#carnivores 1998

[virovac]

Honestly feel the Carnivores series could make an okay movie adaptation

Game premise for those unfamiliar: you have paid for privilege hunt alien equivalents of prehistoric Earth Fauna on a plant run by a hunting safari company, who bought the planet after failed colonization attempts. They tried building some facilities on the surface but at this point… from what if can tell it’s mostly just a spaceship comes down to drop off and pick up customers and what they kill or tranquillize. So most facilities are probably orbital or in areas lacking megafauna.

Imagine a scene where skinning a dead “wooly mammoth” and realizing underneath that hair it really does not look much like an elephant

There are also mysterious arcaheology with ghostly voices, and strange yeti that could be reinterpreted as the classic dumb speculative idea of “dinosauroid” but covered in insulator feathers.

Th T-Rex analogues are also possibly smarter than they seem , since unlike other predators they don’t seem food motivated since they don’t eat the player but beat them to death ,and never get bored or tired to stop chasing you. And they send out calls so more T-Rex’s will join the chase. One broke through a wall of a fort which is part of why attempts at building facilities on the planet stopped.

There was a dropped game idea of poachers: those who didn’t fill out the paperwork and land without permission and without regard for the rules.This gives a perfect human antagonist.

You could easily combine all the that into a plot of the tyrannosaurs as guardians of the planet tied to the strange extinct civilization and a poacher antagonist meeting his end when the plots intersect.

Can maybe incorporate the ice age inspired animals by having the poacher sabotage the ship and cause a crash landing detour, or just give them cameos in trophy rooms or in-universe advertisements

I’m imagining some futuristic satire possible like saying “it’s a good thing companies are more long term in interest since the stock market was abolished, or else the dinosaurs would be extinct again”

Might want to not do references to Stonehenge like in the second game, at this point connecting it to aliens would be silly… but if you make it only superficially like stone henge an make the like solid blocks rather than stacked could fit the weird atmosphere of it being a not-right mirror world, or imply Dinohunt Corp company faked it perhaps trying to further cash in in similarities between Earth and this planets archaeology and provide a landmark for hunters. The fact they don’t have the mysterious voices and are in the area of an abandoned settlement by Dinohunt Corp could add credence.

A fake archaeological site is also in spirit of the community which still has lots of hoaxes to this day with similar energy to “finding Mew under a truck”.

[music-addiction-disorder]

CRADLE OF FILTH

Cruelty And The Beast (1998)

[vanalex]

Kat Bjelland feat. Peter Steele - Go To Sleep (Songs of the Witchblade)

[woundedheartwithin]

Just saw someone say the original Carnivores was on iOS and I actually wanna hit something

[tomorrowusa]

The latest far right fad is raw milk. Perhaps they regard Louis Pasteur as a woke socialist. Seriously, government health advisories about raw milk only make it more attractive to the conspiracy theory fringe.

Commentators on sites like Infowars, Gab and Rumble have grown increasingly vocal about raw milk in recent weeks. They see the government’s heightened concerns about the dangers as overreach. “They say: ‘Bird flu in milk! Bird flu in milk! Oh, it’s the scariest thing!’” Owen Shroyer said on the April 29 episode of his “War Room” podcast from Infowars. He added: “They’ll just make raw milk illegal. That’s what this is all about.” Public health officials have long warned Americans of the severe health risks that can come with drinking raw milk instead of pasteurized milk, which is heated to kill bacteria, viruses and other germs. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found more than 200 disease outbreaks linked to unpasteurized milk from 1998 to 2018, leading to 2,645 illnesses, 228 hospitalizations and three deaths.

The far right, including anti-vaxxers, seems to have an affinity for pathogens. Either that or they feel that pathogens don't really exist and perhaps were made up by Hillary Clinton and George Soros. Whatever they think, don't expect them to make sense.

Contrary to claims, there’s little or no evidence that drinking raw milk provides health benefits, including protection from certain infectious diseases, said Dr. Megin Nichols, the deputy director of the Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases at the C.D.C. The Food and Drug Administration says pasteurizing milk kills the virus. The F.D.A. said in a statement that there are no scientifically proven benefits to drinking raw milk and that “the health risks are clear.”

Epidemics get rightwingers agitated. The latest bird flu outbreak has them acting like mad cows.

Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters, a left-leaning watchdog that looked at the trend this month, said raw milk promotion had been intensifying on the right since the start of the bird flu outbreak. “What you have is a bunch of right-wing influencers who know that they can build substantial audiences and retain their audiences and excite their audiences by telling them that what medical authorities are saying about raw milk, about bird flu, is not credible,” Mr. Gertz said.

