#women heroes are built up just to destroy them

[extremely-judgemental]

Rhysand isn’t that great of a High Lord as praised in the books. IC’s ‘dreamers’ or ‘peace keepers’ narrative is just laughable.

SJM loves Rhys so much that she can't go a page without telling others how great he is. This is going to be long, and I don’t have much good things to say about him.

Rhys’s father gets killed when he was still young, around the time of the first war. Which means he had been High Lord for over 500 years. And since then he’s had IC with him too.

He’s known as the most powerful High Lord to have ever existed. But there are simply no mention of what he had done so far to prove that other than inheriting genes from his parents. He’s supposed to be unstoppable, and that’s the only thing everyone goes on about. After Amarantha drains most of the powers of High Lords, he’s still left with lot more. During the war with Hybern, he destroys a whole fleet of the enemy’s army with a flick of his finger. Great, but what else has he done with that so called power?

When they were talking about Velaris, I honestly thought Rhys and IC built the city themselves because of their dreams. But Velaris was built by his ancestor who was the OG dreamer. Including the wards, which he powered with his own blood.

During Amarantha’s rule, Rhys hid Velaris and his friends. Considering his powers were diminished, he couldn’t have saved the entire court but would he have since he hates Hewn City already? His first instinct was to erase the minds of his people UtM, mind you they were all from CoN since Rhys didn’t trust Amarantha enough that even his friends were left behind. And if we consider the ward he cast UtM, it’s quite pointless or just precautionary. As no one knew of Velaris and considering the wards were already powerful, he did that to protect his friends, to keep them in Velaris so that they don’t go looking for him. He basically bound the city’s safety to his friends’ lives which I don’t know if it’s a smart move or not. If any one of them had disobeyed his command, seeing how reckless Cassian and Azriel can be, he risked his city’s safety. Ignoring that, he protected his friends and his city, which was his literal job, which is no different from whatever the other HLs did the best they could.

Hewn City was the sacrificial lamb. They were the ones getting dragged into politics, wars, and whatnot. They are the evil subjects to his evil rule. And given that’s the role the people are meant to play every time, I don’t see how they could have lived any differently. After rescuing Mor, they did nothing to prevent it from happening to anyone else. If she was a gem of a person in the worst place possible, she couldn’t have been the only one. Given, Rhy has ultimate power to some extent even though Keir has influence over Hewn City, it’s notable that no one did anything to provide safety to anyone suffering. Velaris is the only safe place in Night Court where people can be themselves, and live a free life. And yet, it’s a secret from the ones in NC too. So what about other women who might endure what Mor did? What about the people who don’t agree with HC’s morals and ideals and want to leave, but they don’t see an option and don’t want to leave their home, i.e., NC? In the 500 years, no one made an attempt to change the traditions in fear of Keir rebelling against them. Not even Mor is said to do anything about it. She hates the place and clumps everyone in the same category as it’s easier to ignore.

It’s constantly pointed out that Rhys doesn’t even visit it often. And Mor is the one running it. Apart from occasionally showing up as their ruler and making a scene, Rhys has no contribution to that part of his court at all. As if he handed the responsibility completely to Mor while he enjoyed in Velaris. Unless he’s plotting something and he has a need, he doesn’t really bother with that city. Yes, for a ruler, delegation is important. But he’s completely ignorant of the rest of the court unless he has to play hero. Velaris is the only place the entire IC truly seem to care about and that’s not a good thing.

Now, when Keir tries to free his people, they outright deny him. He wanted to get out of the mountain. They could have given him access outside of the mountains but not within Velaris. But what is truly questionable is making a decision without consulting Mor about Keir’s arrival to Velaris. It was not only a betrayal of her trust as a friend, but also disrespectful to his third-in-command who basically takes care of his court all those years.

Though it might be seen as an empowering move to give reins to Mor over HC, sometimes she can’t stand in the same room as her father or Eris without having a traumatic flashback. If for personal reasons and space that Rhys doesn’t interfere, he should have as a ruler. But he doesn’t. And someone who’s biased towards a major portion of their court and still processing trauma from it is not a great idea.

Similar issue with Illyria. Women suffering, children abused, no reformation. The recent insertion of training females felt like a plot development and excuse instead of true motives of the IC to improve their court.

The major problem with the IC’s dreamer narrative is that they want to live in a better place but they don’t actively do anything about it. Their solution is to isolate the trouble and turn a blind eye instead of facing it. Illyria in the mountains. HC and the rest of the court cut off. While Rhys and the IC stay happily in Velaris, enjoying all that the city has to offer. Given he’s been in power for 500 years, if he had started reforming early on, they should have made some progress if they had at least tried.

Then there’s the matter of his relationship with other courts. After UtM, there was so much space for Rhys to build a better alliance with them all, except Spring of course. It was actually the best opportunity, even if he didn’t want to give up the bad guy act. They had all seen him fight against Amarantha in the end. Instead, he goes ahead and tricks the one HL who truly gave him a chance for exactly that—friendship and allyship. Rhys is a daemati and he uses his powers on anyone when he doesn’t trust them. He could've done that, he would've already done on that on Tarquin. And yet, he still went ahead with his plans after listening to his talks with Feyre. And when Tarquin blames Feyre for the attack on his court, Rhys should have held her accountable and apologised. Instead, Rhys skirts around with his ‘She’s the High Lady’ comment.

Going after Hybern and the cauldron was a mistake, a little understandable though. But since Hybern didn’t set his eyes only on NC, they should have warned the other HLs even if they didn’t want them to fight. At least after they got the book and had a plan in place. If they had, the others would have prepared which is proven with what happened in Summer.

Spring was the biggest sign of how terrible a HL Rhys is. Feyre was a comparatively a child who went through so much and she was clearly acting out of vengeance. Though it made sense for her at that time, Rhys who is known as the cunning mastermind throughout the series should have known the implications. He didn’t have the connection with her all the time to know what she was doing or what she was plotting. But he should have warned her. Instead, he encouraged her. He had a duty to his court and by extension, to Prythian. And he let Feyre destroy an entire court to punish one man.

And there’s the ‘bad guy’ mask he uses. He didn’t need that at all. If he had been a regular HL who wasn’t a high fae, it would make sense why he needed to pretend to be ruthless. But he is the most powerful HL to exist. He has the two most powerful Illyrian warriors by his side. Mor is said to be powerful and we don’t know how or why. He has Amren too. Basically they are a superhero squad among the courts. Literally he doesn’t need it at all since no one would dare fight him. Even if he acted that way because his ancestors had done so, there are some things he did which no one just pretending to be evil might(ahem ahem what he did to Feyre).

What I’m trying to say is most of the things he did was what he was meant to do as a HL and they are not extraordinary to label him as the best HL like it’s mentioned in all the books. He did his job, sometimes terribly. Other than protecting what was already well protected and going to wars, his actions weren’t mentioned enough to call him the best, most just, most powerful HL ever. 500 years is a long time and he did nothing though he had a ‘dream’.

[anastasiareyreed]

all russians are guilty and let me explain why.

make yourself comfortable, it's gonna be a long ride.

you might notice that every time, if russians appear in a movie, series or documentary, they have either done something criminal, are doing it or are planning to do it. because the entire history of russia's existence is built on crimes, wars, genocides and occupations — Ukraine, Syria, Georgia, Chechnia and many more.

russia unleashed the most frequent genocidal attacks against Ukraine. occupation of Ukrainian lands and enslavement of Ukrainians, constant persecution and murder of speakers of the Ukrainian language, Ukrainian poets, writers, teachers — the entire nation, any Ukrainian figures of culture or politics. And, of course, the awful Holodomor (if you more into visualization, watch the movie about the Holodomor — «Mr Jones».)

no matter who is in power, throughout its existence, russia has been trying to destroy Ukraine and everything related to Ukrainian culture and history.

first of all, I think the terms «guilty» and «bad» must be separated here. I'm not saying all russians are bad, because «bad» is quite subjective and vague term. just like term «good». a person can be good in relations with neighbors, good at their job or good meaning polite. but what happens to a «good» person who stands by when other people are killed, tortured and raped in front of this person's eyes and on this person's behalf? this person becomes guilty. and many can and DO have the right to call and consider this person bad.

what exactly you are doing when you write «not all russians support the war»? you tell Ukrainians that THIS TIME there are definitely good russians, good guys among the people who constantly repressed Ukrainian people. but let me tell you this. if ten people stand in front of me and tell me that only one of them probably is not a murderer, I WILL NOT trust that person. I won't risk my life, and I'm sure you won't either.

I, like many Ukrainians, had friends or relatives in russia. but all of us were betrayed by these people, because it is in their DNA to put themselves above Ukrainians. and it's quite unreasonable in the digital age to justify their position about war by the fact that they don't know anything and totally drowned in propaganda. do they not know how to search for information, use their phones, computers or brain?

when you say that right now not all russians are against Ukraine or Syria, you cannot be sure that a russian who writes «I don't support the war» is telling the truth. that this person is not trying to maintain their public image and avoid condemnation. how can we believe the word of the representatives of the nation that every decade wage a war? the presumption of innocence doesn't apply here, hundreds of thousands of victims of russia are proof of that.

my favorite topic that people like to manipulate is how can we blame russian children. sure, we are in our right mind, so we don't say that a russian child is as guilty as an adult russian man who raped Ukrainian children and tortured Ukrainian women and men. we say that the russian child must know and feel collective responsibility from an early age, so that in the future the child doesn't take the place of that adult russian man.

while other countries honor the memory of their heroes and victims of the WWII on the day of victory over the fascists, only the russians proudly and joyfully said every year that they could repeat and start another war. which they did. that's why russian children should see that the world associates russia only with death, crimes and wars. that the world doesn't tolerate russian products, art, culture or people. this is the only way children will be able to realize from an early age that this way of russia's lifestyle is condemned by the world and must be radically changed.

