#non-associative arrays

[brother-emperors]

ANTONY: if Caesar doesn't set Sextius Baculus up in a house worthy of Lucullus for all that he did, I'll kill him myself.

so the fun thing about the Caesarians is that there is. weird stuff happening in there. a lot of focus seems to go towards non Caesarian dissent, specifically with the conspiracy of Cassius and Brutus, but there's like. stuff going on in Caesar's own camp that's very Intriguing.

There's a couple places where you can see some clear points that would be grounds for a conspiratorial falling out between Caesar and Trebonius, but from the way that Trebonius tries to seduce Antony over to conspiracy, I wonder if there was a secret third thing that was going on since Antony turned him down but. didn't snitch intriguing!

anyway, all of this is to say that this means I get to invent some shit. like, I'm drawing comics which is already invention, but this is one where I get to really start throwing stuff into the narrative soup because it has to set up three different character arcs (Trebonius, and then Antony twice)

(in theory, this would be explained in the story itself if I did the entirety of the Gallic Wars out as a comic. which I have not done because I do not want to draw horses. I wanted to fuck around with some panel layouts and not draw a single horse, so now I will provide the context and revisit this in the future)

Antony's comment about Trebonius running himself into a grave has to do with the Caesar's Gallic Wars have a lot of men doing a whole lot for Caesar that has me going. hey. hey guys. uh.

specifically, Sextius Baculus:

The War for Gaul, Julius Caesar (trans James J. O'Donnell)

and the closing comment from Antony is playing on several things: romans claiming gods on their family tree (see: Legendary Genealogies in Late-Republican Rome, T.P. Wiseman for more on this) and then divinization arc of Caesar and Octavian. Antony himself will later be taking part the same kind of god-association that has prompted his disdain in this scene

At any rate, when Antony made his entry into Ephesus, women arrayed like Bacchanals, and men and boys like Satyrs and Pans, led the way before him, and the city was full of ivy and thyrsus-wands and harps and pipes and flutes, the people hailing him as Dionysus Giver of Joy and Beneficent. For he was such, undoubtedly, to some; but to the greater part he was Dionysus Carnivorous and Savage.

Plutarch, Antony 24

and the second layer of thematic fun: Antony's later relationship with his soldiers is something similar to what Caesar had with his here, but ultimately: decayed. Antony's love affair with his military makes his failure to lead well at the end a worse betrayal. at some point I'll talk about Antony's Tormentous Military Nightmare and cite some academic sources, but Linda Bamber's description of the final tragedy of Antony and his men lives in my head rent free

Cleopatra and Antony, Linda Bamber

where's the fun in doing identity focused tragedy if you don't become unrecognizable to yourself later on! isn't that right mark antony

ko-fi⭐ bsky ⭐ pixiv ⭐ pillowfort ⭐ cohost ⭐ cara.app

[illuminatedquill]

Story Summary: It has been 10 years since Lothal was liberated from the Empire. As the annual memorial ceremony marking this historic event approaches, close friends and associates of the legendary Rebellion hero, Commander Ezra Bridger, are interviewed for a documentary being made to celebrate his life and achievements. Captain Garazeb Orrelios, a close friend and comrade of Ezra Bridger, has volunteered his time for the first interview.

First of a Five-Part Interview Series

The dive I find Captain Garazeb Orrelios, call-sign Specter-Four, is far from the Galactic Core and serves a peculiar type of clientele: current and former Republic fighter pilots, smugglers, Mandalorians, and any who find themselves wandering beyond the usual travelled routes of the galaxy. Sitting on a non-descript barren planet floating in the middle of an otherwise empty sector of space, the establishment has gained a remarkable reputation of being a "neutral place" among the people who live out here beyond the prying eyes of the New Republic. Mandalorians, bounty hunters, and even some of the more reputable smugglers all habit here semi-regularly.

Noting the name of the establishment before stepping inside from the arid heat, I am greeted by the murmur of quiet, friendly talk. The space inside is half-filled, scattered with an eclectic array of different species wearing the colors of their chosen affiliations.

I spot Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios waiting for me by the bar. Next to him is his partner, Aleksandr Kallus, an Imperial defector who once worked for the infamous Imperial Security Bureau. They wave me over to begin the interview.

Captain Orrelios; Agent Kallus. A pleasure and privilege to meet you both.

[Kallus nods in acknowledgement and sips at his drink. I get the sense he is studying me closely.]

Ah, don't mind him. Just old habits from the war. You can just call me 'Zeb', by the way. All my friends do.

If you don't mind, then I'll do just that.

Sounds great. So, you're here to talk about that goober, eh? About time he got a documentary. Deserves one, just like that Skywalker fellow everyone's talking about.

Goober? You mean Commander Ezra Bridger?

Oh, we're using the official title for him are we? He'd have a good laugh about that. 'Goober' is a nickname me and Sabine used for him. Cause he was a goober - it just fits, you know? Oh, he hated it at first but grew into it over time. Especially since Sabine used it so much. Said it made him feel special, when I asked him about why he didn't seem so bothered by it anymore. She didn't have nicknames for anyone else on the crew. That was always used just for Ezra . . .

[Kallus nudges him with an elbow. The Lasat shakes himself and looks embarrassed.]

Uh, you're not here to listen to all that, though. Sorry. Getting lost in old memories. I figure you want to hear the more interesting stuff.

No, this is perfect actually. This is definitely what I would want to hear in a documentary about Ezra Bridger.

Well . . . if, you're sure. Go on, ask me some questions then. You want to know how we first met?

I'd appreciate if you just wanted to talk more about Ezra himself. What kind of person was he?

[Zeb takes a moment to think about this. Then he points up towards the ceiling, where a row of various stormtrooper helmets - all different designs - hang from strings like grim trophies. With a small smile, the Lasat reaches up and taps one of them, a scout trooper variant.]

He was a thief. When we first met him; a street-rat that hit up the occasional unlucky Imperial patrol for food and supplies. Plucky little kid, if you can imagine, stealing from these Imps and bucket-heads. They would have shot him dead if they caught him - or worse, considering what he turned out to be.

I'm sure you've seen Sabine's mural on Lothal. How strong and serious he looks. Ezra was that, sure, but he was so much more also. If he ever comes back, I'm sure his head will swell just seeing how good she made him look.

He had a collection of these helmets when we took him on the Ghost. Sabine painted a few of them, as a gift. They were always his favorite. Over the years, as he grew up and the war continued, the collection stopped growing. Our enemies were multiplying . . . the goober needed to focus. So, I started to collect them for his sake.

[I observe the collection of helmets and note that there must over a dozen different variants hanging from the ceiling. Almost every type of stormtrooper design is present from the Empire's reign. Some of these would go for an astonishing number of credits on the black market.]

It's quite the collection. I'm sure Ezra would love seeing these.

Yeah. Took a bit to get all of these. He was just a kid, you know? I don't have any other input for this documentary, but I really want you to emphasize that Ezra Bridger was just this pipsqueak when he first joined. None of us knew what would happen to him, or what he would do. Not even Kanan.

He was just a kid who needed a home. So, we gave him that. I didn't always do right by him - to be fair, he was kind of annoying at times like most humans his age - but I hope . . . I hope he knows that I wouldn't change a thing about any of it. He was our kid. We loved him.

[Kallus pats the Lasat's shoulder affectionately. Zeb clears his throat, looks away for a moment to compose himself.]

I know you'll probably want to focus on the more heroic aspects of him, but that's how I remember Ezra. He was a goober. He was a kid. He and Sabine shouldn't have been fighting this war; sacrificing so much for it. That's the job for us adults. We're supposed to be making this galaxy a better place for them. Not the other way around.

A thief turned rebel. It's not an uncommon story for those who served in the Rebellion. The Specters were an already diverse group of individuals -

Not individuals. We were a family. Not in the literal or traditional sense, though. Sure, Kanan and Hera took on a more parental/mentor role in the group and, to some extent, you could view Ezra and Sabine as their kids. But it was also more than that. We were more than that.

We bled, suffered, sacrificed, and cared for each other. We cried for each other. And, yeah, we annoyed the kriffing stuffing out of each other. It was . . . in some ways, it was more fulfilling than my time as an honor guard.

How did Ezra fit into your group?

Heh, not easy at first. Hera was the only one who really made an effort at first. Kanan was still reluctant to take him on as a student, despite Ezra being gifted in the Force. Sabine - well, she's Sabine. Also didn't help that the goober had the galaxy's biggest crush on her during those early months.

Poor kid. Looking back on it now, I suppose I could have been nicer. He had to share a room with me, you know. I'm a huge snorer.

[He chuckles at this, sharing a look with Kallus. His partner just rolls his eyes and takes another sip of his drink.]

Yeah, it was rough for that first year. Everyone sort of eased into having him around as a permanent crew member after they had their own special moments with him.

Me and him - we stole a Tie Fighter one time, did you hear? That was a fun joyride. We were sent out to get meilooruns for Hera and . . . things sort of spiralled from there, heh.

When Hera and Kanan found out we were both sentenced to cleaning duties for a solid month. But that wasn't the event that really brought Ezra closer to the crew.

What was it then?

[Zeb takes a long sip of his drink, suddenly looking sad.]

Finding out about his parents. We didn't know . . . none of us know, until we caught up with Ryder - Governor Azadi Ryder, I should say - later on. They were still alive, incarcerated in a max-security Imperial prison somewhere.

After Ezra sent out his message to the sector, they must have heard him somehow. They rallied the other prisoners, started a riot. Ryder was stuck in there too; managed to escape because of their efforts.

Mira and Ephraim Bridger are listed as -

Still missing, I know. But they're dead. Ryder says he saw it happen, and we have no reason to disbelieve him. I know there was no record or recovery of their bodies. Believe me, we tried looking. Once the war ended, Hera and I tried to track down any lead to see if we could find anything - even just a scrap of their clothing for Ezra's memorial.

Nothing. They were lost, just like the countless others the Empire buried.

Just you and General Syndulla? What about Commander Wren?

She was . . . she was dealing with her own personal loss, at the time. We extended the invitation, but she never responded.

I thought the Specters were like a family? But records state that you all went your separate ways after the Battle of Lothal. You led your own squadron of pilots, while Hera Syndulla was promoted to the rank of General. Commander Wren -

Sabine was the only one to stay behind, yeah. We found a holo-recording, stashed away in his old comm-tower. Left there just for her. She changed after watching it. Hera and I never knew what he said to her.

Hera had Jacen not too long after that battle. I took Kallus back with me to La-Liresan, to help fortify their defenses, gather volunteers, and coordinate supplies with the Rebellion. And Sabine . . . well, she had her promise to Ezra to keep.

We lost Kanan and Ezra so quickly, one after the other. It just hurt too much for us to stick together after so much loss. We were all living reminders of what had been sacrificed. And staying on the Ghost - it felt too big, too empty without those two.

[The Lasat takes another big swig of his drink. Kallus glances at him, worried.]

I don't know how Sabine does it. Living there. She never went back home. She could have - but the crazy girl chose to stay. And she lost so much afterwards, too . . .

We all had our own things to focus on after the battle. The war had begun in earnest. The Rebellion had declared itself on a galactic stage after the Battle of Yavin. We were on the run, fighting for our lives, fighting to see another day.

Hera and I . . . we made the choice to move on. She had Jacen, alongside her duties as a Rebellion General. And I found new purpose with protecting my resurrected people on their new planet. We had to move on. Ezra would have wanted us to move on.

Do you remember the last conversation you had with him?

[Zeb seems to shrink within himself.]

I - I don't. I hate that I don't. I can't remember if we spoke before Kanan's death, or after. When Kanan died, everything else after that just turns to a blur.

You'll want to talk with Hera or Sabine, if you're looking for specific details about any of that before his . . . his disappearance.

Official New Republic record states that Ezra Bridger died during the Battle of Lothal. You believe otherwise?

[Kallus' gaze snaps to me, intense. I plow forward with my questions, trying not to show how unnerved I feel from the former ISB's agent scrutiny.]

I don't know. I want to believe, you know? But it's been so long. No one who has disappeared into the Unknown Regions has ever come back. Not even Thrawn came back. Wherever they went . . . there would have been a sign, I know it. Ezra's a smart kid, he would have figured out a way to send a signal or something.

Did he inform you of his plans before he left? Anything about where he planned to take Thrawn?

Ha! That was the whole point. Crazy goober. Part of me thinks he was making it up as he went along. But Ezra was a Jedi. A damn good one, too. Kanan would have been proud to see him at the end, leading the way for everyone.

To answer your question: no. Ezra didn't tell us anything about where he and the purrgils were heading off to. I don't think even he knows. Only the Force knows.

You never went looking for him?

[Zeb is silent, staring into his drink. Kallus watches his partner quietly. After a long moment, he stands up abruptly.]

I tried.

[Zeb turns and leaves through a back door leading into the kitchens. Kallus sees him go and then turns back to me.]

It's a sensitive subject for him, you have to understand. He wanted to look for Ezra.

Why didn't he? Ezra Bridger was his friend.

I forbade him. He was going to get himself killed. Zeb kept volunteering for missions farther and farther from the Galactic Core. Hera and I realized that he was scouting in the Outer Rim, looking for signs - any trace of Ezra Bridger or Grand Admiral Thrawn.

He got too reckless. People on his squadron almost died. After that, he was forced into retirement. Hera's intervention is the only reason he's not rotting away in a New Republic prison right now.

Zeb retired and settled out here? I don't understand. Why didn't he go back home?

[Kallus signs, takes another sip of his drink.]

He's still looking for Ezra, in his own way. Zeb had to get creative, you see. He had been stripped of his license to pilot. So, he found a plot of land on a planet no one was interested in and bought it with his pension. Pitched the idea of a bar for New Republic pilots flying patrol missions way out here as a place to rest and recharge; a chance to stretch their legs, after spending hours in a cramped cockpit.

Pilots who have been flying all over the Outer Rim. Who have probably seen and heard a few interesting things in the course of their duties.

Now you get it. He owns this bar, listens to all the folks who come in. Still looking for leads - anything he thinks could lead to Ezra.

He even named the bar in memory of him. I think he hopes that Ezra might wander through this sector in space someday, see the bar's name, and get curious. A fool's hope . . . but I dare not take it away from him.

But he can't follow up the leads himself, since he no longer can fly.

Correct. So, he sends the information to the one person who is still looking for Ezra Bridger.

Which is . . .

Sabine Wren.

[He pauses, thinking for a moment.]

Are you planning on interviewing her for this documentary?

Yes, of course. It wouldn't be complete without her. Why?

I advise caution. She was the most affected by Ezra Bridger's . . . absence. Time and further tragedies have not made her kind or open to company of any kind. Even from close friends.

[There's a yell from the kitchen. Zeb stumbles out, covered in soot.]

Kallus, the blasted caf maker is malfunctioning again! Help me out here, would you?

[Kallus sighs and rises from the bar. I take this as my cue to leave.]

Oh, by the way. I haven't heard anything regarding this documentary. It seems rather hush-hush for something like this. I've been asking around and no-one seems to know anything.

