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THE THING IN THE WOODS

@insomnemonic

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insomnemonic
glumshoe
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glumshoe

A new Star Trek series but 90% of the dramatic tension comes from each of the characters believing themselves to be the Outsider archetype.

If YOU’RE the new Spock, and I’M the new Data, and HE’s the new Seven of Nine, and SHE’S the new Odo, and THEY’RE also the new Spock.... then who’s piloting the ship?!

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protectspock

Sometimes a family can be five autistic-coded characters flying a starship through space. 

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glumshoe
Image
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alarajrogers

A Vulcan, an android, an ex-Borg, a Founder, and an autistic human? I’m on board for that.

Seriously, I’m on board. I’ll make a self insert just for this show. :-)

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glumshoe

And then when the bog standard Relatable Everyman character joins the cast he realizes that HE is now the awkward Outside archetype who makes humorous social miscalculations.

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glumshoe

I can’t stress enough that the narrative must not present the Relatable Everyman as a relatable everyman. He is not the audience proxy, the de facto protagonist, OR the token normie. He is the Outsider and he is presented as such, and he gets special bittersweet episodes dedicated to exploring his attempts to figure out his place in his community.

‘Relatable Everyman’ doesn’t come on until S4, and all their attempts at humor and flirting and friendship making are jarring and confusing and uncomfortable. Their jokes don’t seem to land. All their social norms get chucked out the window. They spend a lot of time confused and alone until the benevolent crew deigns to try and teach the Everyman how to fit in.

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glumshoe

Exactly.

I also want to emphasize that Mr. Everyman isn’t treated as a joke. He isn’t just some pathetic doofus among impressive titans who ends up the butt of every joke. The narrative must have genuine compassion for him and present his struggles with sympathy and optimism. His social accomplishments are celebrated but assimilation should not be the ultimate goal of his character arc; for as much as his differences cause pain and humor and complications, the crew comes to accept and appreciate that his uniqueness is valuable in its own way. Every now and then he has a particular quality that helps to save the day, but ultimately Mr. Everyman is part of the family and forcing him to change would be unthinkable.

insomnemonic
changingmorphologies
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argumate

she had the face of an angel, a snow angel though

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argumate

he had a body you’d expect to fish out of the river

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argumate

her voice reminded you of why you left her in the first place, as she patiently listed all the reasons why you left her in the first place.

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argumate

he had a face you’d want to punch, not because there was anything wrong with the face itself, but just because it was his and he was a dick.

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argumate

ironically after all this time spent rebelling against her upbringing she had turned out exactly like her mother: an adult woman.

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argumate

it was an ordinary Tuesday when you walked into my office, feeling vaguely uneasy about the use of the second person perspective.

insomnemonic
elsewhereuniversity
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elsewhereuniversity

FAQ and Tags Masterpost

What is Elsewhere University?

  • Elsewhere University is a university on a fairy hill, as first depicted in this comic I drew a year ago! People began asking questions about the world, and then writing stories and drawing art set within it, and then building on each other’s stories and on my answers about the world, and it’s become a big lovely sandbox (the second comic‘s entire purpose is to celebrate some of my favorite things that have grown exclusively out of the fandom). The various submitted stories aren’t necessarily compatible with each other, because there are currently well over 2k stories and asks building this world and expecting anyone to know all of that is absolutely mad. But they’re all built on the same base mythology of folklore+college weirdness outlined in the first comic.

Where can I find the original comic?

My ask/fortune/submission hasn’t shown up yet.

  • At the time of this writing, my inbox is around 2500, and roughly ¾ of those are student asks. There’s going to be a bit of a wait before anything you submit sees the light of day (although stories will show up before fortunes do). I know it’s not ideal, but I will reach it eventually, I promise!
  • That said (given that this is tumblr) message me privately, off anon, if you’d like to make sure it hasn’t been eaten by the website. If you can give me a username or an exact phrase to ctrl+f, I’d be happy to check that it made it safely to my inbox! But if you send a find-it ask on anon, I won’t answer it - I get enough of those that it would clutter up the blog pretty badly.

