#React-based framework

[askgaloredigital]

Next.js vs React vs Gatsby: Choosing the best Frontend Framework

Navigate the dynamic landscape of web development with confidence. Unravel the choices between Next.js, React, and Gatsby, each offering unique strengths for tailored solutions across diverse applications. Stay informed in the ever-evolving realm of technology and empower your development journey.

[sstechsystemofficial]

Finance App Development - SSTech System

Designing a scalable Finance App is essential in the constantly evolving financial technology world to ensure sustainability and meet the needs of many users in the future. The need for efficient and flexible Finance App Development strategies increases due to the need for reliable and secure financial services.

Thus, this detailed article focuses on selecting the right tech stack to create a sustainable finance app and will discuss the key aspects and technologies related to mobile finance app development. According to the report, 97% of millennials use mobile banking apps, and 89% of customers use them for financial management.

Understanding the basics of finance app development

Finance app development can be anything from a simple mobile finance app to a complicated trading application. Those programs require paramount security, performance, expansion, and friendliness of the interfaces. It is essential because developers have to guarantee solid encryption and safe authentication methods, mainly due to the high level of security financial data implies and compliance with regulations.

The elements that define a specialized finance app

User authentication and authorization: Users only access the information that they are allowed to and this can only be done by logging in to the system.

Data encryption: This includes the protection while the information is in transit, often described as encryption in flight and also when data is stored, or in other words, encryption at rest.

API Integration in finance apps: Integration with numerous financial services and outside vendors, API in financial apps.

Real-time data processing: A stable data feed is a must-have for mobile trading applications for stocks and artificial trading applications.

Choosing the right tech stack for finance app development

A basic first stage in the creation of a mobile financial app is choosing the suitable tech stack. The scalability, speed, and security of the app would be much affected by the technology choices. We’ll go over many tech stacks here and their fit for building finance apps.

1. Backend Technologies

Node.js for finance app

Node.js is fit for real-time applications like banking apps as its event-driven design is well-known. Crucially for the development of mobile banking apps and trading apps, it can effectively manage many concurrent connections. Node.js also makes it possible to employ JavaScript on the client and server sides, therefore streamlining the building process.

Python stack

Among developers, Python is a beloved tool because of its simplicity and readability. Excellent options for Finance App Development, the Django and Flask frameworks provide scalability and strong security measures. Additionally, perfect for AI trading apps and investment app development is Python’s vast data analysis and machine learning packages.

Java stack

Java offers a strong and safe space for applications in building finances. The whole ecosystem of the Spring Framework guarantees scalability and dependability by supporting enterprise-level projects. Applications with extensive business logic and great performance will find Java especially appropriate.

2. Frontend Technologies

React native finance apps

React Native lets developers create Cross-platform financial app development once and use them on both iOS and Android devices, therefore saving coding effort. While preserving great performance and a natural appearance and feel, this drastically lowers development time and expenses. React Native’s flexibility and efficiency make it ideal for developing mobile financial apps.

MEAN stack

The development of cross-platform financial apps often favours the MEAN stack. Node.js and Express.js address the backend; angular or react provide a strong frontend framework. A great choice for scalable financial applications, MongoDB, a NoSQL database, gives data management flexibility.

3. Database Technologies

SQL database

Reliable options for Finance App Development include conventional SQL databases such MySQL and Postgresql. These guarantee data integrity and dependability by offering ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) qualities. Applications involving structured data and sophisticated transactions fit SQL databases.

NoSQL databases

Designed for horizontal scalability, NoSQL databases such as MongoDB and Cassandra provide adaptability in managing unstructured data. For uses requiring fast throughput and big amounts of data, they are perfect. Many times, NoSQL databases are used with SQL databases to provide a balanced approach to building financial applications.

4. Cloud-based Solutions

Among many benefits are scalability, dependability, and cost-effectiveness, as seen in cloud-based finance solutions. Developers may quickly expand their infrastructure depending on demand by using cloud services such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. Strong security measures offered by cloud platforms guarantee the safety of private financial information as well.

5. Security Considerations

The development of a financial app depends critically on financial app security. Protecting user data depends on putting policies such as end-to-end encryption, multi-factor authentication, and frequent security audits into action. Staying current with the newest security standards and using safe coding techniques can help greatly lower risks.

6. Enhancement of Performance

Retention and user happiness in finance apps depend on performance. Load balancing, caching, and database query optimization, among other strategies, improve app speed. Applications requiring real-time data processing, like Mobile stock trading apps and Financial Market Trading apps, also depend on applying effective algorithms and lowering latency.

7. Development Tools and Frameworks

Selecting appropriate finance tools for app development helps improve output and simplifies the development process. The following are some recommended instruments and models:

API Integration in finance apps: Postman and Swagger are two tools that help finance apps integrate and test APIs, thus guaranteeing flawless communication across many services.

Mobile App Development Frameworks: Cross-platform development features of mobile app development frameworks such as Flutter and Xamarin help to enable the production of high-performance financial applications.

DevOps tools: Jenkins, Docker, and Kubernetes are among the DevOps tools that offer constant integration and deployment, thus guaranteeing effective development processes.

Hiring Finance App Developers

Regarding hiring finance app developers, it’s important to search for applicants with thorough knowledge of financial services and experience in the selected tech stack. Developers should have knowledge of speed optimization and scalability in addition to being strong in safe coding techniques. Furthermore, it is essential to have knowledge of industry rules and standards to guarantee compliance.

Development tools for future finance

With developments in artificial intelligence, blockchain, and cloud technologies, finance app development tools seem to have a bright future. These developments will keep changing the scene of building finance apps, providing developers with strong tools to produce more advanced and safe financial applications.

How do you select the ideal Tech Stack for a scalable finance application?

As you choose the tech stack for a scalable Finance App, take these things into account:

Project requirements: Evaluate requirements, including security, performance, and user experience.

Developer expertise: The technology your development team is competent in should be chosen.

Scalability: Choose technology supporting horizontal and vertical scalability.

Security: Make sure the tech stack you choose provides strong security measures.

Community and support: Technology with great community support and thorough documentation should be considered.

Conclusion

Creating a scalable finance app requires a thorough evaluation of security, performance, and user experience, among other elements. The success and long-term expansion of the app depend critically on the correct tech stack being chosen.

Whether using Node.js, Python, or Java, every technology has special benefits for developing finance apps. Using safe coding techniques, strong development tools, and cloud-based solutions can help to improve the scalability and dependability of the app even more.

[bookished]

HOW TO GIVE PERSONALITY TO A CHARACTER

Giving personality to a character is an essential part of character development in storytelling, whether you're writing a novel, screenplay, or creating a character for a role-playing game. Here are some steps and considerations to help you give personality to your character:

Understand Their Backstory:

Start by creating a detailed backstory for your character. Where were they born? What were their childhood experiences like? What significant events have shaped their life? Understanding their past can help you determine their motivations, fears, and desires.

2. Define Their Goals and Motivations:

Characters often become more interesting when they have clear goals and motivations. What does your character want? It could be something tangible like a job or a romantic relationship, or it could be an abstract desire like happiness or freedom.

3. Determine Their Strengths and Weaknesses:

No one is perfect, and characters should reflect this. Identify your character's strengths and weaknesses. This can include physical abilities, intellectual skills, and personality traits. Flaws can make characters relatable and three-dimensional.

4. Consider Their Personality Traits:

Think about your character's personality traits. Are they introverted or extroverted? Shy or outgoing? Kind or selfish? Create a list of traits that describe their character. You can use personality frameworks like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or the Big Five Personality Traits as a starting point.

5. Give Them Quirks and Habits:

Quirks and habits can make a character memorable. Do they have a specific way of speaking, a unique fashion style, or an unusual hobby? These details can help bring your character to life.

6. Explore Their Relationships:

Characters don't exist in isolation. Consider how your character interacts with others. What are their relationships like with family, friends, and enemies? These relationships can reveal a lot about their personality.

7. Show, Don't Tell:

Instead of explicitly telling the audience about your character's personality, show it through their actions, dialogue, and decisions. Let the reader or viewer infer their traits based on their behavior.

8. Create Internal Conflict:

Characters with internal conflicts are often more engaging. What inner struggles does your character face? These can be related to their goals, values, or past experiences.

9. Use Character Arcs:

Consider how your character will change or grow throughout the story. Character development is often about how a character evolves in response to the events and challenges they face.

10. Seek Inspiration:

Draw inspiration from real people, other fictional characters, or even historical figures. Study how people with similar traits and backgrounds behave to inform your character's actions and reactions.

11. Write Dialogue and Inner Monologues:

Writing dialogue and inner monologues from your character's perspective can help you get inside their head and understand their thought processes and emotions.

12. Consider the Setting:

The setting of your story can influence your character's personality. For example, a character who grows up in a war-torn environment may have a different personality than one raised in a peaceful, affluent society.

13. Revise and Refine:

Don't be afraid to revise and refine your character as you write and develop your story. Characters can evolve and change as the narrative unfolds.

Remember that well-developed characters are dynamic and multi-faceted. They should feel like real people with strengths, weaknesses, and complexities. As you write and develop your character, put yourself in their shoes and think about how they would react to various situations. This will help you create a compelling and believable personality for your character.

[stars-obsession-pit]

Hello! Can do a chapter fic off this fic prompt Danny phantom x dc: https://www.tumblr.com/corkinavoid/767516270934556672/dpxdc-legal-power?source=share

This isn’t a one-to-one recreation of that dialogue but it’s based on that as a framework/premise

Batman dropped down into the room behind a pair of figures—a teenage boy and a slumped adult—letting his landing create an audible thump to alert them of his presence.

If the teen noticed, he didn’t react. Even as Bruce approached, he continued to stare impassively at the wheezing figure on the ground, an old wooden bat with flaking green paint on its side loosely held in his right hand. Bruce had already suspected who the figure would be since he arrived, but seeing the Joker so broken was still bizarre. No laughing, no schemes. He didn’t even seem to be attempting to escape his binds, just… lying there, almost as if pinned in place.

Bruce paused a step behind the teen. “I don’t know what the Joker did to you, but this isn’t the right way to go about this.”

The teen scoffed, and Bruce felt a painful lurch in his chest as he was reminded oh so strongly of his son Jason. “And what, let him go kill more people?”

“I know he deserves to face justice, but not like this. Everyone deserves a right to fair trial. No one person should be judge, jury, and executioner.”

The teen turned to look at him with glowing green eyes, and Batman felt himself freeze. He had faced gods before, yet even using that as a comparison felt like an understatement. The boy’s eyes belonged to someone far older than his teenage form implied, and they radiated power. Inevitability.