It's meant to be a surprise for the citizens of Lothal. The anniversary is coming up. My benefactor suggested it as a gift, to help commemorate Ezra Bridger's heroic sacrifice for the planet.

[He narrows his eyes at me.]

A surprise, hmmm? I'm sure. And who is this gracious benefactor supplying the funds for this project?

I'm sorry, I can't disclose that. They are a private person. I hope you understand.

[The former ISB agent stares me down. After a tense second, he relents.]

My apologies. Old habits die hard. If it's alright, could you send a copy to me and Zeb for review once all this is finished? It would be greatly appreciated.

I'll be sure to do that. Convey my sincere thanks to Zeb, if you can.

Of course. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to prevent my partner from burning this establishment down.

Leaving the way I come in, I turn around outside the old bar and take a quick picture, for my own record, of the name now that I know the origin behind it:

EZRA'S ROOST

END OF INTERVIEW 1

NEXT INTERVIEW: GENERAL HERA SYNDULLA

AFTER-REPORT

PRIVATE CONNECTION ESTABLISHED

The Benefactor: Were there any issues?

?????: None. Although the agent accompanying Orrelios seemed suspicious at times. I managed to prevent any further inquiries into my work, however.

The Benefactor: Kallus is intelligent and extremely competent at what he does. Do not underestimate him. It is likely he will continue investigating behind the scenes.

?????: Still unsure what it is you're looking for with these people. Seems like they don't have the information you're seeking. The Benefactor: That is for me to decide. Continue with your work.

?????: Of course. Logging out now.

CONNECTION TERMINATED

[touristclass]

Gender and Why It Matters

Hi! Gender matters because it tells you who you are. Separate from the sex (or intersex) you were identified as at birth. Your gender identity refers to the gender (or genders) that your deepest feelings belong to.

The gender spectrum shows the existence of multiple identities related to gender and a vast array of expressions to describe it. Cisgender female is at one end of the spectrum and cisgender male is at the other.

Cisgender means someone whose internal sense of gender matches the sex they were identified with at birth. And gender is your internal identification of who you are.

In between cisgender male & cisgender female are people with genders that are more masculine, more feminine, and even genders that can fluctuate between feeling more female and more male in the same person. These genders may or may not match one's birth sex.

Any or all of this is normal for the person experiencing it. Normal for them because that is who they are.

Normal for you because it is who you are.

The gender binary is the idea of two distinct and opposing entitles- man/woman, which denies the existence of any other genders or anatomies.

Being non-binary is one term that is used to describe genders that don't fall into either the female or male category. Being non-binary is also normal for you if that is what you are inside.

And transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. Being transgender is normal for the person experiencing it, too.

Does gender have to conform to sex? No. Is it normal not to conform? For the person experiencing this, it is normal for them not to conform! Society may or may not agree with that. But society is not the focus here. You and the way you feel about yourself are.

Impressions of gender can get complex because there is even more. There are agender people that do not belong to any gender. Multigender people that belong to multiple genders. And once again, this is normal for those experiencing it.

While I certainly do not mean to leave anybody out. This blog focuses on a female gender identity because I know there are a lot of trans femme folks out there that may find it to be of interest, and I also strongly identify with a female gender, too. I live it 24/7 as a trans woman and creating the content for this blog comes easy for me. Because it is my life.

No matter who your are or what gender(s) feel right to you inside. I hope that this blog helps to support you in your journey.

Your trans friend, ~Jen @touristclass

[strictlyfavorites]

One state prosecutor and one civilian plaintiff have already won huge fines and damages from Donald Trump that may, with legal costs, exceed $500 million.

Trump awaits further civil and criminal liability in three other federal, state, and local indictments.

There are eerie commonalities in all these five court cases involving plaintiff E. Jean Carroll, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James, federal special counsel Jack Smith, and Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis.

One, they are either unapologetically left-wing or associated with liberal causes. They filed their legal writs in big-city, left-wing America—Atlanta, New York, Washington—where liberal judges and jury pools predominate in a manner not characteristic of the country at large.

Two, they are overtly political. Bragg, James, and Willis have either campaigned for office or raised campaign funds by promising to get or even destroy Donald Trump.

Carroll’s suit was funded by left-wing billionaire Reid Hoffman.

Smith sued to rush his court schedule in hopes of putting Trump on trial before the November election.

Three, there would not be any of these cases had Donald Trump not run for the presidency or not been a conservative.

Carroll’s suit bypassed statute of limitation restrictions by prompting the intervention of a left-wing New York legislator. He passed a special bill, allowing a one-year window to waive the statute of limitations for sexual assault claims from decades past.

Until Trump, no New York prosecutor like James had ever filed a civil suit against a business for allegedly overvaluing real estate assets to obtain loans that bank auditors approved and were paid back in full, on time, and with sizable interest profits to the lending institutions.

Alvin Bragg bootstrapped a Trump private non-disclosure agreement into a federal campaign violation in a desperate effort to find something on Trump.

Smith is also charging Trump with insurrectionary activity. But Trump had never been so charged with insurrection, much less convicted of it.

Willis strained to find a way to criminalize Trump’s complaints about his loss of Georgia in the 2020 national election. She finally came up with a racketeering charge, usually more applicable to mafiosi and drug cartels.

Four, in all these cases, the charges could have been equally applicable to fellow left-wing public figures and officials.

Joe Biden, like Trump, was accused of sexual assault decades earlier by former staffer Tara Reade. Yet Reade was torn apart by the media and the left for inconsistencies in her memory. By contrast, the wildly inconsistent and amnesiac E. Jean Carroll won $83 million from Trump.

Jack Smith created the precedent of charging former president Trump for unlawfully removing classified files to his private residence.

But the government simultaneously did not charge Joe Biden for similar offenses. Yet Biden had removed files not for two years but for more than 30. He stored them not in one location but several.

His rickety garage was a mess, not a secure family compound like Trump’s estate. Moreover, Biden did so while a senator and vice president, without any presidential authority to declassify almost any presidential document he wished.

Biden never came forward to report the crime for over thirty years—until Trump was charged. Indeed, he was caught on tape six years ago, admitting to his ghostwriter that he possessed classified files but never reported it.

Bragg might have noticed that both Hillary Clinton (fined $113,000) and Barack Obama (fined $350,000) broke campaign financing laws. Neither was subject to federal criminal charges by local prosecutors.

An array of left-wing celebrities, politicians, 2004 House Members, former Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams have all recently challenged elections. They sought either to delay or redo ballot counting or, on the federal level, to sidetrack electors to ignore popular votes in their respective states.

These lawfare cases are part of other efforts that were highly partisan and without merit. Recall the Trump “Russian collusion” hoax and the “Russian disinformation” laptop farce.

In another first, some blue states are suing to take Trump’s name off the ballot for “insurrection,” a crime for which he has never been charged.

Total up the deaths, damage, and length of the summer 2020 Antifa/BLM riots. Then compare the tally to the one-day January 6 riot.

The former proved far more lethal, long-lasting, and destructive. Yet very few of the 14,000 arrested rioters in 2020 were ever prosecuted, much less convicted.

By contrast, the Biden administration sought to jail hundreds for crimes allegedly committed on January 6, such as “illegal parading.”

We are entering a dangerous era in America.

Ideology and party affiliations increasingly determine guilt and punishment. Opponents are first targeted, and then laws are twisted and redefined to convict them.

The left is waging lawfare with the implicit message to political opponents: either keep quiet or suffer the consequences.

[milijanakomad]

Product design and psychology: The Role of Grinding in Video Game Design

Keywords: Grinding, Video Gaming, Game Design, Player Engagement, Psychological Manipulation

Abstract:

This paper scrutinizes the utilization of "grinding" as a technique in video game design, particularly as a method of psychological manipulation that affects player engagement and behaviour. Case studies are explored to deliver a comprehensive understanding of the practical application of grinding and its implications, all from a product design viewpoint.

Introduction:

The design principles governing video games frequently incorporate mechanisms intended to stimulate player engagement and prolong interaction time. One such prevalent mechanism is "grinding," defined as the practice of executing repetitive tasks within the game environment to achieve specific objectives. While grinding can evoke a sense of achievement, it also carries the potential to induce exhaustion and frustration among players. This study endeavours to explore the intricacies of grinding, its role in game design, and its influence on player experience.

Explanation:

Coined from the concept of persistently "grinding away" at a task, the term "grinding" in the gaming context implies the undertaking of repetitive actions by a player to attain certain results or to advance within the game. In numerous instances, such actions may not directly correlate with the game's primary storyline or objectives but are aimed at accumulating experience points, in-game currency, or specialized items.

Grinding is an omnipresent component across a vast array of game genres, with its prominence notably manifested in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). In these games, the player's progression and performance are often gauged based on their character's level, skills, and available equipment.

From the standpoint of game design, grinding assumes several roles. It serves to extend the game's lifespan by instituting goals that necessitate substantial time investment. Additionally, it fosters a sense of accomplishment and progression and can encourage social interaction in multiplayer environments. Despite these advantages, critics contend that grinding can lead to monotonous and ungratifying gameplay experiences. The considerable time commitment required by grinding may propel some players towards purchasing in-game enhancements using real-world money, thereby generating additional revenue for game developers.

Further, there is an ongoing discourse concerning the psychological implications of grinding. Its repetitive and rewarding nature might precipitate addictive behaviours and excessive consumption of time, mirroring the effects typically associated with gambling disorders. Through the exploration of these aspects, we aim to shed light on the complex dynamics of grinding in the context of modern video gaming.

Grinding in Gaming: Conceptualization and Design

Grinding typically refers to the act of performing repetitive actions in a game to attain a specific goal, often associated with levelling up, obtaining items, or advancing in-game skills. Although it can give players a sense of progression, it can also serve as a roadblock, encouraging players to consider alternative paths to progress, such as microtransactions.

Case Study: World of Warcraft

Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft (WoW) extensively employs grinding. Players often engage in repetitive tasks like fighting the same enemies, repeatedly battling against non-player characters (NPCs), or completing the same quests to increase their character's level, to gain experience points, in-game currency, or rare items. This grind contributes to a sense of achievement but has also been criticized for sometimes leading to a tedious gameplay experience.

Case Study: Candy Crush Saga

King's Candy Crush Saga uses grinding as a monetization strategy. As players progress and levels become harder, the option to grind through the game becomes more attractive. Alternatively, players can buy power-ups and boosters to surpass the grind, effectively translating grinding mechanics into revenue for the game developers.

Case Study: Destiny 2

This game provides an example of a 'loot grind.' Players repeatedly complete activities like strikes, raids, or public events to earn 'engrams' – randomized gear drops. The goal is often to collect more powerful gear to increase a character's power level.

Case Study: Old School RuneScape 

In this MMORPG, players might grind by repetitively performing tasks like mining, fishing, or woodcutting. These actions, though monotonous, boost the player's skill levels, enabling them to perform new tasks, quests, or create new items.

Implications for Game Design

Grinding, while a tool to extend game playtime and potentially drive monetization, must be thoughtfully implemented to avoid player fatigue or burnout. Game designers should strike a balance between meaningful progression and repetitive grind, ensuring the game remains engaging and satisfying.

Conclusion

Grinding, as a mechanism of psychological manipulation in video game design, can greatly impact player behaviour and engagement. Striking a balance between challenge, satisfaction, and repetition is vital to ensure a rewarding gameplay experience. As the video game industry advances, it will be intriguing to observe the evolution and refinement of grinding mechanisms and their psychological impact on players.

References:

Sicart, M. (2013). Grinding in Games: Understanding the Appeal. Philosophy of Computer Games Conference, 8-11.

Hamari, J., Alha, K., Järvelä, S., Kivikangas, J. M., Koivisto, J., & Paavilainen, J. (2017). Why do players buy in-game content? An empirical study on concrete purchase motivations. Computers in Human Behavior, 68, 538-546. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.11.045

Blizzard Entertainment. (2004). World of Warcraft [Video Game]. Blizzard Entertainment.

King. (2012). Candy Crush Saga [Video Game]. King.

Bungie. (2017). Destiny 2 [Video Game]. Activision.

Jagex. (2013). Old School RuneScape [Video Game]. Jagex.

Yee, N. (2006). Motivations of play in online games. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 9(6), 772-775. doi:10.1089/cpb.2006.9.772

Johnson, M. R., & Woodcock, J. (2019). The impacts of live streaming and Twitch.tv on the video game industry. Media, Culture & Society, 41(5), 670-688. doi:10.1177/0163443718818363

King, D., Delfabbro, P., & Griffiths, M. (2010). Video game structural characteristics: A new psychological taxonomy. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 8(1), 90-106. doi:10.1007/s11469-009-9206-4

Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R., & Nacke, L. (2011). From game design elements to gamefulness: defining "gamification". MindTrek '11: Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments, 9-15. doi:10.1145/2181037.2181040

[cymlea]

Things To Do In Tampa: A Comprehensive Guide to Florida's Gulf Coast

Tampa offers a dynamic and lively experience for visitors, showcasing a myriad of activities on Florida's Gulf Coast.

Florida is renowned for its diverse attractions, and Tampa stands out as a city designed for both entertainment and relaxation. With a captivating blend of historic architecture and modern landmarks, a culture enriched with Cuban and Spanish influences, bustling business districts, and scenic canals, Tampa emerges as a versatile destination that caters to work, exploration, and leisure.

Discover the myriad activities that Tampa has to offer with this comprehensive guide!

Things To Do In Tampa

Despite its vintage charm, Tampa boasts a multicultural atmosphere where historic buildings are being revitalized into vibrant food halls. Immerse yourself in the complete travel experience with our guide to Tampa's diverse offerings.

Discover Marine Life at The Florida Aquarium While in Tampa, Florida, don't miss the opportunity to explore The Florida Aquarium—an expansive 250,000-square-foot facility accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. As a 501 non-profit organization situated in downtown Tampa, it stands as one of the premier aquariums in the US. Witness a captivating array of sea creatures and immerse yourself in this publicly operated institution.

Location: 701 Channelside Dr, Tampa, FL 33602

Operating Hours: Open daily from 9:30 AM to 5 PM

Admission: $34.45 per person

Uncover Tampa's Past at Henry B. Plant Museum Venture into the historical realm by visiting the Henry B. Plant Museum, housed in the south wing of Plant Hall on the University of Tampa's campus. Located at 401 West Kennedy Boulevard, this museum offers insights into the Victorian lifestyle during turn-of-the-century Florida. Considered a hidden gem, it conveniently sits near hotels and restaurants around the university campus.

Location: 401 W Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33606

Operating Hours: Tuesday - Sunday from 10 AM to 5 PM (opens at 12 on Sundays)

Experience Artistic Splendor at The Tampa Theatre For a dose of cultural entertainment, make your way to The Tampa Theatre—an exquisite performing arts space in downtown Tampa. Designed by architect John Eberson, this atmospheric theatre-style movie palace hosts a variety of independent and foreign film productions. Treat yourself to a unique cinematic experience in this beautifully preserved landmark.

