#railway stage

[lu-is-not-ok]

“Hey so Sinking is pretty bad as a debuff, right? What if I made a whole team based around that and threw them at the Railway?”

So anyway that was hell I never want to see the Slithering Inquisitor ever again.

[cryptidvoidwritings]

Poor Cass XD

from this user's instagram stories: Feb 8, 2023

The longer version giffed from this user's story

[asocialmoth]

I KNEW IT. THOSE FUCKERS COULDN’T HAVE POSSIBLY ROLLED SO MANY HEADS AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Source: https://twitter.com/LimbusCompany_B/status/1644279942593810432/photo/3

Rejoice, all who seek the 120 turn banners such as I.

[z0mbicide]

Cassiel is very blunt. He doesn't have much tact when it comes to asking questions. Naturally, Shawn doesn't like him much. Sebastian assures him Cas isn't that bad, and he means well when he asks questions, no matter how insensitive he is or invasive they are.

"Shawn, he isn't trying to make you uncomfortable. He just doesn't get Earth stuff. Y'know, like.. human things." Seb always says. Shawn doesn't care. Just because Cassiel doesn't get it, that doesn't mean he's allowed to be rude.

When Cassiel crosses a line, Shawn gets defensive. When Shawn gets defensive, Cassiel doubles down. The cycle doesn't end until the two of them are separated. As a means of avoiding any more confrontations between the two, Sebastian and Faith stage an intervention. Sebastian enlists Faith's help because if any of them is equipped to articulate Shawn's perspective in a way Cas will understand, it's her.

Shawn is completely unaware. Even when Cassiel starts acting differently. The change is slow.

Shawn is shuffling a deck of cards in his usual seat on the train one afternoon. He does both bridges, cuts the deck four ways, stacks each pile randomly, then starts again with the first bridge. When he starts dealing the cards in four groups ("One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two..."), heavy footsteps approach. Of course, he ignores it. It's probably just Hope stomping away because Faith embarrassed her in front of the gang or something.

It isn't until the footsteps stop and the person speaks, that he realizes his assumption was incorrect.

"Shawn. I want to ask you something." Oh no.

Shawn shifts uncomfortably, hastily gathering his cards and setting the deck aside. "What?"

Cassiel is quiet for a moment, as if he's trying to piece his thoughts together. That's a first, and it makes Shawn more nervous. Doubly so, as the man wordlessly takes the seat across from him and fixes his harsh gaze onto him. Soon, Cassiel speaks.

"Is it alright if I ask you some questions about your.. situation?" This was a surprise. He was still being gruff, but he wasn't being unkind. Shawn relaxes, though only a little.

"Um.. sure?"

"I don't... understand." Cassiel's brows furrow. "How does it work?" His head tilts to the side a bit. He definitely picked that up from Seb.

"Well, uh.." Shawn clears his throat, sitting up a little straighter. "let's see if I can put this in a way you might understand, because it's kinda, uh, complicated."

Shawn takes a second to find the words. It was difficult to explain to someone who's never felt what he's felt. As he searches his mind for an apt comparison.. it hits him.

"So, you're originally a Shadow, right?"

Cassiel is caught off guard. He wasn't expecting that to be brought up. He nods slowly, trying to force down the shame coiling around his body.

"I am."

"But you use a human form. Because that's what feels right, yeah?" Again, he nods. Shawn shows a semblance of a small smile.

"And you have a name you don't like to be called. You like Cassiel, and not the 'Z' one." Cassiel briefly tenses, fearing Shawn may actually say it. When he realizes he has no intention of doing so, his shoulders relax.

"Being a guy, and doing what I've done to look the way I do, is what feels right for me." Shawn feels his anxiety slipping away from his body. "I have a name I'm never called, because I'm just.. Shawn."

Silence. Shawn can almost see the gears in Cas's head turning as the man squints whilst processing his words. It's starting to compute.

"So you exist this way for comfort?"

"I mean, yeah? Pretending to be someone I'm not isn't the most comfortable thing in the world." Shawn scratches the back of his head awkwardly.

Cassiel hums.

"Thank you, Shawn." he can almost make out a half smile from Cassiel. That's unusual. Nonetheless, Shawn nods.

Before he can say 'you're welcome,' Cassiel has already slid out of the seat and left. Shawn blinks. Weird, he kinda misses talking with him already.

Shawn physically shakes his head to shake the thought away. He has to remind himself he doesn't like Cassiel, and there's always a chance he'll just lapse back into his usual ways - sooner, rather than later. Everyone does. He goes back to fiddling with his cards.

[apas-95]

an extremely important concept for communists to grasp is that the basis for the common ownership of the means of production already exists, entirely due to capitalism and industry

the fact is that, under capitalism, in the context of the industrial production capitalism has developed, production already *is* socialised, already done in common. a factory producing any good - from medicine, to canned food, to railway parts - relies on the cooperation of many hundreds of workers, in different workplaces, across the globe. it is impossible for any one capitalist to simply produce even a single vial of insulin by themself - they cannot even *manage* production themself, relying instead on an army of clerical workers. production is already carried out, and even organised and partly directed, by the collective labour of workers. it's simply the *profit* and *control* that goes to the capitalist, who has made themself superfluous and irrelevant to the production process.

it is on this basis, and this basis alone, that socialism is possible. this is nothing unique - the same process is what allowed feudalism to develop into capitalism, the same development of production rendering its masters obsolete. in fact, this exact same progression is sure to happen to socialism itself, to render the working class, and with them, finally, classes in general, obsolete. this is the basis that socialism may be built on - going along with the trajectory of history. trying to go against it, to jam your arm into the gears, and 'retvrn' to a pre-class society, instead of advancing to a post-class one, is destined to cause only violence - it is 'reactionary' in the most literal sense.

socialism is the natural next form of society, the clear next stage of history. the only question is whether we can usher it in, or if we will die trying. in the current context, of nuclear war, climate change, and a dozen other armageddons, 'socialism or barbarism' has been narrowed down - our options are socialism, or extinction.