Ukrainian and Syrian children, who are currently suffering from russia's actions, grew up too early and lost their childhood, they know what war is, know that it's evil and russia is a terrorist state. russian children should know this as well, so that the changes in the russian mentality — that the world has been waiting for several centuries in a row​ — have come.

you say russian children are not guilty, sure, but they are taught that war is branded, powerful, cool and solid. Ukrainian and Syrian children are not guilty, but they are taught how to act if their parents are killed by a russian missile. you say russian youth are not guilty and shouldn't risk their future to protest against the war. Ukrainian and Syrian youth are not guilty, but every day they give their lives for the freedom that the russians are trying to take away.

russian soldiers who went to kill Ukrainians and Syrians. russians who are relatives, friends or colleagues of these soldiers. russians who openly support wars in Ukraine & Syria or show their passivity. russians who volunteer to support the russian army. russians, who for centuries raised their children with imperialist views and contempt for other nations and races. and, as history shows, will continue to raise in the same way, no matter how the war ends. if russia loses they will raise children ready for another revenge. if russia wins they will raise children with mindset that Ukrainians are an inferior nation. russians have hundreds of years of experience in it. ask how the peoples that russia once occupied live today.

imagine what those hundreds of thousands of russian soldiers would achieve not on peaceful Ukrainian streets, killing people, but somewhere in a square in moscow, protesting against the war. soldiers, their relatives, friends and neighbors. eight years ago, Ukrainians protested against the dictator, dying for their principles and freedom.

Iranians went against a real dictator, dying for their principles and freedom. because this is the only way to achieve change.

the only «protest» action of russians is to post a picture somewhere online or to stand peacefully for half an hour in a small group of people, passively holding «no war» piece of paper and leaving before dark, because tomorrow they have to go to work or universities. russians support the war or simply don't care, because it's easier to live that way. if they chose collective indifference, they must face collective responsibility.

your «not all russians are guilty» is based on your assumptions about the good faith of russians, a naive idea of what this nation really is. my «all russians are guilty» is based on hundreds of years of history of relations between russia and Ukraine. on the number of wars russia has waged in the past and is waging now, the number of nations it has destroyed and the number of evil actions the world has forgiven the russians, hoping that THIS TIME everything will definitely be different.

[coolcarsntrucksngunsnusa]

1971 Green Beret Captain Richard Flaherty stands next to 6'6" Pfc. Nipps.

Richard J. Flaherty, due to complications at his birth, only grew to 4-foot-9-inches tall, 97-pounds. Coming from a family of military heroes Richard also wanted to do his part and serve his country.

People laughed at the idea of a man his size in the military and all the branches turned him down. But that didn't deter Richard, he spent the next 3 years writing letters until he finally received a medical waiver. With the waiver the Army allowed him to join... but no one ever believed he would make it through basic training.

His uniforms didn't fit, the equipment was too big, and he was required to carry a back pack during long marches that was almost the same weight as he was. Because of his leg length marching in step with the rest of his company was incredibly difficult but Richard kept up. All the obstacle courses were built for average size men but Richard conquered them all. No rules were ever changed for Richard - either he would sink or swim.

Richard didn't just make it through basic training he volunteered and become an elite paratrooper, with the 101st Airborne. When he would jump out of planes the instructors would have to strap machine gun parts to his body to help his descent so he wouldn't "float away."

He graduated Officer Candidate School in 1968 as a 2nd Lieutenant and deployed to Vietnam. Within weeks he would lead his platoon in some of the bloodiest battles during the "Tet Offensive." In that week he was wounded twice by grenade fragmentation and a grazing bullet wound to the head but as soon as he was patched up he jumped right back into the battle.

After several months of fighting on the front lines many officers would accept assignments in the rear away from the action but not Richard. He would request to be transferred to Echo Company to lead a RECON unit which engaged in dangerous search and destroy missions deep into enemy territory. By the time his first tour in Vietnam was finished, Richard would receive the Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars with Valor, & 2 Purple Hearts.

If you think that's where Richard's story ends, think again. Richard would become an elite Green Beret with the 3rd Special Forces Group and be promoted to Captain. He served with the 46th Company based in Thailand where some of their clandestine missions sent them into Pink Zones "across the fence" fighting Malaysian and Burmese guerrillas.

As incredible as all his accomplishments seem that's just the first half of his life story as his next chapters of undercover operations around the world seem closer to something out of a Tom Clancy book.

Richard had one last surprise when it came to his final wishes. Even though he knew he was qualified for the highest military burial in Arlington National Cemetery he instead chose to be buried in a small anonymous cemetery in W. Virginia so he could be next to the women he loved for eternity.

To learn more about the unbelievable life of America's smallest war hero please check out, "The Giant Killer" Book, Audiobook and Documentary available worldwide.

Flaherty Military Bio:

Special Forces Capt. Richard J. Flaherty AKA The Giant Killer - In December of 1967, was sent to Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division. He served as a Platoon Leader with companies B, C, and D and as a Recon Platoon Leader with Echo company.

In January of 1969, he returned to CONUS and attended the Special Forces School at Fort Bragg and was then assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group. Later that year he returned to South East Asia with the 46th Special Forces Company A-110 in Camp Pawai, Lopburi Thailand.

Captain Flaherty earned the Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars, 2 Purple Hearts, the Air Medal, Gallantry Cross W/Silver Star, Army Commendation Medal, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, 3 Overseas Bars, Sharpshooter Badge W/Rifle Bar, Air Medal, Parachutist Badge, Vietnam Service badge.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Spiderwebs Part 6: Master of Puppets

I know I let this fall by the wayside, but I didn't realize it had been almost a year. Wild. This series was about trying to nail down how Dressrosa thematically ties in with where we're at in Wano to Egghead. Particularly the through line that passes through Kiku's quietly significant story. For Doffy himself, the idea is quite simple; if I'm making the argument that many of these New World women have built a space for a sensible final member, whoever it may be, then Doflamingo is the display of how vexing it can be to face someone with this skill set.

For all the love some other lines get, the best one from Doffy is right here as he's revealing he played Law like a damn fiddle. I swear I have thoughts when I go looking for this stuff and it never ceases to impress me how the story always seems to up the ante when you finally do. The best illusions rely on the simplest tricks. He's right, especially with the follow-up:

I want to be 100% clear, when I talk about the way Kiku & Yamato play off each other in Wano...this logic is what it runs on. It's that simple trick that spins a grand illusion and it works because it doesn't feel very battle shonen. Kiku does way more in terms of bonding with the crew and contributing to the plot, not to mention the deeper connections, but the story plays along with both you not liking it when people dote on you as well as Yamato's bluster. If nothing else, Doffy shows Eiichiro Oda is familiar with the concept. The assumption this series wouldn't rely on a kinda meta plot like that for something big because it hasn't before is exactly why it'd work.

What makes Doffy different than the Paradise warlords? Crocodile and Moria lost in the New World but stayed their own men. They just had to retreat and lower their aims. Learn to take things slower. The hard version of the growth we like seeing out of Luffy in early Wano. Doffy on the other hand takes the other route for survival in the New World. He works with the Emperors. But as a broker. Someone who is working his "benefactors" to his own ends too. To me there's a logic there; finding someone like Doffy to fill these gaps is a way to move ahead where the others failed, not have to learn that lesson the hard way. But the wrong person can use those same skills to instigate infighting and manipulate you.

Getting there though, gotta love how Doffy takes over the country. I just adore the design of him lounging in King Riku's window like that. It's such a well executed plan he gets by with open, horrific evil and the people cheer him. Twice, the people cheer for a "hero" that destroys the country. He doesn't rule the same way Kaido will, if you play by his rules Dressrosa actually becomes wealthier. At a cost of contributing more to global suffering as an arms dealer. A lot of the people give in though, indulge their bloodlust in the Colosseum and even with his Birdcage game.

Speaking of, full display of the strengths someone like this relies on. For so much time he was able to sit up there with his executives and make the country fight itself. Promise of money, fear, someone who understands people understands how easy it is to motivate them.

If the main villains are all manifestations of what Luffy could become...that makes Doffy interesting. See I actually think Luffy could become this type of person. Jaded and cynical enough he justifies atrocities through the idea he's protecting his family. Perverting his natural charm and charisma to manipulate those with nowhere else to go. It's why Oden is a great cautionary tale too. Gets me to Baby 5 here. I love this little interchange where Doffy & Luffy show how different they are. Baby 5 immediately steps up and blasts this guy who laughs at Pica's voice. Any of them would, it's cool though how Baby 5 wasn't really a major part of the scene and it feels so sudden. Luffy immediately does the same after, and it isn't long after that we see him learn Doflamingo killed Corazon.

That's usually Luffy's big line, he hates leaders who abuse their subordinates and honestly I chalk that up to the likely (to me) idea a big part of his motivation was growing up a lonely kid sitting in a small town bar. The story makes them natural enemies, which comes up in what we learn of the big D. But we learn a lot from our enemies and that's what I feel gets carried over into WCI/Wano/Egghead.

[rrcraft-and-lore]

The Celtic Goddess Danu - the Mother Goddess, the goddess of and manifest divine waters. The waters that fell from heaven to create the sacred river, Danuvis or the Danube.

The Tuatha De Danaan are translated as "The Children of Danu."

There are similarities here between this Ganga and the forming of the Ganges. But more notably, Danu from Hindiusm - the primordial mother goddess of ancient/first old waters - liquid. There is also a river named Danu in Nepal.

She is the mother of the Danavas, a larger category of the Asuras - celestial/supernatural beings of god like powers, but calling them gods exactly is incorrect. Asuras and Devas are larger in some ways than that - celestial/cosmic beings of princely domains/abilities is slightly more accurate, but for all intents an purposes. There are more similarities between Celtic and Vedic/Hindu culture/myths.

Why?

Well, recent research has shown Celtic genetics shows paternal and maternal ancestry from ancient India (R-M269 deriving via R1b, and H & U haplogroups) - is it really that weird then we see echoes of the ancient Indian epics echoed throughout other parts of the world, especially with the history of Eurasian/South Asian trade, migration, and more?

There is a story well known in the South Asian stories, but let's talk about the similar Celtic one. A tale of how a hero has to build a causeway across the waters to reach his foe, and how his wife must outsmart her captor/villain.

Some Indians are already nodding their heads. We begin with the Celtic hero: Fionn mac Cumhaill, a hero who is born just after his father dies. 

Does this sound somewhat familiar?

Well, here we have Rama, born to Dasaratha, who is cursed to die soon as his son leaves him. His father dies as soon as Rama is exiled from Ayodhya. 

Finn goes on to study with poets, warriors, and hunters in the forest of Sliabdh Bladma.