Location: 711 N Franklin St, Tampa, FL 33602

Operating Hours: Varies by show/screening

Relax Amid Nature at Lettuce Lake Park Nature enthusiasts will find solace in Lettuce Lake Park, a beloved green space in Tampa. Spanning 240 acres, the park offers walking paths, biking trails, and scenic benches for relaxation. Conveniently located on Fletcher Avenue between Interstate 75 and the University of South Florida, Lettuce Lake Park is complemented by the soothing presence of the Hillsborough River, providing a refreshing escape during warm spells.

Address: 6920 E Fletcher Ave, Tampa, FL 33637

Hours: Open daily from 8 AM to 7 PM

Enjoy Live Performances at The Straz Center for the Performing Arts For aficionados of the performing arts, The Straz Center offers a captivating venue for shows, screenings, and live concerts throughout the year. Originally established in 1987 as the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and later rebranded in 2009, this beautiful complex is situated in downtown Tampa.

Location: 1010 N Macinnes Pl, Tampa, FL 33602

Operating Hours: Varies by show/screening

Embark on a Splashy Adventure at Adventure Island For a dose of fun in Tampa, look no further than Adventure Island—a conveniently located water park northeast of Tampa, Florida, just across the street from Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. This aquatic haven covers 30 acres and offers water rides, dining options, and various attractions. Many visitors opt for a full trip, combining the thrills of Busch Gardens and Adventure Island.

Location: 10001 McKinley Dr, Tampa, FL 33612

Tickets: $29.99 per person

Experience Thrills at Busch Gardens A must-visit for adrenaline enthusiasts in Tampa, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is the largest zoo in the region, packed with exhilarating roller coasters and over 12,000 animals. This adventure park seamlessly blends high-caliber rides, adrenaline-pumping thrills, and family-friendly recreation. For a water-themed escapade, explore Busch Gardens' Adventure Island, Tampa's exclusive water park, spanning 30 acres of tropical excitement.

Location: 10165 McKinley Dr, Tampa, FL 33612

Tickets: $84.99 per person

Unwind on the Beautiful Beaches Just a short drive away, Tampa offers access to approximately 35 miles of pristine Gulf of Mexico waters and white sand beaches on the barrier islands of St. Petersburg and Clearwater. Renowned for their exceptional sand quality and environmental preservation, standouts include Fort DeSoto Park, Caladesi Island, and Clearwater Beach. With its undeveloped coastlines, this area imparts a sense of being on a remote island.

Discover the wealth of beaches: Tampa boasts around 35 miles of white sand coastline, providing ample opportunities for relaxation and seaside enjoyment.

Discover the Glazer Children's Museum For families with kids, a visit to the Glazer Children's Museum is a must during their time in Tampa. Boasting around 20 interactive exhibits catering to children of all ages, this family-friendly museum offers an engaging experience.

Location: 110 W Gasparilla Plaza, Tampa, FL 33602

Operating Hours: Tuesday - Sunday from 9:30 AM to 5 PM

Indulge in a Beer Tasting Experience Tampa's brewing legacy dates back to 1896 when the Florida Brewing Company established itself in Ybor City's downtown. While facing challenges due to restrictions and laws, the craft beer scene experienced a resurgence with the establishment of the Tampa Bay Brewing Company a century later.

Diverse Beer Scene: Tampa boasts a thriving brewing culture, with the Florida Brewing Company being a popular choice in Ybor City.

Best Time to Explore Tampa, Florida

Tampa is at its best between September and December, offering a pleasant escape from the oppressive heat and humidity. The breezy conditions of autumn still provide warmth and sunshine, and during these months, hotels often offer enticing deals to attract visitors.

While the peak season for major attractions is from May to August, the weather can be uncomfortably humid. January through April, despite being cooler, tends to be a more expensive period for booking trips.

Optimal Transportation in Tampa

For seamless exploration of Tampa, visitors often find it beneficial to rent a car, especially if planning excursions to Clearwater and St. Pete's beachfront or the artistic enclaves of Sarasota. However, for those intending to stay within downtown or utilize the Telo Line Streetcar, walking or riding may suffice.

Given the residential and widely dispersed nature of the Bay Area, car rental costs, while subject to fluctuations based on supply and peak season factors, are generally reasonable. Commute times may be slightly extended due to the unique driving patterns in the region.

Guide to Tampa's Distinct Neighborhoods

Tampa's allure extends beyond its main attractions, inviting visitors to explore its vibrant neighborhoods that pulse with unique charm.

Hyde Park: Crafted around the time of the first Hillsborough River bridge by railroad magnate Henry B. Plant and Cuban immigrants establishing Ybor City, Hyde Park is a charming area exuding heritage and retro glamour. Nestled by the sea, with leafy tree canopies and early 20th-century brick lanes, Hyde Park features upscale Hyde Park Village, a walkable hub for dining and shopping. To the east, Bayshore Boulevard offers a waterfront promenade for biking and strolling.

Channelside District: Packed with tourist delights, the Channelside District hosts Sparkman Wharf—a riverfront entertainment venue offering microbrews, musical performances, and diverse dining options. The Florida Aquarium, home to over 8,000 species, adds to the district's allure with captivating exhibits on conservation initiatives, coral reefs, and marine life. Dolphin trips and hands-on experiences, like the No Bone Zone habitat, enhance the Channelside District's appeal.

Downtown: A blend of historical and contemporary cultural attractions defines downtown Tampa. Renowned sites such as the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, the Tampa Museum of Art, and the Glazer Children's Museum cater to art enthusiasts and families alike. The David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts hosts Broadway musicals, opera-ballet performances, and musical events. Corey Hixon Waterfront Park hosts year-round outdoor events, while the Tampa Riverwalk offers a scenic stroll along the Hillsborough River, lined with diverse eateries and bars.

Dining Recommendations in Tampa

The culinary scene in Tampa Bay mirrors its diverse culture, offering indulgent beverages at beachfront bistros and taverns. Visitors can savor iconic Tampa dishes, choosing from an array of options, including haute cuisine, farm-to-table eateries, and delightful seafood and traditional Spanish meals.

Top Breakfast Spots: Samaria Cafe, Nicki's Omelette & Grill, Oxford Exchange Lunch Favorites: Oystercatchers, Ulele, Al's Finger Licking Good Bar-B-Que Dinner Hotspots: Vino E Pasta, On Swann, Wright's Gourmet House Best Bars: M. Bird, Fly Bar, The Orpheum, Bad Monkey

Where To Stay In Tampa, Florida

Tampa Bay offers a diverse range of lodging options, catering to both luxury seekers and those on business or leisure trips. Entertainment abounds, making Tampa an ideal destination for various needs.

Luxury Hotels

The Tampa Edition

Cost: Starting at $709 per night

Address: 500 Channelside Dr., Tampa, 33602

Amenities: Fitness Center, Outdoor Swimming Pool, Garden

Floridan Palace Hotel

Cost: Starting at $299 per night

Address: 905 North Florida Avenue, Tampa, FL 33602

Amenities: Fitness Center, Restaurant

Mid-Tier Hotels

Hyatt Place Downtown Tampa

Cost: Starting at $349 per night

Address: 325 N Florida Avenue, Tampa, 33602

Amenities: Fitness Center, Outdoor Swimming Pool, Restaurant

Hotel South Tampa & Suites

Cost: Starting at $199 per night

Address: 3314 South Dale Mabry, Tampa, FL 33629

Amenities: Swimming Pool, Fitness Center

Budget Hotels

Hilton Garden Inn Tampa East

Cost: Starting at $166 per night

Address: 10309 Highland Manor Drive, Tampa, FL 33610

Amenities: Restaurant, Swimming Pool

Sleep Inn & Suites Tampa South

Cost: Starting at $179 per night

Address: 6231 S Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa, 33611

Amenities: Spa and Wellness Center, Fitness Center

Visiting Tampa: Helpful Tips

Sunpass Convenience: Consider obtaining a Sunpass, a prepaid digital permit for hassle-free highway travel to various destinations.

CityPASS Savings: Opt for the Tampa Bay CityPASS, providing discounted access to the city's premier attractions. Priced at $97 for children and $107 for adults, it offers substantial savings.

Freshwater Caution: Exercise caution when encountering freshwater, especially outside designated swimming springs. Florida's waters are home to over a million alligators, emphasizing the need for vigilance.

A Day Well Spent in Tampa

For those with just 24 hours, Tampa offers a condensed yet fulfilling experience. Explore Downtown Tampa starting with the Glazer Children's and art museums. Next, embark on an adventurous journey at Busch Gardens.

As the evening unfolds, consider a visit to one of the local breweries. Hyde Park beckons with its excellent dining and shopping options, while the Channelside District provides a vibrant backdrop for live performances.

Engage in Unique Activities

Even if water sports aren't your forte, Tampa's outdoor adventures offer compelling reasons to visit. The region boasts a diverse array of outdoor activities to suit various interests.

FAQ

Q: What is Tampa known for? Tampa is renowned for attractions such as the Florida Aquarium, the exhilarating Busch Gardens, the vibrant Ybor City, and being the birthplace of the Cuban sandwich. Additionally, the city is celebrated for its lush gardens, cigar manufacturing heritage, modern museums, fine dining establishments, and picturesque sidewalks.

Q: Is Tampa better than Orlando? Tampa is preferred by beach enthusiasts due to its proximity to the coast and the surrounding Tampa Bay. Orlando, another city in Central Florida, is favored by those who are fans of Universal and Disney attractions.

Q: Is Tampa Riverwalk worth visiting? Absolutely! Tampa Riverwalk is a must-visit attraction, offering a scenic stroll along the Garrison Channel and Hillsborough River. With water-based activities, beachfront restaurants, museums, and year-round festivals, it provides an enriching and enjoyable experience.

[krscblw]

ghoul element perfume associations!

i've done a few scent association lists for individual ghouls, and i thought it would be fun to do one for elements instead! it's a little more general, which lets me include perfume that i really like but that don't fit any of the ghouls exactly. as always, i would love your feedback!!

Usual warning: This might look weird on mobile, but it should be good on desktop. Apologies, I'd fix it if I knew how.

Earth: Dense, earthy, bitter, green scents reminiscent of forests, gardens, and ruins halfway reclaimed by nature.

Notes: wood, vetiver, greenery, moss, soil, fruit, rose, stone, fungus

Rose Fantôme - LVNEA

“Rose Fantôme breathes not the fresh blooming rose but the one that has been cut, left and forgotten. Now one with its surroundings, it blends with the scents of dried grass and lichen, hay, and dirt.” 

porcelain roses, immortelle, dried hay, graveyard soil, cepes, oakmoss, oakwood

Duende - Fantôme 

“The smell of being lost in an enchanted forest.”

oakmoss, cedar, fir, resinous labdanum, benzoin, tree sap, wild violets, lilac

(i have this one, it's forest-y but also pretty light for a forest perfume. definitely a summery, magical forest smell)

Holy Oak - LVNEA

“Holy Oak alchemizes the aromas of deep, damp oakwood and the dry warmth of cedar to evoke the sound, sight, and smell of a well-worn cabin woodframe creaking against the weight of tempestuous rainfall as it begins to slow.”

galbanum, cedar leaf, petrichor, frankincense, cedarwood, oakwood, oakmoss

Mount Auburn - Little & Grim

“A dizzying array of all the flora that buds in Massachusetts. Fragrant, fruity blossoms and towering trees shading gentle, winding paths.”

fresh raspberry, melon, honeysuckle, blooming lilac, wisteria, spruce

Love Among the Ruins - Alkemia 

“An ancient ruin of fallen stonework covered with lichen and tangles of flowering vines slowly disintegrating/returning to nature.”

stone ruins, lichen, tangles of flowering vines

Rochester - Fantôme

rich earth, crisp fallen leaves, sweet tobacco, a hint of patchouli, garden tomato, newly ripened autumn gourds

Vert Sur Le Vert - Alkemia  

green grasses, new leaves, tomato seedlings, crushed sweet grasses

Air: Scents that range from cold, sharp, and sweet to thick, powdery, and dusty – reflecting the versatility of air as an element. 

Notes: florals, musk, fruit, cold air, dust, sugar, honey, ozone

Lilacs Along the Winding Drive - Alkemia 

fresh lilacs, a gentle breeze after a light spring rain, a dusty pebbled driveway, a slightly rusty porch swing, and a small handful of late blooming violets

Hummingbird - Zoologist 

“This diaphanous scent alights upon you in a pastel bouquet of honeysuckle, mimosa, lilac and peonies, with just the lightest dusting of natural sugars found in pear, cherry and honey. A finishing dollop of velvety whipped cream melds the tantalizing notes, completing this irresistible and opulent perfume.”

apple, cherry, citrus, lilac, muguet, plum, rose, violet leaf, honey, honeysuckle, mimosa, peony, tulip, ylang, amber, coumarin, cream, moss, musks, sandalwood, white woods

Frost Flowers - LVNEA 

“Icy and cold, delicate yet jagged, floral ice crystals slowly melt to reveal a heart of dark florals at the center of this musky and enveloping oil perfume.”

tuberose, jasmine, black currant, ambrette, cypress, elemi resin

Thundersnow - Fyrinnae 

“On rare occasions within a system cold enough to produce ground level snow, the conditions are favorable for the right lifting and instability required to also produce lightning.”

cold air, electricity, metallic ozone, gasoline

Veil of Spidersilk - Nui Cobalt Designs

“Slender strands of cotton flower hung with trembling dewdrops… Wear to bless any new beginning and brighten the path ahead.”

cotton flower, dew, pale pink musk, tiny black vanilla beans, Margaret Merril rose, lily of the valley, neroli, honeysuckle, non-indolic jasmine

Mama Gein - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab 

crushed baby’s breath dusted with baby powder

Foxfire - Alkemia 

white sugar ambers, jasmine aldehydes, night flowering nardo

Fire: Warm, heavy, lingering, spicy scents. Some fire ghouls smell like smoke and fire, but others smell like heat, metal, or spices. 

Notes: smoke, incense, spices, metal, patchouli, wood

Paimon - Fantôme 

“This is a warm, regal scent conjuring an endless sea of sand with the hint of an oasis of coconut and dark vanilla carried on a warm desert wind. Golden frankincense, black amber, and myrrh stir under the endless dunes of hot sand, grounding the bright, golden notes that shine under the unrelenting sun.”

hot sands, frankincense, myrrh, sun-bleached parchment, vanilla, black amber, coconut husk, gold

Eldritch - Pineward Perfume 

“Lair of ancient eldritch abominations, a resinous and dark perfume for the bold and unafraid.”

leather, myrrh, patchouli, fir, oolong tea, opoponax, smoke, pine needles, oakmoss

Stel - Treading Water Perfume 

motor oil, metal, desert air, frankincense, oud

Persian Tea Room - Alkemia 

spiced black tea, dry desert sand, spices, musk, soft leather

Firebird - Fantôme

“This is a rich, golden scent that emulates the golden apples and warm flame of the Firebird.”

smoldering embers, burning cloves, orange, golden saffron, endless forest, soot on feathers, soft flame, apple 

Dwarf - Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs  

iron filings, chips of stone, hops, soot-covered leather

Tyrannosaurus Rex - Zoologist  

“A sultry heat wafts across the land, lapped up greedily by the abundant flora that thrives in its midst… The Cretaceous period comes of age against a backdrop scorched by wildfire and lightning strikes.”

bergamot, black pepper, fir, laurel leaf, neroli, nutmeg, champaca, geranium, jasmine, osmanthus, rose, ylang ylang, resins, cade, cedar, civet, frankincense, leather, patchouli, sandalwood, vanilla

Water: Water ghouls tend to have smooth, cold scents. Some are sweet, some are sour, some are salty, but all of them reflect different bodies of water.

