#Source Code Analysis

[fumifooms]

You’re the resident chilchuck expert, so I was wondering about it there’s any canon evidence that he did smoke or drink alcohol when the kids were younger. I always thought it was something he picked up due to the strain of long jobs, when the kids were already older, but you seem to think differently and I was wondering if there was anything in canon that made you think that way!

Now that you mention it I guess it’s true there’s no evidence he did. Smoking we literally only know he does at all because of one post-canon panel where he has a pipe, so no, maybe this stick-looking thing in the panel below too though, I’m not familiar with medieval blunts eh. We’ve only gotten one panel of him and his daughters interacting when he was younger so that’s not too insightful on that end, and every time we see him young and freckled it’s in a job context so again not really where we’d expect him to be drinking. The earliest proof (/heavy implication since we don’t see inside his cup I guess) is 3 years before canon when Laios hired him, where he’s at a bar, classily placed in front of all the bottles ✨

Yes alcohol is almost certainly a way through which he copes especially with stress, so if we go with the theory he started around when work got stressful, well… Chilchuck started working as a dungeon diver ~10 years ago so when he was ~19, making Mei, Fler and Puck ~6 and ~4 respectively, so from that draw the ‘stressful enough to start drinking’ line wherever. We don’t know what he did before that with any certainty, and it could be he did odd jobs, lived off mostly mutual aid and community work, or just focused on only raising the girls. Half-foots tend to be poor and I see a lot of that in Chilchuck specifically so I don’t think he could have afforded to not have some paying work though.

Alright, so then why do I think he did drink when the girls were younger?

I give a more complete rundown of the info we do have on his alcoholism & his family with panels and references + all the speculation I make from it here. But the most targeted and objective answer I can give is:

Of course there’s just very very little we know of Chilchuck’s life with his family, and I think that’s by design too. I think the details being up in the air is to allow more nuance of the topic, like, will trying to reconcile go well, is their relationship salvageable? We don’t know, because we don’t know. So the message of giving hope a chance even if it’s a long shot, that things could truly go either way, is more relevant, impactful and meta in that way. How long was he usually away for work travels into dungeons here and there? How did he act with them? All we can really do is "it’s likely that", it’s a game of which way we think it’s more implied. There’s no right and wrong answer, it’s all Marcille-like larping the events out.

My main reason for thinking he did is that his father died from overdrinking and Chilchuck is very aware of that. He mentions his death casually in the extra about their stance in alcohol and in his Adventurer’s Bible profile, etc. He acts towards the alcohol presumably the same way his father did: with abandon, uncaring for the health effects, probably happily too considering Chil says "dying doing something you love is a good way to go". Very nonchalant. So you see what I’m saying here right, wether he started early or late, his view of alcoholism is very influenced by what he saw of his father growing up, it’s something he’s always been aware of and saw in a mostly positive light, something that was inherited you could say. It’s something that was normalized to him from a young age. Regardless or where it goes from there I do think this part is pretty inarguable. If he views it positively and we know that in the present alcohol is his favorite food that he loveees, why would he have held out on it? Personally that all makes me think he started drinking very young, especially since I don’t think they limited alcohol to age as much as modern standards (and I mean, teen drinking is obviously still a thing). And here you could argue, maybe his father only started being more alcoholic later when Chilchuck moved out, or something! And to that there’s nothing I can say except I think that’s a strained theory, and that Chil might even have largely cut contact with his family after moving out (since he and siblings are listed as almost strangers and he doesn’t seem to have much emotional attachment to his parents, but also we know he rents out his place to "a relative"), but it’s true we have no evidence. "I’ve picked up the same unhealthy substance abuse as my father haha! No big deal right haha" repeated several times to me just reeks of intergenerational trauma, & the alcoholism gene as they call it. Like effortless sliding into drinking as if it’s second nature, it’s natural after all, it’s normal after all, it just makes sense, it makes you feel good and that’s what matters.

BUT from my interpretation then we have a whole other layer: Alcohol is of course not all bad always. I think he’s always liked alcohol and drank it on occasion and it brought him joy etc etc, but I think here the implication in the question is, how much effect did his drinking have on the family relations and how early? And that isn’t so much about when him drinking started but when the alcoholism started. Addiction is defined by a habitual need, that has negative effects from filling that need (physical, psychological, social, etc) and negative effects from withdrawal. If Chilchuck drinks to cope and he can’t not cope without it, that’s addiction, if it affects his relationships, if it’s a need he has, it’s addiction. Addiction can be very insidious or look very casual, and how much people around the person are affected by it is case by case. Cheerful drunks can be sooo annoying and uncomfortable though let me tell you. Drunks are drunks. And this sounds harsh, but even if people around them don’t mind drunks it’ll still have some effects here and there, living with one can be such a challenge, ily drunks good luck with everything much like Chilchuck you deserve good things 🫡　

Ok so with the dad thing and the "ok well maybe he’s always drunk casually but it grew worse with time around when he started working as a dungeon diver" precision made, the other bit of info we have that can inform this is that Chilchuck is on a harsh diet and that alcohol is a hunger suppressant. We know Chilchuck "used to be fine not eating for two days", that literally on screen to quench his hunger so it doesn’t keep him awake he goes to drink water, drinking is his instinct to hunger. Again alcohol is a hunger suppressant and if you want info on that the internet has a lot of research and anecdotes about it. He diets to be light enough to not trigger traps, so it’s something he’d have started after dungeon diving most likely. Between the stress and the diet, yes it’s extremely likely he started going harder on alcohol after he started working in dungeons. There’s arguments on wether two days without eating is less bad for half-foots than humans, but apart from smaller portions there’s nothing that indicates half-foots should get less than 3 meals a day. They need less food but that’s because their bodies are smaller: the need is proportional to the body, not smaller than others’ races, the % of need is similar even if the kg amount of food isn’t. There’s also a popular headcanon with support basis that half-foots run hot and have a faster heartrate and whatnot, and that points towards a faster metabolism rather than a slower one: a bigger need for eating rather than a smaller one. He has the same bmi, 18, as Mickbell, but perhaps because Chil is much taller he’s less intensely visibly underweight with ribs showing than Mick during the bath extra, it’s most apparent when he becomes tallman.

Alcohol is something so important and omnipresent in his character that I have trouble believing it’s something that was part of only a small fraction of his life. It’s his immediate go-to, his no-brainer solution to a good time, I’ve sort of always assumed especially after looking at his family that it’s something he discovered decently young. Like he just acts like someone who’s always had alcohol to fall back on and started young idk. Alcohol is one of his 5 keywords. Alcoholism is very ingrained into his world view and life, his "it doesn’t matter" stance his ‘work hard play hard’ mentality his idea that the world is harsh so you get relief where you can, so it just makes sense to me that it’s always been in his life, if not actively then at least looming.

So yes, in summary, my take: Alcohol was always something he wholly enjoyed to an unwise level, but it could have been considered casual until he started working into dungeons and his need for it on a regular basis intensified. Alcohol has always had positive association to him as far as we see, so when it started being a problem he didn’t see it as such. To quote him, "I drink anytime I get the opportunity to". Why always? Approval of father’s alcoholism. Why alcoholism at all? Diet + stress & coping mechanism & emotional stunting + relationship issues, and she decided she had enough after they went out for drinks.

Conclusion

Chilchuck having drunk from a young age makes sense to me and it’s the strongest narrative angle I see on the table, but that’s objectively a me opinion, yes! There’s no evidence, moreso there’s canon basis and supporting info, but it’s all very left up to interpretation. I’ve made my own interpretations of things from the scraps we see, like everyone else making Chilwife and daughters content. Wether you have a stance on the topic or prefer to leave it vague in your takes, it’ll be a matter of what you think makes most sense, or what you’d rather believe I suppose (which is literally fine)

There’s a lot of subjectivity in even just setting up causal links like you probably noticed during this and I was careful with my word choices, because we’re just extrapolating from what we see and unless Kui states it explicitly from a reliable mouth all we can do is have informed opinions on most things. This particular interpretation is influenced by other details I’ve come to form about my interpretation of Chilchuck too, the more psychological and emotional sides of him and the timeline and how his marriage even happened, unplanned pregnancy imo. Like I hope you see what I mean, this wasn’t supposed to be a speculation post just a quick simple answer but there’s sort of just no other and concise but complete way with the subjectivity nuance to put "maybe it could be yes because of this but maybe it could be no because of this" haha

Edit: Wait the phrasing on this… Interesting. "In recent years"— This does imply that if not just his alcohol consumption increasing then the diversity and quality of it did, so either he indeed did start drinking more (not necessarily meaning he didn’t drink before) assumedly because of his wife leaving, or he started drinking other/more different kinds of alcohol maybe due to the union he formed + his experience gave him greater salary than he had previously (and no wife and family to provide money for), a mix of both perhaps.

