Pinkerton's Ghost

youtu.be/BKkEVz-xkt8 THRONE OF HADES WILL BE PUBLICLY RELEASED IN AN HOUR AND A HALF! Don't miss it!

Sending linocut prints off to their new homes. Joyce to the Joyce Foundation, Zurich, Joyce and Lewis to Buffalo University, Eliot to Cambridge University. It's wonderful to have these pictures go to institutions where they'll be seen by hundreds of people every day.

@SojoXX A bit. The takes are such a waste of air And from serious people too

@PinkertonsGhost Had that one percolating for a bit didnt ya?

Let me rant at 2 AM Do you know how hard it is to kill an actual, dominant empire? Not some "I rule 3 kingdoms and so am an empire" shit state like Mali or Korea or Sweden (Yeah, bite me, Swedes You had ONE good king) Hell, the Mongols were barely a real empire. They conquered a bunch of land and were gone before 100 years were up, separated into a hundred petty states and several other empires that were their own thing. They conquered in a bright flash, but... A khan in the kit of a Chinese Emperor isn't exactly the same as a Chinese Emperor as Chinese Emperor. It's not the land conquering that makes the empire. I mean an actual EMPIRE. Culture! Dominance! Reach! Glory! Rome, Greece, Persia, Aztecs, Spain, Britain, and now, America. Even India got in on the empire action, though, usually by foreign invaders. A culture, a people, so DOMINANT that it RULES. Some empires, like China and Persia, only die for a few generations. Usually juuuussstttt long enough for the hardliners grandchildren from the previous empire to be dead or old in China. Persia? it's too civilized. No one can convince me that the Sassanids and the Safavids were different tribes. They had empires the second Darius the Great conquered Babylon. Lets say Iran loses loses: in 20 years there's going to be another Persia. Maybe the Sassanids will come back for round 3 or something. Take the Aztecs. They fermented civil wars to sacrifice to their demon gods and were so dominant that the only reason they got got was because the Spanish came in and EVERY SINGLE TRIBE except their Aztec heartland joined in to fight. Even then it wasn't easy. It took years to destroy them. India was always reconquered by some foreign power, Mughals to Britain. Even then, they were too numerous, too rich, too willing to die to be destroyed. There's a reason its borders are pretty trackable over the millennia. It never really falls for long before some new invader picks up the pieces like a jigsaw puzzle. The HRE was divided in two, and was split between Prussians and Habsburgs, forming the Austro Hungarian Empire and Germany. It didn't die like others did. It evolved. It was weak and it became stronger than ever until WW1 and WW2 ended it. The French, Spanish, and British Empires were willingly given up. They didn't die so much as they didn't have the will to be an Empire. Even so, All three have large amounts of allied countries or islands at their beck and call. Dead? Now, after the most devastating wars ever? Are we shocked? Are we surprised? Why wouldn't they decline? Russia? The Russian Empire changed from Monarchy to Communism and then to Autocracy with a bit of voting. It's not dead. It split up a bit but do you think its tales wag the dog like in America? No! The Muslim Empires followed the Chinese route of splitting, dying, reforming, and then repeating, always in about the same territory, which, ironically, followed most of the same territory as Rome and Persia. Funny, that. Now, lets talk about Rome. Western Rome went down swinging. Lets count the ways. There were several tribes invading from three different rivers, not counting coastal pirates. There were several civil wars going on, and wars against equal powers like Eastern Rome and Persia. The people were devastated by countless wars. The cities were burning. Its economy was wrecked. Its currency was wrecked. Its fleets were sabotaged. It's soldiers were foreign and treasonous. The huns were ravaging everyone and everything. Entire portions of the empire lost in days. Its emperors were highly incompetent, barely figure heads. Its court politics prevented anything from being done. Oh, and it lasted over fifty years after all that. It's like this, if the Western Roman Empire was a man, he was fighting ten men of equal and greater measure at once while also bribing some of them into infighting while fighting off his own brother and his personal rival, while cancer is destroying every single organ, bone and muscle, while trying to drive a car while performing surgery on himself without anesthia, while making business deals over the phone, all the while horseflies and mosquitoes are biting him. Sure, by the time of Romulus Augustulus, it was pretty pathetic, but holy hot shit @Hattydovah @UpdatingOnRome ANYBODY am I exaggerating? Even a little? You know what? Maybe I did exaggerate. Persia just wasn't the threat I said it was to the Western Roman Empire. My bad. And EASTERN ROME! You know how many times they went "It's over" and some emperor went "Fuck it we ball" and BROUGHT IT BACK FROM THE DEAD? 5-7 times? Just off the cuff: Heraclius, Alexius Khommeni, Paleogus, Nikephorus Phokus, The Leo after Heraclius past the muslim invasions, the guy who ended the iconclasm BS and I know there's more! Sure, at some point, it was just dead, but an empire that lasts from 200 or whatever BC to 1452 AD?! WHAT?! The Ottomans also went down swinging. They were FAMOUSLY incompetent before the end, but even so fought several major wars, revived themselves, and pushed back against Britain so strongly it should be counted as a loss except Britain was on the winning side. Thanks to America winning BOTH wars, BTW. The Soviets would have been bodied, and, frankly, England would have never broken through. Japan? They were almost entirely beaten by the US. We then made them our best friends. We survived Korea and Vietnam and 10,000 scandals and Afghanistan and - But yeah America losing a single F-35 or just getting it scratched up is the end. It's so over. We're so done. Pack it up. I'll see you at the maid center- No. The America Empire, good or evil and almost certainly evil isn't going to go down easy. Lets talk about it. What does America have going for it as an empire? A powerful and dominant military that WILL evolve to meet its threats. We can lose a literal army's worth of equipment and write it off. A global reach without end An economy that can apparently defy the laws of economics for 50 years and