#reunification of China

[playitagin]

280-End of Three Kingdoms.

The Jin dynasty conquered Eastern Wu in 280 and united China proper, thus ending the Three Kingdoms period. 

[zhuhongs]

i think i need to do a bit more digging into chthonics music before i make judgements abt their politics bc all the translated articles i see saw they mostly deal with stories of the indigenous people of tw. also theyre anti kmt. so cool, but like the enemy or my enemy is necessarily my friend yk

[odyssej]

Looks like these are the only Leos I have. 😂 “Betch” being the pianist who quit.

[tenth-sentence]

It is tempting to compare Charlemagne to Xiaowen, who, three centuries before, had moved the Northern Wei kingdom on China's rough frontier toward the high end, jump-starting the process that led to the reunification of the Eastern core.

"Why the West Rules – For Now: The patterns of history and what they reveal about the future" - Ian Morris

[jovialbasementbouquetblr]

PRC Taiwan Office Liu Jieyi: Party's Strategy for Taiwan Issue in the New Era

PRC Taiwan Office Liu Jieyi: Party’s Strategy for Taiwan Issue in the New Era

This article appeared on the Aisixiang website on December 1, 2022. You can view the Aisixiang website machine-translated into English via Google Translate. You can click through to articles if you like and those articles will also be translated. Be careful; machine translation is not always reliable. Aisixiang also has a collection of articles on Taiwan by Chinese officials and scholars; via…

[tikkunolamresistance]

The thing is, the Western superpowers NEED the people divided. Division leads war, displacement, economic collapse, forced assimilation— repercussions that generate income for the overarching hegemony. Division is their backbone. This is why any act of unity in history has been retroactively distorted to brainwash us into thinking there is no alternative to Capitalism. The United States attempted to physically divide Vietnam in the US attempted- intervention on Vietnam, and successfully divided Korea shortly after the nation’s liberation from brutal Japanese occupation.

You can read about the ongoing Korean War here, and see a timeline here.

North Korea has been systematically demonised for being one of the few successful modern Socialist states; for the crime of liberation. They are a demonstration of what anti-Capitalism looks like, and yet we are barred from witnessing that with our own eyes. The Western propaganda machine works at maximum capacity to ensure the masses are deluded into believing North Korea is an evil, oppressive regime, a corrupt government that abuses and oppresses its people— whilst homelessness is at an all time high in the United States and Western nations, with an extortionate cost of living, inaccessible health care and rampant medical negligence, Not to mention, police brutality, Neo-Nazism (like, Western-funded Ukraine’s historic complicity with Nazism) anti-Trans laws that lead to murders of Trans people, and the Western Israeli Regime’s support in multiple genocides across the globe (Mayan, Tamil, Rwanda and of course, Palestine). Not to mention, North Korea has had unwavering support for Palestine

The West has been lying to us for years about China, North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Palestine, Iran and so many more nations to mask their deadly Imperial ambitions, money-hungry forceful acquisition of oil and resources, and further imposition of globalised White Supremacy. We, the people, suffer at the hands of our very nations that copiously delude us into thinking there’s no way out, there’s no alternative, there’s no hope.

We implore you learn more about North Korea, and will be adding more resources to our Drive, linked in our link tree. Here’s some more resources on Korea:

Nodutdol 노둣돌 is an excellent pro-Palestinian organisation of diasporic Koreans organising for a world free of Imperialism, and for the reunification of Korea. Check out their page, and website, to keep up to date on their events, organising and get more information on what the West try to hide.

We also recommend this excellent documentary:

[full-on-sam]

New WIP Intro

Since I finished outlining the first act of this WIP, y'all deserve a formal introduction. Especially because I am going to blabber about it a lot.

You might like it if you like...

Lgbt/queer or disabled characters

Healing magic

Polytheist religions

Themes of life, death, balance

Pirates

Detailed worlbuilding

Battles

Travelling across lands

If any of this sounds like your cup of tea, read under the cut!

The Basics

Genre: medieval fantasy, LGBT/queer, low fantasy

Setting: the universe of U'nyon-he that is divided in five islands. Wassermund, inspired by medieval Germany. Tijara, ispired by the 13th century Maghrebi area. Yue Weifeng, inspired by Ming Dinasty China. Velstand (also known as Iskald), inspired by Scandinavia. Fluye, inspired by pre-colonization Mexico.

Language spoken: the five languages, and Common language. The names of gods and the universe is in Common.

Plot

Five islands. Five gods. Four people who meet death, and get sent back with a mission. Only one, to which the mission is gifted from higher powers.

In theory it is very simple: find the Staff of Time, free the gods, reunificate the islands who have grown apart centuries ago. In practice, no one is very enthusiast about the idea of dying, serving the gods, and going back to be dead again once they are done. Especially not in a time of such upheaval.

Plus, Katz has her own way of reuniting the islands. Souad, needs to stop a war first. Jiang would like to become a famous mage before going, and Haakon has a nation to rule. Nayeli on her part, would like to understand why the gods seem to target always her.

They have been given an opportunity to do all that again, there is no way in hell they are wasting it!

Characters (the mortals)

Katz (she? they? who knows. certainly not Katz.) : A young pirate from Wassermund. Katz's main goal: joining the rebellion to make all islands more similar to Velstand, with freedom to choose more than one path in life.

Souad al-Halabi (she/her): An extremely capable merchant from Tijara who can also be an amazing on the spot diplomate.

Lin Jiang (he/him): He dreams to be a famous mage. For now, however, he is being held back a grade at the magic school in Yue Weifeng. Maybe if only he understood what is the true essence of magic, he would succeed.

Haakon Ari Holderburg (he/him): The crown prince of Velstand. He was admired and beloved by all, until his vision. Now that everyone believes him to be crazy, he has to recover his reputation as well as lead a war against Tijara. All while coming to terms with his newly acquired disability, and heavy mobility aids.

Nayeli al-Saghir (she/they): the preferred by the gods. She has been found as a baby in Tijara, now she is an estimated priestess and oracle in Fluye. They are deaf, often experience visions, and have a very developed spirituality. Her main problem, a part fetching the damn staff, is figuring out why the gods seem to only bother them.

Characters (the gods)

Ylan: God of travel and water

Elaij'ah: God of all things dying

Etris: God of all things living (twin of Elaij'ah)

Xira: God of magic

Gador: God of trades

All gods are genderless

[mariacallous]

“I am opposed to war, unless in self-defense.” This was the most-liked comment on Douyin—the Chinese counterpart to TikTok—in reaction to a speech delivered by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Jan. 9. In his address, Wang previewed China’s top diplomatic goals for 2024 and emphasized “the unwavering resolve of all 1.4 billion Chinese citizens to achieve reunification with Taiwan,” a statement made just days prior to the island’s general elections.

The broader reaction to Wang’s remarks likely wasn’t what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hoped for: Tens of thousands of Chinese social media users responded, many of them with grievances, sarcasm, and defiance, widely questioning the costs of a potential war.

One man from Shanghai complained, “Who is going to fight the war? If I die, who is going to pay my mortgage or my car loan?” Wang’s speech framed “national unification” as one of “China’s core interests,” but as one user from Hunan rebutted, “[China’s] core interests are that every Chinese can be treated equally and have access to elderly care and health care.” The pushback went beyond economic and social grievances. Some posters were even bolder, suggesting that Taiwan’s democracy may demonstrate a political alternative to mainland China: “The fact that Taiwanese choose their own way of life,” said one commentator from Shandong, “might show that Chinese people can take a different route.”

The mood among social media users is a sharp departure from past elections. After almost every Taiwanese general election since 2016, a wave of pro-war fever has swept the Chinese internet. After Taiwan’s 2020 elections, for example, upbeat war enthusiasts in China produced oil paintings that illustrated wild fantasies of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) capturing Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen alive after landing in Taiwan and forcing her to sign an official surrender document onboard a Chinese aircraft carrier—a scene reminiscent of the 1945 Japanese surrender that ended World War II.

In 2021, one of the most popular songs to go viral on Chinese social media was “Take A Bullet Train to Taiwan in 2035.” Its allusion to a high-speed rail line connecting Beijing and Taipei was a dog whistle to nationalist masses who hoped that unification was on the horizon—by force, if necessary.

Absent from these fantasies, however, was the blood and violence that accompanies real war. At the time, China’s star was rising on the international stage, and public confidence was riding high on China’s success in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic within its borders. As such, the sentiments surrounding unification and the use of military force were quite romantic; many people believed that victory over Taiwan would be easy, that the Taiwanese would surrender voluntarily if the PLA simply blockaded the island.

