CyberTrixxie's Live Journal

OK, we're back.

Donald Trump is the most powerful person on earth right now and he has absolutely zero restraint beyond his own laziness, nor the faintest shred of compassion. He has to dismantle the American legal system, and by extension the integrity of its ability to function as a democracy - he must 'go big or go home' - to stay out of prison.

JD Vance is an evangelist who is busy implementing the far right Heritage Foundation think tank's 'Project 2025'. His ultimate end goal for America is a totalitarian theocracy with no reproductive rights or sexual freedom of expression. No, he absolutely will not stop at trans people. He is the kind of person that all the checks and balances and regulations exist to stop, but Trump is busy dismantling them.

His strategic playbook was established in 2017 at a conference attended by Donald Trump together with a host of anti LGBT+ right-wing Republicans. At this conference, the long-time anti-trans activist Meg Kilgannon proposed a new course of action:

"Separate trans activists from the gay rights movement, and their agenda becomes much easier to oppose. The first is to ‘divide and conquer’. If we separate the T from the alphabet soup, we'll have more success.

Explain that gender identity rights only come at the expense of others: women, sexual assault survivors, female athletes forced to compete against men and boys, ethnic minorities who culturally value modesty, economically challenged children ... children with anxiety disorders ... the list goes on and on and on".

This proposal became the 'gender-critical' blueprint for what we witness today.

Liz Truss, as then-Minister for Women and Equalities in Boris Johnson's government, developed links with the Heritage Foundation and a raft of trans-hostile measures followed. Suddenly there were ‘problems’ with trans women in hospital wards, prisons, sports, refuges, toilets and changing rooms. The 'what is a woman' question became a UK political issue with the right-wing media happy to fan the flames. This platform became one of the main focus points of a culture war that has almost entirely consumed our politics and hammered the far right into mainstream prominence. The Tories spectacularly self-destructed over COVID, but not before they had sown the seeds of immense misery and prepared the way for Reform UK's rise.

Elon Musk has meanwhile been brazenly promoting white supremacist '14 words' (it's a Neo-Nazi dogwhistle - an innocent-sounding phrase you say when you want people to hear a hidden message that most people can't register) propaganda for years. He's the richest man on Earth, who inherited the start of his fortune via the blood money his father amassed as a mine stakeholder in South Africa. He has lied, cheated and stolen his way into ownership of a succession of companies and consolidated a position of almost untouchable, unfathomable wealth and influence and his ego and greed knows no bounds. He is absolutely obsessed with creating a perpetual techno-feudalist future with no regulatory oversight where the population is completely isolated from reality, disempowered and unable to muster any meaningful resistance.

He is doing everything in his power to topple the current UK government and install a far right puppet in the UK - he intends to force the matter long before our next General election. He's been promoting the neo-nazi AfD party in Germany for months for similar reasons.

Prior to the US election, he was overtly tasking his employees at Twitter with forming a 'Black-Hat MAGA' department using bots and algorithmic manipulation to isolate people and fill their infosphere with disinformation. He is the reason why Pennsylvania and several other swing states mysteriously swung red - he was so confident of the outcome that he and Trump were busy gloating about it long in advance, and Trump even outright said 'if you vote for us now, you'll never have to vote again.'

If he was already doing this prior to the election with Twitter - and spectacularly succeeded - imagine what he is doing now with the resources of the most powerful nation on Earth at his disposal, while his idiot stooge Trump is busy dismantling all checks and balances that could meaningfully stop him.

These are the three possible flavours of America's likely future, if it is not averted:
-Trump: Putin-style kleptocratic populist post-truth brain-rot
-Vance: Far-right evangelist theocracy
-Musk: Inescapable Techno-feudalism

It's here. It's now. It's happening.

However.
However...

It has a critical missing component.

That component is you.

It needs you. It needs you to think it is inevitable. It needs you to believe you have already lost; that resistance is futile; that you are powerless and inconsequential.

This could not be further from the truth.

The machine cannot be built without you.
The machine doesn't work without you.
The machine will not survive without you.

Without your assistance, or at least indifference, it cannot bring about the future it is engineered to create.

