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dwellordream · 3 years

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“...While on his travels Augustus would have continued to be preoccupied with the old issue of what would happen after his death. He had clearly demonstrated at the time of his departure that he could not manage without Marcus Agrippa, married at the time to Marcella, Octavia’s daughter. Agrippa now divorced her (her compensation was to be married to Iullus Antonius, the son of Antony and Fulvia), so as to be free in 21 to marry the widowed Julia. Plutarch says that this marriage came about through Octavia’s machinations and that she prevailed upon Augustus to accept the idea. It is not clear what her motives would have been.

If we are to believe Seneca we might see pure spite. He claimed that Octavia hated Livia after the death of Marcellus because the hopes of the imperial house passed now to Livia’s sons. This could well be no more than speculation, and Seneca does not even hint at any specific action by Octavia against her supposed rival. The whole story sounds typically Senecan in its denigration of dead individuals who are easy targets. Once again, we are told nothing about Livia’s reaction to the marriage. She might not have been able to object to the earlier marriage between Julia and Augustus’ nephew Marcellus, but in 21 the situation was different. Her older son, Tiberius, who was not yet married, had been passed over in favour of an outsider to the family.

But whatever his sense of obligation to his wife, Augustus probably felt that he had little choice in the matter. Agrippa’s earlier reaction to having to take second place to Marcellus, a blood relative of Augustus, would have provided a good hint to Augustus of how his friend would have taken to playing second string to Tiberius. Agrippa was now a key figure in the governing of Rome. He was not a man to be provoked. If Livia had been entertaining hopes that this early stage of a preeminent role for either of her sons (and such a suggestion, while reasonable, is totally speculative), such hopes would have faded with the birth of two sons to Julia and Agrippa.

Gaius Caesar was born in 20 bc, and, as if to confirm the line, a second son, Lucius Caesar, arrived in 17. Augustus was delighted, and soon after Lucius’ birth signalled his ultimate intentions by adopting both boys. He thus might envisage himself as being ‘‘succeeded’’ by Agrippa, who would in turn be succeeded by either Gaius and Lucius, who were, in a sense, sons of both men. In late 16 bc Augustus set out on an extended trip to Gaul and Spain, where he established a number of veteran settlements. Livia may have accompanied him. Dio does report speculation that the emperor went away so as to be able to conduct his affair with Terentia, the wife of his close confidant Maecenas, in a place where it would not attract gossip.

Even if the rumours were well founded, the implication need not necessarily follow that he had left Livia behind. Livia had a reputation as a femme complaisante, and Augustus may simply have wanted to get away from the prying eyes of the capital. Certainly at one stage Livia intervened with Augustus to argue for the grant of citizenship to a Gaul, and this trip provides the best context. Moreover, Seneca dates a famous incident to this trip, Livia’s plea on behalf of the accused Gaius Cornelius Cinna. It could well be that Seneca misdated the Cinna episode, but he at any rate clearly believed that Livia had been in Gaul with her husband at the relevant time.

…Agrippa lived to see the birth of two other children, his daughters Julia and Agrippina. The first (born about 19 bc) is the namesake of her mother, and, in the historical tradition, cut from the same cloth; the second was to be somewhat eclipsed in the same tradition by her own daughter and namesake, the mother of the last Julio-Claudian emperor, Nero. Agrippa thus became the natural father of four of Augustus’ grandchildren during his lifetime (a fifth would be born posthumously), and his stock rose higher with each event. He had served his princeps well, and could now take his final exit. In 13 he campaigned in the Balkans. At the end of the season he returned to Italy, where he fell ill, and in mid-March, 12 bc, he died.

His body was brought to Rome, where it was given a magnificent burial, and the remains were deposited in the Mausoleum of Augustus, even though Agrippa had earlier booked himself another site in the Campus Martius. In the following year Octavia died. She is celebrated by the sources as a paragon of every human virtue, whose only possible failings had been the forgivable ones of excessive loyalty to an undeserving husband and excessive grief over the death of a possibly only marginally more deserving son. As noted earlier, we should be cautious about Seneca’s claim that Octavia nursed a hatred for Livia after the death of Marcellus. But there can be no doubt that her death was in a sense advantageous to Livia, for it removed one of the main contenders for the role of the premier woman in the state. Only Augustus’ daughter Julia might now lay claim to a precedence of sorts, but she in fact became an agent in furthering Livia’s ambitions, rather than an obstacle. Once her formal period of mourning was over, Julia would need another husband. Suetonius says that her father carefully considered several options, even from among the equestrians.

Tiberius later claimed that Augustus pondered the idea of marrying her off to a political nonentity, someone noted for leading a retiring life and not involved in a political career. Among others he supposedly considered Gaius Proculeius, a close friend of the emperor and best known for the manner of his death rather than of his life: he committed suicide by what must have been a painful technique—swallowing gypsum. This drastic action was apparently not in response to the prospect of marriage to Julia but in despair over the unbearable pains in his stomach.

In 11 bc, the year of Octavia’s death, Augustus made his decision. He could hardly pass over one of Livia’s sons again. They were the only real choices, given the practical options open to him. Both were married, and Drusus’ wife was the daughter of Octavia, someone able already to produce offspring linked, at least indirectly, by blood to the princeps. Divorce in this case would not have been desirable. Augustus had already demonstrated his faith in Livia’s other son, Tiberius, by appointing him to replace Agrippa in the Balkans. He was the inevitable candidate for Julia’s next husband. In perhaps 20 or 19 Tiberius had married Agrippa’s daughter Vipsania, to whom he had long been betrothed. Their son Drusus was born in perhaps 14. In 11 Vipsania was pregnant for a second time, but Tiberius was obliged to divorce her, although he seems to have been genuinely attached to her. Reputedly when they met after the divorce he followed her with such a forlorn and tearful gaze that precautions were taken that their paths would never cross again.

He was now free to marry Julia. This marriage marks a milestone in Tiberius’ career and in the ambitions that Livia would naturally have nursed for her son. Augustus was clearly prepared to place him in an advantageous position, and the process could be revoked only with difficulty. It is inevitable that there should be speculation among modern scholars that Livia might have played a role in arranging the marriage. Gardthausen claimed that she brought it off in the teeth of vigorous opposition. Perhaps, but the suggestion belongs totally to the realm of speculation. If Livia did play some part in winning over Augustus, she did it so skilfully and unobtrusively that she has left no traces, and the sources are silent about any specific interference on this occasion.

Nor can it be assumed that Augustus would have needed a great deal of persuading. No serious store should be placed in the claims in the sources that he held Tiberius in general contempt and was reduced to turning to him faut de mieux. Suetonius quotes passages from Augustus’ correspondence that provide concrete evidence that the emperor in fact held his adopted son in high regard. Suetonius chose the extracts to show his appreciation of Tiberius’ military and administrative skills, but his words clearly suggest a high degree of affection that seems to go beyond the merely formulaic.

He addresses Tiberius as iucundissime, probably the equivalent in modern correspondence of ‘‘my very dear Tiberius.’’ He reveals that when he has a challenging problem or is feeling particularly annoyed at something, he yearns for his Tiberius (Tiberium meum desidero), and he notes that both he and Livia are tortured by the thought that her son might be overtaxing himself. Livia’s other son, Drusus, although arguably his brother’s match in military reputation and ability, seems to have been quite different from him in temperament. Where Tiberius was private, inhibited, uninterested in courting popularity, Drusus was affable, engaging, and well-liked, and there was a popular belief, probably naive, that he was committed to an eventual restoration of the republic. He had found a perfectly compatible wife in Antonia the Younger, a woman who commanded universal esteem and respect to the very end.

They produced two sons, both of whom would loom large on the stage of human events: Germanicus, who became the most loved man in the Roman empire and whose early death threatened to erode Livia’s popularity, and Claudius, whose physical limitations were an embarrassment to Livia and to other members of the imperial family, but who confounded them all by becoming an emperor of considerable acumen and ability. They also had a daughter, Livilla, who attained disrepute through her affair with the most loathed man in the early Roman empire, the notorious praetorian prefect Sejanus.

Drusus dominated the landscape in 9 bc. The year seemed to start auspiciously for Livia. In 13 bc the Senate had voted to consecrate the Ara Pacis, one of the great monuments of Augustus’ regime, as a memorial to his safe return from Spain and the pacification of Gaul. The dedication waited four years and finally took place in 9, on January 30, Livia’s birthday, perhaps her fiftieth. The honour was a profound one, but indirect and thus low-key, in keeping with Livia’s public persona. Her sons continued to achieve distinction on the battlefield. A decorated sword sheath of provincial workmanship has survived from this period.

It represents a frontal Livia with the nodus hairstyle, and shoulder locks carefully designed so as to flow along her shoulders above the drapery. She appears between two heads, almost certainly her sons, and the piece pictorially symbolises Livia at what must have been one of the most satisfying periods of her life. To cap her sense of well-being, Tiberius, after signal victories over the Dalmatians and Pannonians, returned to Rome to celebrate an ovation. Following the usual practice after a triumph or ovation, a dinner was given for the Senate in the Capitoline temple, and tables were set out for the people in front of private houses.

A separate banquet was arranged for the women. Its sponsors were Livia and Julia. Private tensions may already have arisen between Tiberius and Julia, but at least at the public level they were sedulously maintaining an outward image of marital harmony, and Livia was making her own contribution towards promoting that image. Similar festivities were planned to celebrate Drusus’ victories. Presumably in his case Livia would have joined Antonia, Drusus’ wife, in preparing the banquet, as she had joined Tiberius’ wife on the earlier occasion.

While Tiberius had been engaged in operations in Pannonia, Drusus had conducted a highly acclaimed campaign in Germany. By 9 bc he had succeeded in taking Roman arms as far as the river Elbe. So awesome were his achievements that greater powers felt the need to intervene. He was visited by the apparition of a giant barbarian woman, who told him—she conveniently spoke Latin—not to push his successes further. Something was clearly amiss in the divine timing. Suetonius implies that Drusus heeded the warning, but calamity befell him anyhow. In a riding accident Drusus’ horse toppled over onto him and broke his thigh. He fell gravely ill.

His deteriorating condition caused consternation throughout the Roman world, and it is even claimed that the enemy respected him so much that they declared a truce pending his recovery. (Similar claims were later made about his son Germanicus.) Tiberius had been campaigning in the Balkans at the time but had returned to Italy and was passing through Ticinum after the campaign when he heard that Drusus was sinking fast. Travelling the 290 km in a day and a night, a rate that Pliny thought impressive enough to record, he rushed to be with his brother. He reached him just before he died in September, 9 bc. Drusus was universally liked, and his death at the age of twenty-nine could not seriously be seen as benefitting anyone.

Nevertheless, it still managed to attract gossip and rumours. The death of a young prince of the imperial house would usually drag in the name of Livia as the prime suspect. In this instance such a scenario would have been totally implausible, and Augustus became the target of the innuendo instead. Tacitus reports that the tragedy evoked the same jaundiced reactions as would that of Germanicus, three decades later in the reign of Tiberius, that sons with ‘‘democratic’’ temperaments—civilia ingenia—did not please ruling fathers (Germanicus had been adopted by Tiberius).

Suetonius has preserved a tradition that Augustus, suspecting Drusus of republicanism, recalled him from his province and, when he declined to obey, had him poisoned. Suetonius thought the suggestion nonsensical, and he is surely correct. Augustus had shown great affection for the young man and in the Senate had named him joint heir with Gaius and Lucius. He also delivered a warm eulogy after his death. Even Tiberius’ grief was portrayed as twofaced. To illustrate Tiberius’ hatred for the members of his own family, Suetonius claims that he had earlier produced a letter in which his younger brother discussed with him the possibility of compelling Augustus to restore the republic.

But events seem to belie completely the notion of any serious fraternal strife. Tiberius’ anguish was clearly genuine. His general deportment is of special interest, because of the light that it might throw on his and Livia’s conduct later, at the funeral of Germanicus. According to Seneca, the troops were deeply distressed over the death and demanded Drusus’ body. Tiberius maintained that discipline had to be observed in grieving as well as fighting, and that the funeral was to be conducted with the dignity demanded by the Roman tradition. He repressed his own tears and was able to dampen the enthusiasm for a vulgar show of public grief.

Tiberius now set out with the body for Rome. Augustus went to Ticinum (Pavia) to meet the cortege, and because Seneca says that Livia accompanied the procession to Rome, it is probably safe to assume that she went with her husband. As she travelled, she was struck by the pyres that burned throughout the country and the crowds that came out to escort the funeral train. The event provides one of the few glimpses of Livia’s private emotions. She was crushed by the death and sought comfort from the philosopher Areus. On his advice, she uncharacteristically opened herself up to others. She put pictures of Drusus in public and private places and encouraged her acquaintances to talk about him.

But she maintained a respectable level of grief, which elicited the admiration of Seneca. Tiberius may well have learned from his mother the appropriateness of self-restraint in the face of private anguish. It was an attitude that was later to arouse considerable resentment against both of them. During the funeral in Rome, Tiberius delivered a eulogy in the Forum and Augustus another in the Circus Maximus, where the emperor expressed the hope that Gaius and Lucius would emulate Drusus.

The body was taken to the Campus Martius for cremation by the equestrians, and the funeral bier was surrounded by images of the Julian and the Claudian families. The ashes were deposited in Augustus’ mausoleum. The title of Germanicus was posthumously bestowed on Drusus and his descendants, and he was given the further honour of statues, an arch, and a cenotaph on the banks of the Rhine. Augustus composed the verses that appeared on his tomb and also wrote a prose account of his life. No doubt less distinguished Romans, of varied literary talent, would have written their own contributions.

The anonymous Consolatio ad Liviam represents itself as just such a composition, intended to offer comfort to Livia on this very occasion, although it was probably composed somewhat later. Livia was indeed devastated, but as some form of compensation for her terrible private loss, she now, after some thirty years in the shadows, came into greater public prominence. The final chapter of Drusus’ life seems to have opened up a new one in his mother’s.”

- Anthony A. Barrett, “In the Shadows.” in Livia: First Lady of Imperial Rome

#livia drusilla #octavian #livia first lady of imperial rome #anthony a. barrett #roman #ancient #history

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biteghost · 3 years

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How do you come up with so many cool characters?? All of your OCs seem so vibrant and fleshed out. Do you have a specific process for developing them, or do they just kinda come to you mostly formed? I find I struggle with building a compelling OCs for D&D games & would love to hear your thoughts on character development.

(This answer got long, sorry.) This is a super nice sentiment, I’m happy you think my characters are all cool and unique!!

As far as process goes, uh, it depends on the character? I’ve spent a long time (years) rewiring my brain when it comes to what I think about when creating OCs. They don’t usually come to me fully formed - I get an idea in my head about a concept, and then over like a week or even months of fiddling I end up with a character for that concept.

A lot of the time my characters are simply people I wanted to see more of in media as a kid! Mostly, female characters I actually relate to or are as nuanced and messy as their male cast members, haha... (It was a trip when I realized in high school that I didn’t hate female characters - it was actually that none of them were written as well as the cool boys in the anime series I liked, haha! Be the change you want to see in the world, basically.)

Inspiration for characters (and stories for them to be part of) come from a lot of places. An easy piece of advice is to make an effort to intake media you like! Read new comics, watch new movies and television shows, read books, play video games, listen to music and obsessively memorize the lyrics - hell, obsessively learn everything there is to know about black holes or public domain characters (that’s what I did, lol...)!

(Note: ’New’ meaning new to YOU - you don’t need to only be partaking of media that’s created in 2021 - you can find a lot to love in media that was created before your time, or for generations before you!)

I must reiterate: intake new media that you ENJOY! You don’t have to like all the same things as everyone else, you don’t have to be invested in the same shows and podcasts as your friends. Varied interests and taste is part of what makes us all unique! Increasing your pool of inspiration will help you come up with interesting ideas, and help you find YOUR voice. Your particular interests and the niche things that speak to you will help you figure out what kind of characters and what kind of stories you like to create! But the process doesn’t end at just intaking media... When you find the stuff that brings you joy, analyze what exactly it is about that thing that speaks to you... Put it into words. Explain it to a friend. Make it tangible, analyze the feelings and why the series made you feel that way... and then take it and shove it into your own stories, lol!

Engage critically and thoughtfully with work you like, with characters you like, and it will help you have the language and thought process to recreate it in your own work!

My creative process is like an exquisite corpse of all the characters and series I’ve liked over my lifetime. I mesh them all together in a grim blender and what comes out is a shake in the vague shape as an OC, lol

BUT... it seems like you’re asking more specifically about making characters for tabletop roleplaying games like D&D? And THAT is a different process for me than making OCs for my comics or original story ideas!

I don’t usually join a tabletop game with a fully fleshed out character, actually?? I don’t spend a long time on their backstory, and I usually figure it out like halfway through the story, or through collaboration with my game master!

My TTRPG characters are usually whatever I think would be most interesting in the given game setting or set-up and... usually they exist in opposition to whatever the core concept of the game is. So, the examples I have from games I’ve played are:

In Cardians: West (World of Darkness: Hunter the Vigil): we played in a modern-day urban fantasy setting, where players were recruited into a supernatural Hunter group that was also a criminal organization that Did Crimes and Broke The Law in the name of keeping peace and protecting humanity from the supernatural creatures that go bump in the night. I played Andrew, a Lawful Good Police Detective, because I thought playing a character who would need to grow past his original ideals of ‘Right and Wrong’ in the name of the greater good would be interesting! (And it was!)

In SINNING ADVENTURE (WoD: Geist: The Sin-Eaters) we payed in a modern-day urban fantasy setting with the premise that the players all Died and were brought back to life by forming a pact with a powerful spirit (and getting cool ghost powers in the process!) I played Cassius, a character who could not cope with his death, and thus refused to use his new powers because they were evidence that he was no longer strictly human. It caused conflict in the group and world, but I thought it would be interesting! (And it was! Cassius was a Bitch.)

In Rex Machina (Dungeons and Dragons 5E), I wanted to play an Aarakocra, but was having a hard time deciding on a class or backstory... until I found out that in the ‘canon’ of D&D Aarakocra only live to be like, mid 20s???? Their lifespans are insanely short compared to other playable races!! And I thought that was stupid, so I decided to make MY Aarakocra, Izzy, a warlock that’s looking for ways to extend his own stupidly short life. His pact essentially granted that to him, giving him extra time to find a way to achieve True Immortality. His conflict challenges what’s ‘true’ living in this world, and his extended life is in direct conflict with a lot of forces in the world we play in, and while it is very stressful I think it’s really interesting to play!