In 2024, however, things have changed. The most recent Taiwanese presidential election—in which the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won a repeat victory—served as an uncomfortable reminder to the Chinese public that neither Taiwanese politicians nor voters are interested in Beijing’s plans for political unification. Although the forceful unification narrative still exists, any push from nationalists to reignite war fever has now run into a wall of skepticism following the DPP victory.

“Wake up,” one Weibo user wrote in opposition to the broader online calls for forceful unification. “Stop dreaming,” another echoed. The defiant voices are becoming a common reaction to the suggested use of military force to an extent rarely seen, given the massive culture of censorship on Chinese social media.

A clear reason for this change is China’s economic slowdown. While Taiwan went to the polls in 2024, China was grappling with a youth unemployment rate above 20 percent, a housing market crisis with sales down by 45 percent, and a stock market in free fall that lost $6 trillion in just three years, the likes of which haven’t been seen in almost a decade. News about Taiwanese elections failed to arouse the same nationalistic reactions among the preoccupied Chinese public that had occurred in the previous two contests.

Instead, the 2024 elections triggered a flood of complaints: “Sort out our own economy, what a mess.” a Shanghai resident said angrily. “Look at our stock market,” an apparently frustrated investor from Hunan grieved, “It’d be better to keep the status quo, and leave Taiwanese alone.” The gloomy economy has made some commenters question the underlying justification for war: “With low-income people making less than 1,000 yuan a month ($140), and the national insurance tax going up, huge medical bills, and unaffordable apartments, why do you want forceful unification? I don’t get it.”

“It is the economy that really matters,” another person from Tianjin pointed out. “[Taiwan] being independent or not has nothing to do with ordinary people.”

The changing attitudes toward Taiwan’s elections reflect a broader shift in public sentiment in China’s online space. Discontent about the country’s poor economic reality has been growing louder, drowning out calls for a military takeover.

Ironically, the CCP’s own past propaganda efforts contributed to this cooling effect. Right before Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, visited Taiwan in August 2022, official and semiofficial rhetoric in mainland China was so belligerent that it led many Chinese to believe that the day of unification had finally arrived and that the military would shoot down her plane and launch its attack on Taiwan imminently.

This was the peak of forceful unification hysteria, but it only left its crusaders disappointed. In the end, there was not only no shootdown of Pelosi’s plane, but there also weren’t even military exercises conducted before she left Taiwan. Many Chinese, especially forceful unification advocates, felt betrayed and disillusioned by their government’s failure to follow through on its belligerent rhetoric, and the after-effects of this letdown are still being felt today.

During Taiwan’s 2024 elections, war enthusiasts were continuously reminded of Beijing’s military inaction following Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan. “Have you guys forgotten Pelosi?” one said. One commonly repeated joke, observing the lack of military action, scoffed that the only thing that was fired up when Pelosi visited was the stove in her hotel. The kinds of threats that once resonated with nationalists now drew widespread ridicule online: “delusion,” “talking a big game,” “an unrealistic fantasy,” and “all hat, no cattle.”

Meanwhile, at the other end of the Chinese political spectrum, the 2024 election prompted the resurgence of the view among many liberals that Taiwan’s democracy represents a desirable political model. In the early 2010s, many Chinese saw Taiwan as a beacon of hope for Chinese society—a liberal, civic, and democratic alternative to the one-party state. The liberal Chinese writer Han Han coined a popular phrase—“The most beautiful scenery of Taiwan is its people.”—that encapsulated the view of how trustworthy and free a people can become under democracy.

But after the crackdown on liberal intellectuals and online speech under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the honeymoon did not last long and was gradually replaced by a climate of xenophobia, jingoism, war euphoria, and a longing for unification by force. Making matters worse, a growing nationalist mood in Taiwan led many to believe that Taiwanese looked down on mainlanders.

The 2024 elections, however, prompted a renewed interest from the Chinese public about their neighbor, home to the world’s only Chinese-speaking democracy. News about Taiwanese elections aroused great curiosity on Weibo about the nuts and bolts of the electoral process—what a ballot looks like, how many ballots one can cast, how votes are counted, and how candidates are selected. When a few Taiwanese Weibo users answered these questions, they were liked and retweeted by thousands of Chinese accounts, drawing genuine admiration and blessings from many.

“Are we going to see one day like this?” one user from Gansu wondered with a crying emoji. “Maybe this is accumulating experience for our own future: giving speeches, holding debates, and counting votes,” commented another, from Tianjin.

China’s shifting public sentiment is bound to have repercussions for cross-strait relations, but it would probably be a bridge too far to infer that the Chinese public will fiercely oppose a war in the Taiwan Strait. Ultimately, the nationalist base remains. At present, the euphoria about forceful unification is quieting down, mainly because the party’s over-the-top propaganda failed to meet the expectations of its most ardent supporters. But if aggressive rhetoric were followed by military action in the future, war fever could be easily fanned again.

Despite the prevalence of extreme nationalism, Chinese public opinion is more divided on Taiwan than it seems, and these divisions are only likely to increase. What concerns most ordinary Chinese are decent jobs, good income, accumulating savings for retirement, and getting affordable access to health care and housing.

So long as the economy is struggling and people’s livelihoods are threatened, there is no guarantee that the CCP’s attempts to exploit nationalism will work; quite the opposite, it could be faced with plenty of pushback.

[sjhanny2000]

Fights and Sweet Touches (Part 4)

A/N: Guess who's back? 😅 This will probably be the biggest part of this little series, just FYI. Part 5 has not been written yet due to the school year starting but any free time I have will be to finishing it!

Warning(s): separation of spouses, depression, anxiety, mental illness, recovery, self deprecation, reunification of separated spouses, mentions of illness, spoilers for KNY: Entertainment District Arc

Masterlist

Word Count: 4.1K+

Tag-List:

@mshope16

@milkyanon @simpforerensattacktitan @trashfox @midnightmystic @ink-dot-kay @misshale21 @savagemickey03 @honeyhoneyhonie @hnm-mika @bittersw33t-lotus @hyuckie-s @firsthokage @happycandynoelle @duffyalamode @xadri3nn3x @splaterparty0-0 @thatcatladywrites @raylovessarcasm @little-bunnybabe @rosechvnel @the-celestial-kitsune @chl0rinewater @milkbttle @igobypersonorthing @shiphappen-s @unsuretater-simp @azyelialuvsyou @xmikasai @duskmammel @lynnethehotshot @royaltysuite @milkiemei @xxsleepy-pandaxx @jasminejamm @jaxx2047 @superhoagiehairdodreamer @royaltysuite @cottoncandy-cult @dogloveri23 @theunknownanimememer @a3l1an4 @froggyfishes @xmikasai @iheartmyselff @aeridabee @ghostanimegirlhere @ratstravanga @kittyturtle @dokiesoapy @babygirl-panda19 @ihatemyselftoinfinityandbeyond @laserry @xiaostic @loverspedia @inactiveindefinitely @258raindrop-blog @rue-ting @snowflaketree @shadowfoxey 

If your tag didn't work, I apologize! Tagging with Tumblr can get a bit messy!

