My flagship work, my pride and joy! A story I've worked on for two and a half years now.
Peacebringers
It mainly follows Vajra, a Raudra from Raudraksha. Species is original, and based off the Hindu deity Shiva. He was discovered in the ruins of a tribe that was destroyed by a psychopath Sith Lord; the sole survivor. He was catatonic when he was found, but he heard the song of a lightsaber crystal, which opened him up to the Force and inspired him to join the Jedi visiting his world. What follows is a story of his trials, triumphs, joys, and defeats.
Reasons why I'm proud of it: well, the main one is that I've kept at this for so long. It's quite a decent story, if I may say so myself. While I had a lot of the beats from playing the game, I added a whole lot to give my characters life and depth that I hope shines through. I also set myself a challenge at the start; to write an overpowered character who nonetheless has his flaws and lows, who takes wounds and is a compelling character. In my eyes, I have managed this. My story isn't faithful past a certain point, and I change stuff liberally. But I hope it's a good one. It's been fun writing this, so far. Hopefully, I can write my own novel series soon, with lessons I've learned from this undertaking.
Prologue: Children of the Storm
Book One: Legend of Lightning: This is the Knight's story from SWTOR. It also has a few moments from Sith Warrior and Agent. And pieces from the Foundry.
Book Two: Heroes of Both Sides: Connected short stories of all the other classes. Ends after False Emperor.
Book Three: Conclave of Heroes: This is Shadow of Revan. But it has all my main classes. Some are more prominent than others, but the main ones are Vajra, Kairegane Rooks (Warrior), Hekaten (Darth Nox), Roban Queens (Trooper), Jerre Kraot (Second Smuggler) and a few additional OCs by a friend. Ends after the Ziost crisis.
Book Four: Secret Superpower: This is the first months of the Zakuul war, where Kairegane Rooks attempts to destroy Arcann and his Empire as revenge for his seeming execution of Vajra.
Book Five: Limbo: This is the story of Lana Beniko's long search for Vajra.
Book Six: Beware the Reaper: This is the rest of KOTFE, but heavily modified to the point it diverges from the game canon. I'm nearly done with this one. Seven chapters left, after which I'll begin work on Book Seven.
So you can avoid them stealing things from you, the artist/writer, etc.
Pro GenAI websites/Programs:
Facebook
Instagram
X/Twitter (Remember, Grok gives people cancer)
Threads
Pro Writing Aid
Grammarly
Duolingo
Google Docs
Microsoft Word/all Microsoft products Takes from and will feed their machine.
Youtube (taking advantage of people who are hearing impaired. ==;;)
Adobe Products. All of them. If you HAVE to use them (Some businesses require it), save offline because there is a film of at least some privacy protections there, so if you have to sue, you can say it violates US privacy law. Remember, contracts do not circumvent US law.
Corel won't feed the machines, but still uses AI stolen from other artists. Which sucks since Corel Draw is the second best overall for vector programs. (Plus I love Painter, but I bought the offline version to avoid AI). (Canadian company)
Canva Takes and feeds their machine.
Deviant Art Not only supports AI, but put a tool in and said they are going to steal your work if you like it or not for their machine.
Sketchup went Pro-GenAI. The thing is that you can do the same thing in Blender these days with precise measurements.
Autodesk has stated they are Pro-Gen AI here. It is not clear if they will use your models to feed their machine. But be on guard. They make Maya and 3Dmax. You can replace it with Blender.
Neutral ground:
Tumblr (there is a way to opt out [Link] and they don't have an active AI machine.) https://www.tumblr.com/dookins/743519550598987776/heres-how-to-disable-third-parties-like-ai
Etsy allows GenAI, but still has some (minor) restrictions. I'd still be cautious. (Also be cautious of drop shippers). Complaints about too much AI and AI images+patterns made by Ai still exist on the website. They lean slightly more pro-AI, but still won't let it run completely amok, say like Facebook. They won't feed your work into a machine, but also don't ban it through robots.txt.
Bluesky They don't use an AI algorithm except for in the "Discover" section of their website, but while they are anti-GenAI strongly, they don't seem to block the Gen AI bots from entry, so you'd still have to use Nightshade or Glaze (links below). There is no opt-out because they don't need an opt out. (Leaning towards strong position on AI, but I wish they would block GenAI bots).
Searxng- If you super want to screw over Google, in general, and have some tech savvy, you can set up your own search engine through searxng. It's easier on Windows and Linux than it is on a Mac. (Mac you need Docker), but if you're determined on privacy, Searxng adds a layer of privacy. Some of it sometimes uses bits of AI, but most of it doesn't and you can fuss with the settings so it doesn't spit out AI results. At sheer minimum Google will stop spitting out weird videos on Youtube at you because in your private browsing, you searched for the origin of ball bearings while not logged in for a book and Google likes to break privacy laws.
