#Storythings

[younes-ben-amara]

ما من شيءٍ يضيع؛ كلُّ شيء بقدرٍ

[celestialaviva]

Mami and Babi

A redraw of this comic

[demonstars]

ashnikko slay

IM WORKING BITCH AIN'TGOT NOT TIME FOR DICK

[insertdisc5]

i made a little twine storything about my favorite character in the stanley parable.

it's called "the fern ending" 🌿

[emmys-grimoire]

Nightbringer - Lesson 1 Summary & Analysis

It turns out I probably won’t get to lesson 10 by the end of the weekend, so I’m getting started on my lesson 1-5 summaries. 

I have school throughout the week, but I’m hoping to crank these out every other day until we finally catch up to the current lesson. I’m not used to doing ten lessons all at once! But we’ll get there, eventually.

Also expect fewer screenshots than usual after this summary. The analysis portion will also be lighter until we get to the meat of the story. Lessons 1-3 are pretty light.

Caution: spoilers ahead.

The Story

The game begins with a chatroom with an “unregistered” individual with a demon icon. When you ask who they are, they’re cryptic and don’t give you a straight answer (“Perhaps you know me, perhaps you don’t”) but they make it clear they’re *very* acquainted with you. They claim nothing remains hidden to them and they see everything (whether it’s past, present, or future) and they show you a group picture of the brothers. They ask you if you know them, and you can either confirm or deny you do. If you claim you don’t, they say something must have gone wrong but not to worry, you soon will.

They tell us they’re going “to take you someplace where you’re happy. A place that will bring you more joy than any other”.

They also claim that “time” is like a “dark, heavy mud” to them that sits in a container and swirls around like a vortex. They get all cryptic again and begin asking you questions they know you don’t have the answer to (“Will you be entering your own past?” “Or the past, present, or even future of someone you don’t know?”) before yeeting you back in time.

You wake up in the student council hall much like you do in the OG game. Also like in the OG game, Diavolo is the first to greet you, though this time he’s in his full-fledged demon form and shocked/confused at your sudden appearance. He and the brothers found you knocked out cold and they’re glad you’re finally awake. They just assume you’re a lost demon, but it’s never really elaborated on *how* you look like a demon.

Lucifer asks Diavolo what they’re going to do with you, and Diavolo tells us the facility they’re currently in is still under construction – and they found you there. He wants to know just how you got there, and asks if you’re even from the Devildom, you’re none the wiser. Then character introductions are had! Then your cell phone rings. Those are still apparently a thing.

It’s Solomon. You have a short conversation and he deduces what might have happened.

After the phone call, Diavolo continues the introductions – but you’re interrupted by none other than a near-feral Satan, who at this point is the living manifestation of wrath. We learn he’s so destructive that they had to wrap him in chains and throw him into a locker, but apparently Asmo didn’t make sure the chains were tight enough because he didn’t want to harm his tender hands, so he’s predictably ultra pissy now. You’re still given introductions, but the brothers aren’t allowed to interact with you before Satan threatens to kill everyone. Diavolo is amused more than alarmed.

Satan begins lashing out physically and everyone takes cover. Leviathan asks why he has to be stuck with Satan as a brother, and Asmodeus reveals it’s because the Demon King insisted they do. Lucifer says that they’re new to the Devildom, as because of that, they’re in no position to refuse him. You’re finally allowed to cut in and ask either when the Great Celestial War happened or if you’re in the past.

The answer you get is the same: Mammon is predictably confused about your questions and asks if you got hit in the head during the war, which just concluded. Diavolo asks your name.

Satan interrupts again. You try to use your pact to make him “stay” but it doesn’t work. The brothers are confused and wonder if you were trying to cast a spell. Satan advances and… Ruri-chan suddenly interrupts. It’s your phone again.

Leviathan is enthralled. He tells you that it’s your job to play Ruri Tunes all day every day.

Lucifer tells him to snap out of it, they’re in the middle of being attacked. Suddenly, you “feel a warm light building inside” and your “stay!” actually works this time. The others are shocked when all the brothers suddenly get grounded. Diavolo laughs at all of them. The others are less than amused, but Diavolo concludes *fate* must have brought them all together. In the OG game, Diavolo is a big believer in destiny, so it looks like they’re continuing this trend with him.

He expands on what was said before, and explains that the brothers are former angels who were cast out of the Celestial Realm following the Great Celestial War. He admits things are a bit unstable in the Devildom at the moment.

As a result he hires you as their babysitter attendant. The brothers are less than enthused, Lucifer insists they aren’t children, but whatever Diavolo says goes.

Due to the newness of their friendship, Lucifer isn’t the lapdog he is in the OG game. He complains about and questions Diavolo’s commands more.

He’s also less considerate to technically newborn Satan, but Satan is perpetually trying to murder everyone, so…

You exchange DDD info with Diavolo so you remain in contact. It may be centuries earlier than the present timeline, but cell phones and social media are forever, apparently. Asmo insists on signing you up for everything.

