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tigerkirby215 · 3 years

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5e Kayle, the Righteous build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Jessica “OwleyCat” Oyhenart and Victor “3rdColossus” Maury. Made for Riot Games.)

You know I find it funny that I haven’t made a build for Kayle yet, given that I made Morgana awhile ago sort of as a spur of the moment thing. Despite the fact that I main support I really don’t play Morgana (can’t hit skill shots omegalul), but meanwhile I really like Kayle. She was one of the first champions I played along with Sona since I was told she was very similar to Terrorblade who was one of my favorite carries in DOTA 2. I dropped her for a bit after her rework but I picked her up again and she’s still super fun! I mean, shame she’s kinda trash in the meta.

Anyways it’s about time I make a build for her since Morgana was alone for so long, especially since she’s coming back along with Pentakill! Kayle’s probably the perfect character to play if you want to go Lawful Stupid, but out of respect for everyone else please don’t play her Lawful Stupid.

GOALS

On wings of fire, hope ascends - It’s the quest of all champions to eventually transcend mortals. Hopefully we’ll at least be able to fly after this.

Fire reveals truth - Kayle is also well-known for her Zealous attack speed, so we’ll need to be able to get out as much DPS as possible.

The worthy survive! - A little bit of Divine Judgement goes a long way. An explosion of flaming swords helps too.

RACE

This may come as a surprise to you but Kayle is an Aasimar. More specifically a Protector Aasimar, which is rather fitting seeing as she’s seen as The Protector in Demacia. As an Aasimar your Charisma increases by 2, but I’m going to increase your Constitution instead of the typical Wisdom increase from Protector Aasimar, for a bit more lane sustain.

You have Celestial Resistance to both your own Radiant damage and your sister’s Necrotic damage, have the Light Bearer feature for the Light cantrip, and can give yourself or an ally a Celestial Blessing thanks to Healing Hands. It only heals up to your level but it certainly helps!

You also get Darkvision and the Celestial language, and Radiant Soul at level 3 thanks to your Protector subrace, We’ll discuss that when we get to level 3.

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - League of Legends body types, am I right? Sure you have a bit of an “evil must be purged” personality, but D&D Paladins like that a lot.

14; DEXTERITY - Something something medium armor. I would call what you wear Half Plate, which means that for once the choice of Medium Armor is accurate!

13; STRENGTH - This feels strangely familiar...

12; CONSTITUTION - Kayle is very squishy in League but I like not dying so...

10; INTELLIGENCE - You may have lived through history but most of that time was spent up in the stars. Basically we need everything else more.

8; WISDOM - Yeah I didn’t increase Wisdom with your racial increase because I was planning to dump it. Kayle’s fatal flaw is that she’s blinded by her sense of justice, which is a sign of poor Wisdom and critical decision making.

BACKGROUND

There isn’t a great background for “Half of the Aspect of Justice” but Celebrity Adventurer’s Scion works fairly well. You get proficiency with Perception as well as Performance (you were in Pentakill, after all!), a Disguise Kit (but I’d maybe replace that with something else or ditch it entirely), and two languages of your choice. (Pick your poison.)

Your background feature Name Dropping lets you tell people that your mom was actually a god. You might be able to find people who knew your mom (or more realistically worshiped her before... you know... you became half of her?) and folk might recognize that you’re... half a god, and give you free stuff.

(Artwork by Alvin Lee and Kan Liu. Made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - SORCERER 1

Starting off as a Sorcerer because Kayle is about as useless as a level 1 Sorcerer at level 1. (Also because CON saves are nice.) But you can also grab proficiency with Religion (you are a god, after all) and Intimidation. (Because you aren’t exactly nice.)

Sorcerers get to choose their Sorcerous Origin at level 1 and Divine Soul is like being a Cleric but you get to dump your Wisdom because you’re blind to morality. You get one free spell from your Divine Magic and I guess Bless makes sense since its attached to Law? Honestly there are other spells I’d recommend (Protection from Evil and Good would be helpful, and you can’t go wrong with either Healing Word or Guiding Bolt) but it’s honestly easier to just take Bless and call it there.

But of course since you get Divine Magic that means you get Spellcasting! You learn 4 cantrips from the Sorcerer list at level 1 such as Firebolt to smite the wicked, Sacred Flame for enemies with a lot of armor (but hopefully bad Dexterity), Thaumaturgy to make sure your words are heard, and Guidance because it’s good to provide aid to those who need it.

You also learn two spells from the Sorcerer list: we’ll be taking Mage Armor for the same reason you buy Doran’s Shield as a top laner (because laning phase sucks and you’re weak as hell at level 1), and we’ll also grab Healing Word for your Celestial Blessing. As a treat.

You are also Favored by the Gods, so if you miss an attack roll or fail a saving throw you can add 2d4 to the roll to potentially turn it into a success. Given that you’ll likely be making a lot of attack rolls later in this build it’s very useful to be able to give yourself some insurance.

LEVEL 2 - SORCERER 2

Second level Sorcerers get a Font of Magic for Sorcery Points equal to your Sorcerer level. For now all you can really do with them is get one of your spell slots back, but they’ll be more useful later on.

For something that’s useful right now take Ice Knife for the AoE burst of your Starfire Spellblade. Yes it does Cold damage, but you also shouldn’t have an AoE E by level 2. Hell you technically shouldn’t even be a ranged champion yet. We have to make compromises here.

If you want a single target Starfire Spellblade Guiding Bolt is a decent choice I suppose.

LEVEL 3 - SORCERER 3

Third level Sorcerers gain the power of the Aspects thanks to Metamagic. You learn two Metamagic options to change your spells in various ways: Quickened Spell will let you increase your attack speed to slay the unjust with Zealous fervor, and while it’s perhaps not the most practical choice Transmuted Spell will let you wield holy fire, instead of holy ice or whatever other damage type you pick up.

If you don’t care about doing specifically fire damage than Empowered Spell is a good choice to more effectively maximize damage.

As a Protector Aasimar your Radiant Soul lets you sprout wings as an action. For 1 minute you have a 30 foot flying speed and can add your Charisma modifier as Radiant damage to one target whenever you deal damage. It might not be much at level 3 but the extra damage from Starfire Spellblade adds up when you get more AP! Oh and to top it off you can also learn another spell like Misty Step, for Flash.

LEVEL 4 - SORCERER 4

4th level Sorcerers get the first of many Ability Score Improvements. Increase your uneven Charisma score as well as your Constitution score for nice, even, Lawful stats.

You can also learn another cantrip like Message to keep in team chat, as well as a leveled spell like Spiritual Weapon. Kayle summons hundreds of swords for her ultimate so I think it’s fine if you summon one sword for some more DPS.

LEVEL 5 - SORCERER 5

Normally I wouldn’t go out of my way to get 5th level spells but we kinda need Fly more than once per Long Rest. Sprout those wings or grant the gift of angelic ascension to an ally!

The bad witch Tasha also gave Sorcerers Magical Guidance, letting you spend a Sorcerery Point to reroll a failed ability check.

(Artwork by Zeen Chin. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 6 - PALADIN 1

I swear it wasn’t my intention to make two casters with Paladin levels one after another, but we’re doing it anyways because it’s not like Kayle wouldn’t be a Paladin. First level Paladins get Divine Sense to know of any villains who need justice, and Lay on Hands to save the righteous.

LEVEL 7 - PALADIN 2

Second level Paladins get to choose their Fighting Style. Normally I’d take Blessed Warrior for a character who’s more-or-less a pure caster but you kinda get too many Cleric cantrips as is, so we’ll settle for good ol’ Defense because you can’t go wrong with +1 AC.

Protection and Interception are also fine to help your friends if you’re willing to hold onto a shield (no reason not to), and if you want to do a funny joke you can take Blind Fighting because Justice is Blind.

But of course what we’re mostly here for is Spellcasting: sure you got the entire Cleric list at your disposal but Sorcerer spells known is very limited, so take the following from the Paladin list:

Command to force evildoers to grovel at your feet.

Detect Evil and Good to... detect evil and good.

Protection from Evil and Good to... yeah this is fairly obvious too.

Heroism to empower heroes.

Shield of Faith to protect the righteous.

You also get Divine Smite, which sure would be nice if you used your sword as a melee weapon. I mean if you want to hit someone in melee you can turn a spell slot into damage but I kinda have to wonder why would you.

LEVEL 8 - PALADIN 3

Third level Paladins get to choose their Sacred Oath. Honestly just about any Paladin Oath would work for Kayle, but an Oath of Redemption would probably be best after you failed to upkeep justice the first time. Along with adding Sanctuary and Sleep to your spell list you also get two Channel Divinity options: if you go for Emissary of Peace you can add a flat +5 to all your Persuasion checks for 10 minutes. But Rebuke the Violent works great as a recreation of Divine Judgment’s damaging effect! When a creature within 30 feet of you damages someone other than you they must make a Wisdom saving throw after you use this reaction. If they fail they will take the same amount of damage they dealt as Radiant damage, and if they succeed they will take half. This has no maximum limit so you can use it when an enemy nukes your allies to have them experience retribution! "Drown in holy fire!"

The vial witch Tasha also lets you Harness Divine Power with your Channel Divinity to regain a spell slot equal to half your proficiency bonus once per Long Rest. And finally you get Divine Health, because justice doesn’t take sick days.

(Artwork by John Yucedag. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 9 - PALADIN 4

4th level Paladins get another Ability Score Improvement so cap off that Charisma modifier, because we’re building AP in this build. Maxed out Charisma also means more prepared spells, but we’re going to wait for...

LEVEL 10 - PALADIN 5

5th level Paladins get an Extra Attack which sure would matter if you were actually swinging that sword instead of shooting Fire Bolts and Sacred Flames.

But what does matter is that you get second level Paladin spells! Along with Hold Person and Calm Emotions from the Redemption spell list (you should perhaps cast Calm Emotions on yourself at some point?) you can prepare spells like Aid to boost yourself and your allies, and Warding Bond (Tasha’s work once again) to take some damage for an ally. (Which is almost like making them immune to damage?)

LEVEL 11 - PALADIN 6

The only reason to multiclass into Paladin as a caster would be for Aura of Protection. Seeing as your Charisma modifier is maxed out already that means that you (and your allies within 10 feet) can add +5 to all their saving throws! I really don’t think I need to explain why that’s useful: your Constitution saves are now a +11 (meaning that if you take 22 damage or less you automatically succeed the Concentration check) and even your lowest save is still a +4!

You can also prepare one last spell but I’m actually going to take this time to remind you that Paladins are prepared spellcasters. Even though you have a relatively limited amount of Paladin spells be sure to swap them around to whatever’s the most useful for your task at hand. But if you must pick up a spell Detect Magic is never bad to have?

(Artwork by Alex “alexplank” Flores. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 12 - SORCERER 6

Now that the obligatory Paladin levels are done it’s time to go back to Sorcerer. Hope your party didn’t expect you to be the support because you’re only now getting Empowered Healing to spend a Sorcery point and reroll any healing that you or an ally within 5 feet performs. I mean by total level 12 healing numbers will actually get pretty big, so this becomes a lot more useful!

But speaking of healing we’ll be getting not that but Haste instead. While you can’t use it too well (can only use it to make a weapon Attack, Dash, Disengage, Hide, or Use an Object) you can turn your allies into an avenging angel! As long as you can keep your Concentration which I mean... you have a +11 to your CON save.

LEVEL 13 - SORCERER 7

Unfortunately there’s no spell to make someone completely immune to damage for one round (while also still letting them move as normal except the 9th level spell Invulnerability that you can only cast on yourself) so we’ll just have to settle for Death Ward keeping the target you cast this on alive after reaching 0 HP. No rain of holy swords either unfortunately.

