Miscellaneous Feeds

For the past 12 years I’ve been asked some variation of this question:

“Rollo, why should a man bother with women at all today? All women today, yes all women, are vain, self-important, narcissistic, hubristic and entitled. What average man would ever want to have anything to do with the average woman? By the time a girl reaches her late teens she’s already conditioned to expect a High-Value Man is what she’s due in life. By the time she’s in her early 30s she still hasn’t had the delusions of her entitlements dispelled for her – no matter what the realities of her situation might hold up in her face. What’s the average guy supposed to do about the average woman?”

Although I’ve been writing about intersexual dynamics for 20 years now, there’s definitely been a sea change in those dynamics since the rise of social media. While the last two generations of women have been the test experiments, it’s not just a case of “Bro, women’s egos and assessments of their own SMV are blown out of all proportion because of Instagram.” Men’s expectations (really anticipation) of average women’s overblown egos is also part of the experiment. We’ve come to a point where men don’t expect anything else from women than an aggrandized sense of female self. The average guy has little recourse but to accept this ego-appeasement and adapt to a sexual marketplace defined by women’s hubris; or by choice, or necessity, (usually necessity) they simply opt out of that marketplace – or they convince themselves they do. In fact, much of what passes for dating now is really a form of personal brand management that has to contend with the rigors of a global sexual marketplace. No one really “dates” in this market. Without realizing it they simply look for strategic co-branding opportunities that align with the changing perception of sociosexual value in global society.

• How will the images of me dating this guy increase my brand engagement?
• How will the pics and video of him appearing in my feed impact my future opportunities to get with a hotter guy?
• How many Simps (commodified Beta orbiters) funding my lifestyle will abandon my brand as a result?

While these (and more) may not be conscious concerns for women “dating” today, the sociosexual context of this brand management is pervasive. It is the acknowledged environment in which men and women have play the game.

In a Gynocentric global social order the sexual marketplace is by women, for women’s short term and long term mating strategies. Men are simply the replaceable accessories needed to optimize those strategies,…or to be used as convenient foils when the consequences of those strategies become unignorable. So, it’s hardly surprising then that we’re moving into the second generation of Lost Boys. Young men with no real purposeful direction in life, less creative drive and a generation-defining sense of existential ennui.

And what would be their incentive to prompt them to creativity or purpose? Certainly not the long-term reward of an adoring woman or of sexual satisfaction born of her genuine desire. Those rewards are reserved for the High Value Men all women (young and old) believe are their due. Anything less is just brand management now. In an age when girls are raised on the ideal that no woman ought ever to do anything for the express pleasure of a man, doing something pleasurable for one becomes an act of rebellion against the Strong Independent Woman character they’re raised to emulate. Thus, any guy she’s motivated to go against her Fempowerment programming for had better be extraordinarily, confirmedly, high value. To paraphrase Patrice ‘O Neil, women want a man who’s better looking, smarter, stronger, more dominant, educated, taller and richer than they are, yet still wants him to think of her as his equal – or his Queen. He’s the ideal Superman who still defers to her socially-mandated authority (because he respects women) despite being her superior in every way she measures high-value. Oh, and he still has to continually qualify for her intimate approval even if he initially passes the average woman’s filters. Otherwise she might begin to feel as if she settled on him.

One thing that our new order communication society has made unignorable is that the truths we used to build the previous social orders on aren’t exactly what we believed them to be. In some cases those presumptions were useful faiths in truths we expected others to mutually accept; others were pretty-but-useful lies. Regardless, we still cling to romantic ideals that were tenable in previous eras despite the growing (easily accessible) research, data and empirical evidence that puts the lie to that romanticism. What we’re left with is a conflict of old order hope, faith, romance, emotionalism and the lives shaped by these influences versus the often harsh, empirical, objective truths about human nature that are unignorable in this age. Reason itself doesn’t destroy comforting faith, but it does take the magic out of faith by explaining it. Faith confirmed by reason only reinforces faith, but it can never go back to being a faith again once it’s explained. This is a hard pill to swallow for generations that have made a faith in emotionalism the guiding principle that defines their personalities, entitlements and expectations of the opposite sex. And this is to say nothing about the current global social order founded on emotionalism (Feels Before Reals).

Long ago I wrote an essay titled The True Romantics where I asserted that it was men, not women, who are the true romantics – of this age and those past. Men are innate idealists. This idealism prompts us to the performance we use to establish dominance and competence hierarchies amongst ourselves, but it also incentivizes us to the romanticism we hope will solve our reproductive problem. I’ve said in the past that this idealism is both our greatest strength and our most exploitable weakness. For the past two generations this idealism has been a liability for most men. When you make a man necessitous it’s his idealism that makes him hopeful in hopelessness. It’s idealism that makes him a suicidal nihilist or a pollyanna optimist. It’s idealism that keeps him going to work each day in the hopes that his dedication to a proscribed rule-set he believes everyone else is (or should) be playing by will earn him respectability. It’s idealism that makes him a Black Pill Doomer when he can’t reconcile his old Blue Pill conditioned hopes and goals with the Red Pill aware, new order data confirmed for him every day on social media or is just a Google search away. And it’s idealism that makes him hate the women who will never make those pleasant Blue Pill fictions a reality, while he hates the men who brought him to that despondency even more.

