#seeking sedition

[annemarieyeretzian]

zhesh explaining how they sometimes make weapons out of loved ones’ bones and ashton saying “I very much like that.” and fearne saying “I do, too.”,,, they’re meant for each other (bonus: fearne telling everyone “I would absolutely make weapons out of all of your bones.”)

[ludinusdaleth]

"There is no loyalty that comes with this blood."

-Critical Role Campaign 3, Episode 88, "Seeking Sedition"

[zvaigzdelasas]

Booker Prize-winning Indian author Arundhati Roy could be prosecuted for allegedly seditious comments made over a decade ago, after a top official in Delhi said there was enough evidence to lay charges.

Roy rose to international prominence for her novels, including 1997 Booker Prize winner “The God of Small Things,” but has also published two collections of political writing andlongbeen an outspoken critic of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.[...]

Earlier this month, police in New Delhi raided the homes of prominent journalists linked to a left-leaning news organization known for its scrutiny of the Indian government. Police said they had arrested the outlet’s editor and a colleague as part of an ongoing investigation in connection with India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, an anti-terror law that critics describe as “draconian.”[...]

The case was filed in 2010 over comments Roy made at a conference on Kashmir called “Azadi – the Only Way Ahead” – “azadi” means freedom or liberation and is often used as a slogan for the Kashmiri independence movement.[...]

In her 2010 speech,posted online, Roy spoke about Kashmiri efforts to seek justice, in part for the mass exodus of Hindus from Muslim-majority Kashmir in the early 1990s amid increasing violence.

12 Oct 23

[jinghengology]

something i find really interesting about the hcq companion quest is that, because its framed from dan heng’s pov, the player gets to essentially “act out” his inner turmoil concerning his feelings about dan feng’s past. with almost every other character and at most points of dialogue, you have the option to choose whether he has a connection to the fragmented memories that still leaves him torn, or you can choose to feel little at all and gravitate towards moving forward.

the only times the player doesn’t get a choice revolve around jing yuan.

at the beginning of the quest, dh decides to solely seek out jy for information about the stellaron hunters (and refuses to talk to anyone else depending on the dialogue chosen by the player) when he likely could have spoken to fu xuan as well. but what’s even more interesting is the ending, in which dan heng asks him “should i be responsible for dan feng’s actions?” with no other options.

it’s a really vulnerable moment as this is the focal question of the entire quest; it’s not the type of question you could ask to just anyone. this makes it clear that dan heng implicitly trusts jing yuan, is slowly opening up to being able to rely on him, and really values his opinion in this whole ordeal due to how consistently jy has shown that he accepts and desires to protect dan heng’s autonomy AS dan heng, one of the very few people in canon with true knowledge of the sedition who’s done so.

and it’s even more interesting because, at this point, jing yuan has been very clear where he stands on dan heng’s situation; dh knows that jy doesn’t consider him to be the same person as dan feng, and that jy is literally the very reason why he’s no longer legally banished from the luofu. dan heng is also implied to be the only reason jing yuan agreed to jingliu’s request in the first place. so dan heng knows that jing yuan is supportive, so it’s likely that he really just wanted reassurance from someone that the path he chooses (whatever that may be) is the right choice. and jing yuan gives him just that by once again affirming his autonomy as a person and reminding him that his life is his own choice and that he can (and should) do what he wants with it, while even working behind the scenes to help clear his name on the luofu with little regard to his own reputation.

to finally be able to ask something like this after 700 years of holding his past close to his chest and never letting anyone in, never having anyone he COULD let in from not feeling safe enough, must have been such a cathartic experience despite all the conflicting emotions dan heng likely felt after everything.

there’s just so much TRUST between these two it makes me ill and nauseous and ill

[bad-tf-fic-ideas]

(223) It's pre-war Cybertron. Newly admitted lawyer, Ultra Magnus, has been called upon to offer a legal defence to Orion Pax, a wrongly appointed Prime — which Ultra Magnus didn't even know could happen, as there's no precedent. He has been accused of incitement to violence, sedition and, worst of all, stealing the primacy. This last carries the death sentence.

