ellianerst - Tumblr blog

[ellianerst]

Not to mention the resultant millennia of discrimination outcasting the Sarkaz from the two reasons mentioned here: the danger of Oripathy as an entire race susceptible to the disease plus the racism against them entirely. The lingering effects of Sarkaz outlawed and outcasted from all the other countries as well as the resultant sentiments and atrocious revenges from them, are distant yet relatable discourse in this fiction with magic stone cancer.

I see conversations about people being tired of fantasy works having fantasy racism bc other than often not being handled well, the presence of it implies there is a valid reason for it kinda like how ogres are often treated as pure evil. Thinking about Arknights, I think Oripathy manages to avoid the issues? Systemic prejudices against the infected like classism, ableism, & they make statements with it all & have nuance, it's not just racism for the sake of it but real + complex issues in Terra

I understand your point but Arknights very much does have fantasy racism with the Sarkaz. It takes a backseat to general oripathy discrimination and hidden by the fact that plenty of the main cast is Sarkaz, but you have lines from Meteorite for example stating her surprise that Rhodes Island hired Sarkaz like her in public-facing jobs.

I do like though how Arknights handles the topic of racism towards the Sarkaz. They’re shown to actually be a hugely diverse group of people, they’re the minds behind the whole Rhodes Island project (Theresa, Closure, and Warfarin are all Sarkaz), and the “reason” for their discrimination isn’t because they have superpowers (fucking everyone does) or otherwise are naturally dangerous, it’s because they are simply different (everyone else represents an animal, while a Sarkaz is a mythological monster).

Fantasy racism is often eyerolling because it’s usually like “In this world the race called Normies are discriminatory towards The Exploders, a race that eats the brains of passerby and then explode. However, when this Normie cop finds a ten year old Exploder lost in his backyard, they will go on an adventure to break down the walls of society, and hopefully not explode.”

Arknights explores the topic of the Sarkaz with some nuance, and the careful explanation that the reasons they continue to be discriminated against today came about BECAUSE of their oppression. They are often mercenaries and hired muscle, because there are no other jobs for them. Many are depressed, cynical, and violent from living such a hard life where their lives are seen as expendable, further enforcing the stereotype of Sarkaz as a race of warmongers. Their only land to call their own was ravaged by foreign invasions and then by a civil war.

Even Buldrokkas'tee’s entire backstory was about Sarkaz oppression. During Theresa’s reign over Kazdel he brought his clan with him to Ursus seeking a better life for them (keep in mind Vigilo called Theresa a great war hero, implying her reign or the leadup to it was marked by war with other nations), and when they arrived in Ursus they were thrown to the frontline of a demonic invasion, made to fight horrifying and inhuman monsters to prove they were worthy of Ursus. It’s almost understandable why Buldrokkas'tee sternly told his son not to rock the boat, not to protest the Ursus government’s treatment of the infected: they had already fought so hard and sacrificed so much just to get here, just to be citizens.

It’s also why Rhodes Island as a creation of a Sarkaz venture is important to the games’ themes. Almost every single nation in Terra is a complete dystopian nightmare and yet from the most beaten, oppressed, and discriminated people comes a genuine effort to Make Things Better. Not only does RI reject the status quo of status and power by being a community effort where everyone works according to what they can do and is given according to what they need, they’re also the most advanced Oripathy research institute on the planet because of the Sarkaz’s own long intertwined history with the disease.

It’s a fantasy, in a way. “Yeah you all treated us like garbage but we’ll save you anyway while saving ourselves, fuck it. This pandemic will kill us all if we don’t.”

[ellianerst]

Going through RI after LOTM is an interesting experience. It’s like following a transmigrator who has very high moral standard, is a gentleman who never harms an innocent flies, to an absolute immoral villain protagonist who will make Griffith blush. Both are good tbh. I don’t get the beefs in the fandom.

[ellianerst]

black, black sorrow

[ellianerst]

Fyodor wanderer is my new religion.

