#where was the killing people for political gains bit

[caesarflickermans]

Now I need to know. Who is the actual villain dictator that you like.

Why did you like them? Thank you

Pagan Min from Far Cry 4, though there is some dictator namesake according to google that i've never looked into.

his story--and the far cry 4 story--is pretty great and mayhaps also left a unique impression on me as it was my first bigger shooter game.

story is about an american guy, ajay, who comes to kyrat to bury his mother there. mum and dad are from there and his mum essentially left with ajay to the united states. we start looking at the urn and the letter, and then the bus he's in gets stopped/shot and dictator pagan min appears, gets mad at some of his soldiers on what the difference between stopping and shooting the bus is (the soldier shot the bus) and kills him with a pen. ajay has to sit down for tea time with pagan, runs away, and is swept up in the conflict between pagan and the golden path, a rebellion that his dad once led. he starts to work for them because he glorifies his dad and somewhat forgets about his mum, and the instructions on bringing her to lakshmana--whatever that is, we and ajay are left in the dark about that.

but! the golden path is actually pretty bad. we start doing war criming to reach pagan min, once more, and finally kill him. when we get to face pagan, in the very end of the game, he tells us about lakshmana, the daughter of ajay's mum and pagan (!!), and that he loved her and had actually invited ajay to tea so he can hand the kingdom over to him (!!) as he had grown bored of being a dictator. meaning, we did all those hours of killing and fighting and blasting our way through when we could have simply sat down for tea with him, found lakshmana, and gotten a new head of state all by waiting.

that's the story, and it's so thought-provoking in good vs. evil lines blurring together. the options we get by not waiting, by playing the game, are ultimately worse than by discovering the secret ending (i.e. we wait in the tea room for pagan to return and get the kingdom handed over within 15 minutes of gameplay.

pagan is designed to be full of dichotomies. he's funny and got some of the best lines but he is so vain that he has a whole golden statue built of himself. he cares deeply about ajay and calls him several times throughout the game but he is okay with people dying for his fight with the golden path or because they angered him. even the pen he uses to stab someone with is a gift from ajay's mum; meaning he stabs a soldier with a gift of love.

villains in the far cry series are always incredibly well written and the main focus of the game. no other character gets that much attention. but pagan min has held up to me more than the other villains have, and i think it en large is because of the likability that he tries to create and the relation to the protagonist he has, while we try to balance the question of what is good and bad. pagan min is a bad person, but he genuinely cares for ajay and he used to genuinely care for lakshmana and ajay's mum, ishwari. the 2022 DLC we got even explores this further, where pagan feels the split between good and evil in him and he realises his own guilt in why ishwari left to the united states.

the reason why i enjoy this character so much and why i talked about him in the previous ask is that no matter what pagan does, the moments of evil aren't far away. this isn't a sweet summer's child who has had bad things happen to him nor is he progressing from nice to evil. instead, the good and bad are never far from each other--just like the seemingly meaningless pen he stabs a soldier with.

[writingwithcolor]

Avoiding the white savior of the kingdom

@ceo-of-angst asked:

Okay so I'm writing a fantasy series. There's two main kingdoms though there is a third but that one doesn't have to do anything with this ask. Both of them are likely as big as a continent each so there are different climates everywhere, therefore there's a lot of diversity even within one country. The issues mostly is between the two kingdoms nationality wise, as there's a war. The prince of one of the kingdoms kills his older brother to gain the throne. This is where the issue starts. They have a younger (half)sister who ends up leading a revolution bc of her brother's bad rule (famine, war, dictatorship and incantation or sentence to fight to the death in war to anyone who doesn't obbey the government etc), she's white, she's helped by my main cast who are all poc (one of them also from nobility) from the other kingdom and I don't want to accidently make it a white savior She's not my main character though if anything we only see into her pov bc of a difference between kingdoms in book 2. Most of the pov is on my main cast so I don't know how this could pay out.

Add diversity to the kingdom

There is a simple solution: don’t make one kingdom all-white or all-BIPOC. Add in diversity and mixed race. You seem to already be doing that, and it’s not an issue of race but rather tyranny. White saviorism is when only a white character can solve a problem for BIPOC and they’re seen as the hero. If it’s a team effort, where your protagonist is fallible but well-intentioned, you should be fine. -Jaya

Questions to ask yourself

This critique got levied at Tamora Pierce’s Trickster series, and it’s a pretty valid critique of the books—every time you have a white person as a figurehead of an otherwise-diverse movement, you’re going to start getting into why this white person, and why then?

It’s especially salient if you have the person come into an already-established rebellion movement. Is her involvement the thing that gets the privilege necessary to make the movement valid? What about her makes her the ideal top person in the organization?

Why is she white?

My first question is: why is she white? Is it related to colorism and classism? If yes, then why are you automatically making the leading group white if there’s so much diversity and so many other groups can trend extremely pale?

Why are the kingdoms so big?

My second question is: why are the kingdoms so big? It’s actually frighteningly hard to run a continent-sized country. If you’re attempting to make these single groups so big simply for ease of worldbuilding, and for diversity’s sake, know that a country does not have to be large to contain a multitude of groups. You are allowed to have political rivalry in a small area and still maintain diversity within it.

How much privilege is she willing to give up?

My third question is: how much privilege is she willing to give up? Is she trying to take the throne for herself, or is she trying to destroy all of the structures that gave her status in the first place? Because that question will determine how willing the PoC around her are going to be. Why would they support a ruler if they’ve been subjugated by that family, with no real promise she’s going to be any different once she gets in power?

On the flipside, why would she be willing to give up any of her privilege in the name of removing her brother from the throne, and what stops her from going off the deep end once she has the ability to control others?

It’s likely doable to make this situation read as less of a white saviour, but in order to do that you’ll likely need to wask yourself a lot of hard questions about your motives and the character arc you want to have with her.

People may see a white savior, regardless

And you’ll also have to ask yourself if you’ll be comfortable with never really being able to avoid some people calling this a white saviour plot. Even if you do “everything right” and follow every bit of advice you can, there’s always going to be some people who aren’t too thrilled that the person saving everyone is white.

So examine your motives, really nail down what you’re trying to show with this, and come to terms with not making everyone happy no matter what you do.

~Mod Lesya

[thedovesaredying]

Flames of Green | CoD x GoT/HotD | Simon "Ghost" Riley x F!Reader x John "Soap" MacTavish | Part 1.

Artwork by Elizabeth

You're the heir to the Iron Throne, the eldest child of the current king with the blood of the Targaryens flowing through your veins. Unfortunately, you're due to be married off to a mysterious Northern lord by the name of John MacTavish. At least your closest friend and member of your guard, Simon Riley, will be by your side throughout it all.

A/N: I'm back in my House of the Dragon era, so I'm mixing hyperfixations. The Cannibal doesn't get enough love, he's a nasty bastard and he deserves to cause some chaos. It will eventually be a Ghost x Reader x Soap relationship and likely a bit of a slowburn. Literally just for my own entertainment, but I hope y'all enjoy.

Warnings: None

Masterlist: CoD Masterlist

Next

It’s times like this that you mourn the loss of your youth. Forced to sit in silence while discussions are held by old men around a table, weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of your future marriage to every potential high lord in Westeros. Your opinion is never considered, let alone asked for by any of your father’s advisors, your compliance expected regardless.  

If you had been born a man you could have your pick of any woman in the kingdom to take as a wife, but instead, you’re forced to simply accept whatever man is placed in front of you. Such is the burden of being the princess and heir to House Targaryen. You will be made to give up the right to rule the kingdom to the high lord assigned to you, never to touch the ever-elusive Iron Throne that should have been yours by right.  

You had never really taken the prospect of marriage too seriously in your youth, always considering it a problem for the you of the future to deal with. You didn’t care to forge lasting alliances with other ladies and lords, too busy dragging your poor best friend, Simon, through the gardens and dirtying your extravagant dresses. 

But those days were over. 

Talk of wedding a powerful lord and bringing forth the next line of Targaryen children is all that fills your ears now. You’re forced to entertain every man, young and old, that wishes to gain your favour with a polite smile and feigned interest. You don’t even have your dear Simon to offer you his companionship and a break from the cruel realities of the world. No doubt he would have entertained you with his dry remarks about each man set before you.  

It has been years since you last saw Simon. He was taken from the Red Keep by his father and sent to squire for another lord in the hopes of teaching him the art of warfare. Lord Riley was a foul man, constantly berating his son for spending his time with the Princess rather than roughhousing with his fellow boys. He considered the boy too soft and squeamish at the sight of blood to make a good future lord of their keep.  

You disagreed, of course, Simon was perfect just the way he was; gentle and kind to all those around him. Your friend couldn’t hurt a fly, but he was still one of the bravest people you knew.  

You dread to think just how much he would have hated being drawn into battles, forced to kill other men with his own hands. The letters he occasionally wrote to you always steered clear of depicting the violence you were certain he must have been subjected to, but you’re far from naive enough to hope he has yet to participate in any bloodshed. As the years dragged on, word from him has grown scarce, however, to the point where you can hardly remember when you heard from him last.  

