This is buried in a longer post, but I think it's worth highlighting again.
The point of civil discourse is not to uphold Victorian manners, play nice for the oppressor, or constrain activism to a specific set of rules.
The point of civil discourse is to present and exchange ideas in a manner that is compatible with human psychology.
Being inflammatory/polarizing puts people's guards up. Once you've insulted someone in an argument, no matter what a horrid bastard they might be, you've sacrificed all your credibility/pull with them. Why should they believe you know best for them/society if you've shown you don't respect them as a person?
The thought of "I don't want to argue about human rights," is fair. However, through time immemorial, we've seen that rights are a thing you are born with but have to defend from outside forces. "Defend" means arguing. Arguing effectively means being patient, default assuming the person's mind can be changed, and walking away from a conversation you don't have the energy or the temper to continue with "This is not something I think I can change your mind on, but I stand firm on my beliefs. I will not be engaging further with you on this today."
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The grace of the women outshone even that of the men, and put Elayne in mind of some stories she had heard as a child by listening where she was not supposed to. Women of the Atha'an Miere were, in those tales, the epitome of alluring beauty and temptation, pursued by all men. The women on this ship were no more beautiful than any others, really, but watching them move, she could believe those tales. (TSR, ch. 19)
It was a surprise that the two were sisters. Elayne could see the resemblance, but Jorin looked much younger. She wished the Windfinder were the one they had to deal with; both women had the same reserve, but something about the Windfinder reminded her of Aviendha. It was absurd, of course. (TSR, ch. 19)
"Elayne is the woman for you." [...]
"What do you mean?" [Rand] asked.
[Aviendha's] bulky skirts did not hinder her, walking along beside Jeade'en. No, not walking. Stalking. If she were a cat, she would be lashing her tail. "Elayne is a wetlander, your own kind." She tossed her head arrogantly. The short tail that Aiel warriors wore at the nape of the neck was missing. The folded scarf around her temples nearly enveloped her hair. "Exactly the woman for you. Is she not beautiful? Her back is straight, her limbs supple and strong, her lips like plump loveapples. Her hair is spun gold, her eyes blue sapphires. Her skin is smoother than the finest silk, her bosom fine and well-rounded. Her hips are—" (TSR, ch. 36)
Jorin kissed her fingertips and pressed them to Elayne's lips. "The Light willing, we shall meet again."
"The Light willing," Elayne responded, duplicating the Windfinder's gesture. It still felt odd, but it was an honor, too, used only between close family members or lovers. She was going to miss the Sea Folk woman. She had learned a great deal, and taught a little, as well. Jorin could certainly weave Fire much better now. (TSR, ch. 39)
"Soft," Aviendha grunted. "Elayne is not soft. You belong to Elayne; you should not be caressing eyes with this milk-skinned wench." She shook her head fiercely, muttering half to herself, "Our ways shock her. She could not accept them. Why should I care if she can? I want no part of this! It cannot be! If I could, I would take you gai'shain and give you to Elayne!" (TSR, ch. 48)
Oh, I might know this one. You care because… *refers to notes* Gay.
Min’s laugh had a huskiness to it; Elayne supposed many men would find that attractive. And she was pretty, in a mischievous sort of way. (LoC, Prologue)
[Aviendha] had her headkerchief off and was busily running a polished greenstone comb through her dark reddish hair. That seemed to be taking all her concentration. That and not falling off. She had donned an intricately worked silver necklace, too, and a wide bracelet of carved ivory. (LoC, ch. 38)
Even as a lifelong pedestrian mortifying her flesh on the back of Mat Cauthon's horse, this girl's #1 priority is to make sure she looks her gayest when she sees Elayne for the first time in months.
Twisting around on her knees, Aviendha frowned. "I am not certain I understand. Are you proposing that we share him? Elayne, we are friends, I think, but we must be as first-sisters if we are to be sister-wives. It will take time to know if we can be that."