Rama goes to the forest hermitage where he learns similar arts under Vasitha. 

Finn later in his youth goes on to destroy the fire breathing demon Áillen of the Tuatha (Children of Danu analogous of Aditi here btw) who destroys the capital of Tara every year on Samhain (a celebration very similar to the Indian Pitru Paksha btw) 

Rama as a teen kills the Asuras attacking the hermitage - the enemies of the Devas (children of Aditi), interestingly enough just like I've talked about in the Norse (how you have two bodies of celestial/god beings - Aesir and Vanir), the Greeks have it, there is also a flipping that happens in a lot of these ancient cultures.

Aesir and Asura come from the proto indo European asr - but in one group one is good, the other bad. However in the Iranian - Zoroastrian, there is a reverse. The Ahura (Asura) are GOOD and the Devas are bad (down to including Indra from South Asian mythology), and in the Celtic we see something similar - a flipping of roles.

Rama, Sita, and her protector Lakshmana were all in exile together in the forest. The demon king Ravana sends a golden deer to tempt/seduce and lure away Sita from Rama but it is really the demon Maricha in disguise. Sita is tricked and ends up sending her protector to Rama, leaving herself vulnerable, and thus abducted by Ravana who wishes to marry her and this leads to a war in where Rama eventually gets her back also, kidnapping of a women sparking a war? OH HI, HELEN OF TROY. HI.

Fionn meets his wife Sabadh while hunting, and guess what? She is turned into a deer by a druid she refuses to marry. She returns to her true form once in Fionn's home and they marry...only she's turned into a deer again by the druid Fear Doirich when Fionn was off at war, and Fionn must spend years searching for her. Wow. Coinky dinky dinky. 

Now to the original part of my talk here, the causeway in Ireland was built by Fionn to travel to battle a giant. Rama Setu, his causeway, was built by Rama's army so he could enter Lanka to do battle there - (Sri Lanka).

The Celts also have four major cycles of time just like the Vedic Indians did. The tricky thing here is that linguistically, PIE (proto Indo European) has been shown to be behind a lot of story/cultural influences as it spread through Europe/Asia, but...the thing that's hard to account for here is how geo-located Ramayama is in/to India, so why do specific echoes of it show up in Celtic mythology so much so?

Yay comparative mythology and echoed storytelling/beats tropes across the world.

[aquadestinyswriting]

Ayyyy, Aqua! :D Happy STS! So I'm making my way through Titan Modern AU, and . . . actually, take two questions on it. 8)

I have legitimately looked everywhere, and I am severely curious. :') Have you thought of a title for this one, or is its title literally just Titan Modern AU?

More importantly, tho, how much did you have to change to make the world of Fangthane's Folly fit the modern day? (And what did you end up keeping? I notice there's magic and dwarves, but how different are these bits compared to their DnD roots?)

Hope this ask finds you well! :D o/

Hi Jax, this is technically a day late, but not really because time zones are a thing :P. I am very well, thank you. I am enjoying the fact that the words seem to be flowing quite easily for the time being and taking advantage of that to write a lot for all my ongoing series and creating new ones. Thanks very much for the questions, I have a lot to talk about with this AU :D. Answers are under a cut because the second one is going to get quite long.

Question 1

I don't currently have an actual title for this one yet. I have a tendency to title WIPs towards the end of writing them and this one is no exception. I have some vague ideas, but I'm not too concerned about it just yet. Especially since there's a high possibility that this one is going to throw some major curveballs my way once I get into the thick of the plot that might well change the kind of title I want to give it.

Question 2

Ah, the dwarves are technically not a thing for this one. Everyone is more or less human, unless it's directly stated otherwise. The reason Fangthanian women can have beards at all is down to a slight genetic quirk which means they are pre-disposed to much higher testosterone levels than average. The Throffite community, in particular, is very insular and tend to inter-marry within themselves due to a history of discrimination against them.

As to how I changed the setting to fit with the modern aesthetic:

I've modelled Fangthane city a little bit after towns like Fort William, since the location of Fangthane in Allansia has a relatively similar geography to that of the Scottish Highlands. So Fangthane city is no longer built into the mountain, but is a city that was built very close to the mountain (which is now called Ben Oir). Extrapolating from there, and taking into account the maps that exist of Allansia, it was a a matter of figuring out how and why there would be outposts for the kingdom that are so far away from the capital. In that case, an old empire made a lot of sense, and taking into account the relative time period this AU is set in (roughly the 90s to early 2000s), it also made sense that said empire had been disbanded, but that communities deriving from it still exist (hence why Stonebridge and Firetop are still mainly natively Fangthanian). So, yeah, culturally speaking Fangthane is basically the UK transplanted into Allansia at this point.

I wanted some of the history of Toreguarde to remain intact because there are plot things related to that that will pop up later in the story. The city was almost destroyed, officially, by what is considered to have been a terrorist organisation that was working on behalf of another state and/or one of the ruling council of Toreguarde of the time who went just teeny bit mad with power (Greydown was an absolute ass in canon, and is in this AU too).

As the setting, rather purposefully, appears to be lacking in magic, no mentions are made of demons, portals or the breaking of reality, even by those who were present at the time. The remaining Heroes still exist, but I'm working out what their exact roles in all that were. Egrim is still a priest, so that's him covered. Alexis, upon talking to Dru about it, was probably a sniper that was a part of the military forces of Toreguarde at the time, while Selene was probably some sort of science-y nerd person brought in to help explain some of the weirder stuff that went on that was kind of acknowledged and then later given plausible and sensible scientific explanations. She just happened to be somewhat decent at this diplomacy lark when communication with the reinforcements from Fangthane started going south, hence her current role in the story. She probably worked quite closely with Ivan, who I have yet to figure out the details of, with regards to that. I also need to figure out what Fai did and what happened to him...

I am doing a lot of this worldbuilding and adjusting Fantasy canon on the fly, to be quite honest, so not a lot of it is set in stone just yet. However, I have given some thought to the Throffite community both in Fangthane and in Toreguarde and some of their history and culture, drawing a lot on what I established about Throffism in the fantasy canon and doing some major research into the irl history of such things to make sure that anything I write about it is handled as sensitively as possible. I have also written copious notes on the hows and whys of the fractious relationship between Fangthane and Toreguarde that would fit in with more modern (Western, as that is what I'm familiar with) political norms.

[eldritchamy]

What the shit. Fighting a god in hand to hand combat as a gold dragon using immovable rods goes so fucking hard and it’s the backstory for a character that’s just in the main backstory???????? AMY???

You know how a lot of people, when making DND characters, make the mistake of having their level 1 PC have an elaborate backstory where they're super badass and already recognized as a hero?

When I made Ash I did the opposite. Her backstory is elaborate, yes, but in very mundane ways that inform her personality and how she perceives the world around her, and build up the logic of how she makes decisions.

I made everyone AROUND my PC a super powerful character who had done incredible things, and I gave Ash anxiety about it.

She feels, constantly, that she is inadequate by comparison. Her entire frame of reference is shaped by a bunch of women in her life that are outstandingly powerful, and she's just a quiet girl who makes leather goods and sells them for a living. She thinks of herself as the NPC in other people's more impressive lives.

Her mother, Lailah, is a nearly seven foot tall divine warrior created in Elysium to destroy Pit Fiends. She's an angel of lightning built like an MMA fighter, and she wields a weapon like piece of a lightning bolt (not stylized, I mean a real, glowing crackling arc of electricity that she holds like a staff and can be used like anything from a polearm to a spear to a whip, and when thrown it acts like a Lightning Bolt spell). She is built, both narratively and in game stats, to be an unkillable holy destroyer, capable of fighting MULTIPLE PIT FIENDS simultaneously, and winning. She's a CR 10+ magical creature (she's a homebrewed mix of Deva and Erinyes stat blocks with some unique flavor) with eighteen class levels, 16 in Zealot Barbarian and 2 in Fighter. She has a strength of 27 and a constitution of 25. She's designed to deal HUGE amounts of damage, tank unfathomable amounts in turn, NOT DROP WHEN SHE HITS ZERO HITPOINTS, and keep swinging until every devil in her way is a pile of dust, then use bonus action Second Wind to bring herself back above 0 so she doesn't incur the auto-death caveat on Zealot Barbarian's Rage Beyond Death ability. One of her attuned items is also the very simple uncommon item "Periapt of Wound Closure" which automatically stabilizes you at the start of your turn, thereby resetting the death saving throws she would theoretically have to make each time she gets hit below 0. Also, as an angel, she's innately immune to auto-death effects like Power Word Kill, which closes almost all loopholes that get around her build. She is UNSPEAKABLY badass. I ran a simulated round of combat with her once, and she could potentially one-shot a CR 15 Skittering Horror (228 HP) in a single turn. Her theoretical maximum damage output is like, 456 damage in a turn (granted this assumes all crits and rolling max damage).

So that's Ash's mom.

Aria is interesting. She was always strongly attuned to the forces of nature, and her magic grew quickly. Where Ash grew up with someone she knew would always be there to protect her from anything, Aria did NOT have that safety net, and spent her formative years learning to be more self-sufficient in terms of relying on her own power. So eventually she got sucked into an adventuring party consisting of herself (a tiefling Witch subclass with very strong druid flavor), a tiefling zealot barbarian, and a couple of elf twins who were an Arcana cleric and a Celestial Warlock. Sometime after they had made a name for themselves, they were tasked with stopping a suspected fledgling vampire who had been kidnapping girls and killing a bunch of people. When they arrived, they met Cass, who was very much NOT a new vampire. She was almost 150 years old and had been protecting women from abusers and overzealous debt collectors, and things had gotten a little messy with one or two of them, leading to a lot more attention than she normally got. They start off fighting Cass (Aria polymorphs herself into a dire wolf and lunges directly for the throat, which Cass found amusing and impressive) but realize in the banter that Cass wasn't the real problem, and she ends up being a sort of a lesson for the group in terms of whose word they trust and who they take jobs from (YES THE BACKSTORY'S BACKSTORY HAS NARRATIVE ARCS AND MORAL LESSONS THAT LEAD TO LONG TERM CHARACTER GROWTH OKAY I CAN'T HELP MYSELF). Cass, having a particular rapport with Aria, ends up joining their party as a dhampir Soulknife Rogue/Shadow Monk.

