#a resource designed to sway the “both sides are wrong” people in your life | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sixpossumsinatrenchcoat · 7 months

Text

Genocide in Palestine: It’s Really Not Complicated

An accessible primer designed to sway the “both sides are wrong” people in your life

(context: i put this together for my own parents, but decided to share it in case it could help anyone else. i think a lot of us feel like we're just shouting into an echo chamber & only being heard by people who already agree.... so this was my attempt at making something that could help carry the truth outside of our activist bubble! feel free to copy/paste whatever, tweak the language so it's in ur own words, etc.)

The context:

A brief history of Israeli occupation

A long track record of peaceful protest (all met with slaughter)

An exemplary essay on the Palestinian experience of the global climate around occupied Palestine

The situation in Palestine today:

Is this genocide?

Indisputably, yes.

But if you can’t take my word for it, listen to the experts:

Holocaust survivors protesting for a free Palestine

The resignation letter from the Director of New York Office of the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights (I strongly recommend reading at least the first page) (full letter here)

More on Jabalia

A second blast on Jabalia in 2 days (there’s since been a third)

Israeli soldiers starting a “kidnapping challenge” in which Palestinians in the West Bank are kidnapped and blindfolded. TikTok is filled with videos of Israeli soldiers and civilians participating.

Pogroms & forced displacement in the West Bank

Targeting journalists & silencing dissenters

Cholera outbreaks from contaminated water & infant death from dehydration due to Gaza being (deliberately) cut off from clean water

Hundreds of Palestinian workers abducted & tortured without ever learning the charges

The Bottom Line: the IDF claims to be targeting Hamas, but they’ve razed entire cities to the ground. They target churches, mosques, & synagogues alike. They target refugee camps and schoolyards and bucolic farmland. This is not about tracking down a few terrorists, this is about wiping out an ethnic group in order to occupy their homeland.

The human side: individual voices & experiences

A message from a doctor in Gaza

A young video blogger reporting from Gaza

Palestinian children speaking out

The faces of the people we’re targeting.

(There’s obviously a tremendous amount of this, most of which is much much harder to watch. But I am emotionally exhausted so for now I’ll just leave it at that.)

Does this mean you condone Hamas?

No. Do you condone decades of ethnic cleansing and forced displacement?

Or, put differently: Palestine has been under violent imperialist rule for years, with similar atrocities / acts of violence / systematic displacement taking place for literal decades. As I keep hearing from better-informed activists than myself, this did not start on October 7th. (Exhibit A, Exhibit B, I could go on but you get the idea). And after decades of peaceful protest and pleas to be seen, the first time that Palestine has ever received this much media attention was after the violence on 10/7. Do I think it’s good to harm civilians? No. Obviously not. But I think it’s worse to bomb thousands of civilian buildings for decades on end without any oversight, accountability or consequence.

Unfortunately, no dominant system of power has ever been dismantled without bloodshed. Targeting civilians is atrocious, but that’s what Israel has been doing for decades, and no one batted an eye until Palestine struck back.

If this is true, why is this my first time hearing about it?

Let’s talk about:

The Propaganda Machine!

A silly & unexpectedly informative overview of the propaganda machine… ~in song~

One very small example

Reuters provides a good example of how journalists rely on readers’ short attention span to paint Palestinians as monsters:

Let’s start with the headline: [Freed Israeli hostage says 'I've been through hell']

Yikes! Yeah! Makes sense! Being kidnapped is really scary! The front half of the article describes the pain and terror of that kidnapping in detail. But if you scroll down to the bottom, you get to read her account on her time as a hostage:

"When we got there, first of all they told us that they believed in the Koran and that they would not harm us," she recounted. A group of five people from her kibbutz were held together, each with an individual guard who stayed with them 24 hours a day. Lifshitz said a doctor visited them every other day and brought them the medicines they needed. "They took good care of the wounded," Lifshitz said. Video of her release on Monday showed her turning around to shake the hand of a masked captor. Asked why she had done that, she replied: "They treated us gently and met all our needs."

Sidebar: did you know that Hamas was willing to free all hostages in exchange for the release of the countless Palestinians imprisoned by the IDF on no charges whatsoever? I sure didn’t! Because U.S. media doesn’t cover those stories. Because the corporations funding these atrocities have financial interest in maintaining Israel’s status as innocent victims, and the entire civilian population of Palestine as a living smokescreen for Hamas.

Examples of the U.S. trying to maintain its facade as “the good guy” — The U.S. takes credit for restoring power to Gaza when in fact it was Palestineans on the ground who restored their own power

Thanks to pressure from a massive groundswell of grassroots support, the media climate has changed in the past week alone, but I swear to god that one week ago (10/26), I googled “attacks on Palestine” / “bombings in Gaza” and Google EXCLUSIVELY provided results on the Oct 7 attack on Israel.

The US govt attempting to run further arms deals in secret with zero oversight, inured from all checks & balances, in order to hide our involvement in these atrocities

I have yet to see a single one of these massive protests in the news

But if this is really genocide, why is the US still siding with Israel?

A very thorough explanation from a former Stanford professor.

(The short version: Israel has long been America's attack dog in the Middle East, and allows us unparalleled access to the resources that we want to take advantage of. It's the military-industrial complex at its most insidious. If you can’t accept that answer, please just listen to the podcast.)

Misc. addtl resources:

A helpful thread addressing common pro-Israel arguments

An excellent reading list compiled by people much smarter than me

Okay, so we’re funding a genocide. What can I do?

