#(at least in the western world)

[heritageposts]

Secret South African documents reveal that Israel offered to sell nuclear warheads to the apartheid regime, providing the first official documentary evidence of the state's possession of nuclear weapons. The "top secret" minutes of meetings between senior officials from the two countries in 1975 show that South Africa's defence minister, PW Botha, asked for the warheads and Shimon Peres, then Israel's defence minister and now its president, responded by offering them "in three sizes". The two men also signed a broad-ranging agreement governing military ties between the two countries that included a clause declaring that "the very existence of this agreement" was to remain secret. The documents, uncovered by an American academic, Sasha Polakow-Suransky, in research for a book on the close relationship between the two countries, provide evidence that Israel has nuclear weapons despite its policy of "ambiguity" in neither confirming nor denying their existence.

. . . continues at the guardian (24th of may, 2010)

here's also a research paper published in 2004, which, looking at declassified south african documents, lays out apartheid south africa's rational for acquiring nuclear weapons (bombing, or 'deterring,' black liberation groups):

[cupcakegalaxia]

People want all the benefits of Christianity without all the repenting of sin, putting it to death and trusting in Christ part.

[fortunatelychaoticphantom]

I recently found out that Native People in the American continent have their own name for it, which is Abya Yala.

Anyway, wouldn't it be nice if we started to support their right for self determination and freedom from the oppression of colonial rule? Wouldn't it be nice if we support the complete and immediate abolition of all colonizer countries, which are *checks notes* every single country in the American continent plus the island ones? Wouldn't it be nice if we started telling all the settlers, conquistadors and immigrants to Go Back To Where They Came From? Wouldn't it be nice if we started chanting in the streets and online for the cleansing of the continent from all non-Native people? Wait, that sounds kind of extreme, doesn't it? But what if it rhymed? Everyone knows that if it rhymes it's true and justified right? So maybe the American continent should be free, you know, maybe from shore to shore... no, no. From sea to sea, that's it! What a great cause! And great causes are worth fighting for by all means, right? Obviously, I do not support violence at all, but like wouldn't it be justified if Native People were to become violent in their fight for freedom? I mean, think of the history for a moment, what brought them to this moment? And could you blame them? After all, shouldn't freedom be fought for by all means necessary? Wouldn't you support their claim?

Anyway.

From Sea To Shiny Sea Abya Yala Will Be Free.

[wonder-worker]

people really do not know what they're talking about when it comes to Elizabeth Woodville's social status, huh?

[waxflowerwoes]

obviously chandrilan fashion is influenced by traditional east asian garments (the first time i was watched andor i was thinking about how much it reminded me of korean hanbok but that bias is probably indicative of how i grew up near a koreatown) and i saw someone somewhere say that it's odd that the shirts are crossed right over left (the way to dress a dead person) instead of the traditional left over right

now this could be a cultural oversight on the part of the costume designers. it wouldn't be the first time hollywood (or even star wars) appropriated an aesthetic they didn't understand. but with the line "play it how you want. but i'm going to assume i'm already dead," also existing in this show, maybe it's not.

[revasserium]

the unofficial ultimate bungo stray dogs reading list

this is mainly for myself bc i rly do want to read most if not all of these and i'm sure it's already been done by someone somewhere. but, i thought why not post it lmao; most if not all of these can be found on anna's archive, z-library, or project gutenberg! (also, consider buying from your local bookstore!) for those that are a bit harder to find, i've included links, though some are from j-stor and would require login to access.

detective agency:

osamu dazai:

no longer human (novel)

the setting sun (novel)

nakajima atsushi:

the moon over the mountain: stories (short story collection)

light, wind and dreams (short story)

fukuzawa yukichi:

an encouragement of learning (17 volume collections of writings)

all the countries of the world, for children written in verse (textbook)

yosano akiko:

kimi shinitamou koto nakare (poem)

midaregami (poetry collection)

edogawa ranpo:

the boy detectives club (book series)

japanese tales of mystery and imagination (short story collection)

the early cases of akechi kogoro (novel)

kunikida doppo:

river mist and other stories (short story collection)

izumi kyouka:

demon lake (play)

spirits of another sort: the plays of izumi kyoka (play collection)

tanizaki junichirou:

the makioka sisters (novel)

the red roof and other stories (short story collection)

miyazawa kenji:

ame ni mo makezu; be not defeated by the rain (poem)

night on the galactic railroad (novel)

strong in the rain (poetry collection)

port mafia:

mori ougai:

vita sexualis (novel)

the dancing girl (novel)

nakahara chuuya:

poems of nakahara chuya (poetry collection)

akutagawa ryuunosuke:

rashoumon (short story)

the spider's thread (short story)

rashoumon and other stories (short story collection)

ozaki kyouyou:

the gold demon (novel)

higuchi ichiyou:

in the shade of spring leaves (biography and short stories)

hirotsu ryuurou:

falling camellia (novel)

tachihara michizou:

in mourning for the summer (poem)

midwinter momento (poem)

from the country of eight islands: an anthology of japanese poetry (poetry collection)

kajii motojirou:

lemon (short story)

yumeno kyuusaku:

dogra magra (novel)

oda sakunosuke:

flawless/immaculate (short story)

sakaguchi ango:

darakuron (essay)

the guild:

f. scott fitzgerald:

the great gatsby (novel)

the beautiful and the damned (novel)

edgar allen poe:

the raven (poem)

the black cat (short story)

the murders in the rue morgue (short story)

herman melville:

moby dick (novel)

h.p. lovecraft:

the call of cthulhu (short story)

the shadow out of time (novella)

john steinbeck:

the grapes of wrath (novel)

of mice and men (novel)

lucy maud montgomery:

anne of green gables (novel)

the blue castle (novel)

chronicles of avonlea (short story collection)

louisa may alcott:

little women (novel)

the brownie and the princess (short story collection)

margaret mitchell:

gone with the wind (novel)

mark twain:

the adventures of tom sawyer (novel)

adventures of huckleberry finn (novel)

nathaniel hawthorn:

the scarlet letter (novel)

rats in the house of the dead:

fyodor dostoevsky:

crime and punishment (novel)

the brothers karamozov (novel)

notes from the underground (short story collection)

alexander pushkin:

eugene onegin (novel)

a feast in time of plague (play)

ivan goncharov:

the precipice (novel)

oguri mushitarou:

the perfect crime (novel)

decay of the angel:

fukuchi ouchi:

the mirror lion, a spring diversion (kabuki play)

bram stoker:

dracula (novel)

dracula's guest and other weird stories (short story collection)

nikolai gogol:

the overcoat (short story)

dead souls (novel)

hunting dogs: (i must caveat here that the hunting dogs are named after much more comparatively obscure jpn writers/playwrights so i was unable to find a lot of the specific pieces actually mentioned; but i still wanted to include them on the list because well -- it wouldn't be a bsd list without them)

okura teruko:

gasp of the soul (short story; i wasn't able to find an english translation)

devil woman (short story)

jouno saigiku:

priceless tears (kabuki play; no translation but at least we have a summary)

suehiro tetchou:

setchuubai/a political novel: plum blossoms in snow (novel)

division for unusual powers:

taneda santouka:

the santoka: versions by scott watson (poetry collection)

tsujimura mizuki:

lonely castle in the mirror (novel)

yesterday's shadow tag (short story collection; i was unable to find a translation)

order of the clock tower:

agatha christie:

and then there were none (novel)

murder on the orient express (novel)

she is the best selling fiction writer of all time there's too much to list here

mimic:

andre gide:

strait is the gate (novel)

trascendents:

arthur rimbaud:

illuminations (poetry collection)

the drunken boat (poem)

a season in hell (prose poem)

johann von goethe:

faust

the sorrows of young werther

paul verlaine:

clair de lune (poem, yes it did inspire the debussy piece, yes)

poems under saturn (poetry collection)

victor hugo:

the hunchback of notre-dame (novel)

les miserables (novel)

william shakespeare:

romeo and juliet (play)

a midsummer nights' dream (play)

sonnets (poetry collection)

the seven traitors:

jules verne:

around the world in 80 days (novel)

journey to the center of the earth (novel)

twenty thousand leagues under the seas (novel)

other:

natsume souseki:

i am a cat (novel)

kokoro (novel)

botchan (novel)

h.g. wells:

the time machine (novella)

the invisible man (novel)

the war of the worlds (novel)

shibusawa tatsuhiko:

the travels of prince takaoka (novel; unable to find translation)

dr. mary wollstonecraft godwin shelley

frankenstein (novel)

[datastate]

speaking of - if i discussed how racist most yttd fans are would you forgive me.

