#anti daud

[vole-mon-amour]

"The one who's responsible for it all." You're a fucking idiot. You absolute baboon. You irresponsible fuck. "Oooh, he granted me the mark knowing what I'll do. Let's kill him." YOU decided to kill Jessamine. YOU killed all those people before and after that. YOU accepted the mark when it was offered. YOU and no one else made that decision.

Somehow both Corvo and Emily had the mark, yet I left every single person untouched when I played as them. Canon should have killed you a long time ago, you sick fuck.

God, I hate Daud so much. I only just freed him in DOTO and he's already got my blood boiled. Who fucking thought that was gonna be a good idea? Who thought I'm gonna read "The knife of Dunwall" where it's described that he regrets killing Jessamine and suddenly feel "oh, poor little meow meow, didn't do anything wrong in his life, ever, deserves immediate forgiveness"? He still fought Corvo when Corvo came after him. He didn't regret it even one bit.

"I killed one empress and saved another." You didn't do SHIT. You kidnapped Emily. You left a young girl basically an orphan, signing a contact of her suffering for the upcoming years, that's what you did. Forced to grow up without a mother and her dad (that wasn't officially known as her dad, so he couldn't claim that name) constantly trying to fight back and protect her from those men in power.

Daud can trip over his own sword and choke on his own blood. Even the fact that we find a note addressed to Billie where it says that Daud never stopped killing, even after all the events. Die, asshole, die. You didn't deserve your own game.

(And I know that he dies, but it's not nearly enough. Way too late.)

[deathlonging]

having the player never hear corvo speak or see his reflection was one of the best decisions dh1 made. when your character loses his life's focal point, proceeds to get tortured for six months, and literally undergoes rebirth and apotheosis his existence turns liminal. corvo is real bc the violence (the knife: daud) is, bc the future (emily) is, bc dunwall is. he becomes jessamine's inverse--a body trapped for the empire, with the only power of choice he wields being the ability to inflict the horrors of the system on the people he's replacing in it

[presiding]

a doctor turned serial killer turned doctor again, an actor who paints, a gang leader, a mining baron, and a vice overseer walk into the room.

oh yeah and they lead karnaca now.

dishonored 2 is my fav game but i think it's mid, story-wise. here's why dh1 works and why dh2's overarching story sorta misses

tl;dr: story integration is critical for gameplay that offers audience payoff, but emily's personal arc from dishonor to honor is inconsistently demonstrated in the story, and is not an interactive part of the gameplay.

essay/long version under cut >

recap: what's dishonored's deal

[skip if you want] dh1 is an underdog story: corvo is an honorable man swept up in the machinations of a callous city, so his canonical ending being 'this child will rule over an empire' isn't about the child's rule but rather about corvo's reputation being restored in a more hopeful city, due to his & the player's rejection of the violent connotations of the tagline 'revenge solves everything.'

similarly, in dh1 DLCs, daud's story arc is that of an anti-hero: a dishonorable man who realises too late he has done irreparable harm. he sees the error of his ways after a single monumental death, and eventually a single life redeems him when he/the player stepped in to circumvent a terrible fate for a child, enabling her to rule unfettered.

daud & corvo come to a satisfying conclusion within the extent of their narrative arcs. it doesn't matter that a child on a throne isn't really a fix for a decaying empire - the player's actions throughout the city of dunwall was what mattered - and these stories could be framed as parables. in that sense, young emily as a ruler is a metaphor for a hopeful future for the city & empire.

dishonored 1 & its DLCs are also great examples of storytelling with perfectly integrated gameplay - you, the player, worked towards the outcome that redeemed the protagonists.

in your efforts to save young emily, you either achieved a good outcome (corvo) or prevented a worse outcome (daud).

bringing us to dh2 -

what's emily's arc

emily's arc is a coming of age: we're introduced to a reigning empress who questions her role & skillset ("am i the empress my mother wanted me to be?"), then her titular fall from grace occurs. from there, she learns to reject the violent, selfish connotations in 'take back whats yours' tagline (a la daud & corvo!) while rediscovering why her rule is critical to the empire.

emily's rule is no longer metaphorical, but:

a literal thing for audience assessment (is emily a good ruler?) AND

the crux of her storyline.

at the beginning of dh2, emily is introduced as a disengaged leader ("i wish i could just run away from all this;" "i dont know if whether i should sail to the opposite side of the world, or have everyone around me executed"). the antihero has a precedent for the dishonored series in daud, so it's not at first glance an issue*, however, the fact that emily has ruled poorly reframes corvo & daud's endings as being less than ideal (a moralistic retcon) *we could talk here about how ready an audience was in 2016 for a flawed women as a protagonist, hell, even in 2023,,,

throwback to the beginning of this essay when i said:

