#Xcom worldbuilding

[etherealvoidechoes]

Terrible idea just crossed my mind for the Hunter, or at least my Hunter Kon-Ris.

Can totally see he’d love using Chryssalids as attack dogs or traps on his patrols and sorties. Adds a new thrill to the fight, especially if you get the rare psionically resistant ones and it turns on you in the middle of a skirmish. A little spice to his boring life.~

[austinramsaygames]

God. Imagine all the wild shit the make up industry is getting up to in the world of original XCOM where you're just selling alien corpses by the pallet to anyone with a forklift.

[rollforrandom]

I know the "Canon" is that XCOM failed in the first 1-2 months of the invasion, but does anyone else feel that's not -quite- the case? Hear me out:

The ADVENT mechs look very similar in design to the MEC trooper from EW, minus the actual person in it. This could just be standard mech design/reused assets, but it makes sense if the Elders found that humans had made something useful with MELD, they would take it for their own purposes.

The ADVENT troopers use magnetic weapons, which while not fully Canon to EU/EW (the main one was the railgun for MEC troopers), are rather prominent in Long war, a mod that helped inspire aspects of XCOM 2 and whose development worked with/for the actual game studio when XCOM2 was developed. But why would ADVENT use a weapon like that if they have plasma? Cause XCOM already designed it. It was cheaper, designed for humans, by humans, and coopted by aliens

Bradford's forces are too well organized at the start of XCOM 2. They have a WHOL ALIEN SHIP, with a launchable drops hip? That's not something that just "goes missing" without repercussions. Especially if we get stomped into the dirt with no resistance in 2 months. This feels like an opportunity was taken while the world was still in turmoil, fighting was going on, and XCOM grabbed what it could while the aliens were suppressing major dissonance across the globe. Something that according to the elder, didn't happen. And we all know we can trust them /s

This is all just theory and hypothetical. But I am really into that rn, especially other theories like "The commander/player is actually the Ethereal from the Bureau" level of theory. Tell me if you agree/disagree/want to hear more rambling.

[kyonite]

tactical breach wizards is genuinely one of the funniest games I've played in a hot minute. you should play it if you like:

- puzzles

- magical realism

- wizards

- xcom, but with wizards

- a down on her luck private investigator

- rly good and subtle worldbuilding

- a murderous necromancer (but not for the reasons a necromancer is usually murderous)

- did I mention combat puzzles

- I am deeply enjoying this aspect of it

play this game if you hate:

- traffic cops

[wageronancap]

Extremely lukewarm take: AI is neither a silver bullet solution to every problem to ever exist, nor is it the literal spawn of the antichrist -- it is a tool, and like all tools, can be used appropriately under the right conditions to great effect, or misused to great harm.

I've done some experiments with ChatGPT, and admittedly I've had a lot of fun. Detailed stories beyond the break.

I started with a statistical probability problem I knew how to describe but didn't know the math to calculate myself -- I'd just watched a number of engineering YouTube videos involving marble runs like Wintergaten, Engineezy, etc, and I wanted to know in a very limited, extremely controlled circumstance, how long could a device go before it "missed" -- before a ball that was supposed to be on a track, wasn't actually there because the reload mechanic is the random element. I gave ChatGPT a very involved prompt and regrettably I don't have it saved, but I was stupendously impressed with how it didn't need clarity from me -- it correctly interpreted the prompt, laid down some additional baseline assumptions, and then just did the math. Which honestly I expected -- computers are really good at counting. I was more pleased the AI had understood the prompt.

Later I asked to play a text-based version of XCOM 2 with the serial numbers filed off and then a Star Trek TNG-style bridge commander game. While the difficulty was too easy and it can lose track of a large cast of characters on occasion, it overall was very fun.

I also fed it a D&D 3.5 monster description and a fairly detailed character concept and it put meat on the bones (the finality of names is the bane of my existence as a worldbuilder); it even helped generate the leadership of a cult that serves the monster-character, and did so in the span of seconds -- it was able to take a concept and drum up roleplay-ready content on demand; content that would have taken me hours to develop by hand.

I recently used ChatGPT to test an item from the 2024 D&D release and immediately realized Chat's true strength for D&D as a balance tester. It is fabulously easy to import stat blocks (or homebrew non-OGL blocks) and just crunch a lot of trials to see the results.

Which led me to revisit an encounter I actually ran myself by hand some years ago -- a Warforged Titan against a Tyrannosaurus Rex. In my "canon" encounter, the tyrannosaurus went blow for blow for about four rounds before landing a critical hit and executing the titan -- a fucking epic brawl with an incredible finish on the fifth round.

I ran the same encounter with ChatGPT 100 times just now and realized just how anomalous my version of the encounter was:

Like, that's cool as fuck to be able to test, analyze, tweak, and retest without sinking a massive amount of time into playtesting, because the computer can play way faster than we fleshlings can -- and I can tune an encounter to give the feel I want it to impart to the players while still leaving room for players to innovate and surprise me as game master.

There are many things about my life I haven't dropped into the AI because it's not a counselor or therapist, it's not a financial advisor, it's not a friend -- it's a rock we put lightning into and taught to count, and it's really good at counting. It's even halfway decent at just helping make an entertaining story.

But it's not The Solution to Life The Universe And Everything.

[korbensoi]

Xcom fandom: either discussing tactics or analyzing the lore and worldbuilding

Me pulling up solely to be horny for Tygan on main:

[acceptedguy]

Development Blog: Timeless Epoch 

Blog #5 – Inspirational Studios 

Whenever I begin shaping a new world, I find it essential to ground myself in the works of those who came before me—those who’ve crafted worlds not only rich in visual detail, but also in mechanics, emotion, and narrative depth. There are a handful of studios that have consistently fueled my creative drive and helped shape the ambitions of Timeless Epoch. These are the teams whose philosophies and aesthetics guide my vision for storytelling, design, and worldbuilding. 

Creative Assembly (Total War: Warhammer series) 

Creative Assembly’s ability to seamlessly merge narrative, grand-scale strategy, and rich worldbuilding is legendary. In particular, the Total War: Warhammer series stands out to me—not just because of its tactical gameplay, but because of the architectural and thematic depth woven into every faction. 

