iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 10h

These girls are fun to write. Coming up with a cast of characters: how they look, how they talk, how they act. It rules every time I get to do it. I try and swing for the fences with the personalities. Just a blast.

Vivilynn clutched her hands to her heart, her big green eyes dilating like a cat’s.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 05/10/2026

No one can stop me from assuming all my readers understand the phrase “platonic template”

“Well what is it?” Therik asked.
“Rothnok,” Okira said. It was not a name the others knew, but if
they did they would have stepped back in fear. The Rothnok was a rare
creature—one of the types of being said to have arrived from the stars
alongside Shyeshtoloth. Ancient and wickedly powerful, such things
were dreaded for making entire convoys disappear into the endless
darkness. They were nearly invulnerable such that few mortal weapons
could affect them.
The name was an Ilgathan word, essentially meaning “serpent”,
with the linguistic implication that all serpents derived their serpentness
from the platonic template of the Rothnok.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 04/10/2026

Quote post with a game that released the year you were born!

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 03/10/2026

In Albuquerque, it’s time for Balloon Fiesta. Every year there’s multiple days of flying hundreds of hot air balloons. They’ll end up draped across power lines and shit, it’s absolute chaos and it rules.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 03/10/2026

I’m at it again. I have zero idea about modern fantasy trends so I’m just going off gut instinct for what seems like a fun contrast to write. “Feudal fantasy that kind of hates men” is being very cathartic to me.

“We have a call,” Sinliu said without way of preamble.
“Aye, ma’am, on my way.”
Jansa slammed her mug down for good measure, rose to her full, enormous height, and left the tavern. Sinliu allowed herself a small smile at the pile of defeated men on the floor.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 03/10/2026

Good stream! Next time we finish Cthulhu Saves the World! I’m ahead of schedule by a lot! That wire was strung straight past my chair just to give you all The Wife Cam. It was very important that I do this.

My desk chair in the bottom right corner. I had a wire trailing from a fold up table behind me to my pc, just to power the webcams mounted tenuously behind my head to focus on my Midna and Tali figurines, as well as a print of Absolutr Zatanna.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 01/10/2026

Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs is the book that made me want to write. It was my first contact with questioning religion—the beginning twist that the Barsoomian religion is a lie had a profound effect on me. Among all that, it’s a fantastic adventure. Tars Tarkas was the Garrus of his time.

The Michael Whelan cover of The Gods of Mars. Still the canon set of covers as far as I’m concerned.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 30/09/2026

Not being relevant at all. From Garden of Order: Redemption.

Okira took a breath. “They were amazing and terrible. We were
widespread, our cities enormous and our technology advanced. But by
the time I was born we had forgotten so much about our world,
disrespected the resources we consumed and pushed more and more
animals out of their habitats. We made greater and greater weapons, but
knew less and less about our neighbors. Our leaders spoke of a coming
golden age, always just one new technology away. We chased trends
even as our world turned to war and plague and famine. We no longer
knew what it meant to be a part of a greater whole, for our entire society
had long ago forgotten we had only come so far together.”

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 30/09/2026

One thing that’s been very satisfying in writing Garden of Order is having one established relationship from long before the story, AND one that develops through the last book and a half. I’ve done a surprising amount of writing on love, and I’m happy with all of it.

The next morning, Therik awoke to his singing wife, as always.
She stopped and smiled at him as he stirred. “Good morning, my love.”
Therik did his best to smile. He felt awful. The constant frigid air
and confinement to the ship had driven Therik down and down into his
affliction. He was appearing on deck less and less and ate little.
He was unimaginably exhausted, but could barely sleep. Avire
was the only thing keeping him together.
He reached for Avire’s hand and squeezed it. “Love … remind
me of how life is supposed to feel.”
She stroked his face and smiled sadly. “Right now, quite cold on
the outside. Inside, warm as can be. You have me, and I have you, and
we’re very happy together.”
Therik nodded. “That does sound nice. I’m sorry I forget at times
like these.”
Avire shook her head. “No apologies needed. I know you love
me just as much now as you do at other times.”
“How can you tell? I can be like this for months.”
She lifted and kissed his hand. “I can see your soul, and I know I
take up a great deal of it.”