[ellianerst]

My thoughts sank for the grand reveal that Fyodor could be immortal. This encounter could actually happen. Who could have guessed that!

A crossover that I want to draw for longggg time 

[ellianerst]

The Catcher In The Rye

“Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around—nobody big, I mean—except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be.”

This is the famous passage from The Catcher In The Rye that gives the book its title. Here, the rye field is most commonly interpreted as the innocence of childhood, with the catcher in the rye being responsible for preventing the children from being tainted by the corrupt and superficial world of adults and losing their innocence.

When I read The Catcher In The Rye for the first time back in September, my first thought was “Oh my god… The catcher in the rye in Banana Fish is Eiji!” As the fandom often discussed at length, Eiji’s quiet presence helped Ash get in touch with his humanity after all that he’s been through. His unshakable faith in Ash and his heartfelt tenderness (as emphasized in the preface of New York Sense) helped preserve Ash’s innocence and prevented him from becoming the monster he thought he had become.

繼續閱讀

[ellianerst]

(BSD 113 SPOILERS) the fyodor jesus imagery is driving me insane, so here are a couple of things i noticed from this chapter (all translations from @/nineofscans).

1. fyodor’s position

so the first thing that was most obvious was fyodor’s positioning here. he may not be on a cross, but this is very intentional i would say! he is still in the position of christ on the cross.

2. fyodor’s outfit

i could be reaching, and this is less to do with jesus, but his outfit to me resembles a monk’s habit somewhat—perhaps signifying his position as a man of god.

3. stabbing with spears as the rooster crows

two things are standing out to me here:

first of all, stabbing fyodor with spears as a means of execution is interesting to me considering how jesus also was stabbed by a spears before being taken down from the cross after he gives up his life (following the “my god, my god, why have you forsaken me?” line—which was quoted in the last chapter!)

i cannot remember if jesus is also stabbed before then, but that is the one i remember the most.

the second thing that jumped out to me about this line was the part about the rooster crowing.

in the new testament, when jesus is betrayed by judas, he warns peter that before the cock crows, he (peter) will have betrayed him (jesus) three times.

what are the implications of that? i can’t really say, maybe it has something to do with why bram later gets stabbed with the holy cross sword and why he later works under fukuchi/fyodor. but it felt like an intentional nod to this part of the passion of christ.

4. bram as the devil

this is perhaps another reach, but i’m including it anyways.

before jesus re-enters jerusalem and the events of the passion of christ, he fasts for 40 days in the desert, where he is tempted from the devil (each of the gospels talks about this differently).

but anyway, this does say something. if bram is the devil, and considering all of fyodor’s positioning and religious imagery surrounding him—i feel the jesus references are very intentional. fyodor is deliberately positioned as— if not jesus, then definitely at least a disciple, or a messenger of god, almost supernatural in energy and appearance.

and with all the buddhist references to angels scattered throughout this arc—i think there’s a lot to be unveiled about fyodor yet. we definitely haven’t seen the last of him. but i’m excited to find this all out later!

[ellianerst]

My bbg who has been scheming since the middle fucking ages getting bested by some plastic vampire teeth.

[ellianerst]

I love bsd fandom man

What if Jesus and Dostoevsky were something more than oomfs…

[ellianerst]

Hungarian Euroceptism shouts "We're no Western nation" and imposes strong illiberal rhetoric while the Polish counterpart has a much stronger religious flavour.

[ellianerst]

Art style trend.

Last time I checked, and smh, ALL male public figures in China 🇨🇳 are obliged by regulations to cut their hair short or else they will be considered too feminine and banned on stage. As a very much representation of ‘collective subconscious of the nations’ 国家意识体，China, you got to have a hair cut :0

[ellianerst]

Freedom!