Each race in Total War: Warhammer has an unmistakable identity: Dwarfs with their subterranean fortresses of stone and metal, the ornate necropolises of the Tomb Kings, or the corrupted, eldritch sprawl of the Chaos Wastes. This variety and commitment to stylistic coherence across modular structures is a huge influence on Timeless Epoch—especially in the way I’m designing multiple modular kits that reflect different cultures and gods. 

Creative Assembly reminds me that art style is worldbuilding, and every bolt, gargoyle, and banner should speak to a people’s history. 

Larian Studios (Baldur’s Gate 3, Divinity: Original Sin II) 

If Creative Assembly taught me architectural storytelling, then Larian Studios taught me how to make a world feel alive. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 in particular is a masterclass in interactivity, environmental storytelling, and architectural mood. Every ruined chapel, moss-laden crypt, or mage’s tower doesn’t just exist—it tells a story in silence. And it’s not just visual: Larian fills their spaces with curiosity—why is that bookshelf burnt? Who chained this door? Why is that statue facing away from the hall? 

This kind of micro-worldbuilding is deeply inspiring. For Timeless Epoch, I want each piece of architecture—each column, archway, or tower—to raise questions and suggest lives lived. Larian’s use of lighting, contrast, and vertical design (especially in the Temple of Shar) has also influenced how I approach scene composition in Unreal Engine. 

11 bit Studios (Frostpunk, This War of Mine) 

What 11 bit Studios excels at is emotional architecture—structures that don’t just serve a mechanical purpose, but carry the weight of a society’s desperation, hope, or downfall. 

In Frostpunk, the central generator becomes more than just a power source—it becomes the heart of the city, a visual metaphor for survival. Every building spiraling out from it feels like a plea against the cold. The brutalist modular design speaks to a world where form must follow function, yet somehow, through smart use of light and mood, 11 bit makes even desperation look poetic. 

Timeless Epoch will explore similar tonal contrasts: what does it look like when survival meets beauty? What happens when exiles, each from vastly different cultures, try to build homes under duress? 11 bit Studios teaches me to design with empathy and symbolism. 

Firaxis Games (Civilization series, XCOM) 

While Firaxis’ strengths lie more in systems and structure than raw visual spectacle, they remain a key inspiration when it comes to societal diversity, progression, and modular scalability. 

In Civilization, each culture’s progression is marked not only by mechanical upgrades but also visual evolution—Japanese castles rise with their distinctive roofs, Mughal cities blossom with domes and floral inlay, and Greek metropolises emerge with pristine marble columns. These stylistic changes reflect the ideological DNA of each faction. 

This concept mirrors what I’m attempting in Timeless Epoch: designing modular kits that reflect the philosophies and values of their people. Whether warlike, inquisitive, or spiritual, I want their buildings to grow out of their beliefs. Firaxis inspires me to think about architecture not just as a design solution, but as a cultural reflection. 

Why These Studios Matter 

Each of these studios excels in a different realm—Creative Assembly in scale and grandeur, Larian in intimate narrative detail, 11 bit in emotion-driven environments, and Firaxis in modular cultural expression. 

Timeless Epoch is a convergence of these ideals. 

A world of divine powers and modular architecture, 

A city of exiles shaped by opposing philosophies, 

A living world built through systems that tell stories on both the macro and micro level. 

These studios don’t just build games—they build blueprints for worlds. And as I craft my own, I look back to these masters for guidance, inspiration, and a creative compass. 

[rose-by-every-other-name]

i've been seized by the urge to write an essay (i now realize i already wrote a mini-essay in this post lol) about why the story of Gray Phoenix (one of the main enemy factions in XCOM: Chimera Squad (which is a story i have... mixed but leaning positive feelings on, maybe more on that in another post, but the tl;dr is that the worldbuilding is a really cool premise but the implementation is you playing as a police force in a way that could've been handled worse but also could've been handled better)) is, more than anything else, a tragedy, particularly when considering that (spoilers, also cw for semi-dark story stuff)

a lot of the more morally ambiguous things they did, are quite possibly things they were manipulated into doing by Shrike. Not that this absolves them of responsibility for the things they did but considering that Shrike was pulling the strings behind all three enemy groups, it seems very likely they saw Gray Phoenix going "we want to leave" and manipulated them into being more violent than they would otherwise have been. And also like... look at the stuff Gray Phoenix gets up to in the investigations compared to the other groups. Sacred Coil kidnaps humans, uses them in gene experiments to make a pandemic spread to multiple species, and then disposes of them. The Progeny kidnap people in order to brainwash and mind-control them, as well as stealing technology to take control of aliens living peacefully. Gray Phoenix, uh... helps their friends and family secretly join them in their plan to escape the planet, and steals food resources and redistributes them. Is anyone else seeing the contrast here? and I'm gonna be honest, I really think Reclamation and Chimera Squad could've handled the situation better. Like, as soon as you realized "wait, they aren't kidnapping aliens, the aliens are going along with them willingly," maybe reconsider some of your other assumptions about the situation??? maybe??? at least on the plus side you've got plenty of options to non-lethally defeat enemies so you can make sure that no one in Gray Phoenix dies (outside of Xel sacrificing herself to save the city if you do their investigation last, and THAT'S definitely going to come up in the essay if i write it.)

[hydralisk98]

Angora (software toybox dev 2024-09.2)

LibreVast Ideadump

(first do with minimal narrative, no multiplayer and fewest stats so no RPG, no VN, no MMO... yet)

Learn my way into "Level Design" with TTRPG addventure modules and video game-design AnarchyArcade, Valve games...

Turn-based 2D top-down exploration addventure (C#/F#/GDScript) and then progress it towards a first person puzzler experience

PuzzleTree + LDtk (2D Gridmap) -> Codex Level Builder (early 3D Gridmap) -> Doom BinarySpacePartitioning with Spatial-Hashing & Verlet-Integration -> FuncGodot & Juicy FPC (UE5 Nanite + Red Eclipse-like?)

