#giving the few goddess characters some background

[hihopelessromantics]

Hiya! To all the lovelies who’ve been reading “Through the Wall,” I got a question. A poll if you will. How many times do you wanna see someone / something get thrown through a wall? I’m still working out plot details so there’s plenty of room for fun hehe :) 

more storybuilding nonsense / questions in the tags! 

[lehguru]

MUSCLE MUSCLE! + ONE PIECE MEN

one piece men having a muscular fem!s/o feat. monkey d. luffy, roronoa zoro, trafalgar d. water law, sanji, donquixote rosinante, buggy the clown

info: again FEM!READER , this is so self indulgent its embarrassing; not proofread

luffy wouldn't mind you having muscles. he thinks that's something normal – just like some women can be skinny or chubby, others can be muscular. he would love to compare his biceps to yours if you love to flex, he takes it as a fun playful thing. he would adore to train with you, it gives him a big motivation; not only because it's someone as strong as him training, but also because he would adore to share earbuds with you and do silly dances to make you laugh between your sets.

zoro thinks the way you managed to build up your muscles is amazing. he often talks to you about your training techniques and diet; you're also one of the few – three – people he invites to workout with him. if you spot him during bench presses, he always puts a higher weight than he would while alone – that's his way to show that he trusts you and your strength. he will often stare at your body at the gym, but it's never in a creepy way, he just wants to make sure you're okay while doing your exercises (and he secretly enjoys to see your muscles working).

law is constantly wanting to rip his hair off with worry for you. he thinks your psyche is nice and he have no problem with it, his fears lie on your diet and your bones/joints. he fears that you might get an injury and you're not keeping a healthy fat percentage; even if you reassure him and say everything is fine, he always show up with food at your place. if he's not in that worried state, he loves to feel your muscles while you hug him (he has a skinnier build, so he enjoys the contrast). his favorite thing ever is to feel your arms around his head while he lays on your stomach.

sanji would love your body no matter what, but there's something about you being able to lift him up – and even throw him around if you want to – that drives him insane. if you post a picture with any of your muscles flexed, you will get a dozen of comments from him. if you take him to the gym to train with you, he will praise you and won't even train so he can "appreciate and help a goddess like you". he begged you for a long time to give him a headlock so he could take a picture and make it his profile picture in every single social media he have (and the background on his phone).

corazón always get shy whenever he looks at any of your muscles – you often notice it, because his cheeks become a nice shade of pink. at first you thought he didn't like you being muscular, but quite the opposite. unlike his brother, he doesn't build up muscles that easily (they have the same genetics, but he always says he was born to be the skinny brother), so you, the love of his life, being muscular? he is over the moon. if he gets your consent to do it, his hands will be all over you. if you need a massage, he's there. if it's just resting on your thigh or your back during a cuddle session, he's happy. he loves your muscles a lot, not more than he loves you.

buggy thinks you're one of the coolest people because of your muscles. he always wanted to be bigger and scarier, but his muscles always seemed to grow on his legs and stomach only, so if you are well-balanced on all your body, he is smitten. he loves to lay on any part of your body, giggling to himself if he thinks about doing that when you two are apart. he is constantly praising you, but, unlike sanji, they come in a more "if you were the queen, i wouldn't mind being the jester" way. he wouldn't mind tagging along with you to the gym, but he would spend more time glaring at any other men that looks your way than actually training.

2023 © content belongs to lehguru, but the characters used in them belong to their respective creators!!

[ryemackerel]

ONCE AGAIN!! Meet Alexander Lucré and Wyllow Sage! 🫶

Local cryptid goddess from a magical land ends up in a completely new, modernized world unlike her own. She has to navigate through this unfamiliar environment, and eventually stumbles across the city’s owner, who’s a deceptive, charming, and sly businessman. Funny snake guy helps Wyllow navigate the place and gives her a place to stay, and the two over time learn to soften up to each other despite their completely different backgrounds.

YES AFTER ALL THIS TIME I STILL LOVEEE THE BELOVED T4T HUSBAND AND WIFE DUO!! They’re my ocs from a while back, some of you may or may not remember them but! They came from what’s previously known as the TINE (This Is Not The End) AU, and I’m thinking of renaming their universe and adding some of my own characters as well. :]

The two out of the very few amount of ocs in my collection still have a very very special place in my heart, so I wanted to redesign them a bit more to make them different from their previous designs! ofc these are just design concepts and everything is still a wip.

I’m really happy with how they turned out YAYYA I can’t guarantee I’ll post about these guys a whole bunch because the Eddsworld fix still got a hold on me, and Arcane and Sonic have also been becoming interests of mine :-] Hope you enjoy!!

[whirligig-girl]

D'v: "Hahaa... we're holding hands again... I’m so sorry I wasn't watching where I was going and I was just reading up on--well what I was reading wasn’t important--I was..."

T'l: silent Vulcan noises and depraved illogical thoughts

some artist’s notes and fic snippets below the break:

Getting the pose right was a nightmare!

I drew Tendi and T’lyn on different layers with different colors because otherwise it’d be too confusing. The mess going on in their legs and hands especially. It was a challenge to find a relatively natural looking pose that allowed their hands to match up without hiding anything important. I found i could draw a four-segment stick-figure limb connecting their shoulders, and that helped me get their arms right. The legs were also a mess to figure out, but mostly just because they’re a confusing mess of limbs--they don’t have to intertwine nice.

Also, T’lyn is going to make me learn to draw hands right I swear to god. I could not half-ass the hands on this one.

narrative snipets break:

at that second panel, when Tendi realizes what's happened and gets embarassed, she immediately like, tries to let go and raise her hands respectfully......... but t'lyn just... doesn't let go. for a moment.

Ray Daly’s contribution. (Actually Ray contributed to feedback while I was drawing it, but...)

Mariner: it couldn't have been that bad, tendi Tendi, still flustered: not that bad?? Not that bad?!? would it be fine if you tripped and Bradward’s D--?! Mariner: eekaaay! you've made your point!!

Earlier version when I thought I was finished:

It’s good to go the extra mile on your art. I think this plainer version would still have been fine, but since I went so far as to actually draw the background for a change, adding the dropped/thrown clutter (PADDs and Tricorder) helped a lot.

T’lyn and Tendi’s mess of legs was hard to differentiate (though adding the shading helps). I made Tendi’s pants slightly darker, though with the shading you can barely tell. I also gave them different boot colors. The original idea was that pure science officers have black and blue boots and medical officers have white and blue boots. We can see that in a few places in season 1. But it seems like they eventually abandoned that concept and just give all science officers white and blue boots. T’lyn is not a medical officer, so obviously she gets black boots. Technically since Tendi is in Senior Science Officer training instead of Medical, she should have black boots, but I gave her white boots so you could tell them apart more easily.

I wasn’t even going to add the facial expressions. I drew this to figure out which one I wanted to use:

Then I put it in the drawing.

But I just kept looking at the sketch and thinking “both are good. Both are good!”

So I made it two panels. Because of how the layers were set up this was easier said than done. But I managed it just fine in the end. I really like how she’s backlit by the ceiling lights in the inset panels. Some kind of like, contrast between the angelic goddess looking down at you and the reality that she’s an emotional mess who wears her emotions on her sleeve.

