Artastic arts

Boundaries are personal and social. They are based on mutual respect. Boundaries are not orders, they are requests, intended to establish a cause and effect: if you do this thing, I will do this other thing. "If you show me ship fic, I will block you" is a boundary. "You are not allowed to make ship fic at all" is not a boundary, that is a rule.

Rules are not boundaries. Rules are based on power and control - they are imposed upon you. This is not necessarily bad, but it must come with understanding of where they can be applied. Rules only apply where the rulemaker has control of what is allowed. And these are how many creators seem to approach what they call "boundaries". Again, this is not necessarily bad - their own twitch chats, discords, and maintags on social media ARE spaces in which they have control (some spaces more than others - maintags are shakier since creators don't have moderation power there, but that can be alleviated by creating a dni tag and asking people to place content there instead), and are therefore places where they can make rules about what they do or do not want to be shown. This is fine. Creators have the right to moderate their own spaces how they wish.

Where the problems emerge is that many creators seem to assume that they have the power to apply their rules (in the guise of "boundaries") in places that are not their own. Non-main tags on social media, archive of our own, private discords - these are locations in which the application (or lack thereof) of boundaries is no longer the choice of a creator. They do not have power; thus, any choices made by individuals in those spaces must necessarily be based only on the social agreement between fan and creator, an inherently parasocial construction. And in this case, the parasocial agreement that actually exists is not "this thing must never be created", it is "this thing should not be created or shared in my spaces".

I would argue that the primary issue in how "boundaries" are approached is a misunderstanding of how all of this works. Boundaries cannot be enforced in private spaces because there is no power relationship there. They can only be requested. As a result, when creators attempt to enforce boundaries in spaces that are not their own, what will actually happen is a series of barely-controlled harassment campaigns aimed towards people who are, by and large, following the social contract of boundaries but not the power-enforced contract of rules. And that harassment is far more of a problem than any person in a private discord writing something against boundaries. One might make someone uncomfortable.

Gaston: "Everyone knows her father's a lunatic. He was in there tonight, raving-"

Fast placed music plays as the scene changes.

as many of you know, the work we did for Avid was substantial. the music we made with him has been our lifeblood for the past several months as we have been reeling from the onset of a severe, life changing disability diagnosis that prevents us from working a typical job. music, video editing, streaming, and making our own videos are about all we can do. our disabling dissociative amnesia prevents the timely and reasonable learning of new skills. while we have been working constantly with a dissociative specialist to inch towards remedying this, we do not expect that we will be equipped to work in any other capacity any time soon.

the royalties we received from the music we made together with Avid were roughly 80-90% of our income on any given month for the calendar year so far, and they have helped us stay afloat while we have been trying to go through the rigorous and ill-equipped disability system.

putting all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea regardless, and the fears i had building for the past couple of months only further emphasized this. as such, i have been trying to diversify by engaging with streaming, trying to get my name out there for collaborative work in other SMPs, and reaching out to my creator friends for editing work. i really can't thank two people in particular enough - LeonSBU and NatureOfGaming - for providing me work as they have been able to afford and especially in Leon's case, getting my name out there for other SMPs.

unfortunately, the true extent of Avid's manipulations and lies were more than i could ever have imagined. the fact that my entire understanding of his intentions has been flipped in a matter of no more than 3 days feels like being hit by a truck. for full transparency, i am no longer in contact with Avid, but i did inform them that i was leaving the fate of our music in their hands. in the final messages he sent to me before i cut contact, he told me that he "would never cut [me] off financially". he told me he would never do a lot of things, so forgive me if i have trouble trusting this. regardless, the dropoff in listenership after what has been revealed will be substantial and immediate.

in the best case-scenario, i have a month or two left before royalties catch up to this dropoff, and will see consistent income for that time still. in the worst, i will no longer be able to afford my rent by the end of the month if he does remove the music and disable my royalty splits.

what i need is two things: i need immediate funds to fall back on in case things go poorly, and i need longevity. i have been so lucky to be surrounded by so many truly astounding and generous creators who have been willing to put my name out there for work. i am hoping this comes to fruition. i am already hearing from some about potential editing opportunities which is amazing. but things are still up in the air, and i need to be quick and smart. this is why i am doing something that my fans know i hate. i'm asking for help.

as i see it, there are three pillars to this. all the highlighted text below links directly:

immediate aid - if you have the funds to spare, buying our music on Bandcamp and donating to our Ko-Fi are methods of which we see the funds in a matter of days, if not instantly. this will help us build an emergency fund if worse comes to worse.