[medicinemane]

I don't know... horrible things happen all around the world and it's not a competition

Atrocities are committed against multiple groups in multiple parts of the world at the exact same moment, and none of them erase each other. They all matter, all the people in this world who are being brutalized matter. There shouldn't be any line you draw where one group doesn't actually matter as much as another

You're welcome to prioritize your energy towards helping one group or another, but what's not ok is invalidating or dismissing people who are actively being harmed

Same goes for trying to figure out which social group has things worst (and lets be honest, always using a US lens)

Like... maybe the important thing is to prop each other up and help everyone get on their own feet rather than trying to... pick fights about if physical disabilities or mental illness are less respected (I'm trying to pick a more absurd example but sadly I've seen exactly that argument happen before). Maybe it doesn't really matter and what matters is helping who we can when we can

I'm tired of it, I'm just fucking tired of it. Support people, champion them when the world is just brutalizing them, but you don't need to throw a single other person under the bus to do that

Which seems to be an absolutely impossible lesson for people to learn

[makerofmadness]

Kirby and the Forgotten Land: Run Into the New World! Chapter ☆2: Must Find the Waddle Dees!

The tunnel was dug into a hill as if carved in. The trio, taking careful note of their surroundings, stepped into the dark tunnel. Littering the place were various construction tools and signboards written in a language they had never seen before, all clearly neglected. It seemed they had been abandoned a long time ago, as everything looked old.

The cries of the Waddle Dees could be heard coming from inside. Mixed with them were familiar growls that could be heard coming from all around the place.

“Grrrr~!!!”

“There are Awoofies here!” Elfilin shouted. “Be careful!”

“Got it!”

Bandana Waddle Dee readied his spear and looked around. Upon noticing Kirby and co.’s intrusion, the Awoofies came in one by one to attack.

“Oh, no you don’t!!”

Although Kirby didn’t have a Copy Ability at the moment, the Awoofies weren’t a problem, they could be taken care of even in his face-without-makeup form.

Bandana Waddle Dee bravely brandished his spear and made the Awoofies scatter. Elfilin’s stared in awe.

“You two are really strong! I hadn’t known Bandana was this powerful!”

“Being with Kirby brings out my strength,” Bandana Waddle Dee said bashfully. “C’mon, let’s keep going and rescue everyone!”

“Okie dokie! We’ve gotten closer to the voices!”

The three continued toward the sound of the Waddle Dees’ cries. However, along the way, they encountered a tall wall.

“What the-? Is this a dead end?...”

“Kirby, look up. It looks like if we climb our way up there, we’ll be able to go on.”

Just as Bandana Waddle Dee said, a door could be seen at the top of the wall. It was much too high up to get there by hovering 

“What are we gonna do?...”

Once he pondered it, Elfilin said:

“Kirby, look over there: there’s a staircase! Bring it over here, then we’ll be able to climb up!”

Elfilin had found a staircase, one that seemed like the kind used at construction sites. Surely, if they used that, they would be able to reach the door.

The three attempted to work together to push it to underneath where the door was, but even their combined strength just wasn’t enough, the staircase was much too heavy. Try as hard as they might ‘til they were red in the face, it didn’t move an inch.

“It won’t budge...” Bandana Waddle Dee said, out of breath, “I think we’ll have to come up with another solution...”

“Hmm...”

Kirby thought about it, when, all of a sudden, a bright idea lit up in his head.

“I’ve got it! If I could fit that whole car into my mouth, wonder if I can fit other things in there too???”

“Huh? Did you say fit it into your mouth?”

“STAIRS MOUTH time! Watch me!”

Kirby turned to face the staircase, mustered up all the strength that he could and sucked in the air.  

Whooooosh!!

The heavy staircase rattled as it finally moved, lightly floating in the air.

“...Wha-?!”

Bandana Waddle Dee and Elfilin’s eyes widened. 

The staircase, hit by Kirby’s inhale, came flying right toward Kirby!”

Bandana Waddle Dee screamed:

“Kirby, look out! Get out of the way!”

However, Kirby continued to inhale without worry.

And, as Kirby’s mouth stretched open wider than one would think possible- he took the entire staircase into his mouth.

Bandana Waddle Dee went white as a sheet, and ran up to Kirby, who had taken the shape of the staircase.

“Kirby!! Are you alright!?! Speak to me!”

With the stairs stuffed in his mouth, Kirby was unable to talk, but he jumped up and down lightly.

Bandana Waddle Dee, who had tears full of worry in his eyes, was dumbfounded.

“Kirby, you aren’t hurt?

Instead of responding, Kirby slowly and shakily moved forward. Once he got directly under the door, with great strength, he spat the staircase right back out.

