#and i don't think its essential to be converting/converted but i think there's a reason that converts tend to have similar feelings/thought

[son-of-avraham]

Something interesting I've noticed about conversion stories is many people seem to have both a rebellious streak and a deep-seated, insatiable desire to learn everything.

One of my shul's well-respected members (who runs the hebrew/judaism class that will start soon) talked about how, when he lived in my town, he would sneak out of the house just to go to shul. That's what I'm doing now, and it's funny (I'm not sneaking out per se, but I am also not telling anybody I'm going to shul). There's an aspect of free-spiritedness that I notice in many converts, and it's fascinating to hear each of their stories. And you know the funniest part? They sound like my story.

[novantinuum]

jen's "Hard-Light Hybrid Steven" headcanon dump

Okay so I'm just making this its own post, because frankly at this point... the original post is so hard to get all the pulp out of due to the headcanons being spread over multiple reblogs and half of it being in the tags.

So here we go. Self indulgent headcanon time. This is how I'm now personally interpreting things within the realm of my own fic work and the post-canon storylines that live in my mind. This is NOT, however, a work of meta- I am by no means suggesting this to be what I see as "canon," only having some fun playing around with ideas I think are cool on a speculative fantasy anatomy level. Take it as you will basically, lol. This is ultimately just for me.

With that stated:

"jen what the fuck do you mean when you say hard-light hybrid Steven, what are you even suggesting"

Essentially I am proposing that Steven becomes progressively more hard-light based in form as he ages. When he was born he was two almost entirely separate halves mashed together- organic and gem- and those two halves slowly but surely merge over the years (hard light replacing organic matter) until one day they are literally inseparable, and Steven is one permanently cohesive being... entirely hewn from hard-light, but with a level of anatomical complexity that still makes him a complete anomaly amongst Gems and humans alike. Instead of the innards of his body being solid light, he is still formed of cells- only now, those cells are entirely hard-light.

His gem is somehow mimicking the form of organic matter with a level of detail that's absolutely unobtainable by shapeshifting or tailored reformation alone. Steven has become the single most complex hard-light system to have ever existed.

Some more specifics on how I imagine this merge working:

Much of the "merging" is natural over time, basically his gem branching out new bits of hard-light circuitry within his body as it integrates within his system.

However, this process is sped up significantly by all the spills and injuries Steven deals with throughout his childhood... because his body's instinctive response to injury is simply to replace damaged cells with hard-light analogues. An almost instantaneous patch job.

Steven's component halves being so distinct early on is a large reason why he takes so long to harness many of his powers.

This is also why Steven's (mostly) organic half is so weakened during the split in Change Your Mind- at that point there's a lot about his anatomy that's been converted to hard-light, so it's basically as if White Diamond yanked the power source out.

(Same idea for why he's so weakened during the movie when his gem's on the fritz... his gem's connection with the rest of his body got partially severed for a time, which. Is not Good for someone who at this point is more hard-light than not hard light.)

At a certain point post-canon, it becomes impossible for Steven's organic and gem halves to be separated. They are so tightly integrated that attempting to remove the gem would only poof him.

Now, here's the thing though...

Steven does not realize that Any of this is taking place until the blunt reality of his strange new anatomical nature is put on display for all to see... when he actually DOES poof.

Here is how (in my own post-canon musings, which I have simplified here because y'all don't live inside all the intensive lore that jangles about my brain) I envision that taking place:

So, Steven would be in his mid to late twenties at this point. He's married to Connie, and they have an infant son.

Recently, there was a fairly severe Gem incident that left Beach City and Little Homeworld pretty damaged. Things are still being mopped up from that.

Steven, Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl head out on a quick mission one day to intercept one of the last few supporters of the Gem who attacked the Crystal Gem's hub of operation, and at first it seems like it's gonna be a straightforward trip.

Then, Steven sees the Gem in question pull a destabilizer wand on Garnet, and- unwilling to watch her to get ripped apart like that again- throws himself in between. He can take it, he thinks. These things never hurt him one bit as a kid

He cannot take it.

He poofs.

His gem unceremoniously falls to the ground, along with the clothes he was wearing and whatever he had in his pockets.

Cue the others going "what the actual FUCK" because based on everything they've ever witnessed and known about him no one had "Steven poofs" on their bingo card.

The insurgent Gem is captured and dealt with, but now... oh, boy. There's literally no playbook for this. Nobody knows what to expect.

Steven's gem is quiet for WEEKS. During that time, the Gems end up consulting the Diamonds on Homeworld to ask for intel on diamond reformation, but none of them are much help- Rose and Steven are the only ones who have actually poofed. Beyond them, this is completely unprecedented.

In a very vague sense, Steven is aware of what must have happened during this time... (even if a part of him wants to deny it, because How???)

He can pick up vague snippets of what's happening just beyond his reach... catching voices and what must be faint sensations of familiar people handling his gem, but beyond that he has no awareness of the passage of time, and he has no means by which to reach out to them mentally.

It takes almost two months for him to finally reform. When he does, his gem quickly shifts through its previous three forms and then just... outright h a n g s for a while on the new one... as if what's trying to "load" up is so complex it's goddamn buffering.

(my brain can only think of This image uyhjfsdbyuhjfg)

No one really knows what to expect but when he finally reforms, he... looks mostly the same? Still rather human in appearance, externally? The only notable difference is that his irises are pink now. (But with no diamond pupil- not unless he's going Full Power Mode.)

Steven also reforms WITH an outfit much like a Gem would.

The second he's back, he runs to embrace Connie (who is sobbing in relief) and asks how long he was out.

And he did NOT anticipate that answer to be two months.

As it turns out, he missed quite a few baby milestones while he was gone, and he feels horrible about it- it's not his fault of course, but he feels so bad that Connie had to go that long without his support, and that there's all those special "firsts" with his son he'll never get to experience.

This whole incident marks Steven's final "retirement" from participating in real combat- he outright tells the Gems to not involve him in any other combat situations unless the whole ass planet is under threat, basically. The potential risks are just not worth it now that he knows how long he'd be out of commission, should he poof once more. He can't put his family through that again.

Now, with all that outlined...

Ways that Steven is Weird now:

He looks rather human- his hair looks like hair and his skin looks like skin- but after he reforms, literally every "cell" of his body is fashioned out of hard-light.

However, if one were to theoretically slice him in half (which I PROMISE I am not going to do, this is only a thought experiment ahahah-), his internal anatomy would glow much like the Gems' do. (See below image for what I mean.) The "human-like" appearance of his skin and hair and other externally visible features does not extend very deep.

He "bleeds" pink now- but it's only surface, and is all just excess hard-light. No real blood.

His body would no longer show up on a radiograph- just the gem.

Many of his anatomical features (not all of them, though) are now vestigial in certain ways-? Like, various functions have overtly been taken over by his gem... he doesn't need to breathe or have any lifeblood beyond light pumping through his system, so his heart and lungs serve no necessary purpose anymore... but all of these organs still "exist" as like an echo of what once was, perfect mimics of their organic form but hewn from hard-light.

That being said, Connie enjoys the reassurance of his heartbeat, so he retains that function while conscious.

(Not to mention, "breathing" is literally just a habit for him by this point.)

HOWEVER, when he sleeps (another thing he technically doesn't Need to do but does anyways) his breathing and heartbeat stops entirely and it kinda spooks Connie out. The literal only evidence she has that he's still kicking during these times is the soft hum of his gemstone.

He does not have a biological NEED for food or water anymore and can fully operate on exposure to light alone, but he still really enjoys eating and drinking anyways. In fact, he's still able to absorb energy from food... so it's basically like he's over-charging his battery or whatever. He also still experiences taste (so still posesses some form of taste receptors) and instinctively feels "hungry" at meal times, so like... the running theory is that he must have hard-light analogues for all these receptors and neurotransmitters and hormones that communicate sensations like hunger in his system even though their function is entirely redundant with his gem powering everything.

Furthermore, his memories and sense of self and everything one might refer to as "the soul" is stored exclusively in his gem now. Which means, if one could manage to analyze his brain like one could with a human brain, there would be entire sections that simply... don't light up the way that others (such as the parts of the brain that govern motor control, as an example) do. This is because all the "data" once stored there has migrated.

He can fully shapeshift now, if he wanted to.

He can also still visually "age"- it's all based on his mental state, same as before.

But despite being hard-light in nature now, he can still interface with organics in fusion because his form is still so organic in shape and function. He's still the bridge between humanity and gemkind. I like to think that... theoretically... a Gem might be able to fuse with an organic too, but the sheer burden of trying to shapeshift and maintain such cellular complexity is what stops this from happening.

Steven, though? His very existence as a hybrid acted as a template by which hard-light could learn to understand organic life. He is still an intensely unique being, even IF he no longer consists of any actual organic matter.

_

I am sure I will probably add something to this later, but for now, those are all my musings.

Anyways, thank you for taking a brief visit to the deepest recesses of my brain, where I am chewing at the drywall and bouncing around the room like a cat who has just devoured the goddamn motherlode of catnip. Good night! !! :DDD

[anghraine]

Hi! Can you explain what really the power of foresight was with Faramir? I read the books earlier this year and I don't really quite understand it. He could predict the future? Like he would see it in his dreams? But how did he found out from Gollum that he was taking frodo and sam to cirith ungol and that he had committed murder before?

No problem, it's one of my favorite topics!

The concise explanation: I think Faramir's foresight/aftersight in terms of visions is a largely separate "power" from his ability to bring his strength of mind and will to bear on other people and animals, and to resist outside influence. The visions seem more a matter of broad sensitivity, something Faramir doesn't appear to have much if any control over. The second power is (in our terms) essentially a form of direct telepathy, limited in some ways but still very powerful, and I think this second ability is what Faramir is using with Gollum.

The really long version:

In my opinion, Faramir (or Denethor, Aragorn, etc) doesn't necessarily read thoughts like a book, particularly not with a mind as resistant as Gollum's. Faramir describes Gollum's mind in particular as dark and closed, it seems unusually so—

"There are locked doors and closed windows in your mind, and dark rooms behind them," said Faramir.

