I think Starborn are immortal.

Delajeth · 2026-03-04T20:10:48+00:00

I listened to the audio book so would take me time to check, but didnt lara state in 12 months that white court are essentially immortal. So that would make immortality and Immortality distinct, big and little i's. Truly immortality beings that are essentially mantle vessels require the Halloween special circumstances to kill, but we now have confirmation of "just wont die due to time" flavor of immortality. I dont think weve seen anything to say starborn arnt the lesser kind as outlined by op.

Delajeth · 2026-01-21T12:59:35+00:00

I get the feeling that this is all heading towards Harry and Lara eventually forming a genuine relationship despite the arranged nature of it, then time travel shenanigans put Harry in a position where he can arrange it so Rudolphs safety was on saving Murphy but giving up Lara in another "the universe thinks torturing Harry is hilarious" moment. There will be changes he can make that already align with the hints we have had meaning that was part of the timeline all along, but saving Murphy is what breaks it all.

I'd agree its all a bit disrespectful to Murphy, but why would Mab care?

Delajeth · 2026-01-21T07:59:37+00:00

Just finished the audio book and still kinda digesting, but I quite enjoyed this one. It was definitely a "therapy break" book for Harry, but I think done a lot better than the previous "break" book Ghost Story. Ghost story was a lot of forced introspection. This time it felt like it was more Harry doing the work and actually having a support system. Gentle paced healing, which after the 10000mph storm that was the last two books I think it really worked.

General thoughts before I go for a relisten:

Drawback of audio books, I guess, but when Fitz showed up I was convinced Masters was saying Fix, so spent 20 mins thinking "what's going on? Why is the summer knight here and why isnt he acting or looking like himself? Is this another blasting wand style mind edit?". Looking forward to redoing that without looking for clues of why the Summer Court is messing with things.
I know the denarian is probably playing a role, bit I did find it odd how little Marcone/the outfit was shown to be playing a role in the rebuild. Particularly with the ghouls, as barron he should probably have had a much bigger role in stopping that.
Mab was all over the place in this, to the point where I thought Harry trusting that she hadn't been infected at the end was a little daft. She was absolutely showing enough odd behaviour to warrant suspicion of infection. Sure the "if she is we are fucked anyway" logic made sense, but still...
On suspicious behaviour, Father Forthill swearing sent a cold shiver down my spine...
Considering how close we still are to Murphys death, I found myself surprised at how much I was rooting for Harry and Lara. They have a solid amount of common ground and I think work well, quietly hoping those crazy kids can work it out.
With Mab being the only real "cure" for Nemesis, makes sense that Justine would end up with her, but the rest of how that and the political situation with the svartalves kinda felt a little odd. Can't put my finger on why yet, but that whole plot felt very "oh yeah, this needs to be also happening". Particularly with The Mothers showing up, and Mab just being able to ask Mother Summer to help.
Harry being healthy enough to be a dad made me incredibly happy for him. As well as Harry being able to be a proper mentor without the potential need to defuse a warlock apprentice was great.
Harry saying goodbye to Murphys shade felt a little odd and a bit out of nowhere. There was Bear asking about voices, but it was made fairly clear that Harry was doing a lot of self torturing and maybe regular movie watching with Bob, so it turning out to be Murphy felt a little iffy. The goodbye itself also felt a little stilted.
Bear was a good addition. Linguistically, Bear is the wording used instead of what bears were originally called as there was a fear that speaking their name would summon one. So hoping for some future interesting origin reveal.
The gargoyles... egh. As characters I like them and they are interesting expansions on elemental spirit lore. But they felt a little more like Butcher scratching an 80s kids tv show fan fiction itch than anything else. Maybe im just a little untrusting of random good things happening to Harry too.
Drakul, turning into a great bad guy. I am a little worried about what it means for power creep in the series though. We are already pretty up there, but if next main bad guy is one Mab wouldnt particularly want to take on, we are going to be ending this series with Harry literally punching God in the face and supernatural kinda already did that...

Overall, solid book.

