#I like flipping worldbuilding around

[artemis-red-hotd]

a lucemond a/b/o curse + arranged marriage concept

(mostly sfw. cw: loss of primary genders, loss of fertility, potential body dysphoria but non explicit)

A flip + exploration of the fics I've liked where someone from non-omegaverse finds themselves in omegaverse and suddenly presents & has to adapt to having an a/b/o gender. This is the reverse idea, where in an a/b/o universe, everyone loses their primary gender hormones and most people become an intersex beta essentially, with male/female reproductive capabilities becoming dominant. I had a world-building brainrot going but a chunk of it will be hand waved. ====

Westeros is in omegaverse. Lucemond have been married for a year and have been told to have a child to remove the still lingering tension between the two sides of the family due to the conflicted relationship between Lucerys and Aemond. It would be good for the realm if two of its princes' were not on the brink of murder at every turn. Queen Rhaenyra, as an alpha, took power mostly uncontested.

Then, one day, a magical curse sweeps over the land, and people lose their a/b/o gender. Those who were carrying a pregnancy make it to term, but have to watch the world change around them, knowing that a ticking clock will catch up to them once they give birth.

Lucerys and Aemond have been sharing the marriage bed, but have not had a child after a year as they have been taking moon tea in secret, not wanting to be parents so early into the marriage. But, following this curse upon the lands, they, and everyone else, finds themselves to be betas. Or something close.

Their mating bites no longer tingle, the heats and ruts no longer bond alpha and omega. Their primary gender hormones have stopped producing. There is no more slick to ease the way, and no more knots to keep mated pairs tightly bound together, murmuring to each other in the moonlight after their passions were consummated. The world shifts. Their second gender hormones kick in, bringing upon slight changes in their physiology. It is a struggle for all, but no one is going through it alone. The betas guide them through the change, being in the best position to lend their expertise.

It will take a while for people to understand that secondary genders now dominate and determine who can carry children. Female alphas find themselves unable to breed their female omega lovers. Male omegas find themselves able to impregnate others.

Lucerys and Aemond navigate this new world, in horror, knowing that a civil war between the Queen and Otto would be the last thing the realm needs right now, as Queen Rhaenyra’s reign goes on, formerly unquestioned as she was an alpha. What changes now that she's essentially a beta?

Since everyone is a beta, people thankfully look up to the Queen, as she goes through the same event as everyone else.

Lucerys, in secret, prays for his omega to return, so that his husband may feel the mating pull towards him again. So that he has a reason to spend the nights with him.

Aemond, in secret, misses the scenting most of all, misses the honey and ash scent of his omega. It's different, being around him, without their fated bond keeping them together. Sex doesn't feel the same. It requires lubrication now.

That is one industry that booms after this curse.

Its more than politics. They have mated. Quite happily, for the most part. They were compatible, as alpha and omega. Passionate.

But without their scents intermingling, without their bodies slotting together easily like puzzle pieces, without that mating bite chaining them to eachother, its just different.

They look at each other across the table, as they listen to their Queen talk about how things have changed across the Realm. The maesters have concluded that male pairs, regardless of their previous genders, cannot have children with each other. It is a shock to the system. No combination of former primary genders with the secondary male gender can have children?  How bizarre, to lose all of those pairing combinations. To have this one trait dominate.

Jace, a beta, is the only one unperturbed at the news. Aegon, his ex-omega, already has two children, so they may remain together for their family. Lucerys eyes his brother’s exhale of relief in jealousy, glancing across the table.

Aemond would surely want to be remarried to a female now, so that he may continue his line. It would make their alliance more tenuous, they were the biggest danger to the family, after all. Lucerys took his eye, earning his ire, and Aemond attacked him with Vhagar, killing Arrax. The pair was at each other's throats, unable to be in the same room together, before they were betrothed to marry to avoid war between their families.

But that was two years ago. Lucerys curses himself for taking moon tea in that first year now, before the thought of carrying Aemond’s child didn’t turn both of their stomachs in disgust. Things had been different, recently. But then the curse stole their alpha and omega.

But the Queen wants them both to be released from their forced marriage. They should have a chance at children, if they so wished, she says.

The Queen had never been opposed marriages between infertile pairs before the magic came of course. With so many combinations of genders, how could it matter, when the hormones and mating bites brought people together regardless?

Two beta males were always allowed to marry of course, though it was a rare match, almost unheard of. There weren't that many betas to begin with. Why marry if you have no inherent hormonal compatibility, no scents to attract each other, no mating bite pulling you together even against your will?

Marriage between female and male betas had been more common due to the chance of pregnancy. Lucerys had tried to imagine how different it must feel to be a beta. Definitely more free time, without the heats and ruts. But he enjoyed those moments of unending passion with his husband. Now, he knows.

What would be left, between them? Lucerys feels tears well in his eyes. He could still have children, if he remarried. As their alpha sire-… no. Their father. A strange thought. He could try. But he would have to separate from Aemond.

“No, sister,” says Aemond, cutting through the terse silence at the dining table. He hastily corrects himself. “Your Grace.”

“You do not wish to remarry, Aemond?” says Rhaenyra.

“What of the alliance, your Grace,” says Lucerys. He was never one to be quiet about politics, even with the omega hormones in his system, making him sweet and submissive to his alpha. Only for his alpha.

That was one of the biggest changes. He had argued with Aemond the night before, and they were not able to scent each other to calm down. They had slept in separate rooms instead. It had stung.

“I release you two from it. I trust our family has healed enough for this. That you are both wiser now. The realm does not need your marriage,” says the Queen. “Besides, keeping you together without the mating bond and the chance to sire children… it might make things worse.”

Lucerys swallows the lump in his throat, watching Aemond take in her words across from him, only an arm’s length away. He wants to grab him. Pull him close into a hold like a cage. Afraid, suddenly.

“It would set a bad precedent,” says Aemond carefully “to immediately disintegrate a marriage alliance just because our secondary genders have overtaken our primary ones. What of the stability of the realm? Of the lords? The curse might reverse itself yet. I believe it is best to keep our marriage alliance, as an example. When the realm is stable again, considerations may be made for future weddings.”

Lucerys exhales, in relief, watching Aemond’s eye as it stays fixed on his mother, not looking at him. The only tell is that Aemond’s hand is trembling, just a bit, on the table top. Lucerys feels his heart swell in hope.

“Lucerys,” says the Queen, eyeing her half brother in suspicion. “You should also have a chance to remarry and sire children if you so wish, as your secondary gender allows it. Your former alpha should not have the only say in the matter.”

Lucerys can feel Aemond’s eye, the one he had left him with, bore into the side of his neck, where his fading mating bites are imprinted. The hormonal possessiveness is taking longer to fade in the former alpha, it seems. Lucerys wonders why.

“What Aemond says is true. We need to set an example. Do you want all alphas to put away their omega spouses, when our society has afforded different roles to omegas and alphas their whole lives? Different expectations and opportunities? Even if you have fought against it, mother. It would be chaos. No, we must do this slowly. Aemond and I should remain married to show that stability and harmony can remain, even amongst former alpha and omega pairs,” says Luke.

Everyone at the table stares.

“We heard the shouting, last night,” says Jace, breaking the silence. “It generally devolves into mating, but this time wasn’t the case. We are worried that you two will kill each other some day. And we assumed you would prefer to separate, given the chance. You are both Targaryens. You may do as you wish.”

“I have made my wishes clear,” says Aemond, finality in his voice. He ignores the looks of disappointment from his mother and grand sire.

“And I, mine,” says Lucerys.

That is the end of it. Lucerys feels sick with relief, but he isn’t sure why.

He and Aemond's politics were in agreement. But Lucerys' motivations had been personal. He was no longer compatible with Aemond, in the way fated alpha and omega pairs were. Their pull was different. But…

But.

That night, they layed in their bedchambers, side by side, speaking softly to each other in the dark space between them, hands roaming over flesh, gently, as they had always done, back when they had to wait for Aemond’s knot to deflate.

Aemond presses his face into Lucerys’ chest, and Luke feels a tug on his heart, as if they were mated once again. But it wasn’t that same pull, it was a different one, present before but muted under the inferno of need that was their primary gender hormones.

Lucerys lets his fingers comb through Aemond’s hair, and whispers into the crook of his ear, telling him about the future they could still share together. A different one. They would have to adopt their children, but they could do that, they were not in line for the throne. Aemond tightens his hold around Lucerys’ waist, telling him that he would like that. He still wanted that one day. He just wanted Lucerys.

When they kiss in the darkness of the room that night, illuminated only by the soft moonlight dancing across their bare skin, they whisper reassuring words into the space between them. Some things were different. But they would make it work. They were meant to be together. They would fight for it, when the time came.

When their bodies meet and their hearts swell for each other, singing the same song that has always existed between them, they hear it clearly, even without the haze of heat or rut fueling the intimacy between them.

A song without words that they both know the melody of: no matter how much their world changes, in every universe, as long as its the two of them, some things will always be the same.

[hazbininlove]

Hopelessly Devoted

Chapter 1

-About 5k of worldbuilding and angst

There’s an angel in Heaven few know of. Some wonder if she purposely let herself be forgotten, and others know that her isolation isn’t entirely her own fault.

Heaven’s structure wasn’t as simple as Hell’s mainly due to the fact that there were so many roles to play. Not every Archangel and or Virtue was a Seraphim. Seraphim has always been the highest rank, but even amongst themselves there was another ranking system not many knew of, and even they had other angels that outranked them due solely to the Divine’s words. Everyone had their own task, some, the Archangels, were given their tasks directly from the Divine.

The Seven, as they were called, were the Capital Virtues, angels with the rank of Archangel, dedicated undoubtedly to the Divine’s will. As extensions of the Divine, they were rarely seen within any city of Heaven besides possibly the Primum Mobile, where the Divine resided. Few winners were allowed there because only Virtuous Souls could enter those gates. While there were many virtues, the Seven were the ones to look towards to enforce the Divine’s will both in Heaven, and on Earth.

And within that Primum Mobile, the Heaven of the Angels, resides a Seraphim with the rank of Archangel, not a virtue but an angel nearly as old. She’s been around since before the Earth’s creation, long before the Garden of Eden.

She remained there in the Primum Mobile, kept within the walls of the palace, free to leave but knowing it was best to stay. Michael looked upon her, saddened by her melancholy that has not left her for thousands of years. She sat within the library, her black hair falling down her back in gentle waves as wisps of hair fell towards her midnight blue eyes. The two streaks of white weaves through her hair on either side of her. Her lips were set in a straight line, the blue circular marks on the corner of her mouth a stark contrast to the gray of her skin. She flipped the page of her book as he approached, and when she sensed him, she looked up to him with a soft smile on her face.

“Michael, always a pleasure,” she says, and though her tone is welcoming, Michael can still see the pain within her eyes when she looks at him. It breaks his heart knowing exactly why it’s there, but he feels no regret for following the task that the Divine gave him. He knows she understands this, but he also knows that it does nothing to ease her suffering, and nothing has for eons.

“Esther, my dear, when was the last time you left these walls?”

She looks away from him and back to her book, her fingers absently toying with the pages. “I sat in the Garden with Ramiel a few days ago.”

He sighs, knowing that it likely took weeks just to get her to do that much.

“You aren’t confined here, not anymore, and you know that. I know we… I made the mistake of keeping you here long ago as a precaution but that was centuries ago now. You are free to roam the cities as you once did, to roam Earth should you choose to! It pains us to see you like this,” he says, reaching forward to tuck some of her hair behind her ear. His hand slides down her cheek towards her chin to lift her face and see her eyes. “We miss our Eveningstar.”

“I am the Seraph and Archangel of balance, and yet I feel none,” she whispers to him, and his heart breaks for her. “I understand why I was kept here, you know I’ve never questioned the Divine’s words, but it does nothing to fill the emptiness I feel. A half of me is gone, Michael, and I’ll never get him back. Your Eveningstar is here, but my Morningstar is forever out of reach.”

His hand moves back to her cheek, and her eyes flutter closed and she leans into his touch.

“If I gave you a task, one that forced you out of these walls, would you follow it?” He asks her gently.

“A task from you means a task sent from the Divine. Of course I will follow it,” she replies, her voice a bit louder now, with a hint of playfulness. He knows she isn’t happy about it, but as she said, she will follow if that is what the Divine asks of her.

“Gabriel gave me the message, as he thought it was best that I give it to you. There is apparently a meeting today for the Head Council of the first Sphere, one that Sera seemed to not notify us of. The Divine knows, of course, but wouldn’t speak more of it. All Gabriel said was that you were to go to this meeting, assess what Sera is keeping from us, and report back.”

Michael didn’t care much for Sera. She was nice enough, and her devotion was clear, but there was something about her that reminded him a bit of his brother. She wasn’t a dreamer, and she knew when to keep her head down and voice quiet, but she also looked too calculating and too ambitious.

“It sounds like you are keeping something from me as well,” Esther replies, looking at him through narrowed eyes.

He was keeping something from her. He knows it’s best to tell her now instead of letting her be surprised later, but there’s no easy way to say it. “Gabriel has reason to believe that the request for the meeting came from Hell.”

He watches her eyes widen a bit, her jaw falling just slightly as she leans away from his hand. He tries to follow, to keep her grounded, but she leans closer to him now. “If the meeting came from Hell, that can only mean that he requested it.”

“Yes.”

Her breath stutters, and he can see her visibly shaken. “Thousands of years kept here to ensure I don’t see him and all of a sudden, I’m asked to go see him? Michael, what is going on?”

“I don’t know,” he responds, truthful in his answers. He won’t lie to her, he can’t, but he wishes that he could. “If it was up to me, I’d go myself, but Gabriel said that the task was given only to you. I don’t know if it will be him, or Lilith, or… or their daughter. All Gabriel was able to say was that it has something to do with Hell.”