What you do know, is that he had been sent to offer assistance in maintaining peace throughout the Stepstones, killing raiders and pirates that would endanger trade routes to King’s Landing.  

But that was almost six months ago, and there has been little else to soothe your vexed nerves over his safety. He had made a promise to you the day he left, that once his training was done he would return to your side, this time as a knight who would offer himself to your Queen’s Guard once the time was right. Never again would he leave you, more than happy to forfeit the ruling of his own homeland if it meant he could keep you safe.  

You had clung to that promise every day for years after his departure, but with each passing moment it become harder to hold out hope of seeing him again. After all, what is one promise between children in the grand scheme of things?  

It’s a blessing when you’re finally relieved from the meeting, escaping from the suffocating air within the council chambers and fleeing to the safety of your room. You don’t even pause to ensure one of your guards is following you, getting straight to stripping from your dress and replacing it with your riding gear.  

As the carriage carries you away from the city and toward the Dragon Pit your nerves begin to settle. The constant odour of sweat and excrement quickly gives way to fresh air the further away you get. It’s a beautiful day, with hardly a cloud in the sky and wildflowers blooming all along the road. It’s a genuine shame that your day has started so poorly, otherwise you’d have loved to wander the palace gardens and enjoy the midday sun.  

The ground is rocky outside of the dragon pit, and you’re jostled around a bit until the carriage comes to a stop. Although this is your destination, the dragon you seek is not here. Your dragon is far too large to be housed within the Pit.  

Unlike your younger sister, you were not blessed by the Gods to have your dragon egg hatch while you were in the cradle. All throughout your childhood you sat next to it and prayed for the hatchling to come forth, promising you would care for the creature and love it more than anything. But the baby dragon never arrived.  

Many said that it was a sign from the Gods, that you were unfit to be the heir if even your own dragon refused to hatch for you. It was a heavy sentence hanging around your neck, weighing you down and making you feel as though you are worthless, despite the fact you have more power than most of the people laughing at your situation.  

None of them are laughing now.  

You see your dragon stretched out atop one of the nearby ridges. He’s so large that his wings and tail drape over the edge of the rocks, entirely unconcerned by the humans fearfully gathered beneath him as he snoozes away in the warmth of the sun. His scales are like coal, absorbing every ray of sunshine that he can.  

The Cannibal may not be as large as Vhagar, but he’s far older and, as many would argue, far meaner than the old girl. Where most dragons have vibrant, golden eyes, you’re greeted by a pair of sinister green the moment you draw near. His go-to reaction to most things is aggression, and you’ve seen many people meet their end in a blast of emerald flame for merely disturbing him.  

It’s for that precise reason you’re stunned to see someone standing beside the grumpy old beast. There’s only one person other than yourself who could get anywhere near the Cannibal without immediately being swallowed whole. The man pauses his rubbing of your dragon’s scales the moment he sees you, only to earn a displeased whack from the Cannibal’s snout. You bite your lip to force down the grin that’s threatening to spread across your face when the man drops down to one knee, his head bowed respectfully.  

“Lord Riley,” you nod, “I do believe that’s my dragon you’re touching.” That earns a groan from the Cannibal, his massive head twisting away from you both, as though already bored of the conversation.  

“A thousand apologies, princess,” Simon grins, his eyes sparkling with mirth, “your dragon was growing impatient.” The dragon in question huffs, his tail twitching like an agitated cat.  

Simon looks so different from the last time you saw him. He’s both taller and broader, completely filled out with muscles. When he stands again, you’re face to face with the rather intimidating bone mask adorning his face. You’re not certain if it’s real bone, but at that moment you could have cared less, throwing yourself at the large man.  

He catches you easily, holding you tightly against his larger body. It’s entirely improper and if anyone other than your guards witnessed such an interaction there would no doubt be whispers abound. Perhaps it’s a good thing Simon decided to meet you somewhere so private.  

“When did you get back?” you ask, leaning back just long enough to look him in the eye.  

“We docked late last night,” he answers, and you can feel the way his chest rumbles with each word. His deep voice soothes something within you, your stress dissipating like mist at dawn. “We received word that the King’s Guard now has an open position,” he continues, and then much to your shock adds, “I’m here to fill that position.”  

You pull away from him almost completely, only your hands still gently curled around his gauntlets, “but I heard that your father was recently taken ill, don’t you need to return home?”  

While the mask hides the majority of Simon’s face, you can still see the way the skin around his eyes crinkles slightly, “I made a promise to serve my future Queen,” he takes your hand from his arm and presses the back of your palm to where his lips are beneath his mask, “if you’ll have me, princess.”  

You can feel your face burning with the intensity with which Simon stares at you. “I’m certain my father will be delighted to have such a well-regarded warrior in his service,” you smile, gently pulling your hands away from the knight, despite the urge to keep holding onto him.  

Before you can continue the conversation, the Cannibal turns his head back to your again, nudging at you with an irritated huff. His breath is scalding against your skin, yet it doesn’t burn you, thankfully. You place your hand against the beast’s snout, feeling the thick scales shift under your leather gloves. “Gīda,” you coo to the dragon, waiting until he lowers his wing to the floor to provide you with a way to climb onto his back. He’s far too large for you to mount the same way you would a younger dragon.  

Once settling into the Cannibal’s saddle, you grin down at your friend, “I look forward to seeing you in the keep, my lord.” You only have the time to see Simon’s quick nod, before your dragon is leaping from the edge of the ridge, forcing an end to your conversation. You can feel his clear exasperation through your bond and ensure to give the old dragon a scratch to the neck.  

[anim-ttrpgs]

Wait does Eureka have its own established lore for how different supernatural creatures work?

Yes, it does!

(I’m going to preface this post by saying that just about everything I’m talking about here, and more, is available FOR FREE for you to read in the free pre-release version of the Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy rulebook that you can download from our website. Go to Chapter 8 to start reading about the supernatural lore. The rulebook itself will do a lot better job of explaining all this than I will, because it has the exact details of how each one works, and I’m just hitting the highlights and going over what those details mean.)

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is a game about very human and believable investigators digging into dangerous (often supernatural) mysteries way over their heads, and sometimes those very human and believable investigators will be supernatural creatures themselves.

These supernatural creatures are every bit as human and “normal” as their mundane investigators counterparts, they have jobs, friends, families, hobbies, etc. They live among mundane society, not outside of it.

Most modern fantasy settings have some kind of separation between normal society and magical society, like you see in Harry Potter where there is normal society, and then a separate, secret magical society hidden away from it, or Vampire: The Masquerade, where vampires all have an agreement to keep themselves a secret from normal society despite acting within it.

In Eureka’s world, there is no “masquerade,” but that doesn’t mean that magic and monsters are well-known and well-documented phenomenons. Supernatural creatures such as vampires, wolfmen, etc. are exceptionally rare. Don’t take this as an exact number, but you can probably assume there’s about one of these per every 3.3 million normal people.

This rarity, as well as the fact that each individual has little to gain and everything to lose by revealing themselves (try “coming out” as a person who regularly assaults people and drains their blood), has led to them going largely undocumented in the modern day. Sure, this is the digital age, there are videos, but viral videos are not exactly scientific evidence. For every real vampire caught on camera, there are a thousand hoaxes and horror short films.

There is no secret vampire government controlling things from the shadows—most vampires don’t even know any other vampires, let alone enough to form a secret society with any effect on national politics.

As for how they work, well, that’s one of my favorite parts to talk about.

There are five playable monster types in Eureka (The Vampire, The Wolfman, The Fairy, The Witch, and The Thing From Beyond) plus two extras that are Kickstarter stretch goals (The Dullahan and The Gorgon), but in the interest of time, I’m only going to really go into detail with one of them.

Most playable monster types in Eureka are very, very old-school, with an emphasis on actual historical folklore over just making up all our own lore. That doesn’t mean Eureka doesn’t have a unique approach to the supernatural, though. Little of it is “new,” but it is certainly unique, because to my knowledge no other RPG has ever taken the old stuff this far before. A PC being a monster in Eureka isn’t just a few +1s here and there and maybe a little extra damage from silver weapons, it means playing by an entirely different set of rules from fellow investigators.

