#‘The Council was so evil and nasty to him’

[inquisitor-apologist]

Kinda funny that the Jedi are baselessly accused of everything the Inquisitorius actually does. Like, they’re right there. They even steal babies!

[quetzalpapalotl]

Darlings, let's do this again, properly this time. Less you forget what I'm about

Do you vote for the one you like best or the one you hate most? Yes

Propaganda under the cut, provided by your local bastard politician fanatic

Nova Prime: Served under Prima as Nova Major. The only one in this list that held the real Matrix, but he didn't become Prime because of it, he became the leader of Cybertron when he united it after the 13 Primes break up during the First Civil War (not to be confused with the Autobot-Decepticon Civil War). His reign was supposedly the most prosperous but it had all the seeds that would later make Cybertron get worse. He actually had a hand in ruling and did things like gettting the Cold Contruction program going. He fucked off to do expansionism and went MIA, returned 6.2 million years later to try to merge this universe and the evil universe he got sucked in. Is defeated but comes back again some years later and is stopped again.

Nominus Prime: He somehow became Prime after Nova dissapeared around the same time the Functionist Council was established. Notorious bigot whose reign was characterized by social disparity. However by the time of Chaos Theory he's more of a figurehead with the Senate being the ones that really do the ruling, but before that, it's said that it was the Coucil who called the shots, so for good or bad, I don't know what this dude ever actually did besides looking pretty. His contribution to the narrative is to be put in a coma and then dying, he has no spoken lines. His own Senators sent an attack on him to try to get to his matrix and dispose of him to put their own puppet Prime when they figured the thing was fake. In the alt timeline, the is the Council that kills him alonside the rest of the Senate. This guy just doesn't seem to have anyone on his team. But hey, he actually stays dead. Doesn't have any good shots in the comic so I had to use his reference sheet for this poll.

Sentinel Prime: The aforementioned puppet Prime that Proteus put on the job after killing Nominus. Also doesn't seem to do any legislation, but he does lead the Cybertronian Security forces, so that's something. Got Orion's boyfriend empurated and shadowplayed. The Council lost even more influence during his time. Megatron kills his whole senate and then him. He didn't really die and was wearing a suit the whole time, because he's really a servant of Onyx Prime that was waiting for his return. So it's revealed in an executived mandated-event in a plotline that you could erase and wouldn't really change the overall plot, but it allowed us to learn that he things romance is for people who are deranged.

Zeta Prime: Was friends with Shockwave who tought him such a trustworthy guy he left his boyfriend in Zeta's care. When Orion was this close to turning against the establisment, Zeta somehow becomes Prime after Megatron "kills" Sentinel and gets Orion to stay on his side only to constantly manipulate him and use him for propaganda. Pretends to be all cool and progressive and did technically do away with official functionism, but didn't fix Cybertron's inequality and secretly brainwashes people and other nasty stuff, but he is rulling. When he couldn't deal with the Decepticons he lost it and became worse until Orion got fed up and joined Megatron in killing him. Also actually stays dead. Pretty sure he only exists bc they killed Sentinel too early in the timeline. I have to constantly remind people who he is because they forget about him or get him confused with Sentinel.

[romansdoll]

.₊̣̇.ෆ˟̑*̑˚̑*̑˟̑ෆ.₊̣̇.

Delusional 1

⟡ 1.3k / 18+ some smut

⟡ charlie walker x reader

⟡ crashing over your interaction with kirby about charlie, someone is there to remind you they are always watching.

You hated Kirby. You weren't entirely sure why though. She wasn't an evil person nor did she make you as mad as lets say, Trevor did or the girls in pre calc did. No. She made you upset for a whole other reason. Charlie, your Charlie, was enthralled with her. By her. She was probably some kind of witch that casted a spell on him, because the way he stares at her during the Woodsboro Cinema Club meetings, it has your blood boiling.

To be fair, you didn't know Jill all that well. Your mothers only growing up together. Yours cutting the Roberts off as a whole after Sidney’s mother died. It was too much of a mess for your family to be connected to. But when Sidney moved back to Woodsboro, and bodies started dropping like flies, Kirby had latched herself onto Charlie. Interested in who could be ghostface this time, they basically flirted in front of you. Something that made you absolutely sick to your stomach to watch.

You were so lost in your thoughts that you barely notice Robbie slid down in the seat next to you, rows back from where Charlie and Kirby were entertaining the club members with their banter.

“If it makes you feel better sweet girl, I don't think Kirby likes him… um like that.” he says gently. Sweet girl being a nickname Charlie coined after you cleaned alcohol off Robbie last year at Trevor’s party.

“Yeah but he likes her that way.” you pout.

Robbie scoots closer to you, “Then he’s missing out.”

Kirby smirks at Charlie, and you all about lose your shit.

“I think the killer is someone close to us.” you blurt out before you can stop yourself.

Charlie and Kirby look at you in sync. Your cheeks flush and you can't find the words anymore.

“I think it’s uh, probable.” Robbie rushes to defend you, “The attacks are personal, and we all know they fall in line with Sidney’s return.”

“I don't think it's someone who knows us.” Kirby basically challenges.

“Why not?” you frown.

“Because it wouldn't make sense. It has to be someone-”

“Wasn't your friend Olivia gutted?”

The room falls silent.

“Okay well I think that wraps up today's meeting. Remember guys the stabathon is currently in the works and emails will get sent out.” Charlie cuts in, cutting the awkward silence. “If anyone has questions you know where to find Robbie or me.”

“You didn't have to go so far.” Robbie whispers.

You know that. That sucked. Badly.

Kirby’s nasty stare blurs everything for you, and you try to decide your next move as everyone shuffled to leave around you. Charlie nods at you as he passes and you watch, fully turning your head to do so, as he leaves out the door with Robbie in tow.

“Is that what this is about?” Kirby’s voice startles you, reminding you someone is there with you.

Fuck.

“What?” you say.

“You want to what? Fuck Charlie? That’s why you're such a bitch to me?” she crosses her arms.

“I don't care about you.”

“No shit dumbfuck.”

“It’s nothing personal.” you lie. Obviously.

“Please don’t lie to me. I see the way you look at him. How you watch him. Then how you look at me. You hate me. Because of him.” Kirby isn’t wrong. You do hate her. You're sure you love him.

“You don't even like him!” you rise out of your seat, raising your voice so slightly. “You play games with him, I watch you do it!”

“He’s my friend you delusional Idiot!” she shouts back.

“I hope you die next.” and with that you gather your bag and rush out before she cant react to your words.

.𖥔 ݁ ˖

Your parents are usually never home. One is a lawyer and the other is some city council person. You actually don’t know. You don't pay attention, just take the allowance and live in your own world. Which brings you to your current situation; lying on your bed with music blasting while attempting to do your homework.

You don't usually answer unmarked calls. It’s not quite like you. But when the no caller ID phone pops up, you feel inclined to answer, and so you do.

“Helllooooo.” you draw out. It’s either this or hard calculus you really don’t understand and Robbie isn’t answering your texts.

“Hello? Who is this?”

“____. Who’s this? You called me.”

“I’m surprised you picked up.” the voice, deep and a little alluring if you were being honest, spoke.

“Why? It's not like homework is any more fun than taking a stranger's call.”

“Well,” the voice says, “there's a serial killer going around town murdering people rather, viciously.”

“I know. It’s pretty awful. Everyone is so scared and on edge. I hate it.” you admit. You roll over onto your back, and begin twirling your hair.

“Are you on edge?” the voice asks, feigning concern.

“I don't know. Part of me is scared but, part of me isn't involved in so it isn't my business.”

“You aren't involved?”

“No.” you giggle and sit up. “My family cut that family off years ago. I barely know Jill and her friends.”

“Just that one girl that got...” the voice says, “What was the word you used? Gutted?”

Your stomach dropped.

“What did you say?” you ask.

“I said, gutted. Isn't that the word you used?”

“Who is this? This isn't funny Kirby.”

“Who's Kirby?” the voice genuinely sounds confused at the name.

