#I live for people's deep dives into small details about characters

[avernusreject]

[a-solitary-sea-rover-backup]

Underwater Urban Legends: Jacques Cousteau's Secret Discovery?

(Carthago vol. 3, “Le Monstre de Djibouti”, by Christophe Bec and Milan Jovanovic, 2013)

When I first got interested in ocean creatures as a little girl in the late 90s, we had several oversized white-covered books about Jacques Cousteau's ocean expeditions around the house that my parents let me page through, even though the text was way too small for me to read. A little later on, I read the Cousteau Society's young readers' magazine Dolphin Log/Cousteau Kids every month at the library, especially the selections from Dominique Serafini's comic book adaptations of the Calypso crew's adventures.

As an adult who's still interested in marine science, I've read several of Cousteau's books, and seen some of his documentaries. In 2019, I even got to hear his grandson Fabien speak at an event at the American Museum of Natural History.

Across film, TV, literature, comics, and even music, the Cousteau family’s underwater adventures are pretty well-documented. But one persistent bit of sea-folklore I've come across in various forms and places is an urban legend that at least one adventure wasn't. Somewhere in the world, these stories say, Captain Cousteau saw (or heard) something underwater that was so shocking that he kept it a secret from the world. (Except, presumably, from whoever is repeating the story.)

Could there be any truth behind this fantastic story? What was this "secret discovery"? And where and when did all of this happen? Like most urban legends, there are a lot of conflicting accounts and not a lot of proof.

I'd love to see a site like Skeptoid do a deep dive (heheh) into this story someday, but since they haven't yet, my research is below the cut.

A Secret Discovery?

It's alleged that after a submarine expedition, undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau said, "The world isn't ready for what's down there." (How Stuff Works)

As a reader and a writer, I have to say, this is an excellent pitch for a story. A world-famous explorer who witnessed all kinds of undersea wonders and environmental tragedies choosing to keep a remarkable discovery a secret for some unknown reason? Wouldn't you read that book? I'd read that book!

In fact, I did read that book! The French comic Carthago, first published in 2007 and translated into English in 2014, features a character based on Cousteau named Major Bertrand, a famous ocean explorer who made a discovery so shocking that he not only kept it a secret, but retired and lived the rest of his life onshore afterwards. The actual scene shown in flashback is a beat-by-beat retelling of the "Red Sea Monster" version of the story we'll discuss below. According to an interview with the comic's writer Christophe Bec, that scene (and the comic itself) were inspired by an article in the French paranormal magazine Le Monde de l'un découverte (The World of the Unknown) published in February-March 2001. That article is in French here.

Here are the broad outlines of the story as I've seen it in various places online:

Cousteau surfaces, shaken from a dive, OR

The Calypso crew recover either a shark cage that has been destroyed OR

An underwater camera or hydrophone that has recorded something

Cousteau says some variation on "The world is not ready for what I have seen"

Cousteau orders any film or audio recordings of the incident (taken by either divers, underwater equipment, or film crew aboard the ship) to be either destroyed or suppressed and hidden away in a safe

(Some accounts have people saying they actually saw the incident happen on TV, which is unlikely as I don't think any of Cousteau's documentaries were live broadcasts.)

Cousteau is so shaken by what he saw that he never returns to the site of the incident

The Red Sea Monster

The most famous and detailed version of the story, and the one Carthago adapts, sets the action in the Gulf of Tadjoura off the coast of Djibouti, near where the Red Sea meets the Indian Ocean. Investigating legends of a sea monster in a cove called the Ghoubbet al-Kharab, or Gulf of the Demons, Cousteau's team lowered a camel carcass within a shark cage. When the cage was raised, it had been badly damaged, perhaps even destroyed.

[The Ghoubbet al-Kharab is the little inland bit at left almost cut off from the sea x]

The article in Le Monde de l'un découverte says this incident happened sometime before 26 June 1995, when the secret was revealed by a writer(?) named Stéphane Swirog, and that it had also been discussed on French TV in 1987. (I cannot find any information about a “Stéphane Swirog” online except in reprints of this story, although there is apparently an MMA fighter with that name. Is this one of those hoax articles with backwards names where “Goriws” sound like something hilarious in French that’s lost on me?)

This is a plausible part of the world to set this story, because Cousteau very famously did explore the Red Sea several times! A lot of his film The Silent World was filmed there, and his Conshelf underwater habitat was on the floor of the Red Sea off Sudan. In 2004, Cousteau's son Jean-Michel and grandchildren Fabien and Céline returned to these sites fifty years later for a new documentary you can watch here.

And we know Jacques Cousteau actually DID explore the coast of Djibouti in 1967-68! In his book Life and Death in a Coral Sea (1971), he says that when docked there, his crew, err, heard a strange story...

...we decided to visit the Goubet, a famous gulf of the Red Sea. Before leaving Djibouti that morning, one of our crew had by chance asked a local Arab diver about the Goubet. "Ah, sir," the man had replied, "it is a most extraordinary place. It is bottomless, and it is inhabited by monsters so large that they can drag down lines attached to 200-liter cans. Moreover, in 1963, Commandant Cousteau went there with Fredéric Dumas and his best divers, and they were so terrified by what they saw that they ran away." Naturally, we were eager to see the place in which, according to local gossip, we had earned so ignominious a reputation. I must report, however, that the Goubet was a disappointment. It is an inland sea or gulf that connects with the Red Sea by a narrow pass in which there is a very strong current, running up to seven knots. The surrounding area is very beautiful, and very wild, being dominated by volcanic mountains bare of foliage and marked in shades of red, yellow, and black. Once in the Goubet itself, we lowered the diving saucer to a depth of over six hundred feet without catching sight of even a small monster. The divers then suited up and went down also, but they saw nothing more remarkable than some very large sea urchins. There seemed to be very few fish of any kind. It is my guess that the "Goubet monster" of Arab legend was originally a manta ray, seen by some shepherd from a hill top. Manta rays are plentiful in this area, and it must happen occasionally that they wander into the Goubet and – because the inlet is so narrow and because mantas are not the most intelligent of beasts – have trouble finding their way out again. (Page 42)

(This is one of those "white-covered books" I still own a copy of!)

That's right, this story is so old it was told TO Cousteau in the late 1960s! It's the only version of the story he seems to have actually heard and commented on, and it was to deny the monster story.

It strikes me that two of the fearsome feats attributed to the Red Sea Monster— pulling air-filled cans/barrels underwater and destroying a shark cage— are things the shark in Jaws also does. While Peter Benchley’s novel came out in 1974, several years later, he did research sharks when writing it, so I wonder if “pulling barrels underwater” was just a bit of shark lore that was going around in the late 60s.

(At least the way it’s shown in the 1975 movie, the MythBusters showed a great white shark is strong enough to briefly pull barrel floats underwater but not to hold them there.)

The more embellished 2001 article post-dates Jaws and may be inspired by the cage-destruction scene in the film.

The Depths of Lake Tahoe

Apparently, years ago, Cousteau went scuba diving in Lake Tahoe. He emerged from the water shaken, but not with cold. He said, “The world is not ready for what I have seen.” (Jennifer Skene, “Rumors and Truth in Lake Tahoe”)

Another common account of the “secret discovery” story says that it didn’t happen at sea at all, but rather in the depths of landlocked Lake Tahoe, on the California-Nevada border. This is the version of the story most commonly associated with the “the world isn’t ready” quote. The Lake Tahoe version usually keeps things vague, speculating that perhaps Cousteau saw local legendary lake monster Tahoe Tessie OR a layer of hundreds of perfectly-preserved bodies of Chinese railroad workers or mafia victims floating eerily in mid-waters, OR some other mysterious thing too horrific to describe.

[Unspeakable horrors such as dinky maps found on Bing]

Both Tessie and the well-preserved bodies are urban legends seen discussed elsewhere without the Cousteau connection. Other legends speculate that the lake hides sharks, mermaids, an underground tunnel to Pyramid Lake, a crashed WWII bomber, and a fortune in gold bullion. Just your ISO standard set of underwater legends, really.

However, unlike the Red Sea, there is no evidence that Jacques Cousteau ever visited Lake Tahoe, let alone dove there!

According to other explorers who have explored the lake’s depths, the cold, clear waters do provide eerie visibility to the shipwrecks and sunken trees found there. While people have died in and around the lake and bodies are sometimes found, the more sensational claims of uncanny preservation and bodies eerily floating in mid-water, never rising or sinking, do not fit with Lake Tahoe’s known physical conditions.

The Screams of Hell

Indeed, the French diver Jacques Cousteau was swimming over Cuba some years ago, and he heard screaming noises at the bottom of the ocean. ... And Jacques Cousteau was so shaken up by what he had heard in the seas off Cuba, he never swam there again. ... He heard what he believed to be screaming, shouting, people being tortured, just as the Bible teaches. ("Ex-Catholics for Christ")

Yet another version of the story says that Cousteau heard the sounds of agonized screaming underwater, either while diving himself or recorded on a hydrophone, and possibly considered them the screams of souls in hell. These versions of the story tend to be vaguer, not always naming a time or place when this happened. (That version put it in Cuba, another in Greece, others vaguely “somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle”.)

That's probably because this version is just an adaptation of another, more well-known urban legend about Soviet geologists digging into hell and recording screams that has been repeated in various places since the 1980s. (You can see some of the problems with that story at the site linked.)

(Cousteau did explore Cuba’s waters in the mid-1980s as seen in the documentary, Cuba: Waters of Destiny. You won’t hear any screams from Hell in that documentary, but there is a guest appearance from Fidel Castro!)

Another religion-related urban legend about Jacques Cousteau is that he converted to Islam after discovering the Quran was correct about the mixing of the waters of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. This isn't true, either. In some places I'd seen this repeated in the same context as an equally-untrue claim that Neil Armstrong converted to Islam after hearing the call to prayer on the moon, and misremembered this as a claim Cousteau had heard the call to prayer underwater for a less-disturbing twist on the idea that the secret discovery was something heard underwater rather than seen, but as far as I can tell, that isn't the case.

Bells in Random Order

Do you know Jacques Cousteau? Well, they said on the radio That he hears bells in random order Deep beneath the perfect water ("Perfect Water")

The Blue Öyster Cult song "Perfect Water" has the lyrics above, which may be a reference to the "secret discovery" legend and specifically the above idea that it was a mysterious sound heard underwater. The band is known for having many references to legends, conspiracy theories, and the supernatural in other songs. "Perfect Water" was on the album Club Ninja, released in December 1985, post-dating Life and Death in a Coral Sea but predating the most famous accounts of the “Well to Hell” story. I can't find any other sources talking about Cousteau and mysterious bells.

This website instead thinks the lyrics are referring to Cousteau's actual descriptions of walruses as making sounds similar to bells in his writings and films. You can hear a walrus making a bell sound here.

Ask Me Anything

During an AMA session on Reddit in 2018, Fabien Cousteau (FCNomad) was asked about three different versions of this story (Djibouti, Lake Tahoe, and Fort Peck Reservoir in Montana.) He seemed most familiar with the Lake Tahoe version.

sotpsean: Hello, Mr Cousteau! It's an honour. When I was a child, family lived in Djibouti, Africa,(my father was a French Foreign Legionnaire). There was a local legend about a "sea monster" living in Lac Goubet. I've heard that your Grandfather might have investigated Lac Goubet in search of this "monster". Locals have thought it to be a prehistoric shark cut off from the sea. I've always wondered if someone might be able to shed light on this subject. Have you heard of this? Thanks for doing this AMA! FCNomad: Great to chat with you. French foreign legion? Serious stuff. There are legends of "sea monsters" in every body of water out there. Until we explore them we will not know for sure ;-) Lets go see! [x]

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HulkVomit: Why did your grandfather never want to dive in Ft Peck Reservoir again? Would you ever come dive in it? Account-002: I am also REALLY curious about this. My Dad thought it was because if the siltyness of the water, combined with a possible encounter with multiple giant catfish/paddlefish that put him off. FCNomad: That does seem plausible and potentially sound due to the potential risks. He was focussed on filmmaking and if you can't see anything its hard to tell a visual story… [x]

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TeddysGhost: Hi there, I live at Lake Tahoe and it is a common story around here that your grandfather went into the lake once and when he emerged he warned people that the world isn't ready to see what's down there? What do.you know about that story? Is there even a shred of legitimacy and if so what did he see? FCNomad: Ive heard this rumor as well. We were supposed to investigate on a new TV series but we never got the chance… [x]

Conclusions

...yeah, all versions of this story sound pretty fake to me. Sorry.

