Siadea: Tumblr Edition

[valtsv]

i care so much about fictional morality and ethics but not in a lame ass "is this character/ship problematic" way. i'm cringe for other reasons.

[valtsv]

i want to know what the court proceedings for a trial where the defendant claims mind control or possession look like. what's the worst crime you can commit in a world where people can cast spell of curse your entire bloodline over a careless insult at the farmer's market. how are magical prisoners treated. what kind of values would a society whose honour code is built on glory through battle and warmongering uphold. what's public opinion on the death penalty.

[valtsv]

grabs your hand. come worldbuild with me.

[siadea]

WELCOME TO MY WORLD, wherein we are having to come up with a legal system for angels. Because the In Nomine TTRPG book where they talk about the angels of Judgment doesn't specify any laws. We know that excessive pride is a sin for which an Archangel can be prosecuted. (God pardoned him, but he was guilty as shit. Just saying. Michael.) We know that hiding half-angel, half-human children from your superiors gets you exiled to Earth and cut off from Heavenly support. Starting a new religion without approval counts as heresy and can be prosecuted as such. We know, furthermore, that some angels can hear absolute Truth when people talk. Others can know your most honorable or dishonorable deeds. The angels of Judgment are literally damaged (and might Fall!) if they enact an unjust punishment or stand by while the innocent are punished unjustly. But they didn't give us any angelic laws or punishment guidelines. or even legal procedures. The lawyer angels (shut up yes there are lawyer angels) come in threes and count as judge and jury, sometimes executioner. (Though it also says legal executions are carried out by the Archangel of Judgment?) There is an 'appeals triad' with the Angels of Mercy and Equal Truth and whatever random angel gets to ride herd on them. But we don't know what that looks like!

I am suffering. Send help. I'm not even a lawyer. I don't even know if being a lawyer would help.

[sachermorte]

so the thing about english is that people think it's so divorced from other germanic languages based on like. words. I've even heard people try to insist that english is a romance language. because of that whole messy business in 1066 with out-of-wedlock willy and his band of naughty normans. and now a good chunk of the vocabulary is french or whatever and they're prestigious so not using them makes you sound like a rube and this and that and the other

and yes william the conqueror will never be safe from me. I will have my revenge on him. he fucked up a perfectly good germanic language is what he did. this will be me in hell

but the thing is that most words in, say, german do have a one to one english equivalent. not all hope is lost, for those who still dare to see it. it's just that you 1066pilled normancels aren't looking in the right place

dog (en) ≠ der Hund (de) but der Hund (de) -> hound (en)

look with your special eyes. that one was easier. not all of them are this intuitive because of semantic narrowing and broadening and waltzing and hokey-pokeying and whatever else. I'll give you a few more

animal (en) ≠ das Tier (de)

aha! you think. I've got him on the ropes now.

but then

das Tier (de) -> deer (en)

nooooo!! you whine and cry in gay baby jail. the consonants are different!!! listen to me. listen, I say, putting both my hands on your shoulder. /t/and /d/ are the same sound. you just put your voice behind one of them.

nooooooooo!! you wail. deer are animals but not all animals are deer!!! listen to me. LISTEN. they used to be. animals used to be deer. that's just what we called them. it was a long time ago. it was a weird time in all our lives. it's okay.

let's try for a verb this time

to die (en) ≠ sterben (de) but sterben (de) -> to starve

same principle with the consonants, we're just changing a stop (where we completely stop the airflow and then let it through) for a fricative (where we still let some air go through. idk where it's going. maybe to its job or something.)

to starve used to mean generally to die, not just to die of malnourishment. we do that a lot. we take one word for a lot of things and make it mean one thing. or take one word for one thing and make it mean a lot of things. this is common and normal.

"okay but roland," you say, suddenly coming up with an argument. "what about tree? trees are super common. I don't think we'd fuck around too much with that. the german word is baum! what about THAT?"

"when did you learn german?" I ask, but then decide it isn't relevant right at this very moment. but fine.

tree (en) ≠ der Baum (de) but der Baum (de) -> beam (en)

beam??? you ask incredulously. beam???? BEAM?????? you continue with the same tone and cadence of captain holt from brooklyn 99.

yes. beam. like the evil beams from my eye I'm going to hit you with if you don't stop shouting.

but the vowels!!! you howl.

listen. listen to me. the vowels mean nothing. absolutely nothing. they're fluid like water. it got raised in english.

