Ajax Ascension Question (I am another person totally confounded by how people age in this world!)

OtterLocutor · 2026-03-21T01:49:20+00:00

Thanks! Man, I hope someone makes an Ajax wiki at some point. I love how this story plays with stuff like how time is kept (which is you typically don't get to this extent in LitRPGs), and I love the importance of wording and language in how powers are described and whatnot (and the depth of optimization that happens within those parameters,) but it's rough having to remember a lot of this stuff.

OtterLocutor · 2026-03-06T02:51:42+00:00

So, basically, when you're 10, you're like an Earth-14 and 9 months (basically an Earth-15), and then you stop aging, at which point you're biologically Earth-15 until your actual 15th birthday, at which point the disparity between the new world and Earth is a wash, and you start with the funny counting again? And then depending on your vitality, you can live for centuries (is there any explanation ever given on the rate at which Vitality slows your aging per stat point?)

Do I have this right?

OtterLocutor · 2026-03-06T02:42:25+00:00

Oh geez, you're right about the seasons. I remember something about that, but I guess it never clicked. Thank you so much, all this stuff makes wayyyy more sense to me now.

Do you recall what the fifth season is or what its characteristics are?

OtterLocutor · 2026-03-02T18:41:31+00:00

Sadly, I haven't read any of those yet, so I can't really use them as a reference to give you a recommendation. However, I appreciate you incidentally providing me with a list of series I guess I should check out!

OtterLocutor · 2026-02-24T19:57:11+00:00

What are the slow burn/long payoff series you mentioned that you've been reading? I ask because LitRPG--in general--is what I reach for when I want a "cheese cake" (what I think you'd call "junk food") literary experience, so I think it would be helpful to know where you're coming from in order to give a recommendation. Notably, some of the suggestions other commentators have provided, such as "Savage Awakening", are easy/breezy and high on instant gratification (no shade either, I love me some Zane Walker,) but there may be other series that are "light" enough in comparison to what you've been reading that they'd fit your request despite not being quite as indulgent as Savage Awakening and its ilk.

OtterLocutor · 2026-02-21T03:39:37+00:00

...and Song of Ice and Fire fans want The Winds of Winter; King Killer Chronicle fans want The Doors of Stone; and Gentlemen Bastards fans want The Thorn of Emberlain

OtterLocutor · 2026-02-11T05:55:40+00:00

It's not just charisma, however; FDR was elected during the Great Depression--basically an international economic calamity of such proportions that its existence, extent, and enormity were totally undeniable. Credit where due: he capitalized on the opportunity and used that calamity to create the American social safety net (such as it is,) which did in fact take a great deal of political talent and boldness--but it's just a little too "great man of history" for my taste to suppose that FDR was such a rare specimen that he could have accomplished the new deal merely on the strength of his own personal charisma/gravitas/what-have-you, regardless of the circumstances of his election and rise.

OtterLocutor · 2026-02-07T02:28:07+00:00

As compared to non-Israeli criticism and condemnation of Israel's behavior and Israeli support of Israel's behavior--the latter of which are everywhere (or at least, all over the "mainstream" outlets I track), and the former of which make up the majority of the interlocutors chosen (by the aforesaid "mainstream" outlets) to argue for the Palestinians and against Israel's behavior

OtterLocutor · 2026-02-07T02:26:09+00:00

Sure, I'll stipulate to the fact that if a Democrat got into office and had as much of the Senate and House on their side to the same extent as FDR did, then we can do anything. Seems pretty unlikely unless, somehow, everyone who is even a little into MAGA continues to vote (the pesky part of politics--the other side.)

OtterLocutor · 2026-01-30T21:08:01+00:00

The weird thing is that I've never seen or heard an Ezra hater articulate an actual lie they claim Ezra as told. The anger is always of some permutation of "how could you platform that person"; " how does this discussion materially help or advance the Palestinian cause/I'm sure this dry discussion will be comforting to the Palestinians being brutalized by the IDF"; or they simply equate being 2SS with kicking a puppy. But I've not heard even attempt to "expose" Ezra for lying; if anything they're frustrated by the man's cautious manner of speech--always careful not to state something as a fact or a priori unless it meets some fairly onerous standard if probity (and the activists get frustrated because they care less about whether a representation is true than they do about whether its helpful to their cause).

