#lawful Dissonance

[thejournallo]

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE VOID STATE AND THE VOID:

tag: @aestheticlizalis

As always, I will love to hear your thoughts! and if you have any questions, I will be more than happy to answer them! If you liked it, leave a comment or reblog (that is always appreciated!). if you are intrested in more method check the masterlist!

Every time I end up talking about the void state, there is a part of me that tends to raise awareness about the void itself. It is a thing the void does not help you manifest, like the void state. In this post, I will try my best to explain how much these two things are truly different.

WARNING: COGNITO HAZARD (For those who do not know, a cognito hazard is a term used to describe an image, pattern, sound, or any other kind of sensory signal that directly causes harmful or undesired physiological or physical effects to one who senses or perceives it. (It is specifically used as a warning when talking about "forced awakening" things like the void.)

You are free to believe or not believe every word I will say in this post, and you are free to not believe every word I say. If, while reading this, you start to feel a negative emotion or a sensation as if you are lost or bodily or emotionally sick, DO NOT CONTINUE READING.

let's get deeper in this rabbit hole shall we? 

i will talk breefly about the void state and then i will get in a more detailed way into what the void is, just because i aready explained the void state many times.

the void state:

is a state of deep meditation where you feel like floating and feel nothingness embodies you, making you feel one with the universe helping you to manifest. (Click the name if you actually want to know more.)

the void:

The void is nothing and everything at the same time. Let me explain better: the void is a place where everything is possible and exists, but at the same time is impossible and does not exist.  The thing is, the void in itself is a pass to every other dimension because every dimension resides in the void, even the cursed ones or the ones that never will be or never were timelines.  As a person with a lot of experience in the void itself, I will tell you that it is not a nice place.  Every kind of entity can catch you, good or evil, whatever they might be. As mere humans in the void, we are exposed to a lot of deep-rooted energy that corrupts our bodies in the long run. 

As humans, in the void, we can only "survive" in the backrooms.

what is a backroom?

One thing that is definitely more popular than the void itself are the backrooms that reside in the void. The backrooms became popular around 2012 as a SCP thing as images of liminal spaces. But I assure you, they are pretty much real, and they have many levels, not in a specific order. On every level, we can find different things and different entities, as mentioned before. We can find the good ones that will try to keep you safe and the bad ones that will literally try to kill you. 

I will also add that the backroom exists because we are the front room, so for every timeline in existence, there is a backroom, and much like the universe, the void is pretty much endless, so there are infinite possibilities for the frontroom and the backroom.

why im i telling you this?

because I talk from experience, and let me tell you some of them were not fun. Still to this day, when I go to sleep, I find myself in the void. Bruh, I don't know how it simply happens. And that's been my life since I was 14 years old. I had my time to understand and learn a few rules to exit the backrooms fast enough or not to be killed. 

I will put them at the end, but first, a little check on the main differences that we found out about the void state and the void itself:

The void state is a meditation; the void is an "endless place.".

The void can be a dangerous place, but the void state is harmless.

The void state helps us connect with the universe; the void is not used to manifest.

The void is a constant state of rooted energy, which means, in more basic words, that the energy in the void is dirty, and on the long run, a normal human will not "survaive.". In the void state, it is your energy.

In the void state, we find only ourselves; in the void, we can find an endless amount of dimensions, timelines, frontrooms and backrooms, entities, and liminal spaces. Some are all put together.

If you decide to go into the void state, it is a conscious decision. You can mistakenly enter the void by just falling asleep.

Those are the main differences, just because I can't say much more about the void itself because, as said before, it is a forced awakening, and I don't want people to feel sick with too much information. 

if by mystake you enter the backrooms here some rules that will help you get out faster:

Don't scream; you will give off your location to any type of entity. In whatever level you enter, you will find the exit in the same level.

Not every level is scary. Some have flowers and are pretty; others are simple rooms. Those levels are safe as long as you don't hurt yourself. Be careful.

Don't take stairs, and don't jump in holes or on poles. Again, you will find the exit on the same level as you entered.

If you see fluffy entities, look at their eyes first. If the eyes are blue, they are friendly; any other color is to be avoided.

There is only one entity that is 100% friendly and will help you. It looks like a shadow with no features; it does not talk, but you will understand her.

