#with learning world history and stuff

[slanky-here]

its feels so different doing research and learning thats not for school..

[frozen-planet]

I should start sharing my NSR ideas/research that’s gone into DJSS specifically because I love looking into it soooo much and I used to ramble about characters ALLL THE TIME on my Instagram stories but the previous year or two I had gone completely quiet… that must change because I am so so passionate about this space DJ it’s not even FUNNY

[egberts]

I'm just gonna start blocking people who send me essay length asks trying to argue about stupid shit because their personal experience was different

[starswallowingsea]

I really do think the people who blame the american education system on their blindspots of other countries and cultures just need to admit they have no curiosity about them. I don't think most countries are going to have high school classes dedicated to other countries histories but you blaming your education on that rather than just going oh I didn't know about that, do you have any resources where I can learn more about it or something really shows your own values.

[darabeatha]

/ A reminder to never expect me to be fully updated on lore and know all the minuscule 9487548957894 details of a character's story and their surroundings, I'm empty as men came to this world and can only vouch for my muses through love (also bc I cannot remember things rip)

[lbhslefttiddie]

me: we should get into hydrology or ecology or something geography related. we are good at geography and love stupid bullshit like that. its a viable career path with lots of options and historically speaking people do tend to be happier when they can afford to eat

also: okay but have you considered. going all-in on creative writing with a focus on programming and music design so that you could spend all your time creating video games in a basement somewhere

me: no i think i would like to have a stable income i think

also me: forsake everything to get into that interactive fiction course right fucking now

[drop-the-curtain-123]

ok very specific gripe about assassination classroom

But how comes the series is all "be yourself, use your hobbies, despite everyone judgement, for good" then just... Never questions the roasting of Mimura air guitaring?

Look at my boy! He's so unwell afterwards

Ik now there are more scenes later in the manga that again use it as a Punchline. It just encapsulates that weird gap of "things that are just never Not the Joke/Mocked" which kind of defeats the show messaging 😭

t's not even used in a "do it anyway, grow strong and proud" like some others, it's just. There.

(hi rinka btw happy belated birthday to you)

Anyway unconsequential nitpicking rant over, have a good day.

[httpsoftbunni]

The Friendship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien: From the Trenches of WWI to the Publication of The Lord of the Rings

Few friendships in literary history have been as influential as that between C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Their shared experiences as soldiers in World War I, their scholarly careers at Oxford, and their mutual love for myth and storytelling helped shape two of the most iconic works of fantasy literature: The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. Let’s explore the journey of their friendship, from the trenches of war to the creation of Middle-earth and Narnia.

Aftermath of WWI

Both Lewis and Tolkien’s experiences in World War I profoundly impacted their view of life, death, and, ultimately, faith. For J.R.R. Tolkien, faith was a lifelong anchor, and his Catholicism only deepened during the war. He saw the horrors of the battlefield as part of a greater cosmic struggle between good and evil—a theme that permeates The Lord of the Rings. For him, Middle-earth was a deeply Catholic work, though not in a preachy sense. Instead, his belief in providence, free will, sacrifice, and the corrupting nature of power is embedded in the story's fabric.

C.S. Lewis had a very different trajectory. As a young man, Lewis was an atheist, largely due to the suffering he witnessed in the war. He couldn’t reconcile a loving God with the violence and death around him. His loss of faith was intensified by the death of his mother at a young age. Lewis emerged from World War I skeptical of religion and consumed by philosophical and existential questions. Unlike Tolkien, who was more rooted in his belief system, Lewis’s spiritual journey took much longer and was fraught with doubt.

Meeting at Oxford

When Lewis and Tolkien first met at Oxford in the mid-1920s, faith wasn’t a major topic of conversation. Instead, their bond formed around a shared love of literature, mythology, and language. Both men were professors—Tolkien of Anglo-Saxon and Lewis of English literature—and they quickly found common ground in discussing ancient myths, Norse legends, and linguistic intricacies.

