My Batfam Face Ref Sheet I Made For Myself + My Ethnicity Hc's For Them :]

The creature….

*doom music starts to play* I actually kindof like scheduling these kinds of appointments now...

but seriously Fellas, don't forget to schedule a pap smear every couple of years just in case. If you still have a cervix you can still get cervical cancer. ilu

this has been a psa

The thirst trap the people truly want

I low-key love the fact that sci-fi has so conditioned us to expect to be hanging out with a bunch of cool space aliens, that legitimate, actual scientists keep proposing the most bizarre, three-blunts-into-the-rotation "theories" to explain the fact we're not.

Some of my favourites include:

Zoo Theory: What if there are loads of aliens out there, but they're not talking to us because of the Prime Directive from Star Trek? (Or because they're doing experiments on us???)

Dark Forest Theory: What if there are loads of aliens out there, but they all hate us and each other so they're all just waiting with a shotgun pointed at the door, ready to open fire on anything that moves?

Planetarium Theory: What if there's at least one alien with mastery over light and matter that's just making it seem to us that the universe is empty to us as, like, a joke?

Berserker Theory: What if there were loads of aliens, but one of them made infinite killer robots that murdered everyone and are coming for us next?!!

Like, the universe is at least 13,700,000,000 years old and 46,000,000,000 light years big. We have had the ability to transmit and receive signals for, what, 100 years, and our signals have so far travelled 200 light years?

The fact is biological life almost certainly has, does, or will develop elsewhere in the universe, and it's not impossible that a tiny amount of it has, does, or will develop in a way that we would understand as "intelligent". But, like, we're realistically never going to know because of the scale of the things involved.

So I'm proposing my own hypothesis. I call it the "Fool in a Field" hypothesis. It goes like this:

Humanity is a guy standing in the middle of a field at midnight. It's pitch black, he can't move, and he's been standing there for ages. He's just had the thought to swing his arms. He swings one of his arms, once, and does not hit another person. "Oh no!" He says. "Robots have killed them all!"

Thank you, /r/ProgrammerHumor, I love you endlessly.

Redditors competing to make the worst volume sliders possible...

types of fantasy subgenres - writing help

high / epic fantasy - a genre of fantasy that holds its own world and creatures. examples of this could be J.R.R. Tolkien's LOTR, or C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia

low fantasy - a genre where there are regular magical happenings in "our" world—such as a magical school, or people with magical abilities. this could be found in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, or Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away

urban fantasy - essentially low fantasy, only it takes place in an urban setting such as a big city. an example of this is Cassandra Clare's City of Bones

sword and sorcery - fantasy that is centred around swords, magic, and witchcraft. it is a subgenre of high fantasy. a book is Robert E. Howard's Conan series

dark fantasy - fantasy elements mixed with horror. The Atlas Six, by Olivia Blake

fable - a story with a moral lesson

arthurian fantasy - anything derived from the tales of King Arthur (the Sword in the Stone, etc.)

crosswords fantasy - essentially where the main character crosses between their world and a fantasy world. an example of this could be Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland

dragon fantasy - what it sounds like.

historical fantasy - a cross between the historical fiction and low fantasy subgeneres. it could be set in a royal court filled with goblins, for example, in a time that was once present on earth.

