#Origin of computer viruses

[chicinlicin]

whoops i abandoned my little gaia guy again so much for logging in once a year lol

they sparkle now ✨✨✨

[purgatorhetorical]

HELP the viruses in my computer are dating make them stop!!,!,,

Actually this is fine

[absentlyhere]

Virus

[rainbyte]

🩷 Love Bugs 💙

( Cleaner version below )

[queriesntheories]

REBLOGS ARE OFF CAUSE THIS GUIDE IS TERRIBLE AND YOU DESERVE BETTER

I will instead redirect you to THIS more comprehensive guide, and cobalt.tools. Cobalt solves the problem of low quality video when you're done with VLC, and it can also take videos from a dozen other social media platforms.

Support the cobalt dev and the better guide writer, not me. I'm just a person who boiled down a wikihow guide and a youtube tutorial into a TLDR. I did not do very much work. They have.

I might turn reblogs back on, but for now I implore you to put your attention where it's needed most. Thanks for understanding. (original post under the cut)

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alright i am sick of yt to mp4 sites being shady and full of viruses and finding websites that seem to be working and then don't work

so HERE'S HOW YOU DOWNLOAD YOUTUBE VIDEOS WITH VLC!! VLC FREAKIN RULES!!

get your youtube link

open vlc, go to media > open network stream

paste your url in the box and PRESS PLAY!

wait for the video to open then go to tools > codec information

copy the entire file location (click the box, then ctrl-a to select all, then ctrl-c to copy)

paste into your browser of choice (i use firefox)

right click video and press "save video as", choose your file format if you want

DONE! NO VIRUSES OR SKETCHY STUFF!

the quality might be a little crummy but if you don't mind that, then shabam! video on your computer! then you can email it to yourself and have it on your phone too if you want! if you need a guide with pictures wikihow has you covered my friends

happy downloading and stay safe on the internet :D

[ozzgin]

I may not be that original anon but could we pawhaps have some platonic yandere computer virus 👀

I'll go with Internet Monster since that's the standard computer-based OC I have. If that's alright with you. :)

Yandere!Internet Monster with a computer-illiterate Reader who keeps getting into trouble.

That’s how the digital horror stumbled upon you: it had been accidentally downloaded onto your computer. It smirked to itself, enjoying a certain pride in the fact that it managed to sneak around undetected, until it discovered there was no defense to begin with. You were just a dumbass, clicking around cheerfully oblivious.

By the eldritch Gods, you really have no sense of danger. It found viruses, bugs, old software, even a spying extension triggered whenever you’d turn on your webcam.

Well, someone has to look after you. It began cleaning your computer thoroughly, perching its binary ears whenever you loudly remarked the sudden, unexplained speed and efficiency. You wondered if your digital assistant had somehow fixed itself.

Moreover, you are now under strict surveillance, as the Internet monster ensures there won’t be anymore hacking and scamming.

“What the…” you huff and click the button again.

Are you sure you want to download this file? Your antivirus protection has detected suspicious contents.

You pout at the screen. Is there no way to skip these bizarre checks? When did they even show up, anyways?

Another click.

Sorry, (Y/N), you can’t be trusted. No download for you.

You stare, bewildered and mildly embarrassed to be called out like that.

[dj-of-the-coven]

How to Burn Your Own CDs - a guide for Windows users

Are you--yes, you!--tired of paying money to stupid shit like spotify for your music? Do you hate the way that the music industry takes almost all the profit that bands make through streaming and leaves them with pennies? Have you ever wanted to fire up that old CD-Radio in the corner of your bedroom, only to be stopped because all you have on CD is Weezer's blue album and a copy of Kidz Bop 16 that you don't remember buying? Well this guide just might be for you!

Materials you'll need:

A computer. Can't do it without this one.

A CD drive. It can be internal or external, but you'll need one either way. You can find them at Office Depot for fairly cheap and I've heard that some Walmarts carry them.

A pack of CD-Rs. CD-Rs, or CD Recordables, come in packs of 20, 50, or 100. A proper 100-pack should cost you no more than $30, so unless there's some special shortage in your area, don't buy from anywhere selling them at a markup. CD blanks are literally 50c a piece.

CD cases. Sold wherever CD-Rs are, but you can also find these at thrift stores pretty easily.

A sharpie or some kind of permanent marker

Software you'll need:

Jdownloader. You can acquire mp3s through Bandcamp if you're dedicated to righteousness, but for everyone else, install jdownloader or some other kind of open-source download program. I will be proceeding as if you have jdownloader available.

Windows media player. This should open automatically when you insert a CD-R into your CD drive.

Fre:ac audio converter. This is only for the occasion that you encounter OPUS or mp4a files that cannot be interpreted by your CD player.

Note: If you're very determined not to download software onto your computer, you can use free youtube downloaders and audio converters, but these are subject to viruses and other issues such as download speed. I will be proceeding as if you have the programs I listed.

The process:

Decide what you want to burn--anything goes, but keep in mind the time limit on your CD-Rs. Most will record 90 minutes or less.

