#Event-Driven Examples

[technicalfika]

Event-Driven Design Demystified: Concepts and Examples

🚀 Discover how this cutting-edge architecture transforms software systems with real-world examples. From e-commerce efficiency to smart home automation, learn how to create responsive and scalable applications #EventDrivenDesign #SoftwareArchitecture

In the world of software architecture, event-driven design has emerged as a powerful paradigm that allows systems to react and respond to events in a flexible and efficient manner. Whether you’re building applications, microservices, or even IoT devices, understanding event-driven design can lead to more scalable, responsive, and adaptable systems. In this article, we’ll delve into the core…

[blank-grace]

"people are so stupid for thinking that was helena in the final episode when britt lower literally confirmed it was helly r" okay but what the actress says in an interview is separate from the viewing experience in the show. if people are reacting to what they saw in the show itself and their reaction is that they find the character's choice to be confusing or disappointing or out of character, and they theorize that something we saw to be a possibility earlier in the season might have happened again, that doesn't exactly make them stupid. if the writing of the show doesn't make it clear enough what's going on, then perhaps the show bears responsibility for some of the ambiguity. or perhaps some of the ambiguity is (gasp) intentional? people are so MEAN about television omfg

[lazaruspiss]

obvi this doesnt apply to everyone but im noticing that for some the appeal of WFA is legitimately "it's a batman comic that is the opposite of batman comics". i guess i get it but shouldnt there be a line there? like. i dont wanna be gatekeep-y but if your favorite batman comic is your favorite bc it has nothing in common with the rest of batman then maybe you're less a batman fan and more just a fan of that one series. It feels weird that theres no real differentiation there.

[softservesoymilk]

Inigo loves Archie so much it kills him inside :’)

[obsessivevoidkitten]

(Just a random idea that popped into my head. Has noncon, gn reader, a/b/o)

1000 years in the future. Humans have developed secondary sexes alpha, beta, and omega.

The Olympics still exist for betas but are not as popular. Instead they are outshined by a new event for alphas divided into mated alpha and unmated alpha categories.

Unmated alphas tend to be the fiercest competitors, but only when there is an omega to impress and win over.

And thus, in every unmated category event, a rebellious unclaimed omega who doesn't believe in the social hierarchy is put in their place. They are used as the ultimate prize in every competition and bred on the spot as an example to all omegas that they belonged on an alpha's knot.

Once an athlete has optained an omega they can still continue their career in the mated alpha events.

Unfortunately for you, you were caught trying to hide your omega nature and refused to submit to finding a mate. Then you were involved in a high speed chase. Omegas weren't even supposed to know how to drive. It was very televised.

So of course you were put up as the prize for the strongest alphas to fight over. Wrestling. You were kept on the sidelines of the wrestling tournament, your heat was induced, and your pheromones left to waft into the ring.

A huge alpha named Jace was the winner. Drenched in sweat and driven damn near feral by your scent he wasted no time at all in ripping your clothes off and shoving his cock in you, biting up your neck and soaking you in his musk as he did so.

[imastoryteller]

How to Craft a Compelling Morally Grey Character: A Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Define the Character’s Core Traits

Identify Strengths and Virtues: List positive traits that make the character likable or admirable. These could include bravery, intelligence, loyalty, or compassion.

Identify Flaws and Vices: List negative traits that add complexity and realism. These could include arrogance, selfishness, impatience, or a propensity for violence.

Step 2: Establish Motivations and Backstory

Create a Detailed Backstory: Develop a background that explains why the character has their particular mix of virtues and flaws. Consider their upbringing, significant life events, and personal experiences.

Determine Core Motivations: Identify what drives the character. Is it revenge, love, ambition, survival, or something else? Motivations should be realistic and relatable.

Step 3: Develop Moral Ambiguity

Set Up Moral Dilemmas: Place your character in situations where they must make difficult choices with no clear right or wrong answer. These dilemmas should challenge their morals and reveal their complexity.

Showcase Contradictions: Allow the character to make decisions that might seem contradictory. For example, they might commit a crime to protect someone they love, revealing both a moral and an immoral side.

Step 4: Create Dynamic Relationships

Construct Meaningful Relationships: Develop relationships with other characters that highlight different aspects of your morally grey character. These relationships can help explore their multifaceted personality.

Use Relationships to Drive Conflict: Relationships can be a source of moral conflict and development. Conflicts with friends, family, or rivals can push your character to reveal their grey areas.

Step 5: Show Consequences and Growth

Illustrate the Impact of Actions: Show the real-world consequences of the character’s morally ambiguous decisions. This adds realism and stakes to the story.

Allow for Character Growth: Let your character evolve. They might become more virtuous or more corrupt over time. This evolution keeps the character dynamic and interesting.

Step 6: Balance Sympathetic and Unsympathetic Traits

Make Them Relatable: Ensure the character has traits or experiences that the audience can relate to or sympathize with, even if they do questionable things.

Maintain Complexity: Avoid making the character too sympathetic or too unsympathetic. The balance between good and bad traits should make the audience feel conflicted about the character.

Step 7: Use Subtlety and Nuance

Avoid Clear Labels: Do not overtly label the character as good or evil. Allow their actions and motivations to speak for themselves.

Employ Subtlety: Use nuanced behavior and dialogue to reveal the character’s moral complexity. Avoid heavy-handed exposition.

Step 8: Test and Refine

Seek Feedback: Share your character with others and seek feedback on their complexity and believability. Adjust based on constructive criticism.

Refine Motivations and Actions: Continuously refine the character’s motivations and actions to ensure they remain compelling and consistent throughout the story.

Example: Crafting a Morally Grey Character

Core Traits:

Strengths: Intelligent, determined, loyal.

Flaws: Arrogant, manipulative, vengeful.

Backstory:

Grew up in a tough neighborhood, witnessing crime and corruption.

Lost a loved one to a gang, fueling a desire for revenge.

Motivations:

Driven by a need to protect their remaining family and seek revenge.

Moral Dilemmas:

Joins a criminal organization to infiltrate it and bring it down from within.

Struggles with the ethical implications of committing crimes for a greater good.

Relationships:

Has a strained relationship with a sibling who disapproves of their methods.

Forms a complicated friendship with a morally upright police officer.

Consequences and Growth:

Faces the legal and emotional consequences of their actions.

Gradually questions their own morality and seeks redemption.

Balance:

Helps the community but uses unethical means.

Shows moments of kindness and ruthlessness.

Subtlety:

Reveals their inner conflict through small actions and dialogue.

Avoids overt explanations of their morality, letting the audience interpret.

By following these steps, you can create a compelling morally grey character that adds depth and intrigue to your story.

---

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[reasonsforhope]

"In 2024, the United Nations recognized seven landmark projects worldwide as outstanding examples of success under its ongoing Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030).

One of them was Acción Andina (Andean Action), an initiative that has launched 25 restoration and conservation projects focused on the high-altitude Polylepis forests of Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador and Colombia.

More than 25,000 people from 200 communities have restored nearly 5,000 hectares (12,400 acres) of these forest and protected more than 11,250 hectares (27,800 acres) of existing woodland.

The initiative next aims to expand into Colombia and Venezuela.

...Co-founded by the nonprofit organizations Global Forest Generation and Andean Ecosystems Association (ECOAN), Acción Andina aims to protect and restore high-altitude Andean forests in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Ecuador, ensuring the preservation of vital water resources for millions of people across the region.

In fact, last February, Acción Andina was recognized by the United Nations as one of seven flagship initiatives for global restoration. The U.N. has declared 2021-2030 as its Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, emphasizing not only the urgent need to conserve remaining natural areas, but to restore what has already been lost...

