#duplicate damsel

[judedeluca]

Why is it there's not more interactions between Triplicate Girl and the Lightning twins in the different Legion continuities? Like you'd think there was some overlap between the whole triplicate/twin thing to cause common ground between them.

[somewherefornow]

BOUNCING BOY/CHUCK TAINE & DUO DAMSEL/LOURNU DURGO LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (1980)

[sebeth]

Luornu Durgo

[supalonely17]

1 DC PLAYLIST EVERY DAY

DAY 150 : TRIPLICATE GIRL

[jasposeyblog]

Artist gift to me. Duo Damsel by Dean Lee

[axolator]

"Script"-A-Day #-5: Storyteller's Waste of Time by Chiz and Gambling

zzzz... huh? oh, yeah, it's night three and 2 hours have passed

Featured characters: Cult Leader, Gossip, Evil Twin

Fabled characters: Bootlegger, Doomsayer, Duchess, Hell's Librarian, Sentinel

The Bootlegger rules are as follows:

The Amnesiac must have an ability related to publicly claiming things

The optional rule to limit Alsaahir guesses to 3 people per day may not be used.

The Doomsayer is to be introduced only once the game has gone on for over 90 minutes, which will probably be the start of day 2.

The presence of the Hell's Librarian means that the Storyteller cannot call for silence, since something bad is already happening.

Complexity: I can't really give this one, to be honest. Do you actually think you'll be solving the game? Oh, but Super Expert for STs.

Jinxes and such below the cut, because it's long.

Jinxes:

Cannibal / Juggler: If the Juggler guesses on their first day and dies by execution, tonight the living Cannibal learns how many guesses the Juggler got correct.

Widow / Alchemist: The Alchemist can not have the Widow ability.

This jinx has since been updated to “If the Alchemist has the Widow ability, they do not see the Grimoire.” For simplicity with the Widow/Damsel jinx, it’s probably easiest to just use the (outdated) hatejinx.

Widow / Damsel: If the Widow is (or has been) in play, the Damsel is poisoned.

This means that Minions don’t learn a Damsel is in play if it’s Djinn-poisoned.

Marionette / Damsel: The Marionette does not learn that a Damsel is in play.

Marionette / Plague Doctor: If the Demon has a neighbor who is alive and a Townsfolk or Outsider when the Plague Doctor dies, that player becomes an evil Marionette. If there is already an extra evil player, this does not happen.

Evil Twin / Plague Doctor: The Storyteller cannot gain the Evil Twin ability if the Plague Doctor dies.

Cerenovus / Goblin: The Cerenovus may choose to make a player mad that they are the Goblin.

Goblin / Plague Doctor: If the Plague Doctor dies, a living Minion gains the Goblin ability in addition to their own ability, and learns this.

Writeup below!

Storyteller's Waste of Time isn't a new script. It was originally a solo-Alhad script, but with new characters the script has evolved to what it is today: a script fully designed to waste the ST's time. It got robbed from its rightful place as the winner of TPI's Alsaahir script contest in favor of scripts that are actually good, and as such has fallen to just be a massive meme.

...Look, you can probably do just about anything when bagbuilding this script. The Gossip has a terribly hard time parsing any of their info due to the arbitrary kills of the Yaggababble , so if you're putting it in stack the rest of town — it's basically an Outsider. The static evil team actually makes Alsaahir fit pretty well here, so don't sleep on it — and similarly don't sleep on the Cult Leader! The Yaggababble's kills being ST-decided means it's a bit harder for the evil team to lock the Cult Leader in as an extra evil — they have to go via Psychopath or, God forbid, Doomsayer to kill the Cult Leader while they're evil. This means that, most of the time, the CL will live to get some decent info about their neighbors' alignments and might just get a win.

Actually, that reminds me: limit ability recycling and duplication with the Cult Leader in the bag. There's no Spirit of Ivory, so a Philo-CL, Pixie-CL, and CL can all independently turn evil and make things rough for good.

Some notes:

If you're running this script, you know that the only virtuous Pixie choice is the one that makes your life the hardest (so, Savant or Amnesiac. Maybe Philosopher or Cult Leader, since there's no Spirit of Ivory).

Public Amnesiac abilities - there's a lot to work with here. If you need some jumping-off points, each day guesses a la Alsaahir can be fun (Each day, if you publicly guess which Minion characters are in play, learn the Demon player's name that night), or stuff involving other players claiming Amnesiac, too (Each night*, learn how many players who publicly claimed Amnesiac yesterday were evil). Or, if you want to suffer, give the Amne a phrase like the on-script Yaggababble (You start knowing a secret phrase: for each time you said it today, gain the corresponding S&V Townsfolk ability tonight).

Don't use the Yaggababble ability to fake a Slayer kill. There's no Recluse nor Scarlet Woman, so it's just obviously the Yagga killing a good player.

