[–] 14 points 1 day ago (4 children)

That seems to have become the new norm in entertainment journalism. They have one to four sentences of actual information (or in the case of release dates just „we still don’t know“), then add multiple pages of filler at the top so people get served as many ad impressions as possible. For good measure, add a fake comment section or recommendations at the bottom so people can’t just scroll down to the end of the page to find what they are looking for.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 days ago

    As far as I‘ve understood, „toxic mode“ only turns off some of the filters, not all.

    Also:

    • The dev‘s definition of toxic is far from my own
    • Filtering belongs in the backend, not the fronted and should be configured by the instance admin and the individual user. We already have that in the form of moderation tools and blocks. If we wanted arbitrary third parties to dictate what we can see, we could have stayed on reddit.
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  • [–] 15 points 5 days ago

    Historically accurate to what? The era it might have been written in? The era it might have been set in? We don’t know if the Odyssey was really written by Homer and when he would have lived (ca. 8th century BC, possibly earlier?) nor do we know if and when the Trojan War really happened (14th to 12th century BC?).

    What we do know is that the Iliad and Odyssey are not accurate historical accounts but fantasy stories that are loosely based on events that may or may not have happened centuries before they were written down.

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  • [–] 7 points 6 days ago

    Hundreds of cookies and a dozen filler paragraphs later, this is the only sentence that actually relates to the title:

    Dread Central has also personally confirmed exclusively that Megan Fox will be returning.

    No source, nothing. I would assume this is a clickbait rumor at best.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    Most movies are mixed for a theater surround sound system. Remixing them for tv speakers is usually not worth the effort. Dialogue usually sits on the center channel while effects and music are spread across left, right and surround channels. A tv with stereo speakers can‘t do much except mix all of that together and that makes it hard to hear the quieter parts.

    If you watch a lot of movies, I recommend a soundbar or even better a 5.1 system. It’s expensive but it mostly solves those mixing problems.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago*

    I’d argue that shortened names aren’t pronouns. Like, “Bob” isn’t a pronoun after all. But that’s a cool idea nonetheless.

    Counter-argument: the only two reasons why "Bob" isn't a pronoun are a) because English has other pronouns and b) because not every name has a form that's short enough to use in place of pronouns.

    I would say it's fully plausible that a language develops proper pronouns (with case markings and everything else you would expect) based on a rule that works with any name. As an arbitrary example, a Robert, Robin, Ronald and Rocinante might all use roki for the nominative case, ros for the genitive case and ron for the accusative case. In the absence of other pronoun systems, that would be indistinguishable from what you imagine as pronouns. Add a few centuries of sound shifts and you get something really interesting.

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  •  

    !eli5goblins@ttrpg.network

    You’ve explained it to a 5-year-old, now explain it to a bunch of small green maniacs!

    This is a parody community inspired by other ELI5 communities with a fantasy twist. All questions should be answered as if the person who asked has no idea about our modern world, is more interested in shinies than knowledge and might attack you at any moment.

     

    This relates to my world that I started describing in another thread. I post it here for visibility and because it's still very unfinished. As soon as it's mostly done, I'll copy the reworked version into a new comment over there. Comments and creative ideas are more than welcome.

    Some background

    The Immaruk are a river valley civilization similar to real world Ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia who believe in two deities:

    • Shuramud, the desert sun whose aspects are day, sun, light, heat, passage of time, growth and the inevitable death of all living things.
    • Iwaspat, the shapeless darkness who represents night, darkness, soothing coldness, the ground, stability and a resistance to change.

    The realm is ruled by diarchs, two equal rulers who each represent one of the deities and also act as their high priests.

    Death rites for common people

    With Shuramud being the deity of death, they are naturally responsible for guiding the deceased out of the world of the living. Those who feel that they are getting old and weak travel to one of the shrines at the the edge of the northern desert. In the early morning, they pray, say their goodbyes to their friends and relatives and undress to leave all earthly possessions behind and offer every bit of their body to the sun's heat. Eventually at sunrise they walk out into the desert to die.

    Once they have succumbed to Shuramud's gaze, their souls leave their body and rise up to the sky. While most souls are invisible, those of people who had been especially dedicated to Shuramud take the form of soul birds, flaming creatures with human bodies but the head and wings of a bird. There are very rare stories of soul birds who didn't directly rise up to be united with Shuramud but instead flew back to the land of the living and stuck around for a few hours or even days, presumably to fulfill one last task in service of their deity.