It was also really important to add the inset panels because I don’t want to give the impression that either Tendi is doing this on purpose nor any orion fem dom stereotypes. It’s way funnier and cuter if she just keeps accidentally finding herself in these scenarios, worried that T’lyn’s resentment for her is growing because SHE KEEPS AVOIDING ME OUTSIDE OF STUDY SESSIONS! AND WHEN WE MAKE EYE CONTACT SHE LOOKS AWAY! I FUCKED UP! but actually T’lyn is just struggling to control her mad nasty thoughts about just what she’d like to do to Tendi (she’d like to hold her hands some more)

Adding the inset panels lets me make sure Tendi’s character is adequately captured so she’s not just A Thing Happening To T’lyn.

The dropped PADDs and Tricorder make the scene seem more diagetic, and just more real/plausible. They’re busy looking at their PADDs and not looking where they’re going, see? The one that’s face down is T’lyn’s, the two face up are Tendi’s. The PADD screens are cropped screenshots from the show that have been edited and then skewed/rotated/rescaled into place

The first PADD is Tendi doing research on Vulcan touch telepathy (after being told by someone else what the significance of handholding is to Vulcans), the second one is actually breaking the fourth wall and addressing the viewer directly.

one of the last touches I added was to erase the line-art around her pupils, so the pupils would look smaller (aids to the feeling of shock) and add a nostril (Dunno why--I never draw nostrils on Lower Decks characters, but it just seemed correct in this case) and a little wrinkle on her eye. All this was added because, when I drew Tendi’s face, it felt more detailed than T’lyn’s for some reason (freckles I think?) and I felt I had to make them match.

T’lyn’s face here was fun and took a while to get right. She (and all Vulcans in Lower Decks) are usually half-lidded, but we see T’lyn’s kinda shock when Tendi grabs her hand in the One Canon T’lyndi Scene We Have At Least Until Next Year--even then she looks attentive, not necessarily shocked.

I just think it’s kind of cool that they both have non-red blood and colorful blush.

[xiyouyanyi]

Welcome!

@ryin-silverfish here, also known as "That person who talks a lot about FSYY and fox spirits".

This is my little LMK AU sideblog, which started off as a bunch of disjointed background notes for my fanfics, but developed into its own gigantic thing over time.

I've said elsewhere that, despite LMK (and many other JTTW adjacent works) lifting certain tidbits wholesale from FSYY——like Nezha's backstory or the Golden Dragon Shears, neither the show nor the fanworks really go into the implications of a FSYY/JTTW combined universe.

(For one, Zhao Gongming's three sisters, the Sanxiao, showing up to kick Jin and Yin's butts for stealing and breaking their treasure would be very satisfying, and also hella badass.)

Well, be the change you want, they said. 

So here it is: Journey of the Gods, aka "LMK, but FSYY is also canon and an extremely influential historical event".

Inspired by @digitaldoeslmk 's By the Book AU.

What even is FSYY?

"Ancient China's bloodiest bureaucracy recruitment program, kickstarted by a king who simped too hard for the creator goddess of humanity and the fox girl she sent to end his dynasty."

"I'll write my own God-Demon novel, with blackjacks and fox hookers and no Buddhist allegories!" ——Xu Zhonglin/Lu Xixing/Li Yunxiang

Okay, jokes aside: Investiture of the Gods(Fengshen Yanyi) is the other big "God-Demon Novel" of the Ming dynasty, written after JTTW. It's about the toppling of the Shang dynasty and its tyrannical King Zhou by King Wu of Zhou——but with more Daoism, immortals and demons helping out both sides, and ten billion magical formations and treasures. 

At the end of the story, almost everyone who died in battle were deified and became the 365 gods of the Celestial Bureaucracy, thus "Investiture of the Gods". 

Here is a link to the only full English translation of FSYY, by Gui Zhizhong.

Here is my overview of FSYY's grand overarching conflict, a.k.a. "Why are all the Daoist immortals fighting?" 

Compared to JTTW, it's a lot more formulaic and suffers from a massive character count inflation problem, but also extremely influential in Chinese folk religion, to the point of some modern temples, like Qingyang Palace, basically worshiping characters from the novel! Like, the western equivalent would be a church worshiping Dante and Beatrice from the Divine Comedy.

(Similarly, it is to orthodox Daoism what the Divine Comedy is to medieval Christian theology, and should not be treated as actual religious scriptures.)

Okay, FSYY happened in the LMK universe. So What?

Well, first, it will really do wonders to fill up that eerily empty Celestial Realm we see in the Spider Queen special, and the Celestial Bureaucracy will no longer consist of a grand total of five people.

Secondly, it can solve some major show-not-tell problems and actually give legitimacy to the grievances of the LMK Brotherhood + Havoc in Heaven, as well as fleshing out the Celestial Realm.

Third, so many cool magical treasures.

Fourth, LBD gets an origin story, with a twist.

Fifth, I delight in quality angst and horror, and FSYY had some seriously messed-up stuff and implications.

Sixth, Celestial Bureaucracy office politics.

Seventh, Nezha kicking asses and winning fights like he should.

Eighth, crazy Xianxia shit, as you’d expect from the great-granddaddy of modern Xianxia genre.

Ninth, infodumps about Chinese mythos and history trivias.

Tenth, Underworld lore.

...As you can probably tell, this is mostly just me nerding out and writing walls of texts. I'm not a very good artist and can't do Lego style, but will probably doodle some symbol/character designs for funsies.

I also derive most of my enjoyment from writing fix-its and worldbuilding, not shipping characters. Like, I love exploring individual characters through relationships, but just ain't a fan of romance.

There will be a lot of OCs, but unless otherwise specified, all of them will be based on actual characters from FSYY and JTTW, with a few folk gods sprinkled in for funsies.

With that taken care of: good luck and happy reading!

[thebestusernamepossible]

Literally going insane, might have to write fanfic for the first time in 2 years because the people™️ do not get my favorite female characters like I do and I feel the insurmountable urge to write her. I’m going to bite drywall why don’t ppl see her complexities. PLEASE STOP WRITING HER ETHIER AS DOMICILE MOM OR BITCH (or just for shipping) she is so so cool please guys please.

Also while I’m here, fandoms tendency to shove women in the ‘pure powerful goddess who can do no wrong’ box and then proceed to never give them an actual narrative role other than like ‘supportive’ or ‘took out a few background guys’. Like why DOES this incredibly badass and complex female character just get shunted into doinging some cool flips, getting praised about it (she’s the strongest fighter, so feminist wow) then never getting actnowleged as a 2 dimensional character.

I saw this a lot when I was in the Batman fandom, particularly with Cassandra Cain. She is a highly complex and interesting character, but in fandom she’s kind of shunted to ‘Badass therapy dog who takes care of the men’. Because even on the slight chance her backstory is brought up it’s always never delved into and mostly used to make her etheir more tragic and in need of support on a surface level or to let her be compassionate with the men characters who get their actual problems foucused on. It’s a unqiue kind of frustrating because it’s like almost letting the cool female character be cool, but it’s more like the idea of a badass women is shoved in your face, maybe joked about (or if we’re lucky she gets to beat up a few bad-guys), but ultimately treated like a cardboard cutout. Interestingly this actually isn’t entirely a female character thing, it’s also common with like old grandfather/grandmother characters and the elderly in general. But it’s usually badass women from what I see. :/ Why can’t fandom explore their stories (people do but why is it so much less), why can’t they be the prtags of cool AUs or time-travel fix-its, or crossover events

Idk I think I’m just frustrated, and I typed out more than I thought I would. Also Ive seen what happens to some other posts complaining about fandom misogyny, so please know if you’re a TERF, fuck off you have no place in this discussion. We will never agree, and frankly all of these points apply to canon Trans Women characters. Don’t say shit ill fucking end you.