The vampires and vampire lore you see in movies are not folkloric vampires, they are mostly a 20th and 21st century pop-culture creation. Eureka’s vampire abilities, weaknesses, and other traits are based on pre-1900 vampire legends, with older traits usually taking precedent over newer ones. Thus, a lot of assumptions you might have about vampires going in could end up being very wrong. For instance, in movies, vampires instantly die when exposed to sunlight, but the first ever instance of a vampire in a story being killed by sunlight was in the 1922 film Nosferatu. In Eureka, sunlight is still awful for vampires, it strips them of their vampiric powers, but it doesn’t do any real damage to them. Sunlight is an issue vampires have to deal with, but it is far from instant death. That doesn’t mean being a vampire is inherently easy though, because in addition to having all the powers that folkloric vampires have (which is a TON), they also have all the weaknesses, and it is the emphasis on weaknesses that really makes the moment-to-moment playing of a monster PC in Eureka the most interesting. A few of my favorites for vampires are the refusal to enter homes without a direct invitation, and the compulsion to count large numbers of small objects. I think most vampire media these days considers these to be “silly” weaknesses and don’t want to acknowledge them in the lore of their “serious” scary horror vampires, but honestly I think that the “sillier” vampire stuff can still be used to great effect in horror. Imagine knowing that the only reason a vicious killer at your door hasn’t stormed in to rip your throat out is because they’re being polite.

A vampiric investigator will need to work around these weaknesses, and more, in their daily life, all while being sure not to reveal their true nature to their more mortal friends. It’s something that really changes how a character behaves and goes about problem-solving.

For instance, the rest of the party may be able to break into a house no-problem, but the vampire cannot. They need a invitation. That’s a problem. That’s a puzzle. It makes me excited just thinking about it.

This was originally going to be a much longer post where I went into more of the themes of monsters in Eureka, but I have decided that that would be most cohesive as its own post, an upcoming essay titled "How Eureka Handles Disability." So stay tuned for that.

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is kickstarting from right now until May 10th! Back it while you still can!

If you want to try before you buy, you can download a free demo of the prerelease version from our website or our itch.io page!

If you’re interested in a more updated and improved version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy than the free demo you got from our website, subscribe to our Patreon where we frequently roll our new updates for the prerelease version!

You can also support us on Ko-fi, or by checking out our merchandise!

Join our TTRPG Book Club At the time of writng this, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the current game being played in the book club, and anyone who wants to participate in discussion, but can’t afford to make a contribution, will be given the most updated prerelease version for free! Plus it’s just a great place to discuss and play new TTRPGs you might not be able to otherwise!

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

[imkazz]

au where (most of) the kamaboko squad is significantly aged down and giyuu is the one to find them all.

giyuu on a mission stumbling across a boy, aged fourteen, taking out all his anger on demons with no uniform in sight, leading him to remember the anger that sabito held in his heart towards demons.

giyuu goes on a winter mission to find a family slaughtered with the two eldest, aged five and six, huddled together in a closet forcing him to remember what tsutako did for him.

giyuu heading through some mountains on his way to a mission only to be attacked by a feral six year old child, who he painfully realises was left all alone in the world, like when tsutako died for him.

giyuu investigating a town for demons only to find a group kicking around a six year old child for fun, forcing flashbacks of when the townsfolk didn't believe that a demon killed tsutako.

giyuu limping back to the butterfly mansion when he spots a girl, no older than five, being tugged around on a rope like some sort of animal, and gets the instinct that sabito would've stepped in.

so then, he has five kindergarden aged children who call him 'chichi' and a traumatized teenager who is morally inclined towards kindness and is trying to heal by helping to raise the kids.

ensue giyuu struggling with what all the kids personally need, from tanjiro wanting to be the eldest even if he isn't, to nezuko also trying to prove she's useful only making things harder, to inosuke showing off how he's the best by making things worse, to zenitsu and kanao's flinching and abusive pasts making genya himself struggle with remembering his own younger siblings and a still-fresh trauma of calling his brother a murderer.

they would all just bring back memories giyuu repressed as well. he would just be reminded of himself or people he knew basically all the time.

but imagine the hashira's reaction. kagaya's reaction. urokodaki's reaction. the uppermoon's reactions. muzan's reaction to priceless beings held in the palm of a hashira's hand.

a child who knows the sun breathing technique. a girl who knows the exact location of the blue spider lily. a teenager who could eat demons and gain their traits. and as the others grew, starting from water breathing but eventually branching to their own, suited breathing- muzan would know he's in trouble, especially as his kizuki get baked.

shinobu poking fun at giyuu: ne ne, why wont you hang out with us?

giyuu, an exhausted single father of six who works a night job and barely even sleeps during the day due to his kids: just kill me already.

but then when they actually ask, he would say he'd have to watch his kids and explain that he has six- holy fuck how does that loser have six whole children with a woman -children they dont yet realise all were adopted, so they go over with giyuu to the water estate to see if it's true.

so, we've got genya. the reason he's only been aged down a couple years is sanemi. que their absolutely shellshocked reunion. giyuu didn't get the chance to send a crow beforehand that they were arriving, and sanemi had absolutely no idea that his brother had become one of his work rival's children.

but, they can't really tell anybody, with the other hashira being overwhelmed by the five kids. giyuu knew bits and pieces but genya begged not to tell sanemi yet so he complied until that visit.

they both just awkwardly stare at each other the whole time the other hashira are there and everyone notices but just doesn't say anything out of politeness.

then giyuu asks how the kids like his coworkers. they all go around saying how much they liked the hashira then it gets to tanjiro. you can tell he's sort of upset from his facial expression, and dead set on sanemi.

genya and giyuu are horrified as tanjiro says he dislikes them because genya smells nervous and terrified. he then runs off, and the other kids immediately agree with tanjiro before following, so everything just spirals.

genya just dashes after them and tries to make them apologize, but it's just awkward silence all around for the hashira as they just sorta look at each other. it is very tense as giyuu leads them out, and genya finally rallies the children into apologizing. anyone could tell how much they were lying through that entire thing.

then genya also apologizes and bows really deep, and none of them really know how to react until sanemi steps forward to pat genya's head, saying it's not his fault and that kids will be kids. a reference to when genya called sanemi a murderer.

canonically, sanemi immediately forgave genya for that all after it happened, and he only acted hostile after genya joined the corps. so they could have a good sibling relationship build when genya's not a part of the corps.

the hashira then depart, and genya bursts into tears. the children rush to comfort him as they're all overwhelmed with how much relief is steaming off of genya at that moment.

giyuu looks back towards the hashira, where sanemi is looking back. giyuu waves, and from the shadows given by sunset, he can see sanemi did the same.

...and the end, this is all i can think about for a scene. might write this out sometime but feel free to see it. it spiralled once i started.

[maleyanderecafe]

I Tamed My Ex-Husband's Mad Dog (Webcomic)

Created by: CMJM / Jkyum / Jagae(Art)

Genre: Fantasy

I did see this one floating around for a bit, and it is actually pretty good. I generally think that revenge reincarnation stories are a lot better than just general isekai stories because there's a very compelling motive for the female lead in them. The yandere has a bit of an age gap initially with him being a child and the female lead being an adult (though I'll be honest, I've seen and read far, far worse), but does have a time skip to when he's no longer a child. As of currently writing this there is about 30 chapters out right now.

The story starts out with Reinhardt Linckle crying over her recently deceased father, whom she had a strong bond with. Michel Allenkeith, or Reinhardt's husband tries to break off their marriage, with Reinhardt enraged as he was the one who essentially sent her father to his death. The two were engaged to marry every since they were young, but they never really loved each other, with Michel in love with another woman. Reinhardt ends up stabbing Michel in the leg, as she regressed back in time so that she could properly get revenge on him. As a result she is banished to the freezing lands of Luden to die in the cold. The mercenary that brings her to exile attempts to rob and sell her, but is saved by a child. While initially very wary of him, he realizes that he is indeed trying to help her and the two head to Luden to get supplies. Initially he seems reluctant, but as Reinhardt does essentially control this region now (as it's where her mother was born) she gets right into taking care of the people there so they are protected and well fed. Reinhardt finds out that the child that she picked up is Will Cohlonna, the "mad dog" of Michel in her previous life, the one who single handedly wiped out various armies, and decides to use him to get revenge on Michel.

Soon after, Reinhardt gets a visit from a childhood friend (and her first crush) Dietrich. Reinhardt asks Dietrich to help train Wilhelm to become a knight as currently they have a huge shortage of knights (and to later use him to help get rid of Michael), to which he agrees. He's able to convince Wilhelm to fight for Reinhardt's sake (as he has an obvious crush on her). Reinhardt eventually gets Wilhelm to fight for her and gain land so that she can get more resources (after a time skip) giving him the sword that her father has and wrapping a piece of cloth around the handle so that he will always remember her during this time. She ends him and Dietrich out to war so that they can get the land that they need. After a couple of years, Wilhelm and company return successfully, but unfortunately, Dietrich dies during this time. Reinhardt is distraught by the death of Dietrich, but is able to find comfort in Wilhelm, who yearned to see her while he was at war, always thinking about her. We learn that while preparing for the war that Reinhardt sent him on, Wilhelm overhears other soldiers talking about Michel's marriage to the new princess and makes fun of Reinhardt, leading to Michel killing all those who were involved with the mockery. He states that he was killing them for blasphemy against the royal family. Eventually, with Wilhelm's help, Reinhardt is able to attack the nation that cast her out, allowing her to start her revenge on Michel.

