#development framework replaces

[mesetacadre]

Anyone can criticize capitalism. Fascists despise how it makes race and/or the nation submit to economic matters, or how sometimes has to give concessions to workers. Right-libertarian types dislike how intertwined the state is with economic relations, even if they don't hold that same antipathy towards the military/law enforcement. Neo-liberals are an opposition to the aspects of capitalist economies not directly related to productivity. Social-democrats look to soften and apply bandages to the social ills inherent to such a mode of production. At least some anarchists advocate for a complete destruction of the state to leave the petit-bourgeois organizations of production. Capitalism, as the dominant mode of production for the majority of the world, conditions all ideologies to pass through it, to be defined as a function of what it demands of capitalism. All ideologies criticize some aspect of capitalism, none are truly, completely, pro-current-state-of-things: the superficial characteristics of capitalism in a single place, unequal development, the contradictions and growth-recession cycle, along and around which ideological lines are drawn are ever changing, meaning that a truly static status-quo, and therefore a completely content ideology which never criticizes some of the endless list of problems inherent to capitalism, doesn't and can't exist.

So it is not enough to simply be against capitalism, and to act in that opposition. What's crucial and what sets all of these ideologies apart is their program, what they wish to accomplish and maintain. If you don't have those goals, defined by affirmatives instead of negatives, you're not insignificantly likely to functionally align yourself with reactionary tendencies. Anti-capitalism by itself is not a step, it's raising your foot, and deciding a defined program is actually putting your foot down, taking the first step and setting a direction. What sets marxism apart is that its opposition to capitalism is not only total and aimed at its foundations (this by itself is not unique!), its program of change is also total and aimed at completely replacing the infrastructure of the capitalist mode of production, it identifies why it must be overcome using non-capitalistic frameworks, and from that builds a specific, total, and materialist program for what should come after. Non-revolutionary and non-marxist currents seek a set of reforms and transformations, of varying intensity and depth. Revolutionary and non-marxist currents construct programs that are entelechies*, such as returns to pre-capitalist modes of production, unable to actually exist and sustain itself, but nevertheless seeking as similarly a profound destruction and rebuilding as marxism.

*entelechy in English only refers to an aristotelian concept, but in Spanish it can also refer to a castle-in-the-sky concept, something that falls apart from its own weight and impossibility. I'm using it with that meaning

[afloweroutofstone]

There's a lot to be said about how many Native tribes, often lacking in the economic opportunities available in many non-tribal areas, have turned their economic development models towards providing services that are forbidden to provide outside of tribal land. The 1987 California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians ruling acknowledged the right of tribes to operate gambling facilities regardless of state regulations, and the Obama-era loosening of weed regulations made it easier for them to sell marijuana with less concern for non-tribal laws.

Although these policy developments were not something that most tribes actively sought out, they eventually realized that these policies gave tribal lands a monopoly on certain goods and services that people were unable to acquire elsewhere. Perhaps for the first time ever, government decisions had given tribal economies an advantage over the non-tribal economies surrounding them. This led many tribes to lean hard into their newfound policy-based comparative advantage, building up their local economies around non-Native tourism in a way that sits awkwardly with many Native activists' desire for economic sovereignty.

Tribes with well-managed tribal governments have been able to use this arrangement to great advantage. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (who this post is really about, simply because I know a lot about them) not only uses the money generated by their casino resort to fund social services, they also distribute some of the casino's earnings as cash dividends to Cherokee residents, effectively funding a basic income for the tribe with the money lost by gamblers (who are, disproportionately, white outsiders). After centuries of being robbed by surrounding white communities, there's something of a perversely poetic justice to this (even if those losing the most money at the casino are not necessarily the same segments of the white population who gained the most from Cherokee dispossession).

But it's not all good news. This arrangement also has some concerning side effects on the political economy of Native tribes. The EBCI Cherokee tribe have long opposed federal recognition of the Lumbee, another group in North Carolina who are the largest Native tribe in the US that is unrecognized by the federal government. One of the reasons that the Cherokee have turned their backs on the Lumbee's quest for recognition is because it would threaten their monopoly on gambling in North Carolina. If the Lumbee were treated as a proper tribe, they could open up their own casino, threatening the monopoly profits of the Cherokee casino. Thus, another use of the Cherokee's casino funds has been to actively lobby against another Native tribe.

The EBCI Cherokee's economic reliance on their casino has damaged any prospect of inter-tribal Native solidarity in North Carolina. From the Cherokee's perspective, they have been placed in a situation where the desires of other tribes come at the direct expense of their own tribes' desires. The tension between these two is not a natural phenomenon, but rather the product of a policy framework which leaves little choice for tribal economic development outside of cutthroat monopoly preservation. If solidarity is to live, the casino-first model must die. The question is: what replaces it?

[tainbocuailnge]

I think there is a difference between the comic as a sequence of images with text and the comic as a comic. it's a subtle difference that an untrained eye might not see but the more one as artist draws comics the clearer this difference becomes, because one who first aspires to draw comics will soon find they are merely drawing sequences of images with text.

when people say an artist is clearly inspired by anime they often use "anime" to refer to japanese pop culture in general, but if you look more closely you can often tell it really is specifically anime rather than manga that inspired them, because the paneling and camera angles in their comics will read like a series of anime screenshots rather than a manga page. similarly, when I was a teenager really popular manga that had anime adaptions would sometimes get "animanga" reprints where they replaced the panels with the equivalent anime screenshots of the scene, and they often looked like dogshit because the very premise showed blatant disregard for why the original comic worked in the first place. these two examples are both about anime because i am a weeb but it applies outside that context too. a cartoon storyboard can be read as if it were a comic, but what it really is is a sequence of images with text that has yet to be refined into its actual intended format.

there are many artists who only employ the medium of comic because what they actually want to draw is a video, or a video game cutscene, but the only tool actually at their disposal is the ability to draw a series of images and add text to them so that is what they use. there is no shame or mistake in doing this, you have to make your art with the tools that you have available, and if the sequence of images with text is enough to convey the idea then it was the right tool for the job. but these are different mediums with different visual languages, languages which have a lot of overlap and can occasionally be used in each other's stead to achieve similar results (especially when drawing a fanart comic of a video game for example), but which are still ultimately different. the comic and the video and the cutscene are all different forms that a sequence of images with text can take but they are far from completely interchangeable.

