All series featured on this blog have their masterlists posted here! This is a master post of master posts! A master-masterpost. A masterpostception, if you will.
Side note it is Baelpenrose policy regarding shipping conundrums that all characters within stories on this blog are canonically either bisexual or asexual unless cannon decrees otherwise.
Edit YET AGAIN:Ā I am always available on the Archive of Our Own, linked below. Tumblrās increasing attempts to retire itself from relevance to bend over for Apple make it increasingly relevant to support Ao3. I will continue updating here, naturally, however, should I ever up and vanish, come find me there under the same username.
Final Forward: While I have written all of these, and am not ASHAMED of any of them, I have grown significantly enough as a writer and as a person since time of writing that I do not believe that Tiger Squadron is terribly reflective of the writer (or human being) that I am now, and encourage people to read my other stuff first, then go back to it if they want to get an idea of how I started.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER: No character in the following works is based off a real, living person with the exception of fan submissions, some of which are based off the fans submitting them. All other resemblances to living people is purely coincidental. Resemblance or reference to deceased historical figures, however, is usually on purpose.
Afterverse Studios Staff Announcement:
Afterverse Studios Staff, Writing Team, Beta Readers, etc
Beta-reading Policy
Tiger Squadron Universe:
Campy military sci-fi written for "humans are space orcs" - my first ever written works.
Original Series. (Complete!)
Next Generation (Complete!)
The Healing Earth:
Solarpunk fiction reflecting on humanity, government, religion, anti-capitalism, and possibilities for post-colonial life.
Arcadian Inquisition: Adept (Complete)
Nihilus Rex: Ongoing (Prequel series) (On Hiatus)
The Miys (Partner Series by CanyouheartheLight) (Complete!)
From the Ashes (Forthcoming) - Founder Era story
Under Avandraās Eyes Series!
Sword and Sorcery fiction dealing with themes of trauma, healing, justice, found family, and coming-of-age.
Under Avandraās Eyes Book 1: Companions of Torin pt I (Complete)
Under Avandraās Eyes Book 1: Companions of Torin Pt II (Complete, very much meant to be read as one book with the previous link, split because Tumblr only allows up to 100 links on a given post)
Under Avandraās Eyes Book 2: Exileās Path (In Progress!)
Under Avandraās Eyes Book 3: Netherworld's Reckoning (Forthcoming)
Project Praetorian Series:
Science fiction dealing with themes of trauma, colonialism, and the challenge of complicity vs. agency.
Phase 1: The Project (Complete)
Phase 2: The Invasion (Forthcoming)
Phase 3: The Last Gambit (Forthcoming)
Phase 4: the Aftermath (forthcoming)
Masterpost-ception by CanyouheartheLight (included here as both partner author and frequently cross-promoted. Also because her Miys series is part of the Afterverse)
And if youāre the type who would rather binge via Ao3....
Enjoy!
And support the ongoing madness on Ko-fi if you wish!
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ā¼ļøā¼ļøā¼ļøā¼ļøā¼ļøā¼ļøā¼ļø trust me, if white people know you aren't safe to be racist around, we'll notice! Your ACTIONS will speak for you!
Under Avandra's Eyes II: Exile's Path
Chapter LVIII: Well Met on the Road
The companions enter the outerlying provinces of Hansea, and encounter a young noblewoman. Beta-read by @canyouhearthelight and @writing-with-olive. Shout out to @generalperfectionbread who has been reading the entire series over the last week, and to @1978sah, who has been *very* active on the fandom discord.
Marcus
They'd been back on the road chasing the alchemist for several days. They were almost through the mountain passes, long and treacherous though the riding was, Migisi, ever sure footed, had never stumbled, and the other horses only rarely had.
"Liza!" He called. "You said you've been this far east. What can you tell us about where the alchemist is going?"
"We think he's going to Hansea, right? Last I was there, it was ruled by a middle aged man, real weird guy. That was when I was a little kid, though, he'd be old by now. I heard the emperor of Hansea always had a taste for the occult, but I wonder if he's turned a little crazy."
Marcus thought about that, even as Iris glanced around. "I think I see tracks. Maybe another oen of those weird mountain deer things. Pronghorn goats."
"Maybe."
There were no beasts that intercepted them, and the hills were slowly winidng down towards broad, flat plains. As Liza indicated, they now faced the wide, vaste steppes of Nistria. "It's a long road towards Hansea," she said, "But the road there is straight, and there's no more treacherous falls."