“We witnessed immense suffering and hardship in the local and Indigenous communities of the Andes,” Aucca recalls. “So, my friends Gregorio Ferro, Efraín Samochuallpa, Willy Palomino and I decided that if we were going to enter the world of conservation, we had to do something for these communities. That’s how ECOAN was born. What sets us apart from other organizations is that we implement conservation initiatives in direct coordination with local actors — ensuring that our work benefits the communities themselves.”

Among friends and colleagues, Constantino Aucca is known simply as “Tino.” He says 2014 was a turning point for ECOAN, driven by his frustration with the empty rhetoric and lack of action on environmental issues at the U.N.’s series of annual climate summits, or conference of the parties (COPs).

“As a group, we decided to send a message to the world that action is possible,” he says. “In a single day, we planted more than 57,000 [queuña] trees high in Huilloc [in Cusco, Peru]. We called the event Queuña Raymi, or the Festival of the Queuñas.”

From that year on, Queuña Raymi gained traction across the Peruvian Andes, and Aucca never stopped dreaming of expanding the initiative to other Andean countries. “Queuñas grow from Venezuela to Patagonia,” he points out. In 2018, with the support of new international partners, that dream became a reality, giving rise to Acción Andina.

“In 2018 I was deeply interested in facilitating investments in forestry initiatives,” says Florent Kaiser, CEO of the NGO Global Forest Generation. “That’s when I was contacted by Constantino, and he told me about his project. He told me that to truly understand it, I needed to go to Cusco. That day changed my life. He invited me to the Queuña Raymi where, in a single day, nearly 1,000 of us planted almost 100,000 trees.

“I had never seen anything so powerful,” Kaiser adds.

Global Forest Generation was founded alongside Acción Andina with the goal of serving as a strategic ally: amplifying global communication efforts, influencing policymakers, and tackling challenges that often hinder local NGOs.

This partnership between ECOAN and Global Forest Generation has allowed Acción Andina to expand beyond Peru, bringing Aucca’s vision to life across five South American countries. Today, it stands as a U.N.-recognized success story in ecosystem restoration.

“It takes a single chainsaw to cut down a forest, but it takes a community to restore and sustain it,” UNEP’s Andersen said when announcing Acción Andina as one of the U.N.’s seven Flagship Initiatives for Global Restoration. “By bringing people together, and using both Indigenous values and scientific methods, Acción Andina is helping to revive natural water sources, create jobs and support communities to grow even stronger.”

Since 2018, Acción Andina has launched 25 projects, engaging at least 40,000 people in the restoration of nearly 5,000 hectares (12,400 acres) of Andean forests and the protection of more than 11,250 hectares (27,800 acres) of existing woodland. More than 200 local communities have benefited from expanded economic opportunities through reforestation and conservation efforts. These include the development of community microenterprises, such as tree nurseries dedicated to cultivating queuñas, as well as improved access to health care services, water collection systems, cleaner-burning clay stoves, and solar panels."

-via Mongabay News, February 14, 2025

[danibeanie]

Solar return notes (astro)

SOLAR

-check your 10th house ruler to see how focused you’ll be in career/work. when I had jupiter opposite mc I was more focused on my school work than my job. Jupiter ruled my 10th house!

-pluto in the 12th house is so hard for me to explain, but you’ll experience huge events that change your psyche 😭 I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to do shadow work. check the aspects pluto makes as well.

-pluto square moon can mean having to control your emotions throughout the year.

-pluto square mars is very much controlling your anger and reactions towards situations.

-pluto is literally all about control, but with pluto in the 12th house I noticed that releasing the need to be in control is the lesson here. (I hope I’m making sense lmao)

-scorpio 9th house made me so driven in college and I also had scorpio moon on the cusp, this made it more personal to me throughout the year.

-I always talk about Saturn in the 1st house when it comes to solar return, but this placement builds so much discipline it crazy. this placement also leads you to loose weight, and the way you loose weight can be cause of being too busy/stress.

an example is that I stopped going to the gym for a while because I was so busy with work and school😔😔, I lost muscle which counts as weight In this case.

another example is I would go to school with no makeup so many times this solar return, I was exhaustedddd😭😭😭

THE GOOD THING- your hard work is gonna pay off and even though it’s a hard year, you will be rewarded. I ended up passing all my exams, I started driving for the first time, and just being more independent overall.

-y’all astrology can be so literal sometimes, my 6th house ruler in the sr was the moon which was in scorpio(also in the 8th house help) for the sr. I had this huge altercation with this woman at work and I compared my natal to my sr… scorpio moon fell into my 6th house and THAT WOMAN HAD A SCORPIO MOON 😭😭😭😭😭 maybe it’s a coincidence idk….

-jupiter 3rd house is success in your studies ☺️

-I also had uranus as well and I started driving out of nowhere. (3rd house rules short distance travels!)

-11th house in capricorn is very much lessons in friendships. saturn being the ruler which fell into my 1st house, I found myself forcing to ride solo throughout the year. this also leads to being a bit closed off to people.

-I don’t even know how to describe neptune in the 1st house for y’all, pretty confusing placement. I found people projecting onto me and it’s even worse when your personal planets square neptune.

-one thing about this placement is that I was drawn to smoke more or escape in some way.

[bouquetface]

Atmakaraka Through houses

Sign, Aspects, and Planets will influence accuracy.

This post will discuss past lives and soul's purpose + karmas. Personally, I find the idea of past lives entertaining but I'm not sure it resonates. If you're the same, this post can still be read as entertainment.

This is not my own theory. It's a very old theory that considers AK to show your past life karma & current life purpose to clear that karma.

AK in First H

Your soul is here for itself. Generally, this is the best AK placement. It shows you have always given yourself to others in past lives. In this life, it's okay to look out for yourself first.

Now let's say Saturn is the AK you might feel burdened with all the work you have to do for yourself. You may struggle to have close bonds w people - family, friends or lovers. It might become lonely but your soul came here wanting that independence.

Where you can go wrong with this placement is choosing others over yourself again. EX: AK in First H, 7th H stellium - Certain events and people will come to you indirectly asking your soul to choose them/take care of them over yourself. You could feel a strong pull to do so but AK in First H shows that would be a mistake. In the next life, you'll simply have to repeat the cycle.

AK in 2nd H

Your soul is here to clear past life karma through money, resources and family. In a past life, this shows you received a lot of support and possibly money through others. Now, you have to learn the lessons, mature and build your own wealth. In some cases, you may feel inclined to help other people financially. You'll likely make money mistakes. You'll have family troubles - big or small. It'll be your duty to work on these areas of life.

Where you can go wrong with this placement is relying too much on other's resources again. It is believed this will simply increase the debt you owe making the next life even more difficult as now you have more to repay.

AK often isn't meant to be something enjoyable. It can feel like a burden but it is your soul's duty to complete this task.

You may even find in this life when you are becoming too dependent on others for resources, you experience life or health struggles. This doesn't mean you must make every single penny on your own or suffer. It simply shows active efforts to attain financial independence are needed to clear the karma. And in certain cases, helping provide resources for others like family members is needed to clear the karma.

AK in 3rd H

Your soul is here to clear karma though service for siblings, neighbours/community and possible the father-in-law. Your will be relied on and you will have to do a lot of short distance travel throughout your entire life.

A IRL example: This person has SUN AK in 3rd H - This person is fulfilling their AK duty daily - they take the siblings to school even tho it’s a walkable distance. In fact, when this person went to that same middle school, they were made to walk. Yet, the siblings demand to be driven this short distance. They don't even know abt astrology - simply the siblings are kinda spoiled & apparently refuse to go to school otherwise. AK's tests naturally appear like this in one's life.

