#post peasant rebellion

[chaotext]

DEAD IVERSON X ERIC MCLEAN- POST PEASANT REBELLION

NOISE RAP

RELEASE IMMINENT

[hexjulia]

at this point you could put me in solitary confinement for a month and i'd be like "oh thank god finally." on account of having to deal with events and issues. you think you're subjecting me to a form of torture but i'm built different and the temptation of becoming an anchorite is so real and present. leave me olone

[caesarsaladinn]

Today in “Sal, what the fuck are you talking about?”: the middle Byzantine period.

The period from the mid-ninth century to the late 11th was defined by a resurgence in the empire’s fortunes, as the Abbasid Caliphate weakened and the bloody stalemate on the eastern border yielded to conquest, plunder, and expansion into regions that the empire hadn’t controlled for centuries. Domestic politics responded predictably to this influx of land, wealth, and prestige: the generals who led these conquests became immensely rich, respected, and in some cases powerful enough to make themselves emperor. Byzantium had never had a true hereditary aristocracy—when you died, your titles generally died with you—but these guys came pretty close, as a few dozen intermarried clans came to dominate both military and civilian politics for generations.

Making military leadership into a family business generally went well, as future commanders could begin learning the trade from a young age, instructed by the most experienced leaders in the empire. The downside was that their egos grew along with their conquests, and when they felt they weren’t being treated with the honor due to such a distinguished family, they had all the resources they needed to launch a rebellion against the throne. This happened again, and again, and again, and again; it’s no coincidence that this was the period when surnames became common among the wealthy.

In the palace, this era was defined by the so-called Macedonian Dynasty, a string of emperors and usurpers founded by Basil, a peasant from—you guessed it—the military district of Macedonia. Basil took the throne by becoming the emperor’s confidant and most trusted servant, before quite literally stabbing him in the back.

The next two centuries saw an alternating series of Basil’s descendants and usurpers take the throne, with coups and rebellions too numerous to list here. Basil’s heirs had a tendency to die while their sons were still minors (or to leave no sons at all), leaving a mad scramble for a new man to marry or kill his way into the imperial family. This was also the heyday of the court eunuch, as aristocrats looked for servants who would serve their family without trying to displace them in favor of their own sons; of course, plenty of eunuch did displace emperors in favor of their own friends and family, or else overshadowed them so completely as to become the functional ruler themselves.

Culturally, this period was quintessentially Byzantine. Emperors were very concerned with soft power, so they poured money into anything that would make them seem like the holy sovereign they considered themselves to be—histories, encyclopedias, churches, monasteries, public games, bejeweled reliquaries, and the like. Foreign ambassadors were feted with gold and silk in front of a throne that could rise from the floor until the emperor was looking down at the from the heavens. My favorite piece of writing from this era is the Book of Ceremonies, which spends hundreds of pages detailing the protocol for every imaginable public event, from the order of seating at imperial feasts to the proper weight of cargo loaded onto an army packhorse; it shows how the emperors tried to synthesize the importance of orderly, standardized, professional administration with the need to appear wise, just, and all-powerful to their subjects. It also shows how unbelievably wealthy the government was—very few states, at any point in history, had the time and resources and literal tons of gold to spend on court ceremonies that intricate and impressive!

I’ll spare you the list of emperors, their personalities, and the various schemes and subordinates that put them on the throne; that’s a whole separate post. Suffice to say that I think this is one of the most interesting eras of history, and I encourage everyone to learn more about it.

[girlactionfigure]

Disclaimer: the intent of this post is not to delegitimize the right of either Israelis or Palestinians to sovereignty, dignity, and self-determination. There is no future in Israel and Palestine without both Israelis and Palestinians. Nor is this post an endorsement of any Israeli policy.

Rather, after a conversation in the comment section of a recent one of my posts regarding population density in Mandatory Palestine, I decided to rework an older post into this. Personally, I find it really interesting, and I think it’s a key piece in understanding the continuing conflict. It’s also important to dispel false propaganda about the Jewish presence in Israel that has now been accepted as fact.

POPULATION OF PALESTINE

For various centuries, the population of what is now Israel and the Palestinian Territories had remained stagnant. Travelers at the time described Palestine as an abandoned backwater province of the Ottoman Empire. That’s not to say that it was empty or that nobody lived there, of course, but it was sparsely populated, according to the official Ottoman censuses. However, the sudden population boom between 1850 and 1900 did not come from natural population growth but rather, from Arab immigration.

"Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes. Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and fettered its energies."

Mark Twain, 1867

"Many are Israel's forsaken places, and great is the desecration. The more sacred the place, the greater the devastation it has suffered. Jerusalem is the most desolate place of all."

Moses ben Nachman (Nachmanides), 1267

During the Ottoman period (1517-1917), modern-day Israel and the Palestinian Territories were a part of the Ottoman province of Syria, which was further divided into smaller vilayets (administrative divisions). Palestinian Arabs would not identify as “Palestinians,” but rather, identified primarily with their religion and clan. At best, they would call themselves “southern Syrians.” Until 1920, Palestinian Arabs advocated for Palestine to become a part of an Arab state in Greater Syria.

IMMIGRATION FROM EGYPT

The most significant factor in the population growth in Palestine between the turn of the 19th century and the turn of the 20th century was Arab immigration, particularly from Egypt. At the turn of the 19th century, a famine prompted as much as 1/6 of Egypt’s population out of Egypt, with a significant percentage settling in Palestine.

The wave of Egyptian immigration continued in 1829, after thousands of peasants fled harsh labor laws imposed by the Egyptian ruler, Mehmmet Ali Pasha. Travelers during this period wrote that Bedouin tribes accompanied the peasants as well. In 1831, Egypt invaded Palestine. Over 6000 Egyptian peasants crossed into Palestine during the invasion; various Bedouin tribes also arrived with the Egyptian army. Others fled to Palestine as a result of blood feuds between different clans. Many Egyptian soldiers and administrators also chose to stay in Palestine.

By the late 19th century, the city of Jaffa had Egyptian neighborhoods all over town.

When the British invaded Egypt in 1882, scores of Egyptians fled to Palestine. A news report from the time stated: “Many of the people come here from Egypt to wait until the danger passes.” But very few actually returned to Egypt. To this day, the third most common Palestinian surname is El Masry, literally translating to “the Egyptian.”

IMMIGRATION FROM NORTH AFRICA

Following a rebellion against French rule of Algeria in 1850, a number of Arabs and Imazighen from North Africa settled in Palestine, particularly in the Galilee region and Safed.

IMMIGRATION FROM CIRCASSIA

Between 1863-1878, Russia murdered between 1.5-2 million Circassians in the Circassian Genocide. Another 1-1.5 million were expelled from their homes in Circassia. The Ottoman authorities then settled many of the deportees in the Levant, hoping that their presence would curb Bedouin and Druze influence, as the Druze were not always receptive to Ottoman rule, and the Ottomans hoped to squash sentiments of Arab nationalism.

The Circassians, who are Muslim, developed a good relationship with the Yishuv -- the Jewish community in pre-state Israel -- and are now one of the groups with mandatory conscription into the IDF. Like Jews once did, however, Circassians still dream of returning to their homeland, from which they were stolen.

SLAVERY

The Ottoman Empire began issuing decrees to reduce and ultimately terminate slavery in 1830, but these laws were rarely strictly enforced, especially in places such as Palestine. Throughout the 19th century, slave ships continued docking on the shores of Palestine, with the majority of the slaves coming from Ethiopia and Sudan, with a minority coming from Circassia. The last slave ship to arrive to Palestine docked on the shores of Haifa in 1876, though Arabs in Palestine continued holding slaves well into the 1930s.

JEWISH IMMIGRATION (19TH CENTURY)

Between 1881-1903, some 25,000 to 35,000 Jews -- most of them Ashkenazi Jews escaping massacres in Eastern Europe -- immigrated to Ottoman Syria, to the region now encompassing Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Only 15,000 of them stayed, due to harsh economic conditions and disease.

Between 1880-1914, about 8% of all Bukharian Jews immigrated from modern-day Uzbekistan to Jerusalem, escaping brutal persecution. In that same time span, 10% of all Yemenite Jews immigrated to Palestine. Most settled in Jerusalem and Jaffa.

THE "THREAT" OF JEWISH IMMIGRATION

The Ottoman Empire did not abolish the “dhimmi” status for Jews -- that is, second-class citizenship -- until 1856. Dhimmi taxation in Palestine was especially brutal, economically marginalizing religious and ethnic minorities. The Jews in Palestine relied on charity from Jews in the Diaspora for survival. The Samaritans, our closest ethnoreligious cousins, did not have a Diaspora community to come to rely on. Thanks to harsh persecutions, they were nearly wiped out during Ottoman rule.

Though dhimmi status was abolished in 1856, the Arab Muslim majority in Palestine had become accustomed to a certain social order, in which Jews were tolerated so long as we were subjugated. Thus, Zionism and Jewish immigration presented a threat to the status quo.

In 1899, the Arab mayor of Jerusalem, Yousef al-Khalidi, wrote to the chief rabbi of France, “Who can deny the rights of the Jews to Palestine? Good lord, historically it is your country!…But in practice you cannot take over Palestine without the use of force…” The chief rabbi of France forwarded al-Khalidi's letter to Theodor Herzl, who was quick to send a reply, assuring al-Khalidi that the Zionist movement had no intention of displacing the Muslim and Christian populations. It’s worth noting that during this period the mass influx of immigrants -- predominantly Muslim immigrants -- didn’t seem to bother al-Khalidi. It was Jewishimmigration that felt like a threat.

In 1882, the Ottomans prohibited Jews from immigrating to the Ottoman Empire. In 1893, the Ottomans prohibited all Jews -- “Palestinian” or not -- from purchasing land in Palestine. Thus, Jews in the region “enjoyed” less than four decades of equality under the law. No such restrictions existed for Arabs.

IMMIGRATION IN THE 20TH CENTURY

Unlike the population boom in the second half of the 19th century, the huge spike in the population of Palestine in the 20th century did come primarily from Jewish immigration. Between 1904-1914, some 35,000 Jews fled violence, mostly in Eastern Europe, and sought refuge in the region under the Ottomans. Between 1919-1923, another 40,000 Jews arrived to Palestine -- now under the British -- from Europe. Another 70,000 Ashkenazi immigrants arrived in the 1920s, as well as some 10,000 Mizrahi immigrants, predominantly from Yemen and Iraq. 

Prior to the Holocaust, another massive influx of Jewish immigrants — between 225,000-300,000 — arrived from Europe. This angered the Arab leadership in Palestine, which responded with violence. To appease the Arabs, the British passed the 1939 White Paper, which limited Jewish immigration to 75,000 people over a period of five years and limited Jewish land purchases to 5% of the Mandate Palestine Territory. 