He hates having to be the one to remind her that the Morningstar moved on and had a child. He remembers the day that Gabriel delivered the news. He’d watched as she’d stretched her wings before curling the highest pair over her eyes as she turned and walked away from them, hiding herself deeper into the palace. They hadn’t seen a single tear fall, but Michael still recalls the small broken sound she’d made before hiding away from the rest of them.

He watches again now as her wings settle behind her with a flurry of silver dust, and she stands from her seat. The wings closest to her head, just as before, curl around her, concealing her face from view once more. Her lowest pair curls around her legs, still giving her room to walk but still wrapped like a comforting embrace. The middle pair don’t wrap around her, but they remain limp behind her as if there wasn’t a single bone in them.

“When is the meeting?” She asks him quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. He wants to reach out and comfort her, but she’s already moving towards the door.

“Tomorrow,” he replies. He watches her pause at the doorway for a moment before she turns slightly towards him. Her face is still hidden from him but she gives him a small bow of her head in acknowledgment before walking away.

He has a terrible feeling about this, but he can’t do anything about it. All he can do is trust the Divine as he too leaves the library, letting his own pair of wings come out as he flies back to where he’d last seen Gabriel.

——————————

Charlie recalls being in Heaven and seeing an angel with dark hair and midnight blue eyes. Her skin was gray, just slightly darker than Vaggie’s, and her cheeks had blue circles on them, much like her own and her father’s red cheek marks. She could tell the woman was a high ranking angel, based on the six wigs like her father’s though hers were blue on the inside where he father’s were a deep red. She was beautiful, just as all the other angels there, but there was something about her that felt familiar.

What really got Charlie had been the angel’s eyes. She smiled at those who greeted her, keeping her expression kind and welcoming, but her smile never reached her eyes. It almost looked like she wasn’t truly seeing the people she was speaking to, a far away look in her eyes. She kept her interactions to a minimum.

When Charlie had asked Emily about her, she watched the Seraphim of Joy’s eyes widen happily before abruptly tensing and looking nervous. She looked between Charlie and the other angel with fidgeting hands and cleared her throat.

“That’s Esther…. She’s the Eveningstar,” Emily had said.

Charlie remembers tensing as well, looking back to where she was walking in a new direction. She’s wanted to approach Esther, to say something, but she kept herself rooted in her spot. What could she even say? Hi, I’m Charlie Morningstar, you know the daughter your other half had with someone else!

And how stupid would that sound? Did Esther even know of Charlie’s existence? Did she know that Charlie was even there?

And then she saw her in the meeting. Even Sera had seemed surprised to see her, but Esther kept her gaze on Charlie the whole time. Charlie’s heart nearly broke seeing that far away look in your eyes clear for a moment, likely seeing her resemblance to her father. Esther’s smile never faltered, but there was definitely a sadder quality to it.

Sera seemed to want to continue speaking to her, but she’d excused herself and flew to a higher viewing point beside Emily. Sera looked frustrated, but hadn’t said more, just flew to join them on the podium.

And then that disastrous meeting had happened. Esther had seemed as receptive as Emily, until the moment Adam slipped and mentioned the exterminations. Esther’s eyes had widened, she hadn’t said much, but Charlie could see the glow around her increasing in size and the anger in her expression.

She’d been flung back to hell before she could hear how that ended.

And now, just days since her hotel was rebuilt after the destruction Adam caused, she hadn’t expected to see a portal open in the sky just outside her hotel and Esther come flying down.

The portal had alerted all of them. They rushed to get weapons ready, her dad already had his wings out and ready until they saw who it was. The others kept their weapons up, but Charlie dropped her weapon in surprise and watched as her dad’s wings drooped and his eyes widened in shock.

Esther looked as beautiful as she did the last time Charlie saw her. Her black hair fell around her face and down just past her shoulders in waves. She still had that same sad, soft smile on her face, though her eyes looked more present. Her wings, just as large and radiant as her father’s, fluttered gently around her to keep her afloat.

Charlie watches as Esther looks to her dad briefly before focusing her attention back to herself. She could feel her dad’s confused gaze as Esther approached her, her smile dropping to a frown as she spoke.

“I apologize that I couldn’t be here soon and stop them. Things in Heaven have been… hectic, to say the least. But I wanted to let you know in person that I’ve been doing everything I can to make sure these exterminations never happen again,” Esther said. Her voice is melodic, but soft and almost airy. It felt so different from her father’s richer tone of voice. She sounded and looked so apologetic as she spoke, and based on her reaction back in the meeting, Charlie didn’t doubt that she truly was. “Sera did a great job of keeping her secrets, but the other Seraphim have been made aware, including the Seven, have been made aware now, and they won’t allow for further oversight.”

Charlie cheers with her friends, all excited about the news that there would be no further exterminations, but she could see her dad’s uncertain expression.

“You expect me to believe that the others, that Michael, are just going to leave us alone?” Lucifer asks, his tone doubtful.

Charlie watches as Esther’s wings rattle, the feathers ruffling just slightly, and her eyes close. She takes a deep breath before she turns to Lucifer with a sad expression, her frown deepening. “We haven’t seen each other in eons, and that is the first thing you say to me, Morningstar?”

Lucifer tenses further, pulled tight like a band ready to snap. He looks properly scolded in a way Charlie hasn’t seen anyone besides herself or her mother be capable of.

“It’s uh…it’s been a while? How’ve you been, Eveningstar? You don’t look like you’ve aged a day past a thousand!”

Oh, he’s nervous. Her dad only rambled like that when he was nervous. It’d be a bit funny, if it wasn’t so awkward and a little sad to see him so anxious when confronted by the person who might as well be his soulmate. He was trying to look anywhere but at her, his hands moving sporadically as he fixed his collar, patted down his sleeves, or adjusted his hat.

Her wings curl around her, the top most moving to shield her face, but she doesn’t completely hide it from view. Her dad doesn’t see her expression, still caught up in trying to force his attention anywhere else, but he sees her wings shift, and by the time he looks back, Esther has focused back on Charlie.

“Azrael may come down, as the angel of death, he’s the most upset by this, but Michael is more upset by Sera’s lies than anything else. Unless it is something that directly affects the Divine and Heaven’s safety, he’ll stay in his place. As of now, your actions are seen as a necessary sign of self defense, and that is something even Michael can acknowledge. Unless you plan to directly attack Heaven, Michael has no need to act.”

It’s a relief, and it’s clear on her face because Esther’s smile grows a bit more warm, and a bit more genuine. And just as quickly as it was there, her smile fell again when her dad mumbled “He sure didn’t hesitate to act when I gave Eve the apple.”

“Well luckily self-defense and allowing evil into the world seem to be offenses on opposite sides of the spectrum,” Esther replied, glaring down at him. She wasn’t as tall as Charlie, but she was taller than Vaggie and her dad. Her dad grumbles a bit but doesn’t say anything else, thankfully.

Esther quickly looks to Charlie once more, her smile now a bit sharper due to her annoyance with Lucifer, but kind all the same.

“Wait a sec,” Angel Dust interrupts, stepping forward. “What the actual fuck is going on? We’re just going to ignore the fact that these two know each other?” he asks, pointing between Lucifer and Esther. “And Eveningstar? Morningstar? Hello?!”

“Angel, for once, consider shutting the fuck up,” Vaggie says, groaning as she looks over at the taller sinner.

“What?” Angel whines back. “You can’t expect me to not be surprised when meeting an angel older than Earth who isn’t trying to kill me!””

“I suppose I should introduce myself. I apologize for not doing so earlier,” Esther said, turning to the larger group. “My name is Esther Eveningstar, the Archangel of balance. It’s a pleasure to meet you all.”

“So are you two related or some shit?” Husk asks, just as confused as the rest. Lucifer looks disgusted at the thought, and Esther looks horrified.

“Oh Heavens, no!” Her wings fluttered a bit, and Charlie couldn’t help but be impressed how expressive she was with her wings. “We were um… well…”

“We are a pair,” Lucifer interrupts, looking distraught and completely hurt by her struggle to put their relationship into words. “We’re the original pair.”

Esther looks sad, eyes downcast and her hands fidgeting with the skirt of her dress. “Yes, a pair. We were named the sphere we were created for, Venus, the Morning and Evening Star, the closest to Earth, the first and last seen as the Sun rises and falls. I was created after Lucifer, as a companion… a pair. An even balance.”

“And yet, you spent more time apart than together! How interesting,” Alastor adds. Esther visibly deflates at this, and Lucifer’s teeth grit as his sclera briefly shifts to red.

“Yes, well, things happen, of course! I mean, given the universe's track record I think it’s fair to say that forcing a pair is never for the best. I mean, when has it ever worked, right?” she replies, an awkward chuckle as she continues to stretch the fabric of her dress.

“Hold on now,” Lucifer says, taking a step towards her. She seems to lean towards him, giving herself just that one moment, before she flinches and takes a step back. Lucifer pauses too, unsure of what to do. His voice grows softer, much more gentle now than the awkward banter of earlier. “We worked. We work! We definitely work. I mean, they were based on us!”

“And they separated rather quickly, didn’t they?” Esther asked back, knowing exactly what he was talking about. “Then the next wanted more, and you wanted someone else. How many pairs were made after that?”

The Story of Hell, Charlie realizes quickly. They’re talking about Adam and Lilith being a failed pair, followed by Eve’s temptation for more knowledge despite being created specifically for Adam from a piece of Adam’s own body. And the fall, wanting someone else; Esther didn’t have the book. She didn’t know Lucifer’s and Lilith’s side. To her, Lucifer had abandoned her for someone else, for Lilith.

“No, Esther, no, please, you can’t honestly tell me that you believe that. You know I didn’t leave you for someone else. You know, I never meant to let evil in, or to fall, or- or any of it! Please, Es, you have to know that,” Lucifer pleads with her.

And Charlie sees the exact moment, when her dad reaches out to touch her, that Esther sees her dad’s hand, shifts her eyes to look directly at Charlie, and looks back at Lucifer with a look that looks so much like defeat and acceptance that it nearly makes Charlie feel sick.

Vaggie’s hand squeezes her own, and Charlie knows she saw it too. The worst part is, she knows Esther isn’t blaming her, isn’t putting any fault on her, but part of her feels like she is the problem here. If she hadn’t been born, would this whole situation have been different? Would their reunion have been more pleasant, or heartfelt?

“I know you didn’t mean for evil to find its way to Earth, or for Hell’s creation,” Esther says back, just as gentle as Lucifer’s when he spoke, and just as broken. It doesn’t escape any of them that she said nothing about being left for someone else, because at the end of the day, Lucifer may not have fallen in love with anyone else, but that didn’t mean he remained entirely faithful either. And while it seemed that he had moved on, likely the way so many in Heaven believed, she had not. And Charlie couldn’t blame her. The majority of Hell’s residents, he’ll born and sinner alike, didn’t even know her part in the story. Most books erased her part entirely and made her parent’s story one of love. Her parent’s never even married.

Esther takes a step away from them, away from Lucifer, and she pretends she doesn’t see his heart break as he looks at her with eyes overflowing with pain.

Instead, Charlie watches as Esther’s attention is focused back on her once more. “Gabriel also wanted me to mention that your hotel works, and the Divine would be pleased to see you continue with this plan of yours. Sinner has arrived at the first Sphere, a being by the name of Sir Pentious, I believe Emily said.”

“What?” Charlie gasps, shock taking over. Beside her, Vaggie has let go of her hand to grab her shoulders, shaking her a bit. “It- It worked?! Sir Pentious is alive?!”

Esther smiles at her and takes her hands, bringing them together. “He is doing well, as far as the reports say. Emily has tasked herself with taking care of him.”

It doesn’t take long for Charlie to start sobbing. Esther looks flustered, unsure of what to do, but Vaggie brings her closer into a hug and Esther’s hands drop from hers.

“You hear that, Vaggie? We did it! Sir Pentious is in Heaven now,” she says between sobs, grabbing at the back of Vaggie’s shirt. She feels Vaggie patting her hair, shushing her a bit to try and calm her.

”Holy shit, it actually works! Well damn, guess it’s time to get serious, huh?” Angel remarks from the side. Vaggie gives him a glare, likely at the implication that he hadn’t been taking them seriously before, and his second set of arms raise in defense.

“So the big fella upstairs isn’t about to smite us or something?” Husk asks, pushing Angel out of the way.

”Of course not! The Divine is always just in punishment and forgiveness. Human souls are the Divine’s children just as the angels. All are worthy of forgiveness should they seek it and work virtuously towards it. Forgiveness is not easy to obtain, but it is worth the effort,” Esther explains to them.

“But, why now? Why didn’t any of this come up before the Exterminations were started?” Vaggie asks.

Esther shakes her head. “It is not my place to question the Divine. Rarely are we given clear answers, usually just a push in the direction that leads us where we need to go. I must keep my belief that everything happens for a reason the Divine chooses. Every task we are given is from the Divine, and we follow it without question.”

”So he probably knew of the extermination and knew that Sera chick was keeping secrets this whole time, and just let it happen?” Angel adds. Esther visibly winces.

”It sounds terrible, I know. None of us are happy about it. But again, we have to trust there is a reason for all of this. There is a reason that now is the time to put an end to it. I believe it’s because of you, Charlie,” she says, smiling towards her.

”Me?”

Esther chuckles at her incredulous reply. “You may be hellborn but… you are the daughter of an angel. You’re a demon, yes, but you’re also technically a Nephilim.”

”What’s a Nephilim?” Nifty asks, having climbed up onto Alastor’s shoulders. Esther smiles up at her.

“A Nephilim is a child born of an angel and a human.” She looks back at Charlie now. “You’ve certainly got an interesting mix in you; a Seraphim, a Human, and a Demon all combined. Not only that, but the first of each kind! I believe if anyone would be capable of bringing upon redemption for the souls of sinners, it would be someone capable of understanding both sides.”

She laughs a bit at the awestruck looks they are shifting between her and Charlie. She didn’t think it would be that surprising, considering it’s no secret that Lucifer was not only a Seraphim, but a Archangel and Virtue himself, but it seems Lucifer didn’t mention much about Heaven to her.