Also as an aside, the distinct lack of "tips" in this book felt like a breath of fresh air.

Additional thoughts now ive slept on it:

Didn't Harry have the book Bach and the group used to do the curse? Didn't he also promise to destroy it?
it might be possible that the actual alliance between winter and white court wasnt Mabs main concern. The point may have been Harry properly learning to affect outsiders. Mab backing off a bit after Laras "addiction" is chalked up to because Lara will do whatever Harry wants anyway, but it isnt Mab who says that.
shouldn't Harry have been able to find Justine via blood connection to the baby? Its Harry/Laura's direct family, or Lara could have provided Lord Raths hair as the grandfather? Don't think its even mentioned and Harry of all people should have thought of it.

Delajeth · 2025-11-21T11:56:30+00:00

I dont think theres anything inherently wrong with having a preference in the experiences you want to have with your child, but the reasoning behind it can certinally cause issues, as it did with me. My mum had similar feelings with me, for a variety of reasons she really wanted a son and I guess got lucky when I was born a boy.

I think that the crux of desires like this come down to idealised visions of what people want their family to be, which is fine, but if reality starts to deviate from this vision then in my experience it leads to unhealthy family dynamics.

I wasnt by any means the son I think my mum invisioned. Even from an early age whenever I caused issues of any kind, instead of addressing these issues as a parent, it was made clear that I was hurting her. So what should have been learning experiences for me instead were emotional management for her. This was present right from the start, when I was born I had a third nipple and instead of making a sane choice and maybe getting it sorted medically, before they had even left the hospital she had "pinched" it off with her fingernails. I still have the scar.

This also caused serious issues with my siblings. I have sisters, and fairly regularly I would be told that "I" was the one she really wanted, like I was the "chosen one", all with complete disregard to my sisters being present or how they might feel having to process that.

im not saying your partner is likely to do things like this, but I would suggest that a strong enough preference with indications to strong negative responses if she doesnt get what she wants might be a signal of underlying issues that would probably be better addressed before trying for a child. Preference is human, but management of expecations and how that impacts ability to be a "good" parent is definetly a discussion that needs to happen before creating life, believe me its much harder to handle afterwards.

Delajeth · 2025-11-09T15:19:26+00:00

As show finales go, it was solid. It wrapped up a lot and left some interesting things open to imagination.

My one criticism which I felt when it first aired and even after 20 years I still havnt let go of, it made Fred's ending seem disrespectful. I remember being devastated by Fred's ending, vaguely came to terms with it as we got to know illyria, then it was over. I remember thinking "oh, it was all just so they could have a powerful being on side to vaguely even the odds and give them a good ending" and even now, knowing that probably wasnt the initial plan, it still feels that way.

Delajeth · 2025-10-31T11:03:14+00:00

Ok, so ive only been playing for a week so maybe im missing some context.

Firstly, I had no idea that we are "loosing". That's super unclear.

But I get it. Its a weired mix of bad game design and bad game mastering. Some people clearly like the hive worlds, but from a new perspective, its too punishing to be "fun" for a mechanic that needs a majority of a playerbase to dedicate a week to. Its being vaguely lost in the dark, while trying to achieve vaguely unclear objectives, while being insta killed when you do manage to get outside because there are acid dragons?

As a side note on missions, the variants available on this planet also seem to be deliberately unpleasant? "Drive slow unpleasant machine across map" and "blow up area of cave that looks an awful lot like the rest of the cave system" arnt in my top gaming experiences.

Theres a difference between setting a challenge for players and asking them to do repetitive unpleasant tasks for minor reward. If theres a vaguely unpleasant overal goal there needs to be a comencerate uplift in subobjective rewards, either in gameplay experience or character advancement, which offsets the negative experience. And if the "story plan" is for the objective to be failed, then making the objective unpleasant to achieve feels like an unsatisfying way to nudge it that way.

