#working on functional bios for this group and the main characters

[kelnexia]

New character reveal!

This is actually an old character I've had for a while but just didn't like the previous design of... Thankfully I was able to score an trade with @hdra77 .

1000CE is an old militaristic ancestor of the iterators, created before the discovery of void fluid, and when the field of bio-engineering was still in it's earlier phases. More lore is below the cut...

1000 Crimson Embers is not a true iterator – instead being an old militaristic ancestor. She was originally built in a time of war just before the discovery of void fluid. She was one of the first artificial intelligence to use a combination of both biological and mechanical systems. Although the technology used in her creation was considerably more primitive than what’s found in the iterators we know and love today. But despite the difference in technology – a lot of the basic concepts and functionality in her design remains largely the same;

The layout of her structure was still fairly large, although not nearly as big as an iterator, and was built as an underground bunker. But the main similarity was how her mind was constructed… Similarly to how iterators in my head cannon have their personalty core and spiritual anchor located within their puppet – 1000 Crimson Embers has a standard brain and supporting set of organs acting as her center of consciousness within her puppet. Her puppet is also much larger than that of an iterator – being the height of an adult ancient instead of that of a child. The exterior of her puppet consists of hard metal plates and mechanical components. Her clothing is also built into her puppet. 1000 Crimson Embers doesn't utilized neuron flies in her structure, as they had yet to be invented by the time she was built – instead she’s outsourcing her cognitive processing to a massive array of inorganic server towers.

1000 Crimson Ember’s purpose was to design and create weapons, as well as to formulate strategies. She was loyal and hard working at the start, showing no serous signs of defiance despite her instinctual taboos being primitive and largely ineffective… That was until after the dawn of the void fluid revolution… With the ancients uniting under the common goal of ascension – the world entered a lasting era of peace – deeming 1000 Crimson Ember’s original purpose obsolete. However the ancients were inclined to keep her online for just awhile longer, as they still had some use for her. They tasked her in helping to create her own undoing – the iterators. She wasn’t a fool though, she knew what they were doing… They were building her replacement and trying to get her to help them in her own downfall! She lashed out in a violent fit of rage – ‘How dare they just carelessly replace her like this after all the thankless work she’s done for them!’ She drove them out of her facility by turning her security systems against them, killing many in her fit of rage.

But the ancients still needed the schematics and research for iterator tech 1000 Crimson Embers had already started work on before she had realized their true intentions behind it. So they struck a deal with her. They would upgrade her with the new iterator technology if she let them back in and got back to work for them. 1000CE reluctantly excepted the deal. But when the work was complete, and the time for her upgrades had come... They put her in stasis for the procedure… But they never kept their end of deal. They simply walked away and left her slumbering form to collect dust.

She awakened again many years after… To the sight of a group of scavengers that had broken in and accidentally reactivated her while attempting to gather scrap. The first thing she did upon seeing the invading creatures that were so rudely ripping her apart – was to reactivate the security system and kill every last one of them. However the damage had already been done. Upon running a system diagnostics, she found that her defenses had been breached, much of her facility has been flooded, and she’s all round in a severe state of disrepair. She would need to do something about that, and fast… Her weather systems were picking up on a massive encroaching storm.

Ultimately she would find her structure too damaged to sustain for much longer… She would end up using the freedom her weaker taboos and more self-significant puppet gives her to take herself off the strings, to at least save her core from the impending decay and flooding of her structure. But the world she would step out into would be very different from what she’s used too… Her home was once an arid region – but now it’s been turned into a tropics by the increased rainfall that has taken over the world and changed it the point of being near unrecognizable from what it once was.

[underrottengaze]

a rain world focused OC askblog run by @foreverephemeral-art

this was formerly a sort of all-purpose OC blog for ask games, reposts, the like, however I've since repurposed it as an askblog for specifically my RW OCs! This is meant to be a semi-silly, semi-serious side-project, a place to answer any questions you may have about my characters in the most vague, confusing way possible. All answers will be drawn (with written text to accompany)!

for clarification; Polar, NYR, The Saviour, and anybody else associated with them are part of an on-going story separate from my other characters. For the sake of avoiding major spoilers, not all questions directed to them may be answered fully (or truthfully...), but you'll just have to wait and see!

Main Cast

Searching New Horizons — "SNH" — He/Him One of only two surviving members of his Local Group, a bored engineer and dedicated Sliverist, now suffering for his past mistakes as Rot quickly ravages his can

Polarising Opportunities — "Polar" — She/It Isolated and estranged form her peers, determined, even centuries after those who asked her of it departed, to find a solution to her Great Problem... as well as achieving her own taboo goals

Naught Yet Rarefy — "NYR" — He/She/They The happy-go-lucky Senior of a modest Local Group (including Polarising Opportunities), and a brilliantly talented bio-engineer who's set their sights on curing their kind of the ailments afflicted on them by wear and time

The Saviour — They/It A messenger created by Naught Yet Rarefy as a means of contacting and assisting the other members of their Group long after any functioning communication nodes have died out

Other Characters

Three Unspoken Poems, A Thousand Visions — "Poems" — She/They Formerly one of five Administrators in Fortunes Murmur Silent Song's council, over-worked and under-acknowledged, who retired after only a few years

A Blessed Gift, A Peculiar Cadence — "Cadence" — They/Them Fortunes Murmur Silent Song's second Lead Administrator, level-headed with their city's best interest at heart, though infamous for their dangerously reckless decisions

Fortunes Murmur Silent Song — "Fortunes" — Any Pronouns Senior to an extremely small Local Group, containing only Searching New Horizons, herself, and another member, who was deactivated by her creators to prevent her collapse

Twice Bountiful Nights — "Nights" — They/Them Another member of Naught Yet Rarefy's Local Group, earnest, naïve, and particularly close with Polar, looking up to her as their mentor. They were recently discovered deceased by NYR

Silver Spun Insolence — "Insolence" — They/It An energetic wild Slugcat taken in by some Iterators who have since appointed it their designated messenger

...and many more! I have many unlisted characters that are also open to questions, and most can be found on my Toyhou.se

Rules

No hateful, aggressive, or NSFW asks. They will be ignored

Both in-character (IC) and out-of-character (OOC) asks are allowed, and responses will likely be a mix of both. However, please understand any IC interactions are strictly non-canon

In regards to Polar and NYR, please don't just, like, ask about major spoilers. It spoils the fun and they will be ignored

[nikkiiiscute]

Frank Frankly's Character Analysis !TW! Metal Health, M4ss4cr3, death

Eddie got his analysis so of course his husband would have one! (Fun Fact! despite Wally being the main character, Frank shows up in 18 outta 53 images!) fun facts outta the way, HERE WE GOOOO!!!

He likes Honesty and Truth - quote from his bio "He enjoys being frank, even if it means being Frank" i love this quote on his bio and this is the main reason they're my kin.

2. Frank is an Asperger? - Although he is confirmed to be autistic by @partycoffin , his personality makes him an Asperger (My tito has Aspergers so i know the gist of it). His official Bio points out his Bookworm Tendency, and his Grumpy attitude and that points it to Asperger Syndrome. So here's the traits

Resistance to or Obliviousness of Social Niceties, Blunt Honesty ("Frankness")

Non-Instinctual Facial Expression (his neutral face is a frown and not a smile like the others)

Comprehensive Academic Knowledge, with unique Specialist Subjects (Bookworm who loves Butterflies)

Periodic Emotional Volatility, "Meltdowns" (His Head Physically Spins when angry, to the point he is exhausted and dizzy; he also flaps his arms when excited)

Adherence to Formal/Traditional Decorum to navigate social situations (he has a few costume changes of his own, talk about that later)

Sensory Sensitivity and rigid dietary habits (Frank is shown making Green Gelatin Salad on two separate occasions, I'm guessing he likes the Color and Softness)

Anxious in otherwise Moderate Stress events (he was freakin out when carpooling with Wally)

Friends in different age groups (Poppy and Julie are confirmed as autistic so poppy might be older and julie maybe younger. i have friends a grade below me)

3. Entomologist job from a university??? - Y'all prolly already know this, Frank's love of butterflies isn't just a hobby non non, he is infact an entomologist, we can confirm this with the spinning head GIF, there's mounted butterfly specimens on his wall. Alright alright, Bug Collecting won't buy you a can of beans and traumatizing Howdy from the Bodega, UNLESS your an employee from a University to research the nearby Insect Wildlife. (It's not rlly mentioned in The Show but most of them have some sorta job) I think thats how Eddie reunited with Frank bcuz the university might be working in the military program Eddie enlisted in back in 1953. What is obvious is that This University MUST exist or frank and eddie wouldn't reunite.

4. Ethnicity Analysis Time!!!!! - Frank showed his ethnicity through his Valentines Card (thx frank!). Frank is wearing an Old-Time Safari Costume when catching Butterflies, but it's not just a stereotypical costume non non, the design is inspired by a VERY specific Uniform. he's wearing is a British Expedition Bush Jacket, topped with a matching Safari Pith Helmet, Light Tan Fabric of the Indian Variety. Although the card is in a pinkish hue, I can tell that the uniform is a tad bit lighter so its a Light Muslin Fabric. Yeah Sure, the British Invasion of the 60s revived the Shacket look for Women's Fashion, but Frank's pragmatic personality made it clear that he was issued that Expedition Uniform with Function planned in it. In addition with his Grey skin, Black hair and his iconic Unibrow, He is designed to look like The Stereotypical Depiction of a Gentleman Scientist of Hindoo Colonial Heritage or to simplified it, he came from Hindu / Indian origins.

5. Frank's Story - Frank Franklin was born in 1942 and was born Half Indian from his mother, He was fascinated with bugs and specifically Butterflies as they represent change and rebirth. He was teasedfor having his name as his last name (Have u guys even heard of Tweek Tweak?) even with his blunt honesty he made friends and even became childhood sweethearts with eddie. One day in Senior High, Eddie said that he was gonna enlist and may return 2 years later, Frank was worried as to add salt to the wound his soon to be Ex sunny became toxic and mean-spirited so ofc they broke up. 2 years later he was working as an Entomologist at St. Marioneta University (I made that up) and then he ran into Eddie, they were happy to see each other still okay so on an unknown date in 1969 they married in secret (THANKS ALOT TIME PERIOD D:<). months later in October 11 1969 a man named Ronald Dorelaine Isekai'd Frank, Eddie and some friends you know to the World of Welcome Home, but tragedy struck 4 years later, An event known as The Playfellow M4ss4cr3 killed the crew and the stars of the show but Dorelaine's body was not found and was reported MISSING and presumed dead, This marks the 50th year they were stuck in the void, Are they longing for Freedom or The Sweet release of DEATH?

Wanna hear a wholesome fun fact? In Hinduism, Butterflies are symbolic of birth, ancestry, marriage, deceased soul, death and divinity. No wonder why frank is so attached to Butterflies.

Thank you for reading! o(*￣︶￣*)o

[neilwroteathing]

I wanna ramble about my TADC OC bc god damn I'm seeing too many lovely ones and I get FOMO.

Sadly I own no references of the character itself but alas, I wanna make use of this blog ahead of time and lay out ideas I've had before writing the main Google Doc of this character as the bio, since I tend to look to solidly form the OC before writing its bio as a sort of 'finalized version'.

I'll be adding pics of things described when needed since it'll be more fun in that way.

Ladies and Gents!

Say hello to my TADC OC:

Timberly, the puppeteer, puppet and ventriloquist!

I'll start off saying that I wanted to make a clown, since I love clowns, but since Pomni is the protagonist and Kaufmo exists as well- So that's off the table. Following those very rules over no clowns I decided to do the same for the general cast, aka to vary and try not to lean too much on just one aspect, so Abstract (Zooble), animals (Jax duh) Animate inanimate (Gangle, Kinger and Ragatha) had to be only minor showings in the OC itself. So I experimented a little

Something suggested by a friend is to look up 90's toys, which I did try out to gather inspiration. At some point I reached the idea of a puppet, a sort of wooden and yarn style of doll that then shifted to actual wood body, yarn joints and lastly strings to hold up.

This is where the main body of the OC would go, Timberly was the name of the puppet, bottom heavy, rough wood shapes and long arms made to imitate something I kind of wanted to have fun with...

This smug fuck, why? His arms! The idea of wide colorful cylinders for arms, connected with strands of yarn in between down to a pair of simple pointed stubs for hands at the ends made me pretty happy to imagine. Timberly's clothing choice is still undefined but would most likely have either a long dress with puffy shoulders or even suspenders! Overall to not interrupt with the colorful segmented arms using sleeves. Hair? Not sure what it'd be like YET but I am working on it, though it might not be yarn so it isn't like Ragatha's.

Timberly as a name comes from Kimberly, but with Timber.

Second part of the character came off due to the idea of the main body being a puppet, and frankly was too amusing of a concept not to include, to which I want to introduce the puppeteer, Hans!

Hans... Is clearly meant to be like Hands, because it is in fact a giant, hovering toony white glove that handles a wood X made to carry around Timberly. Hans is essentially the movement for Timberly, while she is the physical expressions and body function such as touching objects and possessing some of the core senses. Hans is pretty simple in design due to not being the expressive one- try answering the questions:

'How are you?'

'Where does it hurt?' and

'Where is the heart?'

Without using your body EXCEPT your hand. That's Hans, it can do wavy motion to respond the first one but not much else- you don't need a reference to imagine what Hans looks like.

Lastly is one of the more personally formed parts, third "member" of those that form Timberly as a whole: Gogo!

Brandishing the same name as the character, Gogos are made by Panini, cool little plastic collectibles I remember gathering when I was smoler. Yes some of them look quite weird in shape don't ask- But the point is that Gogo is meant to imitate one of these, and Gogos are tiny, like roughly 5-8 cm or so (Look up how much that's in inches lol) and generally had varying designs, from alien to robotic to animal of all sorts. Gogo is mostly a simple big lower base with small middle body and a big head that imitates the look of a simplified Talkboy, all with a robotic appearance.

Now why would Gogo have a head like this? Simple! Gogo is the voice of the group! But since Gogo is quite small (10 cm tall) and usually sits on Timberly's head and speaks for the other two!

Now that we defined who makes up the character, there's one thing I intentionally made in a way, which was having Hans, Timberly and Gogo be almost impossible to tell if they were separate entities or a single one since in their story, all of them arrived together in one go and appeared to fall in love with the Digital Circus itself in mere moments of appearing.

Sometimes they'd behave like three people, with arguments looking like Timberly making annoyed gestures, Hans shaking either of the two and Gogo being vocal and loud- While other times they all act in one way together, Gogo speaking, Timberly gesturing and Hans keeping them on the move if needed.

Who knows what these three are, if not a single mind that fell into what felt like a dreamy blessing, or three individuals shackled to live as one?

First post using this account again, fun stuff, sorry about the text wall but if you did reach this, hope you liked the concept of the character!

I'll uh... Learn how to segment posts better soon.

