#hometeam is something my SO and I say a lot

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

Trump has so many charges against him that he's almost certainly going to be convicted of something. Not everything, probably not even a majority, but something. He knows he won't get unanimous acquittals across the board, so his only hope will be to slip loyalists onto some of the juries to hang them. A mistrial means months or years of delays as prosecution works each case through the system all over again.

In New York, he'd be retried over and over until a unanimous verdict is reached, guilty or not guilty, however long that takes, and every state level Republican candidate from now on will campaign on promises to drop the charges or pardon him or help him in some way, shape, or form.

In Georgia (he hasn't been indicted yet, but it's coming), he's going to be pardoned almost immediately. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets pardoned before it even goes to trial. Yeah, the governor refused to find 11,000 votes for him, but he's still a Republican and trump is still the leader of his party. If he didn't pardon trump, he would be crucified by his voters and shamed out of office, and his successor would pardon him instead. If he stood his ground and couldn't be bullied into resigning, then just as in New York every Republican candidate would run on the pardon promise platform. Trump will NEVER face justice in Georgia.

In the federal case in Florida, a mistrial means the judge, a trump appointee, could drop the charges and prevent the DOJ from retrying it. Best case scenario, it would get delayed into 2025 or 2026 and a different judge in the southern district of Florida will be randomly assigned to it, but that's assuming Biden wins re-election in 2024. If trump wins, he'd immediately pardon himself, or invoke the 25th to have his loyalist VP pardon him to avoid a Supreme Court decision on a self-pardon's validity. If Biden wins, the 2028 Republican candidates will all run on promises to pardon him, so he'll be out of prison the second the White House goes red. I don't trust Democrats to hold the line long enough for him to die in prison.

The federal case in Washington, DC looks open and shut, the best chance for a conviction. Trump only has four appointees in that district, so the odds of him getting off on a retrial in case of a hung jury are 4 in 13, 30.77% (4/15, 26.67% if Biden can fill the two remaining vacancies). Again, all this does is kick the can down the road until 2025 or 2026. He will walk free whenever the Republicans take back power.

The only way donald trump faces long term consequences for his crimes is if New York stays solid blue for the rest of his life, something like the next 15 or 20 years. The federal charges will disappear the second one of his allies gets elected president; I don't think the party would nominate him for a fourth time in 2028 if he loses 2024 for them, so it's looking like it's gonna be ron desantis vs Kamala Harris (God help us all). Then again, who knows? A lot can happen in the next 5 years, so maybe some nobody will be frontrunner by then and desantis will have slinked away into post-gubernatorial obscurity like Jeb and Charlie Crist. Whoever trump endorses will be the nominee, so whoever strokes his ego the hardest will have hometeam advantage. My money says it'll be some blonde woman or a lightskinned black guy for diversity points (whoever it is, they'll be even farther right than trump himself)

[imaginesteverogerss]

It's too early for Steve to be sure, his daughter is only 3 days old, but it looks like she may have inherited a few drops of her daddy's serum.

He wasn’t sure if it’dhappen.  He knew so much about the serumand yet, so little.  Maria assured himthat no matter what, they’d face it shoulder-to-shoulder.  Hometeam,handsome, she’d smiled.   

Their daughter was beautiful.  Steve wasn’t sure he was being biased.  Arianna had beautiful brown hair (a lot, fora baby, to hear the nurses tell it) and big, bright blue eyes.  

By the time they left thehospital, her umbilical cord stump had healed up and fallen off.  And she was eating.  She was eating.  Maria was subbing in formula when shecouldn’t breastfeed, Ari was eating so much.

“You know,” Maria’s voicewas soft and low and creased with exhaustion, “I think you passed along some ofyour serum.”

“You –do you – I mean-“

Her hand against his cheststopped his stuttering.  “It’s ok.  We knew this would be a possibility.  We’ll be ok. She’s just gonna need more food and hit her milestones sooner.  Probably. We’ll have to see.” 

“Yeah.”

He could hear the smile inher voice when she continued.  “And herparents are kickass.  So she’s gotherself a pretty great support system if things do get difficult.”