[ellianerst]

COME ON ENGLAAAAANDDDDD

[ellianerst]

Suggested Alternatives to the One China Policy

Currently, the policy of the United States on the Taiwan question is that the US recognizes that polities on both sides of the Taiwan Strait hold that there is only one China and that Taiwan is part of China. In the current tense international climate, it may be useful to considers alternatives to that policy.

Two Chinas Policy: The United States recognizes the independence of Taiwan as a sovereign state, separate from the People's Republic of China.

Three Chinas Policy: The US recognizes Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the mainland as independent states.

Four Chinas Policy: The US recognizes Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and the mainland as independent states.

One China Policy (Retro 1978): The US switches its diplomatic recognition back from the PRC to the ROC.

One China Policy (Retro 1911): The US recognizes the Qing Dynasty as the legitimate government of China and finds some schmuck to play Emperor-in-Exile.

Many Chinas Policy: The US recognizes the sovereign independence of every Chinese province.

Too Many Chinas Policy: Hong Kong makes a perfectly fine city-state, so why not let everyone do that? The US recognizes every Chinese municipality as its own independent state.

1436506450 Chinas Policy: The US recognizes the sovereign independence of every Chinese person.

2^1436506450 Chinas Policy: The US recognizes the sovereign independence of every subset of of the set of all Chinese persons.

2^1436506450-1 Chinas Policy: Same as above, but not including the empty set, because that doesn't even make sense because it's already claimed by Germany.

Infinite Chinas Policy (Countable): The US recognizes that (1) The PRC is a China and (2) for every China c, the successor S(c) is also a China, and (3) for every China c, c != S(c).

Infinite Chinas Policy (Uncountable): The US recognizes that the set C of all Chinas is an ordered field, and that every non-empty subset of C with an upper bound in C has a least upper bound in C.

No Chinas Policy: The United States embraces mereological nihilism and recognizes only atoms and the void.

[ellianerst]

Can I wish for something a lil steamy between FrUK in the aftermath of a battle please?

Your wish is my command, Anon

Word Count: 1500

Characters: England, France

----

England woke to a sharp kick to the back of his skull.

He yelped, instinctually curling away from the blow, and wrapped his arms around his head in a pathetic attempt to shield himself. His entire body hurt, a dull, heavy ache that washed into awareness like a flood.

‘Ah, you are alive. How unfortunate.’

A familiar voice that he would recognise anywhere, a bitter fury and relief flooding him instantly.

‘Piss off.’ England opened his eyes, hearing the shift of boot against dirt and squinted against the late afternoon sun. France loomed over him, his armour catching the light. It was stained, as his own likely was, scuffed and bloodied. He had removed his helmet, at least. Perhaps it was lost like England’s own, knocked off at some point in the fray.

Smoke caught like acid in the air, a thick and fleshy burning smell that turned his stomach and filled him with dread as flashes of the day came back. Screams and cries above a pounding of noise. Horses kicking and bucking amongst the tangle of metal bodies with white, panicked eyes, like a beacon in a sea of drowning men.

A drummer, sounding their final steps, a trumpet of charge before the crash. A monstrous lullaby for the final rest that England had slept to far too many times.

It was silent now, nothing but birdsong. Birds and France, the tight clicks of his armour as he moved.

Read more

[ellianerst]

Notes de lecture

These people, these philosophers, they were hated, despised, but their legacy of words would be loved, immortalized and would lasted centuries after their wounded souls. Francis Bonneyfoy, nation of France, 1881

A.K.A. Frances’ philosophical rant. An annotation written by him, of sorts… And Some England dunking, because he’s France.

[Found in a strapped hard cover notebook. Handwritten.]

I despised Jean-Jacques Rousseau for disrespecting me, whom existence has been created and prolonged by the society he very much loathed on. How pathetic of him in regarding pleasures as degenerated necessities, passions as source of bloody sacrifices. I could also call him a hypocrite, since he himself fell into said degeneracy a lot as he pridefully admitted in his other works. When I met him, however, I understood his feelings. A century ago, I had been regarded as a part of the Second Estate. I lived in luxury, secluded from those supporting my existence in afar in Versailles, quite a stark different from this watchman’s’ son living amongst militias. This man might as well romanticize his vision in a pre-societal era when he was placed in such a miserable situation.

