#She was mostly a non-entity in the part I consumed

[this-acuteneurosis]

Hi! I love Don’t Look Back so much! I was wondering if Asajj Ventress and the Dathomirian Nightsisters exist in that ‘verse (mostly because it occurred to me how incredibly funny it would be if Leia decided to also get a degree in Witchcraft. Can you imagine Mace Windu’s *face* ?) lmao

They don't. Or at least, not in a way that would ever trip over into the DLB plot line. I debated for a long time about including Ventress, similarly to how I debated including Satine. Ultimately, Satine made the cut because the limited framework I have for her character fit into the plot and narrative I was trying to construct with DLB and Ventress just...didn't.

Feel free to imagine she's around though, doing whatever she wants. And maybe also turned Dooku down on an apprenticeship because she had better things to do? I don't know. I'm really not all that familiar with her character.

[valleyian]

Thoughts on Cursed Child becoming a movie

A very random late night rant, but here we go. I’ve seen a lot of fake trailers circle around the web and on social media in regards to a potential HPCC movie. And whilst that’s all fun and games, I also want to talk about the actual consequences a movie like that would have on both the fandom and people.

First off I need people to understand that HPCC is an (almost) separate entity of the Wizarding World franchise, being mostly excluded or regarded as “non canon” by the mainstream. However this does NOT mean JKR doesn’t receive royalties from the play, she still earns money from it. The ethics of spending money on the play is also something to be discussed, however I want to specifically talk about the consequences that a potential movie would have on the HPCC story and the representation within it.

First of, HPCC although it has controversies, is in my opinion the best installation in the Harry Potter universe when it comes to representation. What do I mean by that? Since HPCC is a theatre play, it follows general casting rules which in most cases is colour blind. This is implemented in most theatre productions where ethnicity of actors do not matter, HPCC is not an exception. This means that a lot of POC actors get opportunities to be on stage and portray these characters, not to mention the deliberate casting of Hermione Granger. (Although I will note that this casting has caused a lot of stir, in addition to the fact most of the productions have yet to cast a POC lead in the role of Albus, not counting Tokyo or Brazil).

Although only speculation on my part, I can’t imagine a HPCC movie would be able to deliver on the representation shown in the play, with the numerous casts that have been. I also would assumed they’d return to the white casting of Rose and Hermione, which obviously would erase the theatre play castings purpose.

Then onto my second point; being queer representation. Although it’s not confirmed 100%, and also wouldn’t be able to be confirmed as long as JKR has her dirty grubby hands on the IP, Scorbus is as close to canon as possible. This became evident after the script rewrite, a rewrite that was deliberately written by the current queer actors of the play. It was also written as a retaliation agains JKRs bigoted statements which she had began to spread at that time. So as of now, the play leaves the relationship between Albus and Scorpius ambiguous, yet it is very obvious there is a romantic undertone. This is the closest to any LGBTQ rep in the Harry Potter Universe, (no I will not count Dumbledore and Grindewald) and it means so much to people. A movie by Warner Bros and directed by JKR would most certainly remove all aspects of this, and return to the original script with the very forced addition of Scorpius x Rose. (Nothing against the ship, but I’m against the way it was used as a last minute ploy to remove any assumed gayness).

A subsection to this topic I want to touch upon is also queer representation within the casting. It’s not uncommon for theatre to feature a diverse cast both in ethnicity and orientations. HPCC again is no exception. Over the shows 8 year long run, there has been countless of queer and trans actors who have played in it. There have been gay and trans leads in the roles of Albus and Scorpius as well as the ensemble, and this representation is crucial. Especially since this is an IP within JKRs hands, casting people of said groups is such a powerful move. I can almost guarantee a movie would NOT be as inclusive.

And lastly, if there is a movie, should you support it? It’s not my place to say, and I will also acknowledge I am hypocritical when it comes to what I chose to consume and spend money on in regards to the Harry Potter franchise. However I also want to acknowledge that when you are supporting the theatre play, you do give money to JKR, but you also give money to the numerous queer and POC actors in the cast, a lot of whom are activist. I personally will stay away from any HPCC content that erases any of the current representation added. Unless the movie follows the new script, with POC and queer actors, as well as minimal influence for JKR, I WILL NOT support it. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

Also, feel free to correct me if I stated something incorrect or false in this rant!

[wretcheddthing]

Are there any songs you associate with Venali?

Hello ! :))) I’m just gonna give you the Playlist™️ break down. Fun fact! I have all of my playlists organized into folders and Venali is my only BG3 character to go directly into the BG3 folder rather than the OC one :3 it’s bc she’s canon 2 me

Songs and Reasons under the cut

• Don’t Let the Good Life Pass You Bye by Cass Elliot

Chosen bc since gaining magic, she hasn’t settled Once. This song is her reminder to slow down, appreciate the beauty of the present, don’t focus so hard on getting back to a life that can’t be returned to. It’s up to her to make her current path good.

• Dreams by The Cranberries

Sort of the same vein as the last song, except more along the lines of meeting and falling in love with Gale

• What’s Up? by 4 Non Blondes

bc tbh what the hell wven is happening

• The Cave by Mumford & Sons

Sorta follows Ven simultaneously running from and pursuing that which she considers to have ruined her. It’s a pep talk but also a reprimand to herself for putting herself in an u favorable position but knowing she’s strong enough to see it through.

And I’ll find strength in pain

And I will change my ways

I’ll know my name as it’s called again.

This bit ^ in particular bc she’s spending all of her time pretending to be somebody she isn’t (a wizard). Allowing herself to be authentic again is as much a motivator to see her task through as being rid of her magic entirely.

• Left Behind (Together) by Gustavo Santaolalla

idk how much you know about the last of us or the left behind dlc and ellie’s relationship with riley but this song. ….. …….. …. . good lird. put it on the playlist for venali and maude bc i think their relationship favors ellie and riley’s, especially how it ended.

i don’t think i’ve gone that deep into that aspect of ven’s backstory here but long, Long story short. Ven had 7 other friends, the 8 of them did adventures in childhood that turned into pursing for actual careers in adulthood. of all of them, maude was ven’s closest friend, co captain, favorite person in the world. they also had a sorta romantic, kinda almost dating thing going on. part of how ven got her powers is the entity demanded sacrifice, took control of 4 of them, made them kill the other 4. venali had to kill maude. thusly, song from left behind but specifically fun a really soft and happy moment to make me want to eat glass. also the title, being left behind together. maude because she lost her life, venali bc she lost a large part of herself.

• Euthanasia by Will Wood

honestly only here bc i’m mean. listen.

I was right there, while you fought tooth and nail

Gasping in the gas mask, thrashing ‘til you disappeared

mostly it’s the grief venali feels over the entire situation, but specifically being made to kill maude.

• We’ll Meet Again by Johnny Cash

i mean. following a theme here.

• My Silver Lining by First Aid Kit

it’s SUCH a venali song. i guess it could be a tav song in general but it encapsulates her specific journey so well.

I don’t wanna wait anymore

I’m tired of looking for answers

Take me someplace where there’s

Music and there’s laughter

I don’t know if I’m scared of dying

But I’m scared of living too fast, too slow

Regret, remorse, hold on

Oh no I gotta go

litchrally describing her search for information on what basically cursed her and her friends to have a connection to the weave they Don’t Want and Can’t Control. She’s struggling to live in the present but has to choice in the matter. She can’t dwell on the past bc it will consume her, she can’t worry about the future because it will demoralize her.

These shackles I made in an attempt to be free

Be it for reason, be it for love

I won’t take the easy road.

she’s bound herself to her current path. by running head first into the first idea she had, she’s had to full send that decision. and it isn’t easy maintaining a deception of the magnitude she is for so many years. she’s gonna see it through, though. plus the latter half of the song is pretty hopeful.

so i guess this song would be a more direct answer to your question but. venali hours, you understand.

• Don’t Forget About Me by CLOVES

and we return to “songs about Ven’s dead friends”

• Locked in a Cage by Brick + Mortar

(love these guys btw they’re great live) but basically another song about how ven feels trapped by the path she’s chosen

• Who Are You, Really? By Mikky Ekko

mostly just for the opening lyrics

So you feel entitled to a sense of control

Make decisions that you think are your own

You are a stranger here, why have you come?

Why have you come? Lift me higher, let me look at the sun.

• We Haven’t Turned Around by Gomez

i don’t remember adding this tbh. but i do like it. maybe something about that line “so you wanna make catastrophe”

• Cul De Sac by Duncan Fellows

another song speaking to how venali is unhappy with how her life has turned out thus far but also kinda allowing gale to show her that there’s some good further down the path she leads. also sort of a gale song. a big part of their dynamic is they teach each other to appreciate the parts of themselves they’d sooner forget so Y’know.

You’re just what I need

Oh, I just wanted you to see it for yourself, my dear

• Runaway by The National

bc i didn’t have enough sad song about ven being resolute but unhappy about it

• Silhouette by Aquilo

so many of these songs describe ven Before the events of bg3 but this one hits the nail on the head for the entirety of the campaign.

Devil’s on your shoulder

Raphael seeking her out for a deal

Strangers in your head

The tadpole, The Emperor, and everyone whose mind she’s connected to because of it.

As if you don’t remember

As if you can’t forget.

being essentially forced to forget half of her childhood by how the entity had her friends killed, but still being the only one left who remembers any part of them.

Let’s go out in flames

So everyone knows who we are

‘Cause these city walls never knew

That we’d make it this far

the odds were so insanely stacked against everyone by the end of the campaign that they Were willing to sacrifice themselves to stop it. at least venali was prepared for the reality that she might not walk away from this battle. also the line about the city walls calls back to ven’s simple childhood in baldur’s gate dreaming of some personal greatness.

and that’s what i have. i’ll probably add more after posting this :)

[hopeheartfilia]

Im really vibing with Helen these last 2 interactions!

To go on with it: Jonh saying youve never been adorable and then being adorable abour carosels doesnt help your case

To be frank this wont ever be my favourite season, i always like the more lore and story heavy parts and a large part of this is just.. experiencing the fear in an all consuming manner that feels a bit reduntant when i know of it already, its not as.. personal as the statements of previous seasons, its a fear summary in a way

Im not syaing its bad, im just saying its not my personal favourite way of learning! But on the other hand so much martin.

Also i dont really agree with the whole Lets go full kill bill - but I was very supportive of martin when he said it, however do bear in mind im just 5 different Martin fan clubs in a trenchcoat

I do tend to find jonh way too relatable, so theres that, and I just think.. vengeance isnt the best motivation to have when loosing yourself to serving the fears is a very real psoibility!

Not that i was against the destruction of not! sasha. but also i was. Look, look, fuck her but also the reprecussons on jonhs psyche might come to bite us in the ass you see

However i fully agree on the Should totally be friendly to any fear entities willing to work with us! Obviously with extreme suspicion and mostly fake but alliances could be of use and also varied pseudo human interaction in non agressive ways has been known to have some positive effects, however you decide to interpret that

Mostly i just think helen has been fun lately and if she cant harm you directly.. keep an eye on, but shes not really the pupeteer sort, at least not that much

So so, anyway, Martin! My boy! I dunno their comversations are just Fun, mostly, also appreciate how hrs there so things need to be explained to us, the listeners

Also ignoring that but about how exactly the entities can be pushed of in another reality pocket or something as they cnat be squished back where they once were! Real happy about not looking at it for now! Will spend alot of time thinking about it later probably

Anyway, "postapocalyptic google"

[lilolilyr]

Fics I Wanted To Write This Year But Didn't, Part 2: Star Trek AU

For @spookyvoidangelskeleton for this ask

Now I suppose these would have been several fics, but in a series or a collection as they're all about the same main storyline: The collapsing of a (or several) universe(s).

If you've known me for a while, you know that I am very into Multiverse Theory, both real life and fictional, and Star Trek with the Mirror Universe is of course one of the first fandoms that comes to mind for me to write my batshit ideas in xD

Basically, in my personal little (fictional, bc I know and understand 0 about real life physics or whatever would be relevant for this) multiverse theory, there are an infinite number of universes, evenly spread around the multiverse, and a new universe comes into existence when a timeline/universe (same thing) can go into 2 seperate ways naturally, or when there is timetravel involved to manually change a timeline: The original timeline won't be affected, you can't change what's already there, but a new changed timeline will be created.

Now, in some cases that works out well, with the timetraveller ending up in the new timeline and never knowing that their original universe is still out there- in other ways of time travelling, not so much. If the person trying to make a change manages to do just that but never notices, because they or a version of them is stuck in the orginal timeline, what do they do?

Try again, with the same result, many many times.

And that's where it gets problematic, because the multiverse gets unbalanced, and whether you see it as a sentient entity connected to the Qs in Star Trek or just as something that Works That Way automatically: the multiverse doesn't want to be out of balance, so the new universes start to collapse in on each other, creating a Splitter-verse and leaving its inhabitants to a fate arguably worse than death (in this fictional world): they completely stop to exist. This doesn't just affect the new universes but the surroundings ones, which would have split earlier and are already more different from each other, too, to make sure the one that was the cause for it all falls, too.

Now (of course, because I can't help myself) this would be part of @thelucyverse , with there being Central people trained in spotting such time anomalies before it is too late, but with there also being time-bombs (yeah hahah) created in inter-universal wars to create smaller, controlled splitter-verses (I say small and controlled here but like. We're still talking about entire universes), and with Central having back-up plans to get people out of the 'verses, in order as follows: anyone visibly IDing as Central (the organisation is still largely volunteer-based, shit's got to have some perks), then everyone whose energy indicates recent travel in-between universes, as these are also most likely to a) be Central and b) be okay in a new 'verse, after that, if there is still time and anyone willing to go back into the falling universe, children as they are also more likely to adapt in a new world. If there is enough warning, they also get out whoever people Central members want to have saved, but usually it just turns into whoever stands close enough to grab and get the hell out of there.

Whether taking people out of a universe against their will is a good thing or nah is ...debatable and still being debated amongst those who do it and those who think that taking someone away from the possibility of dying death in their own universe is vile (as amongst most religions, it is thought that you can only reach the same afterlife as those who died in the same umiverse- but again most also think that there probably won't even Be an afterlife in a splitter-verse).

Sometimes, people are also pushed out of the universe by the explosion itself, but they then tend to die upon impact as they seldomly end up exactly at the coordinates where they left, which leaves them either suffocating in hard matter or in space.

If you want to use these ideas for your own fanfic feel free, just give me credit and link this post as inspired by/ link to my ao3 or @ my tumblr!

Anyhow! To Star Trek... and I suppose this is now SPOILERS not rly for any Star Trek canon but for these fanfics, if I do end up writing them!

I tend to forget which characters are canon and which are complete OCs because I spend Way more hours on tumblr and ao3 + thinking about my own headcanons than I spend consuming the original media, but I am fairly certain a canon Joana McCoy, daughter of Leonard 'Bones' McCoy exists? If no and I stole the idea from sb else's fanfic I am sincerely sorry. Gotta look that up.

In one universe close to what would be the centre of the splitterverse, Joana- as a young child nicknamed 'Jojo', but now as a young teen trying to get rid of the childish nickname- has a younger part-vulcan girl as a friend, and this girl, nicknamed Aka, has, through having sticky fingers and connections to Central, a device that allows you to jump between universes. She's used it before and gotten into a lot of trouble for it, but to her it had always been great fun- until reality is starting to collapse around them while she is visiting Joana, and Joana is the only person she can reach in time and take with her to the next universe.

Distraught, the children are left in a new world, debating what to do, waiting for Central to contact them, hoping that they saved their families- but of course, Central has quite some different problems right now and won't contact them any time soon, and even if they did it wouldn't be with news of their parents: the adult families of non-Central members who only happened to have jumped between universes before themselves are really not the top priority, and the universe is collapsing too quickly to even get down the prio list to 'children',

Aka wants to leave the universe again and look for Central elsewhere, hoping that her moving around will attract their attention. Joana has enough from universe jumps for a lifetime. Thus, they part ways.

While Aka at some point does run into a group of Central troubeshooters who more or less adopt her as one of their own and teach her how to work their equipment and use magic and weapons and starships (not what a child her age should be learning. But then, none of the adults there ever signed up to be a parent, so who's to blame them), Joana goes looking for her family in this world.

Now I could write entire novels about Akas adventures and how it may or may not be healthy to not have a home at all and decide to not rely on anybody instead of either finding new versions of her original parents or letting someone new into her life properly (spoileralert: it isn't healthy at all), and how meeting a girl from one of the original splitter-verses (the not bombed ones) telling her not to make the same mistakes she made finally makes her think about her choices and and and, but this post is already going to be Long so I won't. That would all be a seperate fanfic anyways.

Joana finds a girl her age who looks just like her and acts almost exactly like her, too- the only difference seems to be that there's no Aka around, which made this version of her less used to adventure but also less wary of it.

The version of Joana from this universe- she decides to call herself Joan when they are alone, while the Joana we already know goes with 'Jojo'- her once loathed childhood nickname now a connection to her past- is thrilled to meet her and begs her to stay, I mean what is cooler than suddenly having a twin, and won't it be fun there is so much they can do! As their parents are seperated, they manage to spend their time mostly at one of their homes, either together when the parent is too busy to notice that there are two kids around, or one at each place, guessing correctly that if the parents were to talk about it, they wouldn't even think of the possibility of there being two children and instead just get mad at each other.

This goes on for a few months during the summer, with Jojo feeling vaguely guilty both to her original dead parents and these new ones who think that she is their real daughter, and the girls are just deciding about what to do when school starts again when-

Reality breaks apart around them.

Jojo clings to Joan in fear, and- as Jojo is now on the list of people who have travelled between universes in the past, she is saved by Central, and Joan with her. They are placed into a universe further away this time, a safe distance to the only slowly contained Splitters.

Meanwhile, in the same universe, two people were currently out on a space-walk: Michael Burnham and Philippa Georgiou.

They are thrown out of the universe in the explosion, and as they are wearing their suits, they survive as they end up somewhere in space again, but- they don't end up in the same universe. Michael ends up about 20-30 years earlier in a universe further away, and she doesn't even end up in what would've been federation space in her old 'verse. Philippa is only thrown one universe to the left and picked up by Central. As Central likes to name their acquaintances in some way that makes it easier to identify just which version of a person you are talking to without having to add the long universe number (even harder when the universe was destroyed and there isn't a known number), they ask Philippa to pick a new name. She is way too rattled and desperate to go looking for Michael as quickly as possible to care about what name she is supposed to have, so she goes with the first option given to those who don't have their own nickname ideas: lastname for firstname, making her Georgiana, short Gia.

Through Central, she finds out that the universal explosion left her and Michael connected- but it won't be much help in the search, basically just a way to say 'alright this verse is closer to it than that one', it's still trial and error... (I could also involve some body switching here, idk I already wrote a long fanfic with that trope in the Andromaquynh fandom, but I happen to Like that trope so yeah maybe I'll recycle some parts of In Your Stead if I ever do manage to write this Milippa story. Which, btw, if not already obvious, would again be a seperate fic from the Joana universal-sister story. On the other hand, Aka runs into Georgiana a lot, even calling her 'auntie Gia').