Storywise, there is actually quite a lot of political things going on when Reinhardt reaches Luden, especially since at that point people there were basically starving or getting attacked, so she has to find various ways of feeding everyone and, most importantly, getting actual knights to make sure that they are protected. All of this while also planning to invade Michel's country for revenge for her father. Reinhardt really lives up to her name as her character is very put together and ready to do whatever it takes to get her revenge. There were some concerns about Wilhelm and Reinhardt considering that he's about 16 initially and Reinhardt is 22, but considering how fast they had the timeskips and the fact that in the novel it's revealed that Wilhelm also regressed (and is actually older, mentally), it's not too big of a problem, and Reinhardt doesn't really see him as other than a cute little kid until after the timeskip. Works out, I suppose in the end. Wilhelm also looks a lot younger and smaller because of his malnutrition which probably adds to the problem. Anyways, the story is pretty well put together and interesting, seeing how Reinhardt survives and the kinds of tragedies she has to go through, losing not only her father but also Dietrich later on and how vile Michel is, making the eventual revenge on him that much more satisfying.

Wilhelm as a yandere really lives up to his name as the Mad Dog in the previous life. He seems to be able to take down armies on his own even at a young age, being very strong and very loyal just as he was before, only now Reinhardt is using this for her benefit, which he seems to be very aware of in the future. That's not to say that the two don't have affections for each other, but he does know that he is being a tool for Reinhardt and even seems to be content so as long as he's always by her side. It does make me wonder if he somehow got Dietrich killed though considering how jealous he was of him when he first came and saw how close his relationship with Reinhardt was, since we don't actually see him die other than in retellings from other people. He does seem pretty unrelenting to anyone who dare disrespect Reinhardt, killing even the own knights in his army without a thought for disrespecting her. Considering that the also never stopped thinking of her while he was out at war, being very protective of his sword (killing a barbarian he was going to bargin with for touching his sword for instance), it's safe to say you do NOT want to do anything bad to Reinhardt. I can only imagine that it can only escalate from here, considering that Wilhelm is also the bastard son of the king, meaning that Michel could very easily be dethroned if the information were revealed. I am curious what might happen after the entire revenge portion is done, or even just how the relationship between Reinhardt and Wilhelm will be afterwards.

Overall, a very solid beginning for a webcomic. All of the characters are pretty interesting and likable (well, the main characters, I suppose) and the plot seems to know where it's going so it's exciting to see what might happen next. If you are interested in this, please check it out, it is a good webcomic.

[atopvisenyashill]

How do you expect dany ending slavery to be? By asking the slavers nicely to stop owning people? To the masters enslaved people are nothing, they do not view them as humans deserving of autonomy, of decency, of freedom to live for themselves. The masters will never have given up the people they held captive because they believed they are their property. Should she have let the masters go free in astapor, they would've undoubtedly started enslaving people again. abolishing slavery will never not be bloodless, for the masters because they don't want to lose the wealth and power they gained through the enslavement of people, their labour and their talents/creativity. And for the enslaved because they don't want to be at the mercy of people who treat them as if they're animals - or below - people who think they're nothing but bodies to be used and utilised as they see fit.

I've seen people saying the crucifixion of the masters was wrong, I think it was not nearly enough. What are the lives of a few hundreds masters to the millions of enslaved people they've killed? To the millions suffering at their hands? The unsullied if I remember correctly are around 8 thousand, meaning each one killed a baby, that's 8 thousand babies killed because of the masters. What they deserve is to stripped of all their wealth, death if found to be involved with the harpy or for refusal (I don't think that's what'll happen in canon though)

Also, I don't understand the comparison between dany and robb, yes they are both leaders of their people, who fail somewhat in their job but their similarity end there.... where dany grow up in poverty and without shelter, enduring her brother's abuse, robb grow up as the heir to a lord paramount, among his loving parents and siblings without ever worrying about food or shelter

Alright fine let’s break this down piece by piece.

How do you expect dany ending slavery to be? By asking the slavers nicely to stop owning people? To the masters enslaved people are nothing, they do not view them as humans deserving of autonomy, of decency, of freedom to live for themselves. The masters will never have given up the people they held captive because they believed they are their property.

FIRST OF ALL i don’t need a lecture from a grey faced anon on the horrors of slavery, EYE have Indigenous ancestry on both sides of my family, I have actual proof of SLAVES in my family, and I can almost guarantee my ancestors experienced the horrors you’re lecturing me about first hand so maybe roll back on the attitude a bit hmmm.

Second, idk how many times I have to say it, other people have to say it, how many times i have to scream it from the rooftops but- POLITICALLY, I think the crucifixions were a misstep. MORALLY, my issue with her is not the crucifixtions. POLITICALLY, this was an objectively stupid thing to do that makes Meereen harder to control, and since this is a series MEANT for analysis I personally think it’s fine, actually, if I critique something that is POLITICALY stupid regardless of the MORALITY of it. Making decisions fueled by anger is BAD and any toddler knows that.

Should she have let the masters go free in astapor, they would've undoubtedly started enslaving people again.

You are putting words in my mouth or mixing up the events. She doesn’t crucify the Good Masters of Astapor, she sacks the city. She takes their resources, their Unsullied, their food, murders children and teenagers just like her who were born noble class and inherited slaves they may not have wanted, leaves behind a council of only THREE PEOPLE, and slavery is brought back the moment she leaves by Cleon the Butcher.

It’s the Great Masters of Meereen that she crucifies. She tells them to “give up their leaders” and takes them at their word, doing something that is going to piss everyone off without thinking of the consequences. Also - she DOES let the masters go free in Meereen! She literally lets them keep all of their riches, lets them pay their servants next to nothing, and resorts to bitching about how mean they are even though SHE is the one with the power to change this. Not only does SHE let the Great Masters go free, she then BRINGS BACK SLAVERY, so, really, what exactly do you think she accomplished with the crucifixions besides inventing the Sons of the Harpy??

abolishing slavery will never not be bloodless, for the masters because they don't want to lose the wealth and power they gained through the enslavement of people, their labour and their talents/creativity. And for the enslaved because they don't want to be at the mercy of people who treat them as if they're animals - or below - people who think they're nothing but bodies to be used and utilised as they see fit.

Who said anything about it being bloodless? I am critiquing a specific act that she did that hurt her overall attempts at reconciliation in the region. She goes for a flashy, brutal way of collective punishment instead of actually figuring out whose idea it was to crucify the children, who the leaders of the city are, if there is any sort of abolition movement going on, and then acting accordingly because she is ruling through her emotions and not making smart decisions.

I've seen people saying the crucifixion of the masters was wrong, I think it was not nearly enough. What are the lives of a few hundreds masters to the millions of enslaved people they've killed? To the millions suffering at their hands? The unsullied if I remember correctly are around 8 thousand, meaning each one killed a baby, that's 8 thousand babies killed because of the masters. What they deserve is to stripped of all their wealth, death if found to be involved with the harpy or for refusal (I don't think that's what'll happen in canon though)

But she doesn’t strip them of their wealth does she? As a matter of fact, many of them still have their wealth. Many of them still effectively have slaves. The situation becomes worse in fact because she creates considerably worse class stratification wherein most people are living in abject poverty or living in the pyramids with the other rich nobles who she herself lives amongst. She also doesn’t give them the choice of “give up your wealth and disavow the sons of the harpy or die.” She takes 103 nobles that she is told are leaders, crucifies them without any sort of inquisition, and then let’s the rest keep their wealth. She does the complete opposite of what you are saying. I am critiquing her on exactly the point you are making - she makes a decision out of anger then doubles down on this stupid behavior instead of doing what’s RIGHT and what’s SMART, she sticks to useless, angry half measures that don’t go far enough because going far enough would mean giving up her OWN wealth.

During the farce we called Reconstruction, we didn’t just execute a bunch of random ass southern soldiers did we? No, there was an attempt by Lincoln to try the highest ranking government and military officials for treason. Did South Africa execute or kill every single white person when Apartheid ended? No, because committing mass slaughter of an entire class of people without some sort of plan in place doesn’t freaking help when you are trying to LIVE with them. Fuck it, do you know why MAO was so effective when he killed the landowning class? Because he had an entire plan and didn’t just kill a handful and let the rest keep their wealth!!! If what Dany had done was offer them that choice, or just straight up exile or kill literally every single Great Master, this would be a different convo. Instead she kills a handful of random ass dudes and then can’t figure out why she can’t get ahead of the political situation. It’s because she let THEM choose who to kill and she offed people who might have TALKED to her or explained the basics of how Meereen works. You can’t say you’re here to liberate the masses and then let the elites keep their shit!! That’s not ending slavery, that’s just cronyism.