Nonetheless, I still found it hard condoning his thesis- Human natures might be innocence before shaped by societies- I can’t speak for something I don’t know. When I was born, as blurry as my memory for my childhood was, a society already exist. Interestingly, his depiction of natural men, the ‘species of anthropomorphic animals’, who are tougher and stronger, who fulfil desires by forces, are the case of us nations, not them humans. Humans are fragile when they first born, but at least in my case, I naturally learnt how to survive in the wild without any guidance. Maybe the wild hounds just simply have more respects on me. Maybe I had ‘died’ for several times before learning couple of skills on my sleeves. I just have more chances for trials and errors.

Interesting, since species and races are two completely different scientific facts for us. The term describing our kind, nations, were not a thing until recent years. It used to be natio, a term describing university participants from the same origin. Our species, the nations, once referred as ‘gesandter’ in the long dead HRE, now start keenly separate each other by nation-states, despite being the same species. We are the same species and kind, exhibiting similar faction of biology while being grouped into distinctively different races. Such situation is not grouped into his formula, since we are such a rarity in his pool of sample. I discussed these with the Genevan after he gained his fame, but the result would probably never get publicized, sadly. Ever since churches took over, the status of Gaians to us Europeans were regarded as forbidden paganism. We as the successors are never publicly worshiped as one of the deities as Rome.

Rousseau had eagerly criticized Thomas Hobbes’ theory of state of nature both in his published words and in person. The nuance of articulating scarcity, vainglory, and fear are indeed to complex for men of nature- men without educated and influenced by society. Funny that the rosbif likes him so much, probably because the English tutor worshipped him so much, though the worship was not diverted to the brat personally. What a fool! Hobbes’ state of nature is more suitable to depict the relationship between the brat and I, or the centuries of bad blood with Fernandez, with Edelstein, with Maes, with the Beilschmidts- the notion of enacting sophisticated offense and defence, plotting gain for ourselves- the nation-states, have not been alleviated by absolute sovereigns if our wars have anything to prove. ‘Perish if you will, but I am safe’ has been our mentality for eons and I will seek revenge from them eventually, for the lost and humiliation they inflicted on me. And if the civil religion and patriotic education system he proposed might help my course, I am more than eager to further it.

‘Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains,’ he wrote in Book I has never been the case of me. Ever since I am born, I am chained with the Gaul, then Normans, then Frank and French. Even if I run off to some random sanctuary in the middle of nowhere like that Hottentot person, I starve if France starves, I suffer in agony if French are slaughtered, I feel disparity directly if French are demoralized, even though I party in the happiest banquet. I did not consider myself prisoner of Geography when territorial claims were so malleable, changed so quickly and arbitrarily by dynastical families- before they eventually perceived to be undesirable to be got rid of. My territory expands beyond this continent, beyond the horizon where the sun sets, yet there is no where in the world where I can go and get rid of such tie. Men in nature might only need sex, food, and water, but I need more than that. I am no man, but again, another ‘species of anthropomorphic animals.

These writings would be regarded as too metaphysical, meaningless, as waste of valuable time for many, that rosbif included, a brat disregarding anything, any activity he so deems unhelpful and unpractical to his cause of pursuing national interests. When natural science of human biology discovery has progressed so much and celebrated from more and more renewed knowledge, us, whom whole existence is considered as myth, secured by piles of non-disclosure agreements, these people and their theories are seemingly closest we can get with our questions, about who constitute us, about how we work. I could also argue that their thoughts in fact root their foundation of practical political and social reforms, when their literature influence minds of people, and when said influence translates into actual political reforms.