LEVEL 14 - SORCERER 8

8th level Sorcerers get an Ability Score Improvement and I think it’s about time for us to grab Metamagic Adept for 2 more Sorcery points to use on your Metamagic options like Twinned Spell to spread your wrath amongst all, and Careful Spell to avoid hurting those allied to your cause.

Speaking of AoE damage Vitriolic Sphere may do Acid damage but it’s a great recreation of the AoE damage of a high level Starfire Spellblade.

LEVEL 15 - SORCERER 9

Behold the might of 5th level spells! Remember how I was a little disappointed that you didn’t have the ability to make flaming swords rain down from the sky? Here you go: Flame Strike! Sure it basically does the damage of Fireball (and hey feel free to grab Fireball if you’re so inclined) but it has the holy flair that’s to be expected of Kayle.

If you want something more interesting than “Radiant damage Fireball” Dawn is also a good spell choice.

LEVEL 16 - SORCERER 10

10th level Sorcerers get another Metamagic option! Seeing as weve already got plenty thanks to Metamagic Adept one of the few options left is Heightened Spell to make sure your foes tremble beneath your might! You can also grab another cantrip like Prestidigitation for more generalized divine power.

And finally there’s also plenty of great spells you can take but Dispel Evil and Good probably fits Kayle the best. Now is a great time to remind everyone that you’re more than welcome to make your own Kayle, and while what I take may be “accurate” it’s not even necessarily what I’d build if I was making the character.

(Artwork by West Studio. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 17 - SORCERER 11

11th level Sorcerers can finally ascend! I hope you kept your Paladin weapons because it’s time for Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise! Calling upon the power of the Upper Planes (or lower planes too I guess if you’re awful) you get:

Resistance to Radiant and Necrotic damage (which you already have. Oops.) (I mean Lower Planes would make you immune to Fire and Poison damage...)

Immunity to the Charmed condition.

A 40 foot flying speed.

+2 AC

The ability to use your Charisma to attack, meaning that you can finally swing a sword well!

And the ability to attack twice, which you already have.

And the cool part is that unlike Tenser’s Transformation you can cast spells and don’t Exhaust yourself after using this spell! If you want to finally use your Paladin levels to bright the fight to your opponents you finally have the power to do so!

LEVEL 18 - SORCERER 12

12th level Sorcerers get another Ability Score or Feat and I’m simply going to suggest the Tough feat. Even if Kayle doesn’t usually build health in League you can, and d6 hit die suck when it comes to actually surviving.

What? Did you expect another spell known? Nah fuck you lmao WoTC says no to Sorcerers having spells.

LEVEL 19 - SORCERER 13

13th level Sorcerers can learn 7th level spells and while this may seem like a copout I have none that I really want for Kayle. Pick whatever you think would be the coolest since you can make your own choices by level 19. (My personal vote for Kayle would be Fire Storm but you are kinda loading up on AoE spells.)

LEVEL 20 - SORCERER 14

Our final level is the 14th level of Divine Soul Sorcerer to finally ascend. You have Otherworldly Wings for a permanent 30 foot flying speed! You did it! You reached max level as Kayle! You’re now unstoppable!

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Kneel before the light! - Your spells known go up to 7th level, and your spell slots go up to 9th. I really don’t think I have to explain that a full leveled caster is extremely powerful.

What is dark in me, I will illuminate - Even your non-spellcasting has great utility. Both your Channel Divinity options are extremely useful, and a little bit of Lay on Hands healing never hurt anyone. Not to mention your Aasimar transformation providing a flat +20 to damage every turn while it’s active!

I am your salvation! - Even if you aren’t running up in melee range Paladin levels do help a ton for staying alive. +5 to all saves is no joke, especially when it means that your Concentration save sits at a whopping +13! (You have to take more than 26 damage to even have a chance at failing your Concentration check!)

CONS

Why have we wings, sister, if not to fly? - You’d think a high Charisma would at least make you good at socializing but... no you’re not even that. Proficiency in the “mean” Charisma skills and mediocre ability scores in everything other than Charisma means you’ll contribute very little other than divine wrath.

Wings of Immortal Flame, lift me from mortal temptation! - How much flight is too much flight? Between your Radiant Soul, Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise, and you know... the Fly spell you have quite a lot of ways to take to the skies which all become near-completely redundant by level 20.

Celestial justice, guide my blade - Ironically enough one of the biggest issues with this build is how long it takes to get online. The Paladin dip may keep you safe but it’s not making you stronger, and I doubt you’ll be sitting beside your friends like a support. If you don’t mind praying to darker powers Genie Warlock is actually a great choice to get considerably more damage (and “attack speed!”) with Eldritch Blast and easily accessible flight by level 6 in Warlock. (Celestial Warlock also exists if you want more healing utility and want to stay in flavor.)

Of course weakness is something to shed as you come closer to divinity, but remember that even if mortality makes you weak mortals are not. Your allies will fight by your side and its your duty to protect them, as they shall no doubt protect you. Treat them with respect and vanquish evil together! Because no one likes a lawful stupid top laner.

(Artwork by Atey Ghailan. Made for Riot Games.)

#dnd #dnd 5e #dnd build #dnd guide #League of Legends #League of Legends Kayle #angel #avenging #avenging angel #light #wrath #dnd sorcerer #dnd paladin #Pentakill

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littlemisssquiggles · 4 years

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Since we have more or less confirmation that Ruby+ Yang are going to come to blows, I had an angsty idea of Yang calling Ruby out for lying and during their argument shouts akin to, "Well maybe if you had been honest, Oscar would still be alive!" Cue Ruby looking and feeling extremely stricken and along with her other problems, starts to have guilt over what happened to Oscar (If he doesn't show up within the first few episodes)

Hiya Miki-chan. Dang! Not going to lie. I quite like this angsty concept of yours and if a scene like that does end up happening in the canon then it’ll be one of those moments where, as an audience member, I’d think it was the second time that Yang crossed the line when berating a supposed ally.

The first time she did this for me was back in V6 when she was technically the one who initiated the group questioning Oz in respect to the lamp and his actions; practically backing him into a corner more or less in spite of his efforts to brush off the subject

If anything, if Yang were to say something like that to Ruby’s face---especially if it IS the case that the group learn of Oscar’s death early on in the season and don’t get to know that he survived until some chapters later---then it would hold the same level of emotional weight as when Qrow told Oz that meeting him was the worst luck of his life; leading to the ole soul’s retreat into solitude inside Oscar’s mind.

For Yang of all people---the older sister who has always looked out for her baby sister, practically raised her as a surrogate parental figure following their mother’s death and Ty’s depressive absence---to say such a thing to Ruby, it WILL sting hard. It would definitely be like Ozpin again with Qrow.

Think about it. Of all of our heroes, Ruby is admittedly the one who has cared and safeguarded Oscar the most. She’s always looked out for his well-being since the moment he joined their group. She’s motivated him. Protected him. So to hear from her own sister’s mouth that she is the reason for the death of another dear friend that Ruby had done her best to always protect…that WILL hurt.

And with that being the case; imagine if…history repeated itself again in this type of scenario and just as Oz retreated from the group following Qrow’s remark, what if…following an argument with Yang, Ruby runs off straight into the arms of one of Salem’s henchmen---like Tyrian Callows, who either attempts to capture her for Salem or succeed in whisking her away?

Imagine if…just like V6, Yang initiates another moment where a leading character is backed into a corner and forced to have their past decisions questioned to an emotional breaking point?

Imagine if…in your small headcanon scenario, after Yang says her outburst (probably regretting it a little bit afterwards) an awestruck Ruby turns to everyone else in the room---all her other friends---asking them if that’s how they all saw her. Almost like she was asking the others if they too blamed her for Oscar’s death and when met with their guilty silence, Ruby takes it as sign of everyone basically turning their backs to her; much like how they turned their backs to Oz following the events of V6CH3?

And just like how Oz left following that, picture an emotional Ruby, unable to deal with the feelings that bombarded her in a moment in which the people who once looked at her as a beacon of inspiration and guidance, now looked as her as nothing more than a nuisance. A problem. The very problem who caused all of their current problems essentially---just as how it was for Oz.

And just like Oz---imagine if…Ruby leaves---using her semblance to speed away before anyone can stop her. So Ruby speeds off to be alone to a place where she could hopefully recollect herself. But in doing do, Ruby runs away right into the clutches of the enemy.

Imagine if…the consequence for Yang arguing with Ruby is Ruby being captured by the enemy? Each time the group has fought amongst themselves with their leaders basically ‘falling from grace’ in some way or another, it always lead to some dire consequence that the group is forced to handle.

For Oz, him leaving resulted in the group having to get to Atlas on their own without his guidance, resorting to felonious methods out of desperation.

For Ironwood, he ended up renouncing his alliance with their heroes; seeing them all as traitors to both him and his kingdom, thus leading to our group being forced to leave again via lawful methods (evading arrest by the Ace Ops; commandeering another Atlesian airship to escape) yet again.

So if Ruby leaves…if the group end up turning their backs on Ruby or rather; if Ruby is left feeling like an unfit leader with her own teammates turning away from her and questioning her leadership; then it could provide an opportunity for the PLOT to lead into her becoming a prisoner of Salem (granted that that’s where the CRWBY Writers wish to go).

If not then at least, I’d like for a scenario like this to force Ruby to remember what Oz had told her back in V1. Remember the episode “The Badge and the Burden” from RWBY V1? Remember how Ruby doubted her role as leader of Team RWBY (as a result of her treatment by Weiss) leading to her bringing it up to Oz---the man who chose her specifically to lead. Remember what Oz told Ruby in that episode?

“…Being a team leader isn’t just a title you carry into battle, but a badge your wear constantly. If you are not always performing at your absolute best, then what reason do you give others to follow you? You’ve been burdened with a daunting responsibility, Ruby. I advise you take some time to think about how you uphold it…”

If Ruby is backed into a corner in V8 then this could potentially provide the second time within the narrative where her leadership title---her badge--- is brought into question by one of her peers. This hasn’t happened since V1 so it would be a nice callback to the first season, not to mention a way for Ruby to think of Oz by remember the lesson and badge he imposed on her.

Oz did tell advise Ruby back in Beacon Days to take some time to think on how she plans on upholding her title as leader. Who knows? Perhaps she’ll be forced to do that again next season. Take some time away. Leave the group to go off on her own somewhere to think about how she planned on leading the group moving forward especially now that Salem has arrived?

I think something like that could be cool, don’t you think?

It’s almost like a domino effect. Oz’s deceit lead to our heroes turning their back on him as a leader. Our heroes’ deceit lead to Ironwood and their Atlesian allies turning their back on them as allies. With the wisdom of their former teacher gone and their allies from Atlas against them, the only thing left is for the group---JNR_RWBY to turn on each other---friend against friend, family against family, teammates against their own leader with the whole ordeal culminating in Ruby potentially losing the respect of her friends as their so-called leader.

With two of their former ‘leading’ figures out of the picture (meaning Oz and Ironwood), the one person the group will have to turn to now for leadership and guidance is their aforementioned ‘unquantifiable spark of hope’---Ruby. But with everything that has happened and given the fact that Ruby’s leadership is the catalyst that spiraled out of control and brought the group to where they are now---it can only be assumed that she will be the next person to be forced to face the music soon and by possibly one of her own too.

But here’s the thing fam, if Yang is the one to call Ruby out for her actions, I hope it’s done AFTER Ruby calls her out for her actions since may I remind you that Yang isn’t exactly an innocent party either. Even if Ruby was the first to lie to Ironwood first and started the whole deceit train, nevertheless, Yang was the one who deviated from the group (along with Blake) and informed Robyn Hill about Amity; going not just against Ironwood but also the rest of the hero team since no one else outside of Blake knew that the two had done this. So if anything, I want Ruby to call Yang out for her own deception too. Because when Ruby deceived the General, as bad as that was, at least it was something that the group decided on unanimously afterwards to keep close to the chest…until Yang and Blake broke that promise and told another outside the team. If either Yang or Blake had told Ruby about letting Robyn in on their intel, then it would’ve been fine. They could’ve even done it during RWBY’s brief meeting with Oscar (and not JNR too for some odd reason---unless those three had assigned huntsmen duty around that time). But no. Neither Yang nor Blake mentioned Robyn at all. All the more reason when it became a surprise to Ruby and Weiss when Ironwood brought it up.