“I will be returning every so often, to check on your progress as well as keep you up to date on the status of Heaven. As I mentioned before, Sera will be punished for her actions. How the Divine chooses to do so has yet to be seen, but Gabriel and Michael will likely be the ones to deal with that. Now,” she says, her tone lowering slightly as she turns back to Lucifer, expression once again tense. “Samael, a word in private, please?”

She bows slightly to the group before turning and walking away. Charlie looks around in confusion as to who Samael was, if another angel had been with her, when see’s her dad’s shoulders raise and back straighten. He shifts slightly on his feet before trudging behind her, dragging his feet the whole time.

”Am I missing something else? Who the fuck is Samael?” Angel asks.

”It’s Lucifer,” Vaggie replies. Even Charlie looks at her, confused. “I thought you guys knew this? You know how before you got to hell, you thought Lucifer and Satan were the same person? It’s kinda like that. His name is Lucifer, always has been, but every Archangel, every Virtue, has a name in reference to God. His name was Samael. And like most of the high ranking angels, he had a lot of roles.”

”How do you know all this?” Charlie asks. “And what were his roles? The Story of Hell doesn’t mention any of that.”

Vaggie shrugs. “Heaven’s got a lot of books, and I had a lot of time. Plus, your dad doesn’t like to talk about Heaven, so I’m not surprised he made sure it wasn’t in the book. He was known as a lot of things; an angel of music who led the choirs in God’s name, the Virtue of Humility, and an angel of death, created to destroy sin.”

”You expect me to believe the first sin, the sin of Pride, the one that created this damned place, was a Virtue?” Husk asks. He looks irritated, and Vaggie’s expression matches his.

”He was one of the original Capital Virtues, one of the Seven. But every Virtue has a Vice and Lucifer fell to his. He hated sin, but he also wasn’t against it. It’s why he was called a dreamer. He wanted people to have free will, because he wanted people to be able to choose between right and wrong, and hoped that if humans were created to be as good as God said, they wouldn’t choose wrong.”

”But they did,” Charlie replies, voice just above a whisper. Vaggie nods at her interruption.

“I think it’s why he allowed the exterminations in the first place. He allowed for free will, allowed the possibility of sin, but he never meant for evil to come with it, or hell to be created. So he allowed sinners to be killed, because that was one of his tasks as an angel of death, to destroy sin.”

”But he’s now the Sin of Pride, he may hate it, but he’ll never say that he was wrong. And he wasn’t! People should have the chance to choose for themselves! He should take pride in that,” Charlie says, wanting to defend her dad. From who, she isn’t sure, maybe the universe at this point. None of this felt fair. It felt like he was doomed from the start.

”I know, sweetheart. I’m just saying, there’s a lot more to the story than just Hell’s side of things,” Vaggie replies, patting her arm. “So yeah, Lucifer is the name he was given as a Seraphim based on his Sphere, but Samael is the name he was given based on his role as an Archangel and Virtue.”

”Why does this sound like it’s gonna turn into a whole lesson. I thought I had enough school time when I was alive, don’t tell me I gotta deal with this shit in death too. And you angels keep talkin’ about Spheres! The fuck is that supposed to be?” Angel whines. Husk elbows him in the hip and he whines more, swatting at his arm.

”The same way Hell has it’s seven rings, Heaven has it’s seven spheres. It’s… a lot, honestly, and I think we can save the Heaven History lessons for another day, because there’s a lot to get into and I think we’ve all had enough for the day.”

”Quite so,” Alastor says. “How about we all head back into the hotel and let our King handle the rest. I’m sure he’ll tell us if there’s anything else of importance we need to know.”

Nifty hops off of him and starts walking back to the hotel without question, giggling to herself about all the bugs she’s sure to catch now that she’s given them a chance to roam. Husk and Angel shrug and follow, most likely already planning to sit at the bar and drink themselves under the table after all the revelations they’ve had today.

Charlie looks to where her dad and Esther are still talking, neither of them really looking at the other, but both still somehow almost leaning towards each other.

”They’ll be okay, Charlie,” Vaggie says, taking her hand once more. “Unconditional, remember?”

”Yeah,” Charlie replies, looking down at her girlfriend with a small smile. “I just hope that’s enough for them.”

——————————————————

Oh boy this took me a while to figure out how to write.

To make it clear, Esther and Lucifer were never married, but they were in a romantic relationship, which is why Esther believes Lucifer did cheat on her and believes part of the reason he and Lilith did what they did and fell is because of that.

The worldbuilding is mostly about Heaven. Since we don’t see much of it in the show, there’s a lot to speculate on. The same way the show sort of reference’s Dante’s rings of hell, I’m also going to base Heaven loosely on Dante’s spheres of paradise.

Also! I drew a picture of how I see Esther in my style, as well as a little doodle of how I’d draw Lucifer in my own style (yes, I gave him a little nose). The same way Lucifer has a lighter streak in his hair, I wanted Esther to have something similar, but ended up with just two streaks of white on both sides of her hair. I tried a couple different hairstyles and outfits on her before I settled on this one (though part of me is debating if I want her to eventually cut her hair. I haven’t decided yet).

[nattikay]

sure is interesting how the internet just loves to accuse Avatar of being a carbon-copy-ripoff of Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas, Fern Gully, etc. but never seems to accuse Dances with Wolves, Pochanonas, or Fern Gully as being ripoffs of each other. Surely if Avatar is exactly the same as all these movies at the same time then all those movies must be exactly the same as each other too right! But no, for some reason it’s fine when those movies share similar tropes and themes, but when Avatar does it, using those tropes is suddenly some lazy and derivative sin against storytelling, apparently.

Yes, Avatar does share a lot of themes and tropes with all these movies, no one’s denying that. But guys. Dances with Wolves did not invent the “going native” trope. Fern Gully did not invent “saving the environment from greedy villains”. Pocahontas did not invent “foreigner falls in love with a native”. It’s ok for more than one movie to share these ideas for pete’s sake y’all holy flip

Heck, you could argue that in some ways Dances with Wolves and Pocahontas are more similar to each other than either is to Avatar since they are both historical fiction set in North America centered around the native Americans vs the Europeans, whereas Avatar is a sci-fi/fantasy set on an alien moon six light years away where the humans have hyperadvanced technology and big robots and the whole moon is covered in a massive neural network that the locals can tap into at will using the biological usb cable that grows out of their heads. “it’S jUsT pOchAHonTaS iN sPaCE” SO WHAT? Telling a familiar story in a unique setting is not some cardinal sin against storytelling and I’m tried of pretending that it is. Maybe “a Pocahontas-type story but in the future in space with aliens and a whole bunch of unique immersive fantasy worldbuilding” is kinda a cool concept actually, there’s nothing inherently wrong with or “lazy” about it.

Sorry to suddenly go off about this, it just seems that whenever I see someone (outside the fandom) mention Avatar on the internet they seem to have this weird compulsion to make some dismissive disclaimer about how the movie is silly and derivative before they move onto the meat of their analysis (whatever that may happen to be), as if they need to justify their mention of it lest someone judges them for having poor taste and tbh I’m tired of it.

Avatar is fine. You don’t have to preface every mention of it with a disclaimer about how it (supposedly) sucks. You don’t have to throw in a snarky “oh God forbid, this movie” when you bring it up as an example of xyz. Especially when the most popular “criticism” that get tossed at it is as shallow and silly as “it shares some tropes and themes with some other movies”.

if Avatar is genuinely just not your cup of tea, that’s totally valid! Like any movie, it’s not gonna appeal to everyone and that’s ok.

But if your perception of it is “it’s bad because everyone knows you’re supposed to make fun of the dumb blue people movie, Big Reviewer YouTuber called it Dances with Smurfs and said it was lazy”, maybe think for yourself for five minutes

[christiansorrell]

RPG Read-through: .dungeon//remastered

For a while on Twitter, I've been doing read-through threads where I post my thoughts as I'm reading through a game for the first time. I recently did the same with Snow's .dungeon//remastered, a TTRPG where you are players logging in to a dead/dying MMO and exploring the digital fantasy world. I'm adapting those thoughts here for a proper Tumblr post! Enjoy!

First up, credits! Good folks who do good work in my experience. Also, we get the first of what seems to be a common through-line here that I enjoy: an online fandom bent to this all being a sort of GameFAQ style guide for an in-universe game.

My initial impression from most of the interior spreads I've seen just flipping through it is that I really love the style and layout. I think black and white layouts are underrated generally, but it really pops here with the pixelated text/symbols and the old school GUIs.

It's interesting to have these kind of "no bigotry" rules you see in many games couched within an in-universe framing. I think this more personal angle actually makes them land better for me than they typically do in games.

Of course, the author is still powerless to stop the players (just like with any instance of these rules, and all game rules in general tbh) BUT this is worldbuilding too, and it gives me a greater sense for the kind of in-universe fandom that's risen up around .dungeon.

Similarly, here's the game's unique version of safety tools - an in-game help menu that reworks things like lines/veils, x-card and more into the game world itself. I really like this.

Once again, the art in this is just great. I love the Fez-like runes/symbols. My ARG brain wants to know if there's a hidden message here.

I was surprised it was jumping right into the starter adventure, Tutorial Town, but I quickly found out that this is character creation AND a starting area/adventure all wrapped into one, video game-style, and that's so cool.

Each room of the starting area introduces a step of character creation. It's interesting that stats are based on real-world (not you the player at the table real-world but your PC at the "real-world" computer playing the game) ability. Your game knowledge, response time, etc.

As a long time Dota player, I also just really enjoy that the saving throw-like stat here is TILT. I have tilted many times and known many of my teammates to tilt regularly. Just fun to see that phrasing in a TTRPG.

There's more of the in-universe real-world player here than I expected coming in. Definitely has some really intriguing potential. I do wonder though if the intent is to be playing a "real-world" level character or if you are "playing" as yourself at that layer. Both would work.

Monster statblocks. Easy to parse and straightforward to run as the GM (tho at time the layout does have one two many things laid on top of one another that can make them hard to read at first glance - like where "GOBLIN" is here):

Health here is SYNC, and it's shared across the whole party - I'm interested to see how that full mechanic plays out and how it may affect play.

Reaction rolls. I'm surprised to see them given the video game setting, cus mobs in MMOs just always attack you. I've gone back and forth on it with my video game-inspired TTRPG. Don't think it's a bad choice, just one that means the game world is more than a usual video game.

So you have your real-world level Job (based on your characters' out of game job) and your in-game "Role" which follow the classic "holy trinity" of MMO design:

PCs and monsters can team up to attack and can forego damage for stunts - potentially fun/interesting moments happening from that. Monsters deal dmg to SYNC but only per type is interesting, means a crowd of one-enemy is more a long trickle of damage than an overwhelming burst.

Not knowing the ramifications of SYNC damage yet, I'm not sure what the Risk v Reward looks like for Respawns but it's intriguing. Letting your avatar die to keep the party in a stronger position overall (but being able to re-join after a fight) is definitely unique.

This is another fun room (and I like that other than saying late 90s/early 2000s it leaves appearance options open). I am not sure where to find the starting origins tho (they aren't on this spread and there's no page reference). Sadly, the PDF isn't bookmarked either, it seems.

This feels like a smart roadblock to place in player's paths early on. It's unlikely they'll have a lockpick at this point so really, it's about getting players into that creative mindset. What is in the room for you to exploit? What gear do you have you can use in a new way?

Might seem basic, especially to the OSR-experienced out there, but you'd be surprised how many players don't have experience with thinking more freeformly about the game in this way. No fault to them, most trad games condition you to use your PC's abilities/skills as a menu.

Another cool interaction between the layers of the game here (tho I do wish they all played more off of something more than just the tarot card being in the real-world layer). Still wondering if most folks play as themselves or as a real-world level PC.

This is interesting. I wonder if there is going to be a real-world layer to play or if this is meant to be the amount your party can heal between sessions of play (like when the actual real you stops playing in actual real life - this meta layer stuff is tricky to communicate).

I like this - a very short and sweet travel system.

I continue to love this art. Also, this tease here around dual-wielding requiring the discovery of new Roles out in the game world somewhere first is really enticing (I added the highlighter there btw).

This is fun - there are both in-game NPCs and PUGs which are other real-world players' in-game avatars. That extra layer to those types of NPCs is really fun and them running the gamut of fully out-of-character chatting to being hardcore RPers is fun to consider.

Whenever it leans into the digital world aspects, I'm super into it. Very much my kinda thing. I do wonder though how often players can swap their Roles. I don't believe I've seen that said yet - my inclination would be once on the fly (like Final Fantasy's Job systems).

And if these various layers weren't enough, .dungeon also features in-game collectible cards that are sort of enchantments and buffs. I wonder if my real-world level character can spend real money to buy Bytes to buy more packs from a merchant in town? lol

I won't spoil/detail too many more of these but these kind of fun (and common to video games but rarely seen when thinking of the world of a game or the intended way to play) moments are really appealing. Also, this game has Goons in it. Oh no.

Now I'm thinking the intention is the "real-world" level of play should be the real actual you, the person playing .dungeon the TTRPG (as opposed to a real-world level character still within the fiction of the game) since stuff like this would be tricky to track. Cool item!

Tutorial Island is cool, a good blend of char creation, intro to what the game is, and just a fun adventure with a session or more of play to it. I'd have to run/play this to really see but I find the Sync being tied to essentially your real-world session length interesting.

This stuff is cool and leans into that meta/fan-level play that only comes out of these big community-driven games, both MMOs but also things like Dark Souls.

A lot of these kind of possible secrets come as comments in the text, possibly just to inspire the GM and to get players interested in ways that the table can build out on their own over time. So far, I don't see some of the more esoteric secrets to be laid out (which I like).

The rest of the book, as far as I've seen, is lots of resources, gear tables, monsters, etc. to build out the game after player's leave Tutorial Island. The game world here has that anything goes Final Fantasy bent to it. There's swords & wagons, but laser guns & skateboards too.