"It's a formality," the primal guards assure him, when Ultra Magnus is assigned the case. At the time, he believes them. "He's definitely guilty. It'll be an easy first case for you. High profile, too."

"I am," says the former Orion Pax serenely, when Ultra Magnus finally gets to meets him after three denied requests. He seems like a gentle sort, despite his heavy new frame. Ultra Magnus believes him when he pauses and says: "At least I'm guilty of sedition, anyway."

"It is the right of a Prime to guide the state — or to seek to redress the wrongs of government, when it errs," growls Megatronus of Kaon, whose enormous spiky shape emerges from the shadows when Ultra Magnus is driving home too late at night. (He does not seem a gentle sort.) And, unfortunately, Ultra Magnus believes him, too, when he says: "Know this: if you fail, it will be war."

[bixbiboom]

Campaign 3, Episode 88: “Seeking Sedition”

[qqueenofhades]

"Project 2025 seeks to place the entire U.S. federal government under direct presidential control"

Hang on, didn't y'all have a literal revolution about this??

Why, yes. Yes, we famously did have a revolution over not wanting to be ruled by an absolute monarch and to set up a system of (however flawed it was and is) representative democracy. And the people peddling this BS call themselves "real Americans." Because you see, as long as the absolute monarch is a twice-impeached, convicted-rapist, serial business fraud, currently-charged-with-91-felonies-including-espionage-and-sedition orange psychopath, or some other true believer white-supremacist christofascist, it's all right.

[butteronpancakes]

A Shared Sin

Most of us know by now the perception of Dan Feng is a constant battle between the sinner, a hero of the High Cloud Quintet and a person with "thoughts and feelings". Overall, the animated short, DHIL companion quest and some leaks supports the notion that Dan Feng was wanted to stop the mounting deaths from the war and break free of the burden of being high elder yet made some seriously questionable decisions in the process, leading to the entire sedition. Like Dan Heng, Dan Feng was an embodiment of human complexities despite being Imbibitor Lunae.

So it kind of irks me when Yingxing is sometimes portrayed as a victim or the somehow lesser of two evils in fanfic/fanart. Yes it's likely he was granted immortality against his consent and was stated to have been reluctant with the plan, but it does not negate the fact that he was an active participant in whatever Dan Feng did. Blade always claimed it was "THEIR sin" and "OUR debts need to be repaid" and wants DH to face karmatic retribution even if he doesn't know exactly what it entails due to fragmented memories and mara.

My point is Yingxing's character should be treated with the same morally ambiguous nuance as Dan Feng. After all, he originally came to the Xianzhou seeking vengeance and was possibly as determined to resurrecting the fallen following Baiheng's sacrifice. Or even if he didn't entirely agree with the plan, he trusted Dan Feng enough to see it through. Whether romantic or platonic these two probably bonded over similar stubborn mindsets and confidence in their abilities.

Blade has a complicated relationship with Yingxing in the same way Dan Heng does with Dang Feng. Both suffered the consequences and have to clean up messes made by their past lives.

[annemarieyeretzian]

orym focusing on druidcrafting a plant grasp for his second blade and occasionally eating a strawberry as he grows them,,, I love him the most

[ludinusdaleth]

"You might have to find someone with a stronger understanding of [Aeorian] technology."

-Critical Role Campaign 3, Episode 88, "Seeking Sedition"

[zvaigzdelasas]

[SCMP is Private Hong Kong Media]

Critics, including the US, crammed more than half a dozen condemnations and recommendations into 45-second speaking slots; 163 countries took the floor, in some cases abandoning formal niceties to squeeze in as many points as possible.

“We condemn the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang and transnational repression to silence individuals abroad,” said US envoy Michèle Taylor, in a breathless intervention that also called for China to repeal “vague national security counter-espionage, counterterrorism and sedition laws, including the national security law in Hong Kong”.

Britain called on Beijing to “cease prosecutions” related to the national security law, “including Jimmy Lai”, founder of the Apple Daily newspaper.[...]

The European Union’s united front on China’s human rights record was breached by Hungary, Beijing’s closest partner within the bloc, which said the review “shouldn’t be used for instrumentalisation of human rights issues”.[...]

