#I mean the war is also a an important factor for sure

[vihola]

It's kinda funny that my entire team lost our jobs not because of the war but because of AI. What a time to be alive

[miss-musings]

Crosshair's 10 Most Impressive Shots in "Star Wars: The Bad Batch"

We're now officially three weeks removed from the series finale, so I thought it'd be a fun time to look back at our favorite sniper and review some of his most impressive shots.

Note, I'll be ranking items from "The Bad Batch" TV show only, so there won't be any entries from "The Clone Wars" S7.

I did get a lot of input from folks here and on Twitter, and a lot of people ended up saying the same ones. I put them on here along with a few of my own.

As for how I determined the order, I judged based on a combination of: the distance of the shot, the size of the target, the speed of the target (if applicable), other external factors like light conditions and weather, and "internal" factors like Crosshair's physical and mental state.

You're free to disagree with which ones I picked and how I ordered them. It's all subjective.

Also, I don't proclaim to be an expert in marksmanship nor am I a military sniper. But, I do have a general baseline for how difficult Crosshair's shots would be IRL. I used to go shooting with my dad a lot at both indoor and outdoor ranges, and I was pretty decent at both pistol- and rifle-shooting. So, that's what I'm using to judge Crosshair's shots.

With that out of the way, let's dive in with #10:

10. Killing Lt. Nolan in 2.12 "The Outpost"

I probably wouldn't have put this one on the list for myself, but I had multiple people suggest it should make the cut.

While this shot is very important narratively, it's not very impressive from a purely technical perspective.

I mean, hitting a relatively stationary human-sized target from a few meters away... It's definitely not the most impressive shot on Crosshair's resume.

However, I did feel it was worth adding to the list for the simple fact that Crosshair is physically exhausted and mentally broken in this scene. He basically uses the last of his strength to kill Lt. Nolan, because he immediately collapses right afterward.

Also, Crosshair might be right-handed, but he's pretty good at shooting his pistol leftie. We don't really see the shot hit Nolan, but if you zoom in after his body hits the ground, you can see that Crosshair shot him straight through the heart. He wasn't leaving that bastard alive after everything he and Mayday went through.

9. Lunch tray ricochet in 1.01 "Aftermath"

Even though this isn't a shot in the traditional sense -- considering there aren't any firearms involved -- I had to put this on the list for two reasons.

One, I had multiple people suggest it; and two, because I've watched this scene dozens of times and only recently found out that Crosshair actually hits two clones with his lunch tray.

He initially throws it at the clone Tech was fighting, presumably knocking him down. But then it ricochets so hard that it basically clotheslines another clone who's just standing there, minding his own business. Dude was hit so hard, he was like floating in midair for a split second.

Also, this plays into my headcanon that Crosshair would be excellent at any sports that require excellent aim and coordination. If he was on a basketball team, he'd be a three-point specialist for sure!!

8. Plan 55 ricochet in 3.12 "Juggernaut"

This is the closest thing we get to a trickshot in S3, so I had to include it on the list.

Here, we see Crosshair's quick-thinking and perfect aim take out several troopers at once by purposely ricocheting his shot off the magnetically sealed doors.

As we know from “A New Hope,” magnetically sealed doors/surfaces are no joke. You really have to know what you're doing or someone's gonna get hurt. Thankfully, Crosshair is a freakin' pro at this!

It honestly reminds me of all those crazy pool shots where you have to plan out four or five bounces/angles ahead to get the angle you really want.

7. Downing a spaceship on Ryloth in 1.11 "Devil's Deal"

NOTE: This is the only clip I couldn't readily find on YT. So I included the clip of Crosshair killing Orn Free Taa from the same episode to maintain symmetry in this Top 10 list.

Don't let the clip fool you. The shot I'm actually talking about takes place before this, when Crosshair -- from like 300 meters away, mind you -- takes down a fast-moving ship by shooting one of the engines.

Look, I love S3 Crosshair with all my heart, but his shooting abilities were severely diminished after his time on Tantiss. When I was doing my S1 rewatch and got to this scene in 1.11, I was like "Oh yeah, I forgot Crosshair used to be able pull off crazy shit like this."

It's actually sad how many of his made shots in 1.11 are like an inverse of his missed shots in 3.11. Here, Crosshair easily shoots a tracker onto Hera & company's ship, and later shoots the engine with no problem, despite the speed and distance.

In 3.11, though, he misses CX-2's ship and fails to track Omega back to Tantiss. 😭

6. Shooting Wrecker's knife in 1.01 "Aftermath"

Now we're getting into the really impressive shit! Most of these remaining entries have Crosshair shooting small targets and/or fast-moving ones.

In this instance, it's both. Wrecker throws the knife like this is skeet-shooting or something, and Crosshair just very casually shoots it into a droid.

Have you ever seen someone who was so good at their job/hobby that they make it look effortless? Like they're not even trying? This happens to me sometimes when I watch the Olympics. I'm like, "That's not so hard. I could probably do that." And then I try it for like half a second, and I'm like, "Oh no, those people are insane."

That's how good S1-2 Crosshair is. He makes shooting a fast-moving knife look effortless.

5. His four-kill trickshot in 1.15 "Return to Kamino"

These next three are all no-brainer entries. I think the biggest question will be why I went with the order I did.

Here, we have Crosshair displaying two very important elements of marksmanship/sniping: patience and careful aim.

Crosshair evidently set up at least four mirrors (I counted the ricochets in the shot) well in advance in the exact spots he needed to take down his Imperial squad, if need be. That's some serious foresight and preparation -- to know exactly where everyone would be standing, and have all the mirrors ready to go ahead of time.

He must've set them up even before he brought Hunter into the training room, or Hunter would've seen them and probably signaled his teammates.

He's also hitting a target that seems to be somewhere between the size of a golf ball and baseball from like 10-20 meters. And with his sidearm.

I know everyone loves the hallway mirror ricochet to kill the squadron of battle droids in TCW Season 7, but it didn't qualify. But, honestly, I think this one is more impressive anyway. He hit the first 1.15 mirror from farther away than he does in TCW S7, and he's using his pistol in 1.15 rather than his rifle and scope.

Talk about accuracy!

4. Sniping the tank in 2.03 "The Solitary Clone"

Oh man! I think we all love this one, right? It's just one of my favorite sequences in the entire show -- the framing, the colors, the effects of the dirt flying up behind him.

I love how Crosshair baits the droids to get the exact angle he needs, and the dude clearly has nerves of steel for staring down the barrel of a tank without flinching. I wonder how many times he's done it, considering he seemed to know exactly how to beat them. I'm guessing at least a dozen.

This is another example of "expert making their expertise look effortless," when in reality, we'd all shit ourselves if we attempted to do the same.

Honestly, sometimes I wish we could've had this version of Crosshair face off against Hemlock in 3.15 -- the dude who stared down the barrel of a tank and didn't flinch at the most literal version of "kill or be killed."

3. Stairwell trickshot in 2.03 "The Solitary Clone"

While I love the tank sequence more for the aesthetics, I have to rank the 2.03 stairwell trickshot above it.

That's partly because Crosshair's still physically and mentally recovering from nearly getting choked to death. But, it's also partly because -- just like with Wrecker's knife -- Crosshair is shooting a target that someone else is throwing.

That means he has to adjust to whatever trajectory and speed they throw it at and compensate accordingly, which can understandably be very hard to do in a split-second.

And, in this situation, Crosshair can't even see the puck directly. He's looking at it through at least one or two layers of reflective mirrors. Dude's reaction time is insane!

He also manages to take down at least four or five droids with a single shot, including the tactical droid, which is several meters up the stairwell and into the next room.

I'm not sure if the clones learned any advanced mathematics during their training on Kamino. But if they did, I think Crosshair would've loved geometry and maybe trigonometry too! He would also absolutely kill in a game of pool. I wanna see him go to the SW equivalent of a pool hall, and show Omega that he can hustle people too! He just needed to find a game that would better suit his strengths. LOL

Anyway, as insane as this shot is, Crosshair has two others on his resume that are even more impressive:

2. Saving Omega & AZI in 1.16 "Kamino Lost"

This is one of three entries on this list that *no one* mentioned when I asked for suggestions, but I had to include it. That's because it is -- without a doubt -- the most bafflingly impressive shot Crosshair makes in the entire show.

I have watched this scene dozens of times, and I still have no idea how he knows where Omega and AZI are.

Initially, I thought -- as others did -- that he's using an infrared scope to see their body heat in the water. But, that doesn't appear to be the case.

The only times I can recall Crosshair activating an infrared capability is when he has his rangefinder, which is attached to his helmet. As we see in episodes like 1.01 "Aftermath" and in 3.07 "Extraction," he specifically has to put the rangefinder down in front of his eye to use the infrared option.

No, his scope is just that -- a regular scope. The infrared capability is only attached to his helmet's rangefinder, which he doesn't have in this scene.

Thus, I have no idea how Crosshair is using a regular-ass scope to find Omega and AZI in the dark ocean. The point of a scope is to see better, and I don't know what he might see beside more darkness. AZI's eyes aren't active and, even if Crosshair spots Omega's flashlight, Omega dropped it when she went after AZI, so it's not exactly on her.