[gingernutsenthusiast]

a foreigner is a foreigner everywhere (variations on the theme of home)

[ Clementine von Radics, ‘Courtney Love Prays To Oregon’ // The backyard of my family home with my parents’ first dog, in Boda, Hungary, early 2000s // Fatimah Asghar, ‘How’d Your Parents Die Again?’ // Brandon Melendez, ‘How to Write Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle into a Promise to Return Home’ // My dad on the main street of the village I grew up in, 2005 // Melendez, ‘How to Write Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle into a Promise to Return Home’ // Keleti Railway Station in Budapest, 1900 // Melendez, ‘How to Write Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle into a Promise to Return Home’ // The hills of my childhood landscape, the Mecsek mountain range in South-West Hungary // Casey McQuiston, Red, White & Royal Blue // My childhood home in Hungary, 2004 // James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room // My parents’ first house being built by friends and family members, around 1995 // @wvterways on tumblr // The iconic 25-story high-rise building of Pécs, my birthplace, 1985. The building became a ghost town in 2003 (incidentally, the year of my birth) and was then demolished in 2016 // @waitineedaname on tumblr // Uránváros, (a city district in Pécs, Hungary) in 1960, the neighbourhood of my grandparents’ apartment // @ohevoyev on tumblr // Danez Smith, ‘from “summer, somewhere”’ // Hungarian Parliament Building, 1896 // @electraheart2012 on tumblr // Analogue picture of Kőbánya-Alsó (Budapest X. District), the neighbourhood of our Budapest apartment // @cruellesummer on tumblr, lyrics from taylor swift’s my tears ricochet // Barbara Cassin, ‘Odysseus and the Day of Return’ in Nostalgia: When Are We Ever at Home? // Stage design of the 1975’s 2022 ‘At Their Very Best’ Tour // Bohemian Betyárs, Lebegő // The campsite of the summer camp I used to go to as a child, Óbánya, Hungary // Leigh Bardugo, Rule of Wolves // Cassin, ‘Odysseus and the Day of Return’ // Trinity College Dublin (my university), covered in snow, 1994 // Neil Gaiman, American Gods // Esterházy, Péter. ‘A mi a bánat’, Élet és Irodalom, 1996. 51–52.]

[aimeedaisies]

The Princess Royal’s Official Engagements in May 2024

01/05 On behalf of The King, held an Investiture at Buckingham Palace. 🎖️

As President of the City and Guilds of London Institute, attended The Princess Royal Training Awards Alumni Skills Summit at Guildhall. 🏆

With Sir Tim As Patron of the Whitley Fund for Nature, attended the Annual Whitley Awards Ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society. 🦋

02/05 With Sir Tim Named a Great Western Railway Intercity Express Train ‘HRH The Princess Royal’ at Paddington Railway Station. 🚉

Unofficial With Sir Tim Attended day two of the Royal Windsor Horse Show. 🐎

03/05 With Sir Tim Departed the UK from Stansted Airport for Canada and arrived at Vancouver International Airport

HRH, as Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Canadian Navy (Pacific Fleet), with Sir Tim, carried out engagements in Vancouver;

Attended the Commissioning Ceremony for HMCS MAX BERNAYS at North Vancouver Burrard Drydock, before attending a Reception onboard. ⛴️ 🇨🇦

Attended a Dinner onboard HMCS MAX BERNAYS at sea. 🍽️

04/05 HRH, as Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Canadian Navy (Pacific Fleet), with Sir Tim, carried out engagements in Victoria;

Toured HMCS Max Bernays at sea. 🌊

Visited Esquimalt Military Family Resource Centre at the Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt. 👪🪖

As President of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, visited God’s Acre Cemetery and laid a wreath at the Memorial. 🌹

Visited the Maritime Museum of British Columbia Archive. 📜⚓️

Her Royal Highness afterwards visited Fed Urban Agriculture Society Urban Farm, 395 Harbour Road. 🌾

Attended a Reception given by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia (the Hon Janet Austin) at Government House. 🥂

Attended a Dinner given by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia at Government House. 🍽️

05/05 HRH, as Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Canadian Navy (Pacific Fleet), with Sir Tim, carried out engagements in Victoria;

Visited Government House Gardens. 🪴⛲️

Attended the Battle of the Atlantic Memorial Parade at the Parliament Building and laid a wreath at the Cenotaph before taking the salute at the march past of Canadian Armed Forces Veterans, Serving Personnel and Cadets. 🫡

Attended a Royal Victoria Yacht Club Youth Dinghy Regatta. 🛥️

As Patron of the Canadian Therapeutic Riding Association, visited Victoria Therapeutic Riding Association. 🐎

Departed Vancouver International Airport for the United Kingdom. 🇨🇦✈️🇬🇧

06/05 Arrived at Heathrow Airport from Canada 🇨🇦✈️🇬🇧

08/05 Hosted a garden party at Buckingham Palace alongside The King and Queen, The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. 🍃☀️🪴

As Patron of the Woolf Institute, attended a Reception, followed by a Dinner, to launch the Randeree End of Life Programme. 🥂🍽️

09/05 As Patron of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity, visited the Headquarters at HMS Excellent in Portsmouth. ⚓️

As Patron of the Women’s Royal Naval Service Benevolent Trust, attended the Annual Presentation and Reception at the National Museum of the Royal Navy. 🏛️

As Patron of the Association of Wrens, opened the new Headquarters Building at Lanyard House, HM Naval Base. 🫡

With Sir Tim As Patron of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, visited the HMS Victory Conservation Project at HM Naval Base ⚓️

With Sir Tim As Patron of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, attended the HMS Victory Conservation Project Dinner onboard HMS Victory at HM Naval Base. ⚓️🍽️