Yes, that's all backstory that I made up for an imaginary campaign that exists entirely as a set piece for Aria as one of Ash's story NPCs. This doesn't even touch on the fact that I liked Cass so much as a character that I gave HER an entire backstory of her own. I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM.

Anyway the team only makes a bigger name for themselves for handling things that other groups can't. Eventually, they just happen to be in the Tenth District when the War of the Spark happens (major established event in the MTG canon), and I basically added some extra "scenes" to it that didn't violate existing canon so I could have that be the climax of their imaginary campaign. One of Aria's partners was a new planeswalker at the time and her spark got harvested by the Dreadhorde, specifically by the god eternal Bontu.

Gods in Magic The Gathering aren't honestly that special? They don't seem to have THAT much power, all things considered. Ravnica's gods are mostly powerful magical animals, and in the most recent Magic Story one of their gods (Anzrag the Quake Mole) was captured in an "evidence capsule" (basically Magic's version of a Pokeball). The most powerful god in MTG is probably the Ur Dragon honestly, unless you count the Eldrazi, but that's a whole other conversation since neither of those actually have the "God" creature type.

Anyway, Bontu was one of the gods of Amonket (basically a plane based on ancient Egypt), which had been conquered by an Elder Dragon planeswalker named Nichol Bolas. HE was the one who actually killed all but one of Amonket's gods, and then another planeswalker named Liliana Vess (extremely powerful necromancer) raised them as zombies for his army, because Bolas had a ton of complicated leverage over her (magical contract that he could invoke to kill her if she betrayed him). So Bontu was a god zombie.

Here's a reference:

Well, Aria was a level 18 Witch at this point since this was the climax of their campaign, so she had access to the Shapechange spell, a 9th level transmutation that lets you become any creature with a challenge rating equal or lower than your character level. And the best candidate for that was an Adult Gold Dragon (CR 17). So Aria goes full berserk and stands up on her dragon hind legs and picks a fight with a dead god that she's determined to make deader, and has a Godzilla vs King Ghidorah standoff with her.

So how do you fight a god that can suck your soul out and instantly kill you with a single touch? You don't let it touch you.

What Aria did was basically inspired by this gif of a Wildebeest trying to charge at a lion:

Or this:

And to be clear, yes, I'm saying Aria was the lion in that situation. She basically did a big dragon threat display to get Bontu's attention, and used the Gold Dragon's weakening breath to give Bontu disadvantage on Strength checks and saves. Bontu charged at her, and at the last second Aria dropped to the ground and then shot back up, clamped her teeth around the god's throat, and used her weight to throw Bontu around and knock her off balance, and her superior strength to grab her by the wrists and wrestled her to the ground so she couldn't get a grip on Aria. She had every part of the god that could have killed her pinned, and used the claws of her wings to pull Bontu's armor apart and tear at everything she could reach while thrashing her around. It was Fen, the Arcana cleric, who thought to use Immovable rods to pin Bontu down so that even if Aria lost her grip, Bontu wouldn't be able to immediately one-shot any of them. So Athena (barbarian) and Cass (rogue/monk) as the two martial classes were the ones who got close enough to handle that while Fen and her sister (Gwen) used whatever holy magic they could to help from a distance.

Now CASS had a problem, because she's a DEX based martial class, not a strength based one. She needed a boost to be able to get this job done. So she drank some of Bontu's blood from one of the wounds Aria had left on her arm to give herself a burst of strength. Except. She had to get real close to do that. And Bontu managed to get a loose grip on her, and tried to suck out her soul.

The magic that makes Cass what she is is very old and very powerful. It binds her soul to her body in a much stronger way than any living creature, fusing the two together to prevent her from dying (i.e. by having her soul separated from her body; Cass can recover from almost any conceivable physical injury as long as there's life energy, in the form of blood, for the magic that keeps her alive to feed on and maintain the seal between her body and her soul). BECAUSE SHE WAS FEEDING ON THE BLOOD OF A GOD AT THE TIME, the magic holding her together basically fought against the magic that was trying to rip her soul out, and it had enough fuel to hold on until Aria's thrashing forced Bontu to let go. So Cass survived the Elderspell thanks to a very weird and unrepeatable set of circumstances (which allows something narratively impressive and legendary to happen without being gamebreakingly overpowered and violating the established rules of the world).

Because of how her magic draws energy from other things, though, there was a side effect: she also accidentally took in one of the planeswalker sparks that Bontu had harvested. So when Cass had healed enough for her soul to no longer be dislocated, her spark activated and she became a Planeswalker. (I imagine a soul is connected to a body mostly through the nervous system, because that's how a brain holds consciousness in it, so a "dislocated" soul is like something glued to every nerve ending in your body being pulled on with an enormous amount of force, trying to sever that connection; imagine trying to pull yourself off the ground when every nerve ending in your body is superglued to the floor by something akin to the Strong Nuclear Force. It SUCKED.)

The team ended up being forced to retreat because of Cass' injuries, so Aria didn't actually manage to kill Bontu personally (or die trying, which in her grief-rage she was fully open to). Right about this time, my bottle scene ends and Magic canon comes back into play: Liliana betrays Bolas and turns the Dreadhorde against him, and Bontu ends up being the one who bites him and rips out HIS spark. Due to the enormous rush of energy of consuming all of Bolas' stolen Planeswalker sparks (tl;dr he was trying to become a god), and with the added bit of lore that it was Aria's team that heavily injured Bontu just prior to this, Bontu exploded in the process.

This resulted in Ravnica playing a game of telephone in the chaotic aftermath of the War. Aria fought a god. She's still alive and that god is dead. Rumors spread and now Aria is misremembered as the one who killed Bontu. Half the plane thinks of her as the "god killer." All she wanted was to avenge her lover or die trying.

Neither outcome happened, and now she's credited with the very thing she sees as her greatest failure. And that trauma has haunted her ever since.

[getblackout503]

How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore. And a peasant dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in forsaken realm by providence impoverished and squalor. Grow up to be a hero and a scholar.

The ten dollar, founding father without a father got a lot farther by working a lot harder by being a lot smarter by being a self starter. By fourteen they placed in charge of a trading charter

And everyday while slaves were slaughtered and carted away across the waves, he struggled and kept his guard up inside, he was longing for something to be apart of, the brother was ready to beg, steal, borrow, or barter

Then a hurricane came and devastation reigned, our man saw his future drip, dripping down the drain. Put a pencil to his temple, connected to his brain. And he wrote his first refrain. A testament to his pain.

Well, the word got around, they said “this kid is insane, man” took up a collection to send him to the mainland. Get your education don’t forget from whence you came and the world is gonna know your name.

“What’s your name man?”

“Asta Staria” Said a young man with green eyes and ash blond hair. “My name is Asta Staria, and there is a million things I haven’t done, but just you wait, just you wait”

When he was ten, his father split, full of it, debt ridden. Two years later, see Asta and his mother bed ridden. Half dead, sittin’ in their own sick, the scent thick.

And Asta got better but his mother went quick.

Moved in with a cousin, the cousin committed suicide. Left him with nothing but ruined pride. Something new inside A voice saying.

“Asta, you gotta fend for yourself”

He started retreatin’ and readin’ every treatise on the shelf.

There would been nothin’ left to do for someone less astute. He would have been or destitute without a cent or restitution. Started working clerking for his late mother’s landlord. Trading sugar cane, rum, and all the things he can’t afford.

Scamming

For every book he can get his hands on

Planning for the future, see him now as he stand on the bow of a ship heading for a new land.

In Clover you can be a new man.

In Clover you can be a new man

“Just you wait” Staria told himself as he got on the boat.

In Clover you can be a new man.

“Just you wait” He told himself once again as he was standing on the bow of the ship.

In Clover you can be a new

In Clover

In Clover!

“Just you wait!” He screams to the heavens, this time telling his mother to just wait and watch me reach greatness.

Asta Staria.

We are waiting in the winds for you.

You could never back down.

You never learned to take your time.

Oh, Asta Staria, when America sings for you.

Will they know what you overcame?

Will they know you rewrote the game?

The world will never be the same.

“The ship is in the harbor now, see if you can spot him” A brunette male said, his one blue eye looking closely at the ships as he walked to town.

Just you wait

“Another immigrant coming up from the bottom” He will be the narrator of this story. But just you wait.

“His enemies destroyed his rep, America forgot him” He then reveals the rest of the characters.

“We fought with him!” Four men came into the light. Two wore more common clothes, while the two behind them wore clothes of higher quality.

“Me? I died for him” Two more men walked into the light. One with black hair and golden eyes, and another sharing Asta’s Ash blonde hair but had purple eyes.

“Me? I trusted him,” said a well built man who was smoking a cigarette.

Me? I loved him,” said four women, one with silver hair, one with brown, another with black hair and red eyes, and one with pink hair.

“And me?” Our narrator said, turning around to reveal himself. “I’m the damn fool that shot him”

Shot him

Shot him!

“There are a million things I haven’t done,” Staria told himself.

But just you wait

Asta Staria

[lilithfairen]

Another RWBY "fix", another impression on my desk (CW: suicide!)

So I recently became aware of yet another RWBY "fix", this one purporting to resolve all of the supposed problems of the series with just one change. And having read numerous RWBY "fixes", including by the same creator, and seeing how every single one of them is motivated by wanting to diminish the roles of anyone who isn't a white dude, I expected this one to suffer from many of the same shitty writing flaws that they all do.

So like any intelligent person who knows they're wading into crap, I decided to watch that video. Hey, I may be stupid, but at least I'm not stupid and pandering to misogynists.

Anyway, the premise of this "fix" is that supposedly it makes Team RWBY more proactive and makes them the main heroes of the story. Let's see how well it accomplishes those goals, shall we?

(Spoiler alert: of course it doesn't~)

The "fix" starts off as usual, except instead of Glynda Goodwitch coming to Ruby's aid, it's Cinder Fall! Because in this "fix", Salem is the Headmistress of Beacon and Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald are teachers' assistants. (The fourth member of Cinder's team is Trivia, a.k.a. Neo.) They talk with Team RWBY instead of the teachers during their character-development stuff in Volume 1. Also, instead of Team SSSN being involved with Blake's arc, it's Team CFVY. Just because the author likes Team CFVY. Torchwick and Neo are the ones who break in and plant the virus in Volume 2.