there is a key difference in approach to the comic as a series of images roughly interchangeable with other forms of series of images like the video and the cutscene, and the comic as specifically the comic. this difference in approach is not always necessary to achieve results, an artist who wants to convey a scenario they came up with needs only the sequence of images with text to achieve this. but the difference between a comic with good writing and art, and a comic that is a good comic, is in whether it was treated as a comic rather than a sequence of images with text. I say this as an artist whose nearly every comic has been simply a sequence of images, because I just don't have the patience to refine it into a comic when I merely want to convey my idea rather than draw a comic. it takes a particular skill and insight that have to be developed and practised separately from the ability to draw well and the ability to write well in order to become good at making "the comic" as synthesis of the two.

it's hard to specifically point out the essence of this difference between the sequence of images and the comic because it's kind of a vibes thing honestly, and it depends on where and how the comic was meant to be published too. comics meant to have paper print editions have different constraints and requirements and frameworks to work with than webtoons meant to be read on slim mobile screens in a continuous scrolling format. a good traditional comic will consider not just how each individual panel looks but also the way each page as a whole looks, and how the pages look next to each other in a spread, and how it feels to turn the page towards the next spread. a good webtoon will consider the movement of scrolling down and how this affects the transition from one moment to another in its composition. time is time in videos and cutscenes but space is time in comics, and the space your have available determines how you can divide time across it. when you make a webcomic on your own website you have no constraints but the ones you set for yourself, and sometimes this leads to things like homestuck, which would not work in any other format than the one it created for itself.

the best comics are good because they tell their story and present their images specifically in the form of a comic, in a way that would not be possible if it were not specifically a comic. I think this is true for basically every medium, I'm just thinking about comics specifically lately, because even though I don't really consider myself a comic artist - because I usually draw sequences of images rather than comics - the thing my clients want to pay for is often still "a comic", and they don't know or care to tell the difference. it's a difference that, as established, is often fairly moot anyway, because as long as it successfully conveys your idea it's good enough. but it's precisely because the sequence of images is often good enough that the specific skill of the comic artist is often overlooked.

[theambitiouswoman]

I just realized I have never even spoken about NLP on here so let me share for those who don't know

NLP stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming. It’s a psychological framework that explores how your thoughts (neuro) language, (linguistic) and patterns of behavior (programming) all work together to shape your reality. In simple words it's about changing how you think, speak and act to get better results in life

NLP was developed in the 1970s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. They studied the most effective therapists of their time. Their goal was to understand what made these communicators so powerful and model their language and behavior so others could replicate their success. They published their findings in books which became core texts in the world of NLP. The one I read is called "Frogs into Princes" for anyone curious

So NLP helps you understand how you brain stores and interprets experiences, recognize and change emotional or behavioral patterns and use language more intentionally to influence yourself and others

For example, if you always procrastinate, sabotage relationships, or replay past failures, NLP gives you tools to interrupt that loop and reprogram how you respond

How it works is first you create a mental or physical trigger to access an emotional state, then you change the meaning of a situation and replace it by creating a new mental image until your brain defaults to the new image. Think "change your mind, change your life"

NLP helps you break limiting patterns and install new ones that move you toward your goals. And the same works when dealing with others

Everyone processes information differently and this affects how we learn, behave and relate to others

It dictates that we experience the world through our five senses, but most of us tend to favor one or two. Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic and Auditory Digital which means you think in words, logic and internal dialogue

Once you understand how someone represents and filters information, you can tailor your communication to match their learning style, which makes learning, coaching, selling, communicating etc overall much more effective

So for example:

A visual learner could say “I see what you mean”

A kinesthetic person might say “That feels right to me”

By using NLP, you learn to speak people’s internal language, making your message land more clearly

[zerbu]

The Future of Mod Constructor: (Semi-)Retired

I have made the difficult decision to retire from developing Mod Constructor, except for adding compatibility with patch updates. With the recent news that there will be no Sims 5 and that The Sims 4 will last indefinitely, it's becoming unsustainable. Even the newest version (V5) was only intended to last until The Sims 4 stops being updated.

Although Mod Constructor has helped the modding community a lot, from a programming standpoint, it's not very stable. The more content I add, the more it starts to crumble on its own weight. That's why I had to start from scratch 5 times.

V5 fixed a lot of the problems previous versions had, but not all of them. Part of the problem is that all versions, including V5, were made with Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), which is a massive pain to work with compared to more modern frameworks. Unfortunately, I didn't really have any other options that would work with the libraries Mod Constructor required.

V5 was as stable as I could get it with the limited tools I had to work with, and was more than good enough to last a few more years to keep the community going until the next Sims game, but not forever.

For the reasons mentioned above, the main branch Mod Constructor repository will remain in perpetual beta and I will no longer be releasing new features, and the only updates I'll be releasing are emergency patch fixes, if necessary.

Of course, Mod Constructor is open source, and if anyone else wants to create their own fork of it, they're more than welcome to do so, but whatever happens, it will be without me running it.

On the bright side, we have the future to look forward to. Whether The Sims franchise ends up getting fixed, or is replaced by a rival game, the future of life simulation games looks to be positive.

[lazyduchess]

[TS2] Sim Bio on Tombstones (Commissioned)

Hi!

This is a mod that was commissioned to me by @IlexVici on Twitter, so credit for the idea and concept goes to her :)

This mod adds a new "About" immediate interaction to urnstones and tombstones if the deceased Sim has a biography, and will display it in a pop-up message when clicked.

Download: SFS

Installation - Important!

Installation is weird as this is an experimental mod, using a modding framework called TS2Hook.

You need Sims2RPC to ins tall this mod.

The zip file contains a "Downloads" folder, the contents of this folder go into your "Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Downloads" folder as usual.

However, there is also a "TSBin" folder, the contents of which go into your "Sims 2 Mansion and Garden installation directory/TSBin", where Sims2RPC is installed.

If all went well, you'll see a "TS2Hook (1 script loaded)" text on the top left corner of the screen when you launch TS2, and the interaction should show up in-game.

