#2015: the prestige

[hardygalwrites]

Originally posted to FFN a little after the 26th of December, 2016

Simply archiving a writing challenge I did back in 2016 up to 2017 and featuring my favourite writing pieces from each week of the challenge here on Tumblr :]

← Week 19 (KO) – Week 21 (BB) →

Cartoon: Transformers Prime / Robots in Disguise 2015

Characters: Smokescreen, Knock Out, and Bumblebee, with appearances from numerous other characters (even ones not featured in the cartoons)

Synopsis: An Autobot Elite Guard rookie, a Decepticon medic turned Autobot, and an Autobot scout turned warrior turned street cop - three very different bots with a wide range of stories to tell. And we are going to spend the next year exploring said stories through daily-written drabbles, be they angsty, humorous, gut-punching, or just plain odd! Who doesn’t love a challenge? (2016 to 2017)

—

The Mech in the Box

As he stared at the body, he noticed that he was venting heavily, despite the fact that it had taken surprisingly little effort to dispose of this one. He shook himself and retracted his buzzsaws.

"Get a hold of yourself," he growled.

He took the body and shoved it alongside the others - a long line of limp frames that looked exactly like him. But they weren't him, he was positive of that. They were just clones. He was the original.

"I'm the original..." He glared at the latest clone and spoke again, in a stronger voice. "Do you hear me? I'm the original!"

Tell Me More

Knock Out skidded to a stop and transformed, taking a quick glance behind him. He chuckled.

"Even after all this time and with your own team to back you up, you're still no match for my horsepower, Bumblebee."

"From this I gather you're well acquainted with the lieutenant," said a smooth voice.

Buzzsaws activated within an instant, Knock Out spun around and glared into the darkness of the surrounding forest.

"Calm down. I'm a friend." A wolf-bot emerged from the darkness, a benign smile on his faceplates. "If you don't mind, I'd love to hear more about how you know the lieutenant."

Primus, I Hate You

"Smokescreen has apparently decided to take five." Knock Out approached his original lab rat with a smile. "Looks like it's just you and me again."

"Knock Out... Release me," CyLAS pleaded weakly. "You- you have the Autobot. You don't.... need me."

"Ah, but you have so many novelties the Autobot doesn't," Knock Out said pleasantly, preparing a syringe. "Your techno-organic nature is something I have yet to finish dissecting, and quite frankly, I despise you just a bit more than I despise him. I won't say it's nothing personal..." He stabbed the syringe into CyLAS's arm. "...because it so most certainly is."

[steveyockey]

Measuring purely by confirmed kills, the worst mass murderer ever executed by the United States was the white supremacist terrorist Timothy McVeigh. On April 19, 1995, McVeigh detonated a massive bomb at the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children. The government killed McVeigh by lethal injection in June 2001. Whatever hesitation a state execution provokes, even over a man such as McVeigh — necessary questions about the legitimacy of killing even an unrepentant soldier of white supremacy — his death provided a measure of closure to the mother of one of his victims. “It’s a period at the end of a sentence,” said Kathleen Treanor, whose 4-year old McVeigh killed.

McVeigh, who in his own psychotic way thought he was saving America, never remotely killed on the scale of Kissinger, the most revered American grand strategist of the second half of the 20th century.

The Yale University historian Greg Grandin, author of the biography Kissinger’s Shadow, estimates that Kissinger’s actions from 1969 through 1976, a period of eight brief years when Kissinger made Richard Nixon’s and then Gerald Ford’s foreign policy as national security adviser and secretary of state, meant the end of between three and four million people. That includes “crimes of commission,” he explained, as in Cambodia and Chile, and omission, like greenlighting Indonesia’s bloodshed in East Timor; Pakistan’s bloodshed in Bangladesh; and the inauguration of an American tradition of using and then abandoning the Kurds.

No infamy will find Kissinger on a day like today. Instead, in a demonstration of why he was able to kill so many people and get away with it, the day of his passage will be a solemn one in Congress and — shamefully, since Kissinger had reporters like CBS’ Marvin Kalb and The New York Times’ Hendrick Smith wiretapped — newsrooms. Kissinger, a refugee from the Nazis who became a pedigreed member of the “Eastern Establishment” Nixon hated, was a practitioner of American greatness, and so the press lionized him as the cold-blooded genius who restored America’s prestige from the agony of Vietnam.

Not once in the half-century that followed Kissinger’s departure from power did the millions the United States killed matter for his reputation, except to confirm a ruthlessness that pundits occasionally find thrilling. America, like every empire, champions its state murderers. The only time I was ever in the same room as Henry Kissinger was at a 2015 national-security conference at West Point. He was surrounded by fawning Army officers and ex-officials basking in the presence of a statesman.

[wouteke]

How do you learn what a feeling means?

Frame Text: How to Draw a Horse by Emma Hunsinger References: Podium at Super Prestige Diem (2011) | "Aux racines de la rivalité entre Mathieu Van der Poel et Wout Van Aert" (L'Equipe) | Podium at Cyclocross World Championships Juniors (2012) | Wout trailing Mathieu at at Cyclocross World Championships Juniors (2012) | Podium at Cyclocross World Championships Elite (2017) | Wout winning an unknown race | "Van Aert: Van der Poel has always motivated me to beat him" (Cycling News) | Podium at Cyclocross World Cup Hoogerheide (2016) | Podium at Cyclocross World Championships Elite (2015) | Cyclocross Otegem Start Line (2017) | "Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert: The anatomy of a rivalry" (Cycling News) | Otegem (2017) | "Mathieu van der Poel en Wout van Aert, de koningen van de cross: 'Als je niet kunt afzien, moet je gaan voetballen'" (Humo) | Otegem (2017) | Cyclocross Otegem Start Line (2018) | Cyclocross Valkenburg World Cup (2016) | "LOENHOUT: Super Van Aert wins a Trofee 'super modder' + MORE PHOTOS & TV COVERAGE" (Cyclocross Rider) | "The van der Poel-van Aert rivalry: 'It’s impossible for us to be friends'" (Le Course en Tête) | Podium at 18th Superprestige Heusden-Zolder Elite (2022) | Wout and Mathieu after an unknown race (2014) | Mathieu and Wout during the Cyclocross World Championships (2016) | Wout touching Mathieu's back after the Cyclocross World Cup Namur (2020) | Wout and Mathieu after the Tour of Flanders (2020) | Wout and Mathieu after the UCI World Championships - Road (2023)

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

David and Michael interview with Vanessa Armstrong and Valerie Ettenhofer for SlashFilm, 10.7.2023

Film's Vanessa Armstrong got the answers in an interview with Sheen and Tennant, which it should be noted took place before the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike began. When asked about how and when Gaiman, who created and showruns the series, pitched the second season, Tennant revealed that "it gradually came into focus over a couple of years, probably." The actor notes that "the initial idea that there might be more story to tell" might have actually "had its genesis way, way back as a sort of fantasy idea, really, where we were shooting [season] 1." Like many a TV show these days, the show was initially marketed as a limited series, but that didn't last; it was officially renewed in 2021, two years after it aired.