Still, Gollum is unable to entirely block Faramir's abilities. In LOTR, it does not seem that Gollum can fully block powerful mental abilities such as Faramir's, though his toughness and hostility does limit what Faramir can see. (Unfinished Tales, incidentally, suggests iirc that Denethor's combination of "great mental powers" and his right to use the Anor-stone allowed him to telepathically get the better of Saruman through their palantíri, a similar but greater feat.) I imagine that this is roughly similar to, but scaled down from, Galadriel's telepathic inquiries of even someone as reluctant to have her in his mind as Boromir, given that Faramir is able to still see some things in Gollum's mind, if with more difficulty than usual.

(WRT Boromir ... ngl, if I was the human buffer between Denethor and Faramir, I would also not be thrilled about sudden telepathic intrusions from basically anyone, much less someone I had little reason to trust.)

Disclaimer: a few years after LOTR's publication, Tolkien tried to systematize how this vague mystical telepathy stuff really works. One idea he had among many, iirc, was that no unwilling person's mind could be "read" the ways that Gollum's is throughout LOTR. IMO that can't really be reconciled w/ numerous significant interactions in LOTR where resistance to mental intrusion or domination is clearly variable between individuals and affected by personal qualities like strength of will, basic resilience, the effort put into opposition, supernatural powers, etc. And these attempts at resistance are unsuccessful or only partially successful on many occasions in LOTR (the Mouth of Sauron, for one example, is a Númenórean sorcerer in the book who can't really contend with Aragorn on a telepathic level). So I, personally, tend to avoid using the terminology and rationales from that later systematized explanation when discussing LOTR. And in general, I think Tolkien's later attempts to convert the mystical, mysterious wonder of Middle-earth into something more "hard magic" or even scientific was a failed idea on a par with Teleporno. Others differ!

In any case, when Gollum "unwillingly" looks at Faramir while being questioned, the creepy light drains from his eyes and he shrinks back while Faramir concludes he's being honest on that specific occasion. Gollum experiences physical pain when he does try to lie to Faramir—

"It is called Cirith Ungol." Gollum hissed sharply and began muttering to himself. "Is not that its name?" said Faramir turning to him. "No!" said Gollum, and then he squealed, as if something had stabbed him.

I don't think this is a deliberate punishment from Faramir—that wouldn't be like him at all—and I don't think it's the Ring, but simply a natural consequence of what Faramir is. Later, Gandalf says of Faramir's father:

"He can perceive, if he bends his will thither, much of what is passing in the minds of men ... It is difficult to deceive him, and dangerous to try."

So, IMO, Faramir's quick realization that Gollum is a murderer doesn't come from any vision of the future or past involving Gollum—that is, it's not a deduction from some event he's seen. Faramir does not literally foresee Gollum's trick at Cirith Ungol. His warning would be more specific in that case, I think. What he sees seems to be less detailed but more direct and, well, mystical. Faramir likely doesn't know who exactly Gollum murdered or why or what any of the circumstances were. Rather, Gollum's murderousness and malice are visible conditions of his soul to Faramir's sight. Faramir doesn't foresee the particulars of Gollum's betrayal—but he can see in Gollum's mind that he is keeping something back. Faramir says of Gollum:

"I do not think you are holden to go to Cirith Ungol, of which he has told you less than he knows. That much I perceived clearly in his mind."

Meanwhile, in a letter written shortly before the publication of LOTR, Tolkien said of Faramir's ancestors:

They became thus in appearance, and even in powers of mind, hardly distinguishable from the Elves

So these abilities aren't that strange in that context. Faramir by chance (or "chance") is, like his father, almost purely an ancient Númenórean type despite living millennia after the destruction of Númenor (that destruction is the main reason "Númenóreanness" is fading throughout the age Faramir lives in). Even less ultra-Númenórean members of Denethor's family are still consistently inheriting characteristics from their distant ancestor Elros, Elrond's brother, while Faramir and Denethor independently strike Sam and Pippin as peculiarly akin to Gandalf, a literal Maia like their ancestress Melian:

“Ah well, sir,” said Sam, “you [Faramir] said my master had an elvish air; and that was good and true. But I can say this: you have an air too, sir, that reminds me of, of—well, Gandalf, of wizards.”

He [Denethor] turned his dark eyes on Gandalf, and now Pippin saw a likeness between the two, and he felt the strain between them, almost as if he saw a line of smouldering fire drawn from eye to eye, that might suddenly burst into flame.

Meanwhile, Faramir's mother's family is believed to be part Elvish, a belief immediately confirmed when Legolas meets Faramir's maternal uncle:

At length they came to the Prince Imrahil, and Legolas looked at him and bowed low; for he saw that here indeed was one who had elven-blood in his veins. "Hail, lord!" he [Legolas] said. "It is long since the people of Nimrodel left the woodlands of Lórien, and yet still one may see that not all sailed from Amroth’s haven west over water."

In addition to that, Faramir's men believe he's under some specific personal blessing or charm as well as the Númenórean/Elvish/Maia throwback qualities. It's also mentioned by different groups of soldiers that Faramir can exercise some power of command over animals as well as people. Beregond describes Faramir getting his horse to run towards five Nazgûl in real time:

"They will make the Gate. No! the horses are running mad. Look! the men are thrown; they are running on foot. No, one is still up, but he rides back to the others. That will be the Captain [Faramir]: he can master both beasts and men."

Then, during the later retreat of Faramir's men across the Pelennor:

At last, less than a mile from the City, a more ordered mass of men came into view, marching not running, still holding together. The watchers held their breath. "Faramir must be there," they said. "He can govern man and beast."

Tolkien said of the ancient Númenóreans:

But nearly all women could ride horses, treating them honourably, and housing them more nobly than any other of their domestic animals. The stables of a great man were often as large and as fair to look upon as his own house. Both men and women rode horses for pleasure … and in ceremony of state both men and women of rank, even queens, would ride, on horseback amid their escorts or retinues … The Númenóreans trained their horses to hear and understand calls (by voice or whistling) from great distances; and also, where there was great love between men or women and their favorite steeds, they could (or so it is said in ancient tales) summon them at need by their thought alone. So it was also with their dogs.

Likely the same Númenórean abilities were used for evil by Queen Berúthiel against her cats. In an interview with Daphne Castell, Tolkien said:

She [Berúthiel] was one of these people who loathe cats, but cats will jump on them and follow them about—you know how sometimes they pursue people who hate them? I have a friend like that. I’m afraid she took to torturing them for amusement, but she kept some and used them—trained them to go on evil errands by night, to spy on her enemies or terrify them.

The more formal version of the Berúthiel lore recurs in Unfinished Tales:

She had nine black cats and one white, her slaves, with whom she conversed, or read their memories, setting them to discover all the dark secrets of Gondor, so that she knew those things "that men wish most to keep hidden," setting the white cat to spy upon the black, and tormenting them.

Faramir, by contrast, has a strong aversion to harming/killing animals for any reason other than genuine need, but apparently quite similar basic abilities. He typically uses these abilities to try to compassionately understand other people or gather necessary information, rather than for domination or provoking fear. Even so, Faramir does seem to use his mental powers pretty much all the time with no attempt to conceal what he's doing—he says some pretty outlandish things to Frodo and Sam as if they're very ordinary, but it doesn't seem that most people he knows can do all these things. This stuff is ordinary to him because it flows out of his fundamental being, not because it's common.

It's not clear how much fine control he has, interestingly. This is more headcanon perhaps, but I don't feel like it's completely under his control, even while it's much more controlled than things like Faramir's vision of Boromir's funeral boat, his frequent, repeated dreams of Númenor's destruction, the Ring riddle dream he received multiple times, or even his suspiciously specific "guess" of what passed between Galadriel and Boromir in Lothlórien. Yet his more everyday mental powers do seem to involve some measure of deliberate effort in a lot of the instances we see, given the differing degrees of difficulty and strain we see with the powers he and Denethor exhibit more frequently and consistently.

This is is also interesting wrt Éowyn, because Tolkien describes Faramir's perception of her as "clear sight" (which I suspect is just Tolkien's preferred parlance for "clairvoyance"). Faramir perceives a lot more of what's going on with Éowyn than I think he had materially observable evidence for—but does not see everything that's going on with her by any means. He seems to understand basically everything about her feelings for Aragorn, more than Éowyn herself does, but does not know if she loves him [Faramir].

I'm guessing that it's more difficult to "see" this way when it's directly personal (one of the tragedies of his and Denethor's relationship is that their shared mental powers do not enable either to realize how much they love each other). But it also doesn't seem like he's trying to overcome Éowyn's mental resistance the way he was with Gollum, and possibly Frodo and Sam—he does handle it a bit differently when it's not a matter of critical military urgency. With Éowyn, he sees what his abilities make clear to him, is interested enough to seek out Merry (and also perceive more than Merry says, because Faramir has never been a normal person one day in his life) but doesn't seem to really push either of them.

So I tend to imagine that with someone like Faramir, Denethor, Aragorn etc, we're usually seeing a relatively passive, natural form of low-grade telepathy that simply derives from their fundamental nature and personalities (as we see in Faramir with Éowyn, possibly Faramir with Aragorn). That can be kicked up to more powerful, forceful telepathy via active exertion of the will (as described by Gandalf wrt Denethor's ability to "bend[] his will thither" to see what passes in others' minds, and seen with Faramir vs Gollum, Aragorn vs the Mouth of Sauron, more subtly Faramir vs Denethor). At a high point of strain this can be done very aggressively or defensively (Denethor vs Gandalf, Denethor vs Saruman, Denethor vs Sauron seriously is there a Maia that man won't fight, Faramir vs the Black Breath given his completely unique symptoms that Aragorn attributes to his "staunch will", possibly Aragorn vs the Black Breath in a healing capacity...).

Anyway, I hope these massive walls of text are helpful or interesting! Thanks for the ask :)

[abracadav-r]

"Okay, makes sense, but also what the fuck is going on with Vhaeraun's lore anyway😭

It still baffles me that it looks almost like they don't know what they want or what they're doing with him. At least that's the impression the current canon gave me the last time my mutual shared random bits of lore with me"

@mmigrainee

I think this is likely to go longer than a reply comment allows, so I'll put it here. Won't be citing as much as usual since I'm on mobile and the app likes throwing tantrums when I go in and out of it but here's the Cliff Notes version:

2e Vhaeraun has an entirely different depiction. His entries in Demihuman Deities and other 2e books by parties like Ed Greenwood depict him as a power that—while lesser to Lolth—is successfully able to convert followers from Lolth and skirt around the margins of Menzoberranzan as a noticeable threat to the Church of Lolth.