In Lamplighting (Monster of the Week), my character Aicen is an assassin who made a deal with a demon and gained supernatural perks out of it... except I decided that she doesn’t WANT to be in this deal. She is actively trying to undo it because it wasn’t her deal - she inherited it from a CEO that she killed during an unrelated job. (Aicen is probably my character I’ve put the most backstory into, and that’s just because at character creation in MOTW you are given a lot of questions about who your character is and why they’re where they are!)

In Hand of Adam (WoD: HtV), the concept was that all players were going to join a post-apocalyptic supernatural-hating cult. I played Shouter, who was a self-preserving pacifist coward who also turned out to be a fae (which the cult would have killed him over). It was stressful but very fun. I love Shouter. He ran away from fights and didn’t actually kill anyone until the last episode where they fought God (whom he killed, lol).

NOW. THESE ARE ALL JUST EXAMPLES OF HOW *I* LIKE TO PLAY CHARACTERS!! For me personally, I enjoy playing a character who has built-in conflict either with the world, the story, or the other players. I’m only able to play characters like this because my friend group are all really cool and we all know that conflict is not bad - it’s fiction and we’re just roleplaying! If I didn’t trust my GMs and fellow players as much as I do, I probably wouldn’t have felt comfortable enough playing some of these concepts.

I don’t think you need to know every little thing about a tabletop character, and in fact, not knowing some things and leaving it up to the GM and story to flesh out is an easy way to help you get more invested in both your character AND the story your GM is telling! Tabletops are a collaborative storytelling experience, so if you’ve already plotted out your character’s whole story, there won’t be much participation from other players or your GM. Figure out what your character wants, and let your roleplaying and GM slowly put all the other pieces in place over the course of your campaign!

But the TL:DR about how I make tabletop OCs is that I just... try to give them a goal, an ideal, or a personality that is in direct conflict with some aspect of the game we’re playing. I don’t want the character to be undermining the whole game, because that’s really crappy to do to your GM, but I have to have something for my character to grow through or change. I like giving them built-in character arc starters, lol. I haven’t played a game where my character has gotten along with every other player character and NPC over the entire campaign since my very FIRST game, lol!

Also, if you’re having trouble, why not ask your GM what they think? Again, tabletops are collaborative! Don’t be afraid to talk ideas out with your GM for your character.

A final note about playing in specifically oneshot games (i.e. games that are not long campaigns but are meant to be played in one or two sittings). Personally, I always just retrofit an OC I already have to play in oneshots! When I make a new character for a long campaign, it usually takes me two or three sessions to find their voice and figure out how to roleplay them. If the game you’re playing is only one session, I find it easier to jump right in and get the most out of your character and the game when you’re playing a character you already know pretty well! I’ve played characters from my webcomic quite a few times, and it’s always a lot more fun for me than figuring out a new character on the fly!

SO UH, IN CONCLUSION... sorry if this is mad unhelpfu!! My personal processes are unique to me! but that's the point - no one person will have the exact answer that works for you! You have to keep trying until you figure it out for yourself! Good luck! Keep creating! <3

#long post #asktime #not art #art talk #writing talk #tabletop talk #gif #iwishihadhorns

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pangurbanthewhite · 3 years

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Anyway.

My thoughts on TAZ: Graduation.

Maybe I can finally get them out all in one go and know some fucking PEACE.

(They are not positive thoughts, on the whole.)

A very intelligent friend of mine pointed out that the heightened backlash to Grad being Not Great was no doubt exacerbated by the pandemic, a time when a lot of people were (hopefully) stuck inside, in need of entertainment, and also generally Adrift and thus all the more inclined to cling tightly to things which had previously given them comfort in the past. I don’t doubt that this was the case!

Also, some of the critique about Grad drifted into Extremely Weird And Bad Places. Like. I get that the energy between them sure sounded awkward and uncomfortable on occasion. But speculating that Travis hates his father? Really makes you sound like you need to go the fuck outside.

I also disagree with a lot of the people saying that TAZ should be “just” a comedy podcast or that it was “better” when it was just a comedy podcast, because I don’t think the town full of Tom Bodetts was funny, because who the fuck even knows who Tom Bodett is these days. I don’t think McElroy comedy all on its own is that funny and I will never understand people who’s sense of humor in terms of actual plays only extends far as “haha, being a murderhobo is funny.”

Which is, let’s be honest, what Balance up until the end of Petals to the Metal absolutely was.

I don’t think Graduation’s greatest sin was in trying to be a Serious and Emotional and Heartfelt podcast. We need more of those.

But.

How do you have MATTHEW MERCER AND BRENNAN LEE MULLIGAN ON SPEED DIAL AND STILL MAKE THESE MISTAKES.

THE CISHET WHITE MAN MEDIOCRITY IS REAL.

The post-campaign TTAZZ was maddening because Travis was like “oh, I thought you were supposed to not have a general campaign plan but have very strict ideas about what each session should contain” and how do you even come to that conclusion, how do you even make that mistake, when you have Matthew Mercer and Brennan Lee Mulligan on speed dial.

Mentioning during the Mission Imp Hospital arcs that he was afraid what would happen if things went “wrong” and how could they possibly have gone “””wrong”””, it was the most boring dungeon crawl I’ve ever heard.

Releasing an entire trailer making it be about a school and realizing like ten to fifteen episodes in that you don’t like running a campaign in a school and you don’t think it’s a good setting (it absolutely can be a good setting), so you abandon the entire fucking school conceit.

I was surprised to hear Travis admit that he genuinely considered bringing in a guest DM to finish things off after Ep 20, except he then went on to do “With Frenemies Like These”, the episode so egregiously bad that it’s what made me finally drop the podcast entirely.

And I just.

Listening to four people play a system that two of them obviously hate and one obviously doesn’t understand is not good radio. It sets off my secondhand embarrassment like you wouldn’t believe. I do think TAZ is at its best when its the family vibing off each other. Travis saying “we’re rolling dice, is this what you want?” to the audience is not that. I don’t enjoy listening to podcasts where it feels like most everyone involved has a gun to their head. I don’t enjoy listening to a podcast where it sounds like the hosts resent my attention.

It really, really does seem like they only went back to playing D&D because they think it’s the only way for them to have an audience.

I really, truly do not think that is true.

(Also, if you’re advertising yourself as being a D&D podcast, you should maybe play some D&D. That is the expectations you have set. I think that’s just good manners. Advertising yourself as being a D&D podcast and then spending a nonzero amount of time going “haha, D&D sucks and is lame and is nothing more than rolling dice for the sake of rolling dice” just feels...mean-spirited.)

(Also also, they could do so much good for indie writers! And instead, people straight-up harassed those who got upset that they didn’t shout out the author of A Quiet Year! They didn’t have the link in the show notes at first! That only happened because people got mad! And then people used the show notes added after the fact to continue harrassing people who asked for the notes. Half of Grant Howitt’s income can be credited back to Marisha Ray, so of course people are protective of indie devs getting a chance like that. It’s not nothing!)

(Clint mentioned asking if they “had” to stop playing A Quiet Year and no! No you didn’t! You do not have to play D&D! You do not have to be chained to this system just because you think that’s the only way there’s any money in it!)

I think if they’d done a season where the PCs were allowed to just play off each other (stop splitting the fucking party oh my god), and also they had a basic understanding of the rules - both of which were problems they had in Graduation and Amnesty - they’d be having more fun and so would we. It wouldn’t have had to be “comedy”! PCs playing off each other in the midst of drama or tragedy is still super fun to listen to! But we didn’t get that!

The PCs in Grad were so good and I don’t know how I was even supposed to believe they were friends by the end.

Amnesty was too pre-written. Grad was too pre-written. It really did feel like they thought they could just skip to the big emotional climax and stories do not work that way and also stop trying to openly manipulate my emotions, I hate that. Tell me a story. Don’t hold up a cue card for which emotion is supposed to go here. I listen to podcasts to get away from that.

Also.

Travis straight up admitted that he went through a period - a period which ended very recently - of performing on Twitter and only saying things he saw as being progressive because he wanted to be told how progressive and cool he was.

And like, good on him for publicly copping to the toll the pandemic has taken on his mental health, but that shit fucking hurt to read.

And I’m allowed to still be mad.

I don’t know if I’m going to listen to the next season on my own time. I’ve heard podcasts that are funnier, more creative, and more emotional in the meantime.

Right now, it seems like what TAZ mostly has going for it is that its biweekly and easy to fit into a busy schedule.

#vyc don't look #taz hate #graduation hate

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raptorix · 3 years

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I am caffeinated and home from work, and I've just listened to the Vox Machina finale the second time around on podcast version.

But this is my first time listening to the Talks Machina episodes, because the first time Google Podcasts didn't have the TM episodes included on the Geek & Sundry era podcast episodes. Meanwhile, Spotify has them, and getting fresh insights I missed the first time around.

The Talks Machina episode following the finale, Sam explains his intended plan to use Wish to hopefully stall & buy time for Vax to not be taken by the Raven Queen after they defeated & banished Vecna. He was going to use Wish somehow to keep the Raven Queen from learning of Vecna's banishment, so they could scurry over to another God they had favor with to see if they could bargain for Vax's prolonged life and make it a negotiation between gods, or at least word Wish very carefully to extend Vax's life to match Keyleth's.

And then I was thinking about how in the Campaign 2 finale, Caleb had a very specific and particular plan to time travel to save his parents in a way that wouldn't foreseeably ruin the life he had experienced up until this point, and that he could get a happy ending reuniting with his parents after saving the world. I imagine had The Mighty Nein gotten up to level 19/20, and Caleb had access to Wish, he'd possibly attempt that.

So now I'm thinking of AUs where Vax and Keyleth get to live their long lives together, or Caleb and Essek time travel to rescue Caleb's parents, and as a result, get to reunite with his parents & share with them all the adventures they had.

It's not a fix-it fic. It's just like, 'here's a glimpse of what could have happened in another reality.'

#Critical Role #Critical Role Spoilers #Vox Machina Spoilers #The Mighty Nein Spoilers

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mithrilwren · 4 years

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The Great CritRole Fic Stats Roundup - Caleb/Jester

What is this project?

I’ve always been curious about what drives people to write about particular pairings, and how the popularity of pairings in fic evolves over time. Critical Role - with its smorgasbord of shipping combinations, healthy writing community, and predictable airing schedule - presents a fascinating opportunity to actually take a look at those patterns! For example, can we figure out the key, defining moments for a pairing just by looking at how much fic was posted after particular episodes aired? Well, I wrote a simple Ao3 HTML scraper to try and find out exactly that! (See this FAQ post for more on my data collection/analysis methodology.)

Previous Posts: Beau/Jester, Fjord/Caduceus, Caleb/Essek, Beau/Yasha

The Raw Data

Total Fics Posted: 500

First Fic Posted: Jan 14, 2018 - Cleansed by sabinelagrande. This fic was posted three days after the first episode of CR2 aired. Well done, you funky innovator!

Total Kudos: 53158

Total Comments: 8309

Comment/Hit Ratio: 0.015

Week By Week Analysis

[The graph below details the # of fics posted each week, aggregated from Fri-Thurs and associated with the preceding episode’s air date.]

The anon who suggested this pairing described Widojest as a “dark horse” in terms of CR2 pairings, and the data really does support that description! With very few-to-no fics for the two for most of the first year of the campaign, popularity rapidly rose in the middle of the pirate arc, and numbers have stayed fairly consistent ever since, placing Widojest solidly within the top 5 for total number of fics by pairing.

Unlike the previous four pairings I’ve looked at - where spikes tended to match up with very obvious, ‘big’ moments between characters - Widojest’s rise in popularity seems to have been more subtle. Weeks I was expecting to have caused a stir were quiet (eg. the waltz from early campaign days) while episodes that seemed relatively light on interaction had huge numbers! I was perplexed! And intrigued! Let’s dig in!

1. Week of Dec 6, 2018 - The Diver’s Grave (and Dec 13, 208 - The Stowaway)

This data point confused me more than any other I’ve looked at so far, for any pairing (including ones I haven’t posted yet). Why here? Why now? Why the sudden interest in this pairing over this episode and the next, after so little for the first half of the campaign?

I scoured this episode for clues - I skimmed the wiki, the episode transcript, the youtube sparknotes, and couldn’t find any significant interaction between Caleb and Jester. I went next to the fics themselves, trying to find a common thread or theme between the summaries, but besides some hurt/comfort from two epiosdes of dangerous combat back-to-back, there wasn’t much similar between the 20-30 fics published during this time frame. I was lost! So finally, I turned to Tumblr, looking through Widojest posts from late 2018 to see if I could pinpoint what brought people to this pairing, at this particular time.

My conclusion? It wasn’t a big moment in The Diver’s Grave, but a number of smaller moments in the episodes leading up to it. Things like Caleb’s blush in Episode 36 - and Liam’s subsequent Talks Machina discussion of the same - after Jester attempts CPR on Caleb, or their discussion of whether or not Jester still has a crush on Fjord in Episode 42 (two episodes before this one). So, my best guess? This initial spike was the culmination of a long bubbling pool of ‘wait, but actually...’ that finally spilled over.

Past this point we see consistent numbers week to week, on average. Popularity rises as we head out of the pirate arc and into the beginning of the Xhorhas arc, though numbers begin to dip during the extended Obann chase/dungeon crawl.

2. Week of Jul 4, 2019 - Hiatus after The King’s Cage

Hello, Widojest Week 2019, riding in with a vengeance! The event spread over this week and the next, and resulted in huge tallies for both. Yet again (as we saw with Beau/Yasha and Beau/Jester) content creation weeks work.

3. Week of Jul 25, 2019 - Clay and Dust

Eagle buddies! In this episode, we get some cute aerial alone time with Caleb and Jester, though unfortunately, neither could talk at the time - apparently, polymorph doesn’t teach you eagle language :). Again, I looked to the fics themselves to see if I missed something, just in case. My impression is that there might have been some chatter in the Widojest server that contributed to the spike? Someone actually raised a similar suggestion about the Shadowgast server on that pairing’s analysis post, but as a person who is deathly afraid of group chats - on a ship-agnostic level - I don’t have a good way to verify most hypotheses that involve Discord. (But I’m very, very open to hearing from anyone with insider knowledge!)

4. Week of Sep 5, 2019 - A Tangled Web

Finally, a straightforward week, phew! Not withstanding the effect of Widojest Week 2019, this pairing showed some signs of slowing in the latter half of 2019, but was quickly revived (revivified?) by a very sweet shopping trip that featured gift giving, affirmations of mutual support, and Caleb’s ambiguous “I’ll tell you later” after a very long, very significant Look(tm) between the two.

5. Week of Sep 26, 2019 - Through the Trees

Dual bird polymorphing make a second appearance in this list! Another week that doesn’t have a huge amount of Caleb/Jester development, though I see more chittering about the Widojest server in the summaries, so I may just have to accept that things were afoot beyond my ken for much of this ship’s history, and leave it at that :) We all love a good mystery!

6. Week of Dec 19, 2019 - Winter Hiatus

Another themed week, this time Widojest Secret Santa, and something I can unambiguously attribute to the Discord server at last, hurrah! It’s nice to end this uncertainty-filled post on a confident note :)

This was definitely the most challenging analysis I’ve done so far, but perhaps Widojest is the exception that proves the rule! If this pairing illustrates anything, it’s that love doesn’t have to come from big, obvious moments, but can live happily in the small, in-between moments as well, and that’s fascinating in its own way.

#critical role #cr meta #widojest #cr fic stats roundup #i probably spent more time on this than on the previous four posts combined #I DID MY DUE DILIGENCE #and i hope it isn't unsatisfying for not being straightfoward as the previous posts #this ship's history is way more complicated than i anticipated!

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luckthebard · 5 years

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Since I got into a discussion this weekend about Matt’s resurrection rules, I went looking for a place where he’d more clearly written them down so that people on here could read them easily without having to go hunting. This is the best I could come up with, from January of 2017 (so around episode 81 of campaign 1) on his twitter:

[transcribed from image on twitter]:

“The Fading Spirit - Alternative Resurrection Rules

Character death can often prove to become a minor inconvenience in some campaigns once the adventuring party reaches as certain level, with spells being available to return fallen comrades from the afterlife with temporary setbacks robbing a small element of danger and threat to future conflicts and challenges within the story. If you wish to elevate the gravity of character death, you can introduce this optional rule.

If a character is dead, and a resurrection is attempted by a spell or spell effect with longer than a 1 action casting time, a Resurrection Challenge is initiated. Up to 3 members of the adventuring party can offer to contribute to the ritual via a Contribution Skill Check. The DM asks them each to make a skill check based on their form of contribution, with the DC of the check adjusting to how helpful/impactful the DM feels the contribution would be.For example, praying to the god of the devout, fallen character may require an Intelligence (Religion) check at an easy to medium difficulty, where loudly demanding the soul of the fallen to return from the aether may require a Charisma (Intimidation) check at a very hard or nearly impossible difficulty. Advantage and disadvantage can apply here based on how perfect, or off base, the contribution offered is.

After all contributions are completed, the DM then rolls a single, final Resurrection success check with no modifier. The base DC for the final resurrection check is 10, increasing by 1 for each previous successful resurrection the character has undergone (signifying the slow erosion of the soul’s connection to this world). For each successful contribution skill check, this DC is decreased by 3, whereas each failed contribution skill check increases the DC by 1.Upon a successful resurrection check, the player’s soul (should it be willing) will be returned to the body, and the ritual succeeded. On a failed check, the soul does not return and the character is lost.

Only the strongest of magical incantations can bypass this resurrection challenge, in the form of the True Resurrection or Wish spells. These spells can also restore a character to life who was lost due to a failed resurrection ritual.

If a spell with a casting time of 1 action is used to attempt to restore life (via the Revivify spell or similar effects), no contribution skill checks are allowed. The character casting the spell makes a Rapid Resurrection check, rolling a d20 and adding their spellcasting ability modifier. The DC is 10, increasing by 1 for each previous successful resurrection the character has undergone. On a failure, the character’s soul is not lost, but the resurrection fails and increases any future Resurrection checks’ DC by 1. No further attempts can be made to restore this character to life until a resurrection spell with a casting time higher than 1 action is attempted.