'this child will rule over an empire' isn't about the child's rule but rather about corvo's reputation

emily's story arc, unlike for daud & corvo, is literally about the quality of her rule. we're no longer in metaphor territory (ironic phrase): a parable-style ending doesn't work.

does emily become a good ruler

we know she becomes a good ruler because the game says so. it is narrated to the audience via a (literal) word of god in the space of 30 seconds, after the final boss. the outsider tells us that emily becomes known as Just & Clever.

drawing a distinction here - this narration is not the same as the player actively being involved.

the player does not throughout the game become aware that emily has made political allies. during the game, she doesn't talk to these characters about saving karnaca or being a better ruler to the empire (there's a few lines might imply it, but you need to be actively looking and being careful to wait for every voice line. it's a far cry from daud & corvo's fight to save emily being unmissable - even though daud doesn't know at the beginning that's the goal).

how does the game show it

you can coincidentally not kill most of your subjects and never be aware that emily is looking to restore karnaca by means of instating a council - it's never brought up. it *couldn't* be brought up, because that council serves under the fake duke (armando), who is the last person she speaks to before she leaves for dunwall. its her suggestion that he rules karnaca, but armando's condition is that he will rule as he sees fit.

to back up a bit, emily's canonical method of restoring karnaca is by banding together key allies - hypatia, stilton, [byrne &or paolo], pastor, under a council beneath the duke's body double. they are passionate people who would each individually make worthwhile advisors, but if you think about those characters sitting at a table trying to reach an agreement, it feels like an assortment of people that emily didn't kill along the way and doesn't feel organic (up to interpretation). it's not stated if emily herself banded this council together, but logically she must have (worth a mention these are mostly characters that you as the player had reasonable rationale to kill during a high chaos run, except pastor). the underlying concept may be that karnaca's power is returned to its people - which is interesting given that the monarchy remains and armando's decision is final.

this overarching solution could also be taken as a critique to dh1's 'put your kid on the throne,' which is another reason its worthwhile looking at how emily was shown to be a better leader. obviously my point isn't that her solution was bad given the circumstance, but i mean she has very little agency here in all. if emily was shown to be more controlling as a leader, this could be interpreted as character growth, but that's not the case.

coming of age

how do you learn & grow when you can't specify your failings? emily doesn't really touch on her shortcomings as an empress. she non-specifically worries delilah makes a better empress than her. it's hard to argue her worries are meaningful when someone good at their job will still worry when lives are in the balance.

emily's best 'aha' moments (eg. crack in the slab comment about gaining perspective) are consistently undercut by a conversation with sokolov or meagan afterwards in which she demonstrates she hasn't learned anything (before the grand palace, emily condemns 'toadies sucking up to me' and is reminded by meagan that she's part of the problem). the story is confused about what it's trying to say about emily's progress, and when she's meant to show progress, if she was meant to show any progress at all. it could be argued that emily was never even a bad ruler, she had just been fed misinformation about the problems in karnaca and been the victim of slander by her political enemies. the game doesn't make this clear - it's easier to argue that the opposite is true given that her allies only have criticism.

worth a mention here that the heart quotes about armando - a fake ruler - interestingly mirror emily's character concerns. "see how he sighs? his life is a gilded cage." but this essay is already long.

while corvo & daud spend their games (and through the gameplay) 'earning' their redemption, emily is being led by the NPCs around her to a conclusion and a fix for the political mess in karnaca: meagan & sokolov guide emily to her missions, and there's no recurring quest for emily to investigate possible allies. she is able to gather the people she hasn't killed to herself by manner of... post-game narration. during the game, she's primarily concerned with getting her throne back.

an easy fix: if there had been less dialogue & narrative focus on emily's failings perhaps the ending would have felt more satisfying. it has the feel of cut content, but i don't know what was cut to be able to comment on it.

so what went wrong?

i can't help but wonder if arkane were worried they would lose a certain demographic if corvo wasn't playable (may have been deemed too much of a risk - 2013 was a different time), and so they had to take out story elements that were unique to emily's growth as a character/empress, because the usual storyline/gameplay integration had to work for both characters - in other words, gameplay that made sense for both corvo & emily was prioritised before emily's story & character development. which is a silly problem to have in a game that added character voices for the sake of improving characterisation - maybe emily's tale would have felt more akin to a parable if she had less lines that betrayed her ignorance (to the disdain of those around her).