While it sounds like Gaiman and the cast perhaps daydreamed about keeping the fun going with another season during production on the first, Tennant says the pieces still didn't come together until after it aired. "Then [season] 1 came out, and I think from that point, there was a slow realization that actually there might be more to come," he told /Film. "Neil was clearly excited at the idea, and I think Amazon were keen to do it." Some limited series clearly have aspirations for a sophomore season, but Tennant insists that he and Sheen "always thought it was a one-off," having signed contracts for one season and only been pitched on one season. When they got the go-ahead for another, though, he explained, "Michael and I were thrilled that we would get to return to [these] characters."

"When we started off on that journey, there was never a sense to go further, but what a treat that it was going to," Tennant explained. It took a long time for the full season 2 picture to come into focus: "I think Neil would drop us little nuggets down the months and years, really," he told /Film. Sheen, meanwhile, says he has "no memory whatsoever' of how Gaiman told him about the plans for Aziraphale in season 2. He did, however, have an inkling based on conversations Gaiman had described having with Pratchett about a continuation of the story before the author's death in 2015. "I know what we wanted to explore," Sheen said, "and I always remember what he was aiming to get to by the end of the second series, because of ideas that he and Terry had talked about with where the story might go."

Sheen says he thinks the first thing Gaiman told him about season 2 involved "the idea of Gabriel coming into their lives again in a very unexpected way, and then that eventually building to the point that they get to at the end of this series." Tennant, meanwhile, remembers being in Romania on a shoot for "Around The World in 80 Days" when Gaiman shared the first scene of season 2 with him and Sheen over Zoom. "Neil read us the first scene, the opening scene, which is, if you've seen it, you'll know we meet a very youthful Crowley and Aziraphale, very much way back at the beginning of time." (fygo: NGK FUCKING NGK!!!) Tennant says Gaiman "then gave us a quick sketch of what the rest of the series was going to be." Though both actors are understandably trying to keep mum about the ending of season 2, they note that Gaiman told them what it would be early on.

"That was all worked out, and it just felt delicious, really," Tennant says after recalling the Zoom meeting. "I mean from that moment on, it just felt like it was always meant to be. It felt like it was such a perfectly formed idea. I think it's fair to say that Michael and I didn't need much persuading." That's great to hear, because we certainly didn't need persuading to sign up for a season 2, either. The new "Good Omens" adventure begins on Prime Video on July 28, 2023.

[kataraslove]

Do you think Aang is a neglectful father to Bumi and Kya II?

going from just what we are shown in legend of korra through kya and bumi’s perspectives? yes. not intentionally, of course. but it’s important to recognize the amount of hurt that aang caused his children, to the point where tenzin’s idealization of him starts to falter, and he acknowledges that his father isn’t as perfect as he thought he was (or wanted him to be). don’t get me wrong - I think the fandom tends to exaggerate parts of aang’s parenting. like comparing him to ozai? that is the most ridiculous thing i’ve ever seen. but i also see pro meta glossing over kya and bumi’s concerns with him, which isn’t right. there needs to be more nuanced perspectives than “he was as bad as ozai!” or “kya and bumi really were just overexaggerating their grievances with aang. he was a great dad!”

i think here is where it’s important to discuss authorial intent: bryke have said that they had not meant for their writing to come across aang being a bad father who set out to intentionally neglect his children. rather, kya and bumi’s concerns and resentment likely stem from how they perceived his role to the world. legend of korra as a series offers a meta commentary on living up to legacy, the legacy set by the heroes in avatar the last airbender, and the legacy of living up to a critically acclaimed predecessor series. kya and bumi’s concerns also stem due to legacy: the legacy left behind by aang and how the world views their existence in accordance to this legacy - as the non-airbending children to the last airbender. kya and bumi feel that they deserve the right to be part of their father’s legacy (and they do) just as much as tenzin. i don’t think their insistence to be part of avatar aang’s legacy is due to a desire for prestige and fame, as they’ve spent much of their lives shying away from their father’s legacy. i think it’s out of a genuine realization that they are grieving and missing their father and want to celebrate his successes.

in print media, we actually get a different perspective to his parenting. kya and bumi offer good words about their father (mostly). in turf wars (2015), kya shares how he was “nothing but supportive” in relation to her coming out. she offers some interesting lore about same sex relationships among the air nomads, likely quoting something that her father could have directly shared with her. in avatar legends, it is confirmed that aang did teach both kya and bumi about their air nomad heritage, and kya internalized his lessons on philosophy, meditation, and balance:

Although she developed a slight resentment toward Aang for teaching more to Tenzin about his culture,[3] Kya internalized some of her father's lessons on philosophy, meditation, and balance.[6] She developed a stronger connection with Katara, who taught her to develop her waterbending combat and waterbending healing abilities to proficiency.[3][6] - Avatar Wiki

in bumi’s recent comic called the cat owl’s cradle (2022) released in patterns of time, i was surprised to find that bumi held a much more favourable perspective towards his father than before. he thinks about his father’s great smile all the time and tells his nephew that meelo’d smile reminds him of his father’s. he mentions that aang and him used to go fishing (a water tribe practice). he’s understanding of his father’s many duties to the world; why - as the avatar - he often didn’t have infinite time in the world to spend with him. most importantly, through the advice he offers meelo, it is evident that bumi has realized that an absence of airbending couldn’t possibly make his father love him more than he already did - that he is fine the way he is, with or without airbending. in this story, we discover a vast growth in bumi’s self-confidence, as he no longer feels a sense of inadequacy, in his own skills and in his father’s eyes.