It’s unclear whether or to what extend Matt has altered these rules for campaign 2. The only thing we know is that he did not require a Rapid Resurrection check when Jester cast Revivify on Caduceus in C2E55. Whether that was an oversight or Matt has changed his own rules regarding Revivify (possible, as he has been more strict about the material component requirement for it this campaign) remains to be seen.

What’s of great interest to me is the first paragraph of this rule set, which clearly indicates that the Critical Role team are a D&D group who like to play a game where death has more narrative weight, and grief can be explored. This signaling of their preference suggests to me that it’s highly unlikely that very high level characters in any of their campaigns would just go around casting things like Resurrection or True Resurrection to reverse deaths in their character’s backstories or from earlier in the campaign, if the story has moved on.

There’s a storytelling reason why Percy hasn’t asked level 20 Pike to bring back his murdered family. Or why Vox Machina didn’t try to get enough diamonds to return the assassinated Uriel Tal’Dorei when they technically could have later in the game. While the rules certainly allow it, and it does require some suspension of disbelief and handwaving to only cast that kind of magic on PCs and only in specific circumstances, the weight of death in the narrative is clearly important enough to them that godlike resurrection magic isn’t something they want as a common part of the story, regardless of how it’s used in a meta sense to let a player keep playing as a specific character for a while longer.

#long post #meta #critical role #resurrection rules discussion #I thought this text might be helpful because if nothing else I discovered this weekend that Matt's rules have been pretty confusing #probably because he changed them so much during campaign 1 #but this is the most recent text he's published on the matter #Caleb maaay be a character exception to what I was saying about them not using resurrection magic to alter backstory or narrative #but even Caleb hasn't shown much interest in resurrection - he's far more interested in making the death have never happened at all #fun with d&d mechanics

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luckywilliams · 4 years

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Ann Todd: A ‘peaches and cream stunner’ of a film star from Northwich.

Dorothy Annie Todd was born on January 21st, 1907, in Hartford, Cheshire, and under the shorter, presumably more glamorous stage name of Ann Todd, she went on to become a film star and actress famous across the world. She had an acting career which spanned the best part of 60 years, from the 1930’s to the early 1990’s, and which encompassed films, stage and TV. During this time, Ann met, and worked with, many of the most famous people in movie history, including Alexander Korda, Alfred Hitchcock, David O. Selznick, Gregory Peck, Sir Ralph Richardson, and many others. She also starred in a number of films directed by David Lean, one of the greatest film directors of all time, and became Lean’s wife in 1949.

Despite Ann Todd’s distinguished career, and her stellar connections with some of the leading film and acting legends of the 20th Century, little has been said or written about her in the town and county of her birth. It is therefore appropriate that Ann now features as one of the on-line ‘Hidden Women of Cheshire’ in a promotional campaign currently being run by the Mid Cheshire Community Rail Partnership (see www.amazingwomenbyrail.org.uk.) Ann Todd certainly led a remarkable and colourful life, which definitely deserves to be less ‘hidden’, particularly in the town of her birth.

There is some ambiguity about the year of her birth in Hartford. – Many biographies indicate that she was born in 1909. However, the 1911 Census, and other registry evidence, clearly shows that she was born two years earlier, in 1907, and was christened in March 1907. Like many in the acting profession (both past and present) it was perhaps best to be a little coy about one’s true age. Ann Todd’s slim frame, good looks and comparatively small stature (she was 5’4’’) meant she always looked quite young. Indeed, possibly to Ann’s delight at the time of her marriage to film director David Lean, in 1949, she was described in at least one American newspaper report as being 29 years old, rather than the more accurate age of 42!

The future film star, Ann Todd, was born into a well-to-do, affluent middle class family, in Hartford, Northwich (population 850 in the census of 1901). Though Ann was born in Hartford, her sales manager father, Thomas, was a Scot from Aberdeen, and her mother, Constance, was a Londoner. By 1911, the Todd family had moved to London, probably to advance Thomas’s career in sales management, and Ann had acquired a younger brother, Harold, who went on to achieve fame as a writer of comedies such as ‘No, my Darling Daughter’ and ‘A Pair of Briefs’ which were commercially very successful during most of the 1950’s and 1960’s. The family still seem to have been very affluent in London, and could afford to accommodate two live-in female teenage servants, and Thomas’s adult sister, Ethel, within the household.

Harold was packed off to school at the exclusive Marlborough College, and then undertook a degree at Cambridge University. Ann Todd went to school in Sussex, but acting seems to have been in her blood from an early age, and she was soon enrolled at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, specialising in the interesting combination of elocution, drama and fencing.

It didn’t take long for Ann Todd’s star potential to be noticed, and by her late 20’s she had been signed up by the British film mogul Alexander Korda. She was a key actress in a number of the films he produced in the 1930’s, such as ‘Things to Come’ and ‘South Riding’. Ann’s big break, in terms of worldwide fame, came in 1945, when she starred opposite the British matinee idol, James Mason, in a film called ‘The Seventh Veil’. Her performance as a troubled concert pianist drew rave reviews in America. The film critic of the Los Angeles Times, for example, commented that she ‘carried the film’, and it was American film critics at this time who first dubbed the Northwich born actress as the ‘pocket Greta Garbo’ because of her distinctive style, looks and diminutive stature. Hollywood, in the form of the great David O. Selznick (the driving force behind the film production of Gone with the Wind) soon came calling, and Ann was offered the largest film contract ever offered to an English actress at that time – probably worth around a million dollars all told - which was an astronomical sum in the late 1940’s.

With Selznick’s backing, in 1947, Ann starred opposite the Hollywood screen legend Gregory Peck, in the Alfred Hitchcock directed film “The Paradine Case”. Much has been written about Hitchcock’s preference for directing blonde actresses such as Grace Kelly and Tippi Hedren, and Ann Todd certainly fitted in with the look and style of these other actresses. Tippi’s relationship with Hitchcock, in the film “The Birds” certainly seems to have been fraught. However, no hostilities between Hitchcock and Todd seem to have surfaced. Indeed, Ann Todd starred once again for Hitchcock in the 1950’s, in an episode of his successful U.S. TV series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”.

The Paradine Case wasn’t as commercially successful as hoped, but America never lost its enthusiasm for Ann Todd. All aspects of her life, personal and professional, continued to be of interest to U.S. reporters, and features about her were carried throughout America, in newspapers from Lubbock in Texas to California, Utah, and Albany in New York. In 1957, William Glover of the New York press described 50 year old Ann as being “a damsel of allure” as she prepared to make her debut on Broadway. Not surprisingly, she was given a very laudatory obituary in the Los Angeles Times, on the day following her death in London in May 1993.

Ann Todd’s career in British films is often undersold. We are told, for example, that she specialised in playing rather stoic, put upon, post-war British housewives. – Anyone that watches her 1950 performance as the morally ambiguous probable Victorian murderess, Madeleine (in David Lean’s film “Madeleine”) must realise that she could play a wide range of roles with subtlety and distinction.

In fact, there were many different aspects to the Northwich born actress’s career. For a start, she seems to have recognised the significance of television, as a medium for acting and drama, from the very beginning. She played a leading character in the late 1930’s British television serial “Ann and Harold”, which was produced during the pre-WW2 days when Britain was pioneering the introduction of television (an experiment abruptly ended by the onset of war). In fact, many experts regard ‘Ann and Harold’ as being the first ever attempt at producing what today would be called ‘soap opera’. Ann Todd’s involvement in television also extended to America, where she appeared not only for Hitchcock, but also in John Frankenheimer’s 1960 TV movie adaptation of Hemingway’s ‘The Snows of Kilimanjaro,’ alongside Hollywood movie star Robert Ryan. Following many an actor’s adage about never giving up or retiring, Ann continued to appear in TV productions, such as Michael Gambon’s 1992 Maigret series, until she was well into her 80’s.

Ann was well versed in the challenges of appearing before live theatre audiences: In 1957, she made her Broadway debut (thus escaping the pressures of a traumatic divorce from David Lean) by starring as a wealthy American socialite in a production of the little known play “The Four Winds”. Back in England, during 1954-5, she took on some of the leading female Shakespearean roles, during a complete season of acting with the Old Vic Theatre Company. All this just goes to show how accomplished and versatile Ann Todd actually was as an actress. Not content with film, stage and TV performances, the multi-talented Cheshire born actress also developed a highly successful career as a travel writer and documentary producer, in the 1960’s, with programme credits to her name such as “Thunder of the Gods” (1966) and “Thunder of the Kings” (1967).

In many respects, Ann Todd grew up in Northwich, London and Sussex to become an archetypal Hollywood movie queen. – She had wealth, good looks, and a prodigious amount of talent. Her private life was also stormy, to say the least, and filled the gossip columns of papers on both sides of the Atlantic. She was married and divorced three times. Her first husband, Victor Malcolm, was the grandson of Lillie Langtry, the famous music hall artiste and mistress of Edward VII. In an era when there were no ‘blameless’ divorce cases, Ann’s 1949 divorce from Nigel Tangye, her second husband, was particularly bitter. Ann left Tangye to live with and then marry the film director David Lean, who was Tangye’s first cousin. Tangye sued Lean for $160,000, largely as a consequence of his ‘misconduct’ with Ann. This financial claim was thrown out by the divorce court judge, but Tangye was granted custody of Ann Francesca (Ann Todd and Tangye’s daughter). Happiness eluded Ann Todd in her third marriage to David Lean, as well. They were living apart from each other within 5 years, and Ann was granted a divorce, on the grounds of Lean’s desertion, in 1957. None of this personal trauma seems to have adversely affected either Lean or Todd. David Lean went on to achieve further cinematic immortality with his direction of the film “Lawrence of Arabia” in 1962. Ann Todd immediately threw herself into a starring role in a Broadway production. It was here, in her dressing room, in 1957, whilst preparing for her role in “The Four Winds” that the admiring American film and theatre critic, William Glover, interviewed Ann, and referred to the now 50 year old Northwich born actress as a “real peaches and cream stunner” of a film star. In terms of her energy, zeal and talent for acting, William Glover’s summary was just about right.

Adrian L. Bridge, April 2018.

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halfgap · 5 years

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Some extensive, tangly headcanons / extrapolations of canon regarding Beau and her parents under the cut... extremely wordy and still not Complete (I always have more to say about this kid!)

I doubt her family is anything akin to nobility or aristocracy. Sure, they own a winery in Kamordah (a town renowned for its fine wines) but from Beau’s comments about her father’s desperation to impress the Empire higher-ups, I get the sense that Beau’s parents are sorta the Wildemount equivalent of ‘New Money’. They accrued their wealth through being very industrious and growing their business into something presumably quite successful, but despite being financially secure her father more than anything still wants very badly to gain the respect of More Important People.

Beau says her father “made a lot of sacrifices” in an effort to impress those people, and tbh that could mean anything from “devoted his time to brown-nosing and working instead of to his family” to “literally selling out close friends/family to the Reapers to gain Empire goodwill.” He also probably let the Crownsguard deal with some of Beau’s law-breaking in the past instead of bailing her out, considering Beau’s strong personal reaction to Toya being left with the Crownsguard.

I’m thinking her father is a very intelligent guy who values book smarts a lot. Marisha’s implied on Talks that he made Beau study a lot of crap (even before the Cobalt Soul) which he insisted would be valuable, and Beau is kind of pissed whenever that education actually does come in handy during her adventures today. I think her knee-jerk rebellion against All Things To Do With Her Father is why Beau insists that she hates studying, hates books and history, is TOTALLY a jock and NOT A NERD AT ALL, even though it’s become apparent that her natural curiosity does extend to a lot of nerdy things and she retained a lot of useful stuff from her studies. She loves learning, period, but it’s that thing where you don’t want to enjoy something that your asshole parents forced on you since a young age.

From a meta perspective, abusive parents are too often depicted as ignorant & uneducated with nothing of value to offer to their kids. In reality, perfectly intelligent + highly educated people can still VERY MUCH be abusive. They can have good taste in books or music, they can instill some savvy business acumen in their kids, etc.. Beau likely owes a lot of her education & cunning to her dad. Part of him probably did have her best interests at heart. That doesn’t mean he’s any less of an abusive shithead.

As far as I remember, Beau’s never actually said she hated her parents. There’s clearly a lot of resentment & anger there, but she also makes a lot of excuses for her parents: she says her father’s “not a bad person,” says he could have even been a good father if he made different choices, repeatedly calls him “protective” (as opposed to “horribly controlling and overbearing,” which I think is more accurate tbh), and admits several times that she herself was “a rebellious dick” and how that contributed to her parents’ rejection of her. Beau doesn’t hate her parents and hasn’t claimed to hate them; I’d wager instead that she cares about them despite everything and *still* craves their acceptance and approval (something Marisha supports on Talks). The bulk of Beau’s feelings toward her parents are HURT, not HATRED.

That just makes her whole situation a lot sadder, imo. In ep.1 she comes off as a rebellious drifter who ran away from her rich asshole parents, but in fact she’s a rebellious drifter w/ nowhere to go because she was utterly rejected by her parents *twice*. She disagrees with everything they stand for & won’t change herself any more for them, but she no doubt still cares about them (god, it’s her very nature to care deeply about Everything she touches); she’s just utterly convinced that they don’t give a single damn about her.

Somewhat related- as a child, at least, Beau did try to be what her parents wanted. This is made apparent by Marisha’s playlist commentary and some of her TM answers. Moreover, Beau has the ‘Prodigy’ feat, which I bet only stoked her parents’ expectations of her, expectations that kid!Beau would naturally strive to meet. But as Marisha rightly points out, when someone’s held to an impossible standard like that of the “The Perfect Daughter,” eventual rebellion is inevitable. From personal experience, I can say after trying so hard for so long, failure is addictive. Once Beau gave up trying to be the perfect, obedient kid who was still never enough, she probably found comfort in and clung deeply to her new role as the Problem Child, the Disappointment, the Slacker.

This always confused me but... Beau was only w/ the Cobalt Soul in Zadash for a few months. It’s possible she was at some other training monastery prior to that, but from Marisha’s early-campaign TM comments about “suddenly & recently becoming a monk” and a lot of other confusing shit Beau’s said, it sounds like Beau was only with the Cobalt Soul during that short time she was in Zadash...? And I can’t imagine it’s been THAT long between her running away, and her meeting Fjord and Jester in Game 0. Zeenoth still seems familiar enough with her when finding her in Ep.4 that I think Beau probably only ran away a few months to a year ago, at most? (Enough time for Beau to have wandered through a lot of places in the Empire at least, since she says in Ep. 8 or so that she’s traveled a lot within the country.) Beau is currently 22 or 23, so working backwards, that means Beau was abducted by the Cobalt Soul when she was probably 20 or 21. A young adult. Not a rebellious teen getting sent to boarding school.

I guess it might make sense that an unmarried young daughter is still in the authority of her parents at that age (although gender politics in Exandria have always been ‘???’ and sorta inconsistently represented so...) But it’s more significant that Beau stayed, living under her parents’ roof, doing the bookkeeping for the winery... I don’t know if she was staying purely to continue profiting off her bootlegging operation w/ her family’s wine, or if because even after all that Teen Rebellion she never fully escaped her parents’ influence over her and her own buried desire to earn their respect/affection. I’d say it’s leaning towards the latter, with her using the former as an excuse to herself (or maybe the thought of leaving just. Never even really occurred to her. Which I wouldn’t be shocked by tbh.) Either way I think it’s interesting that she herself never left that small town she hated & that family she resented, until her dad blatantly kicked her out via monk abduction.

I don’t know where I’m going with this other than saying that Beau is a twisty, painful mess of contradiction who nevertheless makes deep sense to me (& hopefully others) in a way impossible to articulate...?

uh I meant to talk more about her mom but prior to more recent episodes the only thing we knew of her is when Beau said “My mother always said nothing in life is free.” Now we also know she gave birth to a son Very Late & once wouldn’t let Beau have a pet rat, but Beau’s overall difficulty with/reluctance to talk about her mother can mean a lot of different things. Two possible interpretations are : a) in some twisted way Beau was a lot closer to her dad, as in... he was a bigger influence on her, more involved in her life and thus in more conflict with her, and her mom has always been more a footnote.. or b) maybe Beau actually had a more.. tender relationship with her mom than she did with her dad (not saying much tbh) which only made her ultimate rejection sting 100x worse to the point that Beau hates even thinking or talking about it.

You could go a lot wilder with the theories here (maybe her mom was the ‘bad direction’ that misguided her dad..? etc) but I think the above two are most reasonable and what I usually go with right now for the sake of simplicity

As for Beau’s personal hang-up with tarot cards, and the (possibly unrelated, but probably related) Mysterious Beliefs of her dad that made him so “protective” and intent on isolating her... that shit is too open-ended and I can’t land on a solid theory yet asjdjsljfjf

Also very conflicted about the whole MY PARENTS WANTED A SON thread but I won’t get into that here

I’m Very Behind on CR and have only caught clips and tidbits of episodes 43 onwards so please talk to me about Beau and let me know if there’s any other interesting hints she’s dropped in recent episodes or if any new info has contradicted these long-held, rambly inferences I just listed

#nobody asked for this but me #beauregard #critical role #i just spend a lot of time trying to parse this kid's family situation #but generally this is how i approach things in every fic i write

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loopy777 · 5 years

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‘Traitor’s Face’ Planning Doc 1

Original outline, minus information on the final act. CONTAINS SPOILERS for Acts 1- 4. Note that the character descriptions were updated continuously as I developed the outline, so not all the info matches.

UPDATED: Info on Act 5 and the Epilogue, originally REDACTED, has been restored.

AANG/MAI AU EPIC

PREMISE The root of the whole story is a short story in which Mai is the one standing above Aang when he awakens from his hundred-year sleep. Instead of moving Aang's awakening to the Fire Nation like in most such Alternate Universes, this story will leave Aang where he was in the cartoon in Southern Water Tribe waters, and present a world in which Mai would conceivably be near the South Pole.