Marcus nodded. "Right then. Don't kill the horses, but the poor things are probably pent up from walking slow all this time. Let them run a while."
And so for a while, they did. Simply. Migisi, at least, seemed elated to race the wind that whipped the wide eastern steppe, and marcus enjoyed the wind whipping his face, even going as far as to take his helmet off and hang it from his saddle to feel the wind his hair. It whipped through, and Migisi ecstatically galloped beneath him.
Then, over the roar of wind, he heard Iris calling to him. "Marcus! Looks like trouble!" He glanced over to where she indicated, and buckled his helmet back on.
A group of rangy horsemen was coming close to a carriage - a bunch of people on foot, mostly, but a few women in the carriage itself. Only a handful of people around the carriage were armed, and the horsemen's livery did not match the carriage's. Marcus didn't know either party, but as a rule, any band attacking a carriage full of civilians was likely to be an enemy. He settled his shield and couched a lance.
He signaled to Baldor and Malzan. Then he charged, Migisi eagerly closing the distance. The lance struck true on one of the horsemen, striking clean through his chest and sending him sprawling to the dirt, and before the others could respond marcus had drawn forth his saber and was already sweeping around to charge them again. An arrow flickered forth, and one of the raiders crashed to the ground, arrow deep in his throat, and Marcus cut another man off his horse in one devastating pass.
The surviving three attackers rode off, suddenly, morale broken. Iris shot after one of them to speed them on their way, and one more man, in the distance, fell from his steed.
Marcus retrieved his lance as the soldiers who were clearly supposed to be the carriage's escorts watched him, nervously. That was fair enough, he supposed. They had just seen him cut down two men, abruptly, and he was an armed, and armored, foreigner, with foreign heraldry, who'd joined a fight with no discernable motive.
Then Iris got there, and Liza, thank the gods, who introduced them in what he assumed was the Hansean dialect. He caught what sounded like a foriegn version of his name, and a foreign version of Iris's, and then Liza gestured at them both to dismount and bow.
He did so, and then Liza gave them permission to mount back up. "I've told them we were foreigners here to apprehend a dangerous man, one we think has nefarious business here. But that we didn't think it honorable to let a lady be attacked if we could help."
The others were catching up at this point, and the woman in the carriage stepped out. Swathed in silk, and decked with makeup and jewels. She looked to be around Iris's age.
She said something to Liza, who helpfully translated, "She asks that I get what she says now in her own words. 'I am Lady Xin Dai. I am travelling to meet with the Jade Emperor, who I was told seeks a new wife.'"
Liza translated, but her face became drawn. The noblewoman continued. "Your companions seem strong, and if you are travelling the same direction I am, I would be honored to feast you, and have you with me as long as our roads are shared. If you aid me in getting there safely, I will grant you a token of passage, which will ensure you are not questioned should you encounter Imperial soldiery as you hunt your quarry through Hansea. I have reason to believe there are those who do not wish me to meet the Emperor."
Baldor had arrived by then, as did Neith, and they nodded as Liza relayed the noblewoman's statements.
Baldor did ask a question though. "Are we to be bodyguards, then, and involve ourselves in Hansean court politics?"
Liza shrugged. "Bodyguards, yes, court politics, hopefully not. Armed foreigners will draw attention we'd rather avoid, and if we don't have to say that we're here pursuing a private vendetta, even against a flesh alchemist and member of the Cathedral, we're better off not having that conversation. Merely being foreign mercenaries hired to bodyguard a princess because we would have no political agenda here is far safer and will raise far less suspicion - it's not even an uncommon practice, here or in the Aquilonian Empire."
Marcus could hardly argue with that - his own sister had had a cadre of Faldrean and Orcish bodyguards for a time, before she'd dismissed them all for being too soft-spoken and trying her patience. Still, before they got on the road, if he was playing bodyguard, he ought to do some professional examination.