Both sexes are gravely, irreversibly, disillusioned today. Both would like to return to some idyllic time where women could swoon for a dashing high-value man who would become a husband they could admire (and be hot for) – and men could find a suitable mate via an understandable and realizable performance, acceptable responsibility, and actionable authority. But an underlying blind faith in the Blank Slate, Social Constructionism, Emotionalism and Subjectivism have made all this impossible. Progressivism, feminism, gynocentrism, (Wokeism) and all of the fallacies that built them, are really old order faiths founded on previously accepted presumptions – presumptions that are destroyed by new, easily accessed, empirical data every day. The more empirical truth (or even the questions that come from it) the more desperate the old social order becomes in maintaining the frameworks its power relies on to sustain it. Red Pill awareness of intersexual dynamics is one such catalyst that is disrupting those old order, Blue Pill, false ideals. It exposes a game we all enjoyed playing up until technology made public what the winners and losers had to do to be so. Women want to play the game, they don’t want to be told they’re playing it is an old maxim I’ve used for over a decade. Now we can apply this to the entirety of our globalized social order; except being told we’re all playing an old game is unavoidable. It makes playing it seem contrived, but it also calls into question why we’d ever build our lives around the contrivance.

Women and men are being dragged from this comfortable game based on emotionalism, false potentials of a Blank Slate and social constructivism. They are being forced to take the Red Pill and cross an abyss very few will have any idea how to deal with. We need new paradigms of thinking, and new ways of inter-relating with each other that align with an empirical understanding of our natures. This will require an acceptance of Red Pill awareness, and innovation and creativity that is sorely lacking in these generations.

System: Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls

Manessah the Fairy (Male)
Height 6.1"; Weight 1.37lbs
Level 2 Wizard (note, normally Fairies can't become Wizards but Manessah is an exception)

03 Strength
03 Constitution
21 Dexterity
15 Luck
12 IQ
28 Wizardry (Kremm)
21 Charisma
14 Speed

14 Combat Adds

150 max Weight Units to still fly, 300 max walking.

Weapons: Blackjack 2d6, Blowpipe 1d6
Armour: Light Leather, Steel Cap

Equipment: 3 sewing needles, lockpicks, 1 gold piece, 9 silver pieces

Carrying 135 weight units.

Manessah wants some custom brass knuckles and an ice pick. He plans on increasing his Con, then some IQ to meet the requirements of 3rd level spells and then raise Wiz to 30. After that he'll work on Dex and Con.

Groundhog Gaming will be February 27 and you can register at https://warhorn.net/events/groundhog-gaming-2021

Games will be played on the Discord server this year.

System: Call of Cthulhu 7e
GM: Michael Mirth

Location: Shanghai, China
Date: March 1928
Quest: Stop 3 of 5 Nyarlathotep rituals

Places of Interest
Ho Fong Imports
Gray Dragon Island (480km South-East of Shanghai via Wampo
Blue Parrot (Dinner with Isoga)
Jack Brady (Doesn’t seem to know Isoga)
Mr. Lung (mentioned in the paper)

PCs
Anna (Judy)
Derek (Dwight/Punch)
Penny (Bob - not in attendance)

NPCs
Irene Adler (some pretentious title; we call her Zu)
Jack Brady (Maven “The Eternal Warrior”)
Isoga (Japanese Spook)

Diary of Derek Reldif

It’s generally believed that our trip to Gray Dragon Island will be the culmination of our visit and not to be rushed. There we will place the Eye of Light & Darkness which Irene knows and Jack has people working on deciphering – thus they will collaborate.

Irene thinks Ho Fong’s house will be very dangerous. I compare it to the Misr house. We’ve passed on entering the warehouse.

I hug Jack again.

We’ll meet him at 4pm in the Blue Parrot prior to seeing Isoga again. Irene suggests we speak to Maven.

Sealing all entries into our rooms as best we can (which isn’t as secure as it may sound since Jack was able to eavesdrop and break in without our knowledge) we head to the Dreamlands.

**Password for Krannon’s is Anemone**

Krannon mentions a message was left for me that ‘someone’ is coming to visit. Sounds like Moriarty.

Krannon finds Maven for us and in our conversation we learn his first name might have been Roland. All of his lives have been intertwined with myths of magic swords. He thinks that his alter ego, Jack will trust us if we show how careful we are.

**Do not tell anyone about the Order of the Bloated Woman.**

Not sure if that was Irene or Maven as at this point Irene makes a point to impress upon Maven that “If anyone will get you killed, it’s Derek,” which just increases the growing distrust I have of her. I suppose she is a necessary evil. It also reaffirms why I don’t share all my thoughts and leanings with everyone. Anna though. I trust Anna. I failed Ginger and will not fail Anna!

Jack’s army is the Firmés Group? Firm Action? Young Chinese?

I talk to Maven about eternal life and he believes it was a curse.

We find a sketch artist through The Professor to draw likenesses of Bancroft and Co. (Some of this info goes back to my diary of S10 http://furiouslyeclectic.com/COC10 which is about 10 months ago although certain encounters with them happened later as well) Jerry in both Human and Wolf form; Sheila the maid; Sonny, Karim Salim, Professor Zaes (whom we know best) and tall thin 50ish Evelyn Bancroft with her silver hair in an updo – a Seal of Solomon in the background.

We leave the sketches with The Professor for now. I encourage him to show'em to those he trusts so people can look out for them however to be somewhat careful as they could be dangerous people.

I ponder a Dream name.

We see Atol who will be there when we need him (he thinks Kenya). They have no love for Nyarlathotep, he and Barzai who was thrown down the mountain by the devil. Atol tells Anna to drop off the Dream Drug she can make to the occult shop in Providence in the past so we aren’t poisoned by Epitaph. Atol and Barzai built the fortress on the dream moon and show us a map with the secret entrance we used in the past. Underwater Nan-Madol is similar to it. We recall this as the place Ginger was sent when I couldn’t be there to save her (S11 http://furiouslyeclectic.com/node/535).

I awake and have breakfast at 8am. I linger around until 10am for Chen (our translator – A Methodist). We go off to the Fortune Teller, Mr. Lung. I read a fictional story about a dragon named Lung Arif once.

