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Out of Season World Building

Santa's elves, referred to from here on as "Polar Elves" are, in truth, a half-elf/half dwarf hybrid species. On average taller and slimmer than dwarves while being shorter and stouter than elves, they have a broad band of body types similar to the range of human beings.

"Elf" is a misnomer brought about by their more obviously elven features, such as pointed ears, despite also bearing features that are rare to find in actual elves. They are also more prone to facial hair than elves, though that doesn't often start before their relative middle age (which is still well in advance of the stage of life in which the rare bearded elf begins developing theirs).

Polar Elves are a true hybrid, two Polar Elves being able to bear Polar Elven offspring.

They have a dwarven sense of work ethic and craftsmanship and an elven sense of artistry. They are not a group generally prone to tinkering and experimentation, however. This stability and consistency made them more suitable to work alongside Santa Claus than their gnomish and goblinoid rivals. It is also possible Santa himself is descended from Polar Elves and some other race or races (often suspected to be Human and/or Red Orc, but such speculation is better reserved for another work).

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I might actually do something with this one.

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On that subject

Politicize everything: Attack the authoritarians for every bad thing that happens, anywhere in the world. Flood the zone.

This is something that the "rainbow-flag-everywhere twitter refugee activists" need to learn from the "dead-eyed natsec and econ department ghouls." And that's something I've been preaching for a long time.

Do you want to be right, or do you want to win?

It doesn't matter if, factually, something is completely out of the control of the opposition leadership. It doesn't matter that the enemy can't control the price of gas directly or the hurricanes in Florida, or whatever the fuck. It doesn't matter if a problem started before they were in office or was an inevitable consequence of something that happened thirty years ago.

Feelings don't care about your facts. And people are motivated by feelings.

We reflexively feel the need to check and verify and flinch away from statements that aren't at least 85% true and then clarify that 15%. But that's not how you win this. That isn't how they got where they are.

You don't blame them for the thing for which they are directly responsible.

If something goes wrong, it's *their fault.* Every time. No matter what.

You know I don't think I ever really appreciated how powerful a force affective polarization is. Actually maintaining strictly tactical, enemy-of-my-enemy alliances with people on specific issues really does seem psychologically different - the tendency towards slowly assimilating into the ideological consensus of people around you is strong.

All to say that the ideological synthesis between rainbow-flag-everywhere twitter refugee activists and dead-eyed natsec and econ department ghouls currently underway on Bluesky is going to be fascinating.

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Random Kingdom Hearts Thought 20 Years After Relevance

Roxas should have been a KH-Original 'toon. Hayner, Pence, and Olette should have been Final Fantasy characters. Go or the full flip of Sora's party but already present in the Destiny Islands equivalent.

While we're at it, Half of Org XIII? Also should have been 'toons and the whole versions of the ones that aren't 'toons? Should have been 'toons.

Ventus? 'Toon. Vanitas? Exactly the same. Xion? Either or. Namine? 'Toon. You want Terra to be a regular human? Best believe Xemnas is a toon.

Controversial opinion, I know. But that's what this page is for.

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World Building without a World: Dwarven Lifespan

The natural life span of a dwarf exceeds every other kin in the setting. But when a dwarf reaches a sufficiently advanced age and finds little motivation to keep living, they will find a comfortable spot in some mound, mountain, or mesa and become a part of the stone. They have not died, though no one can wake them even if they know they're there. The stone hears all and they will wake of their own volition when the world becomes an interesting place for them again. This is not a conscious process and they will have no recall of just what it was that got their attention.

Because this can last anywhere from decades to an eternity, few non-dwarves, and fewer dwarves than you'd expect, are aware of it.

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The Unified Theory of Ki Supplemental 1: Saiyans, Their Potential, and Their Forms

Disclaimer: As a quick reminder before anyone comes in with a snarky "Toriyama didn't think about it this much..."

Obviously. The point of this isn't to explain how Toriyama/Toyotaro/The Dragon Room think of Ki or mechanics they implemented into their story. It's to take a look at ideas that have been explored in the series and then work backwards to create a series of mechanics that effectively and satisfactorily covers the work. It is fanfiction in the form of technical writing, not to be taken as fact, but as a interesting at least, and a different way to look at the series for fun at best. Or as a way to spec out game mechanics if that's something anyone's looking to do.

Disclaimer 2: I am firmly on the side of Toriyama, Z, and Super that the Saiyan tail is a crutch that a Saiyan must overcome to reach their full potential, not the Saiyan's actual power. SSJ4 isn't in here because, like much of GT, it's a contradiction and fitting it into the rest of the framework is difficult. I might take a stab at it some other time, though.

Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego are also absent from this because not only are they not exclusively Saiyan forms (which applies to Kaioken and Ultimate, both of which I've included), but I don't think there's interesting interplay with what I'm proposing in terms of Saiyans' relationship with Ki. They're their own set of abilities that don't really care about the others.

With all of that out of the way

The Unified Theory of Ki - Supplemental 1: Potential, Saiyans, and Forms

Section 1: Let's Talk Potential

While this supplemental is meant to cover Saiyan biology as it pertains to ki more than anything, there's something we have to get out of the way first. Let's talk potential, as it's something that comes up frequently in the series. It's a difficult thing to understand, given how haphazardly "latent potential" is thrown around and the various things it can mean. I think we can discard out of hand the idea of it meaning "the most powerful can ever be." That interpretation never really made sense without separating the two rituals to unlock potential that we saw on screen into two different things. And while the different lengths of time those two rituals took could allow for that to be the case, later evidence from Super would contradict this. Besides that, I think that the difference would be better explained as efficacy. Guru and Old Supreme Kai both did the same thing, but Old Supreme Kai's delved deeper.

