aspecsolstice - Tumblr blog

[aspecsolstice]

can you elaborate on what you mean by romance being a social construct? just trying to understand here, because by that logic to be aromantic is to be against the social construct of romance or what most people view as romance

What does "romance" or "romantic" mean? Most people when answering that question will list specific signifiers or feelings that we commonly associate with romance or romantic feelings, but these things don't have to be romantic. They're 'coded' as romantic because we associate them with romance as a byproduct of our culture. Simple example: Kissing on the lips. Pretty safe to say this action is frequently cited as a romantic gesture. But is it objectively a romantic gesture? No. There are plenty of cultures, currently and throughout history, where kissing on the lips is not romantic. Hell, kissing in some cultures isn't a thing at all/considered unsanitary! Therefore, kissing on the lips is not objectively romantic or some universal phenomenon. It's socially constructed.

The same thing can apply to romantic feelings. First: Feelings of sexuality that often (but not always!) go toe to toe with romance are not inherently romantic. You can be attracted to someone, or be intimate with someone, and not feel romantic feelings. So we need to separate sexuality from romance. What does that leave us with? Great care for someone? A feeling of closeness? A desire to never be parted with someone? Are these feelings romantic? Yes, but they aren't always. Stripped of any other pretenses, you could easily apply those feelings to your friends or family members. What makes them romantic is socially contextual, and subjectively determined. Therefore: Romance is a social construct.

People who identify as aromantic will have different reasons for subscribing to the label. Some may be aromantic because the feelings typically associated with romance just don't happen with them, and sometimes (but not always!!!) asexuality plays a part here as well. But for other aro folk, it's not always that consistent. Maybe they do feel those feelings, but only under some circumstances. Or maybe they feel some of those feelings, but not all of them, or inconsistently, or don't really think of those feelings as romantic at all or in the moment. Romance, like sexuality, is more fluid than we tend to realize, but romance as a specific, socially determined construct can be suffocating for those who don't quite fit in the box. Especially once you start throwing in the other social expectations that romance is typically associated with: Living together, marriage, having kids, permanence, etc. In those instances, some folks may gravitate toward the aromantic label simply because they oppose the rigidness of the construct.

Ultimately, our purpose with our arospec characters (Keagan, Robin, and Daonna) is to explore these variations.

[aspecsolstice]

Romance isn’t a social construct lmao it’s human, the same as being aroace is.

Buddy... I got bad news on two fronts.

[aspecsolstice]

Still absolutely in love with these tags. They really packed a punch and struck the most beautiful chord with me as an aspec person back when I first read them, and then they got to me again just now. I can't properly put to words just how much they speak to me, how much it means to get this kind of rep, but suffice to say it never feels quite real to me because it's just that much of a dream come true.

I mean, usually getting even a hint of aspec rep in the media I enjoy is pretty rare, so to get so much of it here? Multiple confirmed aspec people, all with very different perspectives and on different places of the spectrum. Each vital to the story and an extremely compelling character. Each written with so much thought and love and authenticity that no matter how my own experiences might differ, it still resonates on such a deep level and makes me feel both very seen as well as more secure in my identity. Between this and the custom messages, my heart is unbelievably full, and the best part is knowing that somehow there's still so much more to come.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, bless Moirai Myths for not only cooking up this incredible game, but being so intentionally and lovingly inclusive of the aspec community in the process. I know having aspec devs on the team definitely helps (and for sure contributes to the feeling of authenticity!), but it's thanks to the whole team deciding to go for it and putting their all into it that made something as rare as this really happen in such an amazing way. Okay okay I know I've been gushing like crazy so gonna cut myself off here, but I really do mean every word and couldn't be more grateful!!

Hello! I'm new to the game and I'm wondering if you could tell me which characters are aspec? Other than Shae being ace which is already mentioned in the demo page :)

Shae is ace, Daonna is aro/ace, Keagan is demirom, and Robin is greyrom.

[aspecsolstice]

Cal wanted to order

[aspecsolstice]

Updated The Good People (Na Daoine Maithe)'s cover image, with a few more details ✨😉 Thoughts?

[aspecsolstice]

Analysis of Clues to What Likely Caused Flan's Exile

Hi all! This post is in response to a question from the NDM Discord server that I got very carried away with answering. Instead of posting yet another lengthy wall of text on there (which I often can't help from doing, haha), I decided this was worth making into a post and trying out in the tumblr format! Especially since I'd been considering making a casual blog on here anyway. Without further ado:

Just like my dear friend Laura, I've always thought that Keagan was the reason for Flan's exile, and there are definitely strong clues in certain asks that I'd like to point to in support of that idea, even if they don't directly confirm anything.