As such, the "nail" of the story is Fire Lord Azulon's focus. Instead of merely being content with depopulating the Waterbenders of the South Pole and bottling up the Northern Water Tribe into a single walled city, Azulon continued to prosecute the war against the Tribes until they had both been conquered. This was foolish, as it allowed the Earth Kingdom to muster and unite to keep the Fire Nation from conquering any more territory. The Fire Nation managed to hold on to its oldest colonies, but could not press forward. The Earth Kingdom eventually raised a Wall, bisecting the whole Kingdom, separating the Fire Nation colonies from the rest of the land-mass.

Scrambling to keep that captured territory hurt the Fire Nation's campaign against the Water Tribes. The South eventually fell to a new generation of Fire Nation technology, and the people were consolidated into new cities under tyrannical Fire Nation rule. The Northern Water Tribe lasted longer than that in its walled city, and it wouldn't be until General Iroh- Azulon's crown prince- took over the campaign that it fell to the Fire Nation.

As the story opens, a new governor is on his way down to the South Pole to take over administration of the settlement of New Ozai, so named because it was established the same year as the birth of Azulon's second son. Hours from his destination, the governor's ship hits an iceberg, and his daughter is present to witness a boy with arrow tattoos emerge from within...

Episode order and description:

*Act I: The Hunt for Katara* 1. The Avatar and the Fire Heiress- Mai, teenage Fire Nation heiress and part-time ninja, discovers the long lost Avatar in an iceberg, while traveling to her father's new posting in the South Pole. With an evil plan in mind, she teams up with the young Water Tribe warrior Sokka to help the young Avatar Aang find a Waterbending teacher. (Azula is introduced by Piandao to June, and hires her to find Zuko.)

2. The Southern Air Temple- Aang, Mai, and Sokka check the young Avatar's home for surviving Air Nomads. But what can they do when Aang discovers the horrible truth? (June finds Zuko, and tells him that she's been hired to get him to the Avatar and get him in fighting shape.)

3. Warriors of Kyoshi- The Avatar gang needs access to the Fire Navy's intelligence records in order to find out where the Southern Waterbenders have been imprisoned for the past few years. They infiltrate the prisoner processing center on Kyoshi Island for answers, and find Captain Zhao hunting for them. Will a local rebellion blow their cover? (Zuko is training and travling under June's supervision.)

4. Something light-hearted. Aang, Mai, and Sokka bond. Mai starts to feel sympathy for Aang. Ooh, let's go to Chin. What's it like under Fire Nation rule? (Zuko has an adventure with June. This is really Zuko's moment to shine. Perhaps he's the progatonist of this 'episode?')

5. The Blue Spirit- The Fire nation is now fully aware of the Avatar's return, and the gang is feeling the heat. It's not just enemies who are looking for them, though, as a mysterious rebel makes contact with the Avatar. Meanwhile, Zhao continues his hunt, but he finds that someone back in the Fire Nation is trying to control him.

6. The Banished Prince- As Aang, Mai, and Sokka approach Fire Nation waters, with the mysterious Crescent Island as their destination, they encounter trouble from Commander Zhao's fleet, and a banished prince who Mai knows too well.

7. The Winter Solstice- Aang has been abandoned by his friends. While Sokka throws himself into a hopeless quest to free his sister from the magma caverns, Aang faces off against the double threat of his traitorous crush Mai, and her ally Zuko.

8. The Waterbending Master- Reunited with his friends in the Earth Kingdom, Aang begins his training with his Waterbending teacher, Katara. Meanwhile, Mai deals with the fallout of her betrayal. Zuko deals with his failure, and meets up with his sister, the dreaded Azula! (Zhao realizes that he's being sabotaged in favor of Zuko, and resolves to cheat.)

*Act II: Rise of the Spirits* 9. The Fortuneteller- The group encounters a Fortuneteller at a festival, and to Aang's dismay, his predicted lover is not Mai, but Katara! Meanwhile, Sokka uses the downtime to try to reconnect with his sister. But the forces called upon by the Fortuneteller become restless and attack... (Meanwhile, Zuko and Azula 'bond.' Or rather, find a way to work together.)

10. The Festival- Investigating the increased Spirit activity in the Earth Kingdom, the gAang attends one of the new Spirit Festivals being established by a wandering group of supposed experts. As Aang basks in the peaceful spiritual energies, Katara shows signs of trouble. (The gAang uncover a huckster posing as a Ghostbuster, and after they expose him, the encounter Long Feng and his Dai Li. No Zuko or Azula in this one.)

11: The Spirit Hunters- Aang and company tag along with Long Feng and his Spirit-hunting Dai Li. They offer knowledge and the chance to do good work, but not all is what it seems with this mysterious order. (Long Feng sells the gAang out to Zuko and Azula, then betrays them all.)

12: Darkness of the Crypt- Long Feng has trapped the gAang and Royal Fire Siblings in his crypt vault, intending to use them all in a ceremony to give him power (or purify the Earth Kingdom, or something). They are forced to work together to beat the Spirits and Dai Li agents, but the pressure may be too much for Katara.

13: Houses of Healing- Seeking to get Katara help, the gAang comes to a healing institute where they are said to be able to heal damage to the mind. While Katara gets treatment, Mai encounters her old friend, Ty Lee, and a community of Airbenders.

14: Something lighthearted- Separated from Katara again, Sokka is down in the dumps, so the gAang heads to one of the surviving big Earth Kingdom cities for some relaxation and shopping. While there, they finally make contact with an agent of the organized Earth rebellion.

15: The Seer- The gAang tries to meet up with a Seer who is advising the various Earth Kingdom rebellion leaders, but the Fire Nation is also targeting this person. Big battle between rebels, Fire Nation, gAang, and Zuko with Blue Spirits.

16: The Siege- The gAang are holed up in the ruins of Omashu while the Fire Nation lays siege and prepares to invade the city. Zuko makes an attempt against Aang, and calls Mai out on her betrayals. (In the end, something happens to send everyone to the North Pole to meet Iroh.)

*Act IV: The North Pole*

25: The Northern Water Tribe

26: The Princess of Water

27: Warlord of the North

28: Secret in the Ice

*Act III: Fall of the House of Fire* 17: The Chase- Sokka and Mai chase Zuko and Azula into the Fire Nation in hopes of freeing Aang. But will they be able to catch up before the Royal Fire Siblings arrive within Piandao the Slicer's domain of influence?

18: The Beach- Everyone hangs out at the beach, and Zuko and Aang come to an agreement.

19: In the Hall of the Fire Sages

20: something with platinum?

21:

22:

23:

24:

*Act V: The World Tree and the death of Aang and Mai*

CAST

THE GAANG Mai: The emotionally detached Fire Nation Heiress who serves Evil because of a lack of ambition or will power. She finds the Avatar, and realizes that he represents an opportunity for the people close to her. She chooses to serve Azula and Zuko, and so frees Aang on Azula's orders so that Zuko can catch him and come home again. In traveling with Aang as a spy, though, she comes to care for him and Sokka, and sides with them to help them.

Aang: The Avatar, the Hero on a Journey. Pops out of his iceberg and instantly falls in love with the first girl he meets- Mai. There's a part of him that senses her hunger for light, for a cause, and for love, and he's drawn to provide that for her. He sets out optimistically, expecting to fix the world and win Mai's heart, and her first betrayal leaves him realizing that both of these may not be possible. Rather than following the Avatar Elemental cycle as a path to growth, he grows as the Bridge Between the Worlds and saves the world with Spirit stuff. In the end, he wins Mai's heart; distant epilogue?

Sokka: The warrior from the South who feels guilty for all his failures in life. His mother is dead, his sister has been taken away to a fate worse than death, and his tribe are the slaves of the Fire Nation. He seizes on the possibilities offered by the Avatar to rescue his sister, and try to restore hope to his people, and the world. Sokka doesn't believe himself capable of leading or bringing that hope himself, and he's fatalistic about his life and significance. He craves love and new family, but can't bring himself to accept them, hence why he does not act on his temporary attractions to Mai, Suki, or Yue. Sokka's story ends when he dies in Mai's arms, and Aang is the one who comforts Mai and talks about how Sokka didn't fight hard enough.

EXTENDED GAANG Katara: Sokka's little sister. She was taken away as a child and grew up in a Waterbender prison. She was secretly trained by Hama as a Bloodbender, and once she gets out of the prison is able to quickly pick up Waterbending and teach it to Aang. Katara has a vengeful streak, which doesn't come out at first. She's ruthless and hates all Fire Nation, like Jet. Her corruption is what leads to the first exploration of the Spirits and how the supernatural corruption is leaking into the world. Katara is initially in awe of and sweet on Aang, but eventually they realize that their values are too different.

Zuko: Zuko was pushed out into the world without Iroh. His crew mutinies quickly and strands Zuko in the Earth Kingdom. He loses his eye to infection.

Ty Lee: Spiritual guru (studying under the remnants of the Air Nomads) and love interest to Sokka

FIRE NATION Azula: Her father's loyal servant, but increasingly disturbed by signs that all is not what it seems in her life and family

Ozai (Ursa): Wants Zuko home, and wants to murder the rest of the royal family. Has good reasons, but has utterly gone off the deep end of ruthlessness

Azulon: Vague presence, going to die off-screen, murdered by Ozai (Ursa)

NORTH POLE Iroh: Warlord of the North. He was an affable but dedicated Fire Nation conqueror, but then his son died during the conquest of the North Pole. Iroh used arcane arts to turn Lu Ten into a zombie, and now is dedicated to mastering the arts that will bring his son back to true life.

Lu Ten: Tortured zombie, it's like he has two personalities, the guilty prince and the zombie demon.

Yue: Hostage of Iroh. Somehow tied to Lu Ten's survival.

Pakku: ??

ACTS

Act I: The Hunt for Katara * Plot A: The gAang hunts for Katara. * Plot B: June whips Zuko into shape and gets him to the prison on time. * Resolution: Mai saves Aang from Zuko. As the sun sets on the solstice, something spirity happens; Aang realize he needs to get smart on that, and heads for the Earth Kingdom's order of sages.

Act II: Rise of the Spirits * Plot A: The gAang investigates the Spirit troubles in the Earth Kingdom, learning about how the Fire Nation's devastation has created a Ghostbusters situation. Katara has trouble coping with the outside world, and is taken to healers (including Ty Lee). They discover that the Fire Nation needs platinum to fight the Spirits, but supplies are being diverted. * Plot B: Zuko is recruited by the Blue Spirit (Jet) and joins up with them in order to track Aang. Zuko gets in one more good fight against Aang and Mai, then discovers who the order's leader is (Iroh), and decides that his father needs this information. Suki is also recruited. * Ty Lee * Long Feng and the remnants of the Dai Li are now Ghostbusters.

Act III: Fall of the House of Fire * Fire Nation travels. Culture and worldbuilding and stuff. * Sun Warriors. * Aang and Mai dance a Fire Blade dance (Agni Budokai): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCNyHprEZK8 * Revelations about Zuko's history, scar, and banishment. * Massive battle between the Weapons of the Fire Nation * Ozai and Azulon die. * Azula disgraced? * Ursa turns out to be alive in the Fire Palace, and somehow working for the badguys. She kills herself Hamlet-style with poison. * Ursa thought she was doing right by Roku, wiping out the Royal Family but uniting the world. Discovering the truth, and that she's no different from Azulon, has her drinking poison wine out of a golden goblet. * Shakespearean Tragedy * No rhyming or iambic pentameter * Suki helps Zuko pick up the pieces of his life, but the age of Fire Lords is over.

Act IV: Sokka Dies * Sokka dies. * Mai gives him proper rites so that he doesn't become a ghost or zombie. * Katara is given the impetuous to become a true hero, and a new master in the form of Pakku. * Mai is given the impetuous to sacrifice for love. * She also hears the legend of Avatar Kuruk and discovers the secret of Koh's. * Piandao is given reason to turn on Azula? * Oh, yeah, this takes place in the North Pole. And it's the big revelation of Lu Ten and why Iroh is doing what he's doing. * But mainly, Sokka dies. * Move to before Fire Nation arc?

Act V: The World Tree * The entire "Foggy Swamp" is a lionturtle, sleeping nestled beneath the swamp. The tree grows on its shell, and has become one with the lionturtle. Iroh somehow uses the tree to Energybend. * Good guys win. * Bad guys defeated. * Sorry, no, Sokka is still dead, and his ghost doesn't appear to smile at anyone. Nice try, though. * Never mind, Sokka doesn't die. Mai gives her face to Koh in exchange for the power to destroy Iroh's Spirit form, and Aang dies passing on his life force to heal the World Tree. Sokka is the survivor. * Aang leads his allies down after Iroh, except for Mai, who goes into the Spirit World to find Koh. She plans to give her face to him, so that she can destroy whatever Iroh is doing. Creating a dark lionturtle, perhaps? Altering time? Whatever, it has to be something that would beat her if she had a face/identity, so she wants Koh's help. He agrees, and takes her face, turning her into The Destroyer. As part of his promise to Kuruk, though, Koh kills Mai so that she can reincarnate, whereas most of his victims are trapped forever in the Spirit World without a face. * Aang fights Iroh, and nearly loses, but Mai saves him. Aang realizes that she has sacrificed her life, but saves the day and destroys Iroh. The World Tree is fatally wounded, though (perhaps by Mai's actions?) and Aang gives his life force to restore it so that the world won't unravel or something like that. He reincarnates. * A pregnant swampbender, who witnessed the whole spectacle, gives birth three days later. (Get it, three days?)

Epilogue: Ty Lee visits Sokka and Katara at the the Swamp, where the next Avatar has been discovered. Ty Lee sees that the Avatar has a close, quasi-romantic friend the same age, and somehow can tell that it's Mai's reincarnation. Somehow she contrives to drop the line, "Some friendships are so strong, they can even transcend lifetimes."

#writing #traitor's face

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queerforadventure-blog · 5 years

Text

Episode 01 Setting Up for Adventure

You can listen to this episode at queerforadventure.buzzsprout.com, or wherever you find podcasts.

Franklin: 00:00:33 Hello and welcome to the very first episode of Queer for Adventure. This is a queer RPG adventure podcast that, um, we're making and we are, we've been working on it for many months now and we're really excited to share it with all of you. I am Franklin and I am the Creator and Dungeon Master of this weird queer experience. Uh, I uh, live in Seattle and I use he him pronouns.

Seren: 00:01:07 My name is Seren. Um , I use they them pronouns. I'm non-binary and asexual and that's about all there is about me.

Lo: 00:01:18 Hi, I'm Lo. I use she/her pronouns. I am bisexual slash don't really pay attention to preference and that's me. I'm excited to play this game.

Robby: 00:01:33 My name is Robby and I am open to pronouns and I am also particularly excited to start this campaign.

Seth: 00:01:42 Uh, I'm Seth, I use he him pronouns. I'm a gay male and I'm so excited to play this game.

Franklin: 00:01:55 Um, so we've all come together because we've been playing D&D together for about three years now. And you know, we're getting- we really wanted to jump on that, that D&D podcast bandwagon that everyone is jumping on. But also I personally, um, I've always loved stories. I've always loved listening to them. I love listening to podcasts and making my partner read for me out loud. It's audio books all- I've really invested in auditory stories and this is my big jump into becoming a storyteller myself. And I'm so happy to be able to share this, this endeavor I want to go on with people I really love and care about who have dedicated a lot of their time and passion to, to be here with me and let me throw crazy imaginary monsters at them. Um, so we are playing in a setting called Planescape. It is an old setting from AD&D, second edition, and while the setting is meant for second edition will be playing fifth edition. So there's a little bit of transcribing from one edition to the other and it's kind of crazy. So we wanted to give a little bit of a, just a little brief guide to what Planescape is.

Franklin: 00:03:19 It really takes place mostly in the city of Sigil, which is a very impossible city that is floats above an infinitely tall mountain called the Great Spire. And the city is in the shape of a torus, which looks like basically a donut or um, more aptly like a, the inside of a tire, uh, and the city is built, uh, inside that and ruled by a mysterious entity known only as the Lady of Pain. Um, this is really like a multi-verse plane hopping adventure. And um, just to give you like a brief lowdown of the different like categories of them. There are prime planes, which is kind of the worlds of that you and I live in. The forgotten realms is a prime plane. Gray Hawk is a prime plan. So all of these like normal, well air quotes, normal worlds where people exist, are prime plans, inner planes are uh, the like elemental planes, the ethereal plane, um, positive and negative energy- These are planes that kind of comprise more focused versions of what makes everything in existence. So we're talking about the plane of water, the plane, fire, air, earth, um, even down to such niche planes as the plane of ooze or smoke or lightening or radiance. Um, there's a ton of them and there are the outer planes, which is a lot more of the afterlife kind of thing. Well, this is where the gods live. This is where the all contained in the astral plane. Um, and this has to do a lot more with the uh, alignment system. So there's lawful good planes like Mount Celestia or there are chaotic evil planes like the abyss where demons come from. And um, and then there is Sigil which is connected to every plane in existence through portals. And to use a portal, you need a specific key. And a portal can be anything. It can be a doorway, it could be, um, a fountain... It could be almost any sort of bound space activated by any sort of thought or action or object. Um, and the city is just littered with them. And this city is, where this campaign is going to start where it's really gonna take place. Um, so our main idea of release dates is we're hoping to release every other week on Mondays.

Franklin: 00:06:10 So I think that now is a great time to start delving into these characters that you've all lovingly created. And I should start off by saying that these are characters that we have carried over from the last campaign that we ran. Um, it was a really fun adventure and a really great for me, the DM to learn all of the intricacies of Planescape because there is so much information and I will make mistakes. So please be kind with me Internet. Please be kind. Um, but we-we're starting at level seven and these, these characters have had some, some fun adventures, but I think when we get to need to get to know who they are individually. So let's start with Robby. Let's start with you. What kind of character are you playing?

Robby: 00:07:05 I am playing a female-identifying Tiefling who is multi-classing in warlock and fighter.

Franklin: 00:07:16 What is her name?

Robby: 00:07:17 Her name is Temerity.

Franklin: 00:07:20 So where was Temerity born in the multiverse?

Robby: 00:07:24 Well, as far as Temerity understands, she was born in Sigil, but her parents needed to relinquish her to, uh, protect her and she, they, she was relinquished to the prime material plane.

Franklin: 00:07:42 Okay. Um, do you, does she have any idea about who her parents are?