Educational & Edutainment game dev akin to Zachtronics

RealTimeStrategy? (Starcraft2-like)

TurnBasedStrategy? (FreeCiv-like)

TurnBasedTactics? (XCOM-like)

Overworld + Shopping Mall Gridder? (DungeonMaster?)

Roguelike? (RougeTide)

FirstPersonController Puzzler? (Frames-like)

ShootThemUp? (Cooperative)

KartRacing? (top-down Arcade Racing)

Starnest/Starvast as StatRaiser? (Videotome Heartbreak?)

Art RPG / VirtualPetSite?

Raycaster -> Raymarching?

SVG MazeWars?

Solo adventuring...

Party-based CRPG?

MultiUserDomain?

LegendOfZelduh1?

Metroidvania?

MiniRadarGame?

InfrastructureBuildingSystems

Ecosystem Simulationism

Persistent Ecosystems (Logistics, Bases, Factions, Agency)

Procedural and Handmade Quests

Emergent Behaviors

Open-er Exploration

Alternative routes & sidetrack puzzle tasks

Checklists hiding option

No grind (minimal mechanical labor)

Few final end-states & making losing fun

Collectibles & inventory tracking in orthogonal and restrained manners

Female likable main characters

Studying Europa Universalis 4

Studying Civilization 5 CE Maskoch-modpack

Studying Tyranny

Studying OpenTTD

Studying (Ironwail + Trenchbroom) Quake 1

Studying Doom

Studying Ken Sivlerman and their corpus (Duke Nukem 3D, BUILD2...)

Studying Raycasting (Wolfenstein 3D)

Studying Gridders (Maze Wars & Dungeon Master)

Studying Wizardry & Ultima 1-3

Studying Cyberpunk RED

Studying NOVAverse

Studying d20System (mostly Pathfinder 2E & D&D 3.5)

Studying GURPS corpus

Studying Paradise

Studying iXe

Studying Tarot, Dice & other procedural generators

Daggerfall Modding?

Transformation-based game, module or quest

Custom data-banking system

Infinite rich HTML virtualized canvas?

Chunk World-wrapping methods (X-wrap?)

Phonebook System

Boids & Statistical / procedural crowds agentive System (Monte Carlo-based?)

Economy System

Job / Career System

Factions System

Multilingual System

Skill Trees

Virtual Snapshot-ting Realmscapes + with SourceLevelVersionControlSystems

Chunk loading, unloading, saving and exporting

Vector-based territorial domains management (estate infrastructure and automation games)

TextParserAddventure? (Zork+AMFV?)

HypermediaAddventureStorytelling (Addventure?)

Narrative RPG?

MassivelyMultiplayerOnline World?

Retro Usbourne 8-bit CRPG FreeBASIC implementation

Trial Engine (MultiAgent SocialLifeSim Systems?)

QGIS+OSM+Planetile for Angora worldbuilding

Unity game demos with MegaOCEAN + ExtendedZodiac NPC Agents (Love/Hate pkg), Political intrigues (Quest Machine pkg), Multilingual?

Turing Complete Modding Suite

Complete Character Sheet Party/Batch Customization Suite (AgentBankGen)

Customizable theme pack (KDE Plasma) as responsive UI/UX design system

Paper sketch batches to modular SVG sheets

[janeaudron]

A fresh one since the last got infested.

I’m Jane Audron. You can call me Jane or Linx. Semi-freelance artist and just like making art in general. Working on several projects which include a few game and comic ideas. I do warn I can sometimes be sporadic with my interests/fixations so posting gets a bit weird.

-

✦ My Carrd - Important Comish info and links to other sites I'm on and where I sell my resources.

-

✦ Art Tags - Warning, for some reason when updating and applying new tags, Tumblr messed up the order my work is in. So some very old stuff appears where it shouldn’t be. Fair warning for some 18+ content. Blood, gore, artistic nudity.

JaneAudronart - Most results

My Art - Some how missing a bunch.

-

✦ Other Tumblrs:

etherealvoidechoes - Fan blog. Mainly post XCOM related content but have some other things I dabble/have interests in. Occasionally reblog content to my main.

void-river-creations - Dice and Craft Blog

voidrivercreations - Supposed to be the main hub for all my worldbuilding. Need to get back at it.

[becauseplot]

Bro you and me 🤝 can't say I've been missing sleep like you have but brainfog Bad today. More like brainsmog ibr. It is clearing tho so I got that goin for me. Hope you're getting some sleep dude.

Ohhhh so you're like, a seasoned professional of the angstwhump horror. Hats off to you king. It shows in your writing, I'll tell you that much. The xcom fic with Cellbit getting his claws taken out comes to mind. Absolutely made my skin crawl and I was enamored with the effectiveness of the writing every second of it. Have you read if stainless steel could love you back? I tried and couldn't stomach it (only got through like the first like idk 4k words? lmao) but I think it would be right up your alley. Honestly I'd be surprised if you haven't read this already. Maybe I'll give it another shot one day... And yeah, the loss of self. That sure is. That sure is. It's a very personal horror, obviously. And very real. And such a broad concept that it can apply in many different ways, whether that be through more realistic means like being twisted by anger, grief, or loathing, or the more symbolic sense in that you're literally, physically being turned into something you're not. Lots of avenues to explore it.

Also yooo you were a notebook kid too!! Bottom cabinet of my bookshelf is just filled with all of my writing notebooks that I used to carry around with me everywhere and write in. I mostly played with OCs, adapting them from characters/stories in media that I liked, or even from fanfics I read. Ohhh I still remember some of them. Faze, Kahli, Null, Myles, Tempest, Ray, Professor Noctis, Roza, Sorin... Honestly there were so many of them, and the fact that I can only recall a handful of their names is so fucking sad hough. Gotta look through those notebooks again. At some point I decided that I was going to take all of the stories I had floating around in my head and just say "fuck it, these all exist in the same world and are actually happening simultaneously" and there was a shitload of worldbuilding about the magic systems and there was supposed to be this whole prophecy thing drawing them all together etc etc. I don't even remember all the details and funnily enough, I didn't write everything down simply because there was So Much. I know I made a few lore documents, but just writing the scenes was so much more entertaining to me.

