#bleak cabal

[tinkerbitch69]

Some ramblings I came up with while thinking about the best faction in D&D’s Planescape: The Bleak Cabal!

If nothing holds meaning, then pain serves no purpose. It doesn’t teach, it doesn’t punish, it doesn’t spur growth or change or redemption. It’s just pain. It just hurts. With no reason to, it just hurts…

So why not try to soothe them? why would you want people to hurt?

[saintrabouin]

The Chant of Sigil : soup kitchen distribution in front of the Gatehouse

[kassil]

Planescape had a point

First, a little bit of explanation for those unaware: Planescape was a setting for 2nd edition AD&D. It is, arguably, one of the most uniquely creative settings ever devised for a D20 system, but that's probably just my love of it and how weird it could get coming through. The important part right now is that it had the Factions - philosophical groups that struggled to manipulate the nature of the multiverse, because belief can alter reality for the Outer Planes.

When it was a new-ish setting and I was deep into it, of course I thought the louder and wilder ones were cool. You know how it is, right? But there was one faction that, these days, absolutely 100% speaks to my very heart - the ominously named Bleak Cabal. You'd expect them to be nihilists with that name, and to a degree they were, but what made them different is that, where everyone else is looking to enforce their philosophy on the multiverse and prove that it's the real truth, the Bleakers looked at everything and went, "Well, doesn't seem to be much of a point to any of this, does there? Hey, buddy, you look hungry, want some soup? And you, gentlefolk, I saw you sleeping in that alley, I've got a spare room you could set up kip in for a bit so you can stay dry."

The Bleakers looked at the multiverse, decided there's no grand meaning or ultimate purposes, and concluded that you should be kind. Everyone's going to be going through the worst of it sooner or later, and it's better to hold out a bowl of hot soup and a warm blanket when they do than it is to mock or belittle them. The world's on fire and in the trash bin, why make it any worse when you don't absolutely have to?

As an elder Millennial, I really like that. The world's on fire and filled with awful things, so why not be kind if you can?

[probablyfunrpgideas]

Planescape Factions by Magic Color

I hope to get some responses on this, because I’m not super familiar with Magic lore. But here’s some of the Planescape organizations - the philosopher gangs and guilds who run Sigil and clash across the multiverse.

The Athar say that the gods aren’t truly divine and should be subject to the same rules as anyone, despite their power. They represent Blue/White with their focus on logic over faith and their organized printing presses and alchemists.

The Believers of the Source say all things are being tested and eventually, with enough determination, we mortals can achieve reincarnation into a higher state. In their foundries, they build tools and vehicles and fine trade goods. They represent Black/Green with the focus on growth and personal development, and the drive to become something new.

The Bleak Cabal says there’s no meaning or purpose to existence, and even accepting this lesson is just a temporary distraction from the endless, hopeless mess. In the Gatehouse, they care for the many poor and unhealthy citizens of Sigil. They represent a very odd flavor of Black/White as they turn their empty lives to a social mission.

The Doomguard say everything is going to end eventually, so why not enjoy the view of all the destruction? They push the entropic process forward by forging all kinds of weapons in the Armory. They exemplify Red/Black in their reckless disregard for the fabric of reality.

If this sparks some interest I will keep it going - there’s fifteen factions, so there might be color overlap between them. And keep in mind, there’s all kinds of alignments and ideals within these groups to inspire NPCs and adventure hooks!

[nomorefstogive]

Our Dearest Sin (Cross Posted on Ao3)

Well, well, well, here we are again ladies, gentlemen, and all things that lie betwixt the two, another rabbit hole to dive headfirst into and another project that will likely not be fully completed till at last we are laid to rest under the cold earth in colder stone. 

This is a trip into the bleak and despair filled world of Path To Nowhere, a land of sinners, Corruptors and Maniacs. A land of Black rings and of shadow Cabals that threaten to upend all there is and all there will be in a vain pursuit of their own goals.

But dear friends, none of these are why we are here.

No, we are here my esteemed comrades to instead indulge in some comfort and fluff, with the occasional sprinkling of angst for extra seasoning here and there, along with the occasional dark and warped and horrifically brutal moments for that extra kick, in the form of some oneshots featuring the wonderful Sinners of this world and the lovely Female Chief of Minos, though we likewise have ideas for a ficlet series with a female OC or reader insert for some of the ideas we have, though that might end up benign adapted for the Chief instead as well, we will have to see. 

A bit of a tidbit before we begin, we are a shameless yuri fan and simp, so expect most of these to be about the ladies of PTN, though the men will likewise get their days in the sun…maybe…probably…okay there is somewhere between a 0.01% and 70.0% chance they will be covered in platonic or friendly manners okay?

As a final note, this fic was inspired by Ota1612’s own Path to Nowhere fic, alongside Prisoner_of_Sin's own fic as well, links will be below this paragraph.

Ota1612’s Fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50373349/chapters/127266175 

Prisoner_of_Sin’s fic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/49781623/chapters/125660485 

That said, this project is something of an experiment in seeing if we can keep each entry below 10k words, that said we do not have much faith in that happening lol. 

With all of that said, let us begin our dive down this rabbit hole shall we?

Please note that you are all free to make use of any of the ideas you see in this story, so long as due credit is given and we are informed about them so that we can see what you have created as well. 

P.S. This Female Chief will be named Persephone, we were originally going to use our own Chief’s name, Lada, but we like the idea of using Persephone as a name for this female Chief a great deal more. 

Now, with all of that said and done, let us begin shall we?

Our first Chapter is devoted to the wonderful topkurorights, featuring Langley and the female Chief, so here we go.

Female Chief Pampering Langley After Work

It came to her slowly, like the slowly spreading venom of a serpent, that thing known as awareness that aimed to pull her forth from the tranquility that she had been savoring despite her valiant attempts to turn and flee from it and retreat into the merciful embrace of that quite dark stillness once more.

Yet in vain were each of her efforts,for no matter how grand and terrible the struggle she raged against it, and no matter how desperately she clawed at the darkness in pursuit of returning to its tranquil embrace, she found herself pulled forth from the safe cocoon of stillness and quiet and into a hazy fog of awakening. 

First to come to her was Touch, and with it there came to her the sensation of warmth gathered beneath her head, a pleasant sensation that seeped into her scalp and made her long to keep her eyes closed for longer still, and one that was made all the more intense by the feather light caress of soothing warmth and silken smoothness that carded across her brow before it dipped to cup her cheek, a softness that put shame to her sheets and blankets and made her long to burrow into its embrace.

Second to come to her awakening senses was Scent, something floral and soothing, a flower, whose name evaded her, and a faintest of hints of lavender, and below it further still was something not quite recognizable to her, something that combined with the floral aroma into something that resonated within her mind as the smell of something dearly beloved and cherished and made her shift to nuzzle closer to the source of it, allowing the soothing smell to ease her once more. 

Third to greet her awakening form was Sound, the distant echo of thunder resounding above the gentle pitter patter of rain, yet neither of these came to her as strongly as a low humming sound that caressed her ears as the gentlest whispers of wind, and yet still it echoed in her ears in a way that nearly drowned out the roar of the thunder and the crack of lightning. 

And at last, there came that moment when she was made to relinquish the soothing blanket of darkness and to wearily open her eyes, her vision foggy with sleep and yet present weariness that yet tried to bid her return to the embrace of the dreaming realm, though still, even with blurred vision, she could make out something that made her heart throb within her chest.

For looking down at her with blue-gray eyes that seemed to shine as they gazed down at her slowly awakening form, a small smile curling the edges of delicate lips as her humming stopped for but a moment as she leaned in, her proximity making Langley close her eyes to avoid getting any of the locks of gray hair that softly tickled her skin in her eyes as lips ever so gently caressed her forehead for a moment longer than a heartbeat. 

The scent of before was heady this close, intoxicating and enthralling, bidding her to close her eyes and nuzzle into the pale neck that lay before her, idly ghosting her own lips over the pulse point that steadily beat below the ever so gentle skin, the taste of the smooth skin making her hum as a low sigh left the lips of the one who now began to pull back from her.

