#a variety of things fit in [redacted] but you get the idea <3

[spheredotorb]

the great amazing perfect solution to "i want to see magolor [redacted]ing AND being [redacted]ed at the same time" is traitor x regular (クラマホマホ) but the problem is WHERE IS ITTTTTTTT WHY ISNT ANYONE MAKING ITTTTTTT

[tavyliasin]

5 Songs, 3 Outfits

RULES: post 5 songs associated with your oc, followed by 3 outfits they would wear

Tagged by @twistedapple - thank you~ And tagging in: @miradelletarot @morb-untamed @littleprincepaladin @daiya-owoda and @firlionemoontav Also if anyone is reading this and hasn't been tagged and wants to join in, well I'm terrible at choosing and remembering usernames so consider me tagging you in~ Going to put all of this below the cut so it doesn't clog your feeds, but this will all be based on my favourite Tav from @atavsguide, (all chapters are on that side blog as well as AO3). She is my absolute disaster of an elf and a woman who knows so few limits I'm genuinely concerned for her safety. Split heritage leaves her with a pale tone to her skin and long dark hair that's more often tied back to keep most of the blood out. I don't often describe her much in the fic and honestly don't have any good screenshots that I'd say really embody who she is to me, so you'll have to live with outfits and vibes~ Anyway, Tav's outfits and music below the cut!

Formal Outfit

Tav...doesn't really do formal, but Raphael did make her a dress in her dream which was later brought into vivid reality. Hardly the finery suited to the upper classes of Baldur's Gate, the inspiration was arguably more about making her feel uncomfortable and acutely aware of the particular eyes on her form. Tav is far more at home in leathers that carry a lingering scent of blood and sweat, something she can fight and escape in, but even the seasoned rogue knows when a distracting disguise is useful.

Product image from La Belleza Boutique https://www.labellezaboutique.co.uk/product-page/red-silk-dress

Casual Outfit

Tav is fond of red and black, but half her outfits are scavenged and stolen. Lacing and corseting isn't for fashion, it's to make sure things fit in the first place. A jacket keeps out the cold, but a distracting top underneath can be useful for a variety of scenarios... Pair all this with a comfortable pair of boots that come halfway up her shin, nice flat soles and well worn leather, soft to running down the harsh streets but still tough enough to withstand planting a solid kick when necessary.

Corset top, Ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386162837704

Long Jacket, Violent Delights https://violentdelights.co.uk/products/devil-fashion-libertines-remorse-womens-gothic-aristocrat-dovetail-coat-red-black

Lace up leather trousers, Leather City https://www.theleathercity.com/product/womens-lace-up-flare-brown-leather-pant/

Lingerie

I struggled to find anything that matched what I'd see our favourite disaster in, so I went with something sturdy but sexy. Dark, alluring, she knows what she wants at the end of the day and that's clearly [explicit redacted] with whoever falls into her bed - "take pleasure where you can, you never know when this night might be your last".

Velvet and Lace Lingerie Set, Killstar https://www.succubus.com/products/killstar-sacred-spirits-velvet-bralet-black

---

The Music Of ATG's Tav

1. Empire of the Sun - Solence

An old favourite, playing on the shifting moods between longing and a need to find a way out of a loop that never seems to end. Warming up to the idea of love being for herself and not just what other people get to enjoy is not easy for Tav but that doesn't mean she doesn't desperately want to hold on to every moment of sunlight on her skin.

2. Break Me - Serenity

Lyrics of resilience wrapped in a sensual tune with a harder edge. Tav has this on repeat now and then. She's never sure if she feels strong or sad, but it's a song that resonates with a lifetime of troubles interspersed with whatever moments of bliss she can steal for herself.

3. Dawn - Echo Black

Listen this might be becoming a battle of "who needs therapy more, Lia or Tav" but I promise this is all her~

4. Masks - Aviators

I'm not saying that Tav has trust issues...but she definitely does. You don't survive for 2 centuries on your own without building up your defences and learning to see through the convenient lies and faces everyone hides behind in the street.

5. Fire Up The Night - New Medicine

When Tav cuts loose, she thoroughly enjoys herself. Lust is a chance encounter to indulge in, an opportunity to explore, and she's not letting a single one of those chances pass her by.