FUNDAMENTALLY, CYBERPUNK 2077 IS NOT A GAME ABOUT OBTAINING RICHES, FAME OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT, DESPITE WHAT MANY PISSY REVIEWERS MIGHT SAY ABOUT IT- FIRST AND FOREMOST, IT'S A GAME ABOUT HUMAN CONNECTION IN FACE OF A GREAT TRAGEDY, EITHER PERSONAL OR SOCIETAL. V IS DYING, AND SO IS THE WORLD AROUND THEM, DUE TO CAPITALIST EXPLOITATION- V'S DESIRE TO GET RICH AND CLIMB THE SOCIAL LADDER TO GET OUT OF POVERTY BY AQUIRING MONEY AND FAME, A GOAL THAT'S VERY TYPICAL FOR PEOPLE LIVING IN A HYPERCAPITALIST SOCIETY, AND THE PLANET SLOWLY DYING DUE TO CORPO EXPLOITATION, WITH FLORA AND FAUNA DYING OFF, WATER AND AIR BECOMING POLLUTED AND CLIMATE CHANGE BECOMING MORE AND MORE RUTHLESS. IN A WORLD LIKE THIS, WHAT DO WE HAVE TO HOLD ON TO? THE GAME SEEMS TO IMPLY THAT OTHER HUMAN BEINGS ARE THE ONLY THING WORTH FIGHTING FOR- BY DOING QUESTS FOR CHARACTERS LIKE JUDY, PANAM, RIVER, KERRY, CLAIRE, MISTY OR EVEN JOHNNY, V IS ABLE TO BRING POSITIVE CHANGE INTO THESE CHARACTERS' LIVES. CRUTIALLY, ALL OF THEIR QUESTS CENTER AROUND MOURNING, SHOWING JUST WHAT BIG OF AN IMPACT DEATH HAS ON YOUR LOVED ONES, SOMETHING THAT TIES BACK TO THE PROTAGONISTS, V AND JOHNNY, GIVEN THAT ONE OF THEM WILL DIE SOON, AND ONE OF THEM HAS DIED ALREADY- IT'S A WAKE UP CALL FOR THEM, FOR V TO USE THE TIME THEY HAVE LEFT WISELY AND FOCUS ON WHAT MATTERS, AKA THEIR LOVED ONES, AND FOR JOHNNY TO SEE JUST HOW BIG OF AN IMPACT THE SELFISH LIFE HE LED HAD ON PEOPLE LIKE ROGUE, KERRY OR ALT. THAT'S WHY THE BOND BETWEEN JOHNNY AND V IS SO IMPORTANT TO THE NARRATIVE- JOHNNY IS WHO V CAN BECOME IF THEY WILL CONTINUE ON THE PATH OF SURVIVAL BY ALL MEANS AND THIRST FOR FAME, AND V IS WHO JOHNNY COULD'VE BEEN IF HE'D PRIORITIZE HIS FRIENDS AND PARTNERS WHILE HE WAS ALIVE. V CAN HELP JOHNNY TO TRY REPAIR AT LEAST SOME OF THE MISTAKES HE MADE IN LIFE, WHILE JOHNNY CAN WARN V AND SERVE AS THEIR GUIDE, AS FLAWED AND SELFISH HE MIGHT BE SOMETIMES. THEY ARE BOTH ON A CRASH COURSE TO BECOMING THE SAME PERSON ANYWAYS, SO THEY MIGHT AS WELL BE THE BEST OF THE BOTH OF THEM. TRANSCENDENCE AND CHANGE IN GENERAL ARE IMPORTANT THEMES OF THE GAME TOO, WITH V FEARING THEIR DEATH AND BECOMING JOHNNY, WHEN THEY SHOULD ACCEPT THAT NOTHING IN LIFE IS PERMANENT, AND THEY ARE CONSTANTLY CHANGING INTO DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THEMSELVES. EVEN THEIR SLOW CHANGE INTO JOHNNY, OR, MORE PRECISELY, AN AMALGAMATE OF THE TWO OF THEM, ISN'T THAT DIFFERENT FROM THE CHANGE EVERYONE GOES THROUGH ALL THE TIME, EVERY DAY. IN THE END, V CAN ASCEND INTO A BEING OF THE NET AND GIVING THEIR BODY TO JOHNNY, GOING THROUGH THE MOST LITERAL READING OF THAT "CHANGE" THEME IN THE GAME. JOHNNY'S ARC IS ALSO HEAVILY TIED TO CHANGE, AND THAT'S WHERE HIS CHARACTER ARC COMES IN-

someone has to make the first move, why not right after a fight when your blood’s still pumping?

Click on it twice. These are your two super powers.

My personal favorite use of the standard fantasy tropes is that all the stock characteristics of fantasy races are the stereotypes/caricatures the other races use for them. For instance:

Goblins

Stereotyped as thieving little tricksters with big noses and ears, but in reality they are extremely diverse, often to the point of not being related at all. Hobgoblins, Bugbears, traditional Goblins, Gnomes, Halflings, etc have all been called ‘goblin’ at one point or another, despite having very little in common. The thieving hordes idea comes from the fact that Goblin society is super socialist and they really don’t have a concept of personal property. The idea of locking a door in goblin society is alien, as everyone shares what they have. A goblin walking away with a set of silverware is less to do with greed, and more to do with the fact that their neighbor was complaining the other day about losing all their forks, and the goblin in question saw how many forks this tavern had, and decided to equal the scales a bit.

Dwarves

Dwarves are stereotyped as hard-drinking, dirt eating, greedy, hotheads. When you live underground rickets, anemia, and scurvy are all common, and displays of physical robustness become a cultural sign of status. At the end of the day Dwarves work well together, and drink a fairly normal amount, generally only drinking heavily among company. Dwarves are hospitable to a fault, and the way they show that is by engaging in eating and drinking in excess, to encourage similar behavior of their guests. A successful Dwarven feast ends with empty flagons and plates, and still full serving bowls. Stereotypes regarding digging greedily only come about from the twin facts that space is limited underground, necessitating regular expansion into newly built caverns, and in a magical world there are monsters all through the ground. And honestly, while the most famous Dwarven cities are subterranean, most live in hills, on cliff-sides, or on the rocky shores.

Orcs

Orcs are often stereotyped as unintelligent ravaging hordes who roll up to towns and wreak havoc. They steal away with women and children, rob livestock, and burn homes. Orcs in reality are generally nomadic. In the wide open plains, where water and food are scarce, to stay in place would mean certain doom, as their herds overgraze and soil water sources. Traditional Orcish clans have ancestral grazing lands millions of acres across. Distant corners may be visited only every decade. To graze on another’s land is a high crime among the orcs, as ever bite of browse is one stolen from the lifeblood of another clan. To prevent accidental trespass, Orcs have markers, large stones carved with jagged Orcish script. When humans (etc) wander into Orcish Land, they build farms and towns, and the Orcs feel they are in their right to remove them. Humans who are ‘stolen’ by Orcs are often just guests. In the open desert, Orcs can find water easily, and have plentiful food. They are eager to trade their fine leather goods and horn bows for goods from afar. Orcs also maintain cities, far flung and small, based on elaborate commerce. Each clan maintains a Great House in the city, and any Orc unfit to ride a Warg will stay there taking care of the family finances, trading goods, and teaching the young. Orcs of any gender ride, hunt, and herd with equal success, as a result an Orcish patrol might look very much like an army of large men to a human settlement, especially when that same party demands they leave their home and offer some settlement for their robbery.

Elves

Elves are stereotyped as haughty, distant, and immortal. While Elves are long lived, they are anything but immortal. The myth comes from Elvish naming conventions, and their religious connection to family history. Elves have given names, but rarely use them after the death of a parent, at which point the eldest same-gender child of a nuclear family will almost always adopt the ancient family name, and carry it, along with the history it is tied to. Elves think very generationally, always seeking answers in the future and past, digging through ancient tomes and burying themselves in study. Elvish librarians and scholars keep extremely detailed notes on present goings on, and as a result Elvish scholarship has a very black-and-white view of the past, informed by very deliberate attempts to remove bias. Elves generally don’t correct folks who think they are centuries or millennia older than they are, because the Elvish idea of the self is a very dispersed one, where every individual is, in a way, their ancestors. Perceived haughtiness of emotional distance arises from the fact that, to an elf, the past is settled, and the present is best lived through a mindset of calm, stoic inspection. To react with sudden, poorly thought-out, or overly emotional haste is to betray your ancestors, past and future.