#puppet is an offensive term

[athena-xox]

Cedar and Nate being besties and having a ‘wooden people ARE real people’ club.

I love Nate sm. The way he gets offended on Cedars behalf?

I love him. I wish this fandom made more content about him

That’s it

[bloodbrown]

Guys I'm trying to decide if "doll" as a term of endearment for P would offend/dehumanize him or if he would enjoy it coming from the one he loves. I've considered both points and need more opinions

[the-cosmic-cauldron]

Dark Astrology Observations: The Sun’s Fall

Dark astrology is unforgiving, careless, and cruel. But it’s not talked about enough. So today—I’m talking about it.

There’s a reason Sun-sign astrology became mainstream and beloved: The Sun brings warmth, confidence, and identity. But what we push away is the astrology of the underworld—The astrology that speaks of destruction, imprisonment, crime, and trauma.

So today, we’ll go there. We’ll touch on Chiron, Pluto, Lilith, and Saturn.

This is a trigger warning: if you’re not ready to face darkness, exit this post.

Chiron – The Echo of the Wound

Chiron is a subtle wound.

It’s feeling less attractive around certain people.

It’s the urge to prove your masculinity in a room full of other men.

It’s insecurity around intellectuals.

It’s feeling tense when someone expresses love.

It’s pushing away what’s real, because real love triggers pain.

Chiron haunts you.

Even when you’re rich, there’s an echo of scarcity.

Even after the cosmetic surgeries, you still hear whispers of ugliness.

Even when you meet your soulmate, you brace for abandonment.

Chiron doesn’t leave. It lingers.

Chiron makes you dislike others.

When someone’s personal planets harshly aspect your Chiron,

You feel inadequate, insecure, and triggered in their presence.

Even as you heal, the wound is felt.

That’s why healing isn’t about being healed—

It’s about understanding your wounds.

Each time you heal, you learn not to reject your pain, but to recognize it.

• Chiron–Mars can create celibacy, long-term virginity, asexuality, or an aversion to touch.

Sexual trauma is often present.

Sex feels like powerlessness, violence, or aggression.

The need for sex feels painful—not alluring.

• Chiron–Pluto may lead a person to act pure.

Overly religious, cloaked in morality, they fear their own darkness.

They block out past experiences, repress their deepest desires.

• Chiron–Moon can create someone seemingly emotionless, robotic.

Isolated, logical, disconnected from intuition.

Emotions are buried, frozen in time.

• Chiron–Mercury makes school unbearable.

These individuals often feel stupid, no matter their achievements.

Even with degrees or encyclopedic knowledge, they feel unworthy of intelligence.

• Chiron–Sun creates alter egos.

The real self hides in shame, afraid of rejection or bullying.

They master persona, read people effortlessly—but authenticity feels dangerous.

• Chiron–Venus makes one feel ugly, no matter how beautiful they are.

They might look like Kim Kardashian, Beyoncé, or Angelina Jolie—and still feel grotesque.

Compliments make them squirm. Visibility is not comfort; it’s exposure.

• Chiron–Saturn makes a brutal perfectionist.

They accomplish more than most, but feel nothing.

Success is never enough.

Mistakes are punishable offenses.

Loneliness and self-punishment often dominate.

Pluto – Death, Obsession, Power

Pluto is felt, not seen.

It repels. It disturbs.

People don’t understand why, but they want distance.

Pluto is murder, death, trauma, pain, and sexual deviance.

Many live in Pluto—but not its transformation.

They live in its rot, not its rebirth.

• Pluto–Ascendant individuals were ostracized early.

The child no one befriended.

The one others stared at, feared, or bullied.

Pain became identity. They made peace with darkness young.

• Pluto–Sun births paranoia.

Trust is non-existent.

They will destroy before being destroyed.

• Pluto–Moon births destruction.

This is the person who snaps.

Who burns it all down and watches it with a still face.

• Pluto–Mercury creates violent thoughts.

The mind dances with darkness—imagining harm with detailed pleasure.

• Pluto–Venus controls through love.

Partners are puppets. Worshippers.

These natives dominate the hearts they ensnare.

• Pluto–Mars is the planned murderer.

Cold, calculating, precise.

Not impulsive. Not caught.

• Pluto–Saturn breeds cruelty.

These people love control.

They are strategic, unempathetic—psychopath or sociopath.

Lilith – The Rebellion, the Rage

Lilith is the woman silenced through generations.

She still exists in echoes—

In the abused, the exiled, the killed—for daring to be real.

She lives in our DNA.

Authenticity becomes complex.

Lilith carries rage, shame, rebellion, power struggles, and sexual defiance.

Lilith isn’t fantasy—she is real.

She is the woman you obsess over but can’t commit to.

She follows no rules and intoxicates with her presence.

• Lilith–Ascendant draws you to darkness.

You seek power, intensity, danger.

Life must cut like a razor, or it feels dull.

• Lilith–Sun needs darkness like oxygen.

You’ll find a way to taste it, no matter the cost.

• Lilith–Moon holds rage that could terrify the devil.

When provoked, they burn bridges without regret.

• Lilith–Mercury harbors fantasies too taboo for words.

Desires no one has ever heard spoken aloud.

• Lilith–Venus wants worship, not love.

They don’t seek commitment—they want to be adored into madness.

• Lilith–Mars carries generational rage.

It slips out. It erupts.

And when it does, it can kill.

• Lilith–Saturn suppresses darkness—

But it seeps through.

Every goal masks a hunger for domination, power, reign.

Saturn – Karma, Discipline, Coldness

Saturn is cold, logical, and critical.

It is the prison of the soul—

Walls too high to climb, eyes always watching.

Every mistake is punished.

Saturn is the karmic price of wrong choices.

It is the suffering humans whisper about in quiet moments.

• Saturn–Ascendant feels like life in armor.

Every day, you suit up for battle.

Vulnerability is not allowed.

• Saturn–Sun makes life feel like winter—

Even when the Sun is out, it’s cold.

Your identity feels frozen, muted, numb.

• Saturn–Moon punishes emotions.

You’re too sensitive, too needy, too human.

Being emotional feels like a weakness.

Being human feels like a punishment.

• Saturn–Mercury weighs the mind.

Thinking is exhausting.

Relaxation feels like guilt.

Joy is something you sneak when no one is watching.

• Saturn–Venus equates pain with love.

The more someone ruins you, the longer you stay.

You think: If it hurts, it must be real.

• Saturn–Mars internalizes violence.

You rage—against yourself.

You are both abuser and victim, locked in your own war.

[mint-and-authoress]

Something I think does not get enough traction is slime × slime. There's a lot of slime × monster and a ton of slime × human. Allow me to share an experience I've had with my wife.

Two women, barely able to hold their forms stumble into the bedroom after a relaxing night. They couldn't even make it to the bedroom without beginning to fuse at the tendrils. Green from my own mass, a light purple from my wife's. Somehow we manage to find our way to the fountain we installed as a bed. This is around where the solids in the crowd may get lost, but try to see it from my perspective.

As soon as we hit the marble surface we drop all sense of structure. Bodies turn to unrecognisable mass, smiling faces melt away and become featureless. We are two discrete forms, green and purple, purple and green. The only other way we can be told apart are the similarly coloured cores we have, free-floating in our masses. But the visual does not matter to a slime in the long term, for we are creatures of physical touch. We brush surfaces together, weaving in and out in a bout of teasing. Eventually, it becomes too much for me to bear any longer and I lose my sense of surface tension, allowing my wife to go on the offensive.

