Curated Chaos

"The Emptiness Machine"

Some notes:

1. There's a hidden reference to a sci-fi movie

2. I'm still not sure if I like the designs, so they'll probably change in the future

Some humans have feed connectivity augments that enhance their presence in the feed and help with processing data. So their brain is augmented. Imagine your brain being augmented in this corporate hellscape...

First of all, most likely every augment medical or otherwise is for sure extremly expensive and likely has to be paid of with interest that is likely to get you into an indenture contract.

I bet that a lot of people in indenture are augmented even against their will to make them more profitable (if their job requires it)

Once you have a augment (specifically on in your brain) it most likely is proprietary technology that has to be maintained by the company who installed it and for that reason they can likely take any price for repairs/maintenance/necessary updates

And imagine they utter horror of subscription-based neural augments. They only work if you pay monthly. Otherwise your eyes will stop working, sorry... And of course those augments in your brain do not actually belong to you, you just pay monthly to be allowed to use them...

In pretty much any other sci-fi, in one way or another, aliens are the most important thing to happen to the human race. Encountering aliens might be a near spiritual experience. Just learning that they exist and "we are not alone" is a pivotal moment of great awe (or a moment of great horror and fear that this stellar ocean is much deeper and darker than we thought). Other times aliens represent a reckoning, as we face our own weaknesses and undertake a great battle again the Other (in the literal sense) or against our inner darkness (metaphorically).

In The Murderbot Diaries we totally found aliens! Or at least ruins of alien civilizations... But tell Capt. Picard to put away the flute and the archaeology books- we euphemistically call them "strange synthetics," and instead of revealing deep truths about what it is to be alive, they'll probably just infect you with a bizarre disease that turns you half alien.

*sad flute sounds*

Only idiots mess with that stuff. Even in the Corporation Rim where money is king, mining those ruins for their oh-so-tempting advanced technology is a big no-no, practically the only law that corporations (usually) won't break.

Oh yeah, and there are (probably unintelligent, but it's not really investigated) alien creatures just running around on planets. We aren't studying them for their unique biology and learning how to gene hack ourselves or invent new medicine, they're mostly annoyances who try to eat us (see: literally the first thing that happens in the book and TV series).

Even in learning-and-human-betterment-driven Preservation, there's no evidence of alien archaeologists or xeno-whateverists. No evidence of cultists worshipping aliens or trying to contact them. We just have a bunch of people going about their human (and construct (and bot)) business despite, you know, aliens!

Granted, we're seeing all this through Murderbot's perspective, who clearly has, um, other priorities. But I feel like it would have at least mentioned those people as some kind of extra special idiot.

This isn't a criticism, it's just interesting to me, and I realized a part of me kept waiting for someone to care about the aliens. It certainly has historical context- some cultures met and established trade and mutual exchange, while others were, well, like the conquistadors meeting native flora, fauna, and people in new lands... that stuff was mostly in their way. And given that it's "just" ruins, there are certainly many, many cases where we've built whole cities on top of old ones without a second thought for history (yes, the opposite is also true again... Humans are complicated).

Stop backing up my fucking files.

Stop asking me to back up my fucking files.

Stop taking my fucking files off my fucking computer.

I don't want a fucking reminder in three fucking days. Let me fucking say no.

Here's a text tutorial to get rid of that shit on Windows 11.

Here's a video tutorial to get rid of that shit on Windows 10.

Here's a video tutorial to get rid of that shit on Windows 11.

#NO FR like not just really funny but also. one of my favorite parts of the series#like its straight up xenofiction. incorporating the embodied cognitive experience of a being that is part digital#its SO fucking well done. aaaaaaa#i am constantly in love with the amount of thought and care put into writing a character so non-human#and even just the fact that it is a story about someone who isnt a human but could act as one and does not want to.#never felt so seen in my FUCKING life bro#no im not like you. it sucks ass. i would rather die than be mistaken for someone who wants to be you

"The Company is cheap" is people's "It's all Airplane's fault" in this fandom. (Airplane being the joke escapegoat/plot-hole-excuse from the SVSSS fandom).

The Company are cheap but I feel it's being conflated and misconstrued?? Beyond it's original context.

I think Murderbot calls the Company cheap, but it's best interpreted as the Company squeezing blood out of stone, really really thoroughly using, predatorily, every scrape of service they can out of SecUnits, sending the horse to glue factory sort of situation and feeding the meat to dogs, rather than not investing in the effectiveness of their weapons and shields and spyware.

There was a fun series of fics that explored CombatUnits and oooh was it juicy regarding the sheer technological advancement and care and deliberate "graceful degradation" put into Combats (the body horror!) but also how brutally pragmatic they were with scraping off the organic bits about a year into the Combats life and reusing the inorganic parts. Which is- exactly how you'd treat a weapon. You don't want your weapon to be ineffective. So you will build it durable and deadly because that's necessary otherwise you've wasted money. But... you can also refurb that fucker to hell and back as necessary. Brutal pragmatism. Less about being cheap. More about being very clinical and getting EXACTLY what you paid for, and more, squeezing blood out of stone.

When Murderbot says "cheap" you have to understand this is from the perspective of a living weapon. The Company isn't cheap in the sense that they wouldn't pay for whatever gives them an advantage. Because they absolutely would invest. They're cut-throat and as such want sharp knives. Cheap = the Company simply doesn't value life, personhood, or a gentle retirement for its SecUnits.

The Company knows and deliberately budgets for clients/prey who they don't see as a significant enough financial loss if they die, to carry greater risk. In financial terms, they have very precise and calculated "risk appetites". This translates to every second, every Joules of energy, budgeted for safe-keeping property/clients/prey whilst maintaining a good enough perceived reputation to not scare off future clients/prey.

The Company isn't "cheap". But Murderbot knows its specific personal value is cheap in the eyes of the Company. And so are the lives of its clients, if the Company can get away with it. Better yet, if they can make a profit off of equipment failure, why not set an "acceptable" (relative to average market standard) failure rate.

So don't portray the Company as dumb and inefficient. It's very calculated and efficient. The system does what it's intended to do. The Company is deliberate with. Every. Single. Penny.

moreso like "if i use this gun to shoot 1 bullet through two people, i save a bullet. if i can convince this politician to pay more next time by strategically giving them bad equipment, i will"

“You can always assume one thing about your clients; and that is that they are doing their best. Always assume everyone is doing their best. And if they’re having a day where their best just isn’t that great, or their best doesn’t look like your best, you have to be okay with that.”

Paid service with no ads: Well, if they're not funding it with ad revenue, they need to charge us something.

Paid service with ads: Well that's bullshit.

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

The defeat of the wizard who made people choose how they’d be to be executed

The woman who raised the changeling alongside her biological child

Cinderella finding Araura (and falling in love)

The God of Arepo (graphic novel 1 / 2 / 3) (ebook)

The Monster of Sentan

The Witch’s Cat

Raise Both Children

Stabby the Roomba (honorable mention)

Cinderella Marries the Prince (comic)

My Arch Nemesis Cynthia

Pirates and Mermaid

Eindred and the Witch

The Demon King

The Cornerwitch

Grandmother Beetroot

Apocalypse Daycare Worker

Grandmother Accidentally Summons a Demon

New Year Saga

A Story About Changelings

Ranger in the King’s Forest

The Difference Between a Hare and a Rabbit

Plus some more^^