Chen mentions this is more a convoluted Chinese Astrology called Purple Star. On the front step we see a Siamese cat. I pet it. If it was my own cat, that’s fine but Siamese can be quite a handful to the unprepared. Anna speaks to it and it responds! She does not tell me what it says nor do I press her on it.

Upon entry, Lung is surprised we penetrated his barrier which confuses the two of us. Chen points out the bright red peachwood door and plaques on either side, all of which is protection from demons.

Mr. Lung tries to shoo the cat out but Anna picks it up and sets it on her lap which gives the impression it’s with us.

He has swords made out of coins which apprently can be used as wards. He hands me a peachwood amulet and Anna a bronze one. The room is setup in such a way that you can not walk in a straight line (screens and furniture). Perhaps this is designed to increase magic (OOC Feng Shui).

He hands us some scrolls. I ask him about Elder Signs while we hold the scrolls and he looks incredulous and surprised yet unfinished in testing us. The cat starts howling so Anna sends it away. Lung doesn’t seem to know anything about Elder Signs. Perhaps he’s just learned in the occult and not the Mythos.

He feeds the fire in his brazier some used slippers (Padded Brazier?). “We are not demons,” I say flatly. Anna and Penny start throwing up. Wait... Are they demons?

He burns HellMoney to bribe the demons Anna and Penny not to hurt him.

Hmmmm... I feel like I have more Magic Points than normal.

Anna says she is worried about rivals and would like to peak behind the mask so Lung starts working on her AstroChart as he invites us into his back room. Alarm bells ring in both mine and Anna’s head. Back room? Oh, he still thinks we’re demons. Sigh.

Anna upsets the cat when I wasn’t looking and suddenly it turns into a 600lb demon. I shoot it on reflex. Of course I don’t have any useful weapons against such a thing so it ignores me.

Lung picks up one of his coin swords in a defensive stance and lashes out with a hard impact on the demon. He appears to be forcing it into the back room. Chen and I help shoving it into the curtained area where Lung pulls a cord dropping the curtains to reveal mirrors, trapping the demon.

Anna apologizes for allowing a demon into the house. Lung apologizes for something and they go back and forth a bit. I realize that Anna knew the cat was a demon from her secret conversation but I choose not to point it out. I mean, it happens. It’s not like she’ll read this and be reminded of her folly.

Lung believes it was a rival astrologer who sent it and assumed that was the rival Anna was asking about, which it wasn’t.

*Research demons*

Irene suggests that Anna sever the demon’s link to it’s summoner and make it an ally.

I offer to buy the coin swords from Lung and he gives us each one. I use mine in an attempt to cut the metaphysical cord from the demon and succeed whereupon it turns back into a cat.

Anna expends 20 Luck to chat with the cat again. It will help us with a small task (like killing one person) with his release being in fourteen days if we do not give it the task by then. Anna also offers above and beyond to provide it with fish during it’s service to us. It’s name is Zuzu Petals (Ford Fairlane). Oh no, it needs to pee. Ah, it means that there’s a P before Zuzu. P’Zuzu. Anna's decision may well pay off. It brings a smile to my face thinking back on this moment. I thought folly but trusted her instincts and she rewarded us with a powerful ally. Way to go Anna!

What we learn from Mr. Lung:
Some of us will not survive (unclear if this is just the Island or the whole quest).
A black hat is particularly deadly – pale person – Islander – painted face. Obviously this is Epitaph, disguised and closer than we think. Watch for the black hat.
A Goab holds something aloft?
Something about Seven Gates of Heaven.
Ace of Cups which may mean help and research.

Irene asks if we can come back here and cast spells at a later date. He agrees. We sightsee until our meeting with Jack at the Blue Parrot.

4pm. I try to stop the instant banter and feed Jack the password sign and he countersigns. Hopefully this method offers us some security. Okay, now you can all talk.

Jack seems to trust us a bit more but he’s not at ease. Min is the leader of Firmés. There is some chatter about The Holy Grail. Anna asks for five-way fountains, the hussy. Jack guesses the Ace of Cups which to him means innocent blood. I do an interpretive dance for everyone letting slip a jarring fart of war. Ooops. I’m not used to the food here. Jack slips into the shadows.

We establish a “Jack-Ignorance” for our meeting with Isoga. My idea is if we avoid talking about him, we won’t have to lie or show our full hand to Isoga. Just steer the conversation to other things of mutual benefit. Specifically on whether we know Jack. You see, Isoga is after Jack.

Isoga arrives in a Captain's uniform. I introduce Judy, Bob and Zu. He knows me as Punch. Isoga questions us about Jack and Anna feigns ignorance. I ignore the question and move on to Gray Dragon Island. He thinks it has (or is working on) a weapon pointed at Japan and must stop it at all costs. His people have been unable to get close enough to see much. For example, a skiff that tried was almost capsized by a strange wave on a clear day. They know the island has a crater/volcano type mass.

I continue to point the conversation away from Brady toward purposes for which we are aligned, like taking out the Island. Anna asks him about hot air balloons and the idea of dirigibles intrigues him. I ask him to check out Ho Fang. Anna asks him about a black hat. Apparently there is a Western gentlemen who is new there. I assume it’s Epitaph. I look around knowingly. We’re being overheard by something invisible. Ho Fang’s new ally has kidnapped a girl from the flower house who might be Brady’s girlfriend. As Fang opposes Brady, so Isoga thinks Fang is opposed to the Island. We offer another hypothesis that Fang is in bed with Gray Dragon and Brady opposes them both. The girl is being held hostage at Fang’s house. Isoga needs us to prove a straight line between Fang and Gray Dragon to act against Fang. Ultimately Isoga wants to save Japan and currently it appears to him that Brady is in league with the island with Fang opposing them. I think we've sowed the seed of doubt and have an ally however in reality, we don't really know the truth. We've been burned by allies before.