But yeah, that's what I spent my time writing about. Just little scenes that would pop into my head now and then. I filled up notebooks so fast. I should honestly get back into notebook writing, even if it's not with OCs. It's been a real hot minute since I've written for myself and not ao3. The closest I get to it now is Roommates/Cellmates AU. I miss filling up notebooks.

Poor ghost child OC :( I don't even know them or what happened to them but I feel sorry for them.

Yes, something about a gentle ending, or a more fulfilling one... Like the Happy Ending AU? (Actually wow thinking back on it I think your Happy Ending AU was the first thing of yours that I read---that I can specifically recall was by you, at least. It was the first part, where Fit and Phil are discussing "Hey, so is this possible? Do you think we could actually do it?" It was *chefs kiss*.) I think all of the characters deserves a happy ending. That last fic in the xcom au with Pac, that one is. Houough <3. And yes the net for people to fall onto---that's all we want yknow? A net. Just. Something. It's a very human desire, I think. That one fic you wrote about Phil finding Cellbit eating a worker and all Phil was concerned about was figuring out who he could talk to to help him catch Cellbit when this spiral inevitably took him out. It lives rent free in my brain at all times, btw. Archivists. They. Them. The beloveds. (I still want to figure out an Archivists-centric AU to write but *shakes brain, smacks the back of it like a faulty flashlight* c'mon gimmie some plot here, an ounce of worldbuilding, something! (I do actually have something in mind but it's so fucking undercooked that the ingredients aren't even in the bowl yet, I've just got that shit sitting out on the counter. Rip.))

Also yeah, think your shit, king. Pop off. You're crazy. You're cracked. You're goated.

Yeahhh I did like half a whumptober once back when I was OC-writing. It was actually a lot of fun because I had all these OCs to work with in various settings so it was easier to figure out plots to fill the prompts. And real, February is and was like. So shit. March is here at least so we're on our way out yippee.

"I'm so sorry, but it wasn't enough. It found you." <-I looked up the clip again just because and HOUUGHH still gets my heart going. The way my stomach actually fully dropped into the center of the earth when that happened live. And Lucie just,,, She thought she was useless all her life,,,, Lucieeeeee ;-;

Arthur was just a guy!!!!!!! He was just a guy living his life playing in his band UGHGHHGH. And Ceasar yeah 0(-( Just when he was getting to bond with his father,,, All of these people were just People at some point and then they got roped into this shit, one way or another. I mean, in Arthur's case he really was roped into it. Thiago and Liz were already technically part of the Order but their first mission was supposed to be a simple one and it was decidedly Not. Chris' friend (Thiago's dad) was killed by this line of work, pretty sure it's implied that Joui's friends were killed by the stuff from the Other Side, and I'm not 100% sure about Ceasar? But like you said, 30 year old LoL player. Everyone is being destroyed by their work in the Order. They can suffer fates worse than death and they often do. All for the sake of protecting humanity and because of some twisted sense of duty to ensure that what happened to themselves does not happen to anyone else. (Wails Liz wails wails wails.......)

Reading what you said about your larp group and. Goddamn that is. Holy cats. This is all vvvv /pos by the way, just to be clear, I am just floored yknow? That sounds insane. And really complicated but also really cool?? There's just like, so many working parts to it. I'm in awe. I definitely appreciate it, thanks for taking the time to explain it to me, it's vvv cool. I haven't got much to say back because HOOOOHH THATS A BIT OF INFORMATION LMFAO, but I promise you I read every word and I loved it.

Yeah the End Poem! Without going too into detail, my school is Funky so all majors (even STEM majors) have to take certain classes that we would otherwise not be taking, including stuff in the humanities. So that's how the topic of Mysticism came up in one of my classes. It was hilarious honestly bc the prof would be lecturing about Mysticism (or some other spiritual thing, but usually Mysticism) and he would say something that I shit you not would be almost verbatim out of the Minecraft End Poem. And I was always thinking, "Yeah this is great and all but I literally learned all of this from a video game like 11 years ago."

So for one of our major writing assignments, he wanted us to tie a cultural artifact (book, movie, TV show, game, holiday, etc etc) to one of the major topics of the course, and he gave a list of options to choose from. Well, somehow, Mysticism was not on that list. So I had to gather my courage and swallow some of my dignity and email my professor like, "Heyyyyyy bestie so like are you okay if I write an essay about Minecraft [silly block game widely regarded as a staple of the world of middle schoolers] and how it ties into Mysticism [well-written and (usually) highly-respected form of spiritual belief dating back 200 years]." And thank god my professor was an open-minded guy because he said, "Sure why not!" (Which was fantastic because I had no idea what else I was going to write about.)

Yeah it sure is! It's a lot. I can explain a bit here but uh fair warning(?) I get into some stuff that is very much within the realm of spirituality so if that's not your thing then that is fair and I get you completely! Go ahead and skip the next 4 paragraphs :thumbsup:

The best way I can explain Mysticism succinctly would be (and I'm oversimplifying): So you ever been just chilling maybe outside or with friends or just really vibing and having a good time, and then you have this weird out of body experience of realizing something like, "oh holy shit, I'm here, and this is my body, and I'm breathing, and you're here, and that is your body, and you are breathing, and the trees are here too, and the stars are here too, and it's So Much, I think I might be a part of all of these things and I feel so small/big/wide/distant/alive"?

Yeah. So I know that not everyone has experienced something like that (so I'm making a bit of an assumption here, apologies), but it's called a "Mystical experience" and it's supposed to be your brain briefly attempting to connect with the "transcendent" (or the "ineffable", or the "More") and having this personal experience in trying to understand it. And according to Mysticism (or to some Mystics, at least), all of our "souls" have an innate tendency to try to understand and connect with this elusive sense of the "More." There is something out there beyond yourself, and at the same time you are connected to everything else, even if you don't understand the full scope of it yet---but given time, you can.

