#as does the rest of the worldbuilding

[spicymancer]

Remind me, exactly how many of your casts of characters all coexist in the same setting?

While they generally stick to their own lanes, you can kinda think of Sanction (superhero setting), ActiRangers (tokusatsu setting) , and Rumble After Dark (fighting game setting) as all take place loosely in the modern day / near future setting. Meanwhile, The Gingerwood Monster Research setting is a whimsical pseudo-medieval RPG fantasy world that doesn't really crossover with the others. I have a handful of other OCs who I don't draw super much that are a bit unmoored, like Ollie and Velvet.

[bragganhyl]

*clears throat* The Watcher is a really good protagonist character.

Like honestly, when you think about it, it's really astounding that this series has the same blank slate character throughout the series and yet you can flesh them out thoroughly and give them an arc that effectively and dynamically arches over multiple installments. There aren't a lot of game series' out there that manage to pull this off this well

[shadeswift99]

SHADE. Shade I need your minecraft worldbuilding brain.

They introduced a bunch of new shards to 1.20. The one depicting the Warden is called "mourner."

THE POSSIBILITIES?? It's not just guarding these ancient cities, it's mourning what they once were? Maybe it's similar to an iron golem, a construct built to protect and then abandoned? Maybe it caused the ruination and it mourns what it destroyed? Maybe it's just cranky we disturbed it????

I really like all of those ideas! But, as is my duty as Shade, I am going to introduce you to an extra and more horrifying possibility!

So. Sculk. It's a fungus-like corruption that spreads when it's fed by XP, which is essentially souls or life energy in-universe released at the death or breaking of something. No mobs other than the Warden can spawn in the Deep Dark, which to me suggests sculk has a level of toxicity that even the undead can't handle. Except some people - players - seem to be able to withstand it, at least for a short period of time.

There sure is a lot of sculk in ancient cities, isn't there. A whooole lotta sculk. Whole lot of that stuff that duplicates through death of other living things.

Maybe the cities were full, when the first sculk was discovered. Maybe the toxicity claimed the first person to find it and spread as a result of that, the danger growing the more it took, until it was a wave few could escape. Maybe some got away through those odd portals, the ones with higher natural resistances lasting long enough to flee. ...Or, maybe some of them, left alive long enough to watch everyone else die, couldn't bring themselves to leave. Maybe they stayed to mourn the loss, exposing themselves for longer than even they could withstand. Maybe instead of dying, they changed.

The Warden has the same size hitbox as a player. In spite of visually far exceeding that size, it can fit through the same size gaps. Almost as if it outgrew the volume the Universe had calculated for it. And its ribcage, open and filled with sculk-like texture inside, has always read as human-like to me. The sculk controls it, so the body tries to kill living things to fuel the spread. It's only natural.

But maybe, like the cordyceps fungus, the sculk leaves the brain intact while bending the muscles of the body to its own purposes. Perhaps the Warden's eyes are closed because the mourner is still mourning - the loss of their city, still, or what they lost of themselves by not turning away.

[scorpius-rising]

Bit the bullet and read on in the manga. Completely agree with the post about Dungeon Meshi and Ryoko Kui being FMA/Arakawa levels of good holy shit

[bookwyrminspiration]

hello so i sent you something very similar to this a few months ago but it looks like tumblr ate my og ask because i haven't seen it so i'm resending it except i don't remember my exact words so i have to rewrite it from scratch lmfao

about elves and culture: at one point i remember you mentioning offhandedly in some post that elves are all white culturally (i tried for about fifteen minutes to find it, but you know. tumblr.) which is another way the series lacks diversity (besides the obvious barely-any-non-white-people and no non-allocishet people) and i was thinking about how shannon could have even have fixed this problem because the elves are a monolith when it comes to culture. yeah, they have different races, but all the races have the same culture. so i was like. ok. how would shannon even incorporate multiple cultures into the story? how would it even be possible to show cultural diversity in a story where the elves all live in the same society? and i came up with a few ideas:

could do a mashpot, where everyone in the lost cities has bits of every single culture ever mixed into one (somehow). i have two ideas for this

mashpot option one: have the different aspects of a culture each come from different cultures (for example, clothes of one culture and the food of a different culture and traditions of the another culture and so on). putting it all together, this would create a collage-culture of sorts, which would be quite jarring, but it could be effective if done well, i think.

