#mysterious ocean phenomena

[archivist-crow]

On this day:

MARINE MODULATIONS

On February 20, 1803, scientist Alexander von Humboldt and his expedition were onboard ship near the equator when the sound of beating drums filled the air. As recorded in Nature magazine, May 19, 1870:

“On the 20th of February, 1803, toward seven in the evening, the whole crew were astounded by an extraordinary noise, which resembled that of drums beating in the air. It was at first attributed to the breakers. Speedily it was heard in the vessel, and especially toward the poop. It was like a boiling, the noise of the air which escapes from fluid in a state of ebullition. They then began to fear that there was some leak in the vessel. It was heard unceasingly in all parts of the vessel, and finally, about nine oclock it ceased altogether.”

No reasonable explanation was ever discovered for this phenomenon, although it was similar to the "Grey Town Noises" heard off the Atlantic coast near Trinidad.

These noises had been reported as a "peculiar metallic vibratory sound...musical…with a certain cadence, and a one-two-three time tendency of beat," and it was stated that they could only be heard in iron ships and not in wooden ones. The famous novelist Charles Kingsley wrote that the sound was "like a locomotive in the distance rattling as it blows off steam." Kingsley said that it could be heard in wooden ships as well as iron ones.

Text from: Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible, and the Ignored by Juanita Rose Violins, published by Weiser Books, 2009

[markethighs]

Title: Unexplained Mysteries: Exploring Earth's Biggest Enigmas (Part 1 & 2)

Description:  Have you ever heard of the Bermuda Triangle or the Nazca Lines? Our planet is full of unsolved mysteries that baffle scientists and explorers. This 2-part series dives into some of these enigmas, from the depths of the ocean to the vastness of space.  Join us as we explore the unexplained and venture beyond the known!

SEO Tags: unexplained phenomena, bermuda triangle, nazca lines, voynich manuscript, the hum, extraterrestrial intelligence, SETI, ocean exploration, mysteries of earth, unsolved riddles, documentary, science

[undercurrent-if]

Undercurrent

Undercurrent is a sci-fi, mystery, surfing interactive fiction story that dives into the deepest parts of our minds. The game is rated 17+ for mature content.

Synopsis:

You return to the Cove after six years, older, quieter, and carrying a special kind of grief. Once a competitive surf prodigy, you vanished after the death of someone close to you, someone who died in these waters.

But the ocean hasn’t forgotten you. Neither has the Cove.

Now, in this small town, teetering between real and tech, strange phenomena ripple through the waters. Surfboards pulse with forgotten data. Tides shift too suddenly. Whispers drift through the mist. And your old board—silent for years—begins humming with signals that shouldn’t exist.

As you retrace old steps, you’ll uncover hidden secrets, rekindle, or avoid fractured relationships, and confront the truth of what happened the night everything changed. Someone—or something—knows you’re back. And the waves are calling for you.

Choose how you navigate the past:

Will you pursue the mystery beneath the sea, even if it means unraveling yourself?

Will you ride the tide toward truth, or let it pull you under?

Will you reconnect with the person you once loved—before they became someone else?

Because in the Cove, nothing stays buried forever. Not love. Not guilt. Not the dead.

Features:

Customize your Surfer's gender, sexuality, and more!

Romance one of four characters! Or romance the one that never made it out of the Cove.

Hone your surfing skills! Do you prefer the natural way, or will you let tech help you?

Uncover the mystery that is under the Cove.

Dynamic environment and choices!

Multiple endings!

Characters

Wren - Past friend or something more? F (22)

Wren always seemed a little too aware of things no one else noticed.

You remember Wren barefoot on the cliff’s edge, the salt spray catching in her hair, her eyes blazing with something fierce, something breakable all at once. She turned toward you, grinning like she knew a secret you hadn't earned yet, and said in a jovial voice: "One day, we’ll go so far out the waves can’t find us. Promise me you’ll come too." You never answered. You thought you had forever. "You used to be my anchor. Now you're the mystery pulling me under."

Ash Vega - M/F (29)

Runs a small surf repair and outfitting shop that's struggling to survive under the corporate tech expansions. Ash’s hands were steady even when the world wasn’t. You remember them pressing a hand over yours, guiding you to fix a cracked fin on your first board. "It’s not broken. Just needs someone who won’t give up on it." You didn’t realize until later that they weren't talking about the board at all. "You left. I stayed. Don’t expect it to be easy between us."

Kye Onari - M/F (26)

Kye came to the Cove, riding the strange waves without fear — and might know more about the ocean's changing patterns than they admit. You remember Kye laughing, reckless and wild, as they dove straight into a rip current like they could outrun death itself. "If you’re not scared, it’s not worth it." You stood frozen on the sand that day — and Kye never looked back. "You think you can keep secrets from the ocean? You're adorable."

Imani Reyes - F (30)

A researcher specializing in tech-oceanic anomalies. The first time you saw Imani, she was kneeling on the rocks, studying a tide pool like it was a portal to another world. She didn’t notice you watching until she said, softly: "Everything leaves traces if you know where to look." When your eyes met, you felt like you were the one being studied. "You make me want to believe in things I shouldn't."

Cassian "Cass" Rook - M (31)

Act like nothing matters, but every scar says otherwise. Cass stood alone by the firepit, one foot grinding lazy circles into the sand, a cigarette burning low between two fingers. He stared up at the stars — half the constellations smothered by the haze of the city beyond the cliffs — and let out a hollow laugh. "Doesn’t matter how good it feels out here. Everything good still finds a way to leave." He said it like a joke, but he didn’t smile. Neither did you. "I’m not here to be your hero. I’m barely here to save myself."