Between 60,000-100,000 Arabs immigrated to Palestine between the two world wars. There are numerous reasons for this migration, most notably, new economic opportunities. In March of 1926, a railroad from Egypt to Palestine was completed, which prompted many young Egyptians to leave by train to seek employment in Palestine. In the 1920s and especially in the 1930s, the coastal plain between Gaza and Jaffa, as well as the area between Gedara and Ness Ziona, Ramle, and Lod became densely populated with Egyptian immigrants. 

During World War II, when Jewish immigration was essentially squashed, the British brought Syrian and Lebanese laborers to Palestine. Civilians also employed foreign contractors, many of whom came to Palestine without the legal paperwork. Government records from this period state that there were some 14,000 Egyptian and Lebanese laborers. The population increase along the southern coastal plain during this period was almost completely due to Arab immigration. In the area of Israel now known as “the Triangle,” over 35% of the population consisted of immigrants from Egypt. 10-15% of the Israeli Palestinian population today lives in that region.

LAND OWNERSHIP

Jewish land purchases took place in sparsely populated areas and as a matter of official Zionist policy, the Zionists avoided purchasing land occupied by fellahin, or Arab farmers. Out of the lands Zionists purchased, 52.6% were unoccupied, belonging to foreign landowners; 24.6% belonged to Palestinian Arab landowners; 13.4% belonged to the government, churches, or foreign companies; and only 9.4% belonged to Palestinian Arab fellahin.

In the 1920s, David Ben Gurion, the future first prime minister of Israel, wrote, “Under no circumstances must we touch land belonging to fellahs or worked by them...Only if a fellah leaves his place of settlement should we offer to buy his land, at an appropriate price.”

The 1937 Peel Commission corroborated this, stating: “Much of the land now carrying orange groves was sand dunes or swamp and uncultivated when it was purchased.” In 1931, the British created a register for landless Arabs; only 664 Arabs out of a total of nearly 900,000 met the criteria.

For a full bibliography of my sources, please head over to my Instagram and  Patreon. 

[ryin-silverfish]

Hello ryin! I saw in a recent post of yours that you dislike the "class warfare" reading of the Havoc in Heaven arc in JTTW and would honestly love to hear more about your thoughts on that! Your takes have been really interesting.

Thank you!

My biggest problem with the "class warfare" reading is, first and foremost, what it has been historically used for.

Like, after the Havoc in Heaven opera and movie came out, the propagandists absolutely ate it up; SWK was associated with Mao Zedong and used to promote Mao's personality cult, and soon after, the White Bone Spirit story would be interpreted as this fable for the Sino-Soviet split.

Whereas Havoc in Heaven was intended and viewed as a metaphor and love letter to the victory of Chinese revolution, the White Bone Spirit story was interpreted in the context of the horrific fuck-up that is the Great Leap Forward, where the party were starting to doubt its leadership, and the path to the future seemed an uncertain and arduous one——much like the pilgrimage.

So, in the new twist on the "class warfare" narrative, Tripitaka and Pigsy became the poster-boy for "party members who were easily captivated by revisionist ideas" and needed to see how wrong they were, the WBS became the personification of Khruschev, imperialism, capitalism, revisionism...you name it, and SWK the Mao expy who could do no wrong yet was unfairly blamed by everyone.

Came the Cultural Revolution era, SWK would then become a sort of hero and role model for the Red Guards, smashing down all that was considered archaic and backwards, tearing down older authority figures and perceived "class enemies" alike, all the while emboldened by Mao's saying that "To rebel is justified" (造反有理).

Yeah, no, fuck that shit.

Terrible historical baggages aside, it is also a reading that reeks of presentism, and Lin Geng, a renowned professor of literature, had done a thorough takedown of the "SWK as peasant rebel" idea in his 西游记漫话.

Namely, it neither fits the circumstances of Havoc in Heaven, nor SWK's backstory and motivation. He's not rebelling because his monkeys are oppressed by the Celestial Realm, he's doing it because he feels personally slighted.

His mindset is also not that of a traditional peasant; compare and contrast that with Zhu Bajie, whom the author argues is very much peasant-coded in terms of his obsession with going back to Gao Laozhuang, his rake, and his comedic ignorance that stems from urban stereotypes of rural farmers.

To paraphrase Lin Geng, "Not all rebellions and rebel narratives in Chinese history are peasant ones, and we shouldn't just cry 'peasant rebellion metaphor!' the moment we saw a rebellion in fiction."

Lastly and more personally? This reading also tends to remove SWK's depth as a character. The representation of the Mind can be both heroic and flawed, capable of great feats and fuck-ups alike, but the representation of The Revolution has to be heroic and his opponents, whether celestial or demonic, must be evil oppressors and political boogeymen.

Like, the demons in the novel are representations of the mental obstacles a person will face on the path to Enlightenment, but they are also capable of being funny and very human characters, and not all of them wanted to eat Tripitaka.

The Celestial Realm is a satire of the imperial bureaucracy, sure, but the novel is also a product of its time and cannot magically promote 20th century ideas of revolutions and political reforms 500 years before they were a thing. Besides, SWK can still get help from them on the Journey and their relationship is more complicated than "oppressed rebel and oppressors".

And that's exactly why I dislike the "class warfare" reading: it creates a simplistic opposition of good and evil, and tries to squeeze the work into a narrow political framework that is neither nuanced nor accurate.

[txttletale]

bundletober #8: nasty, brutish, and long

welcome to bundletober, the txttletale dot tumblr dot com ttrpg blogging indulgence that absolutely everyone. is talking about? yes! today i read a slightly longer game than most of the ones i've been talking about here, because, frankly, it captivated me. nasty brutish, and long, by not writing, is a game about rebellion.

what instantly drew me into this game is that 'rebellion' isn't abstract and it doesn't happen for no reason. a lot of games like to style themselvs as being 'about rebellion' or 'about revolution', with no actual desire to engage in why revolutions happen--there's an evil empire and you're fighting it because it's evil. but nasty, brutish, and long is clearly deeply invested in questions of class and economics--part of the first session asks you to consider the economic state of the nation:

and yet another part gives you a 36-item table to roll on for an inciting incident for the revolution in question:

i love this shit--well, firstly, because i love games that give you strong plot hooks, games that tell you about their world, games that imply possibilities through options rather than grabbing your lapels and telling you what possibilities are on the table in tedious monologue. but second because this shows that the game wants to tell stories about the realities of revolution, that it is founding itself in history as more than just an aesthetic.

another really cool thing that happens before you even get out of character creation is 'backgrounds' -- as part of creating your character, you select four backgrounds (professions your character has worked), which are separated by social class (another choice you make at character creation). while you can always choose, the game encourages you to roll on yet more tables and make a story from that--i've done it a few times, and it's great fun.

for example, in the course of writing this post i created geoffrey--born a rural peasant class, he was taken in under the wing of a preacher after his family died. the preacher recognizes his potential and groomed him to be his successor--when the preacher eventually passed away, geoffrey, who'd always been a confident silvertongued lad, became his rural township's pastor. however, although he was convincing, he'd never been a true believer--so while when on a pilgrimage a merchant approached him with a simple scheme, using the legal immunity afforded to pilgrims to have him smuggle contraband into the country, he happily became a smuggler. this worked out great for a while, and saw geoffrey make a very tidy sum--but after a particularly close call he realized that he needed to get the hell out of this arrangement. with the sum of his ill-gotten gains, he travelled to a city and purchased a bookstore, becoming a middle class shop owner. he happily lived out the next few decades selling books--but at heart, he missed the fire of a sermon, having the ear of a crowd, so in his late years he passed his shop on to his son and became an elderly teacher, bringing literacy to the village of his youth.

this is exactly the kind of thing i fucking love about tabletop roleplaying games, the feeling that the game is chiming in with me as i try to tell a story, throwing me these weird curveballs i have to 'yes, and!' to create a backstory i'd never have thought of on a million years on my own. something else worth noting is that character creation is very open for a forged in the dark game -- you're unlkely to even have the same set of attributes as someone else, and you can pick backgrounds and abilities (mostly) totally independent of one another or any overarching playbook-type restriction.

the game itself diverges from blades in a lot of interesting ways. instead of blades' system of looking for the highest die, nasty, brutish, and long operates on a die pool system, which is what allows for it to add a large pile of levers for influencing rolls, including using multiple attributes for the same roll--there seems to be some OSR influence in here, with the open-endedness of the actual moment to moment gameplay and the vast amount of opportunities to use and exchange in-game resources. that said, unlike OSR stuff, there's a lot of effort being put in here to hand narrative control to players. instead of just saying 'you succeed' on a success, it says, 'the PC narrates what happens' which is a really cool spin on the usual success/mixed success/failure trifecta. players also get the ability to make up NPCs by expending resources, which is super cool.

other highlights include a take on burning wheel's drives system, a weird version of blades' resist mechanic that lets you change, rather than avert, the consequence your character faces, and a take on 'downtime' that frames it as more of a timeskip, during which years can pass. it's pretty cool stuff.

oh, and finally--the fucking style of this game is incredible. it does a lot with very little colour--a few splashes of dark red here and there is all it needs to complement its striking black and white, rich sense of texture, and

if there's one thing i don't like about nasty, brutish, and long, it's that it doesn't have any strong ideas about what the players need to be doing. the game establishes social turmoil and brewing revolution, makes a huge point of social class and class differences, but the verbs, the substance of what your player characters do, is deliberately left totally open. and that's cool for some people, some people like that openness a lot! but for me, who appreciates a tight and specific design, it doesn't do much. the tagline says its 'an game about class and revolution'--and i'm not sure i can fully agree with that. it'd be more accurate to call it a game 'containing class and revolution'. which is a step up from a lot of games that claim to be revolutionary, as i said before--but at the end of the day leaves me feeling like something's been left on the table.

still, there's a huge amount here worth checking out--even if you don't intend on playing it, it's a great look into the different directions you can take the forged in the dark framework, and a great tool for Making Up Guys. can't go wrong with making up a guy!

nasty, brutish, and long can be purchased as a digital download through itch.io

[thesoftestirises]

playing with fire iii

♡ pairing : aemond x reader ♡ rating : 18+ ♡ word count : 2.3k ♡ warnings: violence, talks of d wording and k wording, stockholm syndrome, dubcon (how can someone really consent in an environment like this?) ♡ summary : To most of Westeros, you are the dangerous leader of an antimonarchist   rebellion. To Prince Aemond, you are both the bane of his existence  and  the object of all his desires. ♡ an : the long awaited chapter three is here! hope to have chapter 4 up later this week as parts of it are already done. unbeta’d as usual. << previous | masterlist | next >>

You were not suited to be a princess, and the whole of King’s Landing knew it.

