RAY

I did ask if you'd rather this anywhere and you said it didn't matter but instagram, then i remembered i do not post there. So uhm. Here

No, i'm not sorry. @altrnvte @nolightlost

welcome! here are what you need to know about ao3 and how it’s the complete opposite of wattpad

trigger warning for the mention of contents that are allowed on ao3 that can be triggering to some.

ao3 is a non-profit organization. it’s run by fans (people like you and me), for fans.

fans donate to the site on their own free will to keep the site up and running smoothly.

ao3 is not a social media. it is an archive.

ao3 doesn’t have ads. it doesn’t have algorithms. it doesn’t have “going viral.”

everything is endlessly free on ao3. there is no “ao3 premium.” you will never see a single ad on ao3, and you can download as many fics as you want to read offline for free.

ao3 doesn’t have an app. and ao3 doesn’t need an app. any “ao3 apps” you see are third-party apps and are not affiliated with ao3, so be careful giving these shady apps your login infos or other personal information.

ao3 was built with the main purpose to 1.) be completely against censorship and 2.) host fics that are banned on other platforms like wattpad.

the reason ao3 doesn’t have an app is because for it to have its own app, appstore and google play store will have to approve it first. and due to the contents ao3 allow, chances are that it won’t get approved. which is actually a good thing. it doesn’t need an app. it works more than fine without an app.

on ao3, every single thing is allowed as long as it is fanfic or fan work (original works, fan art and video edits count as fan works, but if you want to post a video edits on ao3, you will have to post it elsewhere and then link it back to ao3 — ao3 cannot host video edits on its platform due to copyright issues)

by every single thing that is fanfic, I mean every single thing:

the filthiest smut without plot that is written purely for sexual pleasure is allowed. it has its own canonical tag called “plot what plot, porn without plot.”

fics that focus on non-consensual sexual intercourse are allowed, doesn’t matter if the fics glorify or romanticize the act, doesn’t matter if they’re written as kinks. they have their own canonical tag called “rape/non-con.”

fics about characters who are minors are allowed, even if they’re portrayed in a sexual manner, even if they’re non-consensual sexual intercourse. even if the minor characters are romantically and/or sexually involved with characters who are adults. even if they fics are written in ways that glorify and/or romanticize the thing. they have their own canonical tag called “underage sex.”

fics about incest are allowed. doesn’t matter if they glorify or romanticize the relationship. they have their own canonically tag called “incest.” fun fact: the first ever fic that was posted on ao3 was a fic about an incest ship from supernatural.

fics about self-harm and suicide are allowed. doesn’t matter if they glorify or romanticize the act. they have their own canonical tags called “self-harm” and “suicide” also “suicidal ideation”, “suicide attempt”, “implied/referenced suicide”, etc.

fics about violence and gore are allowed, even if they were written for the sake of shock value. they have their own canonical tag called “violence”, “blood and gore”, “blood and injuries”, etc.

rpf is also allowed. doesn’t matter if the content of the fics are dark and taboo. they’re treated the same way as any other fics.

every single dark and taboo fic you can think of is allowed. and it has its own canonical tag. because it is the main reason why ao3 was created in the first place.

“but what do I do if I don’t wanna see fics about xyz?” you can filter out any specific tag, character and/or pairing you want.

“what do I do if I wanna find fics about xyz?” you can search for any specific tag, character and/or pairing you want.

a lot of ao3 users rely on tags to search for specific tags, pairings, characters they want. they also rely on tags to filter out and exclude specific tags, pairings, and characters that they don’t want to see.

ao3’s tagging system is by far the most efficient one I’ve ever seen.

on ao3, our main principles are “don’t like don’t read” — which means YOU have a responsibility to curate your own internet experience. yes, ao3 allows all kind of messed up fics, but they also allow you the ability to NOT see anything you don’t want to see, by filtering out specific fics, pairings and/or characters.

no. you cannot harass authors who write about things that disgust you. you can and will be reported for harassment, and ao3 takes harassment very seriously. they will not take your side. because fucked up fics are allowed on ao3—fucked up fics are the main reason ao3 was created—whereas harassment is a direct violation of their terms of service.

ao3 is a house of the freaks and the perverts (affectionate). you ARE in the house of the freaks and the perverts. so don’t think about harassing or being rude to the freaks and the perverts who built this anti-censorship house and are kind enough to let you in.

ao3 is proship, profic, and anti-censorship.

any writer can write whatever they want, however they want. the only etiquette is that you tag your stuff properly and accurately

mistagging for visibility is heavily frowned upon here, and it won’t get your works more views. people will either block or report you if you deliberately mistag things with the purpose of getting your fic more views. as I’ve said before, ao3 is an archive. it’s not a social media. it doesn’t have algorithms or going viral.