[mcytblr-archive]

Early MCYTblr Interviews: tack-tick

today's interviewee is tack-tick, a pioneer of the "phistin" ship and DSMP fan since before the first election! below is a transcript of the interview.

Q: What was your overall time in MCYTblr like?

A: I'd say my overall time in Mcytblr could be described as finding diamonds in the rough. This fandom is defined by finding your group, sticking to them and if you're smart not really looking beyond that. I did look beyond that and saw a lot of discourse and such. I had a good time with my friends but I did get negatively affected by the discourse at times. It was kind of a toxic shithole but by God mcytblr was our shithole lol

Q: Do you remember any specific discourse that affected you, or was it just the overall culture around you?

A: As a Technoblade main, it was the discourse surrounding his character that messed with me. At the time, I was mutuals (none in the phistin palace dw guys) with some people who hated his character. I, as an anxious teenager, was very worried it would cause drama if I unfollowed them and my dash became a lot of those long negative essays about how he was an awful person and yknow the drill. It was mainly my own fault and my dash became signfigantly better once I realized no one would be offended of I unfollowed, blocked a bunch of tags, started up my own discord server and focused more on writing fanfic instead of doomscrolling. A good lesson in curating your dash of anything else. (Btw those former mutuals are fine people, we just had radically different tastes in what we liked and disliked about the Dream SMP)

Q: You mentioned the "phistin palace"-- before we get into that, would you like to explain the "phistin" rarepair itself?

A: Now we are cooking! So, Phistin is the ship of Kristin and Philza. It's main focus was on the scraps of lore that we had about their relationship which was Kristin was the immortal goddess of Death and they couldn't really see each other often but loved each other very much. I'd say it's main appeal was being one of the few ships that was just really stable in the Dream SMP compared to the Karlnapity polycule and whatever youd call Quackbur. Fun fact, I can't find the post now but if i remember correctly me and tumblr user Demonadelem helped name the pair Phistin. Although, that was ages ago so I could be misremebering

Q: Was the ship entirely within the SMP, or was it just the general ship name for the real-life couple?

A: It was both. Since Kristin didn't really stream on the dream smp, a lot of her personality had to be based on what Phil said about her and her other streams. Basically, lore about the ship was pulled from the SMP but the dynamics and personality was from both. You could play around with the dynamic if you focused on Kristin being a goddess

Q: With that basic information laid out-- what was the "phistin palace"?

A: The Phistin Palace was a discord server I founded in August of 2022. Phistin was a ship that was basically a side thing I did in fandom because my main focus was Technoblade and emerald duo stuff. I think if you're a Technoblade fan you're legally obligated to be a Philza fan and vice versa. I don't make the rules. So Phistin was something I did when I wanted a break from Technoblade as a way to practice romantic shipping.

Then Technoblade passed away and I didn't want to do anything with his character for a while so I focused completely on Phistin. However, when I tried to find any fics they were either a background ship with only one line or Kristin was already dead from a tragic disease who's main symptoms were lying daintily in bed. While I was writing my own long form Phistin focused fic, Two Birds if anyone read it, I got a comment that complimented me for "giving her an actual charatcer" and maaaan that is a very low bar to be praised for. So, I started the palace as a way to find other Phistin fans who actually cared about them beyond Kristin being angst fodder for SBI.

Q: Do you have any fond memories in specific of the "Phistin Palace" discord server?

A: Oh so many. During the Syndicate finale, three of us all liveblogged and freaked the fuck out when Kristin showed up for the first time in a minecraft skin on the server. I made on of those AI chatbot things that was popular for a bit and the bot was supposed to be the Kristin character. I asked if she had a pet and she said she has a gecko named Tim. The entire server instantly decided they would die for Tim and he's now an emote. The general chat is also named Tim Time Fucker. A mermaid AU that was made that the majority of the server contributed a lot of lore to we named it the Communist Mermaid AU because the server collectively owns it now. Many good moments there

Q: Beyond the Phistin Palace, are there any large community events that you remember/took part in, or did you mostly stick to your friend group?

A: I remember The Penis SMP of course. I never really took part in large community events but I did watch them happen. I read the Passerine chapter where Tommy died becasue my dash flipped out when that dropped. I'd also try to watch Sad-ist animatics live when I could. At most, Id make a meme during a stream that would rack up a couple hundred notes or one thousand if I was lucky A thousand was like once or twice I think

Q: You mentioned that you were also a Technoblade fan before you became more focused on Phistin-- was your experience in that side of the fandom any different?

A: It certainly had more content than Phistin did lol. I was never really in any Technoblade discords or anything but back in the day it was focused on emerald duo and being funny. or angsty. Nowadays, it's way less lively unfortunately. It's not as bad as in 2022 but Technoblade fancontent seems to be less foucsed on the character and more on memorials/remembrance. At some point, you run out of things to say and not a lot of people wanted to stay in a fandom that just felt weighed down by it all. I did leave so things could perk up someday but I don't think that's likely

Q: We've talked about the fandom and how it responds to content-- let's talk about the content itself. What were some of your favorite moments from the Dream SMP as a whole?

A: The Red Festival Technoblade stream was the first one I ever watched live so that's a good one. The stream where L'manberg getting blown up at the end of The Manberg Arc is iconic for an underrated reason. I don't know how many people remember but Phil was highly speculated to be on the Dream SMP someday. On the day of that stream, he started on his hardcore world, then stopped his stream and did his dramatic switch surprise entrance to enter the Dream SMP for the first time. Also Technoblade escaping the anvil and then killing Quackity with a toothpick was great. I've never liked watching Twitch streams on my Ipad so most of my favorite moments come from YouTube

Q: Were you sad that Phistin wasn't a more popular ship, or did you enjoy the tight-knit community?

A: I was sad Kristin kept friggin dying, the poor woman lol. Sometimes I wish it was a bit more popular but the community was nice. The main issue is Phistin stuff started tanking hard on Ao3 in terms of numbers and tended to get misstagged quite a bit

Q: You've brought up a few times that Kristin was often fridged, disregarded, or replaced (on several notable occasions, by an actual Samsung fridge). How did you feel about it? Do you think there was any particular reason for it?

A: I mean, I really don't like it but I understand it. A lot of people loved that SBI angst but also wanted to write all the SBI. So the obvious solution is to kill off Kristin for free angst and keep all the SBI in the story. Passerine is a fic i respect a lot but it also kickstarted this trend to be honest. Kristin herself also didn't physically show up in the lore a lot so it was really tricky to write her. When I first wrote her, it was intimidating because I didn't have many fics to look at as good examples.

Was it shitty and a bit sexist? Yes but I don't think sexism was the only reason. Kristin's character was in a unique situation compared to the others. I have no problem with Kristin dying in a fic. The main issue is that often came with her personality being reduced to good mom and that's it. I'm not gonna call a bunch of probably first time writers evil sexists when I know what it's like to not know how to write her and being scared you'll get her completely wrong.

Q: Since it's come up, would you mind giving a quick rundown of what exactly the fanfic "Passerine" is? (As well as any memories you have relating to it!)