I'm willing to believe that Crosshair has better eyesight than the average human in the Star Wars universe or IRL, but his eyesight must be insane if he can see them in the water, even with a scope.

But, whether it's eyesight, some other enhanced sense or just plain luck, Crosshair knows where in the vast, dark ocean they are — not just the angle but the depth too!

It's really hard to tell how far down they are, but I'd say at least 20 meters. And if he is able to see them somehow, he might have to adjust the shot for refraction in the water too.

Plus, unlike the other entries on this list, Crosshair isn't shooting a blaster bolt. He's shooting a cable, meaning he'd have to adjust his shot to accommodate its weight and trajectory once it hits the water. Additionally, with how Omega and AZI are situated, he needs to have the cable hit and latch onto AZI, without hitting Omega in the process, and get the exact angle needed to drag both of them to the surface.

Like I said: I have absolutely no idea how he made this shot. It's definitely the most impressive one he makes in the entire show based solely on external technical factors.

But of course, there is a parallel shot later in the series that's his most impressive one of all...

1. Freeing Omega in 3.15 "The Cavalry Has Arrived"

I will never shut up about this scene. It's been living in my head rent-free for three weeks already, and will continue to for several months.

This is undoubtedly the most important shot in Crosshair's life: the shot to save his kid and free his family from Hemlock once and for all.

And everything is working against him: It's dark. It's raining. Omega and Hemlock are like ~40 meters away. The target is the binders between their hands, which is like 3-5 centimeters wide, and won't exactly be stationary. Oh, he's using CX-2's stolen blaster, which doesn't even have a scope on it!!!

We the audience get a POV of what Crosshair sees from over his shoulder, and I can barely see Omega's face, let alone her hands!! I said in the previous entry that Crosshair's eyesight has to be better than the average person's because, holy hell, how can he see that?!?

And, even worse, Crosshair is physically and mentally spent in this scene. He had to return to his own personal hell -- the place where he was tortured and traumatized for months -- then got beaten in a fight and had his dominant hand chopped off.

He and Hunter are running on pure adrenaline at this point. They are absolutely hellbent on getting their kid back, even if they die or collapse in the process. They were practically hobbling out of the CX lab together, and when they crouch down on the bridge, Crosshair has to steady himself against Hunter because he doesn't have his other hand.

And, as the final cherry on top of this proverbially shitty sundae, Crosshair absolutely terrified of missing.

A few episodes ago, the guy couldn't hit stationary fruit from like ~15 meters away with a scope in daylight and in a controlled environment. He even tells Omega: "Close doesn't count. It's either a hit or a miss." Because in a high-stakes situation like this, missing your shot could mean death for you or someone else.

Crosshair already feels like he failed Omega because he missed the shot on Pabu. And now, he has to make an even tougher one with every disadvantage stacked against him and her life literally in his hand.

I don't blame the guy for doubting himself.

Thankfully, Hunter and Omega have complete faith in him, and despite everything he's been through in S3, he has faith in himself.

And so, in the shot to end all shots in "The Bad Batch," Crosshair hits his target and frees Omega.

He and Hunter then subsequently turn Hemlock into Swiss cheese before Omega gives Crosshair a much-needed hug, causing me to cry for the 100th time.

I'll admit: as much as I would've loved seeing another mirror trickshot or some other crazy ricochet in the finale (or just S3 in general), this scene is basically perfect.

It also makes for a nice little parallel to the S1 finale, where Crosshair saved Omega's life after she saved his. Here, as he says himself, he goes back to Tantiss to free her because she freed him first.

As someone said on Twitter when I asked for ideas about this list:

"(Crosshair) put his whole heart and soul in this shot, and he didn't miss. He couldn't afford to."

Like I said: this was the shot that freed the entire Bad Batch family from Hemlock forever. So, I think by default, it had to be No. 1 on this list.

*******

Anyway, thanks for reading! It'd be fun to put together another TBB list like this. I guess I'll have to pick a subject first, though, because I don't have any ideas. If you have any, send them my way!

(EDIT: For anyone who’s also on Twitter, give me a follow. @CatchingClassic )

[inbarfink]

I talked before about how Papyrus’ inability to kill the Player - or rather his ability to always reduce the Player to just one HP - is an indication of not just his incredible kind-heartedness but also some remarkable skill. Considering no other character in the game can safely reduce an enemy to just a single Hit Point with no risk of accidentally killing them. Including other powerful characters who would have an obvious incentive to do so. 

So I think that another factor in why Papyrus is the Best at Not Killing Anyone (outside of his general moral disposition and dedication, which are also important to note) is… probably Sans. If Papyrus ever had anyone else to spar/practice FIGHTing with, it would only be his brother. (Remember, Undyne’s ‘Warrior Training’ is actually just cooking lessons). And Sans only has one HP - Papyrus had to learn to be careful to make sure he never hurts his beloved older bro too much. 

In contrast, when Toriel had to learn to use her magic, that was probably before the War of Humans and Monsters, with her old Boss Monster family? Or at the very least with another Monster that is more powerful than ‘the weakest enemy’. So, even if she never ever wanted to use her powers to kill anymore - she never had to learn to be as gentle as Papyrus had to be gentle. I mean, she had some skills at weakening her attacks and making them safer, but they are not quite as precise as Papyrus’ is. And so…

[cooking-with-hailstones]

A theoretical framework of how arranged marriage, and reproductive politics could work in the Avatar universe.

(Mostly focusing on the ATLA era, but can extend to TLOK as well)

Why? Because I am a sucker for a good arranged marriage story, I’m fascinated by the politics that they necessarily entail, and I am deeply curious about the ways that same-sex arranged marriages can work diplomatically, socially, and politically. Also, no one can stop me!

(There was an excellent thread about how same-sex arranged marriages could work, esp in a feudal political system, that I cannot track down for the life of me, but I’m drawing heavily from what was discussed in that thread. If you know what I’m talking about, please send it to me.)

So: realistically, humans are gonna human, and during peace times, humans fraternizing with other humans leads to unions, and, well, babies. I imagine among border communities and non-benders, relationships with people outside your nation would be fairly commonplace. The hardline intra-nation relationship standard seen in ATLA would be mostly a product of the 100 year war, rather than anything particularly inherent. 

Canon has also established that arranged marriages, especially among the leadership and nobility of each nation, is not unusual (Ursa and Ozai, Yue and Hahn, etc.) We see political alliances through marriage a few different times through the series. 

We also know from canon that strong benders most often hold major leadership roles - not always, but boy it sure helps. This would incentivize intra-nation marriages to ensure that strong bending prowess stays in the family, if you will. Furthermore, it means no one who’s got the wrong flavour of bending for your nation would end up in a position of political power. 

The importance of leaders being strong benders seems to matter less in the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom, but there is still the implication that these leadership roles wouldn’t go to a bender of a different element. And again, since the leadership and nobility of the Northern Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, and Fire Nation all seem to be inherited titles, there might be extra pressure to ensure that the blood “stays pure”. 

The Air Nomads and Southern Water Tribe seem to be the notable exceptions. I do not know enough about Air Nomad culture to really factor them in here, but I have some ideas that I’ll save for another time.

So, in our world, arranged marriages have had and continue to have lots of political and cultural importance - it’s a way of integrating families, a means of consolidating wealth and power, ensuring peace between warring or disputing factions, etc. However, in the Avatar universe, this presents issues for benders. We know from Mako and Bolin in TLOK that two parents from different nations can have children who can bend either element. If an earthbender were suddenly a viable contender for the chieftainship of the northern water tribe, or a firebender inherited a high-ranking position at the Earth Kingdom court, that might become problematic very quickly! (And by the time we get to TLOK - entirely viable as a premise! I would love to see this idea explored more, but I’m getting off topic)

Thus, my proposal: same sex political marriages. 

Any political union that crosses the boundaries of the nations could be between same-sex spouses, to ensure that lines of succession do not become complicated by virtue of the Wrong Flavor of Bender being born, while retaining all of the political, diplomatic, and strategic advantages of an arranged marriage. As with arranged marriages in our world, I imagine there would be a spectrum of parents who would want their child’s active involvement in choosing their spouse, to children who grit their teeth and marry their parents choice of spouse in the name of Duty (hi Yue), to children who are forced kicking and screaming into the union their families chose for them.

An example: Imagine a wedding between two daughters, one of Fire Nation nobility and one from a Water Tribe leader. This union could be MAJOR for shipping and trading, strengthening economic ties between them and ensuring dominance over favorable shipping routes for select fire nation and water tribe merchants. (Now I'm imagining an au of fire and water bending seafaring merchant houseboat lesbians…)

Now there are two diverging ways to pursue this: A. one where these marriages are still expected to produce children, and B. one where these marriages are expected to NOT have children.

