#xenophobia is funny sometimes actually

[ninicaise]

exact same energy

[tunacocina]

i need to reblock #discourse.... i do not care ♥️yayyy. why did i even unblock it. i think it was for the admin situation and then i never reblocked it. i cant be living like this

[llyfrenfys]

Xenophobia in Celtic nations' independence movements: A guide to the red flags

This is something I've wanted to write about for a long time - I want to go over this in more detail when I can. But for now a short guide to the most egregious red flags is warranted imo.

'Celtic nations' refers to the modern regions where Celtic languages are still spoken, namely Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man, Cornwall and Brittany. Its important to know that these places are called Celtic not because of who lives there, but because of the languages which have survived there. Its a common error to think 'Celtic nations'= Celtic people. In my field (Celtic Studies) Celtic is generally only applied as a descriptor in the sense of language family.

Because of the popular misinformation 'Celtic nation' = 'Celtic' population, xenophobia rears its ugly head in multiple corners of the various Celtic nations' independence movements. Left unchecked, this xenophobia develops into outright racism. Which is why it's important to recognise these red flags when you see them.

'Acceptable Targets':

The reason why some of the xenophobia goes unchecked (and develops into worse kinds) is because a lot of xenophobia in the Celtic nations is aimed at 'acceptable' targets - which no-one bats an eye about when this rhetoric is deployed. But were it deployed against any other nationalities, it would immediately obvious that it isn't acceptable. Now, I will preface this with that there's nuance with these nationalities and there's something to be said about whether some of it is 'punching up'. However, because of how accepted it is to be casually xenophobic against these privileged groups, it is signalled through that that it's okay to be xenophobic in general to less privileged groups. I feel its important to address the first rung on the ladder before tackling any higher up.

Without beating around the bush, I'm talking about the English (and French. But I know more about the English so that's where my focus will be).

Yes, pro-independence anti-English memes and jokes can be funny. Most of them do stay on the side of punching up and many raise important points on the effects of English imperialism on the Celtic languages. However, there's a fine line between punching up and voluntarily using and wielding xenophobic arguments and rhetoric to get one up on the English. This, in my view, only paves the way for worse kinds of xenophobia and to me is a canary in the coal mine situation. But I also cannot talk about this without also making it clear that it is possible to recognise that sometimes a line is crossed without validating English persecution complexes à la 'you can't even say you're English these days' or similar nonsense. Both things can be true at once: Casual xenophobia against the English does exist, however, its existence should not be used to validate English persecution complexes. On the contrary, we should fight that also.

The reason why this canary in the coal mine has gone unnoticed is because of the reluctance to actually point out xenophobia against the English in pro-independence movements due to fear of accidentally validating the claims Englishness as a concept is under threat or due of fear of ostracism from Celtic nationalist movements. There is little danger of actually validating the former sentiment, however, because of a crucial fact. The people in the Celtic nations being casually xenophobic and the English with persecution complexes have one massive trait in common: they're both xenophobic in incredibly similar ways. If it's hard to tell apart an English nationalist from one in a Celtic nation if you were to swap the target of their ire, congratulations, your movement has a xenophobia problem /s.

English nationalist: We should tighten controls on our borders to keep all those foreigners and immigrants out. Make England English again.

(Xenophobic) Celtic nationalist: We should fight for our independence so we can tighten controls on our borders to keep all those foreigners and immigrants out. Make [insert Celtic nation] [nationish] again.

Many Celtic nationalists will also present ahistorical facts or manipulated versions of history in order to seem more valid or legitimate. It's a massive red flag when someone's grasp of history seems more emotional than grounded in historical fact. Using Welsh history as an example, I've seen this type of Celtic nationalist blatantly lie about historical figures, literally deface ancient castles in Wales based on a poor grasp (and respect for) history and conflate modern English and Welsh identity with ancient entities which do not map neatly 1:1. The ahistory presented by individuals or groups fancying themselves as leaders in their respective movements are unquestioningly accepted by others in the Celtic nationalist movements. This creates a manufactured mythology, belief in which confers in-group status and out-group status. A mythology which reinforces beliefs already present in the movement - such as the right to be casually xenophobic as long as it's against the 'right people' and as long as it is done in the name of protecting or advocating for their nation.