We leave it that Isoga is hiring a dirigible to inspect the island. We’ll meet again in two days at 5pm. Same Parrot channel, same Parrot time. He slips off into the shadows just as Jack had before.

Jack returns to our table. I catch Anna’s arm and we give the sign. He countersigns. Lin Mei is his girlfriend and we think he should go to the “Flower House” to see if she’s safe. He starts to lose his composure and wants to go after Fang right away. I explain it’s a trap. Anna auggests that he simply verify she’s even missing first. We go and the Madame verifies it. Anna offers Jack our help. It’s clear we can’t let him go anywhere alone or we’ll never see him again.

We will be invisible for the attack. I ask Irene to send Servitors to the island and she agrees. We talk of me learning the spell “Summon Hunting Horror” or Gunofka or other creatures.

Putting together our facts it may well be that Lin Mei is IN the Seven Gates of Heaven which is a glass box surrounding the person with many closed off compartments. Sometimes filled with rats for example, they are opened to nibble and bite at the flesh.

In the downtime, Irene will complete the teaching of Summon Servitor to me. Frankie’s lessons were incomplete due to time. She sends one to the island.

+5 Listen

Passwords:
Most People: Not 100% / Evil
Atol/Gus & Barzai/Jacob: talk about the gear on the carriage / found in the Book of Eibon
Mr. Lung: Ace / of Cups
Jack Brady/Maven: Charlemagne / Roland
Isoga: Son of / the Morning

System: Original Dungeons & Dragons/Boot Hill 1e
GM Malchor

Players:
Jameson as Elestar Half-Elven / Ellis “El”
Dwight as Hodge, Bane of Cannibals / Hal

NPCs (and player’s not in attendance):
Clint the Marshal
Nemain the Witch
The Pianoman
Yolo the Finway
Sebastian the Slinger “Seb”
Al the Accompanist

Session 40 “Nemain’s Train” or “Ellis and Hal Strike a Balance”
Location: Bridge out of Blackbird, Alternate Reality (Boot Hill 1e)
Time: Dusk
Quest: Return a D’Derga deity to fight our allies, the Dwarves

Surrounded by horses ridden by Humans that look similar to Yolo, Al and El; Nemain standing as if to speak; Sebastian about to stop her. She smirks at him and faces these horsemen, “Has my sister sent you?”

They look confused.

...GM lost Internet....
Why didn’t I take the Sheriff's badge?

In an altered Elvish, Ellis asks the horsemen, “What news?”

“Medicine Woman says the time is coming where Europeans will pay and be driven out.”

Ellis and I both look at each other thinking the Medicine Woman is Nemain’s sister. We discuss Sebastian’s concerns (disliking this land, wanting to go home). El thinks she is our only way back however he also believes this is a dream. I suggest we may simply wake up back home whether we succeed or fail at the quest.

Al strums his fiddle absently.

One of the horsemen say,“The horse eaters are active at night.”

Apparently there are ‘larger than a horse’ burrowing creatures with shells that sound a lot like myths I’ve heard about Land Sharks back in our world. These horsemen hunt them religiously. The beasts have been around as long as anyone remembers.

One of the horsemen questions the odd weapons (swords) in our group and wants one. El and I joke about it but ultimately El sacrifices his weapon and gives it to the man who now calls himself “Sword-Bearer.”

Sword-Bearer mentioned he wants to go back to Hole In The Ground however his people are leery of the flashing light beckoning our approach. Behind us, the town starts to light up with lanterns. El and I feel the pull of the mine. Fate.

The horsemen are nervous. I say, “Don’t worry, we’ll protect you.” This ruffles their feathers a bit and they bluster.

We head to the Mine and find two ladies with guns eyeing us suspiciously. I greet them, “We’re not from the town.” They ignore me.

Nemain rises and they lower their guns, “Are they with you Neigh Neigh?” She nods.

They had hoped she was with us which is why they flashed us. I look for some beads to give them.

Twelve women and nearly double that in children inside the Mine who have nearly run out of food. Nemain turns toward the town and starts chanting,

“Bring me thunder, bring me steel, bring me coat of iron mail
Bring me diamond hardened will and let my courage never fail.
Bring the lightning to my sword, lashing, living in my hand
And bring warning to the horde that here the Battle Crow stands!”

The earth erupts and some creatures burst upward and tear the town apart.

I interrogate the ladies a bit. They’ve been up here a week and have their own wagon with what remains of their food. The sickness affecting the town was primarily directed at men but also a few women who turned on Nemain.

The Townies accused her of being a witch and thus she cursed them.... Like a witch.

Nemain pretends to be nice to a child but we know better at this point. She tries to meet my gaze however I’ve kept my tattoo covered up and avoid the witch. We sleep.

In the morning we see the town of Blackbird is nothing but ruins and holes in the ground. The horsemen offer to adopt the women and children into their camp.

Clint feels obligated to protect them but prefers going to Brownstone. Nemain enthralls them into joining the horsemen.

El voices a concern to me that we’re being toyed with like pawns in a game. I see a visible annoyance on his face and support his thoughts on the matter, even encouraging him that this is not a good direction for us.

“Sidhe. You’re not an Elf, you’re Sidhe.” utters the maniacal witch to El and maybe the other Elves. Who knows with her.

She regales us with tales of Dwarves, Elves and D’Derga getting along before the Aesir brought a conquering Dwarf army to Baylor. Probably that trickster Loki. She questions if we’re with Loki but El and I sort of dodge the question with weak denials.

I ask her what plans she has and she plays it with nonchalant ignorance. El asks if she’s coming with us which she readily agrees to, like it’s part of her plan.