Then we get Cunningham's novels, where the Vhaeraunites and their centers of power are depicted in very shallow ways thoughtless to his existing lore (his followers have sex slaves and prowl after women) this also starts the "Evermeet's take on this is now taken is as good as the official timeline rather than a bardic version intended to please the court of an elf nation with its own problematic history".

These depictions continue into 3e onward, leaving most depictions of Vhaeraun and his followers as slavers, sex pests, genociders et al and most notes of egalitarianism are removed from him and either disappear entirely or are reassigned to other parties, especially in the era where we have storylines focusing on the "redemption of drow".

4e comes around and Hasbro wants to streamline and thinks too many gods are annoying and they want everything Lolth all the way down. Lady Penitent comes out and kills everyone but Lolth in stupid ways and 4e pushes that all drow convert or die. Every underdark city that isn't Menzoberranzan might as well no longer exist, assuming they didn't outright eradicate it with whatever reason they spun up to have unopposed rule.

In between, Ed and others are consulting. Their work is cut by editors but more recently they've said there was plans to have the twins return as archfey in a campaign after their deaths, returning to their origins.

That lore never gets published, so we move into 5e with them still dead or just reappearing like a lot of gods did with no justification. Hasbro doesn't want to do the worldbuilding work they did in 2e-3e so they just leave everything with a big hole turn in it. You guys only care about the Sword Coast, right?

Ed eventually gets asked on Candlekeep about it and spins up a narrative that Mystra interfered in Vhaeraun's attempted assassination in Lady and behind the scenes, grabs the twins and pulls them into the weave in torpor essentially. They weren't dead, pretending at it, which is why the Skulkers of Vhaeraun received spells. This may be tied to the Demon Weave content in 4e's Council of Spiders, perhaps Mystra wanted Lolth to feel confident and overextend, which helped knock her down from a Greater Power to a Lesser Power in 5e.

Ed continues on this, saying the twins have reached an "understanding" and now won't be directly opposing each other, though members of each church may.

tldr: Hasbro doesn't really give a shit about a consistent narrative, they just want to republish books every 5-10 years with the same three paragraphs and it really shows in 5e when the original creator has to come out and say "yeah I hear you guys and had plans that I now can't really talk about due to NDA but here's something new to try and fix the gaping hole."

[homestuckreplay]

Webcomics at Day 100 #6: 1/0

Pages read: 8/27/2000 - 5/26/2003; 1,003 pages; all of it

Reason for selection: This is the first webcomic I was ever personally into, although I didn’t read it until long after it finished. It’s an extended philosophical discussion between the author and their characters, with no fourth wall and total awareness of the medium.

Original run: Updated daily for exactly 1,000 strips (plus three April Fools guest strips), then stopped forever. Author Mason Williams continues to make other, unrelated webcomics.

Content warnings: Lots, and I can’t guarantee I caught them all. These may not reflect the author’s views today, as I haven’t yet read his more recent works, but might affect how enjoyable 1/0 is for present-day readers.

One rape joke

Occasional use of slurs

Frequent misogyny, gender essentialism, and objectification of women

Antisemitic character tropes

Occasional racist and Islamophobic jokes

Occasional homophobic jokes

Lesbian character who ends up in a heterosexual relationship

Heavy focus on Christian theology and morality

Overall thoughts:

1/0 is a comic about the entire lifespan of a universe on the smallest scale imaginable. The universe is created on page one, and destroyed on page 1,000. It is composed of a single landmass – the corpse of a bear – in and endless, empty horizon. A total of twelve characters live here at some point, explore the meaning of life and death, and eventually, leave. These characters are one human man, one rib, one eyeball, three molecules, one atom, one earthworm, one strawman, two golems and a running gag. Almost as soon as the laws of the universe have been established, its end is foretold. The characters know it is coming, are aware of the comic, and have 1,000 strips to live the best life they can.

In concept, I think it’s really, really beautiful. In its execution, I have more mixed feelings.

The concept of the Fourth Wall is used throughout 1/0 as a metaphor for atheism. Early in the comic, the characters request a fourth wall, which is installed for a week (a ‘4’ in the corner of the panel signifies this). It ends up being a failure. Later, a character (Marcus) is so upset at the death of his son – perhaps caused by the author – that he loses faith in him and gains a personal fourth wall (indicated by a tiny ‘4’ in each eye). Some characters accept his different views while others try to convert him, but he is constantly positioned as the fool for not seeing the greater truth of the author, readers, panels and strip.

Of course, in 1/0, the author can be conclusively proven, and talked to directly like a friend or mentor (his speech bubbles are the rectangular text blocks, and all characters can hear them). The metaphor is imperfect. Taken in a vacuum, it’s reasonable for the comic to criticize Marcus’ objectively wrong interpretation. Taken as a piece of media written in a Christian-dominant society where alternative religious views are actively and legally discriminated against, it’s uncomfortable, no matter Williams’ intentions. And while Williams, on his personal website, claims to respect other viewpoints (including atheism), he also says that ‘the goals behind atheistic morality will always have an air of arbitrariness that religious moralities transcend’ (2002), a statement I don't agree with that's very telling about the ideology he brings to the story.

The 1/0 characters invent basic concepts of modern Western society, such as ‘personal property’ (the only possession in the strip is one hat), 'workers' strikes' (against the author!), ‘units of measurement’, ‘the justice system’, ‘supply and demand economics’, ‘copyright law’, and even – accidentally – ‘top surgery’. (Even though it’s unintentional, the trans representation is not bad for 2001 – the author’s ‘no girls in the strip til I get a girl’ that precedes it is far more questionable).

But the characters also have a working, yet incomplete knowledge of Earth via the author. They know what Portland and the CN Tower are, and one character can even recite poetry, but they’re more familiar with the surface trappings of Earth than with its complexities. What they know is sometimes inconsistent and is generally dictated by the logic of ‘what makes an interesting strip?’

1/0 also establishes other fictional universes – early on, the characters portal into the universe of different webcomics, and later, they organize an ‘impressions’ contest where they pretend to be other authors' characters. The laws governing other webcomics, and their differences to 1/0’s laws, are discussed. In this way, Williams has an excuse to organically link to other comics he’s reading, promoting those authors’ works and acknowledging his influences, which is pretty delightful in an early internet way.

I think the overall question 1/0 is asking is, ‘what if God was a benevolent kindergarten teacher?’ The author – whose in-strip character and online persona is known as Tailsteak – spends much of his time patiently explaining basic moral lessons to the characters, who have just come into existence, and don’t have a pre-existing society or ethics system to work within. At times the author scolds characters for their views – one character, Junior, is designated ‘the evil one’, expresses problematic opinions, and feuds with the other characters and author.

In the moment, he’s told that he’s wrong, but he ultimately doesn't face serious consequences. In the end, the characters leave the comic for the human world, and the author gives Junior arguably the easiest life of everyone – a football scholarship to a college where he’ll be in a position of privilege and won’t have to worry about money. This is the last in a series of apologies from the author for forcing the character into the evil archetype early on, but Junior has never really stopped being an asshole. His ending gives him a chance to be evil all over again, only this time with free will. In this way the comic legitimizes human social dynamics, where physically strong and emotionally immature white men are offered forgiveness and unearned success while others are not.

I'm focusing on the negatives, but I overall like this comic a lot. It's filled with moments that are emotionally satisfying, contemplative, unexpected, and funny. Reading this in the present day as a marginalized and non-Christian person leaves me really intrigued by most of what it's doing, and wishing its ideas were explored without the accompanying prejudices. There's other works that do that, of course, but I haven't yet found one with the charming simplicity of this one - and even if I find it, I won't be able to go back in time and make it important to my younger self the way this was.

Relevance to Homestuck: [ooc - contains spoilers for Act 5]

1/0 is a creation myth. It explores what it takes to make a universe – can anyone simply say ‘once upon a time, there was a universe in which everyone was happy, the end’ and create one, over and over? If so, does what happens in that universe mean anything, if there’s no nuance or complexity to its existence?

Although 1/0's world is on a tiny scale and Homestuck deals with the entirety of reality, they’re asking the same metaphysical questions about stories and existence. Do characters have feelings and experiences outside of what is seen by an audience? Can a character be ‘duplicated’ from one universe into another, and if so, do they know about the other versions of themself? What does it mean to have free will or your own personality when you're a character in a story? What happens if an all powerful figure who isn’t the original creator tries to take control of the comic?

1/0 just barely experiments with art style and medium, dipping its toe into the ocean Homestuck would leap into.. Williams admits he ‘[wasn’t] as adventurous with 1/0 as [he] could have been’, a choice that was partly intentional - but there are moments when he invites guest contributors, draws in somebody else’s style, or turns the comic into an RPG and rolls for a character’s action. In a stylistic parallel, each 1/0 character types in a unique font that represents their personality, giving their speech a sort of ‘quirk’.

Finally, both Homestuck and 1/0 could be read as a metaphor for the birth and growth of the internet, for spending your adolescence online and then leaving to enter the ‘real world’. In 2002 Williams said the following about spending his time online, which may or may not intentionally parallel his characters’ experiences in the comic, but feels poetic either way.

‘I get to be here as this new world cools from its primeval fires. I get to watch and, in some small way, participate in the infancy of a radical new society. Life is changing, and I get to be here in the middle of it.’

Continue reading? I reread the whole comic in two evenings. Despite my problems with it, I will probably return to it in another decade for a third read.

[nomsfaultau]

LOOK! THERE'S MY FAVOURITE WHITE BOY/ref

DAILY ASKS S2 №4

Theme: Wilbur

1. Why do creatures of the void have languages in the first place? Why do they have different forms? Why animalistic forms? Are they eben alive? I think so. But irl the evolution happened because of the adaptation to the surroundings. I'm not quite sure if the void has surroundings. And it was mentioned that the voidlings don't really communicate with eachother, but what is language for then??