Their family doesn't see or appreciate how helpful they are to the family/siblings.

AK often isn't something enjoyable. It feels like a burden but it is your soul's duty. Since AK is present throughout out entire lives, it is likely when the person is older something like the above examples will reoccur with their neighbours or father-in-law.

This placement should be cautious about cutting contact with siblings - especially younger siblings. The cycle is believed to repeat in the next life if you can't clear the karma off in this life.

It is believed in a past life you likely had a high position. You demanded these type of seemingly small tasks from those beneath you.

AK in 4th H

Your soul will have to serve the family, home and/or mother. In a past life you likely neglected the home and family. Now the family you come from and/or the family you create will provide opportunities for you to deal with your past life karma.

It won't always feel enjoyable having to take care of your family and home. However, it needs to be completed so the cycle doesn't repeat in the next life.

For instance: Moon AK in 4th House - You regardless of gender take on many domestic tasks in the home. This can be early in life or after marriage. You - more often than anyone else in the household - end up doing the chores - laundry, yardwork, cooking, etc. It could deeply frustrate you.

You could have issues with your own mother too. The sign and aspects and exact planet can offer insight on how bad the situation.

You should be cautious of cutting contact with your mother. It’s believed the karmic cycle will repeat in the next life. I'm not telling you what to do, personally I don't fully believe in past lives. If you have cut contact or have a very abusive family, you should do what is healthy for yourself.

AK in 5th H

Your soul needs to burn off karma through education and children. This doesn't mean your kids are going to hate you or be terrible. Simply shows you will have to pay extra attention and care to your kids. An example would be the child has trouble learning to read. You have to be the parent that is responsible for assuring the child is supported through this period.

Often AK is something that feels like a duty - not something enjoyable. There might be something in your life that causes you to continue having to educate yourself. This doesn't have to be formally.

AK in 6th H

This shows you're clearing your karma through service. You may find people and even animals always need help around you. Coworkers, friends, family will come to you for help - literal help or advice.

It'll sometimes feel like a burden. However with this placement it shows in a past life you were unable to or simply did not help those in need. It weighed on your soul, thus in this life you are correcting that.

AK in 7th H

This shows you're clearing your karma through relationships. This doesn't have to be in marriage, it can be in dating or any other type of relationship - even business or friendship. Your ego will be hurt when having to deal with people outside yourself. You will face humiliation in relationships or in public.

This placement shows in a past life you were the selfish one. You didn't complete your duty to a partnership - this can be in marriage or business or a different kind of relationship. Maybe you cheated, maybe you left someone sick, maybe you scammed your clients. It can be so many different scenarios. Generally, this is considered the worst AK placement as the best one is 1st House. You may have been very cruel and selfish in a past life.

This doesn't mean you have to keep bad people in your life. You are going to have to encounter them. You will feel hurt & humiliated, you'll move on. The worst thing this placement can do is once again only care about themselves again. The cycle is believed to repeat in the next life but it will be much more difficult the next time.

AK in 8th H

You have a duty to your spouse's family. You have either good or bad karma with them. At some point, they'll need your help and your resources. Example: The spouse's parent's needed him to give them money for retirement - not borrow - simply give, no repayment.

If the karma is really bad, it is believed the spouse's family will hate you upon first impression. Often AK is something that feels like a duty - not something enjoyable.

AK in 9th H

You have a duty to help your parent's/teacher's in your life. Example: You feel you owe it to your parent's to become a Surgeon.

You might need to experience something abroad or in university to clear your karma. Often AK's duty is something that feels like a burden.

The worst thing for this placement is to do something immoral or illegal. Some people can get away with doing illegal things in this life. Your life will find a way to punish you.

AK in 10th H

Your soul has to work to clear off their karma. You can find your are constantly working long hours, difficult tasks and encountering scatterbrained authority figures. In some cases, this shows difficulty in finding career success. You have to work 10x harder than others for the same praise.

In a past life, maybe you scammed people or something else that is illegal in the workplace. It can be many different scenarios.

AK in 11th H

Your soul clears off karma through eldest siblings, society or activism. You can become politically involved with this placement. You come face to face with the struggles of the masses. You can't hide from the world's issues.

Or it can be you have a duty to your eldest sibling. You may find your eldest siblings always needs your help. Throughout your entire life, chances to help the elder sibling will appear. It is believed to be a test of your soul. Will you help them and clear your karma or not? Choice is completely yours.

Keep in mind AK is often a duty that feels like a burden. It is unlikely to be something enjoyable.

AK in 12th H

Your soul desires isolation. You clear karmas through quiet. You might need to go away from the birth place. You need to find peace through yourself.

When you get carried away socializing/partying, your life will bring difficult scenarios to remind you that is not why your soul wanted to come back.

AK is often a duty that feels like a burden. It is unlikely to be something enjoyable.

This is only one placement and doesn't consider the planet that is AK, the sign + aspects. And positioning of Ketu. This is a very general post.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Hi!! What do I do if I have an idea for a story but can't seem to develop it far enough? Or, I can't decide on how a certain event or setting should play out?

Writing Tips: Developing Story Ideas

Use a Plot Structure

Example: HOW TO TELL A STORY (Peter Rubie)

Once upon a time, something happened to someone,

and he decided that he would pursue a goal.

So he devised a plan of action,

and even though there were forces trying to stop him,

he moved forward because there was a lot at stake.

And just as things seemed as bad as they could get,

he learned an important lesson,

and when offered the prize he had sought so strenuously,

he had to decide whether or not to take it,

and in making that decision he satisfied a need

that had been created by something in his past.

When Writing a Plot Driven Story, Answer These Questions About Each of Your Main Characters:

What is the character’s back story?

What is the character’s personality?

How was the character’s personality shaped by his/her backstory?

How does each scene develop the character?

What is driving the character’s reaction within the scene (based on his/her back story)?

How does your character change within the course of the story?

What is the character’s internal conflict?

What is the character most afraid of?

How would he/she define happiness?

When Writing a Character Driven Story, Answer These Questions About Your Plot:

What does your character want to happen in each scene?

Is there tension or conflict within each scene?

What action does the character take within each scene?

How does this action move the story forward?

How does each scene contribute to the overall story?

What is the worst thing that can happen to your character(s)?

How does your character prevent it from happening?

What happens if your character cannot prevent it from happening?

What key events change the main characters in your story?

Brainstorm Ideas

Use flash cards. Think of a topic. Take ten blank flash cards and on one side of each flash card, write a line about this topic. Use a mixture of emotional detail, concrete detail, and images when writing these lines. Put all the cards face down in front of you. Turn five of these cards over, face-up. What kind of story is this? What questions remain? Experiment with which five cards should be turned up in order to create a story that is both mysterious and clear enough for the emotions to be anchored.

Eavesdrop. Carry your notebook with you as you go about your daily tasks and write down interesting things you overhear. At the end of the day, go over the snippets of conversation you wrote down and, rather than thinking about the content of the conversation, analyze how it was said. What have you learned about the way people speak? Incorporate this speech rhythm into a new story.

Analyze your every move. In the evening, write a list of 20 things you did that day. Use this form: “I washed the dishes, I ate an avocado, I read the newspaper,” and so on. The only rule is: don’t list the things in chronological order. Review your list of 20 activities and see if any of them spark the beginning of a story. Try to make use of one of these seemingly mundane activities to write a longer story.

Free write. Take your notebook and give yourself 10 minutes to simply write whatever comes to mind, not letting your pen or pencil leave the page, and not revising. After 10 minutes have passed, review what you wrote. How do the subject and tone change from the beginning to the end? Is there anything you might want to lift for a new story?