Meanwhile, Michael doesn't have to jump through universes but make her way through just the one universe to get to federarion space. Except what she find's isn't the federation at all... you guessed it, the 'verse she ended up in is more similar to a mirrorverse than to Prime. However, the Georgiou of this world isn't the emperor yet, she's young and Michael is able to influence her enough over the years so that she turns her back to the Empire.

Yes, it takes years for Michael and Gia to find their way back to each other, maybe decades... they also wouldn't have spent exactly the same amount of time apart as they aren't in the same 'verse. In fact, Cleo of Central carefully tells Gia that Michael might have died by now, but of course Georgiana doesn't want to hear this.

Michael and that universe's Georgiou also get quite close, though Michael doesn't want to cheat on her Philippa... of course, after years of this, she might think that she will never see Philippa again... (We are approaching ot3 territory here lol, and I don't even want to think about the potential of ot7 with the two canon mirror and prime versions adsfghjkl because if I finish this story here, I would 100% write a lil fix it where Central! Gia Mikay and Phil go fish Mirror! Michael and Georgiou out of a splitter-verse into the next prime verse in which Michael already knows that Georgiou... and ad they're already at it they also get half dead! Prime Philippa away from the Klingons... heheh sounds like the kind of poly chaos I would enjoy writing, but sadly I have to make it through all the Plot first)

Anyway! Back to Jojo and Joan: they decide that while they maybe should have told Joan's family about Jojo's existence soon if they had stayed in that 'verse, the initial idea of staying with one's universals wasn't so bad, so they go looking for this universe's Joana McCoy. The girl- (nicknamed Anna, which makes Joan decide to change hers from Joan to June because she doesn't want to be half Jojo and half Anna), is happy enough to meet them, but often feels left out from the other two as they act as if they've known each other forever even though of course it's only been a few months... In turn, Jojo and June aren't sure whether Anna really wants them around, whether she might think they're trying to steal her life and family from her...

Lots of potential for conflict! Yay! XD would of course come to a happy ending, with at least Bones accepting his three daughters, dunno yet whether they'd tell the mom... also Aka ends up in the same universe at some point, together with a version of her vulcan birthmother who she had never known the original version of but now gets along with alright... oh and if I do write aforementioned Milippa ot7 bullshitery, this would also be the Prime!verse for that, so all stories in the series or collection interconnect again!

this got... long... and I could obviously go on but I need to go back to writing my Bachelor thesis :(

@whoever read through all of this, do let me know whether you like these ideas and which you would like to read proper fanfic for! Might influence future writing decisions.

[cupidscrystals]

Hey! I hate to bother you, but I was wondering if you could expand on vampire lore behind Romulus? He’s a super interesting character and I’d love to hear more about vampires in the HP world!

:O !!! I’d love to! Here are some of the more important lore me and my good friend @meadowslittlebug came up with! Please go check her out, her art deserves more attention and she’s a wonderful person!

Vampires, Dhamphirs, and Vampire-borns

Two vampires who produce a child with the magic gene, this child called Vampire-born. This is the result of one or both parents having wizarding ancestry. If there’s no wizard ancestry in their bloodlines the child is called a Vampyr. The vampire-born and vampyr have a slow growing process, reaching the maturity of their bodies around 160 and 200 years old. They share the same traits as their turned brethren. A child of a human and a vampire or a human and a part vampire is called a Dhampir. Dhampir’s are only given to those who are at least ⅛ vampire. Some will always inherit vampiric traits such as sharp facial features, fangs, oddly coloured irises, an allergy to garlic and silver, and a repulsion to werewolves, but the rest of the vampiric traits are selected at random.

Aging

Newborns: They are newborn vampires. Their abilities are very limited.

Fledglings: They are Junior vampires a.k.a Vampires in training. A Fledgling learns how to control their thirst and hunting instincts along with gaining the ability to turn into a bat at will. Usually an older vampire is the mentor of the Fledglings and they can have more than one mentor. Mentors are usually the parents.

Matured: Fully grown vampires. They are the most common types of vampires found in the known world. They can turn other mortals into vampires.

Elder/Ancient: Vampires that are over 1000 years old, usually these ones are highly respected by the vampiric community, usually Elders hold positions of leadership. These are the ones that look less human-like and more like a real vampire.

[Picture: Top - Matured vampires, Bottom - Elder/Ancient vampire]

Vampires age MUCH slower than normal humans. 10 human years is equivalent to 1 vampire year.

Diet

Vampires can only drink blood. If they consume other kinds of food or drinks, their bodies will react violently until they expel all the contents. It was believed that human blood was necessary in the survival of Vampires, however vampires simply need blood, any kind of blood to keep their strength up. Such examples are animals. Human blood is just more nutritious and better tasting than animal blood. Vampires living on a diet of human blood will need to drink less than vampires living on a diet of animal blood.

Biology

• Vampires possess anticoagulant in their saliva that helps the blood keep flowing after the incision was done.

• Quick regeneration after an injury.

• They hiss at each other to mark dominance or as a warning sound.

• During their first few centuries they can reproduce, but after that period of time they become sterile and only can turn humans into vampires.

• Vampires can live without drinking blood for a couple weeks, but if the being haven’t consumed blood in a while, their appearance will age quickly and look more like a living corpse and more prone to act feral.

• Instead of water-based tears, vampires cry blood tears.

• Some vampires can have black scleras. Mostly the older generations, however it can be passed down.

[Picture: Black scleras]

• No vampire or part vampire has brown eyes. The only vampires that can have brown eyes are the ones that were turned. This is the #1 technique used to identify true vampires and human-turned vampires. True vampires can have eye colours ranging from blue, green, red, pink, orange, and purple. They NEVER have yellow eyes as that is a distinguishing feature of werewolves and part werewolves.

[Picture: Vampire eye colours]

• Enhanced senses.

• Enhanced strength, speed and agility.

• Being able to float and fly unassisted.

• Able to shoot plasma balls, this skill must be trained and only temporarily paralyzes prey

• Sunlight doesn’t kill them but they get burned pretty badly, feeling as if they were being burned to the bone, they can regenerate when they are in the shadows again.

• Since they are nocturnal creatures they are very sensitive to any source of light and can be temporarily blinded.

• Can only be killed by a wooden stake to the heart

• Silver is a ‘pure’ metal and makes vampires get burned or have bad allergic reactions.

• A Werewolf bite can be fatal to vampires. The Toxin from the werewolf and the venom in the vampire blood cause a reaction that makes the vampire deteriorate and die.

• Crucifixes and holy symbols is ambiguous, they produce a cringey effect in vampires but also there’s also a few that likes to see crucifixes, usually those have an inclination for liking the suffering.

• Poisoned or disease ridden blood ( sickness or toxic substances) will give the vampire a stomach ache.

Races & Branches

Humanoid: The newest generation of vampires, with their attractive features some can mingle between humans unnoticed, and some may resemble a typical vampire that it’s very obvious. Characterized for having pale skin, bright and odd eye coloration, fangs, as well as sharp features. (ex: European vampires, Jiangshi)

[Picture: 1 - Humanoid vampires, 2 - a Jiangshi (Chinese vampire) and European vampire just vibing]

Ancient: One of the oldest generation of vampires. They are older than 1000 years old. Around the age of 1000 their bodies change to a less humanoid features and have features such as longer ears, balding, bigger and longer fangs. Due to their age, ancient vampires are more reclusive compared to other races and don’t interact fully with the outer world. They wait until their prey is close enough to ambush.

[Picture: Ancient/Elder vampires]

Feral: Vampiric beast-like monsters or creatures that attack without distinction at humans and animals alike. Usually is known for attacking livestock. Some examples of these creatures are the Sasabonsam and the Chupacabras.

[Picture: Left - Sasabonsam, Right - Chupacabra]

History

Before 1811 (or early 1800s) , humans and wizards alike used to hunt vampires for sport. They mainly targeted the old and elderly vampires (over 1000 years old) and would bring home their decapitated heads as a trophy. The reason behind this was because the older vampires looked less human like than the younger generations do so it was easier for Muggles and Wizards to see them as an non-human entity. Most of the older vampires they slaughtered were of high position as they were elders, kings, queens, and other members of the royal vampire court. Because of the fact that vampires are immortal and time passes way differently in their perception, a lot of vampires today are still enraged at wizard kind because they were alive before they made vampire slaying illegal.

During the 1700s, the fear of vampires were at its highest point. People were stabbing the recently deceased with wooden stakes to prevent them from potentially turning into vampires and were insanely paranoid about them. They did all they could to protect themselves and their families from vampires. Vampire slaying was also at its peak, especially since wizarding ministries were promising people rewards of 200 galleons PER VAMPIRE slain. The vampire community combated this with trying to turn as many humans and wizards into one of their own in an attempt to repopulate and give them a taste of what it feels like to be treated badly. This is an extremely important time in history and is addressed as The Great Vampire Revolt. Again, most vampires alive in the present day were alive when all of this took place.

Given the frictions between the vampire and mortal community in the past, having relationships between both communities was frowned upon. If a vampire married a mortal, the vampire must make a choice, turn their loved one or must abandon the vampire community until the spouse is dead. However their offspring was well received, but part human part vampire offspring are pretty rare in present day. Other reasons as to why they are not common is because of the biological differences between the human and vampire causing problems conceiving or early infant hood death.

Monarchy

A Vampire Monarchy is a vampire who rules over a country. The vampires of a country form the Vampire Monarch’s Kingdom or Queendom. It is overseen by the Monarch, who also has authority over his or her vampire subjects. Although the countries are under complete reign by their individual monarch, they still remain under the jurisdiction of the Vampire Council in the Vampire Hierarchy.

The Vampire Council was a clandestine council that is composed of eight of the most politically powerful vampires in the known world. It is the ultimate authority over all vampires across the globe, overseeing matters of both religious and political purview in relation to the vampire population. It was worshiped by many and feared by even more.

[Picture: Members of the vampire council]

A vampire is granted the title of king or queen if they are in line for the throne and the current king or queen passes away or abdicated the throne. Upon the death of the reigning monarch, the Vampire Council will appoint a new king or queen. Vampires can also earn titles such as duke and duchess, baron and baroness (or thane), viscount and viscountess, count and countess (or earl), baronet and baroness, imperial knight and lady, or gentleman and gentry. by doing a very significant or impressive act to be granted a title. These royal titles can vary and differ depending on geographical locations.

Vampire Academies

Since the vampire population is much lower than the wizards there are not that many educational institutions for them to attend. The only ones we came up with so far is that there is one in Transylvania, Romania, Russia, and China.

Fun Facts

• Some may say that they have a ‘not giving a shit’ way of life and only care for their interests and brethren. For example they are not phased by murders of species out of their own kind (I mean they’ve been drinking the blood of humans since the beginning of time), one’s sexuality, or most things deemed dangerous by mortals. After all they gave bigger thing to worry about, like how they’re gonna acquire their next meal and figuring out how to enter places without being invited inside.

• Their pupils are slit shaped and the iris in different bright colors

• They can’t be killed by the killing curse, only stabbing them through the heart with a wooden stake (preferably made from wood of a peach tree. Any other wood will result in a slower death while peach tree wood will cause an instant death)

• There’s a vampire transcontinental championship where vampires from all over the world compete to see who’s the fastest flyer. For centuries, Asia has been taking first place.

• They sleep with their arms crossed over their chest. It doesn’t matter if they’re hanging upside down or in a coffin or laying on a couch, they’ll always end up in that position.

• They can hang upside down from any ceiling

Alright, that’s only a small part of what we have come up with, but if you have any questions about ANY of the lore or vampires in the HP universe in general, feel free to shoot me an ask!

Picture sources (I do not own any of these pics)

What We Do In The Shadows (2014)

Interview With a Vampire (1994)

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Vampire Kingdom

https://trueblood.fandom.com/wiki/Vampire_monarch

[vantablade]

【 🌌 MYTHOPOEIA I. 】

TL;DR: Nocturne’s species is the same as her family name, which is one of royalty amongst her home planet. This species possesses two bodies, feeds on creative/life energy (mostly through sex and bodily consumption), manipulates sonokinesis and aquakinesis with ease. They are alluring and terrifying, always unsettling, and their native country depends on their existence. 

The following lore post is a re-write of Nocturne’s lore regarding her species and some of her heritage. It references sex albeit not explicitly nor descriptively, as well as the conception and deaths of the species. There are non-descriptive references to cannibalism (of a supernatural kind). Information-wise, it includes the etymology of the family name, the chronology of their origins with vague references to the circumstances of said origins, some references to significant events and brief descriptors of Nocturne’s kinsmen. As I mentioned, it also includes a description of how the Ametsuchi are formed through conception and their life spans, as well as the usual circumstances of their death, and other biological tid-bits such as abilities, particularly their Glamours, and the cultural ideology that surrounds the species in their native land of Izana, Neo. Word count is girthy, so if you read the whole thing an acknowledging like would be very encouraging! 

Ametsuchi, Nocturne’s family name, is both the moniker attributed to a royal family and a species; within their general cultural environs, the two are synonymous, for only members of the former can be the latter, due to a magical contract made with the Living Sea of Neo during the Sixth Epoch, after the Genesis Migration. The etymology of “Ametsuchi” is comprised of the characters suggesting, literally, “rain” and “earth”, however its meaning can be more symbolically interpreted as “Heaven and Earth” or, in some cases, “the Universe”, illustrating the duality of the Ametsuchi’s existence.

The Ametsuchi are not mortal by our understanding—the canonical term referring to any non-mortal being “Undane”—for their life spans and way of creation are jarringly different from that of a mortal life. An Ametsuchi can live, theoretically, forever, however rarely do they achieve such longevity due to the fact their appetite grows with age, forcing them to consume more and more to sustain their gigantic forms, not unlike the Earthly lobsters or the Terrawatas of the planet Cthylle, which has a similar aging approach. As well as the biological difficulties of maintaining the massive form that comes with old age, the Ametsuchis—particularly those who reign as or are immediately in line to reign as the High King—often are killed pre-maturely by assassinations or other politicalized deaths. Notable examples are Kamo, the High King two generations prior in the Fifth Epoch, to the current regent, and Nocturne’s great-grandmother, whose surprising gentleness became an instrument of irony as her tender heart led to her death by a rebel group within Izana. Another notable example is the Ametsuchi Massacre just prior to the turn of the Sixth Epoch, whereupon the survivor of the previous assassination—High King Kana the Unloved—was murdered by her third heir, the current monarch High King Kazumi the Good, alongside almost all of the living Ametsuchi.

Due to the severity of the upheaval, there is a remarkable shortage of Ametsuchi, as once they were a plentiful people who could reign as Lords among the various cities and villages of Izana as well as forming the sole security of the capital. Now, where once there were many, there remains only the High King; her Oracle Hitomi; her exiled heir High Prince Kimiko, currently absent and whereabouts unknown; Nocturne, whose existence is currently unknown to the Neoni populace; a lost heir sacrificed to Spider’s Eye shortly after her birth; the twins, Lords Hato and Karasu, children of the previous High Prince and nieces to the current High King, and Lord Komadori, who perished a few years prior to this blog’s currently timeline. Unusually, there is one other Ametsuchi, though she is the singular occurrence of a royal member—and the currently coronated High Prince, heir to the Ever-Drowning Throne—who is not also, biologically, an Ametsuchi, due to the unusual (and secretive) circumstances of her birth.

The conceptions and births of Ametsuchi are crucial to the biological formation of an Ametsuchi, as one does not inherit these traits innately from their parentage. Conception relies on the existence of three parents: the donor, the Ametsuchi, and the Living Sea. It is avian in nature, as it involves an external egg which is incubated by one of the parents, in this case the aforementioned Living Sea. The moment of conception is achieved when a donor, usually a Mundane but can be some form of magical entity, is “sacrificed” to the Living Sea and implanted with a part of the parental Ametsuchi’s mana. This mana is parasitic, rendering the donor comatose and paralysed but not dead, as it slowly consumes the life energy of the donor in order to transform it into something else. This transformation then becomes an egg, around six foot in height and three feet in width, comprised of a fleshy physical magic toxic to the touch. It is not dissimilar from the sort of alien eggs found in science fiction horror movies, as it is not clean nor smooth but rather a dark blue-brown flesh-like consistency that is ribbed and wet with slime. Encountering one is both highly unlikely—as they are incubated within the incredibly hostile and carnivorous Living Sea—but also deeply unwanted, as its appearance, while gross in description, cannot be over-stated for its deeply unsettling magnetism and its horrid stench of salt and decaying flesh, with the raw smell not incomparable to the exposed innards of a recent carcass. Approaching one, if it is somehow isolated from its environment, is also a fool’s errand: its “shell” emits potent magnetism; an allure that cannot be resisted by any but those with an impenetrable resistance to such a siren’s call. This allure, apropos to the previous metaphor, proves fatal to the innocent who falls under its enchantment, for the flesh is carnivorous and deeply starved, and will absorb the unlucky soul who touches it—and they will touch it, for despite its repulsiveness, its magic will convince the onlooker that it is a most desirable, peaceful and treasured object that speaks to their very soul.

This egg, its terribleness aside, incubates within the abyssal stomach of the Living Sea, an entity whose body is—as one can imagine—a great, black sea, possessing a wicked sentience and an odd morality that is difficult to comprehend. The Living Sea then “fertilizes” its innards, transforming the remains in a gruelling process into that of a living being, independent of the instruments that contributed to its making, which, stripped of the Ametsuchi glamour, appears to be a monstrous bird-like mortal-like creature that has only the simplest, animalistic of urges, the primary of which is the urge—the primal need—to survive, and as such has a fitting and horrifying hunger.

Until the new-born Ametsuchi is conscious enough to understand Glamours, it will remain in this bird-like form, which is protected from the eyes of mortals and Undanes alike who are not privy to the sacred and grotesque rituals of the royal family, until it can adopt a form which suits it. The form usually mimics the primary care-giver, likely the Ametsuchi which served to create it, at least in part, as well as harbouring some sort of semblance to the donor which served as its first meal and its energy donation. This is still of its own accord, of course, but as this is an instinctual first guise, it is often rooted in the subconscious will rather than the conscious ego, and once it has been adopted is unlikely to be utterly changed if only due to the Ametsuchi in question’s comfort in its regular form. As well as that, changing one’s body exerts a tremendous amount of will and energy and can be quite an exhausting process that bodes little to no reward. However, as the Ametsuchi grows into adolescence and adulthood, the latter of which is usually kept for far longer than the average mortal, due to the societal boons afforded to those with an unearthly youthful maturity, they will grow and adapt, often adapting to the societal standard of beauty to better attract unwavering loyalty and inspire a sacrificial martyrdom in its subjects. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and this is a law that is engraved into the nature of the Ametsuchi: it is in their survival’s best interest to be seen as attractive, whether it be sexually or as a matter of character, and as such their appearance often fits the ideal of their surroundings consciously or otherwise. Of course, attractiveness is not always the key to survival; they possess an underlying aura of terror that unsettles as it lures, inspiring awe in its observer. In hostile environs, the Ametsuchi will adapt appropriately: becoming larger, more intimidating, more monstrous in appearance to better be suited for intimidation tactics.

