hearing people.

Like spoken languages, sign languages have their own grammar and structural rules and have evolved.

However, there is no universal sign language, and different countries have unique versions of sign languages specific to their regions and cultures. Example: the ASL differs from Auslan in Australia and the BSL in the United Kingdom. A person fluent in ASL may need to understand a local version of sign language in Sydney, Australia, instead of different dialects or accents in spoken languages.

There are more than 300 different sign languages in the world, spoken by more than 72 million deaf or hard-of-hearing people worldwide.

Each individual gesture is called a sign. Each sign has 3 distinct parts:

the handshape,

the position of the hands, and

the movement of the hands.

PHONOLOGY. At the heart of all languages, spoken or signed, lies the study of phonology. This discipline investigates the systematic arrangement of sounds in spoken languages and the corresponding organization of meaningful units in sign languages. In the case of sign languages, these units are not acoustic but instead composed of distinct hand shapes, locations, movements, and facial expressions. These elements work harmoniously to serve as essential structures for the sign-language framework.

Handshape: This refers to the specific shape of the hands when producing a sign. Different hand shapes can change the meaning of a sign, as different vowels or consonants can change the meaning of a word in spoken language.

Orientation: This involves the direction the palms or fingers face during the sign. The orientation can be towards or away from the signer, up, down, or to the side, and like a hand shape, it can significantly alter the meaning of a sign.

Location: This refers to the location in the signing space where a sign is produced, such as in front of the face, on the body, or in the neutral space in front of the signer. Location helps differentiate signs that might otherwise be similar in hand shape, orientation, and movement.

Movement: Sign languages use various movements, including direction, path, and manner (smooth, fast, or slow). Movement is crucial for expressing different concepts and can change the tense or aspects of verbs, among other things.

Facial Expressions: In sign languages, facial expressions are not just emotional indicators but are integral to grammar and lexicon, conveying distinctions in meaning, mood, tense, and sentence type (e.g., declarative, interrogative).

Understanding the phonology of sign languages is similar to acquiring the alphabet of a spoken language. The distinct characteristics of these elemental units lay the foundation for forming more complex structures and meanings.

CLASSIFIERS (CL) in sign language are a group of hand shapes used to represent general categories of objects, people, places, or concepts, as well as their orientation, movement, and relationship to one another within the spatial context of the signer’s narrative.

These handshapes are not standalone signs but are employed within the structure of signed sentences to provide descriptive or locative information that complements the narrative.

Classifiers allow signers to convey complex visual-spatial information efficiently and vividly, making them essential to sign language’s grammatical structure and expressive power.

Object Classifiers: represent objects or people with various shapes and sizes. For example, a flat hand may represent a flat surface or vehicle, whereas an upright index finger can denote a person standing.

Locative Classifiers: describe the location of objects or the spatial relationships between them. They can indicate where something is situated or how items are arranged relative to each other.

Plural Classifiers: used to depict groups of objects or people and their distribution in space. These classifiers can show the arrangement of objects, such as items lined up in a row or randomly scattered.

Element Classifiers: convey information about natural elements or substances such as water, fire, smoke, and wind, illustrating the movement or texture of these elements.

Body Classifiers: represent parts of the body or whole-body actions. They can show how a body part moves or is positioned in space.

Movement Classifiers: illustrate how an object or person moves within a space, including the direction, manner, and speed of movement.

Instrument Classifiers: show how an object is manipulated or used, often indicating the type of grip or action performed with tools or utensils.

Size and Shape Specifiers: provide specific details about the size, shape, or orientation of objects, enhancing descriptive accuracy and visual clarity in narratives.

Examples

A Quiet Place. The depiction of sign language—specifically, ASL—was heavily researched. They cast a deaf actress to play Regan for the express reason that she could help tutor the cast so they feel fluent. Individual characters also have their own "accent": Lee signs in a stern manner, Evelyn is elegant, Marcus is laconic, and Regan is sassy.

In Dune, multiple characters use hand signals to give orders to their subordinates. In fact, there are entire sign languages developed separately by both the Atreides and the Harkonnens, as well as even more subtle ones developed by the Bene Gesserit, that allow them to communicate irrelevant information verbally and important stuff with their hands, making sure that even if they are overheard, the enemy won't learn anything.

Beauty and the Beast (1987 series) has a deaf character who had grown up in the tunnels in "An Impossible Silence" and "Sticks and Stones" who communicated through ASL. The second episode was groundbreaking in that there were several scenes where deaf characters communicated in on-screen silence, with no voiceover or even background music, something the deaf actors involved fought hard for, not wanting someone else's voice to overshadow their own "voices".

The Shape of Water: Elisa is mute, and thus uses real-life American Sign Language to communicate. She also teaches the fish person how to sign, since he can't physically talk either.

Koko the Gorilla: Sign language is a powerful way for people of all hearing abilities to communicate. It can even be used to communicate with gorillas. In the 1970s, language researcher Dr. Penny Patterson began working with Koko, a western lowland gorilla, teaching her sign language. Research has shown that gorillas (and other large apes) have language skills similar to those of small children, and throughout her life, Koko learned more than 1,000 different signs. Koko was able to have entire conversations in sign language, as well as play word games and make up her own signs.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

Thank you for your kind words, really love doing these! Studying how other media accurately depict these hand movements could also be helpful. More examples and information in the sources linked above. Also have these previous posts:

Writing Notes: Deaf Characters & Sign(ed) Languages

Hearing Loss in Children

[starlightshadowsworld]

Bungou stray dogs except the Agency never get a Special Abilities Buisness License.

For whatever reason they never get the license that every special ability organisation needs to have to operate.

But they still operate anyway and frankly no ones going to stop them. What are the police going to do? Arrest them? Take them to court?

No one in their right mind wants to debate Ranpo on a regular day, nevermind in front of a judge.

The fact the police wouldn't want to shut down the Agency anyway. Because their whole thing is taking cases the police can't solve.

The local gangs of Yokohama are terrified of the Agency. Mori and the Port Mafia will continue to feud them but not destroy them because Tripartite Framework.

The Agency just becomes the embodiment of "we're glad their on our side." All the weapons they have for being the "ARMED Detective Agency" are all illegal.

Everytime Kunikida pulls out a gun or a grenade everyone just looks the other way.

Makes the beginning of the Guild arc fucking hilarious because Fitzgerald comes to the Agency to get their licence. Talking about how important it is to have one.

And Fukuzawa just sips his tea like "oh we don't have one."

Fitzgerald is completely caught off guard, because their goes his plan because not even Alcott could predict this.

Naomi is trying not to laugh and Fukuzawa smiles to himself all innocent like. "I can't say how to acquire one. But I do know a local neighbourhood physician who has one, maybe give him a call."

[heyitschartic]

goddess and bonesaw roleswap au

HOLD UP OKAY okay okay head over my hands taking deep breaths thinking about this.

A young Goddess taking on Bonesaw's role is just so shockingly perfect as a fit. Jack probably wasn't involved in her trigger this time, but found her somewhere along the way and swept her into the Nine. She almost immediately took on a role as some kind of apprentice to him (he only managed to not be mastered by his power messing with her thoughts on the matter.) She leans into her new role and learns fast, where Bonesaw can't seem to get it right. Jack hates how easy her master power makes it to acquire new members, but loves the fucked up things she can make people do with it. Combined with her danger sense and TK, she can do some absolutely brutal and terrifying things.