"WHAT DOES RAISED MEAN"

it doesn't matter right now. they were raised better than you, at least. stop shouting. open your eyes and see what god has given you. they're the same word.

"they're NOT the same word. they mean different things!"

we've been over this. they didn't used to. a beam was (and is) a long solid piece of wood. much like the long solid piece of wood I showed your mother last night.

FAQ:

Q: could english be some kind of germanic-romance hybrid?

A: do you become a sexy thing from the black lagoon just because you dressed up as one for halloween? english may have gotten a lot of vocabulary from norman french, but its history and syntax are distinctly germanic. that's what we base these things on.

Q: okay but what does it matter? this doesn't actually affect my day to day life

A: you come into my house? you come into my house, the house of an autistic man living in vienna austria and studying english linguistics and you ask me what does it matter? sit back down. I was going to let you go but now I have powerpoints to show you

Q: you're stupid and wrong and gay and a bad person

A: I know it's you, Willy

[siadea]

So I have this worksheet about revolutionary war era America, talking about slavery in the Southern Colonies. In it, the text says "Not all slave owners were harsh. Some were nice to their slaves." THIS BULLSHIT WAS ACTUALLY A QUESTION ON THEIR WORKSHEET. And when I told my student that it was incorrect, her gen ed teacher was like, "You're putting in your personal opinion and making it political. The text says not all slave owners were mean." Like, I'm sorry I wasn't aware that saying slavery was bad was mcfucking political?

[siadea]

I. Just want everyone to know I'm an atheist. Okay? Because a couple of my coworkers just tried to get me to go to their church and Minister To My Soul. It was exceedingly awkward. As a former believer, I could answer confidently when I said I had accepted Jesus into my heart (In the past! He is not there currently!) and knew where I was going when I died (Into The Durt). One of them apparently had a dream about me possibly dying or going to hell, which was why they brought it up.

Christians, please do not do this to people. Please. It is SO AWKWARD. I was absolutely not going to give them honest answers because I really LIKE this job and I do not want to get bombarded with ministry.

[andmaybegayer]

measure once cut also once, no prablem

[andmaybegayer]

#i know i already reblogged this but i need to like. cross stitch it or carve it into wood or quilt it or something

concept for a vcarving project

[theshitpostcalligrapher]

no i get you this was perfectly centered when i wrote it

[shaydh]

I have done the cross stitch

[poolboydivision]

in honor of all the times I've made this mistake irl

[makeitdewey]

702 Miscellany of fine and decorative arts

[shopwitchvamp]

Shop drop time! This week's restock set is live now~

We're featuring plenty of guest artist designs this time, including a ton from @vetiverfox along with one each from @fleebites and @themikeydeano. Be sure stop by the shop and check out the full restock, because there's sooo many fun dark gothic accessories to find over there as well 🦇 🖤 witchvamp.com 🖤 (PS: shares are always super appreciated!! we've been struggling a little with reach lately and it helps more than you know! thanks, everyone)

[siadea]

Tremendous skirt collection! I don't know if y'all wear skirts, or joggers, but these are fantastic.

[siadea]

The final product! Contains some cat hair. Hand sewn, paper pieces, et cetera. My fingers are killing me.

[siadea]

Oh, I have SO many helpers for my sewing project. (Needles and pins are safe and accounted for FYI!!!)

[siadea]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Seraphiel and Ruachiel attend Seraphiel's first therapy appointment.

I am so BEYOND thrilled to share this chapter with you all. For YEARS of my real life time, this character has needed some goddamn therapy. And at last he receives some. It is kind of a big deal to me.

ULTIMATE THANKS to @stesierra aka the writer of Chislon, Angel of Psychology.

[siadea]

Asking the Breeze, Chapter 6

In case you needed more smut in your lives! Features spanking, the most messed-up guy over the mildest kinks imaginable, and a downright brilliant idea from Ruachiel.

[elumish]

I keep trying to record something on how books are bad at writing fighting training, and it keeps being like 12 minutes long

[stonecoldspaghetti]

Bad as in prose? Or bad as in how training to fight actually works?