It feeds on you. It feeds on your fear. Your hopelessness. Your indifference. It needs you to do nothing. It needs you to keep your head down; to do as it says for fear of reprisal; to sacrifice your morals one by one until you are so crushed and so broken that you cannot resist it; cannot even imagine resisting it.

You can still resist it now.

You must.

Meet with people - in person, in places that are safe.
Join and build secure support networks.
Help who you can. Do what you can.
Organise. Resist.

Before it is too late.

Because one day, not long from now, it will be.

It took Hitler one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours, and 40 minutes to dismantle German democracy once being appointed as chancellor.

The clock is ticking.

Shattered Legacies Event 4: The End Of All Things
31st August-3rd September 2012


All things come to an end. Every civilisation falls. Every world is cast into cataclysmic ruin with every turning of the ages - and upon the lips of history's towering dead, one name has echoed above all others.

Nemesis.

For millenia, this cosmic harbinger of destruction has watched and waited from the void and prepared to strike at those who would dare to rise to meet the stars. All who have faced Nemesis have failed, and known only oblivion as the world around them is destroyed.

Yet there is hope. Every turning brings with it the chance of salvation; A chance to break free of the endless cycle and free this world of crushed dreams and shattered legacies from its torment.

From an unlikely little barbarian city tucked away in the corner of a fractured, dying civilisation, the prophet of the Final Turning has risen and named his Chosen. Gathered to his side, the mighty Knights of Ambala, Adventurers of the New Star and heroes of destiny now prepare to conquer a foe as vast and ancient as the world itself. Walking the path of shadows with them is the demon Slayer, the Hidden one, the enterprising spirit of Ambala, God of Death and High Thane of the Destined peoples.

Together, they face a world hell-bent upon their destruction.

The lines are drawn. The final battle of the End of All Things approaches. The time has come for the Knights of Ambala to make a stand and face their ultimate challenge. Nothing less than the fate of the world lies in their hands. With the crazed legions of the dark god Feigr baying for their blood and the cultists of the mad Angel Ruin seeking to destroy the Prophet at all costs, they have a rough road ahead. They must do what no other has managed before: Gather the Chosen, defeat the Bearer of the Blade of the End Times, reforge Dommedag, defeat Nemesis and free the world before it is rent asunder.

THE TIME IS NOW!

---

This is the FINAL EVENT of Shattered Legacies, a live roleplay system run by a dedicated team of members of the York University Science Fiction and Fantasy Society. Set in a world teetering on the edge of an imminent apocalypse, the players take on the role of the hardened veterans of the war of the end of all things, having chosen to ally with the demon Slayer in their pursuit of victory. By their hands shall the fate of the world be decided in what we hope will be an epic conclusion to a five year journey.

Crewing will involve a mixture of NPC roles from within the various allied factions the players have recruited to their cause, as well as many of the monsters and antagonists which the players will face.

We will be charging £10 for any crew, and we will be able to offer cooked meals and indoor sleeping as priority over players. You are welcome to bring a tent to sleep in if you would prefer. If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact us at shattered -dot- legacies -at- gmail -dot- com. We'll be happy to get a full booking form out to you if you email us!

What's that beeping noise?

That sounds awfully like a fire alarm...

Who's set fire to their toast this time?

Hum. Wait a second...what's that dripping noise?

OH FUCK, BATH

*facepalm*

I have laughed.
I have cried.
I have shouted.
I have danced.
I have sang.
I have stayed up all night and watched the sun rise.
I have discussed obscure metaphysics.
I have planned.
I have plotted.
I have schemed.
I have kept secrets.
I have told secrets.
I have lied.
I have stolen.
I have taken drugs.
I have sold drugs.
I have enforced the law.
I have broken the law.
I have committed hate crimes.
I have committed war crimes.
I have committed crimes of passion.
I have committed crimes against humanity.
I have committed crimes against inhumanity.
I have made friends.
I have killed them.
I have been loved.
I have loved in turn.
I have been hated.
I have hated in turn.
I have been cursed.
I have been blessed.
I have been tricked.
I have been confused.
I have been kicked.
I have been beaten.
I have been shot.
I have been stabbed.
I have been burned.
I have been mauled.
I have been impaled.
I have been eaten.
I have been killed 14 times.
I have killed more times than I can count.
I have been a hero.
I have been a villain.
I have been a monster.
I have given birth.
I have saved the world.
I have done all these things, so many things I can barely even begin to comprehend, and I'm just getting started.
I have loved every moment.

