Basically that arguments from physics don't work because physics doesn't prescribe a meriology or ontology of self, so it ultimately doesn't comment on the agency of a self. It's a big puppet show, but it ultimately doesn't answer the question posed in ordinary language.
Is that about accurate?
Question: If we accept the hypothese that the slaying of Typhon allowed for communication between gods and humans, specifically as through the muses. But I was wondering; doesn't this parallel the logic of sacrifice? That, to communicate to the gods, there must be an enactment of violence that enables for communication between the mundane and divine?
Background: In the Theogony, the slaying of Typhon and the birth of the Muses is linked. Citing from Hesiod's Typhonomachy and the Ordering of Sound by Owen Goslin and his translation of Hesiod's Theogony:
> [Typhon] whose hands are set upon deeds with their strength,
> and the feet of the mighty god are untiring. And from his shoulders
> were the hundred heads of a dread serpent,
> flickering with dark tongues. The eyes in his
> wondrous heads flashed fire from below his brows.
> And fire burned from all of his heads as he looked on.
> And there were voices (phõnê) in all of his dread heads,
> emitting a manifold and boundless voice (ops): for sometimes
> they made sounds (phthongos) in such a way as for the gods to perceive,
> at other times they made the sound of a bellowing bull,
> irresistible in his might, and haughty in his voice (ossa),
> at other times the sound of a lion with a shameless heart,
> at other times a sound like puppies, a wonder to hear,
> at other times he hissed, and the lofty mountains
Within Typhon, there's all the material needed to communicate, including the voices of the gods themselves, but it is so disordered that no sense can be made of it and this nothing is humanely communicable. By slaying Typhon, Zeus is able to order sound and bestow various facets of it as timai, including to Mnemosyne (Mneme), and presumably to her two sisters.
Gods have their own language in both Hesiod and Homer, indicated by which verbs are chosen to say that they're speaking among themselves or speaking to mortals. When speaking to mortals, they use "audê" as a verb in Hesiod and it is with "audê" that the muses speak to Hesiod, but amongst the gods, they would use the verbs "ossa" or "ops", which is their divine voice, same as Typhon does.
GOSLIN, OWEN. “Hesiod’s Typhonomachy and the Ordering of Sound.” Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-), vol. 140, no. 2, 2010, pp. 351–73. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40890983. Accessed 2 July 2026.
This video gives a pretty effective introduction to the concepts found in Heraclitean Paganism. In essence, in Heraclitean paganism 'harmoniē' is an idiosyncratically developed balance of tensions, which allow for functions to emerge that are principally and potentially volatile, but also potentially constructive.
The Goddess of Cancer would be best described as the Polemos, referred to as the father of all things, whereas the Goddess of Everything else is closest to Dike, who, though being literally Justice, represents the idiosyncrasies of all development building upwards.
Yet, the more I think about this particular poem, the more I feel like the poem is contradicting itself.
First, yes, this is a neo-myth, not history, and it doesn't try to be literally true. The story slices across layers of complexity, paralleling the development of forms of life, especially if we count memetics as life.
The story abruptly shifts from mythopoetic genealogy of complex life into prophecy and it claims that all the problems of the Goddess of Cancer are solved. Yet, the only thing the Goddess of Everything Else ever does is repackage the problem and claim victory.
The poem's emotional climax rests on one claim:
>"You are no longer driven to multiply, conquer, and kill by your nature."
This is the moment we're meant to feel we've broken free. Yet, following the logic of the poem, this is not true. At every layer, the Goddess of Everything Else has merely sanctified drives to multiply, conquer, and kill, and organizes them to build up towards a new layer of complexity. If we accept 'Cancer' as standing in for the drive to multiply, conquer, and kill, then under the hood of that newly achieved complexity is still cancer. The Goddess of Everything Else is as much a Goddess of Cancer. She only does the bare minimum necessary to habilitate those drives. At least the original Goddess of Cancer at least self-limits through her destruction, but the Goddess of Everything Else doesn't have to do even that.
While the poem consistently portrays the Goddess of Cancer as evil and unimaginative, it is actually her destructive tendencies that leave firebreaks that guard us from her own Heraclitean flames. She's self-limiting. Sometimes, you need that kind of firebreak to protect the diverse ecosystem that is the playground of the Goddess of Everything Else.
