#and a lot of them are undergoing change and development

[retrowave-racer]

Can we have some Earl facts by any chance? He's a really cool character and ivr love to see him more in the future!! <33

Some Earl facts supplemented with some character study sketches of the man himself! I’ve recently been trying to redesign him a little more to fit more accurately for his original time period. At least has he appeared then. Modern Early definitely still wears sweater vests.

As some of you may have seen in one of my illustrations back around June, he had a mentor that taught him magic. It was in fact this said mentor that essentially cursed Earl and his whole family. Because why? Because revenge that family wronged him. Somehow. I need to develop that. The twisted part about it all is he had Earl himself carry out the spell, which is why his fate is a bit different. Most of the family turned to stone. Of course his Valet Carter and twin siblings escaped, Carter only just barely. I always imagined it was Corey Alton Sr. and Gatekeeper that found Earl, and because Earl was found to have a natural magical talent was then trained by them alongside others with magical abilities.

Earl was arranged to be married not long before the curse happened. He and the girl he was to marry both sort of agreed they hated their situation but also decided they’d keep a front for their families. Earl knew his parents likely would never approve any other relationship he’d try to form on his own.

Earl post the curse was a lot more…timid and gentle and less moody than current Earl. He of course had his moments but they were far less common as he had to keep up an appearance for his family. Post curse he’s a lot more bitter and rude and standoffish. He doesn’t want people close.

It’s likely one of the reasons he’s as critical as he is post curse is because his parents belittled and criticised his every move. He was driven to be perfect and nothing less. And he’s basically becoming like them despite it all.

He does adore his siblings and as annoying as Ellie can be he’d tear down a forest for her. His brother Dubley wants to be just like Earl and mimics his mannerisms often, and often huffily scolds his twin sister.

All four of them, Earl, The Twins and Carter, are trapped at their current age. Everyone else is still trapped in stone. Not dead. Not exactly living a great life . Potentially conscious though….definitely trapped.

Earl still needs food and to sleep and drink but almost never feels satisfied. Probably another reason he’s so miserable. His siblings and Carter don’t seem to need anything and rarely complain of tiredness or hunger. Earl sometimes wonders if they are actually ghosts. But others can see and interact with them. So he doesn’t really know anymore.

The spirit of his beloved hound Henrietta still haunts him and she is one of the few things that brings him joy. He has found her stone statue in the grounds of the Towers though…

So there are so facts! I hope worth the wait. I never want to share too too much about these characters since I’d love to do more comics. But I have so many ocs that often becomes hard to do personal comics about each of them.

[deception-united]

Let's talk about killing off characters.

Killing off characters is a dramatic device often used to advance the plot, create tension, or evoke emotional responses from readers or viewers. We love doing it. The initial shock, the mourning after. The effects of it on the other characters. It's fun.

Nevertheless, you can still achieve the desired impact on your plot and characters without necessarily resorting to fictional murder.

Here are some alternatives to drive the plot forward:

Character transformation: Instead of killing off a character, you can have them undergo significant personal growth or change. This could involve overcoming challenges, facing moral dilemmas, or undergoing a shift in beliefs or values. Their transformation can still drive the plot forward and impact other characters. (I especially love it when the transformation is negative—like when a traumatic experience of some sort completely strips a character of their soul. But that's a sentiment for another day.)

Betrayal or conflict: Introduce betrayal or conflict between characters that challenges relationships and creates tension. This can lead to significant plot developments and character arcs without resorting to death. And it can be cause for quite a lot of angst.

Separation or estrangement: Have characters physically or emotionally separated from each other, causing tension and driving the plot forward as they strive to reconnect or deal with the consequences of their estrangement.

Sacrifice without death: Characters can make significant sacrifices that don't necessarily involve their death. This could be sacrificing personal goals, relationships, or values for the greater good or to achieve a specific objective.

Injury or disability: Instead of killing off a character, you can incapacitate them through injury or disability. This will create challenges for the character and those around them, leading to character development and plot progression as they're forced to adapt to their new circumstances.

Redemption arcs: Characters who have committed wrongdoings can undergo redemption arcs where they seek forgiveness, make amends, or strive to become better individuals. This can drive the plot forward while also adding depth to the character. Keep in mind that this may not be a suitable alternative to death for some characters—for instance, the protagonist forgiving their abusive parent despite all they were forced to go through may evoke a sense of indignation rather than admiration for their supposed selflessness.

Revelations or secrets: Introduce revelations or uncover secrets that have significant impacts on characters and their relationships. This can lead to conflict, tension, and plot twists without the need for death.

Forced alliances or unexpected partnerships: Characters can be forced into alliances or partnerships with unlikely allies, leading to interesting dynamics and plot developments as they navigate these new relationships.

Loss of power or status: Characters can experience a loss of power, status, or reputation, which can drive the plot forward as they strive to regain what they've lost, seek revenge on those responsible, or adapt to their new circumstances.

Time constraints or pressure: Introduce time constraints or pressure situations that force characters to act quickly and make difficult, split-second decisions that may end up being quite regrettable later on. This can raise conflicts of who's to blame, or what should have been done.

I feel like I strayed off a little, but there you have it. Hope this was helpful! ❤

Previous | Next

[reasonsforhope]

"Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo has a lot to celebrate.

The park, which celebrated its 30th anniversary on December 31 of 2023, also shared an exciting conservation milestone: 2023 was the first year without any elephant poaching detected.

“We didn’t detect any elephants killed in the Park this year, a first for the Park since [we] began collecting data. This success comes after nearly a decade of concerted efforts to protect forest elephants from armed poaching in the Park,” Ben Evans, the Park’s management unit director, said in a press release.

Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park was developed by the government of Congo in 1993 to maintain biodiversity conservation in the region, and since 2014, has been cared for through a public-private partnership between Congo’s Ministry of Forest Economy and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Pictured: Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park. Photo courtesy of Scott Ramsay/Wildlife Conservation Society

Evans credits the ongoing collaboration with this milestone, as the MEF and WCS have helped address escalating threats to wildlife in the region. 

This specifically includes investments in the ranger force, which has increased training and self-defense capabilities, making the force more effective in upholding the law ��� and the rights of humans and animals.

“Thanks to the strengthening of our anti-poaching teams and new communication technologies, we have been able to reduce poaching considerably,” Max Mviri, a park warden for the Congolese government, said in a video for the Park’s anniversary. 

“Today, we have more than 90 eco-guards, all of whom have received extensive training and undergo refresher courses,” Mviri continued. “What makes a difference is that 90% of our eco-guards come from villages close to the Park. This gives them extra motivation, as they are protecting their forest.”

As other threats such as logging and road infrastructure development impact the area’s wildlife, the Park’s partnerships with local communities and Indigenous populations in the neighboring villages of Bomassa and Makao are increasingly vital.

“We’ve seen great changes, great progress. We’ve seen the abundance of elephants, large mammals in the village,” Gabriel Mobolambi, chief of Bomassa village, said in the same video. “And also on our side, we benefit from conservation.”

Coinciding with the Park’s anniversary is the roll-out of a tourism-focused website, aiming to generate 15% of its revenue from visitors, which contributes significantly to the local economy...

Nouabalé-Ndoki also recently became the world’s first certified Gorilla Friendly National Park, ensuring best practices are in place for all gorilla-related operations, from tourism to research.

But gorillas and elephants — of which there are over 2,000 and 3,000, respectively — aren’t the only species visitors can admire in the 4,334-square-kilometer protected area.

The Park is also home to large populations of mammals such as chimpanzees and bongos, as well as a diverse range of reptiles, birds, and insects. For the flora fans, Nouabalé-Ndoki also boasts a century-old mahogany tree, and a massive forest of large-diameter trees.

Beyond the beauty of the Park, these tourism opportunities pave the way for major developments for local communities.

“The Park has created long-term jobs, which are rare in the region, and has brought substantial benefits to neighboring communities. Tourism is also emerging as a promising avenue for economic growth,” Mobolambi, the chief of Bomassa village, said in a press release.

The Park and its partners also work to provide education, health centers, agricultural opportunities, and access to clean water, as well, helping to create a safe environment for the people who share the land with these protected animals. 

In fact, the Makao and Bomassa health centers receive up to 250 patients a month, and Nouabalé-Ndoki provides continuous access to primary education for nearly 300 students in neighboring villages. 