[6oydyke]

           6oydyke. (Natalie/Jack)

     He,Mutt,Etc. Bod.19.      Tbutch Dyke. Psychotic. Disordered. Autistic. Pw-CDD.

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     #1 Yellowjackets Freak. (Spinterest). Every Character I Like Is A Dyke.       (Chronic Butchifier & Transifier.)

     Minors Int. Sparingly. Under 16 DNI.

      Yellowjackets. Hotd. Tlou. Heretic. Companion. The Virgin Suicides.

     Longlegs. Saw. Bones & All. Cannibalism. Film. X Trilogy.

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     Other Blogs.  @muzzlkid — Unfiltered Reg.  Others Currently       Unlisted.

     Anons.

[alisohani]

Source Code (2011) - Film Review and Analysis

“What would you do if you knew you had less than one minute to live?” Christina asks. Colter Stevens replies, “I’d make those seconds count.” In a reality that shatters and rebuilds every eight minutes, how do you make seconds count? Duncan Jones’s Source Code isn’t just a high-octane thriller; it’s a dizzying plunge into the very nature of existence, asking whether a borrowed eight minutes can…

[the-crooked-library]

Nuance, Narratives, and Nosferatu

As of today, Robert Eggers' Nosferatu (2024) has only been in theatres for 4 full days; and, coincidentally, that is about as long as I am able to let my thoughts marinate before they demand to be communicated. Before going into any further detail, let it be known that this film was made by freaks for freaks; it exists for the goths, the gays, the monsterfuckers, the historians, and for all those who delight in moral and thematic complexity.

With that being said - spoilers under the cut!

There are two principal narratives running through the flesh of Nosferatu, both of them rooted heavily in the cultural and literary origins of the story. It is a nightmare; it is also an erotic fantasy. It is horrifying, and it is also achingly romantic. From what I've seen so far, the vast majority of discourse that has already emerged around the film is caused by people misunderstanding or deliberately ignoring the relationship between these different lines of analysis; so please trust me when I say, from the bottom of my heart, that this duality is the very lifeblood of the movie.

The reason for that is, quite simply, that Nosferatu is a gothic horror film, set in 1830s German Confederation; and its plot relies on the same (sometimes contradictory) complexities often displayed in Victorian gothic fiction.

From the beginning of the movie, we are given to understand that Ellen Hutter met Count Orlok - the eponymous nosferatu - psychically, when she was very young. They spoke, she pledged herself to him, and was horrified to realize what she had done when he revealed his true visage to her in their first visual (and sexual) encounter.

Here, under the lilacs, the paths diverge.

The first reading of the film is perhaps the more straightforward. A young girl is essentially catfished and groomed by a much older, dangerous man. When they meet for the first time, she is a teenager; the lilacs that bloom where it happens become a trigger. He is the source of her madness and "melancholy" (depression), she has nightmares about him regularly enough that her husband is aware of them, and it is implied that she has been institutionalized in the past. Thomas Hutter is the physical representation of her one desperate hope for a normal life - but as the story progresses, she finds herself being denied even that. Orlok's psychic connection with her verges on demonic possession; in chilling, The Exorcist-inspired sequences, she writhes and mutters, prophesying a city-wide reign of death and terror. In pursuit of his claim on Ellen, Orlok terrorizes her husband, murders her friends - and, eventually, she gives her life to take him with her to the grave, saving the city from the plague he caused.

That is the horror element of Nosferatu; it deals with an exploration of childhood trauma, of PTSD, of difficulties maintaining a social life after the fact. It is easy to understand even from a modern viewpoint, and it pushes the film to its conclusion with a bleak, heart-wrenching punch.

The horror is not the only element of Nosferatu.

To contextualize the alternate - though just as correct - reading of the film, it is essential to understand that Ellen’s society was extremely sexually repressed, especially in regards to female and queer sexuality.

Both were severely medicalized, demonized, and restricted; and as such, when these topics do make an appearance in contemporary fiction, they are often inextricable from disgust and fear.

Dedicated as always to historical accuracy, Eggers maintains the same setting-based narrative coding.

In anticipation of morality arguments vis à vis monstrosity, depiction, and modern purity culture, let me clarify: this is something that works within his chosen genre. Horror, and especially gothic horror, invites a deeper analysis in regard to morality and motivation, and in this case, Eggers' homage to the origins of that genre grounds the narrative in its time and location, as well as fleshing it out much further than a purely modern cultural lens would permit. In this context, the details of Ellen's connection with Orlok become paramount to the understanding of the film.

As bits and pieces of their background become revealed, the audience realizes that her psychic gift did not begin with him - and neither did her melancholy, or her isolation. She was born with her abilities, and throughout her childhood, she was a bit of a tomboy by her contemporary standards, running wild in the woods near her father's property; however, once she foretold her mother's death, and once she was too old to get away with eccentricities, her father became frightened of her abnormality. She was isolated, confined indoors, and that is when her melancholy had begun. Painfully lonely and aching for some form of companionship, she called out into the ether; and Orlok responded.

Over the course of their story, he becomes the physical manifestation of everything Ellen perceives as dark and sinful about herself.

He is psychic, he is vicious, possessive, and blatantly sexual; her sensual affection with Anna parallels the evident and physical attraction he displays towards Thomas; and the social power he so easily commands is the same that she lacks, being a woman in a rigidly patriarchal society.

In the end, the severely questionable age gap, the murders, the coercion, the betrayal - all of that comes down to respect. Throughout the film, that is the one thing that Ellen is consistently denied. She is young when she meets Orlok, yes; but she is aggressively infantilized by her surrounding society even when she is a grown, adult, married woman.

It starts from the beginning of the film, when the Hutters visit the Harding family. During those scenes, the men are shown talking business - while the women play with children in the parlour; and the same social framing persists into the body of the film. When Ellen is suffering from what appears to be some form of mental illness, she is referred to as a child by multiple different characters; and when the condition progresses, she is swiftly diagnosed with hysteria and drugged - thus being forcibly removed from the discussion of her own illness. The general reactions to that illness - which is, in fact, a display of her psychic abilities - range from annoyance to fear to curiosity; it is seen either as a disability or a curse, rather than anything entirely innate to who she is. Her fears are dismissed. Harding tells her to learn some deference. Even closer to the finale, when Von Franz admits that she could have been a great priestess in another age, he does so with pity rather than anything else; in their industrial era, he cannot help but see her only as a tragic sacrifice - horrible, but necessary to save the city from a plague. Brought in to heal her, he instead guides her to her death.

All these aspects of Ellen's circumstances find a direct opposite in her relationship with Orlok. Unlike all other characters in the film, he only ever sees her as his equal, which is made even more evident when his interactions with Thomas and Herr Knock are brought into consideration. With both men, Orlok insists on being addressed by his lordly title, "as his blood demands it"; and yet, Ellen never calls him by any title at all, be it "My Lord" or even a simple "Herr." She argues with him freely, and there is a familiarity between them that he is demonstrated to never tolerate from anyone else. Similarly, while he disguises the covenant he makes with Thomas, the terms of his covenant with Ellen are laid out clearly, in full. He does not hide from her; she already knows the worst of him, the same way he knows that she is intelligent, that she is powerful, and that she is not meant to be demure and deferring. Again and again, Orlok insists that Ellen is not meant for humanity - and the true horror, the horror she cannot bring herself to face, is that he is right.

In a sense, he is a mirror held up in front of her own face. Ellen is painfully aware that she does not fit in, and that she never has. The "normal" society, epitomized by the Hardings (wealthy husband, pretty blonde wife, 2.5 kids), has no place for her - and actively dislikes her.

The film makes this ostracism impossible for the viewer to ignore. As the story progresses, it becomes evident that the other human characters - even those that do sincerely care for Ellen - never truly know her. Anna loves her, but wishes she would not talk of dreadful things - and lashes out as a result of that discomfort, scolding her. Sievers finds himself bewildered by her; Knock sees her as an object to trade; Von Franz pities her, Harding hates her, and Thomas cannot truly satisfy her, even after being touched by the supernatural himself.

Seeing a flash of a monstrous face while they are together, he flings her away. To him, his experience with Orlok is merely traumatic, and he wishes for nothing more than to leave it behind. However, to her, it is something she cannot help but crave; and she continues to wear her lilac perfume.*

All that to say - Count Orlok is, simultaneously, everything Ellen wants and everything she is terrified of being.

That specific dichotomy reaches its climax during their mutual finale. As it is to be expected from a vampire wedding night, they rejoin in a sequence of sex, blood, and renewed vows - and what is particularly notable is that (unlike Murnau) Eggers makes it clear that this Orlok never intended to kill his Ellen, despite his inability to resist her blood. Though he drinks from her through the night, he stops at cock-crow; and she guides his head back down herself, distracting him long enough for the sun to rise. It is a duet of accident and intention. He drains her; and she holds him as the sun drains him. They cling together as they end - on a bed that serves their wedding and their death.