supporting our work - by spreading the word about our streaming on Twitch and listening to our music on streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube (and any other platform our music is on), you provide a significant source of consistent income that we can rely on month-to-month.

word of mouth - talking about what we do and why you enjoy it is a surprisingly big help, because it helps us find connections for potential growth opportunities and commission work. additionally, letting people know we have a Discord and are the ones responsible for Avid's music in the first place not only helps us, but it helps the people who loved Avid's music know there is more out there from the person who made his songs possible.

i'm gonna level with you all. i fucking hate writing this. i feel like a beggar. i feel humiliated. these past three days of piecing things together have been some of the worst of my life, and having to once again ask for help is the cherry on top. since i learned about the truth three days ago, this has been constantly looming over me. everything else has been made crystal clear to me, so i at least know without a shadow of a doubt what happened. but with this? i'm terrified. Avid knew my situation, my disability, my reliance on our work together. he has left me in a truly impossible situation. i am taking it as an opportunity to double down on the work i was already doing and try to turn it into a positive. i hope that you all are gracious enough to help me make that a reality. it would really mean the world right now.

over the past several days, i have talked with dozens of people who have corroborated evidence which confirms fears i have had for months - fears which i had been made to believe were unsubstantiated, until now. for my own privacy, safety, and wellbeing, i will be keeping this a personal matter. if there comes a time where it becomes relevant to share my perspective, i will do so with care and respect for everyone involved. at this time, however, i do not feel it would be helpful.

this situation has left me heartbroken. it has been devastating to find that someone who i trusted, loved, and considered one of my best friends was not the person i believed him to be. i am feeling more betrayed than i know how to express. my only solace is that in spite of this, i still find myself surrounded by friends and beloveds. forgive me if i choose to lean into them rather than my art in the coming weeks.

as for our music with Avid, i have given them the option to do what he pleases with it. while i am so, so proud of the love and care i have put into those songs, i sincerely cannot in good conscious claim them anymore. so many people have loved those songs, and i would not feel right taking them from anyone. this is why i have left it his decision whether he wants them to remain, or whether he chooses to remove them.

i ask that all of you please, please remain cordial. we are hurt, and the only thing that poking around and harassing others does is perpetuate the cycle of harm. if any malice burns within your heart, extinguish it now. i am tired of vitriol. i am tired, just in general. i want to take my time to heal, and then continue to make the art that i love, and share it with all of you. i ask each of you to do me the favor of not rocking the boat in the meantime.

(Note: this is mainly just an incomplete lore primer with some pre-explosion fan etiquette and shitposting thrown in. It is not actually helpful for its stated purpose, but it might help you acclimate better.)

How long has the server been going for?

This season? About half a year. In total? Around a year and a half.

Who owns the server?

Physically? Avid. Conceptually? VikingPilot. Console access? Dr. Trog.

One of the SBK members reblogged/liked/commented on my post! What do I do? Did I do something wrong?

Yeah, they do that. Several of them have been here for a while, and they tend to take up a more casual tone on Tumblr in particular. If it's really freaking you out, remember that you are allowed to establish boundaries like anyone else is -- just block them.

They do also read AO3, but the majority of them do not have accounts, so archive-locking your fics is a good way to avoid unwanted attention.

How do I tag fics on AO3?

Character relationships, character names, additional warning tags. A good rule of thumb is that you should only tag a character and/or relationship if you would be satisfied finding that fic when checking their tag -- so don't tag characters that only have one or two lines of dialogue! The "Skyblock Kingdoms Ensemble" tag is your friend, as is using the additional tags to indicate cameos or other brief appearances.

What do I need to know about the Discord?

It's chill there. The CCs interact directly with folks a lot (although most of the new members aren't in there). There's both fanart and fanfiction chats -- don't post anything that you wouldn't be comfortable with a very young teenager seeing, and you shouldn't have any problems.

What's the general older fan culture like?

Very trans, queer, and plurality (of all kinds) friendly. Fandom enjoyment shipping-wise leans more towards F/F and Rubyco/F than M/M shipping. Please do not call Avilade straight, they're both bisexual. Trans headcanons of all kinds are extremely accepted and encouraged, and folks are generally multishippers as opposed to fighting over which ships are better (we also love polyamory here).

In general, older fans of Skyblock Kingdoms pick one or two mains but have a lot of enthusiasm for pretty much everyone else on the server. Ask someone what POV to watch and they'll get back to you with usually at least six recs, some of whom they may not even watch themself. Ask someone about their favorite's lore, and you will either get a five-paragraph-minimum essay or an "oh gods where do I even start." A lot of people are currently feeling a little prickly about the new people in the tag, but we'll acclimate eventually.