Before I really dive into those specific clues, let me first provide my understanding of the timeline, since I might be off on a thing or two but this is how I've interpreted it:

1). For what seems to be most of the 200-year-long war, Flan acted very differently

(confirmed change by Maeve and Robin, the latter giving a timeline to it by saying he was “apparently kind of a jackass during the war”, and this is something I'll get to later, but it's worth noting this was specifically a response to a question about how he used to flirt)

2). Flan and Keagan get involved and subsequently get each other hurt in different ways sometime prior to the end of the War

(not confirmed events of course, but if true, I think the implications are that they were nearing the end and had a lot to do with it, but still prior, due to the state Flan was in:

First, Keagan was said to have “distinguished himself during the War of the Courts as someone with a knack for intrigue and espionage” with whispers of him having been involved with “the end of the War,” which can reasonably be interpreted as him having deceived and betrayed Flan to get the info he needed to help him turn the tides

And second, it was specifically said that “before the conclusion of the War,” Flan technically did cross the border into Finias, but only when “time was of the essence, and he… Well. Let’s just say he wasn’t quite in the right state of mind to take in the surroundings,” which to me speaks not only of his understandable PTSD from the horrors of such a long war but a specific state that resulted from a recent event, such as a fresh betrayal, as well as whatever wolf-form-related damage was implied to be done to Keagan in return potentially also weighing on him)

3). Then after the conclusion of the War, Flan is either formally exiled or otherwise forced by circumstance to spend time away from the new Unseelie capital

I tried to keep the above to just establishing the timeline of the events I'd like to discuss, but with that done, I'm ready to get more into the meat of the evidence heavily implying that not only did Flan change as a result of betrayal by a lover during the War, but that he was publicly shamed in some way over the relationship, supporting the idea that it had far more impactful repercussions than a broken heart alone and led to his exile.

The strongest implications are found in three responses to asks about how Flan used to flirt, starting with the one where Maeve acknowledges his change and says, “I’m not happy about how he ended up learning some of the lessons he did, but it’s best to leave the past in the past, in some cases.” I touched on Robin's response earlier, but I'd like to pull a later quote from that same ask where they caution, “This is going to sound a little strange coming from me, but I’d avoid giving the guy a hard time over it, if I were you.” The echo and weight of these two responses, especially considering the latter to be such an uncharacteristically serious one from Robin, imply that these “lessons” Flan learned in regards to his flirting involved pretty severe consequences.

Then there's the glaring fact that Robin isn't even speaking from firsthand experience here (given how she wasn't around during the War), and Flan is not really the kind of person to confide in him about such personal matters willingly (nor would Maeve be the one to spill Flan's secrets if he confided them in her), raising the important question of how Robin came to be so knowledgeable about it in the first place. However, I believe this is answered in a third such ask about Flan's past flirting, where the dev statement to me suggests that not just Robin, but the public as a whole is at least partially aware of the situation.

They might not know the details, but something appears to be known based on the statement that, “Most folks are too intimidated to flirt with the Unseelie King, especially given… Well, never mind. Let’s just say Flannán was not always so austere nor hesitant to trust affection. For better or worse, he’s changed quite a bit since the War.” In addition to further supporting the idea of Flan having been betrayed by a lover during that time (specifically being left unable to “trust” the way he could before), this quote speaks volumes about what's being left unsaid when it intentionally trails off, especially when paired with tags on a different post that again emphasize how Flan is “#man's not as willing to display vulnerability these days #particularly so to the public.”

When you combine all the clues, these are clear indications to me that whatever changed Flan was not only traumatic and romance-related but somehow a relatively well-known affair (i.e. to the point that Robin finds out post-war and treats it seriously, that it apparently makes “most folks” even more hesitant to flirt with him, and that Flan is now painfully mindful of the public's perception of him as a result), implying that at least some degree of public shame over the relationship was involved.

Under the KeaFlan interpretation, there are many different possibilities for how this could have played out (no way to know whether it took place when Keagan's betrayal was first discovered or later near the time of Flan's exile, what person or situation actually outed Flan in the public eye, how much was revealed, how many were actually there to witness it vs how much was spread by word of mouth, etc.). Regardless, the bottom line is that it would make perfect sense as the kind of affair he might be publicly shamed over and face consequences for, due to the betrayal impacting far more than just Flan on a personal level by granting the Seelie a turning point in the War.

This situation thus lines up with the timing and all of the beats of what's been established or implied, as well as naturally providing a case for why Lugaid would go to such an extreme as exile to punish his chosen successor:

From his perspective, not only did Flan's “weakness” give the Seelie the edge in the first place, but he then failed to redeem himself by turning things back in the Unseelie's favor before the War ended. On top of that, Lugaid might see fit to distance himself from Flan due to the latter bringing public disgrace depending on how that played out (though I'm not discounting the possibility of Lugaid himself being the one to shame him in the interest of “teaching him a lesson,” it just seems likely he'd want to handle it privately if possible, to keep from publicly undermining his legacy).

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Also, for fun as a quick added bonus, I did find what I believe to be another clue relating to Flan's exile, but this one relates to his life post-exile. I don't have any particularly strong leanings on exact location (though I loved reading the ideas people had on Discord!), but after this find, I'm definitely of the belief that Maeve was with him, if not for the entire exile then at least for some amount of time right before his return. As we know, Robin was not around for the war, and it's said that they “'joined' the Unseelie Court prior to Maeve and Flannán returning to the capital.”

“Returning to the capital” is vague enough that it wouldn't have to mean returning together from Flan's exile, such as if the two had been on a short trip away. Even so, I think it's likely, given how this particular return to the capital is being framed as something significant to the timeline.