#Not indigenous myself but I think this is a very good resource and more people should be aware of it

[hiseyeisonthesparrow]

Hi! I’ve been learning more about Mormonism lately, and I know that Mormon progressives like you definitely exist. However, I’ve been finding it really difficult to understand how people can reconcile their faith with the verse 2 Nephi 5:21 without believing in white supremacy. I understand there are theories about it being metaphorical, but I’ve been having trouble understanding them. If you could offer me some insight, I would truly appreciate it! Thank you in advance.

Thanks for your question! I am unfortunately painfully white, so I may not be the most experienced of people to answer this lol. I'll give it a shot though!

A big tenet of our faith is finding trustworthy sources for questions we have. One of my favorite sources on this topic is a video my dad sat all of our family down and made us watch when we were young*: a talk given by a Black religious scholar called "Blacks In The Scriptures: Skin Color & Curses". It's 45 minutes long, but if this is something you're serious about learning about, you should watch it. You can even 2x speed it if you'd like. You can find it here.

A common archaeological theory is that the Lamanites married, had children with, and culturally assimilated into more of the indigenous population, leading to darker skin. Another idea is that the Lamanites used body paint or decorations that darkened their skin, which would explain the darker skin but not the curse aspect.

Even if the "curse of blackness" is literally about race -- which I doubt it is -- it doesn't mean that, in our gospel, dark skin equals evil.** As the Nephites grew in power and resources, they became prideful and stopped believing. The Lamanites did begin to believe and even became more righteous than the Nephites at one point. As a religion, we also believe that man cannot be punished for the sins of their fathers, called generational sin [see Article of Faith 2]. Those blessed with melanin are no better or worse than any white folk -- all souls are alike and equally capable of exaltation.

[When you look, we have far more scriptures about all people and races being equal than we do about curses of black skin.]

I will be the first to admit that our religion has not had... the best relationship with race. On an episode of Brothaz in the Foyer, they shared this idea that "[Even] outside of church... any organization that's over 100 years old is gonna have some type of history around racism or prejudice." [Side note: that video is also an incredible resource! I would recommend watching it. The Brothaz share their perspectives and experiences regarding race in their religion, and I think it's a helpful resource even if you're not struggling with this concept. It's good to branch out and hear experiences from minority groups in the Church.]

To be entirely honest, I don't entirely understand 2 Nephi 5:21 myself. There are many parts of my faith that don't quite make sense to me, with my earthly mind. Expecting that every member of the Church has to understand and be an expert on every part of our religion is like expecting that every person who loves dinosaurs has a perfect explanation on whether or not there is evidence for a feathered Tyrannosaurus Rex. Not understanding a "curse of blackness" doesn't undermine the idea that I believe in a God who sent a Savior who died for my sins and wants me to return to him. Just because I don't know if T. Rex had feathers doesn't mean I don't believe that dinosaurs existed, you get me?

Anyways, I know I didn't quite answer your question, but hopefully the sources I shared with you can help you come to a conclusion about this [I don't feel experienced enough on this topic to share my own opinions lol, I'll leave it to the theologians of color to explain] And, I might mention, although it's very forward of me to say so, that you could pray about this issue. You don't have to, of course, but it's always an option to anyone struggling with anything ever. Who knows -- you might learn something! :}

Thank you for your ask!

*I grew up in a STAUNCHLY anti-racist household -- went to Juneteenth celebrations, attended protests, met and served friends of color, etc. -- so making the 7 year old learn about Hebrew idioms about race was not too weird for us

** The doctrine, at least, does not say anything about white supremacy. That doesn't mean that members can't misinterpret gospel doctrine and be horribly racist. I have heard of encounters with many a racist Mormon, and my heart aches for all those who have been prejudiced against at the hand of racist Church members.

[heydragonfly]

Hey since it’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day, if you want to know the indigenous people native to the land you currently live on, you can go to Native Land Digital (link embedded) and they have information on all of the Americas and Australia, as well as smaller pockets of information (where applicable) elsewhere. It’s pretty accessible and can show you territories, languages, and related treaties. I’d recommend anyone to check it out, particularly Americans and Canadians, cause this level of local history isn’t often taught. (If you get lost on the map/confused of its orientation, click “settler labels” in the bottom right hand corner, which should give you the current map Settler-made lines)

[northern-passage]

I came across the character Branwen* in my most recent play-through and was curious if she's supposed to be Inuit or not? It was just a bit unclear since she has a chin-stripe tattoo, a Welsh name, and comes from Gael (which I'm under the impression is supposed to be Norse inspired?) Neither the Welsh/Celts or Norse had tattoos like these and the imagery of such comes from the appropriation of Inuit kakiniit. It's unfortunately common, especially in the fantasy genre, think Yasha from Critical Role, and I wouldn't really blame you for not yet knowing better. Misguided or not, it's very damaging since these tattoos are a closed practice, and Inuit have asked us not to use them for non-indigenous characters. Some other cultures have similar tattoos, but these are specifically what are appropriated from in the "Norse aesthetic".

This could be a great opportunity to represent a community that's regularly misrepresentationed and appropriated from in the genre, though! I don't believe you had any ill intentions, if this is a mistake you've made, since you've done really well about a lot of other things so far.

Also, I've done a lot of research on the topic for my own world building and I can try to help if you have any questions!

Here's a list of Inuk creators and artists from my own following (on TikTok specifically):

kadlun

willow.allen

notdayle

shinanova

And fairy.gothparent (not indigenous) has some really educational content on the subject also!

I'm sorry I've misread or misinterpreted anything, and I hope none of this came off as aggressive! I'm just genuinely curious and want to help others do better!

hi :-) no worries, you are not aggressive at all. Branwen is not meant to be Inuit, nor is she meant to be Welsh or Norse. Gael and Adrania are just Fantasy Lands with their own lore & culture-- but with that being said, i am fully aware that the setting for TNP is very much giving medieval Europe, hahahaha. regardless, when i choose names they are mainly just because i like them, so i wouldn't put too much stock in them when reading.

same thing when i designed Branwen, the tattoo was mostly for the aesthetic and because i liked it. i was aware of a few different types of indigenous tattoos (like the Māori tāmoko as well as the Inuit kakiniit) at the time i chose the thick, solid line because i was purposefully trying to avoid conflating it directly with those indigenous tattoos. you're the first person to point this out to me and i appreciate it and it has made me reevaluate my decision to give her such a distinct tattoo. i wanted tattoos to be a big part of Gaelish culture & planned for them to be made with heavy lines & geometry, but in the end a lot of the designs are all over the place (Merry's are way more modern due to basing some of the designs around nautical/sailor tattoos with only a few geometric designs, while Lea's are strictly geometric runes meant for their alchemy)

i absolutely want to avoid misrepresenting these tattoos, especially since it was never my intention for this character to be interpreted as a part of any of the mentioned indigenous groups. this is a good reminder for myself that my work does not exist in a vacuum and regardless of my intentions, the names i choose & the designs i make still reflect my own personal biases and have implications outside of my story.

i appreciate you messaging me and sharing resources. and i always want to encourage people to do so! especially because in my worldbuilding for Gael and Adrania i am pulling inspiration from a lot of different places and a lot of other fantasy media. i've always intended for Adrania to be a "melting pot," with a lot of different influences as in-game cultures converge around their ports & trade routes, but that can also lead to me unintentionally harming real world groups & cultures in my interpretations. as much as i want to "build from scratch" it's just not possible, i will always be influenced by the society i live in, hence me including the tattoo to begin with because you're right, i have seen similar designs in other fantasy media & just didn't think much about it.

going forward i'll most likely just remove that tattoo from Branwen's design, and maybe give her a neck tattoo instead 🤔 just something different to distinguish it from those indigenous designs.

[nexility-sims]

what's something you'd like to see more of on royal simblr?

the timing of this was brilliant, actually, because i had been thinking for several days that i would like to make some sort of entirely uncalled for, roughly edited psa post about What I Think Royal Simblr Needs To Prioritize More :^) anyway, you also touched on this in your own answer, so it’s an echo of that too :^) it's very long, but i had a lot to say about the topic i've chosen. i should also preface by saying that it's not meant as a blanket negative statement or even an objective prescription; it's just based on my own observation and anecdotal experience.

in short, royal simblr needs more cultural diversity !

there are two big reasons why i feel this way: one, the entire premise is suspect because it so easily verges into uncritically reproducing and whitewashing an awful institution; and two, cultural diversity is actually more engaging and interesting than a community that feels monocultural (esp when said culture is a hegemonic colonial product whose dominance is based on plunder, oppression, and destruction of both entire peoples and the planet itself).

personally, i want to be part of a community where folks are 1) actively curious about the wider world and its cultures and 2) comfortable incorporating their own cultures in their stories. it’s true that the bias is perhaps partly because many royalty references in the real world may not have great english sources for a predominantly english-speaking community to use. but, i don’t think that’s a get-out-of-jail-free card. i am absolutely not a person who likes to consciously write myself into my stories, to be clear. that being said, i do ask myself, “what experiences or knowledge do i have that deserve representation?” we write our stories for ourselves but, frankly, i would venture many of us have internalized messages that make us devalue our own backgrounds or doubt others will be interested in content outside of the often white, often western mainstream. in my experience, the royal simblr community places high value on researching and replicating the norms of contemporary western european royalty—particularly the british royal family. the truth is that same care and respect could be put into other histories and perspectives, if the motivation existed to do so.

so, another approach, beyond drawing on your own experiences, is doing the research to respectfully depict or be inspired by a culture that isn't your own. the onus for representation cannot be squarely on the most marginalized of us, even if we'd likely produce the best version of it. if i had chosen to write a story about a fake british royal family, i'd have felt guilty about not writing a story full of brown people from the americas; that representation wouldn't really exist if i wasn't making it for myself. consequently, culture shifts require everyone to do their part, whether as creators, collaborators, or readers. i'd also venture that most of us appreciate when outsiders believe our cultures are valuable and beautiful—when they want to know or experience our clothing, food, and music in ways that are not fetishizing, exploitative, or appropriating. that's part of why tumblr is filled with guides and tutorials to writing characters from all walks of life, from ethnicity to disability to gender; the resources exist, and people want to see them used. it doesn't even have to be your entire story ! individual characters or plot lines can give good representation if you make that a priority.

in my own story, i've blended the two approaches. i think about my own, my family's, and my friends' experiences of indigeneity in what's currently the united states; i've also blended it with my interests in iberian and latin american histories, especially indigenous mexico, among other elements closer to u.s. history. my story isn't a direct replica of any real world place or people, but the culture is based on imagination, research, and feedback. if someone has a critique or feels offended for whatever reason, i want to be humble enough to accept it and make changes. one of the amazing things about this corner of tumblr is that our community loves to help others. learning in public—experimenting, sharing parts of yourself, being creative—is never easy, but it's easier to do when you're part of a community that offers grace and encouragement. my opinion is also that people are more willing to share their expertise and welcome your work if you demonstrate, not just good intentions, but that you've done your homework to the best of your ability.

i want to be clear, too: there's a place for storytelling as conscious critique of the institution, and there are storytellers in this community whose cultures happen to be the ones that are overrepresented. this isn't an indictment of the good stories and good fun people are having. i'm just taking this as an opportunity to offer constructive criticism and give people the encouragement or permission to try something different. why not use your creativity to incorporate other sources of inspiration—or to imagine a different and better world, even?

at the end of the day, everyone can do whatever they want with their hobbies. we can't all be doing social justice on simblr dot com and, frankly, probably shouldn't be ! it is nonetheless true that some of us don't get to enjoy our hobbies uncritically. we can't log onto tumblr and scroll through sims stories and be blissfully unaware of the politics of representation. "royalty" doesn't just connote pretty tiaras and fancy titles for all of us. people who are marginalized in the real world are part of this community. its representation signals to us how welcome we and the stories we have to tell really are.

most or all of us are imagining our countries to be part of the same fictional world. it's just my personal opinion, but i don’t think that world should be mostly fake europe plus specifically the settler colonial parts of fake non-europe. my challenge to everyone would be to think about whether your story could or should meaningfully contribute to a fuller, more realistic representation of the world we've created as a collective within this community.

