invinciblefish-blog1

[communistkenobi]

thank you so much for the transmisogyny reading post! im definitely gonna be reading into those. in a similar vein, do you have a recommended reading list for decolonization/anti-imperialism?

Do you mean molsno's post? def cannot take credit for that but yes I have a couple!

high-level recommendation is discourse on colonialism by aime cesaire (this link goes to a pdf that is a collection of essays, you can skip to cesaire's essay). probably one of the most formative essays for me personally in terms of how i think about colonialism

decolonization is not a metaphor by Tuck & Yang is a famous article in decolonial scholarship and will likely come up pretty frequently if you're reading academic work. if you read that article, i recommend following it up with Slavery is a Metaphor by Garba & Sorentino - its a Black critical commentary by two marxist scholars i believe on Tuck & Yang's work, working through the anti-Black thinking that is present in the work, particularly the deeply problematic conceptual attention given by Tuck & Yang to slavery when historicising and analyzing settler colonialism in North America. These are both academic articles and they're both jargon-laden so your mileage will vary

I originally included decolonizing transgender 101 by b binaohan on here before realizing that it's already in the linked post above lol. in that post is a link to the full book that i'll repost here (usually you can only find the introduction online) so definitely make use of that. anyway great work, very accessible and insightful, makes direct linkages between white supremacy, settler colonialism, and transmisogyny in a way i found extremely helpful

i read beyond white privilege: geographies of white supremacy and settler colonialism during my master's about four years ago (jesus christ the passage of time!!!) and found it very insightful - the authors talk about white supremacy as a process rather than a historical event, as well as talk about some of the conceptual limitations of the popular focus on white privilege (as opposed to white supremacy) that i found very helpful for me personally. its another academic article

I've been recently introduced to Anibal Quijano's work, particularly the Coloniality of Power. this is an extremely theoretical work that focuses on the construction and universalization of race, the 'invention of Europe,' modernity as a colonial construction, and a bunch of other pretty dense topics. thats not to scare you off, but its probably the most theory heavy article i've linked here

this list skews towards academic work because that's what im most familiar with (all the links i provided are open-access links so you should not need institutional access to read them). For books, you can read Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon or Orientalism by Edward Said, they're both pretty foundational decolonial texts and are also pretty formative for me. Fanon's work is on decolonial struggle and the pathologization of colonized people, Said's work is on the construction of "the East" to justify and reproduce Western hegemony.

Hope this was helpful! I'm by no means an expert and this is only scratching the surface of scholarship on the subject. I'm still in the process of reading, but hopefully this is a good starting point for you!

[kimyoonmiauthor]

Europe without trade, a worldbuilding exercise

This exercise pissed off a bunch of white people for all the wrong reasons, but facts are facts and I can link you to all the major resources. You all should be insulted at the idea that Europe can't trade, that melanin dictates that white people can't get along and find ways to trade. But that's not why they were upset. They were upset at the idea that a single region couldn't provide for people. And that's the wrong thing to get upset about. And I'm telling you that's white supremacy ideology you need to boot. Europe, too, traded and used people from other regions who migrated and were physically there on foot. Stop thinking that your lack of melanin is a force field.

So the exercise goes like this: Shortly after Homo Sapiens interbred with the Neanderthal and migrated to Europe, there was a magical force field put around Europe to cut off Europe from the Middle East, Africa, etc. ^^;; I'm sure people from the Caucuses aren't very pleased with this since they get commandeered into this exercise which racists somehow love. Later people also deemed them inferior (which takes a while to travel through but there is a wikipedia page dedicated to the term Caucasian meaning white [link] that goes over this ranking thing and the racist origins and ties to Nazis). But whatever, Nanowrimo a*holes were determined to argue against trade, fine, let's play this game and cut the whole of the Middle East/West Asia.

The other rule is that the Gulf Stream still exists, so you can have that unusual European climate which is a fluke. (This also ticked off people? But seriously, to get the gradient of Europe that far north, you need to Gulf of Mexico otherwise the latitude range would look more like the US than Europe, more south, and larger, much larger. And most people don't make a continent that large. Why people get ticked off at true facts is a whole thing.)

If you cut off the Gulf of Mexico, which a lot of world building of European-like continents do, you get Siberia. So the Gulf of Mexico has to stay for our Hypothetical Europe. (Not getting into continentality either.)

We're not counting the little bit of Turkey here, BTW. Turkey gets to stay whole. And Russia gets kicked out because it always gets kicked out anyway and besides, people were preaching about stupid things when these racists were posting, like all of Russia is white. And then people were arguing over if Russia counts. Fine. We'll kick Russia out. BTW, Australia was called all white. Haha. Aboriginals don't exist according to them. Like WTF. But whatever.

The question is what civilization can Europe grow with only the resources found naturally in Europe? Can you build a European civilization with only things found naturally occurring in Europe?

The first issue is STAPLE CROP.

Yeah, if you notice, you've cut off all of the major grains to Europe. You've also cut off the Beaker people. Oops.

Some Anthropology here, Beaker people brought agriculture to Europe. They were also from Turkey.

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2018/february/the-beaker-people-a-new-population-for-ancient-britain.html

So, Stone Henge, Long burrows, and all of that are suddenly cut off.

Honestly, this one is terrible to overcome. Most of the BBC docs I watched argued that the ancient people of Britain before Brown people from Turkey brought agriculture and the Cheddar Man, were boiling and eating reeds. Think like cattails type of thing, which is really hard to eat.

Upside, you still have fire in the form of rush lights, though you can't use tallow or beeswax--comes from outside of Europe. And horses are too lean. So, likely the European bison? However, this limits technology quite a bit as advancements can't be made by night and only by camp fire. (Fire is safely pre-modern humans—homonins and some say Homo Erectus, though still debated. But at least Homo Hedelberengensis)

Without a staple crop, you're going to have it tough to make enough surplus to build anything. You need free time and enough food supply to build things like castles.

The closest you might get is maybe peas? The best you get is pea flour, and have you worked with pea flour? It doesn't do anything like the wheat family does. Nutritionally, it's also low carbs, which is great if you're on a low carb diet, but not great for a civilization. Pea flour: 100 kcal, 18 g carbohydrate, 8 g fiber, 0 g fat, and 8 g protein

White rice:

Total Fat 0.4 g

Saturated fat 0.1 g

Cholesterol 0 mg

Sodium 2 mg

Potassium 55 mg

Total Carbohydrate 45 g 15%

Dietary fiber 0.6 g

Sugar 0.1 g

Protein 4.3 g

https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/brown-rice-vs-white-rice

68-82 amounts of energy in rice.

So peas aren't a bad choice, but the problem is that you don't have a binder. You need a binder to make bread, etc. Even this one here: https://www.powerhungry.com/2024/02/06/split-pea-bread-vegan-oil-free-gf/ Uses a binder from India. But the majority of your people aren't eating Bread. The recipes I can find include non-European things like rice or things outside of Europe. This severely hinders your tech advancements. Being able to eat on the job and not have it take forever is really hard. The portability of bread is a plus for technology. And peas can get mushy and if cooked can mold.

There are Lactofermented peas:

https://www.beetsandbones.com/lacto-fermented-green-peas/

But they aren't widely eaten and include things like garlic, which is out. Bay leaves are not from Europe. Garlic is a difficult one since garlic kills so many bacteria, but you can cope with oregano, I suppose, which kills a high amount of bacteria according to a well vetted study since it was published (original study was 1999, but followup studies since then):

Preservation is a huge part of production and an upside of grains.

Also, how are you going to produce alcohol? This makes water safer to drink. You'd have to convert to teas. (Raspberry leaf tea is a thing.) Peas are not high starch enough, as cited to hold together bread. It's not good enough to make alcohol.

But now you're thinking, OK, we got peas as a staple, they just won't make bread out of it.

Peas, a major protein source, you don't need cows, pigs, etc as much. (Though you're still kinda lacking in vitamin B12, but I'll cover that later.) And your people make a new type of pea plant (BTW, legumes is the largest plant family on Earth.)

Might limit you to not be able to carry it around easily and it's hard to rehydrate, but eventually your people get there. (If you're thinking, but lentils, yeah, not Europe. Deal).

Subsequent agriculture

Tanning leather, BTW, you need oak trees with high tannins, but this tech originated from Western Asia (or Southwestern Asia, if you want to call it that)

Oak trees are found on five continents, but it's a bit fuzzy on how they got there. Humans have a habit of picking up seeds and spreading them about. My own great grandfather loved collecting seeds and planting them. You also have Johnny Appleseed.

The processing time to make acorn flour is pretty terrible (You have to boil it a long, long time to remove the tannins, this is why I didn't suggest this as a staple), but at least you have leather.

The major other crops are out:

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate, hazelnuts, walnuts, corn, wheat, rye, barley, strawberries? (This one is questionable.), pears (China), apples (Central Asia), Pomegranates (Iran), and major fruits you can think of. Think of a major fruit. Look it up and you'll find it doesn't come from Europe, though it might be grown there.

Most of the spices and herbs are out (sage, oregano, rosemary, and thyme stay in.) No, you can't have garlic. Most allium comes from outside of Europe. Animals are also out: pigs, goats, sheep, cows, chickens, llamas, alpacas.

It's debatable about horses. One thread people debated back and forth on horses, so I'll lay that out.

This leaves you likely with dogs, which probably came with early modern humans. Yeah, ummm... there's a question here, and maybe I shouldn't touch it, and the answer is likely no, probably not eating them. Not unless people get desperate. The Cambridge History of Food also questions the archaeology from Western Asia, but the archaeology also says the only time humans ate dogs were in desperation and the layer in question came at the heels of a drought? (I took a picture of the page, pretty easy to look up since it has an excellent index.).