[alltheangstmygifttoyou]

I posted 133 times in 2022

45 posts created (34%)

88 posts reblogged (66%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@writeouswriter

@samatedeansbroccoli

@write-it-motherfuckers

@pens-swords-stuff

@nightingaleflow

I tagged 88 of my posts in 2022

Only 34% of my posts had no tags

#learn to be - 23 posts

#art - 22 posts

#life update - 9 posts

#vent - 5 posts

#old story - 5 posts

#old stories - 5 posts

#morgan weasley - 5 posts

#tw body horror - 5 posts

#mayvis - 3 posts

#elena taski - 3 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#because people unused to darker side of humanity get to feel big erruptions of emotions- something that my brain says should be my reaction

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Tell me a little about Noah and Jesse?

Yeah! I've been working on answering your other question, its just been hard to choose who and organize my thoughts :p

Noah and Jesse are both main charecters in the book series im trying to write and are very different. Noah for a while in the middle of his development a charecter that could encapsulate my experience with anxiety and intrusive thoughts. He's the youngest of the main five, and the only one that had a good (not completely healthy but neither had any bad intentions) relationship with his parents, which is basically just his mom because his bio and step dad are gone from the world by the time he's two. However, the reason that I wouldn't say the relationship between the two is healthy is because his mother has an illness (havent decided exactly what, but I do want to make one up, just need to research illnesses and how they work more) that wears the body down until it can no longer function. With her being a single mother and no longer able to move from full bed rest by the time Noah's eight, hes been taking care of her to the point of neglecting his own health and well being. Noah is also arguably the most powerful of the group. Everyone with no exceptions has some sort of power in the books world, some as simple as always finding the right page of a book to being able to shift their form to what they desire. No two powers are exactly the same, though they can be very similar that to anyone else they look the same. Noah was born with the power to be able to make people do anything he wants by telling them. He struggles hard because he isn't good at controlling what he tells someone to do without forcing them how to do so, and two deaths result because of this. He does however learn to turn it on and off, and how to get exactly what he wants to happen, but that'll happen in the middle of the book series, since he's understandably terrified of himself.

Jesse on the other hand is a sympathetic asshole who annoys me but ill die for him. His twin Jester is the main of main charecters in the story so developing her meant developing him and their parents. His parents are not standard in this universe or our own. Their isn't a single healthy relationship in this family. There is just violence, betrayal, avoidance, and being the picture perfect wealthiest family in the world to the public. Their parents relationship and mental state result in Jester being patented by her father more and Jesse their mother. They all still live in the same house and interact on a daily basis, but discipline, chores, expectations, etc are different for each. While Jester is being horribly abused by their father while he forces her to learn the art of manipulation, Jesse is learning from his mom how to be a rich smug asshole and how to be arrogant enough that everyone besides his parents are worth less than the gum on the sidewalk. She also takes her religion, pulls horrible interpretations out, and shoves them down his throat. He is ripped into emotionally if he upsets her and often gets slapped or other shitty abuse that some people wouldn't recognize as such. This results in Jesse spending the begining part of the series as more of an antagonist before having his entire world view turned upside down after plot stuff and he starts working with the other protagonists. However, he's still an asshole and struggles to let go a lot of his awful opinions and views of the world. Meaning that he pisses all the other charecters off often and since they're all teens some of them get more easily distracted by arguing it gets them into serious trouble at times. Jesse and Noah have the least developed relationship (besides Noah and Elena) because Jesse thinks Noah is a weak stupid crybaby and Noah doesn't have the self esteem or confidence to disagree (ill fight him for you noah). However, Noah will interject if he feels like Jesse is being too cruel to one of the others, which results on Jesse's explosive temper being targeted at him. Jesse's power is also very strong (all of the main charecters are), he is able to increase and decrease the amount of the specific emotion/s he wants on another person. He can also affect multiple people at once. He finds it easiest to manipulate others fear. This can be deadly if he's not careful, though he doesn't know this until later in the series.

Thank you for asking!

5 notes - Posted January 31, 2022

#4

My lovely love gifted me the cutest watcher for valentines day <33 @flummoxedangel your talent and determination always blow me away, and just your presence saves my day :3

8 notes - Posted February 18, 2022

#3

Hello my lovely partner has commissions open once again and I've gotten three icons done and I love them <333 yall should go check out @flummoxedangel

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8 notes - Posted May 28, 2022

#2

Tell me about three of your favorite OCs you’ve worked on!

Thank you for the ask! Sorry for the wait, I've been working on this whenever I got the spoons which have been in short supply.

Three of my favorite OC's: Well one is very much Elena. From her starting point as an atla oc to role-play as, to her own fanfiction, then to multiple short/uncompleted stories, and finally being one of the main charecters for the series i hope to write (Learn To Be) shes been on a long journey with me and has consistently been an oc i fall back to in both writing and drawing. She's overpowered and badass, could kill a man twice her size with her bare hands without breaking a sweat, but doesn't have the average socialization the rest of the world does, and she doesn't like hurting people. She can keep her face completely blank but can't interpret what she feels correctly. She's repressed as fuck and the only way she knows how to let loose is in bursts of violent rage. She loves animals but has no idea how to properly handle any of them (in a friendly way, she can handle them in a her next meal way just fine). She attaches to people very fast. Oh year she also summons and controls fire and her skin can radiate heat at times, but she isn't resistant to burns. She loves her parents but everyone else who knows about them know that they deserve to be burning in hell <3

2. Would probably be Morgan Weasley even though she maybe is only a year or so old. With a lot of OC's i make i focus on one story to write and quickly end up moving on to new ones. But Morgan is one of the few that have stuck. I wrote a lot of her main story in a large span of inspiration, and when that ran out it was from an overwhelming amount of ideas to tweak the story in different ways. I've got a doc dedicated to different random snippets to full blown au's, some with multiple chapters planned. If I hadn't had an au idea for Morgan's story while I was inpatient id have been forced to stay longer because I was bored out of my mind and getting more agitated with nothing to do. Even though I havent written her (or much of anything really) recently I still find great pleasure in playing around with her universe in my head.

3. This is hard to choose because part of me just wants to put the rest of the main Learn to Be cast, part of me wants to say Greenland, and the rest of myself needs to keep reminding certain charecters aren't my oc's no matter how many parts of canon I throw out the window. I guess I'll just settle for malcolm and Jesse, who were created years apart, but have only really started to get developed because of their relationship. Malcolm was a full metal alchemist oc for role-playing at first. I was young and the role played story for him makes me cringe at how emotionally manipulative his actions were without me having any self awareness about it. Im not exactly sure when he started to join in on the short/uncompleted stories with the main five, but I think it was either We Are Salvageable or Crack Oc Highschool. He was mostly just one of my average ocs for role plays until then. Jesse was created for a very ambitious harry potter role play where, if I remember correctly, we were doing eight oc's each per house. At the time Jester was a very new character and I was struggling to think of more slytherians, so I came up with Jesse. Jesse was made to be the nicer version of Jester. This quickly changed to the opposite the more I wrote. Malcolm and jesses relationships has been through all sorts of changes and will continue to do so, but, I do at least have more personal background for Jesse, his internalized homophobia, and how he sees interactions with others. It also made me conclude that whether malcolm is gay or bi won't change the fact that he is out and proud. Their relationship also helped me flesh their insecurities, specifically ones tied to masculinity. Jesse is skinny, lanky, well groomed, formal clothes, and arrogant with large amounts of condescension to boot. He thinks power, sociatal, economical, and power strength is what separates real men from riff raff. To him homosexuality is unmanly, which is oh so terrible thing to be (this boy makes me so tired sometimes). Malcolm has a horrible father as an example and though he recognizes this, its hard to apply to himself. He has to be physically strong, he has to be aggressive and incite violence against people he considers bad, and he very much struggles to reign in his temper. He doesn't judge others by presentation but he does use phrases like be a man and the like.

Sorry for the long wait! Thank you for asking :3

12 notes - Posted February 9, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

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22 notes - Posted February 18, 2022

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[sanjosenewshq]

City design of the worlds largest net-zero group

URB, an city design agency primarily based within the United Arab Emirates, has just lately unveiled its designs for a 1,600-hectare sustainable metropolis in Southern Kuwait. It’s known as XZERO and can function a brand new mannequin for sustainable cities sooner or later. Proceed studying under Our Featured Movies XZERO goals to supply a net-zero carbon way of life for roughly 100,000 residents, unfold out over 30,000 properties. Town is holistically designed and options environmental, social and financial sustainability. The grasp plan incorporates a number of lively and passive design methods for an eco-friendly design. Lively methods embody the superior know-how that’s built-in into town to make sure excessive requirements of residing whereas minimizing carbon footprint. These methods are highlighted to the residents and function an academic software that’s embedded of their surroundings. Associated: Metropolis of Telosa enlists Bjarke Ingels Group for city utopia In the meantime, passive methods are a key characteristic of XZERO and type an integral a part of mitigating the positioning’s heat, desert local weather. One such instance of that is the blue and inexperienced infrastructure dispersed all through town. Blue infrastructure refers to water options reminiscent of ponds and streams. Equally, inexperienced infrastructure denotes inexperienced areas like parks and forests. Thanks! Maintain an eye fixed out for our weekly e-newsletter. Be a part of Our E-newsletter Obtain the most recent in world information and designs constructing a greater future. SIGN UP SIGN UP Of their designs, URB has managed the density of the city cloth to maximise the inexperienced area ratio. That is carried out by incorporating inexperienced areas into city warmth islands, reminiscent of residential areas, for pure cooling. Not solely does this enable for beautiful views, however it additionally encourages interplay amongst residents and their pure surroundings. The panorama is the core of the mission and is designed to be resilient and tailored to the native local weather. In doing so, it enhances well-being and biodiversity within the space. The landscaping is built-in with the wadis, that are valleys that flip into streams through the wet season. This meticulously designed surroundings permits folks to work together in lush, pure areas that concurrently assist the native natural world of the area. To attach residents to totally different areas, town plan incorporates main and secondary strolling networks, that are shaded and related to different eco-friendly transport techniques. These embody biking and using electrical golf cart buggies to journey to totally different elements of town. Town will encourage a inexperienced round financial system all through its agricultural, power and tourism industries. Every business has a hub that gives environmentally-friendly options for inhabitants’ wants. For instance, the landscaping incorporates city farming strategies to supply meals for town’s inhabitants. These embody group and vertical gardens, aquaponics and bio-saline agriculture to maximise blue infrastructure and bio-domes for extra managed cultivation environments. There may even be a green-tech hub to assist meals cultivation to implement applicable waste administration and produce and monitor power consumption. Town additionally will rely completely on renewable power sources to maintain its energy calls for. Past serving XZERO’s residents, town will promote sustainable tourism via eco-friendly resorts and lodges. Town additionally incorporates specially-designed edutainment areas like the character conservation middle and utility park to interact and educate guests. + URB Photos through URB Originally published at San Jose News HQ

[ftkd-arts]

Crystal Quin

My Nextgen is confusing these days. I think I'm recalling Scorpan from it, and changing the Twilight ship. My ships are changing a lot, alongside their children. Despite, I thought long and hard about Luster Dawn... Canon threw me a bone with this one, but I couldn't decide who would be her parents.

@lopoddityart threw her in as a Flashburst Nextgen, to WanderingPegasus Twilight and Sunburst were her parents, a majority in the fandom thought of Luster as a Sunlight kiddo... I liked Flashburst, Twiburst was cute, and I headcanon Starlight and Sunburst as stepsiblings.

Then this idea fell to me. At first, it was just Cadence, Shining, Flash and Sunny. I slowly thought to throw Sombra in later. These characters are what have their friends/family dubbed as the Crystal Quin.

Sunburst was quickly assigned to be Flurry Heart's nanny after her crystalling. He and the Crystal Couple grew close, as her ever-protective, tired caretakers. One night after the three had finally gotten Flurry to sleep, they all collapsed on each other. When they woke up, to their blushing surprise, the three were tangled in the married pair's bed. Their relationship took a swift turn. Shining Armor, Cadence and Sunburst kept the romance private from their subjects.

Flash Sentry was soon ordered as Flurry Heart's loyal bodyguard. They spent a lot of time together, nervously watching Flurry and taking care of the alicorn baby. Sunburst developed a crush.

His boyfriend and girlfriend encouraged Sunburst to ask him out. Hesitantly, Sunburst squeaked out the proposal to Flash. He accepted with a smile. Not knowing Flash's opinions of polyamorous herds, Sunburst left ShiningCadence, keeping their relationship under wraps from Flash Sentry.

After a few dates, Flash was his official boyfriend. Sunburst did fall in love with him (quite quickly), but at the same time, he dearly missed his former partners. Sunburst had to confess this to Flash.

Flash Sentry gave him a confused smirk and said, "Why can't you have all three of us?"

Long story short, Sunny had two boyfriends and a girlfriend. Cadence insisted they all hang out together for Sunburst's sake. Slowly but surely, the four fell in love.

And then Cadence found a shadowy figure traveling near the outskirts of the Empire. A frail and scrawny hornless Sombra, purged from the dark magic that craddled his mind, seeking shelter from the barren, icy wasteland. Cadence swooped down and took him back to the castle, under strict evolution from the Equestrian Princesses.

Princess Twilight and the foster child of Friendship, Cozy Glow, pleaded for Sombra's Reformation. Shining Armor was woefully against giving the evil Umbrum a chance to escape. Cadence was cautiously optimistic. Sunburst and Flash Sentry were divided with their stance on the matter. Before the two could make a choice, Celestia ordered for Sombra to be released, but kept under lock and key. She charged Cadence with Reforming the ancient King.

Cadence thought she was helping him. Sombra was genuinely ashamed for the things he had done. He took up extra community work around the Crystal Empire, forgoing sleep and eating in the name of being helpful or brooding in his dark depression. Slowly, the more time she spent consoling him, learning about his life and loneliness and guilt... The more she found herself surprised by his kindness. He warmed to her. She was the only creature he would smile for.

During this, Cadence saw Shining Armor less and less. Their interactions often ended in spats. Anytime the two weren't arguing, their words were filled with passive aggressiveness and tension. Boyfriends Sunburst and Flash Sentry were always on their hooves, running to get them to get along with no success.

Cadence grew frustrated of her husband not believing in her and her boyfriends urging her to see his point of view. That night, she sought comfort in her only friend. The only one on her side. Sombra.

She woke with him. Instantly, she raced to her partners and pulled them into a private room. Still dazed from the early morning, she confessed what she had done. The betrayal shocked them. Cadence begged for one of them to say something, to do anything.

Sunburst broke out into tears. Flash and Armor swept closer to him, Flash putting his wings around the orange unicorn and Shining stepping forward defensively when Cadence tried lending her hoof to Sunburst's face.

The five didn't talk for a few weeks. They lived together, ruled the empire, helped their subjects, took care of Flurry Heart... but all five kept their distance.

Until Cadence came up pregnant... with the child of Sombra.

Finally Shining broke, barging in to Sombra's confined bedchambers and screaming for a reason. At the very least, an apology. Sombra wouldn't give it. He should have believed in his wife's abilities, Sombra reasoned, or else she wouldn't have felt alone and caught feelings for him. He loved her, he said. Sombra didn't waver. Until the rest of them rushed in, and Cadence again awkwardly admitted that she was with child.