DEMO JUNE 1ST

@interact-if

[daybreakthing]

incovoidan! ⸻ a gender umbrella (which can also be used as a gender on its own) relating to all things incomprehensible, unfathomable, and dark. this gender umbrella may feel inexplicable, but may also strike morbid curiosity into those who identify with it. it encompasses genders related to the void, nothingness, space, the darkest depths of the ocean, enigmas, and strange phenomena that can't be explained! (this isn't all that it encompasses, however; those are just examples)!

incovoidan is not inherently related to horror, though genders under it may be!

terminology:

-in nature: INCOVIN

neutrality: incovoition

neutral: incovial

kid: sevoi

person: eni

adult: semat

partner: mysfriend, mystery

spouse: intrimon, phenomenon

transneu: transinco

trans person: trans eni

x4x: enigman

incovoidan gender: incodepth (in the same vein as kenochord)

etymology:

incovoidan — incomprenhensible, void, –an suffix

incovoition — incovoidan, –tion suffix

incovial — incovoidan, –ial suffix

sevoi — sea, void

eni — enigma

semat — sea, matured

mysfriend — mystery, friend

intrimon — intricate, matrimony

flag & terms by @idwl, we’re just posting for them! idwl does not consent to her creations being added to any wikipedia sites or reposted to any other social media sites!

tagging @radiomogai & @idolleindex!

[kokofishy]

“I Pressed E and Now I Regret Everything” 

(Genshin Impact Various! X reader)

TW: So far no warnings bcs its quite plain?

Description: Y/n is a classic troubled young girl with tendencies of looking to end it all, with too many hobbies and a will to live hanging by a thread! Gets transported by mysterious means into the world of Teyvat, looking for ways to survive and means to protect herself and find her way home. 

Prologue

"What is this..."

The glow of the computer in front of the girl illuminates her puzzled expression, her brow furrowed and her head slightly tilted to the side at the scene in front of her.

'This wasn't mentioned as part of the update.'

She says inwardly to herself as her character nears the strange phenomena in the game,

A black void in the shape of a diamond can be seen somewhere between the shore and the tree in Windrise; its empty texture stands out in contrast to the scenic greenery of the surrounding area.

The young girl shifts her eyes from her monitor to the digital clock placed on her bedside, '2:29 AM.' She had gotten carried away with her tasks and exploration in-game.

'Let's just get this over with for now.'

Her character stands before the "portal," and the interact button pops up like with any other object in the game.

'I don't think glitches do this…'

Out of curiosity, she gingerly presses the E key on her keyboard; nothing happens for a few seconds until the portal suddenly glows and light consumes the screen.

Talk about a flashbang in the middle of the night.

...

The soft sound of a lyre can be heard throughout the vicinity of the massive oak tree in Windrise.

Y/N's POV:

'eurgh… What the fuck just happened?'

I thought as I groggily peered my eyes open to be met with a bright blue sky with some clouds, regaining some sense of feeling of my body and its surroundings, the way my body lay against the soft ground of the meadow, blades of grass mushed and tickled my exposed skin. I sluggishly pulled myself upright. 'God, it feels like I've been hit by a truck...' My muscles felt weak, and it felt like I hadn't slept in days.

After a few seconds of staring at the ground, I lifted my head to take in the surrounding area. Where I sit, the grass is lusciously green with some wildflowers scattered around. Just ahead, I find a rocky hillside. I ignore the sluggish feeling and stiffly stand up. Turning to the left, I find a beautiful sandbar and an ocean that stretches out to the skyline.

'Beautiful...' I mutter out, slightly dazed by the scenic view in front of me, before turning to the giant-ass tree that stands in the middle of this meadow, to which a lightbulb of realization lights in my mind.

'Hold on, did I just get sucked into Teyvat?!? '

I thought as my eyes widened and my mouth gaped in mild horror and shock at the realization,

Despite the slight nervous breakdown from the reality of my situation, I gather whatever remaining pieces of my sanity I had left before deciding to venture off into a world I've never been to but know my way around. But then a grumble emerges from my stomach.

'Oh… I should look for food, I think before looking around my surroundings to scout for any possible sources of food.

And then a few feet away from me, I spot some apples on the grass below the giant tree. I slowly make my way so as not to disturb the animals nearby. Upon further inspection, as I reach closer to the tree, the sound of a lyre can be heard, its soft melody blending in and complementing the serene atmosphere of the area. 

My eyes wander to pinpoint the source of this melody, landing on what seems to be a person sitting on one of the branches of the giant tree before me. 

I suppose the person heard me making my way towards the tree and peeked from where they were sitting. 

Upon locking eyes, the kind stranger offered a smile and a wave before promptly finishing his song. 

Before jumping down from his former position to a few feet away from me, their appearance slightly puzzled me, as this stranger wore clothes a boy would wear but had a fairly feminine face with two twin braids cascading down from below their cheek to their collarbone; their bright turquoise pupils looked into my own as if they saw through my soul.

"Hi there, traveler! Haven't seen you around these parts. New to Mondstadt, I suppose?" they say with a cheeky, welcoming grin.

"I guess you can say so... I'm Y/n, pleasure meeting you."

"Venti! Pleasure meeting you too."

A somewhat audible grumble can be heard; embarrassingly enough, it was from my stomach. I could feel my cheeks warm and my lips purse in embarrassment.

"Excuse me..."

I said awkwardly.

"No problem! Here, you can have some of my apples; that'll sure fill you up."

Venti says happily as the kind bard picks a few and hands them to you.

"Erm… Thank you… If you don't mind me asking… Male or female?"

I say shyly, not sure how to exactly ask, I was going to say ma'am or sir, but I figured I might as well be direct.

"Ha? HAHAHAHHAHAHA!~"

After an awkward pause of a few seconds, the bard bursts into laughter, holding his stomach and almost rolling off the small hill.

"Eheheh... Excuse me for that bit. I'm a guy biologically speaking, but I never really pay attention to much of that, hehe."

The bard says as he dusts off any dirt from his garments.

"It's no problem. Apologies for the out-of-pocket question, and thank you for the apples!"

I say bashfully, before munching on the sweet, juicy apples that have been given to me minutes before,

"You are quite different from all the other travelers I've seen who stumble into Mondstadt. If you want, I can show you around, even show you some good spots to go here in the city! You should definitely try Angel's Share's dandelion wine! Mondstadt's specialty, eheh."

I take a moment to consider his kind offer and decide to take it. What harm could it do?

"Yeah, sure, that'd be great." 