Robby: 00:07:47 Not really. Um, they, I mean, all that she may know is that they, maybe they were in a bit of trouble or maybe they sorta, needed to protect her, but otherwise, no. Uh, she was relinquished to a sister of her father's and, um, was raised in a city on the prime material plane. It was just was, uh, yeah. Other than that, she has no idea.

Franklin: 00:08:15 M'kay. Is the, is the rest of this extended family that she grew up with? Are, are they still around? Are they still alive?

Robby: 00:08:24 Yeah, of course. I mean, they live very simple lives, um, in a city doing, you know, general human stuff. Uh, but, you know, luckily she was easily accepted as a family to them.

Franklin: 00:08:39 How was it growing up as a, as a tiefling among humans?

Robby: 00:08:43 Well, surprisingly enough, uh, Temerity was really lucky to be born with mostly human-like traits. She did have some tells, like small little horns and a tail, but you know, that ridicule wasn't so bad compared to the fact that, you know, she was left by her parents.

Franklin: 00:09:02 Hmm. So what was she doing before she was level one?

Robby: 00:09:08 Well, uh, as a 16 year old girl, she was just doing teenage things. She was interested in what was popular and hanging out with the local kids. Um, maybe kind of starting to delve into the idea of like love and romance and flirting with boys. But, uh, for the most part she is, she was- or not for the most part, but she was also just concerned about like where she came from and who she was because she was obviously very different than those she was around.

Franklin: 00:09:37 Um, so why leave this whole life that she created on the prime plane behind?

Robby: 00:09:43 Well, I mean, "created" is an interesting choice because she just kind of was placed there. Um, so I think that there was a part of her that felt she never particularly belonged. But at the same time as she reached her 16th birthday, she, um, had a very prophetic dream where a beautiful entity came to her and told her to head to Sigil.

Franklin: 00:10:12 So did this, this, did this entity guide Temerity to there or did you find a way to Sigil on your own?

Robby: 00:10:21 Yeah. Uh, the, the entity kind of said like, find your father's bow and take it to Sigil. Um, and with that came instructions to head through a gate to, to there. Upon arriving to Sigil she quickly needed to adapt and she knew that she was gonna need to find a way to, to belong there.

Franklin: 00:10:49 And what was, what was that experience of going to the craziness of Sigil from the comparatively tameness of any prime plane?

Robby: 00:10:58 Yeah, I mean, she was very overwhelmed, but luckily, uh, the Revolutionary League spoke to her as something that was very sort of like anti-government anti-organization. And it seemed as though it's something that she would be able to do to infiltrate and find out more about what was going on there.

Franklin: 00:11:16 So she, it sounds like she's very much on a quest to figure out what happened to her parents in that situation. Would you say it so?

Robby: 00:11:25 Yeah, that would be, uh-Huh. I mean, yeah, as far as she may know they're dead... But they may not be and she's willing to find that out.

Franklin: 00:11:35 And- I think- I'm going to ask you a question that I think is really at the core of the f- the fun of philosophical roleplaying-ness of a Planescape setting is what does, what does she believe the meaning of the multi-verse is?

Robby: 00:11:51 You know, as a 16 old girl, I, I can only imagine she's wildly overwhelmed by the idea that there are more places and more beings and more ideas to life than she could ever fathom. So I would say exciting adventure and strange encounters.

Franklin: 00:12:12 Seren...

Seren: 00:12:14 Hello, Franklin.

Franklin: 00:12:14 Let's... let's talk about Eldred.

Seren: 00:12:17 Okay. What do you want to know?

Franklin: 00:12:20 Let's, you know, let's start off kind of where we did with Temerity. Where was Eldred born in the multiverse?

Seren: 00:12:25 Um, Eldred was born on a rather small prime material plane by the name of Viir. Uh, he was technically born on a boat, um, midway between like a major country and a smaller ones, the smaller country of Birn, um, which is where his parents were going to essentially like retire to, and settle down in. Like just like a small village there. Um, and that is where he was raised.

Franklin: 00:12:53 Are they, um, do you know their whereabouts or if they're still around, thriving?

Seren: 00:12:59 Yeah. Uh, Eldred's mother definitely died when he was a child because there was an awful famine in the town probably when he was about maybe, um, uh, very young, especially for an elf, maybe about like 10. Um, she ended up, um, I'm dying through that. Um, and he was raised by his father, um, who pretty much raised him in home- homeschooled him. And he pretty much like cohabitated with his father for about like eight years until he went off on his own.

Franklin: 00:13:28 So what was Eldred doing before level one?

Seren: 00:13:34 Um, that's a fun question. He did a lot of things. Uh, so Eldred, uh, was raised to be a wizard by his father. His father was also a wizard who is particularly, um, invested in the idea of, um, I guess the responsible usage of magic. Magic in that plane was very young, Um, and humans were kind of just getting their hands on it and they were using it pretty wildly. Um, and mostly to I guess a pretty like hazardous effect. So he was at the school that humans just shouldn't- no magic, don't teach it to humans, but elves and dwarves and other responsible races should have magic. Yeah. Um...

Seren: 00:14:19 [Laughing and Stammering]

Seren: 00:14:22 ...and be able to utilize it and control of that. Yeah. Use it wisely, but never- just don't, don't give that stuff to humans essentially. Um, so this was pretty much how Eldred was raised.

Seren: 00:14:36 Um, so he, when he went to go play his trade as a wizard, he's kind of, he was always kind of a chaotic person. Um, he pretty much did the exact opposite. Um, he went to become an arcane advisor for another country that was, um... not the best. He essentially became a villian. Um, he was, he was an evil wizard, basically is a theme I'm going for. Um, and he lived I think about 80 years doing that until, uh, an awful magical accident inadvertently opened up a portal that threw him into the Shadowfell, separated him from his spell book and he had to find his way through that for several years. He eventually escaped the Shadowfell, um, after pretty much losing all his magic, essentially going back to like level one, if I'm thinking in game terms. Um, and he popped out in Sigil, um, which completely confused him.

Franklin: 00:15:40 Now to be clear, Eldred is a sorcerer.

Seren: 00:15:43 Yes. He is a sorcerer now.

Franklin: 00:15:44 ... and not a wizard.

Seren: 00:15:45 No. Um, and he would never tell anyone he's a wizard now. He used to formally study magic as a wizard, but all of his magic now is sourced from sorcerer... Class... he's a shadows sorcerer, from basically from the Shadowfell.

Franklin: 00:15:58 Okay. So that that experience in the Shadowfell really not only affected him emotionally in the draining way, that the Shadowfell does it also tainted him in a certain way in the way that he could experience and use magic.

Seren: 00:16:14 Yes, exactly.

Franklin: 00:16:15 As we started that editing this, I realized that we never said what Eldred's player race was and just so that everyone knows Eldred is an High Elf.

Franklin: 00:16:27 I was going to ask the question, why did you leave it all behind but rather it was kind of like accidentally you were thrust into the planes. Yeah. Um, so what was that experience like for... for Eldred; Living and trying to escape from the Shadowfell?

Seren: 00:16:46 uh, probably pretty, pretty awful. Um, I can't imagine he had a good time through any of it; It being the Shadowfell. Um, I haven't really thought too hard about like the exact, like rise and fall of like what was happening there, but I know it was, uh, it was an awful ordeal and he pretty much put all of his hopes, um, and like what he could muster into getting back to the prime material plane. Um, but when he popped out in Sigil, um, that kind of changed a bit.

Franklin: 00:17:19 Mmhmm. Now, after he got into Sigil, did he try to um, go back to the prime material plane or did he or did he decide to settle there?

Seren: 00:17:28 I don't think he did. I think, um, being thrown from a place like the Shadowfell, which is so like muted and despairing into a place as colorful and just chaotic and bizarre as Sigil was a complete sensory overload for him. I think he pretty much was overwhelmed and almost gave up. But, he was approached by a member of a faction there, the Bleak Cabal, and they helped kind of like help him work through it and he eventually decided to just kind of settle there because there didn't seem to be really any point in going back to his prime material plane.

Franklin: 00:18:06 Hmm. So what does, what does Eldred desire? What is- what is his goal in life?

Seren: 00:18:12 I, I think he just wants like a quiet retirement. Honestly. I don't think he wants to do much of anything anymore and he's just happy, just existing.

Franklin: 00:18:25 So he's not really choosing to be an adventurer. Adventure is thrust upon him.

Seren: 00:18:30 Yes.

Franklin: 00:18:32 Um, and you know, back to that core Planescape question, what does Eldred believe the meaning of the multi-verse is?

Seth: 00:18:39 Uh, he believes that there is no meaning. Not that there is no meaning in like day to day interactions or, or life. He thinks that like people are like fine. Um, but, uh, there's no reason the universe was created for something. He went through a rise and the fall in life that was so chaotic. I think that I'm attaching any meaning to the universe would be stressful to him. Um, so he chooses to see it as just everyone existing in this world and just trying to get by the best they can.

Franklin: 00:19:14 Beautiful. Let's, let's talk about Kith.

Lo: 00:19:19 Okay.

Franklin: 00:19:20 Tell me, tell me, tell me about Kith.

Lo: 00:19:24 So Kith is a ghostwise halfling, um, that I am uh dual-classing in rogue and bard. Uh, and she is very young. She's like 22. Um, yeah. And she's pretty awesome. I like her a lot.

Franklin: 00:19:44 Um, where, where was Kith born in the planes?

Lo: 00:19:47 Uh Kith is from, uh, the Chondal Wood in the Faerun, uh, which is like, um, a large forest, uh, in the Chondath area. And it's home to a lot of different mystical creatures. But she's from a, um, clan of ghostswise halflings that are known for being night gliders, which they ride large gigantic owls.

Franklin: 00:20:13 So you have owl mounts historically.

Lo: 00:20:17 It's pretty Rad.

Franklin: 00:20:19 Um, who, who were Kith's parents?

Lo: 00:20:22 Um, so my parents were, uh, kind of the leaders of our clan. Uh, my father is Morn Mistwind, and my mother is Lilt Mistwind, um, he was the Klan leader in the night glider and- like the lead night glider and watch man in of our family. So they were kind of like the matriarch and the patriarch of our little clan hid in the forest.

Franklin: 00:20:43 Okay. So you were like the forest Moana?

Lo: 00:20:46 Yeah, I suppose so.

Everyone: 00:20:48 [Laughs]

Franklin: 00:20:51 Um, so living at, so rurally, um, actually no, I'll come back to that question. Uh, are, are those parents still around? Do you still have family?

Lo: 00:21:03 I mean, from what I know, most of my family is still alive. A lot of my background was kind of, um, for Kith was pushed forward by the death of her father, Morn, who was killed by a gnoll on like, uh, an outing in the middle of the night during a watch. Um, so the rest of my family is alive from what I'm aware of. I had three siblings and my mother. Nell, Boon and Gith are my siblings. Gith was my identical twin. Uh, and the reason why I'd assume that, uh, it's how I keep jumping back and forth between first and third,

Franklin: 00:21:36 Oh, thats fine.

Lo: 00:21:37 Gith is Kith's identical twin and they have like a very, very, so one major thing about ghost wise halflings is that they have telepathic abilities. Um, and Gith and Kith were extremely connected up until her father died. So she has an idea that they're alive cause she's still randomly get, um, like telepathic glimpses of Gith's life. So she knows for sure that he is and would assume by association the rest of her family is cause all of them are still in that forest.

Franklin: 00:22:10 What was, what was Kith doing before level one? What was level zero like for Kith?

Lo: 00:22:16 Um, so I'd say that level zero really took place. Um, and the main things that happened that have gotten Kith where she is today would be, um, her father's death. Uh, she started to travel a lot outside of the forest, which is very uncommon for Ghostw- ghostwise halflings in general. Um, she started traveling to different, uh, there's this group of studies called the free cities in, um, what is it Valhon... uh, Vilhon Reach. Um, so she would travel out and started busking the streets of different cities around the area. Um, and in her travels going through there and kind of trying to distract herself, she actually came upon, um, a circus troupe called Mr Malactic's Intergalactic Rambling Circus, uh, who traveled around a bunch of the different realms and planes.

Lo: 00:23:17 So once she found them, they were really, really intrigued that there was a ghostwise halfling that was out in the public like that cause it's not very common. Uh, and they saw that she had some busking talent and they brought her onto their troupe and she left with them and never went back to her home.

Lo: 00:23:36 So throughout her experiences, she would travel around with them. They taught her all the tricks of the trade. That's where she started to learn how to play instruments. Um, and she traveled around with them through a bunch of different areas and she was their true acrobat and, um, like swordsmen I guess I would say be the best way to explane her.

Franklin: 00:23:57 She had- like what, what, what was her act in this...

Lo: 00:24:01 Well kind of, depends on what their audience was. She's definitely very sarcastic, so she would kind of do different types of, um, like contortionism and she's like a sword swallower and also would play with the troupe musicians. So she kind of would just jump around and do different things depending, cause she was only with the troupe for like two years. So she was still kind of being trained by them on what she would be in the long run.

Franklin: 00:24:28 Alright. So how did you get from the, the intergalactic troupe. [stammers] What was the title of that again?

Lo: 00:24:37 Mr Malactic's Intergalactic Rambling Circus.

Franklin: 00:24:41 Okay. I-

Lo: 00:24:43 [Laughs]

Franklin: 00:24:43 Mr Malactic's Intergalactic Rambling Circus.

Lo: 00:24:48 Yeah. [laughs]

Franklin: 00:24:48 K, Got It. How did you get from this troupe to Sigil? What, what events transpired to get you there?

Lo: 00:24:59 So being the kind of sassy big mouth that she was, um, they were in a major trade city, um, performing for this like low level Duke called Fergus Wormwood. And she made the mistake of being very sarcastic in a song and he did not take lightly to it. Um, so she ended up arrested and captured and put into his holding cells and um, basically they drove her troop out of the city without her, so she became trapped and she kind of became like their personal court gesture- ah, jester and with being forced to do all these things and over the course of a year was attempting to escape multiple times and kept being trapped until she finally found this like random low life person in a bar that told her of the place a Sigil when she recognized as a place that uh, her troupe had talked about going to multiple times, they would make the rounds there every once in a while and she just hadn't been with them long enough to make it there. So once this person started talking about Sigil itself, she knew that's where she wanted to go. Uh, and they knew of a portal. So her final escape, she was able to go through a portal to make it to Sigil cause she figured that she'd be safe there. Cause she was explained that it was a very hard place to find people in.

Franklin: 00:26:25 Yeah, a lot of people go to Sigil to lay low, escape notice, not only from other, uh, other people, but devils, demons and even Gods. Um, so what does Kith want?

Lo: 00:26:41 Uh, so one Kith's prize possessions was a fiddle that she owned called Spellstring. Uh, it was an instrument made for her when she was being taught how to play, uh, by the troupe and that was taken from her, uh, and she was not able to escape with it and she also would really like to find her troupe again. So I think it's her main driving force. She has a connection to that, um, troupe very deeply and she'd love to be able to find them and she would love to be able to find her fiddle someday.

Franklin: 00:27:11 And then the big question, what does Kith believe that the meaning of the multiverse is?

Lo: 00:27:18 Uh, well, much like Eldred, Kith believes- doesn't really amount to anything in particular. Uh, she, A: Just mostly it doesn't have an interest in really thinking deeper than that. I think with everything that's happened to her in her life and also is just wholly disinterested in there being any higher meeting to the multiverse.

Franklin: 00:27:42 Now Kith is part of a faction, yes?

Lo: 00:27:44 Yes. She's an Indep. She's a part of the Free League.

Franklin: 00:27:48 Now, what, what drew you to join them and their philosophical stance?

Lo: 00:27:53 Um, I think Kith, learning about all of the factions and kind of seeing how Sigil works when she first ended up there, thinks that the majority of the factions are quite stupid actually. Um, and the Free League seemed to make the most sense to be able to protect herself because she recognized the need to pick a faction over not, and that one just kind of aligned the most with her being able to move about her daily business without really being too effective. And they also get a discount at the market. So, you know, I love that.

Franklin: 00:28:30 Um, and Seth! Last but not least.

Seth: 00:28:33 Yes.

Franklin: 00:28:33 Let's talk about FAIL/safe.

Seth: 00:28:34 Let's talk about FAIL/safe. These questions were hard for FAIL/safe, I feel like.

Franklin: 00:28:40 FAIL/safe is a very, a nontraditional character in, uh, in a normal D&D 5e setting because, uh, modrons are not a playable race for 5e yet. Looking at you Wizards. But um, but you're playing a modron, which is traditionally a playable race in landscape and, uh, it was very happy to find a, a homebrewed version of the Modron as a player race, uh, for, for this... Game. Game is the word I'm looking for! Um, so tell me a little bit about FAIL/safe.

Seth: 00:29:28 Um, well I guess to start because it's, he's different looking, so I'll just start with that. I suppose he's like a three by three foot cube that stands about six feet tall. Um, he's largely mechanical. He has small kind of like wings that rise from the, the back I would assume would be the back of his body. Uh, he has one large eye that is green with gold flecks and yeah, he's from, he's from the plane of Mechanus, which is where all modrons are from. So like a little on Mechanus is just, it's a plane of kind of like law and order, um, or like more so like planes of all of the laws. Like every law that has ever come to be or will ever come to be like exists in this kind of like large, terrifying clockwork city. And when I say clockwork, I mean like literally there are cities across like giant, giant cogs. Um, yeah. So that's like his base descriptors, I feel like.

Franklin: 00:30:48 Um, and he is more than just metal components in a construct. He is also, he's a very strange created organic-mechanical bea, right?

Seth: 00:31:00 Yeah. He has the organic pieces to him.

Franklin: 00:31:03 Um, so what was the- who are your creators?

Seth: 00:31:10 Right, It's like, that's where it gets weird, right?

Franklin: 00:31:12 This is where we get to be like-

Seth: 00:31:14 Who's... Who's dad? And I'm like, Mechanus is dad and Mechanus is mom, um, and Mechanus abandoned me. [stammering] My creator, FAIL/safe creator is Mechanus who is kind of the god of this plane who kind of dictates all.

Franklin: 00:31:41 Primus?

Seth: 00:31:41 Isn't it, Primus?

Franklin: 00:31:44 You said Mechanus.