Belphie is getting sleepy, and you can suggest they head back to the House of Lamentation. Diavolo is perplexed at you even knowing what it is because it’s only very recently been built in the Devildom. The brothers are excited to finally have a home of their own. Apparently they were staying at the castle in the interim.

We learn the House of Lamentation still has the cursed history it did in the previous game. You learn Mammon isn’t scared of ghosts at this point. Belphie falls asleep and Lucifer decides it’s finally time to go.

Diavolo forbids you from staying at the House of Lamentation, and seems perplexed to learn you don’t have your own place. He shows you the Wanderer’s Whereabouts app, that you can use to spy on the brothers as though they were ants in an ant farm.

Before he can tell you where you’re going to stay, Solomon drops in! He introduces us as his apprentice. Diavolo is stunned and though Solomon didn’t have any close demon relationships other than Barbatos. You can imply you’re his best apprentice or someone more… intimate. 

Diavolo suggests we bunk with Solomon at his place. When you’re finally alone with him, you chat about what happened. You give him the run-down, then he suggests you go home. You’re staying at Cocytus Hall this time.

When you arrive, Solomon explains what happened at length. We just blipped out of existence in the present timeline, apparently. He had to analyze the magical traces our yeeting left behind to deduce where we went, and he asked Barbatos to send him back to that point in time instead of just bringing us back, apparently.

And we can’t send ourselves back yet! Wonderful. Our pacts have weakened in our travel through spacetime and, while not entirely severed, need to be reforged in order to realize their full power again. It is the only way to go back.

Lucifer texts you and tells you to come to the Demon Lord’s Castle tomorrow. Diavolo has something to talk about.

The following morning, Asmo and Mammon arrive to escore you to the castle. Solomons busy in the kitchen fixing breakfast. The two of them are excited to try food prepared by the most famous sorcerer from the human world. Knowingly, you try to escape before it’s too late. Asmo lingers behind and swipes a muffin.

You take a detour and go shopping instead. The brothers haven’t been allowed to go exploring since they fell because they’ve been stuck in the castle up until now. Mammon brandishes Lucifer’s credit card, and Asmo foolishly believes Lucifer must have lended it to him. You can remind them that you’re wanted at the castle, but Mammon brushes you off and calls you a killjoy.

It isn’t long before we get to encounter some good ol’ fantasy racism!

Mammon is kicked out of one of the shops. Since the newly-transformed demons are newcomers and having been out and about their new home yet, they weren’t expecting such a cold reception. 

Asmo decides to distract Mammon from his stewing with ice cream. Mammon admits some of the Devildom foods sound gross, but they’re growing on him. He finds something written on his popsicle stick: the word “WINNER”. It activates a gacha and he wins a hostile giant snake.

You flee, but you’re pursued. Asmo doesn’t have his charm powers yet, so you have to settle for lobbing the noxious muffin at it after calling the help hotline printed on the stick fails.

Once you finally get to the castle, you tell Diavolo what happened and he finds it hilarious. Lucifer wants to lecture, but simply confiscates the credit card. You can suggest where he should hide it. Mammon and Asmo leave, and you can finally get back to business.

Diavolo wants to establish RAD, and he wants you and Lucifer to be founding members. This is why they’ll still be in the school uniforms. Lucifer doesn’t trust you and doesn’t believe this is a good decision on Diavolo’s behalf.

What follows is the most Lucifer-esque “but thou must” dialogue choice reactions yet. If you refuse:

Okay man. I was just agreeing with you.

Afterwards, he makes it clear he doesn’t intend on being your friend.

Then the giant snake returns, and he’s forced to ask you for assistance.

Thoughts & Analysis

This was essentially just a re-introduction lesson, but it does set up the background of the situation up nicely. The brothers are newcomers to the Devildom and they're still having trouble adjusting to their new environment... and more importantly, their new environment is reacting to them.

The goal of the first season of Nightbringer is clear: you must reforge your pacts in order to get back to the present timeline, but thankfully it's not just a retread of the OG Season 1. I don't know why we can't just have Barbatos snap his fingers and fix everything like he's done before -- it's clear he can ferry people back and forth (though he claimed it can be imprecise) -- but I've always had a problem with Barbatos's powers and how he's supposed to fit inside the cosmology of the universe. It felt like him being a demon put too much power in the Devildom’s hands, and they had to nerf him later to make things happen even though it doesn’t really make much sense (he gets rid of the dark crevasse in S4 but it’s effects remain for... some reason?)

But now we have *another* entity that can travel through time. Spoiler alert: the demon in the prologue video is not Barbatos, and Mr. Bowlcut is not Solomon. I'll expand on that in the later lessons, but it looks like we might finally have a Big Bad on our hands.

I'm *not* terribly fond of everyone looking exactly the same as they do in the previous game -- and there's no reason for them to don uniforms for a school that still doesn't exist yet -- but whatever.

My opinion on the story has improved as it’s progressed, nitpicks aside. It’s not perfect, but the writing team is trying again.