--- --- OK that'll do it! I spent way too long on this but it was fun~ Thanks for the tag! I'll have to get some more OCs in my head eventually, but not until Tav's found the end of her story~

[wlwtsubomi]

Can any of your OCs cook? Where are they on the spectrum from “I’ve been cooking since I could walk and I’ve never made a bad dish” to “last tuesday I tried to make a microwave lasagna and my house burned down.”

oh wow ill kill for u hmmmmm

might have to limit these to just. major characters. bc yeah as i said before i have,,, a lot,,,,,, of ocs kasgjsadj ;w; so ill probs go thru this in order by works 

(list under the cut!)

osas;

merope Definitely cooks. he makes the food he serves at his bar himself and he kinda had to learn after [redacted]. since merope can cook, he occasionally has bodil help him cook so she Also can cook. not as good at merope can, but its more than nothing.

iovita probably also helped people cook. namely his moms. he goes on to pick up on cooking later on (stress baking?) so he can also cook!! hes p good!!! daresay a lot better than merope bc the place where iovita is from has A LOT more variety in food than meelat does

sorin can maybe make a mean olive oil on bread. but thats Maybe It. hes really interested in cooking (mainly bc he couldnt rly cook fullblown meals in ruresi) so i can see him watching iovita cook?? just kinda lurking. iovita might drag sorin into helping him cook. wow thats a rly good and soft idea i came up w just now good job me.

aludra and conan just dump things into a pot and pray to the gods. aludra set her family kitchen on fire once trying to make rice. conan tries to get sorin help but sorin also doesnt know how to cook. they make the most bland food in history bc sorin still gets overwhelmed by spices and conan doesnt measure anything. he dumps in a whole cup of milk when the recipe asked for a quarter of a cup. its terrible. bodil iovita and merope are crying. iovita eats it anyway out of pity. he wants to be supportive of sorin.

red eyes (tag is yesterday it rained (today the sky fell));

literally calanthe is the only one out of the three of them who can cook. she picked it up sometime thru the series id think. saga probably pitched the idea to her as an alternative to smoking. bc i mean, cooking is technically a thing that cal herself can control? so. saga is so proud of cal despite the fact that saga herself cant cook.

seven literally existed to fill in a background role. he cant cook. BUT i can see after canon him asking calanthe to teach him, once he realizes he can be More than what he was created to do. god did ur ask make cooking a significant thing for red eyes? i think u did. omg

contact (tag is longness of semper);

burumu is the houses’ designated cook. he can actually make consistently good food. ivy can KINDA cook but its rly a toss of the coin with her. its either ok or its terrible. theres no inbetween. nebula can make mac and cheese. thats it.

blake can live off of those weird dried compressed ration things they sell in those sports stores. they cant cook. they CAN cut things p well though. but thats rly the extent of what theyre able to do i think.

landry throws whatever they can get their hands on into a blender and chugs that shit. they dont fear any god.

saccha is. odd. bc he can only bake. thats rly it. he ALSO stress bakes. which is to say, hes stressed a lot. hes good at baking though! but like if you asked him to make idk soup or something he gets so nervous that he freezes over the entire thing and you can Tell that it was just reheated in the microwave but you just give him a really tightlipped smile and nod.

reynold can make some food but like. not a lot. its mostly just like rly easy to make things that take rly fast like grilled cheese or ramen. hes doing his best.

molly cant cook for the sake that she would let landry chill with her in the kitchen and landry would yell for molly to turn up the heat and against all common sense (which no one in this godforsaken source) molly WOULD. they burn down an entire building. alex cant get too angry bc honestly if they were in the same position as molly, they would also listen to landry.

mx lux (tag is put out your beating heart);

surprisingly, all three of the main group can cook. anja can cook bc she wanted to be able to cook for maria so she SPEEDRAN cooking lessons. now she can cook. then sol was like :O holy shit u can cook can u cook for me??? and anja was like ‘no’ so she forced them to learn how to cook for themself. marty also knows how to cook bc he cooks for himself?? so.

nike and faustus cant be trusted to cook. for the point that nikes wings are Big so either he cant fit in the kitchen if its too small or he accidentally catches his wings on fire. faustus goes and is like “well if im gonna cook then i should try to figure out if i can Cheat The System by familiarizing myself to the cooking things” but then faustus zones out and just ends up sitting in the oven for like 3 hours. then faustus doesnt even end up cooking.

my warriors ocs are cats. they cant cook.

also im still not finished with the class for season 37. so i have no clue if they can cook for not. 

[xenosaurus]

OKAY i’m posting the entire draft of that grey area thing because @octobig and @aquajellyprincess were interested in it, it’s below the cut!  Note that this is still in progress and I might change stuff before I actually run any campaigns.  I’m also going to include actual image references.

The Civilian's Guide to Alien Life

A Companion to Your New Translation Software!

Written by Richard Tucker (Head of Human Language Translation) With assistance from Starr rra Rruhi (Rrutatarri Language Library Curator)

First Contact

So, you've been assigned a job in an interspecies environment!  But you've never met an alien before!