The same staircase that wasn’t moved by the three of them combined, had finally moved right where they needed it to be.

“Haahh! There, perfect!”

Satisfied, Kirby looked up at the stairs. Now they could get up the wall to where the door is. 

“Woah, Kirby, that was AWESOME!” Elfilin shouted while flying around. “I didn’t know you could do something like that!”

“Well that was a shock...” Bandana Waddle Dee said, flustered, “that’s the first time I’ve seen you do this. I’m guessing this was the new ability you were talking about earlier...”

Kirby nodded.

“Yup! I can shove big things in my mouth, and my body’ll stretch around them, and then I take the same shape as whatever’s in my mouth!”

“You weren’t able to do this back in Dream Land?”

“Inside that mysterious vortex, my body got all stretched around,” Kirby said, thinking back to his experience in the vortex, “I got all twisted up in there. But it didn’t really hurt that much. I wonder if the vortex’s power made my body, like, super extra stretchy or something.”

“It’s a really cool power... but you need to make sure not to use it too much, Kirby. If you stretch your body out too much, you might have a hard time getting it back to its original shape.”

"I’m sure I’ll be a-okay, don’t worry! Now, c’mon, let’s get a move on!”

The trio, with Kirby at the lead, climbed up the stairs.

~

The Waddle Dees were being held in the innermost parts of the tunnel. There were three of them. Crammed inside a cage, surrounded and guarded by several Awoofies. 

“Wa... wa-wa... Great King...”

“Senior... *hic* *hic* ...senior Bandana...”

The Waddle Dees’ sobs echoed around. At times, the Awoofies would growl at them to shut them up, but the Waddle Dees would keep crying.

Peeping from behind cover concealing them from sight, Kirby and his friends looked at each other and nodded.

The first to jump out was Bandana Waddle Dee.

Spear readied, he yelled loudly:

“Everyone, we’re here to help!!”

Running in as well, Kirby shouted:

“Let’s go!! Chaaaaaarge!!!” 

Elfilin, who lacked the power to fight, supported them from the sidelines:

“You can do it, Bandana! You too, Kirby!”

Such a sudden attack caught the Awoofies completely off-guard. They tried to pounce, but against Kirby and co. they couldn’t put up a fight.

*Whine* ...!”

Letting out pitiful cries, they fled the scene.

The Waddle Dees inside the cage cheered:

“Hooray, senior Bandana! Elfilin!”

“And- Kirby?? When did you get here????”

Bandana Waddle Dee opened the cage door.

“We’ll explain later! C’mon, go! We need to get out of here before they can get backup!”

The Waddle Dees hopped out of the cage. They were all about to run off together before one Waddle Dee spoke up:

“Wait just one moment please, senior Bandana!”

“Huh? What’s the matter, Wise?”

The Waddle Dee referred to as Wise was a little different from the other Waddle Dees. He had what looked like an academic cap on his head, and he was wearing glasses.

“Well,” Wise Waddle Dee said while adjusting his glasses, “I believe that there is something important hidden behind the room divider.”

“What?”

 “I noticed it while I was observing the behavior of the Awoofies. The whole time while they wee fighting, they were worried about the room divider. It seemed as if they were guarding some kind of treasure behind there.”

Bandana Waddle Dee nodded.

“Coming from Wise, it has to be true. We should investigate.”

“Umm, so, your name’s Wise?” Kirby asked, wondering. 

“Indeed, Kirby. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, now,” Wise Waddle Dee said while nodding his head. “I’ve always been a fan of reading, but after coming to this world, I’ve had much more time to think, and gradually my head has become clear. Everyone started calling me Wise after that.”

“Really? That’s so cool! Nice to meet you, Wise!”

“I should be saying that to you!”

While the two were talking, Bandana Waddle Dee and Elfilin peeked behind the room divider.

“Nope, no treasure,” Elfilin said, “just a hat.”

However, Bandana Waddle Dee exclaimed:

“This hat, no way...!”

Bandana Waddle Dee gently picked up the hat and brought it over to Kirby.

“Is this-!”

Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee exchanged looks and nodded.

“This hat looks just like the Sword Ability’s hat.”

“Would you mind sucking it up, Kirby?”

“Gotcha!”

Kirby began sucking in the air, sending the hat flying up and into his mouth. 

In an instant, Kirby transformed. In his right hand, he was carrying a big sword. Happily, Kirby swung it around in the air.

“Yup! That’s the Sword Ability alright!”