[languages-with-ian]

What’s your opinion on the Duolingo Gaelic course? I tried starting it after starting Irish and found the Gaelic 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 lessons to be considerably less…polished? in my experience

Excellent question!

Personally, I think it’s a great way to reintroduce a new, younger generation to the language. It covers a lot of cultural topics that many people may never have heard of, like the concept of a Mòd gathering. Additionally, I don't think I had ever heard of IRN BRU, but it’s now on my bucket list to try. (Their adverts alone are, um, quite attention-grabbing.)

According to an article in The Scotsman, as of this March (March 2022, that is - greetings, future readers!), the course has surpassed a million learners, an astounding leap for a language that just decades ago was teetering on the edge of extinction.

And back to the first point, an article in The Guardian made an excellent point about this course helping to dispel the "Scottish cringe", a manifestation of a wider (practically global, though there are exceptions) phenomenon of perceived inferiority of a given indigenous culture in favor of an external, more politically or socially dominant culture or language.

THAT BEING SAID, however, I do have some critiques of my own, and you put forward a good point. From what I understand, the course mainly teaches the Mid-Minch dialect of Scottish Gaelic (shoutout to Sabhal Mòr Ostaig!), with some regional variation in pronunciation between the people providing audio recordings (although they do expose the learner to Canadian Gaelic with a few lessons, which gets a big "thumbs up" from me). With the massive volume of learners coming to the app (an overall very positive thing!) to learn the language, I'm predicting the language will undergo a "dialect levelling" over the next few decades as a result of the popularity of this course. My guess is that the good majority of people learning Gaelic online will start and finish their language learning journey with the Duolingo course and not seek out other resources (or even fellow speakers or learners) to supplement this, which may move Gaelic towards one standard "Duolingo dialect" in the near future if care is not taken to avoid such a fate.

Another thing I've noticed is that as I near the end of the course (I'm on Unit 66 of 69 at the moment), there hasn't been a single prompt for the past fifteen or so units that I haven't already seen. Don't get me wrong, review is always good, but I do wish they would provide more variation in their prompts in the later stages of the course so I could be sure that I'm absorbing more essential vocabulary and grammar and not just drilling myself on Duolingo sentences. I also wish it would cover some more important points of grammar and vocab earlier in the course (concepts in colloquial sentence structure such as how and when to use phrases like "air a bhith", "gum bi", "biodh", etc.). My advice once you've reached about Unit 45 or so is to begin seeking out other learners (or native speakers if you can find them) and begin practicing using the language in a more colloquial fashion.

One note I have about the platform in general: a somewhat common thread among Duolingo learners of any language is that the sentences sound unnatural at times, or that they'll "never use these sentences in real life." While that may be the case in a literal sense, that's not the whole point of the structure of the courses. I think people see sentences like "the bear gave me a strawberry" and think they're not learning anything worthwhile, but what sentences like this teach you is vocabulary in different syntactical situations. This is one of the best ways to learn grammar - that is, to not even realize you're learning it, and to passively absorb it based off of various usage examples. After all, this is how we learn grammar rules as young children! And a side-note, make sure you do the lessons with the sound on, and for your own sake, make sure you're saying each sentence out loud as you go! (Your future conversation partners will thank you for it.)

I also forgot to mention a great resource in my main post - the show Speaking Our Language is available on YouTube for free (at least in the United States), and covers Gaelic as it may be used situationally. It can be a bit goofy at times, and it's a nostalgic snapshot of early- to mid-1990s Scotland, but it's presented in a very digestible and well-paced fashion for learners!

Follow for more linguistics and share this post! If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

[deer-knight]

Hello &! This may be a bit odd, and no need to answer if you choose not to. I've been playing DnD for a while now, and I absolutely love my character. They are primarily a rogue, but I multi class as a ranger a well. Anyway, I guess I'm just curious if you know any ways to be a real life, modern rogue. In any and all senses really. Style, attitude, practices, mindset, anything. I'd like to get into better shape and be more acrobatic, but I have chronic pain that makes that difficult. I'm not sure what else to try. Thanks for any insight!!

- 🦊

hey anon! this is such a fun ask. i would class myself as a ranger as opposed to a rogue, but depending on the book you go by they can be pretty similar. since rangers are closer to my own experience, i'll speak to that. i have a suspicion this will be a fairly long response, so i'll put it all under the cut.

style: now, i style myself the way i do for a lot of reasons, but the big two are: it's functional for my year-round outdoor job and lifestyle, and i like it. lol. so it's a lot of workwear, durable materials like canvas and leather, and natural fiber like linen, cotton, and wool. dark green is my favorite color, so a lot (and i mean a LOT) of my wardrobe is green and brown and black. this also means everything i own already matches and i don't have to know anything about fashion (or making choices related to fashion). but, obviously those earth tones also aid the ranger vibes. also, i don't buy any clothing new (underwear exempt), and i do a lot of repair and mending when i wear through stuff, which happens all the time. support your local secondhand shops, and take good care of the stuff you have so it lasts as long as possible.

attitude/mindset: these are similar so i'll group them. this one's pretty simple i think. having respect for the earth, and being part of its preservation and conservation is really important. that also means being aware of and knowledgeable about the history of the land, indigenous people, plants, and animals, and practicing good stewardship where you live. (i mean, i think everyone should do this, but especially if you want to style yourself as a ranger). get to know your local flora/fauna. even in urban environments, obviously there are native plants and animals that still live there. practice kindness. patience. work hard, and know your limits. especially with chronic pain. it's great to feel accomplished, but don't sacrifice your health for it. be resourceful - use what you have.

practices/skills: i'm adding skills in here. because i think rangers are generally skilled in the realm of wilderness knowledge. fire skills, tracking skills, camping, foraging, etc etc. are all important things i think rangers should be at least familiar with. these are all skills that take a long time to develop though. practice and persistence and experience will yield results. hunting skills would be excellent, and not something i've had an opportunity to explore yet. but archery is something i've done for over a decade now. a very good ranger skill. in the end, i think modern rangers are folks who are close to the earth and care about keeping it safe. restoration, indigenous rights and sovereignty, and conservation are priorities in doing so. living in ways that limit our footprint. being resourceful and resilient. knowing the land we live on. having wilderness skills. i think these are the foundations.

im not sure if this is what you were looking for, but it's what i've got. cheers! &

[witikli]

(very long but very important post, sorry in advance) hi uh. i know a lot of my recent posts have been more political than usual but um cope bcus its not gonna stop!

it's more important than ever to deprogram ourselves and confront internal biases based on culturally christian & capitalistic society. duh. i see a lot of people saying this but not many giving examples or advice on how to actually go about doing so, other than just "do the research urself." so i'm trying to share some resources to maybe help people get started. if you take the time to check these out and find them helpful, i urge you to share them with your friends and family as well.

second thought and genetically modified skeptic on youtube have some fucking amazing videos deconstructing christian and capitalistic ideas that most ppl probably don't even realize are ingrained so heavily into our society and are reinforced in almost every single piece of media, like, ever. both of them cite reliable sources and include links to all of them in their video descriptions. they explain things thoroughly and make it easy to understand (also they both put really good captions on all of their videos, but do sometimes reference images on screen without explicitly describing them or providing alt text, though these usually aren't essential to the point of the video). and remember to be critical of ALL media, including the channels i've linked and other anti capitalist or anti (cultural) christianity media. the channels i've linked are both run by cishet white abled men, and they're bound to make mistakes.

so anyways, i think a lot of ppl see criticism about cultural christianity/capitalism and assume it doesn't apply to them. myself included. i am an indigenous + asian queer disabled neurodivergent person and i consider myself an anarchopunk communist. i've done hours upon hours of research about this stuff. this does not mean i am immune to propaganda and internal bias, as much as i liked to think i was for a very long time. people always ask how they can help, how they can contribute, how they can possibly make any sort of an effect when they're just one person, who probably can't afford to donate large amounts of money to the people who Can take things into their own hands. the most important thing you can do is educate yourself. which, by the way, costs nothing but your time, and is often really interesting and enlightening. this doesn't mean you have to read depressing stories about people who are less fortunate (though i encourage you to do that as well). i understand news fatigue, hopelessness, and the want to distance yourself from social media as a means of self care. educating yourself doesn't have to be draining and emotionally demanding.

this has kinda turned into an essay but i wanna end it by saying the thing that prompted this was something as simple as that post saying "when are we going to overthrow the government," with a reply saying "y'all couldn't even boycott chick-fil-a." regardless of whether or not you still eat chick-fil-a, there are countless other companies that are much worse that we don't even bat an eye at. i haven't eaten chick-fil-a since i first found out about their homophobic shit, and i thought that gave me some moral high ground to stand on, despite the fact that i still ordered clothes from companies like fucking shein. i know not everyone can afford to stop buying from unethical but more affordable and accessible companies, i can't either. but everyone can at least be aware of the affect these things have, and spread awareness about it. i can do better, and so can you.