When the teen—no, the entity—spoke again, his words carried an unearthly echo. “Perhaps, but I’m not acting for just myself.” He paused, glanced down at the Joker, then asked almost conversationally, “Do you know how many people he’s killed?”

Another pause, but before Bruce could even try to answer, the entity continued, “Eight hundred and fifty-six. He’s ended the lives of eight hundred and fifty-six human souls. I can tell you about every single one, if you want. About who they were, what their dreams were before he killed them. About the pain they felt at his hands.”

He punctuated the word ‘pain’ by raising up the wooden bat in his hands and ramming its end down onto the Joker’s arm. He let out a wheeze, muffled by the gag in his mouth.

“I have a duty to my people. I am the King of the In-Between and of all the souls that pass through it—even ones whose stays were as brief as his. I am the rightful arbiter of his fate. And with that power, I sentence him to death.”

He raised the bat again, adjusting his grip so he’d hit with the side rather than the end this time, then paused and let out a chuckle. “Of course, just because it’s based on some justice doesn’t mean I can’t have a bit of fun with it too.” He swung the bat down, slamming it into the Joker’s side, then hooked it under the clown’s torso and flicked him up through the air to slam into the wall. “We all really hate this guy.”

With the entity’s attention fully turned away from him as he sauntered towards the Joker’s slumped figure, Bruce could finally unfreeze himself.

Even if the Ghost King did have the right to pass judgement on Joker, Bruce still couldn’t let torture go on like this. He wouldn’t win a direct fight, but he could hopefully at least grab the Joker and bring him over to the police. Carefully, he reached for some of the smoke bombs and batarangs on his belt and readied his grapple. He’d have to do this very, very fast.

But before he could move, another figure entered the scene. Red Hood, emerging from the shadows on the far side of the room, an unexpected bit of a pep to his step.

“Nice to see someone else who gets that that bastard needs to die. But if I may make a suggestion, how ‘bout you use a crowbar instead of that old bat? It’d be a bit more… fitting.”

[animefeminist]

Resilience and Resistance: Reimagining marginality and agency in The Apothecary Diaries

Content warning: discussion of violence against sex workers, abuse, sexually transmitted disease, historical misogyny

Spoilers for The Apothecary Diaries Season 1

The Apothecary Diaries presents a richly detailed world inspired by dynastic China, where the social framework is deeply intertwined with notions of aestheticized masculinity and the romanticised construction of pleasure districts. Through the viewpoint of its protagonist, Maomao, who was raised in the red-light district and now works in the palace, the series delves into the complexities of these highly gendered settings, particularly through the lens of courtesanship and royal polygamy—two institutions that govern the lives of women in this society based on Confucian principles, and where various female characters nonetheless carve out their own agency within these structures. 

The series opens by portraying the red-light district (or hanamachi) not as a taboo, shadowy place but as a vibrant, bustling setting full of realized characters. This is clear even from the opening minutes of the anime: as Maomao navigates the narrow alleys of the hanamachi, she is greeted by the familiar rhythm of life. Traditional string instruments play lively music, autumn leaves fall, and red lanterns glow warmly from balconies, enhancing the district’s energy. The hanamachi pulses with life—from extravagantly dressed courtesans preparing for the night to customers haggling with the proprietress. The courtesans, draped in luxurious fabrics, exude elegance and allure, while young girls in training assist them in their intricate routines. This lively world, full of ritual and artistry, contrasts sharply with the rigid outside society, embodying survival and cultural expression.

While this place exists on the margins of so-called polite society due to its connection to the taboo world of sex work, Maomao’s matter-of-fact treatment of the district and the women who work there invites the audience to reject this notion that the hanamachi and its courtesans are somehow “other” or impure—they are, as Maomao’s interactions with them show, just people. This is a departure from the exoticized and dehumanized ways that other historical-inspired and/or fantasy series often treat sex workers. Though the energy of the setting is quite different, Maomao takes this same attitude to the concubines when she begins her indentured work at the Rear Palace. The Apothecary Diaries consistently treats its female characters with nuance and sympathy, and allows space in the narrative to explore how these different women react to and survive within the structures they have found themselves in.

Read it at Anime Feminist!

[salemoleander]

I completely understand the annoyance with this series having such an obtrusive cascade of gimmicks

My extremely biased personal hunch is that Grian was using this season to test a bunch of frameworks for gimmicks at once. Not These Exact Gimmicks but different levels of RNG; if knowledge/skill/etc-based gimmicks were acceptable or equitable; how players & viewers would react to obviously intentional assignment of 'random' traits.

If the next series rolls around and its also crazy & unbalanced, or doesn't take any lessons from this series¹, I'll be annoyed. but rn im like Okay Sure. One wack season to avoid the drip-feed of one mechanic at a time that keeps a whole season locked into Obvious Game Structure Problems is a fine sacrifice.

¹ the key lesson imo being EVERYONE LOVES NON-RANDOM SHIT not that we want a plot on rails, but assigning things to suit players is fine and extremely interesting!! The players' superpowers were THE most interesting session of the whole series, please Grian it's okay to play to the strengths & interests of your friends on purposed

[theresattrpgforthat]

Any games with a lot of collaborative world building?

THEME: Collaborative Worldbuilding

Hello friend! I have so many games for you. At the end of this recommendation post is a list of other posts I've made that are directly related to this theme!

Data, Nerves + Acquisition, by Ben Newbon

Based on the Beak, Feather & Bone SRD, this game gives you a way to build out your world and develop communities within it organically, all the while creating your own stories and lore to fill in the gaps.

Built on another critically-acclaimed city builder, DNA uses a deck of cards to generate a city and the factions that live within it. Players will generate Data, which corresponds to a person or faction; Nerves, which corresponds to the faction the characters interact with; and Acquisition, which represents what each new faction’s goals are. At the end of the game you should have a city that is criss-crossed with territory, relationships, and threats that give the city a unique feel.

Data, Nerves + Acquisition is designed to create a cyberpunk or futuristic city, although the creator states that the setting is still rather flexible.

In This World, by Ben Robbins

Nations have borders. Police have badges. Dragons breathe fire. You work for money. That's the world we've come to expect. But in this world—the world we create together—we can question those assumptions and imagine alternatives. And instead of just making one world, we'll make a whole string, each exploring a different slice of what could be… all in a few hours.

In This World is a fast game of big creativity, by Ben Robbins, the creator of Microscope and Kingdom. It is designed from the ground up so that anyone can play it, even someone who has never played any kind of story game before, and have no problem just jumping right in.

It overcomes the usual challenge of inventing ideas out of the blue by starting with a framework of real world facts, things we already know, and then inviting players to stand those ideas on their head and imagine how the world could be different.

In This World is designed for making more than one world at once, using a series of speculative questions - a number of what-if’s. What if vacations were much more common? What if everyone in this world travelled by train? What if this world had libraries for more than just books?

In This World is also designed to be no-prep and GM-less, which gives everyone equal control over the creativity of the world, and doesn’t require a lot of work or set-up beforehand.

Gathering Storm: Origins, by David Blandy

This is the time of feeding, A steady glut, Of fruit and labour That has made them drowsy and complacent. The store grows, Of their alien fruit While the others, Hear whispers Of a reckoning. A different time is coming. But how will the Authority fall?

By placing your characters on a faraway planet, Gathering Storm: Origins hopes to tell a story that has parallels to a real series of events that happened in Geneva, Switzerland in ours. It uses a deck of cards and an oracle to create characters as well as events that these characters will have to navigate to determine how the people of your planet will react to the actions of an Authority that demands the production of their Alien fruit, even though that production is to the planet’s detriment. If you want a futuristic metaphor for political actions that have had a very real effect on our world, you might want to check out Gathering Storm.

Planetes, by Cambilla Zamboni

Welcome to Planétes, a language-learning tabletop role-playing game in which you will create cities and communities, and you will become Dwellers and Wanderers. While shaping and exploring your communities, you will discuss and compare your values, and decide whether to stay in your city or explore new ones. Throughout this process, you will use the target language to interact with other communities, enriching your perspective and reflecting on your experience without relying on familiar structures. 

This is not just a roleplaying game - it’s also a language learning exercise meant to be used in a room of language learners, and it’s designed to work with very large groups. Multiple tables create their cities and their characters, and then each city sends one Wanderer to another city to visit and learn about the culture. Wanderers will ask the new cities questions, and the city members will do their best to answer. The Wanderers return to their home cities with the new information, coloured by their character’s worldview and values. At the end of the game, each character will have to decide to either stay in their city of origin, or move to another city - and the migration that happens will change core elements of the city.

Planétes exists on a single brochure, making it easy to print and hand out to a large group of people. If you want a game that works for large groups and can double as a learning exercise, I recommend this game.

The First Epoch, by Tib Winterfield.

Work with your players to build out the pantheons of your world, give them the gift of creation and allow them to put their own mark on the world. 

Completely system agnostic, a light-weight and simple game to help you build a co-operatively build your campaign world. 

The First Epoch is a world-creation game from the perspective of the gods, creating a mythology alongside a series of truths that will exist in the world that you create. Each player embodies a god and chooses specific domains. Every turn, one player will establish truths about how their domains work, and then roll Fate dice (dice with + and - on them instead of numbers) to determine the impact these truths have on the world. At the end of the game, there is a twist that will challenge all of the gods, and leave you with an end-state that you cannot predict.

If you really like mythology and want to re-write physics, magic, or how death works in your game, this is probably the game for you.

City Upon A Hill, by Hunter J Allen

City Upon A Hill is a table top collaborative city building game for any number of players. It requires a full deck of playing cards and note taking tools.

This is a game about building up a city and watching it fall. Work with your friends to populate a city full of life, commerce, legends, traditions, and secrets, and then bring the city to its knees through death, conflict, deficit, and crumbling infrastructure. Bring the city to a peak during its Boom era, and guide the city down to ruin in its Bust era, creating a setting rich in history and tragedy. Draw cards to decide the city's fate, working together to weave a tapestry that tells the story of your City Upon A Hill.

City Upon A Hill is divided into two phases: Boom & Bust. Boom follows events and details that define the city’s success, and reflects a heyday of some kind. Bust marks the decline of the city, through a series of unfortunate events and changes that affect the citizens’ well being. The game is played using a deck of cards, with the first Joker draw sparking the transition to the Bust, and the second Joker draw ending the game. I think this game is a really interesting way to create the history of a once-great city, baking in information about industry, tourism, infrastructure, and economic changes that affect the city and likely also the world around it. If you want a game that has somewhat of a melancholy ending, I recommend City Upon A Hill.

