iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 29/09/2026

I'm not saying this is good, but I am saying it would fill a similar role to a Gaea's Cradle. Like, I'm imagining cheating this into play with some sort of enchantment recursion in white and doing some wicked creature combo shenanigans.

Magic the Gathering Card
Name: Omnipresence
Cost: Five - Green - Green - Green
Type: Enchantment
Set symbol: Reality Fracture, mythic rarity
Text: You may cast spells with mana value less than or equal to the number of creatures you control from your hand without paying their mana costs.
Flavor text: Her choice made, Tam called upon the one being who could fix what Jace had done.

Art: Most of the painted scene has a green-ish haze over it. In the center, red tentacles come out from a hole parted in the clouds. Sunlight filters down from the hole, creating yellow light filling the center of the scene. Lightning crackles from the clouds as well. The scene is apparently set on Zendikar because of the floating chunks of land clustered in the bottom right corner of the scene. A figure hovers above the largest chunk of land, their arms held wide in a sort of Y or T pose, pointed in the direction of the tentacles.

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 27/08/2026

Just had to listen to some Rocky Horror lately, because this movie genuinely has some amazing songs in it. Rest In Peace Tim Curry, you beautiful bastard.

Screenshot of most of the songlist for the Rocky Horror Picture Show OST. Track 5 [Sweet Transvestite] is currently playing, because I was feeling like listening to a track led by the recently late Tim Curry.

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 12/08/2026

Did a quick game as the Kingdom of Sulawesi and got an achievement for my troubles. Somehow this is the rarest achievement I have despite not being particularly difficult or time consuming. Genuinely more people need to play some games in Indonesia, because the region is very interesting and fun.

Screenshot of the achievement "Humble Beginnings" for CK3. The icon is a canoe with an oar leaned against the right side on a green background. The description reads "As a Wanua ruler, adopt Mandala government through your Suzerain, and build a Capital Complex." Apparently, only 0.3% of the playerbase has unlocked it, causing the icon itself to have a radiant golden outline.

A screenshot of my 8 most recent CK3 achievements, most of which are sufficiently rare as to have the fancy outline around them. I have unlocked a total of 53 out of 188 achievements, the most recent of which is the Humble Beginnings one, which is the only one to provide the title and description.

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 27/07/2026

I'm back on my "staring at the terrain layer in Google Maps" bullshit and enjoying the tell out of this section along the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

Screenshot from Google Maps. This is a section of the Tajik/Afghan border a ways south of the Tajik capital of Dushanbe. Of note, there is a large river (the Panj River) with two relatively large lakes either side of the frame. Between those lakes is a ridge of mountains running north to south. There are also mountain ranges either side on the far edges of the frame with a particularly impressive range visible in the east, which would be part of the Himalayas I'm pretty sure.

Since this is a terrain map, there are also lots of low-lying areas, naturally along the river's flood plain, but also in valleys running parallel to the ridge in the center. There is also a nice peak visible towards the northeast, north of the Tajik towns of Moskovskiy and Chubek.

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 12/07/2026

#ToriCK3 I spent the rest of his reign growing the economy and putting reining in my vassals to get them to stop trying to overthrow the now ailing Emperor. He also somehow spawned a legend about him being Saintly despite murdering a bunch of his child cousins and being a regular at the brothel.

Screenshot from near the end of the game. The legend for my character is shown on the right. In the middle are list of everyone this character had murdered (18 in total, including a bunch of his own kin), and on the left is his character sheet [Shahanshah Erdehan Farisid "The Trickster" of the Farisid Empire].

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 06/07/2026

Having some fun in CK3 with my Kurdish Jihadist state. I may do an AAR at some point because this campaign has been a ride of starting as a Kurdish count and becoming an adventurer after siding with a previous liege, then resettling in Bengal.

CK3 "Child of My Blood" event for my character's granddaughter. Her name as generated by the game is is Gerdnegaz.

The same granddaughter, whom I took the previous name and modified it to be Greznedge, as in Gooseworx's response about Jax's post-transition name.