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 29/09/2026

I’m so mad I wrote this for an upcoming ZDW2 Direct joke and not something real, but here we are

This city … it’s a hole. A black pit, into which men and women cast their ambitions, their hopes and dreams, to be ground up and served back to them as violence and indignity. I hate this city, and I love her.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 27/09/2026

Still thinking of the Dark Reign Skybike’s “Hide your daughters” voice line

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 25/09/2026

Just leaning into it. It’s so much fun to write

For some—mainly women and girls—the presence of a Sister Magi was a comfort. For many men, it formed a distinct danger: a Sister was expected to intervene if a woman was in need, and in the wider world women were often in need.
The Order of the Sisters Magi existed to provide opportunities for women and girls to exceed their station, to slip their bonds and live to their great potential. It was staffed by women, run by women, and entirely dedicated to women.

The Order had no great love of men. Their official charter decried the rule of men to be chauvinist and short-sighted. Entire governments came and went, borders waxed and waned and vanished, and still the Order continued unabated.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 25/09/2026

I recoil from pieces of entertainment for adults that are entirely wholesome, because this is me, I guess

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 25/09/2026

You gotta let your magical girls have a little well-earned misandry, as a treat

“You’re Sisters Magi: You’re permanently armed. I can’t let you come in to see m’lord. He’s in a war council.”
“We are here for the war council, and I don’t remember asking your permission.”
“I’ll have to check that, but until then I’m telling you that you can’t come in.”
“I do not take orders from men.” Sinliu said the last word with such venom the guard physically recoiled.
A herald came running from behind the guard. “Let them through! Let them through! They were invited!”

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 24/09/2026

Wrote this for a ZDW2 joke in the future, and I keep thinking I gotta write a noir something.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 24/09/2026

Still in love with the Aztec goddess Coatlicue via Age of Myth. She sets off my danger alarms, what with the necklace of human hands, but I think I can fix her

Coatlicue, a beautiful woman with a skirt made of snakes. She holds a ball of energy above her head and wears a necklace of human hands

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 24/09/2026

I always like doing these. All of these games were enormously formative to me. The first 7 would probably have been on my brother’s list, too. We were fucking obsessed with all of them.

My 9 games: Chex Quest, Journeyman Project, Command and Conquer, Armor Command, Freespace 2, Doom 2, Dawn of War, The Longest Journey, and Paper Mario: TTYD

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 23/09/2026

Out here writing the darkest shit I’ve ever written. Fun to let loose and let the world the story takes place in be pretty shitty, much more of a feudal shithole than Garden of Order. Closer to Witcher than Tolkein. Havent written a cynical world before!

Sinliu did not countenance comments on her looks. She knew she was beautiful: she always had been. But beauty is what got her taken from her family by the lecherous king of a now-distant eastern kingdom. Beauty is what turned her life into a living hell.
She had strongly considered disfiguring herself. But when the Sister Magi found her and took her in, she saw herself in the mirror for the first time since she had been abducted. She realized she was now the spitting image of her beloved mother. She could not raise a hand against that face.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 23/09/2026

It’s Magical Girls, and it’s Frazetta Pulp-style action-adventure (and is as bloody as that implies), and it’s probably next on my docket. All of the main characters are women, of course. It’s also massively gay, but, again, that comes with the territory.

“We are Sister Magi: do not impede us.”
“Impede? Not looking to impede, no.” He brought his horse alongside her. “Say, you’re a pretty one, aren’t you?” He reached a hand out, presumably to stroke Sinliu’s cheek. “I don’t think it’d be a shame if—“
His head bounced three times before it stopped rolling. His neck stump noisily spewed hot blood as his body fell from his mount and collapsed on the ground. Sinliu returned her guandao to a neutral position.
The others hadn’t yet comprehended how fast she had transformed. The only sound was the crackling of her flaming robes.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 23/09/2026

This picture is funny and useful but I can’t let it pass by without noting that it’s violently against the spirit of the holy books. The most literal incarnation of envy. I know tv preachers are all monsters but damn

The televangelist saying “Jesus, I see what you’ve done for other people, and I want that for me”

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 22/09/2026

Drafting scenes from an upcoming writing project, an ode to John Carter of Mars (so an isekai), fronted by a gay trans man rather than a Confederate cavalryman. So, a few differences. Anyway, it’s important you tell me if my tone is right for Rendelle’s intentional simplification of being trans.