But, Goddess has bigger ambitions than playing second fiddle and she doesn't really like Jack the some way Riley does, though she plays at it. He rubs her the wrong way, makes her think of the people that made her trigger, though she does latch onto Siberian. Jack knows there's a sword hanging over his head in every single interaction between the two, but he loves it, the tightrope of playing with her and seeing how far he can push her before she tries everything.

At some point things will blow up and she and Shatterbird will head off to make that #Girlsquad, but that's years down the line.

An older Riley as Goddess is SO interesting. I see for her a pattern of harassment, getting her powers and doing something unconscionable, then being pushed into a corner and having to do it again and again. If we keep the cluster for her, I think it's all but guaranteed Bill pushes her to do something so fucked up she convinces herself anything she does in response is righteous. At some point Cauldron sees the path she's heading down and intervenes to put her somewhere more containable.

They also make sure to drop her somewhere she's pressed to fight and that the ball will just keep rolling. Shin is already a world falling apart and a young Riley, with this need to do good, falls into a Taylor framework. She convinces herself it's for a better cause and keeps doing worse and worse things: converting capes, making monsters, biological weapons.

Despite this she still manages to get people behind her, and when she starts taking over places she brings it all down. Riley craves that human connection, it's central to her character, and in a world where she can't seem to do anything right, she'll instead build a world where she can. It's a fucked up Kingdom, maybe likeable to something Nilbog might do if he cared about humans more, but it's hers and she's happy to be its queen.

Essentially though, she just makes the world of Twig. This fucked up society of body horror and bio punk, just with a bit more actual tech mixed in there.

Though she's helping out with those parahuman research facilities from the get go; can't let the scientists steal all the fun.

[alexanderwales]

Pitchposting: Retcon

The main idea is this: it's a narrative game where the majority of the gameplay involves placing the pieces of your own past.

This is at least partially lifted from some tabletop games that have "retcon inventory" or "retcon friends" where you declare in the middle of play "oh, actually, it's plausible that I had prepared for this all along, and here's how I did in fact do that", even if the player would have had no way of knowing what was necessary for that. (I have not had a chance to play Blades in the Dark, but I've been told that it features this heavily.)

So the whole game would be this: slowly adding to your own backstory, penning yourself in over time, until there's no room to maneuver anymore, and shortly thereafter, the game ends. The fundamental tension of the game is that you want to keep the character as amorphous as possible, to commit to as few details as possible, but commitment is necessary to actually accomplish things.

In my mind, there's a timeline of the character's life, and that's one of the main thing you're adding to. If you need them to have skill as a pickpocket, you need to account for that somewhere in the timeline, to define how and when they acquired that skill, and whatever time period that was suddenly becomes locked in place. Some level of proficiency in combat can be explained by a rough childhood or a hobby or just bits and pieces picked up here and there, but at a certain level you need to commit to having had multiple years of real world experience, a hefty bar slotted down into the timeline.

The basic appeal to me is that it sort of turns progression mechanics on its head. If you really wanted to, maybe you could slap everything onto the timeline at once, an entire defined life with every memory, skill, and contact determined right at the start. But this would almost certainly sink you unless you knew every twist and turn of the game ahead of time. And in this game "progression" does not come from increasing skills because you got better, it comes from defining the past. (Though there's no reason you can't also have material progression as you acquire more and better things.)

This is also, somewhat, what the process of writing can be like. You nail down things piece by piece, and over time, you're penned in, unable to move except along the tracks you've hopefully laid for yourself, no ability to introduce new things.

I'm not entirely sure what kind of game this mechanic is best suited to. A narrative game would be interesting, but the player is attempting to define as little of the character's past as possible, and ... does this even work for a narrative? The player's version of events is that they're (more or less) trying to keep backstory from happening, that's baked into the concept. It creates an uneasy tension.

A less narrative game, like an immersive sim, might work better. You decide that you spent at least three years as a thief in order to "gain" (i.e. have always had) lock-picking skills, with enough room in the timeline that you can add an extra few years if need be later on.

And of course this works for skills, but it also works for relationships, which I think is fun. In a normal RPG type game, you gain relationship points over time by being a good buddy, but with this framework, you would be revealing backstory that was "there all along". And depending on your needs, you can have this be different backstory, giving certain side characters the same amorphous nature, establishing different relationships with them.

The other option (since I'm a writer, not a game designer) is to try to import this idea into a work of written fiction, which ... might work?

You have your protagonist, and they know that they're a reality-warping amorphous blob, but they have some kind of goal, and they will lock in whatever backstory they need in order to accomplish that goal, while trying to stay cognizant of the fact that whatever backstory they give themselves (and the reader) is going to pen them in further. Maybe there's a nice little magic system to make of it, though I think that would necessitate some kind of reset mechanism.

It might be hubris, but I think I could probably find the structure that would make it work. Cool scenes:

The protagonist is acting in such a way to leave all his options open, which means that he wants to avoid a fight because that would mean either confirming that he can fight or that he can't fight, collapsing the superposition, so he's going out of his way to not have to make that decision.

The protagonist retroactively was always friends with a police officer who took him in, making all the chilly conversation they've been having the result of an ongoing grudge.

The protagonist takes a big swing and fills in a whole swath of his past at once, a major investment ... and one that upends his stated goals up to this point, recontextualizing the entire novel and making it "about" someone else.

Plus all that "standard" stuff to do, like retroactively knowing how to ride a motorcycle, handle a gun, hold breath for two minutes, etc.

I don't know, I think that it could work in prose, so long as you're clever enough about how and why you're doing things, and correctly explaining things to the audience.

[rei-ismyname]

oddly enough, the krakoa era is making me come around on Scott Jean. My X-men reading has been a little all over the place lately, I think what initially bothered me with claremont’s scott and jean was that the phoenix was so much more interesting to me then what Jean and Scott had going on in the early days.

I like when writers give them a rapport, i’ve been trying to read original X-factor as well and among a few things, the fact that they don’t have much on screen chemistry drags things down. Now, I’m aware that I might be too early in all of this to call things, I haven’t read all 16 years of claremont and I certainly haven’t finished X-factor. I still need to finish 90s X-men.

What made Scott and Emma entertaining to me, was that they bounced off one another. I did truly enjoy what they had going on in astonishing, for example. It felt like a more mature, realized relationship. Maybe it’s because it has less baggage then “we’ve been together and occasionally not since the 60s,” that’s just my guess for my own enjoyment.

Sorry if this was a tangent, I mean to ask your opinions on either pairing? What do you have more fun reading?

Hello there! Turns out I have an awful lot of thoughts, and I had to edit judiciously otherwise I'd keep yammering forever.

Nice! Same here, kinda. I'd been out of comics for a decade or more until House of X pulled me back in. I didn't have the strongest feelings about them either way except for thinking the movies did a crappy job of capturing them separately or together. I was taken aback at first by the domesticity they'd established, but it didn't take long for me to appreciate it as a framework for storytelling and character study (and as something precious to threaten.)

I hear that and agree! For all that the Phoenix has been beaten to death as a plot device, it did so much for both characters 'growing up' for lack of a better term. I've come to view every element of comics through the lens of adaptation - not exclusively - but the O5 are adaptations of Superman and the other superheroes that predated them - and each iteration of the X-Men are adapted from what came before it. It's not a bad thing (mostly) but different hands at different times with different mandates adapt the concept into something else, using classic iterations in as many ways as possible. I feel that the Phoenix conceptually pushed the adaptation somewhere quite bold - and grew up.