if you come across a fic that has the tag “creator chose not to use archive warnings” it means the fic may or may not contain topics that can be triggering, but the author won’t tell you what these topics are, or if there are any at all. so proceed at your own risk.

that said, because ao3 is a non-profit site that hosts millions of works about others’ copyrighted characters, you CANNOT link a monetization platform anywhere on ao3, you CANNOT mention any donation, commission—or anything that involves money—anywhere on ao3. no, you cannot imply donation, commission, or anything that involves money either. that is against their terms of service.

and because ao3 is a place for fanworks, the “work section” of your post has to actually be fanwork (fanfic, original work, fan art, link to a video edit count as fanwork). anything that isn’t fanwork is not allowed.

you cannot post something on ao3 that is not fanwork. so no political statement, no call-out post, no “I’m looking for fics about xyz”.

ao3 is anti censorship as long as what your post is actually fanwork and as long as you don’t violate their terms of service that I’ve mentioned above.

ao3 has their own team of lawyers to protect them, their users, and every fanwork that is posted on their platform.

last but not least, don’t write directly onto ao3. write and store your works elsewhere before copy and paste them onto ao3 once they’re ready to post!! because ao3 does NOT autosave drafts for you, you risk losing everything you’ve typed if there’s a glitch, if the site crashes or if your device unexpectedly shuts down for whatever reason.

Like, violently yanked back in. I've been playing it every day for the last week or so, and I've just recently started trawling through the fanart and fics on here (mostly Cayde, of course, love that space cowboy to death).

And now I am consideringggg making an ask blog for one of my Guardians. Probably my Warlock, tbh, since I have actual lore for her.

You.

Time and date.

Like, violently yanked back in. I've been playing it every day for the last week or so, and I've just recently started trawling through the fanart and fics on here (mostly Cayde, of course, love that space cowboy to death).

And now I am consideringggg making an ask blog for one of my Guardians. Probably my Warlock, tbh, since I have actual lore for her.

clingy...

Specifically the fact that they (from my POV at least) seem to play off one another.

So for example: Strand is basically the weave that connects all things throughout the universe.

Where as Void is the nothingness in between it all, the literal empty void.

Which, these two opposites can actually work well together hence why there's Prismatic Aspects in the game geared towards combining the two.

Another example would be Stasis: which revolves around bringing everything to a cold standstill. It's all about control and funnily enough, order.

Originally I thought Stasis's Light counterpart was Solar since one was very ice themed and the other was fire themed.

But then I was talking to my younger sibling who pointed out that Arc would be a much better counterpart to Stasis.

Because where as Stasis is all about bringing everything to a standstill, Arc is all about going along with the flow, riding the storm and keeping on the move.

Stasis is Order with how it's geared towards controlling the field, freezing enemies and setting barriers to control the flow and Arc is very much Chaos, getting all up in the frenzy of battle and wreaking utter havoc on the enemy.

Which leaves Solar without a counterpart. I imagine had Bungie not pulled the plug, we may have gotten a third Darkness Subclass somewhere down the line.

So it got me and my sibling thinking what would that be?

Then I realized that while yes, Solar is all about fire and blowing shit up.

But Solar is also quite representative of Life. it tends to be the squishiest of the Light Subclasses, with it's main strength being it's ability to heal yourself and your teammates.

Hell, all three classes can equip a Healing grenade if they have Solar active, turning what was supposed to be another method of killing the enemy into a means of staying alive.

I know there's a large difference between the themes of the two sides; The Light Subclasses are very physical oriented: fires of the sun, the space between worlds, the raging storm while The Darkness Subclasses are very Abstract: Control, Psychic connection.

But they're more alike then it first seems because at the end of the day: these two things are just two sides of a coin, so to an extent, the Physicality of The Light and Abstractness of The Dark would slightly bleed into one another.

So, if Stasis is Order/Stillness and Arc is Chaos/Motion while Strand is the Everything and Void is The Nothing.

but....

I put forth that Solar is not Life; it's Growth. Not quite the same thing. The energy of all things needs a source, a beginning point, and that's the Sun and its constant construction and fusion, continuous action and reaction that fuels itself.

You nailed it with the heals and explosions, but while we theme the keywords after fire, the simple fact is that ignitions are what happens when you're engorged with energy beyond the capacity to contain it.

So instead of Death itself, which is a change to matter's form, it would be a Consuming Nothingness, akin to Void but creeping and destructive, instead of a vacuum.