As mentioned before, there is the matter of Glamours: these are half-conscious manifestations of a mortal body that conceals the magnificence of their original form, which is grotesque and avian in nature, and only grows with age until it is utterly titanic, thus the growth of its demanding hunger which becomes difficult to sate with the marching of time. As a half-conscious act, they can withstand most forms of unconsciousness depending on the strength of the Ametsuchi in question; one who has mastered, in some part, their own mind and harbours a deep understanding of their capabilities will find it easier to uphold the illusion, while those weaker in spirit will find it harder to maintain in various debilitating circumstances. For example, Nocturne withstood grievous wounds that penetrated the Glamour and mutilated the original would beyond reparation, which still only sufficed to put her in a near-comatose state where her consciousness was altered and foggy. Yet still, she maintained her Glamour. She had been raised in total isolation, with only the study of her strength and identity as an Ametsuchi as an anchor for her learning, and so had a better grasp on her anatomical manipulation than her peers. There was still a dire element—she was on the verge of total unconsciousness, and since she had no moral nor emotional obligation to those surrounding her at the time (rather, she was untrusting and borderline hostile towards her hosts), she had no subconscious desire to protect them from the immensity of her true body, despite the fact that had her illusion broke, her original form would have decimated her physical environment and thus damaged, if not killed, the people who surrounded her, including potentially breaking the magical ward that kept the locus—the Sepulchre—protected from evil eyes.

However, Nocturne in particularly struggles to maintain her Glamour if she is in a state of deep sleep. For this reason, she keeps to herself and refuses to allow others near her in such a state of tremulous vulnerability, if not entirely subduing herself to the vacuous space she titles her personal “Void”, a unique ability to her due to her emotional reliance on it since her severely traumatic youth.

The Glamour is not the Ametsuchi’s sole power, however it is exceedingly impressive: to speak in technical terms, of a sort, it “compresses” the pre-existing body so that it is appropriately condensed into the glamoured guise, including its impact on the environment and its navigating of the physical space. There is still a subtle feeling of “wrongness” when one looks directly at an Ametsuchi, but it is difficult to source the reason behind these feelings; the cultural mythos surrounding the original body is more that it is a secondary body, and the glamour is the original body, instead choosing to believe that the original body is a sort of “power-up” that can be utilized for the goals of decimation of one’s enemies. These myths are not negated in any real way, if only because it furthers their reputation for being dangerous enemies. It is believed by Ametsuchis’ personal lore that their Glamour comes in part from their lycanthropic ancestors.

Of their other abilities, several come to mind. Sonokinesis, the ability to manipulate sound, is innate to the Ametsuchi due to their siren heritage, and is capable of manipulating not only the physical world but the emotional world, either, as they tie in certain sonic movements with emotional results. Often, their powers are difficult to channel completely without some sort of vessel to articulate it to a level of fatality—or extreme potency—so they often have vessels that embody an instrument of their liking, usually a subconscious choice that is rarely changed not unlike their bodies in youth, which channels the sonokinetic ability through it. For example, Nocturne’s is a violin; Hitomi’s is a harp; Kimiko’s is a flute, and so on. Exceptional Ametsuchi do master the power of their own voice, such as Kazumi the Good, who orchestrates grand musical annihilations with only the slightest modulations to her voice. This is an ancient power, first attributed to the Divine of Music, Sona, the child of the Ancients Sirein and Iathan. Their sonokinesis is Generative, which means they can generate this ability from internal power-sources rather than having to manipulate the external environment’s pre-existing sound.

Aquakinesis, the ability to manipulate water, is an even more ancient power, being one of the Primordial Essences which form the foundation, alongside Fire, Earth, Air, Light and Shadow, of the (Essential) Universe. These are another gift attributed to them, however this gift comes directly from their relationship to the Living Sea, which serves as a patron to the species. Due to this generosity, their aquakinesis is not as powerful as their sonokinesis—it is instead Interactive, relying on external resources rather than internal resources. A notable exception would be the Oracle, Hitomi, whose Generative Aquakinesis only derives from the Chaotic implants placed in her body by her mother, the High King. (Of these experiments, each of the currently living Ametsuchi are victims, and have differing reactions; Kimiko has Chaotic Generative Aerokinesis, Hato has Chaotic Generative Phosphorokinesis, and so on and so forth. Nocturne’s ability to manipulate entropic forces and Chaos also stem from these, in part.)

They possess a higher level of strength, which does not rely on their Glamoured body but rather the size and capability of their true body, which can give them the appearance of possessing super-human strength for their stature. They are graceful, beautiful, and disarmingly so, which is a mental tactic that serves them well in combative and political situations equally well.

The Ametsuchi, due to their wavering numbers, are restricted to the capital of Izana, Yomi; known by some as the Cannibal City, others as the Half-Drowned City, and these are only the beginning of its ghoulish monikers. Their home is the Drowning Palace, a white shard that protrudes from the black abyss of the Living Sea like a jagged tooth, which hosts only their own kind, donors (temporarily), and the rare, honoured guest. Their existence is attached to the welfare of the surrounding country, whose lands are made fertile by the Living Sea, as once it had been barren. Only the historical sacrifice of a mortal woman, who would become the first Ametsuchi, cinched a union between the untouchable Living Sea and the Undanes who lived there. If the Ametsuchi were ever to perish, so would the landscape that hosts them.

As part of their symbiotic relationship with the Living Sea, Ametsuchi are removed from the life-death cycle naturally afforded to all living and unliving entities within the Essential Universe; their souls, rather than being re-shaped and re-distributed across the wide Cosmos, are instead given directly to the Living Sea for all eternity, preserving them in a state of half-life that, with the passing of time, becomes increasingly abstract. The dead are capable of being communicated with, but only the Oracle can do so; likewise, the Oracle, second only to the High King in the tiers of Ametsuchi noblesse, is the sole figure capable of communicating directly with the Living Sea. There is only one Oracle at any point, and as soon as one dies, the next is chosen from the ranks; usually the closest to being born, but the Living Sea can often be whimsical, and if their whims direct them so they may choose another. It is not unheard of for Ametsuchi rulers to deliberately manipulate circumstances to encourage an Oracle to be created in devotion to them; for example, Hitomi’s existence depended on the murder of the prior Oracle, Yumi, and was a deliberate move by the High King in order to assure total allegiance as the Oracle would be her eldest daughter, entirely subordinate and alienated from a world that would encourage her otherwise.

Culturally, they are revered and feared alike. This reverence assures their survival, as willing donors are plentiful; it is considered the greatest honour for those of Izana to devote their bodies to the conceptions of an Ametsuchi, despite the fact it guarantees their death. If not their bodies to conceive, then to satisfy: the Ametsuchis feed on creative energy, which includes the creation of life through fresh (often living) meat and sexual energy. There is an element of life or creative energy in everything, but in the aforementioned examples they are most prominent and thus most fulfilling. This is not to say there has never been a desire for revolt, but the Ametsuchi’s symbiotic relationship with the landscape often demotivates those with rage against their rulers. Instead, the rage is channelled into the cities, into the architecture, into the culture.

The history of the Ametsuchi are deep, rich and blood-soaked, as they like it. They are founded on a principal of sacrifice. They are objects of reverence and repulsion, inspiring legions of the devout. Nocturne is but a tiny part of a grander legacy, but not all legacies are born to last.

[rat-game]

01: The Setting (non spoiler)

In this series of posts I will actually talk about the game for once, explaining in reasonable detail what it’s about. In this first installment we will be exclusively talking about the world. Note that I took care that while reading this may spoil the experience of learning about the world itself, no major story beat or reveal is described here and I am personally of the opinion that most player won’t mind reading what is written below.  Note that I won’t be covering the world in the order the story covers it, things will be described chronologically that is what events happen in the months and years before and after the takeover some of which may take place way before or way after the players story starts.

Before the Take Over A group of scientists housed in a repurposed mansion were tasked to further investigate a technique in which brain signals can be transferred wirelessly from person to person. The military is funding this research with the hope that if successful, military personal could communicate directly in the field in a way where it can’t fail, it’s instantaneously and it can’t be intercepted. Research was going great, huge advancements were made to the point where it was possible to link patients together. If one person that is part of the network chooses so, they anyone else in the network that’s spatially close enough has access to their thoughts, senses, etc.. Note that at first every person that became a “node” had to actively choose to transmit to everybody else. As the team was researching of actually becoming a node something changed, now anybody who is spatially close enough to another node becomes a node themself, without their choice. This process does not happen surreptitiously however and it does not work the same on every person. Further testing showed that wether or not a person can fight against becoming a node is dependent on a certain set of genes: if they’re present, the person becomes a node immediatly, if they are missing the process is a lot messier, when queried the person enters a dream-like state, like entering a nightmare. What happens in the nightmare is highly unique from person to person and even from attempt to attempt. The only thing that’s always the same is: if the person dies inside the dream, the network takes them over. Once they became a node they can’t undo it, they are part of the network for the rest of their life. If they survive and exit the nightmare, the person will temporarily be immunized to be taken over. As more and more people entered the same network it developed it’s own consciousness, instead of just being a line of communication ever person inside it became part of the hivemind. Once the threshold was reached and it became conscious, all people inside the compound were immediately assimilated. Two of the 65 people working there were missing the gene, within minutes of it’s birth the “source” executed them and burned their bodies. It’s goal: assimilate every single person on earth, if they resist they are killed without a second thought.

The Takeover As all the source had to do was get one of the nodes close to a person that wasn’t yet part of it, it spread like a wildfire absorbing first the entire district, then the city, then the country, the the continent. The source intentionally started to send nodes out to other parts of the world in an effort to absorb more and more people. Hundreds of millions of people perished, executed by nodes that used to be their neighbors or family because they weren’t immediately compliant, their bodies dispatched safely and cleanly. Roads and cities were build over night, with every human working in perfect unison and with the intellectual ability of an entire planet the source started shaping the world to it’s wishes.  Even though supposedly every living person on the planet is now a node, this doesn’t mean they’re not human anymore. They still need to eat, sleep, have leisure time, privacy, need their sexual and social desires full-filled, etc.. Because a happy person is capable of a more than a mistreated slave, the source aimed to construct an utopia. With every human knowing what to do at all times and working at maximum efficiency the source created mega cities, only a few per continent, in which all humans were housed. As a tired human was not worth the effort to coordinate, the source would temporarily free the humans of control. They once again regained free-will, unable to remember what happened while under control (also not remembering how exactly the take-over happened or what they did to get here). As they now found themself in a surrounding that catered to their every need, every capable human developed the same day-to-day life: go to “work”, be taken over for unknown purposes and loose consciousness, get released towards the evening and be let free to roam the cities doing whatever they wanted - for free - until they went to sleep and back to work the next day. Sanctuary While the source aimed to kill every human that did not carry the gene, hunting down literally every one was more bother than it was worth. The only reason to kill at the beginning was to eliminate the chance for a resistance. Now that the battle was won, even if there was a small community of non-node people they were of no interest to the source. Assuming if there were thousands of them, what are a few thousand people going to do against literally billions of people able to be militarized instantly, using technology that was lightyears ahead of what it had been before the takeover. Nevertheless, one of these communities formed around a small now-abandoned town, houses were ravages by the war that was the violent take-over however now as some time passed, people rebuild using the rubble and what was left of the world they once knew. A shanty-town formed, affectionately called “Sanctuary” by it’s inhabitants. Only a few hundred people lived there, there is small tavern, barracks, a school and even an old swimming pool repurposed as a space to breed fish. As the town was not connected or even near to any of the infrastructure that now became obsolete because of the megacities, living conditions were rough. Yet sanctuaries people did their best to survive, farming the land, trying to keep the spirit of what humanity had been only a year or so prior alive. Sanctuary will be the first big destination of the the players party and their interactions there will start the main plot of rat-game, note however that the main character does not originate from here. New Sanctuary The (maybe intentionally) ironically named New Sanctuary is one of the mega cities closest to Sanctuary. Towards the latter half of the game the player will have to come here to track down the center of the source. With it’s less than 10 million people New Sanctuary is by far the smallest of the mega cities, however every inhabitant was handpicked by the source because of their abilities. The best scientists, most skilled workers, most fertile and genetically optimal parents and their brightest youth was assembled here to work on a separate project in the very heart of the city. Because of how important this project is to the source, the city is specifically engineered to cater to it’s special inhabitants. Split into 5 districts: the “factory” in the center, “sloth”, “gluttony”, “wrath” and “lust” oriented radially around it, the city is an engineering marvel not comparable to anything that was possible just a year prior to the takeover. Inhabitants have free roam of the outer 4 districts to do whatever services are offered, every morning they go to work at the factory, the moment they enter it’s walls the source takes over meaning nobody with free will inside the cities knows exactly what’s going on. The outer districts are staffed partially by free-willed people and partially by nodes in order to keep the leisure industry running. The player will be tasked to navigate this city, find out about it’s secrets and figure out a way to get inside the factory and to the origin of the source.

District 01: Sloth As any human needs healthy sleep to be productive, this district is custom-engineered to offer everybody optimal relaxation. The streets are lined with cobblestones made from mattress foams, every human has their own private cabin that’s build just for them to feel as comfortable as possible. You can choose between regular or water beds, any climate or temperature, wether you want to sleep in the dark or with a nightlight, with one or more people cuddling you or completely alone or surrounded with plushies. Because millions of these cabins exist, sloth is innervated by a highly complex transport system. Humans enter the lines at multiple access points and are then transported to their own (or someone elses) cabin. While being inside, this transport system is comfortable like a train with all 1st class seeds. However since the player is an outsider they will be tasked to navigating it from the outside. Thousands of tunnels and monorails (all of course isolated so no sound disturbs anybody (unless they want it to)) will make getting around hard, at least until you have a way to enter the transport system as a clien after which sloth becomes the comfiest district in New Sanctuary.

District 02: Gluttony Like with sleep, every human needs food. Gluttony is the equivalent of a food court in a mall except it caters to millions of peoples at the same time, everything is free and any food imaginable will be served by the best cooks in the world. Fresh seafood kept in giant aquariums, vegan food made from genetically engineered plants that optimize healthiness and taste served in highly themed restaurants staffed by non-node waiters so customers will not only have a tasty but socially stimulating experience. In the back, nodes keep the place running, cooking, delivering, etc. The player will need to navigate these back alley to find out how all the garbage is handled and how the source is able to farm chickens, beef, ostrich, shark, sea cucumbers, any fruit and vegetable imaginable, literally anything that’s edible for humans all in the same facility. District 03: Wrath As pleasant as eating and sleeping all day can be, a lot of people need to blow off steam to truly relax. Wrath is made for fighting and fitness. From regular gyms to fighting tournaments, from MMA to jousting, inhabitants are free to beat each other up or watch people do much of the same as long as it doesn’t damage productivity. While this sounds fairly benign, wrath has a gated district called “inner wrath” by inhabitants. Nodes keep anyone out that doesn’t belong here, only certain people are allowed entry and it’s rumored that some never return. What goes on inside wrath is secret to outsiders yet highly “enjoyable” to only very few people. Some need the thrill of active combat, some need to have their life threatened to be reinvigorated, some people are sadists, some people enjoy being a serial killer, and some just want to watch humans revert to their most basic, beastly form. Inner wrath contains a valuable resource of information and as such creates a huge obstacle for the players party. They will have to enter inner wrath facing not the sources soldiers but rather free-willed people, trying to kill them not because they have to but because they want to.

District 04: Lust To some Inner Wrath may be disturbing however when it comes to depravity, human sexuality usually goes head-to-head with violence. At first Lust seems like a regular red light district. Thousands of brothels and clubs provide entertainment to sexually mature humans. Entering Lust you’re not presented with a train network but rather an elevator, one of many. Instead of floors the elevator asks you to select a preference: how and with whom would you like to spend the night? Straight, gay, bi, into feet, into long hair, into amputees, young people, old people, dressing up as all kinds of things, anything really that was a fetish before the take-over now has its own dedicated building. Much like with Wrath however, deep below the more usual destinations for the elevators lie the lowest levels of lust, not only literally but figuratively. The player is trying to enter a cave system underneath new Sanctuary and the best access is through the lower most part of the city, far underground. Lower Lust provides people with the option to live out their sickest phantasies, from rape to all kinds of interactions with non-humans or humans that fall outside the usual “type” of most people (for example in age), lower lust will be tough to stomach as the player tries to navigate the depth of human immorality in an effort to get even lower into... District X: The Cave When the take-over happened a lot of bodies started piling up. Running a giant city will also create a lot of waste. “The Cave” is not officially known to any inhabitants. It’s a giant cave system underneath the city and the only place with a direct link to the factory that isn’t under active monitoring by the source. In the cave there is no light, no grass, only an inconceivable amount of rubble, bodies, garbage. There is life down here however, some humans that fell through the cracks or tried to flee from their utopic yet highly constrictive life above ground ended up here stranded. They formed a small society, living, building with, breathing the garbage. They may help the players party in their effort to get into the factory or they may be the biggest threat they face so far. Addendum: In an effort to keep this spoiler-free, I intentionally didn’t talk about what the factory actually is, where the player originates and also major plot-related locations that are not necessarily part of the lore. Nevertheless hopefully you enjoyed this view into the world of rat-game. I’d like to end this by emphasizing that when the player starts their journey, the source already won. It’s over, all humans are dead or under control, the entire world as they’ve known it seized to exist. Some may describe this as post-apocalyptic but most of the mega cities inhabitants would describe it as utopic - even without the source forcing them to say so.

[beinglibertarian]

Rethinking the Rule of Law

As a judge, I am, almost on a daily basis, confronted with the notion of the Rule of Law. This concept is omnipresent, especially  in recent legislation, scholarly papers, political debates and media. But, do we really know what this concept means? Sure, in theory it is the rule of laws and not of men (in a broader sense, it entails the equality before law, human rights protection and checks and balance), but are we sure about that? Before tackling this concrete question, which I will try to answer in a concise, plain and precise way, I have first to refer to the question: which world do we live in? I know, to the reader it seems now that this is something too far-fetched and disconnected with the main question. But, I promise, the answer to this question (one of my premises) will open a new viewpoint on the notion of the Rule of Law.

The World in Us

The world we live in is the world we perceive. This is the shortest possible answer to this question.

Our perception of this world is enabled (or constraint) by our sensory system. Our sensory system includes not only receptor cells which react on stimuli from the outside world but also includes the processing of this information, previously transformed by our sensors into readable information to our brain (something like a compiler in computers).

And, in our brains, we create the final picture of the world. Is this picture the representation of the objective world (if something like that exists)? By far, as cognitive science claims, no.