mashpot option two: they could have the different aspects of a culture pull from every culture ever. for example, the elves could eat foods that taste like foods from all around the world, instead of foods that just taste like american foods (as someone who hates the taste of stereotypically american food, i can say i would hate eating anything from the lost cities). or have them celebrate a variety of holidays or something across the whole year, each of which is representative of a different culture.

could have different groups of elves each have different cultures. i also have two ideas for this

different groups option one: each family line has a different culture or something like that. so you have cultural diversity through each family having a different culture and everyone being accepting of that. this could include different clothes, food, traditions, architecture, celebrations, and all that stuff (maybe not language though lmfao). this would at least be able to somewhat showcase different cultures, although it would have to have been done really half-assedly. this would also have a huge skew toward white cultures because most of the characters are white.

different groups option two: create different clans of elves, all of whom have mutual respect for each other. each clan of elves can have a different culture. this would literally be separate societies of elves. however, they could all respond to the same council, which is made of people from all the clans in the name of equality. this way, the monolithicity of the elves would be intact and while still showing some diversity of culture.

shannon makes up her own culture that is completely unlike any culture we've ever heard of, ever. equal neglect of all cultures is equality. sophie eats an umber leaf and is like "this tastes like nothing i've ever eaten before and tastes like it shouldn't even be a real food but i like it". sophie is shown their clothes and it's just a dress made out of solid, opaque crystal. their traditions involve scratching random shapes in the ground and dancing around them in a specific way. this is the chaos option.

this wouldn't really showcase cultural diversity, but instead of an all-white culture, it could be a non-white culture monolith. but then there's the same problem of "why do all the elves have the same exact culture, where's the diversity?" except a different flavor. it would also be really weird because most of the characters in the series are canonically white.

elves don't have any culture. not gonna lie, i have no idea how this would work. this is the other chaos option. up to interpretation, i guess.

thoughts? what would you do if you were shannon. i don't really see any other options for fixing this problem, but there might be something i missed.

(also, yes, i am sending this three times. sorry for annoying you. i want to make sure at least one makes it to your inbox this time lol.)

Hey! So sorry about that--I don't know exactly how long you were waiting, but if it ever seems a while you can send an ask sooner to double check!

Before I get into this, I will say: there is no one right way to approach this topic and I am one person. These are just my thoughts--and I am always open to hearing from others

That said, just to clarify my first point (from this ask, thanks for the link), what I meant by "the elves are all white culturally" is that the kotlc elven culture is fabricated, but seems largely white american inspired. Which makes sense, as that's what Shannon is. There's always going to be a level of bias from one's own experiences and life, it's legitimately impossible to avoid and not always a bad thing. In some cases though, we want to temper it a little, which I don't think it really was in kotlc.

Like you said, there's multiple ways to approach this.

I think the crux is how race, in the elven world, means nothing--but this story exists in a world where it means a lot. While race is a social construction (the meanings/distinctions we assign to skin color are arbitrary) and therefore can be given a null significance, doing so is difficult because socially constructed doesn't mean meaningless/insignificant

We also run into complications given how scattered elves are--I've brought this up regarding clothing, but the physical geography of one's community shapes not only what you wear, but what you grow, how you build, etc. And we don't have that landmark for the elves

I think either an elven monoculture or multiple would work, it's just a matter of what you'd want to do.

If we go for a monoculture as Shannon has, I'd personally go for its own unique culture rather than a mash-up. A mash-up seems too likely to remove significant context/meaning from the source, and the elves are supposed to be isolated from humans. I think Shannon choosing this was fine, it was the execution I dislike.