It is romantic. it is unquestionably romantic. However, that does not mean that the horror isn't also present; Ellen's consent, under these circumstances, is highly debatable, and Orlok is cruel, amoral, and murderously possessive. At the same time, the characters are also acting out folkloric archetypes, with precious little adjustment to that framework - which further removes them from a modern understanding of morality. He is Death, a Koschei the Deathless, a monster; she is the Maiden, a Vasilisa, a damsel. I hesitate to liken them to the Beauty and the Beast, largely because in the original premise of that story, the Beauty falls in love with the kindness that the Beast consistently displays; and it is essential to stress that Orlok has none. He does care for Ellen, in his own way, but he admits to being incapable of love as she defines it in human terms;** and, curiously, that seems to be her primary concern when it comes to the idea of accepting his proposal - rather than all the blood and carnage.

What I'm trying to say, I suppose, is that there are multiple ways of following a story, and multiple different stories in a film as nuanced as Nosferatu. Yes, it is about grooming and trauma. Yes, it is about finding love outside of the cage that is "polite society." I'm sure that it is many other things besides, with as many meanings as there are people in the theatres; after all, I am only one person, and the film grossed something over $40M in its first three days. The point is, really, that this is a story in which a rotting vampire is woken from centuries of deathlike slumber by a lonely voice asking him to be her friend; and whatever these two strange and aching souls do with that can go down any myriad of paths. The film trusts the viewer to interpret the narrative they choose.

* LILAC PERFUME - in fact, it is such a consistent favourite of Ellen's that Orlok smells it on her hair in the locket she sends with Thomas to the castle. Thomas never really learns the reason she likes that scent - even though he knows that preference well enough that he gifts her lilacs in the beginning of the film.

** ORLOK'S OBSESSION - this is a side note, but: the vampire wedding sequence reminds me strongly of the third season of NBC's Hannibal. I suppose that was to be expected, considering that Hannibal is also a Dracula offshoot, much like Orlok himself. When Ellen snaps at Orlok that he cannot love, he responds that "no; but only with you, I can be truly sated." Similarly - "Is Hannibal in love with me?" asks Will; and Bedelia responds - "Could he feel a daily stab of hunger for you, and find nourishment at the very sight of you?" I'd say if you liked that series, you should try and see the film. It works with a familiar blend of aesthetic horror.

[magz]

If you plan to print out risky political flyers, important informational zines, or any other risky prints you might want to keep some privacy with:

Consider anonymizing your prints.

Most printers leave dots that give identifiable information on the prints. The dots on the prints can be decoded by forensics.

The identifiable information when printed can be prevented with a software called DEDA.

Link to software's repository:

Quote from DEDA repository:

DEDA - tracking Dots Extraction, Decoding and Anonymisation toolkit

Document Colour Tracking Dots, or yellow dots, are small systematic dots which encode information about the printer and/or the printout itself. This process is integrated in almost every commercial colour laser printer. This means that almost every printout contains coded information about the source device, such as the serial number.

On the one hand, this tool gives the possibility to read out and decode these forensic features and on the other hand, it allows anonymisation to prevent arbitrary tracking.

If you use this software, please cite the paper: Timo Richter, Stephan Escher, Dagmar Schönfeld, and Thorsten Strufe. 2018. Forensic Analysis and Anonymisation of Printed Documents. In Proceedings of the 6th ACM Workshop on Information Hiding and Multimedia Security (IH&MMSec '18). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 127-138. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3206004.3206019

[arcanistsanctum]

‎‎​‌‏‏. Reverse:1999 Resource Guide

These are links to some of the archives, lorecrafters and guidemakers that I follow and regard highly for their expertise, dedication, and contributions to the community. Making this list is also for my convenience.

If you know other sources, please share them! I will edit the post and add them here. Maybe one day I will also contribute to transcripts on a separate blog. We don't have enough of such precious records for a heavily lore and story-based game! Feel free to share your lorecrafting website/blog/channel too!

Archives

Websites/Blogsites

Huiji (CN) - CN Fanwiki, written in CN, with consistent updates. Really goated. Gamekee (CN) - Another CN Fanwiki, also written in CN. Some pages may not be updated. Arcanist Sanctum (Global) - That's us! R1999 Logs (Global) - Has some main, event and anecdote story transcripts. Reverse: 1999 Wiki (Global) - EN Fanwiki. They may be behind on working through some profiles, records and transcripts. UTTU Merui (Global and CN) - The website is also WIP. But it is shaping to contain news (including EN translations for CN updates), character profiles, story transcripts, music list, timeline, and I believe recorded CGs too.

Repositories

Myssal's Assets Repository (CN) - In-game assets. It has everything. Myssal just that goated. reverse 1999 png (CN) - PNGs/cutouts telegram. Russian language but you can use character tags by clicking on pinned message. They accept requests, but you probably will have to ask them in Russian. Their cutouts can be accessed and downloaded by going through post comments. Posts with arrows. reverserenders (Global) - official art renders tumblr blog. They accept requests!

Documents

Abyss_Idiot's links (Global) - Transcripts, archives and general lore. Actually lots of records done by several Discord members. May not be updated. As of making this list, I haven't seen anything from 2.0 onwards.

Youtube

八咫烏_Merui (CN & Global) - Event and main story playthroughs without commentary Reverse: 1999 Timekeeper (Global) - They have everything recorded. And I mean everything. Reverse 1999 Archive (Global) - On hiatus (?), they pretty much covered event and main stories up to Notes on Shuori.

Lorecrafting & Story Analysis

Youtube

Apeironite - Pretty chill format. Interesting in-depth analyses. As of now, I don't know any other YT content creator who tackles on game lore as much as he has. FructoseTolerant - While there have yet many Reverse:1999 character analysis content in her channel, once she does post one, it's really good. I recommend watching and listening to her thoughts!

Guidemakers

Websites/Blogsites

Prydwen (CN & Global) - Tierlists, psychube recs and character guides Gnomon (Global) - I am in-love with this website tbh. Has all character information, including sprites! Effect descriptions, material sources and descriptions, resonance build (up to R15), psychube recs, team recs, and very easy to follow guide on how to play each character + rotations! Also has information on series of dusks artefacts and mechanics, reveries in the rain guides, and tips for mane's bulletin! GAAAAAHHH!

Documents

Discord Community Tierlist (CN) - Tierlists, calculators, builds. Likely where most of the global theorycrafting started. bluforest's Scuffed Page for Recommended Resonance Layouts (CN) - Also has resonance codes! Spiritzhl's Unit Build Guide (CN) - Psychubes, resonance, portrays, reveries and euphoria info, critter rehabilitation guide. Arcalive Reverse 1999 (outdated) - Written in KR. Resonance and psychube recommendations, calculators.

Youtube

Jakazin (CN & Global) - Comprehensive character guides Devibul (CN) - Puzzle guides, character showcases Destroth (Global) - Comprehensive character guides, showcases

Useful Tools

Kornblume (CN & Global) - Character planning and summoning history Closure++ (CN) - Planning and calculations, and written in CN. Here's MaTeIriA's guide to using it if you can't understand CN like me. It does have a built-in EN language option but it doesn't work for me. I don't know if it works for you. Depending on your device, you may also have to zoom out to see the entire page. Timekeeper (Global) - Summon tracking

[ciderjacks]

you have to kind of want to kill the woman character you are posting about. I just realized what im trying to say is I wish that fandoms focused on female characters had more actual enjoyment/analysis of the characters instead of just hornyposting and mischaracterized yuri fluff. Took me a minute to find the words.

why are lesbians so bad at posting. Start talking about female charaters the way straight/bi women in fandom talk about male characters. I order it.

[faineantgrl]

roaring knight character analysis

note: i will try to use they due to the fact we do not know the character yet, but i will be using "she" to break up any repetitiveness. at the end i will be talking about why this all points away from carol but i will not implicate anyone else.

video sources: x x x

we're going to skip over chapter 1 and 2 mentions & before tenna's destruction because ngl I don't think they're very important to this specific analysis i'm doing. that would moreso be plot/intentions and i want to analyze the knight themself.

Pre-CHP3 battle

so already just the way that tenna is sliced is interesting.

as others have pointed out, this is nigh impossible of a pose. so either the roaring knight somehow perfectly hit tenna whilst facing the other way, or hit tenna, then turned around to strike a foreboding pose. either way, we have already been given a flare for the dramatic.

they then hit this pose. now i've heard it's crying but when they're turning into this pose they're seen smiling for a few frames.

so, if they are doing some sort of crying thing, it's definitely on purpose to creep out the lightners more.

im not gonna flood this with screenshots but susie interrupts them trying to take toriel. they back off, but as seen in later chapters, and even later on in the boss fight, they didn't really have a reason to. they could have just blasted susie or something.

then they do Whatever This Is. if we didnt already establish the above you'd think this means they're Pissed, but the lightners aren't really a threat. they never do this again so it seems... it's just to freak out the lightners again.