I would argue that what "potential" means in this case is tapping into power you would normally have to exert one's self to use temporarily and making it a part of your normal reservoir. Characters' power levels have been shown to fluctuate based on emotional state and exertion, though not to the extremes Gohan's rage is generally capable of producing. I would then argue that what both Guru and Old Kai are doing is making that exerted power a more natural state for the subject. This is why Gohan's boost is so wildly different from Krillin's, as it's making his rage boosted stats a part of his natural power, and why he doesn't get another proper rage boost until reaching SSJ2. Meanwhile Krillin is simply receiving the full power of what he can do when exerting himself. I would also posit that Guru's power up was permanent for the both of them, which is why even when his training lapsed, Krillin remained stronger than Tenshinhan. Still, it does not transcend Saiyan transformations for a very specific reason.

Section 2: Saiyan "Potential"

Alright, let's just get this out of the way. We all know that Saiyans are special, but in what way. Most of them are relatively powerful to start, if they hadn't had their potential (common use of the phrase) stunted by their tails and the use of the Oozaru form then they'd have been as insanely powerful as their U6 counterparts. How does this fit into the framework I'm creating?

My notion is this: Saiyans are naturally gifted, well beyond what the average Saiyan would lead you to believe. Their actual power functions a lot like cockroaches: what you see is only a fraction of the whole. They are natural born ki turbines meant to generate power well beyond what most species in the galaxy are capable of, including embers of god ki. The problem is that Saiyans, in their natural state, are inherently terrible at accessing and utilizing any of this power. And the culture of U7 only served to encourage this natural flaw. Everyone of the Saiyans' various forms and evolutionary elements is an expression of their bodies trying to reach their true power. But that power can only really be accessed through physical and emotional growth. Not shortcuts.

This differs from the potential referred to in the previous section, which is simply the maximum amount of power you can output at your current strength. It is not unlocked by potential unlocking rituals because it's a different thing entirely. Without the right training or the right forms, Saiyans are completely walled off from this power, unlike the power of "potential" that comes from simple exertion.

Section 3: Saiyan States, Power Ups, and Forms

Disclaimer 3: Refer to Disclaimer 1. The same applies here. If it's something that isn't shown in the manga or show and I don't say that it's based on a statement from Toriyama, assume that it is speculation in line with the overall goal of this project: making a unified working ruleset based on the content of the series for entertainment purposes. I will often, but not always, denote these parts with speculative phrasing.

Base Forms -

Base Saiyan with Tail - Base

The default state of all full-blood, and some hybrid, Saiyans and the weakest a Saiyan can be. The tail grants the Saiyan both a boosted power level in their natural state and access to the Oozaru transformation. The drawbacks are that, when grabbed, the insufficiently trained Saiyan will lose all strength and when removed the Saiyan will suffer a massive power loss. With sufficient growth, the Saiyan no longer needs the tail to have the same power it once provided.

Within this framework I would argue that the Saiyan tail is a taproot into their underlying power. A quick, cheap boost that all Saiyans are born with in compensation for how poor they are on the whole at accessing their walled off power reserves.

Oozaru - Psuedo-Super Saiyan

Oozaru is the Saiyan body's effort to access the Super Saiyan transformation. It's a 10x increase in power level, but I would argue it's an incredibly inefficient spread. Referencing my previous musings on how ki works and judging by the fight with Vegeta, I would argue that most of the Ki output of the Oozaru form is going towards compensating for the massive loss in speed and agility, leaving the Oozaru user roughly as fast as they were before, but only minimally stronger mostly coming from the increase baseline physical strength as opposed to more ki being pumped into increasing strength (though I would say not none). From this state a sufficiently powerful Saiyan could potentially reach true Super Saiyan 1 and may have been how the original Legendary Super Saiyan did so.

Base Saiyan without Tail - Evolved Base

The natural state of U6 Saiyans and U7 Saiyans after either training to integrate the power their tail granted (Goku with Kami in Dragon Ball) or reaching a certain plateau of power where the tail no longer provides a boost (Vegeta, possibly the half-Saiyans). According to Toriyama the bodies of Saiyans eventually determine that the tail is unnecessary so it stops growing back, or in the case of U6 Saiyans, growing at all. This is the state necessary for a Saiyan to properly begin harnessing their potential.

Kaio-Ken - Borrowed Power

This is not an evolution of Saiyan power, but I'm including it for the sake of differentiating it from the way the other boosts in power here work. The Kaio-Ken is a technique that increases power while putting a massive strain on the body. I would argue that, unlike what unlocking potential or Super Saiyan forms do, the Kaio-Ken is not drawing from latent or wasted power. It's forcing the user's body to create power it does not actually have. This is why it not only causes strain during use, but also outright damages the body.

Wrathful - Perfected Oozaru, Still Flawed

The Dragon Ball Super version of Broly used this form. Having achieved the tailless base state a Saiyan needs to reach their full potential, Broly was able to tap into the power of the Oozaru transformation without massively augmenting his body. He gained some amount of size, but not too much, and I would speculate that this made the impact much more potent. There was no massive loss of speed caused by increase of mass, allowing his power to be distributed more evenly. In conjunction with his already massive base power and his ability to grow stronger the longer a battle rages, this is the peak of what Oozaru can grant a Saiyan. The down side is that the form causes Broly immense pain while he also loses most of his faculties.