As Fabien says, almost every body of water has sea and lake monster legends attached to it, because the world’s waters really are mysterious, unpredictable, and dangerous. But over time, your local legendary water monster can become familiar, almost a sort of community mascot.

When reading the archives of The Liberator, a famous anti-slavery newspaper published in Boston in the mid-1800s, I found several articles where the writers referred to the New England sea serpent in these kinds of familiar terms, since to Bostonians it was a “local” monster. They even called it “our American sea serpent”— the children and grandchildren of the Minutemen, still defining their identity as Americans, could boast that England didn’t have such a cool monster.

In modern times, of course, a local monster legend can also be a major tourist attraction. Most of the sites I found repeating the Djibouti and Lake Tahoe versions of the story were… travel sites for Djibouti and Lake Tahoe (especially diving travel sites).

To present your local monster story as “verified” by a famous underwater explorer like Jacques Cousteau makes it sound authentic. It certainly spices things up for people planning their vacations, especially divers. And to say that your local monster scared away a globetrotting adventurer like Cousteau who had faced so many other perils all over the world definitely adds to the “local pride” angle. In Djibouti, a French colony that was having a vote in 1967 about whether to become independent, a story about a local monster scaring away a famous Frenchman may have had an appealing nationalist undertone.

The writer for Le Monde de l'un découverte, however, probably just wanted to tell a rip-roaring sea story. The presumably-French writer, writing for a French magazine, would have been writing for an audience who had grown up following Cousteau’s adventures. Perhaps they combed his writings in search of any mention of sea monsters that could fit in their paranormal magazine, found the passage about Djibouti in Life and Death in a Coral Sea, and created a more sensational version that conveniently left out Cousteau’s own debunking. For an audience who had grown up with Cousteau, what could be more exciting than hearing about one more adventure of their late hero, totally new and unseen, and a discovery so shocking it was being kept secret?

And, like I said, it does make for a great story! No wonder it inspired Christophe Bec to write his own version! And with the decades-long tradition of fictional stories parodying and homaging Jacques Cousteau, I can’t blame you if this piece has inspired you to write your own version of the “secret discovery” story— just please, make it clear that your fiction is fiction.

[subwayfloorlicker1978]

tadc works better in the medium that it unintentionally conveyed itself as

okay. you’re probably reading this title thinking “but subwayfloorlicker1978… what IS the medium in question????” okay the medium in question is being a lore filled mysterious series with twists and turns and having an emphasis on twists and turns just as much as its characters.

now. this baffles me a little bit bc even though one could get that exact idea of tadc just by watching the first episode (and the fandom ITSELF literally got that impression. i mean its even evident in the fanmade aus.) gooseworx made a twitter post a few months ago that apparently tadc is made up of. and i quote. 95% character depth/stuff/etc and like 5% of lore. which is… hm.

which also baffled me! because my GOD was there a lot of lore foreshadowing and spooky (if you want to call it that.) stuff throughout episode 1. like WAY too much of it, especially if your main goal of tadc is to have it be a series centered heavily on the characters. not saying you can’t have background plot things going on, but like… 95%? seriously? i’m definitely praying she hadn’t entirely thought out that ratio before pressing the post button.

and that’s why tadc unintentionally comes across as a series with super deep lore, literally to the point where i’ve seen certain people unironically call it a horror series (which is wrong btw. even if you’re taking the c&a scenes + caine’s suspicious moments into account). it quite literally spends like 1/3 of its main scenes in episode 1 putting SO much emphasis on the c&a lore and the abstraction and everything else.

and the thing is. i dont entirely blame gooseworx for this. obviously it would be very important to flesh out the environment/world that the characters are in during the first episode (LITERALLY your first impression), which obviously includes locations like the lore office area pomni was in or the cellar where caine banishes all of the crazy people to go to. (oh and also even the topic of abstraction itself via kaufmo) but like..... there’s a reason why tadc has a game theory episode.

i’ve said this before and ill say it again. tadc and the entire “digital circus” thing and the implementation of vr headsets + lore into the story is ONLY an excuse for gooseworx to tell a compelling story about compelling characters in a cartoony wacky environment. its basically a guaranteed way for the viewers to actually see these goofy characters in a humanoid manner. however… you can’t just implement characters with these vr headset backstories and existential themes without it sounding entirely ominous. AND you can’t just drop a huge bombshell regarding the lore of the show and WHY the vr stuff happened and then go on twitter and say that its 95% about the characters.

and with the direction of the cellar and office scenes.. im not sure if it’s even possible for someone to make a clean cut resolution to the lore tidbits while still fulfilling the “5%” lore thing and not having it come off as giving off the wrong expectations. the direction of these scenes is SO intense like. some of these camera shots clearly put emphasis on small little details and the tone of these scenes pale so much in comparison to previous scenes that it catches you so off guard.

which is what makes them very well written! however they pack so much content and foreshadowing into themselves that its such a far fetched thing to say that only 5% of lore will make up tadc. that combined with the prospect of past lives. and also with the clear foreshadowing of jax being a morally corrupt person. what about the extremely heavy motifs of exit doors? there’s no way THATS going to just be gone after episode 1. goose, what do you MEAN there’s going to be corpse imagery? all of this ties into each other. lore and tone tie into each other too. come on.

but these aspects can definitely be used to craft a great story. WITH character arcs and character deep dives throughout episodes. gravity falls literally nailed this. and theoretically tadc could too. emphasis on theoretically.

also if the “memory loss” thing was actually canon and not something the fandom thought was canon (again reasonable misinterpretation because obviously if you hear pomni say “HOLY FLIP I FORGOT MY OWN NAME!!!” you’re going to assume she forgot everything else.) that would also work well along with the theoretical lore stuff if it was more emphasized. literally think of the vast opportunities for foreshadowing. maybe pomni finds out something about the other characters via revisiting the office that THEY can’t remember. maybe do something with like… reflexes and muscle memory or something related to “the mind forgets but the body remembers”. maybe use it as a plot point in relation to jax’s keys or his weirdly implied secret or something. IDK! i just think a lore and plot driven story in this environment combined with character things (50/50…) would be marginally more interesting than what we will be given.

okay one more pet peeve in relation to this before i go. deep breath……. i really hate how the cartoonish body language of the main human cast. GO AHEAD BOO ME. THROW TOMATOES AT ME. LET ME EXPLAIN OKAY.

one piece of media that i think does a GREAT job when it comes to utilizing body language in storytelling is duck season. it clearly humanizes the guy in the suit by giving him certain habits that seem undoubtedly human and make him feel very… alive. like whenever he smokes a cigarette but then quickly puts it out when the player gets near him bc he’s startled and needs to keep up a facade. like THAT. that’s what strikes me as a human behavior.

so if goose’s goal would be to humanize these “cartoon” characters… realistic body language that clashes with their digital circus designs would be a perfect way to make them stick out in comparison to the npcs or caine and bring out the fact that they’re humans in an environment curated by nonhumans. it would also help a little more with tadc’s target demographic problem i think? the characters having little humanoid habits would make it seem a little more mature i think and would also go well with my idea of theoretical lore-focused tadc. not saying 20 year olds CANT be into pieces of media that have bright colors and are very cartoony. im just saying. there’s a reason why there’s so much content slop of tadc.

[jylesthejester]

WHAM BAM DIVING INTO MY OCS LORE THIS TIME ITS LONGER SO HERES SOME THINGS I WANNA MENTION BEFORE GETTING INTO IT(NOT ALL OF MY OCS WILL BE MENTIONED HERE)

[Also I recall @therummonster wanted to hear more about Raegen! His block of text is at the top :D]

1-Though they all may come from different universes they all know eachother due to multiversal travel.

2-I have made up certain species/things for some characters, if you have questions about them feel free to ask

3-I made a post covering Maxie and Stella in a way that gets most of their story across, so I will only be covering everyone besides them, if you want more of Stella and Maxie I will give you more, just ask.

4-Some smaller details might change later as I'm still working out stories for some characters

5-Theres a little inspiration from almost every fandom I've been interested in/actually in (TSBS, TMNT, LMK, etc) so if something sounds familiar thats likely why

6-My characters are unrealistically tall so most have the ability to alter their height if it's beyond a humans ability to be how tall they are.

7-Most characters have complex relationships that I'm not sure how to write all that well, so excuse me if I explain it horribly

Let's get into it :D

Raegen Caballero aka Radioactive :

Raegen Canallero was mentioned in my last post, to sum up their backstory, the non-humans and humans in his universe had a war where the humans flat out took the non-humans to scientific research facilities for testing, Raegen was a victim of this type of abdution, earning him the name Radioactive for the Radioactive poisoning his breath caused to humans. Raegen works for an organization called the Elements, which, obviously, consists of people with Elemental abilities, Raegan oddly being favored in this organization due to their awe inducing slight of hand and special abilities. Raegen wears a belt that has two drills attached to it with cords, making it easier for him to break into buildings. Raegen is often seen wearing a cropped jacket with shorts and blue boots, with, of course, the belt and some gloves. His eyes are green, and ones radioactive green with a lime colored pupil, the other eye is a deep dull green color with a blue pupil. Raegen is in a friend circle with their (before mentioned) sibling they lost. They just don't know it yet. If you want a good feel of his character, try to associate with him with "Drift away" from SU. Raegen is very easily manipulated, being forced to stay in a facility for a good portion of their development years. His name means "King(R) Soldier(C)". His hands are calloused from climbing, grabbing, and often touching rough surfaces. They live in the woods in a small shack, which is essentially a hide out for them, they keep all their possessions there. His lungs have developed to have a negative reaction to Radon (Radon is a radioactive gas that has no smell, colour or taste. Radon is produced from the natural radioactive decay of uranium, which is found in all rocks and soils. Radon can also be found in water. Radon escapes from the ground into the air, where it decays and produces further radioactive particles.) Which causes them to pass out soon after inhaling it, which their gas mask filters. Raegen has a lot of knowledge about chemistry and science. Raegens abilities include - Breathing toxic gasses, can consume toxic liquids(his lungs immediately processes it and makes his breath have the same affects/smell/taste as the toxin for a limited amount of time depending on how much of the selected Toxin they drink.), Teleportation, slight super hearing (can hear everything thats about in a 50 foot radius around him), height alteration. Raegen, whenever he has free time, goes to lost to time/dead dimensions and helps the souls in there pass on to the afterlife, allowing the dimension to finally Decay and the souls to Finally rest. Raegen once found an alive child in a dying dimension, and helped them out, giving them to Maxie and Stella in secret.