I've been there, and so have most of your human coworkers.  Our goal with this booklet is to provide you with a crash course in the species you're likely to encounter during your work, whether directly or in reference.  As much effort as possible has gone into getting opinions and advice from friendly, trusted sources within the cultures themselves.  Accuracy is important!

If you have questions or corrections, please email us at lifeguide@[REDACTED].gov!

Your humble author served aboard The Heroic for the entirety of the universal translator project, and was privileged enough to develop friendships with many different species.  As such, this guide is dedicated to the following people:

Starr rra Rruhi, who tolerated late nights of questions, some of them deeply personal.  They rose above and beyond their role of library curator to become the lifeblood of this project.  I pray for many pups born to you and yours, my friend. Zorri of the Northeast Kelp Forest, who knows exactly what he did and deserves far more than this simple shout out. Colleen Jackson, who once knocked out three of my teeth and who is probably the only reason I have survived to reach my 30s.

Squids/Squidiks

The Quick Version: Squidiks (as scientists wish we would call them) or "Squids" (as we actually call them) are a friendly race with no history of animosity with humanity.  The males are smaller and more socially involved than the females, so if you're about to meet one and they aren't a soldier, it's almost certainly a 'he'.  Nine times out of ten, the Squids on site at your new position are extensively trained for human socialization, so mistakes will be given a great deal of leeway.  If it feels like someone is trying to be your friend, they probably are!

The Long Version: BIOLOGY-- Squids are amphibious, with a preference for damp or fully aquatic environments.  Most Squids aboard The Heroic kept their quarters semi-flooded, so be careful before accepting an invite to spend time in their personal space.  While the mass of tentacles that make up their lower bodies may seem alarming, Squids are a slow moving species in dry places, and almost never aggressive without cause.  Squid beaks have garnered similar reactions of fear and uncertainty, but the species hunts much like humans do, preferring weapons to "hand-to-hand" (tentacle-to-tentacle?) combat.  Male squids are about two-thirds the size of a female, with males averaging about four feet tall and females averaging about six feet.

SOCIAL BEHAVIOR-- Squids are absolutely a social species!  Friendships, including cross-species friendships, are vital to their culture and are often involved in both work and child-rearing.  Most of their social groups are gender-based, with mixed-gender groups existing almost exclusively as families.  However, very few of them apply these rules to their interspecies friendships!  Gender roles are more strict than most modern human cultures, but not to the point of complete rigidity.  Friends and family are seen as equally important, and there is little cultural difference between "friend" and "sibling" in terms of social standing.  Female Squids, being larger and stronger, often perform  labor such as combat and construction, while the males tend more towards domestic work.  This isn't a rule, however!  Just like humans, plenty of individuals take "gendered" jobs that go against the expectations of their culture.

MATING AND FAMILY-- Squids mate for life and treat courtship with almost religious significance.  Unlike friendships, they don't extend mating permissions to species outsiders!  Sexual intercourse is not physically pleasurable and involves the exchange of sperm packets.  There is no cultural taboo on discussing it.  They have a concept vaguely similar to the human idea of a soulmate called a "fit", someone who is a perfect match for you and thus 'fits' with you.  Unlike the soulmate concept, it is considered less a matter of finding a single person made for you and more a matter of finding one of the many people who can 'fit' with you.  Polyamory is exceeding rare, though in the case of same-sex couples, arrangements are often made for sperm donation that involve co-parenting between two couples.  Both parents take part in raising young, although children start spending most of their time with their same-gender parent once they reach adolescence.

COMBAT-- Squids use weapons similar to humans, and have a preference for long-range weapons to make up for their poor mobility.  Traditionally, warriors are female, but this is not an ironclad rule.  Most Squids in labor or combat roles on interspecies ships have chosen them to stay with a more domestically-inclined mate who is aboard the ship.

The Rrutatarri

The Quick Version: The Rrutatarri are a fairly insular people with a culture oriented around their large, complex mated groups.  A lot of their communication is done through pheromone signals that are only understandable within their own polyamorous group.  If you feel like you're missing social cues, you are, and you're intended to be!  If you're about to meet a Rrutatarri, be prepared to treat them like you would a respected superior, ESPECIALLY if they have earrings!  More details to follow, but assume, for now, that more earrings = more social power.

