LoTC's Next Top Model

good plugin, badass

gold vip lmao

the problem with the void is that it requires constant moderation for freeform shit to exist, and noone actually wants to do that moderation, so shit gets blanket denied. back in the old days when you could make 'discoveries' and make new magic things, each new discovery was functionally a new aspect of lore added to the server. this would compound onto itself until it hit a breaking point, which in game was around when people were combining dozens of features in order to make functional star-trek esque space/airships with holographic assistants (everyone ******* had one of these back in the day), functioning computer screens (everyone had voidal horror powered cell phones back then, too), functional levitation and flight capabilities, organic sensing automatic opening doors, and etc. it actually really went this far. the problem with void magic to me, largely, is how people perceive it rather than how it actually is. the only times void magic gets nerfs is when it's outwardly crazy massively overpowered, in recent memory namely translocation which let you pull the classic "i channeled for one emote therefore on my second emote i can melee hit someone with a bomb and warp on top of a nearby roof and escape instantly!", which was a real occurence that happened more often than you'd think. for a while, each time this happened the weapon the translocater used was nerfed instead of translocation, and then translocation, being the actual problem, was finally nerfed... and nothing else got buffed again in compensation. translocation successfully brought a ton of things down with it, and is still arguably the strongest voidal magic. on the flipside, conjuration (: )) has recieved numerous buffs in the relatively recent era, reducing casting time, increasing spell capabilities, etc. so it's not just random nerfs everywhere becuase "grr lt hate void magic!", and they're really not that imposing in general. these two outlier magics, notably, are the non-elemental magics. the elemental magics, alternatively, are basically the same they've ever been, and colour a lot of peoples perception of the magic. two thirds of the magics in voidery are elemental evocations, which are just kinda... boring? you can't do much with them which hasn't already been done (without venturing into whacky territory, which people seldom do). which is why not much really happens with them, buffs or nerfs. in contrast, translocation gets edits because it's a power magic mim-maxers take and therefore the squeakiest wheel in the void wagon. conjuration has a much more active dedicated userbase of people who are invested in it/based characters around it, so people write more stuff for it. on the downslope, transfiguration is the centerpiece magic that's basically a requirement to do anything, and therefore is very dangerous to change, so it rarely is. noone knows illusion so noone cares, so noone touches it. this isn't to say any of the magics that are untouched are bad, nor are they perfect. it's a lack of interest, or lack of ideas, that keeps cool rewrites from actually happening more than anything. so, what's my solution? /new/ magics. voidal magics right now are a very strong core for a magic system, but there is plenty of new ground to tread with the idea of "pulling shit from infinity" that just isn't tread. people who arn't interested in being an elemancer just don't have much to look forward to when it comes to voidal magic, so there's a natural block to the kinds of characters it attracts. one or two new voidal magics could re-invogorate the entire community, even if they're low-key well balanced non-insane magics. just having more options in an archetype that strongly encourages remaining within it's borders (through things like high compatability and interactivity between magics, and the capstone feats available to those who stack void). if i could make one change, it'd be making transfig one slot and making enchanting just a base part of voidal magic. transfig as it stands is basically just two slots because enchanting is part of it, as a magic it's fundamentally just a reskin of doing whatever task you're doing with it without magic. it's almost 100% flavour... and yet is /two slots/, because one of the main features of voidal magic is haphazardly stapled to it. it can be argued this is a power tax because enchanting is super op or it limits magic combinations, but this falls apart because co-enchanting exists. you can choose to forgo it completely, and just have a friend who knows it, and your ability to enchant is not affected whatsoever. (you may notice i have not mentioned warding once; this is because warding is insanely weak. spend three emotes casting a spell that can cancel another spell as long as you also know the same magic being cast... or spend three emotes casting your own spell and hitting them, therefore interupting their connection. or spend those emotes shooting a bow. or closing the gap and stabbing them. or doing literally anything else.) other than that, i think the archetype is healthy, if lacking for new magics.

i like it

currently, it is purely optimal to have all four of your limbs removed and replaced with tk atronach limbs. there are no downsides. there is no reason to use any other arm, including organics. this change is desperately needed.