Celeste Kanth Novaflare :

Celeste is Maxie and Stella's biological daughter. She's about sixteen and helps around the casino at times, not being allowed to stay in the heart floor for long amounts of time. Celeste looks like both her parents in equal parts, her main color is blue, being a mix of green(maxie) and purple(stella). Celeste has abilities she hasn't yet learned to control, so she refrains from using them. Celeste knows how to use a bow and arrow. Celeste has a passion in Ballet and performing, both her parents attend all her Ballet performances. Celeste has the same half space type of face Stella has, with the constellations instead being blue but still connecting to make a spider web around the eye. Celeste's abilities include - Teleportation, elongation of limbs(from maxie), floatation, spawning weapons from the constellations(from Stella), being able to make a person blind for a selected amount of time in turn making them extremely sleepy, being able to spawn a cloud to ride on and or use for transportation, and being able to spawn limited Portals. Celeste is a eccentric child, being very nice and forgiving which gets them in bad situations at times. Celeste is homeschooled because most schools around wouldn't accept Celeste due to Stella and Maxies track record. Celeste could be called "spoiled", but shes very humble, she loves giving gifts. She's about 6'1 at the moment, she grew quickly which her parents were surprised but quickly adjusted to. Celeste has one best friend called Gelatin. Celeste has curly hair just like Maxies natural hair. Celeste has one green eye with a yellow pupil and one purple eye. Celeste is a germaphobe and is often cleaning or wiping down counters by her own will, cause she knows it's dirty. Celeste realizes if people are trying to manipulate her quickly, and catches it before they can go on. Celeste doesn't have a whole lot of backstory, since she just grew up being homeschooled by her parents and hasn't really experienced anything bad. She's very warm and welcoming to people in the casino.

Alix Caballero aka Lix :

Lix, after experiencing a similar situation to Raegens, was placed in a facility where she was kept against her will, as her abilities developed and she was given minimal amounts of food and water, clothing was white long pants and white long sleeved shirts, she was deprived from human contact and assumed her sibling was dead. After so many years, Lix got a chance to run out and took it. She quickly left the place, burning the walls down as she ran, helping everyone else in the facility escape. Lix eventually evolved to be a Harley-quinn type person. Lix is very sarcastic and rude to most, but at times, she can be funny. Lix's main colors are a light cyan Color, Grey, and black. Alix has naturally brown hair but dyed her hair to have some sections be Ice blue and others being Grey, and putting them up into spikey Buns. Lix's main weapon is a baseball bat, but she also knows a bit of magic next to her abilities she naturally has. Lix has a spikeball tail, she's unsure why it looks how it does, but it's there. Lix's abilities include - Pyrokinesis(blue fire), hypnosis with his voice, able to turn parts of his body/skin into a malubale kind of putty and can shape it into different things, Teleportation, super speed, and Kryokinesis/Cryokinesis(manipulation of ice). Lix talks in a very sarcastic and dramatic voice, mocking people most of the time. Lix has shark-like teeth, which also work like actual Sharks teeth to(grow back after falling out), do at times she'll pull a tooth out for an occasional trick or for scared/horrified reactions. After getting out of the facility, she built up muscle so she could protect herself not only with magic but also with just their general strength. Lix's seclaras have a light tint of blue, and it's noticeable from afar. Lix has visual snow and didn't know it until later on in life when he told some friends about it.

Palin Rockfeller aka Invert :

Palin grew up in a black and white universe, the universe slowly started to gain color(watercolor type colors) as time went on, though once they got the chance to leave the universe they took it, and never went back, due to this, the portal messed with their colors, making half of their body/clothes inverted, anything they wear becomes half inverted and goes back to normal after she takes it off. This didn't affect her much, so she lives with it and usually goes by the name "Invert.". Palin found a handful of friends in this new dimension and met a girl named Lila and her twin named Maya(both are down in this list, Lila is right below palin), Eventually Lila and Palin grew close and started hanging out with only eachother on weekends instead of the two of them with Maya, at some point Palin found Raegen and enjoyed talking to them so eventually added them to their friend group. One day, Palin was going down the street when she heard some screaming. She quickly located where it was from and went down a dim alleyway. This led to her finding Lila's body, She was shot in multiple different parts of her person, Palin took Lila to her place and hoped she could take care of her, since there weren't any local hospitals. Palin eventually realized Lila was going to die if she didn't do something, so Palin attempted to make her into a robot of sorts, but kept her personality and memories in her code, so she wasn't completely different(that's where I'll end the backstory). Palin likes making robots cause she has a passion for design, so she draws in her free time. Palin's abilities include - Being able to split objects into two of itself(one being inverted the other not), short range teleportation, being able to change other people's vision/their vision to see everything with inverted colors, being able to make something the opposite of what it is (eg: medical supplies becoming something that causes harm), being able to visualize words outwardly(like projection, she usually does this when reading stories to children). Palin collects powerful artifacts from across universes and keeps them safe. She has dark brown hair, green eyes, tanned skin, and half of her entire body is inverted.

Lila [Gear] :

Lila grew up in a good home, her parents and both her and her twin sister all were an 'ice family' in their universe, meaning all of them could manipulate ice. Lila's a twin sister to Maya. Some of the few memories she has are of Palin, Maya, and right before her death. Lila had some alteration in code from Raegen to kind of make her a bodyguard robot for Palin. Lila's main weapon is a hammer. Lilas abilities include - Cryokinesis, Super speed, decoding computers (by plugging them into her head), heightened senses, being able to sense when someone's(Mainly when Palin's) in danger, Scanning Wounds/DNA samples and finding how to take care of it/matches for the DNA. Lila has white skin, black hair with a cyan ombre, black & cyan horns, a halo, and black eyes with cyan pupils. Lila has a phobia of Clowns, so she can't hang around Inky for too long until her fear starts getting to her. Lila is like Molten from TSAMS or Jack from TSBS, she'll attack a set target/go after a set target unless Palin (In the TSBS case for this, Moon/Solar) tells her to stop. Lila is quite fond of Raegen, she doesn't remember him but enjoys his company. Lila's code evolves and learns constantly, just like how humans do, so her code can't be permanently hacked cause it's like manipulation to Lila, she'll eventually realize it and leave the person. Lila has a handful of favorite universes to travel to when she needs to clear her mind (Palin's universe, dreamcore-like universes, anything peaceful like that). Lila has artifical lungs and organs, so she can physically get sick, but it's like 10x worse cause her heightened senses cause her to succumb to the sickness more, so she usually acts dramatic and acts like she's going to die when she's sick. Lila loves jazz music and loves dancing. At times, she and Palin will dance to jazz music around the house they own. Lila can adapt parts of her body to become weapons and / or Sheilds, which helps a lot in fights. Lila has a passion for singing and music. She loves giving people vocal training/vocal classes. Lila loves trying to figure out what instruments were used in songs from movies/shows. Most of her main story is in Palin's section, so sorry I can't put it here :,3

Nova Starstruck :

Nova's actual name is flare, but that's been erased from their memories. Nova grew up in a dimension where everyone had shadows over their faces/bodies, making their eyes permanently white and stuck in place. Nova was chosen as a servant for a multiversal creator. They left their original dimension to pursue this job and new life. They go to various dimensions and note down anything they notice or anything important, making up names for the dimensions based on the notes. Nova has gone to various dead dimensions that usually end up in them just walking around for a bit, taking in the amount of Ashes and taking notes about what is there(that hasn't died yet) or what could've been there. Nova's very devoted to her work and tries to avoid making connections to anyone in the universes they visit. Nova dresses like a pastel Clown to make themself somewhat blend in at some points as a street performer. Nova is extremely tall and looms over anything or anyone they meet. Nova has red hair, a shadowed body/face, and white eyes. There are various other versions of Nova, they were one of the two options the Multiversal creator was going to chose, and the creator chose them for one significant difference, the ability for them to leave their life behind easily. Novas abilities include - Height manipulation(on themself), Illusion/Major image/Minor image, teleportation, a remarkably flexible neck(/ref), can know someone's name by looking at them,

Inky Inkwell :

Inky comes from a dimension called Geometricks where everythings made out of shapes. Inky is very docile and not intimidating. Inky carries candy in his pockets to give to children(upset children or just children who want candy). Inky was/is a juggler at their carnival ("Once upon your wildest dreams") and used Shurikens/Ninja stars in their juggling acts (at times also juggling both objects with Party favor in their hands). Inky's abilities include - Telekinesis, Shapeshifting, Teleportation, Disconnecting limbs, Making matter out of nothing, moving molecular structure, electrokinesis, human cloaking(being able to make himself look human). Inky doesn't talk much about his universe but it's suspected by others(Maxie, Nova, etc) that they left it forcefully. Inky looks legitimately like 2d animation when walking around, they dont have any shading though, so he's just flat colors and some outlines. Inky has Tear marks on his face(look at drawing on my profile if u haven't seen it ^^), when he's actually crying the tear marks turn green and yellow. Inky has a gap between their teeth(which are naturally off white). Inkys neck & waist frills are from the universe theyre now in, unlike the rest of their outfit. Inky keeps poloroids of their close friends (Their Carnival friends and Party favor), they haven't managed to get a picture of Nova yet. Inky's human form is pale with green hair and blue eyes. Inky loves the cuphead universe for the rubber hose artstyle it has. Inky has never been seen angry, they're either bored or happy. Inky can consume his juggling shurikens/daggers, it's a trick they've learned from some of the swallowing-sword's people in their old Circus.

Ricin aka John Doe :

It's suspected that he was the cause for his universes death.

Party favor :

Party favor is Inky's closest friend. Party favor is actually a monotonous nightmare-dream eater, though they've stuck around Inky because of the amount of nightmares they have, so Party favor gets to eat nightmares regularly. Party favor has extremely long pointed limbs and a very odd face when in their natural form, the form they're usually in is a compressed version of their form (I might have to draw their monstrous form sometime). Party favor didn't like much of the "Once upon your wildest dreams" crew but tolerated them since Inky got him a kinda-job-sorta at the place. Party favors abilities include - Confetti spawning, Mind manipulation, minor image/Minor illusion, Hallucinations, human cloaking (Same thing as inkys ability). Party favor likes using Sparklers as a distraction at times to get away from people. Party favor doesn't talk about the (now dead) "Once upon your wildest dreams" crew infront of Inky, which they're usually near/around, so they just don't talk about them at all. Party favor has various hats they wear at separate times. Party favors "Eyes" can also be a mouth, the middle of the X is where the mouth pops out of, like a demogorgon sort of.

Jimson aka Clementine :

Ricin is a dead, unidentified body. He died from a workplace accident and fell onto a pipe, busting his head open, before falling into a vat of chemicals, completely burning his skin and Eyeballs out of their sockets, no one was brave enough to get his body out of the vat so they gave him the nickname "Chemical vat John Doe". Ricin is a vengeful spirit and Haunts the company buildings, causing more workplace accidents (which bodies have been identified from), and trying to get people to figure out who he was, it upsets him that he just got the name "John doe" then they went on. Ricin's abilities include - Teleportation, Hallucinations, Portals. Ricin was smoking right before he died, so his spirit has a cigarette in its mouth, the fires unextinquishable. Ricin has purple hair, one green eye, one red eye, slightly tanned skin, and is wearing a black suit with a red tie. Ricin doesn't often make friends with other spirits. He's very rude and reclusive(like EaPs Eclipse!). He consistently tells any new spirits that the police aren't going to find their bodies, and they'll also be known as a John/Jane doe. The only person he sorta gets along with is Jimson(who isn't a spirit, but can see him). Ricin was supposed to get sent to hell, but his spirit escaped, keeping his soul in the factory(that's now been long abandoned [he died in 1920.]). Ricins soul is physically stuck at the factory, he can only go 150 feet away from it before being sucked back to it.

