#prewar events

[strange-little-spy]

Chapter Four - A month later, Bucky and Steve's apartment, 8:30 am

Chapter warnings: some fluff/bonding time, more of a filler chapter.

Word count: 1702 words

"James Barnes!" Addie shouted from the living room as she stamped her foot. "Is anyone gonna be excited that I got a job??"

"Wait what??" Steve poked his head from the kitchen where the scent of oatmeal came wafting through the small room.

"I got a job, Stevie!" Addie jumped once. "Where's Bucky?"

"Uh, I'm not sure."

"Is that man still asleep? JAMES!!"

A loud--and objecting--groan was heard from Bucky's room where Addie found the man still sprawled out on his bed.

"Bucky! It's amazing because guess who's little girl got a job!?" She jumped on the bed and yanked the pillow out from under his head.

"Doll, it is wayyyy to early to be so happy-" he groaned again rubbing his eyes. "Wait- a job??"

"Yes, you bug lump!" Addie smacked his chest. "I got a job down at the drug store! They said I could start this evening!"

"Look at you go!" Bucky sat up, his bed-head making her laugh. "But this couldn't have waited till afte I actually woke up?"

"James." She made a mock-pout, but inside she knew he really did care.

"I'm playing, Adding machine." He poked her before stretching his shoulders.

"I know, but what can I say? I've been bored out my mind with no job, but now that's all changed! Steve's got breakfast coming too."

"Steve's cooking?"

"He had the stove on, that's progress." She teased.

"Get outa here so I can change." He pushed her, gently of course, to which she snickered and fought the dirty comment that rose in her mind.  Instead she made her way to the kitchen where Steve was finishing off the oatmeal.

"Hey, Addie." He waved before turning back to his work. "What did Buck say?"

"He's happy for me, of course this was after I pulled on his arm a little." She grinned, but her own words made her reconsider what she meant. In a little less than a decade the man in the other room would be the world's greatest assassin with a titanium arm shoved into his shoulder.

"Whats with the face?" Steve sat down with his bowl, startling Addie from her thoughts. "You look sad."

"Oh, sorry, I just... nothing important. You might not believe me either..."

"That's what you said about how old you were," he gave her the side eye while he took a bite of his breakfast.

"Nah, it's not that important, Steve. I'm here, ain't I?"

"True," he smiled. "Oh, sorry, do you want a bowl?"

"Ooh, yes please, I'm starved."

"I had an idea last night," Steve spoke as he scooped a large helping into another bowl for her.

"Spill." She rested her chin in her hands. "I'm all ears."

"Would you mind modeling for me? I wanna try and draw you."

"Really?? Me??"

"You should see his works," Bucky commented as he wandered into the kitchen. "He's really good."

"I've seen his doodles," she smiled before catching herself.

"Where?" Steve set the bowl down before getting her a spoon.

"Uh..." she couldn't very well say a movie that came out over 100 years later. "I took out the trash and I think your drawing fell on the floor. I put it back in the book for you."

"Oh, well, thanks Ad." Steve smiled and sat back down. "Anyway, whadya say?"

"Well, I'd have to do it on my day off though. That should be Saturday."

"Perfect. Thanks." He nodded. "I'll be looking forward to it."

"You're sweet." She patted his hand.

"Awwwwwww." Bucky made a face.

"You can shut your mouth, Barnes." Addie half-scolded.

"Ouch, my heart." Bucky frowned.

Addie smirked and shook her head. "You're a sad sack of bananas, Buck."

"Wow, she's getting better." Steve looked at Bucky who had his hands on his hips, his tongue running along his teeth.

"One day I'll learn to keep my mouth shut."

"But it is not this day!" Addie raised a finger. She knew neither of the two would get the reference, but screw the timeline.

That Saturday

"Now don't move a muscle-" Steve tapped Addie's shoulder before backing up and fixing the curtain for the right lighting. "You look just perfect. Now the bad news is you have to stay just like that until I say so."

"Oh, fun." Addie rolled her eyes, being careful not to move.

"I won't be long." Steve reassure before sitting on the floor and picking up his pencil.

"And you're sure no one will come in here?" She asked, sounding a little hesitant.

"Trust me doll. Buck won't be back for hours."

"Where is he, by the way? I saw him this morning, but after that he just ran off."

"It's Mother's Day tomorrow, he went to see his Ma." Steve didn't look up as he carefully drew her curves that were projected onto the screen where she stood only in the tights that had stayed with her during the "Trip". She rested her ankle on the radiator(it was off of course), stretching her leg straight out, almost taking the stance of a ballerina.

Her mane of hair tumbled over her shoulder and she held her hands above her head.

"Ah, that's nice." She smiled, forcing down her desire to see her own mother, not even see her, just talk to her.

"Steve?"

"Yeah?"

"I want your opinion."

"Okay, shoot."

"I was thinking about joining the Auxiliary Corps and...I don't know if I should tell Mr. Bob first or wait till I get my letter and THEN tell him."

All she could hear was the sudden drop of a pencil on the hardwood floor.

"Steve?"

"You want to join the Army???"

"It's not the Army, but it's more like the Red Cross. I want to help people, and I can't very well go out and fight with the war coming."

Oop. Another slip. The Second World War hadn't started yet.

"We don't know if we will go to war, kid." Steve tried to sound wiser, but even still Addie knew he wanted to fight as well. And he would get pretty of it soon...

"Speaking of which, where did you get that bruise on your jaw?"

"What?" She smirked when she heard his pencil stop moving.

"You heard me, Steve."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Alright then," she knew he couldn't see her shit-eating grin, but it was worth it. "I'll ask Bucky then."

"Addison."

"What? I care, Steve. You can't be picking fights with every boy on the street just because he ruffled your hair."

"It's not like that.."

"I'm sorry," Addie suppressed her sigh. "Okay, I know it's hard. But don't worry, give it a few years, maybe you just have one last growth spurt and it's taking it's sweet time."

"You can say that again." Steve muttered before his pencil started moving again. "Hey, lift your chin just a little more."

Addie obeyed him, keeping her neck stiff. "Like that?"

"Perfect."

"I'm serious, Steve. Things will get better, I promise."

"Well-...how do you know?"

"I just do. Can you take my word for it?"

"Alright, Adding Machine." She could hear the laughter in Steve's voice when he used Bucky's nickname for her. "Thanks."

"That looks really good!" Bucky grinned as he handed the drawing back to Steve. "She's quite the looker."