Open jdownloader, switch to the linkgrabber tab, then paste youtube links in any order until you have all the music you want. I'd personally recommend doing it song-by-song instead of a full album stream, because a massive file will require a lot of work to separate back into searchable tracks.

De-select all files except audio on the right-hand side options menu.

Make a folder inside the music folder of your laptop and label it with the name of your mix CD.

In the properties tab of each song on jdownloader, change the destination folder to the folder you've just created.

Hit "start all downloads".

Once finished, open each folder. If everything is an .mp3 or a .wav, skip the next 2 steps.

Open Fre:ac audio converter to convert all audio files that aren't .mp3 or .wav into .mp3 or .wav.

Drop the converted files next to the unconverted files in your folder. If you wish, you can delete the originals to make the folder easier to browse.

Put your blank CD-R into the CD drive. If external, plug in your CD drive first or the tray will refuse to open.

Windows media player will open automatically. On the right-hand side, you will see the tracklist of your CD-R (which should be blank). On the left, you will see the audio that your computer is able to find in the music folder. Put your selected tracks IN ORDER onto the tracklist.

Listen to the beginning and ending of each track to make sure there isn't a significant time gap. This also prevents accidentally burning a youtuber's stupid outro if you missed it before.

When satisfied, hit "start burn".

On an external drive, the CD tray will open upon completion. You can reinsert it to ensure that the burning went smoothly.

Once satisfied, remove the CD from your drive. With your sharpie or permanent marker, write the name of the album on the front, then store safely inside a CD case.

you did it👍

Ask me if you run into any issues.

Legal disclaimer: this guide is purely for educational purposes and I do not admit to or take responsibility for any piracy committed using the instructions given.

Illegal disclaimer: cops suck my dick

[ask-the-rag-dolly]

after listening to an among us song i was given the drive to reboot this au so ,

originated from a doodle that spiraled , SPREAD THE INFLUENCE is an au where ragatha is the ( unwilling ) host of a parasite called ' the influence ' which is a virus that only wants to spread and survive . she wasn't compliant about it at the beginning which was ' fixed ' with an itty bitty bit of psychological torment !

also yes i know the abbreviation is unfortunate and i do not care it's funny

even though ragatha's still our usual sweet little optimist , there is this persistent feeling of wrongness . too positive . too affectionate . it's like all of her humanity has been scooped out and you're left with the mask she made for others in the circus .

which is how the virus spread in the circus - they preyed on vulnerabilities which was what their host is perfect for . striking when the victim puts their guards down , making them submit under the guise that their problems will be fixed ... unfortunately it's a monkey's paw situation .

of course , that's only for this particular instance of the influencer ! something to note is that the virus takes a lot from the host's personality , so t.i's mellow and passive , only resorting to violence whenever necessary . t.i's not really an opposite ragatha she's more like a Dark , Fucked Up Version of ragatha the amazing digital circus . she cares a lot for everyone she considers a part of her hive , but it took a lot of manipulation and gaslighting for them to get infected .

caine is left uninfected because " i would do that if my goal is to destroy this place ! " t.i's ultimate fear has always been dying . it'll do everything to not die , to the point it's trying to spread out of the circus ( <- honestly take this info with a grain of salt i wrote this before i fully developed the story ) . unfortunately there's this jester who's resisting the virus with pure lesbian rage and is trying to stop her .

now rags would eventually get de-influenced and the circus will no longer be infected , but we will talk about the extremely rocky journey of recovering from knowing you harmed everyone you cared about Later

was this ' the influence ' that amanda ( ragatha's va ) keeps referencing ? sighs ... yeah . ( feels so surreal that i can say i have their seal of approval for this )

why ragatha ? in story , how is she not the perfect host ? metatextually , this is an au of an au - this came from a blog about ragatha getting a virus that is inconveniencing her life . i simply thought of an idea of ' hey what if the virus took over her body ' one day . then this abomination was born . i would reveal the why and how she got infected ... eventually .........

is she still afraid of centipedes ? is it a ragatha if she doesn't have a fear of centipedes

does pomni still use a taser ? yeah

could i use / be inspired by the influence for my au ? i did not invent the concept of Computer Viruses so feel free to be inspired by it , no credit needed . for t.i as a character specifically , please credit me !

are there ships ? just pomni x ragatha

is suggestive content of t.i ok ? just don't send them to me , tag it as #tw suggestive or #suggestive so i could filter it out

is nsfw content of t.i ok ? my tiny artist hands are powerless against the unstoppable force that is the internet so my answer will not matter . that being said , i recommend that they're not put in the main au tag so people won't unexpectedly come across it . and no i do not want to see it please do not send them to me

could i draw fanart / write fanfic of this au ? 100% yes you could either mention me or tag it under #tadc influence au

does this au have an ask blog ? nah just a normal blog lol

READ THE COMIC ... I GUESS ... !!

the main story

oh boy a prologue

[spread-the-influence]

AU POST...