You sighed as you picked up your book from the puddle it was dumped in, wrinkling your nose as you wiped the mud from the cover. You noted with relief that the pages had somehow survived being damaged and was still legible, unlike most of the others you had mysteriously lost over the last few weeks.

In his efforts to ensure you wouldn’t be able to stoke rebellion amongst the servants of the Red Keep, Aemond had assigned daughters of noble houses to be your personal attendants. Only a highborn could be allowed to dress, wash, or feed you. Of course, these tasks were all beneath these women, but who could say no to the king’s brother? To the man who rode the largest dragon in the world?

Their decision to take the post was predetermined. But they did not have to enjoy it, and they made that much clear to you every day. When they tugged sharply at your hair under the guise of styling it. When they switched between making your bath water scalding hot or freezing cold. When they laced your corsets so tight you could hardly breathe.

Your position of authority over them as a lowborn, the fact you had turned women of noble birth into maids, was bound to cause strife. You knew that much when you were first brought to the castle. Still, you had not anticipated such casual cruelty. Despite everyone’s wishes, you were a princess. Maybe it was naive, but you had expected to be treated like a princess as well. Perhaps they thought your position was temporary and the prince would discard you soon. There was no power in bowing to a peasant.

You thought back to your wedding day, the words Aemond had whispered in your ear.

“I want you to surrender to me out of desire, not obligation.”

So much for that, you thought. You hadn’t seen more than a glimpse of him since the reception, and almost two full weeks had passed. Maybe he really had gotten bored. And if he had, you certainly couldn’t blame him. You were a trussed up shell of the woman you used to be. A leader separated from her people, physically and economically. Your best chance at helping the smallfolk now was through the person responsible for your downfall, and he was clever enough to be aware of that fact.

You had lost your edge. You were no longer the woman that he had chased around the seven kingdoms. You depended on him. You needed him.

And he was he avoiding you.

You stood up and brushed your skirts off. You had been idle too long, spent too much time feeling helpless and sorry for yourself. While you may not have command over your staff or Aemond, you did have determination. If the prince refused to see you, you would simply have to find another way to further your cause.

As you looked about the Godswood, taking in the sight of the sprawling greenery, you considered your options. You were forbidden from speaking with the castle staff, at the risk of them being put to death if they were caught exchanging words with you. You did not have any power to order the transfer of resources from the Red Keep’s coffers to the lower villages. No nobleman with a shred of self interest would be caught supporting your antimonarchist sentiments. They could theoretically be seduced into improving material conditions in their lands, which would provide a bit of reprieve, but you were hardly the type of beauty who could wield such control over men. Even if you were, Prince Aemond would not bear the insult of someone beneath him touching his property, whether he was bored of you or not.

You paused for a moment. Maybe Aemond could still be of use to you after all.

The Lord of the Stone Henge, Amos Bracken, was a known terror to his people.

He overtaxed them and was vindictive in his justice. You had heard of many tales of him cutting off the hands of smallfolk whose only crime was taking a loaf of bread to feed their families. Getting rid of him would ease their lives, and remove a trusted ally in a very valuable, but vulnerable land.

You adjusted the fabric of your dress down a bit and looked in the mirror. Your breasts were on full display, in an almost obscene manner. One could easily mistake you for a lost brothel mistress. You wrinkled your nose and briefly reconsidered your plan. Were you not being too obvious? Would Lord Bracken even look twice at you? Worse yet, would Aemond catch you first and laugh at you?

You sighed. The only way to know for certain was to try.

You nodded at the lady in waiting who had helped dress you, signaling for her to open the doors. She gave you a strained smile and escorted you down to the lower castle grounds.

King’s Landing was livelier than usual today, a side effect of the tournament King Aegon had decided to host in honor of his firstborn’s name day. The nobles were always energized by the prospect of meaningless bloodshed. Under normal circumstances, you would have declined to partake in the festivities. You did not agree with the unnecessary spending, nor did you like watching men’s guts being torn out of them. But you knew that many nobles from across the Seven Kingdoms would travel to the capital to attend the games, including Bracken. If you were to have a chance at executing your plan, your best bet was to start there.

You made your way up to the part of the stands that the highborns were sitting in, drawing stares and double takes. King Aegon, in particular, gave you a long once over, his eyes lingering on your chest for a moment before he smirked at you. You wanted to melt into a puddle and slide away in shame, but that would be conceding before you had even attempted to the play the game. So instead, you lifted your chin, gathered your skirts, and took your seat next to the chair that would have belonged to Aemond, had he deigned to show up.

The first of the tourney events would be jousting, as was tradition. You glanced over the list of participants sitting on Aegon’s knee, noting with glee that Bracken’s name was not on the docket. That meant he was somewhere in the King’s balcony. You swept your gaze around the crowd of well dressed aristocrats in their silks and velvets, until your eyes finally landed on a round faced young man in yellow.

The crowd below cheered as the participants began to trot onto the field. Everyone’s eyes were locked on the action below, but yours stayed fixed on Bracken. Should you play coy and keep glancing at him, hoping that he’d take interest and come to talk to you? Or would he prefer a bold woman who approached him directly?

“Oh gods.”

You turned to Aegon, whose upper lip was curled in displeasure as frowned down at the men in the arena.

“Well, now he’s gone and done it. I had ten gold dragons on that Stark boy.”

“When did he add himself to the tourney list?” asked one of the nearby men who wore the lion sigil of the Lannisters.

“He never did,” Aegon said, sighing and collapsing back into his seat. “Ten gold gone to waste.”

You followed the king’s line of sight down to a knight clad in armor that appeared to be made of shadows, trimmed with flashes of gold. All things considered, it was the most beautiful suit of armor you had ever seen. Dark, well fitting, subtle, but not without artistry. The breastplate looked like it was made of carefully interlinked dragon scales.

The knight sat gracefully atop a white steed, looking quite like an illustration out of a romance novel. Unlike all the other tourney participants, did not wave at the audience. He barely acknowledged them. He wandered around the field once, seemingly examining the grounds and his opponents, then paused in front of the King’s balcony.

“Brother, I am thrilled to see you’ve decided to bless us all with your participation and allow us to bare witness to your talents,” Aegon called, then quietly mumbled to himself. “Though I wish you would have provided us earlier notice.”

The crowd gasped in surprise as the knight removed his helmet and long, silver hair spilled out. An odd feeling sparked behind your ribcage as you looked at Aemond for the first time since your wedding. He seemed well. Sat tall. Skin glowed. It infuriated you. He had kidnapped you, only to abandon you in a pit of vipers. While you suffered under his orders, he thrived.

Aemond pressed his lips together in a thin imitation of a smile. “I figured these men deserved a real challenge.”

“Of course you did,” Aegon said between gritted teeth, before clapping once and gesturing to the audience. “Well, I suppose we ought to let the games begin.”

Aemond tilted his head down as if to bow. As he raised his chin back up, his uncovered eye darted to you. Even from far away, you could feel the weight of his gaze. The unmistakable, yet familiar hunger of it. You inhaled sharply and shifted in your seat. He stared for a moment, before turning his horse around and retreating to the line of tourney participants.

You frowned at his back. The way he looked at you did not make any sense. It did not line up with his recent actions. If he was truly still fixated on you, why would he leave you to your own devices for almost a whole month? Was he starving you of his attentions on purpose? Did he think he would be able to manipulate you by offering you a shred of kindness after you’d been treated so cruelly by the rest of the highborns?

You scoffed at the thought. That was not a trick you would easily fall for. He could never exploit your emotions against you, certainly not in a way that could benefit him. Not with what he stood for. Not after what he had done to you. You would prove that to him today. Regardless of his imprisonment of you and his actions to delegitimize you, you were still in control. And so as long as you could breathe, you would not submit to him.

As most of the highborns became distracted by the appearance of the second prince and the shuffling of the tournament brackets, you slipped away from your seat by the king and sat yourself next to your target.

Lord Bracken briefly looked at you, his eyes roaming your figure before he returned his gaze to the arena.

“Princess.”

“Lord Bracken,” you said, plastering a polite smile on your face. “I hope you don’t mind my sitting next to you. I was hoping to get a better view of the field from higher up and I noticed this seat was empty.”

“By all means,” Bracken said, his tone sarcastic as he gestured to you. “Who am I to refuse a member of House Targaryen?”

“From my research, a lord of very important lands. A vital ally in a strategic position, whom the king could not do without.”

Bracken furrowed his brows, turning his head to you. “Really?”

Hook.

“Yes. In my rebel days, we all understood the Riverlands to be pivotal. It’s the heart of the country, after all. But it is notoriously difficult to defend. The king relies on strong houses like yours to maintain order there. Without you, your strength and leadership, there would be perpetual war.”

He hummed and adjusted his posture, sitting up straighter. “That does make sense.”

“So, my lord,” you said, lowering your eyelashes and purposely tilting your head in a way that exposed the long line of your neck. “You are a man of great power. You are free to refuse me.”

He chuckled. “No, I should like you to stay.”

Line.

“Thank you, my lord.”

You looked out to the field below, pretending to be intensely interested in the joust preparations. The two knights below, a Tyrell and an Osgrey from what you could see, began readying their horses.

“Who do you suppose will win?” You asked.

“Between these two? Osgrey. He’s a more experienced warrior, though the Tyrell boy is also a formidable opponent.”

“A thoughtful answer, my lord. I see you possess a strategic mind.”

Bracken grinned at you, leaning in a little closer. “Do you see the way Osgrey handles his lance? The way he firmly grips and raises it?”

You intentionally knit your brows together and shook your head, feigning confusion. “I see it, but I don’t understand how it is any different than the way the Tyrell boy handles it.”

“The Tyrell boy’s arm quivers under the weight. His control over it is weak. That will do him in.”

“I see. You are very observant, lord. Better than the King’s Hand.”

“Thank you, princess,” Bracken said as he puffed out his chest.

“Please,” you smiled, laying a hand on Bracken’s bicep and gently squeezing. “Call me Y/N.”

“Oh, I couldn’t. You are the prince’s woman, sadly.”

“I fear I won’t be for much longer,” you said, forcing out a sigh and schooling your features into something that appeared devastated. “The prince has not consummated our marriage.”

Bracken’s caterpillar brows flew up to his hairline. “You speak true? He has not lain with you?”

“I’m certain he will annul our union any day now. I’m not sure what will happen to me once he does. If only it was you who had married me, lord.”