Bottom-line, what I’m really trying to get at here is that apart from Ruby, Yang needs to be pulled up as well. I don’t want a repeat of what happened in V6-V7 where the show basically portrayed Ozpin as the ‘bad guy’ with everyone constantly implying that his actions was responsible for all of their problems but the minute Ruby does the same thing, it’s treated like Ruby was doing the right thing.

From my perspective, deceit is deceit no matter how you spin it. If two people lied, it doesn’t matter if one person has been deceiving their allies for centuries versus someone who only lied to an ally for a few weeks or so. Both individuals lied and since lying is wrong; both parties should face the repercussions of their actions. Not this odd angle where the deceit of one is treated as heinous while the other is portrayed as righteous. No! Is either both liars are given a pass or both are punished. In the case of Ruby and Yang potentially coming to a dispute, I hope it’s done in a way where both characters’ past actions are called into question. Even if it still ends with Ruby being hurt the most from it, I want Yang’s dirty laundry to be tossed out along with Ruby’s since there are things that Yang did that she still hasn’t told the others despite calling other characters out for the secrets they chose to hide.

It bothered me so much when Yang yelled at Ozpin for withholding the truth from the others when she herself was sitting on the identity of the Spring Maiden (her mother) who could’ve easily sealed the Lamp of Knowledge back into its respective vault if Yang hadn’t boldly told her to let her take it---allowing Salem to come after her and her group.

You do realize that the reason why the group had to take the lamp to Atlas in the first place and go through all that they did during Argus was as a result of Yang’s choices back in V5?

Seeing Yang calling out Oz for his lies and half-truth was bothersome since she isn’t exactly a golden angel in that department herself. It made her sound so hypocritical knowing what we as the audience knew. And I would feel the same way if Yang were to call Ruby out alone for putting them in trouble in General when Yang herself contributed to the turn. And in this instance, Yang’s decision would be worse than Ruby’s because at least when Ruby lied, she did it in the presence of everyone else so the whole group knew and more or less made the decision to follow her based on her lie. But with Yang, only Blake knew what the two had done with Robyn and neither did anything to inform the rest of their team about that.

Ruby made a somewhat selfish decision to have our heroes deceive Ironwood when he was supposed to be their ally whereas Yang also made a selfish decision to reveal some of the truth to Robyn Hill when she was supposed to be their enemy without the rest of her team knowing. When I look at it this way, both sisters---Yang and Ruby--- need to be held accountable for the ramifications their choices caused to the team and I hope their argument is about them calling each other out.

…Soo yeah. I’m all for this kind of moment Miki-chan but…if something like this happens, I hope it’s instigated by Ruby first calling out Yang leading for Yang to clap back by calling Ruby out. It could even end off as you envisioned with Yang using Oscar’s death to (regrettably) spite Ruby for her actions out of heated frustration. Bonus if this moment leads to Ruby running away to clear her head; thinking back to Ozpin’s words from Beacon---ultimately leading to her being captured by the villains. I think that could be interesting to see play out but who knows? Your thoughts?

~LittleMissSquiggles (2020)

#squiggles answers: rwby #ruby rose #yang xiao long #oscar pine #professor ozpin #rwby theories #rwby volume 8 theories #miki-13 #squiggles answers

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alkhale · 4 years

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Hm... That’s like, five, so I’ll stop there for now lest I make you wanna murder me. Sorry this got so long! Anyways, take care of yourself, and make sure to eat or sleep or drink some water when you need to! Also, I really loved the recent chapter!!! Thatch was great, I hope he lives. Also also, what’s the letter she left Ace??? I wanna know geeez. (Vira, 8/8)

Lovely Vira has actually left a handful of great and amazing AUs for Memos, I’m just hopelessly slow at getting through asks and I feel like when I go on an answering spree I just spam you guys, answering this one might not make sense, but it’s because the last line of ask (7/8) is about a soulmark AU!

I’d like to expand and write a blurb for it (I’ve been contemplating making a separate story for all the AUs/Side Bits to the story called Drabbles or Doodles of a Suicidal Pirate, but lmk how y’all feel about that) but I’ll just give you guys bits and pieces of what it’d be like

Soulmark AU (with a twist)

In this world, people are born with a small splotch of color on a specific part of their skin, when they turn 12, their marks appear fully. Marks range from designs, images, splatters of color or monochrome, and sometimes words. In this world, however, some choose to believe marks are meant to be signs of a significant other or “soulmate” and many romanticize and publicize these marks to be of romantic nature--however, the general consensus is actually that one’s mark is meant to represent a person who will make a significant, soul changing experience to the life of the person who has the mark. A person’s mark represents someone who will come into their life and make an impact, a change--a person who by some unknown force is meant to come into their life because they are connected down to the core of their souls.

A group of people can have different marks that in actuality, represent one single person who will influence each respective person’s life.

It could be said that their souls have been marked by this person.

People can also be born, by chance, without a mark.

- The people of Artopoki are funny about soulmarks, as coming of age marks are usually placed somewhere on the body as well, their marks are often mistaken for one of their many tattoos

- Hoku notes the information of soulmarks dully, they don’t really seem important to her and she doesn’t pay much attention to it since she’s busy trying to figure out how to kill herself

- Mahina’s soulmark is of black fire that lines her collarbones, sparks coming out like a forge and fire-- “A black sword is being made, maka.” Manu’s is cherry blossoms that stretch over his shoulders.

- The Fall of Artopoki occurs and while Hoku is traveling with Mihawk, she asks him about his because she’s curious and she can’t see it anywhere visibly. It isn’t until one day where he’s wearing his overcoat but not his dress shirt that she sees it--falling feathers covering his back.

- Hoku starts to grow fond of drawing soulmarks, it’s a bit taboo for her to do so, but she usually rips it up after, just keeping the drawings of the people close to her

- Hoku hopes she never meets the person her soulmark is meant to match with, she prays for their better fortune.

- And then there’s Luffy.

- Luffy doesn’t talk much or care much for soulmarks, Hoku is relieved

- and then there is Shanks and for once, Hoku considers the idea of a soulmark and how beautiful it can be and how she’s never wanted to see anyone’s more than she wanted to see his

- They go about those days in a blur and then time passes and people come and go and when its down to the soft three of them, no longer four--

- Ace’s mark comes in a blur, fissures and cracks across his chest as though someone had shattered glass, trickles of hot red shining through.

- And then Hoku turns 12 and her mark never comes. They wait, they wait and Luffy’s mark comes in the form of the sun on the front of his chest, spreading light every which way--and still, Hoku’s mark never comes.

- Hoku has no soulmark, she is markless.

- She’s perfectly, utterly, and completely content with that.

- “I was never supposed to make an impact on anyone’s life anyway.”

- When Hoku and Kid meet, his mark is prominent and showy--it’s violent and angry--splatters of dark red along his biceps with claw marks slashing through and down. He demands to see hers, becomes furious when she won’t show him, and is left staring when she reveals she has none and will never have none.

- (For some reason, that doesn’t sit right with Kid. He doesn’t know why but he feels it in his gut, that something belongs on the light tan of her skin and he knows it. He does.)

- It isn’t hard to figure out why the Straw Hats are brought together, in a flurry of dazzling, bright, shining marks--it’s painfully clear to see who has touched their lives and marked each of their souls, shining his rays of sun on their skin

- Law’s mark is hidden and private, a swatch of black dragged across his right hip like a paintbrush dipped in ink, splattered with tiny stars.

- He can’t get the meaning of Hoku’s name out of his head or the bright white star that stands out against the black of her cloak, he can’t get a lot of things out his head lately, including the fact that her wrists are blank and her neck is blank and every inch of her skin is only colored by the ink she placed there herself

- (He can’t get the idea that her soul, the core of her being, even for a person like Law who only believes in bone and flesh and blood--isn’t touched by something in this world, isn’t grasped or splattered or colored by anything else and--)

- “What does it take to color a soul?”

- (How can he color a soul--)

- Hoku is happy she doesn’t have a mark, she really is, it makes things easier.

- (But perhaps some marks just can’t be put into ink, into words or pictures because some souls are so colored, so marked and blinded by so many people in their lives that--)

- i think it would go something like that hahahaha

#Memos #Hoku #Straw Hat pirates #soulmark au #memos au #Luffy #Mihawk #Eustass Captain Kid #trafalgar law #Ace #Shanks

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nedraggett · 5 years

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Thoughts on 2018

No need for me to be fancier than that! And yeah I realize that nobody should be using Tumblr any more but until I figure out a proper revive of my old Wordpress site, this will do for now.

So anyway: I wrote this up for a private email list reflecting on the end of the year in terms of things I especially enjoyed culturally. Well, why not share it?

My year went very well — steady at work and in life, being 47 means more aches and pains but you have to learn to live with it. The state of the world is something else again of course and we need not spend more time on the blazingly obvious. That said, the history bug in me has been constantly intrigued by the slow drip of the investigations (and revelations) and were it all fiction, I’d be thoroughly enthralled instead of quietly apprehensive, of course. November did provide some partial relief on that front so bring on the new year. In terms of my own written work, nothing quite equalled my heart/soul going into last year’s Algiers feature for NPR, but my two big Quietus pieces this year — on Gary Numan’s Dance and Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings — were treats to write, while my presentation on the too-obscure Billy Mackenzie at PopCon was a great experience.

In terms of music this has been one of the most concert-heavy years I’ve spent. Even having moved to SF in 2015 I only did the occasional show every so often — there was so much going on (even in a local scene lots of long-timers say has been irrevocably changed) that I was almost spoiled for choice, and part of me also just wanted to relax most nights. But deaths like Prince’s and Bowie’s among many others served as a reminder that there’s no such thing as forever, and you never know what the last chance will be. More veteran acts than younger ones in the end for me — greatest missed concert regrets this year included serpentwithfeet, Lizzo, Perfume Genius and Emma Ruth Rundle among the younger acts, while being ill when Orbital came through will be a lingering annoyance, still having never seen them live. But the huge amount of shows I did see outweighed that, ranging from big arena stops like Fleetwood Mac to celebratory open-air free shows like Mexican Institute of Sound to small club sets by folks like Kinski, Six Organs of Admittance, Kimbra and many more, including, for the first time in years, a show in the UK, specifically a great performance by Roddy Frame of Aztec Camera. If I absolutely had to grade my top picks among shows, Cruel Diagonals, Johnny Marr, Wye Oak, Peter Brotzmann/Keiji Haino, John Zorn/Terry Riley/Laurie Anderson, Laurie Anderson again separately, Nine Inch Nails, VNV Nation, Jarvis Cocker, Beak and, in terms of no real expectations turning into utter delight and thrills, a brilliant set by Lesley Rankine under her Ruby guise, with Martin Atkins on drums. Best damn combination of righteous ire, hilarious raconteurism and compelling, unique approaches to how performance can work I’d seen in a while. (As for recorded music in general, uh, endless?)