Basically the wingnuts are telling people: Don't trust science, trust Infowars instead! Paranoia is good for clicks.

As for bird flu, there is clear evidence of it being easily transmissible between mammals.

After mice drink raw H5N1 milk, bird flu virus riddles their organs

Despite the delusions of the raw milk crowd, drinking unpasteurized milk brimming with infectious avian H5N1 influenza virus is a very bad idea, according to freshly squeezed data published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison squirted raw H5N1-containing milk from infected cows into the throats of anesthetized laboratory mice, finding that the virus caused systemic infections after the mice were observed swallowing the dose. The illnesses began quickly, with symptoms of lethargy and ruffled fur starting on day 1. [ ... ] Before the mouse data, numerous reports have noted carnivores falling ill with H5N1 after eating infected wild birds. And a study from March in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases reported that over half of the 24 or so cats on an H5N1-infected dairy farm in Texas died after drinking raw milk from the sick cows. Before their deaths, the cats displayed distressing neurological symptoms, and studies found the virus had invaded their lungs, brains, hearts, and eyes.

So we have bovines, rodents, and felines all being infected by H5N1. Several primates (i.e. humans) have also been infected. But generally, humans whose health practices are influenced by the germ theory of infection stand a darn good chance of avoiding it.

Fortunately, for the bulk of Americans who heed germ theory, pasteurization appears completely effective at deactivating the virus in milk, according to thorough testing by the FDA. Pasteurized milk is considered safe during the outbreak.

As with 17th century patriarchy and religious practices, the fringe right seems eager to return to the medical dark ages before germ theory and vaccination. In the century between 1870 and 1970 life expectancy almost doubled because of related discoveries. The far right seems to have some sort of death wish.

Vote for pro-science candidates. Support groups like 314 Action which are dedicated to electing candidates with a science background.

About Us - 3.14 Action

[judgeitbyitscover]

Bone Wars (1998) & Two Tiny Claws (1999) by Brett Davis

Cover illustrations by Bob Eggleton

Bone Wars (1998)

Montana, 1876. Othniel Charles Marsh, one of the two top paleontologists in the world, in the state's Judith River fossil beds, doing what he does best: digging up the bones of dinosaurs. Montana is a big state, but Marsh can't rest easy. Edward Drinker Cope, his biggest rival, and the other top paleontologist in the world, is also in the area, and there simply aren't enough bones for both of them, leading them to play dirty tricks. And time itself is against them: the fierce snows of winter are on the way and, rumor has it, so is Sitting Bull, fresh from his triumph at little Big Horn.

Another complication: two foreign scientists are also competing for the bones. One says he's from Sweden, the other says he's from Iceland. One of them enlists Cope to help him, while the other befriends Marsh.Marsh and Cope don't want the fossils to leave the country, so they decide to bury the hatchet and work together to outwit the visitors. This turns out to be harder than they thought. The foreign scientists possess amazing technology, but that's because they are much more foreign than they claimed. They don't just want to take the bones out of the country -- they're fighting over who will get to take them clean off the planet....

Two Tiny Claws (1999)

Montana, 1907. Barnum Brown of the American Museum of Natural History aims to dig up fossils of Tyrannosaurus Rex, the most fearsome carnivore ever to walk the Earth. He dismisses rumors of earlier paleontologists encountering both resurrected dinosaurs and aliens from space. He's more worried by reports that notorious bank robber Luther Gumpson is in the neighborhood. But then Brown discovers that the aliens are real, they're back, and they're mad. And he'll see more than the bones of T-Rex, when he encounters the awesome ground-pounding predator in the flesh....

[majestativa]

She briefly shut her bewitching eyes with their long lashes as a carnivorous plant closes its sticky blooms from which there’s no escape.

— Jaroslav Seifert, The Poetry of Jaroslav Seifert, transl by Ewald Osers, (1998)

[mariacallous]

It was around 5 pm on March 15, and the light was fading fast, when Constantin and Tatiana were attacked by the bear. The young couple, aged 29 and 31 and identified in local media reports only by their first names, were Belarusians living in Poland. But Constantin had been working for the winter as a ski instructor in Jasná, a popular resort in neighboring Slovakia. The winter season was coming to an end, and on a day off he’d decided to go hiking with his girlfriend beneath the 4,718 foot-high peak of Na Jame, in the Slovak national park surrounding the resort. What happened next is not exactly clear, but newspaper reports suggest that when the couple encountered the bear—a young male weighing about 265 pounds—they ran in different directions. Finding himself alone, Constantin tried calling Tatiana. When he failed to get a response, he called mountain rescue. It was dark when they eventually found Tatiana’s body, with the help of a search dog. She’d apparently fallen down a ravine, sustaining fatal injuries to her head.