Authors note: Yall help me, if yall have any suggestion feel free to comment down below teehee

[outofangband]

Marine mammals related world building 🐋🐳💙

I was so so lucky enough to go on a whale watch (I saw basking sharks too!!!!!!) a couple months ago so I wanted to do some world building for Beleriand. I have some on Valinor here and as always I always wish to elaborate especially on some of my thoughts on Turgon, Ulmo and the appearance of whales in dreams

Note: I didn't include manatees, dugongs and others in that family as I wanted to make a separate post for them! I do headcanon that stellar's sea cows and other extinct species lived in the colder waters around Beleriand, especially near Vinyamar

Fox related world building

Polar whales are endemic to the waters south of the Helcaraxë and are the most rarely seen by the elves of Beleriand. They have a somewhat shadowed reputation with the northern Sindar and Avarin elves.

Narwhals likewise are only seen from the Helcaraxë. Records of them entered the writings of Noldor hosts who came to Beleriand, occasionally appearing in art and in nightmares. Beluga whales were seen once or twice and were named ghost whales by the host of Fingolfin.

Turgon commissioned paintings of whales he had seen upon one of the inner palace walls, as part of a tribute to Ulmo. Species of immense, mysterious whales appear in his dreams until his death. Indeed, lore about the significance of whales and dolphins in elven dreams is widespread in both Beleriand and Valinor with many attaching prophetic importance to some kinds of imagery.

Dolphins are the most common cetacean seen from the coasts of Beleriand. Common dolphins, striped dolphins, bottle nose dolphins, and false killer whales are the most commonly seen. Elves of the Falathrim as well as the Sindar of Nevrast and Avarin groups in southwestern coastal Beleriand take great joy in these sightings.

Harbor porpoises lived near the havens of Sirion and became a symbol of escape and freedom among the refugees there. They often followed the boats of Eärendil and other sailors.

There are also several species of river dolphin, likely species that do not exist in today’s world. I’ve always enjoyed the idea of at least one species living in the sanctuary of Nan Tathren, known only from the earliest songs of elves of Beleriand, with many believing them to be myths.

There is an Avarin folktale of an elf Prince or maiden coming across a beached dolphin and aiding it. In some versions the dolphin is in actuality a disguised or trapped Maia of Ulmo.

Baleen whales are rarely seen from the coast of Beleriand however several species are observed and recorded by Falathrim sailors and occasionally those staying upon Barad Nimras. Indeed there is a history of extensive records of marine mammals and their behavior in both the Havens of the Falas and upon Barad Nimras. Fin whales, common minke whales, and most rarely, grey whales have been recorded.

Stellar's sea lions, fur seals, harbor seals, and hooded seals are the most common pinnipeds in Beleriand. Monk seals often rest on the Isle of Balar and the western water of the bay. Polar seals are sometimes found in the waters near the Helcaraxë.

Walruses have been seen in the northern seas north of Losgar and the depictions of them by the Avarin that live there often appear frightening though they are not viewed as malicious.

I think selkies and other seal shapeshifters appear in Sindar and Noldorin folklore. Like the Avarin whale story, in some versions the shapeshifters are Maiar but not always.

Carvings of seals are common gifts for children. Some Falathrim children even make models of entire seal colonies from wood, rock and vegetation.

Given Ulmo’s genuine presence in Beleriand and its waters, it can be difficult to distinguish between mythology and folklore involving marine mammals and phenomena, and Ulmo’s existence. That being said, while Ulmo does manifest through marine mammals, there are differences in mythology regarding the ocean between the various coastal populations.

[i-am-the-doctor]

Not Eldritch like cthulhu but eldritch as the stained imprints you get in your eyes from staring too long. eldritch as the ability to create life. eldritch as the tune stuck in your head with no answers. eldritch as the mysterious phenomena that goes unnoticed but by few, eldritch as the strange markings at the bottom of the water, eldritch as the mysteries that lie beneath the ocean. Eldritch as the saltiness of the Gulf. Eldritch as that familiar voice you only heard once in your lifetime and heard yet again from the person you least expected. Eldritch as quotes lost and yet spoken once again. eldritch as untranslatable characters.

[thekingofwinterblog]

Was the Grand Line originally land? (CONFIRMED Theory)

So in lights on the most recent chapter, 1113, we learn that the world government's great and final plan is to flood the entire world, leaving only the red line above the sea level and drowning the rest of the world.

With this in mind, there is of course the obvious question, of wheter this was always the plan, even during the void century.

And if so, there is the question of wheter or not the original alliance succeeded, and the Grand Line as we know it is just a post apokalyptic remnant of a once, much grander landmass, not necessarily one made up completely of land, as we know that some of the kingdoms(the great kingdom itself) during the Void century WERE islands, but one where there was still a very clear land bridge across the world, beyond just the red line.

So, lets dive into this idea, and the evidence for and against.

Starting off with, the grand line is a bizarre place, and we have no actual explanation of why it exists. It cannot be the one piece equator equivelant of the equator, for as oda has confirmed, the map above is aligned so north, south, west and east are those direction on the globe, with the red line and grand line both at an angle across the world, not aligned in the four compass directions.

Then of course there are the frankly bizarre phenomena of the grand line, which though a lot has a somewhat logical explanation, there are still plenty of mysteries, such as the bizarre weather currents of the grand line, and the way the calm belt is very clearly supernatural in how it works.

Why is the start of the line so bloody strange, so much less predictable and filled with nonesense than the rest of paradise?

But lets begin dissecting the idea that the grand line is a post apokalyptic wastelands. How would the continent sinking into the sea explain the weather phenomena?

Well... Crocus claims that the reason for the grand line's being filled with abnormal magnetic fields as a result of each of the islands being very rich in minerals, which frankly speaking, doesnt really seem to be the case for the most part from what we've seen... but if you assume that them "being rich in minerals" actually refers to the idea that the core of each of the islands that survived the ancienct apokalypse were filled to the brim with strong, durable metals from the very core of the earth as the lands around was sunk beneath the waves, there might be some logic to it.

The "islands", or at least the mountains they rest on, would indeed be filled with rich minerals, and more importantly, they would be way closer to the surface and now much more "uncovered" by stone, and be just beneath the surface, and so wrecks havoc on anyone trying to use a compass.

but are there more to suggest the grand line used to be above sea level?

