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rezingrave · 1 month ago

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The Love Machine (1920) by Charles S. Wolfe

Hi I'm Rez. I like mind control. I like weird old stories. Sometimes in my travels I encounter things that encompass both. Here's my little attempt to preserve some forgotten history.

And when it does you see the conventions hurled ruthlessly aside, and every man-made barrier scaled, be it as high as the mountains or as broad as the sea. Let me get the coldest, most haughty beauty of the upper class into this chair, and I can force her to lavish every attention on the dirtiest ash man you can find in the city.

"The Love Machine" is a bizarre little story about a millionaire who pays a mad scientist to put his floozy chorus girl gf into a machine that will turn her into an obedient and domesticated wife.

While most stories would take such a premise to say that, perhaps, love cannot be reduced to mere electrical signals, or that it is, in fact, bad to brainwash your girlfriend and make her love you by force, Wolfe comes out boldly and bravely to assert that love is just a four letter word, and the only thing worse than mind control is divorce.

Since its short, obscure, and public domain, I've put the full thing (typos and all) under the cut for you to decide what the fuck this guy was on about, along with some more of my thoughts and brief historical context. Content warning for some rancid genteel misogyny.

The Love Machine by Charles S. Wolfe

Fennimore ript out a surprised oath, and hurled the morning paper to the floor with such vehemence that the sad faced man who stood patiently behind his chair involuntarily bounded backwards a foot or two. Such outbreaks on his master's part were unusual.

Muttering unintelligibly, Fennimore addresst himself to his coffee and rolls vigorously. This farce lasted only a few minutes, however, for the young man was past the eating stage. In spite of himself he soon gave over, reluctantly picking up the paper and turning again to the advertisement that had engendered the outburst.

He found the "Personal" column again, and located the offending ad. He read and re-read it, carefully, moodily.

"I offer my personal services to any person who finds his or her love unrequited. Success of your suit is certain if I handle it. George Parsons, 1938 M – – Street."

The word stared mockingly up at him from the printed sheet. For be it known that Fennimore, scion of wealth, accustomed to having his desires speedily realized, no matter what bizarre turn they took, was head over heels in love. Very unfortunately, the object of his affections could not, by any stretch of the imagination, he said to be in the same condition.

Fennimore, paper in hand, rose slowly to his feet, leaving his neglected breakfast to the care of the servant.

"His personal services, eh?" he muttered, "Well, we'll see what they amount to."

So it was that a half hour later, while his chauffeur loafed in the car outside Fennimore sat in conversation with George Parsons and the M street house.

Parsons, a jovial faced, middle aged man of short stature, honestly privilege to prefix his name with "Professor" and suffixt with Heaven knows how many formidable combinations of letters, leaned back in his chair and regarded his fidgeting visitor genially.

"So you are in love?" he mused. Fennimore glared without replying, a fact which disturbed the placid professor not a jot.

"Does the lady not give you no encouragement whatsoever? Have you made no progress all on your own hook?

Fennimore's fists clenched and unclenched in the violence of his rage. Just enough to keep me hanging around the stage door like the rest the fools in this town," he flung out bitterly, "I'd give a million dollars to see one symptom of real affection in her whole body."

Parson looked pleased. "Oh, we won't be that steep," he said, assuringly. "Ten thousand will see you out easily."

If looks could kill, Parson's hour had struck then and there. "You're damned mercenary about it," snarled Fennimore, "That detail could've waited 'till later."

"Just enough to keep me coming thru with the supper parties after the show.

Parsons was quite unmoved. "It is best that we understand this part of the matter right from the start," he demurred, firmly, "I'm a scientist, young man, but I am not wedded to my studies. The Almighty Dollar is no revolting spectacle to me."

"And what do you propose to do to earn this sum?" Challenged Fennimore, sulkily.

"I propose to make this — er— actress of yours the most docile, obedient, adorable and loving young bride that you ever laid eyes on."

"Easily said," jeered the wrathful millionaire.

"Easier done," retorted Parsons, promptly.

"May I ask how you propose to accomplish this miracle?" queried Fennimore, sarcastically.

"I am not telling you what I expect to do, young man," rejoined Parsons, "I am telling you what I'm going to do. There is no question whether I am able to get the results I advertise. I know I can. I have the necessary apparatus and the knowledge required to use it."

"Apparatus?" gasped the startled lover, "do you use machinery?"

"Most certainly," snapt the professor, somewhat nettled, "Did you have an idea that I charmed them with the flute?"

Fennimore ignored the thrust. "When can we begin on the system of yours?" he queried, uncertainly, for the whole thing seemed quite unreal to this lad who had never been accustomed to think of love in terms of ergs or calories.

"We can begin and end just as soon as you can get the object of your affections into my laboratory for a period of two hours."

"Great Scott," gasped Fennimore, "Does one treatment suffice?"

"It does," Parsons replied grimly "Quite."

"Do you guarantee a permanent —er — cure?" Fennimore demanded, determined to go through with the business, bizarre as it looked.

"I do not," chuckled Parsons, "But I do guarantee it to last long enough to get you past the minister and back from Europe. Say two years. Then if you have any trouble, bring her around for another treatment."

"How am I to get her into your laboratory?" asked Fennimore, satisfied.

"Great Heavens, man," Parsons was exasperated, "If you haven't enough native wit for that task I don't wonder that you have been tagging around without getting anywhere.'

"I can't drag her in by the hair of the head, you know," Fennimore interpolated hastily, "It isn't being done at all."

"No, I suppose not," the professor sighed, sarcastically, "And what a pity the fine pointed needle is a taboo, too. Well, I suppose I must plan a course of action for you. Convince our young friend that she isn't looking as well as she has been. Tell her you have heard of some wonderful electric treatments that are getting remarkable results. Tell her that all your wealthy friends are having them. That's the bait she'll raise to. And then offer to pay for a course for her. I think that'll bring her here. Once inside my laboratory, I'll answer for all the rest."

Fennimore arose. "All right, Parsons," he said, "We'll try it. I'll telephone you as soon as I get a definitive decision from Violetta." Parsons smiled quaintly after the departing car. "Before that two year period expires, son," he soliloquised, "You'll be begging me for the antidote."

It took Fennimore a week to convince Violetta that she needed toning up. Finally, attracted by the price that the young millionaire would have to pay for her treatments, the fickle young beauty consented, agreeing to place herself in Parson's hands.

When the last curtain fell one evening she hastened to her dressing room and made ready for her first visit to the professor's laboratory. The impatient Fennimore was waiting for her with his big limousine, into which he piloted her as soon as she emerged from the stage door alley. Half an hour later she was shaking hands with Parsons.

"Rotten of us," she drawled, languidly, as the scientist dropt her limp hand, "Rotten of us to keep you working at this hour. But I just can't get up in the mornings. Habit I formed out in the sticks making night jumps. Nothing really the matter with me, is there, Doc?"

"Haven't had a chance to examine you yet, young lady, but off hand I should say there were several things the matter with you," said Parsons, dryly, as he led the way into his laboratory.

Fennimore shot him a sharp look, started to speak, then changed his mind. The girl, who had not caught the hidden meaning of the scientist’s remark, rattled on, waxing doubly garrulous as she caught sight of the formidable arraty of electrical apparatus and switchboards in the sanctum. Had either she or Fennimore been versed in such matters they would have been able to identify several familiar pieces of high frequency apparatus, the brass stripped oscillation transformers and burnished Leyden jars being quite conspicuous in the array.

Parsons wasted no time in useless preliminaries. “You first, Fennimore.” he said, curtly.

“I,” objected the amazed millionaire, “I'm not here for treatment.”

“Heavens, man,” interposed the professor, testily, “Don’t question my methods. I must have your rate.”

Fennimore’s teeth snapt shut on his unspoken retort, and submissively he took in each hand the peculiar metal electrodes the scientist proferred. He was finding Parsons a different man in the laboratory from what he had been in his consulting room.

The professor, his eyes watching intently the quivering pointer on a meter face, paid scant attention to his two companions. Finally he made some notes on a pad and relieved Fennimore of the electrodes.

“That will do, thank you,” he said, “Now I must figure out your rate.”

“My rate of what?” demanded the mystified youth.

“The rate at which you are vibrating per second,” replied Parsons, none too graciously, “Let’s see. The square root of---- . Ah! There we have it. You vibrate, Fennimore, between the twenty-fifth and twenty-seventh octaves. Thirty-seven million, five hundred and fifty thousand and some odd cycles a second, if figures interest you.”

“They don’t,” replied Fennimore, promptly, his eyes feasting on Violetta, “Not that kind, anyway.”

Parsons handed the girl the electrodes, and again studied the quivering needle. Again his pencil was busy. Then he faced the pair, a satisfied look on his face which told plainly that he had found what he sought.

“And you, my friend,” he said to Violetta, “Vibrate at the rate of thirty-seven million, five hundred and forty-nine thousand and a few odd hundred. There’s only about seven hundred cycles difference between you. You’re a fine pair of zincs.”

“Fine pair of zincs,” echoed Fennimore, “What the devil, Parsons, ”

“Ever see a dry cell, Fennimore?” Parsons asked, calmly, “Carbon and zinc poles, yon know? Well, you’re a pair of negatives. You couldn’t have succeeded in this case in a thousand years.”

“See here,” broke in the imperious Violetta, “What’s all this about a pair of negatives? When do I get those treatments?”

“Don’t worry,” Parsons assured her, “You’ll get them.”