more Dominant economic sectors for every single sector Wealth so great that government spending can go out of control for 30 years and we're only really feeling it in the last 5. A culture so dominant that it was the standard for just about everything and every medium, until recently. A bureaucracy so good at getting taxes not even the largest organized crime families in the world can hide it. We tied our monetary system to oil and then made it the energy source for the world. We have the best leader for America in 100 years, and more to come. Even if the central government vaporizes tomorrow, each state has their own bureacracy and state apparatus down to a semi-formal army. The normie men are more 'manly' than the performative youtube/podcast having rent-boys you see more often. In states like Missouri? You can defend yourself. All the best fighters are in the self-defense states. Those same states are also most dedicated to God and remember an actual manly Christianity that you won't find in a megachurch meme by some atheist who can't keep his hands off his dick or a mcdouble. What does it have against it? We've forgotten God and our virtue in the whole of society. No military can challenge it so it gets bodied by tricks. Iran is shooting rockets out of mountain strongholds. It's not invading anything, it's not gathering a coalition, it's hiding in the rocks and none of its allies are doing shit. "They shot down a plane!" Out of several hundred? But yeah not being able to invade Iran kinda sucks and we need to rethink things. We need a reform of the military The bureacracy is grinding down Several states are traitorous. The enforcers in local and small government are largely incompetent and anti native. The government is anti-native Until recently (and even now), the government was trying to destroy every node of power for the American people We have millions and millions of invaders on foreign soil Criminal gangs are everywhere They are letting murderers out into the streets constantly. There is no true, dyed wool, pro-American faction We have to listen to a certain foreign power for reasons that would make us angry to actually know. Our top leader is a glorified tycoon. All of his proteges are suspect Our tech is old fashioned because every enemy faction stole it and countered it. This is a temporary set back. Every nation on earth except a few would be happy to see us fall. Every tip-top wealthy individual except a few cadres are against us and actively fund our downfall. And you know what? Things are good 3/20/25. A Mcchicken is 3 bucks when it should be a dollar but I don't have to live like a Chinese peasant in a megastructure, or a scammer in literal human waste filth, or an African starving warrior, or a raped Euro, or a cartel slave, or a Canadian who is going to have "suicide" forced on them while they lose everything. Yeah sure, lying on an Asian beach with some honeys would be better but aristocrats of the soul are a 1% minority. There's only 144k true souls, after all. And if America does, somehow, collapse? The military hierarchy will take over until it's time for elections. They're not some jumped up Juntas, by the way, they'll actually bring us back to the proper American government. They're more patriotic in a real way than the entire EU council. We don't have Rome's problems of every man wanting to become a god and every army demanding gibs. Remembering @bronzeagemantis 's comments about the Brazil election, if anything, our generals are far too timid! They'd rush back to the comfort of our "Republic" as fast as possible! Becoming a king? No! He wouldn't last ten years and he'd spend the entirety in an actual bushfire civil war. If the military can't impose order (somehow), the states will act in concord with each other and nothing will change except things get dicey for a hot minute while the rules are sorted and... election happen! Except in Cartel hot spots, we don't have any formal invading armies. Those millions of illegals? Not organized! Even if Soros could magically do it, they're going to care more about supporting their families than whether or not the election is going to happen. Prices go up, but you know what? We have so many farms it doesn't matter. We have so many oil patches it doesn't matter. You're fat anyway. The looters won't leave the cities and even then they won't last long because you know what? The police are actually against them outside of like Chicago and LA. Prices will stabilize and go down, too, btw, since there won't be a money printer going 24/7 any more. And that military? It doesn't magically go poof. It's so large it can't. What, Ukraine collapses? Germany is already begging to buy Russian LNG! Who is stupid enough to believe it's anything more than a rhetorical rivalry? Maybe some antifa riots? They're losing steam every time they march out. No kings? More like No Youth! We'd be back in the game within the decade, and very much the STRONGER for it. There will be no actual civil war like you think. It's just low-level violence, and, frankly, one side isn't fighting. Please understand. The American Empire is here to stay. It's kind of evil, but, really, it's just an empire like all the rest. A new "Emperor" takes over every 4-8 years and sometimes they're bad, other times, they're good. Hell, American hasn't been an empire that long, at longest? Civil war. At shortest? End of WW2. Me? I actually put it's germ with good ole Teddy Roosevelt. The empire isn't even 200 years old at the latest date. That's young! Rome didn't really get an emperor for its empire until Augustus! Until then it was still a (mostly) functional republic, just with some civil wars! America is a sensitive young empire! The difference between Rome and America is that YOU have to have a HOT TAKE or you're nothing. And it's SHIT shit shit SHIT SHIT SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTT. Shittier than an Indian street. Shittier than an African refugee camp hole in the ground. Shittier than a Mexican toilet after Taco Tuesday. Yes, the ideal American form is the Aerospace Republic. Yes. The empire sucks donkey balls and hates its own people. It doesn't have to and it can change. YOU, however, are a powerless commenter doomscrolling on the shitter at a job you hate. Get over yourself and into the program. You can't reform something you hate or don't believe in. Empires whimper from old age or they go down swinging. We're maybe 150 years old. We have barely begun to fight.