"I can hear you, Bucky!" Addie called from the other room where she was changing back into her dress. She had grown the love the dresses, the modesty was very elegant yet just revealing enough to send the men whistling.

"So what?" Bucky shot back.

"So you're coy!"

"Again, so what?"

Addie rolled her eyes and shook her head. She liked this Bucky, he was happy and he had Steve. Meanwhile the future Captain America seemed a little glum. He couldn't very well work(not without multiple breaks and his asthma limited everything), but Addie would find a way around this..

"You might want to talk to Bucky about what you told me this morning." Steve suggested as Addie strolled into the living room where she halfway sat on the couch's armrest.

"Are you keeping secrets?" Bucky teased as he tickled behind her ear playfully. For a grown man he was very affectionate.

"Maybe," Addie shrugged, trying to sound as is she was hiding something to humor him.

"Steve, we took in a jerk."

Steve just rolled his eyes and simply watching the exchange.

"I am a jerk, flattery will gain you nothing, Barnes."

"Just tell him, Ad." Steve laughed.

"I was thinking about joining the Auxiliary Corps." She sobered and looked at Bucky.  "But I wanted to ask you guys' opinion on wether I should tell Mr. Bob now, or wait till I get my letter and then tell him."

Bucky was silent as he exchanged a glance with Steve.

"You act like we're already at war!" He objected, failing at hiding his dismay.

"I said I was thinking about it, Bucky. You know I just wouldn't leave you two like that." But war was coming, wether they liked it or not. And both of them would be heavily affected by it.

"But what about Steve?" Now he was coming up with excuses. "You can't just leave him!"

"Bucky, you aren't listening to me."

"But you can't!"

"Okay," she stood up and walked to him. "James, look at me. I am not going anywhere right now. I see you guys every day and I love you both. But as I said I am thinking about it. I haven't made up my mind yet. Besides, if we do go to war, I want to do all I can, as I'm sure you both will."

Bucky sighed and looked down. "I'm sorry, Ad. You just-...you're the best gal we got and I don't know what we would do without you. What did you tell her, Steve?"

"I didn't say anything, but I'm on the same train as Buck. We'd be lost without you."

"You guys are sweet." Addie still blushed even after a month and half with these guys. "It'll be a shame when I marry one of you."

"Wait- what?" Steve actually spun around on the couch.

"Okay, Ads that was a dumb move."

A/N: Okay, MAJOR angst incoming in next chapter, so just brace yourselves

thank you for reading 🥰✌���

Dividers by @strangergraphics

prompt by @the-superoriginal

written by yours truly, all relation to actual people are purely coincidental

tag list: @oh-to-be-a-murderer - @fictionalmenjusthitdifferent - @itzzkaylaaa - @crazyinlovewithmarvel - @natt-romanoff - @ohyeah-itssamwilson - @proud-owner-0f-americas-ass - @thebestmerc-1 - @daniel-barnes-the-ghost - @nighttimewitchgirl(but if you dont wanna be tagged tell me plz <3)

if you would like to be tagged in the upcoming chapters, please send me an ask and I will make sure to tag you!

[capcollector]

bunny is so funny to me bc of how like. quickly she just accepts everything going on around her. waking up after the world ended so it’s like. yeah ok this might as well be happening. monstrous reptilian creatures called deathclaws? giant green mutated people called super mutants? what the hell, sure.

and like her seeming calm is in and of itself an act of self-preservation, a means to not let anyone get a potential upper hand or scare her. don’t ask any possibly stupid questions, don’t let them sense your uncertainty. internally, absolutely she’s terrified—especially at the start when she wakes up all alone. but she pulls herself together and doesn’t allow herself to show her fear bc she knows she’s gotta find shaun. she needs to learn what she can and survive so she’s gotta bottle everything up and force it down.

and it’s funny to me bc someone will say something and expect a reaction outta her while she just rolls with the punches. it’s what i mean when i say that she was always gonna be the one to survive out here rather than nate. not to say that bottling up is for the best though, as sure enough it does eventually spill over, but she’ll deal with that when it comes.

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

Didn’t now that it’s possible for me to hate Russia even more now. If there was no war we would probably still get those cute birthday posts.

I wish that shithole of a country nothing but the worst.

The list of reasons just keeps growing.

[ghoulfuckersincorporated]

Prewar!Cooper Howard has a little kink that he's embarrassed to discuss...

He's taken you to your first fancy Hollywood shindig, a cocktail party at some important producer or something's palatial home. It's the first time you two have gone out in public together as a couple, and Cooper had initially been nervous, both about the way people would talk and who would hear that talk, but things had been fun and relaxing all evening, leaving you celebratory and clinging to one another affectionately on the cab ride back home.

You peel off your heels and drop them by the door, missing the way he eyes you as you do. The ache in your arches is distracting at this point, and you crack a joke about the things being torture devices as you shuck them. They're your favorite shoes for nice occasions, earning you plenty of compliments as well as lots of praise from Coop, but they're a pain.

Both of you settle on the couch, your head resting on the arm as you recline, your feet in his lap. He's turned on the radio and is humming along with some slow tune. The liquor had been flowing heavy at the party, and you're both a little toasty as you joke and recount the night's events.

Offhandedly, you mention again that your feet are absolutely killing you from standing in your stilettos all night. Your thoughtful boyfriend quickly offers to rub them for you, and you happily allow him to grab the first stocking-clad appendage, settling in on your back as he begins to rub away.

You can't help but notice, though, that there's a growing tent in his pants as he digs his thumbs into the soft fabric of your stockings, as you hum and sigh approvingly at the way he rubs away the throbbing.

At first, it brings a little grin to your lips, stealing a glance at him, seeing the heavy blush creeping up his neck. Naturally, you assume he's reacting to the sounds you're making, and you begin to tease him with the only appendage you have within reach: your sole.

To say that he enjoys you rubbing your nylon-wrapped foot against his erection is a major understatement. It's clear he's embarrassed, avoiding your eyes as they search for his, but it's also clear that this is driving him wild, his hips involuntarily grinding against your heel as he continues on with the "massage", which is rapidly devolving into him simply pressing your foot down into his lap.

It goes from amusing to arousing quickly, and before you know it, you've splayed your other foot against the floor so that he can watch as you slide your hand into your panties, rubbing feverish little circles around your clit as you watch him hump against your socked foot.

Things rapidly reach a fever pitch, and soon, you're yanked completely into his lap, aggressively riding your way through some very risky unprotected sex. Normally, you're both much more careful than this, but something about what you've just gotten up to has you both so hot and bothered that you can't even make it upstairs to where you keep the condoms. He doesn't even attempt to pull out, only pins you on your back in the soft cushions as he spills inside you.