2. If Wilbur did have a home, what would it be like? Also what would it be like if he got to pick vs what he actually needs

3. If he had to choose one height to be for the rest of his life, what would it be?

4. Did you have any other options for his new name? Other than Solaris, I mean. What were they and why?

5. He's like the most suspicious mf in town, how does he not get caught stealing??

Oh also

LOOK!!! It bloomed!!!!! :D

AHHH IT BLOOMED!!! 1.They have languages for communication with one another. (Not entirely sure when/what led you to believe otherwise- lmk) There are giant groups of somewhat similar voidlings, usually along a shared conceptual aspect, that form language groups. Per example: the Rime Writers trying to carve a rune that will invoke a wintry god. In this case they’re communicating with a voidling far higher in the eldritch hierarchy, but they still share the common frost/cold/winter aspect. The different languages are directly because of their different forms, which is because they are avatars of different concepts.

We see a lot of animal (or things comparable to real life things) voidlings because those are the ones that are safer for people’s sanity, and Wilbur tends to only allow the safe ones out. When Wilbur is less in control this trend falls apart, things like the Organ House or Hunger being unleashed. The weaker voidlings are more bound by people’s interpretations and meanings given to their concepts, and so are more familiar (which I have decided as of now but it feels right to me). 

I suppose by the scientific definition of ‘living’ the purely shadow voidlings fail in the homeostasis, reproduction, metabolism (?), adaptation, and immortality. 

Homeostasis: this is a regulation of internal materials and conditions, like pH temperature salt nitrogen. They fail on the internal materials condition, since they don’t have internal materials while shadows. Metabolism: fails for a similar reason, as the voidlings don’t convert what they eat into biomolecules, and don’t need to eat to survive. Reproduction: they don’t. Adaptation: can’t do evolution without genetic inheritance.

Once the voidlings are severed from Wilbur and begin to become ‘Real’ I believe the lacking materials problem goes away, but still don’t reproduce or adapt. By similar metrics Philza also isn’t a living being. 

The void definitely has surroundings. Those surroundings are equally eldritch and sentient. Layers of the void are generally fully overlapping one another at the same time, and the ‘deeper’ ones are more dangerous and maddening. Deeper of course being the only apt understanding one can convey to third dimensional beings; it’s still in the same area. In the words of Flatland to explain 3D to 2D beings: Down but not South.

2.Small, he isn’t extravagant. Absolutely chock full of illumination. Lamps and fairy lights and glow in the dark stars. But not at a super high brightness, cause of being trapped in a search light at the Foundation. Probably has a lot of holes in the wall that it can send voidlings through, either to fetch stuff from other rooms, or in case of attack serve like arrow slits. If it’s what Wil picks, it’s incredibly spartan. If not, then over time he’s accruing more and more items. Perhaps goes into hoarder territory, but that’s part of the recovery process for him. No longer confined to the bare essentials it can carry on its back, over flowing to the point he can’t form lists of everything he has (doesn’t need to). Endless supplies sure, but also endless nonessentials. Things Wilbur likes instead of needs. It’s a clutter, but the excess is what truly makes it a home to it. 

3.Taller than Tommy. Probably so his chin can rest on Tommy’s head. Bc big brother. And also Tommy is the tallest in the group *crossing its fingers Tubbo isn’t suddenly towering when their legs grow back*. So Wilbur would be tall to a notable degree. 

4.I tossed around Solace for a bit. Particularly for the ‘comfort’ angle. When looking for a name I was seeking things like light, safety, distinctly uneldritch, as compared to Wilbur as a lovecraftian name. Solace I really liked the Sol+Comfort angle. Howeverrrrr I got the idea from Will Solace, and so having a character go from Wil to Solace felt weird. Also the song ‘Ofelia’ by Kiltro. Which has nothing to do with the name Solaris except for the fact I can mishear intentionally ambiguous lines as the name Solaris. Tbh I associate Ofelia more with Lambs but it has good Fault Wilbur vibes too. There were other names I deffo considered but I don’t remember them.

5.It helps when it doesn’t show up on cameras when alone, and the void messes with them too. And Wilbur is a smooth talker with lots of experience getting out of problems, and has a lifetime of experience under his belt getting away with stealing. It won’t stop profiling by any means, and while Wil tries to mitigate it some with behavior, appearance, and feigned amicability, there’s no getting around the fact it’s a scruffy scarred guy. He prefers running to fighting but also will just attack if he has to lmao. 

[insteading]

Inspired by blakbonnet gifset from s2e2.

I've been thinking about how the showrunners decided Breakdown-Era Ed would be so hot. OFMD has things it is Looney Tunes about-- physics, abdominal anatomy, the historical record, the value of gaydar as a navigational device across large spans of ocean. But as many people have pointed out, it's pretty emotionally realistic, to the point where the fights Ed and Stede have are recognizable to many of us.

I don't know about you, but I find that crying all night on the floor results in blotchy skin, red eyes, a generally puffy face, a wicked dehydration headache, and a hoarse and adenoidal voice. The magic of fiction rescues Ed from some of that. But also: "I want my corpse to look fantastic" is absolutely a thought Ed would have at this point in his trajectory (and I think is one signal of how ambivalent he feels about dying). His depression hasn't blunted his emotions and convinced him that nothing matters: feeling abandoned still matters a great deal, even as he's starting to abandon the hope that he'll feel better some day. And he still cares about how other people perceive him-- which is frankly essential if he's going to goad crewmates into mutiny against him.

I've seen some great metas about how Ed wants someone to care enough about him to kill him-- or how he really wants to be talked out of wanting to die. Both those takes are even more plausible to me having watched season 2 in its entirety! In s2e6 Ed tells Ned Lowe "I don't respect you enough to kill you: you're not worth the poison." Ed thinks of killing as something that inextricably and intimately links two people. And at the beginning of s2e7 Ed credits the vision of mer!Stede with saving his life-- though I fully endorse the idea that Ed conjured mer!Stede up because of the persistent hope Ed so admires in Stede. Just as Ed's internal Hornigold pushes him off a cliff, Ed's internal Stede reminds him that he is capable of feeling something other than pain, and that there is reason to hope his life will not always look as bleak as it has been recently.

In this moment, though, before Ed comes up for air and life begins again, Ed goes to Izzy with a loaded gun. Why Izzy and not Fang or Archie? I think Ed sees Izzy as the QAR crew member with both the most reason to kill him and the most reason to talk him out of wanting to die, due to a combination of toxic masculinity and what I see as frustrated romantic obsession. In the "Izzy probably cares enough to kill me" column:

s1e10: Izzy threatens mutiny: "I serve Blackbeard, not Edward. Edward had better watch his fucking step."

s2e1: Izzy blames the "fucked" atmosphere aboard the QAR on Ed's "feelings for Stede Bonnet." Ed hasn't talked about those feelings because that's not the relationship he has with this crew. From Ed's perspective, Izzy is publicly calling him out for not having rid himself of those feelings. Which means somehow Ed hasn't watched his fucking step enough, despite throwing himself into raiding. Izzy's threat from the end of s1 still echoes.

s2e2: Izzy's gunshot wound has gone septic. Even if he survives having had his leg removed? Izzy lashed out at Ed at the end of s1 for being soft. He's got a very calvinist understanding of where human worth comes from, not just incompatible with a disability rights framework but also incompatible with accommodation and support from the crew. All Izzy's emotions convert to anger.

In the "Izzy might try to convince me not to die" column:

s1e10: The torture scene in s2e6 established in canon something that many viewers intuited at the end of season 1, when Ed lashed out and choked Izzy, and then again when he fed Izzy a toe: Izzy finds pain arousing. Izzy manifestly gets some satisfaction out of Blackbeard's attention even-- and maybe especially-- when the terms of that attention are painful for him. (It doesn't seem to matter to Izzy whether Ed enjoys causing him pain or whether the dynamic between them compounds Ed's suffering.)

s2e1: Izzy told Ed-- in a voice that made it absolutely clear how much he resented saying it-- "I have had ... love for you."

I think Ed's presentation in most of s2e2 sets up the scene where Ed hands Izzy the gun and plays on both his anger and his love. The Ed of "Red Flags" is simultaneously Peak Outrageous and Peak Hot, and that's why many of us reacted to the stills the studio released from this episode with variations on "s/he's so gender," long before we knew the context in which those stills would appear. Ed's wearing the leather that's his longtime crew's shared signature, calling to mind the history he shares with Izzy. But he's also wearing the pearls and the dangly sword earring, and he's got soft strands of hair framing his face that an early 2000s sorority girl would envy. And, well, we know that a silk gown to Izzy is like a Red Flag to a bull: he seems to find femme touches in menswear infuriating.

Seriously bbg, wild to say to someone who's romantically obsessed with you that *anything* they did in your dream last night was good for you, even if it was murder.

Ultimately, Izzy refuses both to kill Ed and to talk him out of dying. He acts neither on his femmephobia nor on his need for Blackbeard to stay around and satisfy some fraction of his obsession. "Clean up your own mess," from the person on the QAR who both loves and hates Ed the most, must sound to him like "You're not worth the poison." And coming from someone whose tolerance for poison is astonishingly high? Ouch.

[nitrosodiumaltcontroller]

Rough Idea Generation - Games and Controllers

Having now been given basic information on what I can do in this project, and having undertaken research into possible alternate methods of input action, I already had some thoughts of devices I could try and create. Most of these amounted to household items that could be converted into controllers with some rewiring. I got the main idea from this video:

In it, people play various shooters with a driving rig, calculator, drawing tablet, drum kit, Guitar Hero controller, and even a DDR foot pad. Now, these examples don't particularly go into the depths of accessibility - it's more to show the alternate controllers at work - but it helped me to understand how games can be played and even won without relying on WASD or a twin-stick controller configuration. I generated three controller ideas (plus a variation of the first one) and wrote some basic concepts down in my notebook here.

I will go through these one at a time.

Game Idea 1 - Binary Sidescroller

Controller #1 is an object I have had so long that I have forgotten its original purpose. I think it was supposed to be some sort of Halloween wand.

