#i know the setting doesn't really have nationalities and or ethnicities as we know it but you know what i mean

[kinogane]

This may be just a consequence of personally never having read Moby Dick and various quirks in localized dialogue but every time I remember that Ishmael is ostensibly American it fucks me up. It just doesn't scan right to me. Now the natural follow-up question is "if she's not American, what the hell did you think she was?", to which I did not have a good answer until I came to the obvious realization: her nationality is Sailor and her homeland is The Fucking Sea.

[ghostoffuturespast]

OC Interview: Valerie Hye-jin Li (aka Grandpa V)

Tagged by: @jackiemychoom @therealnightcity & @tarmac-rat! Thanks so much for thinking of me! 🧡

NGL these are some unusual (and not the most serious) interview questions. So, I was trying to think of a scenario in which V would actually answer these questions. (Because mind you, she normally wouldn't and especially not for a total stranger.) Luckily, I know just the reporter… I may have gone a little overboard with this, but I think I just needed something light and fluffy in between all the angst and carnage that I’m currently writing.

The TLDR version is all the way at the bottom under the cut, so if you’d prefer not to read all of this and just want the quick and dirty on the questions. There you are.

This one's kind of old, so I think a lot of folks have been tagged already, but tagging (and as per usual, no pressure): @shimmer-like-agirl @baublekute @vox-monstera @nncc77 @merge-conflict @fly-amanitaa @dani-the-goblin @sp4cedr4g0n

(And no it doesn't have to be a Cyberpunk OC, but if you tag me I'll pop over and read your interview!)

Auntie V by Monique Kutcher

[The scene opens at Red Peaks Trailer Park. Moving closer we get an exterior view of the Kutcher residence before transitioning to the common area inside. Late morning light filters in from the windows. A tired, very bedraggled looking V is sitting in the corner of the booth. She has bedhead, is wearing an oversized t-shirt, lounge shorts, and is nursing her coffee. She takes a sip. Turning toward the hallway we see Monique appear. There is a sparkly unicorn on her pink shirt. She has a fistful of crayons in one hand and a screamsheet along with several blank pieces of paper in the other.]

Monique: (staring awkwardly) Auntie V, are you busy?

V: (fidgeting in her seat. uncomfortable) Um… Not really. Why?

Monique: Can I ask you some questions?

V: (hesitant) What kind of questions?

[Monique moves to sit next to V. Setting down her crayons and paper on the table, Monique shows V the screamsheet she was carrying. It’s an interview article on US Cracks and Kerry Eurodyne from some teen magazine.]

Monique: These. I’m practicing being a media reporter.

V: (blinking in surprise) Uh... Sure? I guess.

Monique: Yay! Okay, first question. What’s your name? Oh, I already know this one.

[Picking up a purple crayon, Monique writes the letter V on one of the blank pieces of paper. It takes up most of the page. After jotting that down she squints at the magazine. Concentrating.]

Monique: How tall are you?

V: 5’ 3”.

[Switching to a green crayon, Monique writes the number 53 on the page. She squints some more at the magazine.]

Monique: (trying to sound out the word she’s reading) Ge– What does that word say?

V: Gender? Female. I’d say I’m a girl.

Monique: But you don’t like the color pink?

V: Not really. Not all girls like pink.

Monique: (nodding sagely) But you do like purple. That’s my favorite color.

V: Yeah. I do like purple.

[Monique writes the word girl in yellow crayon before trying to read the next question off the magazine.]

Monique: Um… What’s that word?

V: Orientation. I’m bisexual.

Monique: What does that mean?

V: I like girls and boys.

Monique: I do to. Though sometimes Dorian and Alex are mean to me when we’re playing.

V: That’s not… Nevermind. (muttering) I'll leave that one to your Mom and Uncle. 

[V picks up the purple and pink crayon and draws a little bisexual pride flag on the corner of Monique’s notes. The colors aren’t quite right.]

V: …What’s your next question? Nationality/Ethnicity? Born and raised in Night City, but I’m half Korean, quarter Chinese, and a quarter Danish.

Monique: (confused) Danish? Like the cake?

V: No, like Denmark. The country… Cake? You mean the pastry with the filling in it?

Monique: Yeah! Mom always has one when she brings us donuts. The cherry ones are her favorite. Where’s Denmark?

V: Pretty far away.

Monique: Mm, okay. 

[V watches as Monique attempts to draw a pastry on her notes. Cherry filling, of course.]

Monique: Next question… Star sign!

V: Uh… Libra. I think?

Monique: What’s that mean?

V: (shrugging) No idea.

Monique: (shrugs back) Okay.

[Zooming in on we see Monique draw a star and write the word ‘Lebra’. The ‘L’ is written backwards.)

Monique: Favorite fruit?

V: Pomegranate. 

Monique: I don’t think I’ve ever eaten one of those.

V: Kind of a weird fruit. I’ve only eaten it twice. I like that they’re crunchy, the fruit’s around all the little seeds. They’re a pain in the ass to eat though.

[Monique looks at V.]

V: How about I draw it, since you’ve never eaten one and then you can ask me the next question.

[Monique nods. V picks up the red crayon and starts doodling. It’s a piss poor rendition.]

Monique: Favorite season?

V: In NC, winter. It’s not as hot as it usually is.

[Monique draws a snowflake. She's probably never seen snow. But neither has V.]

Monique: Favorite flower?!

V: Mmm… Cactus flowers.

Monique: The big ones or the little ones?

V: Uh, the small ones. With all the round… leaves? Is that what they are?

Monique: Prickly pears!? I like those ones too! The pink ones are my favorite. There’s some over by Auntie Lora’s trailer. Dorian’s always looking for bugs in them. Bleh!

[Monique draws something resembling a cactus covered in pink and yellow flowers. V is still working on her poorly drawn pomegranate.]

Monique: Favorite smell?

V: Real leather and ginger.

[V puts her crayon down. Done with her pomegranate blob.]

Monique: What do those smell like?

V: Ginger’s like a spice? A root. Has a fresh smell, kinda sharp. Leather smells like… (picking up her coffee and taking a sip to hide the blush on her face) Smells like your Uncle…

Monique: Uncle River does smell nice. But sometimes he gets stinky when he’s been outside working too long. Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?!

V: Coffee, then tea. Don’t really like hot chocolate. Especially the synth-stuff. Has a weird aftertaste.

Monique: I love hot chocolate! Mom let me try some of her coffee once. I didn’t like it.

V: Maybe when you’re older.

Monique: Nah. 

[Monique kicking her feet and reading the next question.]

Monique: Hmm, how much do you sleep?

V: 5 to 6 hours. Usually. On a good day.

[V takes a sip of her coffee.]

Monique: Mom says Dorian and I need 10 hours of sleep every night. She makes us go to bed early. She tells Randy to go to bed too, but he usually doesn't listen. (still kicking her feet) I wish I got to stay up late. You and Uncle River get to stay up late. I heard you both last night when I went to the bathroom.

[V spits her coffee back into her mug, face turning bright red.]

Monique: You okay? Why’d you spit out your coffee?

V: (flustered) No reason.

Monique: (puts her arms up in the air and shakes them around) Was it because you and Uncle River were wiggling last night? Mom says because your his girlfriend you both need alone time. She told me and Dorian not to knock when you’re visiting and the door to Uncle River’s room is closed. Mom also said he should think about getting his own trailer. (thoughtful) I don’t think I’d like that though, because then I’d have to walk out of the trailer for Uncle River to make me breakfast in the morning. Mom always burns the toast. 

[V now looks like a tomato and avoids making eye contact with Monique, instead giving her coffee mug a pinched expression. Unfazed, Monique moves on to the next question.]

Monique: Which is your favorite, cats or dogs?

V: (clearing her throat) Cats. Have a cat named Nibbles.

Monique: Oh, can I meet your cat?!

V: Sure.

Monique: What color is your cat?

V: (still looking uncomfortably hot, albeit less red in the face, also looking very sadly at the backwash in her coffee) Hmm, pink. Ish. He doesn’t have any fur.

[Monique draws a pink cat and reads the next question off the screamsheet.]

Monique: Where would you like to go on a trip?

V: (looks out the window for a long moment) Some place without buildings. Less people.

Monique: The Badlands?

V: I was thinking further away.

Monique: Denmark?

V: Mm, maybe. I think they might even have trees there.

[Monique draws a tree on her notes before trying to read the next question.]

Monique: Favorite – Um…

V: Fictional character. Don’t have one.

Monique: Number of blankies you sleep with?

V: 2-3. I get cold when I sleep.

Monique: And the last one! A fun fact?

V: (thinking) Used to play the clarinet.

Thanks for reading that if you did lol! TLDR version and/or if you need the questions!

OC Interview Questions

Nickname: V’s fine.

Height: 5’ 3”

Gender: Female.

Orientation: Bi.

Nationality/Ethnicity: Half Korean, quarter Chinese, and a quarter Danish. Born and raised in Night City.

Star Sign:  Libra.

Fave Fruit: Pomegranate.

Fave Season: Winter.

Fave Flower: Prickly pear cactus.

Fave Scent: Real genuine leather and ginger.

Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate: Coffee or tea. 

Average Hours of Sleep: 5 to 6, usually. 12 to 14 if other people are having a worse day than I am.

Dog or Cat Person: Cats. Though my cat acts like a dog half the time.  

Dream Trip: Don’t know. Some place without buildings or people.

Fave fictional character: Don’t have one.

Number of Blankets They Sleep With: 2 or 3, I get cold when I sleep.

A Fun Fact: Used to play the clarinet.

[haedraulics]

I know you didn’t really like the “violence is inevitable” thing in AOT but , isn’t it true tho? The world unfortunately really is like that, no matter how many times we go back in history, look at the current world situation, I think it was pretty realistic from Isayama to depict the world of aot like that, it’s disappointing because of how much it comes close to reality imo

What I do agree with is how Eren is forgiven, especially in the fandom, like 💀💀

But I think the destruction in Paradis happened exactly because of that, because the world never forgave Eren and the Jaegerists for the genocide

Also, no hate, I just wanted to share my own view lol

helloo sorry for taking so long to reply to this, i'm ridiculously slow with my inbox 💀

i have two things to say about this, the first is that i'm skeptical that isayama genuinely wanted to tell a story about the inevitability of violence, and the second is that a theme in fiction reflecting some aspects of reality doesn't then make it interesting or well-written.

i raise the first point because of characters like kenny and gabi, who undergo major development because their dependence on violence is challenged by a show of compassion from another character (in kenny's case, from uri; in gabi's case, from the braun family). to me these characters indicate that the author wants to convey optimism about the power of human relations, regardless of how extreme or cruel the circumstances are. rather than, 'violence is inevitable', these stories convey that, 'violence is not more powerful than compassion'.

the way the epilogue goes, it renders these previous themes nigh meaningless. of course, states don't follow the same emotional logic as interpersonal relationships, but then it makes me question: what was the point of the additional pages? why did armin's final pages profess his conviction in the efficacy of communication and ambassadorship?

why, instead, wasn't his last page him getting shot and killed after stepping off the boat? if the intention was to convey 'the inevitable tragedy of violence'.

the reason why is because i don't think that was actually the message isayama wanted to tell, but rather, it was damage control for an ending that awkwardly failed to convey consequences for eren's actions. eren kills 80% of humanity, but all the main character's parents survive, and so do they. eren kills 80% of humanity, but his friends tearfully express their gratitude for his good intentions, and presumably live out long and peaceful lives.

in an ending with plot contrivances this inane, an author might want to bring some 'realism' back into his story. therefore, the civilizational collapse of paradis is not an earnest contribution to the messages of aot, but just tacked-on course correction.

in aot it's not 'violence is inevitable', it's 'violence is inevitable for you filthy side characters'. which is really sad, because ramzi was the protagonist of his own story, too.

additionally, i want expand on why a theme being 'realistic' doesn't actually make it interesting. 'violence is inevitable' is like saying 'racism is inevitable'. sure, a cursory glance at global history can prove that people have been ravaged by ethnic and national prejudice, that it's ongoing today, and it will probably persist twenty years from now. but is it inevitable? what utility does that statement have, if not to resign ourselves to making less meaningful attempts at improvement?

a story does not reveal anything truthful about the human condition by neglecting to mention our capacity for forgiveness. at times, aot is very capable at telling such a story that balances both cruelty and compassion, but for some reason is intensely clumsy at scaling up these themes to the level of states and state conflict (marley, for example, is a horribly developed setting). therefore i often feel that rather than the epilogue telling a pessimistic story about humanity, it tells a pessimistic story about statehood. but maybe that's a topic for another post hehe

thanks anon for the interesting ask!