I ponder aloud, “What happens when you’re reunited with your sisters?” Again she feigns ignorance.

I try to quietly ask the ladies from the Mine if they’d ever seen Nemain injured or sick. I’m curious if she can even be harmed since those of Blackbird simply imprisoned her, probably incapable of killing her. The ladies of the Mine think me odd and pull away from me.

Nemain now even claims ignorance of any curse she laid as the ladies defend her humanity in vain.

The horsemen are ready to leave and push us for a decision. Clint wants to head to Brownstone and telegraph his superiors while leaving our payment at the bank. Nemain seems to manipulate things so that he comes with us to the Horsemen camp by leaning on his obligation to see the women and children to safety.

I question how his people deal with the landsharks. The rich from the East hunt them via train and ‘Bulette’ guns. The carapace is useful for crafting items. They have a weak spot below the triangle fin and can be chased off with a canon.

So, one of the ladies, Em stole their wagon from the town previously and between their wagon and our wagon we can transport everyone. How fortuitous.

We travel two days North-East to the Horsemen Camp, led by Sword-Bearer. Nemain is well behaved on the trip and we are unable to determine if she can be harmed. I sidebar with Sebastian to touch base and sympathize with his desire to leave this world and go home.

Clint, Sebastian, Pianoman and myself are given oblique looks. We may not be quite as well received as expected. The women are welcomed in. Not sure what will become of the children. Hopefully not like the D'Derga stories of drowning Dwarven kids. Their leader, Plenticoups, speaks with El. El and I are on the same page and as I urge him to ask about the Medicine Woman he has a brief smile showing me he was thinking that exact thing.

We are told an alarming prophecy about vengeance against Clint’s people similar to something I learned on Baylor. Nemain has already laid waste to a town of ‘father’s and sons.’

Sword-Bearer bestows El a horse and they bond a bit.

Plenticoups preens about how heroic it was that Nemain washed away a town (Blackbird) that caused so much trouble. He leads us to Macha, a women with raven-black hair and skin like Clint’s people (maybe paler).

“Sidhe? Here? What brings you here?”

El responds, “We travel with your sister.”

“Are the Isles at peace? Did the D’Derga send you?”

El tells her of war and vampires. I direct the conversation toward the Vampire Queen as a mutual enemy. She understands me and speaks Common.

“Tuatha De Danann; Children of the Danube; you walk with the warriors. Taranis is like a cousin-brother. Interesting that one warrior god would send you to find another. Or did Loki send you?”

I scratch my left shoulder and ask “Would we be able to identify Loki if we saw him?”

“One day the great spirits of war will unite and release them from their struggles. The war caused ‘Discord.’ The Dwarves are not evil but have too much ambition much like those here in this world.”

I drop into thought over her words and my own actions leading up until this point. I think on how Taranis is no innocent god as he takes brutal sacrifices. Who is right? Can there be peace? Should we choose a side or strike a balance in the middle as mercenaries. Wasn't there a story of mercenaries switching sides when the island was at war in the past? What if the D’Derga were defeated?

El and I discuss options. We recall how when we started in Carcino the Dwarves there worshiped non Aesir, Manammaneclear. You know, the ones who hide in their temple once a month.

El speaks wisdom, “Whatever we decide, we decide as Revenirs. The only thing that matters is making it out together.” He believes in balance and not picking a side. We talk about whether this is a dreamworld or land of the dead. Some sort of ‘balance’ is struck between us that seems to be like a puzzle piece falling into place.

Side Note: It seems like we’re dealing with some parallel where Clint’s people are considered invaders to Sword-Bearer’s people as the Dwarves are considered invaders to the D’Derga (although it had Dwarves and Elves already there – plus the Orc invasion put down by the Dwarves – Orcs held the Elf stronghold once and I wouldn’t be surprised if Mor Toc is coming back). Both worlds seem to have duplicitous prophecies of wiping the invaders away in ways most horrific.

RPG: Barbarians of the Ruined Earth
Core Mechanics: The Black Hack

Combat Robot

14 Strength
11 Intelligence
06 Wisdom
05 Dexterity
11 Constitution
10 Charisma

12 Hit Points

1d8/1d6 Weapon Damage
Shoulder Laser Canon (1d8 usage) recharges with sleep/shutdown.
Metal Body 2RP

Disadvantage with bartering and reactions

Notes: Healing salves don't work on me, can see in low light, immune to mind alteration/poison/disease/hunger/suffocation/non-magical fire, I take double damage from electricity and am stunned, must shut down for 8 hours every day to recharge.

Salvage: there are a slew of rules on this to dig through.

RPG: Far Away Land (Modified for modern horror like Cryptworld/Chill)

Jake Henry
Brute 1; Dexterity 2; Wits 3
Boons: Medic(W) 1, Occult(W) 1, Bookish(W) 1, Lore(W) 1
Flaw: Shy
Hit Points 11; Action Points 5; Luck 2; AC 0

ESV Bible, Henry's Occult book, pen, notebook, flashlight, Unihertz Titan smartphone, stethoscope

After 3 years the time has finally arrived. I pushed the button on the official publication of The Rational Male – Religion on January 4th, 2021. I know, I know, it’s been a long time, and try as I might I think the blog suffered a bit for it. The good news is I’ll be getting back to my writing here on the regular again, but I will admit this project consumed me more than I had ever anticipated. The process of writing a book of this caliber taught me a lot of valuable lessons, not just as a writer, but as a researcher and a thinker (if you’ll grant me that). I bit off way too much for me to chew in a lot of ways when I embarked on this project. I’m proud to say I had the commitment to chew it all eventually, but writing a book more or less from whole cloth was something I was less prepared for than my previous 3 books. So, for this Return to the Blog post I’m going to tell you about the book itself, my approach to it, the process of researching and developing it, and what I learned along the way.