TV, as ever a bit sporadic, with a few things on my to-do list — still need to catch The Terror for sure, and what I saw of The Alienist looked good; I love both books so I need to see how it all worked out, similarly with the just-dropped version of Watership Down. Pose I definitely need to catch up with since it sounds like Ryan Murphy stood out of the way to let the best possible team do the business on it, but my real unexpected delight of a show this year was also Murphy-based, American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. While not down the line perfect, it was absolutely more compelling than not, and in fact at its best was a shuddering combination of amazing music cue choices, a reverse structure that helped undercut any attempt at making Cunanan seem sympathetic or an antihero, and, at its considerable best, a ratcheting up of terror and horror that a friend said was almost Kubrickian, and I would have to agree. And, frankly, Darren Criss really did the business as Cunanan, a controlled and powerful turn. Only a few of us seemed to be following it at the time, but when it scored all those Emmys, then while it was as much a reflection of Murphy’s status, it honestly felt well deserved. Meantime, you’ll pry my addiction to all the RuPaul’s Drag Race incarnations from my cold dead hands but it’s the amazing online series that Trixie Mattel and Katya do, UNHhhh, which remains my comedy highlight of the year, with at least a few jaw-dropping/seize up laughing every episode. (Kudos as well for Brad Jones’s The Cinema Snob, ten years running online and still funny as fuck while digging up all kinds of cinematic horrors.) Also, tying back into music a bit, late recommendation for something you can only see on UK TV/streaming so far, but get yourself a VPN and seek out Bros: After the Screaming Stops, in which the two brothers in the late-80s monster hit pop band Bros (never had any traction here but pretty much owned the entire Commonwealth and beyond) try for a comeback. It’s an unintentionally hilarious and harrowing portrait of two twins who have a LOT of issues, have clearly been through a LOT of therapy, but are still…not quite there. UK friends said it was a combination of Spinal Tap, Alan Partridge and David Brent and they were ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.

Movies, less specifically to choose from — I remain an essentially sporadic populist when it comes to what I see in theaters, but I can say for sure that Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse is a hell of a thing and will almost certainly prove to be a real year-zero moment down the line. Possibly the most affecting watch was Bohemian Rhapsody, in that I also saw this in the UK — in Brighton, which besides making me think of the band’s song “Brighton Rock” is also notably the country’s most LGBT-friendly city; those I was with felt the movie’s themes, successes and flaws/elisions deeply, and the constant discussion of it for the next few days was very rewarding. As for books, John Carreyrou’s Bad Blood, delving into Theranos and the amoral duo behind it, was properly enraging and compelling, while Beth Macy’s Dopesick, if not perfect, nonetheless adds to the good literature on the opioid crisis, while as ever indirectly calling into question who’s getting the focus and care now as opposed to in earlier times and places. My favorite music publications as such probably remain the two I most regularly write for, The Quietus and Daily Bandcamp, while Ugly Things is the print publication that I most look forward to with each issue, and am never disappointed.

Podcasts now consist of a lot of my regular cultural engagement, kinda obvious but nonetheless true. Long running faves include My Favorite Murder — Karen and Georgia are an amazing comedy team who have figured out how to reinterpret their anxieties in new ways — The Vanished, which at its best often casts a piercing eye on how official indifference from law enforcement is almost as destructive as their more obvious abuses (recent discovery The Fall Line does this as well, even more explicitly), Karina Longworth’s constantly revelatory Hollywood histories You Must Remember This, Patrick Wyman’s enjoyable history dives on Tides of History, my friend Chris Molanphy’s constantly excellent investigations into music chart history Hit Parade, the great weekly movie chats by MST3K vets Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu along with Carolina Hidalgo on Movie Sign With the Mads, and The Age of Napoleon, which really has hit my history wonk sweet spot. New to me this year was It’s Just a Show, a really wonderful episode by episode — but not in exact order — deep dive into every episode of MST3K ever, by two fun and thoughtful Canadian folks, Adam Clarke and Beth Martin. (Adam also cohosts a new podcast, A Part of Our Scare-itage, specifically looking at Canadian horror. It’s not just Cronenberg!). Among the excellent one-off series this year: American Fiasco by Men in Blazers’ Roger Bennett on the failed US World Cup attempt in 1998, Dear Franklin Jones, a story about the narrator’s experience growing up in a California cult and how his parents came to be followers in the first place, and the Boston Globe’s Gladiator, their audio accompaniment to their in-depth story of the life and ultimate fate of Aaron Hernandez. Finally, totally new series this year that quickly got added to my regular listening: American Grift, a casual and chatty look at various scams and schemes, overseen by Oriana Schwindt, The Eurowhat?, a running look at the Eurovision competition throughout the year from the perspective of two American fans, and The Ace Records Podcast, an often engaging series of one-off interviews with various musicians, fans and so forth by UK writer Pete Paphides (I highly recommend the interviews with Jon Savage and Sheila B). Hands down my two favorite totally new podcasts of the year were The Dream, a more formal story of American grifting in general hosted by Jane Marie — this first season’s focus was on multilevel marketing, and Marie and company’s careful way of seemingly backing into the larger story makes it all the more compelling and ultimately infuriating, especially in the current political climate — and the hilarious Race Chasers, a RuPaul’s Drag Race-celebrating podcast by two veterans of the show, Alaska and Willam, loaded with all kinds of fun, behind the scenes stuff, guests and an easy casualness from two pros that strikes the perfect balance between going through things and just shooting the shit. Returning podcast I’m most looking forward to next year: the second season of Cocaine and Rhinestones, hands down. Check out the first season for sure.

And there ya go! Keep fighting all your respective good fights.

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magic-magpie · 6 years

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Let’s Review Terrible Fanfiction

Specifically, my terrible fanfiction.

Okay, so I started writing fanfics at age eleven, yeah? Thankfully, my sense of spelling and grammar was rather good from a young age, and I was too bashful to even think of writing a kissing scene, let alone a bad sex scene. But that really doesn’t mean I could write well. I posted it on FF.net, it has approximately 27K words, and eleven reviews. I was damn proud of this pile of trash at the time. The reason I’m posting my review of it on here (aside from it being fun as heck to verbally abuse my old writing), is because, well... okay, I myself am guilty of laughing at those absolutely awful, cringey fics, but we’ve all gotta start somewhere, right? And those eleven reviews from honest-to-God strangers on the internet motivated me to write further. All those reviews were nice, and they were helpful. They pointed out what went well in that mess, and what needed work. If they’d commented stuff like ‘omggg this is cringe I'm pissing myself laughing right now’, I’m not 100% sure my tiny eleven-year-old self would’ve continued writing for fear of being mocked again (’cause kids are kinda fragile). But look at my writing now - it’s by no means perfect, but it’s definitely much better, and it managed to gain me quite a few full marks in the Creative Writing portion of the English Language GCSE. So, to go back to my point, I’m also posting this to show you how much a writer can evolve if you just encourage them. Also, as a side note, I owe my entire writing life to the Ace Attorney FF.net fandom back in 2013. Those guys are the best. If I ever publish a book like I want to, I’d be evil not to acknowledge them in some way.

Onto what you’re all here for:

Review of Chapter One of Truths and Falsehoods, written by AA Addict, also known as Magic-Magpie.

“Nick, I’m HUNGRY! What do we have to eat?” Maya moaned at me. I swear, that girl’s appetite is never satisfied!

See, my problem with the majority of this is that the writing just sounds bloody awkward.

One sentence in and I’m cringing.

This is gonna be fun.

"Mr. Nick! Mystic Maya needs her food to train, and she needs to train because she's the master of Kurain! Hey, I rhymed!

Technically you didn’t because it turns out that Kurain it pronounced kur-ine, as in rhyming with sign

I’ll let eleven-year-old me off, though, considering she had no clue how Kurain was pronounced, and I actually only figured it out when AA6 was released and the game said the word.

[“]Trucy, I rhymed! Trucy, could you make Mr. Hat use that rhyme in his act? Pretty please?" Pearls said.

Okay, now here’s the thing - for those of you who don’t know anything about Ace Attorney, Trucy is Phoenix’s adoptive daughter, and Pearl is Maya’s younger cousin. At the end of the third game, Trials and Tribulations, Pearl was ten, and Phoenix was twenty-six.

BUT.

Trucy’s first appearance is in the fourth game, and she’s fifteen years old. But by the time the fourth game starts, seven years have passed since T&T. So Pearl should be seventeen. But no, she’s TEN. And I’m fairly certain I made Nick twenty-six, too.

Jesus help me.

There's a law against child abuse, what about adult abuse?

Nick I’m not sure you getting bitch-slapped by a tiny child who would probably cry if you acted properly hurt warrants a law being passed.

Also, there is. It’s called assault, though.

"Hello, my friends! We meet again! Ah, here's Pearl, my favourite child, who likes her curry mild! Oh, but look who's next to her! It's the dashing young girl Maya, who needs to train because she's the Master of Kurain!" 'Mr. Hat' said, flatteringly. It's actually Trucy talking in a deep voice. I didn't know she was capable of it!

This entire paragraph just cringes me out so much.

Trucy deserves better than this. Unlike me, Trucy actually knows how to create a goddamn entertaining and interactive act.

Also, why doesn’t Nick know she’s capable of it?! It’s only been one of her trademark acts since, like, he bloody well met her!

[”]In court you always win your case, with your hair that looks like a mace!"

Can you tell that I can’t rhyme for shit.

[“]Trucy! I'm your father! You should be polite to me![”]

TrUCy, I aM yOUr fAThER.

And Nick and Trucy don’t have a strict ‘I am the father of this household so respect me’ relationship. They have a very easygoing sort of relationship, if I remember correctly. And even if he was jokingly saying it (which I think he is), he would definitely not phrase it like that.

[”]Case closed, Your Honour!" I pointed out.

Ahh, back when I had no idea that dialogue could be structured as anything but ‘he said, she said’.

"Why are you laughing?" I asked.

"Well, when you pointed out those facts, you acted like you were in a court proceeding!" she burst out laughing. Pearls started laughing too, as did Trucy and eventually, me. Just to join in! Otherwise, I didn't see what was so funny!

nICK, YOU HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOUR. PUT IT TO GOOD USE AND REALISE THE BADLY-WRITTEN FUNNY MOMENT.

"Well, back to the point. Where are we eating today?" Maya asked, grinning.

You know, this never actually gets answered. They never go out to eat. Which basically means that this entire chapter was P O I N T L E S S.

Well, that’s Chapter One. There’s twenty of these, believe it or not. Like, how. Thankfully, my chapters were fairly short.

#Bad fanfiction #Bad fanfic #Bad writing #Cringe #Super fucking cringey #Ace Attorney #Review #Fanfic review #Fanfic critique #Is it a critique?#I can't tell #Cringe writing #FF.net

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shirlleycoyle · 3 years

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Meet The Genetic Sleuths Solving Decades-Old Trans Murders

On the blustery morning of November 26, 1983, a beachgoer spotted a still-warm body in Half Moon Bay, California. The victim, who looked about 20 years old, had been stabbed more than 20 times and left in the sands near Pillar Point Bluff. Their wrists were slashed, their face bruised and swollen. (Out of respect for the victim’s unknown gender identity, Motherboard is using they/them as a pronoun.)

At their time of death, the person was presenting as a stylish, slender woman. They were 5-foot-10 inches tall, wearing an auburn pixie cut and casual clothes: yellow capri pants and a turtleneck over a foam-form bra, fishnet hose, and two pairs of feminine underwear. A Madonna-style white metal crucifix hung around their neck.

When taken to a medical examiner, the victim's body was misidentified as male, and nobody ever came to claim it. In an effort to identify the individual, cops dubbed them “John Doe #83-26” and released a crime sketch depicting a man. It failed to convey their gender identity or expression, including that they were likely wearing makeup and going by a woman’s name.

The case of Pillar Point Doe soon went cold and their identity remained a mystery for 35 years—until two genealogy sleuths recently cracked the case. The trans couple, who specialize in cold cases involving trans and gender non-conforming people, found the forgotten victim’s birth name through an online DNA database, reviving the hunt for their killer.

“I would work until I passed out”

Lee and Anthony Redgrave traced Pillar Point Doe’s relatives from Wales to Utah using the family history site GEDmatch, known for its role in finding the notorious Golden State Killer. The search was close to home for the Redgraves, who toiled obsessively for months without pay.

