Tag: long post

current exalted/DW campaign cutie marks go!

Hahaha
Haha

Haaaa

Let’s see…

Amber Angel is a Unicorn with a really abstract cutie mark that indicates Magic is her special talent; specifically dark magic (maybe a skull? idk). She would end up being a show antagonist (a very pretty show antagonist who learns to value her friendship with Scarlet and OMG feels why)

Scarlet Scamp is a pegasus with a spear surrounded by hearts as her cutie mark. She keeps Amber out of trouble (sometimes) and Amber does the same for her.

Both MG ponies are colored appropriately for their color scheme in DW

Void is a unicorn (or perhaps a zebra) with another really abstract magic cutie mark (seriously, if your talent is magic the mark is always rather strange looking). She hangs out with Grognak, who I’m pretty sure is a Diamond Dog she managed to befriend.

Shylian is an earth pony (maybe a deer, but I don’t know a lot about the deer) with a bow for a cutie mark, likely with some nature symbolism.

And Exalted

I already talked about Marian

Sabriel is another broad earth pony (maybe a unicorn actually) with some sort of shield or armored cutie mark, likely with heart and water symbolism.

Knott could be any of the three races but his mark is a hammer crossed with a lance. He’s likely a member of some important Guard, though not likely the actual Royal guard.

Danzig is a unicorn with a wrench and a cog. He lives somewhere like Apploosa or Dodge Junction.

Jin is a scrawny pegasus with an eyebrow something like sunglasses or something? IDK?

+NPCs?

Ellodie is a tiny pink Unicorn with some sort of heart imagery for hers. She’s related to one of the princess somehow.

Discord….let’s be real he’s a crossover character from the show.

Marsilia is either a unicorn or a changeling. Her cutie mark would be a pair of crowns, one green and one gold. She’s very angry, all the time.

Felicity is an earth pony with a tree for a cutie mark.

And idk about all the lunars but they all have their spirit animal as pets. This means Flash somehow has a baby dragon.

What non-human sophonts are hanging around? Vampires, demons, angels, robots, zombies. Anyone else? Is there anything that wouldn’t fit? (Totally no uplifted octopuses though, what’s that nonsense.)

Aside from what you’ve mentioned there are:

Therianthropes :: Were-creatures that are not simply wolves but other creatures as well. The White Weasel (and possibly Dog) are representatives from this community.

Mermaids :: There are a two types of Mermaids. There are ones like Harmony who have legs and look a tad more human (though with oddly tinted skin and a variety of biological differences); and ones like Aquamarine with full fish tails, odd mutations, and bizarre eyes.

Spirits :: A few categories of spirit include Creature spirits (ghosts), Nature Spirits, and Ethereal Premises.
Ghosts are spirits of human, humanoid, and animal creatures that, for a variety of reasons, is trapped on the mortal plane. Most are harmless, but occasionally poltergeist situations/possessions/hauntings can occur. (There was a house inhabited by a cat spirit that could have been considered a poltergeist, since it could interact with mortal objects. It spent a lot of time knocking things over, to the frustration of the homeowners)
Nature spirits are spirits of the elements (Wind, Water, Fire, Earth, Wood, and combinations thereof). These beings are believed to keep the balance of nature, and often do not engage in human affairs, unless threatened. Jade, a fire spirit possessing a porcelain doll, is an odd case.
Ethereal Premises are not officially recognized as spirits. These are things like, a spirit of Joy, or a spirit of Giving. Their appearances tend to be incredibly sparse and last for very short periods of time. There are rumors that Santa Claus might be an Ethereal Premise.
Spirits cannot be seen by most mortals without magical aid. Even many magical creatures have trouble seeing and interacting with them.

Fae/Faeborn :: Most Fae are considered high ranking magical creatures (on par with Demons and Angels for power demographics), but like Nature spirits, few bother to engage with mortal affairs (at least on any meaningful level). Faeborn, however, are much more common. Faeborn are humans with at least one Fae in their direct line within two generations (Grandparents). Their powers and abilities have a wide range on the power scale, and nearly all of them have a physical mutation indicating their lineage.
Of Fae that make a personal presence in the City, Pixies (Human sized fairy creatures, often with somewhat ethereal looking wings) are the most common. Pixies have magic based on elements (in fact, many suspect Nature Spirits to be Fae), though to a broader extent than Nature spirits. For example, there are Pixies who have magic based upon Light or Shadow, but neither of these things contains Nature Spirits of the same element.
It is suspected that many major Fae reside in the ‘wilder’ parts of the City, such as the outer forest or deep within the lake; as major Fae are not widely seen.