She pierces my surface with multiple pseudopods, all managing to work their way into my gel, in what can only be described as being penetrated from every possible angle. Her mass mixing with mine turns my once transparent seafoam green gel to a pewter blue.

The contamination spreads further as she begins to pump her mass into mine, slowly and properly merging with me. Less and less of myself can be properly identified as my own as two become one, fully merging within seconds with her core sitting close enough to mine that I can barely form thought.

Not to say that she's done with us, though, as her gel is still firmly in control of the newly formed mass. I struggle and squirm in vain as I am trapped in her immense gravity, fully assuming my position as her puppet. My wife begins to tease this new body, cycling the flow of gel to further mix hers and mine together as I grow closer and closer to the limit.

And then our cores touch.

Instantly I go off like a bomb, and because of our shared perception, so does she. We are fully united in this one moment, sharing thoughts, memories, emotions, senses. Everything that makes us distinct is washed away as the only thing I am able to convey or conceive is the absolute love we share.

Eventually we calm down as one and flex our controls a bit, slightly separating to hold one another as we let the exhaustion take us both.

There really isn't anything like slime × slime and I am very glad to have a special goop in my life ^-^

[rhodes-knightwife]

Deploying New Operator...

Our next challenger for AKVS is just as relevant to the game as our beloved bunny, if not more in some ways! She is, however, a big step up in terms of complexity. Kal'tsit will, unsurprisingly, be our main puppet character for this game, taking control of Mon3tr as a semi-independent entity to move around the field and shred the opponent before they can even think of approaching her. Extremely difficult to play, but very rewarding once you've got a grasp on things!

Unlike Amiya, our moveset is both a lot more freeform here, as well as a little looser in terms of the source material we have to base it on – after all, while you and I both know that Kal'tsit is fully equipped to kick some ass, she is still a Medic with no inherent offensive ability in her only playable form.

So let's get Kal'tsit's unique mechanic first: using the Action Button to give Mon3tr commands, allowing her to place it around the screen depending on the specific move she performs – whether that's dashing towards her own location to defend her with a burst of slashes or flying across the screen with a charging tackle. Mon3tr will have its own small health bar that the opponent can deplete by hitting it, causing it to temporarily fade when depleted, respawning on a timer.

As for moves that Kal'tsit herself can perform, we'll fall back on her status as Rhodes' head of Medical to allow her to throw out chemical vials and syringes as small, weak projectiles that can keep the enemy at bay and allow Mon3tr time to reconstitute. We'll also give her a few "Command"-type specials that have her performing something basic – a quick slap with a clipboard or a dodge – while also allowing Mon3tr to perform an attack in the meantime, including a move that can deal great damage at the cost of Mon3tr's HP... or disabling them entirely for a stunning blast, if you empower the move with your meter!

Even as a Global player, I would be remiss not to touch on the fact Mon3tr and Kal'tsit's situation is... in flux, and so, while I'm sure it makes very little lore sense, I'll still make Kal'tsit's Super a special mode where Kal'tsit leaves the screen entirely, transforming Mon3tr into her operator form with her own, hyper-fast moveset for a short while (with the duration based on Mon3tr's health when the special is used). That way we can have our cake and eat it too!

For Kal'tsit's linked assist, let's bring in another member of Rhodes Island that isn't known for taking to the battlefield: Closure! When you call in her assist, she'll summon her two robot buddies to fly across the screen from either direction. You can crouch over one and jump over the other, and the attacks are fairly weak, but they can be a delayed attack the opponent has to keep in mind if they don't wanna be caught off-guard! Imagine that when you're keepinng track of two opponents already!

We'll be taking a break from Rhodes Island tomorrow to address the last of our main character trio. Hope you like swords!

[theamericanidiot]

Breaking Idiotic News: Recent polls are showing that Sam The Eagle, of The Muppets, will most likely be the presidential candidate for the US Democratic Party in 2028.

When we asked him what made him decide to throw his star spangled hat in the ring after so many years of denying interest in the position, Sam said, “It is beyond offensive that President Trump is appropriating the Muppet culture for a second term. If the American people would like a puppet as commander in chief they should be able to vote for a true Muppet! What Muppet is more patriotic than me?”

When we asked President Trump to comment on this recent development, his team declined. Later that day, however, President Trump posted the following on Twitter. “Tomorrow we change the bird of the USA! The corrupt left pricked the eagle for us and now it is time for a real manly bird to take its place. Our new bird is the beautiful cassowary! Such a big beautiful bird! The biggest in the sky! The best American bird.”

It is not yet clear if the president understands that the cassowary is a flightless bird.

[rebelliouslyeverafter]

“Well, and what about Cerise?” Apple paused. It was hard to guess what was going on in that girl’s head, always skulking around in the shadow of her red hood. “Ahem. Or… you know, Cedar? She’s not evil. Why, she’s the nicest puppet I’ve ever met.” “That’s kind of an offensive term,” muttered Nathan Nutcracker, sitting on the edge of a table swinging his little wooden legs. “Sorry, Nate,” Apple said. “I mean, the nicest wooden person I’ve ever met.”

Apple patiently smiled, "Let's try again." So we tried again. And again. And again, and again. But, no matter how many times we tried, I couldn't lie. Through it all though, Apple understood, "Don't worry, Cedar. This curse will be gone soon. Then you'll be a real girl, just like me. Well, not just like me, but you get the idea." I couldn't be sure if I had the idea or not, "Thanks, Apple?" She warmly hugged me, "No problem what-so-ever after!"

[a-bottle-of-tyelenol]

Action vs Inaction in regards to Eurylochus and Odysseus

This isn’t really that hot take of an analysis and I might just be corn-plating, but i don’t see many people taking about this aspect to their characters so I wanted to bring it up.

I think there’s something to be said about how Eurylochus and Odysseus don’t really disagree on a lot of things, it just appears as though they do because of the nature of their approaches. Odysseus very often either shuts Eurylochus down or he expresses a view that seems to differ to Eurylochus’, but if you boil each of these conflicts down to what they really are, all that’s happening is that they want the same end result, they just have differing perspectives on how to get there.

To Eurylochus, early saga Odysseus doesn’t act— which isn’t strictly true since it’s more accurate to say that Odysseus doesn’t react outside the times his guilt fuels his decisions, but it’s a perspective that Eurylochus has nonetheless. In Full Speed Ahead, Eurylochus proposes that they raid the village— action. Odysseus, while still agreeing to be on the offensive, takes the wait and see approach— inaction in the eyes of Eurylochus. In Remember Them, when more cyclops appear, Eurylochus wants to run— action. Odysseus, again, tells him to wait— inaction. Storm is probably one of the only times early on that this isn’t true strictly since Eurylochus is mostly just expressing his concern over the ships while Odysseus charges ahead (so it’s a conflict in that they’re focusing on different things, it’s just not one that I would count for this purpose), but the windbag is another case of Odysseus telling everyone to wait, to trust him, and Eurylochus acting based on what he thinks is right— I personally will always have the opinion that Eurylochus opened the bag either to settle the unease of the crew or on behalf of them (either because they asked him to or they were going to open it anyways and, as the second highest ranking member, Eurylochus took responsibility for it).