What even is TS2Hook?

TS2Hook is a tool for creating mods that weren't possible before, still in development. It lets you do things like interaction injection (which this mod does, so it doesn't replace any resources, making it conflict free) and much, much more, even custom cheats!

I thought this would be a good mod to use TS2Hook on, as TS2 normally doesn't actually let you access Sim bios to display them, this was only possible thanks to TS2Hook.

[laika290]

ever wonder why spotify/discord/teams desktop apps kind of suck?

i don't do a lot of long form posts but. I realized that so many people aren't aware that a lot of the enshittification of using computers in the past decade or so has a lot to do with embedded webapps becoming so frequently used instead of creating native programs. and boy do i have some thoughts about this.

for those who are not blessed/cursed with computers knowledge Basically most (graphical) programs used to be native programs (ever since we started widely using a graphical interface instead of just a text-based terminal). these are apps that feel like when you open up the settings on your computer, and one of the factors that make windows and mac programs look different (bc they use a different design language!) this was the standard for a long long time - your emails were served to you in a special email application like thunderbird or outlook, your documents were processed in something like microsoft word (again. On your own computer!). same goes for calendars, calculators, spreadsheets, and a whole bunch more - crucially, your computer didn't depend on the internet to do basic things, but being connected to the web was very much an appreciated luxury!

that leads us to the eventual rise of webapps that we are all so painfully familiar with today - gmail dot com/outlook, google docs, google/microsoft calendar, and so on. as html/css/js technology grew beyond just displaying text images and such, it became clear that it could be a lot more convenient to just run programs on some server somewhere, and serve the front end on a web interface for anyone to use. this is really very convenient!!!! it Also means a huge concentration of power (notice how suddenly google is one company providing you the SERVICE) - you're renting instead of owning. which means google is your landlord - the services you use every day are first and foremost means of hitting the year over year profit quota. its a pretty sweet deal to have a free email account in exchange for ads! email accounts used to be paid (simply because the provider had to store your emails somewhere. which takes up storage space which is physical hard drives), but now the standard as of hotmail/yahoo/gmail is to just provide a free service and shove ads in as much as you need to.

webapps can do a lot of things, but they didn't immediately replace software like skype or code editors or music players - software that requires more heavy system interaction or snappy audio/visual responses. in 2013, the electron framework came out - a way of packaging up a bundle of html/css/js into a neat little crossplatform application that could be downloaded and run like any other native application. there were significant upsides to this - web developers could suddenly use their webapp skills to build desktop applications that ran on any computer as long as it could support chrome*! the first applications to be built on electron were the late code editor atom (rest in peace), but soon a whole lot of companies took note! some notable contemporary applications that use electron, or a similar webapp-embedded-in-a-little-chrome as a base are:

microsoft teams

notion

vscode

discord

spotify

anyone! who has paid even a little bit of attention to their computer - especially when using older/budget computers - know just how much having chrome open can slow down your computer (firefox as well to a lesser extent. because its just built better <3)

whenever you have one of these programs open on your computer, it's running in a one-tab chrome browser. there is a whole extra chrome open just to run your discord. if you have discord, spotify, and notion open all at once, along with chrome itself, that's four chromes. needless to say, this uses a LOT of resources to deliver applications that are often much less polished and less integrated with the rest of the operating system. it also means that if you have no internet connection, sometimes the apps straight up do not work, since much of them rely heavily on being connected to their servers, where the heavy lifting is done.

taking this idea to the very furthest is the concept of chromebooks - dinky little laptops that were created to only run a web browser and webapps - simply a vessel to access the google dot com mothership. they have gotten better at running offline android/linux applications, but often the $200 chromebooks that are bought in bulk have almost no processing power of their own - why would you even need it? you have everything you could possibly need in the warm embrace of google!

all in all the average person in the modern age, using computers in the mainstream way, owns very little of their means of computing.

i started this post as a rant about the electron/webapp framework because i think that it sucks and it displaces proper programs. and now ive swiveled into getting pissed off at software services which is in honestly the core issue. and i think things can be better!!!!!!!!!!! but to think about better computing culture one has to imagine living outside of capitalism.

i'm not the one to try to explain permacomputing specifically because there's already wonderful literature ^ but if anything here interested you, read this!!!!!!!!!! there is a beautiful world where computers live for decades and do less but do it well. and you just own it. come frolic with me Okay ? :]

*when i say chrome i technically mean chromium. but functionally it's same thing

[mythauragame]

Development Update - December 2024

Happy New Year, everyone! We're so excited to be able to start off 2025 with our biggest news yet: we have a planned closed beta launch window of Q1 2026 for Mythaura!

Read on for a recap of 2024, more information about our closed beta period, Ryu expressions, January astrology, and Ko-fi Winter Quarter reward concepts!

2024 Year in Review

Creative

This year, the creative team worked on adding new features, introducing imaginative designs, and refining lore/worldbuilding to enrich the overall experience.

New Beasts and Expressions: All 9 beast expression bases completed for both young and adult with finalized specials for Dragons, Unicorns, Griffins, Hippogriffs, and Ryu.

Mutations, Supers and Specials: Introduced the Celestial mutation as well as new Specials Banding & Merle, and the Super Prismatic.

New Artist: Welcomed Sourdeer to the creative team.

Collaboration and Sponsorship: Sponsored several new companions from our Ko-Fi sponsors—Amaru, Inkminks, Somnowl, Torchlight Python, Belligerent Capygora, and the Fruit-Footeded Gecko.

New Colors: Revealed two eye-catching colors, Canyon (a contest winner) and Porphyry (a surprise bonus), giving players even more variety for their Beasts.

Classes and Gear: Unveiled distinct classes, each with its own themed equipment and companions, to provide deeper roleplay and strategic depth.

Items and Worldbuilding: Created a range of new items—from soulshift coins to potions, rations, and over a dozen fishable species—enriching Mythaura’s economy and interactions.

Star Signs & Astrology: Continued to elaborate on the zodiac-like system, connecting each Beast’s fate to celestial alignments.

Questing & Story Outline: Laid the groundwork for the intro quest pipeline and overarching narrative, ensuring that players’ journey unfolds with purposeful progression.