A: If i'm being honest, I only read the chapter where Tommy got murked. What I know from osmosis is it's an SBI royalty AU that had some kind of meta twist at the end and it was very sad. It also got a sad-ist animatic made out of it which jesus christ I'd give for that. I tried it but the writing style was too wordy for my liking. It's mainly important for Phistin history even though Kristin wasn't in it. No, The Fridge died in it but everyone just kinda assumed it was Kristin for long enough it got the ball rolling. Also I think Niki read it on a stream

Q: Before we wrap up, is there anything else you remember about MCYTblr/the DSMP that you'd like to talk about?

A: The DSMP sure was the minecraft server of all time that is defined as a server that was doomed from the start. Whoever makes a video essay on it is gonna have a hell of a job. 10/10 experience would not recommenced. Hello to the Phistin Palace if any of you read this :D

Mcytblr is getting more chill with shipping from what I've seen. Thank God, keeping making Philza Minecraft kiss those men and his wife.

Also SUBSCRIBE TO TECHNOBLADE

[theresattrpgforthat]

Excuse me, would you tell me of some games with consequences for losing fights more interesting than having the story end because all the protagonists are dead baked into the rules, where losing fights is expected to happen more than once in a blue moon?

THEME: Failure In All Its' Forms

Hello friend! I had a couple of different thoughts about how failure in conflict might manifest itself in games. I decided to give you a few examples of different game types, and hopefully diving into these kinds of genres or playstyles gives you even more options!

24XX: Dire Pulse, by Matt Kaley-Burton.

BUILD A BETTER TOMORROW – Only the Company stands between humanity and extinction. Help us reverse environmental collapse with Project Omega! Injured on the job? Unable to work? Our cutting-edge exoskeletal rig (Exo-Rig™) technology gets you contributing again. Sign up today! 

In Dire Pulse, losing a fight and even dying aren’t the end of your character. You are in a setting where air-borne nanites will reconstruct you in the event of your loss, although they will also resurrect anything you kill as well. For your characters, the Company has your life in their iron-clad claws and they don’t want you to die until the job is done.

I think the narrative stakes presented in the character creation options are interesting to look at when considering failure in this game. Characters work for the Company for a number of reasons - they might be in debt, they might rely on the company’s technology, they might be getting blackmailed! So the threat that hangs over your character’s head in case of failure likely takes shape in Company retribution, although there’s no rules about how to role-play this in game. Then again, for these kinds of games, OSR rulesets rarely spell it out for you.

Mectors, by Chubby Crow Games.

In Mectors, players take on the role of a farmer, miner, fisher, carpenter, or some other worker in a labor intensive field. Mector Owners come from all kinds of backgrounds. Some own a Mector that’s been in their family for generations. Others came across theirs recently, through purchase or luck. And a rare few have managed to piece their own together using scraps from decommissioned Mectors, but this is even harder than it sounds. No matter how they got it, they now have a powerful tool with a long history.

Mectors has a really interesting take because it incorporates mechs into a more slice-of-life style game. Your characters are going to meet with challenges, but the focus is less on adventure and more on helping your community thrive. The consequences for a bad roll in this game might injure you, but they’re just as likely to add stress and scars that will affect you down the road. Your characters also have plenty of tools to avoid or minimize failure; having strong relationships is one way that you can avoid or cancel an incoming consequence, for example. The game system is Charge, which takes a lot of cues from Forged in the Dark games, so if you liked Blades or a similar hack, you might want to check this game out!

Swellbloom Kids, by lampara games PH.

SWELLBLOOM KIDS is a ttrpg built around Filipino beliefs and folklore. It features reimagined mythical figures, from the moon-eating snake Bakunawa (here, a primordial force of chaos seeking to swallow reality) to the personified cold La Niña (here, a rain goddess that warps time).

The setting stars the eponymous swellbloom kids, whose moods rise and fall due to cosmic El Niño and La Niña, respectively. Sensitive to the movements of the universe, they are gifted supernatural abilities thanks to The Twelve Guardians, deities watching over the different parts of the year and forming a zodiac of sorts.

Games about kids with powers are usually designed so as to give you the ability to take on a lot of big threats without actually threatening your character’s life. In this case, the player characters are kids blessed by gods, but this could easily work for magical girl games or games about superheroes of some kind. Losing a fight means you get taken out, but you’ll be able to come back later - what you might lose is your confidence, or perhaps you harm your relationship with your patron. I find this game really interesting because it’s rooted in Filipino mythology, and that makes this kids-with-powers game really unique!

Legacy, Life Among the Ruins, by UFO Press.

Legacy is a game of survival and rebuilding in a world ravaged and altered by incomprehensible calamity. Craft characters and families, head out into the wasteland and create true, lasting changes in the world. With cutting edge rules, a highly flexible multi­-generational system, and more than a dozen character playbooks to choose from, Legacy has everything you need to start playing.

In Legacy, you play not just as a single character, but as a faction. Losing one character to death or time won’t prevent your faction from success in the long run, and failure is more likely to affect your family’s assets and status in post-apocalyptic society than it is to wipe them out.

Legacy games are meant to be played over long stretches of time - at the end of each cycle, the group will move the clock forward one year, ten years, heck even 100 years to see how your family changes over time. When you zoom in to moments and certain conflicts, you’ll pick up a singular character who is meant to represent your family, someone with notable skills and a valuable role to play. These characters might live into the next cycle, but their role will likely change, and they are just as likely to fade into the background - and if they do die, their death has a big mechanical impact that doesn’t end the game but rather pushes it forward.

Court of Blades, by A Couple of Drakes.

Court of Blades takes place in the vibrant, fantasy renaissance city-state of Ilrien, in a world populated by scheming nobles, court magicians, and dashing duelists.

As a noble retainer, you will engage in the polite civil warfare of the great families. You will host lavish balls, and manipulate the courts, uncover the plots of your rivals, protect the city from arcane dangers, manage your own intrigues and personal scandals, leverage your reputations, connections, and so much more.

You’ll likely get into fights in this game, but the stakes are not about killing your opponent - in Court of Blades a duel is about understanding your opponent, upholding your honour, and managing others’ perceptions of you. Losing a duel is more likely to tank your social status than it is to threaten your life, and I can see some battles being completely without weapons - a duel of words, for example, or an attempt to gain more information.

The game is inspired by the warring families of history, as well as the Montagues and Capulets of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. If you like the intrigue and scandal of a noble court, and you want to damage your opponent’s reputation more than you want to rip off their limbs, I recommend checking out this game.

[alpaca-clouds]

How to make the DnD Lore more accessible

I talked on Christmas about how Wizards of the Coast and generally Hasbro are mismanaging Dungeons & Dragons. And I want to go a bit more into one of the things I brought up in that blog. Which is: The inaccessibility of the Dungeons & Dragons lore, or specifically the Forgotten Realms Lore, which technically is the main lore for the game.

To sum up, what I said in that long essay once again:

While more and more people are playing DnD, a lot of them are playing it with original worlds. In of itself that is not really a bad thing, but the reason why so many opt for original worlds is. Because one of the main reasons is that the DnD Lore is very, very inaccessible. Sure, there are several wikis out there of varying quality. But even with the good wikis, there is just the fact that not all pages are of equal quality and there is just a lot of stuff that is just stubs.

