#and it would be more interesting for leadership to be permanent or the alive leader stepping down meaning the new leader doesnt have any li

[harriertail]

actually realising how bullshit the 'nightpelt didnt get his lives because brokenstar was still alive' decision was. i initially assumed it was not a choice by StarClan, as Brokenstar was still leader even in exile, but with further books having the 'alive but chose to leave Pinestar' let Sunstar get 8 lives, and recently alive Bramblestar 'step down' and let Squirrelstar presumeably get her lives, it becomes a choice that StarClan made- and a fucking stupid one.

[pompadorbz]

Here's a question for you, Do you think Mondo's story would have the same impact had Daiya survived the accident. Everything else would stay the same, backstory of the race, it's effects, the promise (though that one might have to change slightly), etc. Also Do you think that Mondo would have an harder or easier time going into carpentry as Daiya is alive and Mondo would have to tell him to his face over his decision to quit the gang?

SORRY FOR THE LATE REPLY! This ask is genuinely super interesting to me, so I wanted to really mull it over as best as I could and cover as much ground as possible. Since this is such a significant change to Mondo's entire character and his relationship with grief, it also means that there is a LOT of possible scenarios, and with that, a LOT of questions to ask. (Also I'm sure everyone who follows me knows the drill at this point, but for those who don't I use both he/him and she/her for mondo because of a headcanon I'm really super fond of. If I say she/her pronouns at any point, I'm still talking about Mondo. I'm also gonna elaborate on how this scenario would affect her gender moments at the end for fun, lol) For starters I want to speculate that this would be something that Mondo would probably wonder a lot himself. Daiya's death was so permanently life-altering that I'm sure he would probably get caught up in the "what-ifs" herself, along with literally every possibility that comes with that (I think this girl has the most SEVERE ocd ever, as well as ptsd which as I know it, is a much more common hc). In the scenario that this were to actually happen, there's a lot we can consider. I'm gonna go through this in list-ish form i think, since it'll make things a bit easier for me lol.

The first thing I think of when this alternate scenario comes to mind is how Mondo would eventually obtain leadership in the gang, or if she even would to begin with. Motorcycle accidents in reality have an INCREDIBLY high mortality rate. People that do survive usually end up paralyzed, or needing amputations, so I think it's pretty safe to say that Daiya wouldn't be coming back as the gang's leader after that. I think with Daiya still alive and Mondo keeping his same promise to him, it wouldn't have more or less pressure, but I think there would be this totally different KIND of pressure to keep the gang running.

Mondo's reason for having the race with Daiya was to prove that he could be a reliable leader to begin with, especially because of how the rest of the gang viewed her before she'd became the leader. That's why Daiya's death during the race is so much more traumatizing, at least thematically. In a really fucked up sense, Mondo technically gets what she wants. He gets to run the gang and really prove himself, but at an enormous cost. If Daiya manages to survive but ends up having his own life be permanently altered by the accident, it gives an ENTIRELY new read on this philosophy, except now, Daiya is alive for it.

A huge part of Mondo's character and her backstory is the fact that he ended up lying about how Daiya died, but now that he's alive, there's a pretty good chance that the gang would know the full truth, unless if Daiya himself decided to keep things between him and Mondo for her sake. Regardless of whichever happens, Daiya is alive to both know, and tell the truth, and I think this gives Mondo such a deep-rooted paranoia. I think she is already so hyper-aware of how people act around him and think of him, so knowing that they either know the complete truth, or that at the very least, Daiya does, and is able to tell them? THAT would make her anxiety skyrocket, although I doubt that Daiya would be one to want to omit that information (more for Mondo's sake later down the line than his own). Like in canon, Mondo's motivations to run the gang would likely still become INCREDIBLY Daiya-centric. Either way I think he feels like he owes an incredible debt to him, and will do anything to make sure she follows through. The gang would become so much more of a chore in both scenarios I think, but on the bright side, I think Daiya obviously still being alive would be able to give her SO much more reassurance that she wouldn't have gotten otherwise, at least not initially. Daiya to me is someone who seems very cool and levelheaded on the outside, but I think that the whole situation would make him feel a bit of guilt of his own despite being the victim of the crash. He manages to sniff out Mondo's anxiety from a mile away, and even if he forgave Mondo, I doubt it would ever disappear as much as it would become much less noticeable over time, as well as generally burdening Mondo less.

When it comes to leaving the gang to pursue carpentry, I believe it would end up being a lot easier for Mondo to pursue with Daiya still alive. I think that there's this understanding with everyone in the gang that eventually, every leader is going to shift out of that position at some point. With Daiya, him retiring and Mondo taking his place is just another inevitability, and so in his mind, Mondo wouldn't be giving up on her promise by eventually doing the same and passing the torch to Takemichi. Mondo was the leader for the amount of time that she saw fit, and now he's moving onto greener pastures. I think Daiya would be a heavy source of encouragement once he learns about Mondo's own ambitions, even if it would likely take Mondo a while to actually admit that he has them (for a while I'm sure it was something she kept secret because of the promise).

In the killing game itself, I think it could DEFINITELY change the course of the entire story. I think while losing his memories would make the grief feel a little more fresh, I don't think it would be NEAR the level of what it was with Daiya actually dying. Daiya still being alive would imply that he'd probably take Takemichi's place as a hit list target. Perhaps he'd see the both of them together in his motive video as well. As for chapter 2 itself, it would ABSOLUTELY change the story. I'd be hard pressed to say that Mondo's trauma is BETTER (It's not a competition here) , but I think that having Daiya alive, as well as his forgiveness would have a HUGE impact on how he views himself and his strength, as well as just being called strong in general. I think the feeling of inadequacy is absolutely still there, but I think in comparison to the canonical chapter 2, Mondo would be in a MUCH better place. Additionally, him not carrying the burden of his lie on his shoulders would make his chapter 2 motive much more easy to stomach. He may even have a completely different motive entirely, due to his gang already knowing the truth, therefore making the motive useless to Junko for the game. Either way, any situation that keeps Chihiro alive is absolutely going to change the course of the entire remainder of the story (seriously, if she was still alive by the end, the end would've come a lot sooner, and the entirety of sdr2's killing game wouldn't have even happened. Also this would likely keep Taka alive as well, and anything that keeps Taka alive is a nice bonus). AND NOW FOR THE ADDITIONAL GENDER MOMENTS. I think that both Daiya and Mondo are INCREDIBLY sheltered individuals. Like I don't think anything could shake me from that belief, and there's a fair amount pointing to this scattered about Mondo's dialogue. Daiya is equally as out of the know as Mondo likely would've been regarding half of the things she'd learn about herself. The only difference now is that he's gonna still be around while these realizations pop up. WHICH OF COURSE, puts Mondo through a brand new kind of dread, especially since him and Daiya were essentially raised in toxic masculinity city. It probably takes Mondo a while to crack that egg into the pan, so to speak.

I also think that the idea of Daiya being the token cishet is absolutely fucking hilarious. Like he is 100% an ally and down for anything, but he also knows NOTHING. Like for once in his life he's not able to give Mondo his wisdom because in his mind, Mondo's the expert on this stuff even though she literally JUST showed up to the party herself, lol.

Sorry for giving such a long response! I do hope it answered your question!!

[bllsbailey]

Why Is the UAW Shilling for Hamas?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the primary purpose of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union to secure good wages, benefits, and job security for Americans working for the major automobile manufacturers and the subsidiary industries thereof?

If so, why are they whining about Gaza? How does any of that forward the interests of American auto workers? Because, in an X post on Thursday, that sure seems to be what the UAW is doing.

One more thing: The purpose of the Democratic National Convention is to put on the pretense of nominating the Democratic presidential and vice-presidential candidates. (Yes, we all know that in this cycle, that's a sham; the decision was made weeks ago when they pulled the plug on the Biden reelection effort.) So why must they allow a "Palestinian American" to speak? To what end, other than virtue-signaling?

Yes, I know, I just answered my question. For Democrats, virtue-signaling has always been a good enough reason in itself. And I won't even get into the UAW not knowing that the United States is a constitutional republic, not a democracy. But the UAW shilling for Hamas — that's a new one.

See Related: United States Pressuring Israel to Pull Out of Gaza, Leave Hamas in Charge 

DNC Crowd Chants 'Bring Them Home' for Parents of American-Israeli Son Held by Hamas—but Miss the Point

If the Democrats, or anyone else for that matter, wants a lasting peace in Gaza, or at least what passes for a lasting peace in that part of the world, here are some conditions Israel might lay out that could achieve that goal.

1) Hamas to release all remaining hostages, alive or dead, without qualification or condition, immediately.

2) All Hamas fighters and leaders to surrender, unconditionally, and surrender all weapons to the Israel Defense Forces.

3) Any Hamas fighters who took part in the invasion of Israel in October of 2023, and any Gazan residents who held or assisted in the holding of hostages, are to be tried as war criminals.

4) Hamas's leadership to be extradited to Israel, from Qatar or anywhere else, to likewise be tried as war criminals. 

5) Hamas's governing infrastructure in Gaza to be disbanded. Any current or former Hamas members are permanently barred from holding any elected or appointed government position in Gaza.

That seems like a good start. Get on your buddies in Gaza, UAW. Tell them if they want the fighting to stop, give back the hostages and surrender.

Granted, there will never be a lasting peace in that part of the world. The best Israel can hope for out of this mess is a peace that gives them a generation or so breathing room — and Hezbollah, I would point out, still hovers in Lebanon, to the north, with weapons provided by Iran and tens of thousands of fighters.

In the meantime, let's hope that the UAW's rank and file are lighting up the union's officials over this overt act of pandering.

The Democratic National Convention is on its last day. For the most complete coverage of this and all of the associated lunacy, please consider upgrading to a VIP account.  VIP status will open a plethora of stories and podcasts here at RedState. And remember that a Gold-level account gets you access to all of our sister sites in Townhall Media: PJ Media, Twitchy, Hot Air, Bearing Arms, and Townhall.com. Use promo code FIGHT for a 60% discount.

[shyrose57]

Brothers anon back again. I had a sort of writers block for the last like 2 days which made it really hard to do some questions, but I got em done finally. Sorry about the wait. This one is split between the numbered questions, and next ask is the other questions you asked!

I think I accidentally skipped a question in the last one. I honestly don't completely remember but in case I did skip it by mistake, the groups first travel out of the city's limits and even further beyond in a carriage. When they reach the end of how far the driver is willing to go they then get out and start walking. With Jackie screaming about how their finally going on a adventure. 

1: It thankfully doesn't get to to bad before the others notice. And he immediately told them about Dream, wanting to be very clear with what happened and what they where getting themselves into. But they accepted him anyway and helped him. 

2: Isaac is the leader cause Cletus is too much of a wildcard and too impulsive to lead safely, Charles is too shy to lead, and while Benjamin is perfect for leading he doesnt really like leading and is more of a follower than a leader. But Isaac can joke around and gets along with everyone but also be able to take things seriously and know when something needs to be handled.

5: They do not, they last for a few minutes and unless its a healing or regeneration potion (in which it can take a few days for it to fully go away) they have no long lasting affects. They do know of eachothers past to an extent, they know enough to avoid triggers and enough to know what not to do when around eachother. They know through telling eachother, and they feel awful Grievous and Jackie had to deal with that, but leave it in the past and focus on making their current life better. 

6: Yes and no, while Jackie did mean to throw it at Ran, he ment for it to just hit nearby him, not directly hit him. It was ment to be more of a scare/intimidation tactic than anything else honestly. Grievous's luck is for basically everything, he has won the lottery twice before actually but only those 2 times, he's correctly guessed how many items are in a container more than a few times as well. 

7: I use the height charts and they help mostly for comparison, problem is I have trouble applying it to real world stuff and because of that I still have trouble knowing if something or someone is to tall or short. Jackie can get very mean, like he can make fun of someone who just lost a loved one or experienced a traumatic event at the worst. But he usually doesn't get nearly that mean, most he does normally is making fun of how someone looks or how they do certain things. The others comfort him the best they can when he gets sad, and when he gets mean they either encourage it (Grievous), or discourage it and stop him (Watson. Ran is between either encouraging or discouraging it).

8: He was! He spent most of his life adventuring actually! He misses it somedays now since he lives in Subbin, but he believes giving up his adventuring life for a family and friends who needed him is a more than far trade and would happily pick his family over adventuring again. For around 4 years after Ran left Mizu (including the day he left), Ran traveled everywhere, and learned how to survive himself and taught himself different things, like sewing. Ran has made new socks, fixed clothes, and made blankets for everyone at least once. Watson also designs bows and arrows for show, for top functionality, and for just simple (training) gifts to the others. Ran (and Watson) has visited the nether, though Ran tended to stay in it longer than Watson cause he could withstand the temperatures better. And while digging a new tunnel across the nether he ran into ancient debris, which he then messed with until he figured out to mix it with gold and coat his sword in it. He tried to find more ancient debris but sadly hasn't found any, leaving his sword permanently damaged and at risk of breaking. Jackie isn't good at all at painting, its more of a hobby he's trying out. They try to camp out there at least once a week, where Grievous will sometimes build a pillowfort and either force everyone inside or play a game of capture the fort with them. Sometimes Ran will also read during the pillowfort nights, but not to often. Jackie wants to vist a Snow, Savanna, Jungle,  Tagia, and if possible, a Ice Spike biome. He also wants to vist the nether but he'll have to fight Ran on that. Ran and Jackie's secondary titles are in Javanese!

9: Ran just kinda went "Hey Jackie, stand still for a second." "Ok?" And then he just picked him up and threw up. 

10: When he's first given dinner after already eaten lunch, he just kinda stares at the food. Then asks if they meant to give him food, and when the others say yes, he asks why because he thought people only ate once every few days. His answer shocked the others and they ask him to explain, and he explains futher that he was only allowed to eat and drink once every 3 days. Their horrified by this answer but explain to him how theres 3 meals a day and he can drink whenever, he doesn't believe them at first but eventually accepts it. 

11: When the fishermen first come to Ranbob about their worry, he expresses the same worry as them. But says that it's unlikely Ran will hurt the fishermen specifically, because Rans haunting are already friends with them, and Ran wouldnt risk breaking the friendship unless he deemed it necessary for their safety. 

12: Ranbob is sad that Ran goes to such lengths to avoid him and keep people away from him, but he has resigned himself to it. As he knew that if Ran was alive it was greatly unlikely that he would trust him and knew he would be avoided. Which is actually particularly why he believes Ran will never trust him again and why he views Ran as a kind of lost family member. One he'll never get back no matter what he does.

13: Their first stop is a nearby flower biome, and after that Watson has planned to lead them to a waterfall he found with a shattered Savanna somewhat close to it. They plan to travel for a minimum of 6 months, they can actually travel for as long as they want to, but Prokius made them agree that they must be back before the next General Pit Battles (which happens once every 5 years). 

14: He would 100% run himself into the ground until he's barely alive while searching for them. Benjamin compares Ranbob wanting to go back to Dream, to an abused person wanting to go back to their abusive lover. They believe they've changed and that they truly do love them and want the best for them, but in reality that's not it at all and others have to help them see thats not true and help them save themselves. So it doesn't surprise Benjamin or Isaac that much (it surprises Charles and Cletus though), and after its explained to them, their all more than willing to help Ranbob get over Dream and help him be himself again.

15: Oh definitely. Once they hear the Green-Eyed Enderman is back from hiding they all set out again, and after the group gets attacked and once word spreads that its in a group and there's another enderman with them, they all get targeted. With the Gladiators and Fishermen being targeted as bait or hostages to try to trick the enderman into following a trap. Ran wasnt affected like his brother was. Im talking about trauma and maybe even a bit of PTSD that came from Mizu, caused by Dream. Though both of the brothers have gained different amounts of trauma and PTSD from Dream. I may give the raven to either Watson or Ran, I think its fits both of them really well. I want to have them come across ruins of other Tales but im not sure which ones. Maybe they could find the remains of the Wild West Tale and the Haunted Mansion?

Glad to see you, Brothers Anon, and excited to read!

1: The perfect start to an Adventure. And a funny mental image. Imagining these two groups cramped into carriages is pretty amusing. How ready was everyone to get out by the time they could?

2: The fishermen are really great, and Ranbob is very lucky. I love them.

3: Isaac sounds like he’s a pretty good fit for it then. But nobody’s perfect! What are some flaws of his, leadership-wise?

5: Interesting. What makes Regeneration and Healing last longer? I suppose it’s not relative to the AU, but I am a bit curious. What’s the world’s potions mechanisms, if you don’t mind me asking? And that’s good! They may not know everything, but they know what to avoid, and that’s important. Everyone’s moved forward and are making the best of life, and honestly, that’s pretty cool of them.

6: Welp, Jackie, it seems intimidation tactic failed. However, you have managed to anger Ran, so..there’s that. He won the lottery? Dang. Well, if they ever need money, they can just send him to the nearest casino, I suppose.

7: Aight, so I may have a solution for you there. Whatever height you’re going for, find something in real life that’s just about the same height. Like a tree, or something. Or not, we can always just leave it at short enough to be tossed and tall enough to be the tosser. Jackie sounds like he knows where to hit to make it hurt, honestly. It’s good that they comfort him, though I am curious why they all react as they do to him being mean. Why does Grievous encourage it? And is it more of a depends on the day thing for Ran, or a depends on what was said to Jackie, and what Jackie’s saying thing?

8: Nice! What kind of places did he go? Does he have any particularly interesting knickknacks from that time period? And Ran personally sounds like he knows what he’s doing. Watson’s weapons sound really cool, where did he learn to make them? Is visiting the Nether not a common occurrence these days? Or is it simply that the others never got around to it before? Well, hobbies are always fun to try. Does Jackie keep at it and get better or get bored and try something else? How does Capture the Fort go with these guys, considering they’re gladiators? Why does Jackie want to visit those particular biomes? Is there a reason, or do they just sound cool to him? And why would Ran not want them going to the Nether? Because of the danger?

9: FDXGHJ- He just- tossed him?? No warning?? Oh my gods, I’m dying. How did Jackie react to that? Heck, how did Porkius react to that? I doubt anyone was expecting that display.

10: Oh, no. Now I really want to punch Dream in the face. What the heck, Dream?! He legit asks if they meant to give him food...If one of the fishermen or gladiators doesn’t eventually find a way to punch Dream, I will be forced to travel realities and do it myself. 

11: Kind of sad that Ranbob was equally concerned about it. But hey! He won’t have to be, one day!

12: Poor Ranbob. I hope he’s proven wrong, eventually. Do the fishermen know that he thinks this? If so, how do they feel about it? Or does he kind of just keep those thoughts to himself?

13: Flower biomes are really pretty. What did everyone think about it? Did they bring any flowers with them? So this roadtrip could possibly go on for a few years. Did they leave just after a General Pit Battle, or do they have like, less than five years? Speaking of General, is Jackie still the General in this AU? Does he have extra duties because of it? Or is that not something that happened in this AU?

14: Yikes. Reactions to this? Why does Ranbob believe Dream’s changed, as you put it? Is Dream still able to talk to him, or is it because he just misses being there? So Benjamin and Isaac aren’t all that surprised about it. Do they take the reins in helping out? And how do they all do so? It’s good that they’re helping him though.

15: Well, this sounds like it can’t end well. They try to use the hauntings as bait? Is anyone actually captured? Rescue missions? And alright, that makes a bit more sense. I can see how they’d both be effected differently, and honestly, they’d probably both have very different perspectives of the event, all things considered. Ravens for the win! And it’d be really cool for them to come across the ruins of old Tales buildings. Can you imagine the kind of things they’d find? Diaries, faded photographs, moth-eaten clothes, blood stained floors...Like a walk in the past, but they’ll never know what came to be for the people of that time.