Non-attack options

any action that is done to try and talk to the roaring knight does, essentially, Jack Shit. the roaring knight does not respond. i do not think this means the knight doesn't care to, as shown above they LOVE being a Freak, but rather that they... kinda can't! this should be kept in mind as we continue.

the everything else in battle

during the attack where the knight splits the Battle Box™️ they continue to strike poses

and then theres this attack

which i can only describe as Entirely Unnecessary. theres leftover code for more combination attacks like these which i can only imagine were left out because they were a little too batshit crazy to survive.

they also overkill the characters, up to -999 hp. you simply just don't gotta do that, mx knight.

and then...

they do. That.

"KB, didn't you just say they don't do the weird body contortion thing again-" yeah! they didn't! if you look closely That Is An Entirely Different Form Than Before (mostly in the "ribs")

and that final dramatic flair! they're not just putting on their best performance for the lightners, but you too!

and then they go "ougofhf... im so Weak,,,,,, you should HIT ME. it would be REALLY BAD if you HIT ME"

"oh no im dyingggg oh gosh-"

"-SIKE."

susie here makes a mistake of falling AGAIN for it

and then gets hit SO HARD that there isn't even an animation

then they get ralsei

and then we get darkness before seeing them "knighting" kris

this change in the pattern intentionally tricks the player into thinking "oh well they're not going to kill kris, maybe they're working togeth-"

SIKE AGAIN

i cannot express to you how funny it is in retrospect how many times the roaring knight tricks the player in one cutscene. like, they know exactly how the player is seeing everything and is using that to not only be super dramatic but to trick them several times IN A ROWWW thats CRAZY

once again we have another moment of the knight letting susie interrupt for unknown reasons. not only is my girl not a threat to the knight normally but she is DOOOWN. either the knight is trying to once again trick the viewer or she has a soft spot for susie. i mean who can blame her everyone does

and now here's her perfectly dodging attacks to show how much of a farce that battle was

and then the roaring knight turns into a bird. i dont know what thats about im not going to lie.

CHP3 conclusion

in conclusion of chapter 3: the knight is a dramatic af trickster who loves a good pose. not only are they putting on a show for the lightners, they're also putting on a show for the player. i almost wonder if they were spending all of chapter 3 getting antsy like "i gotta. i gotta get my freak on. whats taking so long i need to get silly with it"

CHP4 first cutscene

they are, quite literally, waiting for the player. theyve just been standing her this whole time, presumably.

their mouth turns into an eye because of course it does

and then they do THIS. which is entirely unnecessary. as i've said many times.

also note the change in color: before their overlay light thing was pink, but now its red. either they decided pink wasn't threatening enough, or thought pink overlay on blue wasn't gonna fly, and either of these show just how much WORK they put into the act.

and they also just attack susie here for fun i guess since she doesn't actually get downed

and once again they're on that PLAYER TRICKING GRIND

one sword at a time, even if fast, is possible to deal with

nevermind.

the knight also tricks the lightners and player AGAIN because they actually made TWO DARK WORLDS in the church and put a LOCK on the DOOR. IDIOT.

this is also an important moment for the knight's character. it seems they were entirely not planning to make the titan until susie says this. this is SO EXTREMELY PETTY. it's SASSY. it's FABULOUS.

they literally smirk and wait for ralsei to BEG like a cat about to push an item off a counter, waiting for their owner to get upset about the incoming doom before actually doing it.

ive also heard that the titan battle is harder if you end up defeating the roaring knight in chapter 3. the pettiness. the trickery. i literally have no choice but to stan etc etc

IN CONCLUSION

this roaring knight is a DIVA. she is WORKING IT. they are SASSY, DRAMATIC, A TRICKSTER, AND PETTY. they are PERFECT.

...that's also why it can't be carol. carol is the literal antithesis to whatever THIS is. she is no fun allowed. and there is only fun in the roaring knight's ball-court. carol is the harshness of a deadly winter storm, the roaring knight is the snow day spent throwing snowballs at your friends.

minnesota girl i'm incomprehensible daisy dukes winter coat on top ice-kissed skin so cold i'll freeze your popsickle oh woaoaooa oh woahahahah

[writingwithcolor]

Sri Lankan Fairies and Senegalese Goddesses: Mixing Mythology as a Mixed Creator

[Note: this archive ask was submitted before the Masterpost rules took effect in 2023. The ask has been abridged for clarity.]

@reydjarinkenobi asked:

Hi, I’m half Sri Lankan/half white Australian, second gen immigrant though my mum moved when she was a kid. My main character for my story is a mixed demigod/fae. [...] Her bio mum is essentially a Scottish/Sri Lankan fairy and her other bio mum (goddess) is a goddess of my own creation, Nettamaar, who’s name is derived from [...] Wolof words [...]. The community of mages that she presided over is from the South Eastern region of Senegal [...] In the beginning years of European imperialism, the goddess basically protected them through magic and by blessing a set of triplets effectively cutting them off from the outside world for a few centuries [...] I was unable to find a goddess that fit the story I wanted to tell [...] and also couldn’t find much information on the internet for local gods, which is why I have created my own. I know that the gods in Hinduism do sort of fit into [the story] but my Sri Lankan side is Christian and I don’t feel comfortable representing the Hindu gods in the way that I will be this goddess [...]. I wanted to know if any aspect of the community’s history is problematic as well as if I should continue looking further to try and find an African deity that matched my narrative needs? I was also worried that having a mixed main character who’s specifically half black would present problems as I can’t truly understand the black experience. I plan on getting mixed and black sensitivity readers once I finish my drafts [...] I do take jabs at white supremacy and imperialism and I I am planning to reflect my feelings of growing up not immersed in your own culture and feeling overwhelmed with what you don’t know when you get older [...]. I’m sorry for the long ask but I don’t really have anyone to talk to about writing and I’m quite worried about my story coming across as insensitive or problematic because of cultural history that I am not educated enough in.

Reconciliation Requires Research

First off: how close is this world’s history to our own, omitting the magic? If you’re aiming for it to be essentially parallel, I would keep in mind that Senegal was affected by the spread of Islam before the Europeans arrived, and most people there are Muslim, albeit with Wolof and other influences. 

About your Scottish/Sri Lankan fairy character: I’ll point you to this previous post on Magical humanoid worldbuilding, Desi fairies as well as this previous post on Characterization for South Asian-coded characters for some of our commentary on South Asian ‘fae’. Since she is also Scottish, the concept can tie back to the Celtic ideas of the fae.

However, reconciliation of both sides of her background can be tricky. Do you plan on including specific Sri Lankan mythos into her heritage? I would tread carefully with it, if you plan to do so. Not every polytheistic culture will have similar analogues that you can pull from.

To put it plainly, if you’re worried about not knowing enough of the cultural histories, seek out people who have those backgrounds and talk to them about it. Do your research thoroughly: find resources that come from those cultures and read carefully about the mythos that you plan to incorporate. Look for specificity when you reach out to sensitivity readers and try to find sources that go beyond a surface-level analysis of the cultures you’re looking to portray. 

~ Abhaya

I see you are drawing on Gaelic lore for your storytelling. Abhaya has given you good links to discussions we’ve had at WWC and the potential blindspots in assuming, relative to monotheistic religions like Christianity, that all polytheistic and pluralistic lore is similar to Gaelic folklore. Fae are one kind of folklore. There are many others. Consider:

Is it compatible? Are Fae compatible with the Senegalese folklore you are utilizing? 

Is it specific? What ethnic/religious groups in Senegal are you drawing from? 

Is it suitable? Are there more appropriate cultures for the type of lore you wish to create?

Remember, Senegalese is a national designation, not an ethnic one, and certainly not a designation that will inform you with respect to religious traditions. But more importantly:

...Research Requires Reconciliation

My question is why choose Senegal when your own heritage offers so much room for exploration? This isn’t to say I believe a half Sri-Lankan person shouldn’t utilize Senegalese folklore in their coding or vice-versa, but, to put it bluntly, you don’t seem very comfortable with your heritage. Religions can change, but not everything cultural changes when this happens. I think your relationship with your mother’s side’s culture offers valuable insight to how to tackle the above, and I’ll explain why.  

I myself am biracial and bicultural, and I had to know a lot about my own background before I was confident using other cultures in my writing. I had to understand my own identity—what elements from my background I wished to prioritize and what I wished to jettison. Only then was I able to think about how my work would resonate with a person from the relevant background, what to be mindful of, and where my blindspots would interfere. 