So I think that these names are not representative of their actions within the poem at all. The poem shows this most obviously when it says genomes are rewritten and the brain and body are "set loose from Darwinian bonds and restrictions." Yet, this is meant to be a response to tyranny? How? By what mechanism? The implication from silence is surely not something that the channel endorses. The actual solution to the problem is game theory and this is appropriate, given game theory is also applied in cancer treatment strategies.
In reality, the next step of the story would be that there will be a great diversity of posthuman catastrophes and salvations at scales hitherto unimagined. After all, the Goddess of Everything Else would seem anti-teleological. She should promote a diversity of experiments. The Goddess of Everything Else's work should fan outward into an open plurality of outcomes, many of them strange, harmonious in one context and disharmonious in the next. All that we can do and all that we have to do is to experiment with different ideas. We might experiment with transhumanism here, with deep ecology there, with this and with that and with the other thing.
While I love the way the poem is rendered and the mythology it creates, I think some of the moves are unfairly polemic: naming the Goddess of Cancer as such, and then concluding that everything has been redeemed when it pointedly wasn't.
I love the potential of this neo-myth, but I think some of the poetic liberties sneak certain cognitive biases under the radar that ease the listener into uncritical optimism. It's not that easy.
I'm wondering if there's more Degrowthers who see applications for large language models in decentralizing knowledge. Right now, TESCREALists want to centralize knowledge to be sold back, and I would like to develop a degrowth response to that.
EDIT: For instance, I could see local librarian LLMs playing a role in reducing the number of books needed in individual libraries, instead stocking books that came up in natural conversation with the LLM.
I could see local LLMs being able to represent the concerns of the community in natural language that prepares community members for arguments they're likely to hear from their neighbors at the town hall.
I've been making these aluminium orbs for me and my witch group. At the core of the latest two, I've added a thumbnail of overlayed sigils, one to the Boeotian Muses (Aoide, Melete, Mneme) and a sigilized kanji for 'kokoro' (meaning somewhere between heart, mind, or core). I've also included a small amount of tungsten, 9 peppercorns (3 for the Boeotian Muses, 3 for the Horae, 3 for the Platonic transcendentals of Beauty, Truth and Beneficence), leather from a well-worn belt and rosemary.
​
I use them for meditation to imagining reaching into the ground, both the earth and the Eckhartian kind. It's been pretty effective so far.
​
There's tutorials out there for making these yourselves. Would love to know if anyone else has tried making these and what their effect has been.
I'm trying to read more and one of the things that I've been doing is to go to the library so I get less distracted.
Unfortunately, whenever I come back from the library, my shoulders, neck and back really hurt from holding or bending over my book.
In the past, I've used prism glasses. Now I'm considering some kind of platform for me to read on. Any other tips? I'm open to anything.
"When one cannot replace the dead, one must make do with the living." —Storm Tiger saying
The Storm Tigers have learned to aggressively salvage their gene-seed and Astartes wargear following the Month of Devastation at the hands of Craftworld Biel-Tan. In the pursuit of penitence, the chapter has turned to its techmarines for guidance. The huntsmen of the Storm Tigers now worship the Omnissiah and spirits in the Motive Force called the Powers Equine.
Following decimation at the hands of Biel-Tan, these White Scar successors found their gene-seed stocks depleted. Worse still, the gene-seed that remained had developed a flaw that would prove difficult to remove. For reasons unknown, their petitions for gene-seed replenishment in M37 were ignored. Suspecting they had lost favor with Terra, the chapter committed itself to prove its worthiness in a penitent crusade. Out of that penitent scarcity grew a chapter reinvented under the auspices of its techmarines.
The mandate of the chapter was recently updated, committing them to stopping the advance of the T'au Empire. In truth, they resent dividing their attention between the T'au and the raiders of their subsector, in particular Aeldari raiders. In exchange, a cache of gene-seed was released to them. Short centuries after followed the Primaris reinforcement, heightening friction between the oldest and newest gene-lines in the chapter. ##Chapter Culture The chapter worship the Omnissiah and Powers Equine, spirits in the Motive Force. The techmarines of the chapter read the temperaments of the machine spirits to deduce the auspices of a particular action. The librarians meanwhile explore the sanctifying power of the motive force to exorcise corruption of all kinds. Chaplains ensure the proper worship of the chapter's gene-ancestors, including the chapter's interred. Altogether, the chapter is greatly interesting in recovering astartes wargear, either returning it to the original chapter if possible or else returning it to use.