to answer your question: if you were to only watch the legend of korra, i can completely see why you’d arrive at the conclusion that aang was a negligent father who deliberately focused on his youngest child over his other non-airbending children. if you factor in print and comic media, it tells the story of a father who was trying his best to balance his responsibilities to the world and his personal life, succeeding in some ways and failing in others. at the end of the day, it seems like kya and bumi’s genuine love for their father overtakes their grievances with him. what’s interesting is that it’s not like an “he’s my father so I’m obligated to love him” type of love. it’s more along the lines of, “yes we have our issues with him but we do believe he loved us wholeheartedly and we want to be included in his legacy.”

now, just because i’ve grasped (after so many attempts) on what bryke was trying to do in korra does not mean that i don’t have my fair share of issues with the way bryke went about writing that storyline. i dislike the fact that they blamed the fandom on the overexaggeration - if all sides of the fandom came out with the take home message that aang was a deadbeat father who gatekept his culture to his literal family, the onus is on your writing, not on the fandom. the balanced perspective years later in the comics is appreciated, but we definitely needed to see this in the show from the get go.

ultimately, if they have an interest in redeeming aang’s arc as a father (which i suspect they might want to do given post-korra material), they need to show us, rather than just tell us, that he wasn’t as bad as how korra makes him out to be. the perfect opportunity for this is in this upcoming adult gaang movie with the birth of baby bumi. we have no details surrounding this adult gaang movie, so i don’t know if bumi will be in it or not. but it is the perfect opportunity, if bryke are interested in going that route.

I will end off by saying that i’d rather have aang as a father than my own any day lmaooo.

[medievalandfantasymelee]

THE HOT MEDIEVAL & FANTASY MEN MELEE

QUALIFYING ROUND: 39th Tilt

Father Beocca, The Last Kingdom (2015-2022) VS. “The Mayor of Hamelin”, The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1957)

Propaganda

Father Beocca, The Last Kingdom (2015-2022) Portrayed by: Ian Hart

“We stan hot priests in this house. He is LITERALLY everything you could want in a man. He's so kind and sweet, so patient, so caring. AND HE’S A BADASS. He’s got a sharp tongue and a hot temper. If he says you’ll die by his spear and burn in the fires of hell, then by God (literally) it will happen. NO ONE loves his wife as much as Beocca, and that is SEXY.”

“The Mayor of Hamelin”, The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1957) Portrayed by:

“SHUT UP I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS Alright, listen - I get it, the premise is silly and goofy but this guy is the ultimate silver-haired fox of a DILF. Just LOOK at the size of the rings on his fingers! That rich velvet CAPE? The GLOVES?? He honestly gives off such dragon energy (grumpy, treasure-hoarding, and powerful) and I need him carnally. He speaks entirely in rhyme (hey, it's not easy!), can sing (his baritone voice is such a lure in itself), dance (on a table), drink, gaslights the townspeople he rules over, and prioritizes money and his prestige over everyone and everything (what a girlboss). He's also a father to a daughter (bonus family man points) and is constantly dragging the members of his own cabinet (forever throwing shade and giving well-deserved side-eye). His "burdens of office" include sampling the finest of delicacies Hamelin has to offer. As he puts it himself, "[he] was not made mayor for his beauty alone". Forget the Pied Piper's pipe - one listen to this velvet, honeyed purr and you'd follow him into the river to drown along with those rats.”

Additional Propaganda Under the Cut

Additional Propaganda

For Beocca:

(+ Bonus Uhtred)

For The Mayor:

[Gifset]

[Gifset]

[Gifset]

[Gifset]

[smokestarrules]

It's hard to remember now, but Star VS was actually considered one of the animated heavy hitters (probably held to the same level of prestige as the Owl House, Gravity Falls, and Amphibia), but after it's finale it SWIFTLY faded from the public consciousness.

Oh yeah, 100%. I mean, I watched it as it was airing back in 2015. It was fantastic.

It did not stay fantastic.

That's probably the main reason it faded so much. The finale was terrible, the episodes leading up to it were terrible, and the show threw most of its credibility away in order to have the two main characters smooch near the end or whatever. Just horrible management. Star VS is the easy template of what not to do with a great animated show.

[wanderingnork]

Gith Deep Dive: Top Ten Weirdest Lore From Dragon Magazine

Dragon was a magazine published from 1976 to 2013, first by TSR (the origin company of D&D), then Paizo (now best known for Pathfinder), and finally Wizards of the Coast. It was replaced in 2015 by Dragon+, which ran until 2022. The magazine published short fiction and comics, adventures and maps, reviews, advice, artwork, and more. Whole adventure lines (like Age of Worms or Scales of War) were published through the magazine, never as hard-copy books. Its famous "Ecology of..." line provided in-depth bestiary looks at various iconic monsters. The mind flayer ecology article is even narrated by a githyanki! It introduced magic items, class mechanics, and more--some of which have become staples of the wider tabletop RPG community.

Dragon ran for 430 issues and Dragon+ added another 41 on top of that. 47 issues of the original run featured the githyanki heavily, and 4 of Dragon+ did. On my neocities gith resources page, you can see all of them. They often appeared on encounter or class tables (as a PC race particularly suited for a particular paragon path or prestige class), but those I haven't included.

What's presented here is what I think are the ten weirdest, wildest, most surprising pieces of gith lore out of Dragon (and Dragon+). Enjoy.

(Note: I use Astral Plane and Astral Sea based on edition--it was Astral Plane up until 4th Edition when it switched to Astral Sea.)

(Further note: I sincerely apologize on behalf of the original writers for the way some of the original articles are written. There's often thoughtless language, nasty biases, and other questionable content. Trust me, it gives me the ick too.)

-

10: #93 – "Pronunciation Guide: An informal index of the right things to say", p.26

So...that's not actually how the article titled is spelled, but I hate how they did it so, so much. "Ay pronunseeAYshun gyd." Thanks, but no thanks.