SPOILERS FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT ARC ARE PRESENT! TURN AROUND IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE SPOILED!

~~~

"Y/N-chan?”

The silence that followed that simple but heavily complicated address was near deafening. No one moved, no one spoke, no one dared to breathe as you stared at the three women in front of you, so far yet so damn close. 

How could this have happened?

When you began to cry, you don’t remember, but as you stood there, world on fire and anxiety screaming bloody murder, you took notice of the wetness on your cheeks, the salty liquid coming to stain the fabric of your kimono. This couldn’t be-, this was impossible-, they were supposed to never find you- !

“Y/N-chan!” 

A pair of warm, memory-riddled arms came to wrap around your neck, ripping you out of your thoughts and back into reality, quickly stumbling to take note that it was Suma, sweet, blubbering Suma hugging you.

Just as quickly as she came to hug you, she pulled away, a look of surprise on her face as she did the one thing that made you want to scream to the heavens in terror. 

Her gaze settled on my large midsection, awed wonder flooding her childish features. “Y/N-chan are you-?!” 

Before she could even begin to finish that damning question, an alarming shout filled the air. 

“What is the meaning of this?!” 

Your attention fell onto Riku-san without a moment’s hesitation, the older woman’s face marred in a fearsome glare as she stormed over to your location behind the counter. 

“You will remove your hands from her this instant!” Her hands gently yet sternly pulled you away from Suma’s grasp, glare never ceasing to exist. “Who do you think you are, coming into my shop and harassing one of my employees?!” 

Before you could even try to mitigate the situation, a snarling Makio appeared at Suma’s side, the feisty kunoichi nearly touching noses with your boss. “Get your hands off of our wife, NOW!” 

“WIFE?!” 

Riku-san’s hold only tightened with your wife’s declaration, pulling you against her plump chest. “Do I look like I give a damn who you are, girl?! You girls CANNOT and WILL NOT come in here like a bull in a china shop, disturbing my staff and other patrons, regardless of your marital relations to Ahmya-san!” 

“R-Riku-san, please, it’s okay-,” You stumbled over your words like a child, hands shaking and mind far too chaotic at the moment to make any sense of what was going on. 

“Ahmya-san?” At some point in all of the chaos, Hinatsuru had appeared in the space between you and your other wives, concerned confusion present on her beautiful face as she placed a calming hand on Makio’s shaking shoulder. “Their name is Y/N.” 

Hearing your true name sent icy shivers down your spine, mouth growing dry as the ability to breath grew more laborious with each passing second. The urge to scream plagued your mind, warring aggressively against the instinct to run to them, to let Makio hold you, to breathe in her scent of honey suckles and freshly tilled earth. Your heart was begging for the feeling of Hinatsuru’s feather soft lips to grace your full ones, to hold Suma’s hand and never let go. They had been your anything and everything, the stars to your moon, and just seeing them after all this time, after all the tears and heartbreak, you felt as if you were splitting into two. 

You knew better though. A swift kick from the child within your womb reminded you of that. 

“I don’t care what their name is, you three need to leave!” Riku-san pointed a stern finger towards the shop door. “They are in no condition to undergo the emotional stress you three are inflicting on them!” 

Hinatsuru stepped forward with her hands clasped together, tears saturated with desperation flooding her violet irises. “Please, we mean no harm! We’ve been searching for Y/N-chan for months-!” 

“Perhaps there’s a reason why they left you. Have you thought of that?” The shopkeeper gazed at Hinatsuru without a speck of remorse, hand coming to rest on her hip. 

They-they had been searching for you? 

Raging emotions threatened to strangle your heart, helpless as you watched a fiery Makio take an defensive stance, hands curled into her fists. “You don’t know anything lady-!”

“I know plenty, thank you very much! I know that the lousy man you call a husband practically cast Ahmya-san from your shared home, berating her for having the simple want of having a child of their own!” Riku-san snarled at the three unnerved women standing before her, her mouth relentless and bearing acidic venom. 

Suma, who was hardly holding it together, let out a pleading sob, shaking her head in earnest. “Please! We’ve come so far-!” 

Miwa stepped forward with her arms crossed over her chest. “I believe your mother told you to exit our shop. Leave on your own or I’ll remove you myself!” 

“Y/N!” Suma begged, curling herself around Makio’s right arm with tears gushing down her cheeks, the very same ones you longed to hold in the cusp of your palms as you kissed her peach tasting lips. “Please!” 

Makio held the other kunoichi close, voice cracking with emotion, something that only occurred once in a blue moon. “We only want to talk! You don’t need to hide from us!” 

Oh, how could you not? You were carrying the unwanted child of your husband, the one he had been so adamant about preventing at all costs. In your selfishness, you had torn apart the only good thing that had occurred, forced to leave behind the life you had cherished with every fiber of your being. So many nights had been spent in tears as you attempted to reconcile with yourself, to force your weeping heart into reluctant submission whilst it cried for your spouses. The lack of closure was what was really killing you in the end; you had been able to say goodbye to your mother when she passed, to watch your siblings leave the family estate, to bid your abusive and neglectful father one last damned farewell, one he brushed off without a care in the world. Hinatsuru stole your attention away from your dire thoughts with a simple but heartbreaking sob, clearly muffled but still existent, and the very sound had your knees shaking in weakness. 

Tear-filled pools of violet met your (e/c), your wife of reason wavering in both voice and body as she spoke. “Please, just give us a moment to explain! If not for us, for your own sanity!” 

“Ladies, I would leave while you can! Riku-san here has quite the temper” Hoshi-sensei moved to corral your wives out the door, nervous sweat rolling down his forehead whilst looking at your boss’ unmoving form of steel. 

The three kunoichi paid the doctor no mind as Miwa-san stepped forward, Suma reaching out to your frozen form with pure and unadulterated despair. “Y/N-chan!” 

Why were they being so persistent? What could they possibly want from you, the wayward and troublemaking wife? You had only been a burden, Tengen had told you so all those months ago! Why were they here?! 

A soft voice sounded from the deep recesses of your mind, so weak that one could barely hear its message. You, however, heard it loud and clear. 

‘Maybe I was never a burden to them after all.’ 

“W-wa-wait.” 

No one must have expected you to talk in that moment because before you could even begin to think of what to say next in this impossibly messy situation, six sets of eyes were on you and Kami you couldn’t do this! 

“I-I wish to hear the-them out, Riku-san.” The joyful surprise on your wives’ faces made the guilt weighing heavy on your shoulders even more taxing to carry, your gaze falling upon the older woman’s visage of aversion. “P-please.” 

The older woman’s calculating gaze fell on your quivering form, inspecting your person with a sharp eye before. It was only after a few moments of suffocating silence, Riku-san pulled away with a grunt of displeasure. “I will allow this conversation to take place. However-!” 

She sent a warning glare to your wives, practically daring them to destroy their chances to speak with you. “-if one of you upsets Ahmya-san, you must swear that you will never return to our village.”

 

Your eyes flew wide with surprise, a gasp escaping your lips at hearing the woman’s audacious ultimatum. “Riku-san-!” 

Suma, much to your surprise, cut you off mid-objection, her pools of gorgeous sapphire unmoving and brimming with stubborn determination. “We accept your terms!” 

“Very well,” Riku-san retorted with a nod, unfolding her arms with a sense of finality coloring her body features. Her attention returned to your person, her gaze comforting yet firm. “Miwa and I will be in the other room. Do NOT hesitate to call for one of us, do you understand?” 

“Hai, Riku-san.” You gave her a slight bow of agreeance, not allowing yourself to look her in the eyes. You didn’t have the right; you had lied to her about so many things. 

A worn hand gently took hold of your chin, forcing you to look at the woman who was nothing short of a mother to you. Much to your surprise, you saw a pained demeanor of understanding painting her aging features. 

“We all lie for a reason, child. Have no shame in the ones you have spun to protect yourself with. If you do, the guilt will eat you from the outside in.” With that, she pulled away, beckoning for Miwa-san to follow her. “Come along Miwa, there’s fabric to sort in the back.” 

Miwa flicked her gaze between you and her, clearly torn. “Mama-!” 

“Now, girl.” 

The young woman cast you one last look of worry before doing as she was told, quietly shuffling after her hurricane of a mother. 

“And Hoshi! Leave the herbs and don’t let the door hit you on the way out!” 

The aging man watched the two women leave with his mouth agape but quickly did as he was told, placing the herbs on the inner counter. He turned to you, uncertainty in his eyes, but looking to your awaiting wives and back. “Good luck, girly!” 

With that, the man practically flew out of the shop, the soft ringing of the bell being the only sound that filled the tense atmosphere. You didn’t have the strength to lift your gaze from its place of your breasts, no, you had no right to. You were the one that was a burden, you were the one that had abandoned your role and its responsibilities, one that you had been so graciously gifted with. And now, you were bearing the child your husband, your rock and liberator, had explicitly stated that he didn’t want. Your wives obeyed every order Tengen gave, listened to every piece of advice he dished out, followed him wherever he ventured. Hinatsuru served as his rationality, Makio his stubbornness, and Suma his emotions. They were the chosen ones, Suma had even willingly accept Hinatsuru and Makio into their marriage! The trio had simply been informed by Tengen without a bat of an eye that oh here you were, a fourth wife, one that couldn’t defend herself, who was attention starved and in need of so much love and attention and work-. In the end, you had always been the outsider; your wives had kept their thoughts on having children in the future and you had never been good at thinking like them, of differentiating the responsibilities of the Demon Slayer Corps. and those of personal want. You simply were you, a born and raised civilian who had been born into a family of wealth and status, beaten with the silver spoon of privilege rather than in your mouth, and always, no matter the situation, left alone. Why-?!

A firm yet gentle squeeze of your right hand abruptly ripped you away from your quicksand-like thoughts, mind reeling as you anxiously looked around to find the owner of the foreign limb holding yours. Tears instantly welled in your pools of (e/c) the moment they met the gorgeous blue ones of Suma, the ones you cried over for weeks whenever you found yourself focusing on pails of water or ocean patterned yukatas too much. Her sapphire irises threatened to swallow you whole, so small and hesitant like a young child with a stranger, body trembling in fear at the simple touch that you had once melted into. 