Neither of you brings it up again for a few days, and you come to assume it was just a silly little experiment inspired by the alcohol. One of your favorite things about being with Cooper is how the older man teaches you things, allows you to experiment in a way that makes you feel safe, so him wanting to try something a bit weird once is unsurprising to you.

However, a few days later, he surprises you with a spa day, pays for you to be pampered while he spends the day on set. One of the services included is a pedicure, but you think nothing of it between the facial and the seaweed wrap. Naturally, when you're home again that evening, you're incredibly relaxed and Coop is more than happy to take advantage of that, spreading your stress free body across the bed and worshiping every inch.

It's when he's on top of you and easing his way inside that it becomes apparent that he may have ulterior motives. He admires the softness of your skin after all the spoiling, running his hands along the velvety expanse of your thigh, tracing up to grope at your calf as he pumps between your legs. They're hooked over his shoulders, and he slowly bends one to trail kisses, up and up, from your kneecap to your ankle, his mischievous gaze burning into you as the kisses continue onto the arch of your foot, bent in for proper access. This tickles, but in a way that tingles up your spine. You're already very close to cumming.

But then he opens his mouth and sort of half-guides your toes to his lips, sucking them gently into his mouth, and the shock and sensation flying down your spine is enough to violently shove you over the edge, spasms rocking your whole body as he strums the sensitive spot between your first two toes with the tip of his tongue. This is more than enough to force you to cum and to force you to accept that fancy movie star Cooper Howard may actually have a bit of a foot fetish.

This is certainly not a kink of his that he would've freely discussed before, between the social stigma of being one of "those guys" and the fact that he's never really had a partner who was too keen on exploring in bed. The thoughts had been there in the past, but were easily brushed off with just a little self-consciousness. With you, though, he feels the sort of connection that allows him to know you'd never judge him.

There's a lot of experimenting in your future.

[steampunkferretpresents]

I hear a lot of people talking about The Ghoul’s accent as being cartoonish. And how he also didn’t have an accent prewar, and that he was also a cowboy before being an actor so probably had a bit of a real accent, just not as thick as The Ghoul.

I feel uniquely qualified to talk about this accent thing. I am an actor. I also was born in South Carolina, raised in Georgia, and live in Alabama. I have an accent.

But not when I’m at any sort of acting related event, activity, audition, or social event involving work. Years ago when I was in LA auditioning for POTC 2 (didn’t get it but it’s a core memory at this point) I was told I didn’t have an accent and nobody realized I was from the south until I said the word “Atlanta.” Something about the way we say Atlanta is different and seems to be impossible to remove.

BUT! When I go home and visit family, ALL of us start talking in a nearly cartoonishly thick southern accent and we don’t realize it. I didn’t realize it until I watched video from a family holiday. These same relatives, like my sisters and cousins, don’t have the thick accent one on one. It only happens when we are all together or mad.

My accent gets thick when I’m mad. And when certain attitude seems appropriate. It thickens as a response to certain situations, and for me, I don’t realize it right away. I can control it and remove it in professional situations.

So when I hear Cooper’s accent change, I can relate, and it doesn’t feel over done when he’s The Ghoul. It feels like a subconscious thing he’s put on “for the situation.” And by “situation,” I mean the entire post-war apocalypse. I’d consider that an appropriate accent-thickening situation.

Side note, my accent thickened drastically for weeks after Fallout came out, no matter what situation I was in.

Ive wondered whether Walton had the same accent issues. He grew up near where I grew up, I went to school in Newnan, Georgia, a little south of where he grew up, but he moved to LA about the time I was starting high school. I’m sure the accent was engrained at that point, but did he slip out of it like I do in front of other actors, directors, film makers, etc? Did he have the same problem with the word “Atlanta?”

[transbookoftheday]

The Lilac People by Milo Todd

For readers of All the Light We Cannot See and In Memoriam, a moving and deeply humane story about a trans man who must relinquish the freedoms of prewar Berlin to survive first the Nazis then the Allies while protecting the ones he loves

In 1932 Berlin, Bertie, a trans man, and his friends spend carefree nights at the Eldorado Club, the epicenter of Berlin’s thriving queer community. An employee of the renowned Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld at the Institute of Sexual Science, Bertie works to improve queer rights in Germany and beyond, but everything changes when Hitler rises to power. The institute is raided, the Eldorado is shuttered, and queer people are rounded up. Bertie barely escapes with his girlfriend, Sofie, to a nearby farm. There they take on the identities of an elderly couple and live for more than a decade in isolation.

In the final days of the war, with their freedom in sight, Bertie and Sofie find a young trans man collapsed on their property, still dressed in Holocaust prison clothes. They vow to protect him—not from the Nazis, but from the Allied forces who are arresting queer prisoners while liberating the rest of the country. Ironically, as the Allies’ vise grip closes on Bertie and his family, their only salvation becomes fleeing to the United States.

Brimming with hope, resilience, and the enduring power of community, The Lilac People tells an extraordinary story inspired by real events and recovers an occluded moment of trans history.

[acorncoffeeformysweetheart]

Good ol' friends

Winthrop and Quinn are hanging out after Quinn returned from another expedition. He brought that awful prewar wasabi crackers especially for Winthrop. And some awesome stories, of course.

This is my gift to @thewastelandlosers for #Celebradiation24 event! It was very fun and intriguing to make. Hope you will like it))

*please enlarge, it has some nice small details*

Special thanks to event moderators, you're doing great work!

