Published by cypheroftyr
Tanya DePass is the founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a not-for-profit organization based in Chicago, which is dedicated to better diversification of all aspects of gaming. I Need Diverse Games serves the community by supporting marginalized developers, attendance at the Game Developer Conference by participating in the GDC Scholarship program, helps assist attendance at other industry events, and is seeking partnership with organizations and initiatives. Tanya is a lifelong Chicagoan who loves everything about gaming, #INeedDiverseGames spawn point, and wants to make the industry better and more inclusive for everyone. She’s part of the Rivals of Waterdeep actual play stream on twitch.tv/rivalsofwaterdeep, a partnered Twitch variety broadcaster; and often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics online, at conventions and as a public speaker..
She’s also contributed to publications at Green Ronin, Paizo and Monte Cook Games and is the co-developer for the Fifth Season RPG based on N.K. Jemisin’s three time Hugo award winning Broken Earth trilogy. She’s the creator and Creative Director of Into the Mother Lands, a Twitch supported RPG and Actual Play stream, airing weekly on her channel, twitch.tv/cypheroftyr. Additionally, she is a Senior Annenberg labs Civic Media Fellow at USC. She’s also the creator and Creative Director of Into the Mother Lands, a new sci fi afro-futurist RPG developed with a team of all POC and Black creators; live streamed on her twitch channel, /cypheroftyr.
She’s named as one of The Game Awards Future Class 2020, a diverse group of builders, thinkers and dreamers whose voices elevate and diversify our artform. It recognizes individuals around the world who represent the bright, bold and inclusive future for video games. She was also named as one of Gamers of the Year 2020 by Kotaku along with three of her contemporaries. She was also invited to the Xbox MVP program in February 2021.
Her work to make the industry more inclusive has been highlighted in Game Changer, Directed by Tina Charles, WNBA star & olympian as well as filmmaker. The short documentary premiered at Tribeca 2021, as part of the Queen Collective; an initiative started by Queen Latifah, supported by Proctor & Gamble in an effort to get more Black women into film making. Game Changer was also featured as part of BETHer’s 2021 Juneteenth Programming on 19 June 2021.
Tanya is the programming & diversity coordinator for OrcaCon and GaymerX. She also serves on the Board of Directors for OrcaCon and was named the Chair for Take This in January 2023. She often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics at conventions. Her writing about games and games critique appears in Uncanny Magazine, Polygon, Wiscon Chronicles, Vice Gaming, Paste Games, Mic, and other publications. She’s the editor of Game Devs and Others: Tales from the Margins (2018, CRC Press) and contributed to The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox. (2019, CRC Press)
Writer Bio for pubs: Tanya is the Founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a not-for-profit organization based in Chicago. She’s part of Rivals of Waterdeep, an actual play D&D show on twitch.tv/rivalsofwaterdeep; the programming coordinator for OrcaCon & GaymerX; and often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics at conventions. She’s on the Board of Take This as well as a Stream Ambassador, and was part of the inaugural cohort of The Game Awards Future Class. Her work to make the industry more inclusive has been highlighted in Game Changer, Directed by Tina Charles, WNBA star & olympian as well as filmmaker. The short documentary premiered at Tribeca 2021, as part of the Queen Collective; an initiative started by Queen Latifah, supported by Proctor & Gamble in an effort to get more Black women into film making. Game Changer was also featured as part of BETHer’s 2021 Juneteenth Programming on 19 June 2021.
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I’m with Hildulf here.
All religions have there ‘trappings’ many of which help focus the mind, perticulalrly usufull for the ‘novice’.
But at the end of the day it is what is in your mind and spirit and the God’s will accept your homage, as long is it earnestly made, not because it is dressed up iand delivered with finery.
I would have sympathy if he was not given time or space to practice symbles, but there are limits and it sounds like he is pushing it.
Before he, or anyone else, screams Human Rights, rights come with responsibilities. He has been responsible for his actions, which had led him into his current situation.
This man is definately trying to play the system. Hildulf is correct in all that he says about the religious aspects, but I’m still going to support the inmate. Screw the system.
I was actually asked about this, on a message board I administer… I’ll copy and paste my response, below.
____________________________________________
He may be laboring under a false idea of Asatru.
He may be creating his own version of Asatru.
We don’t see the need for any such thing as a prayer cloth.
Thor’s Hammers are symbols denoting one’s faith in the Gods, not necessary accoutrements of ritual and worship.
He’s not going to be taking much Wassail while in prison, and the Drinking Horn is not necessary, just traditional.
Drum made of wood and boar skin? Where the hell did he get that?
First… boar skin is too thick to make a proper drum, deer skin is much preferred. Second, the only reason he might NEED a drum is for Seidhr work, and that’s not part of the religion. It’s part of the feminine magical practices of the people… not religious. And traditionally, not for men.
He doesn’t need a rune staff. A lot of Vitki make runestaves, but it’s not necessary for religious practice.
As for the sword, he’s taking Havamal 38 from the Hollander translation in a literal sense:
From his weapons away
no man should ever
Stir one foot in the field
for noone knows
when need might have
on a sudden a man for his sword.
Two problems with this.
1: Swords were the common weapon of the day (we use what is common for the time period we’re in…. the 21st century).
2: He’s in freakin’ prison.
If he wants to carry a weapon, he should have thought about that before committing crimes to get himself incarcerated.
In short, he’s either an idiot, or he’s attempting to use the religion to play the system.
Personally, I’d lean toward the latter.
Er…beads. Not beeds.
First, for readers who don’t know, I’ve worked w/ incarcerated persons for 2 years.
Once a person is involved in the criminal justice system, a number of their civil rights automatically fly out the window. Simple ones such as where you can go, who you can talk to, how you talk to people, where you eat, sleep, drink and defecate no longer are under your control. There are certain matters, such as the spiritual, to which inmates are given access within reason. Usually, corrections will authorize religious books (Bibles, Korans, BaghavadGitas, Watchtowers, etc.) and basic religious materials (rosaries, prayer/meditation beeds, head coverings, prayer shawls/rugs, necklaces, icon cards, saint medalions). The restriction after all of this is that the materials cannot be fashioned easily in such a way a to harm others (turn a cross into a shiv, a necklace into a garrote, a hardcover book into a bludgeoning device.)
To say the least, if this man treasured his freedom to practice his religion the way he saw fit, he might think again before committing a crime that would forbid him from having such religious items as a sword or a mead horn (or mead for goodness sake!). A drum might be contraband for other reasons in a prison setting, but a Thor’s Hammer (small necklace) and a prayer cloth are actually reasonable requests.
My first thought is: You’re in jail, dude. Suck it up. Secondly I think that one can certainly practice any religion in their own way depending on the situation they’re in. If he were poor and unable to afford the trappings he “needs” would he go and rob someo.. What’s he in jail for, again? 🙂
I don’t know a lot about the principles of Asatru, but I don’t think the UT DoC is being unreasonable. I’m sure they would provide him space and time to practice, but the list of items he wants/needs would give anyone pause. Personally as someone that’s been a “poor pagan” before, items become ritual items as you make them so. Maybe he has another reason for making this particular stand, but it seems like that’s all it is, something bordering on the fringes of a frivolous lawsuit.