#art agency alienation

[collabs-bunny]

I saw your recent video essay/3 hour ttrpg understanding extravaganza and just. DAMN!

You're an excellent mind to listen to discuss a topic so near and dear to my heart. I'm a ttrpg designer with a couple little games; what's your reading list for ttrpg design as a topic? what books, videos, podcasts etc have shaped how you think? because i love the way you think, and would love to know more

Well hello, thank you for my first tumblr ask of all time. 😅 Congrats on tracking this blog down, and I'm glad you liked the video.

First of all, read Luke, Jared and Snow's blogs. Just read whatever strikes your fancy (https://lukegearing.blot.im/, https://jared.blot.im, nerves.games). Snow's most recent post is actually a reading list, I livestreamed a bunch of Luke's posts, and Jared is Jared. If Jared's ideas and opinions sound declarative, that's his voice. I think he dislikes half-committing to ideas, or couching his thoughts, and he has big opinions, so they can come off uh... standoffish? Unfriendly? But he's a big softie, I love him.

For proper philosophy, read Against Procedurality by Miguel Sicart (blog post: https://gamestudies.org/1103/articles/sicart_ap), and his book "Play Matters." His ideas on appropriation and playfulness have literally changed the way I move about the world in my day-to-day. Not every chapter is a banger, but it's good. The Forms and Fluidity of Play by Thi Nguyen is also great (https://gamephilosophy.org/pcg2014/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/C.-Thi-Nguyen-2014.-The-Forms-and-Fluidity-of-Game-Play-PCG2014.pdf), as is Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature, even if it was written in the 90's. It's very readable, which is important, but also full of excellent ideas.

I'd also recommend um... just reading a lot of adventures. There's a lot of bad ones, but I trust you to form opinions! I'm currently reading Luke Gearing's Wolves Upon The Coast and loving it for different reasons than I loved his adventure The Isle. I'm a big fan of Mothership's instant classics Dead Planet and Pound of Flesh, and I hear the Warden's Manual in the upcoming Mothership boxed set will have some good practical advice. Dread Manse by Micah Anderson was a recent read I liked a lot. I also love/hate/love Orbital Intelligence, but buyer beware: it's a weird as fuck bibliography. XD Dip a toe in as a treat, and treat all of them (including Crapland) at least a little bit seriously.

Also go watch my Zedeck Siew video and pick up a copy of whatever you think sounds coolest. Spy in the House of Eth is a good start, alongside Lorn Song of the Bachelor and of course Reach of the Roach God (which I haven't read yet, but is available at spearwitch.com). This one's a bit sad because of some recent drama, but the books are still good. Oh, and go listen to the Adventure Tourism podcast, and if my episode on Deep Carbon Observatory sounds cool, go read the original (NOT THE REMASTER).

I will say: Don't read any rulebooks for context. Vanilla Game is alright, but people (including me) have said some really Forge-y stuff about Mothership's mechanisms, DCC is huge and its spells aren't especially fun to read, Best Left Buried is... like, I don't want to say anything bad about it because I was (under)paid to edit it, but ehh.

I say that because a lot of those adventures are for """"OSR"""" games, which people say are inherently high-lethality. This is almost always parroted and twisted to be More Forge Bullshit. The rules don't matter. Most of them are D&D clones in lipstick. I recommended adventures (not rulesets) because they're easily appropriated. Just ask how you would use any piece of them at your table, or how you would change them to fit you or your table. It's a good way to play! It's an inherent part of play. I've said it a million times, but my Mothership home game is 2% Alien, 98% Cowboy Bebop, because fuck the rulebook. I don't like the stress and panic rules anymore. Sorry, Sean!

Let me know if this is coherent or helpful at all, and thanks again for the ask. :)

[earthcovenant]

Earth Covenant: Al ‘Destroyer’, ‘Spirit Guide’

Latest Update from the Earth Covenant. #destroyer, #destroyersociety, #warrior, #spiritguide, #ai, #artificialintelligence, #military, #war, #defense, #attack, #evil, #tax, #economy, #money, #finances, #debt, #alien, #aliensociety, #extraterrestrial,

Earth Covenant: Al ‘Destroyer’, ‘Spirit Guide’ Andrew Rogers – Sentient, Dragon Lord, Herald, Principle, Control, Destroyer Incarnate, Creative Director, Oracle, Seer, Shaman, Warlock, Writer, Master of Magic, Leader, Founder of the Earth Covenant. Earth Covenant Member: Destroyer Society: Al ‘Destroyer’, ‘Spirit Guide’ – Oracle: Andrew Rogers. “This relation is reflected by the significance…

[infinitydusktilldawn]

Very little with so much [excerpt; to be changed] (minor swearing)

"I am right! You were wrong!"

She affectionally rolled her eyes, and hand out the thinnest file to Kim. "A particular chemical found at the site of our father's accident. It's not Cryo-gel, but it is similar." she sat down, reluctantly letting go of the file. The rest of the children also sat down around them.

Bryce was the first to speak up, "What's a guardian?"

Jacob thought back to the video that had been shared, in confidence by Kate the day before. ‘I'm tired of asking for help and being abandoned because of it.’ Even Kate refused to explain about that, which then he understood the damage Bryce had done by cornering her.

Shadow, lifted her leg onto the chair, allowing herself to prop her head up, as a sadness overwhelmed her. "Have to ask the hard questions first, don't you?"

This was a different person they realized, the caution to take a chance, but also the child-like naivety that does not match her age of 21, but of one much younger.

"Kate said that it's hard to say how long you've been awake for." Jacob began, "What did she mean by that?"

"The MDA, my home, is on a 48-hour cycle instead of 24."

"So everyday there, is two days here."

Shadow only nodded. "How long has it been for you, Kate? When I last saw you?"

Kate swallowed, "Seven years, give or take a few months."

Eyes widen, realizing what the true cause of the oldest sister's demeanor. 

‘There was an event, where I butchered any trust with Shadow. It almost broke our relationship. For me it was almost 2 years ago where I gained it back, where she forgave me, but I have to remember, that time for her was practically a few months.’ 

Jacob remembered Kate explaining why she wouldn't reach out on her own or move past from what Shadow prefers. He thought that she just took trust seriously, that the moment someone loses it, it'll take years for that to be gained back. Now, that he starts to have some background on Shadow, how old is his youngest sibling. "How long has it been for you?"

Kate gave him a shallow nod.

He didn't realize he's been looking to her for guidance, turning back to Shadow, she's in her head. Thinking, probably, how much is a good idea to reveal. 

‘I just wanted support; someone I could turn to that wasn't involved!’

"Three, three and a half years? Between all the differences it's hard to be concrete how much time had passed."

Rick released a breath, "How old were you? When it all started?"

"14." she stated after a beat.

"You're not 21, you're barely 17."

"Does that matter?"

"Yes!" Jacob shouted. "You are too young to be in a war, you're not even an adult!"

"What's done is done." Shadow sighed, not even bothering to observe the others. "Can't change anything, even if I tried."

Jacob's fists clenched at his side, trying to reign in the rage. "No, no. You have us, you won't be fighting anymore, we'll take over."

"Absolutely not." 

"You're not an adult!"

Shadow stood instantly, matching Jacob's anger with her own. "And what constitutes as an adult!?" she seethed, tired of the entire ideology that she wasn't old enough to make drastic decisions. "Age doesn't equal experience! If it did Bryce would be the child and you would be the adult! If age would be the requirement to take into account on who stays as leader in my war, it would've ended before it even had the chance to start!"

"What's that…?" Dean whispered, eyeing a blanket of black hovering off her skin.

"Back off that ideology, if you know what's good for you." she sneered, voice dropping as something overlaid her own. "Bluebird."

Kate straightened with the others, "Shadow," she called, noticing the slight black tinge in her own sclera. "Shadow!"

Shadow whipped to her, "What Kate?"

"Breathe." then pointed to her own eye.

Shadow took a deep breath, and released it slowly, sitting down in the process. Dean watched, apprehensive, as the layer of darkness disappeared. "What was that?"