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Super Saiyan -

Super Saiyan - Reaching the Potential

Through duress (Goku, Cabba) or observation and training (Goten, Trunks, Future Trunks <Manga>, Vegeta <Manga>, Caulifla) this is a Saiyan finally forcefully prying open the doors of their full Saiyan potential. This is just a taste of what they can achieve, as it's the unmastered, raw version of the real thing. It causes both physical and mental stress to maintain the state, making the user more vicious than they might otherwise be and making it difficult to remain in the state when injured or exhausted.

Super Saiyan Grade 2/Ultra Super Saiyan - A Little Further Beyond

This is pushing the form just a little further than it had been, holding the doors to the Saiyan reservoir of power a little wider. Compensates for an increased strain on the body by expanding muscle mass, but not so extremely as to noticeably affect speed. May actually be superior to raw Super Saiyan 1

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Super Saiyan Grade 3/Ultra Super Saiyan 2 - Oozaru 3.0

Don't get me wrong, it's not using the power of the Oozaru transformation, but it's making the same kinds of mistakes that Oozaru does without the same increase in power to compensate. Grade 3 nudges the door just a little wider than Grade 2, but the increase in power requires an even greater increase in muscle mass so as not to rip the user apart. It's possible that, like Oozaru, a good amount of that increase is being used to maintain speed at similar levels to Grade 2, but it may also be distributing power evenly, and with the boost in power being so small, speed drops off even more sharply than strength grows.

Full Power Super Saiyan - The True Saiyan Form, Evolved Base 2

Full Power Super Saiyan achieves what every form before it has been trying to. It throws wide the doors to the Saiyan's secret reserve of power and incorporates it into their natural state. This is the actual base form of a Saiyan that they've been held back from. Unfortunately, this state can be lost, though simply reverting to base is not an indication of losing access to this form.

Super Saiyan 2 - Super Saiyan, but moreso.

Yes, I'm putting Super Saiyan 2 in the Super Saiyan section and not the Super Saiyan 2 section, but I'm doing it for a reason. As I see it, SSJ2 is not a different form from FPSSJ. Nor is it a "Grade 2" type evolution of the form. What SSJ2 is is the exerted state of SSJ1. A form that cannot be obtained without either mastering SSJ1 or witnessing someone who has. This brings back both the subject of there being a difference between "Potential" and "Saiyan Potential" and the idea of Guru's unlocking of potential not being able to cross beyond transformations. Once Gohan had achieved FPSSJ he once more had a wellspring of unused potential both from the boost everyone can get from exertion and his own massive rage boost. Likewise, Goku and Vegeta learned from this how to exert Super Saiyan into this state. Caulifla then learned it from Goku while Cabba experienced it the way Gohan did.

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Legendary Super Saiyan -

Before getting into SSJ2's variants, let's take a detour to Legendary Super Saiyan for a moment. Now this is even messier than the rest of this subject because its canon versions, and all the offshoots that come from it, were obviously first and foremost meant to be references and nods to the original Broly more than they were given any thought with regards to how they fit into the universe overall. So while all of this is just fanwank for fun, I do try to ground it in elements seen or said in the media or by the creator in interviews. This part, however? This is gonna be almost entirely post-hoc overthought bullshit. But, like I said, this is about making these concepts fit into a functional framework. Also, the names for Broly, Broly, and Kale's forms are all over the place all the time, but since all three of them are referred to as Legendary Super Saiyan at one point or another I'm just going with that

Legendary Super Saiyan - Ignoring the Flaws of Super Saiyan Grade 2

Broly and Kale really are built different. From the blank eyes to the green aura, this is undeniably not the same as Super Saiyan. At least, not exactly the same. I would argue that, unlike most Saiyans, these two possess a secondary well of power. Or, rather, a different primary one. It's not inherently more powerful than the regular Super Saiyan power. In fact, for both of them, they become more powerful once they learn to use the golden glow instead of the green one, but what it is is bottomless. This, more than anything, is what differentiates it from other Super Saiyan forms. Because of this, they have enough energy to make all of the mistakes of Super Saiyan Grade 2 but with none of the drawbacks as the bottomless ki can compensate. And in Broly's case, he continues to grow stronger the longer he fights, making the drawback even more irrelevant. The drawback they do suffer, however, is a total loss of control.

Legendary Super Saiyans' Super Saiyan - Super Saiyan Buff

Unique in canon to Kale but also used by Movie Broly, this is Super Saiyan 1 for a Legendary Super Saiyan. It differs from regular Super Saiyan in that it noticeably increases the size and muscle mass of the user, but to a less extreme degree. The user has greater control over themselves than in the Legendary Super Saiyan and Kale, at least, appeared to become stronger by using this form than she had been in Legendary Super Saiyan. I speculate this form mainlines the Super Saiyan reservoir of power while keeping the Legendary Super Saiyan boundless ki stream open just a crack.

Full Power Legendary Super Saiyan - A Different Flavor of Full Power

Where FPSSJ is throwing wide the doors of Super Saiyan and making that power a natural part of your own, FPLSSJ seems to be a case of the power flowing from the LSSJ pool overflowing their containment. Power grows and the body massively increases in size even more, likely to reduce the strain of holding onto that much power.

True Legendary Super Saiyan - Mastering the Flow

Kale in the anime Tournament of Power and Broly in the Super manga both achieve this state of their Legendary forms. Their eyes return to normal, their bulk reduces (though both remain bigger than their other forms) and their hair and aura remain green. This would, in my estimate, be the inverse of Kale's Super Saiyan form, mostly using the power from LSSJ while incorporating the power of SSJ into it.

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Super Saiyan 2 -

Like I said before, while Super Saiyan 2 has a section, Super Saiyan 2 is not in it. you'll understand why soon.