Anyway, the only change to involve the main characters comes when, instead of the scene about Pyrrha being chosen as a new Maiden, Qrow talks about making Ruby a "Guardian". Qrow teaches Ruby about calming her emotions, because every "good" RWBY "rewrite" revolves around men telling the main characters how to protagonist. Anyway, it's revealed that Salem built the schools and Vaults and apparently the God of Light made very difficult trials to retrieve the Relics. Salem has her own "Witches" as equivalents to the Maidens. But the Relics aren't in the Vaults anyway. Anyway, Salem is considering Pyrrha, Weiss, and Velvet as "Witches" because of reasons entirely unrelated to any willingness to fulfill whatever objective Salem has.

Anyway, instead of Emerald using her Semblance to cause Penny's death, Penny gets hacked instead and that leads to her death. Everything happens as in canon, but when Ruby shows up to confront Roman and Neo, Qrow shows up! Because instead of Ruby outsmarting Neo and the rejection of Roman's nihilistic worldview, this scene is about Qrow going "we'll explain everything" and Ruby just going along with it. Neo makes Ruby look like Trivia, they go into the Vault, there's a random fight, and Ruby randomly uses her Silver Eyes—which accidentally kills Pyrrha, because Salem was grafting Grimm parts onto Pyrrha. Which comes out of completely nowhere, incidentally.

Everyone wakes up at Patch. Team RWBY doesn't get separated, because what are character arcs. Because this is a scene with a bunch of women, the author decides to have them all start screaming and throwing stuff around. I'm sorry, what the fuck?! Anyway, Ozpin finally shows up, and they use the Relic of Knowledge (which Qrow has on him) to show Team RWBY the whole backstory of this rewrite.

...wait, if this is all stuff Ozpin and Qrow know, why are they using the Relic of Knowledge to show Team RWBY this?!

Anyway, tl;dr: Salem made kingdoms, trains Huntsmen to find Relics, wants to destroy world, Ozpin planned the attack on Beacon to cut off global communication and turn the Huntsmen against Salem—

I'm sorry, what the fuck?! Your idea to get the Huntsmen on board with you and against Salem is...a terrorist attack on one of the Academies and destabilization of global society by knocking out communication capabilities? Which, yes, means that Ozpin was responsible for Penny's death? This is fucking stupid.

But anyway, Salem let Ruby into Beacon because she actually wanted to get Ruby killed, but didn't realize Roman was working for Ozpin...because of fucking course he is. Make the shitty white dude into a protagonist, why don't you. Fuck you. Anyway, Team RWBY question his story, but Tai and Qrow vouch for him. So this rewrite about supposedly making the heroines of the story more proactive has them immediately quiet down when told what to think by men.

Then, to prove he was cursed with reincarnation, Ozpin kills himself.

WHAT THE FLYING FUCK

Note that there's no content warning of any sort for her "fix" having a character casually kill themselves just to prove they can reincarnate.

But more so, it highlights how every RWBY "rewrite" and "fix" is so incapable of coming up their own story that they need to leap giant and stupid distances in order to have events correlate with 99% of canon anyway.

So this leads to Team RWBY setting off to fight Salem. And the author claims this "fix" achieves her goals of making Team RWBY more proactive because now they will have to travel and fight against enemies like the Grimm and Salem's minions and Team RWBY are labelled as wanted criminals. You know, like they do in the show. She also claims that this makes Team RWBY "the main heroes", supposedly unlike the show, except now we've established that Team RWBY is firmly following the yoke of Ozpin, Qrow, Roman, and the rest of Ozpin's psychotic murderous terrorist conspiracy against Salem. Rather than emphasizing how Team RWBY themselves makes the choice to go out and discover the truth, they're just spoon-fed it all, effectively given their mission by male characters, and forced into working with Ozpin due to the male characters' actions.

The author also claims a "plot hole" of why Salem didn't do anything until the present, except the canon story constantly insinuates that Salem was responsible for various past conflicts. She also thinks it's a good thing for Team RWBY to have to work with Roman and Neo instead of other Huntsmen, because simping.

At this point, the author just starts rambling about vague ideas, having no concrete storyline beyond V3. Most notable is when she gets to Adam Taurus, whom she describes as wanting the Relics to help his people. (Of course.) This then leads into plenty of rambling where the author talks about everyone else's roles in the story aside from Team RWBY, which really highlights the fundamental problem here:

This is a "fix" that, like every other RWBY "fix", is for people who don't give a fuck about Team RWBY themselves.

Contrary to the creator's claims, this is a "fix" about making Roman and Neo into protagonists. This is a "fix" about making the main characters more obedient to male characters. This is a "fix" about randomly changing the roles of just about every other character except for Team RWBY themselves, where female characters put into different roles simply follow the same story but male characters put into different roles drastically reshape the plot around them.

Because that is your brain on RWBY HTDM logic: a fundamental understanding that, no matter what you claim about the show and its supposed flaws, you're fully aware that you're pandering to an audience that's motivated primarily by really fucking hating women being heroes.

[olympic-paris]

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more …

August 30

c.2000 B.C. - 1200 B.C. – In Greek mythology, Daphnis was a Sicilian shepherd who was said to be the inventor of pastoral poetry. According to tradition, he was the son of Hermes and a nymph, despite which Daphnis himself was mortal.

Daphnis is also described and portrayed as an eromenos, that is, a boy-lover to older men. His mother was said to have exposed him under a laurel tree, where he was found by shepherds, who raised him, and named after the tree under which he was found. He was also sometimes said to be Hermes' favourite or beloved (eromenos) rather than his son.

Pan also fell in love with him and taught him to play the pan pipes.

A naiad was in love with him and promised to be faithful to him. However, he was seduced, with the aid of wine, by the daughter of a king, and, in revenge, this nymph either blinded him or turned him to stone.

c.1280 B.C. – Hercules (Greek: Herakles) was not only the strongest of the heroes (even as a baby he killed two great serpents with his bare hands) but he was also the craziest (he murdered his first three sons in a fit of madness) and the smartest (what he could not accomplish by brute strength he achieved through guile). What is less well known is that he was as heroic in bed as he was in battle.

One time he was invited by King Thespios to help him rid his land of a huge lion that was terrorizing the countryside. When the king set eyes on Hercules he had a better idea: "Come and stay the night at my palace, and rest yourself before the hunt," said the king to Hercules, "and meet my family." The king's family was made up mostly of his fifty virgin daughters, for whom he had not found fitting husbands until then. That night Hercules made love to forty nine of them (the fiftieth was too shy). The next morning, he and the king went off to hunt the lion, and nine months later all forty-nine daughters gave birth to sons.

But much as he loved women, Hercules loved young men no less. Plutarch said that the number of his lovers was beyond counting. What we know for sure is that he had more than even the god Apollo (who was also a practitioner of male love). Most stories about the beloved boys of Hercules have been lost or destroyed, but among his lovers were said to be the young heroes Admetos, Iphitos, and Euphemos, all of them Argonauts; Elacatas, honored by the yearly Elacatia games in Sparta; and Abderus, an Opian boy and son of Hermes, whose love for Hercules cost him his life, and who was honored with his own festival in the city that bore his name.

Abderus was the young man to whom Hercules entrusted the man-eating mares of King Diomedes. Not strong enough to keep them in check, they tore him to shreds and devoured him. Heartbroken, Hercules built the city of Abdera in his memory.

There was also a myth, now lost, that claimed that Eurystheus, the king for whom Hercules performs his labors, was one of his lovers, and that Hercules undertook the labors in order to please him. If so, then male love becomes the central motive force of the Hercules cycle, just as the love between Achilles and Patroclos is the fire that drives the story of the Iliad.

Also among his lovers, but not so unlucky as Abderus, were Philoctetes who inherited Hercules's bow and arrows, and who was called upon to use them in the Trojan war, and Nestor, the youngest son of King Neleus, whom he grew to love more than any other lad. Nireus, Adonis, Jason, Corythus, Stychius, and Phrynx were reputed to have been amongst his lovers as well.

Of all his boy-man lovers however, the ones he loved the best (besides Nestor) were Iolaos of Thebes, and Hylas of Argos. Iolaos, was also his nephew and, though only sixteen, his helper in many of his labors. It was said that their love was such that Hercules found those labors easier when Iolaos watched him. He was Hercules' charioteer and beloved, just like Patroclos was for Achilles.

As Plutarch tells us: "And as to the [male] loves of Hercules, it is difficult to record them because of their number; but those who think that Iolaos was one of them do to this day worship and honor him, and make their loved ones swear fidelity at his tomb." And also, "It is a tradition likewise that Iolaos, who assisted Hercules in his labors and fought at his side, was beloved of him; and Aristotle observes that even in his time lovers pledged their faith at Iolaos' tomb." The Thebans thought so highly of Iolaos that they worshiped him together with Hercules, named their gymnasium after him, and in his honor held yearly contests, the Iolaeia.

As for the love between Hercules and Hylas, the poet Theocritus had this to say: "We are not the first mortals to see beauty in what is beautiful. No, even Amphitryon's bronze-hearted son, who defeated the savage Nemean lion, loved a boy-charming Hylas, whose hair hung down in curls. And like a father with a dear son he taught him all the things which had made him a mighty man, and famous.

"And they were inseparable, being together both day and night. That way the boy might grow the way he wanted him to, and being by his side attain the true measure of a man. When Jason sailed after the golden fleece, and all the nobles went with him invited from every city, to rich Iolkos he came too, the man of many labors, son of noble Alcmena.

And brave Hylas in the flower of youth went with him aboard the Argo, the strong-thwarted ship, to bear his arrows and to guard his bow."

c.450 BC – Alcibiades (d.circa 404 BC), reared in the household of his guardian and uncle Pericles, he became the eromenos (youthful lover) and later intimate friend of Socrates, who saved his life in battle. According to Plutarch, Alcibiades "feared and reverenced Socrates alone, and despised the rest of his lovers".

His brilliance enabled him in 420 to become leader of the extreme democratic faction, and his imperialistic designs led Athens into an alliance with Argos and other foes of Sparta, a policy largely discredited by the Spartan victory at Mantinea.