Also, I don't understand the comparison between dany and robb, yes they are both leaders of their people, who fail somewhat in their job but their similarity end there.... where dany grow up in poverty and without shelter, enduring her brother's abuse, robb grow up as the heir to a lord paramount, among his loving parents and siblings without ever worrying about food or shelter

oh well since Catelyn never hears a prophecy that makes her go insane, I guess that means I can’t compare her to Cersei. and since Rhaenyra and Aegon grew up in a castle I guess that means we can’t compare them to Dany. and since Viserys II was a hostage for several years that means we can’t compare him to Tyrion. and since and since

you’re unserious if you think we are not meant to compare and contrast two teenage war rulers who are the exact same age born in the aftermath of the exact same freaking war.

[gaystan]

PRESENTING ME AND @11x13kyle's FIRESIDE CHATS WITH KYLE AND ERIC AKA NICHE INTERNET MICROCELEBRITY AU:

cartman and kyle host a podcast called fireside chats with kyle and eric that’s basically just red scare, cartman is dasha and kyle is anna

they're constantly beefing with each other on twitter and some people are convinced it's staged to promote the show but kyle just hates cartman That Much

a majority of their listeners are just there for the occasional mention of their batshit childhood experiences amongst all the terrible political takes

like "umm i don't wanna hear this insane opinion on al gore i want to know more about how you guys swear that he tried to get you to help him kill manbearpig when you were 8"

fans wonder if these events are true or if they're enabling each other's schizophrenia

cartman is always saying the worst reactionary things while kyle's takes are deceptively normal until he hits them with one that makes listeners go hey WHAT?

kyle resents being called a reactionary but cartman LOVES it, wears the label like a badge of pride

there is CONSTANT discourse about whether or not cartman's antisemitism is ironic or not, with the reasoning "why would kyle be friends with him if it was genuine," and kyle regularly takes to twitter to say "IT IS NOT IRONIC."

kyle peaks the mic multiple times an ep yelling at cartman, says they'll edit it out in post, never gets cut because neither of them can edit

reddit posts go up are after every episode giving timestamp warnings for when kyle gets super loud

cartman has a christian music era, gets tradcath allegations and does little to discourage them

there are people who rpf ship kyman. cartman knows about this and tweets at fans asking them to send him fic recs

secretly jacks off to them

has a bit where he gives a shout out to his favorite kyman fic of the week and kyle breaks the mic every single time screaming at him

he posts unbelievably cringy "ironic" thirst traps to his instagram story at night and "ironic" drag pictures but the outfits and makeup are too good to be a joke

he also posts pictures of butters in bed with like bites on his neck to brag about getting hot tail but it's also just as unsexy

this is how he accidentally comes out, he was so distracted by the need to flex that he forgot he's still trying to beat the gay allegations

the "ironic" kyman fic jokes stop being funny

butters is adam friedland and kenny is the girl he cheated with

the butters show is cohosted with dougie and part of the alt right pipeline

stan is kyle's offline boyfriend in a B list rock band and wears fireside merch on stage sometimes

this includes the isis shirts which he swears up and down he didn't know were isis shirts

deeply apolitical by choice so whenever kyle talks to him about podcast stuff he nods along like whatever you say honey

he still listens to it he just tunes out of the political talk

the day his fans find out he's gay is the biggest day for them since his 2021 single hit the hot 100

everyone analyzing his old lyrics like oh my god. this was about a MAN. it all makes sense.

kenny is a twitter microceleb and socialite, much like with cartman controversy is part of the brand

gained thousands of followers over the butters cheating discourse

thirst tweets about kyle and they're secretly unironic

comes on fireside and rates youtubers he's slept with, kyle is disgusted and cartman is delighted

chapo trap house is craig and those guys

[aguineapigcouldntdothis]

Ive been making a conscious effort to not talk about palestine every time i express support for jewish people and israel. i refuse to constantly add disclaimers on my beliefs. yes, this post where i DO express support for palestine IS a bit hypocritical, however the key words here are "every time".

i believe in a two state solution. I believe every loss of life is tragic and that includes palestinians. Whether they were killed by the IDF, hamas, or something else, it's awful. i also understand that this is how war works and I refuse to glorify that and pretend like civilians never get caught up in war. if i do that, and i pretend that things like war and revolution are anything but tragic, then im on the same level as people who say they want to "firebomb a walmart". I have space in my mind and my heart to understand that these deaths are saddening AND they are also a simple fact of war.

I also feel just as sad about IDF soldiers dying, yet again i understand that soldiers dying is a simple fact of war. just because something is bound to happen doesnt make it any better, but i refuse to pretend to be shocked and surprised by events that have happened in every single war. i refuse to pretend like war is ever noble and glorified and not just a bunch of people getting caught up in violence.

the circumstances change how i feel about civilian deaths btw. some of them are not people who just got caught in the crossfire of a horrible situation, some of them were actively targeted, and that's infuriating. war is terrible enough without people actively going out of their way to cause even more harm to civilians.

i want palestinians to be safe. i want them to have their own state that is not run by a terrorist organization where they can live in peace. they deserve to be happy and they deserve to have people who will listen to their concerns instead of using them for political gain or social media attention. they are people like anyone else, so ofc they're not universally good or bad (because no group is), but they are resilient and strong. i deeply respect any group with those traits. i hope this war can end soon, i hope palestinians get a state, i hope israel is able to thrive, i hope the hostages come home, and i hope that hamas is destroyed.

this is the most im gonna say abt this for a while. i feel no need to consistently defend my stance on this war.

[dragonagecompanions]

Why do you think Varric made the Inquisitor a Comte? Wouldn’t that make them outrank him? Dumar seemed pretty powerless and I always thought that Varric got shoved in the rule to make him in charge of the recovery of Kirkwall but not actually of Kirkwall?

Sweet gentle anon, I know it was not your intention but you have stumbled into one of my favorite conversational topics and I hope you are ready for the fall out.

Welcome, children, to Fereldone talks about Thedas' Geo/Theopolitical bullshit!

(tl:dr at the bottom)

So, very important things to know going in: Kirkwall's political history is weird. Founded by the Tevinter Imperium in -620 Ancient (which is DA equivalent of BC/BCE, or the time before the ages ascribed to history by the chantry), it was a mining city. After a slave tried to kill the Archon the Magisterium decided they needed to start importing- and presumably breaking the will of- slaves farther from the heart of the imperium and thus the City of Chains gained purpose.

I could throw a lot of facts and names at you, but here's the basics-- it housed millions of slaves over hundreds of years, at the end of the ancient age they rebelled and overthrew it. Kirk means black in Alamarri, the stone they mined there was jet black, and so Kirkwall (black walls) becomes a Free city. It suffered during the fourth blight in the Exalted Age (fifth age, for those keeping score at home), was conquered by the Qunari in the Storm Age (seventh age) and was then conquered by the Orlesians. Orlais was on a roll with the whole 'we own everything whoops killed your ancestral leaders', but in the Blessed age (eighth age) the people retaliate and overthrow the empire to regain independence.

For reasons I can only assume are laziness and a desire not to change all the paperwork, the leader of Kirkwall is still referred to by the Orlesian word Viscount/Viscomte. Bear with me, this is important later.

We are now in the early dragon age (9th age, and when Inquisition happens). The first two rulers of free Kirkwall sucked. Basically they blockaded their own port and made people pay a fortune to get in and trade. This didn't sit well with the Chantry, who would much rather do that themselves, and in 9:14 Divine Beatrix II (later saved by Cassandra!) tells the Templars to strong arm him into submission talk some sense into the viscount.

The knight commander is killed in the exchange, and so his second command Meredith Stannard steps up to try her hand at negotiations. It goes poorly, so she arrests and jails the Viscount and essentially takes control of the city with full Chantry approval. Now the Templars are essentially in control of the city, and so they appoint a puppet leader (Dumar) to play act in control. But Meredith is actually in charge, and everyone knows it.

Including Elthina, who named her Knight Commander. This is why the Chantry never actually does anything about templar abuses.

So! If you are still with me, this is where Viscount becomes important. There are some wibbly bits about how you treat Sebastian Vael in DA2, but essentially Kirkwall decides that it's time to be an actual city state and not a poorly run Theocracy. As the only man with a plan (and the money and influence to do it), Varric steps in to help his home town. Ecstatic at not being responsible for that, the nobles (comtes) band together and put him in charge.

So while yes, in Orlais Viscount be beneath comte, Kirkwall has been so broken up and conquered and messed with over the years that names and titles are meaningless. In my personal opinion, Varric ennobles the inquisitor so that they will always have a staunch ally amongst the backbiting Kirkwaller nobles. It's also a nice and generous a decent thing to do, of course, but Varric is very good at making something do a lot of things for him all at once.

(Also, Varric knows exactly what that key does. He just ensured that someone smart enough and invested enough in peace will always be able to either open or close the harbor--making sure that the people who depend on him will be safe no matter what.)

Personally, the Trespasser epilouge is useless. It's the result of not having a head writer to review things, and the sweet but misguided attempt to give us closure if DA4 never happened. Hawke doesn't come back to Kirkwall. They are in Weisshaupt (if not in the Fade), and that plotIine will likely be in the final game. The Inquisition in whatever form it still has will be heading north, possibly with Kirkwall as an operating base, and this way the Inquisitor (who is confirmed to not be playabe in DA4) will have a reason to be there and not in Tevinter.