Notes: ozone, vanilla, water, citrus, seaweed, salt, sand, ice, tropical fruit

Triton - Fantôme

murky sea water, ambergris, ancient forest mosses, crushed ivy, frankincense, resins, ozone, a hint of citrus

Voice of the Sea - Alkemia 

“An olfactory musing from the underside of a wooden dock.”

salty sea breezes, sun-bleached driftwood, crushed seashells, lemon peel, barnacles, sand, and sea-soaked timbers

Dragonfly - Zoologist 

“Giant lotus pads part to make way for buds that pierce the surface of the jade green pond. They raise their faces to the sun, their delicate fragrance floating around them. In the shadow of the flowers, tiny dragonfly nymphs also emerge from the shallows. They spread their fragile wings and shyly take flight, ready to explore a world beyond the water.”

grapefruit, basil, angelica seed, ginger, rice, aquatic florals, geranium, jasmin sambac, mimosa, orris absolute, rose, violet leaves, rainwater, moss, patchouli, tonka, vetiver, benzoin, cashmeran

Acadia - Alkemia

“An olfactory portrait of coastal Maine.”

atlantic ocean fog, balsam fir pine needles, seaweed, bay leaves, saltwater, charred driftwood

Gelatto - Pineward Perfume 

“Suntanned skin and sunny beaches.”

makrut lime, jasmine sambac, mandarin orange, gardenia, massoia bark, sandalwood, ambergris

Squid - Zoologist   

“The vast ocean swells and contracts, caught in the relentless tug of the moon. Beneath the surface, a school of squid emerges. Strange, elastic forms propel from the deep in a frantic search for sustenance. They are not alone. Their predators lunge, only to be foiled by blinding jets of murky ink.”

pink pepper, solar salicylate, incense, black ink accord, salty accord, opoponax, ambergris, benzoin, musk

Seahorse - Zoologist  

“Balmy sunlight trips across foamy turquoise waves, sending rippling haloes onto the coral below. On the lagoon floor, anemone and seaweed sway in unison, limbs pumping to the rhythm of the current. Hovering among the coral branches, a group of seahorses gazes shyly on.”

guatemala cardamom, fennel, ambrette absolute, clary sage, tuberose, neroli, algae absolute, vetiver, ambergris accord

Quintessence: Heavy, warm, creamy scents. Quintessence ghouls tend to smell comforting, and their scents reflect human creations much more often than other ghouls’.

Notes: amber, leather, chocolate, alcohol, linen, lavender, wood, milk, vanilla

Amber Witch - Alkemia

aged dark arabian amber, honey musk, creamy bourbon caramels, spiced rum

Moon Magic - Sorcellerie Apothecary 

“Smells like your favorite cozy witch.”

lavender sugar, tonka bean, chai spices, vanilla steamed milk, cashmeran, ambroxan, crystals charged by moonlight

Sailing to Byzantium - Alkemia

papyrus, leather, ink, cardamon, orris, tonka, wet tweed, precious incense woods

Novella - Alkemia

“A cozy afternoon curled up in a favorite chair…”

spiced lavender de provence, steaming earl grey tea, old paperback books 

The Old Gods Survive - PULP Fragrance 

cherry pipe tobacco, golden amber, aged leather, oakmoss, old cedar chests

Solovey - Fantôme 

black amber, crushed violets, black currants, dark espresso, labdanum, black agarwood, tobacco

(one of my favorites of all time. it smells like nighttime but magical, somehow. the amber, violets, and espresso are most noticeable and it's so good. if dark purple was a scent it would be this imo)

Fleurs Historiques et Cacao - Alkemia 

“A historical recipe from the 1700's court of Versailles created by a mistress to delight a king. A paradox of the decadent and the divine…”    

dark cacao, french lavender, piquant black cardamom pods, tea with lemon peel, grapefruit blossom, vanilla musk

thank you for reading, and i would love to hear your thoughts! (also, gentle reminder if you got this far that reblogs are very appreciated!)

[saltineofswing]

Hello! I'm the person that made the rant post about my dislike on the lack of natural dichotomy of the Pyramids and Traveler since the introduction of the Veil that turned into a whole thing. You mentioned a lack of pulp in your reblog and it's stuck with me since then. I wasn't familiar with the term and did some research on it, but I still don't think I get what it is. I tried looking it up but a lot of articles and videos I could find explain the history of pulp and its influences in modern day sci-fi but not necessarily what it is, especially in a way that would give me context to better understand your reblog. If it's not too much trouble, can you explain a little more what the "pulp" is that destiny is lacking?

I’d be happy to try and give you a little more insight into what I feel are important tenets of pulp as a genre/concept! I decided this might be a good opportunity to talk a little about it generally because I am really feeling its absence generally in the past couple years, so I included some historical backing which you’re probably already familiar with – hope that’s OK.

I did a little digging personally, for some good places to familiarize oneself with the basics of pulp as a concept and/or genre. It was nice to re-affirm some info that I’ve felt secure in holding as true without a ton of evidentiary support, and I also learned some cool new stuff as well! I think a good place to start would be to link to the TV Tropes page about pulp magazines, which does a pretty good job of explaining the origins and foundational aspects of the concept in a way that is easy to digest. It also has a lot of examples available to peruse. I also found this cool article on the golden age of pulps, which is an interesting read.

This got long, so below the cut!

To reiterate, the original ‘pulp’ terminology and vibe comes from early/mid-20th century magazines, which were cheap and easy ways to access genre fiction and action/adventure stories before comics, paperback novels, and TV/movies were really on the scene. Pulp magazines spanned a very wide array of genres, but because of a lack of appreciation for the medium, a majority of pulp magazines and aspects of what I would consider to be pulp as a genre have been allowed to fall into obscurity. There are places where I feel it is particularly obvious, especially the superhero genre (don’t get me started we’ll be here all week) but also in fantasy and science fiction – a term which was, in fact, coined by Hugo Gernsback, an editor for pulp magazine Amazing Stories.

They were cheap to make, cheap to buy, and easy to serialize; they could be really schlocky, crass, and unpolished. They could also be fucking incredible! The Shadow is a good example of an early pulp property with screaming highs and frankly peat-bog lows. Lovecraft published a lot of what is considered to be his ‘best work’ in Weird Tales! Conan the Barbarian, too! They kind of came out of the gate with a somewhat negative connotation associated with ‘low-brow’ forms of literature like dime novels, but where other magazines of the time tended to incorporate non-fiction articles and photography, pulp mags tended to be fiction stories only – short stories, or longer stories split into serialized chapters. Early on, not many of them had art, though with the advent of comic books that changed (you could argue that books like Creepy and Eerie are direct offspring of early pulp mags). Similar to what Weekly Shonen Jump does with manga.

If you think of a genre as a toolbox, pulp is a box full of tools that function fine alone, but excel at assisting the function of other toolboxes. I would almost liken ‘pulp’ to the concept of ‘camp’, which are also two concepts that can and do overlap with a high degree of synergy. Pulp has its own foundational attributes that are distinct from camp – for example, camp is gay relies a lot more on its self-awareness, at being able to wink at the viewer or participant, and telling you ‘yeah, we know it, but isn’t it fun?’ Pulp, on the other hand, is the (no pun intended) straight man counterpart to this aesthetic sensibility; pulp is at its best when it is being completely earnest. The quippy lines and dramatic proclamations are meant to be taken on their face. Nowadays it’s the kind of stuff that memes are made of – ‘That Wizard Came From The Moon’, ‘I don’t have time to explain why I don’t have time to explain’, ‘Whether we wanted it or not, we’ve stepped into a war with the Cabal on Mars’. Saying shit that has no explanation with your whole chest. Trying to be cool on purpose, the ultimate cringe move.

Nowadays I think that this kind of thing has mostly died out of modern media, but the counter-motion is still prevalent in mainstream superhero movies. A good example is the ‘Would you have preferred ~YeLlOw SpAnDeX~’ line from the OG X-Men movie. Hey dickhead! The yellow spandex is cool if you, the guy making the movie, believes its cool! Crucially, while a lot of modern superhero stuff is quippy and irreverent, it often uses these tropes in a self-aware or cynical manner – afraid of being earnest, committing the aforementioned cardinal sin of trying to look cool on purpose.

(God damn it, I’m talking about superheroes again. Sorry. Before I get back on task this is why I loved the recent Moon Knight run so much; Jed MacKay is NOT afraid to have the characters say some absolutely batshit thing but it comes off as so, so cool. And yes, a little cheesy.)

And then, where modern sci-fi typically has an ultra-detailed explanation on-hand, I think a lot of early pulp stuff just… didn’t. Ask a sci-fi property for an explanation on, oh I don’t know, ‘where did these super-humanoid sapient machine warriors come from’ and it will likely have a molecule-deep explanation of how those unnamed machine people were created. Ask a fantasy property for an explanation on the same and it might say, ‘no’. It’s not that a pulp-leaning property won’t give you the answer to that question… it just might not have it. The ‘why is it/how is it’ is not as important as the ‘what is it’ and ‘how is it relevant’; a writer had a limited amount of page real estate, as multiple features were typically crammed into a single magazine. Even if a feature was serialized, much like television episodes (before the binge trend), one had to keep information digestible, and not too reliant on a prior or later edition that a reader might never see.

Explanations tended to be in service of an emotional beat, or to a theme, versus as a grounding agent to immerse a reader in the world. For the record I don’t necessarily think of either method as being better or worse, and heavy worldbuilding can still utilize pulp as a veneer or filter to engage audience expectations in different ways. Pulp stuff relies a lot on suspension of disbelief without utilizing a rigid lore-based framework to – though, you know, your story/setting still has to have its own internal logical consistency.

(I feel that it is important to note, as a partial consequence of the time period in which these magazines were being made, and when pulp fiction was most heavily consumed, xenophobia and racism are also heavily present in pulp works. I think everybody knows at this point about how much Lovecraft sucked but it’s a valuable example of how a lot of ‘fear of the unknown’ in that time was transliterated into ‘fear of the different’, in general but especially relating to genre fiction. If you decide to explore material in this genre, in this time period, be forewarned! Some of it was pretty glaring!)

So, let me tie some of this stuff to my previous statements about Destiny. I think that Destiny is an excellent example of how pulp tropes, aesthetic, and genre conventions can be used to enhance and streamline a setting… and how stripping too much pulp away can have a detrimental impact on the depth of a narrative.

The original narrative and worldbuilding of Destiny drew very heavily on pulp aesthetics to create a foundation, both in its appearance and its lore. The ‘Golden Age of Science Fiction’ was a period of time in the mid-20th century that sort of transitioned sci-fi out of pulp magazines and into its own thing, but the foundational structure of science fiction at this time was still heavily pulp-influenced. I think this is very well-represented by the portrayal of Venus as a ‘garden’ (jungle) world, very lush and with sulfurous and sometimes acidic rains. Before advancements in astronomical technology went and fucked everything up for us writers, Venus’s opaque cloud-covered atmosphere was impenetrable enough that there could be anything under there – and a popular portrayal of Venus was a muggy, humid, rain-heavy world that sometimes also included lush jungles. In Bradbury’s short story The Long Rain (WHICH ran in Planet Stories, a pulp mag, by the way!) this portrayal is a central obstacle to the narrative; it’s also used in Heinlein’s novel Space Cadet.

The color scheme that Destiny uses for Venus also matches a common color scheme for Venus in this era – see this cover for Fantastic Adventures. Visually, I think that this comparison between the postcard that went out with the D1 limited/collector’s edition and this Planet Stories cover for The Golden Amazons of Venus demonstrates the influence, at least regarding terrain and biome.

In fact, I think that you can see from this Eververse postcard – which could have been peeled off of any era-appropriate paperback novel – that the influence goes bone-deep. Destiny even refers to humanity’s halcyon age as ‘The Golden Age’.

(Below: Is this image from Destiny dev, or a science fiction paperback from the 60s? Who knows! I know. It’s Destiny.)

In the modern era of Destiny storytelling, though the visual elements of the universe remain largely rigid relative to this early framework, the pulp underpinning of the narrative has been largely left behind. The original game’s story, and the stories of subsequent DLCs, felt very pulp-inspired – this ranged from ‘sort of effective’, like in House of Wolves, to ‘game-savingly effective’, like in The Taken King. Pulp lends itself to straightforward conceptual executions, and brisk narratives, because of its roots as short-form literature. The narrative of D1 was simple and to the point; Light good, Dark bad, humanity is in the shit, think you can kill a god? The surrounding world scaffold was rich but not deep. As I like to say, sometimes a river can be wide but shallow. This is not a commentary on its quality – something can be good but not complex, and IMO, sophistication is not necessarily synonymous with complexity. Destiny managed to pull off a trick that many high-quality pulp stories employ: it made the river look deeper than it was. This is the whole reason that Lovecraft’s oeuvre has the staying power it has: other writers got to play in the space because it felt very deep, even though the stories themselves were fairly straightforward.

I also don’t mean to say or accidentally imply that ‘morally grey storytelling cannot exist within pulp stories’, because that would probably get me torn apart; that’s just not the kind of straightforward foundation that the original Destiny was built on. ‘It is what you see, but what you see could be anything’, you know? The problem that began to muddy the waters in the Destiny narrative is that they started to say, ‘You know, actually, it ISN’T what you see’.

Tentpole narrative additions to the Destiny 2 game employ varying levels of pulp. As I said in the other post, the Hive have a potent pulp influence built into their foundational coding, and so subsequent portrayals of the Hive as a main antagonist have higher degrees of pulp genre naturally present in the narrative – it’s hard to separate the two of them. Shadowkeep and The Dark Below draw strongly on the ‘sword and sorcery’ convention, a subgenre of fantasy that is a heavy (perhaps 1:1) blend of fantasy and pulp; think Conan, or Elric of Melniboné (who, hey! Showed up in a novella feature, in an issue of Science Fantasy magazine, named… THE DREAMING CITY). The Witch Queen leaned away from pure sword and sorcery and more towards noir/detective pulp – though, I think, TWQ is a good example of the pulp slippage in its narrative, resulting in some more bland moments and things that feel ham-fisted in a bad way. Part of it, I think, is the need to make these expansions ‘long’ and complicated without making the player feel like they’re slogging; in a more pulp-forward TWQ narrative, the reveal that Savathûn is actually NOT evil-aligned and is a potential ally would come much earlier in the story, and the central mystery would be MORE about ‘what the fuck is she trying to do/prevent’, leading to the Witness reveal as the centerpiece of the finale and the ‘solution’ to the central mystery.