It is this intersectional approach that maintains a mutual respect between humans and wildlife and encourages the investment in conservation programs, which lead to successes like 2023’s poaching-free milestone...

Evans, of the Park’s management, added in the anniversary video: “Thanks to the trust that has been built up between all those involved in conservation, we know that Nouabalé-Ndoki will remain a crucial refuge for wildlife for the generations to come.”"

-via Good Good Good, February 15, 2024

[redheadhyena]

Well, a little bit about Sah'Erna ╮(︶▽︶)╭ and their bodies (it's so satisfying to draw organs) And yeah they are direct descendants of humans! And now there's going to be a lot of text...

Sah’Erna are the descendants of humans who arrived on Cotes AA2 aboard the starship "Theseus". This ship was partially a research facility, primarily designed to transport all the necessary equipment for studying Cotes AA2, along with a team of researchers.

As part of one of the experiments—whose ethical implications are up for debate—the ship carried an “ark,” a special storage unit containing frozen male and female gametes for transportation. The ark originally held 2,000 pairs, but due to prolonged exposure to unsuitable storage conditions, only about 700 pairs survived. From these, only 500 viable zygotes formed, and after undergoing extensive mutations caused by ether exposure, just 200 individuals ultimately survived to become the new human population of Cotes AA2.

By the time they were “born,” these new humans already differed significantly from their ancestors. At the very least, due to the presence of manganese in their bodies, their skin tones ranged from deep plum to ochre. However, the first generation still bore a strong resemblance to humans, though they already had tails, dual ear structures, and an ether horn.

Over the course of several millennia, the Sah’Erna evolved rapidly, with each generation differing noticeably from the last. Their physical evolution progressed quickly due to the harsh and unforgiving desert environment of Cotes AA2, as well as the ether’s tendency to trigger rapid mutations and accelerated adaptation.

Because of this, the Sah’Erna who migrated to the ocean and those who moved north to the steppes and plains developed distinct differences—not only in appearance but also on a deeper biological level. Interbreeding between these groups is rare and often results in unexpected mutations or frail offspring prone to illness. While the Sah’Erna do maintain contact with their kin from other regions, it is mostly for trade. They differ in culture, lifestyle, and even biochemistry, particularly in how their bodies accumulate ether. If the desert-dwelling Sah’Erna are considered the baseline, then those from the steppes have a significantly higher ether capacity, while the ocean-dwelling Sah’Erna have a much lower tolerance, making them extremely sensitive to ether exposure.

What Is Ether? Ether isn’t exactly a substance, but it’s not a living organism either—it’s something in between. If try to compare it to anything, it’s kind of like carbon. But unlike carbon, ether exists in everything on Cotes AA2—living organisms, water, even rock formations. On top of that, it has a hive-like intelligence, with the planet’s core—made entirely of ether—acting as the “queen.”

At high enough concentrations (for example, in water, plants, and soil, its levels are minimal), ether can change its form and properties on its own. However, for it to develop any kind of intelligence, two conditions need to be met:

It has to be in an extremely high concentration in one place.

It has to remain stable at that concentration.

Because of this, the core of Cotes AA2 is actually a sentient being known as XII Costas (someday, I’ll draw her concept).

How Does Ether Affect Humans? Ether is an insanely powerful mutagen. Even at the lowest possible concentrations, it can cause cancer-like growths. Pure, concentrated ether is way worse—if inhaled or if its particles make contact with human tissue for 3–5 hours, it completely breaks down the body into biomass. That said, this only happens outside of Cotes AA2.

Ether particles are also present in the planet’s atmosphere, so if someone were to stick their hand out of their spacesuit without actually breathing it in, they’d still mutate. However, on Cotes AA2 itself, the mutations are way slower and less aggressive. This is because, outside the planet, ether particles lose the control of their “queen” and act purely on survival instinct. On Cotes AA2, mutations tend to be highly random and almost experimental, like the “queen” and the hive are actively running tests.

Ether Feeds on Information So yeah, to it, humans are basically an exotic delicacy.

Ether Horns Ether horns grow throughout a Sah’Erna’s life. They’re the body’s natural response to ether exposure. The more often and intensely a Sah’Erna interacts with ether—especially by consuming it—the faster and larger their horn grows.

Why Did Humans Travel to Cotes AA2? Ether is the perfect fuel for starships, allowing them to travel through wormholes. "Theseus" runs on the second prototype of the Ionized Ether Engine—an experimental propulsion system that integrates ether into an ion drive. This tech outperformed both standard ion thrusters and warp drives, but due to the ship’s massive size, its efficiency took a hit.

In the near future I want to create some more clothes, architecture, relics and their everyday life (º﹃º ) And I think I should start leaving links to other posts with Sah'Erna in if anyone wants to see them all First art with Sah'Erna - *CLICK*

(all 9 of these artworks took me a month to complete (×﹏×) )

[artuurle]

Woe, my Drainfolk headcanons upon yee

All my art and rambles under the cut because it's a whoooole ramble-y mess since i'm bad at. explaining my thoughts.

features characters in underwear but no nudity i promise

Okay so I tried my best to take a swing at this while also keeping these guys recognizable to the series. sorry if its a mess nmbnvbv.

I headcanon drainfolk the result of generations of normal humans warped from the influence of the drain which, similar to the rift, has properties that augments the creatures that exist near it, though the drain is much slower and a generational effect instead of the immediate- rapturous effect from the rift. Since the original population has been here for a good many of hundred years, they look incredibly different from average ggg humans (which also are unique against irl humans. looking at those inhuman skin tones) while still being directly related to them. Many traits developed were essential to help them survive their new lives in the drain ( claws, arm strength + length, growth cycles) since the place was incredibly hard to live in. Anatomy:

Drainfolk have very little sexual dimorphism - most of them all share the shorter and stout build and are covered in hair. the main differences are actually the fact AFAB individuals lack retractable claws and they tend to (usually) be taller and fuzzier on average). Drainfolk also display pads on the entire palms of their hands and slitted pupils. Development:

Drainfolk physically develop into adults at a very different pace than normal humans, while mental development stays the same. Staying incredibly small for most of their childhood with smaller growth spurts before entering a rapid period of growth close to adulthood. The sudden change in size causes a sudden shift to higher caloric intake and the occasional VERY CONFUSED teenager. The need to stay small for prolonged periods of time is because many places in the drain require you to climb in VERY dangerous areas, and the solution was to stay small as long as possible while your parents carried you until you were strong enough to climb around yourself.

Metamorphs:

Outliers in the drainfolk population- They tend to be around double the height of their compatriots and trade a lot of the heavier fuzz for a lighter coat and thicker skin. Their claws also grow longer as a form of defense.

Metamorphs are the term for drainfolk who after reaching adulthood, undergo a secondary growth spurt. This is caused by being thrust into various forms of responsibility and power- similar to how a dominant male orangutan will become larger or the dominant male fish will change size/gender if the large leader female dies. Either sex can become a metamorph, though its slightly more common in Afab individuals because of child rearing. This is also commonly seen in leaders of established groups of varying legality and in the eldest of a gaggle of an orphaned group of drainfolk after reaching adulthood. Any spot where the role of responsibility is shouldered is a role that can cause a drainfolk to become a metamorph.

Bonus:

Drainfolk even into their adulthood tend to climb up on people they deem close to them as a sign of affection or when they are scared / stressed for comfort. It is very common to see a drainfolk climb onto another the same size to the absolute annoyance or acceptance of the one being afflicted with the behavior. The behavior is very normalized in the drain but may come off as weird to people not aware of it.

[letters-to-lgbt-kids]

My dear lgbt+ kids, 

„But what if a kid identifies as a cat?“, used as an argument against trans rights, feels like the type of argument you’re not really supposed to think about - because if you do, it falls apart really quickly. 

I think it’s supposed to evoke some horrible mental image of doctors operating on a toddler to turn them into a kitten or kids using the litterbox and eating cat food or something. In some sort of „If we allow a child to choose their own pronouns and name and put on clothes they’re happy in, we will also have to allow that“ way. 