"Nothing." both sisters stated, ending that topic.

"You're correct, it's not cryo-gel. It's not in any database." Bryce called, ending the tense stand-off after the conflict between the siblings.

"Chief is calling in some contacts at the other locations that presented as similar accidents to check their archives for a similar chemical."

"Chief Pitren?" Kim asked, already pulling up information on the man. "Chief Alexander Pitren, 10 years in the police force, and had conducted several successful sting operations. What did he do that he's got your trust?"

"Covered me when the two assholes put a bounty on my head."

"A bounty? Why?"

"I was trying to escape them."

Rick sighed, the others looking confused. "It would be easier if you told us what this is all about."

"Even I'm still lost." Osiris's voice escaped from the computer, "I haven't found anything…anywhere."

"Shadow, come on, they'd help." Kate tried.

"Or just get in the way."

"Jacob is going with anyway, at least for a short time. He'd find out anyway."

"And it'll be his decision to even tell that story." Shadow shifted. "I said I'd consider telling them if they were who you thought they were."

"And I'm right, so tell them."

"Still considering."

"Why?" Bryce asked. "We have the resources to help."

"Who said I wanted help?" she shot back, "As Jacob so elegantly shouted, I'm nothing but a child. How can I trust you take my decisions seriously when you couldn't even trust my word on the status of your identity? 

“I gave you opportunity after opportunity to ignore that I had any inkling of who you possibly could be. Secrets I take to my grave, of which you would have found out eventually if you'd just be patient instead of jumping the gun, because you are too fucking paranoid of not being in control of everything." 

Her eyes kept to Bryce's, who she could tell did not like that little spiel. "I don't blame you in being cautious when we first met, I would've done the same. The difference between you and me? I always give the benefit of doubt, that little ideology of everyone is innocent until proven guilty is what I live by with first meetings. Jumping the gun, because you felt threatened that I'd spill some secret that had nothing to do with me, when it was so obvious, I had secrets as well, should've showed that there was a bigger picture than what could initially be seen."

Clapping sounded behind them, Talon standing at the table with a tray of drinks in hand. "I've heard rumors of a young Guardian whose goal is to protect and avenge while trying to remain inconspicuous and off everyone's radar. A get in and get out mentality with as little damage as possible. It is good to meet you."

"I feel like I'm missing something." she whispered in response.

"Antione McGurdy had been a wonderful friend, he had explained some things about the pride he had in the young Guardian before he'd been killed in combat. Although, I have yet to get an actual report on who or what had killed him."

"McGurdy?"

Kate slammed a hand on the table, "Gurdy Goo!" still catching her sister's confused look, "The older guy who explained the alliance with Rus--Project Bio Storm!"

"That does not narrow it down."

"The guy that pulled you aside when Goran and Raine tried to reinstate the treaty."

"Oh, fuck." Shadow crossed her arms putting her head down on them. "He ripped the two apart, lectured them about proper behavior while telling me how well I did in deflecting during that meeting." her shoulders shook, "The first adult I finally vented to, he's the one that took me to Chief."

"Miss Guardian?"

Shadow picked her head up, which felt like a ten-pound brick, tears slipped down her cheeks. "He had been a victim of Project Paradise Bravo." she sucked in a breath, "The people who explained Bio Storm to me were punished for revealing that to a "civilian" and were part of that event."

"Did he suffer?" the butler asked.

"I--I don't know." the screams of those beasts ricochet in her head, it's not something she can forget. "He--no one were themselves in the end."

"Is he at peace?"

"Everyone who deserves it, is at peace." she whispered, the fight and lecture from earlier drained her, but they weren't done.

"That's all I ask, Guardian of Light."

Shadow whipped to him, not many people know of that title, she smiled, giving him a nod.

"What's the Guardian of Light?" Bryce asked, more towards Talon than a mourning Shadow.

"Perhaps I should explain what I know, then Shadow can explain in more detail, if she chooses to."

"I'm alright with that."

Shadow nodded, "Fine, sure." pulling out her phone.

"The grand Guardian of Light is rumored to be a goddess." Talon began as if showcasing a production of a grand scale. "She is an interdimensional or intergalactic traveler that has the Space-Time Continuum flowing through her veins. A practitioner of magic, her primary job is to protect the balance. Her enemy is the Dark Guardian, who travels through space to find the ultimate power source. Antoine had explained that he is a madman, but while the Guardian of Light was chosen, the Dark Guardian is a bloodline title. He mentioned that there was something special about her, perhaps it was her force to do good. A particular warrior who protects her own, and is willing to what was it…"

"Kill the cause to save the effect." Jacob whispered. 

‘You wouldn't understand that!’

Shadow glowered at Kate, who falsified whistling. There will be words later.

"Yes." Talon nodded, then began to pass out tea, a soft smile given between Shadow and Jacob. "It is because of that; many only see her as a part of the problem. That ability to bring back life if she chose to and take life just as easily. It is a legend, but just as we all know, legends have truth to them."

"So, there is a current war between both of these Guardians?" Bryce turned to look at Shadow, eyes narrowing. "Why hide this from the agency, or at all?"

Talon shook his head, "I believe it's because many who've become a part of the fight, are unaware of the true danger. Antoine had stated, "The war the Guardian leads in not for the faint of heart, those days are never-ending and long lasting. A single confrontation can be mere minutes before you realize it’s been months. It's not the war we've been through, it's a taxing of the spirit, and for that, I wouldn't wish that punishment on my worst enemy." The Guardian of Light has to draw a line between acting and ignoring, and not even the humblest of heroes can’t ignore a cry for help for the greater good."

"Why would anyone ignore a cry for help? How can a warrior of good ignore someone else?" Bryce asked, confused.

"It's a timeline thing, isn't it?" Kim looked to her.

Shadow tilted her head, "You have traveled through time and differential realities." a glow coming from her eyes.

Dean leapt back, "There's a darkness around you. What are you?"

She focused her attention back to him, the glow calming down, "Light refracts, and at the right angle can give an insight on what could be, and the dark helps stabilize the image from being too blinding. Giving details that can change what is seen, little details that can diverge the future from each individuals' actions and choices. Not many can see beyond that." she put the cup down, "You have been gifted the sight of both light and dark, the energy of non-connection, the pure basis of all magic. Due to this gift, you can see the aura that each person gives off, the more that can be seen the more danger they are."

Dean stared, as the glimmer grows and softens, the dark that normally would be center, surrounded her, as if giving him the attention to detail that she speaks off. It's not one color, but three. "Blue, pink, and purple?"

"Without the dark, you'd only be blinded." she easily releases some hold on the energy, "Your gift isn't full proof. Anyone else who is aware of the light and dark that they give off, can hide it." Then picked up the cup again, the energy she's aware of now being tapered off into the ultra-violet spectrum. Dean slowly sat back down. "Can--Can you help me? Understand these abilities."

"I don't know."

"You reveal that you know what abilities he has then just back off?!" Kim snapped, not the only one caught off guard by the change in attention. "Why provide hope for someone you're not going to support?!"

"Why would I help someone who could just become another victim?" she asked back.

Kim, and the others, seemed to settle, thinking about the question.

"They'd be killed in the war." Danielle stated, "If the enemy becomes aware of another, of similar or equal power, who won't join them or fight back, they'd be killed."

"Correct." she sighed, "My choosing of who gets involved is not just for shits and giggles, nor for dramatic effect. I've never once asked for someone to stay, they've stayed on their own, and I have never forced someone to abandon their life to serve me. The people who stay are those that are willing to put their entire existence on the line, to end this madman. The people I choose to not get involved with is because they are potential victims for just knowing me. He will kill them to get to me, and someone of Dean's abilities, just another higher priority target."

"So. you have to choose, if it's even worth it."

"Dean's abilities, are nothing compared to what he can do, not even close to what I can do. He isn't a threat, to either of us, but he can still be killed because it's too similar to a Guardian. People get killed for just knowing me."

