#it isn't star trek without time travel

[nuppa-nuppa-blog]

DS9: Season 3 episode 12 and god damn Avery Brooks is making me forget what show i'm watching. Phenomenal.

Spoler:

It is interesting how at the same time this depiction of 2024 is inaccurate and accurate at the same time, and that is also depressing as f-. However it does give me some hope that in the future we may end something like the future earth star trek shows.

[doctahchang]

would like to know the lore of my own oc that i have had for like ten years

edit: found an old sketch of her... i basically drew her for the first time eons ago and haven't changed her design ever since (sad that i won't be able to find those drawing again)

[thomas-jefferson-miku-binder]

Dying to know your thoughts on arcane season 2 act 2 (and how you think they handled orianna specifically) ^-^ take your time though and I hope you feel better soon

I talked a little bit about it on Twitter because I use that place as a sketchbook for most meta posts I write.

I... actually did not vibe with the Orianna moment. In a show where so much happens in so little time (and especially in Act 2), the whole thing just felt like taking up minutes that could’ve been used to shed a little more light into whatever the fuck is going on with the Hexcore, which is a point I'll be circling back to later.

I don't think Singed’s character asks for that deep explanation of why he does things the way he does, even if I appreciate his writing and lines. That whole moment felt like This Is League of Legends and Arcane-canon bullshit and “we need to tie everything into lol lore”. And it kills me because I'm sure this wouldn't be a problem if they didn't make Arcane the main canon universe.

Going back to the Hexcore, a thing that really bothered me was Act 2’s lack of storytelling clarity regarding Viktor. We leave Act 1 with the understanding that there’s something going on with Hextech and that whatever is influencing Viktor has a deeper, more sinister intent. This shows in how he handles his and Jayce's relationship, the effects over his voice lines during their conversation ("It was affection that held us together"), the way the anomaly behaves during EP3's showdown, and Sky's role in all of it. To me, in Act 1, it's implied that the Sky Viktor sees throughout his journey in the underground and how it behaves wasn't in fact Sky, but something using her skin to guide Viktor using a familiar form (a form which coincidently provokes in him a lot of guilt) for its own purposes. I thought showing Sky without her glasses was a really clever way to also convey that, stripping her of what made her human, showing there's something off.

And we get to Act 2, especially EP 6, and I'm beyond confused. The space sequences show Viktor talking and acting like he did before the events of Season 2. He looks like he previously did. He sounds like he previously did. And then they show Sky! Just behaving like a person! No more sinister undertone, no more just despersonified screams of agony from her dying moments to guide Viktor. And I'm so confused about what they're trying to tell me! And it's not the good confusing feeling you sometimes get from art, it's the "I think you fucked up whatever message you were trying to convey".

I know that the Arcane is written to be fucked up. Evil horrors beyond our comprehension is the point, I know that. Most people know that. But the space scenes did not seem to know that at all! All the wariness and tension and lack of agency were just… gone. Idk

And I can't even bring myself to be mad at the "Jayce ruined everything" people because for once I do think it was a failure in the writing depart. It facilitates this type of interpretation 👎👎👎 (this tweet has 20k+ likes)

Not exactly knowing what drove Jayce to act like that is killing me inside, also. They're obviously planning on doing some alternate dimension, multiverse, time-travel-ish thing ("I won't fail"), which scares me on its own merit, but merely knowing something happened isn't as sufficient as I myself thought it would be. I feel like it’s one of the few moments where Arcane’s wait-a-week Act structure backfired because not knowing his process takes A Lot from it.

I tend to really enjoy Arcane’s type of storytelling where not everything is acted out, leaving space for you 🫵 the viewer to fill in those gaps (for example, the enforcer Vi scenes). It's why I like League of Legends in general and Star Trek TOS. Enough is shown for it to feel satisfying but it still invites you as a spectator to participate in this story. I do think, however, that Jayce's major decision change should have been explained a bit further.

And yeah I complained a lot, but I loved a lot about it as well. All the Jinx scenes, the Warwick plot, Vi, Isha, Sevika, Mel, Leblanc... that was all insane in the best ways possible. I have some thoughts on Act 2 Cait but that will gain its own separate post

[doctorbluesmanreturns]

Plagiarism, influences, and homages are all different concepts that seem to get conflated a lot so:

Plagiarism is stealing an idea and presenting it as original work. I cannot write works about a time traveling alien called The Doctor and act like it's my own original concept.

Influences are seeing aspects of a different project that you like and making those part of your own writing. I can write works about time travel because I grew up loving Doctor Who, as long as I am not blatantly stealing ideas and presenting them as my own. Also, using genre tropes is influence, not plagiarism. Back to the Future and Doctor Who both feature characters being in the same place as their past selves when their timelines overlap, as do many other time travel plots. Similarly, I can create a militaristic race of aliens bent on conquering the universe as long as they aren't giant salt shakers with a catchphrase.

Homage blurs the lines and is kind of a grey area but, for example, if I were writing a time travel story and featured a side character who is an eccentric alien who saves the day and disappears afterwards, that's different from plagiarism because the audience is in on the joke. Terry Pratchett did that kind of thing a lot where he played with stories and genre expectations (Maskerade is a whole retelling of Phantom of the Opera from the POV of another member of the cast). Similarly, the show Duck Dodgers is Star Trek starring Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. It was clearly written by people who love Star Trek and also love to make fun of Star Trek. This also can blur into the category of spoof. Mel Brooks loved the Universal Horror movies so much that he took great care to make Young Frankenstein as stylistically similar to them as possible including using the original lab equipment from Frankenstein. Again, the important thing with these is that the audience knows going in what you are doing. No one watching Young Frankenstein thought they were seeing Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder's completely original never before seen concept of a mad scientist named Frankenstein bringing a monster to life via lightning storm.

Another important term here is derivative. This is where something isn't actually plagiarism but it would not exist without other properties. There are lots of movies that were only made because of the popularity of Star Wars, or Indiana Jones, or Jaws, or Alien, or any other hugely popular genre defining movie. This doesn't make them necessarily bad but it is an important term to be aware of.

It's important not to conflate all of these concepts to be able to best understand what a book or show or movie is doing and react accordingly and appropriately. The people who actually steal as blatantly as someone like James Somerton are vanishingly rare; his case was remarkable because of how egregious it was. This is an incredibly nuanced topic and needs to be applied on a case by case basis.

(also fanfic is in a whole category by itself and isn't plagiarism unless you try to monetize it)

[leohtttbriar]

For the Reverse Unpopular Opinion meme: would love to give you the excuse to talk about voyager. (or if that's too easy, something you like about your least favorite star trek series??)

i love voyager. so so much. i tried to think if i love another star trek series i've seen any less than voyager, but i can't honestly say that i do? i love ds9, tos, discovery, and, yes, even snw. i am in the embarrassing position of admitting that i really just love star trek, in a mostly uncomplicated way.

of the things i love about voyager, the premise is probably the biggest one. i have rambled about this a lot already but: i think it confronts for the first time in star trek the inherent sadness associated with us studying the stars--and therefore the sadness that science-fiction writers mostly imagine their way out of, often as a way to speculate a time when this reality may be less real: the fact that space is big. it is too big. the fastest human beings have ever traveled, with their own bodies along for the ride, still isn't fast enough to get us to the moon in less than three days. light--the speed limit of the universe--needs a full eight minutes to get from the sun to us--a relatively close planet. space is enormous. we measure things that are "close" in light-years. everything is so spread out and that's just from the perspective of being inside a galaxy, which is actually crowded when compared to intergalactic space. everything is so far away and so long away and it feels impossible to think of getting anywhere in a time meaningful to us and our lifespans. which is in its own way heartbreaking.

and while in voyager they are clearly not alone in the way we feel we could be (and in practice are until we get the smallest sign that even non-intelligent life exists off our very own special rock) with all the aliens they meet and the fact that they are on a ship that can go faster than light, they are stranded and they are on their way back home and it will still take them a life-time. that's the reality of the story: that they will spend the rest of their lives trying to get back. and though i know they do get back much quicker than that, where i'm at in the beginning of season 3 that is still the reality of it. and this makes literally everything that happens in the show so fascinating--even if it's a plot or an idea that not only happened in another series but was done technically better in that series. every plot in voyager is colored by the tension between what the star trek ethos is as a whole--exploration and diversity and learning and humanity--all in an optimistic light--and what voyager is about--getting back home. it makes me think of the tension in the actual "voyagers," somewhere now in interstellar space, and the golden record with a map of earth's position etched onto it: spacecraft meant to never be returned but contained on them is a deep, deep hope that in some way they will be. this tension, to me, affects everything on the show.

but that's maybe too big an idea without specific examples from the series--i might ramble about that at another point lol

in the spirit of your question, i will say there is one star trek property that i don't particularly care for on the whole and that's the 2009 movie (and sequels). but i will also say what that movie did right and what i do love about it even if i don't love the movie as a whole is how it portrayed the high-tech poetics of star trek in a much more immediately understandable way than even the 90s shows could for a 21st century audience. the "apple-store" aesthetic is really an argument about how this is the future and it's sleek and stylish and humans have advanced in their engineering and scientific abilities. and among this high-tech argument is uhura front and center: she's very loudly and explicitly a linguist and she fits in this silicon-valley look despite the fact that nowadays things like linguistics are considered "soft sciences" in a general way and treated like that very specifically by the tech-industry now (the attitude being "there's an app for that"). but uhura makes a central discovery in one of her labs at the beginning of the movie which gives her and kirk a leg up on understanding the Movie Threat. the 2009 movie significantly raised her importance as a character, to the point that the "main trio" in those movies is, arguably, more kirk/spock/uhura than it is kirk/spock/mccoy---especially if you're going by the movie posters.

also they gave her this line:

UHURA: And did I not, on multiple occasions, demonstrate an exceptional aural sensitivity, and I quote, "an unparalleled ability to identify sonic anomalies in subspace transmissions tests?"

which is excellent world-building about communications-officers, if you care for that sort of thing. and it provides a starting point for an argument about how listening to a universe (famed quiet due to the lack of material through which sound can travel) is essential to understanding it---an idea that can be further extrapolated via sci-fi regarding things like: listening to gravitational waves if we record them right; or working on the idea that all matter is but a vibration in a quantum field; or, from a more cultural concern, the implication that it is absurd to think you can travel to an alien world and not bring someone with an "exceptional aural sensitivity" who can facilitate an exchange of language and, thereby, meaning.