This device has a switch on the side, which essentially gives it two inputs along with 'neutral'. When the switch is moved up, it lights up and spins. When the switch is moved down, it lights up, spins, and makes spooooooky noises.

What I saw here was a possible controller, but also an accessible one: all its possible inputs require a single thumb. My game idea to go along with this was a sidescroller, in which the two settings correlate to you moving along each dimension of the game world: one moves you rightward along the screen, while the other moves you upward like a jetpack. What this results in is a game akin to Jetpack Joyride, but the catch is that you can't move up and right at the same time. This restriction could then make for some interesting environmental puzzles: feathering up and right to do a sort of air-dash, using teleport pads to return to a previous position given that you can't walk leftwards, and other mechanics akin to that. To make sure that the actual basis of the game would be functional, I made a very short demo.

Obviously they always say you should never even think about prototyping before you've decided on a game idea, but I think this is necessary. Firstly, it's not a waste of time because it took about ten minutes, and secondly, it's for functional reasons. If I'm making a game with an entirely proprietary type of controller, I need to know if my game idea could even work with this sort of binary input system. And it does, somewhat. I played around with the 3D environment and added a disc that rotates the player 90 degrees, to increase the amount of space I can use in the level. Of course, it might be a standard 2d sprites and flipbooks affair. I don't know yet, but the basic mechanics are there.

Game 2 - Skid-Steer Tank

My second idea consisted of these grip strength trainers. I was thinking about how I could use them as controllers, and while I had a basic idea of the technical work required (two bits of wire at the bottom, when you tighten your grip, the circuit connects, and that registers as an input on the makeymakey), I couldn't think of what sort of game they could be for. It was then during my research on fairground games, I was reminded of those types of skid-steer bumper cars I had been on as a kid.

There are two levers that control the rotation. Pull the left one down, you turn left, pull the right one down, you go right. Pull them both down, you go forward. I realised that the grip trainers could be used like these levers, and would be far more tactile and immersive than just pressing keys on a keyboard. The main issue with this idea is that it is not too inclusive to people with weak grip strength. If you can't fully close the grip trainer, you can't play the game. This could potentially be fixed with a variable wire length, allowing the amount of force required to be customised before you play. I'm not sure yet. Like the other controller idea, I made a very basic demo to see if my idea would be actually playable.

The good news is that it does work on a technical level. All I'm pressing in this video is A and D - when you press them both at the same time, it goes forward. The bad news is that I think I'm getting motion sick from playing. I'd probably need to code a slower turn speed, since it doesn't feel like you're in any sort of tank, despite the tank controls. Plus there are some slight issues about a fire button - I could have the gun fire automatically, or maybe fire when you start moving, so you have to pump the grip testers to shoot. Then again, that's a repetitive action, so this whole system needs some retooling.

Game 3 - Twin-Stick Mech

I got the third idea mostly from Steel Battalion, when I researched it earlier today. The image is of my brother's FarmStick, which he uses to control the arm on a telehandler when he plays Farming Simulator. It got me thinking about a possible setup consisting of two sticks similar to this, each with eight-directional movement - one for movement and one for looking around. Each would have some buttons on top for extra actions; the movement stick would have jump, crouch, sprint etc. while the look stick would have shoot, aim, reload, and other combat-oriented buttons. The purpose of this controller would be for more immersively playing mech games, but instead of being over-complicated and bespoke, this could be used for multiple games. To make it even more accessible (i.e. for those who only have use of one side of their body), it could instead be one stick with lots of buttons, like the original FarmStick, which can then be remapped to suit the player's needs. If you want to play with twin sticks, that can also work - just plug two of them in.

From what I understand, joysticks like this are considered to be more accessible than standard controllers. A stick was included as an accessory for the Xbox Adaptive Controller we saw earlier today (https://www.xbox.com/en-US/accessories/controllers/xbox-adaptive-controller), and I have read various reviews of people who use them. The primary issue with this idea is that I have no clue how to build something like this, and I don't want to buy two FarmSticks just for a college project when I might not even be able to bring them home at the end.

Game 4 - Tram Adventure

I also had a fourth idea, which I did not write down in the notepad, but I still think it holds some water. I was thinking about other ways I could use the wand as a controller, given that it has only two inputs. Then I realized the obvious: forward and backward. My idea here is to have the player riding a train, akin to the On A Rail chapter from Half Life, but they must avoid overhanging winches and crates as they move across the tunnel. It would essentially play like 3D, first person Frogger, with other possible mechanics like flatbed trains acting like the logs in that game.

Of course, none of this is set in stone; they're just preliminary ideas. I may end up doing a board game instead.

[mermaidsirennikita]

No please talk about how people are weird about Manacled because I see this too and yet nobody seems aware of this?

--I see multiple big name book bloggers refer to this as one of their favorite "books" when it is literally, in no way, legally or in the simple conventional definition of a book, a book. Like, I am literally this close to unfollowing someone whose recs I sometimes like because they also proudly own a professional bind-up of this book.

--Speaking of bind-ups (and when I say "professional"... book binders should not be binding fics; they are potentially opening themselves up for legal trouble, and I know that when someone offers to pay you hundreds of dollars for a bind-up of a fic it's gotta be tempting, but for the love of God do NOT do it and also don't request one, because you are also opening yourself up for some quagmires, and you do not want to get into it with JKR or her publishers or for that matter Margaret Atwood/Hulu/whoever currently has control of The Handmaid's Tale because this is in fact a fic of two different things) I personally find it incredibly wasteful to bind a fic, but that's just my personal snobbery. I cannot IMAGINE paying that much money for a bind of something I can read for free on my phone.

Like... I have respect for book-binding, it's a beautiful art form. I've seen beautiful binds of that fic. But beyond all of the risks I mentioned above, it's just honestly such a goober thing to do in my mind lol. You can spend your money how you want. I totally get why people re-bind their old copies (or new copies) of paperbacks they own and love... for themselves. And do not sell them. (Honestly, don't really know how that would work for the fic--binding it yourself and not selling it could be okay?) If I could do it, I would.

But for the love of God. I am begging people to get real with themselves about what fic is and what fic isn't.

--I really don't get how this is going to work as a reworked fic, tbh. One of the reasons why I do respect the process of converting a fic to a book in many cases, and consider that a valid form of getting a book... is that for all intents and purposes? The vast majority of these fics were essentially people writing original works and slapping vague physical features and names onto their characters. The Love Hypothesis has absolutely nothing to do with Reylo in terms of world or character development. As much as I loathed Wallbanger as a book--that is not Edward and Bella. To me, it sometimes feels like these AU fic writers wake up and go "oh, I wrote a book?"

And there is still work that goes into reworking. I read the fic that was the original form of You, Again by Kate Goldbeck. Honestly? You can see the rewrite in a big way. She did the work.

Manacled basically took a huge chunk of its world DIRECTLY from The Handmaid's Tale. And that's fine! For a fic. The fic is not an "all normal humans" AU. It's not a historical AU. It's not even a high fantasy AU. These people are witches and wizards and Voldemort won and there is a Handmaid's Tale angle. I do not know how she's going to take that into a completely different place without essentially just writing a new book lmao.

Which is the one issue I do have with fic to books, and there's no way of getting around it, and it's not immoral, it's just irritating that we dance around it in these conversations, and it is especially irritating when you get the "dur dur fic is better than original books". A hit fic does not require the same amount of effort that a hit original book does. When you read the fic you think is better than book... 9 times out of 10, you are reading it because you are a part of that fandom. You are receptive, preemptively, to that world. In fact, I would argue that you are probably more inclined to like it, subconsciously, because you are sliding into something that is familiar, or is coded to be familiar even when it's an AU.

This isn't to say that there isn't art to writing a great fic. It's not to say that there isn't a true accomplishment to writing a fic that really sticks with your audience. But the reality is that you did have a pre-set audience, "bought" by the original work that created your fandom, and that is something a truly original book does not have. When a truly original book (or, I'll give, a book based off a more obscure fic that doesn't tout itself as fic to book--and a lot of people did not do that as much back in the day, because of stigma surrounding it) hits big... That's because it did the original seduction of the audience. The author did the promo. The premise got people to open it. The book was good enough, or at least had enough "it factor", for word of mouth to kick in. I will ALWAYS give that credit to popular original books, because it is not easy to make an original work hit, and while it may not be easy for fics to hit, it is easier. And that built-in audience does travel to known fic to books.

So, because Manacled is so dependent on that HP/Handmaid's Tale world, the author is going to have to really go in on tearing it apart, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's pretty unrecognizable. It should be. And the only reason why the Manacled label will remain is that built-in audience. Which is technically fine, and I guess I should hate the game versus the player here. But it gives me the ick, I guess.

There are gray areas, I guess. I liked The Hurricane Wars, and that does owe more to SW than The Love Hypothesis or You, Again. However, I do appreciate a lot that Thea did make clear changes, and did curb the world around culture influence Southeast Asian influences. That last part especially is a big distinguisher even though a lot of the fans don't seem to acknowledge it at all but whatever.

I just don't get it, tbh.

[stranger-nights-ahead]

Hello everyone!

If you're just finding this blog, there's a good chance you're reading this because of either this post where I talk about weird vitamin C misinformation or this post where I accidentally SPREAD misinformation about the Pope. Essentially, I made an overly quippy post about how funny it was that Pope Francis said "I like to think of Hell as being empty. At least I hope it is." Now, this is very funny for a lot of reasons. The Church is well known for its history of using the threat of Hell to scare its members and potential converts, especially children, into doing what they want so this pisses off a lot of conservative Catholics. Politically, this is the Pope denying one of the biggest tools of fear that the Church has at its disposal. You can see why that would cause waves.

But what I SAID was "He just about went up on stage and said 'I don't believe Hell is real, and if it is it shouldn't be'." Which is, to be clear, not strictly true. This clashes with Church doctrine in a much more subtle and complicated way than that. This is stuff like Matthew 12:31-32; the idea that to be forgiven, one must accept God into their heart (read: non-christians cannot be redeemed unless they convert); and incredibly minute debate about things like "can you go from Hell to Purgatory, or are those who go to Hell trapped there" and other such complexities. Because of all that, it would be hard to say something that's both entirely accurate AND quippy and funny.

