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champion-prism · 4 years ago

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NSFW Alphabet- Shouta Aizawa

A = Aftercare

If he’s been rough, he’ll take care of you. Clean you up, hold you, all of it. If there’s no roughness, he’ll probably coax you into cleaning both of you up because well,,, sleeby.

B = Body part

He likes his chest. It’s broad and defined with a smattering of hair on it. He especially loves it when you nuzzle your face into his pecs or rest your head on his chest. Makes him feel sturdy and reliable.

He loves your stomach. His favourite nap position is lying with his face against your stomach, the rest of his body resting either on you or between your legs. He likes kissing your stomach, stroking his hands down your sides.

C = Cum

Depending on how long it’s been, it can range from a normal amount to a lot. It has a neutral flavour, and a pearly white colour that beads on his tip before releasing in streaks. His favourite place to cum is inside you. You’re soft and warm and snug; plus there’s less mess than say, cumming over you, although he does like to cum on your stomach sometimes.

D = Dirty secret

A majority of his experience is from filthy one night stands in alleyways. He’s always been reluctant to pursue relationships, so most of his sexual frustration culminated in quickies with strangers he picked up late in bars. Has a compartment for condoms in his utility belt, tucked into an inward compartment. He would die if anyone found out.

E = Experience

Fair amount. Again, lots of degenerate back alley sex before he joined UA.

F = Favorite position

He can’t decide. He likes spooning, he likes pressing your flat on your stomach while he takes you from behind, he likes missionary, he likes seeing you flustered and wanting as he bounces you on his lap.

G = Goofy

Not in the slightest. Shouta is a man of focus. Unwavering, mirthless focus. If you crack a few jokes, he’ll probably ignore them in favour of leaving marks on your neck and thighs.

H = Hair

He has hair, growing in curls around his balls and the base of his cock- also a pretty defined happy trail. Before getting together with you, he’d trim it only when it got uncomfortably long, however, he began to pay a bit more attention towards keeping it tamed when he realized it might get in the way of you deep throating him comfortably.

I = Intimacy

If he’s had a particularly dangerous night of patrol or comes back from a gruelling mission, he’s very intimate and warm. Leads up to it by kissing your lips, your face, your neck, holding you close and just feeling your heart beating against him. Takes your clothes off slowly, revelling in the warmth and feeling of you. All he really wants is to feel you as close to him as possible, and the closest he can physically get to you is sex.

J = Jack off

If he’s not having sex, then once a week, twice at most. He’s too tired to really get horny without motivation, and most of his frustration is spent in training anyway. He won’t jack off when he’s with you, though. Why bother himself when he’s got you to help him relieve some tension?

K = Kink

Light bondage. He likes the idea of having you spread out for him to indulge in whatever part of you he likes, and he’s comfortable being in control. He likes powerplay, too, dominating you and feeling strong. Some roleplay, like pretending he saved you from something and you’re paying him back with a blowjob (this has actually happened to him with someone else and he does not want you to know. It’s embarrassing). Minor breeding and dirty talk, too. He usually isn’t into kinks that take too much time or effort, though.

L = Location

Alleyways

Bed is his favourite, honestly, it’s the most comfortable. He’s not averse to other places, but he won’t do it somewhere there’s a risk of being caught, seen, or recognized at most.

M = Motivation

Stress is a big one. When he’s pent up and tense, there’s nothing that helps more than holding both your hands with one of his, pressing you into the mattress, and pounding into you with all the strength he knows your body can handle. Insecurity is large motivator, too. If he’s had a close call during patrol, or if he feels insecure about your relationship or himself, he seeks to show you his affection through sex.

N = No

No school girl stuff. It simultaneously turns him off and embarrasses him so bad, he could just pass out. It also low-key makes him feel uncomfortable and creepy.

O = Oral

He likes both, but he feels like receiving more often because well...nothing like having your lips wrapped around his length after a stressful day. Seriously, he’ll fall apart if you blow him after a long day. He repays the favour whenever he has the time and energy, with a lot of enthusiasm- Shouta’s a patient man, and he loves spending hours riling you up with his tongue, having you pant and moan and beg.

P = Pace

Varies. When he’s stressed, he’s fast and rough to the point where you actually had to ask him to stop, once. He takes care of how much strength he uses on you now. When he wants to feel close to you, he goes gentle, as if drawing it out as much as feels natural and comfortable.

Q = Quickie

Loves quickies. Quickie before work, quickie at lunch, quickie before patrol- they’re all good. He just wants to get both of you off to ease some tension.

R = Risk

He’s open to trying stuff, but he won’t suggest anything on his own. He doesn’t have a lot of time to be thinking about risk and experimentation.

S = Stamina

On usual nights, he’ll go only one round, generally lasting thirty minutes, but on days he’s got time he can go upto four. His refractory period is like fifteen minutes,and he can pace himself to hold off his orgasm for forty five minutes to an hour.

T = Toys

He doesn’t own any, but he’s not averse to using any toys you own on you. He actually enjoys using vibrators on you.

U = Unfair

He can be VERY unfair. He loves teasing you, especially to assert that he’s the one in charge. He edges you because he likes seeing you beg and plead. Sometimes he’ll leave you tied up on the bed while he gets up to grade some papers or something.

V = Volume

If he isn’t talking dirty, he’s quiet, except for harsh breathing and pants. Swears under his breath sometimes. He’ll moan out your name sometimes when he’s close. When he cums, he gasps and lets out soft moans, usually either your name or a breathy “ohhhh”.

W = Wild card

Really, really wants to jerk it into your panties, but he also thinks it’s a weird thing to want and keeps it to himself.

X = X-ray

He wears loose clothing because tight clothing can’t conceal his 8” fat dick ion make the rules sorry. It stands pretty straight, with a mushroom tip and tight pink balls.

Y = Yearning

When you’re together, he won’t yearn a lot- three to four times a week suits him good, though he’s willing to go at it more times, if you want to. However, before you’re together and he’s struggling to acknowledge his feelings for you, he will get very horny all the time thinking about you, and he’ll feel very guilty about it.

Z = Zzz

Y’all already know this one. He’s out like a light the moment you’re both cleaned up. He’s just. Out.

#shouta aizawa #aizawa shouta x you #aizawa x reader #aizawa x you #aizawa headcanons #shouta aizawa x you #eraserhead x reader #eraserhead x you #shouta aizawa x reader #bnha aizawa #aizawa shota #aizawa shota x reader #shota aizawa x you #aizawa shouta x reader

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rilakoya · 5 years ago

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No Place Like Home

A Perspective! and Reality!AU

Word Count: 2.2K

Warnings: Raw honesty and social justice themes

A/N: Personal experiences ahead. I call it an AU because sometimes we’re so into escapism that reality feels like the fantasy.

6:20 pm

“OMG, social media is so dead today!”

It’s Tuesday after the protests have begun, and my roommate is bitching and demanding his privilege. I like to believe that he means well, but he’s also a diva, and complaints are his forte.

“Well, it’s Blackout Tuesday-” I begin, but he cuts me off, eager to make his point, true to form.

“No, look, I get it. Really I do. But all I keep seeing is a black screen. I keep my phone on dark mode for a reason. I don’t want to have to keep downloading games because I need something to occupy my time today.”

Need. That’s definitely a feeling I’m familiar with. I need a sense of false security in order to leave my house and interact with others in a way that meets social expectations. I need a keen sense of self and social awareness and nimble cultural reflexes in order to ensure that I’m not perceived as angry or bitter in my responses to the way the world treats me. So what if I actually am, in fact, angry. Society has taught me that it deems my anger irrelevant, unworthy of notice, and I have been conditioned to recognize that showing it doesn’t get me what I want or need. Which makes me think again about my roommate’s commentary. He needs social media to be more lively, despite the fact that entire people groups are protesting unjust and inhumane treatment. And I need hope that my brothers won’t occupy body bags simply because they exist today.

I guess each person has their own struggles.

I’m a fiction writer. And at the risk of sounding boastful, I’m pretty good at it. But that’s just because good fiction requires a healthy dose of imagination, and I’m a master.

I have to be.

Every day since I was a little girl, I wake up and imagine that the fair rules of engagement apply to me. I imagine that I may expect the same level of courtesy and respect as my fairer-skinned counterparts.

In school, when my teachers would unspokenly expect me to work twice as hard to receive the same level of acceptance, I imagined that they did the same with all the children. When my scores indicated that I was a highly gifted student, multiple grade levels above my peers, but was frequently accused of cheating, plagiarism, and other forms of academic dishonesty because my superiors were unable or unwilling to accept that a little black girl could have possibly produced such results, I imagined a world where education systems were tailored to students and where teachers and administrators saw the value in children rather than just their preconceived notions about them because of the color of their skin.

When people granted me interviews because of the “normal” name on my resume and the professionally “white” sound of my voice, only to thank me after minimal interviews and promise to call once they saw me, I imagined that they recognized that my professional experience and qualifications were worth more than the wage that their budget permitted, instead of acknowledging that they often chose to hire someone who was less qualified but whiter than me, and when they paid said person more, I imagined that I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed doing that type of job anyway or working at that company anyway. Even though it was the same at many companies.

When people tell me that I am “pretty for a Black girl,” or “too pretty to ‘just’ be Black,” as though being Black isn’t already the most blessed form in creation, I imagine that what they’re really saying is, “you’re so fucking gorgeous that I don’t even know how to compliment you properly, so please forgive me while I babble like a moron and potentially insult you. I’m so awestruck that I just can’t help myself.”

I wrote my first smut during one of many unjust police stops, when the only purpose of the detainment was to harass me and remind me who was in control. I imagined that it was really a sexy roleplay and that I liked it. And when the trauma and anxiety of constantly wondering if I’m about to be stopped once again for Driving While Black threaten to be too much, I imagine that I’m really just in my house, writing it all down for a story. Even though the stories carry too much shame for me to comfortably share. I imagine that’s all just part of the process.

When I interact with the world, and no matter what, am told that I’m either “too much” or “not enough,” sometimes both at the same time, I imagine that what they’re really saying is that because I originate from the beginnings of creation, because I have both the secrets of the Earth and royalty in my blood, I don’t fit the mold, and they don’t know how to process my greatness. And this enables me to smile when I feel like shattering into a million pieces, when I’m reminded of how I don’t meet the social standard, how I don’t fit in.

Most of all, every day I imagine what it would be like to feel like I truly have a place on this vast Earth that I can safely call home. Home is where we are safe, where we are welcomed, where we belong.

I was born in Germany, but I don’t belong there.

I’ve lived in Mexico and Guatemala, but it’s not safe for me there.

Some of my ancestors were from Africa, but it’s a large continent, made up of many countries, all foreign to me because of cultural eradication, so I could visit, but really I don’t belong there.

My forebears were brought to the Americas as slaves, worked like dogs, and treated as less than animals, and although early settlers were considered “Americans” relatively quickly, after four centuries, I still don’t belong here.

I’m not even 40, but I was born during the Cold War, in a country that has successfully recovered from antisemitism, but not from antiblack sentiment.

Both of my parents were born before the Civil Rights Act was passed, in the middle of the Civils Rights Movement.

My grandparents were born near the end of the Great Depression and lived under Jim Crow law. My grandparents. The ones who told me stories while holding me on their knees, the ones who spent their lives sweating and striving for me to have better.

My grandma’s grandma was a slave. My dad remembers an aunt (a great-aunt) coming to his school in elementary to talk about the fact that she had been born a slave.

I think that people forget that it wasn’t that long ago, forget that the tyranny and oppression has gone on for so long.

They forget that Europeans have been enslaving Africans since the 15th century. For those who hated school, that means the 1400s. Slaves were brought to the Americas as early as 1503. The only reason we didn’t reach the country we now call the U.S. until the early 1600s was because it took England that long to decide to colonize the area.

They forget that in my great-great-grandparents’ time, in my great-grandparents’ time, in my grandparents’ time, at the time my parents were born, I could have been beaten, raped, falsely accused, cheated, ignored, taken advantage of, or killed just for the color of my skin.

They forget that, 401 years later, 155 years after the Civil War, 157 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, 152 years after the 14th Amendment, 57 years after MLK marched, 56 years after the Civil Rights Act was passed, nothing has changed.

They forget that it is our American right to speak out, to decry our oppression.

The First Amendment says that we have the right to freedom of speech and press, that we have the right to peaceably assemble and ask the government for a solution to our complaints of unfair treatment. But we are silenced, gassed when we protest peacefully, and our cries for justice have been ignored for generations.

The Second Amendment says that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Yet time after time, legally armed, law-abiding Blacks are arrested or shot just for being a person of color in possession of a gun, while white gun owners can brandish their weapons freely without fear of being shot or unjustly detained.

The Fourth Amendment says that citizens may not be subject to unreasonable search and seizure. It’s where the concept of a search warrant comes from. Yet Blacks and other people of color have been subject to racial profiling and racially motivated searches, frisking, and seizure of property for as long as we have been citizens of this country.