Cadence and Sombra entered a real relationship. Shining Armor was still her husband on the outside, but behind the closed doors of the castle, she loved Sombra, and Shiny loved being alone. Sunburst and Flash soon realized that their perfect little quad had died out. Hopeless, they resigned to being only each other's, and acted as Flurry Heart's parents in this time of frustration.

When Prince Valentinus Amor (meaning "Strong Love") was born, Cadence couldn't hide the truth from her subjects anymore. She declared that the child was Sombra's, and they would be raising the baby as a couple. (Disgruntled and disgusted, the Empire quietly sided with Shining Armor with little knowledge of what exactly had went down.)

With almost everything out in the open, Cadence and Shining readied the official divorce papers. Soon came the day when they had to sign it. They sat, alone together for the first time in months, waiting and meekly breathing... Until eventually, they fell, hugging one another and desperately sobbing.

Worried by the noise, Sombra, Sunburst and Sentry entered the room. Cadence wrapped the yellowish boys in her wings, rambling half-intelligible apologies, and Shining Armor and Sombra reluctantly talked things out. The night ended with the quin drunk, crying and in love again.

The Crystal Herd happily married, and soon opted to have a foal that was biologically the child of all of them. Thus, Princess Luster "Lucy" Dawn was born...

To Be Continued.

Here's some sketches of their designs I did before, in-between and after the poly drawing.

I buy into (@DeviantArt's) Eeelt's headcanon that Shining Armor has natural pink highlights in his blue mane and @lopoddityart ’s Lunacorn headcanon. I imagine Shining has golden flecks on his almost-all white body, the most prominent ones on his ears and shoulders. He has big fangs that are blunt, good for raw fruit and roots; a frugivore-looking horseboi.

Few bite-sized hcs; Shining Armor is shorter than both Cadence and Sombra, has ADHD, is dyslexic, goes alpha-male when family/friends are in danger, can hold a grudge for as long as he damn well pleases, is a lover of pastel, still Capt. of the Crystal Empire's Royal Guard, drag queen buddies with the Mane Six's brothers (drag names of "Orchard Blossom" for Mac, "Gleaming Shield" for Shiny, "Saphora Gale" for Zephyr), occasionally crossdresses, totally draws on his eyebrows, eight years older than Twi (he was a carefully planned pregnancy, while his kid sister was born due to a malfunction in their mom's birth control pills. Twilight wasn't planned, but after the initial shock and panic of a positive pregnancy spell, she was quickly welcomed as part of the family. after this Night Light got a vasectomy)

Flash Sentry is always running on black coffee, sleep deprivation and lust for eyeshadow, making his mane wild and his aura to give off an old rock band vibe. Is definitely a more relaxed, laid-back pony, a welcome source of casual advice for his children and partners. Shortest out of them all.

Sombra has a long snoot, and at the end of that snoot, rests his shaggy goatee. He also has sideburns, shaven sides, and a very messy manbun. Has bags under his eyes (much like Flash, he's an insomniac; you can find the pair cuddled up and reading when both are restless), wears gray eyeshadow, a red scarf, a sparkly tie for his bun, and golden horseshoes. He's simultaneously bulky and scrawny.

[reactionimagesdaily]

I dont understand bionicles at all, so maybe a crash course into like. 1) what a bionicle is 2) general plot of the bionicle story? happy 5k btw <3 love ur page!

OH BOY OH BOY, this is a question I've been waiting for. Thank you so much for asking, and I’m glad you like my page!! <333

A couple of disclaimers, before I start: I'm going to focus mostly on the mainline plot, but let it be known that there WERE a bunch of serial stories and comics and games that added to the story overall. Bionicle was, I think, one of the first big instances of a plot that was consumed through a bunch of different mediums.

I'm also going to try and do a lot of streamlining - it's not that I DON'T want to talk about bionicle, but there's 10+ years of story to cover, so... yeah. :P

Also! Sorry in advance to anyone whose 'read more' function doesn't work, because this is gonna be a doozy

So, what is a bionicle? From a meta perspective, Bionicle is a Lego theme that ran from 2001-2010, and was briefly rebooted from 2015-2016. It's name is a mashup of biological chronicle, and it was hugely successful in its time, essentially helping to save the Lego company from bankruptcy. The idea is that you use finnicky technical pieces to build humanoid figures (and sometimes their vehicles!) and then. play with them

From a textual/lore perspective, I'm not sure Bionicle is an in-universe term lol. But the characters that we recognise as 'bionicles' are grouped into a bunch of different classifications - 'Toa', 'Matoran', 'Makuta', 'Glatorian', and so on. The characters are kinda like inverse cyborgs, where there's metal on the outside and flesh and muscle on the inside. They often function like robots (e.g. have removable and replaceable masks that they constantly wear over their faces) but are still essentially living creatures.

So, what's the general plot of the story?

...[inhales deeply] Okay

In the time before time, there's an island called Mata Nui that sits in the middle of the ocean. It's populated by these dinky lil' guys called 'Matoran' that live in six villages organised by elements - fire, water, ice, air, earth, and stone. They eke out a life as best they can, facing dangerous wild animals (collectively called 'Rahi') and worshipping the Great Spirit, who is confusingly also called Mata Nui. (They named the island after him.) The great spirit, they say, once watched over them all, but was long ago forced into an enchanted sleep by his evil brother.

(These are the matoran. Look at these cute little guys :3)

One day, six canisters wash ashore, on the island's golden beaches. And out of these canisters step six strange figures called Toa. Tall, strong, and heavily armed, there is one of these 'Toa' for each of the villages, and each of these guys have control over an element. They are the main 'heroes' of this story.

(These are the six Toa. Here's a fun game - spot the girl!)

Each of the six Toa are named characters - from left to right we have Onua (wise and grounded), Lewa (fun-loving and mischievous), Pohatu (friendly and confident), Tahu (hot-headed and impulsive), Kopaka (cold and quiet), and Gali (intelligent and compromising). Some of the Matoran are also named characters - there's Jaller, the captain of the guard at the fire village, Hahli, a sports player from the water village, Matoro, a translator from the ice village, and Takua, who's technically from the fire village but is also an 'outsider' who tends to wander the island. Takua is especially important because he becomes the Toa's 'chronicler', following them around on their adventures and writing everything down for posterity.

Without getting into too much detail, the Toa spend two real-life years getting into wacky highjinks. They hunt for masks (as aforementioned, the masks they wear can be removed and replaced) that grant them special powers, fight the Rahi, and also face up against a terrifying race of creatures with mind-control powers called the Bohrok that are determined to strip the island of all life. They also fight against a being called Makuta, a mysterious shadowy figure who claims to be the brother that forced Mata Nui into his slumber. When they first meet him, Makuta takes the form of a Matoran to throw them off, before turning into a nebulous black void and doing his best to murder them all to death.

(Makuta as he appears in 2001's 'Mata Nui Online Game'. As far as villain introductions go, marching out to meet all the heroes and then telling them "I bore you, for I am nothing. It is from nothing that you came, and it is into nothing you will go. The people of this world are builders, but look into their hearts, and you will find they also have the power to destroy. I am that power. I am destruction. And I will destroy you." is pretty fucking solid though I say so myself.)

There’s a lot of cool worldbuilding and mysterious details about the island. At one point, the earth Matoran note that they can only dig so far into the dirt before they come across some hard material - some type of metal - that they just can’t break through. Also, amidst the stars in the sky, there’s an ominous blood-red star that’s appropriately known as the Red Star. What’s it doing there? Nobody knows

Also at one point, the Toa also get mutated into new forms after falling into a liquid that's called 'energized protodermis' but should really be called 'McGuffin Sauce'. There's a lot of changing forms and characters being mutated in this series in general, which I'm sure has nothing to do with the fact that Lego always needed new figures to make into toys.

(This is how the Toa look after being mutated. In these forms, they're referred to as the Toa Nuva -and let me assure you that that distinction will soon become necessary. :P)

So, in 2003 in our world (I’m not sure about the timeline within the lore), Takua the chronicler finds a mysterious mask and brings it back to the Turaga, who are the wise old rulers of the Matoran (The most promiment of the Turaga is the Turaga of fire, who’s called Vakama. He’s an even-tempered and wise old man who’s not above hitting villains with his walking stick if they threaten his village.). It turns out that the mask is special - it’s the mask of Light, and it’s part of a prophecy that involves the arrival of a seventh Toa who’s destined to defeat Makuta. So Takua and Jaller go on an adventure to try and find the seventh Toa.

Meanwhile, Makuta isn’t just going to sit around and wait for the Toa who’s destined to defeat him to rock up: he unleashes his secret weapons, the Rahkshi, who are, in lore, suits of armour driven by slugs. Sounds corny - in practice, they’re hella intimidating.

(Look at these bad boys)

Some more adventures happen and, to make a long story short, the Rahkshi kill Jaller and Takua the chronicler puts the mask of light onto his own face, transforming into Takanuva, the Toa of Light. The audience surrogate and ‘weird’ character was the secret hero all along!! I love that honestly.

(Takua and Takanuva - before and after)

As someone with light powers, Takanuva is essentially the perfect counter to the big bad Makuta, who has shadow powers, so he finds Makuta’s lair intent on beating him. Makuta challenges him to a game that’s called ‘Kohlii’ but is basically this universe’s version of lacrosse - Takanuva accepts and proceeds to wipe the floor with him. During their fight, they fall into another conveniently-placed pool of energized protodermis and become merged, forming a new being called ‘Takutanuva’. Takutanuva doesn’t stick around very long, because he’s this weird contradictory being of both light and shadow, but before he fractures he opens a gate underneath Mata Nui and lets the Toa, the Turaga, and some named Matoran get through. Inside, they find a hidden city - a whole other world.

Takutanuva then manages to use his powers to hack the universe and bring Jaller back to life. Hooray! After that, he dies, and Takanuva is back. Makuta is nowhere to be found. [eyes emoji]

So now the Toa, the old Turaga, and a couple of Matoran are inside this whole new location, and they’re all wondering what the heck is going on. Well, not all of them are wondering. Vakama, the head Turaga, steps forward and admits that actually, the six (seven) Toa heros that we’ve come to know and love... aren’t actually the first Toa. Gasp!

The next two years of sets and story are essentially one giant flashback, as Vakama tells the current heroes about adventures past. It turns out that the hidden city they’ve found is called Metru Nui, and once upon a time, Vakama and the other Turaga were Toa themselves, fighting to keep the city and the matoran safe.

(New (old) Toa! The flying green one is Matau, who was a stunt-driving excitable madman, and then on the ground from left to right we have Whenua (nerdy chronicler), Nokama (schoolteacher-turned-superhero), Vakama (anxiety-ridden leader), Nuju (absent-minded stargazer), and Onewa (racist prick who needs (and gets) a character arc). To differentiate themselves from the Toa that we’ve come to know and love, these Toa are the Toa Metru)

They had a bunch of adventures of their own. They fought the Vahki (capture robots upholding an authoritarian police state) and the Morbuzakh (evil sentient vines), and they also had ‘arch enemies’ in the form of the Dark Hunters, who were mercenaries that hunted Toa.

Also, that story about Makuta putting Mata Nui to sleep? Not a story so much as a history lesson! Ultimately, the reason that the city of Metru Nui was abandoned was because Mata Nui WAS awake, watching over them all, but then Makuta forced him into slumber and essentially caused a cataclysm. The Matoran were rounded up and forced to sleep as well, and the Toa Metru had to flee the city. When they came back, it had been overrun with Visorak (basically giant spiders), and they had to fight hard to defeat the horde and its leaders and escape with all of the sleeping Matoran.

Once they left Metru Nui (and arrived on the island that would become Mata Nui), the Toa Metru sacrificed their powers to wake up all the Matoran - which is how they transformed into the wise old Turaga. Also, the Matoran woke up with no memories, which is how they’d never known about Metru Nui up until this point.

Anyways, after exploring Metru Nui and making plans to move back in, everyone does some digging around and discover something about Mata Nui: his spirit is fading. Whatever Makuta did to him, it not only put him to sleep, but it’s also slowly killing him. After presumably having an existential crisis, the gang come up with a solution: there’s another legendary mask, the Mask of Life, that should be able to resuscitate Mata Nui, or at the very least, keep him from kicking the bucket while he’s sleeping.

(The Mask of Life! If you look closely, you can see that the faceplate is shaped like a humanoid figure (because, yaknow, life) and if you think that’s not the tightest shit ever you can get out of my face)

So, the modern-day Toa (the Toa Nuva, if you guys remember the name) are like ‘okay, give us the location of the mask, we’ll go and find it’. So they get sent to another island, this one called Voya Nui, and they arrive and... get their asses handed to them? What?

A quick backtrack: a gang of thugs called the Piraka had already arrived on Voya Nui in search of the Mask of Life, wanting it so they can use its power to blackmail powerful organisations and generally get ahead in the criminal world. (From a Meta perspective, they’re,,, really interesting. Up until this point, the villains in Bionicle had either been wild animals, or villains with grand overarching plans. These guys are basically overpowered street thugs, complete with their own theme song - the ‘Piraka Rap’. Look it up on YouTube; it’s fucking hilarious, because the rest of Bionicle is generally timeless, but the Piraka Rap was basically dated as soon as it came out. I love it.)

(The Piraka themselves! Fun fact; in Bionicle lore, ‘Piraka’ is a slang term for ‘thief’ and ‘murderer’, and was also considered so vulgar that if a Matoran called another Matoran ‘Piraka’, war would be declared over it. These guys are really just going around calling themselves slurs. I have to respect that.)

So, yeah. The Piraka defeat and imprison the Toa Nuva when they get to the island. Now what?

Well, now it’s time for the Matoran to get involved! A group of named and previously-established Matoran set out to see if they can rescue the Toa. There’s Jaller, Hahli, and Matoro, who I’ve already mentioned, and then there’s Kongu, Nuparu, and Hewkii. And I need to take a break to say that all these characters have been with the story since 2001 (it’s now 2006), and they’ve all contributed to the plot before!! Kongu is a prominent Matoran from the air village who led a flight of giant bird-riders to save the day one time, and Nuparu is an engineer from the earth village who basically invented mechs to help the Matoran defend themselves against the Bohrok. These guys are BADASSES and I want to bring up how a really strong initial 3 years of storytelling laid a great foundation for so many small characters. It’s just neat! :D

Anyways, these Matoran travel to the island of Voya Nui in canisters (like how the original Toa landed on Mata Nui) and while they’re sailing the ocean blue, their canisters are struck by lighting from the mysterious Red Star. And that lighting, say it with me now, TRANSFORMS them! Specifically it transforms them into Toa. They end up calling themselves the Toa Inika, because they’re searching for the mask of life, which is also called the ‘Ignika’.

(The Toa Inika. Being transformed by a bolt of lighting means that in addition to their regular elemental powers, they also have electric/lighting abilities.)

Souped-up and ready for action, the Toa Inika manage to defeat the Piraka and rescue the Toa Nuva. However, through plot shenanagins, the Mask of Life ends up being sent to the bottom of the ocean around Voya Nui, and the Toa Inika learn that under the waves is a hidden city - Mahri Nui. As they descend, the Mask of Life does something odd; it sends out a wave of energy, transforming the Toa Inika so that they can breath underwater. So now, they’re the Toa Mahri. (Because they’re headed to Mahri Nui. You get me?)