Code

This year, the development team worked diligently on refining and expanding the codebase to support new features, enhance performance, and improve gameplay experiences. A total 429,000 lines of code changed across both the backend and frontend, reflecting:

New Features: Implementation of systems like skill trees, inventory management, community forums, elite enemies, npc & quest systems, and advanced customization options for Beasts.

Optimizations and Refactoring: Significant cleanup and streamlining of backend systems, such as game state management, passive effects, damage algorithms, and map data structures, ensuring better performance and maintainability.

Map Builder: a tool that allows us to build bespoke maps

Regular updates to ensure compatibility with modern tools and frameworks.

It’s worth noting that line changes alone don’t capture the complexity of programming work. For example:

A single line of efficient code can replace multiple lines of legacy logic.

Optimizing backend systems often involves removing redundant or outdated code without adding new functionality.

Things like added dependencies can add many lines of code without adding much bespoke functionality.

Mythaura Closed Beta

We are so beyond excited to share this information with you here first: Mythaura closed beta is targeted for Q1 2026!

On behalf of the whole team, thank you all so, so much for all of the support for Mythaura over the years. Whether you’ve been around since the Patreon days or joined us after Koa and Sark took over…it’s your support that has gotten this project to where it is. We are so grateful for the faith and trust placed in us, and the opportunity to create something we hope people will truly love and enjoy. This has truly been a collaborative effort with you and we are constantly humbled by all of the thoughtful insights, engaging discussions, and great ideas to come out of this amazing community of supporters.

So: thank you again, it’s been an emotional and amazing journey for the dev team and we’re delighted to join you on your journeys through Mythaura.

Miyazaki Full-Time

Hey everyone, Koa here!

We’re thrilled to share some news about Mythaura’s development! Starting in 2025, Miya will be officially dedicating herself full-time to Mythaura. Her focus will be on bringing even more depth and wonder to the world of Mythaura through content creation, worldbuilding, and building up the brand. It’s a huge step forward, and we’re so excited for the impact her passion and creativity will have on the project!

In addition, I’ve secured 4-day weeks and will be working full-time each Friday to dive deeper into development. This extra push is going to allow us to keep moving steadily forward on both the art and code fronts, and with Miya’s expanded role, the next year of development is looking really promising.

Thank you all for being here and supporting Mythaura every step of the way. We can’t wait to share more as things progress!

Closed Beta FAQ

In the interest of keeping all of the information about our Closed Beta in one place and update as needed, we have added as much information as possible to the FAQ page.

If you have any questions that you can think of, please feel free to reach out to us through our contact form or on Discord!

Winter Quarter (2025) Concepts

It’s the first day of Winter Quarter 2025, which means we’ve got new Quarterly Rewards for Sponsors to vote on on our Ko-fi page!

Which concepts would you like to see made into official site items? Sponsors of Bronze level or higher have a vote in deciding. Please check out the Companion post and the Glamour post on Ko-fi to cast your vote for the winning concepts!

Votes must be posted by January 29, 2025 at 11:59pm PDT in order to be considered.

All Fall 2024 Rewards are now listed in our Ko-fi Shop for individual purchase for all Sponsor levels at $5 USD flat rate per unit. As a reminder, please remember that no more than 3 units of any given item can be purchased. If you purchase more than 3 units of any given item, your entire purchase will be refunded and you will need to place your order again, this time with no more than 3 units of any given item.

Fall 2024 Glamour: Diaphonized Ryu

Fall 2024 Companion: Inhabited Skull

Fall 2024 Solid Gold Glamour: Hippogriff (Young)

NOTE: As covered in the FAQ, the Ko-fi shop will be closing at the end of the year. These will be the last Winter Quarter rewards for Mythaura!

New Super: Zebra

We've added our first new Super to the site since last year's Prismatic: Zebra, which has a chance to occur when parents have the Wildebeest and Banding Specials!

Zebra is now live in our Beast Creator--we're excited to see what you all create with it!

New Expressions: Ryu

The Water-element Ryu has had expressions completed for both the adult and young models. Expressions have been a huge, time-intensive project for the art team to undertake, but the result is always worth it!

Mythauran Astrology: January

The month of January is referred to as Hearth's Embrace, representing the fireplaces kept lit for the entirety of the coldest month of the year. This month is also associated with the constellation of the Glassblower and the carnelian stone.

Mythaura v0.35

Refactored "Beast Parties" into "User Parties," allowing non-beast entities like NPCs to be added to your party. NPCs added to your party will follow you in the overworld, cannot be made your leader, and will make their own decisions in combat.

Checkpoint floor functionality ironed out, allowing pre-built maps to appear at specific floor intervals.

The ability to set spawn and end coordinates in the map builder was added to allow staff to build checkpoint floors.

Various cleanups and refactors to improve performance and reduce the number of queries needed to run certain operations.

Added location events, which power interactable objects in the overworld, such as a lootable chest or a pickable bush.

Thank You!

Thanks for sticking through to the end of the post, we always look forward to sharing our month's work with all of you--thank you for taking the time to read. We'll see you around the Discord.

[dontbelasagne]

everything about fifteen being about the idea of new beginnings, about their era being self-aware of the metanarrative surrounding Doctor Who. how it could have been this brilliant lens into the way in which we shield ourselves with nostalgia and memory and what we use to form cultural frameworks. how much of our sense of livelihood gets effected by a figure like the doctor who sees the self and time as their own personal catalogue. instead, it played into all of those tropes in the worst way possible.

including the fact that each companion fifteen had was a a poignant reflection of this:

Ruby Sunday, a person who's storybook name already is a big blaring sign pointing to the blatant mystery of her life, getting enthralled in her own story and losing time with those that matter through the rose-tinted framing of dangerous adventure that the doctor provides. she understands the importance of home, but the absence of a traditional nostalgia to reflect on, and of a typical childhood to grow up from, pulls her towards seeking answers, to seeking similarity with other stories shes heard of that represent a normal life. the juxtaposition of this being in travelling with the doctor works wonderfully, because in the end she should have learnt that you dont need to have perfect memories or origins, you just need to love and appreciate what you have in front of you (which also would have worked in tandem with the timeless child addition despite my reservations to that idea)

and Belinda Chandra, someone who the doctor desperately wants to be a mystery and a person to replace Ruby with is almost a too on the nose coincidence to fill the 'role' typically allotted in this show as companion. the almost fourth-wall breaking level of awareness she provides at not humouring this position was magnificent. Belinda's rejection of this character arc in the beginning felt deliberate and purposeful. travelling with the doctor comes at a cost, and that is creating distance to her own sense of normalcy and humanity. she is just a person, who should not be expected to brave terrifying creatures and get out of near-death experiences. the doctor, whilst dazzling, is also horrific in their universal grandeur. it places the doctor in the perfect position to even question the contrivances and events in their own life that function in such repetitive order, and whether this is a toxic cycle they need to escape out of. Belinda was not just a foil for the doctor, but a way to move forward into a near era of the show as a whole in developing a more mature doctor/companion dynamic.

maybe fifteens incarnation was always meant to have a war with reality. a war with the story they were always made to play the hero in, one in which their friends are constantly martyred and tragedy is the lifeblood of the narrative. one that began not so long ago, when the doctor was made to adopt a familiar face without any explanation, but instead we got...this

[indie-ttrpg-of-the-week]

Wanderhome

"You should play an obligate sexual cannibal in Wanderhome I think it'd be funny" - Jay Dragon, developer of Wanderhome

Touchstones:  Ghibli films

Genre: Cozy game, Adventure

What is this game?:  Wanderhome is a game about playing small critters travelling, to where? who knows, its the journey that counts, not the destination

How's the gameplay?: Wanderhome functions on the Belong outside Belonging framework, which functions in a push/pull of Tokens, Tokens allow you to take negative plot beats in return for later having positive plot beats! there's also playbooks that specify what you can spend tokens on and how you gain them. Wanderhome is a very simple game, this is because it lacks a GM! storytelling is done entirely collaboratively, it works shockingly well, especially with such a simple setting and premise!

What's the setting (If any) like?: Wanderhome's setting places the players in a pastoral landscape ravaged by a prior war. The world is healing, the people are hurt, and things are getting weird. The setting has some extra lore, like the Little Gods, in effect "God" is a very strange concept in the world of Wanderhome, being a collection of tiny deities that make up the world, rather than one or 10 centralizing figures. The setting of wanderhome is a large draw of the game, and I'll leave the rest for you to find out. Oh also, the players are all small furry critters, and the usual roles of cattle and other things are replaced by very large bugs, this is the big aesthetic draw of the game.

What's the tone?: Wanderhome's is a world where things got very dire a while back, but things are getting better, people are healing, gradually, and the horrors of the past are being reconciled with. It's a setting largely about healing and improving  

Session length: Wanderhome lends itself to shorter, 1-2 hour long games

Number of Players: 2-6 are all fully possible, however, in my opinion, 3-5 is preferable 

Malleability: Wanderhome's mechanics are faaaairly generic and can be modded into many other things, even if the setting is a large draw and part of the game. This is a game I'd honestly recommend mostly sticking to the default setting, though, just because it's so interesting

Resources: Wanderhome has a ton of extra fan playbooks, some extra official playbooks, though its lacking on group sheets (That I could find) and other useful things, its a very simple game, though, its not like you require a lot

Wanderhome asks the question, "What if Ghibli-inspired games took more than surface level aesthetic inspirations?" and runs with it to create one of the tightest and most interesting experiences currently in the space, it's a wonderful game made all the better by one of the most beautiful books i've ever seen

[read-marx-and-lenin]

Just as one does not judge an individual by what he thinks about himself, so one cannot judge such a period of transformation by its consciousness, but, on the contrary, this consciousness must be explained from the contradictions of material life, from the conflict existing between the social forces of production and the relations of production. No social order is ever destroyed before all the productive forces for which it is sufficient have been developed, and new superior relations of production never replace older ones before the material conditions for their existence have matured within the framework of the old society.

Karl Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Preface, 1859

[blackstarlineage]

Neglect of African Languages in Favour of Colonial Ones: A Garveyite Perspective

Introduction: The Linguistic Colonization of Black Minds

Language is one of the most powerful tools of cultural identity, thought, and self-determination. It carries the history, traditions, and philosophies of a people and serves as a vehicle for independent thought. However, across the African continent and throughout the Black diaspora, African languages have been systematically neglected and replaced by colonial languages such as English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Arabic.

From a Garveyite perspective, the loss of African languages is not just a linguistic issue—it is part of a broader strategy of mental enslavement, cultural erasure, and continued colonial domination. The refusal to prioritize and preserve African languages has led to:

A disconnect between Africans and their ancestral wisdom.

A continued reliance on Western education, institutions, and media.

A lack of Black intellectual sovereignty, keeping African thought bound by foreign ideologies.

If Black people do not reclaim and elevate their own languages, they will forever be trapped within the mental frameworks designed by colonial and imperialist powers, making true liberation impossible.

1. The Historical War Against African Languages

A. Colonial Erasure of African Linguistic Identity

European colonialists understood that to control a people permanently, they must control their language.

During colonization, African languages were:

Banned in schools, government, and official records.

Replaced with European languages as the standard of “civilization.”

Demonized as “primitive” while European languages were glorified.

Example: Under British and French rule, African students who spoke their native languages in school were physically punished and humiliated to ensure they only spoke English or French.

Key Takeaway: Language was one of the first tools used to break African cultural continuity—without it, an independent African identity becomes difficult to maintain.

B. The Role of Slavery in Destroying African Linguistic Traditions

The Transatlantic Slave Trade ensured that enslaved Africans were:

Separated from their tribes to prevent communication and rebellion.

Forbidden from speaking their native tongues on plantations.

Forced to adopt European languages instead.

Example: Enslaved Africans in the Americas had to create new languages like Creole, Patois, and Gullah because their original languages were deliberately erased.

Key Takeaway: The suppression of African languages was a form of cultural genocide, ensuring that future Black generations would remain disconnected from their roots.

2. The Modern Consequences of Prioritizing Colonial Languages

A. Mental Dependency on Western Thought and Education

Since most African nations operate primarily in colonial languages, they remain:

Dependent on European and Western education systems.