“We’re so glad you’re okay, Y/N-chan,” A loud sniffle escaped the emotional woman, her voice straining with the need to cry. “We thought we lost you forever. Everyone’s been searching for you everywhere!”

Everyone? Even Ten-?

Heart crying out in agony, you shook your head adamantly, snatching your hand away from the teary kunoichi. “Why, why on earth would you be searching for me?! I’m a burden-!” 

“Shut your mouth!” 

Makio stepped forward with her golden brown eyes alit with rage that was threatening to break free, hands clenched into fists of frustration. “Why wouldn’t we be searching for you?! You’re our wife! How shallow do you think we are-?!” 

“Makio! You’re not helping!” Hinatsuru glared at her fellow kunoichi with a stern glare, waiting until Makio loosened her posture with a huff before turning her attention back to you. “Y/N-chan, I only speak for myself, Suma, and Makio when I say this so please, give us a moment to speak with you!” 

“Tengen-sama informed us what transpired between you two, of those vile words he spat. Allow us to tell you without a shred of a doubt that never in a thousand years have we thought of you so lowly, to see you as a burden or greedy! Never have you been either of these things, in fact I can’t believe you’re capable of being such a person!” The violet-eyed woman placed tender, steadying hands on your quivering shoulders, tears cascading wetly down your (s/c) cheeks. “You are one of the greatest things that ever happened to us, and for so many reasons! Never could we’ve imagined being able to have a place that we’re eager to come to because we know we can shed our pasts at the door, that we can simply be us. Not kunoichi, not Demon Slayers, but wives to one of the most dedicated and empathetic people we’ve had the pleasure to meet.” 

“Hina’s right! You changed our lives for the better! We’ve never been good at relaxing, at taking the time to enjoy caring for plants or to learn how to cook food that isn’t just nutritional but super yummy! You taught us that’s something outside fighting all the time!” With a wail, Suma wrapped herself once more around your upper arm, weeping in earnest. 

Makio gave an anxious nod of agreement, arms crossed over her chest in defiance, a faint blush on her cheeks. “We learned how to be people because of you. You’re the one we’ve always looked forward to seeing, one of the reasons to fight with all our hearts so we can come home to you.” 

“So when we came home to find you and your stuff gone, it felt like our world had shattered all over again!” Anger swiftly replaced her humility in a blur of a second, a snarl forming on her lips. You knew what she was referring to, ghost-like clawed hands faintly drifting down your clothes covered thighs, inciting an ice cold shiver of fear to wiggle down your spine. “And everything only got worse when Tengen-sama told us what happened, the bastard! He allowed his trauma to speak for not only him but for us as well and we didn’t even get the chance to dispute it because it was too fucking late!” 

A choked sob unwillingly escaped your painted lips, chest aching with heartache and want because your wives, all three of your strong, beautiful wives, were right in front of you, dispelling all of the horrible thoughts and feelings that had been plaguing you since your final interaction with Tengen. Your hands flew your mouth, knees dangerously knocking against each other as you attempted to hold yourself together-. 

They still loved you. 

In a flurry of movements and emotions, your knees gave way and suddenly you found yourself nestled in Hinatsuru’s arms, Makio and Suma crowding around you two with worry. “Y/N-chan-!” 

“You still love me.” The sobs were nearly suffocating, a wave of pure and unadulterated relief overwhelming. “Kami, you still love me!” 

Your words seemed to break the straw in the camel’s back, the three women smothering you in cuddles and sweet words in a matter of milliseconds, Suma rubbing her silk smooth cheek against your own whilst Makio took hold of your hand. “Of course we still love you stupid, we’ll always love you! You’re not only our wife but our best friend! Heck, you have to be one of your soulmates with how you came into our lives!” 

“And what an honor it is to call you one of our soulmates.” Calloused hand wiping away the moist tears marring your face, Hinatsuru gazed at you with warm springs of amethyst. “I can’t think of living a life without you in it, Y/N-chan, none of us can.” 

“Absolutely!” “For sure!” 

Who all fell under this blanket of love however? 

“I-I can’t come home. Not with-, not like this.” Anxiety munched away at your already shot nerves, fresh tears welling up in your eyes. “Tengen-!” 

“-is an asshole and we along with all of the Hashira have told him so! Hell, even Tanjiro and the kids gave him a piece of their mind!” Makio huffed, golden brown irises on fire with indignation. 

“Makio!” 

Before Suma and Makio could devolve into a pointless argument, Hinatsuru cleared her throat, effectively silencing the other two kunoichi. The more reserved of the three graced with a smile as warm as the sun, her free hand coming to gently cup the swell of your stomach. “This baby is everything any of us have ever wanted, Y/N-chan. To hear the patter of little feet on the hardwood, to have a little boy or girl with Tengen-sama’s hair and your eyes and smile, to enjoy everything pregnancy has to offer-.” 

“-especially with how big your chest has gotten, and how pretty you’d be! We’ve even roleplayed it when you weren’t in the room!” Suma chimed in, no shame whatsoever on her face as Makio and Hinatsuru turned red as tomatoes from complete and utter embarrassment. 

“Shut it, dumbass!” One of Makio’s fists made brutal contact with the top of Suma’s head, the blue wearing kunoichi breaking out into wails. “We said we’d never talk about that!” 

You too were quick to hide your own embarrassment, a squeak escaping you as you covered your flush face with your hand. Had they really had-, and to you being-?!

Hinatsuru let out a nervous cough, clearly bothered by the revelation of your wives supposed secret kinks. “*Ahem*, that aside, it’s honestly a very welcomed surprise to see you well, in your condition.” 

Hand drifting to rest at your middle thigh, Makio shyly made the most minimal eye contact with you, voice no louder than a mumble. “Look even better than I imagined.” 

Oh Kami, give me strength!

How much thought had they put into this? In all honesty, you wanted to know but you knew that it was not the place nor the time to explore your wives’ well, bedroom fantasies. 

“E-even if you three are okay with this,” You took your bottom lip between your teeth, worrying away. “What about Tengen?”

“Oh fu-!” 

“MAKIO!” 

The fiery kunoichi pulled away with a scoff, crossing her arms over her chest. “You two shouldn’t be defending him! He’s the reason we’re all in this mess anyway!” 

“We’ve all made mistakes, Makio. He’s are just especially stupid.” Hinatsuru glared at your fellow wife, distaste of Makio’s brash words evident. “Tengen-sama is still our husband and our lord; give respect where it is due!” 

“But, does he really deserve it?” 

All eyes fell onto Suma’s solemn face, eyes downcast and bottom lip trembling. “Makio’s right. Y/N-chan only left because of what he said! We’ve had to miss out on the majority of their pregnancy, something we’ve always imagined experiencing together! If he hadn’t said what he said, we would have never gone to the Entertainment District and Tengen-sama would have never been hurt-!” 

“Hurt?” 

An uncomfortable silence filled the room, all three of your wives shutting up tighter than a clam, tears forming in all of their eyes. 

“Te-Tengen’s been hurt? Is he okay?” You pulled away from Hinatsuru, it suddenly became so hard to breathe. “What happened to him?” 

Suma let out a wail and Makio grimaced, unwilling to meet your eyes, Hinatsuru clearly unsure whether to answer your questions or leave you hanging. “He-he was-.” 

“He was what?” 

The need to know ate all your remaining reserves, hands shaking as all of the worst scenarios played out in your head. Had Tengen died? Realization hit you with the force of a well-aimed back hand, knocking you back into rational reality. Your wives followed Tengen everywhere; they served as his eyes and ears, seeing as how Tengen was subpar at stealth, a true testament of how the Sound Hashira had come to reject his upbringing. If your wives were here but Tengen wasn’t, then-! 

Trembling in her spot before your position, Hinatsura finally gained the ability to speak her thoughts into words. “A month ago, Tengen-sama fought Upper Moon Six alongside Tanjiro and his friends.”

Eyes going wide, the knowing dread of what the purple-eyed kunoichi sunk into your chest. Faintly, Tengen’s voice echoed in the back of your mind. 

“Muzan Kibutsuji has twelve loyal demons of great but unflamboyant strength commonly known in the Corps as the Twelve Kizuki. These demons are split into two groups: Upper Moons and Lower Moons.” Tengen gazed at you with brutal honesty in all manners of his body language and voice, arms crossed over his thick chest. “Demon Slayers of all abilities over the centuries have come into contact with these foul creatures, Hashiras specifically. Lower moons have been defeated but with a sacrifice of some degree. Encounters with an Upper Moon are death sentences that no slayer, regardless of whether they are a Kinoe or Hashira, have yet to escape.”  

‘Encounters with an Upper Moon are death sentences to no slayer, regardless of whether they are a Kinoe or Hashira, have yet to escape.’ 

“He’s dead, isn’t he?” You couldn’t stop the words from falling out, so damningly heavy with painful reality. 

“No! Tengen-sama survived! It-its’ just, well-!” Suma objected, twiddling with her fingers, a nervous habit of hers.

“Just spit it out already, idiot!” Makio barked, finally looking you in the eye. “Tengen-sama was badly injured in the fight but luckily for us, Nezuko-chan was there. She flushed the poisons from his system! Sadly, she couldn’t replace his eye or hand-.” 

“We’ve withdrawn from the Demon Slayer Corps. because of the extent of his injuries. We can finally retire and have a family, just like we always talked about.” You trembled at Hinatsuru’s words, arms wrapping around your well-rounded stomach. 

It couldn’t be possible. Tengen had come in contact with an Upper Moon and survived? And he had been so badly hurt that he had been forced to retire? They had always talked about retiring, about all of them settling down and doing the whole civilian thing, of starting the family you had always dreamed about. The one that was already underway. 

“W-where is he?” You searched your wives’ faces for answers. “Does he know you’re here?” 

“No, the last time we spoke with Tengen was three weeks ago. He wanted to continue searching for you while he recovered at the Butterfly Mansion.” Hinatsuru gave a shake of her head, lips drawn in a tight line. 

“He’s been in the dog house since you left. Minimal contact both physical and through writing. It’s been frustrating him to no end.” Makio chimed in, a grimace once again taking root on her lips. “If you’re worried about us telling him, don’t worry. What we do next is up to you.”

“Oh, they know exactly what they’re going to do next!” 

All eyes fell upon Riku-san’s ungiving form in the doorway, a stern glare on her aging face. “Ahmya-san is going to return home with you three and they’re going to put that bastard husband of yours in his place!” 

Miwa-san poked her out from behind the curtain, face red with embarrassment. “MAMA!” 

The five women looked to you, each set of eyes searching for your rebuttal. It was your choice, the ball was in your court. Would you stay here where you knew you were safe and stable, or would you return home where Tengen could simply outright reject you like he had done before? 

You hated making big choices like this. 

After a few moments of heavy silence and even heavier thoughts, you lifted your head. 

“Let’s go home.” 

