iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 2h

The switch to Imriel is fascinating and that second trilogy actually has a scene of two characters negotiating consent as well. Kind of amazing.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 3h

It's not that there was none there previously but it wasn't a thing that I thought or considered much of. I'd not been exposed to stories that featured them outside of a very narrow context at that time. But stories are how we contextualize the world.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 3h

And all of that is nothing in comparison to the fact that this made me go down the rabbit hole of actually understanding and reading commentary from actual sex workers about what they're lives are like and the needs and wants the have/desire advocacy for. Good stories improve our empathy.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 3h

I actually picked them up because I'd read Santa Olivia and its sequel Saints Astray on a lark and decided that I needed to try more of this author's works. Little did I know I'd devour basically all the rest of the series once I picked up Dart.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 3h

Thank you. I get very lucky with my picks a lot of the time.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 3h

Literally every villain I make for my DnD games now (and heck some of my non-antagonist but still morally grey npcs) has elements of the villain from the first 6 of these books. I *maybe* get something like that without these but I definitely don't think it's as good.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 3h

And that's making it sound like the books are all focused on that element. The courtesan angle is kind of just in service to the greater political concepts, fantasy spy intrigue/world travel elements of the books. Like this book basically rewired my brain about how I make villains single-handedly

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 3h

24yr old tastes. Especially since I remember my creative bank desperately needed refilling at that point.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 3h

But it does connect with other things that are and more to the point it inspired multiple characters I have in ttrpgs that I wouldn't have come up with or played otherwise, and provided me amazing new experiences. That wouldn't have happened if 24yr old me could've tailored *everything* to my...

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 3h

As someone who hadn't given much thought to the role sex or sexuality played in my stories at that point it pushed me to think about it in new and different ways. Even if it's not a big thing in my stories I at least have answers and ideas about it now. It's not relevant... but I know it.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 3h

Storytime. When I read those books I was exposed to a host of new ideas for the first time. The main character in those books is a courtesan in a fantasy nation that not only doesn't look down on sex work but marks it as holy. That was a *very* new idea to me in my 20s.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 3h

This point about lack of surprise and nothing pushing the limits of your imagination hits so hard for me because I had a glorious example of having my mind expanded on a matter recent enough I remember it very clearly. It's the Kushiel's Legacy books by Jacquelin Carey.

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Reposted by Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)

alix e. harrow @alixeharrow.bsky.social · 14h

the year is 2030 and i no longer consume anything that isn't personalized to me. every game, every book, every movie extends to the limits of my own imagination and no further. i haven't been surprised in five years. i cry softly, in bewilderment, if i see a word i don't know

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 7h

I'll need to get good scans of these later as my phone is proving not really up to the job. But I like these.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 7h

Two of the three of these are done. I'm just as, if not more proud of these than I was with what I originally submitted to everyday original and will try again next year... but these things are creeping me out more and more.

pencil drawing of an open plain with rock formations and mountains in the distance. A single figure walks with a staff toward the horizon. Above them looms a massive monstrous creature with a centipede-like body, enormous humanoid arms and claws and a bonelike mask of an eyeless face. Like an eldritch god it breaks the frame of the image.

A massive snakelike creature with a humanoid torso with peeling skin like rags along its body. It looms taller than the mountains it slithers through and has a single claw on one hand. Like the other it breaks the frame.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 8h

Oh 100%. I just feel like it's clearly a commentary on the way fandom treats Korra.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 9h

After what they did to Korra to the point where this whole show is gonna clearly be about Pavi rehabilitating her rep I'm not at all surprised.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 9h

There are stories I've heard that some folks believed as the cotton gin was developed it would lead to the south needing slavery less. The exact opposite happened. Slavers doubled down on the necessity of it and worked folks just as much if not more.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 10h

Pointy hat is out here killing it and I think it'd be so cool to work on something with @antodemico.bsky.social because the stuff he's been doing for Wildhearth looks sick.

youtube.com

DnD has a Plant Problem

YouTube video by Pointy Hat

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 12h

An additional point to remember is that these people are, at the end of the day attempting to be tv folks rather than politicians. They think in terms of cruelty and spectacle and they know their supporters do as well. They need to show what, to them, looks like strength. Cruelty is the point

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 13h

My elementary school had teachers who deadass would've responded "Good to see you're already doing what you love."

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 15h

And I already was developing my family's audio memory even that young. I'd have been reciting full long ass greetings that are used in Ascendance before a lot of noble children can even understand them.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 15h

I don't even think I was potty trained and she'd have been like "watch out for that back biting snake over there."

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 15h

... ... Ya'll I started speaking in complete sentences at just under the age of 2. This woman would've started teaching me how to maneuver around grown ass nobles at 2!

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 15h

His political education has been stunted and thinking about it I asked my mom when she'd have started my political education in a fantasy world like that if we'd been high enough for it to matter. Her answer (without even having to think on it) "As soon as you could form complete sentances"

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 15h

In other news, I got another reminder I have a fantastic mom. Long story short my partner and I are watching Ascendance of a Bookworm and in this season we've been introduced to the son of the archduke Wilfried and he is, to put it mildly: an uneducated brat. Not all his fault but a problem!