[wildheart-warriors]

So Blackstar being made leader always bugged me So Much, so here’s some Thoughts on that and how I would do it differently.

Blackfoot was not appointed Deputy by either Brokenstar or Tigerstar because they thought he would make a good successor. Blackfoot was chosen because he was both physically powerful and easy to control. He isn’t very smart; he’s a good hunter and fighter, but he lacks critical thinking and tends to be a bully. Which makes him a great second in command for a tyrant; he’s physically powerful enough to enforce your commands but he’s not an actual threat to your authority.

All that to say, Blackfoot is not a good leader and everyone knows it (except Blackfoot himself. He thinks he’s hot shit)

Blackfoot is only made leader by necessity, because the line of succession must be upheld. We know Starclan refuses to give Nightstar his lives, and I propose that it’s not only because Brokenstar is still alive, but also because Starclan will not approve a leader who was not made deputy by their predecessor. That would of course mean Tigerstar doesn’t get his nine lives, but personally I think the fact that he was ever able to lead Shadowclan at all is ridiculous.

So I propose this: Thunderclan allows Shadowclan to execute Brokenstar once Nightstar reveals that Starclan will not bless a new leader while the old one is still alive (why were they so hell bent on keeping him alive anyway? That was dumb, he killed babies guys wtf) but when Nightstar once again travels to the moon pool, he’s still turned away. Blackfoot is the only cat who can receive Starclans blessing as Brokenstars chosen successor. Brokenstar not only destroys Shadowclan from the inside, but leaves them with an impossible choice: break the line of succession and never have a leader with nine lives again, putting them at a severe disadvantage, or make Blackfoot leader. (As an aside they wouldn’t even know where Blackfoot is at this point, he was chased out with Brokenstar and hasn’t returned)

Someone points out the obvious solution: hunt down Blackfoot, give him his nine lives, force him to appoint Nightstar deputy, and execute him. While some cats agree, no one is really comfortable with that. Nightstar, as angry as he is with the whole situation, reminds them that Blackfoot was not any more able to disobey his leader than the rest of them. The warrior code states that your leaders word is law; no one in Shadowclan spoke out against Brokenstar. By the time they realized how dangerous and destructive he was, he’d already worn Shadowclan down to practically nothing, and it took Thunderclan stepping in for them to get rid of him. The only reason Blackfoot is being faced with the possibility of execution is because he was made deputy; at this point he hasn’t committed any more crimes than anybody else in Shadowclan. He doesn’t deserve to die for a choice he didn’t even make. No one wants him as leader, but no one really wants to kill him either.

Breaking the line is essentially out of the question, but they don’t even know if Blackfoot is still alive. For the time being, Nightstar is acting leader, and Shadowclan is broken and vulnerable.

Enter Tigerclaw and his rogues, including, of course, Blackfoot. Shadowclan welcomes them in not because a former Thunderclan rogue earns their trust (they may not know why he was exiled, but that is not a lightly given sentence. Any cat with half a brain knows not to trust him) but because their only hope of recovering as a clan is with them and alive.

Nightstar explains to Blackfoot privately that because he was Brokenstars appointed deputy, he will be receiving his nine lives and will appoint Nightstar as his deputy to preserve the line of succession, but Nightstar will be Shadowclans acting leader, as decided by the clan. Blackfoot agrees, on the condition that the other rogues can stay. He’s just happy to be home; it’s obvious none of them were doing well as rogues. They’re all a little too skinny, a little too dirty, and so tired.

This arrangement doesn’t last long. Nightstar dies of illness, and while Blackfoot originally agreed to formally appoint Cinderfur as his deputy and acting leader, but he’s had Tigerclaw in his ear. He has all the power; Shadowclan is desperate to keep the line of succession in tact and they have nothing to leverage against him. He appoints Tigerclaw his deputy, and there’s two ways we could go from here, depending on whether or not preserving the canonical line of leadership is important to you.

Tigerclaw immediately kills Blackstar, becoming Shadowclans leader as in the books. He appoints Cinderfur his deputy to appease Shadowclan, essentially convincing them that he’s done them a favor by eliminating Blackstar, who had become power hungry and tainted with the same darkness as Brokenstar. No one trusts him fully, but they’ve been living with him for many moons now, and many of them consider him a friend and a member of Shadowclan. As with Blackstar, they don’t want to kill him, even if it would finally lay the whole ordeal to rest. Tigerstar is a good leader for a long time, even longer than we see in the original books. He rebuilds Shadowclan, and several generations of apprentices have become warriors by the time he makes any further moves.

By the time he moves to create Tigerclan, he’s been Shadowclans leader for several years, and a good leader for all of it. Shadowclan has always been the worst off of the four clans; they have the least prey, the smallest territory, and many of their warriors have now grown up being pitied by the other clans for what Brokenstar did. But they’re strong now, and they deserve better. Things proceed essentially as they did in the books from there, except Cinderfur does her best to just. Stay out of Tigerstars way. She doesn’t support him, but she can’t oppose him either; if he replaces her as deputy, there isn’t any hope of restoring the clans to four individuals again. If he decides she’s too much trouble, he could denounce both her and Riverclans deputy, appointing one Tigerclan deputy and essentially fusing the two clans permanently in Starclans eyes.

Eventually Tigerstar is killed, and Cinderfur becomes Cinderstar, and finally Shadowclans leadership nightmare is at an end.

If you care about the line staying the same, which is fair cause Blackstar had some interesting plots with Sol and such later on, then Tigerclaw somehow doesn’t kill Blackfoot and just becomes acting leader; maybe he figures Blackfoot will die on his own, or values him as a bargaining chip and second in command enough to keep him, I dunno.

[nessie-rp]

WERECREATURE.

Werecreatures roam almost every continent, with legends of manbeasts stretching across cultures since time immemorial. This class of being shares one common trait: the ability to magically transform from human to therian predator. There are five known types of therianthropes, each with distinct origins and sets of traits. No connection to shapeshifters has yet been discovered, though they consider themselves kindred species in the unchanging city. The most common werecreatures in Lyonesse are nahuales and werewolves, each respectively claiming territory in New Aztlán and Old Town Row.

There are five types of werecreatures: NAHUALES/WEREPANTHERS, WEREWOLVES, WEREBEARS, WERETIGERS, and WEREHYENAS.

HISTORY.

The first of these beings were born from humanity's first brushes with magic, when humankind had just started to form civilizations thousands of years ago. Their histories are human histories, for the most part, given that to live as a werecreature is to walk two paths at once: person and beast. Of the five forms, we know that at least two — the wolves and the hyenas — originated from curses from outside influences (or, in the case of the hyenas, self-imposed), but the origins of the other three are largely attributed to witches with unique bonds to transformative magics that drifted apart from witch ways to forge their own.

IN LYONESSE.

Each kind of werecreature comes from a different walk of life and oftentimes an entirely different part of the world. The wolves were the first through the gates, but the nahuales and tigers followed soon after. It wasn't until the 19th century that any bears or hyenas were documented in the city.

The nahuales' connection to magic was what brought the first group of them to Lyonesse, hailing from Central America but intrigued by the possibilities of dimensional travel that the gates presented. It wasn't long before the mage leader of that group became interested in a more permanent presence in the city in the early 14th century, leaving a few trusted members of his family — the ones who would later stake their claim on New Aztlán — to learn more about the supernatural beings they had never previously interacted with.

The wolves did not initially demand a council seat when they began to immigrate to the city, chased out of their villages by angry humans — no, instead a pack tried to start a new settlement on the far side of the Morroi forest without notifying the council. The colony was disbanded by the council after many negotiations with the leadership of the pack, though there is reason to believe threats were levied against the wolves because of the dangers of exploring and occupying land so far from the safety of the gates. It was at this point that the wolves gained a seat on the council.

The tigers, hyenas, and bears do not have a strong enough presence in the city as of yet to have much interest in political power. They mainly keep to themselves.

FACTS.

SHARED ABILITIES.

PHYSICALITY.

All werecreatures possess enhanced senses and superhuman strength and speed, even in their human forms. Many individual werecreatures can go toe-to-toe with other powerful species, such as the fae or the vampire, depending on their control of their abilities. A lone opponent rarely has a chance against more than one werecreature.

SHAPESHIFTING.

Beings of dual natures, werecreatures have a human form and a beast form. Their ability to transform themselves between the two comes with certain conditions, depending on the specifics of their lineage (see individual lore sections for more details), but one constant remains: the transformation of man to beast and back again. Some can partially shift, gaining more noticeable predatory traits (i.e. fangs, claws, glowing eyes, colorations and hair patterns). An intentional partial shift is not an easy feat, and usually only experienced werecreatures or those of significant power can accomplish and maintain such a thing. Younger and less trained weres may partially shift in response to traumas, unexpected stimuli, or overwhelming emotions.

HEALING.

All werecreatures have a greater control over their physical systems which allows them to magically change forms, but this also extends to controlling other body processes — most notably, healing. Though their healing abilities are not as strong as dragons or vampires, many can concentrate their energy into rapid healing from severe injuries. This can give them the time they need to seek medical attention or bring them back from the brink of death, but will run out of steam depending on therity of the injury. It's an imperfect process.

INTERSPECIES RELATIONS.

Werecreatures have a natural affinity for other shapeshifters, though this notably does not extend to the trickster fae who tend to shapeshift into other humanoid forms. Though they are not naturally opposed to vampires, vampires have a mistrust of them that has exacerbated tensions between the species at different points in history.

In general, the more reclusive or solitary weres are wary of other beings, even in the city. That being said, weretigers have had certain... misunderstandings with yōkai in the past, as have werebears with the nahual shifters of the Americas.

MYTHS.

These things do not apply:

All werecreatures are forced to shift on the night of the full moon. That's a werewolf thing. Short end of the stick, huh?

The bites of werecreatures are toxic to vampires. Nah, but they'll still hurt and cause significant damage.

They're the natural predators of vampires. Someone really should be, but werecreatures may or may not have significant beef with their local covens.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS.

CAN A WERECREATURE GET DRUNK/HIGH?

Alcohol and drugs must be consumed in large quantities to affect a werecreature because of their heightened metabolism. Their effects also burn off much faster than they do in humans. Magical substances can affect werecreatures much more easily than normal substances, but they still have a stronger tolerance to their effects than humans do.

NAHUALES & WEREPANTHERS.

FACTS.

Nahuales are a mortal species with an extended lifespan (~250-300 years) with a deep connection to ancestral magics, including those of transformation and mediumship. They are classed as werecreatures for their ability to shapeshift from man to jaguar. They cannot be differentiated from non-magical jaguars when transformed. Their power comes from a spiritual connection to the worlds around and beyond them, a severed tie in magical practice between the nahual and the witch.

Only those born with a certain daysign, according to the tōnalpōhualli, are born nahual. According to nahual spiritual belief, the daysign acts with a person's tonalli — one third of a mortal's "soul" — to determine their characteristics and destiny. Because of this, being born to a nahual does not guarantee that the child will inherit the gift, as it always depends on daysign — and astrology is sacred to these beings to such a degree that natural mating cycles have evolved to favor the births of those with nahual signs. A mortal may be born without the ability to transform but still be destined to become a nahual; they must be bitten. Those who are bitten and not meant for the gift will die.

NOTE: Because of this species' mythos and significance in modern spiritual practice and cultural studies, nahuales must be portrayed by face claims with some indigenous roots in Mesoamerica.

ABILITIES.

NEPANTLA.

Sensitive to the comings and goings of magic, nahuales have the power not only to sense places of power but to traverse liminal spaces. The nepantla is a place neither here nor there — neither shadow nor shining. Chaos is in constant lurch around all living things, but it can get caught here and there, folded over itself, confused. It is these spaces — dimensional portals, djinn entrapments, ruptures in time, the cosmic branches of all world trees, those worlds which are not for mortal eye to behold — which can be accessed with easy by the nahual, drawn to their energy but unaffected by their capricious magical natures. Some say this makes nahuales the lightest of all creatures on their feet, hardest to detect when they are unwilling to be found. Others consider this a mark of just how dangerous they can be, a reason to stay away for fear of being drawn into the twilight neitherworld.

MEDIUMSHIP.

It is said that a nahual never dies. Linked together through time and past death, nahuales can communicate with their ancestors. This mental link develops over time, and will be stronger in some than others. They are extremely vulnerable when reaching out with their tonalli to the dead, and they can only communicate with other nahuales in this manner lest they risk their own lives.

SHAPESHIFTING.

Unburdened by the curse of the wolves or hyenas, nahuales are free to shift when they please, though they may be compelled to transform by offensive magic or intense emotional responses. Their extra connections to magic make them the fastest werecreatures in shifting from one form to the next.

WEAKNESSES.

MORTALITY.

Nahuales are susceptible to human disease and fatal injury, though their longevity is in part bolstered by their healing abilities. Excessive trauma and prolonged illness can still kill them, as can magical attacks.

TZITZIMITL.

Named for bonemonsters of the stars from Aztec myth but known by many names, the tzitzimitl manifests first as trouble with vision before worsening into blindness. It is caused by long stays in the nepantla. Time passes differently there with every voyage, so the risk of overstaying is one that cannot be understated. After the onset of the blindness, the nahual will begin to lose other senses until they become trapped and convinced that they are being burned alive. The worst time to travel the nepantla is during a solar eclipse, as it is almost certain that a nahual will suffer the tzitzimitl immediately upon their return. Cures for this illness are yet unknown.

WEREPANTHERS.

Werepanthers (also called werepumas or werecougars, as their form more closely resembles a cougar than a jaguar) are descended from nahuales but have a more tenuous connection to their ancestral magics due to colonization and the eradication of native cultures in the Americas. As such, they resemble other werecreatures who have lost all of their magical abilities save the power of transformation.

ORGANIZATION & SOCIETY.

Nahuales strongly prefer to live among humans and tend to be very open about their true natures with other beings, in contrast to many other species that prefer to keep their existence secret. Because of this, and the rarity of new nahuales, they do not have a rigid social structure outside of those imposed by humans, such as nuclear or extended families that live in the same home and small social circles. They often occupy places of importance in their communities and make excellent leaders. In Lyonesse, they have integrated themselves with all kinds of supernatural structures.

Notable astronomical events bring nahuales together for festivities or simple communal observance, as these are moments when the spirits of the ancestors are the most active — the dead may compel the nahuales they have communicated with to seek out their still-living loved ones, which leads to larger gatherings.

WEREWOLVES.

FACTS.

Werewolves are a mortal species with an extended lifespan who have the ability to shapeshift from man to wolf. Essentially, their first shift begins to slow down to their aging, allowing them to live up to 150 years of age. Once a werewolf reaches 100, they begin to age more quickly and feel less of a need to shift to their wolf form. Most werewolves that pass away of natural causes have stopped shifting completely for at least 15 years or more.

With regard to their origins, werewolves are a species that are either born or turned. No cursed wolves have been created since at least 1879. Born werewolves experience their first shift around puberty, usually between the ages of 13 and 16. Despite being born a werewolf, those that are born still experience the sickness that comes with the days leading up to their first shift. Born werewolves are more naturally inclined to have better control than turned werewolves.

Werewolves are easily distinguishable from normal wolves, being much bigger than any normal wolf. Their fur can be any natural wolf coat colors, regardless of their human form's coloration.

ABILITIES.

SHAPESHIFTING.

The full shift can be enacted at will, except on the full moon. It’s usually a quick but uncomfortable or even painful process. Alphas are usually the fastest at their shifts, but it isn't entirely unheard of for lower ranked wolves to be able to shift from man to wolf in the blink of an eye. Significant injuries will make the shift more dangerous and painful. Transformations that are forced (i.e. the full moon, alpha command, or magic-induced) are extremely painful to the individual, but intentional shifts can eventually become less painful. Many wolves choose to shift well before the full moon to avoid a forced shift.

WEAKNESSES.

THE FULL MOON.

The full moon is a shackle that werewolves can never escape, forcing their kind to transform for the duration of every full moon for the rest of their lives. During the night of the full moon, the majority of werewolves (including all but the most powerful alphas and betas) are more beast than man, increasing the risk they pose to creatures of all species. On the days leading up to the full moon, werewolves are often restless and irritable.

SILVER & WOLFSBANE.

Both substances can be fatal to a werewolf if ingested/injected or through prolonged exposure. Wolfsbane can induce vomiting, dizziness, general weakness (shifting becomes near impossible), and in some rare cases, drive a werewolf mad. Silver burns on contact and is most commonly used in restraints. Older werewolves are more likely to develop some resistance to wolfsbane and silver.

MORTALITY.

Werewolves can survive most injuries that would kill a human, thanks to their healing ability, but would not survive the most traumatic, such as fatal damage to the heart, decapitation, explosion, etc.

LOSS OF A MATE.

The unexpected death of a mate can drive a wolf so deep into despair that they become gravely ill.

MAGIC.

Werewolves are very susceptible to magic, especially magic that ties to the moon and rituals that are completed during the night of the full moon.

THE TURN.

To become a werewolf, one must be bitten during the week of the full moon. The higher the attacking wolf is in the pack hierarchy, the better the chance the individual has of surviving the transformation. This transformation happens on the next full moon, but the victim will endure a long and strange illness for the entire month between. Those bitten have a high chance of the transformation killing them or driving them insane.

ORGANIZATION & SOCIETY.

Werewolves congregate in pack structures like their natural kin. Packs are often full of related wolves, depending on their history and the amount of territory they occupy. However, regardless of blood relation — pack is, in most situations, family.

ALPHAS.

Packs are led by an alpha pair. Alphas can be of any gender, as the position is determined by power and ability rather than by any specific biological factors. Magic, stemming from the original curse, is what gives the alpha ranking its authority. Female alphas are highly revered in werewolf culture. Alphas are identifiable by the bright, illuminating glow of their eyes when partially or fully transformed; it is also easy to identify an alpha amongst other wolves of their pack due to the social deference they command.

When it comes to succession to alpha status, such a title is usually bestowed based upon respect rather than strictly inherited. Should an alpha die before naming a successor, the alpha rank is conferred to the next strongest wolf in the pack, usually one of the betas. Pack elders are often involved in this decision should the previous alpha face an untimely demise.

BETAS.

Known as the seconds in command to the alpha, betas are responsible for helping enforce the alpha’s rules. They can be any gender. Their main concerns are pack security and safety as well as ensuring the alpha's orders are followed.

None of the betas have power over another, though many will defer to older and wiser members of the pack.

PACK ELDERS.

Elders have been with their packs for a very long time, guiding and caring for the younger generations. Soemtimes they're parents or adoptive family of the core pack members (alphas and betas) — other times there's no specific familial tie; either way, they're always gramps or auntie or baba. Respect for the elders is expected, though they may not have any official position of authority and they may not even still be turning members of the pack. The respect they are owed doesn't come from social pressures so much as it comes from the roles they typically fill in the pack as connections to pack ancestors and caretakers of the young.

LONE WOLVES & ROGUE WOLVES.

Lone wolves are rare, and do not thrive outside of pack life.

Rogue wolves are outcasts, labeled as such for an infraction among their pack and/or the werewolf community (putting others in danger, disobeying their alpha, intentionally biting humans to change them, etc.). Wolves may also be described as rogue if they have gone mad from wolfsbane exposure or from forced transforming. These wolves, reduced to predator instincts and mad with rage, are sentenced to death in Lyonesse. A local alpha, pack elder, or in extreme cases, the council all have the authority to carry out the sentence.

