#the lasting effects of history

[itistimetodisappear]

SPOILERS for outer wilds. Don't read unless you've played it.

Outer Wilds is really a memento Mori like no other. Many narratives describe death, show grief, sometimes in beautiful ways. And you may feel it empathetically, you may ever cry. But there's still a barrier between you and it. It is not actually happening to you. Outer wilds induces the 8 stages of grief in you, completely naturally. You don't even realise that's what's happening.

Of course the game understands what's happening, and it respect you so much. It's not tragic or morbid. In fact it never frames what's happening as 'sad' per say. It's just happening. It's so gentle with the subject matter and you don't understand why until the end. Outer wilds put a lot of the chaos of real life grief into perspective in such a kind way. Invaluable for my personal development honestly.

[kinokoshoujoart]

the coolest kids in forgotten valley!!☆

(…it seems there may have been a stretch of time where rock and lumina were the only kids in forgotten valley…🥲)

poseref

[sprinklersart]

they should show up to kazansky family events together occasionally over the years and do fun family things like share an air mattress in the living room with ices 19 year old cousin and take a 4 hour trip to the grocery store just for milk and chainsmoke behind the shed with ice’s sister. they deserve it ❤️

[asherisawkward]

I feel as though the crew needed to read on dictatorship and colonialism so they can better portray them in the show I feels as thought it a tell don’t show type of phenomena, the isles became a utopia when Belos is gone and no one was upset their ruler was missing, the rebels didn’t provide evidence that Belos was planning a Genocide, and Philip was able to one-handily conquer the isles with the guise of wild magic being dangerous because why?

A lot of different stories have trouble portraying the power struggle and difficulties that arise as a result of a strong government with tight control of the people being removed.

In Avatar the Last Airbender, they did an incredible job of portraying the loss of culture and distinct boundaries due to the colonial behavior of the Fire Nation and even the way it affected the livelihood of towns and cities under it. They didn’t have time to also depict the way that the political structure would shift to prevent such a tragedy from happening again. This has led to a feature generally referred to as “The Good Successor” or something similar. The basic premise is that there is a descendent of the big bad who assisted the heroes and will take over after the fall of the aforementioned villain, allowing for a more satisfying resolution with less worries about the future while it’s implied that changes will happen after. In the example I used, Zuko would be this character.

The Owl House….did not do this. They don’t talk about the various ways that cultural traditions and history were erased by Philip’s actions and control of the government. From what we saw of Elsewhere and Elsewhen, he didn’t need to change much, anyway. The Isles already conform to the European and Colonial behaviors imposed by most wide-spread colonial empires, so there doesn’t appear to be a great loss of information history or culture, although there were mentions on the restriction of knowledge. They don’t mention any of the ways that the dissolution of the Covens affected the Isles or even what they did to counter that. It feels unrealistic and, quite frankly, lazy. Bad things don’t just go away because the person with the most power does; actual changes need to be made.

[fictionadventurer]

In looking back to the last century, it appears curious to see how little our ancestors had the power of putting two things together, and perceiving either the discord or harmony thus produced. Is it because we are farther off from those times, and have, consequently, a greater range of vision? Will our descendants have a wonder about us, such as we have about the inconsistency of our forefathers, or a surprise at our blindness that we do not perceive that, holding such and such opinions, our course of action must be so and so, or that the logical consequence of particular opinions must be convictions which at present we hold in abhorrence? It seems puzzling to look back on men such as our vicar, who almost held the doctrine that the King could do no wrong, yet were ever ready to talk of the glorious Revolution, and to abuse the Stuarts for having entertained the same doctrine, and tried to put it in practice. But such discrepancies ran through good men's lives in those days. It is well for us that we live at the present time, when everybody is logical and consistent.