[jhutchh19992]

Josh Futturman Christmas- Headcanons

1. Christmas Movie Marathon King

Josh would be all about a Christmas movie marathon, but not your typical Hallmark-style ones. He’d insist on showing you a bizarre mix of classic Christmas films with a few cult favorites thrown in (like Die Hard or Gremlins) to keep things interesting.

2. Gifts That Are Always an Adventure

Josh isn't the type to get you something traditional. He’d probably hand you a gift —like a custom-made sweater or a DVD box set of Star Trek and The X-Files because he knows you’d appreciate the nod to pop culture and weird science fiction references.

3. Ugly Sweater Champion

Josh would absolutely rock the ugliest Christmas sweater you could imagine, but he’d make it work. You’d find him proudly wearing a custom sweater covered in pictures of him and you in a bad Photoshop job.

5. Christmas Eve at Home: A Chill Vibe

On Christmas Eve, instead of a big family gathering, Josh would want to keep it low-key with just the two of you, hanging out in your comfy clothes. He’d make you a very questionable Christmas dinner—maybe a weird fusion of random dishes from different time periods. Picture a Christmas turkey... with a side of futuristic Soylent? Still, the effort would be there, and you’d both end up laughing about the culinary disaster. He’d make sure you’re comfortable, cozy, and feel the love without the fuss.

7. Endless Christmas Jokes and Lame Puns

Josh would be a Christmas pun machine, always coming up with the worst puns related to time travel, Christmas, and your relationship. You’d roll your eyes, but secretly love it when he makes a terrible joke that only the two of you would understand.

9. He’d Totally Be the One Who Still Believes in Santa

Josh Futturman? Definitely still believes in Santa Claus. He’d have a mischievous grin when it comes to Christmas Eve, assuring you that Santa is real.

10. After the Holidays: Reflection and Growth

Josh might not always show it, but Christmas would be a time where he'd get a little sentimental. He’d reflect on how far he’s come, and how much having you in his life has changed him for the better.

11. Unconventional Christmas Traditions

Josh would be all about starting new, unconventional Christmas traditions. Instead of a big, fancy dinner, he might suggest something fun and low-key like a DIY pizza-making night where you both build your own quirky Christmas pizzas (pepperoni snowflakes, anyone?). Or, maybe you two start a new tradition of wrapping each other's presents in a ridiculous way—like wrapping them in newspaper, old maps, or random fabric scraps.

12. Christmas Lights Disaster

Josh would take the Christmas lights way too seriously. After getting all pumped about the idea of setting up the perfect light display outside, he would inevitably get tangled up in the lights, trip over extension cords, and struggle with getting everything to look "just right." But instead of being frustrated, he’d just laugh at himself and keep going, probably convincing you to join in the chaos for moral support.

13. The World's Most Extra Christmas Stockings Josh isn’t the type to settle for normal Christmas stockings. No, no. He’d make sure your stockings are extra in every way—super big, hilariously overstuffed, and probably filled with a weird mix of things like arcade tokens, strange snacks from different parts of the world, and novelty gadgets that you’d never know how to use.

14. Mischievous Elf Mode

Josh would totally embrace the Christmas mischief and be that boyfriend who sets up little surprises around the house. He’d sneakily hide little gifts or notes for you to find throughout the day, maybe in the most random places—like tucked inside your favorite book, or hidden under the pillow.

15. Under the Mistletoe Mischief

Josh would take the tradition of mistletoe to a whole new level. He’d definitely use it as an excuse to kiss you, but he might make it playful, teasing you with slow, lingering kisses before pulling back and whispering something like, “Oh, no, no... I don’t think that was long enough. We need another kiss. And another. And another...” Until you're both wrapped up in each other, tangled in the heat of the moment, laughing and kissing under the mistletoe until it’s more than just a tradition—it’s a steamy ritual.

16. Fireside Seduction

Josh would be the type to set the mood with the fireplace crackling softly in the background. You'd be cuddled up on the couch together, under a thick blanket, with his hand casually resting on your leg. But Josh, being Josh, would always have a bit of mischief in his eyes. Slowly, he'd start teasing you with subtle touches—his fingers grazing the skin of your inner thigh, his lips brushing the back of your neck every time he leans in to whisper something, or even slipping a hand under your shirt just enough to feel your skin. The temperature would be rising as the two of you playfully build up the tension, knowing full well that no one else would be around to interrupt your private Christmas moment.

[doberbutts]

In regards to Doctor Who, I also stopped around the same time as you and recently picked it back up.

I like some of late Capaldi, but the early stuff was really uninteresting to me. His episodes suffered from a few writing issues, but the second half of his run was okay in my mind. Some episodes better than others.

I liked Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor, but I wanted to scream at the writers the entire time. We'd get to a point of understanding where the mystery or theme of the episode finally got revealed, and I'd start to get interested. And THEN they would spoon feed it directly to the audience, like noooo, let me be lost in the horrors for a bit before you spell it out like the end of a children's TV program, PLEASE. I promise I'm capable of exploring the implications for 5 seconds before you read out the message like the back of a cereal box, I beg of you. Her specials were alright, though, they were kinda fun, if a little out there...

Haven't seen the new specials, but I really REALLY hope they do the new Doctor justice. A lot of fans kinda ate Jodie alive, but it wasn't her fault. I'm gonna be really upset if they set him up for failure! People are already making assumptions based on bias. I really want them to set him up for success!

I honestly just think Capaldi isn't the type of actor I want to watch play the Doctor. So when he was announced I just sort of went "mm. Meh." and then stopped. And I had a hard time connecting with Clara, so the combination of a Doctor who I was fairly meh about and a companion I also was fairly meh about more or less killed my interest in the show.

I've said before but not super recently I think but I actuallyyyyyyy am not very interested in alien or time travel stories because I think individually they are very boring and together they are a bit contrived. Unfortunately that is like 99% of the point of Doctor Who so 9, 10, 11, and their companions were able to keep me from going "wow I really don't like alien or time travel stories" because I was invested in their personal character arcs. But if I start off already not really liking the main character draws to the show, then I have to actually focus on the alien and time travel plots, which I don't want to do, because I don't like those genres.

[it's why torchwood worked for me but not star trek, I can focus on something other than aliens in torchwood because I'm mostly having fun watching Jack and Ianto shenanigans, but star trek is *about the aliens* so unfortunately Spock shenanigans were not enough to distract me from disliking the other 99% of the show]

However. Hot Black Doctor. But then I feel like I'd have to watch 12 and 13 to catch up to Hot Black Doctor. Also I am trying really hard to reserve judgement because maybe it makes sense plotwise but I am somewhat annoyed that we have Double Doctors with one of them being a white dude who has ALREADY PLAYED THE DOCTOR AND IS SUPER POPULAR AS POSSIBLY NEW WHO'S FAVORITE DOCTOR [albiet, a white dude whose Doctor I did really like] who is at extremely high risk of majorly overshadowing Hot Black Doctor. Can't even have a standalone black generation without white people making sure they're included.