Buy e-sims to get Gaza back online

Contact your local legislators. This google doc makes it insanely easy to send an auto-email in protest to every single bill funding the genocide. It’ll help if you change the language a tiny bit to keep it from getting flagged as spam, but whatever you’ll actually do is better than nothing. Mobile version here.

Boycott the companies most actively lobbying for further violence

TALK ABOUT IT. EVEN WHEN IT IS UNCOMFORTABLE. Especially when it’s uncomfortable. The government is depending on our exhaustion, our desensitization, our silence & our compliance. Do Not Let Them Get Away With It. If nothing else, your support helps suffering people to feel a tiny bit more seen. That should be reason enough.

Who are you (and what’s your agenda)?

Nobody, really. Just some privileged American who’s been watching our president stand around spouting bullshit about how, “oh, well, there’s no way to know…” while my twitter feed overflows with on-the-ground footage of the worst shit I have ever seen. I’m sharing this anonymously because I have a hard time feeling visible on the internet (I don’t have any social media accounts under my real name, just goofy fandom aliases to post about my dumb hyperfixations). But it’s also because it doesn’t really matter who I am. I’m not half as educated as any of the folks linked above, so the most I can do is compress & compile the resources that a lot of folks—namely, those who get their news from mainstream media—don’t get to see.

If you’re so unqualified, why are you making this? What’s your game here 🤨🤨🤨

It’s pretty fuckin selfish, but I guess my immediate agenda is to be able to talk to my parents again? To have a real conversation without the constant fear that someone’s about to say something that’ll make me totally shut down, just because they get their info from the news. If it can do that much, I’ll be… still drenched in despair, I guess, but maybe 1% less anxious?

Beyond that, I feel like a lot of us feel like we’re shouting into an echo chamber. Like, all of this info is out there, but it only forms a larger picture if you’re already, constantly plugged in. I think that in a lot of cases, our (very justified) anger winds up alienating folks whose main flaw is just… trusting the resources that they’ve been taught to trust. So I liked the idea of making something that would feel accessible to folks who sit outside of our bubble—something that could be informative without coming off as shout-y or judgmental. Hopefully I came close?

…End of day, I guess it feels better than doing nothing.

#CeasefireNOW #a resource designed to sway the “both sides are wrong” people in your life

4 notes · View notes

thebadgerclan · 3 years

Text

SFW Alphabet: Lucius Malfoy

Requested by Anonymous

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?) Lucius is a very affectionate man, always wanting you to know just how loved and adored you are. He’s almost always holding your hand or has an arm around your shoulders, or both. When you’re alone at home, Lucius will hold you in his lap, pressing kisses all over your face.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?) Lucius has very few people who he considers friends, Severus being among them. But having him as a friend, you’re never alone on anything. Lucius will stand by your side through anything, acting as a confidant and a shoulder to lean on whenever you need it. If you need some sway with the Ministry, he’s more than willing to help you there too.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?) Lucius adores cuddling: having you in his arms, holding you close, it’s one of his favorite things. When the two of you are alone, he likes to have you in his lap as the two of you read or just spend time together. Lucius is always the big spoon, with you either facing him or with your back to his chest. He also likes it when he’s on his back and you’re tucked into his side or lying on top of him.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?) Lucius does want to settle down with you, he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. You already own his heart, he knows that there’s no other woman for him, so he sees no reason not to settle down with you. He’s already got the massive manor, but if you want to move somewhere smaller, he’s already signing the deed. Lucius is shit at cleaning, he’s had house elves for his entire life, but he can cook pretty well. He doesn’t do so very often, but sometimes, when he wants to surprise you, he’ll shoo the elves from the kitchen and cook you a romantic dinner (he has to call them back because he has no clue where stuff is, but he does cook the meal)

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?) It would break his heart into a million pieces to end things with you, but if he had to, Lucius would put on the icy, cold, unapproachable exterior he shows to everyone but you. “This can’t go on, Y/N,” he says, feeling ill with himself. “We’re done. I’m sorry, it’s over.”

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?) Lucius most certainly wants to marry you, and now that Narcissa’s out of the picture, he can. You’re together for about a year or so before he gets you a ring, and as soon as the little box is in his hand, he’s planning a super romantic evening for you. After a 5 star meal, complete with champagne and dessert, he gets on one knee and asks you to marry him.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?) He may seem like a cold, cruel man, but around you, he is the gentlest, kindest, warmest man you’ve ever met. Lucius is such a gentle man around you, treating you like a fawn (and fawning [pun not intended] over you as one does a baby deer), always being tender and gentle. Emotionally, he’s such a sweetie, never raising his voice at you. I won’t say he never gets angry with you, because he’s human, but he tries not to.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?) Lucius likes hugs, though you’re usually the one to initiate them. He prefers to be able to hold you for longer periods of time, and as hugs are usually short lived, they’re not his favorite. Don’t get me wrong, he loves it when you hug him, he loves any form of physical intimacy with you, he just prefers cuddling. That being said, his hugs are strong, he squeezes you tight against him, sometimes knocking the wind out of you. He’ll rest his chin on your head, and kiss you sweetly when he pulls away.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?) Lucius waits until he’s 100% certain of his feelings for you, more for your benefit than his. He doesn’t want to rush into telling you he loves you if he thinks he might walk back on it (that’s very unlikely, but he wants to be sure). After 5ish months, when you’re away for a week and Lucius feels physical pain in his chest for missing you, that’s when he knows he loves you. The first words out of his mouth when you return are “I love you, Y/N. I love you more than anything else in this world, and I will always love you.”