I've probably read most of it, but there's just so much - plus I acquired a disability that fried my memory ~10 years ago so I'm always re-reading to enjoy it (kinda for the first time) and to rebuild those memory pathways. TLDR same, bestie. Let's touch base in 6 months, hey? 😀

I really enjoy both couples and don't have a preference as long as it's written well without going back to the misogyny well or just killing Jean because they don't know what to do with her. The Phoenix is both Jean's original sin and the start of her canonisation, while being incredibly powerful. Annoyingly, Marvel overdid it but couldn't keep Jean alive for so long.

Scott/Emma are fascinating to me for so many reasons. They're a power couple that inadvertently recreate many of the same dynamics Scott and Jean did, due to the telepathy and being thrust into leadership (by Jean no less.) They support and challenge each other, they practice radical honesty and make each other better, they have to navigate the reputations they have (fair and not) while trying to keep an endangered species afloat during a period of constant war. Seriously, the 'lost decade' is just endless trauma and genocidal threats. They went through hell together, even when many abandoned or opposed them.

They're both strong individuals who know who they are and what they want, but they're quite different people even in their similarities. They almost shouldn't work, but they do. If you told me they'd be a long term couple when Emma was first introduced I wouldn't have believed it. No way. Like Emma's radical character arc and face turn, they grow together while having all the doubts.

They're both heirs to 'The Dream' in very different ways that mesh well ideologically. Xavier and Magneto both had unrealistic visions of what was best for mutant rights activism, Xavier in his liberal naivete and Magneto losing himself in the war. Emma is a better teacher than Xavier and can operate well in human institutions, but she doesn't trust them blindly in part because she's been at ground floor of genocide. They've both lost students, but only one of them thinks about it a lot and informs her decision making.

She's got the pragmatism and proactiveness of Magneto without slipping into the megalomania (usually.) A diamond fist with the interpersonal skills and resources to build a coalition. She's overlooked as a leader I think, but ideologically she strikes me as the next generation of mutant activism who learnt from the mistakes of old men and actually listens to the kids.

Scott has been a disciple of Xavier since he was a kid, but when The Dream didn't fit reality he ditched it and made plans. He had Xavier and Mags as advisors, and formed a synthesis of their dialectic approaches. Together they embraced not just personal growth, but a revolution in X-Men operations. I enjoyed reading almost all of their time together but especially Utopia era when they were at their power couple peak blazing a new path for survival.

Scott and Jean have known each other since their early teens, but for all that they were high school sweethearts they spent decades apart. They have their own lives and achievements separate from each other, but the love is always there and they bring out the best in one another. They went through hell too, but Jean wasn't around for the darkest times. This drastically affects their worldview, and the God/Mortal dichotomy is a fascinating extension of that and power dynamic. Importantly, they accept each other as they are and there's so much love and understanding present.

That's the core of them for me - no matter what they're always ride or die, yet secure enough to be individuals with different lives and agendas. Their normal is hectic to anyone else but they make it work. Importantly, they've both grown a lot, as much as comics will allow at least. They've been through shit and learnt from it, including situations that would melt most people's brains. There's a lot of forgiveness and understanding too, as long as there's forward movement. Right now is an interesting example - Jean needs to be in space so they make it work. I hope they're allowed to.

Krakoa was peak in general for me, and definitely for Scott and Jean. Wholesome family time with a backdrop of superheroics and polyamory? Hell yeah. Both have good relationships with Emma and Logan, with the boring love triangles and rivalry in the past (yes they were all fucking, I don't care what Tom Brevoort says.) Krakoa meant something different for each of them - safety with one foot in the human world for Scott and progressivism for Jean (a bit reductive but you get me) - which led their growth in different directions. That core partnership was there underneath it all, and they got through everything, even death.

[classpectanon]

Understanding Skaia's Omniscience

What Exactly Does Omniscience Mean in This Context?

In the context of Homestuck, omniscience refers to the ability to know everything within the universe, including all possible events and outcomes. Skaia, as an omniscient entity, possesses complete knowledge of all timelines, potential actions, and their consequences. This knowledge is not acquired through sequential thought processes but exists as a unified, simultaneous understanding of the entire scope of the universe.

Unlike typical human understanding, which processes information linearly (one event leading to another), Skaia's omniscience encompasses all possible realities at once. This means Skaia knows every possible outcome of every possible action, including those that never come to pass. However, it is important to note that while Skaia is omniscient, it is not omnipotent. It cannot directly alter events but can influence them indirectly by changing the spatiotemporal coordinates of meteors it redirects.

Skaia's intelligence is nonhuman, meaning it does not process information or make decisions in a way that humans do. This non-linearity in thought means Skaia doesn't "think" sequentially. Instead, it possesses all knowledge simultaneously, akin to a field—a pervasive presence of potential knowledge.

Skaia can be seen as the singularity form of Paradox Space, a field encompassing all potential events and outcomes. While Paradox Space represents the broader field, Skaia is the concentrated point of omniscience within this field. Or they're indistinguishable, it doesn't matter that much.

Thought Experiments Related to Omniscience

To further explore the implications of omniscience, let's consider some common thought experiments and how they relate to Skaia:

The Omniscient Observer Paradox

If Skaia knows everything, does it include the thoughts and actions of every character? Does this negate free will? In Homestuck, characters operate under a deterministic framework until the narrative's conclusion. Skaia's knowledge encompasses all possible actions and outcomes, suggesting that characters' choices are part of a larger predetermined system.

The Infinite Regression Problem

Can Skaia simulate its own reality infinitely? Skaia's nature transcends typical computational analogies. It doesn't simulate events sequentially but exists as a field of infinite knowledge. This sidesteps the problem of infinite regression, where a system would need to simulate itself endlessly.

The Limits of Omniscience

Is there anything Skaia doesn't know? By definition, Skaia's omniscience means it knows everything within its universe. However, its lack of omnipotence introduces a limitation: it cannot change everything it knows. It can only act through meteor redirection, highlighting a boundary between knowledge and power.

Q&A on Skaia's Omniscience

Q: What does it mean for Skaia to be omniscient but not omnipotent?

A: Omniscience refers to the ability to know everything, including all possible events and outcomes. Omnipotence, on the other hand, is the ability to do anything. Skaia's omniscience allows it to understand every potential event and its consequences, but it can only act by adjusting the trajectories of meteors, thus influencing events indirectly.

Q: How does Skaia's nonhuman intelligence differ from human intelligence?

A: Human intelligence typically involves linear thought processes, where ideas and decisions follow a sequential order. Skaia, however, exists outside of this linear framework. Its intelligence is more like a field, akin to gravity, where all knowledge and outcomes are known simultaneously without a sequential thought process.

Q: How do Skaia and Paradox Space relate to each other?

A: Paradox Space can be understood as the overarching field of all possible timelines and events. Skaia, within this context, acts as the singularity (like a black hole)—a concentrated point where all this knowledge converges. Together, they form a comprehensive system of omniscience in the Homestuck universe.

Q: How does Skaia's omniscience affect the narrative structure of Homestuck?

A: Skaia's omniscience ensures that only significant timelines persist, preventing paradoxes and maintaining narrative coherence.

Q: Can Skaia's omniscience be considered a form of predestination?

A: Yes, Skaia's omniscience can be seen as a form of predestination. Since it knows all possible outcomes and prunes timelines to prevent paradoxes, the events that occur are part of a predetermined structure that Skaia maintains.

Q: Does Skaia's omniscience extend beyond the universe of Homestuck?