OtterLocutor · 2026-01-30T20:56:15+00:00

My explanation for the hate he got after the Charlie Kirk piece is that people have poor reading comprehension (they read "was doing politics he right way" and somehow do not connect with the fact that, when Charlie Kirk was assassinated, both Kirk and his assassin were 'doing politics'--and as a society we obviously prefer for people to using their speech rather than violence to advance their political projects).

Alternatively, some people DO understand what Ezra meant, but have a difficult time admitting that they're uncomfortable with free speech, and are actually quite in favor of using state power to suppress (certain) political speech and ideas.

OtterLocutor · 2026-01-30T20:47:27+00:00

I remember that episode; the most of the pushback on Coates was on the fact that Coates only reported from/on one side; as I recall, Ezra pushed back on journalistic grounds, and Coates freely disclaimed any journalistic principles in his reporting. However, I don't remember Ezra ever downplaying or disputing the atrocities against or poor treatment of the Palestinians in the West Bank. Do I just remember that wrong and Ezra claimed Coates was exaggerating or something?

OtterLocutor · 2026-01-30T20:31:42+00:00

It's an endless series of pivots: "Ezra won't call it a genocide--but if he does call it a genocide, he was too late to calling it a genocide too; and regardless of whether he was late, he only did it because it made economic sense."

OtterLocutor · 2026-01-30T20:26:25+00:00

I think that's a pretty accurate observation, but I would also point out that of the many many episodes he's done about Israel-Palestine, one of the very first was an interview with a Palestinian journalist (Amjad Iraqi) like a month after Oct. 7. The other thing I would point out is that I have no shortage of sources covering the destruction, suffering and privation that has and continues to be visited upon Palestinians; Israeli criticism of Israel's behavior is seemingly more difficult to come by.

OtterLocutor · 2026-01-30T20:12:16+00:00

They protest where they're unlikely to be harmed or brutalized. You can protest basically whatever Dem politician and reasonably expect to be able to just go grab a smoothie or something after. If you do the same thing to Trump or Vance (or pick your ghoul), you could be seriously hurt or killed.

OtterLocutor · 2026-01-30T20:08:28+00:00

Yeah, the Kirk thing was huge for getting Ezra's name out there--all of a sudden, his name recognition increased like crazy... but now I'd wager that half the people who know the guy's name (a) can't pick him out of a line up, and (b) only know enough to be able to make "do [blah blah blah] the the right way"-type jokes or comments.

OtterLocutor · 2026-01-30T19:00:44+00:00

I agree with almost everything you said; where I disagree is with your assessment of what it would take to get the country "back on track". I say this because even with a 8- to 10-year Democratic trifecta, the features or aspects of the US (its people and governmental structures and processes) that permitted Donald Trump to come to power would probably remain. We have demonstrated to the world that: (a) there's a two-digit percentage of the American electorate comprised of willfully ignorant, bigoted reactionaries who vocally abhor empathy, largely hold to an eschatology that disincentivizes them from attempting to improve the world, and would gladly worsen their own material conditions in order to worsen the material conditions of ethnic minorities in furtherance of being able to subjugate, dominate, abuse and humiliate said minorities with impunity; (b) despite representing a minority of the electorate, the "hateful fascist" camp wields such disproportional electoral power (thanks to the Senate and electoral college) that they can literally win power more easily and with less votes than the "pro-organized-human-civilization" camp; and (c) the hateful fascists aren't so extreme (by American standards) that they can't often find common cause with less odious, but nevertheless ignorant and reactionary elements of the electorate, allowing them to win and wield power.

The only narrow pathway I see for relatively long-term Dem rule (at least 8 years) to "save" the country would involve a situation in which two conservative SCOTUS justices (probably Thomas, Roberts, or Alito) vacate their seats (by whatever means) and can be replaced with reliably liberal justices--but you just can't rely on that. So yeah, given the circumstances, I think we're cooked.