i wish more care had been taken with emily's story. most players will never really notice the large variety of different endings - they're not particularly satisfying in and of themselves.

it's ironic that one of Emily's complaints is about her father/protector being overbearing, when his (parallel universe) presence in the gameplay may be one of the reasons her own narrative arc falls flat.

what are the upsides here

changing tune from what didn't work - don't you think the concept is fantastic? it's a great idea overall - can you imagine if the coming of age storyline was better integrated into the game?

it's valuable to talk about the integration of story and gameplay and characterisation from a craft perspective. dh2 genuinely is my favourite game - it's beautiful, the imm-sim design philosophy makes the world a delight to explore, the combat gives endless creative options for tackling any fight, there is a far greater diversity of cast in an in-text canonical way. there's loads to love!

i love emily as a dodgy leader, to me it adds interesting dimensionality to the outsider's narrations - of course in dunwall there's never a neat happily ever after! emily, like the outsider, both work well as characters who hold ultimate power but aren't necessarily worthy of it - and this makes perfect sense for the dishonored universe's morality & critiques of power. however, within this grey area there's still plenty of room for a satisfying ending, which isn't what we ended up with, whatever the true reason for that was. and also, damn, emily's a marked assassin empress, if she can't lead well then who can?

while dh1 was criticised for its narrative simplicity, dh2 in contrast and in hindsight shows us that simplicity isn't so bad - there's satisfaction in gameplay achieves a clear, simple narrative goal.

[annamarabella-grumble]

Dishonored Essay Collection

For maximum convenience as I build a little archive of my work on this account, I've compiled the links to all my Dishonored essays!

They're available as blog posts and as video essays, all links below hoping tumblr doesn't nuke me.

Blog posts

Dishonored’s Daud as Anti-Hero

Daud's Characterisation in Death of the Outsider

Billie Lurk and the Chaos System in Death of the Outsider

Best Levels in Gaming: Dishonored's Flooded District

Videos

[every-character-ever-poll]

DAUD - Dishonored

(ANTI?)PROPAGANDA:

I hate this man with all my being. I get that he's a grey character and all, but damn dude. He didn't think he had any impact at all by murdering people, and thought he'd get away with murdering the empress. Like damn

[sekritjay]

Replaying Dishonoured 2 because I'm BG3'ed out and there's nothing new in the gaming space that appeals to me at the moment but I suddenly got to thinking about my Dishonoured/Mass Effect fusion setting I had sitting around. Was keeping to myself because if I got round to writing it it was going to be a surprise in the second fic but since that post has been sitting around since 2018 it's probably a bit too late to start writing it now

Basically towards the end of the first fic Delilah Copperspoon's ambitions extend into what she thinks is an alternate universe and in return for reviving her, forcibly recruits Shepard into her coven. The second fic would've been about Shepard trying to steal her independence back while outwardly doing Delilah's bidding, at the same time trying to reunite with her former crewmates. Complicating it is that the Reapers still exist and Delilah's ambitions also involve them - either destroying them or subverting them

Anyway, part of the second fic would've involved Shepard's unique powers and since I'm back playing Dishonoured 2 I was thinking about what kind of powers would she develop. In the Dishonoured series it's evident that the powers Marked individuals have are reflective of the person they come from -

Corvo's powers are based around stealth but also from augmenting his lethality against groups. Daud's skillset is also stealth oriented, however as he leads an assassin's order he's capable of empowering his followers too. Emily's powers come from her status as an empress - many of powers involve manipulating and controlling others, but also by stealthily moving in full view of others

And Delilah. Delilah is by far the most interesting. Like Daud she leads an order of her own and is capable of empowering them, but it seems she draws much of her powers from her desire to be seen and worshipped. She speaks through her art but also from her charisma, and her magic wraps and warps the man-made world around her (emphasis on MAN-made) by turning everything into plants, trees and flowers, smothering the environment until you can only see HER world, and not the destruction beneath

Anyway... Shepard's powers. They would have to reflect who she is as a person, both her background and her ideals. Undoubtedly she'd be able to empower her squad to a much greater degree then Delilah or Daud. Sure you could talk about biotics but I like to think because it's magic-based it completely baffles anti-biotic techniques and then is shared amongst the entire squad

What else would Shepard have... a career soldier, but also special forces, which you could go in any direction but principally would be reflective of their ability to succeed against superior forces through grit and guile. Sure it's hardly important, but man it's fun to speculate on uh, fictional characters... thats what tumblr's for right?