    Not being able to have your soul collected by Shuramud is seen as a great misfortune, so the bodies of those who die before they reach the desert are carried either by their family or by priests and shrine guardians. If there is no body to bring to the desert, for example if someone drowned and got carried away by the great river or got eaten by an animal, a small statuette that resembles the deceased is made and displayed at their home for a few days to catch as much of their essence before it's taken to the desert instead of a body. I'm not quite sure about this last point yet but I think it fits

    The Mirror of Shuramud

    Centuries ago, the Shuramud cult lined a natural crater with reflective bronze (or gold?) that focuses the sunlight at a single spot, essentially turning the crater into a giant solar oven. Apart from being used as a furnace to create religious items, it's also where the diarchs who represent Shuramud are taken when they die. Being burned by concentrated sunlight is said to give them a higher chance of forming a strong soul bird than merely being out in the desert on their own.

    Priests of Iwaspat

    While Shuramud and Iwaspat are mostly seen as equal but opposite aspects of the world who keep each other in balance and should both be worshiped, it would still be seen as improper to give the soul of someone in the higher ranks in Iwaspat's cult over to Shuramud. Instead, they are entombed in a system of natural caves at the northern bank of the great river. There, their souls can forever stay in the embrace of the cool ground, never having to fear the change that leaving the mortal world would be.

    For the diarchs who represent Iwaspat, this protection from change goes even further. Unless they die prematurely from an accident or violence, they can eventually retire to a chamber deep inside the caves where they can live on forever. Their bodies don't age anymore nor do they need to consume food. They spend most of their time motionless and in silent dialogue with Iwaspat but if needed, they are valuable advisers to their successors.

    During the Eternal Night

    Recently, the sun has stopped rising (see main thread), Shuramud has seemingly disappeared and walking into the now-cold desert probably won't free your soul from your body anymore. Those who can afford it, use the dwindling supply of firewood to have their bodies cremated but for most, this is becoming a big problem. Many still follow the old rites but their souls are trapped in their rotting bodies until there is a new sunrise. For gameplay, this could give me the chance to have zombie-like undead if I need them.

    Once again, this is all work in progress and I would love to see your ideas. How can I flesh this out or can you think of alternatives that would fit the setting even better?

     

    After a short discussion over in RPGMemes, we came to the conclusion that Lemmy is missing a community to discuss your works in progress and get feedback so I opened one and started posting what I'm working on.

    Give it a look, leave some feedback on the stuff that's already there and add your own, no matter if it's something you're working on or a question.

    !DMWorkshop@ttrpg.network

     

    I hope this kind of promo is allowed here. If not, just let me know

    After a short discussion over in RPGMemes, we came to the conclusion that Lemmy is missing a community to discuss your works in progress and get feedback so I opened one and started posting what I'm working on.

    Give it a look, leave some feedback on the stuff that's already there and add your own, no matter if it's something you're working on or a question.

    !DMWorkshop@ttrpg.network

     

    After a short discussion over in RPGMemes, we came to the conclusion that Lemmy is missing a community to discuss your works in progress and get feedback so I opened one and started posting what I'm working on.

    Give it a look, leave some feedback on the stuff that's already there and add your own, no matter if it's something you're working on or a question.

    !DMWorkshop@ttrpg.network

    submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [M] to c/DMWorkshop@ttrpg.network
     

    My ongoing work on this world is basically the reason I created this community. Feel free to give feedback, both positive and negative. I honestly have no clue if this is interesting to anyone but me.

    I plan on creating a conlang for this world, following Jesse Peterson's amazing guide but I'm not done by far, so most names in this post are placeholders in either English or the proto-version of the language.

    Premise

    The Immaruk are river valley civilization similar to real world ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. According to their legends, they descend from two tribes that were both led by their respective deity to the fertile lands along the great river. Shuramud is the god of the sun, daylight, sky and growth but also desert heat, merciless passage of time and eventual death of all living things. Iwaspat is Shuramud's exact opposite, representing the night, darkness, nothingness (this world has no moon) but also soothing coldness, stability and the ground.

    The Immaruk's culture is centered around the duality of these two deities. All things in life are attributed to one of the two but there is an understanding that a balance between them is needed for life to prosper: for example, grain needs both Iwaspat's fertile soil and Shuramud's light to grow. Of course, this balance is not always perfect but over time, it evens out. Every morning Shuramud's sun rises and gives life to the world and every evening Iwaspat banishes it behind the horizon, providing much needed refreshment and calming down the bustle of the day.

    But now, after centuries of this constant meandering, the world has gotten out of balance. First, there was a long period of constant daylight and after Iwaspat's priests managed to depose the leader Shuramud's followers, it has in turn been cast into a seemingly eternal night. Nobody knows exactly how long it's gone on as timekeeping mainly relies on the passage of the sun but it feels like months or even years now.

    More to come

    Translating all my notes from German and turning them into a post that makes sense takes a while so I'll probably add comments for individual topics and link them here.

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