-Sylvia's Lovers by Elizabeth Gaskell (1863)

[deus-ex-mona]

i miss her…

[oifaaa]

in united states public school we learn about the american revolution and the first three presidents (minus the fact that they had slaves and abused their families bc how dare we portray them as anything but heroes on a pedastal) every year from when we're 8 to when we're 14, we have one year for generalized world history and if you're lucky one year to learn about a very white-centric view of pre-1700's north america and prehistory

Doesn't that get a bit boring? Now I'm thinking about it tho I think I'd say 95% of my history classes would have been modern history basically anything from the industrial revolution onwards like the world wars, the Russian revolution followed by the cold war including modules on the Vietnam war and Korean war, and then obviously American civil rights movement, the Irish famine, Irish war of independence, irish civil war and finally a lot about the troubles - in fact I think the only two times I can remember learning about anything older is in primary we learnt about ancient Egypt and in first year of secondary we learnt about the native Americans

[doedipus]

a large amount of time I've been spending on -untitled undefined scope original fiction project- since the last time I posted about it has been trying to develop the protagonist concept I came up with last summer or whatever into like, a character that would feel real and era appropriate.

it's fun research to do. naturally a lot of the details I assigned to her are things that I already think are cool, so it's been a lot of fun trying to trace her traits back through the relatively recent past, getting reminded of how much things have changed, or where the gaps in my intuition are, and then doing a flurry of reading to get a sense for exactly how someone like her and the people around her could have happened and what her life was probably like leading up to her present day. hopefully this results in some good good verisimilitude.

[smonk-wonk]

how are you a holocaust survivor if you're POC?

I'm not a Holocaust survivor I'm 25?

I'm gonna guess you mean descended from Holocaust survivors & victims. In which case it's really sad that you think this way firstly? POC and non Jewish people did in fact die during the holocaust and many were targeted for not fitting the Nazis' idea of the "superior Aryan race".

From The Holocaust Encyclopedia: "When Adolf Hitler and the Nazis came to power in 1933, there were several thousand Black people living in Germany. The Nazi regime discriminated against them because the Nazis viewed Black people as racially inferior. During the Nazi era (1933–1945), the Nazis used racial laws and policies to restrict the economic and social opportunities of Black people in Germany. They also harassed, imprisoned, sterilized, and murdered an unknown number of Black people."

Also contrary to what some believe, and this may sound farfetched and I hope you're sitting down but bear with me- some people are actually more than one race. Some people are POC and white. We call this being biracial. Or in grade school, being an "Oreo". A mutt if they really want to dehumanize you

But while my relatives weren't targeted for their skin color as they were white, many people were. Black Germans and other POC did exist, were murdered and traumatized, and have passed down that generational trauma. Just as other persecuted populations even if it was much less it was no less a part of the genocide and ethnic cleansing.

[teecupangel]

In a realm where the ethereal and mortal intertwined, there existed a sad ghost. Once a renowned writer in her mortal life, she now roamed the spectral plane with a heavy heart. Bound by her ghostly form, she found herself unable to wield a pen or ink, unable to pour her thoughts onto the pages as she once did.

Night after night, she would wander through moonlit corridors, her translucent form aglow with an ethereal shimmer. Her sighs echoed through the empty halls, a lament for the stories left untold. Her tears, shimmering like stardust, spoke of the creative fire that burned within her, trapped and unfulfilled.

It was during one of these solitary wanderings that the ghost encountered a mischievous yet compassionate ferret. Intrigued by the ghost's sorrowful cries, the ferret approached with gentle curiosity and empathetic eyes.

"Why do you weep, dear ghost?" He asked, his voice laced with concern.

The ghost, surprised by his presence, shared her anguish over the inability to write and express herself. Her words spilled forth, carrying the weight of a lifetime of stories left untold. The ferret listened intently, his heart stirred by her longing.

With a determined glint in his eyes, the ferret proposed a solution. "Let me be your voice, dear writer. Together, we shall craft a letter that carries the essence of your thoughts and emotions."

Intrigued and cautiously hopeful, she agreed, placing her trust in the ferret's paws. They found a quiet corner amidst the moonlit halls, where he transcribed her words onto parchment. The ghost whispered her tales, her hopes, and her dreams, while the ferret meticulously captured them with graceful strokes of the quill.

As the ink dried on the parchment, a letter of ethereal beauty and heartfelt emotion took shape. It was a vessel for the ghost's thoughts and a plea to be heard beyond the spectral realm.