[woodaba]

Pillars of Eternity's Beautiful Disquiet

in the first dungeon of pillars of eternity, there's a moment that really stuck with me. you encounter a xaurip - a classic fantasy racism beastman that trades in aesthetics uncomfortably pulled from indigenous american stereotypes. it indicates that you go no further, that you do not follow it down a path into it's territory. there's no option to convince it to step aside and let you past: you either respect it's wishes, turn around and find another path, or you walk forward and kill it as an enemy. it's a moment with, i think genuine nuance, where the agency of the xaurip is respected, a moment that actually asks the player to respect the culture of this people or defy it, preventing them from taking a empowering middle road where they can do whatever they want if they have high enough numbers.

anyway, in the very next area you immediately encounter a bunch of them that attack on sight and that you have no recourse but to slaughter.

this moment is pillars of eternity in microcosm. on every level of it's construction, it is a game that feels simultaneously genuinely aware of the fraught nature of many of the images it is evoking and the things it is doing, aware of the stain left by games of this ilk in the past, and also resignedly committed to doing those things anyway without the brazen dumb confidence of a game like divinity: original sin 2. progressive and regressive, inventive and derivative, evolutionary and counter-evolutionary, pillars of eternity is the fascinating attempt to harken back to bioware's baldur's gate and the crpgs of it's era made by a game that doesn't wholly see the value in going back there.

i won't speculate on director je sawyer's intent any more than the man has directly said himself, as he has shown real discomfort towards people suggesting his opinions on certain games, but i know from my mercifully brief visits to the fascist haven that is the rpgcodex forums that sawyer is a quite strong critic of how the classic infinity engine games actually played, and despite my fondness for RPGs of that style, i find myself very much on his side. there's a reason these games struggle to find new fans that aren't just going to turn the games down to the lowest difficulty to sidestep most of the actual playing of it as much as possible: advanced dungeons and dragons is not, by any metric, an elegant or intuitive system at the best of times, and while real-time with pause was an elegant solution to just how long combat in d&d can go on for (larian's proud statements that BG3 has an authentic, turn-based translation of 5E rules should absolutely terrify any prospective players), it only raises the barrier to entry for those not already au fe with ad&d's eccentricities.

pillars of eternity feels utterly unique in that it is a real-time with pause CRPG based on rules that were designed for a video game, and not for a very different medium, and as a result it is...actually good and fun. the rules and statistics are far clearer, the resource game is far more sensical, and the pace of encounters is such that individual moves are less frequent but far more impactful, maintaining the weighty impact turns have in a traditional turn-based game at a speed far more under your own control. experientially, pillars of eternity feels closer to FF12 than it does baldur's gate, with a sliding scale of playstyles ranging from making each move with care and precision, to writing full AI scripts for each member of the party and letting battles play out automatically at hyperspeed.

when i play games in this genre, i usually keep the difficulty low and drop it even lower if i encounter friction. but with pillars, i kept the difficulty on normal the entire way through because I genuinely enjoyed the gameplay and tactical puzzles it presented. it helped me to see, for the first time, why someone might prefer rtwp over turn-based, and when i started a pillars of eternity 2 playthrough shortly after playing this, i decided to stick to real-time rather than playing the game's new turn-based mode, because i became genuinely enamoured with this system.

pillars of eternity is in the unique position of being a baldur's gate homage that doesn't feel like it holds any particular reverence or great love for baldur's gate, and makes good on that position by well and truly killing bg's darlings where the system design is concerned. this isn't exactly uncharted territory for obsidian: but despite it's progressive approach to it's combat, it feels much more burdened by it's legacy than either kotor 2 or neverwinter nights 2, neither as caustic as the former nor as quietly confident as the latter. it sits uncomfortably among many of the things it does, inherited and otherwise.

to demonstrate: this is, in many ways, a d&d-ass setting. it's a roughly-medieval setting in a temperate forested coastal region, and yet the dyrwood is not medieval france/britain like the sword coast is, it's far closer to colonial canada both in terms of regional politics and technology. you have humans, you have elves, you have dwarves, and things that are kinda like gnomes but with the serial numbers filed off, you have the godlike, which are a twist on the aasimar/tieflings of d&d, each with their own gygaxian race science bonuses to stats, but aside from the aforementioned fantasy racism with the beastmen, these fantasy races matter less in the actual story than national identities and cultures, which makes one question why the race science stuff is even here. even stepping into the mechanical dimension, most of the classes are reasonably interesting interpretations of classic stock d&d archetypes like fighter, wizard, paladin, etc, but the two unique classes, chanter and cipher, are so obviously the design highlights and work in a way that would be incredibly difficult in a tabletop game but are beautiful in a video game. they eagerly invite the question of what this game would look like if it wasn't obligated to include the d&d obligations within it.

while i can't speak for every member of the development team, i know that for je sawyer, pillars of eternity was not necessarily a game he wanted to make - at least not in the way that it ended up being made. elements like the traditional fantasy setting, the real-time with pause gameplay, and even the presence of elves, were all things that were there to fulfil the demands of a kickstarter promising a baldur's gate throwback from a company that had fallen on difficult times. these things that feel like obligations feel like that because they are obligations: concessions to appeal to expectations and desires forged by nostalgia for a game that obsidian didn't actually make. these aren't the only visible compromises that mark the game - "compromise" being perhaps a generous word to describe the game's obnoxious kickstarter scars - but it is this tug of war between the parts of itself that wish to remain within the walls of baldur's gate, and the parts that cry out for escape, that ultimately defines pillars of eternity.

while maddening dreams and an epidemic of children born without souls is what drives the plot of pillars of eternity, the story is really in the conversations between tradition and very colonialist notions of progress, and the very opinionated characters you converse with along the way. likeable characters will hold quietly conservative worldviews that feel natural for them, people will say the right things for the wrong reasons, or the wrong things for the right reasons. friendly characters will have beliefs that are extremely distasteful to you but are so deeply held that there is no way to use the power granted to you by being the player character to dissuade them from their belief system with a few honeyed words. this is not a game where each element works towards a clear thematic conclusion, one that confidently knows what is right and what is wrong when discussing the things it brings up. it is a messy world filled with ugliness and argument and contradiction, and no clear definitive statement on its themes. it has a perspective, but it is not one held with immense confidence. it is a perspective mired with doubts and second-guessing that feels very conscious and deliberate. in particular, the final hour of the game has a twist that recontextualises the nature of the setting, but it's noticeable just how much of the cast, both in this game and in the sequel. find this not to be a redefining moment of their lives, but simply something they have to let sit in their gut like a millstone. it lets them see with new light things they once valued, but they feel unable to simply cast those things aside.

i have a particular distaste for critiques in geek circles narrow their focus on what a work is saying to only the series or genre the work finds itself in, and ignoring whatever resonance it might have to the world outside the fiction, subconsciously because the author has little experience of that world. and yet, it's difficult to read pillars of eternity without looking at it's relationship to baldur's gate and it's ilk, especially given how it kickstarted (lol) the late 2010s CRPG revival that led to breakout hits like divinity: original sin 2 and disco elysium. it walks in the meadows of the past with an uneasy rhythm, constantly expressing it's discomfort with being there but never quite being able to find the way out. even at the end of the game, there is delightfully scarce resolution to the weighty philosophical questions raised by the final act - the immediate crisis dealt with, certainly, but the game ends on a world that has raised questions rather than answered them, and while you may have your own thoughts and perspectives, there is no great victory of ideologies to be found, no grand, world-defining choice about what to do with the wisdom of the past. it's a game that simply ends with you emerging back into a world that is materially largely unchanged but colored so different by the new perspective you have on it. it is a game that is deliriously inconclusive.

one could word that as a criticism - and indeed, a strict formalist lens would probably find it as such - but honestly, it's what i find delightful and resonant about pillars of eternity. i'm someone who thinks generally very poorly about d&d as a game, but my intermittently weekly d&d games with my friends that have been going on since the first lockdown have made some incredible a world and story and cast that i find myself hugely invested in. despite my disdain for a lot of the recurring cliches and tropes of the genre, some of my favorite stories are fantasy stories. and despite my active distaste for a lot of the decisions pillars either makes or is stuck with, and indeed for some of the creative minds involved in it's production (chr*s avell*ne's characters were substantially rewritten after his departure from obsidian to such an extent that neither he nor je sawyer recognize them as "his characters" but whoever was behind durance specifically is doing such a conscious avellone impression that i would be remiss not to note that his presence is certainly felt) i still enjoy it immensely regardless.

frequently, engagement with art is a negotiation with the parts about it that speak to us and the parts that fail to do so, where we may be able to excuse or enjoy parts that others find to sink the entire work for them, and it's unexpectedly moving to find a game that was so visibly having that conversation with itself as i played it, and rang so true for the relationship i have with the things that inspired it.

it's a game that embodies the sticky and troubling way all the games and stories of its ilk sit in my mind and expresses them emotively through a story that, in fits and starts, writes quite powerfully on the unique pains and sensation of memory and tradition and progress. it's a game that feels all the more true, all the more real, for its contradictions, compromises, and conversations capped off with trailing ellipses, leading down two roads to an uncertain future and a depressingly familiar past.

[goldheartedsky]

I told myself I wasn’t going to make a post like this—that I wasn’t going to stoop to the level of making call-out posts—but I really can’t stay silent after what has happened in the last day or so.

The TOG fandom has a serious issue with excusing antisemitism and allowing people who have painfully hurt marginalized groups to continue to ignore, dismiss, and refuse to acknowledge their limits of intersectionality in regards to social justice. I have seen it myself, been on the receiving end of it, and have talked to other Jews in this fandom about what’s been going on and it needs to start being addressed.

Now, I’m not going to name names or tag people (mainly because I have been blocked by almost all of them for this very issue) but if you message me I will gladly tell you the users involved in this. Also, if you have doubts of any of this’s validity and would like screenshots, feel free to reach out to me here or via Discord and I will share them.

A lot of this started when a member of the All&More server had brought up the scientific and medical “discoveries” during the torture and medical experimentation that took place during the Third Reich and how a lot of the origin of it isn’t taught. LR made a comment saying that “we are three-dimensional creatures who are stuck moving forward in time and can’t go back” and added that not using the research won’t make past horrors not happen. When the original user added that there has been a movement in medicine for removing Nazi scientists names off discoveries and that progress was slow moving, she deflected the conversation onto herself, saying “Not using research won’t make my family not harmed by the Japanese” and then immediately pivoted into admitting that, from what she understood, there weren’t any particularly valid scientific discoveries made by them. She then said, in regards to said Nazi atrocities, “Take it, learn about it, put it in context, and then own it and transform it.”

A Jewish member of A&M voiced their discomfort about possibly taking medicine that was a direct result of the murder of their grandparents and other relatives, to which LR said, “Still stuck in the 3rd dimension, still moving forward in time.” I brought up the fact that medicine was built on antisemitism and racism and that starting over would be better than a lot of the procedures we have now. There is a longstanding issue in medicine of disregarding black pain and so much of what we have now is created by eugenicists—including Nazi scientists. There is still a lot of Jewish trauma due to medical experimentation and that is oftentimes dismissed.

LR then made a flippant comment about “Does this count as Godwin’s Law?”—which is about how all internet discussions lead to someone being compared to Nazis/Hitler. When called out on the inappropriateness of the comment, she did not respond and was backed up by one of the mods of the server. There was no apology made nor an acknowledgment about the casual antisemitism of the comments she made and the dismissal of Jewish trauma/pain.