A pause, then Bracken spoke again, his beady eyes gleaming with intrigue. “Indeed.”

Sinker.

[sgiandubh]

National personification

The UK has Britannia. France has Marianne. The US have Uncle Sam. National personifications, summing up supposed collective qualities and passing on a message, both to citizens and foreigners alike. Instantly recognizable by just about anyone. To be found everywhere, from city halls (busts, frescoes, tapestries) to subway walls (Army conscription posters - of course it rings a bell!).

Romania has this:

This is Revolutionary Romania, as seen by C.D. Rosenthal, an Austrian painter who found both friendship and an avid clientele among the Romanian young rebels who tried and failed to overthrow the corrupted Ottoman rule, in 1848. Following them in exile and probably also spying on their behalf, Rosenthal was finally arrested in Budapest and tortured to death by the Imperial authorities: a normal occurrence in troubled times. His memory went on and on and on, because the same friends were soon to come back home and become ministers, bankers, newspaper owners: a modern democracy slowly emerged.

This is his most famous portrait and it quickly became our Britannia of sorts. Ceaușescu had it placed in his office, for inspiration - it did not help much, though.

The woman painted by Rosenthal holds the red, yellow and blue flag and is dressed in a Southern peasant costume, as it was worn at the time. She gazes with strength, determination and confidence towards a future that spells free press, parliamentary elections, industrialization and capitalist speculation. In real life, she is Maria Rosetti, a personal friend and sponsor of his. The wife of C.A. Rosetti, an authentic Prince of Genoese and Greek stock, one of the leaders of both the rebellion and the future Liberal Party. Also a many times removed relative of this blogger - but let's not insist. 😉

There is a catch, however, in all this fine and dandy story. Our national personification, the woman I just mentioned, is Scottish. Her life begins in Guernsey in 1819, as Marie Grant, the daughter of Captain Edward Grant, a ship-owner businessman and member of the Clan Grant of Carron and Spey and Marie La Lacheur, a French Huguenot woman.

These people, who fought as Jacobites at Prestonpans and Culloden and whose motto was 'Stand Fast':

Marie came to Wallachia, or what is now the Southern part of Romania, around 1837, following her younger brother, Effingham Grant, who just managed to find a lucrative job as the private secretary of another Scot (Glaswegian, even), Robert Gilmour Colquhoun, the newly appointed British Consul-General. At the time, these were long term postings, not unlike a long sojourn on a space station of sorts: Colquhoun remained in Bucharest from 1835 to 1854, when he eventually was posted to Bosnia.

Because she needed to support herself, Marie found a well paid live-in job as a governess for the family of Ion Odobescu, a high ranking Police honcho (also a far removed relative, this time on my maternal grandmother's side - the world is really, really small). The rest was easy enough: having met Rosetti through her brother, they fell in love, eloped to Plymouth and got married there, for what was to become a life long equal political and business partnership. Because they owned several newspapers, she is our first female journalist. A truly remarkable woman, a philanthropist and an indispensable voice advocating for the dispossessed. Effingham went on to establish the biggest foundry in the country, along with a real estate company, a tobacco manufacture, an orchid greenhouse and a bread factory - all prospered beyond any expectations. A heavy traffic steel bridge in Bucharest still bears his name. Enduring legacies.

For those brave enough or bored enough to look for more, here is the best detailed account on her I could find, based on Guernsey sources (but not only): https://www.priaulxlibrary.co.uk/node/386 .

[wagingmywarsbehindmyface]

Jonah’s Upcoming Projects 🎬

RICH FLU (dir. Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia) - thriller (post-production)

Explores how far people would go to save themselves when the wealth that made the world go round then becomes its most dangerous commodity after a strange disease threatens to kill anyone with any sort of fortune.

A BEAUTIFUL IMPERFECTION (dir. Michiel van Erp) - drama (2024)

🧍‍♂️Giacomo Casanova

The passionate story of the life and love of Lucia, a renowned veiled courtesan who is the exception to the rule.

FABIO D’ANDREA: ONE SMALL STEP - short (Jonah plays The Astronaut)

WILLIAM TELL (dir. Nick Hamm) - historical film

🧍‍♂️Rudenz

The film is set in 14th Century Switzerland, where a once peaceful hunter leads his people to rebellion after his family and country are threatened by a tyrannical Austrian King. The year is 1307 and the Holy Roman Empire is crumbling. As its grip on Europe loosens, new dynasties such as the Austrian Habsburg Family encroach on new lands, desperate for power. In Switzerland, the once peaceful country is overwhelmed and bows under the Austrian might as it advances and upends the quiet lives of the Swiss peasants

THE THREESOME (dir. Chad Hartigan) - a romantic comedy (date TBA)

🧍‍♂️Connor Blake

The movie showcases the story of a boy, Connor, who gradually begins to find his way into a relationship with the girl he’s been in love with his whole life, Olivia. That sounds great and everything, except he’s just had a one-night stand with someone else… and that may complicate things. That’s only the beginning of a complicated yet funny journey that explores trust, responsibility and the true nature of love.

DOCTOR WHO (2025)

🧍‍♂️Conrad

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (dir. Jennifer Kaytin Robinson) - horror/mystery (the release is set on July 18th 2025)

the reboot of the iconic 90s horror with the new cast Camila Mendes, Madelyn Cline, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers, and Jonah Hauer-King. The original film followed four young friends bound by a tragic accident who are reunited when they find themselves being stalked by a hook-wielding maniac. The film became a cult classic, earned over $125 million worldwide and led to the sequel “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.” Original stars Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt are in talks to return.

🧍‍♂️TBA

THE EDEN EXPRESS (dir. Daniel Cockburn)

The film follows Mark Vonnegut’s 1970 quest, alongside his girlfriend Virge and a group of friends. to escape Nixon’s America to find a better way of life on a British Columbia commune. It’s a place they hope will be an “Eden” on Earth. However, as this new utopia comes into focus, Mark starts to hear voices and see visions that give him ominous instructions, marking the start of his journey with bipolar disorder.

🧍‍♂️ MARK VONNEGUT

[erizosan1]

A little bit of historical context for Heroes

Heroes is roughly based on history of the ending of Northern Song dynasty (960-1127).

Chancellor Cai is a real historical figure. And there's also Liu Anshi if you want to read about him (x)

"Cai Jing (1047–1126), courtesy name Yuanchang (元長), was a Chinese calligrapher and politician who lived during the Northern Song dynasty of China." (Wiki)

But look at the dates: Cai Jing died in 1126 and Northern Song ended in 1127.

From wiki again:

"This decline can also be attributed to Cai Jing (1047–1126), who was appointed by Emperor Zhezong (1085–1100) and who remained in power until 1125. He revived the New Policies and pursued political opponents, tolerated corruption and encouraged Emperor Huizong (1100–1126) to neglect his duties to focus on artistic pursuits. Later, a peasant rebellion broke out in Zhejiang and Fujian, headed by Fang La in 1120. The rebellion may have been caused by an increasing tax burden, the concentration of landownership and oppressive government measures.

While the central Song court remained politically divided and focused upon its internal affairs, alarming new events to the north in the Liao state finally came to its attention. The Jurchen, a subject tribe of the Liao, rebelled against them and formed their own state, the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). The Song official Tong Guan (1054–1126) advised Emperor Huizong to form an alliance with the Jurchens, and the joint military campaign under this Alliance Conducted at Sea toppled and completely conquered the Liao dynasty by 1125."

So events of Heroes happened somewhere in 1125-1126. Su Mengzhen comes from Nothern borders where he is fighting Liao (1125 probably) and in last episode there's Cai Jing death so it's probably 1126 (not how it happened in real history but it still counts)

What we have is the country on verge of collapsing: weak emperor, corrupted and incapable government, people under tax burden ready to rebel, outside Liao and Jurchen (they weren't mentioned in Heroes but "during the latter invasion, the Jurchens captured not only the capital, but the retired Emperor Huizong, his successor Emperor Qinzong, and most of the Imperial court." Wiki again).

The interesting question is what about House of Sunset Drizzle and Six Half Hall? What is their place in all this mess? And how much power do they have? But this is for the next post, 😁 I'll probably write it 😁

[racefortheironthrone]

Hello, I've been loving your blog posts thus far and came across your analysis on Baelor Breakspear versus Bloodraven and how the latter's priorities and personality certainly did not help put out the garbage fire fate had given him, as opposed to the general peace and prosperity Baelor was gifted. I was curious as to how Baelor would have handled the plague and drought? I understand that they're probably not pulling off a miracle, but given that he'd at least maintain the feudal contract he's taken at least half of Bloodraven's issues off of his plate. Like, what could you even do with the tech level and ability of state they were working with?

That's an excellent question.

To be fair to Bloodraven, he was handling situations that medieval governments generally did not have the state capacity to deal with - even if they had understood the biological mechanisms of plague, they generally had neither the medical technology needed to test and treat it nor the bureaucratic manpower needed to execute a public health strategy. (To be completely fair, the Republic of Ragusa did invent the quarantine or technically the trentino in 1347, but republics tended to be outliers when it came to state capacity.)

I think that Baelor Breakspear would have struggled to deal with both the plague and the drought that followed. However, I think the main difference between King Baelor's government and the Lord Hand Bloodraven's government is that Baelor would have tried to help, and I think that would have changed the popular perception of whether the feudal social contract was being upheld. Bloodraven's abiding sin as Hand, in addition to the whole police state thing, is that he was so monomaniacally focused on preventing a Blackfyre crossing of the Narrow Sea that he essentially abrogated the monarchy's responsibility to govern on all other issues.

So what could Baelor have done?

Well, when it comes to the plague, I think Baelor could have issued a decree calling on towns and cities to emulate the Vale and Dorne in closing themselves off from travelers - it's a crude form of quarantine, but it did work to protect those kingdoms from the Great Spring Sickness. And in the aftermath, providing even symbolic assistance to widows and orphans and the like would go a long way to making the people feel like the government was trying to help in an impossible situation.

And when it comes to the drought, I think Baelor could have done a lot to help with famine relief. Similar to Aegon V sending food supplies to the North during a harsh winter, I think bringing in grain shipments from Essos to alleviate the suffering of the peasantry would have done a lot more to prevent destabilizing mass migration than Bloodraven's decrees. Issuing decrees waiving royal taxes and cutting feudal rents for affected areas would certainly strain the budget and piss off local lords, but again they would make sure that the peasants wouldn't have to hand over what little food they had and then go migrating in search of something to eat.