It doesn’t actually matter who was wrong or right— it’s impossible to actually tell in most of these situations. If they had raided the lotus eater village, would the effects be better or worse than being led to Polyphemus’ cave? If they had ran when the other cyclops’ showed up, would they have been caught or would they have been able to sneak away before Odysseus could shout his name? Even if Eurylochus was totally objectively wrong in every single one of these decisions, the part that matters is that he and Odysseus want the same thing thing— to make it home with as many people alive as possible.

Which leads to Puppeteer, a fascinating display of two men who have fundamentally agreed on something, and just have two different outlooks on how to approach it, suddenly flipping in terms of where they stand because of their guilt.

They are both reacting to what just happened. Eurylochus is reeling from the fact that it was majorly his doing that got everyone killed. He is someone that greatly prioritizes the lives of the crew and he had to watch like five hundred of them die to his actions. His response to that is wanting to leave the dozen or so men that were caught by Circe for the sake of saving the others— sacrifice the one to save the many. Odysseus, on the other hand, believes it was his inaction that got everyone killed. He wasn’t able to save Polites, he didn’t kill the cyclops, he couldn’t stop them from opening the bag or Poseidon from killing everyone EXCEPT the ones who opened it. So, unlike Eurylochus who doesn’t want to directly cause more harm, Odysseus feels like he’s obligated to save his men after everything his lack of action has caused. Eurylochus is suddenly the one vying for inaction and Odysseus is suddenly the one to call to action.

This is a big reason why Eurylochus is so upset in Mutiny— not only does he see this as Odysseus going against the very thing that he convinced Eurylochus was right, but it’s him defaulting to inaction again.

“When we fought the cyclops, you were quick to hatch a plan, and when we fought with Circe, it was you who left behind no man—“

Eurylochus is pointing out Odysseus’ action here, even if he disagreed with him or didn’t like what resulted of it.

To Eurylochus, someone that has been pushing for more action and sees himself as someone genuinely trying, he’d rather see Odysseus do something earnestly and it fail than see him intentionally do ‘nothing’ while others suffer and it succeeds— with the caveat being how you measure that success. Obviously, if success leads to a bunch of other issues (like Odysseus taking action in getting the windbag, only for it to sow distrust in the crew because Aeolus is playing tricks) then it isn’t much of a success, is it?

A lot of it is projection, obviously, with Eurylochus feeling hurt because he’s always done what he thought was right with major consequences (either in the form of Poseidon killing everyone or even him possibly interpreting Odysseus’ decision regarding Scylla as a personal punishment because he had Eurylochus be the one who chooses who dies— which gives even more layers to ‘if you want all the power, you must carry all the blame’ if you interpret power as the ability to disregard other people’s lives), while Odysseus gets to do something he feels is wrong and seemingly suffer nothing.

“But when we fought this monster, we didn't take a stand— we just ran. Say something!”

Eurylochus is calling to action— begging for it, really. They have, once again, switched on how they want to approach things. He needs an explanation for why Odysseus would, in his mind, suddenly change. It’s not like Odysseus told them about his monstrous revelations and how his priority is no longer getting as many people home alive as much as it is just getting himself there. To Eurylochus, nothing has changed between Circe and Thunder except Odysseus has now been taking action more than he has inaction. Killing the sirens is an action and it’s implied that he’s been running things this way since they left the Underworld, which we can estimate has been anywhere from a couple months ago to maybe half a year ago. For once, it feels like they’re on the same page since we can assume Eurylochus has gone back to his typical perspective of taking action— Circe’s island was likely a lapse of judgement and, even if it wasn’t, we can assume that Odysseus’ speech along with saving their men and giving them an avenue forward has led Eurylochus back to thinking that taking action is the right thing to do. To him, current Odysseus is the same as the Odysseus that confronted Circe— the one that valued lives and held on to the open arms philosophy a little too much.

I, personally, also think this is why Ares uses this as his argument in God Games— he sees Odysseus’ inaction throughout everything as cowardly and Scylla is just the best representation of that since it happened after a string of Odysseus taking action.

Anyways, I’ve never seen anyone specifically argue against the idea of Eurylochus’ arc being implied like this, but I have seen a lot of people call him a hypocrite without fully understanding why he’s taking these stances. Eurylochus has been acting throughout the entire show— his first appearance is him taking charge and asking Odysseus what they should do about the food issues. His only act of inaction (if you don’t count Storm) is on Circe’s island. That is, again, a lapse of judgment due to his guilt and fear, at most; it’s not a hard trait to base his entire character on.

Now, I know what you’re thinking— but what about Luck Runs Out? Isn’t that Eurylochus criticizing Odysseus for taking action here? Isn’t he asking for inaction? Doesn’t that completely negate this entire post?

And, admittedly, it does a little, but I touched on it a bit earlier with acknowledging how Eurylochus could see this as the exception, rather than the rule, because of how things turned out and I do have further argument for this. I think it’s important to remember that Eurylochus is still human. While he does prioritize action, he doesn’t have to adhere to that belief every single time. He has always been fairly reasonable and cautious so it would make sense that he falls to inaction when he’s unsure. The fact that he doesn’t more often, especially as compared to Odysseus, is really interesting and could possibly be a testament to who he was before the war (a kid in poverty, as mentioned by Jorge, who is maybe a little more prone to inaction and letting his life pass him by, only to meet the princess and take his first real action in pursuing her).

I also think that Eurylochus’ hesitation here had more to do with the fact that they just lost men, including Polites who was likely very close to Eurylochus as well, and is simply just him being uninterested in the possibility of losing even more. I mentioned before that Storm had an element of passiveness to it and I really think that Luck Runs Out is meant to continue this and be the lead up to Eurylochus’ own inaction in the Circe Saga. His arc, in that case, looks like this—

Eurylochus prioritizes action and disavows Odysseus’ inaction -> Eurylochus starts to withdraw because of loss and wants to prioritize people’s lives instead, which leads him to push Odysseus (who has been, reversely, pushed to action by Polites’ death) to his typical inaction -> Eurylochus sees that the action works (the bag gives them a way home) and tentatively returns to valuing action, which leads him to immediately be punished by opening the bag -> the loss is a hundred times worse than it was before and Eurylochus, therefore, decides that inaction actually was the correct way -> Eurylochus learns from Odysseus that this is wrong and taking action is correct as shown by Odysseus saving their men from Circe and getting them to the Underworld -> Eurylochus sees Odysseus’ decision with Scylla as him regressing back to something he thought they both agreed was bad -> Eurylochus feels betrayed, like he doesn’t know who Odysseus is, and leads the mutiny

When you look at things like this, everything else I said still makes sense. Luck Runs Out is Eurylochus promoting inaction due to the events with the cyclops and Puppeteer is Eurylochus actually committing inaction due to the events with Poseidon. Everything else remains true even with this aspect and it still doesn’t make him a hypocrite for criticizing Odysseus in Mutiny either.

Anyways, back to Puppeteer— I say this song/part of the story is fascinating not just because it’s the only time that Eurylochus falls to inaction, but also because it’s the only time we are explicitly told that Eurylochus and Odysseus do understand each other.

“Of course, I'd like to leave now, of course I'd like to run, but I can hardly sleep now knowing everything we've done.”