MATES.

Wolves take partnerships very seriously, as any mated pair may eventually break off from a pack to build their own. The mating bond is equivalent to marriage within a pack; in fact, in Lyonesse mating carries the same legal connotations and recognition as marriage as of the 1925 Ritual Partnership Act.

There are various courtship practices and ceremonies observed in wolf packs — some more similar to mortal courtships in that they involve sharing gifts, declarations of intention, and spending time alone together, and others more in common with wolves, such as grooming and territorial displays.

[dishonoredrpg]

Congratulations, PAYTON! You’ve been accepted for the role of THE TOWER with the faceclaim of RODRIGO SANTORO. What poetry could I write about Feivel? He is, at his core, a worldly man, has seen much, knows plenty, and still finds himself entrapped in a world which he feels he cannot possibly belong to. There is such a human quality to him in the way he shifts and turns just to keep himself alive; your concept with the mirror was especially fascinating -- he has a charm to him, but is it a charm that he’ll be able to stomach later on down the line? I also vastly appreciate your willingness to step out of the box and explore a character you’re not as familiar with; I can really see your affection for him here, and I’m excited to see what you bring to us with him!

Please review the CHECKLIST and send your blog in within 24 hours.

NAME: Payton or Paypay

PRONOUNS: She/her/hers

AGE: 27

TIMEZONE, ACTIVITY LEVEL: My timezone is GMT-7. I anticipate being active on the dash (as in posting starters/writing responses) typically between 4-6 days a week, with 4 being more typical. Writing is a pretty big component of my self-care and allows me a creative outlet to use some of my energy, so I will be on frequently. 

ANYTHING ELSE?: I know this is a second application picked from a small handful of skeletons that still remained, but I wouldn’t be applying for another skeleton if I wasn’t just as excited and dedicated to what I could bring to the group with this skeleton as I was with my first application. At first I was pretty bummed and told myself if I couldn’t get back into a very excited state I would just kind of let it be, but the more I worked on this application the more excited I got about the skeleton and the character I was building out from it.

IN CHARACTER

SKELETON: The Tower

NAME: Feivel Asturias

FACECLAIM: Rodrigo Santoro, Chris Hemsworth,  Joel Kinnaman

AGE: 42

DETAILS: What about this character interested you? Who are they to you? This can be as long or short as you want it to be, in whatever format you prefer.

I suggested this to you during our conversation during which you gave me feedback for my previous application, but The Tower’s skeleton is a big old jump away from characters I’m used to playing. Out of the skeleton’s that were left, I found The Tower’s to be quite compelling and likely the most challenging role to play for me. But I like challenges! Challenging is fun. I think in terms of my own development as a writer, playing a character that feels like such a departure from what I’m used to is a great way to stretch my creative muscles and really push myself to think deeper into the choices I’m making for my character.

Another component I like about The Tower is their history as an explorer. I would like to see story-telling be a strong component of their characterization because they have so many lived experiences. Given the setting, it’s likely he would be one of the most if not the most well-travelled roles in the group. His lived experiences would take him to the ends of the earth that his contemporaries only dreamed of, and I imagine he would be all too eager to recount the stories of his youth (only slightly editorialized… okay, fine, with some pretty significant embellishments). I imagine his life has led him to present as rough around the edges, as a survival tactic, as a leadership strategy, and as a mode of self-preservation… but when he gets to talking, when someone really gets him in his lane of story-telling he takes on an air of slight warmth and overwhelming nostalgia. He also absolutely adores young people, which is discussed a little further elsewhere in the application (one of the plot points if I’m not mistaken).

I am also very interested in toying around with his current role as an antiquarian--because who doesn’t want to make up a whole bunch of mythical items and historical artifacts and lore? I feel like not only would I be able to use him as a method to contribute to the general story line, but it would be a great way to explore some world building within the parameters you’ve set for the group.

I also think that the skeleton suggests that The Tower would be willing to take some risks, which would be interesting to play out. The fact that they were willing to play dumb in front of the king until it was clear playing dumb meant certain death, they take a chance: they try to bargain for their life, and it works. As an unofficial advisor, they view their stakes as being slightly less high than someone officially in the post, so they take risks: they combine a healthy amount of tact with speaking their mind. They see a monarch unhappy in her marriage and desperate for release, so they take a risk: they stand a little too close, brush the back of their hand against hers as they pass in the hallway, and find themselves in a full blown affair. I think taking risks would be an inevitable character trait of The Tower, who likely feels lonely for adventure and too big for their body now that they find themselves land-locked.

The actual card of The Tower also relates strongly to the history I imagine for Feivel and what I would assume could be a turbulent future given his affair with the queen and potential shifting alignments. I see “Tower upright: Sudden change, upheaval, chaos, revelation, awakening” relating to his arrival in Tyrholm and the killing of his men and consequential end to his way of life/loss of freedom. “Tower reversed: Personal transformation, fear of change, averting disaster” makes me think of his need to navigate the court and avoid what could be certain disaster if the affair with the queen became known to the wrong people as well as his perceived need to tiptoe around The Sun.

Something of interest to me regarding the typical depiction of this card is the image of the card itself. One website’s information on the card stated: “A stone tower is struck with lighting and lit in flames, two people jump from the tower presumably to their deaths. An image of chaos and destruction is painted.This lightning/subsequent fire enters in through the top of the tower and knocks off the crown. The people jumping accept that they do not know what awaits them when they fall - but it is certainly better than burning in the rubble of the tower.” I find this really compelling because I think that if Feivel was present for the event Mini wrote for Kithri’s para sample (and Mini makes that headcanon) or if Feivel sees or perceives Septimus mistreats his wife or perceives King Septimus as cruel in other ways it would be relatively easy to radicalize Feivel. Feivel knows he’s coming in hot on his expiration date, and even if he isn’t on the brink of death and he’s just feeling a little run down, I think he would really struggle to accept a land-locked existence where he’s essentially prisoner in Castle Tyrholm, and might, as the card depicts, run headlong into certain doom rather than accept the alternative if he found a cause worth self-destructing for.

BACKGROUND:

You are born on high seas, the ocean so ingrained in your identity that you could scarcely tell the difference between the waves of a storm battering your ship and the untamed beating of your own heart. Your childhood is composed of tangled memories of stern looks, rope burn, aching muscles, calluses, stolen goods, and the sound of splintering wood. The smell of gunpowder from the cannons found a permanent home in your nostrils and you lived with a constant sensation of breathlessness between the battles and seascapes that colored your days.  Your early years are like the ocean itself; ever-moving, unforgiving, and constantly threatening to pull you under in its cruelty if you so much as dare to be still for even a moment.

As you enter your teenage years, the treatment you receive only becomes harsher. You are no longer only responsible for chores around the deck, but you are brought into roles of responsibility where a misstep can be the difference between life and death of a crew member. You participate in your first ambush, and it terrifies you how easy it is to drive a blade into another body and how hard it feels to draw it back out. But letting that deter you is not an option. The stakes are high, and the sting of every slap and lashing’s meaning is two-fold. Corporal punishment is a daily reality of your life, the best way a motley crew of pirates knows how to instill discipline. And beyond discipline, you know you’re the next in line for leadership and as a leader you must be unyielding. Your father is preparing you, and the way you see it the crack of his leather strap against your back is the only way he knows how to say he loves you.

You are seventeen when you inherit your father’s ship, his death a sudden and brutal blight that stains a corner of your mind you avoid with vermillion and a mix of pain and resentment. Your mother died long before, when you were no older than six or seven. The closest thing you have to any memory of her face is the memory of her running her fingers through your hair to soothe you to sleep. every time the sea breeze rustles through your hair it evokes her memory. You keep it long and unkempt for that reason alone, though if anyone asks it’s a matter of convenience. It is unbecoming of a captain to display such vulnerabilities as sentiment and weakness—or at least that’s what your father before you conditions you to believe. You quickly realize you see leadership fundamentally differently than your father. Where he asserted authority by means of dominance and violence, your approach values brotherhood.

You find yourself establishing a Brotherhood of Asturias. You name your clan in honor of your ship. Later in your life, you will name yourself in honor of your clan—not as a badge of honor, but as a reminder of your shame. No one would accuse your clan of reformation. To anyone outside of your fold, you’re just as ruthless as your father. You’d still burn the world to the ground for the promise of glory when the flames died down. But within your kinship, you develop a sort of honor code. Your commandments are as such: honor those who honor you, betray no other lest your life be on the line, help the needy if it helps yourself, to kill an innocent is the most mortal of sins, and you shall not advance yourself at the harm of others. Your reputation does shift, but only slightly. Rather than pillagers and barbarians, you are seen as a ruthless treasure hunter.  

For the next fifteen years, your reputation precedes you. You travel to the ends of the earth in search of the relics of the old gods and to reclaim the wonders of the world. It isn’t easy work, but the payoff makes it worth it. You accumulate wealth with nowhere to spend it, but the sense of power of merely possessing the rarities and finery you have is enough. And you love the camaraderie and catharsis. By your mid-thirties, you are grizzled and scarred. Your body aches from the strain of your journeys, but your mind is somehow light under the sheer weight of the stories you have to tell. Your life is spent fast, but if anybody asks it is spent well.

Finally, aware of your limitations and content with your life of misdeeds, you select your successor and one final mission. You view it as a training exercise to cement your decision: both to lay down your arms once and for all and that you’ve chosen the best and brightest to take your place. You set sail to the remote island of Calamity in search of an item of lore, so simple that the common man would pass it over without a second glance: the Mirror of Ouroboros. The mirror is a small, handheld curio of impossible value. The reflector itself is a small, obsidian mirror that upon first consideration seems harmless if not impractical. However, upon looking in the mirror its magical virtue presents itself by revealing three truths about the user, each of them as destructive as the next if the user is without fortitude of mind. You recover the mirror with little consequence along the way, and you are reassured that your decision making was sound. You are resolved to your fate and wary from travel, you drift off to sleep easily after your final ransacking.

You are dragged from your bed by a pair of hands as cold and harsh as death itself. The mere touch is enough to pull the breath from your lungs. You don’t recognize her at first, but The Sun will haunt your nightmares for the next several years, and in a much more present way haunt your days as well. You are thrown before the king, your crew not far behind. But it is toward you who the king directs his ire. He demands the mirror, and you bite back at his entitlement. You tell him you don’t have any such item, and he knows you are lying. You tell him the mirror is no creation of his god, the Undying One, and as a result it shouldn’t be any interest of his. It’s the wrong answer. You realize it’s the wrong answer when you hear a squelch from behind you, and the sound of a body drop to the floor. The groaning is easily recognizable as your second in command, slaughtered as result of your folly before they even had their real chance to carry on your legacy. The world mutes, but you’ve seen this scene before. There is nothing but a loud ringing in your ears, but you know The Sun is working down the line of your men behind you.

Your hands shake as you pull the mirror from your breast pocket, and you consider looking into it. Surely the madness is a better fate to resign yourself to than to live with your indirect responsibility for your brotherhood’s death. For another moment, you consider allowing the king to look into it, to exact your revenge without needing to so much as lift a finger. Instead, you slide the mirror across the floor, still safely contained in its cloth shroud. You hear your voice warning the king of the mirror’s power, that with patience and research it could be the key to turning his kingdom into an empire. You tell him that more relics exist across the span of the globe, some of them here on the continent of Markholm. You’re bargaining for your life, despite the fact that according to your very own honor code you no longer deserve it.

For some reason, the king lets you stay. You know this is more a strategic move on Septimus’ part than an act of mercy. You are hardly a free man. You yourself know that not all prisons have bars. Yours doesn’t, but you’re locked in a cage all the same. Your wild heart rails against your fate at first, but your tired body cannot keep up. You slowly resign yourself to your circumstances. You spend your day lamenting and licking wounds for months, giving Septimus advice through gritted teeth and refusing to recognize kindness from anyone around you. You are like a cornered dog, but you damn well know better than to bite the hand that feeds.

Slowly, the dagger in your heart loosens and you move through the stages of mourning your freedom, your crew, and your former life.  This doesn’t mean that your life in Tyrholm is easy, but you start to recognize areas of comfort. The Empress shows you a modicum of kindness, and you cling to it. The way you see it, the pair of you mean little more to each other than a pair of warm bodies at first, but it’s a momentary distraction the both of you welcome. The way your rough, calloused hands catch on the silk she seems herself to be spun from reminds you of your place, it stops you from being careless enough to leave fingerprints. You stop yourself from getting emotionally attached--no one ever accuses you of being a wise man, but you know better than to shit where you eat. The Moon gravitates in the perimeter of your attention, and you wonder what she wants from you, though she never seems to ask for much. The Sun also exists within your gravitational pull, though you wish she wouldn’t. You have nothing but enmity for her, an emotion you know is futile but that you can’t seem to put away.

The one thing you take seriously is your role as advisor. Septimus strikes you as mad and simple, a ruler grounded in dualism and individualism. Your belief in brotherhood and the collective clashes with Septimus’ harsh reign, but you can stomach it given your years spent under your father’s thumb. You yourself are never treated with particular cruelness after you are added as a member of the court. A part of you cares how everything shakes out, even though your body tells you it might give out before you see things through. Another part of you only cares about slowly convincing Septimus to give you a longer leash to try to convince him to dispatch you for one last adventure or two.

PLOT IDEAS:

You’ve Got Your Reputation and Your Good Intent (The Emperor): Feivel was not exactly a willing addition to the court. With death as the only alternative, joining up with Septimus looked like a good choice, but in the skeleton it doesn’t suggest that The Tower ever develops any sense of loyalty or admiration for King Septimus. In fact, in the connection section with Judgement, it suggests that The Tower finds the world they find themselves stuck within to be “horrible”. Given I want to incorporate captaining a ship as part of Feivel’s past, he would chalk up the state of the world to mediocre leadership. Further, The Tower is smack in the middle of the triangle depicting attitudes and loyalties. He doesn’t have much skin in the game, but he kind of gives a shit. I have to imagine that given their travels, The Tower would have a stronger concept than Septimus of how the other side lives, how people perceive things, of even surface level diplomacy, who seems to make decrees and decisions at a whim. Knowing that The Emperor is the next in line for the throne, I imagine The Tower would want to see the heir equipped with more of a holistic outlook rather than a self-interested, dualistic approach. While it sounds like Septimus is the one who likes to be regaled with stories of adventure and daring, I imagine Feivel might try to impart some sort of wisdom about different perspectives, universal truths, and interest in the plight of fellow man. The Emperor has probably never experienced life outside of the castle walls, certainly never outside of Tyrholm where many valuable lessons for a future ruler wait to be learned. But Feivel struggles with putting his meaning into words, he isn’t some educated member of the court, he’s a rogue in nice clothing. There is no underlying agenda aside from expanding the young heir’s worldview--but the danger of saying the wrong thing, of the slightest slip up in the tone of voice being read as a criticism of King Septimus makes the line between good intent and treason a tricky one to walk.

Suffer the Fools (The Moon): Feivel enjoys young people tremendously. Youth tends to couple with ambition and vigor. This is also part of why he even wants to bother trying to impress some of his lived experiences on The Emperor. Based on the connection written in The Moon’s bio, it seems like The Moon would be eager to listen to those very same stories. The Tower is depicted as a cache of information regarding other civilizations, the old gods, history, antiquities, magic, and tales of their own youth. I think in talking to The Moon about these stories and being listened to, a friendship would be forged and from that friendship, trust. Feivel understands thieves' code, he can pick up the dynamic in most any room he walks into, he knows history, he recognizes value when he sees it, navigation and survival in the wild is a given… but all of this was learned through oral tradition. Books were of little value on a ship, education wasn’t valued in his lifestyle. In his previous station, Feivel couldn’t have cared less, but now it’s developed into a soft spot. What does it say of a king if their antiquarian and unofficial advisor is illiterate? I think that if Feivel developed trust with The Moon, he would be willing to share this vulnerability asking them to write correspondence for him in a pinch and potentially how to read and write. I think this vulnerability might help lead The Moon to ask the questions they have about magic as discussed in The Moon’s connections.

All’s Fair in Love and War (The Empress): I am interested in exploring the connection listed in The Empress’ bio depicting the affair between The Empress and The Tower. It is not really mentioned in The Tower’s bio or in the main body of The Empress’ bio. I am interested in exploring Feivel’s motivations in this affair. Is there genuine affection that Feivel feels for The Empress, or does he see her as a pretty treasure of the king’s that makes for an interesting conquest? If there is genuine affection, how does he deal with the jealousy or perceived mistreatment of The Empress as a wife? Additionally, there could be a number of interesting consequences for the affair to deal with as far as jealousy, not being able to bit his tongue regarding Septimus’ attitude about his wife, or even the secret of the affair becoming more widespread. I think the affair could also complicate the way that some members of the court and group see Feivel. They could potentially misread the affair, whether it’s a matter of the convenience of the two just acting as warm bodies for one another or if it develops into a full blown emotional affair, as Feivel tries to step into a role of power or exploitation. It’s also some pretty damaging ammunition against him if he crosses the wrong person.

Mirror of Ouroborus (The Sun/The High Priestess): One of the things I would look forward to adding to Feivel’s character and the group as a whole is sort of building out the world with some mystical items. In this case, I think it could be fun to toy around with the item that landed Feivel on King Septimus’ agenda in the first place. This is a plot I would build out with either of the two more experienced necromancers. The item I have in mind for this plot point in particular would be called the Mirror of Ouroborus, an ancient, magical artifact the most of the world either doesn’t believe exists or has already forgotten. The mirror itself is a small, obsidian mirror that upon first consideration seems harmless if not impractical. However, upon looking in the mirror things begin to complicate. When looking in the mirror, it shows its user three truths. The first truth is easy to swallow: the reflection morphs into the user at the epitome of their potential, in their greatest state of glory. The second, the reflection morphs into what it is that stands in the way of those accomplishments, whether its an internal or external force. And third, it shows the essence of the user as they really are. Each of these reflections manifest as a simultaneous, momentary vision, but the mirror itself is dangerous. The lore surrounding the mirror depicts the third reflection driving everyone bold enough to stare into the mirror mad, incapable of swallowing the truth about themselves and the inherent flaws of humanity. However, who better to look into the mirror than someone numbed to even the most base emotion? Though it’s unlikely Septimus would put something as valuable as a master necromancer on the line for anything less than a guarantee. I would imagine in this plot, Feivel and either The Sun or the High Priestess would be tasked with unraveling the mystery of the Ouroborus Mirror for its eventual use.  

If You Stand For Nothing, What Will You Fall For (General): Check out the triangle of alignment and who is smack in the middle but The Tower? I think this presents a few interesting concepts. There are so many different components of the skeleton that could suggest many different ways for his allegiance to be pushed and pulled. If he has a personal rather than transactional relationship with The Empress, her alignment of general tolerance of King Septimus might pull him toward anxiously waiting out the king. Then again, it might have the opposite effect if Feivel ends up having very spiteful feelings about the Empress being stuck in the marriage. I envision most of the connections listed on the bio slowly dragging Feivel’s alignment toward the bottom left of the chart. I want to explore Feivel’s character with a moral alignment of true neutral as well, which I think would create a lot of interesting dynamics given Feivel seems to be starting from a place of general neutrality as well. I would be very interested in seeing what, if anything, could radicalize Feivel given his starting point.