[hotvampireadjacent]

“Denial is the easiest control mechanism, and therefore the most common. If events do not follow the state’s agenda or its ecumenical ideology and might bring unrest, they are denied. Examples are plentiful: prewar state terrorism against the people of North and South Vietnam and later the bombing of Cambodia; government funding and military aid to the Nicaraguan Contras; and support of UNITA and South Africa in the cities destruction of Angola, making many others.” Soledad Brother, forward written by Jonathan Jackson Jr, XVII

[cinnamoncascadian]

Queues masterpost

This blog has turned into a mess of intertwined stucky themed queues. There's a lot of stuff. Almost everything is tagged, unfortunatley not consistently, so to get you started, these are a few of my favorite tags:

one of my all time favorites (my favorite fanart)

stucky kisses, stucky fanart (large)

pinup queue, shirtless, nude art, america's ass, the red menace, the round brown, booty shorts (boys nekked, partially nekked and def. posing)

bucky bear, petvengers, chibis, pocket steve, soul bucky, buckitty

bathtime (rub-a-dub-dub)

lingerie, dresses, shoes, stockings (boys in pretty things)

avengers tower sitcom (anything fun that could ever have happened at any time in any timeline at the tower or compound)

fanart per year (fanart 2011 - fanart 2024/fanart 2025)

prewar stucky, brooklyn boys, sarah rogers, becca barnes (everything pre catfa/pre ww2)

steve fight me rogers (tiny ball of fury)

smol steve in charge (tiny ball of fury gets his way, often nsfw)

preserum stucky (bucky's got his orders), sgt. james barnes, steve in bucky's uniform

wartime stucky, dog tags, howling commandos, kreischberg rescue, hc!bucky, hc!steve

catws stucky, bucky barnes' metal arm, reverse au, ws!steve, hydra steve

cacw stucky, stucky on ice, beefy bucky

wakandan husbands, soft!bucky, iw stucky, dusted husbands

endgame stucky, post endgame stucky, fatws stucky, thunderbolts stucky

stucky adjacent fanart, buckynat, stuckynat, ww3some, samsteve, allcaps stucky, catws otp4

alternative universes: shrinkyclinks, shrunkyclunks, deserumed steve, hydra clones, time shennanigans, double trouble, comicsverse

fanart for fanfiction, classic fanfiction masterpost, stucky fanfiction

matching fanart with fanfiction, fanart of fanart

artist handle (e.g. estelior, elkleggs, artwinx), fanartist appreciation masterpost

catws anticipation, aou anticipation, cacw anticipation, catws10 event masterpost

[blueikeproductions]

Today, Cybertron’s leaders are established as The Primes: 13 original prototype Transformers and the Matrix carrying figureheads that would eventually see the rise of Sentinel Prime. Optimus Prime, & Rodimus Prime.

But who was in charge before the modern Prime concept took root?

The earliest material was pretty clear Optimus Prime wasn’t part of a lineage, Prime was just his last name with no real importance beyond he was the leader of his team. It wasn’t until the 80’s movie and the debut of Ultra Magnus and Rodimus Prime did the concept of a line of succession start to take root, with the cartoon and comics monkeying around with their own versions of it. It was the Marvel Comics that would lay the foundation of the earliest Prime lineage with Prima, Prime Nova, Sentinel Prime, Optimus Prime and Rodimus Prime.

This was something of a retcon though, as the comics originally didn’t feature Primes obviously. The early stories on the American end didn’t put too much stock on a functioning government as the point was to get kids hyped up on the shenanigans of the warring Autobots and Decepticons on Earth. The cartoon would slowly establish Alpha Trion as a figure of authority among the Autobots, with special Guardian Robots (Omega Supreme among them) keeping the peace on prewar Cybertron.

The Marvel Comics would tinker around more with a functional government on prewar Cybertron, though most of this is from the UK version of events. The American comics would establish a loose idea of Autobot Elders Optimus Prime took guidance from, with the UK stuff going their own way with it.

The UK comics would establish two types of ruling bodies: The Council of Autobots Elders and the Autobot Overlords.

The Overlords were closer in concept to the Primes by sheer coincidence, but they were the initial ruling body on Cybertron until the overpopulation and fuel shortages caused the planet to split into various, feuding city states fighting over what was left. The last surviving Overlord, an elderly outmoded robot who needed constant Energon injected directly into him to stay online, attempted to keep the peace by ushering in fun gladiatorial games, but that only made things worse increasing competition among states, as well as seeing the rise of athletes Optimus and Megatron. Yes prior to being a blue collar dock worker, earnest miner or data clerk, Optimus used to be a star athlete and, apparently, had aspirations to be a doctor. (IDW Megatron also had aspirations to be a doctor in his youth and later became one post war during the Functionst conflict so I wonder if Roberts borrowed that from UK Optimus.)

As for the Overlord, conflict heightened with Tarn that saw Optimus and Megatron help the leader escape with his trusty bodyguard Ravage. When the elderly Overlord couldn’t go on without more Energon, Optimus went to go get help, while Megatron and Ravage decided to abandon the old mech, letting him go offline, starved of Energon. Megatron felt he would be much better suited as Cybertron’s new leader anyway in this unorthodox times, something Ravage agreed with.

The Council of Elders, also known as the High Council, didn’t fair much better. It was one of their number that appointed Optimus Prime as the leader of Iacon’s military in desperation to push back against the Decepticons. The Decepticons would later attempt to bomb Iacon, post Ark launch, under orders from their new leader Trannis; the Council would surrender, only for Trannis to kill them all anyway.

It was here the idea of a Council of Elders would persist in other media, with Beast Wars establishing a similar concept where Optimus Primal and other assorted leaders took orders from this group. Known as the Maximal Elders also, this group governed all of Cybertron, with the Tripredacus Council answering to them as well, though this trio of Predacons did plot to overthrow the elders. Thanks to Megatron taking over in Beast Machines, the trio didn’t get this chance. Who the Maximal Elders were was never specified in the cartoon, but later ancillary media would retroactively declare the elders to be the Maximals that formed the toy only Maximal Combiner Magnaboss.

In this case, they’re the Autobots Ironhide, Silverbolt and Prowl having upgraded into Maximal forms. Most likely this was done to better align with the Tripredacus Council, who took their name from the toy only Predacon Combiner.

Japanese media would flirt with a similar concept in the Great Convoys and Convoy Council in Beast Wars Neo.

A sort of splitting of the difference, they were Prime like Maximals who governed Cybertron under the guidance of Vector Sigma. The main leader of the group was destroyed towards the end of the anime by Unicron, using Predacon Galvatron’s body. After Unicron was defeated, Vector Sigma appointed Lio Convoy and Big Convoy as the new leaders of the Great Convoys. Many years later in Japanese canon, the Great Convoys would be succeeded by a new group called the Prime Leaders. In ancillary manga made years after the Beast Era, it was explained after Beast Machines, the Oracle, now back as its original Vector Sigma form, would create a new line of Transformers with their own special Energon Matrix, in honor of Optimus Primal’s heroism and sacrifice. These robots would be the various Convoys of the Great Council, Lio Convoy, Blue Big Convoy and his son Big Convoy. It’s implied this also includes Fire Convoy.

Speaking of Fire Convoy, the Car Robots dub, RiD01, would also have its own council concept: the Autobot Elders who Alpha Trion is among and built Optimus and Ultra Magnus, and the Predacon Council, who Megatron takes his orders from.