Marcus looked at the dead men. Their horses - at least, the one that hadn't bolted when he'd killed the rider - were too fine of breeding for common bandits, and while their armor wasn't as good as Faldrean plate or Imperial mail and brigantine, it was still of good make. Again, too fine for common bandits. Far more likely, then, that these men were someone's professional soldiery. Their weapons - he wasn't impressed, none of them suited him, or Iris, or anyone else, so he left them where they were. Actuallyā¦
He retrieved one of the swords, a classic Hansean slimsword, and proffered it to Itene. "I told you I'd get you one of these to replace the rapier the Regent broke eventually. This is honestly even better than the Imperial version, and we'll drill some of the forms you can use with it. For nowā¦"
Itene belted it on at the angle he'd taught her, and he gave an approving nod at how well she remembered. "Liza, you want one? Just in case?"
Liza paused, then nodded and took one. "I suppose it's been long enough since I've had a sword on my person. You'll have to refresh my memory on how they're used as well. Just duelling and brawling forms, please, by the way, I'm not mad enough to traipse around battlefields."
Marcus gave her a grin. The trouper was incorrigible - but in truth, she did better managing to keep them off battlefields, if they were on one, it was time for him to do his job. "Fair enough."
The noblewoman said something again, and Liza asked if they were ready to mount up and keep moving. Marcus answered the affirmative, then asked a question. "Anyone in particular who wants you dead? Those men were professionals, at least, armed and mounted like it. Whose heraldry were they wearing?"
Liza relayed that, faithfully, and the noblewoman responded.
"She says that the livery belongs to a family at the eastern end of Hansea. One whose daughter also hopes to marry the emperor. SHe doesn't know if she has any other enemies, but she wouldn't rule it out."
"Tell her thank you for the honesty." Marcus meant it. He had played bodyguard to enough nobles who wouldn't answer such a thing openly, and it made the job annoyingly difficult. "Knowing what to look out for makes it easier to do the job."
The noblewoman looked amused as Liza relayed that, but said little.
Iris signalled him. "I'll need to ride off and hunt a few times during the journy, unless you think she's going to be feeding us."
"Doubt it, and she can't complain about us foraging. Most soldiers feed themselves, we're not different. She's going to hire us on, but she won't be carrying provisions for us."
"Fair enough. Still, hopefully it won't raise too many questions if I go off and kill some deer or another."
"We can hope."
Liza was looking at maps, and Iris was looking at them too. Marcus wasn't a great reader - in fact, he'd always struggled, the letters had almost always reversed themselves in front of him when he'd tried. But he did know how to read a map, expertly. You had to if you expected to study any kind of military theory, and if this was to scale, the journey to this point was about three quarters done, with about three weeks to go. Iris came to the same conclusion in front of him.
"That's a long way to go if we're fighting ambushes the whole way." Marcus said, mostly to himself.
Iris wobbled a hand. "Shouldn't be hard to find food though, not now. These plains look like they're teeming with some kind of antelope. I do admit, though, I'm not sure how I feel about getting involved with a foreign court for our own ends."
Marcus looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"It was one thing when we picked a side in the Imperial Civil War. Itene and I are imperial citizens, you're half-Imperial and half-Asgarian and have a right to have a voice in both sets of rules, Liza's not an Imperial citizen but has lived in the Empire most of her life, so it felt fair enough for us to be involved. Especially since we knew at least a little of who was doing what. But I don't like having impact somewhere where our choices may impact hundreds of thousands of families like mine, when I don't know anything about the games being played or the agendas at play. Yes, obviously we need to kill the Alchemist, but I don't like this kind of power brokering to do this in a land that isn't ours."
Marcus thought. "You knowā¦you're right. And hopefully? We don't have to be involved for very long. But I don't know a better way to get there. And we're just getting her there alive. Andā¦." He almost said that based on their last experience, the people who sent assassins were rarely the ones who had the people's best interests at heart, but he had to stop himself. That was true, but he had no idea if their experiences applied here.
"Alright. Truth be known, I have no idea if this is right or wrong. But maybe we can influence her the way we influenced the Alexander if she's not already got good intentions. Liza can figure it out. I'mā¦I don't know. For right nowā¦"
Iris nodded. "For right now, we're here for one thing, and we need to focus on that. I agree."