Shapeshifters :: These beings get a category of their own because no one is entirely sure where they came from or who/what they may be related to. Shapeshifters can alter their appearance at will, and as such have easily blended into society for possibly hundreds of years. No one is sure what their original form is. No one really knows anything about them. They tend to act as normal as any other creature.
They can shift into supernatural forms, but they do not gain the major abilities/weaknesses of the form. Things like strength or dexterity, which often depend on biological structure (muscle mass, balancers, etc) do come into play so it’s safe to say that a Shapeshifter living as an elephant is just as dangerous as a real elephant, but a Shapeshifter posing as a Vampire is only as strong as the Vampire’s mortal visage.
Some mortals with Shapeshifter lineage can alter minor things about themselves, but shapeshifter magic gets much, much weaker with each removed generation. Marcus, a half shapeshifter, can only manage enough power to alter his hair and eye colors.

Those are all of the big ones. Strange new things tend to happen all the time in Cityverse, however. Perhaps there is more we’re not seeing.

summoner-starlight:

hyperionnebulae
replied to your post “So after Blake marries Candi they want kids. Blake incapable of…”

You know you could ask Void and Rhomadon for help. Rhom would figure out and smart way to do it and Void has the ability physically manipulate living flesh (and dead flesh). Ritual anyone?

Amber gathers up these two and meets with Blake and Candi in the glade

Amber and Rhomadon remark the space is sacred ground. Void informs them she can sense it as a place of power; the other two can confirm this after thinking on it.

Void helps to shape the husks to better resemble their parents; she cleans up loose seams and fixes major problems.

Rhomadon is able to help Amber, who honestly isn’t sure if she would have the power to do all this junk on her own, with the manipulation of all the spirit matter. Rhomadon is also able to find a way to keep Amber from having to bind any part of her own soul to these creations.

Rhomadon and Void, even after the ritual, manage to figure out a way to encourage growth of the children without too much more grave robbing. ((Bianca might be called in for this, this is very much her expertise)).

This is still a crime, it’s just a much better established and much better hidden crime.

Oh but like, I just realized more people would have to be involved?

They would need to forge documents to be super safe, so I dunno if Rhomadon would be able to do that or if they would need to find someone else.

If so, it’s likely that Bianca hooked them up with Vampires (who usually have pretty good forgers, considering).

All in all I imagine this is an expensive endeavor.

Friends Vs Life Goals

Crash – Goals
Fei-lin Mnemon – Goals
Harmony of the Storm – They’re essentially the same thing…
Hope Forged In Flame – Goals (Hestus Exception)
Marian Cypress – Friends (Lovers/Family)
Nori Peleps – Goals (Exception Ledaal)
Phineas Seilar – Friends
Red Sand Angel – ???

Amber Angel – Goals
Dawn – ???
Doyle Mcready – ????????
Esial Arnassass – Friends? (Also kinda the same thing???)
Jacqueline DuCroax – Goals 
Mardwocket Roywick – Friends
Masozi – Friends
Naila – Goals
Nolan – Friends
Nadia – Friends
Pink Plunderer – Friends (Provided she had any)
Prism Song – Friends
Salih – Friends
Tina “Tink” Spelling – Friends

Alice X-4227 – Friends
Annie Everly – Friends
Aquamarine – Friends? (Again same thing?)
Aria – Friends
Asherah Felin – Friends (Sherwood)
Archie – Friends
Bianca – Goals (Exception: Children)
Blake Stitch – Friends
Christopher Dreville – Friends
Clyde Dredge – Friends!!!
Corliss – Friends
Crystal – Friends
Dulcie Baker – Friends
Eiriol Hazard – Friends
Felix – Goals
Flannery Flamel – Goals (Exception: Sister)
Forrest P. Sherwood – Friends
Gloria Gale – Friends
Gwyn Madburry – Goals (Exception: Crew)
Jade – Friends
Joanna – Goals
Kiki Komodo – ??????
Lenore – Friends (Until she gives up on friendship)
Leon – Goals
Luviia – Goals
Lupen – Friends
Marcus Nightfire – Friends
Marley St. Jane – Friends
Nova Starlight – Goals
Pandora – Goals
Piperit Mentha – Goals
Sarosh – Goals
Serenade – Friends
Sesi Stitch – Friends
Sherwood P. Forrest – Friends
Shula Flamel – Friends
Skyelar Stitch – Friends
Tabor Hazard – Friends
Tollulah Siren – Goals
Tybalt – Goals
Yuki Frosst – Friends
Zoey Bishop – Friends

What sort of businesses exist (for Saturday shopping and the like)?

Well, the primary attraction is the Mall, full of so many wonderful stores that you begin to question how there are that many stores. Like, holy cow the mall is huge.