But what exactly are we talking about here? A kid playing pretend that they are a cat? In that case, that’s just ridiculous. There’s zero comparability between that and being transgender. Kids pretending to be cats (or pirates or vampires or horses or trees or horse-trees who are also pirate-vampires.. young kids come up with wonderfully creative in-game universes!) are just tiny humans playing games. That is an important part of childhood that helps them develop valuable skills like empathy, creativity and problem-solving, and doctors are aware of this. They’re not suddenly going to prescribe kitty hormones to kids for going through a very very common developmental phase. 

Plus, I don’t think kids really routinely ask for that either. I’m sure there are individual anecdotes of kids actually trying out the litterbox while playing cats (even if it’s just to provoke a reaction from adults, which is also a normal way kids learn and explore) - but kids who play pretend that they are a cat do not persistently identify as a cat. They do not have an enduring inner feeling that they genuinely are a cat or should be a cat. They do not want to persistently be treated as a cat. As soon as the game is over, they’ll step out of character. That’s more comparable to putting on Halloween costumes than to being trans. 

So, are we talking about kids who genuinely and persistently have the inner feeling of being a cat? Well, in that case.. doctors also wouldn’t operate on the kid. Maybe we could help the kid feel more comfortable by letting them choose a name that feels more cat-appropriate or in other ways changing how we talk about them. We could help the kid find safe ways to express what they feel. But that would be all. There is no approved surgery for that. That just isn’t a thing right now. 

And if it ever becomes a thing, well, I’d guess that’d only be the case if a lot of scientists and doctors agreed that there is 1. ample demand for such a surgery and 2. a greatly improved quality of life for the patients undergoing the surgery and 3. a way to perform such a surgery where the benefits outweigh the risks, and if all that is given, I’d be all in favor of it. It’d be weird to be against a potentially lifesaving treatment, just because it’s for something you may not fully understand. 

But that’s hypothetical, of course. Using a made-up surgery to somehow argue against trans rights is just plain silly. So now we are left with… what exactly? The mental image of a kid realizing something about themselves that we may not relate to? The mental image of a kid asking us to respect the way they feel, even if it may be a rare experience? 

I don’t think that’s such a horrible image at all. Certainly not one to be so scared of that we should punish trans kids for it. 

With all my love, 

Your Tumblr Dad 

[forsworned]

It’s said canonically that simon riley has trauma around intimacy from torture 😔 If you feel comfortable writing it, can I please ask for a short fic of an Afab reader body worshipping/lovingly pleasuring Simon after they both work through his trauma and he’s getting all soft and emotional and babbling about how good reader is making him feel and how much he loves them and can’t believe someone cares about him this much? I always liked the idea of Simon being portrayed as vulnerable and soft and not this dom sex god a lot of people portray him to be. I really love your work and would love to see your take on this request :)

Soft ft. Simon 'Ghost' Riley

Author's Note: So I do recall someone making a post about this and I have to say I do not agree with everything. Men definitely process trauma, specifically sexual trauma a lot differently than women do. While women experience guilt, men experience anger. And maybe it's not all men who experience it that way, but after reading the comic and making my own assessment, I can say that Simon does have lingering anger. Of course, he is hell-bent on avenging his dead family, but all that pent-up energy could be going toward trying to even the score. He is pretty level-headed and able to compartmentalize. He has support from his comrades as well as undergoes mandatory rigorous mental health assessments because that's military protocol. He needs to be able to perform his duties on the field without putting himself or others at risk. He also most certainly gets mandatory counseling. Although he may be reluctant, his superiors are very much aware of the possible impact that it has on his mental health. So all that to say that Simon is not without help. He is not as "damaged" as people may perceive him to be. He's not a broken individual. As seen in the remastered MW's, albeit reluctant he can clearly put his trust in others. He develops relationships with the people who he works closely with meaning he is capable of change. SIGH. I just wish people would break this down a little more, but I do get what you're saying. His masculinity, trust issues, and the type of secret operations he goes on can lessen the effectiveness of the therapy. He's definitely a very complex character with layers to him, but I just don't think he's as weak as you may think he is. It's also important to note that it hasn't been confirmed that this current Simon went through the same thing. He could have a completely different background. Honestly, Activision is so fucking inconsistent but ANYWAYSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS I hope you enjoy this. Also if you read this all the way through, I applaud you. But thank you for enjoying my work, I didn't mean to critique you and your request, but I just couldn't let it slide LOL

Warnings: PnV sex, AFAB!Reader, Some Canon Simon Lore, Sexual Content, Mentions of Sexual Trauma

"Si—Simon..."

You sigh out in pleasure with every roll of your hips as you grind down on him. Your clit grazes against his lower abdomen, and his cock stretches you out pliant. Fingers dig into his shoulders, marking half crescents into his pale, scarred skin. But something feels off.

His hands loosen their grip on your hips, and upon opening your eyes you find him his half-lidded gaze distant in a familiar haze. He isn't present.

"Simon." You halt the rutting of your hips, cupping his stubbly cheeks. "Are you alright?"

His onyx hues fixate on you. He is clearly readjusting his withdrawn eyes to refocus on you. You didn't want to say it yet, but you had felt him go a little soft a few seconds prior. "We can stop."

"No, no." His fingers squeeze your middle as he sits up a bit. You shake your head, but he's not letting up. "Why stop?"

You firmly grasp his face and his blonde lashes flutter up at you with a seemingly unreadable expression, but you're no stranger to Simon's detachment. Although he loathes to admit it, it happens. The relearning of being intimate is tumultuous for him.

"Because you're not mentally here, my love."

He frowns. "But I want y'to finish."

You exhale sharply. He doesn't even deny it. "No, Simon. I'd feel disgusted with myself if I finished while you weren't here with me."

He struggles to reply. In all honesty, he doesn't know what to say. It's not exactly a common occurrence, but he's not too keen on having a conversation about it. You never pry though. His therapy sessions are his own, unless, of course, you join him if he so desires.

Couples counseling is mandatory. A rule you established when you first decided to tie the knot. If you had problems that were beyond just a sit-down talk, a professional would have to intervene. And Simon agreed. No fuss, no muss. To preserve the sacredness of your relationship, he'd do anything.

He sighs. "'m sorry, dovie." He caresses your sides, feeling the gooseberries on your skin rise. A small smile adorns his lips and you giggle at his smugness.

"Stop it." You begin to get off of him, but Simon holds you firmly. You feel his dick harden inside of you, now kissing your cervix. A little gasp escapes your chest as you readjust yourself.

"Y'like tha'?" Simon's grinning now. It's his confidence gleaming through the abysmal darkness of his mind. The life in his eyes feels revitalized, and you now feel his vigor—literally.

"Yes, but..."

"'m here, love." He reaffirms, squeezing your waist again. "'m here. Please, 'm achin' for you."

He groans a bit and bucks his hips when he feels you pulsate around him. You return your own moan, leaning forward but his fingers thread through your hair and he brings you into a sloppy, heated kiss. His hips thrust into you slowly and deeply, earning a guttural moan from him.

For a moment as you withdrew from the kiss, your gazes meet and Simon's eyes soften and become glossy with tears that brim over his oculars and spill over the corners of his eyes.

"Oh, baby." You coo, holding him close as you kiss his face. His sadness is silent, yet palpable. You're now babbling sweet, sweet words to him as you pepper him with kisses, and Simon holds you as if you're going to slip away. You gently guide him through the double inhale technique you learned from your therapist, and with the sweetness of your voice, the kindness in your eyes, and the tenderness of your touch, he feels at ease.

"I dunno how y'put up with me."

You grin, kissing the corner of his lip. "It ain't easy."

"Oh?" He flips you over on your back, pressing you firmly against the mattress and you giggle into the nape of his neck. "Wanna say that again, love?"

You thread your fingers through his sandy blonde hair and kiss the tip of his nose. "You're not hard to love, Simon."

His eyes soften once more and he kisses you deeply. Simon has never cherished anyone more in his life. You were always so patient and kind from the jump. You were truly the "greater woman" behind the "great man".

He rests his forehead against yours and closes his eyes as you gently card your fingers in his hair.

"Thank you, lovie."

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Narrative Arc

Narrative arc - also called a “story arc,” a “dramatic arc,” or just an “arc”.

It is a literary term for the path a story follows.

It provides a backbone by providing a clear beginning, middle, and end of the story.

