#of course my exp is not universal

[catgirl-catboy]

Honestly, being an autistic adult is so much better than being an autistic kid/teen.

I rarely ever have meltdowns anymore because I can simply remove myself from situations when I feel overstimulated. I used to have one every other week. When my headphones break, I can just order another pair without having to go to my family for judgement. On bad sensory days, I'm never forced to eat bad foods.

You get so much control and agency over your life and it is great.

To any autistic younglings out there, it does get better.

[sprintingowl]

TTRPGs As Terrariums For Blorbos

One thing that I think isn't covered enough in TTRPG recommendations is styles of play.

There's a lot of "this game has this tone," or "this game is this amount of crunchy," but less "what are you playing towards?"

In games like Microscope and I'm Sorry Did You Say Street Magic? and The Quiet Year, you're playing to see what happens to the setting.

In games like Mork Borg and Into The Odd and Mothership, you're playing to see how far your character can get.

And in a lot of games, you're playing to create a blorbo, an OC, just a little guy, and the soul of the gameplay is the story of who your guy is and who your guy becomes.

This is blorbo style play.

And the thing about styles of play is that you can apply them to any game, even games that aren't really built to enable them. So I wanted to take a moment to shine a spotlight onto some games that do specifically enable you to fully blorb out. (I'll try to cover a mix of genres and tones, but the rpg scene is vast so if you have a favorite that I missed please feel free to shout it out in the replies.)

-Golden Sky Stories. This is the English translation of the Japanese TTRPG Yuuyake Koyake. You play as shapeshifter kids and spirits in a small town and, instead of tracking EXP, the thing that you carry from session to session is your relationships with other characters. The tone of the game is heartwarming, and if combat happens, both sides lose. There can be emotional turmoil, but this isn't a game where you have to worry about bad things happening to your blorbo.

-New World Of Darkness. On the other hand, let's say you *want* bad things to happen to your blorbo. You want to play a guy that's really going through it. If you also like modern supernatural stories, New World Of Darkness was built for you. Characters in NWoD can be entirely non-combat, or a literal werewolf, or a noncombat werewolf. The game places a lot of emphasis on navigating through the setting socially, as its supernatural creatures tend to run in factions and starting a fight usually means making a bunch of enemies.

-Pasion De Las Pasiones. Of course, not everyone wants a fantastical setting. Sometimes good old melodrama is hearty and comforting. Pasion De Las Pasiones is a playable telenovela, and it encourages you to play your characters bold and recklessly. Every class even has a built-in Meltdown, where if you're pushed to the edge they become extra reckless, ensuring a broad fallout of messy drama when they do manage to calm down.

-Cortex System / Unisystem. Perhaps you want to drop your blorbo into an existing fictional universe? But you also want stats and meaty character creation instead of just freeform roleplay? There are easily a dozen games on the Cortex engine, including Supernatural, Firefly, Smallville, Battlestar Galactica, Marvel, and Leverage. And on Unisystem, there's Buffy, Army Of Darkness, as well as a somewhat rare I Can't Believe It's Not Planet Of The Apes.

-Lancer / Gubat Banwa. If you like blorb-y play but still want a heavy side of combat, both of these games have you covered. Lancer has a sprawling scifi universe focused on mech pilots, and Gubat Banwa has a violent and lavish mythological Philippines setting. Both of these games also have stunningly beautiful artwork, so if you like seeing a setting visually come to life, these are for you.

-Fabula Ultima. My final recommendation is also an extremely gorgeous looking game. Fabula Ultima is built on the bones of Ryuutama (itself an excellent travel-fantasy game) to enable meaty, blorby Final Fantasy style campaign play. Combat is a rich and deep option in Fabula Ultima, but so is everything from spellcasting to crafting, and players have built-in resources they can spend to affect the story. If a scene isn't quite going the way you want it to, you can spend a point to nudge it in the right direction. Fabula Ultima also feels extremely complete without being too complicated.

So there you go. Eight options, and that's barely scratching the surface of the sea of blorb-y games (Seventh Sea, Exalted, Blue Rose, Legend Of The Five Rings, Coyote And Crow, Timewatch, Nahual, and more!)

It's also not wrong to play non-blorb-y games in a blorb-y way. Do whatever you're comfortable with! But you might enjoy dipping into these titles.

Finally, if you've read this far and you're somehow still looking for MORE recommendations, I wrote this game about runaway changelings trying to find their place in the world, and it's probably the blorbiest in my catalog.

[jennsterjay]

Prowler Hobie x Miles

Miles calls this Hobart 'Hobs' instead of Hobie. 'Hobie' occasionally slips out though

They are both from Miles' universe (Earth-1610B)

----

P-Hobie: Do you think there are other universes out there? Do you think there are people out there like me?

Miles becomes quiet as he flashbacks to thinking about fighting his uncle, fighting his alternate universe Prowler self, and running from the Spider Society after getting freed by Hobie Brown

P-Hobie nudges him.

"Ay Miles, you aight?…" P-Hobie says and looks at him with concern

"Yeah…there are other universes. But be careful what you wish for"

Prowler Hobie sees Miles looking up at the sky for a long while, then sits down with him on the rooftop and puts his arm around his shoulders.

"Ok man"

Maybe one day Miles will tell him

----

They see each other at Visions and Miles avoids him until he's suddenly pulled into an empty classroom by Hobart with no one around

Miles: What do you want man!?

P-Hobie: A Truce

Miles: A truce?

P-Hobie: Yeah, a truce. No Spider/Prowler fighting at school, deal?

He holds out his hand to Miles. Miles half sighs out of relief and annoyance but grips and shakes his hand anyways

Miles: Deal

P-Hobie: Cool

Miles: Cool

P-Hobie:

Miles:

Miles: You can let go of my hand now?

P-Hobie (lets it go while looking to the side to hide his embarrassed expression): You right, my fault. See you round Spider-nerd.

Miles: It's Spider-Man!

But P-Hobie has already left the classroom. At least Miles has one less thing to worry about.

----

Eventually Hobs winds up showing up at his dorm window every once in a blue moon to give vague tips and information that become useful to Spider-Man in the long run. At first it freaked Miles (and Ganke) out, but then they get used to him showing up sometimes because he doesn't rat Miles out or present himself as a threat. He's also used to other Spiders randomly popping into his dorm like Gwen or Pavitr.

It all comes to a crossroads while Miles is lounging on his bunk bed above and Ganke is laying down playing his OLED Nintendo Switch below when they hear a sound at their window. It's Hobs.

Miles jumps down and let's P-Hobie in through the window at the same time he hears a portal opening in his dorm, and you're not gonna believe this. Boots hit the ground and the faint sound of a guitar fills the air, as out of the portal comes none other than Hobie Brown. Spider-Punk.

Hobie: Oi Miles! It's been a while, you wanna crash at my place and play some jam-

Hobie then looks around at Ganke's expression, then at Miles' surprised face as he's still holding hands with Hobs after helping him in through the window, then he looks over at the teen, the counterpart himself, Hobart Brown with an even more surprised expression before trying to cover it up with a nonchalant look. He fails of course.

Hobie: Well look at who we have 'ere

Hobs: So…you're me?

Hobie: Looks like it mate

Hobs: And you're…

Hobie (walks to Miles side and faces Hobs, then holds out a hand): Spider-Punk

Hobs: Spider-Punk? That's- That's cool man

Hobie: Cheers, and you?

Hobs (shakes his hand firmly): Hobs…but you can call me The Prowler

Hobie eyes him for a millisecond with a neutral expression before changing back to his usual laidback persona

Hobie: Hah, been there myself. Nice dreads.

Hobs (somewhat suspicious): Thanks

Miles: Hobie.. what do you mean you've 'been there yourself?'