The setting here is also explicitly queer (mostly seen so far in the "real-world" PUGs) and includes things like sex workers and other elements that it maybe could not have had but that would certainly lessen the richness of its world, the fandom presented throughout, etc.

The spellcasting uses the in-game money as mana points essentially. That's a cool way to limit spellcasting and motivate player's, especially spellcasters, to get out there and make some $$$.

Okay, here's the real-world explanation I was waiting for (after the in-game gear lists and such). This is cool - it's fun to have a real-life layer to this and to have the game's world support that sort of dropping in and out, doing things outside of a full party session, etc.

I know a lot of folks do this with ongoing campaigns anyway, but this is one of those fun things to include here to build that in as an expectation in play. You have your raid nights with friends and you have your little solo sessions after work where you sell your loot.

Now, the rest is a nice collection of random dungeon, NPC, settlement, hexfill tables and more. Everything you'd expect from an OSR-like ruleset but occasionally with some fun added meta-layers.

Players getting a quest from an in-game Moderator and then being able to become a Mod themselves is a really fun idea and something I could envision becoming a long-term goal for one or more players at a table. The threat of encountering an Admin is scary as well!

To finish it up, we've got a cool AASCII-style character sheet, complete with MingLiU-ExtB font (my beloved)!

And that's .dungeon//remastered! I really enjoyed reading this, and I think it has a strong core that's really enhanced by its real-world interaction layer. Gonna put this on "Play Soon" list. There are some smart rules in particular I'll likely steal for a future project.

.dungeon//remastered is available digitally NOW with, I believe, physical copies coming soon. I backed the Kickstarter to get this digital version. CHECK IT OUT HERE!

[nexility-sims]

𝐍𝐎. 𝟑   ❛ 𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭 ❜   |   NAKAWE, 2023

❧  𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲  /  𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠  /  𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬  /  𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭.

   ❛  Karolina Teague was hardly famous. Her name carried a certain heft among culture critics whose heyday had passed, but she liked the anonymity that came with being washed up. All of her favorite people were has-beens, after all, and she wasn’t ashamed to spend her time reminiscing about days past with them or anyone else who would listen. Today, she welcomed a whole crew of listeners into her Nakawe home—a film crew to be exact, led by a director-producer duo who had known her name well before a previous interviewee mentioned it to them. She wouldn’t be the star of their documentary, but they believed from its inception that the story wouldn’t be complete without her thoughts.

❧ honestly very proud of the scrapbooking !!!! this is basically just shameless exposition, but i am convinced i picked a creative vehicle for it :^) i watched that 90s docuseries on hulu a year ago and this specific story post was born fjdhjf anyway, canonically, no one would be writing or printing in script like that but i am simply NOT that committed to my worldbuilding sdkjfsf consider this whole thing an english language reimagining (^:

𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝 & 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭 ↓

Karolina took them on a tour of her colorful seaside house, one concluding in a room already set up for their perusal. It was the archive, she explained. This was what they came for; her recollections were valuable, but she had so much more than her own memories. Photographs waited on the tables, and an old television screen teased some scene from exclusive VHS tapes. Karolina plopped down onto a sofa and gestured widely, saying, “Have a look. I’m ready when you are.” 

The director, a woman named Ildaria, picked up a photograph. 

“Can you tell us about her?” 

Karolina beckoned for the photo, and Ildaria walked over to hand it to her. For a moment, she peered at it, keeping everyone in suspense. Finally, she replied, “Sure. What’s she going to do, sue me?”

“Maybe,” a cameraman elsewhere in the room snorted.

“I’ll take the risk,” Karolina laughed. “Look, I don’t know Princess Leonor, but I met her plenty of times. She was at The Den at least half the nights in 1991, for sure. Probably into 1992, but I didn’t really keep track of her comings and goings. Definitely not after 1993.”

The producer, Eilo, held up another photograph. “What’s the story here?” he asked.

Karolina reached for it. Unlike the other photo, this one was a proper candid. There were several people in the frame, but Leonor was at the center, kneeling by a table with her hand draped across Renzo’s thigh as he held her head in his palm and said something beyond the capture of still photography.

“It wasn’t anything formal,” Karolina explained. “Renzo didn’t date anyone in those days, and I don’t think she did either. They liked each other. It was mutual fascination with zero understanding, is how I saw it. They hung out—liked each other’s company. Hot and fast, burned out quick, that’s what it looked like.” She shrugged. “That was Renzo.” 

“And Leonor?” Ildaria asked, having sat down nearby. 

“Like I said,” Karolina began. She seemed to be choosing her words carefully. “I didn't know her. Seemed like a cool girl. I’m older, mind you. I think she wanted to get a little wild and try new things—this is off the record—and The Den was for her what it was for everyone. You could kick your shoes off. Scream along to your buddy’s new song, have a movie star tell you his woes while he pours your drink, get high in the dressing room and probably be fine—” 

“Did she do that?” Ildaria’s eyes were wide.

Karolina cleared her throat. “No, of course not. Not everyone did! Enough, sure. We all know the quote-unquote horror stories.”

The crew listened, rapt, having stopped flipping through albums and poking around the bookcases, eager to hear something explosive. They had set out to make a documentary about a particular time and place. The Den at the turn of the century was their subject. That glorious decade solidified its place in celebrity culture, to say nothing of its place in music history. The princess was just a footnote in that story. Nonetheless, it was a tantalizing footnote. Most people below a certain age were shocked to hear that she hadn’t been a humorless, buttoned-up bureaucrat her entire life. The idea that someone whose day job involved keeping the country afloat may have once been young and reckless intrigued. That she was adjacent to the salacious stories of sex, drugs, and rock and roll they knew better nearly crossed the line into unbelievable. Yet, people in Uspana also knew their royals had been wrapped up in the glamor of celebrity for decades. Even now, they continued to rub elbows with rock stars, including the one elder princess who was herself a music star. 

“She’s a different person now, clearly,” Karolina continued. She spoke tentatively still but nonetheless addressed what everyone wanted to know. “But, for a time, she was at The Den with everyone else, drinking too much and carrying around a pharmacy in whatever cute purse you had that night. You may remember there was a big Reyes death around then. It’s like—when my mother died in 2009, I lost my shit, too.” 

Karolina shrugged again. “She was having fun. I was doing worse, alright, so I only feel judgmental about it insofar as she’d probably be embarrassed if you asked her about any of it today. Royals are supposed to do their sniffing in private, right, not in a bathroom Renzo forgot to hire someone to clean. She was snobby, but my sense was that she liked pretending she wasn’t—roleplay, you know, transgressing or whatever.” 

Someone coughed. The rifling through materials resumed. Ildaria and Eilo shared a look. 

“You haven’t talked to her since ‘92?” Ildaria asked. Eilo, meanwhile, had pulled out his cell phone and was typing with fast fingers. 

Karolina shook her head. “So, she knew I’d asked Renzo to let me collect photos and bring along my Zenith. I got a weird email in 2000 inquiring about them from someone who worked for her.” She grinned, then added as an aside, “Only one recording, by the way. The Den had a strict no video policy.”

“We’d like to see them sometime,” Ildaria responded. 

Karolina nodded, then shook her head and clarified, “Which—my tapes or the email?” 

Eilo answered without looking up, “Both.”

He finished what he was doing after a moment of quiet, then held his phone up for Ildaria and Karolina to see. “Seems like she’s still in touch with people,” he said.

They leaned forward to view the screen while he swiped at it, then Karolina laughed.  “Okay, maybe she just didn’t like me!”  

While they watched, Eilo moved through a hastily thrown together slideshow of the princess with various people Karolina knew well. Some looked like event photos. Others were captured with long lenses—paparazzi shots that made money but didn’t always generate enough interest if the other person was a comparative nobody. Not everyone had evolved in the last thirty years. Plenty of people who visited the bar during the decade of Renzo’s ownership continued to have flourishing careers. They were, at the time, young and beautiful and painfully unprepared for the lifetime of celebrity ahead of them. That’s what they brought to this place more than anything: their pain, which, being creative types, they eagerly spun into something beautiful and private. 

That’s what The Den gave them. These impossibly talented, dedicated stars created fleeting things for each other and no one else. Bands and dance troupes formed. An endless stream of songs and poetry and performance art kept the bar’s little stage occupied nightly for years. Offstage, people with no reason to meet in the real world bonded in this space of both contrived and undeniable intimacy. For some, the reprieve helped them endure the difficulty of becoming that invariably attended a rise in fame. It was detrimental to others. These were the ones who didn’t evolve—people who gave up their relevance to live forever in this meaningless, generative privacy or people who couldn’t make the choice and lost everything in the process. 

Karolina hadn’t evolved, but she hadn’t died or wanted to die either. From her perspective, what people like the princess and even Renzo himself had done wasn’t evolution. It was more like a revelation. People don’t change, she would tell Eilo and Ildaria later, over dinner, when the conversation had moved far away from the royal footnote. She believed people just uncover deeper truths about themselves, knowingly or unknowingly, and those became harder to conceal once they were exposed.

Have you felt that way before? she asked them. Exposed, like when you break your leg so hard the bone snaps right through your skin? They had. The conversation detoured to childhood misadventures, but Karolina had a point to make. She pulled them back. Some people get comfortable with that feeling and learn how to live in it. Other people, you know, they deny and lie and call it growth. That’s my opinion. I’ve seen it—artists are the worst for it, I swear. Artists who don’t want to be artists anymore? Worse than that. 

Can I say you sound bitter? Ildaria laughed. 

Now, Karolina threw her hands up. She exclaimed, joyful, That’s my truth, baby! I took too many bites of the world, and I’ve been disgusted by it ever since. Some people come out of their mamas malcontent.

Later that night, Eilo was exhausted, but Ildaria’s hand hovered over the light switch with uncertainty. She heaved a big, put-upon sigh, then asked, “Is it bad that I want to give Mencia Cipac a call?”

“Give her a call?” Eilo snorted. “Sure, Mencia Cipac, whose number you totally have, definitely won’t ignore your calls because she, for sure, knows who you are and has endless free time to spare.” He sat up straighter, then added, “No more overloading on projects. You promised. Besides, you don’t wanna poke that bear.”

“Not a bear,” Ildaria retorted. “A jaguar. Roar!”

TRANSCRIPT:

KAROLINA | Have a look. I'm ready when you are.

RENZO (O.S.) | Get that thing out of here, Karolina!

ILDARIA | Can you tell us about her?

KAROLINA | Sure. What's she going to do, sue me? CAMERAMAN | Maybe.

KAROLINA | I'll take the risk.

KAROLINA | Look, I don’t know Princess Leonor, but I met her plenty of times. She was at The Den at least half the nights in 1991, for sure. Probably into 1992, but I didn’t really keep track of her comings and goings. Definitely not after 1993

EILO | What's the story here?

KAROLINA | It wasn't anything formal.

KAROLINA | Renzo didn’t date anyone in those days, and I don’t think she did either. They liked each other. It was mutual fascination with zero understanding, is how I saw it. They hung out—liked each other’s company. Hot and fast, burned out quick, that’s what it looked like. That was Renzo.

ILDARIA | And Leonor?

KAROLINA | Like I said, I didn't know her. Seemed like a cool girl. I’m older, mind you. I think she wanted to get a little wild and try new things—this is off the record—and The Den was for her what it was for everyone. You could kick your shoes off. Scream along to your buddy’s new song, have a movie star tell you his woes while he pours your drink, get high in the dressing room and probably be fine—

ILDARIA | Did she do that?

KAROLINA | No, of course not. Not everyone did! Enough, sure. We all know the quote-unquote horror stories.

KAROLINA | She's a different person now, clearly. But, for a time, she was at The Den with everyone else, drinking too much and carrying around a pharmacy in whatever cute purse you had that night. You may remember there was a big Reyes death around then. It’s like—when my mother died in 2009, I lost my shit, too.

KAROLINA | She was having fun. I was doing worse, alright, so I only feel judgmental about it insofar as she’d probably be embarrassed if you asked her about any of it today. Royals are supposed to do their sniffing in private, right, not in a bathroom Renzo forgot to hire someone to clean. She was always a snob, but I my sense was that she liked pretending she wasn’t—roleplay, you know, transgressing or whatever.

ILDARIA | You haven't talked to her since '92?

KAROLINA | So, she knew I’d asked Renzo to let me collect photos and bring along my Zenith. I got a weird email in 2000 inquiring about them from someone who worked for her. Only one recording, by the way. The Den had a strict no video policy.

ILDARIA | We'd like to see them sometime.

KAROLINA | Which—my tapes or the email?

EILO | Both.

EILO | Seems like she's still in touch with people. KAROLINA | Okay, maybe she just didn’t like me!

ILDARIA | Is it bad that I want to give Mencia Cipac a call?

EILO | Give her a call?

EILO | Sure, Mencia Cipac, whose number you totally have, definitely won’t ignore your calls because she, for sure, knows who you are and has endless free time to spare.

EILO | No more overloading on projects. You promised. Besides, you don’t wanna poke that bear.

ILDARIA | Not a bear. A jaguar. Roar!

[feroluce]

Learned recently that the Xianzhou Luofu apparently uses a different script than Belobog and that's so cool, I love little worldbuilding things like that. ♡

And then I nearly keeled over imagining Gepard going for a daytrip with Caelus and Asta to the Luofu; Caelus is taking Asta so she can run errands (and go shopping, of course) and Gepard is tagging along because Bronya found out he'd been falsifying records about his paid time off-

(Bronya: You have two years of overdue pto?! Out!

Gepard: But-

Bronya: Go on vacation or something! Out!!)

-and. It's all a little overwhelming for poor Geppie.

Everything is so weird and different there. A part of him is curious and enjoys it, but he just doesn't really have that same pioneering spirit as his sisters and it's not as fun for him as it would be for them. He wishes they hadn't been busy and could've come along, he'd feel a lot better with Serval and Lynx. He can't even read most of the script, he's mostly reliant on Caelus and Asta or the translation function they put on his phone for him. He kind of just wants to go home. He misses his city.