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?) Lucius is a VERY jealous man, you are his and his alone, no one else gets to have you. If he sees someone looking at you a little too long, making eyes at you, hitting on you, or making you uncomfortable in any way, he’s at your side immediately. Lucius will pull you into his side, arm tight around your shoulders or waist, grey eyes staring daggers at whoever dared to speak to you. “Are you alright, my dear?” As soon as you’re alone, Lucius will kiss you hard, usually pushing you against a wall, snarling “Mine.”

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?) Lucius is a very skilled kisser, he knows how to convey every single emotion just by pressing his lips to yours. He’ll pull you fluff against him, arms around your middle; one hand cupping the back of your neck, the other either on your back or ass. He likes to kiss your lips, obviously, but he also loves kissing your forehead, neck, hands, chest, and thighs. He likes being kissed on the lips, again, obviously, on the cheeks, the chin (because that might be all you can reach), hands, shoulders, basically anywhere.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?) I HC that Lucius played a massive role in raising Draco, so I think he’s pretty good with kids. Kids that aren’t his tend to get on his nerves a little, but his own kids, man, they’re the moon and the sun to him. He adores his own children to no end, and if you want to have kids with him, Lucius is more than happy to be a father again.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?) Lucius gets up early most mornings, so he’s not always there when you get up. But there’s always a cup of coffee/tea/whatever you like on the nightstand under a stasis charm, usually with a little love note under the cup. On the days he can sleep in a bit, you wake with Lucius wrapped around you (he’s wrapped around you every morning, you’re just awake for it this time). He’ll gently kiss you awake, smiling when you open your eyes. “Good morning, my love.”

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?) Nights and evenings are quiet intimate affairs between the two of you. Evenings usually entail a private, often romantic dinner before the two of you retire to the sitting room. Lucius will usually hold you on his lap or have you tucked into his side. You either read together, talk about your day, or watch a movie (Lucius has a home theatre type setup, fight me). When it gets late, he’ll lead you up to the master bedroom where you usually share a bath or shower (which can lead to sex), before going to bed, you held close to Lucius’ chest.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?) Once Lucius is sure and comfortable in your relationship, he’ll start to reveal things about himself. Not all at once, more like when you ask him questions, but he won’t hide things from you once he’s comfortable.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?) Lucius has a temper, but he keeps it in check with you. You do make him angry sometimes, but it’s never long lasting, and it never gets physical. He might brood in his study for a little bit, but after an hour or so he’ll come out and apologize for being a bear.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?) At the beginning of your relationship, Lucius is so dedicated to remembering every little thing about you, he actually keeps a little journal. It’s filled with random things that you’ve said on your early dates, things like “Favorite color: blue, Hogwarts house: Y/H, had three dogs as a child: Kelly, Mary, and Pepper.” Obviously, he doesn’t need it after a while, but he still has the journal in his bedside table. The last addition he made was: “Likes princess cut diamonds, jeweler on 5th has wide selection.”

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?) Lucius’ favorite memory of you is the first time the two of you had dinner with Draco. The only thing more important to him than you was Draco liking you. After Lucius had escorted you back home, he returned to the Manor where Draco was waiting. “So?” Lucius asked, pacing nervously. Draco just smiled. “I like her, Father. She’s not Mother, but I like her.” He was so happy to hear that his son liked you, he couldn’t sit still for hours.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?) He’s very protective, Lucius wants and needs to know that you’re safe at all times. He’ll never stop you from doing something or going somewhere, but if there’s potential for you to get hurt, he’s either going with you or putting measures in place to make sure you’re safe. Lucius loves you more than anything or anyone, he can’t bear the thought of losing you.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?) This man has the resources to make you feel like royalty every single day, so you’d better believe that Lucius goes all out on dates and anniversaries. Fancy restaurants, expensive wine and food, and anniversaries and gifts are on a whole nother level. Trips to Paris, Athens, Madrid, anywhere you’ve ever dreamed of going, Lucius will take you there. His gifts are usually very expensive, diamond earrings, necklaces, bracelets, designer clothes, but they can also be sentimental: a book you’ve had your eye on for a while, candy from Honeydukes he knows you like.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?) Lucius can be a bit narcissistic, very self centered. He sometimes gets so wrapped up in his own head that he forgets that he has a girlfriend who wants and needs his attention. He always feels so guilty afterwards, apologizing profusely to you. He usually ends up surprising you with a fancy dinner or seducing you into be to show you how much he loves you

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?) Have you seen the man? Lucius cares about his appearance, like, a lot. At the beginning of your relationship, he refused to spend the night with you, solely because he didn’t want you to see him when he work up; with bedhead and morning breath

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?) Yes, you’ve stolen his heart, and Lucius cannot live without you. When he was away for a week on Ministry business, he felt like a shell of himself, like part of him was missing. You feel the same, hating when you’re away from him for too long. The thought of leaving him forever makes you feel sick, but Lucius is quick to reassure you that he’s yours forever.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.) Lucius has a very in depth skincare routine, and if he misses or skips a night, he’s blotchy in the morning

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner? Lucius can’t be with someone who can’t be serious. Of course, he loves it when his girl lets loose and laughs, but in more serious situations, he needs her to be serious. He’s all for being laid back and just having fun, but he feels there’s a time and a place for that versus being serious and sophisticated.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habits of theirs?) Lucius puts lavender oil on his pillow to help him fall asleep. He has a bit of insomnia, and it takes that or 4-5 rounds of sex to knock him out

#lucius malfoy x reader #lucius malfoy x you #harry potter fanfiction #harry potter reader insert

58 notes · View notes

mystech-master · 7 years

Text

Zaun Q&A Tidbits

Piltover one here

Piltover got a reddit Q&A, now it’s Zaun’s turn.

link here

question asked by fan

answer from rioter

Q: What made you decide to join Zaun and Piltover into one super-city and what inspired this direction?