“I’m not an idiot you know. Sorry I told you to basically drop dead, but this isn't funny. You're crossing a line.” you stand up, pacing back and forth now.

“You seem anxious.” the voice says. “Why else are you pacing so hard.”

You stop.

“Are you… watching me?” you glance around, one window open.

“I might be. You're a very pretty girl to watch. Especially with a hand down your pants moaning… what's his name again? Charlie’s?”

“Shut up.” you demand. You grip your phone and go to close the window.

“Oh. Have I struck a nerve? Are you no longer in love with him? Moved on so quickly have we?” the voice lets out a laugh and you want to vomit.

“Do you…” you start to shake. “See everything?”

“Yes. When your back arches because your fingers hit that sweet spot, or when you pant so hard I can only imagine how you’d sound being played with by someone.” the voice sounds almost seductive now.

“I’m hanging up now!-”

“You fucking hang up and I’ll gut Charlie like a fucking pig!” he shouts and you yelp.

“No please! No don’t do that!”

“Hard to masterbate to a corpse.” it threatens.

You're in tears now. Full blown tears, and you’re shaking so badly you allow yourself to collapse into a sitting position on the floor.

There's some silence for a little while.

“What do you want?” you ask in a small voice.

“To hear those moans again. I’ve been missing out. Give me a taste.” it replies.

“And you won't hurt Charlie? Right? Promise?” you’re willing to do anything if it means Charlie still breathes. You love him.

“Touch yourself. Over your panties. Now. I’ll think it over.” he demands.

You nod, not that you think they can see, and push your skirt down to your knees and begin rubbing through the cloth.

“Tell me how it feels.” the voice says, breathy.

“Good… feels good. It feels so good.” you mean it. You’re pretty sensitive down there.

“I bet. Slip a finger in.”

And you do that. And it feels good. You’re wet, wet enough that drops are running down your hand. You're a whimpering mess, bucking your hips and essentially riding your fingers.

The voice isn't saying anything, but you don't care. It feels so good. You keep moaning and at this point, drooling on your shirt practically and soaking the rug below you with your wetness.

“Charlie oh please Charlie faster!” you beg no one, you’re orgasm so so close. “Charlie, I need you, please!”

Your orgasm hits you pretty hard, and you finger faster until you’re left a breathing mess. You collapse against your bed and notice that your phone is no longer on call, not realizing that the voice had hung up.

[thesunfyre4446]

Rhaenyra even enjoys antagonizing Alicent (episode 6, council chamber scene, smirking and caressing that damn rock at Alicent’s visible annoyance)

In their lives they are each other’s antagonist. This is how rivalries work. They mutually throw shots and sling mud but only one of them had the protection and validation of the King. Had a Dragon. Had adult aged Dragon riders at their disposal. It’s not Alicent.

In Driftmark, Rhaenyra sees a child’s face slashed open and his eyeball in a dish and chooses violence FIRST (just like her son). She asked to have Aemond tortured in hopes that he names Alicent. She wants something to happen to Alicent. She also takes pride in the fact that her father doesn’t care about his wife and his other children who are actually underage at the time (“Thank you, Father!”)

It comes back to the empathy thing, Rhaenyra lacks it and Alicent has too much of it.

Alicent is going home with a son who has a missing eye, who will feel pain for the rest of his life, who has to relearn how to do so many things. She doesn’t get justice for this or even sympathy from her “family”. Yet we see that Alicent regrets her actions that night immediately, before she even gets on the boat it’s eating her up. While we see Rhaenyra never ever show an ounce of regret or remorse or concern that a child her son’s age lost his eye forever due to her own sons. She never even acknowledges it. Just goes on to plot a “murder” and a marriage so people will fear her.

Alicent should have been more vengeful and nasty. She has reason to be.

THIS!!!

i have nothing to add anon. this is perfection.

rhaenyra was gloating in driftmark. she didn't give a single shit about luke cutting aemond's eye, she literally offered to have him tortured, try to get his mother killed and was enjoying the fact that viserys clearly didn't give a fuck about alicent and his other children with that "thank you father" line.

rhaenyra only cares about herself and her children. and that's fine. but the TB stans pretending like she's this great person is just laughable. like this woman had sex with a man on his wife's funeral (laena was still her cousin, they grew up together. it's messed up), wanted to have laenor killed and was talked out of it by daemon, and married him the next day. how can you watch ep 7 and still think that she's a good person is honestly beyond me. [ and i'm not saying that she's evil, but she's def not the saint her stans want her to be. ]

[scatterghosts]

Oh my gosh ok my gay people my favorite in love exes not canon but so real . I'm so insane about them idk where to begin okay uhhh....

to preface they are from the adventure zone: ethersea and on here we call em oksamber.

So they're both like 40+ year old women living in an underwater city that was built to survive the apocalyptic storm. I will start off explaining them as individuals then get into their story and dynamics ig

One of them is sort of a washed out hero, like 25 years ago back on the shore she discovered she has these astral arms when she went to fight these nasty sharks, and has been vigilant ever since even though the threat is gone. She kinda hangs around a club house slash diner (called the cloaca) until she goes out adventuring again. Um she has -1 charisma and is kinda brash and doesn't love butting heads with authority she'd rather stay out of all that, she buys a cabin for their ship just for her and when she gets a fancy jacket she rips the sleeves off and she is a great fighter but is also thinking 0 steps ahead and as such pissed her pants on purpose to ambush a guy. I'm in love with her. Her name is Amber Gris.

Okay the other one. She is the head of defense for the city and is essentially both on city council and the leader of a big battleship (called the biggest baby) with the defense force of the city.. they're kinda like cops but kind of not. And she has this strong connection with this war god whose bones the ship is made out of. Like part of leading and piloting that is communicating with him. But she has this heavy duty she takes on, and she is rather prim n proper and a little awkward but doesn't take shit from people, she's rather confident and she's strong as hell and um I love her. Her name is Kodira.

So we are first introduced to Kodira in a flashback except her name at the time is Oksana. And she's asking Amber for help getting something and they banter about it and Oksana goes "I've seen you climb trees y you're slick" and amber goes fine..". They're friends back 25 years ago on the shoreside, basically.

The next time we see this character, she is walking into the diner, in uniform (formal plate armor) and learn her name is Kodira, but amber used to know her as Oksana,, n she is almost unrecognizable because she's aged a lot under her position but also because they don't see each other a lot.... And then they banter and Kodira takes a danish and interrogates her about how she killed some of her men and then after they resolve that amber asks her to stay for coffee but Kodira is like no I have to go but then offers her a job working with her on the battleship and they're just... They're sweet, there's clear tension but there's also a clear familiarity...

Anyways I'm trying to not be a plot summary out here but uhh they just have such a chemistry together that is sharp but sweet? It isn't canon that they're like in love or whatever but the characters just are so compelling in that way? Like you can tell from the way they interact that they have a history.

They end up bringing Kodira along for some of the missions they go on, and the last one near the finale is.<3

Shit happens they banter they have serious conversations, Kodira stays in Amber's cabin🤨,they get to the final place which is like a coral tower. And Kodira stays behind on a floor just in case whatever comes up from behind and then amber and her crew are in a boss fight,, but eventually amber hears battle from downstairs so she rushes down at inhuman speed

And she finds Kodira there, but there is a glowing eye indicating the god has taken over, and he has some evil or morally grey plans or whatever but amber has to fight her and there's a moment when Amber has her from behind in a bear hug, says shshsh I'm not gonna fuckin fight you, and ends up punching her in the stomach just to see if there's any of her in there, and the god goes, wow she... really... Doesn't want me to fight you blah blah etc fight more amber jumps through a portal and Kodira jumps through too

They end up in a new world, on a beach, and realize they are gods in that world. And they chat, have some emotional vulnerability (which neither have really shown to other characters), asking if they did the right thing, and the god in Kodiras head dies. And then she refers to herself as Oksana, and we realize like oh she's no longer this version of herself commanded by this god she doesn't have that responsibility anymore,, and then they joke a little bit and they're just really really sweet with each other in a sort of rough way

What makes me insane about them is the tension of course but the ease with which they just are with each other... And I'm obsessed with exploring these different ideas of who they were vs became, the change over the years, what happened in those 25 years we didn't see,,, and honestly the fact that there was never any specific conclusion with their relationship or any like specific mention of them dating or whatever,, works rlly well for me here? Because they would have no reason to bring that up in the story especially bc those people don't like talking about their personal lives or pasts or anything and like if you've ever had that homoerotic female friendship that ends poorly like... They remind me of that a bit but after the healings happened.