Hobie (nuggies Miles): Oi don't worry about all that, I see you can't get enough of me

Miles (looks up at Hobie with a smile): Oh please! Yall are two different people

Hobs (looks at Hobie up and down with a neutral expression): Heh you right about that

It's not like a cooler version of him just appeared out of thin air and started messing with and hugging on Miles. It's not like he's jealous or anything.

Ganke: Now there's two of em. If one of em breaks my computer again you're paying for it this time bro

Hobie: Oi I fixed it last time though didn't I, even upgraded it myself

Ganke: It exploded a month later and started a fire, we had to change dorm rooms!

Hobie: And now you have a better view! See all well that ends well

Hobs actually laughs at that and Hobie smirks. Looks like they're the same in every universe.

[infernal-heart]

Cannot stop thinking about your post on the similarities between the judgement hall and the school. I was wondering if you could elaborate on more thoughts on that? Or I guess, who do you think would be the ‘judge’ in deltarune?

I absolutely can elaborate, yeah. Beyond the birds that I mentioned in the original post, the school in the afternoon specifically is, like the judgement hall, quiet. It’s almost eerily so. You and Susie are alone in this place, and I think it nails the atmosphere really well. Which is to say, it recontextualizes the same atmosphere we know (walking up to Sans in the judgement hall in UT, getting the speech about LV and EXP. But of course, more memorably, the Bad Time quote) aka one of relative dread, to one that is overtly… peaceful.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think it’s eerie. Any space alone is, but after all of Chapter 1, you’re left alone in this near-silent space. But it isn’t oppressive. It isn’t angry, or dangerous. It’s just… lonely. Isolated.

Uncanny is the word I’m looking for. Of course, devoid of the context of the UT Judgement Hall, I think a lot of the power of the atmosphere is lost. But with that context, with the foreknowledge of such a pivotal place in the story of that game, one naturally asks oneself: “What’s the connection here? Why is this place calling my mind back to the judgement hall?”.

Of course, I can’t definitively explain that because I’m not Toby, but I can guess. The end of the chapter(s) is itself important story moments, points of downtime. And, crucially, moments where important things happen. While comparing the story of DT and UT is probably meaningless, I think it bears some weight that right after you are in an environment eerily and intentionally similar to Judgement Hall, you are given the game’s first look into a shakeup of the traditional rules or formula. In UT, Asgore breaks your mercy button. In DT, the end of Chapter 1 shows us the first clear indication that something is awry between Kris and the Soul. Something to consider.

Backpedaling for a moment, the comparison between the school and the judgement hall isn’t just, y’know, musical or audio-based: this environment does literally look like the judgement hall. The yellow, checkered flooring, the light coming in through the windows. It’s very, very reminiscent, and as I’ve said many times at this point, Toby clearly meant this.

(Also, point of intrigue that is not entirely relevant to this discussion, but is interesting: the Dark World closet door looks suspiciously similar to a number of doors in the True Lab)

But I digress.

As for who I think a “judge” might be…

I think if there were one mechanically, we’d probably have to wait until near the end of DT as a whole to see. Given Sans/the Judgement Hall’s placement in undertale, if there were an analog to that in DT, we probably aren’t far enough along in the story to have seen them.

However.

I think that the Secret Bosses (Jevil and Spamton so far) serve a similar purpose as Sans narratively in DT that he did in UT.

Sans was written to be a very rounded character. He was never important, and that was the point: he’s a watcher, really. A judge. He takes the sum of what you’ve done, and displays it to you in a succinct package, both during the Judgement Hall sequence and the post-neutral run phone calls. He serves as almost a summary to the player, an in-universe perspective on what your actions mean for others. And, of course, his role as a Judge (being almost reactive to your own as player) takes on a new meaning in the no-mercy/kill everything run, being your final challenge before world domination, and universal destruction. He puts up a good fight, as we all know. But he isn’t doing it because he wants to kill you: he knows he doesn’t truly have that power. As Sans says himself, he is trying to make you bored. Stopping you by being such an inconvenience that you, the player, will give up. That is to say, he knows more than most of the cast either lets on (Papyrus may have a similar level of timeline-knowledge, I don’t know enough about it to say for sure) or genuinely is aware of.

That’s the key point of similarity: Sans serves the role of somebody (other than Flowey, the main villain) who, in some part, understands your actions and your agency. He’s somebody to bounce off of, I think.

And this is reflected in the secret bosses, most obviously in Spamton. He is, in the end, the single character we have met in DT who understands Kris and their relationship with the Soul (aside from MAYBE Noelle in Snowgrave but. It’s just speculation at that point I think). He is himself a puppet, and recognizes Kris as a kindred spirit, somebody bound to their strings as he is. Both the bosses, him and Jevil, share one attribute with eachother: amongst other things, they seek or believe themselves to be “Free”. Jevil believes he is the only one outside the cage, that he can do anything he wishes. Spamton yearns for freedom, to be cut from his strings and let loose. He wants your Soul because he knows it can set him free from his strings.

All of that is to prove what I said before: that in UT, Sans, and in DT, Jevil and Spamton, are almost… reflections of the player. I hesitate to use the word foils, but I think one could make a case for it.

All of that aside, if I had to guess, from our current list of characters, who a “Judge” might be?

My inclination is to say Susie. I think it would be impactful writing-wise to have her, a character Kris actively works at being friends with during chapter 1 and 2, end up being a force of karmic confrontation in regards to the actions of the player.

But if we’re thinking about this in terms of Sans’ role in UT, the “judge” character probably won’t be particularly central to the plot, and Susie absolutely is. Maybe Asriel? As a character established in his UT incarnation to have an understanding of timeline malarkey, and as the closest thing to a peer within that game to the player, he could provide a good way of being that in-universe perspective of karma that Sans was in UT.

I’m also somewhat apprehensive about him, though, given how important he is to Kris, and how important him coming to visit from college will/would be.

Again, I don’t think any Judge character (if we’re going off of a similar framework as Sans) will be somebody crucial to the story.

But I could be wrong. Ralsei presents a compelling case, I think, because he also knows something is up with Kris and the soul. We see both in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, each time we (the player) shift perspectives from Kris to Susie, we return to Kris just as Ralsei finishes talking with them. It’s suspicious. It’s intriguing. It’s never touched upon, never mentioned at all, but it is an element of the story that I think will be important going forward. If anybody is to confront the Soul, other than Kris, I think it will be Ralsei, or maybe some plan put in motion by Ralsei.

Not that I think Ralsei is, like, oooh an evil mastermind and all that like some theories do. But he’s… smart. Smarter than he lets on. And he absolutely knows more than he gives willingly. (As a side note, even before thinking about him in this capacity, on my first Chapter 2 playthrough, I got weird vibes from Ralsei. The changed sprite, and a few instances of changed demeanor seemed… off, to me. Something has absolutely changed about him between chapters).

I’ll leave this post off with one more thing that I’m sure you’re well aware of at this point:

The Bunker.

The only other location with the sound of birds from the Judgement hall.

The only other specific location with a direct audio link to Undertale.

And the one place, I’d say, most associated with Gaster in the Deltarune world.

It’s this. This sort of thing, this kind of mystery, that I love Deltarune (and Undertale) for.

Why are the same birds out here, and (to my knowledge), nowhere else but the school?

Why is Gaster’s Entry 17 emanating, like a dying cry, from behind the closed doors, and beneath the earth?

Why does the sound of the birds cut out when you approach the bunker, leaving you in total silence but for the ragged memory of something you were never supposed to see?

That’s the question, I suppose. And the questions that I love to think about in UT and DT.

Gods, I love the mysteries in these games.

[schizosupport]

one time during a psychotic episode I was convinced I had did / was part of a system. I experienced what I perceived as switches and such. when I started getting better I realized that wasn't what was happening. it was very real to me while it was happening though and im just wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar. I feel bad because I dont wanna be one of those people who fakes did, but thats really not what I was doing, and I dont know how to put it in a context that doesn't make me feel bad about it. sometimes I miss who I thought of as alters at the time but I suppose were really just. delusional headspaces.