A: Theoretically, yes. While it can be assumed that Skaia is only capable of understanding information within its own schema, this does not preclude the possibility of Skaia being able to simulate the concept of observers. After all, omniscience means OMNIscience. It knows everything. It's unintuitive in many of the ways that other forms of infinity are.

thx 4 reading

[greyplainsttrpg]

5e Villain Arc 6

There is a sentiment that I hear/read a lot when engaging with the darkness (read as D&D discourse) (and by D&D, I specifically mean Wizard's of the Coast's Dungeons and Dragons). "High level caster SHOULD be more powerful than martials, however they should be reasonably close together for gameplay."

Here is the thing: I don't agree. In fact, I think this sentiment is fundamentally wrong. In order for you, the reader, to firmly empathize with this part of the argument, it was necessary to build to it via the other frameworks established in the previous villain arc posts. The main thesis of this argument is that "Magic is anti-creative gameplay." However, I will interrogate this thesis with alternative argument that is more strictly on topic...

This Post is about the Caster/Martial Divide in 5e

Part 1: Why martials suck conceptually.

Imagine this scenario. You are playing a monk. In the game, there is a dragon. If the DM plays this dragon with the intelligence that a several-century old being would have, what are you supposed to do to pilot this monk to defeat the dragon?

This is a genuine problem that is worth trying to solve. Even if this is a Level 500 monk, they still only have so many tools on their character sheet that has any counterplay to a well-played dragon. Sure, a Level 500 monk could destroy a dragon if they could get their little kungfu-fighting hands on it, but good luck.

Instead, consider a level 10 wizard. What can they do to fight a dragon? Quite a lot, actually. Recently, the larger TTRPG discourse calls these options "paper buttons." The player can push the paper button on the character sheet, cast a spell, and there we go--we are immediately making progress. What does the monk do? I don't know. It depends on the context. What kind of dragon is it? Where is its nest? Is the objective to kill it or is the dragon just an obstacle? These are things that a character without pregenerated, potent options has to consider when dealing with complex problems.

Despite spellcasters having, like, pre-wrapped solutions to problems, spellcasters are generally considered to be "more difficult" than martials. I think this comes from the idea that "having more options" is equivalent to "more difficult to do." Because there is more text, surely this means it must be harder to play. This is fundamentally untrue. I suppose that there are "more" decisions to make as a spellcaster-player in various parts of a session. In a vacuum where neither the player nor the character can predict the upcoming situation (or if they got spells randomly) then I would be more willing to compromise with this argument. It would be tricky to know when you should or should not cast your probably shit spells in a situation that you cannot predict.

However, in practice, how smart do you REALLY need to be to prepare fireball? Oh, there is a magical buff being applied to the boss? Gee, I WONDER if I should cast dispel magic or counterspell? Decisions decisions. If all the spells in the game were like create water and rope trick, then spellcasters would be on equal-ish footing with martials in complexity of actual play.

Let's return to the monk and the dragon. I ran a session in my my own system, Simplains, where the objective was to "get a dragon egg." Spellcasting in Simplains is limited, so everyone was playing essentially as martials with some special features (that are technically spells). How are they supposed to get a dragon egg? Their solution was to:

Go to a dragon scholar and learn more about dragon eggs.

Acquire a letter of introduction from this scholar for a young (not yet egg-laying) dragon.

Go to the young dragon an find out if there are any dragons willing to sell their eggs.

Determine what the mature dragon is willing to trade for an egg.

Turns out that a mature dragon doesn't really need any more wealth, however she does need a dragon partner to lay fertile eggs, which she does not have.

Create a dating profile for the dragon and seek viable, compatible partners.

I have to point out that I did not plan this. This was not the "intended" story path. There was no story path for this quest (I am not against playing or running more linear games as a rule). The Players largely directed this gameplay themselves.

This is objectively way funnier than:

locate object or scry (dragon egg)

teleport

invisibility

done

This is, perchance, a "style" difference between me and modern DM/GMs. As you can probably tell, I am a bit of a grognard in that, in my opinion, the point of playing TTRPGs is primarily to solve fantastical problems with unusual tools. The text of the rules are a necessary medium to facilitate and moderate gameplay.

When I read D&D Reddit or other social media, I see that somewhat similar stories will appear as "CAN YOU BELIEVE MY PLAYERS DID THIS LOL XD SO RANDUM." This is regarded as players "going off the plot." GMs might stop this sort of behavior because resolving it would take too long compared to the concise adventure that they wrote where they do a heist and steal a dragon egg. Why do all this work? "The tools to your success are right there on your character sheet!" If 5e DMs banned (or heavily restricted) spellcasting, I guarantee that these kinds of events will happen more often in their games. Magic is actually depriving the DM and their players of fun via access to easy, carbon-monoxide poisoning induced solutions. It's okay little buddy, you don't have to think. Go ahead and push that paper button and feel the trickling dopamine from the satisfaction of killing another 15 goblins with another fireball on another day of another session of playing Hasbro's: Wizards of the Coast's: Dungeons and Dragons (2014).

Part 2: Why martials suck practically

The caster/martial divide has existed for a long time in the history of Dungeons and Dragons. The early idea for the divide is that casters start off very weak in terms of health, combat prowess, and even poor spellcasting access and make up for it if they survive to later levels. There are a number assumptions baked into this that I actually do not fundamentally disagree with.

The caster has to live long enough to be good.

The life of the character is the responsibility of the player and the whole party.

In this thinking, the spellcaster surviving is not assumed (because no-one's survival is assumed). Spellcasters are weaker but they have the POTENTIAL to be good (but still vulnerable). Keeping the character alive is a priority for the party. Because, while every problem can be solved conventionally in older games, having a wizard around really helps in specific situations. It is really important to stress how poor spellcaster survivability was. In the first version where Classes have different HP, Spellcasters had a grand total of 1d3 HP per hit die. While the damage is also somewhat lower in these older editions, it was not that much lower. 1d3 is terrible. They can't wear armor, they can't use real weapons, they have horrific THAC0, and their spells aren't even that good. Fighting Men, on the other hand, are excellent. 1d10 Hit Die, weapons that actually do damage, armor, magic weapons and armor, THAC0 that works. This is amazing in OD&D. The goal of the game in OD&D (more often than not) is to use the Spellcaster and the Cleric to put the Fighting Man into position to beat the dungeon boss. The Fighting Man breaks down the locked door, kills all the monsters inside, picks up the treasure of gold, and then drags it back out of the dungeon so the Cleric can heal them. The Magic User deals with the booby traps and allows the Fighting Man to circumvent as many fights as possible (via spells like Sleep or Pass-wall).

The gampley loop of OD&D (and similar games) is therefore:

Magic User casts spells to avoid conflict.

Magic User Runs out of Spells.

Fighting Man has to get everyone out of a fight.

Cleric heals Fighting Man.

Rest and try again next in-game day.

It's obviously not always exactly like this, but that is the intended game-loop (more or less). In this version of the game, the Fighting Man played as critical a role to party success as the Magic User (and the Cleric). However, what if, and hear me out, we gave the magic user more health; added several universal mechanics to make sure everyone can get more health; made the magic powerful, plentiful, and accessible to most classes; and then made it so the Fighting Man equivalent also did not get better THAC0 (equivalent)? Wouldn't that be EPIC!

This is related, of course, to Villain Arc 3 (the Beastmaster Ranger one). D&D is limited in its thinking that spellcasters can have access to supernatural abilities and that martials should be grounded to generally what is physically possible. As per that post, and of Villain Arc 4 where I discuss the unbounded/utility elements of Strength in past editions of D&D, this is simply ridiculous. Furthermore, the fact that Cantrips, which Casters can do an infinite number of times ALSO scale with the Caster's level whilst also being a full Caster is ridiculous. Let's talk about Cantrips.