A. This had been in the works for a long while. I know early discussions on the two cities idea were meant to emphasize the differences and similarities of the two cities, while ramping up that connection and conflict through being so close together. They have no choice but be aware of each other every day, and it allows us to delve into ideas about what a symbiotic relationship looks like when not everyone is happy about it. It felt different to all of our other regions, it heightened possibilities for conflict (and therefore drama), and meant we could play very different Champs off each other pretty easily. Regions need to have natural hooks for storytelling and provide opportunities that other places don't. After all, if your new city just does the same as another on the other side of the world, why does the story world need it?

Q. Is Twitch still a resident/champion of Zaun?

A. Yes! He will eventually be getting some bio and story love too

Q. I recall some concerns about Zac's parents being deceased in the new lore; what made the team decide to "Uncle Ben" them?

I feel really bad about it; they were cool people who did the right thing, and raised Zac responsibly and lovingly. Those teasers with their scribbled notes on them were really sweet; there's one where they call him cute that makes me smile. Them getting killed in the lore update really guts me, honestly.

At the least I wish one of Zac's parents lived, to be his Aunt May rooting for him. Does Zac really have to be Batman, and not Spiderman?

I do like Ekko's lore, where he explicitly isn't an orphan, so I can't complain that everyone has dead or missing parents, but still, I feel so bad about Zac's plight.

A. Hi, the thinking behind that was that with them still alive, teaching Zac right from wrong, he didn't really have anywhere to go as a character. Was him being good a product of their guidance or something coming from him and what he'd learned? Now he has to embody the goodness he wants for himself by himself, and that's a much more interesting story space...

Q. Any pre-existing characters served as inspiration for Viktor? Parallels with Doctor Doom are plenty in my mind.

How far has he progressed in terms of his evolution? Does he still need to breathe/eat, has he augmented his cognitive abilities?

It's strongly hinted that he does still have shreds of humanity about him. Is there any part of him that holds any regrets on where he is and how he got there? Or is he completely satisfied with his current existence?

How do you think he feels about Zaun? Characters like Ekko/Blitz/Zac/WW seem almost inseparable from the city, what does Viktor think about it?

Edit: Can he remove his mask? There are mentions of smiles in his story but all we see in the game is his mask. Is it removeable or grafted into his skin?

A. I was inspired by the real-life scientists who worked on developing local anesthesia. Some of them experimented on their own bodies to see if the anesthesia worked before trying their techniques on patients during operations. That mentality felt very much true for Viktor, who wants to make humanity better and would never intentionally hurt someone - he would absolutely test a new method on himself if he thought it might be dangerous or hurtful.

Viktor has performed many modifications to his own mind and body, but neither his body nor mind are entirely machine - right now he is a hybrid, though he is constantly upgrading and tweaking his mechanical parts.

I don't think he feels regret - what would be the point? I'm sure like anyone he has made decisions that he would have changed in hindsight, but he doesn't dwell on these. He uses the knowledge he gains from each experience to move forward and do better in the future. I do think Viktor is happy with his current levels of mechanical modifications, and has eliminated many problems from his life through his experimentation.

Like many of the characters from Zaun, Viktor is very much a product of his society. He has been able to use the ingenuity, freedom, and boundless resources of the city in order to create progress and experiment in ways beyond what anyone had yet accomplished. He is not limited to the rules and regulations that held him back in Piltover - here in Zaun, he can do what no one thought possible.

I've always seen the mask as something he can remove and put back on as needed (i.e., to take a sip of sweetmilk).

Q. I love what you did for Viktor. He's oddly enough "human" and despite augmenting himself with cold steel he's surprisingly warm. He's very sympathetic despite his methods being rather questionable at times.

A. Glad you liked the Viktor story! :D I had fun trying to imagine what it's like to have have such a strange, logical distance from emotions. And yeah, I definitely don't see him as cold - he can still empathize with others, but he isn't swayed by what he sees as unnecessary emotions like fear.

Q. Can i ask do you think Viktor is a scientist before a machine herald because he shows signs of sympathy

A. Interesting question. I would say he is both; they are not mutually exclusive. Viktor very much values science and the scientific method - he teaches Naph to ask questions that dig deeper into a rumor, and to value primary sources as evidence above hearsay. Viktor also believes humans have certain weaknesses of spirit that machines do not have, so he's still very much a "machine herald". Through augmentations, Viktor has done his best to rid himself of what he sees as useless and harmful emotions, but he still has empathy for others (as is hopefully evident in this story).

Q. Is Zaun's design and style based off of any real cities?

A. Not wholesale, but all of our work is derived from a lot of real-life references mixed in a particular combination (that will feel like Zaun if you get a sort of rough formula down). There's plenty of Victoriana and Art Deco references, but we don't tend to reference the entire art movement, because that can be too broad. For Zaun's case, we specifically looked at the industrial design in that era and took design cues from it and translated that to architecture instead.

We also kinda think of things like symbolism and how shapes 'feel' to people. For instance, Zaun has a lot of struts and vertical elements. Narratively, we can explain that by saying it's bare metal, it's rough, unpolished, it's the Zaunites' way of building sturdy platforms out from rock. But visually, having struts and vertical elements brings us to a specific industrial era and sets the visual tone of the place as well. So we try and capitalize on these feelings and associations to create the mood of the faction as well.

Response to ^: So Zaun is 1930s New Jersey but in a big canyon?