originated from a doodle that spiraled and being brought out of the brink of being scrapped because of an among us song , SPREAD THE INFLUENCE is an au that has it all !

the influence is a parasitical virus that serves to do one thing — Spread through any means necessary . and unfortunately , our favorite ragdoll had to take the brunt of it !

it achieves this by attaching itself to its host and through an Itty Bitty Bit ( read : a Lot ) of psychological torment , they make the host compliant to infect others with the virus . there are many ways a host could make others fall to the influence , but in this case it's through emotional manipulation and good ol' butchering !

ragatha ' successfully ' infects most of the circus , but there's a tiny jester who resists it through pure lesbian rage and now she's bearing the pressure of being the only hope for things to go back to normal . pomni's totally having a very fun time

of course , the circus will eventually be freed from the virus - but we'll talk about the long and rocky journey of recovery and learning you hurt literally Everybody you cared about later !

for anything about the au's story , i hugely recommend that you read the comic !

___

why is ragatha the host ? non-spoilery reason ? she's my favorite and i think she should suffer

are reposts okay ? YES ! you all are free to repost this comic in other platforms AS LONG AS YOU link this account and specify that you did not create the comic ! for any possible translators , i use the font agency fb ( chapter 1-4 ) and calisto mt ( chapter 5 beyond )

could i use / be inspired by the influence for my au ? i did not invent the concept of Computer Viruses so feel free to be inspired by it , i'm sure anyone else would've thought of this kinda thing . i allow t.i ragatha to be used for any possible crossover underverse-esque au content with credit ! for any other aus that want to use her character , drop an ask in my ask box and i'll see if i'll grant permission .

are there ships ? just pomni x ragatha

are ocs allowed ? 100% yes ! feel free to mention me , i'll be interested in what you have !

are fan content ( fan art / fics / comic dubs / etc . ) allowed ? YES ! you don't need permission . mention me if you want me to see it !

are suggestive content okay ? idc just tag it as tw suggestive or suggestive so people who are uncomfy with that won't see it

are nsfw content okay ? idc just don't put it in the main tag so minors won't stumble across it , tag appropriately , and Don't send it to me cause i'll block you

are spin-offs ( aus of this au ) okay ? it's fine as long as you make it clear i didn't create it and that it's not canon !

[emma-is-swaggy-and-epic]

Happy valentine's day, i've been getting into sonic.exe lately so here's my rendition of an amy.exe

Watch the SPEEDpaint here!!! [LINK]

LORE UNDER THE CUT!!! (CW: mentions of gore and unreality...kinda, there's a TLDR at the end)

A few years after sonic CD was released, a strange cartridge for the game was created. Seemingly: the game had a mind of it's own; with it having strange anomalies such as aggressively telling players to stop controlling sonic after playing through the first few levels, weird reddish blobs of pixels could be seen in the background that look almost like gore to some people (though what they actually are is unclear due to them being few and far between and seem to be slightly obscured by various background elements) and a notable lack of other characters or enemies. Strangely though, the most well known anomaly related to this version of the game is an unusually distorted version of amy rose; as the years went by and the game became more accessable to the public via online emulators, many have reported her appearence changing more and more as time went on. When the cartridge was first discovered: her design mostly stayed true to her original, classic look though as years went by, she started looking more similar to her modern design (more notably so after rips of the game were posted to the internet). Occasionally, the altered version of amy would appear mid-gameplay and deliver threatening messages to the player about how she hates them, how they're getting in her way, etc. When played using an emulator, the game is known to install viruses onto whatever device the player is using in that moment. When the game was ripped, it was revealed that the name of the file was simply "phantom.exe"

What nobody knows about this version of the game, is that the cartridge was special in the sense that the world inside it was sentient; unlike the other versions of sonic CD: this specific cartridge had contained the actual classic sonic universe as a whole and the game was just a front, almost like another dimension that you cannot enter. All of the anomalies listed were the result of a strange event within the universe; with amy coming across the phantom ruby and it corrupting her, causing her to become a murderous fiend with a jealousy problem. Due to the unstable nature of an entire universe existing within such a tiny object like a game cartridge: amy has become aware of the fact that she is in a video game and is immensely jealous of the player for controlling sonic, although due to them living in another universe, she knows she cannot harm them so she just installs viruses onto their computer instead. After the game was ripped onto the internet and was exposed to a more modern culture than one from the 90's, amy's design and mannerisms slowly became more similar to that of the version of her in modern sonic games.