This is more of a meta-weirdness than anything else. According to this article, "githyanki" is pronounced "gith-yan-kee," with emphasis on "yan." Cool, fine. "Githzerai," on the other hand, which we mostly pronounce as "gith-zer-eye" now (with emphasis on "eye"), is said to be pronounced "gith-zer-ee" (with emphasis on "gith"). You can spot this pronunciation listed on the Forgotten Realms wiki article, but in Baldur's Gate 3 it's quite clearly pronounced the former.

How times change.

9: #408 - Bazaar of the Bizarre: Treasures of the Elemental Chaos, p.29

The artifact suite "Xenda-Dran's Array" offers players a chance to wear the gear of a long-dead slaad assassin in the service of the slaad lord Ygorl. Apparently, eons ago, the slaad ran into the enlightened githzerai master Liricosa (detailed in The Plane Below: Secrets of the Elemental Chaos, p.148). Liricosa's power is such that he either killed the slaad easily...or his transcendent nature turned a slaad, the embodiment of chaos, into a being of law.

8: #390 – Power Play: Divine: Dead Gods, p.46-47

Deep in the Elemental Chaos floats the petrified body of the long-dead god Haramathur. Eons ago, this god sacrificed himself to seal away a powerful primordial. Now a githzerai monastery has been carved directly out of the god's body. The githzerai who live there call themselves the "Disciples of Stone" and may actually be able to communicate with stone itself. Good luck getting there to meet them, though: the body is surrounded by a maelstrom of volcanic energy.

7: #287 – Creatures of the Chaos Spire, p.74

An eldritch fortress known as Gnythagak, shaped by use of psionic power, is now known as the Chaos Spire. It was taken from the illithids by a combined force of githyanki and githzerai. Afterwards, the githyanki occupied the fortress, and the githzerai responded with an army. Tens of thousands died on both sides in the massive battle. In the end, the githzerai channeled the raw matter of the plane of Limbo directly into the heart of Gnythagak, resulting in an interplanar explosion and the transformation of the fortress into a migratory pocket-plane of its own.

The wild part about this isn't the battle. It's that the githyanki and githzerai worked together at such a scale for such a massive undertaking. That's pretty damn exceptional, and a demonstration of just how much both sides hate mind flayers.

6: #245 – Mindstalkers, p.36-43

This article covers an order of dwarves who develop psionic powers in order to hunt illithids. They learned from a githyanki who, in gratitude for being rescued from illithid clutches before he could become dinner, taught his dwarven rescuers psionic skill. The githyanki even brought ore from an Astral godmote to the dwarves so they could forge special weapons to fight mind flayers. These "caradhakers" adopt githyanki hairstyles and ornamentation alongside their typical clan fashions (and, of course, beards).

Githyanki aren't normally quite this open or friendly with other species. But, much like the incident with the Chaos Spire, hatred of illithids overrides everything.

5: #101 – Creature Catalog III, Thendar, p.54

Appearing ONLY in this single brief article, the thendar are a strange, humanoid Astral species who travel the planes gathering knowledge. They live for thousands of years and are peaceful sages.

The githyanki hate them. Probably just because they're nice...?

4: #159 – Voidjammers!

HOOOO BOY OKAY THIS IS THE DISTURBING ONE BUCKLE THE FUCK UP

So a thousand years or so ago, this archmage named Peregrin got bored with Material Plane adventures and moved to the Astral Plane with intent to literally form a planar taxi service. His adventures could probably fill a book, but the point for this post: the githyanki fucking hate this guy. First for intruding on the Astral Plane, then because this guy went on a rampage through the githyanki forces to confront Vlaakith *face to face* and demand she stop attacking his ships.

Apparently she was "less powerful" than she is now.

The githyanki left Peregrin's taxi service alone, for the most part, but they're still nursing one hell of a grudge. As they should. See, most of the ships are powered by extracted mind flayer brains, lobotomized to remove personality and retain psionic power for propulsion. So, so fucking disturbing, but the githyanki would probably approve of that. What they would not approve of is that it's rumored that Peregrin's personal flagship is powered by a pair of githyanki brains.

And, if it wouldn't make the whole species angry enough to find a way to kill him, Peregrin is openly stated to think powering his whole fleet with githyanki brains is a good idea.

In Dragon #166, a reader sent in a letter discussing how nightmarish this is and how much they disapprove. I find myself agreeing.

3: #419 – Winning Races: Bladelings

This article introduces the "bladelings" as a playable race for 4th Edition. Fancy, edgy (ha), violent, growing literal razor blades out of their bodies like scales, the bladelings were originally mortal human worshipers of Bane. When they won his favor, Bane fused them with their weapons forever. You know. As you do.

And then there's this one random throwaway line on page 23: "A few dissidents claim that they were actually from the same racial stock that would eventually give rise to the githyanki and githzerai."

E X C U S E ? ? ?

No elaboration is ever given. Guess we just get to live with this!

2: #381 – "The Foundling," Mike Resnick, p.18-23

Right. I highly recommend you read this one yourself for maximum impact. Here's the Internet Archive link.

In brief...a young githzerai woman (all of 22 years old) loses her infant child. A year later, she discovers an orphaned githyanki baby. And, well...

"It wasn’t its fault that it was born of the githyanki. It needed care, and love, and shelter, and she had all three to give."

Despite the scorn of her kin, the young woman decides to raise the baby as her own. For one of them, the scorn eventually turns to hate, and so begins a series of attacks by increasingly powerful monsters on mother and child as they travel far and wide to escape their enemies. After four years, things finally come to a head. At which point...well. I really, REALLY don't want to spoil the ending.

Let's just say that the githzerai responsible for the attacks is about to have a really, really bad day.

NUMBER ONE WEIRDEST: #355 – Ecology of the Devourer, p.58-63

This article covers the nightmarish devourer, a form of undead that devours souls. How they're created has changed over the years (nowadays they're fiends, not undead), but this article is from D&D 3.5, where they were very much undead. They drive someone to the brink of death, then drag the person's soul inside their ribcage and torture it for power.

According to this article, the devourers originated with the githyanki.