Jimson is a 2d-looking character, similar to Inky, except they're actually 3d. Jimson loves gardens and helps Kaede(an oc that's not on this list) out with his garden! Jimson can see spirits and often helps solve Jane doe/John doe cases, but also is a murderer of sorts. He uses dead bodies he finds for compost. Jimson has a sun mark and a rain-cloud mark under each of his eyes, his eyes are green and his hair is brown, his bangs are a somewhat-pastel indigo, his skin is tanned, and he dresses in overalls, short sleeved shirts, and boots. Jimson is very pushy, which often makes most people steer clear of becoming friends with them. Jimson convinced Ricin to tell them where he died so they could maybe help solve a case (from over 50 years ago? Yeah, good luck, buddy lol), he ended up not being able to help, but he could talk to Ricin better at the factory since Ricin's soul was stuck there, so they talked more. Jimson eventually would find that Ricin can possess an object they have, but I won't talk about that much yet :) Jimson can eat/consume/smell poisonous food/berries/flowers/etc, they have a immunity to it. Jimson quite literally sprouted out of the ground, which is why they have a sprout on their head. Jimson doesn't seem to have a mouth, but when they open their mouth they have teeth like a lamprey(if you guys know what that is, if you don't, Google it, they're pretty metal /pos). Jimsons abilities include - Geokinesis, ghost-seeing/spirit-seeing, being able to consume poisonous things, being able to suck out blood like a Vampire, can sense how far along a plant is to being done growing.

Lydia Summers :

Maya Chrome :

Lydia is the leader of the Elements(the organization Raegen works for). Lydia comes from a Fire family (like in Lilas thing, a fire family means a family that can manipulate/control fire). Lydia is very manipulative and overly pushy. Lydia is good friends with Maya from childhood. She has red-orange-yellow ombre hair, pale skin, fire-like eyes, a small crown on the top of her head, and a fire tail. Lydia dispises Lila a Lot, even though she's Mayas sister, Lydia never got along with her no matter what. Lydia's abilities include - Pyrokinesis, melting/welding/bending metal to her touch, being able to make her whole body fire. Lydia's hair spikes up in Flames (think like redson from LMK) when she gets mad. Lydia's clothes mainly are made out of non-flammable material, so she doesn't burn them. Lydia hates when she's not able to get in on any fights. Lydia is power-hungry, so she has most of the people under her control gather powerful multiversal weapons so she can use them all to rule the world (classic villian). Though Lydia's whole organization is about the main elements/Elemental powers(though there is one using electricity- shshshsh) she still put Raegen in the organization despite him not having any Elemental powers, he's just kinda the barbarian of the Organization (aka the only one like REALLY physically strong). Lydia grew up incredibly spoiled, in a wealthy household, which didn't help much with how power-hungry she got later on in life.

Relationships (main) [Relationships you guys should know about] :

Maya is Lila's twin sister, she doesn't know her sister died(technically) and thought she just went missing. Maya is incredibly reluctant to help Lydia with her goals, but does anyway since Lydia is her best friend. Maya admires the "Casino crew"'s (Maxie, Stella, Palin, Kaede, Gacey, etc[most I haven't wrote about here]) work, but knows they're a threat to the Elements organization, so knows she has to take them down at some point. Mayas abilities include - Cryokinesis, Teleportation, Water manipulation, minor Illusions. Maya has black hair with a light cyan ombre, light cyan horns and tail, cyan eyes, black diamond pupils, and pale skin. Maya respects most of the Element's people, mostly respecting Raegen for dealing with Lydia's bullshit most of the time. Maya loves fashion and includes it in her everyday outfits. Maya often wears a chrome belt on her outfits, liking the look it gives against her skin. Maya often leads buisness meetings since Lydia hates doing them. Maya's one of the kinder people in the Elements, most are insane or just need to go to a mental hospital or therapy. Maya is very gentle with people, and usually when talking to Karen's uses gentle parenting techniques.

Main Organizations/Companies/Groups :

Maxie & Stella - Married

Inky & Party favor - The consuming and the consumer/Being used and doesn't know and using them

Lydia & Raegen - Manipulative 'Relationship'

Maya & Lydia - Best friends

Jimson & Ricin - Friends with romantic tension/Ghost and annoying person they're attached to

Kaede & Jimson - Being helped and Helper/Friends

Gacey & Kaede & Lix - Love triangle with a lot of tension (AND I LITERALLY MEAN LOVE TRIANGLE. NOT A LOVE V.)

Party favor & Nova - Hates eachother but get along around one person(Inky)

Nova & Inky - Thinks they're friends(Inky) and Hates the other person(Nova)

Maya & Raegen - Knows they're both in a bad situation and bond over it

Lila & Palin - Creation and creator/Admires eachother deeply

Raegen & Celeste - Cool uncle and cool niece/Chaos embodiments

Lix & Raegen - Awkward but chill

Palin & Maya - Friends that distanced themselves from the other over time

Celeste & Inky - Besties!

More Oc lore that I'm going to write about :

Once Upon Your Wildest Dreams Carnival - Flare(ringmaster)

Elements - Lydia(owner/creator)

The Multiversal Casino - Maxie & Stella (Co-owners)

Special weapons/items in the story :

All of the 'Once Upon Your Wildest Dreams' Carnival characters' Lore.

Gelatin (another oc)

Weapons/powerful items that exist in the multiverse I've created.

The Code breaker chain/Multiversal Glitching Chain/Glitch chain/Multiversal breaker chain (it has a lot of names)

Eclipsical Staff

Color absorber pallette

Jingle-bell Scythe

Starstruck information orbs

Lmk if you want me to talk about the whole little multiverse I've made in my head more ^^ I really enjoyed typing all of this out :D I hope you all enjoyed reading it!

[georgieluz]

if you don't mind much, what was every thought that crossed your mind during ray persons scenes in gen kill?

every single thought? anon, don't tempt me

that being said, i shall give the people what they want! so ray is the kind of annoying that i live and breathe for. the kind of annoying that makes me wanna open up his brain and dive inside. just pure unadulterated unhinged energy! zero shame or dignity present in that one. none whatsoever. but it's endearing y'know? i wanna tell him to shut the fuck up but i also want him to live in my pocket and give me a running commentary on my life?

i didn't wanna love him at first. it's gonna sound weird but it felt too predictable for me to go for yet another smartass idiot who can't for the life of him know when to shut the fuck up. so i kind of rebelled against myself and held out for a while. eventually though, he did wear me down and i did find myself shaking my head disapprovingly but smiling fondly alongside brad. i think though it was the deeper aspects of his character that finally drew me in, the ones that you have to look deeper into, in the shorter scenes that maybe don't seem that important but have subtler little details.

and if we do wanna get deep about it then i always enjoy a character who clings desperately onto humour and sheer absurdity as a coping mechanism. it's pretty clear that ray falls within that category and i did enjoy getting to see a little bit of how he reacts when he can't reach for that coping mechanism as easily, when he's too exhausted and fed up to pull the mask on.

another thing i noticed that made me appreciate him from just a really small action is in the episode where everyone is trying to cheer walt up. ray uses his method of being a comedic annoyance to give walt some kind of normalcy that he probably isn't getting from the others, who are trying to reassure him and look after him in a more direct and 'impactful' way. but ray decides to go and basically dry hump his head and say stupid shit and yeah, walt is a bit irritated bc of everything he's dealing with, but as a viewer, we get to see ray actively using the way the other marines see him to try and give walt a sense of "nothing is going to change, you're still you and i'm still me". whilst brad, nate and espera are there basically outwardly telling him not to worry (and walt needed that too, i love my dads <3), ray takes a much subtler approach in supporting him. which when you think about it, really is the opposite to how we talk about ray usually. he's anything but subtle generally, so i think this little bit of information and look into his character, and intentions, was something that just really stood out to me bc he chose that approach for walt, imo at least. i know it's a tiny tiny scene but it just helped confirm a lot of my thoughts about how ray approaches things and how, sure, he is naturally unhinged and doesn't think before he speaks a lot, but sometimes, you can actively see him using that humour and those jokes and all his ridiculous antics to pull his friends out of whatever dark crevice their mind has fallen into. he does it with brad as well. i feel like his actor portrayed those purposeful moments really well also, because for me, i could tell when he was just being ridiculous and himself and talking shit, and when he was playing it up to keep others focused on him and not the other shit going on around them. anyway. this is one of the reasons i love his character and his portrayal a lot. it's not lost on me that it actually is a back-and-forth with ray that eventually pulls walt out of his downward spiral either, at least surface-level. it was a team effort, but ray continuing to prode him eventually got him to 'snap out of it' and feel like he was being treated normally.

and as much as i loved his comedic scenes throughout the series, and all his songs and ways of keeping everyone entertained, i really enjoyed his portrayal and depiction in the last two or so episodes, where you start to notice the mask slipping. it's thrown back on pretty quickly, but i appreciated that we got that small insight into how everything has actually affected him and it actually felt different afterward. he goes back to being a smartass and being the annoying friend who never shuts up, but you can see he's changed somewhere deep down underneath as well.

and the fact that it's his final look toward trombley that kind of sums up the conclusion of the show and the true realisation about what they did there. i don't know if i can explain it coherently yet, i guess i'm still processing what i'm trying to say about that final scene. i'm sure it's been said a thousand times by someone, a lot more eloquently that i ever could, but his final look really spoke volumes to me. his reaction to trombley and the video and then finally walking away felt like a confirmation of the message that the show presents to us throughout the whole series, but which they let us pick up and spin around for a few episodes to fully absorb, before letting ray finish it up with a single look. idk, maybe i'm just rambling.

maybe this is completely different from what you were asking for anon, so i'm really sorry if it disappoints you, or you were just looking for silly commentary on all the unhinged shit that comes out of his mouth lmao but yeah. i am a little bit obsessed with ray person. i truly would like to examine his brain up close.

all that raging internalised homophobia as well, huh?

anyone wanna unpack that with me?

it'll be fun, i promise

[dicebound]

RPG Spotlight

✨ A game I wish more people were talking about.

Free From the Yoke Is a Slavic Fantasy TTRPG by UFO Press based on their other game, Legacy: Life Among the Ruins 2nd Edition. The players takes on roles of Houses as well as Characters in that house, dealing with the aftermath of a revolution in which they regained their independence from the Empire. I recently purchased this game and have been diving deep into its rule book and I am terribly impressed with it. It seems like the most comprehensive system for collaboratively building a world with your players and playing both the small and big players in its political sphere. It only has one actually play series and a single review on Youtube. I need more people to know this game! 🌱 An unreleased game I’m looking forward to. I recently backed Dolmenwood by Necrotic Gnome on Kickstarter after seeing it talked about here on Tumblr and covered by QuestingBeast on his Youtube Channel. It's a beautiful OSR Style Fairy Tale RPG inspired by Celtic and Irish Folklore. The artwork is absolutely stunning and the setting has been lovely crafted for over 10 years. Its got highly detailed, useful information to run a game in its world and I literally cannot wait to get my hands on the full version. You can get the free Quick Start here. 🌠 A game with a mechanic I love. I recently got ahold of Household by Two Little Mice when it was on sale on DrivethruRPG and I have been engrossed in reading the books cover to cover. I've already covered it on this blog, but it's basically a High Fantasy Setting about little fairies living in an abandoned house complete with tiny cities, saddle mice, and spider hunters. After reading the Core Rulebook, I discovered a quite lovely aspect of their Aces mechanic. Aces are metacurrency players get and their tied to the four suites (Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, Clubs) as well as a Joker. The Aces can be spent to do things like get an additional die to your dice pool for a check, remove a condition, get a another use out of a once-per-session move etc. The Joker is all that and more with one aspect I found very fascinating. It can be spent by another player to prevent someone else's character from Bowing Out. Bowing Out removes a character from the story for a while and can be as serious as dying depending on the fiction. The Idea of a Meta Currency used to prevent character "death" that can only be used for others was really fascinating to me and I'm looking forward to seeing it in play.