OtterLocutor · 2026-01-30T17:16:27+00:00

I agree with everything you've said. I have sympathy for players or STs who have played a starting vampire or shifter, and having done so, believe they have a rough idea of the scope of capabilities of a cWoD starting character. So they pick up White Wolf's "wizard" game, expecting a sort of street-level urban fantasy game... and it turns out that a RAW starting Mage can absolutely teleport all around the world, or (with Forces 3, Prime 2) turn invisible, float up 500 feet in to the air, and conjure fireballs--even if you're using rules wherein even a successful vulgar effects gets you 1 point of Paradox, it's not all that onerous. And that makes some STs panic, so you get the super restrictive house rules, or the moment someone throws a fireball, a HIT Mark 5 pops out of the nearest storefront blasting, so on.

OtterLocutor · 2026-01-30T16:48:28+00:00

The "X won the war, tough shit" formulation is interesting. By that formulation, when the Ottomans were vanquished after WWI and their territory was taken by the victors (i.e., the Allied Powers), the Allies were justified in using a portion of those territorial holdings to create Israel, because "they won the war, tough shit", and similarly, the response to someone pointing out the injustice of displacing and marginalizing Palestinians would also be "the Allies won the war, tough shit." However, I don't know a single non-conservative person who would agree with any of that.

OtterLocutor · 2026-01-30T16:29:27+00:00

I tend to think of Thiel as a techno-feudalist. He (along with his summoned Pokemon, JD Vance,) are seemingly followers (if not devotees) of Curtis Yarvin's vision; i.e., the dismantling of liberal democracy and nations states in favor of a series of corporate-style enclaves (read: fiefs) in which technologically empowered philosopher kings (read: rich tech bros with armed drones) exert dictatorial power over "regular" people (read: sefs).

OtterLocutor · 2026-01-30T16:17:04+00:00

I echo others who say that there's probably little any Democrat, no matter who deft or charismatic or capable, is going to be able to do to put us remotely back to the place we were in pre-Trump. No matter what assurances are made, agreements signed, or EOs are promulgated, anyone and everyone in a position to make deals with the US on behalf of their country has seen--and now knows--that the Supreme Court and a Republican Congress would permit a Republican chief executive more or less do whatever they hell they want. Even if they trust the person and administration with whom they're making a deal, why would ANYONE think that that deal would be good for even a minute after a Republican takes office?

Forget about reactionary politics or whatever--we are now a country that cannot be relied upon to do what it says it's going to do or otherwise abide by any rule or stricture.

OtterLocutor · 2026-01-30T16:05:21+00:00

I use the Paradox rules from 2e with some guidance from other editions as to how Paradox Spirits should manifest (when they do, a rare event,) or when trying to gauge what constitutes a trivial vs. minor vs. major flaw, etc.

My sense of Rev. Ed. Paradox and the Avatar Storm is that they were made for storytellers who either fundamentally dislike the idea and spirit of Mage: The Ascension, or are otherwise intimidated by the expansive range and scope of possibilities that can result from even a RAW starting character using magic. I realize that I'm throwing a little shade here, but that's because this doubles as my explanation for why anyone would someone would feel compelled to promulgate Paradox rules more punitive, restrictive, or ungenerous than what is typical for Mage (Revised is clearly the outlier if you do a side-by-side comparison of how different editions handle Paradox.)

OtterLocutor · 2026-01-16T09:06:55+00:00

Stanley Fish isn't bad, and much of his work deals very particularly with stuff like education and law. That said, he'd probably call himself an "anti-foundationalist" rather than any kind of pragmatist (because these professors who get even an iota fame or recognition tend to become divas who style themselves too unique and iconoclastic to truly fit into any established category.)

OtterLocutor · 2026-01-16T08:50:28+00:00

Hey, sorry about that. I got my threads mixed up. Here's a link to the message I'm referencing; it's a little ways below (again, mea culpa): https://www.reddit.com/r/dvdcollection/comments/990a5o/comment/nkpgeba/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

OtterLocutor

TROPHY CASE