Fennimore faced her doggedly. “Look here, Violetta,” he said, determinedly, arms folded, jaw squared, “You may as well know the truth. I've told you a thousand times how desperately I love jmu. Every time you’ve laughed in my face. Fve grown desperate. I had to do something. The professor here thinks he can arouse in you some love for me by means of these treatments. That’s why we’re here, and that’s why he has to take observations of the both of us.”

After one startled moment, the girl gave way to uncontrolled laughter. "Make me love you with a bunch of juice,” she gasped, “Oh, Lord. This is rich.”

Parsons regarded Fennimore with deep disgust. “Fennimore,” he said, icily, “You have, in the language of the street, spilled the beans. Now will you kindly keep your mouth shut before you scatter them so hopelessly that I can't pick them up.”

“She had to know sometime,” retorted Fennimore, stubbornly, “And it miglu as well be now.”

“She didn’t have to know before I got these electrodes on her arm,” Parsons shot at him, deftly clamping an arm electrode on each wrist of the unresisting girl, who was paying no attention at all to the busy professor. She was regarding Fennimore with contempt.

“Why, you poor simp,” she sneered, “I've told you a dozen times, and I tell you again, that if you had a hundred times the money you have, and if you were a hundred times better looking than you are, I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth. Or any other boob in trousers, either. I've got my work to think of. Do you think I'm going to quit being a chorus girl? Not on your life.”

Parsons snapt on a switch and grinned at the disheartened millionaire. “How’s that for a mouthful, son? he asked, “Think that will hold you for awhile?”

Then the girl turned on him. “And you, Mr. Smart Guy,” she demanded, “How do you expect to change my mind with your foolish old treatments?”

Parsons looked at his trembling meters and smiled. “Easily, my dear," he replied, “Oh, quite so. You see, life itself being of an electrical nature, it obeys the laws which govern electrical phenomena in general. To what extent and by just what means we are hardly in position to say as yet. My own researches have carried me beyond the frontiers in certain directions, and the treatment you are undergoing tonight is just one application of the facts that I have unearthed.

“You young people think that love is a question of good looks, circumstances, and mutual attraction. You have fallen into the common error of mistaking the effect for the cause. No two people will be attracted to each, other to any degree — far from sufficiently to love — if their natures aren’t timed properly for the occurrence of the phenomenon. Take your own case, for example. You told the truth when you said that you would not love Fennimore in a million years. Your rates of vibration were so nearly alike that you were, as I said, like poles of a battery.”

She regarded him thoughtfully. “Then how, Mr. Man,” she asked, “Do you account for the fact that this poor fish is gone on me? Seems to me the rule ought to work both ways to be any good.”

“Bravo, little reasoner,” exclaimed Parsons, admiringly, “You will be the brains of your household. Well, I account for that quite easily. The simple fact is that HE’S NOT IN LOVE WITH YOU AT ALL.”

Fennimore jumped about two feet. The girl looked at the calm scientist in open mouthed amazement. “Say, Parsons, what the— ” burst out the wrathy Fennimore.

“Calm yourself,” came the unperturbed reply, “I know what I’m talking about. Bluntly, you’ve mistaken lust for love. You think you’re in love.

“What I’m doing is just this. By a process which I do not choose to reveal, I am changing the rate, or call it natural period, if you like, at which this girl vibrates. When I have changed it sufficiently you will be as far apart as you were together before. In other words, you will be splendidly positive and negative. Then you will love. You won’t be able to help yourselves.”

Vaguely alarmed at the cool assurance of this man, the girl stirred uneasily in her chair and regarded the quivering meter needles with some apprehension.

Parsons leaned back comfortably against his instrument board and resumed.

“I find that the exact adjustment of these oppositions is quite critical. For maximum manifestation I should have to readjust you to the very cycle. Were I to do that, the attraction would be so violent that you would literally hurl yourselves into each other’s arms. That critical state quite frequently occurs naturally, and when it does you see the conventions hurled ruthlessly aside, and every man-made barrier scaled, be it as high as the mountains or as broad as the sea. Let me get the coldest, most haughty beauty of the upper class into this chair, and I can force her to lavish every attention on the dirtiest ash man you can find in the city.

“It is sufficient that we attain a degree of attraction necessary to arouse domestic instincts and impulses.” He broke off to study gravely the indication of a large meter. “That state we have about reached now,” he said, quietly.

Fennimore started, and regarded the girl intently. For a second she met his gaze. Then her eyes dropt, and she blushed.

Parsons smiled faintly. “I'm a few years ahead of my time, of course,” he said, “Within the next few years every couple that applies for a license to wed will have their vibratory rates taken and the corrections necessary to accomplish true affection made. The divorce evil will be wiped out as mis-mating is prevented.”

He snapt off the switch and deftly removed the electrodes from the girl’s arms. She arose, a trifle unsteadily. Fennimore regarded her anxiously. “How do you feel?” he asked, in some concern.

“A little queer,” she replied, dazed, “You’d better take me home, Roderick.”

Roderick! The young man’s heart pounded within him and a look of exultation came over his features. He faced her squarely. “For the thousand and first time, "Letta,” he said, “Will you marry me?”

Further Thoughts:

"The Love Machine" is an early example of science fiction, published in the regular-science magazine Science and Invention (previously called The Electrical Experimenter). I find it so remarkably similar to a fetish story that I kind of get lost in it; like greeting an old friend (the extremely amateurish overuse of adverbs helps). Wish fulfillment for the scientific man of 1920. What were men scared of in 1920? Flappers, mostly: scandalous, masculine "new women" who were still hot and sexy but eschewed husbands in favor of— le gasp— a career? Dancing? Having casual sex? The whole story I waited for the other shoe to drop, for the plan to go awry, but no. This is a story about lionizing science, about how cool and awesome it is, especially if it lets you bend women to your will!

(These are the same anxieties that would eventually lead to The Stepford Wives. It's very similar, excusing the fact that Stepford is a horror story that knows it's a horror story, unlike this one.)

Wolfe's story firmly reinforces the status quo. It's interesting that the protagonist is a millionaire, despite it having little bearing on the story. It clarifies the function of the story as power fantasy, sharpens its oddly juvenile edge. He's a special little guy and he gets everything he ever wants (which is exactly what the reader wants).

I can't square the tone. Stories like this were considered trash, mere filler or bait to get people to buy magazines. I doubt the author had much time to think about the meaning of his story. And that's what makes me rubber-neck. If I read a fetish story with the exact same tone and plot, I would understand it as implicit that the appeal comes from the taboo, the sheer violation of autonomy that leaves a woman helpless to refuse (an acceptance never written, we already know how it ends) but— is that what's happening here? Was this story, in 1920, taboo? Was it tucking away in the pages of a "masculine" interest magazine something that could not presented anywhere else? Or was this just the status quo— a fantasy akin to soulmate-ism, a world where science makes perfect pairs and there is no more conflict, no more strife, no more chorus girls? Was it supposed to be funny? Was it supposed to be cute?

#rez speaks #mind control #hypn0kink #hypnokink in old shit #<- my tag for this series until I get a better name #pulp

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bleachbleachbleach · 1 month ago

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4/7/-5/3/2025

I genuinely thought I had done one of these recently but it turns out it's been four weeks and the entire month of April and a lot of time has passed. Half of me is not surprised by this, because I have known this was how April was going to be since last fall, when I was populating my calendar. The dividing line in me is unsure how I am still standing on the other side and deeply upset that my reward is a bunch of miscellaneous tasks that actually also need to be done, instead of getting to evolve into a more desirable state of being, which is to be a block of tofu jiggling in a little tub of water.

So far every month this year has just been ever-contracting time available to myself until I get very upset about all the things I don't have time for and rebelliously clean a bathroom, even though that had very much not yet come up in the task queue (this Wednesday's exploit).

I have been being kept afloat by *thinking* daily about my fanfic, if not necessarily writing more than one mental line edit at a time while I am driving. But I also feel super disconnected from Bleach as a whole, and from fandom, and anything that doesn't exist in the specific context of my fanfic. And I think (?) I'd like to figure out how to rebuild that. (The question mark regards whether such a thing is possible; whether "re" is an appropriate prefix; whether trying would make me feel better or worse, etc. Because part of me is like, I mean, doing things that will feel further isolating seem a bit counterproductive? But that's probably its own post.)

Because then I'm also at this impasse where I'm like, okay, but I also want to actually write my fanfic, which is not something I have had time to do, either, and in that case t i m e is the limiting resource if we're trying to have cake and eat it. Time and energy, because I feel like for some reason every damn thing outside of my blorbos I just want to play house with requires this huge all-encompassing scope of attention. Like, nothing can be easy and everything has to be some kind of epic, whether that means strategic plans and programmatic reviews or things that are legitimately existential and serious. And every time I open my email I'm like "YOU WANT ME TO WHAT NOW." But anyway, that's not what this space is for, either.

My point for this post, really, is to call to attention for myself that all of April has apparently happened. And to acknowledge that May is going to be highly irregular and probably not that useful for re-establishing routines, but maybe if I own that, I can still try to build something in spite of this.

FIRST OF ALL, I should actually adjust the goals-as-written for once in my life instead of Duplicating the same unedited sheet over and over again. Let's start there!!!!!!!

#stories for the sea

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toychest321 · 1 year ago

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(I wanted to apologize for my lack of activity on this page. I had so many plans for posts I wanted to make for Ramadan, but this past month has been so horribly stressful. Whenever I have time free from schoolwork I'm so incredibly burnt out I lack the motivation to post. Now there's barely any time left before Ramadan is over, even though there were other posts I wanted to make. I'll probably still make them in the future, though, and highlight Islamic culture through dolls however and whenever I can!)