The decision to start retroactively appending more complex connections between disparate pieces of content naturally leads to a reduction of pulp prominence, in my opinion. If you imagine Destiny as a vessel that is mainly full of three component liquids – Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Pulp – you can say that adding more of one genre pushes out another to make room. You can always pour more of one genre in to re-balance, but in response to increasing levels of sci-fi the narrative seems reticent to reintroduce pulp back into the mix, instead favoring fantasy. But another problem is that once you take it out, Pulp is really hard to put back; once you solidify and unionize world-lore, every subsequent retcon risks diluting and destabilizing that world-lore until a) nobody cares about it anymore and b) it stops being mutable at all, and becomes sludge.

The lore behind the existence of the Exo was originally very pulp, with no real explanations given for exactly what they were and where they came from, and how they attained sapience. Early hints that Cayde and a few other Exo having once been human didn’t preclude other Exo from having other origins – for example, implications that Exo war-frames eventually achieved sapience as a result of the ‘Deep Stone Crypt’, and that they were originally simple AI-equipped warriors designed and overseen by Rasputin to minimize human casualties. This early mystique around the origins of the Exo is classically pulp: we don’t need to know how the hyper-advanced robots were made, we just need to know what they are, why they are relevant to the story. It allows You, The Player, to engage with it at whatever level you want. In a game where You, The Player, are also being asked to step into the role of You, The Protagonist, this is beneficial to engagement for people (like me!) who like to think too much about the backstory of the your-name-here protagonist on-screen. It is also beneficial to not distracting the player with conflicting information, or accidentally contradicting previously-established lore.

Enter Big-Head Bray. The Beyond Light-era explanation of why Exo were created and how they were made is a retroactive nuclear strike on the Exo lore; it strips away a lot of flexibility and thematic richness from the concept of the Exo, shoehorns them into a single narrow use case, and directly conflicts with early-game Exo lore implying their connections to Rasputin (which they then had to go back and hastily shoehorn back in later) or existence as war machines for the Collapse. If D1 lore is wide but shallow, the D2 lore is narrow but deep. Just because something has a lot of ‘depth’, I.E. many layers to traverse before you reach foundational bedrock, it doesn’t make it good.

Same thing with the Fallen. Season of Plunder felt to me like an attempt to reintroduce pulp genre back into the setting, but it fell flat because of two reasons: it didn’t really want to be pulp, and it was more concerned with its tethers to the science-fantasy exterior world than it was with creating its own cohesive narrative. Why was Mithrax doing evil pirate shit when he was young? Because he comes from a race of fucking evil space pirates! It Does Not Need To Be More Complex Than That! But the exculpation of pulp from the D2 narrative means that if Mithrax doesn’t have a good enough reason, WRT the larger narrative, it would be a glaringly obvious plot hole. By Plunder, Destiny had already undertaken the task of filling out the Eliksni lore with sympathetic science-fantasy excuses for why they were trying to exterminate humankind – the more earnest, pulp-forward explanation would just be that desperate, hurt, suffering people will do desperate things, hurt people, and may perpetuate the cycle of suffering.

Oy. There’s a lot you COULD get into. How the Destiny macro-narrative seems to be decaying the rigidity of good and evil in its original lore vs. how the micro-narrative is obsessed with trying to recapture that good/evil dichotomy in order to give players a reason to like the main characters. How the determination to connect and explain everything has resulted in a general flattening of the background lore, and the subsequent trivialization of many things the game included in earlier iterations of the narrative/lore. How the narrative has basically nothing to do with the Vex because they wrote themselves into a corner by trying to explain them too much while simultaneously not altering the foundational lore of the race, meaning there were too many things they can no longer do without retconning again.

Overall, I guess I will just end by saying that many of the things that Destiny is CURRENTLY doing, feels like the game is straining to rip the part of it out which proudly asks its audience not to think too hard about sweeping, dramatic statements that built a lot of the things people love about the game’s setting and narrative… and in doing so, is just ripping itself to pieces.

[dani-luminae]

Made up stuff playing Pirate101 versions of Jim and Lia and now deciding it's canon to my stories:

On Montressor, the gemstone best translated to the common name of "garnet" is pretty similar to garnet gemstones on earth, but due to its rarity its really only collected and fashioned into jewelry by very wealthy people - usually the people underpaying and exploiting the miners and working class of Montressor.

But! Turns out that Montressorian garnets degrade easily, and particles breathed in amount of time... are poisonous. Can definitely make a person very sick. A little chunk of garnet dropped/fallen in a drink can make it toxic in moments. For the rich people who are wearing these stones in countless arrays of jewelry, this is a problem. As a result, Montressorian garnet is very rarely worn in jewelry anymore. It's considered toxic, or more metaphorically, just straight-up bad luck. To the wealthy people at least.

For the lower-class it's not regarded so dangerously. The miners are for the most part know how to protect themselves in the garnet mines, and since it mostly hurts the exploitational rich jerks, it's actually regarded as something of a symbol of rebellion - that one of the minerals that the rich scrambled to get their hands on so much turned out to be poisonous...

It used to be that sending someone a garnet stone was an indication of hostility or hatred. Nowadays it's not practiced - mostly because garnet mines ran out a long time ago - but garnets are still associated with hostility and curses.

EDIT: if Ben gives Lia any kind of garnet jewelry (the non-toxic earth gemstone I mean), she might take it as a declaration of war.

[indignantlemur]

hello, I have a bit of an odd question. For each species culture in Star Trek do you think would fit in Star wars? I think the andorians and Klingons fit with the mandalorians. What do you think?

Have a nice day.

Hello! This is a fun question!

I'm gonna narrow the scope a little, because if I did every Star Trek species we'd be here forever, but I'll try to hit all the main ones.

Andorians: I could see Andorians fitting neatly into the realm of Pantoran or Chiss characters pretty easily, and what little we know about the Chiss feels a lot like it could parallel Andorians in their earlier, more isolationist histories. I particularly feel like the rigid social structures of the Chiss and their military philosophies would fit quite nicely with Andorian values. Likewise, Pantorans share some similarities with Andorians, like exceptional hearing and coloration. Additionally, the tradition of garnering tattoos to indicate family and allegiance amongst Pantorans does feel similar to Andorian chitin patterns.

Humans: Humans across all universes are pretty much the same, let's be honest. If you take an average Star Trek Human civilian and plonk them down on an average Core World in the 'Wars universe, they'll do just fine.

Vulcans: Of all the species, I feel like Vulcans prove to be excellent candidates for Jedi recruitment, but that's not actually a species, so: Kel Dor. Hear me out: they have sages, they're largely mysterious, they are on the whole very force sensitive (psychically powerful) and they keep much of their culture and traditions to themselves. It's a stretch, admittedly, but I think it kind of works.

Trill: Phydolons feel like a good match. They're a symbiotic species which form a kind of gestalt consciousness between a mammalian host and a fungal symbiote, who value wisdom and spirituality.

Klingons: The Noghri might not feel like the most immediate option to come to mind, but bear with me. Noghri are skilled warriors who utilise technology and an array of natural weapons and defenses, place high value on honour, and function societies built upon familial clans. It's not as much of a stretch as you might think, looking at that. Just as the Klingons are honed for war, the Noghri are uniquely suited for combat - though the Noghri are most well known for being assassins, rather than front-line warriors.

Orions: The Falleen, hands down. Green skin, dark hair, known to use powerful pheromones to influence others, regularly associated with major crime syndicates... it's hard not to see the parallels. It's tempting to say Twi'leks here, but honestly I feel the Falleen are a much better match.

Ferengi: Muun in general, and the Banking Clan in particular. Muun are extremely intelligent and naturally gifted at mathematics, and while the Banking Clan gives them something of a negative reputation, most Muun are pretty decent folks. Sounds familiar? Wildly different physiologies aside, I think the Ferengi and the Muun have a surprising amount in common.

Tellarites: It would be incredibly lazy to say Gamorreans here, so I won't. Truthfully, with the minimal lore on Tellarites that we have to work with, finding an equivalent for them in the Star Wars universe is a bit tricky. I'd be inclined to say the Gran, perhaps, for their colonial tendencies and agricultural leanings, but even that feels very weak to me.

Mandalorians: Mandalorians are not a species but diverse individuals who follow a shared creed, and therefore I don't feel it sensible to include it with any of the above options which are based on species. Additionally, there are at least four kinds of Mandalorians, which further complicates the issue: Death Watch, the Children of the Watch, the True Mandalorians, and the New Mandalorians. Your choices narrow down to child-abducting-hyper-militant-terrorist group, weirdly-genetically-homogenous/militant-pacifist group, militant-but-mostly-reasonable-and-kinda-culty group, and a virtually non-existent faction of militant golden-age-Mandos-cut-down-before-their-time. With all of these, your mileage may vary wildly. I could see Vulcans being attracted to the New Mandalorian philosophies, I suppose, and Andorians would probably be all over the True Mandalorian option, but it's hard to say more beyond that outside of individual circumstance.

Thanks for the ask!

[eraepoch]

[Full Text] Emerging Media Companies, Tracking Cookies, and Data Privacy -- An open letter to Critical Role, Dropout, and fellow audience members

Summary / TL;DR

Both Critical Role (CR) and Dropout have begun exclusively using links provided by third-party digital marketing solution companies in their email newsletters.

Every link in each of the newsletters (even the unsubscribe link) goes through a third-party domain which is flagged as a tracking server by the uBlock Origin browser extension.

Third-party tracking cookies are strictly unnecessary and come with a wide array of risks, including non-consensual targeted advertising, targeted misinformation, doxxing, and the potential for abuse by law enforcement.

You are potentially putting your privacy at risk every time you click on any of the links in either of these newsletters.

IMO these advertising companies (and perhaps CR/Dropout by proxy) are likely breaking the law in the EU and California by violating the GDPR and CCPA respectively.

Even if Critical Role and Dropout are not directly selling or exploiting your personal data, they are still profiting off of it by contracting with, and receiving services from, companies who almost certainly are. The value of your personal data is priced into the cost of these services.

They should stop, and can do so without any loss of web functionality.

1/7. What is happening?

Critical Role and Dropout have begun exclusively using links provided by third-party digital marketing solution companies in their email newsletters.

[ID:  A screenshot of the Dropout newsletter alongside the page’s HTML source which shows that the target destination for an anchor element in the email leads to d2xR2K04.na1.hubspotlinks.com. End ID.]

[ID: A screenshot of the CR newsletter alongside the page’s HTML source which shows that the target destination for an anchor element in the email leads to trk.klclick.com. End ID.]

The domains attached to these links are flagged as advertising trackers by the uBlock Origin browser extension.

[ID: Screenshot of a Firefox web browser. The page displays a large warning icon and reads “uBlock Origin has prevented the following page from loading [...] because of the following filter: `||hubspotlinks.com` found in Peter Lowe’s Ad and tracking server list. End ID.]

[ID: Screenshot of a Firefox web browser. The page displays a large warning icon and reads “uBlock Origin has prevented the following page from loading [...] because of the following filter: `||klclick1.com` found in Peter Lowe’s Ad and tracking server list. End ID.]

In both cases, every link in the newsletter goes through the flagged third-party domain, and the intended endpoint (Twitter, their store page, etc.) is completely obscured and inaccessible from within the email itself. Even the unsubscribe links feed through the tracking service.

You can test this yourself in your own email client by hovering your cursor over a link in the email without clicking it and watching to see what URL pops up. You may have noticed this yourself if you use uBlock Origin as an ad-blocker.

I don’t know for certain when this first started. It’s possible that this has been going on for a year or more at this point, or it may have started just a few months ago. Either way: it ought to stop.

2/7. What is a tracking cookie?

A tracking cookie is a unique, universally identifiable value placed on your machine by somebody with the intention of checking for that value later to identify you (or at least to identify your machine).

Tracking cookies are used by companies to create advertising behaviour profiles. These profiles are supposedly anonymous, but even if the marketing companies creating them are not lying about that (a tough sell for me personally, but your mileage may vary when it comes to corporations with 9-figure annual incomes), the data can often be de-anonymized.

If this happens, the data can be used to identify the associated user, potentially including their full name, email address, phone number, and physical address—all of which may then be associated with things like their shopping habits, hobbies, preferences, the identities of their friends and family, gender, political opinions, job history, credit score, sexuality, and even when they ovulate.

Now, it is important to note that not all cookies are tracking cookies. A cookie is just some data from a web page that persists on your machine and gets sent back to the server that put it there. Cookies in general are not necessarily malicious or harmful, and are often essential to certain web features functioning correctly (e.g. keeping the user logged in on their web browser after they close the tab). But the thing to keep in mind is that a domain has absolute control over the information that has been stored on your computer by that domain, so allowing cookies is a matter of trusting the specific domain that wants to put them there. You can look at the outgoing information being sent from your machine, but its purpose cannot be determined without knowing what is being done with it on the other side, and these marketing companies ought not to have the benefit of your doubt when they have already been flagged by privacy watchdogs.

3/7. What’s the harm?

Most urgently, as I touched on above: The main source of harm is from corporations profiting off of your private data without your informed consent. However, targeted advertising is actually the least potentially harmful outcome of tracking cookies.

1/6. Data brokers

A data broker is an individual or company that specializes in collecting personal data (such as personal income, ethnicity, political beliefs, geolocation data, etc.) and selling or licensing such information to third parties for a variety of uses, such as background checks conducted by employers and landlords, two universally benevolent groups of people.

There are varying regulations around the world limiting the collection of information on individuals, and the State of California passed a law attempting to address this problem in 2018, following in the footsteps of the EU’s GDPR, but in the jurisdiction of the United States there is no federal regulation protecting consumers from data brokers. In fact, due to the rising interest in federal regulation, data broker firms lobbied to the tune of $29 million in the year 2020 alone.

2/6. De-anonymization techniques

Data re-identification or de-anonymization is the practice of combining datasets (such as advertising profiles) and publicly available information (such as scraped data from social media profiles) in order to discover patterns that may reveal the identities of some or all members of a dataset otherwise intended to be anonymous.

Using the 1990 census, Professor Latanya Sweeney of the Practice of Government and Technology at the Harvard Kennedy School found that up to 87% of the U.S. population can be identified using a combination of their 5-digit zip code, gender, and date of birth. [Link to the paper.]

Individuals whose datasets are re-identified are at risk of having their private information sold to organizations without their knowledge or consent. Once an individual’s privacy has been breached as a result of re-identification, future breaches become much easier: as soon as a link is made between one piece of data and a person’s real identity, that person is no longer anonymous and is at far greater risk of having their data from other sources similarly compromised.

3/6. Doxxing

Once your data has been de-anonymized, you are significantly more vulnerable to all manner of malicious activity: from scam calls and emails to identity theft to doxxing. This is of particular concern for members of minority groups who may be targeted by hate-motivated attacks.