The Long Version: BIOLOGY-- Rrutatarri are large and very physically intimidating by human standards.  By adulthood, they will have reached around nine feet tall.  There is very little height variation, and all smaller individuals should be assumed to be children or suffering from some variety of genetic disorder.  Rrutatarri have a more complex gender system, as they have three gametic categories and need 3 individuals to produce children.  The two associated social roles are "Lords" and "Adored", roughly analogous to females and males, respectively.  The thick, lion-like manes of most individuals are a gender identifier associated with their gender category of "Adored".  Adored fall into two categories based on their gametic type, but it's impossible to tell what category an individual is without genetic testing.  DO NOT ASK ABOUT THIS.  It is considered the worst social taboo possible to ask an Adored their gametic sex, as it is forbidden for even them to know this information.  Lords provide a chemical base that is needed by Adored to continue proper brain function, so adult Adored are all attached to a Lord.  The injection of this chemical base also attunes members of a harem to their Lord's social pheromones to allow communication, and is very physically pleasurable.

MATING AND FAMILY-- Lords take on Adored as mates throughout their lives, taking their first during their adolescence and usually not taking another for a few years.  Once they have reached adulthood, however, conflicts over mates and the social status of having a great deal of mates becomes the main concern of most Rrutatarri Lords.  The "First" is a social position within a harem, as the first mate is considered to be something of the second in command.  While sex is not pleasurable, the injection of bonding chemicals is similar enough to how humans treat sex, minus some of the stigma of being witnessed in the act.  This injection is called "The Bite" and is done by a Lord biting an Adored's "nose", actually a receptive area.  Gendering of children is done by what kind of teeth they have.  Lords have an underbite to facilitate The Bite, while Adored do not.  Child rearing is a shared endevour and the primary social support of any given individual outside of their harem is their adult siblings.  For each mate a Lord has, they gain another earring.  Adored within a harem often have loving, intimate relationships between them as well as with their Lord, although this is not universal.

SOCIAL BEHAVIOR-- Rrutatarri do not form friendships easily, as 90% of their positive connections come from their closed mated groups or siblings.  Close Lord-Lord friendships are fairly common and often exclusive, with the Lords often forming special pacts to take in the other's children and mates if they die.  This connection between Lords is considered the highest of relationships, and interspecies friendships are also considered candidates for these "Lordly" relationships.  Adored-Adored friendships outside of their Lord's harem are often considered looser regardless of their closeness, and most social conflict comes from Adored developing feelings for another outside of their harem and the subsequent fighting between Lords over whose harem a given Adored should belong to.

COMBAT-- Rrutatarri are fast, physical and favor close combat.  It is not uncommon for them to refuse to use projectile weapons in their entirety.

[starwarslegacies]

Survey Says, Part IV, Finale

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been trying to get people to fill out a survey which I do 1-3 times a year, these often do have impact in choosing how the sim moves forward.  Bit behind on these results like many other things!

Believe we’re on question #10

10 asked, Events: What do you prefer? (Can choose more than one)

78% PVE, blend of combat and story

63.4% PVP

63.4% PVE, primarily story

58.8% Social, Pazaak, Racing,etc

31.7% PVE, combat focused.

Can see above we have a fairly diverse player base in what they like to do.  We’re a bit short on storytellers right now so if you or someone you know may fit that role, do let me know.

Then #11 asked “ What social event would you like to see more of?”

By far the favorites here were Swoop Racing and Fights.  The downside to swoop racing is that everytime someone loads into sim it causes a few second delay for everyone, but if people are willing to deal with that we can definitely hold more races.   As for the fights we have a “Pit Fighting League” under construction in which people will be able to earn credits by having sanctioned matches which they can do at any time and submit logs (though limited in how many they can do). It will also have tournaments and champions.  Every fight done can potentially increase someones placing within the league to lead to bigger prizes at the end of the season.  Still seeking some help managing this.  Pazaak didn’t get as much love but we do like doing those as they are an easy social thing to throw together.  Some of the other answers included a desire to see more tech rolls in the events, then someone mentioned more like Sume’s Valentine day event, then someone even mentioned music.   We’re open to ideas and do support players who want to run something.

Last thing we asked was #12: Any other general thoughts you'd like to share? Please keep brief/to the point. 

Lot of responses so I’ll select a few without getting redundant.

“Ensure that the system you have in place does not need certain players online. I.E, Ive been trying to get my Imperial I.D, and cannot. “ - Anon#1

I think this was fixed so that there is an automated version?

“ I’d love to see the trash piles spawn more often and/or give out more resources. This is invaluable to new players, as gaining credits was quite tough for me and many others at first. The trash is a good way to start up from nothing, but I feel it should spawn slightly more than 1-10 Credits or 1 crafting resource; especially with how rare they are right now. “ - Anon#2

I agree, been asking Renward about this type of thing but he’s been very busy.