During the reign of Vlaakith 156--the predecessor of the current Vlaakith--a scheming general decided to avoid getting his soul eaten. Because apparently the previous Vlaakith was also a soul-eating lich! His attempt went wrong and his rebellion was crushed. Their souls were taken from them and locked away, their bodies thrown into the Astral Plane.

Unfortunately for Vlaakith and the githyanki in Tu'narath, the general's body was reanimated by energy from the Negative Energy Plane. He brought back his most loyal followers as the same kind of undead, all of them starving for their missing souls, and they launched a second attack on Tu'narath. Many, many githyanki died in the unexpected attack. Vlaakith and the undead general finally fought face to face over the bodies of their followers. History's not clear on who won, but at some point in the chaos the current Vlaakith--number 157--took the throne. She's ruled unchallenged for a thousand years and the githyanki have hated and feared the devourers ever since.

That's...so much to unpack. Multiple Vlaakiths were liches? This is a long-running tradition? According to the article, the exact dates of a Vlaakith's reign are obscured, so exactly how long does each one rule? Just how LONG have the githyanki been around?

Oh, and the icing on the cake: in the modern day, some githzerai monasteries employ elder devourers as monastery guards. In return for aid, the githzerai search for the devourers' original missing essence. In the meantime, they feed the devourers the souls of captured githyanki.

The githzerai are not the good guys.

-

On deck for next time: the githyanki of 4th Edition D&D!

[aberdeen-projet]

ENVIE D'EN SAVOIR PLUS SUR LE THEME ? C'EST ICI QUE ÇA SE PASSE !

« Does such a thing as the fatal flaw, that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn’t. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs » Donna Tartt, The Secret History.

QU’EST-CE QUE « DARK ACADEMIA » ? D’OÙ ÇA VIENT ?

Le genre dark academia est plutôt un esthétisme ayant émergé sur Tumblr vers 2015, créé par certains jeunes cherchant à reproduire un univers sombre bien présent dans certains ouvrages de la littérature classique, souvent anglaise (The Secret History, Donna Tart). Il ne s’agit pas d’un genre à proprement parler, mais d’un mouvement regroupant plusieurs caractéristiques visant à mettre en avant la culture intellectuelle, le prestige et l'élitisme, ainsi que la beauté mélancolique.

L’ambiance visuelle a été façonnée par le cinéma, qui accentue le prestige et le caractère sombre des personnages à travers des lieux toujours plus incroyables, souvent de style gothique, notamment en Angleterre. La plupart du temps, Oxford est la star de cet univers, comme on peut le voir dans le film The Riot Club de Lone Scherfig.

Les personnages de cet univers ne croient pas en la rédemption, mais plutôt au pouvoir par la connaissance et l’excellence. Cette obsession, souvent transmise de génération en génération ou développée pour s’émanciper d’une vie misérable, les pousse à voir le savoir comme un pouvoir auquel ils s’accrochent. Ils visent toujours la première place sous les projecteurs. Ce sont des êtres rongés par la solitude, aux esprits tourmentés par de nombreux combats intérieurs et des dilemmes immoraux.

Les protagonistes vivent dans la noirceur, souvent marqués par leur vulnérabilité et l’instabilité de leur caractère. Ils se noient la plupart du temps dans leur soif d’ambition, de folie et de mort. Ils incarnent l’archétype du personnage perdu dans ses propres limbes, avec une obsession morbide pour le culte du savoir et de la vérité, qui tend à devenir presque religieux.

La plupart des personnages sont passionnés par les arts classiques tels que la musique, la poésie, le théâtre et la peinture. Ils participent également à des clubs plus exclusifs, parfois sportifs, comme l’escrime, le club d’échecs, ou des cercles typiquement masculins ou féminins, où se mêlent soirées trop alcoolisées et comportements souvent à la limite du tolérable.

[lizardsfromspace]

Someone did a study proving that critics talk about shows out of proportion to how popular they are and like. Yeah. Their example was that Succession is far less popular than Young Sheldon, but its finale had hundreds more articles about it than Young Sheldon's did (a measly 56), and. Lads, it's Young Sheldon. What are people going to say about Young Sheldon exactly? 950 articles on the Young Sheldon finale?

It's not even a new phenomenon to ignore boring or shitty 'popular' shows for ones there's more to say about. I'm sure 90s critics talked about Homicide: Life on the Street, The X-Files, and The Larry Sanders Show way more than they talked about Full House, Home Improvement, or Touched By an Angel, and that 80s critics wanted to talk about Cheers and Hill Street Blues more than...well, Full House. Sometimes the stars align and a massive hit does also have a lot of critical buzz about it like Seinfeld but it's not a new thing of "elitists" ignoring popular shows

I think there is a problem with "normie" TV not being covered but it's not that we need more Serious Analysis of Young fuckin Sheldon (lol) but that a lot goes unchecked when it shouldn't, and online people aren't aware of the odious shit being beamed into the homes of their offline uncles. It took a random tweet for the world to know that The Good Doctor, one of the biggest shows on TV, portrays autistic people as inherently transphobic, or that Law & Order was back and doing episodes about the Havana Syndrome. We need to know what deranged shit is being beamed into the brains of millions, since as the audience for linear TV becomes mainly conservative old people, they're gonna pander to that more

(I do also think some shows get unfairly put in that category. Superstore was frequently ignored for being a network workplace sitcom, but it was quietly a great show about labor, to the degree that "corporate sends in ICE to arrest undocumented employees as a ploy to quash unionization efforts" is a story arc. It's a more knowing show about capitalism than much prestige anti-capitalist media not in spite of being "that sitcom about a Wal-Mart" but because it's "that sitcom about a Wal-Mart")

Also the victims of TV coverage homogenization aren't the Young Sheldons of the world, it's all the b-tier shows and slow starters that would've received fair coverage circa 2002-2015, but are now lucky to get a pilot review, much less coverage of how they improve or what things they're playing with. We need more of that not 1,000 articles about one episode of Young Sheldon???

[thececeverse]

002. CHOUKA AIKAWA … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

CHOUKA AIKAWA is a soloist under Republic Records, Flowerbank Entertainment, and Avex Trax. Starting out as a fashion blogger, YouTuber, former ballerina, and socialite in 2017, Chouka branched into acting in 2019, and finally made her way into the music industry in 2024. In addition to becoming a prominent fashion influencer, she has also become a prominent singer, with her debut single “Girls Don’t Cry” going on to become a chart topper.