. If u want to see me be insane about them more or unpack more specifics of what their deal is or what entices them to me (?) the #oksamber tag is literally so full of brainrot. I love them a lot. There are so few people who are crazy about them but the ones who are are truly mad alongside me<3 we may be few but we are mighty.

Anyways um that was a lot of words .. hope it helps. Good luck best wishes!

I'd never heard of this ship before but I love it so much!! Thank you!!!

TMG song this reminds me of: Twin Human Highway Flares

Highlights: "On the day that I become so forgetful / That all of this melts away / I will burn all the calendars that counted the years down /To such a worthless day"

Notes: I love how you described the history between these two women and how it lends an unspoken weight to every interaction they have. This song has a similar feeling to me. Even in desperate situations, they cling to each other. It's not a young romantic fling so much as a deep and intense and abiding love. They can't forget each other and they haven't forgotten each other. They will always matter to each other, no matter what happened, no matter what will happen. There will always be love there.

[secretariatess]

Fairy Tale was my very first shonen anime but I haven't kept up much! Last I remembered of Jallal he was being pretty nasty to Erza, but I've heard he gets better? Do you mind lettin me know what happens? Also do you like him and Erza together?

(If not, feel free to ignore ^^)

Okay, I haven't finished Fairy Tail, but GIRL

DO I EVER

Yeah, he was absolutely nasty to Erza, and pretty much nasty to everyone- though I have a weak theory that he was strongly manipulated by Zeref and intentionally yet unintentionally opened himself to being defeated because somewhere inside him there was indeed good . . .

But I'd have to really look into that to give a better explanation. It's really just headcanon because I love Jellal.

But at the end of the Tower of Heaven arc, he does actually technically die. I have to go back and rewatch it, but I'm pretty sure it was a mixture of being defeated by Natsu and also making sure that the group survived to get off the island where the Tower of Heaven was.

But! He comes back! He's revived because he knew the location of one of Zeref's things, but when he was revived, he forgot just about everything. Except Erza's name. And he also went to deactivate the thing, which was the opposite of what he was revived to do. All the evil seemed to have died and then he was just kind of neutral.

He did commit a major crime against the Wizard Council, so he had to go on the run because even though he died, they're very upset with him, and want to arrest him. From there on out, Erza will see snatches of him here and there and slowly rebuild their relationship.

There was a point where they almost kissed, but then he pushed her away and said "I have a fiance" WHICH NO HE DID NOT THE JERK LIED so he didn't break Erza's heart again.

Anyways, I'm completely normal about them. Totally normal. I don't fangirl over them possibly being the strongest couple in the show, no, see, I'm normal.

[necarion]

The Female of the Species by Kipling is a really funny poem. In shortened form, it reads as a "Hell yeah women are awesome" song, and that's what you get from Leslie Fish in her song:

WHEN the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride, He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside. But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail. For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

But Kipling was actually writing to oppose women's suffrage because women can't be trusted to not act on their crazy instincts to protect their children. And more, all the important things like law and justice and faith are male things because the ladies have better things to do.

So it comes that Man, the coward, when he gathers to confer With his fellow-braves in council, dare not leave a place for her Where, at war with Life and Conscience, he uplifts his erring hands To some God of Abstract Justice—which no woman understands.

(Oh, the song is also racist with stuff about how the "squaws" were scarier than the warriors because they'd do all the nasty torture.)

Within the decade, Kipling had come around on the suffrage movement. In part because this poem is really funny, in that it (a) ignores basically the entire history of warfare. But also (b) it was written in 1911 and World War 1 happened within 3 years.

Man, a bear in most relations—worm and savage otherwise,— Man propounds negotiations, Man accepts the compromise. Very rarely will he squarely push the logic of a fact To its ultimate conclusion in unmitigated act. Fear, or foolishness, impels him, ere he lay the wicked low, To concede some form of trial even to his fiercest foe. Mirth obscene diverts his anger—Doubt and Pity oft perplex Him in dealing with an issue—to the scandal of The Sex! But the Woman that God gave him, every fibre of her frame Proves her launched for one sole issue, armed and engined for the same; And to serve that single issue, lest the generations fail, The female of the species must be deadlier than the male.

I don't think there are many conflicts that make this passage dumber-seeming. At least World War 2 had an enormous moral weight to it (both good and evil). World War 1 was overwhelmingly based on the logic of alliances being pushed to a catastrophic "unmitigated act".

I think Kipling knew it aged badly...

The Leslie Fish song is great tho.

[writingsofwesteros]

Cersei goes crazy after Myrcella's marriage in Dorne is announced. Her daughter is too young, too sweet for the harsh people of Dorne. She fights with her father and the council but it's a done decision. Her grief and anger is kinda understandable and like her scene with Tyrion in the show.

Tywin doesn't listen and tells her Myrcella has her duty. That she'll learn to be happy in her marriage.

And Cersei gets real nasty and snaps at him. "Of course it's duty that makes you men think young girls are horses to be brought, broken and bred. Nothing else! Truly you only fuck your pretty little girl bride only for heirs. Otherwise you good and honorable men wouldn't even look at young girls right?!" For all her evil, she has tears in her eyes as she says this. "It's always us women who have to find something small to be happy about and be content with it."

Her words seem to have no effect on Tywin but he is secretly bothered. Truly Robyn had been 16 when she married him. Did her duty diligently and tried to please him and serve her people. She was everything the world expected her to be. But was she happy?

why is this so sad - poor cersei and Robyn :( :(

I think they might have a moment together, Robyn and Cersei; just before Myrcella goes or after

[toreii]

Glorious Masquerade Spoilers #24

Noble Bell College - Bell Tower Upstairs

Malleus, Azul, and Idia climb through the secret passage, and finally reach the top floor of the bell tower. They have finally arrived. Azul comments that the Bell of Salvation stands before them, shinning brilliantly by the moonlight. Idia says they’ll clear the game by ringing the bell, and erasing the Crimson Flower. It’s been such a troublesome emergency quest. However, before they can do that, Malleus says he has to say hello to the organizer of this banquet.

Rollo steps out to greet them, saying that they finally made it to the top. The more villains like them, the more stubborn they are. It’s deplorable. Malleus tells Rollo Flamme he came out after all. Idia mockingly asks if anyone heard that? The number one villain has something to say. Malleus mentions to Rollo that is a nice night. He asks if they crashed his party. Malleus certainly thought it was a mistake to have dropped them underground.

Rollo replies that they are uninvited guests, but it does not matter. He will treat them respectfully, even if they are rude guests. Suddenly, the top of the bell tower is consumed by the Crimson Flower. Idia comments that the nasty plant has finally reached the top floor. Malleus says it has been following their magic. Rollo comments that watching everyone flee from the Crimson Flower has been truly comical. Why fear this beautiful flower? Is magic really that important?

Azul tells Rollo not to ask such obvious questions. It’s a waste of time. Magic is the power each of them has cultivated, therefore it is an asset. Does he believe people would be happy to be robbed of it? Rollo questions magic being an asset. That belief is a mistake. MAGIC IS EVIL! IT’S A DANGEROUS FORCE THAT SEDUCES PEOPLE!

Composing himself, Rollo continues by saying that magic is an ugly thing mages are fascinated by, dependent on, and indulging in the pleasures of evil power. He calls the trio monsters. But, he is not. Rollo says he isn’t afraid of losing his magic. Malleus tells him that he knows. Not just himself, but the other mages of the world will have their magic lost forever. It’s what Rollo wants.