God help you if you have multiple Philosopher abilities, and/or the Philo goes for something that isn't Artist. I don't actually have much to say about this, just... godspeed. Maybe don't show the Pixie Philosopher unless you're a masochist or the evil team is stacked.

Alchemist: you can't give them the Widow ability and Alch-Marionette is stupid, so your options are:

Alch-ET: Not great for the good team, but it lets them know an evil player in exchange for effectively giving the Alchemist-Evil Twin the Saint ability. Don't show them the Demon!

Alch-Cere: They can fish for evils or otherwise make people mad as their own characters to prove themselves. It's a little odd as an ability, but knowing there isn't an actual Cerenovus in play is invaluable info so it's not bad.

Alch-Goblin: Is really funny, and a potential way out of this hell. So don't do it if you actually want your players (& you!) to suffer. Also, the Doomsayer means they might get an easy win if you kill someone who's a goodie — so consider selfkilling an Alch-Goblin who doomsays.

Alch-Psychopath: Super super busted. But: it's also really really funny. Would your group find it fun? Can that Alchemist be framed as a Yaggababble with "I claim Psychopath and" as their phrase? Definitely a group thing.

If, like on Trust, you somehow end up in the situation where you have a Pixie-Philo, the Philo gets executed, and the Pixie-Philo goes Cannibal, remember that it's still the Philo's turn in the night order, so the Pixie-Philo-Cannibal-Philo gets to choose another good ability (and potentially drunk another player) for that night until someone else gets executed (use other editions' Drunk reminders, like the Sailor's, or the blank reminders to notate). Then they're just the normal Pixie-Philo-Cannibal after someone else gets exed.

Half of these roles can figure mechanically out if they're droisoned in some respect (like the Alchemist, Philosopher, Cult Leader, etc). Be careful when you put the token down.

Remember that a good player who gets the Widow ping and then turns evil (via PD-Marionette jinx or their own ability) no longer satisfies the Widow's ability, so if the Widow is alive the ping has to move to another good player. It's like on Catfishing when the widow ping recipient gets Fang Gu jumped.

That's about it from me. And, no, you don't get a grim pic. You think I've subjected people to this??

[alpaca-clouds]

The Top/Bottom Thing

Okay, I need to vent about something. Because it really annoys me. You do not need to agree with me, but this is my blog, so I can vent about it all I want.

I hate how a lot of fandom stuff clearly assigns queer ships the "top/bottom" dynamic. I hate it so much. Because for the most part, it just tends to enforce heteronormative standards. Especially when we see who gets to be the top and who gets to be the bottom. Because, spoileralert, most of the time this is completely and utterly based on who is the more feminine and the more masculine between the characters.

Let's put a pin in that, because I want to talk about something else first.

*clears throat* You folks are aware that a lot of queer people switch positions, right? Sure, there are some that prefer one thing over the other, but in general a lot of queer relationships do not have "the top" and "the bottom". This is true for both gay and lesbian relationships. (And while we are on it: Some gay men do not like anal sex. I know, shocking, right?)

The reason this is so popular with fan related stuff (and also non-fandom female oriented mlm original fiction), really is that it kinda enforces heteronormative relationship dynamics.

A lot of queer people in same-sex relationships - especially of the millennia and older generations - know the question of: "But who in your relationship is the man and who is the woman?" Because straight people cannot imagine a relationship in which the partners are eye to eye.

In earlier queer anime/manga fandom we still had the idea of uke and seme. In which the uke was the girl in every way imaginable. It often looked something like this:

You had the big, masculine seme, and the soft, feminine, petit uke. In some manga it went so far, that the uke was even drawn like a girl. They tended to be like girls - just without breasts. It was also one of the main reasons for a lot of gay men in Japan very much despising yaoi, keeping very much with their own gay manga genre, bara.

Now, admittedly by now this has mellowed out a lot in yaoi manga. Newer yaois tend to have way less physical difference between the uke and the seme. While often we still have the scenario that the seme is more powerful and influencial, at least the uke is no longer "a girl".

Still, this dynamic then also got duplicated on fanfictions at the time. Basically fandom usually decided (especially with anime fandoms) that within a gay ship one was the uke and one was the seme. So in the fanfictions that followed, any canon characterisation would be ignored in favor of making the seme toxic masculine and the uke a little damsel in distress, who would cry a lot.

Now, most of fandom has grown out of this phase (thank God), and uke and seme has mostly been replaced by the idea of top and bottom, which usually tends to be way less extreme in the depiction. But... the general issue is still there, right?

Because... people still kinda subconsciously enforce the idea of a heteronormative relationship with queer ships.

For those who usually do not engage with this, quickly let me explain: The idea of Top and Bottom is about, who is the "giving" and who is the "receiving" part within a relationship. The bottom is the one, who gets penetrated, the top is the one who penetrates, to overly simplify this. But also generally it also kinda means, that the "top" tends in most stories be the one who holds the control or more control within the sexual scene. This is especially a big thing with male on male smut, where a lot of stories male it clear that one of the two characters in anal sex is the one who gets fucked, with the other one doing the fucking.