This leaves deer. Not a good animal to domesticate, but let's say Reindeer. (Thinking Evenk here).

I'm adding in carob.

So Round up of what we have?

Staple crop: Legume, likely related to peas.

Secondary crops:

You have brassica (mustard family)

Olives

Rosemary

Thyme

Oregano

sage

horseradish, maybe.

Acorns—makes leather

carob

currants

gooseberries

raspberry

blackberry

turnip, possibly beets

parsnip Stinging nettle Dandelion (European and edible from roots which make a substance said to be similar to coffee to the buds.)

Brassica family, mainly Brussel sprouts, but possibly they would invent others.

BTW, carrots originally weren't orange until William of Orange, who gets his name from a plant native to Southern China-ish.

But other berries—cranberry, is from the Americas. And strawberry, while found in Europe, was originally domesticated in the Americas. This one is a question mark. Because it was found on both continents, but was only domesticated in the Americas.

The majority of the foods you find are domesticated in West Asia, Southern China and the Americas (mostly central Americas and Northern South America.) Welcome to the downside of temperate climates.

Pies? Nope. "What about Shepards Pie" Yeah, where are you getting the potatoes? Also the iron works is in question here. (later)

Short list. You're losing your mind, no pizza? Yep. No pizza. (lol Someone got mad when I pointed this out with links). Tomato is New World, Wheat is West Asia, Cows domestication is West Asia and Northern Africa. Horse milk you can't form into cheese without camel rennet. Camels, you guessed it, not Europe.

Possibly new legumes to maximize it. (They grow tall as trees, make peanuts, etc, so it's possible a culture under pressure would make new ones. BTW, peanuts is new world.)

Domesticated animals: Dogs, deer, maybe horses—horses are debated. European rabbits, yes, though don't make for good domestication since they are really difficult to work with which you'll have to look up. Look up a rabbit care video. But at least breed fast. Low amount of fat for candles, though.

You'd also have seafood. Only one type of seaweed is poisonous in the world and that is in England. But it's highly nutritious. (The native seaweed in India is apparently nasty, but edible).

You don't need as much with the pea family anyway.

European Bison are not easily domesticated, BTW, but would give you tallow-ish stuff if they succeeded or an ethnic group decided to be nomadic pastoralists with them.

For sweet taste, carob. Easy to process, and you don't need sugar beets, which is harder to process and were only invented as a source in the late 19th century. Mediterranean. The seeds are edible so just grind it up. Though it's easier to grind the pods. So it's easier to process and use in other recipes.

The other options are out: Honeybee domestication originated in China, there's a form in Northern Africa, but the frame design was late 1800's, so Victorian. Even if you had it, it would be for rich people.

Sugar cane is tropical.

Carob mildly tastes like chocolate. This is your chocolate substitute. No fermentation required. However, it doesn't have the properties of chocolate melting, etc. The fat content is much lower, but the production is much higher.

Dates, BTW, are from 4000 BCE in West Asia, fertile crescent. It's out. https://foodandnutrition.org/from-the-magazine/dates-an-ancient-fruit-rediscovered/

The problem with horses

This part is really difficult to climb through.

The first part is that horses were likely domesticated outside of Europe. Also, the invention of the saddle, etc was also outside of Europe. You need a good staple crop to have enough time to mes around with it. You would also have a smaller population if it stays in Europe.

This part got heated in the original. So the evidence is this:

Horses were domesticated outside of Europe (It's on the border of Europe, so hotly debated)

Horses were killed off in the Americas by Indigneous people before being reintroduced. https://new.nsf.gov/science-matters/horses-part-indigenous-cultures-longer-western

The technology to domesticate the horse further was outside of Europe (saddle, stirrups, etc)

But horses exist in Europe, wouldn't they want to breed them?

But maybe only for food? (recent scandal at the time)

Would they be burden animals? You need burden animals fro agriculture to advance and higher production.

So yeah... without cows, pigs, goats, sheep, large questions arise about this.

Would the population split into eating and noneating? Would it not?

Yeah, limited foodstuff. Limited calories, but your people are making it, but maybe not turning white yet? Well, in Southern Europe. Introduction of grains and farming was said to be the thing that tipped people over.

Agriculture is really difficult to achieve without a staple crop like grains or starchy tubers.

But for the sake of argument, let's say they get there, and manage to never break the force field, no matter what, because racists win or whatever. No food importation in or out, no new ideas.

What now?

Arches, as an idea, came from outside of Europe. Rafts do predate humans (Homo Erectus again), but boats, was likely Phonecian. And metal working and stone working also came from outside of Europe as ideas. Beaker people, love them.

Metal working came from Northern Africa, BTW, but say they figure it out, and we let them slide.

You get stunted in Maths since ideas of math came from Babylonians. Later Migrations of Minoans don't count anymore. Linear A isn't invented, but OK, OK, there was written language invented in the Americas, so it's possible, if they get through agriculture and get up to what? Trade, they might have language. But wait, you (Nanowrimo person) just said trade is evil, so maybe they don't have a written language? In all instances of language being created it was on the back of what? trade. Maths awas also created on the back of mostly trade. Sumerians created their written language on trade. The oldest tablets we have is a trade dispute.

Look up Complaint tablet to Ea-nasir. In another words, written records were for keeping track of ledgers, one of the oldest types of writing on record.

These people think trade is too complicated and evil to exist in Europe. So OK, no written language for you, though seriously, I don't know how that works. Is Northern Europe a different subsistence system than Southern Europe?

You all are fighting for diminishing resources (considering 1500's Europe and a BBC doc about how trees were fought over and laws about not cutting down trees) each other while the rest of the world is trading back and forth on ideas and not getting imperialized. Fine. Let's play that game.

The amount of technology gets cut down severely when you disconnect Europe from the rest of the world. You don't get the iron age without some knowledge about smelting. And you need those "dirty Africans" or whatever racist thing they were thinking in order to get that smelting. You don't get masonry without PoCs (Most masonry, as an idea came from West Asia, and they would literally import those people to work on castles, see the docs on Guédelon Castle from British TV). Whatcha going to do?

Let's move onto clothes...

Flax (for Linen), silk, ramie, hemp (for clothes which is a different cultivar), coir, Abaca, Angora (rabbit)*, Angora (goat), wool (obviously), bamboo, banana fiber, cashmere (the goat), sisal, camel hair (obviously), kapok, mohair, kenaf, yak, Qiviut, vicuña,Hibiscus cannabinus, Lyocell, Modal (AKA Rayon) *, Piña (pineapple), and Soy protein are out. All of them occur outside of Europe or require an industrial society. Byssus AKA sea silk, Chiengora (dog hair), spider silk*, is in.

However, notice how expensive and difficult it is to make clothes of these things. So only rich can access them.

dog* hair often requires wool to be added to make the hairs stick together. And sheep wool, in particular has really good spinnable fibers.

Spider silk also kinda takes higher technology to produce into clothing. Look it up and some might find it cruel to do it that way.

Byssus also known as Sea silk was produced by the Greeks and Romans, but only for the super rich.

This means for poor people: Leather and stinging nettle fabric is what they have left. You can see a video of that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-usU7-WjUU So your people have clothing. They aren't white except for the nomadic people to the north unless you can advance their agriculture and slide the pea family to replace the major nutrition somehow.

And making clothes is torture for the common populace who have to pick stinging nettles for their clothes.

You're thinking, but Angora Rabbits? Yeah, this is possible, though not likely called that since the rabbits originated from Turkey, which is outside of the scenario, but it would be maybe possible your people come up with something similar given human nature as long as they pause the rabbit breeding long enough and have enough surplus to tinker.

So poor people are running around with stinging nettle fabric, rich are wearing most likely sea silk, and you can see the misery compared to growing something like flax.

I doubt anyone can afford to be vegetarian with limited resources. Pescitarian, maybe closer to the shore.

*Dogs were domesticated outside of Europe, but are often attributed to why humans outpaced Neanderthal and date back far enough in time that early humans likely took them to Europe when they first arrived. Cats, however, were domesticated in Africa and are OUT. (Making the majority of writers cry since there seems to be more cat people than dog people among writers).

Conclusion

You're stuck with the Humours, but does Greek civilization even exist without grains? So much collapses when you don't have the subsistence infrastructure. I mean there is a reason people made bread and carry grains and we don't eat peas as a staple.

So you'd have to build everything from scratch starting around ~45,000 BCE or earlier (when Homo sapiens came to Europe by estimates) and you don't even have those really white people then according to science except the Evenk ancestors who show white about 10K years ago? (No, it's not the Caucuses—in what right mind do you think white people developed in the Caucuses when you know about Vitamin D and darker melanin generally around the equator due to skin cancer, etc issues and so on.)

Umm, the lesson here is that Europe was never cut off and people should stop going into that fantasy. Like how did you get apples, plums, honey, etc without trade? And also, people shouldn't be afraid of trade and keep in mind temperate climates (Middle/Northernish Europe) aren't the only biomes in Europe. No matter how much fantasy wants to focus on Western Europe and ignore the Scandis. Seriously, I'm so bored of people assuming everything is like Germany or a less rainy England in fantasy. (And I do mean England, not Scotland or Wales). Can't we get some variety? You have the Mediterranean, but you also have Scandinavia, and you're doing Europe? Where are they? You also had foragers and Nomads in the history of Europe. The Romani from North Western India, for example. And some say that early Celtic groups could have been partial foragers before the coming of Beaker people.