Yes, actually, there is.

In paradise, there are 4 megastructures that seems to defy any, and all logic for how they could possibly have been built.

The tree gates of justice.

And Impel Down.

we have no idea who built these ginormous structures, but the simple reality is that with what we know, They just dont make sense.

The Gates are so so stupidly big, that the only creatures that would match it is the big elephant of the minks, and the florian monster.

However, forget the size, the bigger problem is the foundations.

Impel Down is structured like a castle, with a very clear, tiered set of levels.

assuming it was indeed built in the middle of the ocean, from the bottom up, the only race who could possibly have done it would have been the fishmen, who from what we know would have absolutely no reason whatsoever to help the world government make it, given they were on the opposite side during the Void Century, and relations have not gotten much better since.

however... if we assume that both of these structures, the gates of justice, and Impel down, were made on land BEFORE they were submerged, the mystery of the how their construction suddenly makes way more sense.

they are stupidly big, but they were built above ground, making their construction much more logical.

if so, then at the bottom of the sea in this area, one could probably find walls, similar to the gates, connecting the 3 gates, with all 3 and the castle of impel down obviously having been part of some grand, defensive fortification, with their current use of controlling the whirlpool having little to do with their original intention.

And then of course there is how the one piece world is portrayed in Monsters.

We dont know exactly when Monsters is set, but it has to be sometime before the void century, because it was in a different age than the era of isolation that was put into place after the the mountain walls were put into place after the great war, and it cant have been during the void century itself, for it it had been, any mention of the man would have been ruthlessly wiped out by the world government, and he would most certainly not have been famous across the world.

So he lived sometime before the great conflict started.

the more interesting part about monsters though, is how the world looks. Rather than the familiar world of island based city states, We are shown a wast landscape with no sea in sight.

Now it's of course possible this story is set somewhere on the red line, or one a massive island, but there is something else to suggest that the world of old was fundamentally different than what came later.

Ryuma was recognized as the man who carried "the world's greatest warrior soul", and was famed far and wide, with the nickname suggesting a level of international fame on the same level as mihawk... except there is a bit of a problem here.

One piece's world building is built on the fact that every single island is very isolated from all the rest of the world. even if there is one world government, that a lot of states are a part of, but defacto, each island is an independent nation unto itself, except when the world government wants something from them.

News simply does not spread in this way in the one piece world. The only reason pirates such as Luffy, whitebeard and roger are famous, is because the powers that be have a wested interest in making them famous, and spread their wickedness and thus warning of their danger, but also as a justification to why they need to have the mariens around to protect people.

and yet the tales of Ryuma both in monsters and in one piece proper is a worldwide spread story, which given how old he is seems bizarre all things considered(how old his legend is, how widespread it is, how nobody except the people of Wano would have a political reason for keeping his legend alive, etc)... but if one assumes the entire world has heard of him because he literarily walked from one end of the world to the other, with only small boat trips to cross gaps in the continent of the grand line, then the idea that he would be remembered by all long, long after his death makes way more sense.

And then of course there is another, huge detail that is very easy to miss. One Piece's age of exploration just ended, relatively speaking.

The one piece world is OLD, with Alabasta's capital being 4000 years old, and the world government as an organization being 800 years old.

And yet... The world, or more speciffically the grand line was still being charted out and mapped as late as 400 years ago.

four centuries after having been created, the world government and the people of this world didnt know the rough layout of paradise, the part of the grand line where the only kingdom we know for a fact was part of the original alliance against the great kingdom was located.

That seems... insane to be perfectly honest... but it makes WAY more sense if one assumed that the Grand line used to be one, relatively well connected landmass that stretched across the world in relation to the red line.

But once that for the most part sank into the sea(most certainly as a result of the full might of the ancient weapons being unleashed on either side of the war), the world as the people of old knew it was broken, and had to be completely remapped, a process that took centuries.

This could also explain the world government's big symbol. a cross with 5 dots, one in the middle, and 4 around it.

Now the idea that this symbolizes the 4 directions of the world is not a new theory, but the dots are another question, with us having no idea what they mean.

Here's my theory.

all five represents the same thing, the alliance's big plans for a capital of the world, Mary Geoise, located on one of the spots wheree the world's two big landmasses met. the meaning as it originally was envisioned, was that no matter which direction you went, you would always end up back here at the center of the world.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Fantasy Games - And My Struggle With Them.

This might be a surprise, but I struggle with fantasy games, especially high fantasy. I come across them a lot when I’m browsing Itch.io, and after a while, they start to blur together, more so than any other genre. I understand that for many folks, games like D&D were their entry into the hobby, and making a fantasy game is often the first step a game designer makes when they try to develop their own system. But I didn’t get into ttrpgs via a traditional fantasy game, and I think that regardless of the rules that accompany the game, I don’t get very excited about games that have knights and elves and dwarves and wizards.

As you might imagine, this can sometimes make things difficult when folks ask for fantasy-related ttrpg recommendations. Fantasy is a genre that encompasses so many different styles of play and genre, from gritty dungeon crawling to super-powered adventure to sad and tragic epics. Yet, because most of those sub-genres rarely appeal to me, I haven’t looked closely at very many of the games in my Sword & Sorcery & So Much More folder, which means trudging through the items there takes a lot longer when answering fantasy-oriented asks.

That being said, I don’t want to ignore fantasy games completely; I know that so many people find joy and fun in games set in a traditional fantasy world. So I’m going to talk about a few fantasy games that are very different from each-other and have very specific goals in mind, and I encourage people who see this to re-blog with their own favourite fantasy games and tell us what makes them special.

Also - if you have a fantasy game related request, please be kind if my response isn't all that you hoped it would be!

Tacticians of Ahm, by Meatcastle Games.

Tacticians of Ahm is a tactical combat-focused tabletop roleplaying game in the corrupt3d fantasy world of Ahm.

A bit-rotten blight has appeared in the Northern Sea and from it flows the Corrupt1on, fractured light and shattered shapes sowing chaos across the realm. As Tacticians, you alone are prepared to face the darkness spreading across the lands and reunite the scattered peoples of Ahm.