Forced to engage with the world through the lens of foreign ideologies.

Unable to fully develop their own intellectual traditions outside of Western frameworks.

Example: Most African universities prioritize teaching in English or French rather than in indigenous African languages—forcing students to master a colonial tongue before they can even engage in higher education.

Key Takeaway: A people who do not think in their own language will always be ruled by those who do.

B. Cultural and Generational Disconnection

Because African languages are not prioritized, many young Black people:

Struggle to communicate with elders who speak native languages.

Lose access to African storytelling, proverbs, and oral traditions.

Feel ashamed or disinterested in their linguistic heritage.

Example: In many African countries, younger generations struggle to speak their native languages fluently, even though their grandparents spoke them perfectly.

Key Takeaway: When a language dies, the knowledge, history, and wisdom attached to it also disappear.

C. Economic and Political Disadvantages

Because Africa does not prioritize its own languages, it remains:

Economically dependent on Europe and the U.S. for education and trade.

Politically divided along linguistic lines (Francophone, Anglophone, Lusophone Africa).

Less competitive in science and technology, since research is done in foreign languages.

Example: The Francophone vs. Anglophone divide in Africa has led to political conflicts, with France still exerting control over its former colonies through language-based policies.

Key Takeaway: When a people use a foreign language for business and politics, they give power to the nations that created that language.

3. The Garveyite Solution: Reviving and Prioritizing African Languages

A. Making African Languages Official in Education and Government

African nations must:

Make indigenous languages the primary languages of instruction in schools.

Encourage government documents, laws, and policies to be written in African languages.

Require fluency in at least one African language to hold public office.

Example: Tanzania’s decision to make Swahili the national language has strengthened its cultural unity and reduced reliance on English.

Key Takeaway: A nation that does not control its own language will always be controlled by others.

B. Promoting African Language Learning in the Diaspora

Black people in the Americas and Europe must:

Learn and teach African languages (Yoruba, Twi, Zulu, Amharic, etc.).

Integrate African language studies into Pan-African schools and cultural centers.

Use African languages in music, media, and entertainment.

Example: Black communities worldwide should offer Swahili, Yoruba, and Akan language classes just as readily as Spanish and French are taught in schools.

Key Takeaway: Language connects people—if the African diaspora learns its native languages, global Black unity becomes easier.

C. Creating African-Centered Media in African Languages

Black nations must:

Produce books, films, news, and social media content in African languages.

Develop African-language AI, translation software, and mobile apps.

Encourage African-language literacy from childhood.

Example: Nollywood (Nigeria’s film industry) has begun producing more Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa films, showing that native languages can thrive in media.

Key Takeaway: Media shapes minds—African languages must be heard on TV, in music, and on the internet if they are to survive.

Conclusion: Will Black People Reclaim Their Linguistic Identity or Remain Mentally Colonized?

Marcus Garvey said:

“Liberate the minds of men, and ultimately, you will liberate the bodies of men.”

Will Black people continue speaking the languages of their oppressors while ignoring their own?

Will African nations rely on English, French, and Portuguese, or build policies around their indigenous languages?

Will the Black diaspora reconnect with African languages or remain disconnected from their roots?

The Choice is Ours. The Time is Now.

[pluralthey]

If Jessie snaps someone to do something they don't want to do enough times, does it eventually lead to a cumulative personality shift? It seems like the more you want to resist following her commands, the more destructive they'd be, because more of you would have to be changed by the snap for you to be willing to follow them? If she snaps someone to do something that would require such a big personality/ideology shift for that person to rationalize as their own decision that the person would be unrecognizable after the snap, do they now count as being written by her? Or do most snaps, even ones making big changes to a person, only really affect how they view the specific subject of her snap and not really affect the rest of the person's psychology, worldview, personality, opinions, even if that ends up making that person's inner world and thought processes a lot more contradictory?

Generally people will know when Jessie has snapped them to do something because she is not so passive and would want to assert dominance openly. If she did, for some reason, then they could either write the behavior off as circumstantial or deny it even happened before changing significantly. These are defense mechanisms average people use every day. People at large may even rapidly develop the "a wizard did it" response knowing Jessie CAN and does randomly change people/force them to do things and blame her for anything they don't want to suffer consequences for like how one one may blame actions or feelings on demon possession. They would probably just become more contradictory.

Jessie would (and does) most successfully change other characters' psychological landscape by changing how they feel or think more than what they do, since actions are caused by inner motivators. Just directly changing their psychology.

That said, yes, she could change a character by making them do something like murder someone every Friday night. They would probably naturally become more paranoid because they know they will eventually be caught and there's nothing they can do, etc. But their fundamental ideology is unlikely to change without direct meddling. The schemata people develop in their minds are reinforced from multiple angles and it's why you can in real time see people pulling out excuse after excuse in an argument — even if you can disprove one point of rationale, there are others already ready to pick up the slack. Generally studies have shown people have the emotional reaction behind a belief first, and then they will use logic to rationalize that emotional belief afterwards. It is very difficult to change people ideologically entirely because even if you peeled away every justification, at their cores, the beliefs are still irrational emotional reactions. Hence why changing an emotional reaction will be more reliable in causing personality changes in a character.

For the most part, the characters aren't changed enough to count as "written by Jessie." She really is only forced to write them if the character's inner framework has literally no way to output a comprehensible response. Like no way for the character's original personality to even respond to it — more easily accomplished by replacing a large part of their personality instead. Then the original personality can't react because it doesn't exist anymore. Anything bizarre, traumatic, extreme enough to cause a person to just entirely shut down psychologically would force Jessie to write them to be able to interact with them further.

But yeah. Most snaps forcing people to do something or changing any part of their psychological landscape are done in plain sight, reactively, and there is no necessary rationale besides "Jessie forced me to do that," desire to Not Do That aside.

[rwbyrg]

A Rosegarden by Any Other Name Would Smell As Sweet

AKA Reasons Why Rosegarden is Canon #015: Ruby and Oscar's Multiple Shared Allusions to Other Fairytale Love Stories

Typical disclaimer that while all characters within the RWBY narrative have a main allusion, they often have secondary allusions that apply to the roles they fill in relation to other characters stories. Like how Yang is Goldilocks on her own, but becomes the Beauty to Blake's Beast when paired together.

