I want to run a Chronicles of Darkness game where the PCs and major antagonists are a bunch of vampires, beasts, sin eaters, etc who join an over-the-top pro wrestling league, and act 100% upfront about all their supernatural stuff as if it’s part of the wrestling storyline.
“Yeah, this in an important match for me, because Bloodfist was sired by the same vampire that killed MY sire, and I feel like I gotta, y’know, avenge that. I just hope that The Fightin’ Nephandus, our mutual rival, doesn’t use this as an opportunity to try and steal the Sacred Moonstone of Immortality that’s currently set in the championship belt, ‘cause then whoever wins here is gonna have to take her on to end the Eon of Darkness Unrelenting.”
The producers are confused, and then concerned, and eventually terrified, but nothing they say can convince anyone that this isn’t part of the show. Of course, ratings are waaay up, so they end up just working around it the best they can. I imagine one of the match commentators would just lose his wits every time, while the other somehow takes everything in stride, like:
“Wow, Rob, it looks like Bloodfist is already using his signature technique! He must really want the Fanged Avenger to feel the hurt!”
“Those are real fucking claws, Jeremy! He just sliced that guy’s arm right off, but I guess it’s growing back now because our lives no longer make sense, right?”
“You’re right, Rob, a move like that might have worked against the Menacing Mastigos, but it’s not gonna fly in a vampire grudge match! Bloodfist is trying to call a time-out, but it looks like the Fanged Avenger has used his powers of mental domination on the ref! There’s blood everywhere! What a match!”
“Interrogation of the Zodiac Killer” -The Ghost of Sandro Botticelli ca 2015
So I slapped some mathematics on this picture and…
The red lines divide the picture into thirds. They also mostly coincide with the doorway (and Cruz’s right hand), framing him nicely as the Main Character of this picture.
The green line was placed using the golden ratio (the ratio between parts of the picture above it and below it is close enough to 1:1.618). It also goes right under his chin (and through some reporters’ hands or tools).
The purple lines are diagonals that are framing the reporters really nicely.
I’m pretty sure you could also do something clever with a circle and the yellow doorway behind him, but I don’t have the patience to fiddle with that.
Basically, this picture has the same “maths are beautiful” aesthetic as (some well-known) Renaissance paintings.
An open threshold, such as a door or window, behind the characters of a painting was a motif used by artists to suggest piety and holiness in people without being blasphemous. Typically contrasted with the surrounding background, the “halo” was a subtle way of suggesting the persons depicted, often the customer who commissioned the piece, was in good standing with God and the Church.
Please, please include the cautions and contradictions with an herb when you recommend it.
Herbs are drugs. Some of them should not be used by pregnant or nursing women (kava kava comes to mind).
Valerian is not a substitute for narcotic sleep aids. Valerian is a narcotic sleep aid.
St. John’s wort messes up the action of oral contraceptives.
Marshmallow root should not be mixed with other medicines or taken at the same time as it can interfere with their action.
Catnip (used for sleep problems) can make already heavy menstrual periods worse.
Etc, etc, etc. Please remember you are recommending medicines and medicines can have effects other than the ones you want.
As a pharmacy student…
THIS. THIS ALL RIGHT HERE.
Herbs are Drugs, just in a less pure/less effective form. They can and will interact with things, and can/will cause side effects like any medication will.
Let your doctors know if you’re on any herbals. They count!
If a person is religious, then of course they pray, because that’s what religion teaches us to do.
The problem is that politicians who are bought by the NRA are ignoring the public health crisis we have with gun violence, and hiding behind hopes and prayers to avoid actually doing anything.
I’m not religious, but my friend who is referred me to this: “I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! —Isaiah 1:15“ What I take from that is an admonishment to back up thoughts and prayers with action, or find yourself with blood on your hands.
So sincerely praying and hoping for peace? Awesome.
Using it as a platitude to give the appearance of doing something while actually doing nothing? Shameful.
THIS!!!
And here’s the rest of the text; Isaiah 1:15-17
When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.
Your hands are full of blood!
16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed.[a] Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
Fibromyangela 