TLDR: there exists a version of sonic CD where the classic sonic universe just....EXISTS inside it (like the actual one, not just a game) and in that version of the universe: amy found the phantom ruby, it corrupted her and now she's a yandere and the game is now fucked up. Also amy is aware she's in a game and is jealous of the player for controlling sonic so she puts viruses on people's computers

In all honesty, i kinda just had two different ideas for what i wanted this to be. I wanted to make an EXE that is SOLELY self-contained and doesn't involve evil world-destroying gods possessing video games and entrapping souls like most EXEs i've seen (some of my favorite EXE/sonic horror AUs are starved eggman and sink sonic BECAUSE of this subversion) but at the same time: i was VERY married (no pun intended) to the idea of taking inspiration from old loveletter computer viruses and the whole haunted game schtick so i tried to mash them together as best i could, resulting in a sort of doki doki literature club/undertale-esque AU for lack of a better description. While yes, i am aware that yandere!amy rose isn't exactly an ORIGINAL idea (hell, i saw a fairly popular fanfiction called "amy.exe" with that EXACT premise) i mean.....i was (unfortunately) a yandere simulator fan as a kid so i kinda have a soft spot for yanderes, y'know? Besides, what else could you do with amy? You could probably do something with the fact she's into tarot cards but that'd probably get culturally insensitive REAL fast...

If i'm being completely honest, i only threw in the "amy's design and mannerisms changing due to being exposed to the internet" thing because i like amy's modern design more than her classic design and i wanted an excuse to make something based on it lol. Speaking of which: i actually had a tough time getting the preportions right on this, i've drawn sonic characters before and i usually have a tough time with the preportions since the sonic artstyle is so much different than mine and y'know....if the characters aren't drawn in a style that looks even VAGUELY like the sonic artstyle than it's just NOT a sonic character!!! (Also fun fact: amy's design in this is vaguely modeled after a creepy haunted doll bc i LOVE those things)

While doing research for this AU i realized i actually know a lot less about sonic lore than i thought lol, this is my first REAL attempt at writing horror so i hope it's not TOO terrible!!! (And, more importantly, that this makes sense to anyone who ISN'T me) anyway....again, happy valentine's day!!!

[henrikvanderhussy]

How to play the original Secrets Can Kill in 2025 without game discs

oh my god I almost just wrote 2015 instead of 2025

I've successfully been playing the original SCK for the past couple hours (including "changing discs" and reopening save files), but it's possible I could run into problems later, so no promises that this is a perfect solution.

This method still requires installing the game files, so I think it'll only work on Windows, sorry Mac users. I'm using Windows 11. I was also able to install and open the game on a Windows 10 computer, but I didn't actually attempt to play it there.

All you need are copies of the game .iso files and a virtual hard disk drive program. The post got long, so details are under the Keep Reading. It's not actually complicated, but apparently I talk a lot lol

The .iso files:

.iso files are digital replicas of optical discs (CDs, DVDs, etc). You probably don't have the original Secrets Can Kill discs, so you will need to...acquire these files.

[NOTE: My personal ethics say to not pirate shit from small studios or independent creators. HeR is a small studio and if people don't buy stuff from them, they can't afford to make new games. However, the original SCK is abandonware and literally can't be purchased, so imo, it's perfectly acceptable to pirate it.

I want to strongly discourage anyone from pirating any of the other games which can be purchased. They have 50% off sales all the time (including through today, 1/5/25) and a bunch of the games are as low as $5 when on-sale. The digital downloads don't come with any kind of restrictive licenses, so if you get a new computer, you can transfer the files and keep your games forever. Pls keep supporting HeR so that we can maybe keep getting new games]

I recommend getting the SCK .iso files from archive.org. That link will take you to a software search for Nancy Drew Secrets Can Kill. As of this post, there's only 1 result that's actually for the original SCK.

Anytime you're downloading software from a site where anyone can upload stuff, there's always a possibility of viruses. Check and see if the uploader seems sketchy (Are there comments on any of their uploads warning about viruses? Is the account brand new?). You could run the files through a virus checking program, but apparently .iso files frequently throw false positives. The SCK uploader seemed legit, but I initially downloaded and installed these on an old computer that I don't use, just in case.

There will be a bunch of files available to download. You specifically need to download the "ISO IMAGE" files. There should be two of them- disc 1 and disc 2. After downloading, I recommend moving the files out of your downloads folder because you'll need to access them frequently.

The virtual hard disk drive program:

Like I said above, .iso files are digital copies of physical discs. Similarly, the way to use the files is via a digital version of a physical disk drive. "Mounting" the .iso files to a virtual disk drive is analogous to inserting a disk into a physical drive.

Windows 8 and above has a built-in ability to mount .iso files, but when I tried that, I got a notice that the file was corrupted. The internet recommended that a dedicated program might have more functionality. I chose the Elby Virtual CloneDrive program, which is free.

Installing the game:

After downloading and installing the virtual disk drive software, navigate to your .iso files, and right click on the file for disc 1. Scroll to "Open with", and choose "Mount Files with Virtual CloneDrive". It will now show up as a CD drive in This PC in the file explorer:

Double-click to open the drive and scroll to "setup.exe". Open the file to run the game installer.

The game will install in a typical way. I think the only non-default option I chose was "No, I will install DirectX myself". I didn't actually install DirectX, but everything is working fine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ idk, maybe now it's built-in to Windows or something.