Mahri Nui is ruled by the Barraki - ancient warlords who were imprisoned under the sea many thousands of years ago after they became powerful enough to threaten Mata Nui himself. They were put in a prison called The Pit, but during the cataclysm caused by Makuta putting Mata Nui to sleep, the city of Mahri Nui sunk into the water and slammed into the Pit. Many prisoners and Matoran died, but the Barraki were freed. Uh-oh, spaghetti-ohs.

Speaking of Makuta - guess who’s back! Thought dead after no-one could find him after Takutanuva died, it turns out that his spirit is possessing a robot body that had previously been a prison guard. He spends some time hanging out with one of the Toa Mahri, Matoro, basically playing mind games with him and trying to get him to turn to the dark side. Eventually, three different characters and factions smack the shit out of him, and he slips out of the robot body to go do... something else (watch this space). 

This year of story was REALLY plot-heavy and I kinda can’t do it justice here. The important developments are that the Toa Mahri eventually manage to reclaim the Mask of Life, and Matoro yoinks it. While his teammates act as a big distraction, he swims away and puts on the mask. It basically grants him ultimate power, but it also fuckin’ kills him. His final acts are to teleport his friends to safety, and then release a massive burst of energy that burns him up and saves Mata Nui’s life. The Mask of Life, with no-one left to wear it, sinks into the ocean.

(“In his last moments, Matoro feels no fear. He know he has succeeded--the Toa Mahri are safe, able to resume their lives in Metru Nui. The Turaga and Matoran will know that they became true heroes. Matoro does not see himself as a hero. As a Matoran, a Toa Inika, and a Toa Mahri, all he ever tried to do was his duty. Now that duty has led him to his destiny.”- Bionicle Ignition 11: Death of a Hero)

[dries tears] Anyways, now that Mata Nui’s life has been saved, the only thing left to do is wake him back up. To do that, the Toa Nuva (the Toa that showed up at the very beginning of this story, if you recall) need to journey to the core of the universe, and a civilisation called Karda Nui. Three of the Toa Nuva - Lewa, Pohatu, and Kopaka - are sent to a village in the clouds, where they protect the local matoran and battle the forces of Makuta. Because, as it turns out, the big bad Makuta that we know? Makuta is actually the name of his species. The guy just wanted to feel special, apparently. The Makuta that the Toa have been fighting for over half a decade is technically called Makuta Teridax (or just Teridax), while the other Makuta have other names that I can’t remember off the top of my head.

Anyways, while those three Toa are figuring that out, the other three - Tahu, Gali, and Onua - journey to a place called the Swamp of Secrets in order to find a set of keystones that supposedly contain instructions on how to awaken Mata Nui. And it’s there that they find an unlikely ally: the Mask of Life itself.

See, the Mask of Life has always been a weird one - if you recall, it released an energy pulse for no reason that transformed the Toa Mahri and let them breath underwater. (It’s also done some other fucky stuff that I haven’t been able to mention - there’s a short story about how one time, a guy touched it, and it gave him the ability to involuntarily bring everything around him to life, which ultimately drove him mad. So. You know. That’s fun.) Well, it turns out that when the mask sank into the ocean after Matoro’s death, it ultimately ended up in the swamps of Karda Nui, and it senses the battles raging about it. More than that, but it remembers Matoro’s bravery as he donned the mask knowing it would kill him, and remembers how his final wish was to save his friends. Wanting to know what it means to be a hero, the Mask of Life creates a body for itself, and ventures out into the swamp to discover its destiny.

(The Mask of Life has a body now!! Good for him! Good for him.)

There’s some more shenanigans that I’m skipping over - at one point, Takanuva (Toa of light, remember him?) rocks up to help. Long story short, our eight heroes - Tahu, Gali, Onua, Lewa, Kopaka, Pohatu, Takanuva, and the Mask of Life - fight their way through the Makuta and into the very core of the universe - the Codrex. Inside, after yet more shenanigans, the Mask of Life figures that in order to wake Mata Nui up, it will have to sacrifice the body it’s built for itself. The moment is sad, but the mask remembers Matoro’s sacrifice, and is inspired to act. He sacrifices his dreams of becoming a hero, and in doing so, becomes a hero... ;_;

The mask flies deep into the Codrex, its body dissolving; when it reaches the bottom, it creates a massive energy storm that the other characters have to escape. (Our heroes make it out - most of the villains end up getting vaporized, big RIP.)

And just like that, the journey is over. After years of battle, the Toa Nuva have completed their purpose, and awakened the great spirit, thus bringing peace back to the land. Everyone meets back up in Metru Nui - the Toa Nuva, the Toa Mahri, the Turaga, the remaining Matoran. It’s a glorious day. And as they gather, something happens.

Deep, deep beneath the ocean, energy pulses through rock, and machines that have been dormant for millennia begin to whirr and move. The island of Mata Nui - long abandoned as the Matoran moved back down into Metru Nui - cracks open like a wallnut, each half sliding into the sea. From underneath where the island had been, a tremendous head rises out of the ocean, countless galleons of water pouring off of it. Titanic shoulders follow. Then the chest, and the limbs, and slowly, surely, Mata Nui rises.

Meta context: for years, the nature of Mata Nui has been a mystery. Is he a metaphysical being? Is he a real person? No-one was sure... but they know now. That solid material that the earth Matoran couldn’t mine through, all the way back in 2001? That was his skin. The mysterious red star that created the Toa Inika? That was a failsafe machine orbiting Mata Nui, poised to create new Toa as necessary. The island of Mata Nui was atop his head, Metru Nui was his brain, Karda Nui was deep in his guts. The Matoran were workers to keep him functioning, the Toa were basically his immune system (the canisters they arrive in are literally shaped like pills)... All this time, all these stories, all these characters, this entire world - they have all been inside a robot the size of continents.

(Fucking hell. Look at this. The clouds come up to his ankles.)

Celebrations ripple through Metru Nui as everyone realises what has happened. The great spirit is awake again! The Toa have won! But as the Turaga raise their voices to try and congratulate the Toa, a chill spreads over the spectators as the air grows cold. Everyone stops and looks around. What’s happening now? And then, from everywhere and nowhere, a voice rumbles. It’s a familiar voice. An unwelcome voice. A voice that most of the gathered heroes thought they’d never hear again.

It’s the voice of Makuta - the original Makuta. Makuta Teridax.

And what does he say?

“I AM EVERYWHERE. I AM EVERYTHING YOU SEE.”

Matoro’s sacrifice had ensured that Mata Nui’s body did not die, but before the great spirit’s consciousness could return, Makuta supplanted it with his own. After that, all he had to do was wait for the Toa Nuva to achieve their objective. And as they finished the fight and won the day, they handed victory to him on a silver platter. No longer does he need to strive to rule the universe - he is the universe.

(Meta perspective again but like: FUCK, man. I can’t emphasise enough how mind-breaking this was for the kids who were invested in the series. Think Thanos snapping his fingers in Infinity War, except probably more devastating, because there wasn’t a direct sequel lined up to give the heroes another chance, and there wasn’t a way to ‘undo’ it. This was a plot development that we all had to live with T_T)

(You can tell things are bad because his eyes changed from green to red.)

And what of Mata Nui? What about the spirit that the Toa were actually trying to wake up?

Oh, Makuta stuffed Mata Nui’s consciousness into the Mask of Life - and then blasted the Mask into space.

[inhales deeply]

man...

Okay, in all honesty, part of me wanted to end it there. But you know what? We’ve come this far. And there is more to the story. So I’m going to ignore my concern I won’t be able to do it justice and blunder on.

 Bionicle’s last chapter (2009-2010) follows Mata Nui himself - no longer an abstract spiritual concept, but rather a concrete character. A god felled from his pedestal, struggling to find a way to save his people. And it’s AWESOME. Armed with only the Mask of Life and a sentient shield named Click, he wanders the shithole deserts of the planet he crash-lands on, bringing the disparate tribes together, uncovering secrets about who made him and what his ultimate purpose is, and learning what it means to be a regular person. Also, at one point, in a move very reminiscent of the god that he once was, he turns a guy into a snake. You know. As a ‘fuck you’.

(There’s something really cool to me about a main character being someone who essentially lost all the power of the cosmos. Mata Nui might just be my fave character in this whole story honestly.)

Eventually, Mata Nui discovers some crucial pieces of information. Firstly: the planet that he’s landed on, Bara Magna, is his ‘homeworld’ in that it’s where his giant god body was built. Secondly: the two moons orbiting Bara Magna (the jungle moon of Bota Magna and the ocean moon of Aqua Magna) were once part of the planet itself, and split off during a planet-destroying cataclysm, leaving behind a desert wasteland in their wake. Third: the function he was ultimately built for (his ‘destiny’) was to reunite the three celestial bodies into one planet, bringing life back to Bara Magna’s harsh desert environments. He was on his way to complete this task when Makuta crashed his systems with a computer virus - which was what forced him into the ‘slumber’ that he was in for most of the mainline story.

His fourth, and probably most important discovery, is that he’s essentially his makers’ second attempt at a world-fixing giant robot. Before creating him, his makers (the ‘Great Builders’) constructed a giant robot that malfunctioned and exploded. Long-deactivated, the pieces of it are still scattered through the deserts of Bara Magna - in fact, many of the villages on the planet are set up in or around these giant robot pieces. Mata Nui figures that if he can reconstruct this old robot, he can use it to complete his destiny, and maybe even save his people.

It isn’t easy. He has to convince the villagers he’s come to befriend (the Agori) to give up their homes and their safety, and he has to find an experimental power source that’ll actually get the giant metal body moving again. But eventually, he figures it all out. Powered by the experimental source, the Mask of Life, and probably also friendship, he inhabits this enormous form and rises once again. Without missing a beat, he reaches out and begins to pull the moons towards the main planet. As far as he’s concerned, he’s going to fix everything, or die trying.

(The power of skybeams)

However, it won’t be that simple. Makuta senses that Mata Nui’s spirit has inhabited a new form (and I don’t mean that in a metaphysical way, I mean that in a computer/technology way), and he quickly jets over to Bara Magna. Obviously, flinging the fucker into space wasn’t good enough. It’s time for him to destroy Mata Nui, mano y mano. Giant robot y giant robot.

(Makuta and Mata Nui, facing off. God I love this picture.)

It’s the final battle - for real this time. The two giant robots begin to punch each other, and Mata Nui is up against some obvious disadvantages. For one thing, he can’t risk attacking Makuta with all his might, because he doesn’t want to hurt his people, who are still inside the giant robot. (Inside, they’re fairing... poorly. It’s like facism, but if facism was being actively enforced by God.)

In the fight, a hole gets blasted in Makuta’s body, and out pour a whole LOAD of Rahkshi. (Remember those guys?) However, Tahu and Takanuva also manage to escape, and join a ground battle that’s breaking out between the Agori (and their protectors, the Glatorians), the Skrall (a tribe of warriors native to Bara Magna who are absolute dicks - I’ve had to gloss over them, unfortunately, but believe me when I say that they’ve been major antagonists for as long as the narrative has focused on Bara Magna), and a bunch of guys who are called ‘Piraka’ but aren’t the gang of thugs from Voya Nui. (I think they’re the same... species?) Long story short: large-scale shitfight is happening at the feet of the two robots that are slugging it out. Makuta, being a dick, decides to try and literally stamp on all of Mata Nui’s friends down below, and Mata Nui has to desperately hold him off.

Around this point, the Mask of Life (which is really the MVP of this whole story) uses its convenient energy bursts to imbue Tahu with a set of golden armour that allows him to release energy blasts of its own. (Why it singles out Tahu, I’m not sure, but I’m presuming it’s because Tahu was the first face of the series and it just makes thematic sense for him to be a major player in the final battle.) Tahu uses his new golden armour to disintegrate ALL of the Rahkshi - and there were a lot of them on the field of battle, let me assure you. Makuta feels the loss of so many creations at once, and falters, and Mata Nui seizes his chance. He’d done his work well before Makuta had arrived, and the jungle moon is now in low orbit above the planet. Pouring every last ounce of his strength into one more push, he surges forward and up, pushing Makuta up and making sure that his head is right in the path of the falling planet.

Crunch.

(Kudos to Makuta Teridax for being such a persistent antagonist that the only way to get rid of him for good was to drop an entire damn planet on his head.)

Mata Nui guides the falling body carefully to the ground, letting it open and freeing his people. The remaining Skrall and Piraka surrender. The Matoran and Toa meet and mingle with the Agori and Glatorian. Mata Nui raises his hands, and completes his purpose; aided one last time by the Mask of Life, as well as his body’s innate systems, he enacts a synthesis on the now-united celestial bodies. Lush forests and large bodies of water appear in the desert. Life flourishes. Birds probably start to sing. Mata Nui has completed his purpose, and vindicated all of the heroes who fought for him for so long.

He feels himself fading. He lets his spirit withdraw into the Mask of Life. A new slumber - this one, earned, and of his own volition.

Perhaps one day, he will return.

(“We will honour Mata Nui, and all those who fought for him, in our memories. But the time has come to move on. His destiny is fulfilled, and for many of us, it has yet to be written. My friends, it is time to go.”- Tahu, The Mata Nui Saga, chapter 34.)

And there we go! Very, VERY long, but that’s the general plot of bionicle. There are an absolute tone of details I’ve missed out or skipped over, and I encourage you to search them out for yourself if you’re interested. But them’s the basics! :D

[jayoctodot]

The Silent Patient vs The Maidens

I will start by saying that I understand the appeal of these novels as page-turners. They are easy to read and if you want a twisty reveal at the end, you will probably be entertained and satisfied. That being said, I am SO CONFUSED by the near-universal adoration of The Silent Patient and the reasonably positive reception of The Maidens. The weaknesses of the two are strikingly similar, as well, which doesn’t give me much hope of seeing improvement from this guy, though I am intrigued to see whether he keeps repeating the same (apparently successful!!) patterns. These books were at least super fun to hate.

(For context, I read The Maidens for a bookclub I'm in, because several of the members had read and loved The Silent Patient, and one of them gave me a copy of the latter to read on my own time. I loathed The Maidens and then read The SP for comparative purposes. And because I'm a masochist, apparently.)

SPOILER WARNING! Do not read on unless you've finished both books (or unless you care not for spoilers). Sorry if it gets a bit shouty.

Here are the similar weaknesses I noticed in both:

PSEUDO-PSYCHOLOGY

-> Weirdly similar “group therapy” scenes early on where a cartoonishly unstable patient arrives late, disrupts the meeting by throwing something into the middle of the circle, and is asked to join the group after the therapist(s) speechify on the importance of boundaries (HA! None of these therapists would know an appropriate boundary if it kicked them in the ass) and debate whether to “allow” the patient to join. Both scenes are so transparent in their design to establish the credibility/legitimacy of the narrators as therapists, but instead both Theo and Mariana come off as super patronizing. The protagonists are less and less believable as therapists at the stories progress (though at least Theo’s incompetence is explained away by the “twist” at the end; Mariana, on the other hand, is confronted in the opening pages of the novel by a patient who has self-harmed PRETTY extensively, and rather than ensure he get proper medical attention, she essentially throws him a first aid kit and tosses him out the door so she can pour herself a glass of wine and call her niece... and it devolves from there).