[nazmazh]

Okay, so I'm firmly on the side of fantasy worlds that just have all the various races/species of sapient beings fully acknowledging each other's personhood and living amongst each other without it being a whole big deal (and in this, that doesn't mean all areas have to be fully heterogeneous - Regional/ethnic origins and communities still exist within the most pluralistic of societies, after all).

But one thing I am an absolutely huge fan of, if the world is much more divided into nations that are primarily one race or another, or if there are some races considered "Demi-Human"/"Beastman"/whatever the term used in-story is - If this is the state of the world, I absolutely *fucking* love when there's just one inexplicable "normally-considered monsters" race that is without question fully considered normal amongst the standard fantasy roster of Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes, etc.

I think my favourite race that gets this treatment is ogres.

Like instead of horrible man-eating monsters, they're just big guys, hanging around. They might still have the "not-overly-intellectual" stereotypical trait, but it's not treated with the same malice as when they're bog-standard big mooks/monsters.

And, yes, of course the example that springs to mind most recently is Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon.

Like, on first pass, I just figured Tade was like Izutsumi - A beastkin taken in by Shuro/Toshiro's family and trained as a retainer because they were willing to look past at least some of their prejudices (y'know - Keeping Demi-Humans as sort-of-pets/sort-of-indentured-servants. How noble of them).

And it would have been easy enough to just do it this way. I don't think any other Ogres are mentioned at all, let alone seen.

It was only in reading the supplemental materials that I saw that not only are Ogres not thought of as monstrous/beasts - They're fully considered Human - One of the short-lived races alongside Tallmen and Half-Foots.

[For the unfamiliar, the setting uses "Human" to refer to any sapient non-monster/non-beast race. "Tallmen" is their name for regular humans as we know them, and Elves, Dwarves, Half-Foots (their term for Halflings), Gnomes, and yes Ogres/Oni, are the Human races].

The extra materials detail how Ogres are rare, scattered as a people, and their numbers are further dwindling over time. But as far as I can tell, all the other Human races view them largely with sympathy and respect. And I love that sort of setup for Ogres here.

Another setting that had Ogres as otherwise somewhat-normal presences in Human lands, surprisingly enough, was Warhammer Fantasy. At least, it sort of did back when I played in high school, which was like, 20 years ago, so I'm not sure how the lore has changed since then. But, I remember back when there were stirrings of a Warhammer video game - An MMO, in the vein of WoW, iirc - The rumours were that the PC would be expressly an Imperial citizen, from one of 4 races - Human, Dwarf [I'm not 100% on them, but they make the most sense], Halfling, or Ogre.

And that was where I looked up the lore on Halflings and Ogres in Warhammer - To the best of my recollection, Halflings lived in a Shire-but-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off vassal province within the Empire's borders. They generally weren't really represented in the playable units for the tabletop game (I think there may have been like one Dogs of War/Mercenaries company of archers? Maybe?), but in-lore they sent troops to Imperial causes on the occasions they were called upon, just like any other loyal province.

Ogres were mentioned as rare, but not wholly-unwelcome residents of the Empire. Sure, there were still many that joined up with Greenskin armies - But it's not like there weren't also Human raiders out there. I did actually have the one Dogs of War Ogre unit, myself. And yes, they were decked out in kinda-barbarian-looking armour and weapons - But consider that they were expressly a mercenary unit, the same as any other that conducted business in the Warhammer world - Not just dumb brutes.

Of course, roughly around the time I started drifting away from Warhammer, the Ogre Kingdoms actually became their own fully-playable faction - Not just a Greenskins/Orc + Goblin or Chaos offshoot - But a fully-fledged choice for an army on their own. They were an interesting addition to the game in terms of having base infantry/etc. that are expressly bigger and stronger than the basic units of every other race - Which is of course considered in the point-buy system for army building.

Interestingly enough, rather than being evil, or even evil-inclined, they are expressly neutral, in the "I only look out for my well-being" flavour. Sure, they're still portrayed here as brutish barbarians to an extent, but the fact that they're not just lumped in with the expressly evil races is definitely a choice that stands out compared to many fantasy worlds. I mean, Warhammer is expressly a crapsack world, and all races succumb to "grim and dark" flavouring in terms of what their roles are. They're again, not overly-intellectual, but understand business dealings quite well, and at least capable of being fully literate with regards to other races' writing. They're flavoured, somewhat, as the various peoples around the Silk Road in western China/Central Asia during the Classical-Renaissance eras - They're perfectly willing to trade in regular wares, not just warfare. They even have Ogres who expressly adopt cultural norms of various nations they serve as mercenaries in (though, that might largely be an excuse to have units that are essentially Ogre-in-costume - Which, hey, a fun concept is a fun concept)

The last one that came to my mind as I was sitting here writing was a race that's not expressly named as Ogres, but shares some traits and role with them in their setting, but are also very different than stereotypical big Monster-Races: The Qunari of Dragon Age - Specifically the race of horned giants that first developed and adopted the philosophy of the Qun - Qunari refers to any follower of the religion, regardless of race. That race's true name has apparently been lost to the ages, but might be known as "Kossith", which again was a reference to a philosophy they had followed, or "Vashoth"/"Tal-Vashoth" - But that's their name for those who were either born outside their religion or expressly renounced/rejected it. There's also the derogatory "Ox-Men" name that some Humans will call them by. But for sake of ease, I'm just gonna stick with "Qunari" to mean this race from here-on. And yes, "Ogre" is the name given to the darkspawn that are born from corrupted Qunari - But that kind of serves to reinforce what I'm saying about them fulfilling that kind of traditional "Civilized Ogre" role, here.

Now, unless the previous couple of examples, the Qunari are about the furthest thing from a vaguely-characterized rabble of barbarians or mysterious dying race. The Qunari have a vast empire north of the main setting region of Thedas - That, and they specifically have a highly organized philosophy/religion that's not just insular - In fact, they zealously spread it to all races, and any who become part of the religion/society are full members of their society - They may be used tactically, but they're no less members.

And I do mean "used" - The Qun philosophy is one of realism (they eschew, and indeed, by-and-large hate magic) and practicality/purpose. Children are not raised by their birth parents and romantic relationships are not permitted - There should be no strong familial ties that would supersede duty. Mating is determined by the priestess class, to facilitate ideal pairings (and prevent potential incest, since blood ties are not known by individual Qunari). Societal roles are clearly delineated for men and women, and Qunari personal names tend to be descriptors/titles rather than a true "name", as we'd recognize them.

While they remain a Proud Warrior Race, and quite martially adept in the vein of other Ogre-type races in fiction, it might be more accurate to describe them as a Proud *Soldier* Race [Much like the Charr in the Guild Wars universe - They're an interesting playing-with of fantasy races tropes unto themselves, but a discussion for another time] - They're highly trained to fight as units, not individuals. They're among the best mariners in Thedas, with distinct ships that lean into their technological prowess. The Qunari of Par Vollen are indeed Imperial conquerors, rather than horde-like raiders or Noble Savages, as many Ogre portrayals fall into. And they're not just a faceless enemy either - They're a full-fledged nation-state that must be treated with, the same as any other. In fact, I'd say Par Vollen/the Qunari fulfills a role that would otherwise almost exclusively be a Human Empire's role in most other fantasy works.

Heck, they apparently have halted outright invasion of the other nations, because they believe the death toll and suffering of civilians would be unacceptable - A huge waste of resources.

Like I say - Possibly the most unique take on an Ogrish race in mainstream fantasy works. And - Bonus points for being fully-playable in Inquisition.

Anyway, within the other nations of Thedas, yes, the Qunari stick out a bit, but they're generally not treated like if a Darkspawn had just rocked up into town. They're a known people - One that happens to more likely be an enemy or rival than not - But they're not monsters.

So, yes, as a whole, I tend to think that the trend of moving towards "All races contain multitudes. No one race is fully good or evil, and race does not predict morality-inclinations in that objective sense." is fantastic and creates so much more opportunities for storytelling. If an "always chaotic evil" enemy is needed, hivemind-creatures, undead, or extraplanar/alien monsters work better for this, while letting enemy armies of sapient races otherwise still be capable of reason and not being irredeemably evil cannon fodder for protagonists to chew through without even the slightest tinge of guilt.

But I admit that if you feel that your setting needs to have only a certain subset of races established as sapient be "good"/"not evil/monstrous" - Either truly, or just in how society is organized, I'll be interested in seeing how that distinction is made. And if it's just traditionally-pretty / very Human-like races that get a pass, that's not only rather shallow and uncreative, but also just plain boring anymore. If you throw in like, just 1 or maybe 2 traditionally "monstrous" races as being totally normal members of society, it makes it much more fascinating to examine - What prejudices are at play if it's not just "looks mostly like us" that grants personhood in your world? Ogres, as I've mentioned, have been one race that this seems to be recurring with, and seems to be done very well/interestingly at that a lot of the time.

You could explore some interesting space playing around with this idea too - For instance, what if Hobgoblins in the D&D sense were totally accepted as a race on equal footing, but neither Goblins (or other Goblinoid/Goblinkin) or Orcs (similar tendency for a reputation towards violence) were? Is it that Hobgoblins formed a proper nation-state historically, while Goblins and Orcs tended to be tribal and largely nomadic? Does this prejudice carry over to, say, Humans or Elves that are nomadic herdsman and/or warrior tribes, then?

[ashleywool]

I still don't know my "type" and I'm sick of caring about it

In the early years of my Broadway dream-chasing, I often had to grapple with the concept of "type." That is, what is someone's "type" as an actor? How does the industry view them physically and energetically?

Maybe this is an autism thing, but I still don't really get it.

I get it in theory, but in practice, it always feels...wrong. Because you're told that there are rules, but there are always exceptions to the rules. You're told that your "type" will naturally emerge depending on the roles you get callbacks for, the roles you get cast in, the roles you almost get cast in but someone else just fits better.

It is very easy for me to define my type in negatives, by the things I can't do. There are "obvious no" roles, and there are "roles I could theoretically play but am not a natural fit." The "obvious no" roles are things like Effie White or Lady Thiang. The theoretical-but-not-perfect roles are sometimes harder to define, especially to people not "in the business." It's a game of "just because I can doesn't mean I should."

For instance, I can hit the high notes, but I don't have the right "flavor" of soprano for Christine Daae. I can cut my hair and don overalls and Doc Martens, but I'm not convincingly butch enough to play Enid Hoopes. I can learn and capably execute most of the choreography in A Chorus Line, but I don't have the nuanced, expressive qualities required for Cassie or Sheila. I played Eva Perón in a community theatre setting ten years ago, and I'm still really proud of the work I did on that show, but I'm not Latina, so I wouldn't try to play the role in a professional production nowadays, because the culture has shifted to prioritizing ethnic authenticity in a way that historically we haven't. And sure, the real Eva was a white Latina with a similar ethnic background to mine, so my playing her is "passable" in that it's not as blatantly inappropriate as Effie or Thiang, but there's still a difference between being a "passable" fit and being the "right" fit. And those differences become all the more important when it comes to representing marginalized groups who have traditionally been denied opportunities to play roles that they are authentically right for. (See also: autistic actors.)

All this to say: between the shifts in the culture and my increased maturity and introspection as a theatremaker, I've gotten pretty good at typing myself out of things. But that still leaves a lot of stuff that I can do, and The Industry People™ expect me to define myself even more specifically within that pool. I am nowhere near as good at that as I think I'm supposed to be at this point in my career. What I think of my type still conflicts annoyingly often with what others think. Or at least what others think upon first impression.

As far as I can tell, the biggest reason for this is the "wait, how old are you?" factor. Apparently, I look a lot younger than I am. Okay, fine. I'm short and I moisturize. Presumably, this is a good thing, especially for women. Because, the patriarchy, I guess. But for me, it's been...confusing.