[kunosoura]

Uses of time travel in fiction tiered based on how much I like them as pieces of a narrative:

TOP TIER

Stuck in a time loop: you were doomed from the beginning and there was never any sense to it. sorry. (e.g. Oxenfree)

My future is doomed and I've come back to the past to prevent it: my efforts end up ensuring the future comes to pass in an especially ironic way (Braid, that one episode of Fairly Odd Parents)

GOOD TIER

Stuck in a time loop: Until you experience relevant character development (e.g. Groundhog Day)

My future is doomed and I've come back to the past to prevent it: even knowing I can never return and will never truly be at home anywhere and may in fact disappear when the future changes because it truly cannot be worse than what I left (e.g. Fire Emblem Awakening, Future Trunks)

Let's go see what the dinosaurs/king arthur/the assyrians were up to like, field trip style. (e.g. the Magic School Bus. maybe this is controversial but I'd put Chrono Trigger here too)

Those weird ass Stable Time Loops that leave you puzzling over how all this shit got started (Drakenier)

MID TIER

Wait a second, this time travel shit is hard and our actions have consequences!: but a better world is worth the side effects (Chrono Trigger also goes here)

Time travel is just a fact of this setting, so we might as well get high concept about it (This Is How You Lose The Time War, Primer)

BAD TIER

Stuck in a time loop (until you figure out the correct sequence of events) (e.g. Majora's Mask)

Wait a second, this time travel shit is hard and our actions have consequences!: therefore we shouldn't interfere with the timeline at all. (Star Trek but it isn't a clean example because it also sort of plays with the tension here)

TRASH TIER

My future is doomed and I've come back to the past to prevent it: and I do so without any repercussions, comfortably able to return to a world that still has a place for me in it, just without the Bad Thing (Eva Rebuilds)

[thegeminisage]

sigh it is star trek update time. last night we. sigh. watched voy's "heroes and demons" and "cathexis."

heroes and demons:

this episode made us look up how many holodeck episodes there are in voy vs the other shows. i guess i shouldn't be surprised that voy has the most considering it has a main character who IS a holoperson - it's also got the most borg episodes, and seven's only in it for four seasons. still, disheartening, especially considering how much i LIKE the doctor.

this episode DID have a couple of moments. the doctor picking and then discarding a name, him getting to see trees and a sky, and of course him getting smooched. it's great for him! i just wish it hadn't been buried in the dumbest holodeck shenanigan possible. there are surely creative ways to let the doctor get some screentime and see trees without resorting to vikings. vikings, which is exactly what i tuned in to star trek to see.

side note, poor harry. this shit is always happening to harry kim.

the existence of the holodeck in general continues to plague me. firstly, we have seen in voy and ds9 that holo-people are alive. like, they're real. so i can't get over things like that detective asking if his home was still gonna be there after the holodeck shut off, or trapping the fake moriarty in a simulation, or sex slave deanna (barclay die challenge). it's especially jarring, in a show with the doctor, who is alive, to have these holodeck characters running around as though they're less alive than he is. like at the end of this ep after the doctor said the last time his name was spoken it was painful, so he's gonna pick a new one, and janeway is like well it sounds like you had quite the adventure! like, girl, this isn't a character in a novel that died. she is a real ass person!!

furthermore all the CONSTANT safety issues of the holodeck - we quite literally only seem to get an episode about it when something breaks, because otherwise it's too boring to write about. so it's just this piece of tech that's always broken and endangering the crew and they don't have MECHANICS or REPLACEMENTS out there. like, yes, holodeck good to distract them from their predicament or take them back to earth, but HOLODECK BAD IN GENERAL

this will continue to be a struggle for future me, i'm sure - trek can never seem to decide where it wants to land with this holodeck shit.

cathexis:

to be honest, i feel like it wasn't possible for me to give this one a fair chance. we had the one-two punch of holodeck/racism after having JUST finished a holodeck ep and even though i probably would have really liked the other parts of this episode in different circumstances i was just not able to recover very well. i maybe could have suspended my disbelief for one or the other, but not fucking both.

like, we opened with a holodeck novel, which was perhaps the worst possible sin - again, i did not sign up for this to watch some p&p/sound of music mashup. i wanna watch space people doing space shit. and since they did two time travel eps in a row i was TERRIFIED they were gonna do two holodeck eps in a row and totally checked out. like, we were playing chess while this ran

then janeway got called away for plot stuff and i started listening again, only to be IMMEDIATELY met with the medicine wheel. and like, look. i don't pretend to be an expert on native american culture. but i just have the sneaking suspicion that the medicine wheel as presented in star trek voyager was not wholly accurate to any type of medicine wheel used in real life.

actually, the sad part about chakotay's whole deal is, if they do accidentally somehow do something with his culture that IS good and authentic most people would still not know it and assume it was bullshit fed to them by that hack. i probably would.

that said the concept of this episode was good and fun. i love chakotay's brain getting stolen out of his head like he's spock. i also love a good body-hopping ghost. OH YEAH AND IT WAS A GHOST. JUST LIKE JACK THE RIPPER IN TOS. IT WAS CHAKOTAY'S GHOST. i said this about 1000 times during the episode and was met with total SKEPTICISM but i was RIGHT. it was his ghost telling them not to go into that freaky ass nebula

possessed tuvok my best friend. i really wish i'd been able to enjoy this episode...i don't think a rewatch would hit the same since i already know the plot twists, but i just was not in the headspace to meet it. but it was fun watching his feathers get ruffled and watching him get into fights.

the standoff between tuvok and janeway was SOOO fun. harry literally had a choice to make and he did a great job. you could tell he was sweating bullets though. i mean who wouldn't be.

i did like janeway touching chakotay's shoulder and her Very Big Smile when he woke up and was fine. idk how into that i may or may not be but i think almost any two people on this cast could get it as long as one of them wasn't tom paris.

speaking of. tom paris was sooo rude to the doctor in this ep i hope he dies

TONIGHT: ds9's "improbable cause" and "the die is cast." i was tricked into reading the summary for the latter and i'm going to be in anticipatory AGONYYY until we finally watch it. THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!

[staringdownabarrel]

I've seen a couple of posts where people are getting caught up on the time travel aspects of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow because they aren't really sure how it's meant to work. This is an aspect of Picard's second season that people got caught up on as well, so I want to go over how time travel works in Star Trek.

I think the part people are getting caught up on is that time travel in Star Trek is largely based on two rules, but neither of them are explicitly stated in canon. They've both largely gone unstated.

Rule 1: Time travel doesn't make a difference unless it causes a difference

What this means is that just the act of going back in time isn't enough to cause huge changes in the timeline. This isn't the kind of franchise where you can go back in time and move a leaf and suddenly cause all of history to drastically change. It's only if you actively go out of your way to change things--e.g., killing one historical figure or saving another--that it makes a difference.

This is the reason why in The Voyage Home, when Kirk and co. go back and save the whales, they're not presented with this drastically changed Federation when they get back to the 23rd century. Bringing two whales and a marine biologist to the future isn't enough to cause drastic changes to the timeline. It's not enough of a difference to make a difference, essentially.

It's also why Sisko was able to take the place of Gabriel Bell in DS9's Past Tense two-parter without it causing issues down the line. While Bell not being there and doing what he did cause a ripple effect, as long as someone was there to fill that role, things would all go according to plan. Sisko playing the part of Gabriel Bell during the Bell riots kept his timeline intact because while it was a difference, it also wasn't enough of a difference to make a difference.

The third example of time travel by itself not causing a difference is something like TNG's Time's Arrow two-parter, where just the TNG crew going back to the nineteenth century isn't enough to cause ripples down the line. It just means they're there.

Rule 2: When it does make a difference, it overwrites everything that happens afterwards

The best example of this rule in practice is Voyager's Year of Hell two-parter. Annorax's temporal weapon ship is built to be able to cause changes in the timeline that ripple out and change everything afterwards. He's also obsessed with restoring the timeline to what he considers its proper course, and that's an ongoing thing during the story.

There's other examples of this rule in practice, too. The other obvious example of this is TOS's The City on the Edge of Forever, where if Edith Keeler survives, the Nazis win World War II and cause the Federation to never exist. In DS9's Past Tense, if the Bell riots don't happen, the Federation never exists. In VOY's Endgame, Admiral Janeway going back in time causes Voyager to be able to get back to the Alpha Quadrant years earlier than it had in her timeline.

This doesn't mean that the timeline splits off and causes a new universe to form. It means that everything that happens after the significant change in the timeline, everything after that change is different.

This is why Guinan didn't remember Picard during the 21st century scenes in Picard's second season. Because the timeline had been changed so that the Federation didn't exist, it'd also been changed so that he probably hadn't been to the nineteenth century in this version of the timeline. There wasn't an evil Federation version of Time's Arrow in this timeline essentially, so there was no reason for Guinan to have met Picard because from her perspective, they hadn't.

This is also one of the reasons why the 2009 movie tends to be such a contentious thing in some circles. Its presentation of time travel causing a change in the timeline so bad that it causes it split off and create a new universe isn't really in line with how time travel has traditionally been presented in the franchise. The flow on effect of this is while the writing team for the Kelvinverse films are pretty adamant that Enterprise as shown is canon to both the Prime universe and the Kelvinverse, there are fans who don't really buy into that idea.

Keep in mind that during First Contact, when the Enterprise-E is chasing the Borg sphere through the temporal vortex, nobody's saying, "Oh, we're in a new universe now." What they do say is that the Borg assimilating the Earth in the past is a major difference and therefore needs to be prevented.

That's in direct contrast to an episode like TNG's Parallels, where when Worf goes to each new universe, they're able to run some tests on him and find he's not meant to be in that universe. Stuff like that wouldn't work if there wasn't a difference between going to a different universe and traveling in time.

So the opening scene of the 2009 movie, where the Narada came in and destroyed the Kelvin, is really better explained by one of two options. One is that this was a different kind of time travel that hasn't been expanded upon since or even replicated in canon that caused the new timeline to split into a new universe, or the Kelvinverse was always a separate universe. Either would be fine, in my opinion.

How this is all relevant to Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is that this episode is another example of how a change in the past was enough of a difference to make a difference. While there is room for debate on where the line is for what constitutes enough of a difference, this episode clearly framed this set of changes as enough. This is a pretty straight example of how time travel is supposed to work in Star Trek.