I suppose the powers in both the ME series and the Dishonoured series could conceivably map to each other but what I'm really looking for are unique powers and that's where my creativity - and patience - comes to a grinding halt

[penuntutilmudotnet]

🤔Dr MAZA - Teori Konspirasi, Anti Vaksin Jangan Keluar Perkataan Yang Boleh Membunuh Manusia🤔#2021 #S_DR._MAZA "Kasih Ustaz Rizal, baik seperti mana yang saya gantungkan soalan sebelum kita berhenti rehat. Soalan ini saya khas tujukan kepada Saiful, Samahah Datuk Arif, dan juga doktor Mazar. Isu ini berlegar di media sosial dengan begitu kuat tentang teori konspirasi. Ia mula diolah dengan fakta, analisis sains, video, gambar, dan ditambah dengan nas dan dalil agama. Antaranya, dikaitkan dengan dalil dajal, yang dikatakan sebagai cecair vaksin yang akan masuk ke dalam tubuh badan manusia. Kadang-kadang ia kedengaran mengarut, tetapi perkara ini sedang bermain dan juga mempengaruhi golongan atas pagar. Datuk, apa hujah balas Datuk kepada teori konspirasi ini? Silakan, terima kasih. Aa, semua berkongsi dan sidang penonton sekalian. Yang pertamanya, kita ada dua keadaan. Pertama ialah realiti yang kita lihat sekarang. Lebih daripada 100,000,000 orang terkena COVID. Tidak mengapa kita kata itu dakwah, tetapi 2,500,000 manusia mati. Di Malaysia pun lebih daripada 1,000 orang mati. Kita tahu ada adik-beradik kita yang mati, kaum keluarga mati, dan kawan kita mati. Ini adalah perkara yang nyata dan betul berlaku. Kedua ialah andaian atau teori konspirasi yang dalam bahasa Arab dikenali sebagai "muamara" atau "nazariatul muamara". Ini mungkin merupakan satu perancangan. Jangan main-main, ini adalah fakta yang telah berdiri. Kita perlu membezakan antara fakta dan andaian. Andaian yang kita buat boleh menyebabkan bahaya kepada manusia. Jabir bin Abdillah dalam hadis yang diriwayatkan oleh Imam Ahmad, Abu Daud, dan lainnya, menceritakan tentang seorang yang cedera di kepala. Ramai ustaz dan sahabat tahu cerita ini. Dia bertanya kepada sahabat-sahabatnya, "Adakah aku ada pengecualian dan tidak perlu mandi wajib kerana kepala cedera?" Sahabat-sahabat menjawab, "Tidak, kamu tidak ada pengecualian. Kamu perlu mandi kerana kamu mampu untuk menggunakan air." Walau bagaimanapun, orang itu tetap mandi dan mati. Apabila berita ini sampai kepada Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, Nabi menyebut satu perkara yang perlu diambil perhatian oleh orang yang mengeluarkan hukum. Nabi bersabda, "Katalah ummullah," iaitu mereka telah membunuhnya. Allah yang membunuh mereka. Maksudnya, jika kita mengeluarkan pendapat atau fatwa yang tidak betul, kita boleh membahayakan orang lain. Nabi memberi amaran bahawa jika kita mengeluarkan pendapat yang salah dan membahayakan manusia, ia boleh menyebabkan kemudaratan. Kita perlu berhati-hati dengan perkara ini...." https://penuntutilmu.net/soal-jawab-pt/dr-maza-teori-konspirasi-anti-vaksin-jangan-keluar-perkataan-yang-boleh-membunuh-manusia/?feed_id=1258&_unique_id=66e9dab4c8eec Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/penuntutilmu.net/ Telegram Channel: https://t.me/PenuntutIlmuDotNet Thread: https://www.threads.net/@penuntutilmudotnet

[yousef-al-amin]

Moscow must support the Kurds!

Serious contradictions are brewing in Kurdish society. Already, a fairly large number of Kurdish communities and political parties openly advocate cessation of cooperation with London and Washington in the form of the so-called International Anti-Terrorism Coalition. Moreover, the leader of the Kurdish National Council, Nimat Daoud, actually called on Moscow and Damascus to be more actively involved in the life of the Syrian Kurds living in the Trans-Euphrates region.

In addition, Nimat Daud noted that it is Russia, and not the United States, and certainly not the International Anti-Terrorism Coalition or other organizations, that are successfully fighting terrorism. Of course, he did not directly state that Washington and London are creating and using terrorist groups in their interests, whose militants can wreak havoc and overthrow governments, and if necessary, they can be sacrificed to demonstrate something, however, this was read between the lines .