Now, fast forward a couple months when I was contacted by a third party who had not been in the server at the time but had joined and heard about what LR had said there. H said they were friends with LR and had concerns about antisemitism and would like my perspective. I explained what had happened and offered screenshots if they would like them, which they did. They thanked me and apologized that it got to a point that I felt unsafe in the server and had to leave, which I appreciated.

A couple weeks later they reached out to me again and offered to broker a conversation between LR and myself because the situation wasn’t sitting well with them. I was skeptical (because I had been blocked at that point) and didn’t have a lot of hope that this conversation would actually take place but I felt a responsibility to try and be the bigger person and deal with what had been said head on, so I agreed to sit down and have a discussion with her as long as there was a third party in the chat as well—given our history.

After a couple weeks of back and forth with H and hearing that LR had said that she would “think about it”, she finally agreed. I was asked for a time and date and I gave my availability and was told she would be asked for the same. A couple days later, I was suddenly told LR would only be comfortable with this conversation if H acted as a “literal go-between” with us copy-pasting our responses in their DMs so we can “sit with the message and everyone can get to them when they can” rather than it being a session with an actual back and forth and was asked if I was okay with that. I honestly said no, because this was supposed to be a situation where she and I sat down and discussed what she said in the server, not a back and forth message relay where the conversation got dragged out for days or weeks or however long it was going to take. I said if she was serious about meeting me halfway on this, she needed to be able to sit down and actually talk.

H copy-pasted my response to LR and came back that she had backed out of the conversation, which part of me had expected from the beginning—even though all I wanted from this sit down was for her to understand how hurtful the antisemitic comments were and an apology.

These comments that were made in the server are not a secret. It’s pretty well known what was said and again, these were all on record, not privately made in some DM. She has still not owned up to the comments she said, nor has she ever apologized for them. She has ignored message after message about them and blocked more people than I can count. Many of the people defending her when the discourse begins have also been messaged about the comments she’s said and also either block people or ignore the messages completely and refuse to acknowledge them.

Now, this being said, in the most recent conversation about fandom racism, someone brought up the post that was made reducing users on ao3 to faceless, nameless numbers without saying who they were, what they had done, and how they were specifically contributing to the problem of racism in this fandom. They made the comparison of other situations like HR looking at pay stats to see how to fire and included “Nazis, capitalists, and colonizers.”

This is not an invalid argument. There have been other Jews in the fandom who specifically voiced feeling uncomfortable for the exact same reason. However, another person, LT, decided to specifically make a post calling the OP out and drag them for having the audacity to liken it to the Shoah (which, mind you, this person is not Jewish nor did they decide to capitalize Shoah or the Holocaust as they should have). She received a reply saying, “you’re offended by antisemitism? Here’s LR’s (someone LT has agreed with multiple times over racism in fandom) track record of antisemitic comments” which outlined everything I delved into previously.

LT said that they were “unaware of this incident until a couple days ago” but agreed that it was an upsetting display of casual dismissal of Jewish pain and hoped that LR had apologized. She was then called out for being aware of it and still continuing to reblog LR’s posts even after knowing about the comments and was linked to my post clarifying that LR had not apologized and refused a discussion about it, to which LT said that she had gotten “quite a different version outlined in the post linked and corroborated by a third party” and “felt uncomfortable” making a value judgement, insinuating that I was not being truthful about my side of the story.

I messaged LT off-anon and said that I was not lying nor over-exaggerating about what had happened in the server or about the following discussion about trying to broker a conversation with LR, and was immediately blocked by her. I am also not the only Jew who has sent her messages about this topic, only to have their messages ignored.

Now, am I surprised that I was immediately blocked after voicing my issues with what LT had said in that post? No.

She has a history of making antisemitic comments, most of which happened during the brunt of the Israel/Palestine discussion happening, which included statements such as “You cannot be considered indigenous if you hold a position of power”, that, despite having been displaced for 2,000 years, the Jewish diaspora was “integrated” into their respective communities (a wholly untrue statement), as well as linked to and promoted a website with extremely antisemitic articles including one about “Spartan Jews” and how Israeli Jews are violent to “send messages to their deprived self-esteem” that they won’t be victims again. Half of the comments on the site’s front page included such hits as “Death to all Jews” and “Wow, I had no idea this was happening—I guess it is true that Jews control the world and the mass media.” This website was repeated in multiple posts as “unbiased” and “a good resource” for other people to truly know what was going on.

Jewish dissent on the content of some posts and that website went unacknowledged and dismissed.

Being that LT is a relatively big user in the TOG fandom, her posts got circulated frequently. Seeing things like that touted as unbiased was extremely triggering for me and multiple Jews in this fandom that I’ve spoken to.

Now, the reason I made this post in particular was because I have seen a lot of echoing of the sentiment: “no matter how much you disagree with their sentiment, aligning yourself with racists is...well aligning yourself with racists.”

This statement NEEDS to become intersectional. If we are criticizing the work of people because of who they hold company with, why does that end at racism? If we are going to have a discussion about racism in this fandom, why are we letting it come from people who have openly said antisemitic things, people who have stood by them and supported them in silence, and people who have silenced Jewish voices speaking up about this issue.

These are not separate issues. This is a really good post regarding the white washing of Jews in social justice discussion and it comes full circle into the medical experimentation discussion. Jews were not seen as white during the Holocaust. The Nazis were trying to cleanse the Aryan race because they did not view Jews as white. They experimented on them because they did not view them as white and, thus, disposable.

Every Jewish diasporic community is still vulnerable. Even though the US has half the world’s Jews, over 50% of the religiously based hate crimes are consistently anti-Jewish even though Jews make up 2% of the population. Chinese Jews are still holding their holiday celebrations in secret due to government crackdowns. The attempted genocide of Beta Israel was less than 50 years ago. Across the Middle East and North Africa, Jewish communities are barely hanging on after centuries of attempted destruction. These are not just Jewish issues but racial issues as well because when people make the sweeping generalization of “Jew” and they only mean white-passing Ashkenazi Jews, it erases so much of our community.

I absolutely agree that this fandom needs to have a discussion about race and portrayal in fic and what we can do better moving forward—and I want to see that done—but we also need to acknowledge what so many people starting this discussion have said and the marginalized groups they have hurt along the way. I see these posts come across my dashboard and know exactly who they're coming from and what they think of people like me. If we are going to say, “No matter how much you disagree with their sentiment, aligning yourself with racists is aligning yourself with racists,” then we NEED to be saying, “If you are aligning yourself with antisemites, you’re aligning yourself with antisemites.”

We all need to move forward. But that means moving forward together. Jews included.

[wisteria-lodge]

un-exploding lion primary + snake secondary

I reckon my primary is Lion, maybe? My values often boiled down to “if I care about it, I care, if not then … **** it.” 

Probably an internal primary. Lion is certainly possible.

I’m normally very ambitious. It’s almost impossible imagining my life without this cause. At some point in my life, I’ve become my cause. I embodied it completely I couldn’t see anything outside of it. All my relationships, all my decisions were in service of the cause. However, lately I learn that it doesn’t do to hide myself behind to cause just to avoid my insecurities.

Ooooh, someone seems a little Exploded. Is it possible that you’re healing from an Exploded Lion primary? (and if so, the note about insecurities is some good insight on what it feels like to be inside an Exploded Lion primary.)

I realize that I can just risk getting myself exposed and it’s ok that not everything in my life relates to my cause. I mean … my cause will always be the most important things in my life. But having fun and cherishing relationships are important too, because in the end, when I’ve done all that I want to do. I wouldn’t be alone surrounded by charred bridges and enemies on all sides.

Yeah… that can be the problem with being an Exploded Lion primary. (I’m really thinking Lion for you. Snakes explode and burn a little differently.)

I’m not content working under anyone. I want to dictate my fate and my cause. I want power but not to satisfy my ego. I want it so I can dictate my cause and see it happen. I loathe those who yearn for power just for the power’s sake. Power must be earned and it must be used justly to make a positive change in this world rather than to satisfy one’s ego.

This cause is not really learned though. I’ve never second thought it. I only know I have to do it and it is right for me. It just makes sense on its own and it would be betrayal of self not to do it. There is not much to be said here, because this cause has been rather stable for as long as I remember.

Oh you’ve got a Loud lion primary.

It might vary in intensity (from ‘all that matters’ to ‘vital, but not the only thing that exist’) but it never changed.

You might be a Double Lion (a Revolutionary.) This bit about changing intensities is starting to sound kinda Lion secondary.

Ideally, what I want to build is a fishing company that will empower indigenous communities. I will use the resources harnessed from it to better the environment, support ethnic issues, cultural preservation, community growth and environment conservation. If I could manage to go that far, the dream would be to give full, unconditional scholarships to anyone with the heart and desire to do some good to society. I don’t want anyone to struggle like I do. I don’t want to see any more people ripped from their home, their culture. I don’t want to see any forest or sea crying in pain anymore. That is my ambition. That is my cause.

The fire you’ve got! Yeah, you’re intense. You’re really intense. I’m doubling down on Double Lion. Sure, your cause might be focused around people and communities, but it’s coming from a Lion place. The Righteous Cause.

(and also this tendency to just… not really care if you burn bridges. Very Lion, not so much Badger.)

There is a ruthless side to my morals, because I have no qualms about crushing those who might get in my way. I will offer peace and negotiate first but if they refuse, I will delete them.

Like, I know English isn’t your first language, so that’s probably influencing your word choice here - but I have to say. I am kind of loving the ice-cold rawness of I will delete them.

I don’t care much if people will love or hate me. I don’t do it to be loved. I only do it because I believe it is right. But as I mentioned, cause comes first, but relationships will be cherished too.

Really loud Lion primary… but keep an eye on that Explosion risk. Make sure you’ve got people who sometimes tell you you’re wrong. Don’t go all supervillain on me. :)

For secondary. I’m not sure… maybe not Badger? Nah, it’s hard. I’ve never really analyzed my actions.

lol lion

I’m comfortable with both planning and improvising. I think it’s impossible to stick to either improvising or planning. A plan without improvisation will be rigid and stale, but an improvisation without purpose or plan will just be another waste of energy. So, I use both at equal amount all the time.

Hmm. I’m hearing models, but that’s also generic enough to apply to almost anybody.

I’m inclined to trust my instinct more than apparent fact though.

… because you’re like, a REALLY LOUD Lion primary.

Even if the fact of the situation might point out ‘NOPE!’ if I feel it’s alright, I’ll still go for it. My hunch saves my skin for so many times I usually just trust it.

You just live in your primary all the time, huh?

I can relate to bird because I’m avid reader and I love gathering random knowledge just for the fun of it. Excuses be damned, if I want to learn, I learn. If anything, I don’t like learning because I need to. I want to learn when and what I want to do.