But even in an alt sci-fi, you have to trim all of those accomplishments of PoC and then argue that your people killed all of the PoCs on the way to the planet, and really, that makes no sense. But I suppose then you can murder Bibimbap into tatertot disgusting mess later on. But really?

But even say, you had an organically grown planet that happened to grow a humanoid species, how are you going to grow it without some level of cooperation? And the majority of the food stuff is going to come from those warmer climates: Southern China, West Asia and Central-ish Americas. They don't have a winter to worry about. So it would be imperative for your people to trade.

While you're at it, I'm really squicked by the idea that people put in 16 year old girls to marry much older guys in fantasy and then call it acceptable. You can change at least those rules.

I don't get why people work so hard to cut out LGBTQIA, disability and PoCs from fantasy? Like people should have maimed legs from all the battles written.

BTW, I am amused by the idea that in Star Trek times they didn't have birth control. lol thousands of years and haven't perfected birth control? That one I can't believe. Picard didn't know how to use a condom. lol.

[thewrothode-if]

Just so you know your page is giving racist. Not only are you proud of how little research you have done but you also have decided that no black people existed in the Scandinavia... I understand that Google is hard but putting in academic journals or looking at peer reviewed articles could really help you. Ps I'm not doing the leg work for you. I hate when people need to be spoon fed so they aren't racist. White supremacy is on the rise and many fascists have used "viking culture" as a blanket to hide under. Many well read readers will be majorly turned off by how... let's just say indelicately you are handling this. I'm hoping that you are just young. I saw your wip and enjoyed it but will unfortunately be dropping this due to your followers and your own take on race. I hope you learn from this. Don't let your followers make you complacent, you have been racist. Not allowing diverse skin tone, racist. Not capable of doing any research on the topic knowing damn well that many people of African descent were all over Europe in general. Literally Icelandic and Nordic peoples travelled all the way to North America but pop off with your dog whistles. This was overall extremely disappointing hope you get better or hope you stop writing either would be great 👍

I’m so sad that I have to address this once more but here I go.

“Literally Icelandic and Nordic peoples travelled all the way to North America but pop off with your dog whistles.”

First things first, this tells me that you didn’t quite read through all that I have written on race on my blog because I did talk about that right here.

I’ll add it down here as well:

“It is interesting to note that Vikings found their way to North Africa (more specifically Morocco) at some point because they really were such vast travelers. So it was more so the Vikings coming to Africa rather than the other way around.”

2. “…you also have decided that no black people existed in the Scandinavia..”

No, I did not decide that no black people existed in Scandinavia. Maybe the way I talked about people of color being in Scandinavia made it seem like that, especially here when I said, “so it was more so the Vikings coming to Africa rather than the other way around.” But that doesn’t translate to, “there were absolutely no black people in Scandinavia.”

3. “Not allowing diverse skin tone, racist.”

Not allowing diverse skin tone is not racist, especially for this IF because as I said, you are playing as a Viking in Denmark. You are not a Viking from China or South Africa or Brazil or Italy, but Denmark.

I want to write a story where the main character is a white viking. I don’t see why that is a big problem. As many people have told me, A Tale of Crown has a lack of white skin tone options because the story is based in the Middle East. That is not a problem and what I’m doing here shouldn’t be a problem either.

4. “Ps I'm not doing the leg work for you.”

Then if you won’t do the leg work and I won’t do the leg work, why are we both fighting about something we have no clue over? I think that if you are going to start an argument about this, maybe you should research a little more so you can factually tell me why I’m wrong instead of just saying I’m racist.

5. “… hope you get better or hope you stop writing either would be great.”

I won’t stop writing, but I will probably take a small little break to calm down so I don’t let this affect me too much.

[lilees]

I've screamed about this to anyone who will listen, but every single year, without fail, there is a devastating natural disaster in the South that triggers the most callous commentary from so-called liberal and progressive circles and I am so sick of it. Whole towns in Western North Carolina no longer exist. Roads have dropped off into chasms. People do not have power or fresh water. Aid can only be delivered by air. There is no accurate death toll yet because the whole region is inaccessible. Western North Carolina is devastated and it will never look the same. "Why didn't they evacuate?" People couldn't evacuate because they were given a 12 hour notice of how bad the storm was going to be. Where do you go? You can't go west or south. The storm is blowing through there too. You could go north or east, but only if you can afford it. Did y'all know that hotels jack up their prices when there's a hurricane evacuation? That you have to sit in hours of traffic because everyone else who can is doing the same thing? Evacuating, even preparing, is a luxury that not all can afford. Especially not in Appalachia, which continues to be underserved by both Democrat and Republican governments. "They should have been prepared."

Hurricanes are not supposed to blow into Appalachia. This was not supposed to happen. Why would I prepare for a hurricane when I live six hours inland? I'm used to mudslides and snowstorms. But a hurricane? Climate change has exacerbated the severity and frequency of these storms, so what was once considered a once-in-a-lifetime storm is now the terrifying reality in places where this should not occur. I live in central NC where even with the rare category hurricane that we get, we are also not prepared to handle it the same way the coast is. That isn't a failure on the individual-- it's the failure of a bipartisan government that has refused to accommodate for climate change and the threats it poses to everyone. "They voted for Trump." North Carolina is a swing state. We have a Democrat governor and a Republican supermajority in our Congress. It will be one of the most important states in the 2024 election. Of course, I bet the people saying this didn't know or care about the realities of NC politics; they know it's in the South so of course it's Trump country. And don't get me wrong-- western NC is red on a map with the exception of the Asheville. But BIPOC, LGBT+, poor people, otherwise marginalized people, etc., live in every part of the red South. There are states in the South that are predominantly Black. Our states are gerrymandered. Voter suppression still exists. These are the legacies of white supremacy that we are still trying to work through and improve. You're condemning us to suffer for something we didn't choose. We live here too. And honestly? If you believe someone deserves to drown in a flood because of how they voted, I think you are a bad person. We do not share the same progressive values.

I am so tired of seeing the same thing happen over and over again. Regional elitism still exists in this country and y'all still see the South as a malignant growth that should be cut off, that should be abandoned every time a hurricane or tornado or other disaster devastates us. I will never forget how y'all said Texas deserved to freeze over. I will never forget how y'all said North Carolina deserved to drown.

[sissa-arrows]

(Diff anon) Hi! I read your post about PoC being defensive about colonialism, and I'd like to know your opinion about the subject of your last paragraph

I know someone who is exactly like that, and I have noticed that white people love using them as tokens to justify their racists and anti lgbtq+ opinions, and when they use their "I'm not racist I have PoC friends" excuse, they actually mean PoC who act and think like them

PoC who live in the Global North (myself included) benefits from the imperialism, colonialism and neo colonialism of the countries where we live.

I’m an Algerian woman born and raised in France. France hates me. France spends its time saying that the colonisation of my people was a good thing. My little brothers are the ONLY people in their generation who have a lower life expectancy than their parent (a study made in France shows that the life expectancy grows in France EXCEPT for North African men who happen to be children of 1st gen immigrants parents because of all the racism). I live in a country where I cannot wear the hijab at my job, a country where one of the biggest party was created by people who tortured Algerians for fun and wanted all of us dead. I’m not even going to start on employment discrimination.

Guess what? I’m still privileged because I still benefit from French imperialism and neocolonialism. The reason I have a dentist is because France loots Africa to the point where African doctors come in France because they will have a better salary here. I probably wouldn’t have the job I have if France paid back for all its colonial crimes (but then if France did that I would have the money to leave the country forever also I am NOT a cop nor do I work with them or the military just to get things straight).

The problem is that too many PoC don’t realize that. The second you talk about their privilege they react like white people and take it as a personal attack. Just like white people go “I grew up poor I don’t have privileges” PoC in the west will go “Have you seen all the racism? I don’t have privileges.”

These same PoC especially Africans in France also internalized the racism so much that they convinced themselves that just because they studied in France they can fix their home country. The amount of times I see Africans (from North to South from East to West) saying shit “You don’t realize if we went back to our homeland we would fix everything”. I had a friend (one of the reasons we ain’t friend anymore) who told me that when I was a student and I was like “girl we’re studying Japanese and English what the hell do you think we’re going to do?! Our countries have engineers, doctors, scientists but sure we’re going to fix everything with our French degrees in English and Japanese.”

And these are not even the actual sell out foot soldiers of white supremacy these are often PoC who are on the left and are more of less anti racist. But they have a superiority complexe and internalized racism.

I have so many things to say but people get defensive over it the second you mention it. A woman who survived to the Bosnian Genocide made a comments about all Americans being privileged and she got so much hate especially from PoC and I’m like “BUT YOU FUCKING ARE PRIVILEGED WE LIVE IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST WE BENEFIT FROM IT” anyway I’ll stop here because I’ll get angry and I’ll insult people and anyway.