The only notable store in the mall (that I’ve worked with) is Manic Medlies, known for it’s large selection and because Wocky works their in the summer with Fears.

Aside from the Mall and all of its stores,

Annie’s family owns one of those little Wicca-esque shops that sell all manner of magic-y type things. The kind of shop that smells heavily of incense and where the employees are always pleasant.

There’s a pair of rival Comic and Game stores across the city from each other, each one always trying to outdo the other. There are several seasonal annual competitions held at the community center. Each store has regulars build a team to represent them.
Barnhams Comics has held ¾ trophies for the past two years. Fable Games & Comics has been trying to make sure that the Card Party trophy remains firmly in their grasp.

There’s Warehouse Blvd, a street full of those huge stores that cater to really specific needs; like a store full of all the latest and greatest high end Kitchen utensils and supplies. If you can catch one of the stores on a clearance of older stuff, you can usually get a good deal. Some residents of the City have this down to a science.

Pinkie Plunder works at couple of local pawn shops (there’s more than you think) that are always full of amazing things. Pinkie works at the shiftier ones, though. Wonder what she’s up to?

There’s one movie rental joint that is somehow still in business. They even have a collection of VHS tapes (and a few laser discs if you’re willing to ask). Just a little run down place; a hole in the wall if you will. It’s likely a front for something illegal like Necromancers or a Vampire coven.

Derk and his Dad run the local pet shop which sometimes acts as a re-homing shelter for many different types of animals. Derk is usually seen with his dog, Dog, and the two are always more than helpful to help pets find a nice home. Silas handles more of the reptiles and things, but he seems to be about as enthusiastic about those as his son is about all things fluffy.

If you’re looking for a nice day out or a little fun

Prism owns a ‘Natural Healing’ day spa where she and a few colleagues use their magic (or, you know, spa skills) to relax and rejuvenate their guests.

Nolan works at the City’s most famous Tattoo Parlor under Hiko and her little crew. It’s easy to be an amazing artist when you can change your work on the fly.

Amber has an ‘office’ where she does public readings for anyone interested in getting in touch with a few spirits. Just mind the sarcastic skull on the bookshelf, he doesn’t get out much.

There’s a pair of bowling alleys, a roller rink, and an arcade dappled around the city as well; a couple of cinemas (including one in the mall) too.

Then of course you have the boardwalk out by the lakeside full of all sorts of shopping and touristy things.

It’s a big and crazy place

I read a small blurb on bigcat.org about human and animal interaction (you can read it here) and I found it rather interesting because the treatment of wild animals has been something I’ve seen a lot of recently on my dash.

Most of what I’ve seen on tumblr is fair, as it addresses issues such as circuses, Seaworld, and other common venues that could easily be considered exploitative and that have a history of harming the animals in their care. Some of the things I’ve seen, however, involve a stressing of lack of human interaction with wild animals (particularly with big cats) due to various dangers involved to both parties. The way many of these posts seem to be worded, however, feels like they give off the idea that some sort of isolation should be occurring which (as the article mentions) could be a negative thing as it distances people from the animals.

I’m rambling but this has a point I swear.

As a potential solution to the problem of “how much/what kind of human interaction with wild animals is okay” the writer suggests setting up viewing environments that could be entertaining as well as educational.

First, the organization developing the interaction must carefully select individuals within a species that are temperamentally suited to activities involving masses of people. Each animal is an individual, and some wild animals like solitude, while others can enjoy interaction in front of a crowd if they are treated with respect and concern for their welfare and comfort.

Next, any interaction should be designed to display the particular species of animal in a venue that allows it to use its natural behavior in a manner that the public enjoys but is also pleasurable for the animal. As far as exotic cats, this would involve a natural setting wherein the cat would chase lures or other objects, perhaps climb trees, and leap from object to object. Properly done with the right cats, this activity can be fun for the cats, if they are treated with the proper respect and concern for their comfort and welfare. In addition, it would educate the public about their playful and sometime affectionate nature, while at the same time showing that any use of a wild animal should involve activities that the animal finds enjoyable as much as the public. For primates, an appropriate activity could be having a grouping of ropes and swings in an area and having the trainers swinging and engaging in natural primate activities with the primates that would be fun for the primates as well as the public.

This gives people an opportunity to potentially grow to understand these creatures better, which would encourage sympathy and (ideally) conservation efforts as people come to better understand the creatures.

I love animals and while I think it’s exceptionally important that we protect them, there’s also a sort of magic to seeing an animal in person. I would pay good money to watch a big cat doing big cat things and potentially learning about both the species of big cat I’m watching as well as the individual(s) participating in the activity.