The chapter had never made much use of dreadnoughts prior to their penitent crusade. Instead, the chapter's techmarines interred it's veterans into vehicles such as land raiders and storm ravens, thereafter called dread raiders and dread ravens. Preserving marines for combat on foot this way has discouraged the chapter from adopting dreadnought technology wholeheartedly. Should the veteran lose his remaining sanity, their sarcophagus is slaved to a warbike called a Bolt of Mercy, riding out in a blaze of glory one final time. Since the primaris reinforcement, the chapter has made greater use of dreadnought technology, though firstborne give preference to traditional vehicular internment.
Even before the Month of Devastation, the chapter was known for their callousness towards human lives. Since their turn to the Omnissiah, this has only become more entrenched. It's not uncommon for ambushes to be planned in the dwelling places of civilians, as to catch the foe off-guard. The only mercy the chapter grants is that it is considered bad luck to leave stragglers behind. Thus, the chapter swells with serfs picked up from battlefields, stranded by the brothers' own actions.
In spite of these cold calculations, the marines are known for their culture of generosity. Due to their eagerness to salvage resources, they return wargear to other chapters with regularity. Civilians receive free food from the larder of the chapter, as the chapter's brothers are eager hunters. The captains, lieutenants and sergeants all partake in the Lord-Penitent's reception, sharing a ceremonial meal out of meats acquired during their hunts. ##Gene-Flaw: Mistwalkers The gene-flaw is aggressively monitored. Genealogies are tracked strictly, creating genealogical bonds among the rank-and-file firstborne of the chapter. Those genealogies which more frequently express the gene-flaw are treated as expendable compared to those of good stock. This genealogical culture has been disrupted by geneseed replenishments and the primaris. The rank-and-file label such blank slates as 'Raza' and unproven, for better or for worse.
In 14% of Storm Tigers, when the Catalepsean Node becomes enflamed, it misfires and causes all perception to be routed through the brain region responsible for melancholy. As a side effect, the outside world slows to a crawl, driving the marines to isolated insanity as their every thought becomes corrupted by sorrow, until all forethought is burned out. Only in the moments after sleep does lucidity return, reawakening the marine to the horror of his fate.
Neophytes are placed in a psychostim bath to provoke the flaw early. Those who fall to it are placed in suspended animation for 10 years and then placed directly in the Mistwalker Companies. This selection is believed to prevent the gene-flaw from perpetuating itself.
Mistwalkers walk ahead of the rest of the chapter in camouflage, clearing mines and taking the brunt of ambushes. This crucible forges the chapter's most formidable champions, who go on to slay mighty foes. As a mercy, chapter champions are eventually sent into the Baxtris Interior Wild Space to die with honor, so that their gene-seed may be redeemed. ##Combat Doctrine: Pioneering & Punishment To the Storm Tigers, there is only asymmetrical warfare. Though they are not averse to duels of daring, this remains entirely secondary to the Omnissiah's calculus.
Any tactical initiative that squads are allowed to demonstrate is expressed through expert use of terrain or vehicular combat. The chapter inculcates a hunter's cunning, using all aspects of their war engines and terrain, ranging from aquatic-to-ground ambushes, the impact of inclines on visibility, controlling the enemy's points of access, or the tactical use of remote demolition charges. The lives of the chapter's Mistwalkers or Imperial citizens bare no object. Indeed, any human should be honored to die if it advances the aims of the Omnissiah.
Yet, in spite of this culture of pioneering tactics of deep strikes and rapid assault, the Storm Tigers have historically rated compliance to phased strategic plans highly. After the exploratory phase, all squads must relocate upon the signal. The use of vehicular ambush with tanks and cannons has been perfected, to achieve the desired shock-and-awe and controlled access objectives. Once achieved, divide-and-conquer operations will commence to clean up.