A common thread in my community theatre experience was, I would initially get cast in a "younger" role, and would then get to play the "adult" roles in later shows after the directors got to know me better. This was all well and good as a tiny baby actressling hungry for the diversity of experience, but those are the experiences that built my resume--and The Industry People™ have told me that from a professional standpoint, my resume gives them whiplash.

The same year I played Eva Perón, I played Logainne in Spelling Bee. The next year, I was in final callbacks for Star-to-Be in the national tour of Annie, but they also had me sing "Tomorrow" because they thought maybe I could swing for the orphans too. I was 28. The year I turned 30, I played a twelve-year-old Alice in Wonderland in a children's theatre production, and then played Amy in Company.

Then, I got my Equity card, which apparently knocked another fifteen-to-twenty years off my playable age. I am thirty-six. In the EPA casting breakdown for HTDIO swings, Jessica's age is listed as 20. Last week--last week--I was called in to read for a 16-year-old in a feature film.

And look, I'm not complaining about the teens-to-early-20s roles. They're not bad roles. I'll happily play them until you decide I can't get away with it anymore.

But it's getting really weird to still not be at that point, and to still not know when I will get to that point. It feels almost like I'm being gaslit. I say I want to audition for a role that's closer to my actual age, and someone says "oh no, you're far too young for that," and I say "I'm actually five years older than the age range listed," then they look at me like I have three heads. Like I'm the one who's confused about a basic, quantifiable numerical fact of my existence.

But what do they expect me to do? Lie about my age? I might have been able to get away with that before the Internet, but not now. One slip of "hokay, so here's the Earth" gives me away instantly.

So...where does this leave me and my whiplash resume?

Do I keep listing Alice and Logainne and Wednesday Addams and Iola the factory girl in Parade even though I know I'm too old for them now? How do I know when to remove them?

Do I keep listing the roles that are closer to my actual age--or roles that I was probably too young for when I played them but have now appropriately aged into--even though I know there will still be people who think I'm too young? How do I know when the pushback will stop?

And most of all, how do I know when it's finally okay to stop caring about any of this? Because I'm sick of caring about it, and so is every other actor in the world, because none of us signed up to care about it in the first place. I just originated a principal role on Broadway that defied all the odds of what people thought was possible on Broadway, and it's REALLY tempting to say "you know what, maybe this is just evidence that I'm a really good actress who can do a lot of different stuff, and I am not going to make other people's whiplash my problem anymore."

But...I don't think I get to do that yet.

I don't think the systematic machinations of the theatre industry have caught up with the multifaceted humanity of its actors.

I'm using this downtime to try to figure out what I can do to get there. For myself, and for all of us.

[the-leegend-99]

I don't know if you've noticed, but Western pop culture seems obsessed with rebellions against tiranny and oppression in fantastic, speculative settings. Star Wars is the epitome of this. People eat up its films, shows, games. Why shouldn't they? It's the good rebels against the fascist baddies. And everybody on social media in this pale West seems to have always something to say about oppression, independece, anti-authoritarianism, human rights, sometimes even decolonization--but not a word when it actually happens in real life. Even on this app you see a lot of moralistic handwringing on the one of the most clear-cut examples of a just rebellion: the Palestinian liberation struggle. And it all seems pretty hypocritical, doesn't it?

Palestine is rising up, trying to free itself from the European, white-supremacist settler-colonial project that is Israel. An oppressed people, victim of 75 years of ethnic cleansing, is trying with all its strength to regain at least some of its stolen land. And Israel, like the proper imperial oppressor it is, responds with genocide, with bombings on Gaza of near-nuclear proportions on hospitals, ambulances, housing, and pogroms on the West Bank, trying to wipe the Palestinian people--the autoctonous, legitimate owners of that land--off the map, justifying it all by branding even infanta as "terrorists and beasts". No different from the actions of the Empire of Star Wars, or its direct inspirator--the US Empire and its colonial destruction of Vietnam.

But where's the rebellion fetish of the Western progressives now? Where's the righteous indignation for the violation of human rights? Where's the enthusiasm for decolonization? Is it allowed only when the protagonists are white and Western? Is it allowed only when the oppressed are "nonviolent" and "pacifists"?

In the face of Israeli violence, which is of a mind-boggling level of scale and cruelty, the Palestinian people don't really have the option of nonviolence and pacifism. Vietnam or Algeria and similar postcolonial revolutionary States didn't decolonize by asking pretty please and peacefully protesting while their colonial jailers bombed them with Napalm.

The Palestinian resistance is fighting a bitter, grueling struggle for national liberation--for the right to exist and decide of its own existence and how to shape it--and it deserves our unshakable support. It needs all the help, support and aid we can gather for it. We cannot afford the luxury of fetishizing rebellion to our tastes and Western morals. If we want struggles for collective liberation to be successful, we must aid those who pursue it to the core. It doesn't have to be pleasant or to look good, or to be "respectable". It only needs to work.

[echthr0s]

tagged by @softtidesworld

I have many OCs but since I was tagged by a Far Cry/Fallout mutual I will do... the main Far Cry/Fallout OC! and also his brother, for funsies.

＊✿❀○❀✿＊

name: Noah Marten Kingfisher

nickname: I don't think he has any, unless his sister has given him one that I don't yet know about

gender: inapplicable but most people regard him as male and he's fine with that reading

star sign: I haven't done natal charts for any OCs, unfortunately

height: somewhere in the vicinity of five feet, eight inches, I imagine

orientation: yes

nationality/ethnicity: USAmerican by citizenship, an African-diasporic mishmash by heritage

fave fruit: according to Preston, "cherry Nuka-Cola is NOT a fruit" 🙄🙄 but he is rather fond of berries (all kinds) and mango

fave season: autumn

fave flower: good question (he has a whole sunflower Theme going on but I don't know that that's actually his favourite flower! that motif is more about symbolism than actual preference)

fave scent: [orc voice] man flesh

coffee, tea or hc: cocoa all day

average hours of sleep: I... lmao man idk

dog or cat person: dog

dream trip: hmm

favorite fictional character: this is actually an excellent prompt but aside from knowing that Noah is a frequent comic book enjoyer I couldn't actually tell you what his favourite characters would be

number of blankets they sleep with: all of them

random fact: Noah is a CIT alum and would later (much, much later, lmao) return to that very same campus to eventually become Director of the Institute!

＊✿❀○❀✿＊

name: Gabriel

nickname: you don't give Gabriel nicknames. you just don't. he does take an epithet quite gracefully, though. "the Revelator" is a particular one that gets its fair share of hushed whispers throughout the Wasteland

gender: inapplicable but most people regard him as male and he's fine with that reading

star sign: [see above]

height: *waves hand around the "five feet, four inches" area*

orientation: aroace, we surmise. but we think this is mainly a result of severe trauma as opposed to being a neutral lack of attraction

nationality/ethnicity: I imagine nations don't really exist in the same way post-war, so I couldn't tell you. he's simply a Wanderer. I'm also not sure how to square ethnicity in a setting like that. he's Black, though. regardless.

fave fruit: [Ulysses voice: ''Dandy Boy Apples are NOT fruit. they are a mockery, a--"] [*immediately mutes ED-E*] dandy boy apples :)

fave season: it's all the same to him

fave flower: I think if given the space to really consider it, he'd like dandelions

fave scent: if the entire Mad Max franchise had a smell, that'd be it. Gabriel probably should have been a Mad Max character, honestly. he'd say so, at least

coffee, tea or hc: black coffee enjoyer

average hours of sleep: Gabriel doesn't sleep, he dreams /truedetective

dog or cat person: no

dream trip: anywhere off this blasted rock

favorite fictional character: *puts a pin in this one*

number of blankets they sleep with: also all of them. but it's because Ulysses has piled all of them on top of him

random fact: you wouldn't think so, but Gabriel got on like gangbusters with the kids from Little Lamplight. they fucking love him

[olderthannetfic]

I'm a Chinese, nationally and racially. Racial projection seems to be a common practice in western fandom, doesn't it? I find it a bit... weird to witness the drama ignited upon shipping individuals with different races, or the tendency to separate characters into different "colors" even though the world setting doesn't divide races like that. Such practice isn't a thing here. Mind explaining a bit on this phenomenon?

--

Sure, I can try. But of course, fish aren’t very good at explaining the water they swim in.

Americans aren’t good at detecting our own Americanness, and a lot of what you’re seeing is very much culturally American rather than Western in general. (In much of Europe, “race” is a concept used by racists, or so I’m told, unlike in the US where it’s seen more neutrally.) Majority group members (i.e. me, a white girl) aren’t usually the savviest about minority issues, but I’ll give it a shot.

The big picture is that most US race stuff boils down to our attempts to justify and maintain slavery and that dynamic being applied, awkwardly, to everyone else too, even years after we abolished slavery.

There’s a concept called the “one drop rule” where a person is “black” if they have even one drop of black blood.

We used to outlaw “interracial” marriage until quite recently. (That meant marriage between black people and white people with Asians and Hispanic people and others wedged in awkwardly.) Here’s the Wikipedia article on this, which contains the following map showing when we legalized interracial marriage. The red states are 1967.

That’s within living memory for a ton of people! Yellow is 1948 to 1967. This is just not very long ago at all. (Hell, we only fully banned slavery in 1865, which is also just not that long ago when it comes to human culture.)

Why did we have this bananas-crazy set of laws and this idiotic notion that one remote ancestor defines who you are? It boils down to slavery requiring a constant reaffirming that black people are all the same (and subhuman) while white people are all this completely separate category. The minute you start intermarrying, all of that breaks down. This was particularly important in our history because our system of slavery involved the kids of slaves being slaves and nobody really buying their way out. Globally, historically, there are other systems of slavery where there was more mobility or where enslaved people were debtors with a similar background to owners, and thus the people in power were less threatened by ambiguity in identity.

Post-slavery, this shit hung around because it was in the interests of the people in power to maintain a similar status quo where black people are fundamentally Other.

A lot of our obsession with who counts as what is simply a legacy of our racist past that produced our racist present.

--

The other big factor in American concepts of identity is that we see ourselves as a nation of immigrants (ignoring our indigenous peoples, as usual). A lot of people’s families arrived here relatively recently, and we often don’t have good records of exactly where they were from, even aside from enslaved people who obviously wouldn’t have those records. Plenty of people still identify with a general nationality (”Italian-American” and such), but the nuance the family might once have had (specific region of Italy, specific hometown) is often lost. Yeah, I know every place has immigrants, and lots of people don’t have good records, but the US is one of those countries where families have on average moved around a lot more and a lot more recently than some, and it affects our concepts of identity. I think some of the willingness to buy into the idea of “races” rather than “ethnicities” has to do with this flattening of identity.

New immigrant groups were often seen as Other and lesser, but over time, the ones who could manage it got added to our concept of “whiteness”, which gave them access to those same social and economic privileges.

Skin color is a big part of this. In a system that is founded on there being two categories, white owners and black slaves, skin color is obviously going to be about that rather than being more of a class marker like it is in a lot of the world.

But it’s not all about skin color since we have plenty of Europeans with somewhat darker skin who are seen as generically white here, while very pale Asians are not. I’m not super familiar with all of the history of anti-Asian racism in the US, but I think this persistent Otherness probably boils down to Western powers trying to justify colonial activities in Asia plus a bunch of religious bullshit about predominantly Christian nations vs. ones that are predominantly Buddhist or some other religion.

In fact, a lot of racist archetypes in English can be traced back to England’s earliest colonial efforts in Ireland. Justifying colonizing Those People because they’re subhuman and/or ignorant and in need of paternalistic rulers or religious conversion is at the bottom of a lot of racist notions. Ironic that we now see Irish people as clearly “white”.

--

There are a lot of racist porn tropes and racist cultural baggage here around the idea of black people being animalistic. Racist white people think black men want to rape/steal white women from white men. Black women get seen as hypersexual and aggressive. If this sounds like white people projecting in order to justify murder and rape... well, it is.