4/6. Potential for abuse by government and law enforcement

Excerpt from “How period tracking apps and data privacy fit into a post-Roe v. Wade climate” by Rina Torchinsky for NPR:

Millions of people use apps to help track their menstrual cycles. Flo, which bills itself as the most popular period and cycle tracking app, has amassed 43 million active users. Another app, Clue, claims 12 million monthly active users. The personal health data stored in these apps is among the most intimate types of information a person can share. And it can also be telling. The apps can show when their period stops and starts and when a pregnancy stops and starts. That has privacy experts on edge because this data—whether subpoenaed or sold to a third party—could be used to suggest that someone has had or is considering an abortion. ‘We're very concerned in a lot of advocacy spaces about what happens when private corporations or the government can gain access to deeply sensitive data about people’s lives and activities,’ says Lydia X. Z. Brown, a policy counsel with the Privacy and Data Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology. ‘Especially when that data could put people in vulnerable and marginalized communities at risk for actual harm.’

Obviously Critical Role and Dropout are not collecting any sort of data related to their users’ menstrual cycles, but the thing to keep in mind is that any data that is exposed to third parties can be sold and distributed without your knowledge or consent and then be used by disinterested—or outright malicious—actors to de-anonymize your data from other sources, included potentially highly compromising data such as that collected by these period-tracking apps. Data privacy violations have compounding dangers, and should be proactively addressed wherever possible. The more of your personal data exists in the hands of third parties, the more it is to be de-anonymized.

5/6. Targeted misinformation

Data brokers are often incredibly unscrupulous actors, and will sell your data to whomever can afford to buy it, no questions asked. The most high-profile case of the consequences of this is the Facebook—Cambridge Analytica data scandal, wherein the personal data of Facebook users were acquired by Cambridge Analytica Ltd. and compiled alongside information collected from other data brokers. By giving this third-party app permission to acquire their data back in 2015, Meta (then Facebook) also gave the app access to information on their users’ friend networks: this resulted in the data of some 87 million users being collected and exploited.

The data collected by Cambridge Analytica was widely used by political strategists to influence elections and, by and large, undermine democracy around the world: While its parent company SCL had been influencing elections in developing countries  for decades, Cambridge Analytica focused more on the United Kingdom and the United States. CEO Alexander Nix said the organization was involved in 44 American political races in 2014. In 2016, they worked for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign as well as for Leave.EU, one of the organisations campaigning for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.

6/6. The Crux: Right to Privacy Violations

Even if all of the above were not concerns, every internet user should object to being arbitrarily tracked on the basis of their right to privacy. Companies should not be entitled to create and profit from personality profiles about you just because you purchased unrelated products or services from them. This right to user privacy is the central motivation behind laws like the EU’s GDPR and California’s CCPA (see Section 6).

4/7. Refuting Common Responses

1/3. “Why are you so upset? This isn’t a big deal.”

Commenter: Oh, if you’re just talking about third party cookies, that’s not a big deal … Adding a cookie to store that ‘this user clicked on a marketing email from critical role’ is hardly [worth worrying about].

Me: I don’t think you understand what tracking cookies are. They are the digital equivalent of you going to a drive through and someone from the restaurant running out of the store and sticking a GPS monitor onto your car.

Commenter: Kind of. It’s more like slapping a bumper sticker on that says, in restaurant-ese, ‘Hi I’m [name] and I went to [restaurant] once!’

This is actually an accurate correction. My metaphor was admittedly overly simplistic, but the correction specifies only so far as is comfortable for the commenter. If we want to construct a metaphor that is as accurate as possible, it would go something like this:

You drive into the McDonald’s parking lot. As you are pulling in, unbeknownst to you, a Strange Man pops out of a nearby bush (that McDonald’s has allowed him to place here deliberately for this express purpose), and sticks an invisible bumper sticker onto the back of your car. The bumper sticker is a tracker that tells the Strange Man which road you took to drive to McDonald’s, what kind of car you drive, and what (if anything) you ordered from McDonald’s while you were inside. It might also tell him where you parked in the parking lot, what music you were listening to in your car on the way in, which items you looked at on the menu and for how long, if you went to the washroom, which washroom you went into, how long you were in the washroom, and the exact location of every step you took inside the building.

Now, as soon as you leave the McDonald’s, the bumper sticker goes silent and stops being able to report information. But, let’s say next week you decide to go to the Grocery Store, and (again, unbeknownst to you), the Strange Man also has a deal with the Grocery Store. So as you’re driving into the grocery store’s parking lot, he pops out of another bush and goes to put another bumper sticker onto your car. But as he’s doing so, he notices the bumper sticker he’s already placed there a week ago that only he can see (unless you’ve done the car-equivalent of clearing your browser cache), and goes “ah, it’s Consumer #1287499290! I’ll make sure to file all of this new data under my records for Consumer #1287499290!”

You get out of your car and start to walk into the Grocery Store, but before you open the door, the Strange Man whispers to the Grocery Store: “Hey, I know you’re really trying to push your cereal right now, want me to make it more likely that this person buys some cereal from you?” and of course the Grocery Store agrees—this was the whole reason they let him set up that weird parking lot bush in the first place.

So the Strange Man runs around the store rearranging shelves. He doesn’t know your name (all the data he collects is strictly anonymous after all!) but he does know that you chose the cutesy toy for your happy meal at McDonald’s, so he changes all of the cereal packaging labels in the store to be pastel-coloured and covered in fluffy bears and unicorns. And maybe you were already going to the Grocery Store to buy cereal, and maybe you’re actually very happy to buy some cereal in a package that seems to cater specifically to your interests, but wouldn’t you feel at least a little violated if you found out that this whole process occurred without your knowledge? Especially if you felt like you could trust the people who owned the Grocery Store? They’re not really your friend or anything, but maybe you thought that they were compassionate and responsible members of the community, and part of the reason that you shopped at their store was to support that kind of business.

2/3. “Everyone does it, get over it.”

Commenter: [The marketing company working with CR] is an industry standard at this point, particularly for small businesses. Major partner of Shopify, a fairly big player. If you don't have a software development team, using industry standard solutions like these is the easy, safe option.

This sounds reasonable, but it actually makes it worse, not better, that Critical Role and Dropout are doing this. All this excuse tells me is that most businesses using Shopify (or at least the majority of those that use its recommended newsletter service) have a bush for the Strange Man set up in their parking lot.

Contracting with these businesses is certainly the easy option, but it is decidedly not the safe one.

3/3. “They need to do it for marketing reasons.”

Commenter 1: Email marketing tools like [this] use tracking to measure open and click rates. I get why you don’t want to be tracked, but it’s very hard to run a sizeable email newsletter without any user data.

Commenter 2: I work in digital marketing … every single email you get from a company has something similar to this. Guaranteed. This looks totally standard.

I am a web programmer by trade. It is my full time job. Tracking the metrics that Critical Role and Dropout are most likely interested in does not require embedding third-party tracking cookies in their fans’ web browsers. If you feel comfortable taking my word on that, feel free to skip the next section. If you’re skeptical (or if you just want to learn a little bit about how the internet works) please read on.

5/7. Tracking cookies are never necessary

We live in a technocracy. We live in a world in which technology design dictates the rules we live by. We don’t know these people, we didn’t vote for them in office, there was no debate about their design. But yet, the rules that they determine by the design decisions they make—many of them somewhat arbitrary—end up dictating how we will live our lives. —Latanya Sweeney

1/3. Definitions

A website is a combination of 2 computer programs. One of the two programs runs on your computer (laptop/desktop/phone/etc.) and the other runs on another computer somewhere in the world. The program running on your computer is the client program. The program running on the other computer is the server program.

A message sent from the client to the server is a request. A message sent from the server to the client is a response.

Cookies are bits of data that the server sends to the client in a response that the client then sends back to the server as an attachment to its subsequent requests.

A session is a series of sequential interactions between a client and server. When either of the two programs stops running (e.g. when you close a browser tab), the session is ended and any future interactions will take place in a new session.

A URL is a Uniform Resource Locator. You may also sometimes see the initialism URI—in which the ‘I’ stands for Identifier—but they effectively refer to the same thing, which is the place to find a specific thing on the internet. For our purposes, a “link” and a URL mean the same thing.

2/3. What do Critical Role and Dropout want?

These media companies (in my best estimation) are contracting with the digital advertising companies in order to get one or more of the following things:

Customer identity verification (between sessions)

Marketing campaign analytics

Customer preference profiles

Customer behaviour profiles

3/3. How can they get these things without tracking cookies?

Accounts. Dropout has an account system already. As Beacon is a thing now I have to assume Critical Role does as well, therefore this is literally already something they can do without any additional parties getting involved.

URL Query Parameters. So you want to know which of your social media feeds is driving the most traffic to your storefront. You could contract a third-party advertising company to do this for you, but as we have seen this might not be the ideal option. Instead, when posting your links to said feeds, attach a little bit of extra text to the end of the URL link so: becomes or or even These extra bits of information at the end of a URL are query parameters, and act as a way for the client to specify some instructions for the server when sending a request. In effect, a URL with query parameters allows the client to say to the server “I want this thing under these conditions”. The benefit of this approach is, of course, that you actually know precisely what information is being collected (the stuff in the parameters) and precisely what is being done with it, and you’ve avoided exposing any of your user data to third parties.

Internal data collection. Optionally associate a user’s email address with their preferences on the site. Prompt them to do this whenever they purchase anything or do any action that might benefit from having some saved preference, informing them explicitly when you do so and giving them the opportunity to opt-out.

Internal data collection. The same as above, but let the user know you are also tracking their movements while on your site. You can directly track user behaviour down to every single mouse movement if you really want to—again, no need to get an outside party involved to snoop on your fans. But you shouldn’t do that because it’s a little creepy!

At the end of the day, it will of course be more work to set up and maintain these things, and thus it will inevitably be more expensive—but that discrepancy in expense represents profit that these companies are currently making on the basis of violating their fans’ right to privacy.

6/7. Breaking the Law

The data subject shall have the right to object, on grounds relating to his or her particular situation, at any time to processing of personal data concerning him or her [...] The controller shall no longer process the personal data unless the controller demonstrates compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override the interests, rights and freedoms of the data subject or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. Where personal data are processed for direct marketing purposes, the data subject shall have the right to object at any time to processing of personal data concerning him or her for such marketing, which includes profiling to the extent that it is related to such direct marketing. Where the data subject objects to processing for direct marketing purposes, the personal data shall no longer be processed for such purposes. At the latest at the time of the first communication with the data subject, the right referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be explicitly brought to the attention of the data subject and shall be presented clearly and separately from any other information. — General Data Protection Regulation, Art. 21

Nobody wants to break the law and be caught. I am not accusing anyone of anything and this is just my personal speculation on publicly-available information. I am not a lawyer; I merely make computer go beep-boop. If you have any factual corrections for this or any other section in this document please leave a comment and I will update the text with a revision note. Before I try my hand at the legal-adjacent stuff, allow me to wade in with the tech stuff.

Cookies are sometimes good and sometimes bad. Cookies from someone you trust are usually good. Cookies from someone you don’t know are occasionally bad. But you can take proactive measures against bad cookies. You should always default to denying any cookies that go beyond the “essential” or “functional” categorizations on any website of which you are remotely suspicious. Deny as many cookies as possible. Pay attention to what the cookie pop-ups actually say and don’t just click on the highlighted button: it is usually “Accept All”, which means that tracking and advertising cookies are fair game from the moment you click that button onward. It is illegal for companies to arbitrarily provide you a worse service for opting out of being tracked (at least it is in the EU and California).

It is my opinion (and again, I am not a legal professional, just a web developer, so take this with a grain of salt) that the links included in the newsletter emails violate both of these laws. If a user of the email newsletter residing in California or the EU wishes to visit any of the links included in said email without being tracked, they have no way of doing so. None of the actual endpoints are available in the email, effectively forcing the user to go through the third-party domain and submit themselves to being tracked in order to utilize the service they have signed up for. Furthermore, it is impossible to unsubscribe directly from within the email without also submitting to the third-party tracking.

[ID: A screenshot of the unsubscribe button in the CR newsletter alongside the page HTML which shows that the target destination for the anchor element is a trk.klclick.com page. End ID.]

As a brief aside: Opening the links in a private/incognito window is a good idea, but will not completely prevent your actions from being tracked by the advertiser. My recommendation: install uBlock Origin to warn you of tracking domains (it is a completely free and open-source project available on most major web browsers), and do not click on any links in either of these newsletters until they change their practices.

Now, it may be the case that the newsletters are shipped differently to those residing in California or the EU (if you are from either of these regions please feel free to leave a comment on whether or not this is the case), but ask yourself: does that make this any better? Sure, maybe then Critical Role and Dropout (or rather, the advertising companies they contract with) aren’t technically breaking the law, but it shows that the only thing stopping them from exploiting your personal data is potential legal repercussions, rather than any sort of commitment to your right to privacy. But I expect that the emails are not, in fact, shipping any differently in jurisdictions with more advanced privacy legislation—it wouldn’t be the first time a major tech giant blatantly flaunted EU regulations.

Without an additional browser extension such as uBlock Origin, a user clicking on the links in these emails may not even be aware that they have interacted with the advertising agency at all, let alone what sort of information that agency now has pertaining to them, nor do they have any ability to opt out of this data collection.

For more information about your right to privacy—something that only those living in the EU or California currently have—you can read explanations of the legislations at the following links (take note that these links, and all of the links embedded in this paper, are anchored directly to the destinations they purport to be, and do not sneakily pass through an additional domain before redirecting you):

7/7. Conclusion

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by neglect, ignorance or incompetence. —Hanlon’s Razor

The important thing to make clear here is this: Even if Critical Role and Dropout are not directly selling or exploiting your personal data, they are still profiting off of it by contracting with, and receiving services from, companies whom I believe are. You may not believe me.

I do not believe that the management teams at Critical Role and Dropout are evil or malicious. Ignorance seems to be the most likely cause of this situation. Someone at some marketing company told them that this type of thing was helpful, necessary, and an industry standard, and they had no reason to doubt that person’s word. Maybe that person had no reason to doubt the word of the person who told them. Maybe there are a few people in that chain, maybe quite a few. I do not expect everyone running a company to be an expert in this stuff (hell, I’m nowhere close to being an expert in this stuff myself—I only happened to notice this at all because of a browser extension I just happened to have installed to block ads), but what I do expect is that they change their behaviour when the potential harms of their actions have been pointed out to them, which is why I have taken the time to write this.

PS. To the employees of Critical Role and Dropout

It is my understanding that these corporations were both founded with the intention of being socially responsible alongside turning a profit. By using services like the ones described above, you are, however unintentionally, profiting off of the personal datasets of your fans that are being compiled and exploited without their informed consent. You cannot say, implicitly or explicitly, “We’re not like those other evil companies! We care about more than just extracting as much money from our customers as possible!” while at the same time utilizing these services, and it is my hope that after reading this you will make the responsible choice and stop doing so.

Thank you for reading,

era

Originally Published: 23 May 2024

Last Updated: 28 May 2024

[mymelody-sapphic]

Hey boo 💚

As a black, stone femme lesbian, I can’t speak to the experience of being a butch but I can say that I don’t think your actions or references are quite as dangerous or damaging as the anon made them out to be.

It’s true that many lesbians, bisexuals, pansexual etc don’t quite know how to treat butches at times and have been very cruel to them in the past, but I do think that the anon came less from a place of correction than a place of unaddressed pain and fear.