I know the counterarguments to the Cantrip issue. 1) They do not have flat modifiers to damage; 2) they often require saves for 1/2 damage; 3) they are not strictly as good as martial extra attack. My counter-counterarguments are 1) So? 2) So? 3) So? These points do not fundamentally resolve the issue that Cantrips present in the game--undermining resource management of Spells. Also, I'd like to point out that the only Martial that receives more than a single Extra Attack (no strings attached) is the Fighter. This means that Cantrips might outperform the total number of attacks made by the Barbarian, Ranger (not technically a full martial but LMAO) or the Rogue (without Sneak Attack). To get equal or more damage at higher levels, the Paladin HAS to use Divine Smite (a spell slot) to keep up with Full Casters (not using a Spell Slot).

If Cantrips existed to 1) smooth out the difficulty curve of playing a low-level Full Caster (who should have AT MOST 1d6 HP) and 2) provide consistent utility, then I would not actually have an issue with that. If Fire Bolt did a constant 1d10 damage, that would be fine for me. I'm not such a grognard that I believe Full Casters should suffer at low levels in every system they are present. I am, however, against undermining the gameplay purpose of a Full Caster. Martials do not have to worry about resource depletion while Casters do (as far as spells go). That should be the advantage to a Martial: It always JUST WORKS. Martials should be reliable, consistent, non-gambling characters, and Full Casters should be high-risk high-reward utility glass cannons. If you take out the risk of being a Caster, you only get reward. Compare this to the boon/bane (or pros/cons) divide of the Martial. The Boon/Pro is that everything they do just works (or should; bounded accuracy/d20 moment). The Bane/Con is that they are limited in what they can accomplish. Martials have few ways to escape their Banes (and are actually more limited than they used to be in many ways), and their Boons are not even as valuable/potent; both in isolation (due to a variety of factors, but bounded accuracy in particular) and in comparison to the Full Casters.

Usually when talking about Martials, the discussion revolves primarily around the Barbarian, Fighter, and Monk. However, we cannot forget what they did to my beautiful baby boy, the Rogue/Thief. I love this Class. It is my favorite Class in all D&D games. I love the skill-monkey playstyle, and the fact that the skill-monkey got shifted to the Bard in 5e devastates me--mostly because the Bard, themselves, is now a Full-Caster. For the Caster/Martial divide, I actually want to bring up the AD&D Thief Class. Behold:

These Thieving Skills are present in AD&D and 2nd Edition, but this version comes from 2nd Edition (because I am more familiar with it). If you read Villain Arc 4, then you are familiar with Bend Bars/Lift Gates. It is also a percentile roll, and the result is that the Character can perform any of a wide range of super heroic strength feat. The Thieving Skills share more in common with BB/LG than they do with the modern "Stealth" and "Perception" skills of 3rd edition onward. While those Skills are based on these, the WotC equivalents to Thieving Skills are horribly nerfed. This is for several reasons:

Thieving Skills are easier to succeed at most levels: So long as the Character is investing points into the Thieving Skills they plan to use, the Thief is likely to succeed at them pretty easily starting at like Level 3 or so. They flesh out their skills after around Level 5 or so to be more balanced and useful. This is to say that the Thief Skills are not bounded into the same funnel that every action in 5e is.

Like BB/LG is SUPERHUMAN, Thief Skills are similarly SUPERHUMAN: Let me be clear--there is a big difference between "Move Silently" in WotC D&D and TSR D&D. In WotC, it just means that the Character succeeds without making easily detectable noise, however creatures can counter it with Perception. Not so in AD&D. When they say Silently, they mean as per the spell, Silence. Better, even, because it cannot be detected via magical means. The Thief is BETTER THAN MAGIC. They are impossible to detect. This is essentially repeated from Villain Arc 4, but it is important to repeat it here in this context. This applies to all the Thieving Skills in ways that you may not expect. Some examples:

3. They are locked to Non-Casters: While other Classes do get Thief Skills, no other Class gets all of them or any of them with the same potency. Specifically, Wizards and Priests (the overarching categories for Full Casters) have no access to Thief Skills. This is because the drawback of playing a Full Caster is a lack of access to renewable options in exchange for resource-based flexibility. You do not NEED a Thief in the party, but having a Thief means that the Wizard/Cleric do not need to step in to fill the important role that the Thief serves (meaning they cannot invest into the things that make them better). Since WotC changed Skills around, this has not been true, and thus the Thief is not nearly as useful going forward.

This is not an immediately obvious without deep knowledge of the game, but the asymmetric leveling system of AD&D (2nd in particular) also means that Thieves level up much faster than any other Class. This means that they get their utility options online before any other Character gets theirs. This has shadow-buff ramifications for the Thief in other ways as well, but those are not strictly relevant here.

Moving on from the Thief back to the warriors, one of the things that is interesting in older games is how one can use their attack more flexibly.

Yes, you can execute battle-field tactics with your attack. These options are laid out in more detail in Combat and Tactics, but the principle of trading an attack for some sort of utility has always been present. This is a huge (but sneaky) buff to Fighters in particular. Fighters get weapon Specialization which grants them access to more attacks per round than any other character in the game. In addition to the obvious and consistent improvement having more attacks generates, this also means that Fighters in particular can shuffle around a battlefield and resolve niche utility nonsense with their unbounded THAC0. One of the funniest things Characters can do with their Attack is to grab objects out of an opponent's hand. Have an enemy with a dangerous staff that turns people to stone? Well, it's the fighter's turn, and he/she/they move(s) 120 YARDS and Grabs the staff from the stupid, weak wizard's pitiful arms. THEN, with your next attack, you can quarterback the quarterstaff (hehe) to your own Wizard, and now THEY'RE DRIVING THE BUS. You can also do all these actions with you off hand with a penalty because every Character can choose to attack with their off hand as well. Epic gameplay.

In these ways, martials can circumvent their lack of flexibility from not having Spells by being pretty useful/reliable in other situations/contexts. With the limited scope of what an "Attack" is combined with Bounded Accuracy and generally not that many attacks, you end up with some pretty lame martials who cannot get much done.

Part 3: Conclusion

Martials have been progressively stripped of all the things that make them useful, powerful, unique, flexible, and interesting. At the same time, casters get more HP, more instantly rewarding spells, and benefit from saving throws being wacky in this game.

Wait a minute. I haven't talked about saving throws. OH NO.

Part 4: WAIT A MINUTE SAVING THROWS

Remember the part earlier where Saving Throws were mentioned as if that fucking mattered for nerfing Cantrips or Spells? Surprise, I'm circling back to that now because this post will never end. I've been working on this for weeks. Yeah, Saving Throws in this game SUCK. Each Character only gets proficiency in 2 of 6 saves? With bounded accuracy? En esta enconomía? No fucking thank you. Okay, say for the sake of argument that you are not a fucking idiot and you know that there are 3 real saves in this game (Dex, Con, Wis), 1 pseudo-real save (int) and two absolutely fake saves (Cha). Most monsters you fight have a similar spread to characters in that they only have proficiency in one to three saves (not counting legendary resistance). Okay, now just look at the monster and GUESS which saves it probably doesn't have. Players can prepare Cantrips that target one of each major Save type and just spam them without push-back. In practice, I know that it is more difficult than just that, but among a whole party it isn't. With a full party, there is always one Character AT LEAST who can sit back and spam the most braindead fucking option imaginable. For spells that are AC based, bounded accuracy makes AC so low on average that the Player doesn't have to think either. And spells do non-physical damage. Wait a minute...