Freytag's Pyramid

The concept of narrative arc as we know it today was created by Gustav Freytag, a German novelist and playwright who closely analyzed ancient Greek writing, along with William Shakespeare’s five-act plays.

As the term suggests, when plotted on paper, a typical narrative arc forms the shape of a hill or pyramid.

5 Classic Elements of a Narrative Arc

A traditional narrative arc has five elements, in the following order:

Exposition. This is the reader’s introduction to the story. The exposition offers background information to prime the audience for the rest of the story, including introducing the main character(s) (the “who”), setting (the “where”), and circumstances or time period (the “when”).

Rising action. This is when conflict begins to ramp up. The rising action usually begins with what’s called an “inciting incident”—the triggering event that puts the main events of the story in motion. This is when the audience starts to see what your story is really about.

Climax. This is the highest point of tension in your storyline, and often the point at which all the different subplots and characters converge. Typically, the climax requires the main character to face the truth or make an important choice.

Falling action. This is what happens as a result of the protagonist’s decision. During the falling action, the conflict gives way to resolution. Loose ends are tied up, and tension begins to dissipate.

Resolution. Also known as a denouement, this is how your story ends. The resolution of a narrative arc isn’t always happy, but it does close the loop and show how the events of the story have changed the characters and the world around them.

Narrative Arc vs. Plot

Plot - the individual events that make up your story. In other words, the plot is what happens.

Narrative arc - the path or sequence of your plot, and how that series of events creates a flow and progression that keeps the reader engaged at each stage in the story.

Narrative Arc vs. Character Arc

If a narrative arc is the path of the overall story,

a character arc is the path a specific character takes during that story.

The story arc is external, and happens to all of the characters,

while a character arc is internal, and happens to one person.

A character arc usually involves a character overcoming an obstacle and changing the way they see the world.

When the narrative arc begins its descent down the pyramid into the falling action and resolution, the character arc has its moment to shine.

This is when a character experiences a turning point by asking for help, learning a new skill, making a critical choice, and/or becoming more self-aware.

Typically, only major characters have character arcs, though minor characters can undergo this type of character development as well.

Create a Narrative Arc in 4 Easy Steps

Here are some writing tips for building a narrative arc in your own writing:

Choose an archetypal narrative arc. Think about the story you want to tell. Is the main character overcoming an obstacle? Going on a quest? Experiencing a rebirth? You don’t have to follow any one example to the letter, but writing with an archetypal narrative arc in mind can be a huge help.

Identify your beginning, middle, and end. Who are the main characters? What are they doing? When are they doing it? Where are they doing it? Why are they doing it? And, most importantly: What is all of that building toward?

Plug your events into a narrative arc. Creating a visual diagram of your chosen narrative arc, then add the events of your story along that arc. Seeing a quick overview of your story on a page makes it easier to identify problems and fill any gaps. For instance, if you have a lot of events clustered in your “exposition” stage, you may want to cut some of them out or reimagine them as new developments in the rising action.

Adjust as needed. Of course, there’s no hard and fast rule that you have to stick to Freytag’s traditional narrative arc. Every story is different: some are heavier on exposition, while others draw out the rising action. Give yourself the freedom to be flexible and see where your unique story goes.

The next time you sit down to write, consider drawing up a quick narrative arc. It’s a useful tool that can help you stay on track if you’re ever unsure of what comes next in your story.

Source ⚜ More: References ⚜ Plot ⚜ Character ⚜ Worldbuilding ⚜ Exposition

[dekkiidan]

y'all were so encouraging on my tentative post about hearthian courting, egg development, relationships etc. post that I've compiled my headcanons into a little list for your perusal below!

please be aware that due to the nature of the topic being discussed, there is mention of sexual relationships, a brief mention of sexual anatomy and the Hearthian version of pregnancy ("clutch-carrying") discussed below so please avoid if that's not your thing - just scroll on past!

without further ado!

Courtship

A Note on Hearthian Relationships

Prefacing this with the fact that I believe hearthian relationships, sexuality and familial roles are all very fluid in comparison to the "nuclear" familial ties of humans. Basically, hearthians as a species and as a community really don't care who's doing what with whom, nor do they hold one flavour of relationship in higher regard than another. No strings attached? No problem. Friends with benefits? Whatever floats your boat, buddy! Really wanted to egg-carry and raise your own hatchling but aren't fussed about a strict exclusive relationship with someone else? You do you. Want to raise a hatchling but don't want to carry? No worries, go pick an egg from the hatchery. etc. etc. Each individual has their own preferences and that's just how it is.

Actually, @2isted-chocol8-art's views on hearthian relationships are pretty in line with mine, and they're also much more eloquent than I am, so feel free to have a read here!

Like humans, Hearthian courting varies from individual to individual; and also depends on context. There are different "rules" depending on your end goal. For example, if you just want to have a fling with someone, it's quite easy to make your intentions clear over a drink or two. However, if you're after a more long-term commitment, then the general consensus is that you should be a bit more thoughtful and courteous in your approach - and this involves gift giving!

There is no hard and fast rule on what counts as an appropriate gift and it varies from individual to individual, but, due to the geological origins of Hearthian names (and my own interest in geology), I like the idea of "stone-sharing" - the gifting of a pretty rock to signal interest. I think a lot of folks share this HC, I know for a fact that @insert-image-here and Cosmo have somewhat similar headcanons regarding stones and gems!

Stone-sharing rocks don't have to be "precious", in fact most of them are just tumbled country rock, but they should be of a reasonable size. An ideal size should be no smaller than a golf ball.

Offering one of these tumbled rocks to your prospective partner(s) is the same as "officially" asking someone to be in a more serious/long-term relationship with you.

If accepted, the stone-share is kept safe by the other party.

Marriage, in the human sense, isn't really a thing for Hearthians, but should a couple/group wish to commit long-term to their partners, they will split the stone to make jewelry/accessories from it! So, for example, Mohs and Dusty's necklace and bolo tie are from the same stone respectively.

Should a relationship not work out, the stone-share (intact or split) is returned to the original gifter. Oftentimes they are discarded back into Timber Hearth's rivers or, if it was a less than favourable break-up, thrown into the geysers.

Seasons 

Please please please please don’t be weird about this I’m begging y’all. I just think biology is cool and love that a lot of amphibians go through seasonal changes to signal they’re ready for babies, and I love the idea that Hearthians exhibit something similar.

Prefacing this with the commonly accepted headcanon that Hearthians are simultaneous hermaphrodites. They have functioning sets of what we would consider “both” reproductive organs. As such, any Hearthian, provided everything is working correctly, can both carry or fertilise eggs. 

Hearthians undergo fertile windows that occur when eggs are mature and ready to be fertilised.

The hormonal changes that prompt the egg to mature also cause physiological changes! These can include darkening of marking patterns; complete pattern changes; development/elongation of whiskers (thank you @queruloustea for letting me utilise this, I love your whiskered beasties!); ear fanning to help dissipate heat (thank you Nepsie for your inspo on this!) - body temperature generally increases during this time; and release of certain pheromones to attract others.

I want to stress that Hearthians don’t find any of this “taboo” at all. It’s a perfectly natural and normal part of their life, and folks who are in “season” don’t feel ashamed or awkward to just continue with their day to day lives as normal. Some might wear slightly lighter clothes to help with heat dissipation but that’s about it.

Due to the relatively small population, I think that Hearthians are actually pretty bad at making babies. As such, I think their fertile windows, or seasons, are quite tight - maybe 10-15 days every 6 months, and apparently everyone sucks at getting busy during this time anyway because, well, look at the population size.

Eggs & Clutch Carrying

Clutches normally begin at 3 or 4 eggs strong, but it is rare for all eggs in a clutch to be fertilised or reach maturity. Normally, non-fertilised eggs are absorbed by the strongest and used as food during gestation. However, in rare cases there can be twins, triplets or even quadruplets!

Once fertilised, eggs are internally incubated for roughly 4-5 months, before being laid into a specially prepared body of water (see, nicely incubated bucket in the hatchery) where they develop for a further month before hatching into tadpoles!

Hearthian eggs are soft shelled and slightly transparent - similar to frogspawn! Once laid, their transparent casing allows folks to do important welfare checks on the tadpoles in the hatchery!