10/05 As Patron of Catch22, visited Greater Manchester Victims’ Services at Greater Manchester Police Headquarters. 👮

Visited the East Manchester Community Boat Project at Portland Basin Museum Marina in Ashton-Under-Lyne to mark its 30th Anniversary. 🛥️🎂

11/05 unofficial With Sir Tim Went to Badminton Horse Trials to cheer on Zara Tindall in her Cross Country stage of the three day event. 🏇🏼

13/05 Visited Stonehaven Open Air Swimming Pool to mark its 90th Anniversary. 🏊‍♀️🍾🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

As Admiral of the Sea Cadet Corps and Marine Society and Sea Cadets, opened Stonehaven and District New Headquarters. ⚓️🫡 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

14/05 With Sir Tim As Patron of the United Kingdom Sailing Academy held a Founders’ Club Luncheon at St James’s Palace. ⛵️

As Chancellor of the University of London, attended the King’s Centre for Military Health Research Conference. 👩‍⚕️

With Sir Tim As Patron of the Wellington Trust, attended a Dinner onboard HMS WELLINGTON (mto mark the Ship’s Ninetieth Anniversary. ⚓️🥂

15/05 As Court Member of the Fishmongers’ Company, visited Glenarm Organic Salmon Fish Farm, off Glenarm Harbour in Ballymena. 🍣🚤

As Court Member of the Fishmongers’ Company, attended a Luncheon at Glenarm Castle. 🐟🍽️🏰

16/05 As Royal Patron of the National Coastwatch Institution, visited Bembridge Station, followed by a Reception at Brading Haven Yacht Club in Ryde, Isle of Wight. 🔍🌊

As President, Royal Yachting Association, opened the Sea View Yacht Club's Training Centre in Seaview, Isle of Wight. 🛥️

17/05 With Sir Tim Hosted the annual Not Forgotten Association garden party at Buckingham Palace. 🫖🍰☀️

20/05 unofficial Departed from RAF Brize Norton for Norway and landed at Oslo Gardermoen Airport. 🇬🇧✈️🇳🇴

21/05 As Patron of the Anglo-Norwegian Resistance Commemoration Project, visited the Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum in Vemork, Norway. 🔨⚙️🇳🇴

As Patron of the Anglo-Norwegian Resistance Commemoration Project, received a briefing on the sinking of DF Hydro at Mael Station in Telemark, Norway. 🏭🇳🇴

Attended a Reception given by His Majesty’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Norway at the Residence in Oslo. 🥂🇳🇴🇬🇧

22/05 As President of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, visited Vestre Gravlund Cemetery and laid a wreath on the memorial. 🪦

As Patron of the Anglo-Norwegian Resistance Commemoration Project, visited the Linge Club and attended a Reception at Akershus Fortress, Oslo. 🇳🇴🇬🇧

As Patron of the Anglo-Norwegian Resistance Commemoration Project, visited the Norwegian Shipowners’ Mutual War Risks Insurance Association. 🪖🇳🇴

As Patron of the Anglo-Norwegian Resistance Commemoration Project, with The Crown Prince of Norway, visited the Norwegian Resistance Museum, Akershus Fortress. 🏰 🇳🇴

unofficial Departed from Oslo Gardermoen Airport and landed at RAF Brize Norton . 🇬🇧✈️🇳🇴

23/05 As Patron of the Hornet Services Sailing Club, visited the club for their 60th anniversary. ⛵️🎂

Opened the Army Sailing Association Offshore Centre in Gosport. ⛵️

With Sir Tim & Duke of Kent Held a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's 200th anniversary. 🛟☕️

With Sir Tim Visited the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. 🌸🌺🌼💐

24/05 Opened the Admiral Lord Cochrane Room at the Royal United Services Institute in Whitehall, London. 🔐

Sometime in May unofficial Sir Tim, as Chair of Trustees, attended the Science Museum Groups annual dinner

Total official engagements for Anne in May: 53

2024 total so far: 224

Total official engagements accompanied by Tim in May: 23

2024 total so far: 55

FYI - due to certain royal family members being off ill/in recovery I won't be posting everyone's engagement counts out of respect, I am continuing to count them and release the totals at the end of the year.

[4dkellysworld]

Self-realisation and life duties

For those wondering how to reconcile a life of work, studies or obligations with self-realisation, you don't have to stop those activities (Robert said the same thing, you give it up mentally). I compiled a bunch of Q&As with Ramana Maharshi on the topic which may be helpful guidance.

Q: Is solitude necessary for a Jnani? M: Solitude is in the mind of man. One might be in the thick of the world and maintain serenity of mind; such a one is in solitude. Another may stay in a forest, but still be unable to control his mind. He cannot be said to be in solitude. Solitude is a function of the mind. A man attached to desire cannot get solitude wherever he may be; a detached man is always in solitude. Q: So then, one might be engaged in work and be free from desire and keep up solitude. Is it so? M: Yes. Work performed with attachment is a shackle, whereas work performed with detachment does not affect the doer. He is, even while working, in solitude.

Q: Is work an obstruction to Self-realisation? M: No. For a realised being, the Self alone is the Reality and actions are only phenomenal; not affecting the Self. Even when he acts he has no sense of being an agent. His actions are only involuntary and he remains a witness to them without any attachment. There is no aim for this action. Even one who is still practising the path of Wisdom (jnana) can practise while engaged in work. It may be difficult in the earlier stages for a beginner, but after some practice it will soon be effective and the work will not be found a hindrance to meditation. Q: My work hinders me. M: If you have the right attitude, the kind of life you lead does not matter very much.