Equally importantly, I think Baelor both could and would have acted against Dagon Greyjoy - if the Royal Fleet is needed in the Narrow Sea, calling up the Redwyne Fleet and the Oldtown fleet and commanding the Wardens of the West and North to ready for an invasion of the Iron Islands would have put the Last Reaver down years earlier. And again, showing that the King will act to uphold the King's Peace and punish rebellion and piracy goes a long way to making the populace feel like the rules are being upheld.

And if those actions didn't outright prevent a Second or Third Blackfyre Rebellion, they would at least starve those uprisings of the fuel for their fire, shrinking them from rebellions with a popular constiuency to a mere conspiracy of a few disaffected aristocrats.

[esther-dot]

what do you think about the comparisons between sansa and elizabeth i?

Traumatizing 😂 Actually, Sansa having a cult of personality in the North with a goddess like depiction in songs, well, it's what she deserves so I guess I shouldn't be too down about it!

It has merit. The LF and Thomas Seymour parallel alone feels like enough to argue Martin was influenced by her life when writing Sansa's story. But the important thing is what is says about Sansa's endgame and this was written all the way back in 2012:

Disregarded as a daughter, and later marked as the daughter of a traitor (Anne Boleyn), Elizabeth was raised to be a highborn lady. After the death of her father, brother, and the execution of Lady Jane Grey, Elizabeth was held hostage by her mentally ill sister (Bloody) Mary for almost a year before Mary's death, putting Elizabeth on the throne. In government, Elizabeth was much more moderate than the previous Tudor monarchs had been. Her personal motto was, interestingly enough, "video et taceo" which roughly translates to “I see, and say nothing.” (much more--follow the link)

However, many people have made similar cases for Elizabeth of York being the inspo, especially because Martin has mentioned being influenced by the War of the Roses. I found this post from 2013 discussing it:

Sansa and Elizabeth resembled each other and their lives took somewhat parallel courses. Both bounced around various diplomatic marriage proposals. Both wanted to be queens. And, both married or almost married their uncles... (much more--follow the link)

@minitafan wrote about some similarities with Elizabeth of York for me once, and this part of a meta she wrote on it is particularly notable

This I think is a parallel GRRM took straight from the history books: Elizabeth’s young brothers were in line for the throne before her, but they “disappeared” presumably, were killed. To this day historians debate who exactly was the murderer, but for decades after that, several young men claimed to be either Edward or his younger brother, true heirs to the Throne. The story was they have been swapped for peasant boys by York loyalists, and the peasant boys had been murdered in their place. This is very similar to the story of Bran and Rickon being “swapped”. (link)

@trinuviel commented on the parallels:

GRRM has praised Sharon K. Penman’s novel Sunne in Splendour about the Wars of the Roses and it is quite obvious that it has been a big inspiration for his series, especially the first book. (link)

And @kitten1618x wrote a meta about all the parallels between ASOIAF and the War of the Roses, some of which are rather striking:

Amidst the War a King is Born [...] Edmund, a Lancastrian, was taken prisoner by Yorkist forces mere months after his marriage to Margaret, and died in captivity less than a year later, leaving behind a 13-year-old widow who was seven months pregnant with their child -whom she birthed at the tender age of 14. This sounds vaguely familiar -like a lovable bastard prince we know, who’s mother birthed him at a tender age, his father dying in a “rebellion” of sorts -War of the Roses/Roberts Rebellion. (much more--follow the link)

I think there are enough parallels to conclude both of the women were on Martin's mind, and seeing how he translates an influence into his own work is really interesting. Depending on how you foresee Sansa's ending, becoming queen in her own right a la Elizabeth I or marrying Jon as a kind of resolution to the Targ v Stark issues, and more pressingly, the Northern succession, for the Elizabeth of York parallel, one carries a lot more significance. I dislike the possibility of Sansa getting thrown at different guys for other people's purposes, being forced to marry, lusted after and molested by several adult men, without ever having a mutual love interest, so I can't really celebrate the Queen Elizabeth I parallels too much, although it’s nice they exist for QitN purposes.

[acoraxia]

LIVE RHY REACTION TO INVESTITURE OF THE GODS

Disclaimer: this is an English translated version and I do not know how accurate it is so if some things are wrong or improperly translated please let me know. I will also be including screenshots of dialogue and scenes every now and then but please keep in mind I will probably not go into too much detail of these chapters and that I am just reacting to the scenes that happen in the book.

This is also VERY LONG because the book itself is very long. Do not read it if you don't want spoilers/want to sit through a lot of text.

I’ll be covering Chapters 1 - 10 in this post

Once again, do not read if it's a lot of text and mute the tag #live rhyactions

CHAPTER 1 (GODDESS NU WA AND KING ZHOU):

I can’t believe they made Li Shou king because he was strong. He threw a pillar and everyone told King Di Yi to make him king like ok cool ig

also in the other version I was reading, King Di Yi was called Da Yi.. wonder if that was a mistranslation or something

“King Zhou established his capital at Zhaoge, a metropolis on the Yellow River.” interesting, in the other version they call it Morning Song. huh! The more you know

“The king placed Queen Jiang in the Central Palace; Concubine Huang in the West Palace and Concubine Yang in the Fragant Palace. They were all virtuous and chaste in their behavior and mind and gentle in manner.” (…) im not gonna comment on how much that last line irks me for some reason but… ough

ANYWAYS HE RULED IN PEACE… YIPPEE

“and his peasants were especially blessed by favorable winds and rains” why did that make me laugh a little ok

the four dukes!!!! yippee!!

East Grand Duke Jiang Huanchu, South Grand Duke E Chongyu, West Grand Duke Ji Chang and North Grand Duke Chong Houhu

i hope none of them die

SEVEN YEARS OF PEACE!!! and then a report was sent to him oh no

ough a rebellion.. of 72 marquises in the North Sea District — surely Grand Tutor Wen Zhong can take care of it right?? surely he’ll take care of it.

Shang Rong asks King Zhou to honor and hold a ceremony at Nu Wa’s temple for her birthay (the 15th day of the third month) and King Zhou has the gall to ask, “What has Goddess Nu Wa done that a great king such as myself is obliged to to go her temple and worship her?”

What if i stab him. what then. 

thank you Shang Rong you will always be the smart one of the advisors

King Zhou then makes an announcement that he's going to go worship Nu Wa at her temple. amazing. thank you for that.

“It would have been better if he hadn’t gone at all, for it was this very pilgrimage that caused the fall of the Shang Dynasty, making it impossible for the people to live in peace.” i think it was because he disrespected Nu Wa actually

why did he need 3,000 cavalrymen and 800 royal guards if he is such a well known and respected king… hm… 

But they were under the command of General Huang Feihu, Prince for National Pacification and of Military Prowess. so maybe this guy’s important for later. hopefully. i do not want anyone to die yet

except King Zhou but anyways

PRAYERS!!! RESPECT FOR NU WA YES

why are you wandering King Zhou. King Zhou go back.

KING ZHOU.

KING ZHOU NOOO

the most beautiful passages describing Nu Wa and how beautiful she is and how she looks at him with joy and this mfer gets horny. ok.

Or, perhaps, it is about how men’s desires in the past were always the cause of their own downfall because he was warned that Nu Wa was a respected goddess and one he shouldn’t take lightly and, in the end, he ends up disrespecting her all on his own and that is what causes his downfall. 

“He desired to possess her and thought to himself in frustration, ‘Though I’m wealthy and powerful and have concubines and maideservants filling my palace, there’s none as beautiful and charming as this goddess.’” 

rip bozo you signed your own death warrant

AGAIN, I AM SURPRISED HE ACTUALLY DID WRITE ON THE WALL ABOUT HOW MUCH HE WANTED HER. I THOUGHT THE WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE WAS LYING TO ME BUT NO: 

Shang Rong: Nu Wa’s been a proper goddess and the guardian angel for Zhaoge, I only suggested that you worship her so that she would continue to bless the people with timely rains and favorable winds and ensure that they’ll continue to live in peace. But with this poem, you’ve not only shown your lack of sincerity ubut have insulted her as well. This isn’t the way a king should behave. I pray you wash this blasphemous poem off the wall, lest you be condemmed by the people for your immorality. King Zhou: shut up i’m king

NOT THE REST OF HIS MEN LOWKEY SIDE-EYEING HIM….

anyways they go to the Dragon Virtue Court they go where he meets up with his queen and concubines happily. hooray!

Nu Wa paying respect to the three emperors — Fu Xi, Shen Nong and Xuan Yuan — before returning to her temple on her birthday is so nice to me? I know Fu Xi is her brother in some iterations and it makes me happy idk :(

WAIT THE MFER WROTE THIS IN THE MAIN HALL?

IT SAYS SHE SEATED HERSELF IN THE MAIN HALL — NAHHH HE DESERVES WHAT’S COMING TO HIM WHAT THE HELL??

GET HIS ASS!!!

did not know King Zhou had two sons (Yin Jiao and Yin Hong)

anyways he still has 28 years to go before his downfall and Nu Wa realized “that she could do nothing about it at this moment, since that would go against the will of Heaven.”

surely this “against the will of Heaven” won’t be a reocurring theme in the book and it’s successor, Journey to the West, right? Right?

of course it will

NU WA SUMMONING DEMONS AND EVIL SPIRITS FROM THE DEMON SUMMONING PENNANT LET’S GOOOO

“All demons the world has arrived to receive her command” queen shit

IT’S THEM!!! IT’S THE THREE QUEENS OF THE SHANG DYNASTY LET’S FUCKING GO!!!

“May you live eternally, dear goddess!” they have more respect than King Zhou LMAO

“you mustn’t bring harm to the people” uh. anyways.

“since his visit to the Temple of Goddess Nu Wa, King Zhou had sunk into deep depression” shut the fuck go hold your wife

“He had no passion for his queen, his concubines, or the numerous maids in his palace. They now all appeared to him like lumps of clay.” Something poetic about Nu Wa making people out of clay and King Zhou now seeing them as clay—but also fuck this dude

King Zhou: im sad because im in love with nu wa and can’t marry her

what if i kill you

NOT THEM SUGGESTING HE ORDER 100 WOMEN FROM THE GRAND DUKES — BRO NOOOOOO

why is that the end of the chapter

[.....]

CHAPTER 2 (THE REBELLION OF SU HU):

King Zhou: bring me 100 virgins. they must be gentle, virtuous and above all beautiful

i cant with this man.