Lowly, and quite pitifully in hindsight, did Langley whimper as she tried to chase the woman that was moving back from her, trying to cox her to lean back in with an unintelligible warble and lidded eyes, her acts making the woman holding her chuckle lightly.

“You are always so adorable when you are sleepy.” There came to her ears these softly chuckled words as the hand that had stilled in its gentle massage of her scalp resumed it caressing, nails lightly caressing her scalp in such a way that Langley felt the desire to close her eyes and savor the sensation once more, only to force herself to remain awake.

“What…what time…what time is it ‘Sephone?” Sleepily and near unintelligibly there came these words from the lips of the Spider of Paradeisos as she tried to sit up, only for a hand to gently place itself on the center of her chest and push her back down to rest her head on what she now knew to be soft thighs, the hand caressing her scalp pausing to tile her head and coax it into nuzzling into her abdomen, an invitation eagerly accepted. 

A low hum left Persephone’s lips as she gently lifted her hand from Langley’s chest and began to softly stroke her neck up to her cheek, her thumb idly putting the slightest bit of pressure on the corner of Langley's lips, after softly caressing them for but a moment, the pressure making Langley part her lips and take the digit into her mouth, the action making Langley let out a low purr of content while a slight sigh of pleasure leave Persephone’s lips.

For a moment longer there was silence as Langley silently enjoyed the scent and warmth of her lover, the additional sensation and taste of her digit in her mouth only serving to further lull her into closing her eyes once more, though she yet stubbornly resisted until at last she heard her lover softly purr to her-

“Time to sleep dear, we don’t have any work today so you can rest a bit longer. So close your eyes and rest, I’ll be here when you wake up.” 

The words yet still lingering in the air, Persephone leaned down and gently placed her lips to Langley’s forehead for a moment, before she softly tilted her head such that she could elan down and gently ghost her lips over Langley’s own  for but a second before she pulled back with a small smile as she saw Langley close her eyes and begin to drift off to sleep once more.

Sighing softly, Persephone tilted her head back and closed her own eyes as she continued softly stroking Langley’s hair, allowing the gentle caress of her lover’s breath against her clothed abdomen to caress her as she began to slowly slip into unconsciousness herself, yet leaving her thumb in Langley’s mouth for her to suckly upon ever so gently as they both got some much deserved rest.

Fin

1,078 Words…Holy Shit that is the shortest thing I have ever written…How in the hell did…you know what? I’m not complaining, I feel that this short little oneshot can be ended here, though if anyone feels otherwise please let me know and I might go back and edit it a bit.

That said, this is but the start of this merry journey, though I feel I must remind you all that I have many other projects I am working on, and as such cannot promise regular or cohesive updates for this fic in the future.

But, with all of that said and done, I hope you all take care and stay safe,

See you in the next chapter.

[thecreaturecodex]

What Planescape Faction would you join?

Read about the factions here if you aren't familiar with Planescape, or need a refresher

[honourablejester]

Factions of Sigil

I’ve been noodling around character options from Sigil and the Outlands (sidenote: I didn’t even hear of this book until it had been out a couple weeks), just out of curiosity. I do like Sigil as a setting, but I just like big fantastic urban settings, and Sigil is an excellent example. I especially like the Hive and Lower Wards and Undersigil, but this will hardly surprise anyone.

I’m browsing the factions of Sigil. The whole defined-by-philosophy is an interesting angle, even if it does feel a little bit Hogwarts-House-y as a player option. But, you know. People like categorising themselves, and I’m likely no exception. So no harm to browse the options, and with that in mind …

I like the Bleakers. Instinctive knee-jerk favourite. First choice of faction, Bleak Cabal. Life has no meaning, so make your own, and generally try to be nice about it. (Yes, I am primarily a cleric player, what about it?). The Bleakers as an organisation offer sanctuary and respite and food and healing for planar maladies or for people who’ve just seen/been through the horrors, and I like them. There’s no grand cause, no greater meaning, so you might as well just help people. Also their home base is in the Hive Ward, which does not detract.

As someone who plays a lot of clerics, and also someone who likes cosmic horror, the Athar are also interesting. The gods are charlatans, because they’re too comprehensible to really be the powers behind something as vast and complicated as the multiverse. Clerics are actually drawing power from unknowable sources, and the deities we know are just taking the credit. That’s … toothy. I could do some stuff with the Defiers, for sure.

The Seekers are also … I mean. Archetypes I like, let’s count them down? It’s funny that the Mind’s Eye and the Bleak Cabal are opposed, but I do enjoy them both. Seekers want to expand their minds and power by constantly seeking and experiencing and learning. Also they make tools for the city, so they pull in the smith archetype, the mad scientist, the iconoclast. Also, becoming a god is a perfectly acceptable goal for a Seeker, as divinity might be one of the steps to your inner truth that you unlock.

The Dusters are … complicated for me. Initially I do quite like them? They have a fair amount in common with the Bleakers, and I also love the undertaker thing, the carers for the dead. That they believe that the multiverse is already an afterlife is fascinating and fun. But the progression, already dead to undead to true death, is where I lose the faction a little bit. Wanting to experience all the facets of death until finally finding true death probably isn’t a character motivation I’d go for myself. I would work for them, but I wouldn’t join them.

I could also noodle around with the Fraternity of Order and the Doomguard. The Fraternity’s rigid legalising isn’t something I’m interested in, but their search for underlying truth via categorisation is, and could make an interesting lawful knowledge seeker. The Doomguard’s cyclical understanding of creation and destruction, what goes up must come down again, plus their access to the smith archetype again, and their bone-and-rust-and-scars aesthetic are all interesting. I could have fun with a Sinker too, I think.

I’m not interested in the Mercykillers, Hands of Havoc, the Fated, or the Transcendent Order. I like that the Society of Sensation exists, but I wouldn’t be part of it. And the Harmonium is … complicated. I feel like it’s a faction where there’s a lot of decent people in it, people that I’d individually like, but ‘peace through might’ as an overriding philosophy is just not one I enjoy.

But. Kneejerk first instincts? Bleaker Life Cleric, Athar Goolock, possibly Fraternity Knowledge Cleric or Doomguard Barbarian.

While we’re in Sigil, though, some random locations and NPCs that I just enjoy:

All of the Hive Ward, I’m greatly enjoying the Hive Ward, but the Grease Pit is just fantastic casual worldbuilding, this fun little alley full of incredibly questionable planar street food. You’ve got a roadkill eatery run by aarakocra, a seafood eatery where you catch your own fish out of an aquatic demiplane, a myconic-operated fungal sandwich shop that sells psychoactive foodstuffs, and a sweet shop run by a faerie dragon and an imp that advertise concoctions ‘sweet enough to rot a lich’s teeth’, among other things. The art has demonic rotisserie shops, yetis selling ice cream, and a mind flayer selling something fried onna stick. It’s fantastic.

All of the Lower Ward also, but Bones of the Night, the cavern library complex of skulls collected by one old dude who uses necromancy (speak with dead) to gain access to their combined knowledge, is definitely a stand-out location. Also the Ditch, Sigil’s one body of water, a horrifying ‘reeking morass’ of corrosive and polluted water and slime (and bodies that have been melted smooth by it), that occasionally runs sweet and clear when a portal opens up and dumps water from a celestial river into it, and everybody in the district bolts down for wash day when this happens.

The Planar Energy Cooperative in the Market Ward is really cool? Founded by archmages from worlds that blew up or were otherwise destroyed due to destructive magic, they run a massive multiversal divination set up to monitor for other worlds that are about to blow themselves up too, and try to siphon magic out of worlds about to go up to stave off destruction. Like. There’s a lot you could do with that, as a concept.

And then Undersigil, all of Undersigil, but the Loop is fantastic. The loop is a closed, circular loop of tunnel that’s only accessed via portal, and if a portal dumps you in here, you can’t get out. And it’s a bit loose from reality, so as you’re running around it in a panic trying to get out, you might see your own back running around a bend ahead of you. It also bends time, so while you were lost in there for ten minutes, you could come out ten thousand years in the future. Or past. Or just sixteen days late. There are also Undersigil factions that know how to navigate it, and use it to telefrag pursuers by running into it, making sure they’re followed, and then running out again and leaving their enemies stuck. Fantastic. Excellent little bit of a thing to stick into your city.