With that said, I'd like to introduce you to the most recently-released Muslim doll, Umm Amirah!

As far as I can tell, Umm Amirah was released in February of 2023 by the company Allova, a family-owned company based in the UK.

While the name "Umm" literally translates to "Mother" or "Mother of", it can also be used as an additive prefix for whatever trait follows. "Amirah", meanwhile, means "Princess", so (as far as I can tell) her name roughly means "she who is like a princess".

And that name certainly fits! While her outfit is relatively simple (which makes sense, since her primary demographic is those aged 3-7), the sparkling tulle outer skirt shows that subtle princess-y influence!

The doll comes in pink and purple outfit variants, and comes with a prayer mat, a pink bag to carry it, and a pink hairbrush. She has fair skin, blue eyes, dark or blonde hair beneath her hijab, and 11 points of articulation! Umm Amirah's is meant to be a cultural education tool, and introduce the practice of Salah to children.

As I mentioned in a previous post regarding the Morning (Fajr) and Evening Prayers (Isha), Salah is the daily process of giving prayer to Allah. It is the second pillar of Islam, and must be done facing Mecca.

A couple of months ago in February 2024, Allova also released this Princess Fashion Set. While it's not an official Umm Amirah fashion pack, I still feel like it could somewhat be classified as such with its name and their doll used for modelling.

The pack comes with 6 dresses: pale pink with dotted skirt; pink with puffed sleeves and ruffle skirt; blue with silver detailing, top, and belt; a blue summer dress with white and yellow pattern; purple; and black and white with white flower buttons and a polka-dot skirt. It also comes with four headscarves in blue, lilac, black, and gold, 3 handbags (tan, white, and pink) , and 3 pairs of shoes (black, silver, and fuschia(?))

I obviously cant post for each outfit combination, but I would definitely say that the blue summer dress is my least favorite of those available. The material looks the cheapest out of those in the pack, its design is comparatively simple, and the pattern is sorta tacky. I feel like the central concept could've been executed better.

My favorite looks, though, would have to be:

The full black and white look sorta gives me girlboss vibes, like something she could wear at her desk writing articles or modeling for the cover of a magazine! The blue dress, meanwhile, is sooooo elegant, like she's going to a fancy party in the evening! My absolute favorite though would have to be the gold hijab with the pink frilly dress, which takes the "princess" part of Umm Amirah to a whole new level!

In spite of my thoughts on the summer dress of the pack, I'm in love with this doll and its outfits as a whole! It's been fun putting out this post I'd been meaning to make for a while. A lot of the Muslim dolls I've found, while impressive, unfortunately don't seem to be in production much in the current year, so it's nice to see there's still options available! If you're still looking for a potential Eid gift, I'd highly recommend getting her from Allova's website!

Ramadan Kareem!

#dolls #dollblr #umm amirah #umm amirah doll #muslim dolls #long post

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distantlaughter · 19 days ago

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Tagged by @steeple-sinderby-belles thank you :-)

Last song: Manzarek by Canova

Last movie: Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant………….I really need to watch an actual movie so I don’t have to keep mentioning this one. My dad genuinely begged me to watch it, saying how incredible it was, and guys it was so bad and not even in a so-bad-it’s-good way it was just Bad. The acting is atrocious (the protagonist’s actor might be the worst actor I have ever seen), the story is incomprehensible, the casting is like completely bonkers (John C Reilly plays a vampire who’s supposed to be in his TWENTIES 😭). 1/5 stars.

Last book: Plutarch’s Lives Volume One. I got it in a used bookstore bc I felt like such a tool only getting coffee table books so I started looking around for an actual book… I was in the ancient history section and saw it and was like you know what I really enjoyed reading Suetonius’s The Twelve Caesars years ago so maybe I’ll enjoy this. Well let me just say this book is not like The Twelve Caesars at all!!!!!! The twelve Caesars feels like Suetonius is giving you all of the gossip in Ancient Rome, very funny and irreverent at times but omg Plutarch… the way it’s set up is like an Ancient Greek statesman is paired up with an Ancient Roman statesman and after both of their biographies are given Plutarch compares the two based on their military prowess, character, etc… but like 80% of the biographies are about their military exploits so if you’re like me who really has little-to-no knowledge of like any of these wars I was so lost… Wikipedia was my best friend reading this especially for the years and geography…

that being said it IS interesting and you learn like weird trivia like why is December the twelfth month in the calendar when it has the prefix Deca for ten?? Bc Numa Pompilius the second Roman king added two months to the Roman calendar (January and February though they called it Mercedinus then) and reshuffled the calendar so January was the first month (because before March was the first month and dedicated Mars the god of war, and Numa Pompilius was trying to stabilize and move Rome away from warring so much, and Janus was a god of unity and peace etc…)

But there are also some real duds with some of the generals Plutarch decided to write about… like Aemilius Paulus… Philopoemon… i was not impressed. My favorites were Fabius Maximus (aura farmer), Pyrrhus (comedy of errors), Gaius Marius, and Sulla (monstrous but very entertaining to read lol). And I will be reading the second volume because I am a completionist and fueled by spite.

Last TV show: Sex and the City. I do think if you have four 30-40 something female leads in your main cast it has a pretty good chance of becoming one of my favorite shows ever (Desperate Housewives not withstanding). This show is also extremely effective propaganda for the city of New York.

Sweet/spicy/savoury: sweet

Relationship status: single

Last google search: “2003 Filippo Inzaghi girlfriend” (did not yield any helpful results)

Looking forward to: the opening reception for the student show tonight :)

Currently obsessed with: the inzaghis…

Tagging (sorry if you’ve been tagged already): @kinaseworld @ardans @odericevertz @joyous-spice @new-berry @purefractals @mostregrettably

#wow this turned into a book review

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rq-archive · 11 months ago

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Hello. You may refer to me+ as The Archivist. I+ use it/its pronouns. I+ have a typing quirk which makes me+ add a plus sign (+) after I+/me+/my+/mine+/myself+.

As this is an archive blog, there is no DNI. That said, do not start discourse here. Terms archived here do not reflect the opinions of The Archivist. Be polite.

Tagging system will be under the cut because it's long.

The prefix "Trans" can be replaced by other prefixes such as "Vetus". Prefixes will be listed below the cut.

I+ am not currently archiving paraphilias or MUDs. This may change.

NOTE: As of April 4th 2025, this blog is on an indefinite hiatus. The Archivist is currently dormant, and we do not know if it will return. We apologize for any inconveniences this may cause.

Other:

[Other:]

#not an id

#term search

Prefixes:

[Prefixes:]

Trans-

Vetus-

Forced-

ForcedTrans-

Null-

NullTrans-

Perma-

Cis-

CisTrans-

Transslash-

Tris-

Spite-

Hyperfix-

Sev-

Transsev-

Auti-

Fluid-

Plurm-

TransIDs:

[TransIDs:]

TransRace:

[TransRace:]

#trace - transracial.

#trace: xeno - trans xeno race.

#trace: ficto - trans fictional race.

#trace: null

#transculutre

#translanguage

#transaccent

#transvocab

#transnationality

#translocation

#transreality

TransAbled:

[TransAbled:]

#transabled - all tranabled terms

#transabled: physical

#transabled: illness

#transabled: mental

#transabled: addiction

#transabled: aids - mobility/communication aids

#transabled: pd - personality disorders

#transabled: xeno - trans xeno ability

#tranabled: ficto - trans fictional ability

TransAge:

[TransAge:]

#transage

#transage: fluid

#transage: kid

#transage: teen

#transage: adult

#transage: nt - e.g. kidn't, adult 't

#transage: xeno

#transage: chara

#transage: orient

#transage: gender

#transage: kodo

#transage: loli

#transage: shota

#transage: crona

#transage: neuro

TransBody:

[Transbody:]

#transbody

#transbody: blood

#transbody: eye

#transbody: hair

#transbody: appendage

#transbody: height

#transbody: melanin

#transbody: organ

#transbody: scent

#transbody: taste

#transbody: sex

#transbody: skeletal

#transbody: substance

#transbody: voice

#transbody: weight

#transbody: clothes

#transbody: mouth

#transbody: scar

#transbody: ficto

Transplural:

[Transplural:]

#transplural

#transplural: genic

#transplural: conscious

#transplural: headmate

#transplural: role

#transplural: headspace

#transplural: xeno

#transplural: ramcoa

#transplural: singlet

TransTime:

[Transtime:]

#transtime

#transtime: birthday

#transtime: chrono

#transtime: generation

#transtime: timeloop

#transtime: zodiac

TransMentality:

[TransMentality:]

#transmentality

#transmentality: opinion

#transmentality: sona - personality

#transmentality: intelligence

#transmentality: emotion

TransChara:

[TransChara:]

#transchara

#transchara: oc

#transchara: irl - real life people

TransHarmed:

[TransHarmed:]

#transharmed

#transharmed: trauma

#transharmed: death

#transharmed: hated

TransHarmful:

[TransHarmful:]

#transharmful

#transharmful: hate

TransSpecies:

[TransSpecies:]

#transspecies

#transspecies: irl

#transspecies: ficto

TransOrientation:

[TransOrientation:]

#transorientation

#transorientation: queer

#transorientation: para

#transorientation: kink

Mus-ID:

[Mus-ID:]

#musid

#musid: song

#musid: album

#musid: artist

#musid: genre

#musid: misc

Miscellaneous:

[Miscellaneous:]

#transexperience

#transfaith

#transprofession

#transword

#transsong

#transdiet

#transfamily

#transhobby

#transdating

#transeducation

#transfriends

#transtransgender

#blankqueer

Accessibility

[Accessibility]

#image id

#no image id

#plain text

#no plain text

#not an id #rad inclus #transx safe #transid please interact #pro radq #pro radqueer #radq #radqueer #pro rq 🌈🍓#rq 🌈🍓#radqueer 🌈🍓#radqueer community #radqueer please interact #pro transid #transid community #transid safe #pinned post #plain text

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blaiddllodi · 18 days ago

Note

[ RELAX ] - For those looking to take a breather, the cabana located a short ways from the ball’s epicenter might be the answer. Take a seat in the chairs lined up side-by-side on the porch and pour yourself a drink from the chilled wine bottle as you have a fine view of the ocean. A white hammock lies inside for those who want to recharge before jumping back into the fray.