Our New Neighbours, by Whimsy Machine

In this small village, at least a few hours’ drive from any city of note, a small community has grown a bizarre polyp. As spring turns to summer, the roiling heat hatches the eggs of a startling development. New neighbours scuttle and squirm and gallop from the bushes and dirt and into unlocked sheds, messy mudrooms, and stinky attics of the village. Mutants are here, they’re weird, and they’re not sure what to bring to the potluck.

This is a collaborative storytelling, community-building, and map-making game, telling the unraveling tale of a village beset by oddities. The players take on non-specific roles, occasionally dipping into the voice of individuals, to weave something larger together.

Our New Neighours uses both a deck of cards and polyhedral dice to flesh out your map. The dice are first rolled onto a piece of paper to determine where on the map specific locations can be found, and the numbers rolled will determine how various places feel about the new arrival of Mutants. The cards are used to both generate mutations for your characters, as well as their needs. Once you have these defined, the cards will be used to generate events that may help or hinder the mutants - and prompt you as the players to respond.

Other Recommendation Posts To Check Out…

Two-Player Worldbuilders

World-Building & Roleplaying

Town-Builders

Map-Making Games

[nogoodsheepstealing-greatgrandma]

Fixing Laena Velaryon

First off, my preference with HOTD would have been to have a book-accurate adaption of Fire & Blood, and of Laena's role within the story. The typical response to that sentiment is of course "why can't you just accept the show on its own merits?" (those merits being increasingly dubious as of S2). In the spirit of doing so, I'd like to demonstrate how the bare minimum of effort could have been made to keep Laena an actual character in this high-budget fanfiction. And in doing so, hammer in how the failure to do even the bare minimum demonstrates the show's misogynoir.

For the sake of this post I am accepting the age changes, and I am accepting Alicent taking Laena's place as Rhaenyra's friend. I'll even accept the structure of the season, keeping events broadly the same even though this unfortunately continues to place Laena in the margins (again, we are talking about the bare minimum here). But within this limited framework there was still plenty of space to focus on Laena - and a narrative need to do so. For one, how the audience feels about Laena carries into how we feel about her daughters (assuming an alternate reality of course where the intention was to make Baela and Rhaena actual main characters - I will eventually do a follow up post for them).

For another, her story impacts how we feel about the succession of both Driftmark and the Iron Throne. She is the daughter of The Queen Who Never Was; by all the laws of Westeros, her mother is the rightful Queen (a daughter comes before a male cousin). Laena herself is a would-be queen consort, and her daughters are technically the rightful heirs to both Driftmark and the Iron Throne as Rhaenys' only biological grandchildren (so suck it Vaemond). When Vaemond put himself forward as heir over Laena's daughters, he was actually using the same precedent that was used to pass over Laena's mother.

Laena therefore plays a vital role beyond just being Rhaenyra's friend and Daemon's wife. Her wishes and agency with regards to the succession matters. She is the spurned queen consort and mother of two rightful heirs - who rides the largest dragon in the world. She is the one who solidifies the Targaryen-Velaryon alliance with Rhaenyra. Her loss really should have felt like a dramatic turning of the tides. And her legacy should have been felt after her death.

Episode 1

First off, I would like to make a point about how Laena is introduced (speaking as someone who knows fuck all about cinematography so... apologies in advance!). To preface, not every main character needs to have a big introduction in a pilot episode - the pilot has enough on its plate without having to introduce every single member of its large ensemble cast. It is fair enough to simply have a character appear and then get to know them later. But for the purposes of this post I want to explore where there was space for Laena, and how it could have been used.

In the show we first see Laena sitting next to her brother at the tourney. The camera doesn’t single them out or give us any reason to identify them as crucial characters yet. They are to the side and in the background of the shot. The audience can guess that these kids must be Rhaenys and Corlys’ children based on where they are sitting, but their focus is primarily drawn to Viserys addressing the crowd, and Alicent waiting for Rhaenyra in the front.

Later on in the tourney, we finally get brief cuts to close up shots of Laena and Laenor reacting to the violence, and of Laena grabbing her brother’s arm for support. This is a nice quick way to establish their sibling dynamic (little sister seeking comfort). But that’s all for this episode, and considering how the audience's attention is directed in their first appearance this brief cut is probably the first time many viewers noticed them. While watching this episode with my sister - who is a show-only viewer - she did ask me "wait who are these kids?" (she also missed that Rhaenys and Boremund Baratheon were cousins - a reason it would have been helpful for show-only viewers if Eve Best had her book-canon Baratheon hair).

Since we don't see Laena and Laenor again in this episode, it's fair to ask whether their first appearance could have been a bit more notable, signalling to the audience - especially show-only viewers - to remember them for later.

Compare to how we are introduced to other characters in this series opener - both key characters and minor.

As a main character, we get a clear view of Alicent coming down from the carriage to greet Rhaenyra, and the camera stays on and keeps Alicent in centre frame as we are introduced to her properly.

Harrold Westerling is a minor character - who we get to know more in this episode than we do Rhaenyra's cousins. We get a clear view of him waiting for Rhaenyra on his horse, and it doesn't take long for him to get a close up. We take the time to efficiently meet him and establish his dynamic with Rhaenyra as a protective kingsguard. From his prominence here I actually expected him to be a bigger character going forward.

We even get a fair bit of time to meet this anxious dragonkeeper, as he nervously takes his cue from his older, more experienced colleague. A good example about how a mere couple of seconds can be efficiently used to communicate a character and a relationship when the show chooses to take the time.

Again we don't need to establish every key character in this opening episode - it can be enough to quickly identify them and then meet them again properly in the next episode, as we do with Laena. There are a lot of characters who need introducing after all.

But considering the way we are introduced to other minor characters - from characters who will come back like Harrold Westerling, to characters we probably won't watch out for again like the anxious dragonkeeper - and again its fair to consider whether Laena and Laenor's introduction could have been a little more notable. Especially since Rhaenyra's relationship with the Velaryon family is important to establish. As the dragonkeeper demonstrates, a few seconds here and there is even enough - if you can devote that time to an extra, you can devote it to Laena.

At the very least, the episode could have found the spare seconds (if not whole ass minutes please - this is the barest of bare minimums) to establish a more frequent presence for Laena and Laenor. To signal to the audience that we should remember who these characters are, that they will be important going forward.

One opportunity to provide a more notable introduction is the scene where Rhaenyra and Alicent walk arm in arm through the castle. The atmosphere of this scene sets a 'happier more innocent times' tone ahead of the upcoming loss and tragedy. To add to this tone, the show could have had Rhaenyra and Alicent pass Laena and Laenor along the way, running and playing through the castle.

Maybe Rhaenyra could quickly sidestep her cousins to stop them running into her on her way up the stairs, maybe lift up her and Alicent's arms to let them run through while she and Alicent continue to be engrossed in their conversation. This would establish both a familiar and playful dynamic between Rhaenyra and her cousins, while not interrupting her moment with Alicent.

Alternatively, if we wanted to introduce Laena as a character in the pilot, we could add another scene of Rhaenyra and Alicent walking down the hallway before they arrive at Aemma's rooms. Laena and Laenor could be again running and playing in the hallway, only this time they could stop to quickly interact with their cousin, maybe pass on that her mother's looking for her. Laena could even stop to excitedly ask after Syrax before her brother pulls her away to keep playing.

Not only would this give us a clearer and endearing introduction to the characters - both characterising the siblings and establishing their dynamic - but it would more directly let the audience know 'remember these two, they are important'. Of course this new scene would add more to the episode runtime - so a more efficient option is to just have them playing in the existing scene without stopping for a hello.

Another efficient option is to have Rhaenyra quickly interact with her cousins as she hurries in late to the tourney.

It can be as quick as a grin between the cousins as Rhaenyra ducks her way to her seat, or Laena could giggle as her older cousin pulls an 'oops, I'm late' face. A deleted line from episode 5 informs us that Laena used to follow Rhaenyra around like a shadow, so showing Laena light up to see Rhaenyra here could be a sweet way to depict this side of their relationship.

Above all, it would be a chance to give a clearer and longer shot of the two siblings rather than just a brief cut to them, letting them be in the centre of the frame and bringing them more firmly to our attention. Then by the time we cut to them reacting to the violence of the tourney, we already know who they are.

The interaction could meanwhile take advantage of the staging to visually emphasise Alicent's isolation among the Valyrians, with Alicent waiting in her seat on her side of the stage while Rhaenyra is on the other side with her family. Again I would rather a book-accurate telling of the Dance, and as such I have little regard for Rhaenycent or the Saga of Alicent the Eternal Victim. But in the spirit of this post, I will pepper in examples of how expanding Laena's role could have mutually benefitted the story this fanfiction wanted to tell... while slipping in a core trait of Book Alicent - jealousy towards children ;)

Finally, we could simply have the cousins be present at Aemma's funeral - we get a clear shot of their parents among the mourners after all.

To go further, there is an opportunity to add in another moment between Rhaenyra and her cousins.

On the one hand, I do like how the funeral scene ends, with this shot here of Rhaenyra turning away from her mother's cremation as the smoke fills the screen. It's a shot that makes Rhaenyra feel very alone, which emotionally is important to prioritise for this episode. The scene is after all partly about Rhaenyra's relationship with her father, specifically her grief at not being the son he wanted, and so ending the scene on Rhaenyra alone arguably makes it more impactful later in the episode when her father makes her his heir.

However it could have also been impactful to set up a parallel with the funeral in episode 7, where Rhaenyra nudges Jacaerys to offer his condolences to Baela and Rhaena. Rhaenys could likewise nudge her children to go and offer comfort to Rhaenyra, and Laena could comfortingly take her hand. Then when Baela and Jace take hands, we'd have a sense of a bond getting passed down through the generations.

Taking time to depict this bond would make the viewer less inclined to ask for receipts when Rhaenys claims in episode 5 that Rhaenyra and her cousins grew up together. Meanwhile Laena's death is of course sadder the more we see of her, and the more we see her relationships with the characters we spend more time getting to know (like Rhaenyra).

It would also provide a foundation for Rhaenyra's relationship with her stepdaughters - the more we see that their mother was important to Rhaenyra the more layers are automatically added to her interactions with them.

I think at least some of these moments could have been easily slotted into existing scenes, and that any added screentime would have been worth it. The legwork provided by these moments importantly give the writers an easier task writing these characters in later episodes. You don't need potentially clunky exposition like 'they grew up together' or 'Laena used to follow you around like a shadow'.