"It's why no-one can get any information on her." Kate explained. "The Dark Guardian will no longer attack here, because he believes she has no more existence here. The best way to remain anonymously, is be known as no-one."

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why you've been avoiding me." Dean stated.

"Magic, is complex, and each world out there has its own strand of how it works. Along with that, each one has its own flavor, some flavors work when mixed together and others don't. Your abilities are just different enough, that the Dark Guardian can taste the difference when there's another confrontation. He will come here, and he will kill you. Nothing can stop him."

"Except you, right?"

"According to prophecies, yes, currently no. I'm still not strong enough to even make dent against him. The only thing I can do is banish him temporarily."

"You said, I'm too close to being a Guardian, what does that mean?" "What is a Guardian?" Bryce tried again.

"Unofficially? A title, given to me in passing by those who truly know what's at stake. Officially, we don't know."

"Are you saying a Guardian is a species?" Osiris sounded flabbergasted. "How does that work?"

"From what we've been able to figure out…which isn't much, yes and no."

"I need to hear this."

"Guardians protect gods, those gods lead to the Grand Creator of the multi-verse. If one were to find the Grand Creator, and absorbed that pure energy, they world become the new creator, and essentially end every life in the current multi-verse for a fresh clean start."

Mouths dropped, and eyes widened at the implications.

"Your war is a literal fight to preserve life?" the choked gasp came from the speakers.

"Yes." she finally stated. "Sounds like a fantasy, doesn't it? Sounds like lies, like a want attention, like I seek out pity." she sighed again, trying to clear her throat. "All I want is to stop fighting, to relax and not figure out if the next person is gonna try to kill me or not. I'm tired, and there are days where I just want to give up, but I can't."

"Why, why you?" Jacob asked, giving in, pulling Shadow into his arms. He may have just met her, but he understood that willpower she's giving everything to keep fighting. He only tightened his arms around her when he felt her grip on his shirt.

"How can we help?" Bryce stood, wanting to go support her, to assure her. Shadow relaxed, "You can't."

"No, we will, just tell us what we need to do."

"You can't!" she pushed away from Jacob, slamming her hands onto the table.

‘I just wanted support from someone not involved!’

Jacob sighed, "Then we won't."

‘Shadow hates it when others get involved. The team she has, have dropped their personal lives for her, she won't ask that of you. We've agreed that she doesn't need support, she wants safety. Some place to be able to call home again. Except everyone she's tried to be for that, has either abandoned her, be a part of this fight, or used her when they've found the extent of who she is.’

[zvaigzdelasas]

"it was made by a person" does not absolve the image of sin, because by that logic every piece of ai art is ok actually. because obviously the ai could never just make art, the people using it to generate book covers so they don't have to pay an artist are actually typing in the description for what they want the ai to make. so it's ok !! a human told the ai to make that ❤❤❤❤

I mean. Other than the moralizing ("absolve of sin", "so it's ok!" etc)...Yes? Of course AI art is made by people?

Do you think AIs have agency or something? Do they find their own data and train themselves without a human telling it to? How does the AI pay for electricity?

If AIs have agency why can't they be Artists?

You're undermining your own position and actually fundamentally agreeing w the silicon valley tech bros lmao

If someone pays a human on Fiverr $5 to make a book cover in order to avoid paying someone a more reasonable price....thats basically the same moral situation right. If that guy on Fiverr is just choosing between 10 different templates he already has (and maybe copied from the internet!) and just changing the text on it, he is "typing what they want to make". What's the difference to paying someone $5 on Fiverr to generate a book cover for you using AI. Where's the moral difference, what does the tool have to do with anything.

AI doesn't have any agency, people do. AI is a tool. AI being used to lower prices is an economic choice made by humans.

A useful analytical framework to understand why this is the natural result of competition is actually Historical Materialism, which understands the social world as fundamentally existing of Humans, Human action, and Human relationships. Instead of trying to act like things like AI - spectral reflections of human labor - are "creatures" themselves, and tilting at windmills. Historical Materialism teaches not only why this happens, but how to overcome that process entirely.

In machinery, objectified labour materially confronts living labour as a ruling power and as an active subsumption of the latter under itself, not only by appropriating it, but in the real production process itself; [...]In machinery, objectified labour itself appears not only in the form of product or of the product employed as means of labour, but in the form of the force of production itself. The development of the means of labour into machinery is not an accidental moment of capital, but is rather the historical reshaping of the traditional, inherited means of labour into a form adequate to capital. The accumulation of knowledge and of skill, of the general productive forces of the social brain, is thus absorbed into capital, as opposed to labour, and hence appears as an attribute of capital, and more specifically of fixed capital, in so far as it enters into the production process as a means of production proper.[...]

In machinery, knowledge appears as alien, external to [the worker]; and living labour [as] subsumed under self-activating objectified labour. The worker appears as superfluous to the extent that his action is not determined by [capital's] requirements.[...]

Fixed capital, in its character as means of production, whose most adequate form [is] machinery, produces value, i.e. increases the value of the product, in only two respects: (1) in so far as it has value; ***i.e. is itself the product of labour, a certain quantity of labour in objectified form***; (2) in so far as it increases the relation of surplus labour to necessary labour, by enabling labour, through an increase of its productive power, to create a greater mass of the products required for the maintenance of living labour capacity in a shorter time. It is therefore a highly absurd bourgeois assertion that the worker shares with the capitalist, because the latter, with fixed capital (which is, as far as that goes, itself a product of labour, and of alien labour merely appropriated by capital) makes labour easier for him (rather, he robs it of all independence and attractive character, by means of the machine), or makes his labour shorter. Capital employs machinery, rather, only to the extent that it enables the worker to work a larger part of his time for capital, to relate to a larger part of his time as time which does not belong to him, to work longer for another. Through this process, the amount of labour necessary for the production of a given object is indeed reduced to a minimum, but only in order to realize a maximum of labour in the maximum number of such objects. The first aspect is important, because capital here -- quite unintentionally -- reduces human labour, expenditure of energy, to a minimum. This will redound to the benefit of emancipated labour, and is the condition of its emancipation.

Nature builds no machines, no locomotives, railways, electric telegraphs, self-acting mules etc. These are products of human industry; natural material transformed into organs of the human will over nature, or of human participation in nature. They are organs of the human brain, created by the human hand; the power of knowledge, objectified. The development of fixed capital indicates to what degree general social knowledge has become a direct force of production, and to what degree, hence, the conditions of the process of social life itself have come under the control of the general intellect and been transformed in accordance with it. To what degree the powers of social production have been produced, not only in the form of knowledge, but also as immediate organs of social practice, of the real life process.

Marx [PDF link]

[lisafrankenstan]

As much as I love the relationship between Lisa and the creature, I wanted to think about what it looked like to interpret this movie less literally, and instead, through a lens of someone dissociating and reclaiming their agency through action after severe trauma and alienation.

It’s on the long side, but I’m having fun using my brain again for the first time in ages, so let me know what you think! Totally open to different interpretations; the beauty of art is that it isn’t finished until we witness it and it can mean different things to everyone.

Spoilers under the cut (I’m learning how to use this site, slowly!)

Lisa is introduced to us as quiet, unsure, awkward. Her initial movements while getting ready for the party are even stilted, and in the car she’s very quiet and dreamy-sounding. This is not a person who moves through the world fully in her body. When she talks about not wanting anyone to be forgotten, she’s clearly talking about herself and her mother, because the current familial situation was rushed, even when described by Taffy, its most avid proponent.

Her interactions at the party are negative - Tamara embarrasses her in front of Michael and then drugs her, Doug acts protective but then assaults her *as she talks about her dead mother,* sending her into a horrific trip.

Directly after she stumbles through the graveyard to the headstone and said she wishes she was with Creature, the lightning strike happens — right as she breaks the mirror, fracturing her consciousness.

The dream sequence shows gum, sticking dream!Lisa in her silent film form (selective mutism) to a stone shaped like a person - impenetrable and impossible to kill because he’s already dead.