Undersigil also has a hive mind of cranium rats called the Us or the Many-as-One, which is rapidly developing into a neural network that rivals the intellect of a god. So there’s also that. Heh.

I haven’t gotten too far into the Outlands and the Gate Towns yet, but I do like the idea that they’re constantly at risk of being devoured by the planes they’re connected to, so you have to do something ideologically opposed to that plane to keep them in the Outlands. I’m not generally fond of the alignment-based cosmology of D&D, but I do like the idea of people or even an organisation going around being evil in good aligned towns and lawful in chaotic ones not out of any necessary belief in evil or law or good or chaos, but out of pure pragmatism to keep your hometown from being flushed down the planar toilet because it got too extremely one thing or the other. That’d be a great job for a party: your organisation’s whole deal is to be a light in darkness, a dark temptation among virtue, a bastion of law amongst chaos, or a liberating flare amid rigidity, all as required when required, for no ideological reason beyond the physical preservation of your realm.

This is definitely an interesting book.

[delusion-of-negation]

I posted 14,825 times in 2022

984 posts created (7%)

13,841 posts reblogged (93%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@delusion-of-negation

@spaghetticordez

@joey-wheeler-official

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@ace-pervert

I tagged 999 of my posts in 2022

#jokes - 57 posts

#in jest - 57 posts

#youtube - 46 posts

#spotify - 29 posts

#for future reference - 28 posts

#old recipes man my beloved - 22 posts

#long post - 15 posts

#mighty need - 12 posts

#exactly - 7 posts

#tw food - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

we need to move away from almost 100% of positivity posts being "this gets better" "this gets easier" "you'll survive this" and things of that nature. that stuff helps some people and should exist, so don't jump to the conclusion that I'm saying it's bad and shouldn't exist or whatever. but some people actually are terminal, & other people have the kinds of chronic health issues that will get worse or stay this bad, even if not necessarily deadly or not immediately deadly, and for those people it won't get easier and it won't get better and they won't survive it. and I know when making a positivity post, you don't want to be like "well, you're dying but I still want to cheer you up!" because that seems grim to you, but some people actually do need that right now, some people can't relate to your "happy" ideal of everyone getting better and living through this. and I think that's just a symptom of the problem here, we associate dying or being ill forever with misery, with constant bleak emptiness, with simply no joy to be found. that idea is what we need to somehow shift away from. since people who are in the thick of that aren't really capable of changing the entire rest of the world's perception, some of y'all do need to actually make an effort to alter your language, at least some of the time, to include people who won't get better or survive.

525 notes - Posted October 7, 2022

#4

people online will find an obscure fetish page with like two hundred followers that's appropriately tagged, and be like "guys, look at this fetish page!! how dare this exist!! anyone could see this!! imagine if lots of people saw this!! that would be so so terrible!!" to their fifty thousand followers, with absolutely no self-awareness whatsoever.

1,184 notes - Posted July 18, 2022

#3

"less than one percent of the silent generation and two and a half percent of boomers identify as gay, but the youth-"

"that doesn't totally account for-"

aids. aids killed a bunch of them.

"even back when they were young, less identified as-"

it was illegal, sharon.

"you should at least consider social contagion-"

no, because if sexuality were contagious we'd all be straight. there is zero credible scientific evidence that gay is contagious.

"but-"

but nothing. we know what caused the increase - social acceptance and legality and not being dead. sorry it's more boring than your gay cabal spreading the gay theory, but that's the facts. if you're unable to accept that then that's your problem not mine.

2,661 notes - Posted June 16, 2022

#2

you're allowed to be messy, you're allowed to fuck up, you can be emotional and stupid and frantic and confusing and weird and any other embarrassing thing. anyone who makes you feel otherwise, or who makes you feel like you're walking on egg shells, like you're doomed if you slip up, they shouldn't be such a big part of your life.

edit: stop saying "I gotta distance myself from me" you're unfunny and unoriginal. distance yourself from the thoughts, and realise I was making a post supporting people who are being made to feel like shit. including myself. and you're just mocking my attempt to reassure myself and others that we don't deserve that treatment.

2,844 notes - Posted October 15, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

every time I get to skip a queue because I'm disabled, I think back to my one guardian using that as one example of how actually it's marginalised people who are privileged. ma'am, it's because I can't stand up for that long. and it's trans privilege that I once got given vip passes, as the only working gender neutral toilet was in the vip area of the club. ma'am, it's so that I didn't get beaten up. ma'am, it's not a privilege for somebody to do something nice for you that is aiming to circumvent a danger you're subjected to. I can't skip a queue now without thinking "I wonder how many people are bitter that I can do this because they're standing in the cold for an hour", and then I think that the solution to these situations should never be to harm me, it would be to improve the venue's entrance (more metal detectors, etc) and waiting area (cover, places to sit, etc) so that the waiting experience doesn't suck enough to make anybody feel bitter upon seeing someone skip it for the sake of their health. and I don't even ask to skip btw, it's just protocol in a lot of places, and they let those with you skip it too so that you're not separated.

5,885 notes - Posted November 16, 2022

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[northropi]

Worldbuilding Ramblings About Sitting In A Chair In A Car In The Future

As I don't think these ideas are developed enough to put on the * advanced blog * yet, for which I'd also like to have some pictures, I'll go over them here. It's important I get to this fairly quickly because it's sort of part of the "Bible" of background information that leads to me intentionally using terminology I'm normally nitpicky about in weird ways to clear up what has become, in the setting, a pretty ambiguous set of cases, and also knocking out a second bird with this stone in explaining why all the tanks only have one crew member. Plus it's also cool, I think. Today, class, we'll be talking about the roles and terminology of combat and military logistics vehicle operators.

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Let's start off by also clarifying that among what are at this point in the timeline human successor factions there's four big power players in terms of having an industry for designing and procuring heavy equipment on a large scale, as opposed to Freelancers and Scavengers who, while significant, are mostly, well, scavenging stuff, or purchasing it secondhand. These groups are RegMil, Polis, MercNet, and The Other One (there'll be a name eventually).

RegMil is what it sounds like, survivors of the Regular Militaries of the world, holed up in old industrial centers. Polis is in the process of attempting to rebuild the old world in their image. MercNet and The Other One are on broadly good terms but are two sets of Mercenary cabals who snatched a lot of the world's military industrial complex to sustain themselves, at odds with each other because MercNet became, well, the Mercenary Network- and The Other One isn't so much The Other One so much as The Other Groups That Share A Similar Technology And Strategy Base As Distinct From MercNet With The Shared Belief That Assimilating Into MercNet Would Be Bad For Them. Now, what does this all mean up front?

RegMil's unit organization and the technology built to serve it broadly follow the old militaries, and likewise RegMil retains old terminology. A Pilot means the same as it does to us. Polis is broadly the same but with the caveat that They Are Insane. They're a whole oil drum's worth of worms but in short you may be able to scroll down far enough that you'll see this is one of those settings where the superheroes aren't good, and Polis is built around them- using them as symbols of its authority. Its military gives paper tigers a bad name, with equipment essentially made by techbros, designed for photoshoots flying next to the asshole with laser eyes, all in the name of old oligarchs being able to stay above a shattered populace. A lot of the unit organization does change because of this, but Polis is hesitant to divert too far from RegMil's basic approach to combat vehicles.

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And now things get interesting. The Mercenaries, both MercNet and The Other One, have manpower issues. The Other One is still reasonably conventional depending on perspective. Those of you who've been here for a while are likely to remember that a lot of the lore here is retooled from an older pipe dream project that had a different setting.

The Other One's technology broadly carries over from a set of technological factions that were essentially supposed to be for people who like coordinating with friends and had a grimdark flavor.