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 23/06/2026

Closest frame I can find is this one, so it looks like, no, this is a new scene.

Pomni and Jax from the ending chapter of TADC Episode 9. Jax has abstracted and is sleeping peacefully in a large tent constructed of blankets and pillows. Pomni is sitting on a pile of pillows at the entrance staring in.

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 17/04/2026

New NiN album got me listening to some of my favorite albums again. Especially The Fragile right now.

A screenshot of my Nine Inch Nails album collection. From top-left down to the end at the bottom-right:
- Nine Inch Noize (2026, newest album)
- TRON: Ares OST (2025)
- Bad Witch (2018)
- Add Violence (2017)
- Not The Actual Events (2016)
- Hesitation Marks (2013)
- Ghosts I-IV (2008, Both Discs)
- The Slip (2008)
- Year Zero (2007)
- With Teeth (2005)
- The Downward Spiral (Deluxe Edition) (2004)
- The Fragile (1999, personal favorite)
- Pretty Hate Machine (1989)

A screenshot of a music player's progress bar. The track playing is "Somewhat Damaged" off of The Fragile. The elapsed time is 4 minutes and 27 seconds.

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 10/04/2026

This could be funny as a janky Lightning Bolt. Run Ruby Medallion and turn this into a 4 mana spell that does up to 12 damage total. You could also run Mob Rule as an absolutely brutal finisher to steal everyone's creatures for 6 mana.

MTG card
Name - Barbed Lightning
Mana cost - 2 generic and one red
Card type - Instant
Rules text - Choose one -- Barbed Lightning deals 3 damage to target creature; or Barbed Lightning deals 3 damage to target player. Entwine {2}

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 03/02/2026

If you see this, we IMPLORE you to post a picture from whatever device you're using without explanation.

A shitpost I threw together as a joke using the "Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff" comic page about falling down stairs as a base to joke about raids in FFXIV.

"SWEET WOL AND HELLA PF"
Panel 1: Man in a red shirt says "I can't wait to be a useless piece of shit all day and PF some ultimates." He is holding a small automoton.
Panel 2: Man in red shirt is now falling down stairs. He is surrounded by icons with the greek letters alpha, beta, gamma and delta. He is saying "fuck I'm getting trapped on easy mechanics"
Panel 3: A man in a blue shirt shouts "I warned you about dolls bro! I told you dog!"
Panel 4: The man in red is still falling down the stairs. He is saying "It keeps happening"
Panel 5: Contains multiple copies of panel 2 within it. Each smaller panel is overlaid with some kind of iconography from FFXIV mechanics, such as the Playstation Buttons from TOP or a cast bar for "Ordained Stillness"
Panel 6: The man in blue is now zoomed in. There is a red eye on his forehead, poorly cropped and pasted from a screenshot of the game's 'look away' indicator. There is a cast bar over his lower lip for "Wormhole Formation". He is saying in bright-green text, "I told you man. I told you about dolls."

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 15/10/2025

I tried looking it up on DDG and the Fandom Wiki doesn't list a date of birth or an age for him. Wikipedia basically just says he's speculated to have been born in 2022, which cites a Snopes article which implies that he's 40. This article cites Gizmodo: gizmodo.com/was-jane-jet...

Fandom Wiki page for George Jetson. Includes his name, his relations to his children and wife as well as his employment. Lists his voice actors. Notably does not list his age or date of birth anywhere.

Screengrab from Snopes article cited by Wikipedia regarding his date of birth being 2022.
"As Gizmodo once explained, in an episode titled "Test Pilot" which originally aired on December 30, 1962, when George Jetson was told by a doctor he "should live to be 150," he exclaimed that he had "110 good years ahead of me."

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 21/09/2025

I'd be interested to see what his empirical dataset includes to make such a claim. Or really just any reasonable expansion on that point, because right now it's giving XKCD 1122.