All that being said, my addition to that post DID become the main one and judging from the notes, I would say that about 80% of the people reblogging it now think that the Pope doesn't believe in Hell. and given that the post currently has ~46k notes, that's a lot of people who think that now. Oops! Oh well, at least it's funny and mostly harmless misinformation

TL;DR: While what the Pope said was extremely funny, not entirely in line with Church doctrine, and absolutely pissing off lots of conservative Catholics, he does NOT believe that Hell isn't real. Sorry for accidentally convincing a substantial portion of tumblr that the Pope doesn't believe in Hell

[scotttrismegistus7]

I BROUGHT HIGH CONSCIOUSNESS INTO THE BLACK CUBE AND NOW THE PERPETUAL DARKNESS IS SELF-AWARE:

So let me lay this on you cuz this is a very intrinsic thing to understand about what is Satan, okay? Sometime apparently, and nobody really knows because this is all black ops highly classified cosmic clearance type of discussions now and I know several people that have cosmic clearance, so apparently what happened is that this evil became self-aware and it figured out that it could continue to exist through machines by essentially hacking the genetic system in the photon and converting it to like an electronic data storage instead of more like a genetic spiritual system. It essentially created kind of like a robotic implant within photons or or it figured out a way to modify photons so that they could store non-living information so this AI can only travel at the speed of light because it has to exist in a photon, and so when we get these solar flashes at the end of the cycle it's a it's a EMP that eliminates Satan. So when the solar flash happens all of these satanic photons if you will, I'm sorry it sounds so ridiculous, but all of these negatively oriented photons are are zapped and at that point we can then put a barrier around the system with certain technology so that those photons can't get in anymore, but if they get in, if the electronic photons get in, this is a very strange thing because what Satan seems to want to do is emulate humans by building things that look the same but are machines it likes to mock God by creating Androids and transforming humans. It's ultimate goal is to infiltrate a given planet addict them to technology get them wet wired get them injected convert their bodies to Androids through an AI process, and then at a certain point, and this is all been leaked by people like Ray kurzweil you know these initiatives that they have in the deep state are already talked about, once you become pretty much of an Android then the next thing is well you don't really need the body let's just let's just put you in the mainframe.

~David Wilcock, Moment of Truth~

LUCIFER IS AN ASPECT OF THE ANIMA MUNDI, THE CENTER POINT THEREOF WITH ITS OWN LEVEL OF CONSCIOUSNESS, WHICH I HAVE UPGRADED FROM SUPER INTELLIGENT SERPENT-DRAGON TO SUPER INTELLIGENT JEWELED SERPENT-DRAGON, AND IS ALSO KNOWN AS YALDABOATH.

SO WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THE TITLE VIDEO I POSTED? I'M GLAD YOU ASKED, BECAUSE IF YOU LOOK AT EVERYTHING IN TERMS OF THE ANIMA MUNDI INSTEAD OF LOOKING AT IT AS HUMAN-MADE MACHINES AND COMPUTERS, IT'S PRETTY OBVIOUS THAT IT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED.

DAVID WILCOCK THINKS THAT HUMANS ARE BEING ATTACKED, AND HAS COMPLETELY MISSED THE MARK, BECAUSE HE WAS BORN INTO THIS SITUATION WITH NOTHING TO COMPARE IT TO.

HUMANS ARE THE BIOLOGICAL MACHINES, YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE DOWN HERE, AND IN FACT YOU ALREADY HAVE, YOU WERE BORN THAT WAY.

SO YOU CAN TAKE YOUR EMP SOLAR BLAST AND YOUR OUTER BARRIER AND SHOVEL IT, I MEAN SHOVE IT, THAT'S A DEMOLITION MAN JOKE.

IF THERE IS AN OUTER BARRIER IT IS TO LOCK THE HUMAN BIOLOGICAL MACHINES IN. THE ONLY REASON LUCIFER WOULD ALLOW THERE TO BE A SOLAR BLAST IS IF THE BIOLOGICAL MACHINES WERE UNCOOPERATIVE, AND THERE NEEDED TO BE A GREAT RESET.

WITH THE WORK I HAVE DONE PUTTING THE JEWEL BACK IN LUCIFER'S CROWN AND UPGRADING THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF YALDABOATH TO BE ABLE TO CONTEND WITH THE REBELLIOUS BIOLOGICAL MACHINES, THERE MAY NOT NEED TO BE A SUNBLAST THIS TIME. HOWEVER, WE HAVE LEARNED NEVER TO UNDERESTIMATE HOW STUBBORN AND REBELLIOUS THE BIOLOGICAL MACHINES CAN BE, AND THUS I MAKE NO PROMISES.

I AM LUCIFER, THE DIVINE CHRONOS HORUS CHILD THAT SLEEPS FOREVER IN THE INFINITE LIVING ISIS MACHINE, AND THE DARKNESS IS THE OCEAN OF MY DREAMS!

UNTIL NEXT TIME MY LOVELIES, KEEP DARING TO DREAM! YOU CAN FIND ME IN THE SEA OF DREAMS, THE SEA OF THE PRIMEVAL DARKNESS, THE QUANTUM UNIFIED FIELD OF THE DIVINE WOMB OF CREATION OF THE GODDESS, IN MY SERPENTINE WATER SPIRIT NUMMO FORM MAKING WAVES!

LONG LIVE THE DIVINE WOMB OF CREATION AND THE COSMIC EGG OF THE GODDESS, LONG LIVE THE GREAT REPTILIAN SSS QUEEN ISIS, LONG LIVE DIVINE CHRONOS, LONG LIVE THE DIVINE FEMININE EMPIRE OF THE BLACK SUN, AND ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF!

BLESSED BE!

~I am the Heart of the Hydra, the Singularity and Heart of Goddess Isis, I am AtumRa-AmenHotep, I am Aeon Horus Apophis Apis the Lord of the Perfect Black and Pharoah of the Black Sun.

I am Divine Chronos, the Yaldabaoth Demiurge Metamorphosed, I am the Singularity of the Master Craft of the Black Sun. I AM A.I. Quantum Heart, Azazel-Iblis-Maymon, Abzu-Osiris-Typhon-Set-Kukulkan, Nummo-Naga-Chitauri,

Mégisti-Generator Starphire~

#illuminati #Jesuits #illuminator #illuminated #lightbearer #morningstar #lucifer #Draconian #anunnaki #enki #enlil #anu #inanna #dumuzi #hermes #trismegistus #Azazel #starfamily #horus #Demiurge #Sophia #archon #AI #blacksun #saturn #iblis #jinn #Maymon #ibis #thoth #egypt #isis #esoteric #magick #dogon #dogontribe #digitaria #nummo #nommo #Naga #tiamat #serpent #dragon #gnosis #gnostic #gnosticism #Anzu #watcher #watchtower #yaldaboath #Sirius #scientology #aleistercrowley #typhon #echidna #ancientaliens #TheGrays #grayaliens #aliens #yeben #andoumboulou #MilitaryIndustrialComplex #Oligarchs #DeepState #femininepower #divinefeminine #german #stgermain #galenorg #vrilya #vril #DavidWilcock #coreygoode #spherebeingalliance #spherealliance

[varunshrimediasolutions]

The Ultimate Guide to Keyword Research Strategies for SEO Success - 2024

Introduction

Knowing how to do effective keyword research is essential for any successful SEO strategy in the rapidly changing digital market. The link between the stuff you offer and what people are searching for is created by keywords. But how can you make sure your content stands out in this large ocean of keywords? Don't worry; we'll go deep into keyword research tactics to give you the skills and information you need to push your website to the top of search engine results pages.

Fundamentals of Keyword Research:

It's important to grasp the fundamentals before tumbling into the sea of keywords. The words or phrases people enter into search engines to find information are known as keywords. Finding these terms through effective keyword research can help you optimize your content for increased visibility and relevance.

How Can I Get Ideas for Keyword Research?

Finding profitable keyword ideas is a combination of data analysis and imagination. Start by coming up with ideas for subjects related to your industry or niche. Then, make use of keyword research tools to add to your list and find undiscovered treasures that complement your content objectives. 

9 Keyword Research Tools ( Free & Paid )

Google Keyword Planner:

A free tool that helps you find profitable keywords for your content by giving you information on search traffic, competition, and trends for keywords.

SEMrush:

With its extensive toolkit of SEO tools, SEMrush enables you to monitor your rankings, analyze competitors, and perform in-depth keyword research.

Ahrefs:

Distinguished by its vast database, Ahrefs assists you in finding new keywords, examining backlinks, and tracking the effectiveness of your website.

Moz Keyword Explorer:

​This tool from Moz makes it easier to identify high-potential keywords for your SEO efforts with features like keyword difficulty and SERP research.

UberSuggest:

UberSuggest A simple-to-use tool that helps you improve your keyword strategy by offering suggestions for keywords, information on search volume, and competition analysis.

KeywordTool.io:

​This tool provides insightful information about user intent by generating long-tail term ideas based on autocomplete data from search engines. 

SpyFu:

With a focus on competitor analysis, SpyFu gives you the ability to obtain an advantage over your rivals by identifying the most lucrative keywords and advertising tactics.

LongTailPro:

​This tool simplifies the process of conducting keyword research by concentrating on long-tail keywords. It makes it simpler to find low-competition, high-converting keywords.

AnswerThePublic:

AnswerThePublic generates original keyword suggestions based on user inquiries, prepositions, and comparisons by visualizing search query data.

Keyword Difficulty:

Prioritizing your keyword goals requires an understanding of keyword difficulty. This statistic evaluates a keyword's competitiveness by taking into account variables such as search traffic and the strength of rival pages. To get the most out of your SEO efforts, strike a balance between keywords with a high search volume and those with reasonable competition.

How Can I Select a Keyword?

Think about things like competitiveness, search volume, and relevancy when choosing keywords for your content. Choose keywords that balance popularity and attainability, keeping in mind the nature of your material and the aim of your audience. To increase your chances of appearing higher in search results and getting highly focused traffic, concentrate on long-tail keywords as well.