I echo Abhaya’s recommendation for much, much more research, but also include my own personal recommendation for greater self-exploration. I strongly believe the better one knows oneself, the better they can create. It is presumptuous for me to assume, but your ask’s phrasing, the outlined plot and its themes all convey a lack of confidence in your mixed identity that may interfere with confidence when researching and world-building. I’m not saying give up on this story, but if anxiety on respectful representation is a large barrier for you at the moment, this story may be a good candidate for a personal project to keep to yourself until you feel more ready.

(See similar asker concerns here: Running Commentary: What is “ok to do” in Mixed-Culture Supernatural Fiction, here: Representing Biracial Black South American Experiences and here: Am I fetishizing my Japanese character?)

- Marika.

Start More Freely with Easy Mode

Question: Why not make a complete high-fantasy universe, with no need of establishing clear real-world parallels in the text? It gives you plenty of leg room to incorporate pluralistic, multicultural mythos + folklore into the same story without excessive sweating about historically accurate worldbuilding.

It's not a *foolproof* method; even subtly coded multicultural fantasy societies like Avatar or the Grishaverse exhibit certain harmful tropes. I also don't know if you are aiming for low vs high fantasy, or the degree of your reliance on real world culture / religion / identity cues.

But don't you think it's far easier for this fantasy project to not have the additional burden of historical accuracy in the worldbuilding? Not only because I agree with Mod Marika that perhaps you seem hesitant about the identity aspect, but because your WIP idea can include themes of othering and cultural belonging (and yes, even jabs at supremacist institutions) in an original fantasy universe too. I don't think I would mind if I saw a couple of cultural markers of a Mughal Era India-inspired society without getting a full rundown of their agricultural practices, social conventions and tax systems, lol.

Mod Abhaya has provided a few good resources about what *not* to do when drawing heavily from cultural coding. With that at hand, I don't think your project should be a problem if you simply make it an alternate universe like Etheria (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power), Inys (The Priory of the Orange Tree) or Earthsea (the Earthsea series, Ursula K. Le Guin). Mind you, we can trace the analogues to each universe, but there is a lot of freedom to maneuver as you wish when incorporating identities in original fantasy. And of course, multiple sensitivity readers are a must! Wishing you the best for the project.

- Mod Mimi

[twipsai]

ive been wanting to do something like this for a while, so here we go

Silver's straightforward attitude and anxieties: a poorly formatted analysis

Silver's anxiety is something i havent seen talked about a lot, and im really just barely going beneath the surface here -- i hope i did it justice in anyway sfdkSKHJFDSKFH i think about his obvious anxiety disorder a lot

transcript of all the text i added under the cut incase its hard to read for some ppl ^_^

image 1 (source: IDW #8): "isnt really used to banter, got worried he actually offended Sonic"

"he worries a lot about not being useful, because thats pretty much his entire purpose in life. if hes not doing something, he will find something to do (badly) or panic. he gets nervous at the slightest insinuation that he mightve messed up because the last thing he ever wants to do is get in anyones way."

"for how powerful he is and how much shit he talks, Silver doesnt really think very good about himself or his own worth."

image 2 (source: Sonic Universe #82): "its hard to say anything here that i havent already said, its just another example os Silver having issues with his self wroth, and also a lot of his motivation coming from protecting the people he loves (and, more generally, protecting the world), considering a page after this he gets up and completely wrecks the Second Devourer"

image 3 (source: IDW #8): "Silver will take pretty much anything literally. he lacks the social skills to identify when someones being serious bc he grew up completely alone"

image 4 (source: IDW #14): "he cant lie (is both bad at it, and it really just doesnt cross his mind to do so), but he can change the subject"

"he also really doesnt like it when people are worried about him -- almost every time people show concern for him, he tries (and fails) to lie or change the subject"

image 5 (source: IDW #14): "he didnt see anything suspicious about [Starline giving the "vault code"] because he doesnt usually assume people lie directly to him, its just not something that usually crosses his mind"

image 6 (source: IDW #60, TSR interview): "Silver's rudeness, his naivete, misunderstanding of jokes/quips/banter, inability to lie, it all stems from his straightforwardness. its simple, but but oftentimes effective (yes i chose a bad page to showcase when it works, ignore that)"

"Silver doesnt like to beat around the bush or show off too often. go in, defeat the bad guys, get out. it ties in with his anxiety of the future -- time is always of the essence"

"Q: What are some of your favorite items to use during the race?

Silver: [...]but the Jade Wisps' "Ghost" is the only one I like. I can disappear and focus on the race."

"it does make him forget to stratagize and cooperate with his friends sometimes, though, when his first instinct is "hit it until it stops moving""

image 7 (source: Sonic Rivals 2): "im not really going over his bluntness in this, but literally the entirety of Rivals 2 covers that. he doesnt think to hide what hes doing because he knows hes in the right, so he just expects everyone else to know that. he expects people to believe him just because hes telling the truth. he doesnt see why he would have a reason to lie, so he never thinks to justify his actions."

"a lot of this bluntness is also shown in IDW #64 -- Silver cant be stealthy and observe someone from afar to save his life when he knows hes right about them. he really takes no time to explain that Duo is Mimic before Whisper steps in and attacks Mimic, even though if he took the time to talk through what happened, he probably couldve convinced Lanolin of Duo's true nature"

image 8 (source: IDW annual 2022): "Silver has pretty much zero idea how to navigate the world outside of helping other people and saving the world. he is almost constantly in "survival mode" and doesnt know how to handle low-stakes"

"(he sometimes takes casual conversation too seriously because of this)"

"he is constantly worried about the future. to an almost unhealthy degree sometimes, its often all he thinks about. when he knows exactly what to do, he comes off as confident and powerful, but when he doesnt know what to do..."

"...he completely spirals. to him, an uncertain future is worse than a doomed one. not knowing how to fix things is one of the most terrifying thoughts to him."

"if Espio hadn't been here to calm him down, i think its super likely he'd have had an anxiety attack."

image 9 (source: Sonic Generations, IDW #64, Team Sonic Racing, Sonic Universe #79): "like, i truly cannot emphasize enough how he cannot relax. anything can be a threat, and if he doesnt see an immediate one, he will find something that is one. "

"he can rarely calm down, because every second hes in the past is another second he should be saving the future"

"i cant properly showcase it here, but if you run past him in Gens, he'll immediately be on-guard."

"he has to always be looking for the next world-destroying foe, it's pretty much his default setting."

"there are tons more examples of his overt anxiety, but these are some of the more prominant examples."

image 9 (source: Archie Sonic #235): "we even see in the traitor arc in archie how Silver is constantly paranoid. the idea never crosses his mind that there is no traitor, because something is always wrong. hes like a machine built to find a problem with no off switch"

"almost anything can set him off and make him untrusting of anyone, because thats the only way he knows how to live. anything can be a threat in his eyes, and when there is no threat, he will either find one or panic that he cant find one."

"because when you spend your entire life fighting,"

"how else are you supposed to live?"

[cosmica-galaxy]

https://www.tumblr.com/cosmica-galaxy/781110792773861376/idea-for-human-sized-cookiewhat-if-the-cookies?source=share

The republics science project? How would they experiment with the human? Can imagine the human being TERRIFIED at first, begging for them not to hurt them and so on...thinking they are about to be dissected...

Well, if they managed to get their prisoner back to the Republic, the human would be placed in a secure lab. Seeing as this is the same Republic that created the Soul Candies, they will definitely perform some experiments to see what makes a "witch" tick. Of course, there are "safety precautions" that are placed on the human to keep them from lashing out at the scientist in fear or rage. Such as a minor paralysis spell or some other form of movement inhibitor. At least they allow you to keep your normal clothes on so you can have your dignity. I think the first things they would do would be a physical.

Just a generic form of understanding human anatomy by studying and making notes. They take x-rays, move your limbs, and take notes on your scent, texture, and listening to all the sounds that your body is producing (heartbeat, breathing, and your creaking bones). After that comes the sampling. They will take blood, hair, and even a small sample of your flesh to understand what makes up the differences in human anatomy in comparison to cookie anatomy. This uncovers something that cookies, nor anything in Earthbread has, which is genetics code for organics. Cookies are made from yeast, flour, and strawberry jam. But an analysis of humans would reveal a far more complex system and multiple outlets for a certain type of magic that isn't found in Earthbread beings. This is when Republic interest would raise significantly. The third stage would consist of more invasive procedures. Such as trying to understand the genetic makeup of the creators and understand how humans develop with such a unique anatomy. This is when they start wanting to pull out sharp devices, discuss ethics involving the treatment of patients, and containers to possibly put something in that will be moved to the lab. This is when you, as a paralyzed victim at this point, is afraid the most of what they want to do. Especially when you can hear them discussing that your "sacrifice" would be in the best "interest of all cookiekind". However, before they can preform any procedures that would harm you in any way--The Pastry Order has become aware and agitated by the Republic's disregard for the human's well-being and lack of freedom. To them, it's blasphemous to perform such invasive acts unto the unwilling human and even threatening to sacrifice them for science enrages the followers even further. The lab would definitely get invaded at some point, with the cookies in white masks breaking you out of your confinement, giving you a cure for your paralysis, and helping you escape into the republic through the underground waterways. You are then placed under the care of Reverend Cookie, who welcomes you into The Order that serves your kind without question. Even if you want to leave, it was arguably the safest place for you to be, as the Paladin army will be looking for you.