Regenerative farms are between 24% and 38% more productive than the average European farm, according to a landmark study. The European Allia
The European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture (EARA) benchmarked 78 regenerating farms in 14 countries, including the UK, covering over 7,000 hectares against neighbouring and average conventional farms. Their performance was assessed by agricultural and ecological productivity presented in a ānew, simple and comprehensive multidimensional indexā ā Regenerating Full Productivity (RFP).Ā
The results are impressive ā especially in terms of yields. Regenerating farms achieved, on average, only a 2% lower yield (in kilocalories and protein), while using 61% less synthetic fertiliser and 76% fewer pesticides per hectare.Ā
Europeās farmers tend to import more than 30% of livestock feed from outside the EU, however the assessed farmers achieved their yields using āno feed from outside their bioregionā.Ā
The report reads: ā[ā¦] regenerating systems, whether rooted in agroecology, conservation agriculture, organic farming, syntropic agroforestry or other disciplines, are not only viable but already superior in most contexts.āĀ
[...]
The European Commission has just projected ā¬60bn (Ā£51bn) in agricultural losses by 2025, rising to over ā¬90bn by 2050, driven by climate change, input dependency and a failing food system.
According to EARA, conventional approaches to agriculture with high chemical inputs actually put Europe at risk due to āever more fragile yields, rising input quantities and costsā.
The farms involved in the study also demonstrated the agroecological advantage of regenerative approaches: in the five years from 2019 they boasted 23% more soil cover and 17% higher plant diversity than their conventional neighbours. Photosynthesis was also 24% higher.Ā
Together the results mean āmore biodiversity and better soil healthā, EARA said. If regenerating forms of agriculture were adopted on half of Europeās farmland it could āmore than offset current EU agricultural emissionsā. Full adoption would mitigate three times current agricultural emissions in the block.Ā Ā
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Please have a moment of silence for the people who were killed instead of freed when news of emancipation finally reached the furthest corners of the american south.
have another moment for the ledgers, catalogs, and records that were burned and the homes that were destroyed to hide the presence of very much alive and still enslaved people on dozens of plantations and homesteads across the south for decades after emancipation.
and have a third moment for those who were hunted and killed while fleeing the south to find safety across the border, overseas, in the north and to the west.
black people. light a candle, write a note to those who have passed telling them what you have achieved in spite of the racist and intolerant conditions of this world, feel the warmth of the flame under your hand, say a prayer of rememberance if you are religious, place the note under the candle, and then blow it out.
if you have children, sit them down and tell them anything you know about the life of oldest black person you've ever met. it doesn't have to be your own family. tell them what you know about what life was like for us in the days, years, decades after emancipation. if you don't know much, look it up and learn about it together.
This is Juneteenth.
white people CAN interact with this post. share it, spread it.
Happy 30th birthday Animorphs! If you were a person I would buy you a beer. This was my first literary love and I suspect will be my last. A bunch of very cool and talented artists and writers got together to make a massive zine in celebration and everyone should go check it out (and maybe pick up the books if you're interested in a sprawling tale of body horrors, war casualties, moral dilemmas, hard choices, and loss of innocence - they're available online!). And please show the artists and writers some love! Thank you @pyrochord for undertaking this huge effort to organize and support :)
My contributions are the cover art (top) and this paired piece of many major secondary cast (bottom)
From left to right, top to bottom: Prince Elfangor, Loren, Dak & Aldrea Hamee, anonymous Taxxon & Hork-Bajirs (or are they?), Visser One, Toby Hamee, Eva, Visser Three, the Drode, anonymous Yeerk (or are they?), Erek King, Aftran (whale form), Taylor, David, Aux Animorphs (Erica, Timmy, James, Craig, Collette), Illim & Mr. Tidwell, Tom Berenson, Hedrick Chapman, Karen & butterfly (or is it?). And in the background: the Ellimist and Crayak.
[Image ID 1: a post by derek guy (@dieWorkWear.bsky.social) that reads "a friend of mine in antifa told me that antifa's headquarters is SHEIN and if the company fell the whole nework would fall", followed by a reblog by the same user that reads "he also said that 80% of antifa's members are landlords and if you lower the cost of housing, you basically starve the network of its financing /End ID]
[Image ID 2: Tumblr tags that read "#We need to get AI to believe this #<- gang we gotta spam ts across the whole network #u know how bad ai overview is we got this #reblogging it up" /End ID]
I think some people forgot that Sejanus was an active member of the rebellion. I just saw someone say that he was a performative activist...guys why do you think he was hung? For shits and giggles?