[icaroid]

website update

hello hello I've updated my website with a few more stories!

the trouble with all the stars i have loved is a prosepoem type short storything

like fish guts is a mummification in text about a woman, a river, and the dead

birch is a faerie tale about a schoolgirl growing up

[nanowrimo]

3 Things NaNoWriMo Taught Me That I Didn’t Learn In College

NaNoWriMo can teach you a lot about writing, especially if you’re not used to writing novels! Ellen Relac talks about three valuable things she’s learned as a NaNo participant.

I concentrated in creative writing with a short story emphasis at UCLA. My technical writing improved greatly and my prose was able to develop its own distinct and unique style because of the amazing instruction I received there. However, writing a novel brought up three challenges I had never encountered in my short story career.

1. All the ways long form writing differs from the art of the short story

The short story process often entails a fight to keep said story short. You can’t dwell on irrelevant events or dabble outside the scope of the story you’re telling. I have often had to take out entire extraneous scenes to let my short stories stand on their own and affirm my confidence that they contain all the information they need to be a story worth reading.

I’m used to the compulsive concision of a neat short story, as well as my own personal habit of delivering exposition through breezy lines that cover entire seasons (“Spring turned into fall, but Jessie never once looked out the window to notice the change”). The contrasting challenge of filling an entire novel with things happening forced me to do the opposite of condensing my plot and let it breathe.

Recognizing the challenge of filling the page (of the hundreds of pages—in my specific case, 197) doesn’t even begin to get at the mounting challenges of continuity. If you, like me, enjoy throwing in random details as flavoring, you’d better remember that that second-chair flutist is named Cormac Ingalls and that he and Sierra are two years older than the protagonists.

Sometimes during NaNo, it felt frivolous to add scenes depicting idle conversation or day-to-day interactions. Allowing myself to recognize these scenes as pivotal opportunities for characters to develop was key to my understanding the art of the first draft.

2. The uncomfortable truth that being “good” is the wrong goal

Writing a novel in a month is a Herculean endeavor. I think the well-adjusted writer considers themselves lucky if they make any progress that feels substantial during NaNoWriMo. You don’t have to hit 50K to make potentially life-changing progress. It’s natural that doubts crop up about the quality of your writing, but do not let this dissuade you from accomplishing the amazing task you’ve undertaken! I truly would not have finished my draft if I had allowed myself to go down the rabbit holes I occasionally eyed of “this book probably sucks.”

Bottom line, it’s okay to suck sometimes. But you’ll rarely be any good if you don’t make peace with the possibility of sucking first.

3. You can write so much more than you think!

Focusing on the short story in college allowed me to hone my writing abilities with a micro-lens. I had to embrace the exact opposite of this in Nano.

I’ve gotten away before with letting a story flow out of me the two days before it was due and giving just the palest skim of a revision before finalizing it. NaNoWriMo demands much more.

It demands that you cajole yourself into writing the bare minimum on days when you would rather bathe in Elmer’s Glue than hit your word goal. It demands that you get your laptop out on the Wifi-less commuter train en route to a weekend visiting friends so you don’t fall too far behind. It demands that you carve out a five-hour day to slog through the 3000 words you need to make up on the following Monday. It demands that you are creative, clever, and extremely persistent in problem-solving. It demands an astonishing level of self-discipline and tenacity. It demands a set of triage skills (mostly to save yourself in those moments when your book appears an irredeemable wreck).

Rising to this challenge, though, pays infinite dividends. You emerge from the process of drafting a book—particularly your first—insanely proud of the difficult thing you’ve done. It gives you enough confidence to qualify as one of the best cures for imposter syndrome imaginable. NaNoWriMo gives you a community to cheer you on, a particularly satisfying word-tracking meter, and best of all, the indescribable boost that comes from doing the would-be impossible. It’s probably far more possible than you think.

Ellen Relac is an LA-based actress, writer, and photographer originally from the southwest of Connecticut. This year, she's kept busy graduating from UCLA, producing a film (https://www.instagram.com/bedtimefilm/) and tackling her first novel. Current favorite books include Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, The Firekeeper's Daughter, and Daisy Jones and the Six. Photo by Hadis Malekie on Unsplash

[clueless-fan-critic]

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: The Edge of the Sony’s Spider-Verse.

Alright. Let’s get to the meat of the business sandwich.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the sequel to 2018 smash hit film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse that honestly broke all of my expectations about the film being a two-parter with too much info. I honestly loved the movie just as much as the first with its iconic animation style, charming characters, and impactful story. Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, it felt like the film was greatly cohesive without any confusion to the plot. It feels as if the film was not just a mandatory assignment but also a passion project made in the years before it was production. While I’m a fan of Marvel and the MCU (to some degree), I’ve definitely became a Spider-Verse fan.

Let us get into this Spider-Man classic once again.

The Animation

Alright. Let’s get this out of the way.

The animation was incredible and awe-inspiring much like the first film, but pushed into overdrive. Each animated world has its own style that reflects a different version of Spider-Man. From Hobie Brown’s collage-like style to Pavitr Prabhakar’s bollywood inspired environment. Gwen’s dimension is especially colorful with the watercolor style reflecting her comic book covers. Almost every character has a distinct style to their animation from 1960s campy to 90s angst. While the movie visually stunning and dynamic, let’s get into what’s going on story wise.