Response to ^: That's a really good description. We'll go with that. :) It also has strange mechanically augmented people and mutant rats

Q. Would Warwick ever attempt to hunt down Dr.Mundo? How would it go?

So, since Viktor is a misunderstood "Villain", would you say Jayce is a misunderstood hero? It seems like he's really arrogant and only cares about the glory.

A: Ooh. That's an interesting idea.

I'd like to think that Jayce has legitimate heroism within him, but he just needs to stop thinking he's better than everyone else and start focusing on how to work with people.

Q. I have to know, in Viktor's colour story, did he choose to assist Naph solely out of a desire to test and see the results of his fear-suppressing chip mixed with an expectation of a future evolution; or was it derived as well from his lingering human impulses to uplift and grant agency to the downtrodden?

I'm honestly not sure what to, or even what I want to believe of him. The candid nature of Viktor both in his bio and Emberflit Alley really caught me off guard.

A. This isn't the first time Viktor has used the fear-suppressor - he's certainly not using Naph as a test subject. I think Viktor witnessed an inequity when he saw Naph bullied outside his door, knew exactly how that he could help, and fixed the problem. The whole reason Viktor developed all his mechanical augmentations is not just science for science's sake - he genuinely wants to help people and make the world a better place.

Q. to the artist: how did you make sure that each others style matches and do you guys have a end picture in mind or start and see where it takes you?

A. Great question! The team has a central idea of what each faction feels like and we try to boil it down to key phrases and also key shapes. We used words like "Industrial", "Claustrophobic", "Pipework", among others, for Zaun. We spend a lot of time gathering reference and trying out different shapes until we hit upon a palette that represents Zaun. Circles, curves, repetitive struts, holes punched in metal. This way, any artist who works on Zaun has a body of research and a database of sorts to work from.Generally, I don't think we have an end picture in mind that's very clear. We have this general idea of how it should feel like, but we don't really know what it'll end up looking like until we go through an iterative process and finally land an image that 'clicks' and excites everyone.

A2. In addition to what u/riotwhren said about structures, In term of style itself you can compare Piltover and Zaun : in the case of Piltover, a lot of the architecture and shapes tend to be geometrical and symmetrical , a bit like American Art Deco style, Whereas in Zaun, their ability and craft of metal enables them to do a lot of round shapes, tubes, and intricate flowing shapes quite reminiscent of the Art Nouveau metro gates in Paris.:)

Q. What were your inspirations for Zaun? What was the in-house sorta guidelines for what made Zaun? Also, incredible work on the stories - Zaun feels like a living, breathing place and it makes me feel a lot more connected to the champions and proud of Ekko for fighting for it.

A. Hmmmm, I think the key thing we kept repeating over and over again in meetings, both narratively and visually, was... "We need to make it livable. It can't be too dire with no hope whatsoever, it's gotta feel like someone might actually want to visit it".

And of course, the color green. Before we really delved into exploring the visuals, all the green in Zaun was conceptually all from goo and toxic poisons. But we wanted to make it more livable, so eventually the idea emerged that we could represent the green with the cultivairs, and also moss on bricks and stuff instead of neon goo. That way we kept the green but also made Zaun feel more livable.

Q. will you keep making lore in perspectives of citizens/people who aren't the actual champions?

A. Most certainly, yeah. It's fun for us (and hopefully for you) to see the world of Runeterra through the eyes of people who aren't mega-badasses. Like how reading Tales of the Mos Eisley Cantina made the Star Wars trilogy feel much bigger and deeper.

Stories about characters who aren't champions allows us to delve into the world in ways the champions can't (or don't often). It broadens the world and keeps it from feeling 'small' by virtue of so many champs all being involved in the everyday lives of people.

Q. Hello! I am a lore aficionado, and have read and loved every champion's lore, and would like to know more about Warwick, and why you decided to remove Soraka from his lore when she was a very prominent part of his two previous lores. His new lore is still excellent, but it hurts to see such a major player in his lore tragically torn from her spot in his story and character. :(Sincerely, A Warwick main.

A. Partly it was so we can make Soraka her own woman/celestial, partly to give Singed and Warwick's relationship a bit more focus and dynamism. Though we like to include relationships in the origins of our Champs, it's best to do so when those relationships amplify the core of who the Champ is. Personally, I think it was a good move for all three Champs.

Q. Why are u trying to blur some champions identities if u don't have an exact idea of what they are? I'm talking about Janna (also happened to Amumu and Rammus in the past) I mean we are supposed to know exactly what they are, what s up with this ambiguity?

A. Personally, I don't find Janna's identity all that ambiguous -- she's got some mystery, sure (as magical things should in order to feel properly magical, in my opinion), but she's assuredly a physical manifestation of faith and hope from sailors who prayed for fair winds. Which is why her superpowers are summoning wind and hugging sad gay boys.

Q.--- If you'll indulge me a little further, Noxus's "Conquer and patriate" seems very similar to the Roman Empire's way of running things. Would you say that Noxus's control over Valoran is roughly equivalent to the Roman Empire's control over Europe? And furthermore, does Demacia actually pose much of a threat to Noxus, or do they function more as a "stubbornly unconquerable defender" rather than a political rival?

A. Yep! Noxus is similar to an ancient Rome or ancient Persia. And "stubbornly unconquerable defender" is an accurate assessment for Demacia!

Q. A question to help better visualize the city: what sort of fashion do Zaunites wear? What are the differences between each societal class in their dress (i.e. what do the rich vs. poor wear?) And lastly, is there any sort of 'people of Zaun' type concepts anywhere? As I recall, there was at least one concept image for Piltover's people! Thanks!