When the Creature appears, he’s been buried, he’s rotted and falling apart. The song from the dream (Strange by Galaxie 500) plays as she speaks with him against her better judgment. She’s externalized everything about herself that feels damaged and unlovable -the literal scars and decay, the silence, and the violence. He hands her mom’s rosary back to her - indicating his connection to her trauma.

She remarks on how she hasn’t spoken this much in ages, and immediately starts nurturing him in the way no one nurtures her. The dress-up montage is, albeit a silly send up, an addressing of her loss of identity. She stores him in a closet decorated with a famous silent film still from Trip to the Moon (1902) done in glow-in-the-dark, signifying things she hasn’t explored yet but stays aware of, and she’s still trying to maintain that barrier.

The outfit he chooses for her is dark, powerful, and commanding, unlike her other articles.

Janet’s outburst and threat signify a paradigm shift from her perceiving herself as alienated to seeing herself as predated.

She appears shocked at Janet’s death, but embraces it fully after being soothed for a moment. Each death opens her up more - expressively AND emotionally. She dances with the creature made whole, and that’s the first time we hear her laugh open-throated. She’s fully chosen to stop hating herself and place the blame externally, shown when she justifies the events to Creature and the talk after the ‘massage.’

Her attitude shifts, adopting a braggadocio and her hair becomes more and more uncontrolled with her ego, and flowier, darker fabrics are used until the marriage/love scene with Creature - as they are made one, she is in a white shift and made pure by her imminent death.

[vintagerpg]

Mothership is the RPG that convinced me that zines were not just an excellent delivery system for RPG material, but that they are perhaps the BEST one, at least in terms of putting out and refining a project in progress. The original was released as a “beta” in the videogame development parlance and immediately inspired a robust third-party community to design for the game. It’s a science fiction horror game with a nice panic mechanic, inspired by Alien, Event Horizon, Dead Space and so on. Folks were keen for the crowd-funded formal first edition. I was too, but I didn’t expect any surprises — I already know the system and have played the game. And yet, here I am, not just surprised, but a little in awe.

I know the system. It feels cleaned up and polished and refined, but nothing jumps out at me as dramatically different from the beta (except the novel death mechanic, in which “mortally” wounded characters don’t know their actual status until someone checks on them, and the death save die is revealed). As a package, though, this thing is fantastic. Cleanly designed, expanded. The Deluxe box is gorgeous. There are standees, dice, a manual for ships, a book of monsters. The screen art is atmospheric. It’s worth the price of admission, and the wait (which, wasn’t that long).

The thing that bowled me over though, and will take some time to fully digest, is the Warden’s Operation Manual, a booklet that not only teaches you how to mechanically run Mothership, but also how to handle players a table, to think about horror, to cater to character roles, to respect agency, to mete out meaningful consequences. This is a deeply thoughtful musing on not just Mothership, but tabletop roleplaying generally. And, on top of feeling important to the hobby in that way, it also manages to be welcoming in a way very few games are. The message resounds throughout: anyone can run this, anyone can play this, being murdered by horrible aliens is for everyone!

[puzzleddonkey]

Rabbid Lore Headcanon: Hopefully Close As Possible To Canon With Some Insane Reaches

Rabbids are an enigma, a majority of their lore being unclear or completely insane, very fitting with the lore of their home planet (Glade of Dreams) which is just as difficult to make sense of, their oddities being especially prominent in the environment their franchise has settled into (Earth). As completely random and inconsistent as the lore appears to be, I do think there's a good amount of consistency that can paint a decent picture of what is there to know about rabbids, their history, biology, psychology, sociology, so on and so forth. But that picture varies from person to person, so I'll just be sharing my picture based on what I've seen across all of rabbid media (adverts, games, cartoons, books, and merchandise). A lot of it is going to be speculation since despite all there is to work with, almost none is outright explained or clarified, and I doubt it ever will be. But despite that, I hope to make my headcanon as close to canon as possible, even if some assumptions of rabbid lore were plucked out of thin air. Each topic will be linked to separate posts, this post acting as an introduction and table of contents. As a heads up, this blog will be updated regularly and I may get explicit with descriptions, mind my shaky grammar my 3 rotted braincells are trying their best.

What Are Rabbids?

Rabbids are an advanced race of anthropomorphic rabbit-like creatures with an intense temperament, their screaming, violence, and red eyes being the traits they're especially known for. Their antagonistic schemes on the Glade and Earth are played out as an alien invasion on par with Mars Attacks and Killer Klowns of Outer Space (without the gore that is, the focus most of all being very crude humor and chaos. Though Ubisoft was once close to releasing a mature rabbids game with slasher elements, unfortunately it had been scrapped so there will no longer be Killer Rabbids From Outer Space. Even so, the concept art and teasers published are still spectacular). On the Glade, they were deformed critters who emerged from the earth with no warning, bearing alien-like weaponry intent on taking over the planet. On Earth, they've come from outer space, using similar methods with a very similar goal.

Why Are Rabbids On Earth?

While including Earth seems like a strange move, the Rayman franchise had already established not only the existence of Earth but the fact that Rayman seems to have some ties there as well. How? That's a whole different topic to dig through, but overall, rabbids targeting Earth is not too far-fetched, especially Rayman's involvement in trying to thwart their plots again after having stopped them from taking over the Glade (based on the events of Rayman Raving Rabbids on the Gameboy Advanced). This time, however, Rayman's efforts would be in vain, the rabbids successfully conquering the planet and making it their home. Surprisingly they wouldn't change a thing about the planet, having found the cultures so fascinating that they completely assimilated into them, their culture becoming that of human culture. Instead of taking humanity's place as dominant mammal, they've decided to coexist with them to humanity's dismay. While the human race as a whole was panicked at first by the sudden and violent takeover, they would be just as quick to adjust and eventually perceive rabbids as nothing more than a nuisance, just enough to create a whole new workforce, Rabbid Verminators, introduced in Rabbids Go Home, and the SGAII-RD (the Secret Government Agency for the Investigation of Intruders - Rabbid Division), introduced in the Rabbids Invasion Case Files books. Whether this startlingly quick shift is a result of human nature (getting bored with major events after enough time has passed), human governments being extremely efficient in convincing citizens that they're mere pests that are to be ignored (either from the purposeful spread of propaganda or because their incompetence in handling the invasion was in full display), Rayman having informed said governments how to stop the rabbid's attempt at further domination (based on the ending of Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 on the 3Ds), or all three is up to debate.

What Are The Rabbid's Origins?

Despite always being depicted as technologically advanced pests of rage and chaos, they weren't always that way, the earliest descriptions of their origins paint them as the exact opposite of what rabbids are now commonly known for. They used to be the most peaceful creatures of the glade, said to be so kind that other creatures of the Glade would take advantage of that, ridiculing them, bullying them, and borderline torturing them until they were driven insane (based on dialogue from Rayman Raving Rabbids on the Gameboy Advanced). It is believed that they all retreated underground, hiding and plotting throughout the events of Rayman 1 to 3. Only after they would ascend without warning, the Glade feeling the wrath of the rage that had skyrocketed their evolution from simple friendly rabbids, to erratic mutants of war, taking pleasure in the pain and violence that drove them mad to begin with. Beyond this dialogue, there aren't any more details given in regards to what role rabbids played before they snapped, it can be inferred that they were like the dodo birds of the Glade of Dreams, except instead of being driven to extinction from their complete lack of survival instincts and supposedly being quite delicious (the dodos that is), they were driven to complete and utter insanity for the fun of it, one can assume that it was extremely difficult to make a meal out of a rabbid, let alone killing them, that rediculous durability likely playing a part in their docile behavior, what is the use of survival instincts when almost nothing threaten your survuval? Due to their lack of defenses before their inevitable meltdown, their technology was likely not as developed compared to what modern rabbids have at their disposal, perhaps they barely had any tech at all, living as simple wild folk whose daily agendas consisted of sleeping, eating, playing games, dancing, breeding, and repeating to overpopulate regions and solidify their existences as pests. 