Shang Rong: you already have 1,000 women you can’t ask for more when your people are dying of drought and floods King Zhou: fine

HES SULKING LMAO

Su Hu… i like Su Hu he doesn’t want to give you any bribes smh

Shut up King Zhou i miss Su Hu

“we greatly appreciate the kind concern shown us by your majesty” i dont trust like that…

what if i killed them all

why are you mentioning Su Hu has a daug- STOP

ISN’T THAT SU DAJI’S FATHER HOLD ON

King Zhou: can i marry your daughter Su Hu: fuck you King Zhou: >:O

NOOO HE FUCKING ARRESTED SU HU WHAT THE HELL

he was right though this kingdom is dying because you’re being too horny King Zhou please listen to REASON

HE (SU HU) WROTE HIS POEM ABOUT KING ZHOU ON THE WALL HELLO?

idk if it’s intentional but it seems like he’s making fun of King Zhou for writing on Nu Wa’s temple wall LMAO i love that

we stan Su Hu

“Our goal is the utter decimantion of the city.”

I miss Su Daji

where’s my wife

Fei Zhong is like… the worst fucking instigator huh? He’s the one who keeps giving King Zhou ideas- i hate men

Ji Chang taking place for King Zhou so he won’t get caught in the cross fire… interesting that he hesitated on that? ig?

“How could possibly have offended the king? He’s known to all for his loyalty and good conduct, and for his many outstanding military successes. There must have been good reason for him to write the poem.” Ji Chang you’re one of the few smart people in this novel

tiredly reading this chapter because…. ough… ji chang,,,, rebel,,, ji chang,,, j i c ha ng,,

ANYWAYS BACK TO SU HU ARRIVING BACK AT JIZHOU

he has a son (Su Quanzhong)???? HE’S A DAD???

wait why am i suprised his daughter’s literally daji nvm

honestly this is great for learning how names work yppee

NOT THE 50,00 STRONG ARMY FROM CHONG HOUHU… OUGH

Su Hu immediately getting angry when he learns Chong Houhu is leading the armyncjks

“Chong’s an evil fellow” LMAO??? OK DAMN

not Su Hu apologizing for not being able to salute properly becuase of his armor

“King Zhou has of late become corrupt and immoral as a ruler” SAY IT LOUDER

LMAO NOOOOOO

NOT THE GUYS FIGHTING

STOP PLEASE NOT SU QUANZHONG

nvm they won HELL YEA

RUN AWAY CHONG HOUHU YOU COWARDS

SURPRISE ATTACK AT MIDNIGHT LETS GOOOOO

i forgot peopel took drums with them to war

not Chong Houhu drinking after Huang Yuanji reassured him it’ll be fine. fool. you’re at war. don’t drink before sleeping

“They rushed in like tigers and wolves, slaughtering and maiming on all sides.” ough i love this novel’s descriptions

SO MANY PEOPLE DYING 

“Chong Houhu dismount from your horse and die!” these men are violent

if this is how violent they are im terrified for su daji now LMAO

Su Quanzhong my beloved

NOT HIM KILLING SUN ZIYU WHAT THE HELL

not Chong Houhu fleeing and distracting his son and he ends up gettig killed by Su Quanzhong

THAT’S WHERE IT ENDS???

wow wtf

[.....]

CHAPTER 3 (DAJI ENTERS THE PALACE):

MY QUEEN’S ARRIVING LET’S GO

My queen did not, in fact, arrive

These men are going through it

also i thought Chong Houhu’s son died but no hes just wounded LMAO

MOST OF THIS CHAPTER IS MEN CRYING I CAN FEEL IT

Chong Houhu is finally smart for once in acknowledging he cannot win this

“A huge army is marching towards us at great speed.” PLEASE SAY IT’S SU HU COMING TO KICK EVERYONE’S ASS

oh. 

nvm

Chong Heihu, the Black Tiger, the Marquis of Caozhou

why does he have a brother-

Black Tiger: i heard you got your shit rocked

Su Hu: Black Tiger’s here? We’re screwed

Sun Quanzhong is so cool but also so so stupid

bro your dad is telling you this guy is trouble because he knows MAGIC bro

Bro don’t go off to fight your dad’s sworn brother bro no

NOT THEM CAPTURING SUN QUANZHONG

BRO

BRO WHAT THE HELL

HERE COMES BLACK TIGER WITH THE STEEL CHAIR

nvm the steel chair was Black Tiger winking and trying to give Sun Quanzhong a signal that he is, in fact, siding with his dad but Sun Quanzhong is too stubborn and fucking decides to fight Black Tiger

honestly bro what did you expect

GET FFUCKING CAPTURED BRO

DUMB OF ASS… STUBBORN BOY SOBS

also no Black Tiger isnt a tiger he’s a human thats just his name i hope i dont have to clarify that again oops

bro

bro???

SU HU WHAT THE HELL???

so… petition to beat up Su Hu??

NO

NO

NO

NO

OH MY GOD

BRO ALMOST KILLS HIS DAUGHTER- WHAT THE HELL??

Why does he blame her and not the man who is lusting after his, supposedly, young daughter? Why doesn’t he curse the man that was a tyrant and has been growing lustful with power? Why doesn’t he realized that she is not to blame for she does not even know what is happening? 

Ough.

Black Tiger: Brother, if only you would only consult with me, I could withdraw my troops. Why do you fear and refuse to see me? I don’t understand! There’s no ned to launch an attack. 

black tiger and su hu have an interesting relationship.

hm.

tfw even your men are wondering why you are suddenly acting so strange

bro Black Tiger did something to Su Hu huh….

GENERAL ZHENG… OUGH

hes going to fight black tiger oh boy

“Black Tiger was mounted on a fiery-eyed monster” what if i eat him

General Zheng Lun of Jizhou… inchresting

interesting.

NJKCDSNJCD FUCKER CAPTURED HIM SO QUICKLY WHAT???

also Black Tiger’s smoke magic >>>> LMK!Macaque’s shadow magic sorry lmao forgot to mention that

Su Hu: I cant believe Zheng Lun died Zheng Lun: i’ve captured the black tiger Su Hu: what the fuck-

“I’ve never forgotten that we’re sworn brothers. I’m ashamed to be a captive and greatly appreciate your courtesy.”

Black Tiger And Su Hu Have An Interesting Relationship (by which i mean it's strange seeing male friendship represented like this in such an old novel but it's a /pos kind of strange yknow)

uhm.

anyway.

SHUT THE FUCK UP SAN YISHENG PLEASE. STOP

WDYM KING ZHOU WROTE A POEM NOOOO

Poem basically says to let him marry Daji or else they’ll all die.

Su Hu Is Considering This.

“How could I dare to oppose his wishes!” bro you literally told him to act like a better king what’s happening right now-

what if i die

wdym the chapter ends there.

what

[.....]

CHAPTER 4 (THE FOX SPRITE MURDERS DAJI):

the title goes straight to the point huh-

“I won’t sacrifice my life on account of my adoration for my daughter” Su Hu what if you shut the fuck up

yo what the fuck

Black Tiger going off on Chong Chouhu what

wow.

anyway-

“As I cannot let the family perish on account of Daji, I’ve got no choice but to send her back to the palace and apologize to His Majesty.” Su Hu i want you to choke

aw madame yang crying over daj-

what the fuck

huh

huh

huh

WHAT

I MEAN I GET W H Y

BUT

HUH???

y’all she’s gonna die either way im sorry-

“The old couple spent the whole night in despair and sorrow.” and y’all didnt… like.. want to fight for her or…. ok

when’s erlang showing up so he can beat up everyone

OG DAJI DID NOT DESERVE THIS

LOOK AT HER SHE BREAKS DOWN INTO TEARS WHEN SHE HEARS ABOUT WHERE SHE’S GOING

OUGH MY POOR GIRL

Su Hu after hearing there might be a murderous spirit haunting the place they’re staying at: SURELY THIS WON’T AFFECT US IN ANY WAY POSSIBLE

He checked in on Daji to make sure she and her maidservants were sleeping before reading a book on war strategy…

sir make up your mind either cherish her and love her or send her off to be married to a man probably twice her age

HE STARTLES THE GOES TO CHECK IN ON HER

OUGH

EITHER BE A GOOD DAD OR DONT BE A GOOD DAD WTF

the fact he stays awake to keep her safe

wtf

oop

OOP

LMAO

SHES DEAD SORRY LMAO

so.. who’s gonna tell him..

Fei Zhong: Su Hu is here to offer his daughter King Zhou: Why??? Fei Zhong: …b…because you asked for it-

mfer is so offended and for what

Shang RONG MY BELOVED

THE ONLY MAN WITH FUCKING COMMON SENSE LETS GO

and then Fei Zhong ruins it by saying if Daji is beautiful enough then they can forgive Su Hu and if she’s ugly then they can kill her and his father ok wow wtf

SU DAJI MY BELOVED <333

the fact they say she wears red… and i hc’d she wore pink/violets on her way to the kingdom.. and when the spirit kills her and possesses her she’s fully red clothed…. ough..

Can he like… not…. can he not….

I MEAN

i know why she’s so ethereal to him

because hulijing are said to be bewitching to people and they fall in love with them easily

but also fucking come on dude what the hell

sorry this whole thing is jsust… you have to read it to understand how ANGRY i am at this motherfucker right now

“passionate blissful night” daji im so sorry dude ough

NOT HIM FUCKING NEGLECTING ALL HIS DUTIES IMMEDIATELY

BRO I THOUGHT IT TOOK… LIKE 13 MORE CHAPTERS

MFER IS JUST…. GONE

WOW

WHAT A WAY TO END THE FUCKING CHAPTER

OUGH

[.....]

CHAPTER 5 (A VAIN ATTEMPT BY MASTER OF THE CLOUDS):

Master of the Clouds: she’s going to bring calamities

GOD FORBID WOMEN DO ANYTHING DAMN

also like???

she hasnt murdered anyone

Nu Wa sent her

why are people triyng to exorcise her already wtf-

TNE FUCKING MONTHS?

KING ZHOU HAS BEEN DRINKING AND FUCKING FOR TEN MONTHS???? HASNT APPEARED IN TEN MONTHS??? BROTHER WHAT

everyone: we’re worried King Zhou: anyways

HES SO FUCKINGNCJKDSNJK

im so tired of this dude

JUST DO YOUR FUCKING WORK??

where’s his wife bro

where are his sons

what the hell

Master of the Clouds explains taoism

ngl it’s pretty cool

i wont post the whole thing but it’s genuinely cool

he made a poem about the spirit lmao

PINE SWORD… SOUNDS SO COOL TBH

i want a pine sword

HE MADE ANOTHER POEM SAYIG HOW NICE HIS LIFE IS AS A TAOIST MASTER

THAT’S…

i like this dude

funky

Master of the Clouds: this pine sword will kill the spirit in 3 days King Zhou: Cool! Daji:

MOTHERFUCKER BELIEVES HER

OH MY GOD

GASLIGHT. GATEKEEP. GIRLBOSS.

motherfucker you CANNOT BE THIS DUMB OH MY GODNJDKSNJCKDS

bro 

BRO

i cant believe it fucking ends there DAMN LMAO

[.....]