In scenario A: Each member of the marriage could be expected to have children via a surrogate or sperm donor from the appropriate nation. The inheritance of each parent would go to the child they sired, but the expectation would be that the offspring are raised by both parents, and share aspects of both cultures. These children would be considered the legitimate heirs of the parents whose genes they share, while having the advantages of being raised with parents and siblings from both cultures: they would be highly sought after diplomats, traders, mediators, and negotiators. The inclusion of surrogate/sperm donor genetics also helps diversify the gene pool among the nobility. I imagine the surrogate or sperm donor would be from a suitable family - not nobility, but not peasantry. Ideally people with a family history of bending. There could be high levels of cultural cache in helping to sire the nobility’s children, even if you cannot legally claim them as your own child.

In scenario B: If the expectation is that these unions won’t have children - or at least any children that would be recognized as legitimate - then this is a convenient way of, uh, well, pruning the family tree of undesirable genetic material. This could include weak benders or non benders. The children who are considered strong benders/desirable would be expected to marry and reproduce with someone of the correct nationality, with the correct flavor of bending, while the non bending, weaker bending, or otherwise undesirable members of the family are convenient tools for families to use for political unions where they don’t risk weakening the line of succession with… whatever it is that the family might not want. These married-off members of the family still hold significant power and influence, they're still considered useful. They just don't get to pass on any inheritance to any children they might have. 

(Both of these feature flavors of eugenics that are gross in their own unique ways! I am not endorsing this! Eugenics is bad! This is an exercise in world building, and hoo boy the eugenicist potentials in the Avatar universe are something I think about a LOT, and on a related note I'm still mad about the handling of the equalist subplot in Korra…)

Anyways, those are my thoughts as they stand now. I fully welcome any feedback, further ideas, headcanons, etc!

[nail-art-no-jutsu]

How much of orochimaru's personality is nurture vs nature??

Oof anon you sent this to me ages ago and I've been thinking about it on and off since then, and here we are finally. If you're still here, thank you for your patience 🥰

I actually love Orochimaru, he's disturbing and fascinating at the same time, you just can't unsee him he's unforgettable, I'm glad that a character like him was created. Vile disgusting beautiful ethereal pathetic majestic creature, can't wait to do nails for him 😌

So okay, this is a big topic and I have a lot to say, so please go grab yourself something to drink 🍵🧋☕🥤🧃

Nature vs nurture is an ancient debate, what it basically means is, are we the product of our genes, or our experiences? Are we born like this, or is it Maybelline?

We know that physical traits are inherited, but what about things like intelligence, talent, and personality? A lot has been said about all these things, and people have used the nature argument to try to justify actual atrocities. At the same time there seem to be mental differences between people that are in fact not the product of their circumstances, so nature can work as an argument for inclusivity too.

If we're talking about personality, that's a debate too, is it a nature thing, or a nurture thing? Do we inherit things like curiosity, friendliness, shyness, thoughtfulness, or do we learn to be that way? From what I know there's no consensus among researchers. There are so many factors that I'm sure it must be an absolute nightmare to actually study lmao.

That's irl, but we're talking about a story, and writers can be more inconsistent with how they write their characters. They can have some characters who are more nature-based and some more nurture-based. Kishi does both.

If you actually talk about genes in your story in that many words, about things like the curse of hatred, and reincarnation, it complicates everything so much more. And destiny, and geniuses, and being born with no talent for some techniques. It looks like nature seems to play a big part in the Naruto universe.

At the same time, we're shown time and time again that every villain that the heroes encounter was once an innocent child. We see it with important villains and with minor antagonists too, so frequently that it becomes a theme throughout the story, and we might even come to expect it, and it's surprising when the story doesn't provide it. For example, with Hidan and Kakuzu. But if we follow the overall theme we can easily imagine that something decisive must have happened in their early lives, we just don't know about it.

We do get to see Orochimaru as a child, and we know that the death of his parents was a turning point in his life. We don't know what kind of people they were, if they shared any of the traits of Orochimaru as we know him, but my take is that he loved them very much, and it was this loss that made him subconsciously lock the feeling of love away.

Anyone you care about can and will be taken away from you by death, and the pursuit of undoing death and of immortality isn't enough, you also have to make sure you never feel that loss again, and the quickest way is to associate love with suffering. That's a child's way of thinking, you think you know the cause of a problem, but it's really a false dilemma all along, and for some people, like Orochimaru, it stays with you for a very long time.

Another theme in the story is how when you talk to a tiny little child philosopher who asks big questions very early on in life, you really have to be careful what you tell them. They might draw all kinds of conclusions that lead them down dangerous paths or make it possible for them to be influenced even further by people with a certain agenda. Itachi, who saw war when he was very young. Nagato and his discussions with Jiraiya. And Orochimaru with Hiruzen.

The big issue with all of these examples is that it's never really followed up, each child just draws their conclusions about the world and there don't seem to be a lot of opportunities for them to be put to the test. They don't go and talk about it with multiple people and get to hear other perspectives too. It's easy to think you understood it all perfectly when you're a child. You don't know how much you don't know.

In Nagato's case, Jiraiya left, and Nagato continued to draw conclusions one after another, tbh I do see where he's coming from to some extent but that's neither here nor there lmao, but in Orochimaru's case, Hiruzen was right there and just didn't pay enough attention. He even expresses regret when it's too little too late.

Of course there comes a time when a child can be considered responsible for their own actions, but I definitely don't think that Orochimaru's descent into cruelty was inevitable. Maybe he inherited things like curiosity about the world and introspection - maybe his parents rewarded him with love when he showed these traits - but is there really a gene that makes you a mad scientist? lol.

So yeah - I think that Orochimaru's personality is largely a result of his subconscious reaction to trauma (no love, no loss), and how he was taught to cope with it (reincarnation is a thing so one day you might see your family again), and how he was left alone with his thoughts the way very capable children often are because of the assumption that skill is a sign of emotional maturity.

Does this relieve him of any responsibility for the things he's done though? Absolutely not lmao, regardless of nature or nurture.

Okay, this was so much fun, thank you for sending me this question, anon. I was surprised when I got it tbh, because I don't really blog about him. Although.... when I started the manga for the first time he was my favorite villain from pretty much anything. His darkness is just so compelling, you can't look away. When he's gross he's really gross but when he's hot he's really hot. He's frightening, and he's full of fear. He's just so... very.

I'm even tempted to start Burrito just to see Orochimama...

Man, this was long. See, this is why I love Naruto even though I'm often very frustrated with it. You start reading for the cool setting and the cool powers, and then bam, your brain goes into all kinds of directions because even though all kinds of impossible fantasy things happen, at the core of it all is just... humanity. Or something 😂

Brb gonna go touch grass no jutsu, and sand, and sea, I'm literally going on vacation so I will be away for the most part of next week, I have a nice queue though and a nail design scheduled to be posted too!!!!

😘😘😘

[sansa286]

Political Reasons to Support Either Team (Season 2 Edition)

Let's say you're a Westerosi citizen, noble or smallfolk, and the Dance of the Dragons has started. We'll pick up right where season 1 ends and season 2 begins. This will focus solely on the political side of things and will not bring into account outside factors like character analysis; while yes, we the audience know Aemond killing Luke was an accident, the average person in Westeros does not, and likely never will. This is about what a Westerosi citizen might be thinking, not why an audience member might side with one team over the other. I put "Season 2 Edition" because this is bound to change as the series progresses and I may have to update as the war escalates.

We're going to start with Team Green as they currently hold King's Landing and, sanctioned or not, on purpose or not, with Luke's death, they're the one's who've officially called for war.

1.) Precedent is Maintained

With Aegon being named king, the precedent that men and boys come before women and girls in succession is maintained. Notice I said precedent and not law, as we've seen numerous times, including in the time period House of the Dragon takes place in, that notion can and does get challenged. But it's still something widely accepted. If you're a the first son, then you will more than likely be Team Green because if Rhaenyra takes the throne, then that means the older sister(s) you have could pose a real threat to what you believe is truly yours. So, in a way, not only is the precedent maintained, so is stability in the realm, as quarreling and attempted usurpations between sisters and brothers won't be normalized.

2.) Cultural Significance

While King's Landing is the capitol of Westeros, Oldtown is the largest city in and home to two of some of the most important cultural institutions in the country: the Faith of the Seven with the Starry Sept and the Citadel. Aegon is not only half-Hightower from his mother, the previous Queen Consort, but he also has a member of House Hightower as his Hand on his Small Council. House Hightower's support actually means a lot in this scenario because they themselves are one of the most influential houses in Westeros at this time. They're an ancient house, have maintained their status, respect, and wealth. They've also been involved with the royal family for some time. This connection to a cultural hub in Westeros will also impress the smallfolk, who may view Team Green as more "relatable" due to their Reach connections. Alicent donning Faith of the Seven jewelry and placing symbols of it throughout the castle is not just simply a show of faith, but also a way to signal to the other lords and ladies "hey, I'm like you."

3.) Well-Seasoned Politicians

The people that currently sit on Aegon's council are mostly well-seasoned and well-known politicians who've helped Viserys rule over a relatively peaceful period in Westeros; these familiar faces will be seen as a symbol for the continued prosperity Westeros can have under Aegon as he is surrounded by good advisors. In contrast to Rhaenyra, who will probably not keep her father's old Small Council (as they plotted her downfall for a decade plus) and thus things will be unsure, however, you can rest assured Daemon will surely be sitting at that table. From a nobleman standpoint this will make you uneasy, as you don't trust Daemon, who's made it a point to make a lot of enemies.