[dadbodbuck]

Please may I learn abt your smokey the bear haterism?

oh. now you've done it

ok so the background here is i'm an ecologist, with a particular interest in prairie and woodland ecology (i'm midwestern). here's the thing about smokey the bear. HE'S THE ONE CAUSING ALL THE FOREST FIRES.

i know that sounds crazy. but listen. LISTEN. fire is an important part of MANY ecosystems in the US. it was implemented by several indigenous peoples for thousands of years as a landscape maintenance tool and as a hunting method. the landscapes have adapted to it in pretty striking ways - prairie grasses develop longer roots to better survive wildfires, some species of pine have cones that only drop seeds above a certain temperature, REQUIRING FIRE TO REPRODUCE.

fire works well if you're nomadic, or if you have the cultural knowledge to contain it away from permanent settlements, but those things european colonizers were not. so they spent HUNDREDS OF YEARS suppressing fires, slowly encroaching from east to west across the landscape. by the time the national parks service was created, and with it smokey the bear, the US had already developed a culture of fire suppression. smokey was a product of this, and with him came the individualism (only YOU) and the fire suppression (can prevent forest fires) we'd internalized.

but that's not how ecology works!!!!! you can't just decide you don't like something and stop doing it!!!!! every year we go without a forest fire, debris builds up on the forest floor. FUEL builds up on the forest floor. that's why we've had so many catastrophic fires in the US and canada. it's his fault. and also more broadly north american imperialism and white supremacy. but it's more funny to blame smokey the bear

[emmersreads]

My Top 5 Worst Books of 2023

I read 119 books in 2023. Some of the were great, most of them were fine, but some of them were real stinkers. Here are my top five worst books of the year.

This year I didn't read any books that I expected to be bad. Each of these is a book with an interesting premise or perspective but that bungles the execution so badly that I hated the time I spent on it.

You can also read the whole thing on my blog!

Honourable Mention:

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath - Moniquill Blackgoose

You can feel extremely strongly about the themes in your book and still churn out absolute pure dogshit. This entry foreshadows a consistent theme to this year’s worst list but only places as an honourable mention because it’s the only book this year that I dnf’ed. To Shape a Dragon’s Breath takes the intriguing premise in the 18th century colonization of east coast North America but also everyone has dragons and then mangles it with the colonizers being a weird combination of the English and the Vikings. The novel interrogates the idea of ‘civilizing’ the indigenous people but without the underlying motivations of Christian and European supremacy and manifest destiny the messaging is confusing and weak. In addition to a coherent message, To Shape a Dragon’s Breath also lacks multidimensional characters and any plot at all. I dnf’ed at 85% completion when I realized that the book wasn’t going to generate a plot at that late hour.

Fifth Place:

Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma - Claire Dederer

I began Monsters with high hopes. There is a lot of meat on the bone of how to love art by the truly reprehensible. Unfortunately it falls victim to a problem shared by all memoirs: in order to be good, the subject has to be interesting. Claire Dederer’s genuinely pretty good discussion of Woody Allen and Roman Polanski devolves into condescending platitudes about why teens like J.K. Rowling, genuinely reprehensible comments about whether getting an abortion makes a woman a monster, and finally into outsourcing her final conclusion to Pearl Cleage’s Mad at Miles. You might as well just read that one instead. Some of Dederer’s commentary is bad because it is poorly researched (Nabokov, J.K. Rowling), but what really bothered me about this book was the nauseating suggesting that women’s monstrousness is exclusively their behaviour as parents, as if being a parent is the primary imperative, at least for women. But else could be described as ‘bad motherhood’? Suicide? Yes! Having an abortion? Absolutely! Not devoting full attention and effort to your children at every moment of your life? Why, you’re just like Woody Allen. The inclusion of some arguments are heinous and the exclusion of others undermines the value of the discussions that do scan. Where’s Kanye West? Surely there’s more to his career than a few lyrics about how his fans don’t know the read him… surely… Sure, committing suicide is super duper monstrous because you’re basically abandoning your kids (heavy sarcasm implied), but what of women like Nicki Minaj? At least for me, a big lesson of the recognition of Problematic Artists is that we don’t actually need to hear from everyone in the name of fairness. Dederer should learn that too.

Fourth Place:

The Idiot - Elif Bartuman

Spicy Hot Take Alert: The Idiot by Elif Bartuman sucks and I am judging you for liking it. I want to be clear about this: I did put this book on the worst list rather than the blandest specifically because it’s so popular. This book is all the more unbearably pretentious because it has nothing to say. It’s fatally boring and exhaustingly incurious. I’ve seen it described on bookstagram as about ‘the formation of the self’ and I suppose corporate middle managers need a formation of the self too. That doesn’t make it book-worthy. Also what the hell are ya’ll talking about this book being relatable?? When I was eighteen I knew fucking everything. Sorry, but I’m different.

Third Place:

The Cheerleaders - Kara Thomas

The Cheerleaders was the first book I finished in 2023 but the memory is not distant enough. For me this was a failure because it seems to hate its own genre. What is the point of a girl detective mystery where it turns out there was no interesting conspiracy behind the deaths and the protagonist doesn’t even pursue the case exhaustively enough to find this out. Sure, maybe its more realistic to suggest that a girl grieving the too-early death of her older sister might be making things up, but I’m not in this genre for the realism. The Cheerleaders doesn’t feel like it has anything interesting to say about subverting the conspiracy-murder, just that it wanted to have a subversion and then couldn’t figure out how to execute that, resorting instead to a deus ex omniscient narrator. It’s like if instead of Sherlock Holmes solving the case through deduction, Arthur Conan Doyle emerged from behind the curtain and told you to go fuck yourself. Read the full review on my website!

Second Place:

Disorientation - Elaine Hsieh Chou

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang was the darling of 2023 but it is not the first novel about a yellowface-ing author who fools the white literary establishment by selling them exactly the kind of bland and easily digestible Asian stories they are comfortable hearing. But it’s a good thing Yellowface did come out because Disorientation needed more time in the fucking oven. Like Yellowface this book attempts a comedic tone, but it chooses pure cringe comedy goofiness over irony and as a consequence rather than being a humourous reflection of Shit White People Do it’s more Making Up A Guy to Get Mad At. It’s greatest asset is an attempt at a discussion of the intriguing topic of sexual politics. Since white men demonstrably do fetsishize Asian women, is it possible to have an individual relationship that is not based on fetishization? Unfortunately, Disorientation doesn’t actually have anything to say about it and so just wibbles along to a nothing of an ending. It’s a scream of rage to be sure, but not all screams of rage are coherent. This is the second entry on this list that undermines its message because it couldn’t bear to kill a few of its darlings, but not the last!

Worst Book of 2023:

The Bone Witch - Rin Chupeco

We live in an era where ‘wish-fulfillment’ and ‘self-indulgent’ are no longer automatic condemnations, which is all well and good for the people writing them but what of me, the discerning reader? One detects great love and passion in this book but unfortunately that’s no replacement for writing ability. The Bone Witch is haunted above all by the knowledge that the author must have a truly colossal lore bible for this thing. It feels like every chapter the book treats itself of an extended tangent about the political system of one of its half-dozen fantasy nations, none of which are actually important to this book, and damningly, none of which are even well explained. As you might imagine, this leaves precious little time for boring things like plot or characters. The plot is little more than disconnected scenes that the author clearly thought would be cool but didn’t think about how they would link together, meaning that the last quarter acceleration to the climax is occupied by a sitcom b-plot ass arc about helping a friend get into the very special dance recital. The characters are even worse with none of them rising beyond an outlining epithet: angsty protagonist, broody love interest, gay best friend. The attempt at a dark and moody tone is childish and goofy. I found the Geisha theming to be overdone and appropriative, and the use of gay characters to be offensive. The only time the book threatens to have promise is with its beginning, where the protagonist accidentally raises her brother from the dead; however, The Bone Witch is quick to inform us that this changed nothing about him or about their relationship, wouldn’t we rather think about how stylish kimonos are?

[vergess]

Americans really believe that??? That sounds like cartoon villain shit there ain't no way.

I know, right, it sounds so fucking unhinged you'd think it has to be fake!!! But nope!

1 out of every 3 Christians in the USA unironically believes Israel only exists to fulfill an End Times Prophecy.

This is what we mean when we say Americans devalue the lives of Israelis in specific and Jews in general.

We are literally a BLOOD SACRIFICE TO THEIR GOD and they expect us to be GRATEFUL.

And yes!! It does sound cartoonish!

That's why I keep saying there is a clear cut, easy villain in this conflict.

It's the imperialists who literally want to sacrifice the middle east to their death cult to destroy the world.

But even among the majority of US Christians, the other 2/3?

Support for Israel is very strong for one other reason I haven't mad e as clear today as I usually do:

White Supremacy.

See, "exterminate the Jews in hellfire" isn't as popular a talking point post WW2 as it was in say the 1870s.

So what are you to do when you want to cleanse an ethnicity from your society, but it's uncouth to kill them?

Why, you take the filthy mongrels, and you push them over there!

It worked great for the US forced relocations of Indigenous people in north America, and for the forced removal of former slaves to Liberia! (Don't pay any attention to how many people died horrifically of the permanent damage done to global geopolitics and regional ecosystems or the way local political frictions between the forcibly relocated and the already present lead to endless generations of bloodshed. I'm sure none of that will be relevant.).

By having a handy shelf to put Jews on, white supremacists get to send us to one of the most politically unstable places on earth, with much of that instability literally caused by the US directly, and let two problems solve themselves. Jews AND Arabs killing each other, without the white people lifting a finger!

Do you have any idea how many Nazis LOVE the existence if Israel? It's a "proof of concept" that the US can create and sustain an ethnostate even in a very unstable region, AND it's an easy place to send Jews to go die! Wow! A two for one deal!

And let's go ahread and remind everyone while we're here:

ISRAEL DOES NOT ARM ITSELF. ISRAEL'S WEAPONS COME FROM THE US AND EUROPE SPECIFICALLY SO THAT ISRAEL CAN BE USED AS A FORWARD OPERATIONS CENTER IN THE REGION.