As with previous bear-related fatalities, both in Slovakia and across Europe, the incident has sparked accusations that conservationists are protecting bears at the expense of people’s safety. In 2021, a 57-year-old man was killed by a bear in the same national park, stoking community tensions about their presence and leading to calls for a cull. As it stands, however, hunting the animals is banned under both Slovakian and European law, and experts argue vociferously that a lack of education—rather than a focus on conservation—is the primary cause of the problem.

“It’s really kicked off here, with the press and politicians I think making some unjustified statements,” says British-born zoologist Robin Rigg. A specialist in large carnivores, Rigg is the chair of the Slovak Wildlife Society, which he set up in 1998, two years after moving to the country. Initial reports suggested that Tatiana might have been killed by the bear itself rather than by her fall, Rigg explains. “And it’s been said in public—actually by someone from the Ministry of the Environment—that it was a predatory attack. But I don’t see the evidence for that.”

Although the animal was near the body when rescuers found Tatiana, “that doesn’t mean the bear was intending to kill and consume her,” Rigg says. He stresses that he hasn’t seen all the evidence, so any conclusions are provisional. But he has seen some of the grisly photos that were leaked to the media, “and none of them show signs of consumption.” Puncture marks found in the young woman’s leg, he says, “look like claw marks—they’re not signs of feeding.” “It's extremely rare in Europe to have predatory attacks, and it’s not a common thing anywhere in the world,” Riggs says. This incident occurred in an area where bears are known to hibernate, at a time of year when they are just waking up. “And what can sometimes happen is that the bear reacts aggressively in defending itself, which is what I think is most likely to have happened in this case—that it was startled by these two people appearing,” Rigg says. Unfortunately, this kind of nuance doesn’t often feature in coverage of bear attacks. “You’re actually more likely, statistically, to get hit by lightning or have an allergic reaction to a bee sting,” Rigg says, “but people don’t worry as much about that as they do about a big animal with sharp teeth and claws. It goes back to an instinctive fear that’s been with us since prehistoric times.” The argument that Slovakia’s bears are nothing to be afraid of was further undermined when footage emerged of an animal galloping down a main street in Liptovský Mikuláš just two days after Tatiana’s death. The animal was filmed lunging aggressively at pedestrians, who jumped over fences to escape. No one was seriously hurt, but the video went viral. “And now,” Rigg says, “we’ve had these two incidents within 48 hours of each other, within a few kilometers of each other. So the tendency is to look at them together and ask, ‘What should we do about bears?’” It’s a question that’s become increasingly pressing in recent years—not just in Slovakia but throughout Europe. Having been hunted to the point of extinction in many countries, brown bears had their “strictly protected” status enshrined in EU law in 1992. In most areas where they’re present, bear populations are increasing, and there are now an estimated 17,000 brown bears living in rural areas across the continent. The recovery of this keystone species has been celebrated as a huge win by biologists and biodiversity experts—but it’s not been without its problems.

In the Pyrenees, the mountains that straddle the border between France and Spain, French and Spanish farmers’ unions, sick of dealing with damage to crops, beehives, and livestock, have called for bear numbers to be cut. In the northern Italian province of Trentino, where bears were reintroduced as part of an EU-funded rewilding project, the tragic death of trail runner Andrea Papi in April 2023 brought simmering resentments bubbling up to the surface. To the horror of local scientists, Trentino’s right-wing populist president, Maurizio Fugatti, proposed killing half of the carefully nurtured population of around 120 bears overnight.