Part 5: Elemental Damage

CANTRIPS USUALLY DON'T DEAL PHYSICAL DAMAGE which many monsters resist. Brought the wrong weapon? I guess you're not really damaging the skeletons today. The Caster? Just spam a different cantrip. Don't worry about spending spell slots little buddy. Everything is going to be alright. The world is your oyster, and martials can dance and sing your praise as you bedazzle them with all the problems you can easily solve that they can't. "Oh, but you can just bring all the weapons you might need." Sure, but no. Due to the limits of Magic Item Attunement, it is not reasonable to expect every martial to bring every kind of weapon necessary to fight every kind of monster when the wizard just really does not have to deal with it at all. Also, does the monk have slashing hands? Yes, I know they can use Slashing weapons, but has anyone ever seen a monk use a weapon before? That is the most vestigial class element that I have ever seen.

Part 6: Hey, that's the same as this Villain Arc!

Thanks for sticking with me for this long post. This has been the most "old man yells at clouds" one yet, but I actually got to some analysis at the end there. I have always liked martial characters, and the obvious Caster/Martial divide was one of the things that caused me to have such a bad time playing and running 5e before writing my own system.

I am not sure how many more true villain arcs I have left in me. I do not want to discuss the play-culture too much in these arcs specifically because my focus is solely on the game mechanics. I might start my "5e Revengeance Arc" soon, which is the parallel to this arc that goes through the logic of how and why Greyplains is a specific response to all the things that frustrate me in 5e.

Anyway

#transright

#freepalestine

#buymybook

Previous Villain Arc

Next Villain Arc Post:

[that-house]

hey there! so i've seen you posting stuff about revel, especially you describing it as "dnd but good". what does that mean to you? what are you adding to the heartbreaker formula to make it fresh and interesting that pathfinder doesn't do, for example?

It’s a lot of stuff inspired by the way I run my existing 5e game, because I’m one of those DMs who isn’t really playing 5e anymore. When I finish off this 4-year D&D campaign with a 100,000 HP final boss, I’m moving to greener pastures… After truly pushing that dogshit game to its limits I’m going to need a fresh framework to riff upon, and right now that’s looking like it’ll be Revel.

I’m less concerned with treading completely new ground with Revel, and more focused on making a game that doesn’t meet my desired playstyle in the middle. I’m a sucker for long stretches of downtime broken up by tactical combat, intricate superbosses, and really, REALLY big numbers

For character creation stuff:

At the moment there’s 6 Roles (one for each ability score):

Vanguard (front line fighter)

Vagabond (bursty skirmisher)

Tower (dedicated tank)

Tome (maximal spell-slinging)

Adherent (midrangey support caster)

Artist (dedicated support caster)

Roles generally define your combat niche, but can be built to fill those niches in a variety of ways.

Each Role has 3 associated Classes, which each only go up to half the level cap (so multiclassing is eventually mandatory).

Each Class has a pool of 10 Upgrades (new passives or actions or what have you) which each can be further enhanced in unique ways with Mastery Points. In addition to being acquired through leveling, Upgrades and Mastery Perks are good targets for PCs to work towards during downtime

The first three Roles are martials, the other three are casters. Martial levels contribute to your stamina pool, caster levels contribute to spell progression. The goal is for those two progression systems to mesh well enough that playing split martial/casters is just as good as going full martial or full caster.

Most of the spells in the game are modal, and do at least slightly different things when cast as a Quick Action vs when cast as a Full Action. Stamina abilities tend to just snap the action economy over their knee, and Stamina regenerates between encounters, so martials are encouraged to maximize the value they can get out of their stamina each fight, while casters weigh their spell choices to ensure they can go nova on the boss

General gamefeel:

Positioning doesn’t matter that much in D&D when a fireball can hit basically anywhere on a reasonably-sized map. Reducing both ranges and movement speeds is meant to help to make proper use of movement a more important skill, as well as encourage generally smaller maps

Open enemy statblocks, with incredibly dangerous abilities that can be countered with proper play. This game isn’t really meant to be a *product*, so I’m not sure if I’ll be making much in the way of example statblocks. Telegraphed one-hit KO mechanics as a way to shape player decisionmaking are my bread and butter

In general, characters should care about the circumstances of the game around them more. In D&D, the fighter walks towards the enemy and hits them a bunch. In Revel, hopefully players will have the tools to engineer a situation that maximizes the amount of shenanigans they can fit into a turn, and the amount of possible shenanigans that can arise in an optimal scenario will be frankly silly.

In summary, the beating heart of Revel’s design philosophy is that a high level Wizard’s turn should play out like an Armored Core pulling off an MTG combo.

[regretsofaghost]

Part 18- you'll always be my closest friend, i lost myself but i struggled too, so please tell me, was i good to you?

AO3 link- here Tumblr link to Chapter 17- here Tumblr link to Chapter 19- here

Word Count- 800

“Crystal?” Edwin spoke up, startling them both if her jump was any indication.

It was not that they were not friends, no. It was simply that Edwin… Still did not truly know what to think of her. Her kindness, her selfishness, her sense of justice, her need for things to go her way. Crystal was a wonderful addition to the agency yes, but she was also an addition. One of the first of many changes they went through after Port Townsend.

After Niko-

“Yeah, Edwin?” She moved, placing her phone to the side as she focused her entire attention on him. It was, uncomfortable, the way her eyes looked at him, as if searching for an opening, a weakness. She wasn’t, Edwin knew this logically, Crystal just happened to like to give her entire attention to people. It did not help the feeling of being placed under a magnifying glass.

How much had Charles told her-

Did she know of the Night Nurse’s interventions?

The difference in how they ran the agency?

Edwin’s departures?

Edwin thought for a second about how to approach this. There was no need to play a game with Crystal, to act. “I require assistance in finding where one could acquire a filming device. I have a theory I must test out, but I must be alone. As well, I would not be able to take notes as I normally would.”

A breath, two.

F-F-G-F-

F-G-F-F-

G-A-A-F

“I thought ghosts don’t show up on camera?” Crystal looked at him, her brown eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion.

Charles must have told her something.

“Yes, well, I do not need to appear on camera. I simply need to see the results of the experiment.” Edwin said, hands itching to move, to press together, to feel something against them.

“And what’s the experiment? Must’ve done it already if you know you need to be alone-“ Crystal began, rolling her eyes before she stopped herself. “Wait. Does Charles know about this? Was he the one who helped you the first time? Why aren’t you asking him?”

“Charles is not my minder-“ Edwin snapped before he could stop himself, taking a second to breathe deeply. “Apologies. I just mean, I require assistance. I figured it would be better to ask you, as you have a better framework for modern technology, but it seems I have wasted both our time.”

“Wait- Edwin-“ Crystal stood quickly rushing to where Edwin had begun to walk. He had simply been heading for the games closet, but Crystal managed to stop him before he could slam the door. “I’ll help- just. What’s going on between you and Charles?”

“He hasn’t told you?” Edwin asked, tilting his head to the side.

It was, odd.

Perhaps Charles did experience shame in seeing him-

“Told me what?” Her voice was strained, annoyed. It often was, when she talked to him.

That was unfair.

Crystal had been nothing but kind since he had been rescued from Hell.

“We tried to contact Niko-“

“Wait, what?”