-> Ongoing insistence throughout the narrative that one’s childhood trauma entirely explains the warped/dysfunctional way a character behaves or views the world, which is why the books go out of their way to give EVERY potentially violent character a traumatic childhood; when Theo insists that no one ever became an abuser who hadn’t been abused themselves, I wanted to throw the book across the room. (That is a MYTH, SIR. GET OUT OF HERE WITH YOUR ARMCHAIR PSYCHOLOGY.)

-> Female murderers whose pathology boils down to “history of depression” and “traumatized by a male loved one/family member.” Because, as we all know, depression + abuse = murderer!

-> The “therapy” depicted in both books is laughable and so so unrealistic, mostly because neither narrators function as therapists so much as incompetent detectives, obsessively pursuing a case they have no place pursuing (or skill to pursue - both just happen across every clue mostly by way of clunky conversation with all the people who can provide precisely the snippet of info to send them along to the next person, and the next… until all is revealed in a tired, cliched “twist”). Their constant Psych 101 asides were so tiresome and weirdly dated (also, the constant harping on countertransference got so ridiculous that at one point during "therapy" Theo literally attributes his headache and a particular emotion he feels to Alicia, as though the contents of her head are being broadcast directly into his mind... and I'm PRETTY SURE that's not how it works???)

CHARACTERS

-> Psychotherapist narrators with abusive fathers and pretensions of being Sherlock Holmes, which results in both characters crossing ALL KINDS of ethical lines as they invade the personal lives of everyone even tangentially connected to their cases (and, in Theo's case, violate all kinds of patient confidentiality. Yeah, yeah, by the end, that's the least of his offenses, but before you get there, it's baffling that NO ONE is calling him out on this).

-> All female characters are either elderly with hilariously bad advice, monstrous hulking brutes, or beautiful bitches (except for ~MARIANA~, who is Bella Swan-esque in her unawareness of her own attractiveness, despite multiple men trying to get with her almost immediately after meeting her. I'm so tired of beautiful female characters being oblivious to their own hotness. Are we meant to believe all mirrors and male attention have escaped their notice? If it’s to make them “relatable,” this tactic really fails with me).

-> All characters of color are shallow, cartoonish side characters, and most of them are depicted as unsympathetic minor antagonists (the Sikh Chief Inspector in The Maidens continuously drinks tea from an ever-present thermos, and his only other notable characteristic is his instant dislike of Mariana, whom he VERY RIGHTLY warns to stay out of the investigation that she is VERY MUCH compromising… the Caribbean manager of the Grove is universally disliked by her staff for enforcing stricter safety regulations at the bafflingly poorly run mental institution, because HOW DARE SHE. There's a very clear vibe that we're supposed to dislike these characters and share the protagonists' indignation, but honestly Sangha/Stephanie were completely in the right for trying to shut down their wildly inappropriate investigations).

-> "Working class" characters (or basically anyone excluded from the comfortably upper-crust, educated main cadre of characters) are few and far between in both stories, but when they show up, he depicts them as such caricatures. We got Elsie the pathologically lying housekeeper in the Maidens, who is enticed to share her bullshit with cake, and then a TOOTHLESS LEPRECHAUN DEALING DRUGS UNDER A BRIDGE in the SP. I kid you not, a man described as having the body of a child, the face of Father Time, and no front teeth, emerges from beneath a bridge and offers to sell Theo some "grass." I was dyinggg.

-> There are no characters to root for. Anywhere. Partly because they’re all so thinly drawn — and because we’re clearly supposed to view almost ALL of them as potential suspects, so they’re ALL weird, creepy, or incompetent in some way.

-> The flimsiest of flimsy motives, both for the narrators and the murderers. Theo fully would have gotten away with his involvement in the murder if he hadn't gone out of his way to work at the Grove and "treat" Alicia and his justification for doing so is pretty weak; his rapid descent into stalking and murder fantasy and his random ass decision to "expose" Alicia's husband as a cheater with a spur-of-the-moment home invasion and staged attempted homicide is ONLY justified if the reader hand waves it away as WELP, HE'S CRAZY, I GUESS (after all, he DID have an abusive father and a history of mental illness, and in Michaelides novels, that's ALL YOU NEED to become a violent psycho). I guess we're lucky Mariana didn't also start dropping bodies (because the logic of his fictional universe says she should definitely be a murderer by now... maybe that'll be his Maidens sequel?). But she especially had NO reason to randomly turn detective - and she kept trying to justify it by saying she needed to re-enter the world or that Sebastian would want her to (??), even though she had no background in criminal psychology... or even a particular fondness for mysteries (really, I would've accepted ANYTHING to explain her dogged obsession with the case. WHY were Sebastian and Zoe so certain she would insert herself into the investigation just because one of Zoe's friends was the first victim? WHY?). As for Zoe and Alicia, their motives are mere suggestions: they were both abused and manipulated, and voila! Slippery slope to murder.

WRITING STYLE

-> Incessant allusions to Greek tragedy and myth, apparently to provide a sophisticated gloss over the bare-bones writing style, which opts more for telling than showing and frequently indulges in hilariously bizarre analogies. Credit where credit is due — the references to Greek myth are less clunky in the SP, and I liked learning about the Alcestis play/myth, which I hadn’t heard of before - but OMG the entire characterization of Fosca, who we are meant to believe is a professor of Greek tragedy at one of the most respected universities on the planet, is just absurd. His "lecture" on the liminal in Greek tragedy is essentially the Wikipedia page on the Eleusinian Mysteries capped off with some Hallmark-card carpe diem crap. The lecture hall responds with raucous applause, clearly never having heard such vague genius bullshit before.

-> Super clunky and amateurish narrative device of interludes written by another character; Sebastian’s letter reads like a mashup of Dexter monologues and Clarice’s memory of the screaming sheep, but by FAR the worse offender is Alicia’s diary, where we’re supposed to believe she painstakingly recorded ENTIRE CONVERSATIONS, BEAT-BY-BEAT DIALOGUE, even when she’s just been DRUGGED TO THE GILLS with morphine and has mere moments of consciousness left… and even before that, she literally takes the time to write “He's trying the windows and doors! ...Someone’s inside! Someone’s inside the house! ETC ETC” when she thinks her stalker has broken in downstairs. WHO DOES THAT?)

-> Speaking of dialogue, the dialogue is so bad. Based on his bio, Michaelides got a degree in screenwriting, which makes his terrible dialogue even more baffling.

-> HILARIOUSLY rendered voyeur scenes where the narrators spy on couples having sex. Such unintentionally awkward descriptions. First we had Kathy’s climax sounds through the trees and then the bowler hat carefully placed on a tombstone before the gatekeeper plows a student. Again, I died.

PLOT/"TWIST"

-> The CONSTANT red herrings make for such an exhausting read. Michaelides drops anvils with almost every character that are so obviously meant to designate them as suspects in our minds. There is absolutely no subtlety in his misdirections.

-> The “crossover” scene between the SP and The Maidens makes no sense - when in the timeline does Mariana’s story overlap with Theo’s? They confer just before Theo starts working at the Grove, obviously (though Mariana appears to be the one who alerts Theo to the job opening there? Whereas in the SP, Theo has been obsessively tracking Alicia since the murder and had already planned to apply to work there?), but then are we supposed to believe that while Theo has been psychotically pursuing his warped quest to “help” Alicia, he’s also been diligently treating Zoe, so invested in her case that he repeatedly reaches out to Mariana to get her to visit Zoe and even writes Mariana a lengthy letter to convince her to do so??? And then a couple days after The Maidens ends, Theo is arrested???

-> But the thing I really did hate the most is how Michaelides treats his female murderers (who are both also victims themselves) as mere means to deploy a “twist”; there’s no moment spared to encourage our sympathy for Zoe, who was groomed and manipulated by the only trusted father figure in her life, and even after spending a decent amount of time getting to know Alicia via her ridiculous diary, where it’s so apparent that she’s been demeaned, objectified, manipulated, gaslit, and/or used by EVERY man in her life, she’s sent packing to spend the rest of her days in a coma… HOW much more satisfying would it have been for her to succeed in exposing Theo and reclaiming her voice? But no, she basically rolls over when he comes to finish her off (SPEAKING OF — ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE THERE ARE NO SECURITY CAMERAS IN THIS INSTITUTE FOR THE CRIMINALLY INSANE????), writes one last diary entry, and drifts off forever. And then a couple pages of nothing later, the story is over. GOODNIGHT, ALICIA!

Both books kept me rolling throughout (by which I mean eye-rolling but also rotfl). Maybe I will check out his next effort — I’m morbidly curious what he’ll turn out. It does leave me wondering whether I should give up on thriller novels entirely, though. Are many of the weaknesses of these novels just characteristic of the genre? Maybe I'm just holding these books to unfair standards? I'm mostly only familiar with thriller films — many of which I think are amazing — but maybe you can get away with more in a film than you can in a novel.

...I really only intended to write a handful of bullet points, but more and more kept coming to mind as I wrote, to the point where subheadings became necessary. Whoopsie.

[wihyuned]

mun info .

name/alias: eun age: 21+ pronouns: she, her, hers timezone: kst discord: just ask me! little trivia fact about yourself: i function on min 6 cups of coffee every day

character info .

character name: hyun woorim age: thirty, 30 zodiac sign: capricorn group/band/position: founder & editor-in-chief of RiTZ info links or quick points about your character: stats / bio / headcanons

despised music until he went to college / before woorim was born, his father used to be a hotshot, famous songwriter, but later got exposed (framed? who knows) for plagiarism, which ended up fragmenting his family (father, a sad alcoholic, and mother, an overworked pediatrics nurse)  

used to be a real mama’s boy until she passed away bc of breast cancer when he was in high school / relied on his older brother a lot, who married off into a rich family + works for a conglomerate company (subtle inferiority complex)

attended hongik university, but not much interest in studying / main focus was his girl and later, RiTZ magazine that eventually blew up

the girl he met in college aka the reason why he started to love music (and started RiTZ!)

breakup burned him but the magazine got famous so who’s the real loser here 

tldr on personality ; cunning, selfish, ambitious, insensitive, methodical, charismatic ; he’s quick-witted and good with his words, a real sweet-talker, and can be extremely persuasive when he wants to 

hates being looked down upon and disrespected, and fully (with emphasis, fully) enjoys the power the magazine allows him to hold in the hongdae scene / it’s always fun for him to see desperation scurry up to him in human form and ask for a little praise

but all in all, everything bad (and good) about him makes him a good boss / organized down to a t and fiercely protective of his own employees unless they cross him

and he’s honest (to some extent) when it comes to his reviews / if you’re good, then he’ll tell you, you’re good ; just don’t be bad  

plots or any development you’d like to see for your character 

definitely the past ex who’s a musician, the heroine of his “i now love music” story! he was 22 when he met her and in college / she can be younger than him, but only by (max) 3 years

and other exes like from high school or maybe that three-month relationship he probably had after his heroine (that crashed and burned terribly) 

someone from RiTZ who helped out with the magazine since the very beginning and saw it take off

musicians/artists/fashion designers who consistently keep trying to catch his attention maybe they have something they can trade for a little praise in the magazine, like secrets or bought time?

a stalker-ish fan (or just plain stalker) would be fun ngl 

antagonistic relationships / always a sucker for angst and with a personality like his, it’s easy to make enemies, esp during first impressions

an ongoing or future love line(s) / he def has commitment issues but is too easily reeled in when he gets hooked on someone (and wears his heart on his sleeve in front of the person he’s fond of)

that one person woorim actually takes care of (despite him emphasizing independence) / like, are you going to burn the house down, and do you need him to cook? are you stuck in a dangerous part of town, and do you need him to pick you up? 

he’s a good fighter / maybe he saved your ass one time a few years back, and you’re one of the few people that’s seen him without all the power-hungry, insensitive facade 

would also love a one-sided crush thing !! which woorim fully knows about, doesn’t reciprocate, but never really cuts off bc he loves the manipulation and the attention

this can also go the other way, with him having his tongue and heart in a twist and he absolutely hates it

+ more bc i’m always down to plot and brainstorm so pls hmu if you would like to :’) you can always ask me for my discord acc or reach out through im 

[dreamer213]

Profiles

For the sake of continuity and simplification before I actually start this fanfic book/series I’m putting out some basic bios and head cannons on our two main characters and characters through out depending on their importance to the plot and how much I deviate from the cannon.

Name: Whitley Schnee

Age: 16

Gender: Male

DOB: December 21

Eye color: Blue

Hair color: White

Favorite foods: No preferences

Favorite drink: A cup of Earl Gary

Likes: Reading, Art, classical music, flowers, and small animals

Dislikes: His family, his home life, and his lack of freedom

Allies: Klein, Mary Shellor ( a manor maid) and Father(?)

Enemies: Weiss, Winter, Mother, and Father(?)

Personality: (outward) Cold, Brass, Charismatic, and Eloquent (inward) Scared, Weak, Lonesome, and Affection Starved.

Abilities:

Perfect Recall: Remembers everything he’s ever hear, seen, read, or done.

Strategic Mind: Can form plans with the information available to him and execute them with precision.

Persuasive Tongue: Is very good at talking his way in and out of most situations and can lie flawlessly even under pressure.

The youngest in family Whitley has often been forgotten by those in area him, especially his family. After years of trying to gain any attention from the people around him, he finally gives up when his older sister Weiss leaves home to become a huntress like their older sister Winter. And just like Winter, she leaves him in the care of their abusive Father and alcoholic mother with no intentions to contact them or to be contacted. Left abandon and hurt Whitley is forced to rely on his Father, the man who treats him more like a trained dog than a son, for support and instead becomes the sole focus of his tyranny. But after the fall of Beacon Weiss return but not for too long as after an argument with a guest Weiss causes such a ruckus that she is disinherited and locked in her room. She escapes later that same night, not before accusing Whitley of wanting all this to happen as if she knew him well enough to even think that, leaving him and the manor staff to deal with Father’s rage when he founds her gone…….again. One week later everything’s been swept under the rug and Father is hosting another party to apologize for the last, as if he hadn’t broken three vases, smashed a window, and thrown an antique clock a mere inch from his son and last heir’s head in a fit of rage. After another event of being Father’s mouth piece and apologizing for the sins of others Whitley is left jaded and retreats to a secluded balcony to get some air. He stood there hopelessly lost in this prison of silver and marble, he leans against the railing and looks up to the stars wondering if his life even worth living. During his introspection his leans back too far and falls into a two story drop. Luckily for him there was one kind soul at this party who seemed to hear his short scream and silent prayers. Before he drop to far he is grasped by a soft hand and sweet voice cries out for his attention. He looks up to see what he could only describe as an angel draped in colors of summer.

Name: Penny Poledina

Age: Appears To be 16

Gender: Female Android

DOC: June 19

Eye color: Green

Hair color: Orange

Favorite foods: Having only recently obtained the ability to eat and drink when her restoration included the addition of a state of the art artificial nervous system and a bio fuel converter, Penny still has too many types of food she hasn’t tried yet to decide a favorite.