Meanwhile the official stuff is fairly useless. Sure, there are quite a few books that give you some great lore - but actually finding the book for the lore that you are looking for is pretty much impossible without once again relying on Wikis. And of course, depending on the age of some of the sources, they might also just not generally be available unless someone uploaded them to the internet archive.

And yeah, sure, Ed Greenwood is a walking encyclopedia on his world - and will answer questions on Twitter. But...

Look, here is the thing: WotC wants to make money with this. So, excuse me for saying this, but... They should put some more effort into making this accessible. Just put some people down there that make a comprehensive write up off the lore.

Or to put it differently: Make a comprehensive Wiki on DnDBeyond.

See, here is the thing. When right now I wanna find out something about, let's say, Tymora, I can totally search for it on DnDBeyond.

But then the results look like this:

So, basically it just lists me source books in which Tymora is mentioned. Which does not necessarily tell me, how much I can actually gleam about Tymora and the worship of Tymora from each sourcebook. And if I click on one of the links, this is what I get:

Which, you might notice, tells me literally nothing about Tymora.

Now, I absolutely get that WotC needs to sell all those books and all of that. But... To keep it like that makes the entire Lore and background of the world completely inaccessible.

This goes double, of course, because each of the books does not necessarily give you a comprehensive writeup of who the goddess actually is or what her timeline is.

And this goes basically for everything. There is barely any information that they make actually accessible.

So, how could WotC actually fix this?

Well, simple: Make their own Wiki - and then use the Wiki as a jump-off point to sell your stuff. It does not have to be the most comprehensive thing ever, but give a general overview of the most important stuff: A timeline and a general idea of the major events (like the Time of Troubles, the Spellplague and the Second Sundering), an overview of the pantheon, an overview of the different cities, and some major characters (like Xanathar, Dagult Neverember and so on).

Because here is the thing: When you do not have a hook, you will not get people to actually buy your books.

To keep with my example: Let's say you are a person who has just gotten into DnD. Maybe because of an Actual Play Podcast, maybe because you liked the movie, or maybe because you just come off Baldur's Gate 3. And now you want to get into playing DnD and would like to do something with that world. So, you google "Play DnD" and get obviously the official side as a first result (with Roll20 coming in second).

But... You basically get not at all a primer on the world and the different settings you can have in it. Nothing.

The "story" thingie basically just also has links to "Buy" pages. No way to properly get a good hook into the story of DnD.

Again, all on its own it is not a big issue that people make their own worlds. You could argue that it is technically a good thing, because it allows people to be more creative. But there are two things you also have to keep in mind.

New players really do have a bigger hurdle to overcome when they want to start playing - because either getting into the lore or creating their own lore does pose a challenge to start with.

More people playing in the official game world, does create a bigger feeling of community, as people work on some connected lore.

WotC wants to sell those books, which does really not work, when you do not give a good hook for them.

People are just more likely to buy a book on details of a world, if they are already kinda familiar with the book - and if they know what they are actually looking for.

This... really isn't that hard or complicated.

So, what I would do is the following:

Create an official timeline (especially as there are contradictions in the timeline as off now).

Create an official encyclopedia featuring major locations, people, religions and the general pantheon.

Use those official encyclopedia pages to link to books and adventures working with that kinda stuff to sell them.

Maybe also create some fairly short official one shots to start with. Let's just say three or four of them. Offer them for free and very clearly available on the official website. (Even with all faults I see in how Catalyst handles Shadowrun, this is something they do very well.)

Also... Just maybe create some more official content like short stories, some good content on youtube... the likes of that. Heck, create an official Actual Play that is actually set in Toril!

Is that all going to cost some money? Yeah, it is. But I would argue that this would do the game good. While there are no official numbers some fan-made polls suggest that actually most people play without any official material. Meaning the game itself right now is super accessible - but only a few people are actually interested in the official stuff. And if WotC wants to make money... Well, they need to get people interested in the official stuff.

And that is of course without going into how the shoot themselves in the foot by trying to change the open game license and what not.

To put it differently: Right now DnD is actually super popular. So popular in fact that you could argue it is pretty much mainstream. And they... just fail to make proper money off it, because they are just too dumb to understand how to actually use it in their advantage.

[elysiaheaven]

Hi! I was hoping you could recommend some songs for your Jiaoqiu fic. I wanted to make a playlist in Youtube. If you don't mind!

It was honestly one of the saddest fic I ever read. The entire beheading part was so uncomfortably well-written!

And the sewing part, absolutely was so dark yet sad. Y/n's backstory was so sad. Wanting to travel planets only to be give some-ass background story by some foxian god, who just ruined other lives because he was alone. Only to try to protect the village she really grew to care about to be turned into fucking statues because of a insecure god.

Overall, I honestly don't like female reader, especially the tragic ones. But, This one felt so real with the breakdowns. Really wanted to give a hug for her!

Also, Y/n's character was so beautifully scary. The recipe for Borisin chapter? and then when Jiaoqiu cooked her that. Her reactions were so yandere-scary. It was so thrilling tho! Chapter 1 spooked the hell out of me. I mean those statues descriptions! It was a dream. I was so glad...

Honestly, this y/n was so similar yet a new turn for me Honestly each description felt so real to read.... I def love how your Jiaoqiu version. It showed his serious side more than his playful one. The way you wrote for the few chapters of him being so uncomfortable felt like real..? I was kinda angry at her. But at the same time, Y/n notices them and slowly moves away. yet, only takes action if he starts it.

Moze was so cute in this book. Feixiao was so well too! You made sure to show contrast between Moze's care and Feixiao!

Moze always lurks in the shadows, So he was able to figure out about her being somewhat innocent. I was also glad you didn't show him as a love interest! I mean since y/n was Jiaoqiu's wife... It's a wife reader. So Thank you for that!

Feixiao tried to solve everything, yet kept an eye on you. Felt really happy that you showed how much she cares!

Yunli and Bailu were so cute with y/n!

Honestly, y/n's self deprivation was too relatable for me, I mean the way she cried and the breakdowns felt so real. Maybe I saw myself in this y/n so maybe that's why I didn't hate this one! The way Jiaoqiu/ everyone comforted her was just... Top tier.

The lines- something like- "You really are the goddess of betrayal! You betray your feelings to be useful/ trying to make others happy by giving yourself slowly.." This is entirely y/n's character.. I thought the love was gonna be so rushed, It didn't at all! You actually gave reasons on how he could have loved her before knowing how she was. Not those fics like, 'he only started to love her when he learned who she was'. He really started to care before itself. It was really....

Also Fuck Hoolay? He literally pulled a 'make you suffer down with me'

In all, Thank you! This fic was so wonderful......

Honestly thank you.

Thanking you,

Some person <3

seeing how you like- noticed a lot of things and took time to write such a... message makes me really happy.. The intent of the beheading part was the original ending.. I felt like it would make the fic so much bad and considering after 2.5 Jiaoqiu became such a comfort character for me.. Plus, this y/n grew on me!! I THINK I REALLY DID SOMETHING HUH? I MEAN YOU SAY YOU DONT LIKE FEMALE BUT MINE WAS GOOD?? YAY!!! The breakdowns was easily hard. Had to imagine a lot for those...

Chapter 1 is to scare off people from the fic, since they wont read my garbage.

Hehe the borisin one was to scare too! I really didnt like writing those but haha- my friend was crazy!