If you hear a sound, go in the opposite direction; if you feel like a sound surrounds you, hide and stay still no matter what; some entities don't have eyes.

If you can't find the exit, pray to whatever god you believe in, and good entities will find you and help you.

On rare occasions, you might find other humans; don't trust them; they are no longer humans.

and I think that I said everything that has to be said. If you have any questions, I will be more than happy to answer them, and I hope you did not feel sick or do any negative things from this post.

#manifestation #manifesting #shifting methods #loa methods #manifestation method #manifesation #spiritual development #journal #explain the method #explained #the void #scary #psychological horror #living dead queue #sleep paralysis #dreams #cognitohazard #cognitive functions #cognitive dissonance #loa tumblr #loassumption #law of assumption #neville goddard #law of assumption blog #the void talks #the void screams back #the void speaks #the void state #the void rambles #void

[justiceburst]

Moral Alignment Test

Goro is 18.3% good, tied between chaotic and lawful, making him true neutral.

#justice || akechi #justice || dash games #i thought long and hard about goro's alignment when working on his carrd and i settled on true neutral too #because good evil law chaos are ALL massive themes in his character! so boxing him into just two of those just doesn't feel right #i love that law and chaos are perfectly balanced here that's so cool #he's meant to be playing for the god of control and his mission is to sew chaos and distortion #and on a more personal level he does really believe in like. The Law. #he genuinely thinks following the proper procedures and such is generally the best and safest way to do things for everyone involved #but at the same time fuck rules he does what he wants! #and as for good and evil aaahhh i love the lean here towards good #he wants to be a hero! he wants to help people!! really genuinely he does! and he tries to! #but he also is willing to justify anything he does in pursuit of his 'justice' including a lot of incredibly vile shit #not even in a 'doing evil things for the sake of doing good' type of way he KNOWS what he's doing is just unabashedly bad #but he REFUSES to grapple with it let alone try to reconcile his opposing viewpoints #the cognitive dissonance is so severe that he sees two different versions of himself and that's why he has two personas #anyway. he's so many different things where else can he be placed but in the middle? #he's nothing and everything all at once #so not exactly the traditional idea of 'true neutral' but true neutral nonetheless i think!!!

[blushouyo]

i imagine that, due to the game's design, we'll be fighting the dragon very soon after being crowned sovran and that's so funny. vermund's traditions about rulership mean that there is hardly ever gonna be a ruler

#i assume that theres probably more to it in the lore #like some sort of timeframe that the arisen must rule before facing the dragon #bc otherwise?? lol #anyways. i dont blame capcom for that dissonance #but im just gonna headcanon the timeline and the laws for my own needs #dd2 spoilers #<< just in case #personal

[deviousdayz]

Worst part of writing psychology essays is trying to find empirical articles that aren’t so hyper specific they hardly mention the topic you’re looking for

#I’m looking for articles on cognitive dissonance #every single one is like ‘cognitive dissonance and how it effects equity in the food-medicine industry in the west from 1990-1992’ #I DONT NEED THAT 🤷🏽‍♀️ #I need a simple article like this is so sick #early’s vent tag #law and order: svqueue

[zylerkade]

Focus is Feeling: Forcing Your Subconscious to Change Your Reality

Have you ever noticed that when you're in a bad mood, everything around you seems to be negative? But on the other hand, when you're feeling great, everything around you seems to be positive and full of possibilities? Start using it to your advantage.

Is it possible to change your reality? What is reality, anyway? Have you ever noticed that when you’re in a bad mood, everything around you seems to be negative? The people, the weather, even the traffic – it all seems to be conspiring against you. But on the other hand, when you’re feeling great, everything around you seems to be positive and full of possibilities. This is because, as Tony…

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#attention bias #attention training #Baader-Meinhof phenomenon #belief system #change your reality #cognitive dissonance #cognitive reframing #confirmation bias #conscious awareness #emotional intelligence #frequency illusion #habit change #intentional living #law of attraction #life mastery #meditation #mental conditioning #mental filters #mental resilience #mindfulness practices #mindset transformation #neuroplasticity #perception management #personal growth #perspective shift #positive thinking #present moment awareness #psychological triggers #reality creation #selective attention

[idianaki]

Petycja, żeby rozpisać semi-realistic timeline One Piece, która będzie jakiegoś rodzaju pomostem między przygodową naturą serii, która stara się ignorować upływ czasu, tym jak wszystkim randomowo znikają rany kiedy tylko jest to wygodne i tym jak najwidoczniej Law po miesiącu siedzenia w chatce z drewna i sprzedawania pierogów przeszedł z "nie jestem w stanie zrobić bąbelka większego niż dom" do "masterowałem teraz mój diabelski owoc" bo irl minęło jakieś 6 lat i Oda ma dwieście nowych pomysłów które chce wykorzystać.