Depending on build, some Hearthians develop a clutch bump around one month into “eggnancy.” Bumps don’t tend to get very big, but this varies from individual to individual. As a rule of thumb, bumps don’t exceed the size of an average mango.

Whilst clutch-carrying, the parent will exhibit a variety of changes to help with both gestation and tadpole raising. These include: further darkening of markings and whisker development - I headcanon that tadpoles have pretty poor vision when freshly hatched and as such rely on contrast and touch as opposed to detail and colour to make sense of the world around them! Many Hearthians put on a bit of weight also, fat reserves are important due to the extra energy being exerted to promote healthy tadpole development.

Once eggs are laid, parents don't necessarily look after their own. It's very much a communal activity. However, some couples/groups/partners may want to take a more active role in their own egg care, which is also accepted and encouraged in the community.

Also, “delivering” an egg is nowhere near as messy a business as it is with humans. Thanks to the eggs being soft shelled, they’re relatively easy to . . . expel.

Post laying, some Hearthians return to "normal" pretty quickly, while others who are more predisposed to take on a more parental role will keep their high contrast colours and extra squish. They'll take on the primary caretaker role for hatchlings as they develop into toddlers. Clutch markings and extra squish will dissipate once hatchlings are able to stand upright. (I have a whole other HC about a positive feedback loop re hatchling pheromones and hormones that basically tell the caretaker/parent Hearthian's body to settle back to normal when the hatchlings are ready, but that’s a whole other essay.)

Tadpoles hatch as wriggly little beasties, please go and check out @queruloustea lovely tadpoles for a visual. Thank you Sorrel for letting me geek out about them with you!

If you are still here, thank you for reading! I love thinking about relationships, communities and reproduction in alien species, and it has been so much fun to do a deep dive with the Hearthians. I’ll likely add and update this as I think of more stuff, but if you have any questions feel free to ping me an ask or drop me a DM!

Huge thanks to everyone who has listened to me ramble about this via Discord and DM - Merry, Nepsie, Sorrel, Cosmo, and Image -  it’s been such a pleasure to discuss these silly little ideas with you all and I’m so thankful to you all for bouncing ideas around with me!

[universalstrology]

astrocartography ac lines

astrocartography is a method to finding which areas of the world are the best for you to live in, depending on what you are looking for. this post contains the ascendant lines for each planet. 

moving east or west of your line will change the house emphasis, and a day vs night chart changes the emphasis of benefic and malefic planets, which is highly individualized, so for this post these are general effects.

sun ac: you feel more yourself here, and others can see it. you light up the rooms you walk into. you gain a new sense of confidence and others can see your generosity and enthusiasm. this is a great line to move to emphasize the qualities of your natal sun, to gain confidence and create a strong sense of identity.

moon ac: this is a more withdrawn line to move to, a place where you are forced to be more in-tune with your emotions and may have ties to your mother or motherly figures. the emotions from moving on this line will show in outward ways, such as volunteering more, taking on a public caretaker role, etc.

mercury ac: this is a great place to move to to further education, to teach and learn, and share information. others find you intelligent and witty. you find yourself meeting lots of new people. 

venus ac: this line is where you will feel the most beautiful and others can see it too. life feels pleasant and easygoing, you may be more motivated to start artistic ventures. you might work most on your appearance here. people like you and you attract more opportunities. 

mars ac: this is a place where you will be very active. this is a good place to move if you’re an athlete or looking to focus on passion projects. others find you decisive and potentially a little too forward. you may be more accident prone here. you may also work more on your own. 

jupiter ac: this is a lucky place for you to move to attract good opportunities and meet people, to be more optimistic and share with a community. you might find yourself traveling more. however, if you deny the growth you undergo here, you might find your body reacting negatively. 

saturn ac: you take on more responsibilities here. people see you as a workaholic. you learn to rely on yourself. you learn self-discipline, but may burn out soon. this is a line for work in school or business, not for pleasure. 

uranus ac: life takes unexpected turns here. you may meet outstanding opportunities and have a great sense of freedom and independence, but do not come onto this line with a plan. it is a line for developing courageousness, trying something new, and not for settling down or finding long-term relationships.

neptune ac: this is a line that may bring you closer to your faith or spirituality. it can be pleasant, however your judgment may be clouded. this is a good line to heighten creativity and dreaming big. you might be more prone to substance use or other methods of escapism here. 

pluto ac: this is a line that will completely transform you and how you approach your life. there is a chance of meeting more karmic relationships. this is a cathartic experience. others might see you as someone with high influence and power. 

chiron ac: this place might be somewhere you have a desire to escape to. this place may bring up old wounds, but gives you a chance to heal from them. you might work on your spiritual gifts here. the day-to-day life here is not easy.

[spookygibberish]

who are the dogstock?

There’s quite a bit to go over with this so bear with me

Pictured: 3rd male and Virgin Queen (Uhasr)

The Dogstock are the Godstock People of the Dog, descended from an ancient warrior class of a now very dead culture. There’s still a lot of details to work out so I’m skimming over this part, honestly. The warriors of this culture ate the flesh and drank the blood of the Dog to become more like it, and were changed. The level of change that just imbibing the flesh of the Dog imparted is not sufficient to explain the level of purposed biology that characterizes Dogstock, and this culture didn’t practice active manipulation of stock in the way the Jacantese do, so the full history of their origins are somewhat mysterious. (I have ideas (not worked out)).

The Dzuzhnutte Empire perfected the Dogstock as they exist today, and their design, handling, and breeding as perpetuated still in Orimat today. The Dzuzhnutte conquered the entirety of the Dochira, the Hochkiskuph Steppes, and the isthmus in between which now holds the modern day the Kiiz principalities (Ann-Kiiz, Bel-Kiiz, Osat-Kiiz) primarily by the strength of a massive and powerful army of specialty bred and trained Dogstock soldiers. One could argue the high cost of maintenance of this army (among other factors) was the nail in the Dzuzhnutte Empire's coffin, but honestly it's all conjecture. Like the people who first captured and consumed the Dog, the Dzuzhnutte are no longer around.

There are three major broad cultural groups of dogstock that I'll be talking about, if i talk more about these guys publicly:

The Uhasr (/yhezr/) (i cannot pronounce this word correctly either)

The empire didn't collapse all at once, it shrank, it abandoned its peripheries. One of the first such regions to be abandoned was the Hochkiskuph, a relatively small, cold desert region with little obvious wealth in anything other than sheep. The Dogstock soldiers stationed in the Hochkiskuph were not retrieved, as there was no particular need for them. Dogstock are cheap to breed and expensive to feed, or so it goes. This happened about 700~ years from the modern day, and the abandoned Dzuzhnutte Dogstock warslaves formed the basis of the modern day Uhasr culture.

Uhasr Dogstock are a very decentralized culture characterized more or less entirely by their shared language. Uhasr means "ear-having", and is a reference to their uncropped ears. Dogstock slaves of the Dzuzhnutte (and descendant cultures, the tradition persists) had their ears and tails cropped as a mark of servitude, and the Uhasr, being master-less, take great pride in their intact ears and tails, enough to consider them their defining features.

The Uhasr Dogstock are nomadic hunters who exist in an ongoing state of constant conflict with the indigenous Hochki people, who are mostly nomadic herders. The Dzuzhnutte Dogstock were brought to the Hochkiskuph to hunt people, and did not stop doing that once left to their own devices.

Uhasr Dogstock practice exocannibalism (they eat their enemies' flesh), collect body body parts as war trophies (particularly hands and heads), observe religious practices that could be said to be the only surviving form of the ancient Dzuzhnutte state religion, have a strong culture of storytelling and communal theatre, and are generally known as "Feral Dogstock."

Oan Dogstock

Citizens of the Kiiz are Oan. A person from Ann-Kiiz is Ann-Oan. Oan Dogstock are Dogstock who are legally citizens of the Kiiz. The Kiiz are a trio of city states controlling the isthmus between Dochira and the mainland. They political history of this region is up in the air, I'm working on it. You'll get what you get lmao.

The Kiiz are currently undergoing a period of high art and culture, scientific developments, religious inspiration, lofty patronage of the arts. The Kiiz are an enlightened culture where Dogstock live freely among humans, slavery is illegal in the Kiiz, unlike Orimat, and all Dogstock are full members of society. In practice, it's rare to find anyone willing to sell property to Dogstock, and 95% of Oan Dogstock rent houses, or live with human sponsors, for who also often employ them in exchange for food and housing.