Through Terra Incognita: Feivel is not exactly a member of the court by choice, but rather quick wit and Septimus’ whim. I would argue that Feivel sees himself more as a prisoner of the court than actually free. He was brought to the court by force, and he’s essentially kept there out of fear of the Sun. Sure, there are perks. He probably is all about that food, a nice bed, fancy clothes, and a comfortable place to rest his tired bones… but just because he wanted a rest doesn’t mean he isn’t restless. It might be interesting to have Feivel be dispatched by Septimus to retrieve some sort of treasure or antiquity with another character or maybe even two. This item could potentially be central to the plot if it interests you to invest in the plot in that way. I think this could be an interesting way to interact with Judgement (religious relic?), or potentially The Hermit or Strength. However, I’d be happy to make this plot work with whoever might be interested even if they aren’t listed there. Fievel is probably incredibly eager to go on any sort of adventure and get out of the city, so he would jump at the chance to go on such a quest, even if he clashed with his travel companion every step of the way.

Brave, Intrepid, and Then Some: If you do not recognize the lyrics used as titles (here and the plot point above), the song “The Trail We Blaze” from Dreamwork’s masterpiece The Road to El Dorado is big inspiration vibes for Feivel and his adventurous side. He knows he is never going to be the marauder he was before his years in Tyrholm, but there’s a spark in him that can’t quite go out. I think something to feed into this, and his general world knowledge, would be to develop a sort of “wonders of the world” for Markholm. Something I think that might be interesting to do is to pick a few characters and try to create artifacts, locations, etc. that are sort of drawn from or inspired by these characters. Perhaps they would not be significant to the plot, but I think it could be a fun concept to build out Feivel’s experiences.

CHARACTER DEATH: I think given some of the pies he’s stuck/will stick his finger in there’s a pretty real chance he might piss off the wrong people eventually (Septimus, Reynaud, Naenia given his fear of her) whether that be by him making a false move or his affair moving from a bit of an open secret to a full blown scandal. Also, he’s lived a rugged life, which I’m sure has taken a toll. Given the parameters you’ve set up to support players if there’s a character death and the context of this character I’m comfortable with it.

WRITING SAMPLE

Another restless night, and Feivel found himself roaming the halls of Castle Tyrholm with the company of his faithful hound, Gunport, at his side. It was the sound of the wind whistling outside his sleeping chamber’s window that kept a good night’s sleep at bay, the sound reminding him of those wind whipped days out at sea that built him into the man he was now.  He lobbed a ball down the corridor lazily and got some mild entertainment watching the hairy beast chase after it with gusto before bounding back to its master’s side and pushing the slobbery toy into his hand. But even the momentary distraction couldn’t hold back the feelings that he was now more a ruin than a man.

His father had died valiantly in battle, though the skirmish itself could have been avoided by better planning. Even so, his father had died with his reputation intact, ruthless to the end. Feivel himself had quickly built his own mythos around himself, even if it was not as cruel as his father’s. He knew the Clan Asturias had gained a measure of renown, enough for King Septimus to know of their accomplishments, and as the captain of the ship Feivel himself was the figurehead of the legend. On nights like this, he would retract his steps and try to pinpoint the exact moment he had gotten too far ahead of himself or too comfortable. He knew what his father would say, that his downfall was the direct result of trusting anyone but himself. Some nights, Feivel felt that conclusion was correct. On other nights, he surmised that his fate was inevitable. For years, he had wondered how legends were brought to their knees. Now he knew he was little more himself than some exotic game King Septimus had cornered and would eventually mount on his wall like the other trophy animals in Castle Tyrholm’s gun room.

The candlelight flickered from further down the hall, and both Feivel and Gunport stood aware, their two sets of wild eyes pointing in the direction of the disturbance. He wondered vaguely if someone else was being kept awake by the ghosts of their past, or if perhaps it might have been the growing sense of restlessness that had been building behind closed doors and in whispered conversations throughout the castle. He had only been a member of the court for a handful of months, but he knew what the early stages of insurrection looked like. This was something he altogether aimed to avoid, more than convinced that the king would be able to put an end to any treason before it truly started.

It surprised him to see the queen passing through the hall, and for a moment he felt his presence was inappropriate. Life in Tyrholm had come with a healthy dose of culture shock, to say the least. He had cleaned up well, this was true, but he knew he was far from noble. His manners had provided ample fodder to mock him in his first months in the court, and the stiff clothing he had been given felt like it choked him. Perhaps it was his station in his office that made him feel most like the butt of a cruel joke, the books that lined the shelves and his pot of ink and paper virtually useless. He had wondered for a while how long King Septimus would humor him after he realized his master of antiquities couldn’t so much as write his own name. Luckily enough, he had proven himself entertaining enough to listen to that when he was called upon it was almost exclusively in person. Whenever the need to write was unavoidable, it was no trouble to intimidate a servant or page into writing it for him. It took little more than a menacing glare and the simple lie that he preferred to dictate his response rather than be saddled with the chore of writing his message himself.

As The Empress approached, Feivel bowed. It was practiced to look natural, as if he’d been bowing to monarchy all his life rather than copying the other members of court over the past few months. He also took grain pains to make the motion as fluid as possible despite the strain it caused his lower back. “Your Majesty,” he greeted, “I apologize for disturbing you this evening.” He tossed the ball away again, figuring someone of her stature had little interest in being near such a creature. The dog took off again after the ball, springing clumsily down the long hall.

“It’s quite alright,” Queen Calliope responded in a muted voice. She lifted a slim, graceful hand that caught the moonlight as she gestured before them. “Perhaps you would walk with me?”

Before Feivel had much opportunity to respond, Gunport had asserted himself into the situation. The dog pressed the ball into the palm of the queen’s hand, wet nose, slobber, and all. It was the habit of a well trained dog to return whatever it was fetching directly into the hand of it’s master, but Gunport was friendly and apparently wanted to extend the invitation to play to the queen herself. Embarrassed by what he assumed was poor manners, Feivel became somewhat nervous and hoped to escape the interaction without insulting Queen Calliope. He turned his attention from her hand to her face to respond, but his answer was delayed slightly as he observed her unassuming beauty; the smoothness of her skin, her piercing dark eyes, the way her silk-like dark hair framed her face and swept against her shoulders, and the delicate shape and hue of her lips. He was a man who recognized finery when he saw it, and what held more value than the wife of a king?

“Another night,” he mumbled, staring at the toe of his boot rather than in her eye. His voice was gruff, a bit terse as a force of habit. “When I don’t have the hound with me.”

Accepting his answer, the queen lifted her hand to pass the ball back to Feivel. He extended his hand, accepting it from her, unintentionally brushing his fingers against the back of her hand. The contrast between the two did not escape him, his own hand rough with work next to her unmarred skin. Her skin was smooth and cool compared to the warmth and calluses of his own hand. He let the touch linger for a moment before his eyes met her own. She didn’t seem disturbed by the touch, which even if unintentional was an insult to her station. Queen Calliope placed the ball in his open hand before bidding him goodnight with a soft, amused smile. “Another time then, Feivel. May the Undying One bring you safely to another day.”

“Another time then,” Feivel repeated, holding the ball up as if it were some secret known only to the pair as he walked backward toward his quarter. He tossed the ball over his shoulder with a roguish grin, his eyes trained on Queen Calliope. Only when she turned his back on him to continue on her way did he turn away from her.

EXTRAS

I want to plot out what the affair looked like, from start to current state, with The Empress’ player, so I’m not taking my writing sample as gospel. It just seemed like the most natural thing to write because I think the connection with another person in Tyrholm he established with The Empress was probably a turning point in his mourning process/ability to accept his current station as basically a glorified prisoner in Castle Tyrholm and to engage more with others.

Inspiration Blog (There are three pages, you gotta click the last little dot with a sort of square to get to the next page)

[midnightactual]

Story

“Oh? You want me to play at being Scheherazade?” Yoruichi asked, her eyes twinkling with amusement. “Fine, I’ll tell you a story. How about... How I came to exist.”

“Whatever you might’ve heard about the history of Soul Society is a bunch of propaganda designed to puff it up and make it sound good. Soul Society wasn’t around for a million years, nor did Shinigami exist before it. It all began about 70,000 years ago.”

“Soul Society’s never been interested in archaeology, so these dates are nebulous and’ve been determined through rather arcane means, but bear with me. Some 5 or 6 million years ago, the ancestors of humans split off from the ancestors of chimpanzees, and began their own evolutionary course. As they grew more complex, they began to develop more and more reiryoku. This led to a certain kind of reishi accumulation on Earth. This accelerated dramatically with the emergence of anatomically modern humans 200,000 years ago. It finally crossed a critical threshold when humans became recognizably behaviorally modern, around 80,000 years ago.”

“This concentration of reishi had strange and unusual effects. The reiryoku and reiatsu of the human population soared. For a time, death ceased to meaningfully exist. The bright beacons of human reiatsu also attracted other spiritual entities—now called Yōkai—and many hybrids emerged: Hanyō. For a time there was peace, and no difference between a human and a Plus. It wouldn’t last.”

“Something about this configuration was unstable. Hollows began to appear. With no effective means of stopping them, they began to replicate out of control. What are now called Menos were soon roaming the planet, and it seemed humanity and the Yōkai alike would quickly go extinct, with all souls being absorbed into a single Menos.”

“That’s when what’s now known as the Soul King arrived from... somewhere. It was a thing which might be called divine. I can see your reaction: yes, there are ‘Gods’ out there. Many more than one. No, they aren’t exactly pleasant or necessarily benevolent.”

“Although it destroyed the existing Menos, the remaining humans and Yōkai were terrified by the implications. That was when they discovered the closed cycle of reincarnation, and learned that the Soul King’s powers could obliterate souls.”

“Five individuals chose to act. Each had their own plan. One was afraid the Soul King’s powers would be used against humanity, and that they must take it for themselves. One concerned themselves with Hell, which had already come to exist after a fashion by that time. One wanted to restructure the world to bring permanent balance. One wanted to find a way to purify Hollows and turn them back into souls. And one wanted to expand the cycle of reincarnation to other beings, like Yōkai.”

“The last three were the ancestors of the Kuchiki, the Shiba, and the Shihōin, although they weren’t called that at the time. The third was a Hanyō man—half human, half cat Yōkai—named Yuvan. In the end, the five met and agreed to pursue all five of their ideas. They devised a ritual to bind the Soul King and split existence into realms, thus creating Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, the various pockets of the Dangai, and leaving Earth reishi impoverished.”

“Those five became the progenitors of the Five Great Noble Families, and they and their supporters, such as Hyōsube Ichibē, became the first Shinigami. Their ritual created a great cataclysm and left scarcely more than 1,000 humans alive on the planet. It also dispersed some of the powers of the Soul King and Menos in strange ways, leading to the eventual emergence of the Quincy and Fullbringers.”

“Things would go on rather quietly for almost another 60,000 years. The Five Great Noble Families identified and interbred with powerful humans and Pluses who emerged during this time in order to strengthen their bloodlines. All of them claimed different regions of old world Earth to ‘recruit’ from. The Yuvan—the later Shihōin—were particularly fond of South Asia at this time.”

“Eventually, 10,000 years ago, the Neolithic Revolution on Earth caused human populations to rapidly expand. Soul Society became increasingly organized in response. Around 6,500 years ago, in various river valleys, human civilizations entered the Bronze Age. It was at this time that Soul Society was split into theoretically coequal Eastern and Western Branches.”

“To begin with, the Eastern Branch looked after the civilizations of the Indus and Yellow Rivers, and all surrounding regions. The Western Branch looked after the same around the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates. There was an effort at this time to associate the Yuvan with the Western Branch on the basis of ‘shared development’. However, perceiving that Ichibē already favored the Eastern Branch, the Yuvan demanded they be associated with it instead. Two of the Five Great Noble Families were initially assigned to the Western Branch, two to the Eastern Branch (the later Kuchiki and Shihōin), and one to go between them (the later Shiba). Minor branches could come and go more freely.”

“As you might expect, the Western Branch began with an aesthetic like that of the Fertile Crescent and Egypt, while the Eastern Branch had one like that of India or China. Over time, these would evolve. The Western Branch’s evolution was rather more pronounced. All this would come to a head around 2,500 years ago, when Ichibē declared he had discerned the ‘true names and natures’ of both branches, and the Five Great Noble Families themselves.”

“For the Eastern Branch, this was when the focus on Japanese aesthetics was established. It was also when the names Kuchiki and Shiba were given out, and the Yuvan became the Shihōin. The name was Ichibē’s way of referring to our profession and penchant for soldiery; although it means ‘Four Maple Court’, his intended allusion was apparently ‘Bloodshed Institution’. During this time, the newly minted Shihōin changed their primary focus to Ryukyu and Kyushu, while the Kuchiki concerned themselves with northern Japan. It was only in this time that intermixing with ‘commoners’ began to be restricted. Shortly thereafter, the Gotei 13 and the Shin'ō Academy were founded.”

“The Western Branch... well, that’s its own story. But by 500 years ago, interaction between the charges of the Eastern and Western Branches was growing more common and intense, and various additional reforms were undertaken. It was in the aftermath of those, on what by the reckoning of the Gregorian calendar would be January 1st, 1591, when I was born.”

Yoruichi gave a little grin. “Of course, that’s only how I got here.”

...

These are just my thoughts and should be taken with a grain of salt. I’m sort of working off what Can’t Fear Your Own World has revealed about the history of Bleach, while also strongly disagreeing with a lot of it and providing my version of it. (This post seems to be largely identical. This one’s accuracy is debated somewhat, but I find a few of its ideas interesting.)

Although I would admit that it certainly seems that Kubo decided to move to pattern the cosmology of Bleach off of Buddhism’s, I would argue two points against assuming that Buddhism is “true” in Bleach and that this structure is immutable and eternal. First, within Bleach’s verse Buddhism would clearly have been derived from this structure, not the other way around. (That is to say, while in real life Bleach is based on Buddhism, in Bleach Buddhism is based on Bleach; presumably as propaganda by Ichibē.) Second, Bleach presented itself as a kind of urban fantasy to begin, and repeatedly invokes scientific concepts, so I feel it’s appropriate to treat it from a realistic perspective rather than a spiritual one. Notably, Buddhism also doesn’t seem to much care about creation mythos.

The existence of Shinigami and Quincy prior to the emergence of humanity is fairly illogical given that humans can become both. This would require the fragments of the Soul King acting like miniature Hōgyoku and synchronizing humanity to function as vessels for these abilities, or something. In addition to being convoluted, I think that removes the human element from both groups, which are otherwise very clearly depicted as human, so I’m going to say that neither existed before humans did. Almost everything in the Bleach universe should, thematically, derive from baseline humans in my opinion.

The exception is my decision to include Yōkai. The idea that Sajin just comes from a line of cursed were-people strikes me as the most boring method of handling his backstory, and this fails to explain things like Hiyosu, or Akon’s horns, or some of the wilder phenotypic aspects of the population (strange hair and eye colors, gigantism, dwarfism, and so on). Introducing a non-human element that has largely been eliminated or suppressed solves all these issues handily. (Soul Society is probably pretty racist against most of their descendants, and they tend to be left to rot in Rukongai or imprisoned in the Maggot’s Nest. My feeling is the Shihōin are sympathetic for obvious reasons, and this is why they associate with the Shiba, who are generally anti-authoritarian.)

The existence of a permanently deathless realm for all eternity doesn’t square too well with things like evolution, so I regard it as being a temporary circumstance brought about by the emergence of humans. Anatomically modern humans have been around for about 200,000 years. That said, there were still some tweaks left to be made. Humans didn’t become “behaviorally modern” until approximately 80,000–40,000 years ago. Likewise, the human population was also severely bottlenecked 70,000 years ago, going perhaps as low as 1,000 individuals. I’ve decided to combine these things together.

The history of Soul Society going back one million years is also nonsensical, as Yoruichi indicates. This would give the Kuchiki an average Clan Head leadership time of 35,714 years (across 28 Heads), and the Shihōin an average Clan Head leadership time of roughly 45,454 years (across 22 Heads, as Yūshirō’s tenure as the 23rd has been so short). Those are averages, meaning you could expect both longer and shorter ones. That’s a problem when, given Yamamoto appears to have aged 20–40 years across the last 2,000 or so years, a Shinigami can be generally inferred to live around 5,000 years, or perhaps 10,000 on the outside. (If longevity is correlated with reiryoku, we might expect Yamamoto to be one of the oldest. The Clans also seem to have existed from the start. The major exception to this would be Ichibē, who is clearly kinda weird anyway.)

Picking 70,000 years gives the Kuchiki an average Clan Head leadership time of exactly 2,500 years, and the Shihōin an average Clan Head leadership time of roughly 3,181 years. That first, very round number, speaks to me given the Kuchiki were the first Clan introduced within the narrative, and fits in very nicely with the above observations. This would also make Yoruichi’s abdication after only about 100 or so years far less scandalous.

The Soul King here (and the other “gods” in Bleach, such as the Quincy’s “God” or Giriko’s “God of Time”) can be thought of as Lovecraftian in nature. To draw a contemporary analogy, if the Soul King is like Jenova in Final Fantasy VII, then Quincy would be like Sephiroth. Another analogy to make might be that of Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters. Over the trilogy it starts, it’s revealed that Godzilla is a sort of natural and universal occurrence. Planets that can support life come into existence, life evolves to a certain level of complexity, and eventually a civilization appears which experiments with powers beyond its control or understanding (e.g., nuclear weapons), which produce something like a Godzilla: an apex lifeform that can reconfigure the entire planet around its existence. A Godzilla, in turn, is like a fruit produced by a plant, and the thing that comes in to eat the fruit is Ghidorah, a transdimensional horror. Here, Hollows are the fruit like Godzilla, and the Soul King is the eater like Ghidorah.

Soul Society having permanently had a Japanese aesthetic from a million years before Japan even existed is also nonsensical, given Japanese culture clearly evolved from domestic iteration upon Chinese and Korean inputs. (It implies there is something “uniquely special” about Japanese culture in a Manifest Destiny way that is more than a little problematic.) Setting the adoption of Japanese mores some 2,000 years ago alleviates this somewhat, but one must still imagine that either Soul Society evolved “along with” Japan, or that Japan’s history “conformed to” Soul Society’s existing image. This is still less bad than “Japanese culture is quasi-divine.”

Ichibē’s selection of Japan and the timing given here could be reckoned to play into the foundational myth of Japan, but I didn’t really want to go too deeply into that.

I kind of ignore the Tsunayashiro in this formulation as, in my opinion, it’s very clear they’re a retcon introduced in Can’t Fear Your Own World, did not actually exist “behind the scenes” in previous material, and were rather narratively inserted to tie events together and provide a new antagonist. They could be fit into this formulation, but I’m not particularly interested in doing so.

Likewise, although the “Western” Soul Society could be tied to what’s shown in Burn The Witch, I don’t find that depiction to be particularly interesting, engaging, or creative. I don’t think it “fits,” as it were. So I’ve made my own, although they could theoretically be united. (I imagine the Western Branch Shinigami would look more like Men In Black or Kingsmen in the present, personally, although some might still have affects like Valkyries or what have you.)

The first Shihōin, Yuvan, being a Hanyō is pure conjecture, but it’d handily explain their yellow eyes, and Yoruichi’s (inherited) ability to become a cat. You can basically think of Yuvan as the cat version of Inuyasha, probably with black hair and dark skin.