Super Saiyan 3 - Failed Evolution

It is my belief that Super Saiyan 3 isn't meant to be a form in-and-of itself. More importantly, I don't like the idea that Goku attempted to make a Super Saiyan 2 Grade 2 either. Instead, I posit that Super Saiyan 3 was Goku's effort to master Super Saiyan 2 the same way he did Super Saiyan 1. In other words, it was an attempt at Full Power Super Saiyan 2 that failed. Goku, however, didn't quite grasp that is didn't work, as his being dead prevented him from feeling energy draining strain that the form put on his body. Because of the nature of Super Saiyan 2, that being an exerted version of SSJ1, I suspect there's no natural means of reaching a Full Power equivalent. Gotenks, being a child and a show off, didn't even bother to understand anything about the form, merely copying what Goten and Trunks had witnessed Goku doing.

Super Saiyan Rage - Grade 2 Perfected

Super Saiyan Rage's design and the transformation sequence provide an opportunity for an interesting interpretation. I see it as a work around for Super Saiyan Grade 2's drawbacks while maintaining its benefits applied to Super Saiyan 2. Instead of massively increasing his body size, Trunks externalizes the physical changes into an aura kept tight around himself, effectively still being used as a part of his offense, but no longer weighing him down. A very specific example of ki control vastly increasing power, even though he's not fully controlling all of the ki leaking from him.

Ultimate - A Fortunate Workaround

Gohan's Ultimate form is, in effect, Guru's unlock applied to SSJ2 resulting in that Full power Super Saiyan 2 that Goku was trying for with Super Saiyan 3. Elder Kai's ritual having the additional bonus that Guru's didn't (and didn't need since Gohan was already in peak fighting condition) of polishing off all of Gohan's rust before giving him access to all of his potential power with none of the strain or stress on his body. Of course, once the rust came back he lost the ability to maintain that state effortlessly, but it's still there.

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God Ki -

Super Saiyan God - A Touch of the Divine

Earlier I had mentioned that Saiyans also likely generate a bit of God Ki. This is why I think so. Goku's exposure to the ki of a group of other Super Saiyans allowed him to reach this state, a state wherein he begins to use God Ki instead of just normal Ki. Vegeta also reaches this state after Goku achieved it. I suspect the ritual is only necessary insofar as getting the feel for it without having used it. Vegeta was able to gauge how it was done due to his experience as a fighter and his history with Goku.

Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan/Super Saiyan Blue - Starting Back at 1

This one isn't too complicated. Now that the Saiyan in question can perceive and wield God Ki, they suddenly have access to a wellspring of that as well. Super Saiyan Blue is opening the door to that in the same way SSJ1 did for their potential as a Saiyan.

Super Saiyan Royal Blue/Blue Evolved/Bluer - Full Power Upgrade

This form shares similarities with both Grade 2 and Full Power Super Saiyan, though clearly more like Grade 2 in appearance. However, I'd argue, given the size of the power increase, it's actually more along the lines of Full Power in terms of results. There seems to be little strain, though the muscle mass does have a noticeable increase (not to Grade 2's extreme, however). The hair changes shades, similar to Full Power, while the aura is different depending on whether it's the manga or anime. Still, given his history, I'd like to think Vegeta learned from his mistakes and chose to develop his new form more along the lines he was shown before.

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Previous Work referenced in this -

[addermoray]

I kinda want to start one of those DBZ RPGs we used to have when we were kids.

The ones hosted on random Geocities websites or forums. The ones that didn't feed and nurture an addiction to instant gratification because scenes and adventures would be played out over the course of months, training took you out of the action for days to weeks, and it was all done over e-mail or forum posts.

As some of you may know, I've been doing a series of write-ups (very very slowly) titled "The Unified Theory of Ki." They don't really serve any purpose. They're just my overthinking a lot of Dragon Ball related elements to bring them into alignment in a functional system that both aligns with the work's canon and works as a system within the context of itself.

I kinda want to put it towards something like this. I've got a pretty good idea of how I'd balance everything out, perks to give various species and what not. And I'd want to do it on a basic web 1.0-ass site, of course. Sadly, I don't think the effort would reap the kind of interaction that would justify itself.

Plus I don't even know how one goes about making a web 1.0 site in the year of our lord 2024.

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Healing magic shouldn't cure (most) disease.

I've discussed this idea before, but I'm not sure I've done so here. In settings with come kind of distinction between restorative magic and destructive magic (White/Black in Final Fantasy, Faith/Reason in FE3H, etc) I'm of the opinion that healing magic should be an effective treatment for the symptoms of disease, but absolutely should not be able to cure it. It should, in fact, make things worse (for the most part, this doesn't apply in the cases where disease is not caused by my next point). Why? Because disease isn't caused by damage, it causes damage. Disease is caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites, etc. Living (or close enough to living) things. Applying healing magic should, in the best case scenario, relieve symptoms, or, in the worst case scenario, create an environment more hospitable for the disease to grow worse.

Destructive magic should be the avenue to kill disease, in much the same way your body responds to infection by turning the temperature up to make your body inhospitable, or white blood cells operate by eliminating the foreign bodies making you sick, it is destructive magic that should be used to cure disease.

To that end, a setting where they are just discovering this application could be interesting.

[addermoray]

World Building: Death is not good. Death is not neutral. Death is not weak. Death is merely blind.

What I mean by that is that often, in fiction, we are presented with gods of death or manifestations of death incarnate. Because of the nature of death fiction will generally shy away from making death evil. And in the instances where it does, it will instead make death relatively weak and impotent. Bound by rules or cowed by greater beings. After all, if death has a will, that will is malicious, and it cannot be stopped, then everything should be dead, yes?