Again, could apply to any secondary (filtered though that lens of LION PRIMARY of course.)

I usually plan out the objectives, what I need, why I need and how I will make it happen, then execute it by improvising, but it’s still in service of the preplanned objectives. But if the plan doesn’t work anymore, I will just ditch it and go with whatever in front of me. Sticking perfectly within the plan will usually hamper my effort. But not having plan at all will make me aimless too.

This is very interesting, because I think we’re working with different definitions of “plan.” When you say plan, you seem to mean “goal” or “endgame” ie “What I want” (which of course goes right back to all the Lion primary business.) Like, you gave me a really coherent rundown of your objectives. You want to start a company doing a specific thing, eventually progress to giving out scholarships, etc.

But to my mind, that’s motive, and it’s different from the “planning” a Bird secondary likes to do. Bird secondaries like hoarding tools. They like steps. But you “execute by improvising.” “Go with whatever is in front of me.” You’re a very driven, very focused Improvisational secondary.

When I deal with people, the more I think, the worse I become.

… improvisational secondary

Yesterday, I had a big fight with my family. I exploded out, like really loud. But that was all a ruse.

Wait just one second. Are you a SNAKE secondary? Who likes to present as (or possibly even model) Lion secondary, Captain Kirk style?

Because I changed midway to being quiet and understanding which get me on top of the fight. On the inside, I felt neither angry nor happy. At that moment, I just … did it. I did not plan it. My temper just rose rapidly and then it dissipated when the moment came. And when the fight was finish, aside of adrenaline rush, I didn’t feel anything.

I think you’re a Snake secondary.

I’m not very comfortable with intentional deception. I’m a terrible liar when I tried to actively lie.

Yeah, see. “Actively lying” is a skill, it’s something you’ve got to prepare and plan for. It’s really more a Bird thing. What you do… probably doesn’t feel like lying.

But misleading or trickery are quite ok for me.

Exactly.

If some people want to think they are the top dog, let them. They will do all the work and I can just work on whatever I need without interference. It still bothers me sometimes when people think I’m omega dog but it’s fine, so long as I get what I want.

You’re not the Revolutionary, you’re the Robin Hood. Of course you are.

I’m normally very blunt and tactless. I have terrible temper that explodes quickly but I can just ignore it and perform too.

Some of this (who am I kidding, a lot of this) probably goes back to that semi-Exploded primary, but it’s also possible that you either model Lion secondary, and/or spend a lot of time in Neutral.

This might be unrelated but I’m often ignored and blend into the background, rather than apart from the crowd. One of my friends mentioned that while he knew how passionate I am about the cause ‘I’ve never seen to take any actions about your cause before’ until I went and made a speech in the mob. I am that unseen. I prefer working in the shadow, spinning webs and emerge into the light when no one can do anything about me anymore. Working so openly in the light feels odd for me.

… I think that’s the most Lion Snake thing I have *ever* read.

When I work in team, people tend to either love me (because quality of work is usually high) or hate me (because I can be really demanding.) When I work, I expect effectiveness and independence from my team. I don’t like micromanaging.

Another little hint that you’re an Idealist/Improvisational combo. You are the definition of a Big Picture person.

I give them the catch, and criteria. How they want to accomplish it is completely up to them.

Which is a really, really Improvisational way to work.

I believe there aren’t a correct way to do things. So long as the job gets done and all underlines met, it’s fine if you want to take short cuts.

Yep.

It is … very long. So, I thank you for reading it to this paragraph. I genuinely really appreciate it. I really, really love this tumblr and I hope to learn more about SHC. It’s just sooo interesting and refreshing. Keep it up :)  Additional info: I’m ENFP 9w8 So/Sp

I think that the people who write in for sorting help fit into two general categories. There are people dealing with a Burning issue that masks their sorting… and there are people who are SO INCREDIBLY LOUDLY one sorting that they simply can’t see it. The way you can’t hear your own accent. Anyway, you very much belong in the second category.

[cafffine]

Hey guys, I’ve decided to stop publishing Saltcoats for a number of reasons. I'm aware that many of you are going to initially be let down or confused, but hopefully once you’ve read through this post you’ll understand why this had to stop. I’ll try to hit all my points, but of course if you have any questions pls feel free to dm me or reply to this post.

DISCLAIMER: Ending this fic was a decision I came to by myself! No one asked me to do this, though many did help, and if you have something to add please do not bring other tumblr or ao3 users into the conversation unless they’ve explicitly said they’re ok with that. It’s a draining and heavy topic (not to me, but for those affected) and I don’t want to cause anymore unneeded distress.

Also, I’m the only author, all the problems with this story were created by me, and were biases I should have recognized and acted on much sooner. I’m very thankful to all the people that have reached out to me about the negative impacts on this fic, but it really does come down to: I wrote and published a story that was fundamentally ignorant of its setting and racist. So now I have to do my part to apologize and educate myself/take accountability.

First off, this was a flawed concept to begin with because I was trying to do a low fantasy setting with aliens in period clothes and a work of historical fiction at the same time, and those are not things you can go halfway on.

Historical fiction that centers around people of color has a long history of simply going race-blind and faking diversity by giving poc the roles of white people in Eurocentric stories and erasing their identities. (This article about Bridgerton explains the problem better than I could.) And it was something I tried to avoid by still having the Fetts written as immigrants from Aotearoa (NZ), but completely missed the execution on because I didn’t commit to full historical accuracy in all characters and aspects of the story. Meaning, I might as well have gone race-blind because you can’t pick and choose what to include, it’s just as racist.

This creates situations like the Fetts being immigrants facing real life oppression while the Organas, also people of color, are unaffected by the social climate and living as members of the British upper class. That’s not accurate to any version of history and ends up wiping clean any point I was trying to make about race and oppression. That also extends beyond the Fetts, I was not addressing how the american characters come from a country that still allows for the ownership of slaves, the British oppression of Scottish people and their culture, or even an in-depth look at real Queer communities of that era. (and more)

Given the real life historical climate in the 1850s, a multi-racial story like this one is not successful, and is racist in its ignorance of the struggles of poc, immigrants, and the intersectionality that had with class and crime.

In addition, the Fetts being written as criminals, even if it is framed as a morally correct choice*, is still playing into negative racial stereotypes that shouldn’t have been ignored.

* I should add, I don’t mean to make it sound like i’m creating excuses for myself when I give explanations for some of these choices such as “but it was framed as morally correct”, that doesn’t lessen the damage being done, it’s still racist, I guess I'm just trying to show why so many of these things went overlooked for as long as they did, and how easy it is for white/privileged people to find mental loopholes around racism when you’re not being sufficiently critical of yourself.

On another note, the Fetts being indigenous immigrants to Britain in the 1800s is not something I should have tried to tackle in fanfiction - a medium that often lacks nuance and can easily end up romanticizing or glossing over most heavy topics. This goes for period typical homophobia, addiction, and class struggles as well.

That being said! I’m not implying that any of those things should be completely ignored in fanfiction. Addiction, for example, is something very close to me that I do still want to explore in fanfic for the purposes of education and normalization, I’m not telling anyone what not to write, just checking myself. Because in a story like this where literally everything is so heavily dramatized and also applied to characters of color by me, a white person? It’s only going to end up being out of place, lacking in historical accuracy, and wholly disrespectful.

Another major problem I wanted to address is the relationship between a rich white person and a poverty stricken poc. That's a bad stereotype to begin with, but then I tried and failed to frame Obi-Wan as ignorant and biased to a point where his social status plays into the theme of class critique. But, if he’s still being written as Cody’s love interest, all his negative characteristics are ultimately going to be ignored and excused by the narrative (by me).

I’m not trying to end this conversation, I’ll always be willing to talk about this to anyone who’d want to say/hear more, but I don’t want run the point into the ground with over-explanation.

So, in conclusion, this fic had to stop and be broken down into the problem that it was. All white authors who write for the clones need to be hyper-vigilant about the fact that we are creating narratives for poc, and that our inherent racism is always in threat of being baked into in the stories we publish and spread to an audience. I was in the wrong when I wrote this story, and it should never have gone on for this long. I apologize for both my actions, and to anyone I may have hurt along the way.

This is getting posted on ao3 in the fic, and then, for now anyway, the fic is going to be deleted after a week. I’ll leave this post up and answer everyone unless it's someone trying to change my mind. Also, if I ignore an ask please send it again, tumblr might just have deleted it. I don’t want to try and bury this or run from my mistakes, I just don’t think that leaving the fic up where it can still find an audience will do anyone any good. Thank you for reading

If you're interested here's some resources I've been using to educate myself further:

What caused the New Zealand Wars? - An excerpt of the book by Vincent O'Malley of the same title. It gives a good summary of the violent colonization and oppression of Māori people and their culture by the British empire.

NZ Wars: Stories of Waitara (video) - Very educational documentary about the NZ wars and British colonialism. There are some historical recreations that get violent so pls watch with caution.

Historical American Fiction without the Racism - Tumblr post by @/writingwithcolor that talks specifically about Black people in the 1920's, but makes a good point about race and historical fiction in general. I'd recommend any post from this blog, especially their navigation page just a lot of great resources

Who Gave You the Right to Tell That Story? - An article about writing outside of your race that includes a diverse series of testimonials

History of Scottish Independence - Details the colonization of Scotland by the British empire, sort of long, can cntrl + f to "The Acts of Union" for a more direct explanation.

The best books on Racism and How to Write History - A list of well written and diverse works of historical fiction and why they are good examples of representation

I have a lot more that I can share if you're interested (x x x x) but this post is getting a bit too long.

[i-did]

A guide for proper terminology for Nicky Hemmick:

Written by me, a Mexican-American.

Latin American: someone from Latin America, this includes Mexico but not Spain. Latin America is multi ethnic, and not just Spanish speaking, the non Spanish speaking countries of Latin America are Brazil, Belize, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, and the Falkland Islands.

Latino: decent from Latin America, similar to saying Latin American, but can include people born in America of Latin American decent. People don't really say "Latin American American," they say Latino American. (Latina = woman, and Latine = neutral but not commonly used, often typed Latin@s online for shorthand to include both). Latin American countries are very diverse, some are dominantly black/Afro-Latino.

Afro-Latino: Afro-Latin Americans are dominantly from African decent, some Latin American countries are majorly black/Afro-Latino. when used outside of Latin America it can mean someone who’s mixed black and Latino. 

Latinx: "gender neutral" term for Latino, but probably made by white people because .... Spanish words don't end in x, and x isn't pronounced that way in Spanish, for example the name Xitlali (sometimes spelled Zitlali and other variations, but pronounced like an S). Honestly say Latino/Latinos or Latin@s, and in online queer spaces Latine/Latines.

Chicano: Latin American decent but born in America.