[popculturebuffet]

Next up for Nickelodeon era of shows, who is your favorite character from each of the early 2020s Nicktoons shows you've seen like: It's Pony, Glitch Techs, Kamp Koral, Rugrats 2021, The Patrick Star Show, The Middlemost Post, and Star Trek Prodigy? While the last batch had signs of it with The Casagrandes spin off and Pinky Malinky being on Netflix instead of Nickelodeon, this is when Nickelodeon really started to get heavier on Nicktoons based on the older IPs over original ones. This was also when they began premiering Nicktoons on streaming such as Netflix and Paramount Plus before the main Nickelodeon channel, likely with streaming getting more popular.

Okay to get this out of the way this time I haven't seen Glitch Techs (Heard it was good), enough of Middlemost post to properly talk about it, or Progidy, though I do want to see those last two. I also haven't seen shared between this and paramount+ show earthspark or the just release paramount+ show but counting it here since i talked about nick's other three tmnt shows, tales of the tmnt. By the last era we'd already cut the cord and most of these shows didn't last long enough or in progidy's case.. I've just procastinated. So i'll be throwing in two brucy bonuses to compensate.

Anywways

It's Pony: didn't see as much as i'd like, hope it's on plus, but I thought it had a nice cozy charm to it. Dont' raelly have a faviorite character but did want to mentoin it as it was quite good I just never had a chance to catch it.

Kamp Koral: Honestly Iike the fact the Sardines are a cabin.. larry may be close second as his fitness cabin is wholesome. But honestly.. .there isn't a lot here for me to grab onto despite having seen a LOT of this with my neice with watching her back when it first started. This show is meidocre at best which is disappointing as I LIKE a good summer camp set show (I'ts weird I never watched more of summer camp island with that in mind), or film, but this.. is just nothing. It has good ideas: the various other cabins, letting side characters like lady upturn, larry, kevin, or the sardines return or have a sizeable roll, and the retcons are at least given an explination (Sandy rewrote history). It's hampred both by the impressoin that this show happened quite ltierally over stephen hillenbergs dead body.. and just being mid as hell. The animation is cheap, as tmnt 2012 already proved nick COULD do a cgi show on a tv budget that looked really nice and would prove it again just a few years later. Without the expressivenes spongebob has in it's 2d form (something that sponge bout of water and the sandy cheeks movie were able to copy much better), this feels lifeless and it feels like they really didn't have a ton of ideas to do with this unique setting that hadn't been done before aside from the sardines episode. It's just kinda there at best. It's so boring.

Rugrats 2021: Hadn't seen this one either, still gets it's own entry as I tried part of the first episode.. but couldn't get into it. Not knocking the voice actors too hard, but It just never really caught on with me. We stan Betty being an out of the closet lesbian in this house and Susie getting upgraded to main cast, but it dosen't seem like there's anything I really want from this reboot not helped that I didn't appricate the original at the time, so why would I watch a version that was okay. Might watch it this holiday season for some reviews coming up but that's about it honestly. Still sucks it was removed from paramount +, hope they sell it to someone else instead same with something.. else we're going to get to

The Patrick Star Show: Squidina: she's adorbale, compliments pat well and while her inclusion is a retcon, honestly spongebob continuity is so paper thin it just dosen't matter. At this point how he met sandy has been changed entirely by time travel, patrick's had two sets of parents and another sister who dosent' exist. Making what I was shocked to find was an unrelated side character his nerdy adopted sister to make his show work better is fine by me. The first episodes were fine, just nothing really specail to me, but I heard the show did get better and do want to try it in this form as the soft reboot seemed to have worked and seems to be more in the spirit of the classic seasons while being i'ts own thing.

It's why while this show was also made over stephen hillbergs dead body, it feels less souless... Talented people did put genuine effort into saving it unlike Kamp Koral which is just.. there, and it seems to have worked. And honestly while I like a good camp story.. the patrick star show is the more unique concept. Kamp Koral is just "spongebob but a child at camp" . It COUDL work but it's hampred by using almost the entire same cast as the parent show.

In contrast while Spongebob, Sandy, and Squidward are also present here, their not the main focus. Patrick is. And while that honestly sounded like living in a living nightmare... in the pre revamp episodes it worked okay. Unlike planet sheen it's clear even in it's larval form, they got what made pat work as a character, so simply switched up the dynamics slightly: squidward is still annoyed by him, but the main foils instead the oft annoyed but far more patient with her big bro squidina. Spongebob and co are there.. but their there in support of patrick, flipping thingsj ust slightly enough and it makes sense his best friends would be there. It helps they have some really fun designs as teens. I love spongebob's slick backed hair and squidwards acne and shirt. Small changes on his and sandy's front but it' smore than kamp koral.. just making them smol and giving them outfits. So a show I honestly want to see more of as it geninely seems like it turned a corner. Could be wrong but evne then it's at least a worthy side dish to spongebob and feels less like digging up a corpse for money.

Big Nate: This one also DOES count in my eyes as it was reaired on the network, but is one I hope gets transfered somewhere. Faviorite is the boy himself, as they transitoined him well and ben giroux does a great job, though Gina as always as close. i've bene honest about loving comic strips before in this retrospective, and at the time this show aired big nate.. was fine. Stuck in a rut it's since got out of, but kinda stuck as some strips gets going through the motions and repeating gags that didn't work the first time.

Big Nate the cartoon... is a great adaptation in part because it takes some of the strips weaknesses and does away with them. Not all sadly as yelly outdated coach sterotype coach john and nate's stalker kim are kept for reasons I can't process. The former maybe, as he's useful for jokes and faculty plotlines, but the latter..

But for the most part it instead fixes a lot of aspects of the strip that didn't quite work anymore or needed a refresh: Nate's friends Teddy and Francis are more loyal and more resonable foils than "assholes who constantly insult him", with Francis in paticular being far less insufferable, instead being a truly fun friend group you root for. Gina is added from the jump and god bless them for it. I love that theater kid. (With Chad also there and pretty much a member of Team Awesome, as he should be). Nate's "hit on women like a jackass" tendnenices, while sadly relaistic to a 5th grader, are toned down, and his family gets more to do: Marty is still pathetic but it's not his oly schitck and dove cameron does a great job as his sister.

Overall the show was really good having a gorgeous peanuts movie style art style that matched the strip, it got the tone down right while adjusting it and while it wasn't always perfect I have a LOT of respect for it. Sadi it got screwed over. Hope it gets another chance

Fairly Odd Parnents: A New Wish : I need to watch more of this but... man is this good. Faviorite is Cosmo with Peri a close second as he was my faviorite in the og and that's still true as while he keeps the voice that can be mildy grating but is fine by me from the later seasons he's back to peak idiot and back to half a whohle idot.

After what I hear was a diaster with fairly odder, A New Wish is everything a revivial should be: it respects the original amazingly with TONS of callbacks I wasn't expecting thus far or have read about, and a premise that's so obvious i'm shocked it took this long to try it: Timmy's gone having moved on naturally at some point as the series constantly hinted would happen which is sad, as he looses his real parents, but means he's doing okay for himself as an adult instead, and we get Hazel instead, a new kid for a new decade. Hazel is the perfect foil too lacking Timmy's arrogance and selfishness , but still keeping the short sightness that comes when you give a child the power of a god. Hazel is a kind, wonderful little bean who like Timmy will often use her powers to help others, but due to the series having a heavier continuity, actually learns from her wishes.. it dosen't always work but it's nice that it's not a death loop of terrible mistkaes. Not saying that death loop wasn't funny, but it works better in this era

The show keeps the basic premise that works but weeds out the stuff that didn't: gone are the sadistic teachers (not saying those don't still exist but we've been there), and neglectful parents (the only one left is played dead seriously), kept is the magic hyjinks. It seems like the bulk of the cast from the original who'd make sense to show up (and i'm sure more could), do. The revamp of peri got a ton of buzz and rightfully so having him be the seemingly suave but really just very tired foil to both his own god kid and his parents is perfect, especially with wanda rest from the nag to half of a whole idiot and having the very plausable reason for him not having been around simply been them smothering him a bit much, which fits both perfectly. He dosen't hate them, he just wants to find his own way while honoring the family buisness.

As youc an tell by the several paragraphs.. I love a new wish. I hope it does well and gets to go on a while, the creators certainly have the ideas for it and frankly we could all use a little magic.

[thessalian]

Thess vs TLOVM S3, Ep 7

Okay. I have a vague idea of what happens, if not when. (And honestly, I think a few of my guesses have been confirmed, judging by some of the ... opinions I may have tripped over.) And I'm not in as bad a state as I was last week - I'm tired and in a lot of pain, but at least less relentlessly depressed. So I think I can handle this. Not looking forward to it, though. Well, I am, but also I'm not. It'll come up in the liveblog.

Wait. Where is this? This isn't Emon or points surrounding...

BABY RIPLEY?!?

You are not about to make me feel bad for Ripley. Not after what I've been avoiding all week. You. Are. NOT.

The Assembly. As in the Cerberus Assembly? They're in Wildemount?

Aaaaaaaand they've always been dicks. Great.

Kimiko Glenn... Who she? Hazbin Hotel, Star Trek: Lower Decks ... Peni Parker, the D.Va of the Spiderverse?!? ...Okay, okay, I'm getting off IMDB.

Whaaaaaat the fuuuuuuuuck?

Wait - is that young Trent Ikithon?!? And voiced by ... yeah, that is Mark Strong. Well, when they put up the cast listings for the Mighty Nein animated series, I will be looking for his name beside Trent Ikithon, not just "Assembly Mage".