Now let's move on to Team Black, who currently have the ball in their court.

1.) Active and Experienced Leader

Rhaenyra sat on her father's Small Council for over a decade and ruled Dragonstone, the seat of the heir, for about six years with virtually no hiccups. And in that time, she birthed several children. Simply put: she's shown her dedication to the craft of learning to rule and engaging with it. Aegon does not have that reputation at all. Rhaenyra had rumors surrounding the paternity of her children, but to someone who values good leadership from the person in charge and not just their Small Council, Rhaenyra is clearly the way to go.

2.) Male-Preference Primogeniture Has Run Its Course (into the ground)

Say you're one of the several women in Westeros who currently holds a land and title, and you're sick of being challenged by your male family members, some being quite obscure, for your birthright. Say you're a lord with only daughters and would like your house to continue through one of them over your brother, nephew or cousin without any detractors or the potential of one of your daughters getting attacked once you've died. Perhaps you have really a crappy son(s) and a well-rounded older daughter(s) who show better potential for ruling well and you'd just simply prefer absolute primogeniture for the sake of your house. While there is no guarantee that Rhaenyra will implement this policy universally, if you try to go against the grain and name a woman or girl as your heir, you will have a reference point from the highest seat of power in the country.

3.) Respecting Wishes

Let's be honest: no one has an actual reason to believe Alicent when she said Viserys wanted Aegon to be the heir right before he died. While she definitely believes that, and while the audience knows that Viserys never intended for Aegon to be king, even in context, it sounds like a lie and no one, not even people on Team Green, believe her. If people playing on her team don't believe her, why would anyone else? For over twenty years, Viserys maintained that he wanted Rhaenyra as his heir, never waivered, and had witnesses both in the court session and at the following dinner affirm his decision to keep her as his heir. Put it simply: if you're someone with any sort of power, this would be quite concerning. If the king cannot have his wishes honored even in death, then what's stopping someone from doing the same to you?

BONUS: Neither/Both

If you're a member of the smallfolk, you'll be screwed over by war regardless of who wins. Crops will get burned, towns raided, family murdered and assaulted etc... The succession aspect doesn't matter to you, because you nor your family will ever have an ancestral seat, so what do you care? Hoping for a peaceful resolution between the family or not giving a damn about either is a more than sensible stance to take.

If you're a member of the nobility, playing it safe by waiting out the war and accepting whoever wins or only claiming a side when there's a clear winner is also a viable option. You nor any of your family or armies have to risk their lives in battle, and you'll keep your land. But, you might get a reputation for being a fence-sitter and get perpetually side-eyed by whoever the ruling monarch ends up being.

[t34-mt]

I’m sure this was already mentioned but, in the war, who’s fighting who? Is it an ideological or territorial battle? The war is mentioned a lot in here but what is it? And of course what’s the outcome?

Sorry for just spamming you with questions lol I’m just curious

no it wasn't! This has been sitting in my inbox cause it's not something I could resume in 1 ask without getting mad at myself for bastardizing stuff with years of context in the world. Also, I started writing it then never finished, which thank god cause it was old info and now i can use this ask in another way. I'd like to clarify things about that period that I don't want people to assume!

I don't remember whatever I said about it on my blog, and since I don't trust myself I'll assume all of it is old content from when I wasn't sure what I wanted. Either way I started altuyur when i was 17 its my problem if it sucked.

1 - The first contact didn't instantly explode into GA.

first contact refers to kyhuines having first contact with their bigger cousins, maanuls, after the successful expedition to traverse the Mashrkhfrah mountain range. A mountain belt that almost surrounded the entirety of kyhuine's habitats.

The other exit of it being a biome kyhuines couldn't traverse with the technology they had at the time, "mierthri" biomes or "deep red". The microorganisms found in the air and water there are lethal to them, and the density of the flora (most of it are actually mushrooms that evolved to act more like plants) and the fauna found there don't help either. It was safer to pass by the mountain range, however it wasn't easy either. 

The subject of the traverse itself is years of content too in the world with context on why and who, so its not something i can talk about in-depth here either. I will say that the mountains are a sacred place for multiple cultures where traversing the Alps wasn't permitted. It was taboo for many, politically many groups and representatives were involved, and so on.

The two species knowing each other lasts decades. Meeting maanuls after the traverse was a shock, obviously. However, they didn't go to war just cause they found a new species, because that's not what the war is about. 

2 - GA isn't about a species war

GA isn't maanuls or kyhuines wanting the other extinct or some odd reasons.

There are many reasons why conflict started, which are mainly about systems sucking rather than them being species racist. Sure, harmful beliefs founded on baseless rumors could happen in some factions such as red troupes and section 4. But they were more based on the place they lived in rather than their species. The belief that “kaar’kchir people love living under this system, they all support it, it's in their nature” was a solid one during the conflict and even a bit after.

In short, a list of what caused it. But the causes in the world remain a debated issue in KEO period.

Civil wars in surrounding colonies of kaar’kchir city

Rise of milletarism in kaar’kchir

Security dilemmas

Growth of “nationalism” (in quotes because countries aren't a thing there)

Territorial disputes

 which are linked to:

resource problems and famines

And so on. New political factions formed in response to specific events or actions from other groups. Them gained importance, the belief that war was inevitable, and misunderstandings in diplomatic communications didn't help. There is many factors, so much so that people who joined military factions weren't even sure what was truly happening, being lured in with promises of becoming a hero for your people.

also

The major factions of it

bronze talons, known as red troupes after reform (it is intentional to be written as “troupe”)

section 4

ktlle

tamsitkah

there are other groups around but the most known and important were these 4.

3 - GA isn't the first conflict ever

Conflicts has always been a thing between colonies on Altuyur. While their history was quite peaceful compared to ours in general, it doesn't mean they never had conflicts between two different colonies. however, they were vastly resolved through talk, and debates that could last days or up to a week. Or through organized matches, ranging from culture-specific board games to even sports. Wrestling an important cultural sport in the north, even originated from this.

If there truly was no way to settle on an agreement between the two colonies. Members who wanted to do it their way, thinking there was no reasonable agreement to be had, would sometimes (although keep in mind rarely) make small groups and would plan to attack the others. Due to resolving to violence instead of finding another way, they'd be shamed by their home colony for their behavior and other neighboring groups could go as far as not wanting to trade for a while with them. Even if combats can be a grey thing in certain situations for them there's generally never an excuse for it. But, that is different among certain cultures that aren't so against violence. High plateau kyhuine groups do not see the shame others do in the act of organizing combats with talon extension to resolve conflicts. 

However while small conflicts were always a thing, that in the vast majority would be resolved quickly or at least with minimal harm, they never had an actual war. At least never something so big and important until the GA period.

Bonus - Forget everything you know about GA characters honestly 

I am ridiculously shy about them online and used to not know what to do with these freaks before. So sadly my blog is a shelter for old characterization. I am well aware for example that Monmartre is my most known character yet its the one no one knows anything about especially considering the complete rewrite of it i did almost a year ago now.

But whatever I'll try to be more open about them someday, since they’re people of altuyur history some can be somewhat important to it.

Bonus 2 -The traverse wasn't the first actual contact!

Tales of "giants with a sword face" for kyhuines, or "tiny people" for maanuls, might stem from them meeting their cousin's thousands of years ago during what's considered as "prehistory" for them. Some rare cave paintings also depict people that look like x species.

They forgot about each others, and they became rumors that turned into mythical beasts.

—

yes i disappeared for a while and now i come back saying i wrote garbage on this blog before yeah 

[howtofightwrite]

I have a character who is expected to fight enemies in a war but secretly doesn't want to, so when he chooses his weapon He goes for something specifically for defense and never uses it to hurt or kill anyone. But he chooses one that doesn't make it too obvious that he's intended to just use it for defense and not to kill. What would be a good weapon for something like that? The weapons they all use can be anything from melee to ranged (although ranged is rare) and they can summon it at will.

Most psychologically healthy individuals don't particularly want to murder random strangers. Also, unsurprisingly, most people don't want to go to war. So, these have a few implications for you.

Your character isn't unique or special for not wanting to kill people; that's normal. Part of the job of any competent military is convincing their soldiers to kill for them. There are a lot of distinct elements that go into this, including their training, overall discipline, the propaganda and information that the soldiers (and general population) are exposed to.

So, while it's entirely normal for someone to not want to want to kill people in war, if they're actually getting deployed into combat while still holding onto idea, either the war they're involved in is so difficult to justify that the propaganda didn't take hold, or their military was deficient. Further, if either of those factors are in effect, then it's not just going to be them, their pacifism will be a widespread problem within their military.

Training and drills should have gotten your character used to the idea of following orders. Including to kill. This doesn't mean they're an unfeeling machine, but it does mean that, if the training was effective, they're far more likely to follow orders, when told to kill someone, rather refuse to.