However, Malleus tells Rollo that no matter his reason, he will not let him do as he pleases. For those who have fallen, for those waiting at school, and for Briar Valley, and personally, Malleus adds that he has a very strong grudge against him. They will eradicate the Crimson Flower, and fix everything. With the power of the Bell of Salvation! Rollo says that even if he is a housewarden of Night Raven College, a mage who has exhausted all of his magical power and is tired is nothing to be afraid of. He tells them to come. Rollo will make a beautiful bed of Crimson Flowers with the trio as the offering.

You get to battle Rollo now! This initial battle is pretty easy. Of course, I had a bad load out, so it took like three rounds to beat him. But, I’m here to enjoy the look of defeat on Rollo’s face.

Im sorry, but…it’s so cute~😭��

Anyways, after the battle, Rollo laughs saying the NRC trio is all bark and no bite. The Night Raven College that everyone envies, and Malleus Draconia, whom everyone fears, are nothing! Malleus mutters that the only power is Rollo’s bragging. Azul concurs. As expected of the student council president of Noble Bell College. Azul adds that he had already exhausted his magic by the time they made it to the top of the tower, but he didn’t expect to struggle as much just now.

Idia says the biggest problem is that they’re giving everything they got. Rollo isn’t bothered being surrounded by the Crimson Flower. He just keeps shooting bang after bang of magical power. Azul mentions that Rollo had to have felt the pain of having his magic drained afterwards, and comments that he has a terrifying sheer will. Malleus says that if he hits an unexpected blow, it will open a means to survive.

Rollo chuckles. He tells them it’s unslightly of them, who fear the Crimson Flower, to run around. Now they see. He declares that this is the end of those who rely on evil power such as magic. Their resent is not enough. Satisfaction leads to arrogance. Then, there will be no eternal rest. It’s ugly…oh, so ugly…

Idia deeply sighs. He tells Rollo that he’s been listening to him for a while now going on about how “magic is evil” and “magicians are villains” while dissing them. So, why is he taking their anger out on them? Rollo is like “What?” Idia tells Rollo that he really resents himself, right? He was weak and useless, and couldn’t help the “brother” who suffered in front of him. This seems to strike a nerve with Rollo who is suddenly surprised.

To be continued…

Of course, Idia would be the one to confront Rollo with the “brother” issue. He’s walked that same path himself. Aaaaaahhhhh…😭😭😭

[iamafanofcartoons]

Ah, c'mon. Female characters are only ever hated when they're poorly written. If they were male, they'd be just as hated. Calling anybody sexist is such a reach.

I mean, you really think that the likes of Team RWBY would be more liked if they were guys? Qrow? Ironwood? Got any solid examples? All I see from you lot is a bunch of accusations and hypotheticals.

C'mon. The FNDM's maddening but real bigots are few and far between.

Let me give you three examples of sexism from the RWBY Critics. And let me remind you that both men and women can be misogynists. The Republican Party of the USA is sure proof of that.

Now that we have the proof of RWBY Critics being nasty sexists out of the way. Let me go over Yang Xiao Long, since most straightshippers and rwby bashers love to hate on Yang.

Critics gnoring the fact that she losed a arm, got PTSD for like 3 volumes, saving the world from a immortal being. Edit: She's just not 24 hours all happy girl anymore like in the volumes 1-3….nobody is anymore after everything that happened. Because taking world ending stakes seriously, and not constantly being quippy doesn’t mean that someone is no longer fun. No, no, don't look at Yang pranking Nora during their arm wrestling match, making jokes about getting reward money for Weiss, or doing stunts on a hover bike. Giggling about Adrian? Pranking Penny with her arm? Joking about crashing the Schnee Party? RWBY Critics: Yang is no longer fun, she’s a Karen! Basically, critics have to ignore/forget/deny ANYTHING that disagrees with their negative views of women. If these people can't even understand a character after showing all his background, trauma and way of thinking, imagining understanding a real person you know nothing about. But seriously, things are less fun in general. Like, yeah V1-3 were school fun-times where the characters weren't even aware of the world ending threat working behind the scenes. Now they are, and they're trying to stop it, things are going to be less fun. Want an example of how Critics pretend to be blind and deaf? Adam Taurus: Introduced trying to blow up a train of passengers. Blake Belladonna: Introduced trying to stop him, and then joins Beacon, hoping to change the system from within. Volume 2: Adam literally tells Cinder that he finds his followers expendable. Blake is opening up to Yang and becomes more and more happy. RWBY Critics: Blake manipulated Adam, Blake is the reason Adam is evil, Blake should have saved Adam, Adam should have killed Blake. Yeah, I’d call that sexism. Let’s cover Robyn Hill

I’ve got some memes just for this But somehow Robyn is an evil terrorist? And Ironwood is somehow the savior? Ironwood, who constantly demands trust and talks about making difficult decisions while : A) repeatedly forbidding penny to have any friends and having her as a project done behind everyone’s back? B) Holding more government power than any other Council Member, and forbidding anyone not part of his military from being allowed to defend themselves or carry weapons (volume 7 chapter 2, clover ignoring Qrow’s license) C) Going behind Ozpin’s back to get the council to fire him for not giving James what he wants? D) Threatening Jacques and telling him to get on James’ good side while declaring closed borders WITHOUT the council’s permission? Threatening a civilian while declaring HIMSELF the council? E) That mech was put in Argus WITHOUT the people’s awareness or permission. Ironwood then installed a racist megalomaniac because she was fanatically loyal to him.  But any woman standing against is immediately considered a war criminal? So yeah, the hatedom? Is misogynistic.  I keep seeing men and women talking about how they want the female characters in RWBY to suffer. I keep seeing them throw slurs at fictional characters and towards the writers. If you don’t have anything respectful to say about the show unless it involves pushing cis white male OC/MC fanfics and talking about how your ideas are superior? Or you wanna talk about porn? Then you have nothing to contribute but Hatred, and you shouldn’t contribute at all.

[ospreyeamon]

palpatine’s xanatos gambit

For a long time it confused me why Palpatine revealed himself as the Sith Master to Anakin in the opera scene of Revenge of the Sith. It seemed contrived. Palpatine has proven himself capable of hiding in plain sight indefinitely. He spent years meeting with the Jedi Council without any of them gleaning an inkling of his true nature. Why would he suddenly give up the advantage of secrecy? But now I think I understand.

Palpatine is a consummate politician. His methods in the pursuit of power are primarily legal political ones, with his work as Darth Sidious serving to provide leverage for them. Any good politician knows you should never let a crisis go to waste, but it takes a special kind of politician to be able to generate crises on demand.

Senator Palpatine would like to be elected Supreme Chancellor; Darth Sidious baits the Trade Federation into blockading Naboo and Palpatine plants the idea that the only way to force the Republic Senate to act is calling for a vote of no confidence in the current Supreme Chancellor. Chancellor Palpatine would remain in office beyond the end of his term limit; there is a string of unfortunate destabilising incidents that make keeping the Republic's current head of state rather than calling an election more attractive, none of which are ever linked back to the Sith. Chancellor Palpatine would like more power and also not to have to deal with the fact that he has now repeatedly overstayed his term of office; oh look, it’s a war.

But now the Clone Wars are all but over. The Delegation of Two Thousand is pushing for him to relinquish his emergency powers. Palpatine needs another crisis – and he has just the crisis in mind. The Jedi Order is going to attempt a coup to seize control of the Republic.

There are two ways the plan could go after Palpatine admits to Anakin he is a Sith. The safer one for Palpatine is if Anakin willingly embraces him as his evil mentor and agrees to go along with the plot. Anakin can use his position on the Jedi Council to "discover" the other members of the Council are plotting to launch a coup, giving Palpatine cover to move against the Jedi. Alternately, if the rest of the Council isn’t careful enough Anakin might learn of the real discussion they’ve had about the possibility of removing the Supreme Chancellor by Force – unlikely since Yoda and Windu are already concerned that Anakin is effectively Palpatine’s spy on the Council.