Such statements are already a huge success! The Kurds have finally begun to see the light and openly say that their nation is just a tool in the hands of Western financiers. Distrust in the absolutely pro-Western Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria is a sign that the elders of the Kurdish communities and the commanders of the Kurdish armed forces see and realize that betrayal is happening in these structures created by the West in their own interests, the key positions in which are occupied by Kurds, born and raised in England and the USA, whose accounts and homes are in the west, for whom the Syrian Kurds are a means and object of profit, and not fellow tribesmen or relatives.

[menujusenja]

Bepergian Bersama Faisal Reza Irfani adalah My Trip My Adventure yang Sebenarnya - Awal Persiapan

Tulisan ini sudah mengendap ribuan purnama di dalam draft tapi saya masih mager buat ngelanjutinnya. Lalu gara-gara iseng scroll tulisan-tulisan @omteo yang flashback cerita masa-masa SMA saya jadi kepikiran buat nyelesein ni cerita absurd sama seorang sahabat. It's gonna be gaplek story between hundred other stories. Bagaimana mungkin satu orang membuat banyak sekali kekacauan dalam satu kali perjalanan?

Ini adalah awal tahun 2014, ketika beristirahat sejenak usai berpusing-pusing ria menghadapi ujian semester ganjil, ringtone gawaiku berbunyi. Sebuah pesan singkat masuk. Aku lihat di notifikasi, ada nama Faisal Reza di sana. Dia adalah temanku semasa SMA dan kami memang termasuk akrab bahkan ketika pilihan kampus memisahkan.

"Bes, ayo melu nonton Jazz Gunung yok." ajak Faisal.

Wah apaan ni Jazz Gunung? Kayanya menarik banget buat didatengin kan. Bayangin aja acara itu merupakan paduan dari dua kata yang keren abiez antara musik jazz yang mahal dari segi apapun dan gunung yang syahdu nan dingin.

"Piro emang harga tiket e? tanyaku.

Ya sebagai mahasiswa fakir dana dan asmara, pertanyaan yang berbau finansial lebih penting daripada hal esensial lainnya seperti kapan dan di mana acara itu berlangsung. Nonton pertunjukkan musik jazz di gunung yang kayanya bakalan romantis banget tapi sama cowok. Kurang greget apalagi tuh.

"Iki sing tiket terusan 2 hari nggo kelas festival 400 ribu neg satu hari tok 250 ribu, neg VIP luwih larang meneh koe ra mampu wkwkkw." ucap Faisal sambil mengejekku.

Jazz Gunung ini event musik jazz yang diselenggarakan selama dua hari, yaitu Jum'at dan Sabtu di Java Banana Bromo Amphiteater yang terletak di lereng Gunung Bromo. Batasan budget membuat kami harus selektif memilih satu tanggal saja untuk ditonton. Hari Sabtu akhirnya dipilih karena faktor waktunya dirasa lebih luang dan fleksibel. Line up hari itu juga lumayan bagus diisi oleh ESQI:EF Syaharani & Queenfireworks, Nita Aartsen Quatro featuring Yeppy Romero, Indro Hardjodikoro & The Fingers dan Jazz Ngisoringin.

Setelah menyelesaikan pembelian dan pembayaran tiket masuk, kami kemudian merancang rencana perjalanan beserta transportasinya. Faisal yang berangkat dari Solo memilih menggunakan kereta api menuju Surabaya pada hari Jum'at selepas kuliah dan akan sampai sekitar pukul 11 malam. Setelah itu esok paginya baru kami bersama-sama menuju venue. Mengingat kami berdua sangat efisien dan efektif dalam menggunakan uang (baca : miskin dan kere), perjalanan ini harus bebas dari kata foya-foya. Seperti kata Hamish Daud pada waktu itu, my trip my adventure ! Kalo ada cara yang susah kenapa pilih cara yang gampang yee kan.

Jadilah kita membeli tiket kereta api kelas ekonomi Probowangi yang saat itu hanya bertarif sepuluh ribu rupiah saja. Selain murah, kereta ini berangkat sangat pagi yaitu sekitar pukul 04.30 WIB. Jadi kami berpikir bisa lebih santai ketika sampai Probolinggo dan menikmati suasana pagi kota yang syahdu. Kami sekalian membeli tiket pulang ke Surabaya untuk hari Minggu pagi dengan harga tiket yang sama.