About the jiaoqiu version thanks for understanding! i thought ppl will say i made him wrong because he really seems like a serious guy when a threat comes up! thinking both ways. he can act out I loved working on Jiaoqiu’s development, too! I wanted to show how, even though he’s someone who struggles with his feelings, he starts caring for Y/n early on, without it feeling rushed or shallow. It’s not that sudden “I love you because I pity you” trope — his feelings are much deeper, rooted in respect and admiration that grow naturally over time. At least I hope I did!

SAME THOUGHTS THE REASON WHY I EVEN CHOSE HIM AS A SOFTER IN THIS IS BECAUSE OF THAT still he was cold but he didnt show his anger on her because he saw her crying. Feixiao was correct too! Shes a general and would def see if theres so many ways to save jiaoqiu from a spirit! I totally understand the frustration towards her self-deprivation. Writing that aspect of her, where she’s constantly trying to please everyone at her own expense, was painful but necessary to build her character. That line you mentioned, “You really are the goddess of betrayal…,” it was the reason even addressed her as the betrayal goddess I'm really sorry if it made you feel like understanding i get it it must be hard! but pls the entire message was not to sacrifice yourself you are you and theres ppl who love you! I really wanna thank for you this message...

Also yeah! you can make it as a playlist and send me a link once you post it! ill be happy to see...! im glad to see ppl like this...really worked my ass off

and for the songs pls dont be anonymous dm me ill answer u! heeheheh <3

[genericpuff]

more proof of Rachel responding to criticism (but it deserves its own post)

Shoutout to @loreolympusminoredits over on Instagram because they were the one that we saw pointing this out, but Rachel and her team went and edited a panel in the newest free episode right as it became free.

Original:

Edit:

So, a few things about this.

FIRST OF ALL, it's clear beyond a shadow of a doubt now that Rachel is seeing the criticism being made about the S2/3 art and its degradation. A lot of those criticisms include how overly-sexualized Persephone is (because Rachel will take any and all opportunity to draw her mamajama's as the central focal point of the shot even when it doesn't make sense) and how little floral there is compared to S1 despite her being the Goddess of Spring.

THAT BEING SAID, SECOND OF ALL, this edit still feels so incredibly low effort. It doesn't tell me that Rachel genuinely wants to do better, it tells me that she's doing this because Webtoons finally told her to shape up and do it or because the criticism finally got to her head but instead of going "hmm, maybe the points people are making are genuine?" she's going "FINE. IF YOU GUYS ARE GONNA BE DICKS ABOUT IT, I'LL REMOVE HER BOOB LINE. HAPPY NOW????" (no, because the art still looks cheap and rushed, it's still missing color along the left side of her dress/arm ffs, changing little things like her cleavage and adding some white blobs into her hair isn't getting to the spirit of these criticisms - and that's that the whole vibe of the art is gone, there's no personality or oomf that it had back in S1).

THIRD OF ALL, SHE DIDN'T EVEN EDIT OUT THE ORIGINAL PANEL LMAO YOU CAN LITERALLY COMPARE THE OLD VERSION AND THE NEW VERSION RIGHT ON THE COMIC, BECAUSE THE PANEL SHOWED UP AT THE END OF 227 AND IS SHOWN AGAIN IN THE BEGINNING OF 228. BUT SHE ONLY EDITED THE 228 ONE LMAOOO SO NOW IT'S JUST INCONSISTENT 🤣 it's like Rachel thinks she's "winning" for doing the bare minimum but she's creating even more little art inconsistencies and problems. It gives me the impression she only changed the panel because it was about to become free to read and she wants the non-fast-passers to be eluded into thinking she's making 'more effort' when that 'effort' is literally just like, white blobs and the eraser tool and one redrawn line LMAO

Anyways, all that's to say, Rachel we can see you editing your panels and your efforts to do so are so bare minimum it hurts. You don't need to go back and edit old panels, you need to work on the stuff that's coming out, and that's gonna take a lot more work than just throwing in some blob flowers and erasing Persephone's boobs. You haven't addressed the oversaturated colors that make the characters look like they've been dipped in grease paint, the void backgrounds that make that oversaturation look even WORSE, the lack of watercolor texturing, lack of glow, anatomical problems, overuse of lineart, character model inconsistencies between panels, lack of shape language, and lack of overall visual appeal that's definitely being lost due to an over-reliance on assistants to pull the weight of drawing the comic and lack of proper direction/training to get everyone on the same page.

Go back and read your own comic for once, Rachel. Do some studies on what used to be good about your art. Get your assistants on the same wavelength. Make an actual effort. Because there are currently SHITLOADS of salty unpaid Internet randos online drawing circles around you and understanding your techniques better than you do these days.

And as one of those salty unpaid Internet randos, here you go:

[grimm-the-tiger]

My FL main went through some really weird, organic development over the...oh god, I think it's been five years since I started playing now.

So my main is named Skadi Larkin. They are a little bastard. They started out extremely 2D; I named them after my favorite Norse goddess and the protagonist of the book I was reading at the time. I originally wanted to make them female like both of their namesakes, but the second I saw the third-gender option, I thought it was too good to pass up. This is where they got their primary base characterization as a mad scientist who wanted to Cause Problems.

Then I started the Nemesis ambition and forgot which option I'd chosen for who I was trying to avenge, so they lost both their lover and their older brother under tragic circumstances (only the lover was killed by Nemesis's antagonist, though).

Then I got an Exceptional Friendship and had to give my tragic backstory in order to gain entry to the House of Chimes. Skadi pulled said tragic backstory (orphaned in a hansom accident) more or less out of their ass, but it did establish that their parents are dead.

Somewhere down the line, I realized that technically Skadi is a linguist, since the Correspondence is a language, and I made that their profession on the Surface as well.

Around this time, I started working on character designs for my fan comic. I got really into messing around with skin tone, and somewhere along the line thought it would be fun to draw Skadi (who was originally white) with darker skin, and it stuck.

Then I abruptly realized I was taking a lot of options that increased my Melancholy, and almost all of them were based on the Surface. So now Skadi has a longing for the Surface.

I left the game for a few years, but somewhere during this stretch of time, and I don't know how this happened, but I decided Skadi was now Native American; specifically, Metis. I changed their design to incorporate a sash woven in a style characteristic of the Metis, which also added a bit of color to their design (which was mostly black or grey at this point).

During this time, I started incorporating Skadi into my fan comic. This would eventually lead me to actually flesh out their backstory in greater detail. When I started playing the game again, I also created my first alt by total accident (long story), and I decided to weave her backstory with Skadi's.

So Skadi is in the interesting position of being an Indigenous person who is what we'd probably consider Two-Spirit today but they'd just call "Bollocks to that gender crap". They never belonged on the Surface, since the Metis are in a bit of a liminal space compared to other tribes due to their interesting background (the Metis are the descendants of French settlers and Indigenous inhabitants, mostly Cree), and Skadi exists in a liminal space within that liminal space due to only being half-Metis and raised primarily in white culture, although they still maintained a connection to it through their late mother. They also never belonged because no one else on the Surface outside of the communities they already felt isolated from would ever accept them for their gender. London gave them a chance to express one of those, but not both, and despite knowing that the Surface hates them just for existing, they still long to return.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Adventure: Bright as the Night when the Goddess Does Smile

Life in the coastal village of Caromyr has been odd of late, with folk reporting sightings of odd creatures out in the hinterlands, strangers on the roads, and vivid dreams that seem to carry on into their waking hours. As the party end up drawn further and further into these uncanny happenings, they creep ever closer to the step that will take them from their sleepy ocean home and to the shore of a vaster, more wonderous sea than they could ever have imagined.