Q: Our work-a-day life is not compatible with such efforts. M: Why do you think that you are active? Take the gross example of your arrival here. You left home in a cart, took train, alighted at the Railway Station here, got into a cart there and found yourself in this Asramam. When asked, you say that you travelled here all the way from your town. Is it true? Is it not a fact that you remained as you were and there were movements of conveyances all along the way. Just as those movements are confounded with your own, so also the other activities. They are not your own. They are God's activities.

Q: My work demands the best part of my time and energy; often I am too tired to devote myself to Atmachintana (Contemplation on the Self). M: The feeling "l work" is the hindrance. Enquire, "Who works?" Remember, "Who am l?" The work will not bind you. It will go on automatically. Make no effort either to work or to renounce work. Your effort is the bondage. What is bound to happen will happen. If you are destined to cease working, work cannot be had even if you hunt for it. If you are destined to work you cannot leave it; you will be forced to engage in it. So leave it to the Higher Power. You cannot renounce or hold as you choose.

Q: Should we do our duty or not? M: Yes - certainly. Even if you try not to do your duty you will be perforce obliged to do it. Let the body complete the task for which it came into being. Sri Krishna also says in the Gita, whether Arjuna liked it or not he would be forced to fight. When there is work to be done by you, you cannot keep away; nor can you continue to do a thing when you are not required to do it, that is to say, when the work allotted to you has been done. In short, the work will go on and you must take your share in it - the share which is allotted to you. Q: How is work to be done? M: Like an actor playing his part in a drama - free from love or hatred.

Q: How to practice meditation? M: Keep off thoughts. Q: How to reconcile work with meditation? M: Who is the worker? Let him who works ask the question. You are always the Self. You are not the mind. It is the mind which raises these questions. Work proceeds, always in the presence of the Self only. Work is no hindrance to self-realisation. It is the mistaken identity of the worker that troubles one. Get rid of the false identity.

Q: I have my professional work and yet I want to be in perpetual dhyana. Will they conflict with each other? M: There will be no conflict. As you practise both and develop your powers you will be able to attend to both. You will begin to look on business as a dream. The Bhagavad—Gita says: "That which is the night of all beings, for the disciplined man is the time of waking; when other beings are waking, then is it night for the Sage who Sees."

Q (a professor): How can I do my duties without attachment? There is my wife, there are my children. I must do my duty towards them. Affection is necessary. Am I right? M: How do you do your work in the College? D: (laughing) For wages. M: Not because you are attached, simply as doing your duty. D: But my pupils expect me to love them. M: "Detachment in the interior and attachment in appearance" says Yoga Vasishta.

[myhauntedsalem]

Dingess Tunnel

Hidden deep within the coal filled Appalachian Mountains of Southern West Virginia rests a forgotten land that is older than time itself. Its valleys are deep, its waters polluted and its terrain is as rough as the rugged men and women who have occupied these centuries old plats for thousands of years.

The region is known as “Bloody Mingo” and for decades the area has been regarded as one of the most murderous areas in all of American history.

The haunted mountains of this territory have been the stage of blood baths too numerous to number, including those of the famed Hatfield’s and McCoy’s, Matewan Massacre and the Battle of Blair Mountain. Even the county’s sheriff was murdered this past spring, while eating lunch in his vehicle.

Tucked away in a dark corner of this remote area is an even greater anomaly – a town, whose primary entrance is a deserted one lane train tunnel nearly 4/5 of a mile long.

The story of this town’s unique entrance dates back nearly a century and a half ago, back to an era when coal mining in West Virginia was first becoming profitable.

For generations, the people of what is now Mingo County, West Virginia, had lived quiet and peaceable lives, enjoying the fruits of the land, living secluded within the tall and unforgiving mountains surrounding them.

All of this changed, however, with the industrial revolution, as the demand for coal soared to record highs.

Soon outside capital began flowing into “Bloody Mingo” and within a decade railroads had linked the previously isolated communities of southern West Virginia to the outside world.

The most notorious of these new railways was Norfolk & Western’s line between Lenore and Wayne County – a railroad that split through the hazardous and lawless region known as “Twelve Pole Creek.”

At the heart of Twelve Pole Creek, railroad workers forged a 3,300 foot long railroad tunnel just south of the community of Dingess.

As new mines began to open, destitute families poured into Mingo County in search of labor in the coal mines. Among the population of workers were large numbers of both African-Americans and Chinese emigrants.

Despising outsiders, and particularly the thought of dark skinned people moving into what had long been viewed as a region exclusively all their own, residents of Dingess, West Virginia, are said to have hid along the hillsides just outside of the tunnel’s entrance, shooting any dark skinned travelers riding aboard the train.

Though no official numbers were ever kept, it has been estimated that hundreds of black and Chinese workers were killed at the entrance and exits of this tunnel.

Norfolk & Western soon afterward abandonment the Twelve Pole line. Within months two forces of workmen began removing the tracks, ties, and accessory facilities.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Thanks so much for doing all this, I love what you do for enjoyers of ttrpgs!!

What I'm looking for is epistolary or long-distance, asynchronous games for multiple players. I know you've done lists of 2-player games that people can play in their own time (writing letters or journal entries back and forth, stating your actions in a message then waiting for the other player, etc) but I was wondering if there were any I could play with 3 or more players with different timezones & schedules at once.

Genre and playstyle are flexible, we love trying new mechanics! I've struggled to find games to fit this myself, so I hope you can have a little more luck. You're awesome for taking these requests and finding so many different games for people!

THEME: Asynch & Epistolary for 3 or More.

Hello friend! First of all, I’m going to send you to my Epistolary (Part 3) post because that was specifically for 3 or more players, as well as my first epistolary post because there were a number there that could also be played with a number of people.

But don't worry, there's more!

Angels of the Railway Stations, by Speak the Sky.

There’s only so much you can do alone, but you’re not alone. There’s only so much that can be done with any one meeting, but life is more than one meeting. As you go through the stages of Arrival, Stopover, and Departure, take notes of everything in the form of a letter to be sent on with the train when it leaves the station. These letters should give your fellow angels more context to help the traveller in need along the way. They’re also your only way to communicate with your colleagues and comrades.