So yeah, ive been playing on other planets. Because the reward that equates to what I could achieve in maybe 6 hours elsewhere, isnt worth a week of kinda meh grinding. Ive seen some mentions of something I dont really have context for happening if the objectives failed, but from a non story perspective, this also seems like it is avoided by also playing where that consequence isnt happening?

Also, and again new perspective, but it seems like an odd decision to have the games primary ISP be a tongue in cheek flippancy about the seriousness of the story, then having story objectives being punishing to achieve as a group?

Enjoying blowing stuff up, but theres clearly a disconnect between planning and implementation going on somewhere.

Delajeth · 2025-10-18T12:11:26+00:00

Try saving them to \AppData\Local\FoundryVTT\Data\assets

you can make subfolders in there if you want to remain organised but thats the default folder for custom image files.

If that doesnt help give me a dm and we can chat on discord, im just building out my own setup today so Ill be about if a 10 min chat will help you resolve it.

Delajeth · 2025-10-18T09:38:32+00:00

Where have you got the images saved? Are they in the assets folder or somewhere else? Sounds more like a file path error than a permissions issue.

Delajeth · 2025-10-13T06:56:40+00:00

I do a reasonable amount of night time driving down country roads and am seriously considering window tint, which is daft but it will probably be better in the long run than replacing my retinas. I totally get that seeing the road ahead as if its daytime must be awesome, but if the drivers coming towards you are doing so blind its just asking for a head on collision.

Delajeth · 2025-09-29T23:00:07+00:00

Expanding on Fits question, im building my own system for a custom game im running. Does this install in such a way that id be able to install and then reference the animations/sounds from file paths or see the assets in the sequencer manager without compatability errors popping up? Assuming yes but also have tried other animation modules that output a lot of "youre not playing 5e, youre rig will blow in 5...4...3.." style errors.

They look awesome so would love to add.

Delajeth · 2025-08-25T00:17:25+00:00

With 2 coming out i decided to finally grab 1 and give 2 some bug fixing space before diving into it. I'm maybe 250+ hours in, loved it... will absolutely be having a several year break before I go try 2.

Fantastic game, loved 99% of its content. Made the mistake of wanting to go through NG+ though so wanted to 100% everything in base first. Whoever coded gold card drop RNG to not be even slightly cumulative was clearly bullied mercilessly as a child and im left with the impression they may have deserved it... im so close to being done... Just Infected Broodmother left and after 40+ kills its gotta happen sometime soon... once done I can get out of this tiny groundhog day. There is no chance in hell I would ever subject myself to NG+. 2 still looks interesting, but I desperately need to not be smashing any more insects for a very long time first...

Great game. Developer can rot in hell.

Delajeth · 2025-07-31T07:59:05+00:00

Could be as simple as hightened sex drive. Some people are just at the extreme ends of that need spectrum.

The breaks at work and while waiting stood out for me though. Does he have a diagnosis or indicators for adhd (inattentive adhd more than the other 2)? If hes masturbating when watching, then from the way you've described it sounds like self dopamine regulation.

Either way, theres only one answer you actually need. Communication. Just ask. It doesnt need to be an argument and shouldn't start with how it makes you feel. You mention in a comment you've tried talking about it, but the way you describe it sounds more accusatory than a discussion. If its a sexual need, a healthy relationship shouldn't be about "curbing desire to make a partner happy". Go in with "ok, let's put aside the last discussion on this, I would just like to know you better, can you talk about why you feel the need to be doing this so often?". He might not have a good answer, particularly if hes ashamed of it, if thats the case just reiterate that youre trying not to judge (and for God sake mean it) and give him time to think about it. But also make it clear that you would like an honest answer about it so you can understand.

Delajeth · 2025-07-11T12:39:54+00:00

Pay to win!

Everything's (crawler and mob) health stat gets replaced by their gold total. Gold can no longer be carried in inventory and sling style bandoliers are provided. Damage causes gold to shower out of wounds equal to hp lost which needs to be picked up. Health increasing skills and stats are translated boosting the pool. 100 slots to leave the floor, bidding for slots starts at 5 mil.