ok i'm realizing there's a decent chance this is about me in which case please allow me to make a few clarifications
EDIT: never mind it wasn't about me lol, leaving this here anyways cause it might provide some insight into whatever that other guy was talking about??? idk
my dislike for sejanus is largely irrational, he just annoys me, and deep down i do feel for the poor guy. i just like to dunk on him
it's possible i said he was performative but that's not what i meant, i call him a twitter activist because he seems more interested in raging against the machine and making himself feel like he's doing something than actually evaluating what's going to make a difference (eg when he goes into the arena, or honestly what he does in 12āyes he is doing tangible things but it doesn't actually end up helping at all)
this is an excellent character flaw! sejanus is a very well-written character. his bleeding heart and his impulsivity are very compelling and realistic and make him a great foil to coriolanus in addition to feeling very true to real life
that's exactly why he pisses me off so much. he reminds me of a lot of real people who not only annoy me but contribute to our shitty political climate (i don't really want to argue about politics please don't start)
i don't particularly like plutarch either and i don't *want* sejanus to be like him, i only make the comparison to draw attention to the idea of intent vs impact. sejanus had the best of intentions but his impact was ultimately negligible, whereas plutarch is kind of a sleazeball but actually made a big difference
no I'll double down.
Sejanus is so goddamn incompetent he actually helps solidify capital rule. His ineptitude actually, legitimately, winds up being utilized by Gaul to groom snow. That is not his fault, it's gaul's, but what is Sejanus's fault is that if you look, every plan he comes up with actually gets at least one district person WHO ISN'T HIM killed. Yes, sure, he went expecting to die, but he also always had Daddy's money to fall back on and bail him out, something that the people he got killed didn't have.
He walked into the arena for no purpose either than to make a grand statement that, critically, would save nobody but would soothe his guilty conscience - an mode of action I do not and never will respect - and in the process got another child killed.
yes, he is a twitter activist, and I like him better than the twitter activists precisely because his stupidity eventually got to a point that came with actual consequences.
what companies who sell you anti aging stuff don't want you to know is that if you're chill about aging, your perception of attractiveness changes as you get older. there is no "wall" where you suddenly become ugly and unfuckable because in my experience what actually happens is you get into your thirties and suddenly realize that people in their thirties are hot as fuck and the "flaws" that the beauty industry wants you to panic about are a feature not a bug, and based on the std statistics in nursing homes I don't really expect that trajectory to change.
^yep. i would also like to add that people who are young become unattractive as you age. I was in a lingerie store the other day and I swear the bra models must have been 16ā18. It was a very weird feeling, like I had brought my daughters with me and they were awkwardly popping out of fitting rooms to be like, "Mom! Can I get this?" College-aged boys, once upon a time a truly exciting demographic for me, now look like lost puppies badly in need of life advice.
With all due respect, I wouldn't want to look like a lost pup at 30.
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Material harm is the reason to oppose something.
The reason to not read/engage with Harry Potter is that it gives money to JK Rowling, who will take that money and use it to kill trans people.
The reason to not write HP fanfic is that it creates marketing for Harry Potter, which gets more people into it, which gives Rowling money to kill trans people.
The reason to not engage with Neil Gaiman's works is that it gives him money and cultural influence he can use to abuse more women.
The reason to not write fanfic of Neil Gaiman's works is that it gives him cultural influence in fannish spaces that he can use to abuse more women, and gets more people into his work, which gives him money he can use to abuse more women.
The reason not to engage with Lovecraft's work when he was alive was because he was a notorious racist with ties to hate groups. When he died, this ceased to be relevant, because his money ceased to go towards hate groups.
If Neil Gaiman died tomorrow, the damage that engaging with his work does is no longer being done. He'll be dead. He can no longer do damage, ergo, engaging with his work will no longer cause harm, because dead men cannot abuse women. But he is alive today, and engaging with his work gives him the things he needs to abuse more women, so I'm going to continue avoiding his work. When he dies...that calculation will change.
It is acceptable to engage with Lovecraft's work as you will because dead men whose works are in public domain fund no hate groups.
How acceptable it will be to engage with Harry Potter after JK rowling dies depended entirely on whether or not the IP would continue to fund the annihilation of trans people.
Had Rowling not set up her foundation that exists solely to funnel Harry Potter IP money into the eradication of trans people, then I would have said, "once she dies, feel free to engage with Harry Potter again, dead TERFs fund no evil policies."
But she did. That foundation will continue to fund that money towards the eradication of trans people long after rowling herself has died. Therefore, Harry Potter is not something to pick back up, even after Rowling dies.