He sponsored the plan for a Sicilian expedition to outflank Sparta. which ended after his recall, in the capture of thousands of Athenians, most of whom died in the salt mines where they were confined, Soon after the fleet reached Sicily, his enemies had recalled him on the pretext of his complicity in the mutilation of the Hermae, the phallic pillars marking boundaries between lots of land. The expedition, after his recall, resulted in the capture of thousands of Athenians, most of whom died in the salt mines where they were confined,

He escaped his accusers, however, to Sparta and became the advisor of the Spartan high command. Losing the confidence of the Spartans and accused of impregnating the wife of one of Sparta's two kings, he fled to Persia, then tried to win reinstatement at Athens by winning Persian support for the city and promoting an oligarchic revolution, but without success.

Then being appointed commander by the Athenian fleet at Samos, he displayed his military skills for several years and won a brilliant victory at Cyzicus in 410, but reverses in battle and political intrigue at home led to bis downfall, and he was finally murdered in Phrygia in 404.

Though an outstanding politician and military leader, Alcibiades compromised himself by the excesses of his sexual life, which was not confined to his own sex, but was uninhibitedly bisexual, as was typical of a member of the Athenian aristocracy. The Attic comedians scolded him for his adventures; Aristophanes wrote a play (now lost) entitled Triphales (the man with three penises), in which Alcibiades' erotic exploits were satirized.

In his youth, admired by the whole of Athens for his beauty, he bore on his coat of arms an Eros hurling a lightning bolt. Diogenes Laertius said of him that "when a young man, he separated men from their wives, and later, wives from their husbands," a comment on his bisexuality.

He gained a bad reputation for introducing luxurious practices into Athenian life, and even his dress was reproached for extravagance. He combined the ambitious political careerist and the bisexual dandy, a synthesis possible only in a society that tolerated homosexual expression and even a certain amount of heterosexual licence in its public figures. His physical beauty in itself impressed his contemporaries enough to remain an inseparable part of his historical image.

1981 – Dragoș Bucurenci is a Romanian communication strategist and coach, civic activist and television personality. In 2010, his Process Communication Model course was awarded Best Training of the Year Prize at the Romanian Business Edu Gala. In 2014 he joined the cabinet of the European Commissioner for Regional Policy as Communication Adviser, but left a year later citing "different work styles".

He founded MaiMultVerde, a well-known environmental organization in Romania. He was featured on the cover of Esquire Romania October 2008 edition, among "15 people who innovate, challenge and change the world we live in".

In 2016, he hosted the Romanian edition of the Survivor television series on ProTV.

Bucurenci was one of the first public figures in Romania who spoke openly about their sexuality. In a May 2008 piece for Elle magazine, he came out as bisexual.

 

1994 – UK: A panel of magistrates in London dismissed a paternity suit against singer Boy George for lack of evidence. By George is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, fashion designer and photographer. He is the lead singer of the Grammy and Brit Award-winning pop band Culture Club. At the height of the band's fame, during the 1980s, they recorded global hit songs such as "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", "Time (Clock of the Heart)" and "Karma Chameleon".

George is known for his soulful voice and androgynous appearance. He was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the late 1970s to the early 1980s. In his autobiography Take It Like a Man, George stated that he had secret relationships with punk rock singer Kirk Brandon and Club drummer Jon Moss. He stated many of the songs he wrote for Culture Club were about his relationship with Moss.

2005 – Off-Broadway musical Naked Boys Singing! re-opens in Milwaukee after being closed by police on obscenity charges two weeks earlier. Naked Boys Singing! is a traditional American vaudeville-style musical revue, with book and direction by Robert Schrock, musical direction by Stephen Bates and choreography by Jeffry Denman, that features eight actors who sing and dance naked.

This campy Off-Broadway musical comedy opened on July 22, 1999 at the Actors' Playhouse in New York City. The show transferred to Theatre Four in March 2004, and again in 2005 to New World Stages Stage Four, until it closed on January 28, 2012. The show has no plot; it contains 15 songs, about various issues, such as gay life, male nudity, coming out, circumcision, and love. The official Off Broadway Revival opened at Theatre Row's Kirk Theatre on April 5, 2012 and is still enjoying a healthy run today.

2013 – A gay combat medic who challenged the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy while serving in Iraq, dies in a car crash in New York. Darren Manzella, 36, a former Army sergeant, went on national television in 2007 to reveal his sexual orientation, becoming the face of gay servicemen and women before being discharged in 2008 for publicly discussing his sexual identity.

He was a United States Army Sergeant, Army medic and gay activist from Portland, New York, who was discharged under the Don’t ask, don’t tell policy. Manzella had served in Iraq and Kuwait, and was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas. The policy was repealed in 2011.

Manzella married Javier Lapeira in Rochester on July 5, 2013. On August 29, 2013, Manzella was killed when an SUV hit him as he was in the act of pushing his disabled vehicle off the road in Pittsford, Monroe County, New York. A friend said Manzella had recently signed on as a reservist.

[redrascal1]

The future of the Skywalkers is not Rey

Disney are....angry.

They decided to get rid of the Skywalker family, and move forward with new characters. One character in particular: Rey.

She was the protagonist of the ST. We were meant to fall madly in love with her. We were meant to see her as the 'champion' of the ST, the hero, the one everyone was cheering for.

And at first...we did.

Daisy is a fine actress, pretty, charismatic and engaging. Her background as a lowly scavenger meant that audiences could identify with a 'nobody'. I liked her. Many liked her.

And then....Kylo Ren took off his helmet.

From the moment these two first faced each other, the screen lit up. The chemistry between them was electric. Reylos saw it. Critics saw it.

And Rian Johnson saw it.

I think the best description of Rian's film comes from o0-snowdrop-0o

Both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi built up a beautiful romance plot between two, mistreated lonely souls who were destined to be together. 

Their unconditional love supposed to bring balance to the Force. Create balance in the Galaxy.

 Rian Johnson made a masterpiece. 

His film was full with mythological, fairy tale-alike elements. No wonder his movie is the most beloved one of the sequels trilogy.

No wonder why George Lucas called it beautifully made.

Rian introduced this connection in a unique, gorgeous way. Their force bond was a blessing. It made possible for Ben and Rey to reach out for each other through time, through space to give comfort, show love for one and other. Their romantic relationship was deep, sensual, spiritual, gentle and innocent. 

Couldn't put it better myself.

The relationship between protagonist and antagonist was the heart and soul of the trilogy. Most of all, the incredible sexual chemistry between the two actors. TLJ received a tremendous amount of critical acclaim, developed all of the characters beautifully and set everything up for what should have been a spectacular conclusion to the Skywalker Saga.

And then we got...TROS.

Ben Solo's redemption thrown in as an afterthought, purely to save Rey. Adam's screentime cut. All of the cast reduced to utter ridiculousness.

All to push...Rey Skywalker.

Disney wanted us to fall in love with Rey. Instead the audience fell in love with Kylo.

Which is what lies at the heart of their disgraceful treatment of Adam and his character.

Finn fans hate reylos. After Ben was killed off several of them voiced their delight at the prospect of a Finn/Rey romance. But, it wasn't because of them that Disney killed off Ben. It wasn't because of some weird notion that 'reylo is a white supremacist ship' (quote from Medium).

It's simply because in a poll asking viewers who they wanted to see the most in TROS was won by Kylo/Ben.

By a landslide.

Kylo Ren - 80% of the votes

Rey - second at just 5%.

Even people who disliked the ST consider Adam to be the best thing about it. He gave a sensational performance, despite Disney wanting us to despise him by having him kill his father. When he won that poll....they were furious.

So, they have done everything to destroy the affection people still have for the character.

Pointing out that he 'had to die because of what he'd done.' Nonsense.

'Once Upon A Time' featured several characters who had done worse but got their 'happy endings'. And don't even get me started on the Netflix film Damsel, where a mass murdering female dragon is allowed to live and even befriends the heroine, because at the beginning her daughters were killed by a king. Just as Ben was the victim of abuse, abandonment and brainwashing for most of his life.

Disney want to push their new agenda: women rule.

Women rock.

Women are far better than men

Women don't need men.

Look at their recent offerings. The Acolyte features a predominantly female cast with one even giving birth to twin daughters 'through the Force'. Willow was supposed to be about Warrick Davies's titular character, instead it was about two female protagonists. Even Marvel movies, the company owned by Disney, are making films all about women.

Problem is...this is not what women want.

The Acolyte is failing in the ratings. Willow was cancelled after just one season. The Marvels, about three female superheroes, was a flop.

And..guess what? A survey has discovered that the most popular shows among women aren't Willow or The Acolyte...they are Mandalorian and Andor.

Women want to watch hot, sexy men like Diego Luna and Pedro Pascal. And quite a few LGBTQ+ viewers do, as well.

WE don't want Mary Sues we can't identify with. We want strong women who also have a heart. And yes, we want to see great male characters. Characters like Luke and Han, and Lando.

Like Ben.

Rey has been destroyed as a character. Disney, refusing to see what they've done, intend to carry on her story as 'Force goddess' no matter what.

Obviously they have money to burn.

[hollow-keys]

Superman: Lost could be great. The set up is that Clark gets lost in space and they actually consulted a scientist to get all the sci-fi stuff right, which sounds so cool, but then he gets stuck on this one articular planet with terrible social happenings that he's trying to fix but the people don't want help because the government is entirely run by the people which is apparently a bad thing? Because people apparently vote against their best interests?

The main section of society is called the Republic, and they live in what is apparently a utopia, but there's a section of society called the Arkasians who apparently always vote against their best interests and refuse to move off their polluted ancestral lands to the underground city of the Republic, so they cut ties with them and left the Arkasians "to their mud."

This is clearly meant to be a commentary on conservative America, but it misses the mark. For one, there is an Arkasian boy called Schzemi who doesn't appear to act in this way at all and is very agreeable with Clark.

Secondly, the book lands on the idea that the problem lies with people having free will rather than recognising disinformation campaigns as the problem. Clark advocates for "unity" and not leaving people behind by... just forcing good decisions onto the people making bad ones? It appears??? Like that isn't overly simplistic bullshit that fails to address the root of the problem and will inspire backlash.