Hey there!!

Ok so I think it's important to add the context to my answer, that I have a different approach to/understanding of these questions than both many people in the respective communities, as well as many professionals. Nevertheless, since I'm not writing a research paper, but rather, providing a personal take on the question, I hope that you will bear with me!

So in my somewhat radical opinion, it doesn't much matter whether you experienced what you did because of DID or because of a delusion caused by psychisis.

Alters, as well as delusions, are products of the mind. It doesn't mean that delusions don't FEEL real, it doesn't mean that alters don't truly experience themselves as separate entities, but it IS worth keeping in mind that one of these experiences is not inherently more "valid" than the other.

Delusions are often of a negative, harmful nature, while alters are often a helpful coping tool, but that is FAR from being a universal rule.

I used to think I had something like OSDD, then a psych convinced me the 'others' were delusions of control (and as a result for a while I suppose they were), but today we just kind of co-exist somewhere on the border between psychosis, identity compartmentalization, ipseity disturbance, dissociation, method acting as coping and general identity confusion..

After years of wading through the professional and community discourse, on my own personal journey with the topic, this is what I think:

It seems to me that the discourse surrounding the acceptable causes of identity dissociation and amnesia in DID/OSDD, has ended up with a situation where DID identity compartmentalization is seen as the only "real" aka "valid" experience of identity fragmentation.

It would appear that this debate, which to me seems largely to be a matter of categorization and definition, has been warped to the point where people like you end up feeling bad for having been "faking DID" while in fact you have done no such thing, and furthermore having your legitimate grief at the loss of people/alters YOU experienced as real, be invalidated and belittled (by yourself, if not others).

Anon, I'm sorry for your loss. Jesus fuck, I'm sorry. Who cares what the others "really were" or "why they're gone"... You experienced them as people in your life, people you had relationships with, people you could rely on - ofc it hurts to lose them.

Of course you are grieving.

"Just delusional headspaces" is such a telling turn of phrase, and it breaks my heart. It really does.

So often we psychotic people are expected to be "over it" the moment we are not actively delusional. As if we don't get traumatized when we think we are going to be killed. As if we don't grieve the relationship we built completely in our head, when it turns out not to be 'real'?

Identity.. personality.. headspaces.. they are no more real or no more fake dependent on their underlying cause..

I understand why the dissociative community are protective of their alters, I understand the need to say "this is not psychosis! These experiences are real!" ... I truly do, and I don't think it's a meaningless distinction, either.

But it's setting up a false dichotomy. Because the truth is that ultimately both delusions and alters are a thing the brain does. It's not THE SAME THING, but they are similar in the way that they are experienced internally as very real.

And I think that accepting the existence of alters as "real and valid" is important, but I don't think it should (or needs to) come at the expense of people who experience delusions, (or identity compartmentalization for any other reason).

In my experience, identity compartmentalization, that isn't coming out as scary delusions of control, is usually among the healthier coping mechanisms, delusional or not.

And creating a culture where having DID/OSDD is the only acceptable and "valid" variety of this type of experience is really not helpful for anyone. For one thing, it means that people with these types of experiences will be extremely prone to assume that they must have DID, potentially to the point of delusion, potentially to the point of making themselves more ill (developing amnesia, inducing memories etc) - and when it turns out they DON'T have DID, they will be terrified that they were "faking", when in fact they were just acting according to their current best understanding of themselves..

Not to mention, they will feel the obligation to bury any hint of identity compartmentalization within themselves, to conform to a social world that insists these experiences are "problematic" by virtue of being "not real", somehow.

.....ok I think I went off on a whole ass rant...

Was this helpful at all, anon?

[amypihcs]

HELLO! Awfully late cause uni, got back home late, let's start with today's story! Watson is going like you-don't-know-what-i-saw

Well, he saw MANY things, but this one beats them all

He FAINTED on OUR HEARTRUG! They looked at each other. tried VERY HARD not to laugh. spat a lung laughing without ROARING with laughter (they will roar when Watson will write the case down and comment aloud to Holmes who WON'T be able to stifle his giggles, lol). Now -giggling- let's help this poor soul

BRANDY! the universal medicine (no, watson, just... no.)

Well, looks like it half works toh

Watson: absolute exhaustion -GLARE AT HOLMES- Maybe just hunger and fatigue Holmes: -angelic face and innocent whistling as he searches the client- (Watson WILL remind Holmes of Doctor Huxtable when he refuses to eat because 'he can't afford energies to digestion')

They're both so competent at the respective jobs! They're the perfect couple! Oh he's back to himself! Good! And he starts rambling as sure as he has the gift of word again. Give that man some milk and biscuits, PLEASE!

Huxtable gets a bit more back to himself and here we start talking business

No doctor, i'm sorry. My husband partner and i are damn busy. Is your case interesting important enough for me to move from A TON OF STUFF TO DO? WAINT, KIDNAPPED CHILD??!

TALK, MAN!

Holmes: Tried to keep it secret uh? - going through his index -Very silly of him! oh god, he has half the alphabet after his name. Mr Half-Alph-Man must be pretty important, uh? Headmaster: IMPORTANT. AND. RICH.

Lol, doctor, you know, right, that Holmes despises rich clients usually? Exp for the way they act

WAIT HOW MUCH DID YOU SAY?? Watson, we could send all our irregulars to university with THAT much money! AND have even less monetary worries than now AND buy that cottage we were talking about! We go, right? -insert watson nodding- Now, TELL US THE FACTS.

Holmes' detectivey senses are tingling. And is thanking god the headmaster TRULY CARES about the boy and is not going to say half truths! Guess Holmes' domestic abuse/messy domestic life traumas senses are also tingling!

Watson drinking his husband's imagine like it's the best hot chocolate ASIDE! Holmes is VERY annoyed by the way the case has been handled! You CAN'T give me such a case! The usual herd of buffalo must have passed already! gr! most DEPLORABLE!

And in fact Holmes is cursing every god he's heard of in his travels. In italian. We're professionals of that. How the HELL do you hope to find this boy now? Does his father even CARE?

A SCENT! FINALLY! A man on a bike disappeared as well! OH DOCTOR, please.

even Watson in our early days could do better than this. Love you Watson, you are MUCH better. Try and lubricate those gears in your head, headmaster, c'mon!

MAKES MORE SENSE, UH?

Well, did he receive anything that could've prompted a flight?

Oh yeah. Father of the year already. Holmes is UNIMPRESSED. (and as daughter of split parents i can say that the sympathies of the child are usually with the parents who behaves REASONABLY in a situation.)

Going over.

Ah, you also know from 'confidential talks.' wow. We'll go as soon as i get my suitcase, you telegraph and tell NOT to say that the Liverpool line has been a total blank. My dearest and myself can still solve something.

Mrs Hudson gets them a picnic basket (i loved that scene from the granada serie. perfect.) and they get to the school.

GASP! LETTER ON THE TABLE! PSST PSST PSST.

Get that man some chamomille, please. He needs it. No need to be this anxious, doctor.

BUT OF COURSE. The duke. He doesn't look like in the pics.

So I, DOCTOR WATSON, will describe him PROPERLY. Oh and the secretary is quite pretty, uh. Yes, Holmes, i love you and you only, but you need to admit he was pretty. (Holmes gets kissed after this-)

W-what? STOP FAULTING THE ONE MAN WHO DID THE RIGHT THING!

It's almost as you wouldn't want the case to be solved, Wilder... Well, languid time for Holmes. I LIKE this case, the air is good and my handsome partner has been pestering em for country air for months. I shall UNDOUBTEDLY take this case. You decide if you help me or i fuck you up!

Poor doctor toh! Luckily the duke has still a brain somewhere there.

Holmes asks some questions and then... last one. the letter!

oh YES, god forbid HiS GrAcE had to lift his noble ass. Of COURSE you posted it, Wilder.