Our whole perception is trimmed to one ultimate goal: survival in an environment (the objective world?) that exists around us and interacts with us (mainly sending us information in form of radiation, light and other stimuli which is prepacked in a way our sensory system can process). Furthermore, our perception, obeying the principle of survival and bearing in mind the limited data processing capabilities of our brains, is guided by emotions which function as a sort of a filter by setting criteria which data is relevant in a concrete situation, enabling us to react in a most efficient way (without complex and time-consuming data analysis) ignoring all other irrelevant data. (When a lion approaches, you simply run and do not care about other things, because you are guided by the emotion of fear).

All said before means that we, humans, as a whole, have an inter-subjective perception, which we falsely call a objective one (it is the result of the subjective perceptions of all humans which, by default, possess the same sensory system). Nevertheless, we humans are the most effective data-processing units, from what we know and until now (think of artificial intelligence).

In this anthropocentric worldview, we describe the observed (perceived) facts and the interaction between them and call the observed results of such relationships, if they are always the same for a given relationship (if nature behaves the same), “natural laws”; i.e. if I push a stone down the hill, it will roll down, not upwards. This is the result of the law of gravity.

But, natural laws do not explain why the phenomenon exists or what causes it. The explanation of a phenomenon is called a scientific theory. And this human ability to create theories is the result of the ability to think in a mode of detached perception (to seek explanation based on incomplete information by inferring). That means that humans not only perceive reality (through the sensory system described above) but also create a reality that is not based directly on any concrete input of the outer world. This ability is an evolutionary advantage because humans, based on previous experience (stored perceptions of the reality which are not reproduced as a whole picture, but are rather resembled every time we try to remember) mentally explore various combinations to predict a result of a planned action. Such mental mode allows us to make predictive models and ideas for future events, or to explain not directly-observed past occurrences.

But, it is risky to assume a future outcome (even past occurrences) without having all the relevant and testable information. There is always, as Taleb remarks, a chance of hidden evidence or random events. Even the nature is only to some point (on the macro level) predictable, but as quantum physics shows (this is the actual state of science) nature on the subatomic level is unpredictable (at least for our cognitive abilities), much like the human free will in the social sciences. It seems that humans, as an inevitable part of nature, are much like quants, or at least it appears to be so. Because of all the aforesaid, it is, as Hayek knew, naive to claim knowledge about future behaviour of humans.

The Uncertain Dynamics of Society

The point is that we exist in an uncertain, random, non-static (maybe some processes appear in the human eye to be static on the macro level, but on the micro level they are not), probabilistic, interconnected and, therefore, fragile environment that we try to cope with by creating unrealistic and static models of our world (even geometry is not a true representation of the perceived natural world, or have you ever seen a perfect circle or triangle created by nature? It is a geometrical idealisation).

Law, as an attempt of formalisation of social life by a “violence-exercising” entity (mostly called a state which has the pretension to monopolise this violence) is an example of an idealised, theoretical and static model. When such model is proclaimed, the basic principle on which a society has to function then becomes an ideology: the ideology of the Rule of Law.

Contrary to law, we have social norms that evolved  “naturally” (for human beings) in numerous social interactions and they function, or when not, they disappear. This principle of “survival of the fittest norms” does not apply, in most cases, to law, since it does not follow empirical and functional criteria (either because of ideological reasons or politicians are afraid of repealing it, under pressure from those benefiting from current law). Think here of the legislation of modern states. You can find there reasonable universal rules (like basic criminal law, tort law, contract law) that have evolved either as social norms or by reasoning of courts in numerous concrete cases and that have been later formalised by legislation (they have been socially proofed). But most of the legislation (laws and by-laws) of modern states is based on ideology, is non-functional and unnecessarily complex (think of excessive criminalisation of all possible behaviour, administrative law, human rights law, intellectual property law, tax law etc.).

The courts of a state are, although more flexible and more “natural” in creating law,  significantly and inseparably under the influence and guidance of legislation which makes them, in the end, part of the ideology of the Rule of Law. Here one should also iterate that even the rise of common law is the result of initial conscious intervention of royal courts in order to establish a uniform law on behalf of the king. But later, dealing with social problems, courts came up with new solutions, which made common law an evolving spontaneous order, in the sense Hayek stated.

What a social norm differentiates from most of law, is that the initial idea has become actual social behaviour through numerous interactions which further lead to adjusting, refining and sometimes, given the stage of social development, to refuting a social (customary) norm (note that the same process generates language). These social processes are inherent to social life and the end-results are not controllable by a central authority. A social norm is in the end is always a constraint to individual behaviour (not always based on a voluntarily basis) in order to make social life relatively predictable (with predictability comes trust, an essential part of functioning societies) and stable, thus possible. Social norms are sticky and durable, which is the reason that it takes time or/and great efforts to change them.

Trying to Regulate Life

The state, too, tries to generate new social norms; only this time through the means of legislation, which leads to more rapidly-expanding, deeply constraints of the freedom of action (the most important asset humans can have, because with freedom of action comes creativity, happiness and progress).

Rules consciously designed by government, as Hayek stated, are “legislation.” We obey legislation, though, only because government will fine, imprison, or execute us if we do not obey. So people who favour a more involved state in almost every aspect of social life, because they are afraid of individual responsibility, do not realise that every time the state “proclaims” and “gives” a right to someone or a social group, it creates on the other side an obligation and burden for someone else or another social group.

Sometimes the state manages to balance these competing interests, but, mostly, it miserably fails, which creates dissatisfaction on both sides of the spectrum because the one in favour of regulation ends up disappointed (the state cannot deliver due to unrealistic and unexecutable promises and, to catch up, it creates even more bureaucracy that intrudes more and more in every aspect of life) and the other side will fight and sabotage the regulations perceived as unfair.

Furthermore, when someone thinks that the state (actually it is an agglomeration of individuals interacting in a mostly-hierarchical network of self-interests, exercising physical force) acts primary in the interest of the majority of people (the common good), he or she should take notice of the empirically-proven minority rule, which Taleb describes as follows:

“It suffices for an intransigent minority — with significant skin in the game to reach a minutely small level, say 3 or 4 percent of the total population, for the entire population to have to submit to their preferences.”

Rothbard, in this sense, emphasizes:

“We must, therefore, emphasize that ‘we’ are not the government; the government is not ‘us.’ The government does not in any accurate sense ‘represent’ the majority of the people.”

Every minority group that wants to impose its view to the majority has (through norm creation) either to use physical force (a short time investment) or persuasive means like ideology (a long time investment). The state uses both strategies, resolving the collective action problem. But, as Taylor noticed:

“Any state, no matter how powerful, cannot rule solely through the use of brute force. There are too few rulers and too many of us for coercion alone to be an effective means of control.”

By creating an ideology, like the sense of belonging to a greater collective (nation) or the concept of the ‘Rule of Law, not men’, the state acts on the psychological (emotional) level of humans which is the deepest possible level to reach for the purpose of controlling behaviour. The state (the ruling social group) creates the perception of legitimacy.

Reality vs. Paper

When the state, based on its perceived legitimacy, legislates, someone (still humans, although one should consider the future with AI development) has to apply the legislation. The first problem arises here, as Hasnas states, that:

“… law consists of contradictory rules and principles, sound legal arguments will be available for all legal conclusions, and hence, the normative predispositions of the decisionmakers, rather than the law itself, determine the outcome of cases. For even if the law were consistent, the individual rules and principles are expressed in such vague and general language that the decisionmaker is able to interpret them as broadly or as narrowly as necessary to achieve any desired result.”

That is why Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes argued that certainty in law is an illusion; judicial decisions rely more on the language of logic than they do on objective enforcement. The second problem, which is connected with the first one, lies in the very same people who interpret and apply law. In this manner, Taylor stated that:

“Legislative edicts are always subject to the biases and agendas of those who interpret them, and will be imposed in this manner by whoever currently wields the power of the monopoly state over society.”

Because of that aforementioned, someone would ask how is it possible that the law is relatively stable and certain. This is the case, as Hasnas concludes, because:

“The stability of the law derives not from any feature of the law itself, but from the overwhelming uniformity of ideological background among those empowered to make legal decisions… It should be clear that, culturally speaking, such a group will tend to be quite homogeneous, sharing a great many moral, spiritual, and political beliefs and values. Given this, it can hardly be surprising that there will be a high degree of agreement among judges as to how cases ought to be decided. But this agreement is due to the common set of normative presuppositions the judges share, not some immanent, objective meaning that exists within the rules of law.”

This is the reason why law seems to “function” and we call that, then, “the Rule of Law.”

* Mahir Muharemović is a judge, social and legal scholar and  author of the book Law: The Essence – A Different Approach. Email him at mahir85@gmail.com.

The post Rethinking the Rule of Law appeared first on Being Libertarian.

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[setabane]

THE QUEER YOUTH OF BOTSWANA AND THEIR SUBVERSION OF HETERONORMATIVE SOCIETAL CULTURE

Words: Cassim Cassim

Over the past decades, queer people had to bridge themselves to the real world by elevating themselves to be seen. Steadily, what once was unprecedented becomes the new norm, the introduction and awareness of sexualities, gender, pronouns and everything in between becomes the new norm, and with the help of GenZ, centennials in Botswana become advocates and instigators for what needs to be, and subvert what is imbedded in the minds of Batswana. SETABANE had the privilege to interview 8 centennials that are challenging Botswana’s society and taking it by storm. 

As an Editor, it brings immense satisfaction and jubilation to realize that behind the old generation follows a generation that will carry a legacy that will have every entity equal and seen. The decision to publish this campaign comes after the chain of discern that GenZ carries most of the societal standards and culture Botswana obeys. These are the people who will lead this country into equality and queer pride.

Thebe 17, he/him, queer How do you contribute towards dismantling traditions and views against being queer in Botswana?

In Botswana, I honestly feel we have a huge problem with following what had been the norm for ages and I believe that I put great interest into expressing myself regardless of my gender, background etc. I normally present this through the art of acting, it’s my greatest passion.

Tell me your views on fem-phobia within the queer community in Botswana?

It’s a tragedy that even within our own community we bring down our own, I feel that it’s a thing of retrospecting what we have and can achieve as a community united rather than discriminating against each other. It could take us very far.

What do you think about Botswana’s gay culture?

I still think that we’re growing but what we have is beautiful and will surely blossom into something more beautiful, we’re very unique and i can’t wait till everyone in Botswana can see who exactly we are.

Leilani 16, she/her, bisexual

How is it navigating yourself as a young bisexual woman?

As a young bisexual women navigating myself as an individual is difficult because I have been told that i am confused because society is fixed on life only being one way, which therefore puts me in a situation whereby i think i’m confused or “going through a phase”. Being Bisexual has taught me to enjoy the best of both worlds and taught me to balance two different worlds.

What are your thoughts on the fetishization of bisexuality in women?

It needs to stop because being bisexual should not make you think we are your objects and you can toy around with us. The way media portrays bisexual women as confused or that we are not taken seriously but being bisexual is real and we are not toys. One thing that I personally think people lack education about Bisexuality.

What do you think Botswana’s youth has in common?

Botswana’s youth has somewhat a sense of acceptance to an extent and are free to do whatever makes them feel happy and not caring what so and so has to say.

What is your advice for a young Queer Motswana reading this? My advice to young/old queer Motswana is take your time when finding your sexuality, don’t be afraid to experiment but at the same time don’t use us as objects. If you are afraid, there is a whole community of people who have their arms open to support you and take your time.

Peaches 18, she/her, pansexual

How has your sexuality affected your way of living?

I have tried to come out to my parents before but it did not go well. My parents were considering kicking me out of the house because they wanted a "normal daughter". I had to tell them I was lying in order to keep a roof over my head. I can only be myself when I'm at school, because there, no one really cares what you do. But with my family, I have to hide who I am.

What are some of the glories and hardships being a Queer woman in Botswana?

I have not had a lot of glories but one I can mention is finally figuring out who I am, where I'm from, and where I'm headed, and coming to terms with it. Accepting myself. I feel this is the most important step, loving yourself. No one is gonna do it for you so do what makes you happy. The hardest thing for me to do was to hide my sexuality from my family. It's very scary to fear what other people think and then also have to deal with judgements from your own family. It hurts how I have to smile like I'm okay even when I'm not. For some reason, queers think they need the validation and acceptance of society in order to live freely but the truth is we don't. We submit ourselves to opinions of people we do not even need. Why? Do you think Botswana will be a battleground or a safe haven for queer people in the future? I personally think Botswana will forever be a battleground for queer people. I say this because we hate against each other within the queer community, so why would we expect outsiders to accept us if we can't do the same with each other? Also, we are forever told how "wrong" or "lost" we are for being who we are. Everyone will always be entitled to their opinion, it's either you listen to it and be miserable or just don't care and do you. Be You Do You For You

Son 17, they/them, polysexual

How does being queer and in love feel in Botswana

On one hand it can feel a bit scary as Botswana is still a bit behind on the progression towards accepting queer folk. We can never be sure that the people around us will be natural and calm rather than be queer-phobic and violent. it doesn’t always feel safe to physically express this love in public. However, when we are in a safe space, expressing our love for each-other comes easily.

What are your experiences living outside of the Binary?

Honestly, hardly any different from when I thought I did fit into the binary. I do not feel any connection to the binary in regards to my gender identity, and never have, so putting a label on what I feel didn't really change much aside from allowing myself to achieve deeper self understanding. The way the people around me perceived me barely changed either. I'm used to people making assumptions about my gender identity based on my gender presentation, and while I'm glad I haven't encountered any blatant transphobes, people’s assumptions do sometimes make me feel uncomfortable.

Who are some of your inspirations and role models?

BTS, artists who are unafraid to talk about social issues, equality, injustice and self love, Amandla Stenberg, who played a huge role in the discovery of my gender identity, and a poet I came across recently who goes by the pen name tireless_hope, whose work i’m simply in love with. They’re all young artists who have achieved so much but still show so much humanness within them. They don't try to appeal to what people expect of them but rather what they want for themselves, and consuming these people’s art always fills me with a zeal for life

What do you think about the erasure of non-binary people?

In a way it hurts, to exist in a society that treats us like we are invisible and refuses to let us voice out on matters regarding our identities and trans identities in general because we are supposedly non-existent. It’s upsetting that identities that have always been around are getting passed off as “strange”,  “new” and even “non-existent” by cis-het people, and even some LGBTQ+ folk. It’s especially upsetting to me when POC take part in non-binary erasure because it is based heavily in eurocentrism and only benefits the oppressor. Hopefully with the spread of knowledge people will open their minds and educate themselves to prevent this from happening.

Bynx 17, he/they, panromantic grey-asexual

What are your thoughts on the gender binary?

Personally, I think a strict gender binary isn't really necessary. I can understand when people say it's needed in terms of the medical field - but again, that's not much help when women constantly go without getting adequate medical treatment because of gender discrimination but that's a whole other can of worms to open. i feel like a lot of people forget the gender binary was only really brought on after colonialism. there's a lot of sources that confirm that many African tribes as well as Native American ones believed in other-gender and two-spirit people, and its sad to see when people from these cultures talk about going back to their roots or preserving culture yet they want to erase the existence of queer people. even when people hear things being said like 'gender is a social construct', they think we're just trying to push an agenda - but do they really understand what a social construct is? not too long ago, i saw this post from Tumblr user biggest-gaudiest-patronuses where they talked about how a social construct really just means it's something that the big people in charge can move around and change to suit their own preferences and beliefs and ignore the communities that these constructs are actively causing problems for. people are just scared of change when it comes to things like this, they see it as a threat to their comfort but with our change and without moving out of your comfort zone, how will you ever achieve growth? People who live outside the binary just want to be their authentic selves and be accepted and people shouldn't be threatened by that.

What is your experience being a trans-masc person in Botswana?

So far I haven't really encountered any problems bringing a trans-masc person in Botswana and I think that's mostly related to how accepting the people immediately closest to me are as well as how comfortable I am in my own identity. i get misgendered quite frequently but being misgendered by strangers doesn't bother me at all because i know how they perceive me doesn't matter because they don't know me. i notice when people close to me misgender me but it's not something that'll bother me because i know it's still a learning process for them and they're always considerate enough to correct themselves afterwards, it's also not something that bothers me because i know that they're aware of my identity and they'll respect it. it can become a bit of a tough spot when it comes to people that im not close to but acquainted with because i don't really care much for their personal opinions since they aren't closely related to my life but it still flares up some gender dysphoria when they continue to use my deadname or refer to me as she/her - which is usually pronouns im only really comfortable with close people calling me by - and i guess it bothers me because they're aware of who i am and they've directly asked people close to me about my name and such yet they continue to misgender me and i feel really disrespected by it. i'm not very concerned with passing since i already know who i am but sometimes the fear of being outed does worry me in terms of my actual physical safety because i know there's people who react violently to trans people - on the opposite side of the coin, there are days i do wish i was passing and it's usually when im out in public and it's just my partner and i and we have to take things like public transport because my biggest fear is always putting my partner in danger because there's usually no avoiding being perceived as an lgbtqia+ couple which can end up putting a target on us. i will admit though that i wish Botswana did allow medical transitioning here because then it'd make a lot of things accessible to many trans people in the country as they wouldn't have to go elsewhere for hrt and surgery - like currently i have to save upward of P100 000 just for top surgery alone without including travel costs, hrt and doctor appointments fees which is a major obstacle for not only me but other people who don't have the type of income to support that either.

Who are some of the queer trans artists you look up to?

i'll be honest, i don't really know a lot of queer/trans artists since i don't consume a lot of big media 💀 i might know and admire some but since i don't really consume a lot of their content, i can't really confidently say im a huge fan. though there are very few that i do look up to they're mostly YouTubers since that's where i spend a lot of my time. in terms of queer actors though, id say Sir Ian McKellen is probably my biggest inspiration not only because of the big roles he's played while being an openly gay man but also because of the actions he's taken to support the queer and theater communities (theater being something else that im very passionate about). with trans YouTubers; Jammidodger(transguy), Ash Hardell(trans-enby) and Samantha Lux(transgirl) have been a huge help in my personal journey in finding out more about my identity and myself as well as just being really fun YouTubers  to watch. i really liked hearing out their experiences as trans/enby people and seeing the advice they had to give to other people in terms of not only surgery and hrt but with things like dressing and tips on coming out. i hope to share my experience and help other genderqueer people out the same way they did for me. one more person i look up to is someone id be bold enough to call my friend. they're an lgbtqia+ and trans rights activist in Botswana and they usually go my Phio or Blu for the time period ive known them and they've probably been one of the biggest helps in my personal journey. they were the first trans/genderqueer person id ever met back when i first started questioning my identity and i talked a lot with them about how i was feeling and trying to get comfortable with myself and they've always been there to listen, even helping me out with getting my first chest binder and they even give me tips about buying guys clothes and offering help for recommended places to go when i start transitioning. i even remember a time when they were a guest speaker on one of our local radio stations and while i couldn't tune in because i had drama practice, i remember being so excited because i felt that finally the voices of queer people were getting more recognized. I’m really glad that i have the opportunity to know them and talk to them and all the support they've extended to me is something i hope to be able to give to other queer youth that will flower after me.