You can get the pay-what-you-want Quick Start rules here. 📖 My favorite class or playbook from a game. We played Dungeon Crawl Classics by Goodman Games for the first time a while back, using the critically acclaimed Sailors on the Starless Sea adventure. It was my first time encountering the concept of the 0th-level funnel, in which you each player controls 3 or even 4 no-class no-powers peasants, such as farmers, chicken chasers, and cheese makers, and tries to take their 1st level in adventurer without dying. We had 15 characters overall and lost all but 3 of them by the end and it was a BLAST. So, I'm gonna say 0th Level Classless is my favorite class from a game and I'd like to see more system implement this. I was begging to play more DCC by the end. Free Quick Start Rules here. 🌺 A game with stunning layout or visual design. Frontier Scum by Games Omnivorous is the first thing that came to mind. It was the 2023 Silver Ennie Winner for Best Layout & Design and it absolutely deserved it. Frontier Scum is an Acid Punk Weird West Rules-Light Western TTRPG inspired by Mork Borg. It is an absolute blast to play with wild and weird characters but the book's layout is absolutely stunning. It really looks like a diegetic chapbook from the setting complete with odd ads and interesting locals laid out in a similar fashion to an old-timey newspaper. It is an overall treat to look at.

💡 A game that inspired my own creative process. I tend not to play an RPG if it doesn't creatively inspire me, but I'm going to call out Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition by Cubicle 7 as it is the system my group is currently playing as we work through the Evil Within Campaign. Starter Set Here. I was very inspired by this game's "Class" system, in which you're very likely to start off as a Rat Catcher or a Servant but slowly work you way into being a Knight of the White Wolf or a Duelist. It feels like the best of both worlds between classes as jobs and classes as feature grab-bags. I desperately want to see this type of profession system implemented into an more OSR style game or a PbtA Game, or even base DnD, the longshot that it may be. It inspired me to start conceiving how I might make such a thing a reality and really consider which games I plan to run might benefit from said system.

🔥 A game designer whose whole design corpus I admire.

City of Mist by Son of Oak Games is just an all around impressively design game and piece of narrative fiction. The core idea is that all the players are living in a world covered by the mist, which obscures the supernatural happenings of the world. Additionally, they're all vessels for legendary stories and powers, walking around and influence by the tales. We're talking a journalist rift of Don Quixote, a guttersnipe rift of Little Red Riding Hood, a Mob Boss rift of Hades, etc. Their Theme Book, Logos vs Mythos, and Power Tags system is so versatile that you could build literally anything with it and get a mechanically balanced, narrative focused and interesting character. It can be a bit difficult to get your head around it at first, but once you do you'll likely find City of Mist as revelatory as I did. Free Quick Start Rules Here. 🔮 One of my favorite memories playing a game.

After a decade of playing all sorts of TTRPGs its so hard to call out a single memory. I'll call out a more recently one, that occurred Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu 7e system in which we played the one-shot adventure the Lightless Beacon. Quick Start Rules Here.

My Character was Horse Driver and Trick Shooter by Trade in an Wild West Show (look it up, it's a real thing). She was also a Catholic. Myself and another PC were being chased by fish men after they'd swarmed and killed our other companion. We had no way off the island, but saw a boat in the distance rowing towards us. When we signaled for help, it was then that it tried to turn around. I was very nervous about shooting an innocent person and it was only after my GM assured me that the rower was also a fishman that I proclaimed, in character, "Wait, You aren't made in the image of God!" and shot the fishman dead where he sat. We all broke out in raucous laughter and we still quote the phrase from time to time.

[mysecretboringlife]

hi!

my name is Ainhoa, I'm a senior in highschool in Spain. Here, the last year of highschool is really hard in comparison to other years, bc of the pressure students are under and the amount of things you need to study. I just wanted some place to post whatever I want to try to romanticise it or just tu have it all in one place so I decided to open this account (where nobody I know irl will found me).

So here I am. I really like reading, so if you've decided to stay you'll find some updates about it. I don't really do reviews but if I really like a book I'll rant about it. My favourite genre is fantasy of fantasy-romance. My favourite books are the invisible life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, chain of gold by Cassandra Clare, these violent delights by Chloe Gong and the poppy war by R.F. Kuang.

I'm a marvel fan. I've seen every movie like 10 times and I love remembering the dialogues. My favourite movie is Avengers: infinity war and my favourite character are Ironman, Spiderman, Wanda and Moonknight.

I love the sea. I live two and a half hours by car from the sea, but I can't go often. I usually only go during the summer a few days. The rest of the summer I spend them in my grandparents swimming pool. My grandmother always tells me that in other life I must have been a fish (I bet I was a shark, I've always liked sharks). On my last bday, my parents gifted me a scuba diving course and I still have to go to finish my lessons at the beach. I'm so excited.

Next year I'm going to university. I want to study Biomedical Sciences, in my city the degree is called "Biomedicine and advanced treatments" and even though I'm the most indecisive person you'll ever meet, that degree is the only thing I want to do. There is no plan b, I don't want any other thing. I want to study the human body and how does it work, I want to understand sickness and find ways to solve it. I want to become a scientist and discover some cure to whatever sickness I'm studying.

I am curious and love to understand how things work. I think is extremely interesting to know why do things work the way the work, because if you search deep enough there is an answer. I love to see the world in a way not many people do. There is no color green, just the light reflecting in a different way than red. I love to focus in little details. There is a small flower growing on the little crack on the pavement. My body and my cells are giving their life for me, my heart is pumping. The more you know the more beautiful it gets. I love learning bc of this.

if you've come this far, thank you! I hope you've enjoyed my rant and see you on the next post

[jurassicparkpodcast]

Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters – Grounded Storytelling Done Well

(This article has been written after the debut of Episode 6 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has debuted, titled ‘The Way Out’. This article contains minor spoilers for all the episodes up until this point)

 Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters is a show which I have been feverishly excited for since it was first announced as an upcoming project set to debut on Apple TV. As a young boy, I had always enjoyed shows which brought secret organisations to the forefront in fantastic worlds – loving both Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and the presence of U.N.I.T throughout Doctor Who.

 The announcement of this show had me excited for a deep dive into the shady entity known as MONARCH from the films. Would this series expand our understanding of the secret organisation? Would we see more of the Outposts and facilities hinted at in 2014’s Godzilla, and the subsequent Godzilla: King of The Monsters?

Whilst this show has done a fantastic job of exploring who MONARCH are within this universe, it has done something better in my opinion. It has presented us with a grounded, character-driven story within this universe – something I want to reflect on in this piece.

Devastating world events are nothing new. Unfortunately, the world we live in is often shook by devastating events. In films and other creative media, we often see large, grandiose set-pieces which portray this destruction and devastation – but we scarcely ever see the fallout of that havoc. This is where Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters shines.

 This series has done a fantastic job of showing us how this world has changed – with small details like posters, graphics and advertisements tying directly into the proliferation of Titans across the Earth, to larger-scale additions like the missile launchers found in Tokyo in Episode 1, or the FEMA resettlement camp and subsequent quarantine area we see in Episode 5.

 Not only do these visuals have striking resemblances with our understanding of the real world – the latter particularly provoking images of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina – but they help to give us, as the audience, a tangible sense of how Titans have changed what the everyday looks like within this world. This lays the foundations for the growth of both MONARCH activity and international collaboration to counter the Titans seen in KOTM.

Alongside this enriching and immersive worldbuilding, we also have deep, emotive stories which directly intertwine the characters who are the vessel for these stories with the events and incidents which have shaped the world in which they inhabit.

Seeing direct, first-person trauma which characters have experienced as a direct result of the events we see on the big screen in the Monsterverse cinematic universe really helps to add emotional weight to these films, and allows much greater insight into how substantial the events we see unfolding on the big screen are.

I have loved seeing how these events have informed so many people’s lives in different ways – leading to our characters making difficult and sometimes dangerous decisions based on their own experiences. This is emotive storytelling done well, and I love how it has become a vessel through which we can explore the real impact that battles of titanic proportions have.

All this is to say – Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is grounded storytelling done well. I love the emotional weight we feel across this story so far, and also have enjoyed seeing how the world has been changed by the G-Day forever. This makes the universe feel real and lived in, and adds so much more depth to the events we see unfolding in Gareth Edward’s film.

Don’t get me wrong – this show IS delivering more about MONARCH. We are beginning to peel back the layers of this mysterious organisation in an exciting narrative which still leaves me with more questions than answers, but for me, the true strength of this series comes in how it creates a world which feels irreversibly changed by Titans. 

I hope you have enjoyed this article on a slightly different topic here on The Jurassic Park Podcast. Make sure to check out Brad and I breaking this series down each week on the YouTube channel, and stay tuned for more content in the future!

Written by: Tom Jurassic

[allyphase]

deep dive character sheet

stolen from: oro :3 (sorry i saw this on your blog and thought it’d be a good idea for mark!) tagging: anyone who missed this before! 

NAME: Mark

BODY

height: 5’4” (small and slight of build. easy to miss in a crowd.)

strength ★★☆☆☆ (not entirely helpless, but her strength comes from carrying books, not lifting weapons.) 

dexterity ★★★☆☆ (absolutely average. awful handwriting, alright drawings.)

health ★★★☆☆ (she should take better care of herself, but she isn’t sickly.) 

energy ★★☆☆☆ (she doesn’t do well in physical situations, but she’ll do her best to keep up.) 

beauty ★★☆☆☆ (she’s very plain looking, and usually hides her face with a hood regardless.) 

style ★★☆☆☆ (her clothes are important to her, but they’re not very distinctive. she wears too many layers.)

hygiene ★★★☆☆ (she’s clean enough, but she spends enough time outside to smell like grass and wind.)  

SKILLS

perception ★★★★★ (never misses a detail. if she doesn’t bring something up, it’s because she’s ignoring it.)

communication ★★★★☆/★☆☆☆☆ (about the battlefield/about herself.) 

persuasion ★★★★☆ (she holds some authority over the people she used to command, but her ideas are sound and make sense, which makes people want to listen to her.) 

mediation ★☆☆☆☆ (interpersonal conflicts are the one battle she cannot navigate.) 

literacy ★★★★★ (never without a book.)  

creativity ★★★★☆ (has excellent ideas, but doesn’t tend to think of herself as creative. she could be, but only if she tried.)  

cooking ★★★☆☆ (just enough to keep herself fed. nothing fancy.) 

tech savvy ★★★☆☆ (if she had access, she’d be alright.) 

combat ☆☆☆☆☆ (never had to raise a weapon in her life. she keeps a knife on her person, but barely knows how to hold it right.)

survival ★★☆☆☆ (she can’t tend wounds, but she can make a plan and stick to it.) 

stealth ★★★★☆ (quiet, soft spoken. blends into the walls.) 

street smarts ★★★☆☆ (just enough to keep herself from getting into trouble.) 

seduction ☆☆☆☆☆ (she barely is able to recognize her own feelings.) 

luck ★★★★☆ (she should have died on the plains.) 

handling animals ★★★★☆ (she’s a birdwatcher, eyes always on the sky.)  

pacifying children ☆☆☆☆☆ (she never knows what to say.) 