The Cabana offered a moment of respite for Chrom, amidst the social chaos of the Ball.

Of course, Chrom had been relaxing here, but he was thinking about an item he had received from a merchant, when initially getting his armor.

'Here! This is what a far off nation refers to as an 'ass sweater'.

Chrom held the 'ass sweater' in his hands, with distinct confusion in his head. These are just pants, are they not? He thought, but despite that thought, Chrom out of confusion and curiosity had brought the 'ass sweater' to the Ball with him. Maybe he would give them away? Maybe someone else could make use out of them.

As such deliberation passed through his mind, he had seen another. A young seeming individual, with unmistakably blonde hair, and blue eyes. Is that...the Young Prince Dimitri?

There was a look of recognition in his eyes, as Chrom had seen one of the House Leaders of the Monastery. Chrom wondered what Dimitri had been doing at the Cabana at that moment. Maybe he too wished to take a break from the Ball? Then, Chrom looked down at the pants, or well, the ‘ass sweater’ he held, then back up to Dimitri.

Would the Young Prince want them…? Chrom wondered, as he stood up, approaching Dimitri, ‘ass sweater’ in hand. “Excuse me, are you Young Prince Dimitri?” Chrom asked, as he held up the pants in his hand. “I was given these pants earlier. Apparently some people in other nations call them ‘ass sweaters’? Would you like this pair? I’ve no need, personally…”

Chrom held the pants, letting out a light chuckle as he had. Maybe he would appreciate them.

He would have to enter the party eventually.

Dimitri knew that, but every time he looked back at the lights and the festivities, to hear the voices of the crowd rise over the ambient crash of waves, it felt further and further away. Taking a breath, the young prince pressed his palms against the counter, and steeled himself.

...Maybe five more minutes.

...Everyone was already having so much fun.

The call of his name set his shoulders to stiffen, and Dimitri straightened. He would never to a stranger indicate his frustration that he could not shed the prefix young prince - in spite of his accomplishments, everything that had scattered behind him, and all that lay before him - but he straightened to his full height to face the stranger nonetheless.

"I - well met - these are - ?" The pants landed in his hands before the stranger even found the time to introduce himself, and Dimitri could not quite place the face, but his attention dragged downward to the unexpected gift, holding them out long before him, as it was the only thing that he could do.

They looked merely like pants - soft cotton, thick, perhaps even warm in the winter, and while Dimitri was thankful of them and would find a use for them...they looked just like pants. "An...ass sweater, are they?"

...Fitting...?

"Apologies - this gift is...appreciated. I don't believe I was able to catch your name, but you have my thanks. I hope you'll take this in exchange - " offering his seashell for the other's dangling starfish. "Are you certain you have no need for an...ass...sweater of your own...?"

Did he really have to call them that every time...?

#in character #toaball2025 #starfish charm 1 #interaction: soulsaligned #dimitri grey sweatpants era

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power-chords · 1 year ago

Text

The English "title" bears traces of various Latin meanings of titulus in interesting ways, not least when the term is employed in connection with literary works.

The Oxford English Dictionary tells us that the Lindisfarne Gospel employs titulus to signify the words on the board placed above the crucified Jesus. The King James translation of the New Testament renders the word in John as "title." In Matthew it is "accusation," in Luke "superscription," in Mark "superscription of his accusation." Later translators have supplied "sign," "charge," or simply "inscription" or the synecdochic "sign board."

These translations provide us with a number, but not by any means all, of the historical usages of the English word "title." Among the many of these are: an inscription placed above an object, giving its name or describing it; sometimes a placard hung in a theater giving the name of a piece; an inscribed pillar, column, tombstone, or the like; the descriptive heading of each section or subdivision of a book; the formal heading of a legal document; a document, a letter, a writing (all obsolete); the name of a book, poem, or other composition; an inscription at the beginning of a book describing or indicating its subject, contents, or nature, and usually also giving the name of the author, compiler, editor, publisher, and the place and date of publication; title-page; the designation of a picture or statue; in bookbinding, the label or panel on the back of a book; a descriptive or distinctive appellation; a name, denomination, or style; an appellation attaching to an individual or family in virtue of rank, function, office, or attainment, or the possession of or association with certain lands; an appellation of honor pertaining to a person of high rank; that which justifies or substantiates a claim; an alleged or recognized right; a specifically legal right to the possession of property; the evidence of such right; a title deed.

To "entitle" has been to furnish a literary work or part of a work with a heading; to inscribe; to dedicate to someone; to prefix the name of an author to; to bestow to a person a certain title; to furnish with title to an estate; to invest with an office; to qualify; to assign possession of.

[...]

[John Fisher's] thesis is as follows:

While titles are names, they are a good deal more than just names. They are not necessarily descriptions, although they can contain descriptive elements. They are names for a purpose, not merely for the purpose of identification and designation, in spite of the important practical role which indexical names play in the designative process. The unique purpose of titling is hermeneutical; titles are names which function as guides to interpretation.

—Hazard Adams, "Titles, Titling, and Entitlement to," The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Autumn, 1987)

#heat 2 midrash #paratexts

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everybody-loves-purdy · 1 year ago

Note

My warrior cats cultural headcanons:

THUNDERCLAN:

• If a storm happens during the last few moons of a cat’s apprenticeship, they must do a storm hunt. Inspired by their Clan’s name, the cat must be able to catch at least three pieces of prey during severe thunder, wind, rain, and lightning. Completing this successfully shows they’re of Thunderstar’s blood, and allows them to potentially be made warriors early. The only ThunderClan-born cat who has completed this trial was Tigerstar.

• Warrior name prefixes such as Rain, Cloud, Storm, Lightning, etc, and suffixes such as -storm and -cloud were popular during ThunderClan’s early years. After the deaths of Thunderstar and Lightning Tail, his descendants wanted to be as close as they could to their Clan’s founding leader. The tradition began with Thunderstar’s grandchildren through Lightning Stripe.

• Cats with ginger pelts were seen as a good omen, and considered the kin of Thunderstar and Violet Dawn themselves. Part of Bluestar’s reasoning for believing the fire that’d save ThunderClan was Rusty was because of his vibrant ginger pelt. Brown pelts were also an attractive phenotype.

• Green eyes is a common phenotype seen in ThunderClan cats. It’s rumored that the green eyes came from Thunderstar’s mother, Storm, and that the green symbolized ThunderClan’s relationship with the forest around them. The more vibrant shade of green a cat’s eyes were, the more “connected” they were to the environment around them.

• Tree-hopping is a sport derived from SkyClan customs that seeped into ThunderClan via Cloudstar’s family. ThunderClan cats were expected to be proficient tree climbers from an early age, but the ability to move nimbly from tree to tree was something that only came with experience and expert balance. Thus, a cat who suffered an injury to their tail often were met with shame due to their inability to balance properly. (i.e. Halftail/Sparrowpelt)

• Kits born during thunderstorms were expected to be brilliant future leaders or cursed traitors; a double-edged sword of sorts. The Clan’s medicine cat would often be the ones to determine which of the two storm-born kits would become.

SHADOWCLAN:

• Stealth and cunning are such key values of the ShadowClan warrior that cats would be chosen for patrols strictly based on their pelt color. Naturally, dark colors such as brown, dark gray, and black were favored heavily, with extra points if those pelts were patterned. It would be warriors with those colored pelts who were most chosen for battle patrols and hunting parties. It was really only in leaf-bare that cats with light gray or white pelts would be selected for hunting and battle patrols, due to them blending in with the snow.

• Because pine trees never lose their leaves as oak trees do, it is customary for a ShadowClan cat’s nest to be woven with pine needles. The scent of pine is intense, yet attractive, and in spite of ShadowClan’s sour reputation, they take pride in their environment.

• Name prefixes such as Raven, Shade, Black, Night, Dusk, and Dark are wildly popular, while -shade, -claw, -tooth, and -fang are also popular.

• Kits begin undergoing training by their parents before the age of 6 moons. It isn’t an official apprenticeship, so they aren’t violating the warrior code. Parents take their kits into the forest in the dead of night, training them to navigate the dark with minimal assistance. Hardening them to the starling rustle of prey of the hoo of a nearby owl. They’d need to learn to become one with the shadows if they were to be successful warriors.

• When Brokenstar became leader, these traditions temporarily died out when elders were exiled, though Ashfur and Nightpelt re-introduced them into ShadowClan before their deaths. Tigerstar found these traditions strange, but allowed his Clanmates to practice them nonetheless.