Well, that explains a lot about why she wants a bunch of people to have guns... Though clearly she's never got the idea of Heat Metal as a spell. ...Oooh. That gives me an evil idea for the one gun-using member of my current party. Because heat plus black powder equals... Yeah.

I ... guess we know where all the coin she stole from Umbrasyl's hoard went... What the fuck is that?

Man. Those hatchlings fucked Whitestone up.

Aaaaaaaah so we're looking at a whole bunch of meanings for cloak and dagger. Look at the cloak moving, don't see where the dagger lands. So I guess whatever Ripley built uses a lot of residuum. ...Maybe she's needing that as a power source, the way the Briarwoods were using it, since she doesn't have the Plate and never did?

Can we all say, "Trap", ladies and gentlemen? Can we also say that our hearts damn well hurt at the name Glintshore? (Though apparently it's going to end up worse this time...)

The things those two say without words...

Yeah, Scanlan, the thing about Dr Dranzel's travelling troupe is that they ... you know ... travel? Maybe ask the barman if they said anything about where they'd go next? Rather than ... like ... giving up?

THIS IS GOING TO BE EVEN MORE PAINFUL LATER.

They what?!? ...Yeah, Pike, you have been spending too much time with Scanlan.

Isn't it nice that Vax's wings don't have that one-hour limit? (I mean, speaking as someone who plays a character who kind of got gifted permanent wings, now I have the envy that Vax can put the fucking things away when necessary, but y'know. My girl's not endebted to a death-god.)

I am not going to consider the speed of flight or look up a map of how far Glintshore is from any nearby coast from Whitestone. I am not. I am not. I am not. WILLING SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF...

"I'll ancient ruin your--" Grog, what does that even mean?

Percy, I know you really want to have this out, but ... yeah. You're in the middle of a mission. How much do you actually expect to die? Or is this just the narrative trying to make sure we understand what's about to happen?

"Why don't you explode your own breakfast?!?"

Pike, let the man have his moment.

...Okay, that shot was fire. And so was that. They did some art in the animation.

YOU ARE GOING TO REGRET THAT, VEX.

Pike, please... We don't need another Scanlan.

Oooooh boy.

This is going to be made of flashback. I-- OH SHIT.

Okay, that gas has got to be some kind of hallucinogen.

Please blow this place up later. Please? I HATE IT.

Ah. Delirium gas-- THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU WANT TO TELL HIM, RIPLEY.

Because he wanted to be a clockmaker, bitch.

Ripley, you really haven't learned not to trust that man, have you. So much 'insight' from Orthax and you haven't learned he's got something up his sleeve at all times? Or on his hand, which you are now shaking?!?

Oh gods, this is so much worse than Glintshore in the campaign...

Wait. Is she okay now?!? What the fuck? What is Pike, exactly, in this series?

Yeah, dude's a better shot than you, Random Guy.

What the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck...?

Okay, what is up with Pike's blood?

...Oh, come oooooooon, Grog has more than that as a fear. Really?!?

"Did I hurt you again?" LIKE THAT, YEAH. That's got to be worth more as a delirium focus than a fucking library.

Okay, the new take on Orthax is like Venom and I am fucking here for it. Except where I'm not because Orthax is an asshole.

OOF. Please let that have at least destroyed the fucking guns. Even most of the fucking guns.

Oh. He prepped for that. Buuuut ... maybe you shouldn't have taken that out yet.

...I hate to say this, because I believe in mercy, but I preferred "I forgive you, but I cannot let you leave"...

Echoing her father is not going to help you here and she's using your own playbook...

...Fuck.

Okay, I need the soundtrack now because as awful as the circumstances are, the song is beautiful. And that last line is very poignant given that this is one of the really big deviations from the campaign.

Okay, who wrote this? Eugene Son, who's been on the team before, and ... Marisha?!? MARISHA writes too?!?

EDIT: The S3 OST is now on Spotify and I knew that voice was familiar, but a lot of times a singing voice is different. That's Matt Mercer. World-building, DMing, acting, and the man sings? This whole bunch is full of people who fall into the @seananmcguire category of "I would envy them for their many, many talents if they weren't such lovely people".

Yeah. Yeah, no, not dealing with a fucking funeral for my favourite character tonight. Because Percy is. While I loved them all, Percy resonated with me in a lot of ways. His arc was a thing I needed, I guess. In the end, it was about getting better. It was about healing. And I'd done a lot of healing myself by the time I started watching Critical Role, so watching it happen to someone who had it so much worse... Percy reminded me that however dark things get, you can find joy ... if you look for it. And if you don't have the strength to look for it ... let those who love you bring it to you. So ... yeah. I couldn't watch until I knew that the character who reminded me that going through so much doesn't mean you can never come back to happiness was going to get his happily-ever-after, somehow.

Great. Now I hurt, and can't sleep.

[mcytrecursive]

Nomination Overview - Humour

Well, most of the creators we follow are comedians of some sort or another. Stands to reason that the fandom appreciates humour. To the tune of 17 nominated source materials, in fact!

Title: Fallen Stars Link: https://archiveofourown.org/series/3653119 Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP Author: boxmakerr Relationships: Ethoslab & VintageBeef ; BdoubleO100 & EthosLab & VintageBeef ; Cubfan135 & GoodTimesWithScar Characters: Ethoslab, Vintage Beef, BdoubleO100, Cubfan135, GoodtimesWithScar, Zombiecleo, Iskall85 Length of the work: 109,567 words (incomplete fic) Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Humour, Hurt/Comfort, Superhero/Superpower AU Type: Fic Summary: Etho is just an exceptionally normal guy living his best life. Until he becomes one of the few people to gain superpowers and gets approached with an enticing offer… He's in over his head, isn't he? A Etho-centric atypical take on a superpower au, which devolves into something much bigger.

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Title: mise-en-scène Rating: listed as explicit for sorting purposes Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48359143 Fandom: Karmaland SMP Author: CoaxialCable Relationships: Quackity/Rubius, Quackity/Luzu  Characters: Quackity, Luzu, Rubius  Length of the work: 7043 words Genre: Canon-Compliant, Canon-Divergent, Domestic/Slice-of-life, Fluff, Humour, Romance, Slow Burn, Smut Type: Fic Summary: mise-en-scène; everything that appears before the camera and its arrangement. Quackity asks Luzu for a strange favor. Stanger feelings pursue.

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Title: Ghosting the universe be like: Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35786014 Fandom: HBG SMP Author: lisatheredfox Relationships: Fulham & Couriway, Fulham & Feinberg  Characters: Lewis Fulham, Couriway, Feinberg Length of the work: 1,696 words Genre: AU, Fluff, Friendship, Humour Type: Fic Summary: 5 times Fulham being (part) ghost Sucks, and 1 time it doesn't, actually

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Title: Cheater, Cheater (Mangoball) Link: https://glittering.world/mangoball/classic Fandom: Video Blogging RPF Author: mangobaii Relationships: Dream/George, Corpse Husband/Wilbur Characters: Dream, George, Corpse Husband, Sapnap, Quackity, Karl, Wilbur, BadBoyHalo Length of the work: 20k-ish? Depends on how you count usernames and such Genre: Crack Fic, Humour, Epistolary, Mangoball Type: Fic Summary: DNF social media epistolary fiction. George gets cheated on by Sapnap with Dream; love blooms, among other things. 

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Title: Dreams from Within the Cage Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48686653/chapters/122813377 Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP Author: Fellusion Relationships: Grian/Scar Characters: Scar, Grian, Mumbo Length of the work: 32,824 words Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, AU, Humour, Post-Apocalyptic AU Type: Fic Summary: Scar never thought of himself as much of an escapist, until the apocalypse. In just a few short months, the life he thought he’d be living crashed and burned, leaving him stranded without purpose. Amidst his one-man trek through the desert wastes, he dreamed of worlds far unlike his own. So what happens when those dreams begin to talk back?

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Title: Consequences of the Dead Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30643691/chapters/75602693 Fandom: Dream SMP Author: Lisbis Relationships: Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Philza, Wilbur Soot & Quackity Characters: Wilbur Soot, TommyInnit, Technoblade, Philza, Quackity Length of the work: 66,432 words Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, AU, Canon-Divergent, Fix-It, Found Family, Humour, Hurt/Comfort, Superhero/Superpower AU, Dimension Travel AU Type: Fic Summary: Wilbur rolls his eyes. “I’m just patching you up out of some misplaced sense of guilt or nostalgia or whatever; after this, you can try and arrest me again as much as you want-” “Nostalgia?” Tommy interrupts. He squints at the figure, all confusing tangents and cynical jokes, the bird still perched on his head. “What, do I know you or something?” Wilbur’s face darkens. He reaches out a hand, rubbing absently at a long slash going through his trench coat, a tear in the seams of it all. Tommy stills. “No,” the villain finally mutters with a brittle laugh. “No, you don’t.” … Or: Superhero AU in which Wilbur, upon waking up in an alternate universe, accidentally becomes a villain. Maybe not a very good one, though - he remains insanely, outrageously protective over the very heroes (and vigilante) hunting him down.