~~~

A/N: I hope you guys like this part! Comment, kudo, and reblog!

[writingmochi]

a terra incognita introduction

cast: jake ✗ fem.reader

synopsis: as the world entered the middle of the 21st century, many things have changed for the better or for worse in the newly united korea peninsula: the preparation for the succession of the new conglomerates of the past decade, the uprising of deviant androids, and the new layer of life shield by walls of codes. in the middle of it, two beings are trying to understand each other and the situation of the world they live in; an unknown territory

genre: cyberpunk, cyber noir, psychological thriller, science fiction, dystopian future, politics and philosophies regarding artificial intelligence and humanity, romance, drama, angst, mature content (war and revolution, explicit smut)

based on: video game cyberpunk 2077 (2020) and detroit: become human (2018), anime serial experiments lain (1998), and tv show succession (2018-2023)

masterlist

united korea

the united republic of korea (known as "united korea") is an east asia nation on the korean peninsula. as a result of the reunification agreement back in 2025 of the former north and south korea, the state has now prospered in terms of sociopolitical and economic issues from the korean war. it now excels technologically as one of the firsts in the world to introduce commercialized androids along with other east asian countries such as japan and china. in the aftermath of the social media collapse and the cyber world war of 2027-2030, the private conglomerates of the state have released a new way to connect to the information superhighway.

FLAG

(flag link to r/alternatehistory on reddit)

INFORMATION

capital cities: neo seoul | neo pyongyang

population: 65.5 million

language: korean | english | japanese | chinese

>> HISTORY

>> GEOGRAPHY

>> GOVERNMENT

>> SOCIETY

>> ECONOMY

>> MILITARY

>> MAJOR CITIES

neo seoul

one of the capital cities of united korea and the former capital of south korea, neo seoul is a metropolis for the state's bustling life from the most traditional to the most modern. neo seoul is known for six districts that are divided by the han river flowing in the middle, known as the division of north seoul and south seoul

north seoul encapsulates the traditional side of neo seoul and the center for the city's and state's government administration

south seoul lies the center of neo seoul's economy where conglomerates build their headquarters. a distinct living cost gap can be seen to compare those living in the north and those in the south where it is connected to incheon, a major city of transportation with its international seaports and airport

neo pyongyang

one of the capital cities of united korea and the former capital of north korea, neo pyongyang is the capital of the parliament of united korea. it's located on the taedong river kilometers upstream from the yellow sea. it is known as the city where the declaration of unification was signed along with its establishment as half of the capitals of the unified countries. much of the population of neo pyongyang are citizens coming from the southern of the peninsula as they migrate to fill in the spaces and utilize materials. it is also a growing industrial hub where conglomerates built their factories, along with kaesong.

with the rise of deviancies from androids made by shim laboratories, journalists have made observations and assume that neo pyongyang is the main hub of the rebellion between androids and their creator (as one human equates to two androids), creating unrest between the two parties. yet, they also say that neo pyongyang is a better refuge for deviant androids than neo seoul.

taglist: @raeyunshm @endzii23 @fluffyywoo @camipendragon @hiqhkey @wccycc @cha0thicpisces @y4wnjunz @yeehawnana @beansworldsstuff @kimipxl @blurryriki @reallysmolrenjun @frukkoneeeeg

© writingmochi on tumblr, 2021-2024. all rights reserved

[yourtongzhihazel]

I've heard a lot from it online queer leftists that communism and society shit is bad and also they hated queer people and wanted to kill us, but most of the communist people I see online are queer trans women so like they have to be wrong right?

The most progressive country in LGBT rights was the DDR, or as most people in the west know it, East Germany. The DDR decriminalized homosexuality in the late 1950s. They had state sponsored transgender surgery. State owned gay bars as well. Decade upon decades before the west which was all rolled back when German reunification occurred.

Today, while in the US, UK, and various other places across Europe, the strides made by LGBT people are being rolled back, the socialist states of Cuba and Vietnam voted in some of the most progressive family rights reform bills recognizing same sex people and trans rights. So, who really wants to kill us? The communists, or the reactionaries at home pushing for our death and the liberals turning a blind eye to it?

I will focus a bit on China since that's where most of my connections are. Here, homosexual marriage rights and social respect are lagging in my opinion and trans healthcare and recognition is also lagging behind where I currently live, though many large municipalities recognize same-sex marriage and their first trans children healthcare center was opened in Shanghai a couple years ago. Notably, Chinese courts have upheld the right for trans people to their identities. In general, I'm cautiously optimistic.

[sunriseverse]

soooo about the dmbj sunrise au I read your iron triangle fic about it and the concept has me by the throat I would like to know more about the sunrise verse 👀 anything you feel like sharing

okay, let's see if i can do this in a manner that in any way makes sense, is organised, and is reasonably useful.

for starters, i'll toss over this introductory post, if you want a tl;dr that i made a bit ago (it is very abbreviated, and doesn't cover a majority of the verse beyond the barebones): sunrise at a glance.

i've been attempting to figure out a way to explain sunrise, and i think the best way to do it would probably be chronologically, starting from the effective beginning of history, as it pertains to rosemary and thyme. then i'll go a bit deeper into some world specifics, such as the martial sects, upgrading, and the politics of the zhang sect as it stands prior to the end of the sha hai parallel era. finally, i'll talk about some inspirations, both aesthetically and thematically.