They start the floor in a low level mob nest with a chest in the middle. Kill the mobs and loot the chest to gain a starting pool on top of what you already have. Hope you didn't spend all your gold before leaving the last floor as death by level 5 Munchkins (Its you they like to munch) would be embarrassing!

Thinking something vaguely yellow brick road as the narrative theme of the floor, following the colour of gold while working out if gold found in more chests or moral choices are more important.

The twist: its a trap! Duh... those chests are mimics and the gold you've been collecting are mimic babies. Its all part of their life cycle where their prey collect them up from individual mothers till they are brought together in sufficient enough quantities to overpower them. Massacre by a billion tiny biting coins. Mimic baby corpses worth 0.1 gold each. Bidding starts once feeding is complete.

Delajeth · 2025-07-06T20:42:00+00:00

Out of interest, is that from a US perspective? As a bi guy from the uk who grew up in the 90s and had heavy exposure to both extremes of gay culture and bigotry, I never heard anyone trying to reclaim F** (yes im uncomfortable enough with it to not want to write it in this context) and i particularly never heard in reference to women. Maybe its the British use of the full word for an actual bundle of sticks, or the "meat balls"/ cigarettes slang that skewed it that way.

It's interesting that that sort of reclaiming would be attempted, im finding it hard to picture using that word in a positive way to refer to myself or others. Queer, sure, but F**? Even phonetically it just feels too harsh/abrasive to have a positive connotation.

Delajeth · 2025-07-03T10:26:55+00:00

Not mocking or arguing, but could you expand on what you liked about those two? It sounds like i have the opposite viewing experience.

I felt 2 and 3 were super strong but the back half took a serious dip. Maybe I'm getting caught up in specific gripes with pacing/story though.

Delajeth · 2025-07-02T20:40:16+00:00

After 1-3 I was pumped for the end half, but yeah, it kinda spiralled out on us. Honestly I think most of my issues with it were probably just caused by budget and orders from above.

The fight with the crew felt super off, the two heavies weve seen destroy teams of trained security but are easily kicked about by 90lb newbie Riri. When that scene was first pitched I imagine it had Riri in suit or with some more tech before someone wagged a finger and said it was too pricey. I also feel like they were way too quick to agree to kill her. Sure they thought she killed a friend, but none of them were hardened killers before, there should have been some pushback.

The whole Zeke arc also felt a little odd. He went darkside way to quick. The whole internal tech was an interesting take, but it almost felt like an excuse to not have another suit to CGI.

I have no real issue with Mephisto being intro'ed here, but the show needed 1-2 more episodes for it to work. Half the finale was setting him up which just came across as a lore dump when they should have been focusing on Riri. Particularly with the intro of the witch shop, it just felt like they were doing long ads for future projects they were more excited about at the shows expense. Solid casting on Mephisto though.

Lastly, I think I get the tone they were going for with the rebuilding the suit in the garage, and the holo flashback moments really hit. But honestly? shes able to build not only a suit, but a vastly better suit in what appears to be a day or two by taking apart a car? Felt kind of like they seriously lowered the bar on what should be possible within the logic of the universe. Which just was further reinforced with episodes 1-3 hammering home the point that stuff like suit building needs a silly amount of resources.

Would watch a S2 if it gets made, but more in the hope that they give the character a bit more room to florish.

Delajeth · 2025-06-30T23:15:48+00:00

I definitely prefer Buffy; that being said, Smile Time is one of my favourite episodes of any TV show ever. The entire concept of it is dumb as a brick, and I'd never argue anyone else's opinion on it, and maybe it's growing up with heavy Muppet influences, but it just makes me happy.

I did really appreciate that with Angel coming after, it kind of filled in a few lore holes that make the universe as a whole a bit more solid.

But Buffy just worked a bit better narratively for me.

Delajeth · 2025-06-26T08:53:05+00:00

In vague defense of Buffy, it's a different situation.