By comparison, Germany remained “highly concerned about serious human rights violations, especially Xinjiang and Tibet”.

Austria urged China to “cease destruction of Uygur cultural heritage” and to catalogue what “demolition or damaging of religious sites” or “Uygur, Kazakh or Kyrgyz Unesco-listed cultural items” had already taken place.[...]

India’s envoy took note of “the progress made by China” since its last review and made only soft recommendations, including for Beijing to “continue to play a constructive role in the realisation of aspirations of developing countries”.

Indonesia asked Beijing to “strengthen the protection of freedom of religion or belief for all people”, without elaborating. Mexico and Argentina urged China to be more open with UN inspectors and eliminate “repressive restrictions” on NGOs.[...]

Israel condemned China for its treatment of ethnic Muslims in Xinjiang while the Palestinian envoy, along with other majority Muslim countries in the Middle East, did not.[...]

“We commend China’s commitment to the promotion of humanity’s common values which embrace universal and inalienable human rights,” the Ukrainian envoy said, recommending that Beijing “strengthen democracy” and “expand people’s participation in political affairs”.

Russia praised China’s “impressive progress in the field of social economic development”, which helps it “effectively uphold human rights”.

24 Jan 24

[littlebosslady7]

Thumbnail for Critical Role Campaign 3, Episode 88 "Seeking Sedition"

[blackjackkent]

OK, once again, our first immediate priority is going to find Florrick, which means we're heading back to Wyrm's Rock fortress and staging a prison break. (Ravengard is also imprisoned but I think he's somewhere else and we still have to figure out where.)

While I'm trying not to get too sidetracked from our main objectives until we have Lae'zel back, I will take this opportunity to scour the entire Wyrm's Rock building so we don't have to come back here again later.

And in this case - my exploration immediately paid off. I found a hidden lever leading to a secret path near the door that took us to the audience chamber before, which led out to a back cliff area behind the fortress with a gorgeous view of the surrounding water.

Climbing down the cliff leads to this:

Perfect! \o/ We're coming, Florrick!

Going inside, Hector is able to smash through a stone wall (yay cloud giant strength potion) and get into a storeroom in the prison area proper. After breaking out of the storeroom from the inside... we're immediately confronted by a guard.

The two options are "lie" or "fight"; Hector is not a fan of either one, since he hates lying, but he would hate killing a guard who was literally only doing his job more. So he claims (scrambling for an explanation and trying not to look as panicked as he feels) that they're officially sanctioned prison inspectors, and astonishingly (even to the narrator), the guard bought it. Presumably Gortash has been cracking down and changing things up and no one is interested in accidentally questioning his orders.

So we appear to be free to walk around safely for now (at least, presumably, until we start busting down the door of Florrick's cell).

Also this happened:

The theft in question was A SINGLE WALNUT that I picked up off the floor without permission. I reloaded; Hector doesn't have time for this nonsense.

There's one door labeled "Prison Entrance Door" that I appear to be able to pick open without bothering anyone, and then a bunch of smaller iron doors that I'm not allowed to touch. The iron ones turned out to be what we needed, though, because a little bit of stealthing around the guards later and look who we found in one of the cells!

Victory.

"You might as well lock the cell. It's over."

She sounds so incredibly dejected, a far cry from the direct, decisive woman we saw in Waukeen's Rest and Last Light. Jaheira notices the difference too:

"Florrick? What have they done to you?"

But Florrick just smiles sadly. "I don't speak of myself, High Harper," she answers. "I speak of the city itself. We came too late. It's over."

"I don't understand," Hector says with a concerned frown. "What do you mean?"

"I came seeking allies to our cause," Florrick says flatly. "Watchers spotted me, dragged me to Ulder Ravengard's husk." Her head twitches, as if struck with sudden pain. "Empty as a stare. A tadpole's puppet, nothing more. He spoke in accusations. Apostasy, conspiracy, sedition." Her lip curls in a bitter smile. "I will soon be hanged on the city gallows to a chorus of cheers. You might have unlocked my cell, but there's no escape from this place."

"The Fist can go hang *themselves*," Jaheira snaps. "We're getting you out."