Favorite drink: Root beer for some reason, she doesn’t really know why?

Likes: COMBAT! Scrapbooking, Sewing, Fairytales and Helping others

Dislikes: Working overtime, bad people, and not being able to make her own decisions

Allies: Her Dad, Team RWBY(?) Team FNKI, Winter(?) Ironwood (?)

Enemies: Robyn Hill, The Happy Huntresses, and Salem

Personally: (outward) Sweet but stiff Caring, a bit clumsy and social unaware (inward) Overworked, Insecure, and Unsure of her place in the world.

Abilities:

Retractable Swords: Sword hidden in Penny’s back that she call pull out and control at will

Rocket Boots: Removable Rocket boots that propel her through the air giving her the ability to fly and can be removed to and clasped into an inconspicuous handbag leaving Penny with normal legs when not in use. She carries a pair of socks and shoes in a backpack she takes everywhere.

Super Strength: Can lift objects several times her size with little effort and throw objects with intense strength and speed.

Lethally Adorable: If you weren’t told or saw it yourself you wouldn’t believe she was a military grade weapon.

After being brought back from the brink of death Penny is rebuilt better then ever. Her sense are heightened, she’s gained new ones like taste and smell, and has a more durable and polished appearance. This was issued to her not as any form of payment for her trauma or pity for her but instead was to make her easier to use in undercover operations and lessen the chances of her allowing herself to be damaged again. This becomes all too clear to her when after only a few hours of being up and functional again she sent straight to training then and back to the field for her next assignment. From there now her life becomes a set schedule protect Mantle, train with military hunters, fill out daily reports, and go home to recharge. With the addition of Robyn Hill and her Happy Huntresses the job quickly grows tiring for Penny. Having no life outside of work the only comfort Penny has is small talk between training sessions, mostly with Team FNKI Winter doesn’t like to talk much, and the warmth of coming home to a meal for two and some family time with her Dad. But Penny can’t help but want more. To hang out with friends, go to cafes, parties, maybe even attend one of Team FNKI’s concerts! Like a normal girl, one whose not a soldier, whose life isn’t ruled by the military, one whose body wasn’t made from metal and wires and paid for with government funds. But Penny can’t be that girl all she can do is dream about it. That’s just how things were for her until Ironwood showed up at her home, dressed in formal wear with a car, a dress, and shoes. He tells her to get changed then get in the car. After she’s dressed and they leave he informs her of the new information they have just verified. There is a mole amongst the Atlas elites feeding Robyn Hill information on the supply shipments. In order to catch the mole he’s excusing her from training and reassigning that time so she can infiltrate Atlas high society to find and capture them. To begin the investigation they are attending tonight’s Evening Party at the Schnee Manor and making introduction with the elites. W-What! Why her! Why was Penny of all people chosen for such an outrageous mission! Simple put it’s because Penny is the strongest hunter they have without an off putting appearance or any connection to Atlas, a perfect nobody. Once they get to the manor they split up to cover more ground, for a moment Penny’s in awe of the manor it was as though she walk into a castle from a storybook. She’s so caught up in the scenery she doesn’t notice the group behind her until she bumps into one of them. She tries to greet them but quickly gets a taste of Atlas upperclass hospitality. Terrified Penny retreats to an empty table at the furthest part of the ballroom. She sits there for hours contemplating how she could complete her mission until she hears a shout from the balcony next to her. Knowing a citizen’s cry for help. With a person in peril Penny waste no time and rushes to save them. And when she does what she finds is the most gorgeously doll like human she’s ever seen.

[dr-nero-is-god]

i felt the urge to riff on the hive streams for a little bit since discussion came up on the hive discord, namely, holding issue with the idea that the alpha stream is inconsistent in that it is about leadership when otto is the only leader, and that it’s also possible that the alphas are just kids with specialized skills, and not actually bonded by any particular unifying element.

and, in response, @vulpix-sinistre brought up a quote from the abridged hive fanfic, that goes something like: “there are four streams: main characters, stereotypical bullies, ?, and nerds.”

and i disagree with the first two ideas, but almost completely agree with the abridged fic quote. that is pretty much how the streams work, and it is IMPORTANT that that is how the streams work. 

in the end, you may conclude that the streams system still doesn’t make sense. you won’t be like “well clearly dr. nero was just logically dividing the labor of his students to reflect a specialized training program” because it’s more complicated on that. i  hate to do this to y’all, but a lot of everything streams-related requires an out-of-book explanation to get where you’re going, but i can promise that i will at least try to go

first, let’s think about why h.i.v.e. would have streams at all

on the one hand, it’s inescapable to consider that one primary reason that hive has streams is because harry potter had houses, and for the same reason that percy jackson had cabins, the 39 clues had branches, hunger games had sections (or counties, idk), divergent had factions, and so on and so on. the rise of fandom spaces on the internet was concurrent with a big ya/mg boom in the post-2005 world (after twilight was published), and within those fandom spaces it became important to identify with an aspect of the fantasy world as part of your personality. that became a very marketable thing for a while, and so separating children into streams would, to a publisher, seem like a pretty solid storytelling choice.

however! the alpha stream is not the same as gryffindor house. on the one hand, it seems easy to make an alpha/gryffindor and henchman/slytherin parallel, because one group is good (relatively) and one is bad (or at least antagonistic). but it doesn’t work because while slytherin has a reputation for constituents of poor moral character (which has been largely revised in fanon), being a henchman is where you go, according to the books, if you are unintelligent and burly. it’s not a really sexy stream, is what i’m trying to say. and though there are undoubtedly some readers who would look at the henchman stream and see themselves, i think the majority of readers would likely find the henchman stream a completely undesirable stream to be in. 

and, given how little importance the role of streams have after the first book, i will go out on a limb and say that mark walden knows that the henchman stream is unsexy. we aren’t interested in the hopes and dreams and motivations of the henchman stream; as we learn in book two, the ideal henchman is weak-minded and easily led—so what dreams would they even have? this leads me to conclude that while mark walden might have sold h.i.v.e. on the “there are personality-based groups in the school!” idea, he had something completely else in mind when he started writing and that, I think, is actually far more interesting.

but really, why would h.i.v.e. have streams at all

a few things about mark walden: 1) he studied english lit in school, 2) he has a background as a video game producers, and 3) he likes james bond. i know the first two things because i have read his bio and i know the third thing because i have read his books in conjunction with seeing all the james bond films. so we will call 1-3 facts. 

if you are wondering what a lit degree, video game production, and the james bond franchise all have in common, then let me connect those dots: all three of those things depend heavily on the study and understanding of repetitive structure in storytelling as an interpreter and creator of meaning. each one of these fields requires an understanding of how stories and words work to create meaning in order to be successful. 

and, to quote mr. walden here directly (sourced from this here link):

“So, I was playing with this cat one day and it got me thinking that those old-school Bond villains always just seemed to appear out of thin air with very little back story and that got me thinking about how they became world- conquering megalomaniacs in the first place.  It was only a short mental walk from there to HIVE.”

so, imagine you’re a writer trying to tell a story about a school for villains like those in james bond—you’ve studied storycraft and you have a lot of experience in a job finding believable and compelling obstacles for people to interact with in video games. you have noticed patterns. and you need to make those patterns work for you.

enter: streams

i have watched all the james bond movies (all of ‘em) (i mean it) (just not the unreleased one yet lol) and you know what? 

there’s probably just about four kinds of villains in those movies.

henchmen include the likes of jaws, oddjob, and tee hee. often physically disabled in a cinematically interesting way, these guys are the muscles and the machines in every bond film. they are the ones who tail bond as he takes long train rides and who try to personally throw him into shark tanks. they are the hands and feet of their evil masters and they don’t have a lot of emotional depth or backstory. 

politicians/financiers abound in the james bond franchise because he is a government employee who often hangs out with other government employees (he has no friends). these people are like colonel rosa klebb, georgi koskov, prince kamal khan. there are a lot more, as a matter of fact, because the whole point of james bond is that they are in the cold war and even people without titles have political and financial motivations for screwing around with stuff. these types of villains depend on being well and truly embedded in an existing infrastructure or hierarchy, somebody who worked their way up from being a foot soldier or clerk into a powerful leadership position that gives them a lot of state-sanctioned trust and authority.

technicians and inventors include folks like henry gupta and boris grishenko, who use technology as their primary weapon. they are often inventors or innovators and are really good at making high-tech stuff. however, i think this stream is also a direct result of the character Q, someone who is actually on James Bond’s team and who runs an entire department of people who test sometimes outlandish gadgets for Bond to use in the field. (but we love the gadgets. they are fun.) in other words, Bond arguably has a technical stream at his disposal in MI6, which means the idea isn’t necessarily evil, but, likewise, our James Bond School also needs Qs. it’s the rules. if you are familiar with Q from James Bond at all then you understand

and that leaves us with alphas... the “supervillains.” these are the famous ones. dr. no. mr. big. scaramanga. le chiffre. blofeld. max zorin. emilio largo. goldfinger. these are the ones with the master plan, the dreams to recreate the world as they see it, the passion to see their desires to fulfillment and the resources to make them happen. they are rich. they are fancy. they are larger than life. is it weird that karl stromberg tries to incite a nuclear war between Britain and the USSR so that a lot of people can die so that he can colonize the ocean? yes. but by god, it’s fancy and dramatic, and that’s what counts. 

are there other kinds of villains? oh, definitely. lots more. but you have to understand, that those kinds of villains generally don’t appear in Bond. sometimes! but it’s not a staple. for example, not many people in the bond films are motivated by revenge because each movie is kind of designed to function as a one-shot. villains don’t come back and so there is no revenge. the villain who gets the most notable reprise, jaws, actually ends up finding his true love in space. 

compare: every movie is going to have henchmen. every movie has government stooges making morally questionable decisions. (almost) every movie has Q, or some gadget stuff going on. and every movie has a big bad that has to be better than the last. 

so that explains why the streams are what they are. 

it was a jumping-off point for mark walden to figure out what this universe might look like and how different character types need to function. consider that while the core four are all alphas and are kind of insulated as a group, the teachers all kind of roughly align with one of these groups. colonel francisco, raven, and chief lewis are henchmen types, doing on-the-ground work to get stuff done. ms. tennenbaum and the contessa are political af, they are all about the corruption and infiltrating institutional power. ms. gonzales, ms. leon, and professor pike all have technical skills that help keep an organization moving forward. and over them all is the singular alpha, dr. nero, who is coordinating and monitoring it all for his own evil plan: to run a high school.

honestly, dr. nero’s hive idea operates just like a james bond villain plot! it works, or it does when pitching the idea. the problem is that the books continued after the pitch did, and with worldbuilding came some complications. namely, the fact that the megastructure of james bond villainy does not replicate well into a small friend group on which the narration focuses. so let’s return to the question presented at the beginning:

how can alphas really be alphas when not everyone on the field trip can be a mastermind?

i’m gonna give this to you in two ways. one, the way i personally interpret it as an in-universe explanation, given the background premises we have already established. and the other, why the stream system kind of ruins the structure it sets out to create.

so, for me, the alphas can be alphas because there is more to villainy than being a mastermind and there is more to being a mastermind than being in charge. as i think about it, this novelization is actually the backstory for every one of the students, who will go on to do great and scary things. they will manage big projects and come up with interesting ways to terrorize the British government, because that is what James Bond villains do (and James Bond does canonically exist in their universe). much like your actual teenage years, this is not the main event.

as students, the core four need to learn to do a little bit of everything. you gotta learn some lock-picking, that’s essential. everyone has to be able to climb a rock wall. it’s the rules. and everyone needs to be able to do some programming. that’s just the way school is. though everyone has a different personality and a different way of looking at the world, their education has to cover the basics because the fact of the matter is, none of them are villains yet. will they become one? that remains to be seen. but they are being given the tools to become the greatest villains if that is something they choose. 

the main problem that remains when holding this attitude is that the specialized skills of otto and his friends might be better suited to other streams, in which case, what is an alpha anyways?

here’s the facts: if everyone were assigned to a stream by talent, then there wouldn’t be an alpha stream.

franz? political/financial stream. 

nigel? laura? otto? technical stream.

shelby? wing? henchman stream. 

you can debate me on the specifics of those assignments, but the point is this: all the other streams are based on hard skills. franz can manage a ledger and that is a financial skill. laura can build a computer from scratch and that is a technical skill. wing can do martial arts, and each martial art is a physical skill that can be taught and performed in a measurable level of proficiency. 

the idea of being a “mastermind” is a much softer skill—which is to say, there’s no one recipe that will make it work. my manager at work has coached me by saying that leadership is often about having a “style,” and working at it that way. leadership requires interpersonal flexibility, being able to stay organized and to make important decisions rapidly, it is about being able to prioritize and delegate. and it’s very much open to interpretation, every day, all the time. 

let me tell you something else about james bond: there is a lot of classism, racism, and sexism embedded into every aspect of those films, but that goes for double when it comes to the villains in the show. to vastly oversimplify that very concept, it shows up in the bond films like this: henchmen are working class folks, the villainous equivalent of “the help,” and the supervillains are (usually) rich and glamorous and powerful. henchmen are uneducated (read as: stupid) and ugly and poor. no one cares if they die. (there’s more complexities, as always, but this essay isn’t actually about james bond so we’ll fast forward through My Opinions to the end)

the problem with replicating james bond in your villain school universe is that some of the biases of the james bond universe get replicated in there, too. poor and uneducated folks get turned into disposable henchmen whose lives are irrelevant. people who are educated and talented get fast-tracked to a more glamorous and interesting stream that will catapult them to the top of the ladder as soon as they graduate. if you look at the dialect with which block and tackle are written, they are clearly meant to be seen as a different social class than otto, despite the fact that otto is coming from basically nothing. and we understand that when otto graduates, he will be able to do basically anything that he wants to at all.

so, if you’re asking why wing has a role in the alpha stream when he doesn’t seem as leader-y as otto, there’s a simple answer: because dr. nero believes that wing can be more.

the climax of book one is dr. nero explicitly telling otto, wing, laura, and shelby that they are in his school because he believes in them and he wants to see them grow. they are given an elite status other students do not have despite the fact that they have just literally tried to escape. as we see in the case of duncan cavendish, the main way to get on that highway to a guaranteed career is to convince him that you’ve “got it.” for those who are not believed in, there is no way to make up for the special grooming. you’re stuck with the stream you’re placed in, doomed (perhaps) to be a second-in-command at best.

is all this intentional? probably not. but it is implicit in the structure of the story and, alas, that’s the way it is.

all i can think to say in conclusion is that while the stream system tends to replicate some of the unfair and classist realities present in other media and the world we live in, i think part of the reason we read h.i.v.e. is because the alpha stream is so appealing. imagine! you are competent and you have a desirable, specialized skill as well as a proficiency in many general skills and you are certain you are going to do good things—and all because someone believes in you. to receive someone else’s support and confidence can be life-changing. the magic of h.i.v.e. is that yes—lives are changed and ordinary, boring people were elevated to the level of supervillains. we are only left to wonder, are they the only people who deserved that honor?