PART ONE: the history

while technically the sunrise canon runs more or less parallel to real-world history up until slightly after the establishment of the mongol empire (565 before zhang reunification, abbreviated henceforth to BZ; real world equivalent somewhat varying depending on when you consider the mongol empire as having conquered china), once it diverges, it diverges rapidly. the yuan dynasty is founded in 448 BZ, and by 458 BZ, the first prototype silk-weaving machine is created, and rapidly thereafter (420 BZ) the first textiles factory is founded in chang'an (modern-day xi'an).

in 425 BZ, a pair of twins named zhang yihai and zhang yishan are born. due to their family's impoverishment, they're left at a daoist nunnery not long afterwards. they were trained in cultivation techniques from a young age, but were not considered remarkable enough to become disciples of any particular local master, and instead became wandering disciples, training sporadically under various independent masters in return for services rendered.

however, while they didn't become remarkable in this period of time, they were educated to a respectable level, both in cultivation techniques and scholarly arts. then, in 400 BZ, while travelling, they discovered a vase that was able to increase the abilities of anyone who held it. realising the potential of this artefact, they rendered it into an ink to create tattoos with, binding its abilities to their own bodies, and shortly after, created the zhang sect, the tattoos becoming the marker of the sect. unbeknownst to either twin, the vase was an artefact that had slipped into their world from a different world, and if they hadn't rendered it into an ink and bound it to themselves, carrying it would have aroused the attention of its original owners, the entity known as the hive. this binding also gave the zhang an innate ability to better resist hive-madness, ie brain damage caused by exposure to a humanly incomprehensible world and

for about five years, the zhang sect slowly rose in prominence, with zhang yihai and zhang yishan acting as co-leaders of the sect, known by a variety of titles (the most character-relevant being zyh's title of 锷女士 [e nvshi, lady of the blade/master above], and zys' title of 馥郁君 [fuyu-jun, lord of fragrant flowers]) . however, as time passed, the two siblings began to differ on what they wanted the role of their sect to be in the world—zhang yihai wanted the sect to be more martially-focused, aiding the people in a more immediate way, while zhang yishan felt the sect should be more scholarly, aiding the people by collecting and preserving knowledge, with the sect splitting roughly in half with which disciples sided with which sibling. In 400 BZ, tensions between the two siblings reached a boiling point, and the two came to blows—a fight which led to zhang yihai killing zhang yishan (partially due to the fact, which she didn't know at the time, that she was qilin-blooded and thus functionally immortal).

after realising what she'd done, zhang yihai took on the title of zhang qiling, as she was the only remaining member of her family, and carried her brother's body and performed his final rites. from that point on, she withdrew into seclusion, excepting for a brief period where she bore a child to continue the family lineage. without firm leadership, the zhang sect stagnated, faltering in its previous rise to prominence, and faded to a mostly unremarkable status, with its members split hereditarily from that point on either into hai or shan subjects, depending on which sibling their ancestors had aligned with.

in 360 BZ, the xie and hong families emerge. in 340 BZ, industrialisation accelerates, and the first steam engines are produced to power factory equipment. in 330 BZ the remaining jiumen families emerge, and align with the zhang sect.

in 300 BZ, wang zanghai compiles research on the zhang, and comes to believe that a hive artefact is responsible for their immortality. he artificially creates a rift in changbaishan in order to steal a hiveside artefact, but is killed in the process, with the artefact becoming lost.

in 200 BZ, the first steam engine train is created to allow for an efficient long-distance means of transporting goods. the first telephone is invented in the same year. in this window of time, the first people to find wang zanghai's notes on the zhang form the wang clan, vowing to bring the hive into the world, as they believe that this will allow immortality to be granted to all who come in contact with it. as the zhang are believed to be the enemy, they begin to infiltrate the jiumen.

in 120 BZ, the first automobile is invented. zhang ruitong, future leader of the zhang sect is born in 100 BZ. in 0 AZ, the ming dynasty is founded, and zhang ruitong succeeds in reuniting the zhang sect, as well as raising its status to that of foremost martial sect. in 85 AZ, xiaoge is born in tibet, and two years later in 87 AZ, hei xiazi is born in the chimkent (şymkent) area, a politically fraught region which will come under the control of the kazakh khanate, founded in 97 AZ.

in 95 AZ, an earthquake disturbs the hiveside artefact that wang zanghai stole, bringing it to the hive's attention, and the changbaishan rift begins to expand. as part of an agreement between the jiumen and the zhang sect, the xie heir is sent to fight the hive behind the rift. when the xie heir fails to return in the winter of 105 AZ, the jiumen renege on their agreement with the zhang, not wanting to lose any further heirs. the wang, embedded within the jiumen, begin to purposely open rifts, beginning the hive incursion. with zhang ruitong's death, xiaoge becoming sect leader, as well as the first zhang to undergo upgrading to become a ranger, and in spring of 105 AZ, the zhang elders form the first board to govern the sect, arguing that xiaoge is too inexperienced and busy with his responsibilities as a ranger to govern properly.

in 109 AZ, the first non-zhang sect, the gongsun sect, hosts a zhang ranger as the ranger programme expands. in 152 AZ, much of the lao jiumen are killed when qiu dekao trades the names of families with histories of grave-robbing to the government, as well as accusing them of wartime profiteering through the black-market sale of artefacts retrieved from hive-tainted areas. those that survive flee to beijing, where the jiumen become the jiumen association.

in 160 AZ, zhang qishan, better known as fo ye, heads the gutongjing research projects, an attempt to try and find a way to give immunity to hive-madness to zhang rangers through the study of a hive-touched species of snake, the heimaoshe. the project fails, but fo ye becomes aware of the wang, and trades zhang sect secrets in return for a reduction of rifts in the vicinity of his family, the somewhat estranged southern zhang. by 165 AZ, the zhang sect's influence is comparable to our world's mid-level nobility. by 170 AZ, the iron triangle have all been born (pangzi in 161 AZ, and wu xie in 169 AZ). the internet is invented in 169 AZ, and in 170 AZ, conscription of all qilin-blooded zhang sect members begins as the number of volunteers had dropped sharply in recent years. the same year, the zhang main board implements the first "kill switches" in upgrading procedures, allowing them to remotely terminate rangers if they are deemed a danger due to rift-madness. in 186 AZ, conscription is expanded again, this time to any zhang sect members of lower status whose positions are deemed non-essential.

in 190 AZ, the iron triangle meet. between 190 AZ and 195 AZ, the events of rosemary and thyme take place, and in 195 AZ, due to the discovery of anchoring as a method to make rangers' jobs no longer a death sentence, the draft is expanded again to include all adult zhang sect members, excluding those who hold high-level positions. in 197 AZ, xiaoge takes wu xie's place behind the rift in changbaishan. over the next ten years, a parallel to dmbj's ten year plan/sha hai takes place. unlike in dmbj canon, the reason wu xie kidnaps li cu is in order to find the lost wang hive artefact, which is drawn to innocence—something that wu xie, by this point, firmly lacks. in 206 AZ, the sha hai plan comes to a head, with the majority of the wang being destroyed. in the spring of 207 AZ, wu xie returns the artefact wang zanghai stole to the changbaishan rift, after which point the remaining rifts begin to naturally close as the hive is satisfied. in august of 207 AZ, xiaoge returns from hiveside, the iron triangle is reunited, and the hive incursion officially ends, ending zhang conscription, and xiaoge disolves the zhang boards, ending the sect's massive sociopolitical reign.

PART TWO: world specifics

part i: the zhang board, and sunrise as a dystopia

in the era of rosemary and thyme, ie the final years of the hive incursion, the zhang sect is not only incredibly powerful martially, but also politically. since the first hive incursion and the creation of the ranger programme, the zhang have been able to gain an unparalleled control over the martial world specifically, and the general populace more broadly. this is largely due to a number of facts: firstly, the zhang, as the only sect who produce rangers, are viewed as, and actively work to reinforce the view of themselves as, protectors of the empire. secondly, as areas become hive-poisoned after a rift is opened, the common people are encouraged to relocate to zhang-affiliated martial sect territories/compounds, as hive-poisoned areas remain dangerous for a long period after the rift is closed. the zhang-affiliated sects, aside from hosting rangers, also host subsets of the main zhang board, known collectively as "the zhang boards", comprised half of zhang, one quarter of the host sect, and one quarter of scientific and medical specialists, who are in charge of the ranger(s) each affiliated sect hosts.

in return for protection, those living in zhang-controlled areas must adhere to a number of zhang sect regulations. this includes the restriction of access to media that is labelled by the zhang main board as "anti-cause", including anything that criticises the zhang sect's power. this has led to the highly-lucrative, but also highly-dangerous, black-market for media such as film and literature, periodicals, the creation of pirate radio, and so forth. depending on the severity of what someone is reported as possessing, they can either be demoted and given restrictions, or they are given a hearing to determine a sentence, or, in extreme cases (such as being found to be actively associated with anti-zhang groups), exiled from the sect compound either for a set period of time or indefinitely.