And most of the time this is very much based on who of the ship is the more outwardly masculine and who is more feminine. And yes, this even holds true for sapphic ships. Let me talk about some of my own ships, so you can see what I mean, alright?

Alucard/Trevor (Castlevania) is probably the least strong on this one. While a lot of fanwork has Alucard as the "bottom" - you know, the long haired, rather androgynous twink - his femininity clearly is a bit cancelled out by being half-vampire. So there is in fact a lot of stuff where he gets to be "the top". But still, there is a definitive tendency to have him as the bottom.

Hector/Isaac (Castlevania) is one, where I literally have never once seen a fic with Hector topping. Admittedly, I can understand it with them in so far, that Hector is not only feminine, but also clearly shown to be submissive within the show. So both things kinda go into one another. But, you know... While I have him be the submissive one and passive one more often, I do make a point of switching it around a bit. (And it should be noted: I have not found a single fic outside of my own, that even adress the fact that Isaac might actually not want to do anal sex, because the Qur'an is very clear on the topic of it being a taboo.)

Mizrak/Olrox (Castlevania: Nocturne) to me is probably the most offensive one in regards of Castlevania gay ships. Because while still fairly new, I only so far have seen Olrox as the bottom. Because of course the more feminine one, with a very masculine partner, has to be the bottom. *eye roll* Which in their case does so clearly just not even have any other possible explanation rather than "the masculine and the feminine". I doubly hate this, because this does play into a lot of racist ideas about indigenous men, but I will not go into that now. Just... why?

Joe/Cherry Blossom (SK8) is another one, were one partner is very masculine and one is very feminine in their appearance. And of course... this translates to like 90% of the fandom having Joe top and Cherry bottom. *sighs* I can't even...

Viktor/Jayce (Arcane) are a bit different, as neither of them is very feminine. Buuuut of course Jayce is still the more masculine between the two of them, so... yeah, you know it.

And again, this is even true for sapphic ships. I had people being very upset at me writing CaitVi a little kinky with a submissive Vi and a dominant Caitlyn. Because again, Caitlyn is more feminine, Vi more musculine. So oft course people want the relationship dynamic to reflect this...

And that... is exactly my point.

See, when I brought this up in fandom spaces, the answers I got were like: "Well, I just think that is their sexual preference." But of course not a single person could answer me, why that was. Why they think the more feminine (within a western understanding of this, mind you) would be the one who would prefer bottoming.

And that is without - again - going into the fact that not all gay people will have or enjoy anal sex and frankly, I find it unimaginative, how in so much gay fiction, anal sex gets depicted as the end-all-be-all.

I mean, I will openly admit that, yes, this does not only hold true for women writing gay fiction. Because there is a lot of historical baggage in this regard within the gay community itself. Because, yes, this was something explicitly forbidden by a lot of religion. Because, yes, this also is the one way (well, with the exception of 69) for gay man to have sex that can be pleasurable for both at the same time. And because, yes, there is a whole lot of just stuff of it being condemned and... It is a whole big thing.

But I just... I would just wish for it to be depicted with a bit more nuance. And for it to stop enforcing heteronormative genderroles. Because... god damn it. I am so sick of all of that.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Not Miraculous Ladybug but since I heard you're a fan of Code Lyoko, I wanted to ask a few questions if that's cool. Who's your fav character and why? What's your favorite and least favorite thing about each main character? Fav side character? Favorite episode? Favorite XANA attack? Are we all in agreement that Clone William is best boi? Anything else you want to say about it that no one's asked before? Sorry this if this is a lot, lol.

Favorite Character: Aelita. She easily went through the most development over the course of the show, going from a walking plot device to a capable fighter in her own right.

Favorite Things About the Characters:

Ulrich: He easily has the coolest powers in Lyoko. Twin swords, super speed, duplication, and an awesome bike.

Odd: Similarly, I like how Odd's powers are handled. It's clear that compared to the others, his are the least practical (cat features, a limited supply of "laser arrows", and a shield), but he manages to hold his own through his quick thinking.

Yumi: I like the way she has to struggle the most balancing her personal life with her Lyoko duties. Unlike the others, she lives with her family, so she has to deal with family drama, and that's not getting into what happens once William gets involved.

Aelita: Again, it's the way she goes from a standard damsel in distress to becoming the de facto leader of the team when Jeremie isn't around.

Jeremie: It's really interesting to see Jeramie act as the leader of the team when he isn't much of a fighter, almost like a young Professor X. The other four may fight XANA directly, but Jeramie gets a lot more done. When XANA wiped out Lyoko, Jeramie managed to recreate the entire world, give the other four upgrades to their powers, and create a submarine for the team to use.