Similar tropes get applied to a lot of groups, often including Hispanic and Middle Eastern people, though East Asians come in more for creepy fantasies about endlessly submissive and promiscuous women. This nonsense already existed, but it was certainly not helped by WWII servicemen from here and their experiences in Asia. Again, it’s a projection to justify shitty behavior as what the party with less power was “asking for”.

In porn and even romance novels, this tends to turn up as a white character the audience is supposed to identify with paired with an exotic, mysterious Other or an animalistic sexy rapist Other.

A lot of fandoms are based on US media, so all of our racist bullshit does apply to the casting and writing of those, whether or not the fic is by Americans or replicating our racist porn tropes.

(Obviously, things get pretty hilarious and infuriating once Americans get into c-dramas and try to apply the exact same ideas unchanged to mainstream media about the majority group made by a huge and powerful country.)

--

Politically, within the US, white people have had most of the power most of the time. We also make up a big chunk of the population. (This is starting to change in some areas, which has assholes scared shitless.) This means that other groups tend to band together to accomplish shared political goals. They’re minorities here, so they get lumped together.

A lot of Americans become used to seeing the world in terms of “white people” who are powerful oppressors and “people of color” who are oppressed minorities. They’re trying to be progressive and help people with less power, and that’s good, but it obviously becomes awkward when it’s over-applied to looking at, say, China.

--

Now... fandom...

I find that fandom, in general, has a bad habit of holding things to double standards: queer things must be Good Representation™ even when they’re not being produced for that purpose. Same for ethnic minorities or any other minority. US-influenced parts of fandom (which includes a lot of English-speaking fandom) tend to not be very good at accepting that things are just fantasy. This has gotten worse in recent years.

As fandom has gotten more mainstream here, general media criticism about better representation (both in terms of number of characters and in terms of how they’re portrayed) has turned into fanfic criticism (not enough fics about ship X, too many about ship Y, problematic tropes that should not be applied to ship X, etc.). I find this extremely misguided considering the smaller reach of fandom but, more importantly, the lack of barriers to entry. If you think my AO3 fic sucks, you can make an account and post other fic that will be just as findable. You don’t need money or industry connections or to pass any particular hurdle to get your work out there too.

People also (understandably) tend to be hypersensitive to anything that looks like a racist porn trope. My feeling is that many of these are general porn tropes and people are reaching. There are specific tropes where black guys are given a huge dick as part of showing that they’re animalistic and hypersexual, but big dicks are really common in porn in general. The latter doesn’t automatically mean you’re doing the former unless there are other elements present. A/B/O or dubcon doesn’t mean it’s this racist trope either, not unless certain cliched elements are present. OTOH, it’s not hard for a/b/o tropes to feel close to “animalistic guy is rapey”, so I can see why it often bothers people.

A huge, huge, huge proportion of wank is “all rape fantasies are bad” crap too, which muddies the waters. I think a lot of people use “it’s racist” as an easy way to force others to agree with their incorrect claims that dubcon, noncon, a/b/o, etc. are fundamentally bad. Many fans, especially white fans, feel like they don’t know enough to refute claims of racism, so they cave to such arguments even when they’re transparently disingenuous.

--

Not everyone here thinks this way. I know plenty of people offline, particularly a lot of nonwhite people, who think fandom discourse is idiotic and that the people “protecting” people or characters of color are far more racist than the people writing “bad” fic or shipping the wrong thing.

But in general, I’d say that the stuff above is why a lot of us see the world as white people in power vs. everyone else as oppressed victims, interracial relationships as fraught, and porn about them as suspect. Basically, it’s people trying to be more progressive and aware but sometimes causing more harm than good when those attempts go awry.

[zephycluster]

Precolonial HWS SEA Rant Post, feel free to ignore

If you're still reading, then you're probably looking for evidence or some juicy tidbits to throw back at me or to try and find dirt to cancel me, like typical Tumblr/Twitter. Go ahead, I don't really care.

First off, let me just say that If you like Precolonial South-East Asia AUs, feel free to keep enjoying them. I will respectfully support your passions from afar. This post is just to explain why I don't like it, especially the way they keep insisting/portraying PH in it.

Still here? Then let me begin.

Since the recent confirmation that the ASEAN Six Majors (Can't really say ASEAN 10 atm since it's still missing some people) Were completed and the Ma-Phil-Indo Trio was included, there has been a large surge in 'Precolonial' fanarts and portrayals of South East Asians, those three especially.

Even long, long before, circa 2010's ish, a rather well-known fan universe known as 'Maaf' dealt with their story and how their Author thought their intertwined histories went. Written by (my best guesstimate) an Indonesian writer who wants to explore the old, SEA bond.

When I first stumbled across Maaf (I was in Highschool at the time, around age 16-ish), I took a casual interest in it and tried to read it through. But, I will wholeheartedly admit that at the time, Pre-Colonial cultures of South-East Asia in general, let alone Philippine, did not really interest me that much. The focus (I think) was mostly on Indonesia, a country I didn't really know back then, and the liberal use of 'ancient' names and artwork just made it feel like an entirely Original Work (that needed a degree in History to really appreciate) and not something from Hetalia. I also completely disagreed with what I could gather was the story's portrayal of PH but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Do I hate 'Maaf'? No, I don't hate it. Do I wish I never came across it or that it didn't exist? Of course not. Just because I didn't enjoy it or appreciate it that well doesn't mean I wish any ill toward it, its fans, or its creator.

Fast forward to April 2021, the long awaited inclusion of South East Asia to the canon Hetalia verse. I was happy, the other fans were happy, all was good.

Then started the questionable fanarts, fan theories and fan pairings.

Especially the expansion of Precolonial! PH.

Let's go back to Maaf for one moment. From what I understood of Maaf, PH there was a character who once was like all the other South East Asian cultures, trading with them, all around being a nice family.

But all that changed when the Spaniards attacked, so cry the precolonial buffs. They destroyed everything, ransacked and marginalized the tribes, erased everything that PH was!

Did that happen? ABSOLUTELY. The Spaniards had this vision in mind that they must spread Christianity to all of the 'savage, unchristian heathens' of their realm. :V /s

But back up a second, back to PH's portrayal in Maaf. The way she (yeah, she) was portrayed there was that she was slowly losing her memories of being a 'true' South East Asian and grew more and more westernized in the process, like some sort of Culture-specific Alzheimer's or something.

Firstly, that is seriously depressing, and secondly, I just really don't see that happening.

Here's why.

Point 1: Even before Colonial Masters, Filipinos as a people cannot agree on anything.

I'll just begin this segment with a Philippine proverb that outlines what Filipinos call 'Crab Mentality' or 'Crab Bucket Mentality'.

"You don't need a lid for a container when you're keeping multiple crabs. If you keep at least two crabs together, they will just pull each other down instead of helping each other up."

I don't know how it goes with Indonesian or Malaysian history class, but what I know of my homeland, both pre- and post-colonial history, we were never really 'united' or 'together' in the sense that Indonesia and Malaysia were (from what I assume).

Let me pull up a somewhat related question on r/AskHistorians.

The reason I brought this up as it shows the reasons why, in my opinion, a single entity that is 'Precolonial Philippines-tan' is an impossibility.

The answers are long and would extend this already long post to stupid proportions, so I'll just quote relevant sentences. The link is here for those that wanna deep-dive into the answer.

"All this to say that there wasn't a name used for the entire Philippine islands before the Philippines that people now would agree to. An interesting comparison would be the Holy Roman Empire, which might also be characterized as disparate politico-geographic groups of relatively small size that had a history of relations between each other, but one thing they had that the Philippines did not was a common language, or at least a family of mostly mutually intelligible languages, so that the name Deutschland or Germany isn't terribly offensive to anyone. If you called the Philippines the 'Lupang-Tagalog' or even 'Lupang-Tao' the other ethnic groups would protest."

For those in need of translation, 'Lupang Tagalog' means 'Land of the Tagalogs' and 'Lupang Tao' means 'Land of People', specifically. The first one is already exclusive and offensive, as the Tagalog peoples are but one of many ethnicities here.

And for the 'Lupang Tagalog' suggestion specifically, it's even more offensive as they are the majority ethnicity (not by much, just around 28%) From this chart from Geography Now! It would basically be alienating everyone else in the 72% remainder that isn't 'Tagalog'.

And even 'Lupang Tao', the most generic name in a local language you can think of, would be met with contempt because the name itself is in the Tagalog language.

Just travelling between two individual island groups today would sometimes require a translator because the words can change very rapidly and very drastically. Here's a sample of some differences coming from a friend living in Visayas (in Red) vs. the words I know living in Luzon (In blue).

Ate vs. Manang = Older Sister

Ibon vs. Pispis = Bird

Tumawa vs. Kadlaw = To laugh

Takot vs. Hadlok = Fear

Kain vs. Kaon = To eat

Ngayon vs. Subong = Now, at this point in time

Iyak vs. Hibi/Gibi = to cry

Talampakan vs. Tiil = Foot (in Tagalog, the word retains its 'body part AND unit of measurement' meaning)

Tulog vs. Tuyo = to sleep (Tuyo in Tagalog is either a dried salted fish or 'to dry')

The kicker is that just like Tagalog is just one of many languages here, so too is the language my friend speaks. Ask an entirely new person, like someone from Mindanao, they'll probably have an entirely new set of words.

It's not just Luzon vs. Visayas vs. Mindanao, either. Here's a map listing some of the ethnic groups here.

Even the way they're written differs from location to location.

While we're on the subject of Island divisions, a casual skim across Twitter and Tumblr has shown that their Precolonial PH has been one of the following ancient civilizations: Tondo, Butuan, Sugbu, Namayan. There may have been others but that was what I have found.

Notice how even today, the posters of Precolonial PH can't seem to agree on what he's supposed to be? With Indonesia it's either Majapahit or Srivijaya and Malaysia it's usually Malacca iirc.

What is the big deal? Well, let's go back to the Ask Historians post. "Why didn't the Philippines ever change its name to remove the colonial mark that being named after a Spanish King has?" The answer: "If you suggested something dating to precolonial times, the other ethnic groups would protest."

Since we're on a roll with maps, let me bring this up.

As you can see, the precolonial PH posts have a reason to not be able to agree on one thing, as there is a LOT of options. Do you also see how THAT list is also split up?

It's split up into those aligned with China (Sinified), aligned with India (Indianized), aligned with the Middle East (Islamicized), and no alignment (Animist). Now, let's go back to the main suggestions for which Kingdom/Polity/Civilization/whatever Modern Philippines used to be.

If the Filipino peoples' couldn't agree on something as simple as WHAT TO CALL THE LAND THEY'RE LIVING ON, what more a living, breathing, walking, talking entity that is supposed to be a beacon of all of their 'unified' culture? ESPECIALLY if that entity used to be a currently existing Kingdom/Polity/Rajahnate/Sultanate/whatever.

Tondo? "Of course, always the damn Tagalogs. Tagalog this, Tagalog that. First the capital city, then the language,* THE REST OF US EXIST, YOU KNOW! What about us in Visayas? Mindanao?"

*The national language known as 'Filipino' is just standardized Tagalog*

Butuan? "Wait, you want Butuan to represent us? They're they only Indian-aligned city in the Islam-majority Mindanao! They're not even that many of them! I'm not gonna change my religion!"

Sugbu, the other name for the Rajahnate of Cebu on the map? Lemme bring back my Visayan friend again. According to her, she hails from the Hiligaynon part of Visayas.

"Sure :v and the other islands are what?

Chopped liver?

Not to mention the language and writing barrier helloooo"

And Namayan? Well. I'll let this pic speak for itself.

To summarize, no matter who you pick as Modern PH's previous identity, it will not end well nor be accepted by the other Kingdoms at the time.

"So where does that leave Modern PH, he had to have been ONE of them, right?"

Well, not really. He doesn't HAVE to be one of the Ancient Kingdoms that lasted till the modern day. I mean, predecessor representatives exist in Hetalia canon, after all. Like Modern Greece is a different character from Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt and Modern Egypt, heck even England and his brothers have a canon mother that was the rep before them.

Or you could even use the same logic that Germany does, in that each specific region has/had its own representative and that Modern!PH is just the 'mediator' between them (cause gawd does PH need one). There could be a Tondo, a Namayan, a Butuan, and a Sugbu, all arguing and this Proto-PH is just trying to make headway in making them all satisfied.