Explore Your Surroundings

Find inspiration in your environment and everyday activities:

Take a walk. Go on a walk and bring your notebook. Look around and write down observations on what you see: a tree, a person, a neighborhood. Try starting a story by using some of these descriptions.

Find an interesting object. Whether you’re in an office or a kitchen, a park or a library, choose an object you can see and describe it. Does it evoke personal memories? Does it have cultural implications, or elicit a certain emotion? Try starting a story with this object and its associations to guide you.

Play With Setting

Transport your story idea to different time periods and locales:

Write a few lines setting a scene that is easy to accept. Think about the example of snow on pine trees or a dog lying under a hammock. Establish a scene of your own. Then have your story take a twist. Take your reader and yourself somewhere very different—spatially or thematically—from your original scene.

Subvert the norms. Don’t censor yourself. Don’t feel that you have to be serious, or even sincere. You can be playful, even sarcastic in your stories. Think of a subject that may seem outside of today’s literary decorum and write a story about it.

Look Inward

You are the greatest muse for your own story. The following exercises require you to mine ideas from your personal life:

Does your personality make its way into your stories? Think of what kind of social person you are and consider the feedback you get from others about your personality—from family, friends, and others. Write a story that is spoken in your natural speaking voice. This story need not exhibit your best self. Try allowing the story to be controlled by a voice other than the one that shows you off. Write a story that lets the ruggedness of your life drive the voice.

Start a letter to someone you know, would like to know, or once knew. The rule is: assume that they won’t see it. Start this letter by addressing this person directly (think “Dear X”). After you’ve written a few lines or sentences, try to incorporate this as dialogue in your story.

Imitate Writers

Imitation is the best form of flattery. Look to writers you admire for inspiration in your own writing. The following writing exercises borrow concepts from other authors:

Mimic voice. Think of some of the writers or stories you admire. These could be books you’ve discovered in this course or longtime favorites. Pick one of these and read it over and over again, noting the methods the author uses to achieve his or her voice? Notice how the story develops stage by stage. How does it find its way through itself? See if you can write a story that follows a similar style of organization or path of development. This is more than an exercise; it’s a way of opening yourself to the influences of other authors.

Create tension. Use space to create suspense, putting the reader on the same level of knowing and not knowing as the speaker. Write a story that describes one large action and uses spacing as a way to force the reader to pause, creating tension and suspense as the action of your story progresses.

Use a Writing Template. Examples:

A 7-Part Book Development Template. Take your story from a vague book idea to an impactful first draft.

Plot Planning Worksheet. Acts 1-3.

The Story Circle by Dan Harmon. A basic narrative structure that writers can use to structure and test their story ideas.

Sources: 1 2 3 ⚜ More: Writing References on Plot ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

Hi, here are some tips and templates from previous posts, a few were modified to better answer your questions. Choose which ones you would like to try and see which works. You can find more tips in the sources. All the best with your writing!

[moonastro]

SOLAR RETURN CHART NOTES

I have been wanting to do this for the longest timmeeeee, since my 2024 solar return chart is about to end next month I am going to evaluate the events that happened with the placements that I had. This will also be like a learning factor for any of you that have the same placements and hopefully will help if you see them in your own solar return chart 😊🌸.

🪻🪻Firstly I’ll like to address that these are all my own experiences and what my own experiences were like with these placements for the year.

🪻🪻Also I’ll do a predicting one for my 2025 chart and come back to it in a year to see how my predictions played out I’ll think that’ll be cool also 🤭🤭 I’ll add some notes for what could happen with these placements also.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ Capricorn rising 0°- literally got a job the day my solar return chart started so the 0° literally didn’t play at all. My rising ruler (Saturn) was in the 2nd house conjunct the asteroid enterprise which represent your career so that manifested very nicely. Especially since it’s located in the house of making money or earning money.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ mc in Scorpio 10°- I feel like this year I was viewed to be very intimidating to others especially at work with the Capricorn degree and it makes sense. I feel like i was more closed off though and wasn’t as experimental or fun but spent a lot of time doing tarot/astrology. Also throughout the year, I just felt like I was being watched by people, like i thought i stood out like a sore thumb, just felt very conscious of my surroundings.

🪻🪻This placement can cause some addictive effects or addictive hobbies to occur so if you have this placement this may happen for example you may pick up on a substance addiction or start it.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ruler of 7th house in 7th house conjunct asteroid union- I have met someone or encountered a very emotional and spiritual meeting. Especially since the descendant is in cancer. It was very confusing to me ( moon effect) because I wasn’t even sure about what happened or where we stand. And I can’t say that it’s not romantic but at the same time it’s not. (I’ll have to update on this because it’s just confusing at the minute). Also moon is squaring Mercury and there is a lack of communication soooo.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ stellium in 4th house( Venus,Uranus,sun,Jupiter)- home was the centre of my year, focused on the house more. Decorated my room more and spent more time adjusting it the way I wanted like painting it, buying stuff for my room etc (Venus effect).

Moved house to a more bigger space (Uranus= sudden move,relocating) (Jupiter-grander place).

Feel more happier and confident in the new home (sun effect)

🪻🪻having 4th house ruler in 4th house can be an indicator of moving place also.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ sun in 4th house- like mentioned before home/family was a very central theme of the year, also connecting more with mother and just family in general. Also another indicator of moving house.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧Mars in 2nd- was very motivated with how I earn my money and this can also indicate making money quickly. SR Mars in natal 6th house- developed muscles from not even tryinggggg lol. SR Mars conjunct natal Venus- can be an indicator of having a lot of people crushing on you.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟSR moon conjunct natal Saturn- the year was very anxiety driven, very emotion driven. Emotions were just over the roof and most of the time I couldn’t control it or it was out of my control.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟSR north node conjunct natal Venus- lots of lessons involved with love. Some of the things that involved with love felt very destined like I was meant to experience it if that makes sense.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟsaturn in 2nd house- during the year I was setting loads of goals for the future. Was working hard to plan ahead. This placement can cause some stress about not doing enough or feeling like you are behind in life or behind in your overall achievements. I felt like I was always not doing enough. This placement can also indicate taking a break from something depending on the aspects and degree can tell you how.

🪻🪻for example-5°/29°- can indicate taking a break from school and studying for the year.

-7°/19°-taking a break from a relationship whether it’s taking a break from an existing relationship or not being too focusing on romance for the year.

-2°/6°- these degrees can indicate taking a year off work or the year can be you not putting too much pressure on yourself involving work. You may quit an existing job that doesn’t serve you.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟMercury in 3rd house- spent time with loads more people. Communicated loads more this year in general, I feel like I was more open to conversation with people around me. But also overthought everything. Like was analysing everything I was doing. (Also ANOTHER INDICATOR OF MOVING HOUSE- moving neighbourhoods).

🪻🪻this placement can form a greater relationship between you and your siblings. You may bond with siblings more and with the people in your neighbourhood.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟmoon in 6°- this year was emotionally driven by work work work. If you have this placement for your solar return chart for the year expect to be emotionally drained also. Can be emotionally focusing on work and just making sure that you are working hard enough etc.

*:･ﾟ✧*:sr moon in natal 10th house- I feel like wherever your sr moon is placed in your natal chart can tell you the theme of the year also. And no surprise here, I was more exposed to the public, was way more serious this year with my finances etc.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟvenus conjunct Uranus- unexpected turns with love. If you have this placement for the year, this can indicate having sudden changes in love, something unexpected happening with your love life. I feel like also you may be disinterested in love but it may just find you out of nowhere.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟpluto in 1st house- with this placement I experienced a lot of changes in my appearance -duhhhh lol. Was very independent. In terms of appearance I can’t pinpoint a majorrr change but I feel like everything in little bits changed. My attitude was way more transparent, like I did not give any fukssss. But at the same time it didn’t get me in any trouble if that makes sense.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟjupiter conjunct sun- this year felt like I was very smart with my actions. I didn’t regret doing anything and felt like it was a lesson to be learned. This placement can also give you a big personality for the year, omgggg being more happier in a way also. Since I had this in my 4th house I had soo much fun with my family it’s insane. I laughed more.