(I continue to love Jaheira a lot.)

"Ravengard's not lost," Hector adds firmly. "I felt him reach out to me."

This is true - Hector doesn't lie unless forced to it, as above - but it is perhaps a slight shading of the truth. Ravengard is pretty far gone. Hector has no idea if they'll be able to find him again. But he is not lost entirely.

Florrick for a moment looks as if she wants to dismiss him out of hand; the despair has taken a deep hold on her. But... she is a woman of considerable strength of character, and Hector can see the information work on her, the way she takes it in, processes it. The lift of her eyebrows, the flash of hope back into her expression.

"You... you felt him?" she asks unsteadily. "Extraordinary. Maybe... what is lost can be found."

Her shoulders square, her back straightens. The effect is contagious; her force of personality is such that Hector can feel his own strength rising in answer to it. "'When the people need a miracle, you cannot wait for the gods to answer.' Ulder's words..." she murmurs thoughtfully. "I'd almost forgotten." Her jaw works and her eyes flick around the cell with rapid thought.

"No more sulking," she says with a sudden sharp nod. "I know what to do." Her eyes fix on Hector's - more confident now, authoritative. "Lead me from my cell. Escort me out of Wyrm's Rock. I'll seek out my connections. When the city's streets shatter, you'll want their blades."

Hector nods respectfully. He has strongly approved of everything he's seen of Counselor Florrick since the moment they pulled her out of the flames in Waukeen's Rest, and this moment of strength growing out of despair is doing nothing to change his opinion. She will be a valuable ally in the fight to come - and even on a more personal level, he wants her to live.

"Follow me," he says.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Musings of recovering Republican Tom Nichols:

I have no patience with people who casually refer to anyone with whom they disagree as “fascists,” but such people are a small and annoying minority. The reality is that the Americans who have taught us all to hate one another instantly at the sight of a license plate or at the first intonation of a regional accent are the vanguard of the new American right, and they have found fame and money in promoting division and even sedition.

These are the people, on our radios and televisions and even in the halls of Congress, who encourage us to fly Gadsden and Confederate flags and to deface our cars with obscene and stupid bumper stickers; they subject us to inane prattle about national divorce as they watch the purchases and ratings and donations roll in. Such people have made it hard for any of us to be patriotic; they pollute the incense of patriotism with the stink of nationalism so that they can issue their shrill call to arms for Americans to oppose Americans.

Their appeals demean every voter, even those of us who resist their propaganda, because all of us who hear them find ourselves drawing lines and taking sides. When I think of Ohio, for example, I no longer think (as I did for most of my life) of a heartland state and the birthplace of presidents. Instead, I wonder how my fellow American citizens there could have sent to Congress such disgraceful poltroons as Jim Jordan and J. D. Vance—men, in my view, whose fidelity to the Constitution takes a back seat to personal ambition, and whose love of country I will, without reservation, call into question. Likewise, when I think of Florida, I envision a natural wonderland turned into a political wasteland by some of the most ridiculous and reprehensible characters in American politics.

I struggle, especially, with the shocking fact that many of my fellow Americans, led by cynical right-wing-media charlatans, are now supporting Russia while Moscow conducts a criminal war. These voters have been taught to fear their own government—and other Americans who disagree with them—more than a foreign regime that seeks the destruction of their nation. I remember the old leftists of the Cold War era: Some of them were very bad indeed, but few of them were this bad, and their half-baked anti-Americanism found little support among the broad mass of the American public. Now, thanks to the new rightists, an even worse and more enduring anti-Americanism has become the foundational belief of millions of American citizens.

I know that such thoughts make me part of the problem. And yes, I will always believe that voting for someone such as Jordan (or, for that matter, Donald Trump) is, on some level, a moral failing. But that has nothing to do with whether Ohio and Florida are part of the America I love, a nation full of good people whose politics are less important than their shared citizenship with me in this republic. I might hate the way most Floridians vote, but I would defend every square inch of the state from anyone who would want to take it from us and subjugate any of its people.