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Title: THE DIVORCE OF THE CENTURY Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52635358 Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP Author: glossyblue Relationships: Grian/Goodtimeswithscar Characters: Grian, Goodtimeswithscar, Mumbo Jumbo, BdoubleO100, Zombie Cleo, Rendog and Joe Hills Length of the work: 7,192 words Genre: Canon-Compliant, Humour Type: Fic Summary: The court proceedings of Hermitcraft’s first ever divorce, centering on Grian (Petitioner #1), Scar (Petitioner #2), Mumbo Jumbo (defense lawyer), a cat (also somehow a defense lawyer?), several judges since they keep quitting because of all the nonsense, and your tireless Court Scribe JoeHills.

--

Title: the wedding before everything went wrong Link: here Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP Author: terracottakore Relationships: etho/cleo  Characters: cleo, etho  Length of the work: n/e Genre: Angst, Drama, Family, Humour, Slow Burn Type: Art Summary: etho and cleo wedding 

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Title: pov: me when i fucking Get You Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45823945 Fandom: Dream SMP Author: doingthewritethings Relationships: Alexis | Quackity/Wilbur Soot, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade, Alexis | Quackity & Charlie Dalgleish | Slimecicle Characters: Quackity, Wilbur Soot, Technoblade, Slimecicle, Eret Length of the work: 3,450 words Genre: AU, Crack Fic, Family, Friendship, High School AU, Humour, Modern AU, Chatfic Type: Fic Summary: From: qln@dsmp.org To: csc@dsmp.org what would you do if hypothetically speaking. there was this guy. and he was horrible and awful and his hair was so fluffy like sooo fluffy like imagine putting a mop on his head. like a big old mop. or a dog. but instead of being a wet dog he smelled like cinnamon and was probably really good to pet. ohhhh my god. or, the one where Wilbur thinks they're dating, Quackity thinks they're enemies, and Eret thinks she would really, really, really like to get things done in her student council meetings.

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Title: howling at your door (series) Rating: E-rated Link: https://archiveofourown.org/series/3626758 Fandom: Dream SMP Author: ollie_oxen_free Relationships: Quackity/Schlatt, Quackity/Original Character(s) Characters: Quackity, Schlatt, Original Character(s) Length of the work: 25,920 words (incomplete series) Genre: AU, Domestic/Slice-of-life, Fantasy AU, Humour, Modern AU, Smut, Urban Fantasy/Werewolf/Vampire AU Type: Fic Summary: schlackity as werewolves. what more could you want?

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Title: Things that never happened (and more that never will) Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/44145864#main Fandom: Crossover Fandom Author: CoralFlowerDaylight Relationships: Joe Hills & Technoblade Characters: Joe Hills, Technoblade and Technoblade's Chat Length of the work: 3195 words Genre: Canon-Divergent, Crossover, Humour Type: Fic Summary: A fictional VOD transcript for a stream that never happened, ft. Technoblade doing arts and crafts and Joe Hills being Joe Hills

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Title: the misadventures of detective falsewell and grianlock Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29980416/ + blog/art tag Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP Author: sleepyrinas Relationships: Grian & False & Rendog Characters: Grian, False, Rendog Length of the work: 86,922 words Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, AU, Drama, Fluff, Family, Found Family, Humour, Hurt/Comfort, Modern AU, Superhero/Superpower AU, Urban Fantasy/Werewolf/Vampire AU, Mystery Type: Fic Summary: Detectives Falsewell and Grianlock are some of the best in the business, two siblings with a prowess for solving mysteries and any flavor of crime. Of course, not everything goes as simply as they hope. What disasters and troubles await these two detectives in the small town of Hermitville? Only one way to find out!

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Title: A Jackerella Story Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38446057/chapters/96084898 Fandom: Dream SMP Author: wetchickenbreast Relationships: Georgenotfound/Jack Manifold Characters: Jack Manifold, GeorgeNotFound, TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot, BadBoyHalo, Tubbo, Ranboo Length of the work: 6,328 words (incomplete fic) Genre: AU, Crack Fic, Drama, Fantasy AU, Humour Type: Fic Summary: Jackerella's life fucking sucks. Her goddamn parents died (how inconsiderate) and now she is stuck living as an indentured servant for her evil stepfamily. Her younger stepsister bites people (he won't stop no matter how many doctors they bring him to) and his older stepsister is a megabitch (also a homewrecker). His only friends are talking rats, so Jack is pretty much waiting on a miracle to get out of this mess... and that miracle comes in the form of a charming prince, some glass shoes, and a demon from hell (and the demon has MASSIVE tits).

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Title: Tangotek Evil Incorporated Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48665086/chapters/122758744 Fandom: Hermitcraft SMP Author: onawhimsicot Relationships: TangoTek & Jimmy, TangoTek & Grian, Grian & Jimmy Characters: TangoTek, Jimmy Solidarity, Grian, EthosLab, BdoubleO100  Length of the work: 22,445 words Genre: Action/Adventure, AU, Humour, Superhero/Superpower AU Type: Fic Summary: As the supervillain Dr. Blaze, Tango has a penchant for oddly named "ificators" and stylistic flair. He spends his days trying to take over the city, shaming superheroes for their basic costume designs, and then sending said heroes home with better equipment that actually matches their aesthetic because clearly, if he wants a cool fight scene to happen, he's got to do everything around here himself. For some reason, not many people think he’s evil. On the bright side, the superhero Canary, does and has made it his personal mission to bring down Dr. Blaze! But when he suddenly goes missing, Canary's partner, Parrot, is convinced that Tango is at fault. Seeing as this is not true at all (kidnapping is so gauche), Tango is offended that someone is trying to steal his nemesis right from under his nose. If Tango wants to get his nemesis back, he'll have to work together with Parrot to find and rescue Canary from whatever danger he's got himself into this time. Because, after all, what's a supervillain without a nemesis?

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Title: the mezalean king's epic quartz trading adventure Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45845215 Fandom: Empires SMP Author: de_hautdesert Relationships: N/A Characters: SmallishBeans (Empires SMP Season 1), SmallishBeans (Empires SMP Season 2), Hermes (Empires SMP Season 2) Length of the work: 864 words Genre: AU, Crossover, Humour Type: Fic Summary: prompt: "a s1 and s2 character switches places with themselves and chaos ensues" i dont know how much chaos ended up ensuing but in this fic s1 joel explores stratos!

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Title: Sapnap's Naga Harem Rating: E-rated Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49846090 Fandom: Dream SMP Author: ollie_oxen_free  Relationships: Sapnap/Philza, Sapnap/Technoblade, Punz/Sapnap, Alexis | Quackity/Sapnap, Dream/Sapnap, Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Awesamdude/Sapnap, Sapnap/Foolish, Sapnap/Schlatt, Sapnap/Wilbur Soot Characters: Sapnap, Dream XD, Dream, Philza, Technoblade, Quackity, Punz Length of the work: 27,870 words (incomplete fic) Genre: AU, Crack Fic, Fluff, Fantasy AU, Humour, Romance, Smut Type: Fic Summary: Fresh out of school with a Masters in Magical Zoology, Sapnap is hired by a mysterious billionaire he knows only as XD to become one of the main caretakers of a new section of his magical menagerie. He's not sure what he's expecting, but ten fucking naga— rare, dangerous, mysterious— were not on the fucking list. --

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[dragontamerno3]

DS9 S3 E15-17

Another bad pain day. I watched these three earlier while I curled up and probably would have watched one more but that seemed like a heavy Bashir/Garak episode so I stopped to give me proper energy/time to squee later. That said, I'll do my best to recap how I felt but I might miss a thing or two cause I'm still very much suffering lol

E15 - Destiny

I really appreciate how Sisko handled this one. I'm very much not okay with a lot of religious messages in my media because of the trauma I faced as a kid so some things are definitely hard to swallow but so far its been only skirting the line of intolerable. What I appreciate about this one, though, was that Sisko decided prophecy or not, he was going to do his job to the best of his ability.

He wasn't about to risk the lives of everyone but he also wasn't going to listen to an ancient text that could have been made up let alone translated poorly. And honestly, having it be the second option, where the Cardassian's (minus the Obsidian Order sabotage) aren't the bad guys was a great narrative choice.

I'm a little icked by Kira's kind of worship over Sisko but I'm hoping that doesn't stick, or at least isn't a big thing.

Miles and the Cardassian scientist having a bit of thing was cute and while I know he's married, I definitely headcanon the whole crew as one big polyam fam and so I'd ship it. lol

Overall, great episode

7/10

E16 - Prophet Motive

I was kinda bored with this one. I'm not really a fan of the Ferengi as a whole, the Nagus more so than others, so that's probably why. It was fun to watch Quark run around trying to solve this weird mystery as to what came over the Nagus and it was interesting to learn that the Ferengi weren't always a greedy species, but over all it was just a middling episode.

5/10

E17 - Visionary

I enjoyed this episode but I had some head scratching moments about the time travel bits and how one Miles could know things that the other didn't even though they were meant to follow the same time line. In the end I mostly just let myself sit back and enjoy what I could without trying to think too hard, even though I couldn't completely stop it lol

I wasn't surprised it was the Romulans at fault, as much as their my favorite antagonists in most Star Trek series (SNW and Lower Decks are their own beautiful beasts), they are very much a "actions before answers" kinda people.