Besides, as a viewer we are always going to be more emotionally moved and invested in what we see, rather than what we hear exposited to us.

Episode 2

A running theme throughout the first half of the season is the systemic sexual abuse of girls within the feudal patriarchy that is Childbrideros, and this episode sees both Laena and Alicent served up as child brides by their parents. First off, I already really like the scene of Laena and Viserys walking through the gardens. It does a good job first establishing her obsession with Vhagar, and above all emphasising how young Laena is. It's extremely disturbing, and props to the actress here because you can see actual terror in Laena's eyes as she repeats what she's been taught to say.

Honestly I think Nova Foueillis-Mosé was criminally underused.

Again, this scene is already incredibly effective on its own. But consider how the additions to the previous episode could have done some extra legwork for this scene. How much more disturbing is this already disturbing scene if we’d just watched Laena running innocently around the Red Keep, playing with her brother? If we'd just seen her being a sweet little sister with Rhaenyra? It’s the difference between getting to know a character from a disturbing scene, and witnessing a disturbing scene with a character we’ve already gotten to know.

Now this is a bit of a tangent, but relevant to setting up Laena's role in the story while adding to the themes of the episode. I would have made some changes to Rhaenyra’s interaction with Rhaenys*, as they watch Laena and Viserys from above. When Rhaenyra asks Rhaenys if she is ok with this, Rhaenys could inform the audience that Rhaenyra’s own mother Aemma was the same age as Laena when the Old King arranged her marriage to Viserys. And before her Rhaenyra’s grandmother Daella was such a delicate young girl when she was married to Lord Rodrik Arryn - seven-and-ten yet, by all accounts, barely out of childhood.

*again, for the sake of this post I am broadly accepting the show's depiction of Rhaenys and her hostile relationship with Rhaenrya.

This would emphasize the systemic generational abuse and trauma of Targaryen girls that Rhaenyra fears, and give the audience a clearer idea of Old King Jaehaerys. I hated the little joke Lyonel makes about the trouble Jaehaerys had with his daughters – not because this isn’t the kind of joke people would have made, but because this is all the audience gets to learn about Jaehaerys and his daughters.

I would also take this opportunity to make clear to the audience what exactly happened in the Great Council at Harrenhall. As the show depicts it, the audience would think Rhaenys had put her name forward against tradition. As I said above, tradition actually dictated that a daughter comes before an uncle, and certainly before a male cousin. The Lords weren’t voting in favour of tradition – they were given the chance by Jaehaerys (who sought to retroactively legitimise his own claim to the throne - his older brother's daughters rightfully came before him) to ignore tradition and let their misogyny pick.

Some of this information could have been delivered during the opening prologue at the Great Council. But there is also space to inform the audience here, by having Rhaenys bitterly recount how she was passed over. Her father was the Old King’s firstborn, by all laws and customs of the Andals and the First Men she was the heir. A daughter comes before an uncle, and certainly before a cousin.

This addition would achieve three things.

Clarify the injustice done to Rhaenys, and the hypocrisy of the Greens’ appeals to custom and tradition.

Emphasise the stakes against Rhaenyra – all law and precedent was on Rhaenys’ side and it still wasn’t enough. Meanwhile her own situation is an entirely radical one.

Make it clear that Vaemond is absolutely not the heir to Driftmark when Laena's daughters come before him, therefore laying the groundwork for later episodes.

In terms of adding screentime to Laena (and Laenor), there is in opportunity in the scene where Rhaenyra picks out the new Kingsguard

Since Rhaenys is watching from the gallery anyway (she sure does like lurking in galleries), her children can also be present. They could be watching excitedly at the knights assorted below, perhaps even interact with Rhaenyra as she playfully asks for their advice. There could be a horrible moment of dramatic irony in which Laenor voices his approval of Rhaenyra picking Ser Criston Cole on the basis of combat experience.

I would end the scene with a moment of Laena lingering on the balcony, and noticing Otto Hightower watching her. This little girl is his daughter’s competition. The uneasy moment passes and she runs off to join her brother.

This would also be fitting as the following scene is of Alicent visiting Viserys and pretending to be interested in his models (directly followed by a scene of her listening to Rhaenyra's fears of getting displaced as heir and telling her not to worry... but sure Rhaenyra owed Alicent her sexual history! 😂). It would add a disturbing thematic throughline in the scene transition - from one potential child bride to another.

Episode 3

We meet teenage Laenor in this episode, so let us also meet teenage Laena and include the cut scene of her claiming Vhagar to end the episode. There is an opportunity to visually parallel Laena and Aemond’s claiming of Vhagar – but for the purposes of this post I’m going to assume budget is an issue.

With this in mind, there are ways around the budget. We could have a scene of Laena walking uphill, and looking down to see Vhagar asleep on the beach below. The camera closes in on a look of determination on her face as the scene cuts to black and the credits roll. Alternatively, assuming an even tighter budget, Laena could be hiking and searching for Vhagar and simply hear a roar in the distance. Maybe she could smile as a shadow flies overhead.

One impact of including this moment would be to make the audience partially associate Vhagar with Laena, therefore making them more sympathetic to Rhaena’s emotional claim. I don’t have patience for the whole “this entitled little black girl thinks she’s entitled to a dragon – dragons aren’t inherited they choose their rider – someone tell this idiot little black girl that a dragon ain’t no slave”. I don’t give a shit who is correct about the fictional science of dragon-taming – I care about a little girl feeling an emotional connection to her dead mother’s dragon.

Moreover, in cutting the scene of Laena claiming Vhagar I think the writers have misunderstood the importance of both this moment and the character. I think they assumed that since Laena dies early we don’t need to spend time with her (even though, again, how we feel about Laena carries into how we feel about her daughters and the succession of Driftmark).

But remember that before Laena claims Vhagar in the show, the ancient dragon is living wild and unclaimed. Rather than leaving Vhagar in the wild, in claiming her Laena brings her into the dance. In the context of the show, Laena's connection to Vhagar is what makes the act of Aemond then claiming her become a cause for conflict between the kids (the conflict between the kids in the book meanwhile was not about Vhagar, but Aemond just being a bully).

There is also another consequence of Laena claiming Vhagar…

Episode 4

Unfortunately there are no Velaryons in episode 4 and few chances to insert them, but there is a way to make their offscreen presence felt and felt hard. Namely, have the Small Council react to the fact that Laena has just claimed fucking Vhagar. Set up just how terrifying it is to not have Vhagar on your side (especially for the benefit of show-only fans). The largest dragon alive, the last of the conqueror’s dragons...

...Claimed by Laena, who just got passed over as Queen Consort. Laena, whose children have a claim to the Iron Throne. The Velaryons, who have been insulted twice over, now have Vhagar.

That is a political headache indeed. All the more important now that Rhaenyra marries Laenor. House Velaryon needs to be brought into the fold. If you're struggling for space in Episode 3 then Laena claiming Vhagar could even be the opening of Episode 4 - the event that sets into motion Viserys' political headache and Rhaenyra's marriage.

I mean, we already have the scene of the small council reacting to Corlys replacing the Crabfeeder as the power in the Stepstones, and Otto delivering the news that Corlys is in negotiations with the sealord of Braavos to marry Laena to the sealords' son. Since we're discussing the implications of House Velaryon entering an alliance with the Free Cities, is it just possibly a teensy weensy bit relevant to mention that Laena rides Vhagar?

Episode 5

First change to this episode isn’t strictly about Laena, but it is about Daemon as a husband, which informs our understanding of his relationship with both Laena and Rhaenyra.

Basically - divorce rock is fucking dumb. Book purism aside (sorry Conman, but Book Daemon had a solid alibi), it demonises an already dark character, who already has plenty of flaws without adding bashing his wife’s head in with a rock. The show doesn’t even fully commit to it, since it doesn’t tell us what exactly Daemon was planning to do before the horse threw Rhea off its back – ask for an annulment? Kill her a different way? Yes it gives us the chance to meet Rhea Royce – and she is iconic – but the cost is stupid and avoidable and damaging to Daemon’s character.

This isn’t to whitewash Daemon – but to stress that just because he is a dark character it doesn’t mean that every possible evil act is on the writer’s table. Yes, I know, this is the guy who sent two assassins to kill a child (unless you subscribe to the theory that Book Mysaria - bitter at losing her own child - had her own interpretation of 'son for a son') – however, he's not the guy who killed the child himself.

Is there a moral difference? I ultimately don't think so, but there is a fascinating psychological difference. Compare to Aemond, who personally beheads the children of House Strong, who murders a fleeing Lucerys in cold blood. Assuming an interpretation of Daemon in which it is him and not Mysaria who orders Blood and Cheese - how much is this Daemon actually willing to get his hands dirty with cowardly tasks? To whom is he willing to commit what evil acts, and how? Does he reconcile his self-image this way, “I’m not the one who killed the kid, it was an assassin”? “I’m not the one who killed Laenor, it was an assassin?”

Because that’s Daemon’s MO*, from Qarl Correy to Blood and Cheese. If he had anything to do with Rhea’s death in the book, it was through an assassin (and again, I think Daemon was a bit preoccupied with, you know, fighting in the stepstones - sometimes people just fall off their horse).

*again, for the sake of argument, assuming it was him

But that wouldn’t have given us the opportunity to see him and Rhea Royce interacting. So between that, and in the spirit of keeping the events of the episode broadly intact, I would have Daemon simply walk away after Rhea hits her head on the ground, the word ‘coward’ ringing in his ears. We don’t know what he planned to do, if he would have gone through with it �� what we do know is that in this moment he wants the outcome but doesn’t want to actually be the one to do it. Rhea Royce isn’t a worthy opponent. Jaehaerys isn’t a worthy opponent.

This sets us up better for his relationship with his next wives. Daemon is capable of dark and violent acts, but he isn't the sort of person to bash his wife's head in with a rock. We can see his tenderness and genuine love for Laena without thinking 'does he merely see her as an obstacle between him and Rhaenyra?'

Getting past the Daemon tangent

In this episode we have a nice scene of Rhaenyra and Laenor negotiating the terms of their marriage. But when it comes to Laena we only get a brief snatch of her friendship with Rhaenyra. And there were plenty of opportunities to see more of that friendship, and of Laena.

Upon their arrival at Driftmark, we could firstly establish more of a presence for teenage Laena as she greets them. Let the camera give her a close up, making eye contact first with Viserys, then with Rhaenyra. In that close up, let the audience see that Laena knows her claiming Vhagar is part of the reason they are here, and she is enjoying it a bit. Aside from giving Laena the respect she deserves, this would establish to the audience just how powerful it is politically to be the rider of Vhagar - adding to the stakes when Aemond later claims her.