And that is where it all starts to sound an awful lot like the stuff that the blue and green entities in the End Poem are talking about. Not to mention that one of the entities literally describes something resembling a form of mystical experience: "Take a breath, now. Take another. Feel air in your lungs. Let your limbs return. Yes, move your fingers. Have a body again, under gravity, in air. Respawn in the long dream. There you are. Your body touching the universe again at every point, as though you were separate things. As though we were separate things." (NOTE: not all mystical experiences are the same, what I explained and what the End Poem describes are two examples, but they've got common themes of realizing your place in all of these things and this sense of there being More.)

Anyway that is a very slap-dash shitty explanation of it lmfao. I actually pulled out my old lecture notes to make sure I wasn't completely butchering it. Again, this is very spiritual, and idk where you stand with those sorts of things, so no need to comment on this at all! But I personally find it very fascinating. It was a fun essay to write, even if the 4-page limit had me scrapping several paragraphs (wails).

Minecraft sure is a Thing, huh. I've been writing minecraft fic for so long now that it's almost impossible for me to imagine writing an entirely minecraft-less setting. I just. Love the worldbuilding so much. There's so much to pull from. A sandbox game fr.

Yeah I need to listen to more Bastille. I nabbed "Things We Lost In The Fire" from your xcom playlist a while back and I really like it. I don't really make character/au playlists, but I've got my main one I use for just vibing/daydreaming or running. For me I've been listening to a lot of the Killers (Somebody Told Me my FUCKING beloved it's so gender), LP, Florence + the Machine, and an iiiiitty itty bit of Hozier (I spent last summer listening to his music for hours on end while filing old blueprints and now I can only stomach a few of his songs lmfaooo). Also Mumford & Sons and Crane Wives are good, and I've been looping Who Are You, Really? by Mikky Ekko and thinking about qCellbit so so SO fucking much you don't even know.

Holy shit I've been here a hot minute. Uh. Whoops lmao. Needless to say my brainfog has cleared up. I was in a vvvv Blegh /neg headspace all day but this was nice!!!

finished ep 10 of osnf (long post under the cut oh lord)

crying sobbing kicking over chairs screaming CELLBIT IS AN EVIL EVIL MAN WHY WOULD HE DO THAT. FOR WHAT REASON. POR CUAL RAZÓN. LO ODIO. <-said with the utmost adoration and respect of a writer but the fury of a fan who just had to endure all of that my hearttttt 0(-(

god fuck i have thoughts and feelings regarding episode 10 of osnf. obviously. i don't even know how to start.

okay. first of all the way that he was able to orchestrate the like 57839 different POVs of the nightmare happening at the same time was actually pretty smooth, all things considered. being able to forcibly mute/deafen the others is a good thing to be able to do yesyes.

second, im losing my mind over how he hides the fact that "it's all a dream" WITHIN the "it's all a dream" trope by having the creatures be manifestations of dreams/guilt in "reality" themselves. idk if i'm making any sense, but like, you get it, right? like, it's the fact that we thought we had already discovered the dream-based deceit in the segment because of what the "Hotelier" told Joui at the start of it, but it turns out that THAT was a red-herring of sorts for the TRUE dream-based deceit, that EVERYTHING was a dream, not just the creatures. god there are fucking layers to this im foaming at the mouth that's soooo good.

i guess that's what makes the "it's all a dream"-style trope present here feel less cliche. because, you know, it is a trope, and it's not really a trope that i'm fond of, but because there's actually more going on, it feels less cheap. what certainly helps is that the fact that it's roleplay, so the reactions from the characters are so much more raw, and there are some irl stakes (character dead = out of the series = can't play anymore). that definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat.

edit: something i forgot to mention—what i dislike abt the “it’s all a dream” trope the most is that it is very easily something that can be so, so cheap. all angst, no stakes or consequences, no lasting impact on the plot on the characters. however, not only is there a “physical” impact via several characters losing SHITLOADS of sanity (something not easily recovered) but we get to see a little more into the psyche of the characters. which i suppose is often the point of the “it’s all a dream” segments, but this dream—one with a lot of references to past major character death and itself contains major character death—rings especially true for the themes of the series: the world they live in is dangerous, and the work they do is lethal. people have and will die. and they do and will feel guilty, reguardless if they are at fault. it’s not a horrifying death dream just for the sake of being a death dream, it feels grounded in their reality, and i love that.

third, man he did not hold back. when Arthur was being beaten to a pulp by not!Brúlio, i was actually in shock, i was screaming. plus, i think the fact that Cellbit rolled a 001 when not!Brúlio attacked actually helped to hide the fact that this was a dream. it made it look like it was bad luck rather than the segment was designed to kill the characters (well, at least until he revealed that the damage was 1d4+1d6, but i'll get to that later).

gosh the narration of how not!Brúlio killed Arthur. holy shit. i don't. i don't even have words, that is DEVASTATING. that is probably one of the worst ways for a person to go. i know it's a dream but if i were Arthur i would be emotionally fucked up beyond belief. beaten to a bloody pulp by the father who once loved you so much, screaming at you for abandoning him and that it's your fault he died a horrible death. and then he drops your body on the ground like you're nothing but a pile of useless meat. god. damn.

and then Liz. ohhhh Liz. i just. i was devastated. her whole struggle with Alex, the man she treated so horribly. yes it's true the real Alex never would have said these things to you, but how do you know he wasn't thinking it? that he didn't want to? that what not!Alex says doesn't hold some truth? christttt. and of course the way she dies: in complete agony. and did she forgive herself? because, unlike with not!Brúlio, the creature turned into that weird wispy black thing just as she died, and i would assume that means she forgave herself (if those rules even apply considering this was all a result of the parasite's deceit (holy hell my brain is melting i am the man with the hand on the conspiracy board)).

fourth: the 1d4+1d6 thing! when he read that out, i was stunned. that is a LOT of damage considering all of the characters have ~10 HP. with an extreme roll, that's basically an insta-kill, or it's easily a two-hit-kill. i thought Arthur was unlucky, but when Liz also went down, i was---well, devastated, at first, because that's Liz, she's my absolute favorite and i love her, but i started going through all five stages of grief at once, and at some point i arrived at "no that can't be right" because Cellbit is a good writer. and to deliberately construct a scenario where it would be VERY hard for a character to survive while still in the middle of the story? yeah. and yknow the fact that there's still 6 other episodes fhdsjk. (then again the series continues regardless if a character dies and i haven't looked at other episodes' thumbnails or anything like that for this exact reason. so. i was going in as blind as i could reasonably be.)