This is in contrast to MercNet and their forebears being designed around tight coordination being distinctly beneficial but not necessary to the degree that you need to get to know people, and a more bleak-but-not-really-THE-bad-guys flavor, and the thing is in the new setting The Other One is no longer the "bad technological" faction like their forebears were.

MercNet can mostly carry stuff over but I still have a lot to figure out for The Other One, even after the name, to make them work. They've gone from baddies to rivals, and maybe not even rivals so much as the equivalent to the "lancer" archetype in a party. The one thing that I know is going to change for sure is, as said, they had manpower issues as a root cause of their divergence from RegMil- which is the opposite of the issues they had in the old setting, which was very much "we have reserves." By contrast, I'm not sure exactly how to handle The Other One in this setting. I'm thinking some clone/mind uploading shenanigannery where they have the same problem of being expendable but are semi-immortal, giving them gruff, nonchalant personalities and more time as individuals to be characters. Factions of grunts who are getting mulched constantly but are pretty cool with it. If that all sounds like a technical leap, MercNet isn't that much less out there- but let's finish these ones first.

The fact that this all used to be the skeleton for a vidya is probably gonna show here, as a lot of these are set up as explanations for mechanics for groups operating either as tight squads or as multicrew vehicles. Distinctions between Pilots, Drivers, Gunners, etc remain. Basically a person could pick the loadout for a vehicle hull they put together, and if another groups up with them they'll slap their own loadout of a turret onto an available spot, and so on, allowing for quick entries and exits from the group before the vehicle is spawned in- unlike MercNet and indeed RegMil, they just build shit on-site like instantly. Depending on group size and the hull the Driver picked this could go from a one-crew casemate design to a two-crew turreted tank to a three-crew gunner-driver-commander tank with an RCWS and advanced sensors and so on, ending with capital ships with eight crew. Increased brute force and situational awareness, plus the ability to just respawn until infrastructure is destroyed, would balance the three-crew tank fairly well against the one-crew MercNet tank, and maybe I should get to that.

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So if waking up tomorrow realizing you now exist in a disassociated state of being where you're likely to die a hundred times before being killed and seeing that your boss wants to use you to test some new totally ethical chemical weapon on today (you'll make overtime for it, it's fine), you know, all that, if that sound like it has some existential implications, MercNet's approach isn't much far behind.

MercNet realized they lacked manpower, but decided to tackle the issue more directly. They saw things like tanks and ships and many aircraft requiring multiple crew as a massive source of bleed, and so decided they would, at any cost, figure out a way to just put one person into each and have it be just as effective. This happened to work like a charm, and allowed them to essentially take the same approach for entire logistics chains. And finally we get to discuss how a Pilot is driving a tank and a Driver is piloting a plane.

The MercNet key to all this was a neural interface system combined with advanced onboard computers- not quite AI per se but definitely "smart" on some level. This, rather than vehicle type, is what distinguishes the different terms, and it's come to have even deeper implications as this miraculous technology worked its way through their infrastructure. Cybernetically-enhanced vehicle operators could not only run missions alone, but could perform a lot of upfront maintenance alone, using enhanced physical strength to perform jobs that may take several crew members. This often reflects in the layout of the associated vehicles- construction techniques such as larger but fewer joins and fasteners that a strong but imprecise maintainer can go through rapidly, outright trivializing some of the hardest parts of maintenance work. The more precise jobs could be entrusted to engineers who, similarly, could be interfaced with an entire factory of otherwise automated precision machinery, and together, operators could deposit key systems at "deep maintenance" hubs, cycle in a replacement subsystem, and run a mission as the engineers finish their work in what may be a matter of mere hours. They operate stealth bombers like you operate a fucking microwave.

The terminology, accordingly, has shifted- and just in time for the terms around infantry to also shift, as to allow for small drone infantry-esque units to be distinguished from living infantry "Soldiers-" but we're focusing on vehicles.

Drivers are the most basic, logistics and transport runners who operate under low stress and wouldn't be able to do much if stress came to them. They draw generic vehicles from a common motorpool, which they also collectively work to maintain in a relatively conventional manner (offset by these being, like, just fucking cars, so it's not hard), with many of them sharing and little personal connection to any- which is good when they have to dive from the thing and let it roll off and explode if anything goes wrong. Their neural interface system is, uh, not.

Then is an intermediate form, Riders. Riders are sort of infantry-hybrids with a limited neural interface system. This makes it easier to quickly initiate and break a connection, which is good, because they're essentially going to ride a light, semi-expendable vehicle in, and then do their thing on foot, probably having to go back and forth immediately if something happens... And that leads simply enough to EVA Infantry, who use more substantial vehicles with advanced equipment and a somewhat stronger neural interface to work with them, allowing them to go back and forth fluidly at the cost of being compromised at either role.

And finally, Pilots. "Pilot" in this context is reserved for only users of full neural interfaces for vehicles, but is applicable to anyone who is. Cybernetic equipment varies depending on what they pilot. Tank pilots are often built to withstand trauma and possess extra strength to be able to handle repairs on the fly; Aircraft pilots may lack as much strength to conserve weight and life-support requirements, and may be reliant on exoskeletons to perform maintenance duties (which can sometimes be carried on the aircraft, even though that kinda counteracts the advantage of not being heavily-built).

And at this point you may be wondering if this costs them any humanity, which is stupid, that's an arbitrary thing to value. Stability, though, yeah, that's in the gutter. It turns out that when linked to their vehicles, Pilots offload a huge amount of mental processing to the vehicle's computers, and because they tend to spend lots of time with it by necessity, this can quickly turn into a dependency. A Pilot away from their vehicle may struggle to sing the alphabet or add more than two numbers together. That sort of thing. Pilots also become too attached to their vehicles for their own good, on an emotional level. Up until separating out a "core" of the computers that the Pilots could take with them during escape, it was horrifically common for Pilots to simply not bail out. Putting a lot of data into that compact, carry-off core alleviates the mental block around it, because it makes them feel like they saved the vehicle.

And on that grim note, well, this went long. It'll probably be split into articles that link back and forth when I do it for real.

[illusmina]

The opening of director Vincent Grashaw and writer Robert Alan Dilts’s What Josiah Saw (2021) reminded me of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Momentarily beautiful and serene in a way but you know deep down something is about to be wrong. By minute three, I thought I was settling in for a movie about the origin of a very specific type of male evil that is pervasive in American society. What breeds it? Well, poverty for one thing. Alcohol and drug addiction don’t help. Total lack of healthcare and rural infrastructure collapse certainly exacerbate it. But who do these men blame? Women. Politics. Cabals of <insert non-white race here> that sex traffic children in basements of pizza parlors. Basically, anyone who isn’t them or the actual people/corporations responsible for decimating their community. Namely, the oil company that shows up by minute ten and wants all the land. There’s just one problem. One of the properties they have their eye on, local legend has it, is haunted. But the setup is a rope-a-dope. The film ultimately turns in something truly surprising about the secrets we keep and the lies we tell ourselves in order to keep them.

I was sold on reviewing this film by the trailer. When I saw Nick Stahl’s name, I literally squee-d. Nick Stahl is one of those actors I’ve always rooted for. I loved him in Carnivale (HBO) and Sin City (2005), just to name a couple, and years back when he was in the news struggling with serious drug addiction, I was honestly worried we would lose him. But here he is as Eli Graham and I hope to everything it means he is happy, healthy, and back to working consistently—and not so much that the character he plays, a wanton, lost, drug addict was an easy role to take. Stahl’s talent has always shined bright and it is on full display in this performance. Not to be outdone, even Robert Patrick’s hair is drunk during his performance as the perpetually inebriated, broken, titular Josiah Graham. Sure, he chews a little scenery, but goddammit, that’s why I love Robert Patrick. Stahl’s competition goes even deeper than that. The supporting cast is so good, it almost seems like it doesn’t belong. Standouts include Tony Hale (Arrested Development) as Ross Milner, Kelli Garner (Godzilla: King of the Monsters) as Mary Milner, and Jake Weber (Dawn of the Dead) as Boone. One I’ll definitely keep my eye on is Ronnie Gene Blevins who is quietly hilarious as Billy.