The Dogstock of the Kiiz exist in a strange, tense state, trapped between the Uhazr and the Orimish Dogstock in the eyes of their human contemporaries. The experience of the Oan Dogstock is one of supplication and opposition, they crop their ears to distinguish themselves from the feral Uhasr savages, and leave long their tails to distinguish them from servile Orimish slaves. A notable percentage of Oan dogstock are particularly strict adherents of the local religion of the Kiiz (idk much about it other than it's monotheistic - one of if not the only monotheistic religions on the continent).

The Orimish Dogstock

I know the least about this culture of these groups. It is the region where they're still actively kept as slaves. I'll get around to it.

[dingodad]

this is "Addendum 1", but we can see that two different addendums to the story have been made here; one to Deltritus and one to Earth.

the amendment to Deltritus (or at least, the goings-on of Deltritus orbit) is communicated directly: Jane and Jake have now been "amateurish"ly (sic) rewritten into the 3 year ship journey. but the change to the Earth's timeline we only witness indirectly:

it seems unlikely that the rewrite here was literally to erase these letters; presumably their destruction is the temporal flow-on effect of some larger change being made which has yet to be fully elucidated upon. at this point, the most logical explanation for this would seem to be be that in this new version of the timeline, John never left to fight Lord English! which makes perfect sense: John's choice to leave is what caused the two timelines to split in the first place, plus, this being the April 13th update, it's only sensible that Jane's reinsertion into the story be accompanied by John undergoing a similar rebirth. but we'll see.

many have been immediately tempted to view this mural as a prophecy of future events, but the accompanying dialogue makes it clear that it isn't that straightforward: as far as oracles go, Calliope is "drawing blanks" for what happens post-8r8k. and a lot of these scribbles are pretty easily identifiable as stuff we've already seen, or at least stuff we were already pretty confident about. for example: the orange doodle on the left is Dirk's 'suicide tower', whose purpose in the story has already passed - which isn't to say it isn't still relevant in some way, as alluded to by the pages leading up to the 8r8k, but at this point at least it's hard to imagine what further significance it could develop.

the assumption that the red spiral is Vriska and the blue one is John, for another instance, is subverted on the very next page, where we see that Vriska is the one in fact travelling on a blue spiral. looking closely, we can actually identify two different blue trajectories: so if one of them is Vriska leaving the black hole, maybe the other one is actually John falling in? but it's impossible to be sure if that's prophecy or just symbolism; Roxy chasing his disintegrating, disembodied glasses could just as easily be a metaphor for the disintegration we've already witnessed John going through.

the black circles on the right hand side are equally difficult to scrute. they are not, as might be initially assumed, a joined infinity symbol, but rather two distinct ovoids. painted as they are in the same colour as the black hole itself, we might guess that they represent cycles being played out by the white figures sitting on top of them - like, say, Rose and Kanaya's toxic back-and-forth. but juxtaposed with the white rectangles on the left, they also seem to be Jane's glasses: hinting again that these are abstractions of events past, rather than future; but also furthering the impression that this addendum is equally about both April babies!

[artbyblastweave]

I think about Star Wars a lot more than I post about Star Wars, and I've had some free time recently to type up some thoughts on Episode 7 that've been swirling around in my head for a couple of years. There were a few ideas and plot beats, and moments of apparent self-examination in Episode 7 which I thought were fairly compelling, even though they ultimately paid no dividends:

First was Finn’s character concept. “Star Wars as experienced from the perspective of a Stormtrooper undergoing a crisis of faith” is a rich hook; humanizing and giving a face to what's basically the platonic implementation of the faceless mook. Unfortunately, the potency of the arc was undercut by the pre-existing textual ambiguity as to what stormtroopers actually are. Star Wars extended canon has settled on the idea that each trilogy features an entirely novel cohort of white-clad mooks, each with a fundamentally different underlying dynamic. The clones and the First-Order forces are different flavors of slave army; in contrast, the stormtroopers are more frequently portrayed in the expanded universe as military careerists, stormtrooper being a thing you work up to rather than a gig for a fresh conscript. A slave-soldier who defects is a very different character from a military careerist who defects, and they invite different analysis. There's a bait-and-switch going on here, in that Finn gestures in the direction of the familiar OT stormtroopers but can't comment on or examine them because he's actually part of a novel dynamic invented for the new movies. And there's one final nail in the coffin here, signaled by the number of times I've had to invoke the expanded universe so far. When Finn debuted, the racists were of course, legion, but I also ran into a number of people who were sincerely confused as to why they'd recast Temuera Morrison. Going off the seven films that existed at the time, it wasn't unreasonable to read the prequel trilogy as an origin story for where the OT stormtroopers came from. Going only off the nine films that exist now, it still isn't unreasonable! It's muddied from so many different directions by their failure to establish the ground rules in the mainline films before they tried to put on subversive airs about it. I am still irritated by this.

Next up is how Han Solo was written. I actually liked the tack they took with him quite a bit. Because initially, right, his role in the movie is just to be Han Solo. He's back, and he hasn't changed! He's still kicking ass and taking names, he's still the lovable scoundrel you knew and loved from your childhood- and the principle cast members react to his presence with the same reverence the film's trying to invoke in the audience, they've grown up hearing the same stories about him. Except that episode 7, at least, is also very aware of the fact that if Han Solo is still recognizably the same guy thirty years on, it indicates that things have gone totally off the rails for him. We find out that the lovable rogue routine is the result of him backsliding, his happy ending blown up by massive personal tragedy rooted in communicative failures and (implicitly) his parental shortcomings. It feels deliberately in conversation with the nostalgic impulse driving the entire film- here's your childhood hero back just as you remember, here's what that stagnation costs. And it also feels like it's in conversation with what was a fairly common strain of Han Solo Take- the idea that Ep. 6 cuts off at a very convenient point, and that Han and Leia's fly-by-night wartime relationship wouldn't survive the rigors of domesticity. Obviously, that's not the only direction you can take with the character; the old EU basically threaded the needle of keeping Han recognizable without rolling back his character development gains. But it felt like they were actually committing to a direction, a direction that was aware of the space, and not a reflexively deferential and flattering one, which at the time I appreciated! The problem, of course, is that for it to really land, you need to have a really, really strong idea of what actually went down-of what Han's specific shortcomings and failures were. And given the game of ping-pong they proceeded to play with Kylo Ren's characterization, this turned out to be. Less than doable.

Kylo Ren is the third thing about Episode 7 that I liked. His character concept is basically an extended admission by the filmmakers that there's no way to top Vader as an antagonist. Instead, they lean into the opposite direction- they make him underwhelming on purpose. Someone who's chasing Vader's legacy in the same way any post-OT Star Wars villain is going to, pursuing Vader's aesthetic and the associated power without really understanding or undergoing the convoluted web of suffering and dysfunction that produced Vader. It's framed as a genuine twist that there's nothing particularly wrong with his face under that helmet. Whatever it takes to be Vader, he doesn't have it, and he knows that he doesn't have it, and the pursuit of it drives him to greater and greater acts of cartoonish villainy. The failure to one-up Vader is offloaded to the character instead of the writers, and it was genuinely interesting to watch. For one movie. The problem, of course, is that if the entire character archetype is "Vader, but less compelling," you can't try to give the bastard Vader's exact character arc. You can't retroactively bolt on a Vader-tier tragic backstory when you spent a whole movie signaling that whatever happened to him wasn't as compelling as what happened to Vader. You can't milk his angst for two more movies when it's the kind of angst on display in "Rocking the Suburbs" by Ben Folds!

There's a level on which I feel like Moff Gideon was a semi-successful implementation of Vader-Wannabe concept; he's the same kind of middling operator courting the Vader Aesthetic for clout, but he's doing it in the context of the imperial warlord era, where there's a lot of practical power available to anyone who can paint themselves to the Imperial Remnants as a plausible successor to Vader. Hand in Hand with this obvious politicking, Gideon is loathsome, which relieves the writers of the burden of having to plausibly redeem the guy; he's doing exactly what he needs to do and there'll never be a mandate to expand him beyond what his characterization can support. Unfortunately, the calculated and cynical nature of how he's emulating Vader precludes the immaturity and hero-worship elements on display with Kylo, which is unfortunate; the sincerity on display in Kylo's pursuit of authenticity is an important part of why he worked, to the extent that he worked at all, and it'd be worth unpacking in a better trilogy. As he stands Kylo is a clever idea, and that's all he is- he lacks the scaffolding to go from merely clever to actively good.