in any case, realizing and connecting all of this and then hearing the "Hotelier" start yelling at Joui right after Liz died explicitly blaming him for it sealed it for me: this is a trick of some sort. this is a dream sequence of some sort. these aren't real deaths. (a smaller part of me was still scared that they were real because i know that Cellbit does not shy away from killing off his players' characters, if op and opq are anything to go by. but i digress.)

and then the characters turned to black goo. and i just about threw my computer. rip Luba who got absolutely targeted by the GM lmfao.

anyway uhhh that's about it regarding the dream sequence! loving luzidius!joui and how he just keeps switching back and forth. ((and it further supports my little side-theory that the mysterious blond woman last seen with Team Kelvin was a luzidious we win these.)) i was surprised to see Liz thinking it was so cool when she's been so suspicious of everything in Santo Berco since she got here, but i think she could definitely be using it as a distraction from what she just went through, and honestly she's just happy to see Joui is okay. (the way she gave on up words and just hugged him, the way she held his face in her hands, the way she dragged him down the hall to show Thiago and Thiago was just telling her to fuck off (/aff) because he was getting dressed, my heartttt i love these three, mentor-mentee dynamics my fucking beloved)

also new outfits! sweet! istg the new outfits are so Cellbit's way of apologizing for putting his friends through that. "hey sorry i killed your character in the most emotionally devastating way possible it will happen again wOAH LOOK AT THESE NEW CLOTHES AREN'T THEY SO COOL YOU SHOULD TRY THEM ON!!!"

i've been having mixed feelings about the sudden setting/genre change since the group arrived in Santo Berco. i really, really loved the urban horror-fantasy vibe that they had going on in op and the first 8 eps of osnf, but evidently, this is good as well. the genre is most definitely still horror yippee. i definitely miss the urban-modern setting, but i think i can get adjusted to this. (i'm just,,, not the biggest fan of the auto-heal crystals im sorry i had to say it they feel too op i know their use is limited to visiting the doctor but knowing they exist lowers the in-world stakes for me im sorry---)

anyway, ep 10! you beautiful monster! i have been typing for an hour! i need to go eat food! k bye!

[etherealvoidechoes]

After looking at Echi's speech patterns your recent fic, as well as the post about ADVENT hybrids having different alien accents, I've been wondering - what are your thoughts on different aliens' speech patterns and accents? Something distinctive about how their species communicate, like the way they form sentences, or prolong certain letters, for example?

I take it Echi is someone else's OC, correct?

Onwards to my thoughts...

I will also say I sometimes forget to portray that in some fics or I'm running off "the translator is making corrections" or "this fic has been translated into something easier to understand." And then I don't want to dig myself down the rabbit hole of conlang again and the grammar structure...

When the Elders aren't stripping the identities of their slave races and changing it to something "better", I can see them as varied as human accents and snytax with cultural influences, but I haven't really put any specific thoughts for each species minus I want to avoid the stereotypical "reptiles, especially snakes, hiss their words" with the Vipers. Some do it. Some don't.

But I've had thoughts that the speech patterns extends over to body movements/gestures, pheromones, etc. E.g. they see colors humans can't see, hear frequencies humans can't hear, smell pheromones humans can't smell, etc. etc. And then psionics, forget for certain species all communication is done that way.

-

Something I currently have the Mutons in the Wandering Souls fic is they are very physical with how they speak and show their emotions. And with most of them being young/perhaps clones, they very much forget that everyone else is not as strong or as tough as them. Yerra avoids this because she's been around for a long time and interacted with a lot of species so she can tailor her speech and actions to fit others.

And thinking of them, I see a lot of their language would also be based on grunts, roars, and the like. And then their non-modified mouths (Fight me on the Muton redesign in Chimera Squad I hate it) would lead to human words(and other alien words) sound odd. Using an example from the Predator franchise, how the Yautja says "ooman" for human. Probably that also causes them to draw out certain syllables or stress an accent upon them.

I also can see the Muton language(well at least one) being straight to the point and very blunt(may sound moronic to some), lacking subtlety. They stress the beginnings and ends of words to get across important ideas. A lot of idioms/metaphors deal with strong wills/controlling aggression, strength, combat, weapons, etc. And then this varies from clan to clan, from dialect to dialect.

Sometimes they may try to "soften" their speech, but if you pissed them off(which you may need to run) it's anvil and hammer.

-

I don't have much to theorize with Floaters/Archons, but will say they have similarities to Mutons since they share some DNA(unless that's been retconned with Chimera Squad.)

And then all the modifications they've suffered and that they were in pain 24/7 because of the Elders makes it harder to judge if guttural sounds and roars would be naturally apart of their speech.

-

Vipers' natural tongue probably does have a lot of hissing where there are subtle differences most won't pick up. Lots of  hard consonants and sibilants, and some that outright sound like they are clearing their throats. But somehow it's also fluid and rich in tones.

And maybe some pheromones thinking of the Viper King's effects on loyal Vipers, but that could also be whatever Vahlen did really amplified that.

So a little hiss here and there slips through when speaking to other species. Since the Elders liked them a lot, they probably have the most varied/unaltered speech patterns depending on which cultures are with the Elders occupying Earth.

But they(if it's not just the double agents) seem to be able to be flexible with learning other languages, so their patterns probably have plucked something here and there from each species they've encountered with the Elders.

-

Sectoids, poor things, their speech is more mutable since their psionics seem to have made be able to feel the imprints of those around them. And by all means, being a slave race twice over(taking from the Bureau) for so long they've probably lost everything of what their original patterns were. Probably some chittering still permeates their current tongue, especially for those that haven't been more refined/had gene therapy to give them more human-like mouths.

A lot of communication for them is through psionics anyway with the chittering accompanying it. Straight thoughts and emotion with no words and body gestures to muddy it.

-

Elders... same-ish with how the psionic communication works with the Sectoids.