Instead, Anakin – freaked out – runs to the Council to share what Palpatine has just told him. However, that still serves Palpatine’s plan. While the Jedi know he is a Sith and can deduce he must have been playing both sides of the war, they don’t have hard evidence of either of those things – just Anakin’s word that Palpatine told him, which Palpatine can easily deny. So, the Jedi Council doesn’t take the accusation to the Courts or the Senate or the Press because all those groups would want evidence that the Jedi can’t give them and because they believe Palpatine has sunk his claws too far into those institutions.

What Palpatine succeeds in doing by spilling the beans to Anakin is provoking the Jedi into coming after him half-cocked, before they place his office and associates under heavy surveillance that might reveal communications with the Separatists and before the Delegation of Two Thousand can raise their petition in the Senate. It makes the Jedi look guilty as hell. I think that, because they lack credible evidence for their charges, it might technically be an actual attempted coup.

So Palpatine has his crisis. It’s dicier than he might have liked; I think he underestimated Mace Windu and coming up against a duellist better than himself was a nasty surprise. He still has what he wanted though; the security footage that shows the Jedi subduing his guards and entering his office, and the eye-witness testimony of the people who saw them come to the Senate Rotunda. That’s all he needs to justify activating Order 66 and "reforming" the Republic into the Empire.

The timing of the gambit is interesting because I wouldn’t have picked that it was significantly worse for the Jedi to act against Palpatine immediately rather than to bide their planning and waiting for an opening or more information if Palpatine hadn’t thought it necessary to trick them into striking at him. It must be because of the approaching threat posed by the Delegation of Two Thousand. If the Delegation lodges their petition and Palpatine doesn’t relinquish his emergency powers and call an election then that gives the Jedi Order a legitimate reason to charge him with, say, breach of the Constitution. It’s extremely likely they would do that, too; the Council has woken up to the fact that Palpatine is a threat to democracy, and if they can’t identify the Sith Lord in the Chancellor’s office then forcing out the Chancellor should draw the Sith into the open as he tries to keep hold of that position of power.

Mace Windu is probably aware of this. Being aware that there is a threat to the Sith Master looming in the near future means being aware that the Sith Master has a pressing motive to cement the Supreme Chancellor’s grip on power by any means necessary. When Anakin comes to him with the information that Palpatine just tried to recruit him as his new apprentice, Mace concludes that Palpatine would have only make such a risky move if he were on the verge of enacting a plot to destroy the Jedi. That means the Jedi have to go after Palpatine right now; no time to gather evidence, no time to contact potential allies in the Senate, no time to think of a job to give Anakin so he has something to distract him from stewing in his turmoil like waiting until Mace’s team has reached the Senate Rotunda then relaying a warning that Palpatine is the Sith Master to the Jedi in the field.

It’s not that Mace Windu doesn’t understand that bursting into Palpatine’s office on mass is a bad idea that could go horribly wrong. It’s that, by this point, the Jedi Council only has bad options. There is no safe path, no optimal third option, no neat legal solution. The Council has made unforced errors in earlier instalments – hiding the fact they had only just discovered the clone army from the Senate and the public at the end of Attack of the Clones was stupid, Yoda, as was letting the investigation into the origins of the army fall by the wayside – but not in Revenge of the Sith. After all, Mace is right in assuming that Palpatine is in the process of enacting his plan to destroy the Jedi Order. His failure is only the failure to divine what that plan is.

[apricuscity]

Catching You Up!

“Hey everybody! It’s your old pal Morely here. I’d like to take a few moments to address YOU. Yes you, the mun behind the muses. See I’m going to break the fourth wall just this once.”

“I know many of you have been real busy and as such may not fully understand everything currently going on in the world of Apricus. So that’s where I step in. I’m here to catch everyone up a best I can so you all have a good idea where everything stands when you decide to return. So sit back, grab some tacos, relax, and enjoy.”

“So ya’ll remember that nasty bit of busy with the Checkmate group right? Then we had ourselves a Tacorific time skip, one year passed by and I can’t tell you how many new menu items Tacos ‘N More came up with!”

“As we entered into the new “season” things weren’t exactly what they seemed. See the notorious Mr. R from Paradise Entertainment started making more appearances than that fella ever did before. He even tried to get himself on the council! Offerin to help the city with it’s lingering repairs.”

“He’s got himself somethin cookin but nobody really knows what his game is yet. Speakin of problems, the Church sure does have it’s fair share! See Sister May activated the Ascension Protocol which let the Templars elect a temporary First Templar. Considerin the old one up and vanished. Some folks don’t believe they were ever even real.”

“Brother Julius got elected and some church folks were none too happy. The High Priestess however didn’t seem to mind one bit. Julius is still the acting First Templar as no one has had enough votes to replace him yet.”

“Brother Julius is still searchin for that secret underground cathedral and thinks he has a few leads so more and more expeditions have been taking place. I imagine they are gonna find somethin sooner than later. But there’s still a lot of internal conflict goin on!”

“Now for the first time in a long time the secretive nation of Crepusculum agreed to trade relations with Apricus, and some other nations out there! They were even allowed to set up some shops right here in Apricus! Some people are real excited over that but others still don’t trust em. Doctor Xanthos, Lord Merek, and High Priestess Lucianna were the “no” votes on the council when lettin Crepusculum in was put to a vote.”

“Mr. Eckerman announced the Hecaball World Cup which kicked off, attracting teams from all over the world. It’s about to wrap with only the semi-finals and the finals left to go. Needless to say this has meant Apricus has gotten A LOT of tourists.”

“We’ve also got ourselves a race to the hidden sea goin on! Some of the pirate lords have claimed they found the entrance and now it’s everyone for themselves. We got the pirate lords, the navy, and every amateur treasure hunter you can shake a stick at all headin out to sea lookin to find some hidden booty!”

“We’ve also learned a lot about what once was in the hidden sea. A super cool civilization ahead of it’s time, a bunch of pirate vaults, a rock made of special metal that fell from the sky, and some creepy intelligent bug monsters.”

“Ya know yours truly has a movie coming out soon! Morely & Friends: Enter The Tacoverse is hittin theaters end of August! Don’t miss it!”

“Finally some more fun facts and history was recently revealed! Including a talk about the Emperors, the most powerful people said to exist! What kind of menu items do you think they’d like? We learned about some incredible troops the empire made near the end of the war, we finally heard some details about the nation of Völsung, and it seems that that evil mastermind Janus Windsor is up to somethin!”

“I think that about catches you up to where we are right now! Plenty of folks are currently visiting Apricus including some world leaders here for the Hecaball games! There’s never been a better time to jump in and get in on the action!”

“That’ll do it for me! Have a Tacorific Night!”

[patron-minette]

Character breakdown: Boulatruelle

Boulatruelle is one of the many associates of the Patron-Minette, and is present during the Gorbeau ambush against Valjean. His character is so interesting to me because he repeatedly pops up throughout Les Misérables, and we also get to see him in Montfermeil in the 1820s, over a whole decade before he is associated with the gang!

Below I have attempted to document some of my favourite details, quotes, and a short analysis of Boulatruelle, as well as record all of his appearances in the novel.

Text reads: The fact is noted by the road-mender Boulatruelle, taking his walk on the tops of trees to avoid dampness on his feet. [Illustration source available here.]

A road worker and a robber, he had a dream; he believed in treasures buried deep in the Montfermeil forest. He hoped one day to find money in the ground at the foot of a tree; meanwhile, he enjoyed looking for it in the pockets of those passing through

Appearances and facts

Boulatruelle is described as an ‘old road-mender’, and a drunk. The people of Montfermeil ‘claimed to know’ that Boulatruelle had been in jail (but it is not elaborated what he was in prison for), ‘was subject to occasional police surveillance and, as he could not find work anywhere, the local council employed him at a pittance as a road-mender on the crossroad from Gagny to Lagny’.

