feotakahari

It's amazing how many different plots you can plausibly pull Kyoko into just by saying "they bribed her with food."

Another near-stumble because I could only keep track of one leg at once. I don't think I'm "really" a lamia, whatever that means, but if you gave me the chance to slither instead of walk, I'd take it without hesitation.

If you know it might be wrong that you’re in love with Stacy’s mom, is that different from saying you don’t know if it’s wrong?

As a kid, I assumed American anime fans would grow up and publish a lot of anime-influenced fantasy novels. Turns out we posted it all as webnovels, while published fantasy carried on unchanged.

I don't usually condemn Youtubers for what sponsorships they take, but you have to know a sponsor called Freecash is scamming people.

Because we all know Victoria is just England with a different name.

Amazon Rainforest: decent government, but poor and has barely any infrastructure. Low life expectancy due to lack of access to medicine. One of the friendlier, less bigoted regions.

Australia: corporate hellscape, company town edition. Lots of mining with notoriously shitty worker safety. Constant natural disasters.

Basque Country: cheerful, innocent drunks. One of the nicer places to live.

China: mostly a nice place to live. Government is too big and gets in its own way sometimes. But we're not saying our government is bad, not at all, censor!

Eastern Europe: outsiders think of this as one race, but it's actually a hundred different ethnic groups that sometimes band together when an outsider hates them more than they hate each other. Lots of civil wars, and not much in the way of infrastructure to support anything besides mercenary work. Lots of Jews live here.

England: rich nobles ignore the plight of factory workers who're getting sick from toxic chemicals. Violently suppresses Irish independence, but the independence terrorists are also murderous bastards. Executed their last king because he tried to tax rich nobles to support the poor.

Finland/sort of Canada: nature shamans fighting against both malevolent spirits and resource-hungry invaders. Not much tech, but lives in harmony with the local god. Kinda offensive.

France: annihilated in a world war, but violent restorationists keep popping up. Home of a mad god who kills people for art.

Germany: recovering from the legacy of a mass-murdering dictator, but some assholes want to bring him back. The current government is incapable of agreeing on anything. There's some sort of magical song that brainwashes the populace--I'm not clear on what this is a metaphor for. Heavily associated with classical music.

Greece: threw off the influence of a totalitarian African shah. (This game's Persia is in Africa - just go with it.) Today's shahs are still trying to reconquer it. Literally worships military heroes, but surprisingly peaceful if they're not attacked first. The Olympics started here, and so did pretty much all modern philosophy.

Hong Kong: trade center, but has a lot of desperate poor people. The most recent government tried to kill everyone in the slums.

Italy: literally governed by the mafia. Has rules to prevent violence, but the rules are broken all the time, and if a higher-up gets caught, they get out of it by blaming someone less important. Rigged legal system.

Japan: lots of conflict between northern and southern samurai clans, but currently in a fragile peace. Economic bubble is about to burst.

Korea: the writers forgot about it.

Mongolia: world-conquering warriors, but the whole nation fell apart a thousand years ago when their great khan died.

Poland: corporate hellscape, bloodsports edition. The former freedom fighters now work as corporate assassins, and the former knights mostly fight in bloodsports now. At every possible level of wealth and power, you think you'll be happier if you get just a little more, but even the most powerful people are scared for their lives and can't meaningfully change anything.

Russia: we've mostly seen this from the perspective of the minorities their military tries to exterminate. Long history of invading other countries, which the conservatives are trying to bring back. Showing signs of democratic reform.

South America: American proxy faction fights German proxy faction fights faction that claims to represent the people but really just wants resources. The one neutral town is a glitzy tourist trap.

Spain: used to have the same religion as Vatican City, but split off because the Vatican didn't give a shit about them. Invaded by sea monsters, so they kill racial minorities they suspect of being monster-connected. Isolationist and generally anti-science.

Tibet/kinda Switzerland: hasn't changed anything for a thousand years. Current head of state is dragging them kicking and screaming into the future. Secretly building weapons in case someone else decides to invade them and take all their resources.

The U.S.: corporate hellscape, mad scientist edition. The Department of Defense is paying mad scientists to experiment on their own citizens in order to make better weapons for their wars for oil originium. Has unusually fair laws, but all the protections depend on you having money, and medical debt in particular will destroy you. Makes a lot of popular movies.

Vatican City: hive-minded, and looks down on anyone who wasn't born into the hive. Hates Jews and tries to massacre them, refusing to admit they have Jewish origins themselves. Talks about acting for the good of mankind, but never follows through. Surprisingly prone to making things explode.

The Entire African Continent: want to include a country that's not on this list? Just say it's somewhere in Africa, because Africa is big and nobody's keeping track. Technically, this game's Amazon rainforest is part of the Africa-equivalent country.

Today on Tumblr, I saw someone who thought J.D. Vance was part of a secret Jewish conspiracy. At least make it a secret Catholic conspiracy!

Thinking about that guy a while ago—some kind of gamer or streamer, I hadn’t heard of him prior—who torpedoed his career for the sake of what’s right. No matter if it cost him sponsorships, he had to speak out against all those drag queens sexually harassing children. That there is why a sense of conviction is no substitute for a brain.

Thinking about that Libertarian I argued with who said stealing is inherently immoral even if you’re starving, but also said he would steal food if he was starving. Pressured, he eventually said someone else starving is “a you problem.”