#diverse objects

[gigivas]

1K GIGI Prompts Collections 'Vibrant Handheld Collage: Colorful Contrasts and Minimalist Design' 5962 Free 10 pages out of 1000 pages

Get Free 10 pages MTMEVE00568G_229_0001 – 1K GIGI Prompts Collections – Vibrant Handheld Collage, Colorful Contrasts and Minimalist Design 5962 10PagesDownload 1K GIGI Prompts Collections ‘Vibrant Handheld Collage: Colorful Contrasts and Minimalist Design’ 5962 series provides two documents, one document is 10 pages of prompts in 1000 pages, available for free download. One document is the…

[fairsweetlonging]

svsss horror game au where shen yuan is first in line to buy the pidw-inspired rpg where you play as a wandering cultivator with amnesia, and are taken in by the cang qiong sect during the head disciple days of the last peak lord generation.

because pidw knows its audience, a large part of the marketing was focused on the romance and action aspect of the game, with additional lore from deleted novel scenes—how could shen yuan not buy this game? maybe the peak lords will finally be more than props in the background! the romance aspect seems to be at least somewhat tastefully done, if he can trust the leaks, with more emotional depth than fetish fulfillment (shen yuan swears that if there is even one unskippable cutscene of some peak lord's feet he's going to chuck his computer out the window).

shen yuan customizes his character, going all out on the clichés because why not, giving him white hair and peerless beauty and all the characteristics of an A+ wife (beauty is power in pidw), actually excited to play the game. the first part is standard, you wake up in a barn with amnesia, only a sword and some items to your name, and have to do some tutorial quests to get used to the game mechanics. it's simple enough. eventually, you end up in a village that shen yuan is certain is possessed, because all the NPC's act very unnatural and strange, and it's pretty unsettling. here, the player is supposed to meet the cang qiong head disciples on their own quest, who naturally think the player is the most interesting person they've ever seen, a super special cultivator, and will take him in because the player is the most coveted character in the universe (apart from luo binghe, that is).

of course, before shen yuan can get very far, he ends up being transmigrated into the game as his own character. it could be way worse: he's a cultivator, peerlessly beautiful, destined to be picked up by the most prestigious sect, and has his own protagonist halo of sorts. he's honestly pretty excited about this

until he finds out that the marketing heavily downplayed the horror elements of the game.

shen yuan is calmly eating a meal in an inn of the village, waiting for the next quest point to start, when suddenly,

[ system notification ]

"you are being observed"

observation level: ???

entity classification: unknown

engagement protocol: do not acknowledge

right after, the windows go dark, not closed or shuttered, dark, as if something large has just leaned against the side of the building. no one else acknowledges this.

shen yuan shakes it off. it's just a game, it's... ambiance, that's all. build up.

he walks through the streets of the town, using his low-level talismans to try and find traces of the entity he's supposed to defeat or uncover to complete the quest. he pauses beside a broken cart, one of its wheels is half-sunk in the mud. the system pings again.

[ system notification ]

"it's behind you."

note: do not turn around.

(option to suppress message: [ ] not recommended)

the street is utterly silent. a prickle begins at the base of his skull. something is there. some deep animalistic part of him is already screaming not to look.

it disappears. he earns 5 survival points. he hopes he won't have to earn any more.

later that night, shen yuan looks for shelter, finding an old shrine visible from the road, just at the side of town. he steps inside and sees old incense sticks, some forgotten offerings. it's simple, but dry. it will do.

he crosses the threshold—

[ mission triggered ]

mission objective: hide

time limit: unknown

condition to complete: remain unnoticed

footsteps crunch in the leaves outside. every nerve in him goes rigid—not human.

too heavy. uneven. it's coming.

shen yuan ducks behind the offering table, body pressed flat against the ground. he slows his breathing, barely daring to blink. a screen in his peripheral vision blinks to life.

[ environmental mechanic activated ]

microphone mode: ON

sound detection level: HIGH

a semi-transparent sound meter appears. with every shaky breath, the bar pulses red. shen yuan clamps his hands over his mouth.

something passes, just beyond the shrine's opening. large. the system does not count down. there is no timer. the floor boards moan faintly beneath a ponderous weight, something drags across the ground.

shen yuan forces his body still, trembling so hard it hurts his teeth.

it leaves. the system congratulates him for surviving. it doesn't tell him what he just survived.

it's a relief when the head disciples of cang qiong show up, and the story delves into romantic cliches and relationship prompts. he gets to see liu qingge shirtless. shen qingqiu is typical tsundere. yue qingyuan is the soft gentle type. shang qinghua acts... off. he isn't what shen yuan thought he would be, less cunningly charming, more, well. nervous. of all the head disciples, he's the only one who actually seems like he doesn't want shen yuan to be here, always looking around.

like he knows shen yuan didn't come alone.

more instances like this occur. one moment, he's farming reputation points and relationship points with the other characters, doing quests and gathering memory fragments that will help unlock the player's backstory, the next, the system seems determined to make the game hell.

it always comes out of nowhere

[ system update ]

"warning: your heartbeat has been logged by another entity."

would you like to mute heartbeat tracking?