CHAPTER 6 (THE BURNING PILLAR TORTURE):

i wonder what this chapter’s about oh boy

she recovered and carried on with her merry-making… i love her actually

“(…) Jiang Ziya will enjoy worldly glory and filfth, and fifth, gods are to be created.” ayo?? first even Jiang Ziya mention 

iirc Jiang Ziya was Erlang’s mentor? I could be wrong but yknow yippeeee

so basically, to recap: Master of the Clouds sends a poem to Grand Tutor Du Yuanxian and he immediately writes a report to King Zhou. Shang Rong receives the report and tries to present it to the king at his personal palace

oh boy

Du Yuanxian: hey so the spirit in your home is growing really powerful to the point where the spectral light she emits can be seen in the ninth realm King Zhou: HE ALMOST KILLED DAJI >:(

sorry guys he is…

he sure is something. this man. yea

He asks Daji if she knows anything about this and she just

oh my god.

SHANG TRYING TO REASON WITH HIM OUGH…

Du Yuanxian waiting eargly for news of what King Zhou said,,,,,, only to be told hes a criminal and will be executed bro what

Mei Bo: dw bro i’ll talk to the king and tell him this is all a misunderstanding

i bet hes gonna get killed too lmao

HE CHASTIED SHANG RONG FOR TELLING HIM HE’S LETTING INNOCENT MEN GET SLAUGHTERED BRO PLEASE

KING ZHOU IS SO ANGRY MEI BO ENTERED THE PALACE LMAO

Shang Rong gets a pass because hes so polite (and he’s a veteran and served for three Shang Dynasty emperors)

MEI BO FUCKING CALLING KING ZHOU OUT…

“Du Yuanxian’s a loyal minister. If you put him to death on account of your concubine, you’ll be cursed for butchering your father’s old minister, and denounced as the destroyer of the nation, for your act tantamount to wrecking a house by removing its pillars and beams. I exhort you to let Du Yuanxian live, for it you do, people will honor you as saintly ruler.” i like mei bo

KING ZHOU IS NOW KILLING MEI BO AS WELL

MEI BO WENT OFF LMAO

“You listen daily to the fawning courtiers and spend your nights in dissipation with Daji. The kingdom will suffer disaster soon, and I fear that I won’t have the face to contront our deceased kings in the nether world.” GO OFF MEI BO…. OUGH

….go off girl

go off

like

i - go off honeslty

KING ZHOU LOVES THIS IDEA

SHANG RONG RETIRES BECAUSE HE CANNOT HANDLE THIS ANYMORE

HE WANTS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS ANYMORE

GO OFF SIR GO

LVIE YOUR LIFE

GOODBYE SHANG RONG… YOU WILL BE MISSED GREATLY SOBS

“King Zhou continued to indulge with Daji day and night, ignoring all state affairs.” daji if you kill him now i wont tell anyone promise

iMMA GET YOU OUT OF THERE GIRL

aside from that, some princes arrived and they were all horrified by Mei Bo's execution after witnessing it and declared they have to do something to stop King Zhou

King Zhou is too infatuated with Daji to notice this ofc-

i feel so bad for King Zhou’s wife

ough… next chapter

[.....]

CHAPTER 7 (FEI ZHONG PLOTS TO DEPOSE THE QUEEN):

…uh oh-

“When the guards announced her (Queen Jiang) arrival, King Zhou glanced at Daji with half-closed eyes. ‘Lady Su! Would you please meet Her Majesty for me?’” bro you have little to no decency…

mfer you’re not even going to go greet your own wife??????

what the fuck man

also i do like that they explain Daji is a “mere concubine” so she doesn’t get to sit down. very interesting

NVM KING ZHOU IS IN FACT THERE TO GREET HIS WIFE BUT I FULLY BELIEVED HE WAS GOING TO STAY BACK AT THEIR ROOM DRINKING WHILE DAJI HAD TO ENTERTAIN HER OKAY

i love daji she’s just singing and dancing and enjoying herself i bet

fuck off King Zhou i don’t need you complimenting her

Queen Jiang: this isn’t good King Zhou: why can’t you enjoy yourself Queen Jiang: BECAUSE OF YOU

GO OFF QUEEN JIANG????

HOLY SHIT

i sure do hope nothing bad happens to Queen Jiang today

King Zhou is fucking drunk!!!!

amazing!!! /s

we love a manipulative queen holy shit

SHE’S SO GOOD AT IT TOO???

HOW MANY TIMES HAS THIS MFER FALLEN FOR EHR CRYING

IT’S INSANE

i’m pretty sure any other man would’ve told her to stop crying or something

damn

abusing the fact he’s so in love with her huh

Queen Jiang: You’ve seduced and incited him to all manner of evil. You’re the instigator and must repent at once. If you continue to wreck havoc upon this dynasty, I will deal with you according to the law! You may leave now. Daji: Daji: so i’m planning to murder her-

no really she tells Gun Juan she must seek her revenge i love her nckjs

Gun Juan is so cool?

“I’m a mere maidservant” girlie you are so smart actually

it’s a solid plan too? i didn’t expect it ngl i thought they were going to curse Queen Jiang but nope! just regular plan which is very nice

bro this isnt a debate come on man

let’s go murder the queen

come on fei zhong-

HELL YEA FEI ZHONG HAS A PLAN

Everyone: go back to work King Zhou: bah Daji: go back to work King Zhou: ofc anything for you daji <33333

i fucking hate this man

this man tried to assassinate the king and failed

you disgrace me you should’ve killed him bro

wait nvm it was all part of the plan???

what the fuck omg

King Zhou: WHY WOULD MY WIFE CONSPIRE AGAINST ME

because you’ve ignored her for almost a year, mayhaps?

“Who has so shamelessly condemned this innocent woman?” Queen Jiang im so sorry but im a daji stan through and through, off with her head

daji about to pull an ultimate powermove i can feel it-

daji i dont trust like that

ma’am?

i dont have the words to describe this so uh placing this down here HAHA

King Zhou is a yes man for Daji and i cant even blame him right now

he still sucks

QUEEN JIANG CRYING

CONCUBINE HUANG CRYING

EVERYONE’S CRYING WHILE DAJI’S PROBABLY SITTING THERE SMILING WAITING FOR QUEEN JIANG TO GET TORTURED

god forbid women do anything smh

so they took one of Queen Jiang’s eyes

y’all will have to read this book yourselves lmao i am not sharing this scene

but it was good

anyways Daji wants to keep torturing her and King Zhou has an inkling of doubt on her for once

i doubt it will last tho

IT DID NOT FUCKING LAST LONG

OH MY GOD????

he has no spine

THEY FUCKING BURNED OFF HER HANDS????

MY FUCKING GOD

AND THE CHAPTER ENDS WITH DAJI SUGGESTING THEY BRING IN JIANG HUAN OKAY ALRIGHT GOOD IG

[.....]

CHAPTER 8 (PRINCES TAKE FLIGHT):

General Chao Tian and Chao Lei bring Jiang Huan to the west palace. yippe

Rip Queen jiang she only has one eye now

Queen Jiang: SAY YOU LIED Jiang Huan: but you ordered me to assassinate the King Queen Jiang: BITCH

HELP

Yin Jiao and Yin Hong playing chess…. free from guilt… not knowing whats about to happen lmao

Yin Jiao is fourteen and Yin Hong is.. two years his junior? So fourteen and twelve i think

no wonder theyre not paying attention

me too guys

YIN JIAO LET OUT A ROAR??? OK IG THEYRE RUNNING TO THE WEST PALACE TO SEE THEIR MOM

theyre crying now awesome

“I’ll cut off Daji’s head in revenge for my mother!” Yin Jiao buddy you’re like fourteen and you just kill your uncle- buddy n- oh boy

oh no nvm Yin Hong is sixteen then since they said Yin Jiao is too young to understa- yeah ok my bad

THE KING THINKS THEY WERE GOING TO KILL HIM LMAO NOOO

HE’S ORDERING THEM TO MURDER HIS SONS

QUEEN JIANG’S FUCKING DEAD?

WOW

OKAY NVM

RUNAWAY TEENAGERS LETS GOO

i would feel bad but i dont want to get attached i dont think children live long in these types of novels

HELLO?

CONCUBINE YANG FUCKING DID WHAT?

King Zhou: i wonder why she did that

BROTHER SHE WAS TERRIFIED YOU’D TORTURE HER

MFER JUST DOES NOT CARE HUH

still tries to kill his sons- im cdnsjkcndks

ERLANG PSPSPSPSPSPPSPS PLEASE I NEED SOMEONE TO COME BEAT THIS MAN UP

help is this why the war starts… because daji wanted queen jiang dead? damn

REBELLION REBELLION REBELLION

why does Huang Feihu have a rainbow ox

what

anyways

Fang Bi and Fang Xiang are taking the princes somewhere safe

BOTH THE PRINCES AND MARSHAL HUANG ON THEIR KNEES KNOWING THIS IS AWFUL AND WRONG BUT DAMN

NOT YIN JIAO SACRIFICNG HIMSELF SO HIS LITTLE BROTHER WILL LIVE AND RAISE AN ARMY AND SEEK REVENGE ON THEIR DAD

OUGH

ough,,,

E CHONGYU?

OH MARSHAL HUANG HAS AN IDEA

YES

YES THEY WILL ALL LIVE

SECRET BETWEEN ALL OF THEM HAHAHAHA

i already forgot who e chongyu was- wasnt he like….. hold on

no i forgot but it’s ok

Marshal Huang giving the boys his jade pendant with gold so they’ll be ok bc they have no money :( aw

Marshal Huang: yeah so i couldnt catch them idk where they went King Zhou: DAMN… it’s ok you can go now

UH OH DAJI HAS AN IDEA

Daji ily queen you go girl

ANYWAYS HUANG FEIHU ONLY SELECTINGT HE OLD AND WEAK SOLDIERS TO GO FIND THE PRINCES LMAO

why are you.. letting two little boys go off on their own 

what is wrong with you people

THANK GOD YIN HONG GOT SOME FOOD FROM SOME NICE FOLK DANG

anyways onwards he goes to find E Chongyu

he collapsed at a temple… uh… yippee

SHANG RONG????

SHANG RONG!!!!!!

LETS FUCKING GOOOOO

Yin Pobai and Lei Kai are now in pursuit of the brothers,,, oh boy

chapter ends there aaaaaaa

[.....]