I'm just curious

[elumish]

The latter.

Basically, "more skilled person just beats the person they're training at sparring until the person they're training improves without doing any fundamentals or teaching them the right way to do things" is a cruel and useless form of "training" and only makes sense if you're trying to show that the "teacher" is being cruel or doesn't know how to teach. Showing it as a legitimate and useful form of training indicates to me that the author didn't bother to do any real research.

[rockshitty]

There are sort of two ways to look at it as a trope.

It’s either one of those tropes that has no real world basis, but looks/sounds cool in storytelling and is useful for moving the plot along (see: torture, knocking someone unconscious, a lot of medieval fantasy government stuff)

Or it’s one of those things where the overlap between people who write books and people who practice martial arts is so small that most writers trust the trope blindly and never think past it.

[sourb0i]

Just a few tips from someone who's been doing HEMA fighting (and training) for about a year

-Drills. So many drills. Just doing the same motion, or set of motions, over and over and over until it's muscle memory. And then do it some more. These can be done with another person, so you can get a feel for hitting someone (else's sword), or they might be done to a dummy, or just to the air as part of a series of steps

-there is a surprising amount of reading! A lot of what we do is based on styles that originated in the 11th-15th centuries, and were literally written in manuals for future people to use. Sometimes the explanations and diagrams are very clear. Sometimes they are not.

- There is sparring, with variations on goals. Sometimes the goal is just 'hit each other'. Sometimes you will have specific caveats, like if you both deliver a 'killing blow' at the same time you have to run to opposite ends of the room and back

- Footwork drills

- lots of wrist and arm stretches, both with and without swords

- Moving through different blocks/base positions, and practicing different cuts from each position

- More drills, wearing armor or other appropriate gear

- Weights and cardio training! Both are extremely important for making sure you can 1. Swing your sword and 2. Keep swinging your sword when you're wearing 15 lbs of armor and have been hacking at people for a full 20 minutes

- Learning how to maintain your gear

- Practicing control of the blade- this is usually done by having a dummy target (or sometimes a real person), and swinging with full power but stopping before you actually make contact. Master swordsman can bring their blade within half an inch of their target.

- Even more drills

Obviously some of this is pretty modern, but I can't imagine that it would be incredibly novel even to people from 600 years ago. And if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

[sourb0i]

Adding onto this with even more things, now that I'm nearly 2 years in and have done a couple of tournaments!

Footwork drills are really important! Learning how and when to move, and shift your weight on your feet, is crucial

When practicing solo I often do so in front of a full-length mirror so that I can actually see what I'm doing

There is also just a lot of sparring. Unfortunately you can't really get good at sword fighting without getting your butt kicked. A lot.

However! A good teacher will give you tips either during or after the fight, or both! A lot of the time it's things like 'you need to improve your footwork more, here are 10 different drills. Go do them.' However, there is also a fair bit of going back over certain 'plays' in slower motion, where they'll tell you exactly what you did wrong and how to fix it in the context of the fight.

Also, just as a side note, unless your character is the progeny of a wealthy lord, they are probably going to use borrowed equipment. It will not fit right. And it will reek with the stench of 1000 sweaty people. And if you train in it enough, when you do get your own gear that actually fits properly and only smells like your sweat, I swear you get 5x better overnight

At some point, everyone develops their own style. I've fought people who love to just make huge stabby lunges, people who make wild flourishes, big guys who just brute force it, guys who look like they'd blow away in a light breeze but are the fastest people you've ever met. It comes over time, and from learning as many different techniques as you can

Not sure how much they did this in Ye Olden Days but almost everyone I've met in HEMA now fights in at least two different styles (usually longsword and Sabre or rapier). As I said above, the more styles you learn, the better you get at all of them; many techniques that you learn from one style are applicable in some way to the other

Thats all I can think of for now, but if anyone has any questions feel free to reach out!

[elumish]

It's been a while since I've done martial arts, but this reminded me of some other points specifically about sparring as a training tool:

At least in the modern version of sparring, one of the things we learn is how to spar. There are standard protocols to sparring depending on the form you're learning, and it's super important that you follow them.

This is not just about learning how to be the attacker--you also need to know things like how to fall right, which you learn for real life but also for sparring, because it can be really unsafe for both you and the person you're sparring with if you don't know the basics of how to keep yourself safe.