#shitpost #i'm semi-joking tho #like it's part of the genre yes #but characters keep sailing around the whole fucking word in matter of days #and it's okay if it's goofy pirates manga that treats itself semi-seriously #and have an op sungod with teletoones powers as mc #(wano spoilers btw) #but when I see it in realistic fics that try to argue Sabo have to be blind in his eye from explosion and have head trauma besides amnesia #bc that's how explosions work #but then Ace's sailing from NW to begginings of the Grand Line in matter of two weeks #despite the fact that just going thought Fishmen Island should take days #not to mention sailing across like 3/4 of the world #then i have a little bit of dissonance #also #the fact that on average a day in-story takes like two years to write can kind of mix perception #like characters gaining new powers after three days bc irl it was a year three years and autor is having ideas #and no #it's not just law-problem #it's just something GrandLineReview pointed out once #actually #is there any timeline for One Piece? #like we know it started on May 5th #so technically if you count days that narrator is saying you could make some sort of timeline #right? #one piece post #one piece shitpost #one piece spoilers #esp #wano spoilers #in tags but still

[liberalsarecool]

The fallacies and cognitive dissonance are everywhere. Stop the passive 'Hamas forced Israel to break international laws in Gaza', and use the correct language: Israel should not break international laws.

Bombing civilian infrastructure is a war crime. Asymmetrical retaliation towards civilians is not a solution.

A balanced narrative is needed, so fair and peaceful solutions can be found.

#gaza #israel

[mikasasrippedtoenail]

Men can never be feminists

One of the most freeing things in my feminism has been my acknowledgement that men can never be feminists. The feminist cause is an antithesis to the empire they've built with the blood, sweat and tears of billions of women throughout history.

For years I would fervently argue with male peers. I would feel anger and anguish at their apathy which led me to question whether there was something fundamentally wrong in my arguments. However, looking at things from a radical's perspective, men are acutely aware of the wrongs the women around them suffer. They either choose to ignore it or satiate their morality with cognitive dissonance. It is futile to argue with them because they will always put the "Man's" comfort over the survival of women.

This has resulted in me focusing entirely around the women around me and practicing female separatism. Now, I would never waste an ounce of my energy on getting angry at the profound evil that men come up with to torture women, rather think of ways to protect women around me from that. The law is skewed to the male perspective. Asking justice from the seat of male judges is a losing cause. The patriarchy has taught men at large well that to uphold their power over women they need to protect the violent men that keep this power in check.

For the common man neither possesses the resources nor the strength to control the multitude of women, they vote and purposefully bring those men in power that will ascertain their position as man the oppresser and woman the victim. They will give false testimonials for their rapist friends in court or dissuade the women around them to file a case against the man they consider as "the good guy". A "good guy" to men is a guy that oppresses women.

We, as women, have understandably a tempest of emotions roaring in our hearts at the violence this patriarchal world bestows upon us. However, this only leads me feeling helpless and claustrophobic at how little I can do to remove the evil from grassroot level.

This is why I have decided to hoarde my resources and share them only with women. My prime focus is educating the women around me to practice celibacy and increase their self esteem along with dismantling the consumerism in process. Opening domestic violence and rape shelters is my life's goal. My feminism is for women and for women only.