[starlit1daydream]

Witches & Heirs: Adherence and Manipulation

Well, here we are again. It's always such a pleasure. (Do you remember when you tried to kill me twice, blah blah blah...)

Witches & Heirs are a pair with a lot of material to work with, owing to the fact that Homestuck's main protagonist happens to fall under this category; though comparatively the other characters in the group (besides Jade, fellow Main Character) happen to be relatively obscure.

...But I've also written a whole goddamn analysis on one of them, so this should be fine.

The Witch:Heir class dichotomy embodies adherence, manipulation and fundamentally, control. This is both control over the Aspect, and the control the Aspect has over the person - and practically functions as a means to manipulate & bend the Aspect freely.

Canonical Witch players are Jade Harley (Witch of Space), Feferi Peixes (Witch of Life) and Damara Megido (Witch of Time).

Canonical Heir players are John Egbert (Heir of Breath), Equius Zahhak (Heir of Void) and Mituna Captor (Heir of Doom).

Point A, the narrative function of the Witch.

Narratively speaking, the Witch is the Class of active manipulation. What this translates to is a person whose Aspect has a heavy influence & sway over their life and their actions, which ends up manifesting in them growing to control & influence it in rebellion. And therein lies the key word everyone uses when analysing Witches - rebellion.

The Witch is somebody who rebels against their Aspect. They bend the rules, play around with it, they think they're above its whims. And this, more often than not, is because they don't want it to try and control them in turn.

Jade Harley, Witch of Space, spends her whole life in isolation. Space has her under its thumb, she's got one big, floating empty canvas to play around in and nobody else to inhabit it with. She's so far away from anyone or anything, and has no freedom to explore it to her heart's content because of the fucking First Guardian that keeps teleporting her around.

Feferi Peixes, Witch of Life, has her future decided for her. She's the princess & the heiress to a colossal empire, and the trajectory & development she's meant to undergo is pre-planned. Her life isn't her own to control, and she has to worry about a titanic sea monster that'll kill everyone on the planet if she doesn't tend to it.

Damara Megido, Witch of Time, finds closure to be something hard to swallow. All the toxic & debilitating relationships in her life, she can't bring herself to burn the bridge until the bridge starts burning her - and that's when she resorts to pulling teeth and cutting off heads. And her post-scratch self ends up being groomed & made to serve the Lord of Time himself.

Noticing a pattern here? Witches often find themselves literally controlled by a grand manifestation of their Aspect. Becquerel for Jade, Glb'golyb for Feferi & Lord English for Damara/The Handmaid.

And this brings us to the point that Witches want to rebel against these forces of control. Jade has to learn to break the rules, to disobey her guardian & travel as far from that desolate rock as she can.

Feferi wants to bring great, sweeping change to the whole empire and everything underneath it, she's got big dreams & wants to change the way that everyone's lives grow and develop.

Damara figures out that she doesn't have to take shit & deal with abuse because she can end things, and oftentimes in her situation that means ending lives. And, furthermore, bringing about total oblivion with the Scratch.

(Damara was totally justified in doing that, by the way. Fuck you, Meenah & Rufioh).

This leads to the fairly digestible Point B of the Witches' practical function.

The Witch controls their Aspect to an absolute. The power they gain is to manipulate it and make it do whatever the goddamn hell they want it to do, best exhibited with Jade who gains complete dominion over physical space; which ties directly into her Quest.

Even then, there's still an upper limit to her strength, but from what we see of her God-tiered self (and she's unfortunately the only Witch to reach the God-tiers), Space basically becomes her bitch.

It's one of the most straightforward power sets of any class. Manipulating the Aspect is pretty simple to grasp, and it's moreso the narrative idea of a Witch that's harder to explain.

Point C, the narrative function of the Heir.

Heirs find themselves in an opposing situation, but like the Witches, the Aspect has them under its' thumb. Like the Witch, they find themselves with a huge influx of their Aspect that they don't really get a say in - though I think the difference is that the Heir isn't aware of it as much.

John Egbert, the Heir of Breath, is unrestrainable. He's impossible to keep down or chain in a way that matters, and that often applies to him being impossible to sway emotionally as well. He just glides, freely, from one thing to another without a care in the world - obeying every whim of Breath and disallowing himself the time to dwell on one thing and process it.

Equius Zahhak (yes, I'm going here again) feels empty. He has no substance to himself, and he despises it. Every single facet of his life, he feels is controlled by the untenable nothingness inside him that he can't fight back against, and Void is all he feels he has to him.

Mituna Captor, the Heir of Doom, is fate's chewtoy. He's overwhelmed by prophecies & foretellings of Doom, finds himself repeatedly suffering & stagnating as the world subjects him to misfortune after misfortune, and ultimately sacrifices his own sanity & stability for the greater good.

(And, of course, I don't think I need to mention how the Psiionic gets the raw end of the deal as well).

The Witch uses their Aspect. The Heir is used by it. And though these often overlap, the passive nature of the Heir means they're far more likely not to fight the control their Aspect has over them.

Point D also ties neatly into this, the Heir's practical function.

In the sense that they may metaphorically be consumed by their Aspect to the logical extreme, they are literally granted the ability to become it.

Not only is John seen turning himself into gusts of wind, but further on in the story once he gets his 'retcon' powers; he basically becomes untethered from the narrative. He's unable to stop himself from jumping between places & ideas, becoming instability in its purest form.

This means Equius could become invisible, which is really funny.

So, overall, I find that the Witches & Heirs are deceptively simple to comprehend - and that perhaps my initial frustration with trying to work with them comes from me searching for a hidden complexity that wasn't there. The key words here are definitely control & rebellion, and the way that manifests in them.

I wouldn't go as far as to say their sessions always have this great influx of their Aspect, because I think it's more personal to them - but often the metaphorical cloud of their Aspect that follows them ends up influencing other people around them. That's how changing the Aspect works, right? Change with it, change through it, change it itself. That's the joining point of both Classes; they change.

(That's interesting in of itself because it implies Feferi as someone who changes change, but that's something I'll focus on more when I write about Life; which happens to be my own Aspect anyways).

Next week, the post will be about the most controversial players in Homestuck analysis; The Princes & Bards.

(...oh, christ, please don't make me write about the Makaras).

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

So because apparently both parties in my country oppose trans healthcare to some extent I want to make it very clear to cis people what healthcare they're opposing.

There's a lot of fearmongering about children undergoing medical transition. So I'm gonna walk you through what might happen to a child who is transgender and wants to go the full medical route. Let's say our hypothetical transgender child, I'll make him a him because I'm a him and I'll call him Rat because he named himself when he was 6.

So Rat would probably, unless he experienced precocious puberty, go on hormone blockers at age 9 or 10, a year or two before he would start experiencing puberty just to make sure he doesn't experience any female puberty symptoms. Then at about 13 or 14 he would have an appointment with his doctor and they would decide that he has been sure that he was a boy for many years now and he's at an appropriate age to start puberty, at which point he would be taken off the hormone blockers and put onto a dosage of testosterone that is typically of what his perisex camab peers produce naturally. Because he never produced estrogen he would not have grown breasts and not need top surgery. He would develop exactly how his camab peers develop.

Now I want to put an interlude here that literally all of this is reversible. At any point Rat could change his name back and go off the testosterone jabs and his ovaries would start functioning again and they would produce the appropriate estrogen to give him breasts and hips. He could take the same vocal training classes that trans women take, he could get laser hair removal on the places where appropriate, and it would be as if he'd never been on the hormones at all.

But he doesn't want to do that. He wants a penis so let's move onto that.