🪻🪻thank you so much for reading. Hope you have a lovely rest of your day 🤍🤭

[purplebutwarhammer]

I came up with some ideas for how a Primarchs wife would be titled by the legions and by the general public.

Legion mother is sort of a generic term across the board. For an example Astartes from different chapters would use Legion Mother with each other since it has no implications other than being their Primarchs wife, that and in official circumstances it’s considered their formal title, ie Corax’s wife would be introduced as Lady Corax, Legion Mother of Raven Guard.

This is not a full list since I’m not as familiar with some legions so I may make a part two one day

Night Lords:

Domina Nox

- Literally means ‘Lady of the Night’ but doesn’t have the same implications (although I’m sure the joke has been made, and the would be comedian is swiftly taught the error of their ways)

- Domina on its own can also mean ‘mistress of the household’ or just ‘wife’, however it can also be translated as ‘owner’. the legion probably wouldn’t use the shortened version in most cases, but Curze might recreationally.

The Dark Queen of Nostramo

- This would be mostly used by people outside of the legions and off Nostramo, for example a newspaper on Macragge might say “The Dark Queen of Nostramo today met with our ambassadors”. It’s a reflection of Curzes title that simultaneously recognises her as an equal to him but also makes a dig at what she represents. The kind of snarky wordplay politics loves

- It’s occasionally used by some Night Lords and Curze in a shortened form, ie “The Dark Queen requires our presence” or “My Dark Queen has no time for your foolishness, leave now before I present her with your head.”

The Mad Queen

- A term used exclusively amongst civilian populations and meant in an insulting to occasionally sympathetic manner. Usually it’s in reference to the fact she married and stuck by Curze even as he began to spiral, the juxtaposition between her more tempered manner and her continued enforcement of her husbands laws makes her seem unstable to the untrained eye.

- In the future when the true story has become blurred it’s used to refer to her much like an archetype from a play, a queen dragged down into her husband’s madness and driven to extremes. It’s said in a hushed saddened tone that conveys a warning about following in her footsteps and what love can drive a person to.

White Scars:

Khatun

- This one’s fairly obvious, it’s the title given to a Khans wife. I can imagine many of the White Scars would use “The Great Khatun” when in conversation with others, both as a show of respect and to remind others to mind how they speak when she’s the topic of discussion.

Dark Angels:

Lady El’Johnson

- Lady ‘first name’ was typically used for wives of Knights, and I can see this being the norm of Caliban but off planet surnames are more of the norm for formality.

- It would also play into the Dark Angels penchant for secrecy, only on Caliban and amongst trusted company would their Legion Mother be Lady ‘First Name’ in any other situation it’s Lady El’Johnson

The Lioness

- This one is a little more tongue in cheek and largely used amongst the Primarchs to refer to their sister in law and some of the other legions in recognition of her ferocity.

Mistress of the Knightly Orders of Caliban

- This one is a formal title used mainly on Caliban and formal events on Terra when her arrival is being announced. The Lion specifically created the title as recognition of her station and to give her rank amongst the legion so her authority isn’t only seen as an extension of his.

- It gives her domain over the ‘womanly’ tasks of the order, acquisition of food, clothing, and maintenance of household. Essentially the entire homefront falls under her command, and her authority on these matters often outweighs that of her husbands.

- The largest part of this is overseeing and organising the serfs for the entire legion, it’s mainly just the ones serving on Caliban but any major changes throughout the entire legion have to go through her first.

Space Wolves:

Wolf Mother

- Another self explanatory one, she is the Space Wolves mother so she is ‘Wolf Mother’. I like to think that on their wedding day Leman gifted her a wolf pelt to wear which became a trademark of her appearance.

Frue Russ

- Frue was the title given to a Jarls wife, I see this as being what the citizens of Fenris would call her instead of anything like queen.

- I’ve seen mixed sources that say Frue was specifically for a wife who owned land in her own right, but I’m not 100%. I can see Lemans wife as someone who can lead in her own right so bringing her own land and people into the marriage wouldn’t be far fetched

Ultramarines:

Lady Guilliman

The Lady Ultramar

- I’m going to group these two together since they’re both fairly generic, they’re the kind of on paper titles that get the point across

The Imperial Regent Consort

- This is after Guilliman becomes Regent and naturally his wife gets a title to match, it’s wholly an invention of Terra and only sees use from them and other Imperial citizens outside of the Ultramar sector.

Augusta

- Historically it’s Roman title given to empresses of exception that allowed them to wear imperial regalia and hold their own court.

- I imagine that Lady Guilliman can do all of this and more and so is given the title to match, she’s another who I think manages the ‘home’ whilst her husband is away on campaign.

Mater Ultramar

- ‘Mother of Ultramar’, similar to the Roman title for the empress ‘Mater Patriae’, may be called Mater for short informally by some Ultramarines but this is usually an indicator of dire circumstances or moments of great strife when the boys in blue just want their mum.

Salamanders:

Forgemother

- I assume that Vulkans wife would know her way around a forge, and I like to think she makes little trinkets for the Neophytes to put on their first set of armour

Lady of Drakes

- Matches her husband and would usually be used as a formality on Nocturne, like when she’s being introduced at an event.

Raven Guard:

Raven Mother

- This one would be used by legionnaires when speaking to Lady Corax directly ie “Raven Mother, we have news from The Shadow of The Emperor.”

- The civilians of Deliverance would also use it when referring to her to others ie “The Raven Mother is holding an event later”

The Shadowed Lady

- She doesn’t command the shadows as her husband does but is protected by them just the same, shadows can often be seen draping over her like a cloak when in her husbands presence.

- This would also be the name used to refer to her in Corspake and other semi coded communications.

Word Bearers:

The Madonna

- This would be in the religious sense (not like the singer). Especially after the heresy the Word Bearers come to idolise their Legion Mother as the perfect woman. Sermons are given on how all wives and mothers should strive to emulate her.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Writing advice #?: When it comes to characterization, obligation > love.

What I mean by this: love is basically universal. It offers little variability. Almost everyone has a friend, sibling, etc for whom they'd do anything. Allegedly even Hitler loved his apocryphal dog, John Wilkes Booth was a good brother, yadda yadda so forth.

So if you want to have a story that makes us like your character Liv, and establishes interesting tension that will draw out who Liv is as a person... don't write about her rescuing her beloved mother. Write about what happens when someone she dislikes is in danger.

Two great examples I've read recently:

In The Drift by C.J. Tudor, Meg is trapped in a broken-down cable car with five other people and no way to call for help. She risks her life, performing a heroic physical feat that causes herself serious injury - to save a woman who accused her of murder, suggested leaving her to die, and generally treated her like dirt all week. Meg is heroic as hell.

In Dungeon Crawler Carl, the eponymous Carl ends up in the adventure because he ran outside in boxers in -10°F weather to save his ex-girlfriend's obnoxious, misanthropic cat. Carl might be a shlub, but he's a rock solid dude.

I could go on - would Shiloh saving Jeb be nearly as powerful if Jeb wasn't such an asshole? - but the point remains. Meg sacrificing so much to save her partner would be just what's expected. Carl rescuing a cat he chose to adopt is a non-event. Obligation is where the rubber hits the road. Where the ordinary people get sorted from the awesome ones. Where the character-defining moments occur. Over 99.9% of humans ever researched would sacrifice a stranger to save a loved one; a rare form of brain damage that causes people to value strangers and family the same is considered extremely aberrant.