The Republic doesn't want to help the poor misinformed backwater conservatives and said conservatives don't want to help themselves. What is a hero to do? Why won't they listen to this one Great Man/Saviour and do what he says? A bit of benevolent authoritarianism will solve this situation, surely? Maybe people are just doomed to destroy themselves, I guess.

It's all very cynical. There's no commentary on the systems that create misinformation or why they do it. No attempt at actually trying affective solutions built on communication, community building or grassroots action. Just "Someone's gotta force people to do the Right Thing and all these people doing the wrong thing are making Clark Sad."

So instead of the adventures in deep space and finding your way home story that I was expecting, he's just stuck being sad on the "allegory for what this writer thinks earth politics is" planet.

Also Priest can't write women

TLDR it's all bad political/social commentary + making the hero really sad and expected that to be #deep in and of itself with a side order of not writing women well. So basically, a Tom King book that wasn't written by Tom King.

[momo-de-avis]

"It's funny to me that he's considered One of the Greatest, you know, A Man With His Dick, an Untouchable" I feel like the venn diagram of hardcore VdG fans (ie hardcore nationalists) and hardcore misogynists is a circle. Like normal people would probably be like "oh that sucks to hear" but you know there are people that would love him more for it (an asshole to foreigners AND women?? that's my guy!!)

what grinds my fucking gears is the inability in this country to acknowledge that, before heroes, these guys were humans. They fucked up, and sometimes they sucked ass. I genuinely, wholeheartedly, don't understand why people are so afraid, so horrified, of seeing people for who they were. Vasco da Gama was important. He sailed to India for the first time. This man had 4 caravels with him, one sank, and yet he arrived in Calicut with four fucking caravels. Do you know where the fourth mysterious one came from?? His ass. This motherfucker had woodworkers on his stupid ships. They were know to build forts overnight out of nothing but their ass and their will. They would siege cities, built a fucking fort, and imagine being the king or lord who woke up to this shit and had your soldiers say "my lord, was that there yesterday?"

So he did the same with his ships. This was super common for the portuguese fleet. We really were the type of people who just built a ship out of nowhere, and Vasco da Gama had a whole fucking caravel inside a caravel, that he built somewhere along the way after his fourth caravel was burnt.

His discovery of the sea route to india revolutionised economy, because it directly challenged Venice's dominion over the land-route to Asia.

But he also hated women. He punished these women so fucking much, everyone in Goa, from the annoying Jesuits to the colonised natives, begged him not to. He punished them so much, his chronicler says he died saying the name of one of them.

He was a shitty viceroy too. He actually thought Hospitals were useless, and he forbade his men from going to the hospital. He thought hospitals were a place, and I am not shitting like how fucking dumb do you have to be, where men went to only, EXCLUSIVELY, because they got in a fight for women. He thought men who went to hospitals were weak.

He would often forbid his men from leaving his ship, leading to riots.

He also often forbade meals, just fucking fobidding meals. Starvation was pretty common on his ships.

I'm going to translate a section of a book:

In fact, Vasco da Gama's administration as viceroy was controversial. The politics he followed was of causing fear among all. He would forbid, he would destroy, he would threat. He forbade all ailing navigators from being transported to the hospital of Goa. To him, there was no necessity for hospitals, because, by existing, men made themselves sick. Gaspar Correia adds that Gama declared that he knew of a home remedy [mezinha] that healed all. [...] In truth, they left the hospital sick and immediately Gama forbade them from returning there, saying they were welcomed "for friendships". And because since Eve the origin of blame is given to women, he also forbade those injured in fights from going to the hospital, assuming those fights only happened because of the Eves of his time.

He forbade all. He forbade navigators from removing from ships what they carried to goa. He forbade meals, "for which hunger existed among the soldiers" (Cantanheda). He forbade people aboard ships from going to land. And he forced them all to go to Kochi otherwise they would be left with no wages. He forbade sailors from bringing aboard chests bigger than the size of a sword. [...] João de Barros finds these expressive words to define him: "for being a man who wouldn't forgive the sins of thought, let alone of work". He was "of a judicious condition", Castanheda writes, and, therefore, "many, to get rid of him, went to Coramandel and other parts where they would not be at the service of the king and even Moors felt such fear of him that they shuddered when they named him."

But joke's on this fucking loser, cause he actually died a horrible, painful, and pretty disgusting death:

"The old admiral [...] died in Kochi, plagued by remorse and with his body covered in furuncles and gangrenous tumours that ulcerated". In truth, Gaspar Correia witnessed how the viceroy suffered of great pains in his neck, that

I can't translate the next part cause it's riddled with old portuguese, but imagine a guy with bulbous postules and shit, pus everywhere, screaming in pain, this motherfucker who thought hospitals is for pussies, and meanwhile everyone is giving him shitty remedies that do jack shit

God writes straight sentences in crooked lines, as we say over here

The book is Heroínas Portuguesas, by Fina d'Armada btw

[uefb]

A Love Letter to Newt Scamander’s Autism™ and a Plea to Those Continually Gloating About the ‘Failure’ of the FB Franchise

(this is stream-of-consciousness really, forgive me)

Look. I…dislike…JKR as much as the next politically active gender/queer who was raised on Harry Potter and subsequently spent their 20s raging against the binary and tearing down the system.

But look—

I’m also autistic.

So I can’t pretend to be able to celebrate the potential crash of the first fantasy franchise/series (well, any franchise, really!) to star an empathetic, autistic hero just because I hate her.

The lady has enough money to pave Europe, enough money to buy anyone’s votes—hell, enough money to probably repurchase the entire bloody (pun intended) British empire—

And she frankly has enough money to attempt to destroy trans folks and trans women’s lives whether or not FB continues.

FB is not the root of the problem.

JKR and the increasingly inflammatory political and economic and social moments we keep hurtling through are the problem.

So when I think back on that lonely, autodidactic, quiet, gender nonconforming, gentle, awkward, morally driven (and sometimes-accidentally-in-trouble) eleven-year-old version of me—

That little nerd who clung to the safety of Hermione (as close to a relatable fictional character as I would ever find for decades) like a life raft in the godforsaken sea of adolescence—

Well.

When I think how much Newt Scamander would have meant to that little dork then,

And how much he must mean to so many kids now (let alone adults)…?

I just can’t find it in my heart to purely wish ill on every single one of JKR’s endeavors. Or to celebrate JKR’s failure specifically regarding Fantastic Beasts.

(So maybe Cursed Child can die in a fire, and —yes — JKR’s isms and antisemitisms and absolute crock can—

Well.

You get the idea.)

And maybe it’s the Hufflepuff in me—masked so often by my more ADHD-forward Gryffindor traits—but I just can’t take joy in an atypical, kind, adult autistic character—an unusual hero, in fact!—being [potentially] cancelled when I know it not only hurts me, but so so many others. It’s not joyous to me that people are losing something dear to them, when it’s not the media itself that’s damning but the woman who dreamed it into existence. (Though so much of the good of FB was built by the producers and artists and actors—it was built out by them like a wood-elf in a well-tended garden. The core of it—the trellis, perhaps—was provided by she-who-must-not-be-named, but all that delicate work in between? the moments of worldbuilding, the nuance of character and culture and blah blah blah? they wove the intricacies of the fabric and fashioned the clothes to hang in her closet.)

But I’ve mixed my metaphors and I digress.

What I mean to say is this:

A franchise like FB being cancelled is nuanced and complicated—especially since WB is gonna milk the Wizarding World for all it’s worth even if they do drop FB. This is a multifaceted issue spanning individual, political, capitalistic, societal, etc etc overlapping and contradictory levels, and we should treat it that way, not the way I’ve seen it circulated in posts—just laughing about how JKR had it coming and skimming over all the rest.

Like yes, duh.

Of course she did.

Those of us who grew up on HP rejected her for the very same reasons we loved HP in the first place.

But use your critical thinking skills.

The world is bigger than JKR—art and media have implications and impacts outside of their origin. And, thus, implications for supporting or enjoying something exist on multiple levels that must sometimes be carefully measured and interrogated, even if individually or factionally we come to our own different—and perhaps opposite—conclusions.

So i’m just proposing: maybe we should reconsider taking joy in Fantastic Beasts failure when FB is about so much more than just JKRs considerable sins —

When so many people have seen in Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander the first character who truly acts like them, moves like them, speaks like them—seems to see the world like them!—for the first time in their lives.

Because yes: JKR’s views and horrific anti-trans and—frankly—anti-anti-anti-everything campaigning are personal, but so is what Newt has come to represent.

Words can’t describe that for me. What he means, from an autistic perspective.

Anyway.

I only request that you place your thinking in the complex context it deserves.

.

.

Also, please don’t viciously @ me. I’m open to nuanced conversation, should I have the word-energy to engage—though I have been teetering on the edge of a shutdown for days—but I’m not open to being torn apart for loving quality autistic representation, and for simply wishing I could have more of that character and that content in the world. To not always have to be the one to push for it. To not always have to be the one to write my own representation, to seek it out, to demand I’m worth space and consideration as a reader and consumer with intersectional identities— 

It’s complicated. 

But I’m tired. 

And potentially losing Newt really isn’t funny to me.

[boricuacherry-blog]

Interview with Melissa Auf der Mauer:

I grew up in Montreal, Canada, in Quebec. My parents were independent, freewheeling, freelancers for their whole lives. Both started as journalists. They both founded two different independent presses - my mother a French one, my father an English one - and they were both radical politically. My parents never worked for one corporation in their entire lives.

My mother was a first wave feminist and decided to do everything she had never seen a woman do. My father was the child of very, very poor immigrants and really built an incredible world for himself. My mother ended up in the grand world of Quebec theater via Cbc and her own radio shows and broadcasting - she went from journalism into Quebec theater and became the leading literary translator. Her passion is bringing the voice of French Canadian theater to the world. I spent my 2nd birthday in Africa because she said being a mother wasn't going to stop her from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, so that was the kind of woman I was raised by. She was also the first female rock disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves.

My father took his journalism into radio, then into a remarkable television show that he had from 69' through 72' which was really early wave man-on-the-street camera on film interviewing everyone. He captured a remarkable oral history of people in Montreal during a time when a huge political upheaval was happening. There was a language war between the French and the English, and both my parents fought for the underdog - the French. My father ended up becoming a politician and running downtown Montreal for years and has a street named after him. He had the biggest funeral in Montreal history. My father was larger than life in many regards. He was married to the city of Montreal. My parents weren't together for any of my life, but my father was a man of the people. My mother married my stepfather when I was ten.