#radblr #radical feminism #gender abolition #female seperatism #radical feminist safe #radical feminists do touch #radical feminists do interact #trans exclusionary radical feminist #terfsafe #adult human female

[probablyasocialecologist]

When Keir Starmer was asked if cutting off water and supplies are actions that fall within international law, he said on live radio that Israel “does have that right”. Then, his party claimed he never said this at all. When Starmer said that Labour would not recognise Palestine unilaterally, his own shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, told the Financial Times that Labour would consider it. Nowhere are these contradictions clearer than when politicians express unequivocal support for Israel’s actions while also expressing concern for civilians in Gaza. In a post on X, Lisa Nandy, the shadow international development secretary, appeared to support the suspension of funds to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, because “allegations this serious demand a serious response”, while also “seeking reassurances” from the prime minister that aid could still be provided. I had to read her statement several times to try to understand what she was getting at. Meanwhile, David Cameron said he was “worried” that Israel may have broken international law, but that this did not change the UK’s stance on exporting weapons to Israel. Riddle me that. You might call this tendency Schrödinger’s policy. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said that 7 October could not be taken as licence to “dehumanise” others, but his government chose twice to invoke the right to bypass Congress and provide more weapons to Israel. This dissonance is a product of attempting to reconcile an irreconcilable position. The facts are simply too stark for anyone to confront them while plausibly continuing to support Israel’s actions in Gaza. So politicians instead resort to contradictory and sometimes wild explanations to avoid calling out these actions or demanding that anything should be done about them. The results border on derangement, such as when Nancy Pelosi told CNN that while some protesters are “spontaneous and organic and sincere”, calling for a ceasefire means giving voice to “Mr Putin’s message”. And if that wasn’t enough, last year, she told pro-Palestine protesters to go back to China, as that’s where “their headquarters is”.

[...]

Gaza has become the expression of a legitimacy crisis for an Anglo-American political class who preside over already fragile systems that deliver less and less to their populations, and whose main offering is that the alternative is worse. Things may look stable, but underneath lurk managed discontents about costs of living, diminished social mobility and the ravages wreaked by rightwing governments to which centrists provide no real answer.

#palestine #israel #gaza #zionism

[yourplayersaidwhat]

the druid is supposed to be lawful good

OOC, cleric: So you two just jumped a homeless, old man in the cold? 

OOC, druid: In my defense, he was willingly out past curfew, threatened us with a sword, and he blasted eldritch magic at me! He’s evil! 

OOC, warlock, who is not the old guy: Hey! The eldritch magic isn’t what makes me evil! 

OOC, cleric: he’s homeless! How else is he supposed to defend himself? 

OOC, druid: oh. Oh no.

Rogue: (comes out from hiding and lands an arrow to the old man’s neck) 

Druid: (holding up a wanted poster to the dying face) oh, look, he was the guy on the wanted poster 

OOC, rogue: you didn’t even know?! 

OOC, druid: we just killed a homeless man for money! :D

druid: (cognitive dissonance begins setting in)

#rpg #submission #shareable #dnd #killing things for fun and profit #what's my alignment again

[apas-95]

the fun thing about lancer is it does read so well as diagetic union propaganda, but depsite it all, that's not the reality - the reason why the authors keep writing in slavery, and people born into servitude on corporate-owned mining planets, and corporations being allowed to declare war on entire worlds while the state's military sits on the sidelines as a referee to make sure they're not violating laws of war while glassing planets, somehow isn't that it's a masterful satire, it's just the level of cognitive dissonance that manifests when social democrats try to articulate their utopia - it's the Imperium of Man but with hillary stickers on it, simultaneously declaring post-scarcity in the core, before going on to describe the harsh resource extraction that facilitates it. the supposed revolution against the tyrannical core government wasn't one carried out by the people they oppress, it was from the core itself - more than just socdem fantasy, the best they could imagine was a coup, one which replaced direct state oppression of the periphery with privatised, corporate oppression, one that lets them pretend that the inherent violence in the system is actually the result of the barbaric outlanders not all simply being enlightened enough to decide to become post-scarcity Democracies like them, even while their resources prop up the core worlds' "utopia in the making". it reads as propaganda for a repressive, neocolonial empire because it's written by people who do support a repressive, neocolonial empire, in their own world. they can't stop from contradicting themselves, because their ideas about the world are contradictory.