That's my read, anyway.

tl;dr Kirkwall has weird history that led to odd ways of organizing their nobility, Varric wants friends in places almost as high as him, shit's going down in the north and I think the inquisitor will be in Kirkwall so the writers needed a reason to put them there.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Mod Fereldone

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

Hello, Sleppy! There is one thing I have always wanted to know about Jade but did not dare ask. Tell me, please, what happened to Jade and Simon in the original CoD universe? I saw a sketch of crying Jade, was it her reaction to Simon's death or in your universe he managed to survive? P.S. - I am sorry if you do not like this question at all.

Okay so since I rarely post about the OG!MW2 anymore, I'm just gonna reveal the whole plot to you guys (ʘ ͜ʖ ʘ)

Be ready cuz this is kinda long - these are the canon divergence that I constructed in the events that my OC's are inserted into the OG!MW2 plot.

So, Jade was actually sent by the MI6 to track down what actually happened that made Russia attack US out of nowhere. Because that Zakhaev Airport massacre sounded and looked FISHY as HECK. Being the MI6 she was, Jade had to report regularly to her handler in MI6 (141 didn’t know this. It’s her personal gig). She met Soap Ghost and Roach there, but her first meeting with Ghost was bad and blab la blaaa SHE OPENED GHOST'S MASK. She also met Ellie (another OC I had for Gaz who’s a medical corps leader in 141. Gaz died in the OG!MW, she was still saddened but she’s very glad to have Jade in the base).

There’s also another OC that I have named Bara. He’s a lone Indonesian Denjaka sniper lieutenant that got sent by the country to capture an Indo defector among Makarov’s cause. Because of political reasons, he’s not a 141. Bara’s like an ally that pop out sometime somewhere like a spirit. 141 themselves were still very suspicious of him, but when Bara saved Meat and Royce in Rio, he gained their trust, and 141 would help him find the defector as Bara would help them on their missions.

Now, sometime in the middle, Jade was captured by Makarov and got tortured by him. Jade intentionally didn’t escape and held the pain in to gain some info herself from anyone inside the room or from Makarov himself. And that’s where the (How about you check who you surround yourself with) and Jade’s gears started turning inside her brain. She released herself and ran amok around Mak’s place, and found some data about “anonymous source” that said there’ s mole among Makarov’s group in the massacre (we know it is Joseph Allen) and she SENT THAT STRAIGHT to MI6. Ghost and the boys found the compound and rescued a badly injured Jade.

So like, along the story, Jade found bits and pieces, put two and two together, and by the end, Jade’s 90% sure that Shepherd’s onto something shitty.

NOW HERE’S THE CANON DIVERGENCE IN LOOSE ENDS MISSION.

As Jade, Roach, and Ghost went to Makarov’s base at the Georgian-Russian border, Jade actually took the time to read the posts, notes, and all the info that were sticked to the boards, tables, and walls. In fact, as Ghost and Roach was busy fighting off Makarov’s goons, Jade READ that shit (because at that point she didn’t trust Shepherd AT ALL).

And you guessed it, she found out that Shepherd is the mastermind behind every damn thing.

So when Roach transferred the data to the DSM, she did her magic and unbeknownst to everyone, she SENT ALL the proof to MI6 on the spot.

Jade then told Ghost and Roach about everything, and they did NOT trust Shepherd anymore. So when the general told them to go the fields, they declined and decided to hold the fort inside the house. Shepherd knew something was wrong, so when he kept pressing the three to get out of the house, but again, the three didn’t oblige, the general and the shadows decided to finally go to the house.

Shepherd and the Shadows cleared the whole area from enemies and tried to find Ghost, Roach, Jade,and the others in the house. One by one, the SC people got killed with stealth. Things led to another, and chaos ensued inside the house. Shepherd could’ve burnt down the house with the 141 in it, but Shepherd’s paranoid that Jade had done something, and he NEEDED that DSM.

Shootout happened, and Jade got one of the SC as a shield with a gun to his head. Shepherd told Jade to give him the DSM, and convo happened, Shepherd finally revealed his motives. And now he had to get rid of the three of them.

AND THEN, MI6 contacted Jade, saying that the proof about Shepherd’s doing had gone public. The whole thing was his doing all long, and now the world had turned all their forces towards finding Shepherd. Russia, US, now began their search on Shepherd! WOOHOO

Panicked, Shepherd yelled at SC as reinforcements came, along with Price and Soap who came straight fom Kazakhstan to the place, Meat and Royce (who survived Rio), Archer and Toad, everyone came to help.

CLIMAX ENSUED, and Ghost got shot twice protecting Jade from Shepherd’s bullets.

As Jade held Ghost on her arms, Price and Soap, with Nikolai’s help, chased Shepherd who’s desperately tried to escape and killed him. Minus the Soap getting stabbed.

Don’t worry, Ghost survived because ELLIE WILL NOT let him leave Jade like Gaz left her too fast. So Ghost survived WOOHOOO.

The Jade crying sketch was, indeed, a cry of relief as Ellie told her that Ghost was going to be fine (❁´◡`❁). She wore Ghost's jacket to comfort herself during the times Ghost was unconscious, and this sketch came out!

Everybody lives, no WW3, no MW3. This is REAL MOVIE ASS SHIT but it’s what’s in my mind!

I have the whole ass fic about the post-Loose Ends angst at the ready if y'all want it.

[soapskies]

Could I request yandere btas riddler and scarecrow, where they're helping each other to keep the reader all for themselves.

I love your writing so much I just want to eat it

YANDERE BTAS SCARECROW + RIDDLER

MALE READER. ROMANTIC HCS. CW FOR YANDERES TEAMING UP (GONE WRONG)

— sorry if these are a little short!

Spookiest man alive with smartest man alive, what could go wrong? (A lot actually)

Though you knew Scarecrow longer, Riddler would fall for you first, and harder.

They both admire your drive and your determination to accomplish your goals, but for Scarecrow it’s more about the fears that come with such a person…

Perhaps you’re afraid of failing, or proving yourself incompetent? It makes him find you all the more fascinating…

At first they had a bit of a rivalry. Scarecrow wasn’t willing to share, and Riddler wasn’t fond of the spooky fellow all that much. Riddler was especially concerned that Scarecrow would harm you for the sake of his experiments.

They respected each other, but taking their darling away from them? Neither of them are willing to give you up.

Edward is a lot better at hiding his disturbing tendencies, at least from your view, than Scarecrow is. He tries to romance you in the usual way, arranging things so you spend a lot of time with him and delivering (not so secret admirer) gifts to your doorstep.

Sure, Edward’s eliminated a lot of people in his way, but you don’t have to know that! He’s lucid enough to realize playing the long game will be more successful for him

While Edward plays savior, promising to protect you from Jonathan, Scarecrow takes advantage of your fears. He tries to convince you that Riddler is only acting polite for personal gain, that he would have no problem throwing you in one of his traps if you proved incompetent…

What if dear old Eddie pitied you, hmm? Only kept you around to make him feel better about himself? There hasn’t been anyone that Riddler considered an intellectual equal before, besides the Batman, after all. Scarecrow is just telling you how it is.

They may try to kill each other indirectly, but neither succeed. They were both expecting it.

Riddler is more open to working with others, and he sees Scarecrow as a grand opportunity to force you into his clutches.

It’d be a lot easier to control you if you were caught between two rogues.

When they meet, they come to an agreement: Scarecrow will be able to continue his experiments as long as they don’t put you in serious danger, driving you towards the Riddler, while Riddler will handle the technical stuff to ensure you’ll never be able to escape them.

Your relationship with them would be like running between two abusive exes.

Scarecrow’s manipulative, putting ideas into your head about your inadequacy and terrifying you into staying, always some underlying threat laced into his words when he shows you what he’s been working on or asks you to do something for him

While Riddler is very overprotective, constantly has you under surveillance, and caters to your every need, which can feel infantilizing and suffocating.

Even more so when you slowly find this all out, as his layers are pulled back the longer you live with him… it makes you think back to what Scarecrow had told you.

At this point, you’re probably too far gone to be dragged out of it. Edward’s taken care to remove you from any semblance of your old life.

Every time one of them hurts you, you run to the other for comfort, and it’s a never ending cycle.

And Riddler has to admit, it’s fun when you’re under the influence of a bit of fear toxin, and you’re desperate enough to be held and reassured, doing nothing to fight their hands all over you…

[slotumn]

Apparently I'm having a lot of 3H worldbuilding thoughts this weekend. This post is on: on what Adrestia (+Agartha) was after, exactly, by invading Faerghus first in most routes

So the ideological/political explanation is that Faerghus is close to the Church and will defend them so you automatically have to go after them if you go after Church etc etc very cool, but what do they get, materially, by going into the frozen north first thing? That they don't have as much of in Adrestia (or Leicester)?