Next, I found the bit where both girls are unceremoniously barred from the throne room... very odd and thematically on the nose. We get it, women are barred from making decisions about their own lives etc etc... but we are talking about the crown princess and the rider of Vhagar... and Rhaenys is going to be in the room anyway. Also it's a tad insulting on Viserys' part to order his Kingsguard to bar Corlys' Velaryon's daughter from a room in her own home. Kind of a diplomatic whoopsie.

It would have made more sense if the crown princess and the rider of Vhagar were at least initially both in the room, then perhaps sent away while the adults talk business. We could have even had a little power play by the Velaryons - Laena can offer to escort them to meet her father and take the lead, positioning herself to be walking by the King's side instead of Lyonel. A subtle dig by the Velaryons, to remind Viserys that he passed over Laena as his consort and now he owes them. Bonus points if Laena smiles back at Rhaenyra and Rhaenyra looks amused by the situation (and slowly realising that she might be a little bit attracted to Laena...).

Next up... Rhaenyra and Laenor having an unsupervised walk on the beach? In a world obsessed with premarital virginity? After last episode? It just makes sense to have Laena and Ser Joffrey walking a bit behind them as chaperones. Then while Laenor has his moment with Joffrey in the dunes, Laena and Rhaenyra can continue walking along the beach together. Again, in showing their bond we build a foundation for their alliance over Driftmark and for Rhaenyra’s relationship with her stepdaughters.

The two of them can talk about how they’ll be good-sisters soon, and how now they can finally go flying together, something Laena wanted to do since she was a dragon-obsessed little girl following her older cousin around like a shadow. Before they moved back to Driftmark she used to hope that once Syrax was big enough Rhaenyra would take her for a ride.

We can use this moment to explore the more positive side of the Targaryen’s relationship to the dragons. Yes they can be death and destruction and hubris and arrogance and untameable nature. But they are also a wonder, they are liberty, they are seeing the world as no one else can see. To women in particular, they can be a means of power and agency that they otherwise wouldn't have.

Laena could even note this - she could make a reference to how her claiming of Vhagar has brought about Rhaenyra's betrothal to her brother. Laena has made it so she and her family can't be ignored.

Showing this political awareness by Laena, and at least some kinship between her and Rhaenyra, is important. Because Laena sees the influence she currently holds, and she recognises the implications of how she uses it. They could discuss the sudden flood of suitors flocking Laena's way, and Rhaenyra can admit that Laena's marriage is a source of anxiety to the royal council. They could even joke that Otto must be scratching his head in Oldtown, trying to calculate whether he could successfully offer Gwayne as a suitor, get himself another grandchild with a claim to the Iron Throne.

The implications are clear - you want Laena (and her future children) on your side. And Laena, recognising the impact of the Great Council for female succession, both feels a kinship with Rhaenyra and recognises the long game in supporting her sister-in-law. This will nicely contrast her with Alicent's actions in this episode - where she makes a bold stand in favour of the patriarchy to lash out at Rhaenyra for having premarital sex.

Now, I have mixed feelings about stopping short of having Laena and Rhaenyra discuss (or hint at) betrothals between their future children.

On the one hand, it is critical that this was Laena's wish. Her agency in solidifying the Targaryen-Velaryon alliance, in choosing to help her brother and her friend, in finding a way to one-up her greedy uncle Vaemond and secure Driftmark and the Iron Throne for her daughters - this is non-negotiable to me.

But the purpose of this exercise was to outline how the show's version of events could have still made space for Laena. And the show's version of events places the betrothal of Rhaenyra and Laena's children as the resolution to the conflict of Episode 8 - after Laena is dead. Plus for these versions of the characters, it is important that Rhaenyra offers a betrothal to Alicent. At this point, where they are, to Rhaenyra's knowledge, still friends, she is likely thinking about doing so already. Plus it's not as though Rhaenyra planned from the outset to not have Laenor's children, which increases the strategic necessity of a betrothal with Laena's children.

As a compromise, it is therefore important to at least make clear that Laena would have backed the betrothal. That aside from loving and accepting her brother and the fact that he loved his adopted kids, Laena did support Rhaenyra as queen, and was politically-minded enough to calculate that this alliance was both in their mutual interests and a great big Fuck You to the Grand Council.

Her 'girlbossery' is in politics, not self-immolation.

Now onto the Wedding

First off, give Laena some damn close-ups - remind the audience again of her influence in the marriage. Put her in pride of place even, another subtle dig by the Velaryons. Why stick her in the corner when her brother could be escorting her on his arm? Here is the dragon-riding woman who would have been Queen... look how stunningly gorgeous she is.

On that note, Laena Velaryon Rider of Vhagar certainly should have suitors flocking to dance with her, there's no need for her to be stuck at the table with uncle Vaemond for as long as she is in the episode. Yes she makes eyes at Daemon across the table... but she can just as easily do that from the dance floor. Again, surrounded by suitors, maybe a certain Braavosi guest could try his luck... before Daemon swoops in.

There are also plenty of moments for Laena and Rhaenyra to interact. The camera could show them smiling in greeting at each other, maybe passing each other during the dancing, maybe throw in a bit of sapphic subtext ;)

The camera could also cut to Alicent watching them from the table – she is replaced by the girl who escaped her fate, and who shares dragonriding with Rhaenyra. There are part of a world that Alicent can never join (or rather would never, Rhaenyra did offer her the chance to fly together), and have a means of freedom within the patriarchy that she will never know (that she turned down – her friend was right there, she could have asked her for help...)

Finally, in the episode we get a brief shot of Laena looking anxiously for her brother in the crowd during the chaos. It would take a mere couple of seconds to add Laena rushing to her brother’s side as he sobs over Joffrey’s mutilated body, to show her holding her brother close. This will build on the bond we saw in episode 1 – where Laena seeks her brother’s comfort during the tourney – and make Laenor's grief at losing his sister hit harder later.

Like, here we have Laena trying to push through a crowd to get to her brother... followed by a dispersed crowd with no Laena in sight. What gives?

We could also, you know, have Laena present during the actual wedding ceremony perhaps? Where is she??? That's her grieving brother getting married. Even Alicent is there (presumably just before running off to recruit Crispy and get him off for murder).

Episode 6

Unfortunately, in order to stick to the confines of the way this season is structured, we have to stay in Pentos on Daemon and Laena's inexplicably long honeymoon. Episode 6 needs to have Rhaenyra without the support of having Daemon and Laena nearby, so they can't be back at Driftmark as they are in the book.

In the book, this is the pre-Red Spring period where Rhaenyra has come into her own and is relatively thriving - Otto is in Oldtown, Lyonel is Hand, she has Harwin, she has Laenor happily claiming their children as his heirs, she has Laena (and with her, Vhagar), and yes she has Daemon. Until the Red Spring kicks into gear and she starts losing everything but Daemon - she loses Laenor, Laena, Harwin, she is ordered away from court, and Otto is back as Hand.

Since we've lost Rhaenyra's childhood of being bullied by her stepmother, this episode can no longer be the high-point before the Red Spring - it has to compensate by reversing things to make adult Rhaenyra isolated and humiliated in her own home (again, as book Rhaenyra was in childhood). Episode 7 then concerns Rhaenyra's reunion with Daemon, which necessitates placing him on a different continent in Episode 6 (butterfly effects include Laenor having to 'die' after his own funeral, while Harwin now dies before the funeral - Daemon can't be a suspect in Laenor's murder if he's on a separate continent, so the deaths must be swapped around).

Which is a bit of a mess, because Episode 5 implies Daemon starts courting Laena at least partly out of ambition - she rides Vhagar, their children have a claim to both Driftmark and the Iron Throne etc. The show goes as far as to open Episode 5 with Daemon murdering his first wife with a rock- why is he now wasting a powerful marriage by hiding in Pentos? Where did this come from? The episode does admittedly have Laena say this isn't the Daemon she married... but it doesn't properly explain how or why this came to be.

One suggestion is that he is moping over not being married to Rhaenyra and dissatisfied with Laena as a replacement. And er... he was literally courting Laena at the wedding? Yes I know he and Rhaenyra were flirting with each other, but they were both fully aware it was not happening. Again, he was literally courting Laena - signalling he wasn't about to petition Viserys to cancel Rhaenyra's wedding having now freed himself from his first wife.

Even if you want to insult Laena like this, how is it in character for him to mope on Pentos when they can do that from Driftmark? Is he trying to go cold turkey from Rhaenyra? Does that really override his ambition, his love for his brother, his hatred of the greens etc? Book purism aside, is it really consistent with his actions in episode 5 - which include murdering his first wife and courting Laena the Rider of Vhagar.

The other suggestion is that he is upset that his brother doesn't want him around. Which again isn't really consistent with his actions in episode 5 - which include him immediately ignoring the fact that Viserys had banished him, swaggering into the wedding, and easily getting away with it, even flirting with Rhaenyra in front of his brother.

So we have to reconcile the Doylist need to separate Daemon and Laena from Rhaenyra, while maintaining character consistency.

If we have to keep them in Pentos, we could tie it in with the Triarchy somehow? Have Daemon and Laena securing diplomatic relations with Pentos, to ensure an alliance against the Three Daughters possibly rising again, perhaps even at Viserys' behest? And maybe Daemon read this as getting banished by his brother one time too many, so he's prolonging their trip because he's upset his brother doesn't want him around? After all the last time Daemon was dealing with his brother's rejection he threw himself into fighting the Triarchy - so it would be consistent.

It would also be a further mention of the Triarchy in this episode, connecting to Rhaenyra's suggestion of military installations in the stepstones, and better set up their return during the Battle of the Gullet. Then instead of performing for the Prince of Pentos, Laena and Daemon could be intimidating a representative from Tyrosh, Lys or Myr.

Daemon aside, we could at least have Laena explicitly bristle at being taken away from the political action at home.

I mean, couldn't the writers have had Laena talk about literally anything other than wanting to die a dragonrider’s death? The entire self-immolation shtick is such a gross and stupid attempt at girlbossifying her death, and puts Laena into the position of selfishly traumatizing her daughters (not that the show does much with this trauma).

The biggest and most obvious change is of course to stick to Laena’s death in the books, as it is so much more tender and emotionally moving. After half a season of establishing her love of dragons and flying, Laena tries to fly Vhagar one last time but collapses. Daemon gently carries a sobbing Laena back to bed.