Anyway, the US wants a few things:

The destruction of jews

Access to holy lands

Access to oil rich regions

Creating, arming, and sustaining Israel gives them all 3.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Thomas St. Thomas

Published: Mar 6, 2023

What is a “white idea”? What exactly is “whiteness”? Well, as silly as it sounds, Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity (DEI) organizations that help to form policy for governmental and private organizations have often framed certain personal characteristics as being forms of “whiteness” or even “white supremacy.”

[ Originally produced and displayed by the Smithsonian Institute ]

This is what they’re doing and what they think: Whiteness is the cultural framework for white majority societies characterized by expectations that are culturally specific to success for white people. So any non-white people living in a culture dominated by “white ideas” are at an automatic disadvantage. Those who are successful in those societies are internalizing whiteness or white supremacy to win the game of whiteness. Or as Michael Eric Dyson says, “they are internalizing white racism.”

But people who think like this are making the same mistake their gender ideology comrades are making when they tell us that gender is a social construct. What they define as “whiteness” and gender are social constructs, but they’re tied to underlying realities which produce those constructs. They’re not the arbitrary brain child of people who seek to oppress others. You cannot simply wish them away or even force people not to produce and live amongst those constructs.

What people identify as “whiteness” is truly the characteristic of any Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic (WEIRD) society. “Whiteness” is the consequence of being WEIRD. (Joseph Henrich’s book on this psychological evolution details this beyond the primary paper linked above.)

Most people properly grimace at the idea that “whiteness” can be described as punctuality, scientific reasoning, hard work, the focus on the family and other seemingly normal or virtuous characteristics. It obviously has racist overtones. But there is a second group of people who have suspended disbelief and taken it as the proper framework within which to view and act in our world.

Convincing the second group that they are incorrect is not going to happen. Anyone who thinks like that is tied up so deeply in it as a moral compass that convincing them of anything else is like asking them to switch religions, because in a technical sense, it is their religion.

But for the first group, those that grimace when reading ideas like this, I’d like to help you understand the truth and have some foundation for how to dismiss such a silly and racist idea out of hand. Or, at the very least, help you understand that you’re neither crazy nor racist.

So here is the truth:

“White ideas” are neither white nor ideas. They are the consequence of cultural evolution in societies that are literate, monogamous and don’t marry their relatives.

These cultural consequences are not ideas that white people came up with but the symptoms of societies shaped by literacy and marriage patterns unique to the modern West. There are of course ideas that shaped societies to value literacy and shape their marriage patterns, but they are not white ideas. They are ideas born of stories based in North Africa and the Middle East. They are Biblical ideas about personal relationships with God and how families should be structured at the heart of this unusual culture.

Solo Scriptura: A Literary Revolution

If you’re reading this you are literate, which means by comparison to most humans that have ever lived, the following list applies to you.

You’ve got a thicker corpus callosum, which serves as a connection between your left and right brain hemispheres.

You’ve altered a part of your brain (Broca’s area) engaged in speech processing and thinking about the minds of others.

Have improved verbal memory and process speech better.

Use both sides of your brain for facial recognition instead of just the left side, diminishing your ability to recognize faces.

You process very analytically as opposed to holistically. You see parts and focus in on those parts more so than seeing the relationships of those parts in the whole.

(See Stanislas Dehaene (2009), Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read. This work has not only helped us understand how we read, but changed the evidence for how we teach reading.)

Note one specific item listed above: analytical thinking as compared to holistic views.

One aspect of so called “white culture” is an emphasis on scientific, objective, rational, linear and analytical thinking. But analytical thinking is a consequence of literacy and not a construction of whiteness. Non-white people who are literate — guess what — tend to be more analytical. But why are whiteness and analytical thinking conflated?

If you look at a world literacy map, it’s pretty obvious how someone might conflate whiteness with analytical thinking.

[ https://ourworldindata.org/literacy ]

Western nations have more white people and they have higher rates of literacy. Literacy changes the structure of our brains and produces populations that tend to think more analytically.

So a jump is then made to “Analytical thinking is indicative of whiteness and used to discredit other ways of thinking as a form of oppression.” And it’s an easy jump to make because most people on either side of the issue are usually unaware of the links between literacy and ways of thinking. People in favor of the oppression narrative gobble it up without any critical thought as it confirms what they already think, and people on the other side don’t know how to refute it.

But why would Western nations have higher literacy rates? One thing the “whiteness” pamphlet almost got right was the connection to Protestantism. It wasn’t specifically the Protestant work ethic, but its concept of solo scriptura.

When a soon to be excommunicated priest, Martin Luther, nailed his arguments against the church upon its doors in 1517, he likely had no idea the impact his ideas would have on Germany (Prussia) much less the world.

His concept of solo scriptura is the idea that it was on each individual person to read the Bible and form a personal relationship with the Almighty. Because of that, individual Christians were expected to learn to read, and Martin Luther provided them a Biblical translation in German from Latin so they could do so. Not only did this translation fundamentally change the German language, but it started a rise in literacy that would spread along with this version of Protestantism. Reading was no longer characteristic of elites reading Latin texts, but a habit of everyday people reading in their common language.

Joseph Henrich, Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard, along with his research partners, have been able to map the spread of literacy along with Protestantism and its effects on populations throughout the world. (See The WEIRDest People In the World, by Joseph Henrich for fascinating details in this process.)

This process is not unique to only white/Western nations. Vishal Mangalwadi, an Indian intellectual, has done a great job detailing the effect of literacy through Bible translation in India. It not only promotes literacy and changes how people think, but it has helped to preserve native languages by formalizing them into literary languages.

So when “whiteness” is described as having a Protestant work ethic, they got it close but failed to dig deep enough. It’s not necessarily the work ethic that created what is a Western and not “white” culture. It’s the underlying biological and cultural changes that evolved in a society that became increasingly more and more literate.

Objective, rational, scientific and linear thinking is not an idea, but the consequence of populations with high literacy rates.

The literacy revolution was not the first, but the second step in the direction toward “whiteness.” What really started this process towards such a massive cultural change were the changes to marriage and familial expectations Westerners think of as normal, but are globally and historically, incredibly rare.

Breaking up the Clan

Today the global rate of marriages to a first cousin or other close relatives is ten percent. If you live in America, it’s nearly zero and mostly illegal. That’s not normal for humanity. It’s the exception. But why?

[ Table 5.1 from The WEIRDest People In the World, by Joseph Henrich ]

Starting around 305 A.D. Christian churches changed marriage and family norms. The first on record was from Synod of Elvira in Spain, which forced those who married certain relatives to abstain from communion for anywhere between five years to indefinitely.

For the next 1,700 plus years various religious organizations would continue to transform the way people sought out mates and created families by using numerous edicts and laws forbidding polygamy and marriage to close relatives.

On the surface this doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. But if you take some time to learn about why marriage to relatives was the norm for so long, it’s clear how much this change can transform a society.

Before the church started its push to transform the family unit, people mostly lived in kin-based organizations characterized by:

Wives moved in with their husbands and his family, which is patrilineal based.

Kinship units collectively owned land and inherited it within the kin, keeping property collectively owned by the lineage.

Kinship units provided for laws, justice, protection and security within the kin group.

Arranged marriages to cousins and other relatives ensured the maintenance and growth of property and power within the group.

Polygynous marriage was the norm for high status men, which could cause an imbalance of men to women and strife from violent lower class men.

The structure of families and clans in kin based societies change not only who you marry, but have fundamental differences with how Westerners view property, inheritance, and social relations.

Birthing Individualism

But let’s take just one particular aspect of “whiteness” that is consistently at the top of the “whiteness” list and see how it fits into the change in family units: individualism.

In kin based societies, your status is largely based on your position within a familial/clan hierarchy, which can largely be based on who birthed you. If your mother was married to a man of high status, then you hit the lottery. And when it was time for you to marry, your social status would be like a pot of gold when matching you up with a wife. If you were of high enough status, you would have a primary wife with which to create your lineage, and maybe a few secondary wives.

Then comes some pesky preacher. A law that holds not just the common man but royalty as well to different standards demands that you look elsewhere for your mate. No longer do you depend on your parents to fix you up based on politics and your social status. You’ll have to find someone not in your clan. Your marriage will do nothing for your social status within that clan. (This is how you break up not only minor clan power, but royalty.)

Guess what. You’ll have to be more than just your social status to find someone who chooses to marry you. You’ll have to convince others that you are worth a lifetime commitment. People will have to want to marry you and you’ll have to find someone you want to marry.

This is a spark of what created individualism.

Once people had to seek out partners geographically further away from their kin groups, they had to not only focus on their own worthiness, but would also begin the process of breaking away from any familial support. Seeking a wife outside of your clan started to blur the lines between clans and kin. The village it takes to raise a child started to dissolve and people necessarily became more isolated and focused on the nuclear family unit. How humans viewed each other slowly shifted from that person’s relationships and positions in social hierarchies to who they were as an individual.

Individualism is not an idea, but a cultural consequence of the dissolution of kin based organizations as a result of the church’s 1,700 year push to promote monogamy and prevent marriage between relatives.

Likewise, nuclear families are not ideas, but the cultural consequence of the dissolution of kin based organizations.

To be fair, there are numerous other descriptors used as what it means to live in a culture steeped in “whiteness.” But any close examination of those characteristics will mostly link to the cultural consequences of literacy and/or the massive change in familial structures brought on by church impositions on marriage.

A good example is that “Intent counts” under “white justice,” which is a consequence of valuing the character of individual people when assessing their actions apart from the impact of those actions.