Least Favorite Things About the Characters

Ulrich/Yumi: Putting them together because this one is obvious. The "will they or won't they?" stuff. It just got old, and even after Season 3, which has Yumi try to say she just wants to be friends, the show still rode with this.

Odd: He's funny, but there are still times when he can be pretty annoying.

Aelita: There are admittedly times were it felt like the show kept coming up with ways to endanger her. It made sense in Season 1, but by Season 3, it felt a little excessive that XANA needed her to destroy Lyoko.

Jeremie: I always found it disappointing that we never got to see his Lyoko form.

Favorite Side Character: Jim

Favorite Episode: "Aelita"

Favorite XANA Attack: "Temporary Insanity"

[drabblesandimagines]

Eee, this number is still absolutely wild to me! Thanks so much for everyone who's pressed that follow button over the last 14 months or so. To say thank you, I'm putting on a little event!

Trope requests: Send an ask containing a trope and a character combo from the below and I'll try and throw something together to produce a x reader fic! I generally tend to write female readers, so please specify if you're prefer gender neutral. I may not be able to get through them all, as it totally depends on how many there are/if I receive duplicate requests, but I'll give it my best!

Only one bed

Miscommunication

Opposites attract/enemies to lovers

Damsel in distress

Trapped in small space

Sick day/playing nurse

Best man/maid of honour

Second chance

Fake relationship

Amnesia

Forbidden love

Characters*: Leon Kennedy (RE), Clive Rosfield, Joshua Rosfield, Cidolfus Telamon, Barnabas Tharmr (FFXVI), Cloud Strife, Sephiroth, (FF7), Gale Dekarios, Halsin (BG3) *If there's a character you'd really like that's appeared in one of my fics, do suggest! Example ask: Barnabas Tharmr x female reader, amnesia.

Follower-only prize**: If you'd like to be in with a chance to win a commission free of charge, drop an ask with 👻🐕 in - no anon accounts for this, please, as I'll need to be able to contact you if you win! **Please note that this competition is for followers-only, it doesn't matter how long you've been following, but any entries received from non-followers will be disregarded as I'd like this to be a prize for a follower only - I'll be cross-referencing to be sure. I'll draw a winner on 14th April, and will be in touch to discuss what you'd like! Lots and lots of love, Ghostdog xxx Masterlist . Requests welcome . Commissions/Ko-Fi

[ewingstan]

Still on 9.10, feeling really bad for Damsel. Victoria is commenting on how much she seems to be subtly threatening them, how much she's darkly echoing everything Swansong is saying, but honestly it feels like she's just desperate to be included.

Her and Swansong are first shown together on the balcony, but it then changes to Swansong jumping down to the larger group, Damsel overlooking them from afar. She keeps making a bunch of comments about how they're on the same side, about how they could let her go with them, and while Victoria sees all her unhelpful interjections as mocking it feels more like attempt to remind everyone she's there. She had found a companion with her other self, but now she was with the group again, and she's being left behind.

While Victoria is noting how much her every comment drips with malice and duplicity, she also notes how Damsel seems more like an Ashley who stayed with the Nine—that is, an Ashley whose pre-existing need to present as a fearsome villain or risk being killed had been made stronger than ever before. And obviously Damsel would remain in that mindset more than Swansong had—she'd been staying in prison. Not being someone to fuck with was a very real concern for her that she had to practice. Swansong had been working to "turn off" the villainous presentation to a certain extent because it was actively detrimental to her life in civilian society, Damsel only had the need to stay in that mode enforced. Its notable enough that Swansong of all people is giving her shit for it:

Swansong knows herself well enough to know that she can be manipulated just by invoking threats to her reputation. She's at a point where she has people she doesn't need to be full scary for, and looking at how much being fully in that state makes her easy to manipulate is embarrassing for her. This is the same person who at the beginning of the story who was sent into a panic attack by losing a sparring match and responded by telling everyone how easily she could kill them, and she's embarrassed by how much Damsel needs to be the scariest person in the room. It seems pretty clear that Damsel just can't turn that off. She doesn't have a Kenzie she can be fun-scary with, a Rain to decompress with, a Victoria to offer things to without being seen as weak. She's stuck being fearsome lonely and not being able to offer any help in a way that sounds sincere.

Well that's depressing. Now what's going on in the rest of this chapter:

YEAH RATCATCHER EVERYONE START CHEERING OR I'LL RELEASE THE INCENDIARIES WOOOO RATCATCHER!!!!!

[loststarphounix]

Soudam Dragon!Kazuichi AU

Kazuichi is a Dragon (metal/fire hybrid) tasked with guarding the Grand Duchess Sonia. Crowned Princess Chiaki, Sonia’s girlfriend, sends her best friend and knight Hajime on a quest to rescue Sonia from the dragon.