And then he catches sight of a head of blue hair in the corner of his eye, snickering and messing with the script on one of the signs.

Gepard: Wh- You!?!?

Sampo: !!! :D

Sampo grins wide and darts off, Gepard launches after him out of habit, and somehow, even with Gepard being new and alien to the Luofu, Sampo always seems to stay juuuuuuust within sight, just close enough not to lose him or get lost completely.

Gepard is lead all the way out near the starskiff building grounds when he finally has to stop, because Sampo somehow scales the damn wall like a nasty little lizard, gets all the way to the top, then winks at him over the roof and tells him he'll see him later, have fun, give Serval a kiss for him back home!! Gepard flips him off even though Sampo has already turned around and left skxjkdkdmfkf

But then he finally sits down and looks around him and realizes that oh. He feels kind of. Better now. More on even footing. Stable ground. There's no snow, but the high steel walls and corridors here are more familiar to him than all the wide open space and brightly colored buildings of the main tourist section he'd been in. The background hum is quieter and gentler here, and it reminds him more of Serval's shop, as opposed to Starskip Alley's throngs of chattering people and fast-flying ships. The little pangs that made his chest feel hollow have eased up. ♡

Caelus, carrying a Certain Courier Package: ...We've heard from him, yeah.))

((Asta: Sorry it took us so long to get out here! I found this sword that Arlan would like and-

Gepard: It's fine, don't worry about it. Hey, did you know Koski is running around out here?

[paragonrobits]

so i was thinking about world of darkness' takes on vampires and werewolves from a worldbuilding angle and what the general implicit slant of intended character is for the settings of Vampire the Masquerade and Werewolf the Apocalypse; what the gameplay encourages without outright restricting it, and it occured to me that in many ways Vampire and Werewolf flip the script for what is often expected, nowadays, from a vampire and werewolf story.

Vampire takes the approach of vampires being undeniably romantic, but its a veneer. Vampires SEEM romantic, powerful, a walking power fantasy of sorts. They consume as they wish and are immortal, able to look over the ages as they come; all power and undeniably tough compared to just about most other character types, and they're as close to human from a psychological angle as you get. even a young and weak vampire is likely more powerful than any normal human can ever be, treating blades and bullets alike as minor inconveniences even if they don't specialize in pure defense.

They seem purely cool, something ideal to be. It would be pretty cool to be an immortal predator, wouldn't it?

But its a veneer. Beneath the skin of what looks like a beautiful human (for the most part), there's a monster. They're not human. Not any more; beneath that skin is something hungry, craving and thirsting for death, to consume. A vampire has certain instincts; to forge territory, to fight and hunt, and they put pretty faces on it, they give it nice titles and imagine themselves as divinely ordained predators to bring fear to mortals, but in the end... its all something they tell themselves. There is a Beast inside them, and it feels like the Beast is the real thing, and they're just pretending otherwise to feel better.

Vampire's narrative generally focuses on an assumption encouraged by the gameplay mechanics: that people start out as young vampires trying to manage the hungers of the beast and reveling in their own power while navigating cutthroat vampire society. But a lot of it is about denial; denial of the Beast, denial of their desires to feed, denial that they can still care about things like love, and friendship and ideals when every fiber of their being screams to kill, knee-deep in gore and sucking out the blood of dead people like a wild animal. Its a constant battle between the desperate lingering shreds of Humanity and the demands of the Beast; and sooner or later, a bit at a time, the Beasts. How long can they keep it up?

Vampire is about the masquerade; both the literal conspiracy to conceal their existence from humanity as a whole, and pretending that they're not ravening monsters in denial of what they've become.

So what about werewolves?

Werewolf, unusually for most depictions, does NOT depict them as infected creatures, or afflicted by a curse. Being a werewolf isn't something inflicted on you, or spread; they're not made. A werewolf is born; they simply are what they are, whether born as a human or a wolf, either too fierce to feel entirely comfortable around humans or too smart to feel right around wolves. And then one day, the First Change happens, whether in liberation or in tragic bloodshed, and whatever else happens, its a revelation:

A werewolf is not something created, or a transformation done to you. It's seeing the world of spirits revealed, the compulsions to hunt and fight given a purpose. You're not something that shouldn't exist, but a part of the world, a living function to protect it. Your jaws itch and your fingers itch to rip and to tear, because there are horrible things in the world that must be slain. Corruption and violation incarnate, whether as malicious spirits or powerful humans who don't give a damn about the world dying as long as they have a good time in the here and now.

There are things that need to die, and you were born to hunt the things no one else can.

You're not a human that becomes a wolf, or a wolf that can become a human. You're both. You're neither. You're a spirit creature, walking between both the physical world and the realm of spirits, fueled by the rage of a world rejecting its own inevitable destruction. You're not human, not because something changed you...

But because you were never human. You simply are what you are; this is who and what you always were. And you can't just ignore what you were made for; to rage against the dying of the world, to rage against the inevitable extinction of all things.

Vampires are monsters, clinging to humanity and playing their games of politics and trying to feed their ravenous hunger without losing themselves in the prospect, maintaining a masquerade inside and out. Werewolves might be monsters, depending on your point of view, but they're not losing themselves, they're fighting against an apocalypse.

If Vampire asks "What are you willing to do to feed the Beast, lest you become that beast", Werewolf asks "When will you Rage?"

[audreyscribes]

Ω PJO DEMIGOD HEADCANONS: 🍎ERIS: GODDESS OF STRIFE AND DISCORD 😈

Hi everyone! Here's something I've been cooking up in the background. This came about whilst I was working on the other previous works and it just sort of happened. Hope you guys like it!! Again, these works will be categorised as the MISCELLANEOUS GODS due to not the fact these gods are minor or anything, but because I did mention this in an ask before and it's easier to think about due to the canon PJO worldbuilding. These works will be a bit more loose since I'm taking a shot in the wild so hopefully you guys like it. Thanks for reading!!

When you get claimed, it’s, unironically, utter chaos. People are scrambling away and elsewhere. When you had first arrived initially, things around at camp had been slowly dissolving into chaos; mishaps, increased arguments and fighting, yelling, strange accidents, etc. At one point, you noticed the clouds looked like cotton candy (you see several pegasus flying upwards and are physically chewing on them), with what looked like to be chocolate milk raining down from them. So when you get claimed with the floating symbol of Eris, a golden apple of Discord, you all realise that was just the preview. Things that should not be and could not happen are happening, and you’re the centre of the storm, completely unaffected like a mysterious barrier of immunity.

It’s only mitigated when a demigod who came to camp with you, got claimed. In the midst of the chaos, you all looked as you saw a floating claim of two Cornucopias. And in a similar manner like you, like a switch had been flipped, the discord stopped and everything was back in perfect harmony. You see Mr. D look at you and the other child before he downs his diet coke before crushing it with a curse before tossing it at the nearest Satyr’s mouth. 

Oh boi, how it feels to be the child of the god that was responsible for what started the Trojan war. Everyone looks at you and wonders if your presence here means that you’ll spark the next Trojan War. 

The Aphrodite and Athena cabins (and the Hera cabin) steer clear away from you in the beginning due to the whole thing with Paris and the three goddesses. 

Eris herself causes trouble and strife wherever she goes, so it was for that reason she didn’t get invited to Thetis and Peleus’ wedding, and in retaliation threw the golden apple which caused the three goddesses to go to Paris and set in motion the Trojan War. On that principle, you cause trouble in your wake and it’s just part of the course. It doesn’t have to be something deliberate, but it can be just you accidentally bumping your hip against a table, which causes a person to accidentally knock off their drink and it spills onto a child of Ares, and it goes from there. So you either get in trouble or start it: you might even consider stirring the pot or spilling the tea as you will. 

On premise, you start things; whether by sheer proximity or deliberately, mostly for fun. Whether it's encouraging the pranks of a child of Hermes or causing arguments for the sake of arguing. 

In fact, when you were first put into the Hermes cabin, people thought you were a child of Hermes given your mischievous and chaotic nature, and the numerous pranks that you concocted. 

Shenanigans galore. 

You are chaos incarnate. Almost quite literally. Not Chaos the primordial himself but the cause of chaos to be exact. In fact, you know the D&D alignment where there is Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic?Just as all children of Harmonia fall under Lawfuls,  all children of Eris fall under one of the Chaotic alignments: Chaotic Good, Chaotic Neutral, Chaotic Evil. 

A weird quirk you inherited is carving into apples. Whether it's writing words into its flesh or just straight up carving into it like its pseudo jack-o-lantern. At one point, you sort of learn how to peel the skin into words. Now only if the satyrs stopped eating the peels as you’re peeling them. 

The Chaos Theory, the Butterfly effect… Those are all things that are part of your power as a child of Eris. You can cause things to happen in a disastrous way which is useful in a quick get-away, getting yourself out of a pickle, or simply putting things into motion. In fact, you could almost see the chaos unfold before it even happens, that is almost seemingly strategic like a child of Athena; except there’s always a side of chaos and unpredictability.

People often equate Eris’s strife as negative, but that’s not true. It is necessary. You may be seen encouraging the rivalry between two individuals, egging them on, but in the end, you’ve been pushing the other to be better and to stand above the other and make a name for themselves.  When things come to a stale-mate and impasses, you are able to rouse your fellow comrades with fire and egg on your enemies to make a mistake. 

No one knows how and the children of Hecate equate your abilities to a specific use of magic, due to the nature of Eris’ discord. If you tap into the ‘chaotic’ nature side of Discord, you can perform eccentric magic that seems almost mischievous and trickster-like; like unseelie court fairy magic. Like spinning gold from hay. Like Maleficent in the story of Sleeping Beauty. You can also pull out some looney-tunes and general cartoony logic out of thin air; enjoying pull off some bugs bunny or Wild E. Coyote shenanigans. So sit back and watch the show unfold before you.

People will inevitably start pushing you away for the child of Harmonia that was claimed alongside you; given who your respective godly parents are. You’ll feel jealous and hate but don’t hold it against them too much. Just as they bring calmness and harmony to your discord and strife, bringing you some sense of peace to your chaotic life, you help break their monotone and boring life, giving them motivation and energy.

Being claimed by Eris as her kid suddenly made sense in your life. While general discord and chaos was part of your life, you always had thought it was just how you were; causing general mischief here and there with Benny Hill theme playing in the background. Now? It was like living in a Looney-tunes cartoon life which was fabulous. 

You weren’t entirely shamed for being a child of Eris but it was starting to irate your nerves when people were contributing all the misfortune and discord happening around camp, especially since it has only increased tenfold since you were claimed. You had assumed it was just because your general energy being a child of Eris, but as you saw domino effects happening that were originating not because of you and the casualties were becoming concerning, you had a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t because all you. 

And especially when the children of Hecate, Nemesis, and Tyche start saying that it’s not just because of you-

 It all comes to a point when you get slammed in the face by a flying pig squealing as it goes past. You’re seeing stars before you blink and then you see what looks like vapor trails pulsing as they wind and wrap around. You’re confused but as you follow the vapor trails, you see certain directions the vapor trails begin and end. 

A memory pops in your brain when you and the child of Harmonia found a place and time secluded enough to catch up, since the campers seem keen on keeping you separate. You remember listening to the child of Harmonia talk about their power, how they could sense things weren’t in harmony like they were tangible and they could be smoothed back over. 

You then start to wonder if that’s your version, seeing the time lapse version of how bits of chaos were happening. You rake your eyes all over, taking it all in until you see what looks like a bundle of tangled trails. You follow it as it gets thicker and thicker and your eyes fall upon the said-child of Harmonia, who looks frantic as they look they’re orchestrating with their hands, detangling and smoothing over their tangled trails while also smoothing others. You can see the others being fixed but theirs? It doesn’t seem like it made even a dent. 

Then you see it. The trails tangled and wrapping around their neck but specifically the source of it all; the necklace they wore; one they had for as long as they could remember-

You rush over as the necklace seems to tug and the child of Harmonia lurches to that direction by force, their body knocking into a child of Hephaestus, their latest invention clearly fizzing and seizuring before it seems to go haywire, spraying its function as it sends a domino effect as it all goes toward the child of Harmonia . Everyone is either hitting the decks or running out to save themselves as doom headed towards the Harmonia demigod. 

“LOOK OUT!” you yelled as you rushed over, using the energy of discord and strife, jumping off an arguing child of Ares’ back as you flew towards your friend. You find the vapor trails and grab it, tugging towards the incoming doom and you begin your own orchestration, causing effects to redirect everything AWAY from everyone and your friend. You’re all surrounded by fire and chaos but everyone is in one piece and okay. You turned to the child of Harmonia who looks at you with awe and fear. Their hands gripping the necklace, as you can clearly see them trying to pull it off. 

“What’s going on here?” you all heard as Chiron and Mr. D rush over; the latter’s expression was unusual and was making everyone uneasy. 

“It was the child of Eris! They’ve been causing all this trouble-” one blamed.

“HEY!” you yelled back offended. 

“Come on, it was that child of Harmonia; you all saw them bump into the Hephaestus kid-” another yelled to your defense. 

“They’re the child of Harmonia, how’s that even remotely possible-” another yelled. The yelling begun to grow and grow as people were taking either sides and Chiron was now faced with dealing an angry crowd-

“Everyone stop! It wasn’t them!” yelled the child of Harmonia, soothing over everyone’s angry energy. They all turned to them who had a deer in headlights look, “It…It was me-”

“But that isn’t possible-” someone said but the Harmonia demigod cut them off. “No, it is. I cause this but-” 

“But what, child?” asked Chiron gently. 

You saw the child of Harmonia try to take off the necklace but as if it had a will of its own, it tug itself back out of their grip. The discord energy you could see around it was growing and you spoke. “It’s the necklace isn’t it?” you asked softly, putting a gentle hand on their hands, making them unwrap their death-gripped fingers. You were also pulling away the energy to re-direct it, but you also knew at that moment that necklace was cursed.