[dragonseeds]

love and light to everyone but if i see one more post that’s like “the point of asoiaf is that feudalism is BAD” i’m going to rip out my hair and start eating dirt and worms. like yes, it is bad. yes, monarchies are bad. yes so true it’s annoying when people ignore all of that and focus on who they think deserves the throne more. but that’s not the point—that is the premise? it’s the beginning of the exploration and deconstruction. functionally this system is rigid (specifically in terms of gender and class) and horrifically violent: so what it’s really like to live in it? to try to be a hero, a knight, to be a lady in a world where your body belongs to your family, your lord, your order? is it possible to be a good person in a hierarchal world like this, with such vast power imbalances woven throughout it and every relationship and interaction that you have informed by that? how do you navigate that imbalance in order to have meaningful relationships—can you every truly do it? and who decides what is good? how do you know if it’s truly right or it just felt right because it’s what you wanted to do? what about the people who have no name, no family, no order: what happens to them? don’t they matter? what if in a lifetime of looking the other way or actively causing others harm, you do a few things—maybe one thing—that’s objectively good: does it mean anything? does it matter, even if no one ever knows? what if the best thing you ever did broke every vow you made, every law that governs your society? how do you live with that dissonance?

what’s it like to be a ruler, to be a king or queen—is it possible to be a good one in such an unequal system? to wield power justly? who decides what is just? who decides who should rule? at which point does the amount of power someone can have cross the line into too much? is it when you stop trying to figure out how to use it correctly and worry only about how to keep it? if holding onto it costs you everything, your family and all your relationships, is it still worth it? what if having that much power available is necessary to the survival of your people, maybe even your world, but when it’s misused the carnage left behind is beyond articulation—is it still worth it? are the lives it saves worth the lives it took? how do you measure that? who carries the weight of that choice and how? how do you live with it? how do you go on living in a world that can be harsh and cruel and unfair, a world where your good intentions and your personhood seem to matter very little in the face of someone else’s greed or when compared to the yoke of your duty? and the questions never stop and the answers when and if they come are rarely easy, but the point is that you keep asking and keep trying because that’s what it means to be alive lol

#went into my for you tab but some of those things were not for me actually #the ‘[whatever] is BAD’ pov is a totally understandable reaction to ppl fighting over the iron throne i do get that #but it’s SO reductive and especially since hotd aired i see it everywhere #and it’s like that’s not the point?? the point is… what are aragorn’s tax policies. u know? #also. it’s very much possible to recognize the flaws of the system and still feel frustrated for say rhaenyra or rhaenys or cersei #also fr if u actually read this i hope it was in the voice of jonathan frakes #asoiaf #txt

[thegirlwhowatchedeverything]

The conversation about the death of Sydney's mom in 2x9 is so unhinged. At first we're made to think Carmy's responding the way 99.9% of people would to hearing about someone's dead loved one - "I'm sorry" - but no, before his mind arrives at that automatic human response, his first thought is to apologize for not knowing this deeply personal fact about his girlfriend business partner: I'm sorry...I feel like I should have known that. The writers know what they we doing. Especially in the context of the next part of the conversation. Syd immediately shuts down what she thinks is the token apology she's been on the receiving end of for 20+ years. I honestly don't think she even hears what he says after "I'm sorry". It's only after she shuts him down for what she thinks is the token apology that Carmy actually gives said token apology. For whhyyy did they write I feel like I should have known that. I mean we know why but let's do a quick Claire comparison. After creepily getting Carmy's number from Fak, this exchange happens in 2x3:

Claire: Okay can you just, can you just not make this weird? (the cognitive dissonance of this statement, Claire, babe...) Like I just need a favor. My cousin bailed on me.

Carmy: What, Big Denny?

Claire: No, Mac. Denny's dead.

Carmy: Oh. Damn, Denny.

Claire: Yeah, totally sucks, but I have to move all this shit for my mom who is not dead. She's absolutely thriving...(rest of convo is irrelevant to my point)

There was no narrative need to emphasize the fact that Claire's mom is alive (and thriving!) other than to directly contrast Sydney. You can't even say oh it's a throwback to the dark humor of S1 with the two "I'm not dead, my brother's dead" conversations Carmy has with the health inspector lady (1x2) and Mr. Szorski at Cicero's catering gig (1x4) because those scenes are dark and sad and funny because we know and care about Carmy and Mikey whereas we do not know or care about Big Denny or Claire's mom. Carmy and Mikey are the absolute driving forces of the show, especially in S1 whereas we never see or hear about those two other characters. But, interestingly, Carmy clearly knew Big Denny and didn't even respond with the (as established) token "I'm sorry." Whereas he looks absolutely anguished over Sydney's mom, a woman he's never met and knows absolutely nothing about. But he plays it like he's finding out about the death of his mother in law because he feels like he should have known. And yes, granted in this context dead mom > dead cousin on the emotional scale but still. Carmy's two reactions are so starkly opposite.