Given that the change to Japanese happens later, the name Shihōin (along with the others) is to be taken as an invention. On the one hand, you might think of this as like “the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha” becoming “the House of Windsor.” On the other, you might think of it as like Ichibē renaming shinuchi into bankai (indeed, I’m attributing it to him). Shihōin means “Four Maple Court,” but I think this wasn’t chosen at random. Maples are most known for how they change color in the autumn. Maple leaves have a kind of outward spray shape, and are often red. Falling red, spraying leaves... sort of evokes bloodshed. Their name could be read as evocative of “Bloodshed Institution.” Considering they’re soldiers, this feels very appropriate. It also fits Yoruichi’s poem quite well. (Some additional commentary on that here.)

As to what the older or original name for the Shihōin was, I find the simplest answer to be a patronymic surname based on the name of the first one. Nobody has any idea what human language was like 70,000 years ago, as even the Proto-Indo-European language only dates back to approximately 6,500 years ago. So, I looked at Sanskrit names and picked Yuvan, which can mean (among other things), “young king” or “heir apparent.” I doubt anyone really cares about this.

Shinigami aging is poorly defined, but it seems to proceed at normal rates for at least the first five years before starting to slow down, meaning that one doesn’t spend decades as a baby or toddler. If we take Rukia as an example, it seems to take roughly 150 years to go from an infant to being approximately 16 physically. If we take Byakuya as an example, it seems to take about 50 years to go from being approximately 16 to being in one’s early 20s, and a further 50 years to reach one’s mid-20s. After that, it seems to move at a rate of about 1 year physically per 100 years elapsed. Considering that humans fully (cognitively) mature at around 25, this makes sense. So we can say it probably takes about 250 years for a Shinigami to completely mature (10 times as long in total), and from then on they age at about 1/100 the normal rate.

I’ve always felt Yoruichi is around 27, physically, so this gives her an age of around 400–450. Since Bleach seems to pay at least some token attention to the Chinese zodiac (e.g., Ichigo, being born in 1985, is an Ox, which fits his Full Hollow form in an interesting way), I decided to describe her exact year of birth largely based on that. My answer is January 1, 1591. This makes her a Yang Metal Tiger by birth year. January would make her “inner animal” an Ox. The 1st was a Tuesday, making her “true animal” a Dragon. Given her name I think she would be born between 11 PM and midnight, making her “secret animal” a Rat. I think all of these aspects suit her quite well. She would be 429 years old today as a result.

(As a random piece of errata: Metal is associated with the autumn, old age, and white and silver, while one of the Tiger’s lucky colors is orange; these nicely dovetail with her using the personal pronouns of an old man, and her preference for orange and white.) 

This all means that Yoruichi’s ethnicity is essentially Indo-Japanese (over the last several generations anyway) with a dash of Yōkai blood.

The Shiba going back and forth between the Eastern and Western branches is a reference to their odd phenotypic expressions (e.g., Kaien and Kūkaku having green eyes, Karin having gray eyes, Ichigo having orange hair and Yuzu being blonde when Masaki’s lighter hair should’ve been recessive which implies Isshin was carrying a recessive gene, etc.) and their preference for Chinese-style clothing.

The Eastern Branch’s backdrop is not exclusively limited to India and China, or later Japan. (Nor would the Western Branch’s be to its starting locations.) I imagine things like, say, Hachigen’s Balinese demon mask, or Shinji’s Pharaoh mask, could be reflections of this.

There are probably some more things I wanted to say, but forgot, so I might make additional observations on this later.

[primrosemoon-designs]

“10%” MYO

!! Warning this is a really long post so I put most of the information under the cut !!

so i did the randomizer myo that @10leftau did!! and personally i really like the results i got!! i did 16 survivors bc it’s in between 13-20 and that’s what the generator gave me when i plugged those numbers in- anyways onto the cats!!

ThunderClan survivors: Spiderleg, Sorreltail, Hollyleaf, Greystripe, Lilykit, Cherrypaw

ShadowClan survivors: Redwillow, Crowfrost

WindClan survivors: Breezepelt, Nightcloud, Larkpaw, Emberfoot, Weaselfur

RiverClan survivors: Rushtail, Podpaw, Troutstream

Hollyleaf would take over the role as leader since she’s a the most leader-like in my opinion and none of the other cats really have many leadership qualities to me. While she does care for the group she can get snappy and overreact to things. She is generally fairly stubborn when it comes to protecting the group as a whole. Crowfrost would take over the role as deputy and generally is there to help calm Hollyleaf down. While Hollyleaf is pretty judging, Crowfrost tries to look at both sides and refrains from immediately making assumptions. Crowfrost is also a bit of a pushover. Both are pretty different but it helps balance each other out.  I decided that Podpaw/light would become medicine cat there aren't any alive ones! He would get his training from Hollyleaf since she did train as a medicine cat at some point. Since I don't believe that Breezepelt and Redwillow would willingly join the survivors so I've decided that they would be taken as "prisoners". Hollyleaf originally just wanted to kill them but was convinced not to by Nightcloud begging her and the fact that they could use them for information on the Dark Forest.  now onto relationships!! Spiderleg after having his entire family die he feels a huge amount of guilt especially after being so distant towards Daisy/Rosepetal/Toadstep. Due to this he generally avoids the younger cats and isn't very talkative to many. He isn't really close to anyone except for Greystripe since they can relate on the guilt they feel. Despite his general avoidance of younger cats, he takes over Cherrypaw's training though not for long as she was already warrior age by the time of the battle. He and Cherrypaw don't have a close relationship like many mentors have with their apprentices.  Sorreltail takes the role as a mother to the group due to losing almost all of her kits. She keeps up a bright demeanor for everyone else and looks after all of the apprentices (and Lilykit). She is very protective of Lilykit due to her being her last living kit and Cherrypaw due to her being her granddaughter. Sorreltail is generally liked but is close friends with Emberfoot and Nightcloud. After the group gets settled she becomes a permanent queen. Sorreltail and Greystripe also get closer to each other during this due to them being half-siblings!  Hollyleaf has a generally mixed reputation in the group due to her abrasive nature. She is a very protective force for her clan though does definitely come off as harsh. Despite her leader role she has been quite distant towards some of the other members due to fear of attachment. Even though Breezepelt is her last living (close) relative, she hates being around him. After the battle she blamed her brother's deaths on Breezepelt and basically disowned him as her brother; refusing to acknowledge their relation. She and Crowfrost have a fairly good friendship along with Sorreltail. While she may still ate how Leafpool and Squirrelflight lied to her and her brothers, she does regret how horribly she treated them and wished that they fixed their relationship before they died. Greystripe is more or less the resident grandpa and just like Sorreltail he has a very bright demeanor as well to cope with all the loss that the group experienced. He often spends his time around the apprentices and Lilykit as they love hearing stories about his misadventures (especially the ones with Firestar). Despite having such a controversial past, he's generally liked by most of the group and is considered a very friendly figure. He's very friendly with the group but is closest to Spiderleg, Sorreltail and Emberfoot. Cherrypaw, Larkpaw and Podpaw are all very close with each other due to such experiences from a younger age. They often cling to each other for emotional support and are basically three peas in a pod. Cherrypaw is the most excitable out of all of them as she inherited her grandmother's positive nature and she uses her close relationship with Larkpaw and Podpaw as a way to cope with losing her brother. Larkpaw is more timid around the others due to bullying she suffered before the great battle but she does gain more confidence after hanging around Cherrypaw. Podpaw is the voice of reason between them but usually gets tied up in their antics anyways. Lilykit desperately tries to get closer to them but is normally excluded from the group due to the fact that she's much younger than them. Redwillow and Breezepelt are basically both chaotic forces for the rest of the group. Since they're forced to be part of a group they hate, they usually let everyone know and act horribly around others. Breezepelt would probably soften up to the survivors due to Nightcloud being there while I don't think Redwillow would ever like the idea of being a decent member of the clan. Crowfrost takes on a more calm and rational role for the rest of the clan. Being deputy he takes his role seriously and tries his best to make sure everyone is okay (though he does often overwork himself). He has major survivor's guilt over being the only Shadowclan cat left alive (excluding Redwillow) and often feels like another Shadowclan cat should've lived instead of himself. I personally hc that Crowfrost was previously a kittypet before joining Shadowclan because he has no blood relations and just showed up during the 3rd arc. He has a very mixed reputation due to his kittypet heritage (some of the cats believe that he got it easy since he didn't lose any family even though he lost close friends and the entirety of what he could call a family) and the fact that he defended Breezepelt/Redwillow to at least not have them killed. Despite that he and Hollyleaf are close friends. Nightcloud has a pretty bad reputation in the clan from the start due to her defending Breezepelt and the fact that she's still bitter at Hollyleaf over the Crowfeather thing. She's distant at first and only really talks to Breezepelt but soon opens up and actually gains from friends. She ends up becoming close with Sorreltail and Emberfoot due to their struggles of being a parent after such a horrible experience. After a while Nightcloud tries to gain a better relationship with Hollyleaf and actually apologizes to her since she realizes that she shouldn't have been so harsh on her for something she couldn't control.  Emberfoot like Greystripe is a pretty likable cat in the group though some cats find him annoying due to his overprotection of Larkpaw. He is a more quiet and protective cat but he is a fairly nice person so there isn't much reason for other cats to hate him. He often feels like he failed his family due to only being able to save Larkpaw but he often brushes it off so he can spend more time with her. At first Emberfoot really dislikes Nightcloud and Crowfrost due to them defending the Dark Forest trainees, mostly as he wants to keep Larkpaw safe and away from cats who might just turn their back on the group. He soon becomes decent friends with Nightcloud after understanding that Breezepelt is her son. He and Crowfrost could also have a close relationship after that because Crowfrost is very good with younger cats and Emberfoot could always use some help to raise Larkpaw. Weaselfur is generally disliked due to his Windclan nationalism and just downright rudeness. Since Windclan was one of the majorities that survived, he finds no reason that they should join the other inferior clans and thinks that he should've become leader instead. He often thinks of "offing" Hollyleaf and becoming leader himself but since most of the cats actually think that Hollyleaf is a decent leader he doesn't exactly have a chance. He mentors Larkpaw after the events though not for a long time, he does try to convince her that Windclan is the only cat that should've survived. Despite not liking the other clan cats, he does have a ok friendship with Troutstream since they gossip a lot.  Rushtail has probably the most neutral reputation when it comes down to it. He doesn't really do anything for cats to hate him and yet he doesn't really do anything for cats to like him either. Rushtail is generally just a neutral cat and just does whatever benefits him the most (which is way he stays in the group because it's just the most beneficial option). He temporarily mentors Podpaw before he becomes a medicine cat and they have an ok relationship as Rushtail never showed too much interest in him. He and Troutstream are great friends though he doesn't know how to feel about Weaselfur.   Troutstream is also generally disliked at first because she's hot-tempered and is generally just a horrible person to be around. She is almost always complaining about something and loves fighting which isn't good for anyone. Surprisingly she wasn't a Dark Forest trainee but if she was given the chance she probably would've trained there. She and Rushtail are close friends since kithood and she often drags the tom into trouble. She's also very close with Weaselfur due to their gossiping tendencies but some cats believe that there's more to their relationship than what's shown on the surface. oof honestly i'm thinking about making a sideblog for this au since i really liked talking about it haha

[fadetouchedmind]

I have a new bby, so I had to edit this. 

Commander Cahya Emberborne: Ash trash. Ranger/Druid. Prideful, stubborn, and direct. Once they set their mind on something, they have to follow through. They make a good leader, but prefers to work alone; this is especially true after Trahearne's end. They are not very sociable and tends to be downright rude so that people leave them alone; there’s nothing they love the most than wandering around the world and finding new species of animals. They have a soft spot for animals and they are only able to unwind when bonding with their companions. 

Valerius Faintheart: Iron, but mostly a scholar. Scourage. Kindhearted and soft spoken. They approach other people with diplomacy, although they would prefer to steer away from others altogether. He's always willing to help though. Quiet and introspective, he is more of a thinker than a doer. Necromancing was definitely not something he had plan on taking, as he tends to be easily scared, but the creatures he summons are under his control and that makes him feel safe. He likes to spend his days at libraries accross Tyria, but can be mostly found at the Priory's library, where he works as a librarian.

Kivanc the Joyful: Blood Legion. Berserker. The charming goofball of his warband. He is friendly, carefree, and always itching for action. He is not the brightest and tends to be rather impulsive, making decisions without even thinking of all possible consequences; it doesn't help that Dinky encourages him to take on leadership roles. A lover, not a fighter; if pressed, however, they will put up a good fight when necessary. He can be found patrolling around the streets and businesses of the Black Citadel stopping fights and reporting crimes. He passes on interesting information to his contacts of the Order of Whispers that he believes might be of use; there's a lot of stuff you can hear from drunk citizens or travelers. 

Hatim Amjad: A disciple of Raven. Tempest. Fun-loving, caring, and helpful. She enjoys the company of others and has no difficulty in making friends. She is very loyal and always willing to help those in need. In the past, she had struggled to set boundaries between those who needed her and her own well-being; now she has a healthy dose of self-esteem that has kept her alive through the toughest of battles. She is easy to forgive, but never forgets and will hold a grudge until her spirit is free. 

Exorcist Kuttkha: College of Synergetics. Mesmer. He describes himself as being confident, but he’s just incredibly arrogant. He uses his charm to attract people and followers, but will dispose of them (be it permanently or not) when they have outlived their usefulness. The infinity ball revealed to him the fulfillment of his lifelong dream, but he knows the climb to the top must be slow and steady and he will need unsuspecting allies in order to achieve it. He was built for greatness and will stop at nothing until he sees his full potential achieved. The title of exorcist he claims was given to him by a powerful shaman after he helped a town be rid of demons; in reality, he uses his illusions to “haunt” a place and charges for his services to “exorcise” the demons. “A good researcher finds his own funding.”

Paraphysicist Ditte: College of Statics; now adjunct professor in the College of Synergetics. Holosmith. Meticulous, cocky, and explosive. She can be demanding and snappy when she becomes too focused on her work. At the start of her story, she was very reluctant to change (especially in the application of science), but she became more open-minded as her story progressed. Surprisingly, she's easy to approach and engage in conversation; she loves discussing science over Norn ales and is very outgoing outside of the lab and classroom. She daydreams a lot and often finds herself lost in the midst of the city; she has come to know every nook and cranny, but can’t for the life of her figure out how to return to interesting locations after. 

[jaiellesnorthkoreanlitblog]

Ten Interesting North Korean Novels.

1). FREIND

Paek Nam-nyong’s Friend is a tale of marital intrigue, abuse, and divorce in North Korea. A woman in her thirties comes to a courthouse petitioning for a divorce. As the judge who hears her statement begins to investigate the case, the story unfolds into a broader consideration of love and marriage. The novel delves into its protagonists’ past, describing how the couple first fell in love and then how their marriage deteriorated over the years. It chronicles the toll their acrimony takes on their son and their careers alongside the story of the judge’s own marital troubles.(Googlebooks)

2). THE KOREAN WAR: A HISTORY

For Americans, it was a discrete conflict lasting from 1950 to 1953 that has long been overshadowed by World War II, Vietnam, and the War on Terror. But as Bruce Cumings eloquently explains, for the Asian world the Korean War was a generations-long fight that still haunts contemporary events. And in a very real way, although its true roots and repercussions continue to be either misunderstood, forgotten, or willfully ignored, it is the war that helped form modern America's relationship to the world. With access to new evidence and secret materials from both here and abroad, including an archive of captured North Korean documents, Cumings reveals the war as it was actually fought. He describes its start as a civil war, preordained long before the first shots were fired in June 1950 by lingering fury over Japan's occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. Cumings then shares the neglected history of America's post-World War II occupation of Korea, the untold stories of bloody insurgencies and rebellions, and the powerful militaries organized and equipped by America and the Soviet Union in that divided land. He tells of the United States officially entering the action on the side of the South, and exposes as never before the appalling massacres and atrocities committed on all sides and the "oceans of napalm" dropped on the North by U.S. forces in a remarkably violent war that killed as many as four million Koreans, two thirds of whom were civilians. In sobering detail, The Korean War chronicles a U.S. home front agitated by Joseph McCarthy, where absolutist conformity discouraged open inquiry and citizen dissent. Cumings incisively ties our current foreign policy back to Korea: an America with hundreds of permanent military bases abroad, a large standing army, and a permanent national security state at home, the ultimate result of a judicious and limited policy of containment evolving into an ongoing and seemingly endless global crusade. Elegantly written and blisteringly honest, The Korean War is, like the war it illuminates, brief, devastating, and essential. (Googlebooks)

3). WITHOUT YOU THERE IS NO US.

Every day, three times a day, the students march in two straight lines, singing praises to Kim Jong-il and North Korea: Without you, there is no motherland. Without you, there is no us. It is a chilling scene, but gradually Suki Kim, too, learns the tune and, without noticing, begins to hum it. It is 2011, and all universities in North Korea have been shut down for an entire year, the students sent to construction fields—except for the 270 students at the all-male Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), a walled compound where portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il look on impassively from the walls of every room, and where Suki has gone undercover as a missionary and a teacher. Over the next six months, she will eat three meals a day with her young charges and struggle to teach them English, all under the watchful eye of the regime. (Googlebooks)

4). THE ORPHAN MASTER’S SON.

Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother—a singer “stolen” to Pyongyang—and an influential father who runs a work camp for orphans. Superiors in the North Korean state soon recognize the boy’s loyalty and keen instincts. Considering himself “a humble citizen of the greatest nation in the world,” Jun Do rises in the ranks. He becomes a professional kidnapper who must navigate the shifting rules, arbitrary violence, and baffling demands of his overlords in order to stay alive. Driven to the absolute limit of what any human being could endure, he boldly takes on the treacherous role of rival to Kim Jong Il in an attempt to save the woman he loves, Sun Moon, a legendary actress “so pure, she didn’t know what starving people looked like.” Part breathless thriller, part story of innocence lost, part story of romantic love, The Orphan Master’s Son is also a riveting portrait of a world heretofore hidden from view: a North Korea rife with hunger, corruption, and casual cruelty but also camaraderie, stolen moments of beauty, and love.(Amazon)

5). THE GIRL WITH SEVEN NAMES.

An extraordinary insight into life under one of the world’s most ruthless and secretive dictatorships – and the story of one woman’s terrifying struggle to avoid capture/repatriation and guide her family to freedom.

As a child growing up in North Korea, Hyeonseo Lee was one of millions trapped by a secretive and brutal communist regime. Her home on the border with China gave her some exposure to the world beyond the confines of the Hermit Kingdom and, as the famine of the 1990s struck, she began to wonder, question and to realise that she had been brainwashed her entire life. Given the repression, poverty and starvation she witnessed surely her country could not be, as she had been told “the best on the planet”?

Aged seventeen, she decided to escape North Korea. She could not have imagined that it would be twelve years before she was reunited with her family.(Googlebooks)

6). THE ACCUSATION

Authored by an anonymous writer and smuggled out of North Korea, The Accusation is the first work of fiction to come out of the country and a moving portrayal of life under a totalitarian regime.

In 1989, a North Korean dissident writer, known to us only by the pseudonym Bandi, began to write a series of stories about life under Kim Il-sung’s totalitarian regime. Smuggled out of North Korea and published around the world, The Accusation provides a unique and shocking window into this most secretive of countries.

Bandi’s profound, deeply moving, vividly characterized stories tell of ordinary men and women facing the terrible absurdity of daily life in North Korea: a factory supervisor caught between loyalty to an old friend and loyalty to the Party; a woman struggling to feed her husband through the great famine; the staunch Party man whose actor son reveals to him the theatre that is their reality; the mother raising her child in a world where the all-pervasive propaganda is the very stuff of childhood nightmare.(Googlebooks)

7). A CORPSE IN KORYO.