I think my favorite part of this one was when Odo told Sisko about his investigation in detail to remind him of just how good he was. Also that Odo "always thinks of Quark", his words lol

I adored Miles for willing to put his life on the line for thousands of others. He's very much a "needs of the many" kinda guy and he's shown it several times but each time he volunteers without hesitation. I think its one of the reasons why I like him so much. That and he feels like one of the few truly grounded people on the crew, on that believes in Starfleet but knows that there are flaws in every system, not matter who runs it.

I'm curious, though, if the Miles that returned at the end of the episode will have more 'out of place' feelings and what that might mean for it. It's gotta be fucked up to watch yourself die like that.

7/10

[kiksniko]

pleas infodump abt your ocs to us........

anon i don't think you realize what you've just unleashed BUT HERE WE GOO

i got a little excited so my rambling is going under the cut

so the basic premise is that nova is a literal star ( a protostar to be exact) and likes to take different forms that allows them to travel between different planets. their one dream was to travel to as many planets as possible before they undergo metamorphosis and become a main sequence star (fancy way of saying they need to explode and undergo rebirth etc etc) which will happen when they turn 20

i say that they want to go as many planets as possible BUT the only exception was earth, because in between traveling between planets they made friends with other interstellar travelers and they all said how earth is the worst and their customs are so odd and aren't these beings aware that war isn't gonna solve all their problems?? so yeah, Earth was on Nova's blacklist

now picture this, Nova is 19 and wants to undertake their most ambitious voyage yet before they explode (the process takes a surprisingly long time) , traveling millions of light years from where their home constellation is. Their companion (the tiny ball of gases called kyle) is advising them to NOT go dude this trek is gonna be virtually impossible with your current equipment but nova is like no no trust we will make it with the power of my ideals.

and so nova embarks on this journey, but it goes rocky towards the very end and they lose control of their trajectory. one thing leads to the other and... this doesn't look like what the brochures advertised? you can see where this is going...

so now nova is on earth, and they can't leave coz most of their equipment got burned to a crisp when they landed and making new gadgets will take them months if not years without added assistance. yipee !!

the rest is basically history from there. nova hates every single second of being on earth for a while but eventually they meet this guy called leo who is the most intriguing human being they have ever met, and decides to bother stay with him for the rest of their duration on the planet (much to leo's annoyance) here's what he looks like :) he also has a twin brother called lucius but i am yet to draw him fully orz

nova gets to meet zuli through leo since they go to the same uni and have been childhood friends :D this story is so dear to my heart since it's got found family, hurt/comfort, fluff, MAJOR angst especially with the laika family and overall good summer vibes

there are a bunch of other characters that i could talk about for forever but that requires several google docs HELEPDSHJB if you made it all the way here i am literally in love with you btw

[gorgonarcher]

Game 4 - Fate Core

All right, some recent discussion about RPGs has brought me to look at Fate Core again and decide to use it for the next gorgon archer build.

Now, this is a bit interesting because character and world creation in Fate Core is meant to be collaborative. I could go ahead and just make up these other characters, I've done it before, but I might reach out to some other people this time.

So, character creation is the last bit of creating a game. And I'm going to be thinking about what sort of setting for this.

The first character I did on this blog was for a modern Earth superhero setting, the next two were standard heroic fantasy... well, I was never specific about the Hero System character's setting, but I had in mind some sort of medieval European-based heroic fantasy. I have a couple of good options for urban fantasy coming up in other games. In this case... I think I'm going to go with a sort of sci-fantasy such as Star Wars.

We're going to say the scale is a bit mixed, personal stories against epic backdrop. So instead of being the lead elements of a rebellion or war, they're people trying to survive the collateral of the ongoing issues. So we have two issues to make, a current issue and an upcoming issue.

Current Issue: Corporate Overlords

Upcoming Issue: War of Regimes

The galaxy is one run by oppressive megacorporations but they are soon facing a threat from the outside the form of another empire pressing a war of conquest over the area. I may be leaning a bit into Stellaris here. I haven't named the external empire making the press, yet, they might not even be public knowledge yet. Something coming along later maybe for the GM to shape themselves, or something the PCs will shape with their stories.

This is also sci-fantasy more than sci-fi, so there'll be some weird magic stuff. In this regard it's similar to Babylon 5 or Star Wars. (Or Stellaris in many ways, now I think about it).

So now, to start with we choose some Aspects... Aspects are used to note things that are important about the scene, the story, or the characters. Every location and character have some permanent Aspects attached that rarely change. Even the campaign will have some Aspects.

So, anyway, going to move onto character creation with that decided.

So the first thing we do is determine our character's aspects. We're going to start with two before we get to the collaborative part. These are:

High Concept: a summary of your basic concept.

Trouble: a summary of the most common and pressing problem they have.

"Gorgon Archer" is actually a perfectly fine Aspect to start with as a High Concept, but I do like adding a bit more flavor.

For a moment, I was going to go with "Project: Gorgon Escapee" as High Concept. This establishes a lot about the character and about the world at large as we now have "Project: Gorgon" and what it is to consider. In this case, I'm considering it as a secret gene-splicing project by some corporation meant to produce super-soldiers. (And now I'm drawing on Dark Angel). But I think this better fits a Trouble as while it implies some benefits in the form of whatever enhancements she has, the problems it suggests are much more pressing.

So, back to the High-Concept. The thought I had was "Star-Trekking Enhanced Archer." I'm getting the feeling that she wanders around traveling with different space craft and uses a bow of some sort. I've also referenced potential enhancements her a second time. Having Aspects overlap like this isn't a bad idea. I thought about using "Ship-Hopping" but if one of the other PCs turned out to be a pilot with their own ship, then that wouldn't fit since the PC would likely be spending their time on that one ship instead of switching ships. "Star-Trekking" has the benefit of implying traveling the stars without necessarily suggesting it's all in the same ship.

We're also supposed to name the character now, it occurs to me that I forgot to do that in the Pathfinder and Hero System characters. I might go back and fix that. In this case, let's name her something that we'd get off an experiment and turn to Google translate with "Experiment 15" to come back with "peírama dekapénte" (Experiment 15). And adjust that so that not everyone who speaks great does a head tilt when she says her name (granted, the snakes for hair might do that). "Peira Madekapen" which is the sort of silly thin cover name that might come out of a TV show.

The Phase Trio

Now we start to work on the remaining three Aspects. These come out of their first adventure and how they involved themselves in the first adventures of the other characters.

This is called the Phase Trio and the phases are:

Phase One: Your Adventure - Your character's first spot-light adventure pre-game and an Aspect that gave them.

Phase Two: Crossing Paths - A way your character was a supporting role in someone else's Phase One and an Aspect you gained from that experience.

Phase Three: Crossing Paths Again (It's literally called this) - Same as Phase two but with a second character.

In a 3 player game, you would all end up being each other's Phase Two and Three and be connected twice over. In a four player game, you'd be a supporting role in one other character's story, another character would be a supporting role in yours, and for the third comrade you'd be both supporting and supported by them in your Phase One. And in a 5-player game everyone would have two other people show up as support in their stories and show up as support in two other character's stories.

Her first adventure was about how she got clear of Project: Gorgon and shook the trail of their hunters.

Agents attached to Project: Gorgon tracked Peira to a farming colony run by a rival colony. While there, some type of intrusive creature appeared on the colony, threatening everyone. Maybe the first sign of the empire that will be invading soon, or maybe some project of the corps they needed to test. Peira helped several of the colonists escape the danger and the colony as a whole was written off, leaving Project: Gorgon at least temporarily convinced she was dead.

From this, I'm going to focus on her rescuing some of the local colonists even though it might have been better for her to just escape herself. "Guardian Serpent" comes to mind... it's also starting to hit on the fantasy part of sci-fantasy. But let's add a bit more maybe "Secret Serpent Guardian".... or... you know, let's go for some alliteration and more flavor. "Shadow-Stepping Serpent Sentinel"

Okay, so I reached out to some friends and I got two characters:

A cyborg waitress with base-tech upgrades.

A human nekomaido waitress, bright-eyed and unprepared for terrible things.

For first stories, the cyborg waitress gets hired to do some grocery shopping for a merc and gets caught up in a robbery that she has to fight out of with her not too-impressive tech.

The human found herself stolen from her planet find herself deposited somewhere strange and she's trying to figure out why this happened and figure out how to move forward.

So now, I have to decide how Peira served a supporting role in those stories.

For the cyborg waitress, literally on a milk run, what if there was a chase sequence in both stories and at one point the chases crossed paths, giving each of the two characters an opportunity to gain an edge. In this case, the aspect Peira gets out of this, I'm going to call "Convenient Chaos".

For the other case, Peira probably also recognized the other person's look as a fish out of water and gave her some advice on how to get by in a new place with little to no resources. And we're going to call this aspect "Experienced Drifter".

So, no pilot, but maybe this group does indeed hop from one ship to another. Also, I foresee some light-hearted moments where the gorgon gets roped into doing server work in one place or another. At this point the other two characters would state how each of their characters served a supporting roll in two other stories.

Note that there might be more than 3 players, and the way you decide who's story you had a supporting role in is that character sheets are passed around, clockwise or counter-clockwise, or some other predictable method. And then the sheet is returned. So, everybody is connected to at least two other people. I'm not going to get into the other stories, even the ones where people had a supporting role in her story, because those don't affect her character sheet.

An alternate way to do this is for a person to determine how they were a supporting role in someone else's story as normal, but instead of taking an Aspect from how you supported someone else, you instead take an Aspect from how you were supported. I chose to use the default method from the core book.