Hajime is at first hesitant to go out and fight a dragon - he could die Chiaki!- but she promises to help hook him up with the neighboring kingdom’s Prince Nagito and Hajime reluctantly agrees.

Along the way he encounters Fuyuhiko - a rogue with past ties to one of the most dangerous underground clans in the Kingdom, his ‘protector’ Lady Peko, who’s swordsmanship is unmatch and Gundham Tanaka, a supposed Dark Mage who hasn’t undertaken the final ritual to be recognized as such but is still very powerful.

The four band together and venture to the Keep where the Duchess is being held captive. As they search the first floor of the castle, they try to form a plan on how to handle the dragon, when Kazuichi in full dragon form comes upon them. They decide to just go for it and try to attack, but their blows are useless and Kazuichi chases them around the castle. The group is split up and Hajime and Gundham are cornered.

Just before the horrible beast can open its mouth and devours them, Gundham suddenly calls out: 

“What a magnificent specimen!”

Hajime is just staring at him because now is not the time to fawn over an animal Tanaka! This isn’t the first time this idiot almost got him and the others killed or maimed over his fondness for animals. But he notices how the dragon is now staring at them in what seems like confounded surprise and he can only watch as the Mage steps forward unafraid. It seems to confuse the dragon even more, as it backs away skittishly.

“Your coloring is simply astounding! Duskrose coupled with nightshade black, but reflects brilliant diamonds of soft pinks and purples. How marvelous!”

“Your wings are stupendous! The horns upon your head shine like polished obsidian!”

“Your claws are a true testament of your endurance, for few beasts I have encountered have such wicked talons that can spark wildfires effortlessly!”

“Such a fine specimen of the more fairer draconic breed! It is rare to see such a damsel all alone. Such magnificent brilliance!”

And through all of this, the dragon is swaying - fluttering its wings, stretching its neck and tossing its head. But there is a deepening color of the flesh of its throat and Hajime fears its preparing to breath fire on them, but Gundham continues to talk and is now close to said flint like claw. It’s about twice as long as he was.

“But a damsel so young shouldn’t be in such dreary conditions but free to rule the skies!”

Now the dragon lowers its head towards him and Hajime nearly faints as a half lidded large eye stares the taller man down. It’s lid flutters and Hajime frowns because he gets the distinct impression that it just -

“Such brilliance!” The Mage exclaims again, staring deeply into the larger eye. “A gemstone would crack and weep when faced with your illustrious gaze! Such beautiful rose quartz the likes this realm could never duplicate -”

That’s when the dragon lets out what sounds like a coo - an honest to god, fucking coo-, bats its eyelashes at him, before it puffs a bit of smoke so that it envelopes around Gundham in the suspicious shape of a heart.

Hajime immediately panics. And so does Gundham because now he’s stuttering, blushing, as he slowly tries to back away while trying to cover his face. It's no use because the dragon just slowly inches forward every time he takes a step back and is letting out a low rumble.

“I-It appears that - There seems to have been a miscommunication -!”

Is all he gets out, before he is then gingerly grabbed by the front of his shirt and lifted off the ground. He’s ragdolled in the air by the dragon, who happily purrs as he turns and stomps away with his prize. The Mage seems shocked at the now obvious turn of events and Hajime just dips. He’ll save the Mage later.

[summerstrash]

Current Rankings As To What Dudes In Dark X-Men Might Fuck Alex Summers, In Order Of Likelihood:

Azazel - currently seems like he's horny for Maddie, also seems like a guy who would suggest a threesome specifically to mock and humiliate a "straight" boyfriend of a woman he wants to fuck.

Remy - Remy was nice to him in a mean way in their one (1) interaction so far, and "nice in a mean way" is catnip for Alex's weird issues. Also Remy is married. And, based on the unlettered pages we've seen from #2, Alex is about to have some kind of interaction with the kid who patterned her whole shtick after Remy, so like...step-dad energy could be imminent.

Albert - just very nearly killed him (Alex) to death, is a robotic duplicate of Scott's boyfriend, and currently is suffering from a traumatic separation from his Associated Robot Child, which, like, makes him the Most Alex's Type Anyone Could Ever Be Right Now.

Warren - Currently in a damsel in distress situation, in the clutches of another Maddie, and, like, I love a good foil-on-foil self-discovery arc, you know?

Emplate - He's a life-force vampire who hangs out with Azazel. I feel like, under the right circumstances, it could happen.

Zero - I feel like he thinks Alex is a boring normie stick-in-the-mud, and I don't think he's horny for that.

Maggott - Literally no interaction, and I can't think of any compelling thematic or character reasons for this to happen, tbh.

After #2 drops in two weeks I will update the rankings to reflect the events of that issue in a reblog, lmao.

[writer59january13]

After the wife made a suggestion about what to write about...