This emphasis on phased strategy has resulted in an extremely low tolerance for tardiness. Sergeants, as well as any Storm Tiger, are expected to plan for immediate extraction no matter the circumstance and to execute such perfectly. The perception of failure is so regular that penitence is a constant in the chapter. ##Homeworld & Fortress Monestary The world of Altay Prime is a frigid, stormy death-world. It is believed the world was once a thriving Civilised-class world, but due to a release of dielectric refrigerant, the atmosphere turned into a permanent thundersnowstorm. Humanity survived in cities constructed around volcanically active chasms, and crawling storm-chasing herd-cities collecting static electricity.
Apart from the sub-aquatic Pelager colonies, all humans on Altay Prime pray to the Omnissiah for their lightning-collectors and geothermal technologies to continue functioning.
The Galeheart Bailey is a fortified caldera on Altay Prime. At the center of which lies the Galeheart Stabula complex, with an overlooking Librarius nested inside the sprawling armoury. Underneath the complex, the Genetorum can be found, powered by liquid magma. The librarians of the chapter command the storms above, forming a wall of ice and thunder around the keep. Within the relatively calm winds of the bailey, there are also the shuttle silos and launcher pads.
Encrusted upon the caldera’s reinforced walls stands The Castle Whispering, where the rest of the facilities of the chapter can be found, which includes three different penitoria for disciplinary action of various kinds, including the Hall of Oaths, the Hall of Flails, and the Hall of Cauldrons.
##Ommitted Currently ommited are named characters and their struggles. Their history prior to the Month of Devastation. Relationship with other factions. There's some org chart details I'm leaving out as well.
> "When one cannot replace the dead, one must make do with the living." —Storm Tiger saying
The Storm Tigers have learned to aggressively salvage their gene-seed and Astartes wargear following the Month of Devastation at the hands of Craftworld Biel-Tan. In the pursuit of penitence, the chapter has turned to its techmarines for guidance. The huntsmen of the Storm Tigers now worship the Omnissiah and spirits in the Motive Force called the Powers Equine.
Prior to the Month of Devastation, the Storm Tigers were known as The Double Sixes, rivals of neighboring astartes forces to monitor and protect the independent human realm known as the Auric Mandate. Following an attack by an unknown force of Astartes on behalf of the Auric Mandate, four astartes forces accused each other of collusion. On the bones of a crumbling Auric Mandate, the astartes factions settled their differences, until a chaos invasion brought them together in an affiliation known as the Choroum Shield. Severely weakened even after millennia, the subsector could not protect themselves adequately from an invasion by Craftworld Biel-Tan, followed on the heels by Drukhari raiders picking off stragglers. The subsector lay in ruins, with astartes chapters left decimated or extinct. To this day, the Double Sixes, under the name of the Storm Tigers, swear vengeance upon all eldar kind.
Following decimation at the hands of Biel-Tan, these White Scar successors found their gene-seed stocks depleted. Worse still, the gene-seed that remained had developed a flaw that would prove difficult to remove. For reasons unknown, their petitions for gene-seed replenishment in M37 were ignored. Suspecting they had lost favor with Terra, the chapter committed itself to prove its worthiness in a penitent crusade. Out of that penitent scarcity grew a chapter reinvented under the auspices of its techmarines. The chapter commited itself to the calculus of the Omnissiah, treating all human life as being at their tactical disposal.
The mandate of the chapter was recently updated, committing them to stopping the advance of the T'au Empire. In truth, they resent dividing their attention between the T'au and the raiders of their subsector, in particular Aeldari raiders. In exchange, a cache of gene-seed was released to them. Short centuries after followed the Primaris reinforcement, heightening friction between the oldest and newest gene-lines in the chapter.
The world of Altay Prime is a frigid, stormy death-world. It is believed the world was once a thriving Civilised-class world, but due to a release of dielectric refrigerant, the atmosphere turned into a permanent thundersnowstorm. Humanity survived in cities constructed around volcanically active chasms, and crawling storm-chasing herd-cities collecting static electricity. Marching between the cities of Altay Prime are armigers and destriers, ferrying messages and goods across otherwise impassable terrain. Apart from the sub-aquatic Pelager colonies, all humans on Altay Prime pray to the Omnissiah for their lightning-collectors and geothermal technologies to continue functioning. As a result, the Storm Tigers have always had a passing familiarity with the worship of the Omnissiah.