Let's see how this case will go!

[kashikojae]

Ordem Paranormal: Some English Names

Cellbit just announced that a release date for "Ordem Paranormal: Iniciação" is to be confirmed these next few weeks! This will be the first Paranormal Order media officially translated to English and Spanish, which means we'll have canon names in other languages, finally!!

Some weeks ago I was bored and decided to translate the entirety of the comic into English. Just because. And of course I cannot post it anywhere, but I thought I could share some of the decisions I made towards some names that I find fun or am really proud of, before we get official names for good.

(Reads: I had put a lot of effort translating those pages, and I didn't want it to die in the back of my hard drive, so I'm posting some of it on Tumblr.)

SR. VERÍSSIMO = MR. VERITY

“Senhor Veríssimo” is one of the centre characters of the Paranormal Order universe. We don't know much about him, but he's one of the figures in charge of Ordo Realitas. He's got a very strong name. “Senhor" is a honorific, equivalent to “sir” or “mister”. “Veríssimo" is, in fact, a lusitanian surname. But it's also an adjective.

ve·rís·si·mo adjective Very truthful; absolutely exact.

It’s not just a name, as well. In the very first scene we learn it’s also a title.

My first option was “Mr. Wright”. Because "Veríssimo" sounded to me as a very strong reference to a game Cellbit played a bit before the release of his first Paranormal Order campaign — Ace Attorney. "Phoenix Wright" is translated in Brazil as "Fênix Veríssimo".

But it didn't sound fitting. Being “very truthful” and being “right" are different things. I thought “Mr. Wright” attached an arrogance that was not really in character. So I searched for a term that could mean something similar.

ver·i·ty noun The quality of being true.

This is very curious. “Verity" is a word that’s not much in use in English, just as “Veríssimo" in Portuguese. And it’s a word that came into old-English from French, that came from the Latin word “vēritās”. Plural: “veritates”. Which is, basically, the first name the Order had, during the first two seasons in the RPG sessions available on YouTube! So, yeah, there's a whole... etymologic easter egg, I guess.

ZUMBI DE SANGUE = ZOMBIE OF BLOOD

This was a challenge because I had to decide if I wanted to keep it simple or not. Probably because I am very dramatic, literal translating makes me feel dirty — as if I'm not doing my job properly.

The only decision I made was if I would call them "Blood Zombies" or "Zombies of Blood". I decided for the later because of the way I understand this monster's name. "Blood Zombies" implies zombies made out (?) of blood. But I understand this monster as beings from the element Blood. Which is a quite different concept.

CARENTE = DESTITUTE

"Carente" means "someone in need of attention or care", and this monster is mentioned very briefly in a dialogue between Daniel and Alex. It was named by Daniel Hartmann in his book "Contos de Uma Criatura Carente", so the first thing I did was translate the book's title.

des·ti·tute adjective Without the basic necessities of life; not having

I don't just like how this word sounds, but I think its meaning aligns pretty well with the original. That's why Hartmann's book became "Tales of a Destitute Creature".

This monster became very famous because of r/place, and I admit that seeing people calling him "Needy" made me a bit stressed.

ABERRAÇÃO DE CARNE = FLESH ANOMALY

This one is very descriptive — it's a flesh monstrosity, therefore, it's called an "aberração". I see this word often translated as "freak", but I can't relate these two words as completely aligned for some reason. I never think of an "aberração" whenever I hear the word "freak". I don't think they're used to the same purposes.

We use "aberração" for something completely out of imagination, something terrifying and bizarre. "Freak" is an eighties slang for the bullied kid from school :P

Therefore, I went for "Flesh Anomaly", expressing something so abnormal, so out of this world...

DEGOLIFICADA = GARROTTIFIED

This one is pretty hard, and I'm actually curious at how they'll translate this name.

In the comic we can actually see this creature's name building up. The word "degolar" means "to cut one's throat", describing perfectly Agatha's death.

That's why, during one of the confrontation scenes, Liz addresses it as "cara degolificada" — "dear degolified".

There's no word in English that can directly translate the same concept. Slaughter is not specific enough, Behead is a much more advanced action... Beheaded was actually my first option, but I didn't like it.

But — we can mean something similar. "Garrotte" means "to kill someone by strangulation using a collar". It's not exactly what happened to Agatha... but it sounds nice, lmao.

"I THINK MR. VERITY CALLED ME BECAUSE I'VE GOT NOTHING TO LOOSE! BUT YOU, GARROTTIFIED DEARIE, YOU ALREADY LOST EVERYTHING!" Elizabeth Webber in OP: Iniciação, p. 137

I could stay here for thousands and thousands of words, but I wanted to focus only on the main points of my translation. There were tons of dialogues that I had a hard time with, but I'll probably just keep them to myself :P

Anyways, it was fun to get headaches over lexicon for some weeks, but now I'm excited to see how all of these terms will be once the canonical version is released!

(also this text may be poorly written as fuck, I'm not reviewing it lmao)

[chronicallyuniconic]

Why we need to stop blaming survivors who take years to come forward:

*TW: Childhood Sexual Abuse*

[In light of Kevin Spacey being in court, I'm seeing alot of horrible discourse & I just want to add my exp so I don't scream profanities].

It takes years to report for so many reasons and I'm here to describe my personal experience, and just why it took so long to come forward. Only now 25 years after it started, am I able to write about it with some clarity instead of confusion.

I was just a child when it happened, in my formative years, considered one of the most important times for a developing child. I did not know, not fully anyway, how wrong it was, what happened to me, that it was a crime.

The person who did it, was fully known to everyone around me, and everyone loved (and still love) that version of the person they knew/know.

From about age 6, I was silently questioning if I'd dreamt it multiple times, or maybe what happened to me was just something that was supposed to take place. Did every _____ do this? Does every daughter have this happen to them? Is it all children my age maybe? I just couldn't make sense of it. In some ways, I still can't.

I didnt know the word pornography at such a young age, but the magazines my abuser would leave for me to find, left me confused, what are those people doing?

As I chug into my teenage years with these mixed memories, feelings, and now hormones, I spend more time with a friend, my best friend and later became my first girlfriend at 14. She had a similar thing happen to her too, multiple times just like me, except when she told a teacher she was taken from her mother and sister, into foster care. And that's how our relationship ended.

I didn't want to be separated from my younger sibling, of which we are immensely close. I have to protect this from happening to them, to us. A month later, I find out I'm going to be welcoming another sibling in 6 months. I sobbed at the thought of another sibling having to endure what I had, I have a baby to protect soon and it's not mine. I spent my teenage years with them as much as I could.

It wasn't until I turned 17, I realise the predator living around me, is only into girls. They continue watching me through cracks in the door, walking in when I'm in the bathroom doing anything, secretly going through my phone, taking me for driving lessons, keeping up work in the community, all the while dropping towel when I walk past the bedroom.

Somehow, I kept my wits about me, and at 18 left 300 miles in the opposite direction to University. My sibling could protect themselves now too. I had to say goodbye to my mum, she was still involved with him.

After 10 weeks at University, I was alone and isolated, I struggled to make friends, noone on my course lived anywhere near me. I was suggested to go to the University counsellor, where after 12 weeks, I had told her more or less everything.

It took me another 2 years and a failed relationship to summon the courage to ring the police, and now also explain why it had taken me so long and why would I go on driving lessons with the man that did this to me? And even now looking back, there were things I'd left out in my report. Because repressed memories really do exist and they're still affecting me to this day.

If you have ever felt the rushing wave of a memory you never had before, suddenly appear, I'm giving you such a big hug, because it's awful. It's like drowning where you stand and I've spent too long questioning my reality.

The next time you wonder why it took someone so long to speak up, it's not just about that. It takes years of mental torture and so much silent work to undo damage that should have never been there in the first place.