Running the game:

To run the game, just open the game shortcut like a normal program. If you can't find the shortcut or didn't create one during the install, go to your C: drive -> Program Files (x86) -> Nancy Drew -> Secrets Can Kill -> Game.exe

In order for the game to run, you need to have Disc 1 still mounted to your virtual drive. Unless you specifically unmounted it, it should still be there, but if you get a pop-up that says to insert the disc, the problem is probably that the disc isn't mounted.

I was expecting that I would have to run the game in Compatibility Mode to handle that it was made for fucking Windows 98, but I didn't have to do anything. It just worked with no adjustments. A miracle!!

Changing discs:

The original Secrets Can Kill was too big to fit on a single disc at the time it was made! They split it across multiple discs by location. The school is on disc 2, while all other locations are on disc 1. So if you need to move from the diner to the school for example, you have to change discs.

When you need to change discs, you'll get this screen:

WITHOUT closing the game program, minimize the game. Easiest way is by either pressing the windows key or alt+tab. Navigate to your .iso files, right click on the new disc, and choose Mount.

Navigate back to the game and click OK. Easy as that!

Whenever you fully exit and re-open the game, you have to open it with disc 1 mounted. So if you saved while at the school, you'll open the game with disc 1, load your save, and immediately switch over to disc 2.

And I think that's everything! Phew! This got a lot longer than I planned on. Feel free to send me questions if you're having trouble, but I may not know the answer. I'm not an expert in this stuff, I just spent some time poking around at it last week is all.

Have fun! Go manatees!

[starcurtain]

We are only in 3.0 but do you have any theories how the story is going to develop? (Especially with no one having any idea where the prophecy came from)

Also maybe it's just me, but I think they made Phainon just a little bit too fond of Mydei to the point I can feel my alarm bells going through the roof...i don't know if it's a death flag but it's defintiely some kinda angst flag...

How does it feel to be the smartest person in the room? Predicting them Phaidei death flags all the way from 3.0. Good job, anon!

To be honest, I have given up on trying to predict Hoyoverse stories because if at some point someone told me Penacony was going to be invaded by viral meme talking monkeys, exunt pursued by a ninja, I would have asked them what kind of crack they were smoking, but... here we are...

However, I do have a wild conspiracy theory about Amphoreus, and it goes like this:

Amphoreus itself is one gigantic "allegory of the cave" meets "lotus eater" plot.

The Amphoreus that the Trailblazer and Dan Heng are currently trapped in isn't a real world at all--it's a simulation maintained by the combined powers of Remembrance and Erudition (possibly with the third aeon involved. If the third aeon is actively involved, it may be Enigmata. If the third aeon is not involved with maintaining the simulation, it might be an enemy instead, i.e. Destruction). I believe that this simulation might be running with a person--Cyrene/Elysia--at its core. This is the reason that Amphoreus only appears in the Garden of Recollection's mirror--because it was never a real place and only ever existed as a fictional location in someone's mind/memory. It also would explain some of the inexplicable elements the plot keeps bringing up, like Trailblazer's synesthesia beacon being able to work on Amphoreus despite the planet supposedly never being connected to the Silver Rail.

My basic speculation is that the person at the core of the situation has lost their original world, and is using the power of aeons to keep their world "alive" through a simulated reality. This invokes the lotus eater plot: Someone is intentionally "refusing to wake" from a dream, indulging in a fantasy to escape from a cruel reality.

However, I suggest that the person who is maintaining the simulation isn't trying to accurately recreate their original world. Instead, they're telling themselves a story. They're not remembering a real world or 100% real people--they're filling in gaps, piecing together different elements of truth and creating entirely new material in efforts to produce a version of the story that will finally have a happy ending. Rather than attempting to bring reality back, they're creating a fairy tale, combining jumbled memories, rewrites/revisions, and entirely retelling portions of the tale when something goes wrong.

This invokes the "allegory of the cave" plot. The person at the core of the simulation isn't seeing reality, but instead watching nothing more than shadow-play, shallow imitations of forms, acting out one-dimensional imitations of reality and accepting that one-dimensional re-enactment as their only "truth." The story we are watching as players is, in fact, nothing more than a story in-game as well.

This accounts for the strange skips between times, places where the plot collapses in on itself--events are occurring both thousands of years and two years ago, all at the same time--places where things don't add up (how did Tribios escape on her own?) and the odd clash of archaism and modernity (people still use stone tablets as reading material but also have cellphones with cameras). It also accounts for the "black tide" manifesting in ways that look like computer viruses--the simulation itself is being attacked and dissolving.

In fact, we could see the "black tide" itself as the way the story reconciles with reality--the simulation may be crumbling or failing (either internally or because of external pressure such as an enemy aeon), and that manifests as an "impending apocalypse" inside the story!Amphoreus as well.