Are there any guidelines for Elsewhere U fanworks?

  • The bare minimum - it should be readable with regards to grammar/spelling, it should be related to Elsewhere University, and, you know, don’t be an asshole. Don’t worry too much about continuity! Due to the sandbox nature of the project, that’s all a bit fuzzy anyway.
  • Fortunes should be about the size of a single ask.
  • Nothing made or sold for profit.

How should I get my submission to you?

  • One option is to submit a story through tumblr
  • Another is to publish it on your own blog, or on AO3 (there’s an official tag!) or somewhere else
  • If you opt for something other than submitting it through this blog, send me a link through messaging or an ask if you’d like to see it shared here!
  • You can try @’ing me but I’m not great at checking that. 
  • And lastly if you do post it somewhere else, please credit this blog or the original comic specifically. Thank you!

Types of posts

GENERAL TAGS

  • Changelings - what the Fair Folk leave when they steal your roommate
  • The Forbidden Major - the (banned) study of the Fair Folk
  • Knights - students keeping the campus safe. Crusaders, mercenaries, and idealists.
  • Stolen Away - so you’ve gotten yourself kidnapped into a weird magical summer world
  • Deals - striking bargains
  • Debts - Owing
  • The Aftermath - Graduation and afterwards
  • Courtesies - the politics of please and thank you
  • Legacies - people who fit in better than they expected
  • The Treaty - Posts touching on the delicate agreement between the university and the Elsewhere
  • Belief - reality gets malleable here
  • Names - Names and their power. Full FAQ below.

PLACES

LIFE ON CAMPUS

STAFF

NOTABLE INDIVIDUALS AND PHENOMENA

FOLKLORE

VARIOUS

ANIMALS

School Mottos thus far (translations may be incorrect - I haven’t personaly checked them)

  • Cauti, Cordati, Auspicati - Wary, Wise, and Lucky
  • Cum Gladio Et Sale - With Sword and Salt
  • Fainiciúil, Ciallmhar, Ámhar - Wary, Wise, and Lucky
  • yn dilyn y seren - Following The Star
  • Beware the Lights
  • Swallow the Hidden Names
  • BLOOD AND BONES BLOOD AND BONES BLOOD AND BONES
  • Tine Agus Airgead - Fire and Silver          
  • כבדו את העורבים - Respect The Crows
  • Tha Iad Ag Innse Gun Bhreaug - They Tell No Lies
  • Carpe Nihil - Seize Nothing   
  • Iron and Salt - a warning 
  • Aspectum, Dolorem, Sacrificium - Sight, Sorrow, Sacrifice
  • Scientia Defendit Fideles - Knowledge protects the faithful
  • What Doesn’t Bend Will Break

Names FAQ

  • What’s a true name? The name that you consider to be truly yours; it’s highly personal and subjective.
  • Does the legal status of the name matter? No.
  • Can nicknames be true names? Yes.
  • Can you have more than one true name? How would that work? Yes. Depending on what each name meant to you, each true name might have power over you in its entirety, or each be part of a larger whole.
  • If I pronounce or spell my name differently/use a derivative or variation of my true name as a safe name, would that be safe? No. It wouldn’t have power over you, but it wouldn’t be hard to discover your true name.
  • What happens if someone speaks my true name? If you are given a command with your true name, you are compelled to obey it. This is only true in the Elsewhere and areas affected by it.
  • Can safe names influence a person over time? It’s unusual, but it’s happened.
  • Can a safe name become your true name? Yes; if you feel yourself becoming too attached to a safe name, it’s time to change it (not an uncommon event).
  • How does the school deal with safe names? Student IDs and role call lists for professors include the student number and the preferred name of a student. There’s a hard ban on obscenity, at least as far as the safe names in the school system go, but even so, they range from mundane to pop culture to total nonsense.
  • Would a name with negative associations be a good safe name? Yes, in the sense you’d never have to worry about growing too attached too it.
  • Is it possible to be nameless? Yes, which renders you invulnerable to this particular hazard. There are still plenty of other pitfalls, so overall the nameless don’t attract too much malice from the Gentry.
  • Is my last name part of my true name? It depends on the importance it holds for you. But even if it doesn’t signify anything, it’s recommended you keep all parts of your legal name secret in order to make it more difficult for anyone to find personal information on you.
  • How does the school protect true names? The administration offices are heavily guarded against both human and Elsewhere intruders, including but not limited to 24/7 guards, iron in all the walls, heavily password-protected computers, and formidable custom iron filing cabinets that hold all the paperwork they couldn’t avoid printing out.
  • Does everyone on campus go by a safe name? Almost everyone. There’s always a few skeptic freshman who don’t buy into what is presented as Elsewhere university’s ‘unique traditions’. The lucky ones are given nicknames by other students who persist until the skeptic has stopped protesting. The unlucky ones find out the hard way why you don’t want anyone to know your true name.