In literally any other context, Odysseus very likely would’ve agreed with Eurylochus and abandoned their men. It is only because of his guilt of Polites and the crew Poseidon killed that he’s sparked into taking action, instead of simply abandoning them. In that same vein, if it weren’t for that very same context, Eurylochus very likely would have agreed with Odysseus and only didn’t because they literally just lost everyone and he couldn’t handle losing any more. This is not a matter of being wrong or right or even being at fault for either of them because arguments can be made for both; it’s simply them reacting instead of wholly thinking things through the way they normally would.

Eurylochus would love to save their men, but he’s just watched what happens when you fuck with magic and he doesn’t want to risk things any more than he has. That isn’t him evading responsibility, it’s him trying not to make the same mistake again. I think the most telling lyric of Puppeteer for both of them is when Eurylochus asks, “What if she can’t be killed? Would you choose to stay?” and Odysseus responds with, “I don’t know.”

In the same way that Eurylochus is giving up and opting for what is essentially suicide in Mutiny with the cows, it feels like a similar thing is happening with Odysseus and these pigs. Eurylochus is begging Odysseus not to do something that he sees as certain death and Odysseus’ response is that he isn’t sure he would leave even if he knew for a fact it was certain death. Just like how Odysseus begged Eurylochus not to do something in Thunder and Eurylochus’ response was to ask, “How much longer must I push through doubt?”

The way that Eurylochus speedruns Odysseus’ arc in Ocean, this time doing it with Zeus in Thunder, has been talked about before but I really think it goes further than that. It isn’t just Eurylochus taking the role of captain, only to invoke the wrath of a god because of actions he took in the midst of grief. It’s the aftermath of that too— only, this time, Eurylochus faces the aftermath (the resignation to death after so much guilt and grief) and that’s what causes the god to arrive.

Mutiny is not meant to parallel Luck Runs Out, it parallels Puppeteer. Eurylochus’ arc and how it fools Odysseus is not meant to just be Ocean, it includes Circe too.

“There's no length I wouldn't go if it was you I had to save. I can only hope you'd do the same.”

“Don’t make me fight you, brother, you know you would do the same.”

They are so, so similar, but they fundamentally misunderstand each other. Like how much of the audience misinterprets these events, Eurylochus and Odysseus don’t even realize that they’re in the same boat, on the same path, going through the same arcs. Eurylochus finally sees Odysseus acting after two years of inaction and doesn’t understand why he goes back on it, and Odysseus sees Eurylochus finally support inaction one time and is convinced he wholly understands every other similar decision. The betrayal was so strong because, for a moment on Circe’s island, they did understand the perspective opposite to what they typically believe and they both came to the conclusion that the opposite perspective was a bad idea.

[coeluvr]

I got curious about what happens to the royal families of defeated/conquered lands, and the answers are interesting because they varied from place to place, from time to time.

In Quora, I found this to be the best explanation:

What happens to the royal family of a defeated kingdom after being conquered by a foreign power?

It truly depends on circumstances, but there are four options:

Execution - used to be a common solution in the old days, but it is only effective when the royal family does not have large support of their own people and they would hail the execution as justice, or when the conqueror actually intends to preform a genocide. Otherwise it would be dangerous, because creating a martyr would spark resistance. So it is not common in more recent history.

Imprisonment - The royal family could be kept in relatively good conditions and treated well, this would show that the conquorer is both powerful and merciful. If things go south, the members of the family could still act as hostages (at least in old days). But dangerous if the resistance element is very strong, an imprisoned king is aslo a possible martyr or gives hope to the resistance that things could be restored.

Exile - Very common, sometimes for practical reason. The members of the royal family often managed to escape and the conqueror was unable to get to them. Exile was the only option then - the conqueror would then simply forbid them to ever come back. If the exiled royalty had no support or intention to fight on, this is a very good option, since the conquered people could be told their leaders abandoned them, otherwise could be a problem, as leading resistance from abroad is much easier then leading it from captivity.

Staying in power as leader of a puppet government - far best option if you want to truly control a foreign country. If any member of the family is inclined to do so, this can give legitimacy to the new regime and in fact most conquerors tried to do that. In many cases young heirs were first imprisoned, then befriended by their captors and eventually became their puppets.

[Source: https://www.quora.com/What-happens-to-the-royal-family-of-a-defeated-kingdom-after-being-conquered-by-a-foreign-power]

So MC, by this logic, should have been executed, since their family wasn't popular. Luceris wanted to use them as a possible weapon against Catalina, who is still missing in action, so he spared them.

However, the way he has gone about it is very risky. Once personal grievences are put aside, the image you look at is not great: the much older king of a country, for some reason, decided to take the only known-surviving child of a royal family he had slaughtered as his Consort.

Regular folks don't know what's going on behind the palace doors, so it just makes Luceris not just look like the pervert he isn't, but also unstable. I mean, what sane person would take a poor child as their spouse? Who knows what's happening to them? We the readers know the truth, but the people in-universe doesn't. You can't "Hah, brat is in the lap of luxury, I'm sure they are fine!" your way out of it, that's just not logical.

Luceris doesn't look merciful, he looks absolutely deranged. He is giving reason for rebellion within his own kingdom, against him in other kingdoms, and he gives power to Catalina and whoever is hiding her. No king's rule is flawless, Luceris cannot rule without stiffling something or someone, without hurting someone and giving them reason to want his head on a platter.

Related to that, there is also the concept of "Victor's justice":

Victor's justice is a term which is used in reference to a distorted application of justice to the defeated party by the victorious party after an armed conflict. Victor's justice generally involves the excessive or unjustified punishment of defeated parties and the light punishment of or clemency for offenses which have been committed by victors. Victors' justice can be used in reference to manifestations of a difference in rules which can amount to hypocrisy and revenge or retributive justice leading to injustice. Victors' justice may also refer to a misrepresentation of historical recording of the events and actions of the losing party throughout or preceding the conflict.

[Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor's_justice]

So the whole war started because of Catalina's assassination of Farah. Allegations without concrete evidence, but I digress. This situation should have ended when the royal family is killed, as the suspected source of Catalina's power: once Vesphire is conquered, with its noble class and extended family full of traitors, whoever has been hiding her would have given her up because she is essentially useless— betrayed by extended family, unpopular due to Farah, without power because her lands are gone. Luceris didn't need to do anything else.

However, Luceris failed when he succumbed to his feelings: he spared MC to use them, and by that, had given Catalina and her supporters reason not to come out and surrender. He is doing all this bad publicity by himself, why not bide their time? Having so much military power isn't the only way to win a war, after all.

Frankly, I don't think Luceris is that good of a king. You can treat your people "better" (a very subjective term) and still harm them and make them feel resentment toward you.

And technically speaking, his war didn't even have the desired result: he conquered Vesphire, sure, and killed almost the whole royal family, but his wife's murderer is still at large. There is still at least two survivors left (MC is not neutralized, no matter what Luceris deludes himself into believing. Whether you seek revenge or not, he is literally sitting next to a venomous snake that will either bite him on its own, or someone will come and poke them and make them bite him).

Not just that, but he spent so much money and led so many soldiers to early graves for no discernible reason. Normal people don't even benefit from his conquered lands— there isn't any economical benefit to it, except for nobles. He created so much bad blood between himself and other kingdoms he has bullied or taken advantage of into falling in a line.

Fascinating stuff, really. I firmly think Luceris fumbled really badly with Farah and Catalina and MC and Vesphire, and I can't wait to see him face the consequences (MC too, but Luceris more).