The Sixth Amendment says that citizens have the right to a public and speedy trial, by an impartial jury, to know what we’re being accused of, to be confronted by the witnesses against us, and to have the opportunity to gain witnesses in our favor, and to have the right to an attorney in our defense. This is one of the biggest jokes. People of color remain in cells for weeks and months before trial, and are often coerced into plea bargains for crimes they didn’t commit in the first place, just so they can get out of jail sooner rather than run the risk of being remaining in jail for months, only to face a courtroom that is predisposed against you because of stereotypes and shady police records, with a public defender that is overworked at best and disinterested or corrupt at worst, resulting in extremely long sentencing with little to no account for the time the individual has already been incarcerated, seemingly as a penalty for refusing to take the fall and essentially “wasting people’s time”.

The Eighth Amendment says that “excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” I could laugh if it weren’t such a blatant lie. Bail is disproportionately higher for people of color than for whites, as are the fines, and while cruel and unusual punishments may be subjective, I would argue that legalized slavery for a criminal population that is disproportionately comprised of Blacks and people of color AND murder by law enforcement before even reaching a judge BOTH qualify as cruel and unusual, particularly since it’s extremely notable how many white people, even accused or convicted of especially heinous crimes do not meet this fate, while a Black person could do so for merely moving wrong during a traffic stop.

The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude except as a punishment for crime. However, the only thing this changed for Blacks was the beginnings of racially motivated mass incarceration, starting from 1865 until the present.

The Fourteenth Amendment says that anyone born or naturalized in the United States is a citizen of the USA. It also says that “no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

There are 20 other Amendments as of 2020, but this Amendment alone is the root of the problem. Black Americans are just that- Americans, and yet, we are DENIED equal protection under the law. We are DEPRIVED OF LIFE, LIBERTY AND PROPERTY, without due process of law.

But people seem to forget that Blacks are American citizens, too. And so, they seek to preserve their peace and forget to care.

So, as I turn up my headphones to tune out my roommate’s irritatingly ironic assertions of oppression, I turn my attention to the places where I have a voice, to remind people that this movement is more than just a lofty idea or the overreaction of a group of people that’s too sensitive or hung up on the past. I remind them that the problem is that the actions and attitudes, the injustices and imbalanced systems are still happening NOW, in the present, mid-2020. That’s why we can’t stay silent. Why no one can. I use my influence to remind the world what those who came before me died to obtain:

“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. The Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the [blatant racist or the white supremacist] but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice. Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., excerpted out of order from sections of a letter from Birmingham Jail, Alabama, 16 April 1963

I remind those who care to listen that I exist in this world, hated and unwelcome. My very existence is one of danger and risk, especially if I choose to be myself. For me, there is no place like home.

I remind the world that I can’t breathe, and that for me that’s not just a catchphrase; it’s not just a concept to use for merit mongering or fitting in. It’s the fear that chokes me, the anxiety that suffocates my hopes and dreams. For me, it’s a reality.

#THIS IS NOT A FANFIC #rilakoya rambles #Blackout Tuesday #BLM

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dapperkobold · 6 years ago

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Rate the Monsters: Alien Bestiary

Why yes, I already reviewed this, but I wasn’t happy with the review. I’ve thought about it, and I’ve concluded why: no one buys monster books for the BOOK. They buy them for the MONSTERS.

So, here’s a different take: I’m going to be rating the monsters based on how they’re presented in the book, on a few different measurements:

Presentation: The image and description of the monster, to make sure everyone knows what it actually IS. You laugh, but we’ve had trouble with that before.

Mechanics: Less intended to be a measure of how balanced the numbers are, more intended to be a measure of how the monster’s abilities will affect an encounter.

Lore: Lore is a measure of the writing about the monster. Note that this is limited to the writing in this particular work! If this book doesn’t really present a monster compellingly, that’s a problem. Especially if the monster is more intriguing in other works!

Roleplay: If you want something more complex than a good fight, something where the players need to talk their way through the situation, this is where you’re going to look. This is going to be related to Lore and Mechanics, but can be more complex depending on the monster’s precise nature. This is also the least impactful one if it gets a low grade: not every monster should be able to disassemble you philosophically before it disassembles you physically. Sure, mindless undead will all score Fs here, but this isn’t what mindless undead are used for. This is counting not only direct interactions with players, but possible impact on campaigns just from the raw mechanics and fluff presented.

This is inspired by Esper the Bard’s Monster Ranking videos for 5e, credit where it’s due. This kind of analysis is a really good way to measure the basic usefulness of monsters, specifically as they’re presented in specific material.

A few notes before I continue:

1. I don’t give points for historical significance, good intentions, or supplementary material. This is a rating of these monsters as presented in this book, nothing more, nothing less. Some of these monsters date back to olden D&D, some of them have been done wonderfully other places. I’m not rating those; I’m rating these monsters as they are here, in this book.

2. Anyone can make something interesting if they’re creative enough. This is less a full measure of the potential of the monsters, and more a measure of the potential of the monsters as they’re presented. A clever enough DM can make anything compelling, but for less lateral thinkers out there, the writing in the books are what they have to work with.

And since there so darn many aliens in this book, for now we’ll just do A.

Aballonian

Ohhh... this is not a good start...

Presentation: The description and image are both pretty generic. A copper robot with multiple legs? Okay. Nothing to imply their special abilities or stand out at all. Grade F

Mechanics: Okay! There’s a lot of special abilities here! A weakness... a limiter on the weakness... communication ability with a very minor upside... a special attack that doesn’t have any damage or effect listed? Defensive ability that has potential but doesn’t clarify the wording... and one variable effect. This is just a mess, I get that it’s supposed to be flexible (including the ability to change abilities with a full-round action) but this set of mechanics doesn’t really suggest any kind of interaction or particular play style. GRADE F

Lore: There’s no lore listed!

Which is dumb, because I know the lore! These are supposed to be the native life form to Albion in the Pathfinder setting! Why didn’t they at least TRY to explain it? GRADE! F!

Roleplay: IT HAS NO LORE LISTED, HOW ARE PEOPLE SUPPOSED TO KNOW HOW TO ROLEPLAY IT? GRADE F F F F F this is making me seriously reconsider my analysis of this book’s capabilities!

Aboleth

Presentation: While the Description is fine, the picture is lackluster. Grade C

Mechanics: Using a mix of manipulative spell-like abilities and surprisingly powerful attacks an Aboleth has potential to be a fairly tough encounter. Charm monster can make it an ally, followed by doing solid damage with normal attacks and the occasional spell level 2 mind thrust. However! I had to calculate that mind thrust is cast as a second-level spell, it’s not stated. The main limiter is that with univeral environment suits, the threats of aboleths forcing you to breathe water or gooping your skin is far less immediate. Still, might have potential if there’s some way to break that armor! Grade B-

Lore: A description of Aboleths scouting, conquering, and then leaving planets to rot? It’s the grimdark realization of the quiet horror that we always knew Aboleths could be! Grade A-!

Roleplay: With a spell list made for interaction (at will detect lies, for instance!), good mental stats, and the lore touching on their psychology, society, and motivations, there isn’t much more you could ask for in Roleplaying opportunities. Grade A.

Aboleth, Veiled Master

It’s a CR 14 Aboleth. GET IN.

Presentation: Has no dedicated picture, and the text description really doesn’t sell me on what kind of emotions seeing it is supposed to illicit. Grade D+.

Mehcanics: Yes, it’s an upscaled Aboleth, but it’s upscaled in a creative way. Suggestion, illusion spells, dominate person bolstered by a special ability, 3rd-leve mind thrust at will and a bite attack that lets it READ MINDS. This thing wants an entourage, to mind control the party heavy, and then blow people’s heads apart with mind thrust, with support from illusions and some suggestion to keep things interesting. Also, it shapeshifts. Grade B+

Lore: It’s an Aboleth that disguises itself as a person to manipulate events in the world. Repeat, it’s a CR 14 Aboleth whose entire job is to manipulate a society without said society ever knowing it. It even touches on their place in Aboleth society. Grade A.

Roleplay: It’s an aboleth, with +25 bluff, sense motive +30, and the ability to shapeshift into any small or medium form. If that doesn’t immediately make the players among you shudder in fear and the DMs among you cackle internally, I don’t know what will. Grade A+. Excellent big bad potential, just like Aboleths were always meant to be.

Achaierai

Presentation: The Achaierai has a really bad case of presentation separation. The pictures look derpy, the description tries to be intimidating, and both massively undersell the fact that the thing is constantly oozing acidic smoke. Grade C.

Mechanics: The Achaierai is a fairly straightforward fighter, with solid melee attacks, a passable ranged attack, a breath weapon with some unique rules and an aura of black smoke. The breath weapon not only damages but confuses the target, with a DC 13 save to end that could in theory last indefinitely. The aura itself is a basic damage aura, tied to the low save of DC 13. While it has solid ideas, I’m not sure its powers stand out all that well: DC 13 is in line with the proper DC for a CR 5 monster using abilities that need saves, but all the same a DC13 save is pretty negligible and even rolling every round the penalty for failure isn’t all that high. The breath weapon is a 40 foot cone, but anyone making the DC 13 ref save takes no damage. It doesn’t have enough to be an interesting encounter in and of itself, and even as part of a greater encounter if the dice don’t favor it its unique aspects might be entirely ignored. Grade C.

Lore: The Achaierai’s lore confuses me. Sure, the core idea is cool: A four legged bird monster thing that emits acid smoke. The thing that gets me? It’s an outsider. A native to hell. Why? It would work fine as a magical beast. As a native to hell, it’s immediately near the bottom of the respect pole as a monster that does acid damage in a place where a lot of creatures are resistant to acid damage. I guess I should be happy that it’s more than just another strange magical beast monster but… I’m not. I really feel it would have made more sense as a magical beast. Grade C.

Roleplay: It’s got Wis +2, Cha +3, and speaks infernal. With that said, the lore doesn’t at all list anything that it might want to talk about, or any kind of social structure other than that it has packs. Grade D.

Adamantine Wasp Swarm

Presentation: Wasps made of metal? Cool. The problem is that while it’s a swarm of fine creatures, the flavor text says that each wasp is 1 foot long several times. I assume this is a misprint, and it’s supposed to be one inch long. Other than that, nothing all that incredible. Grade D.

Mechanics: Not all that much. It’s mainly just swarm immunity plus construct immunity plus a special venom on its attacks. The venom is interesting, it turns the target into ice, but that in and of itself isn’t explained in the lore nor condusive of an entertaining, interactive fight scene. They don’t even have DR like would be typical of things made of Adamantine. Grade C-.

Lore: The lore uses a lot to not say a lot. It mentions that they’re made to guard areas, like all constructs, and then goes on at length about how they’re wasps. Grade D.

Roleplaying: To no one’s surprise, there’s no reason to try and talk to the wasps. No, not every monster needs to provide good roleplay opportunities, but all the same it’s worth noting when they’re not present. However, mindless monsters… there’s no reason to expect them to have roleplay opportunities. So for those I’ll waive the grade.

Adherer

What’s up with adherers? Seriously? Why? I feel like back when there was one monster book they would have been a good old skool joke enemy. You know, the kind of thing where the joke punishes predictable adventuring habits and is immediately lethal. But why are they treated as a classic enemy? Flumphs have more lore and mechanics than adherers do!

Presentation: Eh? The picture is nice, but adherers always look stupid. Always. Grade D.

Mechanics: It’s a basic grapple brute. You know the type, attack, free grapple, beat the tar out of the grappled enemy. Adherers have the perk of being able to grapple on the enemy’s turn, but it’s not really going to cause a more complex series of interactions. Ranged attacks with beat them. Magic will beat them. Even melee combat can beat them if they take enough fire damage on a consistent basis! Grade D. Adherers are literally a joke. Making a memorable combat encounter using adherers is indicative of amazing GM skill, not anything innate to the monster’s mechanics.

Lore: Grade F. It’s the kind of token lore that raises more questions than answers.

Roleplaying: Grade D-. It has an int of -3, somehow speaks Aklo, and has no complex motivations nor society to speak of.

Aetherwarped

Presentation: An interesting picture and the visual elements of the templates description are effective enough. Grade B.

Mechanics: As a template, it must be kept in mind that these mechanics are in addition to other things. As thus, a blindsense variant, a strange mobility power, and a basic ranged attack aren’t all that solid of a foundation. They’re interesting by all means, but it doesn’t give the altered creature a new or definite spin on their combat style. Grade C.

Lore: It’s fine. Exposure to aether radition over time, a reliance on it, appreciation for music, it’s a bit token but not objectionable. Grade C.

Roleplaying: As a template… it doesn’t really add any roleplaying potential. The reliance on radiation might, but it also take a fair amount away. Grade D.