It's just so pointed to have Carmy react to the deaths of his girlfriend's and girl-who-is-a friend's relatives, no? We knew the reveal of Sydney's mom was coming because it's narratively relevant, it's such a formative part of Sydney (hence why it hits Carmy like a gut punch). But to unnecessarily bring up Claire's mom for what other reason than contrast with Sydney, right?

Okay, to bring it back to the scene in question - this man is able to pull the biggest smile and laugh from Syd all season by matching her energy and making a deadpan joke about her deceased mom. But it's fine because he doesn't think he's funny (1x8). He doesn't need to bring pleasure or amusement to others (2x10). I can't.

#the bear fx #the bear #the bear hulu #chefskiss #sydcarmy #carmy x sydney #sydney x carmy #syd x carmen #carmen berzatto #carmy berzatto #sydney adamu #ayo edebiri #jeremy allen white #cinematic parallels #parallels

[headspace-hotel]

the foundation of a lot of conservative thought is that there is some kind of magical force keeping the amount of suffering in the world constant, and that any effort that would broadly reduce suffering a great deal can be safely dismissed as being useless or untenable without examining it very closely.

This goes along with a very deep fear or intuition that something very very bad will happen if people do not suffer enough. It is a belief that the innately corrupt aspects of human nature will run rampant without "punishment" both in the strict sense and in a bigger, more general sense of "being taught a lesson" about how the world is harsh and cruel.

Conservatives who aren't, like, openly sadistic monsters can only resolve the cognitive dissonance by placing a very sharp dividing line between "kind/good/compassionate behavior as an individual" and "things that would improve society."

You, as a conservative individual, can donate to a charity or do something nice for someone, but this cannot be part of any responsibility you have as a member of your society. An individual can be kind, but it is either necessary to make sure the society individuals belong to is cruel, or at least necessary not to try to make it less cruel.

Conservative folks that don't consciously embrace cruelty must rely on historical illiteracy to call upon a monolithic " The Good Old Days" where the cruel and coercive aspects of society were stable and accepted enough that they were tempered by the benefits of true absolute conformity to traditional morality and gender roles+ the pleasures of a Simple Homesteading Life.

They rationalize coercive social standards through the argument that it only FEELS like coercion if you are introduced to another possibility, and if you immediately go limp in the jaws of the role predetermined for you, you will never want anything else. Women for instance were all perfectly happy being submissive housewives, back when there was no choice socially or legally. Everyone would be straight if no one was ever exposed to a happy openly gay person.

There is also a deep conviction that the human brain can only handle a small amount of pleasure or happiness above a neutral baseline, and "too much" sexual pleasure or mercy or relief from pain always either comes from or causes something grotesquely evil.

Their view of pleasure and happiness is very cynical and economic Law of Equivalent Exchange type stuff. Often, lots of sexual things are evil in the eyes of these people basically because they offer a suspicious amount of pleasure with no obvious "cost." They will SAY that sexual deviance is all these terrible things, but they believe that "deviant" sex feels good—too good, in fact, that's why it's that much more evil.

A lot of "trad" losers believe masturbation is from Satan because their schema for understanding the world can't accommodate the idea of something that gives you pleasure for "free," without hurting someone else or hurting you. For that pleasure to be "given" to you, it has to be "taken" from somewhere else (your soul or whatever)

It also works in reverse: the more you suffer in the present, through Hard Work or whatever, the more Good you will reap. It's a big reason why war and dying in combat are so romanticized by these people: that kind of Extreme Bad unlocks a level of Good not accessible otherwise (Freedom🎆🇺🇸)

real turd of an ideology all things considered

#politics

[txttletale]

youve previously spoken about i was a teenage exocolonist and its confused politics, and i agree, and now im thinking, how would one revise the story so as to improve them?