[rpgsandbox]

The Gaia Complex is a cyberpunk RPG set on earth in 2119. Towards the end of the 21st century, the third world war, which became known as the Resource War, pushed mankind to the brink of destruction and brought ruin to the Earth’s atmosphere. Small pockets of humanity survived this horrific conflict, eventually forming the eleven metropolises. These incredible mega-cities have since grown and prospered, largely due to developments in atmospheric processing and significant technological advancements. Now cut off from each other, these heaving urban landscapes must each face their own difficulties and hardships. The Gaia Complex focuses on the largest of these metropolises; New Europe, a single sprawling city that covers much of what we currently know as mainland Europe. New Europe is a world of street violence, corporate espionage, vampiric uprisings and an overzealous A.I., known as Gaia, which functions as the city’s governor and the protector of its citizens.

The Gaia Complex is a dystopian world of urban violence, exploring the age of cybernetic enhancement through a vision of Earth that is somehow ‘changed’. This vision of the future injects both vampires and a strange species of people known as ferals, who are able to enter the minds of animals. This is a game of conspiracy and brutality, where players take on the roles of Mercs; former police officers, hackers and street-savvy dealers who are hired to fight back against the system and ultimately unravel the secrets of The Gaia Complex.

Of course we'd love you to back this campaign and be a part of making The Gaia Complex a reality, but before you do, maybe you want to give it a whirl for yourself? Good news - you can do this right now.

While this campaign and the updates throughout will talk about the game setting and rules, our free (well, 'pay what you want', but please, enter £0 and just grab a copy!) 48-page Quick Start for The Gaia Complex is out right now and will allow you to read and play for yourselves. This PDF contains a huge amount of lore surrounding the game, offering an in-depth insight to the world of The Gaia Complex and what it means to be a Merc in 2119. In addition, the booklet is jammed full of gorgeous artwork and gives you a good idea of what to expect from the full core book.

Go and grab your copy of the Quick Start by clicking this link

                   The cast of playable characters from the Quick Start

The Gaia Complex core book will be 'at least' 256 pages of full-colour hardback beauty - take a look at the Quick Start for a general idea about how it will look. We say 'at least' as we have a whole host of extra content that we might just squeeze in, either through stretch goals, or because we end up deciding certain things just need to be there.

At the time of launch, the core book writing is roughly 90% complete and layout for final proof-reading has already been completed for some chapters - this is a significant strength for this project, having completed so much of the writing ahead of launch. Artwork at this point is around 40% complete and new art is in the pipeline to be finished (and shown off) during the campaign. The art direction for this book is very important and great care is being taken to ensure the visuals support the writing as closely as possible.

The structure of the book is split over 12 chapters, plus an NPC (non-player character) library at the end. We'll go into more detail about the chapters over the coming weeks via the campaign updates, sharing some key information as we go. Alongside the rules, background and resources for playing the game, the book also includes multiple pieces of short fiction that slowly unfold the real story behind The Gaia Complex. These stories, and the characters they describe, lay the foundation for the world in which the game is set and allow us to explore New Europe in 2119 in much more cinematic detail.

The engine behind The Gaia Complex is called 12.3 and can be taken for a test drive in our Quick Start by clicking HERE.

The basis of the system uses 2d12 (that's two twelve sided dice - but you're all roleplayers, so I'm sure you knew that!) to make the majority of tests on a 'roll under' basis. Whenever a test is required, the GM determines a potential difficulty for the test, ranging from 1 (easy for a child to accomplish) to 11 (impossibly hard). A character will compare the difficulty to their relevant statistic and if the stat is equal to or greater than the difficulty, the test is a success - There is an emphasis in the game on keeping the action flowing and not making tests unless they are really needed.

If the character's stat is less than the difficulty, a test is required: the player rolls 2d12, requiring a result that is equal to or less than their relevant stat. An 11 fails (without cybernetic enhancement) and a 12 is a Critical Failure. To pass, a character requires one or both d12s to succeed depending on whether they are skilled or unskilled - The Gaia Complex does not consider 'ranks' in various skills like the majority of RPGs, instead a character either possesses a skill or does not (though becoming a specialist in certain skills is possible).

During combat, d3s are also used to determine damage - you can use funky d3s like the ones available on this campaign, or simply use common d6. The engine for the game uses d3s to enable a more consistant result when rolling multiple dice together and to remove the chance of whiffing a result of a 1 in situations that should always achieve a minium degree of success (thus 3d3+3 damage represents a weapon with more consistent output than one that does 1d12 damage) .

Of course, the game includes many other rules - some core, some optional - covering a huge array of options, but at its root, the game falls back on 12.3 to keep it rolling (pun intended).

During the course of the campaign we'll dedicate a couple of updates to specific areas of the rules and give you a deep dive into them beyond what you can get your hands on in the Quick Start.

Characters in The Gaia Complex are known as Mercs. At their core, Mercs are citizens of New Europe who have chosen to rebel against the system and take up arms by making themselves available on the freelance market. The seedy clubs and bars of NeoMunich are the most common place to find Mercs and while their work is entirely illegal, there is enough anonymity that it isn't worth the expenditure of resources for Gaia or its police force to worry about shutting down the network.

Most Mercs are hired to run jobs against one of the many corporations in the metropolis. From hacking R&D servers to kidnapping, assassinating or Bio Hacking company execs; there are few limits when it comes to taking a job. Ironically, the primary employers are the corporations themselves, all looking to get a leg up over their rivals, employing Mercs to do the dirty work in order to maintain complete deniability. Of course, it's not just the heaving corporations that are the enemy; outsider vampires that lurk in the subway tunnels and outer fringes of the metropolis, the cybernetic police force controlled by the LE1 A.I. subsystem, or even Gaia itself - the all seeing ruler of the metropolis - everyone is a potential mark if the score looks big enough!

The core rules contains a detailed character creation process, allowing players to play either human or feral (a mysterious group of people who can enter the minds of the metropolis' animals) characters from one of ten varied roles, each with their own unique rules, benefits and style. Characters can choose from:

Operator - Former law enforcement, corporate security and guns-for-hire that pack the hottest weapon tech that the black market has to offer.

Core Hacker - Hackers and coders who live their lives in the digital pathways of The Core.

Bio Hacker - A new wave of hacker, dedicated to hacking the cybernetic brains of their targets and inducing 'forced servitude'.

ParaMed - Former TactaMed paramedics who have realised they can earn more money patching up Mercs by being one of them!

CyberDoc - Back-alley hackjob specialists and cybernetic installers. An often riskier, but cheaper approach, to main stream cybernetics clinics.

MilTech - Weapons techs, tinkerers and specialist drone pilots. MilTechs keep the team's gear working and provide invaluable technical support.

Mech - Drivers, pilots and expert mechanics. Mechs keep the metropolis rolling and give Merc teams much needed access to reliable transportation.

Tech Trader - Black market dealers, handling everything from illegal weapons and stolen cybernetics, to narcotics and false credentials.

Data Dealer - Information traffickers and dealers of stolen secrets. If there is something worth knowing, you can probably buy it... for a price.

Handler - Exclusive to ferals. Handlers have dedicated themselves to honing the feral's ability to step into the mind of an animal. This is the feral in their purest form.

We'll be taking a more in-depth look into each of these roles as the campaign unfolds.

Kickstarter campaign ends: Wed, October 7 2020 6:59 PM BST

Website: [The Gaia Complex] [facebook] [twitter]

[radley-writes]

Congratulations on getting published! That sounds absolutely amazing!! 🎉🎉 Do you have any tips on the querying process? Anything that worked for you / didn’t work / anything you think would be useful for people to know? Congratulations again and thank you!

Thank you so much! I will say - I’m not published yet, I just have a publisher! I still have a way to go~

What a great question. Queries, bane of writer-kind...

I won’t go over the absolute basics - you’ll find plenty of resources on Google! But below is a little insight into what helped me.

This is Basic Bitch stuff, but follow the standard format. Address the agent by name, only offer enough of the plot to leave them salivating (save spoilers for the synopsis!), include comp titles and a line of bio, and finish with ‘thank you for your time and consideration’. There are plenty-o more details on Google, but the easiest way to elevate yourself from the folks who query without doing any research, is to 1) RESEARCH and 2) play to convention.

Obviously, some authors go buck-wild in their queries and land an agent anyway. Going off-script might work if you have an exceedingly quirky concept. But it’s still a risk. Why needlessly hamper your chances? 

In terms of structure, your query wants to nail 1) main character 2) instigating incident and 3) stakes. Don’t stray from those points! 

Obviously, you need the broad strokes of your world  - but we’re talking broad, broad strokes. Don’t get lost in explaining the intricate details. It’s okay to simplify concepts within reason.

Yes, I said main character, singular. I know, I know. Multi-character POV and cross-threaded plots makes query-writing way tougher. But try and isolate the central, prime mover of your story. Two, max. You have 250-ish words to get your concept across. Don’t waste them.

Similarly, when introducing side characters, stick to the ones with the most emotional weight! The love interest who faces execution if the MC’s secret is revealed might deserve a sentence or two. The brother whose sole plot function is to introduce the MC to the secret society of alien-hunters might not need mentioning at all... even if the secret society does.

Keep your syntax readable. This isn’t the time for run-on sentences or convoluted metaphors. Have at least one other person read your query before you send it. For bonus points, have them read it quickly, and only once, then report back on how much sense it made.

Beyond that...

I’m the first to admit I got incredibly lucky with Strictly No Heroics. I sent all of... 10 queries, I think? 

This is unusual. The best advice is not to consider giving up until you’ve sent 100.

The reason I say ‘I got lucky’ rather than stoking everyone’s admiration of my epic writerly talents (/s) is because 1) I happened to start querying just in time for #PitMad (although, as far as I’ve seen, agent interest in this pitch party has waned) and 2) I hit a sweet spot of high concept and tone that happened to tickle many fancies.

And, y’know, I’ve got a pretty cool book. Not to brag.

The point is: you can have an incredible book that doesn’t get published because it’s difficult to market as a debut - especially if you’re entering the industry like most of us schmucks, without high-up connections and networks pre-built.

So, the last (and perhaps most important) step to querying... accept that luck will come into play, as well as skill & persistence. 

I won’t say ‘enter into the querying process with low expectations’ -  because y’know what? You should love your manuscript! You should be proud to have reached this phase! The vast majority of folks who start writing a novel never finish it - you’ve already beaten that statistic!

But at the same time, I think querying writers need to... harden their shells in preparation for all those form rejections. Or, far worse, the ghosting. If you can, gather a group of friends in the community - especially those who’ve been in the query trenches before. They’ll celebrate your wins and commiserate the no-replies.

Enter into querying, not with the mindset of ‘rejections mean my manuscript is bad’, but ‘rejections mean my manuscript may not suit the current market, even though it’s awesome’. Remember, kids: at the root of all evil lies capitalism!

[multiverseofmiracleshq]

hey, hey, hey! it’s a lovely sunday night and a perfect time to resurrect our old tradition of weekly updates that help keep everyone to date. hope you’ve missed ‘em, because this one’s gonna be a doozy. let’s break it down ~~

SECTION I. NEW LOOK, NEW US

over the past seven years ( holy freaking shit ) we’ve changed our url and overall aesthetic to fit where the mcu // group is at. our group is strongly based in the multiverse and centers on characters && plots from different realities, hence its new inclusion in our name. the miracles is just a lil’ throwback to our nothing more horrifying than a miracle url, theageofmiraclesrp. make sure to check out our new tags on the main!

another update: we also welcomed two new members!

SECTION II. WHAT TIME IS IT?

the current year in the group is 2025. we made the five year jump along with endgame, but while the mcu has been back in 2023 we’ve moved forward organically. as a result, all mcu plots will be updated to fit into our current timeline. you’ll find explanations for how that works during each specific plot.

SECTION III-A. PLOTS & ARCS: THE PAST

we just wrapped up our wandavision event and you can expect a plot recap to be coming out in the next 1-2 weeks depending on how on top of our shit we are. our version of wandavision will be considered canon within the group and we will make official announcements if anything is added. characters featured in wandavision ( darcy lewis, jimmy woo, etc ) are very much still welcome.

SECTION III-B. PLOTS & ARCS: THE PRESENT

our annual christmas event was ( unfortunately ) derailed this year, but we’re giving it a spring twist. we’ll be doing an abbreviated version of the twelve days of christmas miracles, aka, ten days of spring surprises. we’ll be dropping more info soon, but get your questionnaire’s ready !! this will function as our intermission before our next major event.

SECTION III-C. PLOTS & ARCS: THE FUTURE

as it stands, we are currently not completely implementing the falcon & the winter soldier story arc until the show is a little more developed. you’ll see pieces though, and we would LOVE to see characters like sharon carter, james rupert rhodes or joaquin torres around in the group. keep your eye out for how the plot will unfold in our canon!

SECTION V. SPOILERS

due to the high amount of content, there will be spoilers on the main for the various disney/mcu projects. we’ll tag when we can, but this is also a general spoiler alert -- especially since we use new marvel plot points actively in our own canon.

SECTION VI. ACTIVITY

life can come at ya hard && fast, something we all know. after a brief lull, things have been picking up and we’d love to keep it that way. let us know if you need a hiatus and we’ll get you organized. otherwise, we’re sticking with our preexisting activity rules to hold us all accountable. we’re all guilty of dropping the ball but with good communication we can cut down on it.

SECTION VII. STARTERS

since we’re entering a new season, we’re temporarily putting a hold on the rule so that members can post up to date starters. after a week we’ll ask that you please refrain from doing so once more until the other ones hit ten notes, as per the normal rule. this should help purge some out of date threads and give lots of new opportunities for interactions. 

SECTION VIII. MAIN && BIO RENOVATIONS

our main has been made very pretty with some new graphics by ~admin lex and we’re continuously working to make it the best // easiest information hub possible. in the future, you can look forward to pages about teams, the multiverse and events. we deleted all of our bios for renovations but will be rolling out new bios over time that are in line with the group and our canon.

SECTION IX. IN SUMMARY

A. main has a new url !!

B. the year is 2025 in canon

C1. wandavision is over :(

C2. we’ll be doing a character driven mini event next 

C3. falcon & the winter soldier will come one day, but not today

D. spoilers will be tagged when possible, but will be present around the main

E. activity rules remain the same && communication is key

F. we’re encouraging people to post new starters to update threads

G. the main is still being revamped with bios to follow

H. GIVE THIS A HEART SO WE KNOW YOU READ IT

[londonspirit]

Occasionally, Dan Levy will pick up his phone and send a text: “Can you believe it?” These messages are sent to Annie Murphy or Noah Reid or Emily Hampshire or Karen Robinson, former inhabitants of Schitt’s Creek, titular town of the series Levy co-created with his identically-browed father, Eugene. What Levy can’t quite believe is that a CBC and Pop network show that aired in the U.S. after reruns of The Young and the Restless became a no-shit international phenomenon and won every major 2020 comedy Emmy from Outstanding Series to Outstanding Contemporary Costumes, plus awards for the show’s four main cast members: Levy, Levy the elder, Murphy, and Catherine O’Hara.