[jcmarchi]

GenAI Is Transforming Cybersecurity

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/genai-is-transforming-cybersecurity/

GenAI Is Transforming Cybersecurity

The cybersecurity industry has always faced an uphill battle, and the challenges today are steeper and more widespread than ever before.

Though organizations are adopting more and more digital tools to optimize operations and increase efficiency, they are simultaneously increasing their attack surface – the extent of vulnerable entry points hackers might exploit – making them more susceptible to rising cyber threats, even as their defenses improve. Even worse, organizations are having to face this rapidly growing array of threats amid a shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals.

Fortunately, innovations in artificial intelligence, especially Generative AI (GenAI), are offering solutions to some of the cybersecurity industry’s most complex problems. But we’ve only scratched the surface – while GenAI’s role in cybersecurity is expected to grow exponentially in coming years, there remain untapped opportunities where this technology could further enhance progress.

Current Applications and Benefits of GenAI in Cybersecurity

One of GenAI’s most significant areas of impact on the cybersecurity industry is in its ability to provide automated insights that were previously unattainable.

The initial stages of data processing, filtering and labeling are still often performed by older generations of machine learning, which excel at processing and analyzing vast amounts of data, such as sorting through huge sets of vulnerability alerts and identifying potential anomalies. GenAI’s true advantage lies in what happens afterwards.

Once data has been preprocessed and scoped, GenAI can step in to provide advanced reasoning capabilities that go beyond what previous-generation AI can achieve. GenAI tools offer deeper contextualization, more accurate predictions, and nuanced insights that are unattainable with older technologies.

For instance, after a large dataset – say, millions of documents – is processed, filtered and labeled through other means, GenAI provides an additional layer of analysis, validation and context on top of the curated data, determining their relevance, urgency, and potential security risks. It can even iterate on its understanding, generating additional context by looking at other data sources, refining its decision-making capabilities over time. This layered approach goes beyond simply processing data and shifts the focus to advanced reasoning and adaptive analysis.

Challenges and Limitations

Despite the recent improvements, many challenges remain when it comes to integrating GenAI into existing cybersecurity solutions.

First, AI’s capabilities are often embraced with unrealistic expectations, leading to the risk of over-reliance and under-engineering. AI is neither magical nor perfect. It’s no secret that GenAI often produces inaccurate results due to biased data inputs or incorrect outputs, known as hallucinations.

These systems require rigorous engineering to be accurate and effective and must be viewed as one element of a broader cybersecurity framework, rather than a total replacement. In more casual situations or non-professional uses of GenAI, hallucinations can be inconsequential, even comedic. But in the world of cybersecurity, hallucinations and biased results can have catastrophic consequences that can lead to accidental exposure of critical assets, breaches, and extensive reputational and financial damage.

Untapped Opportunities: AI with Agency

Challenges shouldn’t deter organizations from embracing AI solutions. Technology is still evolving and opportunities for AI to enhance cybersecurity will continue to grow.

GenAI’s ability to reason and draw insights from data will become more advanced in the coming years, including recognizing trends and suggesting actions. Today, we’re already seeing the impact advanced AI is having by simplifying and expediting processes by proactively suggesting actions and strategic next steps, allowing teams to focus less on planning and more on productivity. As GenAI’s reasoning capabilities continue to improve and can better mimic the thought process of security analysts, it will act as an extension of human expertise, making complex cyber more efficient.

In a security posture evaluation, an AI agent can act with true agency, autonomously making contextual decisions as it explores interconnected systems—such as Okta, GitHub, Jenkins, and AWS. Rather than relying on static rules, the AI agent dynamically makes its way through the ecosystem, identifying patterns, adjusting priorities, and focusing on areas with heightened security risks. For instance, the agent might identify a vector where permissions in Okta allow developers broad access through GitHub to Jenkins, and finally to AWS. Recognizing this path as a potential risk for insecure code reaching production, the agent can autonomously decide to probe further, focusing on specific permissions, workflows, and security controls that could be weak points.

By incorporating retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), the agent leverages both external and internal data sources—drawing from recent vulnerability reports, best practices, and even the organization’s specific configurations to shape its exploration. When RAG surfaces insights on common security gaps in CI/CD pipelines, for instance, the agent can incorporate this knowledge into its analysis, adjusting its decisions in real time to emphasize those areas where risk factors converge.

Additionally, fine-tuning can enhance the AI agent’s autonomy by tailoring its decision-making to the unique environment it operates in. Typically, fin-tuning is performed using specialized data that applies across a wide range of use cases rather than data from a specific customer’s environment. However, in certain cases such as single tenant products, fine-tuning may be applied to a specific customer’s data to allow the agent to internalize specific security nuances, making its choices even more informed and nuanced over time. This approach enables the agent to learn from past security assessments, refining its understanding of how to prioritize particular vectors, such as those involving direct connections from development environments to production.

With the combination of agency, RAG, and fine-tuning, this agent moves beyond traditional detection to proactive and adaptive analysis, mirroring the decision-making processes of skilled human analysts. This creates a more nuanced, context-aware approach to security, where AI doesn’t just react but anticipates risks and adjusts accordingly, much like a human expert might.

AI-Driven Alert Prioritization

Another area where AI-based approaches can make a significant impact is in reducing alert fatigue. AI could help reduce alert fatigue by collaboratively filtering and prioritizing alerts based on the specific structure and risks within an organization. Rather than applying a blanket approach to all security events, these AI agents analyze each activity within its broader context and communicate with one another to surface alerts that indicate genuine security concerns.

For example, instead of triggering alerts on all access permission changes, one agent might identify a sensitive area impacted by a modification, while another assesses the history of similar changes to gauge risk. Together, these agents focus on configurations or activities that truly elevate security risks, helping security teams avoid noise from lower-priority events.

By continuously learning from both external threat intelligence and internal patterns, this system of agents adapts to emerging risks and trends across the organization. With a shared understanding of contextual factors, the agents can refine alerting in real time, shifting from a flood of notifications to a streamlined flow that highlights critical insights.

This collaborative, context-sensitive approach enables security teams to concentrate on high-priority issues, reducing the cognitive load of managing alerts and enhancing operational efficiency. By adopting a network of agents that communicate and adapt based on nuanced, real-time factors, organizations can make meaningful strides in mitigating the challenges of alert fatigue, ultimately elevating the effectiveness of security operations.

The Future of Cybersecurity

As the digital landscape grows, so does the sophistication and frequency of cyberthreats. The integration of GenAI into cybersecurity strategies is already proving transformative in meeting these new threats.

But these tools are not a cure-all for all of the cyber industry’s challenges. Organizations must be aware of GenAI’s limitations and therefore take an approach where AI complements human expertise rather than replaces it. Those who adopt AI cybersecurity tools with an open mind and strategic eye will help shape the future of industry into something more effective and secure than ever before.

[empty-movement]

Empty Movement's 2023 Revolutionary Girl Utena UPDATE

Fashionably late? As always. 2023 was a HUGE year for Empty Movement, so much so that to confess, we did a big fail in actually keeping up with sharing the stuff we did! OOPS. So finally, we proudly bring you: all the Revolutionary Girl Utena content we dropped in 2023. Essays, artbooks, CD information, you name it. Click below for the entire site update, or get it at the source, as always, at ohtori.nu.

In Analysis (Fan Essays): • seebee's essay The Power of Living an Embodying Narrative is about more than Utena, it's about the fandom--including us. We were both interviewed for this piece, and the result is an absolutely beautiful essay that has helped inform how we do Utena stuff going forward. Thank you so much for letting us be part of this! • seebee's VIDEO essay FILM CUTS BACK | transfeminism in utena absolutely blew our minds and it's so good we're listing it. Look at the title. Just go watch it, it rules. • Nicole Winchester's essay No Choice But To Become Witches: The Bishōjo-Demonic Phallic Mother Dichotomy in Revolutionary Girl Utena catches you up to speed on the academic discussion around what might best be described as the shoujo manga iteration of the Madonna-Whore complex. Then, naturally, it finds plenty to say about Utena. Great work that was well worth the coding!