Tacticians of Ahm is for players who like a really satisfying combat, inspired by games like Fire Emblem and Final Fantasy Tactics, with grid maps to help you keep track of positioning and distance. This doesn’t meant that combat is long - it’s still fast-paced, using visual indicators like color to help you assess what kinds of things you can do in play: healing, damage, and special effects. Characters have interesting abilities that they gain as they level up, so this game is also probably good for folks who like watching their characters get more and more competent. Right now Meatcastle is grinding away at the game to make it more playable, and more full of art - so getting in on it now means that you’ll get to watch it grow.

Nexalis, by Cezar Capacle.

We invite you to step aboard your enchanted vessel and set sail on the ethereal ocean known as the Nectar. Nexalis calls you on an awe-inspiring journey across a universe filled with countless uncharted islands, each teeming with unique cultures, mysteries, and magical phenomena.

Nexalis is an otherworldly realm where islands drift amidst an endless cosmic ocean of magical plasma, the Nectar. The Nectar, pulsing with vibrant, ever-shifting colors, mirrors the celestial patterns that guide adventurers on their thrilling journeys. At the heart of this sea lies the Celestial Nexus, an entrancing vortex of astral energy that births islands and renews the world in a constant cycle of creation.

Nexalis is a fantasy game, but it’s an example of setting that feels vibrant and unique from traditional fantasy games - and yet it is also highly customizable. The game comes with oracles and random tables that you’ll use to generate interesting locations and problems to deal with as your drifters move from place to place. Characters are packaged in playbooks, compact tropes that will provide players with everything they need to know on a brochure. Finally, the game uses phases, moving from one kind of storytelling to another dependant on the kind of scene you’re about to play through.

Shadow of the Demon Lord, by Schwalb Entertainment.

The End Is Just the Beginning

Sometimes the world needs heroes. But in the desperation of these last days, the world will take all those it can get: heroes, blackguards, madmen, and whoever else is willing to stand against the coming darkness. Will you fight the demons or will you burn it all down and dance among the ashes? Who will you become when the world dies? 

Shadow of the Demon Lord opens a door to an imaginary world held in the grip of a cosmic destroyer. Enter a land steeped in the chaos and madness unleashed by the end times, with whole realms overrun by howling herds of beast-men, warped spirits freed from the Underworld, and unspeakable horrors stirred awaken by the Demon Lord’s imminent arrival. 

For fans of the grim, the gory, and the gritty, the setting of Shadow of the Demon Lord is post-apocalyptic, chaotic and messy. The presentation is representative of a traditional RPG: a big book with high-end full-colour art and plenty of lore to accompany the rules. You create your character using pieces of Ancestry to help you determine your attributes, and your Profession to determine your skills. The game is based on the d20, and relies on stat modifiers to try and get you over most rolls, and a milestone-like levelling system that ensures that everyone who plays levels up at the same time.

Shadow of the Demon Lord is very clearly a vehicle for horror, so if your table is one that likes being confronted by all kinds of horrible things in a hopeless quest to save… well something of the world, then you might like this game.

Songbirds 3e, by snow.

Songbirds 3e is a tabletop roleplaying game about undeath, supernatural powers, and the blue dreams of the moon. In the game, you create a strange survivor of the world who was chosen (or cursed) by Death. Spirits aren't able to pass on to the afterlife and grow monstrous with each passing day. You know the songs to send them on. You have the abilities that help you find them. You are the canary in the coal mine.

Songbirds is full of danger. It carries with it a tried and true method of OSR world-building in that the world makes itself known in the pieces of the game that you decide to pick up - the character curses you roll for, the ways damage can hurt you, the gear you carry, and the roll tables that answer so many questions about different steps of the game. Combat is meant to be simple but also deadly, and much of the fun of the game is in discovering what’s around the corner or what’s in the treasure chest in front of you. Songbirds takes inspiration from both fantasy and sci-fi, so if you like weirdness mixed in with your dungeon-crawls, you might like this game.

Trilogy, by Ben Moxon.

Trilogy is a tabletop RPG designed for epic fantasy campaigns. Build your world at the table, create characters to explore it and let the adventure commence.

Trilogy is designed specifically for players who want to discover their world in play rather than having to consult settings guides and books of existing lore. A world that lives and grows around you, shared by everyone at the table.

The media listed that inspired Trilogy include series such as Lord of the Rings, Malazan Book of the Fallen, and the Storm-light Archives; vast and detailed worlds full of complex cultural relations and heavy with conflict. The rules are derived from the PbtA framework, which means that much of the action is going to be character-driven and character-focused. This game is least likely to have puzzles a la dungeon-crawl, but what it does have is character arcs.

Character arcs are guiding lights for players, providing them with loose archetypes that they can use to help advance their characters. Each arc comes with positive and negative qualities that you can turn to when your character is at their best or at their worst. It also has an opening moment (which helps define your character to the audience) and a series of checkpoints in the form of narrative moments that generate character growth. I think the Arcs part of Trilogy is what makes it stand out, looking at character development at a new angle, and giving players plenty of prompts to help them get from point A to point B.

Jack Kills Giants, by Andrew White.

There’s no shortage of vagabonds who take coin for killing, but Giant Slayers… they’re a special breed. The coin is unfathomably good, you’d be more or less set for life should you bring one of those colossal beasts down.However, you’re just as likely to find yourself a quick and nasty death and a pauper’s funeral.

Those who decide the reward is worth the risk form up into small companies of strangers, spreading out the risks and sharing the spoils.Brought from all walks of life, those who survive past their first kill and choose to continue on the path grow into tight-knit bands, comrades in arms fighting for gold and glory.

But you aren’t one of that pantheon of successful slayers just yet. You’re just flat broke.

JACK KILLS GIANTS is a game of giant-slaying in the Fantasy Gig-Economy written and illustrated by Andrew White, with valuable contributions from Nakade & Cosmic Orrery Games. In Jack Kills Giants you won't play hardened adventurous heroes, you'll play everyday people, forced by a need to make cash to survive to chase after giants in exchange for generous bounties.