Against the backdrop of a totalitarian North Korea, one man unwillingly uncovers the truth behind series of murders, and wagers his life in the process. Sit on a quiet hillside at dawn among the wildflowers; take a picture of a car coming up a deserted highway from the south. Simple orders for Inspector O, until he realizes they have led him far, far off his department's turf and into a maelstrom of betrayal and death. North Korea's leaders are desperate to hunt down and eliminate anyone who knows too much about a series of decades-old kidnappings and murders---and Inspector O discovers too late he has been sent into the chaos. This is a world where nothing works as it should, where the crimes of the past haunt the present, and where even the shadows are real. A corpse in Pyongyang's main hotel---the Koryo---pulls Inspector O into a confrontation of bad choices between the devils he knows and those he doesn't want to meet. A blue button on the floor of a hotel closet, an ice blue Finnish lake, and desperate efforts by the North Korean leadership set Inspector O on a journey to the edge of a reality he almost can't survive. Like Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy and the Inspector Arkady Renko novels, A Corpse in the Koryo introduces another unfamiliar world, a perplexing universe seemingly so alien that the rules are an enigma to the reader and even, sometimes, to Inspector O. Author James Church weaves a story with beautifully spare prose and layered descriptions of a country and a people he knows by heart after decades as an intelligence officer. This is a chilling portrayal that, in the end, leaves us wondering if what at first seemed unknowable may simply be too familiar for comfort.(Googlebooks)

8). THE TWO KOREANS.

Ever since Korea was first divided at the end of World War II, the tension between its northern and southern halves has riveted—and threatened to embroil—the rest of the world. In this landmark history, now thoroughly revised and updated in conjunction with Korea expert Robert Carlin, veteran journalist Don Oberdorfer grippingly describes how a historically homogenous people became locked in a perpetual struggle for supremacy—and how they might yet be reconciled.(Googlebooks)

9). ESCAPE FROM NORTH KOREA.

From the world’s most repressive state comes rare good news: the escape to freedom of a small number of its people. It is a crime to leave North Korea. Yet increasing numbers of North Koreans dare to flee. They go first to neighboring China, which rejects them as criminals, then on to Southeast Asia or Mongolia, and finally to South Korea, the United States, and other free countries. They travel along a secret route known as the new underground railroad. With a journalist’s grasp of events and a novelist’s ear for narrative, Melanie Kirkpatrick tells the story of the North Koreans’ quest for liberty. Travelers on the new underground railroad include women bound to Chinese men who purchased them as brides, defectors carrying state secrets, and POWs from the Korean War held captive in the North for more than half a century. Their conductors are brokers who are in it for the money as well as Christians who are in it to serve God. The Christians see their mission as the liberation of North Korea one person at a time. Just as escaped slaves from the American South educated Americans about the evils of slavery, the North Korean fugitives are informing the world about the secretive country they fled. Escape from North Korea describes how they also are sowing the seeds for change within North Korea itself. Once they reach sanctuary, the escapees channel news back to those they left behind. In doing so, they are helping to open their information-starved homeland, exposing their countrymen to liberal ideas, and laying the intellectual groundwork for the transformation of the totalitarian regime that keeps their fellow citizens in chains.(Googlebooks)

10). YOUR REPUBLIC IS CALLING YOU.

Your Republic is Calling You  is a Korean novel written by Kim Young-ha. Borrowing the title of René Magritte’s series of paintings, Empire of Light, Bichui jeguk is about a North Korean spy stationed in South Korea and the day he is summoned back to North Korea. The novel both overviews the societal changes that Korea went through from the 1980s to the 2000s and follows the fate of a man whose fate becomes wholly unknown to him.(Wikipedia)

[transhumanitynet]

★ Black Hole Sun: Leadership within Social Futurism

★ Black Hole Sun: Leadership within Social Futurism

The following is an adapted and expanded version of my introduction to “Social Futurism and the Zero State” (AKA ‘The Black Book’), exclusive to Transhumanity.net: I am a fervent proponent of Social Futurism. I coined that term to reflect a reality I see in the world, where accelerating technological innovation meets a positive societal vision, specifically in the desire to promote Positive Social Change Through Technology. This book – Social Futurism and the Zero State (AKA “The Black Book”) – offers key insights into my view on how to approach such a mission, and various related matters.

There are many ways a person could promote a Social Futurist future, and mine is to support and develop two related organizations: The Social Futurist Party (SFP), and the Zero State (ZS). The SFP is a new, international political network focussed on developing links between Social Futurist organizations for the purposes of Positive Social Change Through Technology. ZS is a community and movement which works toward the same ends via different – complementary – means, through the medium of the arts, social events, informal networking, and Alternate Reality Gaming. Both organizations have a strong Transhumanist and Singularitarian tone.

I would like to very briefly describe my approach to leadership and activity in these two organizations, to set the tone, going forward. The first part below concerns the nature of leadership in both organizations, while the second part focuses on my own application of that approach within ZS, specifically. Leadership within Social Futurism Different people have different ideas of what leadership is, and how it works best. Those ideas can be further complicated by the motivating power of money: In a world where most organizations are based on motivating people with money, required to stay alive or at least healthy in a Capitalist world, motivation and organizational coherence can be hard to sustain when you’re not offering money, when your goal is not simply material profit in the most base sense. Perhaps the greatest motivational difficulty stems from that dangerous gift we call the internet: The internet is a place where everyone has an opinion that comes at no real cost, and where they are obliged to do nothing real. That attitude is a death-knell for activist and membership organizations, which need people who are willing to do something to back up their opinions.

So how do we move forward? How can we approach leadership for activists in this climate? The answer is to work in small, consistent, networked groups, and to lead by example. Find a small group of people you ‘click’ with, work out what concerns and passions you share as a group, and then work on a project together. Simple as that. Keep your group connected with others, encourage overlap, and the network will grow by word of mouth. Don’t tell other people what they should or shouldn’t do, what they can or cannot do, unless their actions run counter to the explicit principles shared by the entire network. Instead, focus on doing what you can. If you can work effectively alone and want to, then good for you, but most people work best in a small team. Different teams favour different leadership styles. Find one that works for you. The only way to fail is to be inactive, because then you are letting yourself down, letting your team down, letting the entire network down, and yes, even letting the world down. If everyone does their part within a small team, and the teams hang together in an organic, self-modifying network, then the emergent effects have the potential to be world-changing as successful ideas and technologies ripple across the network, time and again.

Black Hole Sun: My Sphere of Responsibility within ZS

As I’ve noted extensively elsewhere, the Zero State (ZS) trades in metafiction, which is to say that although its goals and consequences are perfectly real, some of its members choose to treat its core narratives as a kind of game (specifically an ‘Alternate Reality Game’ or ARG), which encourages engagement combined with a certain suspension of disbelief which helps get things done. In line with that approach, regardless of whether they all view ZS as a game, our core members all have assigned roles that collectively underpin our “Mythos”, or narrative. There are all sorts of weird and wonderful role names within ZS, names of occupations, animals, mythological creatures and so on, each giving some hint as to its function. My own role is “The Teacher”, because my role or function is to activate the other roles, to teach, and to ‘wake people up’. My role has a particular relationship with our central symbolism of a ‘Blackstar’, which represents a Technological Singularity and ultra-rapid, ultra-radical techno-societal change. In that role, I have two broad functions. The first is to communicate key ideas to our membership, so that we may work our way forward with a common understanding. The second is to interact directly with the network via my own small group of contacts in as efficient a manner as possible, through the medium of small gatherings we call “Sessions”. My point here is that a leader leads by example, by doing what must be done, and in doing so offering an example which others can follow. The most effective leader should very rarely have to tell someone else what to do. The best leaders are the exact opposite of much internet culture, where people all want to express their personal opinions while taking no personal responsibility for action. Social Futurist leaders must be ready to take the initiative, to take action in ways that demonstrate their views. Our network is designed to naturally coordinate and amplify such efforts, so by leading yourself and your small group, then you will inspire and assist not only that group, but the groups it is connected to, and the groups they are connected to in turn. The Blackstar (★) symbol for the idea of a revolutionizing Technological Singularity, used within both ZS and the SFP, is an allusion to a Black Hole, or Gravitational Singularity. It is merely a point of focus in and of itself, the culmination of a natural process, but it inevitably transforms everything within its reach. Leadership within Social Futurism, be it within a political party or gaming community or any other organization, is a matter of embodying that Blackstar ideal. To be a Social Futurist leader is to be minimal, while transforming and energizing everything within your reach. Each of us is thus a Blackstar, and together we impart that very nature to Social Futurism itself.

Additional note: A warning from the past The current incarnation of the Zero State (ZS) is a kind of renaissance or ‘second wave’, sometimes styled ‘ZS2.0’. The original ZS was initially conceived at a conference in 12010, then officially formed with the publication of our Principles on 1st May 12011. That original organization already contained the seed of everything that we are now, but we did not yet have the term “Social Futurism” (which I coined to summarize our ideas a little later), and the idea that ZS might be interpreted as an Alternate Reality Game existed only in the back of our thoughts, discussed by a small minority of our members. Although ZS never ceased to exist altogether, there was definitely a fallow period from perhaps 12014-12016, in which most formal activity ceased, with various ZS projects developing lives of their own and our chat groups filling up with people who wanted to talk but do nothing, and who didn’t even understand the nature of the group they had joined. This period coincided with my establishment of the Transhumanist Party in the UK (and elsewhere across Europe; my direct participation in that organization ending as a result of both personal commitments and my disappointment at a disturbingly mediocre, bureaucratic, “don’t rock the boat” attitude in Transhumanist Party groups which struck me as ill-fitting for any Transhumanist organization). One might naturally wonder why ‘ZS1.0’ stalled (I hesitate to use the word ‘failed’, as its failure was not, and was never likely to be permanent), aside from the Transhumanist Party side-track. Some have said that they didn’t like the apparent proliferation of ‘secret’ or private ZS sub-groups, but I am strongly of the opinion that this is a misunderstanding of what was really happening at the time. I would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight. Firstly, there were never any “secret” ZS groups. What there was, was a combination of groups who wanted to get on with their projects without being distracted by unhelpful, opinionated “passengers”, and other ZSers whose interest in cryptocurrencies and other cryptographic technologies led them to migrate their discussions to obscure platforms such as RetroShare rather than mainstream websites like Facebook. There was naturally some overlap between these two groups, the first of whom developed a kind of motto in the phrase “No Passengers!” (meaning that all members must contribute in some way), and the second which found it hard to attract and keep participants because of frequent, irritating software glitches and internecine spats fuelled by a minority of ZSers who cared more about Libertarianism than ZS itself (my own resultant and rather stern view on such matters can be read here). The biggest problem by far, however, was the one I already described at the beginning of this article, with the majority of ZS1.0 members wanting to loudly express opinions, and tear down the views and work of others, without actually doing anything concrete to help themselves. This pervasive, corrosive attitude manifested in a range of ways, from rants about Anarcho-Capitalism to bemoaning an imagined lack of transparency from the project groups who really just wanted to get on with their own thing. In short, I eventually came to the conclusion that although decentralized direct-democratic networks are very important (as our Principles explicitly stress), democratic opinion on the individual level cannot be allowed to simply shout down (and shut down) the minority of members ready and willing to do the work which keeps the entire endeavour alive. In summary, my experience with that earlier incarnation of the Zero State led directly to the model of Social Futurist leadership articulated above. Every Social Futurist is a Blackstar, who should work toward concrete ends, in small groups, in accord with our shared and unifying Principles. Your opinions only matter insofar as you can demonstrate some kind of concrete value to your group, and thus to the network, and Social Futurists should take a dim view of those who spend all their time criticizing the efforts of others while doing nothing themselves to help move things forward. In that way we will all survive and thrive, together, as a single great Social Futurist network.

★ Black Hole Sun: Leadership within Social Futurism was originally published on transhumanity.net

[daresplaining]

Alexandra drones on and on about how Elektra being the Black Sky is of utmost importance. Yet, for whatever reason, I don't feel like (aside from the costume change) there's much difference between Elektra pre-resurrection and Elektra post-resurrection. What exactly IS a Black Sky and what does it do?

    Thank you for giving us an excuse to talk about our favorite Defenders theory! We had the exact same reaction– considering how hyped up the Black Sky concept was, and how much suspense was built around it, we were hugely disappointed by the fact that not only did we never learn what it actually was, but there was no clear indication of how it affected Elektra post-activation. This has led us to believe that Alexandra made the whole thing up.

    We get who different pieces of the Hand’s origin story over the course of two different shows. In The Defenders, we learn that the five leaders of the group were trained in K’un-Lun, then got kicked out for having worrisome opinions about immortality. In Daredevil Season 2, we learn that at a certain point afterward they became aware of the Black Sky, which is some kind of weapon. We learn that they want one, but have never managed to actually use one before. It’s all very vague and mysterious.

    Upon meeting all five fingers of the Hand, we learn that the only one actually interested in or informed about the Black Sky is Alexandra. In fact, she seems a little bit obsessed. She has apparently been talking her Hand peers’ ears off about it for centuries and, much to their alarm, is now willing to risk all of their permanent deaths to acquire one.  

    Why?

    Alexandra claims that having the Black Sky on their side is essential, and will allow them to return to K’un-Lun (and presumably conquer it). The Black Sky will give them the power they need to last another fifteen years, to acquire more of the substance, and to overcome their enemies. However, there’s a logical fallacy here. Thanks to the events of Daredevil Season 1 the Hand already own Midland Circle, and thus have access to the dragon bones underneath. (They don’t discover the sealed door until the second Defenders episode; at the time when Alexandra was actively pursuing El, she had no clear need of extra firepower in order to access the substance.) And more to the point, if she hadn’t used the substance on Elektra– who, again, wasn’t necessary for the Hand’s goals at the time– the Hand wouldn’t have been in such dire straits. Alexandra, in fact, helps create the mortality problem– something her colleagues soon realize.

    So does the Hand actually need a new weapon? It doesn’t seem so. They’ve defended themselves for centuries, and are willing and likely capable of capturing Danny on their own. But Alexandra does. She needs power, by any means possible. We see throughout the show that her leadership is faltering, and she is losing control of the rest of the Hand. She needs to cement her authority, to show them that only she is capable of keeping them alive and giving them what they need. And coincidentally, she is the only one who knows what’s up with the Black Sky. She personally oversees Elektra’s training with no input or oversight from the other four. She makes sure that she is the only one to build a bond with Elektra, or to spend any real time with her. And she emphasizes the necessity and power of the Black Sky (in suspiciously vague terms) at every opportunity… but particularly when her colleagues start acting rebellious.    

    By dangling the promise of this super powerful weapon in front of the other fingers, and insisting that they need it before they can carry out their plans, while also keeping all of the practical information about what the Black Sky does to herself, Alexandra has managed to hold her leadership position over the centuries. They need the Black Sky, and in order to acquire one they need Alexandra. But once they finally get one… nothing changes. Yes, Elektra is a good fighter, but she was always a good fighter, and her combat prowess speaks more to the intensity of her training in both lifetimes than to anything supernatural. And more to the point, she doesn’t do much to help the Hand. Alexandra’s colleagues are baffled, annoyed, and frightened by what looks like a severe lapse of judgement from their leader.

    As Alexandra grows weaker over the course of The Defenders, both in physical health and influence over the Hand, she becomes more and more adamant about how great her new weapon is. Elektra is a tool for Alexandra– a power play, a weapon to hold in front of her enemies, maybe even a replacement for her dead daughter. But does she have any actual powers, beyond those Alexandra projects onto her? Maybe. There are moments when she displays possible super-strength and super-speed. But a strong argument could be made that she does not, and that the only new power she acquires as the Black Sky is the false significance that Alexandra places on her. 

    All of this may be just extreme No-Prizing to cover sloppy writing. We don’t know, and if we subscribe to the “death of the author” concept (which we do), it  doesn’t matter whether this was intended or not. If it’s true, it would be a really cool twist on the whole situation, and an interesting addition to the self-determination vs. destiny conversation that has so far characterized MCU Elektra’s arc. 

[adriftpsyche]

ABEO Invicta - Class Prophecy

Dropping it here so old posts don’t get read lol.

A revelation from the Higher Being, which was bestowed shows the ABEO Invicta on what must soon take place. This was made known by sending me a vision, I testify to everything I saw – the people who hear this may or may not take to heart of what is written, because the time is near.

I turned around to see the scenery that was before me. And when I turned, I saw five doors, and each door leads to different futures, the five doors are paths that each person from the ABEO Invicta chose to tread, whatever lies ahead, will have been or will not be the choices they made.

As I slowly turned the knob of the first door, I saw that there was a wide field, it was filled with countless of chances and coupons of hope, the sky was clear and blue and the ground smelled like rain kissing the grass and one can see a vivid display of a rainbow; and in there, I saw Maxine​, who will realize that she has always been more than enough, and she will be able to give the life she strived for her family. In a ​kombong​, and with her long-time lover, she adds more graffiti ​on the walls of Marawi, spreading love and not war! One day, she will also try her luck in Masterchef Australia, but unfortunately, be eliminated over a horrible plating. Speaking of food, ​Neil ​inherits Holy Halo, levels up his charisma and interpersonal skills, which prompts his confidence to skyrocket even more with nowhere to contain it. And then it shifted to a more, familiar face, ​Kirstie​, her exposure with Indians brought her to ​a whole new world​, paving the way to travels and explorations of Asian culture which she writes on her columns in a magazine but Kirstie isn’t the only one capable of swooning men of different colors, but also ​Rodrick​! A number of them love his ​diction and his love for art and aesthetics. And in that magazine, the Gazette, ​Sittie – now Dr. Sittie Aslimah Malaco, gets featured for being a writer on her cultural heritage and is now among the highly recommended candidates for a leadership position in the MSU system and in occasion, meet-ups with ​Bea​, a spazzer and a content writer in All-KPop, a renowned site for KPop News who rediscovers herself and tries to puzzle herself back piece by piece in a steady but secure pace. Speaking of spazzing ang rediscovering the self, ​MaTet stands next to her. Like Bea, she’s still getting butterflies from her KPop idols and when she’s not, she uses her incredible ​patience for her teaching job at a Special Ed school. And ​Doreen​, oh our lovely goddess​, Doreen, continues ​to not claim a man, but own them, and has been getting ​breaststroke lessons from them ever since. She also revolutionizes pageantry by finding a way on how to stop these events in objectifying women. She paves the way for ​Azrael’​s two beautiful babies, by being their surrogate mother. Azra is happily married with a super hot Spanish man and lives in a beautiful bungalow located along the coast of Santorini in Greece. A beautiful surprise just like ​Sam’​ s, wherein after graduation, a small time talent scout found her, recruited and trained her which then boomed after 10 years, with her as the face of their agency. She is also a part-time secretary at a company. Of self-discoveries and dreams, Ralph​, becomes the John Green of the batch, writes melancholic but woke entries with a cigarette on hand and a glass of vodka beside beautifully disorganized drafts, in a quiet city night inside his apartment playing his indie music vibe.