The Characters

The main characters of the movie are definitely Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy. They both are different sides of the story that reflect the theme of who someone is as Spider-Man and what kind of story they have or what they want out of life. In a way, it continues the ideas and themes about expectations with choosing their own path in spite of others’ opinions and expectations.

Afro-Latino protagonist Miles is someone who’s dealing with the crossroads of who he wants be while grappling with the expectations from his family. He’s also struggling with balancing his two lives as a teen and a superhero with his responsibilities to his family. When face-to-face with Miguel O’Hara, the Spider-Man of 2099, and the fact about canon events, Miles chooses to go against it believing he can save people without risking the Spider-Verse. The phrase “I can do both” is what caught my attention because it is possible for some people, but not a choice for Spider-People in that they must experience canon events for the sake of the Spider-Verse.

Gwen is faced with the rigid expectations of what it means to be Spider-Man and how she faces the choices she makes. Gwen makes the decision to go against Miguel and the Spider-Society to save Miles on the wrong Earth, deciding to become her own hero that she wants to believe in.

The Spot, Johnathan Ohnn, is the main villain of the movie with his power to make dimensional portals after the collider exploded in the previous film. They at first portray him more of a joke character, but then slowly build him into a terrifying threat with colossal amounts of power at his hands. This is shocking because I always thought of him as a lackluster villain despite having a cool power. They actually made what could of been a joke into someone more terrifying in concept alone.

The numerous cameos from the Spider-Society range from interesting to hilarious. One of them is an obscure spider-person in a wheelchair and with crutches named Charlotte Webber or Sun-Spider of Earth-20023. Others include a cowboy, cat, t-rex, and even dune buggy. They all could just be glorified cameos with no substance, but they actually bring out the abstract craziness of the Spider-Verse and what it means for future of the franchise as a whole.

The Story

The whole story centers around Miles Morales and his journey into becoming Spider-Man, but also Gwen’s journey and how the Spider-Verse is being threatened by the Spot.

The villain is definitely the Spot and his crusade to destroy Miles, but the antagonist is Miguel O’Hara’s ideology about the Spider-Verse. Miguel’s insistence of maintaining the order of the Spider-Verse goes directly against Miles’ idea of what it means to be Spider-Man. Miles wants to save his father from a fated death as a police captain, but Miguel wants to let it play out so that the universe isn’t destroyed because of canon events.

The idea of canon events creates the division among the Spider-People where they choose to let people die to preserve the universe or risk its destruction. This idea is pretty similar to what Doctor Strange presented in No Way Home with letting the villains die than risk the universe. I think because Miles doesn’t follow the canon, he can break the cycle that all the Spider-People endure and have them even question the very system they follow.

I liked how the story left us on a cliffhanger that made us crave more of the movies and possible spinoffs. Leaving us wondering what will happen to Miles on Earth 42 with his evil doppelgänger or what Gwen’s plan is now that she’s leading a splinter team against Miguel and the Spider-Society.

Afterword

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a miracle in the landscape of sequels and two-parters. It has pushed itself to a whole new level of animation with unique colors and styles. The story and characters are pushed to their limits with dilemmas of preservation and duty along with freedom of choice and finding one’s way. It reminds us that no matter who you are, you can still be unsure of what you want and still be okay with questioning things.

Now I can’t wait for Beyond the Spider-Verse next year.

[lairofdragonagelore]

Comic: Magekiller

This post belongs to the series DA comic. The main intention is to collect the basic story of the comic and highlight any potential lore concept that may be of interest and may be explored later in the game series.

This post has the following points:

Story

Relevant Details

Characters: Marius and Tessa, both magekillers.

There is not much lore beyond a small tour around Minranthous. We also see the Archon Radonis in his typical outfit that allowed us to speculate about the potential idea that the original Elvhenan worshipped the same dragon gods that the Tevinters did until they become gods themselves.

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

Story

The comic starts with a nice presentation of the problem of power in general, and of magical power and mages in particular. It’s a reasonable concern since, especially for those living in Tevinter, a Mage is an equivalent to an unstoppable desire for power. Tevinter is, after all, a culture that has been built up exclusively on the aspiration of power. 

The comic focus on two mage-killers: Marius and Tessa. Marius is a former Tevinter slave of Erasthenes [Calpernia’s previous owner that we may see him in the quest Orlais: Shrine of Dumat]. Marius was trained to be a perrepatae, a bodyguard specialised in killing mages [similar to Fenris but without lyrium tattoos], who after a while earned his freedom. Tessa is a Nevarran woman from a noble family who was caught stealing her own wedding ring to call it off. She left her family to live in freedom and joined Marius in his mercenary work. They love each other as siblings.

The comic starts when, out of the blue, a servant of a magister requires the services of Marius and Tessa who accept a job after being tricked. 