The Galeheart Bailey is a fortified caldera on Altay Prime. At the center of which lies the Galeheart Stabula complex, with an overlooking Librarius nested inside the sprawling armoury. Within the Librarius, a tree known as The Useless Tree stands protected, which is routinely ritually cleansed of corruption. Underneath the complex, the Genetorum can be found, powered by liquid magma. The librarians of the chapter command the storms above, forming a wall of ice and thunder around the keep. Within the relatively calm winds of the bailey, there are also the shuttle silos and launcher pads.
Encrusted upon the caldera’s reinforced walls stands The Castle Whispering, where the rest of the facilities of the chapter can be found, which includes three different penitoria for disciplinary action of various kinds, including the Hall of Oaths, the Hall of Flails, and the Hall of Cauldrons.
The use of vehicular ambush with tanks and cannons has been perfected under the Storm Tigers, to achieve the desired shock-and-awe and controlled access objectives. A Storm Tiger force may create dug in positions weeks ahead of an engagement should it be necessary. Even before the Month of Devastation, the chapter was known for their callousness towards human lives. Since their turn to the Omnissiah, this has only become more entrenched. It's not uncommon for ambushes to be planned in the dwelling places of civilians, as to catch the foe off-guard. To the Storm Tigers, there is only asymmetrical warfare. Though they are not averse to duels of daring, this remains entirely secondary to the Omnissiah's calculus.
Squads are each expected to demonstrate tactical initiative through independent expert use of terrain or vehicular combat. The chapter inculcates a hunter's cunning, using all aspects of their war engines and terrain, ranging from aquatic-to-ground ambushes, the impact of inclines on visibility, controlling the enemy's points of access, or the tactical use of remote demolition charges. The lives of the chapter's Mistwalkers or Imperial citizens bare no object.
Yet, in spite of this culture of pioneering tactics of deep strikes and rapid assault, the Storm Tigers have historically rated compliance to phased strategic plans highly. After the exploratory phase of Pioneering, all squads must relocate upon the signal. Next, the phase of Punishing begins, using artillery and explosives to control enemy movement and breaking their ranks. Once battle-shock has been achieved, divide-and-conquer operations will commence to clean up. This emphasis on phased strategy has resulted in an extremely low tolerance for tardiness. Sergeants, as well as any Storm Tiger, are expected to plan for immediate extraction no matter the circumstance and to execute such perfectly. The perception of failure is so regular that penitence is a constant in the chapter.
During any engagement in enemy territory, expendable detachments of Mistwalkers walk ahead of the rest of the chapter in camouflage, clearing mines and taking the brunt of ambushes. Most die within years of deployment, but those who survive this crucible can climb to be the chapter's most formidable champions, who go on to slay mighty foes. As a mercy, chapter champions are eventually sent into the Baxtris Interior Wild Space to die with honor, so that their gene-seed may be redeemed. Such a redemption is a rare honor and it decorates any marine who inherits the gene-seed of the champion.
The chapter worship the Omnissiah and Powers Equine, spirits in the Motive Force. The techmarines of the chapter read the temperaments of the machine spirits to deduce the auspices of a particular action. The librarians meanwhile explore the sanctifying power of the motive force to exorcise corruption of all kinds. Chaplains ensure the proper worship of the chapter's gene-ancestors, including the chapter's interred. Altogether, the chapter is greatly interesting in recovering astartes wargear, either returning it to the original chapter if possible or else returning it to use.
The chapter had never made much use of dreadnoughts prior to their penitent crusade. Instead, the chapter's techmarines interred it's veterans into vehicles such as land raiders and storm ravens, thereafter called dread raiders and dread ravens. Such interred war veterans, should they see multiple generations come to pass, will eventually become venerated as ancestors. This cultural boon and the preservation of marines on foot this way has discouraged the chapter from returning to the use of dreadnought technology. Should the veteran lose his remaining sanity, their sarcophagus is slaved to a warbike called a Bolt of Mercy, riding out in a blaze of glory one final time. Since the primaris reinforcement, the chapter has made greater use of dreadnought technology, though firstborne give preference to traditional vehicular internment.
According to the dogmas of the chapter, all human lives exist in service of the Omnissiah's aims. Thus, there is no limit to how human lives might be expended. The only mercy the chapter grants is that it leaves no mortals stranded if there is still room to spare. This due to an Altay superstition that leaving someone stranded is bad luck. Thus, the chapter swells with serfs picked up from battlefields, stranded by the brothers' own actions. Such serfs frequently rebel against their masters and are swiftly dealt with.