[fannish-karmiya]

I’ve seen huge numbers of people in fandom who are Lan fans present the idea that Wangxian winding up in Cloud Recesses post-canon is their ideal ending: the ideal ending that MXTX intended. Any dissenting opinions about how Wangxian are treated in Cloud Recesses or the Lans’ past crimes is ignored, and how dare we disagree with Wangxian’s decision or MXTX’s master plan for the novel.

One thing that strikes me about this is that it’s very aggressive towards literary criticism. We can have differing opinions on the novel and interpret the ending in our own ways! On top of that, I’m not even criticising MXTX as an author or her plan for the novel or anything like that...I just have a differing interpretation of what the meaning behind the tensions in Cloud Recesses post-canon is.

I don’t think it’s necessarily meant to be a perfect, uncomplicated happy ending. MDZS doesn’t have those. The sects who committed atrocities are still in power, and WWX has only been replaced with a new scapegoat for the sects to vilify. It’s a very realistic ending, and I also think it should be viewed through the lens of it being a novel written in mainland China, where any stories about wide structural changes or revolution run the risk of being accused of sedition, and where real life structural change probably feels like a pipe dream; all you can do is live your life as best you can following your own principles, as Wangxian do, not change society.

I also think that the lack of real acceptance WWX deals with from the Lans, with LQR encouraging the sect to shun him and he and LXC both seeming to only tolerate him because they know LWJ will choose him if push comes to shove, has a purpose. It’s very reminiscent of how many real gay couples who are accepted by their families are only nominally accepted by them. LQR acknowledges the marriage tacitly by allowing WWX to attend the sect banquet as LWJ’s cultivation partner, but also discourages members of the sect from interacting with WWX (the juniors already have been informed that if they speak with him they will be punished, and so speak with him in private where they won’t be seen). On top of that, the banquet also shows us that many of the other members of the sect, and the elders, disapprove of WWX; WWX takes note of their harsh looks and then ignores them, but he still notices that he is not welcome. LXC never interacts with WWX post-canon, and we never hear about them doing so second-hand, either. LWJ is allowed to have his cultivation partner, these gestures say, but he is not a real member of the family and we will seek to mitigate this disaster as much as we possibly can, since he’s left us with no other choice.

I don’t want Wangxian to be unhappy post-canon or to make extra drama for them; I just see that there are issues with how they are treated by the Lans and want to address and explore them!

The fact that WWX is used to being shunned and treated badly by society, and by the family he lives with in particular, does not make it somehow better! So the way he was treated in Yunmeng Jiang was wrong but not Gusu Lan? It’s a clear bias present in large swathes of fandom.

It doesn’t feel like there’s any room in this fandom for having differing opinions or interpretations of the text. Different corners of fandom have different accepted narratives and if you don’t follow them then you’re out. This doesn’t happen in just one corner of fandom, everyone gets in on it. JC fans, LXC and LQR fans, JGY fans, XY fans...they all have really strict ideas you can’t deviate from. It makes the whole fandom feel really unwelcoming, because any discussion seems to inevitably turn nasty, and I’m left not wanting to engage directly with other people’s posts because I know that disagreeing with them will just lead to us arguing in circles and not actually finding middle ground or having a reasonable discussion.

[fire-lizard-ro]

HSR Theories pt. 1

This post is more for me than anything else.

Because I need to write these down so I can keep track of my current theories.

I'm SUPER into HSR theory crafting and lore.

So if you are also into that, then have a peek at this, I suppose. Fair warning- It's going to be a bit all over the place.

I'll be adding stuff later, because I don't have the energy to right now.

Theories under the cut for spoilers. Like- MAJOR spoilers.

Blade, Dan Heng, and Jing Yuan

So these are theories I've had for weeks, now. And I was correct about Blade being immortal and seeking his own end, so that's already a win.

From what I understand, Blade, Dan Heng, Jing Yuan, and Jingliu are four of the five members of the High-Cloud Quintet.

All four of them wear a red ribbon. Likely to symbolize the bond they once shared. Jing Yuan's is in his hair. Dan Heng's is on his spear, Cloud Piercer. Jingliu and Blade's are on the back of their clothes. I wonder if those two share the spot they put their ribbons for a reason...