The food comparisons you mention, for example. Or the family structures. Beauty standards. The education system. They don't actually feel like a distinct monoculture, it feels American with a fantasy filter. If, for example, we expanded on how being immortal affects your family (everyone's still alive, what kinds of relationships does that create, etc.), or how they're taught (instead of lectures and homework, maybe more hands on involvement, travel for hands-on since they can do so instantly, different kinds of tests, etc.), then I'd be more satisfied. I know there's some level of familiarity so readers aren't lost, but it's a little too much, in my opinion

If we were going instead for multiple elven cultures, I think I'd personally base it on ability. It's the most defining thing in their world and could easily be taken further. There'd be kinks to work out given kids don't automatically inherent their parents' abilities, have to manifest, and that people with the same ability don't generally group together, but! that's not insurmountable

kids could be raised within their parents' ability cultures/customs and then, if they manifest a different ability, its culture could be passed via their instructors--which wouldn't necessarily be at Foxfire. Those who differ from their parents, perhaps, would be expected to seek out additional mentor figures and become more multi-culture kids in the process. just because they don't group in canon now doesn't mean they can't here (and could be seen as more necessary given how much ability cross-marriages there are). There could also be more celebratory days around abilities--e.g. a kind of ceremony conducted when a kid manifests. Lots of different ways to take it, the point is just that abilities, I think, make a great base for different elven cultures given how massively important it is in their world.

We're critiquing/discussing diveristy, so something to consider, I think, is what is diversity in the context of kotlc? We want a variety of people to be reflected in the story--but we're dealing with isolated non-humans, so including a variety of human cultures won't necessarily achieve that goal.

The main thing that comes up (or at least that I've seen discussed) is the lack of non-white characters and the fairly american constructed culture--so the course of action to take could be a better balance of physical descriptor (more non-white characters) that creates the varied reflections/connections we want, and a more distinctly elven culture that leans into it harder, making it less American.

I'll stop here for now until this gets too long, but at the moment that's the general direction of my thoughts. I think it's a fine thought experiment to ask "what if culture wasn't tied to race?" you just don't want to then forget that even though your fantasy book doesn't consider race, it exists in a society that does. which could lead us into further discussion on sterotypes as well, which also factors into all this

and again: these are just my personal initial thoughts. it's a broad, complex topic, so there will of course be things I miss or don't get to. but regardless, i hope that at least partially answers your question of what I would do :)

[aroaceleovaldez]

i need to know everything about your pjo voltron au

okay so basic plot premise: Thalia, Luke, Jason, Percy, Maria di Angelo, and Bianca all work at the Garrison and get sent on 3 separate missions (Thalia & Luke, Jason & ??? or maybe he's just by himself, then Percy & Maria & Bianca) which are all "lost" and they're declared dead by the Garrison.

Of course they were actually all abducted by aliens. Maria probably dies pretty early on in that whole situation. Thalia gets separated from Luke and ends up escaping and becoming a rebel. Luke, Jason, and Percy & Bianca all separately (except for Percy & Bianca) end up gladiators. Luke becomes The Champion and basically ends up a Kuron/Sendak-type character situation. Is he being mind-controlled? Unclear. He has a giant alien scythe-sword though. Bianca probably dies buying Percy time in the arena. At some point Percy and Jason find each other and decide to try and stick together.

Hazel is a human raised by her galra dad in space with the Blade of Marmora. She knows she has a half-brother through her dad out there somewhere but not anything else about him. She ends up running into Jason and Percy on a mission and helps them escape cause they're humans too.

Back on Earth, Piper, Leo, and Annabeth are all Garrison students. Or Annabeth is possibly in a Keith-type situation where she used to be a student but got Kinda Pissed Off about all her loved ones disappearing into space and ended up getting kicked out. Nico is in a Pidge-type situation where he snuck in as a student under a false name to figure out what happened to his family's mission. Percy and Jason crash on earth, the gang finds them, they find the Blue Lion, and Percy pilots it to the Altean castleship where they meet Reyna and Frank. Reyna is the Altean Princess, because her sister Hylla was queen. Frank is the son of a high-ranking general or something and he and Reyna are a duo.