But, even after all this, there is another reason why I personally don't subscribe to the 'Precolonial PH' idea, and by tangential extension, the Indo x Phil pairing.

Point 2: Even without intending to, Precolonial Indo x Phil just comes off as patronizing

This second point is just ENTIRELY personal preference and barely has any facts to back it up.

Again, if you like the pairing and disagree with me, You do you. I will respectfully support you and your passions from a distance.

But for me, Indo being Phil's seme/bae/boyfriend and consistently bringing up precolonial times just comes off as patronizing.

Just one more time, I'd like to point out that I am NOT bashing Indonesia, its people or the subscribers of Indo x Phil. This is just how the pairing feels to ME specifically.

The way I see it, Indo x Phil as a pairing, especially if it extends back into precolonial times, reads the same way as a long-since married couple where the husband/wife CONSTANTLY brings up that ONE outing you had together, or that ONE prom night where you kissed while dancing, even it happened like 30 some-odd years ago and so much more happened since then.

Even in a platonic sense, It reads like two besties where one ALWAYS mentions stuff like 'Yeah but you looked so much cooler back in High School' or 'Back in Grade School you would've known that', or 'Remember back in Pre-school we did X? How could you forget that?'

How does one respond to the notion that no matter what you do now, it will never compare to a past you've already forgotten or barely remember? That the best version of 'you' is already long gone?

"That's because the westerners made you forget your culture! You gotta take it back!"

While it is true, yes, as a collective we barely remember the Kingdom that commissioned the Laguna Copperplate, or created the Banaue Rice Terraces, or created the millennia old bonds that we still share with Indonesia and Malaysia.

But to keep pushing the precolonial identity would be to neglect and cast aside the one REAL binding belief and culture that spans the entirety of these islands we call the Philippines.

We take on all the bad stuff that happens to us, conquer it, and make it our own. Be it natural disasters, foreign powers, or negative stereotypical mentalities.

Yes, we've forgotten the ancient kingdoms of old and are just now digging through the closet for those remnants of the past. Yes, the colonizers imposed that on us, and made us forget. But in the process we've also taken everything that they left behind, everything that they threw at us, and created something that can only come from us.

The lanterns that the Spaniards used to light the way to the morning masses they made us attend became our globally known symbol of Christmas. The junked vehicles that the Americans left behind in World War 2 are now rolling works of art that announce themselves loud and proud on the streets (for better or for worse). The iced dessert recipe that the Japanese forced us to learn while they were occupying the country is now so distinct and famous it is synonymous with us, and is so delicious even Italy has taken notice.

Even after all this? Even after all the 425-ish years total we have been under a foreign power, with all the progress we've made as a country, a people, and a nation, you would still imply our fragmented, jigsaw puzzle state of being in the past was better just because it was pure 'South East Asian' like everyone else?

We might not be as well put-together as Indonesia or Malaysia, but we made this melting pot of angry, leg-pulling, dogpiling, Native, Mestizo, Chinoy, and Fil-Am crabs OURS, damnit!

It's now 4:30 AM and I have work in 5 or so hours. I'll be going to sleep now.

[alectology-archive]

Is Wheel of Time worth reading? Are there any characters of color and what ethnicities are they, specifically, if you don’t mind my asking? I’m debating whether or not it’s worth reading the series, because I love deep worldbuilding, but I need at least one Black person or other POC in it for it to intrigue me lol

I answered a similar question a while back and I'd recommend you to go through that because I really dig into why I had fun reading the series because I'll mostly address people of colour in this post.

If you're short on time at the moment I'll very briefly summarise my feelings - would I recommend it? I mean, that question has no right answer! This is partly because it's one of those kinds of series that doesn't work for everybody and has a lot of flaws but for me it works despite all of that because the positive parts of it outweigh the negative - and I just really, really love the gorgeous worldbuilding (both, magic-system wise and culture-wise) and his storytelling style - it's packed with references to greek mythology, norse mythology, arthuriana, religions (buddhism, christianity) etc which makes reading the books a very thoughtful exercise. Plus he excels at foreshadowing stuff ages in advance so rereads are always fun.

And yes, there are plenty of people of colour in the series although you mostly start to see them from book 4 and they're treated with enough care that I feel happy and comfortable living in the world as opposed to say, asoiaf, which made me really upset two years ago when I read the first book. I really liked that he gave people of colour plenty of nuance and I'm pretty sure Egwene and Nynaeve who're among the most important leads are women of colour although the representation on that front is very vague and I only really recall their skin colour being discussed in a special prologue for the first book. But I can't really say the people of colour are really based on specific ethnicities - I know for sure that people from Tear, Altara, Saldaea, Arad Domon, etc are people of colour and we spend significant time in all these places but he drew inspiration from various cultures to construct the nations so you don't really have a specific ethnicity you can pinpoint (for example: 1. Tarabon has influences of china, turkey and sparta 2. Cairhien has influences of france and japan 3. Tear has influences of spain, vietnam and korea). In a way this just makes sense to me since the story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world set far into our future (ours being the first age, the age of legends being the second age, and the story setting being the third age).

There are black people, yes! Again, the books are flawed and I'd advice caution. Especially memorable are Elayne's time spent with the Sea Folk (who're black) in book 4 (and they have recurring roles throughout the series) and Mat's loving descriptions of his wife, Tuon (which is again significant because Mat is one of the three main male leads). But there are a bunch of uncomfortable set ups - by all means Tuon is one of my favourite characters because she's so complex and layered but she's also essentially the heir to a settler colonialist empire that practices slavery and the leaders of the Sea Folk (all black women) tend to be portrayed as really aggressive and insufferable towards the latter half of the series. Part of this is just RJ's tendency to make women super ambitious and he goes out of his way to highlight how different people fiercely fight to prioritise the wellbeing of their own people before others' (another example being the Wise Ones of the Aiel who're all again women prioritising the wellbeing of their people before the wellbeing of other people in the Westlands) but it can still make the experience distasteful.

Elayne's ancestor, the first queen of Andor, is also a dark-skinned black woman, but I thought it was weird that Elayne's super white and red-headed lol.

[mdccanon]

The crosses in the set pictures of Wanda’s room don’t really mean anything anyway considering 1) we don’t know the significance of the crosses, how they got there, if they were in the room when she got it, if someone got her them as gifts, etc. and 2) the actual movie doesn’t even show the crosses when it pans over the entirety of her room and we never get any references to Wanda’s religion throughout the entire film.

Indeed.

Ultimately, they are giving her a generic background and it is okay to be peeved about that if you want, but not a single person has been able to say why a woman who's main ethnic group - Romani - IS primarily Christian should be portrayed as anything else because of a 1970s soap opera plot twist that her dad is Jewish.

It's just that simple. There are two groups of people miffed about Wanda Maximoff. People who want her to act more Romani, whatever that means, and people who want her to act more Jewish, whatever that means. And like all Left-leaning-yet-oddly-still-conservative issues, neither side is talking to each other and neither side is developing their ideas much deeper than a vague insistence that they are being persecuted. And since they don't have much in the actual story to use as evidence, they lean on the idea that they aren't being represented well if they can find ANY fan across the world who doesn't know or care that Wanda is a Romani-Jewish Eastern European witch. "I brought this up and other people in the audience told me to shut up and that's basically Feige's fault for empowering them."

1) Wanda was raised Romani. Which means should would be Christian. Jewish-siders, how offended can you be that her Romani upbringing is vaguely Christian?

2) Has Wanda ever been a devout Christian in the comics? If not and she's just a bargain-basement "Jesus is a cool guy, I guess" member of her community, Jewish-siders, how jealous can you feel about a person with no relationship with Elohim in either religion not being Jewish. She's nothing.

3) Has Magneto ever been a devout Jew in the comics? Has having a relationship with Elohim ever played into any of Magneto's most circulated comic stories? If you have spent your entire life loving Magneto's backstory and motivations and not once did that require him to be anything more than an angry secular Jew, why are you suddenly making a big deal out of the religious status of his daughter?

4) Once the soap opera plot twist of Magneto's paternity was ret-conned into the X-Men story, was Wanda ever portrayed as a devout Jew in the comics? Has having a relationship with Elohim ever played into any of Wanda's most circulated comic stories? If you have spent your entire life loving Wanda's raw power, anger and creativity and not once did that require her to be anything more than the long-lost daughter of an angry secular Jew, why are you suddenly making a big deal out of her religious status?

5) Since you NEED some kind of cultural/religious confirmation to be satisfied with her character, since YOU are asking for this, I am going to ask you again to justify and reconcile why a woman classically trained in Romani witchcraft is your ideal candidate for a devout Jewish woman. Daredevil and Luke Cage put in some intellectual labor to balance the desire for violence with the belief in God. Do your part. In a fantasy story that acknowledges the very existence of Satan and Wanda had two babies with him, why are you putting your foot down that the Scarlet Witch should be religiously Jewish?

6) Oh, don't think I forgot about you, Romani-side. Romani and Jewish-sides, do you know what nationalities are? Do you care? This MCU story is about how American missiles where dropped on Wanda's home in Sokovia. How other countries torn hers apart the first chance they got. She was an anti-American terrorist who was fighting for her country... And you keep going on and on about her ethnicity.

Now, don't get me wrong... I'm African-American. I know how it is. Black folks love to demand for empathy from every other ethnic group and then, when the doors are closed and they are sure no one is looking, they ask "Oh, 9/11 killed 3,000 people! ... How many were Black, though. OMG, that many Black people died!? This is a tragedy!" Everyone in America is playing the same "No, pity ME!" game. Now, even Black trans women are claiming cis Black women are "stealing their fashion trends" which is "tantamount to trans erasure and killing us." Now, people online are actually asking if more people buying weighted blankets is somehow harming neurodivergent people because its "cultural appropriation" because the benefit they provide shouldn't be shared with everyone (because neurodivergent people who complain about things like this secretly love thinking they are special and have special needs and that's why other people will never understand them) but the same people who say this also put pronouns in their profiles even when they are she/her and he/him because they want trans culture normalized because trans people are the opposite and don't like feeling marginalized. Right now, young Mexican people are driving themselves crazy one day demanding that Anglophones pay more attention to the Day of the Dead and the very next day freaking out when Anglophones show up in droves to the Day of the Dead because "this isn't for you." What did they think attention was going to mean? Oh, and right now, Black people are demanding that beautiful dark-skinned actresses and supermodels get as much attention and money as light-skinned girls, but then they are crying in despair that glamour media is a sex-driven industry and they literally are asking White men to find dark women attractive, which means that White men dating darker skinned women is becoming more acceptable, which means more dreaded biracial, light-skinned babies are being born. What did they THINK "more attention" was going to mean?

I dunno, people who complain that Wanda isn't Romani/Jewish enough, I dunno. We all hate each other, we don't actually like multiculturalism, we want attention and pity and praise from each other at all times, we think children's cartoons not reflecting our values is tantamount to a second Holocaust (I'm so tired of hearing that from people when they know they are losing the argument), and we are all living and dying by the idea that if you have a strong emotional reaction to something, it excuses you from taking a moment to remember what has been said many times, many ways:

Shit pours on everyone. It's an intersectional bitch, isn't it?

P.S.: Likewise, in Daredevil and Luke Cage, exploring how religion affects those characters involves a seldom discussed aspect that people who complain these things want to talk about: supporting characters & villains and conflicts with BOTH of these character types. The point of a religious character isn't to put their hands on their hips, take a deep breath and say, "Man, I love being Jewish." What religious-themed conflicts are you asking Wanda to have and how can they be satisfactory concluded with a LASER-blasting competition, commoditized into an action figure, and simplified into a LEGO action short?

[impossiblelibrary]

Today's rant brought to you by: Queer Eye Japan, can we all just try to be as kind as they try to be?

After watching the Queer Eye Japan super short season, I wanted to google to see the overall reaction to the show, make sure that my western eyes were correct in seeing the care that was given to the culture. Were cultural taboos, other than being outwardly gay, crossed? So I find this article in the top results and other than the perspective, why tho? Tokyoesque.com had an article with a higher reading level, with surface level appreciation but at least better written.