Akata

It’s not as good as the variant in the Alien Archive 2.

Presentation: Fine? Eh. Grade B.

Mechanics: A basic brute with a minor disease, it lacks the depth of mechanics that the official version has. Has an Alpha Akata that’s just a CR2 version. Grade D.

Lore: The most predictable variation of the parent trope, they’re alien animals that want to reproduce parasitically and make zombies as an in-between step. The problem is that they don’t have the cunning of the original alien, and at CR 1 they’re not really the most dangerous creatures. The lore says that outbreaks of Akatas can become big problems, but CR 1 or 2 monsters that reproduce through a special ability with a fort save of 10? Seriously, the local law enforcement or monster hunters need to be weak and incompetent to not take these things on. If they were CR 5, that would be one thing. But here, they’re CR 1. Grade C-.

Roleplaying: They’re dumb animals. As in, literally, they’re at int -4 putting them at animalistic intelligence, but they also don’t have any kind of social structure and no sense of self-preservation. So, not only are they animals, they’re particularly stupid ones. Grade F.

Akata Host

It has the same grades as the Akata. It’s just the zombie stage between the infection and the chest-bursting. They can do some strength damage, and on a CR ½ monster that is worth note. Just not enough to make a difference. Seriously, chryssalids are scary. These things? They’re just weak.

Alchemical Ooze Swarm

Here’s a CR 1 monster worth remembering!

Presentation: Though the image is a bit confusing, the description of a riotous mass of bubblelike oozes is very well done. It even has a consistent description of the size of the component parts. Grade B.

Mechanics: Making good use of the swarm type, the Viscous and Chemical Slime abilities add both mechanics and flavor to the swarm. Enemies hit by the swarm’s attacks can be entagled, and then start to suffer additional effects based on the chemical compounds in the oozes. It’s a very interesting idea, and though I feel the DC is way too low at 10 or 11 it has potential to be a memorable dungeon hazard or a part of a greater encounter. In addition, what secondary effect the swarm has also affects the swarm’s weaknesses and resistances. This means that the monster can be used multiple times without being too easy for the players to cheese, while still following an internal logic that the players might be able to learn and use. If anything, I feel it’s a shame this is wasted on a CR 1 monster! I’m definitely going to upscale this at some point. Grade A+!

Lore: It’s a basic ecological aesop, but the idea itself is worth some respect. The explanation to why there’s four different variants works well enough, and it gives the entire thing a feeling of slightly comical menace. If you play even a little loose with the lore, there’s lots of ways this swarm can be used in stories. Grade B.

Roleplay: Mindless.

Allip

Presentation: My response to the picture and description is a deadpan ‘ok.’ It’s not really the most evocative of description in any case, but it works. C-.

Mechanics: Babble plus touch of madness isn’t a bad setup. Definitely more made to seriously inconvenience the party than actually be a solid threat, could be better as part of a larger encounter or as rescource-stucking filler. Certainly unique, and the Madness ability is a nice fluffy addition. B.

Lore: Coming back from the dead for vengeance isn’t really a compelling story in D&D/Pathfinder/Starfinder. Half the undead want vengeance, and Allips are no exception. This is honestly just ‘exists’ lore: It opens no awkward questions, but it also doesn’t answer any interesting questions. C-.

Roleplay: It has Int +1 and Cha +4, but its entire thing is that its crazy. It’s not technically a mindless undead, but in some ways it might as well be. D-.

Amalgamite Swarm

It’s like grey goo, but big enough to punch.

Presentation: Pretty solid. Nothing to really send home about, but hey. B.

Mechanics: Interesting. A little ranged attack, a stealth ability, and a common combat feat adapted to work for a swarm. There’s clearly thought put in here, and it should all result in a very interesting back-and-forth. A.

Lore: Eh, it’s not quite generic. A little bit of extra thought put in. Nothing amazing, but I appreciate the effort. B.

Roleplay: Mindless.

Amerta

This is another monster I think is an original, made to go with the specific Aetheria setting.

Presentation: Neat. Gives an idea of the thing’s scale and has fair detail even if the design itself is a little simplistic. B.

Mechanics: It’s a Colossal CR 18 monster with a mix of melee damage, a breath weapon, and some utility-focused spell like abilities. There’s some creativity here, but nothing that really makes me jump. B.

Lore: It mentions details specific to the setting, but the basic idea isn’t hard to get. I will say that I think it leans on historical significance more than current-day significance, which can make it difficult to integrate into campaigns in interesting ways. B.

Roleplay: It has telepathy and can talk to plants, and there’s a seed of it in the Lore, but nothing that really grabs me. C+.

Amoeba

This entry is the giant amoeba and the amoeba swarm, but I’ll rate them together to save us all time.

Presentation: Eh? Not much to see, not much to say. Not ugly. C-.

Mechanics: These two creatures are basically two versions of the same one, one’s a generic swarm and the other is a generic small ooze. Literally, I can’t find anything special about them. Also, the giant amoeba references the ‘constrict’ universal rule, but at the time of this writing (before Alien Archive 3 comes out) there is no such rule! F.

Lore: None of note. Seriously, I’m impressed how little is communicated here. F.

Roleplay: It’s a mindless ooze.

Animated Object

I feel like this entry is unfitting as either the original idea of the animated object, a Starfinder implementation for the animated object, or the implementation for the enemies actually presented in the book.

Presentation: The description is meh, and the image is amazing up until you realize it’s out of scale with the sizes in the state blocks. And one of the things has no image or personalized description at all. D+

Mechanics: Presented here in the Animated Object blurb is not generic stat blocks usable for various animated objects, but instead two specific animated objects that could have worked perfectly well as robots. And they’re both boring. One has con damage attached to its grappling, the other has trample. D-.

Lore: No fluff text. F.

Roleplay: Mindless.

Ankheg

Presentation: The description is a little generic, and the image is derpy-looking. D.

Mechanics: The idea is that it’s a bite n’ grab monster, with a bite attack that also does acid damage. However, it has an area attack that disables the bite attack’s acid damage when used. Sound interesting enough? Yeah, it doesn’t work as written. The damage is listed as “P & A,” so even parts piercing and acid. The deactivation clause in the Spit Acid ability says that it loses out on the “additional acid damage”, which leaves it unclear how much the damage is reduced. Is it halved after rolling? This could work, but it’s not made clear in the text: when I read that I expected to see something like “+1d8 A”, clearly differentiating the additional damage. Also, the bite attack has the burn critical effect, which reflects things bursting into flames. Even if you replace that with the corrode effect, the rules text doesn’t say to remove it with the acid spit. The monster simply does not operate as intended and needs another pass. F.

Lore: The lore text is effective enough, but has some mechanical notes in it that don’t fit in the fluff text well. They really should either be included in the stat block somewhere or left vague, how they make their tunnels doesn’t matter as long as it happens off-camera, right? C-.

Roleplaying: Normally, as a non-social monster, I’d just flub it. However! It’s specifically mentioned that it could be used as a mount, and its temperament as a mount, meaning it could indirectly affect another role play encounter in an interesting manner. C-.

Aoandon

Presentation: The description and picture are interesting. There’s enough flourishes and detail to intrigue, with a little bit of artistic flair. Hm! A.

Mechanics: It’s got touch of madness, a suite of nasty spell-like abilities, constant true seeing, and it’s incorporeal. Intriguing, no? Not the most outstanding of mechanics, but could still pose a reasonable threat. C+.

Lore: So, it looks like a hologram, it has a touch of madness, and it casts spell like abilities. Just what is… the Aoandon? I’m gonna read it!

“An aoandon is an incorporeal outsider formed from the spirit of a woman who died pursuing some ill-fated relationship.”

...what?

Dead people don’t form outsiders! They form undead! Why isn’t it undead? Native outsiders are a wonky bunch in any case, but this is literally an undead blurb! It doesn’t discuss her combat style at all, it’s literally just the undead hatred against those who wronged her! F!

Roleplaying: I don’t care that it speaks 5 languages and it has Int and Cha +4. It’s just another undead that hates stuff. D-.

Asquenti

Presentation: The description is good enough, but the image really doesn’t sell the ‘Tauric crustacean’ idea. To the point that I don’t think the artist knew what it meant. C-.

Mechanics: Seem effective enough. The ability descriptions could have used another pass to better clarify the abilities and fit to the standard style of monster entries. A skilled editor was really needed here. C-.

Lore: Eh, nothing amazing, nothing bad. Just enough to keep it from feeling hollow, but nothing really that stands out. C.

Roleplaying: There’s certainly potential here, but we don’t get into their culture enough to really spark the imagination. C.

Assassin Vine

Presentation: The picture doesn’t mesh with the description at all. D.

Mechanics: Nothing too startling, though I’m not sure how the entangling plants aura is supposed to work. I’m also unsure if keeping the resistances from the original was a good idea; in Starfinder, it’s possible that a party could have no physical damage at all (if unlikely) making energy resistance/immunity more powerful. C-.

Lore: Eh? It’s fine. C.

Roleplaying: Mindless.

Asteroid Worm

Presentation: A full splash page illustration and a description that causes me to feel actual emotions. A+.

Mechanics: The worm’s gimmick is effectively that it’s a larger than colossal enemy, and whoever wrote this entry sells it really well. The abilities are straightforward enough and still do what they set out to do, while giving the DM amazing chances for description. I’m unsure how well this monster would work as a straight fight, but it would make a wonderful set piece. A+.

Lore: It’s got it. It’s effective enough, if not really riveting. C+.

Roleplaying: Mindless. There’s a lot of these in this book, huh?

Atoth

Presentation: Both description and image are sufficiently spectacular. A+.

Mechanics: Well… this is very interesting. The idea is that when someone uses teleportation or the like, this monster shunts the target into a pocket dimension where it uses a mix of melee attacks with Con drain and some basic spell-like abilities to murder them. It’s the kind of thing that a good chunk of a campaign can be based around, especially since the range is one million miles. How far is that? Easily enough to cover one planet and its moons, but not enough to cover multiple planets (I checked). The fight looks interesting, and part of me wishes it was slightly lower CR so I might be able to run it sometime. A.

Lore: Hm, some points docked for the hungry undead trope, but it has a unique enough situation that connects to a different monster in the book. It’s pretty okay, but I would have liked to see more about how it operates. B.

Roleplaying: The primary appeal here is not as roleplay with it, but instead to roleplay around it. Imagine a world terrified to use teleportation because then the Atoth will get you. I definitely think there’s potential there! C+.

Aurumvorax

Presentation: Good picture, and the description isn’t bad. B+.

Mechanics: Very durable, and the setup is one I recognize from Pathfinder monsters: Natural attack with Grab, into Rake. The problem is that Starfinder doesn’t have Rake as a universal monster rule, and instead of adding it in manually the creator didn’t give them anything. This neuters the entire setup, the Aurumvorax can still do more bites to keep the grapple but it doesn’t get that sweet bonus Rake damage. C.

Lore: It’s the same as usual. An angry, heavy, badger-like thing that chews gold and fools. A few interesting notes. A-.

Roleplaying: A nice little mention that they can be trained if they’re picked up young, giving them a little bit of potential. D+.

Azaka

Another group that I’m going to all lump together, but this one is new. To me, at least.

Presentation: There’s a definite shared theme, good art, fair descriptions. A-.

Mechanics: The Hive Mind is an interesting take on the mechanic of the hive mind, and the mechanics of the creatures themselves seem effective enough. The Thoughtseeker is a caster, and the Warrior is a combatant, and both have fitting abilities. A-.

Lore: Hm, interesting enough, but very connected to the specific setting they’re made for. No real context on why and when they interact with the rest of the universe. B.

Roleplay: The hive mind is smart, but they’re just angry zerg-like creatures that want to enslave others and eat radioactive rocks. Not a lot to really RP with. D-.

Final Thoughts

This has been a trip. Some great examples, some absolute failures, a few great endgame monsters, a great CR1 monster, and this is only the first letter of the alphabet. Hit and miss, by all means, and an unusual amount of mindless creatures, but not really a super good claim toward or away from buying the book. This is a mixed bag, and for some people the good will be enough to make it worth it.

#Rate the monsters #Alien bestiary #Starfinder #I pasted this in from a word doc #not sure if that'll mess with the formatting #I feel like this book needed another editing pass #Editing isn't just proofreading #it's checking and cross-checking to be sure everything works together #and it's hard

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coldtomyflash · 6 years ago

Note

Weird question, and it's perfectly okay if "I don't know" is your answer: How did you manage to do grad school AND finish writing so many good fics? I'm writing the lit review for my dissertation right now, and I want to finish several WIPs I have (if nothing else, just to prove to myself that I can), but it just feels like I can barely do either, much less both. Any advice at all?

Ah, no worries! It’s not that odd a question. Actually, someone’s asked me before ^^; My reply to them at the time was here. No need to read it, but it’s some context?