Seth: 00:31:45 Oh, sorry. I met Primus. Primus, who is the god of this plane. Um, yeah. And what's really interesting, I, I feel like about modrons is that when, when they become playable, that's when everything changes, right? Because even more about them is when they are creatures and they exist on this plane. They only perform like one singular function and they can't understand anything above or below them past a certain point. They just understand kind of like the person who speaks above them, giving them an order and they serve kind of like one primary function and it's when they go rogue that they kind of start to develop.

Franklin: 00:32:37 So being part of like a hive mind, very super structured, uh, species of beings, there's- do you consider them family and what is, what does that relation to this species that you've kind of been separated from now that you're more of an individual?

Seth: 00:33:00 Uh, I wouldn't, I wouldn't consider or I feel like FAIL/safe wouldn't consider them as family. How I've kind of tried to conceptualize it and like terms that I could possibly fathom is a non-hive mind, fleshy creature is that it really just went from, it would be, it would be dramatic and it would be kind of like powerful, but it, I would never look back on the situation. So I imagine it's like working, like you work in a paper bag company and you literally are making kind of like one little piece of this paper bag pulling a lever every day, day in, day out. And it's bleak and it's gray, but you didn't know that it was bleak and it was gray and then all of the sudden you knew and you were just thrust away from it for knowing.

Franklin: 00:33:58 Now, how did this in devout individuality, the sentience really come to you?

Seth: 00:34:06 Um, so it came to FAIL/safe as an idea is kind of how I've been able to develop it. Is, it was like he was within mechanus. He created cogs basically. He was like a cog maker. Um, and he just got the idea to like add some sort of like filigree or some sort of frivolous kind of piece to the cog. And the moment that he did that, everything kind of changed for him. Like everything went silent and quiet and he was instantly kind of like thrust away an ex-communicated from this plane of existence and just left out in what I imagine is nowhere limbo, something along those lines. And he was just kind of left there for a long time before he was approached by kind of this man, uh, in red robes. And this man in red robes comes to him and kind of is like, I gave you this idea because I think that you can make great things and I'm going to set you up in this place to help you kind of find purpose. Because I feel like that's something that a modron would, would really need, is a sense of purpose because all of its entire existence has been that, so... Yeah.

Franklin: 00:35:42 Yeah. Um, and FAIL/safe is a cleric, yes.

Seth: 00:35:45 Yes. FAIL/safe is the cleric. He's a cleric of Oghma. Mainly Oghma, but part of that Pantheon and Oghma is the god of knowledge and ideas.

Franklin: 00:35:59 Oghma's like the head Honcho of the knowledge Pantheon. Um, so again, kind of similar to Eldred, you were, you were thrust into a life rather than really like setting out and choosing it yourself. But, uh, and, and you were led to sickle, is that correct?

Seth: 00:36:20 Yes, led to Sigil. Um, I pictured kind of living, uh, a short time before meeting our other adventurers and he was really just kind of like working as a kind of scribe at the time at one of the kind of churches of Oghma where they really kind of focus on transcribing information and developing kind of like libraries building knowledge, uh, where he found that he had a love for kind of like smithing, tools, and things. And I feel like the God of ideas would never kind of turn away a new one as long as it didn't... uh... Go against his tenants. So.

Franklin: 00:37:06 So among the lists- this whole transformation into an individual, what does feel safe really want?

Seth: 00:37:15 Like what does he want from his existence?

Franklin: 00:37:18 Yeah. What does, what does he desire? What is his, what is his current like goal?

Seth: 00:37:21 Uh, his current goal is to keep his friends safe.

Robby: 00:37:26 [chuckles]

Seth: 00:37:26 Uh, that will always be his current goal probably. Um, because these were these like, people to him probably serve as kind of like a... As a purpose as well. Right. So it's like his friends to him are, are really big. Our purpose for him. Um, and other than something so philosophical, he, uh, really desires to kind of create new technologies and catalog new technologies. And so he's trying to, uh, go to the different material planes go to the different prime planes go to the different, all of the different kind of planes of existence that he can and like catalog, kind of like the different metals that exist there, different ores, all of the different kinds of ingredients and bring them back and see if he can create things that will better.

Franklin: 00:38:22 So kind of like an experimental survey-smith?

Seth: 00:38:26 Yeah. He's trying to survey the universe and see if he can make better tools for them.

Franklin: 00:38:32 Fantastic. Um, and then, but you know, back to that- that core Planescape question, what does, what does FAIL/safe belief of meaning of the universes is?

Seth: 00:38:43 Hmm. I feel like he would feel like the meaning of the universes is creation. It's, it's all about kind of like... What you make while you're here. Um, but he isn't really in any kind of rush to do that because I don't, I don't think I die. I don't think I go anywhere. I just exist. I just keep existing. FAIL/safe just keeps existing.

Franklin: 00:39:14 Yeah, FAIL/safe is among all of you, uh, functionally immortal unless someone kills him.

Lo: 00:39:20 I never even thought about that ever but that's so true.

Franklin: 00:39:24 Until you start running out of replacement parts...

Everyone: 00:39:29 [chuckles and murmors of agreement]

Franklin: 00:39:29 which your in the fantastic situation of being able to make your own replacement. parts.

Seth: 00:39:34 Yeah.

Franklin: 00:39:34 So eventually I just imagined a thousand years from this, this time that FAIL/safe is just going to be built out of his own parts and welding's and...

Robby: 00:39:49 Ores

Franklin: 00:39:49 ...and...

Robby: 00:39:49 ...Ores that he's discovered on his own?

Seth: 00:39:53 Um, another like interesting thing I think is that right now he's probably under some sort of protection from Oghma, but because of that, because modrons like don't really live or die, there's actually kind of an imbalance in Mechanus from his existence because until he dies, they can't replace the modron, that's kind of like there because it's kind of what happens is like when a mo drawn is like killed in battle or on the great march or something like that. It kind of like just reappears in mechanus-

Franklin: 00:40:33 Yeah. Oh, sorry.

Seth: 00:40:34 It's fine. You Go.

Franklin: 00:40:35 Um, what it's, it's a really cool and speaks to the very super methodical order of the entire plane is that... say a quadrone dies on the march, then a tridrone below it will be promoted to a quadrone and then a duodrone underneath that tridrone will be how much tridrone and a monodrone beneath that will become a duodrone and then back in Mechanus, a new monodrone will be made. So it's this cascading form of promotion. Um, and then a new modron is made with the essence that went back to Mechanus all the way up to Primus.

Lo: 00:41:16 So it's not actually like a production line, like they just appear. So it's like if you take a duodrone and it turns into whatever... Whatever.

Franklin: 00:41:23 Tridrone.

Lo: 00:41:23 Tridrone, they, they just literally evolve like there's not-

Franklin: 00:41:27 They just-

Lo: 00:41:27 -or do they just go into like a workshop and they're like remade?

Franklin: 00:41:31 No they sudden-

Seth: 00:41:31 No.

Franklin: 00:41:32 They suddenly evolve like Pokemon. So-

Seth: 00:41:34 They evolve.

Lo: 00:41:34 That is so interesting! I never put two and two together with that part.

Seth: 00:41:37 Yeah. And like uh- now I'm like scared, I'm going to say... it's Primus. Primus.

Franklin: 00:41:44 Primus, Yes.

Lo: 00:41:44 Primus like the band.

Seth: 00:41:44 It can even happen with him. Like if, if the god dies, then...

Franklin: 00:41:50 A secundus.

Franklin: 00:41:50 A Secundus becomes the new god.

Lo: 00:41:53 Welp, It sounds like we have to go kill Primus.

Franklin: 00:41:55 That's a different campaign.

Lo: 00:41:57 [Laughs]

Robby: 00:41:57 No.

Everyone: 00:42:01 [Laughs]

Robby: 00:42:01 No, I'm scared.

Lo: 00:42:02 Yeah.

Franklin: 00:42:03 That's a whole different campaign.

Lo: 00:42:07 I would not want to fuck with the modrons at all, honestly. That sounds like they're- bad business.

Franklin: 00:42:11 They are intense.

Robby: 00:42:16 We were almost victim to the march.

Lo: 00:42:16 Yeah that was crazy.

Franklin: 00:42:18 Um, and you know that, that actually like segu-segues into a really fun thing. I didn't have any more prepared questions for you all, but I thought since we have had a whole campaign together, uh, and all of your characters have really bonded and become friends with each other in what in-game is a very short time, but in IRL has been almost exactly a year since we started that last campaign. Um, what are some favorite memories that your characters have of each other or what is your favorite thing about one of the other characters?

Lo: 00:42:56 "Human Doors Ceremony."

Everyone: 00:42:58 [Laughter]

Lo: 00:43:02 I think that is one of my favorite coined, terms from any D&D session we've ever had. Cause you mean like honestly it's pretty hilarious cause I mean the entire time we've been playing it's like watching FAIL/safe gain like sentience. And probably the funniest thing is when all of us realized that he didn't understand the concept of like somebody knocking on a door and having to open it.

Everyone: 00:43:22 [Laughter]

Franklin: 00:43:26 Yeah, I remember that. Having to explane the, the ceremony of knocking on a door and then answering it and greeting the person and discussing business and then inviting them in and moving out of the way to invite them in and the, the series of tasks. That was, that was a beautiful moment.

Lo: 00:43:47 That was pretty funny.

Seren: 00:43:48 The funniest part of that concept, how it happened was that we were literally under siege at night from rogues and he had to figure out how to answer the door.

Everyone: 00:43:56 [Laughter]

Lo: 00:43:59 So, yeah... So funny.

Robby: 00:44:02 Um, I think that one of my favorite moments was, um, we were trying to infiltrate the, um, headquarters of, uh, what was it?

Franklin: 00:44:18 The Harmonium?

Robby: 00:44:18 The harmonium to gather some information. And we were, there was obviously guards around and whatnot, but like Temerity had a heart to heart with FAIL/safe about what friends were

Everyone: 00:44:35 [Laughter]

Robby: 00:44:35 ...and how you like keep a watch out for your friends. Um, and it ended up being a really special moment and in the end it became like a really beautiful exchange of some gifts and some really like positive emotions.

Franklin: 00:44:52 That was really... that was session two!

Robby: 00:44:54 Yeah.

Everyone: 00:44:55 [Laughter]

Franklin: 00:44:55 That was session two.

Lo: 00:44:58 Because that was that paperwork place, right?

Robby: 00:44:59 Yeah.

Seren: 00:45:01 Well that's where I have like a good memory of Temerity being able to go in and just, um, say "eeeeeeh" to all the other employees.

Robby: 00:45:08 Yeah

Seren: 00:45:08 ...Cause that like her front job.

Franklin: 00:45:10 Oh yeah! It wasn't the Harmonium; it was the Guvners.

Robby: 00:45:15 Oh, yeah. [stammering]

Franklin: 00:45:21 [The Harmonium] was a different infiltration.

Robby: 00:45:21 Oh, you're talking about the... [Stammering] As a side note, um, as- when joining the Revolutionary League, they had decided that Temerity should, uh, help break down from the inside to the Guvernor's, um, faction. And so as part of a revolutionary that you are assigned another faction to help sort of infiltrate breakdown and sort of corrupt. So she has the Guvernors but is not afraid to also infiltrate others.

Everyone: 00:45:51 [chuckles]

Seth: 00:45:55 Um, I really loved, I really loved this was it, it was Harmonium. It was the Harmonium infiltration that we did then. Uh, it was a sneak mission, um, and FAIL/safe and Temerity went in and somehow made our way all the way through. We convinced like these guards to like help us through part of it. And the best part of all of it was Seren's ability to stay in character as Eldred because they literally just sat outside and waited for us the entire time.

Everyone: 00:46:35 [Bursts into laughter]

Lo: 00:46:35 That happened while I was gone.

Robby: 00:46:40 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Lo: 00:46:44 ...cause I was like I do not have any recollection.

Robby: 00:46:45 Yeah. That was part of the efforts of finding Kith. We needed to get out of Sigil-

Lo: 00:46:51 Thats hilarious.

Robby: 00:46:51 and find a githyanki. I mean, it was-

Seth: 00:46:55 It was pretty good.

Lo: 00:46:55 I feel like that is what is always so impressive about your character, Seren, actually is your ability to stay true to what they're actually supposed to be doing.

Seren: 00:47:05 Its so hard with the Bleak Cabal because it like, really dissuades you from going in on the adventure. Cause really I could just lie face down on the floor and be like his character all like everyone's like doing something just super important. I have to find a way to like rationalize how to either get around it or how to like justify it for my character. It's a constant struggle. I'm thinking very hard all of the time.

Robby: 00:47:30 I feel like thie so pouty. They're just the poutiest of characters. Just like, nope, I'm not interested.

Franklin: 00:47:34 So do you all have any questions for me or for each other?

Lo: 00:47:41 I have question for you. Uh, why were you inspired to use Planescape as a setting in creating this campaign?

Franklin: 00:47:49 There are a lot of reasons, but I'd have to say that the first one was because I was first exposed to it through a character who I really liked. And that was Holly Conrad's character of Strix from Dice Camera Action. I love Strix and when I first was exposed to her in the Curse of Strahd setting that they were doing, I was like, "What is this fantastic being? I need to know more about it!" And learned more about Strix's, planar origins and coming from Sigil. So I for- The first reason was kind of a bit of fandom, but as I got to know the setting more, I thought it was really cool. This is a setting where you could have hags as like a hag coven be own a tavern next door or you could just be like, oh yeah, that's the xorn merchant that sells rocks. Um, and you could have this hyper fantastical setting where things that you would consider monsters and creatures to kill or be afraid of could be your neighbors. I thought it was really interesting and fascinating in that point, but also it was the most diverse setting that I've ever come across. I don't know, it's kind of just the hyper fantastical-ness of it really drew me in.

Lo: 00:49:17 I love that. I, cause I do feel I agree with you that Planescape is an interesting setting to do a podcast like this. Just with the overall general feel that we're going with it. I like that kind of tie into it cause I mean obviously other than just being a name, there has to be like a reason behind why we're doing the podcast that we're doing. I like it.

Robby: 00:49:44 I'll follow up by asking Franklin: Um, so do you feel like our characters, how you like reflect this idea or like what do you find interesting about them and helps that like it came sort of carrying on your hopes for this campaign and your Planescape setting.

Franklin: 00:50:05 I've done a lot of growth as a, as a DM trying to learn how to make a really good story and make it an entertaining game. Also making it like a collaborative storytelling experience. And I thought each of you brought really interesting, well developed and fun characters together. And we started that last campaign as trying- as an adaptation of the Modron March, which I went through and I realized I didn't love the "railroadiness" of it. And we very quickly went off script and your character's just made fantastic, Um, if foolish decisions that created a whole, in my opinion, a much more interesting campaign for our setting. And so, um, I really take a lot of inspiration for what the char- what you've created as characters and um, the backstories you've created in the decisions that you've made in that past campaign. Um, and I'm trying really hard to make it a really cool adventure that is about you all as the main characters rather than kind of fitting into a preformed uh, railroady plot. So I'm very prepared to... Possibly scrap a chapter if the- if I have to, but if it's for a better story that you're all creating and we're all having a lot of fun doing it, doing it, I am 100% willing to throw out all the rest of the stuff I've done If we create a better story. I hope that answers your question.

Robby: 00:51:53 Yeah.

Seth: 00:51:55 We'll do your chapters. We'll probably just do them backwards.

Franklin: 00:51:58 As is tradition.

Lo: 00:51:59 Oh, true.

Seren: 00:52:00 Okay. I have one for Franklin. It's um, very, it's a very deep question. Okay. Uh, are you going to fight a dragon?

Franklin: 00:52:10 Possibly.

Seren: 00:52:10 Wow! That's it. That's the question. We're playing Dungeons & Dragons, I want to fight a dragon.

Franklin: 00:52:20 There are quite possibly, I can't promise you, I don't want to give any spoilers, but there may be dungeons and they're quite possibly might be dragons.

Seren: 00:52:29 ooOOoo

Seth: 00:52:29 I've never fought a dragon in Dungeons & Dragons.

Robby: 00:52:31 [Laughter]

Seth: 00:52:31 Never, never. I've never even seen one in Dungeons & Dragons.

Franklin: 00:52:37 That is a bold-faced lie.

Robby: 00:52:37 But we haven't-

Seth: 00:52:39 Maybe in the distance. Did we walk past one?

Franklin: 00:52:41 You've, you've- That was like the first boss of the campaign.

Seren: 00:52:45 But it wasn't like a real dragon

Franklin: 00:52:45 Well, okay.

Robby: 00:52:46 It wasn't a real dragon.

Franklin: 00:52:47 Was constructed dragon, but its-

Lo: 00:52:49 It was a dragon nonetheless.

Seth: 00:52:51 You mean the paper dragon? The paper dragon. Ok, yeah.

Franklin: 00:52:51 You didn't know it was constructed until after it was over.

Seth: 00:52:54 I was going to mention that moment too. Like when Eldred leapped on that dragon.

Franklin: 00:53:00 Eldred for being such a frail character really is very lucky at grappling.

Seren: 00:53:04 Yeah, it is really pure luck. I don't have modifiers to support that.

Seth: 00:53:11 Um, I'll go am I supposed to?

Franklin: 00:53:13 Yeah, I think you're the last one.

Seth: 00:53:15 Okay. Um, I want to know how you go about choosing kind of planes for us to go to a little bit. Like they fit with kind of a plot or are they just kind of like devices for you to use?

Franklin: 00:53:37 I, I found a lot of inspiration going through the manual, the planes, the planeswalkers handbook, um, all of this old and new information. Um, I regularly binge, um, uh, Forgotten Realms Explained like planes videos and stuff like that. So I've researched a lot of information about these planes and I find them each individually very interesting and fantastical. And what I do is I keep all that information to the side and I think what is the next thing that would happen for them? Like do they need to go to THIS kind of a place? And then whatever that place is, I think of what would make this a really interesting setting? Um, would it be really cool to go to an army barracks? They have to go in and they have to take over the fort. Cool. That could be really cool. Where could that be? That could be in Acheron where it's all battles all the time. It's law, law and order at its most militant. That could be like, let's go hyper militant on this. Or it could be: what is, what would such a place be like on the beast lands? Would it be just, uh, just oh this open air type of baurier and beast filled type of place that has a very loose definition of what a military is. So I kind of take the idea and I just kind of cycle it through. What would it be like in this plane or this plane? Um, and to be honest, I, uh, found a really cool Reddit article where I just take random magic cards and I just lay them down and be like, oh, okay, here is the problem. Here is the NPC, here is the helper. Um, and I've done a bunch of those and 98% of them never make it into the campaign, but they're very interesting, nonetheless, but-

Lo: 00:55:50 Thats such a cool idea!