BASICS … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

BIRTH NAME … Aikawa Chouka

ENGLISH NAME … Love Rose Antoinette Aikawa

KOREAN NAME … Soo Sa-rang (수사랑)

NICKNAMES … Rosie, Marie Antoinette, Cupid, Ai-chan

BIRTHDAY … March 14th, 1999

ZODIAC … Pisces

BIRTHPLACE … Milan, Italy

HOMETOWN … Milan, Italy + Kyoto, Japan + Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan + Paris, France + Berlin, Germany + Amsterdam, Netherlands + Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

ETHNICITY … Japanese

NATIONALITY … Italian-Japanese-American

SEXUALITY … Pansexual

PHYSICAL … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

HEIGHT … 5’7” 1/2 (171 cm)

WEIGHT … 119 lbs (53 kg)

BLOOD TYPE … O

PIERCINGS … N/A

TATTOOS …

꒰ ♡ ꒱ “Ti amerò per sempre” + located on left shoulder blade + shares with fiancé

꒰ ♡ ꒱ A rose encased in glass + located on left shoulder

CLAIMS … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

FACE CLAIM … Minatozaki Sana (TWICE)

VOICE CLAIM … Ariana Grande (English) + YooA (Korean / OH MY GIRL)

DANCE CLAIM … Sunmi (soloist / ex-Wonder Girls)

CAREER … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

COMPANY … Republic Records + Avex Trax + Flowerbank Entertainment + Wilhelmina Models + Creative Artists Agency

OCCUPATION … Singer-songwriter, social media influencer, actress, TV personality, businesswoman, model, former ballet dancer

DEBUT DATE … April 5th, 2024

TRAINEE YEARS … N/A

YEARS ACTIVE … 2024–present

SURVIVAL SHOWS … N/A

FANDOM NAME … Rosettes (로제트 + ロゼット)

COLORS … #FFA3B9 + #FFFFFF

BACKGROUND … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ 🩰 … ONE. IF I WAS A RICH GIRL

Aikawa Chouka was born on March 14th, 1999 in Milan, Italy. And unlike most in her field, she was born into immense wealth and prestige. Her father, Aikawa Chujirō (also known as Michael Aikawa), is the current president and CEO of the Aikawa Group. Originally founded in 1969 as a technology conglomerate, the company sold its shares twenty years later for $20 billion, turning itself into a sprawling holdings company. Owning mostly luxury brands (including Versace), they also own multiple department stores in the United States such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy’s, and even Paramount. The Aikawa Group has been touted as the “Samsung of Japan,” and with a net worth of over $480 billion, the Aikawa family is the richest in the world.

Meanwhile, Chouka’s mother, Nakamura Aiko (also known as Liliane Aikawa) is an accomplished, London-born actress and designer, as the founder of luxury lifestyle brand Lily by Liliane, as well as a socialite, art dealer, and former model. Aiko was born into a family older and wealthier than her husband’s (or at least that would’ve been true in 1990), and is the only child of Nakamura Hiroaki, the president of the Nakamura Foods Company. Founded all the way back in 1909 (although the Nakamura family was rather high up in Japanese society generations prior), the food packing conglomerate is worth over $20 billion. Like her husband’s family, Aiko’s family also owns a department store, having acquired ownership of the Tokyu Department Store in 2009.

Obviously, Chouka grew up in the lap of luxury. Living in Milan for the first five years of her life, she attended a Japanese international school and learned her native language of Japanese, along with Italian and English. In 2004, Chouka and her family moved to Kyoto. And due to her family’s wealth, they would spend a lot of time moving.

During the summers of 2009 and 2010, they would live in three separate cities: Berlin, Amsterdam, and Paris. Starting in 2011, they would live in Singapore for a year. And finally, in 2015, the Aikawa family would move for the final time to the wealthy neighborhood of Aoyama in Tokyo. Chouka completed her final two years of high school there, and was involved in quite a few extracurriculars. She was a cheerleader, a member of her school’s tennis team, and she served as editor-in-chief of its newspaper club. Chouka would move again in 2016, but without her parents this time. She spent that winter at a boarding school in Switzerland, like most rich girls of her caliber.

By then, Chouka was a seasoned ballet dancer. At the age of three, she was placed in classes by her mother at the request of Chouka’s grandmother. She attended two separate ballet academies at some point: the Dutch National Ballet Academy and the Paris Opera Ballet. For years, Chouka believed that she would become the world’s next prima, but the universe had different plans.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ 🩰 … TWO. DRESS TO IMPRESS

For the most part, Chouka’s childhood was normal. However, when you have a designer for a mother, you tend to get dragged to a whole lot of fashion shows. At the tender age of thirteen, she attended her first show for Dior. And it wasn’t just that, either. Chouka grew up watching her grandmother order couture from Paris and Milan, she would be gifted old pieces from her mother, and her father even gifted her Louis Vuitton for her tenth birthday. After that Dior show, however, Chouka’s entire world changed.

She became quite obsessed with fashion, and she would spend hours flipping through fashion magazines or rummaging through her mother’s closet. All the balls and launch parties and red carpet events that Chouka would attend with her family changed her outlook on fashion, and after she was scouted by a modeling agency at fifteen, her interest only grew. She attended Fashion Weeks in Tokyo and New York, and modeled for brands like Betsey Johnson.

Chouka kind of knew that her career as a model was temporary, though, and her “true calling” was a fashion designer or journalist (courtesy of her mother). With the rise of the beauty guru, Chouka’s interest in fashion blogs, and all the time she spent on Instagram, however, she decided that, instead, she would become social media famous.

In 2015, Chouka launched a blog of her own: Love Moda. This was unusual for her family, as like the real-life, Japanese rendition of the Young family from Crazy Rich Asians, they were notoriously private. They would sporadically appear in news articles, Aiko would give the occasional magazine interview solely for brand reasons or to promote a new project, and Chujirō mainly limited his media appearances to business publications. Obviously, though, Chouka had vastly different aspirations. Love Moda was mentioned in an editorial she did with Tatler, and that kind of exposure—plus the fact that she had money—made interest in her blog skyrocket. By 2016, it had amassed over 10,000 readers.