[ ] yes

[ ] no

[ ] it's too late.

he can never figure out what's following him, what that creature from the village is, but it's always there. no one else seems to notice, not a single talisman or ward can stop or detect it.

it comes even when he's in bed, still faintly blushing from a wife-plot equivalent where he fell from a ladder and was caught in wei qingwei's arms. he got to pet the pangolins too!

he's just about to fall asleep when the system pings:

[ mission objective: survive until dawn ]

hint: do not scream

somewhere beneath the floorboards under his bed, something begins scraping. like claws trying to memorize the layout of the house from below. shen yuan doesn't dare move. sleep never comes that night.

*

he can farm intelligence points by attending classes, and being the monster and plant nerd he is, qian cao peak is his first choice (it's either that, being beat up by bai zhan disciples that aren't even liu qingge, or running into shen qingqiu).

in the middle of a lesson on demonic poisons, the system pings quietly

[ system message ]

"one of the bodies in the infirmary is not a body"

objective: don't lose sight of it

shen yuan turns his head, slowly, to the curtained recovery beds along the wall. the curtain on the last one is slightly open.

it wasn't before.

mu qingfang continues speaking. shen yuan doesn't dare to look away.

*

one day, the thing starts to catch up

[ mission failure ]

"the sound you made has been registered"

estimated proximity: 00:00:17

do you want to run?

[ ] yes (not recommended)

[ ] no (not recommended)

*

[ emergency notice ]

"you were seen"

objective: hide

time limit: expired

success rate: 2%.

do you want to proceed?

[ ] yes

[ ] yes

*

[ achievement unlocked: it found you anyway ]

*

anyway, can you tell i had fun with the horror prompts? ^_^

i just have sooooo many ideas for the player's backstory, where it seems the character is just a blank slate for the player to project themselves onto, but there is so much more to them than you think. im also having loads of fun with the creature that follows the player around, i love making it as disturbing as possible.

mild spoiler: the creature is real and connected to the player. other characters can't detect or interact with it, but it's slowly growing stronger. shang qinghua is, of course, airplane, and as he was directly involved with the production of this game, he knew that as soon as an OC showed up, that thing wouldn't be far behind.

also, i love the idea of shang qinghua being stuck in a dating simulator as one of the options to romance. now shang qinghua has to play along with his own cringy cliche meetcutes, like showing the player around, flirting with the player, and generally playing the role of suave administrator with a dark secret (he's terrible at it). he had to do the "there's an eyelash on your cheek allow me" move on the player (shen yuan), and almost cringed out of his own skin. though, shang qinghua is the only one who can properly emphasize with the player, because he actually knows what horrid creature is stuck to him and what kind of horror scenarios the player has to go through (accidental cumplane? it's more likely than you think).

it's a bit of a mindfuck too, because shang qinghua can't tell whether the player is also a transmigrator, a puppet controlled by someone from another dimension, or a fleshed out OC of the system. he's also not allowed to ask, so it remains ambiguous. until, of course, they find out they're transmigrators and shen yuan has to deal with the fact he almost romanced airplane.

shen yuan makes a joke about defeating the creature with the power of love. shang qinghua says he wished it was that easy.

[3xtatical]

They're just having fun :)

[mazurkitten]

GUND being true teddy bear aficionados 🐻

[windigo-the-jester]

Me? Actually posting something? Impossible!

Anyways,

Heres my shark son Bror, I love him

Close ups under the cut :D

They're very sweet and also low-key obsessed with Fnaf lore,

[ajastu]

ive been replaying da2 right. and it made me think about why datv feels a bit different to the previous games in the franchise in regards to, like, how messy it gets (different but not in a bad way this is not a crit post)

This is also not like, a deep analysis tm or anything, im literally just writing this bcs i cant fall asleep but LONG STORY SHORT.

1. Your PC is not someone Important

2. Your involvement with the Politics Tm is not as extensive

In origins, you have to go around n convince people to help you fight the blight, while ALSO dealing with the whole Loghain situation. the warden is literally one of TWO people who can get the job done. kind of integral!

da2, of course, deals with the mess that is Kirkwall, with its rising tensions and inevitable tragedy, with Hawke becoming Important to the city, with all the bullshit that entails. (and also it unfolds over the course of, like, what, 10 years?)

Dai... youre literally made to be the head of a religious organization with a lot of power and influence. You aren't given a choice, u have to be the chosen one now.