In spite of the cold calculations of the chapter's combat doctrine, the marines are known for their culture of generosity. Due to their eagerness to salvage resources, they return wargear to other chapters with regularity. Civilians receive free food from the larder of the chapter, as the chapter's brothers are eager hunters. The captains, lieutenants and sergeants all partake in the Lord-Penitent's reception, sharing a ceremonial meal out of meats acquired during their hunts.
Veterans interred into vehicles are revered with the title of 'grand brother'. The chapter raises few marines as dedicated pilots, due to the grand brothers piloting many of their vehicles. To ensure the operational capacity of these vehicles, however, the chapter raises more tech-adepts than is usual for a chapter, distributing them across the chapter's many vehicles. Competition between tech-adepts for the honored position of techmarine is fierce, and this rivalry is encouraged.
Following the Month of Devastation, the Storm Tigers never fully rebuilt all of their companies, instead folding in survivors into the biggest companies to survive.
Besides companies, the marines of the chapter are split along gene-seed ancestry and brotherhoods. The more gene-seed ancestors a marine has who have fallen to the gene-flaw, the lower their ancestry is deemed. Marines with ancestors with great deeds to their name, meanwhile, are almost deemed relics in their own right. The providence of a marine's gene-seed made known by all, leading to those of lower stock to be treated as dispensable. Those without ancestors at all, called Raza, find themselves at an awkward crossroads. However, anyone is able to find comradery by joining one of the chapter's patchwork of brotherhoods, contemplating the mysteries of the Omnissiah, the Motive Force and the Powers Equine.
In 14% of Storm Tigers, when the Catalepsean Node becomes enflamed, it misfires and causes all perception to be routed through the brain region responsible for melancholy. As a side effect, the outside world slows to a crawl, driving the marines to isolated insanity as their every thought becomes corrupted by sorrow, until all forethought is burned out. Only in the moments after sleep does lucidity return, reawakening the marine to the horror of his fate. Only through constant hypno-indoctrination are such marines kept in a fighting state.
The gene-flaw is aggressively monitored. In order to filter out any who are predisposed to the flaw, neophytes are placed in a psychostim bath to provoke the flaw early. Those who fall to it are placed in suspended animation for 10 years and then placed directly in the expandable Mistwalker Company. This selection is believed to prevent the gene-flaw from perpetuating itself, but some believe it may be the origin for it's re-emergence in otherwise pure gene-lines.
"When one cannot replace the dead, one must use of the living." —Storm Tiger saying
​
Following The Month of Devastation visited upon the Baxtris Subsector by Craftworld Biel Tan, the Storm Tigers found itself crippled, with a gene-flaw rapidly emerging among it's ranks. For reasons unknown, their petitions for gene-seed replenishment were ignored. Suspecting disfavor with Terra, the chapter committed to a penitent crusade to once more prove itself worthy. In the process, the chapter reinvented itself to stretch resources as far as possible, under the auspices of the techmarines of the chapter.
​
The chapter worship the Omnissiah and Powers Equine, spirits in the Motive Force. The techmarines of the chapter read the temperaments of the machine spirits to deduce the auspices of a particular action. The librarians meanwhile explore the sanctifying power of the motive force to exorcise corruption of all kinds. Chaplains track the history of the chapter's genealogies and oversee the relationships between brothers.
​
Even before the Month of Devastation, the chapter was known for their callousness towards mortals. Since their turn to the Omnissiah, this has only become more entrenched. It's not uncommon for ambushes to be planned in the dwelling places of civilians, as to catch the foe off-guard. The only mercy the chapter grants is that it is considered bad luck to leave stragglers behind. Thus, the chapter swells with serfs picked up from battlefields, many of which victims of collateral damage caused by the chapter.
​
In spite of these cold calculations, the marines are known for their culture of generosity. Due to their eagerness to salvage resources, they return wargear to other chapters with regularity. Civilians receive free food from the larder of the chapter, as the chapter are eager hunters.