When they reach the place where the job is supposed to be done [the Valarian Fields, close to Minrathous] they find out that the person who hired them was, in fact, Archon Radonis. He appears in front of them and asks them to discreetly kill Venatori leader mages, without linking him to those assassinations. They don’t want to work for the Archon, but they have no choice.

Here, we have a nice scene which summarises why Tevinter is still Tevinter: Thedas needs it to be what it is, feeding it with slaves and looking to a side when it comes to its magical practices because it’s the only nation that can keep the Qunari invasion at bay. 

The comic continues showing how Marius and Tessa deal with each Venatori leader, in the process we see small panels of different parts of Minrathous: 

a slaver trade market,

a theatre with magical “laser” effects,

a library,

and a Rome-like public bath.

The last one of the Venatori leaders that they have to deal with is Calpernia, to whom Marius cannot kill due to their romantic past. Since they know the Archon will not be happy with an incomplete job and will kill them for telling Calpernia who hired them, they accept Calpernia’s offer: helping them to leave Tevinter using Venatori means. Thus, they escape from Tevinter and head South.

However, as they go to the south, the Archon’s assassins keep track of them, making their life difficult. This chasing is constant until the breach in the sky happens. From that moment on, the Archon’s assassins seem to stop.

Marius and Tessa keep helping people as much as they can, killing demons that emerge from the breaches all over Ferelden. As they earn some famem Charter--the inquisition agent we find in the keep of Crestwood--makes contact with Tessa. Marius and Tessa end up working for the Inquisition.

Marius and Tessa make some missions in the Hissing Wastes, and when they return to Skyhold, they are informed that Corypheus escaped the Arbor Wilds, and now he is opening again the breach over Haven. They are sent to clean the paths for the Inquisitor and their reinforcements [this links them to the clean paths we found before reaching Corypheus in our game].

The last part of the comic is the last fight in DAI, where we see the fight of the two dragons and the piece of floating land that our Inquisitor was walking around as they chase Corypheus to the highest point [to refresh the memory, check Frostback Mountains: Somewhere North].

Relevant details

Why the title?: Simply because it’s the story about Tessa and Marius, both magekillers.

Time: Around 9:41 since the end of the comic is the ending of the base game of DAI, but before the DLC Trespasser.

Characters: There are introductions to Tessa and Marius, new characters that have some potential of appearing in DA:D.

Concepts : what this comic can provide in terms of lore?

Sadly there are no lore concepts of relevance in this comic, it’s more an introduction to Tevinter. The most significant one in my opinion is the design of the Archon’s attire. We can see its triangular shape, specially in the head, that I could not stop relating to the last bit of mural we saw in the Arlathan Forest, in the comic Missing.

I think it’s fair to speculate that whatever these elvhenan murals were about, was the same thing that Tevinter worshipped later. If Tevinter always worshipped dragons, I can see this outfit as something related to Dragons that, originally, Elvhenan worshipped as well until they managed to find a way to become gods themselves. I’m not saying in the slightest that Tevinter worshipped Elvhenan. I don’t think Tevinter, with their aversion to elves, would _directly_ do so, but if Elvhenan were able to harness the power of the Dragons and even take their shape, Tevinter could, unconsciously, end up developing similar iconography to the Elvhenan.

I suspect the figure we see in this muted green dress had a hierarchy of power, so later it was slightly translated into another position of power as it is the Archon when the Tevinter co-opted this symbol. Her hat is also deeply related to the shape of the old design of Andraste’s helm in DAO, and it’s also similar to a symbol we find in the art of Flemeth’s staff.

Some people may consider this hat as a modification of the strange moon head creature we found in the Deep Roads [DLC Trespasser]: Lower Walkways. However, the design of both of them is different [I spoke about this comparison when we analyased  “The Destruction of the Veil“]. So, in general, I suspect that the figure in the mural is Mythal, who was powerful and important in the elvhenan civilisation, she was also a Dragon according her iconography, and Tevinter may have co-opted, unconsciously, her figure in the Old Gods religion since she was a dragon.

We need to remember that there exists a Tevinter statue that looks pretty similar to the Dragon Mythal statue, but clearly it is done in the style of the Tevinter Claw of Dumat [for more details, read The Descent – The Deep Roads and Primeval Thaig]

I also suspect these murals, which may have been done by Solas, are also showing the motherly Mythal that he so deeply respects. The city shown beside this pair of Evanuris is the same one as in  “The Destruction of the Veil“. I suspect that in this mural, the city [potentially Arlathan, maybe Mythal’s city] is shown under the protection of Fen’Harel. But these are details and analysis for another post, that I will do once the Missing is completely published.

[imasallstars]

LAST CINDERELLA STORY

The final chapter of the special final story featuring all 190 idols of the Cinderella Girls franchise has been released in mobamasu.

This chapter is the final new addition to mobamasu before the final event rerun in the latter third of the month, thank you everyone. 

[cursedsleep-blog]

Updated Feedback for Streets of New Capenna

I think my original feedback to SNC was godawful for a lot of reasons, not to mention that it was ruder than it really should have been, so I am writing this.