Hispanic: related to Spain, colonized by Spain, so this includes Spain but not Brazil, which is a Latin American country.

Mexican: a person from Mexico living in America, for example Nicky's mom, but often also casually used to mean Mexican Americans (or Latino/Chicanos in general).

Mexican American: Latin American decent born into America. Unlike chicano, it is associated more with the idea of assimilation into white America, but not always.

Mexicano: what Mexicans call themselves in Mexico (feminine is Mexicana).

TexMex: people who were living in Mexico, and then America bought/stole the land and said "this is also America now, you can leave or stay" and they stayed. They became Americans, Texas Mexican American culture is different than for example SoCal Mexican American culture because of this, (but still more in common with each other than not).

Anglo: someone who is non Latino, usually in reference to someone who lives in the America's that were colonized by British people and English is the standard spoken language, ex/ North Americans and Canadians who aren't Latino. Usually in reference to white people but not always. If someone is Asian American and constantly purposefully mispronounces my name, instead of being like "🙄white people" I can be like "🙄 Anglos" (or I could say gringo, which is not as nice of a term for anglo). I honestly don’t know if I can call a spaniard anglo, but I assume not, since they're not Anglo-Saxon, which is where the term comes from.

despite what the media represents, not all Latino’s are Mexican! although the two terms are often used interchangeably when they’re really not. there are 32 other countries besides Mexico in Latin America.

Mexican is technically a nationality, but because of colonialism it’s not that simple. Race dynamics work differently in different countries. Most Mexicanos are not connected with their mixed indigenous ancestors, while some still are, like the Maya. It is something that has been taken from us and has evolved into its own thing. Some Mexicanos are lighter than others, sometimes by being more related to the Spanish than the indigenous. Mexico has a huge problem with colorism and class divide as well as overall racial tension.

Mexico is also not only "white/more Spanish" "more brown" and "fully indigenous, culturally and ethnically", there are afro-latinos (like mentioned before), and also Asian latinos, specifically a large amount of Chinese immigrants from when China became communist, middle eastern latinos, etc. Latin America has immigrants too! 

I have a friend who is fully Korean but grew up in Guatemala, I have another friend from Brazil who is 100% of polish and Ashkenazi decent, her grandparents having escaped to Brazil during WWII, but she and her parents grew up and spent their whole lives in Brazil, they are Latin Americans. 

List of things Nicky's mom Maria is:

Mexican, Mexicana, Latina, Latin American, 'Hispanic' but like.... outdated term and usually when people use this they just mean Latin@.

List of things Nicky is:

Mexican-American, Latino, "Mexican" in the broad sense of the word.

Describing Nicky or his mother as "looking hispanic" doesn't really make sense because he takes after his mother who is described as very dark and therefore less Spanish decent and more indigenous decent, she's from a Spanish speaking country so... its not technically wrong, but Nicky is from and English speaking one and doesn't speak Spanish, so it doesn't really make sense.

He isn't Chicano and neither is she, she wasn't born in America and Nicky doesn't identify as Chicano or in general much with his mothers culture beyond visible features. He is never mentioned to make Mexican food, listen to Latin American music, or other aspects of Latino culture in general. He chose to go to Germany instead of Spain or Latin America, and he talked Aaron out of taking Spanish in exchange for German so Nicky could help him with his homework, (meaning he doesn't know Spanish, which many Mexican Americans don't know).

saying Nicky “looked Mexican” or “looked brown” isn’t a bad thing, Neil in the books says he’s two shades too dark to be considered tan, so... stop tip-toeing around it and call him brown instead of tan. It’s not a bad thing to be brown, and It’s not a bad thing to be Mexican. maybe I’m just from somewhere with a lot of Mexican-Americans, but when I look at people I can tell they’re not Anglos, or I think to myself “oh another Mexican” or at least “brown person” vs when I see a white person I think “white person.” I’m not face blind, I know that different races exist and look different and can see such trends in real people in the same way that when I look at a little girl I go “oh a little girl” not “what sex is this weird hairless animal, what is this alien”.

these concepts are a lot more complicated in practice, I get told often I don’t “look Mexican” but so does one of my cousins who’s afro latino and plays professional basketball in Mexico. Gender is fake but the majority of people we see are still falling into two categories on sight, it’s how we’re socially trained. 

I'm also not an encyclopedia, if you think I made a mistake let me know and I'll check it out. A lot of this was just off the top of my head and words I just learned from.... existing, I didn't exactly look them all up in the dictionary.

Also if you’re writing Nicky, don’t be afraid to get a sensitivity reader, @sensitivityreaders is a good resource for this, and so is @writingwithcolor

[pens-swords-stuff]

yo I get that! I myself am a woc- that's part of why I was curious about any public peer-reviewing resources for it, especially since I'm not even a good resource for traditional local names. I've encountered a lot of uh Obviously Entirely Made Up Aesthetic Names but there's like. next to no easily accessible reliable resources for real names, (I barely know any from where my family is directly from) even for us to reference, esp with all the mass-scattering and social assumption of a monolith, unless you're getting it from The Direct People And Families Still Living In These Exact Spots And Exact Small Mini Towns, and and most of the online resources are run by white women who went there exactly once and misinterpreted Everything. Which, the type of resource I was asking about probably wouldn't be useful for this specifically anyways, but as a general concept of open source for large groups of people of who know commonplace basic naming standards for their countries, just, 'sarah is a normal, acceptable, if a traditional-leaning and current-generation-less-common name for your american girl' -esque. Though! it also makes complete sense for there not to be big projects geared towards that, for all the reasons you mentioned, accumulated stamina drain, and especially (a) inherent overwhelm if it's a closed group or (b) the almost guarantee of people stepping into lanes that aren't their own to talk over people with in-cultual experience because of an article they read on a dubious clickbait site if it's open response.

Thanks for answering! Given the amount of casual commonplace knowledge you get from actually living somewhere, and the blogs centric around everyday life regarding it, I've been curious for a while whether there's any well known similar equivalents for names.

In response to this ask.

Yes, yes exactly! You are definitely saying everything that I wanted to say in a much more eloquent manner, thank you so much.

I do think that your idea and concept of a subreddit to evaluate whether names are appropriate would be a fantastic resource because people would be able to contribute when they feel like it. (Maybe it already exists? I have no clue). I do however think, that exactly for the reasons that you've mentioned, it would be really difficult to moderate and run.

Just from my own experiences of being asked questions as a Japanese person, I see so many non-Japanese people give their (often wrong) opinion because they think they know Japanese culture and names from watching anime. The reason why there's so many terrible name lists out there are because people who aren't from that culture curate them like you've mentioned. I have absolutely no doubt that the wrong people will begin to give their opinions as well, and that's really difficult to moderate. It could very easily be ruined.

I think the other difficult thing about this — in my perspective of knowing Japanese names particularly — is that there is a lot of nuances and "yes but..." when it comes to Japanese names, and I'm assuming names from other cultures as well. In my opinion, could exist, would exist and should exist are completely different questions. I talk a little bit more indepth about my personal perspective here when it comes to Japanese names. I tend to be a bit conservative and more "if you're not Japanese, you should not be taking a ton of liberties with names" in my stance even if it would theoretically be possible (and perhaps even in practice), and that is a very clear bias of mine. Other Japanese people might think differently so it's harder to give the clear-cut answer that people would prefer having. And if it's too blunt and ignores nuances and possibilities, people will begin to argue and say that it's wrong.

(I also think that the only people that should be debating me about that are Japanese people, not weebs or people who have studied Japanese but that's a different rant entirely).

This is definitely a topic I have a lot of really strong feelings about, and I do dearly wish that there were better resources for this. But as someone who occasionally attempts to give advice, I know how monumentous a task it is to attempt to advise one name. It's such a thankless, exhausting task.

All of that being said, I can't remember the website off the top of my head, but I know that there is a resource for Indigenous American names. Specifically, a list of fake names that should not be used; not a list of good names to use. They have an interesting offer: If you donate to their organization, they will give you a few possible names for your character. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet as a process, but I think it's really clever.

[guillemelgat]

Language Platforms and Resources for Lesser-Studied Languages

I see a lot of posts going around on here about great new resources that people have found for their target languages, but most of the time when I look at them, they don't have any of the languages that I'm learning. For people learning lesser-studied languages (which includes languages that have lots of speakers, like Hausa or Telugu for example, but aren't commonly taught in places where they aren't spoken by most of the population) finding resources can be a headache. While the best route is definitely to try to find classes or native speakers to help, that can be expensive, inaccessible, and sometimes anxiety-inducing. Language platforms are a great resource for building a base or learning grammar, and they should be available for a lot more languages than they are. Still, some are better about including a variety of languages than others, and so I decided to do the work and present you all with a (not-at-all-comprehensive) guide to what resources are pulling their weight in language diversity. Here are the areas that I scored them on:

Asian Languages (not including the Big Three of Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, because these are already pretty well represented)

African Languages

Oceanian Languages

American Languages (indigenous to the Americas)

Minoritized & Endangered Languages

Usability

Grammar

Vocabulary

Interactivity

Depth

Overall

** DISCLAIMER: I didn't check all the course for every single language on these websites, so some languages may have better content than others. However, I did check for all the languages that I'm learning, which should cover most of these areas to some degree.**

DUOLINGO

Asian Languages: ☆☆

African Languages: ☆

Oceanian Languages: ☆

American Languages: ☆☆

Minoritized & Endangered Languages: ☆☆

Usability: ☆☆☆☆

Grammar: ☆☆☆

Vocabulary: ☆☆☆

Interactivity: ☆☆☆☆☆

Depth: ☆☆☆☆

Overall: ☆☆

Duolingo is honestly not one of my favorite language learning platforms, but I know there are people who swear by it so I thought I’d include it here just to give a full review.

The pros of Duolingo are that it’s a very sleek, well-established website/app and that it’s fun. I think some people find it easier than trudging through grammar books, and I can’t blame them. However, as far as lesser-studied languages go, it’s not great. Because of the time it takes to develop a course, there’s a vetting process and also personal volition in the way, and that makes it really hard for lots of languages to get put on it. So while there are some minoritized languages represented, and some diversity, it’s not super great, and there are better places to look.

MEMRISE

Asian Languages: ☆☆☆☆

African Languages: ☆☆☆

Oceanian Languages: ☆☆☆

American Languages: ☆☆☆

Minoritized & Endangered Languages: ☆☆☆☆

Usability: ☆☆☆☆

Grammar: ☆

Vocabulary: ☆☆☆☆☆

Interactivity: ☆☆☆☆

Depth: ☆☆☆

Overall: ☆☆☆☆

I am personally a very big fan of Memrise, but it’s definitely not an all-in-one tool for language learning and has its pros and cons. Because the community can create courses, it has a pretty wide range of offerings – but you also have to take things with a grain of salt because you don’t know whether or not they’re correct. I generally try to pick courses that go along with books or were released by a specific organization promoting the language – something which does limit the number of languages which actually are on the platform. Memrise also has the drawback of only really being a vocabulary resource, and not teaching grammar. In conjunction with other resources, though, I think that it’s one of the strongest language-learning platforms for lesser-studied languages.