Hooks:

Though it will be a while before they discover it, the oddness in Caromyr is caused by the activated of a long forgotten astral portal out in the countryside. Opened by a group of extraterrestrial travlers on a mission and never properly closed, this portal is leaking alien entities and living dreams out into the unsuspecting countryside, and will continue to do so until someone with extraplanear knowledge manages to put it right.

Always a place of superstition and rumour, something’s taken up residence in the seacave a few miles down the shore. Its sneaking into town to collect people’s dreams and then letting them play out in the cave, inadvertently tempting people to investigate with the voices of friends and long lost family. One of the kids who pick over the shoreline’s gone missing after their gang of friends dared them to check it out, and are now quietly terrified now that they haven’t returned after the tide’s gone in and out.

With all these happenings about and the beats prowling at night, the party are asked to help with a supply run out to the local lighthouse, more than a day’s journey outside of town. When their camp is ambushed on the way to their destination, the party are saved by the old elven lighthouse keeper Altierien wielding a blade made of starlight. Far more than he first seems, the withered old figure will offer to explain once they’ve made it back to his tower, as he thinks he has an idea what’s behind all the recent mishaps.

Bright as the Night is a great setup/starter adventure when you want to tease the wonders of the astral expanse without jumping straight into spelljamming misadventures, giving your party a base of understanding in a more mundane reality before exploring the wonders of the cosmos. I highly encourage you to give the party a surfeit of seaside adventures before setting them take off into wildspace. Plus, giving the party a reason to give their characters backgrounds in sailing and other nautical skills will make for an easy transition when they find a star-ship of their own.

Background: Long before he ever came to Caromyr, Altierien was part of a band of immortals that marauded from world to world, caught up in an endless cycle of need and violence where time was only counted in the scars he dealt and collected. That was until he was cast into the void during a great battle, floating through the timeless reaches until his mind and body were among the swirling stars.  It was an encounter with the goddess Urania that brought him back to himself, not just his waking self but the person he was before effortless immortality took their awful toll upon his spirit. He dedicated himself to the bright maiden in that moment, and has spent his life since in quiet contemplation, studying the heavens and ensuring others can find their way home.

The travellers that opened the portal? Altierien’s old clanmates, intent on discovering a vital piece of information their old commander once held they now scour the landscape for him, slowly closing in as they realize that they’re tracking an old man, not the bloodthirsty warrior they previously knew.

It’s up to the party to decide whether they want to get involved or whether they’d leave the lighthouse keeper to his fate. He’s honest with the fact that though he’s on a new path, that doesn’t blot out the bad he’s done, so perhaps it’s some kind of justice that his past actually catches up with him. The party may just have this choice made for them when the small band of marauders roll into town with the intent of holding some innocents at knifepoint till they give up Altierien’s location.

Should the heroes end up siding with the old elf, they’ll earn themselves one hell of a mentor... a bit stiff in his old age but weighed down with lifetimes of experience as a sellsword and an equal skill with the blade. Of special interest is Altierien’s dedication to the goddess of stars, years of which have allowed him to construct a series of fighting forms based on the stars and other celestial bodies. He’s willing to teach the party what he’s developed, though he is remiss about the fact that some of the more elegant moves can only be performed in the low-gravity of wildspace.

[eggsaladstain]

Have you ever took notice of the odd mural in the dining saloon. When Eyk goes to announce the change of course to the 1st class passengers, the first shot is of him with his back towards the camera and the crowd looking at him, and over their heads is this grey mural depicting what seem to be two giants (they appear to be giants to me, at least), the Earth symbol, and the vortex of water that Ling Yi witnessed. Have you any thoughts about that? It's too peculiar to not mean anything!

hi anon and thanks for the ask! here's the mural in question, on the kerberos:

and on the prometheus:

broadly speaking, this is such a great example of the level of attention to detail on this show and how everything, from the writing to the costume and set design to the creepy music and sound effects, was so meticulously crafted to breathe life into this world and give us clues for how this story would unfold.

as far as the mural itself, it’s chock full of foreshadowing and references to greek mythology, but before we dive into that, it’s worth mentioning that the mural is a relief sculpture, that is, a piece of art where the figures project outward from a flat background. this sculpted marble look of the mural ties in nicely with the opening credits which shows the characters as statues:

and statues, of course, are a physical, three-dimensional representation of a moment suspended in time, which turns out to be the twist with all the countless repeating simulations. it’s such a small detail that, combined with all these other small, subtle details, really sets the mood and tone for the rest of the show. immaculate vibes, truly.

but back to the mural, here’s a clearer image that emily beecham posted on twitter (with a bit of color correction and added sharpness):

you have the two ships, prometheus and kerberos, flanking the the triangle/earth symbol (with what looks to be parents and a child in the center) in the middle of a swirling vortex, which all foreshadow the ending where the failed simulations/ships are swept up in the vortex into the graveyard.

in each of the corners, you have a significant figure from greek mythology:

starting from the top left, there is zeus with his lightning bolt, who curses prometheus to his punishment in the top right, who is ultimately saved by hercules in the bottom left, who is depicted wrestling cerberus in the last of his 12 labors. in the bottom right is nyx, the goddess of night who is mother to hypnos (sleep), oneiros (dreams), and the moirai (the three fates), to name a few, and she is feared by zeus because she is older and more powerful than him.

and finally, you have the smaller figures scattered throughout of other people being swept into the vortex, referencing both the dead passengers from the mass suicide as well as the river styx, which dead souls must cross in order to reach the underworld. the figures in the river actually reminds me specifically of the scene in disney’s hercules and the visual is incredibly effective and striking in both cases:

i’ve mentioned a lot of doom and gloom so far but rest assured there are some glimmers of hope as well.

prometheus is ultimately freed from his eternal punishment by hercules. after completing his final task of subduing cerberus, hercules is able to atone for his crime of murdering his wife and children. nyx also gave birth to aether (brightness) and hemera (day). and i have nothing nice to say about zeus.

i really love all these references to greek mythology that were woven into the show, and in fact, the story itself plays out as a greek tragedy on multiple levels as well.

if you take the ship story at face value, you have these tragic, flawed characters who are all trying to escape their own traumas who end up dying at sea while trying to help a sister ship.

if you look at it from the simulation level, the tragedy only deepens as you have these characters who are doomed to repeat the same simulation over and over again, failing every time, unable to escape their fates. it’s only at the end that it seems like maura may have broken the cycle, but there are also plenty of clues to suggest that she has only traded one simulation for another.

and of course, if you look at it from a meta level, you have this big-budget, ambitious show that was created by an acclaimed director and screenwriter duo that was well received by critics and viewers alike and was canceled with little explanation less than two months after its release.

i will never get over this so thank you anon for giving me another excuse to talk about this show.