The Rational Male – Religion has been available on Amazon (print) and Kindle for a little over 2 weeks now. It’s been the #1 New Release in the Science and Religion category since I published it, and it’s been #1 through #6 in some of the Religious subcategories as well. This is a big compliment to me since my intent from the beginning was to open the Red Pill up to an audience that wasn’t likely to be savvy of the Manosphere. Thus far the dozen or so reviews have all been 5 star, but moreover the comments have been overwhelmingly positive – to the point that some are calling it my best work since the first book. Flattering as that is, it’s the result of a degree of planning, research, discussion and attention to detail that I’ve learned is needed to have anyone outside the ‘sphere take Red Pill praxeology seriously. It’s one thing to discuss the often unflattering truths about women’s nature and the latent purposes of mating strategies; it’s quite another to assert that our personal beliefs and religious faiths are intertwined with them. I knew from the start that I’d be navigating a minefield of readers’ preconceptions, and ego-investments in them. This was my challenge: convey the Red Pill praxeology of intersexual dynamics in the context of personal beliefs while being mindful that the past four generations have had Blue Pill conditioning inform a lot of these beliefs. I also had to bear in mind that the convictions, values and faiths being informed by Blue Pill conditioning aren’t just limited to those with a belief in God.

This was my prime directive in writing Religion. I wasn’t about to sugarcoat or dance around the tough, ego-investment challenging aspects of the Red Pill. I have an obligation to objective truth, but I also didn’t want the book to become a “Rollo bashes religion in this one” effort. The most common hesitation I get from people curious about this 400 page book is “Hey man, I’m an Atheist, religion is just a bullshit cope, should I just skip this one?” Likewise, I have Believers ask me, “Is this book just about bashing Christianity and traditional values?” The answer to both is ‘No’. In fact from the Introduction I anticipated this response. It’s why I wrote the book actually. The Rational Male – Religion is an exploration of human intersexual dynamics and their influence on spiritual belief, religion and social values. Empiricists and Believers alike will get a lot from this book. It is a Red Pill look under the hood at the roots of men and women’s “need to believe” in love, God and the metaphysical to solve our mating imperatives. I don’t try to convert anyone to religion, nor do I try to convince you to abandon your beliefs. As always, it’s about connecting dots and seeing correlations.

Religion is structured differently than any of my previous books. The Rational Male was originally a collection of what I believe are the most imperative Red Pill truths for men to understand in this new era of information. These were drawn from my past essays on this blog, which were prompted by long discussion threads on the SoSuave and other forum posts from as far back as 2002. I then reworked and curated these essays into what is now the Bible of the Red Pill. For Religion I had to take a new approach. Although I drew upon some prior essays, the majority of this book I wrote from scratch. Dalrock of course was a major influence throughout the book, but even for the older ideas it was necessary to rewrite the concepts both to modernize them for the coming decade and to make them accessible to a reader who may not be familiar with the Red Pill we take for granted now. This meant that I had to start from a point of explaining Red Pill root concepts in the beginning chapters and build chapter by chapter to the greater concepts. The overarching theme of the book is the need to recognize that we are now 20 years into a New Age of Enlightenment brought about by the internet, social media and an accessibility to information unprecedented in human history. I make a distinction between old order thinking versus a new order understanding that challenges (and confirms) those old order belief sets. This is the first hurdle most unfamiliar readers will have to consider. Most old order thinking is what constitutes our beliefs, convictions and values, but the data age (for better or worse) access to information (accurate or not) is challenging these ego-investments. Whether or not you think these challenges confirm your beliefs isn’t the point; the point is that this new order information is forcing the past 4 generations – and future generations – to reassess how we’ll progress as a globalized society by accepting new truths or clinging to old order thinking.

The book builds chapter by chapter up to the most salient parts in the final chapters. This is by design. I needed old and new readers to digest the way I come to the bigger concepts of the book before I get to them. This book is by far the most meticulously researched and sources-cited book I’ve ever written. In my prior books and on this blog I’m accused of not having peer-reviewed, har data to back up my assertions. Most of this is just disingenuous filibustering by lazy critics who don’t have the time to click on the links I put in my essays. However, I wasn’t going to have that in this book. I footnote every source I used in the research of this book. If you’re wondering why a book like this took 3 years to produce, a good portion of that time was spent reading and archiving the research. I should add that this aspect of the book is something I don’t see any writers in this sphere doing to such a degree. This process taught me to be very detail conscious about what I was writing. Most people don’t really care about the sources you cite, they just want to know you did look something up. In the TL;DR generation no one will take the time to read through the 20 page, peer-reviewed, meta-analysis they require from you to prove your assertion. They just find one study that reinforces their beliefs, link it, and dismiss you. So, my intent in citing sources in this book was more in the interests of thoroughness and less about trying to change anyones mind about their beliefs.

On Authorship

The biggest change you’ll note in this book is my writing style. I’ve learned to kill my darlings and only rarely pepper in a $10 word when I thought it served. This came from my reading Writing without Bullshit by Josh Bernoff. This book made me realize the importance of presenting my ideas with clarity. The cardinal rule of writing is this; never waste the reader’s time. In the past I’ve used some complex terms and, lets just say long-form, sentence structures to get an idea across. Too many people thought that I was trying to sound intelligent by using words they had to look up afterwards, but I’ve always thought that the English language was too rich to be limited to basic ‘caveman’ words. I don’t write for the 8th grade reading level most journalists are taught to do, however, I realized my ideas were too important not to be accessible to everyone. This book is 400 pages of tight, concise, cohesive writing in a way I really had to retrain myself for. Gone are the superlatives, qualifiers and needless reinforcer adjectives I used to think were useful. I had ample material to use and I knew where I wanted to go with the book from the start, so content wasn’t going to be a problem. The challenge was making it intelligible to all readers, not just the ones who already knew the Red Pill lingo. My purpose then became making the read engaging enough to give readers an Ah-ha! moment about the prior chapter when they got into the following chapter. It became an effort in knowing what to throw out, what to keep and how to simplify saying the same thing in fewer words. As a result, my outlines and my drafts are littered with dead darlings that I wouldn’t have thought twice about keeping in my prior books.