Their speech tends to be naturally fluid, a little echoing hiss here and there, and sometimes overly flowery, especially if they're being "nice". Still stays fluid when given commands in a neutral tone, but can quickly become harsh and very guttural when things are not going their way. You'll hear a torrent, like a rushing wind followed by many voices, with important words being stressed and sometimes dragged out by the other voices. Example for the many voices - The Many from System Shock 2.

Hunter probably hears the latter more than the formers nearly all the time when he's not at those important meetings in the chamber with his siblings.

-

Hybrids, we know how that sounds in-game and I imagine the syntax is an "easy switch" when they have to communicate with the other slave races due to the Psionic Network. Well maybe not when dealing with non-ADVENT city humans. Oh goodness, that's another can of worms there.

However, once freed they still have a bit of an alien grammar structure, so some sayings/metaphors/etc. come off odd to humans.

Those who've been indoctrinated and in service longer have it the worst. It'll take them years to get out of it compared to the younger members or those who didn't go through the indoctrination.

[cerastes]

My favorite aspect of Arknights’ worldbuilding, what I believe to be the most important factor in helping it feel like a breathing, living world in which people live and events have weight, is the fact that there are a lot of stories in different states of completion to be told, some happening, some starting, and most importantly, some concluded. I’ve talked about this before, but it all ultimately helps with immersion and with the quality of the overall writing, knowing that all of the world doesn’t center around you or yours.

Allow me to offer a few examples of what I mean:

Rhine Labs and Kjerag, to name two, have active stories going on, in media res: We know that Rhine Labs is up to no good with their human experimentation and information control, and moreover, they have an actual active agreement with Rhodes Island, whereas the shadow political war in Kjerag, with SilverAsh and family in the middle of it all, clearly will be going somewhere with the breadcrumbs we’ve gotten, particularly that it is very likely that one of the Knight champions of Kazimierz is under SilverAsh’s employ and the fact that Cliffheart’s Oripathy was very much inflicted intentionally, not to mention the suspicious circumstances of Pramanix’s selection as the Saint, which might actually be a failed assassination attempt; Pramanix’s Files detail that potential Saint candidates dying during the trials is a very common occurrence, but she powered through and actually succeeded, something to keep an eye out on. Point is, these are Going Somewhere, the ingredients are there, they just need the inevitable event.

Other stories are just now starting to kick off or where presented from start to finish: Hearts Of Surging Flame was a self-contained story, for example, which sprawled a few tentacles, let’s say, into other stories, but nonetheless it was its own thing. Code of Brawl functioned as this for Penguin Logistics as a whole, while mostly serving as a detailed look at the underbelly of Lungmen’s other side. Of more relevance altogether, Siege and Victoria’s story is about to unfold as part of the main story after the appropriate breadcrumbs were dispensed: We had some vague but enticing bits of bait, and now we’ll see it in execution.

And then, interestingly, you have the stories that have already concluded, and are waiting for their “sequel”, so to speak, they are in their “time skip” right now: This is the case for Texas, who already concluded her initial journey as a mafia member back in Siracusa, where she had some sort of relationship with Lappland, ending in her likely gutting Lapp in their final showdown, with Lapp surviving and looking forward to provoke a Grey Fox in Texas nowadays. That story is concluded, it’s over, they had a whole journey, and now it’s the ‘post-game’ for them... Until it’s time to see what happens next. It’s also the case for the Abyssal Hunters, to a immense degree: Skadi, Specter and Gladiia already finished their whole journey, their very own XCOM Plus Bloodborne in which they fought, researched and finally defeated the Seaborn menace in climatic combat, with Skadi triumphing over the Seaborn God, albeit at the cost of almost every single other Hunter. For the longest time, Skadi wandered the surface in the most miserable, depressive ‘post-game’, until she found Specter in Rhodes Island and later on Under Tides happened. Now they are back in their post-game stage, waiting, just like Texas and Lappland, for the ‘sequel’.

And of all the examples posited, Doctor themselves only really truly have hands in two -- Hearts of Surging Flame and Siege’s story -- with Rhodes Island as an entity being involved in only a few more and usually just tangentially.

It’s good. It really helps making the world of Terra feel dynamic and a place where Things Not Only Happen, But Are Also Happening.

[frogblast-the-ventcore]

More worldbuilding has been completed - the brainworms are my friends.

I present the original seven founding members of the Astral Confederation:

1) the Terran Alliance (formed out of the Western Alliance and the broader United Nations in 2117, after the final holdouts - Switzerland and Austria - accepted membership)

2) the Martian Congressional Republic (formed via peaceful succession from UN control in 2079)

3) the Sovereign Colony of Gagarin (the first human extrasolar colony, founded in 2053 in the Alpha Centauri system, succeeded from Terran Alliance control in 2143)

4) the Va'ruun Matriarchy (the aformmentioned Xenomorph Asari. Va'ruun translates to "Those Who Serve" in their native tongue, first encountered by humans in 2135) - yes I pulled the term from Starfield it sounds cool and alien.

5) the Wargen Overpack (a timocratic society of uplifted Earth wolves - another project of the Va'ruun's creators. The official "reunion" ceremony between humanity and the Wargen, held in 2148, was described by many as "a week-long Vegas penthouse party held across two planets simultaneously" - their faction aesthetic can be described as "what if Gears of War was werewolves")

6) the Chanzeth Horde (the aforementioned Krogan/Sangheili hybrids - essentially, what if Krogan with the honor and general society of the Sangheili? First contact with humanity - 2155)

7) the Lamian Assembly (essentially - what if the XCOM Vipers had the society of the Turians from Mass Effect? - first encountered by humanity in 2151)

Flags (mostly pulled from r/vexillology or off Google images):

Astral Confederation (symbolism: eight points on the star for the eight points of their guiding philosophy (exactly what those are is TBD). The orbit with seven planets represents the seven founding members. The white on top represents peace above all, and the blue represents space/sky, the places they wish to explore together.