• There’s a game kits and young apprentices play called the shadow game. Basically, the cat must stay in a shadow of their choice for hours at a time as the sun moves across the sky. When the sun goes on, the cat wins if they’ve loyally followed their chosen shadow throughout the day.

WINDCLAN:

• Tunneling was such a large part of an exclusively-WindClan custom that the Clan lost a large part of it’s identity. Heatherstar was resented among the former tunnelers, while she was held in high regard by the former moor-runners. Tallstar introduced moor racing, which was something that was short-lived. As indicated, cats would race each other across WindClan’s territory. Whoever won these races were given the fattest rabbit for their meal that day.

• Since WindClan’s territories both in the forest and beside the lake lacked many trees, WindClan cats would use dense grasses to build their nests, along with the occasional flower. When WindClan cats moved to the lake territories, they were greeted with a large flower field on the edge of their territory. Cats looking to decorate their nests or flatter a potential mate would often pick flowers from this field. The quality of the flowers were very important.

• If a WindClan cat accepted a flower from a potential mate, it would be considered as confirmation of their relationship, and sometimes, one of their kits would be named after a flower. However, it was obvious when flower-picking wasn’t done with the purest intentions. When Crowfeather returned to WindClan after his attempted escape with Leafpool, he hastily picked flowers to impress Nightcloud. By the time he returned to camp, the flowers were beginning to darken in color, their leaves curling and the petals wilting.

• Kits were given names that would show off their speed. Breezekit, Rabbitkit, Harekit, and Windkit were popular names, though cats tended to shy away from Windkit out of respect for Windstar’s memory. Suffixes such as -flight and -flower remain popular for WindClan warriors.

• Although ThunderClan and ShadowClan are typically hailed as the strongest Clans, WindClan cats take pride in how they’ve overcome so much as a Clan. How they returned after Brokenstar’s Clan drove them out. How they became one once more after Mudclaw and Onewhisker’s struggle for leadership led to a fracture.

• An old queen’s tale said that a pregnant queen should spend a large portion of her day outside during a particularly windy day, since the wind was rumored to make her kits stronger and faster. When Palesky became pregnant with Woollytail’s kits, she wanted to ensure her litter was strong and healthy, wanting to avoid what happened to Finchkit.

RIVERCLAN:

• RiverClan cats are said to be among the most beautiful. Silver and gray tabby fur is held in high regard, as the colors mimicked many aspects of RiverClan’s territory. Even though RiverClan and ThunderClan were natural enemies due to their repeated clashes over Sunningrocks, it’s rumored that Whitestorm fell in love with one as a young cat, though nothing came of this.

• Mistkit, Streamkit, Splashkit, Cloudkit, etc are popular names, with -splash and -stream being among the most popular suffixes for RiverClan cats. One thing that RiverClan share in common with ThunderClan is the belief that kits born during a storm have the ability to become the Clan’s next leaders. The only difference in RiverClan is that there’s no suspicion storm-born kits hold any innate evilness in their souls. Kits like Stormkit and Oakkit were held in high regard for being born during a storm, and for being the sons of the Clan’s deputy. Even after Stormkit’s injury left him disabled and with Crookedkit as a new name, many cats refused to lose faith in him (though they were far more confident with Oakheart)

• “Drypaws” weren’t just teased, but they were often forced to swim against their will. This practice ended when Leopardstar assumed leadership, having been a former drypaw herself. She wanted RiverClan-born drypaws to be able to explore the river in their own way without being forced to acclimate to it.

• Part of the reason why RiverClan cats were seen as beautiful was because they often adorned their pelts with shells. Shell adornment was easier for cats with thicker or longer fur. RiverClan cats rarely hunted land prey, and were thus expected to never adorn their shoulders, legs, and paws with shells so that the sound of shells clacking together wouldn’t frighten their prey.

• A RiverClan cat’s nest reflected their status. Senior warriors, deputies, and leader’s nests would be laid with the softest moss on it’s inferior, while shells of various sizes, shapes, and colors were woven into the nest’s exterior. Young warriors had some shells, but not too many. Where there wasn’t enough moss, they settled for swan or heron feathers. The nests of queens and elders were more focused on warmth, so while their nests lacked the opalescence of many of their Clanmates’, their nests were lined with a mixture of dense moss and feathers.

• Swimming in raging waters was never one of RiverClan’s customs, as cats from other Clans believed. Instead, cats hunt pikes and magpies as an (optional) rite of passage. Many cats avoid it due to the pike’s power and the magpie’s reputation for their ruthless assaults.

SKYCLAN:

• In ancient SkyClan times, cats believed themselves to be superior to ThunderClan cats, since SkyClan’s founder was the father of ThunderClan’s founder. This sentiment ran deep with Skystar’s SkyClan descendants.

• Unlike in the other Clans, there was no preference to pelt color. Regardless, SkyClan cats were expected to be at home in the trees in their territory. However, SkyClan names were commonly named after weather elements, birds, and trees. At a point, Oakkit and Cloudkit were the most popular kit names. The suffix -leap was the most popular in terms of warrior names.

• SkyClan cats were identified by their muscular haunches and narrow tails. A SkyClan cat’s tail served as their pride and joy; if the tail was maimed or amputated, they could no longer safely climb trees and hunt above ground.

• Feathers were a large part of SkyClan’s relationship with decoration. Every cat had some sort of feather to adorn their pelts or their nests. Because of this, SkyClan relied more heavily on birds than other land or tree prey.

• SkyClan cats believed themselves to share the same spirits as birds, and killing one for any purpose unrelated to food was strictly forbidden and seen as an act of disrespect towards StarClan itself.

• SkyClan medicine cats often skipped visits to the Moonstone, choosing to convene with their ancestors by climbing to the top of a high tree, finding a reliable branch that could support their weight, and meditated. The idea of going beneath ground both terrified and disgusted SkyClan cats. Because of this, half-moon meetings only contained ThunderClan, WindClan, RiverClan, and ShadowClan medicine cats. Any new SkyClan medicine cat apprentice would have to wait until the next Gathering. This practice died out when SkyClan was rebuilt & they reunited with the other four Clans by the lake.

• SkyClan warriors were taught mimicry, a skill kept secret from the other four Clans. From a young age, part of a SkyClan cat’s training was to sit and listen to a specific species of bird, learning how to mimic its calls. Before they were exiled from the forest territories, SkyClan warriors would make bird sounds from the trees to mask their presence before dropping onto unexpected trespassers and enemies. Although this practice was discontinued during SkyClan’s exile, it was brought back thanks to a joint effort from Sparrowpelt and Cherrytail.

These are all excellent, I love them so much!

#acornflower #headcanon

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fckindumbboy-coins · 1 year ago

Text

Requests are always open!!!

Block don't report

No DNI, I block freely

My tags:

fckindumbboy - anything I post

boybarx - any time I talk

boycoins - anything I coin/any flags I make

boyIDs - my personal IDs

Things that I will coin/make flags for:

Most any transID/transX (including harmed/harmfuls and possibly controversial terms!)

Orientations and genders

Paras, kinks, fetishes, and the like

MUDs

Blankqueer labels

Alt flags for terms that are already coined (if you would like me to do this, it would be highly appreciated if you could link me to or give me the OG post/term/flag, especially so I can give credit to the original coiner!!! If you can't, I'll still do it, its just a preference!)

Things I won't coin/make flags for:

Transcharacter

Probably most things that are fandom/media based as I don't have much knowledge about them

**Please note that I have the right to refuse any request for any reason!**

Types of transIDs I will coin (nonexhaustive, but some examples):

AmorID (prefix Amor-)

An umbrella term for those whose transID is affected by someone that one shares a deep bond with.

ChosenID (prefix Chosen- or Choice-)

Identities used due to voluntary choice, for any reason.

CistransID (prefix CisTrans- or Tris-)

A term for those who are both cis- and trans- something.

CompID (prefix Comp-)

A term for those who have been compelled into identifying as a certain identity. This is meant to be a less intense version of forcedID.

DesireTransID (prefix DesireTrans- or Desire-)

An umbrella term for those who are transID out of a desire to be said identity.

ForcedID (prefix Forced- or Force-)

A term for those who have been forced into a certain identity.

FormerID (prefix Former-)

An umbrella term for those who used to cisID, but due to certain circumstances, they are now transID.

PraeTransID (prefix PraeTrans- or Cis-T-)

A term for those who are technically trans- something, but feel as though they are or choose to identify as cis- something.

PreID (prefix Pre-)

A term for those who used to be a certain transID and are now unintentionally, but technically cisID. It should be noted that preID does not apply to those who intentionally transitioned.

PsycheID (prefix Psyche-)

A term for those who feel like or want to be a certain identity for reasons that are purely psychological or spiritual.

RegrID (Prefix Regr- or Regre-)

A term for those who only feel a certain transID of theirs when they are age regressed.

SpiteID (prefix Spite-)

A term for those who identify with a term out of spite, in spite of controversy, and/or those whose identity is related to spite in some other way.

Transslash (prefix Transslash-)

A term for those who feel as though they are in the middle of being cis- and trans- something.

TranstransID (prefix Transtrans-)

An umbrella term for those who feel as though they should identify with certain transID labels or want to identify with certain transID labels, but don't for whatever reason.

Extras

I love giving tips, advice, and ideas for transitioning!

I'm always around to answer questions and stuff as best I can

The stuff I've listed is not exhaustive! If you have other ideas, lemme know, and I'll see if I can do them!