Idk. Food for thought.

the-bean-fantroll-team:

image

>You wake up, drearily noticing that you’re not at home. How can you tell this? One, you’re on a sofa, and you don’t actually own one of those. Two, you don’t have any blankets this  thin, and three, it doesn’t smell of cinnamon. Despite having just woken up, you can already tell this. You open your eyes, rubbing the sleep from them, and look down. You seem to be only wearing clothes on the lower half of your body… 

>This had become a rather frequent occurrence. Whenever something bad happened, you ”passed out” and woke up some random place, face paint smeared and shirtless. Sometimes there was blood on you. You wondered why, at first, but now you don’t care. Except, this time… You were in someone’s hive. You look around.

“H-Hello…???”

> It felt like you had just gotten your lusus contented when your guest called out, inspiring a loud bellowing noise from the small creature. You groan and, still soaked, try to coerce the angry guardian somewhere where she won’t cause any trouble. Fortunately for you, you’re still larger than she is.

> With several crashes and thumps you manage to wrestle your lusus into a separate wing of the hive, closing the door behind her. She continues to make noise but there is little you can do. She wasn’t fond of you bringing home a guest, something about this troll must have rubbed her the wrong way. That happened, of course, and you knew at heart she was just trying to protect you, but you had to do what you felt was right,,,,right?

> Hopefully you live long enough to regret your decisions…

> You head down into the living area and greet your guest with a smile.

WhyHelloThere.NiceToSeeYou’reAwake!
CanIGetYouAnything?

somewhere-in-the-dungeon:

#it’s called greed at the expense of others#pokemon#silly things#ignore me#I count anyone looking to exterminate a bunch of pokemon as a villain#I mean they must be sentient right? you can’t exterminate sentient creatures that’s not cool

That’s a really important question I never got a solid answer to. Are pokemon sentient? 

In a sense, that’s a bad question. Alakazam is the canonical smartest pokemon I’m aware of, but its description is a pretty clearcut case of writers can’t do math. Its pokedex entry says that its IQ floats around 5k. That’s wrong on multiple levels; IQ is designed around percentiles with 100 as the median and a standard deviation of 15. For those who aren’t statistics nerds, that means that about two thirds of everyone tested fall between 85 and 115. About 5% of the population is going to have an IQ above 125, dropping rapidly the further away from the centre of the bell curve you go. An IQ of 5k is well over three hundred standard deviations above the mean. That’s not a measurement, that’s an instrument error. (For an idea of what that looks like, the standard deviation of adult male height is about 3 inches. Someone three hundred standard deviations taller than average would be over eighty feet tall; basically the scale starts doing screwy things once you get more than five standard deviations off, and your prior on data more than ten standard deviations away is either operator error or act of god.)

How intelligent are pokemon? (Ignoring alakazam and legendaries.) Some of them use tools, and most communicate in some kind of language. (It’s been a while- does anyone know if they can communicate abstractions?) It seems like they need supervision when working on complex tasks, though that might just be that we mostly see pokemon when they’re around humans. I don’t remember examples of abstract reasoning or problem solving without human direction, but again it’s been a while. Are they like dogs who get taught new tricks, or like chimpanzees who learn new skills? From what I remember, I’d peg most of them around the IQ 30 range? (Just under the usual lineup of chimps, grey parrots, and dolphins.) I’m not very confident in that number though.  

Digression aside (look, I was in a bunch of psychology experiments right around when I was getting into pokemon and the alakazam thing has been bugging me for decades) intelligence isn’t really the same thing as sentience, and sentience isn’t necessarily the same as self-awareness, but they are kinda in the same ballpark. (And the definition of sentience is a little different than how people tend to use the word in scifi-ish settings.) Something is sentient if it has qualia, that is, it experiences sensations. Pokemon certainly seem like they experience things- they retreat from pain, enjoy good food, and can even remember things for longer periods. So, most pokemon are at least on the level of a chicken. That said, chicken is tasty. Even the vegetarians I know don’t seem to think chickens need the same level of rights we apply to humans- they don’t get to vote or hold property, and it’s unclear what freedom of speech for chickens would even mean.

Do pokemon have a sense of self? An understanding that there is me, there are others, and a concept that we are the same but different. (Example: I’m hungry right now, but I understand that you might not be hungry and that you have other goals than my hunger. Very young children don’t really have this yet, and a lot of animals don’t seem to do this, instead reacting to the world as though they were the only ones with goals.) Pikachu clearly recognizes Ash, and acts to manipulate or communicate with him. Pikachu also easily distinguishes between multiple humans, using different strategies to deal with them. Pikachu seems to co-operate with Ash’s goals, though it’s kind of unclear if Pikachu’s goal is something like “Make Ash do the smiling thing and give me treats” which wouldn’t really be understanding Ash as an agent in his own right. 