Despite his apparent dismays, he has no higher ground for granting apparent favour to certain Edmund Burke. His rebuttal of the Irishman being stateman but not philosopher shall be futile, since the man explicitly, pridefully claimed himself to be ‘philosopher in action’. Very amusing, since he was once blinded by the wage of disobedience and disloyalty, absorbed in defying his failure in nurturing a colony bending to his disposal by placing him under shelter and caring, in stark contrast of the treatment of other colonists, as he pridefully admitted. He sided with the war mongering George III and dismissed Burke’s cautious yet reasonable warning against starting a scorched earth war to ‘teach the brat some lessons’[1].

The lesson was of course taught very poorly. I myself would not let his scheme succeed either. If there is one thing, I concur with the long gone Irish stateman, it would be the criticism on the lack of regard on American sentiments a century ago. He couldn’t dismiss the feelings of his son, and then whined about the consequences when we found a chance to spite him off. I kept in constant contact with Alistair even after their unification, much to Arthur’s dismay. What can I say- that’s the point!

Unsurprisingly, the rosbif also followed Edmund’s notion of idealizing aristocracy for maintaining stable political order, despite the inequality they created. I have long got rid of such baggage, but this guy, still a Duke for centuries, refused so. He might have gained the title through centuries of achievements and wars (mostly against me), but how about the other mortals? Edmunds’ internalized inferiority complex and stubborn romanization from those people with big family and hierarchies, despite how incompetent and corrupt they are, is pretty unbearable. I could easily quote examples from these aristocrats failing to develop superior sensibility or bind to their arranged, not competed, great responsibilities. They are certainly far from ‘the wise’ and ‘the expert’. Even in principle, how could you guarantee they will look into public opinion when said opinion has no place affecting their power and influence? How can you guarantee they will not commit any fault when their misconducts are easily dismissed with impunity?  His thoughts did not produce a government of reason, regardless how much he wished so.

There was no aristocrat anymore in this beautiful country and I am pleased with such progress, even with the cost of me no longer being one anymore, again. The rosbif would eventually acknowledge the backward nature of such inherent institution producing inequality, but if he insists to cling on such mechanism and spiralling down the destruction route of his empire, it would definitely be the finest sight in this century.

Aristocracy isn’t the only thing Burke idolized. He also unrealistically thought that representatives shouldn’t be instructed by populace since they know better, and they would automatically sacrifice their repose, their pleasure, their satisfaction to the job, and they would seek national intrusts unanimously rather than narrow sectional interests. If anything, such descriptions are more suitable for us nations, who are indeed more experienced and knowledgeable, and whom interests are literally national interests. Not for those mortals, not inherently, though there are indeed some good willed statemen. But there are numerous examples of selfish politicians valuing their personal interests over national counterparts, naturally, since unlike us, national interests might as well be distinct concept, impersonal to their career. Unlike what we all gained from colonialism, domestic affairs are consist of matters with countless conflicts of interests. In British case, aristocracy further establishing political monopoly crashes with interests of the other less fortunate. I rarely paid attention to this man before he made his outrageous claim defaming my revolution, as I was too busy in securing my wellbeing when I made my name. Still, learning that him neglecting constituency interests making him lose his first job still planted a smile on my face.

Sometimes I wonder if presence of nations consolidated Burke’s insistence provisional force (‘historical force’) at the work on human affairs, even though that rosbif is nothing near divine intention. I have long given up blindly relying on god’s work, and by his name the overturn of corrupt roots shall never be smoothly accomplished.

This man was pretty rational and consistent, and his thoughts on the irrational sides of humans. His views of humans inherently as parts of society, an organic like structure built on ancient orders, if followed, encouraged the continued existence of our kind. However, his flaws linger in my mind, long after his death and transcending his mortality. I shall jot this down to remind myself not to replicate his faults. I am also further convinced that my discontent of him was not merely because he was British, but due to his consistent, yet unrealistic approach. I would not be surprised, however, if there are some causation effects between these two…

[ellianerst]