“I would work until I passed out. I’d cry myself to sleep at night, and have dreams where I was woken up thinking that [the victim] was telling me their name,” said Anthony, who along with Lee, ran a small team for the DNA Doe Project, a non-profit that identifies deceased people through forensic genealogy.

Lee added: “There are a lot of factors—and homicide detectives have absolutely no idea how to do this.”

The Redgraves were inspired by personal tragedy to help solve the case. In January 2018, a transgender friend of theirs, Christa Steele-Knudslien—a beauty pageant organizer and trans activist—was beaten and stabbed to death. The attack, which came after another friend’s suicide, sent Lee spiraling into a depression.

“It really tore my brain up,” said Lee, 41, a non-binary night owl with arms full of tattoos. “I got depressed, and when that happens I usually throw myself into a project.”

Anthony and Lee Redgrave

When a true crime-loving friend recommended they volunteer for the DNA Doe Project, it seemed like a good distraction.“Partially, I’m sure, it was her being like, ‘You have to stop being in a funk,’” Lee said. “We both felt really helpless about Christa—and this was something we actually could help with.”

They had plenty of experience with genetic genealogy, but they knew the limits of DNA and family tree matches for transgender victims. Database searches often lead to “dead names”—birth names victims no longer use, and aren’t known by in their communities. And most law enforcement systems don’t allow searches across sex marker categories, blinding them to some gender non-conforming folks.

A “trans-informed” perspective could shed some light, considering trans people are more likely to be the target of violent, unresolved crime. “Being a trans person, I know I’ve been incredibly fortunate not to have had a bunch of horrible things happen to me,” said Anthony, 38, a soft-spoken Civil War buff with a long ginger beard. “That was a driving force.”

When the Redgraves first heard about the Pillar Point Doe case in July 2018, they knew almost immediately it was ripe for a genetic gumshoeing.

An Unlikely Partnership

The victim, who was carrying no identification, had been found only two hours after they were stabbed in the neck and chest, allowing cops to collect a piece of blood-soaked blotter paper known as a “blood card.” This meant Pillar Point Doe’s DNA didn’t have to be extracted from bone, a longer and more expensive process. And yet it would likely show a complete picture of the victim’s entire genetic makeup, one that could be extracted in a lab and uploaded to GEDmatch, they said.

But the couple still had to convince the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office to hand over the blood sample—and to team up with them on the investigation.

The Redgraves had a hunch cops would be willing. Their request came on the heels of the Golden State Killer’s arrest a few counties away, and in a section of northern California that tends to be queer-friendly.

“The thought was it was a good case because it was the Bay Area. We expected there would be more friendly law enforcement and a LBGTQ liaison in the Bay Area,” said Anthony. “We had to give an elevator pitch to the department, like, ‘This is why we want this specific case, and this is how it will benefit you.’”

The cops, it turned out, were game. The Redgraves signed non-disclosure agreements and— in a rare move—police released Pillar Point Doe’s private case files, including the blood card along with crime scene and coroner photos.

The Redgraves agreed to do the genetic sleuthing, then pass off next of kin matches to police, who would talk to relatives, collect DNA samples and handle the investigation from there.

It was an unlikely partnership. Many trans people refuse to work with cops since law enforcement has routinely targeted the community, trans activists and experts said. According to a 2015 survey, at least 57 percent of trans respondents said they would be afraid or uncomfortable going to police for help.

“It comes from being abused or not taken seriously by officers who historically have been disrespectful or dismissive of trans people,” said Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, a policy expert for the National Center for Transgender Equality. “There’s a real stigma. Sometimes just being visibly trans in public is enough to get stopped or harassed by police on suspicion of being a sex worker—whether or not you actually are.”

Cases with trans victims have long been de-prioritized by cops, who assume victims are sex workers, living a “high risk” lifestyle or are “disowned” by their families, Heng-Lehtinen said.

But a lack of trans awareness is bad for police, too. Detectives who are ignorant about the community are more likely to use a transgender person’s dead name because it was printed on a government-issued ID, or to seek outdated information from estranged family members who knew them pre-transition, he said. It keeps those investigators from understanding the whole picture.

“If you’re an officer who’s asking around for Mark Smith and everybody in the neighborhood knows her as Marcia, that’s not helping anybody,” Heng-Lehtinen said.

Lee chalks it up to lack of education and training. “If you look at popular media over the past 20 years, the characters that are dressing opposite of what they’re ‘supposed to be’ are usually trying to trick somebody or get away with something—the end of ‘Ace Ventura’ is a classic example, or ‘The Crying Game,’” Lee said. “You get a lot of that mentality still in law enforcement, just because they haven’t had an alternate education.”

Identifying Doe

The Redgraves quickly got to work on creating a more gender-accurate forensic sketch of Pillar Point Doe. In the 80s and 90s, at least three drawings had been made of them, all wildly different.

One showed a “partially-Asian goth” guy with boxy slicked-back black hair, Lee said. Another depicted a shaggy-haired Val Kilmer look-alike with almond eyes. All were of men, and none were quite right.

“It seemed like [police artists] were trying to make this person look male,” Lee said. “Considering they had natural hair, not a wig, and were wearing pants with multiple layers of hose and underwear, it’s likely that they were tucking to have a more female appearance,” Lee said, citing details about the victim's outfit.

“They were probably attempting to pass as female as opposed to someone who was [a] drag performer or engaging in prostitution while cross-dressing.”

Based on those clues, the male sketch on fliers would have likely been lost on Pillar Point Doe’s queer “chosen family”—or anyone who saw them the night of the murder, the couple said. So using crime scene and coroner photos, the Redgraves and an artist came up with a new sketch that depicts the victim with a more feminine look, a yellow outfit and natural-style makeup.

In March 2019, Pillar Point’s blood card came back from the lab. It showed Pillar Point Doe’s entire genome sequence on a huge hard drive.

From their cozy home office in central Massachusetts, the Redgraves and a small team plugged those chunks of genetic code into GEDmatch, which compares DNA from testing sites like 23andMe and ancestry.com to find possible relatives with similar genetic makeups. Unlike law enforcement’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), the site can pinpoint distant ancestors, not just immediate family members.

It works like this: Say you find a painting in a park with no signature and you want to learn the name of the artist. If you could somehow scan the piece’s complex colors and brush strokes into a massive database of art, you might be able to match it to the person who made it. Other paintings by the artist with similar patterns—a distant cousin, in this analogy—may also pop up.

In general, DNA evidence is only as accurate as the people who collect and analyze it. Technicians have been known to misinterpret samples, and police have submitted tainted or mixed genetic material. But Pillar Point’s blood card appeared to be a solid sample, the couple said.

The search led the Redgraves to a small town in Wales, where Pillar Point Doe’s distant relatives once worked at a glove factory. “We kept finding people who descended from this really specific family, but then finding the right branch turned out to be really hard,” Lee said.

Scores of unwed mothers hailed from the town for unknown reasons, leading to frustrating genealogy dead-ends. “It happened over and over again in this one little town,” Lee said.

The couple built a massive family tree and cross-referenced names with public records. They traced that to a group of relatives to a Utah pioneer community with roots in the Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “When you work on someone’s genealogy, you get to know them in a really intimate way through their ancestors,” Lee said. “You know you’re getting close when they start looking like who you’re looking for.”

The couple soon discovered Pillar Point’s cousins belonged to an intermarried clan of families. Some men had multiple wives and children, amounting to a genealogy headache. “It’s a problem that’s common in isolated religious communities. The fancy word is endogamy,” Lee said. “You end up with a whole lot of half-relations and unreliable predictions.”

Setbacks

Then a fiasco unfolded. The arrest of the Golden State Killer in 2018 had sparked privacy fears from critics who claimed GEDMatch could be used for nefarious reasons. When a criminal case centering on a minor stirred up more controversy on the site the next year, the owners abruptly purged the “law enforcement matching” section of it in May 2019, according to the Redgraves.

With no warning, it left the couple with only about 20 percent of the genetic clues they’d had before. “Think of it as the number of letters turned around on your ‘Wheel of Fortune’ puzzle. [Afterwards] there were 80 percent less letters, and we still had to guess the phrase,” Lee said.

The setback forced them to get creative. They sought uploads from people who descended from early settlers in Utah, along with the Mormon church, and mapped out “clusters” of potential relatives.

Anthony spent hours tinkering with DNA Painter, a tool that helps genealogists make sense of matches. Eventually, it led to Pillar Point’s possible great grandfather.

During an all-nighter in October 2019, they had a breakthrough. When they got to one of the possible great grandfather’s relatives, they checked records for proof of the person’s life after 1983, and found none. Lee pulled out Pillar Point’s crime scene photo and checked it against a high school yearbook photo of the grandchild.

It all added up: Here was the long-forgotten face of Pillar Point Doe.

They both burst into tears. “There were periods of crying and shaking for a few days afterwards. It was really intense,” Lee said.

The team then sent Pillar Point’s birth name to cops, who collected DNA from a relative to confirm the match, reinvigorating the investigation.

San Mateo County police have since declined to release Pillar Point Doe’s birth name—or to allow the couple to—saying it could hurt their hunt for the killer. “This homicide is actively being investigated. Unfortunately, disclosing information about the details may hinder our investigation,” Sergeant William Young, from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, told Motherboard.

Cold Case, Close To Home

Now, the Redgraves want more answers. “Ideally, police will find the perpetrator,” Lee said. “[Cops] definitely want to tell us something but they can’t. It makes us feel hopeful.”

Not long ago, Lee got a tattoo of poppies in Pillar Point Doe’s honor. It was inspired by the California flower bloom that could be seen from space in March 2019, the week the couple began searching for the victim's identity. “I am absolutely forever changed from working on this case,” Lee said.

Ultimately, the Redgraves hope Pillar Point Doe will be remembered for who they were—a complex and loved person, not a forgotten John Doe. “Hopefully someone who loved them will carry on their memory,” Lee said.

The couple now runs the Trans Doe Task Force, a research group that helps police and medical examiners with transgender and gender-expansive cold cases. Recently, they launched a database that allows for DNA comparisons across sex marker categories. They also founded their own firm, Redgrave Research Forensic Services, and Anthony has helped train law enforcement departments on five continents.

These days, the couple has a small framed high school photo of Pillar Point Doe in their home, near portraits of other people from cases close to their hearts.

“Pillar Point has become part of our family. I feel like we are basically like their foster parents,” Anthony said. “I’m going to feel that way until I know exactly how this case ends.”

Meet The Genetic Sleuths Solving Decades-Old Trans Murders syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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bullshitfromanidlemind-blog · 7 years

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A Question

I am writing this article as an outrage to the frequent rapes happening in our country. People are getting used to such headlines nowadays. But every time I read about a rape, be it in the capital or somewhere else, my blood boils. A country is a failed state if half of the population [not half exactly thanks to female infanticide and obsession towards a boy child] doesn’t feel safe after dusk. People are rather interested saving cows instead which could be a personal preference but we need to set our priorities right. We panic when our mothers, sisters, wives, girl friends are late returning from work or don’t pick up our calls especially when it’s at night. We try to drop them and pick them up from places because deep down we have this fear “what if something happens”. As a result we don’t try to solve the problem, rather we try to bypass it by putting restriction on women because we are “concerned” and it’s for “their safety”. But whom are we fooling? Is it really the solution? Why should they live in fear and restrictions just because some people could not educate their children right? What’s their fault? And what kind of education teaches that “the best way to teach a girl a lesson is either raping her or throwing acid on her as in to ruin her life forever to summarize. People are not born rapists. But then why girls feel safe in bikinis in the western countries that lack "culture” and don’t feel safe in our “ancient cultured” country even if they roam around in a burqa?