I think New Capenna has a lot of potential but the set and the setting didn't get enough time or polish.

Story

The main story felt kind of rough. I'm not sure if there were rewrites or something, but it felt underwhelming in the end. A lot of important/interesting questions (like about Halo's effects/purpose and Elspeth's past) were left unanswered. Also still disappointed we didn't get a Riveteers story.

The confrontation with Ob Nixilis felt like it was way faster than it really should have been. Felt like the only real impact was killing Xander and crashing the Font. Maybe should've been a 2nd set with the resulting takeover (and the Angelic Awakening too).

Also the angel situation should not have had to be explained on Tumblr.

The side stories were mostly just OK. I liked the pigeon one in particular.

Setting

Going to split this into smaller sections

Humanoid Cephalids: This feels like the human sliver situation to me. Having them for more diversity was a good idea, but I feel like more Dominarian designs may have helped there. I also noticed and did not like that basically all the guy cephalids were big blurple bald guys with tentacle staches and the girls were blurple women just with tentacle themed hair.

The City and the Citizens: Stacking 3 cities on top of each other was cool, but I don’t feel like the set gave enough of an idea of what it was like to live in the city. For all the talk of how this is the big mob set, I have a clearer idea of what life was like for Ravnicans under the guilds than I did for Capennans under the families. The same goes for plain old daily life in the planes.

The Family Concepts are Cool, but Feel Underdeveloped:

Despite the lack of interest in the city outside of the families, I didn't really get a good sense for how any of the families worked & the lack of any apparent pre-angel law/order does not help. Staying away from cops and stuff was 100% the right choice, but there needs to be some sort of law or something: even law/criminal investigation controlled by the Brokers/Obscura would be good, as long as there is a real reason the Family's operations and crimes/murders are kept on the down low.

On the note of the law, as I was double checking to see if their were RTR-esque outfit guidelines I missed, I finally noticed Rogue’s Gallery had a Broker’s symbol on the sides of where the photo was being taken. If Brokers and maybe Obscura were supposed to act as the law despite also breaking it for power, that should’ve been made more clear and been more prominent.

Again, like with the unclear Angel situation post-set and having a decent amount of Angels in the set, it feels like either communication broke down and/or like there was a decently-big rewrite and that it was too late to change some things

Brokers:

Didn't feel criminal enough for the most part. The strong-arming and contract forcing implied in the sidestories seemed to be MiA, and what crime there was just seemed to be generic murder (i.e. Lagrella the Magpie)

Did not feel very magical or interested in the elements of their colors (barring the one Vermin guy who contracts with animals). One or both go for most of the other families too.

Obscura:

More of the Obscura’s mystical side could have been nice (sphinxs, seers, spirits, etc.)

How they operated seemed unclear, especially how they controlled information. What they did have just seemed to be surveillance, smuggling for no discernible purpose, and more generic crime like robbing a vault. Felt more like Dimir then a faction with White.

The hologram things suck. I know I'm taking care to not be rude this time, but it feels uninspired and un-fantastical and I feel the need to be blunt on this point.

Hard to tell apart from the Brokers, visually and operationally.

Maestros

Still too similar looking to the other Blue factions, and they maybe could have been more interested in their colors non-mechanically.

The art theme was great, though the hotel/hospitality aspects while interesting could have been explained/pushed more.

Riveteers (Also My Original Comments Were Real Bad On Them in Particular):

First off, shouldn't have complained about the boxing ring aspect, I did not know my history there.

The worker outfits helped make them distinguishable from the other factions, but I lot of what they wore still felt pretty generic

That said, after looking closely at them again, I noticed a bunch of them have a gold, scale-shaped trim or pattern on the insides of their coats. That is neat, but again I literally never noticed until today (April 27 2023). It and whatever other fashion choices were made could’ve been made more clear either in the stories or on the cards.

It still sucks that they didn’t get a story, as it may have helped flesh them out more (and I was personally curious about how the faction worked/used its colors).

Tangent below:

Calling the lack of a story for the union faction sus may have been out of line or excessive, but then again (as I finally got around to  finishing/publishing this after the MAT leak) hiring the goddamn Pinkertons is too!

Like, not relying on trigger happy cops to retrieve stuff seems fine, but WotC/Hasbro REALLY HAD TO GO WITH THE GODDAMN PINKERTONS?!

Alright back to the point of the feedback, sorry for the tangent, but I had to get that out there.

Cabaretti:

The party-goer styling was generally enough to make them distinguishable.

More magical/elemental than some of the others, but still maybe could've been a bit more 'natural' with their parties, techniques, buildings, etc.

Halo being basically potions/energy drinks (even if they were Soylent Green) kind of hurt the flavor of being a party faction.

On that note, the Cabaret faction not having alcohol does feel off, especially in a plane based in the Prohibition era. Maybe its not reasonable due to rating boards, but if there is any faction where it should be pushed, this is probably it.

If nothing else, maybe grapevines and bottles/glasses/imitating customs around alcohol could have helped with the flavor.