Please remember that just because I coin a term or create a flag or give advice on something, it does not mean that I, personally, am for or against ANYTHING

#fckindumbboy #boybarx #boycoins #boyIDs

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lilystargazerwhite · 1 year ago

Text

Reference for my second antagonist— in the sense of an A B kinda route:

Name: Lollo (ローロ)

Species: Antithesis ( a thought given form out of spite)

Ability: ability to create Antis (Ability to make Antis to the extent that they make Antis.)

Location: Antiworld

Theme: (not at all finished just something I threw together) Einstein’s blackhole~Academic War declaration¡¡ (アインシュタインのブラックホール～Academic War Declaration¡¡

Her ability concerns making things opposite— making red blue, men women, cats dogs— all that shit. You remember in Skylanders they’d make you fight the shadow version of the Skylander? She does that too.

Lollo is the antithesis of a human scientist long passed, quite litterally the anti of his thesis. Unlike Angelinia, who believes humans are to be protected and sheltered excessively, Lollo believes they don’t deserve to know anything beyond themselves. Both subjecting earth to a sort of Intellectual neglect in opposite directions. She’s much more crass and tactless, but graceful. As seen, she has ballet shoes and a Halo brace screwed into her head. Her main weapon is that of Yo-yos, which can basically mirror something and create its opposite. The most effective weapon to use against Lollo is her own apathy. She views nothing as worth the time the moment it put ups resistance. She half asses everything.

Another funny quirk of her is she speaks with a Flat effect, and any word containing the prefix “Anti or Ant” she will over pronunce. So Antithesis she would say Anti-thesis or Antagonist would he Ant-agonist. I just find her funny like that.

I actually have a page of her main inspirations, which the most major is Antiworld by Nina Hagen

Insane . Funny thing. I also just like her fuck ass bob

#touhou #touhou project #touhou oc #reference #Lollo #touhou style music #ZUN style #touhou fanart #Spotify

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mathcat7 · 1 year ago

Text

The Great Games I Played* this Year

*to completion or near completion. Sorry TWEWY, Signalis, etc.

2023 was a very divisive year for gaming, full of really incredible titles while also showing some of the industry and culture's lowest lows in overhyped deliveries, mass layoffs, and an award show doing its damnedest to spite the developers who made the show what it was in the first place.

For me personally, I did enjoy the games that released this year that I had the chance to play, but the majority of my time gaming this year was spent catching up on backlogged titles, or diving into recommendations my friends had for me. I'm just not a hype person, generally speaking. However, I've been wanting to discuss what I've played at length—so many incredible experiences and unique mechanics. Even putting together this list I'm in awe of how many new games I've gotten to play. So, let's get started, in order of when I first played them.

Path of the Midnight Sun Studio Daimon

Now, this game sits in a very interesting place in my mental landscape. Just 6 months before it's early January release, Path of the Midnight Sun was only a romhack of a GBA Fire Emblem title in my head. Sure, one of the greats of the early FE romhacking scenes, but nothing more. It was quite the surprise to me to hear in late fall 2022 that it was a standalone title, with full voice acting and an RPG battle system without the prefixed S- it had originally started with.

I was a bit wary about playing it, especially after being burned by a similar SRPG with romhacking roots, but once I got into the thick of things it was quite the charming little game. Biggest props goes to game's artistry, with a masterful use of Live2D. The designs of Studio Daimon's Nene Kantoku combined with Iron Vertex's animators are an incredible duo, making Ornieres and crew all the more pleasant to watch interact with one another.

For gameplay, PotMS seems pretty standard-fare for RPGs when you start out. Probably the best comparison I could give are the older SMTs, the ones with front-line/back-line parties. But then you unlock access to Ornieres' Manastone, and the game just opens the hell up. Battles become a management of mana and time, as the more mana you can accrue, the more you can grow your party's skillset, but you can't stall battles to farm because turns spent in battle burn the clock for chapters, and time wasted will bite you for objectives. It's also worth noting that every other character starts battle with no MP and will instead generate it over time. The ways this game experiments with such a normally taken for granted staple of the genre is really cool, and something I'd want to see happen elsewhere.

For writing, the game's biggest strength is in its characters. Between Ornieres' struggles with his sudden amnesia and visions of atrocities committed, and Faratras being alienated from her homeland and branded the second-coming of the Demon King, the game is really good at exploring their psyches: fears, wishes, hopes, even romantic inclinations. These are all characters I would enjoy sitting with for a dinner (or a bar brawl, in Cristoph's case).

Though speaking of supports, the game ditching the Fire Emblem pretense of "Character who will only be relevant for one chapter/section and becomes army fodder afterward" by turning said characters into passive bonuses with the occasional attack is somewhat a double-edged sword in my opinion. While this does mean that Ornieres, Faratras and their closest allies get the maximum attention they deserve, I find myself struggling to even remember the faces of anyone else that joined them, with like exceptions to the pervert grandpa/son combo and the male pegasus knight who did actually have a bit more plot relevance than most of the fodder if memory serves. Bit of a shame.

Beyond that, this game was a really strong start to my year. I'm a bit sad that the game's following seems to mostly be from its romhack days, because I do really think it stands well on its own merits now. A recommendation for anyone looking for a visual novel with a little extra going on.

Fire Emblem Engage Intelligent Systems

From one of the strangest pre-release cycles where the main character's design was leaked months in advance, to splitting a fandom now inflated with people who have only played the two prior releases, Fire Emblem Engage is nothing if not an iconic anniversary game. I was certainly excited in the prerelease cycle, tuning in regularly on the official Fire Emblem socials dripfeeding info on the . But did it live up to my expectations? Yes. Oh my gods.

Mechanically speaking, the game is sick. The twist on the standard FE gameplay this time around are the emblem rings, which when equipped give the wielder bonuses that are callback to previous titles' own gimmicks (well, when they're not forced to make stuff up in the case of Lyn for example.) And like, the sway of power this gives makes the strategy element of Engage just so, so fun. Chapters become this multi-level analysis of when it's good to utilize the power boosts of engages, who should get which ring/bracelet for which chapter... In my first time playing an FE's maddening mode (or series' equivalents), the juggling of these ideas and theorycrafting for builds really made me get into the game's guts.

Writing wise, it's probably the most emotionally resonant Fire Emblem I've ever played. Alear's character arc as she grows into the divine dragon they wanted and meant to be was so incredibly sweet, and combined with a lot of the chosen family elements woven into Alear's interactions with their allies, and those allies with each other, makes for probably the most thematically queer FE since the Tellius duology. It's a big reason they've risen to be one of my favorites if not the favorite lord in the series.

These two elements, among other goods, made Engage my Game of the Year for this year, and honestly really revitalized my love for the series. I started writing fanworks for FE Fates again. It made me want to shift my video focus away from FGC funnies to covering the series, and if not for the shackles of working full-time, I'd probably be doing some longform, Chuggaconroy-esque in-depth walkthrough of The Sacred Stones right now. That's how much it means to me. Alear Fireemblem you will always be famous.

(There should not be any more mentions of Fire Emblem from this point, I promise.)

Needy Streamer Overload xemono - WSS Playground

This management sim, if I can call it that, was quite the surprise to me. Playing it was just out of curiosity from one of my friends posting art of the main character Ame-chan. Her design is not particularly unique in of itself, but its a fun fashion fit that I'd maybe try someday, and the brooding red and blacks bear a striking contrast to the bright and pastel colors that make up her internet persona, OMGkawaiiAngel-chan (or Kangel, for short).

Your role as "P-chan" is to be Ame's manager as she becomes a professional content creator in the next month with (hopefully) a million subscribers, but the nature of your relationship with her is dangerously blurred from the start. You are also her confidant, her closest friend (with benefits), her one and only stream moderator, any many other "her"s. She's dependent on you to help her to an extreme, and there's little you can do to improve upon that.

I don't know what to say about the game itself, a lot of what I got from it feels too personal to share in these writings. What I can promise, however, is there's a lot Needy Streamer Overload has to say on the nature of being an online influencer, how the job warps relationships with other people, the way the job goads forgoing mental health and ignoring moral and ethical boundaries. Ame is an extremely driven and passionate creator, but also vulnerable, isolated, under-medicated. Doing consistent back-to-back streams grows her audience faster, but eventually Ame will either end up unloved, overstressed, or just plain out of unique content if you only dedicate her to the grind. Medication can help bridge the gaps sometimes, but often doing so gets in the way of her performing her best on streams, or even at all due to their soporific side effects. And seeking new ideas for streams can take you to some places: Jonesian conspiracism, chan boards, beach ball camgirl sponsorships. The road to a million followers is one of grays.

And while I am aware I haven't seen the game's true ending yet, I thought it was fascinating that the endings I did see always ended in disasters or tragedy, even in mundane circumstances. I won't get into detail here on account of the graphic nature of some of them, but I got the message from it that trying to center yourself in her woes is mortal folly. Try to be a good friend, don't try to be a savior.

You should probably be in the right headspace mentally to play this, but barring that this is a recommendation for anyone whose been terminally online, or just collectively likes mentally ill women.

Cassette Beasts Studio Bytten

Now this here would be my second pick for Game of the Year, and the top spot for Indie Game of the Year. A really well put together monster collector that does a lot more to distinguish itself from it's most popular contemporary in Pokémon.