I have an awesome hobby.


Off to the Lake District until Thursday next. See y'all at Maelstrom, those who are going.

There was an event.

Oh boy. There was an event, alright.

We'll neatly dodge the froth on direct IC happenings and step sideways a little instead.

( On Event Premise )

I never really expected I'd actively enjoy reffing - I'd always figured it was a great sacrifice, a painful bitter pill that someone has to swallow in order to allow others to have fun. Not so. It is a genuine pleasure to watch encounters unfold - to watch those daring heroes struggle to overcome monstrous odds that you, personally, have pitted against them. One genuinely gets pulled into the scene, even while watching from afar, and moments of epic heroism or dastardly genius draw big grins and triumphant air-punches from we invisible observers. We received glowing reports from our magnificent, tireless crew on quality of roleplay and general atmosphere, even in combat - and they're right. The players roleplay their hits and fight epically, viewing combat as a delicious part of the IC experience. They remain in character all the time - not once did I hear an OOC comment or drop that had not been warranted by safety or circumstance. They engage with the game world and tirelessly devour everything we throw at them, begging for more despite barely being able to stand, let alone fight. What more could you ask for?

In short, there was an event. It succeeded beyond our wildest expectations. Our players are awesome. Our crew are staggeringly wintastic and I am praying we get a similar turn-out next year (23 players vs 22 crew...wow.)

I now can't wait for next term to start...

Not posted one of these for ages. So, time to steal TWO from beast_the_yeti

( Many Questions: Cut For Self Indulgent Mental Masturbation )

Shattered Legacies Event 2, 3-5th September 2010

Syksino was once the home of eternal life, a city built to last forever. It didn't. Purged by the combined might of the Alliance of City-States, Syksino was burned to the ground and its inhabitants put to the sword.

Now the Alliance faces threats once again from the ruined city: the traitorous House Yellesh, exiled for consorting with demons; the mysterious Ze'Ausec goblins who have settled the area; the undead armies of the ruling House Conock who have returned to reclaim what was once theirs; and the barbarian Horde of Feigr, here to claim a Destiny of fear and destruction. Into this ruined city come the Adventurers of the New Star Inn, to claim an ancient artifact that will aid them in destroying the demon who threatens their City, and by extension the whole Alliance.

Shattered Legacies is a live roleplay system run by members of the York University Science Fiction and Fantasy Society. Set in an active and responsive fantasy game world, players take on the role of adventurers journeying forth from the frontier city of Ambala in defence of their homes and for the Alliance of City-States.

The Shattered Legacies team is looking for enthusiastic crew for this event! Crewing will involve a mixture of NPC roles from within the various factions currently in the vicinity of the ruined city 'Syksino', and many of the monsters and antagonists which the players will face while there.

We will be charging £10 for any crew, and we will be able to offer cooked meals and indoor sleeping as priority over players. If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact us at shattered -dot- legacies -at- gmail -dot- com. We'll be happy to get a full booking form out to you if you email us!

For those who haven't had the chance to get their forms to us yet, he's all the details we need:

( Booking Details )

illithidbix, being the wonderfully terrible person that he is, decided to make use of the sudden free time that comes from Easter Holidays and run a tabletop game a few weeks back. White Wolf's OWOD Demon: The Fallen is what fell out of the stack at the other end.

For those of you who don't know, D:TF is like other World of Darkness games, except you actually feel justified in behaving like a wangsty 14 year old or a cheesemonger when you decide to play it. It really needs little introduction (...as if I could resist the opportunity to froth about my favourite tabletop game...ha!) other than to say that PC's are escaped demonic refugees from a very cold, lonely and torment-filled abyss, dropped headfirst into possessing the recently vacated bodies of those who have given up on life (or have been given up on by life, conversely).

So far, so good. The hook that has illithidbix and I drooling is that the whole point of this 'Fall' business is that ol' Morningstar starts his rebellion because he's told to love humanity as he loves God, but in the next breath is told he must *never* reveal himself to them and break their ignorance of all the wonderful things created in their name. Humanity must remain as mindless animals, unable to reach their potential.