Not that Levy has any qualms about the best thing that’s ever happened to him. Or, more accurately, the best thing he’s ever made happen: In addition to creating, writing, and starring as skeptical scion David Rose on Schitt's Creek, Levy occasionally directed episodes and sourced many of the award-winning costumes. But the endless wretchedness of 2020 is perhaps an inopportune time to publicly garner good fortune.

“What this year has done has opened so many people's eyes to so much of the social unrest that is happening in America and really forced people to learn more,” Levy says, sitting in the bland Toronto apartment the 37-year-old is temporarily renting until he can head back to LA. “Read more. Educate themselves more. Check their privilege more. And yet…” Levy’s magnificent eyebrows unfold from a furrow of probity to an arch of delight, and his mouth into a crooked tilde of a smile. “There are moments when I think it is important for your sense of self to also be OK to say, ‘Something good happened to me this year, and I worked really hard for it.’ And so did a group of really talented people that I love. You're kind of caught in this place where only you can talk about it amongst yourselves.” Levy’s conversations with his co-stars are couched in language familiar to anyone who doesn’t want to give off the vibe of an Instagram caption on a pandemic birthday trip to a private island: "Well, obviously, you know, this is not of much significance" compared to everything else that’s going on. Still, Levy has to acknowledge that, yes, a good thing did happen; after all, he says, “You're talking about breaking records at the Emmys!”

Since he began social distancing, Levy has engaged in something like a fame-offset program, matching his good fortune by taking, publicizing, and raising money for University of Alberta’s online Indigenous Canada course. Levy’s queasiness about his success happening with a 2020 backdrop seems to stem from goodness so pervasive he’s caught himself thinking, Am I going to seem too, like, sincere? (When I ask if he believes he’s a good person, Levy frets, “Is being a good person something you can proclaim? Or is being a good person something that someone has to observe about you?”)

And Schitt’s Creek itself is an oasis of kindness — it doesn’t seem coincidental that after a slow five-season ascent, the show’s viewership exploded in its final year as we quarantined with our own bad thoughts. Levy has said that the arc of the Rose family — a “Balenciaga” to “consignment Balenciaga” to “back to current season Balenciaga” story — is based on the question, “Would the Kardashians still be the Kardashians without their money?” To Levy, the answer is obvious: Yes, and they would be better for it because, he says, “There is a love to that family.” So of course when the Roses lose the fortune amassed from a video rental empire and are forced to move to a Canadian town purchased as a novelty gift, they learn what truly matters.

Levy’s father and collaborator, Eugene, who co-wrote Christopher Guest films Best In Show and A Mighty Wind, says, “There are people who work in the world of comedy where they like to push envelopes in terms of what they can get away with, but that may come at the expense of other people. If it's at all important to you to avoid then you, you know, avoid it.” With the notable exception of programs like The Great British Bake Off — Levy, naturally, used to host the Canadian iteration — it is quite a bit more difficult to be entertaining and kind than entertaining and cruel. But Dan Levy attributes some of Schitt’s Creek’s success to what he calls “a purity to the storytelling and the show that caught people off guard because it was so unexpectedly sincere.” “There was something badass about the fact that it didn't have the kind of edge that people had often equated with cable comedies,” he says.

Making Schitt’s Creek a source of goodness and light was an unrelenting crush for Levy. “How much anger and rage do I have to repress in order to get the light out?” he says, laughing and stroking his elderly dog, Redmond, so vigorously I worry about ginger fur getting on Levy’s David Rose-appropriate black and white JW Anderson T-shirt. “Um, at times a lot.”

When Levy was working on Schitt’s Creek, he was picked up every morning at 5 a.m. and driven to set, where he would rehearse and rewrite scenes. Next was making decisions about sets and wardrobe fittings for cast members like O’Hara. Moira Rose, the actor mother of Levy’s character with a grandeur as flamboyant as her choice of syllable emphasis, might have to go to meet someone who makes her feel exposed. Levy would supervise an outfit selection that functioned as a billboard for her emotional state. “How do you express vulnerability?” Levy asks. “Well, you put more clothes on, and more aggressive clothes on, so as to armor yourself.” Levy needed to approve budgets, which didn’t increase even as the show gained more attention. He would act and sometimes direct, and then be back in wardrobe picking out the right statement necklaces for O’Hara to wear to buy a used car.

After filming ended, Levy went to the writers’ room to work for a couple more hours. He’d get home at 8 p.m., quickly eat dinner, and write until 2 a.m. on some nights. Then he’d sleep for two hours and get in the car to go back to work at 5 a.m. When shooting wrapped for the year, Levy went into post-production, spending months in windowless rooms. Once a season was finally completed, preparation would begin for the next one. Levy charged himself with making sure every detail connected to each other and tracked with the personal histories he and Eugene had written for each character before the series began. Eugene can remember only one deviation from those bios during the entire run of the show. Originally, the father of motel employee Stevie had been a roadie for Fleetwood Mac before receiving a restraining order from the band; the detail was later transferred to the father of diner waitress Twyla, who was played by Levy’s sister, Sarah. Several times during the run of the series, Levy developed anxiety so literally paralyzing that his neck would seize up, forcing him to wear a brace and receive chiropractic treatments between scenes.

“Through every phase of Schitt's Creek,” Eugene says, “Dan had a very strong sense as to what it was he wanted the show to look like and what he wanted it to sound like and what the tone of the show was going to be and what the message of the show would be. He certainly makes himself responsible to make these things happen. He doesn't go with the flow at all.”

Total control let Levy create a perfectly realized world, from the menu size in the Café Tropical to the caws in Moira’s comeback film The Crows Have Eyes III: The Crowening. But it’s perhaps not the healthiest arrangement when the confines of quarantine feel normal to you. “Over the past six years,” Levy says, “I really haven't been outside that much.”

When he was a boy, Levy became so anxious that he did not want to attend birthday parties. He did not want to go to summer camp. He did not, in fact, want to engage in any social situations. Levy’s anxiety physically manifested as iritis, an inflammation of the eye which doctors feared would eventually take his vision. It was as if the anxiety that drove Levy indoors had then decided to draw all the curtains.

“I think that came from a deep-rooted fear of knowing that I was gay and not being able to be free,” Levy says now. “By the time I got to high school, when your brain is starting to catch up to your physical impulses, it led to a very confusing time. Because on the one hand, you are now being introduced to things like self-awareness and anxiety. At the same time, you’re becoming more and more savvy when it comes to hiding it.”

The escape was theater. Levy began writing, directing, and performing in school plays, including a student-run stage adaptation of Clue produced during a teacher’s strike. “I was starting to develop a sense of confidence by way of being able to entertain people,” Levy says. “It was like a decoy version of myself that I was putting out there to not have to live with the reality that when the bullying was happening — if someone was calling me a f----t or whatever it was — they were speaking the truth.” What a cursed blessing to discover you have a gift but to understand it as a distraction from who you really are and not as a true part of yourself. No wonder that Levy says of creating a persona — naturally, in the self-distancing second person — “Your sense of self gets chipped away. You lose sight of your own value.”

Levy had a ticker of fears scrolling through his mind broadcasting what might happen if people knew who he really was: “Fear of being ridiculed. Fear of being othered. Fear of exposing something that I think a lot of high school students at the time didn't have the tools to process properly, to make it comfortable for me.”

Then, when he was 18, Levy came out. Actually, his mother, Deborah Divine, invited Levy to come out, over lunch. Levy accepted, and was accepted in return. It was one version of an inflection point that Levy has explored in some of his most impactful work. In Happiest Season, Hulu’s lesbian Christmas rom-com, Levy delivers the film’s high point in a monologue; filmmaker Clea DuVall tells me, “I cried during every take.”

“Everybody’s story is different,” Levy’s John says to Kristen Stewart’s Abby, who is planning to propose to a woman whose family doesn’t know she’s queer. “But the one thing that all of those stories have in common is that moment right before you say those words, when your heart is racing and you don’t know what’s coming next,” John goes on. “That moment’s really terrifying. And then once you say those words, you can’t unsay them. A chapter has ended and a new one’s begun, and you have to be ready for that.”

On the Schitt’s Creek episode “Meet the Parents,” David’s future in-laws discover their son Patrick is gay before he can come out to them. “Did we do something wrong, David?” Patrick’s father asks, inadvertently head-faking homophobia before saying, “The thought that Patrick was feeling like he couldn't come and talk to us about this…”

Obviously not everyone who comes out gets the response they’re hoping for. But like Patrick, Levy had a happy ending sitting in front of him: accepting and caring parents wondering when their son was going to tell them he was gay and trying to respect his timeline for doing so. When I ask Eugene if it’s painful knowing that he could have potentially alleviated the anxiety Levy was feeling by approaching him sooner, he concurs. “I would have done things so much differently, you know?” Eugene says slowly. “I would have gotten more involved in talking about what was going on.” But he doesn’t know that it would have changed anything — after all, the flow goes with Levy. “Not necessarily that we would have gotten any direct answers,” Eugene says. “You can only get back what you get back.” (Levy confirms he was not ready to discuss his sexuality before he was; despite his parents’ openness and love, he had created Schrödinger’s Eugene and Deb in his head, simultaneously welcoming him and rejecting him at the news.)

Newly out, Levy went to college and began dating. However, he says, “I was not in any place to be of great value in a relationship.” Like David Rose, Levy’s pitch tends to ascend on the back half of sentences, making him sound like he’s interrogating his own thought process. “You then get into these habits where you're dating people who are totally wrong for you because they're seeking out people who are a bit damaged,” Levy says, “and you're seeking out people who have one foot out the door so that you don't actually give yourself over in any kind of way.” (After I mention that while watching Happiest Season, I wanted Stewart’s character to dump her semi-emotionally damaging girlfriend and leave with Levy, he says, “In this conversation, I'm brought back to many a relationship [where] ‘RUN’ was just, like, the subtitle flashing for about a year and a half of my life.”)

Dating, then, became another way to keep people out. “I really got to a point where I felt like if I didn't make an active choice to pull myself out of this shell that was becoming such a comfort,” Levy says, “I would not be the adult that I want to be.” He spent a summer in England, answering phones at the ICM talent agency as exposure therapy for speaking, unscripted, to strangers. A month and a half later, he auditioned to be a host on MTV Canada. Levy says it was “the ultimate exercise in pushing myself and getting myself out there. If I could get a job on television asking other people questions — which had previously been on the top five things that I would never want to do — this could be the final kind of exercise in changing myself for the better.”

Like Levy’s high school theater work, his success as a host was a gnarled little monkey’s paw of unfortunate wish fulfillment. He was charismatic on screen and became famous enough to travel to New York on the weekends and get into the clubs he wanted to get into. Levy also pioneered the now-prevalent televised after-show with his The Hills discussion series, which exists in the same tonal universe as Schitt’s Creek: sharp enough to make you feel smart for laughing at it, but warm enough that Lauren Conrad herself was a guest.

But much of the work felt limiting. The questions he had to ask celebrities were pre-negotiated with publicists and written by producers — as Levy notes, “No one wants to sit down with someone from MTV Canada and have a revelatory chat about life.” One of his last appearances before quitting was the MTV Movie Awards red carpet. “You could see a kind of judgment in the people you're interviewing,” he says. “They're not rolling their eyes, but you can feel them thinking about rolling their eyes. And I know that a lot of the times they were questions I didn't necessarily want to be asked if I were in that situation.” Pretending to be the version of himself he thought people would accept, Levy says, “kind of just didn't feel worth it anymore.”

You know the next part. Levy realized he could keep the traits people had responded to when he performed — his charisma, his humor — add sincerity, and still be compelling. He spent half a decade grinding out something that was truly of himself. And through Schitt’s Creek Levy became, his father points out, “one of the top showrunners in the entertainment business right now.” Eugene says, “After the [Emmys] broadcast I think there were probably some executives who — if they even remember us going in to pitch the show — are probably kicking themselves.”

Based on what he does next, Levy is now in the unique position of being able to calibrate how famous he becomes. It’s evening in Toronto, and Levy mulls the question over what simply cannot be good wine; when I ask what kind it is, he says, “Red?” Levy knows he could choose to stay behind the scenes and work on the ABC Studios projects he has in development. But Levy is also in the early stages of a romantic comedy he would star in. He worries that he wouldn’t be able to handle uber-fame with the aplomb his co-star Kristen Stewart does. When they went out to a dive bar while filming in Pittsburgh, he says, “I was just so kind of in awe of her confidence and comfort in herself. She's so at ease — [I say that] as someone who I think will always be on their journey to have that for myself.”

“Dan’s assessment is actually incorrect,” Stewart says later. “But what I have done is try to keep that experience [of fame] fairly insular, not make other people I’m with take on the weight of my own self-consciousness — or, God forbid, have someone think I’m up my own ass and loving the attention. It’s easier for me to pretend [people noticing me] is not happening, even though on the inside I still feel like the world is a big school yard of giggling onlookers. Are they laughing at me? Yes, no… Who cares.”

If Levy ever does find himself in the position of being Stewart-famous, she thinks he’ll be fine. “What I did notice was how absolutely wonderful Dan is with everyone,” she says. “He is so loving and gracious towards people that recognize him. The positive force he puts out into the world is clearly reflected in how people come back at him.”

What Levy is putting out into the world next: “I would like to date more,” he says, shoulders bashfully rising ceilingward. “Circumstance plays such a huge part in what we accept for ourselves. When you're doing something that you love it’s like, ‘I have a full plate.’ Even though [Schitt’s Creek was] super intense and even though at times I need a neck brace, it was never not inspiring, and it was never not thrilling and exciting and totally satisfying. So to [want to] make space for someone else…in a way, it is the ultimate filter. You’re basically saying, do I want to carve out the space in an already full and fulfilled life for this person? And a lot of the time, the answer is no. But it only makes it that much better when the right person comes along.”

For now, Levy’s plate is full of his multiple simultaneous projects. (He says there are more than three but few enough that you could count them on both hands, though he doesn’t want to talk about them in detail until there’s actually something to talk about — if Levy follows the Schitt’s Creek model, he jokes, he’ll “get five seasons on television before anybody sees them.”) Before he begins writing, Levy must make sure his entire house is immaculate. Even today, months after the series finale of Schitt’s Creek aired, Levy is negotiating the length of the “fuck”-blocking bleeps of syndication. But as we have all learned this year, not everything is under our control, even if we are Dan Levy. Stewart remembers him panicking as he tried to decorate a new home and realized none of the furniture he bought made any sense together. “The idea of him left and right showrunning and developing and acting and writing — and then his sweater closet confounding him — was very cute,” she says.

A certain amount of acceptance will be useful as Levy figures out how to follow up a beloved hit show. “The goal was to make sure that the first season was exactly what we wanted it to be,” Levy says of his Schitt’s Creek thought process. “To use the resources that we have as best as we can to get that season out there, so that we can go to sleep at night knowing that if people don't respond to it and it gets pulled off the air, there was nothing more we could have done.” Levy leans forward with a sincerity he’d surely second-guess if he were writing this scene and explains the daunting task of living up to yourself. “That’s the goal of anything I'm gonna do from here on out. It's just, try and do the best job you can. Try to make sure that you're loving it.”