I feel like I’m a better writer for it now. Most of my essays average between 1,800 and 2,800 words. My process usually starts with a hand written outline of concepts I want to hit on and I go from there. Some of these outlines can get really complex as I move from point to point, which create further concepts sometimes. I’ve learned that I don’t necessarily need to cram all of the outline into one essay or one chapter. While I’ve always crafted each post on this blog, I recognize the need for brevity now. The Red Pill praxeology and intersexual dynamics span many subfields, and while I try to be comprehensive in relating the data that makes up Red Pill concepts, at some point I have to trust my readers to get it. Either that, or I have to link what I can and let the bigger ideas carry the concepts into future posts. My challenge now is balancing being thorough with being concise – and all while considering what counterarguments will arise.

I finally feel like an author now. To be an author requires a certain amount of conceit. You read that right; in order to be an author you’ve got to be at least somewhat conceited. Not necessarily in a bad way, but you’ve got to make some presumptions about yourself before you can get past the sticking point of actually typing out ideas on a blank page. The first presumption is the hardest. You have to ask yourself, “Do I actually think I’m so important, worldly or wise that anyone should take me seriously enough to care about what I have to say?” Even if you’re just blogging about something you know well enough, or you just like the topic enough, you have to get past the the hesitation in thinking other people who know better, or are bigger fans than yourself about something you love might be considered better authorities or authors than you.

I don’t really believe in fear being the biggest stumbling block for would-be writers. Most people aren’t fearful of failure or ridicule when it comes to becoming an author. Fear is a stupidly common theme for motivational speakers. Fear is the easiest rationale to target for the ‘go getters’ trying to build a brand on positivity. Fear just sounds like something people would deal with. Athletes, artists writers, everyone’s fearful of failure, right? Wrong. It’s about hesitation in thinking anyone should take you seriously. Then hesitation turns into procrastination and would-be authors turn into pundits or critics, or else they endlessly pontificate about how wrong other authors are and how they’ll correct them in the book they’ll eventually write,…eventually. If you think would-be authors are fearful of failure just look at how easily people blather on for multi-Tweet threads on Twitter, 280 characters at a time. The truth is, damn near anyone can write, but few people are actually authors.

Getting past that hesitation is becoming much easier in the internet age. First it was user groups, then discussion forums, then blogging was the thing that got us past the hesitation. We had to presume that someone, somewhere, might actually read our thoughts and care about them. While social media and Twitter destroyed our critical thinking and insight about what we were writing, it did help to kill any hesitation about presuming someone might think we were unqualified to have an opinion on anything. Fan fiction was one of the first genres of writing to evolve along with the internet. 50 Shades of Grey was literally the work of an amateur fan fiction writer who took the time to become an actual author. Her book was roundly criticized as fan pablum by critics, but you couldn’t argue with the numbers. At some stage a writer has to say screw it and just go for broke. Readers and critics be damned, when we become and author we write a book we want to read.

Once you get past the hesitation, and trot your ideas out in the open it comes down to honing your craft.  The craft of writing is the next stumbling block to becoming an author. Anyone can write Tweet or a blog post and be entertaining. It takes an author to hold a reader’s attention for 300 pages. Most writers today are little more than word processors. The self-published “authors” of today were the cubicle jockeys of yesterday writing fan fiction or political screeds from their workstations on company time when they got bored. Just the self-appointed title of author has a romance to it. Few writers today actually know the craft of writing or storytelling, much less a comprehensive knowledge of what they’re relating most of the time. Even learned professors with lots of letters in their degree’s titles who find a new popularity in the Hustle Economy really have a grasp of how to write well.

I’ve often wonder when I could start thinking of myself as a real author. One book? Three books? How many pages do those ‘books’ need to have for me to be considered legitimate? Hemingway’s, Old Man and the Sea is 128 pages long. Hmm,…so, not pages. What about word count? 27,000 for that book. Nope, not word count. Damn, what makes a book a book and a writer an author? Inspiration? Sincerity? Drive, moxie, perseverance? Probably all of those and a few more adjectives I can muster, but when should a guy start calling himself an author? The best answer I can come to is when he’s honest with himself. When you’re honest with yourself about the reasons why you write, why you feel you need to write, when you have mental conversations with yourself about what you’re going to write, all without the pretense of how anyone will misinterpret your words or any thought to what your grandchildren will think about you in the future – that’s when you’re an author. When you’ve filled your 7th little notebook to remember ideas in because your sick of forgetting the brilliant things that came to you at 2am when you woke up to take a piss in the middle of the night, that’s when you’re an author. When you write to yourself and not for your readers, that’s when you’re an author. When you sit down at your iMac with no inspiration and write for 4 hours anyway, then you proof read the brilliant, inspired, words that came to you during the last 30 minutes, that’s when you’re an author.