The film unfolds across three interconnected chapters. It moves and speaks like a well-written novel with the horror elements peppered in—as if Jim Thompson and Daniel Woodrell baked a cake in Stephen King’s oven—the same one that baked Dolores Claiborne (1995). What, to me, were a few cliché compositions and shots were more than made up for in some really unique and creative sequences. A fight scene in Chapter 2 is a personal favorite. Overall, Chapter 3: Mary May I is probably my favorite. It looks, sounds, and feels like a beautiful homage to The Shining (1980) but, like, if Wendy never took anyone’s shit.

Neo-noir is getting to be more and more difficult of a label for me to use. Given the state of the world, the darker, more hopeless and cynical aspects of noir as a genre in film simply feel at this point like Cinema Verité. So, with this film, dare I coin a new film movement, Cinema Amerité: the American answer to the original French movement which is basically filming horror/noir as if it’s documentary because that’s how hollowed out our daily lives have become. All of us pretending we’re not collectively experiencing various levels of PTSD in a seemingly endless cycle of shock, horror, and despair with no room for healing in a barely wage-livable forty plus-hour work week. Smile at dinner parties. Put up a Live, Laugh, Love sign in the living room. Suffer quietly. But what I always hold on to, and I think the film does to, despite its twist and very bleak conclusion, is remembering the connections we have to each other. Family, friends—even if those connections are strained, or broken, you always have the chance to go home—fix them, maybe. Or, at the very least remind yourself why you’re a fighter still fighting and a survivor still surviving. Stick around for the song running under the credits, “Dynamite Mine” by Murder by Death. It’s great.

[warningsine]

Spontaneous celebrations broke out in Guatemala City: cars sped down the capital’s main boulevard, passengers leaning out of windows and sunroofs, yelling in pure delight. But the source of all the joy and all the flag-waving on this Sunday evening in August wasn’t football – it was politics.

Bernardo Arévalo, a 65-year-old academic, whose unassuming personality marks him out from many other Latin American leaders, had just been named Guatemala’s president-elect. “Thank you for not losing hope,” he told a cheering crowd from the balcony of the hotel where his young, centre-left party, Movimiento Semilla (Seed Movement), had learned of its election victory.

Over the turbulent months that followed, however, Guatemala’s democracy has remained on the brink. Fearing Semilla’s anti-graft pledges, the country’s political, economic and military cabal, known as “the pact of the corrupt”, has tried to stop Arévalo from taking power. Prosecutors seized ballot papers from the electoral authorities and brought spurious court cases with the aim of annulling the election results.

But, so far at least, nothing has stuck, and Arévalo, whose father served as Guatemala’s first democratically elected president between 1945 and 1951, is due be sworn in as the Central American country’s new leader on Sunday. Although many political analysts believe the transfer of power will go ahead as planned, it remains possible that his opponents will try to prevent the inauguration at the 11th hour.

What makes the anti-corruption campaigner’s rise so remarkable is that it came against the backdrop of democratic backsliding in the country. This accelerated in the years after 2015, when a nationwide protest movement forced the resignation of then president Otto Pérez Molina over a corruption scandal. The optimism it brought, however, was quickly shattered by the governments of Jimmy Morales and Alejandro Giammattei, under whose watch the country’s institutions rapidly deteriorated.

“Institutionally, Guatemala is a country in ruins,” said Edgar Ortiz, a political analyst and lawyer, who believes the recent regression is the worst seen since the end of the Guatemalan civil war in 1996. “The country’s freedom and democracy regressed more in the last three years than they did in the previous 25.”

Ahead of the first round of the 2023 elections, the situation appeared bleak. The justice system continued to be a tool through which the powerful could attack their opponents, as illustrated by the six-year prison sentence given to the prominent journalist José Rubén Zamora in June. And the electoral playing field was unequal, with three high-profile, anti-system presidential candidates barred from competing on dubious grounds.

Arévalo was allowed to remain on the ballot paper because he was polling so badly. Then, in the run-up to the first-round vote in June, popular discontent unexpectedly coalesced around Semilla’s promise to clean up politics. Arévalo finished second, qualifying him for August’s runoff against the ex-first lady Sandra Torres, which he won by a landslide.

“Arévalo is a glitch in the matrix. Because at the end of the day, when people are angry and desperate, they vote for a Nayib Bukele, for a Javier Milei, for populists like them,” said Ortiz, referring to the leaders of El Salvador and Argentina. “They don’t usually vote for a Bernardo Arévalo – a sixtysomething-year-old sociologist.”

Reflecting on Semilla’s unlikely win, Marielos Chang, a political scientist, told the Guardian: “Arévalo did not have the blessing of the political system, nor the blessing of the economic elite, nor the blessing of the traditional media channels.”

Semilla’s triumph was, above all, down to the support of young urban voters, who successfully encouraged their relatives to back Arévalo. For Chang, the significance of the 2023 election results went far beyond the endorsement of one man and his cash-strapped party. “It represented a victory for Guatemalan citizens against the system,” she said.

Guatemalans were also alive to the need to protect democracy after the elections. Most notably, Indigenous leaders organised weeks of protest in which roads were blocked across the country, calling for the resignation of María Consuelo Porras, the attorney general whose ministry has led unsuccessful attempts to ban Semilla, and to strip Arévalo and his deputy, Karin Herrera, of their political immunity. (Porras remains in her post.)

The other main democratic bulwark has been the international community. In December, the US sanctioned Miguel Martínez, a close Giammattei ally, for corruption, sending a warning signal to those seeking to impede Arévalo. Washington then announced visa restrictions for more than 100 Guatemalan politicians, after they supported a budget designed to kneecap the incoming Arévalo government.

Not that such actions have entirely stopped legal efforts against Semilla and others. On Thursday – three days before the inauguration – police arrested the former interior minister Napoleón Barrientos at the instigation of the MP. He is accused of failing to follow a court’s order to dismantle pro-democracy protests in October. Barrientos said publicly at the time that he preferred to use dialogue rather than force.

If Arévalo takes power on Sunday without a hitch, he has the protesters and the sanctions to thank. His next challenge will be how to govern with only 23 of the Guatemalan congress’s 160 seats, and how to weather the inevitable moves to hobble him by the “pact of the corrupt”. He has been honest that he can only do so much in the single term allotted to every Guatemalan president, but he says he is confident that he can start to rebuild the country.

Guatemalans at home and abroad will watch on in expectation. Juan Francisco Sandoval, a senior anti-corruption prosecutor forced into exile in 2021, said: “Four years is very little time, and it will be very difficult for Semilla. But I believe that there is at least the possibility of stopping the actions that have suffocated Guatemala’s democratic institutions.”

[anthonybialy]

Policy of Errors

Claiming everyone else gets everything wrong is just another error.  The worst violators are mad about misinformation and don’t even have a sense of humor about irony.  People who never get anything right failing to smirk about it is not even the worst part.  Noting what they do believe here in reality hurts feelings and causes, which is sufficient proof for them.

Every single hoax confirms the liberal worldview.  Those are a fun few days for true believers. Trifling details like accuracy are for the intolerant.  Noting the constant stream of hate crimes in contemporary America is backed up about everything but the facts.  The feeling is what motivates Democrats, as it sure isn’t results.  Guardians against fascist racists are still convinced a MAGA Hate Squad is roaming Red State hive Chicago.  Jussie Smollett was attacked by everything but attackers.

Every charge against cops is believed by those who don’t believe any against criminals.  It only seems backward if you believe the entire criminal justice system is a farce designed to oppress the underprivileged.  

Overwrought liberals act reflexively in a way they claim those they impugn do.  It’s surely not the first time they think everyone else holds the same bleak personality characteristics they actually do.  Meanwhile, their belief system causes the problems they claim to remedy.  Proclaiming cops do bad makes stopping actual abuse harder.  It’s not the first time incentives go haywire because those who don’t grasp them encourage perverse ones.

Sneak in if you want to be treated like royalty.  Border sob stories reflect how Democrats only have sympathy for people in America who aren’t allowed to be here.  Uncannily, the pattern is the same with legal criminals.  The few things retailers manage to stock get stolen.