Jack Kills Giants does away with the broad possibilities of a generic fantasy game and zooms in on one particular element that the designer is interested in - a gig economy. Giant-killing is terrifying and horribly dangerous, but life is so brutal that you decide that it’s still worth doing. The game also focuses on the ways a world that has giants in it works that makes it special - for instance, some folks make a living carving up the bodies of slain giants and distributing the fat, bones, and other pieces into products that the world can use. For lovers of thoughtful world-building and purposeful adventuring, maybe check out Jack Kills Giants.

Also...

If you found these interesting, you might also like my Non-Western Fantasy recommendation post, as well as my general fantasy tag.

[nyutasomething]

yes, our planet holds many mysteries: the ocean, the human brain, and many physical phenomena. but what i'm interested in is why samuel roukin doesn't blink when he's recording videos and how he does it?

and where is neil??

[archivist-crow]

Paranormal Casefile

Amityville Case (1975)

Controversial and sensational haunting of a house in Amityville, Long Island, New York, in the 1970s. The case has been the subject of numerous investigations, intense publicity, claims and counterclaims, lawsuits, books, and films. It has been upheld and debunked, with no resolution. It is best known as "The Amityville Horror," a term that is now a registered trademark.

Background

The house at 112 Ocean Street was the scene of a grisly multiple murder on November 13, 1974. Six members of the DeFeo family—parents, two sons, and two daughters—were found shot to death with a 35-caliber rifle. Their estimated time of death was three A.M. A third son, 23-year-old Ronald "Butch" DeFeo, was charged with the murders. DeFeo pled insanity, based on his history of drug abuse, but he was convicted of six counts of second degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

The DeFeo house sat empty until December 1975, when newlyweds George and Kathy Lutz decided to purchase it.

They were informed of the murders by a real estate agent, but the house was a bargain. The couple and Kathy's three children by a previous marriage—Daniel, nine, Christopher, seven, and Melissa, five—moved into the house on December 18. They were able to stay only 28 days.

At the insistence of a friend, the Lutzes sought to have the housed blessed and were put in contact with Father Ralph J. Pecoraro (for a long time identified by the pseudonym Father Mancuso). When Pecoraro performed the blessing, he heard a deep male voice ordering him to "Get out." He told the Lutzes to avoid a room on the second floor—the former bedroom of the murdered DeFeo sons.

The Lutzes, according to their account, were immediately subjected to horrible phenomena. Voices told them to "get out"; there were swarms of flies in the cold of winter; Kathy had nightmares about the murders; the apparition of a "demon boy" who could shape-shift into a demonic pig was seen; green slime oozed from walls; a crucifix hanging on a wall was turned upside down; Kathy's face transfigured before George into a horrid hag; mysterious noises sounded in the middle of the night; the apparition of a little girl became Melissa's playmate; unseen presences embraced Kathy; cloven hoofprints appeared in the snow outside the house; locks and doors were damaged; and so on. Their behavior and mood deteriorated. The children couldn't attend school, and George was unable to work.

The Lutzes tried to bless the house with prayer themselves, but their efforts had no effect. Finally, they were subjected to events that terrified them so badly, they knew they had to get out. The Lutzes never disclosed all the things that happened on their last terror-filled night, but among the phenomena were bangings and a menacing hooded apparition that appeared on the stairs and pointed at George. They left the house in a rush on January 14, 1976, and went to the home of Kathy's mother in Deer Park, New York. They left most of their belongings behind and sent a mover to collect them later.

Investigations

Demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren were contacted and met with the Lutzes and Father Pecoraro. They visited the house after it was vacated. On their first visit, they brought with them a television anchorman, a professor from Duke University, and the president of the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR). The Warrens determined that the phenomena fit the characteristics of a demonic possession, which the Lutzes, who knew nothing of demonology, could not have fabricated. The Warrens took numerous photographs, including one purporting to show the face of the demon boy peering out from a bedroom. Hans Holzer was another investigator.

Controversy

The Lutzes soon wondered if something wrong about the house itself might have influenced DeFeo to commit the murders. They contacted William Weber, DeFeo's attorney. Weber was already weighing book offers about the DeFeo murders, and he found the angle of a malevolent haunting to be appealing. For several hours, they discussed ideas for such a book.

The Lutzes decided not to work with Weber however. They especially did not like Weber's intention to give a share of profits to DeFeo. The Lutzes moved to San Diego, California, where they struck a deal with author Jay Anson. Anson's nonfiction account, The Amityville Horror, was published in 1977. He never visited the house, but based the book on 45 hours of taped interviews that the Lutzes provided him. The book was adapted to film in 1979.

The case became a media sensation. Anson's account was immediately controversial, and skeptics began claiming the entire haunting was a hoax. Discrepancies in Anson's story—which may have been embellished for the purposes of dramatization—were highlighted. For example, there was no snow in Amityville on the day that the cloven hoofprints were supposed to have been seen. The assertion that part of the problem was due to the house's location on a place where Shinnecock Indians had once abandoned mentally ill and dying people was refuted by Native Americans. Father Pecoraro said he did not go to the house to bless it; the Lutzes always asserted that he did. Many more points of controversy surfaced. Even the Warrens and George Lutz acknowledged that Anson's book was not entirely accurate, but attributed it to Anson’s lack of familiarity with demonology and not due to any deliberate acts on the part of George Lutz. Among the skeptics were Jerry Solfvin of the Psychical Resench Foundation, Karlis Osis and Alex Tanous of the ASPR, all of whom visited the house but conducted no investigations, opining that the phenomena were subjective, not paranormal.

For years, the case was repeatedly debunked, validated, debunked, and validated. One later skeptic was Stephen Kaplan, a self-styled vampirologist of Long Island, who wrote a book, The Amityville Conspiracy, basing his claims of hoax on inaccuracies in Anson's book. He declined to produce evidence that he stated he had in his possession. He later apologized publicly to the Warrens, admitting that he had fabricated his hoax story. Kaplan died of a heart attack shortly after publication of his book.