Datv? Rook isnt really all that imporrant. They aren't even high up in the ranks of whatever faction you choose for them. They werent even supposed to be in charge in the first place.

They also dont have to convince most of their allies to help with fighting the gods (aside from the wardens, ofc), because everyone understands the stakes. Of course, you help them out and all that, but they are Already your allies, they would be fighting this battle anyway.

Rook isn't a chosen one. theyre not a champion, they're not the only person who can do the job. They just.. happened to land in the role of the leader. Solas connection is a bonus, as is the dagger, but again. Not exactly irreplaceable. (the treviso/minrathous choice comes to mind here. it took me two playthrus to understand Why exactly Rooks presence made a difference, because like... theyre just a Guy. what does it matter where they go? but it wasnt Rook who made the difference. it was the dagger)

So, the focus is less on politics and more on building a reliable team, a community. Theyre not choosing stuff like who will become the new archon, or who is supposed to be the first talon, or whatever else. That just simply isn't their role.

Theyre just here to try to kill two blighted gods and not die in the process, ideally.

Theyre not important. The team is. And they are an integral part of that, but again, not THE chosen one. Their role could be fulfilled by different people, which cant exactly be said about the warden, or Hawke, or inquisitor.

and idk, i think thats fun. very stressed-employee-trying-to-meet-deadlines kind of vibes. someone please make them go take a nap

edit: ok ive been informed u Can choose the next archon if u save minrathous but my point still stands. rooks involvement in stuff like this is Minimal compared to the previous three protags

[weepingicegiant]

throw over lotsmaluea requests cuz THEY GOT DESIGNS,×?,×,××

IF IT SEEMS RUSHED ITS BECAUSE IT IS

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Robert Maranto

Published: Feb 6, 2025

In its first days, the Trump administration issued executive orders to end taxpayer funding of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practices. I support that goal. But how leaders make policies determines whether those policies endure.

Ending DEI requires something more democratic than executive orders the next president can undo with the stroke of a pen. Instead, congress and the president should do something novel—hold hearings, have debates, and pass a law.

One need not be a Trump supporter to agree that the president is right to criticize most DEI practices. As Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay detail in “Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender, and Identity,” critical race theory, postcolonial theory (which calls for destroying Israel), gender studies, and related academic fields provide intellectual support for DEI to define people as victims or oppressors based on their identity, while rejecting objectivity, individual rights, merit systems, and chromosome-based (binary) definitions of sex. 

DEI is an upper-class mass movement using social media mobs and nontransparent bureaucracies to impose racial and demographic essentialism, including quota-based hiring and admissions systems.

Like most Americans, I dissent. With Craig Frisby, I co-edited “Social Justice Versus Social Science,” showing that common DEI practices like diversity training typically do more harm than good. Empirical social science likewise fails to support concepts like microaggressions, white fragility, and implicit biases.

Elite colleges, as Richard Sander points out, use racial quotas in admissions, setting up underprepared minorities for academic failure while admitting wealthy whites over less privileged but better-prepared Asians, just as 20th-century antisemites kept out Jews. As Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “It is a sordid business, this divvying us up by race.” It is also central to most of DEI. 

Professors leveling these critiques risk isolation and even termination at the hands of activists and bureaucrats, as Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression data show. Often, critics are never hired in the first place, screened out by required DEI statements or ideological hiring committees. As Robert George and Anna Krylov detail in “The Ruthless Politicization of Science Funding,” even in the previously apolitical hard sciences, the Biden administration used executive orders to replace scientific merit with ideology or identity in assigning tens of billions of dollars in grants, changing the culture of research.

In short, the Trump administration is right to oppose DEI’s massive resistance (to use a 1950s term) to colorblind merit systems. Yet executive orders are the wrong means to deconstruct DEI. To see why, consider Title IX. As political scientist Shep Melnick detailed in “The Evolution of Title IX,” the Obama administration used executive orders and nontransparent regulatory guidance (“dear colleague letters” to campuses) to erase the biological (binary) definition of sex and empower massive censorship bureaucracies to enforce “equity.” 

The first Trump administration revoked these policies, which were later reimposed by President Biden. That executive seesaw degrades both effective administration and democratic legitimacy.

Instead, we should copy the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which helped defeat an earlier version of racial essentialism. Media accounts and congressional hearings established the need for the law. As Phillip Wallach details in “Why Congress,” debates over the CRA stretched through the spring of 1964, including an amending process and a senate filibuster by southern Democrats. After three months of this, the CRA passed with a strong, bipartisan majority. That sent a message.

Segregationists lost decisively, but a democratic process giving the losers their say legitimized the CRA. That fair and open process enabled southern Democrats to tell their white constituents, as Senator Richard Russell (D-Ga.) said after CRA’s passage, “all good citizens will learn to live with the statute and abide by its final adjudication.” Massive resistance suffered a mortal wound. 