It's somewhat sad, because just like in Jing Yuan's voiceline "About Self" he and the rest of the High-Cloud Quintet all walk very different paths now. "My past enemies are either dead or captured, and my past friends are scattered to the winds..." Jing Yuan is an Arbiter-General of the Xianzhou Alliance who must uphold his duty, Blade is a Stellaron Hunter who is wanted dead or alive by the IPC, and Dan Heng is running from a past he doesn’t remember as a Nameless of the Astral Express. Jingliu is... well? She's alive, as we've seen in Yanqing's companion mission. But we aren't really sure what she's been doing all this time or how she's alive. Just that she's looking for the man who now calls himself "Blade".

I'm almost certain that the three people that Blade talks about is Jingliu, Dan Heng, and himself. Jing Yuan is not one of the choices since Blade has already said himself that "you are not one of them, Jing Yuan." Since Blade, Jing Yuan, Jingliu, Dan Heng, and one other person are all part of the High-Cloud Quintet... Of five people, three must pay the price. The Quintet is a group of five people who were all connected.... quintet, literally meaning five.... It makes a lil too much sense to me... And since Blade is seeking his own end, it makes it more of a possibility.

Also- About five star Dan Heng/Vidyadhara Dan Heng... We already know he's Imbibitor Lunae. Now about the sedition of Imbibitor Lunae. I'm almost certain that Blade's immortality has something to do with Dan Heng.

I think that's why Dan Heng was banished from the Xianzhou Alliance. Something to do with breaking a law among the Vidyadhara that has to do with the mara struck, perhaps. Because in the 1.2 livestream, they confirmed that Blade has mara in him and that it flares up and Kafka is able to use her ability to keep it at bay.

Remember that one of the quest NPCs we see a lot for Luofu quests said that the Vidyadhara have different rules than them. But Imbibitor Lunae was the High Elder of the Vidyadhara and the Luofu. But laws and whatnot with the mara struck have to have worse consequences...

I also think that Dan Heng had a cycle of rebirth (or whatever the Vidyadhara call it) while imprisoned before being sent away. Based on some of the things he's said in the story AND based on Dan Heng's voice line "About Self: Past". "I come from an alliance, and was born on a gran and beautiful ship that I barely had the chance to see... I can never return."

"barely had the chance to see", huh?

AND in the new version trailer, we hear Jing Yuan ask, probably Dan Heng, "Has coming here triggered your memory?"

We already know that with the Vidyadhara, when they have a cycle of rebirth and return to being an egg to hatch into their new self... They no longer have the memories of the previous cycle.

"The power to turn into dragons was a rare inheritance passed down only to those who could successfully complete numerous rites. A long-lived species, Vidyadhara molt after living for centuries, repairing their bodies then hatching anew from eggs with their memories wiped. They are unable to have offspring."

Only certain Vidyadhara will have the appearance of a dragon with the horns and tail, according to what Dan Heng himself said. And they would have the chance to be the Vidyadhara High Elder, from what I remember.

For the Vidyadhara, each cycle of rebirth might as well be an entirely new life.

While they are the same person at their core, all of the memories that shaped them have been erased.

Like a slate wiped clean.

We already know he no longer has any memory of his past as Imbibitor Lunae. But I think that with Dan Heng once again obtaining his old Vidyadhara form, he'll be getting back his memories. It seemed like it in the leaks and based on what we saw in the version trailer.

That's all I can remember theorizing, but I'm sure I wrote down more elsewhere. So I'll edit this later if I remember more of what I'd thought about.

Edit 15/07/23

You know how I said that I think Dan Heng has something to do with Blade becoming immortal and it's likely also the reason he was banished from the Xianzhou Alliance? Maybe those things have something to do with the fact that the Vidyadhara are known as Long's Scions. As in Long, the Aeon of Permanence. And Dan Heng was the High Elder of the Luofu and the Vidyadhara, meaning he'd passed the trials that the Vidyadhara must pass in order to have the blessings of their kind, includnig the features of a dragon. Maybe that has something to do with Blade becoming immortal? Dan Heng being a one of the strongest beings who were descended from the Aeon of Permanence?