Elfilin flew around in surprise.

“What’s going on??? Kirby, where did that sword come from????”

Bandana Waddle Dee explained with a big smile:

“This is the first time you’ve seen it, Elfilin. This is Kirby’s strange power, his Copy Ability.”

“Wowie...!”

Elfilin wiggled his big ears with excitement. 

“Kirby really is the coolest! First he turns himself into a staircase, then he pulls a sword out of nowhere- I wonder what else he can do!”

“But, why in the world would this be left here?”

Bandana Waddle Dee was stumped. Wise Waddle Dee raised his hands and said:

“This hat is remarkably similar to the Copy Ability hats on Pop Star.”

“Huh? And what about it?”

“In this world, an advanced civilization once flourished. Perhaps this Copy Ability hat was brought here by some means, and this star’s advanced civilization studied it to see if they could use it...”

Wise Waddle Dee explained with pride, but Kirby wasn’t really listening. Cheerily holding his sword up high, he shouted:

“If I can use Copy Abilities here, we have nothing to fear from the likes of the Beast Pack. C’mon, let’s go save the Waddle Dees!”

Bandana Waddle Dee nodded, before asking the Waddle Dees:

“Do you guys have any idea where they’ve been taking everyone?”

“I think they were heading further up north.”

“Of course, I knew that shopping mall seemed sketchy. Let’s go!”

“Well then, we should probably head back to town and wait for everyone else to return,” Wise Waddle Dee said. Upon hearing this, Bandana Waddle Dee’s expression turned sad:

“Wise... our town, it’s... there’s nothing left...”

“Yes, that’s exactly why. We’ll have that town restored exactly to the way int was before!”

Wise Waddle Dee spoke with pride, holding up a fist.

“We’ll fix up the debris, and rebuild our delightful cafe and lovely park. I wish to  create a place where Great King Dedede can rest once we find him, for however long we are here!”

The other Waddle Dees’ faces all lit up.

“That’s a wonderful idea! Just as we’d expect from you, Wise!”

“The town is in ruins right now, our Great King can’t possibly take a nap in a place like that!”

Bandana Waddle Dee smiled and nodded.

“Good idea, everyone! Well then, we’ll leave the town to you three. It’s not going to be easy, but please try you best,”

“Yes, of course!”

Bandana Waddle Dee turned to Elfilin. 

“Elfilin, go back to the town with the others.”

“Wha-?!”

Elfilin shook his head.

“But why?? I should be going with you and Kirby!”

“Most likely there’s going to be much stronger enemies than the Awoofies up ahead. It’s too dangerous-”

“I’M GOING!!” Elfilin asserted with a serious face. “I just want to be useful. I’m always being saved by the Waddle Dees, now I want to return the favor, in any way I can!”

“Elfilin...”

Bandana Waddle Dee was astonished. 

“You’re right, let’s go together,” Kirby said with a smile. “It’ll be way more fun with Elfilin around.”

Bandana Waddle Dee, as if captivated by Kirby’s carefree smile, laughed.

“Understood. The three of us will go together. Now, let’s go find all the Waddle Dees and the Great King!”

“Alright!”

Kirby and co. bid farewell to the three Waddle Dees returning to the town, hop on the Warp Star, and continue on further north.

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[sleepyyghostt]

u kno its fcked when all u can do is listen to fable of the times by arcadian wild on loop over and over again

[sunflowercider]

speaking of the white cavalry i know sir blanc said he'll give his loyalty to lloyd in a roundabout way but lloyd said to be careful with his words during the dead matsodons attack...

which brings me who do you think they sided with during the fourth ending spoiler where the queen waged war when she bace a bit crazy/paranoid

DELICIOUS ASK ANON, SO FUCKING DELICIOUS.

Damn. Damn. If I wanted to waste a few hours or days, I would sketch out entirely what I think happened politically and geographically in the fourth spoiler. While that future ends incredibly horribly, the lead up to it? Im so sorry, destiny writes some good stories (´-ω-`)

Anyways. Specifically about the white cavalry. After the dead mastadons attack kills 6 of the cavalry, Lloyd feels terrible. He feels it's only right to treat their remains with incredible care and respect, send a letter to the queen telling their tales as flowery as possible to help their loved ones get cared for in their absence, and build a memorial stone for them. Lloyd takes their lives (and the loss of them) gravely seriously. And Sir Blanc is moved nearly to tears.