Refusing to follow orders would result in (often severe) disciplinary action. Depending on the military, that could even mean a summary execution, after the battle.

Now, punishment is probably the least effective method for motivating your troops to fight. It will work, but has severe diminishing returns, and it's only a mater of time before those troops will return the favor, and start assassinating their own officers (or whomever is responsible for overseeing discipline) in retribution. There's even a modern term for this specific behavior, “Fragging.”

Before it got this far, your character's government should have been instilling why it was important for your character to fight. This can alternate between legitimate information and propaganda without much difference in how they function. One's true, the other isn't.

The process of formulating propaganda or legitimate information does differ. Propaganda is heavily affected by human psychology, and focuses on disinformation. Providing legitimate context for the war  requires explaining, sometimes fairly sophisticated, political concepts in terms that the rank and file will understand. There are muddy elements here as well, a legitimate war is likely to also see propagandist materials produced to further motivate. Hostile use of propaganda can be used to demoralize enemy forces. Similarly, sometimes the legitimate context is effectively fictitious. An example of that would be, The Domino Theory: It was believed at the time, but has since been thoroughly debunked.

So, your character doesn't want to kill anyone, and that's great, but they're now in a war to repel an invading force, who are pillaging their homeland. Is it true? Maybe. Maybe not, but if it's a lie it's one they're unlikely to be unaware of. Maybe they're in a war to liberate territory that was previously claimed by the other party, and very importantly, they're pretty sure the other side struck first this time.

Finally, and probably most importantly to your character, they may not want to kill anyone, but they're pretty sure the invaders will kill them, if given the opportunity. They've also learned in training that, while fighting defensively has a purpose, it's not going to stop someone from trying to kill you, so they really need to put down an enemy soldier before their foe can do the same to them.

Is that all true? Not quite. Their enemies may have the same hang-ups about killing that they do. They probably don't want to be there any more than your character does. They may think they're fighting a liberation war, trying to reclaim lost territory. They're pretty sure that your character, yes, your character in specific, the pacifist, wants them dead, personally, and that if they don't kill enemy soldiers on the battlefield, they will die.

Is any of that true? Not quite. But, by the time you've gotten onto the battlefield and are staring down an enemy infantry advance, trying to find a path of pacifism is extremely risky. If your character is supremely lucky, they'll be captured, and held in decent conditions until the end of the war. If they're unlucky, they'll either be executed on the battlefield (by whichever side wins, either for cowardice or because they're a surviving enemy combatant with no important standing.) Worse, they could always be captured and tortured for information. Whether that's better or worse than being put to death is up for debate, but it's not going to be a fun time. This is all assuming that they're not killed in the fray.

So what's the best weapon for your character? Who knows? They're going to get whatever they're going to get. If the quartermaster hands them a spear, that's their weapon. Outside of some elite forces, and conscripts who are called up with whatever they could grab from their home, you don't really pick your weapon in most armies. You also don't, usually, get to pick, what you're going to be doing on the battlefield. If your character was trained to be infantry, they'll use whatever infantry weapon their military uses. Depending on the exact time frame, they may be required to procure the weapon themselves, in which case it will need to meet some standards, or it may be provided for them by their army. Without more context, it's impossible to know what you're looking at in this specific case, but your character wouldn't be allowed to pick an ineffective weapon focused on self-defense.

-Starke

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[splatsvilles-fashionista]

Splatoon 3 Version 8.0 patch notes breakdown

A bit late with this one, as I didn't have the time to write it last night, but nevertheless, here's a quick rundown of the patch notes for version 8.0, which should release in a couple of hours as of time of writing.

First of all, the Sizzle Season 2024 content is being added, but will not be available for another 24-ish hours. That includes:

A new Catalog

The new stage Lemuria Hub

Two new main weapons, two variants of those main weapons, and six alternate sets for preexisting main weapons.

14 Tableturf cards

Two new songs by SashiMori

The renovated Hammerhead Bridge and Barnacle & Dime, which will be taken out of stage rotations when the update becomes available.

Wandercrust Journey 6.

Additionally, this patch also adds data for the new Triumvirate King Salmonid fight and a new Grizzco Weapon, as well as the new Splatfest features, both of which will not become available until a later date.

With Sizzle Season 2024 stuff out of the way, let's move onto the changes that will be available right away, starting with Stage Changes, which there are a lot of.

In addition the Hammerhead Bridge and Barnacle & Dime changes, Museum d'Alfonsino, Um'ami Ruins, Brinewater Springs, and Scorch Gorge are all getting layout changes, with Museum getting some extra changes in Splat Zones and Rainmaker specifically. Eeltail Alley, Hagglefish Market, Flounder Heights, Marlin Airport and Manta Maria are all getting "slight" changes, while Crableg Capital and Bluefin Depot are getting slight changes in Turf War and Splat Zones, and Clam Blitz, respectively.

I'll be entirely honest, until we see these changes for ourselves it's impossible to gauge just what these changes will be like, but I am willing to be optimistic given just how much improvement we've seen in the Stage design over the last year or so. I think they'll be slight improvements at worst.

With that said, let's move onto Main Weapon changes, starting with a bunch of weapons getting the exact same change.

Sploosh, Jr, Aerospray, Luna, Clash, Carbon, Splat Roller, Inkbrush, Octobrush, and Dapples will all now deal 10% more damage to Splash Walls. I'm not sure why this was listed on each weapon individually and not just all collected as a Splash Wall change, but I digress. The intent here seems to be to make short-range weapons specifically, better at dealing with Splash Wall, the users of which they'll generally be outranged by to begin with. It's a small and specific change, but it's not one I think any of these weapons will complain about.

N-ZAP will now be able to fire for longer before its hits max bullet spread. In case you didn't know, all shooters that have bullet spread have a property where that spread gradually increases the longer you hold ZR, which slowly goes back to normal if you stop firing, and now that'll take longer on N-ZAP specifically.

N-Zap didn't really need this buff, but it's also not something that moves the needle much to begin with. It's pretty rare outside of low-level turf wars that someone fires for long enough to the spread to be a major factor, so it's fine. It's just a very strange change.

Moving onto more deserved buffs, L-3 has its damage increased by 2, taking a full three-hit burst from 87 to 93 damage. This is not a significant change, but 30 is a pretty important damage threshold to hit, as it combos with a lot of things, and it does mean that getting even lightly chipped by almost anything at all puts you in one-shot range, so watch out!

Rapid Blaster now starts recovering ink after firing about 3 frames faster. It's another nice little buff, though like N-ZAP it is kind of strange this weapon is being buffed at all when it's in a pretty good spot right now.

Now here's something interesting, Tri-Stringer will now paint the ground better, and will now paint lines more consistently. Turfing has always been one of Tri-Stringer's biggest weaknesses, so this is a very nice buff!

Last but not least is my favourite change in the entire patch. REEF-LUX now charges at full speed while in the air, similar to how Squiffer works. This is just a fantastically cool buff if you ask me, it's one of those things that seem insignificant on paper but can really change up how a weapon plays in a major way. It wasn't until after Squiffer got this change in Splatoon 2 that the weapon really came into its own, after all.

With Main Weapon changes down, let's move onto Points for Special changes, of which there are four (technically three):

Big Swig Express and Painbrush are ten points cheaper, and both variants of E-Liter are ten points more expensive. Not a lot to discuss here, so let's move onto Special Weapons:

The rails that indicate the Reefslider's path will now ink the floor as they extend forward, potentially allowing you paint over an enemy's feet before running them over. The rail will now also follow moving terrain, which is a change I'll admit I am not sure what it does? We'll just have to see when the patch goes live.

Big Bubbler now paints the ground inside of the shield. A nice quality of life change that could potentially be used to do some silly things in Splat Zones, if you're so inclined.

Ink Vac will now paint the ground behind you while it's active. Nintendo specifies later on in the patch notes that this is because they want you to be more reliably able to use it while retreating, and yeah, that's what this change will do.

For our final Special change, Splattercolor Screen now deals more damage to Beakons, Sprinkler, Splash Wall, sponges, and the Rainmaker's shield. Like with the Ink Vac changes, Nintendo specifies what the purpose of this buff is in the patch notes, and in this case it's to reward people more for using the Screen well.

And that's all the balance changes for this patch, but there is actually one more Main Weapon change that is not listed with the rest, because it's a bit different:

These changes are very wordy, but the TL;DR is that Squeezer now has a hard cap on how fast it can fire, which is the same as its regular fire speed. That might sound like a completely pointless change, and I thought so initially as well, but it seems the intent here is to not have the weapon be improved by turbo controllers, as they can let you mash ZR at much, much faster paces than intended.

With all that said, let's round things out with some miscellaneous changes:

If you roll or dash into the Rainmaker shield you'll now slide off it, as opposed to the game continuously attempting to place you where the shield is at and dealing a bunch of contact damage to you, splatting you almost instantly.

You'll now start the next season in S+0 if you were top 1000 in the previous season's X rank.

Squid Beakons are now accounted for when awarding the Super Jump Spot medal, which I am frankly surprised wasn't the case already?