It’s a no-brainer that there must be something wrong with us. And yes, the reason is the way our society is today. It’s not a single reason but a product of multiple reasons which makes the country a mass producer of rapists and molesters. And I am not talking about any specific area of the country or any specific section of the society. From north to south, from rich to poor, from a teenager to a person in his sixties, problem lies everywhere. Let’s talk about few of them.

Equal rights for women, not: this topic creates thunders in everlasting debates. The question is simple, “do women get equal facilities as men do in our country?” Every time we see two parties with some cliché points. One party will say feminism is redundant nowadays why because women get ladies seats in trains/buses [they don’t forget to thank ac Volvo buses for not doing such discrimination], free entry [sometimes free drinks as well, can you imagine?] in pubs and public support in a public argument. So for them it’s sorted, what else do you need to live? Another party which is also known as “the Feminazis” will start taking examples since the beginning of time and discuss the oppression on women and after sometime totally deviate from the topic and it becomes point blank male bashing. Then the first party will say “yeah you say equality, but why men always have to pay the bill? Why men are judged if they cry? Why should we only lift the paani wala can?” and many more irrelevant questions. Then the first party will say “men are biologically stronger but that doesn’t mean they are superior” and it’ll go on and on. Then comes the third kind, the enlightened ones who will conclude the debate saying things either like “don’t respect a gender, respect a human being” or “women should not compete with men cause they are already superior” or “you are wrong, it’s not about who’s ahead, it’s about if they are moving together side by side”. But after the long discussion the main question remains unanswered. And the real answer is kind of tricky. Yes we are a civilization who worships women as goddesses [I am not going into religion cause that’s the different topic altogether], we had Rani Laxmi Bai then, we have Sushma Swaraj now but originally the condition of women rights in India is like money. A lot is there but not accessible to majority specially when in need, feminism is there but it empowers the empowered. So the answer is no, women don’t have equal rights, majority have less and a minority have more rights than men do.

That is how things are: the phrase which is fed to us whenever our culture had to force something which is logically inexplicable, for example, the image of an ideal Indian woman. She should be polite, she should cover her body n sometimes face as well, she should respect elders no matter what, she should obey her father/husband [whichever male master she’s assigned to cause man leads and woman follows], she should not answer back, she’s the primary caretaker of the house and kids and career should always be a second priority. Of course there are exceptions and they are increasing with time but for majority there is infinite number of unwritten rules. And the sad part is majority follow these rules else the society will judge them or some aunty will come with her moral policing. It’s there is all levels of the society be it poor or rich, be it educated urban society or orthodox rural ones. And the reason is “that is how things are”. That’s why in villages girls get sasural training instead of education to get married off ASAP, people gossip about how the new girl got promoted and they did not cause she worked hard in boss’s cabin on her knees in some MNC, the newly married bride has to leave her job/studies and ambitions cause that’s how a happy family works. But this has to end someday. Just because women tolerate all silently, people get used to it. Then if some lady argues with a man with raised voice, people turn their heads and start judging her. Same suggestions are taken on different priority based on whether it’s coming from a man or a woman because the general assumption is “ladkiya toh dumb hoti hai yaar”/“abbe uski kya aukaad hai”. But what is the factor that creates this assumption.

Happy family: It happens because in India a happy family means where women keep sacrificing. A boy sees his father always dominating his mother and beating at times. He sees her sister getting less privileges and priorities generally because he’s a boy. When he cries father says don’t cry like a girl, be a man. He thinks being like a girl is bad or equivalent to be weak. This thought gets embedded into his mind that girls are good but they are beneath me. When this boy grows up and goes out in the world. He sees girls coming from non-cliché families outperforming/ignoring him no matter how hard he tries. He takes this as humiliation, how can that petty girl dare to humiliate me? She needs to be taught a “lesson”! We all know what the possible lessons from this point are.

Stop at the early stage, be pro-active: No one is born rapist, neither someone has the guts to rape someone at the first attempt. The reason rapists exist is the way we ignore the early signs of a potential rapist for which these sick people get away with a lot of small crimes and gather the courage to do bigger atrocities pushing their limits. We see or hear about events like, someone pulled a bra strap in some co-ed school, some neighbor boy harassed a girl cause he loved him[thanks to Bollywood], some child is molested by their elder brother or uncle, some middle aged uncle groped someone in a bus, some local hero molested a passerby and other numerous flavors eve-teasing and molestation where in most of the cases girls don’t speak up and even if they do, their parents suppress them fearing shame in the society and even if they speak up the male counterpart gets backed up by their family by saying things like “didn’t mean any harm”/“he’s just a kid”/“it’s a misunderstanding”/“your girl has issues”/“it was a mistake, please forgive and forget”. Events like these get the guts for someone to attempt a rape.

We the volatile people: Another reason is people forget very easily. And media is to be blamed for that. In a hunt for new news headlines, they don’t draw closure to all the cases. We see new rape cases in the headlines on a daily basis but how many stories draw a conclusion? How many of the rapes reported are drawn to a closure? As a result, a person who is going for a candle march for Nirbhaya today forgets everything tomorrow and gets busy with Dream11 cause IPL is about to start.

Sex? What is that: But why so many people especially in this part of the planet are driven towards touching a girl without her consent? Let’s face it, India is a sex starved country and the reason is our “cultured society”. Sex is treated like a taboo in our country and still we managed to be a country with second largest population [soon to be number 1 as you can’t force birth control norms like china over here because “democracy”]. Forget doing it, even talking about sex/condoms/even sanitary pads make people embarrassed. Since childhood we don’t get any awareness about sex just by the behavior of our elders around us we get the idea that sex is dirty and bad unless you are married. Once you get married, somehow you get a license to have sex. The biology teacher gets ashamed to take classes on reproduction, even prostitution is illegal here. People in their 30’s remain virgin and wait for their marriage to happen cause “culture”. But it’s not something you can hide or stop by not talking about it, it’s a biological need. This disrupted status quo between supply and demand makes people desperate to get some action.

Iron cuts iron: Girls don’t go well with girls most of the time. I don’t understand the reason though. As we see around us women force restrictions on women all the time. Be it the neighbor aunty who gets judgmental when your clothes are not “sanskar compatible”, the same aunty who wants you to get married just after your college is over because “isko kaunsa prime minister banna hai”, the family members who are biased towards the boy child over the girl or the mother-in-law for whom “bahu” can’t work or study after marriage because that’s not how a “happy family” works but the “beti” can have ambitions. We can call them hypocrites in one word. But why does this happen? They went through the same system; they know the pain of being restricted all the time. Shouldn’t they let people live freely when the power is in their hand? Or is it some kind of anger which they couldn’t express when they were the victim in the story and later vent it out as revenge when they get the power? The way ragging thrives in hostels. I see girls demeaning themselves by telling boys “kya ladki jaisa ro rha hai?” or “mard bann” or “chudiyan pehen le” as if being a man is always better than being a woman. Mothers tell their daughters, “tu toh mera beta hai”, if she’s taking responsibilities. These people always keep this thought deep down in their mind that men are superior [because society embedded that into their minds and they can’t see beyond that] and try to compete with men whenever they get a chance. I see feminists with agendas like “ladko ko dikhana hai” or “ladko ko unki aukaad dikhani hai”. They always get obsessed with beating boys than improving themselves and by that they indirectly create a notion that girls are weaker in general, they somehow reached this state where they can challenge men. But you should pick your contender based on performance and not on gender. People ask for fast forward laws and courts for rape but that couldn’t happen because women are not united as a community. A lot of women take advantage of women rights which were introduced to help them. We see reports like girls trying to frame guys into fake “molestation/rape cases” to get lime light on social media or earn easy money by blackmailing, wives filing fake domestic violence cases to teach in-laws a lesson, even girls try to stop cars on highways asking for help and loot them when someone stops to help them out. Now think, if you tried to help someone and got looted by some gang, will you ever dare to stop your car next time seeing someone asking for help? Especially in north India people don’t dare to stop their cars thinking it could be a scam, people are not so inhuman to leave someone dying on the road but experiences have made them cautious. For the same reasons and numerous fake cases our penal code can’t make fast forward system for rape cases as it might be a fake one.

It’s your fault: There are a large number of people who blame girls for getting raped. They say things like “she was drunk”/“she was wearing indecent clothes”/“she was roaming around alone in the night carelessly”/“she always hangs out with guys”. Let me get this clear, a rape/molestation is never the victim’s fault, be it a boy or a girl. We need to get out of this dumb notion. Rapes happen because some people believe it’s okay to have sex with a girl even if she is saying “no” because the usual reason we blame girls with for rape. Rapes happen because we couldn’t educate those sick bastards. Rapes happen because we couldn’t provide the safety to our women that they deserve. Then there are enlightened politicians who say things like “rapes happen because girls and boys meet freely”, what else do you expect? Separate countries for men and women? These thoughts are toxic, just because thoughts like these exist; we see different columns for boys and girls in co-ed schools. I mean c'mon, it’s a co-ed school, let them meet freely and understand each other. We are seeding difference at a grass-root level like this.

Law and order: We have laws to deal with rape cases but sometimes they seem useless due to poor execution. At first half of the cases don’t result into an FIR because “what people will think?” The ones which get to the police stations don’t get enough priority all the time as police is busy taking bribes. At times people who go to the police station get humiliated with weird and out of context questions. If you look beyond metros and big cities, a lot of police stations and related nursing homes lack infrastructure to test and prove rapes before the substantial evidences fade away. On top of that our court proceedings make even snails look faster. A lot of people don’t have the time, money and patience to fight a case till closure and end up doing personal settlement by either taking some money or marrying off the victim with her rapist. Another issue is it’s bail-able [if you have money] until it’s proved in court which takes years. Sometimes rapists are below 18 and they get away with “warning and few months in the rehab” as juvenile but people don’t asses their sanity when they are released with anonymity. Yes, things are getting better slowly but we are light years behind of how it’s supposed to be. The law and order need reinforcements to address these issues.

So it is clear, that we have loads of issues and to overcome those is neither a short term job nor a one man job. We as a society need to evolve and spread awareness so that we don’t breed rapists and molesters unknowingly, don't treat women differently than men and treat a rapist the way he/she should be treated. But that’s a farfetched goal and we have real issues at present. What to do about them?

What to do: Well, this is 21st century where we can track ground activity from space. But with all these successful ISRO satellite launches, with all these eyes in the sky why aren’t we being able to save our women? Can’t we dedicate few satellites for our women? Just few “Geo Stationary” satellites to cover the entire country. We can make an app what can be easily installed in all phones [not only smart phones] which will have a “panic button”. When someone feels that their safety is being compromised can push that button. Immediately the location of the SIM card will go to a central server via that dedicated satellite so that people don’t have to rely on the availability of mobile networks. That server will pick that location in GPS and alert the nearby police station with specific GPS co ordinates. Even if the rapists throw the phone from some moving car, this whole process will happen in less than a minute giving police a real time data to come up with a legit search radius. The satellite can even be used to take photographs for evidences. A lot of tragedy can be avoided that way including other crimes as well. We should ask for such systems, we are the tax payers and should ask for money allocation during yearly budget for such system.

You can say writing an article and ranting about everything is very easy but to do something it takes courage. I will say if everyone did what they are capable of, our country would have been like heaven. But a change has to come from within ourselves and it always starts with an idea. I am not bragging but saying this so people don’t judge me as a “theoretical patriot”. I have taught English and Mathematics to slum kids for free, I have protested to save environment, I have fed hungry beggars, I have given gifts, food and clothes in charity, I even cleaned up dirty lakes, I don’t litter, pay taxes honestly as well. Maybe I am capable of doing more but I don’t have the money or resources to build such a system for sure else I would have done it already. I have a job and mouths to feed. I will request my friends to forward this to such an extent that it reaches people and government. I would love to work on such a project [who wouldn’t?]. If this changes the thought process of even a single person, my purpose to write this will be fulfilled. I believe in our country that it has the potential to bounce back. So the question is…will you support and forward this message? Hoping to see better days[“Acche Din”]….Jai Hind.