However, it wasn’t long before Tolkien’s faith became a crucial aspect of their friendship. Tolkien was dismayed by Lewis’s atheism and saw it as an intellectual and spiritual challenge. As their friendship deepened, Tolkien became instrumental in Lewis’s return to Christianity, though the road was long and complex.

A Conversation Changed Everything

One of the pivotal moments in both Lewis and Tolkien’s lives came in September 1931, during a late-night conversation that would later become legendary. Along with their friend Hugo Dyson, the three men took a long walk around Oxford’s Addison’s Walk, discussing mythology, literature, and theology.

Tolkien, passionate about the power of myth, argued that Christianity was the true myth. He suggested that, just as myths and legends conveyed profound truths through symbolic stories, Christianity was the “myth become fact.” The story of Christ, he argued, had all the narrative power and beauty of ancient myths, but unlike them, it had actually happened in history. This idea struck a chord with Lewis, who had long admired the power of myth but had been skeptical of Christianity’s claims.

This conversation was a turning point for Lewis. Shortly after, he experienced a profound spiritual awakening and accepted the Christian faith, though he chose Anglicanism over Tolkien’s Roman Catholicism. This conversion would shape the rest of Lewis’s life and work, particularly in his writings on Christian apologetics like Mere Christianity and in The Chronicles of Narnia, where Christian themes are unmistakable.

Faith and Story-Telling

Faith became a deeply embedded aspect of both men’s creative work, though in very different ways. Tolkien, ever the subtle storyteller, wove his Catholic faith into The Lord of the Rings through its themes rather than through explicit symbolism. He once said that The Lord of the Rings is “a fundamentally religious and Catholic work, unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.” Themes of redemption, grace, the power of free will, and the ultimate triumph of good over evil are central to the story. Characters like Frodo and Aragorn embody Christ-like self-sacrifice, while the corrupting influence of the One Ring echoes the concept of sin.

Tolkien’s depiction of evil is also rooted in his faith. Sauron, the Dark Lord, and the Ring itself represent more than just physical threats—they embody the corrupting nature of absolute power and the spiritual danger of succumbing to evil, much like the Christian concept of original sin.

Lewis, on the other hand, was more overt with his Christian allegory, especially in The Chronicles of Narnia. Aslan, the great lion, is an unmistakable Christ figure, sacrificing himself for Edmund’s betrayal and rising again to save Narnia. While Tolkien disliked allegory, preferring to let the underlying truths speak through the narrative, Lewis embraced it, using the magical land of Narnia to explore themes of resurrection, salvation, and the battle between good and evil in a way that was accessible to both children and adults.

Faith and Friendship

Faith, while it deepened their friendship in some respects, also introduced some strain. Tolkien was never entirely comfortable with Lewis’s Anglicanism and found his friend’s theological writings—particularly Mere Christianity—too simplistic and reductive. He also disliked the overt allegory in The Chronicles of Narnia, feeling that Lewis’s mixing of mythological figures (fauns, centaurs, and Santa Claus, for example) alongside Christian themes was too jarring.

For his part, Lewis always remained appreciative of Tolkien’s role in his conversion, acknowledging that without Tolkien’s influence, he might never have come to faith. However, Lewis’s rising fame as a Christian apologist and his more public embrace of faith through radio talks and theological books made Tolkien uneasy. Tolkien, a more private man, valued faith as something personal and profound, while Lewis became a public figure in the Christian world.

Their differences in how they expressed their faith and their literary styles led to some distancing in later years, but the bond they shared over decades of friendship remained strong, especially in their mutual respect for one another’s intellect and creative genius.

The Lasting Impact

Faith was an essential pillar of both Tolkien and Lewis’s lives, deeply informing their works, their friendship, and their worldview. Without Tolkien’s steadfast Catholicism, The Lord of the Rings would lack much of its depth and moral complexity. Without Lewis’s eventual embrace of Christianity, The Chronicles of Narnia would never have been written, and the world would be without some of the most compelling Christian apologetic works of the 20th century.