i disagree with virtually all of this. atronachs are decently varied; earth atronachs are based largely around shifting their mass like changeling from dota 2, while sand atronachs (from the same evocation) are area of effect based casters. i think this mindset is as reductive to tree and the og writer of atronachs as it is to me, and even moreso than i was in making my original comment. i do not really understand the point you are making here, as if i'm supposed to go "oh, so tree ACTUALLY ripped off og conjurations! there's still nothing original here! sorry tree, actually, you just ctrl-c ctrl-v'd atronach lore! you didn't do anything of value!", because i wouldn't say that either, and i don't believe that. very, very bizarre. i really don't understand what you're trying to convince me of. apparently i think higher of this lore post tree has made than you do, if you think it's just a blatant copy-paste job with a 'new aesthetic'. no other atronach has animal shapeshifting or a hyper grapple. these abilities are unique to this. in combat, they would have completely different capabilities to, say, a /fire/ atronach, which is able to hunker down and become artillery. there is definite creativity and artistic writing on display here, regardless of other thoughts i may have, and even if i still thought tree had blindly stolen these ideas from me (i do not, any longer. i had a moment of frustration, and i am sorry.), i would never go so far as to say it was a post completely lacking of original content. i find this more insulting than i find the post from werew0lf directly mocking me, and it's not even directed towards me. be wary of friendly fire. furthermore... i never said i "own" conjuration. i don't go around threatening people not to make lore posts. check the ban report to see screenshots of this : ). i find what you're saying bizarre, though. "actually, it's not real life, so we shouldn't show each other respect! credits and inspiration have no reason to be listed or asked permission for!". i don't even think it's a requirement, i just think it's good form. i think we should encourage people to be respectful and collaborative. i think we should encourage freely talking with each other. i think these are things that can really open up the server and bring more people into writing, to be seen and respected as a fellow contributer of the server, an equal. saying "but it's not real life" is a bad excuse to discourage respecting people. i never claimed reign over anything, nor do i go out of my way to block people from writing things. i openly welcome colloboration. meteor_dragon and SRI, two people who have written/contributed greatly to previous amendments, are people i have next to no interaction with outside of conj lore related discussions. they are not part of my inner circle, or people i 'allow' to do things at expense of others. they wrote changes, i agreed with them, i gave them thumbs up/integrated their feedback. i want only for conj to be the best state it can be. i will argue against this misrepresentation of myself as some psycho lore tyrant to the death. that aside, tree has been nothing but cordial outside of that, related to this situation, going so far as to alter their report to address me as something i'd prefer. i regret not broaching this to them privately, as this misunderstanding could've easily been defused. all that aside, i do not feel this is the proper place to have these discussions (on a lore post). i'd request anyone with jeers or arguements to have with me please deposit them in my lotc inbox, rather than flooding this thread. thank you in advance.

if you just said some edgy shit in the past that's fine, but if you were a down and out pedophile or serial sexual harrasser there's no statute of limitations and you still get banned, is more or less the point of this.

i find it interesting that i mentioned writing conjuration atronachs in a discussion with you a few weeks back, and you have now posted a lore with the same abilities i had described.

so if you send someone rape threats directly the administration should do nothing?

you're my favourite member of this community. i'd die for you.

yeah, he just really likes the swastika, he's not racist. he's just a really funny guy who said some bad things. he only covers himself in swastikas, acts really racist and transphobic and threatens women with rape ironically. it's a meme these other guys just don't understand. you're one of the good ones.

okay, genuine real question how do you justify keeping this player banned for saying mean things to a trans person, while you also act as a bulwark for not banning this player who threatened to rape a trans person, threatened to abuse them with various means until they were straight and "normal", and then also threatened to rape people who dared speak out against him? if charlamagne is allowed to be unbanned because "lmao, the culture was different at the time!" (whatever that means), we should let this dude be unbanned, because the admin culture /now/ clearly doesn't give a shit about what charlamagne did. (i obviously think both of these people should remain banned, but this is a flagrant case of admin bias in favour of one rapist transphobe over a non-rapist transphobe.).

i don't believe in having a dedicated one wrong person to spend my life chasing. i think people that say wild or bad shit should have that criticized, regardless of my personal relation to them. i actually don't mind spoons as a person, but these were just bad posts he made.

i'm sorry i took your shallow thoughts on a post regarding rape threats as having content or context you believed in or supported.

sympathizing is comparing someone's experiences to your own and feeling empathy, which... However, recognizing the potential for change is important in this instance. We were all horrible once, as when we're younger, our morals and attitudes to things are still developing. More-so when we're surrounded by people and an audience that clamors and cheers for negativity. Obviously, this doesn't excuse what he did but I'm sure we could all remember the things and actions that we've done to antagonize others -- mistakes and beliefs made when our thoughts on topics weren't set in stone, or when we were surrounded in a toxic and bad environment. Such things, I've repeated, need to be remember as are people's capacity to learn and grow. Holding people accountable doesn't mean that they're forever condemned to their mistakes and deeds, but rather ensuring that they take responsibility for their actions, and continue to grow and learn from them. If the guy's apologized, and truly feels guilt and shame for what he had done before, then I find that it's reasonable to consider giving them a second chance -- not forgiveness, but rather acknowledgement. Acknowledge that people can learn and grow beyond the crude person that they were once before. I don't even expect the guy to be forgiven by the community or the people that he's affected from what I've seen and the responses, but rather what I'd hope to see is for people to see that the attempt for amends is there. Be wary by all means, but hopeful. is what this is. i find it hard to read this and not think you're trying to say that he deserves a second chance and should be allowed back on the server, without explicitly saying that. you didn't state these things were equal, but that we should remember what we did and consider that when we judge what he did... which is called "sympathizing". you're trying to hold a neutral fencesitting position on a very extreme situation, and it reflects poorly on you. trying to go "we all do bad things, learn, and grow, and maybe he deserves a second chance!" (which was the content of your first post that i listed above), it makes you look like you're trying to morally grandstand the fact you don't instantly throw away the possibility of allowing someone throwing rape threats around on the server. you also didn't say the people involved should be allowed to give him a second chance, you said the /community/ should. maybe you didn't write exactly what you meant, maybe it's not actually that deep, but what your post comes across as is really unaware, really haughty, and like you're trying to prune yourself as looking good. not to say any of those things are stains on your person, it could just be a really bad post, but it made me baulk to see someone go "oh, but we /all/ did bad things when we were young, who are we to judge? perhaps they deserve a second chance!". it's bad optics, mate.