zhang sect members are under stricter watch than the average zhang-affiliated person. rangers specifically are heavily monitored, especially in their access of non-sect created materials, and they are discouraged and punished for possessing any materials that may be interpreted as criticising the zhang main board, its marriage and reproductive policies, and its treatment of potential and active-duty rangers, especially any materials that may suggest the draft should not exist, or that the rangers and their families should be compensated for what is essentially a suicide job. for more "mid-level" crimes, forced confessions, similar to those of the 60s/70s in our world's china, are used as a way to reify the confessors of their position within the social and legal order, reinforce to others within the collective that they will be discovered and punished if they do not comply with zhang sect regulations, and communicate that noncompliance is harmful to the collective, ie the zhang sect as a whole.

in regards to marriage and reproductive policies, the zhang sect is incredibly strict within the sect. all of-age sect members are paired based on a number of factors, such as qilin blood status, place within the sect hierarchy, and history, both personal and familial, with compliance to the main board's policies. the aim of these pairings is to produce as many children as possible in order to maintain the ranger system, and thus the zhang board's power. while non-heterosexuality is not explicitly penalised, any sect member who shows resistance to marrying and producing offspring will face both social and legal pressure, and, in extreme cases, punishment in an effort to continue the zhang bloodlines. the only reason that xiaoge is allowed to maintain his relationship with the iron triangle is due to the fact that he is the first ranger and, at least in name, the leader of the sect, and the main board would risk losing power if they attempted to treat him in such a way, and, in this specific case, they would prefer for his family line to die out, since he survived the upgrading procedure all those decades ago despite their hopes, leaving them no possible rivals for control of the sect—and, even then, he faces unspoken pressure to minimise the nature of their relationship as much as possible.

part ii: upgrading, and the precarious position of living weapons

upgrading is the colloquial term used to describe the process which the zhang undergo in order to become rangers. during the process, the body is torn apart and replaced with an average of 60% tech, or "mechanics", a number which varies depending on the "generation" of rangers (xiaoge, and the first batch, would have been about 70%, while newer rangers hover around 55% as improvements in tech optimise the mechanics). this is all done without anaesthetic, as anaesthetic runs the risk of causing the body to be unable to integrate the mechanics properly. generally*, the zhang are the only ones with the training necessary to survive upgrading.

however, even the zhang are human, and their minds are not meant to be able to comprehend input from non-organic systems, even with a large portion of modern zhang training going towards trying to equip potential rangers to deal with this input. in an attempt to solve this problem, especially that of a ranger potentially risking not being able to interpret a warning from their mechanics of a failure, interfaces were created. this allows the ranger to pull up a number of systems, such as diagnostics and recommended courses of action, and in newer generations of rangers, interfaces even allow rangers to access predictions of results of a course of action based on damage/injury levels, control nanotech particles to disperse them to mitigate any critical injuries until a fight is completed, and so forth. the interface in a proper upgrade is implanted in the cerebral cortex. included within newer generations of interface implants are hard-coded the ability to receive a specific command from the zhang boards that allow them to remotely "put down" a ranger if they're deemed a threat—usually due to rift madness aggression, but there have been a number of times where the reason was more muddy; more than one ranger in only the early stages of rift madness was "put down" not long after they began to question the zhang board.

part iii: the exception to the rule

while generally only zhang are able to survive upgrading, there is one notable exception: that is, hei xiazi. however, as the only official method of upgrading is through procedures administered by the zhang. hei xiazi, though, realised early on that the money was quickly drying up in grave robbing and instead booming in the trade of hiveside artefacts, and, already cursed due to a previous tomb excursion, opted to undergo a black-market upgrade.

however, due to the fact that it was black-market, it was essentially a one-of-a-kind event, and one that was largely done with an understanding of zhang upgrades obtained through extrapolation of zhang abilities, and a small amount of study of rangers' corpses which had not been recovered by the sect in the early days due to physical distance. as such, hei xiazi's systems are......................unique, to put it lightly. his mechanics are exposed to the elements rather than being hidden beneath synthetic skin, and a lot of the more specialised pieces are often not what they should be, but rather the closest substitute—something that is a persistent issue, as demonstrated in whatever was left. especially of issue is his interface system—half the time it doesn't work, and it often displays errors for minor issues, or mislabels critical issues as minor ones, and generally is an annoyance. while zhang rangers' interfaces are designed to seamlessly integrate with their personal usage style, hei xiazi's interface is akin to a video game tutorial pop-up—bright red, and almost impossible to dismiss. an amusing issue hei xiazi deals with is that while zhang rangers' interfaces run on their own, specialised frequency, his runs on a separate one—one that, in some areas, is also used by niche pirate radio broadcasters, meaning he has to manually disable his interface entirely or suffer listening to whatever is being broadcast directly in his head. also, unlike zhang rangers, his systems whirr audibly—not loud enough to not fade into the background, but noticeable enough if you pay attention. he also tends to run hot.

part iv: zhang ranger duties, and power-plays of the boards

zhang rangers are assigned to specific sects, and the area that falls under that sect's control is what they are responsible for. if a rift opens in their host sect's territory, they are the ones dispatched to fight the hive and seal the rift. in some cases where a rift is larger than usual, rangers from nearby areas may be deployed to help in the effort, in which case they will use sense-sharing to synchronise their attacks. i wrote a more in-depth post on sensesharing, and therefore anchoring, here: a beginner's guide to anchoring. once a rift is closed, a ranger is summoned back to their host sect, where they are hooked up to a system that projects a recording of the fight for the sect's board to review their conduct, which also forces them to relive the memories as if they are happening again. while it's justified as searching for early signs of rift madness, it's also a thinly-veiled means of asserting board control over the rangers, and if the rangers are found in error, they can be disciplined or given restrictions. while ostensibly rangers are highly-respected warriors, honoured for their sacrifices for the people, the boards, and the zhang elders, see them as potential threats to their power.

part v: sha hai, the bronze gate, and wu xie's honed ruthlessness

as noted, wu xie chooses li cu specifically because of his innocence. while earlier in the ten year period, wu xie may have been able to find the wang zanghai artefact, due to the events of 205 BZ, this became an impossibility. in 205 BZ, in order to contain the rift in changbaishan, wu xie created the plans for the bronze gate, and contracted a team to construct it. once it was completed, in order to minimise the possibility of anyone discovering a weakness in the gate, and thus its abilities to contain the changbaishan rift and the hive, therefore creating a possibility for xiaoge to have to go behind the rift once more, wu xie not only destroyed the plans he had created for it, but also killed the entire team.

PART THREE: inspirations, acdemic reading i've done, and other mischellanea and closing remarks

it will come as no surprise that sunrise is inspired by the 2013 film pacific rim (dir. gdt). for a long time, i've wanted to create something that gave me the same amount of passion as that film gave me in 2018-2020, and the idea of drifting, in specific, is one that's always fascinated me. sunrise was intended to be a one-off, pacific rim-inspired, fanfic—and, since then, it's grown into something far larger, as evidenced by the fact that my reply to this ask is over 3k. it is no longer merely daomu biji with pacific rim added as a topping, but its own thing, which i spend a not insignificant amount of time thinking about, speculating on, and adding to not only weekly, but even daily. however, aside from pacific rim, there's a number of other pieces of media that have inspired me when it comes to sunrise—his dark materials by phillip pulman, bad and crazy (2021), and the ascendant trilogy by k arsenault rivera are all works that have, in one way or another, shaped me, both as a child and now, as an adult, and impacted my writing. more generally, science fiction as a genre and explorations of dystopian fiction have heavily informed me in creation and in writing sunrise.

my tagline for the verse on ao3 is simple: the blade that cuts your chains still cuts another’s neck. sunrise is meant to be not just one story, but rather a world in which stories exist—stories which impact both the characters, and the others in the world they live in. things that seem like victories at first turn out to be tragedies for others—anchoring saves xiaoge's life, and the lives of other rangers, but also causes the expansion of the ranger's draft, putting countless other, previously-safe, sect members at risk. wu xie's construction of the bronze gate ensures the hive will remain contained—but it costs the lives of the entire team of builders to ensure that safety. the good of the many does not outweigh the good of the few; sunrise is not a world of black and white, but rather shades of grey.

besides media influences, sunrise has also benefited greatly from my own delving into academic texts. i'm lucky enough to now have access to an almost unmatched library of texts on chinese history, and historical society, culture, and a thousand other things, at least in the united states. while the texts i've read may not have had obvious impacts upon the world of sunrise, they've allowed me to better build the world of sunrise into a living, breathing thing in my mind. of the texts i've read, i've most appreciated food and environment in early and medieval china (e. n. anderson) and sexuality in china: histories of power and pleasure (howard chiang). i'm on break at the moment and also plan on reading the development of chinese martial arts fiction in order to solidify my portrayal of wuxia in sunrise.

sunrise has also allowed me to experiment with narrative in ways i had not done previously—both in terms of linearality, and in terms of perspective. all sunrise instalments so far are told in a non-linear format, and the next instalment i am (very slowly) working on includes both third and second person povs.

there is a large amount of miscellanea included in my lore notes, but it's largely specific to pairings rather than the overall world of sunrise, and so has therefore been committed. hopefully, this has been a decent exploration and explanation of the 'verse. however, i am always open to further questions, so if you have something specific you want to ask, please, feel free! and thank you, once again, @child-of-the-fairy-folk for asking me about sunrise :)

[quotesfrommyreading]

In 1949, General Chiang Kai-shek moved his Nationalist Party, the Kuomintang (KMT), to the island and established the Republic of China there. Ever since, the People’s Republic of China has seen Taiwan as its ideological enemy, an irritating reminder that not all Chinese wish to be united under the leadership of the Communist Party.