I mention all of this because fan fiction is chock full of examples of characters dying (or killing, or walking through fire, or...) to save their best friends and their sisters and their fiancés. And if you want to write a story about Dean Winchester killing orphans or going to hell or destroying his car to save Sam Winchester, awesome. But there's not a ton of room for characterization in there.

If you want us to learn something about who this person Liv really is, show her forced to choose between rescuing a dog who just bit her and making it to a job interview on time. Let her see her loud neighbor with the bass-boosted music about to get a ticket for an expired meter. Give her a choice between saving 10 strangers or saving her wife. Have her walk by her sexist coworker and realize the guy is quietly sobbing. Literally anything she does next will be interesting, and say a lot about her as a person. If she's just choosing between her wife's life and her own, or her wife's life and the sexist coworker, then the scene might be poignant or sad - but it won't be surprising or tense or revelatory about Liv as a person. The big moments of heroism aren't driven by love, but by obligation.

[ilariyalavorowrites]

Bright Lights (Chapter 2)

Warnings: Angst with a happy ending, Hurt/Comfort, post-divorce healing, Pitt Fest is a warning of its own, medical inaccuracies.

Pairings: Michael Robinavitch x Reader

Word count:  2.0k

Universe: The Pitt

Reader gender: Female

Tagged: @questionably-intelligent69 , @dizzybee03 , @virgomillie , @mrsjosephmazzello , @sus-styles , @moonshooter , @hagarsays @that-sarcastic-writer , @ddrawers96 , @pear-1206 , @nerdgirljen & @penbridgertonn

Part 2 of 4

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6:30pm

Frankie gave no thought to the blood coating her clothes and hands; she needed to focus on keeping pressure on the wound. Her patient’s life depended on it; as the van was driven at a near breakneck speed. Her keen eyes kept checking the young man’s vitals as much as she could without her necessary medical devices. It was hard not to think back to Pitt Fest, to not think of what they had just escaped from by the skin of their teeth.

Despite not being shot, the experience would leave no visible scar, just as long lasting. Frankie would have to live with the knowledge and memory of the utter panic and devastation wrought by whoever pulled the trigger.

No amount of preparation or emergency medical training could measure up to facing an active shooting. She had felt helpless, as if she had been wading through waist deep water before another tidal wave had struck. Forcing her under, struggling to resurface as terrified people rushed past her.

Frankie, in her scramble for supplies, had mistakenly taken her partner’s jacket from the cab of the ambulance, only to use it as a blanket, carefully draping it over the shivering form of an injured festival goer who had delicately placed in the back of a van. One that would leave her, the one transporting her directly to the nearest trauma center.

She knew that her friend would have done the same; it was a replaceable article of clothing. She had done it to preserve body heat. To give the patient a fighting chance for making it to the hospital alive. Yet, she could not see the events that she had put in motion.

ROBINAVITCH, each letter was dripping in the blood of another.

It was far from a pleasant sight; she didn’t have time to linger on such thoughts as the blood of her patient soaked through the bandages that she carefully wrapped around the gushing wound. She pulled each layer tighter than the previous one to hold the dressing underneath in place. Her hands applied further pressure, but still the blood continued to flow. This wasn’t good. 

“What’s our ETA?” She shouted out to the van’s driver. As she tried to calculate how long she had before her patient slipped deeper in the danger zone. Frankie felt every shift, every turn that the van took as they inched closer and closer to its final designation.

“Five minutes out” Keeping his gaze fixed on the road, the driver answered, carefully negotiating the many bends and turns. She still did not know the name of the Samaritan who had stepped up, swiftly offering his work vehicle to transport the wounded. It had a moment of showcasing the best of humanity as others followed by example.

With the passenger in the back on the other side of the patient, Frankie took a second to glance at them. “We’ve almost here” A tired smile graced their lips but their eyes remained fixed downwards upon the more severely injured party, the husband. From the little information that Frankie had gleamed from the wife, he had been shielding a mother and her young child, trying to get them out of harm’s way, only to take the full force of shot to the chest.

The wound was deep, but she couldn’t truly assess how serious it truly was. Frankie was certain of one fact, it hadn’t been instantly fatal as her patient was still fighting for his life. The very fine threads that held him still hovering between this world and the next. The minutes were ticking by; his life was ebbing in tandem.

“As soon as those doors open, let the staff do their job,” she confidently spoke to the wife, knowing that genuine sense of panic would rapidly descend as soon as they rolled into the ambulance bay. The EMT mask clicked back into place.

“I need you to take over, keep pressure on the wound whilst I checked him over” Frankie watched as she actively listened, replacing her hands upon dressing. “Sam, my husband’s name is Sam,” the wife said, smiling lovingly down at him, concern slide in beside it. Today would remain forever etched in their collective memories, regardless of the outcome.

“I’m Lara” Frankie nodded; at least she had their names; she could refer to them by instead of just wife or patient. “Frankie,” she replied as the van came to a screeching halt. The metal van’s chassis muffled the voices, but she could hear and distinguish a few words.

Red, Pink, Yellow 

The emergency protocols were already underway; they were categorising all incoming traffic, trying to ensure that nothing was missed. As the back doors were pulled open, Frankie seized this opportunity to speak. 

“Male, in his 40s with a single GSW to the chest” The words flowed naturally as if she was rolling a gurney through those ambulance bay doors with a doctor and nurse ready to receive her report from the field, just like any normal day. This was far from normal as she watched the doctor deliver his own assessment, taking her words to heart as someone slapped a red band on his wrist.

Frankie could finally relax as she silently watched the handover continue on as they carefully helped Sam out of the van and onto a gurney. Before his wife Lara followed, with a green slap band on her wrist. She smiled as exhaustion settled in as Lara briefly turned to mouth ‘thank you’ before disappearing out of sight.  ----------------------------------------- 7pm

The chaos that erupted in an instant dwarfed the ordinary sounds of whistles and alarms. This was exactly where she thrived. Santos was born this for, as she rushed from patient to patient, noting the variety of injuries and wounds that came from a massive casualty. This experience would allow her to climb the ranks in medicine and discover her place in the field.

Whether that it was down here in the Pitt, facing the unpredictability of emergency medicine, or with a ten blade in her hand cutting away with the best in surgery. 

It was intoxicating as she danced between the yellow and pink zones, focused on being present in the most pressing cases. Knowing that the chance to prove herself would come, then she could help alongside the attendings in the red zone.

Show off the mad skills that she knew she possessed. Some might see as arrogance; to her, it ran deeper, to the bone. This was a defence mechanism, a drive to survive against the odds stacked against her.

Trinity Santos had to be the best, at the top of every class. This was her way out, to provide to all her doubters that she could, no would make it as a Doctor. Her past did not define her, yet it shaped her through all she had endured.

None of that mattered here and now; she needed to remain focused, no matter how much her feet throbbed, no matter how much she wished she could find a quick space and take a quick five-minute nap. 

Heading to the yellow zone

Pink, unconscious, with no visible wounds

Moving to up to red

The calls came from all around the department as gurneys whizzed past, new patients at the beginning of line and ones who had been there since the very start. Treatment changing by the second as their conditions either stabilised enough to bump the ever-growing surgery list or deteriorated in a blink of an eye. Thinking on the fly, improvising treatment, this was a rush but fall out would come, eventually.

Yet, it was something ordinary that caught her eye, a jacket that she had seen a fair few times through the shift. The standard issue jacket that all incoming paramedics wore. It was part of their identity, making them easy to see amongst the throngs of darting bodies that navigated the corridors of the department.