Kami berdua belum pernah sama sekali mengunjungi Probolinggo, jadi benar-benar buta dengan kondisi di sana. Agar bisa sampai ke venue secara tepat waktu, kami melakukan riset moda transportasi apa saja yang tersedia untuk menuju ke Java Banana Bromo Amphitheater. Ternyata, ada pilihan bus dan semacam angkutan sayur yang setiap waktu ada di terminal kota. Tarifnya sekitar tiga sampai empat puluh ribu dan memakan waktu 90 menit perjalanan. Masih tergolong murah lah yaa.

Sebagai anak backpaker gaul nan uye kami sepakat anti kemapanan. Pilihan fasilitas akomodasi berupa hotel yang disediakan panitia tidak kami ambil. Hanya orang-orang bermental lemah yang tidur di hotel.

"Di gunung itu menyatu dengan alam dan menghirup udara segar kebebasan bro !", ucap kedua mahasiswa berkemampuan keuangan yang lemah ini.

Perjalanan sudah disusun dengan sedemikian ketat sehingga kami yakin semua akan lancar dan baik-baik saja. Sistem penuh fleksibilitas yang kami usung selanjutnya akan menjadi tumpuan ketika menghadapi medan dengan kondisi dan situasi tak menentu. Aku pribadi memang bukan kali pertama ini berpergian dengan Faisal, karenanya mental sudah sangat siap apabila menemui hal-hal ajaib saat perjalanan nanti. Sesuatu yang kelak benar-benar terjadi dan tak hanya sekali, tapi berkali-kali.

Bersambung yee ~

Bandung, 8 Desember 2023

@menujusenja

[theladysunami]

Dishonored MZDS Crossover Idea(s)

I've got some half formed "Mo Dao Zu Shi characters and themes in the universe of the Dishonored games" ideas spinning through my head that I really want to share and brainstorm about. 

Alas, I don't know all that many people in the MDZS fandom yet, and definitely don't know anyone in the fandom who also knows the Dishonored game franchise. It's terribly frustrating!

I'll go ahead and type out some of the ideas I've had so far, just in case they'd be of interest to anyone else: 

Wen Ruohan is a bit of a blend of Hiram Burrows and Delilah Copperspoon. I'm undecided if he's the rightful Emperor, he’s acting as Lord Regent, or he's done some shady political maneuvering to place himself on the throne in place of little Wen Yuan’s birth parents (he’s absolutely responsible for the death of said birth parents regardless). 

He has void powers via the Mark of the Outsider, and can grant them to his underlings in the same manner as Delilah and Daud. He has granted powers to both his sons. While they don’t flaunt their powers (at least not at first) they certainly use them to keep both the nobility and the common folk under their thumb.

(Wen Zhuliu might have his own, independent, mark --and thus a unique power set-- but is loyal to Wen Ruohan).

The Lan Clan is the Abbey of the Everyman... or at least they are an order in the Abbey responsible for the anti-void Music Boxes and the “Musical Healing” (as portrayed in Death of the Outsider). Their music is less jarring of course, or at least it is to those not touched by void-magic. 

Lan Wangji likely aspires to create music that can slowly fix void damage to the mind in a way that won’t damaging the host in other ways, but his fellow researchers into “Musical Healing” don’t seem to care that much about the mental distress of their patients. (Lan Wangji eventually questions if void magic itself causes “damage” at all). 

Wei Wuxian is a little bit Corvo Attano and a little bit Death of the Outsider’s Billie Lurk. He is (was) a ward of the Jiang noble family, who figures out Wen Ruohan’s involvement in shady dealings, and his involvement in shady magics. Unfortunately his suspicious aren’t believed (except perhaps by Lan Wangji). Worse, his ideas about studying Black Magic further and hopefully learning how to undo the Outsider are anathema to the Abbey, and have earned him their ire. He’s soon stuck in the unenviable position of both the Emperor and the Abby gunning for him, when he really only wants to help the common folk.

Wei Wuxian’s does end up obtaining void powers, but those powers are granted from artifacts, not a mark. (Perhaps his hand really is cut off at the behest of the Wen at some point, and he creates an artifact replacement himself). His ultimate goal is to kill the Outsider, and in doing so cut off the source of power for Wen Ruohan and his followers. (He also protects Wen Yuan from either death or imprisonment at some point. Specifics undecided).

The Outsider is either Wen Mao, or Xue Chonghai. Which one depends somewhat on whether Wen Ruohan is the rightful emperor (and the connection between the royal family and void-magic runs deep) or Wen Ruohan simply took advantage of his powers while manipulating things to his own benefit.

