Starwind’s explanation for how this issue came to be is so compelling, that by the time I reached the end, I had forgotten the first paragraph had implied she was spinning a story! It was only Estelnar’s editor’s note that reminded me Starwind was unfairly blaming her . . . which only makes me wonder where “Baster” came from to begin with!
Love the gag with the ASCII art, and the idea that even after her long absence, Bast is still blocking images of herself from being put to . . . “profane” use! And the AI article . . . I’ve been trying to avoid engaging with any AI content, since I find the concept a bit distasteful, but this at least shows how wrong the result of such a data scrape can get things.
I’m sad to see the Temple fallen into such disrepair, but it makes sense, with not many people going there any more, and the long time period. The “Where are they now?” section was a lot fun to read: so many names I hadn’t even heard before! I still wish I had discovered this community closer to its inception, and gotten to know all the folks that have been here in the time before I arrived. I like that you’ve implied a lot of the characters are still active in/around HQ in some manner, and haven’t just vanished along with their authors.
Arghiufchwei cat eggs That phrase smacked me like a wet fish. Just. Cat eggs, where did he find them all!?
—doctorlit thinks Jorts is an incredibly handsome boy!