Her last moments can therefore be spent with her daughters. Maybe she passes on a legacy to them, some final words that they take with them into the dance. Or maybe her final moments are a lot less comforting, maybe she continues to cry for Daemon to carry her back to Vhagar. Maybe her daughters get to say goodbye, maybe one of them runs away, unable to face her mother’s final moments. Anything to say goodbye to the character, and to begin Rhaena and Baela’s journey, that isn’t just the shock value of a ‘girlboss’ burning herself alive.

Back to Laena talking about literally anything else.

In her conversations with Daemon, I would again establish Laena’s position on the succession of Driftmark, and her support of Rhaenyra. As she’s telling Daemon that she wants to go home, she could perhaps say that Laenor’s letters worry her. He doesn't say it outright, but she can tell he is scared for his sons. Maybe she can say that she knows her uncle Vaemond. His eye is on Driftmark*. Which puts those boys in danger. She can then tell Daemon that her brother needs them, that Rhaenyra needs them. That they need to go home. That she wants to go home. That she doesn't want to be hiding away in Pentos while the future of female succession in Westeros is being decided. She is the rider of Vhagar with a claim to the throne - she has power and she wants to use it.

She could even give Daemon an ultimatum: once the baby is born I'm hopping on Vhagar and bringing my children back to Westeros with or without you. Give us a sense of what could have been if she had only lived.

*if we could only have the action take place on Driftmark, we could replace the scenes of the Prince of Pentos or Laena's dreams of self-immolation with... Laena interacting with Vaemond. He could be making snarky comments about her brother and his children, with Laena coolly daring him to tell her what he's implying. He could even try to hint at a betrothal with Baela, seeking a way to claim Driftmark through her. Laena, seeing through his bullshit and reminded of her own near brush with child marriage, tries to conceal her anger as she smoothly refuses his proposal. She could even hint she already has someone in mind for Baela. (I actually want this so badly I would contrive to have an unwelcome Vaemond turn up in Pentos for this exact purpose).

Unfortunately if we accept the changes to the show then, again, Laena can’t be the one to actually arrange the betrothal between her daughters and Rhaenyra's sons like she does in the book. The show has structured things so the betrothal does not happen until the end of episode 8, long after Laena is dead. The tension of episode 8 revolves around the question of salvaging the Targaryen-Velaryon alliance.

But, again, to compensate we can make Laena’s wishes clear. We can establish beyond a doubt that she would have approved of the betrothal. We can, you know, not erase the voice of a black woman while whitewashing the man who tried to usurp her daughters. We can do the bare minimum to not sideline one of the few black women in fantasy we have.

We can say goodbye to Laena not as a self-immolating girlboss, but as a politically-astute woman who loved the freedom of flying, who fought for her family, who left a legacy for her daughters. A woman who would have changed the entire history of Westeros if childbirth hadn't taken her away.

[lovemyromance]

I took ONE business law class and did great so I think I'm a lawyer or whateva

But if you look at the Gwynriel argument from a purely logical perspective, you can break it down into 2 parts:

1) Azriel felt a spark in his chest picturing Gwyn's joy

2) That makes them mates

In order to prove that hypothesis, you'd have to assume then, that:

1. All cases of "spark" when used by SJM indicate a future mating bond.

2. When SJM writes a mated pairing, they have to have had the "spark"

And to be fair, this is the case in a few couples she has written.

But it is not the case for all.

And therein lies the problem. If the statement you are using to base 99% of your theories on is not a valid, true statement - then how is any resulting theory using that statement going to hold up against basic logic?

If SJM used the word "spark" when referring Feyre & Tamlin, Lorcan & Aelin - both not mated couples - then she does not always use the word "spark" to indicate a future mating bond.

If SJM didn't use spark with Nessian, then she does not always use the word "spark" to indicate a future mating bond.

Therefore the statement that Azriel & Gwyn are mates because SJM used the word "spark" is an illlgical statement.

There is really only one key indicator of a mating bond between a couple, and that's if mate behavior. Mate behavior is something we can predominantly see in the males SJM writes. In her universe we know the following about mates:

Males always know first

Males feel protective over their mates

Males feel a tie, a pull to their mates

When their mate is in danger, they go batshit crazy

Let's apply the following framework to Elucien, for example, a couple we know is mates but hasn't yet dealt with the mating bond.

1. Lucien knew Elain was his mate the moment she got spat out of the cauldron

2. Lucien had an urge to protect Elain post cauldron

3. Lucien feels the tie to Elain

4. Lucien was snarling at Tamlin to get her back when Mor took the sisters to the NC

We can follow out the same 4 points for Rhys and Cassian and any mate in SJM's universe. This is a case where all mates always have these 4 points.

Now let's look at Azriel & Gwyn.

1. Mates always know first

As of HOFAS, Azriel says he does not have a mate. Even after knowing Gwyn for years and spending every day with her in ACOSF, he still does not say he has a mate

2. Urge to protect

Azriel feels a generic urge to protect everyone, that's true. But he is not overly protective of Gwyn in any shape or form. I think he's more protective of Nesta than Gwyn

3. There is no tie

We've had one POV with azriel where he does interact with Gwyn, and nowhere in it does he describe a pull to her or a tie to her or any mating bond type bridge between souls shit. Again, he'd notice that. It's kinda hard to miss when you feel a tug towards another person in your soul

4. There's no crazy batshit behavior

Azriel has seen Gwyn in danger/life threatening situations twice now. The first time, she didn't have any training and the most Azriel did was give her his cloak before continuing on his mission. He went there on an order, and then after stopping Gwyn's SA, he continued on his mission. He didn't take the time to see her after or check on her or really comfort her. Even when she got taken for the BR, Azriel barely reacts. He is calm and undeterred and says they have to go save ERIS. A direct comparison is Cassian, who was having a meltdown when Nesta was taken. It's like SJM was showing us "see? This is how a mate reacts"

All in all, there's absolutely no valid evidence that suggests Azriel & Gwyn are mates.

Your honor I rest my case 🖐️😪

[giraffe-lesbian]

On DAV Companions...

I'm still trying to organize my own thoughts on Dragon Age: Veilguard as a whole. I think I'm like a lot of people, enjoying some of it, unsure about other parts of it, disliking others.

A part of me can't help but wonder if perhaps it's not necessarily the companions who are weak as characters - although, I do believe arguments can be made that some are much more weaker than others - but rather appearing worse due to the larger framework of the game that ultimately engages very little with previous lore.

This is by no means meant to excuse the quality of the companions in Veilguard. Rather, it's just something I've been thinking about that I think might have some merit. If Veilguard companions engage more with the expectations of the players in that they should act and speak as characters rooted in this world and showcase its many intricacies, would they feel as one dimensional as they sometimes do?

Something I'm particularly noticed with companion banter in Veilguard and in other games is that Veilguard conversations revolve less around the characters themselves but more about their development seen only in the game. Veilguard companions, in essence, just react to what is happening to them and don't always offer much outside of that.

In my experience thus far at around 50+ hours in, Veilguard conversations arise mostly around the status of an individual companion's quest line. If they do talk of other things, they usually don't have greater significance of the current state of affairs or the world at large. A few details of the companion might be shared, but anything revealed doesn't say much for the larger world state... Whereas, in Inquisition, I remember more companion banter revolving and engaging around an individual companion's background and the larger way that background plays into their ideals, views, morals, and relationships with other companions. Inquisition banter engaged more with the lore at large, and lore and the status of the companion themselves seemed to inform a character's stance more than anything.

To me, Veilguard banter is based upon reaction - reaction specifically to quests in-game. Inquisition is based moreso upon explanation and expansion. You received whole stories in Inquisition banter, I feel, whereas you get only inklings of that in Veilguard.

I think there's also something to be seen in the simple fact that you could go and ask an Inquisition companion questions for days, it felt, but unless there's a quest or official conversation to be had, you cannot engage with the characters in the slightest. No greetings, no casual conversation, no Q&As. The same even goes for NPCs - the extra conversation with Maevaris Tilani left me sourly disappointed with the lack of opportunity for questions. Imagine the things you could have asked and learned!

(And imagine what a conversation with her would have looked in Inquisition. I think in that difference lies something of importance.)

There just simply isn't the same engagement with companions in DAV as in Inquisition, and I can't help but wonder if that colors a player's experience with a companion to some degree and if that could have been improved had the characters been better integrated into the actual world of Thedas.

[thefadecodex]

As briefly explored in Theory of Spirit Complexity, where we examined the nuanced relationship between emotions and spirits, and further expanded upon in Spirit Alchemy: Paths to Purpose, I aim to explore even deeper into the concept of how spirits can "evolve," growing in complexity and purpose over time.

The Spirit Continuum: Wisp → Emotion → Virtue → Ideal

A Framework for Exploring Spirit Complexity in The Fade Codex

This framework provides criteria to distinguish between the increasing complexity of spirits, examining their embodiment of emotion, virtue, and ideal. The transition between these stages isn’t always clear, but this theory aims to outline how spirits evolve and interact across the continuum.

Trying to determine what would be a virtue vs ideal is the most challenging part, so below describes these concepts given how they are being used by The Fade Codex for this theory. 

1. Wisps (Most Primal)

"Flickering, Instinctual, and Unformed."

Definition: Wisps are the simplest and least developed forms of spirits, little more than drifting fragments of emotional energy or undefined intent. They have a lot of potential for growth.

Core Criteria:

Primary Nature: Embody fragmented emotions, fleeting impressions, or vague intent.

Behavior: React instinctively.

Complexity: No self-awareness, no clear intent, and no capacity for reflection.

Examples:

A flicker of joy

A ripple of fear

A wisp of mischief

How to Identify a Wisp:

Is it 'formless', flickering, and reactive?

Does it lack any clear sense of identity, purpose, or reflection?

Does it behave like a fragment of an emotion rather than a distinct entity?

Key Question: “Is this merely an echo or fragment of an emotional current, without self-awareness or intent?”

2. Emotion-Based Spirits (Simple Spirits)

"Raw, Instinctive, and Reactive."

Definition:Emotion-Based Spirits are primal entities that embody a singular emotional state or feeling. They act instinctively, often lacking deeper self-awareness or long-term purpose.

Core Criteria:

Primary Nature: Embody a raw emotional state or feeling.

Behavior: Reactive and instinctual, driven entirely by their core emotion.

Complexity: Limited self-awareness; they do not question their purpose.

Examples:

Comfort: Seeks to soothe and ease distress, offering immediate relief without addressing long-term causes or consequences.

Curiosity: Driven to explore, discover, and learn without moral alignment.

How to Identify an Emotion-Based Spirit:

Does the spirit operate primarily on a single, raw emotion?