What the authors of these charts got right was that there are cultures characterized by individualism, linear thinking, nuclear families, monotheism, etc. And yes it is true that those societies characterized by those descriptors are populated in large part by white people. But what they got wrong is that these cultures were arbitrarily created by white people in power to oppress those without power. Nobody came up with these ideas as a means to structure society. These “ideas” are not even ideas.

Linear thinking, individualism, a focus on the nuclear family and the rest of Western culture are the consequences of cultural evolution in societies that are literate and don’t marry their relatives.

They are neither ideas, nor are they white. Unless we get rid of literacy and destroy our marriage and family structures, they are here to stay.

==

It's a feature, not a bug.

"Whiteness" is the result of thinking answers into existence through your own ignorance - "god did it" - while being too lazy to study evidence-based domains such as anthropology, psychology, history, etc, and being bitterly envious of those who did.

The linguistic chicanery of attributing things like individualism, analytical thinking, and rational objectivity to such a hyperbolic term as "white supremacy" in order to demonize and discredit them is not a secret.

“STOP: When we use the term White supremacy, we are not referring to extreme hate groups or “bad racists.” We use the term to capture the all-encompassing dimensions of White privilege, dominance, and assumed superiority in mainstream society.”

-- Ozlem Sensoy/Robin DiAngelo, "Is Everyone Really Equal?"

Part of the game is naming everything liberal, useful and successful as "white supremacy" so that then they can wave their arms around and say that these countries are infested with white supremacy.

When you redefine "bear" to mean any land-based mammal with four limbs, then of course you're going to see a lot more "bear" sightings and complain that your town is infested with "bears."

Whenever anyone talks about "white supremacy," you're entitled to pause and ask them which definition they're using: the real one or the bullshit academic activist one.

You're also completely entitled to laugh at and ignore accusations of, or the application of, the fraudulent academic ideological definition, while opposing manifestations of the conventional definition.

It's not helpful to black or brown citizens to suggest that they're predisposed to, or should, eschew rationality and objectivity - and is in fact racist. Especially to those who immigrated to get away from the limitations of non-WEIRD societies and participate in the WEIRD ones.

You don't have to agree to tear down secular, liberal society just because they deceptively call it "white supremacy" in order to pretend it's inherently bad.

[skatingbi]

Fighter Pilot AU - All the character's roles in the storyline so far (Pt. 1/3)

Hello everyone! I decided to organize my notes app more by adding everyone's roles to this post. So far, this AU includes Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Sanji, Usopp, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Shanks, Garp, and Mihawk. I hope I can add in Koby somehow bc Luffy/Koby has my heart but as a newbie to the OP canon storyline I'll have to read more of the manga first since I just barely got to the Water 7 arc...

Anyways, heres the masterlist of major traits, roles, flying habits, etc. that I can think of for Luffy, Zoro, and Nami! Enjoy!

Luffy: Luffy is a fucking lunatic while flying...you know the scene at the end of maverick where the enemy 5th gen pull that free flying shit and use gravity/steering alone to evade fucking missles??? yeah, luffy does that shit. bro takes "dont think just do" too literally and is somehow the top of his class bc of it. Shanks definitely taught him that.

Luffy is Zoro's best friend and also close to Sanji, but in this AU, Luffy and Zoro are either childhood friends or just happened to be in the same company together for basic training and have stuck together since then. Maybe in the past, Zoro was Luffy's nav until Nami joined the group, and then Zoro flew solo afterward like he wanted.

He's the youngest of the group for this series as well, at least under 21 but above 18. In modern standards, enlisted soldiers will be 18 or older for this AU, but I also dont think Luffy is old enough to drink. That being said, Luffy doesn't care for smoking or alcohol anyway since he prefers to eat all the snacks he wants lmao

I also believe in adoptive dad Shanks supremacy in this AU. Yes, I know who Luffy's canon dad is. No, I will not be following canon. Canon is simply a suggestion at this point, and this entire AU is self indulgent as hell anyway. Shanks being luffy's father figure means that having to spectate Luffy in the marines is both reassuring and also two seconds away from giving him a panic attack but we'll talk more about that in his own entry later.

Zoro: Zoro joined the marines with Kuina the moment they both grew out of foster care. Even though they were both in separate locations for basic training (Zoro in the east blue and Kuina was probably in the north blue) they constantly kept in contact. Kuina is essentially Zoro's big sister, and he looked up to her a LOT and is the main reason why he even became a pilot.

In the beginning, Zoro joined to be in infantry (or infantry equivilant) and Kuina joined to be a pilot (I can see her being a fighter pilot for sure, but she would also probably do well as a bomber or even a test pilot in the beginning). Kuina would always talk about her achievements and adventures when she was legally allowed to, and Zoro would do the same. After a year, when they were setting up a meeting date to visit each other since Zoro would be stationed in the North Blue with her, he gets the news that she passed away.

During his assignment in the North Blue, which was originally supposed to be 2 years long, he was pulled out a year early. This is when he meets Mihawk. This meeting will most likely be when Zoro decides to change career paths and after months of arguing with admin and the world government he can finally change jobs to be a pilot and finish what Kuina started: Becoming the world's greatest fighter pilot.

Zoro flies like he fights in the manga/anime. Defensive and only offensive when his squad is threatened. This is how he gets a confirmed kill after resuming his assignment in the North Blue under his new job title. Although he's the newest to piloting in the top gun program in this AU, he's extremely gifted, and I also believe zoro is smarter than people make him out to be as well.

Nami: Nami originally became a pilot for the pay (irl in the U.S. pilots make decent pay as far as I know, so im basing it off that knowledge. Piloting can have diverse pay, though). She wanted to send money to her family to help keep them afloat, especially since their home relies on agriculture for income. Although she prefers nav over being a fighter pilot, her skills caught the eyes of a few top gun instructors, and so she used that to be able to get accepted into the program. Her, Usopp, and Robin bond over this, despite Usopp being a talented fighter pilot as well.

Nami is also extremely smart, not only academically but also practically. Her street smarts, as I like to call them, are extremely useful to the friend group, especially when training and doing mock combat exercises. Zoro actually respects this about her and grows to become a close friend of hers as well. In this AU, when Zoro doesnt know how to talk to the men about something, he'll usually go to Nami since not only is she great at reading people but also doesnt sugar coat her thoughts or feelings.

I like to think that Luffy also latches onto her as well, and when she attempts to leave the program, Luffy immediately refuses to let her and gets the rest of the group to encourage her to stay. She's always had a rough time trusting people, but the friends she's made out of her squad members have helped her open up a lot more.

[redgentleengie]

@xceruleanrosesx liked this post for a beach starter (currently accepting)!

Jonathan leaned back in his beach chair, watching the waves roll in. So, this was the West Coast. Growing up in North Carolina, he would always be an East Coast Supremacy man, but here, by himself, it was safe to admit that both Coasts had it going on. Truly, a blessed country this was. 🦅 🇺🇲 🫡

Not that he was by himself. This section of beach was littered with mercenaries doing whatever they wanted. After the bot fiasco had been settled, Mann Co. had rewarded the mercs with a week's vacation time here in sunny California. It wasn't clear yet whether RED and BLU would be reformed; but right now, the only thing that mattered was evening out his farmer's tan.

Looking up, he saw a gentleman who appeared slightly older than himself approaching, and he gave a wave. "Howdy," he called. "Care for a drink?" He tapped the lid of a cooler beside his chair.

[market-spy]

The Blooming Business of Botanical Ingredients: More than Just a Green Trend

Exploring the Lush Landscape of the Global Botanical Ingredients Market

The Growth Spurt:

Picture this: from a humble USD 164.4 billion in 2022, the global botanical ingredients market is gearing up to flex its green muscles at a whopping USD 299.71 billion by 2031. That’s a growth rate of 6.90%, making even the most ambitious house plants jealous. So, what’s fueling this exponential growth? Let’s dive into the fertile soil of reasons.

Health, Wellness, and the Quest for the Perfect Smoothie:

In a world where wellness is the new black, it’s no surprise that the demand for botanical ingredients is skyrocketing. With consumers on a perpetual hunt for the elixir of life (or at least a decent antioxidant), these green wonders are finding their way into functional foods, dietary supplements, skincare potions, herbal medicines, and probably your neighbor’s green smoothie. It turns out, plants are not just for Instagram aesthetics; they’re also great for your insides.

Powder, Liquid, and the Battle of the States:

In this botanical battleground, the powder form reigns supreme. Versatile, easy to handle, and a favorite among cosmetics, food, and pharmaceuticals, powders are basically the royalty of botanical ingredients. Meanwhile, liquid botanicals are the rebels with a cause — quick absorption, versatile applications, and a knack for being the cool kids in the beverage and skincare industry. It’s a tug of war between the powdered monarchy and the liquid revolution.

Spices, Herbs, and a Dash of Cultural Richness:

In the plant kingdom, spices wear the crown, ruling with their strong aroma and medicinal prowess. Used for flavoring, coloring, and preserving food, spices are the rockstars of the botanical world. However, don’t underestimate the herbs, the rising stars of the market. With their health benefits and growing popularity in herbal teas, skincare products, and dietary supplements, herbs are the underdogs giving spices a run for their money.

For More Information: https://www.skyquestt.com/report/botanical-ingredients-market

North America vs. Asia-Pacific — The Battle of the Green Giants:

In this epic showdown, North America holds the crown, thanks to rising awareness and a penchant for plant-based products. However, don’t count out the Asia-Pacific region, with India, Japan, and China leading the charge. Their rich herbal traditions, demand for natural ingredients, and a dash of cultural heritage have catapulted them into the fastest-growing market segment. It seems the East is truly meeting the West in the botanical battleground.