Rest going under a cut cause this got long -

Lion adventures happen - Annabeth pilots the Green Lion, Jason pilots the Black Lion. Nico finds the Red Lion and meets Hazel when he does and brings her back to the castle. Hazel pilots the Yellow Lion. Nico very quickly realizes he's half-Galra and Hazel's brother and joins the Blade of Marmora. Percy swaps from Blue to the Red Lion. Piper starts piloting the Blue Lion. Leo, Frank, Reyna, and Nico end up the home-base support team. Percy probably keeps the blue paladin armor and Piper gets the spare pink armor for color association reasons and also cause that's usually the format for every iteration of Voltron anyways. It works out nicely. Everybody has extra lion compatibilities too/every Lion has a back-up basically cause I'm still mad vld canon dropped the lion lore/sentience plotlines and we never got cool dynamic lion swapping instead of just the usual single switch. We're having fun here.

Then everything else I don't have much for other than Annabeth and Nico basically swap Keith and Pidge roles once they join Voltron so Nico goes and has his galra identity crisis adventures and Annabeth reunites with Thalia at some point, who is basically in a Matt-type role. And Luke functions as the Sendak-level antagonist who Annabeth probably gets to fight with a swap back to Keith's role in a whole Keith & Kuron emotional situation. Kronos and Gaea are probably analogous to Zarkon and Haggar/Honerva here but not necessarily in that order, and obviously it's more of an either "Emperor and his advisor mom" or "Empress and her prince son" but in either one somebody's doing magic and people are probably getting possessed. Hades, Persephone, Iaepatus/Bob, and Damasen are all with the BoM. The Titans/Giants are probably all Empire generals. Who's Lotor? Octavian? Calypso? I don't know. Who are all the gods? I dunno. We'll workshop it.

[transingthoseformers]

I'm going to throw some worldbuilding ideas at you and see what you think about them!

So. I think, a lot due to cultural norms, Cybertronians are opposed to increasing the survival rate for sparklings. It's partly due the fact that there's no real emotional attachment to them yet, partly because clearly if Primus wanted more to survive he wouldn't have made them so stupid. Obviously, that's not what they say, but probably what they're thinking.

And yes, I do think carriers leave civilization to have their sparklings. They can be accompanied by their mate, sibling, amica. It's important that the bond between the carrier and the one accompanying them is strong because, as earlier stated, bots are like the only thing that a carrier will protect their young from. It's not like they turn into raging berserkers and go after everyone they see, but they're on high alert. Weapon systems primed, basically ready to go at any moment. Try not to twitch threateningly.

And yes, the war definitely slowed down reproduction in this way. Neither faction could afford soldiers wandering out into the wild and being missing for a while.

The Autobots solved it by pretty much stopping completely, only doing it on safe worlds far from the front. Very few of those. The Decepticons, however, discovered that if they kept all the sparklings online, they got a good source of shock troopers. A carrier would deliver their sparklings and would pretty much immediately be reassigned. The sparklings would be placed into a robo-toddler equivalent of a pasture, until they awaken and are promptly sped through the upgrade process. Not a great survival rate on the field, but occasionally they manage to bring someone down with them.

Huh, I wonder how this system developed in the first place for such a long lived species (what kinds of predators necessitated them going for the quantity over quality method? Or was that there since the absolute beginning of their evolutionary / evolutionary adjacent journey??)

I have to admit, for a sapient species to go for this method confounds me a bit, as in nature we typically see the more "intelligent" species having fewer offspring with more parental care, so this is somewhat of an dissimilarity and makes me wonder more about the reproductive methods of the wildlife around them too. Especially since we seem to ~swap~ methods partway through after the first stage and the parental instincts only kick in then.

The fact that said aggression is mostly towards other mecha is intriguing, that tells a story there (and might be part of why they leave civilization)

Makes sense makes sense

Interesting that they chose two entirely different routes of thinking in regards to this.

Also robo-toddler paster gives one hell of an image considering this brand of sparkling.