A. We do have people concepts, but I'm not sure when we're getting them on Universe. In terms of fashion, there are definitely differences between the classes -- among the lower and middle classes, lots of rolled-up sleeves, layers, and various mechanisms to keep the toxins out and your feet dry. Among the upper classes, brighter, vibrant colors (because $$$), and there's less need to have protective elements in your clothes, so more refined patterns and cuts. In fact, I'd say the rich chem barons would pride themselves on looking nicely presented when riding one of the lush elevators up and down the city.

Q. Does Blitzcrank have any hextech going on in him, or is he entirely steam powered?

A. Blitzcrank does not have any hextech within his core - he's made from a bunch of discarded golem parts originally powered by steam, but Blitz reconfigured his own mechanics in order to help others. So you might say that he's fueled by the power of LOVE. <removes tinfoil hat>

Q. Has Ryze, in his travels throughout the years, ever been involved with Zaun in some way?

A. I'm sure he's passed through at some point...

Q. Is there any form of police or anything of the sort in Zaun? half of these guys hunt people at night just for the lulz

A. The Chem-barons are the kind of unofficial law down there, keeping their patches secure and keeping things - more or less - safe. It's not good for business when things get too out of hand, but it can. And when it does, the retribution is swift and brutal. Also, if things get too out of hand down there, the Pilties might come down...

(Also if you look on the reddit page there is a huge discussion, too huge for this post, where the Rioters actually ask why people liked the Journal of Justice so much and why they got rid of it. Go check it out if you’re one of those butt hurt people who hate the new lore).

Q. Why the change for Mundo? Why change him from being a scientist who became twisted from his own experiments to being 'lol idk he's purple'?

A. Because his original lore had a massive amount of crossover with Singed both in terms of narrative detail and tonal space. It also just didn't really mesh with his personality ingame, which is much more jovial and darkly comic.

Q. So Blitzcrank is a self-learning AI, but do computers exist in Valoran? if not, is hextech magic enough to this kind of processing?

A. Piltover and Zaun does not have mass production or the factory system - everything they create is made by a talented craftsperson who has studied for years. So all creations are unique, one-of-a-kind bespoke creations, meaning no computers. Blitzcrank doesn't have hextech within his core, he's a steam-powered golem who modified his own mechanics and became sentient in order to make a greater difference in Zaun.

Q. why zaun is full of criminals ? was it a good place in another time ?

A. Not everyone is a criminal, there's a lot of awesome people in Zaun, but harsh times can lead to harsh responses from some.

Q. What exactly is the relationship between Jinx and Ekko?

A. It's complicated.

Q. And what's the relationship between Taliyah and Ekko?

A. I'm not aware there is one...? Though the kid from Shurima might have passed through Zaun in her travels and I suspect they'd have found kindred spirits in one another.

Q. Is Mundo's tongue purple or blue?

A. The blue in the splash is from the potion he drank.

Q. What kind of relationship do Zaun and Noxus have? Does Zaun regularly supply weapons to Noxus, or does it try to refrain from getting involved in that age-old Demacia/Noxus conflict?

A. Zaun/Piltover trade with Noxus and it's an amicable (as far as any relation with Noxus goes) but the empire is now beginning to see that maybe, just maybe, there's something to this new-fangled technology that's coming out of these two cities.

Q. Does Viktor know about Orianna and if so, what does he think of her?

A. I'd be surprised if he didn't know about her, and he likely thinks of her as some inventor's folly, not yet realizing that there's more to her than a simple clockwork automaton.

Q. How did Zaun become so toxic and poisoned, it was a normal City like Demacia before anything, wasn't it? :D

A. There was a catastrophe in Zaun's past that sank it into canyons and cliffs that ripped through the landscape, which together with the chem-tech researches that have happened since...well, that's not a good mix.

Q. Any chance of Zaun being completely free from all the gas and poisonous filth? :D

A. I suspect their are chem-alchemists working on that very thing right now.

Q. Were there any inspirations you guys drew upon in the making of Janna's new backstory? I've always wanted a Miss Peregrine-type character in League, so I couldn't be more happy with her new lore, personally <3

A. Kiiiiiind of? We mainly just beat our heads against a wall for a couple weeks until we came up with something that we all liked. We sort of realized after the fact that she's slightly Neil Gaiman-y -- a god who was forgotten and then came back as more people started believing in her again.

#reddit #lol #league of legends #zaun #q&A #zac #viktor #blitzcrank #ekko #jinx #the secret weapon #the machien herald #the boy who shattered time #the loose cannon

18 notes · View notes

entergamingxp · 4 years

Text

New enemies, new abilities and new details

Naughty Dog has made it very clear that The Last of Us Part 2 centres on some dark human emotions. “The emotional journey of the first game was this idea of, can we – through interactivity, gameplay, storytelling, music, all those things – make you feel, or come as close to feeling, the unconditional love a parent feels for their child,” creative director Neil Druckmann tells us after I play through a section pulled from some way into the sequel’s story. “There are the beautiful moments that come with that, and the kind of insane horrific moments that could come from that, like how far someone’s willing to go for someone they love unconditionally.

“We have this conversation that love is sometimes insane, right? It leads you to insanity – and that’s not a judgement necessarily. It’s just who we are as human beings. I think we’re wired this way, and we see by the end [of The Last of Us] how far Joel is willing to go to protect Ellie. With this game, we toyed with different ideas that didn’t work out because they were lacking that same emotional core.