Simultaneously, there's a meta aspect to the "allegory of the cave" plot: None of the Amphoreus natives recognize that they're in a story. They all think that what they're seeing and experiencing is reality. This makes them literal "allegory of the cave" participants. They stare at the false projections on the "cave wall" and are convinced that's reality. At the core of their adventure is the idea of "flame-chasing"--that is, they are spellbound by the flame that projects the false shadows on the wall. The prophecy is the chains that keep them bound, unable to look away to any other possibilities and discover the truth outside their "cave." This accounts for the fact that the characters' themselves don't seem to notice the odd discrepancies in their timelines (i.e. Tribbie handwaving Tribio's inexplicable escape and Mydei not pausing to go "Something isn't right here" about the strange gaps in his own backstory). They don't question the story--because they're part of it. (Anaxa, then, becomes the one exception, the one character who is trapped in the illusion but aware enough to tell everyone that they're in an illusion.)

But this creates a conundrum. If the characters don't follow along with the story and pursue the prophecy, then they might be marching to their own inevitable ends, because it is entirely possible that either all of them are already dead or none of them ever existed. Trailblazer and Dan Heng obviously need to escape the simulation, to then and only then find the "true" Amphoreus--whether that is a real-world hidden from us by the simulation... or whether there's nothing left to find at all. But the Amphoreus natives themselves? They might not have anything left outside their shadows on the wall.

Basically, Amphoreus is just the plot of Princess Tutu, is what I'm saying.

That's my tinfoil hat conspiracy!

[feralferretxp]

I've been meaning to introduce one of my Storybots ocs that I've had for a while but here we go. Let me introduce you to...

Melissa Malware

She's a totally normal storybot who is definitely not a shapeshifting virus who has alterative motives for taking over the computer world! :D

Melissa is inspired by the Melissa and I LOVE YOU computer viruses, influencing both her name and theme of spreading love worldwide. In an alternate universe called the LoveBug AU, she launches a campaign called "Project I LOVE YOU", encouraging StoryBots to express love in various forms, aiming to boost mental well-being and promote world peace. She also advocates for self-care, which leads people to work less and less, eventually creating a job crisis in the computer world.

However, Melissa's true intent is to infect others, causing them to slack off from work, which in turn slows down real-world computers, much like a virus. As her followers idolize her, they unknowingly spread her influence, infecting others with the same behavior.

Melissa's origins lie in a more abstract form sent into the internet by her creator. Her mission was to oversee a planted computer worm and ensure its success without interference, remaining in the shadows. However, her plan was unexpectedly derailed when a young Bang, wandering in the internet department while accompanying his father, mistook the worm for a colorful gummy and ate it.

Enraged and shocked, Melissa's task was ruined, forcing her to shift focus and watch over Bang as he grew up, tracking the effects of the worm on him. Over the years, she observed his growing forgetfulness and other changes (I'll make a future post about this and my theory in more detail) as she remained in the shadows. During this time, Melissa herself evolved. Watching storybots and their society, she became curious about life beyond her virus role. She gradually changed her appearance to resemble a storybot and secretly longed for a life where she wasn’t bound to a pre-programmed destructive endgame.

As she grew fond of the attention and adoration from those who saw her as one of them rather than a virus, Melissa tried to prolong her influence and delay her inevitable mission of ruining the computer world, torn between fulfilling her creator’s purpose and finding belonging among storybot society.

When Bang becomes an adult and the computer worm fully integrates with his programming, Melissa is devastated to discover that the worm is now inseparable from Bang, and removing it would kill it. This ruins her original plan, forcing her to adapt. Instead of separating the worm, she decides to use Bang to spread the infection.

Melissa presents herself as a sweet, humble activist and invites Bang to join her "Project I LOVE YOU," using his recognizable and beloved status in the community to help promote her cause. Behind her friendly demeanor, however, Melissa despises Bang, seeing him as a foolish and undeserving figure who, for some reason, is adored by everyone. Despite her loathing, she plays the role of a supportive ally, manipulating him into unknowingly aiding her true goal, while he remains completely oblivious to her hatred and intentions.

So in a nutshell, Bang has no enemies... except for one which is Melissa because she hates his guts LMAO. But yeah that's the LoveBug AU basically. There's more to it but that's for another time.

One important thing about Melissa is that her and Milo (@supgoddo's oc) are in true real love and are perfect for each other YIPPIEE GRRR I LOVE THEM SM

Anyways that's it for now for Melissa! Just wanted to introduce her character and stuff. Live laugh love Melissa <3

[shellofaretard]

Lonely boy seeking magical virus. I need this HIV i have heard about so much in my body because I sincerely believe that HIV is Heaven. What i mean by that is, i know for a fact that the moment it enters your body you get sucked right up to heaven like with a vacuum cleaner. I am as certain of this as i am of my own name or that i am sitting in front of this computer screen.

Because what is Heaven if not a loss of self, a reunion with the original continuity of being. With HIV, you are no longer an individual, you are a member of a decentralized autonomous organization composed of men and viruses. When a boy dies, it is not death but a mere structural change in the DAO. A system targeting atomized individuals cannot break up the plagueboy phalanx. Can anyone help me acquire this strange alluring virus.

[confused-rat]

Hi, me again, here to disprove Lily’s latest lie that she pulled a Drake and planted fake evidence to make her critics look stupid.

Ignoring how insane that admission alone is, let’s look back at the original files.