Strong positions against AI:
Scrivener (Creator vowed against AI) Writing program. There is an active forum, and versions for Mac, Linux and PC. It is paid, but at ~60 USD, it's cheaper than most programs. There is usually a holiday sale around Christmas. It has a learning curve, but with an active forum with the programmer of it there to ask obscure questions it's not a dead zone. They often take suggestions and implement them over time. (Especially if you rank the importance, applications, etc) US company.
LibreOffice Open source and free Spreadsheet and Word processor program that can replace Microsoft Word. Some people might have seen older versions where it was called Neo Office (now extinct) and Open Office. LibreOffice is still populated, plus the forums are super helpful if you get stuck. The UX is pretty intuitive if you've used Microsoft Word. Scrivener, BTW, supports exporting to odt (the native file) as well as .doc, and this can open both. The slight thing is that sometimes it doesn't export to .doc smoothly. And I DO wish more magazines, and agent (big clue here) supported .odt files since it is free. Part of the reason .odt isn't as supported is because Microsoft and Adobe have a deal with the devil with each other, so Adobe's Book formatting program InDesign doesn't support ODT. (BTW, if you have a good open source replacement for InDesign that supports ODT, let me know.)
Dabble (as suggested by SF stories, see reblog) is a writing program. Similar to Scrivener. Has vowed against AI and to resist it. 108 dollars a year for Basic. It is almost twice the price of Scrivener who lets you update for fairly cheap. 29 dollars a month, v. 59 dollars for the whole program (Scrivener) for the same features of Premium. You choose.
yWriter is a free Writing program and like Scrivener, and has vowed against AI Last I looked it had some UX issues, but some people swear by it. The learning curve is higher than Scrivener which is saying something.
Ellipsus is an online writing program and vowed against AI. The main feature I like (which Scrivener doesn't have) is the ability to change spellcheck based on region/language. It is a requested feature of Scrivener, but lower priority. So if you have a Brit, you can get the spelling for the character. They are a British-based company.
Cara.app (The creator of the website sued GenAI there is no chance they'll convert) is an artist website. Cara is trying to institute an auto Glaze/Nightshade into the website if given enough funds. People see it as a soft replacement for deviant art. (which went fully AI) If you believe in human art, please donate if you can. Zhang Jingna, the Creator,is Chinese-Singporean. She lives in Singapore.
Clip Studio Paint added AI, but saw the light and decided to protect artists instead because of protest and removed it. There are tutorials and a good forum if you get super stuck. Based in Japan, so the UI and UX is really clean.
Davinci Resolve Pro is a film editing software that's super good. There is a free version and a paid version. The forums are responsive. The programmers aren't always present. There is a healthy group of tutorials. US company. Clean UX. It does take a little bit of time to remember the shortcuts.
Tahoma2D is anti-AI and open source animation program. Takes a little getting used to, but is good for animations and doesn't crash as often as Animate. Programmers are in the forums and some bugs are fixed within hours. The forums are super responsive and helpful.
Krita open source and free, no AI. I'd rank it secondary to Clip Studio Paint (which is paid) I haven't tried the forums, but it's pretty intuitive and can stand for a lower level replacement for Painter, and do a lot of the basics of Photoshop. It's usually ranked higher than the equally open source Gimp.
Writer P AKA Writer+ (app for when you're on the go) is a simple word processor app for your phone that doesn't use AI. The original programmer stopped updating, so Writer+ person took over and isn't out to make a profit since it's free in the spirit of the original app. It has subfolders you can use. Since it was programmed before GenAI it doesn't have AI. Intuitive, easy to use. Fairly easy to upload the files through three dots->share. The files can save to your card or phone with some settings fussing. Simple word processor.
Inkscape is a free vector program and no AI. It is harder to use than illustrator and has less features. But if you're doing smaller vectors for one-offs with less complexity, it'll do you after some learning curve. Best of the lot. I hate Affinity Designer which is the same thing, only paid. (Neither Affinity program was worth the money paid)
Affinity (Designer, etc) swore to be AI-free and does Vector and Photos. The UX is messy, I dislike the program and regret paying for it. Inkscape and Krita are better UX and do the same thing. The forums aren't as friendly since there has been an onslaught of people seeing it's supposed to be a replacement for Photoshop and Illustrator, but the programmers aren't present. The people on the forums are often on edge about this assertion. And the capabilities of the program don't outshine basically Krita or Inkscape capabilities (both free). What is usually intuitive is not. UK company. If you're going to pay for a program, go for Clip Studio Paint which rivals Corel Painter.
Blender is a 3D art program and does not use GenAI. It can do 2D animation, but Tahoma is easier to use in this regard. It's open source and free. Plus there are plenty of tutorials. The forums can be touch and go sometimes, but there are plenty of sub Blender communities that might be responsive. It can also do animation.
Handmade vowed against AI and promised to never sell itself for stock prices to prevent AI (as a replacement for Etsy.)
Discover a world of creativity and craftsmanship through Handmade, an innovative platform connecting passionate artisans with discerning buy
Proton (to replace Google Suite) as suggested by SF Stories (see reblog) Vowed against AI. They are missing a spreadsheet, but have online and offline capabilities, plus a built-in VPN.