Foes of mean arrests and prosecutions enjoy acting like shoplifting is no big deal and just a way of coping with poverty, anyway.  You don’t want children to starve, do you?  Everyone struggles to make sure minors get enough calories during the era of Bidenomics.

The president’s grifting crackhead brat has to rip off others: how else would he make money in Dad’s economy?  Genetics indicate there are no useful skills no matter where one climbs the family tree.  Hunter Biden is just like his dad, and they both think they’re being complimented.  That bit where he was caught establishing a new standard for corruption showed us a lot about his defenders, too.

Eager suppressors assured us they were protecting the world against falsehoods as they violated the concept of open speech to promulgate one.  You’re now free to tweet regarding the scandal about the scandal.

Don’t be racist by noting the commie cabal which inflicts horrors upon citizens and the rest of the world as policy is responsible for what it did.  Chinese despots have to pretend China behaved.  I’m unsure what excuse Americans excusing a monstrous regime have. Are they ideological allies, bravely fearful that legitimate criticism will provoke bullies, or unable to distinguish between ethnicity and autocracy?  The answer doesn’t matter when the options are all repulsive.

The lengths America’s noisiest homegrown critics will go to defend a particularly appalling tyranny couldn’t serve as a more blatant example.  Perhaps those indignant on behalf of schemingly incompetent commies who infected the world are secretly admire the control of information in defiance of alleged absolute truth.

Gender is a whim.  Believe it or get treated like a witch.  Complicating the simplest observations is the cause of those most opposed to how things are.  Foes of the rather easy way to determine who’s a male or female are surely as dedicated to evidence on other issues.  Fanatical practitioners smugly announce they believe in science, which is the least scientific notion possible.

The presumption government will help can safely be classified as misguided.  It’s been disproven consistently enough that we can call it a lie if we’re feeling less generous.  The excuse of ignorance means not knowing a thing about current events, which is sadly likely among those whose reply to regrettable news about their ideology is “Fox News!”  Wondering what possible evidence could be on the side that figures every interaction requires political guidance is irrelevant, as they’ve made up their minds.

Those who get everything wrong are deeply concerned that you’re spreading lies.  The First Amendment’s whole point is that we can sort it out ourselves, which frightens control freaks who neither tolerate differing opinions nor challenges to what they risibly deem cold cases.  Jittery censors don’t believe in any sort of open market or natural right, and consistency is not always admirable.

Controlling alleged hate speech means anyone who disagrees.  There’s an ulterior reason just like everything else woke sputterers claim, namely that they’re as disconnected from the truth as they are productivity.

Psychological projection is the only productive liberal industry.  Business sadly thrives.  Making a show of calling everyone else a fibber is intended to distract from their own bouts with truth.  Robbers call tip lines blaming others.  I’m sure investigators will be thrown off by the blatant distraction.

If you didn’t want coercion with the sheen of legality, you should have thought about that before being bossed around.  A politician should decide everything except if babies get to be born, according to those obsessed with accuracy.  Lecturing about biology while averting their eyes from sonograms is merely the most egregious hypocrisy by those who commit sins they accuse everyone else of transgressions.  Everyone else is a phony, according to the most prominent examples.

[geyfrog]

test again

Five Letter Words For Wordle Words

Wordle Words List Starting With A

aback abase abate abbey abbot abhor abide abled abode abort about above abuse abyss acorn acrid actor acute adage adapt adept admin admit adobe adopt adore adorn adult affix afire afoot afoul after again agape agate agent agile aging aglow agony agree ahead aider aisle alarm album alert algae alibi alien align alike alive allay alley allot allow alloy aloft alone along aloof aloud alpha altar alter amass amaze amber amble amend amiss amity among ample amply amuse angel anger angle angry angst anime ankle annex annoy annul anode antic anvil aorta apart aphid aping apnea apple apply apron aptly arbor ardor arena argue arise armor aroma arose array arrow arson artsy ascot ashen aside askew assay asset atoll atone attic audio audit augur aunty avail avert avian avoid await awake award aware awash awful awoke axial axiom axion azure

Wordle Words List Starting With B

bacon badge badly bagel baggy baker baler balmy banal banjo barge baron basal basic basil basin basis baste batch bathe baton batty bawdy bayou beach beady beard beast beech beefy befit began begat beget begin begun being belch belie belle belly below bench beret berry berth beset betel bevel bezel bible bicep biddy bigot bilge billy binge bingo biome birch birth bison bitty black blade blame bland blank blare blast blaze bleak bleat bleed bleep blend bless blimp blind blink bliss blitz bloat block bloke blond blood bloom blown bluer bluff blunt blurb blurt blush board boast bobby boney bongo bonus booby boost booth booty booze boozy borax borne bosom bossy botch bough boule bound bowel boxer brace braid brain brake brand brash brass brave bravo brawl brawn bread break breed briar bribe brick bride brief brine bring brink briny brisk broad broil broke brood brook broom broth brown brunt brush brute buddy budge buggy bugle build built bulge bulky bully bunch bunny burly burnt burst bused bushy butch butte buxom buyer bylaw

Wordle Words List Starting With C

cabal cabby cabin cable cacao cache cacti caddy cadet cagey cairn camel cameo canal candy canny canoe canon caper caput carat cargo carol carry carve caste catch cater catty caulk cause cavil cease cedar cello chafe chaff chain chair chalk champ chant chaos chard charm chart chase chasm cheap cheat check cheek cheer chess chest chick chide chief child chili chill chime china chirp chock choir choke chord chore chose chuck chump chunk churn chute cider cigar cinch circa civic civil clack claim clamp clang clank clash clasp class clean clear cleat cleft clerk click cliff climb cling clink cloak clock clone close cloth cloud clout clove clown cluck clued clump clung coach coast cobra cocoa colon color comet comfy comic comma conch condo conic copse coral corer corny couch cough could count coupe court coven cover covet covey cower coyly crack craft cramp crane crank crash crass crate crave crawl craze crazy creak cream credo creed creek creep creme crepe crept cress crest crick cried crier crime crimp crisp croak crock crone crony crook cross croup crowd crown crude cruel crumb crump crush crust crypt cubic cumin curio curly curry curse curve curvy cutie cyber cycle cynic

Wordle Words List Starting With D

daddy daily dairy daisy dally dance dandy datum daunt dealt death debar debit debug debut decal decay decor decoy decry defer deign deity delay delta delve demon demur denim dense depot depth derby deter detox deuce devil diary dicey digit dilly dimly diner dingo dingy diode dirge dirty disco ditch ditto ditty diver dizzy dodge dodgy dogma doing dolly donor donut dopey doubt dough dowdy dowel downy dowry dozen draft drain drake drama drank drape drawl drawn dread dream dress dried drier drift drill drink drive droit droll drone drool droop dross drove drown druid drunk dryer dryly duchy dully dummy dumpy dunce dusky dusty dutch duvet dwarf dwell dwelt dying

Wordle Words List Starting With E

eager eagle early earth easel eaten eater ebony eclat edict edify eerie egret eight eject eking elate elbow elder elect elegy elfin elide elite elope elude email embed ember emcee empty enact endow enema enemy enjoy ennui ensue enter entry envoy epoch epoxy equal equip erase erect erode error erupt essay ester ether ethic ethos etude evade event every evict evoke exact exalt excel exert exile exist expel extol extra exult eying

Wordle Words List Starting With F

fable facet faint fairy faith false fancy fanny farce fatal fatty fault fauna favor feast fecal feign fella felon femme femur fence feral ferry fetal fetch fetid fetus fever fewer fiber ficus field fiend fiery fifth fifty fight filer filet filly filmy filth final finch finer first fishy fixer fizzy fjord flack flail flair flake flaky flame flank flare flash flask fleck fleet flesh flick flier fling flint flirt float flock flood floor flora floss flour flout flown fluff fluid fluke flume flung flunk flush flute flyer foamy focal focus foggy foist folio folly foray force forge forgo forte forth forty forum found foyer frail frame frank fraud freak freed freer fresh friar fried frill frisk fritz frock frond front frost froth frown froze fruit fudge fugue fully fungi funky funny furor furry fussy fuzzy