This is so cool of you like I can really tell you did your research! 🤭

I like how crazy Luceris is because he makes the worst choice in terms of consequences but I think his choices make sense in a twisted way when it comes from a place of rage and hurt. He's not rational like that, he lets his emotions get the best of him and we all suffer because of it. 💀💀

[yowyowyaoi]

Kisame’s Daily Texts from the Akatsuki

From Deidara

Me and Tobi found a big muddy hole full of earthworms, let’s go fishing! 😁

We finished it last night, sorry 

I was just teasing him!

Exploding or boring?

Not a tea person but thanks anyway 

LMAOOO he probably pissed himself 🤣

Pls tell Itachi I’m not gonna hurt her I just want to pet her for a while!

Leader said he’ll kill us if we do it again so no probably not 😓

You gotta use the conditioner too or else it won’t be effective 

I’ll ask him but he don’t really like places like that. Says they’re too happy 🙄

From Hidan

If you have two does that mean one sleeps while the other fucks or ?

No offense but it’s literally so boring I can’t sit still that long 

I would say he’s giving you blue balls but.

Can’t imagine giving a shit but 🤷‍♂️

Tried that once. Got the mask halfway off and suddenly felt like I was drowning. Never again.

Old bastard said no 😑

You need to watch him he takes like two bites and pushes the plate away 

How? Half of us are gay half are insane and some are both 🤣

One dick, two dicks, your dicks, BLUE dicks! Lol get it??

From Sasori

Thanks but water erodes my “skin”.

I’m done reading it, you can borrow if you like.

Please make sure he puts on sunscreen he’s too stubborn to listen to me.

Don’t really remember all that well but I believe it was ice cream.

He has to *want* treatment and so far he’s turned down every offer Kakuzu or myself has made.

They make for more appealing puppets if they have some unique physical characteristic while they’re still living.

I’ll probably marry him some day but first he has to work on not blowing himself to bits.

Oh of course. You know you don’t need to ask.

From Kakuzu

Hey I almost beat you and I’m 60+ years your senior.

Just this once … no charge. Worth it to see him freak out like that.

I’m not very well-versed in animal anatomy but I can take a look and try my best.

EVERYBODY pays. Itachi too.

Fits nice. My thanks.

This place is falling apart, if it’s not one thing it’s another.

It’s annoying but I don’t see any serious long-term effects.

From Konan

That’s so sweet, thank you ☺️ 

Write down the exact kind for me, I’ll pick it up the next time I go to the market.

He’s a sweetheart isn’t he? 🥰

I’ll take your word for it, but ducks are so cute I don’t think I could eat one.

Come to my room I have some eye drops that’ll help him.

If I let that happen no work would ever be done and they’d likely kill each other.

So many miles, with these heels it’s hard on my feet.

If you want it that rare then there’s really no point to me cooking it at all 😒

At this point the yelling has become background music.

Me on one shoulder and Itachi on the other. You big show-off 😁

From Tobi/Obito

You only beat me because Deidara distracted me!

Forty cookies isn’t even that many. Plus Itachi ate two more.

Kakuzu said to earn the money myself so I stole one of his bounties 🤷🏻‍♂️

Itches. A LOT.

Can’t stand tea but if you have any hot chocolate, yeah.

You should hang out with Zetsu more often then. Like one never-ending picnic.

He really wants to go but I don’t have a pole. You have a spare?

Yeah but he might let us get a fish-tank if YOU said you needed it, like for health or something 

Sushi? Isn’t that cannibalism?!

Fuck him AND his perfect ass. Literally and figuratively.

Don’t give me that “kid” shit, we’re like the same age!

From Zetsu

You want to split that guy’s leg with me? He was very fat, lots of good meat 😋

He’s a good man but doesn’t his dubious emotional state concern you?

It’s a lot like hearing two voices at once. Constantly. 

It’s no fun if they don’t scream a bit first. You know this.

I did the scouting; that lake about five miles up the road is both deep and fairly clean.

Let’s hide under his bed and scare him. I bet money we can get him to soil himself while crying for that damn Jashin 🤣

From Nagato

I thank you for the tea. It helped me to sleep.

Well, keep an eye on him.

The pain is worse when I stand but Sasori is working on prosthetics for me that may solve the problem.

As long as you return in time for your next mission.

Get that looked at as soon as possible. We can’t afford to have you out of commission.

I do, but she deserves so much better than myself.

I’ll speak to Kakuzu about getting you a new one.

If you two are going to do that, please keep it away from our hideouts. It disturbs Konan to hear the screaming.

From Itachi

I ate this morning. Promise.

That wasn’t Hidan’s fault, I’d forgotten to take my pill so my reflexes were slow.

Just consider it. Uchiha Kisame. Say it out loud. It’s beautiful 😌

Can you check if I left that shirt in your room?

Dei and I went there last night. The manager banned us for life because Dei set off a C3 in the men’s room. 😑

Fine. You buy the skirt I’ll “model” it for you.

Sad. Come stay with me please.

You worry too much.

That picture is for YOUR EYES ONLY. 

Aww what do you mean? Kitty loves you she’s not trying to eat you!

It’s one that Konan gave me. It’s really good you’d probably like it too.

Tea?

I didn’t *fall* in, he *pushed* me. Big difference.

Mom taught me when I was younger. I can teach you too if you want.

You’re mine too. Always ❤️

[thesummerestsolstice]

So I got an ask about how I write orcs (like Garthaglir) and I'm working on answering it, but I feel like first I need to make a post about why orcs in canon bother me so much. This post is going to be a lot less fun than a lot of my others, but I think it's really important to critically examine the Legendarium. That said, mind the content warning.

CW: discussions of racism (in real life), dehumanization

So I have three major issues with orcs in canon. I'll start with the least serious and work my way up.

Messy worldbuilding: Tolkien proposed about five different backstories for the orcs and doesn't seem to have been happy with any of them. The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings clearly shows us that the orcs are sentient; but he claimed at one point that they were essentially non-sentient puppets of Morgoth. That explanation was a way to get around the idea that Morgoth had created a race of sentient brings which he didn't like for Catholic reasons. The idea that orcs are corrupted elves is the most well-known of the orc backstories (and the one I like the best), but the actual text doesn't really address this? There's no indication that orcs could have once been elves or elf-like. They certainly aren't treated anything like elves or men, even corrupted ones. Which leads to problem two:

Narrative dehumanization: so fantasy and sci-fi have "faceless evil horde" as a recurring trope– and it's a trope that has some worldbuilding issues baked in. In the orcs' case, there's a whole sentient race that is universally, inherently evil. Either they all "chose" to be evil, which is basically impossible, or they've been so corrupted that they don't have a choice, which makes them victims more than villains. But the narrative doesn't treat them like victims; their lives have essentially no value. Sam in the books (Faramir has this line in the movies) thinks about a dead human soldier fighting for Sauron; wondering if he was evil, and how he came to be dragged off to war. In comparison, Legolas and Gimli count orc kills. Even heroic characters who are supposed to be compassionate have no regard for the orcs, because even if they're clearly sentient, the story doesn't treat them that way. And I hate that. I think the orcs should be treated like people, and not mindless monsters.