Yet, experts say, culling bears is far from the best way to prevent future tragedies. In the wake of Andrea Papi’s death, the local natural history museum invited Tom Smith, a bear management specialist from Utah’s Brigham Young University, to give a talk about how such issues are dealt with in North America. In a sign of how high community tensions were running, the museum took the unusual step of posting an armed guard at the entrance. In his talk, Smith suggested that the solutions were relatively simple: “What you have here isn’t necessarily a bear problem, it’s a people problem,” he said. Unlike in North America, where people in bear areas have grown up with the animals, Europeans living near recently recovered populations don’t necessarily know how to behave. But with some basic bear-awareness training—of the kind that’s taught “in kindergarten” in some Canadian provinces—the number of dangerous or fatal encounters could be vastly reduced. Smith runs the North American Human-Bear Conflict Database, which contains detailed information on 2,175 historic attacks, with “a quarter-million data points.” “What I’ve learned by studying these events,” he told the crowd, “is that 60 percent of them were totally unnecessary—and could have been avoided if people had behaved differently.” In an interview a few days later, Smith talked specifically about Papi’s death, telling WIRED, “I can go through the details and say, ‘You should never do that, or that, or that,’ and it’s not victim blaming, it’s trying to say, look, this was fully preventable.” Tragically, this also appears to have been the case in Slovakia. “Unfortunately, the route that they chose was a very risky one,” Rigg says. “It’s not a recognized hiking route, and it’s a part of the park that’s strictly protected, so they shouldn’t have been there. Added to that, it’s a limestone area, and that’s an area I’d expect there would be denning bears.” The encounter happened around dusk, when crepuscular creatures like brown bears tend to be more active.

And by running away from the animal—particularly by running away in different directions—the couple inadvertently made the situation a whole lot worse. “It would have been better if they’d stayed together and tried to stay calm if possible,” Rigg says, because bears almost never attack people in groups. In the entire North American Human-Bear Conflict Database, Tom Smith said, there’s not “a single case where two people stood their ground and the bear attacked.”

While the human tragedy of Constantin and Tatiana made headlines, the incident may prove damaging to bears too, affecting conservation efforts across Europe. Slovakia’s government (which, like Trentino’s, is right-wing populist) has called for the EU to strip bears of their “strictly protected” status. Adalbert Jahnz, a European Commission environment spokesperson, said he couldn’t comment on these specific calls.

But the decision in December to downgrade wolves from “strictly protected” to “protected,” a status that would allow hunting, has biologists and biodiversity experts worried. “It’s partly political posturing,” says Rigg of the Slovak government’s recent statements, “but I think they really want to try to make that happen—and they probably feel that there’s a bit of an open door now because of what happened with the wolf recently.”

[mossmutant]

My AquaCadet / GWARRIOR character redesign.

Reintroducing Cap’n Canis Lupus! Formerly known as Carnivorous Canis Lupus.

I am cadet #2000858!

-

My Aquabats fan character who used to be apart of GWAR. He was created in November 2023. He is my first fan character for an existing universe of established characters, well two universes, so I don't take him seriously at all and you shouldn’t either!

As a representation of myself as an Aquabats character, he reflects me and my interests. I'm a huge fan of GWAR and I actually got into the Aquabats because of the GWAR vs. The Aquabats radio play for the Ska Parade Radio Show in 1998.

In the 90s, “Carnivorous Canis Lupus” was a member of GWAR, he was a stagehand for their band and would help set up the larger props for the performances. There wasn’t really much to him with GWAR aside from being a stagehand and to eat and piss on slaves whenever one of them fucked up. He previously fought the Aquabats in the “GWAR vs. The Aquabats” radio play and became somewhat fascinated with them. Once the Aquabats defeated GWAR, the two bands went their separate ways, and he forgot about the Aquabats entirely.

A year later, GWAR had went back to Antarctica but forgot Carnivorous Canis Lupus and left him behind in California. When he couldn’t find the rest of GWAR he found a cave to live in. He was still evil, fucked up with drugs, and hateful. Canis still wanted to destroy things around him, and that’s when he came across the Sandfleas who had similar goals to him. He fought them and became apart of the group once the fleas realized he could be of good use to them. Mel gave him the name “Jaws”. Since Canis stood out too much compared to the rest of the fleas, Mel gave Canis a mask, sweater, and necklace like the rest of the group, and that is how he went from being a Gwarrior to a Sandflea.

When the Sandfleas encountered the Aquabats again it brought back a vague memory from 1998 when he fought against them alongside GWAR, but he couldn’t remember much about them. Just that their costumes looked familiar. After losing the fight and some bickering with the fleas, Canis was still trying to remember where he’s seen the bats. He didn’t want to ask the fleas so he quickly shrugged it off and went about his business.

Later that year, the Sandfleas fought the Aquabats again. When Canis was fighting one of them (for some reason, it’s Crash in my mind) he got their scent and remembered exactly where he first encountered them. He then got distracted by the memory and lost the fight a third time against the Aquabats. The Sandfleas continue to be pissed off and couldn’t come to a conclusion on why they kept losing against the bats.