The Forces Shaping the Botanical Battlefield:

Health and Wellness Awareness: The world’s waking up to the importance of health, and botanical ingredients are the superheroes in this narrative. Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immunity-boosting — these are the Avengers of the natural product world.

Demand for Natural and Organic Products: The era of synthetic ingredients is waning. The cool kids on the block want natural and organic, and botanical ingredients are here to deliver. Whether it’s cosmetics, healthcare, or food, the demand for natural products is driving the botanical boom.

The Thorny Issues:

Amidst the green euphoria, there are a few thorns in the botanical garden:

Regulatory and Quality Control Challenges: Navigating the regulatory maze can be trickier than finding a needle in a haystack. Differing standards across nations and regions can leave manufacturers scratching their heads and checking labels like confused botanists.

Supply Chain Complexity and Sourcing Woes: Harvesting, processing, and sourcing botanicals require a delicate touch. Throw in regional limitations, climate change, and environmental concerns, and you’ve got a recipe for supply chain chaos.

The Battle of the Brands:

In this fierce competition, giants like Naturex, Givaudan, and Ransom Naturals are duking it out for supremacy. The secret sauce? Rigorous R&D, global distribution channels, and a dash of sustainability. But it’s not just the big shots; startups are joining the fray, armed with organic certifications and a commitment to sustainability. The fight for the botanical throne is getting intense, and consumers are the ultimate judges.

Recent Developments — Not Just Your Average Cup of Tea:

From Nestlé’s botanical baby foods to Johnson & Johnson’s cosmetic concoctions, it seems everyone wants a piece of the botanical pie. Even Coca-Cola is jumping on the green bandwagon with a new beverage line. Herbalife Nutrition is also in the mix, promising supplements made from botanical goodness. It’s like a botanical renaissance, and we’re all invited.

Key Market Trends — It’s More than a Fad, It’s a Lifestyle:

Functional Plant-Based Ingredients: Move over, synthetic additives; it’s time for plants to shine. Consumers are craving functional ingredients that boost health, and botanicals fit the bill. From functional beverages to dietary supplements, it’s a green revolution.

Organic and Natural Products: The world’s gone au naturel, and the botanical ingredients market is basking in the spotlight. Cosmetics, food, and pharmaceuticals are clamoring for these natural wonders as consumers become more conscious of what they put on and in their bodies.

In Conclusion — Where the Green Road Leads:

As the demand for clean label products rises, botanical ingredients are taking center stage. With consumers shifting to preventive health approaches and an increasing focus on holistic wellness, the botanical ingredients market is set to flourish. It’s not just a trend; it’s a lifestyle, and the global botanical ingredients market is here to stay.

So, next time you sip your herbal tea or apply that anti-aging lotion, remember — you’re not just following a trend; you’re part of the green revolution. Embrace the botanical goodness, and let the plants guide you to a healthier, more vibrant future.

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Top 10 Fine-Dining Restaurants in Mumbai & Navi Mumbai

Here, we have listed the top 10 fine-dining restaurants in Mumbai & Navi Mumbai, which are no lesser than a paradise for a foodie in you. The best part about these restaurants in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai is that they serve pure vegetarian cuisines with amazing food quality. Read on to know where you should go to delight your taste buds.

While we are craving to munch on some deliciously magical dishes, scrolling through the list of “Restaurants Near me” and other searches makes our craving just get BIGGER, BIGGER, and BIGGGGGGEEERRRR!!!

So to save you some time, here are the top 10 fine-dining restaurants in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai where you can go with your friends and family and have the best of your times with a mesmerizing variety of cuisines.

Combo Jumbo, Vashi: When we say, “Food is a Celebration”, Combo Jumbo means it with all their heart, soul, and DELICACIES! This fine-dining veg restaurant in Vashi, sector 28 serves the most exotic spread of cuisines with more than half of their menu available in Jain options. Combo Meal at a Jumbo Deal, that’s what they represent, and that’s why they are loved by the foodies.

Address: Plot No: 17, near HDFC Bank, Juhu Nagar, Sector 28, Vashi, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra 400703

Contact Number: 08850458452

Gmaps: https://goo.gl/maps/Y6Ntc3fgvu8TnjWY8

2. Combo Jumbo, Chembur: Another outlet by Combo Jumbo in Chembur continues to spread the supremacy of good food at a great deal. Combo Jumbo, Chembur is a cozy space for you to go with your family for an intimate family dinner party. Here, you get to share the warmth of love with some deliciously soul-soothing cuisines with your loved ones.

Address: Plot No. 139A, Shop No. 001, Soho Court, opp. Bhakti Bhavan, Sindhi Society, Chembur, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400071

Contact Number: 08976236478

Gmaps: https://goo.gl/maps/7zDn17mnNecMBmi76

3. CJ Corner of Joy: CJ Corner of Joy is another branch by Combo Jumbo in Vashi, sector 14, where they not only serve the best variety of veg and Jain cuisines but also have special options for their Vegan patrons. The most lovable thing about CJ Corner of Joy is its calming ambience with a royal interior, and what to say about their dishes. This fine-dining restaurant in Vashi is indeed a CORNER of JOY!

Address: 08/09, Ground Floor, Plot no: 52, Sector 14, Vashi, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra 400703

Contact Number: 08976499702

Gmaps: https://goo.gl/maps/weAZhws2yAmeMxzS9

4. Maharaja Bhog: Maharaja Bhog is a popular fine dining restaurant in Airoli, that serves authentic Rajasthani cuisine. The restaurant is known for its elegant ambiance and traditional thali-style dining experience. The thali includes a variety of dishes, such as dal baati churma, paneer dishes, and different types of bread. The restaurant also has a great selection of desserts, including Rajasthani classics like malpua and rabdi.

Address: Shop No J 208, Amar Society, Sector 3 Airoli Rd, near Shree Ram School, Sector 3, Airoli, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra 400708

Contact Number: 09820213035

Gmaps:  https://goo.gl/maps/pfu9mhyte3kEnS7W8

5. Rajdhani Thali: Come on! Who doesn’t know about RAJDHANI?! Rajdhani Thali is a popular vegetarian restaurant chain in Mumbai that offers authentic Rajasthani thalis. The restaurant serves a wide variety of vegetarian dishes, including dal baati, churma, and a range of delicious sweets. The thali is served in a traditional way, and the restaurant has a cozy and welcoming ambiance.

Address:  Shop Number 4, Old Nagardas Rd, Opposite Rajat Company, Patel Wadi, Natwar Nagar, Andheri East, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400069

Contact Number:  02228207932

Gmaps: https://goo.gl/maps/HfLmsoQ5JvQBd1SMA

6. Copper Chimney: Copper Chimney is a North Indian fine-dining restaurant in Seawoods, Navi Mumbai. The restaurant is known for its authentic Indian cuisine and its rustic ambiance. The menu at Copper Chimney includes a range of vegetarian dishes such as Paneer Tikka, Tandoori Aloo, and Chole Bhature. The restaurant also offers a variety of Indian bread such as Naan, Roti, and Paratha.

Address: Railway Station, 2nd Floor, Seawoods Grand Central Mall, Seawoods West, Seawoods, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra 400706

Contact Number: 08657896811

Gmaps: https://goo.gl/maps/9t1kNQvS8fLfYRRf7

7. Hotel Vishwanand: If you are in the mood to enjoy authentic Indian cuisine, then Hotel Vishwanand in CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai is your place to be. The restaurant feels like it’s made for you to spend quality time over quality food with your family.

Address: Om Chanakya Shopping Complex, CHS,Ground floor, Plot No -5, -6, Navimumbai, Raintree Marg, Sector 6, CBD Belapur, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400614

Contact Number:  02227570542

Gmaps: https://goo.gl/maps/6yV32dqUhwgUj3rq7

8. Suryoday Pure Veg: They serve happiness, they serve love, and to sum it up, they serve dishes that define happiness and love. Suryoday Pure Veg is one of the best pure veg restaurants in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, where you get to experience the goodness of pure vegetarian dishes in a calming ambience.

Address:  Mita Chs, Shop No 3/4, Sector 20, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra 410210

Contact Number:  09867646929

Gmaps: https://goo.gl/maps/7SPuVwF6ruw81may7

9. Navaratna Vegetarian Restaurant : So, your anniversary or birthday is coming up? Looking for a feel-good and elegant fine dining restaurant nearby Vashi? Cool! We’ve got you covered! Navratna is one of the finest veg fine dining restaurants in Vashi. Here, you can celebrate special moments over a heartfelt dinner party. Everything about this restaurant is just FANTASTIC!

Address: Plot 10, Vashi Railway Station Rd, Sector 17, Vashi, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra 400703

Contact Number:  08291981930

Gmaps: https://goo.gl/maps/nVHKJEANrM1erdv37

10. Hotel Radhakrishna: To experience the magic of pure DESI food, there’s no better place than Hotel Radhakrishna. This restaurant in Ghatkopar West, Mumbai is a pure classic! A perfect place for a family dinner or lunch party.

Address: 3WQ5+V62, Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg, near Sarvodaya Hospital, Gangawadi, Ghatkopar West, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400086

Contact Number: 02225150310

Gmaps: https://goo.gl/maps/oDrZaFKdQZx4U27M6

So, we are sure now you have a full-fledged list of the top 10 fine dining restaurants in Navi Mumbai and Mumbai. We hope that this blog post helped you with what you were looking for. You can Google these restaurants and know more about them. 