I can't get over this hate article though. Unfounded, dumb, wrong and incorrect. Do not go forward unless you like that blistering kind of anger from me.

But the reasons just get weaker as the article extends: "Hurts the country it set out to save?" Looking for white savior much? They did not go to save Japan, they gave some free shit to like 4-5 people, think smaller.

Their culture guide wasn't gay enough.

You want to suggest any lgbt insta models or celebrities, use your platform to raises some up?

"There is a growing sexless culture in Japan for married and unmarried people, and it is perilous watching Queer Eye present this without any context behind what is driving this behavior."

Sexiness is what the fab 5 embrace, unfortunately and it was probably discussed behind the scenes of how much talking about sex was allowed or polite and the conversation of not having sex is closer to the tip of the tongue rather than the feeling of sexiness. The West is not the ones blasting that information. It is across multiple Japanese printed newspapers and online stories by now and the "context" is still being discussed and debated amongst Japanese. So I don't think any outsiders should be weighing in or "explaining" this phenomenon. We can repeat what we have been told but guessing at the reasons is not our place. The reasons illustrated by the author of the article seem lacking, a take but not the only one, but who am I to speak on that being in a sexual relationship with someone who pulls from that culture?

Kiko begins to lecture Yoko-san on how she “threw away her womanhood” (referring to a Japanese idiom, onna wo suteru) by going makeup-free and wearing drab, shapeless clothes.

The mistranslation by the subtitles fixed by this author was necessary information. But Kiko didn't lecture her on it, it was brought up by Yoko before any of them arrived, that was her theme, that was what she had decided to focus on. Meanwhile, if you watched Jonathan, he understood there was no time to spend on makeup and skincare so provided her a one instrument, 3 points of color on the skin to feel prettier. That and the entire episode being the 5 treating her like a woman on a date, not trying to hook her up, which is what they did in American eps.

"In teaching a Japanese woman, who already struggles to find time for herself, how to make an English recipe, Antoni is making great TV and nothing more."

So Antoni shouldn't have taught her apple pie because it's too exotic for a Japanese woman. (Can you smell the sexism?)

He didn't make an apple pie, altho Yoko did mention her mother made that for her when she was a kid. He made an apple tartine after going to a Japanese bakery who makes that all the time. Then highlighted the apples came from Fuji in true Japanese media fashion. Honey, American television doesn't usually highlight where the ingredients come from. A Japanese producer told him to do that. So all worries handled within the same ep. She got Japanese ingredients, had the recipe shown to her and then made it for her friends in her own house. Did the author actually watch this show or nah?

"beaten over the head with his western self-help logic. “You have to live for yourself,” he says."

The style of build up the 5 went for was confrontational but in a "I'm fighting for you" way. It's hard to describe, but the best I can say is, a person has multiple voices in their head, from parents, siblings, society, and maybe themselves. By being loud and obnoxious, American staples right there, they are adding one more voice. You deserve this, you are amazing, you are worth it. I know this is against most Japanese cultural modesty, but maybe it shouldn't be.

Sarcasm lies ahead:

Apparently: mispronunciation is microaggressions, not just someone who had a sucky school system. Yea okay, They're laughing at the language not at how stumbling these monolinguals are with visiting another country. Mmhm. Japanese don't say I love you and don't touch and that should stay that way instead of maybe, once in awhile, feeling like they can hug. Yeah, let's just ignore Yoko's break down that she had never hugged her lifelong friend after hugging strangers multiple times. Maid cafes are never sexualized in Japan ever, just don't go down that one street in Akihabara where the men are led off by the hand sheepishly blushing. Gag me. And Japanese men love to cry in front of their wives and would never break down once the wife leaves. I have never seen a Japanese movie showcase that move. Grr.

"I identify as many cultures."

So you're a Japanese man when it's convenient for you to get an article published? Are you nationally Japanese or just ethnically or culturally?

Homeland is an inherently racist word?

"After the Bush administration created the Department of Homeland Security after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a Republican consultant and speechwriter Peggy Noonan urged, “the name Homeland Security grates on a lot of people, understandably. Homeland isn’t really an American word, it’s not something we used to say or say now.”

Yes, let's use a Washington Post article rather than a etymology professor. Yes, the google search results increased after 2001 Homeland Security was used but the word has been around since the 1660s and I've read multiple turn of the century lit on white people returning to their homeland, i.e. the town off the coast they were born in.

"But" is not disagreeing. I think the repeated offender for the author is the not acknowledging the makeover-ees feelings. But, that is how LGBT have decided to deal with the inner voices that invade from society. They are just that, not our own, they are the influence of society, and we can choose, we have to choose, to be influenced by someone, anyone else.

Karamo can't speak about being black when an Asian is speaking about being Asian, even though the Asian gay man was feeling alone. It's called relating bitches, and I'm done with people saying that is redirecting the conversation, it's extending the conversation. That's how we talk, the spotlight is shared, especially when someone's about to cry and doesn't want to be seen as crying, time to turn the spotlight.

The gay monk wasn't good enough, you should have invited the gay politician.

Yeah, causes I'm sure a politician has all the time in the world for a quick stint and cry. They picked a Japanese monk who travels to NY because they had a guest who travels to the West too. Did you want him to stop traveling back and forth? Did you want a pure, ethnic and cultural Japanese gay man who has no ties to the west to talk to this Western educated young man? Seriously?

This is just not how it works in Japan.

Being in a multi-cultural marriage between two rebels, discussions on facets of culture are plenty in my household. Culture should be respected enough to be considered but not held on a pedestal like we should never adjust or throw some things out. LGBT being quiet and private for instance. "Being seen" was Jonathan's advice, and a good one especially for a Japanese gay man that was called feminine since he was a kid. Some gay men can hide, but as Jonathan said, he couldn't hide what he was, he couldn't hide this. So fuck it. Don't hide. It's actually more dangerous for a feminine man to come off as anxious rather than gay and proud. It makes you more of a target if they think you won't fight back. Proud means, Imma throw hands too, bitch.

This is also from the civil rights playbook going back to Black America: never hold a protest or a fight without the cameras, without being seen. LGBT have found the more seen they are, in media, in the streets, the better off we are. When LGBT Americans were being "private" about our lifestyles, we died, a la 1980s. They won't care if you start dying off if they never saw you to begin with.

And hence why I think the author's real anger is from these 5 being seen dancing flamboyantly in Shibuya, in Harajuku, afforded the privilege of doing this safely because of their tourist status, cameras and very low violence rate in Tokyo, loud and obnoxiously. Honestly, they wouldn't have been invited or nominated if they didn't want that brash American-ness coming into their home, just for a taste, at least.

Here's my real anger, my own jealousy: Japan's queer community currently does not have marriage or adoption rights. US does, so we have progressed further. But we are also not that many years from being tied to cow fences with barbed wire, beaten with baseball bats and left for dead overnight. If things are so bad over there, maybe take a few pages from the civil right playbook we took so much time to perfect and produced by the Black Americans who fought first. But so far, I only hear loss of jobs and marriages, which we still have here too. Stop trying to divide us, we are one community, LGBT around the world and we are here to try to help. Take it or leave it, it's not like we're going to go organize your own Pride parade for you.

Rant over? I guess. Is this important enough to be put in the google results along with his. Hell no, anyone with half a mind can see he's reaching more than half the time. And any argument about: this wasn't covered! There are a shit ton of conversations that are not covered in the 45 min they have. They are not a civil rights show, it's a makeover show, doing their best in that direction anyway. Know what it is.

Next blog post, what research I would guess was happening behind the scenes for each of the 5? I'm pretty sure I saw Jonathan doing Japanese style makeup there...

[tasksweekly]

Has there ever been a time where you couldnt do a certain country, because it was too obscure??

A few times, not really that much when it comes to countries, but it can definitely happen! For example, we did a couple times think of doing a task for Somaliland, as we know many people from Somaliland identify themselves as very much separate and distinct from those from Somalia. But that is definitely an example of a country that did not have enough people for us to turn it into a task, most were politicians or military officers and I do not believe we could find more than 1 who was not.

This more so happens with specific ethnic groups, though. In fulfilling the suggestions of doing more Turkic peoples of Russia or more peoples of the Caucasus region, we have tried doing as many as possible but there are some who just do not have enough people that we feel comfortable adding to the task. It happens a lot with our Native month tasks too, there might be a nation that we decide to do but then realize there's not enough people so we have to substitute it.

We do generally set our bars pretty low when we do these specific ethnic groups though sometimes (as long as we get 20+ we're happy). But it definitely can present a struggle, and there have definitely been ones we've skipped for that reason. What we feel comforted though by is that there's tasks like task 007 (Asian fcs), task 015 (Indigenous Peoples of the Americas), and task 021 (Black fcs) so if people make resources for a fc that fits into these groups, but don't have a task for their specific ethnicity, then they can just count it for one of those 3 tasks.

And I do want to say we're always open to suggestions for tasks, always open to suggestions on websites to use to find people for tasks, and things change all the time! So while at one point there might not be enough people, that doesn't mean it will always be that way and we can always re-visit it down the line! 

And “obscurity” of the nation doesn’t necessarily even effect how many people we might find, there are more "obsure” nations that I’ve been surprised as we get a lot of people for, and then we will do a less “obscure” nation and it can have less people. It’s strange! So definitely feel free to suggest any group, and we’re happy to look into it!

[gascon-en-exil]

Dark Deity Pre-Release Character Opinions

This isn't actually a tier list, but someone helpfully created a template for this game and it's as good a way as any to do a little visual showcase for this cast. Characters are listed by their class sets, which are fixed but offer a nice variety in terms of promotion options. My opinions on each are as follows, from left to right in each row. Most characters have introductory profiles written up on the DD subreddit, if you'd like to check them out yourself.

Warriors

Alexa

You know those buff female blacksmiths in Echoes and Three Houses that some people wish were playable characters? That's pretty much Alexa. Can't say I'm too hyped about her myself, but warrior + tomboyish female character will do that for me...or not do it, I suppose.

Benji

Seems to have been written to become a meme, and I still can't decide whether that's clever or stupid. Kind of like Raphael only with a bigger emphasis on training than on eating, and with brotherly devotion replaced with brotherly angst that might theoretically go somewhere if the character isn't reduced to being a goofy joke all the time.

Fenton

Doesn't have a character profile, so as far as I know he's just a generic dwarf because DD swaps out its inspiration's loli dragons and other vaguely fetishistic shapeshifters for the two most cliché non-human races in Western fantasy. I wonder whether his VA will voice him with a Scottish accent, to go all in on the (ironic?) laziness. There are a handful of elves in the playable cast, but Fenton is the only dwarf so for better or worse he's representing.

Helena

She's the embodiment of the FE exotic swordswoman archetype, but curiously DD seems to have turned that broad ethnic brush inward. Helena's last name is apparently a Japanese verb, her art shows her with a spear (as in the association of the naginata with women), and she studied and trained in a monastery that seems to blend elements of Buddhism and Shintoism. Not sure how all that fits into the larger setting yet, but at this point she's still got more background development than Petra.

Irving

Our Hero, the one front and center on the cover art. He sounds a bit on the blander side as far as lords or lord equivalents go, with his most promising hook for me being his established friendship with Garrick (see the ranger section). At best I can hope for a bit of a romantic friendship dynamic, although they sound a bit rougher overall as they're military academy schoolmates I wonder why DD went with that instead of lordlings of different territories.

Rogues

Brooke

Looks like Camilla; has a backstory like Niles. Cleavage aside though the sexual element of both is toned down here, and there might be some sapphic bodyguard shenanigans to be had as her current employers are a pair of highborn sisters further down this list.

Cia

For some reason she reminds me of Tressa from Octopath Traveler, only bustier and a bartender rather than a merchant. She's still just a small town girl with big city dreams, and this being a tactical war game following those dreams will inevitably involve stabbing people.

Corvan

Hard to judge him at the moment, as his profile was only the second written and so isn't terribly detailed. He's a moon elf with scholarly interests, apparently. Still, as of right now he's the only rogue who doesn't slot loosely into either a ninja/assassin or pirate aesthetic, so that's kind of neat. Also, he's one of several characters to have FEH-esque beach fanart made of them already, so clearly someone's into elf twinks.