Though their spiritual journeys took different paths—Tolkien’s steady and lifelong, Lewis’s dramatic and intellectual—their faith shaped not only their writings but also the nature of their friendship. Together, they built worlds that reflected their belief in the eternal struggle between good and evil, the power of redemption, and the hope that lies at the heart of the Christian narrative.

Their works continue to inspire readers today, offering not only escapism into fantastical worlds but also deep spiritual truths that resonate across generations. And at the heart of these stories lies the enduring friendship of two men whose faith was central to their lives and legacies.

[aintmyjewelry]

just remembered I can look up videos about my current hyperfixation on youtube. this is an autism win

[anneonomus]

thinking about the time someone in a tiktok comment section said sapphic poetry doesn’t exist. sapphic. poetry. we need to teach children how to google again the situation is so dire

[god-tier-bastard]

trying so hard to watch exu calamity bc ive seen the rly good scary clips from later on but jesus christ marishas intro is putting me to sleep

[lieutenantselnia]

Actually I think it's a bit unfair that I can't be an astrophysicist and a historian and a game developer and a marine biologist and an archaeologist and an author and a seamstress at the same time

[thetruearchmagos]

You asked me a bit ago about my naval plans in my WIP, and the truth is I don't have much, so can I ask for your help in creating some? What sort of shenanigans could a semi-modern navy (think cruisers, battleships, a very few capital class battleships, submarines) get into with officially neutral ports, trade ships, and passenger ships?

I'm thinking most of the naval stuff will involve not the warring major nations, but them fighting over supplies and shipments from other nations. Help me friend!

Well, well, well! Now that is quite the conundrum you've got there, and certainly filled with opportunities for some very interesting scenarios. I'm going to search in my head for some IRL examples of interesting non-total-war uses of naval power in the period, and you can tell me if anything helps!

Here, I've compiled a short list of some interesting naval-related incidents in world history, mostly from the approximate era relevant to Mortal Sparks. I hope they might give some inspiration!

The Tangiers and Agadir Crises: Sea Power, Short Of War

These two incidents, taking place in 1905 and 1911 respectively, were among the defining incidents in European great power politics in the lead up to WW1, and are sometimes touted as possible alternative inciting incidents for what would become the Great War. Both principally concerned the political status of Morocco, but would become stages on which France and Germany would test the influence of themselves and their respective alliances against one another. The naval aspect of the affair was most obviously shown in the second crisis, which saw a German gunboat dispatched to Morocco as a sign of their willingness to back their position with force, soon followed by the gunboat's replacement with a cruiser.

While France, Germany, and the UK would end both crises at the negotiating table, Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II in particular would feel particularly slighted at having come out on the losing end twice. Meanwhile, France and the UK would solidify their burgeoning entente with the signing of further naval treaties specifying either ally's role in the event of a full war with Germany.

South American Naval Arms Race: Ships For Sale?

This is less an example of great powers competing through the naval domain, and more an example of the shenanigans that great naval powers can be involved in even if they themselves have no intention of firing a shot in anger. Taking the form of a three way competition between Brazil, Chile, and Argentina from the late 19th century and into the 20th, it would see these countries massively expanding their respective navies. However, as none of the three regional powers possessed the industry and infrastructure to construct modern warships themselves, their fleets would be made up of dozens of ships built and designed by foreign, predominantly British, shipyards. The whole crisis would be considerably exacerbated by the creation of HMS Dreadnought, which single handedly rendered all existing battleships practically obsolete and spurred on demand for existing capital ships to be replaced rapidly across the board. In fact, Brazil's own exceptionally ambitious reaction to the affair would lead to it acquiring its own first dreadnoughts, of the Minas Geraes class, before Germany, France, Russia, or Japan would, built by the British companies Armstrong and Vickers, and in many ways superior to the first existing British and American dreadnoughts.