Dreamwave’s Transformers comics would make the heaviest use of the High Council concept, with a version of it appearing in their G1 and Unicron Trilogy comics.

The High Council in the later would be partially antagonistic. The Armada and Energon comics would establish the High Council as the leaders of Cybertron while the Autobots were more military and police officers with Optimus serving under them. While initially reluctant to indulge in Optimus’ concerns Unicron was still active, they changed their tune somewhat when Alpha Q had sent Unicron’s Acolytes to attack Cybertron. The groups’ leader Levitacus often would lock horns with Optimus and Jetfire on matters, but his team mate Avalon would be more sympathetic.

Avalon would turn out to be a traitor, working for Alpha Q for some ill defined personal goal of attaining a rightful heritage that was never explained due to Dreamwave going under and Furman’s scripts for the remaining Energon issues don’t explain this either.

Animated would also have a High Council that worked in tandem with the acting Magnus, in this case usually Ultra Magnus, but after Shockwave’s sabotage, they were stuck with Sentinel Prime, something they openly disliked. They’re a little TOO by the book, being sticklers to certain rules, rarely willing to compromise on their laws when Alpha Trion clearly wants to, notably towards Sentinel’s schemes and Megatron taking full advantage of the system in his trial in a script reading storyline years later after the series’ cancellation.

A Council of Ancients is also referenced in G1 Dreamwave and RiD15.

While not seen in RiD15, I’d wager a guess some of them resemble the guys on the right. Apparently this version of the group knew a few things about the lost art of “true” Combining, whatever that actually meant.

In Dreamwave G1 they were the original ruling body that appointed the Matrix to Optronix (the DW version of Orion Pax) creating Optimus Prime after Sentinel fell. The Council was later destroyed by the Decepticons’ uprising.

Pretty much post RotF and Animated, where Primes became top dog again as the leaders of Cybertron, the older ideas started getting congealed, with Primes and a governing council working in tandem, but in the absence of a Prime, the council would lead instead. This started taking root in Aligned, starting the trend of the Council leading Cybertron upon Optimus’ retirement usually. One exception was Prime Wars, where Rodimus Prime led a Council with the Mistress of Flame and Starscream on post war Cybertron, but this didn’t last, eventually seeing Optimal Optimus Primal inheriting the Matrix and becoming the new Prime at series end, no Council whatsoever. This is somewhat repeated in War For Cybertron also, with Optimus Prime still as Prime, though he and Megatron’s people decide it best to simply go their separate ways, claiming two halves of the planet in a shaky peace.

The High Council was also a fixture in Prime and RiD15, with the initial function to appoint Primes, eventually choosing Orion Pax to be Optimus, after Megatron’s threats into making them make him a Prime failed to sway them. Gee imagine that. By RiD15, the High Council had been secretly usurped by insurgent Decepticons led by Cyclonus, who sought to take over Cybertron and restart the Decepticon Empire.

This version remained a silent antagonist throughout the series, including events that plagued the Bee Team until they decided to go back to Cybertron to confront the corrupt Council who they found to have gained complete control of Cybertron using a brain washing program. After Ultra Bee and Steeljaw defeated the Council’s Combined form Galvatronus and halted their plans to take over Earth next, a new “temporary” Council made up of Jazz, Ratchet, Bulkhead and Windblade after Optimus retired and Bee’s unit returned to protect Earth from remaining Decepticon insurgents.

Cyberverse repeated the idea with the new Council post war of Hot Rod, Bumblebee, Windblade, Shadow Striker and Laserbeak being appointed in Optimus’ place. I’m assuming the Dinobots would have some role since they were present when Optimus appointed the younger bots. It’s worth mentioning despite Cyberverse trying to go beyond the boundaries of Autobot and Decepticon… the new Council still consists majority Autobot, with the Decepticons being an ill tempered hyper competitive sports car with an axe to grind with Bee despite what she says, and a non sentient bird. Not feeling that great about this Cybertron’s shot at peace to be honest.

With EarthSpark’s chances of continuing past “S3” looking more unlikely as of typing, I don’t see a High Council being explored here… Alternatively, the series is more laser focused on the power of Primes than it ever has before with the heavy focus on Quintus Prime and his legacy in the Terrans and Maltos. So even if a new leadership is formed… more than likely it’s the Maltos (and quite likely Megatron) at the rate things are going, and technically speaking Cybertron would still be governed by a Prime due to the Maltos and Terrans using Quintus Prime’s power. So no more Primes after Optimus falls apart if this notion is explored, and I don’t really see fans being keen on the Malto kids being in charge and Megatron co-ruling with them being looked on fondly either.

The only work around here is if the Cybersleeves make a new Terran to be the leader, a “Maltous Prime” or some such. Though that requires Maltous to be developed long enough in a small arc that them becoming leader feels earned (or as earned as it can be in EarthSpark), but we will never know how that might work either way.

TFOne is never going to depict a Prime post Optimus if it’s allowed to continue, since Rodimus or anyone else wouldn’t fit the personal story of D-16 and Orion Pax here. A High Council might be more likely but who makes that up we won’t know until it happens, if it happens. Possibly Bee, Elita and Jazz in particular but who else, beats me.

While the modern idea has evolved into a Prime and some sort of Council working together to govern Cybertron, with the Council succeeding Optimus, I’d honestly prefer just going back to a new post Optimus leader. It’s been 40 years, I think we can resume Rodimus or try a new Prime again.

[thanatologie]

VERSE SYNOPSES

dragon age / beauty in the grotesque and macabre - set before, during, and after the events of datv, with the mortal path as a default; works on the assumption emmrich is unromanced unless otherwise plotted.  post-canon events emmrich and manfred join neve and davrin in their combination private investigations / monster hunting business for a time, delaying their return to the grand necropolis.  come for the hijinks, stay for johanna roasting everyone that walks through the door.  feels bad lich path subverse available for people that hate warm fuzzies and manfred.

early lichdom / know this; in some ways you are already dead - emmrich has already faced that final sifting of the soul and ascended to lichdom before being picked up by the veilguard.  is very bad at lichdom because he hasn't started letting go of mortal attachments and decides to go frolick in arlathan or something instead of retreating from the bulk of necropolis life like a proper lich.  the “happy” version of lichdom.

