paradoxGentleman posted:

Mazed posted:

paradoxGentleman posted:

On the one hand, basing a monstrous races on another people is a lovely thing to do.
On the other hand, sweet Hextor yes hobgoblin Huns

Dick Burglar posted:

Tolkien borrowed some traits from a culture (the Huns) and filled in the rest with his own ~original content do not steal~. While you can draw parallels between Tolkien orcs and the Huns, they are not 1-for-1 copies of the Huns with a new coat of paint. Tolkien did not take every single stereotype he could find of a culture (like, say, Rastafarians) and then transplant them into literal, inhuman monsters (Warcraft Trolls) with little or no further creative development.

quote:

Tolkien describes Orcs explicitly in one of his Letters:

...they are (or were) squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes; in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types.[15]

fool_of_sound posted:

The Lawful-Chaotic axis is backwards and it's driving me crazy.

Slashrat posted:

Happy?

quote:

Black Plastic:
A modern organic style that came about around the same time as Digital Chrome, Black Plastic encourages an
organic look to its technology (even the non-organic stuff), usually casting everything in asymmetric black
rubber that is designed to unsettle viewers. Black Plastic is a perennial favorite, with its popularity oscillating
but remaining fairly constant in the Peerage. Progenitors are very fond of this aesthetic; they often
incorporate insect motifs into their creations. A combination of Black Plastic and Trash Praxis has recently
become popular; its most common nickname is Crawling Rusty Meat.

Brutalist:
An outgrowth of the Functionalist anti-movement of the 70s, which basically said "Stop dressing up your
loving wonders and just make sure they work," the Brutalist doctrine goes one step further, encouraging a
deliberately functional and inelegant look. Wonders in this school are made from pre-fab parts, if possible,
because that's cheaper, or unpainted (or camouflage) custom parts if necessary. Components look strippeddown,
ugly, and exposed. The Brutalist style is popular with Navigators and some Mechanists, and with many
militaristic and survivalist geniuses. Exposed metal and clashing combinations of alloys and polymers are
common in this style

Clockwork:
One of the oldest aesthetics that is self-consciously an aesthetic, clockwork is exactly like it sounds: geniuses
who adhere to this style favor mechanical devices if at all possible, using springs and muscles for power and
intricate assemblages of gears for moving parts. For Axioms where this maxim might seem inapplicable, such
as Apokalypsi, Inspired employ clever mirrors and prisms. This aesthetic is of course most popular with
Mechanists, though it is also popular with many older and more traditional Inspired. An older variant, called
Baroque, mixes Clockwork with rococo fashions; it is little-practiced today.

Extropic:
The current "far future" style, with the hard edge of reality coupled with the optimistic vision of a transhuman
future, is termed Extropic. In this aesthetic, the genius focuses on advanced speculative science such as
nanotechnology, gene-line body alteration, and digital consciousness. Extropy is as much a philosophy as an
aesthetic, and the actual appearance of wonders varies, though effort is put into making technology appear
elegant, unobtrusive, and functional. But the core of the Extropic aesthetic is not the appearance, but an
approach to technology that focuses on cutting-edge research and the blurring of the concept of "human."

Macedon:
Another perennial aesthetic, dating back at least to 15th century Italians imagining what Aristotle's wonders
might have looked like, Macedon sees surges in popularity every few decades. The current return to the
spotlight is probably the fault of "Greek-punk" movies and video games, just as the previous jump began
during Hollywood's Golden Age of sword-and-sandal flicks. The Macedon aesthetic uses as its starting-point
the steam-powered machines of Hero of Alexandria. Stylistic elements include the use of bronze instead of
more advanced metals, Hellenic friezes, and intricate mirrors to engage in long-distance communication and
attack. Variant styles, based on the ancient bronze-steam-and-glass wonders of Persia, Egypt, and India have
also seen intermittent popularity; these styles are distinguished from their Alembic equivalents by being
more explicitly technological, often sporting exposed Antikythera-style clockwork.

Oscilloscope:
A popular style during the "golden age of science fiction" and a little bit beyond―from the late 40s to the late
70s―"Oscilloscope" was the first aesthetic that actually received a name, rather than "that style that the
geniuses in California are into now" or whatever. Oscilloscope style focuses on plastic, aluminum, chrome,
atomic power, jets, and radio technology. Expect big computers, angular machinery in that off-beige "old PC"
color, and track suits. It is deeply uncool among modern geniuses, and practically marks one as an Atomist, for
whom the Jet Age and Space Age dreams have yet to die. A few young geniuses have begun wearing this style
ironically, or mixing it with Extropic, but the Oscilloscope aesthetic is still associated with earlier generations.

Home Grown:
While this aesthetic got its start among underwater-themed geniuses, it has spread onto land with the rise of
modern biotechnology. The Home Grown look features organic components, subtle curves, and
bioluminescent illumination, giving it a warmer and more humane appearance than Black Plastic. It is popular
among ecologically-minded geniuses in the Peerage as well as some Oracles, and is well-regarded among
geniuses for whom the biological sciences are of primary interest. Experiments with overlapping Home
Grown and Alembic led to a short-lived fad that is now referred to (contemptuously) as Fairy Princess.

Young Freud posted:

"Black Plastic" is pretty much the inverse of Apple white, where it's all slick and smooth and glossy, with high specularity allowing you to see the contours of the device or object and rounded corners so it's easy on the touch.

Comrade Gorbash posted:

The description sounded more like it was aiming for Giger-esque but didn't want to name check him for whatever reason.

Young Freud posted:

Brutalist is probably the easiest to see. It's a style that looks like it's from '70s dystopian science fiction like Logan's Run, THX-1138, or A Clockwork Orange, largely because those movies actually used Brutalist backdrops for their setpieces. A lot of Brutalism is about simple forms but complex textures, so stuff looks like it also comes out of a video game in places.

"Black Plastic" is pretty much the inverse of Apple white, where it's all slick and smooth and glossy, with high specularity allowing you to see the contours of the device or object and rounded corners so it's easy on the touch.

Young Freud posted:

"Crawling Rusty Meat" sounds like something from Tetsuo The Iron Man films, where flexible pipes, wiring, foil, and metal pieces mix inelegantly with human flesh.

The Crotch posted:

I'm not specifically looking for halflings but holy poo poo a halfling on a goat would own.

Cryophage posted:

Network42 posted:

Post some cool 4e style warlords, TIA!

thespaceinvader posted:

(I hope this doesn't count as leeching, and I like it when people ask for my artwork)

Drone posted:

Because your work is bloody fantastic.

Cryophage posted:

GenericOverusedName posted:

These are not goats. What the heck are they supposed to be.