Angels of the Railway Stations is an epistolary game for 2+ players in which you play a liminal community of lonely angels. Help lonely travellers in a world undergoing a great upheaval, then write about what you see and do to pass it on to the next angel down the line.

All of the rules for this game can fit on one page, and require you to rely on other players to determine what each of your passengers need and help them get to where they need to go - on time. Angels of the Railway Station references a game called Black Engines, which does not actually exist, which means that many parts of this game will require your play group to fill in the blanks. That being said, I think Angels of the Railway Station has plenty of potential when it comes to telling emotional stories.

Intersecting Orbits, by Ell Schulman.

For as long as there have been Orbiters, there has been the Interference. Spikes in data that have no business being there, garbled words, ghosts in the machinery. Few people believe truly in the existence of the Interference as an entity.The Interference does not care what they believe.

The planet below is alive. There are deep oceans and high mountains and biomes we do not have names for. There are plants and animals that do not conform to systems we know.

There are people who look up at the stars and wonder who else is out there.There is so much to explore. 

Intersecting Orbits is a game for three players, two of whom play Orbiters sending messages back and forth and one of whom plays the Interference who intercepts those messages and removes words from them. 

Using a deck of cards, the two Orbiters will try to communicate to each-other about something that is going on. Meanwhile, the Interference uses 2d6 to determine how many words of the message they can remove. You can probably use this method either by sending letters to each-other, or by writing e-mails or sending texts, so I think this game is definitely flexible in terms of how quickly you want to send messages to each-other, and how long you want the game to run.

Chronicle, by a.fell.

The world is coming to an end. It has been foretold, and so it shall be. We cannot stop it; we only wait, and observe, and recall.

This is a game to create a chronicle of a world, and to find the world again in the last seconds of its life. The game is different depending on which path you choose to take.

You will not play together. You might not play at the same time, or in the same place. You might not even know each other before you play this game.

When you play The Chronicler, you will play alone, across time, across worlds. There is foretelling that an end is coming. You are here to ensure that your life, your people, and your world, survive. The Witnesses will find your artifacts an unknowable amount of time later. They will observe, they will wonder, they will remember their own lives, and they will know you. The world they know is empty, and soon they, too, will be gone. But they will carry these moments with them.

Chronicle uses a tarot deck (or something similar) as an oracle, and requires some form of map for the Chronicler to add to. The Chronicler will draw from this deck to create the events, artifacts and messages from this world. Most of the Chronicler’s work is done by the time the Witnesses come into play, who will travel across the map, pick up artifacts left behind by the Chronicler, and use their own oracle decks to recall personal memories. Eventually, a cataclysm will fall, and the game will end.

Leaving Cambridge, by Nora Katz.

You were together once, a lifetime ago, in a place called Cambridge. It was a place you held dear—a place that you called home, even if just for a moment. But something strange or sinister happened, and now you are all gone, dispersed across countries, continents, and maybe even worlds. There are stories untold and things unsaid. This is your chance to say them. 

“Leaving Cambridge” is an intimate, asynchronous storytelling game that takes place through letters exchanged between a group of people who have parted ways. Over the course of a real-life calendar year, a group of players write letters to each other, piecing together what happened to them, trying to reconcile their checkered pasts with their current realities. As the letters arrive, this group of people will come to understand each other, and themselves, with more clarity—and, most likely, more questions. 

Leaving Cambridge is a setting-agnostic game, so you can set it at any time period and any technology level, as long as it is possible that all of the players at some point went to Cambridge together.. What remains true is that you were once friends, but you have since grown apart. You will draw from a deck of cards, with red cards reflecting memories you share and black cards representing your emotions. Writing will happen over four seasons, with an inciting reason for you to get back in touch with each-other, and generative prompts that encourage your characters to reveal pieces of themselves the longer that they write.

I’d Also Recommend…

When I Lived Here, by a grumpy little critter.

[wifelinkmtg]

There's "spaghetti western" and then there's whatever the hell this Chef Boyardee shit is

Hello! and welcome back to Wifelink. We're talking about Outlaws of Thunder Junction today, Magic's second product in a row set in a version of Nevada, and let me tell you something: I am not impressed. The mechanics are uninspired, the setting is undercooked, the story is overstuffed, and to top it all off the whole thing smacks of settler-colonialism. AND they yassified Vraska, the monsters!

WE WILL GET TO THE HOT WOMEN, BELIEVE YOU ME, BUT FIRST I AM GOING TO COMPLAIN SOMEWHAT, AS IS MY RIGHT AS AN AMERICAN, AS A HUMAN BEING, AND AS A GAMER

The mechanics we've discussed elsewhere, and I will skim over the main storyline except to say that very few of this Big Villain Heist Team-Up gets enough spotlight to justify their inclusion here beyond getting recognizable names on cards, and that Rakdos' presence on the plane alone ought to be an apocalyptic calamity. I appreciate Jace & Vraska going full blackpilled accelerationist, stealing a baby, and aiming to destroy the multiverse & start over (a novel hybrid of Raising Arizona and Doctor Strangelove,) but I also know, sure as the sun rises, that whatever happens with their villain arc will be a underwhelming let-down.

What I actually want to complain about, though, is the setting. Thunder Junction ain't real, and I don't mean it's fictional, I mean it's plywood facades on a backlot. It's the set for a cowboy film. You feel me? This ain't a plane, it's a god damned sound stage.

Lemme go over the facts: we know Thunder Junction has been settled for a bit over a year. A year! - and yet there's multiple towns, multiple railways, and an honest-to-god metropolis. Less than two years and we already have ghost towns! This is not the product of a bunch of people on various planes all individually deciding to seek a new life in the off-world colonies. All of this represents a staggering quantity of people, material, wealth, and labor, being moved between planes, directed and organized - but by whom? For what reason? How, even? The story is totally uninterested in these questions.