This doesn't sit well with the Morningstar, and after some angelic wangst and navel-gazing that matches quite a few Eidolon meetings I've been in attendance of at 'Strom over the years, half the host decides to side with dearest Lucifer and open humanity's eyes to the beautiful things that have been made for them at the Creator's command.

The rest, as they say, is history. There's Michael with his flaming sword, there's centuries of war and monstrous experiments creating half human-half angelic hybrids by Lucifer's host, who very quickly dive headfirst off the moral event horizon and become the demons we all know and love to inappropriately anti-hero-worship. Of course, they lose, and get their tails kicked into hell.

Cut to:

Suddenly, one of these aeons old spirits of unfathomable power, responsible for the construction of the world/life/humanity and then cast into hell for rebelling against the Creator, is torn from their prison and vomited into a very real, living body that makes no bloody sense at all from the inside.

A number of questions are generally raised at this point, somewhere along the lines of:

"I'm free, so why am I not getting my ass handed to me by an army of righteous angels? Where did they all go?"
"Where is Lucifer, and why wasn't the weasly snot sent to rot in the abyss with us?"
"Why did humanity grow up to be a right bunch of bastards?"
and of course:
"Are there any more of us out here?"

So, intro aside, illithidbix set me a deliberately vague writing challenge. And here is the result: (contains: brief mention of suicide, demonic possession, gratuitous self-indulgent wangst)

( It's not every day that you get a second chance. )

On the Shattered Legacies event:

We ran an event. It was awesome. We had plenty of enthusiastic crew (sorry, monsters) and it went fantastically well - much better than I was expecting. Very glad we ended up on the 'more' side rather than 'less'.

High points would be:

The way in - Seeing all the players kitted up and ready to go, marching along in formation with Eli and Kalin shouting orders. Watching 'team scout' run off to the left, thinking 'oh god, oh god, the players are going into that UNSAFE bit!' and then seeing how sweet it looked and being able to trust people not to break themselves. Took much longer than expected, and we were already starting late - but that was a *really* good thing in the end. It allowed us to keep an interesting human NPC antagonist faction to play with for the weekend rather than briefly for one night. (Initial 'schedule' was going to be for the players to go and kill the Clarion Order on Friday night. Thank fuck that didn't happen, both for safety and 'let's not throw away one of our most interesting monster/kit options before they've even done anything?' purposes)

The Friday meal - especially when the hardliners turned up. Briefly got a chance to see how that panned out 'on the ground' with the players and was involved in the big "Alright then lads, kill em all!" ruck. What a blast. Being able to watch the scene evolve and play out in a manner that was every bit as awesome as I'd been hoping all these months - that was such a huge buzz.

The shrine mission with Avitus. Hardcore points go to Jeff.

Saturday's meal with the 'Me's and Soulflayer - Fuck yes! oxfordgirl was absolutely perfect for that role. Great atmosphere, great set-dressing. Watching players stacking up, ready to do some PvP...that was tense.

Erikan's pack/Duel with Levan. Hell yeah. Levan is FUCKING METAL!

The scene at the end of the final Golem mission. Very heartfelt (actually making me choke), such a great 'noble sacrifice' - and then the hilarious "WAIT! That bastard...he was wearing my HAT!" moment that came afterwards.

And of course, the Grand Finale. Replete with Vedanya's outro. Fuck, when Anya started crying it was infectious...

All in all, things were relatively smooth. When running an event, I think the lesson you pick up first (and most importantly) is that you can't have a set-in-stone "Plan" for everything. In fact, part of the appeal is winding it all up and seeing where it finally comes to rest. If things don't go to "Plan", it's critically important to not get stressed and instead just concentrate on making sure what *does* happen makes sense, both in terms of 'Anatomy of an OOC fun event' and 'We want to be *here* IC by the end'. Being prepared to drop things when you inevitably don't have time/space for them is important. Being prepared to add things on the spot in order to keep things moving/interesting - likewise.

So, there's a positive start. Very un whine-journal, yes?

( Cut for wangst )

You know, I'm feeling *so* much bettter now. This post is not well phrased and descends into being needlessly preachy. I could probably just delete this text and say "I was feeling a little low and irked by a few things that have been on my mind, but now I'm not." But at the same time, no. I think I'll leave it there and just nuke a paragraph in the middle, due to this not being the place for it.