Side note, if I were to actually play this, I'd predict some shenanigans with Peira being drafted to do server stuff with the two waitresses.

Skills

Now we come to the part that, admittedly, I long found the most obtuse.

It took me a long while to realize that Skills don't actually refer to skills in the way we talk about them in common day to day parlance. They are instead descriptions of how the character is able to reliably influence the story. Their "skills" from a common sense are often more shaped by their Aspects. I used to get upset that the pyramid structure they use (see below) doesn't represent how skills are built based on my training as a teacher and that some of the things they call skils aren't skills.

I figured this out once they released Fate Accelerated where they used the term "Labels" rather than skills, and the labels were basically personality types. Very much similar to how Monster of the Week or other Powered by the Apocalypse games do.

My best example for this is Bones from Star Trek. He would have an Aspect to be a skilled surgeon and medical professional, but the skill most often related to medicine wouldn't be his highest skill. This is because his primary role in the story has nothing to do with his medical skill and "he's dead, Jim" is one of his most iconic lines. Medical issues are either trivial for him or else very strange and something that takes a lot of effort. So his medical skills could do with a mild to low bonus and be fine. Bones' biggest impact on the story and biggest role is to call people out for being stupid. So his highest skill would likely be "Provoke". He's often the voice of common sense and reminding people of basic morality.

So, now let's get to assigning skills.

You get the following:

One skill at Great (+4)

Two skills at Good (+3)

Three skills at Fair (+2)

Four skills at Average (+1)

In most (not all) Fate Games, +4 is the highest a skill can get. As a farther note the way skills improve at Milestones is that you can either choose a new skill at +1 or you can improve an existing skill by +1 or you can switch the position between two skills. But also there have to be at least as many skills at the lower values as those above.

So you can't improve one of your +1s to a +2 right away, because then there would be four +2s and three +1s. This is the pyramid thing I was talking about... there has to be a foundation for the skills to rest on. You CAN do a column, but getting to that takes some effort.

This was another case where my brain couldn't accept this because you don't suddenly switch from being good at seeing things to being good at punching them, but once I realized these are personality and attention focuses rather than objective capabilities, that was a concern that faded away. I'm still not especially fond of the pyramid structure, but meh.

Anyway, let's list the default skills:

Athletics

Burglary

Contacts

Crafts

Deceive

Drive

Empathy

Fight

Investigate

Lore

Notice

Physique

Provoke

Rapport

Resources

Shoot

Stealth

Will

When I said some of these are not skills, I was thinking: Contacts, Resources, Physique, and Will. These are things that you can improve with effort though, but they're not really skills the way most games mean the term. And again, that's because these aren't skills so much as roles in the story.

So let's see how Peira has the most impact on the story. I don't think it's Shoot, but I am going to put that as a Good skill. I'm also going to take Burglary as a Good skill... but I think her biggest impact on the story is going to be Willpower. Stealth, Physique and Investigate will be the the Fair skills. Then I'm going to go with Empathy, Athletics, Notice, and Fight.

So her skills will look like this:

Will +4

Shoot +3, Burglary +3

Stealth +2, Physique +2, Investigate +2

Empathy +1, Athletics +1, Notice +1, Fight +1

So, she doesn't impact the story much at all with Resources or Contacts, and she doesn't like to attract attention so Deceive and Provoke are also not present. She also doesn't do much with making stuff, knowing things, or piloting vehicles.

So, now we come to Stunts.

Stunts and Refresh

Refresh is the number of Fate Points you start each session with. Fate Points are gained when your Aspects cause you problems and they are spent to activate Aspects or Stunts. (You can also activate Aspects for free via the "Create an Advantage" action). You do not have a maximum number of Fate Points.

Important note from someone whose run a lot of Fate: it is vitally important for a GM to keep the Fate Points flowing. This means you are engaging the characters' story arcs and giving them the fuel to be awesome.

You start with a Refresh of 3 and three free Stunts. You can get new Stunts by reducing your Refresh one for one to a minimum of 1. So you can get to a maximum of 5 Stunts.

Stunts do one of several things:

Add a new action to a skill.

Add a bonus to an action in certain circumstances.

Create a Rules Exception

They very much function similarly to PbtA moves.

There are a number of example stunts for each of the skills in the Core book, a large library of stunts available online by the communities that run Fate, and lots of guidelines for how to build Stunts.

The first thing I'm going to do is make a Stunt for the petrifying gaze. I'm going to say that she can Attack using Will by activating her gorgon powers. This will be a paralysis rather than true petrification. This is fairly powerful, especially since I chose Will as the strongest roll. But I also don't want it to be a commonly used thing, so I'm going to balance it by making it cost a Fate Point to use.

Basically, she can project a psychic jolt through a flash of light, allowing her to paralyze people that can see her face. Making it an AoE introduces collateral damage potential for drama and also balances making it cost a Fate Point, because otherwise attacking with a Skill that normally isn't used to attack is usually fine on its own for a Stunt.

Paralyzing Gaze - Peira can direct her snakes and gaze together forward, forming a psychically active light show and attacking those that can see her face using Will.

For her other two stunts, I'm going to take two of the prebuilt stunts from the core book.

Indomitable - +2 to Defend against Provoke attacks specifically related to Intimidation or Fear.

Always a Way Out - +2 to Create an Advantage whenever you're trying to escape from a location.

Stress and Consequences

Now we come to Stress and Consequences.

Most of this will be gameplay talk so you have context for what the values mean. The actual creation is pretty simple. Default is two Stress Boxes and it will be improved by Physique and Will.

Stress represents the temporary harm a person takes in the course of doing dangerous things. It heals up as soon as you have a chance to take a breath. There are two tracks by default: Physical and Mental. Some versions of Fate will also have other tracks such as the following:

Social - representing your reputation with other people and societal consequences.

Wealth - representing money.

Various power sources like "Energy" or "Soul"

Characters also have 3 Consequences (in some versions of Fate, they will have three Consequences for each track, but by default the consequences are mostly shared). Also, unlike Stress, they don't immediately go away just because you had a minute to catch your breath.

You have to take a deliberate action to recover from a consequence. After this action, the Consequence will recover at a time determined by it's severity.

Mild - After one full scene has occurred. (so if you do the recovery in the middle of a scene it will recover in the middle of the next one)

Moderate - After one full session has occurred. (so if you do the recovery in middle of a session, you will finish healing in the middle of the next session)

Severe - One whole scenario (adventure/mystery) after the recovery action happens.

When you recover, the consequence will either drop one level of severity or will go away completely if it was Mild. You name your Consequences to match the source of the harm.

So if you were attacked emotionally via Provoke trying to scare you and suffered a Moderate consequence you might name it "Frightened" if it was Severe you might name it "Terrified" or, if you want to be more flavorful, "The Fright of your Life" and you would change the name to represent healing after the recovery. So, "Terrified" might change to "Deeply Unsettled".

On the other hand a "Broken Leg" might turn to "Walking Cast".

So, how damage happens. An attack is rolled and the amount by which it succeeds determines the Stress coming in. If you can't account for even 1 Stress, then the character is Taken Out and will no longer be able to take part in the current scene. What this means generally depends on the situation. It could mean that they flee or get knocked out. They might be captured. Or they might be dead. This is largely determined by the players and GM at the moment.

Each box has a value equal to it's position.

Let's say you have 3 Stress Boxes and you suffer 2 Stress from an attack. You would go from this:

OOO

to this:

OXO

If you took 3 Stress instead, it would look like this:

OOX

If you took 1 Stress it would look like this:

XOO.

Now, if the Stress Box for the value you just suffered is filled, you have to go to the next higher value. So, if you were at this:

OXO

And took another 2 Stress you would have to fill in the third box even though it is worth 3 instead of 2 and you'd look like this:

OXX

Alternately, you can suffer a Consequence.

Mild Consequences are worth 2 Stress

Moderate Consequences are worth 4 Stress

Severe Consequences are worth 6 Stress

And again, if you suffer 1 Stress but all of your Stress Tracks and other consequences are filled... you might have to suffer that Severe Consequence for that 1 damage.

Now, that bit of gameplay away, let's get back to character creation.

Physique and Will improve Stress Tracks and give extra Consequences.

Physique of +1 or +2 means she has one extra Physical Stress box. While Will of +3 or higher means she has two extra Mental Stress boxes. For games that allow skills of +5 or higher, the character would also gain an extra Mild Consequence purely for the type of harm related to the skill.

So This is the final result for Peira Madekapen

Peira Madekapen - Refresh 3

Aspects

High Concept: Star-Trekking Enhanced Archer

Trouble: Project: Gorgon Escapee

Shadow Stepping Serpent Sentinel

Convenient Chaos

Experienced Drifter

Skills

Will +4

Shoot +3, Burglary +3

Stealth +2, Physique +2, Investigate +2

Empathy +1, Athletics +1, Notice +1, Fight +1

Stunts

Paralyzing Gaze - Peira can direct her snakes and gaze together forward, forming a psychically active light show and attacking those that can see her face using Will.

Indomitable - +2 to Defend against Provoke attacks specifically related to Intimidation or Fear.

Always a Way Out - +2 to Create an Advantage whenever you're trying to escape from a location.

Stress Tracks:

Physical: OOO

Mental: OOOO

Consequences:

Mild

Moderate

Severe