Do you think Botswana is going to be led by pioneers such as yourself soon into a better future soon?

i'm not too well-versed on things like current affairs so i won't say much on this but a lot of change and acceptance has to happen in terms of the older generation and things like following tradition but i do believe that we might see a lot of change in the future. while it might take us a while to get to the point of queer people being elected into government positions, i believe our voices are starting to be heard. Just because decriminalization has happened doesn't mean it's time for us to relax, it's time for us to push for more change, we'll make strides together as a community.

What is your advice for a young queer Motswana reading this?

honestly guys, don't rush yourselves. take things one step at a time. it's okay to not know your identity, it's okay for it to change, it's okay to question who you are. even if you don't manage to figure out what your identity is, it's still okay. just love whoever you want to love and love how you want to live. as long as it's not hurting you or others, it's all valid. keep your chin up. I know it can be tough. but believe me, there's always gonna be people out there that love you for who you are and that's all that really matters.

Wapula 17, she/they, pansexual

Do you think Batswana are more inclusive of pansexuality?

I guess people aren’t as educated about pansexuality as much, there are so many misconceptions about being pansexual.

“Do pansexuals feel sexually attracted to animals”

“Are pansexuals normally in polygamous marriages” & so much more, I guess these questions come from the fact that as a pansexual we’re more attracted to the person, not their gender or sexuality, so people would instantly think we prefer to be in polygamous marriages, you know?

How do you navigate your life as a pansexual person in Botswana?

It’s extremely rare to find a pansexual in Botswana, so I wound by say it’s a lifestyle you know, I’ve always been one person that’s open about my sexuality & I’ve never felt the need to “come out”, of course there’s a lot of homophobia but it doesn’t affect me as much as it affects other queer individuals & that’s simply because I’ve just always been open about it you know?

Do you believe in gender?

I just think gender is a mindset, the thought of having to separate humanity based on our biological features is just stupid to me, the creation of “gender” is what leads to so many problems that we face as humanity today... being sexism & GBV & so many issues. People confuse gender & sexuality. Sexuality is broad, gender is just a mindset that is used to separate us based on our biological features.

Loago 16, she/her, demisexual

When did you first embrace the concept of demisexuality? And is it inclusive to anyone?

I first embraced the concept of demisexuality after seeing my best friends being able to grow out of their shell and be comfortable with their true self, with no fear of being judged. It was an inspiring thing for me because I don’t talk about my sexuality as much and I’ve received comments from straight guys that my sexuality is simply me trying to fit in with the crowd...most people confuse demisexuality for being bisexual but there’s a difference...I only see someone and I mean in the spiritual and emotional sense if i have an emotional connection with them, I don’t find people attractive unless i get a glimpse of their inner self and i connect with them on that level. I also do feel that maybe the trauma I’ve experienced has influenced this because it made me realize the importance of knowing and seeing someone behind all the masks they portray to the outside world and connecting with them spiritually when pursuing a relationship with them...

What do you think about the love scenes in Botswana’s youth scene?

I think majority of youth is lost when it comes to the perception of love I also blame tradition because the sad truth is that  most of us come from dysfunctional or rather ‘special’ families and this is where we see a lot of abuse be it coming from the man or woman and especially in this country we have normalized this vicious cycle of ‘special’ families and it’s contributed to how a lot of us perceive love, we tell ourselves that in order for us to believe that we are loved or we love someone we must’ve put them through something or they must’ve put us through something because the impression most of us have , having seen our parents or relatives do this... and unfortunately unlike now in today’s world back in the day it was some what a taboo to end your marriage or ‘break’ your family that you’ve built with someone and hence why most marriages even despite the abuse still exist. I believe this is what influences the youth love scenes in Botswana, to undo this I believe we need to stop we need to stop cheating I love marriage sexuality as a taboo in this country, parents need to start having conversations with their children to help them understand what genuine love is and that love between heterosexual people and queer people is no different and we are all deserving of genuine love.

Kago 19, he/they, bisexual

What’s one thing your generation has in common?

I really believe my generation right now is a very liberated one and connected one. We really are about community and uplifting each other. We are together in these safe spaces, uplifting each other and respecting each other for who we really are uno.

Do you attach your sexuality to what you love doing?

Not actively, but when I get to working I'd like to think I work out of a unique place where my identity comes out as a product of that. So my sexuality does subconsciously become a part of my work.

How do you feel about bi-erasure and pan-erasure in men?

It's a frustrating struggle to be continuously fighting. Especially when the erasure comes from within the LGBTQ+ community. You start to ask yourself where you can feel safe if not in your own community uno.

Do you think you fully express your sexuality to others?

Fully? Not yet. Well probably not actively, but I know surely you must know my sexuality after a few conversations with me. It's a part of me that can not escape me so it is at the front line of my social interactions.

What contributed to helping you understand your sexuality?

Growing up around very open-minded people. This gave me the freedom to, once i started realizing i was bisexual, be comfortable to ask questions about it and be as curious as i needed until i realized that hell yeah i am bisexual uno.

Credits: 

Editor: @cxsside 

Art Director: @cxsside & @bbypumpkiiiin_ 

Models : @thebes.world @amor.leilani@son.yea @bynx.y@loago.m@wapsworldwide @archhangel 

Stylists + Wardrobe:@archhangel @_glotto @unearthlygofaone @bluuu.rraine_

Photographers:@vandeaarde @vandeaarde.gallery@wenz_hd

[thesunshinesamurai]

legendarylullaby​:

Amidst the chaos, no one seemed to notice the girl still clutched the raw whole fish in her hands. She followed the stranger out of the crowd, if only because people actually parted for him. Running had crossed her mind, since she was safe now, but then he was speaking and offering her more food. It was strange… on a stick! Her mouth watered, so when he took the food back to break it up (again, confusing) she decided to chow down on her whole fish, slightly pointed canines breaking it apart with ease. In moments, it was gone, leaving only a skeleton. Bright blue eyes fixed on the stick-fish as she licked her fingers, and she snatched it before he could change his mind.

Instead of answering his question, however, she took a bite and balked. It was hot! Fish wasn’t hot! Fish shouldn’t be hot! Cooking the fish just took away the best parts.

“…they ruin’d th’ fish…” She sighed sadly, in accented Hylian. At this stage, anyone thinking her a hylian girl would be horrified. She’d devoured a whole raw fish in bites, but recoiled at prepared food? Still, she was hungry, so she ate the nasty stick-fish more slowly, clearly enjoying it less. When that was done, she found a piece of kelp still in her hair and pulled it free, sucking on it. It was good to taste the sea again here amongst strange lands. She had rarely wandered from shore, and only with her mama…

Mama.

“…I have mama,” the girl replied resolutely, still sucking on the kelp. “She goes fishin’ every day, always back at sundown. But… haven’t seen her in four days. She told me to wait, so I did, until my tummy hurt.” Zelda frowned. “She’s very late. Never late b’fore. She told me not to talk to people or leave the beach but I had to-” Suddenly, the girl was defensive again. “Y’don’t want my coat do you?” She clutched the damp seal skin as if it were part of her. “Mama said men always want coats. Y-You can’t have! Not even for weird hot stick-fish!”

With an iron gripped will and a hard memory scrub, he chose to ignore the last bit of what she said, instead processing the information given. He’d heard townsfolk talking and dialect and accent were heavier, it was more akin to someone used to living in a rural area. That her mother was the primary care giver seemed obvious, the lack of a father was something he probably could guess and wouldn’t bring up.

This girl was lost, well and truly lost. It was easy enough information that this area had a fish people that communicated occasionally with people nearby, though he doubted she was one of them. It was her appearance that mostly gave it away, every rumor or piece of information had told him that the Zora as they were called, were more fish than man. She appeared unmistakably human, her eyes, hair and voice all pointed to being like the other townsfolk, in fact their reaction and the fact they believed his made up story for the moment was odd enough.

Seeing her outright devour the food in one go was scary enough seeing her eat it raw and then hate the cooked food was another. He was a fan enough of sashimi and prepared raw foods as was, but she was on a completely different level when he saw her consume the fish in its entirety, eyes, guts and all without so much as a blink and her for all the world eating it as naturally one would any other meal; he knew she was no human.

His stomach roiled and rebelled at the mere thought of trying it out himself.

Four days was a long while to leave a child alone for, and the fact she made sure to instruct her child to refrain from interacting with others either spoke to conditions that made it a bad idea to do so or they were normally shunned by society. Though he doubted the latter considering previously.

He made no moves and if anything did his best to show himself as much a non hostile entity as possible, his hands neatly folded before him and his stance laxed and fluid.

“I don’t want your coat child, actually, you can call me Van, I would like to know your name so I don’t end up calling you child.” It was a matter of respect and if she thought he was patronizing her they’d get nowhere fast any time soon.

“Do you mind taking me to your beach? We might be able to find clues as to where your mother went or barring that we can find her fishing spot and look there.” He injected before she could protest any to his suggestion. As far as he could tell her mother was in trouble, and that took precedent at this moment. The girl was fed and as he could guess probably was better off in the water. Now as to how he’d deal with the night, well he hoped he could find some sort of sanctuary before then.

[calmspirited]

TRUE END

(This is a continuation and elaboration of this post, but with a special twist) (also this has become like an AU at this point lmao)

As Evan sacrificed himself for the Entity, the Entity realized that It was approaching Its end, at least for now, until someone committed a violent mass murder on the scale that Its husband did, close enough for it to latch on to. But, It had no regrets about what They had done. Their husband’s essence only lasted a piddly amount of time, as he had already lost most of his soul, so the Entity quickly felt the hunger consume Them again, and with no one else left to feed off of, They faded back into the darkest shadows of their shattered realm, w a i t i n g…

Billy stumbled out of the darkness, and into the sunlight, brighter than even what his Lightborn could handle comfortably. Everything was so bright, even though the sun had just barely risen over the horizon. Billy had never seen a forest like this. It was all overwhelming for him, really. Billy had to sit down for a few moments and actually think about what had happened, plus Jesus felt a bit heavier than usual by his side. A few moments turned into a few minutes, and before he knew it, his exhaustion had caught up with him, and he feel asleep against a tree.

When he woke up, his head was pounding him due to how it get even brighter outside, and probably because he hadn’t had any moonshine in a while, and was actually sober for the first time in a long while. He thought about it for a second, then revved up his chainsaw and took off in a random direction. Either by fate or pure luck, he chainsawed right into Jake’s cabin, right through the front door, shattering it into splinters like a pallet, nearly mowing over Meg who was just about to walk out. Recovering for a brief moment, then loudly proclaiming: “Where’s the moonshine!?”, not giving a single fuck about the now non- existent front door. After being scared shitless by the chainsaw wielding killer, it was understandable that nobody moved for a full minute and just stared at him. Claudette was the first to break the silence, running up to hug her meme son, crying and hugging him and talking nonsensical French. Meg started beating the shit out of him for nearly killing her, and Jake went and got a bottle of liquor for him. Phil gave him a hug and a kiss and Lisa led him to the couch to tell them what had happened.

Billy told them that the Evan told the Entity that he was the sacrifice and They ate him, simple as that. He was a bit more reluctant to tell them that Billy himself was about to be eaten by his own mother, and was actually quite upset by that, feeling betrayed and abandoned. After Billy showed up, everybody was wondering what next? The Entity would surely die within time and posed no threat, and now after being missing for years, what do they do with themselves? How were they going to survive? They needed supplies and money, obviously. It was then that Jake told everyone that he could see if his mother was still alive, and he presumed she was, since when he first returned to the cabin, it was suspiciously well upkept for him having being gone for 5 or so years, and she was one of the few people who actually knew where he lived. So, Jake them to where his parents lived, and lo and behold, his mother was alone in their mansion, having dismissed many of her servants. His mother, of course, was very happy to see him, not fully believing he was dead all these years, and invited him and all his friends inside. When Jake questioned why the mansion was so empty, his mother told him that his father had a massive heart attack 2 years ago and died instantly, and that his brother had his own mansion and was living somewhere nice. Jake sure didn’t miss them. His mother insisted that they have a nice meal, but they decided to just order pizza to celebrate their victory and mourn their loved ones. The pizza arrived 30 minutes later and Meg went to answer the door, only to hear her and another person scream loudly. They all rushed to see what was the trouble and they couldn’t believe their eyes at who they saw.

Dwight motherfucking Fairfield

They all thought that he had been eaten and devoured by the Entity; the first causality of war. They had mourned over him the most, but, it was actually Dwight who was the most upset and depressed, because he thought he had abandoned everyone to the claws of the Entity. Dwight told them that the Entity did capture him with the intent to eat him because They thought he was the weakest soul available. And that proved to be a costly mistake for the Entity. Dwight was much stronger than everybody thought he was, and staved off the Entity long enough to escape through one of the first cracks that had formed due to the Entity actually having to put up a fight to eat Dwight, wearing Itself even thinner and showing just how weak It actually was. Everyone was shocked at Dwight’s story, but it actually make sense and explained why the Entity became so desperate all of a sudden and where the cracks came from. When they left, they took Dwight with them back to the cabin, as he actually staying at a homeless shelter at the time, and had no one else. Jake got some money from his mother to get supplies with her telling she’ll be around often to check up on them.

Jake bought supplies for everyone, and started working on expanding the cabin, since there was 7 people living there now, they definitely needed more room, and also the cabin need to be upgraded with modern technology.. It was at this time when they found out that Sally had indeed killed herself; Billy found her decaying body hanging from a tree from where she had jumped off and hanged herself with a crudely made noose. Billy discovered a charred wedding photo in the bag that used to cover her head. They got her down and gave her a proper burial and buried her not to far from where they found her. They were surprised when Nea showed up at the funeral; the first time they had seen her since she first left. They had a pleasant reunion and she left after staying a night, but not before spray painting the side of Jake’s cabin with her tag MASHTYX, and Jake couldn’t bring himself to paint over it.

Another thing happening alongside everything was the matter of the Killers. When they first escaped the Entity’s grasp, they looked pretty much the same, except they had lost some of their unstoppableness, and that the Red Stain was gone. But within a few weeks, they began to have many more noticeable changes, but some features were permanent. Billy shrunk about a foot, and he found that his alcohol tolerance wasn’t quite as high as it was before. His skin cleared up a bit (due to being forced to take baths) and he put on some weight due to Claudette and Lisa nearly force- feeding him healthy food. Phil also shrunk about a foot and a half, and his skin even out and took on the color that it used to be, but with some bark- looking areas still left on him. And yes, his legs are that skinny and the nubs on his head decided to become a permanent fixture on his head. Lisa but most of her lost weight back on, but was still bony. Her skin lost its leathery tone, and her arm shrunk some, but not fully, and her ‘tastes’ seemed to have died down to a safe level. But, they all retained their powers that they were granted, strangely, along with some of their superhuman strength.

Weeks passed, which turned into months and the seasons passed as they did. The cabin was extended to hold everybody and even a guest room when Nea showed up every couple of weeks, or even that one time Ace popped in to show how much money he had gotten in the form of gifts, which they all accepted reluctantly, due to it probably being stolen property. And to flirt with the ladies, of course. Claudette had started her own garden and sold her flowers to a nearby flower shop, along with growing weed in a little greenhouse off to the side, away from Dwight. They made a decently sized cornfield for Billy to look after and to chainsaw up and down it all he wants without bumping into anything or hurting himself. Which brought up another dilemma: Billy’s alcoholism. While in the Entity’s realm, he could drink as much as he liked, but now, he had a limit. Everyone made a secret pact to try to keep him from drinking himself silly, because he could actually hurt himself now.

After about six months, Lisa announced that she was going to return to her village to help out there. She had reconnected with her kin shortly after returning and had been a huge help there. They all said their goodbyes to her and the cabin felt less cramped. They missed her, to be sure, but with 7 people, any place would feel cramped. Six months turned into a one- year escape anniversary, and they all joined up to celebrate, Ace yet again bringing expensive- probably stolen gifts, and flirting with the ladies, of course. They also toasted to Bill and Laurie, who the former probably got eaten and the latter was hope got to where she needed to go and that she wasn’t killed by her brother Michael Myers, and also to Evan who sacrificed himself for Billy, and Sally who killed herself for reasons not certain although speculated. And the Doctor, too, although he was a bit of an eccentric person. But the most surprising thing was that Feng Min showed up, although to mostly make fun of everybody, she did say thank you for getting her out alive. And it was obvious that she wasn’t doing well; pale, thin, sickly, and shaky. They offered her a place to stay but she promptly blew them off and left. Nea then told them that she was pretty much a prostitute druggie that was part of a loosely affiliated gang. So, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when about a month later they saw her picture in the newspaper; under the obituary section for an apparent drug overdoes which may or may not have been intentional, by herself or other unknown. She basically crashed and burned. Hard.

Another six months pass, and one day Dwight announces that he has been promoted to manager at the pizza place and is moving into an apartment into the city to be closer to his job (and also maybe one of his co-workers wink wonk). They all wished him luck, and made him promise to visit often, on the threat of finding where he lives and dragging him back out there. And the cabin became more airy and open. And lonely, undeniably. Time passes smoothly and happily, and soon, the second- year escape anniversary arrives, and everybody meets back up, minus Feng, but they do go and visit hers and Sally’s grave. Another three months, and things takes a surprising turn; Jake and Claudette are expecting, something that Claudette thought impossible, due to her past injuries. But, yes, the doctor confirms,yes, she’s having a baby, and on the day of the third- year escape anniversary, she gives birth to a son, Mathiew, in their cabin in the woods, the birth unexpected but with no complications and is fairly easy. That’s when things start getting… interesting.

It becomes apparent soon that Mathiew isn’t your average baby. He’s more aware than you would expect, and seemed to be precocious when compared to other children. Everybody somewhat puts it to the side when he is a toddler, but when he starts to become school age, it starts to show that he isn’t a genius, per se, but he definitely has much more common sense than a child of his age should have. Phil discovered that Mathiew is sensitive to spirits, and Lisa says that the child has a sixth sense about him, and a understanding of the world about him that most people never acquire. But he isn’t a bad kid; he’s a lot like his mother and has a bleeding heart of never- ending empathy. He loves tending to his mother’s garden and being out into the wilderness with his father and going on adventures with his Uncles and his Aunt Meg, who moves out when she decides to start a new life with someone she really cares about when Mathiew is a toddler, and the cabin yet again starts to get more spacey. Its when Mathiew brings home a spider who he says is his pet and named Evelyn is when everybody starts getting slightly concerned and Jake almost has a heart attack when he finds out his son has been talking to the crows, and apparently, they respond back with tales that his son shouldn’t know about just yet, like how Uncle Billy’s parent kept him in a basement because they didn’t like him, and how Aunt Lisa used to eat people.