TATOEBA

Asian Languages: ☆☆☆☆☆

African Languages: ☆☆☆☆

Oceanian Languages: ☆☆☆

American Languages: ☆☆☆☆

Minoritized & Endangered Languages: ☆☆☆☆☆

Usability: ☆☆

Grammar: ☆

Vocabulary: ☆☆☆☆

Interactivity: ☆

Depth: ☆☆

Overall: ☆☆☆

I just looked into this website for the first time a couple weeks ago after having had it bookmarked for years, and it’s somewhat of a goldmine for lesser-studied languages. It has a massive amount of languages available (100-200 probably), and a lot of them have really good phrases that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to find – it’s great for Tamasheq, for example. It’s also good practice for testing reading comprehension in your target language. It does have quite a few cons though: it’s not interactive at all, so it’s basically only a source of information, not a site like Duolingo or Memrise. It’s also very hit or miss with languages, some having 100+ phrases while others have only 10. Unfortunately, a lot of these are lesser-studied, but I would check it out to see if it has what you need.

CLOZEMASTER

Asian Languages: ☆☆☆

African Languages: ☆

Oceanian Languages: ☆

American Languages: (none available)

Minoritized & Endangered Languages: ☆☆☆

Usability: ☆☆☆☆

Grammar: ☆

Vocabulary: ☆☆☆☆

Interactivity: ☆☆☆

Depth: ☆☆

Overall: ☆☆☆

While this is somewhat of a sad-looking review, Clozemaster is actually not terrible. It’s basically a putting-vocabulary-in-context game, and it has a fairly good selection of languages, especially widely-spoken but underrepresented Asian languages and European endangered and minoritized languages. It’s not perfect, but if you want something more interactive that’s not just rote-memorization like Memrise, this might be fun. It does run out of sentences really quickly though, which means that it’s not a long-term resource. Sentences and words are also of varying usefulness.

READLANG

Asian Languages: ☆☆☆

African Languages: ☆

Oceanian Languages: ☆

American Languages: (none available)

Minoritized & Endangered Languages: ☆☆☆

Usability: ☆☆☆☆

Grammar: ☆

Vocabulary: ☆☆☆

Interactivity: ☆☆☆

Depth: ☆☆

Overall: ☆☆☆

I think that Readlang is an alright resource, although I’ve had mixed results with it. For a lot of the languages, it’s still in beta, and the translations can be wonky sometimes – it seems a little like it’s using Google Translate, which is sometimes not the best. It is a pretty okay resource if you’re just learning to read in your target language, and good to have in your back pocket. The language selection, however, is like Clozemaster in that it skews towards big but underrepresented Asian languages, and basically all of the minoritized languages are European.

101LANGUAGES

Asian Languages: ☆☆☆☆

African Languages: ☆☆☆

Oceanian Languages: ☆☆

American Languages: ☆☆

Minoritized & Endangered Languages: ☆☆☆

Usability: ☆☆☆

Grammar: ☆

Vocabulary: ☆☆☆

Interactivity: ☆☆

Depth: ☆☆

Overall: ☆☆

This website has lots of resource compilations, and while it is somewhat superficial, it does have a decent amount of stuff, especially for African languages (not a lot represented but what it does have has a decent amount of content). It’s more of a jumping-off point than a full language course, but it does have a fairly decent amount of stuff. I don’t want to oversell it, it’s not great for a lot of languages, but it is something.

YOJIK (FSI/DLI/PEACE CORPS)

Asian Languages: ☆☆☆

African Languages: ☆☆☆☆

Oceanian Languages: ☆☆

American Languages: ☆

Minoritized & Endangered Languages: ☆

Usability: ☆☆

Grammar: ☆☆☆☆

Vocabulary: ☆☆☆☆

Interactivity: ☆

Depth: ☆☆☆☆

Overall: ☆☆☆

If you’re learning an African or Asian language that has lots of speakers but isn’t commonly taught, this is the website for you. Basically it’s just a hoard of old FSI, DLI, and Peace Corps courses, and so any language which might be of interest to US foreign policy or aid is here (okay maybe not every one, but a whole lot of them). That being said, the courses are old (outdated, often) and very dry, so take them with a grain of salt. Either way, it’s a good stash of language materials to have, and is the only website here to actually have solid African representation.

LIVE LINGUA PROJECT

Asian Languages: ☆☆☆

African Languages: ☆☆☆☆

Oceanian Languages: ☆☆

American Languages: ☆

Minoritized & Endangered Languages: ☆

Usability: ☆☆☆

Grammar: ☆☆☆☆

Vocabulary: ☆☆☆☆

Interactivity: ☆

Depth: ☆☆☆☆

Overall: ☆☆☆☆

The Livelingua project is basically the same thing as Yojik, just often the materials are more modern and a little more user-friendly. It does also use FSI/DLI/Peace Corps courses, just as a heads up. This is absolutely the place I would go for African languages, but the selection is more slim for languages from other parts of the world.

CONCLUSION

As learners of lesser-studied languages, getting resources is always going to be difficult. Unfortunately, even some of the best websites are not going to have what you need. My number one recommendation for learners is to get a good course book or grammar, and find someone to practice with. As far as websites go, general websites are honestly never going to be your best bet – look for things made specifically for learners of your language instead. Still, it’s not all terrible, and hopefully some of these websites are at least somewhat helpful for people on here who are struggling. If you know any more, I’d love to hear them, since I’m always on the lookout myself!

[tiramisiyu]

【未定事件簿】 Tears of Themis: “Romantic Rail Getaway” Lu Jinghe Route, Day 5

Translation Masterlist | Event Masterlist

Lu Jinghe Route: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

Videos, where applicable, are hyperlinked on the headings in the post.

See under cut!

Part 1: Rare Plants Reserve – “The Future of the Reserve”

Rainforest Reserve

The train arrived at the final stop of the trip – the rainforest reserve.

After solving the indigenous peoples’ issue, the repressive troubles in my heart disappeared without a trace.

I could finally immerse myself, body and mind, into the tranquil atmosphere of the rainforest and enjoy the comforting satisfaction brought by the nature’s sceneries.

Lu Jinghe: This section of rainforest is a natural scenery area. Ahead is the rare animal exhibition and the rainforest survey base.

Lu Jinghe: They’ve collected a little less in here than in the actual Imana Rainforest Natural Reserve that’s in planning…

Lu Jinghe: But there are over 400 rare plants here, and the degree of resource abundance isn’t inferior to Imana Rainforest at all.

Lu Jinghe strolled as he introduced me to the situation in the reserve to me, seeming to be very familiar with this place.

--

INTERROGATION START

Reserve

MC: Was the construction of this reserve also funded by Pax?

Lu Jinghe: Yeah, construction finished around 6-7 years ago.

Lu Jinghe: Back then, Pax and Tambuyani had just reached a cooperative agreement, so we wanted to try something new.

Lu Jinghe: Because it was built early, when Tambuyani was planning trip routes, they made this place a key scenic location.

MC: So that’s how it was.

I originally thought that Pax had invested in a nature reserve project due to momentary interest. I didn’t think that they’d prepared for this early on.

It seemed like, in upcoming years, Pax would be making major movements in nature conservation and rainforest development projects.

Important Difference

MC: Right! You came this time for the Imana Rainforest natural reserve project, which also means…

MC: Pax is investing into two rainforest reserve projects in Tambuyani at the same time?

Lu Jinghe: Mhmm, although the positioning of the Tambuyani project isn’t really the same as this one.

Lu Jinghe: The Imana Rainforest nature reserve will focus on tourism in the future, and it will be open to the whole world.

Lu Jinghe: The reserve here… will focus on academic studies and research surveying.

Lu Jinghe: With this distinction, it’ll be more beneficial for future plans and developments.

Future Plans

MC: Little CEO Lu, could you tell me about the future developmental plans for the nature reserve?

Lu Jinghe: Originally, I couldn’t, since they’re trade secrets. Although…

Lu Jinghe: Because the one who’s asking is you, I can tell you about a little.

Lu Jinghe: The plan is… I’m going to build this place into the best nature reserve in the world.

MC: This sounds… more like a goal, rather than a plan.

Lu Jinghe: A goal can be determined in advance. A detailed plan needs to be negotiated more with the relevant people in Tambuyani, and at this stage, it’s still very hard to determine it.

Lu Jinghe: So, all I can tell you right now is this. I’m sure that it’ll become as I imagined in the future.

MC: Then I’ll hope for the early realization of your goals in advance.

Lu Jinghe: It will.

The corners of Lu Jinghe’s mouth curved beautifully.

INTERROGATION END

--

Lu Jinghe: How is it, anything else you want to ask?

Lu Jinghe: If I know it, I’ll definitely answer.

MC: How about… could I trouble little CEO Lu to introduce me to the rare plants in your rainforest reserve?

Lu Jinghe: Jiejie, this question is way beyond my scope!

Lu Jinghe: How about we hand this specialized question to a specialized person to answer.

 Part 2: Plant Conservation Site

[Gameplay]

Part 3: Rainforest Flower Park

[Gameplay]

Part 4: Forest-watching Area

[Gameplay]

Part 5: Rainforest Program Area – “Exploring the Rainforest Program Area”

Following Lu Jinghe’s steps, we walked from the nature scenery area to the rainforest program area.

Staff: Hello, welcome to the rainforest program area.

Lu Jinghe: See, someone specialized came.

As soon as Lu Jinghe saw the staff member, he winked at me.

Lu Jinghe: MC, you can now ask the question you just had.

Did he take me here to specifically find a staff member answer my question?

I actually just wanted to tease him a little earlier… I didn’t think he would take it seriously.

MC: Hello, I’m a little curious about the plants and animals in the rainforest. Could you give a slight introduction for those?

Staff: Of course, what would you like to know?

INTERROGATION START

Butterflies

MC: On the tree trunks, are those… blue morpho butterflies?

When I walked into the rainforest survey area, I’d already become aware of those few beautiful, blue butterflies on the tree trunks.

I finally had the chance to ask about them.

Staff: Yes, these are called great blue morpho butterflies. They’re one of the butterflies often found in the rainforest.

MC: They’re so beautiful. Lu Jinghe, look, those butterflies’ wings look like they’re glittering in the sun.

Lu Jinghe: This is probably why they’re called flashing butterflies.[1]

Staff: The beautiful shape of the great blue morpho butterfly is also one of the reasons their survival is threatened.

Staff: In the past, when the reserve hadn’t been built yet, there were lots of people trying to catch them without restraint to sell them.