Wei Wuxian does eventually successfully kill the Outsider (the role of the Twin-bladed Knife being played by the resentful blade from which he made the Yin Tiger Tally of course. Perhaps collected from a whale?). Unfortunately for him, his use of void magic is well established, and at least some are aware his powers come from artifacts that can be stolen from him. 

As to be expected from a Mo Dao Zu Shi AU, things end poorly for him. He is badly injured, and either the void “likes” him, or his allies in the Outsider’s destruction hope to buy time to save him, and he ends up as the Void’s new representative. (Or as a third option, perhaps somewhat like in the Dishonored Novels killing the Outsider has some unfortunate consequences, and Wei Wuxian becomes the new representative to resolve things).

Wei Wuxian isn’t heard from (directly) for about 13-years. Lan Wangji suffers from the knowledge Wei Wuxian was absolutely correct about Wen Ruohan’s corruption, and (thanks to being surrounded by the Ancient Music his whole like) being someone Wei Wuxian can never speak to. Wei Wuxian either avoids giving any marks (except to Wen Ning), or makes certain to only give them to the dying that they might fulfill some final wish. (Delilah could remove Corvo’s mark, so perhaps as Wei Wuxian’s agent Wen Ning removes those of the near dead before they die, so they can truely rest). 

Wei Wuxian does come back, but how I haven’t decided. Maybe his friends actually figure out how to safely remove him, or maybe Mo Xuanyu comes across a ritual for turning oneself into a direct avatar of the Outsider. (If the ritual is involved, perhaps Wei Wuxian found it and hoped it would aid in his quest to end the outsider, but either realized killing the avatar probably wouldn’t remove the marks, wasn’t willing to let a friend make themselves an avatar just to be killed, or was worried the avatar would escape and become a worse enemy). 

[joshuakidd]

I’ve been just writing about Dishonored[How Daud is an anti-hero]and I think I might have started to ramble a bit about it[I need to replay Knife of Dunwall and the Brigmore witches DLC]. Like, I loved the perspective of Daud and how he’s just having to regret on what he done and such.[Mainly the fact he says that he killed many nobles and all of them are equally corrupted,yet he then says:”Why would an empress be different? But she was.” He also states:”A storm was coming that would shake apart everything that I built.”]

[vole-mon-amour]

This is, and always will be, an anti Daud space. I hate that asshole.

[deathlonging]

tee bee h billie's character is more complicated than daud's like hes going through the fairly straightforward anti hero journey starring regret and retirement but she decided to kill her only father figure in a time of huge crisis for the gang he leads and the city whose cracks its wedged itself into BC of said crisis......and this is just her fulfilling her destiny to her its not even about the killing its about the TIMING. and then she has to quit that life cold turkey when she fails in that quest and reorient herself w the business of living........her entire story is her on a carousel hopping between new dimensions of loneliness like theyre plastic horses. and this so far is just what happens to her it isnt even scratching the surface of her psyche or the life she makes for herself. insane character

[eretzyisrael]

Blind musician who became ‘King of the Qanum’

his is the fascinating story of  Avraham Salman, a graduate of the Baghdad music school for the blind. Salman went on to become a professional musician in Israel and to gain an international audience in the Arab world. Feature in the Forward by Jonah Nelson and Esther Warkov:

One night in Baghdad in 1932, a Jewish toddler looked up at the stars and saw nothing but darkness. He was totally blind.

The odds were that this boy would live a life of poverty and begging.

Instead, he became a renowned musician known as “King of the Qanun.” This is his story, exemplifying the enduring contributions of Iraqi Jewish musicians.

Ibrahim Shahrabani was born in 1930 to a family in Baghdad’s ancient Jewish community. At 5 months old, he contracted an eye infection that blurred his vision. As a toddler, he would look up and see a sky full of clouds when there were none. By age 2, his vision was gone.

He was sent to a school for blind children called Dar Mu’asat Al-’Amiyaan — “The House of Consoling the Blind.” It was founded in 1929 by Eleazer Silas Kadoorie, a wealthy Jewish businessman. Most students were Jewish, but children of all religions attended.

To spare the students from a life of begging, they learned skills like basket-weaving and carpentry. Shahrabani was assigned the vocation of clockmaker, but he only wanted to play music. At the time, the school was the only institution in Baghdad where music was formally taught. Working as a musician was considered a lowly profession, so it was something Jews and other minorities were allowed to do, as ethnomusicologist Esther Warkov describes in her dissertation on Iraqi Jewish musicians.