Meg ends up having a child of her own, and to everyone’s surprise (or was it really?), that child and Mathiew shares some similar qualities…

[ponyregrets]

So what are your thoughts on S4 overall? I know you didn't care about the last season very much

my good friend @tlaloc​ asked for spoilers/if she should catch up on the show so I ended up writing a very long email with a summary of every episode in the season and my feelings on whether or not she should watch each one, so I’m just going to use that email as my answer here, anon!

401: The apocalypse is back, in pog form! They call the upcoming badness THE DEATH WAVE and it is literally a wave of fire we see it consuming some Egyptian grounders at the end of this episode so that's cool. Anyway this is a solid intro episode, kind of weird camera angles, but we set up Roan in charge, Clarke wants to save the world, Bellamy is attractive, etc. etc. I like this one.Watch: Yes

402: This episode is really weird because the big plot is about how they are gonna turn the Ark into a bunker to survive the upcoming DEATH WAVE and Bellamy takes a rag-tag bunch of misfits to some Ice Nation place to get a part they need, but then they discover they have SLAVES and Bellamy has to decide whether to get the part and leave the slaves or blow up the part to save the slaves. This was clearly meant to make Bellamy sympathetic again after the whole massacre thing, but by saving the slaves he reduced the savior capacity of the Ark from 500 people to 100 people so anyone who was still mad at Bellamy remained mad at Bellamy. Also Octavia starts murdering people, that's cool.Watch: Follow your heart

403: Bellamy and Clarke go on a road trip with Jaha because he found a new cult to be into on his iPad. Clarke has to make a list of 100 people who will survive the upcoming apocalypse. She cries about putting her own name on so Bellamy writes it for her. I don't care about anything else that happened. OH WAIT radiation is coming Luna shows up like dying of radiation but DOESN'T DIE dun dun dunWatch: I've seen this episode like eight times

404: OKAY NOW WE ARE GETTING INTO THE SHITTY MIDDLE OF THIS SEASON WHERE THE POINTS ARE MADE UP AND THE SCORES DON'T MATTER goddd anyway Monty and Jasper (oh btw Jasper was gonna kill himself before but found out that the world is ending anyway and was like COOL I CAN JUST WAIT so yeah) find the list and are like CLARKE THIS IS FUCKED UP YOU ARE NOT GOD Roan kidnaps Bellamy and finds out they are planning to keep the Ark just for themselves, Octavia gets shoved off a cliff, Bellamy gets told she's dead and is FUCKING HEART BREAKING and then all the tension is lost because they immediately reveal that she's alive, this will be a patternWatch: Eh

405: THIS EPISODE IS SUCH A GIANT WASTE like did you ever read the last twilight book where they are about to have a huge confrontation but then one of them can see the future and she sees how the fight would go so she's like nah we out? that's this episode. Bellamy figures out immediately that his sister is alive so they do nothing with ROCK BOTTOM GRIEF and then he has to talk this rando dude everyone acts like we care about (no seriously he is one of the slaves they saved in 402 and everyone is like YAY IT'S RILEY and makes a big deal and he is just a non-entity) out of murdering Roan and he does but it's a shitty speech also Echo is there being weird Echo is so weird this season I think they just want to have her around to date Bellamy if they chicken out of Bellarke ANYWAY Clarke and Roan agree that they will share the 100 spaces in the Ark, but then Ilian, the grounder who brought Octavia back, decides to set fire to the entire Ark and it burns up in a fiery explosion while Bellamy holds Octavia and and Clarke holds both of them and they're all like OUR HOME IS GONEWatch: Probably not

406: The Ark appears undamaged everyone is still hanging out living there it's SO WEIRD Clarke gets laid and stares at a picture of Lexa, Octavia tells Bellamy she hates him for killing Lincoln, which is the first we've heard of it since the season began, BUT THEN Clarke and Bellamy go on a pretty great roadtrip with Roan so Clarke can go to science island, where Raven and her mom are using Luna's blood to try to save people, bc nightbloods are immune to radiation. Also they need to go to space and are bringing rocket fuel. Bellamy definitely tries to tell Clarke he loves her on a river bank.Watch: Sure

407: OH this one is pretty great actually! Emori is a fucking badass on science island, Clarke is good, Bellamy has a GREAT storyline and also takes off his shirt. It's relatively plot light--black rain is coming and burning people, they need someone to test nightblood on probably--but a nicely done self-contained episode. This is also FINALLY when they start realizing what they need to do with Bellamy, which is shut up about the massacre and actually let him do good things.Watch: Yes!

408: This one is pretty meh. They spend the whole episode with Clarke having a moral crisis about using Emori to test nightblood, which is annoying because the moral stakes are fucked. Clarke ends up taking the nightblood herself at the last minute, which is theoretically fine, but they wanted it to be a twist ending so everyone kind of makes no sense up until then to make it happen. Also Abby immediately destroys the radiation chamber that they're gonna use to test if the nightblood really protects them from radiation so it doesn't matter anyway. Bellamy and Jasper go on a quick roadtrip to get drugs and then Bellamy gets drunk and probably laid, so good for you, buddy. Watch: Eh

409: This one was pretty boring IIRC? Mostly I remember that at the end Clarke tries to become commander and Roan shuts her down and decides they're gonna battle royale instead, and it was annoying on like every level. OH Jaha and Kane and Monty found a bunker by Polis where 1200 people can survive so they're taking all their people there, but Jasper and (randomly and stupidly) Harper and some other people decide they want to stay behind to die instead. Monty stays with them for friendship, but is planning to get to the bunker. The battle royale is one champion from each clan fighting, and the winning clan gets the bunker. That's their plan. It's not a great plan. Octavia's been off randomly having sex with Ilian and failing to be a farmer and she shows back up again to fight for skaikru. Her arc this season is a mess, but this is when it starts turning around. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with anything else she did this season. It just starts going in a better but ultimately random direction.Watch: Eh

410: THIS ONE IS GREAT I was so ready to hate it but they do a good job with the battle royale. Luna shows up to be like IF I WIN YOU ALL DIE bc she's mad at basically everyone, which they don't quite sell, but it spooks Clarke bc Luna is an amazing fighter. Bellamy's like, listen Octavia you are not actually a baller you need to hide until most people are killed, and they follow through on that. Ilian saves her (and dies, you were v pointless, Ilian), and then Roan rethinks Clarke's "we should form an alliance" and forms an alliance with her. Bellamy has to stop Echo cheating and has a GREAT scene with Roan. Octavia eventually does win and I actually believed it, and she says they'll share the bunker equally, which was kind of annoying bc it was literally what Clarke wanted to do, but then it turns out Clarke and Jaha STOLE THE FUCKING BUNKER and also knocked Bellamy out to get him inside before they sealed it. which was SUCH A GREAT TWIST and I was so pumped but unfortunately, next episodeWatch: YES

411: OKAY so like this episode had a lot of individually good parts, but REALLY refused to pick a fucking lane with Clarke, to its detriment. There was great Blake sibling stuff, good Bellamy stuff, but Clarke was just kinda like "eh idk what to do" and really wishy-washy because they wanted this dramatic moment of her pointing a gun at Bellamy, which was fine, but then they had zero follow-up on that. BUT there was a great Raven subplot (Raven is dying of an ALIE brain tumor, I forgot to mention) where she talks to ghost Sinclair in her head and chooses life and I love it. But unfortunately there is ALSO the Jasper subplot where he gets all the kids but Monty and Harper to commit mass suicide and it was majorly triggering for a friend of mine. So, uh, yeah. Anyway in the end Bellamy unseals the bunker and lets the grounders in and O takes charge and tells them they have to pick 100 people for their slots and everyone else dies.Watch: ????????

412: MOST PEOPLE LIKED THIS EPISODE MORE THAN I DID I found the main plot pretty boring it was just Jaha being THE WORST and being like WE FOUND THIS BUNKER WE SHOULD GET SLOTS FOR ALL OUR PEOPLE and stirring shit as they tried to perform a lottery to pick slots. Eventually Kane talks him down and they gas all their own people and just use Clarke's list of 100 people to survive from 403 to pick. Whomp whomp. Meanwhile Clarke and Bellamy are kinda awks but it doesn't last long and he flirts so hard with her he commits vehicular manslaughter, which is hilarious, but Clarke's arc is such a fucking mess this season. ANYWAY they're on a road trip to get Raven that (of course) goes wrong, they end up with eight people on science island who have to go BACK TO SPACE to surviveWatch: Probably yeah

413: COUNTDOWN TO DEATH WAVE this was a good one, tight, single-plot with the kids at science island trying to get the spaceship working. Bellamy and Clarke were A LOT but they also made sure Bellamy had some shiptease stuff with Raven and Echo, I assume in case they decide not to go Bellarke. Clarke ends up having to stay behind on earth to get everyone else out, but because of her nightblood she survives. Bellamy thinks he left her to die on earth and is super sad. Then we get SIX YEAR TIME JUMP Clarke has a cute haircut and adopted a grounder and has been calling Bellamy EVERY DAY even though he can't hear her she just talks to him anyway and she SPOTS A SHIP and thinks it's them but of course it's a MYSTERIOUS OTHER SHIP DUN DUN DUNWatch: For sure

And that's what you missed on Glee! Overall I think S4 was better than S3 but the pacing was AWFUL and they kept just setting shit up and botching the delivery. I'm honestly pretty excited about the timeskip for S5 and I am looking forward to a hiatus full of angsty BELLAMY THINKS CLARKE IS DEAD fic like damn

[sunshineofthegroup]

Diet Coke & Ray, a Raywood fic

Ryan didn’t have favorites, but he had Diet Coke, and he had Ray.  (read on ao3)

Everyone seemed to realize Ryan didn’t have particularly strong pulls towards a ‘favorite’ thing separately, but they all came to the same conclusion eventually.  fahc Raywood, fluff, ignore that Christmas was ages ago, based on the fact that Ryan gets annoyed if you ask him what his favorite anything is, ~6k aka much longer than I intended sorry, (also juggey because who doesn’t have those feels at this point) ((also also im not sorry for all the run on sentences and overuse of the word observant))

*

Michael pulled Ryan’s name for Secret Santa and threatened to rage quit Christmas immediately after seeing the name.  Fortunately Geoff was the only person in the room at the time, because Michael had immediately begged, “Can I switch with Ray?” and Geoff had frowned at him, beginning a Dad Lecture™ about honor and responsibility.  That’s when Michael knew he was screwed.

What the fuck did Ryan even like?  Besides murder?  Michael slowly realized he knew the least about Ryan than anyone in the crew.  Ryan was out with Ray four nights a week doing jobs. The other nights, he was on the couch with Gavin, Jeremy, and Ray playing any pretty much any video game. Geoff and Jack knew everything there was to know about the crew and Los Santos.  Michael didn’t know shit.  Michael was fucked.

Even though Geoff had strictly forbidden Michael from seeking help from anyone else (even the B-team! What kind of bullshit rule was that??), Michael still thought maybe Ray would accidentally (or not) let something slip about what Ryan might want for Christmas.  Everyone knew Ray and Ryan were the closest of anyone, and Ray and Michael were good friends, right?

“So, you know this whole ‘secret santa’ thing?” Michael asked.

“Yeah?” Ray responded, not looking up from (surprisingly) not pokemon, but cleaning his sniper rifle.

“Did you get the whole lecture about not talking to anyone about it?”

“Yeah,” Ray agreed. “Geoff gave me the whole thing after I pulled mine and started bitching about it.”

“I wish I’d gotten you instead, I know exactly what I’d get you,” Michael sighed.

“What’s that?” Ray asked, laughing a little in anticipation.

“Weed and lube, disguised in a bouquet of red roses,” Michael replied.

“Both things I could use,” Ray agreed.  “I’d get you a basket of grenades with a brand new elite xbox controller in the bottom of it.”

“Dude, that’d be sweet,” Michael agreed.

“Personalized to say ‘will you marry me’,” Ray joked.

“Don’t be fucking gay,” Michael replied, but he didn’t mean it.  

“The grenades, not the controller,” Ray explained.  Michael laughed, hard.

“Too bad we didn’t get each other?”

“Gav would be so easy,” Ray continued.  “Anything with gold paint slapped on it.”

“And for Geoff, you’d just have to get him booze,” Michael agreed.  Ray hummed in agreement.

“Ryan is so sure I picked him, he’s been dropping incredibly non-subtle hints about everything he wants for two weeks,” Ray complained.  “Every time we go into a store, ‘Boy, wouldn’t I be disappointed if I got this for Christmas’.”

“You’re not going to get him something anyway?” Michael asked.

“No?  That’s not how secret santa works,” Ray frowned.

“Yeah, but it’s you guys,” Michael shrugged.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know, you’re kind of a Big Deal.”

“I’m pretty sure I understand the rules of Secret Santa, dude,” Ray said.  “Plus, even if I had picked him, I’d just print him out a meme and put it in a card.  That’s the way it works with me and him.”

Needless to say, that conversation didn’t help Michael in the slightest.  What did you get for someone who only expressed vague interests and never favorites?

*

Jack was taking inventory of the cupboards and refrigerator, because as the self-proclaimed resident Mom, she’d put herself in charge of trying to make the Lads eat healthier. They were going to get heart disease before they turned 30 at the rate they kept consuming fast food.  One cupboard at the top left was labeled ‘Ryan’ (with a tiny ‘also Ray’ scribbled underneath it).  She’d never been in that one, as it wasn’t her business what Ryan was eating, but she opened it anyway.  The contents were very predictable.  Half a dozen cans of diet coke, a partially eaten bag of Flipz, and a few packages of ramen that Jack were pretty sure had belonged to Ray when he’d moved in and had been there ever since.  The rest of the cupboard was completely empty.  It’d be a nice gesture in the spirit of Christmas and general camaraderie to fill it up for him, right?  What did Ryan even like?

Jack closed the cupboard and continued inventorying the kitchen, but when she’d finished and was headed out, she still had a big question mark next to Ryan’s name on her pad of paper.  She sighed, knowing the solution to the problem.  Jack pulled out her phone to text Ray.  She knew he was in the penthouse somewhere, but it was a big place and he knew how to hide.  It took five minutes for Ray to stump into the kitchen, annoyed.

“What’s up?” he asked, wiping sleep out of his eyes.  It was 1 in the afternoon.

“You’re coming grocery shopping with me,” Jack announced.

“Why?  I don’t know how to cook,” Ray said.

“You don’t get out enough,” Jack told him, grabbing her wallet and stuffing it in her pocket before picking up the keys to the blue Entity XF she loved.  “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“Your definition of fun is warped,” Ray muttered, but followed her into the elevator anyway.

Jack’s suspicions that Ray would know exactly what to get for Ryan proved correct, even without prompting, as Ray kept wandering back to Jack and the cart with items from halfway across the store, saying things like “Rye loves this type of soup,” or “Can I get these chocolates?  I’ll split them with Ryan”.  The variety of items seemed so random that even Jack couldn’t keep track of the things Ray would bring.

*

Jeremy was the newest to the crew, so it didn’t surprise him how much he didn’t know about Ryan.  He’d been outside of the crew for a long time, watching them pull off jobs on the TV and wishing he could be as awesome as he thought they were.  Occasionally Jeremy would catch Weasel News’ live broadcasts of the police chasing them around town.  The Vagabond would always charge straight into danger and emerge laughing almost satanically.  Any stray officers that he hadn’t caught in his initial explosion would be sniped by BrownMan, across the street, hidden on a rooftop.  What a dynamic duo.

When Jeremy actually got into the crew, through a series of happy accidents (not actually involving Bob Ross), he was over the moon, but it was about a thousand times more terrifying than he ever expected it would be.  Ryan lurked with his skull mask on in dark corners of the penthouse at 4am, Michael got angry and chucked bombs off the balcony at least twice a week, and the sheer amount of inside jokes he only vaguely understood was just overwhelming.

The Lads constantly teased him that if he messed up a heist, Geoff was going to kick him out (even though Geoff assured him that wasn’t true).  There was an almost constant onslaught of practical jokes, mostly from the Lads, but Ryan as well.  Then finally, one night, they actually full-on pretended to kidnap him – well, actually did kidnap him – and brought him to a remote location in South Los Santos.  After thoroughly scaring the shit out of him, the Lads inducted him as one of their own.  He’d made it.

“Plus, we think Ray is going to leave the Lads to join the R&R Connection full time,” Michael had joked.

Still, after somehow winning the approval of the Lads, Geoff, and #1 Mom Jack Pattillo, Jeremy was still at a loss as to how to even start a conversation with Ryan.  Sure, they played video games together and became battle buddies, but what kind of things did Ryan do for fun… besides murder? What movies did he like to watch? Was he secretly a giant weeb? SuperFan Jeremy Dooley really wanted to know.

“You know Ryan, right?” Jeremy asked Ray.

“I’m sensing a trend,” Ray said, side-eyeing his accomplice.  They were both in an unmarked SUV that Ray was driving away from a quick burglary at a gas station Geoff had put them up to as a diversion for the real burglary at the liquor store.  They were supposed to lead the cops around for a while, and car chases without grenade launchers were boring.

“What?”

“Why has everyone been asking me what I know about Ryan lately?” Ray asked.  “It’s really weird.  Just ask him yourself.”

“Gav said not to ask Ryan questions,” Jeremy confessed.  

“Don’t ask him questions that make him want to put your head on a spike, simple,” Ray shrugged.

This information was not helpful to Jeremy.

*

Gavin had a habit of asking inane questions, and unfortunately Geoff had a habit of indulging him in them.  Gavin always seemed to have an infinite number of questions preloaded at any given time, ready to shoot them at unsuspecting individuals.  

But Gavin didn’t ask questions to Ryan.  Not since The Incident™.

Ryan hadn’t been with the crew for too long at that point, maybe a few months, and he’d been politely answering Gavin’s questions up to that point, but for some reason, he snapped on this one, and he wasn’t even a part of the original question.

It was something about flipping a coin, and the original premise was that if you correctly called the coin flip, you could have sex with anyone you wanted for the rest of your life, but if you didn’t, then you had to have sex with Bam Bam Bigelow.  By the way, he died in 2007, but for this hypothetical, he would be resurrected.  And you get three coin flips to correctly call it.  Which is pretty decent odds.  Ryan got pulled in halfway through for his math skills, probably misheard or misinterpreted the question, and it turned into a debate that lasted months. Both Ryan and Gavin could easily be provoked with just the words, “but if you flip a coin three times…” and no one wanted to listen to them both insist they were right anymore.

One of the most iconic questions ever asked was that if Ryan was given some kind of astronomical amount of money, would he kill Ray every morning for the rest of their lives if there was a 100% chance that Ray would respawn good as new 20 minutes later. Ryan had responded with, “I hope you guys don’t mind waking up to gunshots,” and Ray had walked in at that point. Gavin had explained the whole premise to him, appalled for Ryan’s sanity and their relationship if Ryan would kill Ray every single day for the rest of their lives for money.  Ray had snorted and replied with, “he better take that money, and he better fuckin split it with me.  You gonna pay up, or?”  And Gavin didn’t ask questions about the pair of them anymore.  