Are its actions instinctive rather than reflective?

Does it lack broader philosophical or moral alignment?

Key Question: “Is the spirit reacting purely based on an emotional state?”

3. Virtue-Based Spirits (Intermediate Spirits)

"Purposeful, Reflective, and Morally Aligned."

Definition:Virtue-Based Spirits represent moral or ethical values derived from emotional roots. They demonstrate intention, reflection, and a clearer sense of purpose.

Core Criteria:

Primary Nature: Embody a virtue or moral principle derived from emotional roots.

Behavior: Purposeful, with clear moral or ethical alignment guiding their actions.

Complexity: Moderate self-awareness; they can question their role and purpose.

Examples:

Valor: Represents courage and strength in the face of fear.

Compassion: Embodies kindness and empathy, actively seeking to alleviate suffering.

Justice: Strives for fairness, equality, and righting wrongs.

How to Identify a Virtue-Based Spirit:

Does the spirit act with a clear moral or ethical purpose?

Is its behavior reflective rather than purely reactive?

Does it demonstrate awareness of consequences and long-term outcomes?

Does it inspire or guide mortals in line with its virtue?

Key Question: “Does the spirit’s behavior demonstrate a guiding principle or moral alignment beyond raw emotional instinct?”

4. Ideal-Based Spirits (Most Complex Spirits)

"Abstract, Self-Aware, and Interconnected."

Definition:Ideal-Based Spirits embody abstract, interconnected systems of values, philosophies, or universal truths. They are highly self-aware, complex entities with far-reaching influence.

Core Criteria:

Primary Nature: Represent abstract ideals or multi-faceted philosophical concepts.

Behavior: Deliberate, with deep reflection and long-term strategic goals.

Complexity: Profound self-awareness and the ability to question or redefine their purpose.

Examples:

Wisdom: Embodies knowledge, reflection, and insight.

Benevolence: Represents compassion, protection, and justice on a grand scale.

Eulogy: Represents reflection, remembrance, and honoring of loss.

How to Identify an Ideal-Based Spirit:

Does the spirit represent an interconnected system of values or abstract philosophy?

Are its actions part of a larger plan or long-term goal?

Does it demonstrate significant self-awareness, questioning, or redefining its role?

Does it inspire widespread cultural or spiritual significance among mortals?

Key Question: “Does the spirit’s nature transcend individual moral actions to embody a larger, interconnected system of meaning or purpose?”

Spirit Evolution Pathways

Exploring the Evolution of Spirits Across the Continuum

Spirits are not static beings; they evolve through interaction, reflection, and transformative experiences. Let’s focus on an example to lock in the understanding of how a spirit might ascend to Wisdom—one of the highest forms of an Ideal-Based Spirit—we can examine the pathways of evolution using emotion, virtue, and ideal as building blocks.

1. Understanding Spirit Fusion and Evolution

The Role of Interconnected Values

To our knowledge, spirits don’t simply “merge” their concepts—they grow by internalizing the lessons of other spirits they interact with or by reflecting on their experiences. Evolution isn’t linear; it’s a network of interconnected relationships between emotions, virtues, and ideals based on what experience the spirit is having.

Emotion-Based Spirits can provide the impulse for growth.

Virtue-Based Spirits provide the moral framework or guiding principles.

Ideal-Based Spirits represent the culmination of these elements into abstract philosophies.

2. Pathway Examples to Wisdom

Summary: “A spirit that learns, explores, and confronts difficult truths may evolve into a Spirit of Wisdom by synthesizing knowledge and insight.”

Summary: “A spirit that accumulates knowledge while maintaining balance between justice and mercy may ascend to Wisdom, acting as a steward of understanding and fairness.”

[talenlee]

Dev Pile 2025-11 — Blood And Bones

Starting next week, I will be in a classroom with a bunch of students talking about ideation and experimentation. That’s going to involve some generative tools and showing them ways that they can use those tools to launch off ideas. My plan is to take them the skeleton of Moonshiners and show them the way that these tools can be used to generate the templates of card faces. Then, when I have those concept assets generated, I can show them the steps I go through to take those ideas and make them into my own.

The aim here is to demonstrate the use of these tools as a kind of word calculator. I use Excel to do math for me, and I use it to generate random things. I use texture libraries and public domain art, I know that there is a value to having convenient things to prime the pump, to set up a template.

Anyway, because I have Moonshiners in a skeletal form, and I want to use that class exercise to demonstrate the process on that skeleton, what I’m going to do this week is talk a bit about progress on Bloodwork.

LaunchTableTop is my current toolkit for game making. This means that I have a good framework for volume of cards I can jam in a box, and, indeed, the box itself. I can look at the example of Cafe Romantica, our game they’ve printed, and use that as my framework for how many pieces I want to go into a box. That’s about 120 cards, and some tokens.

Bloodwork is meant to be an asymmetrical game with symmetrical pieces. That is, the players are both playing clans of vampires, and Old Vampires and Young Vampires treat their resources very differently. The Old Vampires have institutional power and can carry resources from turn to turn, with a slowly growing base of power. They’re supposed to win end games, but also take some time ‘waking up,’ while Young Vampires have to recruit and construct themselves out of what’s available. There’s a common area, called the Street, which has resources in it that players can access, but will react differently based on what gang they are.

Stuff in Bloodwork is meant to be therefore, just a set of player mats, showing the nature of your gang and how to play them, fundamentally:

There’s a vampire that’s a multi-level marketing scam, arranging its cards in a pyramid. The start of the game, this player takes 24 cards, and deals them out face-down in front of them. Each turn, they take one of these cards and flip it face up, then takes an action based on what’s visible in that tier for that clan. Originally, this was going to rely on dice rolls to trigger cascades in the organisation. They still care about what’s in the street, though, because while they can’t recruit, any thralls in the pyramid can be swapped with Vampires in the Street, and, they can exploit figures in the Street to get bonus actions.

There’s a vampire that’s running a cryptocurrency scam. They have a resource that drags Thralls out of the Street automatically, and they follow one of four different fake currencies they have going on. At the beginning of their turn, their weakest cryptocurrency (with the fewest thralls) collapses, losing all its thralls and that’s the amount of resources they get to work with that turn. They have to spend resources to establish a new cryptocurrency to call Thralls back, and at the end of their turn, these thralls are dealt out at random between their currencies.

Then there’s the vampire that’s running a police force. Their organisation is a single line. Every turn, they pick a card in their line to ‘retire’ and it fires off everything on one side or the other, then slides the rest in place. This means that they have their existing power structure, and it does change and have good or bad days, but it’s just a matter of rearranging who’s in charge.

The idea I’m currently brewing here is the idea that any given game of Bloodwork has to feature an Old vampire and a New Vampire building out of a shared common deck, where the Old Vampire has the victory condition in their deck somehow, and it’s the job of the Young Vampire gang to find it out. That means the Young Vampire can be aggressive and have limited ways to handle being attacked, while the Old Vampire can be defensive and have limited ways to handle doing damage. In a lot of ways I’m borrowing from the concept space of Netrunner with this idea.

In the original form of the game, it was based on Liar’s Dice; players would roll a dice and then tell the truth or lie about what in their tableau fired. But you could lie, and another player could call you out, and if they did call you out, it meant you’d given up paying attention to one of a small pool of victory-point jackpots known as the ancient tombs.

In this new idea, the game becomes straight up head to head, but where Netrunner was a game of asymmetrical pieces with a pre-emptive deckbuild, the Old Vampires get a cache of cards to start with, and they view the street as a place to play, a way to deploy threats. They can rile up vampires on the street, making Young Vampires have to deal with them, or fight them, before they can recruit them. They can deprive the Young Vampires of access to Thralls, and choke off their resources.

That means the game is going to feature these Young/Old playmats, then along with that a collection of 120+ish cards. Of those cards, the majority will be Thralls, Vampires, Resources and Events, and then there will be the return to those Ancient Tombs that the Old Vampires are protecting as a base of their power, for consolidation and control. They’ll have the same back as other cards – and depending on what the Old Vampire is doing, those cards will rest in some space or other that other Vampires can try and attack.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[adrian-sheppy]

ur timeline post is insane and fantastic do the others have a grasp on or figure out, or even believe, that the prime timeline is just that—the original? or is that just the naming system? how would they react to that sort of explanation? who wants to return to their timeline first/is that the goal overall for any of them? :’0

to preface, i tend to use timeline/universe interchangeably.. ok . long post time. be warned.

1. do the others understand they're in the prime timeline?

as of right now, this system uses "interuniversal" passports planted on everybody by gee-man as they enter the prime timeline. this was to get around the problem of people having the same name. I love freemanverse but i could not understand how they came to the conclusions of accepting our third-party naming conventions. why would freemind call himself freemind when his name is gordon freeman? martini (who can go by his middle name) doesn't get the "feetman" name joke until way later, so calling him that off the bat would be weird (his passport changes  from gordon "martini" freeman to gordon "martini" feetman when the feet pic bit occurs). No one's name is ACTUALLY barmey, mindrian, freerun, freemercy, etc... but it is on the passport! and they use these names when referring to each other.

okay, so. the naming thing was the main function of the passport, but it has other standard information on it

Dates of birth - explanatory

date issued - release date of their IN REAL LIFE series (I.e Gordon is Nov 19 1998)

date expired - res cas day according to the prime timeline

(These three dates are often conflicting and confusing, which is as intended. They all exist in different years BUT the events of their universes are taking place at the same time. Timelines are synced up.)

AND THEN! place of origin. Every timeline gets assigned a number based on when they were chronologically conceived (for the most part. it's not a strict rule. it can be bent for convenience or funny/cool purposes).

ips: 000

og gordon: 001

freemind: 002

gorgeous: 003

so on and so forth. i like to pair these letters with numbers (HL-001, M-002 (M, not FM, because it's "Mindverse."*) G-003, etc)  seeing as HL-001 is One, they can come to the conclusion themselves that it's the "prime" timeline. whether they ACTUALLY call it that is debatable. i just do it because star trek does, but this requires a more "robust" naming system since it's more than just "prime," "alternative," and "mirror."