Standing with the men who are speaking up💜

[haleshomeforthederanged]

i've heard that what kind of fanfiction you read can say a lot about you as a person. i'm sure, in some way, that's at least partly true. so, allow me to bare my soul. these are my top eight sterek fic recs.

☾ 1 ☽

Trust Fall by Stoney

Explicit | Word-count: 144, 224

Stiles is fairly certain that a case could be made for every bad thing in his life coming back to Peter Hale. This time it's pissing off a powerful witch, who retaliated by swapping Stiles and Derek a la Freaky Friday, because sure. That makes sense. Um, there are GPAs on the line, not to mention the whole thing where his dad wants to shoot Derek on sight. Except who he sees as Derek is actually Stiles, and Stiles did not sign up for filicide. Great. Wait...does this mean he's the Alpha until they figure this out? Holy. Shit. **** Derek had stood in front of the bathroom mirror for a few minutes trying to control the panic as he saw himself as Stiles. As the loud mouthed human friend of the pack. He was going to kill Peter. He was going to kill the witch, then he was going to kill Peter. Maybe even resurrect him again just to kill him all over. They were going to have to play this cool. They would have to stay calm and focused. Which is of course why the universe threw him into this situation with someone who physically couldn't be calm and focused. Of course.

☾ 2 ☽

Pale Skin and Fragile Bone by fakinbrilliance

Mature | Word-count: 62,239

Stiles asks Derek to teach him self-defense.

☾ 3 ☽

Across a Certain Threshold by ketren

Teen and Up | Word-count: 76,126

Derek and Stiles meet in Eichen House: a love story. (Or at least it would be, if Derek didn’t basically turn feral at the drop of a hat. Or if not for the strange darkness stalking Stiles through the halls. There’s more going on at Eichen than meets the eye - and if they’re going to find a way out, they’ll have to do it together.)

☾ 4 ☽

Prince Among Wolves by Wrenegade (Wrenegadeone)

Explicit | Word-count: 101,000

Looking for full day/evening sitter. 2 twin boys age 4. Must have exp. w/werewolves. Must be human. No pedophiles. No teenage girls. Pay negotiable.

☾ 5 ☽

Pack Wars by miss_aphelion

Mature | Word-count: 158, 621

Scott liked to call it the Great Pack Divide of 2012. Derek liked to call Scott an idiot. (Or the one where Derek kidnaps Stiles to teach Scott a lesson, and ends up learning a few things himself)

☾ 6 ☽

Lock All The Doors Behind You by entanglednow

Mature | Word-count: 25,960

He has no idea what you're supposed to say when you find one of your…werewolf acquaintances, completely out of their mind, growling like they're about to see what your insides taste like. There's no handbook for this. Stiles is thinking that if he survives he might write one.

☾ 7 ☽

Stand Fast in Your Enchantments by DevilDoll, Rahciach for otter

Explicit | Word-count: 76,956

"Stiles knew damn well what a pissed-off wolf sounded like, and every hair on the back of his neck was telling him that somewhere in this room was a very pissed-off werewolf." An AU in which Derek is feral, Stiles is magical, and they eat a lot of fast food.

☾ 8 ☽

DILF by twentysomething

Explicit | 30,871

"Today is Scott's first day of kindergarten and Derek is terrified."

[skarts-0206]

EXP-VERSE MASTERPOST!!

Prologue

1 -2 ...

To be Continued

Spanish Masterpost

EXP-VERSE FAQ

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What is EXP-Verse?

EXP-Verse is my Undertale/Underverse AU comic. The comic revolves around Genk, the Guardian of the AUs of this Multiverse, and his travel for discovery what's going and why everything about this multiverse feels... so Wrong. This is a kind of Fusion AU where the universes mixed with each other to make something new

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When it updates?

It updates on Mondays, each two weeks around 8 pm. GMT-4. But because it start late this current month (September) It will updates each Monday until the month ends.

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Which characters would appear? / Is [insert character name] in this AU?

The AU will have original characters/characters inspired in other characters of the current AUs (Dreamtale, Xtale, Underfell, etc.) because this is a kind of fusion AU. So it is unlikely that here will appear a character of the Original Multiverse (aka. Geno, Core Frisk, etc.). And about his counterparts/equals of this multiverse, you need to read the comic to know! But you know that the important people will be here, so don't worry.

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How long it would be?

It's not set in stone but, it would have 5 to 6 chapters for now... If it changes I will let you know.

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Can I make fanart?

Of course you can! Just please SFW fanart, if you want to draw NSFW about the characters of this AU you're free of do it so! But I don't want to see it.

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Can I make an Ask about your comic?

Sure! Just understand that maybe I would not respond immediately because I have a life. Please be nice and civil, be respectful. Also no spam please. that's all.

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[fellhellion]

been thinking abt writing a small intro to lit theory post. because like. thinking back, I had a really good English teacher but high school English very much teaches you to read towards the “one true meaning” of a text.

You’re taught to make arguments sure, but at least insofar as I was taught, esp in grade 11/12, there’s a focus on “this is the argument that’s going to get you a good grade on your essay and these are the kinds of points you need to make reference to”.

Which isn’t necessarily a Wrong basis to begin with. I think it’s valuable to learn with a concrete kind of basis first so you get a handle on the skills of lit analysis (what are literary techniques and what do they do etc etc), and then explore and open your mind to the plurality of texts.

But like. I suppose my point is that hs English just only (in my experience at least) teaches the concrete basis, with no (in my exp) even allusion to how to read a text beyond that. And your average guy isn’t going off to study English literature in university so of course you end up with a lot of people who were taught to approach a text this one specific way, and bring that approach into hobby areas like fandom.

And Eng Lit isn’t like. a walk in the park yknow I get it! U can’t just pick up Lacan and intrinsically know what the fuck he’s even arguing without knowing abt Freud.

And even just on a purely emotional level, I remember being 17 and doing an eng ext course and feeling extremely disoriented by the concept of texts not having a singular true meaning! So I get it yknow! I get why you see certain approaches in fandom specifically being the approach hs eng taught and being very disorientated by approaches that challenge that.

How do you know there’s a glass wall until you stretch ur hand out etc etc

[ladyodaskonpeito]

Day 5: Alternate Universe

Fandom: Free!

Pairing: Yamazaki Sousuke x Tachibana Makoto

Wordcount: 853

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

It was a spectacular first birthday at TUH. Sousuke’s new colleagues were amazing people and he couldn’t imagine himself being surrounded by a more uplifting bunch. Or a more chaotic one.

The adrenaline surge in his blood was still going on when he parked his car at his designated spot that evening, all ready to manage an emergency. He frantically rounded the corner in search of Makoto, only to be caught off guard by confetti poppers going off and a loud cheer of Happy Birthday from his wonderful but mischievous teammates.

His heart rate didn’t calm down until he was called in for his shift at seven, and he couldn’t help but be bummed out by missing Makoto who he somehow thought would be showing up at some point. Sousuke was actually starting to get used to his heartbeat quickening at the thought of him, even anticipating the weird symptom at times which became a regular occurrence since the day he met Makoto again.

It was from this point on, though, that he realised it had become a true concern. He had looked forward to coming across Makoto at work the next day, even when he knew what it’d do to his chest. Makoto was in on the surprise the previous evening, after all, so the thrilling thought of seeing him on the job and maybe receiving a happy birthday from him was… starting to worry Sousuke.

So he resorted to his best friend for advice. Rin came in the next day at seven in the morning with zero signs of a hangover from the previous night. Sousuke could only hope the eight-hour rule of ceasing all alcohol before a shift would work just as well for him.

“Rin, have you ever experienced palpitations?”

Rin looked taken aback, cocking an eyebrow at Sousuke. “Yeah, sure. Why?”

“What was your diagnosis?”

“Huh?” Confusion was written all over his face.