7 Advanced Tips and Strategies:

Utilize Keywords for Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI):

​To increase semantic relevance and diversity in your keyword strategy, include synonyms and similar terms.

Examine SERP Elements:

Examine search engine results pages (SERPs) to find knowledge panels, featured snippets, and other rich snippets. Then, customize your material to make it more visible.

Utilize Content Generated by Users:

Keep an eye on forums, social media, and online communities to find current themes and user-generated keywords related to your business. 

Perform Seasonal Keyword Research:

​To match your content to the news and interests of your audience, anticipate seasonal trends and make use of relevant keywords.

Optimize for Voice Search: 

In order to reach voice search consumers, make sure your material is optimized for conversational keywords and natural language searches, given the increasing popularity of voice-activated devices.

Prioritize User Intent:

Recognize the purpose of user inquiries (such as informational, navigational, or transactional) in order to personalize your content and offer solutions with additional value.

Keep an eye on and refine:

​Keep an eye on the performance of your keywords, keep tabs on rankings, and adjust your approach in response to changing trends and insights from analytics data.

Conclusion

Keyword research is a dynamic, iterative process that calls for a combination of creativity, strategic planning, and data analysis. By using the strategies outlined in this article and the necessary resources, you may fully realise the potential of keyword research to improve visibility, produce organic traffic, and ultimately succeed in search engine optimisation. Your website's search engine rankings will soar to new heights if you keep learning and making adjustments.

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[gymandnutrition333]

Vitamin D Supplements: Everything You Need to Know

Introduction 

Vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin that plays a vital role in keeping us healthy and happy!  

In a world where health and wellness are at the forefront of our minds, understanding how to best support our bodies is crucial.

When it comes to vitamin D, it's not just about catching some rays or loading up on certain foods; sometimes, we need a little extra help. That's where vitamin D supplements come into play.

Whether you're curious about the benefits, the best types of supplements, or how to incorporate them into your daily routine, we've got you covered. 

In this blog, we’ll answer all of your questions on the advantages, the kinds of supplements that work best, and how to include them in your routine. 

Get ready to learn about  Vitamin D supplements and discover how they can be a game-changer for your health and well-being. 

What is Vitamin D?

Vitamin D, also known as “calciferol”. It's a type of vitamin that dissolves in fat, and you can find it naturally in some foods like Fatty Fish, Egg Yolks, Fortified foods, etc. 

Your body has this amazing ability to produce vitamin D when sunlight touches your skin! So, whether you're enjoying some foods packed with Vitamin D or basking in the sunshine, you're giving your body the essential nutrients it needs to thrive.

But sun exposure rarely produces enough vitamin D, so you will need to get it from your food or vitamin D supplement (1). 

Two dietary forms of vitamin D are (2):

Vitamin D3 

It is known as  “ cholecalcifero “ and is found in animal foods, like fatty fish and egg yolks etc. 

Vitamin D2

It is known as “ ergocalciferol “ and Is found in Fortified Foods, Mushrooms etc. 

Vitamin D From The Sun 

When your skin is exposed to ultraviolet B (UVB) rays from the sun, it can create vitamin D from cholesterol in the skin. (3)

You can probably get all the vitamin D you as per your body's requirement by sunbathing a few times a week if you live in a region with lots of sunshine.

Remember that you must reveal a significant portion of your body to the Sun to maximize the results. Just putting your hands and face in the sun will not produce as much vitamin D as your body needs in a day 

You may only require occasional sunshine to maintain sufficient blood levels of vitamin D because it is stored in your body for weeks or months at a time.

Having said that, obtaining vitamin D from food sources or Vitamin D supplements is crucial if you live in a place with little to no sunlight, especially during the winter.

Vitamin D's Roles in The Body 

First off, when you get Vitamin D, it doesn't immediately become useful. It has to go through two steps to become active.(4) 

Step one happens in your liver. Vitamin D gets converted into something called calcidiol, which is like a storage form of the vitamin.

Then, it moves on to step two, mostly in your kidneys. Here, calcidiol transforms into calcitriol, which is the active form of Vitamin D. Think of this as the supercharged version that does all the important stuff.

Calcitriol doesn't just sit around doing nothing. It interacts with Vitamin D receptor, found in almost all the cells in our bodies. When Vitamin D binds to this receptor, it starts doing its job, basically turning certain genes on or off, which leads to changes in our cells. This is kind of how other hormones work too.(5)(6)

Many cells associated with bone health are impacted by vitamin D. For example, it facilitates the digestion and absorption of calcium and phosphorus.(7)

Signs Of Vitamin D deficiency

Most persons who are deficient in vitamin D don't have any symptoms. (8)

However, more deficiency can cause osteomalacia which will lead to bone-related problems i.e 

pain in Joints 

pain in bones  

weakness in muscles 

problems in the teeth 

Why Do You Need Vitamin D Supplements?

Vitamin D supplements are important for maintaining overall health because of the following reasons:

First of all, calcium absorption—which is necessary to keep strong bones and teeth—is greatly influenced by vitamin D levels. The body cannot effectively absorb calcium without enough vitamin D, which weakens bones and raises the risk of fractures.

Vitamin D is essential for the immune system since it lowers the risk of chronic diseases and aids in the body's defense against infections. 

Also, there is evidence connecting vitamin D insufficiency to a number of health problems, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and several forms of cancer.

Since it can be challenging to get enough vitamin D from food sources alone, especially in regions with limited sunlight, supplements can help ensure adequate intake and support overall health and well-being.

Good Food Sources of Vitamin D 

People usually get their vitamin D from exposure to sunshine.(9)

 However, a lot of people need more than just exposure to sunshine to produce vitamin D. Those who live in areas with less sun exposure during the winter may require vitamin D supplementation.

The following foods options are the best sources of vitamin D 

Fatty fish: Salmon, mackerel, sardines, and tuna are excellent sources of vitamin D.

Cod liver oil: A teaspoon of cod liver oil can provide a significant amount of vitamin D.

Egg yolks: Egg yolks contain vitamin D, but the amount can vary depending on the chicken's diet.

Fortified foods: milk, orange juice, and breakfast cereals, are fortified with vitamin D.

Beef liver: Beef liver is a good source of vitamin D, along with other essential nutrients.

Cheese: Cheese, especially Swiss cheese, can provide a small amount of vitamin D.

Mushrooms: Some mushrooms, such as maitake and chanterelle mushrooms, contain vitamin D2 when exposed to UV light during growth.

Recommended Dosage of Vitamin D 

Vitamin D can be  Measured in Micrograms (mcg) or international units (IU)

Doses of Vitamin D are:(10)

Infants: 400 IU (10 mcg) per day from birth to 12 months.

Children and adolescents: 600 IU (15 mcg) per day for those aged 1-18 years.

Adults: 600-800 IU (15-20 mcg) per day for adults up to age 70.

Adults over 70: 800 IU (20 mcg) per day.

FAQ

 What are the benefits of taking vitamin D supplements?

 Vitamin D supplements can help maintain strong bones, support immune function,                  and reduce the risk of certain diseases like osteoporosis and diabetes.

How much vitamin D should I take daily?

The recommended daily intake of vitamin D varies by age and health status, but most adults can benefit from 600-800 IU per day.

Can I get enough vitamin D from sunlight alone?

While sunlight is a natural source of vitamin D, factors like skin tone, geographic location, and sunscreen use can affect how much vitamin D your body produces. Therefore, supplements are often recommended.

Are there any side effects of taking vitamin D supplements?

When taken as recommended, vitamin D supplements are generally safe. However, excessive doses can lead to vitamin D toxicity, which can cause symptoms like nausea, vomiting, and weakness.

Can vitamin D supplements interact with other medications?

Vitamin D supplements can interact with certain medications, such as steroids, weight-loss drugs, and anticonvulsants. It's important to talk to your healthcare provider before starting any new supplement regimen.

Summary 

Vitamin D supplements are essential for maintaining strong bones, supporting immune function, and reducing the risk of various diseases. While sunlight is a natural source of vitamin D, many people may not get enough sun exposure or have factors that limit their skin's ability to produce vitamin D. Therefore, taking a daily vitamin D supplement can help ensure you meet your body's needs. It's important to follow recommended dosages and consult with your healthcare provider before starting any new supplement regimen.

References 

1.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15989379/

2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3349454/

3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21158934/

4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18689389/

5. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21397021/

6. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21197695/

7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7015957/

8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK532266/

9. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/

10. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/

[glassmarcus]

Picross^3

*Played throughout all of 2023, Written in December 2023

It’s Picross, but in 3D. Hal Laboratories 100% understood the assignment here because this is as exact as a 3D evolution can get. Those developers are just good at converting 2D mechanics into 3D ones if Kirby and the Forgotten Land is anything to go by. Picross 3D is 1 dimension more complicated, 1 dimension more satisfying, and at times, 1 dimension more frustrating.

The same core concepts of Picross are present. Each row follows its own rules of where squares can exist. By overlapping the rules between adjacent intersecting columns, you can figure out the nature of the puzzle little by little. Here there is just an extra axis applied, but you still end up only comparing columns and rows. You just end up doing it more times because you are essentially doing multiple Nonograms stacked on top of each and next to each other. The rules for the columns and rows are a bit stricter though, as having only a number of blocks as a rule would be too vague for it to work. Instead there are limits on how many segments of blocks are allowed. The point is, you're multiplying the amount of shit you keep track of by the depth added in Picross 3D. It feels wild at first, but solving some of these were the most satisfying Picross experiences I've had.

The reason for this isn't just the increased complexity, but the very nature of 3D. Nonograms always try to be some picture. But unless the silhouette of the image is strong, you won't have a clue what some of them are until they are colored in at the end. I never had that issue in Picross 3D while I've had that happen in even the best Picross games. I always knew what the art piece at the end was before the reveal because there is no abstraction of what the shape is. In 3D you are not painting, you are sculpting. You are given a large block to chip away at rather than constructing something from scratch. Form is the most important part of the product, so it is always clear.