The racism: this is definitely the worst problem with Tolkien's orcs. So the orcs are the result of a lot of ideas; corrupted soldiers, biblical concepts of shadow and darkness, and yes, racial caricatures. In one of Tolkien's letters, he describes them as a "degraded" version of "Mongol-type" humans ("Mongol" here being an outdated and offensive term for Asian people as far as I know). Source for the quote here; the author of this article makes interesting points, but I disagree with some of his conclusions, including him backing down from saying the orcs are racist. So, yes, Tolkien's orcs are in-text racism– they're far from the only example either, Maeglin and Eol's story, as well as the LoTR representations of "Easterlings" and "Southrons" have similar problems. I hope I don't need to explain why I don't want to perpetuate these harmful ideas in the stories I tell. I've tried to tell an orcish story that isn't racist or dehumanizing. I hope others will try to do the same.

[ikintwosm]

Hello hello!! ๋࣭ ⭑⚝

✮ My nicknames are:

Marz

Cuppa Suppa [For close friends]

Cheese Pretzels!

Wonderful to meet you all! ദ്ദി(ᵔᗜᵔ)

Who am I?๋࣭ ⭑⚝

✮I am a demi-girl and I use she/they/it! I am okay with any feminine or gender neutral terms! Just no masc terms!

✮ I am Aroace! [Meaning Asexual & Aromanitc!] I do not feel any romantic attraction to others!

✮ I am a minor so please don't say weird stuff, I'm not comfy with it!

✮ I am from Wales and I'm Welsh/British! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

More about me!๋࣭ ⭑⚝

✮ I'm possibly neurodivergent! [Maybe ASD!]

✮ I have Trichotallomania and C-PTSD!

✮ I zone out a lot and am potentially a maladaptive daydreamer!

✮ I have possible selective mutism!

✮ I can have major highs and lows sometimes, and I can be quite short-tempered, so apologies if I am, I don't mean to!

✮ I am quite a soft-hearted and sensitive person! I also have trouble processing things sometimes, so apologies if I'm a little slow!

✮ I've been struggling with mental health for majority of my life, and I may be distant sometimes, as I need a lot of time alone!

✮ I am a fictkin! This means that I kin fictional characters whom I see myself in/relate to in any way! This could be due to similar characteristics, trauma/past experiences, etc! Although, this can also be due to finding comfort in the character or even something very simple that I relate to e.g. if the character has a British accent, as I do too!

✮ I also tend to act as fictional characters in order to regulate or cope!

DNI LIST!๋࣭ ⭑⚝

✮ Do NOT interact if these apply to you!

Racists, homophobes, transphobes, abelists, etc.

Proshippers.

People with offensive humour. This type of humour makes me very uncomfortable.

People with s3xu4l humour. Suggestive jokes are okay but actual full on in depth jokes make me really unsettled. Also jokes that s3xu4l1s3 things that are perfectly normal also make me uncomfortable. Also things like THOSE types of usernames on tiktok and doing/saying really weird stuff is a massive no no for me, as I am a victim of s3xu4l h4rr4sm3nt.

People with rude/cruel humour. In some cases, it's okay, but please do not do it excessively or stop if I ask you to. I am quite a sensitive person, so that can easily upset me if it's not specified to be a joke or is just too far for me.

People who gatekeep characters they kin. I understand that you kin that character for a reason, but I don't like when people insist NO ONE else at all can be character. Other people can kin a character too!

My hobbies!๋࣭ ⭑⚝

✮ I love to draw traditionally and digitally! I especially love drawing on Whiteboard Fox!

✮ I love to write character lore and AUs, own creations and things! I like to RP at times! [Nothing weird though, as that makes me uncomfy!]

✮ I am a VA, scriptwriter & storyboarder!

✮ I VA for:

An Extremely Mid Object Show [Magical Flame]

Shape's Shapety Object Show [Grey]

Didn't Really Enlighten A Mind! [Lamp]

Untitled Presentation [Teapot, Chinese Lantern, Loofah]

Battle For A Million [Bone, Glass Shard, Battery]

TWISTS [Mild Bobby Sauce]

Church Of The Divine Bloom [Eyeliner]

✮ I am a scriptwriter for Church Of The Divine Bloom & Getaway!

✮ I also storyboard for AEMOS!

My interests!๋࣭ ⭑⚝

✮ I AM A HUGE OBJECT SHOW FAN!!

✮ Favourite shows:

BFDI/BFDIA/BFB/TPOT

Inanimate Insanity

HFJONE

BURNER

Object Kerfuffle

Discord Emoji All Stars

Problems and Solutions

Animatic Battle

✮ Shows I want to watch!

It's Time For The

The Nightly Manor

Extraordinary Enitites

Love Of The S*n

The Daily Object Show

The Battle For The Island Made Of Candy

Paper Puppets Take 2

Object Overload

Object Show 87

Mickey Mouse Battlehouse

Object Filler

CFMOT

Showvember

✮ Shows I am in progress of!

TPOT [Ongoing]

BFDIA [Ongoing]

II S1

II S2 [Ongoing]

III

Animatic Battle [Ongoing]

Object Kerfuffle [Ongoing]

BURNER [Ongoing]

DEAS [Ongoing]

PaS [Ongoing]

KFC [Ongoing]

✮ Shows I've finished!

BFDI/BFB

THANOS [Not continuing :(]

HFJONE

Object Fool

✮ I also love lots of other things!

FNAF

Bendy And The Ink Machine

Cuphead

Undertale/Deltarune

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

The Amazing World Of Gumball

Total Drama Island

The Amazing Digital Circus

Poppy Playtime

The Lego Movie

Parappa The Rapper

Dandy's World

✮ My music taste is quite broad and I can't typically tell music genres!

✮ Some of my favourite music artists!

Tally Hall

Miracle Musical

Lemon Demon

Ghost

Gorillaz

YFM

Glass Animals

The Living Tombstone

femtanyl

✮ Some songs I can't stop listening to!

More about me! [OSC]๋࣭ ⭑⚝

✮ My favourite characters!

X, Loser, Woody, Pie, Ruby, Lollipop, Yellow Face, Pillow, Clock, Naily, Gelatin, Teardrop, Remote, Fanny, Two, Winner, Foldy, Tree, Marker, Bubble, Dora, David, Bomby, Golf Ball, Tennis Ball [BFB/TPOT]

MePhone4, MePad, Toilet, Balloon, Silver Spoon, Candle, Taco, Bow, Yin-Yang [II]

Literally all the characters in BURNER [Though I like Limey, Peanut & Tissues a little more than everyone else]

Hour Glass, Hanging Pot Plant, Glass Pane, Box Of Explosives [Object Kerfuffle]

Lipstick, Cactus, Dice [DEAS]

Airy, Liam, Charlie, Stone [HFJONE]

Animatic, Nonagon, Pea, B Block, Weathery, Bouquet, Doorstopper, Iced Coffee, Danger Sign, Tea, Mushroom, Printer, Nebula Void [Animatic Battle]

✮ Characters I HATE /hj

Leafy, Profiley, Liy [BFB]

Clover, Walkie Talkie, Steve Cobs [Love-hate relationship] [II]

✮ My comfort characters!

Two, Ruby, Woody, Loser, Winner, Lollipop, Pie, Pillow, Tree, Dora [BFB/TPOT]

Silver Spoon, Candle, MePad [III]

Airy, Liam [HFJONE]

Peanut, Tissues, Pilly, Rosey, Polaroid, Daddy Long Legs [BURNER]

✮ My fiction kins!