Steve pulled Maria closer–carefully, she was still healing and he was nervous about making a wrong moveeven if she insisted he wouldn’t hurt her- and kissed her forehead.  “And we’ve got you to keep us both grounded.” 

“Mmm.  –An’ I’ve got you.” She was already droppingoff to sleep again, snuggled up against him and warm.  “And you’ll get up with her in the night whenI can’t.  Super Serum Sleepless Buddies.”

Steve let out a breath ofa laugh.  “Yeah, sweetheart.  I will.”

[salavante]

For the character ask thingy, Ganzrig!

Someone’s popular! 

Full Name: Ganzrig Khalgar

Gender and Sexuality: Female and to be honest, haven’t decided if she’s bi or a lesbian, she seems to heavily lean to women in any case.

Pronouns: she/her

Ethnicity/Species: Steppe Orc or “Red Orc” as they call her in Godslaughter. They’re orcs based loosely on red river hogs, and can have more or thicker body hair, different colors of skin ranging from gold to dark reddish orange, depending on where they are from and how much human has been mixed in with them. Humans mix pretty freely with all the other races on Ismes, and most people probably have a human or two back in their family tree somewhere. I always thought it was really weird that most fantasy worlds are divided racially rather than nationally, so, all of the nations on Ismes (Ors, Umbra and Aurelia) are multiethnic, with Ors being the most varied, then Umbra, then Aurelia. Ors is a placeholder name and if I figure out something better, I’ll probably rename it.

Birthplace and Birthdate: I generally don’t keep track of birthdates for settings that would have different calendar systems, honestly. But Ganzrig was born on the world of Ismes in the northeastern part of the map, in the steppes of the nation of Ors, which is a collection of nomadic societies with a pretty wide roaming area. On the day she was born, her family hit an opal mine on their otherwise fallow property, making them wildly rich practically overnight. On Ismes, opal is a multicolored, iridescent ore that can be made malleable with heat and is very good at absorbing magic, making it ideal enchanting material. It is probably the rarest and most valuable material in the world. The Khalgars are set for several generations down, or when the ore is all mined out.

Guilty Pleasures: Ganzrig is a big old hedonist and has the usual set of wine, women and song type preferences, and when she dresses up does so very gaudily with lots of bright colors and opulent jewelry. Drinks and eats like an absolute monster. Unlike August, she fucks with technology even if she didn’t understand it (she went through a lot of cellphones because she’d get mad at it and throw it out a window or something). Likes makeup a lot! The red/white/grey markings on her face are all facepaint, and in the offseason, would probably have done some crazy stuff with eyeliner/eyeshadow/etc. 

Phobias: This is kind of sad, but Ganzrig was genuinely afraid to die. She kind of lived through her life planning to be immortal until otherwise notified. At her death, she was shocked and terrified. While she wasn’t afraid of him, August also made Ganzrig very uncomfortable, because while they are in close proximity to one another, their passive abilities kind of cancel out and she didn’t like feeling like a normal, vulnerable person.

What They Would Be Famous For: On Ismes, Ganzrig is famous for being a sort of folk hero, as she just kind of roamed the countryside getting into fights (that she always won) and being an all-purpose adventurer. On the Hunt, her charisma, brutality and showmanship won her a lot of points, and she quickly became a fan favorite. Generally speaking, the public at large and the other more rough and tumble members of The Hunt preferred Ganzrig to August.

What They Would Get Arrested For: Everything tends to go well for Ganzrig, so she kind of ignores most laws and rules in general. So, pretty much anything. Starting fights, taking things that don’t belong to her, etc. It all works out in the end, as far as she’s concerned.

OC You Ship Them With: No one to be honest, haven’t really found a character she clicks with, and I’m content to leave it at that. Not all my characters need a romantic partner. 

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: In-game, Ganzrig was ultimately killed by a very potent soothsayer named Hawkmoth, who’s predictions allowed him to cancel out her divinely good luck. He stabbed her in the chest in the hometeam’s war balloon when Ganzrig and Iona infiltrated it to take back August (who had defected) by force.