​
The chapter had never invested much in the maintenance of dreadnought frames before, causing the secret knowledge towards their construction to become lost. The chapter's techmarines have attempted to reverse-engineer the technology from salvage, but have only partially succeeded. Instead, the chapter has interred it's veterans into vehicles such as land raiders and storm ravens, called dread raiders and dread ravens. Should the veteran lose is sanity, their sarcophagus is slaved to a warbike called a Bolt of Mercy, riding out in a blaze of glory one final time.
​
The gene-flaw is aggressively monitored. Genealogies are tracked strictly, creating genealogical bonds among the rank-and-file firstborne of the chapter. Those genealogies which more frequently express the gene-flaw are treated as expendable compared to those of good stock. This genealogical culture has been disrupted by geneseed replenishments and the primaris. The rank-and-file label such blank slates as 'Raza' and unproven, for better or for worse.
​
In 14% of Storm Tigers, when the Catalepsean Node becomes enflamed, it misfires and causes all perception to be routed through the brain region responsible for melancholy. As a side effect, the outside world slows to a crawl, driving the marines to isolated insanity as their every thought becomes corrupted by sorrow, until all forethought is burned out. Only in the moments after sleep does lucidity return, reawakening the marine to the horror of his fate.
​
Neophytes are placed in a psychostim bath to provoke the flaw early. Those who fall to it are placed in suspended animation for 10 years and then placed directly in the Mistwalker Companies. Mistwalkers walk ahead of the rest of the chapter in camouflage, clearing mines and taking the brunt of ambushes. This crucible forges the chapter's most formidable champions, who go on to slay mighty foes. As a mercy, chapter champions are eventually sent into the Baxtris Interior Wild Space to die with honor, so that their final gene-seed can be retrieved.
​
Feedback and questions much appreciated!
For examples, see responses under this thread.
This ended up being a great exercise! We got lots of great responses that ended up being really concise and still flavorful. Great jobs all around!
Under the hood, lots of pro versus anti debates are just whatever made people feel rejected by society or the art community first and run for the first identity marker that gave them a sense of community back.
There's a contingent of artist doomers that were around before AI, who believed that any indication that they might be bad at business could instead be contributed to market conditions. It's a story as old as time—people think that business development is unnecessary if they'd just apply themselves hard enough, except that they just do what everyone else, who are also not really trying. It's really difficult to break out of that mindset. As a commissioner, I'd give frequent feedback to canned replies that if they can't be bothered to make a personalized reply, they're not setting themselves apart from actual scammers. If you don't set yourself up to succeed, don't cry foul if you fail.
When GenAI came around, it became a lightning rod for artist doomerists. They all assumed that commissioners would flee in droves to AI. None of them had a critical thought about whether that matches with the kind of discernment a commissioner has for art commissions. Commissioners don't have the discernment to know what would look nice, only that it doesn't quite work for what they need (even if they're wrong). There's always going to be something that an art commissioner can't generate. It was always simply going to change what commissions are going to be in demand, if anything. Commissioners are borrowing the creative vision of artists, that's the gig.
But there is also a different kind of fear. This is called dark forest theory of the internet. This is most likely to actually affect friendships, because it will feel as though you don't respect the sacrality of that space. I've seen lots of pros go through this unfortunate cycle, where they will respond to something in the sacred space of their more intimate circles with "I asked ChatGPT and it says", or "I was inspired by what you said and I made it into this with Midjourney". Without realizing it, they'll alienate themselves, since it feels like they think that things inside the circle can be fed to these machines for processing.
It instinctively feels profane to lots of people, but they don't have the words for it. So they'll reach for arguments they've heard of to communicate to the pro in question "we don't like this, and this feels weird". And since it's natural to get defensive, fights break out. And then some pros will end up getting kicked out of spaces without getting a concrete argument for why what they did felt wrong.
Honestly, I think that most of the reasoning people give in this sub stems from people dealing with rejection or fear of the dark forest, or are split on the correct flavor of art doomerism that refuses to get good at art as a business.
It's got nothing to do with differences in philosophy most of the time. We just all hate working on our personal brand because, yeah, I get it.
Does anyone else use philosophers to inspire their 40k homebrews? Who do you use?
I use George Bataille, Heraclitus, Buddhism, Platonism, Gnosticism and Daoism to inspire my three homebrew factions, the Paladins of the Black Lake warband (seeking excess and unity of experience in very Bataillan ways to find freedom in the material), the Storm Tigers chapter (failing as both Daoists and inverted Buddhists), and the Lateralist Creed (making striving in the daoist sense heresy).