Her left ear twitched at a fly. “Ibrahim, where did you get those scars on your chest?”
Ibrahim paused. A hand went reflexively up to his surgical scars. He took a breath. “From a battle won long ago.”
“What sort of battle? They are very unusual. Symmetrical, even.”
Ibrahim put a hand on the back of his head, not really wanting to try and explain his identity in a setting he did not anticipate being friendly towards him. “I … I was not always physically myself. My mind and my body didn’t match.”
Rendelle was silent for a moment. “So, you were born to a woman’s body. And in your world they can do surgery to correct that?”
Ibrahim blinked at his centauroid companion. “Uh, yeah. Yes. Exactly.”
Rendelle began to groom one of her paws. “We have many stories about a warrior, name of Ilkhan Nighttoll. She was born to a man’s body, but knew she was a woman from an early age. She did more things than I could recount in an evening, so suffice it to say she is one of the Jakath’s most famed and beloved heroes. You bear what we regard as a mark of greatness, Ibrahim.”
Ibrahim was silent, utterly stunned. Rendelle had said that so casually and easily. If only people back home had such simple grace. He felt foolish: he had prejudged her to be backwards given the level of technology he had encountered. It hadn’t even occurred to him that she would understand, and even less to not just accept but honor him.
At that moment he started seeing Rendelle not as an ally of convenience or a guide, but as a potential friend and sister-in-arms.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 22/09/2026

Someone’s gotta suffer for this. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream shit

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 20/09/2026

Back at writing today, I’ve decided. For the record, the character being discussed lost her leg to a serpent and has a phobia now. Still doing the slow burn relationship that will drive any readers insane.

He smiled. “True, but still. I hate …”
He paused for less than a half second, but in that time a million thoughts struck him. “I love you and want to kill anything that makes you afraid.” “If I could have a wish granted I would have every serpent disappear”. “You are everything to me, and when you’re afraid it hurts me”.
Naturally he said none of these things, continuing the sentence with barely a hitch. “—seeing you like that. But you’re very brave, you know.”

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 19/09/2026

Incensed there’s never been a movie about the Soviet 1077th Anti-Aircraft Division, mainly comprised of teenage girl volunteers who participated in THE BATTLE OF STALINGRAD

The official Soviet historical account of the war acknowledges this event, stating that the anti-aircraft troops of the 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment, led by Colonel W. S. German, engaged the enemy's tanks and motorized infantry without immediate support from rifle units. The regiment fought alone for two days, successfully repelling the assaults of German submachine gunners. While engaged in combat, they managed to damage or destroy 83 tanks as well as 15 other vehicles carrying infantry. Additionally, the regiment neutralized over three battalions of assault infantry and shot down 14 enemy aircraft.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 19/09/2026

It’s Batman Day, so you know I gotta post. I don’t care that he’s obviously hyper popular, he remains a fantastic character and there’s a reason he’s lasted this long. He fuckin’ rules. I also have to note that I really hated Dark Knight Returns. And that Kevin Conroy remains the best Batman.

Batman saying “Good people disobey bad orders”

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 18/09/2026

Dug up a picture of little Dylan. God I fuckin’ loved that shirt, haven’t thought of it for like 2.5 decades

Elementary or middle school me. Wearing a brown shirt with two wavy white lines.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 17/09/2026

A drawing by @suzanami.bsky.social I commissioned a while ago of N’Dira, from my Garden of Order series.

A young woman in a sari and headscarf. She has a prosthetic leg and two rings through her lower lip. A purple lock juts from her headscarf. She has green gray eyes.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 17/09/2026

One very important thing to remember about my brother is that he had a good Nute Gunray imitation, and god damn me for remembering that name and how to spell it on the first try

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 15/09/2026

Remembering when I cooked an ancient Babylonian stew (Tasting History, of course). I’d never had rutabagas before. The craziest thing about it is that it didn’t taste like ANYTHING I’d ever eaten. It genuinely TASTED like it was from a distant time. Completely unique flavor profile. It was AWESOME.

The finished, lovely looking stew. Just the reddest shit imaginable.

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 15/09/2026

I found a lot of fetish material before locating this photo so I hope you’re happy

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 14/09/2026

Libs only envision minorities as cudgels. They kept arguing beyond this point because Libs have no shame. They were advocating for throwing trans people under the bus of course. Absolute Honky behavior.

Bluewatchers says: “Actually you think minorities are disposable. Black and brown people are being disappeared on the street and you're going to be sad if Paxton doesn't win because you don't care. Shame.”

Me: “My last name is Sanchez, you dipshit”

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Dylan “The Spoopinator” Sanchez @captain-ventris.itch.io · 13/09/2026

Taking a couple needed days off ZDW2 dev to just quietly game.

My switch 2 and laptop in the foreground, my monitor showing my SuperStation One in the background

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