It's also notable that, despite the UK's own yards supplying the ships that manifested this crisis, the British government would repeatedly attempt to defuse tensions in order to preserve its valuable trade relations with the region. Interestingly enough, when WW1 did break out, many of these ordered dreadnoughts would still be under construction in their British yards, and either by seizure or purchase be acquired by the Royal Navy, alongside, interestingly enough, battleships under order for the Ottoman Empire.

Anglo-German Ocean Liner Race: Battles With Bling

An edge example, but I thought it'd be an interesting one since you did mention passenger ships! While the Anglo-German Naval Arms Race gets a lot of attention with its contributions to WW1, a similar competition in the sphere of commercial success and national prestige was playing out between the shipping lines and yards of the two great powers of the early 20th century. Size and luxury substituted firepower and protection when it came to key design features, but speed was of equal importance to both. If I were to make a larger point with this example, it would be that states which can raise and support large navies with the relevant infrastructure, technology, and skilled labour often have sizeable civilian maritime sectors as well. The usage of ocean liners as troop transports, on the other hand, shows how civilian assets in peacetime can be mustered for wartime service.

Beware, Arch deserts from his commitment to sticking to a specific era in the content below. Read at your own risk.

The Altmark Incident: Neutrality Not Withstanding

A touch past the scope of the designated era, and close to being an 'actual' war scenario of the sort I'm supposed to be avoiding, but it's honestly such a fascinating incident that I couldn't not include it. The crisis takes place during the so-called 'Phoney War', a period usually defined as spanning between invasions of Poland and of France and the Low Countries. A crucial point in the events of the crisis, and what ultimately made me decide to include it in this list, was the fact that Norway itself was still a neutral nation at this point, with ties to both Germany and the Western Allies.

The inciting event of the whole incident surrounds the German auxiliary vessel Altmark. Sailing back to Germany from the Atlantic down the coast of Norway, she carried three hundred POWs taken from British shipping by the 'pocket battleship' Graf Spee on her convoy raids. After the latter's destruction, she'd fled British and French naval forces, and at this stage relied on the neutrality of Norway and its territorial waters to safeguard herself and her cargo. A series of events I lack the ability to summarise would occur between the auxiliary and Norwegian authorities, which resulted in Altmark being allowed passage through a specially protected zone of Norwegian waters around Bergen to avoid an international incident.

The British government, finding about the matter via its embassy in Oslo, had other ideas. A force consisting of a light cruiser and five destroyers was immediately dispatched to intercept Altmark. The flotilla would make contact with the auxiliary while she was still under neutral Norwegian escort. The British would make increasingly brazen attempts to isolate Altmark as the collection of ships approached Germany, and when she finally ran out of space to manouevre the German vessel entered a fjord and ran aground on its ice, trapped. The British commander on the scene requested that their POWs be released, his Norwegian counterpart stated that he would refuse any British boarding attempt with force if he had to, and after seeking permission from the Admiralty HMS Cossack stormed into the fjord and, just avoiding a last ditch ramming attempt by the Altmark, boarded the auxiliary and freed the prisoners.

The sheer political fallout from the whole affair was immense. Norway, of course, protested the brazen breach of neutrality that had just taken place, while the UK criticised Norway for allowing a ship carrying POWs to pass through its waters. The applicability of any of these events to your worldbuilding is something I can't predict, but at least it might give you an example of the shit storms that can come about even with neutral states.

The S-363 Incident: Whiskey On The Rocks

If you thought the last example was a strange one, you ain't seen nothing yet! This affair, often referred to as the "Whisky On The Rocks" Incident, is probably one of the most personally fascinating Cold War events I can think of, and with some slight tweaking could fit in with any time period.

The incident centers on the Soviet diesel electric submarine S-363, of a type referred to under NATO terminology as the 'Whiskey' class. Whilst conducting a surveillance mission on a major Swedish naval exercise, the submarine ran aground in Swedish territorial waters. An unarmed Swedish officer was sent to board the boat and question her captain, who blamed serious failures in navigational equipment as reasons why his submarine had traversed numerous fjords and islands to come aground so close to the major Swedish naval base of Karlskrona.

