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and romantic connections between one or more Mara and one or more non-Mara that could be full-on monoamory or polyamory. This has gotten very complex from the 'I have a player who wants to play a succubus' situation where the Mara started...

romantic relationship, that's going to lead to a lot of 'my partner and I saw you from across the bar' assumptions as well as darker ones. I can see the 'feeding relationships' between Mara and others being a spectrum, from one offs to a relationship like a medical professional, to actual intimate

This 'Mara are highly sexual' idea is reinforced in other cultures because a good number of Mara will either solicit sex workers or be sex workers themselves to feed regularly. And as I think on this more I'm realizing there's a lot of knock-on effects. Like relationships. If two Mara are in a

not correct. It's more like a massage parlor or professional cuddling house. Workers get paid to spend an hour at a time touching creatures that could eat them, the Mara walk out feeling satiated for a week and the worker ends the day feeling like they performed physical labor for eight hours.

True; it's had an effect similar to orientalism as well. Because they can survive by leeching some life energy through skin contact with the willing, they have places that outside cultures look at and say, "oh- a bordello." And while that's an option, sure (sex work is accepted in the world), it's

I enjoyed those books and had some great ideas from misinterpreting clips from the show prior to reading then.

I don't have exact numbers, but I'd estimate the Mara make up very roughly 3% of the global population of sapient life. Their most concentrated places are probably closer to 50-60%, because although the vast majority have forsworn eating sapient beings, they still need them around for sustenance.

Well, true gods are on an entirely different plane of existence, so, the initial response would be along the lines of "How did you get in here," and then probably a mix of fight and flight responses from the other gods. Depending in part on whether the one you killed was an asshat to the others.

inspirations in Seville and Semana Santa celebrations. They're very gory events, depicting either guilt or feasting (depending who you ask) with blood, meat, and offal prominent. Shows of penance and suffering are common. Artwork and architecture typically sport similar themes with divided meaning

That's a distinct split between those who abhor their past, and those who still revel in being monsters. The latter are a quiet minority, biding their time and arguing that things weren't as unequal as the stories say. They have a number of 'festivals' inspired by the game Blasphemous and it's

for visitors that range from traditional meals (usually involving specific herbs or entirely vegetarian) to physical torture to force them to 'reveal themselves.' The worst have been abandoned in most places, but not forgotten. The Mara themselves and their culture is also shaped by this past.

There is a general distrust of strangers especially on the road, and a number of cultures routinely greet friends or family with phrases and responses to be sure they're real (though the Mara cannot perfectly duplicate others; many used to believe otherwise, some still do). There are other 'tests'

As a result of this, Mara who are caught using their shapeshifting abilities to hide what they are, are assumed to have malevolent intent. Many use skin and hair color or clothing to indicate their nature or show remorse for their ancestors actions. Others disguise themselves to avoid prejudice.

The Mara has one of the few single-species cultures because of the fact they were told by their creator deity they had to eat sapient creatures to survive. While they've since learned this wasn't true, their god was just horrible, it still had a severe effect on surrounding cultures and their own.

Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I will have to come back to this later- I want to answer now but I need to get ready for work. But there's a good bit to talk about

Work, painting minis, hiking. The usual. How about you?

Cook an overabundance of food. And panic.

Yep. So long as your people look and act the part, most people won't try you. You just have to worry about the people who would take on the company you're impersonating. In the DPR situation it's often less experienced troops replacing retired veterans who might stick around as 'camp followers.'

Reputations count for a lot in those situations, and there's been more than one 'Dread Pirate Roberts' scenario where a mercenary company can go for decades without actually fighting if they keep looking the part. Imitating a famous company can be a very high risk high reward scenario as well

Less organized groups are going to be seen as little more than criminals who'll resort to banditry as soon as the pay chest gets light. Mercenary vs mercenary fighting tends to involve lots of negotiations and little actual fighting. This makes them less disruptive & more lucrative for the troops.

There's also situations where some people hire mercenaries as personal guard for their estates, or the Guild provides them to 'protect their investments.' Mercenaries that look well equipped with matching uniforms and gear are regarded similar to non-local state troops: unsettling but accepted

I like to draw on a few historical versions of mercenaries. Mercenaries are generally associated with aggression- rulers hire mercenaries to attack while keeping their personal forces for defense. If a settlement has advance warning they might hire mercenaries to supplement the local defense.