But you need a pro website...
Look up robots.txt and AI bots: https://www.cyberciti.biz/web-developer/block-openai-bard-bing-ai-crawler-bots-using-robots-txt-file/
Use cloudflare:
Use Nightshade:
https://nightshade.cs.uchicago.edu/whatis.html
which will poison the algorithm
Use Glaze:
Take Away:
The thing is you think you doing it alone will do nothing, but the more AI feeds on itself, AI images, the worse they become, and the less detailed so, denying it the images, adding poison or not being able to read the human text is eventually going to lead to an AI collapse.
Analysis shows that indiscriminately training generative artificial intelligence on real and generated content, usually done by scrapi
And why not help that along?
I don't want to give cancer to poor people [Link] or make the planet burn faster [Link]. So GenAI collapse is everything I dream of. GenAI apocalypse is not.
So I had an idea for a divider but I wasn’t sure you’d want to make them.. horizontal lightsabers..
anyways.. sorry if that’s too wild for you to make.. thanks in advance!
Ahh no, I love this idea!! I picked out a couple of my fave lightsabers and made up some dividers with them - I hope this sort of matches what you were thinking! 💙❤️ thank you for sending this in!
you all are too sweet! 💖 thank you so much for your kind words on these. @beskarandblasters asked if I would do a purple one - it inspired me to design a couple of my own, in my fave colors! (Also free to for use for dividers, if you’d like to!)
For context. The protag of one of the two great Indian epics is a prince called Rama. He is presented as a man who, despite being the avatar of Vishnu, still must follow all the rules of his society, even if they bring him grief and hardship. After the major conflict, he returns to his kingdom, and makes it the most righteous kingdom of all time. This was called "Rama Rajya," the rule of Rama. And "Jai shree Ram!" ("Glory to Lord Ram!") is a way to invoke him. Now, on to my point.
One of the things right-wingers in India love to chestbeat and shout about is Rama Rajya, and how, under the BJP, we're on track to build one. The same BJP that's mired in corruption scandals for the past seven years. The sane BJP that accepts and shields killers and rapists. I mean, all Indian parties do that. Our politicians are Hutts after all. But the BJP is lately been showing a face that even a Hutt Mom wouldn't love, if you know what I mean.
In addition to racism, classism, elitism, and bigotry, there's rampant corruption, suppression, intimidation, and moral policing. All cranked up to 11.
Worst thing? Whenever their thugs attack someone in the streets, they shout "Jai shri Ram!"
That hallowed phrase is now becoming the same as... some other religious warcries you may have heard of. These zealots are destroying our heritage.
We don't live to be exploited, consumed, and discarded.
We don't deserve to be dehumanized.
We don't deserve to be told that we are not worthy of our dream of visiting a few spots around the world. Or owning a nice house. Or car.
We deserve the right to rest, or pursue our own hobbies and interests.
If our hard work allows our overpaid bosses to afford their months-long retreats, their tenth yachts, their private planes, and luxury foods, we deserve to be treated like we matter.
We don't live to be exploited, consumed, and discarded.
We don't deserve to be dehumanized.
We don't deserve to be told that we are not worthy of our dream of visiting a few spots around the world. Or owning a nice house. Or car.
We deserve the right to rest, or pursue our own hobbies and interests.
If our hard work allows our overpaid bosses to afford their months-long retreats, their tenth yachts, their private planes, and luxury foods, we deserve to be treated like we matter.
We don't live to be exploited, consumed, and discarded.
We don't deserve to be dehumanized.
We don't deserve to be told that we are not worthy of our dream of visiting a few spots around the world. Or owning a nice house. Or car.
We deserve the right to rest, or pursue our own hobbies and interests.
If our hard work allows our overpaid bosses to afford their months-long retreats, their tenth yachts, their private planes, and luxury foods, we deserve to be treated like we matter.
i really im absolutely astounded at the phenomenal job that MIB did not to be racist against aliens, despite being a movie about secret agents chasing evil aliens. that scene where jay helps an alien mother to give birth is probably one of the most humanizing moments for an Other ive seen in a movie ever.
like it grabs the body snatcher trope from the cold war "aliens are all around you, hidden in diguzise, they could be any one of us!" and then it says "and theyre just people, theyre literally just people trying to live their lives and thats fine"
you literally have a whooe scene where a cop stands out because he says "i dont care how menacibg or threatning someone looks im not going to shoot them if there is a reasonable explination for what theyre doing, one is sneezing and one is just doing excercise", and that is the guy that gets aproved to join MIB.
The movie has a real love for NYC and immigrant culture as a part of that. The opening scene where K welcomes the undocumented immigrants to the United States. One alien greets another and says he's ordered him pierogi. A lot of them are refugees from their home worlds who just want to survive.
New toktok content I hate: pranks on partners. Especially the cheese thing. I'm sorry, if your sole draw is that you can bully "the love of your life" for clout on tiktok/reels/shorts, you don't have a creative bone in your body.