Ford

A former officer at the military academy Irving attends and a smuggler who dotes on his niece, Ford has major dad energy. Per developer reveals he's also bi, and as I mentioned before I'm totally fine with that. More bear sex, please - but what guy in this cast would hop in the sack with Ford? Only time will tell. His personal skill makes him extra dodgy, which combined with the mug of booze in his art makes me think of WoW brewmasters who dodge-tank through the power of being wasted.

Wren

Like Brooke, he's an assassin from a foreign nation - in his case the same one as Helena so presumably he's a not!Japanese ninja. I'm not really feeling him at the moment. What is it about Hao'Fen (the city/territory he and Helena come from) and massive families? That comes up in both their backstories.

Rangers

Caius

I feel like this is the third or fourth character to grow up in some slum or other; at least they've all been in different towns so far. The relative rarity of noble characters is certainly different from FE, but it reduces the political stakes which leaves me wondering a bit about the story. Anyway, Caius is a small town desert hunter who learned how to make arrows out of animal bones. How aerodynamic is bone, I wonder?

Garrick

Irving's BFF and seemingly the Hector to Irving's Eliwood, only with more flirting (his intro doesn't specify that Garrick is flirting with women, but I'm not going so far as to say that indicates anything). He's the academy headmaster's son, with a strained relationship with his father for some of that hotheaded lead tension. Notably, his VA is the one I'm most familiar with in this cast, as he's the voice of Revali from Breath of the Wild as well as love interests in two different erotic gay dating sims I've played. In other words, I know what this guy sounds like making awkwardly simulated sex noises...and I have no idea what to do with that information.

Maeve

She's a half-elf with a very storied background, so much so that it's all rather hard to follow her exploits when little of what's being described has been fully revealed yet. I'm expecting her to be a mid/lategame recruit, unless she's dropped in early on to reveal that (sun) elves exist or something.

Rose

Imagine if Bernadetta were a commoner, although we can only hope they'll be less screaming. Alternatively, Neimi without an obvious boyfriend. She won the beach contest so now she has official swimsuit art, which I guess makes her a top-tier waifu in the eyes of players who care about such things.

Sophia

A ranger in the "has animal companions" sense, although whether that will come into play mechanically aside from her personal skill - Butter the ferret can attack with her! - remains to be seen. Her preference for the company of animals is explained by a lack of social graces, so prepare for klutz-related humor. Of note to those interested in F/F is that her introduction specifically brings up her connection with Sloane (see the mage section) and how close the two of them are.

Clerics

Faust

Doesn't have a profile yet, so not much to go off other than his decidedly unhinged look. The cleric class set does feature some darker-flavored options, so presumably he's more naturally aligned with those. His VA was announced to be the YouTuber behind So This is Basically Fire Emblem and other similar videos, so I'm picturing a kooky and somewhat demented Henry type.

Lincoln

Also lacks a profile at time of writing...clerics get so little love. The Discord has identified him a bland blond paladin sort, but as we know from the likes of Perceval and especially Dimitri that doesn't necessarily mean he'll be boring (or not gay).

Maren

The soft-spoken healer type, and also a childhood friend of Garrick although her intro sibling-zones him but then this game is inspired by FE so who knows if that'll stick. She may have some interesting thoughts on the theology of the setting, as there seem to be several faiths and she's said to have a complicated relationship with her own. I will be utterly shocked if she's not either Irving or Garrick's eventual love interest.

Samara

One of two princesses of the country of Aramor, which appears to be loosely inspired by the Middle East. Heaven help us if the Khalidstans ever get wind of this game. Unfortunately aside from her bond with her older sister (in the mage section) and the knowledge that Brooke has been hired as their bodyguard there's not much to Samara at the moment. Hopefully the clerics all do some comparative theology in their bond conversations, and this isn't like Sacred Stones where none of the clergy characters from different countries ever compare notes. The succession crisis involving Samara and her sister vs. their less-loved cousin the king's son might be a major plot hook? It's still too early to tell.

Vesta

Much like Maeve her backstory has entirely too much going on to really follow at the moment. Basically she's a human who grew up in a sun elf city because Reasons (seriously, I don't know what they are) and was called to a clerical vocation and also something about taking a journey. Has an unfortunate case of silly boob armor, which unlike a certain other character probably won't be rectified this close to release.

Mages

Alden

Maren's precocious younger brother, also basically Ricken up to and including the comically oversized hat. As a unit he follows the tradition of Donnel, Mozu, and Cyril of having a personal skill that buffs his stat gains, so it's safe to say he's a growth unit. At least he'll probably join early.

Liberty

Comes with dead brother angst and a connection to the "aspects" system that will hopefully make more sense once I've played the game and know how it functions both mechanically and from a storytelling perspective. Otherwise she looks to be a busty older - as in, not a teenage - mage in the vein of Calill.

Monroe

Got the first ever character profile, so it's really short. He's the son of a duke and sounds like a bit of a snob, albeit one that can make explosions happen to back up his haughtiness. He's got some scarring around his eye that surely must come with a story. Someone also made featured fanart of him in Heroes summer banner style, so I guess he's got somebody horny already.

Sara

Samara's half-sister, with comparable fantasy Middle Eastern flavoring. Has an interest in discovering magical artifacts and being a just ruler in the event she winds up on the throne (so, almost definitely), and she and Samara travel around with the assassin Brooke as their bodyguard. There's maybe some lesbian possibilities there? Either way, Sara has enough development where I could see her as a major supporting character.

Sloane

Comes with a genuinely fascinating backstory involving manipulative double-crossing parents, an education in the cruelties and deceptions of social life (reflected in her personal skill), and disinheritance - and yet it's all likely to be overshadowed because she may go down as DD's equivalent to Fates's face-touching. Her initial art is even more revealing than Camilla's, and while the developers later gave her a more modest redesign after negative feedback I get the feeling that this controversy may live on. Her introduction mentions her hunting for both heirs and heiresses and she's now been linked to Sophia, so safe to say she's another confirmed bi character.

Adepts

While the other class sets are standard fantasy fare adepts require a bit more explanation. They have innate magical abilities and appear to be feared and distrusted most places in the setting. Functionally they remind me of adepts from the Golden Sun series, if anyone is familiar with those games. The classes in the adept group tend more toward physical/magical hybridization than those of other sets, so that will probably be their mechanical niche. Oh, and their default weapon type is lances, which is a plus in my book.

Aurima

Along with Caius and the royal sisters, he's another one from the desert nation of Aramor. An arena fighter who got touched by a god in what I assume was a non-sexual way and came out of it with a new appearance and adept powers. Also, he's confirmed to be over 40 - how often do you see that in games like this?

Bianca

Looks like a more carefree Mathilda from Echoes. She's a ranking officer in the Delian army which sounds like it'd sit uneasily with her adept powers. Her profile describes Lincoln as her close friend, which is still about the most we know about him at this point.

Elias

This guy's writing plays more into the fairly standard coding that comes with adept powers, as we know they manifested shortly before he was going to confess his feelings to a male paramour and afterwards he was forced to flee his homeland and wander the world. He also spent time among dwarves, so insert short bear jokes here? In the present he's attached to Cia in what seems to be a platonic way; maybe she's a fruit fly, or maybe she just likes having a friend who can light drunken assholes on fire? Elias is definitely into guys, but I would still be a little surprised if he turned out to be totally gay as that's such a rarity in these sorts of things.

Iris

Oof, another lengthy and rough backstory. Iris had better parents than Sloane, but she also had to deal with permanent facial scarring (hence the mask) after a bandit kidnapping and the stigma of manifesting as an adept pretty much eliminating the prospects of her making a good political marriage. Also, she and Elias both come from Neullais, which is prominently featured on the continental map on the DD subreddit but doesn't seem to come up all too often in backstories. I think it's a not!France? Hard to tell.

Thae'lanel

A World of Warcraft blood elf, flowing anime hair and apostrophe'd name and all. I like WoW so that's not terribly grating, but as he has no profile yet there's little else I can say. Thae'lanel is mentioned in Maeve's introduction as a member of a sun elf group called the Exiled, which I'm guessing is tied to his adept status in some way. He and Maeve form yet another adventurer/bodyguard duo.

[dumbass-gryffindor]

HPHM Character Profile: Autumn Clover

This awesome template was made by @hogwartsmystory

This is more focused on Autumn in her 5th Year

IDENTITY

Name: Autumn Clover 

Gender: Female 

Age: 15 

Birth Date: 5/30/1973

Species: Human

Blood Status: %62.5/Half-Blood  (Classified as a half blood by the ministry)

Sexuality: Bisexual 

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Ethnicity: African American 

Nationality: American

Residence : Lives a bit secluded but the closest people to her home are muggles 

Myer Briggs Personality Type: ENFP

THE MAGE

1st Wand: 

Rowan wood 

Unicorn hair core 

11’ and unbending flexibility

2nd Wand:

Ebony wood

Dragon heartstring core  

11 ¼ ‘

Animagus: Border Collie (orange and white)

Misc Magical Abilities: Legilimen

Boggart Form: Jacob being dead,insane or evil 

Riddikulus Form: N/A (I have no idea how to make that funny)

Amortentia: Nighttime , baked goods, vanilla , cinnamon

Amortentia: Potion Supplies/Classroom,A bed of flowers, (Penny Haywood )

Patronus: Border Collie 

Patronus Memory: It changes every time but it's mostly memories of Autumn and Jacob when they were younger

Mirror of Erised: Autumns family being happy 

Specialized/Favourite Spells: Protego, Depulso, Patrounus Charm

APPEARANCE

Faceclaim: Nathalie Emmanuel

Voiceclaim: Im really bad at these but I have a few ideas

Veronica Sawyer (Heathers)

Korra (Legend Of Korra )

Mary Saotome (Kakegurui)

Marceline (Adventure Time )

Game Appearance:  

Height: 5’2

Physique: Average and if you squint she has a little muscle 

Eye Colour: Dark Orange/Light Brown 

Hair Colour : Burnt Orange 

Skin Tone: Brown

Body Modifications: N/A

Scarring:

Right Shoulder (Ice Vault)

Left arm and on the front of her right hand (Vault of fear)

A bunch of other scratches (from Autumn being a reckless idiot)

Inventory:

A few pictures (The one from ‘A Christmas at Hogwarts’’, Another picture of all her friends during her 4th year, and a picture of her and Jacob when they were kids).

Cursed Vault notebook (contains everything Autumn knows/found out about the Vault’s).

Hair ties

Some kind of food

Locket necklace (If she's not wearing it )

Friendship bracelet (From Rowan and Ben )(Also if she's not wearing it ) 

ALLEGIANCES 

Hogwarts House: Gryffindor 

Ilvermorny House: Thunderbird

Affiliations/Organizations: 

Kowalski Family 

Clover Family 

Hogwarts: School of WitchCraft and Wizardry 

Gryffindor 

Gryffindor Quidditch Team 

Holyhead Harpies 

American National Quidditch Team

Professions: N/A (for now)

HOGWARTS INFORMATION

Class Proficiencies:

Astronomy: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

Charms: ★★★★★★★★★★

DADA: ★★★★★★★★★★

Flying: ★★★★★★★★★★

Herbology: ★★★★★★★★★☆

History of Magic: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

Potions: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Transfiguration: ★★★★★★★★★★

Electives:

Care of Magical Creatures ★★★★★★★★★★

Muggle Studies ★★★★★★★★★☆

Arithmancy ★★★★★★★★☆☆

Studies of Ancient Runes ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

Quidditch: Captain as of 5th year,Chaser 

Extra Curricular: N/A

Favourite Professors:

Kettleburn 

Rakepick (Before betrayal)

Mcgonagall

Sikander (Muggle Studies) (I know we haven't even seen him in game yet but he seems like the best teacher ever)

Least Favourite Professors:

Dumbledore ( I know he’s not a professor but still )

RELATIONSHIPS

Brother: Jacob Clover

Father: Leo Clover

Mother: Stella Kowalski Clover 

Love Interest: Penny Haywood 

Best Friends:

Rowan Khanna 

Ben Copper 

Bill Weasley 

Charlie Weasley

Merula Snyde 

Rival: Merula Snyde, Ismelda Murk

Enemy: R, Death Eater, Voldemort 

Dormmates: Rowan Khanna 

Pets:

Niffler - Pepper

Owl - Apple

Cat (Siberian) - Rowboat 

Spider - Bunny 

Puffskein - Dime 

Closest Canon Friends:

Rowan Khanna 

Ben Copper 

Bill Weasley 

Charlie Weasley

Merula Snyde

Andre Egwu 

Tonks 

Barnaby Lee

Jae Kim

Skye Parkin 

Murphy Mcnully 

Orion Amari 

Talbott Winger 

BACKGROUND/HISTORY

Autumn's father Leo, was from a pureblood family in Europe. Her mother Stella had a sister named Ophelia. Stella and Ophelia were the daughters of Jacob Kowalski and Queenie Goldstein. They grew up with both wizard and muggle culture. The two were quite popular at school due to her parents reputation but they never let that get to their heads.