I don't want to compare it too much to that series, this game stands very well without that, but I grew up with Pokémon and I think there's a Cassette Beasts does differently from it that I love. Take the game's typing chart for example: rather than a simple multiplicative power boost/drop interaction, this one is a lot more focused on the long-game, as striking different types generates chemical reactions that induce status buffs/debuffs/effects based on the reaction. Key battles can't just be simply brute forced or brick walled, you'll end up losing the ability to use AoEs or give the enemy a free substitute-like wall or just get plain frozen. Some interactions even change your type temporarily. I could also point to this game's takes on shinies, called bootlegs. Bootlegs are not simply palette changes, but also change the monser's typing and movepool. And a bootleg can be of any type in the game, even the same type as what is native to that monster. Granted, tying gameplay changes to what would normally just be a cosmetic nicety can be precarious, but for me it just adds to the fun of hunting bootlegs across New Wirral, seeing how a monster performs differently in battle when taken out of their natural state.

I'd also be remiss not to mention one big departure from most monster collectors: you don't collect the monsters themselves, but rather record copies of them with a peculiar cassette tape set, which also serves as the vectors for you and your party to take the form of those monsters. It's just a very conceptually cool idea, and I love that the game even toys around with the implications of it sometimes, like how party member Kayleigh will weigh about the sugar rush that becoming a Candevil gave her. The game's larger story is relatively small scale, but I like the push and pull the monsters and archangels of New Wirral have in relation to man-made concepts and humanity. (Much like another game on this list, more on that later.)

The game's music is also incredible. From the homely feelings of Wherever We are Now to the upbeat yet tense Like Chimeras, the game's soundtrack and score, done by Joel Baylis, is certainly punching above its weight. Dynamic music isn't particularly novel, but I love the impact Shelby Harvey's vocals give to the battle themes are whenever you and your active partner fuse (Yes, there's fusion! Every monster is capable of it!) Even if you're not out to play the game itself (and I wholeheartedly recommend you should), the soundtrack itself is worth it alone!

(Addendum: while the game has only had a couch co-op option at the time of writing, Studio Bytten has a true multiplayer function currently in the works, and planned for early next year, so another potential bonus insofar as a recommendation.)

Crosscode Radical Fish Games

I've never been able to get into MMOs. The grind and dedication to playing one over a long amount of time has never been for me, and even with MMO-lites, I would quickly grow tired/bored before the good stuff and move on. But it did intrigue me when one of my pals described this game as a single player MMO.

Crosscode is more akin to an action RPG that uses the MMO genre as its backdrop; it's a game about playing a video game in many aspects. We follow Lea, an amnesiac nonverbal player avatar, whose time in the MMO Crossworlds is supposed to serve as some form of therapy while she regains her memories. Note that I did say nonverbal rather than silent; Lea's ability to speak is greatly impaired, only able to say simple words that were hacked in for her by Sergey, the man watching over her therapy. The game goes to great lengths to show this limiting in communication; NPCs don't care but Lea often has to play charades or do careful usage of her few words to get her points across, and sometimes there are misunderstandings. This was really something neat to see for me, someone with poor communication skills at times. Lea's amnesia also plays an interesting role in this. Sergey explains to her at first that Lea's real life counterpart is in a coma, so her experiences and memories made from that point onward are just of CrossWorlds. Everyone she interacts with has another life to return to, even the people whose job is only to develop and manage the software, so her life is oftentimes dictated on whoever is online at that very moment, or otherwise in pure solitude. It's a very interesting lens to view the world in, one where you're online presence truly is the only thing other people can see you from. And once the game reveals the "truth" behind Lea's coma, I think it also has some very interesting philosophical openers as to meaning of such an existence.

Also the gameplay elements are really neat in this. At first, combat is pretty run-of-the-mill melee and ranged combat in a top-down perspective. But then you reach the first temple and gain access to using fire, and the games complexities start to open up! Then you have this mix of resource and threat management. And that feeling just amplifies as your get the other three damage types in the following dungeons. Element matching with your enemies are the best way to mitigate damage, but attacking opposite is oftentimes the best way to maximize damage. Or it can even be a puzzle at times!

Speaking of, I think one of the game's best elements is the puzzle design in the temples and related dungeons. They serve as a great primer for understanding the different types, and how they interact with parts of the world, and with enemies. They are as much tools as they are weaponry. I would complain a little bit that the time sensitive puzzles get a bit too complicated at times for me to perfectly follow, but the inclusion of speed sliders for those puzzles is a nice addition that I don't often see utilized elsewhere.

Some short props should also being given for the atmosphere, CrossWorlds feels particularly well lived-in by its players, especially in its quest design. A newbie player who managed to keep failing upwards by getting bailed out by endgame tier veterans? A glitch hunter leading you to cut content and a boss that flunked out of playtesting? Apollo, the sworn rival and nemesis to Lea who keeps reading her every action as a challenge? These feel analogous to people and personalities I've seen abroad during my many years gaming (and even I've ended up the former in one scenario or another), and I think speaks well to the writing team's own social experiences.

Really solid game all in-all. If you're not into anything turn based, or are just an enthusiast of MMOs, this should be up your alley.

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga Atlus

"Big fan of x excited to play the game for the first time"

For the past few years, the DDS duology was something I admired from afar. From the really cool, sharp designs of the demonic Atma Avatars, to being the only press turn SMT with a traditional RPG party, to Jim Reaper's still unfinished low level run of the second game: there was a lot I was interested in about the game but was something I was weirdly reluctant to find out about playing for myself.

That was, until I found out that this game isn't one of the "beloved so much that physical copies are impossible to find." There are just resellers who have the duology still factory sealed, so I went and ordered one, and played them on my PS2 slim.

The games captivated me with the way they wrestle with the ideas of what it means to be human and the nature of that struggle. In DDS1, the Embryon going from cold and unfeeling individual to a group of passionate, thoughtful, eccentric, and even selfish personalities, the essence of humanity, juxtaposed with their very demonic forms in the atma avatars and their being driven to devour the other inhabitants of the junkyard, is incredibly compelling. And DDS2 drives this further when the Embryon's struggle for survival in the real world is placed at odds at humans who would devour each other for leisure and power. I gasped the first time I heard Hunting - Betrayal play in-game, having seen the full context surrounding the theme. Just on the story alone, these games quickly rose to one of my favorite games of all time. And this isn't even getting into the music, the designs, or the atmosphere either, I could keep going on!

If you want a retro suggestion, I cannot recommend this duology enough!

(As an aside, Cielo has got to be one of the characters of all time as well. Being the grandchild of Jamaican immigrants, I've really got to wonder what Atlus was cooking with this stereotypical Patois accent and dreadlocks on this pasty motherfucker. Made me laugh whenever he spoke in scenes, at least.)

Can't Live Without Electricity MELOVITY

I hate puzzle games. (affectionate)

I first found out about Can't Live Without Electricity through one of the YouTube channels I watch, Aliensrock. Puzzle gaming is his wheelhouse, and while it's not normally my genre of choice, the aesthetics of CLwoE combined with its concept were enough to win me over to try for myself.

This game centers around connecting homes to power plants with a steadily increasing limit of wires and other utility structures, and the goal is to connect enough homes as long as possible through the level, to the point the level doesn't have empty plots to use. Reorganizing and optimization are the name of the game here, as you're not always going to have plentiful wires, or run out of hammers to teraform the rougher terrain tiles scattered about. The game penalizes you on score for finishing a level using its two "cheat" tools in generators and jumpers, but there's no penalty for using them intermittently. So then the management also becomes strategic; setting a generator on a house while you try and fish for more resources to eventually connect it to the network naturally. Having to rework the entire grid because a house got placed in a very inopportune location can be quite frustrating, only for that feeling to be replaced with catharsis the moment everything comes together.

The game's square grid levels were a fun challenge, but I can't really say the same for the hex grids. The first level was an absolute filter to me; despite the big difference in the functionality of wiring ranges, the game leaves you with about the same strict economy of resources as the last square grid levels.

So yeah, my singular puzzle recommendation! And hey, while you're at it, did you know the game has Steam Workshop support, and that you can play a custom level I designed?

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore Atlus - Intelligent Systems

HA I LIED! FE NUMERO UNO!

Jokes aside, the revitalization effect Engage had on me combined with some recommendations by friends eventually led me to playing TMS#FE, the unholy marriage of Atlus's Shin Megami Tensei's battle design with Fire Emblem's characters from Mystery of the Emblem and Awakening. It was time I finally learned something about this title that wasn't the infamous "vagina bones" tweet.

My thoughts on the game's writing can really be boiled down to "Tsubasa should've been the Point of View main character instead of Itsuki". TMS's story is a great coming-of-age story for her and the rest of Fortuna Entertainment's stars. The Mirage incidents serve more as a backdrop for the group to learn and grow as performers, individuals, and as a team. It's really good, a lot better than most people give it credit for.

So, why is Itsuki the one we have to follow throughout?

Despite him not being the bog standard blank-of-slate mute-of-voice "Atlus Protagonist™" on account of having actual voiced dialogue, Itsuki Aoi ends up reading just as blandly as the worst of them. The main deal about him is that he doesn't have any strong aspirations, unlike his friends. He's just a guy. This isn't a bad thing in of itself, but it becomes a problem when, as a character, Itsuki doesn't really meaningfully grow; he's the same character you started with at the beginning the game except he's made a few new friends and somehow managed to do the not-a-harem troupe in the meanwhile. Meanwhile Tsubasa over here manages to find and rescue her sister, surpass her legacy, stand on equal ground with her biggest inspiration and role model in Kiria Kurono, and by the end of the game become a multi-talented star idol. There's so much to her and the rest of Fortuna, so Itsuki ends up by comparison being quite the sore spot for me.