The child of Harmonia looked at you with wide-eyes and nodded. You all heard a deep instake of breath and you turned to see Mr. D with wide eyes. “The Necklace of Harmonia” he said. 

There was a ripple of unease as people took a step back away from you two. “What?” you asked confused before Chiron made a grim face. “You two come with me. All cabin leaders come with me to the Big House.”

There side by side, both you and the child of Harmonia were told about the curse of the necklace of Harmonia, and it was clear that your dual appearance wasn’t just a coincidence, and you were there, a child of Eris, for a reason to your counterpart, the child of Harmonia. 

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

For the monster au

Is there a student at the school that could have four legs? If so do they need a custom seat in order to sit down?

There actually is a student that has four legs: Deuce! He's a centaur in the Twisted Monsterland AU, which means that movement for him will be a little trickier in smaller areas. But thankfully, most of the facilities and furniture is designed for larger monsters as it is, so it's not like he's going to be squished into a seat.

If anything, I'd imagine that the tiered/auditorium styled seating is capable of adjusting easily to accommodate such students, having various hinges and patches of wood that can be retracted or pushed out. Think of them as like those desks where a push of the button causes the computer monitor to sink down into the desk or flips it over so you have a flat surface! Or those tables where you can add or remove a piece to shrink or expand the amount of space you have!

Granted, for freshmen it's more physical for them to make the adjustments until they figure out how to do it otherwise (aka when their seniors can stop laughing long enough to share their wisdom). Since this is NRC, all Deuce or any other student who requires more or less room at their desk has to do is tap their pen against their seat (since it is their student ID), and the enchantments in the wood can adjust accordingly!

Which would also benefit Yuu now that I think about it since that world isn't exactly built for human sizes. 😅

Of course while they can stand off to the side if they want to, it's much funnier to imagine Deuce sitting like this 🤣

This does also bring up a thought on how they'd manage if they needed a wheelchair to get around since crutches wouldn't exactly be a viable solution given how heavy their lower bodies are compared to their torsos. And this goes for any four-legged monster by the way!

I'd like to imagine that for four-legged monster students/adults, they'd have wheelchairs akin to how you'll see dogs or cats have them strapped in to allow them to move around easier.

Though the artist below (and they're here on tumblr too under the same name!) has an interesting concept for centaur based wheelchairs, as well as other worldbuilding things for their characters, so go check out their stuff!

Centaurs in Wheelchairs

Keep in mind that I'll be creating my own ideas for this AU and centaur monster species, but this is a general concept for how the facilities would work for monsters with 4 or more legs. Hope that clears some things up!

[silverskye13]

This might be worldbuilding spoilers, or it might be something I just missed, but do Helsknight and Wels have an equivalent to the reflection thing with Tango and Tanguish, or is that just a Tanguish exclusive? Either in terms of Hels being able to go straight to Wels or just another way of them being connected. Started wondering because of your description of Hels polishing all his armor + Tanguish's knife and how it didn't seem to affect Hels at all

I wouldn't call it spoilers! Its been left intentionally ambiguous for awhile, because I still want to use it as a surprise in the plot for a couple of the plot points. It's also been a little bit since it was discussed in the plot itself.

Most of where Tanguish's reflections have been talked about are the first 3? Chapters? Before he really starts to befriend Helsknight. And Helsknight's have only been really explained once, in two? Paragraphs in his POV chapter. So! Squishy teleportation worldbuilding below the cut.

Whether or not a hermit/helsmit pair can meet each other is subjective, and how they can do it kinda varies. The only thing I've decided for sure, as a rule across the table, is that their links are exclusive.

So Tango/Tanguish can see each other, and hear each other, through reflections, and they can travel to each other through reflections [if both of them are available/near a reflective surface]. But they can't see anyone else, and no one else can see or hear them. Tanguish looks like he's talking to himself when he's talking to Tango in a reflection, and vice versa. They can see hazy shapes/silhouettes of what's happening behind the other person [Tango being able to tell when Tanguish is stealing, Tanguish being able to see Welsknight's silhouette standing behind Tango] but they can't hear conversations or see expressions. They can only see impressions of the world near each other.

Helsknight and Welsknight channel their link through shadows. When Helsknight travels to Hermitcraft, the world around him gets darker, like he's falling through cracks in the void. It has a very physical radius that other people can see. While Hels/Wels can hear each other through that dark, no one else can. They also can't do the same two-way radio type talk. If one of them yells a challenge through the space, they can hear it, but Helsknight couldn't stand in a dark room or talk to his shadow and have Wels hear it. Instead, they share emotions. I feel like it has to do with how Hels started as the voice in Wels's head, he's inherently tied to Welsknight's self worth [and lack thereof]. Particularly strong emotions come through. I imagine Helsknight can feel Wels's self righteous vengeance when he commands Tanguish, but has no idea the context. Most of what Wels feels from Helsknight is anger, which he mostly ignores, unless its very strong. If he thinks Helsknight is violently angry, he will often pull him through their link so they can fight instead. He thinks he's doing a kindness to someone [mostly though, he wants to justify doing violence against his other half, who he blames for his own uncontrollable emotions.]

Both Helsknight and Tanguish [and their doubles] can pull people through those links if they so choose. There has to be physical contact [Helsknight carrying Tanguish through worlds to Hermitcraft, Tanguish holding onto Helsknight when he flips his coin]. I also think, if someone were to latch onto them and be dragged through, it would be risky where they would end up. Being able to pull another person through worlds hinges on you holding onto them so they follow your link through worlds. If you were fighting when you fell through, trying to force someone to let go, and they did, they could follow you, or they could fall free somewhere else.

[cy-cyborg]

What kind of worldbuilding would you expect from a world where amputation is really common? (NOT a cyberpunk thing. The technology is somewhere between Bronze Age and Middle Ages, which I know is really broad but I’m indecisive). Also the most common cause of amputation is disease, not war or anything like that, in case it makes a difference. So far all I’ve come up with is that assistive technology isn’t limited to more urban/populated areas, and people treat amputations as commonplace. Sorry if this is too random

Ok, so my answer to this will depend of what kind of tone you want. Do you want it to be normalised in a more idealist/optimistic way, or do you want to do worldbuilding around the new problems that would likely arise and take a more pessimistic approach? Either way there's a lot you can do with a setting like that and I absolutely love world building stuff like this! I was actually working on another post kind of similar to what you're asking for, so I have a lot prepared lol. apologies for the long post in advance.

Here are some questions/suggestions I would consider:

What are the views around Amputation in this setting? Do any stereotypes or beliefs appear around it?

Just because a disability is common, doesn't always mean it's accepted, or accepted unconditionally, nor does it mean people won't make odd assumptions about it. Obviously, if you want something more optimistic, you'll want to go with "it's just a normal part of life, most folks don't really think about it much" but in that case, even accepted disabilities get weird assumptions, stereotypes or even religious beliefs surrounding them. The best example of this in the real world is people who wear glasses. Most folks wouldn't even consider it a disability because it's just so normalised, but it is - glasses are a type of accessibility device. But what comes to mind when you think of someone who wears glasses? Chances are, it's someone smart, maybe a nerd? Glasses have nothing to do with intelligence but we associate people who wear them with it anyway. From what I found, that association formed in the middle ages, as monks and priests wore them to read, and those were people who studied religious texts and passed that information to the public. the common folk saw these people as a source of information and wisdom, forming the idea that glasses were worn by intelligent or wise people. If amputation is common and/or accepted, this kind of thing will probably happen with it too. If amputations are more common in some lines of work than others (either because that job leads to more amputations, or because a lot of people go into that line of work after their amputation) people will start to associate qualities needed for that job with amputees. For example, If the most common reason for amputation is illness, and if that illness is contagious, you might actually end up with a similar belief, that amputation is a sign of intelligence because doctors/healers, who people view as intelligent, are more likely to catch the illness, resulting in more amputations among doctors.

On the flip side, a lot of cultures have disabilities at the heart of many of their beliefs. For example, they idea of the fey replacing children with other fey, is thought to have been people's way of explaining neurodivergence like autism, ADHD and personality disorders before we had words for those disabilities.

Likewise, some European Christians believed people born with disabilities (including limb differences) could be explained by their mothers participating in witchcraft or deals with the devil. These disabilities were pretty common at the time due to malnutrition and a general lack of understanding about how to be safe while pregnant, but they lacked the medical knowledge to be able to explain it, and so superstition took over. If your setting has a similar level of medical knowledge/understanding, something similar might occur. Not every example of this is negative btw. It's thought that early ancient Egyptians believed disabilities such as blindness, especially if it was from birth, were the result of the gods calling them to speak for them. Similar lack of understanding about where the disability came from but this time it has a much more positive outcome.

Also, consider that if it's so normalised, people are going to be much less likely to be afraid of becoming amputees. This can be a positive thing, but it could have run on effects, both in the sense that people are less likely to care to take precautions to avoid things that could result in amputation, and that people may underestimate the impact it will have. Even in the real world, as being an amputee has become less stigmatised (though we are still far from normalised), some people have started underestimating how it will impact you. My prosthetist says the hardest part of his job is watching the realisation that a prosthetic won't be a magic cure hit his patients in real-time. this isn't to say being an amputee is always a terrible and awful and all the other things people think about disability, but it is a BIG adjustment that a lot of folks are unprepared for. In a setting where it's even more common, this is even more likely. It's also more likely that non-amputees will underestimate this impact, and say things like "but I know someone with the same amputation and they're fine!" when someone tries to say they can't/struggle to do something because of their amputation - something that also already happens to me irl lol. People are going to take to being amputees differently, they'll have different limits and different capabilities, how well does your society as a whole understand this?

Finally, think about if there are certain types of amputations that are more accepted/normalised/understood than others. In the real world, leg amputees tend to be more accepted than arm amputees in my experience, and larger amputations/multi-limb amputations carry more stigma and have a lot more bizarre misinformation and stereotypes about them. Is this the same for your world?

What is the general populations view of other disabilities?

Just because one disability is more common or accepted, doesn't mean they all are. This is especially important to consider for comorbid disabilities (disabilities that are connected to, are caused by having, or are usually seen alongside being an amputee). For example, a lot of leg amputees choose wheelchairs over prosthetics, but the degree of acceptance for that in your world will depend on people's view of wheelchair users as a whole. In real life, it's an unfortunate reality that the use of a wheelchair is looked down on and there are a lot of negative stereotypes about wheelchair users which deters a lot of leg amputees from using a wheelchair, even when they really need one. When leg amputees specifically use wheelchairs, we are often said to be giving up or even lazy for not "pushing through" or "trying hard enough" - I have another post here talking about that. This has resulted in a lot of amputee-specific spaces being completely inaccessible wheelchair users. An example of this would be a camp I used to attend specifically for amputees being held in a non-wheelchair accessible location until recently, or amputee clinics (where you go to see doctors who specialise in treating/rehabilitating amputees) having equipment needed for taking measurements essential for getting quality prosthetics, being unusable to people who can't stand up. If they do accept other related disabilities though, there's more stuff to think about (which I'll come back to in the next few points)

Of course, how your world views unrelated disabilities is important to consider too, because chances are there's someone out there with both. How does the general view of disability affect those people? Are people more or less likely to accept that having this other disability means they won't be able to things other amputees can? I'm autistic for example and find it nearly impossible to wear my prosthetic when I'm in burnout, both because it's a lot of energy I don't really have, but also because when I'm in burnout, I'm very sensitive to certain textures, and the feeling of wearing my prosthetics when I'm like that is unbearably uncomfortable.

What has the acceptance/normalisation of amputees done to influence beauty standards?

You see this a lot in cyberpunk but it's worth considering for other settings too. Amputation can be a very visible disability if you want it to be, but in the real world, there is a big emphasis on "looking normal" because beauty standards. This isn't just a modern thing either, there are many stories of real-life knights who lost arms during battle and had armour made for them that hid their missing limb. They were functionally useless (except for maybe backhanding people lol) but the desire to look "normal" outweighed the need for functionality to many.

If amputation is common though, this might not be the case in your setting. This might mean people are freer to explore prosthetics that put function over aesthetics, meaning they might have more advanced prosthetics than you'd typically expect to see in that time period. Alternatively, it might go the other way and you could end up with people who still favour aesthetics over function, but they try to make it look as outlandish and unique as possible.

Beyond how it effects amputees though, if prosthetics are seen as fashionable, do non-amputees try to mimic the look of prosthetics in their outfits? Consider the first point I mentioned here too. If there are certain desirable characteristics associated with amputees, would people trying to present themselves a certain way try to make it look like they're an amputee, even when they are not? Kind of like how people wear fake glasses to look smart or just as an accessory. Alternatively, how dose being an amputee play other beauty standards and expectations? Another real-world example, is that there is a lot of fatphobia in amputee circles, to the point where most teenaged amputees I know have/had eating disorders. Part of it comes from the general fatphobia in the wider population, but its amplified by the fact that many prosthetic components have weight limits on them, and many prosthetic companies refuse to make components for bigger people, not because they can't/it's too hard, but because they say there's no demand for it. So Doctors push the importance of staying below a certain weight so their patents can have access to better tech and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If there are a lot more amputees though, this might be different, but it's worth considering.

How will it impact architecture?

When we think of medieval or even older structures, "accessible" isn't the word we usually think of. Most buildings had stairs, and the needs of people with different bodies was rarely, if ever considered. But if amputation is more common, this might not be the case, especially if things like wheelchair use are also common/accepted (told you I'd come back to that). Buildings will be more likely to use ramps, lifts (even in ancient times - this could be achieved via pullies or something similar, though it would need to be usable to arm amputees too) or forgo multiple levels entirely where possible. Roads would probably be paved or at least smoothed to allow for easier travel via wheels and cities would be laid out in way that would make traversing them from a wheelchair easier. This would likely have a run-on effect and lead to cities being more accessible to people with horse-drawn carts, wagons, carriages etc too. things would be made with the idea that someone lower to the ground, or someone who needs to use their feet to grab things (and therefore can't reach as high) needs to be able to access the thing too, and a lot more. Even small things, like the way doors are opened might be altered to make it easier to use for someone missing an arm/who's arms are occupied with pushing a wheelchair. Making spaces more accessible in these ways also has run-on effects. I already mentioned the carriages in cities, but it also means you might start seeing small changes to the world, like chairs being made to be more comfortable, or single-handed versions of tools/weapons being more common.