Stella would describe her younger self as a free spirit, she liked to travel a lot. That's how she met Leo Clover. They fell in love instantly and got married three years after they met. Leo moved to New York with Stella, but Leo’s family wasn't exactly pleased with this. The Clover’s wanted Leo to marry a pureblood, but Leo couldn’t care less about blood status.

In 1969 they had their first child Jacob Clover, named after Stella’s father. Jacob was the handful at first but once he got a little older he became calmer. Jacob was an adventurous soul and was always wandering off and he loved to learn. From a young age he had an interest in Quidditch, he loved going to the Quidditch world cup every year. 

Autumn was born to Stella Kowalski and Leo Clover on 5/30/1973. Autumn clung to her brother's side like she was glued to him. Autumn wanted to be just like Jacob in every way possible. Like everyone else in her family, she had a fascination with magical creatures. She lived a really happy life in America.

But when she was 5 years old her family moved to Europe including her aunt and cousins. They lived a bit far from others, but the closest people were muggles. They lived in a better house compared to the one In America. There was plenty of backyard space for magical creatures to live outside.

Leo Clover was a part of the ‘Order of The Phoenix’ and fought against Voldemort. Leo had the suspicion that members of his family might be Deatheathers due to their Pureblood supremacy. 

When Jacob started school in Autumn was distraught at first. She then realized that she would be able to write him letters and such. Jacob sent Autumn a letter once a week telling her stories about his first year at Hogwarts and all of the friends he had made. What he had failed to mention to her was all the trouble he was starting to get into due to the cursed vaults. He got into a bit of trouble when he came back from school for the summer. But that didn't stop him. Every year he became more and more distant and sent fewer and fewer letters. He stopped coming home for Christmas.

But the summer before Jacob's 4th year was when true tragedy struck. The family was out in Diagon Alley when two death eaters started a fight with Leo Clover. The fight ended with Leo’s death. 

Things were never the same after that. Autumn's mother was strict before but now it has been taken to another level. Jacob was diving deeper and deeper into the search for the vaults. Autumn didn't hear from him until he came back for summer break, and when he came back he didn't have time for her.

During Jacob's 5th year things took a dark turn. During the middle of the year Jacob's friend, Duncan Ashe had died. Soon after that Jacob was expelled, a week after that Jacob went missing. It was all over the Daily Prophet, all the wizards and witches of Europe had heard about Jacob Clover. Everyone had different theories. Maybe he joined the dark lord , maybe he wanted to be the Dark Lord himself, maybe he was just plain crazy. Autumn was set on finding out when she went to Hogwarts, and that's exactly what she was going to do.

PERSONALITY

Snarky: Autumn picked up this trait from her brother. It takes a bit of getting to know her to see this side of her. Autumn may seem like a sweet person and she is but she's also very witty and snarky. She has the best comebacks, most times she doesn't even notice.

Curious: Ever since Autumn could remember she’s loved to ask questions. Hogwarts was the perfect opportunity for her to learn more. She not only likes to learn about different subjects she loves to learn about people. She likes to know things about her friends. 

Loyal: Autumn's loyalty is unwavering. Once she considers you a friend she’ll always be there for you. She would make a good Hufflepuff.

Friendly: Some people might be scared of Autumn and not want to be near her. But she’s very sincere and supportive of all of her friendships. She does truly care for each one of her friends and would do anything for them. 

Hard-working: Once Autumn has a goal in mind she’ll do anything to achieve it.Sometimes to the point where she ignores her own needs.

Protective: Once you're one of Autumn’s friends she feels a need to protect you. If anyone even dares to look at you the wrong way, Autumn is going to ‘deal with it’.

MISC

Autumn loves to show her friends things from America, whether it be Muggle or Wizard stuff.

You may not be able to tell at first glance but Autumn does like to read. It just has to be a topic she's interested in.

She knows how to bake due to her grandfather’s (Jacob Kowalski) bakery.

Autumn has a bunch of different notebooks.

Cursed Vault Notebook - She writes down everything she learns about the vaults 

Diary - Formatted as letters to Jacob. Autumn planned to give them to Jacob when she found him. 

Misc. - A bunch of random stuff from quotes from her friends to tally marks on how many times she had broken her nose

Gets competitive even with small things like Gobstones 

Loves to just turn into her animagus form and run around 

[normal-thoughts-official]

Fandom racism anon here and yeah absolutely (I didn't realise I had anon on lol)

Because while LOTR has problems within its themes (ie the orcs can be seen as to be coded as people of colour, especially since they ride elephants) the explicit message of the book is evil bad

Because the only people who work for sauron are evil. There are no morally grey people, they aren't misguided or tricked they just are evil and want to take over the world

And yeah I totally agree that this is more of a literal take on like empirical war (is that the word) and that makes total sense considering Tolkiens history

Whereas I would say that the allegories in shaowhunters is way more based on racial conflict within a country itself especially slavery, I can't remember if this is show Canon but is it that they have the warlock tropheys? I remember that in the books magnus talks about shadowhunters hanging warlock marks on their walls? (sorry to bring the books up)

Idk it's very hollow to me, unlike with LOTR though it's a different allegory it's totally irritating to show many of these supremecists as morally misled. LOTR says bad guys are bad guys, shadowhunters says well yeah they did follow a guy which thinks that downworlders are subhuman and should be eradicated but they just made a mistake

I want to compare this to tfatws which while it isn't really fantasy I just feel like it shows how the priorities of the writer can impact the message of the show so powerfully (I know u aren't up to date so I'm gonna be pretty vague)

There's a scene in tfatws where the new white perfect captain America does something bad and doesn't pay for the consequences - done to comment on white privelege and how America condones white supremacy and how Sam is in comparison to that

Mayrse and Robert revealed to be part of the circle! And paid no consequences Shock horror my parents were the bad guys (even rho they were either implicitly or explicitly extremely racist the entire time) also I haven't finished the seires but do the lightwoods ever try to get their parents to face the consequences?)

Only one actual really critiques the situation and the reality behind it whereas the other one is just to centre the white characters once again and present them in a further sympathetic light

AND ANOTHER THING! I was mostly talking about show Canon here and I'm sorry to bring up the books but I literally can't believe I hadn't picked up in this before.

So like downworlders = people of colour, Simon is a vampire so is coded as a person of colour. However in the books in the last one he stops being a vampire and becomes a shadowhunters instead, coincidentally that's also when he starts dating Izzy HOW IS THIS ABLE TO HAPPEN!!????

I mean I know cassandra clare is lazy right? The original seires is by far the worst of all her writings but come ON!!!!! By the allegory has he become the white man!????? These books made no fuckin sense when I read them at 15 and they make no sense now I'm digressing anyways

I don't know man I wrote this ask because I was trying to find some fantasy book recommendations on booktube and SO MANY of them were about slavery or general ly extrême préjudice with à White protagonist to save this 'poor souls'.

Also I was watching guardians of the galexy the other day and realised nearly every movie set in space is just bigger stakes imperialism - planets instead of countries. Literally star wars, star trek, guardians of the galexy 2, avengers infinity war - all are facing genocidal imperialistic villains without actually paying much, if any attention to those effected

Just writing this ask made me exhausted I'm so tired of lazy writing and exploiting other people's struggle. I'm white and I'm trying to be more critical about the movies, shows and books I watch and read but let me know if I said something off here❤️❤️ you gotta get up to date with tfatws man, Sambucky nation is THRIVING!!!!

i'm not sure i agree that the whole "the evil people are evil" thing is a good thing, because i feel like more often than not making the bad characters just like... unidimensionally evil just means that the reader will be like "lol i could NEVER be that guy" and when it comes to racism that is a dangerous road to take because white people already believe that racism is something that Only The Most Evil People, Ergo, Not Me, Can Do, which makes discussions of stuff like subconscious racial bias and active antiracist work become more difficult because people don't believe they CAN be racist unless they're like, Lord Voldemort

which is not to say that racism should be treated as morally ambiguous, just that the workings of racism should be represented as something that is not done only by the Most Hardcore And Evil, but rather as a part of a system of oppression that affects the way everyone sees the world and interacts with it and lives in it

yes the warlock trophies are mentioned in the show, albeit very quickly (there is a circle member who tells magnus that his cat eyes will make "a nice addition to his collection" and then it's never mentioned again because this is sh and we love using racism for shock value but then not actually treating it as a serious plot point or something that affects oppressed ppl). and you are absolutely right, shadowhunters (and hp, and most fantasy books) has genocide as its core conflict and treats it, like you said, in a very hollow way, treating racism as both not a big deal and not something that is part of a system of oppression, but really the actions of a few Very Bad People. it's almost impressive how they manage to do both at the same time tbh

i think you hit the nail right on the head with this comment, actually. for most of these works, racism is SHOCK VALUE. it's just like "lol isn't it bad that this bad guy wants to kill a gazillion people just because they are muggles? now that is fucked up" but it's not actually an issue. in fact, when this guy is defeated, the whole problem is over! racism is not something that is embedded into that world, it's not a systemic issue, it's not even actually part of what drives the plot. the things that led to this person not only existing but rising to power and gathering enough followers to be a real threat to the whole world are never mentioned. it's like racists are born out of thin air, which is dangerously close to implying that racism is just a natural part of life, tbh

anyway my point is, it is never supposed to be questioned, it is never part of a deeper plot or story, its implications are barely addressed except for a few fleeting comments them and there; so, it's not a critique, it's shock value, even though it is frequently disguised as a critique (which is always empty and shallow anyway. like what is the REAL critique in works like hp or sh/tsc other than "genocide is bad"? wow such a groundbreaking take evelyn)

about simon and the book thing: i actually knew about this and the weird thing about this is that, like... simon is jewish, and he's implied to be ashkenazi (calls his grandma bubbe which is yiddish, which is a language spoken by the ashkenazi ppl), and it seems like cc is always toeing the line between him being accepted by shadowhunters and then not accepted by them, which sounds a lot like antisemitic tropes and history of swinging between (ashkenazi) jewish ppl being seen as the model minority myth and thus used as an example by white christians, and being hated and persecuted. i'm not super qualified to talk about this since i'm not jewish and i'm still learning about/unlearning antisemitism and its tropes, and i don't really have a fully formed thought on that, tbh; it just reminds me of the whole "model minority" swinging, where one second simon is part of the majority, the other he's not, but always he is supposed to give up a part of himself and his identity in other to be "assimilated" by shadowhunter culture. this article (link) covers a book on jewish people and assimilationism into USan culture, this article (link) covers british jews' relationship with being considered an ethnic group, and this article (link) talks a bit about the model minority myth from the perspective of an asian jewish woman

it just really calls to my attention that cc chose to make her ashkenazi jewish character start off as a downworlder and then become a shadowhunter. i don't think she made that decision as a conscious nod to this history, because it would require being informed on antisemitism lol but it's incredible how you can always see bigoted stereotypes shining through her narrative choices completely by accident. it just really shows how ingrained it is in our collective minds and culture

and anyway, making a character go from the oppressed group to just suddenly become the oppressor is just. wtf. not how oppression works, but most of all, really disrespectful, especially because she clearly treats it as an "upgrade"/"glowup" that earns him the Love Of His Life

also, out of curiosity, are you french? it seems like your autocorrect changed a few words and i'm pretty sure extrême and préjudice are the french versions of these words, and since u said ur white, that's where my money would be lol