After this, I went back out of the door, and proceeded to the second door, a lot of them chose to mold the minds of the next generation, the field was occupied with children looking up at several adults. ​Ave was one of them, an English professor at Misamis University after taking up her Masters degree, co-working with ​Eurey​, who followed her mother’s footsteps, and finally had her ​first long-term boyfriend​. But for ​Grace,​ a long-term boyfriend should be promoted to being a husband, and temporary kilays should be made permanent! ​Tiis ganda, no more! For surprises, everyone thought that ​Renz would become a PBA basketball player or a regular in Barangay Ligas​, but he becomes an elementary teacher while simultaneously teaching them to become the next ring legend. However, some things never change, he still continues to carry his big, bloated, and heavy bag that he has been carrying since college. Another surprise is Jocel​’s, she becomes a kindergarten teacher, out of curiosity on how the ​sociocognitive and language acquisition process happens in the human mind. Children are the perfect example for this process, and witnessing this over and over, never fails to fascinate her just like how Ate Koy ​continues to mold young minds in and out of the four corners of her classroom and has married with Sir Andrew, with her own beautiful kids who inherited her ​husband’s crazy beautiful curly hair. ​Ate Christine ​joins this group as well, she’s still the same quiet yet strict lady who is now a young school Principal that shows the children grace and simplicity. Another Ate in the field is Elaine, after a strong recommendation from the department, becomes a lecturer and then to being an English professor, by finishing her masters degree in MSU-IIT and will pursue her doctorate, where she will meet her first and last love of her life. Also in the same field is Danielle​, who still swears like a traffic horn, will be bagging awards in each of h r performances, and will be a dance and acting teacher in her own studio. She still performs along with her fiance, the critically-acclaimed Sir Michael Lagura, but dedicates most of her time to nurturing potential theater actors and actresses. These eight people, carry with them the power to unfold the minds of the youth and breed their confidence.

After this, I went back out of the door, and proceeded to the third door, those who were not afraid to strongly raise their voice for the unheard, and did not take neutrality for an answer. Their field was packed with an endless queue of people, patiently waiting for their turn to pour out and throw their weight to the persons at the end of the line which I can barely see. And so I walked over to see who were there and I saw ​Maegan​, still a very kind snowflake who also runs her own ​petshop​, becomes an animal advocate. Beside her was ​Lovely​, now a ​Pastora in a megachurch, and is giving everyone on the same field, a life-changing and anointed testimony that makes cold hearts beat again and dead dreams come alive again. ​AG and ​Ate Nikki​, are along the same lines with her – both of them become even more active leaders; AG, now a journalist in the Hope Channel while simultaneously trying to finish her masters degree and Ate Nikki, now the president of CARP, travels around the country to spread their advocacies. And advocacies are only ideas not unless there is a good promoter for that, like ​Fritz​, she continues to live up to her Moana persona as she ventures into many remote parts of Mindanao for a non-profit organization that holds educational and charitable works for environmental advocacies. Eventually, she settles down in Camiguin, where a lot of beautiful sunsets and ocean waters can be regularly seen. Contrary to beaches, I see ​Ate Patch, married to June, away from the city life in their quaint house with lovely cats roaming about. By way of art and writing books, as her living and advocates for destigmatizing mental illness through her works. The last in the circle is ​Lureva​, she finds her strength and confidence once again, where she becomes the president for Gabriella, an organization for women empowerment, she uses this platform to promote feminism, and abolish patriarchal dominance.

After this, I went back out of the door, and proceeded to the fourth door, are those who chose to represent, persuade, enlighten or discourage the public interest. In the field, I immediately saw Kuya JP​, a journalist and a researcher under the famous TV program, ​Kapuso Mo Jessica

Soho​, which helped him to be more ​longsuffering and modest ​towards other people. I also saw Ate Enya​, who becomes a filmmaker with a popular blog and holds online classes for aspiring filmmakers. Her first Masterclass was actually aired online a week ago. And of course, wher Ate Enya is, there is always the other half, ​Kuya Jzac​, a spazzer, who has gone in and out of South Korea and several countries to shoot, and study pop culture for a column in Sparkling! In that same pop culture, includes ​Kuya Roy​, a rockstar who has recently finished their second national tour and now owns a recording studio. Traveling countries have never been better, especially if they are for free! Flight attendant, Ivan​, now a revolutionary artist leaves each country he flies into with mind-numbing artworks, he also still accepts commissions on making lovely Powerpoint Presentations but he can now also make Keynote and Prezi presentation. And on presentations, nobody imagined that ​Shaira would be the brainmother of this era’s famous cosmetic taglines, she works for Teen Vogue and gets invited to speak on seminar-workshops to train young students who are into Journalism. She occasionally asks a lot of questions in our old groupchat. Another kind of presentation is ​Catherine’s​, where after graduation, she landed a few minor local modeling gigs, mostly for commercial products. She was then scouted by Mercator Artist and Model Management, a talent and model agency that housed some of the biggest models in the country including Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray, and has since then graced the Philippine television with her doll face. She also cover songs which can be found in her Youtube channel, some of which features Zarinah. Where they get all of these gadgets, instruments, equipments and all the technicalities? Of course, none other than from ​Peer​, who now goes around the country because he works as media advisor for a company who almost has everything, they loan and refer to him. ​Keanne​, also works on the same company who has now become a full-time IT specialist, still wearing that chinky-eyed smile. 

After this, I went back out of the door, and proceeded to the last and fifth door, in that field, are those who chose to protect and to promote the common welfare and those who have the passion to change in order for others to do great things. In the field, I only see a car, inside are a band of people you never thought we be in the same ride, behind the wheel is Zarinah​, the career woman. A lawyer with a voice worthy of being a pop music royalty, she’s the first ever lawyer in history who sings her opening speeches. Impressive, right? Sitting beside her is Claire, known for her unconventional ways, a rad lawyer who fights for LGBTQIA+ rights, perhaps she is one of the most influential lawyers in the media. At the back, ​Sheila​, former SK chairman, is now an active councillor of their city all the while actively playing volleyball leagues and sports events around Mindanao often crossing paths with multi-sport athlete veteran Lakandula who organizes more and more sports events throughout the country. Sometimes, h tries to wear ​pants on these events instead of his comfy shorts and casual slippers. ​Jolly, wins life one case at a time, putting criminals behind bars, in particular, those who continue to perpetuate misogynistic crimes. And proves to the world, or to the Universe rather​, that women empowerment can also be channelled in pageantry; there’s also ​Mia​, an ​angry lawyer. When she’s not walking around the court convincing people why justice should be served to the rightful, she’s in her fine house, writing fan fictions with LGBTQIA+ themes whilst tending to the needs of her eleven puppies and her wife, M. There to calm her is ​Jacky​, who works at the Municipal Office of Bacolod LDN, finally attaining a permanent position. She still continues to change her hair color​, but this time going for revolutionary colors such as neon orange, highlighter green, and mustard yellow, until such time that her hair has had enough of it and it starts to fall off her head. Not able to deal with the severity of her hair loss, she made the difficult decision to shave it all off and she decides to rock a bald head, serving mannequin realness. The most special of all the batch’s women of power was ​Jam,​ because of her love for film, she finally fulfills her dream to visit Hollywood. And as the ​first female chancellor of the MSU System​, she advocates for animal welfare, especially for cats. She also advocates for destabilizing stigmas on mental health. This advocacy is implemented to the institute that caused for the decrease of suicide attempts. I realize that visions are given to remind us that we can choose which dreams to pursue or to reignite a dying fire. It guides us to the right path and to the right destination. It also encourages our hearts and gives us strength in every good thing we do or say. Now, is the time to take that step and make no delay. 

 All those, only to be jolted back from reality – in front of me, is the scenery outside of my bus’ window blindingly disappearing from my eyesight the moment I try to focus on it. And then, the road becomes familiar, other than the several infrastructures and population added. It was just like the first time I travelled here for my freshman year. And after everything, I never also would have thought that I would come back to Iligan and attend my first ABEO Alumni Homecoming party.

[khalilhumam]

What a second Trump term would mean for the world

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/what-a-second-trump-term-would-mean-for-the-world/

What a second Trump term would mean for the world

By Thomas Wright

If Donald Trump defies the odds and wins a second term, the next four years will likely be more disruptive to U.S. foreign policy and world affairs than the past four have been. Think of his reelection as a pincer movement, an attack on the international order from two sides. Trump will consolidate his control over the institutions of government, bending them to his will, removing any lingering resistance from the Republican Party. Meanwhile, by confirming that the United States has rejected its traditional leadership role, a second Trump term would make a lasting impact on the world right when it is at a particularly vulnerable moment. U.S. alliances would likely crumble, the global economy would close, and democracy and human rights would be in rapid retreat.

Trump’s first term has had a clear narrative arc. He systematically purges his government of those who stand up to him and replaces them with loyalists who indulge his whims and worldview. If he is still president on January 21, Trump will feel utterly vindicated by a second unlikely victory—thinking that only he is truly in touch with the American people.

In a second term, Trump will insist on loyalty with every appointment, but two types of loyalists exist. The first is senior Republicans who are steadfastly loyal even if they personally disagree with Trump on certain issues, such as Russia or military intervention in the Middle East. These figures are cut from the mold of Mike Pompeo. They include Senators Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, and Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin. Trump may give these people senior positions, but they will not be free to contradict the president or to pursue their own agendas unless they temporarily align with Trump.

The second group is the ultra-loyalists, who owe their positions entirely to Trump’s patronage. These are political operatives such as Richard Grenell, who was Trump’s ambassador to Germany and acted as director of national intelligence for 96 days, and retired military officers and now–cable-news commentators such as Anthony Tata and Douglas McGregor. This group also includes the ultra-ultras—Trump’s family members, who have played a role in his first term, and could be given formal positions of authority in a second. Think of Jared Kushner as national security adviser or secretary of state if Republicans retain a majority in the Senate.

With a loyal team in place, what does Trump want to do? The most optimistic theory is that he will be a responsible nationalist. With no elections left to fight and with a conviction that he set the world straight in his first term, he will let things be. For instance, he will be happy with NATO because member countries have committed to paying more for their own defense. His administration’s key policy driver will be to transform U.S. strategy for an era of great-power competition, particularly against China.

The responsible-nationalist theory has very little evidence to support it, though. Trump has never personally endorsed the key argument of his National Security Strategy, about great-power competition—not even in his December 2017 remarks introducing the plan. He is currently very hawkish on China, but that is possibly because he sees his rhetoric as a way to deflect attention from his failures on the coronavirus. He is still more motivated by narrow trade and economic concerns than by broader geopolitical interests in the Indo-Pacific. This theory also leaves out Trump and highlights policy documents that he played little role in creating.

The most accurate guide to Trump’s behavior has never been his views on a particular issue. It has always been his psychological profile and disposition—his paranoia, how he sees himself, his desperate need to be at the center of the news cycle, his susceptibility to flattery, his fury at perceived slights, and his deeply seated visceral instincts. Mary Trump’s family history provides more insights into Donald Trump’s plans than official documents do.

Given who the president is, another theory—Trump unbound—seems more likely. In this scenario, his appetite will grow with the eating. As John Bolton concludes in his book, Trump in a second term will be “far less constrained by politics than he was in a first term.” He will be free to be himself—to pursue policies that benefit him personally by linking decisions to his business interests; by indulging his desire for ratings and drama; and by attacking people he does not like, such as Angela Merkel, and helping people he does, such as Kim Jong Un.

Substantively, he will double down on his instincts, leaning into ideas he had before he became president. He could pull the plug on NATO entirely by refusing to defend Germany, France, and other selected countries under the mutual-defense clause. He could make this decision unilaterally, without authorization from Congress, as it simply entails altering a presidential interpretation of the purposefully vague NATO founding treaty.

He’s already tried to withdraw troops from South Korea in his first term. But he could make it happen in his second by entering into a peace treaty with North Korea. His first comments on foreign policy in the 1980s were criticisms of Japan, but earlier in his first term he modified his long-standing hostility because of his friendship with Shinzo Abe, which the then–prime minister carefully cultivated. Now, with Abe out of the picture, Trump could revert to Japan-bashing and questioning the alliance with Japan itself. Both of these steps could weaken U.S. competitiveness with China.

China is the big unknown in a second Trump term. The Republican foreign-policy establishment hopes that rivalry with China will be the organizing principle of U.S. foreign policy. If Trump buys into that stance, then these officials might use that to make the case for their preferred positions toward the Middle East (stay engaged to keep China out), on Europe (get NATO on board against China), and on economics (trade with your friends to compete with China). But no one knows whether Trump will support this agenda or whether he will pivot back to a much narrower form of competition with Beijing, one focused solely on economics while pulling back from America’s alliances.

The second part of the pincer movement—how the rest of the world will react—is also important in a second term. America’s allies and adversaries took a deep breath after the 2016 election. They did not know if Trump’s win was a temporary blip or a permanent change—indeed, this is the top question most foreign governments have had about the United States over the past four years, because it is so consequential to their future. Before the coronavirus hit, most allied foreign officials I spoke with tentatively thought that Trump would win a second term. Now, like almost everyone else, they see him as the underdog. If he wins again, friend and foe alike will accept that the post–World War II period of American leadership has come to a definitive end. The effect will vary from country to country. Some allies may cut deals with China and Russia. A small number could seek an independent nuclear deterrent. All will prepare for a world with less cooperation.

The coronavirus makes matters much worse. Many now widely accept that ordinary life will not return until a reliable vaccine is developed and widely distributed. The global economy is still teetering on the brink, rocked by the virus and the rivalry between the United States and China. Cooperation, particularly between the U.S. and Europe, has ground to a halt. The Trump administration’s priority is to signal its “America First” bona fides to its base rather than to build an international coalition to tackle shared problems. In a second Trump term, foreign countries can expect no coordination on the global economic recovery, the development of a vaccine, the repair of international institutions, or aid for those that were destabilized by the crisis. Openness—in terms of travel and trade—will not return to what passed for normal before the coronavirus. Every nation will have to fend for itself. The European Union and a handful of other democracies may try to keep the multilateral order alive, but it will become a relic, largely irrelevant to world events.

Autocrats—Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Mohammed bin Salman, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and others—have been both deeply insecure and emboldened during Trump’s first term. They see him as a kindred spirit and are confident in their ability to influence and persuade him. Trump acknowledged as much to Bob Woodward: “It’s funny, the relationships I have—the tougher and meaner they are, the better I get along with them … The easy ones are the ones I maybe don’t like as much or don’t get along with so much.” Those cozy relationships will continue and accelerate in a second term. Trump is easy to read, and with a mixture of flattery and inducements, the leaders will enlist Trump in their own causes, whether the elimination of dissent at home or turning a blind eye to regional aggression.

Looking back on U.S. diplomatic history, one of the great counterfactuals is what would have happened if Franklin D. Roosevelt had not replaced his vice president Henry Wallace with Harry Truman in 1944. Wallace was sympathetic to the Soviet Union and became an ardent opponent of the Cold War. If he had become president when FDR died, in April 1945, the next half century could have gone very differently—likely no NATO, no Marshall Plan, no alliance with Japan, no overseas troop presence, and no European Union.

The U.S. is now teetering on another historically important moment. With Trump, we would not only be deprived of our Truman. We would be saddled with our Wallace—a leader whose instincts and actions are diametrically opposed to what the moment requires. With few remaining constraints and a vulnerable world, a reelected Trump could set the trajectory of world affairs for decades to come.

[kifu]

New Nation: 2

Chapter 1

Chapter 3

Kurt sat perched at the edge of an old Berlin building. The broken road stories below him was empty. Tall, prickling weeds pushed out from the cracks in the pavement, with smaller and leafier plants filling in the spaces. Decaying paper, plastic, and other litter lined buildings where the wind didn’t reach as well. Some of the stone structures sported rotting wood over the windows as if to protect what was inside. Kurt knew the efforts were futile. Other shops and homes didn’t bother with their windows. Most were broken or cracked, but the buildup of grime on the glass spoke enough.

           Berlin was far from abandoned. Curious animals too shy or scared to venture into the sprawling capitol had hardened their resolve. It wasn’t uncommon to see smaller wildlife in the middle of the city, poking its nose around or skittering about. People still lived here, but they didn’t move freely about like before. Through the dirty glass windows, one usually would find curtains or mini-blinds permanently obstructing view into the living space. Anyone that would walk the street moved with false confidence.            

           Quiet fury burned deep within Kurt over the past many months. He did nothing to stop this outcome under Scott’s dismissive command. His people of Germany – indeed, of the world – suffered for the X-Men’s lack of action. The team had disintegrated since, and Kurt returned home to Europe.

           Even with the change in world regime, and Kurt’s unhidden efforts against the Nation, the general populace looked at the blue mutant with scorn. Humans had more spiteful ammunition against their special cousins and didn’t appreciate Kurt’s presence in fear of alliance to the Nation. He was one of Them, after all, and all mutants must have allegiance pledged to the tyrants. It was completely fabricated to justify their fears and Kurt did not pity them.

           Kurt had to watch his back and all sides to stay alive. If the Nation were to catch him, he would expect he’d be found as an enemy of the Nation and be taken prisoner or executed. Neither appealed to him. If a human aligned with the group called the Human Backbone were to find him, they’d hunt him down until his head was on a platter. Kurt imagined the scenario wouldn’t play out much differently than Kurt’s life in the freak show part of the circus – or when he’d been blamed for a villager’s death before Charles Xavier found him. Between the two extremes, Kurt knew that anyone he helped could rat him out for personal gain.

           Some people began to move about as the sun came up. Dawn, for whatever reason, was a prime time for the exchanges of black market. The Nation’s soldiers weren’t yet out in mass until the sun shone strongly at later early morning. Kurt watched over their backs until he saw signs of the Nation and then made his retreat to where he hid. Kurt would protect against civil dispute and Nation harassment at night, but couldn’t stay up all day to meddle in their affairs. He’d be identified and slaughtered if he’d pull such a stunt. Kurt had the unique ability to become one with the nighttime shadows to remain at large. He used that to his advantage.

           The progression of lighting halted as the sun reached over the distant edge of clouds. Kurt had felt the oppression of damp air throughout the night, but a storm wouldn’t break. With the gift of daylight to brighten the sky, Kurt finally saw what he sensed. The last thing he wanted was to be wet. While the dark clouds didn’t look too heavy, he didn’t chance a sudden downpour.

           In a flash and puff of brimstone, Kurt was no longer conducting surveillance over the street, but squatting in his bunker. Removing travel from Kurt’s life by teleportation helped him stay away from the Nation’s maw. He popped up in unexpected areas and immediately vacated when his life was at stake. He could fight, he could protect, but avoiding conflict was in his best interest.

           He didn’t share his space with anyone else. Either no one wanted to be around him or Kurt couldn’t find anyone he could trust. Kurt’s blue, fuzzy skin, prehensile tail, and fanged teeth caused any human to shy away from him. It didn’t matter if he helped them out. On the flip side, Kurt had enough people take advantage of his friendly personality in the year since the Nation took over. With Scott’s blunder, Kurt couldn’t depend on another’s leadership. Yet Kurt wasn’t ready to be a leader himself, even with his experience with Excalibur, those years ago.

           His recent place of sleep was bleak. After the villains took over governments, Kurt didn’t have much chance to return to the Americas and pack his meager belongings. If the X-Mansion still existed after enemy raids in the early stages of the New Nation, Kurt didn’t want his things anyway. Posters, street clothes, and unhandled swords weren’t going to help anyone. Now, all Kurt kept was a change of clothes, a relatively clean blanket, a notebook of surveillance notes, and a cheap hoard of pens. With fewer possessions, it was harder to carelessly leave things behind and easier to make a quick getaway.

           Currently, Kurt resided in an old, abandoned castle. Germany had enough of them that the government didn’t want anything to do with them. Some of the lesser villains preferred the security of the stone while others collected lavish possessions in distant mansions. All were greedy and power-hungry, regardless. Kurt liked exploring the history of his own country through the rooms. Most items were missing or broken, but enough was left to intrigue him.