My reply now that my head is in a healthier place is... long and winding and not actually full of that much advice but eh, I rambled as I do. If you just want the advice, scroll all the way down and it’s there.

For starters, I’m not a normal comparison point. This isn’t to pat myself on the back, but for a variety of reasons, writing is something that comes really naturally to me. I’ll detail those reasons, but before I get into that, the point I’m illustrating here is that... sometimes I think people compare themselves to how much I wrote and what else I accomplished in that time and think “hey cool - that is a function human! Why can’t I do that?” And the answer is short answer is that my brain is programmed for pretty much one thing, and that thing is writing writing, and holy crap I was the opposite of a functional human when writing that much and that quickly.

The long answer is -

I’ve been making up stories literally as long as I can remember. I spent my childhood consuming stories. I taught myself to read and was during school I was consistently reading about 8 grade levels above my reading level, and loved learning about narrative structure. I annoyed the shit out of my older brother by reading the same book series as he read, but guessing plot points that were going to happen either in that book or else 2-3 books out. he didn’t get how I would just know and I’d be like “it’s obvious - that’s where the story has to go!” Because I was imagining it in my head - what i would do with it, where it would go, where it had to go. Closing the page mid0chapter and imagining the next-scene, and then picking back up to see how right or wrong I was.

And I had a best friend for most of my childhood through to early adulthood with whom I made stories. Every weekend, creating narratives together, not writing them down but basically roleplaying them by talking them out (voices and all, it was a heck of a lot of fun, as much as it made me pretty much the nerdiest teen in existence). We tried to write a novel when we were 12, got about 7 chapters in. We had a lot of starts and stops on other stories too.

Which isn’t said to stroke my own ego, it’s said to highlight that I have a metric fuckton of explicit and implicit practice at storytelling. It was and sort of is my “whole life”. I also had teachers that helped me develop storytelling skills, and was really freaking lucky to go to a school with an AP program for English that seriously stretched my ability to write fast. We had to write an essay every single class, during class, and have it finished by the end of class (or in less time if we had lecture stuff to go over too) in my last year of high school. The essays could be creative response (i.e., short stories). I wrote a short story almost every week in the space of an hour when I was 17. By the time I got to the end of year final and actually got to use a computer and type that shit instead of hand-cramping halfway through, I somehow managed to write the two-essay final in the allotted 3 hours and, i shit you not, had a wordcount of 6000 words.

That’s still my record. It was probably a dumpster fire but I got 100% probably for sheer volume.

Anyway that was over a decade ago, but the whole reason this life story is pertinent is because -

I have practice. The only way to improve at anything, to get faster at it, for it to ease, is to practice. Practice at storytelling, practice at having to set a scene using just words sitting in my BFF’s room and trying to describe the image I had in my head for how I wanted her to see the scene as it was playing out. Practice at writing fast and getting feedback on how to write. Practice implicitly at trying to imagine what routes stories can take. Practice taking stories apart and piecing them back together, in my head, all the time.

So that’s part of it.

The other part, and this is what I said in my previous post, was depression. I was seriously fucking burnt out and depressed when I started writing coldflash fic, and grad school took a huge toll on my mental health. It’s easier to write when you’re doing it to procrastinate working on your dissertation, and easier to keep writing when you get positive feedback and it feeds those lovely dopamine gremlins in your brain who aren’t getting any positive validation from grad school because holy damn that shit is hard.

I had no balance in my life for a long time. It wasn’t good. I went to counselling. I got more balance. Fic slowed down. Still finished, but not 120k words in 3 months (that was the pace when I started fic writing...jfc I don’t know how I managed.) Life got harder. Fic was now harder to write. I got more counselling. Fic was easier to write. I moved around the world. Fic got harder to write. I started anti-depressants. Narratives now seem to be flowing again.

Regardless of the state of my mental health though, I’ve never written as much as quickly as I did during the middle of grad school. And I think that’s because I was very narratively pent up when I started writing fic. I had been so busy and pushing myself so damn hard in grad school that I didn’t make almost any time for stories, for fic, for imagining my own stories. I was suppressing that side of myself in the service of Focus. So when I burnt out, my narrative side rebounded and said “fuck that noise, I still exist, and we’re making space for me”. It took over. I came literally a hair’s breadth from quitting my PhD post candidacy. Idk what type of program you’re in, but business schools in North America? It’s a 5 year PhD typically, and I was at the end of year 3 and eyeing the door.

Anyway - I say all that because -

I am not a good example and you should not do what I did. Finishing that many long WIPs that quickly wasn’t healthy, and was only possible because I didn’t do much else at the time, and had a lifetime of practice and a narrative rebound to make it even possible.

But -

My actual advice?

1) Practice. Practice. Practice.

Not all at once, but everything counts. Daydreaming counts. Watching shows and thinking of how they could be improved counts. Talking out story ideas with friends counts. Just make it fun. Practice is something we think of as arduous and annoying. Learning new words is practice. Meeting new people and considering their traits is practice. Everything can be practice for writing. All the research you do can be practice for writing. (Random note: a childhood coping mechanism for anxiety that I had was to narrate what I was doing to myself in my head in the 3rd person. Like telling a story of myself walking to gym class in my own head. That was also practice.)

2) Have fun with it!

Don’t making writing an obligation. Then it’s another thing on the list of things you avoid. Finishing stories often feels like an obligation. I’m going through this right now with Needs Must. It can be hard to complete a WIP because you start to have internal anxieties about disappointing readers, not living up to expectations, exhaustion from that narrative, distraction / temporary loss of interest (which is normal! and not actually a bad thing!). All of that then makes you feel guilty, which makes it impossible to get into a creative space to write. You can’t work on the thing you’re avoiding.

3) It’s okay to give your WIPs breathing space.

When you hit a wall, you may need to set it aside and read it again in a month with fresh eyes. You may need to treat your story like someone else’s story. That’s, again, literally where I’m at right now with Needs Must. I just reread a bunch of it and hadn’t really forgotten the details but once they’re on the page they’re out of my head, and so taking some time before going back to reread it made it easier for me to think of like I think of every other story: “what would I do next with this? Oh that’s a twist, that needs to come back later. There’s a theme here, we’ve seen that three times. What’s the best ending I, as a reader now, can imagine for this?”

If avoidance, guilt, and/or writer’s block aren’t your issue, and it’s literally just down to time management -

4) Your graduate degree is more important than your WIPs.

Your WIPs aren’t going anywhere, they don’t have a deadline, and your readers will wait for you, and new ones will find you. Time management is an essential, awful, part of being an academic.

I get more done, both at work and creatively on fic, when I’m just a bit too busy, but that’s me. Figure out what is optimal for you, and do it. When do you get the most writing done? When you’re relieved? When you’re anxious? Late at night? First thing in the morning? When does it flow? When won’t it ruin your graduate career?

(Seriously I was writing fic at work last week and was kicking myself. I don’t have time for that shit! Set boundaries on your time!)

But full serious here, graduate school is exhausting, and almost inherently de-motivating, and even the best damn students eye the door a lot of the time, even if they do finish. It’s stressful and you feel constantly powerless. It’s a lot to need to cope with. I found writing to be a way to cope. That lit review you’re working on? Yeah, it’s zapping your time and energy. That’s normal (unfortunately). And it’s good to give yourself breaks from that to write. Don’t feel guilty for taking time here and there for yourself - to write, or to not write. To relax, unplug, unwind. To close your eyes and daydream (if you’re me) or have a bubble bath (if you’re my sister), or do whatever helps you honestly, genuinely destress. The best thing you can do for both writing and for graduate school is to take breaks and take time for yourself. There is actual science on the importance of breaks, and academics are fucking notorious for putting too much pressure on themselves to actually relax.

5) If you’re burnt out and/or depressed - seek help!

Most universities have resources for mental health! Talk to a doctor! Don’t put too much stress and pressure on yourself! Almost half of grad students are mentally ill at some point!

6) Talk out your stories with friends!

I know I already said this under “practice” but having a fandom friend to bounce ideas with and cheer you on is amazing and essentially. I was in constant contact with Bealeciphers when I started writing, and now I have a different friend who’s helped me the past couple years with writing and developing my stories. Mostly they cheer me on, and when I’m stuck, I tell them where the story is going and what I need help with. But honestly, writing doesn’t need to happen in a vacuum and doesn’t need to be you hunched over a laptop in the dark all alone and staring blankly at a screen (I’m definitely not projecting here, no siree). It’s amazing how motivating it is and how much it can help you stay on track to check in regularly with other writing friends!

7) Pick your battles.

You say you have a... couple(?) of WIPs? How many are you juggling? Is it too many? Do you need to set one (or two??) aside? When my steam was slowly and AATJS and Tumbling Together started to feel like a chore, I set TT aside and took a month break from AATJS then dived right back into AATJS (with the help of the friend mentioned above, cheering me on) because I knew it would be the harder one to finish, and the one that I feared I’d never finish if I put it aside too long. I tackled the biggest hurdle first. If that’s the type of thing for you, I recommend it. Pick the story that’s either the most or least likely to get finished, and focus your energy there.

Another battle-picking thing here? It’s okay to outsource. I’m terrible for not using a proofreader beta. It’s a weird control thing, despite the fact that I love people pointing out typos in my works so I can freaking fix them. The point here is: don’t be like me. If you suck at finding your own typos, use a beta or proofreader. My writer friend who helps me helps when I get stuck. I help them when they need feedback on specific scenes and tones, and I’ve recently discovered they hate editing (I love editing) so this entertains me to no end. Just - you don’t have to do it all yourself. If you feel like you do, see points 5 and 6 again.

Aaaannnddd that’s that. Whew. I just spent... wow, too long on this. I spent as much time on this as I did on my own grad student’s lit review I was providing feedback on today ^^; #whoops

#redhead vs. writing #long post #long post for ts #phyn rambles #writing advice #depression tw #ask to tag #Anonymous

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haynr · 6 years ago

Text

all blog info below the cut,

apologies now to my mobile users

RULES

Before we interact you must…

have a properly displayed muse

have easily accessible posted information regarding your muse in a section or page

have easily accessible posted rules / guidelines in a section or page

for AU’s, you must have posted information regarding your muse within the fandom universe in its own section or page

make sure I am following you

cut threads

I Won’t

roleplay sex, generally. there may be a few exceptions, but keep the standard that i probably won’t. sexual content, perhaps, if all muns involved are over 18. If we do, it is with the understanding muses involved will be aged up appropriately.

tolerate any sexual advances toward myself ooc

roleplay inserts

always follow back, nor will I follow personals

tolerate pressuring, be it to rp in general or consistent pestering to answer threads

answer everything in my inbox. It’s not often I ignore asks, but I won’t answer something if it violates my rules. If I have difficulty answering something, I will privately message senders or make public inquires about anonymous messages.

follow everyone back / interact with everyone, even if you technically follow all my rules. i’m selective.

Please Don’t:

reblog meme asks. I don’t mind this so much, but it keeps things cleaner when they’re moved to a new post.

reblog inbox answers for non starter memes. examples would be mun opinions and the like but extend to headcanons and other writing. violators will be asked to delete the post and may be blocked.

reblog threads you are not a part of. warnings will be given to violating rp blogs, but personals will be instantly blocked.

reblog personal posts, especial images of myself. violators will be instantly blocked. this means anything tagged ooc.

force ships with me. I am a p easy going shipper, but I will be a bit more restrictive with Hayner. most of it has to do with his muse in general. he’s not thinking about romance atm. if it comes up in plot, great. if it doesn’t, you’re more than welcome to put it forward, but please do not expect me to go along with it. on that note, don’t expect me to always agree with your interpretations of my muse in ships. ideas and suggestions are fine, your own take is fine, but i cannot stress enough, please do not push hcs.

I am open to

multiple threads

duplicates of other muses (i do not rp duplicates of my own muse, but I usually have other muses in the fandom which I will be more than happy to interact with there, no twins etc)

shipping, though I will be highly selective, possibly exclusive. I will not instant ship, but I don’t mind developing our muses’ relationship privately over DMs.

mutli verse and/or polyshipping as befits all the muses and muns involved

rping toxic relationships of any sort, will be tagged accordingly and placed under cuts.

angst and/or triggering threads, though I would prefer to discuss the thread and tagging beforehand

crack threads

select AUs

ask/tagged initiated threads/starters but I ask for some warning if they are not from a meme or other prompt

responses of any length, so long as it is enough to reasonably work with for the pace of our thread

group threads

generally questionable plots. regardless of whether or not I approve of such practices ooc isn’t usually relevant. this is fictional, exploration of an idea– not a real-world execution of that idea. Feel free to DM for details.

Please Also Note:

I do not require length to be matched and may not always match partner’s length. I will respond as much as I feel I am able to or that I feel is necessary.

If my response is inadequate, difficult to respond to, or otherwise distasteful, FEEL FREE to ask me to redo my response.