That’s all very prosaic, but being an author needs to be defined now more than ever. It’s easy to write — it’s a calling to be an author. Lord knows, I never planned to be an author. The Rational Male wasn’t published until I was 45 years old. It took a lifetime to come to the knowledge and craft necessary to write it. Few people actually read books today. They’d rather listen to them, or they skim through them, watch the movie or just read the outline to form an opinion of the ideas or material. I’ve called this the TL;DR Generation – Too Long; Didn’t Read. Feed me the salient points so I can see if you’re full of shit, call you on it or give you praise, and then move on to the next post. Actually writing something that stops a reader in their tracks is the hallmark of an author. Writing something that inspires genuine conversation, debate or writing a story that a reader can lose themselves in is the craft of an author. Writing something a reader actually internalizes, especially in this generation, is a rare, practiced, gift of an author. Being an author is difficult today. The distractions are endless. It’s not enough to just write ideas and relate them with skill, you have to be engaging and accessible to your readers in ways that authors from past eras never imagined. This is why most writers never become authors. Writers lose themselves in the distractions. They get lost in building identities, brands and images of themselves they believe their fans expect of them. Authors write in spite of themselves. Authors are so enveloped in their ideas and craft that they don’t care if they come off as assholes for ignoring distractions. Writers get off on the image of being writers, authors are too busy exploring and relating ideas.

RPG: Cryptworld (Chill 1e)

Jake the Medical Missionary

Bachelor of Arts, Medical School, Seminary, commissioned formissionary work.
Canadian, 5'5" 155lbs, 27 years old

42 Strength
44 Dexterity
38 Agility
38 Personality
60 Willpower
64 Perception
48 Luck
42 Stamina

71 Tracking
68 Medicine
59 Bola

43 Unskilled Melee
00 Penetration Bonus
03 Stamina Recovery Rate
12 Wounds

54 Psychometry (Paranormal Talent (1))

Metamorphosis Alpha Characters - 3.5 Editions

I decided to make as close to the same character as I could over four editions of Metamorphosis Alpha. 1e, 3e (25th), 4e and S26 (5e). Maybe even compare to Gamma World 2e. I don't have the Amazing Engine version unfortunately.

We'll stick to Human but note some of the differences.

1e
You can choose Human, Mutated Humanoid or Mutated Creature.
08 Radiation Resistance (6,1,1)
09 Mental Resistance (6,2,1)
11 Dexterity (2,4,5)
14 Constitution (4,6,4)
06 Strength (2,3,1)
11 Leadership Potential (4,4,3)
52 Hit Points (5,3,3,3,1,3,6,2,3,3,5,6,3,6)

25th
You can choose (based on campaign phase) Robot, Android, Human. Strength is rolled into Constitution. Add Luck. The d20 combat is replaced by 3d6.
12 Constitution (4,6,+2) [125/200 lbs]
14 Dexterity (2,4,5,+3) [AC-1]
14 Leadership Potential (4,4,3,+3)
07 Mental Resistance (6,+1)
07 Radiation Resistance (6, +1)
44 Hit Points (5,3,3,3,2,3,6,2,3,3,5,6) Lose 2 dice but a 1 becomes a 2.
17 Luck

Equipment: Gown, working handheld computer.

Advantages: Non-mutated machines are programmed to serve Humans; +3 to attack with Human sized weapons; Androids and Robots usually obey Humans; +3 on physical and mental ability checks.
Disadvantages: Robots and computers are often overly protective and interfere, vulnerable, may lose access to secure areas if mutated.

4e
There are skills that later waked Humans might have and you might gain when your memory returns. Can start as a Robot, Android, Human (no memories), Human (some meories), Human (full memories), Human Cyborg, Mutated Human, Mutated Animal, Mutated Plant.
17 Constitution (4,6,4,+3); 68 Hit Points (5,3,3,3,2,3,6,2,3,3,5,6,3,6,6,3,6); 150/300 lbs
14 Dexterity (2,4,5,+3); AC-1
14 Leadership Potential (4,4,3,+3)
12 Mental Resistance (6,2,1,+3); +1 Puzzles, 120 IQ,
11 Radiation Resistance (6,1,1,+3)
14 Luck

22 Years old, no mutations (9), no cybernetics (10).
Equipment: gown, broken handheld computer,

Advantages: +3 attack with weapons designed for Human use, correctly functioning robots, androids and AIs obey authorized Humans, +3 on mental and physical checks, can mutate, can use cybernetics.
Disadvantages: No memory, AIs, Robots and Androids may be overprotective, can suffer cybernetic shock, mutations may cause AIs, Robots and Androids to not recognize them.

***
I would say that even with the same die rolls, characters between 1e and 25th are not specifically stronger or weaker however they are slightly incongruous. 4e characters are significantly stronger and more homogenous.
***

5e
Human, Mutated Human, Mutated Animal and Plant are the options (randomized with Mutants being the majority).
Human - barbaric, +1d radiation Resistance and Tech Lore, +2d talents.
Best - Constitution: 5D (-1D Radiation Resistance)
Worst - Brawn: 0D (+2D Lifting)
Good: Leadership: 4D
Weak: Discipline 1D (-2 Mental Resistance)
Competant: Dexterity: 3D
2D Melee Weapons - +2 Melee Weapon Attack
2D Ranged Weapon - +2 Ranged Weapon Attack
Everything else 2D

Fatigue 13
Wounds 15

Well, this is pretty different and hard to customize within the creation rules exactly like the previous characters plus the change in Strength from 1e to later editions makes you wonder how strong this individual would be. Is it a flaw if a system can't replicate a character from another system? Which system above is more versitile?

Gamma World 2e
Pure Strain Human "Pladapa"
09 Mental Strength (6,2,1,1)
10 Intelligence* (6,1,1,2)
12 Dexterity (2,4,5,3)
13 Charisma* (4,4,3,2)
19 Constitution* (4,6,4,5)
06 Physical Strength (2,3,1,1)
98 Hit Points (6,4,4,4,2,4,7,3,4,4,6,7,4,7,7,4,7,7,7)

For Hit Points, I added 1 to each already rolled hp and rolled two more. This eliminated any possibility of a one so perhaps subtract 4 from the total to get a more relatable score.