Sousuke straightened up. “I’ve been having occasional episodes for a while now and I can’t for the life of me figure out what is it. Do you think I should head over to cardiology for a check-up?”

“Slow down, where’s the rest of your history?” Rin didn’t look too worried, flipping through his hepatology textbook to catch up on what he failed to study the previous night.

“The only concomitant symptom is clammy hands. The triggering factor appears to be—as silly as this sounds—a person.”

Now he had Rin’s full attention. “And do I know this person?”

“You do. It happens to be the nursing manager.”

“Mako-” he almost exclaimed before lowering his volume, quickly overcoming his initial shock, “Makoto?”

Sousuke nodded. “It really is puzzling, isn’t it.”

“It is not,” Rin gulped. “I should have seen it coming, honestly.”

“Do you have a diagnosis already?”

Rin gave him a side-eye, unamused. “Of course I do. I even know the gold standard treatment!”

“What is it? I can’t believe you got it so soon. I revisited all my cardiology lecture notes and still didn’t have a clue.”

“That’s a shame because it’s not cardio in nature.” Rin snapped his textbook shut, scrutinising Sousuke in a way that made him feel self-conscious about not knowing the answer. “Your condition is infatuation, Sousuke. You’re crushing hard!”

Sousuke was speechless for a moment, his mouth hanging open at the conclusion Rin arrived at.

“And I thought I knew you well enough to know your sexuality. Damn it, now it’s Haru’s turn to judge me for being a bad best friend,” said Rin. “Makoto is just the type you’d be into—gentle and caring and all that.”

“So… your idea of a treatment plan would be?”

“To talk to him, idiot. He actually texted me just yesterday to ask about you, I’d say you’ve got a good chance.”

The thought of Makoto asking about him made Sousuke’s mouth go dry. “W-what did you talk to him about?”

“Look at you getting all nervous about it,” Rin guffawed. “Relax, he was wondering if you enjoyed the party we threw, is all.”

“Is all?” Sousuke couldn’t hide the disappointment in his tone.

“Did you expect it to be a conversation where he revealed his secret crush on you?”

“Shut up.”

“I would but I have to apologise first. I told him you’re heterosexual.” Rin shrugged and made a gesture that said ‘You can’t blame me’. “It came up when he asked about Kisumi, who had been trying to bring the two of us together behind our backs. My boyfriend was not thrilled at all when he learned that, apparently. So I told him what I’ve always said to Haru: you’re straight.”

“I-” Sousuke would reprimand Rin for that, except that he had only dated girls in the past and never opened up to anyone about his bisexuality.

Sousuke, having the hots for Makoto? Was that what all these years of dwelling on the past had amounted to?

Sousuke couldn’t say. Not yet, at least.

Not until he came clean to Makoto about the fact that he remembered meeting him as a PT patient seven years ago. And that he was not heterosexual.

To be continued on Day 6

[enbyleighlines]

Leigh plays Tellius prt 20

I'm nearly finished part 1, so it's time for me to look at my Dawn Brigade babies and see how they're progressing. As before, I put an upwards green arrow next to any stat that is above their average at their current level, a downwards red arrow to any stat that is below their average, and a yellow star to any stat that is equal to their average.

Let's go!

Let's start with Micaiah! She's... a fairly average Micaiah. Somehow her speed is lower than average, and she's known for not having great speed in the first place. Oh, well. She still one-shots armored units, and that's all I really need her to do.

Sothe has only gotten two level ups so far, and yet he's already behind on speed and luck. His magic is higher than average, though! I know Sothe falls behind no matter what you do, so I'm not too worried. He's just here to steal stuff and give support bonuses to Micaiah.

I rolled a good Nolan, though! Somehow, he has already capped his magic? Strange. Then again, his cap is really low. Otherwise, he seems to be doing well. I hope this continues in part 3. I'm going to be counting on you, Nolan! Don't let me down.

I had put a lot of hope into Meg turning out good (I even gave her a sword named Hope in hopes that the universe might grant me a good Meg), but unfortunately, I wasn't so lucky. Sorry, Meg. It looks like you're going to be benched.

Yay, Ilyana! Ignore the mountain of random items I gave to her. I am thinking ahead so that she can deliver the goods to the Greil Mercs for me in part 3. That Spirit Dust has Soren's name on it, after all. And Reyson will need that extra movement.

In any case, it's a bit of a shame that Ilyana is doing so well, since I don't really plan on using her much after part 1 is over. By the time she reunites with the Greil Mercs, she'll be just a little too far behind in terms of her level.

Aran is doing pretty well. He's a bit behind in skill, but above average in strength and defense, which is what really matters. Having a high-defense Aran will help me a lot in part 3.

Also, idk if I've said this before, but I'm actually kind of fond of Aran as a character. His personality is literally just the ¯_(ツ)_/¯ shrug emoticon. Hence why I gave him a weapon named "Oh Bother..." I imagine him just muttering that to himself every time he enters into combat with an enemy unit.

Hey, a good Edward! With higher than average defense, to boot. Between him, Nolan, and Aran, maybe I will be able to survive part 3.

Meanwhile, Leonardo is a bit of a mixed bag. He's got good strength, but man is he squishy. This man is the definition of a glass canon. I cannot allow any enemy to attack him, because chances are, they will double him, and he will die immediately.

Jill! I was worried about Jill because she wasn't doing so good at the beginning, but now look at her! I put a lot of effort into feeding her exp (esp on the prison break map) and look how it paid off. She's above or equal to her average in every stat. I still wish that I could have gotten her some transfer bonuses, but overall, she's not doing bad at all.

Last is Laura. Oh, poor Laura. Look at all those red arrows. But whatever. At least she's good for giving Aran those nice support bonuses.

And that's it! That's how my Dawn Brigade is faring. Overall, it's not the worst. I mean, of course it could be better, but as is, I'm not complaining. And I am happy that I've already managed to get Nolan, Jill, Leonardo, and Edward to tier 2.

Next map is the finale of part 1. I am very excited to finally put an end to Jarod.

[the-feminist-philosopher]

I've talked at length on here how trans-exclusionary movements are founded upon a sex-essentialist ideology. I want to discuss more about how they use ad naturam fallacies and equivocation fallacies to push their agenda.

Trans exclusionary activism is founded upon a sex-essentialist ideology where the definition of ‘woman’ is reducible to any number of essential biological attributes or characteristics like chromosomes, fecundity, gametes, or bone morphology, where the presence or absence of these 'essential' attributes defines a woman's "material condition."

Sex-essentialist rhetoric is predicated on "authenticity" morality where there exists a discrete sexed woman who is "authentic" and a "synthetic," "interloping" one who is not... Under their ideology, [trans people] are opposite the cissexual body, making them "violence" and "mutilation" as opposed to "holistic" and all-natural (no "plastic"). The mere existence of trans bodies is seen- by cis people- as a violation of an "authentic" body, sexuality, identity, and [even] spirit. They're "interlopers," wolves in sheep's clothing.

[F]or feminists like Wittig and Dworkin, the move to “root feminism in an inherent biological, psychological, or reified ontology” would be to endorse the very essentialism upon which the patriarchy was built. X

Their ideology depends non only on upholding this idea that there is a universally "correct" course of sex development, sex outcome, sex appearance, and sex combination, but it also depends on the use of an ad naturam fallacy. One of the ways this ad naturam fallacy manifests is through the way they talk about social constructs.

In anti-trans circles, there is this idea that what is not natural is not good. In the passage above, I discussed how "whole" or "holistic" cis bodies are constructed as morally good by contrasting them with "mutilated" or "synthetic" trans bodies. Most people can recognize this for the ad naturam fallacy it is. They also do this with social constructs. They often use "social" to mean "unnatural" and "biological" to mean "natural."