*Mindverse technically has alternative timelines too, but we're going with the one where gordon enters the test chamber (not stark) and gordon would've been taken by g-man (not felix)

2. How would they react to that sort of explanation?

Everything is very overwhelming and nonsensical. Since the collisions take place (for the most part) over the course of the rescas, most of them are too stressed to try to fully grasp the situation. They have their interuniversal passports, which just materialized on their person/with their belongings when they get sucked into the prime timeline, so they know SOMETHING IS UP. Some care more than others, like Freemind and Martini (not a game au) both freak out. Freemind probably thinks he's high for a bit even though he doesn't FEEL high. Martini thinks he's going crazy or hit his head, which doesn't help when the science team acts like this is a perfectly normal thing (while it's not a game, they all have their "npc" quirks). The science team is also the narrative vessel which can help explain the phenomenon. emphasis on can. Coomer understands the framework, while Tommy has a more intimate knowledge. But neither explain anything too quickly. Coomer wants playcoins and Tommy would acknowledge the "glitching" and correctly identify it as dangerous and warn the others about it.

The timeline information is accepted. There's not much they can do. They're in an alternate universe? Ok. Well, first things first, don't die from rescas. It's not until later that the information is DIGESTED. This would be during any downtime they have while going through Black Mesa (think how the HLVRAI crew took the occasional nap) and then when they enter the domestic arc. For the most part, everyone thinks that they've somehow JUMPED universes, not that their universe and another have collided together. I guess this could be considered a "plot twist" and if I was writing a comic (comic ver 2.5!) there would be a somber moment where everyone who cares realizes that THIS is there home now. it's familiar and unfamiliar. they know it but they don't. No one is devastated, but it's a very aimless feeling. Characters like Freerun, Gorgeous, Freecat, and Freemercy are "emotionally detached"   from their timelines, so their reactions range from not caring to easily adjusting.

3. who wants to go home and is that an overall goal?

I think Martini, Freemind, and Cicero would all want to go home, Martini more urgently since he has Joshie. No one really understands the depth that Cicero wants to go home due to language barrier, but it is assumed. Freemind wants to go home moreso out of paranoia that being in a different universe was harmful to him on a molecular/quantum level (it's not) and that having multiple of him around is WEIRD and he wanted to go back to being the one-and-only while reveling in the fact he was cosmically significant enough to have parallel universes based on him.

Everyone makes the assumption that there is a home to return to. Their first goal is to survive the rescas. Once they get through that, they awkwardly all move in together (where else are they supposed to go?). This living situation is considered temporary... but.. it's not.

(malmo by mook is one of THE freemanverse songs no i do not take criticism)

Their expectations are curbed quickly. At this point one of the gmen (likely mr.coolatta or gee-man) or tommy would just come out and say yeah there is no other (relevant) universe. it's just this one now. (the merging process is... difficult to explain so I'm not going  to try right now. maybe later..). Cicero wanted to go home because people understood them there and thats where all his friends were. but Molly and others (sugar man , corp) are here now, and his new friends are making the effort to break the language gap. Martini wanted his son and he got his son. Freemind has an actual group of people who care about and support him, something he's not used to having (and barmey is there too. giggles. grins.). No one is particularly upset at learning the prime timeline was now also THEIR timeline since their . liek. hierarchy of needs gets filled. it's like if your house burned down but it didnt ACTUALLY burn down, it just FEELS like it did, and then there was an exact copy in its place with miniscule (but noticeable) differences. like something changed and there's a feeling of loss but you actually haven't lost anything. it's sobering and might be upsetting for a little bit, but it's also familiar and comforting. its ok. they all have gained something now. f... family. found family . grins. smiles even.

[heroesriseandfall]

Part of what’s so fun about the earliest Tim comics is how he is clearly an outsider with an abnormal amount of information and self-investment. He has spent about 4 years learning things by guesses and intuition and a child’s passionate detective work, all without ever actually talking to anyone directly. He thinks he knows…but he doesn’t.

He knows their identities, he’s super passionate about what those identities symbolize, he knows their addresses and a creepy amount about their schedules and associates. He knows the stories he’s found in newspapers and on tv or that he’s seen himself. He remembers meeting Dick, and seeing Batman, and he’s seen them again many times since, from a distance or in photos/videos. But he doesn’t know anything else! And most importantly, he doesn’t know them personally in the way he’ll end up knowing them over time.

He didn’t actually know where their base was until Dick showed him the Batcave! He’d never actually met Alfred despite knowing his name! He knew the places Dick lived in New York but he didn’t know the messy situation that led to Dick moving out of Kory’s apartment! He essentially studied Batman and Robin for years and yet still, he has to badger Dick for more information on the history of Robin because Tim was a child and not there during that history, no matter how much of a Robin fan he was.

His only clues as to how to navigate their emotions and personalities is based on guessing how they might react, he doesn’t have the experiential framework to actually know. He assumes Dick will be upset to hear Tim talk about his parents dying, so he avoids bringing it up and apologizes when he does. And he’s not wrong, Dick is a bit upset to talk about it, but Tim doesn’t actually know the feelings Dick has on it or how he’d handle those feelings. (He probably doesn’t know Dick has been going to therapy.)

And Tim initially assumes Dick must take on the Robin mantle and support Batman, completely unaware of exactly how complicated and unfitting and bad that is for Dick at this point. To Tim, Dick is his Robin! Of course he is the perfect person to fulfill the role of Robin. But to Dick, he has set Robin aside, he has been building independence from Bruce as he grapples with the ways Bruce treated him over the years. He has already become someone new and cannot return to what is, for him, his child self. Tim doesn’t see this! He knows the fun facts but he doesn’t know anything beyond that! (Until later.)

(Tim knows about Jason, but he does not know Jason. He had never met him. And yet he spends the next several years until Jason’s return telling Dick that he thinks about Jason and what it means to be the third Robin every day. Jason might as well be fiction to him, existing in his mind, in legends, and in the ripples he left behind.)

[psychoticallytrans]

I mainly talk about men and women because those two genders seem to be the most common, and have the most data around them. I know the most about them, and am most able to be articulate about them. Being more common, however, doesn't mean more important, or more central. A lot of people seem to treat "man" and "woman" as some kind of gender and sexuality "landmark", with everything else defined in opposition or relation to them, like they are more "real" than other genders.

For example, the concept of bisexuality. Most people take it as attraction to men and women. Most people on tumblr include nonbinary people too. But despite that the most common definition I see is attraction to two or more genders, many people seem to have no conception of the idea that a bisexual person could be attracted to only one of the binary genders, or neither of them, and still very much be bisexual. The second most common definition, "genders like and unlike your own", still does not have to include binary genders, because many bisexual people are not one of the binary genders.

There's also the fact that the three primary categories I see nonbinary people sorted into is "transfem" "transmasc" and occasionally "transneutral". It... bothers me, especially "transneutral", because neutral compared to what? Is every gender that isn't "man" or "woman" neutral? That doesn't ring true to me at all, based on what I know of the depth and variety of nonbinary gender. Worse, "transneutral" is almost always left out of posts about theory, culture, history, etc. It feels like taking a huge, diverse group of people, putting them in "misc", and then setting it aside. That's wrong. It feels to me like we have a huge gap in language for discussing nonbinary identity and experiences, and so we end up kludging together theory from the two most common genders to fit a vast range of genders. It's functional, in some ways, particularly for describing how society reacts to people they perceive as wrong men or wrong women. But it often seems to me that we use a binary-centric framework less because society is focused on the binary, and more because it's convenient. It requires less challenging of one's own concept of the binary genders and what lays outside of them.

That bothers me. It bothers me a lot.

If anyone has better frameworks or missing language to introduce me to, I'm listening.

[eiceocft]

" "When will it be day, comrade?" I always hear this question, that they asked each other, comrades, while an old cruiser in the harbour yelled at full blast: Revolution! "

[ QUAND FERA-T-IL JOUR CAMARADE // MIREIELLE MATHIEU]

WHEN DOES THE LEFT GO TOO FAR?

A video exhibiting all of the times the right wing/fascists have said that the left was "going too far"!

When somebody tells you your ideas are radical, communist, or "impossible" - remember that all of those things are true, within the capitalist imperialist framework. This system was not designed for the rights of the many. Those rights had to be hard fought for against the system, and each and every single time the people who fought for those rights were persecuted, were beaten down by law enforcement, and most of all - told that they were being radicals. That they were going too far.

Remember, "too far" is anything past what the current system allows. The system the powers of fascism uphold. If you find that the system has outlawed your rights, your safety, your friends and family, and you - advocating for your own life is going "too far" in their eyes. If the fascists start to sweat, and say that "you're going too far" - you are on the right path.

The fascists like having you afraid. They like making you feel isolated, small, helpless, and most of all they like to pretend that they are a big scary and unstoppable force. Thats why they hate when we organize, when we publicly show that we have the numbers and encourage people to join us - that we won't lie down, shut up, and take it - and we make ourselves stronger, more organized, and more well armed. Capitalists will fire you from your job youve dedicated your life to to save a cent, Imperialists will take your land to mine it for resources in the name of "national security" and kill your people, and the Fascists will erode your rights and hurt your family based off of ignorance. The common thread between all of these groups is they think you are prey and they are invulnerable predator.

Organize. Stand your ground. Be loud, be proud. Make fascists afraid again.

This video reminds us of some of the times that the left "went too far". Such as, in order of appearance:

Protests standing with Palestine

Protesting climate change

Protesting oil pipelines being built over Indigenous clean water zones

Occupy Wallstreet / protesting wealth inequality

Womens Suffrage / gender equality

Stonewall protest for LGBTQ rights

Anti war [Iraq/Vietnam/Cuba] protests

Nuclear weapon de-proliferation protests

Civil rights / Black rights in america

Black panthers defending communities

Ending apartheid in South Africa

Minority groups legally arming themselves

Establishing an Anti-Fascist group and counter-protesting fascists

Thomas Sankara protecting Burkina Faso from outside imperialism, and Ibrahim Traore picking up the torch

Dr. Fidel Castro defending Cuba from the Bay of Pigs American invasion

Dr. Mohammad Najibullah and Babrak Karmal, leaders of Afghanistan during the communist era that gave women equality, industrialized the country, and brought equity to all

The Soviet Union defending itself from the Siege of Leningrad by the Nazis

The USSR pushing back the Third Reich into Berlin

The Red Army liberating the Auschwitz concentration camp

Taking thousands of Nazi officers prisoner

The Soviets destroying symbols of Nazism

Not a single one of these things was done by insisting on working together with the fascists in a system of their design. This is why they get angry and afraid when you want to change that system. They have reacted the same to all of the aforementioned events. Do not let that discourage you, because despite those reactions, all of the aforementioned things happened anyway.

Not a single one of our civil rights or strides into progress was made through asking our oppressors. When the road ahead seems dark, think of all the achievements listed; and remember they all happened in approximately the last 125 years. All of that change in the span of less than two lifetimes.

Can you imagine what the world will look like in another two lifetimes from now?

With hard work, it will look like something beautiful for everybody.