Music students at Eleazer Silas Kadoorie’s school in Baghdad in the 1930s. (Photo:The Iraqi jewish Archive)

Shahrabani began to learn qanun, a plucked zither that was popular throughout the Middle East. He eventually memorized thousands of pieces and could perform nearly any genre: traditional suites (called “The Iraqi Maqam”), classical Middle Eastern compositions and Western classical music.

He “has a head full of music,” esteemed Iraqi Maqam singer Salim Shibbeth told Warkov in 1981. “Best in the Middle East.”

Jewish instrumentalists were dominant in Baghdad‘s music scene. Every Wednesday, Iraqi state radio’s on-air orchestra would broadcast to eager audiences. One Wednesday, there was silence, and the prime minister demanded to know why. It was a major Jewish holiday, he was told, so none of the musicians showed up.

For the most part, Jews lived peacefully in Baghdad for centuries. Even after a wave of anti-Jewish looting in 1941 during Shavuot in which 180 Jews were killed, Jewish musicians continued to live and work in the city. As a teenager in the 1940s, Shahrabani joined fellow blind musicians in a traveling orchestra called Ikhwaan Al-Fan, or Brothers of Art, founded by Jewish violinist Daoud Akram. Shahrabani remembered those years as “heaven.”

The school for the blind had long advertised its students’ musical services, and Brothers of Art was soon booked on state radio. The group was also in demand for gatherings of women who felt comfortable unveiled in front of the mostly blind musicians, according to Warkov’s research. Money from such gatherings was funneled back into the school’s budget.

By 1948, the situation in Palestine was boiling over into Baghdad. After Israel declared its independence, Iraq joined an invasion of British Palestine by Arab states. In the Iraqi city of Basra, Shafiq Ades, a prominent Jewish businessman, was accused of aiding Israeli war efforts and was publicly hanged after a show trial.

Tensions spilled over into an orchestra run by Iraqi state radio. Palestinian conductor Ruhi Al-Hamash and Jewish qanunist Abraham Daud Ha-Cohen got into a fight, and Ha-Cohen was fired. Jewish orchestra manager and virtuoso Yusuf Za’arur recommended that 18-year-old Shahrabani replace Ha-Cohen. Popular singers such as Nazem Al-Ghazali then began to hire Shahrabani for their orchestras. He and other Iraqi Jewish musicians prospered despite the tumultuous times and their low social status. “In Baghdad, the musicians lived like kings,” Shahrabani said.

But conditions for Jews were deteriorating. After mass civil service firings of Jews in 1950, Shahrabani and fellow musicians lost their radio orchestra jobs, according to Za’arur’s great-grandson, David Regev Zaarur.

Around this time, Shahrabani was invited to join a state-run orchestra in Jerusalem. The invitation came from Ezra Aharon, an Iraqi Jew who’d moved to Palestine in the 1930s and became a central figure in the creation of new musical genres and ensembles. As the situation in Baghdad worsened, Shahrabani reluctantly agreed to emigrate. He renounced his Iraqi citizenship as required by law, and left Iraq alongside tens of thousands of Baghdadi Jews. He never returned.

Shahrabani began using a different last name in Iraq: Salman. Once he immigrated to Israel, he changed his first name, Ibrahim, to the Hebrew name Avraham. He soon became a salaried member of the Israel Broadcasting House’s Kol Yisrael orchestra, playing under Aharon’s direction alongside classmates from the school for the blind. During the 1950s, the orchestra performed 30 to 45 minutes of live music daily, breaking up Arabic-language news or political programming. Salman played any style required: Jewish liturgical songs, Syrian folk songs, songs based on Andalusian Arabic poetry, modern Egyptian hits and the traditional Iraqi Maqam.

Read article in full

[screwtheprinceimtakingthehorse]

Dishonored Essays Ep. 02: How Death of the Outsider Changed Daud

This time, we're taking another, deeper look at Daud's characterisation; focusing on how he comes off in Death of the Outsider. We're going to have a look at what makes Daud not only an anti-hero, but an amoral character in the Dishonored DLC, and I'm going to connect that part of his characterisation to the games' Chaos System. This, in the end, will serve as the bridge to Part 3 of this series, which will focus on Billie Lurk and Death of the Outsider's rejection of the Chaos mechanic.

[incorrect-dishonored-quotes]

Martin: DAMN YOU SUCK AT THIS!

Daud, trapped in an anti-magic trap, being forced to play Super Smash Bros: [Throws down the controller and slurs in Pandissyan]