I decided to title my piece a concatenation of a few different notions incorporating fictional romance alluding to myself and spouse in conjunction with hybridization

stemming from vague references

to tried and true value

tangentially sparring with Cinderella but giving the following free verse poem a slight twist and shout.

I take the liberty to contrive a fictional tale of make believe where faux royalty née monarchical rule encompassed great swaths of land long before Lower Merion coalesced into an enclave and concentration of wealthy MainLiners, which kingdom or fiefdom of Europeans more or less duplicated the type of government from the so called old country allocating the then sparse population into a hierarchy or pecking order where arranged marriages sealed the fate of those most aggressive to dominate those people rather submissive and meek, whose role became passive and subservient to the dominant and overbearing dons trumpeting might is right.

The princess of Penn Valley and the pauper of Collegeville unbeknownst to each other, (though they lived approximately twenty miles from each other, each existed hundreds of years apart), nevertheless they would meet and marry five months later predicated on pastiche tenuously linkedin to the Victorian era and the Modernist period a daughter born to first time mother. Iniquities heaped upon head of Penn Valley princess..., whose brutish, nasty and short twisted sisters relentlessly tormented their sibling then out of desperation, she wed Peter Peter pumpkin eater, who kept her in a pumpkin shell. Just by chance I happened to hear the quiet lament a damsel in distress surreptitiously signaled knight whose newborn baby suckling at the ample bosom one shining armor, yours truly himself donned role though hashtagged as pawn, he convinced said lass to accept unconditionally unbridled love his hands grasping those soft fingers of a young mother with innocence, yet full of wisdom beyond scant seventeen years a slave in the role of scullery maid damned courtesy when one generation prior to another one poor lass barely out of childhood when a series of unfortunate events - found lass gravid with child automatically denying only scant opportunities for escaping mean vicious cycle, thus unbeknownst to chivalrous brave heart fictionalized as the writer of these words me, whose overzealous overactive imagination expounded one being born hundreds of years ago, when bulk of folks agrarian at a time when many if not most civilizations and their discontents could never have foreseen nor believe as an eye witness time traveler reported videre licet onset of The now Fifth Industrial Revolution (5IR), also known as Industry 5.0 represents a new phase of industrialization characterized by the harmonious collaboration between humans and advanced technologies, particularly AI and robotics. It builds upon the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), focusing on a more human-centric approach, increased resilience, and a stronger emphasis on sustainability. This shift emphasizes the importance of human creativity and skills alongside machine capabilities, aiming for greater societal well-being. Key aspects of the Fifth Industrial Revolution: Human-Machine Collaboration: The core concept is the integration of human intelligence and skills with the speed, productivity, and consistency of machines. Sustainability: 5IR prioritizes environmental and societal impact, moving beyond purely economic value to encompass broader concepts like human well-being. Cognitive Intelligence: The rise of advanced AI, particularly technologies like GPT models, is a driving force in this revolution, leading to the creation of cognitive partners that can augment human capabilities. Focus on Human-Centeredness: 5IR aims to create a more human-centric approach to technology, ensuring that it serves the needs of people and society, rather than the other way around. Increased Resilience: The ability of systems to adapt and recover from disruptions is a key aspect of 5IR, particularly in areas like supply chains and manufacturing.

[gildinbainas]

Haha I think back then you were the reason I found out about that King Tut mini series which I found on youtube I think and watched a bit of it at that time, found it interesting. Also lmao for the comparison of Siamun to that Ben Kingsley character from that series, now I can't unsee that comparison! Yeah I agree, fandom in-fighting truly does suck, I know it firsthand from a fandom that shall not be named I was unfortunately a part of briefly from late 2018 to 2019, I definitely feel you on the headaches of needless fandom toxicity and drama. Also I don't know if you by any chance remember a duplicate Atem by the name of discarnate-soul from way back as well? That was also me, but unfortunately that blog has long since been in disuse with a thick layer of cyber dust now upon it haha, and oh boy looking back on it now I am cringing very much at my writing back then oh lord. I remember how my Atem used to have these fun little friendly banter sessions with yours, and yours would ironically quip and refer to him as his knight I think if I'm remembering correctly haha, that was so much fun.

LMAO I DO remember you quite well now that you mention it. I only played with maybe two duplicates regularly. Many of the others felt pretty high anxiety and some made everything out to be a competition so I distanced myself from quite a few of them. But I remember you from my very first Atem blog! They got on very well. Yours liked to tease him a lot for being, at the time anyway, quite the damsel. We both were still finding our footing and trying to establish himself in this world he doesn't belong in but we've come a long way since our own cringy writing. Cringe or not though, it was nice to just vibe without having to worry about offending anyone. Heh we were the multiverse before Marvel me thinks hahaha I have to wonder if we'd get smacked on the head these days for all the flirting the various mirrors and doppelgangers got into. Sadly my old blog was deleted. I didn't archive it and sometimes I wish that I had but then there were some things there best left behind.