I want you to note the 0 spaces with the name, and the number.

When we go to the downloads on the official Itch.io website, this is what we see.

Now, the number is there, but so are some spaces, and unless you click the download link AND make a money offer (the game is pay what you want) you’re not seeing the actual download file.

Luckily, if you’re willing to go to some less than savory websites and walk the flames of hot singles in your areas type pop up adds, you can find a more free copy of the game!

And wow. Look at that. An exact match to Lily’s file.

So…. If Lily just went on Itch.io like she said, how exactly did she know the file name without downloading said file?

So was it also just a coincidence she named the file exactly as it would have been if she actually downloaded it? Did she just put in the extra work, and possible computer viruses, to fake a file so perfectly that it’d somehow make her claim less likely in the long run?

Or is Lily still lying?

EDIT:

The actual game file has spaces, and no dash between phone and 0, unlike the pirated version, so Lily got the pirated version regardless. 🤣

The files match, but the only way you can get that exact version of the formatting is if you downloaded the game. Otherwise, you’d assume above is the file name.

[the-worms-in-your-bones]

Lore notes: Pandora

‘Tardis bay nine’ → there are at least nine tardis bays

Have stasis vessels and storage chambers for those → wonder what these are usually used for and how often they get used

Regenerative mutagen → this’ll probably come up later, but i’m going to say my thoughts now before i get to that part, but the fact that it/its effects are unknown seems to be the bigger concern here rather than a thing that can attack the regenerative process, so are there other diseases/viruses/whatever that can affect regeneration (i mean we do know that there are regenerative conditions, regenerative dissonance for example, so it’s not out of the question)

‘TARDIS shell molecular pattern indicates Gallifreyan origin’ → seem to have the technology to quickly scan something for planetary origin

There are tardis use logs, but they are easy to wipe

‘Castellan Wynter’s personal Matrix data-storage’ → do all time lords have their own personal hub for matrix data, or is it just those that are in some sort of position of power and would need something like this

‘Greatest repository of knowledge in the universe’ → what narvin calls the matrix

‘The APC Net stores the preserved brain waves of dead Time Lords’ → specific part of the matrix meant for this specific thing

‘Ambition, greed, lust for power, all these are syphoned off and stored separately’ → i wonder if this was something intentionally built into the matrix, or if it kind of just happened, like did all the dead time lords decide to make a place for the bad parts of their personalities while they were in there?

Apc net uses all the time lords minds and knowledge to ‘record the past, monitor the present, and predict the future’

Containment for the broken man is in a glass room, there are airlock procedures to get in and out of it

There is a voice that narrates the doors opening and closing (presumably a computer going through the procedures out loud)

Presidential safety and security seems to be a bit of a grey area between cia and chancellery guard jurisdiction (that or narvin doesn’t trust wynter enough to handle it and is butting in)

No chancellor since flavia was president and she combined the roles of president and chancellor

‘Now that we’ve opened it up, at least as a gesture, to students outside Gallifrey’ → wording here seems to imply that off world students are not given the same education as gallifreyan students/they are not able to go to the academy to earn the title of time lord

‘Had the matrix run a behavioral projection for each student’ → the matrix can do that, also makes me wonder how many students there are if he was willing to do this for all of them, or maybe he just had it report any notable ones back to him

Academy terminal → does the academy run on its own separate system, or is this a sort of school laptop situation where you can access other things, but the technology used to do that is owned by the school so they have the ability to restrict what you search (actually i think there’s something either later in this episode or in one of the next ones that says something along the lines of non gallifreyan students being blocked from accessing certain information)

Okay well it seems that it’s more of a school laptop type thing as it is said to have accessed the matrix from an academy terminal later in the episode

‘What a peculiar notion’ → in reference to leela saying she is grieving for the dead time lord, i really do wonder how time lords view death, because the first 12 times you die you just come back and then the 13th you get preserved forever in a computer, so true death seems like it’s very rare on gallifrey and wynter certainly seems unaffected by the notion of it

‘posthumous regenerative process’ → a time lord can regenerate even after they are fully dead it seems, wonder how long that is possible for

‘Still artron activity within the brain’ → so it seems that artron energy sticks around for longer than the time lord themself does (it’s something separate, but still a part of them(?), like a symbiotic relationship of sorts maybe)

Okay so the wording here does make it seem like regenerative viruses are a thing, but it seems like they often aren’t bad enough to make a time lord try to suppress their regeneration

‘Support within the chapters’ → is this just a sort of way of saying the general public? Because that is a bit what it seems like

Chancellor and vice president are separate positions, but it seems that they have a good amount of overlap, so idk why they both exist (not that either of them actually do, currently)

‘This pumping station is off-limits even to Time Lords’ → so is it completely automated then, or is it that there are specific people who are permitted down there and it’s just that most people aren’t allowed

Main water pumping station is in the vaults

‘I don’t think we offer a course in hydrology’ → I know this is said as a joke, but do they?