Staff: For a very long time, you basically could not see this beautiful species of butterfly in the rainforest.

MC: Good thing the nature reserve was built…

 [1] The Chinese name for these butterflies translates literally to blue-flashing butterflies (蓝闪蝶, lan shan die).

Animals

MC: Right, when I came, I saw some monkeys with very small bodies.

MC: Look…

I opened the photos I’d saved on my phone and showed it to the staff worker.

There were a few little black monkeys, sitting in a row on the tree branches, their round eyes looking curiously at the humans who were exploring the rainforest.

Staff: Oh, these are the spider monkeys that are characteristic to our rainforest reserve.

MC: Why are they called spider monkeys? They don’t look like spiders at all.

Staff: This species of monkey has a small build, their limbs are long, and their movements when climbing up tree are very similar to the large spiders in the tropics, so they’re called spider monkeys.

MC: Compared to spiders, little monkeys are cuter…

Staff: Though they look cute and endearing, these spider monkeys are very timid, and they tend to attack.

Staff: If you want to observe spider monkeys, you absolutely must not get too close.

MC: Mhmm, it’s better to maintain some distance from wild animals.

Beautiful Plants

MC: I’ve heard that there are particularly beautiful flowers blooming in the rainforest. Could you tell us about them?

Staff: Hmm, most of the flowers in the rainforest are brightly-coloured. As for relatively beautiful ones…

Staff: I feel that the pygmy water lily is the most beautiful.

MC: Could I see one now?

Staff: The pygmy water lily is a precious lotus flower. Its petals are blueish-purple, and it looks incredibly gorgeous.

Staff: Although… it blooms annually in the summer, and it only blooms for seven days. I won’t be able to show it to you this time.

MC: (What a pity. The next time I get the chance, I really have to come see it personally.)

INTERROGATION COMPLETE

--

MC: I still have a few questions…

Staff: Go ahead. If I know it, I can tell you.

Time slowly passed, but it seemed like the things I wanted to know kept slowly increasing.

The staff worker enthusiastically and patiently explained for me, and the more I listened, the more fascinated I grew.

I didn’t know how many questions I asked, and I didn’t know how long I spent listening to the staff worker talk about the fantastic stories of the rainforest.

I felt like this rainforest, this land, and too many things were waiting for us to explore them, and to search for them.

 Part 6: Bright-eyed Enthusiasm

Rainforest Reserve

After bidding farewell with the rainforest program area’s staff member, Lu Jinghe mysteriously took me toward the depths of the forest.

The lush foliage gradually cut off the surrounding sounds…

In the tranquility, I suddenly felt like only the sounds of my and Lu Jinghe’s footsteps were left in the world.

MC: Where are we going?

Lu Jinghe: The reserve in the depths of the rainforest.

MC: Huh, isn’t this area the reserve?

Lu Jinghe: This is the reserve that the researchers use for survey research.

Lu Jinghe: While the place where we’re headed right now is the breeding experiment location in the depths of the rainforest. That’s the confidential location in all of the reserve.

Lu Jinghe’s voice sounded like he was presenting a treasure, with a willfully excited and proud feeling.

Based on my understanding of him, there must be some surprise awaiting me in the reserve he was talking about.

Thinking about this, my excitement and expectation were kindled as well.

MC: I’m kinda looking forward to it!

--

As we walked into the depths of the forest, like a shielding curtain, the shrubbery and the foliage of the trees were slowly pulled apart…

The true appearance of the breeding experiment reserve reflected in my eyes.

A gorgeously-coloured flower tree bloomed before my eyes, and little lavender and pale pink petals sat between the leaves, like the unfurled wings of a parrot.

Right then, the miracle of nature became reality before my eyes.

Lu Jinghe: Look, this is a real parrot-tail fairy flower. Isn’t it pretty?

MC: Just like how it’s named, it really is fairylike.

I carefully maintained a distance as I looked all over the parrot-tail fairy flower, unwilling to miss even a single detail.

Lu Jinghe: Too bad there’s only this one treasure, and you can only get this one glimpse.

Lu Jinghe: After the growing techniques mature… I want to try having it “come” out the rainforest, so more people can see it.

Lu Jinghe: At that time, there will definitely also be more people who come in to see the sceneries inside the rainforest.

With the abundant resource treasures contained in the rainforest, for the people of the past, most of its use remained at the stage of resource plundering.

While what Lu Jinghe wanted to do was exactly the opposite…

He hoped that people from the outside would come in the learn about this place, to invest more riches to spur on the treasures lying undiscovered on this land.

His thoughts were full of creativity, and often brought surprises. Perhaps this was one of Lu Jinghe’s personal charms.

MC: Could I take a few pictures to commemorate this?

Lu Jinghe: You can – you can take as many as you want.

I held up my camera, starting to adjust the angle of the viewfinder.

To begin with, it was very hard to focus in the dim lighting in the rainforest, and Lu Jinghe just had to sidle up and cause trouble.

MC: Don’t move… you’re blocking the light.

Lu Jinghe: Alright, I won’t disturb you. I’m going to take photos on the other side.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Lu Jinghe walk to the other side of the flower tree as he spoke. He was holding something in his hand, pointing it at me…

Want to sneak a picture of me? Hah, as if I’ll let you get away with it.

I stood up quickly, pointing the lens in my hand at Lu Jinghe before he could react.

MC: Lu Jinghe, smile!

The slight confusion and shock of the handsome young man, who was holding a camera and trying to take a picture, was captured in the photo.

MC: Haha, this is a pretty good photo. I’ve got to hide it away.

Lu Jinghe: What photo did you take?

Lu Jinghe wound around the bunches of flowers and looked at the photo I’d taken, tilting his head.

MC: Look, I just happened to take a picture of your “crime evidence” when you wanted to sneak a picture of me.

Lu Jinghe: … Jiejie, you’re shameless!

Lu Jinghe: What crime evidence – it’s obviously you sneaking pictures of me, alright?

MC: Not at all, I was seizing the opportunity.

Lu Jinghe: I don’t care, I’m taking another one!

Lu Jinghe snatched the camera in my hands, and with the parrot-tail fairy flower tree separating us, he stood at a place farther away from me.

Lu Jinghe: Look at the lens.

Separated by the flower tree, he waved the camera at me, repeating the words I’d just said to him.

Lu Jinghe: MC, smile.

Lu Jinghe: … 1, 2, 3, cheese!

MC: Cheese!

His enthusiastic gaze focused on me, the dazzling light in his clear eyes drawing me to him.

Struck in the heart by the halo of this moment, he and I laughed together.

[deathsmallcaps]

So, I had an interesting conversation with a Republican a couple weeks ago. We were [1] discussing what was happening down in Venezuela, about how they elected a socialist guy in 2018, Maduro, America and other countries basically overthrew him by punishing Venezuela and ignoring the guy in favor of a capitalist (while funding him!!! If you’re arguing about ‘hard-earned taxpayer dollars’ with a Trump apologist, mention the $40+ Million we wasted on the capitalist guy), and then when we finally eased up on the whole issue, the socialist guy, President Maduro, got re-elected in 2020.

Along the way we started throwing around the words ‘patriotism ‘ and ‘nationalism’. And I realized both of us didn’t know the difference. So I took a moment to look it up. And then we started using the terms correctly. I think he learned why white nationalists are bad that day.

So here are some definitions that may help you. At the time, the guy and I only spoke about patriotism vs nationalism, but I feel that these other definitions may help your understanding as well.

Nation - is not the same thing as a country, although the terms are used interchangeably, and a lot of times without malice. Do not attack people on the word choice if someone is speaking about it and they use the terms interchangeably, just maybe approach them afterwards. I myself occasionally slip up. It is a group of people, often tied to a specific land area, that are the same ethnicity, meaning they have the same intersection of language, race, religion, culture and other factors. It would be accurate to call Indigenous cultures such as the Cherokee a nation.

State - a nation or territory (territory being land area, which is more accurate for the United States, as we are not a nation, see following paragraph for explanation) that is under one government as a political community. The fact that America uses ‘states’ to describe our subsections is kind of weird. However, because of prolific modern usage, our usage is considered valid by most dictionaries.

Nation-states - are whole countries that are a nation, where minorities are very small or very similar to the majority group. Places such as Nepal are considered Nation-states. The United States of America can by no means be called a nation or a nation-state, because even the most dominant factors of the majority, such as Christianity or being white, are very split up. Even our ‘states’ cannot be considered nation-states, as they are made up of a mosaic of different peoples. The word ‘country’ is actually closer to meaning ‘nation-state’ than not, but I am using it in a way that is closer to polity, which people are less aware of.

Polity - it’s a geopolitical term meaning “- political organization and other identifiable, resource-manipulating organizational structures.” (Got that from the Wikipedia article). It can include international or political organization, a state or an empire. I have been using country as a stand in for this word, and will continue to do so. While this definition is useful, it may confuse, distract and detract from your argument or discussion if used.

Patriotism - the quality of having loyalty, support and pride for ones country. So, basically loving it. It is wonderful to love your country. Just like with loving a child, one of the biggest parts of living a country is helping it improve and learn to be the best version of itself it can be. You can goodnaturedly poke fun at other countries and still be a patriot, just as you can poke fun at friends and still be a good person. For example:

An American: “Ew, Canada has bags of milk!”

A Canadian: “Ew, America fries their Oreos!”

This sort of exchange is fine. It is also patriotic to establish diplomatic relations with other countries. Japan wanted to modernize back in the 1800s, so they became buddies with Britain for a while.

Nationalism - loving your country, or more usually your nation/culture, to the point of obsession. This obsession can manifest as hating other countries, wanting to push your culture on other people, and trying to make decisions for other countries. This may be justified as ‘protecting my country’s interests’ in another country. This can manifest as:

Iraq: Hey, we are concerned about our citizens’ health and how the environment is doing, so we are going to slow down our oil production and invest in other economic oppurtunities that will help the general population.

America: *Puts an embargo on Iraqi products, encourages allies to do so as well, invades Iraq and forces them to do what America wants*

(This is a hypothetical, although the USA has definitely done very similar things in the past.)

Another example of nationalism is to ignore and smother minority voices in favor of promoting one culture, usually an aggressive one. This isn’t always tied to the dictionary-definition of a nation, but the terms necessary to separate the two don’t exist yet, as far as I know. Nazi Germany was definitely a nationalist movement.

If any of my definitions need tweaking, please let me know! I hope you find this useful! Below is a footnote, just in case you’re using a screen reader.

[1] Before you @ me about how we shouldn’t treat the right’s arguments as valid, you need to know three things about that day

1. I was in a situation where I couldn’t leave.

2. I was not treating it as valid, I was just fortunately in a mindset where I could act calm about his bullshit.

3. I think one or two things got through to him? I’m probably being hopeful, but I’m going to be an optimist about this. He was not aggressive.