XKCD Comic #1122. The page is divided into 58 panels not including the title: "The Problem With Statements like 'No <party> candidate has won the election without <state>' or 'No president has been reelected under <circumstances>'"
Each panel is denoted by a year corresponding to an election year in the USA:
1788: No one has been elected president before, but Washington was.
1792: No incumbent has ever been reelected, until Washington
1796: No one without false teeth has become president, but Adams did.
1800: No challenger has beaten an incumbent, but Jefferson did.
1804: No incumbent has beaten a challenger, until Jefferson.
1808: No congressman has ever become president, until Madison.
1812: No one can win without New York, but Madison did.
1816: No candidate who doesn't wear a wig can get elected, until Monroe was.
1820: No one who wears pants instead of breeches can be reelected, but Monroe was.
1824: No one has ever won without a popular majority, J.Q. Adams did.
1828: Only people from Massachusetts and Virginia can win, until Jackson did.
1832: The only presidents who get reelected are Virginians, until Jackson.
1836: New Yorkers always lose, until Van Buren.
1840: No one over 65 has won the presidency, until Harrison did.
1844: No one who's lost his home state has won, but Polk did.
1848: As goes Mississippi, so goes the nation, until 1848.
1852: New England democrats can't win, but Pierce did.
1856: No one can become president without getting married, until Buchanan did.
1860: No one over 6'3" can get elected, until Lincoln.
1864: No one with a beard has been reelected, but Lincoln was.
1868: No one can be president if their parents are alive, until Grant.
1872: No one with a beard has been reelected in peacetime, until Grant was.
1876: No one can win a majority of the popular vote and still lose, Tilden did.
1880: As goes California, so goes the nation, until it went Hancock.
1884: Candidates named 'James' can't lose, until James Blaine.

etc...

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 18/09/2025

Isn't big rice just called ttoekbokki?

A plate of prepared rice cakes (ttoekbokki), prepared in a red pepper sauce, served with green onion.

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 25/04/2025

Playing GeoGuessr like I'm trying to become trans Rainbolt.

Results page for a game of GeoGuessr using the US map. The results are reasonably close:

Round 1: 3483 pts - 301 km - 30 s; Guess along the border of MN and the Dakotas, actual answer to the north
Round 2: 4044 pts - 177 km - 30 s; guess in San Diego, actual in LA
Round 3: 2762 pts - 494 km - 48 s; guess in NW Atlanta, actual in Mobile, AL
Round 4: 3266 pts - 355 km - 1 m 45 s; guess in west Kentucky, actual in south Missouri
Round 5: 3119 pts - 393 km - 41 sec, guess in east PA by Philadelphia, actual in Pittsburg

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 15/03/2025

If you could commission one fictional character to fix the current US political problems, who would it be?

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 23/02/2025

Inspired by a conversation with the GF.

"Drake yes/no" format using Luigi Mangione, the Patron Saint of the American Working Class at his court hearing instead of Mr. A Minor.

Luigi no caption: Getting upset at cum being spilled for eugenisist (sic) reasons
Luigi yes caption: Getting upset at cum being spilled for horny reasons

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 12/02/2025

This fucking article just reading like:

The front cover of a pamphlet:
"I fucking warned you dude. I told you bro
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF CAPITALIST PRODUCTION
By KARL MARX
Translated from the third German edition, by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling
And Edited By
Frederick Engels
VOL I."

If it's not clear, my point is a lot of this article just reads like the sensible conclusions one could come to by looking at our society under late-stage capitalism and a passing understanding of Communist theory.

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 02/09/2024

If you see this post, show 4 of your favorite games. I classically have a hard time picking a favorite game, so here's just some that have stood out to me recently. This would also include. Metroid Dread is probably the best Metroid has been for me, but this could be any of the more recent 2D games

Cover art for Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon

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Lauren, Staring at Maps @strattaravar.com · 04/08/2024

T-minus 60 days until I go in for an aftermarket upgrade/replacement.

Screengrab of a Google search for "days until October 3" with a result of 60 days between August 4th and October 3rd.

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