MIND

intelligence ★★★★★ (known as a prodigy both inside bern and outside it.)  

happiness ★★★☆☆ (she’s happy enough, but she’s often under stress.)

spirituality ★★★★☆ (she sees signs of fate all around her.) 

confidence ★★★★★/★★★☆☆ (in her ability/in herself.) 

humor ★★☆☆☆ (she’s not trying to be funny, usually.)  

anxiety ★★★★☆ (the lives of her friends are in her hands.) 

patience ★★★★☆ (even she has her moments.) 

passion ★★☆☆☆ (she doesn’t like to show her heart.)  

nice ☆★☆☆☆ mean (she’s more polite than nice. she holds most of her allies at arm’s length.)

brave ☆☆☆★☆ cowardly (she is always afraid. she has an escape no matter what.)

pacifist ☆☆★☆☆ violent (though she does not wield violence herself, she commands those who do.) 

thoughtful ★☆☆☆☆ impulsive (she’s an overthinker at heart.) 

agreeable ☆★☆☆☆ contrary (she’ll only push if she feels the other is truly in the wrong.) 

idealistic ☆☆☆★☆ pragmatic (a strategist always keeps expectations in mind.) 

frugal ★☆☆☆☆ big spender (only what she needs. the only things she spends on are books.) 

extrovert ☆☆☆★☆ introvert (keeps to herself. wishes she didn’t.) 

collected ★☆☆☆☆ wild (restrained, calculated.) 

ambitious / possessive / stubborn / jealous / decisive / perfectionist

SOCIAL

charisma ★★★☆☆ (she has a sort of charm to her, but it’s not something she’s consciously doing.) 

empathy ★★★★☆ (she refuses to leave an ally behind.) 

generosity ★★★☆☆ (she has to look out for herself, but she’ll give where she can.) 

wealth ★☆☆☆☆ (she has very little money of her own. what funds she was using belonged to the army.) 

honest ☆☆★☆☆ deceptive (she’s less deceptive and more evasive. she doesn’t want to speak of her past.) 

leader ☆★☆☆☆ follower (the only one above her is her liege.) 

polite ★☆☆☆☆  rude (overly so.) 

political ☆☆☆★☆ indifferent (she doesn’t participate in the larger politics. she’s just a tactician.) 

BELIEFS

higher power ★★★☆☆ (saint elimine watches her. she just doesn’t interfere much.) 

fate/destiny ★★★★★ (she’s so lucky to be where she is.)  

magic ★★★★★ (she was almost a mage herself.) 

soulmates ★★★☆☆ (she wishes it’s true, but can’t quite bring herself to believe it.) 

good and evil ★★☆☆☆ (she’s been in bern before.) 

luck ★★★★★ (she survived. she survived.) 

PRIORITIES

family ☆☆☆☆☆ (she has no family. not anymore.)

friends ★★★★☆ (they are there for her, when no one else is.) 

love ★★★☆☆ (...wouldn’t it be nice?) 

home ★★☆☆☆ (what she’d give to go home. home for real.) 

health ★★★★☆ (if she doesn’t have herself, she has nothing.) 

praise ★★★★★ 

justice ★★★★★ (if she didn’t, she wouldn’t have deserted. she wouldn’t have turned on her home to stand with lyn.) 

truth ★★☆☆☆ (only what’s necessary.)

power ★☆☆☆☆ (others can hold it.) 

fame ★★★☆☆ (she’s at the academy to hide from her fame back in elibe right now, but she does appreciate it maybe a bit more than she lets on.) 

wealth ★☆☆☆☆ (she has her friends, and they have always helped her.) 

others’ opinions ★★★★☆ (she wants to be liked. she wants to be looked up to.)

[borreloadsavagedragon]

Maybe Mizael and/or Takeru for the ask meme?

OH! I'll do both absolutely

MIZAEL

First impression: TERRIFIED!! He was stupidly pretty and had a dragon, I knew he would end up a favorite, but I didn’t know how MUCH of a favorite, I needed to know what his problem was dhdhdhd

Impression now: I can't even put into words how much I love Mizael sometimes omfg, he had such an impact on me and I'm a little saddened at how quickly he was removed from the story in the end I need to rewatch more of his scenes, I'm very insecure about how I write Mizael and I really want to get his voice down One day I’ll finish his cosplay wig too, if I style all of the wigs for my favorite ships, I can convince people to cosplay with me surely (copium)

Favorite moment: His introduction is wild, like both him arriving to Alito and Girag but also him challenging Yuma Miza just shows up, shoots Tori with an energy blast, and then is just like we're dueling But then COMPLETELY forgets about Yuma as soon as Kaito shows up and whips his dragon out Also love when they have their little Barian meetings where they just bicker, they're truly real housewives

Idea for a story: I always have Mizael and Kaito ideas gjdkslajg Whether they're fics or oneshots, time usually tells, but my drafts definitely have quite a few for them saved Usually lots of dragon focused ones, obsessed with the idea of Photon and Tachyon eloping and them having to just deal with it Mizael going over dragons with Haruto...

Unpopular opinion: I don't know if there is anything the small Miza community doesn't agree on honestly jgdsklaj I'll just start drama, Miza's not a natural blonde

Favorite relationship: I feel like I don’t even need to say haha, Kaito and Mizael are incredible and I am cursing Zexal forever for not giving them more time because I feel like I'm blowing out steam looking at all of the loose threads I also love how much Durbe and Mizael respect each other, there's clearly a bond there between them, wish we saw it more I also wish we could have seen more of Mizael and Nasch since you can tell Mizael revered him quite a bit-

Favorite headcanon: Mizael 100% moved in with the Tenjos!!!!!!!

TAKERU

First impression: Oh I KNEW I was gonna love him the second I saw his face omg I did the bad fan thing where I had to pull up the wiki bc the Vrains episode I was watching at the time didn't answer a really niche question I had about something someone said and the "related pages" tab on Yusaku's character page had Takeru's face on it So I had to find him I speedran my Vrains watch to get to him and boy was I rewarded

Impression now If you asked me in 2021 who my favorite yugioh was, I'd tell you Takeru Homura in a heartbeat Literally was only dethroned as my favorite by Kaito recently Takeru would be the next character I deep dive and dissect if given the chance, I just think he's so cool, I love how well done he is, I think he's one of the best done characters in the franchise His deck is fun, his design is fun, I've cosplayed both Takeru AND Soulburner now, working on slick back look one day when I don't have cosplay deadlines I just... love him, he's one of my favorite voices to write through, I always find an excuse to drabble as Takeru, whether it's something I post or not, and I am always at home when it's with him

Favorite moment: ALMOST ALL OF THEM!!! BOTH OF THE DUELS WITH REV! HIS INITIAL ENTRANCE! HIS FLASHBACK SCENES! BEING CRINGEFAIL!!! AAHHHH!!!!

Idea for a story: Oh I've got a REALLY hefty 3+1 fic that's gonna tie in with recoil week that explores all of Takeru's relationships gjdkla Here is a very small bit from the first chapter:

The first time Homura Takeru thought he fell in love, he was a young boy intimidated by a pretty girl. He doesn’t remember many of the details of how he met Kiku. It was a portion of his memories that lived in what feels like a lifetime ago, before everything had suddenly slipped out of his young grip. He just knew that he was a scared boy overwhelmed by her kindness and spirit the moment they met while he was on a trip to visit his grandparents.  It was an instant connection. Kiku had pulled on his hand and pulled him into the light, smiled and laughed with him whereas the other kids at the time hadn’t. He’d almost call it foreshadowing. Having her in his life made the sudden change of up and moving out to the country after his parents’ deaths a little easier. Within a month of moving, they were almost inseparable. And the following years as well, no matter how hard it got.

So stay tuned for that!

Unpopular opinion: I'm so sorry but I'm about to be a hater But the fact that Takeru haters even exist is really fascinating to me since most of his other counterparts are rather beloved Like he's got more fans that haters for sure, but I've seen every single one who has a think piece say "Takeru's only there to show off the card game" as if Salamangreat wasn't released in the OCG until July while Takeru has been showing off the deck since May, but I digress Yusaku's entire arc was finished in season 1, he got all of his answers, protected Ai to the very end, and was ready to move on. Yusaku just being a fix-it man for an entire second season? Would be BORING. So they needed a second voice to duo-lead, a new one with new motivations who hasn't already been shown, but could be tied back in a meaningful way. And what characters were left we knew very little about? The Ignis. What was unveiled in Season 1 about the Ignis? They're tied to six children, and we've now seen 2 of them. Also it's? Yugioh? Do you expect them NOT to show off cards and real strategies so you go spend your real life money on product? Remember Yuri randomly using an Ancient Gear deck in Arc V when the structure was starting to come out? Or most of duelist of the week duelists from GX? The animes are nothing but product placement and rule explanations (nit picking hating, but takeru's also written strangely sometimes, it's rare but some will make him way dumber or submissive than he is)

Favorite relationship: I'm a degenerate and beyond predictable And I've mentioned that I love Firestorm already, but if we're being very honest for a second, I always see it as one-sided with how Yusaku's written with Takeru,,, Like sometimes we overcome that gap and look at the potential because oh my god giving Yusaku someone like Takeru was SUCH a good idea, but I usually see it as a one-sided pining, but a VERY close friendship Yusaku in my head ALWAYS goes to Takeru's village post canon to apologize for leaving BUT I'm a degenerate, as I said about So to say I love Takeru and Ryoken's dynamic, from start to finish, is an understatement I love that they draw out the best of each other and push each other beyond their preexisting limitations as well as the shackles of their pasts I love that Ryoken respected Takeru's feelings so much that he didn't want to insult him by outright refusing the first challenge, but couldn't bring himself to duel knowing it wouldn't resolve anything I love how Soulburner accuses Revolver of not following up on that in Duel Links I fucking love "I'm so glad I met you", above all else I love finally seeing a conclusion to one of the many side rivalries, and I had a renewed appreciation for it after finishing Zexal and realizing what could have been there I also actually like how the dub handled their farewell scene, the promise of future challenges, Revolver promising to be there when they need him, the fond little chuckle

Favorite headcanon (more drug cw on this one!!) It's a weird one and it's kinda personal I guess, but I always write Takeru as sober gkdsa As a punk, I can imagine him dipping into more unsavory behaviors as a way to cope and express when he's struggling to find the next step, so when he decides to start fresh and live a new life, he cuts terrible habits like those cold turkey

[scribblesbyavi]

I think long ass posts don’t work well now a days. I’m not blaming Tumblr but it’s the story of every social media site these days. I only have like one or two long ass posts here though. No wonder social media has turned us in to people who don’t have the patience to sit through a complete book or a complete film even. May be that’s why many new writers have stopped putting their effort on the setting up of the story plot and development of the character arcs. We only want the best second half. We want the best action scenes, the best reveal, the best climax and happy endings. Yeah, and that’s everywhere. “Pun intended.” However, we should understand the fact that a good piece of content is whole and not two halves. But social media is turning us in to people who wants content that will hit our brain for instant pleasure and then to go away. Because after that we want something else to hit us next.

May be we need to stop feeding ourselves on what the mainstream media and the hype tells us. May be we are better left alone to our own decision making of the whats and the whys. May be only then we can become thinkers and creators. May be only then we will be able to become good audiences and contribute the way we should always have. May be only then we will also be able to become good observers, someone who can see the tiny details in a frame and the nuances of a character or a scene, and that applies even to our day to day lives, our work etc.

we are a generation that feeds on instant gratification.

We are becoming a generation who wants instant noodles, instant results and instant love. But we very well know the fact that even noodles take time to cook and it’s not actually instant like they advertise.

We want a reel to swipe every 10 second, 30s cuts of songs just so that it can fit the social media attention span and go viral. May be that’s where the future is going. 1 minute down to 30s and now down to 10s and what’s next? 1s snaps? But what can you say? Art is art. But is that somehow affecting us, may be in a small way now but leaving adverse effects for the long term? Don’t we sometimes want to dive deep in to the content we love rather than just making us go wow for a second and making us feel bored again. Don’t we want to consume something that makes us think and leaves a mark on us and actually help us build ourselves and a stronger foundation around us?

Some of us are still the kind of people who will go back to those long music sessions. Damn, I just love the long music sessions and qawwalis of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. They go for like 25 minutes, even Sabri Brothers. I always feel that rather than making remixes of the classic songs we should revive them by letting the good singers sing them as covers or like on Coke Studio. Oh! It’s the best thing to have happened. Singers like Ali Sethi, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Atif Aslam and Ali Zafar, they being legend themselves are making covers of the evergreen songs created and performed by the maestros who are no longer with us.

