Vor

Tales of the Path [The Darklight Project & Vor]

Fair enough, my friend, looking forward to it! :)

Forgotten Realms: Adventures of Faerun

Sorry for the delay guys, came down with a virus and I've been barfing my insides all weekend. I'm on sick leave now though, so as soon as I feel a bit better I'll post.

The Great Hunt - a Wheel of Time RP

Thanks for having me!

Will get started on my CS during the weekend, kinda weary of giving a definitive time-frame, but I'll try to get it some time before the second half of next week.

The Great Hunt - a Wheel of Time RP

Damn, I really shouldn't be joining another RP, but I've never done a WoT RP before and I keep coming back to this thread over and over again....might as well throw my hat in!

It's been a while since I've read the books, especially the first ones, so it's probably gonna take me a bit of time to brush up on my knowledge.

I was thinking a Warder initially, but since we've got such a duo already, I think I'll go for a Noble. We need a man of proper standing for such a task, not a bunch of commoners! ;) Right now I'm leaning towards a very entitled scion of a Cairhienin House or perhaps a noble from Tear or maybe from one of the Borderland Kingdoms - ugh, decisions, decisions!

Out of interest, are you basing this system on the d20 ruleset that Wizards of the Coast put out ages ago or is it a homebrew?

Forgotten Realms: Adventures of Faerun

Glad we finally got started!

Expect a post from me during the weekend.

2016 US Election: Day Zero

<Snipped quote by Halo>

That's only half the story though, isn't it? Things are bad enough in this country, for enough people, that Donald goddamn Trump was more palatable than four more years of the establishment. Think about that. Did you know that's how bad it was? I didn't. I've been in the CNN bubble like everybody else, and they sure as hell weren't talking about it. 58 million people -- that's a very big number -- are that desperate, and here I thought the biggest issue facing america was the use of public restrooms.

I don't believe in silent majorities. These people were always trying to be heard, and we've been ignoring them so completely that this result is unthinkable. People moved to tears in the Clinton campaign -- you shoulda been crying for these people long ago, and honestly I think you needed your hearts broken.

Granted, now we've got a deplorable in the white house. I mean..... some of that is disingenuous from the same people who cheered for Bill, but putting that aside I don't like this guy, and I'm gonna have to deal with that. We'll get over it if he's good.

@mdk

Pretty much this.

It all begs the question - if Donald Trump is so fucking bad and unsuited for president, how the hell could a shrewd politician like Clinton lose in the first place? Maybe, just maybe, the DNC should have chosen Bernie or literally anyone that didn't have so much dirt on them instead.

Secondly, playing the blame game is precisely why this shit is happening. No, people aren't dumb and bigoted for voting Trump, they're just unsatisfied with the current status quo, as are people in the EU. Why do you think Brexit happened? Why are right-winged populist parties gaining traction throughout Western Europe in countries like France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and so forth? It's easy to dismiss everyone you don't agree with as a bigot and a racist, but the truth runs much deeper.

The current narrative passed down from our political elite is that the US and its allies are the only bastions of freedom and democracy, everyone else is either a dictator or part of an oligarchy. You don't like TTIP? Well, you're a fucking commie. You don't agree with economic migrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan illegally crossing your country's borders? Shit son, you're Hitler reborn. Think that NATO should focus on the traffickers making millions from the real refugees in the Mediterranean instead of leading an arms race with Russia? Well, its obvious you're sucking Putin's dick.

This "them or us" mentality and fear mongering that's prevalent in the western world plays right into the hands of demagogues, populists and extremists. When even moderate criticism is met with accusations of racism, xenophobia and God knows what else, people are gradually driven into extremes. And instead of tackling the underlying issues our politicians are quick to look for scapegoats - terrorism, Russia, the dumb voters who don't know what's good for them.

That last one in particular is incredibly grating. Let's face it, the average voter is always going to be, well, average; that's the whole point, right? Many of these people don't care about politics and are swayed by whatever's trending at the time - the economic crisis, refugees, TTIP/CETA, heck even fucking Harambe. When you're struggling to make ends meet, you don't really care where the guy you're voting for stands on the political spectrum, as long as he promises to "make things right".

What you're seeing right now in is the shifting of the huge socioeconomic gears that make the world turn. The past 20 years or so have been a period of relative stability and prosperity for the West (I hate using this Cold War era term), but the cracks are starting to show and even normal people like you and me are beginning to see it. The financial crisis of 2008 was a sign of that and since then things have been going steadily downhill. Brexit was a tipping point for the EU, spurred on by the refugee crisis, and Trump's election is a tipping point for the US. As good ol' dialectical materialism teaches "quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes" - look at the last 100 years of our history and you'll see that's a fact.

Lastly, a message to you folks that have been plaguing my social media feeds (and the Guild's status bar) all day - politics is a game of logic. The moment you start getting emotional is the moment some politician starts using that emotion for their own agenda.

B!tchfest: a healthy release for our non-roleplay annoyances.

Everyone on my FB wall vowing to cut off friends and family over their stances on america's election really shouldnt be overestimating their own attention span. This will be a topic for 2 weeks tops, Pokemon Sun and Moon will be released and half of you will forget that a even president exists.

@Dynamo Frokane

It's a common fact that whenever election day comes along, everyone and their dog becomes an expert on politics. Yes, even the people that were taking dog-filter selfies in the bathroom.

A Tolkien based RP: Out of the Past

Yeah, I don't really have much to say either as you can see, but I'm winging it cause I like writing anything LOTR-related and we also need to pick up the pace a bit, IMO. It's not like we're putting out super long posts as the moment, so I think we should try to be a bit more active. I'll be the first to admit I'm guilty of tardiness, but I'm afraid we're starting to lose our momentum and the RP might grind to a halt before we've even had a chance to actually start our adventure.

That said, once we begin the journey I feel like things will start rolling along more smoothly. Here's hoping, at least.

2016 US Election: Day Zero

Thirded.

Start learning Russian, Vor.

@Awson

I already know Russian, tovarish.

You should stop fear mongering so much, Russia ain't gonna conquer Europe, anyone who claims otherwise clearly has no idea how politics works in this part of the world. The big threat right now is coming from Turkey and Erdogan, who's recreating a mini Fourth Reich there.

As someone who lives between the US' and Russia's spheres of influence, Trump is probably the better candidate for me, because his foreign policy isn't going to be as aggressive as Hillary's. Thus, less immigrants and regional instability for me.

You Americans should have chosen Hillary though.

2016 US Election: Day Zero

As an European I don't really have a bone to pick in this race, but watching all the salt on the internet is entertaining. The paranoia and fear mongering in particular is fucking hilarious.