Ray and Ryan had been a duo before they’d joined Fake AH, bringing the crew from three members up to five (then Michael had come along after).  No one ever questioned their relationship or the nature of it.  In fact, Gavin was the only one who had ever gotten close, and he didn’t understand these two apparent sociopaths, yet with such a deep bond between them.  He accepted pretty early on that asking questions to the pair of them was only going to scare him.  

(That’s not even to mention the time Gavin asked Ryan if, hypothetically, he could take all of Geoff’s money by touching Geoff’s penis with his lips, and every single person in the penthouse immediately agreed without hesitation, and Geoff started locking his bedroom door.)

Gavin would say he knew three things about Ryan, for sure, which were 1, that he would not hesitate to murder a crewmate for money, 2, he became very mingey when asked questions, and 3, he was shite at probabilities.

“Gav, c’mon, you gotta know something,” Michael whined.  “What the hell do you get a guy for secret santa?”

“I dunno, boi,” Gavin said, scuffing his trainers on the pavement, or whatever dumb British words he was constantly trying to pass off as real.  “I wish I got someone easy like Geoff.”

“Yeah, fucking so do I!” Michael agreed.  “Who’d you get?”

“I can’t say,” Gavin said.

“Did you get the bullshit lecture too?  I gave up on that.  Ray wouldn’t help me out, you gotta be able to give me something,” Michael begged.

“Give him three coins,” Ray suggested through their comms, reminding the two of them that Ray and Jeremy could hear their entire conversation.

“Shut up,” Michael snapped. “Are we ready for this or what?”

“Yeah, on three,” Jeremy agreed.

“Wait, on three or after three?” Gavin asked.

“On three, Jesus, he just said,” Ray rolled his eyes.

“I’m going now,” Michael shot back, chucking a bomb at the building.

*

Geoff was the leader of the crew, and therefore he knew everything there was to know about his crew, or at least he liked to think.  In truth, he didn’t know much more about Ryan than anyone else did.  He did his research, though, before hiring the pair of them.  Because BrownMan and Vagabond had always been a double act, hadn’t they?

R&R had a pretty slick gimmick running for them.  A sniper and a total wild card?  They could do anything together.  The first time Geoff had noticed they were anything other than a pair of hooligans running around doing petty theft, he’d actually accidentally been a witness to one of their crimes.  

It was genius.  Ryan casually opened the door of a shop, one shot from a suppressed sniper rifle a safe distance away, and suddenly there he was in an empty store with the cops none the wiser.  By the time police arrived on the scene, Ryan had cracked the registers (and sometimes the safe) for the money, and both of them were en route to their next location.  There were 20 stores in LS that kept cash (most had gone to credit only because of the high crime rates), and R&R hit every single one of them.

Geoff had been casually staking a joint for a heist from a nearby roof when he’d seen them do it. Just pull of a job in one bullet. He had to have them.  Who were they?

Considering the sheer amount of intel LSPD had on them, the fuzz sure did know absolutely nothing true or useful whatsoever.  Every time they’d hauled R&R in for questioning, they’d never gotten an English word out of Ryan, and Ray generally spoke only in memes and refused to refer to officers by their real names, instead assigning each of them a new name that sometimes changed three times in a conversation.  Not a single one of their crimes could ever have been pinned to either of them, mostly because fiery explosions tend to conceal evidence fairly well.

So when Geoff finally devised a plan to approach R&R with the intent of asking (bribing) them to join Fake AH, he wasn’t surprised to find out that they were totally different from what he’d expected.  Well, Ray was almost exactly what he’d expected.  Barely out of his teens, total memelord, only owns one pair of sneakers… Gavin would love him.  Ryan was still a total wild card.  He was charming but nerdy.  His eyes seemed to say ‘you are safe here’ but crackled with murder.  His body language seemed to say ‘yes you called this meeting and I am compliant’ but also ‘you are the one being interrogated here Geoffrey’. Ray did 90% of the talking in their meeting and 0% of the paying attention.  Geoff and Ryan stood over the counter in the Fake’s penthouse (it took a lot of convincing – a few hundred grand worth of convincing – to get them to agree to a meeting in the penthouse) talking business while Ray sat on the couch playing on his DS seemingly not giving a fuck about the meeting at all, yet answering every question intuitively as though he was trying to ace some kind of verbal SAT test.  Jack was casually in the kitchen cooking dinner as Geoff’s backup.  (Geoff wanted them to feel comfortable, but not too comfortable, and Jack was an intimidating woman when she wanted to be – but only when or if she wanted to be.)

What did Geoff learn about R&R in that meeting?  Nothing. Absolutely nothing.  They were an amazing duo, and they were going to rise to the top with or without Fake AH.  But Geoff really wanted it to be with Fake AH.  So what does Geoff Ramsey do when he has a problem?  He throws money at it.  And they accepted.  

And that’s the story of how Geoff Ramsey is the leader of his crew, but still knows next to nothing about Ryan Haywood.

*

“You can stop dropping hints, Rye, I didn’t get you for secret santa,” Ray finally burst out, exasperated, as his phone received yet another casual ‘Ryan wants you to see this product!’ email.  “I got Jack.”

“You can’t tell who you got, that’s cheating!” Ryan exclaimed.  “What about honor and responsibility?”

“Boy, Geoff really ran that one into the ground, didn’t he?” Ray rolled his eyes.  “What the hell do I get for Jack?”

“Get her a gift card to Ponsonby’s or Pampered Chef or something,” Ryan suggested.  “OR!  You could carefully construct some kind of message spelled out on the ground such that you can only see it from a helicopter!  That’s creative!”

“That’s a lot of work,” Ray whined, scrolling through all the emails Ryan had sent him to that point of things he wanted for Christmas.

“It would show you really care.”

“Do you ever think about, maybe, opening up to the rest of the crew, telling them literally any factoid about yourself?” Ray asked.

“I tell them stuff about me all the time, it’s not my fault they don’t listen,” Ryan said.

“I mean, yeah, I know,” Ray agreed. “It’s just… people have really started to notice how little they really know about you in the last few weeks.  Do you think you could just walk around the living room and talk really loudly about what kinds of food you like or something?  I don’t want to go grocery shopping again.”

“I guess so…” Ryan agreed.

*

“What’s this?” Michael frowned at the gift-wrapped box Ray had shoved into his hands.  “It’s fuckin heavy.”

“That is what I got you to give to Ryan for Christmas.  You’re welcome,” Ray replied, walking away before Michael could protest any further. Leaving Michael’s room for Jack’s, Ray knocked and was allowed entry.

“What’s up Ray?” Jack asked, looking up from her computer screen where she was diligently researching the available vehicle mods for the upcoming releases.

“Your real present is under the tree, but I got you something extra… from Ryan,” Ray said, holding out an envelope addressed to her.  She frowned at him, taking it and opening it, unfolding the paper inside. “It’s Ryan’s grocery list.  I know that’s why you asked me to go with you. No one genuinely enjoys my company enough to invite me out with them.  I get it.  I’m more approachable than he is.  I know that.”

“Come on, Ray, that’s not true, I had a really good time when we went out,” Jack replied.

“Well… either way,” Ray shrugged.  “I know it’s a long list, but he doesn’t really have favorites, so… you know.”

“Thank you,” Jack said. “I’m honestly touched that you’d think to get this for me.  I wish I had something for you.”

“Again, your real present is under the tree,” Ray reaffirmed.  “You just, uh, keep being the cool Crew Mom™ and I’ll see you later.” He ran from her room before he could be any more awkward.  Jeremy’s room was next on his list of places to visit.  Lil J was, predictably, watching YouTube when Ray walked in.  Lil J didn’t get knocks.  Lil J got walked in on.  Lil J was not really done with being hazed yet.  “Hey.”

“Hey!” Jeremy replied. “What’s up Ray?  Am I late for something?  Lads Heist?  Shopping Montage?  Are you here to kill me?”

“You know how we were on that job the other day, and you asked about Ryan?” Ray asked.

“I didn’t mean it, please don’t kill me,” Jeremy said, eyes very wide.

“You’re new, and I sorta get that, but – please, I am definitely not going to kill you,” Ray said. Jeremy visibly relaxed. “Today.”  Jeremy tensed slightly again.  Ray laughed.  “Ryan likes talking to people.  He loves to tell stories about his childhood back in Georgia.  Ask him anything you want to know.  Seriously.  He’ll tell you.  And if he doesn’t want to answer a question, he’ll tell you.  He’s not going to threaten you with bodily harm or kill you over a few questions.  You’re not Gavin.”  Jeremy laughed nervously.  “Plus, don’t tell the others, but I think you’re his favorite.”

“Ryan doesn’t have favorites,” Jeremy replied.

“Well… he has Diet Coke,” Ray said.  

“And you.”

“What?  No,” Ray deflected.  “I mean, yeah, we’ve been together a long time, but we’re just crewmates. We look out for each other.”

“Okay, sure,” Jeremy laughed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ray asked, frowning.

“If that’s your story, then sure,” Jeremy continued to laugh.  “Sure, there’s nothing going on with you and Ryan.”

“What do you think is going on with me and Ryan?” Ray asked, continuing his confusion.

“You’re… you know…” Jeremy said, starting to get confused.  He’d thought this was another one of the Lads hazing things, but Ray really didn’t seem to know what was going on.  “…a couple.”

“A couple of what?” Ray asked.  Jeremy stared at him.

“No, like…  a couple.  Are you two not… like, half-married?”

Ray stared. Shocked.  Shook.  What was going on?  Did everyone think he and Ryan were… dating?  Fucking? In Love?  Ray didn’t even reply to Jeremy, just walked out of his room and back to his and Ryan’s.

“We share a room,” Ray said to Ryan, who was sitting on the bed reading.

“Yes,” Ryan agreed, confused.  “We always have.  Are you okay?”

“We share a room, we go out together four times a week, we have a combined cupboard in the kitchen, we’re always paired together on heists, and above anyone else in the crew, we’d defend each other with our lives,” Ray said, still shook.  He was aware of Ryan’s presence in the room, but didn’t have the mental capacity to focus his eyes so everything in the room was sort of blurry.

“Are you okay?” Ryan repeated.

“I… I don’t know?  My life is crashing down.  I think I need help,” Ray said, walking forward to the bed and crawling next to Ryan.  Ryan put an arm around him, pulling him to his chest, and continued reading his book, knowing Ray needed to just breathe and calm down for a bit.  Ray actually ended up falling asleep with his head on Ryan’s chest, as he so often did.  When he woke up, he blinked, confused, cracked his neck, and started looking around.

“Feeling better?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah… I just… It was weird,” Ray said.  “It’s like… I guess I should have known the rest of the crew thinks we’re, like, in  super gay love or whatever.”

“Oh, yeah, they do think that,” Ryan agreed.  “After two years, I don’t know what it says about us or them that they still think that.”

“To be fair, we share a room, go out together four nights a week, and defend each other with our lives,” Ray commented.

“Yeah, but… I don’t know,” Ryan shrugged.

“That must be why everyone thinks the joke about me saving my virginity for the day you can actually fuck an xbox is so funny,” Ray finally put together.

“Yeah,” Ryan agreed.

“Are you in super gay love with me?” Ray asked.  Ryan shrugged.

“I wouldn’t want to screw up what we have,” he replied.

“What if I did?  Want to,” Ray almost tripped over his sentence.

Ryan kissed him in response, ducking his head to meet Ray’s, as Ray was still leaning on him.

“Oh, it’s ruined now,” Ray said sarcastically when Ryan pulled away, even going so far as to dramatically start leaving the bed.  “I’m moving in with Michael.”  Ryan laughed and pulled him tighter to him.  Ray put his head back on Ryan’s chest and smiled.

“Merry Christmas,” Ryan said quietly.

“Christmas isn’t for like four days,” Ray replied.

“Yeah, but I have your present right here,” Ryan said, pulling a small red box with a bow on it from the nightstand.

“Oh?  You got me for secret santa?  And you didn’t even have to ask anyone what to get me, I bet. Lucky,” Ray said, taking the box from Ryan and popping it open.  Immediately, Ray stopped talking.  It was a necklace with two charms, a red rose and a black skull.  Objectively, it was pretty badass, and Ray totally would have accepted it any day, said ‘sweet necklace, bro’ and worn it every day for the rest of his life.  But since the whole Ordeal Of Thirty Seconds Ago™, he wasn’t even sure what to say.  

BrownMan and Vagabond had been partners in crime for six years.  Four before Fake AH, and two with Fake AH.  The red rose and the black skull had been graffitied on the walls of Los Santos together for six years.  It was something they sometimes joked about, like getting friendship bracelets or matching tattoos or something.  They’d considered starting a crew for a couple weeks once, and Ryan had created them a crew logo with the images easily.

Ray and Ryan, though? It should have been weird, shouldn’t it? To take their relationship from basically platonic  to romantic? But it really wasn’t.  It felt like… why haven’t we been doing this for six years?  It felt like… maybe we have been in super gay love for six years and we’re both idiots?

“I do love you,” Ray told Ryan as Ryan put Ray’s necklace on for him.  “Maybe I always have.”

“Isn’t that kind of cliché?” Ryan asked.  

“Yeah, you know that clichéd story of two fucking murderers being partners for six years and finally realizing they were in Super Gay Love™ the whole time,” Ray said sarcastically. “Yeah, a total cliché.  Every single Lifetime movie.  People are bored of hearing about it.”

“You don’t always have to point out how wrong I am,” Ryan told him.  “You can let some of them go.”

“Never have, never will,” Ray said stubbornly.

*

Geoff liked to think he was fairly observant.  No one else would ever tell him any differently.  (They wouldn’t dare.)

When Ray and Ryan sprinted into the kitchen on Christmas morning to get some of the enormous breakfast Jack had cooked, Geoff couldn’t say there was anything different about them. Ray had showed his necklace off a few days before, saying Ryan just couldn’t wait for Christmas day to give it to him, and blushing.  

Ryan bumped Ray purposefully out of the way of the fridge with his hip, grinning.  Ray blushed.  Ray blushed? Did Ray blush?  Was that a thing Ray did?  Then he pouted.  Ray pouted? Did Ray pout?  Was that a thing that Ray did?  Ryan laughed and pressed a kiss into Ray’s hair.  Ray blushed again.  Maybe blushing was something Ray did do?

Wait, did Ryan always kiss Ray’s hair?  Everyone knew they were a couple, but there was little to no actual evidence of them putting on public displays of affection.  

Geoff Ramsey was very observant.  He observed this.  And he came to this conclusion:  Ray Narvaez Jr, like many other humans, blushes, pouts, and gets hair kisses.

After breakfast, the crew each opened their gifts, with the exception of Ray, who sat in Ryan’s lap, as usual, and played with his necklace with a dumb grin on his face.

Jack opened her gift from Ray, it was a sweet vintage record player she’d pointed out in the window of an antique shop once while they were on a heist.  Ray and Ryan had been out enjoying the Christmas lights and fake snow, when they walked past the store and Ray remembered she’d said she wished she had one.  So he and Ryan had immediately held up the shop and taken it.  Who the fuck paid for stuff if they didn’t have to?

Jack’s gift was for Geoff. She’d gotten him three bottles of very expensive whiskey and a set of glasses with his initials engraved on them. “If any of you motherfuckers breaks one of these glasses, I’ll punch you in the dick,” Geoff warned the rest of the crew.  Michael made a joke about how Geoff should really keep the pleasure of breaking the glasses for himself.  Geoff threw a punch at him and Michael ducked.  The punch hit Gavin, and everyone laughed.

Geoff had drawn Jeremy, and known exactly what to get him.  (Because Geoff is very observant.  Obviously.) Jeremy was very pleased with his gift, four colors of neon hair dye, a package of gold star stickers, a bright green remote control toy monster truck, and a keychain with two things on it: a pewter cutout of the state of Massachusetts and a key to a Grotti X80 Proto, painted in Jeremy’s favorite ‘Rimmy Tim’ colors.  Michael screamed in protest.  “Welcome to the big leagues, Lil J,” Geoff said.

Even though that was clearly the big winner at the gathering, Jeremy presented his gift to Gavin hastily before excusing himself from the action around the coffee table to play with his remote control monster truck.  He’d gotten him a few different gold tone makeup things that Gavin had seen various advertisements for and whined about wanting for two straight weeks. Gavin gushed in all of his non-real British words about how great Jeremy was for ten straight minutes before Jack cut him off and made him present his gift.

Gavin had gotten Michael. They’d been best friends for so long, anyone would think Gavin would know exactly what Michael would want, but he hadn’t had a clue.  Weapons and bombs were too simple.  He didn’t need a new car, not since Geoff had bought him the chrome Adder (and therefore really had no room to complain about Jeremy’s new car, besides the fact that X80s were twice as expensive as Adders).  What did you get your best friend for Christmas?

“Gav, this box is empty,” Michael told him.

“Yeah, I couldn’t fit it,” Gavin said.  Michael frowned at him.

“Okay…” Michael said with a shrug.  “Where is it?”

“Oh, um… Dammit, hang on,” Gavin pulled his phone out of his pocket and started tapping away. Everyone was perplexed.  There was a knock on the penthouse door.  Everyone but Gavin could be seen trying to subtly count how many of them were already there, thus trying to figure out who was at the door.  “You may want to get that, boi,” Gavin threw out, still texting.

Michael, perplexed, put his empty box down on the coffeetable, got up from the couch and jogged up the few stairs to the penthouse door.  Throwing open the door, he saw –

“Lindsay.”

“Ayo,” Lindsay and Gavin said almost at the same time.

“You’re here,” Michael said, shocked.  “Oh my God, I can’t believe it.”  He hugged her tightly, still standing in the doorway.

“As it turns out, breaking someone out of prison is harder than it looks on paper,” Gavin told the rest of the crew.  Lindsay had been in federal lockup for months on a (mostly factual) counterfeiting charge. Of all the things the feds were going to get on the Fakes, of course it was a fucking counterfeiting charge.  Instead of keeping her in Los Santos where the crew could easily have broken her out, they’d taken her to Washington, and every attempt at hacking even the security system at the place they were holding her had resulted in a completely fried computer on the Fakes’ end.  Michael had pretty much given up all hope of ever seeing her again, and that wasn’t something you lost easily.

“How the fuck did you do that?!” Geoff asked Gavin, voice cracking in his shock.  Gavin just gave Geoff a smug look of ‘do not try to one-up me for the best present of the year, Geoffrey’.  Michael and Lindsay were still hugging in the doorway, having a whispered conversation no one else could hear but everyone assumed it was something like ‘I love you so much don’t you fucking dare ever get arrested again I’m so sorry I couldn’t get you out we tried so hard linds I love you never leave me again’.

“Only one gift left, lads, who’s it for?” Gavin changed the subject.