To be very clear about this: CPUs aren't magical devices that can operate forever. They generate heat. They wear out over time. This happens faster when they're operating near capacity. This is not just an attempt to inconvenience you; this is an attempt to damage your property.
For the "crime" of not wanting to be tracked/have ads pissed into your eyeballs 24/7.
Even if you've paid for the "privilege" of the latter.
Fuck Google, and I hope they get sued into oblivion over this.
i see everyone in the notes talking about newpipe but nobody's talking about youtube alternatives for desktop
IF YOU USE A DESKTOP PC OR LAPTOP, TRY INVIDIOUS
https://invidious.io/
it is a free, open-source alternative YouTube front-end. in addition to not having ads, it has other great QoL features like a download button. try one of the several instances on that link up there ^^^^
so i was super pissed and concerned about this but i have just discovered that while this is true, it is apparently only true for google chrome users. i just tested this by having ten tabs open in firefox playing ten different youtube videos at the same time and my cpu usage spiked to 25% as the videos were loading and then dropped back down to 10% as they played.
if you ever needed another reason to switch to a different browser, this is it.
#i appreciate how genuine and non-judgemental this comic feels
#like left one is not upset at right one for caring while being powerless
#and right one seems genuinely distraught and not performative
I'm glad the facial expressions are coming across accurately!
It can feel so absurd to say gosh I hope the torment maze removes some fire and rusty nails soon, but alas, sometimes that's all one can do.
this made me realize that if we applied certain corrosponding sound changes between English and German it would be Nashi or Nati (pronounced the same) in English (you can do some fun things with Sound Corrospondences across the Indo European Languages, this is really fun to do with names)
also you notice this in how Ignatius is pronounced in English (with a Sh sound)
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a world where fantastical sexuality in art is not seen as a gutter to emerge from
i think the fact that i can say over and over again 'i am not being ironic, this is not a bit, my books are not a joke' and have people on the right AND left just say 'NO YOU ARE' to my face (or my mask) over and over again is very telling. culture just cannot deal with neurodivergent people yet
i am very thankful i have the confidence to weather decades of people calling my work āshit postsā or āintentionally badā. i think it has personally made me very strong and confident in my art, but it is fascinating how hard it is for some folks to even CONCEIVE of someone this different than them
most creators have these BIG DREAMS and goals, like winning an oscar or traditionally publishing a book: my dream is to live in a world where the average person has a relationship with joy and sincerity and sexuality and fantasy that makes my books seem not outrageous at all. which is how i see them
i know buds mean well when they post stuff like āi cant believe chuck tingle went from erotica to traditional bestseller listsā and thats FINE. i take it in the kind way it is intended. at same time, i want to live in a world where fantastical sexuality in art is not seen as a gutter to emerge from
when i finally trot off and ride that lonesome train, my biggest hope is that someone like me will have JUST SLIGHTLY fewer folks insisting that they must be a character or a joke or an ironic creation because no REAL person would do that. i am real. they will be real too. HERES TO THEM
Ok but like. What the fuck is there to do on the internet anymore?
Idk when I was younger, you could just go and go and find exciting new websites full of whatever cool things you wanted to explore. An overabundance of ways to occupy your time online.
Now, it's just... Social media. That's it. Social media and news sites. And I'm tired of social media and I'm tired of the news.
Am I just like completely inept at finding new things or has the internet just fallen apart that much with the problems of SEO and web 3.0 turning everything into a same-site prison?
You're right that the internet is smaller than it used to be, but there's still some cool stuff left in the corners. I'd recommend checking checking out Neocities if you haven't--it's an independent web hosting platform like Geocities of the old web, and there are hundreds of interesting and active pages discoverable both through their search function and through web buttons (links attached to small pictures with the title of a website) within the websites themselves. Here are three examples of web buttons you may find in link pages:
Most Neocities websites have link pages or button collections with anywhere from tens to hundreds of these. Don't be afraid to explore!