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Ganzrig probably has a perfectly adequate level of literacy (once the Khalgars were on the trade map and had money, they made sure all the kids learned how to read and write and speak at least one other language) but not one that makes her enjoy reading. In movies, Ganzrig probably likes anything particularly irreverent, humorous or trashy. She’ll laugh at very crass humor but would probably enjoy most comedies as long as they don’t get too high brow. One of my few characters that’d I’d say probably enjoys Romcoms just for the schadenfreude.

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Definitely does not enjoy anything too serious or somber in tone. She likes to be entertained by her media.

Talents and/or Powers: Ganzrig carries a one-handed axe and an ornate miquelet lock rifle with an ivory handle. She can, however, improvise with pretty much anything, whether it’s a weapon, object or throwable person. However her most meaningful trait is Fortune’s Favor, the compliment to August’s passive ability Miasma of Misfortune, which gives her preternaturally good luck. Everything sorts itself out in her favor. If she’s hungry, she’ll find food. If she needs somewhere to stay or a way to travel, that will come to her in its own way too. Naturally, most of her hits land, and most things do not hit her. She abuses this power for spectacle quite often, in and out of combat.

Why Someone Might Love Them: She’s charismatic! Ganzrig absolutely oozes confidence, charm and attitude, and like-minded people find themselves very enthralled by her. Always an extrovert, Ganzrig is the life of any party, and is more than willing to entertain everyone around her with her antics. She has a few party tricks that she pulls thanks to her powers, like asking people to throw hatchets or other dangerous objects at her while she drinks a stein of beer, and then dodging all of them while not spilling a drop. There is a glamorous, larger than life quality to her that is intoxicating.

Why Someone Might Hate Them: People who aren’t as extroverted or are physically weaker than Ganzrig will easily find that she is kind of a bully, and will push people around to get what she wants. She is prone to mocking others and punching down when harassing people for sport, and does not tolerate people talking shit or otherwise lurking around plotting to try to take her down a peg. She’s quick to anger and violence, and will knock someone’s lights out for relatively small trespasses. Ganzrig has a lot of privilege that she doesn’t fully comprehend, which blinds her to the plight of others who have not had the same opportunities as her. She’s kind of a shallow person.

How They Change: In Kismet Ganzrig will have to deal with who she is without her luck on all the time, how much it defines her, and how it has shaped how she interacts with the people around her. In the tabletop game, Ganzrig herself didn’t change, but the guy who killed her kind of slowly realized that perhaps he didn’t have to, and that while she was not good, she was perhaps not as bad as he had been led to believe. At the end of the game, Hawkmoth will be accompanying August back to Ismes to bring Ganzrig’s ashes back to her family, where I’ll get to introduce Ganzrig’s two sisters, Kuirik and Dodi.

Why You Love Them: Sometimes, it’s fun to have a character who’s just kind of mean. Ganzrig is a very pure spirit who I can with confidence say is one of my few truly neutral characters. She has undeniable charm, which made her one of my favorite background characters in our game, even if she died like halfway through it. I liked her enough to decide to make her and August’s frenemy-ship one of the core relationships in Kismet. I think she makes a really awesome foil to him, I think they could learn a lot from each other.

[salavante]

for the OC tag thing: the Helmsman!

Cat’s out the bag so here’s The Helmsman featured with his real name! 

Full Name: Yawg-Ecthylion, The Helmsman, God of The Void

Gender and Sexuality: Male and eh I dunno, I’ve never thought about it, but his two romantic entanglements have been with women.

Pronouns: He/Him but I don’t think he’d turn his nose up at they/them, I think he sees himself as existing outside of human constructs of that kind of thing. He’s not really even organic.

Ethnicity/Species: Threnghelleon Deity

Birthplace and Birthdate: Hah ok, here’s a funfact that I’ll probably talk about later in something specifically about them, and that I think I talked about with Ethem-Cailo. All of the OG Threnghelleon gods were made by Jovix-Diocunigast’s experiences. There was awhile where whenever Dio had a new thought or action, a new god would spin into being. The Helmsman was created when Dio first conceptualized ‘nothingness’. I think there’s a little more to it than that, but that ball might be in my Co-DM’s court.