By the next year, Chouka had cemented herself as a somewhat of a “baby influencer.” Despite the invites to Paris fashion shows and the articles being written about her in Vogue, however, she was far from mainstream. Her small legion of fans wanted her to be, though. Chouka was asked to start a YouTube channel by one of them, and so on May 19th, 2017, she did.

Chouka was already a bit of a “micro-celebrity,” so by the summer, her sizable following had transferred to her new channel. Her YouTube gradually begin to grow larger than her blog as the beauty community gained traction themselves, and her status as the “Aikawa Group heiress” was definitely a selling point, alongside her feminine, “rich girl” fashion and peculiar accent. By the end of 2017, the brand deals were beginning to roll in, and everyone was gradually starting to know her name.

In 2018, a particular video of Chouka’s suddenly went viral. What followed afterwards was the exact mainstream fame that she’d been looking for. She moved to Los Angeles from New York and was scoring ambassadorships with the likes of Kate Spade, Nina Ricci, and even Prada. She was getting invited to award shows, launch parties, and was a seasoned Fashion Week attendee at that point. And by 2019, Chouka blew up even further. She was named “fashion’s newest It girl,” she made her way into the acting industry, and it was pretty much impossible to escape her.

2018 was also a rather difficult year for her, though. At that point, Chouka had been a ballerina for sixteen years. But with her rising career online, she knew that she couldn’t pursue her lifelong dream of prima stardom without giving up her YouTube career.

Although ballet would always have a special place in her heart, her career aspirations had obviously changed. Even then, though, Chouka was still training, and she still wanted to attend another ballet academy. But balancing that and what clearly transformed from a hobby into her way of life was asking for too much. So that year, Chouka hung up her pointe shoes and bid goodbye to ballet. That decision was a difficult one, but it was probably for the best, as her career as an influencer has done more for her than a ballet career ever would. And there was still a whole lot more in store.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ 🩰 … THREE. ALL THE INFLUENCE IN THE WORLD

Within the next five years, Chouka would grow to become one of the best fashion influencers on the planet, with 11 million subscribers, over twenty brand deals, and countless successful business ventures to her name. Even with a billion dollar bank account, though, she—like most influencers nowadays—couldn’t help but branch into the music industry.

In late 2023, Chouka signed to Republic Records and Avex Trax to manage her American and Japanese activities, promising her fans a debut by the next year. And on April 5th, 2024, she fulfilled her promise. Debuting with the single “Girls Don’t Cry,” her debut was a smash hit. Surprisingly, it was received far better than the music of other influencers, nearly becoming a No. 1 hit and turning Chouka into an up and coming pop princess. Even with her previously existing and clearly successful career, Chouka has plans for an album, a Japanese debut, and a potential Korean debut. Her first single already has fans eager to see what she has next, and her next projects can turn her into not only an It girl of the fashion world, but an It girl of the music industry, as well.

Flowerbank Entertainment belongs to @pinkscaped + @venusvity ! ♡

[claude-frollo-archives]

Anglaigus collectibles!

Collection of assorted Anglaigus related merchandise items.

Disclaimer: these pictures are not mine, they were found via Google image search, the pictures belong to their respective owners, only posted them here for informative purposes.

The pictured items -in date order- are copyright of:

Asterix and related characters © René Goscinny & Albert Uderzo.

- Card from Leaf, la bataille de Asterix "Le Roi de Bubble Gum" (1972).

- Figure by Plastoy Atlas (2002).

- Chess game figure N°12 by Plastoy (2006).

- Pin by Editions Atlas (2008).

- Asterix collection Hachette " La Grande Collection des Personnages" N°18 (2012).

- Figure from les Archives Asterix Figurines Métal N°19 by Atlas (2013).

- Porcelain figurine by Les Editions Albert René and Studio M6 from La Collection de Fèves du Film (2014).

- Porcelain figure by Arguydal and Les Editions Albert René for a "Le Domaine des Dieux le film" collection (2015).

- From inside the box of the Asterix: Le Domaine des Dieux Edition Prestige Combo Blu-ray (2015), it contains a picture of certain mosaic as if it were preserved and found during our modern times.

- Card from the collection Le Village en fête chez U by Système U (2017).

- Card by La Mie Câline, Cartamundi (2019).

- Last but not least, a French Happy Meal McDonald’s figure (2019).

[redratt]

quick colored sketch of Beatrix and Prince Bailey. beatrix fucking hates the prince of Reed City so intensely that it makes her sick. if given a chance to kill Bailey at the cost of her own life, Beatrix would likely take it, given all she's gone through. she became a Revenant over 80 years before the start of the CofD story stuff proper, and only escaped captivity in about... 2014/2015??? maybe later. she's been there a long time. she suffered intensely at the claws of the Invictus Prince, and despite Prince Bailey's being influenced by the idigam beneath Reed City, Beatrix would have still had a horrible time at the woman's claws-- she was abused in just about every way that Bailey could hurt another woman, and on more than one occasion Beatrix almost lost herself entirely to the condition imposed upon her by a stranger all those years ago.

Beatrix knows, now, that she was caught due to an outstanding bounty that Bailey has on Revenants. The Prince rewards those who catch these unfortunates with a great deal of money, power, and prestige, and as such the Invictus is always on the hunt. Beatrix just happens to have been caught in 1954.

They made an animal of her.

Prince Bailey has her own agonies, of course, but those are details for another time. (She was turned in the 1500s by a woman who had been alive since Rome. The cycle of violence continues down through the generations.) giving @huntunderironskies a tag bc it's that TASTY CofD content.

[emotionalcadaver]

Hello 🌻

hope you are having fun during your holiday :)

So... I noticed in your bio you describe yourself as a film snob, and I was curious if you could put together a list of films you believe everyone should watch. It doesn't matter whether they're niche films or d'essai or blockbuster, I used to adore going to cine-forums and watch every kind of genre, they always leave you something to bring home

Thank you! <3

(Sorry for the ramble, but I'm stuck in bed for the next couple of weeks with way too much free time, and I figured I might as well put it to good use! xD )

Ohhh my god, Ari, you have no idea just how badly I wanna hug you right now. Films and filmmaking are one of my special interests and I could literally talk your ear off about the industry!