Canis continued to be interested with the bats and had slowly started to become a fan. He admired the Aquabats from afar and in secret to not get caught. He thought they were cool and respected them for defeating GWAR. He secretly believed in the good of the world, which is what the bats stand for. Although he always put on a great fight. He never admitted to anything in regard to the bats and never spoke about them.

Canis was the only member with powers, so one day they got into some serious shit causing them to blame Canis for everything, and basically end up screwing him over.

So once he got out of the slammer he went to the Aquabats and wanted to be apart of their group, but Commander turned him down and told him he can be apart of the Aquacadets and Canis gladly accepted. So now he does the best he can to help the other cadets out when needed, though sometimes his aggressive tendencies come out so he’s still learning on how to better himself.

He is apart of a cadet friend group called “Cadets Viva La Skateboard”.

Fun Facts

-He is from the planet Scumdoggia and was apart of GWAR's Scumdogs Of The Universe, so technically he's an alien wolf-like creature.

- I like to imagine that he was close to Slymenstra, Beefcake, and Balsac. He hated Techno Destructo and often got into fights with Oderus Urungus.

-When learning about the Aquabats, the MC Bat Commander became his favorite and started to look up to him. (CCL and MCBC are best friends in the alternative version of his story!)

-Is trying to break the habit of eating crack.

-His speaking voice and attitude is similar to that of Freddie Mercury's...for obvious reasons.

[questersrest]

if you’re interested about which came first,

the dragon quest monster, Hacksaurus, debuted in Dragon Quest VI on the SNES in 1995, but this version was never localised.

it later appeared in Dragon Quest Monsters in 1998, localised as Dragon Warrior Monsters in 2000 and Dragon Quest Monsters 2, released in 2001 and localised as Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 later that same year. however, it was called BattleRex in these games.

it first got its modern localisation in Dragon Quest VIII, released in 2004 and localised in 2005.

so, the dragon quest monster, Hacksaurus, debuted in 1995 but only got that name in 2005.

the pokemon, Haxorus, debuted in Pokémon Black & White in 2010 and it received that name with the localisation in 2011.

tl;dr: the dragon quest monster predates the pokemon by 15 years, although it having the english name Hacksaurus only predates the pokemon having the english name Haxorus by 6 years.

-

the dragon quest monster, Carnivine, debuted in Dragon Quest IV for the NES in 1990, localised as Dragon Warrior IV in 1992. however, in this version it was called Carnivore Plant.

it later appeared in Dragon Warrior Monsters and Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 under the name Snapper.

it received its modern localisation when Dragon Quest IV was remade for the DS in 2007 and localised in 2008.

so, the dragon quest monster debuted in 1990 but received the name Carnivine in 2008.

the pokemon, Carnivine, debuted in Pokémon Diamond & Pearl in 2006 and received that name when it was localised in 2007.

tl;dr: the dragon quest monster predates the pokemon by 16 years but the pokemon got the english name Carnivine 1 year before the dragon quest monster.

[sanguinarysanguinity]

Tagged by @verecunda, thank you! I've lost track of who has been tagged, so please jump in if you'd like to play!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

176, give or take a few that are in currently anonymous collections.

2. What's your total AO3 wordcount?

737,590

3. What fandoms do you write for?

My current main fandoms are the Hornblower novels and The Flight of the Heron. But I also write one-offs as please me, either for exchange assignments or pinch-hits, or because I got bit by a plot bunny. (Yes, plot-bunnies are carnivorous!) This year, I've written for Hornblower (novels and TV), The Flight of the Heron, Vokosigan Saga, Elementary, ACD Holmes, Leverage, A Rip Through Time, and Wild Things (1998).

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Sincerity of Dust (Mycroft/Lestrade - Sherlock TV) Etta Candy's Last Stand (Etta Candy/Wonder Woman) Three Continents and Many Nations (Elementary gen; Joan Watson has broken hearts around the world) Baker Street Papas (Holmes/Watson, kidfic) Foundations (Elementary gen; Bell-centric fixit AU)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, because I was taught to write thank you notes. Also, because sometimes I can lure a commenter into a conversation, which is always fun -- and sometimes they even become a friend.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Heh. *rubs hands gleefully* I have a little sideline in fics that made people cry. Let me show you some of my favorites!

The Golden Sand Bush/Hornblower Once again a prisoner of the French, Hornblower awaits his execution.

Cock on the Right background Bush/Hornblower/Maria For as long as he bears them, Bush's tattoos protect him faithfully.