They had folded the jacket and set it aside, but as Santos approached, more details became visible. Dried out blood stains littered the fabric, yet it didn’t match the wounds on the patient laying in the bay. It was far too big; it would swallow them whole if they had been the one wearing it.

This was not its original owner. Without a second thought, Trinity slipped her gloved hands beneath the folds, lifting it up to get a closer look, only to find a name staring right back at her as the fabric unfurled. One that she had come to know in the last twelve and a half hours.

Robinavitch, Dr Robby. Countlessly questions arose as the sound of her name brought back to reality.

“Kid, are you alright? You were staring off into space…” Dana, the brisk but maternal voice at the very heart of the Department, trailed off as her gaze found their way on the jacket, to the embossed name. An awkward silent crept in without warning; Santos still with a thousand questions on the tip of her tongue.

The ever present charge nurse knew something; she held the key to her rapidly growing desire for answers to this most delicious of riddles. Yet, nothing came in the seconds that followed. Instead, a wall had risen suddenly between the two of them.

“I’ll take that, focus on the patients” Trinity had wanted nothing more than to bite back defiantly and prod deeper. Before she had the change to inquire any further down the rabbit hole, Dana had carefully plucked her prize and turned on her heel, making her escape. Trinity knew her place on the totem pole, one of the lowest rungs, but this encounter had been the strangest of the shift thus far. ---------------------------------------------------

6:20pm Pitt Fest

You had lost track of time; silence between gun shots and the piercing fearful screams had only gotten shorter. This was how you had been judging time by, as you wandered through the haze. A crippling sense of utter confusion, pain, and blind fear had overruled your innate desire to flee. That very human nature to escape from a perceived threat, one that was too real.

Jake

Leah

Frankie

Each face flashed before your eyes as you continued on stumbling past the turned over tents, tables and countless decorations and bunting spread across what once had been a pathway. You had to find someone, anyone, to make sure that they were safe. Your gaze shifted left, then right, searching for the smallest sign of life. You lost your radio in the first stampede, tramped under the many pairs of fleeing.

Your phone hadn’t been faring any better; the signal had long since jammed up as the number of people attempting to reach out steadily climbed by the second.

You had tried calling, texting Jake’s number a fair few times but it no longer connected, the messages remained unsent. Communication over the airwaves had broken down quicker than you had thought it might; all you could rely on was your senses. No matter how hard each step felt, you had to continue forward.

It was eerie to think about how less than an hour ago, music had flooded from every direction. New meeting oldies, merging into an interesting middle ground. It had been fascinating to watch as people danced along, stumbled over misremembered lyrics, and laughed like there was no tomorrow.

It had been a wonderful to witness as you had wandered through the thoroughfare as you had tried to retrace your steps back to the delicious notes of mouth-watering flavours that had caught your attention when you first had arrived. You had never found the vendor, you couldn’t remember even sampling any of the wide range of foods available.

So much of it wasted away, mixing with the mud and ground beneath your feet. Your stomach answered the question that hadn’t even been asked. The world started to spin as you took a few more steps, but your next thought never came, as a shoulder barged forcibly into you, knocking you clean off your feet.

Darkness consumed your vision, as muted voices mixed as you fell into the sweet embrace of the depths of the unconscious mind. ------------------------------------- If anyone wishes to tagged in any of the Pitt x Reader content, please reply or message me                                

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

Before I end up making that post I want to talk about briefly with the release of IS5 again, the concept of each IS havin a fundamental theme of unreality to them. I really like this, because it feels like in a pretty unsubtle way a solid way to ground the structure of a roguelike setting into what is normally a pretty grounded storyline.

IS1, Ceobe's Fungimist (please Hypergryph let it return), is a hallucination caused be Ceobe eating weird forest mushrooms. Nothing that happens in IS1 is real, explicitly. However, IS1 is fundamentally drawing from something, and in Ceobe's case, it seems to be drawing from her memories of traveling abroad Terra looking for the origins of her axe (and food, of course). What are things Ceobe's remembers happening to her, what are hallucinations filing in the gaps, and what are Ceobe catching glimpses of fundamental truths of the world (the Black Procession and the Feranmut skeleton that is Maybe? Lifebone for instance) is left extremely vague. Characters such as the Frozen Monstrosity do seem to genuinely exist, but there was no Frozen Monstrosity in Lungmen. Was Ceobe using something she herself experienced in place of Frostnova, or is Ceobe hallucinating the entire thing regardless? Who knows. Ceobe probably doesn't have the answers for you.

IS2 has explicit themes of madness and deception, and although I do not find him a particularly compelling character or plot device, a playwright who can literally warp reality with his plays. Much of the stage design recycles echoes the stage design from IS1, almost as if the Troupe is welcoming you, the player, onto their stage. You aren't here to discern the truth behind the Troupe, you're here to save one man, and while you are able to peel back the curtains somewhat, you never really do learn what the Troupe is. There are puppets who come to life and whose music damages your souls, there are actors driven so fully into their roles that they end up traveling to Sami to carry out their destined end, there's a Troupe Leader whose defining imagery is puppets and strings, and yet, you're no closer to finding out how this all happened than you are trying to explain why the Knights' Duel node exists.

IS3 asks the question "What if time is like evolution?" and presents its unreality in the form of a sprawling, massive bundle of alternative timelines to your own. It feels almost impossible to line up most of the events and memory mappings and endings on top of each other, and even the endings seemingly branch off into several versions of themselves. While, for example, the Irene encounter maps onto her own memory mapping story, we never see the timeline involving Lumen's memory mapping in the game at all. There is no Seaborn version of Gladiia in-game for you to fight. This is made seemingly all the more uncanny by the fact that there is actually a canon timeline going on, and the implication through the Bosky event that you are only seeing these alternative timelines because curiosity got the better of you. You came into contact with technology alien and yet familiar, and as a result, your good little timeline where you just save a girl who tries to commit identity death turns into you having to watch from the third person a version of the world where you and Mizuki are potentially the only intelligent life left on Terra for all eternity.

(No seriously, this ending is fucked up, what the fuck.)

IS4, on the other hand, gives us a reality that is unraveling, so fragile and malleable that you can cause things to manifest out of sheer force of will, something there are explicit warnings about not doing. It's a land where the living become the shambling, almost mechanical dead, and the mechanical being living creatures. It's a world where the abyss looks back at you, and finds you to be worth destroying. Gravity isn't right, time isn't right, language isn't right, snow falls black and the dead rise once again to beckon you home. There's nightmares in the shadows, and they're eating away at everything.

Sorry shit I got dark there. IS5 is Nymph's happy little storytime where she explores future and alternative versions of Kazdel through the imagination of her and her compatriots. What if Theresis and Theresa worked together and Nasti completed her designs (and maybe committed a genocide????) and Kazdel was a flying utopia city? What if the Teekaz all walked in a different direction and became the Sankta, or all became the Anasa? You know, sometimes you lose your sense of reality and become dependent on the visions you see from the Revenants, sometimes you need a little bunny to pull you out, and sometimes those Revenants might have actually caused a new reality to exist but haha, don't worry about that.

What if, hahaha, just saying what if, there was a version of Amiya in a world where the Sarkaz barely exist, where she was given the crown by a dying Theresa with no guidance on how to use it ethically? Haha I mean, what if Kal'tsit wasn't around? What if, just theoretically, there was a version of Amiya for whom the most formative person in her life was the decaying mind of a man stuck as an AI program who kept his people alive for 10,000 years? What if, hehehehe you know, what if, there were special endings you got for each of the stories you told where you went onto fight her, showing up closing up those stories, those worlds, to eternally protect them until she can find the answer to all troubles? What if the Sarkaz prophecy from Chapter 7 kept coming up, over and over again, the prophecy of an Amiya who would melt millions of lives into memories over and over again? What if this was an Amiya so immediately dangerous that the Sankta version of Buldrokkas'tee doesn't hesitate in trying to kill her?