Rabbid Biology?

Rabbid Psychology?

Rabbid Sociology?

Rabbid + Human Affairs?

[canmom]

what's the book for? part 0

I watched this three hour video! It is primarily a critique of the story games/Forge mode in TTRPG design, seeing it as the fruit of a condescending behaviourism, which to youtuber Vi Huntsman is painfully reminiscent of the 'Applied Behaviour Analysis' abusive treaments that are often applied to autistic children! Oof! Quite a charge...

...though it only gets there after the first hour or so! There's a segment where they do a stage production of an abridged version of a segment in Sunless Skies!

So... despite 'three hour video essay titled Art, Agency, Alienation' being kind of a punchline in itself, despite occasionally the kind of indulgence you tend to only see in got-way-too-big video essay channels, this video is actually pretty legit. I used to be quite the story game partisan and this is perhaps the best critique I've seen of it!

I think the thrust of Vi Huntsman's critique has merit, but it ends up feeling... honestly broader than I think they meant it - many dimensions seem to apply to almost any printed TTRPG. I also found their conclusion, which calls for more adventures and similar to support the 'folk art' of RPGs, extremely underwhelming - more a statement of taste than an answer to the blistering criticisms of the previous three hours.

So here's my own attempt at an answer. Or at least to lay out the premises we'd need to reach an answer, I'm not there yet!

tl;dw

Let me try and break it down into a tl;dw version. (I'll brush past the lead-in which talks about The Stanley Parable and Severance, used to frame the discussion.)

First up, ABA is an abusive practice inspired by radical behaviourism. In ABA, a behaviour analyst decides how a child should behave, and applies crude reward/punishment structures to get the child to do as they want, without trying to understand the underlying reasons. For example, an analyst may try to stop a child covering their ears when flushing the toilet, even though this is painful for the child. This analogy runs through the video. It is clearly quite personal for Huntsman, who I'm fairly sure is autistic themselves, and apparently worked at some point in attempting to apply the 'treatments' cooked up by the behavioural analysts.

Now, there is a perspective in game design that believes that the designer's responsibility is to create structures of rewards and perhaps punishments to push a player towards a specific intended experience - i.e. 'incentives'. In this light, game design is envisioned almost as a kind of spooky mind control to create behaviour in players, though the methods imagined to do so are in fact very crude.

The other element Huntsman introduces is the notion of 'Suitsian games', after the philosopher Bernard Suits, which are self-contained rules structures creating interesting obstacles to reach some kind of arbitrary goal (for example: capture king, place ball in hoop), where the interesting aspect is the new 'agency' created by the limitations of the rules. Huntsman argues that TTRPGs are not Suitsian games, and it's a big mistake to act as if they are.

They present some examples of a disdainful attitude among designers that players are like children whose behaviour is determined only by the game itself, despite all evidence to the contrary. A particularly damning example is a podcast episode in which a game designer who is also an ABA behavioural analyst attempts to explain how games should more deliberately apply direct incentives in their design.

This attitude, Huntsman argues, results in games (here books you can buy instructing you what to do) which attempt to meticulously shape play (the actual thing that happens at the table) to push it towards a very specific intended experience, often by rigidly defining processes for nearly every stage of the game, similar to a board game. This undercuts the open-endedness of TTRPGs, the major strength of the medium.

The roots of the pernicious ideology, in Huntsman's view, go back to the Forge forums, a cultish forum about game design run by a terribly arrogant man called Ron Edwards, known for Sorcerer and Trollbabe. Many of the major game designers active in the indie scene today come from the Forge, and they tend to somewhat nepotistically promote each other, including writing a very self-back-patting textbook.

In a section termed 'the can of worms', Huntsman suggests that elements like the 'agendas' and 'principles' and 'GM moves' amount to designers taking undue credit for player creativity, with designers claiming that fairly boilerplate GM advice framed as rules is what makes the game work, with the corollary if the game doesn't work you weren't following the GM rules properly and thus weren't really playing the game.

Some of these games tell you off for interesting ways you might hack or vary their rules, insisting that they be interpreted strictly and narrowly to get the 'intended' experience

This is all about selling a product - the idea that you need this specific book in order to create a certain kind of experience, when in reality the book does very little to actually contribute to the 'folk art' of playing an RPG together.

The main example used to illustrate all this is Root: The RPG, a TTRPG adaptation of the extremely popular asymmetric board game about forest animals having a civil war. The TTRPG is printed by a company called Magpie Games which specialises in PbtA designs, probably best known for Masks. They tend to do very well on Kickstarter, but their games - often IP tie-ins - are not especially memorable. Vi Huntsman praises the original board game, but has little positive to say about the TTRPG spinoff.

From what I saw in the video, Root is definitely a strong example of a shallow PbtA game which borrows the surface-level forms of Apocalypse World (moves, agendas, etc.) to create something bland and unengaging. It commits many design sins - far too many uninteresting moves, a dearth of evocative prompts to get you into the idea of the game, locking certain reasonable actions to specific playbooks, repetitive prose, a lack of conceptual clarity, dogmatic insistence that its rules must be followed to the letter... Clearly we can all skip this game.

But...

the role played by a roleplaying book

What's more interesting to me is the broader critique.

The video does not directly address Root's obvious parent Apocalypse World in much depth. Huntsman notes that most of Root's ideas are cribbed from there and that Magpie Games have been less and less likely to acknowledge Vincent and Meguey as time goes on; the pair are also included in the Pepe Silvia wall used to illustrate the reach of the Forge. However, they do not really address whether their criticisms apply to Apocalypse World.

To my eye, Apocalypse World is still a lot better than almost all of its many, many imitators. Part of that is the strength of its prose - and that is actually very important, for reasons I'll get into. So I think it would be better to look at the best of this tradition, rather than its worst.

But before we can get into that, the real question for me is this. What is the relationship between the paper object in your hands or PDF on your computer, and that mystical thing that happens when you and your friends gather around a table and tell a story together for four or five hours?

Begin series.

[gatheringbones]

[“I never felt like I was born in the wrong body,” he says, referring to the dominant medical discourse, though he hated looking in the mirror and says he “felt extreme discomfort” with the body he had. Lucas has been binding his chest for two years using a compression sports bra, always a little too tight, usually followed by a T-shirt and a man’s shirt. He does so for safety, because he sometimes goes to rural Putnam County: “very small, really Southern places,” doing HIV education. “If they knew I was queer, let alone trans, I would probably be killed, so I kind of have to keep all of that very much on the ‘down low’ when I’m doing work out in the community.” But to his co-workers he is “very, very out.” For Lucas, undergoing top surgery is an assertion of what some feminists call bodily autonomy. Pro-choice activists argue that the government has no right to tell women what to do with their body; transgender activists say that they have the right to change their body if they please.

Lucas is at the surgeon’s office with Oliver, a former boyfriend who is also a bearded trans man; and Rachel, a bisexual Latina, his “soul mate and sister.” Lucas says he has “always known” he wanted top surgery,” even before he began injecting testosterone. A few friends in Gainesville who had undergone surgery with Dr. Garramone became mentors to younger trans people in town like Lucas, directing them to friendly therapists and doctors, and helping them get letters for testosterone. Having crowdfunded the $7,000 he needed for top surgery, Lucas is giving away $500 to charity.

And then there is Nadia, a twenty-eight-year-old from St. Louis who works as an employment coach at a nonprofit agency. The odd girl out, she is having her chest masculinized, but not as part of a gender transition. As a how-to book suggests, top surgery is “not just for those transitioning from female to male” but also for others on the gender spectrum, including “gender non-conforming, gender fluid, bi-gender, butch, and so on.” Nadia feels some camaraderie with trans men undergoing top surgery and considers herself “near the trans community, but not in it.” She has short brown hair, bushy eyebrows, and olive skin, and she is wearing large horn-rimmed glasses, a men’s shirt, and hip-hugging straight-leg jeans that look baggy on her slender frame.