Their logic would look something similar to this:

If something is ~biological -> it is ~natural If something is ~natural -> it is ~true Thus. If something is ~biological -> it is ~true

This leads them to an ideological framework that holds: because a social construct is "not biological," it is thus "not natural" and thus "not true." They will try the inverse of this statement without realizing that 1.) an inverse is not logically equivalent to the original conditional proof, and 2.) they're not replacing "social construct" with anything in their inverse of the proof, leading to circular logic with "biology" being "biological" and thus natural and true.

My readers may recognize that humans are a social species and, as such, every interaction with other individuals and within groups is subject to social constructs. A social construct is not inherently bad because it is not created through some impartial or objective evolutionary process. Social society is tasked with analyzing the harms and benefits of a system and then deciding what society should do going forward in a way that eliminates or reduces any harm or damage done to a group of people. Social society determines whether something "should be" based on whether or not it has merits or does harm, not on whether it is most truthful or based on whether it is "natural."

Trans-exclusionary radicals believe that society's morals should instead be dictated by that which is "biologically true" or "ultimately true," something they perceive to be most-natural and thus "good," and also something they perceive to be knowable.

Those who are not trans-exclusionary monists will recognize that what we consider "biologically true" or "ultimately true" is shaped by the social, economic, political, and cultural conditions we live within. Readers might recognize that a determination of "what is reality" or "what is true" is knowable on the basis of experience rather than knowable independent of experience. Trans-exclusionaries seem to exclusively believe a "reality" is knowable independent of experience- like through theoretical deduction, making them capable of being "experts" on other people's lived realities through "theory" (see this post for an example). Readers might also recognize that consciousness is a by-product of biochemistry and that human biochemistry is influenced by the environment a human has lived in. While- yes- humans perceive the world through senses, that sensory input is interpreted individually by the human brain, a brain shaped by sociopolitical and economic conditions. Trans-exclusionary radicals instead see humans as nothing more than their biochemistry or biology, often independent from the environment which shapes it. They believe the human body exists outside a meaning-making process in that they don't believe we interpret ourselves and others subjectively and through the lens of our "material reality" (see this post and this post for examples).

They forget that humans are shaped by their environment, whether it be the colors people can physically see or how people's brains handle stress. That environment *is* created by social, economic, political, and cultural conditions. These sociopolitical conditions are what Marxists & leftists refer to as an individual's "material conditions" or "material reality," leading me to my next critique: their use of equivocation fallacies for the word "material."

For the trans-exclusionary, "material" refers to features of a distinct and discrete sex caste constructed by essential corporeal attributes. They use "material" exclusively to mean "corporeal," "biological," or "physical."

For context:

Material monism-- sometimes referred to as materialism or physicalism-- is the idea that everything is "matter" and everything is physical. "Physical" or "material" under this philosophy refers to things relating to the body or relating to things perceived through the senses. Simone de Beauvoir, for example, was a materialist (and, yes, also a Marxist, but monism and Marxism are not one and the same), as exemplified in one of her famous quotes:

"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. No biological, psychic, or economic destiny defines the figure that the human female takes on in society; it is civilization as a whole that elaborates this intermediary product between the male and the eunuch that is called feminine. Only the mediation of another can constitute an individual as an Other. Inasmuch as he exists for himself, the child would not grasp himself as sexually differentiated. For girls and boys, the body is first the radiation of a subjectivity, the instrument that brings about the comprehension of the world: they apprehend the universe through their eyes and hands, and not through their sexual parts."

Modern trans-exclusionary movements have forgotten that the "material" referred to in "material conditions" in Marxism and the "material" referred to in "material monism" in Physicalism do not mean the exact same thing. There is a crucial distinction.

One refers to the sociopolitical conditions that create an individual's lived reality- the one perceptible to them via their senses- and the other *only* refers to that which is corporeal and can be perceived through the senses. This leads to a frequent equivocation on the meaning of "material" in anti-trans arguments and, most crucially, has led to a false assumption that there is room for transphobia in any Marxist philosophy. Are there materialist principles in Marxism? Yes. Is materialism or monism Marxist? No.

This leads to anti-trans radicals believing that they are "Marxists" despite 1.) their ideology having no roots in Marxism (see: Devra Weber's, "the radical feminists were opposed to patriarchy, but not necessarily capitalism."), and 2.) them not supporting or upholding any explicitly Marxist principles (see this post for a breakdown). It also leads to an ideology-wide assumption that "material reality" refers to the corporal being the ultimate reality. That's why when anyone critiques anti-trans ideologies, they get hundreds of broken records saying the exact same thing: "vaginas are real" or "sex is real" or "gametes are real." This leaves many feminists and LGBTQ+ rights activists scratching their heads and saying, "Well, yeah, vaginas exist. Saying that a woman's material reality is constructed by sociopolitical conditions is not saying there's no such thing as a vagina." Saying that "the ability to have kids or the ability to produce ova or the ability to menstruate or the presence of a uterus does not define womanhood" is not saying that uteri are mythical or fabled or "make-belief" organs. Saying- as Simone de Beauvoir did- that it is society; it is patriarchal social constructs, that define "female" and socialize us to see ourselves as inherently sexually discrete, sexually self-evident, sexually immutable, and sexually differentiated is not saying that a vagina is a mythical organ and thus the social institutions the patriarchy has created around the presence or absence of one don't exist.

But because they equivocate on the meaning of "material" in "material reality" and "material monism," they believe that "material reality" refers to the corporeal ("biological") being what is ultimately true and perceptible (by the senses). What's nice about this- for them- is that it confirms for them their ideological beliefs founded on ad naturam fallacies. It also factors into the sex-essentialist foundations of their beliefs. For them, "material" in "material condition" refers to those things which are corporeal- like bone morphology- rather than the Marxist principle. So, to them, a woman's condition in society is a result of what they consider the "natural," the corporeal, leading me- once again- to that thread with trans-exclusionary @/greenwave and my largest philosophical question:

If our sexes are self-evident, and if our separation is self-evident, and if this separation and differentiation and the conscious recognition of there being two sexed castes is as old as our species, then how does one fight against patriarchal institutions which base their legitimacy in the 'naturalness' of our divisions and justify oppression with 'bio-logics'? How does the idea that "sex is immutable" and "there are two discrete sexes" (meaning: separate and distinct) meaningfully challenge the patriarchy? How does defining women as ova producers and offspring bearers (i.e., *the* definition of female: the sex that can bear offspring or produce eggs) meaningfully challenge the patriarchy's insistence on defining "woman" as a biological caste subordinated by the ability to produce ova and bear offspring?

Sexist oppression is sex-based, right? Right. So, how do you challenge systems justified by the supposed discretion of sex without critically analyzing how sex is defined? How do you fight sex-based oppression when it is exactly the thing you fight for- the discretion of sex- that is used to justify keeping men as men and keeping women segregated from them? If sex, if the "natural," creates oppression, and if oppression is found in sex itself, then how does one combat the idea that our hierarchies and sex relations are found outside social constructs (outside society) and are found in the "natural?" If the bodily oppression of women is created by the "natural," how does one combat the idea that the bodily oppression of female people is natural?

Related to this is their equivocation on "class." As they assume they're Marxists, these anti-trans activists assume they're fighting to define "woman" as a class. They ignore that, in Marxism, a "class" is not something so strictly defined, especially by "essential" and "biological" attributes. They seek not class consciousness but to reinforce the bounds of "male/man" and "female/woman" as laid out by the patriarchy.

They use "class" similarly to "classification" or "caste." They use "class" as if it is an inherited social rank or position in society rather than a relationship between groups with competing interests in relation to the mode of production, as Marxists would. In Marxism, a class is permeable and can be made and remade between any two groups with competing interests. You need to work to define "woman" as a "caste," but you don't need to put work in to define "woman" as a class. "Woman" becomes a class as soon as there is an "other" with a competing interest in relation to the mode of production. This is why Marxist feminism focuses on principles such as "domestic slavery," the "double burden," women's unwaged labor, a woman's requirement to fill the role of the emotional laborer, a woman's alienation from her reproductive labor, and the invisible nature of women in the labor market and "women's work." Marxist feminism does *not* focus on an inherent biological existence, becoming, or reality (ontology). Marxist feminism also does not define "class" through any biological ontology.