Telling the Bees Elementary gen Sherlock returns from Switzerland, but Watson does not.

Brandy and Soda Holmes & Watson; Mary/Watson (7 Per-Cent Solution) Holmes returns to Baker Street.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Oh, fuck if I know. I've been accused more than once of writing only bittersweetly happy endings. But here, have a story in which Horatio Hornblower, that sad wet miserable bastard, is simply happy for a day:

Nothing So Much Worth Doing

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not often. Earlier this year a commenter objected to a pwp being a pwp. Which. Dude. As a later commenter replied (so I didn't have to! blessings on their house!), the story was exactly what it said in the tags and summary, so take some personal responsibility and don't click on what you don't want to read.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes. Slash, femslash, threesomes; vanilla and kinky; realistic and fantastical; first times and well-seasoned olds. I haven't yet written anything that would bring the antis after me, but that's the kind of thing that I'd put under a different pseud anyway.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Absolutely. Probably Elementary x Bee-Man Comics: THE BEST BEE FIC ON MARS.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I had a couple requests this year for permission to translate a story (both granted), but I don't know the current status of either project.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

@phoenixfalls and I have a story we've been co-writing; every once in a while we talk about finishing it. I'd very much like to; I think it's great fun.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Pass.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have a Twin Peaks x Buffy crossover that I quite like, but which I am extremely unlikely to ever finish. Every now and then I think of it wistfully, though.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Well-organized and precise prose, and strong characterizations.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Inelegant prose, and wobbly characterizations.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

An insidious trap, if your characters speak the other language better than you do. (With the exception of William Bush in French, they always do! Why do I write all these classically-educated assholes?)

My usual solution is to paraphrase the dialogue through my pov character, at whatever their level of comprehension is. After all, that's what the reader needs to know: what the pov character understands. Paraphrasing also circumvents the wild card that some of my readers will know the language and some won't -- this way, no reader has an advantage and no reader is left scrambling for a translation.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Ask Dr. Eldritch! a webcomic written by the talented evannichols.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Whichever one someone just left a lovely comment on.

[bornunequal]

The Chinese Zodiac

Those accepted into this tribe gain the ability to shift into one or more animals under the sign.

Each individual initially has a different affinity for this shifting capacity. Some will find it relatively easy to gain traits of the animal, some will find it relatively easy to hybridize with the animal, some will find it relatively easy to entirely become the animal, some will find it easy to partially shift, and some will even find it relatively difficult to not be shifted, as some examples. Additionally, what animals can be accessed differs from person to person. Some will find it easy to access a single animal, some will find it difficult to control which animal's traits they use, and some will find it difficult to utilize only a single animal. An unfortunate number find themselves in the unfortunate position of finding any use of this ability difficult.

However, this ability is one that can be learned, bettered, and honed with time, effort, and practice. Even the most inept of this ability can become quite skilled if driven enough to work for it.

OA stands for Origin Age, which is the timeframe in which it can be assumed that the clock aligns. The only reason it exists is because I want to assume that I have what I would have in this world. After all, I am selfish like that.

Rat; OA: 1996; Of all the animals, this one is the most stable, deviating only minorly from 'common perception'. For example, their size and fur color are the few things that will generally change for most people.

Ox; OA: 1997; Ox includes all kinds of cattle and buffalo.

Tiger; OA: 1998; Various types of tigers, even rarely including the Sabertooth Tiger, though no one knows what that is. Uncommonly includes orange cats, such as a tabby, and extremely rarely includes the cat dog.

Rabbit; OA: 1999; Includes various rabbits, rarely including a particularly dangerous carnivorous variety.

Dragon; OA: 2000; Is only the personal conception of what a Dragon should be, it is the least stable from person to person. Some can fly, some have venom, some can breathe flame, some have feathered wings, some have furry bodies, some are large, some are small, some are insectile, some have seven limbs, some have tails, some of horns, some have multiple heads, some are little more than large snakes. They are diverse in nature being the only 'truly unreal' animal, however, the concept of what someone considers to be a dragon seldom changes much in their life. Most of those under this sign are restricted to that singular concept as if it were the only type of dragon to ever exist. Rarely, someone will have general freedoms, being restricted to traits or body type rather than a 'single' dragon. An extremely rare few are capable of leveraging the 'unrealness' to their advantage, capable of adding or removing traits and forms as they desire. This is, an extremely few, easily within the 1% of the 1%.