The Terran Alliance

The Martian Congressional Republic

The Sovereign Colony of Gagarin

So I'm worldbuilding an "original" sci-fi universe (read: just stealing and ripping off stuff from other universes I find cool). There will ofc be a main human faction, but as far as aliens go, I've had the idea to mash up species and/or factions from different universes for fun. First two ideas:

[trbl-will-find-me]

A Guide to Dressing Your Upstart Resistance

AKA Part 3/(hopefully) 3 in FIRAXIS, WE GOTTA TALK ABOUT TEXTILES AND CLOTHING. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 here, if you want to see how this escalated.

So, high points:

- XCOM, logically, should not have a ‘uniform,’ per se. Central, Shen, Tygan, and haven civilians are all great examples of how, given the constraints of ADVENT, people on the fringe dress (i.e. they throw together what’s available and adapt it as necessary). - ADVENT is still, logically, producing and refining raw materials into commercial textiles. From what we see in game, many of these textiles appear to be synthetic in nature. Mass manufactured clothing still exists.

- If you aren’t in a city center, you have five potential ways to get clothing: (1) stolen off of ADVENT transports (2) bartered for among havens (3) been passed down from before the Invasion (4) come from raided houses/shops/other pre-Invasion locations (5) been made within the havens (e.g. knit, crochet, hand sewn)

- Ready? Let’s go. Living off grid, for our purposes, means dressing for that outdoors/hiking life, yo. What that functionally means will depend on climate.

In general, synthetic fabrics over natural. Synthetics dry faster and will wick moisture. I pestered my resident outdoormsan (Pacific Northwest & Central PA backpacker) into some basic guidelines. -The goal is never to be too hot or too cold, especially if you’re in a cooler environment. Layers are your friend.

That means, if you’re in colder climates: -Synthetic base layer, top and bottom: -Synthetic tee shirt -Synthetic long sleeve shirt -Middle jacket (e.g. a fleece) -Shell (heavy wind & waterproof jacket)

The colder it is, the more layers you’ll want or want to have available --- and no one’s exactly living in the lap of luxury. -But that’s an ideal. Practically, you may not be able to get all of that. In which case, your intrepid XCOM volunteer/haven dweller is going to want wool. Wool is warm, it breathes, and it will hold heat even when wet. There’s a reason it’s been such a useful fiber through history. Hell, even as a non-outdoorsy person, I have had wool socks come in real handy when my boots leaked in the middle of a very slushy, snowy New York City afternoon. Wool undergarments, sweaters, coats, socks, etc. have historically been important in dealing with the cold. While you’ll still need layers, and will still want synthetics, wool is a nice option --- except when you really, really need it to dry quickly.

- You’ll also need to be able to have waterproof layers. This is really important for both hot and cold climates --- sitting in wet things for extended periods of time is ... not great. Tim O’Brien’s works, including Going After Cacciato and The Things They Carried, touch on what happens when you’re dealing with hot and wet in clothes that don’t dry quickly. Spoiler alert: it ain’t pleasant. For overcoats, if you can’t get synthetics, garbardine, oil cloth, or waxed canvas may also offer some amount of protection.

-Yes, in theory, you could cut apart a lot (a lot) of umbrellas and piece them back together as a coat/tarp, if need be. It would be time consuming and you would need a pattern of someone who knew how to drape. Not beyond possibility, though.

- In warmer climates, there is both the concern of needing protective clothing and clothing that won’t overheat you. Again, the primary answer here is synthetics. Historically, however, linen and cotton have also been useful in these climates. But again, linen and cotton aren’t moisture wicking. Please see the above point about extended time in wet things.

So, other than hiking/outdoors gear, what else will be useful and available where clothing is concerned? Vintage militaria and military surplus. These things are made tough and would be available from raiding homes, stores --- hell, even museums, if you’re alright with that. They’ll wear well and won’t wear out, assuming they can be cared for sort of properly.

Underfunded resistance is also probably relying on pre-Invasion tactical webbing and kevlar fabric/plating for its armor --- when it can be found. It’s probably a pretty significant luxury; almost no one in the havens would have it.

Accessories, theoretically, have a lot of room for personalization, especially as they’re more likely to be made in havens or be survivors from the pre-Invasion days. Hats, scarves, gloves, etc. offer more room and flexibility in terms of what you can get away with.

Given all this variety, one thing emerges: man, are matching uniforms gonna be hard to pull off. You *can* make hand-embroidered patches, and having one of those for each crew member is feasible --- and is probably the closest thing ot matchy-matchy you’ll get under the constraints Firaxis has imposed.

tl;dr Hiking and outdoors gear. Military surplus. Fit in wild/ridiculous things as necessary. Turn your upstart resistance into a hodge podge of sensible outdoors gear and whatever they can fish from the annals of fashion history.

[draconicbongcloud]

Hello!

Heya, I'm Kayzen, and this is my blog!

My goals for this blog are 1) to have a space to self-indulgently talk about my various interests and 2) to find mutuals/online friends, so feel free to message me anytime!

Below are a few of my interests, being things that I'm always down to talk about and may appear on this blog, those in bold being what I'm most likely to post about:

Character Art- especially anthro and other scifi/fantasy characters. I do some drawing myself but don't have a great way to do digital art at the moment.

Electronics- I build computers and do hardware and software mods on old Nintendo consoles!

OCs- I am generally bad at keeping notes on my characters, so this blog will be a way to potentially remedy that. Any and all asks about them are welcome!

TTRPGs- I've played a lot of D&D 5e as a player and DM, as well as some PBtA systems like Masks, Monster of the Week, and Apocalypse World. I also make homebrew for D&D 5e, which I post over on reddit under the account u/Kayzen_Creates.

TV, Books & Movies- Invincible, Watchmen, The Expanse, Parks & Rec and The Office and all that, Dune, Arcane, The Stormlight Archives, My Hero Academia, etc, etc, etc.

Video Games- ULTRAKILL, Deltarune/Undertale, Phasmophobia, Risk of Rain 2, XCOM, Dark Souls, Bloons Tower Defense, Titanfall, Civilization, Pokemon (Gens 3, 4, and 5 anyway), Minecraft, Terraria, etc, etc, etc.

Worldbuilding- I have a few worlds I've been developing for a while, both for my D&D games and for this nebulous story/game/ttrpg-system/all-of-the-above that I may someday make! As with OCs, I'm always happy to answer asks about my worlds.