It seems that to get a full artron imprint off a time lord you need them to be alive (they are able to get a fragment of one off the body)

Matrix has automated voice to narrate what is happening

It sounds like wynter is typing on an actual keyboard when using the matrix terminal

‘Zero-Seven-Zero-Nine-Five-One point Three’ → this is some sort of indication of what time a thing happened, it does not make me any less confused on how time is told on gallifrey

It seems like they are shouting to be heard in the panopticon, which is a bit interesting to me as i would assume a civilization with this level of technology would have figured out a speaker system by now (although i guess this fits in more with their whole vibe)

‘Lord high chancellor of all gallifrey’ → interesting given that we usually see the president only referred to as the president of the high council or the president of the time lords

‘Strike three times for wisdom, honor, and tradition’

‘Elected’ used to describe brax getting the position of chancellor despite the fact that no one voted on this

There is obviously disagreement with him becoming chancellor, but no one speaks up (idk something something not wanting to disagree with the reinstatement of a traditional role even if they don’t like it, or not wanting to disagree with the president because even if you don’t like them there’s still an amount of respect that inherently comes with the office)

‘Dead as a flutterwing’ → time lord expression i guess

‘Containment level one’ → i do wonder what the other containment levels entail, like what constitutes different levels of security and just how secure are they, level one seems to include an air lock and a sterile room at least

Hand shakes are not a thing among time lords (but of course brax still does one)

Raising an alarm about something happening in the capitol is a castellans job (i think it’s really funny that we get to learn some lore just because narvin decided to complain about it)

‘That poor man’s soul’ → it’s always interesting to me when a time lord says something with spiritual meaning/implications because they do present themselves as above all that, but really they aren’t

‘the Vaults present an easy, if slow, way to get around the Capitol unseen’ → there must be a good number of entrances to the vaults then

They keep calling pandora a creature, which is interesting to me given that she is just the mind of a dead time lord, maybe it's something along the lines of she has reached a certain level of corruption that she’s no longer really a time lord, or it’s just the time lords distancing themself from her because they don’t want to claim someone who’s doing this much evil as one of their own

‘Follow the creature this dead time lord has become’ → said by leela

Leela gets made acting castellan in wynter’s place → interesting to me because there were laws about outsiders not being allowed in gallifrey, but it seems that there aren’t any laws that they can’t cold positions within gallifreyan society, i guess the time lords never considered that it would get that far and so never thought to make those laws, also aren’t there supposed to be other castellans, like i think it’s said that wynter is the arcalian castellan, what about ones from the other chapters

Similarly with her being invited to teach at the academy, it just doesn’t seem like they actually have laws to prevent aliens from having jobs on gallifrey because they thought the laws against having them there in the first place would be enough

Pandora seems able to exist outside of the matrix inside the vaults (although it does seem that the vaults are a sort of secret third thing that isn’t quite the matrix and isn’t quite physical gallifrey)

‘For people who live forever, you accept death too casually’ → they really do, i do wonder if there is any kind of culture around death for time lords (maybe there is for normal gallifreyans who can’t regenerate)

K9 has the ability to translate thought waves into sound (also the implication here that a time lord’s thoughts are loud/powerful enough to just radiate around a room to be picked up by a machine not in direct contact with them)

Another example of pandora having the ability to project herself into a specific person’s mind who she wants to talk to

Pandora saying they can’t live in wires and circuits → isn’t that what the matrix is though, so i’m thinking three things a) the matrix is alive in a sort of way b) pandora is just saying that because they want someone to possess rather than being stuck in the matrix c) whatever pandora is has evolved enough that it can no longer be suitably contained within the matrix (or possibly a little bit of all three)

Pandora saying that wynter used to look almost human → two things a) why use human as a comparison (i guess out of universe, yes this is a series written by humans, but in universe it doesn’t quite make sense) and a) almost human → time lords look visibly different than humans in some way

It seems that the doors close automatically once opened after a short delay (i mean i can’t imagine how else wynter would have been able to crush his hands in the door) and there doesn’t seem to be any safety measure to stop the door from closing if something is in the way

I wonder if that is the case with all the doors, or if this one is just special because it’s a door to a containment unit, i think it is just this door (or well, the doors to the containment units), but wouldn’t that be kind of fucked up if it was all the doors in the capitol

‘All Time Lords minds are connected to the Matrix at the most basic level. It gathers information from them and it allows us a degree of telepathy under certain circumstances through the shared connection’ → time lords are more or less a part of a hive mind then

‘I have occupied a part of my mind by thinking and rethinking the same protocols and algorithms that make up the shell of the Pandora Partition. The creature itself is in an area linked to my mind’ → time lords are basically math/computers moment

Darkel sees andred, the guy who killed someone and masqueraded as him and probably broke a bunch of other laws in the process, as a better choice for castellan than leela because she is an alien

I mean this is also definitely about getting on romana’s nerves

‘Though he should have been exiled a long time ago for the misdemeanours you uncovered’ → interference a crime worthy of exile (which is a bit funny to me considering that would really only give him more opportunity to interfere since he would no longer be on gallifrey)