elder scrolls / the smell of night - inhaling stars - covers the events pre-oblivion crisis beyond the defeat of alduin the world-eater.  a former member of the mages guild and council member who resigned in protest when the practice of necromancy was banned, emmrich later succumbs to noxiphilia sanguivoria after a brush with a vampire in glenumbra and joins the ranks of the children of the night.  teaches at the college of winterhold for a time before necromancy is banned there, as well, and now focuses solely on his own research from a cozy little townhouse in solitude, along with his resurrected skeletal assistant, manfred.  friendly for a vampire, but weird. like…really fucking weird.

modern / old things have strange hungers - osteoarchaeologist who takes the dapper gentleman elder goth thing a little too far.  publishes scientifically sound and peer-reviewed papers and is a responsible university professor by day, is a little too into the paranormal by night.  nice enough guy, but really weird.  has a stack of bauhaus and dead can dance tshirts in a drawer he's never seen wearing in public.

marvel (earth-616) / home is the first grave - somewhat reclusive osteoarchaeologist living in new york who tries with all his might to avoid the superhero bullshit that keeps happening down the street.  mutant, but doesn't know that.  speaks to the dead, does know that.  would like the cape crowd to stop knocking on his door like he's a consolation prize because stephen strange won't answer his phone, but if they're gonna insist on being pushy about it they have to sign manfred's autograph book.

fallout / only the dead have seen the end of war - wasteland physician associated with the cabot family of boston.  psyker via a radiation-induced mutation as a child, often gets unsettling flashbacks of mostly mundane prewar events without the need of possible eldritch fuckery.  currently weighing whether ghoulification is worth the risk of possibly going feral.

[levityleviathan]

How did Bumblebee end up getting killed by Wasp? Was it during a battle or did Wasp track Bee down?

Bumblebee's death was actually not focused on bee so much as the effect it'd hold on Cliffjumper.

Cliff, Wasp, and Bee were all part of the same clan prewar which ended up at the centre of a natural disaster [a solar storm] caused by decepticon environmental experimentation. It left most of the members dead. In the aftermath a group of autobot freedom fighters ended up showing up with the goal of trying to help get survivors out from the burning town. The events that followed were pretty similar to armada wheeljack's backstory. Cliffjumper ended up getting his brother out while wasp was left for dead [the autobots had to pull out of the area due to a decepticon search party having been deployed]

Wasp ended up being saved by the cons and held a grudge against cliffjumper and bumblebee due to the fact they left him to die. Years later he ended up hunting bumblebee down after infiltrating the autobots under the name hornet, only to kill bumblebee infront of cliffjumper before fleeing an autobot outpost with their data.

Cliffjumper naturally holds a grudge.

[ghoulfuckersincorporated]

I've had a bad case of spring cleaning fever this week, and it's given me some pretty serious domestic kink thoughts...

Prewar!Cooper Howard who comes home late-late, exhausted from a long day of shooting, to find a surprise hot meal waiting for him, you setting the table all dolled up. As the two of you eat together, he stares at you long and hard, realizing fully for the first time that he wants to marry you. After dinner, the pair of you clean up quietly, his eyes dragging up and down your body over and over as you flit around the kitchen, wiping and gathering and straightening. When it becomes too much, he lays you across the kitchen table and uses the last of his energy for the day to fuck you so hard you can't even walk to bed afterwards, forcing him to carry you. Watches you fall asleep on his chest and fantasizes about what it would be like to come home to you every day. When he finally manages to slip into unconsciousness himself, he dreams about getting you pregnant.

Quinn, who spends a lot of time on the road and finds a lot of pleasure in knowing he gets to come back to a "home", somewhere that's clean and cozy and welcoming. As much as he enjoys his adventures, having that constant in his life is both comforting and stimulating. He also finds a lot of pleasure in having someone pretty waiting for him. Always comes home looking to share a warm meal, cuddle up in bed so he can tell you about the things he saw, the people he met, on his most recent trip. Feeling you snuggled up against him really gets him going, the familiar and warm comfort of your body against his sending blood rushing to his cock, and soon he's rolled over on top of you, re-exploring every inch of you with his hands and mouth so that he never forgets what you feel like, taste like, when he's on the road. He's finally exhausted by the time both of you are ready for the main event, so he rolls over on his side and spoons up behind you, slipping his cock in and burying his face against the side of your throat. Doesn't pull out when he's done, sleeps buried inside you.

Gob, who's been aching for a loving presence, someone to care for him and take care of in turn, for so long that he nearly combusts when you start to do even small things for him. Offering him little pick-me-ups throughout the busy working day (he often neglects himself in favor of making sure things run smoothly, even after he takes over the bar himself), helping put out little fires so he can focus. Even something as simple as asking if he needs help makes his heart race, as he's almost forgotten what it's like to be cared for. It makes him want to keep you close. After the bar closes and everything is cleaned up, you give him something to eat and rub him down while he does, hands digging deep into the knots in the muscles of his back and shoulders, wandering across his chest. It's all a bit too much for him, the loving way you treat him and the feeling of your touch on his body, and soon he's a whimpering, begging mess. Clings tightly to you, face buried in your chest, as you bounce on his cock afterwards. Eventually begins to notice that getting to watch you clean really turns him on, so he'll ask you to bus tables or sweep the floor and eye-fuck you the whole time, grateful for the coverage the bar provides him.

Joshua Graham, who is more than happy to encourage your more domestic tendencies in every way he possibly can because he sees it as your proper place, exactly the behavior he'd want in a wife. Though he prides himself on having unshakeable control over his sexual urges, he will initiate sexual contact with you very frequently if he thinks he can use the pleasure to guide your actions in the right direction. Rewards you for proper "wife behavior" when the two of you are alone, though how he does so depends on the day; most of the time he'll get you off with his hands, sometimes his mouth. Other times he'll fuck you properly, gripping at your hips and belly almost worshipfully. Likes for you to keep around where you and he sleep at night so he knows you're safe at "home". Encourages you to take up "soft pursuits"; crafting, mending, writing. Studying the Bible if he can convince you to do so. The more you conform to the vision of the perfect godly wife he has in his mind, the more often he finds himself unable to keep his hands off of you. This only ratchets up a million times more if you become pregnant.

Dean Domino, who has always liked the idea of having a pretty little trophy wife (or whatever) to come home to, someone to greet him at the door looking sexy, take his jacket, ask him about his day. Someone to listen faithfully, attentively as he talks endlessly about himself. Doesn't especially care about culinary skills, as he almost never eats at home (why do so when you can eat at a restaurant and be seen and fawned over by the public?), but definitely values a partner who knows their way around a bar. Also values a partner who will allow him to use them as his primary source of stress relief. Some days he comes home in a good mood, excitedly worked up, and sneaks up on you playfully, nibbling and groping at your body before bending you over whatever's closest. Other days, he's almost wrathful, barely even making it inside the front door before he's pinning you to the floor and choking you while he slams into you mercilessly, or shoving you to your knees and face-fucking you up against the door until you can't breathe. Either way, when he's finished with you, you can make him a drink. Fix yourself first, though; he doesn't like it when you look a mess.