[DISCLAIMER: I do NOT gate keep characters!]

Marker, Bracelety, Ruby, Lightning, Tree, Woody, Pie, Pillow, Ice Cube, Foldy, Golf Ball, Winner, Loser, Clock, Yellow Face, Pin, Naily, Teardrop, Dora [BFB]

Two, X [XFOHV]

Airy, Liam, Charlie [HFJONE]

Record, Tissues, Erasey, Hanger, Rosey, Limey, Pilly, Peanut, Daddy Long Legs [BURNER]

Balloon, Silver Spoon, Yin-Yang, Bow, Goo, Blueberry, Candle, Springy, Taco, Test Tube, Toilet, Microphone, Pickle, MePad, Steve Cobs [Certain AU with a friend!] [II]

Hour Glass [OK]

Animatic, Weathery, Exclamation Mark, jej, TOMATER [AB]

✮ Ships that I like!

Four & X [Classic!]

Silver Spoon & Candle [LOVE IT!]

MePhone4 & Toilet [Platonically!] [AU with a friend]

Pin & Coiny [I like it!]

Tree & Black Hole [YES]

Tennis Ball & Golf Ball [it's alright!]

Winner & Clock [Platonically!]

[DISCLAIMER: If I ever say I simp for a character, IT'S A JOKE!]

My creations!๋࣭ ⭑⚝

✮ AUs I've created!

BFD High [BFDI]

Battle Back To Dream Island [BFDI]

The Wrath Of Two [TPOT]

Battle To Survive Insanity [BFB/TPOT]

Meeple Madness [II]

The Child [HFJONE]

BURNIT [BURNER]

✮ Object Shows I'm working on!

JNIW

D.E.A.T.H

Sensory Serenity

BAISOA

Other things!๋࣭ ⭑⚝

✮ I love to yap, so feel free to ask questions about me or my creations! I don't bite!

✮ Feel free to also ask questions/requests to my OCs, AU characters or sonas!

✮ I also have art requests open, free of charge!

@justanapplenothinghere owns a special place in my heart! He is one of my bestest friends!! Feel free to check out his amazing page!

@yari-saber @biblicallyaccuratefour @beetlebeeez are my best friends!! Feel free to check out their amazing art too!

✮ Have an absolutely splendiferous day! ദ്ദി(ᵔᗜᵔ)

[f8foretold]

TYPES OF MAGIC

difficulty scale 1 to 5 (1) a child could easily do it - (5) needs YEARS worth of training to cast

minor vs major magic minor: requires less energy & less training, its impact on others is notably smaller/lesser than major magic, some spells for this kind of magic are imperfect/contain flaws, often similar to cantrips & lower level dnd spells major: requires more energy & training, its impact on others is notably bigger than minor magic, these spells often identify and fix flaws/errors found in minor magic, similar to high level dnd spells

MENDING & TRANSMUTATION (difficulty 3/5)

minor -- fixing minor damage to clothes or wooden tools

major -- turning one object into another to replace a missing part -- for example using magic to turn dirt into wood to create a missing spoke of a wagon wheel

HEALING (difficulty 4/5)

minor -- repairing non-life threatening injuries & combating non-life threatening diseases

major -- repairing life-threatening injuries & combating life threatening diseases

ELEMENTAL MAGIC (difficulty 2/5)

minor -- redirecting and reshaping already existing elements (earth, water, fire & air)

major -- creating elements/materials needed to use elemental magic (ex: pulling water out of misty air), redirecting & reshaping elements, being able to use 2 element types at once

LIGHT MAGIC (difficulty 2/5)

minor -- brightening or diming already existing light, creating balls of light to warm the hands or to serve as a lamp

major -- the above + using light to temporarily blind enemies and to burn enemies (light so bright it burns), mimicking elemental magic using light

SHADOW MAGIC (difficulty 3/5)

minor -- darkening or lightening already existing shadows, making the light fade/lowering the light of a certain area, creating small tools or weapons out of condensed pieces of shadow

major -- the above + mimicking elemental magic using shadow

WEAPONRY/OFFENSIVE MAGIC (difficulty 4/5)

minor -- enhancing the power & durability of stone & wooden weapons, enchanting weapons with certain magical affects

major -- condensing magic to make arcane weapons/weapons made of pure magic

DEFENSIVE MAGIC (ENCHANTMENT) (difficulty 3/5)

minor -- creating magic shields for one or more people

major -- the above + creating forcefields that can repel weapons & that can be pushed forward to knock enemies off their feet

ILLUSION MAGIC (difficulty 1/5)

minor -- magic puppets, minor changes in appearance/simple disguises

major -- changing the pitch of one's voice, changing one's hair color or height, etc.

CONJURATION (difficulty 5/5)

minor -- summoning / speaking with magical animals to seek their wisdom & to ask for their protection

FORBIDDEN/CONTROVERSIAL major -- summoning ancient magical animals/creatures to fight on your behalf (these are older & more dangerous than magic animals)

CONTROVERSIAL TYPES OF MAGIC

controversial and not yet existent types of magic such as resurrection, strength/speed/endurance boosting magic, and necromancy.

DEATH / BLOOD / REINCARNATION (difficulty 5/5)

Any and all magic that involves altering or speaking with the dead + using blood to harm or control others.

ENHANCEMENT MAGIC (difficulty 5/5)

Magic that enhances a person's speed, strength and durability. Although helpful in the short term has an addictive affect.

[unsoundedcomic]

If General Bell hadn't suffered from an "egde case" the shield designers hadn't envisaged, and had been successful in his coup, do you think he would have managed to establish a new male line? Or even, managed to stay on the throne for more than a few years/months? Appreciate that speculation would kind depend on what else happens at the end of Book 1, and partly as to how much Alderode remains a threat, but generally I feel that Bell may underestimate how hard it would be to stabilise his coup.

Bell's long term plan was a puppet queen and a noble council soundly in his pocket. That's why he killed the Queen's sister and got Karl into the nobility so he could spoil the succession vote. A suddenly dead Queen and no clear heir could get Bell on the throne - technically as only a temporary steward - long enough to arrange whatever queen he wanted.

Of course he'd love a king, but culturally Crescians want the country led by a mother and father. The mother is the queen, the father is the lord general, the high priestess is daughter, and the noble families (as administered by the Chancellor) are the son. It mirrors the four Twins, and that's been the arrangement since the country was founded.

There were a lot of things working against Bell today so he never had a chance in hell. But if his best case scenario had come to pass I think he could have caused a looot of chaos before Cresce itself eventually took him out. He would have used Roger Foi-Hellick offensively in a way Sonorie never did, provoking Alderode into altercations advantageous to Cresce - and Bell would have had Cutter's Silver on his side. Eventually that Silver would have outgrown even Cutter's control and started devouring the world - but hopefully Alderode's part of the world.

Meanwhile, lizard revolts would have been harming Cresce internally along with all the sacrifices and domestic costs of ongoing international warfare. Bell would not have been popular outside the military, and for the sake of stability, the nobles would find a way to get daggers into his back and the back of whatever groomed queen was enabling him. Not being totally stupid, Bell had hoped to kill a lot of those nobles today too, of course, but they do have kids.