This is who runs this account

It's difficult for artists to convey to normal people the ineffable, ecstatic, and sublime sensation of those brief and elusive moments of perfect flow from the wellspring of beautiful creation, unknowably divine inspiration, the fleeting contact with the Muses and their God.

the number one reason mass deportations will increase is because last year we put a frivolous Girlboss in charge and still managed to deport 3 million foreigners (400k removals, the rest self-deportations), and now a serious man is taking over.

The grabblers want everything expensive and just out of reach because people stressed about money will do anything for money: Onlyfans War Selling eggs Not compete Then when people become murderers and prostitutes they say “see God? It’s in their nature to be evil. Man is an animal.” The mistake most people make is not murder, prostitution, or theft. It’s idol worshipping money as their provider and protector. This happens once the man or woman believes they are incomplete at their core and somehow a mistake. This is why commandment one is about false idols. Of course many people have highjacked that to mean “only MY god that everyone must worship.” That is a form of blasphemy. It’s used for manipulation and resource consolidation. The actual church does not require a building, a specific book, or a hat. But there is only one God and all other gods will lead to ruin. You were not created evil. Soldiers have to be desensitized and propagandized first and then drugged after. Same with prostitutes. And the only reason they agree is they believed a primary lie. Slay the wizard. Without your belief in his lie it doesn’t exist.

The aspect of Trump's character that most fully embodies the American spirit is his candor Often he attacks puffery & euphemism out of contempt - but also to put people at ease (this is why ordinary Americans have loved him) Funny to try that on the Japanese though

This, this right here is the best explanation.

On the subject of player agency. I am MOSTLY all for it. But if you're all set up to play Keep on the Borderlands, and one player decides his character's greatest desire is to open a shawarma stand right now, he's a dickhead and should be treated as such. It's a game of heroic fantasy. If you're not here to do heroic shit, get out.

Jacobin-style murderous anticlericalism against therapists

@RayGunEtiquette I dont know if its algo but Im seeing more and more of these posts. Nature is healing.

What do you, indie rpg developer, bring to the table that we haven't seen a thousand times before already.

Victory has been achieved, war is over Send the troops home now

People focusing way too much on the superficial analysis and not that Christopher Rufo only read McCarthy because Twitter told him it was required reading. 🙄

Make Science Fiction Great Again…by cutting down on the spelling errors in upcoming Starquest books Nine and Ten! kickstarter.com/projects/artcr…

Anime esque scared waif mc design Gritty, grungy menu choices Silent hill and resident evil references What, exactly, is original to you? The orange hair and glasses?

We are very close to breaking 300 backers on Winning Secrets! We're also VERY close to $13k, at which point we'll post the second installment of Jeffro's new essay series. kickstarter.com/projects/cirso…