[baalzebubuu]

So. Why exactly do you think the head of HR would chastise and insult one of her bosses for doing something that, while risky, was the only thing that could be done at the time to keep Kronos locked away AND reawaken the Underworld? And WHY would they then treat said boss like a fool for being freaked out over her powers seemingly inverting when, 1.) her powers were working as they usually do up until spring, and 2.) there were few known precedents over what Erebos would do to those that make deals with them (i.e. as far as we can see, Hades didn't get his pre-king powers "inverted")? I understand that you have your gripes with LO (some I can even agree with), but damn, at least be fair with your critiques, and also maybe don't mock these characters for having certain bodily features that are often the focus of negative attention IRL...

(P.S. No Greek god/goddess would accept a nymph insulting them to their face like that - they've done far worse for lesser, and even indirect insults, and a nymph being the "Head of HR" in the Underworld OR Olympus realistically wouldn't save them from that wrath, ESPECIALLY if it's coming from the queens themselves; yes, I also saw your Hera post - Hera may be leery of Demeter at times, but she's far from being genuinely terrified of her (ep. 188 clearly shows this), and please remember that Persephone was in danger due to MINTHE'S jealousy over a damn tabloid photo, not Hera's (you know, the GODDESS OF MARRIAGE, who's allowed to play matchmaker if she sees chemistry between people since THAT'S ONE OF HER JOBS, and who also likely wanted to give Persephone experiences outside of the latter's sheltered life) decision to have Persephone intern in the Underworld.)

All good points! These comics are meant to be mostly skits just what the fans always wanted to say to the characters themselves so I don’t really take them seriously in terms of plot or any of that nature

Also I’m not really much for posting here on tumblr

But DW I’ll answer the best I can with some background lore I have currently in store

Originally Gunnarr was a Humble devoted loyal Mage Serving under Freya the most powerful revered goddess in the Norse Pantheon and they were sent Away under Mysterious Circumstances

And they’re placed in high regard by many connections with Justice goddesses due to their good behavior and devotion to them Which somewhat explains why they’ve gotten away with the BadMouthing certain scenes and if any god ever really does anything to HR Freya definitely won’t be too happy about it and would cause a whole dispute between pantheon

As for Getting away with badmouthing with Hades and Keeping him on his Toes HR and Hades have a very long history working for him for up to thousand or so years

HR and Hades Essentially had a relationship just like Bojack Horseman and Princess Carolyn

And HR essentially is completely done with his Foolishness and 99% of The Olympus Family

To the point of calling them out at with whatever legal problems the gods will cause as even if they DIE being called out HR gonna die knowing he was right and essentially their point proved

they don’t really care if they Die by Their hands

( till they eventually became nicer Because of their poly relationship)

As for the part about Persephone reaching That Tower because of Minthe

I was Planning on making a comic about it soon where HR talks to Minthe and gives her consequences but I never really had that much planning how to execute it right

As for how i usually draw Persephone I was mostly following along to how other creators were doing things, not much thought put into it

However that I will apologize for since i do admit they are in bad taste

Let me know if I’m missing a part that I forgot to explain

Edit: Also i am very sorry this post was poorly written I suck at explanations

And it’s the morning by the time I made this post and I’m heading to work atm

I very much apologize for this lackluster explanation

[kchasm]

Ryu Number Chart Update: Darksiders

Here's a potential puzzler for you. Is Death death? (Stick with me for a moment here, okay?)

For some context, in the Darksiders franchise, Death—one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—is a major character. Most media where the Horsemen are a Thing tend to have Death (the horsemen) be the same character as the general personification of death, just specifically doing the Horseman thing at the moment. Good Omens goes with this interpretation, if I remember Good Omens right, which I very much might not. It's been a while.

In Darksiders, however, the Four Horsemen are, uh, cosmologically complicated. Specifically, they're Nephilim—fusions of demons and angels yes I know that's not what nephilim are supposed to be I didn't make this game—who rebelled against the Charred Council (a mysterious body who nebulously keep the balance somehow; it's really not clear) and were in turn eradicated by the only four nephilim who sided with the Council. These four became the Horsemen, and were subsequently sent out as the Council's underlings whenever a Real Big Issue required that sort of response. In the four games in the Darksiders series, there's approximately one line that could maybe with some creativity and also if you looked at it sideways be interpreted as the Horseman Death being also Death in general, but... Nah, I dunno, man.

Anyway, that's why "Death/Grim Reaper" and "Death (Horseman)" now have their own respective points in The Chart. Don't at me.

Not being able to use the Grim Reaper skin from Minecraft to hop between Ryu and whichever Darksiders character you want is a bummer, admittedly.

Luckily, Lilith is a Marvel character.

(That's her in the background. That's her at the bar. Side. Losing her religion.)

Funny thing—Usiel (often seen spelled "Uziel" or "Uzziel") is usually depicted as either a fallen angel, or a demon. There are a few sources that put him on the side of being a good'un, though, so this portrayal is cromulent enough. I mean, as cromulent as anything from Darksiders can be in relation to varying and contradictory Judeo-Christian tradition.

(Per game lore, a bunch of pseudo-Celtic-Norsey Old Ones are hanging out in a side dimension or something. I dunno, man. Darksiders II was weird.)

Lilith appears in Darksiders II and Darksiders III, which is nice if you're trying to reach a character from Darksiders II and Darksiders III, but less so if you're working with the original Darksiders or Darksiders Genesis.

That's alright, though. Turns out the Four Horsemen are up and summonable in Scribblenauts Unlimited:

... Y'know, I really do think there ought to be a quicker path to Azrael that exists somewhere in the Wide Wide World Of Video Games, but if there is, it's not on The Chart at the moment, so it doesn't exist. Don't at me.

Or actually, do at me. Then I can put that game on The Chart, too, if it doesn't give my arbitrary taxonomy a tummyache.

Incidentally, because I read up on angels a whole lot going through these games and if I can't Show My Work on my own blog where else am I gonna do it: Here's a Thing.

"Now, hold on a tick," I hear you say. "What are Moloch, Astarte, and Dagon doing in this game as Lucifer's mooks? Astarte wasn't a demon; she was a goddess in Ancient Near East religion, sometimes considered the equivalent of Ishtar! And Dagon wasn't a demon; he was an ancient Syrian god of prosperity! And Moloch... well, actually, nowadays people don't think Moloch was even a Thing, but he was traditionally interpreted to be a Canaanite god associated with child sacrifice! Excuse the pun, but what the Hell's going on?"

You might assume that some Final-Fantasy-style hinkiness is afoot—that the creators of Darksiders Genesis named their characters after mythological figures that are thematically similar but ultimately unrelated (go on, try to convince me that any incarnation of Final Fantasy's Leviathan is the same one from the Book of Job) (Please do not actually do this)—but it turns out we can heap the blame on one dude in particular: John Milton.

That's right, it's all Paradise Lost's fault. Turns out that according to Miltonic lore, Moloch, Astarte, and Dagon were originally angels, but then joined with Satan in his rebellion, fell, and subsequently played as gods to deceive mankind. Now, is it a little iffy that Milton took a bunch of non-Christian deities and went "yeah, these were demons all along"?

Most def. He was following in well-established Christian tradition, though. Ba'al-Zebub was a deity of the Philistines, while Belphegor comes from the deity worshipped by Moabites at the mountain peak of Peor, biblically referred to as "Ba'al-pe'or." Astaroth is another one that comes from Astarte. And of course, the less said about Baphomet, the better.

All of this is a long-winded way of saying that no, I'm not counting this Dagon as the Syrian one. Or the Lovecraftian one, for that matter.

Don't at me.