I liked depressing new wave British music as a kid and wore military khaki outfits. I didn't care what I wore. None of my women role models dressed up. I dated a couple mods, we wore very straight clothes, no curves, but I was also a late bloomer. So I just really embraced that people thought I was a boy for a few years. I still have small breasts, so I've never been focused on that. Before I joined Hole at 23 I had never worn lipstick.

There was some religion in my parents' upbringing that turned them off, so they were atheist, political, intellectual, unbelievably well-read literary people. So in many ways I rebelled against that. I'm still not a big reader, but I do enjoy the structure of schooling. I was more into sound and visual. I was planning on getting my masters in photography. I enjoy school, but I'm more into mystical emotional analysis than a bunch of intellectual destroying-of-ideas stuff. In high school I had my own darkroom, and my first instrument was trumpet. Our yearbook was basically like a punk rock fanzine, and I took all the pictures, and did all the collages. I don't go into anything with any expectations or plans, and I'm not a person that strives for security. I moved out of home when I was sixteen, I've been very independent my whole life. I've never had aspirations, I just enjoy being in the moment, which is why I love music, but why I was so hesitant to join Hole. I hate the word 'rock star.' I never aspired to that. My heroes were Glenn Danzig - he was a really weird nerdy comic book guy, not your typical 'rockstar,' you know - Morrissey, Robert Smith. These people weren't your larger than life rockstar, they were just odd people. I never romanticized success, just making art and finding my people, finding my voice.

Some of this could be because I grew up in the public eye in Montreal. I was the only daughter of a very special, but slightly controversial figure. My father was a bachelor, a man about town - they call him a bon vivant - he died very young from too much smoking, too much drinking. He was like a 1950s fedora wearing silent film star. I grew up in his shadow, a very well-known girl, which I believe made me more shy, as it was hard for me to speak in public. My mother didn't like me growing up in the public eye and would accuse my father of exploiting me to make him look good. So I harbored a pretty complex idea of what outside adoration looked like. He was a very difficult and tortured person. His family were all really intense and religious people. Very spirited, but not normal at all, so his relationship with them was very fraught. My father was one of those people who needed to be adored, to have a big life on the outside, but didn't have an intimate life... I was sort of the only person who he had a responsibility to have an intimate relationship with. I was the only one who had a private life with my father, this figure who had such an immense public life, and that defined a big part of me. It's also connected to why I was such a good fit for Courtney, and later Billy [Corgan]. Because in many ways, Courtney and Billy were like these weird second-versions of my parents. I was often unknowingly used as a pawn between them. There was always so much drama with Billy and Courtney. Courtney is more like my father. He was really radical and outspoken, so he understood her.

I had a drive to find my own voice. But I compromised a lot of my own beliefs to be in a band on a major label, because I hate corporations. And my whole journey continued to be in conflict with that, as well as the part of me that just wanted to be a photographer and be in a darkroom, and not have to deal with all these people who have a bigger relationship to the outside world than they do their inner world.

I became a dj at seventeen at this dive bar and I worked as the ticket girl at a club, which is where I saw Billy Corgan for the first time. I started my first band Tinker and I played bass. Smashing Pumpkins were my favorite band because of their sonics, the oceans of sound and layers of guitars and rolling drums and bass.

When Kristen Pfaff died, Hole was on a search for a new bass player. I was in the middle of preparing for my masters at college when Billy Corgan called me and told me he wanted me to join Courtney's band Hole. I refused, but then Courtney started leaving messages on my phone and was persistent. She convinced me to come see her band, and I realized they had a hole (no pun intended) that they really needed filled.

And because I'm less of an academic and never really articulated feminism, at the time, I didn't realize the power of her lyrics. I've never been a singer/songwriter fan, you know, like Courtney loves Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen...I love Black Sabbath and Caius...I just like witchy stuff. I like ghosts and magic. And so with Courtney, it was all very academic in a way to me. So the joke is, I probably missed a lot of the point during my time in Hole.

There are some bands that recognize that drummers and bass players nurture and create songs and are paid adequately, and then some people, quite literally and medievally, break it down to chords and lyrics. I don't think Patty or I were handled fairly in regards. Courtney's process of writing a song stems from six hours of jamming on one riff, one lyrical thing, and then carving it together. We were at every session and did everything together. But Patty and I got slivers [financially]. Eric and Courtney, who are the founders of the band [although Courtney claims she's the only founder] were more the business people. Although I'm proud of my bass playing, it was definitely my singing that brought the most to Hole. I worked harder on my backup vocals than anything. Because of my choir teacher, I had an ear for harmonies. On Celebrity Skin, for every Courtney track, there is me doubling her one to three times...and there are two to four to five part harmonies with me behind every chorus. So I had more of my voice on that record than I do on even my own solo records. They wanted a lush sound, and I was the angel to the wild screamer, so we just coated everything with my voice.

The first few weeks I was just paid $600 a week. It was a weird polished corporate record, but there were also no other female voices on mainstream rock radio besides Gwen Stefani and Alanis Morrissette. So I thought, maybe there was a point to this insanely overproduced record. But then Courtney's red carpet movie career was happening, which meant there were a lot of delays in making Celebrity Skin. Then I worried she wasn't going to be concerned about making this record if she decided to make another movie. And I had already signed a five year contract with Hole. I didn't want to be in a band that didn't work, just waiting around. We were supposed to do all these tours and Courtney just wasn't committing. So after the five years were up, I was out. At that exact time, D'arcy had left the Pumpkins, and Billy wanted me to be the bassist for Smashing Pumpkins for a year. In that one year I made more money than the five years I spent in Hole. I had photographed during Hole - I took a roll a day - so I have 30,000 photographic negatives of those years.

For Smashing Pumpkins, every setlist was different. So imagine three to five hours of music, different key changes, different versions of the songs we already knew. I had five basses tuned in all these crazy ways.

Right after I left Hole, I sent a letter to Courtney, I don't remember what she said in the letter she sent back...it was five pages. She wasn't happy about me leaving. The letter has long since disappeared or faded, but the only thing I remember was a line warning me of turning into a Nicole Kidman ice queen and warning me of becoming Billy Corgan's purse [whatever that means].

I dedicated my first solo record to my Welsh choir teacher because he believed in me when I was still so shy. My second album was a concept album about this woman who travels through time and follows the blood of a Viking's heart into bleeding trees then comes out of the other side of a car crash. I love witchy stuff - which is why I like men who make heavy metal. They don't know it, but they're tapping into their woman side. I think that's the power of bands like Black Sabbath. The real world isn't beautiful - its fantastic in its humanity but the brutality of humans coexisting is pretty profound. For me it always works best going into the realm of witches and goblins and time travel.

The first time I ever had unprotected sex was in my 30s and I got pregnant the first time. So now I'm a mother. I had a home birth because I'm afraid of needles. It only took an hour. And while I was giving birth, my daughter literally reached her hand out of my vagina to shake my husband's hand.

[67-romeo]

1971 Green Beret Captain Richard Flaherty stands next to 6'6" Pfc. Nipps.

Richard J. Flaherty due to complications at his birth only grew to 4-Foot-9-inches tall 97-Pounds. Coming from a family of military heroes Richard also wanted to do his part and serve his country.

People laughed at the idea of a man his size in the military and all the branches turned him down. But that didn't deter Richard, he spent the next 3 years writing letters until he finally received a medical waiver. With the waiver the Army allowed him to join... but no one ever believed he would make it through basic training.

His uniforms didn't fit, the equipment was too big, and he was required to carry a back pack during long marches that was almost the same weight as he was. Because of his leg length marching in step with the rest of his company was incredibly difficult but Richard kept up. All the obstacle courses were built for average size men but Richard conquered them all. No rules were ever changed for Richard... Either he would sink or swim.

Richard didn't just make it through basic training he volunteered and become an elite paratrooper, with the 101st Airborne. When he would jump out of planes the instructors would have to strap machine gun parts to his body to help his descent so he wouldn't "float away."

He graduated Officer Candidate School in 1968 as a 2nd Lieutenant and deployed to Vietnam. Within weeks he would lead his platoon in some of the bloodiest battles during the, "Tet Offensive." In that week he was wounded twice by grenade fragmentation and a grazing bullet wound to the head but as soon as he was patched up he jumped right back into the battle.

After several months of fighting on the front lines many officers would accept assignments in the rear away from the action but not Richard. He would request to be transferred to Echo Company to lead a RECON unit which engaged in dangerous search and destroy missions deep into enemy territory. By the time his first tour in Vietnam was finished, Richard would receive the Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars with Valor, & 2 Purple Hearts.

If you think that's where Richard's story ends think again. Richard would become an elite Green Beret with the 3rd Special Forces Group and be promoted to Captain. He served with the 46th Company based in Thailand where some of their clandestine missions sent them into Pink Zones "across the fence" fighting Malaysian and Burmese guerrillas.

As incredible as all his accomplishments seem that's just the first half of his life story as his next chapters of undercover operations around the world seem closer to something out of a Tom Clancy book.

Richard had one last surprise when it came to his final wishes. Even though he knew he was qualified for the highest military burial in Arlington National Cemetery he instead chose to be buried in a small anonymous cemetery in W. Virginia so he could be next to the women he loved for eternity.

To learn more about the unbelievable life of America's smallest war hero please check out, "The Giant Killer" Book, Audiobook and Documentary available worldwide.

Flaherty Military Bio:

Special Forces Capt. Richard J. Flaherty AKA The Giant Killer - In December of 1967, was sent to Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division. He served as a Platoon Leader with companies B, C, and D and as a Recon Platoon Leader with Echo company.

In January of 1969, he returned to CONUS and attended the Special Forces School at Fort Bragg and was then assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group. Later that year he returned to South East Asia with the 46th Special Forces Company A-110 in Camp Pawai, Lopburi Thailand.

Captain Flaherty earned The Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars, 2 Purple Hearts, the Air Medal, Gallantry Cross W/Silver Star, Army Commendation Medal, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, 3 Overseas Bars, Sharpshooter Badge W/Rifle Bar, Air Medal, Parachutist Badge, Vietnam Service badge