“Yes, well,” Edwin adjusted his jacket, looking away from Crystal, “I had a theory, and Charles assisted in investigating it. It proved false, and Charles was as good a friend as ever and helped console me.”

His head buried in Charles’ chest, willing to stay there forever, where it was safe, where he was cared for-

“… and you want to retest this theory. This theory that left you needing to be consoled the first time. Alone.” Crystal’s eyebrow was raised, skeptical.

“Yes. I do not wish to change too many variables. It seems that the method had worked before, when I was alone. So, I need to see what actually happens.” Edwin reiterated, still not looking at Crystal, instead, looking down at the white book.

It had to be more than a cursed object.

“And you can’t take notes?”

“I am, too distracted, to take notes during the experiment.”

Hazy, blurred, he cannot remember that night.

He swore he saw Niko at some point.

The book was a mess of colours and scribbles again.

“And you want to be alone. Like. Charles and I can’t be in the next room if something goes wrong?”

Edwin cleared his throat. “Well, I will need you to distract Charles while I conduct the experiment. He will be most upset, should he find out I am doing this again.”

“And you want an accomplice?”

“You do not need to be so involved. Simply assist in getting a camera and distract Charles. I will handle the rest.”

The runes he found should be able to be tweaked to allow ghosts’ voices to be heard on recordings at least.

“You’re sure?”

“It is the only way I can know that Niko is truly gone.”

Crystal sighed, “You’re lucky I like you. And Niko.”

[kurios-development-hell]

It's finally here! My little "demo" of what I've been coding for months little by little in Python, to prepare a base for my AU stories. Master Swatch has a message to tell you, will you listen to his words? 👀

Today ephemeris is my saint (falls on 6th of January), which is also national holiday in my country. What a nice day to release this brainchild 👏

Hope you like this scene I has been crunching since the 1st of January 😁 If you go to watch it on my YouTube channel for the HD version or more commodity -- where I plan to upload all my AU shorts from now on -- consider to [[SUBSCRIBE]] and give a [[LIKE]] to start nudging my channel into the [[BIG-SHOT]] zone 🚀 Here is the [[LINK]] 👇

((like, it asks for 500 subs for starters with the partnership -- the curve is more steep than the road to affiliate on Twitch's apparently, hmm... 🤔))

More to come in the future, as the framework for the fantasy of my AU is working quite well. If you wonder about when the visual-novel game is going to be released, that will be far flung into the future. I need to acquire more economic stability (like getting a job 🙇‍♂️) before making the game and releasing it into the world. But meanwhile, you'll be able to interact with my characters and see a glimpse about them and their personal stories before the main game is released, which is pretty dope, isn't it? 😋 Take them as a preface to the main story, whenever I'll be able to focus on the main game without scrambling each month to make ends meet (kromer doesn't grow on charred black egg bearing trees, you know?)

Anyway, hope you feel my video enough motivational to usher you into awesome feats for this year 😎 Believe in yourself and remember, little by little, drop by drop, you can fill up a sea! (even if it takes a [[REAL LONG TIME]] to happen). Patience has its rewards, but don't forget to take good care of yourself while at it 😊

Until then, and thanks for all the support, and for enduring with all my impecunious Spamtonian shortcomings 👋

[highlyentropicmind]

Workers shouldn't own the means of production and here is why

Our focus on ownership is misplaced. We focus on ownership because we believe that ownership gives you control over something, but this too is a capitalist idea

What matters isn't ownership, what matter is control

We think that ownership gives you authority over something, but as long as we believe that we are playing their game. We should realize that working on something is what gives you authority over that thing

In this framework the owner still has a role to play. The owner is who used their resources or work to acquire or create something, and if that something is used productively they should be rewarded for that effort, but their reward shouldn't be the sole control over that thing, even if they still own it

Ownership doesn't need to be abolished, it doesn't need to be made communal, it just needs to be reframed to be more just

[starlightshadowsworld]

I hope Cheif Taneda wakes up soon because I’ve got some questions for this man.

What the hell were you doing wandering about in an incident like this alone? And how did Sigma of all people heh the drop on you?

Like yeahh Sigmas no slouch but you’re the head of the Special Abilities division. You of all people can’t be taken down so easily like this.

How did you know about the book? How did you guys find the book and acquire a page? What was your plan with the page?

Why do you keep sending spies into the Port Mafia? And why Ango of all people, dude was “a lonely intern” back then.

Why send him? Do you know about the tripartite framework? Did you know about Shibusawa and what he was doing?

Are you in any way connected to the Hunting Dogs programme? Do you know Natsume? Why did you tell Dazai to join the Agency?

I need him to be more of a character because there’s so many questions I’ve got.

[weepinwriter]

“Immortality feels more like a curse when you believe your very breathe is laced with ill fortune. I, the shepherd of tragedy, carry the heavy knowledge that my touch may be more of a curse than blessing.

Name : Caesar

Age : He is in his mid thirties

Appearance : Caesar is a tall, imposing man of 6’3”. Everything about him is monochrome – from his dark blue eyes and messy tousled gray hair, black eyepatch over his right eye, pale, almost ashen skin, and all-black outfit. Befitting of his battle-hardened gaze, he boasts a well-toned, muscular body that is often hidden by his clothes but is no doubt scarred. Caesar is half blind, having lost his right eye to a terrorist attack five years ago.

Personality : Caesar is a very charming and sweet person, albeit a little clumsy and awkward around crowds. He’s sharp and his experiences as a commander has given him enough skill to deal with troublesome people. Despite being a workaholic who works overtime to the point of sleeping in his office and not returning home for days, Caesar is a neat freak. He does not tolerate disorder at all and will actively try to tidy things up even if not required. Around his friends Caesar may be a sweetheart and charming commander, but during duty he is cold, cruel and calculative. He shows no mercy towards law breakers and delinquents and will not hesitate to execute the more serious offenders on the spot by the authority given to him by the Master of the 5th District. Yet underneath his tough exterior lies a broken man with a past filled with death. His apparent immortality has made him believe that he is the bearer of death and misfortune. His silent self loathing of himself doesn't help the issue as well, making him a highly dyfunctional yet sophisticated individual to deal with.

Background : Not much information can be acquired on this individual as all data is heavily regulated and censored. All that is known to the public is that he came from an upper middle class family from the 5th District. The subject joined the FAE (Framework Against Evil) at the age of 18. The family went bankrupt soon after following an acquisition of their business by the Quinn Industries. The subject is a widower with a single daughter, age 10. Remaining data cannot be retrieved.

Likes : Gardening, his job, pastries, white roses, reading, the sun

Dislikes : Darkness, failure, disorder, unnecessary skin contact

Pet peeves : Interrupters, people who beat around the bush unnecessarily, bad public manners

Trivia :

Adores tea; literally needs to have someone swap it out with water so he doesn’t end up getting no sleep with how much he drinks it on a daily basis.

Almost surprisingly, he likes to read storybooks as well–yes, like the type that young children read, because he finds them calming and entertaining.

Enjoys rainy days, but likes clear days a bit better as the sunrise and sunset are stunning to look at and watch

[mariacallous]

Last month several women rose to the top echelons of international politics. Kamala Harris emerged as the lead presidential candidate of the U.S. Democratic Party, Ursula von der Leyen was elected to serve a second term as president of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas was appointed foreign policy chief of the European Union (EU), and Rachel Reeves became Britain’s first female chancellor.