I lied, there is one more Main Weapon change. Grizzco Dualies now deal 5 more damage with their actual bullets. That means they three-shot Chum now!

Reflected Drizzler torpedoes will now collide with terrain less, reducing the situations where you shoot one back only to have it immediately crash into a ledge it just barely touches.

Finally, purchasing the Expansion Pass will now net you 10 free Sheldon Licenses. If you've already bought the Expansion Pass then you'll be given the Licenses after downloading the update. Just in time for ten new weapons to be added as part of the Sizzle Season!

[dykeulous]

capitalism, gender, class, the legal system/prisons, the nuclear family unit, the state– all of those are systems & institutions that are oppressive in and of themselves. they are not being used for oppression, they are inherently & intrinsically oppressive– they are beyond repair, beyond fixing, beyond reform. reform is not applicable to any of them– abolition is the key. an example of a system that is, however, a case for reform rather than abolition, would be religion, and its institution the church. when i declare myself antitheist, or religion-critical; i am not calling for the abolition of religion. i am, however, saying that religion desperately needs reform– a thorough reform– a reform that will be executed to the roots through and through. religion is not supposed to be inherently oppressive, but it is undoubtedly linked to various forms of oppression, and was utilized for marginalization. organized religion is harmful & oppressive, and giving the church special importance gives it more opportunities to exploit its power for the continual oppression of people. religion has caused suffering for humanity, it has caused numerous genocides & wars– but i do not believe it is beyond reform. you cannot take away people’s curiosity, and we can only ask questions such as “Is It Really Necessary?” once we reform it, once it ceases being oppressive.

given the example of a case for reform above, i would like to get back to the cases for abolition. a lot of people call themselves gender abolitionists, or prison abolitionists, or state abolitionists, or whatever– when truly they are just reformists, and often very lukewarm ones at that. sure, being reactionary to trans people, or gender conforming people, or anyone who has a gender identity/participates in gender is despicable, but you cannot be a gender abolitionist without at least recognizing that it is truly a case for abolition, rather than reform. you cannot be a gender abolitionist, if truly by abolitionist you mean “gender is so silly! i can use it for whatever silly thing i want! it’s not real anyway haha”– you cannot call yourself a gender abolitionist if you don’t recognize that yes, gender is a social construct; but it is also very much real, and that is a problem. so lets make it… not real anymore? that is true gender abolition. gender acceleration can be a useful tactic, and i’m very fascinated with the concept & love talking about it– but it is fundamentally not useful if you use it for simple gender fuckery, rather than using it for the end goal of actual abolition. similarly, you cannot call yourself a prison abolitionist if you say it only works for nonviolent crime (it always depends on various factors– the person, the environment etc.), if you spread misinformation about it 24/7, and if once again, by “abolitionist” you mean reformist. you are not a prison abolitionist if you know nothing about restorative and transformative justice. you are not a prison abolitionist if you think restorative justice works depending on the type of crime committed, rather than the person commiting the crime. you also cannot call yourself a state abolitionist if you believe the state can be abolished overnight (i think we all know who i’m directing this at), or that the transitory period between capitalism & socialism, or socialism & communism alike– is useless. you are not a state abolitionist if you straight up want to skip over some of the most important parts of state abolition (transitory periods, the dictatorship of the proletariat, etc.).

if you truly want to destroy systems of oppression, stop supporting the grounds they were built on, or the materials they were built from.

[caputvulpinum]

Putting this on anon, because I'm pretty sure this is an opinion that might upset people, but it's still relevant to the discussion you're currently having/stuck in.

I, personally, don't believe you CAN appropriate Japanese culture, for the same reason I don't believe you can appropriate American, British, Russian, or Chinese (Beijin central official government) culture.

Because these are imperialist powers who have literally murdered and waged war to FORCE people to adopt their culture. I feel like once a group walks up, says "You will adopt this culture or WE WILL KILL YOU," everyone is allowed to do whatever the fuck they want with it.

Now, I love Japan, I love Japanese culture and artwork, and yes, anime, but I think that anyone who high on the bandwagon of "Oh, you can't do that, that's ApPrOpRiAtIoN of the Japanese culture, needs to read some fucking Japanese history. Ideally stuff written by the Japanese.

The people worried about appropriation of Japanese culture are the same ones who dog-piled on a designer for making a Kimono in an Clan Tartan (she was half Japanese, half Scottish) because they were CERTAIN she was a non-Japanese """Appropriating""" Japanese culture.

Also, I follow all the Japanese official government twitters, and about once every other week they just tweet out a whole slew of "Come join us at such and such, learn about traditional Japanese culture! Come participate in our festivals! We really, REALLY want everyone to come be part of our cultural heritage! We'll send you free books on the subject!"

Closing clarification. I absolutely believe that Cultural Appropriation is a real thing, it is a real problem. Especially when dealing with smaller cultural groups that have been suppressed in the past, one must tread with care and the utmost respect. I very specifically have worked to remove terms taken from certain cultures from my common usage and vocabulary because people from those cultures have asked. Spirit Animal, Golem, (The cannibal spirit repeated referenced in Hannibal), these are terms that have important cultural significance, and diluting and misusing them is wrong.

But, again, if a major historical factor in a culture is "We are literally going to murder you and your family if you DON'T adopt our culture," I think you lose pretty much all right to claim/complain about appropriation of your culture.

Okay so you do realize that the reason the Japanese official government twitter posts "Come learn about all these traditional cultural and historical things" is because they want people to learn about Japanese culture so that they DON'T continue appropriating it, yes?

All I'm going to tell you is you seriously need to remind yourself what, exactly, cultural appropriation is. It doesn't just mean feeling entitled to a closed culture's practices. It means the theft and misinterpretation of a culture due to a lack of knowledge and respect for that culture within its own context. Wearing a kimono as someone who isn't Japanese isn't appropriative. Dressing as a geisha for Halloween is appropriative. A foreigner seeking to become a geisha isn't appropriative; Memoirs of a Geisha is appropriative.

I am trying to say this in the most well-intentioned way I can, and I hope you understand it as such: The reason you think this opinion will upset people is because it's an opinion which literally any fucking East Asian person would see and go "What the actual living fuck is this bullshit." If you are as invested in respecting these cultures and in not perpetrating racist and dismissive attitudes towards its people as you claim, I would really suggest you need to do a better job and actually find fucking someone, anyone, who is East Asian, because the concept of "It's impossible to appropriate Japanese (and by extension of your definition Chinese) culture" is literally why the term cultural appropriation exists in the first place.

[sweetestpopcorn]

Hi 🍿! I just realized how religious the post-dance targ family is. Like I know Maegelle joined the faith but it seems like she was the only one so into it. At least she was the only one in her generation. But the post-dance targ family had three! (Not to mention Bealor who is a little bit 🤨) Do you think this has to do with the greens? I mean like their line died out but their whole mindset went on and influenced the Targaryens. Or are there any other factors you think lead to this situation?

Hi there and sorry for this huge delay :)

Why are you even considering the Greens when neither Baela, Rhaena, Aegon III, or Viserys II were influenced by them or spent any time with them except Baela and Aegon III when they were captive? Yes, they influenced politics in Westeros... to the extent that they solidified something that was already a practice of House Targaryen and an established custom that was only interrupted by King Viserys.

Nonetheless, please let's not pretend that any of the Greens was the thing that turned House Targaryen religious or introduced the Seven to the Targaryens because that is a blatant lie if I ever saw one.

Cases in point:

Rhaenyra is shown to value the faith of the Seven. She makes Jace and Luke swear on the Seven-Pointed Star. Aegon II - a green - shows no such behaviour so you could make an argument that she was more religious than him. She also seemed to have a particular notion regarding marriage, and vows taken.

Rhaena (Daemon's daughter) was said to pray for her second dragon egg day and night hoping it would hatch.

Jaehaerys understood the importance of religion even making a septon his Hand. Furthermore, he was quite conservative and did not take it at all kindly to know his daughter Saera had lovers prior to being married referring to her as a wh0re.

Alysanne is also shown to be quite religious, wanting to bathe in the sacred waters of Jonquil's Pool, and saying that the Mother loved her children more than she did -> using it as explanation of why so many of her children had died.

Septon Eustace had once been Queen Aemma's confessor.

Both Maegelle and Rhaella (or Aerea depending on what you believe) became septas.

The Targaryens followed the Faith of the Seven post Conquest, and even before the Conquest there was a sept in Dragonstone.

I make no secret that I am not a person who cares about religion, I don't and am mainly against it. I can however, from an objective viewpoint understand why people at times cling to it, and it has much to do with hardship, with pain, and with a desire that the unfixable can be fixed. With faith.

The children of Aegon III and Viserys II were born in a time of great vulnerability of House Targaryen, to parents who had experienced war, significant loss, and deep trauma. Many of the siblings were said to cling to each other - e.g., Aemon and Naerys, Daena and Elaena; examining their lives it is quite clear to see why they sought after comfort in religion. Just consider Naerys, she was born sickly, her mother left when she was a baby, she was raised by a father more concerned with ruling a kingdom than caring for her, learned about the downfall of their House and their dragons, was forced to marry a brother who abus€d until she died and had many miscarriages... what else but her Faith and her love of her brother Aemon and her son would keep her going?