Apply this to today’s versions of racial essentialism. Congress should hold lengthy hearings investigating DEI’s politicization of science, personnel systems, and college admissions, like the hearings Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) held in the last Congress uncovering campus antisemitism, itself fostered by DEI. Congressional leaders should then craft bills outlawing DEI practices that undermine the colorblind merit systems most Americans of all races support.

Good people often have bad ideas. Like 1960s southern Democrats, today’s progressive Democrats believe in racial essentialism and will filibuster to defend it. That’s fine. If progressives want to brand themselves as supporters of censorship, racial quotas, and antisemitism, they have every right to do so. Racial and demographic essentialism will be defeated through open debate and legislation, just as in 1964. The resulting bipartisan legislation will have the legitimacy and legality to last across presidential administrations.

That’s democracy. Our elected leaders should give it a try.  

Robert Maranto is the 21st Century chair in Leadership in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, and a founding member of the Society for Open Inquiry in Behavioral Science. These opinions may not reflect those of his employer. 

[werewolf-cuddles]

Just found this comment on a news article about IDW Sonic

My brother in chaos, how the fuck does "DEI" even fucking apply to Sonic characters?

Is it because Tangle and Whisper are women? Is that it? Is that literally the entire reason you're screaming and crying about "DEI"?

[the--highlanders]

thinking about new who's relative lack of companion diversity (in time/place) compared to classic who.... @ british dr who fans, do you think there would be any kind of disappointment or negative reaction at this point if no companions in the tardis were from the uk?

I mean more like, peri's run than, say, jamie and zoe (jamie being from scotland, both of them being british-sounding) or nyssa, tegan, and adric (again, only tegan is audibly non-british). just wondering if dr who is so entrenched as A British Icon at this point that there's some sense it needs to represent modern british people

[cyclicaltime]

LDOC - Lingering Dream, Offered at Cost

[serpercival]

These characters need to start liking things I also like so I don't have to do research on The Hobbit to write a bonding moment. guys. guys what if you talked about mash. i know that's the show you're in but please for the love of god i need to write you talking about something and doctor who and star trek aren't starting for a decade or a decade and change

[nobodymitskigabriel]

i LIVE for lilith being wlw and my favorite pairing is her & ruby i've literally seen it once in a fic as a random side pairing and it hasn't left my head since

Anon...take my hand 💖

[maddiemuu]

now im thinking about that studio art instructor. wtf was her problem. at the time i was going through some SHITTT on an interpersonal level and it was affecting my work. so her solution was to regularly pull me out of class to interrogate me about my personal life until i broke down crying, after which she'd just?? give up??? and send me back to class. did not help, believe it or not.

[morningstargirl666]

Love that you made Klaus bi in TBBW! Just asking, will we see any of his past romantic relationships with a guy in flashbacks?

Answered this is the last asks. There is implied Klefan, but as for flashbacks, there won't be any because it isn't relevant to the story. It's just another little detail of Klaus' character.

[dravidious]

I am a huge stickler for balance in video games. I sometimes see people say stuff "if you balance it too much it'll be bland!" and I wonder if we mean the same thing when we say "balance". What I mean is this:

Say you're playing some Final Fantasy game or something, with various party members to choose from. You look at the options for party members and, after weighing each one's strengths and weaknesses, you find that one of them is overall better than the others; their strengths are much stronger and their weaknesses are insignificant. And likewise, one of the characters is overall weaker.

In this scenario, any player who's goal is to win (i.e. the vast majority) will always pick the stronger character, and will never pick the weaker one. And this... just kinda sucks, right? The point of providing options is to let players choose, but if there are options that are overall superior or inferior then it isn't a very interesting choice. Not much of a choice at all when there's a clear correct answer.

And yeah obviously there's exceptions, like an underpowered joke character that's impressive to win with. But those are just that: Exceptions. Usually, underpowered options may as well not exist, and overpowered options make it pointless to pick anything else. But I had a thought today about something that looks like bad balance, but kinda isn't.

Say you're playing some Final Fantasy game or something again, but this time you don't get to pick your party members. You just have a fixed party that you can't modify. Once again, one of the party members is overall stronger than the rest, and another is overall weaker.

This is "unbalanced", but not in the usual way. Usually, you wouldn't use an underpowered character, but that's not an option here; using this character isn't an choice, it's a mandatory part of the game. And normally, a character being overpowered would mean that other characters wouldn't get used, but ALL the characters get used, so that doesn't happen.

At the heart of my hatred for bad balance is how it ruins choices. I want to be able to look over all the options and choose the ones I like best, but when there's a blatantly correct choice, I either have to accept that I don't get to choose, or intentionally handicap myself, both of which feel awful. Balance isn't about making everything equal, it's about making every option a valid choice.