Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

@mawr “What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.” – Kurt Vonnegut

@spacewastrel@yiff.life I should be fine, this is more about my mental health than physical! I figure the doctor wouldn't have said it was OK to wait a month to follow up if it were anything life-threatening!

@zx3 While I'm dispensing semi-random quasi-appropos media, that reminded me of one of my favorite prank calls of all time (a genre I normally have very mixed feelings about)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs-Csqy7AkM

It's the happiest I've ever heard a phone prank "victim" walk away from their experience. He's so HAPPY about those movie tickets. :D

@zx3 my lead theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbi2wwVB7i4

Just finished giving Peebles an epic petting and sent her out for Second Dinner. Meanwhile, Sugarfoot is loafed out on the arm of my office sofa, so I think I'll wait to boot her for the night until later.

It's all very cozy and peaceful here, and it leaves me thinking. "Hmm. These ARE actually the good times."

I'm still a little fretful over the weird test results earlier today, even despite my doctor (who seems pretty good) being unconcerned enough about them that we're waiting until next month to follow up.

I dunno. I'm trying to treasure the quiet moments because I know they can't possibly last forever.

@001zlnv Yeah basically. :)

@zx3 I'm gonna assume the answer's "yes" while I have the relevant links in front of me. :)

So Wikipedia insists the song "follows the story of a gangster who, despite lacking the strength to leave entirely, does not wish to fight, so will at least try to keep the fighting clean."

It cites this old Montreal Gazette article as evidence: https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jRQyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aaQFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1208,1916078&dq=bruce-woolley&hl=en (middle column about halfway down).

But I'm looking at the lyrics. They make reference to a "halftrack," a "jeep," a "chaplain," fighting "the war," a comrade with his "helmet open" "indicating that he's left the human race, a "squad," and "losing a million in our very first attack."

So to me this is clearly a song about conventional warfare of some sort, possible some sort of WW3+ scenario. How the FUCK did this guy get the impression it was about a "young punk who gets the first inklings that he's growing out of being in a gang?"

I don't actually have a point here, I'm just yelling. :) I know, I know: forget it, Jake, it's Wikitown. :)

Just as my ears started feeling better, I got a big ol' ingrown hair cyst on my back. And just as I managed to convince myself not to be a big hypochondriac over THAT... my PCP calls me with my blood tests.

Traces of blood and nitrites in my urine, "many" bacteria, and a couple of kidney by-products that are just far enough out of normal range to give me something to fret over.

The lab tech was SUPER rushed and I didn't do a "clean catch" (sterilized wipe and all that stuff) so I'm wondering if the bacteria isn't the result of a contaminated sample. *shrug* As for the blood, it's like the fourth or fifth time this has come up over like eight years.

But I still can't stop my stupid little anxious brain from freaking out over it, even though all my other kidney/liver stuff looks fine and I probably just have a really weird low-symptom UTI at worst.

I dunno. It would be really neat to have a few months without any health scares.

@zx3 Are you up for a deep dive on "Clean, Clean," then, because I just ran into a lyrics interpretation that sounds bonkers to me and I need to unload on SOMEONE who will appreciate it!

@LexYeen Hey, some people thrive on that kind of mistreatment!

I am not one of them. "I'm not like you people. I'm loved!"</marge> I like games that respect my time and at no point make me want to headbutt *anything*.

My first girlfriend buttdialed me at 6 am this morning. I only JUST remembered it happened, even though we had a lovely (and probably somewhere incoherent) three-minute conversation.

It was nice. Runnerwolf's a sweetie. Really smart for a canid type. 😺​

@chimerror It was just so simple! All I did was kitty and now I'm making over sixteen hours a day in naps! 🐯​

@Phorm Definitely Pufnstuf. I've already got an antidote stored.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFF61eaiQcI [CW: juvenile, sexual, and pottymouthed]

@zx3 added to master document <3 only had time to skim but fuck yeah <3

i am so freaking excited, love what people have done in response to this

busy workweek so i probably won't do much with it until the weekend if at all, but i wanted to let you know i have definitely not forgotten about any of it, the notebook file for the campaign has already been created and your PC concepts pasted in <3

@monsterblue honestly i was a little bit iffy on the concept fitting in moodwise with something so dark and this picture sold me on it :>

Just tossing jello at the wall here... I would this in my old notes and it's another pretty good summary of what's going on here.

I left the "1988" in even though it looks like this is gonna be set in 2071. It fits the retro-themes I'm going for. The campaign setting is basically "when the 1968-1988 phase of the American Bullshit Cycle repeats itself."

=========================

Imagine an alternate-universe 1988 drawn right from right-wing moral panics, where furry fandom has connected with the corporate self-improvement scene and morphogenetic fringe science, and mutated into a New Age transformation cult backed by West Coast IT money. Basically Yoyodyne, except you have furry TF cultists instead of Red Lectroids. :>

The PCs start as captives in a secret biolab on this transformation cult's hidden compound. Their creators are trying to bridge the gap between human, animal, and spirit and basically reverse engineer angels.

They're also trying to meet their creations halfway. This mostly involves stalking around the compound in creepy animal masks, injecting themselves with untested mutagenics, and speaking in tongues while tripping balls on acid.

The PCs must not only struggle to escape alive, but to maintain their sense of self, stay connected to their fellow specimens, and understand why they're being manipulated. The longer they stall, the faster reality and autonomy slip away from them...

@JulieSqveakaroo Dorsai, turns out!

@dodec YES, that's the one, thank you!