There is also a possibility that perhaps there was some hope or faith that the gods could intervene and help to bring their dragons back. Let's remember how Rhaena (Daemon's daughter) prayed that her egg would hatch as I mentioned above.

But we do see an example of clinging to something else, in Daeron, for instance, who thought that it was through conquest and military prowess that they would regain their power.

Baelor was a... special case I would say, and without a doubt he had some severe mental illness.

In any case in the AU where we get Fire&Blood 2 I am sure many of these issues will be further explored. And impossible as it may seem, it is still more likely to happen than redacted being good or giving justice to anything we saw in Fire and Blood.

Here's to hoping and to stop giving the Greens importance they don't have in 2024.

All the best!

[chewiiez]

idol! idol! idol au part two!

let’s actually discuss the jw scandal, since everyone was curious (✯ᴗ✯)

in the original tgcf, we know that one of the main ways jw manipulated/tortured xie lian was through isolation! the xianle war being a indirect factor into making mq leave, and fx being forced to leave by xl because he was in such a bad state mentally due to the hallucinations. hc has to leave, too, because he was but a mere ghost flame. in those weakest times, was when xie lian truly lost his sanity, was tortured beyond belief. and that’s the sort of route i want to take with this au.

let’s reiterate: on the survival show, because the unfolding of events there is super important. mu qing being brought back was a great decision for most, but for some toxic ot3 stans, he becomes their punching bag. to isolate xie lian, jw takes the first step: getting the other members out of the picture! and with his ceo fingers, he strings together a bullying scandal.

if you don’t follow kpop or other idol industries, a bullying scandal is basically your reputation in the mud. bullying scandals have ruined so many idols’ lives, especially the false ones. dispatch, paparazzi, will post whatever clout they have, and netizens will devour it, and proceed to harass said idol. to create a false scandal would mean that jw has guaranteed mq’s exit ticket, because him staying in the group would affect their reputation. remember the shackle on mq’s wrist? yeah, with a few threats to the other member’s safety, jw manages to make mq leave the group. 

and just like in tgcf, mq soon becomes hated by the other 3 members, because yeah, the scandal, proof, and fabricated texts looked legit. and finding a lawyer…was tough. soon, mq’s insta is gone, and any support for him (except for a few of his genuine stans) is wiped off the timeline. all we see is #justiceforx3 and #kickmqout trending. 

following the canon order, feng xin is next. another toxic part of idol culture is diets. and my headstrong belief is that feng xin would say “fuck you” to the diets and build his muscle his way. (diets can be interpreted as the cultivation method xl+mq were on, too.) when jw threatens him, and forces a same fate on feng xin, feng xin realizes he must leave: to make sure he can still stay in contact with xl, redeem himself and talk to mq, and file a fucking lawsuit. because no way in hell is fx letting jw off the hook. i haven’t developed this part yet, but thinking about fx hinting at hc about how something is wrong, and hc catching on to jw’s sus behaviour. 

x4 is no more. jw has almost succeeded. the only thing blocking his way? gege’s #1 believer, hua cheng. threats don’t work on this guy. hc alerts xl, who isn’t stupid, guys. he pretends to play along, but is really secretly recording all these conversations as proof to present in court. 

meanwhile, fx meets with a solemn mq, who refuses to talk to him, or do anything idol related. he finds that mq’s mom died, which put him in an even worse situation. like every post-canon tongulu fix-it, fx slowly realizes his mistakes, but mq also realizes his lack of communication. a slow romance is perhaps in the works, but the more important part? saving xl. once mq is let in on the plan, he reveals every small detail he’s collected, from evidence proving him innocent, and snippets of conversations he recorded, to strict, unfair, diets. 

and just as xl is about to finalize the details of his solo contract, hc whisks him away (with full consent). A very controversial figure has sent some data to dispatch, and the shit has hit the fan, because suddenly the mq stans are out of hiding, with full reciepts. a once-in-a-lifetime event occurs, where fxmq stans bond together to make threads upon threads of mistreatment. oddly anonymous accounts leak texts, voice snippets, and other proof of fake bullying scandals and the general mistreatment x4 has faced: whether it be line distributions, restrictions, or other things. it is a chaos. bad for jw, but just amazing for x4.

jw is arrested, held at trial where he pleads guilty. jail, jail. #weloveyoumq, #weloveyoufx, #weloveyouxl, #weloveyouhc are the top 4 trending tags. #foureverswithx4 is everywhere. x4 mends their relationship tentatively, they reopen their social media, and sign contracts under YH entertainment, the same producer on their survival show, Yushi Huang’s company. 

XI4NLE is back, better than ever.

and that’s the jw scandal (*´ω｀*) wdym i spent a lifetime on this haha...ofc not...

next is song recs and lime distributions, as well as dynamics :D

[quibbs126]

Honestly if I were to ever rewrite CRK, first thing I’d do is streamline and solidify the timeline

Because I feel like there’s millennium long gaps in the timeline where nothing much happens, and it’s really vague when certain things happen. And also the lore doesn’t necessarily need to span across several thousands of years. I mean I’m pretty sure actual human civilization hasn’t lasted as long as the lore of the Cookies has, and they had to be made by Witches first

Not only this but as I’ve referred to before, while the Ancients have been established as living for thousands of years, they’re still too young to have witnessed other known important eras in the timeline aside from making their kingdoms and the Dark Flour War (which even some mortals still are around to remember), such as the Beasts or the disappearance of the Witches. Which to me feels like their longevity is mostly inflated to make them sound older, despite it not meaning much in the grand scheme of things

And then there’s the inconsistencies as to when things took place in the timeline. Most famously, the Dark Flour War, since there’s information that tells us it was a very long time ago, but other information that implies that it couldn’t have been that long ago

I also have no clue when the presumed Age of Dragons was, or when it ended. The whole prehistoric era in Ovenbreak confuses me as to its presumed place in the timeline, but considering we’re talking about Kingdom and this was a very recent thing in Ovenbreak, I’m willing to consider that an alternate universe difference. But we know in the Kingdom universe that dragons used to be all over Earthbread but are mostly gone now, so there was an end to their era, but I have no clue when, especially since Tea Knight was there prior to it and was a factor in it. He may be old but as far we know he’s still mortal. Though maybe it’s not established because the dragons aren’t really focused on as their own storyline. Pitaya and the twin dragons have more to do with their respective kingdoms than their relation to dragonkind

I think I’ve rambled on a bit but you get what I’m saying. The timeline is…not great and it needs some work

Personally if I were to do it, I’d streamline the lore to take place over maybe a couple thousand years, and the Ancients are at most 1000 years old. Maybe I’d have them be baked right at the end of the era of Witches, and so their rise to power is like the start of a new era without Witches, where the Cookies pave their own path on Earthbread. Like when the Witches left the Cookie civilization was left floundering somewhat, and so the Ancients stepped up to lead their fellow Cookies. Not entirely sure how to fit in the Beasts and particularly Beast Yeast into this new story, but whatever. Also I’d probably establish the Dark Flour War as happening like, 70 years ago. And subsequently change all the information relating to it to fit in with that time frame. Maybe it could be a bit longer or shorter, but that’s the best time frame I can think of in relation to the Crème Republic elders, since that’s who I tend to base it off of

[blackvahana]

Reminded of my ramblings in response to magical girl stuff and I think I understand my feelings towards astral magical girl things more now. As with any opinion I'm not saying I'm right, and to be honest as much as I'm realising I can't stand this, I'm very, very aware people also can't stand me in the way that we're all programmed to be annoyed by shit other people do and we all have extensive reasons for why we think others are wrong, but that doesn't actually make us right. I can list my reasons here, doesn't mean I'm right. Maybe one day I'll completely change my mind! But for now, no, uh, yeah. Oh, and also worth noting no, I'm sure not everyone under this label fits my issues, this (an opinion) can only ever be about what I've seen and if the shoe doesn't fit then you're not included in this post

I already have issues with pop culture stuff bleeding into violence because you have to be real, real sure that the cause you're hurting other living beings for even exists let alone is what you think it is. Usual "I spent 5 years channelling and taking part in astral stuff with PC spirits who proved they were real - then I found out the hard way through them having their faces torn off by Divine Fucking Intervention that they were completely lying and using my connection to a video game to get me to be a part of their cult" shit, but you know. that's mostly a me thing, and that's not really something the average person is able to prove, because you know. spirits will prove they're real to you and will show you firsthand memories of fictional locations and people, have other fictional characters show up, and so on to prove to you they're real and uh.... the average person doesn't know about memory forming and mask forming and multiple bodies with multiple personalities and how to dissect the difference between holes in channelling and holes in the spirits lies and so on and so forth. But also this point is not against magical girls so much as its just a uh. yeah. oh boy. And this point is also relegated to PC pagan work

The general issue I have is that it's such a... trivialisation of war and violence. Here's the thing: Soldiers can lean into aesthetics, sure. Lev and I can be seen showing up with terrifying flashy entrances lmfao and Beastly(tm) forms, on occasions. Much less so for him nowadays because of how serious war fucking is and how little the enemy is dissuaded by fear. There's a lot to be gained from picking a persona to interact with war, too: war is a fact of life, but flight/freeze/fawn reactions don't have to be a counter factor if you engage personas. But here's the thing: I work with soldiers outside this incarnation. If fucking any of them showed up in an aesthetic outfit and treated the violence like it was their Moment To Shine and their opportunity to become a magical (gender) and we're acting like they're being pretty while bonking people on the head I'd bite their own fucking head off, possibly literally if soldiers weren't more important than my disgust

There's something actually twisted about treating violence as a magical cutesy fashion thing, an opportunity to get dressed up and be a Magical (Gender) Fighting Evil or Fighting Demons or whatever else dehunanisation of the enemy is going on. Not in a "take my sphere of warfare more seriously way", not in a "show up more seriously way". I don't care about you. I care more about the enemy that has to deal with people showing up in cosplay being cutesy for you to enact violence on them. Show respect to the enemy, show them you actually see them as a being instead of treating them like their blood is just in a jar waiting to be smashed so they can add it to your aesthetics.