As far as surgery goes, he would not be able to have either metoidioplasty or phalloplasty until he was on hormones long enough to experience the necessary bottom growth to occur, which takes a couple of years. (At least that was what I was told in 2016 please lmk if standards have changed since then). So at this point we're already about 16 years old before surgery even comes up as an option at the doctor's office. And Rat, if he is particularly gung ho about getting a penis and his parents can afford it/insurance will pay for it, probably gets put on a waiting list for a consultation with a specialist in genital reconstruction. Let's say at that consult which probably takes a few months minimum to get into, he opts for the most similar to perisex male genitalia: phalloplasty with testicular implants. Right there we're looking at at least three different surgeries and not all of them are going to happen at the same time. He's 17 before he's ever even on the operation table and he's been consistently identified as male since elementary school. This is the fastest possible bottom surgery route I'm laying out for you here and he still not slanging it until senior prom when he'll give it an ill advised test run in the back of his parents Subaru with Kelly from the anime club. All of that is assuming there's a doctor who will do it for him that can fit him in. Some people wait years for surgery.

Now some people get top surgery younger, but guess what, breast implants both exist and can be removed. If a 14 year old gets a double mastectomy and regrets it when they're 23 they can get implants. If a 16 year old gets breast implants and regrets it when they're 20 they can get those taken out. Top surgery is not complicated and I've heard from guys who truely would not have made it if they hadn't gotten theirs done.

I know this won't convince anyone who opposes trans healthcare but I hope it at least explains transition to cis allies who support trans people getting healthcare but still might think minors not being allowed to have surgery is a moderate position. I invite any trans person to add onto this with a MTF perspective or how their surgeries helped them.

[drdemonprince]

Hi Dr. Price,

I’m a huge fan of your work and I’ve found it immensely helpful in figuring out who I am.

In recent years I’ve discovered I am both AuDHD and Bi. My partner is also Bi and very supportive. However we have been together for over a decade and I’m struggling a lot lately with the fact that I’ve never actually been with anyone else. I’ve been spending a lot of time in queer spaces online and finding myself wishing I could at least experience some of what they do.

I love her more than anything and would never do anything to hurt her. She’s not interested in opening things up in any way, which I completely respect and to be fair I’m not even sure that’s truly something I would want either.

I guess I’m just asking if you have any advice on these overwhelming feelings of missing out on aspects of life I never knew I even missed? Other than using porn to get it out of my mind as I’m worried that’s affecting our relationship sexually, which is another issue. Should I find a dating sim game or something to push all of these thoughts on to? It’s kind of messed up but I feel like if I was allowed to flirt online and not actually act on it that might satisfy me? I don’t know.

If nothing else thank you so much for your work and giving me a space to get this off my chest. ❤️

Because I am of the mind that most longings for queer expression/recognition/community cannot and should not be met with media consumption, I'm not going to tell you that there is any kind of game that can simulate queer erotic contact in a way that will be remotely satisfying for you.

You and your partner's desires for your relationship and its boundaries are important and matter, but alongside that, I would also encourage you to listen to that urge that tells you that you'd love to flirt online with a sexy queer stranger as a way to let a little of the steam off.

The wants you are feeling are real, and when disregarded or left unattended they can spiral out in all kinds of unpleasant ways, from just regular garden variety frustration, to resentment, to conducting years long emotional affairs with agoraphobic instagram thot boys you met online (not that I know anything about that).

You want to be recognized by another queer person as a sexually desirable, available person, you want to feel the rush of a developing romance, you want the future to be filled with possibility and excitement, you want to know that your life is not over and that there's still more to learn about yourself and more experiences to enjoy -- these are all good things. These are important things, and I promise you that it is very unlikely that you won't get to experience more desire, attraction, sexual contact, romance, and heartbreak in the years to come.

Most relationships end. Those that last more than a couple of years undergo dramatic shifts over the course of their tenure. And so, it is very likely that you and your partner will either eventually split, or your various desires and capacities will become incompatible in certain ways, and you will contemplate some kind of change to the relationship dynamic (or someone will fail to communicate this and cheat. hopefully not that one. But if it does happen, well. It's very common and not the end of the world or even necessarily the end of the bond).

How does it feel to confront this information? That in all likelihood, this relationship will either end, open up in some way, change dramatically in its dynamic, or be marked by one or both parties stepping out in some way, however small, be it an online flirtation or a kiss at a party or a sexual affair? I think your feelings in response to that information is important too. And that regardless of what you and your partner decide for the time being, it is an important series of potentialities to reflect on and emotionally prepare oneself for. Also worth asking: are these potential futures ones that you can speak to your partner about? One of them will likely be headed for you in time, not through any fault of your own or due to lack of love, but simply because people change and relationships develop, just like a person develops. Whether or not these are subjects that can be broached is itself valuable information, too.

Now personally, I am very biased, but I think there is very little harm in having some virtual sex with a consenting stranger, roleplaying sexy interactions online, even getting on a dating or cruising app and posting a few anonymized photos and seeing what kind of attention you get and enjoying the rush. I think that kind of thing is all within the realm of the harmless and forgivable, but hey, my sister just ended an engagement over her fiance doing that kind of thing, so not everyone agrees with me clearly.

But I think it is worth at least contemplating the full, long continuum of infidelity that exists, from having a whole secret other marriage and family and keeping a partner in the dark about it on one end, say, and making bedroom eyes with a cute person at the bar and fantasizing about what if what if what if, on the other. If your partner did anything along that whole continuum, you might be hurt, and likewise they might be if you do.

You say you love your partner more than anything and would never do anything to hurt her. But you can't really promise yourself that. Every partner hurts one another in some way or another, sometimes even intentionally, over the course of a long relationship. But hurting one another in a relationship is, also, not the end of the world. We all make mistakes, say things we regret, lose control of our faculties at times, or are simply forced to reconcile that what we need conflicts with what another person does. And sometimes we put our needs first, even though it's uncomfortable.

I don't regret the times I cheated. I regret the lack of communication and cowardice that brought me to that half-formed, unarticulated decision. But I don't regret ever having chosen to listen to needs that had been powerfully screaming inside of me, typically for years before I attended to them.

I think you and your partner should continue having very frank conversations about these topics, and do your best to regulate your own anxieties and feelings of relationship threat when the other party brings up an activity or an idea that makes the other feel scared. The choice isn't to remain monogamous or to become fully polyamorous with no hierarchy. There are a lot of activities you can both decide are either okay or not okay, and conditions under which you will engage in them.

Even what counts as "monogamy" is subject to fierce debate, that's part of why so many jealous straight people destroy one another so easily. Is texting someone you think is cute in a flirtatious but ultimately just friendly way cheating? Is dancing with someone else cheating? What kind of dancing is okay and is not? Is cuddling on the couch? Working on erotica together? Kissing? Is watching porn with someone else cheating? Is masturbating to a video they sent you?

You might have a very visceral response to these questions, but those are just like, your opinions. They are not set in stone and you can easily find another monogamous person who is just as adamant about completely opposing rules and definitions of what monogamy means to them. And so, it's worth talking with your partner and really being honest with yourself about what it is you want to do, what is decidedly off the table, and what the hell it even is that you two are talking about when you discuss your relationship and its limits.

If it were me, and if I could wave a wand and make you and your partner feel okay about and agree to a set of relationship limits, I think you should consider flirting with actual queer people online. But I can't control other people's behavior or emotions, as much as I have tried. But you can at least contemplate (and then discuss) alternate ways of getting the kind of attention that you desire.

There are lots of things you can do to scratch your itch that are not having sex or dating someone else: LARPing (there is larping that has a sexual or romantic component!). Tabletop games. Acting or improv that incorporates romantic or sexual elements. Going to a sex party and just WATCHING people do stuff. Going to a gay bar and just hanging out and socializing. Going to a cruising bar and watching people fuck. Going to a dungeon for a class or a demo. Going on gay speed dating but secretly agreeing that you're not actually going to take anybody home, you're just gonna see how it feels. Wearing a slutty outfit to pride and waving and winking at people. Exchanging heartfelt letters with a queer friend who you have chemistry with but who respects your relationship.

These are just some ideas, but the possibilities are limitless. One day, you and your partner might agree that you are open to having sex with other people, or flirting, but not to them having other lasting relationships. maybe you'll have threesomes together or one partner will watch the other fuck casual hook-ups. Or maybe you'll just break up. Who knows what the future holds! No matter what it is, you can figure it out with both love and commitment to your partner, but also the courage to name what you are feeling and to honor your desires. None of those things have to be incompatible, and monogamy doesn't have to be incompatible with getting a little thrill here and there either.

Good luck!