And yet feminists, while generally pleased, were not particularly jubilant. Every success counts, they say, particularly if Harris becomes the U.S. president and acquires the most influential political office in the world. But there’s little reason to think that the arrival of a few women in top positions will change how international affairs are conducted in a male-dominated world.

According to the United Nations (U.N.), at the current rate it will take nearly a century and a half to achieve gender equality in the highest positions of power and almost four more decades to achieve gender parity in national legislative bodies. There are simply not enough women in top jobs to give the concerted, collected push needed to implement a feminist foreign policy and usher in the radically different global order that feminist intellectuals desire.

“Often the narrative is that all we need is a woman leader and everything will change, but we know this isn’t true,” said Miriam Mona Mukalazi, a fellow at European University Institute’s Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies and a scholar in feminist foreign policy. “They are still in the same system; they can only disrupt it a little; and it also depends on how far they are willing to go [to jeopardize their career in pursuit of a better world].”

Scholars said that whenever women are rulers—from queens to prime ministers—they are expected to act like men and display “strength,” a euphemism for their ability to sanction bloody wars and maintain state borders at all costs.

“Something about foreign and security policy is linked to men and masculinity in a way that female leaders have had to justify whether they were warriors or not,” Ann Towns, professor of political science at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg, told Foreign Policy over the phone. “It’s a significant feature, centered around conflict resolution by violence rather than collaboration and peace.”

A feminist foreign policy, however, prioritizes human security over state security and calls for a radical rethink of the current system. It focuses on eliminating the root causes of conflict, demilitarization, a multilateral approach, and diplomatic interventions.

In conversations with Foreign Policy, many scholars suggested that a step-by-step approach is the only way to move forward and representation of women in top ranks, while a necessary condition, is only a start. They said the idea is to achieve gender parity across the board in public life and push for policy change at home and abroad. Once the current power imbalance has been sufficiently corrected, the practice of international affairs can be fundamentally reworked. Policymakers could even discuss the cons of the nation-state concept.

A decade ago, it seemed some feminist ideas were taking a hold. Sweden was the first to adopt a feminist foreign-policy (FFP) framework in 2014; Canada followed in 2017; France two years later; and then Mexico, Spain, Luxembourg, Germany, and Chile. But all these policies were a work in progress factoring in political realities of the day and did not reflect the goals of FFP as a whole.

Experts said the adopted frameworks lacked vision and ambition. Furthermore, their implementation was made harder by various factors. While it has always been a daunting task to make progress in patriarchal societies and power structures, experts said, an ascendant far-right ideology and political parties further impeded progress. For instance, Sweden’s feminist foreign policy was reversed when a government supported by a far-right party came to power. And Russia’s invasion of Ukraine further strengthened the argument of state security at the expense of pacifist movements that contribute to FFP ideas.

Sweden was the torchbearer. Towns said she witnessed “increased gender mainstreaming” in all government departments and a feminist approach to diplomacy and bilateral trade. “They had to start thinking about foreign trade—what does a FFP look like in trade?” she said. Sweden’s efforts also led to the passing of a resolution in the U.N. Security Council that included sexual and gender-based violence as grounds for sanctions.

On the other hand, Sweden exported arms worth billions of dollars to Saudi Arabia between 2015 and 2021 despite reports that it had ended a deal with Saudi Arabia over the country’s suppression of human rights, according to non-governmental organization Svenska Freds.

According to a 2017 report by CONCORD, a group of 19 civil society organizations, Sweden continued to sell arms to non-democratic countries, including Saudi Arabia in 2016 and 2017 when it was carrying out airstrikes against Yemen.

Towns said she thought the defense industry was too big a beast to take on, even for the government. “That would be challenging both huge companies and their large profits and proponents of national security all at once,” she said. “I think they thought of starting with easier stuff,” such as more representation for women.

Canada emerged as one of the biggest international donors toward female welfare and reproductive health, with an emphasis on gender equality projects between 2021 and 2022. But failings have been exposed: Canada did not show how it chose donation recipients and whether it improved outcomes for women and girls.

In 2023, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze launched the German version of a feminist foreign policy amid much fanfare. They included FFP guidelines for everything from conflict resolution and aid delivery to green policies and directed 85 percent of aid to projects with a gender equality dimension.

“We couldn’t use the ‘F word,’” said Mukalazi, of feminism, until the FFP guidelines were launched. “The conservatives wanted us to call it gender-positive policy, and even the liberals were opposed to the German translation feministische Außenpolitik.”

But the German FFP came in for its fair share of criticism, too. First, it was adopted by two ministries, not the whole government. Second, the chancellor’s position on the policy was unclear, leaving doubt among experts “whether the agenda [would] be implemented at the highest level.”

Barbara Mittelhammer, a Berlin-based analyst of FFP, said Germany’s feminist foreign policy has succeeded in a limited context. “There is a lot of value in more gender programs and instruments and more representation,” she said, “but it’s not a feminist foreign policy in the sense of having a different political priority.”

Feminist scholars contend that German foreign policy has gone in the opposite direction owing to the Russian threat looming over the European continent. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s 2022 Zeitenwende (“turning point”) speech called for an unprecedented investment in Germany’s defense sector, and the country is considering relaunching conscription.

While there is no debate among feminist scholars over ending weapons sales to authoritarian nations, the conversation gets trickier when it turns to territorial integrity or a smaller state being threatened by a bigger, authoritarian nation.

“Its difficult to understand what a feminist foreign policy contributes to understanding the biggest security threat we are facing,’’ said Kristi Raik, deputy director at the International Centre for Defence and Security, an Estonian think tank. Kallas, the new EU foreign policy chief and former Estonian prime minister, is expected to push for feminist policies in her new position while her country faces imminent threat from Russia.

Political guidelines from Von der Leyen’s campaign mention the word “equality” seven times, while “defense” is used on 30 different occasions. Von der Leyen’s focus will also be on defense in the wake of Russian aggression. The guidelines noted that combined EU spending on defense increased by 20 percent from 1999 to 2021; in that same period, Russia’s defense spending increased by almost 300 percent and China’s by almost 600 percent. Von der Leyen wrote that European spending is “too disjointed, disparate and not European enough.”

Harris’s challenges, if she becomes president, would be even more severe. Women and girls not just in the United States but across the world would expect her to improve their lives in a more substantial way than handouts through aid organizations. While experts believe she wouldn’t drastically change U.S. policy, Harris has adopted a feminist tone on several issues including the Israel-Hamas war and women’s rights in Iran. Israel has “a right to defend itself, and how it does so matters,” she said. “We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. And I will not be silent.”

Harris voiced support for women in Iran during mass protests in 2022 over women’s rights in the country. But Iranians in exile and women’s rights activists expect more. They say she should use her influence to encourage the U.N. to criminalise gender apartheid.

Taghi Rahmani, the husband of imprisoned Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi, said his wife and other activists have called for gender discrimination to be made a criminal offense at an international level. “Ms. Harris can contribute to this issue,” he wrote to Foreign Policy via encrypted communication from Paris.

“I believe that in the broader context of [U.S.] foreign policy and the composition of the Congress, it is unlikely that a Harris administration would apply the feminist label to their foreign policy,” Fonteini Papagioti, deputy director, policy and advocacy, at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), wrote. “However, I do believe a Harris administration is an opportunity to advance gender equality globally and at home—particularly with regards to sexual and reproductive health and rights.”

Activists say a feminist foreign policy only makes sense if feminist principles are applied at home on domestic policy first. Harris’s first challenge, then, will be to protect women’s rights regarding their own bodies at home in the United States.