Now came the challenge of finding a messenger who could carry the letter to a distant land, far beyond the boundaries of their realm. Fortunately, the ferret had a friend pegasus who has wings strong enough to cross realms and distant lands.

With a flourish the pegasus took off once more to deliver the letter. Meanwhile in the letter, the words written says: "I replayed this game called Death Palette and realized how dark and sad the story actually is so maybe a Desmond being in a painting after the solar flare and tempts templars to keep him and kills them off?"

It should have been nighttime when the pegasus reached the atelier yet the atelier and the surrounding forest were as bright as midsummer day.

When the pegasus landed on the well-worn road leading to the atelier, the heat that welcomed her felt more similar to a summer day that was precariously bordering over an impending heatwave.

The pegasus stomped the ground beneath her, not wishing to come any closer to the atelier where the heat seemed to be coming from and neighed loudly.

Thankfully, the alchemist was in and they opened the door, making the pegasus blink when they saw the alchemist’s attire.

Gone was the alchemist robes and they seemed to be wearing the lightest sleeping dress they had that was definitely not something one would wish to wear in public. Sunglasses covered their dark-colored eyes and a summer hat donned their head. Rain boots covered their feet and they made squishing sounds as they walked out of the atelier.

Wet.

The rain boots were wet. And it seemed also from the inside…

“Hey. So, uuuhhh… I’m just about done with my final solar bomb…” The alchemist said in lieu of a greeting and the pegasus heard them mumbled under their breath, “For now…”

“But it’s, well, it’s open right now and all the solar thingabob is spilling out so it would be better if you fly away from this place and rest somewhere else until I’m done.” The alchemist continued, “It should be done by morning so you can come back by then.”

“I understand.” The pegasus nodded. While she might not understand what this solar bomb was meant to do, she had an inkling that it was the one she had seen before on the table with its swirling flames colored like the sun. The pegasus flapped her wing open to show her bag as she asked, “Will it be alright if you were to take the letter now or should I come back with it later?”

“Oh, it’s fine. The heat and light won’t harm it.” The alchemist slowly opened the bag with their mitten covered hands and fished out the letter from her ferret friend as they continued to explain, “Plus, I’m gonna drop this on the cauldron as soon as I get back in the atelier anyway. The cauldron would keep it safe.”

“That’s good.” The pegasus let out a sigh of relief before bowing slightly at the alchemist as she said, “Then I shall return tomorrow morning. Good luck with the… solar bomb…”

“Thanks!” The alchemist cheerfully said and waved as the pegasus took flight once more.

The pegasus was sure she heard the alchemist shout, “The lake east of the forest has moon flowers that taste pretty good!”

… what… what did the alchemist think she eats???

==============================

For those curious, Death Palette is a mobile game so you can check it out using your phone’s in game app store.

Okay, my idea dwells more into the mystery than an actual ‘painting kills you’ kind of scenario so we’re playing fast and loose with Death Palette’s lore.

Abstergo checked the energy spiked that appeared on Turin, New York, and they got Desmond’s body.

From there, they used the body to make Sample 17 and start Abstergo Entertainment.

Then they released Ratonhnhaké:ton’s ‘game’ and players start posting something weird that they encounter while playing the game.

On some rare occasions, if you stay in the homestead for about two hours or so (real time), the game will glitch and load you into a darker more decrypt version of the manor.

Everything looks ready to fall apart and the floor board creaks whenever you move but if you keep moving and go to the master bedroom, there will be a painting there.

Pristine against the ruins around it, encased in a frame with wooden carvings of eagles all around it…

It was a painting of a man, wearing nothing but a cloth around him that made it look like a toga of some kind.

Drawn in a style eerily similar to Leonardo da Vinci yet seemed more… real…

The man is only drawn up to his waist and he looks straight into the player as he holds the world in his hands. His right hand up to his shoulder blackened and golden cracks glowed ever so slightly.

The frame itself held the title of the painting.

“Des Mondes”

The Worlds.

The posts grew traction for the face of the man in the painting looked to similar to previous main characters of Abstergo’s World’s Greatest Hitman series, Ezio Auditore and Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad.