“ when chars are arrested very little if any rp is done after the initial arrest. No interrogation. No release. This needs to change. “ - Anon#3

I find captures are often very hit or miss.

“ I have never RP'd anywhere else before and this is the most fun I have had on Secondlife so far in 11 years. The main draw of this sim to me is the amount of people who actively use it. I could not see myself RPing in a sim with a low amount of active players. Getting new players and retaining old players is the most important thing to me. I have no real ideas on how to do this though. Good luck!” - Anon#4

Thank you, we do our best with that, sometimes more difficult than others but we’ve been able to maintain for around half a decade, let’s go for a whole one :d

“ I loveloveLOVE the build but I noticed it's very graphics laggy. I also noticed that while you use teleporters to essentially skyboxes with the building interiors, those interiors are still directly behind the building facades. If you moved them out of draw distance and spaced them out, the sim would be a lot easier to render for everyone. Less lag, higher framerates, more fun! “ - Anon#5

The reason I do tend to do this is I find if something is out of cam range, people are less likely to enter, you do give a valid argument though and will consider further.

“ Having mentors/mediators would be really helpful to take a lot of the load off the staff on sim. So then they can focus on the cool stuff, like building the lore, and actual problems. “ - #Anon#6

Yeah, would like to find a few more.

“ I'm concerned about the system being an element that pulls players from the immersion of their RP. As medical personnel i'm also still concerned with the 'reset' feature on health causing individuals to not be prompted to seek medical attention for their injuries. It is a handy system for varying stats, offering abilities and providing a more structured combat basis but it would be helpful if there was an easier application for it than typing in commands. If there were an attachable HUD for the Chimera available upon entry to the sim which offered either buttons for Chimera options or a drop-down menu to choose from it might help expedite system use in combat, speed up combat, and make the experience more enjoyable overall. Spending hours in combat can sometimes be exhausting and take away from time desired for other aspects of RP. “ - #Anon7

Post this, we did take action about the reset button and have taken a few other steps as well to increase realistic recovery from injury and people using medical services.  May still see more in this area.

“ With regards to conscent, reasonable right to life and consequence. Dont do something that would get you arrested, and deny consent. “ - #Anon8

Yeah, would agree on that, you may see changes in that area very soon.  We’re behind on many things we’d like to do.

“ I feel like I’d personally be more invested if there was more for the Jedi to do. So far all we have to do is be captured or whatnot. It was fun for a bit but I think a lack of leadership for a while has made it hard. I hope this changes soon. “ - #Anon9

It is a difficult era for Jedi players, we knew that going in but we wanted to try something different. We are always shaking things up though so you could see things evolve in the future.

“ Lot of trolls get into the sim/rp. Gets a bit annoying. Might just be an issue all over SL, though. “ #Anon10

It is, but I find “trolls” are fairly easy to tune out/ignore/etc. The only time trolls have power is when people take the bait and react. They usually knock it off once they know it doesn’t get to you.  To use my own example a few used to give me a hard time for engaging in sexual roleplay, they would take pictures and IM me these pictures. I laughed, and just got more lewd, like who cares? and they stopped making a thing of it.. so I just find trolls pretty easy to ward off or ignore. Always more concerned with those who create and stir drama than I am with trolls.  Drama kills sim dead, trolling is just irritating.

“ Well , if you ask to me , there should be much more various social events .. Also before the events such as pazaak there should be courses before he game night so people could have an idea about what they are doing . About the groups , you shouldnt bring some strangers as directors , you should pick them from the group according to their activeness. Also you should appreciate or make a system to appreciate employees such as [redacted] employees .. I have been in group for two months i think and i am still security guard. No rank-ups .. And i have been coming online and standing as a guard almost everyday . Thanks for your patience and reading this. Good luck about the sim.. “ - #Anon11

If there are those who have been active and also have leadership ability then they will be.  Having the skills needed for leadership is not something every active player has.  This could be because their temper is too short, or maybe they do not work well with other group leads to be able to create interactive roleplay, or maybe they just are lazy or a variety of other reasons.  If we have someone who handles lead roles well, yes, at times they will leap frog if there isn’t a suitable candidate within X group.

“ If there is a time jump done, people need a way to get the most out of the 5+ year missing time. Something to encourage them to write up story for their characters for that time. After they've done so and handed it in, could lead towards special rewards for their character or the player. Something to think over. “ - #Anon12

I very much like this idea if we ever have one of those.  There currently is not one planned but like I’ve said, we’re always willing to change and adapt to do what’s best for activity.

----

DONE. Thank you to everyone who filled it out, really enjoy the feedback as it helps us figure how we can improve things for you all.