I propose, instead, a Death that is not kind, impartial, or impotent, it's merely blind to most of the universe. It is omnipresent and filled with hatred for any other being in the universe, but it lacks the ability to sense them under most circumstances. Until they begin to die. When they start to die, then they become visible to Death. Dying is not a biological process that leads one to no longer being alive, it is the process of losing the invisibility that cloaks all living things and coming under Death's gaze.

Immortals are not immortal because Death cannot harm them. They are immortal because neither age nor injury can break their invisibility. But should they make themselves visible by some other means, they too would succumb to Death's touch.

To what end would I use this? What purpose could a Death like this have in a story? I dunno. That's what these posts are about. Putting little bits of non-existent universes out into the ether for others to find a use for.

[addermoray]

Following up yesterday's post: GOLB and Lumpy Space

Yesterday I made the observation here that if anyone would make it as a true "Scholar of GOLB" it would be LSP. She creates chaos everywhere she goes with minimal effort. And we've seen that her personality and bad habits are not far removed from those of her people.

Which got me thinking: What if GOLB, intentionally or accidentally, created Lumpy Space?

After all, Lumpy Space isn't exactly the most ordered of locales. It is ill formed, scattered, disparate bits and pieces of what can technically be considered geography. Its nature truly chaotic in its design.

Its residence, no different from LSP herself, live for drama and mess. They are naturally inclined to escalate problems and instigate others into conflict, whether it involves them or not.

And the big thing? We've seen that Lumpy Space Princess has a lesser version of two of GOLB's powers. In Elementals she reverts things to their previous state. And not just the magic of the elementals. She reverts the damage from Gumbald's juice and she reverts Jake to his natural state. Furthermore she (and all other Lumpy Space Residents) can infect others through biting them the same way GOLB can infect things with its breath.

All-in-all, while I don't think it was actually intended, Lumpy Space being created, however unintentionally, by a piece of GOLB's being makes way too much sense.

[addermoray]

Now that they've fixed Kurt's backstory to the originally intended one...

I want them to use this as an opportunity to make Kurt's teleport just a little better. Now that he's also Destiny's kid let someone reveal to him, or just have him figure out, that with concentration he can blind teleport anywhere in his range without fear due to very minor precog preventing him from materializing into something solid. Though keep the risk if he has to blind teleport without time to concentrate.

I always liked thinking of his natural camouflage as not actually being due to the color of his fur, but a very minor degree of Mystique's shapeshifting that he inherited. His fur actually subconsciously shifting between shades of blue and black that make him the most difficult to see in the dark.

So you stack on the minor precog I mentioned above and Kurt becomes very much his mothers' son without having to change much of anything about him.

[addermoray]

Poor Scholars Indeed

The Lich died the death he should have.

The Lich was never anything more than a very powerful, very evil person. Not a human person, mind. At least millions of years old in its existence and over one thousand in corporeal form. But a person none-the-less. The wiki once ascribed a whole bunch of things to him that were never shown in the show ("every version has the memory of other versions from other universes," for example). But he was never that degree of cosmic. He was repeatedly thwarted by Finn, a child, if a special one, and Billy, who was also just a very powerful guy. He was a scholar of GOLB, not some projection of him on the mortal plain. And he was a poor scholar at that.

GOLB is not death and destruction. GOLB is not entropy. GOLB is chaos. A universe absent of life is a universe of absolute order. GOLB wrought havoc in order to bring chaos to worlds of too much order. Look what taking a single person from Mars (Margles) did to two worlds, for example. People, and sometimes worlds, died when GOLB set down, but the death was merely a by-product. The Lich and, I assume, the other scholars of GOLB never understood GOLB they saw the destruction he brought but never grasped the purpose.

And he died like he deserved, like every version of him we've ever seen has died. He died an ignoble, pathetic death like he always does. Turned into a giant baby who becomes a great hero, impaled by that same giant baby, killed by a nobody fox accidentally firing a god weapon, and now rendered a tetromino by the true ultimate force of nature in the Adventure Time multiverse.

But you know who would be a true Scholar of GOLB if they took up the cause? LSP

[addermoray]

World Building without a world: Magic, Science, and Technology

This is just another one of those posts I make where I do some world building without a particular setting. In this case, I want to write a justification for the common trope of tech not functioning well in the presence of magic.

Magic is a science, but is not is not scientific

Magic can be studied scientifically, but cannot be a science. Why? Because its rules are arbitrary and what applies to one form of magic or, hell, even a single spell does not apply universally across all of magic. This is what makes the study of magic difficult in the first place. Because you aren't just studying a set of rules and constants and then applying them across the discipline. You need to know when the fireball spell you're casting falls under Maldedorf's elemental tables, when it's subject to the Ephemeral Laws of Flame, and when it's just one of those wild sons of bitches with their own individual bullshit.

Furthermore, magic is, in part, ruled by belief, meaning that, while the rules do not regularly change, sometimes you wake up and your reliable Elemental Fireball blows up in your face because now there's a whole new set of rules and it falls under those, but like with most experts in many disciplines, your experience has caused you to skimp on the basics and you weren't paying attention to the flow of the magical energies.

On top of this, magic's arbitrary rules do not function within the context of the laws that govern the rest of our universe. Spell casting at its most basic, is creating a pocket of unreality and replacing the rules with your own will and whatever consensus or personal belief you're basing your casting on.

That last bit is why technology does not function well in places where magic is heavily used. Reality is so thoroughly weakened that the physical laws that govern how the tech works are no longer as rock solid as they are elsewhere. Living things are far more resistant to this breakdown, but they aren't immune. The most effective way to kill another person with magic isn't to study to learn powerful murder magic. It's to effectively lob a magical chaff grenade that so thoroughly scrambles reality that your target's bodily functions cease to work correctly.

[addermoray]

Tim Drake: Civilian Life

As many of you know, Tim Drake is my favorite comic book character and has been for decades. And being the long time fan that I am, I hate to see my boy's wheels spinning. But I also hate to see writers try to advance him to places he really shouldn't be going.

Some of you may have read previous posts I've made about the character and know that I agree with the thoroughly ingrained concept that, in the future, Tim will become Batman, despite not wanting to be, out of obligation and doing the job will make him miserable.

Why would I want to inflict this kind of suffering on my favorite character? Because it's the only route that has ever made sense for him. Tim's entire character, his entire reason for becoming Robin in the first place, has been stepping up because someone had to, despite never wanting to be that someone.

His other defining character trait is his loyalty to the people close to him. Not just the Batfamily, but the original Young Justice as well. When Tower of Babel happened, the team got nervous about Tim doing the same to them and he swore he could never treat his friends that way. Years later

Your first instinct might be to say he went back on his word. But you'll notice that his list includes not one single member of his Young Justice team.

Why do I bring this up in a post about what I would do with Tim Drake if given free reign at DC? We'll get there.

The answer to the question, by the way, is that I would do one last story arc tying up loose ends as Robin and then I would have him move on...

To civilian life.

Tim was never meant to stay a super hero. It is a tragedy, in universe, that he's done it as long as he has. And the day he comes back to be Batman because someone has to will always be some distance in the future. So one final story line. One last long string of triumphs before he hangs up his cape (except, ya know, for big giant crossover stories where it's all hands on deck) and is sidelined into the background of the DCU.

Sidelined, but not removed.

Because while I'd take him out of active hero duty, there are a bunch of dangling threads that would make for a beautiful bow to keep him in the loop while off of the front lines.

Tim Drake's mother was killed. And then his father was killed. But he has a Step-Mother that survived, vanishing from the story. As did the failing, but not failed, Drake Industries.

Let's bring those back. The final chapter of Tim Drake's final story as an active super hero would be reconnecting with Dana-Winters Drake. After her mental crisis, following her husband's death, she was able to recover. Tim had been helping, but keeping his distance. His being a hero has gotten enough of his parents killed. The company he inherited? He gave to her once she was fit to take it, expecting her to sell it.

Instead, she brought it back from the brink, never taking it public.

Tim, finally putting his super heroics behind him, can at last feel safe reuniting with her.

Flash forward and Tim's got a role in what was his father's company. Not in charge of it, why would he ever want to take that from his stepmom? But he runs his own division and has full autonomy. Over the years there have been many companies purporting to provide aid to super heroes. The problem is that they were all inevitably revealed to be evil ploys, run by villains, or taken over by greedy fat cats.

But what if there was one that was guaranteed to be trustworthy?

From equipment, to safe houses, to access to medical and psychiatric professionals, Drake Industries has you covered. And, of course, the first people we see Tim, in a suit and tie instead of a cape and mask, extending these services to are his old team.

And with this being the new status quo, Tim is still around to be used in stories and is freed up to take a background role that can have him appear in any number of books, not just bat and Young Justice books. Like Nightwing and Oracle before him, he becomes a major player in the DCU overall. But he's also finally living the life he wanted to, balancing his sense of obligation with at last being free from the rooftops.

[addermoray]

Somebody better pick up that phone.

some rambling about legacies, and opening up, and All Might has two sons more at 11

can I offer you an essay about All Might and his children in these trying times.

so back before he got swept up in the great tides of character development, Bakugou used to think that in order for him to succeed at becoming the best hero, it meant that Deku could not succeed. he thought it was a zero sum game; he could only be strong if Deku stayed weak. if Deku grew strong, then that would mean he was the weak one. there wasn’t room for the two of them to reach the top together. it could only be one or the other.

this is of course patently false, and we’ve since seen it disproven beyond a shadow of a doubt, and Katsuki has learned that it’s okay for them to work together. not just okay, but correct; the only way, the best way. it doesn’t make him weak; working with Deku improves them both and helps them both to succeed.

so given that, I think it stands to reason that if this holds true for success and power levels, it should also hold true for their character development, and their personal relationships – such as their relationship with All Might.

Keep reading

[addermoray]

My Vain Hope for Sean Matsuda���s Design in a Hypothetical SFVI Appearance

So, with SFVI being an appreciable step into the future, it seems to me like a perfect time to finally return Sean to playability. But in doing so, I wouldn’t want to see the exact same character we saw in SFIII. I want an advanced Sean. A kid who trained under Ken until he had a solid mastery of Goken school Ansatsuken before returning home and studying with his family to mix a little Matsuda style Jiu-Jitsu in. Basically, instead of being a straight forward shoto, I want him to have full on developed Matsuda Style Ansatsuken.

CONCEPT

The idea behind this Sean is that he trained with Ken for a long while, gained an understanding of Ansatsuken, and even found his own path to reaching Gouken’s ideal state of Hado no Chikara. But being a powerful student didn’t make him a perfect student. He lacked control of the force he would use. When he really tried, he would tap into it and while someone like his teacher was able to handle him pushing that hard, it was much too much for most situations. So he returned home and started to relearn some of his family’s style to incorporate into his own. The Ansatsuken Ken taught him is a toned down killing art, but Matsuda Jiu Jitsu is a submission art. He brought the two together and created his own style of Ansatsuken that let him be effective while still taming his difficult to control force.

This manifests in two ways in gameplay. First, Sean is a low damage, tricky character. He doesn’t take fights too seriously in order not to become too dangerous, so he compensates by having a deep bag of tricks with many of his specials having multiple variations.

Secondly, he has a mechanic that allows players to choose how they want to play him that represents both his Ansatsuken and Jiu Jitsu training.

Underneath it all, the joke here is that he goes from being constantly mistaken for Dan when he was a kid to being occasionally mistaken for Akuma as an adult.

STANCE

I’d want his neutral stance to be the shoto stance, except with his rear hand open, fingers moving in a drumming pattern in preparation to turn the open hand into a closed fist if need be. The leading hand down at his waist is closed, but mimics the rear hand’s finger drumming every fourth cycle. His rear leg is turned half way between the opponent and the screen (whereas other shotos stand with it half way between the screen and behind themselves) and he’s resting his weight on the ball of the rear foot while the front one stays flat, sacrificing balance for explosiveness.

All in all the idea is to incorporate a little of Laura’s stance into Seans while still keeping him very much in the same class as Ryu and Ken. His style is still Ansatsuken at its core, Matsuda Jiu-Jitsu is just enhancing that style.

NORMALS

His light punch is a traditional shoto left jab delivered with an open palm. Like Ken, his medium punch is delivered with his right. He retains his old heavy from 3rd Strike, but smoother.

Light kick is the same as Ryu and Ken’s kick to the shin. Medium kick is his 3rd Strike medium at a distance. Heavy kick is a hard knee with the back leg up close and a full spin kick to the midsection, similar to Ken’s, but done with the lead leg instead of the rear one, at a distance.

Crouching punches are more Matsuda than Ansatsuken. Light punch is the lead arm jab both Ryu and Ken do. Medium and Heavy are Laura’s elbow hook and elbow drop full stop.

Crouching light kick is the shoto poke. Medium kick is the Ken style, fully fall to the ground kick. Heavy kick is a sweep kick, like Ken’s, with the front leg, like Laura.

Jumping light punch is a jab with an open palm. Jumping medium is his 3S jumping medium. Jumping heavy is his 3S Jumping light delivered with more force

Jumping light kick

He retains Sean Pachiki and Rolling Sabat as command normals

GIMMICKS

Modes

Masters Mode, Matsuda Mode, Master Matsuda Mode. Representing the two schools he trained under, Sean has twin meters that track certain attacks landing and credits them either to Masters or Matsuda. Once one meter is full, Sean can activate it for a bonus on his attacks. Masters Mode engulfs his fist and feet in flames, increasing his raw damage, but not his drive depletion and cutting a frame off of his startup on heavies and specials. Matsuda Mode wreathes his arms in electricity, increasing his drive depletion, but not his raw damage, and cutting a frame off of his recovery on heavies and specials. Activating either mode depletes both meters simultaneously. Waiting until both meters are full lets him activate both modes simultaneously and receive both bonuses.

Ball

Sean has learned to wield the hadoken, but he has trouble controlling his power output. Throwing the move around the way he does is not only exhausting, it’s often dangerous to others. So instead he still carries around his old ball, using that as a projectile in combat. It can be used to build either meter, but it has to be retrieved after throwing it.

SPECIALS

Zenten -  K + K

Now functioning like Ken’s dash, pressing K + K will have Sean roll forward, moving swiftly underneath mids, highs, and having throw immunity. Distance depends on the kick button used

K + K - F, D, DF + LP: Roll into a light Dragon Smash

K + K - F, D, DF + MP: Roll into medium Dragon Smash

K + K - F, D, DF + HP: Roll into Tackle

K + K - QCF + LP: Into light Ryuubi Kyaku

K + K - QCF + MP: Into medium Ryuubi Kyaku

K + K - QCF + HP: Into heavy Ryuubi Kyaku

Heads Up -  QCF + P

Sean tosses the ball in a variety of ways. It cycles between fire and lightning automatically. It’s very low damage, but good for harassing an opponent, building meter, and just generally putting an obstacle on screen.

QCF + LP: Sean’s old taunt. Bounces once after landing while retaining its hitbox.

QCF + LP + MP: Swaps between Masters and Matsuda and does the light version

QCF + MP: Sean chest passes the ball. If jumped over or ducked it bounces off the wall behind the opponent and arcs into the air with an active hit box until it lands.

QCF + MP + HP:  Swaps between Masters and Matsuda and does the medium version

QCF + HP: Sean bounces passes the ball. If it hits the opponent it arcs off of them. Otherwise it bounces off the floor, the wall, and then the ceiling. Can be performed in the air.

QCF + LP + HP: Swaps between Masters and Matsuda and does the heavy version

Shoryuken Smash -  F, D, DF + P

Sean has learned how to perform a proper Shoryuken, invincibility frames and all. But he’s also taken the time to refine his own spin on the Ansatsuken classic.

F, D, DF + LP: Light Shoryuken

F, D, DF + MP: Medium Shoryuken

F, D, DF + HP: Heavy Dragon Smash. Unlike the SRK it has no invincibility. It can’t lead to a juggle. It doesn’t do much more damage than the Medium SRK to justify its use over the medium SRK. However, what it does do is unscaled damage in combos. Unlike the 3S version, Sean performs this move with both hands locked together in axe handle position instead of throwing them up above his head separately.

Tornado Mix -  QCB + K

In the spirit of his hybrid training, this move represents everything Sean has learned folded into one. Each version brings something different to the table. Which punch you use determines the distance and strength of the initial two hits.

QCB + Kick: Regular Tornado, leaving the opponent standing afterwards

QCB + Kick, Kick: Last hit replaced with a Ryuubi Kyaku. Overhead hit

QCB + Kick, Punch: Last hit is a proper Tatsu hit in Ryu's style. Hard knock down

QCB + Kick + Punch: First hit is a feint, drops into a Zenten instead.

Ryuubi Kyaku - QCF + K

New and improved, this version of the Ryuubi Kyaku has more utility and less vulnerability while still being a risky move. All versions are invincible on startup and highly punishable on block.

Tackle - HCF + P

Not much to say here. What Jiu Jitsu influenced style would be complete without the ability to take down an opponent?

SUPER ARTS

Level 1 - Shinku Hado Burst

Sean still remembers how to perform the inferior version of the hadoken he once relied on, though with a little extra oomph behind it. A large burst of energy that doesn’t travel far from Sean. If it connects it sticks around to deal multiple hits and drains off Drive from the opponent.

Level 2 - Shinryu Cannon/Tornado Storm

Up close, Sean uses Shinryu Cannon. Hits the opponent with a Shinryuken, knocking them into the air, then launches himself back up with another and lands it in their back.

At a distance he uses the Tornado Storm. A series of electrically charged punches and kicks that do relatively low damage, but leaves the opponent with a single bar of Drive if they had two or more and completely drained if they had under two. It starts with a fast shoulder check that that covers about 1/4th of a screen and mixes in many of his other unique attacks including the Tornado and the Ryuubi Kyaku

Level 3 - Messatsu Gohado/Shakunetsu Gohadoken/Giji Gorai Gohadoken/Chou Hadoken

Sean’s level three demonstrates the hidden depths of his mastery of Ansatsuken and answers why he doesn’t use hadoken in his base moveset. Tapped into the Chikara no Hado, Sean performs his 3S character select screen pose before launching a fast moving, purple multi hit hadoken.

If Sean is in Masters Mode, the damage is increased from the base move and the hadoken is flaming.

If Sean is in Matsuda mode, he wreathes his Gohadoken in electricity, immitating the Gorai Hadoken. It moves faster than the base move and inflicts drive gauge damage.

If Sean is in Master Matsuda mode, he employs a unique version of the move, firing off a golden Hadoken that moves faster than the Giji Gorai and does more damage than the Shakunetsu Gohadoken. If it is blocked it significantly depletes the drive gauge.

[addermoray]

Merfolk Anatomy Concept

This is regard the standard human torso on top, fish tail on bottom configuration.

Equipped with both a functioning set of gills and a set of organs similar to human lungs, but not quite the same. The gills are kept at the hips, the lung-alikes are where they are in a human body.

They respirate under water in the same way fish do, passing water over their gills, absorbing oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide. Their lung-alikes, however, function differently from human lungs, acting as a reserve of oxygen taken in any time they pass into an air-heavy environment (such as peeking over the surface, or passing into an under water cavern). In situations where their gills stop taking in oxygen (such as sunning themselves on a beach) their bodies can use this reserve instead. They do not exhale, their bodies merely pull oxygen from this internal storage and expels carbon dioxide through the skin of their tails.

[addermoray]

Rauru’s Hyrule isn’t the first. It’s the 2nd (or 3rd in the adult timeline)

Let me preface this with a self-quote:

They absolutely post-hoc these games into the timeline. But the fun part is figuring out how they're gonna decide to fit them in.

With the knowledge that I’m operating from that viewpoint, hit the jump and let’s talk how the events of TotK don’t have to retcon a single thing that came before if they don’t want it to:

“And now you rule as king and have taken a Hyrulean woman as your wife.”

That line didn’t inspire this notion. I’d already had it worked out before I’d even given it a thought. But it did catch my ear on rewatch after the fact. Ganondorf refers to queen Sonia as a Hyrulean Woman. Not a Hylian woman. A Hyrulean woman. It doesn’t make sense if she and Raoru are the originators of the Kingdom of Hyrule, does it? Sonia is no more or less a Hyrulean woman than Raoru is a Hyrulean man. Hyrulean refers to all of the people of the Kingdom of Hyrule, after all. And I would assume both of its founder would qualify as Hyrulean as well, yes?

But not if the term “Hyrulean” existed before they established their kingdom. Raising the question of how. And why.

I propose that Old Hyrule (or Middle Hyrule in the Adult timeline) existed before Rauru and Sonia’s era. That it fell and that, like in Wind Waker, the land the Zonai descended to was a post catastrophic Hyrule that had long forgotten the details of its past.

If this is the case, it makes everything fit nice and neatly into the existing timelines. OoT Ganondorf remains the first Ganondorf with the Ganondorf Rauru bound being either his reincarnation, or simply another Gerudo male chosen to bare Demise’s hatred (for all we know their single male every century is ALWAYS named Ganondorf). Calamity Ganon would then be Demise’s curse separate from Ganondorf’s body trying to take form again as its host has been bound for so long.

It reconciles the monsters and the blood moon being a thing in this world in Rauru’s time, during the calamities, and in the present, but never between those points. Monsters didn’t work that way before because they were a creation of a Ganondorf who came after any prior point in time.

Hell, it could even, if they so chose, be used to justify the timelines coming together and everything from every game being true. Whatever disaster ended Old and Middle Hyrule happened across the timelines and collapsed them into one. The evil was defeated, but the damage was done. The survivors carried with them bits of three different histories that all contradicted one another but were all real and passed them down. Hyrule, the kingdom, was gone, but the peoples still called themselves Hyrulean. 

Anyways, just doing some musing on what I think would be the best direction to take with this.