One of the few silver linings to the way the Phyrexian invasion storyline ended was that the Omenpaths had a lot of interesting potential! Different planes would come into direct contact with each other for the first time ever! Different technologies, different philosophies and religions, different kinds of magic colliding, coming into conflict, adapting and adjusting to each other. And after a couple of sets where the interplanar contact was limited to one or two particularly adventurous individuals, we finally get to see what interplanar contact at scale looks like here in Thunder Junction... and it just looks like a John Wayne flick. Did people not bring their culture with them? Is there a big rack of hats and boots and dusters right where people step off the Omenpath? Shuck off those old Ravnican rags, kid, get changed. You'll spoil the aesthetic. I mean, it's baffling.

Luxurious Locomotive (art by Leon Tukker). This is one of the few man-made parts of this plane that I can look at and know where it came from: this is a Kaladeshi design. More of this sort of thing would have made Thunder Junction feel more like a real place and less like a Sergio Leone joint.

There's a side story, No Tells, by Isaac Fellman, which I quite like actually: it's about guilt and betrayal and the inevitable regrets of having moved into a queer housing co-op, and one of the things that makes it great is that we know where Yuma came from (New Capenna), we know why he left (the limitations of "be gay do crimes" as praxis under capitalism), and we know what he brought to Thunder Junction with him (cocktails, pool tables, and his co-op's emergency funds). Fellman has written nothing else for Wizards and doesn't play Magic, and even so he's done more to make Thunder Junction feel like a real place situated in a real history than the rest of the story team combined - which goes to show, one, that we should only let trans people write magic story for the next decade or so, and two, that what I'm asking for in terms of worldbuilding is not unattainable, or even that difficult.

And all of this ties into the colonialism, right? Thunder Junction is being colonized, and asking questions about who benefits, who's sponsoring this breakneck settlement of the plane, what they're after and so forth would require the story to take a good hard look at the process of colonization itself, and Wizards is flatly unwilling to engage with anything that thorny in their products. So, just as Ixalan involved a limp-wristed slant reenactment of the Spanish conquest of the Americas - but it's fine because they're the bad guys and they're technically not even trying to colonize Ixalan and they don't win anyway so no one gets hurt! - Thunder Junction is attempting to present a Disneyland version of Western colonialism. Untamed wilderness! Bringing civilization to uninhabited deserts! How cool and heroic these hard frontiersmen and -women are! I'm told they brought in Navajo cultural consultants for the Atiin, a fantasy equivalent, and I hope those folks were well compensated! The Atiin seem cool, and the one Atiin character we spend any time with is well-written, but the Atiin are not indigenous to Thunder Junction. They're not being colonized. And if there weren't anybody being colonized, I'd probably still dislike the colonial vision of a wild land inhabited only by animals, just waiting for us to shape it to our will with railways and violence, but there is in fact a native race of sapients on Thunder Junction, and these cactus folk get no voice in the story, so if they have some kind of opinion on the rapid colonization of their home and the clear-cutting of their cactus forests, we don't get to hear about it.

Prickly Pair (art by Brian Valeza) Too much of the extremely-limited presence Thunder Junction's only indigenous sapients have on the cards is devoted to cactus-based puns like this one, which is pretty distasteful given, you know, the colonialism.

I'm talking about colonialism not because I think that replicating colonial myths in fantasy fiction is an unethical thing to do - although it is - but because you can see, right, that Thunder Junction's lack of verisimilitude is intertwined with the colonial vision of the world at play here, yeah? The story wants to have cool cowboy shootouts and train robberies and it does not want its cowboy fantasy to be complicated by uncomfortable realities, so it has to avoid all of the basic worldbuilding questions that would tell us who the colonization benefits and how they're profiting off the plane, and in the end we're left with nothing but an empty aesthetic, like a duster hanging off a scarecrow, blowing in the wind.

ANYWAY SO WOMEN

To be honest, under the circumstances I'm not really feeling like giving the fine women of Thunder Junction my usual more elaborate treatment, so we're going to lightning-round this shit, which is at least thematic.

Blood Hustler (art by Anna Pavleeva)

Vampire MILF.

Rattleback Apothecary (art by Loïc Canavaggia)

Snake MILF.

Wrangler of the Damned (art by Michal Ivan)

Cis lesbian haircut, good with a rope.

Obeka, Splitter of Seconds (art by Ryan Pancoast)

BIG

[cryptidvoidwritings]

That feel when you're missing Cats and have to play for time during the curtain call to keep with the music

giffed from this video

[bonefall]

Glowworms

(because i keep getting asked about them)

[ID: An adult female glowworm of the species Lampyris noctiluca. It has a bright green glow and clings to a plant.]

Before I even get started, let me lay down some education on the entire Lampyridae family so that we're all on the same page about the specific species that I'm going to talk about for the UK. I've done more research on this topic than the last time I brought it up, and I come bearing knowledge

Lampyridae is a family of beetles, descended from a bio-luminescent ancestor. There are more than 2000 species of Lampyridae, and they can be VERY different. This family is called "fireflies," "glowworms," and "lightningbugs" but ALL of those common names are AWFUL for referring to the full family becaaaaaauuuusee...

Not all lampyridae can fly

Not all lampyridae can glow as adults

Not all lampyridae light up passively; some use it as a lure or a warning

Not all lampyridae light up during flight

In the US, our most iconic species light up during flight, and our most common species have males and females capable of flight. So when I'm talking about "glowworms," remember that those traits are not shared by ALL species of Lampyridae, and especially not this one.

The UK has one species of glowing Lampyridae, Lampyris noctiluca, the Common Glowworm. There's one other, non-glowing species but it's extremely rare and only in the south, and an occasional visitor from mainland Europe.