I mean that would be a really scary story if it was true. Really it's Nymph's special storytime with the revenants. Don't worry about it.

Anyways I love pretty much each of these takes (IS2 is definitely the weakest though) and it shows a lot of thought from the storywriters about how they wanted to integrate a roguelike mode into their game.

[danyyytarggg]

HOTD is just a complete mess of a story with such abysmal writing that it’s actually mind-boggling to me that the writers really saw no issue with it.

there is no consistency or continuity to the show, and events seem to happen just to happen with no real impact on the story. examples: why did team green exist before viserys’ death if their motivation was going to be watered down to “viserys named aegon heir”? the show tried to beat in that alicent’s children were not safe under rhaenyra’s rule, further emphasized and solidified by aemond losing his eye; this was supposed to be the main motivation for putting aegon on the throne and the scenes on driftmark were perfect in showcasing the validity in alicent’s fears as well as solidifying alicent’s motivations for aegon. then, it’s all PROMPTLY forgotten in favor of a lame misunderstanding being the reason for aegon taking the throne. so really, what was the point in all that? another example, making aegon such a despicable person in season 1. really, what was the point in that if there was to be no continuity or impact or rhyme or reason for making aegon that way? none of it is ever mentioned again, none of his actions had any sort of impact, etc. no continuity or impact whatsoever, so what was the reason for having such triggering content in season 1? tasteless and disgusting. also, the deaths in this show serve NO impact and are forgotten from the minds of the characters so quickly: visenya, lucerys, jaehaerys, rhaenys, sunfyre (maybe?), the almost-death of aegon - there’s a lack of continuity in emotion and impact. the deaths happen, the characters react somewhat appropriately or not at all, and then they move on to the next episode and everything before is forgotten. ESPECIALLY emphasized by the fact that rhaenyra demanded a son for a son as if jaehaerys wasn’t dead for that exact reason. or helaena urging daemon on in his vision as if he’s NOT the man responsible? aemond caring for, at the very least, his mother and sister? gone. alicent caring for her children so much so that she tried to attack lucerys for aemond and stepped in front of a dragon for aegon? gone. aegon being forced on the throne when he never wanted it? gone and now is being given up by the woman who put him there. daemon being supportive of rhaenyra’s rule by the end of season 1? gone. there also seems to be no impact from the larys x alicent scene from season 1, so WHAT was the point of that?

the characters make absolutely no sense to me at this point. aemond, who cared for alicent and helaena, now cold, callous, power hungry, does not care for family. aemond cares more about his actions against lucerys than his actions against anyone in team green. alicent, who is driven by duty, honor, responsibility, religion and cares for her family, though has trouble showing it due to her trauma - sells out all her family members with the exception of helaena to rhaenyra? then asks rhaenyra to run away with her? huh? also, for the same reasons above, having alicent x criston cole makes no sense without showing us their progression. it just doesn’t make sense for alicent’s character to have a lover without showing us exactly how it all came to be instead of just showing us that it happened. and then for her to casually just bring it up to rhaenyra? alicent would NEVER. helaena attempting to help daemon despite the fact that he’s responsible for the murder of her son. even the sudden shift in helaena’s personality/character in the very last episode gave me whiplash and i’ve been wanting her to have a more substantial role in the plot. baela is continuously used as female reinforcement for everything rhaenyra says or does and as jace’s emotional support (that being said, i LOVE jacela, but baela’s character deserves more than just these two roles). rhaena is given like two or three talking scenes and then the rest is her just chasing after a dragon, leaving behind her younger siblings btw. which, i think having her character find strength and power without having a dragon would have done wonders but okay. aegon, i can’t even take seriously bc of his season 1 actions. same goes for larys. corlys forgetting that rhaena exists as an option for heir of driftmark, as if she isn’t the most deserving of that title.

EVERYTHING being boiled down to pro-rhaenyra. rhaenyra can never be in the wrong about anything. even jace’s very legitimate concerns, baela swooped in to convince him why he’s wrong in feeling the way that he does. rhaenyra imposes a blockade on king’s landing, a known fact, the people starve, she sends food - “rhaenyra remembers us even now!” daemon seeing a vision of rhaenyra on the throne, helaena urging daemon to do what’s right, alicent turning herself in to rhaenyra then asking rhaenyra to run away w her. one of her councilman voicing his concerns to daemon and whether rhaenyra is right for the throne because rhaenyra hasn’t done a single thing, does not attend council meetings, is not protecting her allies, refuses any sort of action at all - then demonizing said councilman even though his concerns are entirely founded. even making team green’s motivation for putting aegon on the throne being from a misunderstanding is inherently pro-rhaenyra. bc if their entire motivation is based on “viserys named aegon heir,” which we know is a misunderstanding, then OBJECTIVELY, team green is in the wrong. rather than going with the safety/protection motivation for team green, which wouldn’t have left them being so objectively in the wrong. and for all the love the show writers give to being pro-rhaenyra, they can’t even write rhaenyra well. she’s indecisive, takes no actions, just continuously begs off to go fight, doesn’t attend council meetings, cannot make a single plan on her own (all of her plans and wins have come from either mysaria or jace), is overall, not a strong or competent leader. after all this, they girlbossify her at the end when, after a whole season of doing basically nothing, she acquires three more dragons (which ALSO wasn’t an entirely smart move).

which can i also complain about the lack of strategy, diplomacy, and wits in the show? everything gets watered down to DRAGONS, which is also why rhaena’s arc is so disappointing imo.

additionally hate the lack of development and depth team black members get. it just all goes to rhaenyra and daemon (and SOMEWHAT jace), and that isn’t even done right. then you have team green who the writers TRY to give depth and development to but completely and utterly fail at creating anything truly meaningful.

lastly, i truly believe rhaenyra x alicent was a mistake, ONLY because the writers don’t know how to write it correctly. i really did enjoy the concept in season 1 until they made their relationship hijack the entire show. because of this, we didn’t get to see rhaenyra vs aegon at their full potential at ALL. it was replaced in favor for rhaenyra x alicent. i also believe this relationship is what screwed over the motivation of team green in the show because alicent needed a “just” reason to betray rhaenyra, therefore giving us the dumb misunderstanding trope. it also keeps either of the characters from diving into the potential their characters both have! it keeps them from engaging in war to its fullest extent! not to mention, having alicent throw away her entire family for rhaenyra is CRAZY. then to have her ask rhaenyra to run away with her? after everything? please. if they didn’t know how to write it in a well-written way, they shouldn’t have done rhaenyra x alicent at all bc i fully believe that it is a large reason as to why the show got so epically ruined with bad writing.

oh also, helaena and alys just spoiling major dance of the dragons plot points? i’m really not a fan of that, personally. and i really don’t know how the show is going to build off of this. it also takes away the impact that these scenes would have left on viewers if never spoiled onscreen.

oh last points promise - jaehaerys and jaehaera continuously NOT being called by their names and instead being called “the boy,” “the girl,” “the child,” angers me so much and is crazy minimization of their characters - probably to lessen the blow and impact of blood and cheese? and gwayne confronting criston cole about him sleeping with his sister, the dowager queen, in public, in front of everyone, with everyone watching? so poorly written and read like a badly written fanfiction on wattpad. the show writers forgetting that alicent x criston cole is very much not allowed in westeros and could get both in such crazy trouble by having that gwayne scene and alicent casually admitting to having a lover to rhaenyra is just bonkers.