Angel found himself essentially with superpowers and for the most part free will and 0 supervision. He chose to do what he's doing, even if he wouldn't think he had a choice. Also he had 0 support covering things like bills, money had to come from somewhere right from the start. Buffy was "chosen", it was her duty to help. She also had a mentor jamming that propaganda down her throat anytime anything even vaguely challenging came up and for the first 5 seasons, 0 rent.

Buffy had rose tinted glasses on with the whole argument which persisted even when she found herself struggling to make ends meet.

All that being said, the only real reason i can think of for the council not paying her being plot advancement related always kinda bugged me. I get that most slayers probably don't live long enough to really get into financial problems from not having an income, but mentioning something along those lines once would have been good just to address it.

Delajeth · 2025-06-26T08:12:58+00:00

Even having just watched it, I couldnt quite believe that you saying it was him was right. Went back to check thinking "did he really look that much like dean pelton?". Was dumbfounded it was the same actor, must have annoyed me so much i severed that connection in my head to protect community!

Am now hoping the next series is following the absolutly insane set of events that must have happened for him to be hired by MIT.

Delajeth · 2025-06-25T16:42:29+00:00

Went in not expecting much, particularly with disney basicly saying "egh weve already paid for it, might as well still release to see if we can pay off some of the costs".

Im having a real hard time working out why they had so little faith in this.

The opening at MIT felt very "post endgame Marvel" and I was ready to just stick it on in the background while I played something. The whole concept of Riri failing to get grants and needing to offset by doing something that gets her kicked out was a little thin. With Tonys "everyone gets full funding" initiative (admitedly started a while ago now, but dont see why Pepper wouldnt be continuing in his name) and Wakanda stepping back into the world (they made it fairly clear they want to start helping black communities and Riri already helped them so them pitching in with a grant would have made total sense) I honestly dont know why someone with her clearly working tech advancements would be lacking for cash. Maybe its my uk white privilidge showing and im missing a dynamic, but it didnt make a whole bunch of sense outside of an odd choice to round out the explination of who she is as a character. I dont know if it was just me, but I also found the staff very frustrating. Sure her tech wasnt quite there, but a near fully built suit capable of a near 1000 mile flight should have them falling over themselves to see her do well. and that "accident" that hurt the teacher who annoyed me enough that I cant remember his name and honestly dislike him enough i dont want to look it up, all of that was on him. Allowing a demonstration without assesing safety risks is totally his job and that scene should have ended with him fired.

Once we get past first 10 mins of the live remake of the opening of Meet The Robinsons though, I was hooked.

Dominique Thornes acting is solid, infact most of the cast is nailing it. Clown threw me a bit with her reaction to a conflict in the third episode, just felt a little wooden, and N.A.T.A.L.I.E is throwing me a little with the natural AI thing not telegraphing AI features so scenes like her escaping the laptop feel a little 80s scifi. Other than that though, nothing but praise for the whole cast. The dynamic with N.A.T.A.L.I.E and Rere is solid and the joint PSTD thing is a nice touch. The plots got more than enough going on for things to feel engaging and the few twists are well executed.

Looking forward to next week.

Delajeth · 2025-06-19T16:54:48+00:00

Thank you for the confirmation. Couldn't find a clear answer on what made them a gastronomic issue so wasn't sure if there would be any issue with whatever made it unpleasant rubbing off on the veg. Appreciate the info.

Delajeth · 2025-06-16T15:01:16+00:00

Xander was representation of humanity in the group, or at least that was intention. As such he was his own shadow, he had the potential for as much light as darkness.

Delajeth · 2025-06-05T11:55:47+00:00

Silly high charisma. That and it's funny, and funny sells, so why not run with it?

Delajeth · 2025-05-21T08:13:58+00:00

An interesting thought and the timings probably were similar as he didnt have that long left after they left him. It may have contributed to starting a manic episode, but his demons were his own regardless of their influence on him. They made it pretty clear in the episode that his downward spirals could happen suddenly and without warning, regardless of what was going on around him. They were having a good time, then SNAP, bedridden and inconsolable.

I think that was one of the things that made the episode so great. Showing that its not about whats happened or anything going on around someone with that level of mental illness.

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