“And then what we landed on, it’s a very similar question to how far are you willing to go for love, but when someone has wronged a person you really care about. How far are you willing to go to do right by them to bring the people responsible to justice and what effect that would have could have on you, in this case Ellie, the journey she goes on the people around her, if they’re going too far and if so are they ever coming back from that.”

To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings

In the section available for preview, Ellie works her way down Seattle’s barely recognisable main streets via long overgrown quarantine checkpoints, in pursuit of a character called Nora in a nearby hospital. She’s having to clamber over turnstiles that have rusted into place and barbed wire that has collapsed and given way to vegetation.

One thing you’ll notice about The Last of Us Part 2 is that locations almost feel limitless. Even though you are of course always being subtly directed to specific waypoints, it never feels like you’re being hemmed in or funnelled – the path forward seems organic, always allowing for optional detours to scavenge for resources. While exploring, we pass through shops and stores abandoned for 25 years at this point in the Last of Us timeline, but I was still able to find useful items here and there on the barren shelves, and by smashing the odd glass display and vending machine front to reach an overlooked rag or plastic bottle hidden away at the back of the case. Many areas had several stores you could explore if you wished, though it’s easy to walk right by or overlook a hidden entryway if you’re simply pushing ahead to the next story beat.

Wanting to be thorough in our exploration, I eventually came upon a craft brewery bar with its main doors locked, but with huge glass windows facing its street side. Through those windows we could see a number of infected stumbling around inside, in stark contrast to the deathly quiet streets I’d just come through. There seemed to be no quiet way of gaining entry, so after a little preparation I picked up a nearby bottle to smash the glass, alerting the small crowd inside. One runner then crashed out of a second window to attack us on the street, and was quickly followed by four more of its friends.

Luckily, I’d been able to set some trap mines around a parked car to thin their numbers as it exploded on contact, sending a shower of limbs into the air. All that was left to do was pick any stragglers off with a well-placed headshot with our bow, loot a few items including a letter and some old rags off the corpses, and then scramble back over the smashed window into the now empty bar. And there’s not much in there aside from empty glass bottles and the dregs of some alcoholic spirits behind the bar that can be siphoned off to use in crafting health kits or molotov cocktails. Not exactly what you’d call a worthwhile haul, but The Last of Us has never been about big prizes and payoffs. It’s about weighing the risk versus reward of any given situation, and the reward is sometimes simply scraping up just enough to stay alive until the next checkpoint.

To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings

One thing The Last of Us still does better than perhaps any other game series is in crafting hundreds of little stories that are woven directly into the fabric of its world design. At one point during the demo Ellie takes a detour into an old apartment block. In one of the homes, there were a suspicious number of resources scattered around, surfaces looked wiped down and tidy, there were even some leafy green tomato plants sunning on the windowsill. All the signs are screaming at you to stay alert but, without spoiling anything, I didn’t get the memo in time.

What was even more interesting is what I found in that building had been previously hinted at by the letter dropped by an infected earlier in our playthrough. Everywhere you go in The Last of Us Part 2 seems to have its own story to tell if you look hard enough, stories that don’t intersect with the main plot, stories that you could easily miss or pass over. These stories exist simply to enrich the world around you, and add together to make this an apocalypse you believe in. If you survive through them, of course.

And though combat is a key component of The Last of Us Part 2, navigating your surroundings is just as if not more important to your survival. There’s now a dedicated jump button, meaning Ellie can pull herself up over ledges and clear gaps over obstacles, which, coupled with the ability to use ropes to scale and swing over buildings, lends new verticality to bypassing the many ruined downtown structures and skyscrapers. Ellie can now also go prone, crawling under vehicles and through long grass to hide from enemies while using the all-important listen mode to suss a safe route forward.

Even though combat feels very familiar to its iteration in the original game, much has been done in Part 2 to make Ellie feel more nimble. And often, no matter how well-prepared you are to face foes head-on, the safest and smartest thing you can do is run away and use your surroundings to disappear from the path of a wandering clicker or an arrow loosed by someone stalking you.

It’s impressive how hese open areas, these claustrophobic tunnels and streets, bleed together seamlessly so that you scarcely notice when you move from one place of interest to another. A familiar-looking conference centre sees you exploring an accounting department, out a window, onto a fire escape, into the next building, over a rushing river and into a sewer system, where Ellie proves she finally learned how to swim. Navigating out of the sewers, you surface in an abandoned rail station which turns out to be Pioneer Square. Here, though completely overgrown, you can instantly recognise real-life landmarks like the Iron Pergola and the Tlingit Totem Pole.

It’s only when I step into Pioneer Square’s long grass that I hear some strange whistles and what could be the tightening of bowstrings amongst the swaying vegetation. On the edge of some trees ahead there’s the faint glow of a bonfire. A whistle rings out and an arrow thuds into our shoulder. Ellie is flung back as more whistles call out in response to the first. I need to hold R1 to remove the arrow, otherwise it’ll consistently damage us, but all the while I’m being flanked by this new enemy, a group of the ultra-religious zealots known as the Seraphites, or Scars. Turns out, these are way more difficult to bypass than infected. They move quickly and quietly, and communicate wordlessly with one another using whistles and calls. Most use bows, some carry axes and sledgehammers which Ellie will need to quickly dodge away from while waiting for an opening with her knife. As a combined force, they attack relentlessly. Overhead, one of their disembowelled victims swings from a tree limb.

“When we get to Seattle, and that part of the preview that you got to play, we get to see that there are two groups fighting over the city’s resources,” says Druckmann. “One of them is a secular, more militaristic group, and they restore electricity, they have generators, they have weapons. Then there’s a religious group that has rejected a lot of those things and have become more like Luddites, they’re trying to live off the land. And that’s how they see they’re going to protect themselves and their values.