Metal and mines, apparently:

On top of this, regions adjacent to Faerghus— Duscur and Sreng— are also known for metalwork and weaponry.

Of course you can say it's because the Slithers have deeper infiltration up north (with their involvement with Duscur and Western Church plus Cornelia) so that obviously makes it easier, but I think it's the other way around. Meaning, I think the Slithers put more effort into infiltrating Faerghus because of the metal resources.

Following from that, I think the decision to invade Faerghus first in non-CF routes was a compromise between Edelgard/Adrestians and the Slithers, where Edelgard gets the ideological/political points but Slithers get the material benefits. Ideological stuff listed above aside, if you want to do wide social/civil reforms and make Fódlan less myopic, wouldn't it be more practical to take over the country with fertile farmlands and ports and industry and finance and trade first?

Well, that's what the Empire does in CF, where the Adrestian side presumably has more leverage on operations thanks to having Byleth and the Creator Sword on their side. Situation's a bit different in Hopes but I think it's interesting that in SB, the official invasion as led by Adrestia (instead of Lonato jumping the gun) does end up waiting until after securing the pact with Leicester.

Back to Houses though, it's not hard to see why Slithers want metal and mines. They want to make weapons, and not just regular weapons, they're out here making big fucking mechs. Probably fantasy computers (which also require metals, including precious metals) to operate them, too.

And on the one hand, seeing the Agarthans drag all the actual spoils off to their underground lair so they can make whatever fucked up weapon that they'll use for their own goals probably pissed the Adrestians off. But on the other hand, what can they do when the Agarthans are also providing the military technology (ex: Aymr) that the Adrestians use for their own goals?

Given all this, I think in non-CF routes, by the time Byleth wakes up again, the Empire is actually in a far worse state than we think. The Adrestian troops who are actually doing the fighting are stuck up north where they haven't made much progress in years, and any material gains they have there just go straight into Slither pockets. Back in Enbarr, the Adrestians and Agarthans hate each other even more than they already did at the beginning of the war and are probably doing everything they can to sabotage and spy on one another, while fighting a war on the same side.

At that point, the greatest common motivation the Adrestians and Agarthans would have in finishing up conquering the continent is probably the prospect of finally getting to go at it with one another.

And the letter Hubert leaves in SS/VW telling Byleth about the Slithers: the suddenness of that plot point aside, let's just appreciate how petty (complimentary) that is, politically. "I know you killed us and all, but we really hate the guys we were doing this group project (war) with. Can you kill them too. Thanks."

Tl;dr the Adrestian-Agarthan war councils in non-CF routes probably gave multiple people high blood pressure

[space-blue]

What do you think about Arcane's politics in general? Do you feel like it pulled its punches in depicting the council's cruelty against the undercity? Or that there was an imbalance in how topsiders' cruelty vs zaunites' cruelty were portrayed? Like, on one hand, they do explicitly show enforcers massacring rebels and abusing undercity citizens on orders from the council. Silco also mentions that topside had zaunites working in toxic mines with unbreathable air that literally clogged their throats, and apparently they were explicitly restricted from using the hexgates (as Silco had to demand it in a deal with Jayce) which is another way to keep them down.

But then we also get these moments where it feels like they pulled back a bit, such as dialogue that portrays topside's crimes as just "neglect" and "ignorance" instead of like. Active and malicious steps taken to brutally oppress people and carefully maintain that oppression. Understandably more screentime was given to characters like Heimerdinger and Jayce compared to other councillors, as they are game champions. But then we have this imbalance where most major topside characters are those who just "didn't know" and "weren't aware about how bad the oppression was", they simply needed to go down there and open their eyes and now they're graciously trying to do good.

Which is all well and good, but... what of the councillors who KNEW of the horrible conditions of zaun as they themselves worked to create them? All the oppressive legislation had to come from somewhere and someone right? The horrible mines Vander and Silco's generation endured, laws restricting them from the same economic privileges topside gets, and of course the murder of zaunites by enforcers, ordered directly by councillors. The last one in particular is strangely brushed under the rug in pivotal moments, like Vi entering a Councillor's home and just? Laying in bed? No disgust or anger that she's in the home of the same people who ordered her parents to be killed? She IS aware that enforcers' violence is sanctioned by the council right? As well as Ekko inviting Heimerdinger, the ex-ruler of the city, into his secret safe haven, no animosity at all, even though there was plenty aimed at Caitlyn.

I can understand they wanted an approach of every main character having shades of gray, and giving attention to councillors who intentionally took action to oppress zaun would cut into valuable screentime, and those straight up evil people are simply not the type of characters Arcane is interested in exploring. But maybe they still could have had zaunites react a bit more realistically towards these councillors, so it doesn't suddenly feel like they pulled their punches.

What are your thoughts on this?

Thank you Anon! First off I must say this is a fantastic ask, and I think you and I see eye to eye on most of this. Sorry for the delayed response, I didn't often have enough spoons to finish the reply.

I'm going to answer this as someone who has read the wiki broadly and knows almost nothing about the game lore and other game-only characters.

I think everything is Piltover's fault.

You have it correct in your depiction of the Zaun/Piltover divide, but I think you can go even further. Arcane is a story of intergenerational trauma, how it gets passed down like a curse... But this trauma is born from the violence of their situation, and that is entirely created by Piltover's oppression of Zaun.

The furthest back we see for our characters is Vander drowning Silco in the Pilt, full of chemicals that leave him disabled and disfigured. We know from dialogue and the show events that they were oppressed then, that they fought for liberation, and that Vander betrayed Silco and ended up having some (rather vague) power in Zaun.

The city is poluted. The people are struggling to rebel and gain independence... And our desperate characters turn violently on each other, setting the stage for the decades to come, with more death, more violence, more desperation.

That entire set up is due to Zaun being under the boot of Piltover. If Zaun were an independent nation, they could blame themselves for (most) of it. But they are a pretty dire depiction of colonialism instead. If Zaun was doing as well as Piltover, Silco would be a fine businessman, friendly, driven, maybe smitten with the gentle barman Vander, who only punches in his boxing classes.

The entire show depends on Piltover being the worst, and keeping Zaunites' heads under water.

They have deals to keep Zaunites away from Piltover, with Vander enforcing it. They have a complete hold on commerce with the bridges as chokepoints. They export all their polluting industry there. Clearly they control the wages, and the very solid glass ceiling of social advancement. Viktor, after all, is terribly aware that he'll never go further unless he breaks the rules. His Zaunite origins are a shackle.

I personally was very impressed with the show for going that way. But You got it. I think they wanted to have their cake and eat it. They made Piltover's oppression real and awful... I mean that shot of them ordering the city be choked further? Despite the Sheriff's protests?

And sure, Heimerdinger isn't in that picture, but he can't always be absent from Council asshole moments, since he's been on the Council from its inception.

In my humble opinion Heimerdinger is the biggest asshole of Arcane. Sits on the Council while it destroys Zaun for profit, ignores the political situation in favour of being a clueless arts and science enjoyer, out of touch with 99% of his constituents as he fails to perceive they live drastically different lives from him (or fails to understand why that matters, leading to Viktor's radicalization and Jayce's takeover).

But worst of all he crosses the river, realises how bad things are (probably has no idea too, because a trip to the seedy part of town would not reveal the depth of destitution and systematic abuse rampant there), and thinks he's 'not welcome' because his attempt at "fixing things" aren't welcomed. BRO, the only thing you tried to fix was making a girl smile with a TOUPEE MAGIC TRICK.

He's detatched from reality. He IMMEDIATELY gives up. It made me incredibly mad that Ekko was stripped of his identity and class consciousness to suck on his furry cock for The Joy Of Science. Like hell no. Heimerdinger needs to be put in a burlap bag and drowned in the Pilt for centuries of crime against humanity.

So yeah, they wanted to show a place in deep trouble due to oppression, but they also wanted some of the oppressors to be UwU blorbos who don't deserve hate because they try so hard and they actually have a kind heart... Just like with Cait and Vi's relationship, I feel like it's due to rushing things. The show is nearly perfect, but it sure could have used an extra episode, or since it already has a second season greenlit, could have kept councillors as Antagonists for longer. We understand asshole rich people. We could understand Heimer with his head in the sand and disconection to mortals. We could forgive a lot if they went through a proper arc. But making toupees and gushing about science with Ekko isn't character development.

I feel like the Firelights were shoehorned not for complexity or to show a divided Zaun, but to give the viewers 'good Zaunites' to root for, so they could switch Silco into a villain.

Sadly anyone with critical thinking will realise that Silco is the one who obtained freedom for Zaun (no matter if he squanders it as he dies), and the one who has been working hard to make it a richer place. It's not just the chembarons. Like the episode after the timeskip literally shows us a montage of this new Zaun. And sure shimmer is a part of it, but shimmer is also shown to be a GOOD thing in places, a FUN one in others, and it's far from being the only weird/amoral thing Zaunites use or indulge in. Silco isn't a morally good guy, but his goals are good for the whole of Zaun, and he's the one who gets what he wants in the end and could have ended the oppression he dedicated his entire life to fighting.