Mechanics

All 5 family mechanics were good/fun, and so were the new Hideaway cards.  I really liked the Alliance cards that did different things on their 2nd trigger and Gala Greeters, and Shield Counters were successful as a fixed regenerate IMO. They all did play together quite nicely as well, though as I’m about to get into some stuff sort of overshadowed that.

Limited

WU/WG were overtuned, with Inspiring Overseer being ridiculous. Raffine’s Informant and Jewel Thief was also too damn good, especially compared to cards like Brazen Upstart.

Removal was also bad, and Limited felt like it was too much about 2 color decks hitting 2 drops.  A bit more removal that didn’t care about Shield counters may have been a good idea, and some existing removal needed better efficiency.

GR Treasure also had no good payoffs beyond splashing, Jinnie Fay, and Stimulus Package. UB 5-MV Graves also seemed weak. On that note, putting the Hearse in a set testing 5-MV graveyards seemed excessive.

Having said that, I don’t think any archetype (except maybe GR Treasure?) was unplayable, but the depth of WU/WG seriously warped the experience for the worse.

Misc

Some things probably could have been more fantastical than just ‘Human with weird looking holograms’ or ‘Fantasy race doing completely normal thing/normal crime thing with no interesting changes’

Titan of Industry and All-Seeing Arbiter were cool concepts/designs and great uses of the “modern magic city” setting.  The former does feel more like a Riveteers card conceptually tho, and I do wish the latter had some Ward. Bootlegger’s Stash and Halo Fountain also work well in the same vein.

Giada, Font of Hope is so pushed (and boring) that I don’t think I ever want to play an Angels deck with it. Hope to see her again though, unless she is meant to be gone for good. (I wrote that bit before MOM)

Finger guns were neat, but didn't feel right for the setting without being fleshed out/having reasons and magic techniques tied to them.

Speaking of guns, the violin cases with actual violins in Perrie's story were cool, but stuff like the Arc Spitter felt too Izzet or Kaladesh IMO. (And I was a bit sad too see them return to semi-prominence in MOM)

No matter what anyone says, bug vehicles are cool!

The alt art was outstanding!!! :D All of the artists did a great job!

Wrapping Up

I do worry that blazing through settings like this is going to make finding/creating fan favorites harder. Kaldheim became a favorite due to its concept despite being crunched into 1 set, and Kamigawa was just fantastic and made sense as 1 set, but I worry other planes/settings may not end up getting so lucky.

Overall, the concept and faction ideas are great, but I think a bad story, being poorly fleshed out, OP commons, and being stuck in a single set (rather than 2; 3 would have been way too much) hindered things. I do hope to come back, but with a more fleshed out world.

[younes-ben-amara]

ملاحظة قيّمة من منصة صبستاك (Substack) نافعة للكتّاب وصنّاع المحتوى

ما هذه المجموعة من المختارات تسألني؟ إنّها عددٌ من أعداد نشرة “صيد الشابكة” اِعرف أكثر عن النشرة هنا: ما هي نشرة “صيد الشابكة” ما مصادرها، وما غرضها؛ وما معنى الشابكة أصلًا؟! 🎣🌐 🎣🌐 صيد الشابكة العدد #34 رمضانكم كريم؛ 🎬 نبدأ المختارات باسم الله بالعدد الجديد (الخامس) من نشرة 📨 الترجمة في أسبوع الذي صَدَر بعنوان 🤖هل يجب علينا الثقة بالذكاء الاصطناعي مع تحسن مهاراته في الترجمة؟ [مدوّنة سهام…

[celestialaviva]

Submerged

[banashee]

Banashee Fanfic Masterpost - Marvel

List of all of my Marvel fanfics, up to date as of february 2023

Please mind all individual tags and warnings, things will get heavy!

Series by ship (aka my favourite ships that turned into A Lot of Fics TM)

WinterHawk - various unrelated stories - Clint and Bucky being both sweet and angsty together

Phlint - various unrelated stories - Shield Husbands being wonderful in every aspect

IronHawk - various unrelated stories - Tony and Clint being human disasters and deeply in love

Prompt collections:

Keep Going December 2019 - various ships

Bad Things Happen Bingo Round 1 - various ships, Reminder to please check the tags and warnings! The themes get heavy and at times graphic

XMAS Writing Week 2020 - Winter Fluff of various ships

65 Random Prompts - various ships, everything from fluff to humor to angst and HC

Bad Things Happen Bingo Round 2 - More Angsty prompts with various characters and ships. Again, please mind the tags and warnings for this series especially!

Series of Oneshots in the same universe/story

The Morning After - IronHawk. Tony and Clint go from friendship plus to mutual pining to falling in love.A classic

Nerves of Steel (OMG shut up!) - Stony - Steve and Tony are stuck in a safehouse together, getting on each other’s neves. Only 1 part online so far

Honey, it’s still fucking frozen! - IronHawk. - Tony isn’t great at cooking, albeit enthousiatic. Clint... Loves Tony and puts up with a lot of bad cooking.