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 15h

... ... I can already do that though! It's called imagination!

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 16h

Same living where I am. The city proper has a rep but even its numbers are way down. And I don't live in the city!

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Reposted by Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left)

🎃 Imani Gandy Corn 🎃 @angryblacklady.blacksky.app · 20h

"What are we, a bunch of BROWN people?" This is white people doing white people shit. Y'all had picnics under our hanging bodies but sure ok. It's like the Taliban.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 16h

I've got 3 more of these bastards on my desk just being enigmatic and refusing to tell me anything other than the word "calamity." Also... did you notice the human in the picture for scale?

An enormous elder god breaking out of a rocky formation in the ground causing spikes to erupt everywhere. it's massive hand makes the spikes look small as it rises high, it's body seeming to be made of writhing gelatinous flesh. A tiny figure stands on a jagged cliff on the right side exalting the being as it's body stretches into the clouds.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 16h

Resharing the thread from last night where I talk about the monsters that keep showing up in my art, weaving their tendrils into other antagonistic forces I create and that I don't seem to have perfect control or knowledge of. Which is really weird for something I created.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Will the dragonborn find a sense of responsibility and joy in their family again? What will become of their long suffering husband? Find out next week on Days of our Roars!

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Then I still come home after a full day of dealing with this stuff and draw/paint for 4-5 hrs. No wonder I'm tired.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

While this was going on I was also managing helping 3 different people try to figure out technology they barely knew how to use and find time to prep some program stuff and ya'll really gotta get some social services back up and running cause libraries aren't meant to handle all of this!

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Today we had a guy, for reasons I do not know (but have guesses on) just chucked a piece of furniture in our back room. A part of me wants to talk about male mental health and how badly patriarchy messes with our ability and willingness to emotionally regulate... but I'm tired!

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

That is the exact reaction you should have! These things are massive on a scale that's a lot even for me.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Oh, I almost forgot. Echoes of them show up in #Ha-Nahn! The remnants and the demons both have bits of these calamities within them.

sketches of the remnants in Ha-Nahn. Living weapons they look like strange constructs with weapons for limbs and strange malformed heads or in more cases, empty, eyeless masks.

a cropped sketch of examples of demons in Ha-Nahn. They have chalk white skin and four glowing eyes along with at least 4 horns protruding from their heads.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Not necessarily of the stuff that's new to you today but lots of my things are there.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I know that these things tend to get more prevalent in my sketches in times of stress, turmoil and strife. In that way I'm not surprised they're more insistent than ever... but they've also typically shown up more in the *lead up* to those things. So... yikes!

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I have 3 more on my plate right now. The most I've had the desire to work on at any given time. All of them seem... more solid than before. And new development... they all break their frame. I have no idea why.

sketch of an abomination monster that's bigger than mountains it coils around. it ha a long singular hook on one arm that reaches outward, breaking its frame.

a monstrous abomination entity emerging from the early with what looks like volcanic plumes on its back. Its arms are larger than mountains and it breaks the frame.

A centipede-like abomination that probably has the most in common with the first one of these out of all of them rises over a mountain pass. It pushes against the mountains as it slides into view and it too breaks the frame.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

They merely exist! Every single one of these has just been a horror. A calamity that simply *is!* No tale to tell, not myth no song. They just *are.* And they keep popping up in my art in ways I don't fully understand. But I do feel weirdly compelled to keep sketching them when the urge strikes.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

A couple years ago I also made this. Same mask face, same weird scribbly texture figure, same absolutely massive size. Here's the thing that really confuses me. Everything I make has a story around it. Even if only a small one. No matter waht these things just refuse to give me one!

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

And elements of it showed up again when Covid kicked off and I made this thing. The image came out unbidden. I didn't even realize how similar it looked to all the other creepy monsters I'd done until months after it was done... and I was sketching another one of these dang things

black and white digital painting of a doctor, and other essential workers staring up at a covid monster as though it were some sort of eldritch horror from a biblical painting. The humans stand defiant in the face of the threat as it looms over them.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Here's the thing though. Their ideas keep popping up. In my world of Randnore something of them appears in the antagonist species: the mesmer

A wasp like entity that leaks smoke, has long spindly legs and the same eyeless face as the image above.

sketches done in brown and white pencil on toned paper of beings meant to be formed of smoke and shadow. They have eyeless masklike faces that also mirror the strange creature in the image above.

A spiderlike creature with long, spindly insectoid legs and a face that is very similar to the creature in the first illustration in this thread.

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Aaron Radney COMMISSIONS OPEN (3/7 slots left) @aaronradney.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Many years ago I painted this thing. I didn't have much in the way of story for it but the monster in it was an expression of a bunch of ideas that'd been living rent free in my head for years. The long arms, the bonelike mask face with no eyes, the odd proportions etc.

An impossibly buff woman seen from a low angle. She drags a massive, magical chain with an enormous monstrosity behind her. A thing with a bonelike mask of a face, horns, no eyes and a strange collar. The entity has a long, arthropod-like body with centipede legs and massive humanoid claws on the end of the arms on its upper body. It seems to follow the barbarian woman's instructions as they walk through a rocky canyon under a sickly red sky.

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