GLOWWORMS

Only the female lights up, and her final stage is not capable of flight. This is called a "larviform female," because she looks like the wormy adolescent stage that all Lampyridae go through.

The female will climb up to the highest blade of grass she can find and wiggle her butt around until a male, who CAN fly and does NOT glow, finds her. Then she lays eggs and dies.

So because the adults do not eat and quickly die after reproduction, most of a glowworm's life is spent as a larva.

The larval glowworm is a SPECIALIZED predator of gastropods. They hunt snails and slugs for ONE or TWO YEARS (depending on how much food there was in the first year), hibernating over the winter, then waking up and doing it again. All movement in the species is done by the larvae; they have a REALLY hard time establishing new colonies because of this.

This is NOT a pioneer species. You need to have undisturbed grass, moor, or heath, no pesticides, not overgrazed, not brightly lit, for generations of these insects AND their prey. It's REALLY easy to decimate the glowworm population in an area via carelessness.

(let alone the horror story in the Glowworm Survey page where a tiny colony was intentionally destroyed, which is why they have a policy about keeping quiet on reports of certain colonies except to researchers ;_;)

so LOOK AT ME

HOLDING YOU BY THE SHOULDERS

You need to protect glowworm populations when you can. If you ever briefly hear posts in passing shouting about sterile lawns, light pollution, and pesticides, THIS IS WHY. If you live on the island and feel like there's a shit ton of slugs in your garden for some reason? Might be because these factors killed off their specialized predators, leaving you with an unfilled ecological niche.

Environment

Hypothetically, glowworms should be distributed all across Great Britain, except the Scottish highlands, though they have the strongest concentration in southern England.

Functionally, their population is incredibly fragmented. They need tall grass or heather, low light pollution, undisturbed (no pesticide) land, and lots of gastropods to eat. While they can work with forest verges and railways, places for them to thrive are getting rarer and rarer in the UK.

So to restate their very specific environmental needs;

Undisturbed land Glowworms and construction don't mix. Pollution, pesticides, and destruction can destroy the little patches of land glowworms have left. They need up to two years to go from eggs to adults, and a safe place for that to happen in.

A population of gastropods Baby glowworms eat slugs and snails. Because of that, they can't live where it's too dry.

Tall grasses, shrubs, or heathers, but not TOO tall A tree won't do! Glowworms do not live in trees! The females need a tall stalk to climb to the top of, so that they can signal to flying males. At the same time, they can't hunt or find each other in a savanna or a wheat field. Well-managed heathlands are excellent habitat for glowworms.

Low light pollution If it's too bright, males can't find females. Highways with heavy traffic, urban areas, and anything else that gives off constant light will affect the glowworm population.

They glow in June to May, in summer, at night. You won't find glowworms in winter, as all the larvae are hibernating at that time.

BB FAQ

When I determine if something will show up in the Better Bones AU and my Clan Culture expansions, I use iNaturalist to suss out if people are seeing it in the modeled region. Lads, there is a bald spot in my modeled regions. It's almost comical. The closest is in DERBYSHIRE, RIGHT out of reach.

So I'm still unsure about adding them. For now, they are not in BB. I GOT A REPORT FROM A FAN I will be adding them to BB.

"How do Clan cats feel about them?" They're unfathomnably holy, especially because they spend their larval stage eating snails which can be used in divination rituals. WindClan in particular considers themselves blessed for living around them.

"Can you use glowworms to light up the night?" Yes but that's really bad for their populations; leave them be! Clan cats wouldn't use something so holy in such a trivial way.

"Can you eat glowworms?" No they taste really bad. The chemical that makes them light up is REALLY bitter, and it's present in both the larvae and adults. Plus Clan cats wouldn't eat something so holy.

[cetaceous]

Railway Signals stand idle as Train Drivers stage a Six-day Strike, Cologne, Germany image credit: Ina Fassbender/AFP via: The Guardian

[beatricebidelaire]

#beamony

was thinking how i like writing beatrice as, lots of dramatic and grand gestures, good actress, on stage and off stage, performing comes easily, which sometimes makes her wonder if her own emotions are actually that strong or is she just performing, even if she's without an audience. when she's sad and crying and does actually feel sad she gets this sudden thought oh am i just performing, am i just garnering people's attention, yes i'm alone right now but am i just performing to myself, am i just practicing my tears, practicing my acting skills.

that daniel handler quote - "i think that's the world that we're in. i think if you are very sad and you're crying in a railway station you can't help but think what a romantic cliche you are, sitting here crying in a railway station." beatrice is like that a lot, she thinks she's so good at acting that sometimes when she's emotional she starts feeling like she's examining herself in an out-of-body experience and think am i performing a scene, a cliche, do i really feel this, maybe i do but do i really feel this much, or is it exaggerated, am i actually this sad / this angry, am i performing?

anyway above is like, just how i like to write beatrice sometimes but as we all know beatrice is not a character with a lot of screentime and we all built up different images of her based from the scattered pieces in canon. anyway, so. that's the, pretext here.

now segueing into something else ..... i'm thinking about the analysis i've read about lemony's grief for beatrice, the dedications, the way he talks about her after death - the interpretation of how this idealized image of beatrice and the grief and sadness expressed by lemony while mourning her is in some way a performance. not because he wasn't actually sad, but because he is sad, very, and he is grieving, very much, and to cope with this loss of her he turned missing her into a sort of .... missing this idealized version of her that deep down he knows isn't who she really is.

