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A cellar of wine, a cellar of faith

This is the first short story in a horror anthology I plan to publish later this year. The anthology focuses on history, connections and the gruesome applications of blood. Subscribe to continue reading Subscribe to get access to the rest of this post and other subscriber-only content. Type your email… Subscribe Already a subscriber?

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Patreon, Webtoons, Tapas, Bluesky, Discord Server.

Happy Pride, everyone.

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Gwylim notes on Skyrim: Fictional essays and their use in worldbuilding

I have previously written about the importance of in game stories and nonfiction books in world building and storytelling, especially when it comes to fantasy and sci fi. In this text I wish to go even more granular and discuss a genre that is close to my heart, the essay. Often more loose in form than a report or a paper, essays are great for presenting ideas and concepts in a condensed yet easy…

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The demo for my first even text adventure is now up!

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The importance of tinkering in creative work

As I was working on another essay describing how warhammer fantasy and warhammer 40k uses creativity and ingenuity. I came to the realization that tinkering is a vital part of my creative processes, and I bet it is to many of my readers as well. Tinkering takes many shapes and is of course very different depending on what you work with and how you approach your work. When you hear the term…

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2025 is all about the celebration of the Neue Sachlichkeit’s centennial and the exhibition at Kunsthalle Mannheim in 1925 that coined the term. A number of museums ceased the opportunity to show certain aspects of and artists related to the movement but the Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz without doubt undertook the most ambitious project of the anniversary year: with „European Realities - Realismusbewegungen der 1920er and 1930er Jahre in Europa“ the Kunstsammlungen at Museum Gunzenhauser extend the perspective to realist movements in all of Europe. But instead of covering the well-known movements in Germany, France and Italy, the exhibition focuses on the lesser-known developments in the Netherlands, Sweden, Britain and Eastern Europe.

Reflecting the exhibition’s scope, the accompanying catalogue is a substantial tome that collects countless illustrations as well as expert essays addressing, for example, the movements in Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Poland. Accordingly, both exhibition and catalogue provide a comprehensive panorama of the diverse movements that share a pictorial language but differ greatly in terms of content, a circumstance that isn’t all that surprising in view of the social and political reorganization taking place all over Europe.

In the Netherlands Pyke Koch reacted to the new art coming from Berlin by charging the pictorial realism with symbols as well as his own identity and world view, a modus operandi significantly differing from those of his German colleagues. In Croatia on the other hand the French and German influences were reflected by artists like Sava Sumanovic and his neoclassicist paintings or the artist of the group „Zemlja“ (soil) whose critical realism reacted to current social, political and economic developments in the country.

These two examples are only a fraction of the positions and works gathered in the exhibition and the catalogue but exemplify the range of discoveries to be made. Although the likes of Dix, Grosz and Schad are also present it is the countless and largely unknown artists from all over Europe that offer a fully new perspective on a movement that spread the continent during the 1920s and 1930s. The exhibition was 6 years in the making but the effort really paid off handsomely in an eye-opening exhibition and a beautiful catalogue!

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Writing update

So, funny story. I have several papers cooking, but none of them are finished for today! One, almost was. But would make no sense without the other. So here’s a little rundown of upcoming topics! Gwylim notes on Skyrim: health potions and visual shorthand This is the next part of my Skyrim series, it needs some more research done, and I need to take some reference photos before it’s ready but…

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New premium blog up! Today I am sharing a sample from my lore book project for my homberew D&D setting, super exited to share this with everyone!

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Umvelon news

I have been working a lot on a lore supplement for D&D 5e in the last few weeks. This is the second sample from this work. This is an excerpt of a mechanic I aim to implement, where the players can get quests and news from reading newspapers and pamphlets. Updating the traditional job boards and tavern crawls of classic D&D. Printed magic Landhurst is a nation that has fully embraced the…

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if you've been hearing less about gaza lately, it's because most of the journalists are dead. hassan eslayeh, who was murdered yesterday in his hospital bed by israel, had 351 videos archived on tiktokgenocide.com (an online archive of israeli atrocities i recommend you browse). this single journalist alone had contributed 351 videos. the same database lists that 252 journalists have been killed in gaza since october 7th. the cpj's archive of journalists killed is 178. they have a more conservative and less accurate estimate since they have less information on those media workers who work with local outlets.

regardless of the exact number, the number of journalists killed is so high that it is markedly affecting the footage and documentation we have coming out of gaza now. let me prove it to you: 70 people were killed today, May 14th 2025. did you know that?

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Premium essay: Space in video games, allegory and realism

Introduction Video Games are the earliest form of media that has been turned into a mass media product, an artform that is enjoyed by millions of people each day. It is a wonderful way of telling tales, and has a large history in both playing, and games of all kinds. It is a medium that can create unique experiences. Video games have unique positive ways of telling tales, but like with any…

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Gwylim notes on Skyrim: The joys and frustrations of in game book hunting

I am sure that many of my readers have had the joy of finding a specific book in an obscure bookshop or lurking in a digital archive somewhere. The frustration when you are missing but one text in your collection, the unwillingness to start a project before you know that you are all the texts you need to start. I admit that this is not a problem that many people have, but I am sure that at least…

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Cutting up the internet

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Bundle for bills!

I have added a collection of essays for sale ok Kofi. Really struggling financially so this is a way for me to try and catch up with food and bills! 

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🏳️‍⚧️ Happy TDoV! 🏳️‍⚧️

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Warhammer exploratory essay: Who gets to be human

Introduction I have alluded to the idea of personhood in earlier chapters, but in this text I will discuss it in more clear terms. All the playable factions are humanoid in one way or another. The non-human factions are either adjacent to humans like Elves or dwarves, or they are more inhuman like Lizardmen, Skaven and Goblins. All of them have humanoid characteristics and keep some sort of…