I also think that there truly is a distinction between the us American idea of feminine masculinity vs a nonamerican version. That is neither good nor bad, it simply is. Different cultures associate different traits with femininity. To refuse to acknowledge the differences is to ignore a fascinating and vast array of gender expressions that are unique to various cultures all around the world.

With that in mind, I don’t think it wise to gatekeep the idea of femme vs masc to just being within a lesbian space since bisexuality and pansexuality have plenty of space for non-normative gender expression within them. A more butch-presenting female-identifying person could very well have attraction to both mascs and femmes, but that doesn’t make them less Bi. This gatekeeping also keeps up the tradition of Bi-erasure and unblurs the non-binary line in all of this.

I think this anon has been hurt very badly by a lot of people and deserves all the kindness and understanding in the world, but I don’t think that your words were particularly damaging in and of themselves.

Then again, I am not a butch, so please take my views with a MASSIVE grain of salt.

hi! thank you for your time really 🩷 i really appreciate it and i do agree with what you say. i actually wanted to hear the opinion of femme lesbians since the main discussion is about the term and leaving femmes out of this conversation would be so wrong.

and yes even though the concepts of feminity/masculinity withing the queer community do have similarities mainly bc colonization we have to acknowledge that terms, concepts and perceptions can also be really different in some aspects when it comes to non white/western cultures and i hope i explained myself well in that sense

still i hope none else feels that offended/hurt by my words because i just want to find a community and make everyone feel as safe and welcome as i’ve felt thanks to others.

[biff-adventurer]

today i met tiny chris

poor wean's da got et by a 'bon. now he wants 'em all dead. wiv' crossy eyes like them as drawed in the picture shows. dinnae get et and ye might be his new da.

he actually made me think about two things - the npcs/people we've helped along the way, and the writing of accents.

it's no secret i gave biff this accent - it tells you he ain't a city slicker but rather a rural boy, it tells you his folks ain't got a lotta money (at least, one would think), and it associates him with a specific cultural/ethnic profile (gaelic, i know/studied a little more about irish than scots so i lean irish)

i think we should, as a society, be wary of continuing to associate class with specific ethnic communities, but i'm not learned enough to make a post dedicated to my specific thoughts on that (yet? tbd)

mostly, i think it's important to look at the way characters speak as a vehicle of writing. when you write a character's accent, is it useful for what you're trying to establish in the scene? is the noble supposed to fail to understand the vernacular of his server? is it useful if the character is always going to say "dinnae" instead of "do not"? when dealing with non-western characters with accents, how far is it okay to go until the dialogue goes from representation to racist charicature?

writers have the power of flexibility. writing is about persuasion more than anything else, and we should remember to persuade our audiences that these are people. they aren't real, so don't bother with "realistic" - but they represent real ideas, concepts and associations in our world. it's important to be careful what you do with these, intended or not! and if you make an oopsie? acknowledge, accept and continue on your journey to being your best.

my preferences for writing accents based on my experiences, observations and education lean thus:

pick and choose what words require emphasis. if the whole sentence requires it, then so be it! but make conscious choices. words weigh differently, and they carry double the weight when they're written out to represent an accent. just really think about whether or not this is the point you want to say to, t', ta, or tae. the whole sentence doesn't need to be written out phonetically b/c avoiding doing that helps us steer clear of reiterating caricatures.

include culturally specific verbiage. "what's the craic" or "how's it hangin'" depending on who your character is. in india, lots of people greet each other with religious phrases (in english, it'd sound like saying "god is good"/"good is god" call and response) - so a thavnairian character could say anything between "sisters be with you" to "mindhurva guide your path today" (and also yours, brother/sister). but also: wain, wean, child, sweetling,

be careful which non-english words your character uses. i don't call it chai tea latte, i call it chai latte. my wife doesn't call it green tea latte, but matcha latte. i actually don't drink chai latte, i drink chai. but i call it both chai and tea interchangeably; so, when i want someone to know how to prepare my tea, i might ask for chai instead of tea. because with chai, you get half or whole base milk instead of water. you get dried ginger or an array of spices depending on the auntie. with tea, you get dried up leaves and some hot water. big difference for me.

above all, make sure it's legible most of the time. you can do this by avoiding writing a character's accent out completely phonetically. this isn't to say "conform your character to what people think they should talk like". this is about being aware that writing implies an audience. if you want your writing to connect with people, the important parts should be clearly communicated in the text. especially if you're writing in english. if i wanted my characters to speak hindi, why would i bother writing the story in english at all? you want people to see your character a specific way. write them the way you hope they'll be seen--if you've done a good enough job, it will lead to so much joy and satisfaction. if you haven't--it's back to the drawing board! but you get the chance to learn even more.

[aronarchy]

Anarchist Studies, Volume 14, Issue 1, pp. 84–91 2006

Research Note: Αναρχία—What did the Greeks actually say?

URI GORDON

Doctoral Candidate in Politics University of Oxford uri.gordon@mansf.ox.ac.uk

ABSTRACT

This article examines a range of uses to which the word “anarchy” and its derivations were put in ancient Greek sources. Perhaps not surprisingly, the majority of instances indicate that the negative application of the word as a synonym for confusion and disorder was prevalent from ancient times. However, there are also several eminently political uses, which are quite telling in their prefiguration of contemporary anarchist values—namely the Athenians’ reference to 404 BC as the “year of anarchy”; the uses of the word by Plato and Aristotle in their critiques of democracy; and the association of anarchy with the defiant actions of Antigone in the plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles.

The ancient Greek origin of the word “anarchy” is a matter of common knowledge, and it has become a predictable convention to mention it at the outset of almost any discussion of anarchism as a political movement in the modern era. At the same time, as far as I am aware, no one has ever looked at the actual functioning of the word in classical sources. Instead, anarchist and non-anarchist commentators alike have inevitably satisfied themselves with second-hand exercises in Greek etymology, removing the word from its discursive context and ignoring the complex array of meanings it had for ancient writers. What I propose here, then, is to give attention to the actual uses to which the word was put in classical Greek. As I think will become immediately clear, such an exercise is of more than a merely historical interest.

Greek political culture revolved around citizenship in the polis, the city-state form that dominated political organization in the Hellenic world form the archaic period (c.800 BC) to the strong-armed unification of Greece under Alexander the Great (356–323 BC). Due in part to the peninsula’s geographic conditions, which meant that many settlement-clusters developed in relative isolation, poleis bringing together hundreds of farming households were largely self-sufficient and enjoyed economic and political autonomy for centuries. The typical Greek polis was a complex hierarchical society, with chattel slavery in agricultural households serving as its economic base. Sharply separated from domestic life was the citizen body, in which a certain rough equality obtained among male property owners. Citizenship was not necessarily “democratic”—in Sparta, all soldiers/citizens belonged to an assembly that elected a ruling council, which had legislative authority and advised the King. But in whatever form, the ideal of citizenship in a united political community seems to have been universally accepted by all literate classes. The polis itself was a matter for collective pride and was valued beyond question as the hallmark of the superiority of Greek civilization to the lifestyles of surrounding “barbarian” tribes. (See the bibliography for some further reading on the history and character of Greek political societies.)

Given the pervasive currency of this worldview, it is perhaps not surprising that, as T. A. Sinclair notes, “there was no philosophy of anarchy in Greek political theory.”[1] There are some possible exceptions to this observation: there were Cynics such as Antisthenes (a pupil of Socrates, c.444–365 BC) and his own pupil Diogenes of Sinope (412–323 BC), who looked with disdain on conventional values, wealth and social status, and who would have seen government as opposed to a life in full accordance with nature. Unfortunately only small fragments of Cynic writings have survived, but their ideas are thought to have later influenced Zeno of Citium (333–264 BC), founder of Stoicism, “who distinctly opposed his conception of a free community without government to the state-utopia of Plato… repudiated the omnipotence of the state, its intervention and regimentation, and proclaimed the sovereignty of the moral law of the individual.”[2] However, the Cynics’ purism drove them to oppose any organised intervention in politics, making their “anarchism” philosophical at best. While the ease with which later developments in Stoicism were appropriated for the peace of mind of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (121–180 AD) shows that its anarchist resonances were neither obvious nor perennial. Finally, neither Cynics nor Stoics are known to have used the actual concept “anarchy.”

Surprisingly, the entire corpus of electronically surveyable literature in ancient Greek contains only 47 instances of the word “anarkhia” or its derivations.[3] Compared to 549 instances of “demokratia” and 422 of “oligarkhia” in the same database, the word does not seem to have occupied a significant place in the literary vocabulary of the time. Among these 47 instances, moreover, the majority of cases employ the word just as many non-anarchists might do today—as a catch-all synonym for confusion, disorder, tumult and license. Thus in the play Hecuba by Euripides (c.480–406 BC), the heroine, fearing for her daughter’s body, says that “the mob knows no restraint, and the unruliness [anarkhia] of sailors exceeds that of fire.”[4] Another playwright, Aeschylus (c.525–456 BC), has his Clytaemnestra (wife of king Agamemnon, who fought against Troy) recalling the warning that “the mob’s anarchic will [dêmothrous anarkhia] might overturn the Council.”[5] While the historian Thucydides (c.460–395 BC) attributes the military failures of the Syracusans in part to “the troops’ disorder [asyntakton anarkhian].”[6] The same type of usage is also found in the historical work of Herodotus (c.484–430 BC), as well as with later Greek-writing historians such as Diodorus Siculus (fl.50 AD) and Flavius Josephus (c.37–100 AD). We can thus see that, far from being a subsequent “corruption,” the negative and condemnatory connotations of the word anarchy have burdened it from earliest times.

Let us look, however, at other cases from ancient Greece in which the word anarchy is used in a more distinctly political sense. There is, for instance, the single occasion when a Hellenic population appears to have matter-of-factly used the word to refer to its own situation: the Athenian “year of anarchy,” 404 BC. This is something of a curiosity, since the circumstances of that year were anything but anarchic. As a matter of fact, Athens was at the time under the very strong rule of an oligarchy—The Thirty—installed by the Spartans following their victory in the second Peloponesian war of that same year. Moreover, there was literally an Archon in place, installed by the oligarchs, in the person of Pythodorus. However, according to the historian Xenophon (c.430–355 BC), the Athenians refused to apply here their custom of calling the year by that archon’s name, since he was elected during the oligarchy, and “preferred to speak of it as the year of ‘anarchy.’”[7] Despite its counter-intuitive appearance, this first popular application of the word anarchy is very telling. It resonates with a mass symbolic defiance, refusing the recognition that a ruler was supposed to receive in everyday language. It was this defiance which led to the restoration of democracy in Athens the following year.

Democracy, of course, was far from a positive ideal for the great political theorists of ancient Greece, Plato and Aristotle. And it was always in the context of discussing democracy that they made their rare uses of the word anarchy—making for the close association between the two concepts which would prevail well into the modern era.[8] The two philosophers’ famous mistrust of democracy, rooted in their contempt for popular power of any kind, was expressed in their arguments for democracy’s inherent vulnerability and its preponderance to deteriorate into tyranny. However, it should be noticed that what enabled Plato to present such arguments in the Republic was the complete detachment of his account of democracy from the realities of such systems of government, in Athens and elsewhere. Nowhere does his description reflect the constitution that sentenced his mentor Socrates to death, the structured, lawful and impeccably stratified Hellenic democracy. Instead, we find an account that comes very close to what we might intuitively call anarchy, though for Plato this is an entirely negative affair. In democracy, he says, there is no enforceable political authority or stability of the state, “no necessity… for you to govern… even if you have the capacity, or to be governed, unless you like, or to go to war when the rest go to war, or to be at peace when others are at peace, unless you are so disposed.”[9] This portrayal is what sets the ground for Plato’s account of such a state’s subsequent deterioration into tyranny. Democracy in his view makes for far too much equality. It loosens what Plato considered to be the natural hierarchy and authority obtaining between slave and master, man and woman, parent and child. His allegorical youngster’s soul, divided between an oligarchical self and a democratic self, is besieged by the corrupting and evil influence of the latter. Democracy causes the soul to “drink too deeply from the strong wine of freedom,” breeding desires whose false councils introduce “insolence and anarchy and waste and impudence hymning their praises and calling them by sweet names; insolence they term breeding, and anarchy liberty [anarkhian de eleutherian], and waste magnificence, and impudence courage.” So pervasive is the corruption that “anarchy finds a way into the private houses, and ends by getting among the animals and infecting them.”[10] In order to avoid the dangers of anarchy, Plato concludes that habits of dominance and obedience must be instilled deeply into the soul of the individual. “This task of ruling, and being ruled by, others must be practised in peace from earliest childhood; but anarchy must be utterly removed from the lives of all mankind, and of the beasts also that are subject to man.”[11]

It is important to note that, for Plato, anarchy is never a distinct class of political association. Since the concept is entirely subsumed into his discussion of democracy, it is not understood as requiring a separate theoretical category alongside oligarchy, tyranny, democracy, etc. Nevertheless, Plato’s account does supply us with an important understanding about anarchy that remains intact regardless of his crusade against it. This is that anarchy represents not merely the lack of government conceived as statelessness, but also the thorough erosion of rank in non-governmental spheres—between classes, age-groups and genders.

Aristotle’s association of anarchy with democracy is essentially identical to although his depiction thereof is never as colourful. The concept appears again as a form of democratic deterioration, but in keeping with Aristotle’s method it is appropriately situated in empirical observations rather than in metaphorical speculation. In democracies such as Thebes and Syracuse, we are told, the upper classes were motivated to stage a coup by their contempt for the prevailing “disorder and anarchy [ataxias kai anarkhias]” in the affairs of the state.[12] Also, in many cases the nobles will form factions with one another, and create them among the masses, “and so bring about a suspension of government [anarkhian].”[13] Alternately, in a tyranny Aristotle sees “democratic” features, namely “license among slaves” [anarkhia te doulôn] as well as among women and children. “A constitution of this sort,” he concludes, “will have a large number of supporters, as disorderly living [zên ataktôs] is pleasanter to the masses than sober living.”[14] Aristotle, like Plato, was not interested in delineating anarchy as a separate political form. However, unlike Plato, he is able to see anarchy as more than an abstractly corrupting influence, since its connection with democracy portrays it as desirable by the masses, and even as an implicit goal of popular insurrection.