Edward Deegan, who's more used to being the one doing all the cooking and cleaning, taking care of everyone else. When you begin to take little things off of his plate, things that don't take special knowledge of the house or its workings, it immediately grabs his attention, endears him to you even more. Makes his cock a little hard. However, when he finds that you've done his laundry unprompted one day, he can't not act on it. He's moved knowing that you thought of him, and rather quickly that feeling of sentimentality turns to arousal. Soon, he's lifting you onto the running washing machine, fighting your bottoms off as quickly as he can, and kissing you deeply as he can while he eases his way inside you. Makes you cum until you beg him to stop on top of that vibrating machine. That, however, was only the emotional fuck. He's also incredibly turned on in a very base way by the idea of you wanting to take care of him, the mild subservience of you cleaning up after him. So he carries you, still wrapped around his waist, to the nearest room with a bed and keeps you there for the better part of an hour. Don't worry, he'll wash the sheets when you're through.

Nick Valentine, who can't help but notice just how pretty you look as you make your way around his office, tidying things up to help him out while he pours through tips and old case files. You're relaxed, humming and casting little glances at him when you think he isn't looking. When you're finished, he calls you over to sit in his lap, tells you what a nice job you did, takes in the way you flush with pride and mild embarrassment as he lavishes you with compliments. If you're alone, he even thanks you by sneaking his hand down your pants, his metallic one holding you carefully by the back of your neck and forcing you to look at him as he makes you cum on his fingers. Quickly makes a routine of it, basically using Pavlovian conditioning to get you to associate cleaning up with feeling good simply because he likes to see it. Doesn't eat, but likes to watch you cook for yourself. Likes to linger close by, smoking and teasing you about what he'll do to you when you're finished.

The Ghoul, who never completely abandoned those desires for consistency and reciprocated care. It's hard to have quite the same domesticity that he may have once been able to share with a partner, but he makes of it what he can. Stops dragging you back and forth on bounty hunts eventually, finds a safe and decently nice place to shack up with you. Fortifies it well enough that he can leave you alone for a few days if he needs to, but he loathes it every time. Every moment away from you is torture, a withdrawal he can't stave off as it makes his skin itch. However, he greatly enjoys getting to come back to you, to see you making the place into a home, waiting up for him. Often too excited to make it more than a few steps into the place before he's laying you on top of whatever surface is nearest and most stable, smothering you with his body and his kisses. Gets immensely turned on watching you tidy up, decorate, cook. Often interrupts you in the middle of whatever you're doing, poking you in the backside with his erection and demanding your attention. Is more than happy to get a little pushy if you don't pay proper attention to him. Accidentally ruins multiple meals this way, but he's more than happy to offer to remake your dish afterwards. It's too hard to say no to him, and seeing you being domestic makes him too enthusiastic. Still, you both really enjoy the intimacy it allows you.

[shithowdy]

Please tell us more about fallout Oliver (falliver?) did you like the show by the way?

You could say it made me... falliver in love....

That sucked, I'll workshop that one.

I loved the show!! I even did some fanart for it, I never do that! Like a lot of people it was my impetus to actually Play A Game, despite people insisting for years it would be up my alley and getting the old 'I'll add it to my list'. Seeing Cooper run around like a yeehaw maniac had me continuously thinking "oh he and Oliver would be such good friends" and once you start imagining an OC within a setting it's all over for you.

Considering they are both prewar ghouls who served in Alaska as power armor operatives there's a significant chance they do know each other (in WoW, he was a Silver Hand paladin before becoming a DK-- how could I resist the parallels). Maybe one day I'll draw them getting trashed on coke together.

Unlike in WoW, where he deserted on conscience in the middle of the Stratholme culling, he stayed with the military right up until he met an abrupt "retirement" in 2070 after a psycho-induced heart attack inside his armor, an incident that left him deeply traumatized and mistrustful of any sort of organization where you can't say 'no' to a command, which is why he refuses to fully affiliate with the NCR. The "good boy" payout he got for the incident allowed him to retire and purchase his dream ranch in the Jemez Mountains, which he and some fellow hands maintained for seven years until the bombs dropped.

My headcanon is that northern NM didn't get that cooked in the blasts (Alamogordo is presumably a barren field of trinitite, though), but his area was so remote that when communities tried reforming into city-states and pooling their resources, no one could justify the back-and-forth with limited transport options. So he released his small livestock and they all packed up and attempted a cattle drive toward Taos with other ranchers. But winter was setting in, and an irradiated storm from the north blew through in what would be the event that began his ghoulification. Most died, the cattle scattered or also died, and as an absolute husk of an individual he decided "fuck it" and went west with his horse to find the hidden vault that is his son's tomb instead.

And for 200 years he's chased that delusion, not knowing he's been looking in the wrong city the entire time. 👎 He did meet and fall in love with a woman (hi, Senkha!) about 150 years before this RP; they spent decades together and through her he gained experience with psykers and how to wall them out of your surface thoughts with constant music, but he also gained experience with the eventual understanding that most humans grow old and he doesn't. When she passed, he began distancing himself from people.

When he's not scouring the old LA metro haystack for a nonexistant needle, he does mercenary work to support his hobby as a scavenger for prewar memorabilia and civilian tech. His prized possession is a turntable he repaired (and the vinyls he's scavenged for it), and he also has a truck he's completely restored save for the fact that he has no power core for it. So he just sits in it and pretends.

Some mercenary work he did close to their formation put him immediately on the Legion's shit-list, a status in which he takes pride and now goes out of the way to cultivate to the point that he's earned the nickname "Matador" within the NCR. Now that he is traveling with the deserter son of a high-ranking individual in the Legion, life is about to get spicy!

So yeah, I'm having fun. I've joked that this is actually the setting he's supposed to be from and WoW was actually the AU, because my boy was made for this.

[sammypinkgirl]

Fallout 4 Companions React ideas to come:

If the sole survivor was a communist prewar

If the Sole Survivor was a robo-brain

If the Sole Survivor admitted to murder prewar

If the Sole Survivor broke down over killing people

If the Sole Survivor was a Children of Atom (events of far harbor)

If the Sole Survivor found a building their family owned prewar.