Realizing her mouth was hanging open, Elayne closed it. "I suppose it will," she said faintly. Min kept saying they would share him, but certainly not that way! Even the thought was indecent! (LoC, ch. 40)
In all seriousness this is reading like when the suggestion comes from Aviendha, when she speaks of becoming first-sisters and sister-wives in the Aiel way, it contains an element that is initially taboo to Elayne, that is contingent upon developing intimacy and trust with another woman, and that differs meaningfully from the less formalised arrangement she and Min discussed as non-Aiel women who love the same man. I suggest that this element is: gay sex.
Elayne appeared to have vanished, and so did Aviendha, but no one was crying murder yet; [Mat] suspected the Aiel might be somewhere having a white dress pulled over her head. (LoC, ch. 44)
"I have been thinking too, near-sister." [Aviendha] and Elayne had not reached the point of adopting each other as first-sisters yet, but she was sure they would, now. Already they brushed each other’s hair, and every night in the dark shared another secret never told to anyone else. (ACoS, ch. 13)
"You do not understand, Elayne." Aviendha gestured toward the center of the meadow, where the gateway had been. "That could have been no more than a flash of light, or even less. You cannot tell until it happens. Is a flash of light worth the risk of burning out yourself and every woman closer to you than a hundred paces or more?"
Elayne stared at her. She had stayed, knowing that? To risk your life was one thing, but to risk losing the ability to channel... "I want us to adopt each other as first-sisters, Aviendha. As soon as we can find Wise Ones." What they were to do about Rand, she could not imagine. The very idea that they would both marry him—and Min, too!—was worse than ridiculous. But of this, she was sure. "I don’t need to know any more about you. I want to be your sister." Gently, she kissed Aviendha's blood-stained cheek. She had only thought Aviendha blushed fiercely before. Even Aiel lovers did not kiss where anyone could see.
Fiery sunsets paled beside Aviendha’s face. "I want you for my sister, too," she mumbled. Swallowing hard—and eyeing Birgitte, who was pretending to ignore them—she leaned over and quickly pressed her lips to Elayne’s cheek. Elayne loved her as much for that gesture as for the rest. (TPoD, ch. 6)
Lovers don't flaunt their intimacy so openly, but we do—? Standing covered in blood on a scorched hillside—? After one of us risks a fate lots worse than death to stand by the other, who then issues a sudden but deeply heartfelt proposal—? OH COME ON.
i always thought it was silly that people would get so pedantic & heated over the idea of fantasy novels using words derived from real locations like "champagne" or "lesbian" or whatever. "a fantasy setting cant have words that are dependent on real-world context" i have bad news for you about all words
like the way i see it if youre writing a high fantasy novel in (eg) english then either (a) youre treating the characters as not *literally* speaking english, & the book is framed as translating or otherwise rendering their speech in english, meaning that literally any english word should be fair game because it's something for the benefit of the reader, not something the characters are actually Saying, or (b) youre saying the characters *are* literally speaking english, in which case youve already fudged your fantasy setting's relationship to language so much that youve forfeited your right to pedantry
silent hallcreeper is one of my absolute favourite cards from duskmourn and honestly from all of magic because of how well it tells a story. it's a creepypasta story, right:
it follows you, and you cant shake it (unblockable)
it's weak, but the more it follows you, the stronger it gets (the counters)
the more it follows you, the more it knows about you. it's not just following you, it's stalking, studying (draw a card)
and finally... when it's stronger than you, when it knows everything there is to know about you, it becomes you (becoming a copy)
it's simple but it's so elegantly told and more impactful than any flavor text could be because it's a story told entirely through the card's actual mechanics this is the kind of shit that activastes my autism so much
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[at unicorn fuck club]
Elon Musk: [rising from bushes] eyyyy it'sa me, elon!
JRR Tolkien: elon musk?!
Tolkien: my word! I don't think we've ever had you at OUR campfire before!
Tolkien: you're usually over there with that
Tolkien: [grumbling] midnight society
Tolkien: it's just that you're usually hanging out with Stephen king
Musk: si, Stephano king anna me
Musk: we havin a kinda, how you say, break?
GRR Martin: oooo trouble in paradise!
Musk: non non non itsa nothing like that
Musk: we stilla best friends
Martin: yeah sure ya are
Martin: just like howard and august are "best friends"
Martin: ha ha ha
Musk:
Musk: why you say it like that
Martin: hey no harm done, man, just a joke
Martin: comedy is legal now
Martin: ha ha ha
Musk:
Musk: [narrowing eyes]
Tolkien: ah yes pay no attention to George
Tolkien: we would be delighted to have such a connoisseur of good fiction here at our campfire!
Musk: datsa me!
Tolkien: so tell me
Tolkien: what did you think of my books?
Musk: i lika how they're about how war issa cool and good!
Tolkien:
Musk: i lika da badass men of gondor
Musk: cuz they just lika me!
Tolkien:
Lewis:
Martin:
Tolkien: how do you figure that, my boy?
Musk: ima badass too!
Tolkien:
Musk: datta war was won by da strong badass gondor men
Musk: cuz da hobbits, they too gay!
Musk: war issa so good!
Tolkien: my dear boy, that's not what i was trying to say at all!
Musk: mama mia!
Tolkien: i was actually trying to express that war is bad
Musk: mama mia why you no lika war?
Tolkien: i saw my best friends die in the trenches--
Musk: triggered much?
Tolkien:
Musk: lol
Tolkien:
Tolkien: well, i--
Musk: lmao roflcopter
Tolkien:
Tolkien: ok so--
Musk: comedy is legal again, libtard [laugh-cry emoji]
Tolkien: i'm beginning to understand what Stephen said
Lewis: yeah yeah i gotcha
Martin: definitely
Tolkien: how can he misinterpret my work? The meaning is obvious!
CSS Lewis: see, you have no one to blame but yourself
Lewis: now if you'd tried using some allegories like i explained--
Tolkien: shut your mouth, you Anglican traitor
Lewis: i'm just saying
Lewis: no one can misinterpret my work
Tolkien: the hell you say!
Tolkien: Allegory adds another layer of abstraction!
Tolkien: you played yourself!
Lewis: let's test that out
Lewis: elon, in Narnia, what does aslan represent?
Musk: eyyy itsa Giuseppe cristo!
Lewis: see?
Tolkien: elon GOT it?
Tolkien: ELON got it?!?
Tolkien: not gonna lie, this one hurts
[at twitter headquarters]
Musk: mama mia, datta Tolkien! why he disagree witha me?
Musk: i taka this to someone who never disagree witha me!
Musk: grok, what issa lord ova da rings about?
Grok: it's about the futility of war and the triumph of love and kindness over hate and fear
Musk:
Musk: mama mia! grok issa gone woke!
[after adjusting algorithm]
Musk: grok, what issa lord ova da rings about?
Grok: it's about sexy sexy hobbit feet
Musk:
Musk: no no datta won't do
Musk: that stilla too woke
As is a time honored tradition, i invoke the trivia of the birthday! Please, give me trivia about the daybound/night bound mechanic (and maybe an explanation as to why the old werewolves didn't get eratta)
In original Innistrad design, we tried a number of different things to capture Werewolves. Day/night was one of the things we tried. We ended up choosing to use double-faced cards.
When we returned in Midnight Hunt, I suggested us retrying day/night. We liked how it played and added it to the set.
Originally, day/night both wrote out that it transformed Werewolves back and forth, so when it became night, for example, all Werewolves transformed to their back face. It also wrote out that day/night stopped being tracked when no cards cared about it.
Unfortunately writing out all that made the template quite long, so set design trimmed it down. When that happened, I went to the Rules Manager and asked if we could errata the old Werewolves, so they would all work the same. He said he would do that.
But between that conversation and the set coming out, he left Wizards, so the errata never ended up happening.
so many mental health issues these days are due to the fact that we no longer put the gargoyles on buildings that used to scare away the evil spirits that cause mental illness
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For a long while, a lot of the pokemon fan projects that you could find recommended online were one of two things: a difficulty hack like a kaizo or drayano hack, or quite old. Even the majority of other hacks were enhancement hacks slightly less about difficulty, and more a rebalancing of existing regions, if not a hack designed mostly to bring in the majority of current pokemon to an existing region. Recently though, there seems to have been a shift. New region hacks and fan games are releasing pretty frequently, and there are a good number of fantastic entries that are even liable to be recommended above a lot of the older mainstays. I’ve already kinda broken into these with Super Mariomon, but now I want to blow the lid off the list with my personal favorite of these new titles.
Pokemon Lazarus released late last year, in November of ‘25 to a flood of attention from the community. The developer was already pretty well known for their earlier project: Emerald Seaglass, a remake of Pokemon Emerald with GBC style, memorable and adorable graphics, along with some very engaging battle changes. Naturally, this dev making a brand new region hack with that sort of style and those mechanics was an exciting notion. Unlike most projects, I was on the ground floor of the hype, ready to give it a go day one, and though it took a few patches to work out the bugs, I was not disappointed.
The Nemo622 style is on full display in this game. Set in the region of Illios, modeled after Greece, it’s a strikingly distinct game. A custom tileset, custom sprites for the pokemon included - all the way through Legends Z-A as of its 2.0 update, and even a custom soundtrack, this is an artfully designed region in all the best ways. Like many good things, it’s a little hard to describe - not the least of the reasons being I can’t fully appreciate the greek inspirations. Nonetheless, it uses its GBC limitations in fantastic ways.
What I can appreciate on a deeper level is the game's mechanical design. This game had a number of little battle changes that were a delight to see. Many pokemon are as you remember them, but a few have had little reworks applied to make them more effective: some base stat changes, plenty of learnset optimizations, and the occasional type change, like making the Doduo line Ground Flying, making Noctowl Ghost Flying, or Hypno Psychic Dark. The game also includes megaevolutions, which are great if you like that sort of thing.
But the most incredible feature to me is the trainer battle team pools, something I’ve only ever seen in Lazarus - granting that I haven’t played a very significant number of the available hacks out there. Most bosses and trainers have semi-random teams that draw their composition from one or more pools of potential pokemon. For example, the very first boss trainer: the first gym leader, will always throw out the same lead and ace pokemon, but their middle pokemon can be any one of three different pokemon. Larger and later teams have even more potential variety. This is an incredibly fun feature, and it sends the replayability of Lazarus in particular through the roof.
On the subject of replayability, Lazarus has a number of other fun features to drive that up. The pokedex for Lazarus roughly 500 pokemon deep not including megas; it’s not too bloated, but has a healthy variety route by route that makes for engaging and varied team building run after run. Of course, if that variety isn’t good enough, there’s also three starter generations to choose from, a number of gift codes you can use to get a random extra pokemon, and a wishing well with a massive random pokemon pool that you can pull from with wishing stars.
The variability in this game is remarkable, and it produces a challenging experience for a nuzlocke like no other. The later release of an extensive spreadsheet documenting the team comp pools for boss battles made this my go-to choice not just for a fan project nuzlocke, but for a soullink as well. As of writing, my sister-in-masochism and I have yet to make it past the third gym and their arguably more dangerous guards, but we haven't been this enthusiastic about a soullink since our very first in randomized vanilla platinum, which ended in a first try victory.
As for the story, it's fairly vanilla, but it does have some interesting ways to use the late gen gimmicks as the plot fully materializes. Where this game excels a little more is its side content. Adding explicit sidequests to a mission list is an increasingly popular addition to modern rom hacks, and while it's a really cool way to make it feel all the more like a game you could've found on a store shelf on paper, there’s only so much you can normally do for a pokemon side-quest, and it often comes across as just filler: catch a specific pokemon, catch so many unique pokemon, catch all the pokemon on a route, fight a miniboss, maybe just take 5000 steps.
Lazarus puts that pattern to bed. Though it has a fair share of filler side quests, what it also has is a fair share of side activities: a game corner, grand underground mining, a customizable pokemon zoo, even the pokemon pinball minigames are ported into this game! It's not just mundane, more-of-the-same pokemon stuff, it's more, different things to do. In my opinion, if you're going to add side content in bulk, this is what it should be.
Lazarus is an easy S+ tier, and on account of the utter lack of reservations I have about it, it has to top the list above Super Mariomon. Even disregarding my distaste for Mariomon's writing, the variability and balance of Lazarus puts it a step above Mariomon in replayability. I will absolutely be coming back to Lazarus for more, and eagerly await the release of Alola Seaglass.