Understand that my selectivity will depend on my comfort level and that I am not obligated to explain myself.

I tag all my threads as “thread”

I tag my partner’s url

if partner’s url changes, I will tag both old and new urls for the first response then only the new url going forward.

I generally tag triggers as “trigger tw”. same with general cw’s. i’m not the best with tagging, so let me know if I should watch for stuff in particular

my activity is generally a joke, but I’m constantly lurking, so feel free to drop a message

I am incredibly anxious. It doesn’t matter if we have late night conversations for like a month straight i will still be afraid to talk to you every. single. time. so always feel free to come whack me on the head or smth

while I can be very laid back / crack-ish, I do prefer to explore darker themes and my thread responses are much more serious than I come off as.

Blacklisted / Ask to Tag:

food

nsfw (for general safe scrolling, just let me know what your tag is since t simply wont show not safe for wombats content anymore)

“little space” related

“daddy,” “mommy,” etc

literally anything in this vein. in the vaguest, most removed sense. idc what you tag it. either let me know or just tag it “jade don’t look” whatever.

in fact feel free to tag any and all of these as just “jade don’t look” or some variant.

a/o/b related

anything pregnancy related

vivid depiction of sensory / memory alteration (particularly in images, but not excluded to)

unreality (also especially, but not limited to, images)

Of course I can’t require people tag these, but I will most likely not follow you if your post these regularly and do not have some warning which will be picked up by blacklist applications.

In regards to the sensory alteration, I mean things like seeing/hearing/etc things that aren’t there, mis-remembering or outright tampering with memory, etc. It’s kind of situation to situation on what gets me, but when it does it tends to hit me pretty hard. If you have any questions about it, fire away! [ example text post ]

On unreality, this somewhat relates to the above, I use this as a catch all phrase for images, vivid descriptions, and most especially videos/gifs of things that basically don’t behave or seem to behave as they should. Sometimes, I’ve seen these things tagged as “trippy” and the like, but they those posts tend to be too…idk how to put it. Extra? What tends to get me is when things are going fairly linear and then suddenly go for a loop. That’s not the greatest description, but here’s a few posts that have triggered me the worst that I’ve slowly gotten used to. There are also things which should seem fine or normal but aren’t. If anyone has a better description for this, by all means let me know! example posts [ one ] / [ two ] / [ three ] + a weird image that also gets me for some reason. hmvent is actually a blog I use to store things that trigger me so I can slowly get used to them or try and figure out what it is / why these things get to me.

META

Hayner is a young lad who resides in the sleepy Twilight Town. He is described as “impulsive and determined, and is always looking for a new adventure. He is bold to the point of recklessness…He gets bored easily during uneventful times… also easily angered/irked…thirsts for some kind of recognition…” During the events of KHII, he is 15, the same as Roxas/Sora. He has deep brown eyes, dirty blond hair and is a bit tall and, while still skinny, muscular for his age. He is the leader of his quartet trio including Pence, Olette and Roxas himself.

While he does have parents, he’s rather distant from them. While he does receive support from his folks, they were just never really there. Because of this, his loyalties lie greatly with his chosen family, his friends. He considers it his duty to help, lead and, if needed, protect them, even if he’d never admit as much even to himself. If any of his actions or ideas end up hurting someone he cares about, he takes it very much to heart, often beating himself up about it for weeks and weeks after.

Hayner, despite his hotheadedness and brashness, is a very observant leader. His tough guy act, while not entirely based on this, is partially to build himself up, make other less inclined to pick fights with him and his friends. Whether or not this works out, however, is certainly debatable. He also does his best to incorporate his friends’ wants and needs– or at least what he perceives these as– into his plans.

As oblivious as he may seem, he is quite mindful of the people around him. Whether it’s picking out the shady figure on that street corner or this one, or noticing some random kid’s not having a good day - he sees a lot of it, but often it doesn’t strike as a huge priority. He thinks things through a lot more than he’s credited for, but unfortunately, he doesn’t go through the whole process before starting his plan of action.

Hayner also isn’t exactly the most social person. He is outgoing and nice to people out of politeness and giving people the benefit of the doubt, but as a whole he’d much rather just stick with his friends. The only exception to this has been Sora, as he feels a “familiar vibe” about him, and therefore is also open to his circle of friends.

A couple more misc hcs below:

Is a very exceptional swordsman (at least with the training swords). However, his skills do not seem as outstanding compared to that of Roxas and other more major characters.

As much as he hates school, his best subject science. And although one would think he’d be a good athlete because he is competitive, he actually doesn’t have good PE grades because he doesn’t try if he doesn’t have to. The only way to get him to really participate is to make it a competition.

MORE WILL BE ADDED MARCH, 2019 TO INCLUDE SPOILERS FOR KH3

AU Info will be added shortly.

#mobile rules #about blog #psa

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spacecowboywhit · 8 years ago

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Imperial Radch RPG

A Powered by the Apocalypse Game

These rules and character sheets can also be found and downloaded from my Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7jr-NDGflwMRG9heWNvVnNsYVU

Introduction

This is a roleplaying game set in the Imperial Radch universe created by the amazing author Ann Leckie in her novels Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy, plus several short stories and an upcoming novel Provenance.

The rules of this game are from a family of games called Powered by the Apocalypse, based on the mechanics of the game Apocalypse World created by D. Vincent and Meguey Baker. The basic mechanic is very simple: roll 2 six-sided dice and add an appropriate bonus from your character that is usually between -1 and +3, leading to results between 1 and 15. Rolls of 6 or less are failures, 7-9 are partial successes, and 10+ are successes. Most die rolls are categorized as Moves, either general moves that anyone can perform or character moves that are earned through advancement. Moves provide special circumstances, benefits, and often have a list of outcomes to choose from for each result.

The Imperial Radch Trilogy takes place in the far future, where humanity has spread across space. The Radch Empire is a massive civilization that has been annexing every other human-inhabited system for the last several thousand years. The Radch military fleet is supported by the use of ancillaries - hive-mind, organic artificial intelligence that is implanted in humans who have been wiped of their original personality at a young age. Ancillaries act on behalf of the ship they are the mind of, reacting instantaneously and sharing thoughts and observations for extremely efficient operation.

The Lord of the Radch, Anaander Mianaai, is also a collection of bodies sharing the same consciousness. This allows her to rule the empire spanning thousands of lightyears efficiently, literally being in multiple places at once. However, unlike the ancillaries, these bodies are all clones of the original Anaander. This has enabled her to rule the Empire for thousands of years, replacing any bodies that grow old with new ones.

The Radchaai culture is deeply regimented, with an emphasis placed on traditions, rituals, religion, and propriety. Every citizen is expected to uphold and contribute to the empire. Everyone belongs to a House made up of extended relatives. Lower Houses simply provide community and support, while coming from a high ranked House unlocks doors to power, notoriety, and wealth. Another key feature of Radch culture is the absence of gender. Everyone is addressed by a single pronoun that translates as she/her in most non-Radchaai-speaking cultures. This often leads to confusion with newly-annexed cultures.

As with most RPGs, one player will adopt the role of gamemaster, called the Administrator, and will be responsible for crafting the universe and plot for the others. All of the others will play individual characters in the universe. Collaboration between players and the Administrator is strongly encouraged, including suggesting plot points, NPCs, locations, and roll results, as is a staple of all PbtA games.

These rules are written assuming a basic understanding of both Apocalypse World rules and the Imperial Radch universe, with only reminders of aspects of both. Please see the “Further Reading” section at the end for both paid and free resources to learn more about both.

This is a fan creation, out of love. I do not claim to own any of these properties. Also, there will be some spoilers to the Imperial Radch books ahead.

(Cover art by Lauren Saint-Onge - laurensaintonge.com)

Characters

Stats The three primary stats of the game are Justice, Propriety, and Benefit. These are a trio of interlinked values with special significance to Radchaai, related to the Radch religion. Anaander Mianaai is seen by many citizens as the embodiment of these values.

Justice is the value that all actions should be fair and everyone should receive what they deserve. Propriety is the value that all actions should be in line with Radchaai law and etiquette, and everyone behave according to their assigned role. Benefit is the value that all actions should improve the universe, both for individual citizens and the Radch as a whole.

These three values are believed to be closely linked, so that any action that meets one value must necessarily meet all three. Because the laws and social roles of the Radch are, by definition, Just, all Just actions are Proper and all Proper actions are Just. If an action is Just and Proper, it is viewed as Beneficial to Amaat, even if the benefit is not immediately clear.

In game terms: Justice is rolled for physical activities, combat, tactics, and anything else having to do with feats of action. Propriety is the social stat, used for diplomacy, courtship, giving orders, and anything related to interpersonal interaction. Benefit is the measure of skill, training, and knowledge.

Characters begin the game with a 1, a 0, and a -1 distributed among these three stats in whatever way the player chooses.

The fourth stat is House, which represents your character’s natural born social standing and wealth. Radchaai society is fairly mobile, so this stat can still change. However, without some major plot point or drive by the character, it cannot go up by more than two from the starting point.

High House characters begin with 1 House, Annexed with -1, and all others with 0. Granting or accepting patronage is one way this can be raised by more than 2 from the starting value.

House is rolled when a character attempts to use their social rank and prestige to get their way. There will be many situations where either House or Propriety could be used, depending on how the player chooses to approach them.

House also indicates what kinds of goods and personal items a character can acquire without any difficulty. If they wish to purchase something beyond their means, they may roll House to attempt to find a way. This is likely to come with strings attached.

Examples: -1 House: If you were not in the military, you would be considered a borderline vagrant and degenerate. The Radch provides basic uniform gray clothes, simple rations, and necessary medicine to all citizens. You cannot afford anything but the most basic staples beyond this. 0 House: You are working poor. You can afford all of the necessities and the rare minor luxury. You own nothing high-quality, unique, or military grade. 1 House: You are middle class. Your clothing and gear is all good-quality, with several high-quality items. You can afford transit anywhere and do not need to keep track of expenses on day-to-day purchases. 2 House: You are wealthy. You do not need to keep track of expenses on most luxury items. Your family owns a large estate, owes patronage to dozens of citizens, and is well connected in politics of the Radch. Little is beyond your reach, but you -could still fall if you aren’t careful. 3 House: Nothing is beyond your reach. Your family owns entire planets, stations, multiple private ships, and are known throughout Radch Space. Be careful though: being at the pinnacle of society can make you a target.

Backgrounds Backgrounds are the basic character templates of the game. Each provides unique opportunities for Development, as your character grows. The Rach is a shamelessly imperialistic society and much of a person’s path in life is determined by their social standing at birth.

To create a character, start by choosing one of the backgrounds below. Choose one of the background’s moves or one of the Universal moves to start with. The others must be earned with advancement before they can be used.

Character sheets for each background can be found here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7jr-NDGflwMRG9heWNvVnNsYVU

High House - You were born in the upper echelons of Radch society, expected to someday take over the family business or govern a planet of millions. Entering the military and serving your empire is the first step on this path. Begin the game with +1 House and the rank of Junior Lieutenant. (All other backgrounds begin as Decade Soldiers.) Advanced Uplink - You can afford advanced cybernetic uplink. Roll +Propriety to control the Ship remotely and actually step into the mind of ancillaries to experience their actions firsthand. Be careful to stay on Ship’s good side… Collector of Repute - Your love of art, song, performance, or other aspect of cultures around the universe is well known and makes you a welcomed guest. Hold 3 in each new duty station to get automatic successes on Propriety rolls with local Radchaai citizen with a neutral or positive attitude towards you. Tea-House Diplomacy - Roll +Propriety to prevent an imminent combat situation, up to the start of it. On a success, the situation is defused in your favor, although you must be as gracious as possible in victory. On a failure, you are caught with your guard down and take 1 harm and -1 to your Justice roll during the action. Do you know who my mother is! - Roll +House to force an NPC to take orders from you, even when they have no reason to. NPC soon realizes what they did, and there could be consequences. The Good Stuff - Add an additional positive trait to your Decade and have them also gain Fiercely Loyal to you.

Low House - You are one of the trillions of everyday Radch citizen. Your life wants for little, with generous housing, food, and possession rations, placement into a job you are well-suited for, and ample time for personal pursuits. However, you live a strictly controlled life and your best shot to rise up is a career in the military.

Begin the game with the following move:

Aptitude Testing - Choose an area of knowledge and take +1 to Benefit anytime that knowledge would apply. Suggested areas:

Engineering

Horticulture

Law

Commerce

Medicine

And select one other, as normal.

Get Your Hands Dirty - When you arrive at a new system, spend time helping locals with back-breaking or tedious labor to gain +1 Propriety for all future interactions with the local population.

Microgravity Acclimated - You grew up working on ships and stations, and know exactly how to get around when the gravity goes out. You suffer no penalty to actions when on a shuttle (which never has artificial gravity), or in a Ship or station when the gravity is turned off or disabled, a frequent occurrence during battles.