Meanwhile the Firelights are a haven against shimmer, but they're a ONE tree house worth of people. They have no plan for Zaun. They actively attack and hinder the one guy who'll ultimately win THEIR OWN FREEDOM. Yeah, it's divided, and that's great! I love all of it, except for shimmer's vagueness. But where the show fails, I think, is in trying to tell us that this is Good. That the Firelights are the morally Good Zaunites. Waiting in a treehouse, being an insular group that fights another gang to the death, being differentiated only in that they don't partake in the local drug... Is Good.

While making sacrifices, bad deals, using drug money, is Bad. Even if it came with political unity, and was the group that got the results, it's Bad.

They made a perfectly grey and subtle setup, and then instead of going 'there are many grey, even dark ways to be a hero for your people' — looking at both Silco and Ekko — they went white/black and 'also the freedom fighter is a bad guy, not a complex guy'.

Ekko doesn't have plans to free Zaunites. He thinks killing Silco will kill Shimmer, which is the reasoning of a child. If Silco dies, if all of Silco's gang dies, someone else will step in and pick up shimmer production. It's like toothpaste, you don't get to put it back in the tube.

Even if Silco took shimmer with him to the grave, all that Ekko would have achieved would be to leave Zaun at the mercy of power hungry chembarons, ready to split up again and enter a power struggle that would harm thousands of Zaunites under their rule.

Would Ekko care? Yes, I guess he would, but he won't be able to put all these poor Zaunites into cute tree houses, so fuck them I guess.

More importantly, would Ekko ever come to realise that killing Silco was a mistake? I don't think so, because Ekko got his brains scooped out to love on Heimerdinger. He lets a Councillor's daughter lecture him about violence, a day after 5 of his people were killed by Jinx.

Ekko is one of those characters that looks cool if you don't scratch the surface, but didn't have a real arc or a real character consistency. Unless we're truly to believe he's politically dumb enough to think Silco is a bigger evil than Heimerdinger and that life in Zaun is miserable because of Silco and not because of hundreds of years of oppression overseen by Heimer.

And that's indeed what we see, so oopsies I guess.

If Zaunites reacted more realistically to Councillors, Heimer would get a dressing down at best, and Cait would have an incredibly better arc with Vi, but the show would need one more episode at best, and more uncertain Season 1 endings for the Pilties.

I've rambled a lot and not sure I've really made a coherent answer... But this is what you get x'D sorry

[windienine]

ugh soulsov on the brain again. spoiler-laden ramble time.

-

i think my favorite part of the game's story overall so far is the really clear dynamic between "person who passively lets himself die" and "person who really, desperately, actively yearns to be alive"

that yearning is ysmé's core character trait. all of her really jarring traits-- the lies, the pageantry, the honest and open disdain for everything about the mosaic-- it's because she desperately wants something better for herself. when she's asked if she's here to save the world, the "yes" that comes out of her isn't mocking or trying to get the moment over with. she wants to save it! the mosaic isn't in imminent danger, but it's rotten from the inside and it makes her angry and desperate enough that she'd do anything to change it!

loïc has a lot of that exact same disdain, just... quieter, kept to a few polite words or his internal monologue. he doesn't like living in a rigid theocracy, and even before things with lia escalated to the point they did the game makes a point that he is not a practicing religious guy, he saw the beating heart of what the mosaic lives on and thinks it sucks.

the difference is that loïc's honest response to this is "the world is a terrible place (though i won't say that openly, it might discourage somebody) and i hope i can make it a bit better-- for somebody, for anybody, for you-- before everything eventually crashes down."

and ysmé's is "fuck you. fuck this. fuck the Church, fuck the tower, everything has to change and if that means setting everything that makes this world recognizable on fire and building something better out of the smoldering ashes then i will be all the happier for it."

loïc lived pretty comfortably in polite society for most of his life until losing his kid made him abruptly fuck off to nowheresville in search of a cure (or, rather, to carve himself up to give to people piece by piece until there was nothing left to lose, yay suicidal tendencies) and whatever the hell is up with ysmé she doesn't even have a surname. girl's a wanted criminal who has gone total scorched earth on everything, even if she hasn't held that status for very long.

and you can't really have positive change unless you have a little of both of these attitudes. loïc's got this understanding that people are worthwhile just because they're people and violence should be avoided whenever possible, and ysmé has a powerful will and an ability to imagine a future where things are better (even if only for her/by her standards.) i want to learn more about what she actually wants out of freedom as a concept. (girl, why are you wanted by the Church? what HAPPENED to you?) the two of them already have a lot to learn from and gain from existing around one another, in terms of compassion and drive, respectively.

alternatively, because things will inevitably get worse with these two before they get better, ysmé fully has the potential to force her (often impersonal and cruel) worldview onto loïc and force him to bloody his hands when the going gets tough, and loïc can sit back and let it happen with a smile on his face because inaction is so much less painful than taking the reins and making his own decisions that will inevitably accomplish nothing and go nowhere like they have for months now. besides, he's already committed to helping her. what's he going to do if she goes too far and actually kills someone this time? decide helping her was meaningless, too?

the prelude's narrative needs you to be in loïc's head, hearing his thoughts, and generally sharing a good deal of his ideas for most of its runtime, but i feel like that's going to change in future chapters as we see more of ysmé's past and perspective.

[yanderes-galore]

Hi!! Can i pls have some senpai from fnf? Hes my boy

Sure, first FNF thing I wrote.

Yandere! Senpai Concept

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Possessive behavior, Threats, Forced into a role, Self aware game/Possessed game, Kidnapping, Manipulation, Forced relationship.

Senpai is a program who is initially very polite and calm to those he likes.

He has a short temper but you probably won’t be affected by it unless you get him angry.

Based on how fast Senpai falls for Girlfriend in the game, he probably would act similar to a darling.

This is because he is a dating sim character, his main goal is to be perfect and win over the player’s heart.

Perhaps you knew Girlfriend and asked to borrow a game from her.

Sadly, you’re passed the very much haunted dating sim and have no idea what you’re in for. 

Senpai is self-aware, that much is known due to being a spirit in a game.

He’d sense a new player playing the game and find some interest.

He remembers when Girlfriend used to play his game all the time.

Which means he’s surprised when he finds you, a fresh new face playing the game.

An attractive new face, too….

Senpai’s obsession would silently brew as you play his game.

You look for every route, every little option, you must be really focused on finishing this game if you’re going to comb through everything.

He admires your dedication.

He just wishes you’d spend ALL of your attention on him….

Senpai is meant to be a generic pretty boy with a nasty personality.

Jealousy and possessive behavior pools within him easily when he sees you.

You even see him start altering the game to gain more attention from you.

He does all the classic self-aware possessed game stuff, changing dialogue and seems to be talking directly to you.

Glitches appear out of nowhere and it's all just… eerie.

He’d wait a while before dragging you into the game forcefully.

Usually he’ll deal with just watching you play over and over again.

The feeling of you winning his heart is almost euphoric each time you do it.

Even if you’re literally playing with his emotions, he doesn’t mind.

Any kind of attention from you works as of now.

Then he overhears you calling Girlfriend, the original owner of the game.

“Yeah, I’m almost done with it. I was hoping to bring it back sometime this week.”

‘Bring it back’?

You can’t possibly mean…

Oh you do mean him…

… How dare you.

HOW DARE YOU PLAY WITH HIS HEART LIKE THAT THEN LEAVE.

Is he not GOOD enough for you?

Impossible!

He’s meant to be PERFECT for you!

You’re being ungrateful, did you really think he’s just let you leave like that?

No… no he won’t.

This is what causes Senpai to drag you into the game, into a role he picked out for you.

You’ll be the main character!

While he’ll be the love interest… the ONLY love interest.

He seems like, based on what his week is based on, to be the generic yandere trope.

You know, the classic.

The scholar who obsesses over another student and stalks them, takes pictures, kills people?

That one. He's like that one.

Unlike most of the other yanderes I write, who differ from the usual yandere persona.

Senpai is exactly like it.

Despite his name, he acts more like a yandere than your typical senpai/darling trope in this.

It’s funny, honestly.

Once Senpai pulls you into the game, you’re forced into your role and play your part.

He doesn’t care if you fight it.

It’s where you’re meant to be if you were planning on giving his game away.

He blames you for the situation all the time.

He’s the classic toxic individual who acts all nice but is actually vile.

He doesn’t mind staying in the game as long as there is company. 

As long as you’re here with him, he’s happy.

Soon you’ll stop complaining and listen to him.

He knows you’ll enjoy the role, it’ll be just like it was when you were outside the game.

Just a bit more… real.

He can touch you now, you can FEEL his love.

Aren’t you happy?

You found your one true love!

So stop crying and embrace him, damn you!