Lawsuits

In 1977, the Lutzes filed a lawsuit against Weber and Paul Hofman, a writer working on the story; Bernard Burton and Frederick Mars, two clairvoyants who had been to the house; and Good Housekeeping, The New York Sunday News, and the Hearst Corporation, which had published articles on the haunting. The Lutzes sought $5.4 million in damages for invasion of privacy, misappropriation of names for trade purposes, and mental distress. Weber, Hoffman, and Burton countersued for $2 million, alleging fraud and breach of contract. The Lutzes' claims against the news organizations were dropped.

The Lutzes' case went to trial in district court in Brooklyn, New York, in 1979. The judge dismissed their suit, saying that from testimony, "It appears to me that to a large extent the book is a work of fiction, relying in a large part upon the suggestions of Mr. Weber."

The couple who purchased the house from the Lutzes said nothing unusual happened to them. However, they were so annoyed by the publicity and steady stream of curiosity seekers that they sued Anson, the Lutzes, and publisher Prentice Hall for $1.1 million. They received a settlement for an unspecified smaller amount. Father Pecoraro sued the Lutzes and Prentice Hall for invasion of privacy and distortion of his involvement in the case. He received an out-of-court settlement.

Aftermath

The Lutzes stuck to their story for the rest of their lives. Their supporters have pointed out that Anson's discrepancies do not discredit what happened at the house. The Lutzes divorced in the 1980s. Kathy died of emphysema on August 17, 2004. George, who had moved to Las Vegas, died on May 8, 2006, of heart disease.

Anson died of a heart attack in 1980. He had shared copyright for the book with the Lutzes, but retained sole rights to the film. Father Pecoraro is no longer living.

The Amityville case has gone on to become a mini-industry, spawning books, films, articles, and websites, as well as endless debate.

Abridged text from The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits, Third Edition by Rosemary Ellen Guiley (Checkmark Books - 2007)

[creature-studios]

El Gran Majá is a fictional deep-sea creature conceptualized by animator Borisao Blois, known for his creative approach to storytelling through animation. Described as a colossal serpent-like entity with reddish-brown skin and sharp teeth, the creature’s eerie design is deliberately crafted to evoke the mysteries of the ocean’s depths. Blois, drawing inspiration from marine folklore and cryptic phenomena like "The Bloop," imbued El Gran Majá with characteristics that make it both fearsome and fascinating, including six luminous eyes and an undulating movement akin to a sea snake.

[oceanicxeyes]

Closed starter for: @cxncordia Pairing: Walter && Amir It was dark once more. The sun had disappeared and in its place, the moon stood silent on the sky, accompanied only by a few stars. It appeared to the cloudy. Perhaps it would rain within the next day or so. Regardless of how volatile the weather presented itself to be, Walter sat on the sandy beach, his bare feet casually digging the sand as he kept his arms wrapped tightly over his legs, knees pressed against his chest as he contemplated how quickly things had change within mere weeks. If there were any deities in a different plane, any Gods – were they mocking him now? Did his own hubris proved to be his downfall? But was it really hubris to come to the sea every now and then, to be home once more? Those thoughts met no answer – divine or not. Only the casual sound of the waves caressing the sand bore witness to Walter’s internal turmoil as a chilly breeze brushed away his hair from his face. He had been amidst the land dwellers for a century. Ever since his own kind realized that they were on the path to extinction and decided to seek protection in the deepest corners of the sea. Walter never wanted that. To just… HIDE. It was the equivalent of admitting defeat. Was there really no hope to save his home? Back in the day, they didn’t have a word to what was happening. All they believed was that humans were the harbingers of their destruction. But with more and more incursions to land – watching humans build something that they called factories and make little care of the damage they caused to nature, it was clear that the paradigm was shifting. The seas were becoming hotter. The water level was slowly rising. Nowadays, people called that phenomena global warming. Humans in their pride and greed and need to evolve, had destroyed what had been there for longer than any of them dared to contemplate. And for a century, he had been careful. Walter had learned from humans how to behave and how to be one of them. The goal was easy – find some way – any way - to prevent the extinction of his kind. To save the oceans which were also the birth of life. And he had been so careful… for a century, he had successfully remained hidden and invisible to other beings of the night. Walter had heard about them: vampires and werewolves and witches and the likes. He wanted no part on their issues. He had his own mission and quite frankly – he was scared of all those other things concealed in the night. He was scared of humans too. What would they do if they found out what he really ways? Knowing how others viewed individuals with potential… he would either be locked in a lab and studied or turned into a weapon. Kept away from the sea – from his own true home.

It’s been weeks since his secret was exposed. Was it hubris? He had gone to the same beach he did for the past year – he had made sure that there was no one around. His human appearance turned into his real form: a tail, scales and gills. His skin became as bright as a pearl as his scales glistened under the pale moonlight. Then how did those… what was the word he used…? KINDRED? How they found him was not something Walter had planned. If not for someone else to guarantee his safety – to protect him… who knows where he would be now? And after a century, Walter found himself indebted to someone else. To a Kindred. A VAMPIRE. But this particular individual didn’t seem like the stories he read from books or the monsters he saw in the movies. He appeared… kind. Respectful. Walter even dared to conceive the concept of… safety. Maybe not all vampires were bad. Not all humans were monsters too.

“I will repay you for your kindness.” Blue eyes once fixated on the steady motion of the ocean glance over the siren’s shoulder to the man nearby. Amir was… unlike anything Walter had met before. He was a mystery wrapped in a enigma. Kindred or not – vicious or not – he had done nothing to make him fear him. He was still a predator but Walter believed – maybe because he was naïve when it came to other creatures – that this particular man truly wished him no harm. “I was so careful. I never used the same entry point twice.” It didn’t matter. He was spotted and almost captured if not for Amir. And that had been weeks ago. “I don’t understand what use I’d have to your people.” To vampires. Kindred. Not like he had told Amir about his ability to control and manipulate water or the eerie singing that became stuff of legends from days past. As far as the kindred was concerned – he was merely a siren. A man with the ability to transform into a fish hybrid and live underwater. What use would he be to those that could live forever? “But I am grateful to you. And no matter how long it takes – I plan to repay you for keeping me safe. It’s… the least I can do.”