Snake; OA: 2001; Includes all manner of snakes, small and large, rarely including sea serpents or even a basilisk. Disturbingly, basilisks do not vary in capacity from person to person despite their assumed 'fictional' status, highly venomous gargantuan serpents with three sets of eyes, only one set can actually see, one set can paralyze those who look into it and the other set petrifies those who look into it, turning them to stone. Se Serpents, however, those who can access it, enjoy nearly all of the benefits that dragons do, though in a more limited fashion.

Horse; OA: 2002; Includes all manner of horses, rarely including Zebras or Reindeer, an extreme few include unicorns, alicorns, pegasi, hippocamps, sleipnir, kelpies, and a creature known as a nightmare. Unicorns, Alicorns, Pegasi, Hippocamps, Sleipnire, Kelpies, and Nightmares enjoy many of the benefits of dragons in that they are not real animals, so many traits of them can differ from person to person, but they tend to have the same physicality and generally similar traits with others of their type, which is mostly attributed by scholars due to the shared ancestry of 'they are horses'. (Ask or comment if you want to know what traits I attribute to all of them)

Goat; OA: 2003; Includes all manner of goats, uncommonly includes sheep as well.

Monkey; OA: 2004; Includes all manner of monkeys, does not include apes, however.

Rooster; OA: 2005; Includes most if not all birds, though chickens are disproportionally common.

Dog; OA: 2006; Includes all manner of dog breeds, uncommonly including wolves, extremely rarely the wolf cat.

Pig; OA: 2007; Includes pigs and boars.

Shifting Method: Considered to be self shifting, as such, no change, a 12-year cycle when looked at alone.

Do you like your capacities in this world were you born into this world? Feel free to comment below.

[ghostofcinders]

Chapter Opening Quotes for They Came from Witchford Academy!

They Came from Witchford Academy!, our Magical School RPG supplement for Onyx Path's They Came from the Cyclops's Cave! I pitched and developed, is currently going through the Editing stage. I don't have the permission to share previews yet, but I still want to give you all something since it's been a while since I talked about it (the development phase took tons of my attention!) So, here are the various chapter opening quotes, each citing one of the many piece of media that inspired us all during the project:

“The well-being of our students is our top priority. Which is why we send all our troublemakers to our new and improved detention pit.”

— Principal Bump of Hexside School of Magic & Demonics, The Owl House (2020 — 2023)

“I don't care about ancient history, I didn't come here to become one of those moldy old witches. It's no fun at all. I wanna be a cool witch like Shiny Chariot.”

— Atsuko “Akko” Kagari, Little Witch Academia (2013)

“This looks like a job for inadvisably applied magic if ever I saw one.”

—Terry Pratchett, Making Money (2007)

“It was only when Shona, in sheer fury, turned the carnivorous sheep among them that they moved. They ran, some of them with charming little white sheep attached to their legs or backsides and the rest shouting about monsters.”

—Diana Wynne Jones, Dark Lord of Derkholm (1998)

“Arch-sorceress Matilda Pilqvist. Enchanter of Livelihoods, Grand Alchemist of the Dark Communion of Halgar, First Bloodsister of the Order of the Black Candle, tormentor of the…”

“Yeah, okay, we get it. She’s accomplished and scary”

— Frida and Hilda, Hilda (2018 — 2023)

“I’m not sure whose twisted idea it was to put hundreds of adolescents in underfunded schools run by people whose dreams were crushed years ago, but I admire the sadism.”

— Wednesday Addams, Wednesday (2022) This is barely a taste of the actual book, but I still think it gives off the right impressions!

[noloveforned]

putting together stuff for tonight's no love for ned on wlur at 8pm. you can catch a repeat of last week's show immediately after at 10pm to give you four solid hours of whatever it is i do on the radio. as is the new norm, last week's show is below and streaming on mixcloud for those of you with more exciting friday night plans!