Montfermeil’s citizens also do not appear to trust Boulatruelle and believe that he puts on a false act of pretending to be nice to everyone, being ‘too respectful, too humble, too quick to doff his cap at everyone, quivering and smiling in front of the gendarmes’ whilst simultaneously being ‘probably affiliated with gangs of bandits’ and ‘suspected of ambushes at the edge of copses at nightfall’. [However, these ‘gangs of bandits’ that he is suggested to be affiliated with are unlikely to include the Patron-Minette at this stage]

Boulatruelle is looked down upon the townsfolk who regard him sceptically and as a figure of local folklore. Some believe that he is the devil himself burying his treasure in the woods, others believe that he has seen the devil and is searching for his treasure.

Yet, whilst the townsfolk find him unsettling, I kind of feel a bit sorry for the poor guy at this point in the novel. The town’s society seem to treat him as a devilish monster or a figure of folklore rather than a human. What if he really was just trying to be nice to people when he tipped his hat at them, and that it wasn’t intended to conceal any evil character within him but instead he’s just trying to turn his life around after being imprisoned? After all, whilst his digging in the forest is a little odd, Montfermeil is known for its tale of buried treasure in the woods - so what’s so wrong about him looking for it too? In fact, he really seems mysterious in more of a shy way than in a dangerous way.

For some little time, Boulatruelle had been leaving his job of stone-lining and road maintenance extremely early and going off into the forest with his pickaxe. You would come across him round about evening in the most deserted clearings, in the wildest thickets, looking for all the world as if he was searching for something, sometimes digging holes. The good women who passed by took him for Beelzebub, then they recognized Boulatruelle and were scarcely more reassured. These encounters seemed to really throw Boulatruelle. It was obvious that he was trying to hide and that there was some mystery in what he was up to

When you think about it, Boulatruelle isn’t actually doing anything nasty to these people, so it’s a little upsetting that people are so uneasy around him. The detail that these encounters ‘really throw’ Boulatruelle is kind of sad (at least to me, but perhaps I am just sympathising with him too much!) because he isn’t acting in any malicious or intimidating way, yet seems so wary of people passing him.

In an effort to find out what Boulatruelle is digging for, Thénardier, who still owned the inn at this time, uses “the booze treatment”, planning to get Boulatruelle so drunk that he will reveal his secrets to the townsfolk. And whilst Boulatruelle ‘combined the thirst of a greedy pig with the discretion of a judge’ he does let slip some secrets - which reveal that he really isn’t as crazy as people perceive him to be (Hugo even titles a later chapter [2.3.6] ‘Which possibly proves Boulatruelle’s intelligence’).

He apparently saw, without himself being seen, as he was hidden by a big tree, heading off the road to the thickest part of the wood ‘an individual who was in no way from round these parts’ and that he, Boulatruelle, ‘knew very well.’ Translation courtesy of Thénardier, ‘a pal from the clink.’ Boulatruelle had obstinately refused to say who the man was. This individual was carrying a bundle, something square like a big box or a small chest. […] Boulatruelle had let the individual pass and it didn't occur to him to approach him, because he told himself the other bloke was three times as strong as he was and armed with a pickaxe and would probably whack him when he saw who he was and figured out that he'd been recognized. Touching effusions of two old chums who run into each other suddenly. But the shovel and pickaxe had been a flash of light for Boulatruelle; he ran off into the bushes the next morning, but he didn't find either the shovel or the pickaxe. He concluded that this individual, after entering the wood, had dug a hole with the pickaxe, had buried the chest in it, and had filled the hole in with the shovel. Now, the chest was too small to contain a dead body, so it had to contain money. Hence his investigations. Boulatruelle had explored, probed, and poked around the whole forest and rooted around wherever the ground looked freshly disturbed to him. In vain

It’s a nice implication here that Boulatruelle perhaps knew (and is seemingly quite wary of) Valjean, and that maybe they were on the ship Orion together! The little scene is also one of my favourites because it shows that Thénardier knew and interacted with Boulatruelle directly years before the Gorbeau ambush (and perhaps it implies an indirect link between Thénardier and Boulatruelle becoming associated with the Patron-Minette? Ah, I can only speculate, but it seems fairly likely!)

•

This is the last we see of Boulatruelle until he is listed as one of the Patron-Minette’s associates in Part Three, where he is still described as a road-mender. He then appears during the Gorbeau ambush on February 3rd 1832. Here he sits and dozes off on the bed (drunk) whilst Thénardier speaks at the beginning of the scene, then wakes up when the other Patron-Minette associates try and tackle Valjean to the ground: ‘The old man on the bed, apparently half drunk, got off the pallet and staggered over with a road-mender’s hammer in his hand’, but is thrown aside by Valjean and collapses. Later in the scene, Thénardier questions if he is dead, but Bigrenaille (aka Panchaud) assures him that he is just drunk, and he is swept into a corner. When Javert arrives he is woken up by the cops and simply stammers, ‘It is all over Jonderette?’.

I am particularly fond of the small bits of trivia about Boulatruelle that can be picked up from this scene:

We get to find out some detail about what he wears, ‘This man had on a violet knitted waistcoat that was old, worn through, stained, cut off at the bottom, and gaping at the seams, baggy corduroy trousers and, on his feet, soft-soled slippers; he had no shirt’.

He is the only Patron-Minette related character to have tattoos(!), ‘his arms were bare except for tattoos’. [I managed to work this out by process of elimination, as the man with tattoos is the only Patron-Minette affiliate that Marius does not recognise, and Marius had encountered all of the other Patron-Minette associates, apart from Boulatruelle, before the Gorbeau ambush]

He has white old man hair (unsurprising, but nice to actually receive confirmation of this), ‘This particular man was old, the sight of his white hair on top of his black face [because it is covered in soot] was shocking’

However, just because we see Boulatruelle here in 1832, it doesn’t mean that he has given up on his dream of finding that buried treasure in Montfermeil.

•

The last time that we see Boulatruelle in Les Misérables is in 5.5.1, where he is, once again, on his quest of finding and digging up that mystery package that he saw buried so long ago.

Here it is revealed that Boulatruelle managed to avoid getting arrested with the rest of the Patron-Minette characters present during the Gorbeau ambush simply because he had been so drunk, and there was not enough evidence against him because of this. Upon his release he returned to Montfermeil’s forest to hunt for the treasure.

In this particular scene, Boulatruelle captures a glimpse of a man in the woods, and he follows him with his pickaxe (and is prepared to use his pickaxe to kill this man to get to the treasure). He then climbs through the trees, and eventually he finds the location he has so long been looking for!

Boulatruelle, going hell for leather in his excitement, practically fell out of the tree climbing down. The lair had been found, now it was just a matter of bagging the game. The famous treasure of his dreams was probably there.

It was no mean feat getting to the glade. The well-trodden paths that zigzag crazily all over the place took a good quarter of an hour; the straight path through the thicket, which is incredibly thick, extremely thorny, and extremely aggressive, took a good half an hour. Boulatruelle made the mistake of not reckoning on this. He believed in the straight line- a respectable optical illusion, but one that causes a lot of people to come unstuck. The thicket, spiky as it was, seemed to him to be the right way.

Unfortunately, it does not end well for him...

Boulatruelle ran to the pile of stones. It was in place. It had not been carted away,

As for the man, he had vanished into the forest. He had escaped. Where to?

Which way? In what thicket? Impossible to guess.

And, most poignantly, behind the pile of stones, in front of the tree with the zinc plaster, there was freshly dug dirt, a forgotten or abandoned pick, and a hole

The hole was empty.

‘Thief!’ cried Boulatruelle, showing the horizon his two fists.

Poor, old Boulatruelle...!

A (brief) analysis of his character...

To me, Boulatruelle represents what Valjean could have potentially become if he was not shown kindness from Bishop Myriel. Both Valjean and Boulatruelle are treated in very similar ways by society after being released from prison, and (sadly) they both also feel the need to act subordinate to everyone else upon first re-entering back into society after spending time in jail, which only further enables others put them down and treat them as abhuman too. It is also especially interesting that Valjean and Boulatruelle are heavily implied to have known each-other previously, and it really helps me see a clear comparison arise between their characters. 