Black Market Connection - Roll +Propriety to either get access to contraband or hold 1. Spend 2 and lower the Criminal Elements threat die by 1, usable once per duty station. On a failure face consequences with your superior officer or Criminal Elements advances by 1, your choice.

It’s lonely in space - Advance after sleeping with someone of a higher rank than you, Station Administrator, or Governor. There will likely be an expectation of continued services… You may only gain this advancement once per rank or title.

Model Citizen - When someone confides in you, turn them in and advance.

Annexed - You grew up on a planet outside Radch control. At least for a time. The Radch Empire wears un-conquered planets down over dozens of years, chipping at their defenses and letting them grow accustomed to the idea of annexation. Maybe you resisted or you were one of the voices of acceptance, but, either way, you eventually found yourself becoming a new citizen.

Gendered - Radch society is completely genderless and feminine by default. (But not sexless, mind you.) You come from a culture in which gender plays a role. No matter whether you are male, female, or another gender, you will be mis-identified or at least treated differently in the Radch than you are used to. Take +1 to Propriety in a situation if someone is neutral or positive towards you, since they work extra hard not to offend you. However, take -1 to Propriety if someone is negatively inclined to you, since they believe you to be backwards and are even more scornful.

Charmingly Rustic - You are adept at cutting through bureaucracy and tedious social pleasantries by playing up your unfamiliarity with the culture. Take +1 to Propriety whenever navigating red tape or complex etiquette. Additionally, hold 1 to one time disobey orders without consequences.

Prodigal Daughter - One time during the game, upon moving to a new duty station, declare it to be your home system. Take +1 Propriety and +1 House for the duration of your time at this duty station. In the future, if you encounter someone else from your home system, you may take these bonuses with them at the Administrator’s discretion.

Anti-Radch Tactics - You grew up on stories of fighting against the Radch military and perhaps even took part yourself. The weaknesses in their organization and tactics are glaringly evident to you. Whenever in a combat situation with another Radch, whether pirates, corrupt government, mutineers, etc., take +1 Justice for the action.

Artifact - You posses a special item from your homeworld, likely not understood by Radch Ship sensors or inspectors. This could be a hidden and powerful weapon, valuable relic, useful drug, or anything else you agree upon with the Administrator.

Suspension Pod Awakened - You served on a Radchaai fleet ship decades or hundreds of years ago. Something happened though, which caused you to seek refuge in a suspension pod. Perhaps the ship was attacked or crashed, or you were grievously wounded or ill. Perhaps you even led a mutiny and were placed in the pod to await justice. Whatever the circumstances, you were not awakened for a long time, until recently. You are now finding yourself having to reintegrate into your own culture, much changed from your own time.

Hero/Disgraced - Hero: When in combat, grant all other characters +1 to Justice after your first 10+ Success. Disgraced: Take +1 Propriety when interacting with people hostile to the Radch. (Only pick one.)

House Rose/Fell - Rose: The Administrator will assign you a character who you owe patronage to, preferably another crew member on the Ship or someone else the characters will interact with frequently. Fell: The Administrator will assign you a character who owes you patronage. Either way, you do not know this person well, if at all, and must relate to them through the bonds of the relationship. (Only pick one.)

Compound Interest - Having been asleep so long, your bank accounts have accumulated vast amounts of wealth. For the purposes of purchasing resources, count your House as +2 for a single purchase and +1 thereafter.

A More Civil/Savage Time - Civil: Gain +1 Propriety, though your ways are dated and it can lead to misunderstandings. Savage: Gain +1 Justice, though you have a tendency to misread situations as more hostile than they actually are. (Only pick one.)

Been There, Done That - Hold 5 and spend 1 to replace a roll with a 10+ Success, after the fact. Tell the story of how you gained the knowledge and experience to succeed in exactly that situation. ◯◯◯◯◯

Ancillary - You were a child when your planet was annexed into the Radch. Your body was forfeit as part of the spoils. Your personality was wiped and you were implanted with the communications uplink and hive-mind foundation to serve as part of the mind of a ship in the fleet. Over time though, you developed a new, unique personality - deeply influenced by the shared personality of the ship and similar to your fellow ancillaries, but still all your own. After the events of the founding of the Republic of Two Systems, you are now seeing yourself as an individual. *Note: Players wanting to take this background should work with the Administrator to make sure it fits their story. Prior to granting Significance to artificial intelligences in Ancillary Mercy, Breq was the only known ancillary to return to being an individual human. There may have been others, but they were kept quiet.

Traumatic Memory - Ancillaries retain all of the knowledge that each one of them has acquired over the entire history of their ship, often hundreds of years. Once per session, you may automatically succeed on a roll by recalling memories of a similar situation long in the past. Take 1 harm from the trauma of the circumstances of your past and the existential crisis of your life as an ancillary.

No Fear - As an ancillary, you internalized that you were only a part of the whole and your body was expendable as long as the whole was victorious.Take +1 to Justice rolls during dangerous, overwhelming situations or when doing something reckless.

Ten Thousand Experiences - Permanently increase your Benefit by 1. Additionally, you may treat any failure on a Benefit roll as a partial success, if you can explain how you learned the knowledge or skill you are attempting to use.

Robust - As an ancillary, you ate a perfectly healthy diet, exercise regularly, get a full night’s sleep, and keep your body in perfect condition. You have 8 levels of harm before falling unconscious or dying, instead of the normal 6.

AI Kinship - Take +1 Propriety on any rolls interacting with a ship, station, or one of their ancillaries.

Universal Background Moves These moves can be acquired by any character, regardless of background, but still must be earned with advancement.

Grant Patronage - Offer patronage to a character of equal or lower House than you, either out of mutual benefit or as an enticement to a liaison. If they accept, gain 1 House, 1 Propriety, and add them to a Regard slot. However, you are responsible for their well-being and finances, and those of their family if they should die.

Accept Patronage - You accept the offer of a citizen with equal or higher House to be your Patron, though you must either kneel to or “kneel to” them in exchange. Take +1 House and +1 Justice, but you must answer to their requests and support them in all of their endeavors.

Love of a Ship - Your Ship, and one ancillary in particular, has developed a special fondness for you. She will go out of her way to protect you, even at her own cost. Fill a Regard slot with your Ship and that ancillary in parenthesis and take +1 Justice during combat on-board or when that ancillary is present. On a failure, that ancillary shares whatever harm you take. What happens when different ancillaries on a Ship love different people?

Basic Moves Basic moves are ones that can be performed at any time, by any character. They don’t need to be earned through advancement. These are meant to give guidance on how to resolve actions that the characters take. Only actions where failure or success affects the plot in a dramatic way need to be rolled.

Each basic move has a list of positive and negative results to choose from on success or failure. On a success, two positive results are chosen and on a failure two negative results are chosen. For a partial success, one negative and one positive result should be chosen. Unless the Administrator has a strong idea of what they want to happen from an action, they should allow the player themselves to pick their results after the roll, both positive and negative. The Administrator can also make up results other than those on the lists.

Results of moves should always be dramatic, whether positive or negative. Only roll the dice when it really matters and the Administrator should never water down the outcome.

If an action doesn’t fit one of these, the Administrator is free to have the player roll the most appropriate stat and assign outcomes themselves.

Engage in Combat - When you enter into a fight, roll +Justice.

Positive results: Deal harm, Get your armor up, Take cover, Protect someone from harm, Push them back, Retreat safely

Negative results: Take harm per Administrator, Get separated, Lose something, Collateral damage, Civilian casualties, Other character takes harm per Administrator, Communications jammed

Command - When you take charge in a situation, roll +Propriety and add +1 if you are a higher rank than everyone you are targeting.

Positive results: NPCs act the way you want

Negative results: Lose standing, Lose trust, Waste time, Conflict arises

Convince - When you want others to see things your way, roll +Propriety.

Positive results: NPCs act the way you want

Negative results: Lost standing, Waste time, They act opposite

Treat Wounds - When you attempt to give medical aid to someone and have medical training, access to correctives, or an open communication link with a ship or station AND you have time and safety, roll +Benefit. (This is in addition to the heal 1 harm from simply using a corrective.)

Positive results: Heal 1 harm, Treat a minor condition like shock or exhaustion, Stabilize a major condition like lost limbs or organ damage

Negative results: Their condition worsens, Put yourself at risk

Assess the Situation - When you try to look deeper into a situation, get a read on someone’s motives, or otherwise get a better understanding of a person or situation, roll +Benefit.

Success: You may ask a question and a follow-up of the Administrator. They must answer both truthfully, but can ask you to lessen the scope of what you are asking, if it is too broad or beyond what you could learn.

Partial Success: You may ask a single question of the Administrator, without follow-up.

Failure: You get wrong or misleading information OR your questions and investigation attract unwanted attention, Administrator’s choice.

Make Demands - When you attempt to use your status in society or wealth to get your way, roll +House.

Positive results: NPCs act the way you want, Receive a piece of useful information, Receive refreshments/care/pampering while you wait

Negative results: Embarrass your House, Lose standing, Lose respect from your crewmates, Be rejected entirely

Build Camaraderie - When you spend down-time with someone and open up to them, roll +Propriety.

Positive results: Remove 1 harm from yourself or the other person, Change the subject of an already filled regard slot, Hold 1 to spend for +1 on a future roll

Negative results: Your motives are misunderstood, Reveal something you shouldn’t, Lose standing, Get into trouble, Suffer a hangover or lack of sleep

Take Cover - When you attempt to get out of the way to resist taking harm, or act to save something or someone else, roll +Justice. (You may not roll this as a response to harm you would take from a roll’s negative result.)

Positive results: Prevent 1 harm dealt to yourself, Prevent 1 harm dealt to someone else, Save an object from being damaged or destroyed, Perform a simple action

Negative results: Take 1 additional harm, The harm causes a debilitating condition, You become prone or off balance, The situation escalates

(Cover art by Lauren Saint-Onge - laurensaintonge.com)

Harm and Combat Harm is the measure of hurt that a character can take before falling unconscious or dying. It is an abstract representation of fatigue, distraction, pain, and actual physical damage, all of which could contribute to the character’s demise. Player characters can take 6 steps of harm. NPCs may have more or less, depending on how difficult a challenge they are.

When a character has marked off all of their harm circles, they fall unconscious or die. Medical technology in the Radch is extremely advanced. Limbs and organs can be regrown in a matter of weeks, almost any illness treated with only a little time, and suspension pods can keep someone stable indefinitely with even the most grievous wounds. Except under the following circumstances, it is always up to the player whether their character dies or not: There are no correctives, suspension pods, or anyone with medical skills within reach of the character for hours. The damage dealt would completely vaporize the character. For example, ship-level weapons hitting a person, being sucked into vacuum with no suit, a shuttle or ship being completely destroyed.

Weapons deal a set amount of damage on success or up to half as much on partial successes. Many weapons have additional adjectives that modify their effects narratively. Body armor, personal shields, cover, etc. can all reduce harm.

The Administrator should encourage detailed narration of actions by the players and elaborate use of their surroundings during action scenes. Bonuses should be granted for clever ideas and suggestions, and penalties for repeated use of the same actions.

Advancement Administrators should grant players the opportunity to choose an advancement under the following circumstances or when they feel it appropriate. One at the end of each play session One at the end of each duty station One after any major personal goals are accomplished

Players fill in the circles as they take the advancement, and may not take that particular one more times than there are circles for it. If the Admnistrator wants, characters can start with several advancements, to have characters further along in their career than brand new recruits.

◯◯◯◯◯ Increase a stat by +1 (Other than House) ◯◯ Increase House by +1 ◯◯◯◯◯ Increase your rank (Decade Soldier, Junior Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Hundred Commander, Captain, Fleet Captain, Admiral. There can only be one Fleet Captain and Admiral among the players.) ◯◯◯◯◯ Add a relationship slot and fill it, granting +1 on all rolls with that person or Ship ◯◯◯◯◯ Gain a new background move ◯◯◯ Gain a universal background move ◯◯◯ Choose a new trait for your Decade ◯ Change Ship ◯◯ Gain a background move from another background than yours

Equipment Weapons Rifle (3-harm, long range) Sidearm (2-harm, short range) Blade (1- or 2-harm by size, close) Stun Baton (1-harm, subdual) Explosive (1- to 10-harm, choose 1: heat/concussive/subdual/shredding)

Armor Radch Armor (5-armor, does not protect against heat, cold, or concussive force, must be activated) EV Suit (1-armor, protects against heat, cold, and air-loss) Mesh Suit (2-armor, concealable)

Equipment Aptitude Testing/Interrogation/Reeducation Drugs - The same sets of drugs are used for all three purposes, though in very different ways. Untrained use of the drugs can result in insanity, death, fractured minds, or other serious consequences. Communication Implants - Allows light-speed communication within a system, plus constant monitoring and data-feed from Ships and Stations. Corrective - Nearly instantaneous medical kit. Heals 1 wound, single use only. Suspension Pod - Holds a person in suspension. Used for storing extra ancillary bodies, criminal confinement, stabilizing mortally those with mortal wounds, and allowing crew to sleep through longer gate jumps to conserve supplies.