Indeed it was a joy!

Ah and like you, I've dipped and dabbled in quite a few fandoms that turned out to be full of drama. The smaller the fandom, the more toxic it was back then. Now I think most people have learned to just mind their own business. Block what doesn't suit them and move on. Of course, I have been hiding on this corner of the net for a while and haven't had any issues. But it could be because my dash is small and most people have moved on or, like me, just busy adulting with little time to entertain nonsense.

Even so I'm always delighted to find people from the past. Truly you've brought back some funny memories of interactions! And while you are his mirror, you're still very much the brave knight. Once you've earned a title, it's hard to be rid of it I'm afraid.

[axolator]

Script-A-Day #26: The Midnight Oasis by Zets

Power clashes with power as high-power good teams fight high-power evil teams

Featured characters: Al-Hadikhia, Psychopath, Cannibal

Fabled characters: Spirit of Ivory, Sentinel (at player counts with 0 base Outsiders, sometimes base 1)

Jinxes:

Cannibal/Poppy Grower: If the Cannibal eats the Poppy Grower, then dies or loses the Poppy Grower ability, the Demon and Minions learn each other that night.

Pit-Hag/Damsel: If a Pit-Hag creates a Damsel, the Storyteller chooses which player it is.

Complexity: Expert. Recommended for Storytellers familiar with putting their hand on the scale to bring things to an exciting conclusion, and for players who aren't scared of insane happenings each and every night.

Database link (find the PDF and JSON for running it there!)

Note that the version there features some older versions of characters like the Balloonist and Al-Hadikhia, and doesn't feature the Cannibal/Poppy Grower jinx. I personally think the script works better with these newer additions, hence the new script image above.

Writeup under the cut!

The Midnight Oasis is a script like no other. It's home to some of the most powerful good characters in the game, like the Engineer, Professor, Cannibal, and Poppy Grower, and at first glance it seems like madness that the script works at all. But when counterbalanced with the powerful evil team and two uniquely powerful Demons, it all comes together to make for a script where broken checks broken and both teams can push the limits of what's possible in Clocktower.

I don't think I need to say that careful bag-building and Storytelling is a must. There are characters that are highly synergistic together: the Professor and Cannibal come to mind as two that can, unhampered, allow good to infinitely loop resurrections on good players: make sure evil has a Poisoner, Pit-Hag, or Psychopath (preferably multiple) to disrupt those confirmation chains during the day and the night.

Similarly, be more cautious with what you let the evil team get up to. Both Demons have ways of keeping Minion abilities around past their prime, so if the Pit-Hag makes an Al-Hadikhia and you kill the existing Vigormortis, you could easily have the Vigor choose to live and have two evil Demons running around! (In that situation, strongly consider killing the new Al-Had with arbitrary deaths.)

This is the first Atheist script I've covered, and it's a character that probably deserves its own post at some point. When you're running an Atheist game, try and simulate a real evil team: use your powers to frame certain players as the Demon and Minions, but leave some clues so the good team can figure things out. Pass out two Farmer tokens, but let only one of them create a new Farmer. Turn a random player into the Damsel to simulate a Pit-Hag, or let the Atheist kill if they try and jokingly claim Psychopath.

Some notes:

Given the kill power on this script, characters like the Balloonist, Savant, and Amnesiac are unlikely to live more than a few nights: with that in mind, consider giving them stronger information earlier in the game if there are several game-accelerating characters in play (Psychopath, Pit-Hag, Golem, Al-Hadikhia, etc).

Consider houseruling the Poppy Grower such that an unlucky Poisoner snipe or Pit-Hag change doesn't prevent evil from learning their team for the entire game: "If the Poppy Grower dies while drunk or poisoned, or is Pit-Hagged out of existence, the evil team still learns each other that night."

Be careful when bag-building with the Cannibal: if its ability duplicates a Professor, Golem, or other powerful ability, it can be devastating to the evil team. Any of the Minions can disrupt this confirmation in their own ways, but a savvy Poisoner can prove especially effective at sowing mistrust.

A Drunk, who thinks they're the Atheist. I'll let you fill in the rest. 😈

Make sure your group knows how the Damsel/Barber interaction works! Like on Extension Cord, the Damsel can never safely out, because an evil team can make a Barber, then swap the Damsel to a living good player!

That's actually about it from me today, since I already mentioned the Pit-Hag "multiple evil demons" thing (though they can still do that by hagging a dead evil into the Vigor and having the Al-Had resurrect them a night later 🫣). In any case, be careful how you build and this script can be a blast. See you tomorrow!

(Curse of a messy grim - that's an evil-aligned Engineer there!)

[doomerpatrol]

Comic Log: Daredevil by Ed Brubaker

Unfortunately, I think Brubaker's usual strengths of character-driven intrigue and grimy street conspiracies don't really show up in this book, which has a few problems. The first is that it is structurally obnoxious, hitting the exact same ideas over and over without actual escalation or innovation. The second is that those beats themselves are frequently contrived, sexist, and unflattering to the main character in a way that is devoid of meaning.