Kunal Dutta.

#bullshitfromanidlemind #stoprapeandmolestation

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marcoacesabo · 7 years

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another collage au! ace has to move to an another room, because the other one has a girlfriend. he miss sabo, who is far far away in london. he moved into the new room, when the semester begins. this is all new. he doesn't like the other people much, because their mob ace with his freckles. his roommember was at home with his family, came back to days after starting. because ace was the first one who was moves into their new room, he sleeps at the big window.

Ace was woken from his slumber when the door to the dorm was slammed open.

He bites out a curse, rolling onto his stomach, away from the warm sunlight that he had been napping in and turns to glare at whoever it is this time.

If it was Law- the brother stealing asshole- Ace would have hissed at him like a cat just because the medic student claimed to hate cats.

If it was Kidd- the too loud heavy metal playing asshole- Ace would have stuck out his tongue because nothing gets under Kidd’s skin like being mocked.

But it wasn’t either of his new roommates. It was some blond man who was staring back at him just as confused. By the stranger’s legs there laid a few tiny suitcases and one backpack.

“Who the hell are you?” Ace grouched always a bit cranky whenever his naps were interrupted. He specifically claimed the large window as his napping place too and even hung up a sign to prove it.

Ace’s napping corner should be respected dammit. Why do people not know how to read?

The blond guy- who’s hair reminded him of Sabo and wasn’t that a kick in the heart? He missed his boyfriend so much and it has only been two days since he left for London- frown at his tone but reached into his pocket to pull out his school ID hung on a simple black lanyard.

“I’m Marco Phoenix. I live here. Who are you yoi?”

Ace blinked at the last word. “What?”

“I’m Marco. This is my dorm. Who. Are. You?” The guy repeated slowly as if the raven man didn’t understand what he said making Ace’s blood boil.

“I heard you the first time!”

“Clearly not.” The guy returned before smirking at him, one hip shifting a bit to the side so Marco can rest his left hand on it. Ace swallowed at the sight. “You’re Ace aren’t you? Law and Kidd have been complaining about you.”

Ace glares harder, if it wasn’t for the fact his last dormmate kept having sex on his bed he wouldn’t have to put up with any of this. “So what if I am?”

“Then this semester just got ten times better yoi.”

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floreneiwlareedz10insurance-blog · 5 years

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oregon insurance exchange problems

BEST ANSWER: Try this site where you can compare free quotes :INSURE-HELP.COM

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oregon insurance exchange problems

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oregon insurance exchange problems

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jamiekturner · 6 years

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Face Cards: The Intricate Playing Card Designs

Face cards are something that we take for granted. The playing card design is something that we never look too much at. However, when we see one that is well designed, we are pleasantly surprised.

We can find design inspiration everywhere we turn, readily available to transform into a master piece.

The commercials we see, the cars we drive, the cinema posters of long awaited movies – they all have a design lesson to teach, and if we give them a second look, we may come up with our own ideas.

In this occasion, we will discuss playing cards.

A standard deck of cards is to be found in nearly any American household, which takes us to the subject of playing card designs being taken for granted.

Yet, the fact we don’t appreciate the ubiquitous playing card design doesn’t make it any less perfect, and doesn’t justify the fact we know nothing about it.

Playing cards of today have inherited their looks from the French Renaissance cards. Their appeal was first interpreted in 1800, by a not so popular artist called John Cazenave.

Cazenave was also the first playing card artist who inspired Charles Bartlett to improve his work and spread it among wider audiences around 1830. Two decades later, Philadelphian artist Samuel Hart took over the idea, and began printing playing cards in larger amounts.

A historical overview

Playing cards in many different shapes have been around ever since the 9th century, and can be traced to several regions in China. Their first appearance in Europe is usually connected to the 14th century.

At this time, Europeans were designing two popular patterns: The French Parisian and the English Rouennais, the later being far more impactful on how playing cards look nowadays.

It was also the French to have created the four standard card suits (spades, clubs, hearts, and diamonds). Originally, this concept belongs to the Italo-Spanish deck, where the suits were clubs, swords, coins, and cups. With time, the much simpler French design prevailed, as it was cheaper and easier to manufacture.

It was no longer necessary to use the standard woodcut method, and numbers could be inserted with stamps, similarly to cards of today. Yet, the French deck court cards still needed woodcut illustrations.

This already shows us the value of playing cards design – we see amazing graphics created specifically to be replicated in an affordable way.

Playing cards observed from a different perspective

While playing, did you ever appreciate the design of playing cards? Most of us didn’t, and yet – we should have.

Playing card designs are the role models of aesthetics balanced with usability, and that makes them almost perfect.

In order to draw inspiration from playing cards, leave all knowledge aside, and look at them as if it was your first encounter.

The symmetry

When it comes to symmetry in design, there is no better example than playing cards. The basic principle has been wielded in a magnificent way, and there are two reasons for that.

To start with, symmetry helps make cards more attractive, as the viewer’s brain finds symmetry very appealing, and relate it to both nature and art.

More importantly, cards’ symmetry is functional, and prevents us from holding cards upside down. This may sound less important than it is, but think how it would be to play cards or pick them up without such functionality.

Numbered cards make this much simpler, but symmetry is still present (a reversed one, however). These cards are called court cards, or as modern users like to call them, face cards.

In their original shape, court cards contained character illustrations in their first length. In order to improve them, mid-19th century designers thought of reversed symmetry.

Face cards usability

Symmetry, nonetheless, is not the only design hack artists came across while thinking how to improve cards. There are also other design characteristics that make cards functional, including the suit display with repeated icons that inform us on the card’s value. Such bonus indicators are even more valuable nowadays, when there is no typography to indicate the cards’ meaning.

The playing cards with corner indices (numbers or letters) arrived in America around 1875. Thanks to the moderated design, players were able to hold the cards with a single hand, and were impressed by such usability.

Prior to this advancement, Jack cards were usually called ‘Knaves’ or ‘Knights’, which prevented the letter ‘K’ from appearing to both cards. This is why they were renamed to Jack, and the players’ best interested was taken into account.

The face cards’ Royal family

How many face cards are in deck of cards? Playing cards continued to evolve, and eventually caused the generic royal figures to take on particular personalities. Designers chose and ascribed a well-known royal figure to each face card – kings Charles, David, Julius Caesar, and Alexander the Great.

As for the other face cards in a deck, there was the queen, namely Pallas, Rachel, Judith, and Argine; the Knaves/Jacks, respectively, La Hire, Ogier the Dane, Judas Maccabeus (Lanselot), and Hector.

You may still come across an old deck with these names printed on the cards. However, the characters are not standardized in new decks.

Interesting and intriguing facts

Not everything about face cards is known to the public. Taking a better look, you would notice that the King of Hearts doesn’t have a moustache, and he’s illustrated as if he was trying to kill himself!

For some experts, this detail was used to illustrate the blurry and unresolved death of Charlemagne. Looking at the King of Diamonds, on the other hand, we’d see he holds an axe unlike other kings that hold a sword.

All mysteries, however, can be explained with a very simple story. With playing cards being reprinted over and over again, the original artworks slowly lost its integrity. The King of Hearts no longer had a moustache.

Also, the King of Diamonds is not the only one carrying an axe – now, this weapon is held by both red kings, while the sword is assigned to their black counterparts.

Single-eye Royals

Another fact that attracts attention is that the King of Diamonds, Jack of Hearts, and Jack of Spades are all depicted as profiles, namely you can only see a single side of their faces. This is why they’re often called one-eyed royals or one-eyed Jacks.

The remaining face cards royals are more front-facing, and you can see both of their eyes regardless of the direction where they’re looking. In certain games, these attributes have a special meaning.

Last, but not least, there are only 4 face cards (all black) where the character is looking to the right. The remaining eight all look at the opposite direction.

The Ace of Spades

In many card games, the Ace of Spades has a special meaning. This rule was first introduced in the 15th century, while Kings were still considered to be the most valuable cards in a deck. The Ace, on the opposite, had the lowest value.

Under the ruling of King James I of England, it was decided to give Ace of Spades insignia with a special law, to confirm the payment of taxes. As a result, many companies embraced Aces of Spades on their official logos, and many are still doing the same.

At the beginning of 1860, the Ace of Spades lost its leadership thanks to games such as Joker. Joker was named after the German game ‘Jucker’.

English face card designs

The English face card pattern is internationally accepted, and believed to originate from Rouen (France). We can trace it back to 1516, when cards showcased well-executed and highly credible images of elegant personas, whose heads are turned back over their shoulders, and we can only see their profiles. The same principle was used for the Jack of Hearts.

Unfortunately, these designs didn’t make it through in their original form – the images were soon disfigured due to poorly informed and unskilled copiers, foremost English artisans to whom we own modern card designs.

The bad copying distortions

Here are some interesting facts:

The King of Clubs’ right hand with an imperial orb was removed (the orb’s decoration covered the fingers). Another notable change is the transformation of the crowning Lorraine cross into a wilted-lettuce-like object.

On some of the pioneer Rouen cards, we can see the Jack of Clubs with a large and fine feather in the cap, which soon started resembling a leaf. The arrow he held was slowly deformed, and eventually started looking like a strange object.

The Jack of Hearts was given a leaf instead of the long and obscured sword. The hilt was slightly deformed, and ten completely transformed into a natural stick with the leaf on top.

The King of Hearts’ axe was replaced by a sword, and his moustache was removed.

With time, the King of Spades lost his right hand, but the weapon remained as it was always held in the left one.

The only queen to hold a sceptre was the Queen of Spades, and the sceptre changed once it was cut in 2 parts by the frame.

The Jack of Spades received a moustache, and had his spear transformed into an undecipherable and unclear object.

The 1800s updates

The English playing cards design underwent many transformations during the 19th century, in particular the second and the third quarter.

The most notable the design is the double-ended one, thanks to which face cards no longer had to be turned to see them clearly. However, this change imposed the need ot represent personas with no arms or legs, as a result of which the King of Clubs’ orb is no longer supported but suspended in mid air.

During this period, the suit sign was permanently placed on the bottom right and the top left corners of the cards. This change was applied to the Queen and Jack of Diamonds, and the Queen and Jack of Diamonds, as players thought it was challenging to have 6 courts with right-positioned suit signs while holding all cards in a fan. Nevertheless, certain card makers continued producing unturned cards.

Cards also received indices on the bottom right and top left corners. Thanks to them, the suit became visible even when holding cards in a fan, an innovation that was very useful for the games typical for this period (Whist, for instance, when payers have to hand 13 cards all the time).

The 19th century was also the time when cards received indexes, added by putting miniature cards in the left-hand corners. The change was refused due to its negative, obscuring effect on the left-corner, and the indexes were thus replaced with letters, while the miniature cards were left out.

The redrawn version of the design is neater, but its style is still the same. The realism attempts were all completely abandoned.

The standard 52-cards deck of today is reminiscent of the four French suits from the 15th century. We have the (♣), diamonds (♦), hearts (♥), and spades (♠), all resembling the items they stand for, but are nonetheless deprived of the lavish motifs of their predecessors, and thus easier to reproduce. The pips were even back then significantly different from each other, standing for symbols associated with the country’s culture and tradition. We can find all types of icons – sorcerers, gobblers, birds, stars, and more, all with a symbolic meaning that reminds instantly of tarot decks. Yet, the pips stand for diversion and not divination as tarot cards, but still feature some of the best 16th century iconography related to mysticism, alchemy, history, and astronomy.