This is a man who has been quite literally treated like a chess piece in others' wars. And here's some random noble who simply had an unpredictable skirmish with monsters, not even a proper battle, and treats their lives like precious gold. Sir Blanc, in his heart, wants to follow Lloyd (and I imagine the others in his group feel the same).

Lloyd may have roundaboutly turned him down but. The cavalry is still here you know.

When the queen loses her mind, there's first a civil war between those who support and those who oppose her. The Fronteras technically pick the side supporting her, but remain neutral otherwise. This is the most uncertain part for the cavalry. They could get called by the queen during this time, but my hunch is that the Fronteras' status quo is kept, as they are still technically an area of growth for the Cremona region, as well as a stronghold with the apartment fortresses. Leaving the cavalry with the County would make sense; theyre an important military group, but only a part of the queens forces. However, if the cavalry gets called at that moment, they will follow her. They are still loyal to the queen, they just also want to follow Lloyd... and hey, he's technically supporting her.

Now. If the cavalry stay at the Fronteras until the queen makes the error of attacking a peaceful foreign country and Lloyd opposes the decision? Oh ho hoooo thats a whole different ballgame.

The first civil war actually ended before that. Once the queen wins that, she attacks the Benetto Kingdom as a way to consolidate her nobles. (You know, similar to what the Sultan wanted to do?) Lloyd opposes when he hears - he built the route to Benetto for trade, not military. Then the next civil war begins.

HOW does the White Cavalry respond here?? What a pickle, what a pickle. There's no more pretending the queen and Lloyd stand aligned. There's a choice to be made. They're originally loyal to the queen but... she recently killed many nobles (and their armies) for reasons that were never justified properly, and then attacked and took control of a peaceful kingdom. You know, the cavalry helped build the mountain pass too. They have some pride.

In the face of all this, despite the fierce loyalty of a knight to their ruler... I think the White Cavalry would have to cave and join the Fronteras. I think they'd have a fierce internal fight about it, and they wouldn't be very happy about the choice either way. But Lloyd has shown his good nature many times over, while the queen has failed spectacularly. They know who is right.

But even if the White Cavalry did join the queen again due to knightly loyalty reasons, i think they would take the scenic route home. After all. Lloyd won the fight within 10 days. They can afford an unusually long walk back to the capital.

[lesboylycan]

https://www.tumblr.com/wolfboy-butch/745437590649520128/anyways-someone-should-feed-our-npd-and-ask-us

B in the tags is interesting because some other system clocked us as having a more anarchist system structure (<- we had not thought about this before!!!) and it feels like a lot of other systems who have more stratified systems are some form of Asshole, something we have figured out You Are Not so please tell us about that! We are begging you. We wish to understand others further whilst we're feeling good.

C in the tags is interesting because that feels so far beyond us it makes no sense and we literally just NEED to know more. If you're sapient and share our brain in our system you're a headmate and part if the system. We believe we have talked to one other system with a situation like Tag Option C but it wouldn't hurt to have the information.

~ Kirbopher (would it be better to use "Kirb" here so people know I'm a fictive/fucktive/not-the-guy-Im-sorry?????)

Hi thank you for sending! Now, warning, you have unlocked a Major rant, so readers beware, click the read more at your own discretion.

So basically, when we first became partitionary, we ended up in Madeline's (aka Aaron; he/him as Madeline and she/her as Aaron, not in a plural way but in a bigender anarchy way) house. We could not see outside of the windows of this house, it was basically just blank void to us, and us four ([original headmate with the IRL name we use, later forged with several others into Summer], Madeline, Cale, and Em) lived there.

Fast forward a month. A few new folks have joined in (Roman, Grimble, Shark), aaaaand they don't exactly want to live with us in the same house. Especially not Shark, since he was a semi-feral fish man who uh, needed water to live. Suddenly, we can see the beginnings of a town surrounding a lake.

Things grow from there. What we can see grows, the town grows, and there comes to be another fish man, Caspien, who makes the best god damn iced peach tea you've ever tried. He's mostly notable because the lake is later named after him, along with Another Thing that'll become clear later. Eventually, we begin to see the forest at the edge of our little town that we've built. Everything's cool. (Unfortunately, we don't have the map from this time--we know it existed at one point! But we can't find the file, nor can we find any remnants of it in the Discord servers we were in at the time that we might be able to use)

Then, uh-oh, April of 2021. System collapse. Down from 60 all the way to 15--including Summer, who becomes the new host. As if to put salt in the wound, what we can see expands, and we can now see the coast of the Wirshir'dauwn Sea, along with the edges of what we would later find out are two major mountain ranges.