If the Sole Survivor found their parents’ skeletons post war.

If the Sole Survivor made a suit of knight armor

— Suggest More!—

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Syria :: David Rowe

"If the United States was still going to be run by the competent next month, we would now be on the verge of destroying Russia as a competitor and letting Xi Jinping know how far he can go, along with ending the Iranian-backed opposition in the Middle East. The “authoritarian alternative to democracy” would be gasping for air. That may not sound “pretty” to political idealists, but since neither Nirvana nor Utopia is likely to be proclaimed in my lifetime, I damn sure prefer us to them.

Literally, the only thing that can now save Putin is the Orange Clusterfuck’s desire to surrender to his tender mercies and tear us apart because his sick, twisted psyche is so damaged by the fact civilized society saw him as the piece of shit he was born to be and left him with his nose pressed to a glass door that was never going to be opened to the likes of him. That we are expected hand this country over to traitors who campaigned on a promise to commit this destruction enrages me beyond my ability to put it in words."

[TCinLA]

+

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

December 8, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Dec 09, 2024

Late last night, the White House said in a statement that “President Biden and his team are closely monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria and staying in constant touch with regional partners.”

Early this morning, the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad fell to armed opposition.

According to Jill Lawless of the Associated Press, the forces that toppled Assad are led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, a coalition of Islamic groups formerly associated with al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria and currently designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and the United Nations, although its leaders have tried to distance themselves from al-Qaeda.

President Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father to the Syrian presidency in July 2000, establishing a totalitarian dictatorship. In 2011, Assad cracked down on protesters who were part of the Arab Spring, sparking a civil war of a number of factions fighting Assad’s troops, which by 2015 relied on support from Russia and Iran.

That war has turned half of Syria’s prewar population of 23 million (a little more than the population of Florida) into refugees and killed more than half a million people. With Russian and Iranian support, Assad managed to regain control of most of the country, with rebels pushed back to the north and northwest.

A stalemate that had lasted for years ended abruptly on November 27.

Iran and Hezbollah have been badly weakened by the ongoing fight of Israel against Iran-backed Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. On November 27, Israel and Lebanon signed a ceasefire agreement that made it clear that Hezbollah had been tied down in Lebanon and that its ability to fight had been severely compromised. At the same time, Russia has been badly weakened by almost three years of war against Ukraine, and the Russian ruble fell sharply again in late November after additional U.S. sanctions targeted Russia’s third-largest bank, creating more economic hardship in Russia and undercutting Putin’s insistence that he is winning against the West.

When opposition forces began an offensive on November 27, they took more than 15 villages in Aleppo province that day. Journalist Lawless recounted a quick history of the next 11 days, recording how the insurgents swept through the country with little resistance, taking Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, on the 29th. The Syrian military launched a counterattack on December 1, but the insurgents continued to gain ground, and by December 7 they had captured Syria’s third-largest city, Homs. They announced they were in the “final stage” of their offensive.

Today, December 8, Assad fled with his family to Moscow, where Russian president Vladimir Putin has offered him asylum. As Nick Paton Walsh of CNN put it, “Without the physical crutches of Russia’s air force and Iran’s proxy muscle Hezbollah, [Assad] toppled when finally pushed.”

In Damascus, crowds are praying and celebrating, and opposition forces have liberated the prisoners held in the notorious Saydnaya military prison. More than 100,000 detainees are unaccounted for, and their families are hoping to find them, or at least to find answers.

Meanwhile, after Assad’s regime fell, the U.S. Air Force struck more than 75 ISIS-related targets in Syria. “ISIS has been trying to reconstitute in this broad area known as the Badiya desert,” a White House senior official told reporters. “We have worked to make sure they cannot do that. So when they try to camp there, when they try to train… we take them out.”

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan explained at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, that the U.S. will work to prevent the resurgence of ISIS. It will also make sure “that our friends in the region, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, others who border Syria, or who would potentially face spillover effects from Syria, are strong and secure.” Finally, he said, the U.S. wants to make sure “that this does not lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.”

Speaking to the nation this afternoon, President Joe Biden announced: "At long last, the Assad regime has fallen. This regime brutalized and tortured and killed literally hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians." He called the fall of Assad’s regime a “fundamental act of justice” and “a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country.”

But it is also “a moment of risk and uncertainty,” the president said. He noted that the U.S. is “mindful” of the security of Americans in Syria, including freelance journalist Austin Tice, who was kidnapped in 2012 and imprisoned by Assad’s regime. “[W]e believe he is alive,” Biden told reporters. “We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that yet.”

Biden noted that Syria’s main backers, Iran, Hezbollah, and Russia, could not defend “this abhorrent regime in Syria” because they “are far weaker today than when I took office.” He continued: “This is a direct result of the blows that Ukraine [and] Israel” have landed on them “with the unflagging support of the United States.”

In contrast to Biden’s comments, President-elect Donald Trump’s social media accounts took Russia’s side in the Syrian events. Noting that the insurgents looked as if they would throw Assad out, Trump’s account said that “Russia, because they are so tied up in Ukraine, and with the loss there of over 600,000 soldiers, seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years.” The account blamed former president Barack Obama for the crisis of 2011 and said that Russia had stepped in then to stop the chaos. The Trump account suggested that Assad’s defeat might be “the best thing that can happen to” Russia, because “[t]here was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia, other than to make Obama look really stupid.”

“In any event,” the account continued, “Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!”

In contrast to Trump’s focus on Russia, journalist Anne Applebaum, a scholar of autocracy, took a much broader view of the meaning of Assad’s fall. In dictatorships, she wrote in The Atlantic, “cold, deliberate, well-planned cruelty” like Assad’s “is meant to inspire hopelessness. Ludicrous lies and cynical propaganda campaigns are meant to create apathy and nihilism.” Random arrests create destabilizing waves of refugees that leave those who remain in despair.

Authoritarian regimes seek “to rob people of any ability to plan for a different future, to convince people that their dictatorships are eternal. ‘Our leader forever’” she points out, was the slogan of the Assad dynasty. But soldiers and police officers have relatives who suffer under the regime, and their loyalty is not assured, as Assad has now learned.

The future of Syria is entirely unclear, Applebaum writes, but there is no doubt that “the end of the Assad regime creates something new, and not only in Syria. There is nothing worse than hopelessness, nothing more soul-destroying than pessimism, grief, and despair. The fall of a Russian- and Iranian-backed regime offers, suddenly, the possibility of change. The future might be different. And that possibility will inspire hope all around the world.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON