gen-cowheart

Latest Posts by gen-cowheart

Reasons I have seen webcomic authors publicly cite for cancelling their comic mid-storyline:

Too busy  

Lost interest  

Increasing age gap between characters and author made it difficult to relate  

Did the math and figured out that completing the planned arc with their current update schedule would take 150 years  

Ostensible author actually a fictional persona that’s now being retired, and they didn’t want the comic linked to their real identity  

Realised that the way they’d written the central relationship wasn’t emotionally genuine (note: this was a hobbit porn comic)  

The comic’s readership contained too many lesbians  

Converted to a religion that regards all representational art as a form of idolatry  

Broke up with the person the protagonist was based on  

Outed as not actually Japanese  

Imprisoned for manslaughter  

Aliens

bg3 canon modern au we can’t stop winning

A fight we can win together

Hello, Tumblr. It’s Casey and Bri, founders of Unvale. We’re reaching out to those who are as frustrated about generative AI as we are. Right now, it feels like we’re in a battle of technology against creatives. A battle of greed against humanity.

As the founders of Unvale, a creative platform that’s 100% AI-free, it has been disheartening to see the rise of AI online. Our team stands opposed to every AI tech company that is trying to remove creatives from the creative process. Big social platforms are already ingesting your content, your voice, and your likeness, building a model that will take opportunities away from real people. It’s disgusting, and it should be illegal. We have to push back. The platform we are building is already home to over 200,000 aspiring artists, writers, and creatives looking to develop their stories and share their work. We believe that the future of creativity should remain human-made, and we want to give anyone passionate about an idea a shot at creating something spectacular. AI is the cheap, quick win. We know that building something meaningful takes time and effort, but it’s also immensely rewarding. Like creatives, we believe in the power of human creativity.

Right now, Unvale could use your help. If you believe in our anti-AI message, please consider:

Spreading our message. If you already love Unvale or just resonate with what we’re saying, please share our platform with others. We are a platform for humans, and we need humans to advocate for us, not bots.

Joining our platform. It’s free to sign-up, and it’s a great site to slowly build your characters, your worlds, and your amazing stories in an AI-free space with big potential.

Never stop creating. We need flawed, genuine, thoughtfully-crafted art in our world. It’s the only way we make new things. We need it to let the next generation know that creatives aren’t going anywhere.

We grew up spending most of our time in human-made, fantastical worlds, from Star Wars to D&D campaigns. We know how escaping into these worlds can literally save you. And we’re not going to let AI win without a fight.

This is a fight we can win together. 

Written, not generated, by,

Casey and Bri https://unvale.io

Don’t mind me, just taking a fictional monster way more seriously than the themes intended~

Zoh Shia’s HR cutscene particularly was both disturbing and beautiful for me. This horribly disfigured and warped thing falling from its egg and dragging its head along the ground as it crawls forward, weak and coming to its senses.

Then its armor binds to it, covering over and masking its imperfections. Screen pans back post transformation and that disfigured crawling thing stands powerfully on its hind legs, now resembling and angel and exuding power and magnificence in its stance.

Things I’ve noticed are essential in plotting and would probably have saved me a lot of time if I had considered it earlier

The START of your story - how fucked up flawed is your premise/character at the start? what do they have to change? why are they HERE?

The END of your story - How do you want your main character/theme/universe to change after your story? Does it get better or worse? THIS SETS UP THE TONE DRASTICALLY.

What you want to happen IN BETWEEN - the MEAT of it. What made you start writing this WIP in the first place. Don't be ashamed to indulge, it's where the BRAIN JUICE comes from. You want a deep dive into worldbuilding and complex systems? Then your start and end should be rooted in some fundamental, unique rule of your universe (what made you obsess over it?). Want to write unabashed ship content? Make sure your start and end are so compelling you'll never run out of smut scenarios to shove in between scenes (what relationship dynamics made you ship it in the first place?).

The ANTE - the GRAVITY of your story. How high are the stakes? Writing a blurb or interaction? start with a small day-in-the-life so you can focus on shorter timelines and hourly minutiae that can easily get overlooked in more complicated epics. Or you can go ham on it and plot out your whole universe's timeline from conception to demise. Remember: the larger the scale, the less attached your story may get. How quickly time flies in your story typically correlates with the ante (not a hard rule, ofc, but most epics span years of time within a few pages, while a romance novel usually charts out the events of a few months over a whole manuscript.)

Everything else follows….?

(Sound on.) We’re all doomed.

Yeah, you definitely want to keep in mind the cultural differences and origins of European vs Asian martial arts when talking abut weapons from either area. Like, yeah this weapon will probably be shit on a battlefield, but it wasn't meant for that. It's similar to (how I think) cavalry sabers work. They're great for what they were designed for, people riding horses at speed, but they lose effectiveness when the wielder isn't mounted.

Demonstrating the rope dart (繩標; sheng2biao1)

[eng by me]

This is super cool, but I feel like the names for the cleric and paladin should be swapped. The term paragon makes me think of character like Captain America and Superman, who I feel would be translated as paladins. Martyr however feels very religious to me, and since clerics are more religion themed than paladins are, I feel that martyr fits better there. But this is awesome art, and I really love that the fighter is a draugr.

core classes as undead :)

it wild to me that there are people out there who aren't interested in history

like wdym you don't think about the fact that women would tell stories as they made butter in the same way we listen to podcasts today? wdym you don't think about that one Chinese poet who wrote about how much he loved his cats hundreds of years ago? wdym you don't think about the fact that we found a gravesite of a young child surrounded by flowers from THOUSANDS of years ago? wdym you don't think about how people wrote "i was here" into the walls in Pompeii? wdym you don't think about the little egyptian boy who drew little doodles at the top of his school works more then a thousand years ago?

wdym you don't think about the fact that people, no matter the place, time, social status, are fundamentally no different from you. that they loved the same as you, enjoyed the same things you did, dreamed about a better life the same way you did. that despite how seemingly detached you are from these people, in time, place, and culture, the things you do and the thing u are, are so undeniably human that it transcends time and space

On this day in 2023, 'LACKADAISY' premiered on YouTube.

Happy 2nd anniversary!

Lots of thoughts recently. Everything feels plastic.

I could go on and on about why all that AI "art" is bad. I could mention theft, lack of creativity, it's impact on the work field and environment, but countless people have already said all that. I wanted to touch on something that to me is the most utterly wrong about all of it.

Art is more than just something pretty to look at or listen to. It's therapeutic. It's a form of communication. A tool for human connection. It's a pure, human need.

Support real artists ☀️

Extra History recently did a series on Nazis and the Occult, it's pretty good.

apologies if you've asked this before, but why were the nazis so into the occult? like what drew them in specifically?

Fascists love identifying with an ancient warrior culture that never existed, and they love to try and believe things until they become true. The occult mileu of the 1930s had both in spades.

Important to say though, a few important Nazis were really into the occult, but Hitler himself found it pretty cringe. Don't get it in your head that every Nazi was training to be a wizard or some shit. Read Nicholas Goodrick Clarke's book on the topic.

What’s the deal with tiny shields?

(Yes, I know my ‘big’ shield is stil pretty small)

Patreon - everything else

On a really bad day, that list may include stuff like; eat, drink water, shower, get out of bed.

my life with ADHD

AROMANTICISM. YOU AGREE. REBLOG

I feel like it should be noted that primary weapons are usually weapons that cannot be stores, like polearms.

How many weapons is it practical for a fantasy character to carry?

Assuming no magic is involved, the answer might be more than you’d expect!

Patreon - everything else

in your opinion, is a bull a cow?

STOP BEING SELF CONSCIOUS ABOUT YOUR CREATIONS STOP SECOND GUESSING WHAT YOU REALLY WANNA DO STOP DEBATING IT'S WORTH. LET YOUR ART SERVE YOU INSTEAD OF THE OTHER WAY AROUND

"writing about fucked up things doesnt indicate your values as a person" and "the way you write about things may indicate some of your values" are not conflicting statements if im going to be real

I had a fantastic time working with Jack Stockdale-Haley of Jack of All Blades! It’s a huge testament to his skill and patience that we were able to get these clips despite my complete lack of stage combat experience!

For more clips from these sessions, art references, archery tutorials, and more, please consider supporting my Patreon

On a scale of Dark Souls to Devil May Cry, how fast are two-handed swords?

As always, more content, Tutorials and art refs over on Patreon

Look, if someone wants to buy me a suit of armour, I’ll test the hell out of it. But until then, here’s some theory!

As always, more content, tutorials, etc. over on Patreon

It’s all good fun, until somebody loses an aaAAARRrrgghh!

Hey, I have a Patreon

“Greatswords aren’t really that great!”

Just because something looks cool, doesn’t mean it’s effective- but it can help!

Patreon - everything else

Conservative politics are an incubator for the worst people to manipulate the dullest of minds.

Conspiracy theories give the D-student oxygen.

When does punchy punchy beat stabby stabby?

(Other than rock paper scissors)

Please consider supporting me on Patreon!

That's it, this sums up the past 9 books of the series. Gotrek, whose greatest enemy is undefeatable plot armour, cannot be killed or stopped. To his own dismay as much as everyone else's.

SLAYERS!

They have to be my favourite part of the dwarven army and the most original and interesting thing that differentiates them from their more classically Tolkien-esque counterparts.

They are dwarfs who swore off their lives to erase a stain from their honour, to atone in death for the sins of the past, no matter how small or grand they were because for warhammer dwarfs honour is all.

What is interesting is that there are three distinct reactions to taking the slayer oath. Some dwarfs fall into depression, shunning away from everyone but fellow slayers and priests of Grimnir, others become happy and extroverted because in death you do not need to worry about society's restraints, and of course there are those slayers like Malakai Makaisson or Snorri Nosebiter who simply go crazy. The only common thing that binds them is their oath, something more than sacred for them, that orders them forward in search of great doom that will send them to the halls of their ancestors.

In one of the Gotrek and Felix books they meet a lich priest of the Tomb Kings, when he was inquired by Jaeger as to why the dwarf helps the undead the priest answers that matters of the dead do not concern the living. He then explains that when Felix is brimming with life to the point of bursting, Gotrek's line of life was already severed which shows that slayer's oath is more than mere words etched in stone.

There are some musings as to why something like the cult of Grimnir exists in dwarfen society. Some claim that is nothing but a natural consequence of how the dwarfen psyche works a sense of honour taken to its most dangerous extreme, others say that it's a release valve for society that lives under constant pressure of expectations, restrictions and traditions, and there is also a third theory posed by Bitter the slayer who said that Grimnir took his axe and marched north because he could not stand constant nagging of his family.

When you look at the whole picture you start to realise how selfish the oath is. You, for your own sense of honour, abandon all you hold dear and seek death in battle, essentially wasting your skills, knowledge and wisdom throwing it all away at the pyre of glory. At the same time there is something tragically romantic about the whole thing, mighty doom seekers traveling the length and breadth of the world, oftentimes accompanied by human or dwarfish remembrancer poets, to find glorious death slaying enemies of order. I can't help but feel sympathetic to those crazy orange crested maniacs.