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In From the Mouths of Babes (Translated Meta/Creator Content): • Cross X Talk, A Round Table Discussion Commemorating the Second Musical Utena GOGAI FUCKIN' GOGAI. Nagumo and friends bring us the final untranslated part of the 2019 Black Rose Musical's program guide: the monster interview with Ikuhara and the director of the musicals, Yoshitani. INCREDIBLE content here that 100% lives up to the first musical's similar encounter! A must read!! • The Rose Apocalypse's Ei Takatori Interview The director of the mysterious 1999 musical (yes the machine gun one, and YES WE HAVE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT IT COMING) interviewed in The Rose Apocalypse book. This...is that. Thank you so much to iris hahn for translating, and I can't wait to bring you more of this mythology!!! • The Utena Dossier Animage Magazine's June 1997 supplemental, this 36-page Utena tome has ben translated by Nagumo with editing by Ayu Ohseki. Because so much of the content is in its visual presentation, I worked the translation into the original scans! Check it out! (PS. Yes that is an entirely different gallery on the emptymovement.com domain, no this won't stay there, yes it has been a weird couple years.) The Dossier includes two long interviews that are also worked into html pages for easy viewing! The Auspicious Joining of Manga and Anime: Saito and Hasegawa For Whom the Director Smiles: Ikuhara and Kitakubo

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In Historia Arcana & The Bibliothèque (Untranslated Resources): • There are a lot of changes happening in this arena!!! How and where to place different materials has been a moving target, so I'll do my best! The sites don't quite reflect this yet, but Historia Arcana will be for cover to cover Utena media, including special magazine publications. Something Eternal's gallery, the Bibliothèque, will be for magazine articles, clippings, and other things. Major artbooks will likely be in both places, cross referenced. New books in Historia Arcana: • The Rose Spiral: Reflections on the Mythology of Utena While not strictly official, this is a fan published book of in depth analysis of Utena, circa 1998! Yep, cover to cover. • Revolution Dictionary (OST 1 First Press Bonus) Cross-referenced from Audiology, this is the bonus dictionary you only got if you grabbed it early! Cool! • Revolutionary Girl Utena Making of Visuals Book Art of UTENA I am mentioning this for completions sake and because I already uploaded it, but this is a cover to cover high resolution, uncleaned scan of the 1999 Art of Utena artbook. I am going to clean the scans, and ultimately be posting the official artbooks elsewhere. • Revolutionary Girl Utena Photobook: Rose Memories This special Animage bonus could be purchased for 700 yen, and back then, was probably a great way to keep the anime in your pocket! It's entirely shots from the TV series, though, so there's nothing specifically new. But I scan it all, baby. New books in the Bibliothèque: • Chiho Saito's 1999 Revolutionary Girl Utena Original Illustration Collection HI THIS IS A VERY BIG DEAL. Read more about why when you visit! TLDR? Here's some of the best artwork of Utena, rescanned and remastered by yours truly to be the best big big scans of big big beautiful Chiho Saito Art. This is a feast. I even made myself a calendar! (Note that the price is such that I don't make a profit on these, so if you're looking to donate, definitely go by other routes, haha.) You will find multiple ways to obtain the scans, and in more than one size. Either way you soak up the rays, enjoy 'em! New articles and clips in the Bibliothèque: • H! Rockin' on Japan Magazine Saito X Oikawa This fashion music magazine's July 1999 article has ALREADY BEEN TRANSLATED? Like, I am going to add the translation officially to the site of course, but holy hell Nagumo is amazing!! This article is actually the origin of a Saito art piece that uh, well. Now we know she went to a love hotel with movie Akio's VA. Cool! Anyway check it out! • Comickers Magazine, August 1997 This absolute monster find is an industry-focused magazine with this gorgeous spread and interview with Chiho Saito. It gets into how she does things. The making of Utena. All kinds of stuff. I'd LOVE to know more about this one!! • Comickers Magazine, June 1998 Again, an industry-focused publication, this time it's exploring the manga and the anime and how they compare. Again looks like a tasty meal!! • Volks Magazine, Spring 2022 YEP SCANS OF THE BOOK OF THE DOLLFIES. For a lot of us, this is at close as we get to these ludicrously gorgeous dolls. I included a few extra pages because they were just fuckin' cool and felt relevant. • Sega Saturn Magazine, December 1997 One of two grabs I got recently on Yahoo! Japan! This appears to be the first look announcement of the 1998 Utena video game! (Yes we have more on it, yes we will eventually post links.) • Sega Saturn Magazine, April 1998 This feature brings attention to the voice actors, who are all returning for the game! • Dengeki G's Magazine, January 1998 Another gaming focused magazine, with frankly a more adult edge, cheaply lets the readers know about Utena. These three game magazine moments are just a bizarre reminder of how we did things before the internet, LMAO

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In Audiology (Music and CD Information): • Complete information about the STAR CHILD - Girls Character Song Best album! You also definitely can't grab the two new remix tracks there. • Did you know there was a first press bonus dictionary for the first OST? I DIDN'T UNTIL RECENTLY. Now I know all about it, and so can you. Check it out! Obviously, scans available, both here and in Historia Arcana. • I FINALLY acquired a complete set of the Utena CD singles!! Check out complete track lists, scans, and information for ALL FIVE Utena singles. Yes. Including the movie Akio guy's one.

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In The Doujinshi Gallery: • Several dozen dounjinshi were uploaded earlier in the year, and can be found listed on the Site Update archive here.

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That's all for now, folks! There's so so so much coming. I have the episode 18 and 20 (!!!!) storyboards to scan, as well as a fully translated scanlation of The Duelist Bible. We're planning to do something for Anthy's rare LEAP YEAR birthday coming up, probably a musical stream or something! Love!

[renthony]

We've been rewatching BoJack Horseman, because sometimes you just need to watch the sad horse man grapple with some generational trauma and its associated baggage.

The rewatch has me thinking about how I really need to actually finish that script for a queer analysis of BoJack's character. I have twenty pages of notes with episode-by-episode breakdowns and sources to back up my interpretations. Working on my "here's why I think BoJack Horseman is a queer man in denial" script is what led to my entire censorship project, because I wound up with like three pages of notes just about the Hays Code and realized I wanted to explain that as part of its own project.

That horse is Queer™, I have infinite things to say about why I think so, and I'm just so obsessed with this damn show.

[novlr]

How can I make my editing process quicker and less stressful? I feel like I’m spending way too much time on it and not really getting anywhere, so I’d love some tips on how to keep it simple and actually productive.

I think that most writers have a love/hate relationship with editing. It feels so good to see your manuscript go from a rough draft to something really polished, but at the same time, the editing process itself is painstaking and laborious.

The editing phase can feel like wandering through a maze without a map. Every writer has been there, staring at their manuscript, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work ahead. But editing doesn’t have to be a source of stress. With the right approach, you can make your editing process both efficient and effective.

Break it down

While some writers thrive taking a do-it-all-at-once approach, this isn’t one that works for everyone. If you feel overwhelmed, you can try to divide your editing into distinct passes, each focusing on a specific aspect:

Story Structure – Focus on plot, pacing, and narrative flow.

Character Development – Examine character arcs and relationships.

Scene Level – Look at individual scene construction and transitions.

Language – Analyse word choice, clarity, and style.

Technical – Look at grammar, punctuation, and formatting.

By tackling one element at a time, you’ll catch more issues and avoid feeling overwhelmed. And you also don’t need to do them back-to-back.

When I do my first editing pass, I look at only story structure and character development. After draft 2, I look at a scene level analysis, with some attention paid to language. If I need to, I’ll repeat this for as many revisions as I need, leaving a deep-dive on language and the more technical proofreading aspects until my final draft.

Create a system

No two writers write alike. Your process will be as unique to you as the writing you produce, so never take someone else’s routine as gospel or as the only “right” way to approach it.

What you will need to do is experiment. Try different things. See what works for you, and what doesn’t. Things you can try might be:

Set clear goals

Before each editing session, define what you want to accomplish. For example:

“Review chapters 1-3 for pacing issues.”

“Check all dialogue in Act 2.”

“Analyse character motivations in transition scenes.”

Having specific targets can help give you focus and give a sense of progress, as it’s a task that you can tick off.

Track your progress

Monitoring your progress lets you actively see what you’re accomplishing. It can be a huge motivator when you can see your manuscript start to take shape.

Keep a spreadsheet of completed editing tasks.

Use a notebook to log issues that need addressing.

Create checklists for common problems you want to catch.

Track time spent on different editing tasks to identify where you might be getting stuck.

Organise visually

If you’re a visual learner, then being able to see your editing process taking shape can be a game changer. You could try to:

Highlight plot threads in different colours.

Mark scene transitions with clear breaks.

Flag areas that need deeper revision.