Tapping out! When you're doing particularly forms where you're touching each other/grappling/doing joint locks/etc., one of the main ways you signal to stop is by tapping out. This is key to keeping people safe during sparring.

People can get hurt during sparring, especially if you screw up. I once almost dislocated someone's shoulder doing a joint lock (they were fine, they tapped out, we talked through it, we figured out what I did wrong), and I had someone hyperextend my elbow once. It also seriously exasperated my wrist's repetitive stress issue, particularly from someone repeatedly muscling through something they shouldn't be muscling through.

You can also give people concussions, cause bruises, or even break bones if you aren't careful. I got a bruise that took months to heal (probably a bone bruise) from falling the wrong way during some exhibition sparring on a wooden platform.

If you start sparring/partnered fighting when you don't have the foundation of how to fight, especially if you're partnered with someone who doesn't know how to properly guide you, it's really easy to build bad muscle memory. The right way to do something, is not always the instinctive way to do it, and if you get thrown into partnered fighting unprepared you will fall back on instinct, not training.

If sparring/partnered fighting is 100% losing with no real guidance, it won't teach you how to ever win, it will just teach you how to lose, which is actively unhelpful. The goal of sparring in that way becomes learning how to lose less badly, which may be great for self defense but isn't particularly great for actually learning how to successfully fight.

[iwritesnortsintragedies]

@howtofightwrite Hasn't posted in a while but is a WONDERFUL resource on that topic!

[aphrodites-bloody-rose]

Old hand here with over 25 years of martial arts experience. I can confirm a lot of this from doing high end Olympic level training.

One thing that is often overlooked is that the most dangerous people are the upper level beginner and lower level intermediate students. This is because they know enough to use techniques and strategies, but they’re still learning control. The people who have been there 5+ years who (unless they are an asshole) are the safest people to fight because they can calibrate themselves down to fight less experienced people safely. There were several tournaments where I had to fight beginning students because there was no one else in my category to fight. The beginners always went all out, while I had to calibrate myself accordingly so that both of us would be safe. An experienced trainer is going to think about how to fight as well as the fight itself.

Which leads into my next point, never underestimate how much fights can swing wildly in one person’s favor or another on any given day. The experienced fighter may make a misstep, the rookie may get in a lucky hit. Experience can take you a long, long way, but never underestimate the thousands of factors outside of human control.

If anyone has any more questions about anything from weapons usage, how high end training works, how teaching someone to fight works, or just wants to hear me ramble about how modern Olympic Tae Kwon Do’s rule changes have made the sport less safe, my inbox is open.

Cheers!

[siadea]

So..................... I had two aquariums, right? I still do. One of them was a 7-gallon, containing a betta! The other was a little 3 gallon containing four shrimp.

Through means I am not sure of, there came to be mosquito larvae in the shrimp tank. Also, scuds. Well, I knew where the scuds came from, those came from the plants that I ordered. But then... they bred. A lot. So I had a tank full of mosquito larvae, scuds, and four shrimp. It was unsightly to say the least. And I didn't want the mosquito larvae to become full-grown mosquitos IN MY HOUSE.

And I thought to myself, "Self, what do bettas eat? OH RIGHT. Scuds and mosquito larvae and other small insects!" I personally witnessed my betta devouring the last scud in HER tank, so I knew she was up to the job. I decided to give my betta a small vacation in the shrimp tank so she could take care of these issues for me.

Well, she did.

She also took care of the shrimp.

In retrospect, this may have been a mistake.

So I now have a betta who needs to fast a couple of days, an empty 3 gallon, and a 7 gallon containing a betta.

[siadea]

I FOUND A SHRIMP!!!! HE IS ALIVE AND EVERYTHING!!!!

[siadea]

So..................... I had two aquariums, right? I still do. One of them was a 7-gallon, containing a betta! The other was a little 3 gallon containing four shrimp.

Through means I am not sure of, there came to be mosquito larvae in the shrimp tank. Also, scuds. Well, I knew where the scuds came from, those came from the plants that I ordered. But then... they bred. A lot. So I had a tank full of mosquito larvae, scuds, and four shrimp. It was unsightly to say the least. And I didn't want the mosquito larvae to become full-grown mosquitos IN MY HOUSE.