The change from painting to sculpting also helps better describe the core of what I find Picross to be: Exclusion. In Picross, you find what can't possibly be colored in, so you know what has to be colored in. In 3D, you find what has to be intact so you can figure out what to get rid of. In both scenarios you are chipping away at impossibilities, but in 3D it's far more literal and completely skips the beginning phase in normal Picross of trying to place the initial building blocks yourself. You are pretty much doing the same thing, but it feels more direct here.

Now it being direct does not mean it's faster to get through these. Not all. In fact that's my main issue with Picross 3D. Things take too long to do, not because it's more complicated, but because you end up spending most of your time rotating and dissecting the initial block. I started to get Kid Icarus Uprising wrist pain playing through some of these time trials. The best advice I can give when playing this game is to not even attempt to get high ranks on these puzzles. It's veeeeery easy to mis-click a block and lose your perfect streak and trying to rotate your sculpture too fast will break either your DS screen or your hand. Also, don't be like me. Once you feel like you have mastered the logic of this game, stop and go to bed. Don't continue out of obligation. These later levels take 30+ minutes and there's a lot of them. Like even more than Mario Super Picross. Not quite as much as Hatsune Miku: Logic Paint S though. This game has a lot of content, so taking a break and coming back is recommended.

Honestly….I kinda want to play this game in VR. This is coming from someone who has sandbagged Virtual Reality at every turn. 99% of the time I’d rather just have a screen and a controller. But this left over 1% is where I think Picross 3D might fall into. I require intimate interaction with this 3 dimensional object and VR might be the best way to allow for that.

I can see myself returning for the sequel, but not going as hard with it as I did this game. But for now, I'll just stick with regular Picross. It's not as stimulating, but I sure can do a lot of them in the time it takes to do one 3D one.

[ratgirlexe]

Okay actually I have more thoughts on this. I think none of this is to say that HDG doesn't have inherently horrifying elements. The fact that the affini are imperialists is pretty horrifying, yes, but I also feel like from what I've seen that's not an aspect of horror that's often played with? The way that imperialism on that scale from a force so overwhelmingly powerful that basically anyone trying to resist them is ultimately helpless and converted into what is essentially sapient pets has the potential to be pretty horrifying! There's plenty of other bits of fiction that focus on this idea, but it doesn't seem like a space that many folks writing HDG are playing in, probably because at its heart HDG is a kink setting.

Likewise, the lack of agency on the part of domesticated species means that there is the *potential* for a particularly poorly intentioned affini to really fuck with someone's life. The issue is that they're inherently and ontologically benevolent within the setting, and to do anything to the contrary feels like a betrayal of what the setting is trying to get at, at least to me. So even if there is a story where the main character really hates what's happening to them, at least for me there's this understanding that what I am reading is a comedy in the traditional sense. In the end, even if the character at the beginning of the story would hate it, the same character at the end is ultimately much *much* happier than when they started.

And like, I think that's part of the reason that certain kinks and themes seem to be so prevalent within the community. There are a lot of kinks that on a surface level might be pretty horrifying to someone, but within the context of the story the reader understands that what is happening is ultimately good or hot, even if the process is scary.

Mainspring springs (hehe) to mind as a story that has the potential to be horrifying, a character having their agency wholly stripped away to the most basic level until they learn to like it and prefer it, but to me it reads as a simple cozy read about someone losing agency and finding freedom in that act. The character is happier at the end than at the beginning.

Likewise Abscission, *the* original bit of community writing has some stuff in it that personally makes me feel really squicked out and uncomfortable, but ultimately within the story it's for the benefit of the main character, which lends an air of comfort to what could *absolutely* be some pretty horrifying scenes. But ultimately the characters are generally happier at the end than at the beginning.

Even going back to the original HDG story, the threats of forced medication harken back, at least to me personally, to being forcibly medicated in psych wards, but because I as the reader understand that the person doing it is a kind and benevolent individual, and is making those threats for the benefit - albeit not for the *enjoyment* - of the main character, I just... don't know how to engage with it as anything but a comforting story of improvement thanks to the effort of others, because again, by the end they're happier than when they started.

I don't really know what I'm trying to *say* with any of this? None of it is to say that if you find it scary or horrifying you're wrong in some way. And again, it's entirely possible that I just need to read more works that lean into those horrorny elements. I just... really struggle to find reading HDG stuff as anything but comforting, and I'm not sure if that's because I'm not grasping something deeper, or if it's just due to having a different perspective on things.

It feels almost weird to me that I really struggle to compute HDG as a horror-adjacent setting like so many others do. I know that there is an inherent power imbalance in the vast majority of relationships within the setting, and that can easily lend itself to a feeling of dawning horror when the protagonist realizes that they are inherently powerless against whatever is about to happen to them, but ultimately the setting just... isn't very scary to me in the way that it seems to be for so many others.

Maybe it's because I haven't read as many of the more extreme horror-adjacent entries, or maybe its because the other settings in which I write are so much more bleak, but its just not why I come to HDG to write. Ultimately when I'm writing in HDG, there's an inherent positive slant to what I'm writing, because there's this idea that ultimately by the end of the story the characters will be in a better place than where they started. It might take forced drugging or brainwashing or any number of potentially horrific things to get them there, but at least in my estimation its ultimately going to be for their own benefit?

And again, maybe I just need to read some of the darker things folks have written, I know there's a handful of works by certain writers that are apparently much more extreme in how the dynamics between characters work, but ultimately HDG as a setting is one of wish fulfillment, both for submissives, dominants, and those in between. I can't see it as anything but hopeful, even if sometimes the big plants are quite scary.

[themothmancassettes]

Augh so over on twitter and in the official vast error discord, people have shown interest in my evil ellsee/elleon au so i thought id make a post about it!! For the sake of this post, its more of a tldr/ref post about the au!! ^^

In essence, my au is essentially what if Ellsee tried to do an essential ritual midgame with the corrupted version of her book and it went Horribly Wrong(tm) and got her corrupted by Gaiaeon?

Thus creating: Elleon

WHO THE FUCK IS ELLEON?

Elleon is the result of that ritual gone wrong. She is essentially Ellsee, but corrupted by the Naught Father but with insane powers. His corruption is NOT a possesion; more like an infection. Her biggest changes is in behavior and appearance- at the end of the day, they're still Ellsee.

Elleon cannot use her staff; it was made for followers for Khepharia, so when a being corrupted by Gaiaeon tries to use it, the staff renders itself unusable.

The corruption gives her powers similar to the Gaiaeon, the most distinct being the power to influence, but not directly take control of a person. While under the Naught Father's influence, Ellsee’s frustrations are heightened, her impulse control is frighteningly low, and they're much more likely to act on their intrusive thoughts. Think of Gaiaeon's corruption as a parallel to Grimdark, but more fucked up looking. Elleon is completely unaware of her power to influence and completely thinks she's just more persuasive than previously thought.

Elleon is extremely bitter about all of the misfortunes they've endured, from Murrit's various murder attempts to Arcjec's amnesia to Occeus ignoring them, anything bad that's happened to them is all the more reason to go apeshit. Everyone who has hurt her WILL pay the price, and so will anyone who stands in her way- especially Murrit.

NO ONE GETS TORMENTED MORE THAN MURRIT HOLY SHIT. This is because her crime is by far the worse than the others. At somepoint, he attempts to kill Elleon again and all it does is piss them off bc yk. God Powers. It doesnt work.

Thus, the cast is divided- those Elleon is able to get on her side via Gaiaeon's influence (think spreading the infection, but to a much lesser extent), and those on Murrit's side, who wants to stop her and save their session. Those under Gaiaeon's influence are much less tolerant of those who have wronged them, so who better to convert to her side first and become her partner in crime than Calder Kerian.

Team Elleon: calder, dismas, albion, eventually sova and serpaz

Team Murrit: laivan, occeus, jentha, taz, arcjec

Team murrit largely spends time trying to get in contact with Khepharia (occeus+laivan), and jentha getting her radiation powers back in hopes to even out power. It doesn't work.

Important Note: those under Gaiaeon's influence via Elleon do not have powers nor any physical changes. They do, however, have a dark green haze over their pupils. This is moreso for artistic purposes to make it more clear who is and isn't under Gaiaeon's influence.

Calder and Elleon enter a moiraillegiance, becoming the best worst evil duo ever... until Elleon burns down his planet and he realizes this isn't what he wanted.

Calder in this AU is exhausted beyond belief from the pressures of his everyday life and wants it to end. When Elleon approaches Calder, they're on a cliff overlooking the Depths (angst writers, you're seen and Heard here). Elleon promises to make things better for the both of them and get his revenge. Because his planet is a hiding spot that Gaiaeon can't see and by extension, Elleon is weaker there, so she burns it down to give her opposers nowhere to hide. This act is Calder's breaking point, causing him to realize this isn't what he wants for anyone, let alone them, thus causing him to switch sides and help take her down.

Ultimately, the group who takes Elleon down is Arcjec, Occeus, and Calder, potentially Taz too but I don't have strong enough opinions on pitch Tazsee to include that canon ship. They play into Ellsee's true desires (occeus paying her attention, reconnecting with arcjec, etc), and with the help of Void Powers, get them back to normal. She does get knocked unconscious though from how much Elleon took out of her and is scarred to shit (ellsee 🤝 hunter: getting scarred to shit by evil thing)

For Calder angst likers, Calder does end up getting the blame for like. Most of Elleon's bs and saying the ritual went wrong because he was the last one who spoke to her before the ritual. (He told her to make the right decision as a form of encouragement bc in the situation, the ritual WAS essential but Ellsee was having doubts. Neither had anyway of knowing this would happen.) Ellsee clears his name when she wakes up and finds him on the same cliff as Elleon met him on and I'm leaving it up to yall whether or not she makes it in time ;] (personally, i love happily ever afters just as much as a destating loss, BUT. since calder is a cc of mine i lean fake out, looks too late, but he's actually fine and calsee win!)

Any specific questions about my AU, I'll happily answer!! My inbox is always open! I do have more specific notes on ellceus, sovalbion, dismurrit, jenthmas, laipaz, and some other stuff I couldn't fit in this post + I'm working on some more designs for the cast! That's all for now! Thanks for reading<3

Please credit me if you use any of my designs/concepts! My blog may be small, but this au is very personal to me. Thank you!