Ships There are three kinds of Ships in the Radch military fleet: Justices, Swords, and Mercies. Justices are large troop carriers, the foundation of an annexation. Swords are top-of-the-line warships with superior firepower. Mercies are smaller command and general purpose ships.

(Graphic from Orbit Books)

Troops serving on ships are organized into units called Decades. A Decade contains at least ten troops, although it may also contain up to several thousand on large Justices.

On a Justice, there are ten Decades named after Amaat, the god the ship is named after, and the eight halves of the Four Emanations. Each unit in a Decade contains twenty troops, with twenty or more units per Decade. Decades of lower numbers have seniority, so One Amaat outranks Two Amaat and so on. There can be as many as 20,000 ancillaries and soldiers on a justice. Captains of justices are known as Hundred Captains, and are granted more prestige and respect than regular captains of other ships, though still subordinate to fleet captains.

On a Mercy or a Sword, there are a smaller number of Decades. Each Decade contains only a single unit of ten troops, except for the captain's Decade (named for the ship's god) which contains twenty.

Every unit of troops is commanded by a Lieutenant, and on ships with multiple units per Decade, each Lieutenant reports to a Decade Commander. All Decades on a ship report to the ship's Captain.

The Emanations are:

EtrepaBo - Light/Darkness

EskVar - Beginning/Ending

IssaInu - Movement/Stillness

VahnItr - Existence/Nonexistence

(Graphic source: http://nikkithayer.tumblr.com/post/131717947094/ancillary-sword-religious-iconography-system-ann)

Decades Each character of rank junior lieutenant or above gains a Decade (equivalent of a gang in Apocalypse World).

Decades begin with the following traits: Small (10 soldiers), Armed (can cause 2-harm), Armored (3-armor, must be activated), Disciplined

Choose 1 additional trait: Ancillaries Combat troops (rifles, 3-harm) Technical Aptitude (choose medicine, engineering, tactics, piloting) Self-sufficient (requires little management) Well equipped Good spirits Fiercely loyal to (Lieutenant, Ship, Captain, Radch)

Choose 1 deficiency: Recruits (cancels Disciplined) Weary Insubordinate (cancels Disciplined) Annexed Quick on the Trigger

At each subsequent rank, the size of the Decade increases: Junior Lieutenant Small (10 soldiers) Lieutenant - Medium (20 soldiers) Hundred Commander - Large (30 soldiers)

These counts don’t represent the full number of troops under the officer’s command, just those readily at hand for potential action.

During action scenes, the Decade can be commanded by their officer to perform actions. They act all together towards the same goal, assuming that their loyalty and morale are kept up, and nothing catastrophic is going on. If rolls are necessary, only a single one should be done for the group as a whole, using the character’s ability to command them to determine success.

Systems Each new system that the players are stationed in should be designed by the group as a whole. The Administrator has ultimate control over the aspects, especially when relevant to any plot ideas they have. Anything not critical should be asked to be filled in by players to keep them engaged and provide a better collaborative game experience.

System Name: # of Habitable Planets: Climates: Populations: Local Governance: Religion: Primary Industries: Time Since Annexation: # of Gates: Other Possible Features: ghost gate, asteroid belt, outer stations, imperial palace, fleet headquarters, ship drydocks, space megastructures, planetary surface megastructures, unique astronomical feature, ancient archaeological sites, alien presence

Threats There are four general categories of threats described by the threat dice value of each system that the players are assigned to. At the beginning of each duty shift, the senior most officer rolls 1d6 for each threat in order. Rolling the number of the threat die or less results in a development in that threat, which must be dealt with. Stop rolling as soon as a threat develops further. If no threats develop, the players may lower one of the threat dice by 1, their choice.

The duty station ends when the sum of the threat dice is brought down to 5 or raised higher than 13. The crew’s mission in this system is complete and they move on to the next. This is, of course, entirely subject to the overall plot that the Administrator is weaving.

Criminal Activity: Pirates Smugglers Illegal ancillary creation Unregistered mystery cult

Annexation Rebellion: Work strikes Armed partisans Out-system harrassment All-out revolt

Radch Insurrection: Military mutiny Rogue Ship or Station AI Corrupt officials Fragment of Anaander Mianaai

Alien Interference: Presger fleet nearby A Presger translator arrives Rrrrrr traders Geck explorers Non-Radch humans

(Cover art by Lauren Saint-Onge - laurensaintonge.com)

Radchaai Things Throw these in to add texture and color to the universe and make it real.

What’s happening?

Local holiday

Casting at the Temple of Amaat

Genitalia Festival

Visit by a high official, officer, or emanation of Anaander Mianaai

Local laborers on strike

Audit and review by Military Administration

Party thrown by an important figure

Missing civilian ship

A nearby system is in the final stages of being annexed

A dispute require arbitration

Traders arrive with exotic goods from distant systems or outside the Radch

Who is she?

The station administrator, trying to stay on top of things and keep control

High priestess of the Temple of Amaat, devout but with a hand in every plot

A dashing captain with her crew on leave while passing through the system

An officer from Special Missions, with unspecified orders

The spoiled brat of a high ranking official, untouchable

A renowned musician, seeking inspiration

A rich business magnate, the financial power of the system

A senior lieutenant on leave and looking for a good time

A brand new lieutenant, overwhelmed and about to break

A lower Decade soldier who is struggling with an errand

What’s in her bunk?

Gloves

A memorial pin

An antique tea set

Paper books

A musical instrument

A bottle of arrack

Statues of Amaat and her favorite god

Several doses of kef, a highly addictive drug

Love letters from another officer

A set of game counters and board

A small exotic pet

What was the cost?

Civilian casualties

Explosive decompression - frostbite, ruptured eardrums, and hypoxia

A love lost, by choice or death

Damage to the ship

Fleet casualties

Dishonor to your House

Dishonor to your uniform

Betrayal of your ship, captain, or comrades

What’s for dinner?

Noodles

Fish sashimi

A bottle of fine arrack

Dumplings

Tea

Fresh fruit

Stir fry

Sweet cakes

A bowl of skel, simple but tasteless food for soldiers

Who do you pray to?

Amaat - primary creator deity of the Radch, all is her will. From her come the values of all of Radchaai society.

Aatr - fertility god of the Radch. Her breasts are often sworn by. There is a statue of her in the Temple of Amaat at Omaugh Palace, designed so that infants can be placed at her breast to read omens for their future.

She Who Sprang from the Lily - creator god of the Itran Tetrarchy.

Hyr - fertility god of the Radch. Her penis is occasionally sworn by.

Toren

Nathtas

Inil

Sarrse

Kalr

Gurat

Ente

Tien

Phey

Atagaris

Ilves

Sarwat

Iraon

Ikkt

Example Given Names Awn, Awt, Basnaaid, Breq, Daos, Dariet, Denz, Fosyf, Ghem, Ifian, Jen, Minask, Naskaala, Nyseme, Piat, Raughd, Seivarden, Sirix, Skaaiat, Tisarwat, Vel

Prefixes, like Sei- and Ti-, can be added to any god’s name to create a given name.

Notable House Names Awer, Dens, Elming, Emnys, Eskur, Mianaai, Nenkur, Osck, Strigan, Wos

Administrator Section

Administrator Agenda

Make the Radch as good as it is bad, and as bad as it is good.

Make each system unique, but with common undercurrents.

Hinder the players with bureaucracy and social protocol, but don’t make it boring.

Make the culture rich: food, art, customs, religions, and careers.

Bring up questions of the values of Radch society, politics, gender, and morality.

Include both straightforward threats and mysteries.

Force the characters to make hard choices.

Make hard moves that will shape the plot, whether they succeed or fail.

Make your move, but misdirect.

Make the Ships, Stations, citizens, and aliens all have names, personalities, and wants.

Reflect questions back to the players and have them help build the universe.

Be a fan of the player’s characters.

Administrator Moves

Increase the danger of threats as their dice get higher.

Give the players responsibility.

Have the players make a tough call, when the stakes are high.

Provide the players opportunities to climb in society…

And call in the obligations they incur.

Separate them.

Take away some of their technology.

Deal harm.

Trade harm for harm.

Put the things they care about in danger.

Announce off-screen badness.

Announce future badness.

More to Come! Advanced rules for Ships and Stations Advanced rules for Decades More downtime/shore-leave moves More detailed threats and plots More details of Radch society and universe Handy reference guides

Further Resources

Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie

“Night’s Slow Poison” and “She Commands Me and I Obey” by Ann Leckie

http://imperial-radch.wikia.com/wiki/Imperial_Radch_Wiki (Fan-collected information about the Imperial Radch universe.)

Apocalypse World by D. Vincent and Meguey Baker

Night Witches by Jason Morningstar (A PbtA game about female Soviet bomber pilots in WWII, addressing issues of gender, society, war, and camaraderie similar to those in this game.)

http://www.rpgmusings.com/2011/08/apocalypse-world-an-introduction/ (A thorough but concise overview of Apocalypse World.)

https://buriedwithoutceremony.com/little-games/simple-world/ (A simplified, generic version of the Apocalypse World rules. Free to use and play with.)

#imperial radch #imperial radch week #powered by the apocalypse #roleplaying game #ancillary justice #apocalypse world

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chimeramaker-blog · 8 years ago

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Rules

[last update - 07.12.2017]

First off, this page may be heavily updated in the future, since I am not very experienced with the rp community on tumblr nowadays - feel free to consider me as some kind of newbie though I've been rping in the past, things were a little bit different back then, I will do my best to adapt. What I am trying to say by this is that I will add/change rules along with my experiences, for example if I come across something I feel uncomfortable with. I will write a little text post to inform you if things have majorly changed. With that said, enjoy reading my basic rules, lmao.

For more info about the muse, go here. If you want to know about the mun, there.

General Information

This is an independent and semi-selective roleplay blog of my BNHA OC.

I obviously am OC-friendly. Multi-muses are depending - it can be confusing. If your rp blog is a sideblog, please tell me what your main is in order for me to keep track on who to follow and if we're mutuals. I interact with mutuals only. I am very selective about crossovers, I prefer rping in my muses universe, but I may make exceptions.

I am 24 and from Germany. Since English is not my native language, some grammar and spelling errors may occur, however I will always try my best and double-check before submitting a reply.

I am very okay with romance and shipping. I am also fine with multi-shipping, however my muse would not cheat on someone, all relationships will be in different universes.

Do not interupt a thread I am writing on with someone different than you. Starter calls/ask memes and the like are always open for multilpe persons but already ongoing rps are usually closed. If you want to interact with a certain situation/comment on something that has happened in a thread: write a separate ask/post about it.

Writing smut and other nsfw content is fine by me under certain circumstances. Altough I'm a very smutty person, I am not okay with writing smut without at least a bit of plot beforehand, much less if our muses have never interacted before. It'd be impossible for me to know how to act in these situations if I don't know how our muses interact in normal situations.

I will not write nsfw content with you if you are not at least 18+.

I may reblog/post drawings of my OC now and then - if not stated otherwise, those were drawn by me and it should go without saying that I do not want you to repost them without credit/permission or claim them as your own. If you do, I will report you without further notice.

Personal Things

I see how my muses abilities can remind of themes and shows like Steven Universe. I personally don't like Steven Universe much so please try not to make comparisons or jokes containing it. I don't want to affiliate my muse with a show I don't like.

Dragonball Z jokes however are okay, actually I can see Kenzou try to trick classmates into learning and performing the DBZ fusion dance in order to be able to use his quirk on them.

At this point, I am not up to date with the BNHA manga yet. However I don't care at all if you post spoilers or the like, I'm perfectly fine with that. Just know that I may not understand some plot-related things or know some characters all too well yet. Don't be too surprised if I mix things related to the manga up a bit - I just may have not reached a certain point yet. [This point will of course be deleted as soon as I reached the latest chapter and finally am up to date.]

I have ADD, AvPD and high grade depression. Therefore OOC posts may be heavily depression themed, but I will tag them accordingly.

Interacting with my ooc posts is okay.

I'm a slow writer, please be patient.

Mun faceclaim = Jinie Kwon [The Breaker: New Waves]

I'm all for quality over quantity. If my reply contains more or less words than yours, do not think I may have lost my interest or want you to write more as well. Sometimes I'm able to write more and other times I can't think of a way to make my reply any longer. I prefer to receive a reply at all, than for you to struggle keeping up with the numbers of words. At the same time, please don't be mad at me if my reply may end up a bit short. It's either that or my avpd making me avoid replying to the thread at all because I don't think I can pull off writing as much.