Of chosen families and utter chaos - Most of the Avengers have been turned into children. Phil and Thor do their best to keep them alive, as they learn a lot about their friends. (ships amongst the adults are: Phil/Clint, Thor/Bruce and Steve/Tony )

Like a Ghost in the back of my mind - Clint has some unhealthy coping mechanisms ans trauma to work through. Only one part online so far.

Polyamorous - Clint/Phil/Tony Polycule, Hurt/Comfort and lots of fluff

Sticking Together - platonic Tony, Bruce and Clint. - Our boys are in a sticky kidnapping situation

Blindsided - Clint is getting fucked over by a handler he can’t trust and ends up in an awful situation. Please check the warnings! This is a heavy one

Tear Down The Walls - IronHawk - Tony and Clint, friends to lovers, HC and fluff, found family 

Somebody to love - Phlint - Clint and Phil throughout the years as they first meet, fall in love, lose each other and find one another again, as well as the team as found family

[thecraftyfoxthewriterscorner]

Ways to Handle the Strongest Character in Your Story

The archetype of the strongest character (a.k.a., a powerful character) is generally found in stories that have a lot of action and/or adventure. Characters in this story type tend to make discoveries and solve problems by having mini-battles or competitions against an antagonistic force, all of which build up to a final confrontation with the antagonist. For example, the trope of good versus evil; though this type of conflict is never as clear cut as it first seems.

The protagonist of the story isn’t the strongest or most powerful character in their story world. Readers generally don’t find a character who already has the power to achieve their external goal—the main reason the story is being told—interesting to follow. The protagonist usually has the potential to become a powerful character, and by the end of the story, does become the strongest; or, in the case of a series, takes a step towards becoming the strongest character.

Characters like this exist in fantasy and science fiction novels too—though these characters aren’t given obvious titles like “the strongest such-and-such.” Readers get a sense of how powerful a character is based on their actions, behavior, or how other characters think of them. Usually, these powerful characters are antagonists—think Voldemort from Harry Potter. But the opposite exists as well, when the powerful character is an ally of the protagonist—like Dumbledore. These types of allies often become a mentor-figure to the protagonist.

A difficulty that arises with having powerful characters is providing readers with a valid reason for these characters not to take action at any point of the story outside of scenes where their presence is absolutely necessary. Otherwise, the story risks getting taken over from the protagonist. This reason has to be true to the character, and the circumstances of the story world.

Basically, these powerful characters are inactive due to external forces (e.g., antagonistic forces) or self-imposed reasons (e.g., disinterest, or unwilling to risk the consequences of taking action), to keep them in a supporting role in the protagonist’s story.

For examples, read more on Substack: https://thecraftyfoxwriterscorner.substack.com/p/looking-at-character-archetype-the

[confinedmadness]

[Review] [Visual Novel] Billionaire Lovers

I bought this game even before it had an English version and just left it in my to-play list for the longest time because I don’t understand Chinese. Then it got an English translation when life became hectic so I didn’t have the chance to play it until recently.

I decided to play Billionaire Lovers because I wanted a short, fluffy romance game. The internet said I could finished the whole game in around 4 hours for all routes and it was perfect because I don’t have much time, but I also don’t wanna leave routes unfinished for a long time.

To start off with my conclusion, it was indeed around 4 hours to complete so it ticked my “short” condition. But I don’t know if I’d call it fluffy. Don’t get me wrong. The game is great and I thoroughly enjoyed playing it. But it wasn’t quite what I expected. 

Story

The story isn’t complex by any means but it has a lot more depth than the bright, colorful art style might lead you to believe. The premise sounds fantastical, but the story itself was a lot more realistic and practical than I thought it would be.

It’s about the right length for the story it tried to tell and going through each route uncovered more details every time that made previously experienced events/dialogue make sense.

I guess that’s what it was. Every single route you do opened your eyes just a little bit bigger to the truth of the events. It showed you each character’s background, motivation, and just personality in general.

Characters

I don’t know how to delve into the characters without giving out spoilers. Let’s just say I became so suspicious at the end that I still question whether it really was as portrayed or if there was something more to it.

Justin is my least favorite character. Gosh, he was so clingy, so nosy, so irritating. If it was the real life, I would have avoided him like the plague. There was absolutely nothing like-able about him, I don’t even know.

Kyle is okay. But he’s just not my type. In all otome games, guys like him are the ones I do just to complete things. But I do know that lots of people go crazy for his kind of character.

Elias, on the other hand, is absolutely my type. From the looks, to the personality, and even to the character background. Everything just works. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t eye him from the beginning.

Steven was kind of just okay to me because he’s also not my type. His saving grace was that I was actually intrigued by his character setup. So he was kind of a more interesting version of Kyle for me.

But, well, after completing the game, a lot of the above opinions changed or just straight up disappeared.

Lessons

There is a lot to be learned from this game. In the story, in the character interactions, in the mini-game you play inside the game. From lessons about life, love, relationships, trust, control, family, money, contracts, etc.

It was definitely a reminder for me about the real world.