I really do feel for Boulatruelle, especially because there is such a contrast between his first and his final appearance, and it seems that perhaps all of the inhumane treatment that he received from the people of Montfermeil had an impact upon him. When we first see him at Montfermeil he is treated so horribly by the rest of the community, even though we don’t see him do anything wrong to them (yes, he is a little odd, but that doesn’t justify the people of Montfermeil speculating if he is a devil!). He is a complete outcast, and even as readers the only information we get about him is from the perspective of how others perceive him! In this first appearance he is not even explicitly shown to be engaging in any criminal activities! He actually is working legitimately as a road-mender (although is always leaving early), and is not a highwayman just yet! Boulatruelle even appears to have some level of morality too, as he never gives away Jean Valjean’s name, even when given the “booze test”. I also find it particularly interesting that Boulatruelle shows up again during the Gorbeau ambush. Perhaps Hugo had intended for more interaction between these characters during that scene(?), as we know that Boulatruelle could have probably recognised Valjean and revealed him to the cops if he weren’t so drunk

Yet, comparing this to the last time we see Boulatruelle, where he appears to once again have fallen into crime and become an amateur highwayman - well, my heart kind of breaks. Not only that, but his alcoholic tendencies only seem to have gotten worse over time (considering he was so intoxicated that he was incapable of contributing to the ambush and therefore was released). I know that he’s kind of played off as a comedic character but I can’t help but feel a little sympathetic towards him (but I am aware that I often end up feeling sympathetic towards characters that I probably shouldn’t feel sympathy for), and perhaps even a little upset that he never got that treasure that he had longed for literally over a decade. Especially since, if he perhaps never started looking for it in the first place, the people of Montfermeil might not have treated him so horribly during the 1820s and he might not have ended up where he did by the 1830s.

[diazuk-legacy]

My life is filled with regrets. The worst of them is my failure of being a Jedi Master, a mentor, a student and a close friend. It is only now that I have taken my seat on the Jedi Council that I started to reflect on my decisions that led me here. But perhaps I should start from the beginning and try to understand where things went wrong. 

It was many years ago when I was recruited into the Jedi Order and taken to Tython. I didn't know where I originally came from. But I think it’s for the best that I rather not know. I became the padawan to Master Yuon Par who I had grown to admire. Maybe that is where things started to go wrong. As a Jedi I shouldn't let my emotions cloud my judgment. But Yuon par was like the world to me. I know the Jedi Order has let go of their past prejudice and have only now started to welcome in more Sith bloods. But during my time I was the only one of my kin to join. And I was only a hybrid. I was shunned, disgraced and even looked down upon due to my heritage. But Yuon Par was the only one that took me as her student. I imagine she saw my potential and wanted to train me. I am eternally grateful for her. Which is why it saddened me when she passed. But that was part of a much bigger issue. 

A Sith lord named Lord Vicicar had spread a terrible plague among the Order, infecting Jedi with the “coming darkness” as they would call it. During my time on Coruscant I had learnt the shielding technique that was originally practiced by the first Barsen’thor. I used the shielding technique to protect jedi victims from the plague. But each time I use it it costs me my strength. My mentor was hit badly from it. I could feel her strength fading as I held her hand, but I couldn’t let her down. 

But of her own choosing she decided to sacrifice her sanity to found Lord Vicicar. She asked me to drop the shield and so I did. The madness brought her to her knees and she begged me to kill her. But I refused. I wanted to save her. But I was too weak to reuse the shield and Yuon Par died from exhaustion. I was so angry. I wanted to kill Lord Vicicar. I wanted him dead. And I did. I killed Lord Vicicar. But at the cost of so many lives. All those I had saved died in an instant the moment Lord Vicicar fell to my blade. The plague was over but in the end I had failed. And that's how I got the title of Barsen'thor, surprisingly. 

Then after that I help reunite the Rift Alliance to the Republic by being their representative and doing chores for them. And that is how I discover the “Children of the Emperor” A group of force wielding sleeper agents that have infiltrated the Republic. All created by the Sith Emperor and his nasty goons. 

It was my role to stop these children since the Hero of Tython was currently out of commission. But first I need to address the elephant in the room. I’m sure some of you are aware of my fall to darkness. Yeah at some point during my career I had reached my lowest point. Consumed by my grief and my anger and my depression and coated with the responsibility of being the Barsen'thor, plus with all the voices in my head, I had slowly succumbed to corruption. But that whole turning evil thing didn’t happen until I got to Voss. I did mention it was slow progress which was the most frightening thing about all of this. 

It all started at Nar Shaddaa. Nar Shaddaa was an experience. Not in a very bad way I mean I did enjoy my time there. But there was an unusual feeling about it. It felt like there was someone watching me. Stalking my every movement and waiting for me to lower my guard. I guess it was also that place where I started to make some questionable decisions. That was when I first heard the voices. 

The more planets I explored the stronger the voices got. They began to overwhelm me and I began to listen to them more and more. I onced called it wisdom. But now I know it was a deception. My deepest darkest thoughts bloom like flowers. And the worst part is that they smelled good. That led me down a terrible path. 

As wise as I was, I didn't understand it. But I now know that the whispers were caused by my sith heritage. Sith purebloods were naturally attune to the dark side. Rejecting it would be like rejecting nature itself. As a sith blood hybrid there is no exception for me. The Dark Side was calling out to me. It wanted me to use its power so I would become a dark lord of the sith. But I resisted, and I resisted for as long as I could until I was forced to make a choice. An evil darkness threatens to consume the planet of Voss. Sel-Makor would have unleashed chaos and millions possible billions would die. The only way to stop Sel-Makor was to embrace the dark side. So I sacrifice myself to darkness and I become Darth Venomics.

It’s also ironic. My mentor sacrificed herself in a similar fashion, except she didn’t live long to become a sith. I fought Sel-Makor and I obliterated him. But it wasn’t enough. I needed more bloodshed. I needed something to calm this eternal hunger that I had awakened. Then I remembered my real quest. I was going to kill those bastard children now that I was free from my chains. But I was stopped by my friends. Qyzen Fess, the loyal Trandoshan hunter. Tharan Cedrax, the humorous scientist. Zenith, the twi’lek rebel. Felix, the honest soldier. And Nadia Grell, my padawan who I had let down. I don’t remember how It ended but I do know that the reign of Darth Venomics came to a short end. 

The Voss was so impressed by my bravery that not only did they offer me the army I needed but they also offered me a cleanse ritual that would make the dark influence go away. 

So I accepted their gift and I did the cleanse ritual and I was returned back to my original self, but now twice as strong. 

I  traveled to Corellia to deal with the children of the Emperor once more and retake the Guardian holds that were stolen from us. The Leader, the first son, reveals himself to be Syo Bakarn. Guess you could say my reaction to this news as devastation would be understatement.

One by one with my army we retook the Guardian holds. The First Son had fled to an Imperial fleet with the full intention to escape the destruction that would soon fall upon Corellia. I chased him to the fleet and I confronted him. 

I tried to convince Syo Bakarn to fight back against the darkness as I had. But I soon realized that Syo Bakarn was murdered by the First Son. I had no other choice but to kill him. With his death the children of the Emperor were revealed to the Republic with their shield having been destroyed. The Rift Alliance was welcomed into the Republic and I was granted a seat on the jedi Council. 

Although the battle was over, the children were defeated and I had overcome a great darkness, I did not count this as a victory. The loss of so many lives lay on my shoulders. But as the new Barsen'thor it is my responsibility to not let their memories go in vain. I will honor my master's legacy and I will continue my role as the keeper of knowledge, despite what I was and what I had been before

Also on ao3 (Link)

[thousandbuns]

Since you read horus heresy how much Imperium apoligism is in it. Just wondering sorry

So far I'm only at book 4 (minus "A Thousand Sons" which I've read out of order), and here are my impressions:

"Horus Rising" does a good job setting up the grounds for an extended critique of the Imperium. Lots of small "makes you think" moments culminating in the encounter with Interex - a peaceful, prosperous human-xenos alliance which is aware of Chaos being a major threat - and Horus openly asking during the war council: "perhaps the Emperor's model [of human civilization] is too stringent". Future traitors except Erebus are written with care and feel like people who'd fit in an Astartes Legion, even the more... "gun-happy" ones aren't cardboard cutouts with an angry face. Erebus has bad vibes, but isn't doing anything overtly evil (outside of secretly stealing the cursed Warp dagger from Interex and sparking a conveniently timed conflict that prevents the Imperials from learning too much about Chaos).