Brubaker's run follows from Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev's work on the title which saw Daredevil put on the ropes primarily by the exposure of his secret identity in public newspapers, culminating in his arrest and incarceration for vigilantism. The first two arcs of Brubaker and Lark's run, The Devil in Cell Block D and The Devil Takes a Ride, are the strongest. The first sees Matt Murdock pushed to a breaking point of moral compromise, before erupting in a very clever escape from jail. I really like the involvement of the Punisher and Kingpin here. This wraps up the cliffhanger conclusion of Bendis's arc where Matt is sent to prison.

I think the latter arc, where Matt swashbuckles through Europe, is slightly weaker because Matt plays a very passive role - he mainly reacts to the machinations of others rather than advancing his own interests or goals, and at the end he makes a genuinely hard and impressive moral decision which ends up having zero consequence in either direction. But there's still a real resolution to the emotional conflicts he'd been dealing with since Bendis's run, making it a pretty necessary button on that era.

The following arcs (To the Devil His Due and Without Fear) are really where I think things go wrong. The central problem is a lack of interesting character choices. That passivity I identified above continues throughout much of the middle chunk of the run. Somehow Daredevil had more agency while he was in prison.

Back to the point: the series just recovered some level of normalcy, set up a new status quo, and then immediately devolves back into the exact same spiral Bendis already portrayed. But now instead of Matt being an actor in that spiral - trying to resist it, sometimes making it worse, sometimes throwing an unexpected or valiant wrench in it - he is just the recipient of misery, his endurance slowly worn down, never making better choices or even trying to do so, constantly taken by surprise by duplicity and factional maneuvering that he should have anticipated. His internal monologue becomes an unending torrent of "woe-is-me, would that I were not a superhero, all my loved ones keep getting shot because of me, I am the most put upon." It is extremely exhausting to read. There is a brief arc where he takes some initiative and helps prevent an innocent man from getting executed, which is fine, but it's also just a less poignant version of David Hine and Michael Gaydos' genuinely excellent Daredevil: Redemption miniseries.

Brubaker also has a tendency here to treat female characters as incidental objects in the lives of male leads rather than substantive characters. Daredevil's wife Milla Donovan (already not my favorite) is reduced to a pawn bounced around between Daredevil and his enemies rather than an agent, and then gets shunted into an asylum in a totally deflating, pointless storyline. (Which just kicks off an even more pointless storyline of a custody battle between the woman's parents and Matt that I think is extremely tasteless.) Dakota North is a big old nothingburger that seems to be here because Jessica Jones was unavailable, going from an adequate supporting player that moves plots along, to another damsel for Matt to rescue with over-the-top violence. Lily, a superfluous character from the second arc, gets brought back...and then just completely falls out of the narrative after getting crazy amounts of page-time hinting at some sort of meaningful emotional arc for her.

Additionally, the antagonists in this middle section are not well-used. I'm sort of unclear about Vanessa Fisk's motivations, but I can accept them as the bitter drama of a dying woman. Then we have Melvin Potter, the Gladiator, in what is essentially a five-issue red herring that I found irritating. A pattern of "well, that was kind of pointless" is starting to form at this point.

Gladiator is followed by Mr. Fear, who is quite possibly one of the least interesting antagonists I've ever read in a cape comic. His motivations are completely unelaborated upon other than like "Bugs Bunny fucking with the opera singer," his plan is stupid, his abilities are handwaved, and the resolution of his place in the story is extremely gross (and, again, misogynist). Totally vapid. Finally, while I think Lady Bullseye's whole "look" and vibe is superficially cool, in practice she is just a lesser version of a preexisting character whose motivations and decision-making are hazily defined.

The overarching problem of the majority of this run is that Brubaker keeps hammering on the exact same themes that the series had already explored in more complex ways under Miller and Bendis, that being "the costs of Matt Murdock's crusade". It all just becomes cyclical and repetitive, and not in a way that gives that cycle any greater meaning. It is particularly egregious because we see Matt engaged in some of his worst behavior - including torture - and, compared to the devastation and complete uprooting of his life as in Frank Miller's "Born Again" or Bendis's run, there's very little motivation behind his outbursts. Okay, so his wife/girlfriend/best friend is in danger - they've all been in danger like eighty times in the last year. At a certain point you have to start making different decisions. This character is not supposed to be stupid - his tactical intelligence is a central trait.

The series recovers its footing somewhat in the final stretch because, while the shit keeps hammering down on Matt, he at least starts taking action again - apparently he needs Kingpin around in order to be motivated. So, yeah, unfortunately this was a huge disappointment! I like Brubaker, and the Bendis run is an all-timer, so I thought this would have the juice.