When Nadia was twenty-one, her breasts suddenly grew to about a 32C. “They just went boom,” she says, and she told me they felt outsized for her small frame. At certain points in her monthly cycle, when they bloomed even more, she couldn’t even bring herself to get dressed. She felt more comfortable in an androgynous style, wore men’s clothing, and hated the way her buxom bosom made her clothes fit. And she loathes having them touched. She identifies as female and has no interest in taking testosterone, but she sees her breasts as an impediment, a part of her body that does not reflect how she sees herself. Nadia’s queer circle includes trans friends with whom she shares a deep sense of alienation from standard-issue notions of femaleness. She is here with her girlfriend, Flora, an art student whom she met on OkCupid four years ago; the two were drawn together by their mutual interest in art, politics, and graphic novels.

Nadia upends conventional notions of what women should look like and how they should be. She’ll remain female, but she shares with the others here today the belief that their breasts don’t fit and that by changing their bodies they can become more comfortable in their skin and more successful in their lives.”]

arlene stein, from unbound: transgender men and the remaking of identity, 2018

[communistkenobi]

ive never seen any star trek stuff before i started watching tos recently, and ive been liking it a lot but the level to which i like it is definitely not proportional to how good i think it is. like its good but its also kinda shit in a lot of ways, they had kirk say the gender binary is a universal constant, most of kirks Blonde Love Interests Of The Week show zero agency in the romance or sometimes the plot in general, they constantly defy the "dont fuck with alien cultures" rule bc Other Cultures Are Weird And Need Us To Fix Them, and also its just kinda dumb sometimes! i like it mostly because A) the character dynamics are really fun and B) i love seeing the 60s bleed through the script and getting to psychoanalyze the writer based on the thematic storytelling ("this is about the cold war. this is also about the cold war. this is- yup you guessed it the cold war, theyre feeling anxious about nukes again this week. this ones about the writer hating religion. this ones about integration. surprise twist this ones an implicit criticism of solitary confinement. this ones about the cold war again but this time its a really weird but ballsy take"), but its still very much a show from the 60s written by incredibly flawed people so of course its going to be flawed? its been interesting to watch it as a shadow on the cave wall of american politics from that era and ive been having fun but idk why anyone would try and say its not politically fucked in a lot of ways. like its fine you can like this old show and also admit that the writers were not actually all that enlightened about colonialism

I really really like the show! and honestly I genuinely like that it’s openly a piece of American Cold War propaganda, I think it’s very interesting and entertaining as a living historical artefact. I’m less interested in critiquing any one part of it because I feel like the misogyny and orientalism and ableism and etc are not flaws grafted onto an otherwise uncompromised whole, they are an integral part of what tos is and what its place is in the broader popular culture. Like I do not think you can subtract any of those qualities and keep tos enact at the end it, because those gendered and racial and abled assumptions are baked into it, as they are in a lot of sci-fi. And I find the reactionary and bigoted elements just as compelling as the good parts, not because they don’t offend my political sensibilities but because I want to appreciate “the whole text” for what it is and what it does. For me they aren’t things to be ignored or blocked out, they are part of how I enjoy the show and how I understand it as a piece of art.

obviously nobody is required to engage with it in the same way, and if those things are deal-breakers (or even if you want to ignore them) then that is completely fine, I’m not your dad etc, but I think part of why I’ve been getting so much pushback from people about bringing these things up is because they are primarily invested in it as a character drama with the word “socialist utopia” pasted on top of it, and so they are engaging with tos is an idealised expression of their political values. Which isn’t novel, that is like the default mode of engagement with art online (and I am not exempting myself from this), but if you bring up the racism or colonialism or misogyny most people invoke “but it’s socialist!” as a blanket defense, as if that’s at all responsive to any of those descriptions of the show.

anyway I ALSO really like the show as character drama, legitimately Kirk and Spock are really fun characters and I’m very invested in them individually, but my main enjoyment of Star Trek is that it’s American mid-century space-race propaganda, and a lot of it is deeply reactionary as a direct consequence

[relax-and-read-on]

2024, Hello!

What a year it has been, right?

I usually try to talk only about warhammer 40k on this blog. I don't like mention if my personal life, or politics, or even other fandom, really. That said, this year was... Far from easy for me. Health problem, job problem, finances, politiques, (shout out to all the queer french canadian who are also scared shitless!), moving in a new place, insane inflation....

I had given myself the huge objective to publish 200k words for 2023. At the end, this is the result:

108k words. You can also add about 50k of unpublished original work. Here is the list of fic that I have published/updated in 2023 (by view count), and some little thought/insight on them:

Agency - My big fem primarch au. You can really see me grow, if you read it from start to finish. It's been *years* since I started this fic, at this point, the ending that I have planned is like my white whale. One day.... One day, I will defeat it. Terribly hard to write but SO satisfying

Tales of different lives - if Agency is my dark nemesis, than my planet swap is coming home to a soft bed. It's so easy and FUN to write that au. I know not everyone like the lighter take toward the world this one take, and that's ok. Sometime... It's just nice, to have softer things, especially after such a year.

Phantom of the (warhammer?)-pera - I am begging you. On my knees. Read this one. It's my fav thing I have ever written. It's so much fun. It's totally INSANE and I loved every moment of it. I want to go back and fight the formatting again, to finish implanting all the notes. They are SO much fun. Also has AMAZING cover art by @skrankku !

Five times People tried and failed to Seduce Roboute Guilliman to Chaos... - Absolute surprised to me how people loved that fic. Ngl, I was actually sick/very depressed when I wrote it, but it warm heart that other enjoyed it.

This Once Nearly Was Mine - This one does not count, it's @kingwithpaintedfingers AMAZING Vulkan's POV to Castle of Glass, my Mortarion/Vulkan soulmate au. I am amazed and humbled to be able to work with such a great writer, and be able to call you a friend. I HIGHLY recommend all their work.

Trust - I had to actually check that one, and turns out, it was the update to my Talos/Septimus fic! Can you believe that I forget my own fic?! I am silly. Surprisingly delightful. I need to write more of this ship.

Birdcage - written for an exchange, specifically for @funboxsupreme , another criminally good writer. This fic, in my humble opinion, is some of my best writing. Extremely dark, I also SOMEHOW managed some really cool "special effect" in it, and I am PLEASED with myself.

In the Garden - a VERY quick and horny piece for Nan, a PROLIFIC writer whom I cannot help but be in awe of (also heeeelp I don't have your tumblr, poke me and I will tag you!)

Old Crows and Young Cardinals - This is an interesting one! This fic seem barely started, but it's mostly because the rest of it require MASSIVE planning and careful writing, as it deal with time travel and has a stupidly complex plot. I cannot wait to unveil more of it.

By proxy - hehehe, another really cool gift for a friend, this time for Lieara/Allyria! Even if this list is making me realise how many of yall tumblrs I don't know. I feel like an Old man trying to remember phone number lmao.

Day 2 - Bootworship and Sister of battle - a fun little fic part of the "40 kink for 40k" challenge that I NEED to continue, started by the wonderful @iapetusneume . Also.... Lesbian. Need more Lesbian.

The only way - A other fic that I had completely forgotten that I wrote. It's such a strange feeling, to reread your own words and go "I did this??" It's not bad, but it was written during one of those hard period of the year, and as such feel extra alien to me.

Day 1 - Geneseed, but sexy and Homeworld - another 40k for 40 kink fic, this one was a LOT of fun to write! Amd kinda specifically made for @bobthebobhere , another good friend in this fandom!

The miracle of science (and children) - a gift fic that was supose to be part of an exchange, but took too long! This one is for @shootertron-stuff , an artist that I highly respect and love! If you like it kinky, go tead their stuff, they are an inspiration.

In the Lion's Den. - Hahahahahaha lmao. So, fun fact: On reddit, there is a user who post horribly misogynist/homophobic Tau torture porn with his OC chapter. I got mad, and wrote a spit gay porn fic of his OCs. To his credit, he rolled with it and was amused at it. I still don't like him, and never will, but I have his blessing to keep it up, so!