The key point here is probably that the term “pokemon” is a catchall, used similar to our “mammal” and therefore encompassing a wide range of intellect and moral weight. Cows, chimps, and humans are all mammals, but the ethics around these categories are different. Even assuming it wasn’t an endangered species, eating Lugia is clearly immoral. On the other hand, rattata is portrayed as being about on par with rats in terms of mental faculties. I’d eat a rat, so I’d probably eat a rattata.

Actually there seems to be a simple, if inconsistent, answer to your question.

In the episode: Island of the Giant Pokemon; Pikachu, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charmander are separated from Ash. Pikachu, being the online outside of a pokeball, releases the other three and they head out on a journey to find him.

On the way we discover that Meowth (who is capable of human speech), Ekans, and Koffing have also become separated from their trainers and are similarly looking. Upon finding Pikachu and pals, however, Meowth immediately makes a decision to try and capture Pikachu since he has the opportunity. Ekans and Koffing decline as Meowth is not their ‘master’. The following conversation takes place:

Meowth: Masters? I’m twice as smart as those 2-watt lightbulbs you’re calling masters
Ekans: Master is master!
Koffing: Yes, yes.
Meowth: Come on, we’re all bad guys here. We don’t need masters to tell us to go and do bad stuff.
Ekans: Pokemon not bad guys!
Koffing: That’s right.
Meowth: There’s no such thing as a bad pokemon?
Ekans: Pokemon do bad things because Master bad.
Meowth: It can’t be! My master’s not around and I always seem to act like a rat!

A later conversation reveals that Bulbasaur is sure Ashe and Co. abandoned them which upsets Ekans and Koffing leaving Pikachu and Charmander to calm everyone down.

While there seems to be a sense of dependency here, I think these scenes where the pokemon are left on their own really help to shape them as intelligent creatures with a defined sense of self.

This episode is a gold mine for this. Later episodes such as Dig those Diglett, where trainer owned pokemon who have never even met the Diglett who are in trouble decline to battle them also seem to make a good argument?

In Tentacool and Tentacruel, Tentacruel takes psychic control of Meowth and uses his ability to speak the human language to communicate the issues the jellyfish pokemon have with the people and Misty is able to talk it down (much like one would talk down a hostage situation).

I’m happy to provide more examples or counter examples but you must remember I need things explained to me like I’m 6 in order to understand them and you used too many big words.

shiftingpath:

Hey okay, so when you guys make characters, do you figure out their sexual orientation ahead of time, or do you figure it out through play? If you usually figure it out beforehand, do you ever find it changes or drifts as you progress with them?

I’ve been finding that a lot of my characters end up IDing a different way than I would have described them at the start of the campaign and I’m curious who else has this happen or what.

For context, I had originally planned my No Moon Path as gay, but his first two or three relationships were with women he was obviously attracted to. Then some men, then some women… After awhile it became obvious he was polyamorous and pansexual (attracted to any gender of human. Also canonically demons, Primordials, robots, AIs, buildings, statuary, Incarnae, etc.)

Dragon-Blood Zyden was straight to begin with, but has been dating his best friend for years, and has recently started a six-way thing with his sworn brotherhood. Also a lot of people outside of that but mostly for fun rather than love. Would ID as bisexual and poly.

Current character Dawn Caste Hope I went into with no plans, and I’m finding she’s clearly a lesbian. Haven’t found any interesting guys yet, and she seems to prefer her relationships in clearly segmented monogamy. Who the fuck knows what she’ll end up like.

I tagged this #Exalted but if you game with other settings that’s cool. I’m mostly curious about the phenomenon of characters shifting and changing as you play them.

I feel like I end up with a general idea when I’m first making them but their sexuality tends to change and blossom as they grow and I get to experience their lives.

They’re a lot like real people that way, the more they learn about themselves the better they can identify to others what they are.

Sherwood I would say is certainly as heterosexual as I first envisioned him to be, but over time I’m wondering if he isn’t an Aromantic trying to figure out why he’s never found the one he’s really in love with.

Marian I always knew was at least Bi but as things have gone (and seeing as I ship her with everyone) I’ve figured her out as Pan Poly.

Hope Forged in Flame has been giving me strong Asexual vibes but as of right now her romantic orientation is unknown.

I actually really love getting to see my characters develop into these aspects of self because it’s truly a fascinating thing. It also feels more natural if I’m not trying to force anything. Some character traits are created with the character, some grow as they grow.