[chialattea]

What will win:

my desire to write DA fics

vs

my seething hatred for medieval stereotypes (“haha they thought bathing was bad!!” “haha their streets were filthy and they threw wastewater out of their windows”)

[moonstandardtime]

i like to imagine that all my chatfics are in the same extended universe. what this implies im not sure

[zorilleerrant]

a @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt

“Ow,” Judge says, convincingly, if a moment too late.

Hephaestion raises an eyebrow as the other man smiles weakly and says, “if I didn’t already know, I’d know now, you’re aware of that, right?”

Judge resists the urge to stare dramatically out the window and shrugs. The shrug is less convincing than the ow, but that’s not something he’s been able to solve so far. “I don’t think most people are paying that close attention.”

“They’re going to if you keep ignoring getting stabbed,” Hephaestion argues. “Trust me. I’ve been doing this longer than you have.”

The moment of indecision expands before him, and Judge wishes going fast would help him decide whether sitting down looks huffy, but if his powers were useful to himself he wouldn’t have them in the first place. “It’s just a needle.”

“Yeah, thinking like that had me grabbing books from three feet away inside a month,” Hephaestion says, and then holds his hands up. “Hey, it’s your secret identity, I’m not telling you how to live your life.”

“You’re constantly telling me how to live my life,” Judge says.

Hephaestion narrows his eyes. “Oh, your superpowers protect you against scurvy now? You want to test that out?”

“I’m not saying that I could –”

“– because I don’t have any kind of healing powers –”

“– if you would just –”

“– sorry for handing you an orange, I guess –”

“Stop leaving needles lying around!” Judge says, holding out the offending needle, bent just slightly out of shape.

Hephaestion mutters at it, distorting it back into shape. “If you’re going to sit at other people’s desks, you need to watch out for stray pins.”

“That’s not an aphorism,” Judge says, eyeing it suspiciously.

“And a good thing, too. If it were you’d probably think it was safe to ignore it,” Hephaestion says, tucking the pin back into his sewing kit. “For all you know, pins are your Achilles heel and that could’ve just killed you.”

“Pins are not my Achilles heel,” Judge says, uncertainly.

Hephaestion glares. “Well. We know that now.”

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven

Adult urban fantasy

follows four witches who were childhood friends

one is high priestess of the secret government department of witches , but the others have grown apart

when a powerful child prophesised to bring evil to the world is found, she’s determined to destroy her, but the others want to protect her

exploring the current climate of transphobia in the UK

[eggbagelz]

I will say tho the little personal scenes with the companions are the best part of the entire game like THAT is why im playing it

[bookwyrminspiration]

i know both are fantasy fiction but you just know when you open a book and see the main characters' name that riverbelle and khaerynis are living fundamentally different lives despite that

[localvoidcat]

i think ive finally decided on an angel josh design i like LETS FUCKIN GOOO

[ban-joey]

man. every time i read the ancillary trilogy i get something new out of it. reading it now knowing im autistic made me really have to acknowledge why i love breq so much, which added a new lens to things, but it also made me deeply appreciate how leckie represents emotions in her work in a character meant to be "unfeeling," where they don't know or can't communicate how they feel and it's up to the reader to interpret this directly through their actions, and by getting to know breq along with everyone else in the story. to the degree that if even breq doesn't know how she feels, a reader up to the task does. that's crazy to me. but also so very.. it's really something else to read pieces of your own experience on the page. it's very rare that science fiction or fantasy shows me a mirror, which is why i keep coming back to leckie's work. one of the most compelling ways to represent the conflicts of personhood is to have the voice be someone or something that's denied that courtesy, and the fact that it resembles real lived human experience isn't an accident. there is so much meat and heart to this character that was built to be controlled, flat, lifeless and incapable of genuine emotion, only to be shattered, and there is something so wonderful about having to do the work as a reader to pick up the pieces. i can't believe there are people on goodreads who "just didn't get it"

[arolesbianism]

I've been passively watching an isat playthrough while twiddling my thumbs in my current oni save as I wait for my new power systems to be done and hey guys. I think one of these bitches is aromantic. Why did no one tell me one of these bitches is aromantic I would have played the game myself if I knew that