Robby: 00:55:50 I feel like it sparks imagination, at the least.

Franklin: 00:55:52 It really does. It sparks imagination and sometimes, for the settings I think, oh wow. This reminds me a lot of that plane. And so I just kind of go with it. Okay. It's a little bit of building the plane as you're flying it, but I feel like that's just DMing in general.

Seth: 00:56:08 Yeah.

Seren: 00:56:13 [chuckles]

Seth: 00:56:13 Who's next?

Everyone: 00:56:16 [general stammering]

Robby: 00:56:16 I was going to say, I have a, I have a question for Eldred or for Seren, playing Eldred. Uh, will Eldred ever decide that enough is enough. Like will, will Eld- and basically what I am- What Temerity is curious about is "will Eldred abandon us?"

Everyone: 00:56:36 [Laughter]

Seren: 00:56:37 Ah, wow. It would, it would take a lot. I feel like cause he's made some pretty chaotic decisions in his life before he'd be, he would first probably talk to you before outright abandoning you. I think you'd have to be doing something like really egregious, like you'd have to be literally like slaughtering people in the street and he'd come out and be like, Temerity, are you having a problem right now? Do you want to talk about it?

Lo: 00:57:07 So rational

Seren: 00:57:13 Yeah, probably. Probably like just I think unless we turned to absolute murder-hobos, I think it'll be okay... But you never know.

Everyone: 00:57:25 [Laughter]

Seren: 00:57:25 Test me. Go ahead.

Lo: 00:57:28 Yeah. On that same thing, because I feel like a lot of that is because of Eldred's apathy to most things. So if Eldred had to pick an emotion to, to actually like feel for forever, other than like apathy, what, what would it be?

Seren: 00:57:45 Other than apathy? Wow.

Seth: 00:57:48 We eliminated that choice.

Seren: 00:57:49 Yeah.

Everyone: 00:57:50 [Laughter]

Lo: 00:57:50 Do you like how I made sure of that?

Seren: 00:57:53 Just sealing all the exits for me.

Everyone: 00:57:57 [Laughter]

Lo: 00:57:57 I want a juicy answer.

Seth: 00:57:59 [Laughs] Yeah...

Seren: 00:57:59 I don't know. Like, oh, like a warm fuzzy feeling. I feel like he never gets that. Like when you're asleep and some blankets warming your house next to a fireplace. He just wants warmth basically.

Seth: 00:58:09 Yeah. That's sad.

Robby: 00:58:12 Like a good Sherpa,

Lo: 00:58:16 like the feeling of getting into bed after a long day.

Seren: 00:58:19 Or like waking up and then being able to go back to sleep being like half awake. That's kind of Nice.

Franklin: 00:58:24 The simple thing.

Franklin: 00:58:25 Yeah.

Seth: 00:58:26 Um, my question for Eldred is to piggy back off of it, kind of is what is Eldred's deepest darkest fear?

Everyone: 00:58:36 [Laughter and exclamations of disbelief]

Seren: 00:58:40 um...

Franklin: 00:58:41 Thats less of a piggy back and more of a just pull on like a full on pole vault.

Seth: 00:58:46 I mean you, it, the point of it is because you've experienced such terrible things. I'm like, is, is, are you afraid of that? Like the, just going back to that or is there something that you actually fear more than it?

Seren: 00:59:00 Probably having to face like he, when he really worries about is that- Oh hi! My DM's like leaning in uncomfortably close.

Everyone: 00:59:12 [Laughter]

Seren: 00:59:12 He would, he hopes that he didn't mess up his home plane because he did like a really like imbalancing like bizarre experiment that just totally... It shunted him into the Shadowfell. He has no idea if that, like caused a permanent problem there. Um, uh, it, he hopes it still exists to be great if that plane still existed. He loved that he's also as a tertiary fear, he's also a little bit nervous if someone were from that plane were to like come and call them out on that. But he liked it better than finding out if that he had, um, essentially destroyed a plane or irrevocably damaged it through carelessness.

Seth: 00:59:56 Yeah so the genocide of what? Your entire people?

Seren: 00:59:59 Yeah, he's hate that, he would hate that a lot.

Seth: 01:00:02 It's a thing to hate; that'd suck.

Franklin: 01:00:07 Let's do, let's do questions for Seth.

Seren: 01:00:13 FAIL/safe

Seth: 01:00:14 mmhmm.

Seren: 01:00:14 What is FAIL/safe's- I mean, Seth, Seth FAIL/safe, Seth, what is the preferred design aesthetic of FAIL/safe?

Seth: 01:00:23 Um, you have a baroque foot.

Everyone: 01:00:25 [Laughter]

Lo: 01:00:30 Let's get straight to the point, here.

Seth: 01:00:32 Highly ornate. Um, kind of like embossing on things, I feel like that's kind of his style because the idea behind it, right is that from this base function is, I feel like he started as a minimalist artists, right. Because he made cog the same cog over and over again. That served a singular function. That was the point of it. And then through kind of learning that there's more to it and there's the ability to kind of embellish and the ability to create like different things from those embellishments or different ways to do things. It kind of just fits. So everything's like highly ornate and weird, strange.

Seren: 01:01:15 Good answer.

Lo: 01:01:16 I feel like its an allegorical tale for going through art school.

Seth: 01:01:20 Yeah. Yeah. Sigil is, art school. Lots of different things.

Franklin: 01:01:26 Funny enough, there is an art school.

Seth: 01:01:29 Um, there is, oh, I'm going there.

Franklin: 01:01:32 Uh, just, just for reference. Um, cause I don't think that we mentioned it earlier. Eldred does have a prosthetic foot that, um, that was made by FAIL/safe.

Seth: 01:01:45 In like the one, one time we used the critical misses or whatever table.

Franklin: 01:01:51 Yeah. Massive damage table [Actually the Lingering Injury Table], which I really just need to bring back. I love that table.

Seth: 01:01:56 I do, too.

Seren: 01:01:56 Please keep that.

Seth: 01:01:56 I have a scar from it. I remember.

Franklin: 01:02:02 Oh yeah!

Seren: 01:02:02 So do I!

Franklin: 01:02:02 That was a bigger "scar".

Robby: 01:02:05 Um, FAIL/safe. Also made the quiver of Ehlona, that Temerity caries, which I imagine now is also very ornate. Hard to hide.

Lo: 01:02:19 FAIL/safe also made a mustache. So...

Robby: 01:02:21 Oh yes.

Lo: 01:02:22 I think that's my favorite thing. So far. Hard left question for FAIL/safe. Uh, what does FAIL/safe Think of death? Since you, I mean you're essentially immortal. I feel like you don't have any direct fear towards death for yourself. So as a concept, when you think about death in general?

Seth: 01:02:45 Well, I don't think he's had enough time to understand that everyone is so different when it comes to death. Um, I think he definitely, he looks at it probably much the same as him though, that it's like when you die, you go back to wherever you came from and you are remade. So like it's a transference of energy.

Lo: 01:03:13 So FAIL/safe is a Buddhist.

Seth: 01:03:14 Yeah, basically. I mean,

Lo: 01:03:19 Fair enough.

Franklin: 01:03:20 There's a faction for that.

Everyone: 01:03:22 [chuckles]

Seth: 01:03:22 Is there?

Franklin: 01:03:23 Oh yeah.

Seth: 01:03:25 Its not the Godsmen.

Robby: 01:03:27 So, um, my question for FAIL/safe is it is somewhat related that um, po- possibly having to do the same thing, but like when, um, due to his, uh, recent awakening, I imagine there was a lot of really fun things that you get to sort of like relive emotionally or sort of like tangibly. So like what are you excited the most to like role play with him when he finally like decides and or realizes about whatever it may be?

Seth: 01:03:59 um, I'm, I think I'm, I have this kind of moment in my head that I don't really want to fully give away, but like, I've wanted to kind of be like in an like an enlightenment moment where like everything kind of clicks for him and it becomes less about kind of like learning and more about kind of like, instilling learning because that's what, that's what ultimately this God who has chosen him, his building him up for because this God is the god of learning and usually of knowledge and it's usually through like, it's practice to like pass down that knowledge in some way

Lo: 01:04:50 Student becomes teacher.

Robby: 01:04:52 [laughs] Right? Right. It's like the, it's like that level of growth, which I think is really exciting.

Lo: 01:04:58 Uh, I have question for Temerity. Uh, if you were to be taking your career placement test, what would Temerity get?

Robby: 01:05:09 That's such an interesting question. I mean, like she, not only does her youth kind of like deceive her in that because she's really deciding a lot about who she is and where she's going. At the same time, like just being like sneaky and beautiful. Um, and exploring your sexuality at the same time. I just feel like, uh, I don't know, maybe a hairdresser?

Everyone: 01:05:38 [Bursts of Laughter]

Franklin: 01:05:38 It comes full circle!

Lo: 01:05:38 Everybody in this party is a haridresser-

Robby: 01:05:38 Almost.

Lo: 01:05:38 ...in the real world-

Seren: 01:05:38 Except for me!

Lo: 01:05:38 Except for Seren. So Robby's really just going to become himself.

Robby: 01:05:55 Sort of. But, but seriously though, I mean like it, it has a lot of parallels. I feel like it makes a lot of sense.

Lo: 01:06:03 I was afraid that you were going to say like a prostitute.

Seren: 01:06:05 [Cackles]

Robby: 01:06:06 No.

Lo: 01:06:06 Because he said beautiful and mysterious and something else. What else did you say?

Franklin: 01:06:11 Sneaky

Lo: 01:06:11 And then you start to talk about sexuality.

Seren: 01:06:13 I was getting kind of a Black Widow vibe.

Franklin: 01:06:16 Like a femme fetale?

Robby: 01:06:18 I agree. Without going this sort of like, you know, Austin Powers assassin route, you know, like

Lo: 01:06:26 Oh Temerity's going to become Beyonce.

Robby: 01:06:26 I, I know, right? Like I feel like it's someone that just like has the ability to converse with others, has a lot of like charisma and sort of like attracts others but also has the ability to sort of like influenced them and sort of like, ah, like offer them like things to enhance and persuade and manipulate... Like a hairdresser. And any of you hasnt had a relationship with a hairdresser, but that's what they're doing to you. I know from experience.

Franklin: 01:06:59 Don't give away our secrets. Jigs up, jigs up everyone. Any more questions for-

Seth: 01:07:09 Mines in the same vein. So I'll ask, um, I want to know if Temerity were a pop star, what kind of music would she play and, and would she dance.

Franklin: 01:07:22 Yeah. I love how FAIL/safe's questions were like "what is your concept of death?" And then Temerity's questions are like a Cosmo quiz, but I'm very interested in the answer of just Cosmo quiz.

Lo: 01:07:36 Oh Gosh, its so true.

Robby: 01:07:39 I don't know! Ummm...

Seth: 01:07:43 From the anime girl pictures, I have an idea.

Robby: 01:07:45 Yeah. I mean like I feel like, part- a part of me thinks that Temerity would be kind of like Jem & the Holograms and just like all kinds of beautiful pretty colors, but secretly is a superhero in disguise. But then on the other hand, maybe it could be like, um, who's that French? That French singer that was really popular for a minute. she had that crazy pop...

Lo: 01:08:09 Yelle!

Robby: 01:08:10 Yeah, Yelle. Well she can be very Yelle with the sort of like crazy patterns and the fun like dance moves that are like very like quick and jagged, and adorable and like in some foreign language.

Seth: 01:08:26 Abyssal!?

Lo: 01:08:27 Oh my God, No! She's going to be that... What is it that j-pop like metalhead band?

Seth: 01:08:38 Baby Metal?

Everyone: 01:08:38 [Laughter]

Lo: 01:08:38 Cutesy music and dancing and outfits and suddenly just like, "RRRRAAAAAAAAAAH"

Robby: 01:08:43 Very like death metal pop.

Franklin: 01:08:48 You're giving me so many idea here.

Robby: 01:08:53 She's an expert at the tambourine

Seren: 01:08:57 Serious question, Robby. Has Temerity ever been to prom?

Robby: 01:09:03 Uh, unfortunately, no. Uh, you know, she, she had very different agendas. Um, the boys were intimidated to ask her to a dance due to her, a demon-like features. Um, but recently at the end of our last sessions. She was able to, uh, be a, be a guest at a really formal events and that was probably the closest she's ever come to. Sort of like going to like a dance or sort of an event where she can dress up, meet a boy, have a great time, drink a little fizzy drink and leave with a good kiss.

Franklin: 01:09:49 Oh, that's adorable. Great. Questions for Kith?

Seth: 01:09:58 !!!

Robby: 01:09:59 Well, I'm going to stay on the same like flirty, flirty level, uh, with Temerity, and start by asking, uh, Lo. Is Kith ever going to be Temerity's best friend?

Lo: 01:10:09 Kith is already Temerity's best friend.

Robby: 01:10:11 Yeah!

Lo: 01:10:12 ThisIts funny cause one of my questions. I was going to ask everybody who's your closest friend in the party? Cause I feel like Temerity and Kith have like a particular yeah, bond because they both pretty young. Yeah. And we've just ended up in some hilarious situations and it just kind of make sense.

Robby: 01:10:28 So far so good.

Lo: 01:10:29 Yeah.

Franklin: 01:10:29 For Frame of reference, Temerity is 16 Kith 22 Eldred is like...

Seren: 01:10:35 334

Franklin: 01:10:40 And FAIL/safe is-

Seth: 01:10:40 um, I think I put like a 1,235-

Everyone: 01:10:46 [Laughter]

Seth: 01:10:46 but technically 2.

Franklin: 01:10:46 So there's some age gaps.

Robby: 01:10:50 He was born on the leap year.

Lo: 01:10:53 Oh my God, my birthday is February 29! In the game.

Seren: 01:10:59 I'm like-

Robby: 01:11:01 Oh, oh.

Lo: 01:11:02 cause February ends on the 28th...

Franklin: 01:11:02 There is no February in Sigil.

Lo: 01:11:05 I know, but that was the-

Franklin: 01:11:07 There also is no calendar in Sigil.

Lo: 01:11:09 You asked what her birthday was in the questionnaire and I put that Kith's birthday was "February 29th 'winky face.'"

Franklin: 01:11:17 And then I learned that Sigil had no calendar and I was like, well...

Seth: 01:11:19 They don't track time. Why? Because they don't have seasons or anything.

Franklin: 01:11:24 The do- Oh God, it's so weird. I'll, I'll, I'll tell you off- off-mic. The craziness that is that, and I'll tell you the listeners later. That's a whole thing.

Seren: 01:11:35 Uh, Kith. Please tell me more about Kith's cool journal that she keeps with her.

Lo: 01:11:45 Wha? The lock journal?

Seren: 01:11:46 Yeah.

Lo: 01:11:47 Yeah, totally. So Kith has this lock journal, um, where she records, um, every lock that she's ever come across that she's had to lock, pick being a rogue. Um, so this actually totally came up on like a whim. Like I hadn't even thought about it before. There was this period of time that happened. I'm trying to remember exactly what occurred, but I decided to record down a lock and then out of character thought that was kind of like an interesting quirk to have. Um, so then by kind of developing that further, I feel like that was a tip given to Kith, um, when she was with the circus troupe. That's like- if you want to be the best type of like rogue or lock picker that you can be, um, you have to study your subject, right? So Kith keeps a journal of every lock that she's come across and she tries to find patterns and also likes to, um, record a d like maker's symbols. Because typically when you're doing any sort of thing where you build that, you have like a...

Seth: 01:13:01 signature.

Lo: 01:13:02 -a signature that you put onto your things. So Kith tracks those to see if she can find common patterns or like a lock makers throughout the multiverse that, um, how common themes. Yeah. So that's where that came about. It's totally random. It just, I came up there one day.

Seren: 01:13:20 I thought it was like super cool for like months

Everyone: 01:13:23 [Laughter]

Seren: 01:13:25 Havent told you until now.

Franklin: 01:13:29 And then our final question,

Seth: 01:13:32 um, I am wondering like how did Kith reason with ever staying with this party?

Seren: 01:13:44 [laughs]

Lo: 01:13:44 Um, that's an interesting question because typically I don't think Kith would ever stay with a group for that long. Um, ultimately I think because it provided Kith A lot of entertainment in the beginning because literally the first venture that we ever did Kith watch somebody sell their soul to a lawyer devil and was very intrigued by this. And then, um-

Robby: 01:14:11 It wasn't too long until we were in the Beshaba Games!

Everyone: 01:14:13 [Laughter]

Lo: 01:14:16 Right? I think that really ultimately at first Kith stuck around because it was entertaining. Um, and then through realizing how interesting all of the people that she ended up with kind of, maybe it's feeling a little sense of home because she misses that. Yeah.

Franklin: 01:14:38 Aw!

Robby: 01:14:39 Baaarf.

Lo: 01:14:43 She would never tell anybody that.

Franklin: 01:14:46 Well, thank you all so much for listening to this, the setup episode of our upcoming adventure. This has been like a really kind of brief or maybe not so brief, really nice in depth introduction to these characters that were going to be playing in this new campaign. We'll have the first episode for you in two weeks time uh, released on Monday and I'm so excited to start a new campaign with these people. I really love these players. They are wonderful and they always show up and Seren and just gave me a wonderful battle axe and like, like spell book pin.

Seren: 01:15:25 No, a real battle axe!

Everyone: 01:15:26 [Laughter]

Franklin: 01:15:30 shh. Don't tell them the real secret. [stammering] I am super excited for all of this and you all are wonderful and do you all listening are wonderful and we'll see you in two weeks. Thank you. Bye.

Everyone: 01:15:47 Thank you. Bye.