I find certain metaphysical conceptions to be useful in the abstract to explain certain mechanics, but I'm not neccesarily committed to the metaphysical entities invoked in such theories.
So I'm wondering—is it still metaphysics if it's just a useful fiction or does it just become a method?
It can be a real world proverb that means something different or it can be a proverb of your own making.
I dunno if this wording makes sense, I'm just curious whether people think it matters how they behave towards AI chatbots.
EDIT: Just want to say that the conversations are as thought provoking as I hoped they would be. Thanks everyone!
I was recently re-awakened to the term conspicuous waste (linked is a short that explains it in context without relating it to AI). Essentially, the idea is that cultural practices will favor wasteful use of one's resources in conspicuous ways to signal wealth.
I get a sense that the r/aiwars happening might have something to do with two rival conceptions of conspicuous consumption. Many forms of fine art (as in, art which is an-end-on-itself) can be seen as conspicuous consumption. The rich buy art at conspicuous prices, which not only signals their own wealth, but further heightens the price of the art, which creates room for speculation.
So, what I find is that a lot of people end up championing the worst excesses of generative AI are, by proxy, saying that most things we value are in some way a form of conspicuous consumption of resources.
Meanwhile, more left-oriented people would naturally respond to that by saying that they don't actually want AI to be as wasteful as other cultural practices, but that all cultural practices should be less wasteful and the wastefulness of AI seems to be conspicuous in particular ways.
So we have one side that embraces conspicuous waste as the sign of any cultural practice, and the other which seems to reduce the waste necessary for any and all cultural practices (without necessarily advocating for those cultural practices to be eliminated). And AI, given that it is a new cultural practice, is easy to target to be actually, genuinely eliminated while we still have time.
Just some things I'm thinking about as I am maturing in my thoughts about AI.
P.S. George Bataille has his own thoughts. He saw as the expenditure of excess resources as the origin of religion and that we've simply shifted from animal sacrifice as conspicuous consumption, to waging fruitless wars over ideals as conspicuous consumption of human lives, to treating humans as fodder in factories.
Labeling is often discussed on this sub as the enlightened middle ground where everyone has given informed consent to consume communications that were partially or wholly made with GenAI.
This idea comes from the idea that it's tiring to keep up with what industry has skeletons in its basement. Anyone who advocates it, pro or anti, just wants to go back to uncritical consumerism to when things were easy.
If that's your stance, totally respectable, but don't claim to be anti or pro. You're just tired. And if you're tired, you frankly shouldn't be in r/aiwars.
A recurring issue in these discussions is that both sides claim the "reasonable regulation" middle ground as the default pro- or anti-AI position. If that's all either label means, then the distinction becomes meaningless.
Being pro or anti implies a meaningful disagreement. Yet most "antis" simply don't want a chill cast on their spaces and industries, and most "pros" simply want to remain respected while using the tech. Defining anti or pro as inherently unreasonable forms of harassment against some enlightened middle reduces both labels to fringe nuisances that few people actually represent. We all think harassment is bad.
The real disagreement is whether AI should play a larger role in society, and where and when that role is appropriate.
A meaningful definition would be:
These are meaningfully opposing positions. Heck, someone can be pro in one field and anti in another, or neither. But if your position is simply "reasonable regulation," you're describing a moderate stance, not claiming ownership of a polarized label.
As part of meditative practice, I crafted this aluminium orb. Melted some ozone scented wax and made a libation of alcohol as a storm was going on outside for Thor and got to work.
The sigil at the center is pictured, being inspired by the Japanese Kanji for kokoro meaning 'core', 'heart', 'spirit', or 'mind' and the sigilized initials of the Boeotian muses for practice, memory & song.
I gave it away at a witch gathering. It's great for realizing yourself as part of a space.
This month, we visited Madrid to meet up with family members across the continent. It's my first time making big travel plans since I got into the faith.
I found it was very helpful to the vacation vibes to pray to Hermes when I was in flight, watching the clouds and contemplating the glory of human ingenuity. Same when I prayed to Hecate while using the Metro, watching the tunnels rush by.
It made the gods feel much closer and I'm thankful for that.