Think of that Simone de Beauvoir quote again: "Only the mediation of another can constitute an individual as an Other" and "it is civilization as a whole that elaborates this intermediary product between the male and the eunuch."

And I cannot entirely fault them for their equivocation on this word as the colloquial use of "class" is quite broad. They're very fond of simple dictionary definitions (they help avoid larger philosophical thoughts or challenges to their worldview). So, when they look up "class" in a standard dictionary and see "a set or category of things having some property or attribute in common and differentiated from others by kind," they have found a definition that can be used to argue for their sex-essentialist worldview. Meanwhile, they ignore how "class" is not exclusively defined as a category differentiated through essential attributes. "Class" is also defined as "a system of ordering a society in which people are divided into sets based on perceived status." That second definition more closely reflects the Marxist idea of "class," while the first definition more accurately defines "caste" (any group of people who are perceived as a distinct, hereditary class; the system of dividing society into hereditary groups).

Readers may be thinking that "caste" sounds a lot like the system we have right now, where "female" and "male" are considered distinct social groups which one inherits at birth through any of a number of genetic or biological attributes. They'd be correct. As I've said before, and I'll say again: "The patriarchy has long sought to define women as a discrete biological caste subordinated by the ability to produce ova and bear offspring; as 'females.'"

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 10- Part 7

…I mean…isn’t that what Team Meteor is doing, though? Ace said before something like “yeah, our methods aren’t really popular, but we’re the ones really looking out for the region." Commander Redeye also said something similar about how Team Meteor is supposedly acting for the greater good of Reborn, and he went even further to straight-up call Xera and the others the "enemies of the region." 

In other words: undertaking misguided actions under the belief that doing so is better than no action at all. Hypocrites, the lot of you!! Jail for one thousand years!!

HOOOOOLD UP THERE, AURORA BOREALIS! Whatever you think you’re gonna have Crobat do, I’m not gonna stand for it, and Xera definitely isn’t! She’s- uh…wait, she physically can’t intervene, can she? I’m not talking about cutscene powerlessness or anything, I mean- literally, those giant trees are blocking the way, she can’t get over there.

Hey, wait! If the street is blocked by all those trees, then how did Victoria get over there? What secret path did you take, girl!?

GAH- whoa, that was a sick transition. The Crobat just shot at Victoria, like some kinda bullet, then- bam! Smash cut to black, barely any sound at all, the screen fades back to normal, and…nothing. They’re all gone, just like that. Now that’s how you introduce an antagonist.

And now…we’re back, unable to do a thing to stop what just happened. Before, I was like “yeah we’re not gonna let you touch Victoria, we’ll kick your spine!”, but truthfully…Borealis seems strong, like, really strong. Stronger than Xera is right now, at least. I mean, he has a Crobat! Crobat are scary! Imagine what the rest of his team looks like! I won’t lie, for all my dramatics, I was a bit scared that we would have to fight him right then and there- I still am, a little bit!

But more than that…did you notice how that hood obscured most of his head and face? None of the other major Team Meteor people we’ve faced have that, their features are all more or less visible. That alone would be suspicious, but…could you see the rest of his outfit?

Now, this could just be the lighting of the area affecting how the color looks, but…to me, that looks like a gray and purple jumpsuit. Like Corey’s gray and purple jumpsuit. Not to mention the way Borealis spoke, it…kinda reminds me of the Corey tends to speak, and vocabulary and tone and such. And the fact that he uses a Crobat, of all things- if I’m right about Corey being the former Poison Gym Leader before Cain, then that…would track…

I’m just saying, things are starting to line up in ways I do not like, ways that don’t seem like red herrings anymore. I don’t want Corey to secretly be working with the bad guys, but- my brain can’t ignore these signs! I play a lot of mystery games, I got Rain Code for Christmas for goodness’s sake! Deductive reasoning is what I do, and my deduction tells me that there’s a nonzero chance of Corey being Borealis! And I greatly dislike that possibility!

Of course, I’m suspecting Corey as Borealis’ true identity- but in-universe, I don’t think Xera suspects anything. To her, Borealis is just another Meteor agent, just like all the others, and he just made things very personal by capturing, like, the one person she probably considers something like a friend- but that’s something I can build more upon later.

Okay, that’s a little funny. “Hey, sorry your friend just got kidnapped, have some free exp. points. ♥”

Anyways, now that that tree’s gone and the vines are clear again, let’s keep going. Maybe we’ll find Borealis and Victoria somewhere in here? Maybe in one of those buildings?

Not Victoria.

DEFINITELY not Victoria!

And you don’t deserve to quote Frederick! Even if that line does work…shockingly well in a Pokémon setting.

Shuckle? Oooh, that’s not good, leaving the Flying-type out on the field against the Rock-type…

We’ll swap out Breeze to bring out Riptide while Glare lowers Shuckle’s Defenses with Screech. The Hoothoot knows Confusion, but it doesn’t do a ton to Glare, so I’m not too scared of it. 

But what is a bit jarring is what happens when Shuckle uses Struggle Bug. Remember how I said this field boosts Grass moves with a message saying “The forestry boosts the move’s power”? Well- that message popped up again when Shuckle used Struggle Bug here (which I didn't exactly get to screenshot because of my surprise).

So this field doesn’t just boost Grass-type moves, it boosts Bug-type moves as well? Grass and Bug attacks- so is this field, like, “Forest Field” or something? Because it’s got forest theming with its design and the moves/types it boosts?

Regardless, we can get rid of Hoothoot pretty easily, just have Riptide use Ice Fang like with the Spearow.

And as for Shuckle, with its Defense lowered, a few Bites from these two should bring it down. Struggle Bug still doesn’t do a lot, even with the boost from the field.

And by a “few” Bites, I meant many Bites.

I will! I will go ahead and see what happens, actually!

Huh- a Poison-healing item. I wonder if that’s indicative of a certain fight that’s about to happen. Almost as indicative of that Light Shard up there, and…are those the Gym Leaders? What’s going on up there…?

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*@@@i'm evergrateful to you, my Parents.......though, you are no more now, in our "WORLD"_" UNIVERSE"....... Reason###1)since, I am Ar Apu Roy(B. Arch, Bachelor of Architecture)....., For Exp&later of my 20(Twenty) years of my LIFE-SPAN I am ever grateful to you, "DAD", LT. "AJIT RANJAN ROY", " STATE GOVERNMENT REGULAR EMPLOYEE", as earlier(ref:your expiry Dtd. 26-10-1993,at home in my presence..... from your tutelage of my "EDUCATIONAL EXPENDITURES", from my KINDERGARTEN, Primary school, Secondary School&tooking up initiative to get me admitted at a "NICE&FANTASTIC&EXCELLENT" COLLEGE in outside my "HOME STATE-TRIPURA".... though, I did not complete up my GRADUATION ARCHITECTURE COURSES(B. Arch, my Year of Admission in 1990), at the time you expired...... but with the tutelage of your "FAMILY PENSION SCHEME",which was monthly sanctioned in the name of "MOM", my "EDUCATIONAL COLLEGE EXPENDITURE" pursued, went through with it..... Reason #2, +++/along with my "DAD" 'S briefs/minutes/points, I am EVER GRATEFUL TO YOU, "MOM",LT. "SNEHALATA ROY" (REF. Your expiry Dtd. 11-09-2023,at home in my Presence),you looked after_was taking care of me, another 30(Thirty) years, it meant you took care of me, looked after me for 50(Fifty) years of my Life Span..... (THANK YOU)........ <<<"CEO", "ARCH DESIGNING STUDIO" (IND)....*