The explicit connection of anarchy with a conscious human will appears only twice in classical Greek literature. This is perhaps the most intriguing example since, although penned by two different authors over a gap of several decades, they both refer to the same act by the same person. If we are looking for the first-ever anarchist, here she is:

Antigone: I at least will say something to the rulers of the Cadmeans: even if no one else is willing to share in burying him I will bury him alone and risk the peril of burying my own brother. Nor am I ashamed to act in defiant opposition [apiston tênd’anarkhian] to the rulers of the city. A thing to be held in awe is the common womb from which we were born, of a wretched mother and unfortunate father. Therefore, my soul, willingly share his evils, even though they are unwilling, and live in kindred spirit with the dead. No hollow-bellied wolves will tear his flesh, let no one “decree” that! Even though I am a woman, I will myself find the means to give him burial and a grave, carrying the earth in the fold of my linen robe. With my own hands I will cover him over—let no one “decree” it otherwise. Take heart, I will have the means to do it.[15]

In the person of Antigone, a long-standing inspiration to feminists, we also find a clear prefiguration of two of the most important concepts attached to anarchist practice in its contemporary idiom: disobedience and direct action. First, Antigone openly refuses to abide by the rulers’ decree to leave her brother Polyneices’ body unburied, as punishment for his participation in the attack on Thebes. She asserts that the bond of siblings born of a common womb stands above the authority of political powers, and rejects the legitimacy of any decree that transgresses this bond. While her appeal to values that stand above the law as a justification for her actions is by no means an exclusively anarchist refrain, and while on some interpretations these values are themselves grounded in a form of authority—the higher authority of the gods—it is the disobedient and insubordinate character of her action that she, in her own words, associates with anarchy. It should also be remembered that it was only in recent decades that the notion of justified, “civil” disobedience to the law acquired popular moral legitimacy. In earlier times, including those of the anarchist movement in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the distinction between contingent and wholesale (i.e. anarchist) rejection of political authority was not as clear as it is today.

Second, we find in Antigone’s speech a striking example of the concept of direct action. She has no intention of appealing to the authorities in order to convince them of the immorality or illegitimacy of their decree, but rather takes that illegitimacy as her starting point, and sets about to take matters into her own hands and create by herself the alternate reality that she desires. Aeschylus, we may also note, has his chorus openly endorse Antigone’s defiance at the close of the play. Whatever action the authorities might take against her, they say, “We, at all events, will go and bury him with her, following the funeral procession. For this grief is shared by all our race, and the city approves, as just, different things at different times.”[16]

Picking up the narrative in Antigone, Sophocles has the autocrat Creon warn his son Heimon (who is also Antigone’s lover) of the dangers of her intended action:

Creon: There is no evil worse than disobedience [anarkhias de meizon ouk estin kakon]. This destroys cities; this overturns homes; this breaks the ranks of allied spears into headlong rout. But the lives of men who prosper upright, of these obedience has saved the greatest part. Therefore we must defend those who respect order, and in no way can we let a woman defeat us.[17]

Again the translator has well chosen to reflect the disobedient core of anarchy, whereas Sophocles himself cleverly exposes here the ambiguity and half-heartedenss of all rulers’ moralistic declamations in defence of obedience and authority. Is the issue here really the potential damage to the collectivity of such an act of disobedience going unpunished? Or is it rather the danger that such an example of defiance would posit to the stability of power itself and, even more poignantly, to the principle of male supremacy?

To be sure, neither the classical Greek nor any other historical antecedents of the uses of the word anarchy should have any deciding influence on how we might understand the concept today. However, the foregoing analysis of the ancient literature does lead to two significant conclusions about the discourse surrounding the word. First, we can see that the negative connotations of anarchy with disorder and confusion have been widespread from the very beginning, as evident in the first citations I offered. This shows how deep-seated are the preconceptions which anarchists have had to deal with when re-articulating the word as a positive ideal. Second, we can see that despite these widespread connotations, some writers were capable of understanding anarchy as an eminently political concept—even if it had an entirely negative role in their writing. Moreover, these political formulations of anarchy already contain, in their most ancient form, the notions of social equality, popular resistance and disobedience to power which anarchists associate with their project to this day.

Acknowledgements: My thanks to Dimitrios Kyritsis and Juan Coderch for verifying Greek translations.

NOTES

Sinclair (1951:83).

Kropotkin (1910), Marshall (1992:68–71).

The figures here are taken from the comprehensive database of the Perseus Digital Library at Tufts University.

Euripides, Hecuba II.606–8.

Thucydides, The Peloponesian War, bk.6 ch.7 §4.

Aeschylus, Agamemnon, II.883–4.

Xenophon, Hellenica, bk.2 ch.3 §1.

Before Pierre Joseph Proudhon became the first to use the word in a positive sense in 1840, “anarchists” was a widespread pejorative for “democrats.” See Williams (1976:37–8).

Plato, Republic, bk.8.

Ibid.

Plato, Laws §942c. Note that here as in the previous citation, Plato seems to be hinting at a continuity between hierarchy among humans and the domesticated state of non-human animals, with anarchy corrupting both. One wonders whether our contemporary anarcho-primitivists would appreciate such a strange bedfellow…

Aristotle, Politics, bk.5 ch.3.

op.cit., bk.2 Ch.10.

op.cit., bk.6 ch.4.

Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes, II.1032–1045. Dated at 467 BC, this also happens to be the earliest recorded use of the a-word.

Ibid., II.1074–1077.

Sophocles, Antigone, II.672–678.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Works cited

Aeschylus 1926. Aeschylus (trans. H. W. Smyth). Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.

Aristotle 1932. Politics (trans. H. Rackham). Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.

Euripides 1938. Hecuba (trans. E. P. Coleridge). New York, Random House.

Kropotkin, P. 1910. “Anarchism,” Encyclopaedia Britannica article.

Marshall, P. 1993. Demanding the Impossible: A history of anarchism. London, Fontana.

Plato 1901. Republic (trans. B. Jowett). New York, P. F. Collier.

Plato 1926. Laws (trans. R.G. Bury). New York, Putnam.

Sinclair, T. A. 1951. A History of Greek Political Thought. London, Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Sophocles 1891. Antigone (trans. R. Jebb). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Thucydides 1910. The Peloponnesian War (trans. R. Crawley). London, Dent.

Williams, Raymond 1976. “Anarchism,” Keywords. London, Fontana.

Xenophon 1985. Hellenica (trans. C.L. Brownson). Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.

2. Background on ancient Greek politics

Andrewes, A. 1971. Greek Society. Harmondsworth, Penguin.

Baslez, M. F. 1994. Histoire politique du monde grec antique. Paris, Nathan.

Brock, R. and S. Hodkinson (eds.) 2000. Alternatives to Athens: Varieties of political organization and community in ancient Greece. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Meier, C. 1990. The Greek discovery of politics. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.

Nielsen, T. H. (ed.) 2004. Once again: Studies in the ancient Greek Polis. Stuttgart, Franz Steiner.

Rhodes, P. (ed.) 2004. Athenian democracy. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.

Sinclair, R. K. 1988. Democracy and participation in Athens. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Starr, Chester G. 1986. Individual and community: The rise of the polis. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

[frogblast-the-ventcore]

The Ciprians

The Royal Republic of Ciprine is the nationstate inhabited by the majority of the Ciprian species. While vaguely resembling avians and largely covered in a metallic carapace, Ciprians are in fact mammalian, giving live birth and nursing their young. Being descended from an arboreal flight capable predator species has given Ciprians traits such as forward-facing eyes, clawed hands, and a prominent array of teeth. They are omnivores, but their dietary needs skew towards requiring a high amount of meat. Their carapace evolved as a form of natural armor, as their primordial ancestors were not at the top of the food chain - while it offers some protection against blunt force trauma and low velocity impacts, the carapace does not protect against small arms fire, either projectile or directed energy based. Ciprians value the ecosystem of their planet, and have become leading galactic experts at preservation and maintenance of planetary climate and terra/xenoformation. Indeed, it was Ciprian technology, after first contact with humanity in 2153, that enabled the reversal of many of the worst effects of climate change on the human homeworld.

Ciprian society is strictly regimented by educational level, with citizenship tiers beginning at 0 (children who have yet to enter schooling), and ending at 27. Ciprian society retains a monarch (styled as Emperor/Empress; seat currently held by Empress Caela VII), who is largely a figurehead, but who retains a small amount of personal power in executive matters. Citizens may gain promotion to higher tiers via exams held by the government every two years. This process is automatic as part of initial public education, but becomes voluntary and semi-competitive once a citizen has exited public education.

In order to display rank and status, Ciprians wear facial markings in a variety of patterns and colors, with different components to denote different aspects of their highest attained educational level.

For a typical Ciprian, markings concentrated on the forehead denote the Ciprian's home city/town/province (thus these are the first marks ever received, even before entering schooling), while the pattern of marks on the cheeks denote the field of study; mandible markings indicate how long one has studied for, and bands on the crest denote scores achieved in each year of education. Jewelry of varying type and expensive is pierced through the mandibles to denote degrees and honors earned. The color and pattern of all but the crest markings denotes a specific educational institution, which each having a specific pattern and color scheme. Ciprians who attend educational institutions outside the boundaries of Ciprian space are not required to have such markings, but over the centuries, an official register of marking colors/patterns has been developed for such educational institutions. Ciprian language also has an extensive list of honorifics used to refer to others by educational level. These terms do not always fully translate into Astral Confederation Standard with their nuance intact, so the Ciprian government takes pains to educate those non-Ciprians whom frequently interact with their people in their proper use and pronunciation (to the degree afforded by their biological structures).

This system of publically marking education levels has led to three specific cultural anecdotes of note - the phenomenon of "bareface", the expression "goldcrest", and the depiction of the Ciprians primary deity.

While there is no legal requirement to wear educational markings past age of maturity, the practice has become so widespread and ingrained in Ciprian lifestyle that someone choosing not to wear markings into adulthood is regarded as an outlier, usually by someone who wishes to hide their educational past, or else have decided that they do not wish to be associated with it any longer. These "barefaced" Ciprians are commonly stereotyped as uneducated or ashamed of their education, nefarious or wishing to hide their education for deceptive purpose, or arrogant and willingfully ignorant of fact (a state of mind somewhat tantamount to blasphemy for most Ciprians).

The expression "goldcrest" relates to the practice of marking out an individual's attained grades on their crests, with bands composed of copper, silver, gold, or platinum colored paint based on what specific grade was achieved on the relevant exams - copper for a passing grade without distinction, silver for an above average grade, and gold for exemplary marks. The rare platinum crest marks are reserved for the single highest scoring individual taking the exam on a regional level. In this context, "Goldcrest" would, literally speaking, refer to a Ciprian with all, or nearly all, gold exam markings, this indicating a high level of knowledge and ability. Figuratively, to be called a "goldcrest" is an extremely positive complement, implying the speaker sees the addressee as someone who is wise and competent to a great degree.

The Emperor/Empress and their immediate family are traditionally the only Ciprians who wear gold face markings. These marks represent education at the Royal Academy of Darvan, which is traditionally and nearly-exclusively open solely to members of the royal family; an intensely competitive lottery process allows a handful of non-royals to attend every year, but graduating is quite difficult and time-consuming. However, no living Ciprian may be allowed to wear platinum marks (save for on the crest in very specific circumstances, as previously mentioned). Full platinum facial markings are considered the sole province of the Ciprian god of creation and knowledge, Sæar'kalan. Often depicted as being entirely covered in a platinum carapace and covered in markings across their body, Sæar'kalan represents the omnipotence of a being who has attained all the knowledge of the universe. Worshipped by the vast majority of the Ciprian people, Sæar'kalan was, according to legend, once a mortal like any other, but attained access to a mythical realm or state of being which granted them all knowledge, past, present, and future, similar to human concepts such as the Akashic records.

To the Ciprians, scientific disiplines, the arts, recordkeeping, and engineering are the most respected professions, as they enable the discovery, expression, safeguarding, and practical use of the knowledge attained by society as a whole. These professions often interweave with each other, leading Ciprians to build devices that are often just as much art pieces as they are practical items. Drawing from their species' arboreal past and use of natural materials, many Ciprian luxury starships are both built and grown, with aerospace-grade wooden hulls grown around metallic structural skeletons, inlaid with natural material accents like marble, gold, leather, and copper.

The Royal Republic became a full Confederation member in 2164, the first species to join after the original seven.

[ut-poppy-fangame]

Devlog: Putting the “Character” in Characters

Howdy folks! Welcome to another devlog, in which we’re going to go into the process of adding an NPC character for the game.

And for our example, we’ll use Paper Frisk, who is a well known part of the main cast. (Paper did not agree to this.)

The first step to adding a character into the game is, of course, getting permission from the original author to put them into the game. Of course, this is sometimes not required, due to some authors allowing people to put their AUs in any project without any permission, but we prefer to have express permission if possible.

So, for re-enactment purposes, we will pretend to ask Fms if they can let us have Paper Frisk in the game. 

*walks in and out of the room* 

Great! It took us 2 years of hard, hair-pulling negotiations, but we finally got the rights.

The process of writing is a process we generally want to do alongside the creators themselves, but we do a fair amount of research into the projects ourselves as well to make sure we don’t make something that’s too out of character. 

This is doubled if we want to make two AU Characters interact with each other— which, we of course do.

Every NPC in the game has several possible reactions to events in the game:

- Standard dialogues, which is talking to them normally- which may not be affected by something else.

- Approaching them while wearing an outfit, which they can comment on.

- Approaching them with a follower (with which they can have a back and forth with).

Of course, if an NPC has a Quest associated with them, that quest takes priority over any dialogue trees. 

But of course, that’s just on the writing side of things— afterwards, it’s a matter of drawing talksprites and overworld sprites for the characters. We generally want to give most characters the ability to look in the direction Poppy’s at.

Some of our ideas also include making characters walk around in the overworld. Not like Earthbound— which featured characters that could randomly walk wherever they pleased, mind you, but enough to make the place feel more alive.

All in all, NPCs in this game should be chockfull of dialogue for people to discover.  With that in mind we also wanted to quickly discuss how characters work on a more technical and lower level side. 

This game is going to have a lot of characters, and we mean A LOT. So it’s very important that our method of handling characters is not only modular, but flexible enough to allow for just about any character to work with very minimal setup. Both non-playable characters and playable characters, in this case just Poppy, all inherit behavior from a singular 'character’ class. In this class we define several properties to easily allow for different behavior to occur. We can have characters follow pre-defined paths in the plaza, as mentioned before. We can also alter the speed at which characters walk and run, we can have characters show a bubble over their head if they play a role in a certain quest, and we can even have characters play certain sounds when they walk around. But most importantly, every character has a Sprite Table...

It’s rather uhhh... non-intuitive to look at first, but let’s break it down a little bit.

We store all of the character’s (in this case Poppy. Thank you for being our guinea pig today, Poppy) main sprites in a 2-Dimensional grid, or a double nested array if you’re familiar with GML.

When we access any sprite in this structure we need to provide 2 indices. In this table, the first index points to the character’s state, so they can be Idle, Walking, or what have you. Our second index points to what direction they’re currently facing, so South, East, North, and West.

Every frame the character is on-screen, their respective table is looked in to based off of their current state and their sprite is updated accordingly. With this system we can account for idle-animations, non-symmetrical character sprites, and sprites of arbitrary sizes, all out of the box and without extra logic.

In a future devlog we will discuss in-depth on how we handle cutscenes and events and how we easily included quite literally hundreds of different dialogue branches and events into the game, and how this system allows us to flesh out our characters and easily allow for so many scenarios. We hope this has been very insightful, and we hope you look forward to our next devlog. - Yoshikins, Lead Programmer

While we’re on the topic of characters, and as a gentle reminder, we have AU submissions for the game open still! So be sure to send your project for our consideration.

- Fms, Lead Director