"False Gods" doesn't really talk about the greater Imperium outside of the subplot about the (for now secret) God-Emperor cult, because it's too busy murdering the character writing from the previous book. Everyone is an idiot, a caricature, or both. Ignace Karkassy, a poet who (after surviving a lynching by Imperial soldiers angered by his drunken nihilistic rant about the Imperium eventually having to come to an end) ends up under captain Loken's "protection", gets repurposed into a writer self-insert to creep on women and occasionally snoop around the growing anti-Imperial/Chaos-driven conspiracy - but his subplot doesn't go too far. People like to meme about Horus' complaints about Imperial taxes and bureaucracy wasting his time, but he actually rebels because of plot convenience. And also because Erebus and his pet Chaos cult show him several psychic visions, including a vision of a future Imperium's shrine world where his father and (loyalist) brothers are worshipped, yet he is forgotten, I guess. Erebus' vibes are now so rancid even Loken starts picking up on them. Overall the book still makes an "Imperium bad" statement - a very flat, weak and unconvinced one - but also deploys fascist dogwhistles (for example avantgarde/modern/abstract etc. art being seen as worthless) without a hint of irony, doesn't really follow on what "Horus Rising" set up, and makes everyone on Chaos/traitor side blatantly and downright cartoonishly evil with next to no buildup or explanation. Horus wakes up from the Chaos dagger nap and is now a total asshole. So are Abaddon and Aximand, for some reason.

"Galaxy in Flames" and "Flight of the Eisenstein" (so far) suffer from having to follow up on "False Gods" and not having 1-2 books that'd elaborate on the Legions joining Sons of Horus in Istvaan system, forcing them to either squeeze in some last minute character buildup or just not elaborate on the Legion past superficial impressions ("Galaxy..." expands a little on EC, but largely skims over WE and DG aside from bringing up Garro). They also start falling into the mold of writing heroic loyalists - Loken, Torgaddon, Saul Tarvitz and Nathaniel Garro are all brave, kind, loyal, fighting for the good of mankind - vs. nasty traitors with little to no redeeming qualities - Eidolon is an arrogant and barely competent jerk, Lucius is a jealous narcissist, Abaddon is a bloodthirsty sadist, Aximand is an obedient tool, World Eaters are only here to murder things, Typhon feels like a rehash of Erebus (bad vibes, quietly sows anti-Imperial dissent and riles up others against the pro-Imperial faction of the Legion), and Grulgor is a rude arrogant asshole and a bully. "Flight..." has me especially worried so far because it centers the conflict between "Emperor-loyal" Terrans like Garro and "Primarch-loyal" Barbarossians while making it painfully binary and lacks mortal characters who can question Garro on his belief in the Imperium being a "force for good" like "Horus Rising". "Galaxy..." isn't too far behind though because of how it frames the fast-growing Emperor Cult and its "saint" as a good, holy force standing against the "darkness" of Chaos. There could be something to be said about religion giving people hope and relief, but sadly what we end up with lines up a lot with how Imperial faith in modern 40K gets framed in marketing and codexes - as if it's a wholly separate "sacred" anti-Chaos power and not just Catholic-flavored psykery.

It's been a while since I touched "A Thousand Sons" and I'd have to read it carefully again to separate my headcanons and early impressions from the actual text of the book. Unfortunately so far my attempts were squandered by either the story beats accidentally touching some personal sore spots (Council of Nikaea), hitting me with a wave of anxiety when I was already a frayed bundle of nerves (buildup to destruction of Human Webway and Burning of Prospero), or McNeill continuing his trademark Heresy novel habit of creeping on fictional women - and in ATS it specifically sets off a major trigger for me. Anyway, from what I remember the book is kind of... mixed on that front - on one hand Thousand Sons are fighting a losing battle to appease the Imperium which despises them on principle ("the more they know about us, the more they'll hate us") and many of Magnus' flaws are also the Emperor's flaws, but on the other I got the impression that the book is a little too happy to slam TSons for "abuse of power" and arrogance in a kind of... fash-dogwhistle-y ways. Like "your reliance on your powers makes you weak and soy, you should be a strong violent macho soldier who detests convenience and only cleans his gun with his hands", or "knowing too much about psykery is bad because you may as well be dabbling with Chaos and consorting with daemons without realizing it". The same kind of narrative that people will invoke to unironically claim that human spirit is so weak and easily tempted that it needs a dystopian tyranny and aggressive propaganda to be kept "strong" against "corruption". Y'know, another fash dogwhistle.

Tl;Dr: it starts off good enough, but then "False Gods" hits the second tower and everything falls apart. It may get better later, but I'm not going to read all the Heresy books. I also hope Graham McNeill grew and changed a lot since 2006-2009 because Jesus fucking Christ.

[cienie-isengardu]

What if Chancellor Palpatine was taken by a Jedi at a young age to be trained and he became yodas apprentice how would things go in the galaxy?

I feel this could easily fall into the nature vs. nurture kind of debate, as in was Sheev naturally born prone to manipulations and apathy toward other beings or was the environment in which he grew up allowed this corruption to push him into the Dark Side? Would his “evil nature” prevent following Jedi Code or could Yoda’s teaching set him into the right direction to do some good in the galaxy? But then, Sheev could be amazing Jedi in regard to skills, self-control and efficiency and still be a manipulative bastard since being a Jedi does not automatically make anyone a good person (and there were plenty of arrogant members of the Order that were active Jedi despite their nasty attitude).

But as much as it would be fun to see padawan Palpatine challenging his master or having with him some psychological war through the years or him even being a truly good, supportive Master/friend to young Skywalker, I think the real question is, does destiny (Will of the Force) triumph over people’s nature and personal choices? Is there a free will for everyone, or some characters are meant to fall because without evil, would goodness mean anything? Chosen One, as the name says, is chosen, not choosing and in the grand scheme of cosmic balance, has a specific role to play, whether they like it or not. So could a person change their destiny and thus avoid the Will of the Force? Let’s just look at Anakin who started as a very kind boy and was taught to protect people against injustice yet fell, which proves that everyone, even good people, under wrong circumstances can snap. So Palpatine, even if he was born as a naturally kind person and raised as a Jedi still could at some point fall to the Dark Side, if the Force needed him to fulfill its plans for the galaxy. And as one of Yoda’s special students he could mess things up in the Senate as well inside Jedi Order if he was given an opportunity. 

But even if somehow Jedi would manage to train Palpatine to follow their rules and stay on the Light Side, there is still Darth Plagueis out there plotting destruction of the Republic and Jedi Order. There is still Sifo-Dyas and his horrible Force vision that is gonna be ignored and in result be a starting point for the clone army. There is still Dooku who is gonna be disillusioned with the Jedi Council after too many bad decisions and leaving Order only to meet Plagueis or his different Sith Apprentice somehow somewhere. There is still a possibility that Jedi will massacre True Mandalorians at Galidraan, leaving an angry Jango Fett to join Sith for a promise of destruction of Jedi. 

Taking Palpatine out of the picture may change the dynamic between certain characters and their influences on critical events but may not change enough in the grand scheme of things if Anakin was fated to fall and destroy Jedi (as he destroyed Sith two decades later).

I would love to see an alternative universe with Jedi Palpatine, especially if for once he genuinely cared for Anakin. Yoda would probably have a heart attack if the unwanted Skywalker was added to his respectful Jedi Line, as Palpatine’s padawan and that for sure would make my day better :D