And so…

People starting to look for it.

It was only by luck that a fan found the ruins of Davenport manor and lo and behold, the painting was there, at the very same place as the glitch had shown it.

People clambered to find out more.

Was this an elaborate promotional stunt by Abstergo?

Or did they just uncover a lost Da Vinci painting?

The painting is studied with care and they found out the following.

The painting was made on Aleppo oak wood which was common in Syria and it seemed that the painting itself had materials that were both from 12th century and 15th century.

The common consensus was that the original painting was done in 12th century, and it was painted once more in 15th century. From what they could find out, both paintings were similar, as if the painting of the 15th century had traced most of the 12th century painting and many aspect of the 12th century painting was preserved.

The world was purely done in the 12th century painting and it was clear that the landmasses included in the globe mirrored what the landmasses during the 12th century would look like.

And the man’s eyes… freckled with gold dust over a kaleidoscope of gold, honey brown and white… they had been noted as being painted in 12th century as well.

The toga seemed to be a 15th century addition as well as the crown of thorns around the man’s head.

But the frame itself…

It was definitely made around 17th to 18th century, from wood that used to be common in New York.

Specifically… Turin, New York.

The carvings of eagles were very similar to the eagle carvings of Native Americans.

Many fans speculate that the main character Connor Kenway must have carved it.

And the painting itself…

Must have been painted by both Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Ezio Auditore.

Strange how the man looked so similar to the man in the wanted posters that appeared all over the world in December 2012, huh?

And, obviously, Abstergo tries to get the painting for themselves.

There’s public outcry, of course.

Such a painting deserves to be in a museum!

But then…

Things got messy when the various government officials started stirring the pot.

Since the painting was mostly done by Ezio Auditore, that meant it was an Italian painting.

But then again, Ezio Auditore painted over Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad’s painting which many believe was bad form and that the painting should be attributed to the Syrian Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad instead.

Then there was the frame and the fact that the painting was found in Davenport manor where it’s last known owner is Connor Kenway (many shouts that he should be called by his real name: Ratonhnhaké:ton) which meant that the painting was property of the US. (… or is it???)

In the end, Abstergo swoops in and the painting is taken to Abstergo Entertainment as a ‘sign’ of their contribution to showing the true history of the world.

Secretly, Abstegro scientists check the painting for any Isu related materials and… find none.

No.

Perhaps the word none would be misleading.

The golden dust in the eyes and around the world and the borders of the painting…

Kept giving strange readings.

Yet, anyone who looks into it just keeps saying the same thing.

“It’s nothing special.”

The painting stays in Abstergo Entertainment.

And more and more Abstergo personnel, especially those high up the ladder, starts visiting.

Just to look.

And look.

And look…

And that was when…

The deaths began.

Different causes of deaths, different places…

But all have one thing in common.

They used to visit Abstergo Entertainment…

[einstetic]

i'm not tired, i'm exhausted

[hua-fei-hua]

kind of interesting how even when i'm not actively writing fanfiction, chances are i'm still writing. in fact, i'm probably writing at an even faster pace than how i usually write fic; it just happens that said writing is either in my diary or some silly essay for my site

[walterdecourceys]

if you ever think to yourself "i'll just make a side character that happens to overlap with some of my favorite periods of history surely nothing will come of this" that's the devil talking

[snekdood]

im not gonna act like its as severe as hindutvas make it out to be but if you deny hinduphobia exists you're just a dumbass i think

[hellworldprincess]

wow theres only 6 lines left i havent scripted. okay #cool

[moontrinemars]

after the mass retrograde event that aligned with multiple intense malefic conjunctions in my chart and seeing that reflected in my real life it really is so funny hearing people say like, "you THINK astrology is real because when you think something is going to happen, you end up making it happen!! self-fulfilling prophecy!!" like... that may make sense in some cases but my cat died? my grandma is in the hospital? my tire blew out? an owl got stuck in my chimney? like you're allowed to think astrology is silly, but don't make stupid arguments, the idea that we control every facet of our own circumstances is new age cult bullshit in itself #TheSecret