If you're looking for something more like a search engine, I can point you towards Marginalia. It's not a particularly smart engine, but it's perfectly usable if you've ever been taught to use search engines back when they were mostly run through keywords instead of full sentence comprehension. There's also an "about" and "tips" section on the front page with more information. The algorithm of Marginalia can be filtered by the user to allow, disallow, or require JavaScript depending on your needs, plus there are filters designed specifically to prioritize web 1.0 sites or mostly text-based ones. It is possible to search for modern websites with it, but it can return websites from just about any decade (since the invention of the web, obviously) so long as they contain the information you're looking for. For example, here are some random interesting sites I've found using Marginalia:
Native Languages of the Americas: Native American Cultures
BASIC HTML COMPETENCY IS THE NEW PUNK FOLK EXPLOSION!
Earthbound Text Labs by Bill Eager
The possibilities for discovery are truly endless.
Now you might want to know about directories. These make browsing for websites easier, but require you to read through and judge which ones to visit, as there aren't algorithms ranking the sites besides the whim of whoever coded the directory. Some of them have themes, others don't. Here are two that I've used:
Yesterlinks Directory
Ichigo Directory
Directories can be harder to come by just by surfing the net, but they aren't impossible to find. Many personal websites have their own directories of interesting sites hidden within them.
Webrings are similar to directories, but are actually more community-based. You have to register your website to be a part of a webring, usually by sending an email to whoever runs it and meeting some kind of entry criteria. For example, my personal website used to be a part of a webring called Sweet Dreams, which was for websites that heavily utilize color palettes and images of cute things, particularly sweets. Webrings will give you access to a widget upon entry that allow visitors and other members to browse between the registered websites in a massive ring, ergo, where the term gets its name. Webrings can have any theme or criteria for entry. If you can make a website about it, you can find a webring for it.
Now, you might be wondering about social media alternatives. I can't offer much, but I can nudge you towards the idea of forums. Here's one I found that could really use some traffic. I also browse a bit on MelonLand forum, which is actually closed right now--it's currently closed on Mondays--but on any other day of the week, you can find a fun community there dedicated to web revival. You can find it through MelonLand's main page. I'd also recommend checking out SpaceHey, which is a MySpace clone that's customizable and easy to use.
I hope this is of some help to you. The internet may feel less magical than it used to be, but that doesn't mean that the spark has completely died out. These types of indie websites need more attention if we ever hope to reverse the damage done to the internet by centralization and corporate interest. People are trying to make the web a cooler place to be, but we're going to have to do the work of finding and interacting with these projects in order to get them off the ground someday.
ALSO you should consider browsing Virtual Pet List and seeing if there are any pet sites you might be interested in playing. There is a whole genre of browser games right under your nose
Hereās a bunch of silly, small websites, some games & some useful things.Ā
The Useless Web takes you to a random useless website.Ā
Wolvden & Lioden are fantasticĀ āvirtual petā games that are actually rpg sims, very in-depth & time-consuming.Ā
Hereās a shitton of websites that you can play free games on: Addictinggames, Silvergames, Newgrounds, Armorgames, Gamaverse, & if you go to itch.io you can narrow your search toĀ āfreeā &Ā āonlineā for more. The powder game still exists as well!Ā
Thereās also both Picrew & Meiker for dress-up games, and a personal favorite of mine Charat, and old classic websites like Azaleasdolls are still around!Ā
Thereās all sorts of weird little sites all around like this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, andĀ this one that I use to play mad libs w/my friends. Or make custom jigsaw puzzles here.Ā
Thereās websites that emulate old DOS games like this and thisĀ and this. (sorry these are links to specific games, iām pulling all the links out of my personal archives)Ā
And of course, thereās a metric shitton of webcomics - not just on popular hosting sites, but old comics w/their own hosting like this one or these ones. Iām not sure how to come by them unless someone who already knows about them sends you one, though.Ā
If you want specific game recs feel free to DM me!
I've been thinking about the Real Internet a lot lately and how deliberately hard it is to find, based largely on the financial incentives of large corporations. If people are willing to pay and love data, I'd also like to point people towards the newsletter Garbage Day and its sister newsletter Garbage Intelligence (there's an interview with the guy who manages it on Numlock News, another great newsletter you should subscribe to if you like data and humor, and that one has a free tier too). Garbage Day is basically about the weird shit that's *actually* popular on different corners of the internet globally, like the Skibidi Toilet apparently, and what those numbers they report mean (like: is the Reddit blackout working? How much did Elon Musk actually fuck up Twitter's engagement?)
Also also, I want to point you towards an English cover of a Japanese meme song because it made me feel more Old Internet than anything I've found in a while. Also then I want you to understand its context because for once that makes it even funnier