Guilty Pleasures: The Helmsman is cruel, bitter and sadistic, and enjoys inflicting pain on things. I think one can extract a lot from that alone. Before the hunt, he had spent most of his several millennia long life almost completely isolated, hunting eldritch abominations at the bottom of Threnghelleon’s icy ocean, which has informed a lot of his decision making in how he fights and sees his opponents. Wearing down large enemies slowly, making use of what’s left of the carcass - that’s The Helmsman’s game. Which is really a roundabout way of saying that he basically tortures his opponents and then takes trophies or makes scrimshaws, leather-working pieces, etc out of the dead gods and mortals that he faces on The Hunt. He likes to step on toes and rattle cages to get reactions out of people. Negative attention is better than no attention, and it’s certainly made him a fan favorite among Threnghelleon’s edgier viewers. I say this as a guilty pleasure because he is not incapable of guilt, and before the hunt, was a fairly honorable, lawful God, if not still violent and creepy. In rare moments of reflection, he wonders how he fell so far, but usually doubles down afterwards. The public and the rest of the pantheon saw him a certain light that gained him attention, and he, starved for any kind of connection to others, leaned heavily into it. He has allowed other people’s perceptions and opinions of him to shape his identity and sense of personhood, which I think is rather tragic, but he likes making belts out of human hair so...

Phobias: It’s hard for me to say what The Helmsman is afraid of because most of his worst fears have come to pass and have made him the bastard coated bastard we know today. Being alone, being forgotten countless times, having his expertise and hard work taken advantage of. Paranoia aimed at Jovix-Diocunigast has turned out to be entirely accurate - Dio felt threatened by how much attention that The Helmsman was getting for defending the realm and killing giant monsters, so Dio effectively cursed him so that no one could remember his name. People began calling him Yawg-Ecthylion less and less, and The Helmsman more and more. Ethem-Awnrah, Goddess of Memory, is the only one who remembered his real name.

What They Would Be Famous For: The Helmsman played pretty much right into Dio’s ploy and turned into a craven, vile weirdo, and the media circus that broadcasts The Hunt loves him for it.

What They Would Get Arrested For: Murder and turning corpses into crafts.

OC You Ship Them With: The Helmsman has had two canonical spouses which have both produced children. His first wife was mortal, a deep-sea marine biologist named Svea who came upon his ship, The Susurrant Phantasm, in her own submarine while researching the fauna surrounding the Mouth of Yawg, Threnghelleon’s entrance into the void/ether/unknown/whatever you’d like to call it. Their union produced The Helmsman’s demigod daughter Yawg-Enyion, who would later take up his mantle of defending the realm with her warfleet while The Helmsman was on The Hunt. However, between her inability to remember his name, and being torn between her own life and her duty as the wife of a deity, the two of them split. Enyion reminds The Helmsman of his ex-wife a bit too much for comfort, and the two of them have a very strained, complicated relationship.

The next one is a little bit of a doozy.

Yawg-Ecthylion and Ethem-Awnrah always kind of had eyes for each other, and were courting before he lost his name and was soft-shunned by the rest of the pantheon. This, naturally, disrupted all of that, and they would not reconnect until The Hunt occurred. In the time between The Circle going on The Hunt and The Helmsman slowly deteriorating into a monstrous douchebag, he and Awnrah clicked again and produced a son: Veth-Rawn, the mysterious god of Psychics. But Sal, you say, in that writeup you made a thousand years ago, didn’t you say that Veth-Rawn had uncertain parentage? Well, that is because The Helmsman being a nasty ass murderous bastard made The Goddess of Memory so incensed that she accidentally wiped all of the universe’s memory of their time together in a fit of passionate rage. This, unfortunately, included Veth-Rawn, leaving the God of Psychics mentally shattered, and forced to grow up utterly alienated by his would-be family, who didn’t know who he was or why he was there. It is only really recently that this came to light, and was one of my endgame plot twists.