CHAPTER 9 (THE PRIME MINISTER'S DEATH):

ayo what the FUCK

yknow i wasnt going to comment but immediately the generals find the Temple of Emperor Xuanyuan where Yin Hong is sleeping and they find him LMAO

Yin Pobai arrives at Fengyun to talk to Shang Rong uh oh

GET HIS ASS SHANG RONG

also conspiring with shang rong would be the best thing imo

NOT THE BROTHERS REUNITING AND BASICALLY GOING “FUCK! NOW WE CAN’T AVENGE OUR MOM”

uh oh Huang Feihu’s mad-

OH LORD HES REALLY MAD OH NO

no one wants to execute the princes 

im assuming a riot’s going to happen?

Daji said to execute the princes today and King Zhou agreed

yep riot i can feel it

JIANG ZIYA MENTION

I CANT BELIEVE SHANG RONG TOLD DAJI “KYS” IN HIS REPORT TO KING ZHOU 

WOW

YEA NO WONDER YEAH UHM

shang rong you will always be famous 

THATS WHERE IT ENDS? SHANG RONG DIES AND HIS BRAINS AND BLOOD DRIP DOWN THE COLLAR OF HIS ROBE….?

DAMN

MY GOD

OKAY...

[.....]

CHAPTER 10 (THE DISCOVERY OF THUNDERBOLT):

Zhao Qi angirly stepping out of the ranks to snap at King Zhou? uh oh

WHAT AN INSANE WAY TO START THIS CHAPTER MY GOD

WELL IG HES DEAD… HUH….

UHM…. DAMN….

“‘Have you any better means to deal with these stubborn jackasses?’ he asked Daji.”

uhm how about stop killing these men

also i can’t even entirely blame Daji for this she’s genuinely just carrying out orders from Nu Wa to ensure King Zhou is the downfall of the Shang Dynasty? She’s doing her job and it’s going ridiculously good and although a war’s coming… King Zhou is at fault for not listening to everyone that tells him he is being a bad king

YIPPEE SHES OFFICIALLY QUEEN DAJI NOW LETS GO

so hes going to behead the four dukes…. ok

WHY IS SAN YISHENG IN CHAGRE OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS NOOOO

Bo Yikao is a funky name i wonder what it means

Ji Chang’s son going in his place to King Zhou’s court… hmhm

THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN JI CHANG HAS NINETY-NINE SONS????????WHAT

“the star of a great warrior has come to existence” ji chang why do you speak in riddles

WHY ARE YOU ABANDONING A BABY SOBS

MASTER OF CLOUDS

his name will be thunderbolt…

so

like

like his name’s just lightning?

hm

ok well master of clouds have acquired a baby

oh boy the dukes are drinking

well E Chongyu’s drunk at least

HES INSULTING CHONG HOUHU NOOO

Ji Chang stopped Chong Houhu from slapping E Chongyu… damn

so close

JI CHANG SAID TO DECAPITATE EVERYONE SINCE NO ONES SPEAKING UP LMAO

YAO FU???

i have a character named Fu Yao that was wild

anyways

YAO FU TELLING EVERYONE ABOUT DAJI AND KING ZHOU AND HOW QUEEN JIANG DIED

oh shit Jiang Huanchu’s her dad right

uh oh

HE FAINTED

Jiang Huanchu: MY DAUGHTER IS DEAD… MY DEAR DAUGHTER…. HOW HORRIBLY YOU MUST HAVE SUFFERED!

i like this guy

hes just sad over his daughrer dying ough :(

aaaaand King Zhou is killing everyone ok

THATS IT… HE JUST.. GETS ANGRY AT JI CHANG FOR SPEAKING UP AND THE NSAYS HE’LL KILL ALL FOUR DUKES

wild

can’t wait to read chapters 11 - 20

[marykk1990]

My next post in support of Ukraine is:

Next site, the city of Cherkasy in Cherkasy Oblast. While it was officially given city status in 1795, it was first mentioned in writings way back in 1286. In 2011, the 725th anniversary of the city was celebrated. Cherkasy is a very important city historically for Ukraine as it "was the center of the land of the Cossacks." Citizens of the city participated in two rebellions. The Khmelnytsky Uprising (also known as the Cossack-Polish War). Here's two links on that. And the Koliivshchyna, another cossack and peasant revolt. Here's two links on that also.

#StandWithUkraine

#СлаваУкраїні 🇺🇦🌻

[halfyearsqueen]

RHAENYRA + PROGRESS IN 112.

one of the most interesting and important aspects of fire and blood to me is the fact that when daemon takes harrenhal, the smallfolk are the ones who rise up first. the ‘ knights and men at arms and humble peasants who yet remembered the realm’s delight ‘ hundreds and then thousands headed to harrenhal before their great lords declared. who then also threw in their lots with rhaenyra. this also implies some pretty interesting things about the context of her tour in 112, beyond the men that paid court to her during. that she had at least some level of contact with the smallfolk of the riverlands, enough that she developed a positive enough report with them that they were willing to fight and die for her 17 years later from the impression that she made during. in the book there is no official reason for hers in particular ( in the show it is directly to find a suitor ) for my portrayal in particular i do take it as viserys sending rhaenyra to help her be more visible to the smallfolk and his leal lords on a larger scale and something of which of the royal family she was in fact the only representative – it was also a deescalation of the tension post the tourney of 111AC inside the walls of the red keep, and a way for her to gain more ??? experience outside the walls of the red keep. a way for great lords and landed knights to question her on the fallout of it in person and the subsequent formations of the greens and the blacks, and actually actively see the king’s chosen heir.

she also is ? of the same belief as aegon the conqueror that the best way to stomp out rebellion and discord is for the people to be able to speak to their king / queen, and bring their issues to them in person. she is also ? wholly cognizant of who’s crown she is in fact inheriting and the nuances of that decision and the potential ramifications and questions that will no doubt come with that. she’s aware she’s inheriting the crown of the conciliator, the man who ‘ made the seven kingdoms one ‘ who knew when to be lenient and pardon dissenters and when to stand firm but she’s also inheriting the crown of her father who only got that crown in the first place because rhaenys was passed over for it due to her sex. her want for peace is multifaceted - she’s trying to calm things down and level the waters so her potential ascension isn’t as big of a thing as it is and as big of a fright for the men around her and there isn’t a sense of their own power being at risk, for the transition of power to be as seamless as it would be if she were a man. and during the tour in 112AC, i think she definitely did a lot of work with the great lords and all the houses she visited, to alleviate that fear of change coming that had in fact begun to build upon the official formation of the political factions in the red keep.

during this tour, many sons of those same lords paid court to her. this wasn’t the worst thing—and for the most part it was ? it was easy, it was an easy social exchange and she had always adored the notion of courtly love and that sort of gallant chivalry and for the romantic in her, it was enjoyable at times. and the implication whenever viserys told her of her betrothal to laenor is during this time she also met at least one match that she was serious about marrying which led to their argument shortly thereafter ( more then likely harwin strong, given he either returned to court after he was said to have paid ? court to her or traveled to do so ) of them, the only ones that were really off putting for her as being potential matches were the lannister twins - purely because of the fact they were blood to each other. and both were in fact competing for her attentions and she didn’t ? want to cause discord in their family as well, DIDNT want to have a hand in throwing a wrench in their familial unit by choosing either of them - in causing strife due to their ambitions to be her king consort.

there were feasts, balls and tourneys thrown in her honor, and she was gone for the better part of that year between late January of 112 to mid December. she traveled with her retinue of ladies, retainers and knights, and her septa, lynesse. formerly of house hightower. a daughter of a distant relative of queen alicent. appointed to the position the year prior post the onset of the rumors about her purity being compromised. as well as ser criston cole and ser steffon darklyn. her duties consisted of practicing the art of diplomacy and progress reports among the great houses and gathering them up and taking them back to KL and she ? ventured outward into the more populated areas and villages to hold sort of an impromptu court of which she was at its head - wholly separate from the court paid to her by the nobility which was held within the visiting halls of the castles she stayed in while she traveled. she would spend a good fraction of her time everywhere she went doing so, because she wanted to get a sense of the state of the realm overall and what it was that she was coming into upon her ascension and where she would need to direct her efforts towards first and what she might place before the king. she was a visible presence in their lives, at that time. as she was at court, which led her to gaining a support system in the first place—she smiled and charmed them and won their support at 15 well enough that it lasted 17 years, and I can’t ? honestly imagine that was merely from one instance of seeing her and speaking to her.

it was very enjoyable and very ? insightful for her for a lot of reasons but mostly it allowed her to stretch her political legs in the sense of being able to be seen and to engage with her people without the greens looming over her, and actually being able to be judged fairly for her actions and demeanor without feelings like she was up against such an unyielding force of opposition. it was also very eye opening in the sense that it showed her that outside of the walls of the red keep, things aren’t so hopeless for her and her position. people want her to be queen regardless of what they may or may not have heard come from court. and for a girl who was so isolated for the majority of her adolescence and coming into her adulthood it was the push, the encouragement that she needed to remind herself she was on a path that could be achieved and was supported by people who’s ascent on the matter mattered, and who would not gain any advancement by doing so. the opposition she was facing back at court became less of an impassible road block, an impossible mountain to climb and more of an extraordinarily difficult one. which she was willing to do.

[gothhabiba]

The wage data also reveals that, rather than delivering progress against poverty, the rise of capitalism was associated with a deterioration in human welfare across Europe.12 Following the peasant and worker rebellions in the 14th century, wages rose high enough to support a family of four above the ‘respectability’ line (i.e., $4.33, represented by a dotted line on Figure 5). But during the long 16th century wages plummeted, particularly in the European periphery, which was de-industrialized and reduced to a raw material supplier for English and Dutch manufacturers (Wallerstein, 1974, Moore, 2010a, Frank, 1978, Watson, 2017). In the core, wages only began to rise above their 15th-century level in the 1880s – around four centuries after the rise of capitalism and 50 years later than the standard narrative suggests. For most of the European periphery, poverty alleviation began later, “indeed, only in the post-World War II boom” (Allen, 2001, p. 435). This trend corresponds with the rise of organized labour and socialist parties across Europe (Pelz, 2016, pp. 83–102; Geary, 1981). As we shall see, progress in Europe has been much more extensive than elsewhere. Flush with surplus extracted from the colonies, European capitalists could respond to the demands of popular movements, and improve working class incomes, without significantly threatening the accumulation of capital (Cope, 2019, Lauesen, 2021). 

— Dylan Sullivan and Jason Hickel, Capitalism and extreme poverty: A global analysis of real wages, human height, and mortality since the long 16th century