Caelyn

Qud has changed, stranding Agate and Mokou on the far side of these strange tides. The search for answers drives them ever to the east, from the scholarly enclave at Grit Gate to the ancient village of Ezra at the base of the Spindle. Their welcome will be tested as only a pair of pariahs can. Can Mokou instruct Agate in the ways of the spell card? Is it doomed romanticism over a dead art, or a path to the undreamed future? And what does it mean that the only other person who remembers how Qud used to be is the hero who stopped the Gyre?

i've been down in the writing mines for three years now and it's finally time to haul this book up to the surface. it's the third installment of my Touhou/Caves of Qud crossover epic, Treatise on the Peregrine Phoenix! contains high adventure, haute cuisine, posthuman actualizations, portentous dreams, physically massive lesbians, and hundreds upon hundreds of bullets.

new chapters every thursday, or get updates in advance on my patreon (link)! i also have a ko-fi (link) if you feel like throwing a treat in my mouth. if you feel like starting from the top or getting a refresher, here's book 1 and book 2.

CeCe Rogers on Facebook writes: "Two Black Tennessee lawmakers were physically escorted out of chambers this week while Republicans quietly held a hearing to approve gerrymandered maps that would eliminate the state's only majority-Black congressional district.

No referendum. No special election. No public vote.

Because they know what happens when voters actually get a say — just look at Virginia, where the people spoke so loudly that Republicans had to drag the courts in to override them.

This isn't new. During Reconstruction, Black Americans held more congressional seats than at any point in the prior 90 years of American history. And white supremacists spent the next several decades tearing that down, through gerrymandering, poll taxes, and voter intimidation.

150 years later, the same tools. Different suits.

The audacity of escorting Black lawmakers out of their own chambers while dismantling Black political representation, and then telling us the courts aren't political, is breathtaking. These are the same courts they're counting on to make it stick.

Some gift art for friends! Bunjamini with a Kuromi top for SussyBnuuy and Grahu-Rubufo for Grastreams.

source

Man Opener - Caves of Qud

*Man Opener has something in her mouth, but won't let you see it.* *Man Opener turns in a happy circle.*

Man Opener is a Pit Beetle, a nearly extinct species of large rhino or Hercules beetle with a long lower-horn and a shorter upper-horn.

She is very good at tearing off armour from prey, and will eat your enemies. In fact, she will reduce their armour value and dismember them. It's always good to have a buddy who can do that, and girl's gotta eat.

What mysteries will it contain today?

Surprise! it's Neutron Flux flavor!

90% chance of +1AV permanantly, 10% chance of gravitational collapse.

Surprise! Gravitational Collapse!

10d10+250 roll for 338 implosion damage.

"This is disgusting to me" is totally valid.

"I don't want to read this because it is disgusting to me" is totally valid.

"Censorship of some topics in fiction and art is good and I would be happy if it were to be enacted in a way I approved of"

and

"some things should be banned from ever being written or read about in fiction"

are both authoritarian viewpoints to hold and express, even if you don't have the power to enact them.

Something being nasty is not a good reason to ban fiction about it.

If we accept that "something being nasty is a good reason to bad fiction about it" then we give a foot in the door for all the people who truly, genuinely believe that queer people are nasty to ban all queer literature.

Either you’re for it or you aren’t.

The moment you agree that something should never, ever exist in fiction is the moment that anything can be banned.

Remember a while back how Tumblr banned a bunch of tags, including many popular innocuous ones that even people who are for censorship used and were upset about?

When censorship happens, stuff YOU like can and will be banned. That’s how it works.

Remember how a bunch of people had their accounts terminated here only last year for writing about their own sexual abuse?

When you ban “pedo” topics, say, any talk of child sexual abuse in any form, that means people can no longer write about their own experiences. It means people cannot educate others so they can learn how to protect themselves or get help from these situations.

Censorship is authoritarian. Full stop.

Even if “everyone” agrees something is “gross” and “shouldn’t exist,” that does not fucking matter.

Do you know who generally believes queer people are gross and shouldn’t exist??

The same people who are banning books left and right solely because they have queer characters or relationships.

The same people who attack and kill queer folk for simply exisiting.

This is not just some fandom matter or a case of being chronically online.

In 2007, Livejournal capitulated to the "pedophilia and sex crimes!" cries of (hate group) Warriors 4 Innocence, and you know what communities got shut down? Slashfic communities. Sexual assault survivor support communities. Authors who'd written non-smut m/m fic even got caught up in it. It was DEVASTATING to fandom spaces. I think pretty much everyone knew at least one person whose account was literally DELETED, or were a member of a community that was wiped off the map because they were considerate enough to include topics like "sexual assault" or "BDSM" in the profiles under the badly-named category of "interests" to indicate that posts on said blogs or communities may include discussion of things like that. Even if it was for a SUPPORT group. And it was because a group of religious bigots came to LJ and said essentially "EVERYONE thinks it's gross and that it's promoting CSA, we should ban it."

Like, strikethrough and boldthrough were a large part of what propelled AO3 out of a more unfocused conversation on one person's blog about hosting a site INTENDED for fandom content, into being an actual archive and nonprofit. And it's a large part of why you won't find AO3 banning topics that you find "gross".