what 180 did i take? "oh, you admit you said some bad stuff as a teenager, therefore you have no grounds to say you shouldn't threaten to rape people?" sorry, you're right, the "i will rape you" comment was seperate from the "i will beat you until you're not a f- anymore" comment.

i didn't threaten, i asked. i was making the point that your "i was edgy" is NOWHERE NEAR what he said. what i said was "unless you threatened to rape people, you were not this edgy". i was saying that you're trying to draw equivocation between just being an edgy kid and threatening to rape people, hurt people, etc, and that these things just are not the same. my arguements literally don't work if you also did this. what you did was... just be unpleasant to people? that's... fine. that's perfectly forgivable. but it's nothing like what they did. if you think people who threaten to rape people straight should be allowed back on the server, what don't you think should be allowed? "but he really really sowwy! T_T" isn't a defense of threatening to rape people. "but i swore at some people when i was 14 and i'm different now!" is so out of the league of threatening to rape people that your point is invalid. that's the entire point of what i was saying. there is NO equivelance between what you did, what i did, and what HE did. "we were all terrible once" vastly understates and undervalues the actual harm of what he did. it's just like saying "boys will be boys". "i understand where he's coming from, i ran with snow elves", and openly sympathizing with his situation, is a horrible look for you and makes it seem like you just don't understand the absolute scale of what he did. it's okay, i forgive you for what you did as a kid if you were just a young no-nothing being rude and mean to people for no reason, swearing at people, etc. i think that that doesn't define you. i do not forgive charlamagne. i think threatening to rape people when you're young does define you to some degree. i think he is perfectly capable of changing. but lotc need not be the metric for him to change, nor should he explicitly be allowed back because "we were all edgy at one point!", because even as edgy and crude as we may have been when we were young, we didn't go as far as he did. he went to an exceptional degree that resulted in his longtime ban. he, by that nature alone, is not "just an edgy kid".

your response was "i was edgy when i joined the server too!", which unless you were EXPLICITLY THREATENING TO RAPE PEOPLE, wasn't as edgy as he was. i don't think "man, i said some insensitive stuff four years ago" should make you immediately sympathize with the guy. sure, we all said some bad stuff, but that doesn't mean anything. there's a huge difference between "i was rude several years ago and i'm different now so maybe it's different now!" and "ALL OF US ARE TERRIBLE AND SHOULD FORGIVE!". i said some bad stuff in my youth, and i NEVER did any of this shit! i never even came CLOSE! not all of use were this bad. most of us wern't, which is why most of us didn't take a four year ban. you're trying to play defense for a dude you never met by saying "hey, cmon guys, people change!", when that doesn't even matter. there is a limit beyond which you've crossed a line and shouldn't be allowed back. i'm not saying he should never be able to find a job or find happiness again or he should lose everything, but he for sure should not be allowed back on the server. you do not have a right to lotc. "i'm sorry i threatened to rape you to death" isn't enough (and he apparently never even went so far as to say that to the affected party). who is to judge he's changed, if the victims all agree he hasn't and never came forward to try and fix anything? i hope he does grow and change. i just also hope he does it elsewhere, because i won't welcome him here. i wouldn't because i wouldn't let them back because i am firm anti-rapist.

sure, people grow up and change. where is the proof of said change? and, even if he has changed, does that matter? should you be given golden laurels and praised as a champion solely because you /don't/ threaten to rape people anymore? is that the bar of acceptance for which people are measured to, now? "i don't do that now" doesn't mean anything. it doesn't mean you're a good person, and it doesn't mean you should explicitly be forgiven. i'm going to take a stance now as anti-raping minors, anti-raping trans people, anti-pedophilia, and so on. i will gladly die on the hill that such people should never be around this server, and that "you don't understand, i'm different now!" isn't enough.

i get what you're trying to say, but he threatened to rape a trans person until they wern't trans anymore. i don't think you can give out the "cancel culture has gone too far" excuse, mate.

are you admitting to throwing out rape threats when you joined the server because that's what you're defending right now

bro i get what you're trying to say but saying "actually, this was months ago, i matured. also i only dropped a slur in a public chat because i was mildly annoyed!" is a ******* horrible defense and you should go back to your legal team to come up with a new plan of action.

hi i write a void magic. i constantly get complaints about how life evo is the "most restrictive magic on the server" and i've come to the conclusion that most people just arn't very creative and blame that on lore rather than trying to think of new ideas themselves. void magic is by far the most creative and freeform of all magics, with the ability to literally make your own spells (magnum opus) and pretty lax rules about freeform enchantment, as well as cross-compat between magics giving you fun and whacky abilities for pairing certain magics together. the sky's the limit, problem is most people want an escalator.