Majors

Elsewhere University © 2017 Samantha Dow

insomnemonic
pennypolcndina
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pennypolcndina

RWBY Amity Arena concept art icons

  • Feel free to request other colors
  • Icons are 150x150px
  • Please reblog/like if using 
  • Credit not needed but appreciated
  • Please go check out my other stuff ♡
insomnemonic
headspace-hotel
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mezzodical

one round/action in D&D is 6 seconds so anything you could accomplish during a vine you could do during your turn

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theorynoodle

Rogue: “I’m back at it again at Krispy Kreme.”

DM: “Roll an acrobatics check.”

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lovelylovelyartist

Fighter: I want to see my little boy

DM: roll a perception check

*nat 20*

DM: here he comes

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z-nogyrop

bard: toss me my keys

*rolls a 1*

DM: i thought you said printer

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spiritednug

Fairy: I still haven’t found my berries

DM: roll a perception check

*rolls a 9*

Fairy: BUT! *holds up an orange* I found this.

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bemusedlybespectacled

Druid: I am the sand guardian, guardian of the sand.

DM: Roll an intimidation check.

*nat 20*

DM: Poseidon quivers before him!

Druid: Fuck off!

Dm: can you read this for us?

Fighter: rolls a nat 1

Fighter: what up im Jared im 19 and I never fuckin learned how to read

Fighter: It’s summer, I got my helm on backwards and it’s time to fuckin’ party.

DM: Roll for Dodge.

Fighter: *rolls a 1*

Fighter: *slams head into ye olde portcullis*

insomnemonic
muchymozzarella
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muchymozzarella

Noah Fence but the greatest comic based on Dungeons and Dragons is IDW’s D&D Shadowplague because it fully captures the hilarity and chaos involved in a typical D&D game 

And there is no scene that shows this more prominently than the scene in which Not-Aragorn challenges an Orc Chieftain to single combat. 

“Gruhn choose rock” 

At the end of this fight, they find a common enemy and are no longer at odds (for now)

Anyway D&D Shadowplague from IDW is great and I love it dearly

insomnemonic
thelovelydragon4475
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thingstoshowdan

I’m in Poland and they keep showing this pizza advert and it’s amazing.

It starts off with rival pizza makers who argue over who has the best pizza and are driving the customers away

Then there’s this crazy old lady who yells at them from a window to quit it (because where else do you yell business advice from?)

So they work together and do some obvious flirting via pizza montage

And the old lady is all like “just kiss already”

Then they create a pizza together, combine restaurants and live happily ever after with the crazy window lady

waking up to gay pizza makers, today’s gonna be a good day

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tharook

a family pizzeria can be two lesbians and a window lady

insomnemonic
seaspectr
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seaspectr

Idk a single Magnus irl but i always have to do a double take online when i see it because like. Are you talking about the magnus archives? alba salix? shadowhunters? the adventure zone?