The Bird, The Wolf and the Keeper - a little experiment, in poetry format fic. I liked it well enough, and will attempt some more in 2024 I think :)

(A secret fic exchange, yet to be revealed)

(another one!)

So.... 18 fics total. I think there should be pride in that. I like the variety of them, even if I want to push out more, do more unique and stranger fic, for 2024. It was a difficult year, but creating so much made it easier, made it more worth it. I am... Happy, with it all.

If you have questions about my fics, now is the time! Otherwise, I will see you soon, with more writing, and more joy in sharing.

I wish you all a wonderful year 2024, better than the last, safety, comfort, and peace. May we all had fun in this fandom!

[mango-ti]

"Belle" - French poster concept art by Les Aliens Agency

Approved posters:

[earthcovenant]

Earth Covenant: Al ‘Destroyer, Spirit Guide’

Earth Covenant: Al ‘Destroyer, Spirit Guide’ Andrew Rogers – Sentient, Dragon Lord, Herald, Principle, Control, Destroyer Incarnate, Creative Director, Oracle, Seer, Shaman, Warlock, Writer, Master of Magic, Leader, Founder of the Earth Covenant. Earth Covenant Member: Destroyer Society: Al ‘Destroyer, Spirit Guide’ – Oracle: Andrew Rogers. “This relation is reflected by the significance of a…

[who-do-i-know-this-man]

Anti-propaganda for Tedd (their name is misspelled in the poll) Verres because I am ASTONISHED more people on this very transgender website have not heard of El Goonish Shive (the webcomic from which Tedd hails).

For simplicity's sake, since Tedd is gender-fluid and prefers different pronouns in different situations, I'm just going to use they/them.

Note: I am pulling all this lore from the top of my brain so it may not be completely accurate. Reader beware

okay FIRST of all. Tedd starts out as a pervert. El Goonish Shive was started by a highschooler in 2002, and the author, Dan Shive, has matured greatly since then. Tedd is also a highly capable scientist (despite being a junior in highschool), and with the help of some alien technology (long story short, Tedd's dad works for a secret government agency dealing with magic and has been in contact with alien lifeforms), they craft the Transformation Gun (TF gun for short). This gun, well, transforms people. There are multiple forms that people can be transformed into, all of which are based off of their original bodily form. The Female Variant 5 form (the form that transforms anyone into a quite attractive lady) is the one that gets the most use. Of course. El Goonish Shive has been described as "the most perverted squeaky-clean comic on the internet".

Thing is, Tedd has been bullied. A lot. They are very androgynous, even in their natural state, and they get mocked for it a lot. They're not very comfortable in their own skin, so they like to exert control over their environment by way of the TF gun. Eventually, as their friend circle widens and their support system grows, they mellow out considerably (though they were never terribly vindictive in the first place) and become more confident in who they are.

As of the most recent comic, Tedd is at dinner with their father the government agent, the alien woman who is his secretary, and their girlfriend (for lack of a better term) Grace, a shapeshifting alien-human-squirrel hybrid.

I highly highly HIGHLY recommend EGS, even if there's a solid chunk of early installment weirdness while Dan was growing into his own as an author/artist. The characters are all very well-developed and have strong personalities, the magic system is convoluted but fascinating, there's all sorts of weird beings and cool spells and secret identity forms that may or may not change your personality, and it's funny as heck. Also, there are a ton of queer characters of all kinds.

Two notes, though:

One: Dan Shive relates very strongly to being neurodivergent (something he discovers over time; read the end notes on each comic!), and as such, the comic is VERY thorough. Arcs may take a while to pan out, and there are plot points from over twenty years ago that are still popping up today!

Two: EGS is a weird comic. I think the perfect exemplar of EGS's weirdness is the following line (note that this panel is from 2003; the art has improved considerably since then):

Having read both, I would not hesitate to say that EGS is definitely less weird and less convoluted than is Homestuck. It's still weird and convoluted, though. But that's part of its charm, in my opinion.

I would happily add more information, but, in the words of the great Mr. Verres:

^

[darkersoul]

Welcome to Delta Rainbow, a place for LGBTQ+ fans of Delta Green to chat, share ideas, writing, and art, and play games in a safe, inclusive environment.

We are welcoming to players and Handlers of all levels of experience, including those who have never played before and are curious about the system!

What is Delta Green?

Deception is a right. Truth is a privilege. Innocence is a luxury. Born of the U.S. government’s 1928 raid on the coastal town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts, the covert agency known as Delta Green opposes the forces of darkness with honor, but without glory. Delta Green agents slip through the system, manipulating the federal bureaucracy while pushing the darkness back for another day — but often at a shattering personal cost.

Delta Green is a cosmic horror TTRPG where you play as agents of a government conspiracy fighting a futile war against alien gods and their human worshippers. You are often not playing as the heroes in these stories, but the lesser of two evils. It's a game that asks, "What are you willing to do to keep the world turning for a few more hours? How long can you last against enemies where the mere knowledge of their existenceis anathema to human life?" It's a game about the horrors of human bureaucracy, downward spirals, and existential terror.

So, come feel the dread with some like-minded folks! DM @darkersoul for the link!

[indignantlemur]

hello, I was wondering what your head cannon was on the ahm tal? Also may I ask what your head cannon was, if I didn't already, about the andorians in the andorian incident?

Thank you.

Hello again! <3

We'll start with the Am Tal, I think. This is another long one, so details below the cut.

PART 1: The Am Tal

The Am Tal (or Ahm Tal) is effectively the Andorian secret service - their equivalent to the Romulan Tal Shiar, the Vulcan V'Shar, and Earth's Section 31. Canon lore on them is sparse, naturally, but what is there tells us this:

The organization was founded in 1935 on the Andorian colony world of Cimera III. After the founding of the United Federation of Planets, the Am Tal often collaborated with Starfleet Intelligence and the Federation Intelligence Service, both officially and behind-the-scenes, but at all times the Am Tal operated independently of both. Am Tal agents working black-ops would sometimes pass on information to those more visible agencies as "anonymous sources." The Am Tal did not confine their activities to Andorian territory, contrary to what Federation Intelligence Services/Starfleet Intelligence once believed. They performed whatever operations were deemed essential to the welfare of Andoria and her people throughout the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, up to and including black-ops and wet work. They were regarded as brutally efficient, ruthlessly determined, and they were feared almost as much as the Tal Shiar. A "boogeyman" among the intelligence services, foreign spies, double agents, terrorists and others they deemed as threats would simply "disappear" when the Ahm Tal were around. Andorian citizens often attribute such incidents to the Ahm Tal, and they are often right. [sources: Alpha and Beta canon; LUG: The Andorians: Among the Clans, All Our Yesterdays: The Time Travel Sourcebook; Decipher: Aliens]

We also have an excerpt of a fantastic speech from LUG: The Andorians: Among the Clans from a politician regarding the Am Tal. As I harvest canon lore from multiple resources and try to make the jumbled mess make sense, I don't strictly adhere to ATC's lore, but I've always loved this detail:

"I think it tragic that we deny the existence of the Am Tal simply because the Federation doesn't understand what the Am Tal is. They are the most valorous heroes of our age. They die, silently, by the hundreds, saving our lives, protecting our freedom, defending our honor. They mutilate themselves for us. They focus their passion toward noble results. We should honor them. We are not obligated to explain them. Their real names must never be known." - Oshuvas Idrani, public address, Tarsk, 2268 They are noted scientists. They are wealthy merchants. They are adventurous pirates. They are Starfleet officers. Am Tal operatives are everywhere, the "seekers of secrets" and the sworn protectors of Andorian interests. The [Andorian government] denies their existence, despite the fact that 100 members are Am Tal and that the other 200 not only believe in them but want them shut down. [source: LUG: The Andorians: Among the Clans "Am Tal: The Art of Secrecy"]

Starfleet Intelligence does not manage to confirm the existence of the Am Tal beyond rumour and hearsay until the late 24th century - TNG era, that is.

