He/Him, 22 year old Oglala Lakota/Washoe artist
PFP by @beau-draws-and-cries and header image by @hard-times-paramore
Favorite media rn: jjba, jjk, assassins creed
Making Science Club and God Incarnates
Not gonna make you guys try to pronounce my name, so just call me Mat or something.
I'm an aspiring author who is currently working on 2 stories
((Edit 6/25/24: Made an AO3 Account recently and post explaining more here. I currently have an Assassins Creed AU fic and an Age of Empires AU fic posted on there, as well as a page for old and new poems. Check it out! ))
Science Club
Inspired by series like SCP Which once I'm ready, y'all can read here
While this series is still being plotted out, there is art you can check out to get an idea of what it will look like. Inspired by my love of shonen, especially Jojo and JJK
((Will update this when I get more art, lore, and pages planned out))
Plot summary: In this world, the gods never truly died. Once about every century their souls and attributes are reborn into the people most like them. The souls of Thanatos and Hypnos were reborn into two sisters, Mary and Poppy. While Poppy's awakening abilities put her into a coma, Mary must now take her training and role as the new harbinger of death seriously, before Poppy's gift wears away at her. Mary will have to meet new incarnates, kill old gods, and even find new gods in her quest to make a world where her and her sister can live in peace.
I appreciate any and all interaction, and questions about my series for either me or my OCs are encouraged.
If any of this interests you and you wanna follow, I will be forever grateful đ
Please commission @hard-times-paramore because I just commissioned her to make this beautiful art of my character Zola from my story Science Club, and I feel many are gonna be just as happy as me to see their character's in her style!
Zola blurb from her profile
Zola has two personalities, that of the primary head and secondary head on her shoulder. The primary head acts only logically, or at least she thinks she does most of the time. She judges action based on whether they bring any major benefit to herself or others, and has a rigid view of the world. She is not ever angered or saddened about anything, to a creepy degree, offputting those who knew who she used to be. She does take advice from the secondary head at times, if only to understand what one would normally do, but for most decisions she dismisses it outright. She knows the way in which the secondary head throws insults at people ruins her plans and intent and so most of the time she keeps it covered up.
The secondary head believes that she is the real Zola, and in a way she is, just an unfiltered version of her. Whatever control Zola had over her own words is lost with the secondary head, all of her traits amplified to a hundred. Her stubbornness and attitude has turned from a endearing part of her to a brash and rude little head who often points out aspects of people that Zola would normally never say.
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.
its not a "native version of nonbinary" or a "native version of bigender"
thats not what it means, thatâs not what itâs ever meant
two spirit is an pan-tribal term coined by indigenous people in 1990, for indigenous people, to replace the term berdache, an offensive term that white settlers applied to indigenous people that fell outside of the western lens of gender and sexuality
two spirit isnt a "native version of nonbinary" because two spirit doesnt inherently mean someone is nonbinary. some of us are, but so many two spirited people arent. many people in our community also choose specifically not to label themselves with terms like nonbinary, gay, bisexual, etc, and solely use two spirit or another term from their tribe or language
we can be anything and everything and nothing you've ever imagined
to say its a "native version of nonbinary" is not just inaccurate, it's a complete erasure of a massive part of our community
Ok so get this. The military intervention in Venezuela despite having clear oil related objectives was just a device to distract people from the Epstein files. Now this makes sense yes. Forget about the human people just focus on facts this makes sense because the US population is the only population. But of course since the US population is the only population it would be too much to imply man would return to the moon just to distract people from the 3rd world war looming in the horizon (also for oil) right?? I mean. First of all Iranians are not real. US population is the only population. but secondly it's super expensive duh. It's not like they've done it before just to clear up the US' image. And anyways it's not like it's working, right? It's not like people have reverted into romanticizing the US' victory of the space race while ignoring it's political context and it's not like people are at present blorbofying people who serve the military.
This is about indigenous character stuff, not Black, but I don't know where else to ask and maybe someone on this blog has answers if that's okay.
I was thinking of making a Phoenix bloodline sorcerer for Pathfinder, and was considering having bird feathers growing in their hair. But I'm worried it'll be insensitive to indigenous Americans because my understanding is that they wear feathers as a closed cultural practice.
Can anyone here advise me? Or point me towards an indigenous equivalent of cbc?
@isuggestlandback , and if this counts as a tobacco question, you have to donate to an Indigenous cause and send proof of it first đđŸ
Hi, indigiguy here. I don't know what I suggest land back might say, if the account responds to this person's question, or if the account will contradict what I say, but if you're reading this OP, I would say no.
I don't really know the details of the Phoenix bloodline, if they're already supposed to be native coded, or if you're headcanoning them as indigicoded. If they're growing out of their head with the intentional character design nod to the way some tribes wear them, that might be a bit strange of a concept
Not that feathers are to be prohibited in character design, or that you need a reason to add them, just that this is kind of a strange thing to explain outloud. "Oh, the reason why they grow feathers is because they're supposed to be Native American coded," which leads to a bunch of other questions of, well couldn't you have thought of a better way to code that in? Which tribe in specific are they supposed to be coded after? Because we all have different ways of wearing feathers, or what types of feathers we even use, because while my Lakota ancestors wore eagle feathers, my Washoe ancestors wore magpie feathers, so you kind of have to hone in on what tribe or region you plan on coding them after. I would say do that first before exploring any indigi-coding.
Or if they're not supposed to be indigi-coded and you're just worried that the presence of feathers growing out of their hair will be insensitive to us... I don't know, we'd have to see what the design looks like to really figure that.
me: yeah so a few years ago someone invented infinite scrolling and really it was a terrible idea
the elf I just hooked up with, taking the lavender and honeysuckle lollipop from their mouth: An infinite scroll... most elfmaidens learn to enchant a scroll to never end before they're a mere 300 years old. It saves on paper.
me: oh see that's just writing, with social media it's really bad, it just leads to people doomscrolling all day
the elf I just hooked up with, spluttering and panicked: The Doomscroll! Be silent human, thou shoulds't not speak the name of that fell parchment
(Used to be just they/them, started also going by it/its in the Circus)
Avatar Gimmick: ramune bottle - has balance issues due to the Ramune marble, and is often clumsy
Personality: overly stressed and oddly protective of everyone else, which, baffingly, includes Caine. Jax would describe them as "the stressed one". They started believing they'd never leave the circus pretty early on, and in an attempt to make peace with it, started trying to play their part in hopes it would keep them from abstracting. Also started going by it/its pronouns to adapt to being an object. Surely in a very healthy manner.
Extra facts:
Arrived in the circus after Pomni
When Mixer holds its breath, it bubbles up and splashes everyone like mentos on coke.
In life before the Digital Circus, was an accountant for C&A
Its Caine-induced nightmare sequence would have its body broken by the others to take their marble out.
Dynamics:
Best - Pomni - due to their contrasting reactions to being trapped in the circus, they uplift and balance each other in adventures.
Second best - Gangle - their clumsiness broke her mask several times, but she's endeared by it being a ramune bottle and they love each other's drawings.
Average - has the average relationship with the rest as the others do. Baffles Jax by believing him worthy of friendship. INFURIATES Jax by turning around and believing the same for Caine.