(wrt did lemony always idealize beatrice or not, my favorite take is mayo's tags on this post "#i actually tend to think that lemony’s complicated and dramatic enough to simultaneously be in love with a real complex person#and the idealized version of them at the same time#and maybe he’s more in love with real beatrice when she is there and more in love with idealized beatrice when she is farther away#(emotionally more than physically)" )

so, going back a bit. lemony and his performance of idealizing and grieving beatrice to cope with losing her, and beatrice with her performances in general that leads to her wondering sometimes whether if she's just faking or exaggerating her emotions, and both of those happening even when they're alone - L declaring his love in his mind, in his dedications, alone by himself, and beatrice when she's not surrounded by audience and just by herself.

they were once close enough that if they both have some sort of this tendency, even if not displayed that much or at all back then, but the potential, the ability - do they recognize it in each other, do they see themselves in each other, or they do think the other person's "acts" are actually "real", even if the other person may think it's "performing"

[realreulbbrband]

Guys, Bustopher deserves better, so here's what I'd imagine he'd do in the rest of the show if he didn't disappear from existence after his song. (hypothetically)

(Reul totally doesn't have a white rose and mole Bustopher bias.....)

quick clarifications before we start!

Bustopher won't be in his song costume when "old Deuteronomy" happens or for the rest of the show. So, imagine him in a sort of chorus costume in this, like Jennyanydots after the Gumbie Cat number. (like the image below but with more white areas)

But because he's fancy, he would be dressed this way if it were entirely up to me, and I could choose. It would also somewhat lessen the shock factor (at least for me) associated with Grizabella wearing clothing when nearly everyone else is completely naked. Instead of dressing like a huge, stuffy coat with a giant tail, he wears suspenders in my imagination, and the look is still suitable for the remainder of the performance.

Also note that Asparagus and Gus are different characters to me, and that applies here. Sorry if that's bothersome.

ACT 1

"Mungojerrie & Rumpleteazer"

He shows back up at the end of Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer after the two are caught and everyone's surrounding them; he's still quite shaken, thinking they are Macavity, and so he hides behind Asparagus, who's walking towards the crowd, clearly annoyed at the two. When he does get close enough, Bustopher peeks at the action before stepping away from his fellow tom and huffing, crossing his arms. He collects the "swag bags" (seriously, why are they called that?) off Munkustrap and Alonzo and waddles off stage. Where the actor would then change into the chorus costume.

"Old Deuteronomy"

The Jellicles sing old Deuteronomy, and around midway, Bustopher shows up again, leaning by the oven. He smiles at how enthusiastic everyone is over the arrival of the jellicle leader but isn't too pushy to greet old Deuteronomy himself.

(In my headcanon, the two run into each other outside of the junkyard, often due to Bustopher being "the cat about town" and Old Deuteronomy being known in his poem for sitting in the street on market day.) Bustopher simply greets him with an acknowledging nod and smile as he arrives.

"The Awefull battle of the Pekes & the Pollicles"

He sits at Deuteronomy's side, just behind where Victoria does during the number. Despite being close by, Bustopher isn't as generous as old Deuteronomy is when it comes to the Pekes & Pollicles performance. Not in a cruel sense, but more like he can't help but raise a brow and laugh as everyone keeps messing around. Maybe even sparing old Deuteronomy some telling glances when the Rumpus cat shows up late.

(I skipped the Jellicle Ball because I honestly don't think he'd do anything noteworthy if he were to be one of the dancers or realistically off stage like Old D and Gus.)

ACT 2

"The Moment of happiness"

If we're doing a transitional thing, I think he'd purposefully sit next to Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer just to make sure they don't start giggling during the song or messing around with everyone else. He'd probably shush them, though, and gesture for them to sit. Other than that, he'd listen and repeat like everyone else.

"Gus the theatre cat"

I think it would be funny if Bustopher sat next to Skimbleshanks on top of the car boot. Probably to catch up and enjoy the song, but when Skimble inevitably starts falling asleep, Bustopher feels offended on behalf of Gus and Jellylorum and tries to wake him by bapping Skimble's paw or tail. Skimble still falls asleep, however, and Bustopher simply rolls his eyes and enjoys the rest of the song. It's bittersweet at the end of the day, but enjoyable none the less.

"Skimbleshanks the railway cat"

Bustopher's a little cross with Skimble after what happened before but gets over it quite quickly and joins the other elder cats watching on the tire. I think it would be kind of funny if Bustopher wasn't aware they were going to be building a train (because his visits are occasional) and sort of got roped in to holding the umbrella, or better yet, one of the pipes. He's confused and keeps turning to the cat beside him for guidance, but comes to enjoy it. Even when the train breaks down.

"Macavity's appearance"

Macavity appears. Bustopher out. I want him to be the first one to run off too. It could be a nice running joke. But yeah, I think he'd leave before old Deuteronomy even gets kidnapped; he's that scared of the red bastard.

"Magical Mr. Mistoffelees"

Going from Mistoffelees being an eager fan and respecting Bustopher so much as if he were family, I think it would definitely encourage him more if Bustopher was cheering him on along with everyone else. I think it would be nice if he stood next to Jenny here, after she's disappointed about not being selected, Mistoffelees's assistant Bustopher gives her a pat on the paw, and they sit and enjoy the magic and celebrate with everyone once Deut's back.

"Memory"

I think this is the first time Bustopher's seen Grizabella? So you bet he's taking longer to turn around and look her in the eyes. Other than that, that pretty much had the same reaction as every other cat in that scene. Anyway, when Grizabella is welcomed back, I think it would be nice if Bustopher shook her paw instead of just brushing against it. "But Reul, they're cats!! Tugger does hip thrusts and fist pumps. Bustopher can shake paws."

Anyhow, that's all I got for him, but I think with different actors, this process and how he interacts with the jellicles could be very diverse and interesting. I'm all for reimagings, and this post was kind of an excuse to do that or a "what if," especially with a cat as underappreciated as Bustopher, which is no doubt because of his lack of stage time. I think a few more moments with him could really make him more memorable and justify him having a song rather than cutting him and his song completely.

for you: @kirbyssketchbook