To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings

“So each group and by extension each character within those groups, have different values. And that becomes kind of ripe for drama, exploring what happened when you bring these two groups together and their values don’t match up. How do they deal with that?”

You do indeed get to see the two groups clashing later in a forest, where the seraphites ‘free’ another victim by stringing them up and cutting them open. This extreme violence has been seen in several trailers and gameplay demos for the game, and it’s shocking in the way it depicts a clumsy, slow, amateur sort of violence, not the swift and clean almost glorified stuff we’re used to seeing and indeed performing in similar types of games. “We felt, if we’re going to deal with a story about the cycle of violence, and what people are capable of doing to each other, both on a mental level and a physical level, we can’t shy away from that,” Druckmann explained. “That would be doing the story a disservice. So we have to own that, whether people like it, love it, hate it. That’s what the story is. That’s the core of it, what we have to do.”

But how does the development team feel about immersing themselves in that kind of heavy violence every day, and does it weigh on them as they create that story? “Whenever you deal with difficult subject matter or physical aesthetics of that difficult subject matter, like the violence you’re describing, there’s people that work on a team that deal with in different ways,” says Druckmann. “Some people just have complete separation: like they’re crafting something, and they’re looking at the details of it. They’re not like thinking about the greater context, they’re thinking: ‘how do I replicate the way light is reflecting off of this liquid surface?’

“Then there are other people that might be affected by it. And what we’ve done with this game and for the team is to say, look, if there’s any content you feel uncomfortable working on with it for a short period of time, a prolonged period of time, there’s plenty to do in this game, right? There’s plenty of other things to work on that aren’t those things. Let’s give you the tasks and make you comfortable. At the end of the day we want people that are passionate about what they’re doing. That’s when they do their best work. If something ever makes them feel uncomfortable, or they’re not into it, they’re not going to do their best work. And we want to craft the best game possible.”

For what it’s worth, it never feels like the game is zeroing in on a neck stab or forcing you to look at someone’s panicked death throes because it simply wants to shock and disturb. It’s making a statement about the world Ellie lives in, about what the people in that world do to one another in order to stay alive or maintain control, and it’s part of the story the game as a whole is trying to tell.

As you might have seen in the recent State of Play presentation, there’s one enemy guard who you come upon while she’s playing Hotline Miami on a Playstation Vita. Aside from the console being surprisingly well-preserved, I wondered if Naughty Dog were making a statement by including that game specifically, given that it’s all about the guilty pleasure of extreme violence. Druckmann said that they were originally going to include one of their own games, but then asked themselves, “Okay, is there an opportunity here to just make some meta-statement about the kind of narrative we’re after? And we’re also just huge fans of Hotline Miami – like, I love that game. I love the engine of that game. So we reached out to those guys, and they were nice enough to let us put it in there.”

Given that Naughty Dog is keen to avoid spoilers ahead of the game’s release, there was little in the way of main story development during our demo, but Ellie as a character still shines through as she mutters hushed plans to herself or gears herself up to attack. She’s clearly been affected by the events of the last five years, and she’s clearly grown up in a world where innocence is a luxury few can afford. Says Druckmann of her development, “We made a journey with Ellie, and Ellie is who she is, as defined in the previous game. She’s now 19. How do we explore all the facets of what it’s like to be 19? Like, well, you think you’re invincible. You think you know what’s right and wrong in the world. You are sexually attracted to people you’re attracted to. Those are all kind of things we want to explore for this character, that’s how we do honest storytelling.”

To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings

Of course, it’s difficult to talk about The Last of Us Part 2 and not address the elephant in the room – the fact that large parts of the game appeared online last month, when hackers allegedly infiltrated Naughty Dog’s private servers and posted videos of pivotal scenes online. Druckmann said these leaks sucked, of course, but ultimately the game will speak for itself. “Look, first of all, every game we’ve had has had this happen – The Last Of Us had stuff leak, Uncharted 4 had a truck where the games were stolen off that truck and people were posting the ending early,” he said. “And that didn’t take away from anything in the end, because nothing compares to playing the game. Nothing compares to being Ellie and feeling those moments, not just in cutscenes, but in gameplay conversations in the wake of the action, in the music and the emotional effect that has on you. And the story was constructed in such a way that it’s really not about twists and turns. It’s about slowly ratcheting the crank and feeling the tension with the choices the characters make.”

The story will eventually speak for itself in the full context of the game, but as for the extended gameplay section we’ve played, it shows that in terms of gorgeous, terrifying spectacle and scrappy, panicked survival, The Last of Us is still unrivalled.

For Naughty Dog’s part, according to Druckmann, the studio is excited for players to finally get to experience “this meticulous journey that we’ve crafted for Ellie and how these events effect her. There’s highs and lows of that journey; there are beautiful sweet moments and these dark, kind of hard moments to deal with. And we want it to be challenging. It’s like, yes, there are games that are just comfort food. This is not one of those games. There are moments in the game that are comfort food, and there are moments that are really challenging emotionally to play through. And that’s part of the design of it.”

The section of the game available for preview definitely demonstrated this. It’s desperate and it’s challenging and it’s often brutal, but just like its predecessor, there are, at the same time, those moments of quiet beauty and stillness shining through like bright lights at the end of a dark tunnel. The road ahead for Ellie may be hard, but I still can’t wait to walk it with her.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/06/new-enemies-new-abilities-and-new-details/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-enemies-new-abilities-and-new-details

0 notes