What type of illness is the most common cause? How do people view it? Is it understood?

You mentioned illness is the most common cause of amputation in this setting. In that case, consider what kind of illness is usually the cause. Is it a single disease? if so, is it contagious? How high is the mortality rate? Who does it mostly impact? I lost my own legs to an illness, one that is well-known where I live, but poorly understood - most people just know it's contagious and acts kind of like the flu. This has resulted in some very bizarre interactions with non-disabled people when they find out how I lost my legs. There was a rumour about me in school that I still had the illness, and so because of that my amputations were contagious. It wasn't just children who believed it either lmao. Now as the public has been better educated, those ideas are less common, but weird stuff still comes up occasionally, like the lady who thought my illness was a government conspiracy theory made up to control people and scare them into getting vaccinated, apparently my amputations were unnecessary and all a part of the plot lol. I don't know if I talked about that on this account yet but I think it's probably my favourite weird interaction lmao.

You can also look at how people reacted to COVID for ideas about how people react to wide-spread illnesses that have a high chance of disabling you. Diabetes is another good example too, while it's one of the most common causes for amputation in the real world, people are still very weird about it and a lot of people insist it either doesn't exist or can be treated without medicine (insulin). Does the disease in your world have a lot of untrue information about it too? are there people peddling fake "cures" to take advantage of people who are more at risk?

How has this impacted Medicine as a whole

In medicine, advancements in one field are rarely isolated. When advancements are made in one area, other areas usually follow or are at least influenced. As much as the modern medical industry structure likes to pretend otherwise, it's all connected. In the real world, amputees were a lot rarer (not unheard of mind you, but rarer) because well, bronze-age understandings of things like infection and disease in general wasn't great. people would often die from the side effects of the amputation or the surgery itself (e.g. infections, going into shock because the surgery was preformed while the person was awake, blood loss during surgery, a general lack of understanding of how important hygiene is post-op/a lack of access to proper hygiene etc). So if amputees are more common, that would imply their understanding of medicine is at least a little better than real-life bronze age folks. This won't just stop an amputees though, like i said, it's all connected. Having a better understanding of, say, how infection happens in an amputee, means they will probably have a better understanding of infection in general, which could stop a lot of deaths in other ways. Likewise, sewing a stump closed in a way that won't cause immense amounts of nerve and phantom pain implies a decent understanding of the nervous system in general, which will have run on effects in how a lot of other conditions can be viewed and maybe even treated.

Conclusion

There's a lot more you could consider, but I hope this gave you some additional stuff to think about (sorry for the long response, but like I said, I was already working on a nearly identical post so this was perfect timing lol). Let me know if you need more help, I love this kind of worldbuilding stuff! Also, just to be clear as well, as long as you aren't just ignoring the fact so much of your world is disabled or being super ableist about it, there's no right or wrong answers here. You can have more positive answers to these questions than what I've given as examples, you can go darker, you can have a mix of both, whatever you like. Depending on the tone you want, you don't even have to answer every question if you don't want to. If you have a rather light-hearted setting for example, you probably don't need to know how all your amputees are surviving infections and unmedicated amputation surgery lol, but if its a darker tone where the illness you mentioned is a central focus, then it's probably a good thing to think about at least. At the end of the day, just ensure your answers aren't based on stereotypes or misinformation and you're all good for the most part!

[kaistarus]

My Fic Recs

South Park

Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (gremlinteeth)–(Creek-complete(137k)–this is quite literally the greatest fic in existence. ‘but South Park is cring–’ shut your mouth, get over it, and read this masterpiece. The character/relationship development, worldbuilding, symbolism, characterization?? I still get emotional listening to “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” by The Beach Boys.... Like what?!? I cannot wait for the day that I have forgotten enough of this fic that I can reread it again properly. IDC what fandom you’re from read this fic.

Me, You, And Time(HelplessRomantic_2)--(Creek-complete(13k))--There are a lot of fics on Craig and Tweek’s development using canon moments in the show and I think this one does it best. Characterization, realism, character/relationship development, friend group dynamics. It’s just a great fic overall. Love it

Family Is What You Make Of It(Mareepysheepy)--Creek-complete(17k))--This fic is unbelievable. It’s an absolute masterpiece of a take on the Tucker family dynamic and how Tweek has fit into their lives. The unconditional love they have for each other and Tweek’s support for Craig. It’s one of my favorite Tucker family fics and the writing itself is phenomenal

Life In Color (BlameCanada)-@blame-canada-Creek-Complete(2k)--This is so artistically written and underappreciated. It’s a shorter one-shot, but their ability to take Craig’s monotonous descriptions to show how his worldview and outlook literally change with Tweek around is beautiful. Gives me that chest achy lovey feel and cannot get enough

Your Eyes, My Nose (PinkFan_Gurl)-@pinkfan-gurl-Creek-Incomplete(75k)-I admit, I was a little hesitant at first because babies, but I gave it a chance and OH my god I’m so glad. The writing style is fantastic, the characterization is phenomenal, there are unique relationship dynamics, and most importantly we get dopey Craig who is so in love with Tweek it’s embarrassing. I flip out when I see there's an update in my inbox. Not complete, but still updates 🙂

A Beautiful Sight, We’re Happy Tonight (@tlinrookie)-Creek-Complete(13k)--I am so obsessed with this fic, it's just so fucking good and one of my favs. Post-high school hook-up into insecure/awkward flirting? It’s so well done and realistic as a concept that if someone told me this actually happened to them in college I’d believe it. I love that in my fics. And once again, awkward blushy Craig <3

press pause (pink2d)--Creek-complete(13k)--Just Craig overwhelmed with his newly developing feelings through fantastic writing and emotional description. He just wants to kiss his boyfriend but can’t stop overthinking literally everything. I LOVE the author’s use of little details and actions to show love and build up on Craig’s end, gives you a chest achy emotion

Anyone Else But You(@fruitloopzed)-Creek-Complete(3k)--One of my fav meet cutes. I’m always a sucker for love at first sight, but Craig seeing a cute boy at five-years-old and his first instinct being to rizz them up with red racer? What a concept. Genius. It’s so cute and actually writes them in character for their age which is well done

Nervous young inhumans(tweakers)-Creek-Incomplete(136k)@tweakerist--Have you ever wanted Craig to be hopelessly in love, but literally everyone and their grandma knows except him? Well, I have the fic for you! lmao seriously tho Craig is an idiot. but his and Tweek’s relationship dynamic/development is so good. I will reread some interactions like ten times cause they’re so cute and funny. So if you also like dialogue/interactions sign yourself up. It’s incomplete, but author updates regularly!

Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun

More Trouble Than You’re Worth(@voidjelli)–Amanene-Complete(183k)- Have you ever wanted as many fanfic tropes as possible shoved into one beautifully written fic? Well I've got the story for you! lol I’m personally obsessed with ‘he’s so in love with her it’s pathetic’ so this fic kills me. The writing is phenomenal and the characterization/relationship buildings are amazing. I’m a sucker for good friendships and fun group dynamics which this fic is filled with AND there’s  a prequel Last Call(7k)

Undertow(Kawffee)-@kawff33-Amanene-Complete(96k)--The amount of effort and research that must have gone into this fic astounds me. Like a mystery/romance with a small-town island setting, Nene doing Orca research? I learned so much. The writing is astounding, the concept is fantastic, it was so fun to read, and I’m amazed it exists as just a fanfic tbh

[oddmawd]

Out of curiosity (and of course please do not feel like you have to answer this)

How do you keep your story organized?

I use Miro Board to help me lay down my plot and timelines, but I’m always curious what other tools writers use to outline, organize and such for their writing.

Id love to also just create a post and have writers and artists add to it over time as a source of knowledge and help….but I’m not sure how to start it honestly.

i love this questions and for me it's SCRIVENER, baby, SCRIVENER

i'm using OCCULT PIECE as an example because it's a massive project and Scrivener absolutely helped me bring it to life (it finally corralled my brain into something manageable LMAO)

not sure how familiar you are with this software, but it combines a word processor with a file organization system so i can flip between documents within a work super quickly...keeps all my notes, drafts, and other docs at my fingertips

the column on the left shows the docs and folders i've set up to keep this massive AU project organized...i have folders for each story, with subfolders that have notes and chapters for each work, and then i have separate folders for worldbuilding notes, character notes, connections between stories, and similar...i expanded a bunch of the folders so you can see what's in 'em if you want a closer look

Scrivener also has a corkboard view so you can see your story elements all laid out, and you can move them around as you see fit, which makes rearranging scenes (should you choose to put separate scenes into their own text docs) very easy

i like this software for its utility but also because you pay for it once and then can transfer the license to different computers when/if you change to a new one, and you can get it pretty cheap using discount codes that come up pretty frequently (usually they're a NaNoWriMo prize)

i have never used Miro and IDK how it compares! will have to check it out and seeeeee

as for the post people can add to, do you mean like a Tumblr post with reblogs, or like a shareable document people can circulate and add to at will? would this be for a large collaborative story or universe or just general information? sounds cool either way! love it when a community comes together...

[ddejavvu]

I would run to you - opposite attract eddie munson (kinda like hopeless romantic book lover )

Also congratulations mei i love ur new theme and it looks really great

come celebrate 5.7k with me! - thank you so much!! i'm glad you like it, i do too :D

Book Club - Eddie Munson x Reader

Summary: Eddie doesn't expect to see you in the fantasy section at the Hawkins library. He has to take his chance while he has it, even if it means telling a little white lie that you're far too interested in.

feedback is greatly appreciated! comment, reblog, talk in the tags, send me a message, tell me what you think!

Contrary to popular belief, Eddie Munson visits the library on a regular basis. He frequents the deep fantasy section, and even if he'll never admit it, he has a carefully planned out thought process as to which novel he'll bring home next.

It's a little checklist, the components measured being:

1.) Time since last return: has it been sitting there forever? Could he risk not taking it home right away? Or could he put it out of its misery?

2.) Time since arrival: is it a new book? Is he going to die without the knowledge it contains? Or can he let the hype around it die down?

3.) Previous affiliations: Is it a sequel to a book he really liked? Is it a prequel to a book he's never read? Will he be confused without reading another book first?

Sometimes, though, he just has to go with his gut. And his gut is currently telling him that he needs the book he'd passed up last week, a recently published deep fantasy novel heavily circling around dragons. He's loved dragons for years, since the moment he caught a saturday morning cartoon about their adventures around a fantasy realm. He turns the corner into the shelves where he knows the book is sitting, a confident spring in his step as the leather of his jacket bounces against his chest. He stops dead in his tracks, though, when he sees a very familiar cover, the book splayed open in your hands as you flipped through the pages.

You hear the commotion he makes by strutting in, the near-silent library watching as he makes his entrance. You step back against the shelves behind you, nodding apologetically to the shelf you were just standing in front of, "Sorry. Go ahead."

He's bewildered. He's never seen anyone else in the fantasy section before, he knows that there must be fans in Hawkins because sometimes the books get checked out, but he'd have assumed they were younger kids just getting into their first fantasy novel because there was a wizard on the cover. Not incredibly pretty people like you. And not to mention your age, you seem to be about his own, if only a year or two younger.

He finally lets a sheepish smile cross his face, "You're fine. I, uh, I was going for that one." He gestures to the book in your hands and your eyes widen, your fingers slipping out from between the pages as you snap it shut.

"Sorry! Sorry, I.. I haven't really read anything like this before," You hold the book out for him, "I was just curious. You can take it!"

"No, no, it's okay." Suddenly the burning desire for the book in your hands is gone, the cover looking much more suited in your hands than it would in his own, "You can read it. It's your first fantasy novel, I'd be a dick to take it from you."

You seem suspicious of his generosity, still extending the book towards him. He ducks for another book on the shelf, a title further down on his list, but still present, "I'll take this one. Been meaning to read it for ages."

"Are you sure?" You finally question him, and he nods vigorously, his hair bouncing wildly around his head.

"Under one condition, though." He takes the leap of faith, something funny twisting in his tummy at the sparkling curiosity in your eyes as you nod.

"You read a few of my recommendations."

You cock your head to the side at his offer and he steps forward, plucking a book off of the shelf.

"This one," He starts, "Is super good. Lots of worldbuilding, great character development." He tucks the thin book between his middle and pointer finger, using his thumb to pinch another in his grip, "And this one is more focused on mythical creatures," He hands them both to you, "It's a really good book for getting into fantasy."

You take them both with wide eyes, hooked on every word of Eddie's fantasy elevator pitch. He snatches one last book from the shelves, a personal favorite of his, "And this one's the best by far. It's the whole package, and it's got great battle scenes."

You have the books clutched to your chest and he realizes that if you rearrange them one will fall, so he keeps it in his hands, "If you wanna check 'em out, I can help you to the counter."

You deliberate for only a moment, then you nod once, "Thank you. You're.. you're Eddie, right?"

He should be stunned that you know his name, but something sinks in his chest as he realizes it's probably due to his not-so-great reputation around town. But he plays it off, nodding as his grin curves up to expose a glimmer of his teeth, "That's me."

"Thank you, Eddie." You offer him the first smile of what will be many, the sight warming his heart and bringing a flush to his cheeks, "I didn't know you were a big reader."

He struggles to make himself sound cooler, hellbent on impressing you instead of admitting that he hangs upside-down off of his bed with a book bent in half in his hands, "Um, yeah. I've got a.. book club."

He does not have a book club.

"A book club?" Your eyes shine, "Can I join?"

You cannot join his book club. He does not have a book club.

