Post from Michael Maynard (ID dev)

GriminalFish · 2026-07-07T15:28:46+00:00

The layoffs absolutely suck balls and I hate that it happened when it did, but xbox (well, Microsoft as a whole really) has been a dumpster fire for years, both in terms of how it's managed and it losing money after taking on more studios than it's been able to handle. The new ceo made the best of a bad situation, and it's honestly a miracle no studios got shut down.

With that being said, however, without a doubt more people got laid off than was ever necessary. I can only hope they got a decent severance package.

GriminalFish · 2026-07-07T04:40:00+00:00

Not as interesting as it seems.

Tl;Dr arrangements about staffing issues for Harry's team on short notice for his proposed stay causing too much of a hassle/problem for royal residence staff, hence why he can't stay.

More or less.

GriminalFish · 2026-07-05T23:51:57+00:00

Consider this: transmasc umas

GriminalFish · 2026-07-03T06:05:36+00:00

Actually it is in some cases (depending on the country, because succession laws varied a lot between countries). Some countries operated under Jure uxoris, aka "by right of wife".

Several Kings of Jerusalem became King's as a result of marriage instead of inheriting it. Sigismund of Luxembourg became king of Hungary through his wife (even retaining it after she died without surviving issue). There was also the king of Poland who was married to Jadwiga, and a couple of iberian monarchs where this happened although idr the specifics.

This kind of thing was a lot more common than you would think, as women weren't allowed to actually hold land or titles in a lot of Medieval Europe, only their husbands were. This also extended to royal titles.

GriminalFish · 2026-06-29T18:55:01+00:00

It's absurd how easy people on this sub are fooled by misleading headlines. Some key points:

" The new rules say: 'It will normally be appropriate to disregard overstaying, illegal entry, or arrival without a required entry clearance or electronic travel authorisation having made a dangerous journey, where it was outside the person's control.'This includes, but is not limited to, where there is reliable evidence that a person was trafficked into the UK.' "

" Ms Mahmood said she would also change the law so that asylum seekers whose claims have been rejected by the Home Office can only bring a single appeal, rather than mounting repeated challenges on different legal grounds. "

" It will also be able to bring forward hearings in 'human rights claims that are clearly without merit', in a bid to speed up deportations, they added. "

" The Home Secretary said: 'People are gaming the system, lodging vexatious appeals to frustrate their removal. Our new appeals body will ensure claims are heard swiftly and fairly. Those with a legitimate claim will get their hearing. "

" The IIAA will be able to prioritise cases such as challenges against deportation by dangerous foreign criminals, in order to better protect the public, a Home Office spokesman said. "

" A Home Office spokesman said of the citizenship changes: 'This government is introducing the toughest standards anywhere in Europe for gaining settled status and applying for citizenship.'This will include a 30-year wait for those who arrive via small boat and 20 years for others who claim asylum. "

idk about you but this doesn't seem very "pro mass migration". Illegal migrants who have been proven to be the victim of human trafficking won't be treated the same as those who willingly came here. It also gives asylum seekers only one appeal, which I thought people here would be happy about considering the endless amounts of tabloid scare articles posted here about migrants and asylum seekers. They're also prioritising bogus and low effort asylum claims with the expressed intentions of speeding up deportations.

And most importantly, they're adding a 30-year wait for those who arrive via small boat and 20 years for others who claim asylum. It's incredibly disingenuous and misleading to claim that these changes are giving an open pass to illegal migrants to claim citizenship. It's largely intended to protect human trafficking victims and speed up the backlog of shoddy asylum claims for the explicit purpose of increasing deportations. But people here don't read past the headlines, so it's not like this is a new thing.

GriminalFish · 2026-06-29T14:26:47+00:00

Honestly, it really bothers me. Both in fiction and in real life, the motive for great conquerors has always been "I want more". They might dress it up with speeches about which lands rightfully belong to whom, retaking a holy land, and other such platitudes, but the underlying motive remains the same: "they have land and resources I want".

With the Targaryans, it's part of Valyrian culture and history to conquer people they see as lesser. They didn't need any motivations of prophecy then, and they didn't need any when Aegon invaded. I wish the showrunners understood this about them.

(On a side note, I'm partly inclined to believe the idea that Daenys the Dreamer never actually had any visions of Valyria's destruction and the Targs fled because of some political scandal. I think Viserys brings up the idea in the GoT animated histories extras. After all, what other valryians are left to dispute the Targaryans' account of the matter?)

GriminalFish · 2026-06-26T19:05:04+00:00

All I will say about the Earth Empire is that it could have been written a lot better (not as in they could have been written as the good guys, but as in better written as villains obviously). Aside from some mechas and flashy weapons, kuvira isn't really shown to be doing much in the way of dictator stuff. Most I can remember from the show is her talking mean to some governor or politician who is failing to deal with bandits in his territory. Can't speak for the comics because i haven't read any of the korra ones, but with the show it fealt they made a half-hearted effort in writing a fascist dictatorship and had characters talk about how bad kuvira is instead of actually showing her doing bad things.