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Grist:

Earth’s oceans caught a fever in March 2023 that has yet to break. Since then, the bathwater-like conditions have killed corals in a record-breaking mass bleaching event, fueled hurricanes, and collapsed entire fisheries.

The two years of heat have created a scientific mystery, with 450 straight days of record high global sea surface temperatures from April 2023 to July 2024 — a streak that exceeded climate scientists’ predictions even when accounting for climate change and the natural climate pattern known as El Niño. A study published on Tuesday by researchers at the University of Reading helps solve the puzzle and points to one prominent culprit: the sun. 

The study in Environmental Research Letters found that the rate of ocean warming has more than quadrupled over the past 40 years, driven by Earth’s growing energy imbalance — accounting for roughly 44 percent of the extra heat in recent El Niño years. Thanks to heat-trapping greenhouse gases and a decrease in reflectivity, the planet is absorbing more energy from the sun than is escaping back into space. Since 2010, according to the study, that disparity has doubled. “There’s been an uptick in that imbalance and that has led to an uptick in the rate of ocean warming,” said Christopher Merchant, a professor of ocean and earth observation at the University of Reading in the U.K. and the study’s lead author. 

By looking back through satellite observations since 1985 and developing a statistical model that isolated the trends in both ocean warming and Earth’s energy imbalance, the researchers found they were escalating in lockstep. According to Merchant, the study is possibly the first to connect the two phenomena over recent decades. “It’s a very tight correlation,” he said. 

This relationship is bad news for the oceans, which have absorbed some 90 percent of the excess warming from human activity. Some of that heat will continue to seep down into the planet’s depths, while some will cycle back up toward the surface and escape into the atmosphere. According to the study, the next 20 years could warm up the oceans more than the last 40. 

If you think of the oceans as a bath, Merchant says, it’s like the hot tap was only a trickle in the 1980s — but now, it’s been cranked up. “And what’s turning the tap more open, making the warming pick up speed, is an increase in greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide and methane — which are both still rising, largely from the fossil fuel industry,” he said. There are other factors turning up the heat. The El Niño pattern that began in 2023 added around 0.1 or 0.2 degrees Celsius, before the inverse La Niña pattern took over in December 2024. Another piece of the puzzle is the planet’s diminishing reflectivity, according to Brian McNoldy, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. The ocean’s dark surface helps it absorb heat, whereas white clouds and aerosol particles in the atmosphere help bounce the sun’s radiation back into space. In 2020, the International Maritime Organization adopted a new rule to cut back on sulfur pollution from shipping fuel, but because the aerosol particles in emissions acted as a seed for clouds, the regulation had the unintended effect of dimming the marine layer of clouds that blanket the ocean.

[crissiellen]

Sequest DSV (1993-1996)

Starring: Jonathan Brandis, Don Franklin, Roy Scheider, Ted Raimi, Stacy Haiduk, Stephanie Beacham

SeaQuest DSV is a science fiction television series set in the near future (2018 and beyond) where humanity has begun to heavily rely on the oceans for resources and colonization. The show follows the high-tech submarine seaQuest DSV 4600 and its crew, members of the United Earth Oceans Organization (UEO), as they explore, protect, and enforce maritime law within the world's oceans. The series blends elements of science fiction, action, and adventure as the crew faces various challenges, including political conflicts, environmental issues, and encounters with mysterious underwater phenomena. 

[purposes-wrenched]

Wrenched Purposes Masterpost

When a catastrophe-level event forced life and technology to breathe as one in the human body, society found itself wrought anew. In fact, the new worldwide growth of biofibers in every organism revealed once inconceivable potential for humanity. But how much will people push onwards to seek these new developments for themselves? Everyone in the land of the living has one main goal, after all... and that is to survive.

Wrenched Purposes is a universe-based collection of stories that follows the lives of an altered humanity on Earth in the late 2070s/early 2080s. When an entity that crash-landed onto Earth around 50 years ago attempted to adapt to the planet's living conditions, its unbound forces inadvertently changed every organism's biomass composition forever.

In the span of just a few months, animal niches were completely reshuffled, plant life became entirely different, and humanity found themselves taking on the traits of this transformed natural world... quite literally so. This was an event collectively recognized as the Great Galvanization.

Nowadays, people and ecosystems alike have learned to adapt to this new normal, even if it means dealing with new strange phenomena along the way. These are the stories of galvanized humanity.

Greetings, all! Name's Sorrel (adult, mirror/any), and welcome to my personal passion project! I've worked in multiple mediums; drawing, painting, writing, and the occasional sculpting in the past.

Science and biology have been long-time interests of mine outside of storytelling, and I love to explore all of what nature can teach, even if it's in unexpected ways. After all, everything in the world comes from it, however derived it may be!

My main rule really is simply one: please be respectful and kind to people! It can go a really long way.

Asks are CLOSED for the time being! I'm getting things set up.

This is basically where the most organized, up-to-date "lore bible" of this worldbuild is! More often than not, the most recent updates regarding Wrenched Purposes lore and any respective stories will come up here first.

More detailed info regarding stories within the anthology and tag organization will be under the "keep reading" divider!

Pretty much all of the stories listed here are active works in progress! They will always be subject to change/constant updates.

From Oil-Burned Dreams: A crime procedural following a forensic pathologist, their spouse, and a close friend in cracking a case on strange accidents with scarily ambiguous causes of death. Aiming to make this a visual novel... one day. One day.

The Unfibered Tides: A mystery adventure where a dive shop owner seeks to voyage to the infamous Cliffswell Island in order to determine whether its strange properties have been causing the ocean-based disturbances in her hometown. The storytelling medium for this one's yet to be determined!

More stories to be added...

#wrenched infobits: Important informative posts related to updates or any assortment of important notices.

#wrenched creations: Art related to any stories of the Wrenched Purposes worldbuild. This includes drawings, sculptures, and even music if it occurs.

#wrenched writing: Writing chunks and snippets of existing Wrenched Purposes stories.

#wrenched inquiries: Responses to asks that are given... once the inbox is decidedly open.