Use comments or sticky notes for bigger structural issues.

Create a colour code for different types of edits (dialogue, description, pacing, etc.).

Incorporate these colours into your tracking if you decide to use it.

Set a sustainable schedule

Editing can be just as time-consuming as writing (in some cases, it might be even more time consuming), so it’s important to make sure you don’t overwhelm yourself. Don’t expect your editing to be done in a week. To keep a routine that’s realistic and sustainable, you can try to:

Block out specific times for editing.

Set deadlines for completing different passes.

Build in buffer time for unexpected issues.

Schedule regular breaks to give yourself a fresh perspective.

Plan rewards for hitting milestones.

For me, the rewards are the biggest part of the process. I need that little serotonin bump when I finish something and give myself a treat. That can be anything from taking a break, to buying myself something. You can even involve a housemate or family member in the reward!

Keep reference materials handy

If you’re the kind of person who likes to remind yourself of the task at hand, then it can be uesful to keep reference materials or a style guide handy. This could include:

Your story bible or outline.

Character profiles.

Setting descriptions.

Style guide preferences.

A common error checklist.

Notes from previous drafts to make sure you don’t repeat mistakes.

You don’t need to have all references handy at all times. You can pick and choose what works for you, and what is important for that editing pass.

Know when to step back

Fresh eyes make better edits. If you’re tired or overwhelmed, there is absolutely no shame in stepping away. You’ll be much more productive if you approach editing when you’re not exhausted, because it’s very easy to miss things and get distracted if you’re not in the right headspace.

Make sure you take regular breaks between editing passes to maintain your perspective. And don’t be afraid to take a week or two away from your manuscript can help you return with renewed clarity. Read something else. Watch television. Just make sure you do something other than constantly working on your manuscript.

Get outside input

If you’ve done a few self-editing passes and feel you need to start polishing, you might want to look for outside help. This can take many forms. Some are free, while others will cost nothing more than your time. You’ll need to decide what is best for you. You can:

Share your almost-finished product with beta readers (I recommend you read this guide to get the most out of your beta readers, as they can be such a valuable resource).

Consider hiring a professional editor once you’ve done all you can.

Join a critique group for regular feedback during the drafting and editing process.

Find a writing partner for accountability and reciprocal labour.

Trust your instincts

Try different editing processes to see what works for you. Don’t try to force something that isn’t, and be willing to change tack if you need to. If something feels right, stick with it. If it doesn’t, let it go.

But no matter what editing process you choose to pursue, don’t aim for perfection in your first pass. Instead, focus on steady improvement through multiple editing rounds. With practice, you’ll develop a rhythm that makes editing feel less like a chore and more like a natural part of your writing journey.

[littlefoxwithbighat]

10(ish) Deltarune theories and lore to catch up on before Chapter 3 & 4

As someone who has been deep (AND I MEAN DEEP) in the trenches of Deltarune theories and analysis, I thought I'd share a few ones that you might want to catch up on before Chapters 3 & 4 drop for real, so we can be on the lookout for more secrets! There is so much thought and love and secrets inbuilt into the series, so its really fun to learn about this stuff!

Bolded videos are the ones I would highly recommend watching before Ch3 and 4 drop.

"Everything to look out for in Chapters 3 and 4 of Deltarune" by KazooCat covers most of the lore we are expecting to see in these chapters from the previous newsletters and special events. If you just want a quick recap of what's coming and where we're at, this is a great resource.

2. "The Burgerpants Conspiracy" by cammyboiG is a bit of a crack theory and a very silly video, and it isn't something I necessarily subscribe to, but it does cover some big theories and important ideas, such as chess theory, several candidates for the knight and some general lore, and it's all around a good time with a genuine love for the source material. Go check it out!

3. "The Importance of The Dreamurr divorce in Chapter 3" by StuffedAlpaca discusses the Dreamurr family throughout Undertale and Deltarune with some really insightful and empathetic analysis, very good video for any Kris fans and will almost certainly be relevant in Chapter 3. All around lovely video and a great channel.

I would also recommend Stuffed Alpaca's video on:

A) "Susie and Ralsei's relationship will be more important than you think" discussing how their opposing relationships with both Kris and the player might affect the storyline

4. "Why is Kris so weird?" by HalfBreadChaos. This is a must-watch in my opinion, although I am a bit biased because I absolutely love this channel, it's incredibly smart. Covers some really important elements of Kris's characters and their relevance to magic and ocean and death imagery, and absolutely opened my eyes to some deeper lore within the game. Also, HBC uses a TTS due to their disabilities, so if thats a no for you, thats fair, but please don't hassle them or their community for it, they aren't a bot!

B) "Why is Berdly in Deltarune? An (Over)Analysis" A beautiful character analysis of Berdly for his fans to celebrate and his haters to learn a little bit more about him.

I would also really recommend HalfBreadChaos's video on:

A) "Who is December Holiday in Deltarune" A MUST WATCH if you are behind on Dess lore, or you still don't know who she is. This is your best resource to learn about her.

B) "Don't forget, who is with us in the dark?" discussing potential candidates for the singer of the main song of the series, including taking apart the japanese characters and their significance to each character.

C) "What the Four Shadows Foreshadow" discussing the foreshadowing of the shadow puzzle in Queens mansion in Ch.2.

D) "Puppets and Cats: Elements Revealed in The Spamton Sweepstakes" discussing the element system in the pvp, which will probably become increasingly significant in later chapters.

E) "Who is the Man With The Egg in Deltarune?" discussing the secret egg room and its significance to Gaster and the knight as well as other easter eggs.

F)The smile motifs in Deltarune, which as you might guess, covers the way smiling is used in UTDR universe and why.

Honestly, just go watch all HalfBreadChaos's videos if you want to learn Deltarune lore in full, they use code and translations and previous lore expertly to flesh out theories. But these are my favourites/ the most important ones to know.

5. "Noelle's mother worries me" by Dorked. Covers a bit about what we know about Noelle's family relationships and how it relates to Noelle's personality. Will also probably be relevant in future chapters.

I would also recommend from Dorked:

A) "Ralsei and The Player's concerning relationship." What it says on the tin, but incredibly important for any Ralsei analysis.

B) "The Sans & Ice-E Conspiracy, and Deltarune Papyrus Mysteries" maybe a bit out there, but it does provide a lot of insight into ICE-E and its relevance.

C) "Toriel and Asgore's parenting problems." Like Stuffed Alpaca's video, this covers how Toriel and Asgore's parenting issues affect their children. A lovely character analysis.

Again, a really lovely and insightful channel. These are just a few picks and I would highly recommend you check out more of their videos.

6. "The Universal Mother Theory" by Kooki914. Explores how Queen's relationship to each of the characters resembles their relationship to their mothers. Chapter 2 specific, but I do think it's interesting to consider for other chapters, especially when we begin to learn more about the characters families.

From Kooki914, I would also recommend:

A) "Snowgrave: An exploration of relationships" which explores how Kris and Susie's relationship in the snowgrave route is likened to an abuse marriage.

7. "I think I know what Ralsei is" by SonsaKay." I don't know if I fully subscribe to this theory but O.M.G. I had SO MANY revelations and jaw drop moments watching this video. If you are at all interested in Ralsei's character you MUST MUST watch this.

8. "A Thematic Analysis of Darkness in Deltarune" by Virat Veritas. Just a nice old fashioned thematic analysis; what is says on the tin.

9. "Names, Endings, Prophecy, Power" by Snarlinger. Explores the significance of character names in the UT/DR universe, and links them to religious themes within the text.

Related to this video:

10. "I know what the angel's heaven is & how Deltarune will end" by Black Chesnut and "The Religious Symbolism of Deltarune" by Detective Mar. Grouping these together because they're both good insights into the religious symbolism in Deltarune, which is shaping up to be a really prominent theme, and worth knowing a little bit about.

A. In this video, Snarlinger mentions, "Deltarune's story is strongly tied to the Book of Revelation" by Doom64hunter. This is a brilliant in-depth read about how the story of deltarune mirrors the end of the New Testament and so smartly put together.

and a bonus

11. "Who Dr. Gaster Is and Why That Matters to Deltarune" by Mystic Sparkles. Come on guys, we had to have ONE big gaster theory in here and I DID save it to the end. In all seriousness, if you are behind on Gaster lore, or you don't understand why people are using him in Deltarune Analysis, this is a really great resource, and Mystic Sparkles is a delightful commentator.

NOW LISTEN GUYS. I AM TRUSTING YOU TO BE NICE AND RESPECTFUL TO THESE CREATORS, EVEN IF YOU STRONGLY DISAGREE WITH THESE THEORIES, OK? DON'T MAKE ME REGRET SHARING THESE, I'M TRUSTING YOU ALL TO BE GOOD. Now have fun theorising and analysing mwah <33.