Wordle Words List Starting With G

gaffe gaily gamer gamma gamut gassy gaudy gauge gaunt gauze gavel gawky gayer gayly gazer gecko geeky geese genie genre ghost ghoul giant giddy gipsy girly girth given giver glade gland glare glass glaze gleam glean glide glint gloat globe gloom glory gloss glove glyph gnash gnome godly going golem golly gonad goner goody gooey goofy goose gorge gouge gourd grace grade graft grail grain grand grant grape graph grasp grass grate grave gravy graze great greed green greet grief grill grime grimy grind gripe groan groin groom grope gross group grout grove growl grown gruel gruff grunt guard guava guess guest guide guild guile guilt guise gulch gully gumbo gummy guppy gusto gusty gypsy

Wordle Words List Starting With H

habit hairy halve handy happy hardy harem harpy harry harsh haste hasty hatch hater haunt haute haven havoc hazel heady heard heart heath heave heavy hedge hefty heist helix hello hence heron hilly hinge hippo hippy hitch hoard hobby hoist holly homer honey honor horde horny horse hotel hotly hound house hovel hover howdy human humid humor humph humus hunch hunky hurry husky hussy hutch hydro hyena hymen hyper

Wordle Words List Starting With I

icily icing ideal idiom idiot idler idyll igloo iliac image imbue impel imply inane inbox incur index inept inert infer ingot inlay inlet inner input inter intro ionic irate irony islet issue itchy ivory

Wordle Words List Starting With J

jaunt jazzy jelly jerky jetty jewel jiffy joint joist joker jolly joust judge juice juicy jumbo jumpy junta junto juror

Wordle Words List Starting With K

kappa karma kayak kebab khaki kinky kiosk kitty knack knave knead kneed kneel knelt knife knock knoll known koala krill

Wordle Words List Starting With L

label labor laden ladle lager lance lanky lapel lapse large larva lasso latch later lathe latte laugh layer leach leafy leaky leant leapt learn lease leash least leave ledge leech leery lefty legal leggy lemon lemur leper level lever libel liege light liken lilac limbo limit linen liner lingo lipid lithe liver livid llama loamy loath lobby local locus lodge lofty logic login loopy loose lorry loser louse lousy lover lower lowly loyal lucid lucky lumen lumpy lunar lunch lunge lupus lurch lurid lusty lying lymph lyric

Wordle Words List Starting With M

macaw macho macro madam madly mafia magic magma maize major maker mambo mamma mammy manga mange mango mangy mania manic manly manor maple march marry marsh mason masse match matey mauve maxim maybe mayor mealy meant meaty mecca medal media medic melee melon mercy merge merit merry metal meter metro micro midge midst might milky mimic mince miner minim minor minty minus mirth miser missy mocha modal model modem mogul moist molar moldy money month moody moose moral moron morph mossy motel motif motor motto moult mound mount mourn mouse mouth mover movie mower mucky mucus muddy mulch mummy munch mural murky mushy music musky musty myrrh

Wordle Words List Starting With N

nadir naive nanny nasal nasty natal naval navel needy neigh nerdy nerve never newer newly nicer niche niece night ninja ninny ninth noble nobly noise noisy nomad noose north nosey notch novel nudge nurse nutty nylon nymph

Wordle Words List Starting With O

oaken obese occur ocean octal octet odder oddly offal offer often olden older olive ombre omega onion onset opera opine opium optic orbit order organ other otter ought ounce outdo outer outgo ovary ovate overt ovine ovoid owing owner oxide ozone

Wordle Words List Starting With P

paddy pagan paint paler palsy panel panic pansy papal paper parer parka parry parse party pasta paste pasty patch patio patsy patty pause payee payer peace peach pearl pecan pedal penal pence penne penny perch peril perky pesky pesto petal petty phase phone phony photo piano picky piece piety piggy pilot pinch piney pinky pinto piper pique pitch pithy pivot pixel pixie pizza place plaid plain plait plane plank plant plate plaza plead pleat plied plier pluck plumb plume plump plunk plush poesy point poise poker polar polka polyp pooch poppy porch poser posit posse pouch pound pouty power prank prawn preen press price prick pride pried prime primo print prior prism privy prize probe prone prong proof prose proud prove prowl proxy prude prune psalm pubic pudgy puffy pulpy pulse punch pupil puppy puree purer purge purse pushy putty pygmy

Wordle Words List Starting With Q

quack quail quake qualm quark quart quash quasi queen queer quell query quest queue quick quiet quill quilt quirk quite quota quote quoth

Wordle Words List Starting With R

rabbi rabid racer radar radii radio rainy raise rajah rally ralph ramen ranch randy range rapid rarer raspy ratio ratty raven rayon razor reach react ready realm rearm rebar rebel rebus rebut recap recur recut reedy refer refit regal rehab reign relax relay relic remit renal renew repay repel reply rerun reset resin retch retro retry reuse revel revue rhino rhyme rider ridge rifle right rigid rigor rinse ripen riper risen riser risky rival river rivet roach roast robin robot rocky rodeo roger rogue roomy roost rotor rouge rough round rouse route rover rowdy rower royal ruddy ruder rugby ruler rumba rumor rupee rural rusty

Wordle Words List Starting With S

sadly safer saint salad sally salon salsa salty salve salvo sandy saner sappy sassy satin satyr sauce saucy sauna saute savor savoy savvy scald scale scalp scaly scamp scant scare scarf scary scene scent scion scoff scold scone scoop scope score scorn scour scout scowl scram scrap scree screw scrub scrum scuba sedan seedy segue seize semen sense sepia serif serum serve setup seven sever sewer shack shade shady shaft shake shaky shale shall shalt shame shank shape shard share shark sharp shave shawl shear sheen sheep sheer sheet sheik shelf shell shied shift shine shiny shire shirk shirt shoal shock shone shook shoot shore shorn short shout shove shown showy shrew shrub shrug shuck shunt shush shyly siege sieve sight sigma silky silly since sinew singe siren sissy sixth sixty skate skier skiff skill skimp skirt skulk skull skunk slack slain slang slant slash slate sleek sleep sleet slept slice slick slide slime slimy sling slink sloop slope slosh sloth slump slung slunk slurp slush slyly smack small smart smash smear smell smelt smile smirk smite smith smock smoke smoky smote snack snail snake snaky snare snarl sneak sneer snide sniff snipe snoop snore snort snout snowy snuck snuff soapy sober soggy solar solid solve sonar sonic sooth sooty sorry sound south sower space spade spank spare spark spasm spawn speak spear speck speed spell spelt spend spent sperm spice spicy spied spiel spike spiky spill spilt spine spiny spire spite splat split spoil spoke spoof spook spool spoon spore sport spout spray spree sprig spunk spurn spurt squad squat squib stack staff stage staid stain stair stake stale stalk stall stamp stand stank stare stark start stash state stave stead steak steal steam steed steel steep steer stein stern stick stiff still stilt sting stink stint stock stoic stoke stole stomp stone stony stood stool stoop store stork storm story stout stove strap straw stray strip strut stuck study stuff stump stung stunk stunt style suave sugar suing suite sulky sully sumac sunny super surer surge surly sushi swami swamp swarm swash swath swear sweat sweep sweet swell swept swift swill swine swing swirl swish swoon swoop sword swore sworn swung synod syrup

Wordle Words List Starting With T

tabby table taboo tacit tacky taffy taint taken taker tally talon tamer tango tangy taper tapir tardy tarot taste tasty tatty taunt tawny teach teary tease teddy teeth tempo tenet tenor tense tenth tepee tepid terra terse testy thank theft their theme there these theta thick thief thigh thing think third thong thorn those three threw throb throw thrum thumb thump thyme tiara tibia tidal tiger tight tilde timer timid tipsy titan tithe title toast today toddy token tonal tonga tonic tooth topaz topic torch torso torus total totem touch tough towel tower toxic toxin trace track tract trade trail train trait tramp trash trawl tread treat trend triad trial tribe trice trick tried tripe trite troll troop trope trout trove truce truck truer truly trump trunk truss trust truth tryst tubal tuber tulip tulle tumor tunic turbo tutor twang tweak tweed tweet twice twine twirl twist twixt tying