Franklin: 01:15:53 Thank you for listening to our very first episode. Creating this has been a labor of love and we're so excited to release it for listeners like you, if you're liking what we're doing and you're excited about the next episode, share it with your friend, consider leaving a review, make art; Anything that you could do is super supportive for fledgling podcasts like ourselves. You can follow us on Twitter @queer4adventure. That is queer-the number four-adventure on Twitter. That's where we're really going to be posting most of our updates and information about any future episodes. We'll be releasing episodes every other Monday, so the next episode will be launched on February 11th. Our intro was created by myself, Franklin Falkowski. Our out-tro was arranged by Braxton Burks and our art was created by Nic Freeman. You can find Braxton on Twitter at @Braxtonburks and their band camp is braxtonburks.bandcamp.com. You can find nick on Twitter at @NicrNack that is, N-I-C-R-NACK and on artstation at artstation.com/nfreemen. They are two wonderful queer artists whom I have had such wonderful experiences with. So you should think about sending them money so that they can make more art for you. That's all for now. And again, thank you so much for listening and we'll see you in two weeks. Bye.

#queer #lgbt #lgbtq #dnd #dnd5e #planescape #podcasts #queerforadventure #ttrpg #rpg

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nancydhooper · 3 years

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Meet Kimberly and Yashira, Two High School Students Leading the Fight for Broadband Access

Kimberly Vazquez and Yashira “Yoshi” Valenzuela are two Baltimore high school students who live in households that experience frequent power cuts, particularly when too many electronics are plugged in at once. When their classes went virtual last year, it didn’t take long to realize they had a serious problem. Participating in class required connectivity to high-speed, broadband internet, and the low-cost plans their families could afford did not cut it. Together, they lead the student-led advocacy group Students Organizing a Multicultural and Open Society (SOMOS), and have organized student boycotts and letter writing campaigns, testified in front of the Baltimore City Council and State Assembly, and ultimately pressured Comcast to agree to raise the minimum speeds on its low-cost plan.

While it was COVID-19 that spurred Kimberly and Yoshi to act, the digital divide has existed for decades and has disproportionately impacted Black and Brown communities, who are less likely to have access to broadband internet at home. Not having broadband access means you don’t have access to equitable opportunities, whether in education, work, health care, or just connecting with a rapidly digitizing world. Broadband access is a basic utility, and it should be treated that way.

Kimberly and Yashira are now about to graduate. In this week’s episode of At Liberty, we talk with them about what it’s like to live without high-speed broadband internet as a student and how they continue to fight the digital divide.

What spurred you into action for broadband access?

KIMBERLY: I was seeing a problem [with speeds under Comcast’s low-cost plan] when at the end of the school year of 2019-2020 where I was having issues with going into Google Docs, I kept on being disconnected. And then during the summer my little sister … was going to summer school and I was going into meetings and I was struggling to go into the meetings and it was only us two … And so I already realized that this was going to be a problem for the next school year.

Comcast’s low-cost plan wasn’t providing the upload and download speeds required to meet the Federal Communication Commission’s definition of broadband, which is already outdated.

KIMBERLY: It was difficult hearing Comcast representatives falsely promoting this package when at best it only provided Internet for one or two devices, and [to hear them] them claiming that high speed. But it doesn’t it didn’t seem high speed to me if I couldn’t get online at the same time as my younger sister. [They told me] it was probably because I had 20 devices plugged into one outlet, which in my neighborhood, if I did that, I would have no electricity. So I don’t think that’s the problem. And in fact, it was a lot of blaming it on me and on customers, [more] than really looking at their service and really saying, you know, maybe it isn’t good.

How did you expand the campaign for broadband access across Baltimore?

YOSHI: We decided that there is more that needs to be done in the city. There are millions of students, not only in Baltimore but across the world, who currently do not have access to devices and good quality internet. We planned and attended other online press conferences with so many other nonprofits across the country. And we garnered a lot of grassroots support from the people in Baltimore City and across the country.

KIMBERLY: This issue was getting coverage in BuzzFeed, in the New York Times. And so when we’re putting so much pressure on them, there’s only so much they can do to defend themselves. And so, I can personally say as an Internet Essentials (Comcast) customer, even with the doubling of speeds, I’m still having problems. And I believe it’s because they only increase their upload speeds two megabits per second. That’s what you need to go into video conferencing. Obviously right now with everything online and with video conferencing being such a daily task, there needs to be more upload speeds …. I actually even purchased a portable charger because now I have to be on my phone for classes … I use my own data a lot of the time in order for my sisters to use the internet for their classes.

What would you tell other students struggling with lack of broadband access?

YOSHI: My advice to other students who are currently struggling is to reach out for help, like communicate with your teachers, administrators at school, let them know what your situation is, let them know that you’re struggling and come up with a plan where you can complete the assignments at a reasonable time that also works with your teacher. On top of that, don’t stress yourself out too much.

For students who want to make a difference, how can they get involved?

KIMBERLY: I was very shy. But I feel like what got me to being unapologetically myself was having a platform, having other people that I could relate to. SOMOS was a platform for me to connect to other students who were facing [similar issues]… a lot of our members are immigrants or children of immigrants or Latinx. Having the voice of groups that are minorities is great to put at the forefront because those are usually who get the worst of the worst if I’m being fair, as well as Black voices. So for me, I’ve seen that a lot of students hesitate in putting out their story, and so I just want to say that your voice does matter.

What would you say to President Biden and the FCC?

KIMBERLY: I really would like to see municipal broadband internet throughout the nation and first going into communities that are disproportionately cut off from internet. Funding is a good way to go, but as Yoshi said, talking to the community who knows what is going on and what they’re facing — they know what’s the best solution that will effectively help them.

You are both about to graduate. What’s next?

YOSHI: I’ll be going to University of Baltimore, I’m on a full ride [scholarship] thankfully. I will be studying public policy.

KIMBERLY: I’m actually going to go to Goucher College and I am potentially majoring in political science. Funny story: I wanted to be a forensic scientist, which I could still do and do advocacy work. But this just has amazed me and sparked something in me, such that I steered into political science. But I’ll still be in Baltimore.

YOSHI: Yeah, we’re going to talk every day, we’re still going to keep working and hopefully we’ll still keep working with SOMOS and this campaign and continue doing all this work, hopefully not forever, but for as long as we need to.

Nationwide, there have been significant gains in the fight to extend broadband access, indicating that the government is finally starting to treat it like the basic utility it is in today’s world. Congress created the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB), which will provide families with a $50 subsidy to afford broadband access during the pandemic, and the Emergency Connectivity Fund, which will help students connect. President Biden’s American Jobs Plan also prioritizes broadband access. Unfortunately, given the scope of this problem, the government needs to do more. The FCC must extend broadband access by improving the Lifeline program and ensuring the equitable and efficient rollout of the EBB in order to reach unserved and underserved communities, including those on Tribal lands. For their part, Congress and President Biden must bolster the EBB, pass the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act, and work toward a permanent solution for broadband affordability. As Kimberly and Yoshi’s activism show us, for true equality, there must be broadband access for all.

https://soundcloud.com/aclu/meet-the-students-who-are-taking-on-comcast/s-z67wXRCuvwY

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roslinadama-sinequanon · 6 years

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Why?

So, we are now a day into my grief. I am still experiencing shock, anger and a deep and pervading sadness. I know Sharon is a fictional character but she has become like family to me over the past nine years. I feel like a family member has died. I was hoping today that I’d feel better about what happened last night. But that isn’t the case. I honestly did not sleep all night. It took me a couple hours to get through the initial grief and anger before I could even try to go to sleep. Instead, I tossed and turned all night. I couldn’t seem to shut off the shock, anger, bitterness and sadness that I was feeling. I kept asking myself “Why? Why would they do this to us? What did we do to deserve this ending? Why did Duff lie?” I just couldn’t find any reason for Sharon’s death. I haven’t felt this filled with angst and shock and betrayal since the election last year. I have the same kick to the gut feeling that I had in November 2016. Thanks Duff for making me relive that frakking nightmare.

Sharon dying was hard enough to accept, but the way it was done was what I found even more appalling.

First of all you had James Duff saying he was writing season 6 for the fans, because he owed us for all our enthusiasm and loyalty over the years. He said he was going to finally give Mary a great storyline and use her amazing acting ability and he was giving us the Shandy wedding we’ve been waiting for. Even though I was saddened to hear the show had been cancelled I was excited for season six. When the season did start and the fandom freaked out at Sharon’s ominous inability to kick the flu, it was intimated that we were over reacting. Duff point blank said that he was not killing Sharon off. So, at least we didn’t have to worry about that.

As season 6 progressed we did get some amazingly tender Shandy moments along with an illness storyline I despised. But, still I thought, he’s doing this so we can see the love between Sharon and Andy and then she’ll get well and by the end of the season she will be Darth Raydor again and will take out Stroh in the last installment. Or, as it became more apparent that he was NOT going to let Sharon have a quick fix, I thought she would spend the Stroh storyline waiting for a heart transplant, then she would have her heart transplant just as Stroh is taken down and we would end MC with her saying she was taking an extended leave to recover from her surgery and might end up retiring depending on how she progressed. And Andy would say he was retiring to be with Sharon and that he might do some PI work on the side. That way if MC was picked up by another network they could come back and decide if they wanted to portray the show with Sharon back in charge or make it more of a PI show with Sharon, Andy and Provenza. It left the options open. And if another network didn’t pick up the show, we were left feeling good about Sharon getting well, spending time with her new husband, living a full life, embracing her future grandbabies. Instead Duff took away all happiness and all hope. He destroyed us and I’m sure he’s taking great pride in that.

The entire sixth season was heavy and depressing, like a black cloud was hanging over it. They even managed to take away the joy of the wedding we’ve been waiting for. I would have expected that if Duff was actually writing the season for the fans that he would have made this season more exciting, joyful and enjoyable. I didn’t enjoy one part of this season. I went into every episode sick to my stomach, wondering what he would do to Sharon. But, I NEVER expected death. I trusted Duff when he said he wasn’t going to do that, and I trusted the fact that everyone was saying we’d be left feeling satisfied with how the show ended. Duff has trolled before and exaggerated things he was going to give us in regards to Shandy, but I don’t remember him outright lying about something before.

And how did we go from “we caught this early and no matter what happens you’ll end up in a good place” to less than a month later being DEAD.

So, yeah, killing Sharon off? How could anyone with a heart think that the fans would want to experience her death. Not only did he kill Sharon off he did so in a way that took her entirely out of character. As I said on a previous post, he had her die the way Brenda would have died, not the way Sharon would have died. Sharon always followed the rules and she wouldn’t have been running around collapsing at crime scenes. She would have informed her superiors about her illness and stayed on desk duty. She would have done what her doctor’s told her to do because she didn’t want to be an hindrance at work and because she wanted to LIVE.

No, Sharon Raydor would not want to be a burden to her kids and her husband, but she wouldn’t say they would all be better off with her dead and then start planning her suicide, because that’s what it was. When I was reviewing a previous episode I said I was afraid that Sharon talking to her priest meant that she was giving up and letting Gods will take over and that is exactly what she did. She gave up…And why? Sharon Raydor Flynn is not a quitter. She is tough and strong and faces challenges head on. Sharon also had options to deal with her health crisis and she chose not to just let herself die, but to force the issue.

It doesn‘t make sense. Sharon was the happiest she’s ever been in her life, she had so much to live for. She had new husband she adores and who adores her and who told her he just wants her with him to hold her hand and be there at his side. She has three children who love and need her. She would NOT disregard them this way. All that talk about the woman in the heart transplant ward (Laura Roslin anyone) was rubbish. Her feeling like she didn’t deserve a heart or didn’t want to take someone else’s was ridiculous. Sharon is not 85 years old thinking she’s lived a good life and would rather someone with more life ahead of them get the heart. She still had a lot of years left. Other than the heart issue she was healthy and fit—she could have had 20-30 years with Andy, to travel and cuddle her grandbabies etc. Instead she chose to get last rites knowing she was going to force the issue and let herself die. She knew exactly what she was doing. She filmed her last will, words and requests for her children—because she saw how it effected Mini Pearl that Bonnie didn’t do that and then she pushed herself when she knew she should be resting. She forced herself into that anger in her office. Hell, I’ve seen Sharon deal with much worse people and completely keep her cool, it was like she forced herself to feel that rage just so she would bring on a heart attack. And she did it knowing that the husband who loves her with all his heart, the man who only wants her by his side, who couldn’t wait to call her his wife, was watching. She did it knowing her SON was watching and would have to witness and live with watching his mother die in front of him. She did it without seeing her other two children who meant more to her than anything. That is NOT Sharon Raydor.

Sharon Raydor was a fighter, she would have fought to stay with Andy and her children. She would not have given up at the first sign of adversity. She would have taken on the challenge of her illness and would have WON. Sharon always put family before work.

Work was never her be all end all and for Duff to change things up now and allow her to kill herself over her stupid job was just awful. It was an awful thing to do to her and it was an awful thing to do to Andy and to Rusty. Sharon just wouldn’t have done that.

So, now we come to why? Why did Duff do this? Sharon’s death was completely unnecessary. It didn’t further a plot ,it didn’t help with a storyline. Mary did not ask to leave. There was no need for it at all. In fact all it did was devastate people and make a lot of us not want to bother watching the last four episodes. I remember saying of TNT execs “What kind of idiot cancels their number one show? Well, now I say of Duff “What kind of idiot kills off his star, the most popular cast member on his show?”

As I said earlier in the post there were a lot better ways to end MC that would have left fans feeling good about the show and satisfied with how it ended. Killing Sharon was just purposely cruel. It was a complete betrayal of the fans who stuck by this show even when they weren’t getting what they wanted or needed from it because they hoped “one day”. It was a betrayal to the fans that Duff always lauded as amazing and loyal. It was betrayal to the fans who believed Duff when he said he was writing season six for us and that we would be satisfied by how it ends. It was a betrayal to those of us who believed him when he said he wouldn’t kill Sharon off. It was a huge colossal betrayal and a stab in the back to all of us. It was completely and utterly cruel.

Did Duff have a fallout with Mary? Is that why he wanted Sharon gone? I always got a weird vibe between him and Mary and between he and Tony when they did the Facebook chat with him. And now I know why Mary has been so silent on twitter over all the episodes, even the wedding, and how she’s only done one WWSRD and was not active in the #savemajorcrimes push. I thought it was because she’d moved on from the show but I’m thinking it’s because she was pissed with the direction it took and understood how utterly wretched we fans were going to be feeling.

Was Duff just blowing smoke out his ass when he said he wasn’t ready for MC to be over and felt he still stories to tell? Maybe he was glad the show was cancelled and knew that there would be a big #savemajorcrimes push so he decided that he would kill Sharon off and that would stop the fans from pushing other networks to take it on. I for one quit that campaign last night. I don’t want MC to continue on anymore. You can’t have MC without it’s heart, without it’s soul and that’s what Sharon Raydor was. She was the glue that held them all together.

Did Duff really hate Shandy fans and Mary fans so much he had to kill Sharon Raydor off? We all know that Rusty was his baby, his favorite, and yet he was not a fan favorite. Sharon was the fan favorite and many just wanted Rusty to GO. Mary/Shandy fans often complained because Sharon was not given great storylines that were personal to her and Shandy fans complained because their entire relationship took place off screen. Those were valid complaints. But did Duff allow his jealousy and irritation with the fans to cause him to kill Sharon off? Let’s face it fans would be FAR less upset if he killed Rusty off compared to the agonized grief all over the fandom over Sharon’s death.

Duff had such an amazing character in Sharon, a confident and complex, completely together and not neurotic mature woman and he did not know how to write that. The first couple of seasons we did see a lot of Sharon but it was all through Rusty’s eyes and it all had to do with Rusty. When that needed to move on and Sharon should have been getting her own storylines Duff didn’t bother with her anymore. He didn’t delve into her past and he didn’t give her any personal storylines. I would love to have seen things come up from her FID days or storylines with her being a woman in such a male dominated profession. He did allow her to fall in love with Andy, but never let us see any of that actually happen. We didn‘t have a clue as to the depths of the love they had for each other until this season, two years into their relationship. I mean what great opportunities he had for some of those emotional season 6 conversations to take place over something that wasn’t her possible death. Conversations about Sharon’s “Jack baggage” and why she was so afraid to give her heart to Andy and trust him. Conversations about how things could change at work if they started dating and it didn’t work out, conversations about Andy’s drinking and serial dating and how he was trying so hard to fill the hole in his heart . Conversations about the letter he wrote her in the hospital that we never saw again. Instead, he allowed ageism to take over—as if he couldn’t fathom an actual romantic/sexual relationship for people in their fifties. Hell, we had to wait until season six, after they were married to have an actual reference to them having sex---and it was as doctor telling them they couldn’t have sex for a week.

The worse thing that Duff did with this ending is that he completely ruined the entire MC experience. I will never be able to rewatch all the touching Shandy scenes from the season or even the wedding, because now it’s so frakking apparent that every one of them foreshadowed her death. It wasn’t about him finally caving in and giving us some tender loving Shandy, it was him letting us know it was never going to last before he ripped out our own hearts. I’m not sure I will even be able to watch my previous seasons on DVD and that was supposed to be the balm when this show was cancelled. I will at least save money on buying season six, no way I’m watching this shit show again.

I really feel like this was a huge frak you to the fans--you know--the ones he was supposed to be writing season six for and are now sitting with mouths agape and tears streaming from their eyes thinking how on earth could ANYONE could think that fans would be happy and satisfied with THAT ending. So, frak you Duff, you ruined Major Crimes, you ruined Sharon Radyor, you ruined Shandy and I’m done.

The only reason to continue watching would be for Andy and I just can’t. Just thinking about the depths of his grief makes me sick to my stomach. Either he will be so grief stricken it would break me or they will just have him move on as business as usual and that will piss me off even more. At least with Adama we only had that one heartbreaking scene with him at Laura’s grave talking about the cabin by the lake. It KILLED me and I’ve never watched it again--never watched Daybreak again. But to have to see Andy go on for four more episodes would really do me in. At least if they’d had Sharon die saving Rusty from Stroh in the last episode we wouldn’t have to go through four episodes of Andy without Sharon. When he clutched his heart after being told Sharon died I almost wish he’d had a heart too and went with her (Titanic ending anyone). But my main reason for not continuing is that I just don’t give a flying frak. I don’t care if Stroh gets Rusty or not. You killed off Sharon and that’s the only thing that mattered this season.

Still filled with bitterness…Still filled with anger...Still filled with sadness...When will it get better?

#Mary McDonnell #sharon raydor #andy flynn #Major Crimes #shandy #James Duff #still hate james duff #why the frak did you kill sharon off #we deserved better #this ending sucked

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