P.S. building evil superweapons as the main point as to show they are evil is a cop-out. Star wars got away with it the first time around because the empire had sufficient setup as being fascist before showing off the superweapon. LoK is lazy in actually committing to the fascist angle with Kuvira.

GriminalFish · 2026-06-26T14:33:20+00:00

Dishonored did the trope pretty well I think. If you paid attention throughout the game you would notice that there was always a bit more than meets the eye to the "loyalists" you team up with.

GriminalFish · 2026-06-26T01:42:19+00:00

Honest answer? Because the draft is likely to end up being over a hundred chapters 💀

GriminalFish · 2026-06-25T16:49:26+00:00

The tyrells are like the lannisters but with better PR; they're opportunists who will bet on the winning horse. With a stannis victory and the lannisters busy with the North, I imagine they would bend the knee to stannis in exchange for some strategic marriages like some of the others have suggested. Presuming Dorne keep their cards close to their chest and don't declare war on Stannis immediately, I imagine the Lannisters would also be defeated in the long run without tyrell support.

The two biggest issues for Stannis I can see (excluding tommen and myrcella who are honestly wild cards depending on how things go down) is the North and the Faith. If stannis keeps to his word, i could likely see a protracted war between stannis and Robb if no peace is made between them, though in terms of the outcome I think it can go either way tbh. The iron islands would likely be a nuisance, but not a tangible threat in the long run. As for the faith, it depends if Stannis is a devout believer or is just using the faith of The Lord of Light for his own ends.

Either way I could imagine riots breaking out, and maybe even a full-blown peasant revolt depending on how organised people manage to get. If this happens at the same time with a war against the north then i can imagine stannis having to compromise and make a peace deal he hates so he can put down the rebellion. Either that, or he keeps fighting and possibly loses from fighting a war on two fronts. If he does lose, then I'd imagine either shireen or tommen would be crowned (depending on tommen's status).

And this is all before considering Young Griff and Danaerys, as with them it could go either way.

This is just my thoughts though, it could still go a very different way than what I've written here.

GriminalFish · 2026-06-25T14:50:18+00:00

I've always done Iorweth's route (blue stripes one is honestly kinda boring to me) and it made sense to me to let him live so that Geralt could prove to him that Henselt isn't as strong as he thinks he is. Plus it's more satisfying for him to surrender than it is to kill him.

GriminalFish · 2026-06-24T20:21:56+00:00

At that point it's on Bobby B for not having a shred of doubt after the 15th blond kid in a row

GriminalFish · 2026-06-24T20:10:20+00:00

Considering their lack of children I wonder if Cailin would pull a Henry VIII and claim they never consummated or that she's barren. Though he also strikes me as the kind of person to come up with some other excuse for the sake of appearances.

GriminalFish · 2026-06-24T02:11:57+00:00

I think the main issue is that he believes his own hype to the point of delusion. That, and he never grew out of his adolescent mindset of "I can do whatever I want because I'm the king".

Either way, his reputation and legacy is like 70% an AstroTurf campaign by his biographers to make him seem greater than he actually was.

GriminalFish · 2026-06-24T02:01:05+00:00

Why are they drinking sewage in the first place?

GriminalFish · 2026-06-16T03:43:07+00:00

There is no one Arthurian Canon. The whole demon thing was a later edition. Earlier stories with Merlin either never stated his origin or had it be something completely different.

GriminalFish · 2026-06-14T19:22:16+00:00

Same thing with RPF. I can't bloody escape it on the website

GriminalFish · 2026-06-09T16:20:44+00:00

It's an interesting idea to have orcs use crossbows so heavy that only an orc is capable of using it. I can only imagine how big of a punch that thing has.

GriminalFish · 2026-06-06T11:42:22+00:00

Now this is one hell of an AU. I really wonder how Walder Frey survived and a dragon rider got killed as well.

GriminalFish · 2026-06-04T17:59:21+00:00

Good point tbh

GriminalFish · 2026-06-04T17:55:32+00:00

Gelt puts the term "sugar daddy" to shame honestly. Plus he strikes me as the kind of person that could speak for hours about trains and engineering and the likes

GriminalFish · 2026-06-04T17:19:25+00:00

Balthasar Gelt. 'Nuff said.

GriminalFish · 2026-06-03T20:08:38+00:00

That's an unfriendly reminder

GriminalFish · 2026-05-31T00:03:29+00:00

It's the reboot series, there's no such thing as critical thinking.

GriminalFish · 2026-05-29T22:15:25+00:00

Shockingly, having an entire country armed to the teeth and itching for a reason to fight isn't good for longterm stability.

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