           Through the modest window installed in Kurt’s chosen room, he could see that the clouds finally broke. He sent thanks to his good fortune. The drops fell in small clusters, slowly. So long as a storm didn’t accompany the precipitation, the former Nightcrawler would have a peaceful night.

           A piercing scream broke Kurt out of his barren dreams. He blinked out of confusion until the woman screamed again. He recognized pain and fear in her panicked calls. Clambering to all fours, whipping his ratty blanket aside, Kurt teleported into the antechamber at the great front door. A distraught woman in wet, clingy clothes and a young man with a similar disheveled appearance wandered urgently around the great room. When Kurt arrived, the man was towing the woman around, guiding her to a place to rest. Mixed with the rain water was a fair amount of blood from some unknown origin on the woman’s body.

           „Mein Gott, hilfe mich,“ she begged. Sobs found their way into her voice.

           „Behruhig,“ the man replied calmly. His body language, on the other hand, betrayed his panic. Along with continuously checking the young woman over for her injuries, he glanced back at the door and around the room. Someone caused this and may still be after the couple.

           Kurt stepped out from the dark corner he had teleported into. „Entschuldegung, meine Freunden,“ Kurt announced. Hopefully simply asking for their attention wouldn’t send them into a frenzied panic.

           The woman screamed even before she caught sight of Kurt. Upon seeing his obvious mutant stature, she screamed harder and moved to scramble away. The man yelled at him, threatening him. „Come closer and I swear I’ll kill you,“ he warned in German.

           „I’m not here to hurt you,“ Kurt replied in the same tongue. „Is someone after you?“

           „Get out of here.“ The man wasn’t listening to Kurt. Even with Kurt’s hands out prone in the air, he was on the defensive. Meanwhile, his partner was throwing herself into a panic attack. Now that mutants and other super powered beings with an ego took over the world, like any cliché villain aspired to do, humans had an even harder time accepting Kurt’s kind.

           „I wish to help, sir,“ Kurt persisted.

           „You’ve helped enough, freak.“ The man growled like Kurt’s old friend, Logan, and placed himself well between Kurt and the woman.

           „You’re in my castle and I have some medical background,“ Kurt continued. He didn’t want to define the structure as his property or express superiority, just explain his presence to the pair. At this rate, the woman would bleed out. She continued to whimper and scramble in the background for whatever reason, the pain evident on her face. „She needs help.“

           „Not by your kind.“ The man expressed typical human behavior. He was being reasonable, yet it was still frustrating.

           Kurt stepped forward, trying to make himself less threatening. „Please, I can only help.“

           Without verbally answering him this time, the strange man dashed forward in attack. A primal growl escaped his mouth as he lunged to punch. Kurt side stepped with ease. The man looked confused in his stance for a heartbeat when he realized his fist didn’t connect with its target. Kurt vaguely heard the girl scream behind him. Overcoming his hesitation, he turned around and tried again. Kurt ducked under his clumsily thrown punch and sidled behind him. „I will not hurt you.“

           „Dietmar, bitte. Hӧr auf!“ Her voice wasn’t as strong as it was before.

           „She needs help,“ Kurt persisted.

           Only fury shone through the man’s eyes. He was bested by a blue fuzzy freak and he didn’t enjoy the humiliation. He tried a different tactic and threw an uppercut at Kurt’s temporarily stationary form. Again, Kurt dodged the blow with ease.

           „Stop it,“ the woman begged. „The others are going to find us.“

           „Others?“ Kurt repeated. „Did someone hurt you?“

           „Shut up,“ the man snapped. He held up his fists as if to strike again but didn’t. Kurt could see the fighting calculation in his eyes, yet he was weary to be bested again. His stance on Kurt’s involvement, on the other hand, was unwavering.

           Kurt glanced back and forth between the hesitant Dietmar and frightened woman. He didn’t owe these people anything, but if he abandoned them now, all his efforts within the last year would be for naught. „Sie sind ein Dummkopf,“ Kurt muttered impatiently under his breath.

           „What?“ Dietmar demanded. Of course, now he listened, when Kurt didn’t want him to hear what he said.

           „I cannot help you if you do not help yourself,“ Kurt told him. „I cannot help her, understand?“

           „I don’t want your help. I don’t need your help. Go back to where you came from!“ He took a step forward, closer in Kurt’s range of motion, yet he didn’t strike again. Kurt remained alert, but assumed a relaxed position. Exuding anything but pacifism could tip this situation from bad to worse.

           Deciding not to comment on Dietmar’s demand, Kurt also took a step backward. It brought him closer to the woman, but displayed submission simultaneously. He hunched downwards, bringing himself closer to the stone ground. He depended further on his tail to balance himself than before, which he had tried to not bring attention to earlier. Fuzzy blue skin and pointy teeth were alarming enough.

           „Leave!“ he shouted. This time, after standing around idle but full of threats, he quickly covered the ground between the two of them. He swung another punch, which Kurt dodged as easily as the ones previously, but threw an off-hand jab with his other hand as well. The second fist caught Kurt in the gut, throwing his balance backwards and landing him backwards on his tail. He snaked his tail underneath him, brushing the floor with it so that he could push himself back into a squatting position. Dietmar turned around like a wild bull, squaring his body in Kurt’s direction.

           „I cannot leave, for you are in my home,“ Kurt insisted. His words came out breathier than he expected. He didn’t feel out of breath from the blow.

           Dietmar bellowed in a wordless, feral scream, but Kurt thought he heard another noise right before his fit of rage. His ear pricked toward the door, alerting him to something on the other side. „Remember when you mentioned that someone may be following you?“ Kurt asked politely. Dietmar seemed not to notice, but he could see the lady’s flash of alarm from behind him. „I think they’re here. I can get you two to safety.“

           „Why do you continue trying to help us?“ the lady asked. Kurt grabbed Dietmar’s attention well enough so that he broke his predatory gaze on him and looked out into the stormy weather.

           „Because helping is what I do,“ Kurt told her. „Are you okay?“

           „No. My stomach is bleeding.“ Kurt’s heart sank. Stomach wounds were terribly fickle creatures and he didn’t think he had the know-how to take care of one. It might help if he also knew the cause.

           „Dietmar, listen to me,“ Kurt begged. „I can take you somewhere they can’t – “

           Kurt was cut off when a platoon of men burst into the castle’s door, dripping fiercely onto the stone floor. They held knives and small guns easily hidden under clothing to protect them from the weather. Kurt hated dealing with guns.

           „Nightcrawler,“ one of the Nation hissed. However the man knew him didn’t matter. If he knew Kurt, then he would also know that Kurt was fully against their side. „Take out the mutant!“ he trumpeted.

           „Sheiße!“ Kurt gasped under his breath. Men with pistols pulled them out and took poor aim on the mutant, pulling the trigger before they had him fully within their sights. Dietmar yelled and covered his head, running further into the castle to get away. In his fight for self-preservation, he completely left his companion and foe behind. Kurt, on the other hand, pushed himself toward the lady, grabbing her roughly for simple contact so that he could teleport her away. „I’m sorry,“ he told her right before they ended up in a different room: Kurt’s room.

           Teleporting other people with him caused a lot of strain on both his and her bodies. She passed out, her body already weak from the wound in her lower torso. Kurt gently lowered her to the ground so that she wouldn’t hit her head. Kurt was more used to the strain on his body, having teleported many people over many years. The effort it took to move her a few hundred feet in a split second was akin to someone running with her on their back in the same distance. If that someone was conditioned, they could do it with ease.

           While the lady was out cold, Kurt decided to take a look at what he was dealing with so that he could help fix her up. He lifted her shirt just enough so that he could see the source of the blood. She was wrong. It wasn’t her stomach that was pierced, but appeared to be more to the side where her spleen was. The spleen wasn’t something he wanted to deal with, either. She need its functions to continue breathing properly. „Sheiße,“ he repeated. He lunged across the room and grabbed his clean shirt that he had laying beside his makeshift bed. He bit the fabric, pulling it, until it ripped into a long strip. He continued to pull it apart until he only had strips left. He used one strip to stuff into the wound, immediately winding another around her body and pulling it tight. He didn’t have anything else to help her out. Once she was bandaged up, he picked her up and set her on top of his blanket, pulling the free half over top of her to keep her warmer. „I’ll be right back,“ he promised her.

           Kurt whipped around, careful to pick up his tail so that he didn’t slap her body with it. With a powerful release of his muscles, he launched himself forward, darting up a wall and crawling along them as he made his way through the castle. He needed to find Dietmar.

           The first sign of life in the hallways happened to be a pair of Nation goons. Kurt heard them before they saw him, but they acted as if Kurt’s position on the walls was the best discovery in their life. One pointed up at Kurt, shouting in excitement, holding a longer dagger in his other hand. The other followed his partner’s gesture and lifted a pistol into the air. He took better care to aim than everyone had in the castle’s antechamber. Kurt teleported at the same time he heard a shot ring out from the pistol. The sound was deafening. Kurt reappeared behind the man, immediately wrapping his tail around his waist to throw him to the ground. The other man had to recover from shock with Kurt’s disappearance before he could act appropriately. By the time Kurt kicked the gun out of the first man’s hand, leaped over his body to grab it, and resituated himself to aim at the second man, he only managed to turn around.

           “Oh.”

           „Put the knife down,“ Kurt ordered. He flicked his gun downwards before pointing it back at the man’s chest. The other goon flexed to get up, but Kurt swatted him back down with his tail.

           The man set the dagger down, kicking it down the hallway away from the three of them. „Danke,“ Kurt said. In two swift movements, he pistol whipped the man on the ground and cracked a hard-hitting punch to the second man’s head to decommission them. He teleported away, popping up near the knife just long enough to pick it up, and reappeared further down the hallway, out of sight from the pair of goons. He took out enough time from forward momentum to shove the knife into the side of his pants, hoping dearly he wouldn’t slice himself open.

           Again, Kurt took to the walls, swooping up toward the ceiling only long enough to deposit the pistol in the rafters. He didn’t have a use for a gun, but he also didn’t want his enemies getting their hands on it. They had more than enough ammunition as it was. Soon enough, Kurt ended up in the castle’s antechamber. No one else was present. Without hesitation, Kurt jumped to the ground, picking the hallway that Dietmar had fled down. He used all fours to cover more ground in a timely manner.

           Another pair of Nation soldiers were searching each room in the castle methodically down this hallway. Kurt knew because the doors he carefully kept closed were wide open, the meager relics left in the castle tossed about. He reached the last room to have been opened, popping up in the doorway as he skidded to a stop. „Searching for me?“ he taunted.

           „Get him!“ the same man that had known Kurt’s show name shouted.

           „Who? Me?“ Kurt asked innocently. His answer came quickly enough. Both these men had pistols, but their aims were only as good as displayed in the antechamber. Kurt launched himself upwards, crawling into the dark rafters for camouflage. „Is that the best you can do?“ he called from the dark. He knew that if he was careful, they wouldn’t be able to see him at all.

           „Show yourself, coward!“

           „Am I the coward?“ Kurt asked them. „I’m not the one hiding behind a gun.“ In a puff of brimstone, he appeared behind one of the men, grabbing him forcefully from behind. The man let out a freak shot into the room without aiming, barely missing his partner. „I hope you counted your shots. I think you are out.“

           The soldier dropped his gun, reaching backwards to claw at the mutant holding him hostage. His partner lifted his pistol, trying to take aim behind the squirming man. „Don’t shoot me!“ his partner cried.

           „Drop it,“ Kurt demanded. He pulled the knife out from his beltline with his tail, transferring it to his dominant hand. He held it up to the man’s throat. They didn’t need to know that Kurt wouldn’t kill him, but he would certainly make it look that way.

           The soldier hesitated and strengthened his grip on the pistol, using both hands instead of one. „Please,“ his partner pleaded. „I don’t want to die.“

           „Let him go,“ the soldier with the gun demanded.

           „Or?“ Kurt prompted.

           „I will kill you.“

           “You will kill me anyway,“ Kurt pointed out. Kurt bent low at the knees, switching his hold on the knife in his hand so that he didn’t accidentally slice into the man’s throat. Grabbing onto his shirt with his free hand, Kurt flipped him over his back, sending him tumbling to the ground. Tossing his knife upwards, Kurt caught it with his tail and darted forward on all fours toward the second man. He altered his pattern so that he couldn’t take aim. The man hesitated to shoot until Kurt had already grabbed his wrist with both hands, throwing the barrel toward the rafters. They struggled for a moment until Kurt felt the man feebly punch at his chest. It hurt, but didn’t do any real damage. Kurt angled his body, throwing all his weight into the soldier until he lost his balance. The gun clattered across the floor and Kurt landed heavily the soldier’s side. He bounced up in a somersault, easily landing on his feet and whipping around. The last soldier groaned on the ground, but the other one had grabbed his gun, taking aim at Kurt. He squeezed off a shot before Kurt could teleport away. He felt hot pain enter and exit his shoulder, but at least the wound was clean.

           Kurt popped up behind the last soldier on his feet, sending a punch at his lower back, aiming for his kidney. He went down with barely a cry of pain. „What did I say?“ Kurt asked.

           He took his time in leaving the room, inspecting his shoulder as he walked. Hot blood seeped from the wound, but it didn’t appear to have hit anything really important. Kurt could still feel his fingers on that arm. He had more important things to worry about at the moment.

           Running on all fours wasn’t as much an option to Kurt as it was before. Instead, he took to running down the hallways, working at a slower pace so that he didn’t exhaust himself. For some reason, he found it harder to use two limbs instead of four when trying to move quickly. He eventually ended up in the castle’s kitchen, which was clear of the soldiers. To save time, he teleported back to the antechamber and took the last hallway to the right.

           Kurt didn’t count the number of soldiers that burst into the castle behind the couple, but if he had to guess, a half dozen would have made them up. If that were the case, he only had another couple of men to take down before the castle would be more or less secure. Then he could focus his efforts on finding Dietmar and getting the lady to a place that could help her. Both tasks were dangerous, possibly more dangerous than finding the known enemies.

           Kurt navigated the last hallway at a walk, pressing his thumb into the wound to better staunch the bleeding. It hurt like a thousand bees stinging him all at the same time, over and over again, but he did it anyway. He could be comforted in knowing that the bullet was gone, though, and that he didn’t need to worry about it getting embedded in his flesh and causing an infection. If he could find someone to sew him back up, he’d be good as new in a couple weeks. He’d lay low for a while until it healed well enough that he didn’t have to worry about it getting dirty.

           Instead of finding the pair of soldiers, Kurt ran across Dietmar again. He came at him with a knife poised dramatically over his head, shouting at the top of his lungs like a madman. Kurt ducked and threw himself forward, shooting through Dietmar’s legs and tripping him up with his tail. The man fell with a heavy thud, taking his time in getting to his feet.

           „Did you take care of the other two?“ Kurt asked. He stood at his full height, looking down at Dietmar. He offered his hand to the man to help him to his feet.

           Dietmar didn’t look too happy to be in Kurt’s presence again. He batted Kurt’s hand to the side, but didn’t attack him again. Kurt thought he was making progress. He didn’t even lunge at Kurt again when he lumbered to his feet, grunting and growling to himself as he did so. Dietmar turned to regard Kurt, a scowl plain across his face, but acted more complacent. „Ja, zwei.“

           „I got the other four before I found you. I also took your girlfriend to safety. She needs to see someone quickly.“

           „She’s not my girlfriend!“ Dietmar shouted. He bristled up as if he was going to strike at Kurt again, but held himself in place. His fists bunched up angrily by his sides, his fingers working out the rage.

           „Es tut mir Leid,“ Kurt apologized. „Friend?“

           „Sister.“

           Kurt felt a heavy weight drop onto his chest. He didn’t have a whole lot to family growing up, but he knew how important family was. The X-Men turned out to be his family once Professor Xavier took him in. „You better come quick,“ Kurt suggested. „I can teleport us there – “

           „I’m walking.“ Dietmar pushed past Kurt to walk down the hallway to get to the antechamber. Kurt had to jog to get beside him again in order to lead the way. Once Kurt was back in his line of view, Dietmar increased his pace to match Kurt’s until they reached where Kurt was staying. Dietmar shoved Kurt with his forearm, flashing to his sister’s side and falling into a kneeling position beside her. She was still out cold, as were the guards further down the hallway that Kurt had dispatched earlier.

           „Dietmar, do you know of anyone that can help her? As you can imagine, I haven’t made very many friends.“ Kurt needed to press the urgency onto the young man so that they didn’t lose her.

           „Ja …“ Dietmar said uncertainly. „Ich glaube schon.“

           „She should not be moved. Whomever you know needs to be brought here. Go get them. I’ll make sure that the soldiers don’t attack again.“

           „Why should I trust you?“ Dietmar asked. He turned around at the waist to level a glare at the blue mutant, but hand still held his sister’s. He really cared for her, but still did not trust Kurt.

           „I’ve done all I could. I brought her to safety and you to her. You will have to trust me off of that.“ Kurt stepped away from the door, giving Dietmar room to leave if he wished. „You must act fast if you wish to save her.“

           Dietmar turned his gaze back to his sister and leaned down to kiss the hand that he held. Gently setting it down on top of her chest, he rose to his feet. His shoulders were hunched and his eyes were cast down, but only for a moment. He strode forward strongly, pointing aggressively at Kurt when he passed. „You better be gone when I get back,“ he said.

           „As you wish,“ Kurt replied with a respectful bow. Dietmar left the room, leaving Kurt to watch over his sister.

           Kurt squatted beside her, checking her relative temperature with his hand. She felt a little warmer than necessary, but nothing alarming yet. If Dietmar hurried, she could still make it without a hiccup. Kurt stroked her hand and fingers, trying to be comforting even though she was unconscious. He stayed in that position for what felt like an eternity, periodically checking on the heat coming off her forehead and taking her pulse. Her breathing stayed consistent.

           Footsteps rang through the hallway, pulling Kurt away from the girl. As they approached, Kurt could tell that they weren’t the soldiers’. The soldiers wore heavy leather boots, and while they weren’t uniform, they were consistent out of the six. There were two sets of steps, and Kurt could feel the urgency from them as they came closer. Dietmar was back with help.

           Kurt scrambled to gather up his pens and notebook, grabbing the rest of his extra clothes that he hadn’t used on Dietmar’s sister. He couldn’t very well grab his blanket from her, so his belongings were effectively cut in half. Holding everything in one arm, Kurt scaled the wall nearest him and crawled into the rafters seconds before Dietmar and his friend burst into the room. They panted heavily.

           „Are you still alive?“ Dietmar asked with alarm, falling to his knees beside his sister. He turned around to his friend when he determined her life.

           „Excuse me,“ his friend said. „I’ll need some space.“ He bent over the girl with a stethoscope in hand, pressing it against her lungs. Next, he examined the wound. His tongue clucked against the roof of his mouth. „Damage to the spleen,“ he observed. That wasn’t news to Kurt. „Gun shot?“ Dietmar nodded. „The bullet still appears to be inside her. No exit wound. Hopefully it didn’t shatter inside. It appeared to miss her ribs on the way in.“

           Even though the girl was far from out of the woods, Kurt let go of a heavy sigh. The weight that pressed to his shoulders when he discovered her relation to Dietmar lifted. She was in good hands now. Much better hands than Kurt could offer her. He climbed further into the rafters, bamfing away when he was as high as he could get. He was sure that they could hear the sound from where they were on the ground, but at least Dietmar couldn’t go after him. Kurt just had to make sure that the girl was okay.