The first, most notable example for Rosegarden is, of course, The Little Prince (expanded upon here). Oscar's primary allusion is of a boy who grows up on a planet "scarcely bigger than himself, who was in need of a friend", and one of his most influential relationships is that to a rose with whom he loves. They spend much of the story separated from one another, while the prince wanders lost in a desert, pining for a way to reunite with her back home.

Important to note this isn't the only time Ruby has been a Rose for another fairytale. She also slots in as the Rose Red to Weiss' Snow White, she acts as the successor to her mom as The Last Rose of Summer, and she also stands in as the Enchanted Rose to Bumbleby's Beauty and the Beast given how it's a "true loves kiss will break the spell before the last petal falls" situation... and BB kisses two episodes before Ruby Rose "dies".

The second notable allusion for Rosegarden is the Warrior in the Woods (expanded upon further here), a canon RWBY fable from The Fairytales of Remnant. The very first story within the book is about a village boy who becomes a huntsman after being inspired by a huntress he meets in the woods. A huntress, I might add he fell in love with the moment he saw her silver eyes.

Something to note about both of these examples, is that they are each stories with a focus on caring for someone else in unique ways. With The Little Prince, the Rose is vain and has many demands and asks the prince to tend to her; while in WitW, the warrior works tirelessly without thanks to protect a village. When the boy meets her, he starts looking after her for a change because he figures that's the least he can do to repay her. Both of these tie in well to RG's dynamic of Ruby carrying such heavy responsibilities alone, with Oscar making a conscious and active effort to help her shoulder those burdens.

The third, more subtle allusion, is their respective ties to The Wonderful Land of Oz. Oscar's first confirmed allusion before the Little Prince reveal was originally to Princess Ozma/Tip, the heir to the Kingdom of Oz given his proximity to Ozpin as the man behind the curtain, as well as to fit a "genderbend" character within the framework of team JNPR.

How does Ruby tie into this one? Well, we have to work backwards a bit. Ozpin's initial four lieutenants were all linked to the original cast of Oz:

Qrow as The Scarecrow without a mind (travels around as a crow and is regularly inebriated)

Ironwood as the Tin Man without a heart (his multiple cyborg prosthetics and character development in Atlas)

Lionhart as The Cowardly Lion (his fear overtakes him and pushes him to join forces with Salem to save his own skin)

Theodore as Dorothy Gale (donning ruby gauntlets instead of the traditional red slippers)

But RWBY is a story about legacies and breaking cycles. With the new generation of huntresses in Oz's inner circle, they replace those who came before them.

Blake takes Lionheart's place (cat faunus that ran out of cowardice, only to become brave and return to the fight)

Weiss as the Tin Man (aka Ice Queen, who's heart melted as she became kinder and grew more attached to those around her)

Yang the Scarecrow (no longer blindly following orders, but making an active effort to question the words and intentions of those around her)

Ruby as Dorothy (her little dog Zwei and the red - or silver, depending on movie or book adaptation - slippers that lead them all on their journey)

Why bring up Oscar as Princess Ozma and Ruby as Dorothy? Well, according to the original books and not the movie, "Dorothy and Ozma are each other's closest relationship" as illustrated here:

Very good friends. Just gals being pals. Sharing the responsibilities of leadership with one another. Smooching in the palace gardens. Dorothy as the only one who's allowed in Princess Ozma's rooms without an invitation. #BFFS4EVA

These are all the canon ones that are easy enough to parse, but there are some similarities to others famous stories that can be found with a bit of squinting that I will also share just for fun.

The first is how Ruby's experience in the Tea Party acts as a near perfect display of Romeo and Juliet's ending. For those unfamiliar with - or who have forgotten - the bard's infamous tragedy, it is a story about two star-crossed lovers very much doomed by the narrative. It ends with Juliet faking her death without telling Romeo. So when her prince charming comes across what he believes to be her corpse, he drinks a vial of poison and kills himself out of grief. When Juliet wakes and sees he has left her, she takes his dagger and stabs herself so they might be together.

In the tea party, Ruby fills the shoes of Romeo and Oscar of dear Juliet. Oscar is "killed" by Ruby's blade, but it is an illusion. He's not real. Like Juliet, he's not really dead. However, the vision is still enough to push Ruby into drink a vial of poison (the tea that takes her to the tree), giving up in the face of her grief, just as Romeo does.

And if we need any more evidence for this one, can't hurt to bring up the infamous quote of Juliet wherein she likens her love to an oh-so-familiar flower:

What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet;

A line that Juliet says to proclaim that if her Romeo weren't a Montague, then she would still love him regardless, but through which implies that it would be easier for them to be together if he were not himself. And within V9, Ruby's cited motivation to go to the tree is because she doesn't want to be herself any longer.

And last, but certainly not least, is how a lot of ships within RWBY seem to have fairly direct parallels to the myth of Eros and Psyche. It is a classical tale about the trials of love, putting the protagonists under multiple tests of loyalty and attachment before letting the two lovers unite at the end. Both love stories within Beauty and the Beast and Snow White and Rose Red pull inspiration from the myth, and we see it in CRWBY's approach to writing romances throughout the show thus far.

Blake and Yang being separated, breaking and rebuilding trust, before coming together in V9; Ren and Nora going through trials and conflict, currently apart now so they might discover who they are on their own before re-uniting with one another again; and Rosegarden having constant reunions, separations, and trials with strong focuses on their attachment to each other. Another common archetype they use from Eros and Psyche is that of the "Animal as Bridegroom", wherein at least one of the partners undergoing a transformation that is often monstrous in nature.

Bumbleby is self explanatory

WhiteKnight has the issue of Jaune being lost to time and becoming an Old Man, who's curse is reversed by magic. It alludes to his role as the Prince within Snow White and Rose Red who was initially turned into a bear via a curse

Rosegarden, has this instance for both characters. Oscar as an Ozcarnation (becoming something he doesn't want via a curse they are trying to break before time runs out) and Ruby's future fate should she be captured by Salem (being turned into a Grimm by the wicked witch - or eaten by the wolf - like her mother before her).