Wordle Words List Starting With U

udder ulcer ultra umbra uncle uncut under undid undue unfed unfit unify union unite unity unlit unmet unset untie until unwed unzip upper upset urban urine usage usher using usual usurp utile utter

Wordle Words List Starting With V

vague valet valid valor value valve vapid vapor vault vaunt vegan venom venue verge verse verso verve vicar video vigil vigor villa vinyl viola viper viral virus visit visor vista vital vivid vixen vocal vodka vogue voice voila vomit voter vouch vowel vying

Wordle Words List Starting With W

wacky wafer wager wagon waist waive waltz warty waste watch water waver waxen weary weave wedge weedy weigh weird welch welsh whack whale wharf wheat wheel whelp where which whiff while whine whiny whirl whisk white whole whoop whose widen wider widow width wield wight willy wimpy wince winch windy wiser wispy witch witty woken woman women woody wooer wooly woozy wordy world worry worse worst worth would wound woven wrack wrath wreak wreck wrest wring wrist write wrong wrote wrung wryly

Wordle Words List Starting With Y

yacht yearn yeast yield young youth

Wordle Words List Starting With Z

zebra zesty zonal

Everyone is always saying this

[empire-of-thieves]

Bleak Cabal Nihilist NPC

And now, a break from my series of AI-focused posts. Here is a NPC cultist new to the Empire of Thieves. The Bleak Cabal nihilist comes from the Planescape setting, but you may detect some Big Lebowski sass about them. This is a NPC for the Fantasy Grounds VTT.

[thvndersnow]

@fiirecracker says ;;

❝ do you think we fight hopeless wars? ❞ // julia @ cayde

cayde lifts his stylus to his mouth and chews on the end of it thoughtfully, staring down at his work tablet as he mulls over the titan’s words. it’s a hard question to respond to; harder still since it’s firecracker. but he owes her his thoughts, he thinks, and when he looks back up at her, his optics are soft.

“hopeless? i can see why it might feel that way. with everything that’s been happening, it feels like every time we slap one guy down, three more stand up. after a while, that starts to wear on people. especially the people on the front line.

“but… no. no, i don’t think it’s hopeless, firecracker. can’t think it’s hopeless, neither. i mean, shit, look at all the good that’s happened since my little near-death experience. alliances with the cabal and the fallen? ten years ago, i’d have pistol whipped someone if they’d even brought up the idea. no, see, things are looking bleak, but in all that bleakness, people are coming together.

“that’s gotta mean something, right?”

[forcedneutrality]

                                                                                                           [Atmosphere]

"Ya are a bleaker long before ya ever join the Cabal." "That's why we turn people away. It's... not somethin' ya do willingly." "It's somethin' ya need."

Odette stared at her hands, the flicker of hearth's flame seeming to emblazon each physical mar of flesh and every threaded scar that graced bronze palms and lay claim to slender digits. Hands that had seen too much, done too much... or not enough. Bronzed digits bore the brunt of her necessary sin, the faint threading of blade-thin tracks weaving their way upward toward her knuckles where deeper gashes marked their territory. When she looked at her hands, all Odette saw was the weight of her decisions; past, present and future. Now, they shook. Jittered. Amir's words rung quietly in her mind; a voice in the void. She had known, of course, that she was slipping. Yet, it was this knowledge, this lack of understanding untempered by uncertainty, that she'd sought out friend and Bleaker. It was in these moments, she had teetered on the precipice between tearing apart everything she knew and simply fading away. These moments, in which she had lost the will to continue. There was a war that had waged within the woman, a turbulent tide turned stormy to crash upon the shore of reason lost amidst the rocky outcrop of frustration and despair. Cycle after cycle, things spiraled further and further out of control. Scarred hands stood as testament to times past; hands that had toiled at sea. Hands that had plucked the strings of lute and raised stein in bawdy toast many a time. Hands that had scraped at caved stonework in Festhall bombing, fell motionless in wake of public suicide, grasped rarest of rapier, mopped blood in the Weary Spirit, shed skin and made to dance in skeletal ritual of self. Hands that had shriveled and burned in the final moments of a dying prime, drawn passionately over masculine flesh, grasped goblet in Arborea, set fire in Temple of the Abyss, delivered Godsman to Abyssal throne, sacrificed fingers in the shred of mimir's maw. Hands that had torn open portals in search. Hands that could only carry so much before they broke and shattered.

"Ya are already walkin' it." He looks down to her, his tone soft - almost sad. "Whether ya claim ta be one or not."

The mercenary, once sailor, had been trying to find reason in a place devoid of it. She was butter, scraped over too much bread. A rock amidst a sea of chaos, chipped and broken. The constant grueling grind of survival cycle after cycle. The recent awaken of Somnos only seemed to prove this further, cloak and dagger driving wedge enough to allow only the barest trickle of information that would sate thirst to aid. To be more than helpless. It was single card placed on table, when once whole hand would be shared. The meddle in that which they had to right to meddle in, let alone deign outcome. Yet, it was not the be all and end all of downward spiral. Tarnished disavowal, Indep instigate of bloodshed, disregard of deader's warning, deflection of truth, shatter of given word, enlighten of propinquity. Each played their part at the behest of lips, paws, fingers and maw that were familiar to she. It was an all too common tale that passed the lips of those exposed to worlds beyond their own. For some, it was instantaneous. Clueless cutters, cagestruck to the point of being unable to grasp what lay at their feet and beyond. For others the eventual knowledge of lacking impact came with experience. Repetition. A burden that took its toll with each near-death experience, be it of self or loved one. Odette Vieuxpont was of the latter. Mortal, and not immune to the limitations of the human mind. Time, however, had not been kind. Circumstance, had not been kind. The vapor helped, at times, but she wasn't stupid enough to be dependent on it. Yet, there remained expectancy to perform regardless. To stand tall as pillar of strength and support. Unshakable. Unbreakable. And, she had done so. For a time.

"Cabal gives ya access ta meds ya might need, and the Mad Bleaker Ward. They're adept at dealin' with... psychotic breaks. Which ya will experience."

Hands. They held her attention anew; digits curling to pluck invisible string in subconscious recollection of some event or another. The 'emptying', as Amir had put it, had already begun. It was not a term he used lightly. True, Odette had recognized her growing inability to cope; lashing out in frustration for the lacking common sense of peers in action that was every bit as much a subtle cry for help as it was the drive of those from her for same reason. This was nothing compared to the constancy of exhaustion that seemed nigh inescapable. Perhaps, if she'd spoken up sooner. Perhaps if she'd done things differently. No. The time for needless questioning of the unchangeable had passed. Anger faded, frustration ebbed, judgement ceased. There was only the present. A present in which she had picked up the shards of what remained and delivered them to the palms of treasured friend; submitting to Gatehouse in search of answers from those whom had none. The results were both confronting and unexpected, but with them... so too came a measure of peace. The elf never made such recommendations. Ever. And yet, in some small way, her fate was already sealed. With it, however, came need of decision and thought. The path was one she'd already been walking, pointed out, regardless of whether or not badge clung to cloak. It would not be an easy one, but when had it ever been? The Cabal, however, could and would provide haven for the years ahead. In the meantime, there was nothing to be done about gods. Or fey. Whatever aid could be rendered would not come from outside, but from within. The ease of what could be eased in the pass of time and the search of self.

"It's hard fer 'em ta understand what ya feelin'. They can't grasp it. It's outside their boundary. They come up with these illusions... the way they want things ta be. Ya startin' ta see it for what it is. It's not somethin' ya fix. It's somethin' ya accept, and learn ta cope with.”

[An old piece of writing from Odette’s early days in the Bleak Cabal, two years into her story. Amir’s character belongs to Theorem of Neutrality.]