Note: we aren't creating our headspace. We did not realize, at the time, that most systems created their headspace and didn't simply passively discover it in the same way they may discover old headmates.

Things regrow. Come late May, and the boundaries of what we can see stretch with the arrival of several new headmates at once: the Plainsmen. Unlike the small, incremental changes of before, this change is huge--we can now see double what we used to, it's all to the east, and it's all grassy plains and desert. This is what our map looks like at the time:

(Note: orange dots are settlements, don't recall grey dots are doors to the front room which was essentially a different realm we could enter via those doors, black lines are train lines, and the Winterdown Ocean is called that for a reason. You'll see.)

Now, here's the thing: the only people in the entire system who can go into the plains (as in, beyond the Barrier Mountains)... are the Plainsmen. Even as more headmates form. Our only way to communicate with them is through going to the front room, which is split into two, with a hallway between. We can't even go to their side of the front room without feeling dizzy and foggy. And this isn't a one-sided thing at all, they can't come to our side either!

Thankfully, we get to talk to them frequently, since the front room was the only way we could front at the time, we were in high school, and one of them--Gilan--was a god at badminton and so wanted to front constantly since that was the only thing we'd play in PE at the time.

Then comes along Carmen (zhe/zhem/zheir/zheirs). Who sorta... breaks everything. At first, we kind of just meme on zhem (from fantasy mid-1800s era England, scared of cars, etc), but then... zhe try crossing over to the Plainsmen's side of the front room, against everyone else's advice.

And zhe're completely fine. No ill effects. Zhe start talking to Gilan, they hit things off (and they both hit things off with another person, Jade, who was from our ex-partner system but now lives over here thanks to system hopping stuff), and eventually, zhe get dared to go out into the actual Plains. And Carmen, the bastard, agrees.

And not only are zhe fine, but zhe can still front. Outside of the front room.

And then we can find out zhe can teleport. What in the hell. Who are you. What the fuck.

Well, zhe decide to see if zhe can do something about the "no fronting unless in front room" thing, and zhe eventually end up developing crystals a la the crystals in Dimension20's Fantasy High. They're basically phones, but... rock. Which everyone now has. Carmen settles down by Overdeep Lake because zhe generally dislike people except for zheir partners. Things start to settle in, things get a bit more normal again...

Whoops! New headspace expansion, and not just that, we learn that we're not the only ones here, and uh. We're. Actually gateway. And the reason why our headspace was "passively expanding" instead of us building it was because the whole world already existed. And there were people there. There just weren't people in the area that we'd been settling, aside from in the towns in the Plains--but we'd just figured those were NPCs since we rarely interacted with them! Not full people! And we'd never heard anyone talking about this before, so what the hell is going on? The map now looks like this.

(Note: the mountains along the edge of the sea aren't actually mountains mountains, just cliffside. We weren't great at making maps at the time.)

So as it would turn out. "Winterdown" was a mistranslation/mishearing of Wirshir'dauwn. And Kingdom Omaude exists. And both of these places have their own cultures, languages, accents, etc. And apparently, Caspien was originally from Wirshir'dauwn, had heard of human (or, mostly human) settlement around the lake, and decided to check it out and just... never went back? Alright man, miss you, thanks for the iced peach tea, wish you'd taught someone how to make it properly before you disappeared in the system collapse but whatever, we're cool.

Okay. Okay! This is fine! Everything is fine. Carmen goes up to meet Queen Scethius (he/him) to explain things, and then they hit it off. Carmen had already adopted some kids, and this is where the joke that Carmen (who adopts every sad wet rat zhe see--zheir eldest's words, not mine) has more partners than kids starts to take off. Queen Scethius even sets aside a whole coat for zhem, how romantic.

And then we learn that this isn't it. We just haven't explored yet--because now that we've properly learned about Omaude and Wirshir'dauwn, it's not that the world around us is locked, it's just that we... need to explore more of it.

Blah blah blah, stuff happens, a revolt occurs against the monarchy in Kingdom Girun--Omaude's oldest enemy, historically--and now the folks running the place are generally cool. Carmen had already set up the Rangers in the Forebarrier, which isn't formally a country but still has a seat at the metaphorical table in the world stage now since... people actually live there now? And the Rangers basically just make sure everyone's doing okay, help distribute resources, mediate conflict, stuff like that. Carmen was voted to be the commandant, which basically just means zhe do the most paperwork and talk to the most people, and zheir best friend/subject of many inside jokes, Cordon, is zheir second. We learn about more and more nations and their cultures, and eventually, the map looks like this.