All of these line up with the myth's structure as well as Monty's foundational philosophy on love stories that we see in his quote from many years ago:

A lot of these all have really tragic endings so uh. Good thing RWBY likes to subvert the stories it's telling, right? They're going to get a happy ending, right CRWBY???? 😰

[mortish-writes]

some reassurances!!! i'm honestly glad you wrote in the zealot route alongside the heretic. i'd argue, from what i've seen, the zealot is pretty popular and she's a breath of fresh air in the genre. as someone personally religious (not christian), its nice to see someone navigate their fate and believe in it, but also come to terms with how it's been abused, revised, etcetera. also, opens the possibility zealot would be into other religions outside the confines of her own, which i find interesting. her also getting an option to hold out until marriage because of her own trauma as a bastard is also juicy and to be fair reflects how some people irl are. it's realistic for people to have misgivings about new arrangements that challenge their beliefs and to still hold onto them, despite revelations, because they decide this aspect at least is still worth keeping,,, zealot mc also has a point bastards won't be treated well and society won't be kind (and she's not hurting someone in choosing not to fornicate until marriage is involved besides the plot). gives her more control of the situation too, as you mentioned, and honestly makes her more proactive. heretic is sweet and deserves a hug, and i do like her, but the biggest reason I find zealot more fun and interesting is because she's punching the plot than just reacting to it like heretic, who's getting the plot's punches (i usually love angst, but imo zealot shapes the plot a bit more than heretic and it works better as an if for me),,, also, her character development will outwardly be more prominent. i can't wait to make her love being a mom and admit she loves these brutes! and that's the other thing too: i prefer her relationship to the guys vs. the heretic's because of taste, especially with valdricht.

so while you probably could've be further along if you just stuck to the heretic, imo it was the zealot who we were first introduced to and made us interested in the game! she still has her fans and i'm really grateful we have more than one way to play the MCs, especially with cult route coming up! sorry, this was long, i just wanted to come and bat for my girl a little bit because she's a big reason i got into the game and i find her more relatable and dynamic.

Wow, I was just about to head to bed and I'm so glad I checked Tumblr first. This is so thoughtful and I really needed to hear this. There's been this invisible gremlin on my shoulder all week grumbling "you could already be on night 10 if you hadn't added another route."

Even though the Heretic route is canon I actually love the Zealot route. I think a lot of times religious characters are written derisively (unless they're like nature worshipers or something) as if they're just mindless sheep. One of the things I really like about the Zealot is that she approaches everything from the framework of her faith, but she's also intelligent and open to learning new things. Far from being mindless, she simply lacks an alternate framework of understanding, and part of her character arc will involve developing that.

At the risk of getting a little too personal, I was raised by a pagan mom in a deeply Christian multi-generational household. Most of my childhood was my mom and my aunt battling for my soul. Weekends were a mix of Bible school and learning to channel energy into crystals. While other kids were playing tag, I'd be sitting in a tree contemplating whether my aunt was crazy or my mom was going to Hell. As an adult, I look back more favorably on my upbringing because it gave me an appreciation for both people of faith and the irreverent folks who give the finger to organized religion.

One of the things I particularly love about the Zealot MC is that her faith gives her the willpower to be more assertive with Valdricht and Serax. She has a better sense of her personal boundaries and she's snarkier even as her former faith is being eroded and replaced with The Weaver's cause. There are also other nuances to her character which I won't spoil, but will reveal how her dedication to her faith made her stronger and more resilient.

At the same time, I love how when the Heretic MC reflects on the same memory as the Zealot, hers is colored with skepticism and a degree of nuance that the Zealot simply isn't capable of. It's clear that she has this deep urge for self-expression and exploration that have been stifled within the confines of the Elodari faith. There's so much potential waiting to burst free when she finally breaks out of that shell.

Anyway, pretty long but it was a really thoughtful message and I'm grateful <3

[class1akids]

we're just never getting a todofam moment that doesn't involve endeavor huh

There was never gonna be a conclusion without Endeavor, but I agree that this chapter spent way too much time on him.

Still the emotional core of the chapter was Shouto and Touya connecting in a way that had nothing to do with Endeavor, so that was a win.

Also the ending of the Todoroki family is Shouto getting his freedom and emancipation. He's not cutting Enji out the way Natsuo did, but he's giving himself the permission to focus on himself and not be stepping up for Endeavor's failings anymore.

After Shouto's "Origin" - the chapter about him becoming who he wants to be", Ch 40 was called "Emancipation", giving the idea that Shouto's next step is to break away from his father.

Shouto just had his breakthrough with fire, seemingly doing exactly as Endeavor predicted - he came up against a wall he couldn't solve just with ice. Endeavor thought that this also means Shouto finally accepting the reason for his birth, to become Endeavor's "replacement".

But psychologically, something different happened:

Shoto experienced freedom for the first time. He caught the first glimpse of a sense of self that didn't revolve around Endeavor. It's still a very long journey for him with many detours and wrong turns.

But by the end of it all, he does arrive to a strong sense of self- where his actions, his power are defined by his own values and goals and not Endeavor's reasons.

And I think that's the point the story is trying to make with Shouto's journey. That processing his painful past, facing his family and making connections was important to be able to develop this strong sense of self. These important building blocks were missing from Shouto's identity because of his stunted, isolated childhood.

But the "Hellish Todoroki family" is the home Enji and Rei are created together and Shouto - while his roots are here - is not chained to it. His life is so much more than this, his future is carving his own path and building a life away from Endeavor's fever dream:

While I'm not fully happy with the Todofam ending, I'm relieved about this part. About Shouto being able to move forward. I don't think he's magically will be free from the public backlash or that his ties to Endeavor and Dabi won't be set-backs in the future, but he's strong and his mind is free from the framework Endeavor created him for. He's not carrying some vow of "restoring the family honor".

It doesn't seem like Shouto will take over the Endeavor agency - if anything he's set to be working with his friends.

This is the emancipation we were promised back in Ch 40. And it's not a "fuck you dad", but also not an "I'll forgive you". It's all of Shouto's experiences, pain, losses integrating into an identity that understands and grieves the past but is not stuck in it.