And I thought to myself, "Self, what do bettas eat? OH RIGHT. Scuds and mosquito larvae and other small insects!" I personally witnessed my betta devouring the last scud in HER tank, so I knew she was up to the job. I decided to give my betta a small vacation in the shrimp tank so she could take care of these issues for me.

Well, she did.

She also took care of the shrimp.

In retrospect, this may have been a mistake.

So I now have a betta who needs to fast a couple of days, an empty 3 gallon, and a 7 gallon containing a betta.

[melyzard]

As more and more people are being forced to switch to Windows 11, Microsoft's most AI-malware-ridden OS yet, I've been putting together articles and links for how to undo the damage and save your battery, your RAM, your disk space, your privacy, and your sanity from this bullshit.

FIRST:

The easiest way to get rid of the majority of the bullshit that Windows is forcing on us, as of October 2025, is this one-stop-one-click debloat solution from a modern day hero:

GitHub - Raphire/Win11Debloat: A simple, lightweight PowerShell script to remove pre-installed apps, disable telemetry, as well as perform v

A simple, lightweight PowerShell script to remove pre-installed apps, disable telemetry, as well as perform various other changes to customi

It's very easy, even if you're not tech savvy or get scared of pop up windows saying "ARE YOU SURE?" Yes, you are sure, I promise. This program takes maybe two minutes and will save you SO MUCH pain, time, and money (and exploitation).

Now that you've done that, here's the cleanup, to catch the little shit that the debloat might have missed (most of this will already be done by debloat, but hey, it's good to double check).

Sick of AI in your Windows 11 PC? Here's how to get rid of it

Microsoft wants to put AI everywhere on your PC, but you can take back control.

Even just reading about some of these features makes me angry. Fucking Copilot and "Discover" AI scrapers are in Notepad. NOTEPAD. And then there's this uncanny valley garbage:

No uncanny valley video calls for me, thanks! (Also, what else is it doing while it scans your face and listens to your calls? What else, microsoft? Because there was a lot of memory being assigned to this program for a simple "smooths your skin" add on).

Stop Windows 11's most intrusive ads with these 9 easy tweaks

Tired of Microsoft pushing ads throughout Windows 11? Here are the settings you can tweak to turn them off and reclaim some privacy.

The truly insane number of places they have stuck ads on your own home computer is sickening. Become Unmarketable.

Bonus:

Some background programs you probably don't need that are taking up space and how to remove them (Microsoft forums, 2024)

Your Samsung Galaxy Phone comes with 22 apps you don't need (Android Police, 2025)

How to disable the AI in firefox (still the only browser that lets you do this permanently) (Windows Report, 2025)

[melyzard]

There was some confusion in the notes about how to run the debloat. Easiest method: go to the page. Scroll down to where it says "Quick Method."

Highlight that blue high-lighted text, copy (ctrl+c or right-click and select 'copy'). Now go to your search bar and type "Powershell."

Open Powershell. You can use any variant, there are usually 2 on a standard windows machine. They will both work so it doesn't matter which you choose.

Paste the line into powershell.

Hit enter. Say "Yes" when windows asks if you're sure.

Things will happen for a couple seconds, then you get this:

Select your option from 1, 2, or 3. I used "1" and everything was fabulous, but if you want to carefully go through every single thing this turns off, hit 2 and pick and choose stuff. For example, tell it to kill all the terrible water-guzzling RAM-stealing spyware bullshit like Copilot and so on, but leave, like, Solitaire or whatever.

Hit enter.

DONE.

3 minute video tutorial on youtube for those still uncertain:

[circuzdragon]

Hmm... I'd love to see Glit or Flowspade if you'd like to draw them!

I unfortunately didn’t find a good reference for Flowspade so I put a lil extra effort into Glit

[coyotevvitch]

i hurt myself with Big Jack by Pet Foolery (can find on instagram) again and no one seems to have posted the whole comic so. here. someone reminded me of it and i tracked it down. gonna go cry in a corner now.

[coyotevvitch]

did not know part 2 existed, here you go. another stab

[siadea]

Oh Tumblr, I love it when you randomly decide I'm following someone. I'm like, "who the fuck is this." Once I got a TERF and it started giving me TERF shit. I was like, HELL NO.