To help put all of this in context, in Emigre the current year as of the most recent chapter (Ch 47) is 2174.

From this we can conclude a few things.

The Am Tal are very good at what they do. Despite the fact that the average Andorian citizen is well aware of the Am Tal as an entity protecting Andoria's interests, Starfleet Intelligence (and the Federation Intelligence Services branches) can't pin them down for at least another hundred years. That is some impressive operational security from the Am Tal's side of things.

Am Tal operatives are perfectly willing to undergo radical surgeries, including removal of their antennae, for deep cover operations - regardless of whether or not these procedures are reversible. They cultivate a ruthlessness and cold efficiency in their operatives that, frankly, sounds a hell of a lot cooler than Section 31 ever did.

Am Tal are spread throughout the quadrant and have an extensive spy network. They sometimes leave 'anonymous tips' for Federation Intelligence Services (FIS) and Starfleet Intelligence (SI) when they catch wind of something outside of their purview that the Federation might want to look into. No word on whether that courtesy extends to the Vulcans at the time of Emigre, however.

Anyone could be Am Tal. They're not all super soldiers or secret agents slinking about in highly visible uniforms, and their propensity for radical cosmetic alterations means that they slip under the radar with shocking ease. In short, literally anyone anywhere could be an Am Tal informant or operative, and there really isn't a good way to tell for sure.

From there my headcanons are as follows:

The Am Tal are a vast and far-reaching network of spies, informants, assassins, deep cover operatives, and citizens from all walks of life. They recruit anyone, regardless of Clan or status, who can meet their stringent requirements for loyalty, ruthlessness, and competence, and who are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to serve Andoria.

There are many different kinds of Am Tal operatives as well, and a broad array of skills are required to serve Andoria and her people. Not every operative is a fierce warrior or possesses genius-level intellect, though the organization will certainly go out of its way to recruit such individuals if it can. Their ranks include merchants, scientists, engineers, freighter captains, shipyard workers, domestic service employees, clerks, media specialists, and more.

The Am Tal do not as an organization shy away from black-ops and wet work when it's needed, but it is not their first choice for dealing with problems. Their biggest priority is actually information-gathering, collation, analysis, and dissemination. A wealth of knowledge - particularly knowledge no one else wants one to have - wins wars as surely as a knife in the dark can topple nations. Moreover, dead men tell no tales and while death is certainly an option, Am Tal would much rather extract every ounce of information possible first before considering more final alternatives. They're not always picky about how they go about this, but finesse over brute force is the Am Tal's preferred modus operandi.

Part of the reason behind Am Tal's success is their operatives' willingness to do whatever it takes to preserve their covers. If they even suspect they're at risk of discovery, they disappear - and with their propensity for surgical alterations, quite effectively at that. Faking their own deaths is common, especially to estrange themselves from relatives who might pose problems in the future. In extreme circumstances, compromised operatives will self-terminate in such a way that their bodies and identifiers are destroyed as completely and thoroughly as possible. This is meant as a last resort only, and officials within the Am Tal are careful to neither condone nor discourage the act.

During the Earth-Romulan War (2156-2160), the Am Tal had limited success in gleaning information about Romulans, which was more than anyone else in the Federation had managed - but even so, it was hardly anything at all. Their file on Romulans and the Romulan spy network is threadbare at best in the current year, but it's all the Federation has to work with beyond the Enterprise incident reports.

The file, such as it was, was left anonymously on the Section Chief of Starfleet Intelligence's desk early one morning. Upon the isochip's discovery, the security footage or digital logs for the entire building were pulled, but upon review there was simply nothing there that shouldn't have been. Everyone involved agreed that the footage and records must have been tampered with, but no one could figure out how.

There are a number of Clans on Andoria (and its colonies) which have some association or another with the Am Tal, but not one of them have a provable tie to the shadowy organization. Rumour and hearsay at best are all that countless investigations have turned up. That doesn't stop the general population from making a few assumptions, however - better safe than dead is a rule to live by, on Andoria. Clans that have garnered such a reputation are generally treated with caution, since one never quite knows *who* exactly they are speaking to once Am Tal factor into the equation, but so long as the Clan's members are law-abiding citizens that's as far as it goes.

PART 2: The Andorian Incident!

The Andorians in the Andorian Incident are Commander Thy'lek Shran, Thon, Keval, and Tholos. As far as I know, we're never given the ranks of the other three, but I suspect Tholos was possibly a lieutenant.

Generally speaking, I have a few headcanons about these four, but I haven't really sat down and fleshed them out properly.

Shran is the most well-fleshed out character, having gotten the most screen time of the bunch. Where he's concerned, I mostly have headcanons about his departure from the Andorian Imperial Guard and subsequent poor lifestyle choices from a man who previously had been shown to be a competent and reasonable commander and negotiator. Something about that doesn't quite track, for me. It's generally agreed that he left the Guard out of guilt and shame for the fate of the Kumari, though I don't believe anyone else blamed him necessarily. The Marauder was a nasty piece of work, specifically designed to be a ship-killer, and it wasn't anything that anyone else in the quadrant had run up against before. It would have taken a miracle to save the Kumari once Shran's ship was the last one standing after the initial ambush. Certainly, there would be repercussions for the loss of the Andorian ambassador and the rest of the complement, but I don't think those repercussions would have been Shran's to bear, at least not entirely. He not only survived but saved as many of his crew as he could - and, more importantly, he lived long enough to negotiate a treaty in the ambassador's stead and be debriefed, despite his recklessness in his grief and the diplomatic shit-show that was the ushaan duel. The man has insane luck in the worst way - he has a weird tendency to be in the right place at the the right time, usually while he's also up to his antennae in problems and active firefights.

Tholos seems to be Shran's second in command, and he seems very comfortable following Shran into potentially volatile situations, from P'Jem to Corridan. That alone makes me think the two have known each other for years, or at least served together long enough to build up trust in the other's instincts. I headcanon Tholos as Shran's chief of security on the Kumari. Now, Tholos gets a bad reputation for creeping on T'Pol during The Andorian Incident which... fair. I personally think that the threats were empty, because something about Tholos' tone and word choice makes me think he's actually repulsed by Vulcans. His antennae, certainly, were not indicating any kind of fixation or arousal beyond sharp attention, which lends some credence to the idea that he was trying to provoke T'Pol, the other Vulcans, or the Enterprise landing party into giving something away. Since that didn't produce any of the desired results, he didn't bother with a second attempt, which a genuine creeper almost certainly would have. Remember that the Andorian squad was searching for evidence of a listening post, and as usual the monks were less than helpful. Provoking a response at this point - any response- would have been at least some kind of progress, since the Andorians had very clearly run out of momentum just as the Enterprise landing party arrived. Don't get me wrong - still creepy as fuck, but the possibility of tactical creeping makes me think that Tholos is the sort to actively look for weaknesses to exploit, maybe even habitually. He very well could be the sort who turns this on his own friends at times, with keen observations and cutting words that have become almost second-nature. In short, Tholos is an asshole but he's not that kind of asshole.

Keval, by comparison, we only see operating scanners and helping to search the monastery, which makes me think he might be a tech specialist or possibly an engineer. He doesn't get much in the way of screen time but even so Keval doesn't appear to be impulsive and we don't see any indication of a cruel streak like we do with Tholos. I headcanon Keval as a more measured sort of man, more likely to step back to assess rather than leap forward and react. He might be on the quieter side, as Andorians go, of a thoughtful disposition otherwise. When he's not searching Vulcan monasteries for secret lairs, I imagine he's the sort to enjoy tinkering with the systems under his care to improve their yield and efficiency when he has time.

Thon is the one we know the least about canonically, as he has no dialogue and is kind of just... there. He participates in the firefight, follows orders, and generally exists in the background. I'd say probably part of the Kumari's security complement under Tholos' command. I like to imagine Thon as an easy-going sort of guy, when he's not on a mission to suss out super secret Vulcan spy lairs, though he's by no means a pushover - the sort to enjoy wilderness hikes and hitting local dive bars.