If the team beats Dio, The Helmsman will go back to Threnghelleon with his comatose son to heal him and try to make things right with his daughter, Enyion. Awnrah is staying with the hometeam and the other defectors from The Hunt - Geeg, Derog and Wybjorn. I’ll probably touch on her sometime on her own, I’m quite fond of her, and she’s a Good Guy now so she’ll be featuring in post-Godslaughter campaigns.

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Either Jonquil (his hometeam rival for the game), Jovix-Diocunigast or Jovix-Cailo. Jonquil spent the better part of the game trying to learn how to shove his soul into a diamond and hurl it into space. Jovix-Cailo has hated him for a very long time and enjoyed tormenting him as soon as he got a power bump. And Dio would just turn him into a smear for defecting. Awnrah could also utterly annihilate him if she wasn’t such a decent person, she could crack his psyche open like an egg.  

This is where the book/movie section usually goes but I’ll be real with you, I don’t think The Helmsman bothers with either. I think he sees most things of human invention as being kind of beneath him. But he especially hates most artistic interpretations of himself, and has very seldom happened upon one that he feels gives him due diligence.

Talents and/or Powers: The Helmsman honestly has a build that I would LOVE to use as a player character. It hinges largely on stacking DOTs (Damage Over Time) and status afflictions, making him able to whittle down opponents with large health pools as well as get a trickle of HP back to himself. His whaling hooks are called Black Tongue and North Star, and they give him some pretty impressive reach, and the ability to swing large, heavy objects around. He also has a few abilities such as “Where Strides The Behemoth” that gives him heavier damage output when he’s facing an enemy larger than him, and “Like Water”, where he effectively ignore gravity and can move freely through space. His very large peepers are usually squinting, as he is not really accustomed to full light, but in darkness, they open all the way into horrible, near perfect circles. Really, out of all of the Threnghelleon gods, The Helmsman is the most biologically compatible with his environment.

Why Someone Might Love Them: The Helmsman has a very primal, intense quality that I think a certain kind of person could find attractive. For many years, he did a very dirty, thankless job that benefitted all mankind and the pantheon, which is perfectly respectable. He’s fairly witty and is good at banter, and is handy in a fight, a couple of traits that Threnghelleon folk appreciate. I also think his more tragic qualities attract a level of pity that could entice someone to desire becoming closer to him. I dunno, he has magic eyes that see in the dark, some people dig that.

Why Someone Might Hate Them: He stalks/murders/tortures indiscriminately and treats corpses of pretty much anything like someone would treat the corpse of an animal. He does not see the distinction between humanoid person and animal/monster and considers it all free game. He’s mouthy, impatient, cruel and sadistic and has set aflame 10,000 worlds. What’s not to hate.

How They Change: The Helmsman’s arc in the game was the slow-dawning horror of the fact that pretty much all of his current murderous identity has been spoon-fed to him by other people, and he just kind of went along with it because he was weak-willed and desperate for attention. This troubles him pretty deeply and makes him lose his hutzpah towards the end of the game. He does end up defecting from the Hunt to the hometeam to help take down Diocunigast, the guy who cursed him and started his downhill slope. But I really hesitate to say that he’s a Good Guy. He doesn’t feel all that bad about all the people he’s tortured/killed/made into fanny packs, at least not to the degree he should. The Helmsman will still go about his nasty ways when he’s back on Threnghelleon, but will be more judicious about who he kills and how. He’s also resolved to try and repair his relationship with his daughter Enyion, and hopefully heal Veth-Rawn. He has no intention, however, to try and re-initiate a romantic relationship with Ethem-Awnrah, though he still kinda loves her. He knows he FUBAR’d that one.

Why You Love Them: I enjoy villains! His ferocity is cathartic and entertaining and challenging to to the PCs. I genuinely wasn’t sure if he was going to be alive or not by the end of our game. Sometimes it’s fun to just have a downright fucker in the mix. I also like his design, which while not THE most inspired, is a lot of fun to draw. The Helmsman was the first of the Gods that I designed, with Ethem-Cailo being second. Also an internet stranger said he was hot once.