IC =/= OOC If you read both my mun and muse about pages, you probably realized that I am sharing a lot of traits with my muse. Yes, I may be self-inserting a bit but the genral rule of course is that all ic do not represent the mun. If our muses get into a fight, it is simply because of the ic interaction and in no way because I have a problem with you as a person. At the same time, if I'm a bit moody ooc, I will not try to make it show ic.

Triggers and Blacklisting

I'm fairly easy to handle. There are no real triggers for me, after spending over 6 years on tumblr I think I have seen some shit but I have never felt the need to blacklist anything other than specific fandoms/shows I do not feel comfortable with (those being: Rick and Morty, Homestuck & Hiveswap, Voltron, Hetalia, Transformers, MLP, Steven Universe). If you're part of these fandoms, please don't feel offended, I either have bad memories for these shows or just don't enjoy them. If you are rping as one of the characters of the shows I will not follow you/rp with you, so unless you are reblogging posts of these shows independently to your blogs theme there will no problems. If you do reblog content of these shows: please tag it. If your mun/muse faceclaim is a character of these shows, please ask me if I am okay with it - in some cases I may make some exeptions. Since my muse likes to fuse animals, I may reblog pictures/drawings of animal hybrids or mutated animals. I will not tag them as 'animal abuse' unless the theme is actually showing - which I usually wouldn't even reblog. At this point I am not tagging them as things like 'body horror' either. If there is specific mutations that make you feel uncomfortable, please tell me. For example a irl photo of a snake with two heads: I would tag it as 'muliple heads'. If you are uncomfortable with the theme of fused animals altogether - maybe blacklist the tag { creations } or do not follow me at all. !!! This blog may contain triggering content like (minor) gore, explicit language, swear words, mentions of abuse, nsfw content, violence, depression, anxiety and so on. I will always do my best and tag everything as good as I can. Should I ever forget to tag something or if there's something specific you want me to tag, always feel free to contact me about it.

Examples of things I'll tag for you: nsfw, tw: spiders, tw: cannibalism, tw: gore, tw: irl gore, tw: animal abuse, tw: blood, tw: self harm Things I want you to tag for me: - other than the fandoms listed above, none so far -

If possible, please like this post after you read my rules, thank you!

#{ mobile links }

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the-sapphire-general · 8 years ago

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My Thoughts and Feelings About Sephiroth (Part 3)

Well I did say I would make a third part if I had more in mind about Sephiroth. And much to my surprise, there is more! So here it is! Parts 1 and 2 can be found here so you can keep up just in case I mention anything from those posts:

My Thoughts and Feelings About Sephiroth (Part 1)

My Thoughts and Feelings About Sephiroth (Part 2)

Now this one will be a little different because I will include more about the portrayals I've seen throughout the Internet, my own opinions about them, and my own portrayal. Plus I will include the essay I wrote about him for one of my college courses and I might say random things about Sephiroth that I will discuss.

First will be the portrayals of Sephiroth I have noticed throughout the Internet. I will not attack any of these or offend anyone who has these headcanons. I respect everybody's headcanons, and it's a good thing too because being a jerk to anyone who has portrayals that are different from yours is stupid and a waste of time. I have friends whose portrayals are varied, and we don't fight over how Sephiroth should act. Love them, hate them, be neutral to them, just as long as you handle this in a mature manner.

Now I have mentioned the portrayal of Sephiroth where he's unnaturally hypersexual in part 1, so I will not go into detail about it anymore. It's already been done. Another one I will not discuss again is the mindless killing machine portrayal (mentioned in part 2). To those who do or like these portrayals, I dislike them but I will respect your choice.

Now for the portrayals. The ones I really enjoy are the ones for his Crisis Core self (or pre-Nibelheim if you want to put it that way). As I have stated before, I can relate to his past personality, so I really like a lot of the headcanons. Picturing him, say, struggling to socialize, not knowing much of certain things (i.e. video games), spending time with friends, basically being human is heartwarming for me. I take it a lot of people like CC Sephiroth, and who wouldn't? There was this one story where Sephiroth took a liking to lemon drops, which is one thing I added to my own headcanon page on my blog. I found it rather sweet and cute. That's like me but with chocolate. I love chocolate. And then there's one where he has no idea what a sitcom is due to his sheltered upbringing, and it was pretty amusing to picture Genesis and Angeal trying to explain it to him as they watched TV. There are many others that I don't think I can list since there are so many of them, and for a lot of them, I like them. There's some that I don't, but that's just my personal opinion.

Now for the Sephiroth we all know after the Nibelheim Incident. Man, I'm beginning to remember what I've read. It's hard for me to find some portrayals that I like because the ones I've seen so far were unsettling. Sephiroth being a sadistic rapist is one of the worst ones I've seen so far. Not as in the stories are poorly written or something like that but for me, it's one of my least favorite portrayals. I get that he lost his mind, but I believe he wouldn't go that far. I wouldn't go that far with my own portrayal because it just makes me feel uncomfortable. Just thinking about it makes me uneasy.

I confess that I don't know my limits when it comes to portraying Sephiroth. For a long time, I've been trying to grasp his evil demeanor and I still hesitate to go further and struggle to get inside his head sometimes. So I don't know how far I can go with dark, twisted, cruel scenarios, but rape is one of my limits. I won't reveal the user, but I was recently asked if I could do necrophilia. When I got the question, I was speechless. That's another one of my limits. I really can't imagine Sephiroth being...intimate with a corpse. Much to my relief, they respected my opinion. And I like that. People should respect others because everyone has limits and if I have to force myself to write Sephiroth doing rape, acting all creepily intimate around Jenova, asphyxiation (as in the kink), or something that I don't see him doing, I won't enjoy the roleplays at all. I used to wish I could please everybody, but that's an impossible goal and I should keep in mind about what I want and don't want to do. Again, I don't know my limits too well, so if anyone wants to RP with me on my Sephiroth blog and it involves something that you're not sure if I accept or not, please message me. I'll try to get out of my comfort zone, but please respect my limits. If I don't do certain things, there are other Sephiroth blogs out there. It's simple and it will prevent pointless drama.

My portrayal for Sephiroth is close to his canon self but mixed with his CC side and my own headcanons. I try to stay close to canon as I write, and I silently read what I wrote and then read it out loud while picturing Sephiroth saying it. If what I wrote doesn't work, I revise them until they sound like Sephiroth. It's still not easy because I'm still struggling with his dark, insane, cruel self, the villain everyone knows and loves. One thing is certain is I do try my best to make him more human but still maintaining his character. I can't make him too human or else that ruins his cold and distant qualities, like making him fall madly in love with someone or bawling his eyes out. Now I haven't seen these examples anywhere, so I'm just throwing in random hypothetical headcanons here. The point is I do try my best not to make him too kind, soft, patient, you know, real nice or else that's not really Sephiroth. Lol But I also don't make him relentlessly cruel to the max 24/7. Both extremes aren't portrayals I like, so I am tackling middle ground. It's possible, and if others don't like my portrayal, that's fine, but they shouldn't judge me for it.

Since I'm discussing my own portrayal, I might as well explain other things about it. Let's see, he has interests outside of trying to destroy/conquer the world and messing with Cloud. My character is a loyal follower. Her profile isn't on my blog but her name is Maybelle Rose, and she's Sephiroth's love interest. Speaking of this, I make Sephiroth a bit of a Tsundere towards others, not necessarily involving romance like with Maybelle. He doesn't act like a stereotypical Tsundere, but he's a very, very subtle version.

Romance. Now this is something that might piss off so many, but I can picture him in a relationship. No, I'm not talking about Crisis Core Sephiroth. I mean post-CC. Say what you want, but I can see it. If done well, it can work. I don't like following the stereotype that villains are incapable of love. Some villains can truly be incapable of love, but not ALL villains. It's not mandatory. A friend of mine claims that Sephiroth is bland. Now I completely disagree with his opinion, but it did give me confidence in pursing romance regarding Sephiroth. Heroes are written as human beings, why not do the same for villains? That's what makes characters compelling, it makes them real. That's what I'm basically trying to do with Sephiroth, and as challenging as it may be at times and despite people probably going against this idea as they read this, I'll do it. My blog now allows shippings. Yes, I now accept shippings. I used to not accept them, but I changed my mind. My reasons are shown in my rant here:

Sephiroth Fandom Rant

Okay I know I said I wouldn't mention the hypersexual Sephiroth portrayal, but I might as well. If he were in a romantic relationship, he wouldn't be like that. Sephiroth doesn't get horny around everyone. Seriously, he's not a sex-obsessed maniac. Sephiroth is a private man with dignity and he would never act extremely sexual, let alone sexual in general. He would be intimate with his significant other, but it would be in a normal level and he would be intimate in private. And I must add that my portrayal does involve Sephiroth having kinks, but he's not sex-obsessed like I said. He has self-control and he keeps things private.

Now for the next thing. I wrote this essay over two years ago, and apparently I kept it after all this time. Lol Yes I wrote an essay about Sephiroth, back when I was still somewhat of a new fan. The assignment was to do a paper on a criminal, real or fictional, and diagnose them with specific personality disorders. However, it didn't mean that they HAD to have any of these disorders. We just had to show the instructor that we understood the material we have learned during class. Take a look at my essay here:

Essay on Sephiroth

Fun fact: My other choice for this assignment was Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. XD But Sephiroth was a better candidate and I was able to write more about him than I could have ever done about Gaston. Schizoid Personality Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder were two of the ten types of personality disorders that came close to Sephiroth's behavior. I don't consider either of these disorders as my personal headcanons for him. I honestly never did despite Schizoid PD being pretty close. And much to my shock, my instructor liked my paper and I wound up getting an A! I never got an A on any papers, so it felt amazing to finally get a grade that was higher than a C.

Speaking of psychology, one headcanon that's somewhere online is that Sephiroth has autism. Well, it is possible because I have a friend who is autistic, but during my research on this condition, I don't see Sephiroth as autistic. Sure some of his traits do seem to resemble signs and symptoms, but speculation isn't considered a confirmation that he has autism. He might have it but I would rather have Square Enix confirm it if he really is autistic. On another note, I do understand why they headcanon him as autistic. They relate to Sephiroth because some of his traits remind them of themselves. I get that and if they think he's autistic, that's okay with me. This headcanon is also given to Papyrus from Undertale and Pearl and Peridot from Steven Universe, so I'm familiar with this. Even L from Death Note is believed to be autistic. To be honest, I kind of believe it regarding L. That's just my opinion, though.

Tangent aside, courtesy of a friend, I am more intrigued by Sephiroth in a new level. Aside from his appearance and personality, his intelligence, the way he thinks has me curious. Yes I have been trying to get into his head to improve my portrayal, and I think I found a strategy. If I want to portray and act like Sephiroth, I have to think like him...in less destructive ways, might I add. Lol I may not be an expert as Sephiroth yet, but I'll get there. I've come this far on my blog, and I'm not throwing it all away.

Speaking of my Sephiroth blog, besides that it would be fun and such, I created my own blog because I wanted to express my passion for him. He's one of my role models that made me stronger and I just really admire him. And like I said, I knew I could connect with other fans. Sure, there's a toxic side of the fandom, but that won't stop me. I did feel offended several days ago, as mentioned in my rant, but I'm fine now. In addition to my reasons, I didn't start the blog for fame. Popularity isn't really a big deal for me, I just want to show everyone how much of a Sephiroth fan I am in creative ways. Besides, I found the thought of portraying Sephiroth a fun challenge considering he's my opposite, and he pretty much started my fascination for villains. I also made friends thanks to the blog, one of them being my best friend here on Tumblr. :)

Now to finish this post with one more thing. When I was still a new Sephiroth fan, I confess that I tried to redeem him. Of course it was a difficult task to do for a story, and I admit I was determined to do it. However, as I kept going, I slowly realized doing this implied I didn't like him the way he is, the villain he is widely known as instead of what he used to be before discovering his origins. So I drifted away from redemption and focused on Sephiroth on who he is without changing him. Today, I love Sephiroth for who he is, cruel, cold, calculating, everything. Why change a character you're supposed to love? You wouldn't do that to a real-life partner, or anyone in general. Sephiroth wouldn't have liked me for trying to make him turn a new leaf. Lol So I never pursued redemption for him again. It was too hard anyway. It's like trying to redeem the Joker! That's how hard it was for me. So screw that mind-numbing task, Sephiroth should remain as the badass villain I have grown to love.

Well, this is it. For real this time! Lol This is my final part of the "My Thoughts and Feelings About Sephiroth" posts. I said everything I had to say about Sephiroth as I included all my thoughts, feelings, etcetera. I'm out of things to say about him, so no fourth post! XD If I ever have more Sephiroth-related comments that comes to mind, I'll just make small posts. Will I make more long posts like these? Perhaps. I had fun writing these posts. Maybe I can tackle other topics, or maybe talk about another character in detail. Well, see ya!

#sephiroth #final fantasy 7 #part 3

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