[reggiespoon]

I've seen in various biographies so many post-Thermidor quotes from haters about Robespierre's accent. A smattering serves to illustrate the general tone, which is that he retained a strong regional accent that was sneered at by high society:

The high inflection of his voice was disagreeable to the ear; he cried out rather than spoke. His time in the capital had not entirely erased his harsh accent. His pronuncation of certain words revealed the harsh tones of his province, with the result that his speech was deprived of all melody.

.

his rather sharp voice sought for oratorical effects but found only fatigue and monotony;

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a voice that was toneless, monotonous and harsh, with laboured elocution.

And curiously, from Peter McPhee:

There was uproar, and a deputy retorted to Robespierre’s sing-song intonement by shouting ‘we want no psalm-singing here!’

As a Brit, I'm fascinated by the social and cultural nuances of different accents; we have a ludicrous number of accents for a relatively small country, and the metadata on class, race, geography, industry, education, history, attached to every single one is staggering. This is undoubtedly true of every country on earth, so I really wish I could understand from a French person what a strong Artois accent implies about someone. Country bumpkin? Urban poverty? Uneducated? Unfriendly? Too friendly? Intelligent? Naive? Savvy? Underclass? Upper crust? What assumptions would a Parisian automatically make about someone with such an accent?

I'm an English speaker, i therefore imagine Robespierre speaking in English when I read his speeches (in English), and for personal reasons, I'm itching to work out what his accent might be like in a British context. The analogous accents here (from "monotonous, toneless" to "sharp, sing-song") would seem to be Yorkshire and possibly Cheshire or Cumbria. Yorkshire accents are tonally fairly flat, while Cheshire is more rolling and rounded and Cumbria has a sharper, more Geordie-style inflection.

Robespierre with a Middlesbrough accent (or Darlington omfg) is very funny to me, but tbh that may be the closest English comparison? Although I did read several long articles about the Picard and Ch'ti languages and I recall that Robespierre was mocked particularly for his consonants (in some article in Suleau's royalist rag), which is apparently a distinctive feature of Ch'ti? And in that case, the closest British analogue is Scouse, like a proper Brookside Scouse accent, with a lot of <sh> and <χ> sounds.

And if Middlesbrough was funny, Scousepierre is absolutely SENDING ME.

[writingwithcolor]

“Fantasy Names” for Non-English Languages; One Language Per Continent?

@corrupted---minds​ submitted:

In my story there are different continents inspired by sections of our world; fantasy Europe, fantasy East Asia, fantasy Middle East, ect. And each continent, for convenience, speaks one language. Cantonese is fantasy East Asias language, for example.

Now on to naming conventions. While in fantasy Europe people have average european names, about 30% have fantasy names like Illumina or Crystal or Raten Firewalker. I want to try to keep the same naming ratio for the other continents, but I’m not sure if it would be offensive for me, as a white woman, to cut apart a language to make a cool sounding name for my characters that are POC.

If you have any insight, suggestions, or just flat out think it’s a bad idea, please let me know. I dont want to unintentionally offend anyone.

On the Issue of Worldbuilding

The salient point is to avoid using languages from real life outright. Already, I sense that your language and coding categories are too broad. It’s never a good idea to reduce such large regions containing so many ethnicities to a single language group/ setting. Think more granular and use single ethnicities instead. Rina has already written on naming conlangs, including pertinent resource links, that I think would be very helpful information for you. Please read her comments here. 

Furthermore, as a reader, I think it is more realistic and dynamic when the characters have names that mean something in their own languages. Most people already have such names IRL. I think in many Western cultures, some are simply too removed from the original root languages to know the word origins of their names. My pen-name here on WWC happens to mean “Jasmine” both in Sanskrit and Japanese, but Marika is a lot more culturally relevant than “Jasmine” as it expresses my bicultural identity much more effectively. Thus, I am curious as to why you wish to stick to this arbitrary 30% rule. Not only does it strike me as rather boring, but it also generates a lot of dissonance for me as a reader in conventional fantasy when a person “randomly” has a conventional fantasy name with no context given. 

If people are given atypical naming schemes, I’d much rather there be a sensible reason for this choice. It both provides context and lays the groundwork for world-building information that the reader can draw on unconsciously at a later time. For example, as I continue my role as this blog’s Tamora Pierce evangelist, the author has two such examples of atypical naming in her universes. In the Tortall series, the Shang warriors are given titles that reflect their prowess, with more legendary animals indicating higher levels of mastery. Thus, the reader automatically knows that Liam Ironarm, the Dragon, and Kylaia al Jmaa, the Unicorn, supersede Ida Bell, the Wildcat, and Hakuin Seastone, the Horse, in terms of skill. In the Emelan Universe, dedicates of the Living Earth religion choose names associated with plants, animals and natural phenomena ( e.g. Rosethorn, Frostpine, Moonstream) and lack last names. Academic mages, on the other hand, have last names that demonstrate what kind of magic they are proficient in (Goldeye, Ladyhammer, Glassfire), allowing us to immediately discern who is a dedicate in the Living Earth faith, who is an academic mage, and who is neither (whether they be from a different background or are still in training).  

Lastly, as a caution, we would like to warn many of our readers that words commonly associated with imagery used in Norse mythology are now often dog-whistles or outright references to white supremacy groups/ movements (Thanks Neo-Nazis!). Thus, particularly for white/ Western-coded characters, please check any name meanings against the following databases created by Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League (viewable here and here).

- Marika.

On Colonial Implications

I would like to emphasize how flattening it is to summarize any large region down to a single language: British Columbia and some of Washington State have 7 mutually unintelligible language families within a few hundred square miles. That’s an incredibly saturated amount of linguistic diversity in a very, very small region. And it’s not the only linguistic hotspot in the world.

Europeans often have an artificial sense of how many languages are natural in a region, because Europe is one of the least linguistically diverse regions in the world at about nine language families, with 94% belonging to a single language family. Meanwhile, China alone has at least nine families, and India has at least six. In North America, you have dozens if not hundreds of language families across the continent.

Note that these are language families, not languages. Each language family can have anywhere from 2 to 50+ languages within it. The aforementioned language family with 94% of Europe is Indo-European, which covers everything from French (the Romance branch) to Punjabi (the Indo-Iranian branch) to Russian (the Balto-Slavic branch).

Convenience should not come at the expense of linguistic diversity. Language destruction is one of the targets of colonialism, and doing such a flattening would leave an extremely sour taste in my mouth at the implied history of this world. Many, many Indigenous languages are extinct because colonial languages were forced upon the populations of the Americas (English, Spanish, Portugese, French), and this isn’t counting non-European colonialism. 

Widespread single languages across huge landmasses often come with an extremely bloody history (unless it was purposely crafted for ease of communication among groups, such as Plains Sign Language), and for your marginalized readers it will be unignorable. You don’t have to create a continent’s worth of languages, but you do have to acknowledge the diversity is there.

As Marika said, focus on individual ethnicities instead of such broad land masses. Doing your current track would pull anyone with even an ounce of linguistics education, or anyone who has had their access to language suffer because of colonialism, right out of the story.

~ Mod Lesya

I agree with Mod Lesya, especially when it comes to their point of language destruction being one of the targets of colonialism. East Asia already has a history of this, with languages being banned and punishments for speaking them, and even now in mainland China Mandarin is being pushed as the only dialect to speak vs. Cantonese, Hokkien, Sichuanese, etc. A suggestion I have is to perhaps have one common language for diplomacy/trade purposes that is used alongside other languages and dialects in certain regions. 

--mod Jess

[leogichidaa]

I think you mentioned that Regulus would have to re-shape his view on general supremacy, so here’s a thought: I headcanon purebloods in the Middle East and the Mediterranean, are, while often bigoted, not supremacists. They very much oppose Voldemort and see him for what he is. The way they categorize their supremacy is they call themselves “Old Blood.” Many of the families have been around for millennia, and they learned they had to adapt their views to flow with the times (1)

(2) Or disappear. Calling themselves “Old Blood” and have a “responsibility” to guide the most talented muggleborns into society (benevolent bigotry at its peak really). Most families do elevate half bloods to be equals, as a half blood could be from a prestigious family. On top of that, some of the families recognize they come from half bloods themselves. Their religion is more they honor their ancestors.

(3). The ancestors btw I hc to be the the famous gods and goddesses of the ancient world. Since the Greeks in particular have the titans, they feel their ancestors were half bloods and should be honored regardless. Some of them came from a half blood and a part titan (Ie: apollo and Artemis. Artemis was a virgin so it’s apollo that has descendants). I figured these guys would be arrogant enough to call themselves gods and goddesses lmao

(4) so while regulus would be considered a baby in the Middle East and the Mediterranean, I can see he could be considered an “Old Blood” in the North in Britain.

Gahh, I love this. In the years of my youth, one of my hyperfixations was mythology (largely Greek and Norse). I love the idea of the origins of magic being demigods! Tagging @green-and-grey-kenaz because they talked about Regulus looking for the origins of magic in ancient civilizations.

I think it’s also really interesting to think about the way that different magical cultures view muggles and muggle-borns. Like how muggle-magical marriages are illegal in the states. The US goes a little harder with the Statute of Secrecy than most (or at least more than the UK). But from the portrayal in the FB movies, it seems like there is less oppression in the US of humanoid beings, like goblins and elves. 

Fascinating stuff, thank you for sharing!