The Soviet captain was removed from the boat for interrogation in the presence of Soviet officials, while Swedish authorities searched the submarine. In the meantime, a sizeable Soviet naval task force was assembled and put to sea in the Baltic, approaching Swedish waters. Using radiological equipment, traces of uranium were found in the boat's torpedo tubes, suggesting the presence of nuclear torpedoes aboard S-363.

A storm swept over the region, leading the grounded submarine to send out a distress signal. Soon afterwards, two unknown vessels were detected entering Sweden's territorial waters from the last known point of the Soviet flotilla, heading straight towards Karlskrona, and the crisis reached its height of tension. Swedish aircraft were armed and ready to strike, and coastal batteries were put on full alert. Finally, it would be revealed that the two vessels were actually a pair of German merchant ships.

The crisis would end ten days later with the return of the submarine to Soviet authorities, but marks one of the most tense periods of the Cold War, a 'conflict' which on the whole saw little open fighting between the major powers involved in it.

[sheeshiki]

if anything is going to happen to her i'll kill everyone in my party and then myself

[kaurwreck]

def recommend expanding beyond Wikipedia for learning more about the bsd authors. and for most other things. but here especially.

[firebirdsdaughter]

As the daughter of a history major…

… Where the hell are so many americans on tumblr going to school???

I just saw a post about how ‘it’s taught in america that the pilgrims were Good and fleeing religious intolerance but they were actually Bad’ which first off, you cannot make those distinctions bc freaking everyone was up to kill anyone who didn’t agree in those days, but also��� People claiming to be american claiming that they were definitely taught exactly that??

Maybe… If you never took a history class past elementary school, I guess. Or maybe you were in Florida (oh, gods, get my mother started on people killing each other in Florida).

Bc, resident American here, albeit one in Massachusetts, and… No. We’re not taught that. You get a romanticised version in early grades maybe, but the higher you go, you get taught that the most Puritans had different religious beliefs than the standard in England, so they took the opportunity to ship off to the colonies. There’s no victimisation, it’s just straight facts. And that usually, that was the category of people shipped off to the colonies—criminals, religious differences, poor people… Like no one in their right mind wanted to go off into the ‘wilderness.’ They did it bc they hated being where they were, and England was all too happy to get rid of them. Hell, they were also completely unprepared and many of them died on the way over. Like that shot went super bad for so many reasons.

I’m not going to claim I remember every detail I was taught, and I had a bit of a deeper knowledge bc my mother is, again, a history major w/ an interest in American history bc it is whacky), and I do remember the ‘founding’ being a little simplified, but I also distinctly remember going into higher grades and having teachers outright explain ‘what you were told as kids was a very simplified version, let’s talk about it in more detail.’ We weren’t taught that there were ‘good’ or ‘bad’ guys, we were taught that these people had a difference in belief and that for that reason, they ended up shipped off to the colonies. We talked about the conflicts, the damage, the ugly bits.

I think people claiming to have been taught a sanitised version either didn’t take many history classes, didn’t pay attention, or don’t remember much of what they were taught (which no judgement here, I barely remember). Or maybe they’re just trying to sound Cool on the internet? I can’t know. But I remain baffled by certain myths about the us that alleged Americans come out of the woodwork to claim are true when… Your experiences are not universal???

Like I’m happy to criticise the education system, bc excuse me while I cry about not being able to hold a conversation in Spanish, but like. Unless you were in a very particular environment (I went to public school, btw)… No, you weren’t taught that shit. There’s parts missing, sure, but they did not, at least not beyond elementary, try to claim the ‘Pilgrims’ were blameless. I remember being taught that life was harsh and short, and people bitter and stubborn. I don’t doubt that the words ‘fleeing religious intolerance’ might’ve been used, bc technically, yes, they were. But I am also intolerant of trolls, and mosquitos. That’s a statement, it has no bearing on what kind of people either group was.