Again, I understand aesthetics in war, and I also understand dehumanising the enemy. But can you seriously imagine through my eyes for a second? Imagine a soldier showing up in heels and a fancy dress with charms on their weapon making peace signs at the camera and UwU killing people. That's what I'm seeing when I see this. You can do what you want at the end of the day, but if you value your aesthetics over taking violence seriously then spirits ruling over war and violence are gonna at the very least have 0 respect for you if not be pulled to tearing you down, not in terms of personal retribution (though there's no line between aspect/part of nature and personhood) but in terms of... if you push the ocean to recede, it is forced to return by its own physics. If you start playing with warfare and violence in the way that you completely disrespect it...

Like here's the thing. Lev and I? Especially Red Sky, half of Lev... We'll say Lev and her for a minute: They wear corpses, they skin what they hunt and kill and wear it, but they do so to see through their eyes and out of respect. It's ("shamans") making skin drums, it's journeying, it's opening up to the world letting it teach you... And this is important to me. Which is probably, actually, part of why I hate this so much, because magical girl shit is the opposite of what we as a group do - which is, yes, a more subjective reason to dislike this. We are war spirits, we are willing to wear the enemy's viewpoint, see them for what they are, and even in death they are in a way preserved even if we may personally hate them. Magical girl aesthetics... Enforcing and projecting your own aesthetics on to the world, on to the enemy, and fighting not even to preserve your micro-culture but as a part of it? Yeah. Not a fan

[littlesparklight]

Was thinking a little about Paris' love interests, and how there are only three named ones - Helen, Oinone, and Antheus - and these three are the only ones we can say with certainty that he's actually been sexually/romantically involved with, in one version of a story or other. To be sure, Paris' letter to Helen in Ovid's Heroides includes the (bragging) note that other (specifically royal) women have shown interest in him, and that "even" nymphs (or at least one) has done so.

When it comes to Ovid specifically, compared to Oinone, who basically all three letters confirm Paris has been involved with/married to, I'm not sure those other, unnamed women are supposed to be imagined as actual romantic/sexual incidents/relationships. Paris clearly brings them up in the letter as a way to apparently seem more attractive (to Helen), and so the women's (supposed) interest in him, not any actual realization of either his or theirs attraction, is what's the point. The Iliad has a couple other mentions that could be interpreted as some sort of "generalized womanizing behaviour" I suppose (Hektor and Diomedes' insults). But given the culture of the time, I think that's unlikely. And given the context of the circumstances, the war in general and Paris backing away from any duel with Menelaos in particular, him being called woman-mad (or ahem, driving women mad) and a seducer would make more sense if it's not about any random amount of women, but specifically the one instance and particular woman that has led to the circumstances of the war, and the war being ongoing.

I. Helen Helen is undoubtedly love interest that is the oldest, most important, and, frankly, for the story the only one that matters and is necessary. Since I've already talked about it elsewhere I don't want to go on about the point of how Helen's interest in Paris is basically constant (even when in some later sources she is explicitly kidnapped) and her complicity, if not outright action, in her leaving Sparta with Paris is almost always a factor in their story. The Trojan war in general but Paris' character in specific does not need any other relationship to both show what sort of character he is (willing, at the very least, to seduce/sleep with a married woman showing interest in him and then convince her to leave, and at the most to kidnap her against her will; either way he will be willing to break xenia and refuse to give her up).

Honestly, the fact that Paris refuses to give Helen up no matter what is just as much potential proof of his loyalty to Helen/the relationship and the earnestness of his feelings, as it can be proof of, as many likes to look at it, him being arrogant and refusing to give up ~his prize~. (With the implication he doesn't view her as anything else, but if so that is no different or worse from the majority of men in the tradition.)

II. Oinone Oinone's most important function story-wise (aside from adding background to both her and Paris' lives prior to the war), is as part of one of the methods of Paris' death. One of, which is why I don't actually consider Oinone necessary to the story. In the Epic Cycle's Little Iliad, Paris dies right there on the battlefield to Philoctetes' arrows. Which means that the first textual survival of Paris' death does not require Oinone. Doesn't necessarily mean Oinone and her part in Paris' life in some matter is much later; she could well be just as ancient! But the point rather is, that for the story to happen at all, up to Paris' death, she isn't actually "necessary". Oinone is first potentially mentioned by Bacchylides (5th century), referring to her probable death, but the fragment is uncertain so it could be about Althaia instead. Hellanicus also has some part of her story around the same time, we just don't know exactly if all the parts were present yet.

Oinone is a nymph, and presumably older than Paris (potentially by a lot). She marries a teenaged boy (not that girls weren't married teenaged, either, but given the probable timelines involved with Judgement/recognition/Paris leaving for Sparta, Paris wouldn't have been particularly old at the time of any potential marriage). He's also a slave at this point. Oinone and Paris only seem to exist as a pair on Mount Ida; Oinone never comes permanently to (if one wants to pay attention to a mention of her having met Kassandra in her Heroides letter)/settles in Troy, unlike most other nymphs that marry mortal men (kings and princes). They live in her realm, basically. And Oinone, as a nymph, has no "need" of Paris like a mortal woman marrying a mortal man would. She has a life, a home, a family she can (and does!) go back to when Paris leaves her. She isn't shamed, and is not without recourse or resources to keep living as she did before she got involved with Paris.

Obviously it hurts to be left behind when you still love someone and they leave you for whatever reason. And Oinone clearly loves Paris to the very end, so much so she regrets not saving him, thus causing his death, and kills herself for him. (Which is part of why I, personally, go with the Little Iliad's version of Paris' death.) But relationships can end (and divorce is a thing, was even back then and in the myths themselves), and with Oinone not being mortal, the "only" damage to Oinone is her injured heart.

I think what's interesting with the Oinone-Paris-Helen connection is that Paris seems to be basically just as serially monogamous as Helen is (Blondell in her book uses this phrase for Helen). He goes from one wife/relationship to another, and does not keep sleeping with the previous woman. "Not cheating" on either woman involved here is, ahem, certainly a low, low bar to clear, but given the general sexual behaviour and licenses of male characters in Ancient Greek myth, it's a bar seldom cleared.

III. Antheus I've seen the full version of Oinone and Paris' story being called a product of Hellenistic (heterosexual) romanticism, and while that may or may not be true since we can't exactly know if all the necessary parts weren't existant before the Hellenistic age, Antheus' story seems to me to be exactly this.

His earliest mention (and only surviving such, as far as we have it) is in Lycophron's Alexandra, firmly Hellenistic era. Antheus and his story seems to be tied into either an alternate way for, or maybe an additional explanation how, Paris goes to Sparta. The Judgement can certainly still exist in their story, but when you look at the extent of it I've vaguely begun to wonder if later audiences/authors didn't think the vague potential of simply going off on a guest-friendship journey was enough explanation/incentive, and came up with something else.

The full version is basically this (mind the slight repeats), explained by Tzetzes' scholia on the Alexandra:

The only thing that doesn't make sense, really, is that Troy then takes Paris back; usually expiation exiles do not get to go back home, but the tradition of course needs Paris and Helen (in one form or another) in Troy, and so he will be welcomed back.

I know I'm not alone in having delighted in taking advantage of Antheus as a potential love interest, but I have to point out that as we see here, there is nothing that actually implies Deiphobos was involved with Antheus before Paris (or, as happens in my own spin on this, that he is the one Antheus eventually chooses). All we have vouchsafed for us is their common interest in the same young man, and Paris accidentally killing him.

(You'd think male characters in myth would stop playing discus around or with their male lovers/love interests after the first time someone died that way...)

Antheus is as unnecessary to the story as Oinone can be. Even more so, really, as much as I love each and every instance of proof of same-sex desire in Greek myth. His function in this version of things actively interferes with the more common version of the story of how Paris goes to Sparta, compared to that Oinone is basically a past relationship and then a future end and can easily be slotted into what exists as the "mainstream".