"Where's Wirshir'dauwn?" you ask. Here's the thing: Wirshir'dauwn was a kingdom. Which we hadn't known before. The ocean itself is called Daerk'shyen, and many more people live there! The Great Divide is basically a massive set of mountain ranges and canyons that are largely considered impassable, except for a few things.

Also note: "Tetutlen" is a typo, it's actually Tetlunen. Didn't notice that until just now. Whoops. Also, City Toelit was a former state of Girun, but split off somewhere to the tune of a few hundred years ago due to the corrupt monarchy? But now that things have switched up and stuff is much more democratic, there's debate on whether or not they want to rejoin Girun. Note: Girun and City Toelit are both mostly occupied by elves, who live hundreds of years already.

And, aside from the Shakening n' Quakening [SNQ] (which split up the world into a bunch of floating islands--no clue why or how it happened, not even the Gods know, some suspect it might have been discourse between the Ancients, which are basically the gods of the Gods; we get around both by the magic Saltrock Express (still exists! Still around!) and via sky ships, with there being an official Sky Rider League in the Forebarrier, which is mostly made up of Rangers and heavily tied to them but aren't actually part of the Rangers), that's... basically what our map looks like now. The world is called... several different things depending on the nation, of course, but we in the Forebarrier and Plains call it Yhine, and the continent--since the SnQ--is called [the] Archidivum.

What we suspect happened is that the brain basically latched onto a particular realm, and that realm became an anchor for the colony. As we grew and as our needs shifted and changed, the amount that was "unlocked" for us--as the brain latched more and more onto the world--grew and changed with us, until eventually, it got to the point where we were no longer the only ones we could talk to/no longer the only ones we knew of who had major influence over the world we were in and now part of.

As for why certain folks don't consider themselves part of the collective even if they front, it's mostly cases like General Fenityr (he/him, ze/zim/zyr/zyrs), who is the head of the military in Omaude. He's been around for somewhere to the tune of 650 years, has been a political figure in Omaude for around 400 of them, basically raised Queen Scethius, yadda yadda.

In recent times, though, he's gotten more familiar with the Colony, and even got married to Ramses (one of Carmen's kids, also a former member of that same ex-partner system in the same way Jade (who, along with Gilan, married Carmen) is--they both moved over here (with permission) to be with the people they married, and to hopefully avoid getting accidentally erased, since our collective--post April 2021--was a lot more stable than the ex's and was/is a lot less prone to collapses, resets, etc). Ze's close with Carmen's family (especially since Carmen is also married to Scethius. "Carmen has more partners than kids" blah blah) and would front pretty frequently to talk to Ramses back before Ramses moved over here. So what gives on the whole "not being part of the collective" thing?

Well, one of the biggest reasons ze doesn't consider zyrself as part of the colony is because ze's basically guaranteed to outlive it, and ze's still beholden to the whims of the world ze lives in and not the whims of the brain in which the Colony occupies. Not to mention, ze lived for centuries longer than the Colony had even existed, and grew up entrenched in the cultures of Girun (having originally lived there for around about 160, 170 years) and Omaude (where he eventually settled permanently). While he can front, and he is friends with folks in the Colony, he doesn't consider himself as part of it because he, first and foremost, is attached to and part of and from Girun, Omaude, the Archidivum, and Yhine as a whole in a way that we, the Seal Colony, just... aren't. Just because we're anchored here doesn't mean we're natives of the place the same way they are (with few exceptions, mostly very young kids who arrived in the Colony at the age of 3 or younger who've never known different.)

(Or folks like Carmen. Or, really, just Carmen. Remember how I said zhe can teleport? Zhe also have a bunch of other abilities that zhe flat out should not be able to have and should not have been able to have since the beginning. Also, zhe're friends with at least one of the Gods of Yhine and has generally gained the Gods' favor. So zhe're just. Yeah.)

[chemicalarospec]

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[justthatspiffy]

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[purenguyening]

Marriage is just not in my future, but I do think it's like, insanely funny I grew up in the US so there is (sort of) an expectation I would take on my husband's family name, but being Vietnamese the tradition goes that I just simply retain my family name.

Therefore, I think it'd be funny the moment I got married I cease to have a last name.

[iamthepulta]

This CITATION, lol.

I'm gonna be fucking doomed when I start research on Al-Razi~ I love it.