[melorambles]

this isn't going to be articulated very well, but bear with me as i get to the point. did anyone else have these assemblies in elementary school where they sat everyone down and tried to break a big, complex, important, or emotional topic into a format kids under 10 could understand? the big one i remember was about autism. there were puppets and a picture book involved.

Someone in my immediate family has what might be described as severe autism so even at 8, i felt the assembly came off as very stereotypical and kind of cringy. But, i grew up with someone who experienced the symptoms they were trying (and they really were doing their best, in an early 2000s sort of way) to portray. For most of the rest of the kids in that assembly, their only contact with someone who might be similar was crossing paths with the special needs class in the hallway.

Yes, it might have been cringy and playing too much into stereotypes and only been sort of accurate in the way something is dumbed-down to make it easier for the uninformed; but it was a starting point for the kids to understand a viewpoint and set of experiences very different from their own.

Anyway, there were definitely Choices* made with how Taash was written and portrayed. Specific to their gender: their journey of self-discovery feels a lot like those assemblies: Maybe accurate in the most textbook sense, if those textbooks are written for people who have never heard of the subject before. Lacking the nuance people familiar with the topic expect. Eager to teach their audience the Correct Terminology and Language, but also doing it in the most simplified way. (Which does feel out of place in a fantasy setting. Given Inquisition gave us a setting appropriate term for trans people, why couldn't they come up with a setting appropriate phrase for non-binary? Actually, Taash's mom is a scholar, she would have been a good person to know a word for it and be able to explain the nuances. She also comes off as neurodivergent enough to get away with info-dumping as exposition.)

In this essay I will...

explain why I feel that way because it bothered me enough I actually went and wrote this.

As someone who considers my own gender to be something between a shrug and staring at the menu when I'm not actually hungry, I was hoping for better. But Taash themself, isn't too terrible in this specific sense. Their conversation with their mother felt like watching an awkward puppet show of the display character coming out. It was painful to sit through, but not the worst way to do Representation for Beginners. The majority of my confusion with that scene was in what the writer was trying to tell us what was going on versus what was actually going on. Taash was reacting very defensively and was perceiving terminology questions as attacks on their identity. The mom came off as confused but not completely unsupportive and had earlier in the conversation admitted she wasn't the best mother to start with. It felt like the writer was trying to tell us the mother had committed some unforgivable offense by not understanding immediately and wanting a clear explanation; but I'm really not following the emotional cue with that one.

Most of the real awkwardness with Veilguard's approach to Taash's gender is in how much focus the other characters put on it. It feels very Performative. Isabella's 'pulling a Barv' scene came off as theatrical self-flagellation to make apologizing for misgendering someone into a show of how sorry the person doing the misgendering is. It's very much like that person who apologizes by saying that they're the worst person ever, forcing the recipient of the apology to comfort them. It makes Isabella's originally innocent misspeak in regards to Taash's gender, all about Isabella, which does nothing good for either of their characters. The fact that Rook (who doesn't functionally know Taash all that well) is there for all the self-discovery stuff doesn't feel genuine, like a friend being supportive. (Rook spends the whole game feeling like the HR manager of a small dysfunctional business, but that's back to the writing problems as a whole.) If they'd written Taash as an old friend or contact Rook has known for years, it'd be much less awkward to be there as emotional support/sounding board for this experience.

Most nonbinary people would like to just exist, as themselves, without people bringing up their gender at every turn (but if anyone disagrees, please explain to me how and why. maybe i'm just shy). Past a certain point, it feels like the writers are parading Taash across a stage proclaiming their Excellent Work in Representation**.

... other notes...

*A good chunk of Taash's behavioral weirdness ties into the writing choices made about qunari in general and Veilguard choosing to play fast and loose with existing lore. Qunari were definitely given more nuance with the Iron Bull, and the Qun was played more straightforwardly and with more seriousness through Sten. Please don't ask me about the Taash romance scenes. The cringe was too painful.

Also, making the Big Strong One kind of slow on the uptake, a bit judge-y on certain topics - see interactions with Emmerich and that first gender conversation kicked off with commentary about Neve's outfit - hotheaded, relatively immature-seeming, and forward about sex to the point of making people uncomfortable; is kind of an old trope that I'm a bit sick of. They subverted that with the Iron Bull so well, that not only does it fall flat with Taash, it comes off as especially cringy because we know they can do better.

"We know they can do better" seems to be the summary of Veilguard in its entirety.

**Speaking of representation, they've got Lucanis basically outright stating he's never done relationships before, only ever had the one crush and taking it very slowly with Rook in the romance option, and no one on the dev team thought to maybe look up demisexuality?

[danganronpa-ship-tourney]

If you want to make propaganda you can view the submissions here but please know the second tab which also contains the reasonings submitted has like every TW so be prepared!

Right now the rules of the next section of the tournament are as followed

You WILL be civil to the shippers of the ship you think is worse, no I do not CARE if it's abuse or incest or the most problematic thing in the world, we will be CIVILIZED. If I catch you spewing toxic shit about how all shippers of a ship are horrible terrible people who need to die you WILL be blocked. We are not here for a guilt trip! We are here to have fun being dramatic! Small PLAYFUL pokes are fine, but everyone should have fun even the shippers of the ship you think is worse.

I shouldn't have to specify but be like, actually decent about what you say, I had a person in the forms wishing rape on a character and like bro take that up with your ao3 search results not me or anyone else here. So like, yeah the characters are just characters, but theres a difference between edge and potentially being intensely triggering and uncomfortable for literally no reason.

If you want to make propaganda I advise either light hearted gags at a ships expense,

Example of a light hearted gag would be like a picture of Junko sitting on Mikan kneeling into a bench and a caption like "would you really not vote for this?" thats hilarious and doesn't target actual people.

Or you draw art for the ship that gives you less despair, branch out a bit. Never drawn I dunno Ryoma x Kirumi before but you think its less toxic then uhh Hajime x Mikan? Well here's your chance to try drawing some Ryoma x Kirumi! Make propaganda for the ship you want people to NOT vote for!

I can't enforce this but the tag you want to use for anything you create for this should be "#Despair Ship" this is so people can filter it out more easily. I'm here to cause fun, not make people frustrated because their tag got overrun.

Again I also can't enforce this but remember the point isn't to find the ship that's the most abusive, or the most toxic, its to find the ship that gets the most despair. For instance there are very few ships on the list I find personally more despairing then kokichi and shuichi, and that's because it's a lot harder to stumble on some of the more kneejerk offensive ships compared to how I cannot escape kokichi and shuichi making out no matter how hard i try. Like I said I can't enforce this but if you're wondering why a ship you think is more inherently toxic is losing, this is probably the reason why.

I am also a single person, while I have a friend who is here on the sidelines cheering me on, I hand made the bracket and everything else about this. If the brackets aren't perfectly balanced or a ship you don't like didn't make the cut, remember that I am just a single person.

Voter fraud is allowed and encouraged I'm not a coward this is the voting fraud website if you're determined to make a thousand sock puppet accounts just to make sure Celeste x Togami is the winner then that's the biggest possible powermove and I respect it. Also I guess I accept bribes now, because I think it's funny.

Thank you for all the support I've gotten! While rather small scale compared to other polls, the fact I've got people sending asks and following means a lot to me. Even if I barely get any interaction from here out, I still had fun and am happy to have done this. Voting will either open Saturday or Sunday but if I forget and it's a day or too late then feel free to shake me in the asks by short term memory is Not Good