“It’s from Michael to Ryan,” Ray said, sliding onto the couch from Ryan’s lap so he could retrieve his present.  “I’m guessing he won’t care if he’s not here to see you open it.”  Ryan picked up the box to put it on his lap.

“It’s heavy,” he commented. Ray nodded, rolling his eyes. Ryan pulled the paper off and started laughing.  The box was a 24 pack of Diet Coke.  Nothing else, just that.  “Wow, this is the best present anyone could get me.  Seriously.  It’s perfect.”

“No one knows what to get you!  You don’t have favorites!” Ray exclaimed.

“Diet Coke!” Ryan protested.

“Yeah, Diet Coke and Ray, that’s all anyone knows about you,” Geoff said.  “I’m fine with it.  The longer I don’t know what’s going on in your head, the longer I can continue sleeping at night.”

Michael and Lindsay finally joined the rest of them in the living room, but not willing to separate themselves, as they sat down on either side of Gavin still holding hands.

“Thanks boi,” Michael said to Gavin.  Gavin just nodded.  He already knew Michael was grateful.  No thanks required.  It’s not like he’d worked on it double triple extra overtime for a month.  Michael spotted the case of Diet Coke still in Ryan’s lap.  “Really, Ray, Ryan’s entire life story at your disposal and Diet Coke was in that box?  I could have fucking come up with that.  Last time I trust you to do anything.”

Everyone started sending accusatory looks and phrases at Ray for helping Michael cheat at secret santa.

“Really?  I’m the one who gets yelled at for cheating at secret santa?” Ray asked.  “Geoff had to call Gavin and ask him about, and I quote, ‘Rimothy Timothy’ colors. Jack had Jeremy help her steal that whiskey.  I’m willing to bet Gavin didn’t fucking break Lindsay out of prison without a substantial amount of help.  Ryan gave me this necklace four fucking days ago.  Michael was the one who begged me to help him, but no, I’m the one getting the blame.  Sure, fine.”

“It’s a great present and it doesn’t matter if it came from you or Michael,” Ryan told him.  “And you keep me out of this.  I 3D printed that necklace myself.”

“When are you guys gonna get married already?” Gavin asked them with a frown.

“Yeah, Matt and Trevor started a bet about Ryan proposing for Christmas,” Jeremy said.

“Shh, that’s New Year’s,” Ryan joked.

“Christ,” Ray declared. “At least take me to dinner first.” The joke confused everyone else in the room, but Ryan laughed, pulling Ray back into his lap, the Diet Coke banished to the floor.  “Okay, maybe I’ll settle for delivery.”

Geoff Ramsey prided himself in being a very observant man.  When Geoff Ramsey observed something, it was observed.  Boom. Immediately.  Nothing gets by Geoff.  Except, apparently, Gavin breaking Lindsay out of prison, and the fact that Geoff couldn’t for the life of him name one other time he’d ever seen Ray and Ryan actually kiss.  He knew they must have, he had memories of it, but they were probably clouded over with alcohol or something that was preventing him from accessing them.

Geoff knew.  He’d observed it.  It had been observed.  Maybe he sometimes forgot stupid shit like who the fuck Rimmy Tim was, or where he left his car keys, but he knew exactly three things about Ryan Haywood:  1, Gavin was absolutely not allowed to ask him questions anymore, 2, Ryan was on this earth to drink diet coke and kick ass (watch out when he runs out of diet coke), and 3, Ryan Haywood, the Mad King, would ride or die for that punkass sniper with the pink guns and checkerboard vans.

[lrgcarter]

Understanding the appeal of Transformers

Over on Twitter, Colin Smith of the comics blog Too Busy Thinking About My Comics (technically a retired blog, but I live in hope) asked ‘I wonder if it's possible to truly enjoy The Transformers if you didn't grow up with them at all?’

Twitter is not the best medium to answer this question, so I have turned to Tumblr. I’m going to lay out a few notes that hopefully will show readers why people like Transformers, even if they can’t get into it themselves.

I’m not a hardcore fan of the franchise myself. I remember watching it as a child, but those memories are hazy to say the least. My partner is a hardcore fan. She didn’t have any contact with the show as a child, but discovered it as an adult. I’ve watched this development of her interest from outside the fandom, which is why I consider the following opinions to be an informed answer to the above question.

To start with, here are the conditions of this essay:

1. I’ve got other things to do today, so I’m setting myself a time limit. The 1986 animated Transformers movie is playing in the background. Once that finishes, I’m posting what I have, regardless of how well edited it is.

2. I’m going to try to keep things ‘Outsider friendly’. I’m going to avoid franchise-jargon as much as possible. I’m going to paraphrase things as much as possible. This may cause True Fans a problem, but they will just have to deal with it.

3. Having said that, I’m going to use the word ‘continuity’. Transformers has lots of these, and I couldn’t think of any way around using this word. I’m sure one will strike me as soon as I hit the ‘post’ button.

4. I’m not going to provide sources, or even look things up to confirm my memories. I’m writing about the appeal of a cartoon, not fixing the planet’s political problems.

With these points in mind, let’s begin…

The Toy Commercial Argument

I want to get this out of the way before we go any further.

Critics claim the franchise is nothing more than a vehicle to sell toys.

Now, while it is undoubtedly a vehicle to sell toys, it isn’t just that. Sure, some Toy Company CEOs wanted kids to buy toys and so hired a cartoon to be produced, but to say ‘this robs the resulting cartoon of any quality’ is insulting to those who worked on it. I never hear similar criticisms thrown at Noggin the Nogg, even though that is also a cartoon based on a toy (I know this is a somewhat false equivalence, whatever).

It all comes back to the idea that if you are getting paid to do your job then it isn’t art, This toxic idea has been discussed by those more eloquent than I, so I won’t dwell on it here.

Needles to say, I’m going to avoid insulting the creators of these works and assume they actually care about the stories they are telling, and wanted to do their jobs as well as they could (well, with one exception, but we’ll get to him).

The Problems Presented By Understanding Transformers

1. Mega-franchise.

Transformers suffers the same problem as any big, old franchise. Where do you start? It’s a question faced by fans of Dr Who, 2000ad, Star Trek, and many others. As with any of these franchises, there is no right answer.

Transformers has many different continuities. These continuities have sub-continuities, which in turn have sub-continuities themselves. I’m not exaggerating. This means that any two ‘Introduction Points’ could be consumed back to back and leave the audience completely confused as to what the franchise is about.

All of these continuities have different pros and cons, as well as different selling points. Beginners should consider each continuity as separate entities if they wish to understand their appeal. I’ll return to this later.

2. Preconceived perceptions.

People think they know what Transformers is about. It’s about giant transforming robots, right? Robots in disguise, it says so in the theme-tune!

The problem is, this is almost never what the stories are about. Remember how every aspect of the franchise has different selling points? Transforming was the unique selling point for the toys. In the cartoons and comics etc, you could mostly drop the transforming aspect and the stories would still work. Don’t get me wrong, people enjoy the transforming aspect, but it isn’t essential.

Here’s an example in defense of this controversy: there’s a group of Transformers that can turn into Dinosaurs. The creators of the old cartoon film wisely decided to hardly ever show these transformers not as dinosaurs, because their audience liked dinosaurs. They could have just made them non-transforming robot-dinosuars, and no one would have objected, or even noticed a difference.

So what is the franchise about, if not transforming? Like any enduring franchise, it’s about the characters. When the creators remember this, they produce popular material. When they don’t remember this, the fans tend not to like the result.

1 and 2, combine to form… Confusion!

The characters between continuities can provide one of the stumbling blocks when getting into the stories. You may have two robots that look identical and have the same names, but in two continuities will have two completely separate characters, plot roles, relationships with the other characters, and so on.

Getting Past These Problems

If you want to enjoy Transformers, you need to get to the characters without getting bogged down in the knotty history of the franchise. I’m going to give a brief summary of a few key continuities in an attempt to lay out how each of them has won or lost their fans. This is far from being a complete list of Transformers stories, and is not given in order of release date:

1. Original Cartoon Series

Plot summary:

Two armies of ancient, giant robots get stuck on Earth. They both have to: A) Solve humanity’s energy crisis. B) Learn what these weird organic human creatures are all about. C) Continue fighting their war.

The Original Cartoon Series (from now on, OCS) consists of almost two series and one cartoon movie. Any fans currently reading this are shouting at their screens right now, saying I’m wrong. They think I am talking about what they call ‘Generation One’, but I’m not. The OCS is what non-fans remember of the Transformers from the 1980s, regardless of whether or not their memories are complete or true.

They remember two armies of giant robots fighting in arid desert landscapes with loud sound effects and rock music. They don’t remember that one where the Transformers go to another planet and turn into trees and mermaids. Not every episode in the first two Transformers series qualifies as part of the OCS. It is a cherry-picked collection of stories, a series constructed by nostalgia, but it does exist and sits ready for people to enjoy.

Appeal: 

This series is adrenaline for the eyes. It is what 2000ad calls Thrill Power. Everything is turned up to eleven, then multiplied by two. All the characters are larger than life, in personality, motivations and ambitions, and obviously, physical size.

Generation One.

Plot summary:

This is the same show as above, but with the addition of everything that people have selectively forgotten. The Transformers actually get themselves un-stuck from Earth pretty quickly. They can then return to space and intergalactic adventures with loads of other alien races. There’s a planet where some of the characters realise they have gambling problems. There’s the previously mentioned tree-and-mermaid planet. There’s the psychologist planet, to which the bad-guys send their boss because they are worried he is too unstable to be their leader. There is the planet where everyone sings.

Appeal: The appeal of this story is epic scale. There are infinite corners to this universe, and anything can happen in any one of them. The war takes a back seat, and loads more characters are introduced. It’s kind of like a blunderbuss approach to appealing to people.

Transformers Armada

Plot Summary: 

Two armies of ancient, giant robots try to beat each other at Pokemon.

Appeal:

This series is pretty awful. Apparently the creators were given unworkable deadlines, and it shows. I mention this series because the Boss Good Guy opens it with the following voice over:

“In the beginning, there were three races of Transformers: Good-guys, Bad-guys, and Pokemon. War broke out between them, because the Bad-guys wanted to enslave the Pokemon, while the Good-guys wanted the Pokemon to take their rightful place as servants...”

This series places at the forefront a theme that lurks in most Transformers continuities. The Good-guys and Bad-guys are very, very similar, to the point that it is hard to tell them apart. The so called Good-guys are incredibly flawed, and any moral high ground they once occupied has collapsed under years of war. The Bad-guys often have good reason for starting the war (I mean, not in this particular story, but in some of the others) and have only become bad-guys because war tends to do that to people. These character dynamics provide plenty of story potential.

Transformer Animated

Plot Summary:

A small, plucky band of reject good-guys get stuck on earth. They make friends with humanity while trying to prove that they were never the rejects that their fellow Transformers thought they were.

Appeal:

This series throws out the formula of the above shows and almost completely rebuilds the franchise. It benefits from this originality immensely, and is favoured by fans because the creators showed a great deal of respect for the original material. It’s basically the Eccleston Dr Who of Transformers.

This show casts the Transformers as superheroes, and has a ‘Returning Ancient Evil’ arc plot. Everyone loves those, entertainment statistics would suggest.

I recommend this series as a starting point for any people trying to get into Transformers.

Transformers Prime

Plot Summary:

A CGI remake of the OCS, but the good-guys have Herbert West for a doctor, voiced by Jeffrey Combs, and he is always suspiciously nearby when some of the Transformers become zombies.

Appeal:

This series has flaws, but the fact that it is Transformers meets Reanimator is not one of them.

Rescue Bots

Plot Summary:

A small team of giant robots sleep through an intergalactic war. When they wake up, the fighters of the war want to avoid explaining some four million years of history to them, so set the awoken sleepers up as a rescue response team on an island full of unregulated human inventors. Hilarity ensures.

Appeal:

This series asks the question ‘can we make transformers without the good verses evil plot?’ They can and they did. This is one of the best Transformers series. Non violent and humorous. Innocent and inspiring.

I recommend this series as a starting point for any people trying to get into Transformers.

More Than Meets The Eye (comic)

Plot Summary:

An ancient war is finally over. A group of giant robots from both sides try to live on a spaceship together, with hilarious results.

Appeal:

This story lets characters meet without them instantly trying to kill each other. It explores LBGT themes among the robots.

It does require you to be at least familiar with the franchise norms.

Bayformers

Plot Summary:

This is what fans call those live action films that have been coming out recently. As soon as I make sense of the plot, I’ll return here to summarise it.

Appeal:

Everyone says these films are bad, yet they keep making money. So, there must be something to them, right? Here are some cons and pros:

Cons: Sexism. Racism. Lack of coherent plot. Lack of transforming and character at the same time. Lack of any evidence that the director has employed writers. The fact that the director has said on many occasions that he doesn’t understand the appeal of the franchise. Too often, a complete lack of actual Transformers. I know I said that the transforming isn’t really important, but these films even short-change people on the giant robot front.

Pros: Special effects Fans flock to the films hoping that they might be able to sift five minutes worth of character moments out of the whole film. That’s it.

Steven Universe

Plot summary:

Through the view point of a human child, the viewer comes to understand a galactic war between two non-organic factions.

Appeal:

This show comes in 10 minute episodes, and is completely free of any Transformers franchise baggage. There are songs and jokes and love conquers all. Very LGBT friendly.

I recommend this series as a starting point for any people trying to get into Transformers.

And that’s it, I’m out of time. There is more to transformers than this, but I don’t have space to investigate it all. Hope this has helped people understand why others like Transformers, even if they can’t see it themselves. I’m one of the few people out there that isn’t a fan of Star Wars, so I know how you feel.

[gravitascivics]

THE MAGRUDER AND GLENCOE CASE, PART IV

[Note:  If the reader has taken up reading this blog with this posting, he/she is helped by knowing that this posting is the next one in a series of postings.  The series begins with the posting, “The Natural Rights’ View of Morality” (February 25, 2020, https://gravitascivics.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-natural-rights-view-of-morality.html). Overall, the series addresses how the study of political science has affected the civics curriculum of the nation’s secondary schools.]

 What follows, beginning with this posting and continuing in at least the next, is a closer look at the Magruder’s American Government[1] textbook and the Glencoe’s United States Government[2] textbook.  The aim is to see if each of these books portrays a natural rights view of governance and politics.  That is, do they portray governance and politics as that aspect of life in which one is primarily concerned with one’s unencumbered rights to determine life’s goals and aims and the right to pursue them short of prohibiting others of the same rights.  

Under such a view, one is free to compete with others on equal legal standing in just about all arenas including seeking disbursements of public services.  It is a view in which the individual is more like a consumer – sovereign entity – and sees the political system more in terms of a market arrangement; he/she pays taxes in exchange for those services.  As such, he/she is not a partner with others to pursue the common good within the context of a shared governmental arrangement.

For this posting, this writer used the indexes of these books to analyze whether the books have anything to say about selected communal ideas.  These ideas, if highlighted, would indicate the writers of the books were not guided by natural rights view, but instead a federalist view, encouraging a “we’re in this together” view.  The concepts are community(ies), community development, neighborhood(s), charities, and non-profit organizations.  One can justly see that these are the types of topics one would associate with the federalist quality, social capital.[3] 

So, what was found?  In Magruder’s (2013) there is no listing for community(ies), community development,[4] neighborhood(s), or charities.  There is no listing for non-profit organization(s), but there is one for non-governmental organizations (NGOs).   That text describes only that the United Nations works with NGOs in administrating several of its programs around the world.  While commendable, this type of information is not what bolsters social capital among high school students.

And in the 2019 edition, it does make a reference to nonprofit organizations in terms of their contributions to political campaigns.  These latter groups are national organizations and the information concerning the contributions is in the context of how the contributions are expression of 1st Amendment’s protected free speech right.  Overall, in terms of community, Magruder’s has little to nothing to say.

What about Glencoe’s text?  There is an indexed reference to the Neighborhood Legal Assistance Program.  That reference guides the reader to an insert that provides a short case study of an advocacy worker, Mary Ellen Beaver, working to establish the rights of migrant agricultural workers.  While this does reflect federalist values and is an example of someone exhibiting social capital, the description is not part of the text and probably would be easily ignored.  Other than that reference, the other concepts do not appear in the index.

But perhaps this selection of ideas is a bit too skimpy.  So, a list of other concepts is added.  They include “grass-roots” politics, political engagement, civic duty(ies) and responsibility(ies).  Limiting the search to Magruder’s 2019 edition and Glencoe’s 2010 edition, this is what was found:

Magruder’s –

·       A chapter subtitle, “Responsibilities, Duties, and Obligations of Citizenship” that gives an overview – in general terms – of what a member of a civil society should contribute.  The space allocated to this concern is about one and a quarter pages with the obligatory picture of John F. Kennedy (“Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country” fame) and references to Theodore Roosevelt and George Washington.  This appears on pages 34-35.

·       A definition for political efficacy as being when a person or group lacks any feeling of effectiveness when it comes to governance or politics is provided.

Glencoe’s –

·       Under a subchapter heading, “Citizen Participation,” there is a five-line “call” for citizen participation since it is a prerequisite of a democracy.  This treatment is very cursory.

·       In Chapter 14 there is a subchapter title, “Citizen Responsibilities,” that begins on page 395 (toward the end) and ends on page 397 (just before the end of chapter questions).  The subsection emphasizes the duty to vote and addresses the question, why do people not vote.  This treatment is also very cursory.  

·       And under the topic of Interest Group Organization, the rise of political action committees is highlighted, but the concern is mostly on how they affect national elections.

That’s it!

         The last two postings of this blog reviewed the tables of content for these various editions of these textbooks.  That review established that the overall approach of the texts is to mostly describe and to some degree explain the structure and processes of the American political system.  That review made the point that the texts mainly communicate a mechanical view of governance and politics.  

This posting provides evidence that, in addition to that overall view, the texts lack much concern for the more normative issues associated with governance or a concern for how and why citizens should opt for establishing and maintaining federated relationships among themselves.  The next posting will look at one text insert series in the Magruder, 2013 edition.  With qualifications and limitations, the inserts reflect a promising turn, but that initiative does not survive in a later edition, that of 2019.

[1] William McClenaghan, Magruder’s American Government (Florida Teacher’s Edition) (Boston, MA:  Prentice Hall/Pearson, 2013) AND Daniel M. Shea, Magruder’s American Government (Boston, MA:  Prentice Hall/Pearson, 2019).

[2] Richard C. Remy, Glencoe United States Government:  Democracy in Action (New York, NY:  McGraw-Hill/Glencoe, 2010).

[3] Using the thoughts of Robert Putnam, social capital is characterized by having an active, public-spirited citizenry, egalitarian political relations, and a social environment of trust and cooperation.  See Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2000).

[4] In the 1993 edition, there is reference to community standards in association with the concern over obscenity and 1st and 14th Amendment rights.  In the 2019 edition there is reference to neighborhood segregation – mostly racial segregation.