Sometimes Chinese pressure on Taiwan has been military, involving the issuing of threats or the launching of missiles. But in recent years, China has combined those threats and missiles with other forms of pressure, escalating what the Taiwanese call “cognitive warfare”: not just propaganda but an attempt to create a mindset of surrender. This combined military, economic, political, and information attack should by now be familiar, because we have just watched it play out in Eastern Europe. Before 2014, Russia had hoped to conquer Ukraine without firing a shot, simply by convincing Ukrainians that their state was too corrupt and incompetent to survive. Now it is Beijing that seeks conquest without a full-scale military operation, in this case by convincing the Taiwanese that their democracy is fatally flawed, that their allies will desert them, that there is no such thing as a “Taiwanese” identity.

Taiwanese government officials and civic leaders are well aware that Ukraine is a precedent in a variety of ways. During a recent trip to Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, I was told again and again that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a harbinger, a warning. Although Taiwan and Ukraine have no geographic, cultural, or historical links, the two countries are now connected by the power of analogy. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told me that the Russian invasion of Ukraine makes people in Taiwan and around the world think, “Wow, an authoritarian is initiating a war against a peace-loving country; could there be another one? And when they look around, they see Taiwan.”

But there is another similarity. So powerful were the Russian narratives about Ukraine that many in Europe and America believed them. Russia’s depiction of Ukraine as a divided nation of uncertain loyalties convinced many, prior to February, that Ukrainians would not fight back. Chinese propaganda narratives about Taiwan are also powerful, and Chinese influence on the island is both very real and very divisive. Most people on the island speak Mandarin, the dominant language in the People’s Republic, and many still have ties of family, business, and cultural nostalgia to the mainland, however much they reject the Communist Party. But just as Western observers failed to understand how seriously the Ukrainians were preparing—psychologically as well as militarily—to defend themselves, we haven’t been watching as Taiwan has begun to change too.

Although the Taiwanese are regularly said to be too complacent, too closely connected to the People’s Republic, not all Taiwanese even have any personal links to the mainland. Many descend from families that arrived on the island long before 1949, and speak languages other than Mandarin. More to the point, large numbers of Taiwanese, whatever their background, feel no more nostalgia for mainland China than Ukrainians feel for the Soviet Union. The KMT’s main political opponent, the Democratic Progressive Party, is now the usual political home for those who don’t identify as anything except Taiwanese. But whether they are KMT or DPP supporters (the Taiwanese say “blue” or “green”), whether they participate in angry online debates or energetic rallies, the overwhelming majority now oppose the old “one country, two systems” proposal for reunification. Especially since the repression of the Hong Kong democracy demonstrations, millions of the island’s inhabitants understand that the Chinese war on their society is not something that might happen in the future but is something that is already well under way.

Like the Ukrainians, the Taiwanese now find themselves on the front line of the conflict between democracy and autocracy. They, too, are being forced to invent strategies of resistance. What happens there will eventually happen elsewhere: China’s leaders are already seeking to expand their influence around the world, including inside democracies. The tactics that the Taiwanese are developing to fight Chinese cognitive warfare, economic pressure, and political manipulation will eventually be needed in other countries too.

  —  China’s War Against Taiwan Has Already Started

[zvaigzdelasas]

China’s People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command said in a statement on Monday (August 8) that joint drills in the sea and airspace around Taiwan were continuing.

The notice did not specify the precise location of the exercises or when they would end.[...]

Military force is the ultima, not the prima ratio. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme strategy.[...]

This already has many foreign companies rethinking their Taiwan commitments. This will be followed by some relaxation, a pause for reflection and offers of talks. Squeeze and relax, with the message that at any time a large military exercise could be the real thing. In fact, the effective blockade is the real thing.

Washington may not see it yet or may prefer not to call it by name. But the takeover is underway. It’s out in the clear light of day.

8 Aug 22

[memecucker]

Generally, there are three categories [of factions within the KMT]. The first group, led by chairperson Eric Chu, argues that engaging with the United States while maintaining a good relationship with China will make Taiwan safe. The difference between this KMT faction and President Tsai Ing-wen’s cross-strait policy is that Chu and believe sticking to the “1992 Consensus” is the “key” to communicating with Beijing – regardless of the fact that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has declared that the 1992 Consensus means “both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to one China and will work together toward national reunification.”

This stance on the cross-strait relationship is not acceptable to the bulk of voters from both the KMT and Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). KMT and other pan-Blue voters are of the opinion that Chu’s China policy is too similar to the DPP’s, while pro-Green supporters regard Chu and others as “giving up Taiwan’s sovereignty.” Thus, these leaders have received little support in almost every poll.

The second group in the KMT has a more pro-mainland stance, asserting that the KMT should keep its distance from the United States in order to not frustrate the Chinese Communist Party. They believe that diplomacy, rather than deterrence, is the way to keep the Taiwan Strait safe. To achieve that goal, proponents like former President Ma Ying-jeou insist the Taiwanese government should explicitly state that it agrees with the 1992 Consensus as the foundation for further communications and cooperation.

This community within the KMT has more popularity than all the others, as it claims to offer another way to achieve peace, while proclaiming that it can perform better than the DPP in terms of economic welfare since they are capable of establishing better economic ties with China.

The last group within the KMT mainly consists of veterans and their descendants and is the least popular subgroup within the party. After having retreated from the mainland in 1949, this group of KMT members are die-hard supporters of reunification with China, as they still regard China as their home.

Given the “median voter theorem,” we might expect the KMT’s China policy will ultimately shift toward somewhere between the first and the second group. Yet the situation has not unfolded as the theory supposed, due to the structures and mechanisms within the KMT.

After retreating from China, the KMT veteran community established branches of the Huang Fu-hsing, a highly united group that loyally backed the political leaders who came over with them from China. Huang Fu-hsing members still firmly believe that ultimate reunification is the best option. Although their stance on cross-strait affairs is extreme compared to Taiwan’s general public, Huang Fu-hsing branches represent roughly 25 percent of the party member vote, and reportedly have a meticulous mechanism to allocate all their votes to serve various political aims. As a result, the organization became a comparatively strong power within the KMT.

Found this article that talks about internal KMT politics when it comes to relations with China and i find it interesting how it’s basically goes from “Appease both the US and China” to “Appease China even if at the expense of relations with the US” and then “Chinese nationalists whose priority is unification with the PRC“. And the third faction is basically veterans and the military (who you might naively assume would be the most pro-US but actually the opposite is the case) who are pretty unpopular but internal KMT politics are arranged in such a way that they have massively disproportionate sway and always vote as a unified bloc.

[workersolidarity]

[photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC]

🇨🇳🇹🇼 CHINA FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN RESPONDS TO TAIWANESE LEADER TSAI ING-WEN COMMENTS ON TAIWANESE INDEPENDENCE

Responding to a question Tuesday from Agence France-Presse about Tsai Ing-wen's recent comments that Taiwan would remain democratic for generations despite Chinese pressure towards reunification, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin told reporters that the biggest threat facing the Taiwan Straights came, not from China, but from the "separatist persuit" of "Taiwan independence" and from seeking foreign help to support this cause.

"There’s only one China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory—this is the true status quo across the Taiwan Strait," Wenbin told Agence France-Presse.

"The DPP authorities still cling to the separatist pursuit of 'Taiwan independence' and seek foreign support in achieving that agenda and making provocative moves—this is the biggest threat facing peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait."

Wenbin told reporters the key to peace and stability in the region was to uphold the one-China principle and oppose Taiwanese independence.

"Whatever the DPP Authorities say or do, it does not change the fact that Taiwan is part of China, still less the trend towards China's unification."

#source

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