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[reminder-setusername]

I saw this a week ago and it's been in my head a lot.

I think it's crystallized something I've sort of known before: that there's a distinction to be made between "punching nazis" because it's the "right thing to do", and "punching nazis" because hurting people feels good - you'd think this would be obvious to most people, but after this last year...

Moreover, "punching nazis" is probably the least effective thing you can do - even killing Hitler wouldn't have stopped the Nazis, as they had a chain of succession. The more effective thing would be to actually go around and help the people they were trying to kill.

But I guess that doesn't feel as good or heroic as just hurting people until "the evil" stops - no matter how lives many have to be sacrificed.

It's also the precedent of "once a vague group reaches an arbitrary evilness rating, it's ok to perform meaningless acts of violence upon them".

I mean, obviously, if anyone "deserves it", it's the nazis - but that's exactly what the nazis themselves said of the innocents they killed, and we're supposed to be better than that: when faced with tragedy, do what is necessary to help others, not what makes us feel better about feeling powerless to stop it.

(And yeah, there are (rare) cases where "punching nazis" is the best way to immediately help someone - but even then, the violence isn't the point of the action)

And yeah - this year has really torn that mask of the "decent human being" off humanity, and I don't know how to process it either (and really, it's an unmasking that's been going on for years now - such as seeing so many people refuse to care about others in the pandemic - but I never realized how "normal" it is).

It's definitely easier to avoid it (I've wanted to delete Tumblr at least once every month because of some of the garbage takes I've seen on why another atrocity will "totally not be a bad thing this time") - but... I still have to live on this damp rock we're all on, so...

I don't know.

i don't even know how to rationalize the amount of hate i got exactly one year ago. i can't understand people gleefully rejoicing in the murder of my friends. i can't make sense of that, how deep-rooted some people hate is that they see an israeli mourn and decide to laugh in their faces. a normal person would just leave me alone but antisemitism makes y’all stupid and you cant help it. less than an hour into the massacrare and people were talking about “context” and “nuance” in my inbox. i didn’t just lose my friends a year ago, a thing that is terrible enough on its own, i feel like i’ve also lost my innocence when it came to just just how massive antisemitism is and how blind most people are to the fact that they are antisemites. how most people don’t think twice about it. how can they be antisemites? they never even met a jew, so how could they hate us. they’re just anti-zionist, anti-israel, pro-palestinian. whatever helps them sleep at night, thinking they’re punching nazis through the computer screen, they’re on the good side of history. maybe they rationalized it but i cant, i’ll never understand.

[reminder-setusername]

Ooh, what happens with the other humours?

I mean, obviously it's wrong to experiment on living specimens humans - seriously, don't do that - but if anyone happens to know...

Personally (with cursory research), I get a fey or werewolf vibe from yellow bile...

Text: My grandfather created the first vampires, humans drained of all other humors until only black bile remains. Soulless, cold and bone dry, seeking the warm and the wet at all costs.

[reminder-setusername]

Maybe it's because of ESO, but my first thought was where to put the furniture.

I mean, it's a great place, lots of space, definitely won't get cold... I mean, sure, it looks like it's in the Deadlands, but that just means you probably won't get many unwanted visitors (at least, from Tamriel - Mehrunes Dagon probably won't pop over, right?)

You wake up and your head feels groggy. As you finally blink your eyes open you see a hellscape ahead of you. Bubbling lava, demonic creatures swooping through the air and the smell of burning flesh hits your nostrils.⁠ ⁠ What do you think in this moment? 🔥

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I assume Tumblr is sending me these topics because I respond to them - not because it knows I've just spent the entire thanksgiving weekend writing theories about Winterhold. (I don't have a problem, what are you talking about?)

So, apologies if this gets a bit rambly. (Also, while I'm planning on playing Skyrim, the only video game I've really played is ESO, so most of this is scrolling through the UESP wiki, and might be wrong).

Disclaimers aside, I don't think we see the City of Winterhold in Skyrim at all.

In Arena, Winterhold is bigger, including several inns with names like "anchor" and "wharf". There's also no ruins, no sign of a city the size of nearby Windhelm in Skyrim - despite Winterhold supposedly being a capitol.

There's also no sign of the Great Collapse, aside from a bridge to the college that was damaged - meaning that was a cliff before the collapse.

I think Winterhold was further north, past the college - between the Skytemple Ruins and Ysgrammor's tomb - and it all fell into the ocean.

So, my headcanon is that the Winterhold seen in the game is what the few survivors of the Collapse built after their city fell - which is why it doesn't make any sense as a city, let alone a capitol: it never was one.

I imagine the City, in the time of Arena, either implicitly or explicitly had dockworkers and merchants and everything you'd expect - but it's kinda in the ocean now, along with the necessary infrastructure.

The Town of Winterhold, on the other hand, is just those hardy and/or stubborn enough to stick around an otherwise desolate landscape - which I think fits what we see in Skyrim.

I also like the ideas I saw in the tags, such as that they probably at least cut a path down the cliff to fish for sustainance - and will be "borrowing" that into my headcanon too.

really think about the experience of living in winterhold. your career options are "ice harvester" and "baby seal clubber." "charlatan wizard" if you can steal a staff from somebody

[reminder-setusername]

I've only really seen the clip of this scene, but it definitely stuck with me - because, yeah: we know that's not what happened, right?

I mean, sure, technically the Ring of Brass did destroy the tree, didn't notice the k'nauthi...

Then I realized - I think Zerxes is doing exactly what Asmodeus did to him: the best lie is the truth, or at least, the part of the truth that fits your narrative.

He wants something from them - Pike, in particular, it seems - and only telling the part of the story that makes him a tragic figure in need of help (and conveniently glossing over the heroics of his friends) is part of that.

I don't remember the exact quote from Brennan, but it was something like "you people love it when someone is hurt and vulnerable".

Zerxus saying: “I was blind as my friends condemned our civilization with their Curiosity and their Hubris”

If memory serves the Ring Of Brass fought like hell to stop all conspirators even if they could have run. Almost all of them died defending the city trying to get civilians out. All of them fought to give Exandria a chance. It was the 11th hour.

Is this because they lied about his memory removal? Does he think that it’s removal could have had made him weak and trusting/gullible for Asmodus to sink his claws into???

Is it about the Tree??? The Astral Leywrite?

Or is this just lying to himself to cope with their deaths? To cope with where/who he is now? Or to cope with what his actions did to his family?

Or does he genuinely believe that? Hell is full of lie’s, torture, death and delusions where does that leave him?

[reminder-setusername]

I've only really played ESO - planning to get into Skyrim eventually, but I find I'm more excited by planning things out and digging through endless lore.

So, definitely not an expert on this stuff, but I'm currently on a theory trip - and this really explains something I've noticed: no one seems to think of those early games.

I mean, all the theories I've seen about the Second Akaviri Invasion say they were looking for the Eye of Magnus or the Heart of Lorkhan - handwaving the fact the Akaviri went in literally the opposite direction - when the Staff of Chaos from Arena is right there!

I mean, the Akaviri marched (not sailed) straight into the center of mainland Morrowind - whether they were headed for Mournhold or assumed the artifact stayed in Ebonheart - they were headed straight for the Staff, no handwaving necessary!

It even acts as a "Receptacle": containing the Emperor during the Imperial Simulacrum - and is "Ordained" in the Prophecy of the Dragonborn.

Plus, the Horn of Summoning - which is always associated with the Staff of Chaos - sounds like the kind of thing that would cause Heita-Meen's vision of "Nords and Dunmer falling like dead leaves".

It also explains the reports of Akaviri activity in High Rock back in the First Era - that's where the Horn was back then.

Heading into the thumbtacks and string zone, it also explains how Denskar knew of Tosh Raka - as he explicitly uses the term "Tiger-Demon" in his writing: breaking the Staff of Chaos was the first event in the prophecy of Alduin returning - and Tosh Raka is suggested to be a counterpart to Alduin.

What if Tosh Raka was trying to break the Staff of Chaos early, so that he/Alduin could achieve his stated goal of conquering Tamriel? This could explain why three historical enemies suddenly put aside their grievances and formed the Ebonheart Pact - and why a civilization with actual LIVING GODS were seemingly so utterly helpless.

Even if that isn't what was happening - the Staff of Chaos being "of the land" and would "cause disaster if taken away" would definitely be cause for concern.

The other theory I've been working on (a bit too obsessively) is the College of Winterhold - where I discovered we can see Winterhold before the Great Collapse in Arena as well.

Moreover, despite all the complaint that it doesn't have any sea access - and that its lack of access to resources makes it a bad capitol - the inn names suggest there was a wharf.

There doesn't seem to be a useful map - but I think that the Town of Winterhold seen in Skyrim is NOT the City of Winterhold seen in Arena. I think the city did fall into the sea, and the survivors rebuilt on a nearby cliff - that's why there's no sign of the ruins, nor what happened: the city is to the north and underwater, along with any evidence.

I should stop rambling before I burn supper - I'm just... Way too far gone down this rabbit hole (if that wasn't totally obvious already).

Sometimes being an Oblivion fan on tesblr feels like being the forgotten middle child and then being a Daggerfall or Arena fan feels like being the estranged child from a previous marriage.

[reminder-setusername]

Pink, Pink, and maybe... Pink.

Yes, I am tired right now, how can you tell?

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I don't feel like I am qualified to respond to this - I don't have any personal connection to this, beyond having lived 1km away from an unrelated attack, decades ago.

But, this whole mess keeps bringing up those feelings - to the point I sometimes actively avoid anything taking about the situation because it makes me nauseous - especially the garbage claims that Hamas's victims deserved it.

No.

No one deserves that, no matter what.

Even if they had participated in the struggles faced by Palestinians (which they did not), no one deserves that.

I joined Tumblr early this year - trying to learn to be more social, as I don't really interact with people... in general...

I honestly nearly deleted the app because of the hate speech I saw (which I will not repeat in polite company) - I still can't believe people were willing to put that stuff out there, let alone consider it acceptable.

I still scroll quickly past any posts in the subject out of fear of what I'd read. I just... If you have to hurt someone else to feel better about yourself, go dig up Sykes and Picot. Let the living heal.

I just... I don't know what to say here. There's a lot I could say, but I don't think any of it brings anything more. Maybe it's because there's nothing that can be said that could make any of it right.

I just wish...

I wish we lived in the world we thought we lived in - that we were better than... seeing violence and hate as the first and last solution to every situation.

I guess all I can say is that I wish you - and all victims of senseless violence around the world... even a day of peace in which to heal.

Today is October 7th. One year ago today, Hamas committed a massacre, taking hundreds of hostages, committing countless rapes, and killing over a thousand people, the single greatest Jewish loss of life in one day since the Holocaust.

Today is a day of mourning, of the loss of the dead and fear for the captives, but also of mourning for the world we thought we lived in on October 6. The bodies weren't cold before our neighbors, sometimes even our friends were out in the streets and online celebrating these murders and kidnappings, calling them resistance, calling them noble, calling these murders, rapes, and kidnappings, righteous. Days before Israel responded, Hamas' supporters in the US, Europe, Australia, all around the world, were in the streets, celebrating Jewish death and Jewish pain.

I want to say that again. Days before Israel did anything in response, Hamas' supporters around the world were already in the streets. And they have stayed in the streets ever since. No matter how many people I keep seeing claiming that they're marching for peace, the simple fact that they were out there chearing before Israel responded, belies those claims.

And what I never hear a single gentile talk about, is that last year, October 7 fell on a Jewish holiday, Simchat Torah, a day of dancing, and joy, of life and celebration. It's my mother's favorite holiday. I don't know a single Jew who is going to be up to celebrating this Simchat Torah. But we will try, because we have to.

So today we are mourning. And if that makes you angry, that's your problem.

[reminder-setusername]

I just realized reading this... In episode 2, the NPCs referred to Caine as God - maybe the baron was doing the same?

Wait, didn't he also say it was "something unholy" in the first room - was that a deliberate misdirection, or is Caine an "unholy god"?

OH MY GOD.

IT TOOK ME A SECOND BUT IT CLICKED.

KINGER DIDN'T SEE A MONSTER HERE.

HE SAW HIS WIFE.

[reminder-setusername]

I mean, a shapeshifter's powers is the power to turn into anything - including the other options on this list. It's basically "all of the above".

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I keep coming back to this - it reminds me of the saying "you get more bees with honey". Because, yeah - the Dark Barons are not the good guys, but from episode 1, the UB seems to almost go out of its way to alienate everyone.

And, I think it's because of Dark Sonia.

I think the UB knows what is really going on - that anyone who enters Her realm belongs to her. I think the reason they were going to wait another month was to ENSURE that the survivors died, so She couldn't interfere.

And - maybe I'm reading too much into it - but it seems like even knowing the nature of Dark Sonia is to belong to Her - so they can't tell anyone why they are making these decisions, leading to the appearance of an arbitrary and uncaring system.

They probably didn't even tell Kurushu - the UB just want people who will follow orders without question. Kurushu was probably told "no civilians survive" - so she went in guns blazing.

I don't know - Midst is so mind-bendy in all the right ways - but I can't stop thinking about it.

I know Baxford Wanian is a Dark Baron and thus per the lore a nefarious dictator and as of Episode 3 of Moonward he is here to steal the fallen moon, and also Walden's presence as his agent is setting the less hostile tone of the encounter with the party but like. he also immediately and efficiently dispensed help to find survivors per request and seems to genuinely take heed of Walden's opinion (there was a fleeting moment where I thought Walden might actually be the one in charge) and like. man this bad guy is so polite and borderline deferential. runs a professional tight ship with his crew. like sure if Walden wasn't there or the Midst crew resisted it might be carnage but like. are you bamboozling us right now? Are we being bamboozled?? Sir???

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But was it Brennan Lee Mulligan at the table? Maybe that was a deception too!

Maybe it was Wennan Wee Wulligan this whole time... Maybe, dare I say... He's been here the whole time...

(You can't see it, but I'm doing the Vsauce stare right now)

It's so funny how much brennan lee mulligan has scarred this fandom. We're seeing devils in every shadow now. It's just like: ludinus is secretly asmodeus' avatar! Wait, no, the Archheart is secretly asmodeus in disguise!

Asmodeus shows up and talks to braius? Clearly he's lying about the freeing predathos plan! Or he isn't lying but is failing to mention some deeper, hidden goal that we the audience don't already know about! Or he's lying to himself about wanting that!

Or, or, that wasn't actually the lord of the hells! It was the Archheart in disguise trying to trick braius into going with his plan! Cause everyone knows if it's not brennan lee mulligan himself at the table then we can never be *really* sure who's talking.

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That sounds like an interesting wedding...

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And this is me meowing back at you from a different room in this website.

Because I can.

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It's GIF.

You don't call a PNG a ping, or HTML hitmill - a GIF is a Gee Eye Eff.

Why? Because that way, you annoy 100% of people, not just some people.

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[reminder-setusername]

This analogy could work for clerics and warlocks - they don't do the coding, they just buy the software that does it for them from The Holy/Unholy Dev.

Does that make the EULA a warlock pact?

Also, would abilities/classes that let you "borrow" spells just be going online and copy-pasting the code you find?

I'm a big fan of wizards-as-programmers, but I think it's so much better when you lean into programming tropes.

A spell the wizard uses to light the group's campfire has an error somewhere in its depths, and sometimes it doesn't work at all. The wizard spends a lot of his time trying to track down the exact conditions that cause the failure.

The wizard is attempting to create a new spell that marries two older spells together, but while they were both written within the context of Zephyrus the Starweaver's foundational work, they each used a slightly different version, and untangling the collisions make a short project take months of work.

The wizard has grown too comfortable reusing old spells, and in particular, his teleportation spell keeps finding its components rearranged and remixed, its parts copied into a dozen different places in the spellbook. This is overall not actually a problem per se, but the party's rogue grows a bit concerned when the wizard's "drying spell" seems to just be a special case of teleportation where you teleport five feet to the left and leave the wetness behind.

A wizard is constantly fiddling with his spells, making minor tweaks and changes, getting them easier to cast, with better effects, adding bells and whistles. The "shelter for the night" spell includes a tea kettle that brings itself to a boil at dawn, which the wizard is inordinately pleased with. He reports on efficiency improvements to the indifference of anyone listening.

A different wizard immediately forgets all details of his spells after he's written them. He could not begin to tell you how any of it works, at least not without sitting down for a few hours or days to figure out how he set things up. The point is that it works, and once it does, the wizard can safely stop thinking about it.

Wizards enjoy each other's company, but you must be circumspect about spellwork. Having another wizard look through your spellbook makes you aware of every minor flaw, and you might not be able to answer questions about why a spell was written in a certain way, if you remember at all.

Wizards all have their own preferences as far as which scripts they write in, the formatting of their spellbook, its dimensions and material quality, and of course which famous wizards they've taken the most foundational knowledge from. The enlightened view is that all approaches have their strengths and weaknesses, but this has never stopped anyone from getting into a protracted argument.

Sometimes a wizard will sit down with an ancient tome attempting to find answers to a complicated problem, and finally find someone from across time who was trying to do the same thing, only for the final note to be "nevermind, fixed it".

[reminder-setusername]

This is strange for me - because I feel like I don't know what you're talking about, even though I do.

I didn't correlate subjects and colours - instead, red was the first class of the semester, orange was second, and so on.

i may kill people over this

no see results option because you must have an opinion on this