Please keep in mind that these are just my personal picks/opinions, and I am almost certainly forgetting a few because I'm doing this off of memory. I'm also not including any films that I haven't seen yet (there are a few classics that I embarrassingly just somehow never got around to seeing that are currently in my watchlist) so if you notice any strange omissions that's why. Please keep in mind that I tend to prefer dark, pessimistic films, so this list is going to reflect that.

If you'd like specific recommendations, wish for me elaborate anymore on any of these films, or want a part 2 to this, please let me know!

Also, I recently got a Letterboxd account back in December, so if you want to see what I've been watching recently, give me a follow over there!

Under a read more because this got LONG.

Alien (1979, Dir. Ridley Scott)

Aliens (1986, Dir. James Cameron)

Anthropoid (2016, Dir. Sean Ellis)

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022, Dir. Martin McDonagh)

Batman Begins (2005, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

Black Swan (2010, Dir. Darren Aronofsky)

Children of Men (2006, Dir. Alfonso Cuaron)

A Clockwork Orange (1971, Dir. Stanley Kubrick)

Clue (1985, Dir. Jonathan Lynn)

The Dark Knight (2008, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

The Dark Knight Rises (2012, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

Dune Part I (2021, Dir. Denis Villeneuve)

Dunkirk (2017, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

Get Out (2017, Dir. Jordan Peele)

The Godfather (1972, Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)

The Godfather Part II (1974, Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)

Inception (2010, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

Interstellar (2014, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001, Dir. Peter Jackson)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003, Dir. Peter Jackson)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002, Dir. Peter Jackson)

Memento (2000, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

Molly's Game (2017, Dir. Aaron Sorkin)

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993, Dir. Henry Selick)

No Country for Old Men (2007, Dir. Joel Coen & Ethan Coen)

Oppenheimer (2023, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

Platoon (1986, Dir. Oliver Stone)

The Prestige (2006, Dir. Christopher Nolan)

Psycho (1960, Dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

Pulp Fiction (1994, Dir. Quentin Tarantino)

Rear Window (1954, Dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

The Shining (1980, Dir. Stanley Kubrick)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991, Dir. Jonathan Demme)

Spotlight (2015, Dir. Tom McCarthy)

Titanic (1997, Dir. James Cameron)

12 Years a Slave (2013, Dir. Steve McQueen)

28 Days Later (2002, Dir. Danny Boyle)

Zero Dark Thirty (2012, Dir. Kathryn Bigelow)

[f--e-u-e-r-t-r-u-n-k-e--n]

Defining Maturity Before we explore emotional immaturity, let’s take a look at emotionally mature functioning. Emotional maturity isn’t a murky matter of opinion; it has been well and famously studied. “Emotional maturity” means a person is capable of thinking objectively and conceptually while sustaining deep emotional connections to others. People who are emotionally mature can function independently while also having deep emotional attachments, smoothly incorporating both into their daily life. They are direct about pursuing what they want, yet do so without exploiting other people. They’ve differentiated from their original family relationships sufficiently to build a life of their own (Bowen 1978). They have a well-developed sense of self (Kohut 1985) and identity (Erikson 1963) and treasure their closest relationships. Emotionally mature people are comfortable and honest about their own feelings and get along well with other people, thanks to their well-developed empathy, impulse control, and emotional intelligence (Goleman 1995). They’re interested in other people’s inner lives and enjoy opening up and sharing with others in an emotionally intimate way. When there’s a problem, they deal with others directly to smooth out differences (Bowen 1978). Emotionally mature people cope with stress in a realistic, forward-looking way, while consciously processing their thoughts and feelings. They can control their emotions when necessary, anticipate the future, adapt to reality, and use empathy and humor to ease difficult situations and strengthen bonds with others (Vaillant 2000). They enjoy being objective and know themselves well enough to admit their weaknesses (Siebert 1996). Personality Traits Associated with Emotional Immaturity Emotionally immature people, on the other hand, tend to have quite a different set of behavioral, emotional, and mental characteristics. Because these personality characteristics are all interconnected, people who display one are often prone to the others. In the sections that follow, I’ll briefly describe various characteristics of emotionally immature people. They Are Rigid and Single-Minded As long as there’s a clear path to follow, emotionally immature people can do very well, sometimes reaching high levels of success and prestige. But when it comes to relationships or emotional decisions, their immaturity becomes evident. They are either rigid or impulsive, and try to cope with reality by narrowing it down to something manageable. Once they form an opinion, their minds are closed. There’s one right answer, and they can become very defensive and humorless when people have other ideas. Gibson, L. (2015). Adult children of emotionally immature parents : how to heal if your parents couldn’t meet your emotional needs (pp. 28-34). : New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

The most powerful anti-Christian movement is the one that takes over and "radicalises" the concern for victims in order to paganise it. The powers and principalities want to be “revolutionary” now, and they reproach Christianity for not defending victims with enough ardor. In Christian history they see nothing but persecutions, acts of oppression, inquisitions.

This other totalitarianism presents itself as the liberator of humanity. In trying to usurp the place of Christ, the powers imitate him in the way a mimetic rival imitates his model in order to defeat him. They denounce the Christian concern for victims as hypocritical and a pale imitation of the authentic crusade against oppression and persecution for which they would carry the banner themselves. In the symbolic language of the New Testament, we would say that in our world Satan, trying to make a new start and gain new triumphs, borrows the language of victims.

- René Girard

René Girard was a brilliant thinker and pioneer of Mimetic Theory. Mimesis, mimetic desire, and metaphysical desire are the fundamental building blocks of Girard’s psychology. Even the most intimate aspects of our identity can be radically shaped by others and as such rarely can we distinguish vanity from authenticity. These psychological fundaments are what make humans social animals, why prestige and recognition matter so much to us, and how we are able to form cultures and even language itself. They are responsible for humanity’s greatest achievements, but they also render us helplessly fallen creatures in creation.

Although he died in 2015 he had already diagnosed the driving force behind many headed hydra of intersectional feminism, anti-racism, and the woke that was already growing influential in far leftist circles in academia and beyond. He believed such forces used victimism as the ideology of concern for victims to gain political or economic or spiritual power.