no love for ned on wlur – july 21st, 2023 from 8-10pm

artist // track // album // label the certain someones // sad salvation // murderecords 7" singles 1993-1998 compilation // murderecords the edsel auctioneer // slouch // simmer // decoy cheerbleederz // cute as hell // even in jest // alcopop! guardian singles // pit viper // feed me to the doves // trouble in mind the ape-ettes // hearing protection // simply the ape-ettes // snappy little numbers the dad // 2nd best friends // 7 a.m. 7" // unread snooper // pod // super snõõper // third man dr. sure's unusual practice // carol // remember the future? live from the future // marthouse keel her // boner hit // with me tonight 7" // o genesis uppendix // desire's not the one // bliss is solipsis // discontinuous innovation famous mammals // comets for poets // instant pop expressionism now! // siltbreeze private lives // hit record // hit record // feel it andrew savage // thanksgiving prayer // several songs about fire // rough trade prairiewolf // sage thrasher // prairiewolf // centripetal force matthew sage // tilth dawn rustles // paradise crick // rvng intl. laraaji and kramer // ascension // baptismal // shimmy-disc anton lukoszevieze, alexander hawkins and heather roche // variations vii and ix (excerpt) // jack cooper 'arrival' // astral spirits carlos niño // brooklyn zoom, brooklyn zoom // international anthem at public records volume four, december 10th, 2022 // international anthem mike reed featuring marvin tate // call off tomorrow // flesh and bone // 482 music john coltrane // impressions // evenings at the village gate // impulse! napoleon da legend and giallo point // game plan // coup d'etat // fxck rxp billy woods and kenny segal featuring quelle chris // soundcheck // maps // backwoodz studioz kenny g featuring barry johnson // hi, how ya doin'? // g force // arista wendell harrison // the glamorous life // the carnivorous lady // rebirth snoh aalegra // be my summer // be my summer digital single // atrium bernice // underneath my toe // cruisin' ep // telephone explosion ivy // get out of the city // apartment life demos // bar/none bonne idée // it will be back // a dream of you 7" // cloudberry lily konigsberg // at best a #3 // the best of lily konigsberg right now // wharf cat u.s. highball // see you in hell // no thievery, just cool // lame-o the particles // driving me // 1980s bubblegum // chapter music

[zestyderg]

The Carnivores games are so funny to me because upon first glance you may think that this is a series where you go hunt actual (if very inaccurate) dinosaurs and other extinct creatures, and you may think that you're traveling back in time to do so.

But it's actually a series that takes place in the future, on an alien planet called FMMUV-32. You are a client of a corporation, Dino Hunt Corp., that bought the planet, and you are paying them to hunt there. You are not hunting the dinosaurs of Earth, but instead are hunting aliens that happen to resemble (intentionally) outdated, extinct creatures of Earth. They will GET you.

The original game came out in 1998. It is older than me.

[hero-adjacent]

Buffy (sarcastically): Then I'll marry Bob Dole and raise penguins in Guam.

normal fan *sensible chuckle*

me: Guam is the closest land mass to the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean. Many believe that's where R'lyeh (a sunken city where Cthulhu is imprisoned and asleep, like The Master trapped in the sunken church from BtVS s1 "the Sleeper shall wake") is, a theme in Kristen Stewart's Underwater and DC's Aquaman. Both films feature Cthulhu and carnivorous humanoids living in the Trench. R'lyeh looks like Riley (Buffy's human boyfriend) and Reilly (human family Angel's son was inserted). Whedon stated that the "Old Ones" in the Buffyverse were inspired by Lovecraft's Deep Ones. KStew starred as Bella in the Twilight saga. Michelle Trachtenberg (Buffy's sister Dawn) was considered for the role. Many think Stephanie Meyer based Edward/Bella on Bangel. Alan Moore wrote several graphic novels on Cthulhu, believing he's a fetal spirit waiting to be birthed (reminds me of AtS s4 with Jasmine and the BtVS s8 comics with the Twilight universe). In s4's Primeval, BtVS homaged Moore's Slayeresque Promethea. The Mariana Trench was named after the nearby Mariana Islands, named after Mariana of Austria, wife of King Philip 1V of Spain in the 1600s. Guam is the largest of the Mariana Islands. The U.S. captured Guam in 1898 (year Angel was ensouled) during the Spanish -American war. The Spanish "discovered" it in the 1500s and colonized it in the 1600s with Jesuit missionaries. California (state BtVS & AtS take place) has a history of it too in that era. Sunnydale was named Boca del Inferno "mouth of Hell" aka Hellmouth by the Spanish and in Pangs there's a lost Spanish mission unburied. Penguins symbolize adaptibility, originating millions of years ago as aerial birds then evolved, became aquatic. Bob Dole was a politician. His wife Mary Elizabeth Alexander Hanford, went by Elizabeth. Oxford, Harvard Law, Senator, President of the Red Cross, ran for POTUS in 2000 election but backed out before primaries. Emma (Anya) was a fan of her. Buffy can be used as a nickname for Elizabeth. George magazine published its Sept 1998 list of "20 Most Fascinating Women in Politics," naming Buffy second in the list (right after Elizabeth Dole).