Moving over to the gameplay, TMS is a bit more of a standout to me compared to other Atlus rpgs I've played. Whereas modern SMT and Persona tend to have their weakness-exploit battle systems result in huge snowballs by granting extra actions, TMS instead opts for sessions, where allies will automatically follow-up with additional attacks when a weakness is struck. This in turn results in a much more standard action economy while also still granting decent rewards for playing well and optimizing who chains what attack. Heck, even if you're not in for the mechanically deep stuff, sometimes its just fun to see everyone wail on a guy upwards of 30 times. Much as I love stuff like press turns, I think TMS was a good sign that Atlus could be trying more things with their games' battle systems. The one thing I'd say SMT/Persona's turn systems are significantly better about is momentum when it comes to character deaths in battle. Since turn order in TMS is determined when the turn starts, if someone's dead when that turn starts, they'll be skipped even when revived, and given all fights only have 3 active party members at a time, it is incredibly easy for a fight to spiral out of control because of a critical hit or session. But that's just my one nitpick; everything else about the system is pretty solid.

Oh, and the music! The music in TMS is really good. Reincarnation is great, but everyone loves that—I even remember catching bits and pieces of it as openers to some YouTube videos. My personal favorite is Dream☆Catcher, the song is much more my vibe, and the accompanying animation and outfits for Tsubasa and Eleanora are probably my favorites of the bunch. But also who can forget getting full vocals for the Fire Emblem Theme?

Tokyo Mirage Sessions is pretty neat. Give it a go if you're looking for the more esoteric Fire Emblem stuff. But don't say I didn't warn you about Aoi.

Kirby Star Allies HAL Laboratory

I've been really slow to play the Kirby games released for the switch, and I really could not tell you why despite my love for the series. That being said, I had a chance to play this alongside my lovely (currently) long-distance partner during one of our visits together.

It was a very pleasant co-op experience, doubly so given that I'd not been able to play Kirby with someone since the days of SSU. Solving puzzles and tacking fights together in something low-stakes; it's simple pleasant fun. Plus, seeing as I was playing this in the aftermath of all the update content, playing with the dream friends was also quite nice, if just for that nostalgia factor of seeing old enemies and allies with their movesets and attacks adapted to a new title. Another carryover I was quite happy to see was imbuing abilities with elements from other abilities. This was a favorite of mine in Squeak Squad's ability scrolls, so it was really quite nice to not only have that return in some form, but it also be a key part of puzzle segments as well as some fights.

My one major gripe is that the game's main story is saddeningly short. In the collective 6 or so hours we played together we were already well into the final world. Granted, Kirby's modern story modes are typically a breeze, but one segment of the game only being dedicated to Popstar itself was just... weird. Also, the control scheme being centered around the friend systems really messed with my muscle memory. Among other things, I would've preferred something like the x button handling most friend mechanics instead, similar to how it would summon/delete the helper in SSU.

But hey, that's not too big a deal in my opinion. Like I said, I really enjoyed getting to play this with my partner, and I still think it's a solid co-op choice for the time. Really hoping to get to the rest of the switch Kirbys in time.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX Spike Chunsoft

One last case of me being a big fan of a game/series without exploring a key piece of the media at first. Explorers of Time is the game I can thank for being one of the catalysts to me becoming a writer, and I've played every title in the Mystery Dungeon Series... except for Red and Blue Rescue Team. So in the midst of collecting the Xenoblade trilogy to play in the eventual future, I also went and picked this up to see how it would fare with past experiences.

While I don't have a lot to say for this game in general (writing wise, its certainly a lot more straightforward than the explorers' trio, and the world doesn't feel nearly as lived-in by comparison), the game mechanically was quite neat, if only to see the newer mechanics of the 3DS era mystery dungeons brought to an older title. This goes especially for the inclusion of auto-mode, taking out most of the mundanity of basic dungeon navigation. I am a little sad that 3-member parties seems to be what has stuck for the series going forward, but I guess its a small price to pay in comparison to revamping the recruit mechanics to be less brutal and unintuitive. I'd also argue that it was a step backwards to take away the usage of basic attack from the A button in favor of automatically choosing a best move to use, but its another small potatoes issue given how quickly the basic attack gets obsoleted in other titles.

It was also just nice to return to the general concepts of the mystery dungeon. I was a child when I was first introduced to this series, and while a lot has changed since then—the scale and nature of my writing, my gender, my furry tendencies—there's still a lot that's remained the same. Just like in 4th grade, this series has been a lovely testing grounds for creating and developing original characters. The environments of the dungeons, and the simple interactions between the party and the world allow me to make interpretations and conversions that I can carry with me into my own works.

I would still recommend people play the Explorer games first if they're new to this side of Pokémon if we're talking on the story side of things, but this isn't a bad way to start either.

Backpack Hero Jaspel

I'm not sure how to introduce this game. If I speak on pure genre, the closest thing it is, is a deckbuilding roguelike. But there is no deck, just a backpack that holds your weaponry, armor, potions, and managing your inventory is as much a game as the much more typical turn-based, 3-energy-for-actions combat the subgenre is built upon.

I don't think Backpack Hero would've hooked me as much as it did if not for the inventory management. For one, it's a lot harder to fall into the pitfall of bloating your build; your backpack space is limited, and while leveling up lets you expand the size, there's only so much armor and shivs you can carry. You will very often be reorganizing just to optimize your build, or to add a key piece of gear you just received. In a way it's as much of a puzzle game as it is rougelike, and that aspect fascinates me.

I also like how differently 4 of the 5 characters in this game play. Purse the mouse is your standard character, whose main strength is in the flexibility she can expand her backpack in, allowing for versatile builds with very unusually shaped weapons. Satchel the robin has much of his inventory separated into individual pockets, which limits the power of adjacency in exchange for specializing in builds that are distance or line based. He also has a special charm effect with his instruments that allows a more pacifist route of playing. Pochette the porcupine is beast summoner, and her pets even get sub-backpacks of their own! Incredibly cute. And Crate, the robo-mouse, pushes the mechanics to 11 with his unique gimmick of routing the energy into his backpack rather than directly using it, making item positioning especially important. Much as I enjoy the other four characters, I have no praise for the 5th character in the ensemble, Tote the frog. She handles a lot more like a traditional deckbuilder character, using a "deck" of carvings that she places into her backpack over the course of combat. This in my opinion is to her detriment, as it reintroduces draw luck and deck bloating and other less than stellar aspects of the genre (and her having a unique 80 HP compared to the cast's 40 feels particularly illuminating). I hope she sees a rework at some point.

Lastly, I think the game's usage of a story mode is very clever, if only for the fact that most of the quests given to you in the mode are more akin to runs with a pre-established build, or a primer on the more game-changing relics. This is a great way to get players invested in deeper mechanics of the game, or to let them try items they would otherwise have to luck into, and something I hadn't seen done in other deckbuilders I've played. Great addition.

This game is my recommendation for anyone feeling burned out on the deckbuilders and wanting something fresh from the subgenre.

Lethal Company Zeekerss

Last but not least, a game that has taken the multiplayer YouTube scene by storm, this little indie darling in Lethal Company. I'm realizing by typing that now that I haven't added any multiplayer games to this list. With good reason; my friends are usually satisfied playing not-so-new titles with me, your DRGs, your RoRs, even TF2 on a blue moon.

I haven't had enough time with this game, and I tend to get squeamish around playing horror games, but I will say it's been a blast with friends. I've seen uses of proximity chat enhance games before, but its implementation here as a core part of the game's multiplayer and interaction with the various creatures in the game is quite genius. You could be screaming your head off cause you saw a bracken and no one could be even the wiser just from being several rooms away.

Or, for a personal anecdote, one of my friends who is a lot more experienced with the game had rushed into the building immediately. I catch up to find a corpse in the beginning room and I freak out. What the hell happened? I spent the rest of the in-game day awash in paranoia while my other friend investigated. Only to find out in the aftermath that what had killed him was an incredibly unfortunate landmine at the entrance. Honestly, no notes, this game is as ridiculous as it is scary for me.

I hope going into the next year I can have a lot more fun with friends with this title in particular.

Wrap-Up

Gaming's shaped a large part of my life; I've made most of my friends through playing and talking about playing games. I wouldn't be who I am without many of the games I've played. But many of the discussions I have about games up to this point have been behind the closed gardens of Discord servers and DMs. In fact, a large part of most of my ideas and thoughts don't get to leave small places like those. And that discretion has its uses, sure, but it leaves a lot to be desired on the aspect of where I'm coming from as a person.

As I look to the new year, I'm still as determined as ever to make Royals of the Tempest something more than just a few scenes I gush about frequently. But writing a novel takes time, and practice, and reflection on why I write, why I do... anything really. When I play a game recommended to me from a friend, I play it to understand their world better. Likewise, when I'm writing something, I want people to have a look into my world. A fanwork to convey why I like these characters. A review to show you what I look for in a game, and what I took home from experiencing it. A novel as synthesis to everything in my world, and the fractions of worlds I've been able to visit.

I looked back to my 2022 retrospective, one not as focused on gaming, and saw that some my plans for this year had to fall to the wayside, even my writing to a degree. But plans need not be dedicated to one year and one year alone. I'm not finished, but I'm still on the trail. Happy 2024.

#2023

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