i think the game would have to either not be so proudly About Colonialism or would have to revise its story so that the theming actually matches the events. like imaginining that my proposed rewrite aims to 1. make the game's politics coherent while 2. changing as little as possible and 3. keeping the game's intended themes, i think the things that are most dissonant and jarring are:

the game not understanding what colonialism is but wanting to very much assure you that It's Bad

the game not understanding what fascism is but wanting to very much assure you that It's Bad

the game not understanding what capitalism is &c. &c. &c.

the bizarre unexamined eugenicist elements

so let's start on the first thing. you would want to lean much more heavily on the colonists as 'refugees' rather than 'colonists' -- the game treats 'colonizing' a place the exact same way as 'living there', and that kind of sucks (a common problem when using 'Space Colonization' as a 1-1 metaphor for actual colonization). so while we want to keep the weird culty aspects of the colony's society we'll ditch most of the colonial intentionality until the Helios arrives. secondly, we need to have the planet's indigenous people, like, actually present and not secretly hiding away as supercomputers.

so, like, let's keep the Gardeners as artificial life forms dedicated to protecting the ecosystem, but let's make them biotech. let's make them giant, imposing trees that reach up into the sky, with root networks that span the whole planet. then, rather than the colony being colonialist because it straight up doesnt know indigenous people exist (because they're secret computer people), we can make a much more interesting conflict by having the colonists be ignorant (and, as the game progresses, willingly ignorant) of the gardeners' sentience. have the raids start after the colony fells one of the trees (killing a Gardener) to make room for their own expansion, maybe really lean into the nasty parts of the colonial metaphor by having the Gardener's wood be the construction material of the new wing of the colony.

then Lum arrives as part of an intentional colonization project from the Earth we fled, assumes military command as in the current story, and immediately ramps up existing exploitation and destructive enviromental practices. his administration deliberately suppresses information of the Gardeners' sentience and spreads propaganda about them being 'monster trees'. have Lum clearly backed by Earthbound corporate interests, seeing the colony as an excercise in extracting value and using fascist dictatorship (usurping elections and the council with a permanent state of emergency and martial law) as a tool to maximize that value.

instead of defeating Lum at the ballot box, you can remove him in a coup. you can keep the getting-the-councilors-on-side minigame, you can even make it a bloodless coup if you don't want to put revolutionary violence in the game (but considering how much other violence there is in there, including terrorism, genocide, and murder, seems like a strange omission tbqh). and dont make him your fucking tiktoker put the guy in Jail. hes killed people sol.

have Sym still have his humanboo interests but also hint at an internal power struggle within the Gardeners, make it clear that there is a real and thriving culture among these indigenous gigantic environmentally networked tree-ecosystem-people, make his motivations for seeking peace more multifaceted.

then make the peaceful resolution to the whole colonialism issue to integrate the settlers into Gardener society rather than the weird siloed reservation thing going on in the base game. the head of the settlement or an ambassador (probably Dys) gets to go to the big fancy Gardener meetings where they decide things, the settlement gets permission from the Gardeners to farm and expand sustainably and is integrated into the ecosystem rather than neatly separated from it. the excolonists stop being colonists and become citizens of the planet.

as for the capitalism stuff, you can just drop that from marz' character, honestly. or if you want to make it make more sense without having to get into What Capitalism Is (which i think would be outside the mission statement of these proposals), make her thing wanting opulence and excess (it already kind of us, the game just keeps saying 'Capitalism'), have her excited when Lum starts giving people the opportunity to have that, then have her moment of excitement turn sour when she looks into Earth history and realizes how destructive this kind of extraction is in the long term.

and the eugenics--i think the simplest case here while still keeping all the cool genetic mutant character tics is just to make the genetic mutations a random glitch in an artificial womb system the refugees were using to have kids in space. this lets you keep the weird and wacky stuff going on with tangent and dys without raising questions like 'hey isnt this society insanely fucking dystopian'.

that's my in-a-nutshell rewrite of the game. obvsies an actual rewrite would need to change some more in-depth things, but i think off the top of my head these are the changes to the narrative that would make the heavyhanded attempts at political commentary work for me (that said, you could also go the opposite route, stop trying to draw parallels to colonialism and fascism and keep all the weird shit as is. but i think that's less interesting and more like stuff that already exists)

#ask #rain-rome #hi rome #i was a teenage exocolonist