So there are some of us who may not have all the time in the world but we will definitely complete a good book and a good academy winning film or even an indie film for that matter. We just don’t care about the critics or the general audience reactions. We know people who knows people who can recommend us the good books and the good movies to watch. And that’s the purpose of a community, isn’t it? To be able to share experiences that we enjoyed with the people of our own community. And I believe the next revolution in the content world will be brought by these people who don’t care about the social norms and will do anything to bring the best forms of content to the masses, may it be educational or for entertainment purposes. Content will stand truly for the strength of the content and not marketing or vfx alone.

So the hell with going viral and likes and follower numbers, I’ll just continue dropping long ass posts from time to time. May be the content we are creating right now will actually find their right audience only after few months and years. And may be that’s a good thing too. Because these long ass posts actually start the important and the long ass discussions and helps me build a better relationship with few of my readers and actually learn from them too. I mean, we are all here to learn from each other and only then this can be a healthy and growing community. And may be that’s what I crave for too.

To be able to connect. ✨

Initially I thought this post will be about my thoughts on why long ass posts have less readers, but then I kept on writing because things just kept coming and this itself became a long ass post about long ass posts. Inception, you see.

Hope you enjoyed the long ass post (rant) !!!

[kyndaris]

Backlog Catch-Up

With all the new releases coming out in 2023, I am reminded once again of the limited time I have as someone that must work for a living. Coupled with the fact that I’m out socialising more and exploring the world when I use my leave, what little free time I have must be used in the most efficient way possible spread out thinly across video games, writing, reading and keeping up with shows and movies.

As of the writing of this post, I’m in the fourth chapter of Tactics Ogre Reborn, mopping up most of the side quests and unlocking new characters and classes before the final battle. But the temptation is there to put Tactics Ogre Reborn down and play through The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom instead since it’s new and shiny and everyone who is anyone is hyped for the new Zelda entry.

I even saw someone play on the commute to work!

While that something most gamers will do, hopping from one game to another, I’ve always found that the best way for me to tackle the glut of video games that catch my eye is to finish them off one by one before moving on. Otherwise, I’d have far too many incomplete games and not enough storage space on my consoles for anything more. A terrible dilemma given the size of games nowadays.

At least, that’s what I tell myself as everyone else is raving about the latest games that they’ve got their hands on.

Of course, even if I were to finish the game I was currently playing at the time, it doesn’t always mean I’ll play the latest and greatest title. The game I start could be part of my backlog or a fairly new and flashy game. And though it shouldn’t matter if that title is the one in the current zeitgeist or if it was something that came out years ago, I know in my heart of hearts, I should only be playing what’s new. If only to keep up with the discourse.

Still, the FOMO that I feel is a reminder that I can still engage in the content, though I may not have the entire experience. After all, I’m not one that shies away from a few spoilers. In fact, I relish them. 

But I’ve found that when it comes to my gaming habits, and even on dates when I chat to others, it’s always been a struggle for me to be open about my favourite games. While some hyperfixate on a title, I tend to enjoy the stories for what they are without diving too deep. Some of that could be from the fact that I’ve managed to glean all that I can from unofficial wikis. Other times, I’ve simply not felt the need to obsess over every small detail in the game.

Still, I have to wonder if some of that comes from my childhood. Growing up, there weren’t many people around me that played video games. Even if they did, they were older than me and didn’t want to entertain the curious preteen. In high school, there was still the perception that games were played by boys and what was a nice girl like me doing spending so much time in front of the computer screen?

Even now, I don’t talk about games with my work friends or those that don’t really play anything more than cosy games like Animal Crossing. Sure, I now know of people that play the big releases and that’s something we can talk about briefly but those titles serve as conversation starters. Water cooler conversations, if you will, because neither of us know how far the other has gotten and don’t want to ruin the experience.

If I wanted a hot take about a game, I turn to the internet. One glance at YouTube and you can see why. I couldn’t tell you the number of videos I’ve seen reviewing game titles, assessing games and what they bring to each individual or just having an opinion about something controversial. You name, there’s a podcast. And if you engage with those creators, form a parasocial relationship, you’ve essentially found ‘your people.’

So, maybe it’s fine for me to take my time instead of racing through. Even though popular discourse seems to favour remaining relevant when posting reviews or impressions on the internet. Something that I’ve done with my games.

The same, however, cannot be said of books. Perhaps because I’m not on BookTok or on BookTube. Even if I were, there’s no real rush to be on top of the latest releases unless it’s YA. And given my favourite genre and my minimum page count being 500 pages or more, I’ve never felt compelled to quickly finish a book just to get to a new one. In fact, the more time I can spend with a book, the better. The atmosphere, the worldbuilding, the characters...these are all important aspects to me and there have been times when a book reaches the end that I wish the author had simply written more about their characters.

I very much like exploring someone else’s head and seeing their interactions in the quiet moments.

That’s probably why I insert so much of it in my own writing. I like to get to know a person inside and out.

Beyond the occasional YA novels, though, you won’t find whole wikis filled with the history of characters or their backstory. Books are a completely different medium and their fans interact differently with the source material. While yes, you will get the occasional fan art, it’s only recently that I’ve seen Rhysand and Feyre fan art being sold at conventions. I might have shuddered, but given that there’s no movie or TV show of Sarah J Maas’s work, it’s very impressive that there is actual fan art that exists for a wholly book series.

Books, more than games, have always been something I’ve been passionate about. And while there are books that I will put down something else to read if the chance arose, I don’t feel the immediate FOMO that one might have if a new game comes out. Yes, there’s hype but I never feel like I’m missing out on the conversation.

Maybe, of course, there’s the fact that reading is a much more passive experience than gaming. True, tehre are people out there that will immediately buy a book as soon as it releases and finish it within a day but even with BookTok and BookTube becoming increasingly prevalent, public discourse doesn’t have such a huge emphasis on new book releases. At least, not on the scale of video games or films/ TV shows. For example, Sarah J Maas became increasingly popular with the advent of TikTok but back when I was still reading the first few books of the Throne of Glass series back in 2015, there was no-one I knew within my immediate circle that had read the books.It’s only been in recent years that I’ve seen people fall in love with the world of A Court of Thorns and Roses and jump on the fae bandwagon.

And don’t get me started on Robin Hobb!

Too bad, of course, that no-one has truly been trying to promote the intricate worlds of M.A. Carrick in the Rook and the Rose series. Or have started reading the Black Magician trilogy by Australian author, Trudi Canavan. Honestly, those worlds have been some of the BEST I’ve ventured into.

Then again, much like games, I don’t talk about books very much to my friends. Mostly because it’s hard to find someone that has read the same type of genre that I do. Even if we DO read the same genre, we may not have read the same books. Have you SEEN how many books are churned out each year? Something, of course, I want for myself but I’m sure if I am ever published, I’ll just be one of the dime a dozen authors that disappear once more into the woodwork. It takes talent and grit and a fair bit of luck to become the next Sanderson or Rowling or Martin.

Still, now that I’ve joined a book club at work, I’ve been able to talk about books freely with people that have, at the very least, read the same book that I have for the month. No longer do I have to spy on people on the train and muster up the courage to chat to them about the latest Stormlight Archive book that they’re reading (which I’ve finished) and nerd out over Kaladin and lashings and the Cosmere.

And while the genres may not always be the ones that I enjoy the most, I do like discussing the book of the month with those in the office. There’s something special about going into deep dives about the book we’ve all just read as we go on about themes or elements that particularly stood out. 

Even if I secretly hope to steer them towards the more magical side of fantasy given enough time. 

But that’s a thought! We have book clubs. Why not game clubs? I know that video games are social mediums by their very nature, but I’d like a proper sit-down and in-depth chat about a game’s story with my fellow gamers as we talk about things that we liked or didn’t like, the mechanics that worked and didn’t work and how the ambiance fed into the game world to make it the unique experience it was for each person.

I don’t want someone to talk at me about a game. I get enough of that on the internet as people try to extol the virtues of whichever game has become their whole personality, nor do I want to have to sit through a one-sided discussion during a date. Given that games are a valid medium of art, we can start treating them as such.

But maybe instead of viewing games and books and whatever else that’s inbetween, I should simply just enjoy what I have for the time being and worry less about trying to keep up with whatever is popular. I’m not, after all, a gaming journalist. There’s no money to be made in my blogs. I write about what I like, I read what I like, and I play whatever takes my fancy. Games come and go. And since I’ve purchased them and they’re sitting pretty on my shelf, it’s all just now a simple matter of picking them up, dusting them off and slipping the disc into the console. 

Speaking of which, I need to ALSO finish of Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC and the third title before tackling the Crossbell arc of games. Eugh! 

So much to do, so little time!

[abiyatno]

Divine the meaning behind Denny Ja’s selected work: Little TuananTuhan

In the world of Indonesian literature, Denny Ja has been known as one of the prominent writers. One of his chosen works, is a small tuth, a warm conversation among literary lovers. In this article, we will explore the meaning behind Denny JA’s selected work which raises the theme of small tunder.    I. Introduction  Denny JA’s chosen work, small tuanted, is an essay poem that attracts the attention of many readers. In this work, Denny JA invites us to explore a world full of uncertainty and complexity. Through a strong character, this writer presents a deep and attractive tempatema.    II. Main Theme  The main theme raised in this essay poem is about the small forces that are around us. Denny Ja invites the reader to see that not all power comes from big and magnificent things, but can also come from small things that are often ignored. In this essay poem, the small power is represented by various characters who fight for their lives with all the limitations and obstacles that exist.    III. Main character character  In a small tunder, Denny Ja presents a strong and memorable character. One of them is a character named Raga, a person with a disability who has an extraordinary fighting spirit. Through this character, Denny Ja wants to show that true power is not always seen from the perfect physical, but also from the spirit and courage to face the challenges of life.    In addition, there is also a character named Lintang, a young writer who is looking for identity and the meaning of his life. Through Lintang’s trip, Denny Ja invites us to reflect on the meaning of our life and goals in this world. Other characters also provide their own color and uniqueness in this story.    IV. Plot development  Denny Ja has extraordinary abilities in developing story plots. In this essay poem, he is able to describe internal and external conflicts very well. Through the conflict conflict, Denny Ja attracted the reader to continue to read and find out how the story continued.    V. Beauty of Language  One of the advantages of Denny Ja as a writer is the beauty of the language he uses. Through beautiful language, he is able to make the reader fascinated and carried away in the atmosphere in the story. The selection of the right words and detailed descriptions makes the story more alive and hit.    VI. Message delivered  In this essay poem, Denny Ja wants to convey some important messages to the reader. One of them is about the importance of respecting the small power that is around us. He also invited the reader not to judge people from physical appearance alone, but also looked into their hearts.    In addition, Denny Ja wants to invite the reader to reflect on the meaning of our life and purpose in this world. Through the journey of character characteristics in the story, it reminds us that life is full of mystery and challenges, but also full of beauty and hope.    VII. Conclusion  Denny Ja has succeeded in dive into the deep meaning behind his elected work, small tuth. Through a strong theme, memorable character, and the beauty of the language he uses, Denny Ja is able to invite the reader to reflect on the small forces that are around us and the true meaning of life.    Thus, the chosen work of Denny Ja 29, Little TuanTuhan, is a literary work that should be appreciated. Through this essay poem, Denny Ja not only entertains the reader, but also invites them to reflect and understand more deeply in this life.

Check more: Dive into the meaning behind the chosen work of Denny JA 29: Little Tuan

[mr-no-life]

History and Music.

HI! Wow it feels like forever since I made a new post here. I had a whole elaborate idea of reviewing my favorite things for the month of August, but life had other plans. So, Fall is finally upon us and to the general U.S that means Halloween is around the corner (even though in my mind October is the spooky season). So, now that being said, let’s discuss something a bit different, Bards and War. 