I feel like 'Just accept bad things happening' is a great choice of words for AI advocates right now... As we are all still shocked and enraged about what's been happening at Cornell.

If the source of information is someone described as an 'influencer,' I am immediately going to view it with skepticism and expect a grift or follow-up story about how their antics have negatively affected the world at large.

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that information with the rest of us. I will trust a content creator to be entertaining but potentially wrong and observe so long as they're entertaining. I will trust an expert to be at least telling me what they believe is true and observe so long as they are right reasonably often. However,

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These days I feel like the term 'influencer' carries roughly the same prestige and vibe as 'traveling snake oil vendor.' Very different from 'content creator' where I see it as the entertainment industry, and of course, very different from people who become experts in their chosen field then share

Raw materials at the top of the transport routes, then more refinement as you move further away; refinement can alter portability and spoilage. Final destinations are port cities and/or head of government

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Cloth: plant or animal, requires grazing land or growing land, refining into thread takes far more time than weaving into cloth, land and time intensive, balance against need for food, animals can provide secondary benefits (food, fuel, soil enrichment) but less efficient than grain crops

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Fuel: needed to keep warm, refine goods, produce tools. Wood>Charcoal>Coal>Coal Coke>? Forests need water and coppicing makes forests renewable. Coal can be anywhere but is not renewable. Tools: require metal, metal requires heat, heat requires fuel. Improve soil, armies, productivity.

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Food: usually means grain farming, uses ~98% of the population, with an overland supply distance of 1 day's travel. Inefficiencies are crop rotation and quality of soil. Water: increases supply distances downstream or along tradewinds, parasite cities go at the end of the waterways.

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Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Alright, organizing my brain here. Five basic resources for a region: - Food - Water - Fuel - Tools - Cloth

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A pocket-sized spiral bound notebook and reliable ballpoint pen. It gives me a place that's clear from mental noise and distraction, that I can refer back to, and at the same time, it's not the final version. And the portability is nice.

Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Only one thing: it's mine. It's my world, I can do whatever I want with it. Whether it's good or bad, dull or interesting, it's mine to do with as I please. I don't know that I need to be proud of anything else about it.

Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Same. I assumed it was an euphemism and possibly an in-joke among the AP group.

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Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Then gods started showing up, and well, it got more chaotic. They added mountains, oceans, plants, animals, fungi, cities, and so on. Three celestials showed up as moons. Some gods leave (not always voluntarily) and others show up. They add to what's built or head to the edges to add on.

Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

In the beginning there was an infinite sphere. In that it's infinite, but also spherical, so there's curvature and orbits but you can't start from point A, walk in a straight line, and end up back at point A. It was pristine, uniform, and exceedingly boring unless you're into that sort of thing.

Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Honestly I'm just shocked that they'd admit it was destroyed. I think the closest I've ever heard about a package was 'suffered water damage in transit.'

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Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Support, always support. I might be the big guy with the giant hammer or the arcane spellslinger but I'm still built for support.

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Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Mostly just a reference to the fact I'm a smartass with a history of twisting wording for comedic value. I don't even know where I'd get a bear.

Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I can take a bear in a fight. I will then be immediately leaving the fight as fast as possible and letting everybody else in that fight deal with the bear.

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Reposted by Stormcaller

The Venerable Weed @simonberman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Herd of Horns, our upcoming #TTRPG of #dinosaurs, survival, exploration, and cooperation is live now on Kickstarter!

kickstarter.com

Herd of Horns

An Original TTRPG Celebrating Dinosaurs for Being Dinosaurs!

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Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Choose to undo any existing blocks or mutes for people in that pack. So people can get the pack creator to add them in, and then subscribers get them back. I don't know you can avoid a race between blocking bad people and malicious misuse entirely as much as I'd like it

Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I see the intent but I also see a problem. If people could quietly remove themselves from block lists, that immediately renders block lists useless, and I like having anti-ai, anti-maga, anti-spambot lists. Maybe something of a priority system? Say, if you're subscribing to a starter pack, you can

Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I mean you kind of have to or it isn't an arch

Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I commissioned @lamalamuerte.bsky.social to do one, and I've used HeroForge for miniatures

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Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

For a minute I thought you were talking about the angler fish salamander thingy

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Stormcaller @stormcaller.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Travel rations. Every adventurer needs to eat, though what they eat may differ significantly. They might fly, swim, dig, see in the dark, fight with bare hands or magic spells, hide, be able to talk their way out of any problem. But they need to eat. And there won't always be food to be found.