According to historians, the 4 suits in playing card decks were introduced to showcase the 4 different classes in the medieval society. The chalices and cups (today’s hearts) symbolized the clergy; the swords (today’s spades) stood for the military and the nobility; the coins (modern diamonds) were the symbols of merchants; while batons (our clubs) represented the peasants. Yet, not all decks were categorized in the same way. Early German hunting cards, for instance, also had bells, as bells represented jesses of hawks, and symbolized falconry which was at the time a sport reserved for the wealthiest. This is why bells were more suitable for Rhineland’s nobility (and German nobility altogether). In France, on the other hand, the upper class was represented with diamonds, having in min that this was the shape of churches’ chancels, and a common mark on aristocratic graves and monuments.

Ending thoughts on face cards

This article aims to help uninspired designers to give everyday objects a second look, and to think of them more creatively.

Face cards are great examples, as there is plenty of logic and history behind each and every one of them.

If you liked this article about face cards, you should check out these as well:

Book Cover Design: Ideas, Layout, Fonts, And How to Create One

Graphic Designer Salary: Junior, Senior and the Average Annual One

Japanese Graphic Design: Beautiful Artwork and Typography

The post Face Cards: The Intricate Playing Card Designs appeared first on Design your way.

from Web Development & Designing http://www.designyourway.net/blog/graphic-design/face-cards/

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e3khatena · 7 years

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Someone subjected me to it, so I'll return the favor. Do them all, yes?

*horrible but joyous raptor noise*

200: My crush’s name is: The pineapple one.199: I was born in: 1997198: I am really: Confused about things and such.197: My cellphone company is: AT&T and they kind of suck but not too much.196: My eye color is: Usually a bluish-gray, more gray in the winter and more greenish in the spring. Not vividly, still mostly gray.195: My shoe size is: 12.194: My ring size is: I think I have an Ace Ring in 13? So that, I guess.193: My height is: 6′0″-ish.192: I am allergic to: A hecking lot of types of medication.191: My 1st car was: A Hyundai that had it brakes rot out, the lower control arms snapped, and now it doesn’t have power steering. I just got my second car 2 months ago.190: My 1st job was: Alright.189: Last book you read: Legends of Localization: MOTHER 2. Super awesome.188: My bed is: A bed!187: My pet: Icha, a retired police dog. 186: My best friend: Dan. 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Crystal Pepsi is also back but my life was ruined when I found out its just regular Pepsi with no coloring.136: Hillary or Obama: I would gladly take either of them right now. Barack seems like he’d be a dad friend.135: Burried or cremated: I want to be burned to ashes and thrown from the mountains.134: Singing or Dancing: I dunno.133: Coach or Chanel: Coach was a playable character in L4D2 and thus is infinitely more useful.132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: Who the frack are these people.131: Small town or Big city: I’ve kind of had it with the city.130: Wal-Mart or Target: Target. Or, for white people with minimal senses of humor, Targét (Tar-zhey).129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: Stiller is meh but never reaches Sandler levels of awful.128: Manicure or Pedicure: [SOUNDS OF LITTLE INTEREST]127: East Coast or West Coast: The East Coast has HP Lovecraft’s home.126: Your Birthday or Christmas: Both seem to end in familial drama.125: Chocolate or Flowers: Chocolate is dang wonderful. Can’t take a handful, eat the tulips. Y’just cahn’t do theat.124: Disney or Six Flags: Six whole flags. Great America has the Viper and its the closest you will ever get to a life-changing moment. 123: Yankees or Red Sox: I am indifferent towards New York or Boston, doubly so concerning Baseball.[ Here’s What I Think About ]122: War: Like, really guys, talk out your differences and treat people with respect. Its not that hard.121: George Bush: He would have made a brilliant painter or a decent comedian, but for some reason he ended up as president. But now he’s paining portraits of veterans wounded in the wars he started, so there’s that.120: Gay Marriage: Of course.119: The presidential election: 2016 was a terrible year, can we just fast forward to an election where two decent, respectable human beings are being voted for on election day.118: Abortion: Every woman has their reason, and its not the right of men to get to decide what happens.117: MySpace: ‘sead.116: Reality TV: Ech.115: Parents: Its a toxic environment.114: Back stabbers: I get you want that double critical hit, but please don’t stab me. I just want to grab the papers. End TF2 joke.113: Ebay: I dunno?112: Facebook: I had a video of a chick being forced down a grinder suddenly load and go full screen the last time I used the app. Yeah no.111: Work: Cash money.110: My Neighbors: My next door neighbors are absolutely wonderful people. The people past there are pretty bleh.109: Gas Prices: They’ve been higher, they’ve been lower.108: Designer Clothes: Heck.107: College: I have the presidential scholarship and have taken the maximum out on all possible loans and I cannot afford to live on-campus.106: Sports: Nah.105: My family: I am always feeling much better and more comfortable when spending time at a friend’s house than my own house.104: The future: Kinda losing hope, kinda just wish I had the skills to make great games quick and then just live in peace somewhere nice, kinda want to get struck with construction equipment, etc.[ Last time I ]103: Hugged someone: I couldn’t tell you, its been, I dunno, a decade or so?102: Last time you ate: 11:something today.101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: Spent some time at a friend’s place Friday. Haven’t gotten to speak with them in such a long time, felt nice.100: Cried in front of someone: I dunno?99: Went to a movie theater: The last film I saw in theaters was Godzilla and I lost interest when Walter White died.98: Took a vacation: Absolutely never! I was in Florida for a few weeks a few years ago (2013, I think?), but it barely counts because half of it was rainy days, Minecraft, and Nostalgia Critic.97: Swam in a pool: Couple years ago?96: Changed a diaper: If this answer becomes anything but never I will have seen too much.95: Got my nails done: Never.94: Went to a wedding: Never.93: Broke a bone: Pretty sure never?92: Got a peircing: Never.91: Broke the law: I once forgot to stop at a stop sign nobody else was at. Take me away, coppers, throw me in the slammer.90: Texted: I think Friday night?[ MISC ]89: Who makes you laugh the most: Dan.88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: Not having anywhere to be. 87: The last movie I saw: I watched The Adventures of Tintin for like the 9th time. I wonder how that film stands up in black/white. I heard really good stuff about Mad Max: Fury Road in B/W.86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: Switch Switch Switch SwiTCH SWITCH SW85: The thing im not looking forward to: The hatred spiraling around the 45th President. Actual Nazis spoke of their goals and were praised on national TV. One of them got punched and is afraid he will become a meme. What the heck is going on. How much Nyquil did I accidentally drink. Is this a dying dream. Please let it be.84: People call me: Really needy and obnoxious. Or that might just be me.83: The most difficult thing to do is: Have one good day. Friday was the first one since probably October.82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: Nope, but I did get one because my brakes went out and I hit the bumper of the car in front of me. 81: My zodiac sign is: Gemini, but it really doesn’t make a difference.80: The first person i talked to today was: Dan.79: First time you had a crush: Quite a while ago. It was the orange one and it was alright. Pineapple is the better flavor though.78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: Dan.77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: I dunno.76: Right now I am talking to: A Tumblr text post.75: What are you going to do when you grow up: Design dem vidya gaems. 74: I have/will get a job: I have a job? Its my second one, been there 3 months.73: Tomorrow: I’LL72: Today: Is almost over.71: Next Summer: I’ll be out of school until September again?70: Next Weekend: Will be practically the end of the month? What am I supposed to put do--69: I have these pets: I have one (1) dog.68: The worst sound in the world: I have been woken at 2 in the morning by someone loudly blaring “Now look at this NET!” at me as a joke. 67: The person that makes me cry the most is: I dunno, Speilberg? Because he won’t make thAT TINTIN SEQUEL--66: People that make you happy: Dan and the other ragtag band of friends I have.65: Last time I cried: Like ~a week ago?64: My friends are: @eishkrooked @virtifrication-order @ahogehope and my non-Tungle friends Steve, Byron, Haley and Sam.63: My computer is: More expensive than my first car.62: My School: Costs far too much.61: My Car: Is alright.60: I lose all respect for people who: Justify killing or dehumanizing a lot of people quickly.59: The movie I cried at was: Wreck-It Ralph. Because I am a loser.58: Your hair color is: Blond.57: TV shows you watch: Actually between stuff because everything is over or on hiatus.56: Favorite web site: Steam, I guess?55: Your dream vacation: As many of my friends as possible and we all go to somewhere rad, I dunno where though.54: The worst pain I was ever in was: I once had a coughing fit at 1AM that caused me to spit up some blood and it hurt so bad I collapsed on the floor and cried myself back to sleep. But Death’s gonna have to bare-knuckle box me for my life, he tried to kill me with life-threatening pneumonia twice and that did bugger all. Come at me scrublord, I’m ripped.53: How do you like your steak cooked: Medium-well.52: My room is: Barely my room.51: My favorite celebrity is: JK Simmons.50: Where would you like to be: Somewhere nice.49: Do you want children: Not really, no. Maybe adopt some? I dunno.48: Ever been in love: Nope.47: Who’s your best friend: This is like the third time this question has appeared.46: More guy friends or girl friends: More good friends.45: One thing that makes you feel great is: Ever get to steal, like, all the stars in a Chance Time? That power changes you.44: One person that you wish you could see right now: I want to know how Haley is doing. She moved off to Minnesota after graduating high school and has not been online in like have a year. 43: Do you have a 5 year plan: I barely have a five-day plan.42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: I could die at any minute, lists just leave “I could have___”s everywhere.41: Have you pre-named your children: Nope.40: Last person I got mad at: It took Arin 4 hours to make it to the end of Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door’s first major boss. FOUR HOURS.39: I would like to move to: A nice flat somewhere just outside Chicago.38: I wish I was a professional: Game dev because then, again, good things made quick.[ My Favorites ]37: Candy: York Peppermint Patties, also a fan of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.36: Vehicle: Can Tesla just do a cheap electric car already? 35: President: Obama is definitely top of the list. Amazing public speaker, total dad.34: State visited: Illinois.33: Cellphone provider: If only Metronet could do phones.32: Athlete: JK Simmons got ripped, I can include him.31: Actor: See above!30: Actress: Ashly Burch (Ms. Pauling in TF2). 29: Singer: Lynda Carter became a freaking phenominal jazz singer between the 70s and Fallout 4. Probably the best part about that game.28: Band: Diablo Swing Orchestra, hands down.27: Clothing store: The cheapest one I can get good-quality stuff at.26: Grocery store: Jewel? I dunno, don’t hassle me.25: TV show: Gravity Falls deserves all the awards.24: Movie: This might come as a surprise, but the Adventu23: Website: Steam? I dunno.22: Animal: Samoyeds and Malamutes. Japanese Akitas come in third.21: Theme park: Six Flags is pretty rad. 20: Holiday: According to the store I work at, Italian Market is a holiday and now its my favorite holiday.19: Sport to watch: Not a sportwatcher.18: Sport to play: Used to spar. That was rad.17: Magazine: Rest in peace, Nintendo Power.16: Book: Journal 3 is such a fabulous blend of so many good things.15: Day of the week: Monday, actually. I don’t need to commute, my brothers are out of the house, I can record or work on personal projects, etc.14: Beach: Not a fan of beaches.13: Concert attended: Have not attended any live whatsits.12: Thing to cook: Pasta. And then I have it all. Because its pasta.11: Food: Read above.10: Restaurant: It depends. Subway is cheap, Corner Bakery Cafe is right inside Union Station and their Mac and Chee is awesome, but if money is no object, then I’d go for Olive Garden because “endless pasta” are two words that get slung around in there.9: Radio station: I hate the FM radio.8: Yankee candle scent: Fresh-cut lawn.7: Perfume: Nah.6: Flower: I don’t have an answer.5: Color: One of those deep, vivid blues. Something like Tumblr’s but with some more saturation.4: Talk show host: Nah.3: Comedian: SungWon Cho or Barry Kramer.2: Dog breed: 22 has all the answers you need.1: Did you answer all these truthfully? I could be a jerk and say I answered one of these incorrectly, but nah, they’re legit. Or are they? They are. Or are they?

Thanks!

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