Back in June one of the albums I had reviewed (and quite liked) was The War to End all Wars by Sabaton and it got me thinking. Throughout history there has always been “the Bard '' someone to sing a song about events long past. Wherever there is a story to tell, big or small, someone is there to record it for future generations. As long as humans could speak, we have sought out ways to preserve our history. Whether you are William Shakespeare or you just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time, there have been (and always will be) people writing history. Events in history have often been a driving force for a lot of artists. Let’s look at the 60s through the 80s for instance. The political climate (and the fallout thereof) has given light to a lot of classic pieces we know and love today (Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival comes to mind with this). The difference with this and bands like Sabaton is that those songs are made in the moment and are made in reflection of the time, but what about the events that happened before “The Modern Era”? The allure of bygone eras and the mystery shrouded  events that leave us wondering “So what actually happened?” have always been a siren call for artists and musicians. The ups and downs of human history are essentially ripe for the picking when  it comes to interpretations. Books, poems, news articles and more have always been a healthy starting spot for those who wish to draw inspiration from them. 

Now, you are probably wondering, “Why and how does a tangent about Bards and war have to do with music and sound design??” Well, the way I see it, music is just poetry with a musical arrangement. Music is a very effective and flexible storytelling mechanism. Not only is it a creative way to explain something that could be absolutely boring to some people, but you also ignite curiosity in those who wish to dive deeper. Or can make an excellent companion piece for a much bigger project. But, the point of this long-winded tangent is that a lot of music today really started out as ways to share stories of days past or to express one’s opinion on a current event that will grab someone’s attention. 

Now it would be very easy to dive into character designs of Bards from the media (I'm thinking of one Jaskier from the Witcher comes to mind) but that is not my place to talk. Instead, I am going to explain how a Power metal band from Sweden and a Black metal band from Ukraine (honestly at this point if I mention anything about Ukraine it is nothing political) have in common when it comes to sharing history. 

Let’s start with a brief explanation of the bands in question. Hailing from Sweden and with bangers like “To Hell and Back” and “Primo Victoria” you’ve by no doubt heard of Sabaton. Amassing a nice little niche of metal-heads and history nerds (of which I am both) albeit they do cover some deep topics (such as everyone’s favorite angry mustachio man) it is largely in a lively entertaining fashion. When compared to Ukrainian based Black/Death metal band 1914, shit gets HEAVY. 1914 is actually a more recent discovery and the main inspiration behind this piece. They mainly focus on the atrocities of World War 1 (hence the name) and whew boy, if their goal was to make you uncomfortable, well congrats, they did it in spades.  The Great War (released in 2019) and the 2022 follow up The War to End all Wars are not Sabaton’s first dip into WW1 history. These two albums focus primarily on bringing to light some small details that most people may not have known about a war largely forgotten about. The effectiveness is almost hard to describe because I often find myself digging deeper into these events. This leads back to what I mentioned earlier, music is an effective delivery system to have a nice summary about something, even if the event is tragic and depressing. Speaking of depression, the band 1914 is essentially (the way I like to describe it) “Sabaton but more gritty.” Tone also affects a song’s delivery as well and they nail the dark horrors of war to a T.  Hell, the  lead singer  has a bayonetted  rifle as a microphone stand  (nothing to nit pick,  just aesthetically on point). I have not  heard a  whole lot  about  them, but I have heard  bits from their latest album Where Fear and Weapons Meet and woof it’s a hard  listen to. I'm not a Black metal fan by default, but I can see where fans may like this. 

So what is the overall conclusion? Well, in short , if it were not for History, we would not have people (like Bards) to sing about them. 

This was an odd topic to try and write out, so if it seems all over the place and a bit short I apologize, next month (which is soon yikes) will be more on par with  the technical side of music. This month I wanted  to experiment  with  a little more freeform history. Maybe down the road we will revisit this topic again. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this and  I hope to see you again next time. If  you have any questions or care to  support me click the  like  HERE for  links to social media and donations.

Stay Safe 😊

[foxsfiction]

New IF; Howls of Rebellion.

Howls of Rebellion is a +18 WIP Interactive Fiction about anthro animals navigating a war.

Age rating; +18

I'm fairly certain that this will need some trigger warnings, so I'll add them as I write the scenes. Current triggers would be;

War

Violence

Detailed injuries and gore

(mentioned) Domestic abuse

Death

If you have a hard time reading about anything listed above, then this story isn't for you. Please, put your mental health first!

Demo will go here when it's ready.

Summery & Setting;

You are faceless, nameless in the sea of people yearning for change. The King of Selme, Eris, is heinous; rumors in his nation say that he's had affairs in attempts to secure a heir, that he's ate his children out of a paranoid fear that they'd overthrow him, that he's killed his advisor in cold blood during a particularly nasty disagreement. No one knows what is and isn't true.

Truthfully, you shouldn't be concerned by King Eris; you don't live in Selme. Though there is talk in the streets of Loa that the King will declare war on Seam, a neighboring country. That would drag Loa, and you, into to it; to protect and help Loa's political ally.

Under the threat of war, your childhood friend Clay has decided that it's time to take down King Eris. Ever the loyal friend, you follow along. Clay has been pulling strings in Selme to gain the upper hand, but secrets lay hidden just beneath the surface.

Will you discover them? Will you help lead a rebellion to victory?

Only time will tell.

Features;

Pick your species; are you a feline? Canine? Perhaps a Avian, or even Draconic?

Customize your appearance, personality, interests and hobbies

Define your gender and sexuality; Hetero, gay, bi, pan, aro, ace, demiro or demisexual.

Change history as you know it

Dive deep into Selme's secrets, or be a unwilling participant

Fall in love in the middle of a war; with possible poly options

Play matchmaker a bit

Characters;

Clay Harris (25, Agender, They/them, Not romanceable)

A tall deer with black fur and splotched with purple dots. Their lavender eyes are striking and intense. You've known them your entire life; they're your childhood bestfriend. They always apologize for dragging you into their war. They've always been there to pick you up when you fell; literally and figuratively. They're protective of you; you're really the only family they have. They'd follow off the face of the earth if they could.

Clover (27, Genderfluid, He/they, Semi-romanceable)

A small black cat that somehow always leads trouble to you. His yellow eyes are always moving, searching; for what, you can't tell. They seem to have a personal vendetta against King Eris, which lead them to join Clay and their army. They always tease the people around them, but know where the boundaries lie.

Ezra Kono (24, Gender-selectable, Romanceable)

A huge lion with fawn colored fur. They're a unusual presence in Loa; a healer in a land made for barbarians and warlords. They're very gentle and soft-spoken. When pushed, they can deliver a nasty wound; they've apparently mangled people before. They avoid the topic like the plague, though.

Wil Quille (30, Gender-selectable, Romanceable)

Selme's general; they're not willing to follow their king anymore. They're your mole; collecting inside information. A hippo that towers over everyone they encounter. You've learned the hard way that no part of them is plush fat. They, like Clay, are willing to follow you anywhere. They...aren't shy, to say the least.

Minx (32, Fem, Not-romanceable)

A average height Avian with black feathers. She's a strategist in Clay's army. She loves to share her knowledge; about anything. One of the more cheery people in the ranks, and one of three mages.

Maxim (????, Masc, Not-romanceable)

A short Dragon covered in purple scales that fade to orange, not unlike a pretty sunset. He's been your guardian for as long as you can remember. Another mage, he's been training you and attempting to train Clay...with limited results. He's amicable, but a bit distant. He dismisses folk legends and seems to dislike them overall.

[linklethehistorian]

Part 2: Thoughts on Canon Relationship with Arthur Rimbaud/Randou

[Read Part 1 here!]

Thoughts under the cut to allow people to avoid ship talk if it makes them uncomfortable. Also, spoiler warning for Fifteen and Storm Bringer (again).

If you want to know my educated opinion on if they canonically, romantically love each other or if it’s completely up for interpretation with no intent or confirmation inherently placed either way, well, to be honest, I don’t think ‘opinion’ is even necessary here.

Don’t get me wrong; people are always free to interpret stories as they like and make up their own headcanons to change or add to things according to their comfort zones, and I’m well aware that VerRim/Rimlaine as a ship can even be quite controversial to some due to the canonical abusiveness/unhealthiness of it, as well. Thus, it is entirely valid if someone else doesn’t want to view them as such, and/or has a different ship in mind. It always is.  I, myself, ship BSD!Arthur with someone else in current time (even if I do ship Arthur and Paul in the past, up until post-Storm Bringer, for the angst factor), so I can even relate a little.

Hell, if you want to just make them siblings in your headcanons, or father and son, grandpa and grandson — you name it. I don’t care. I support you 100%. Go do your thing and have fun and write stories about it if you want. You absolutely have your right to do that. You don’t have to personally accept them as a romantic couple if you don’t want to.

That being said, I do think that anyone who outright tries to deny or convince others it isn’t the case that, at the very least, the two of them were clearly written with the intent on Asagiri-sensei’s part for them to have a heavily implied romantic relationship dynamic between them in his canon, really really is reaching too hard to justify their dislike for the ship and/or the people who ship them — because here’s the thing: VerRim isn’t like any other ship in the fandom; it is deeply, deeply rooted in historical fact, and again, as we all know, the author of BSD is extremely dedicated to doing heavy research into his characters’ namesakes and tying both key and subtler elements of their lives into their fictional counterparts. And it isn’t even like this is some obscure fact about them, either; their relationship was absolutely crucial to their history and deeply affected the works they produced. Whether you personally might think it’s for better or worse, historically and culturally, their relationship is every bit as famous if not more than their works alone.  If it was just some small, obscure footnote in their lives of, “oh yeah, and I guess they quietly were romantically seeing each other for a few weeks or something”, then yeah, I’d say absolutely, there is a possibility there was no intent at all to have them have feelings for each other and it’s 100% up for interpretation, but they were neither quiet nor absurdly brief about their affair; even at the time, it was a pretty huge scandal, and is something they are actively remembered for. Literally as someone who, before the release of Storm Bringer and really, truly deep diving into the historical background of the characters, used to kind of get annoyed about people claiming they were a thing, it is beyond absurd to try to deny that their relationship didn’t actively, intentionally factor into the story Asagiri-sensei wrote surrounding them and get reflected in their relationship.

Furthermore, the subtext regarding it isn’t even subtle — especially in Storm Bringer (and with the Stage Play of said book, I dare say it hardly even qualifies as just ‘subtext’ anymore at all, personally, but that is a side note.)

I’m not going to address all of the examples here, as again, I feel that is something better saved for my article and its future follow-ups, where I can go into detail about it, but just for starters, when Paul is trying to understand the reason why Arthur saved his life and smiled at him even as he faded away, even after all of the betrayal, not only is it stated that Paul knew exactly why it was and that he just didn’t want to face it because it hurt too much, and not only is it something that remains some unspeakable answer the book never gives us directly, but it is also related to a memory of how shy Arthur was when handing him his birthday gift. Come on. Even separately from that context, what kind of person is going to get all shy about handing their ‘best friend’ of several years a birthday gift, unless they have some kind of feelings for them? Put that together with the aforementioned context and it is completely obvious what was meant there, just as it is obvious when Paul shuts himself away from the world for at least 6 years after losing Arthur because he is the only thing in the world he would ever care about, and stays and writes poems to him in the basement all of the time.

And yes, I agree, prior to the end of Storm Bringer, their relationship is canonically abusive and uncomfortable, and still to this day is utterly tragic. I agree. But that’s the point. That’s exactly how it was in real life. Horrible, complicated, sad — an utter mess.

So do I think that Asagiri-sensei intended them to be romantically involved? Absolutely, there’s not a shadow of doubt in my mind, though it’s clear it was (primarily) one-sided on Arthur’s part until the end of Storm Bringer, at which point Paul realized and returned his feelings far too late.

God, those two and the story surrounding them are so fascinating…

Anyway, I guess I’ll wrap this up for now. Thanks for reading!