"Of course you can!" He smiles forcibly at you, though the expression melts into a genuine gooey one as your face lights up, "If you give me your number, I can call you before the next meeting."

"I don't have a pen or paper," You lament, "I'll see if the front desk-"

"No, no." Eddie waves you off, taking the books carefully from your grasp and tucking them under one arm, "Here. I've got a sharpie."

He plucks the permanent marker out of his pocket, handing it proudly over to you. He silently thanks his doodling habit for keeping him prepared.

"I still don't have paper." You laugh awkwardly, but he holds out the hem of his denim vest.

"Here, sweetheart." The pet name rolls easily off of his tongue, but doesn't seem as mindless as it usually does, bringing a momentary flush to your cheeks, "Just sign it there."

"But that's- this is permanent." You remind him, as if that hadn't been the reason for the suggestion, "It won't wash out."

"Then I'll remember you forever." He grins cheekily at you, still brandishing the denim towards you, "C'mon. Digits, babe."

You seem flustered speechless at his bold words, but it shocks you into compliance, and you scribble your number onto the grungy jacket. He watches your tongue poke out of your mouth in concentration with an adoring twinge in his eyes, not bothering to break the gaze when you step back and notice it.

'Perfect." He takes back the sharpie that you hand him, then carefully deposits the books back into your grasp, "Now come on, I'll walk you to the front. 'Gotta make sure you don't chicken out on me." He's teasing, but something deep down inside of him is truly concerned that maybe he'd been too forward, that maybe you were just being nice about his fantasy fixation and that you'd put the books back altogether once you were out of his sight.

He watches you check out the books with growing amusement, incredulity at your follow-through warming his chest and making his heart thump. Then he remembers his blatant lie, panic clawing at his lungs as his smile drops.

He needs to start a book club.

[mutatedfish]

and here’s my theory about how the half life funny streams are a lot like dante’s inferno. no wait come back where are you going

so to start off with both of them are working within familiar architecture but end up flipping expectations on their head. the intended/imagined audience for both inferno & hlvr are already familiar w the framework the story takes place in. for inferno, it’s assumed that the audience are some sect of christian & thus believe in the ideas of hell/purgatory/heaven as well as the idea of different levels of sin significance. for hlvr, the audience knows the general plot & game mechanics of half life/hlalyx even if they’ve never played themselves, as well as knowing abt the concept of machinima and rtvs’ improv through internet (plus for hlage they had the context of hlvrai). 

in inferno, hell’s physical design is very very important to the narrative (as well as purgatory and heaven but i haven’t actually read those two so moving on). i could say a lot about it but tldr the settings are described in detail and have a lot of meaning both thematically and literally. in hlvr there’s storytelling/worldbuilding through the environment as well. from the half life 2 wiki page:

partially this is just due to half life being a good game in and of itself. however the thing that inferno and hlvr have in common is that they take these pre-existing conceptual settings and add the creators’ own meaning to them. 

in inferno, dante descends into hell, but when he reaches the very bottom where satan is he finds out that he’s actually been going up the whole time. to be clear he is going down but then he & virgil reach the bottom and have to do a 180 and go back up, but “back up” is actually transcending hell and beginning the ascension to purgatory. essentially you’re actually at the very very bottom/furthest from god when you’re on earth’s surface and you have to go through hell to get to heaven blah blah blah. map linked here if you’d like to see a visual. the point is that this isn’t the typical view of ascension to heaven and therefore not what the reader is expecting; the structure of hell & the world that dante presents is altered to make an impact on the reader and tell the story. hlvr is similar in that it’s the pre-existing game (moreso for hlage, but i’d argue that hlvrai is still half life, just in a platform allowing for multiplayer goofs) but altered to tell a different story. the journey of hlvr is still that of the original game but the ending (benrey in xen, the gnome in the vault) emphasizes the importance of the altered world around the characters as much as the other changes that have been made from the original games.

this brings us to another important thing, namely the fact that hlvr are still games being played. there’s a concept we used when we read inferno in class like a year ago where we talked abt two different guys named dante: dante the poet, who physically wrote inferno and came up with the ideas in it and whatever, and dante the pilgrim, who is the character we experience the story as. dante-pilgrim brings all his biases and thoughts to what’s happening and, most importantly, is the actual guy going on the journey physically & spiritually, whereas dante-poet has already (spiritually) completed this journey. dante-poet didn’t go on the journey physically bc that’s not how the world works, but he is writing and portraying dante-pilgrim to be the character of himself (dante-poet) as he developed spiritually throughout time. essentially dante-poet is writing from the end of the story because he already knows what’s going to happen and how he ended up here, whereas dante-pilgrim is witnessing the story start to finish bc he is the vehicle through which it is told.

the same principle can be applied to wayne. wayne the streamer, who is physically playing the game and thanking donos and editing the videos post-stream, and wayne the player, who is the Character Of Wayne. like. in hlage, wayne-streamer did not literally get turned into a gnome, but wayne-player did bc wayne-player exists as one of the storytelling tools that wayne-streamer & rtvs are using to write the narrative. for hlvr, the division of waynes is partially for practical reasons (imo, writing/editing/publishing a poem is not the same as Doing It Live, e.g. dante probably didn’t have to deal with the limitations/issues of his medium at the exact same time as he was writing the poem (i am not a dante historian though so don’t quote me on this)) but it’s also for narrative reasons bc wayne-player is a consistent character throughout the hlvr series.

like. obviously the gnome refers to him as gordon in hlage to connect w/ hlvrai and whatnot, but wayne-player is also consistent in his reactions/intent/behavior. (also, i can’t concretely say this is a wayne-player effect, but the similarities between the “big bad” of each game so far is also interesting to me. both the gnome and benrey vaguely antagonize wayne-player and express a desire to go back/stay put/deter him from the journey despite his own wishes. other gnome/benrey similarities: acting sus as hell and wayne-player disregards it either through party opinion or his own. “you made me like this … i was innocent before i met you” (36:07 in the hlage finale) and “i was supposed to be nice but you forced me to be baaaad”. presumably this pattern will continue in hl2vrai) i believe that even if it has little-to-no effect on hl2vrai, the whole end sequence of hlage (particularly the vault & theater/woods scene but we’ll get to that later) is a canon thing that happened to wayne-player that will end up affecting at the very least the conclusion of the half life 2 streams.

in terms of characters within the story, another place i see similarities is the limitations they experience. you could argue the gnome and benrey similarities are due to similar limitations that they experience as members of the trio referenced in the peppa pig movie, but i wanna look at a more specific example. returning to inferno: there’s a scene in canto 21 where virgil essentially asks for directions bc the road is closed and his google maps isn’t working. unfortunately bc he’s in hell there are only demons and sinners around to ask, so he asks a demon who lies to him and they have a momentary diversion bc of it. note that virgil’s limitations aren’t a secret or anything— he’s only dante’s guide for inferno bc he represents human reason, and then ascending past there he gets a special divine guide and the point is that human reason has limitations that god doesn’t have blah blah blah— but this scene does stand out as a Thing. virgil doesn’t intentionally lead dante astray, nor does he realize the demon is lying, but it’s still a thing that happens bc he’s fallible.

in hlvrai, coomer realizes some aspects of what is happening (the setting is a game, he’s a computer construct, wayne-player is not a computer construct, benrey is an unintended feature in the game, etc) but whether bc he physically can’t or bc he’s preoccupied, he does not seem to piece things together fully and come to the conclusion that he’s in hlvrai. likewise, according to wayne, the blue gnome is right but his limitation is that he’s a freak. right before his demise the blue gnome tells wayne not to make a mistake he “can’t even begin to know and understand” in taking the red gnome. unfortunately he’s so consistently horny in such a unique and upsetting way that it has ruined his credibility for anything ever even if he managed to be not horny about it. i have more thoughts on blue gnome’s role but this post is already going to be so so long.

anyway you could claim this is just a thing in all stories bc characters have to be unaware of or unable to do certain things bc that’s how plot progresses, but i think there’s something special about characters being unable to do or see something even though it seems like they should.

the final bit of hlage is what made me sit down and actually start writing this whole thing out so let’s get into it. comparing canto 34 lines 22-24:

to gabe newman’s final commentary box in hlage, i can see a lot of similarities. i think the vagueness of both can be at least partially attributed to how writing works; sometimes the most effect technique is just to hint at something rather than describe it fully bc the audience will mentally fill in whatever fits best for them personally. however, a lot of gabe’s lines (references to the obsidian seal, the dread and the nightmares, “and that was the day he appeared”, “do NOT proceed any farther”, etc) read to me very much like appeals to pathos in the same way that lines 22-24 are. like it hurts gabe & dante to even just reference, let alone recall, what they’re talking about. tbh i just greatly enjoy this comparison idk how much meat there is to it but it’s a good writing decision imo

the trio in the peppa pig movie (man in blue, little man in red hat, and someone else (she/her)) corresponds to benrey, the gnome, and whatever we’ll see in hl2vrai (possibly alyx's shadow but who's to say). they don’t really exist solely within their respective games and have some sort of influence on the outside world (this being another setting of the player, essentially wayne-player’s world rather than wayne-streamer’s world) as seen w/ the gnome theater scene. in the vault the gnome states that it wasn’t wayne-player’s challenge and that he (the gnome) has won; the clear assumption here is that it was the gnome’s challenge. however, i think it’s worth considering that the challenge may not necessarily be the gnome’s either. the peppa pig movie claims it was made by gordon (which would correspond to wayne-player, but obviously it wasn't) and the gnome supports this, even saying that the theater is gordon’s “mind palace”. 

so, the question arises: is there another gordon of some kind? i don’t think it would be that far-fetched to say that there is a character within the hlvr series that wayne-player has been taking the place of (whether purposefully, knowingly, maliciously, or not) and since original gordon doesn’t have a place within the games, perhaps he is assuming the metaphorical place of satan here; a sort of container for the peppa pig movie trio when they are not participating in their respective hlvr games.

anyway some other things that i thought were interesting but not enough to write whole paragraphs on:

the autobiographical aspects of inferno compared to hlage being a reflection of wayne’s experiences

dante-pilgrim’s swooning as a way of transitioning in location compared to going to sleep as a way of transitioning between acts

it would be cool to find a stage adaptation of inferno and compare it to hlvr bc the formats would be more similar

something something how contrapasso is applied in hlvr (particularly hlvrai)

the professor who taught the class i learned this shit in would be really really upset if he knew i was applying my analysis to half life funny

obligatory disclaimers and qualifiers: i’ve interpreted the half life funny streams extremely seriously despite the fact that the purpose of 90% of it is half life funny. i only watched the hlage commentary stream when it originally aired and i didn’t bother going back to rewatch it so if anything i say here is blatantly untrue sorry. for the sake of simplicity i’ve referred to the stream on the 16th as hl2vrai because it’s probably gonna be some variation on that even if that’s not the exact title. the 16th stream (brbavrai) was not hl2 but i consider all of this to still hold true for hl2vrai. all inferno quotes were taken from the ciardi translation on archive.org

[bitsbug]

i have a ton of question/suggestions for slug sign: 1. how do you indicate emotion in SS? my best guess is using cycles but talking about smth like sadness cant really be done that way 2. is there a specific way youre supposed to type out SS in english? 3. SS seems pretty heavy on context adding a kind of adjective system may help to fix issues with specification as well as free up room for more words. an example would be making words for "cycle", "food", "region", and "direction" and then changing the current word for "cycle" into "specify" so you could say [cycle] [<specification>] to talk about the specific cycle and plan or [direction] [<specification>] to talk about a specific direction and where you may want to go.. etc. words without specification still work but use context. 4. is there a way to explain advanced movement in SS, stuff like a flip or roll. 4.5. if not id suggest adding words for stuff like "sprint" or "crouch" and to go with it "then" to explain stuff for example [jump] [then] [crouch] [forward] would be a way to explain sliding

5. did you ever have concepts for a written version?

hooh momma! thank you for all the questions!

1)

Slugsign has a few emotion indicators, but not all of them are signs. We hop around a lot and dance and flip when we're happy; hopping in place is kind of a "this is good!" while hopping sporadically is "I'm excited!"

Using "loser" repeatedly or shaking on the spot expresses frustration, alongside signing "no" a lot and hitting eachother with rocks. Also insulting whatever you're mad at, we love to insult things.

Recently we've started using "peace" as a way of saying sorry, which wasn't even intentional it just developed during a play session. Sadness is characterized by a lot of "sorry" and crouching without movement and trying to shove yourself into corners. [Me] [loser] is used to express guilt.

2)

Oh hey, you actually use the exact method we use in this ask. We transcribe signs by placing them in brackets, for example: [give?] [Moon] [quantity-lots] [scav][object]. There's no official way you're "supposed" to though, that's just what we do.

3)

What you propose sounds like an interesting idea, but idk how much it'd be utilized. I mean for direction you can just.. point in the way you want to go. And "cycle" in reference to a day is considered the current one by default- you'd use "later" to specify a future one. I think what you're wanting is an abstracted "this" sign? which yeahh WOULD be nice actually..

I've thrown out the idea of having a grammatical word order thing, like [cycle] [food] and [food] [cycle] having different meanings, but Phen's worried that'll be really hard to memorize and cause confusion. Idk I still think it's cool and would add a lot of nuance, I'm gonna try to convince her on it.

4)

We probably could add those signs if y'all really want? I know people use it for their own co-op now, but in me and Phen's sessions we both already know the movement tech. It sounds really funny to teach someone about rainworld using slugsign though, I like that.

I could see condensing all those into a single "movement" or "example" sign: you use the sign and then do the action you're demonstrating. So a backflip would be like.. [example-run] [example-turn] [fast] [example-jump].? Could probably use some workshopping.

5)

..no not really!! I'm not a linguist or a language hobbyist, me and Phen are just winging this shit according to need, and I have NO idea how I'd go about making a written variant beyond transcripts. Besides idk if we'd really.. use it? That sounds super good for the worldbuilding aspect, but we already have the legend to reference. Anyone else who wants to take on the idea, by my guest.