You know what fantasy stories don't use enough? Different measuring scales, and confusion caused by them. Because before the metric system, practically every place and culture had their own measures for weights, lengths and distances. It would be fun to add that into a story for added realistic cultural confusion.
The average dwarf is four or five feet tall, but not in human measures. Yeah they're still shorter than humans but the dwarf foot (and the namesake measure of length) is bigger in proportion to their body. "Is that in dwarf feet or human feet?" is a common question to hear on construction sites, wherever human carpenters and dwarf masons are working together.
A dedicated local Common Misconception Historian has a pet peeve about the whole "princess Featherblade was only 12 years old when she led the attack on Marshland Halls" -myth, because the historical recordings on the human side are off. While she was remarkably young, that myth came about back in the day when humans were still trying to apply "dog years" to elves, and in an elven life span, 120 years is not a direct equivalent to a 12-year-old human.
A whole culture whose smallest unit of weight loosely translates to "about as much as an apple", and varies from region to region depending on the size of local apples. These people are famed for their alchemists, whose uncanny ability to simply measure their ingredients by heart, making their recipes essentially impossible to replicate. This famed skill is a matter of survivor bias - the ones that don't have that knack ten to explode into fine mist.
You know we only ever really "learn" how to bathe in our youth as it is taught to us by our parents and from then on most people kinda just bathe the same way right. And like barring actively deciding to do it the only way most people change their bathing habits is if they bathe with a loved one and get convinced to do somethi g different in the bath bc its cleaner/faster/whatever bc of them. Ok heres the thesis statement. The lack of communal bathing in society is holding us back from discovering The Ultimate Bathing
hey. do any of you trans/autistic mfs wanna see a baby werewolf
Launching my first art blogs with a small comic based on the amazing words of Ursula K. Le Guin!
Lila Shapiro does an amazing job at explaining Gaiman's family history with the church of scientology and how that fucked him up as a child, without ever implying that the trauma excuses his actions as a grown man. the entire article is masterfully written but that part really stuck out to me. she provides context so well but it never veers into a justification whatsoever. and that said, i also think we should pay attention to that part and talk about it. of course, primarily we should uphold the victims' voices and their experiences. but i also think we need to talk about scientology. something needs to be done about that goddamn cult. i knew about the financial blackmail and insane psychological abuse they do, but i had no idea prior to this that they punished children this way. it's fucking insane
whats up with that insane bone pit act 2 quest where they just non optionally bring some guy to beat up and interrogate in YOUR HOUSE like that’s normal
Another selection of some of the better names I've come across in Regency era newspapers recently.
"taken" style action movie where a man searches for his wife. as he fights baddies in gunfights and hand-to-hand combat, it's slowly revealed that:
his wife hasn't been kidnapped
their marriage is not healthy or functional
this guy isn't rescuing his wife, he's hunting her down
his wife is a crime boss, those are her henchpeople he's fighting in a john-wick bloodbath
the tension builds until, drenched in blood, our protagonist steps forward for the final showdown. he pulls a manila envelope from his bullet-torn jacket and throws it at his wife's feet. he's just spent an entire trilogy biting & killing & maiming....all so he can deliver his shit wife her divorce papers
ppl in the age of cell phones: fucking up their necks
ppl in the age of books: fucking up their necks
ppl in the age of textile art: fucking up their necks
ppl in the age of picking lice: fucking up their necks
ppl in the age of cooking: fucking up their necks
Wildlife tracking tips.
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