It was never going to stop at English people:

Once casual xenophobia is established as being tolerated, expected or even encouraged in the various independence movements, it enables xenophobes to be bolder in their rhetoric. Because casual xenophobia against 'deserving' nations like England is dismissed as 'just banter' and not taken seriously, it sends a signal to everyone in that movement that xenophobia is okay if its used against the 'right groups. While it may roll like water off a duck's back to the average English person, other, more vulnerable people do not fare so well.

To use an actual example I've seen out in the wild, some people will claim that you can't be considered Welsh unless you were born in Wales. Many people won't question this or interrogate the implications. Firstly, this comes back to how Celtic nationalists can often sound exactly the same as English nationalists (blood and soil nationalism is common to English and Celtic nationalisms). Secondly, this rhetoric also simulataneously invalidates several ostensibly Welsh people, such as Saunders Lewis (born in Liverpool) and Jan Morris (born in Somerset). In most cases, anyone who lives in X country / is a citizen of X country can or should be able to describe themselves as Xish.

The perennial anxiety of Celtic nationalists is that because most of the Celtic nations (excepting the Republic of Ireland) are constituent parts of a state (either the UK or France) and not independent entities in their own right, there is no control over borders and there is no system by which someone can be made a Welsh, or Breton or Cornish etc. citizen - and thus no way to control [nation]ness via those means. When Celtic nationalists agitate for independence, it's important to interrogate their motivations. If they are motivated primarily by a desire to control who is considered Xish and who isn't, that's a red flag.

English nationalists have this citizenship problem too, since England is not an independent nation, but a country within the UK. However, most English nationalists overlap heavily with British nationalists in general, so most agitation for 'sovereignty' gets channelled into British nationalism. This is one of the key differences between English and Celtic nationalists - the former is usually very fond of the United Kingdom, the latter detests it and wants to secede. This leaves Celtic nationalism in a tight spot - there is a desire for self determination which is currently impossible to achieve or enforce. And that makes a lot of Celtic nationalists anxious. And that anxiety leads to feeling like they need to prove their commitment to the cause by performing xenophobia, which validates their in-group status while simultaneously establishes the out-group.

A person born in England but who lives in Wales, perhaps speaks Welsh or considers themself Welsh will, in general, be mostly unharmed by 'you have to be born in Wales to be Welsh' rhetoric. But you know who might be? So many immigrants who consider themselves Welsh who make Wales a great place to be. Immigrants in Wales (especially nonwhite immigrants) may feel excluded by such rhetoric. It's almost on par with "where are you really from" sentiments. And this is an entirely self-defeating kind of rhetoric for Celtic nationalists to take up. Here we have thousands upon thousands of people who willingly want to live and work in Celtic nations - many of whom will also learn the language - undoing centuries of English and French propaganda that diminished the worth of Celtic nations and their languages* - and Celtic nationalists want to exclude these people from claiming the nationality of their adopted nations because... they didn't happen to be born here. Got it.

Xenophobia, once established, cannot be contained:

Xenophobia ripples outwards. Once it is established it is okay to be xenophobic to certain groups, other groups begin to be included in the xenophobia. This then has the potential to expand into outright racism. In Ireland, for example, there's significant amounts of antiblack racism present in the nationalist movement. Very recently, due to the actions of the UK government over the Rwanda Plan, the Republic of Ireland has gotten frustrated at the amount of immigrants attempting to reach their shores after abandoning attempts to claim asylum in the UK (out of fear of being sent to Rwanda). There's a "we don't do that here" attitude in many Celtic nationalist movements with regards to English imperialism, xenophobia, racism and anti-immigration. But not only do we do that here - it's worryingly integral to some people's visions for their nation's independence! You end up with complacency because many will take a literal no true Scotsman approach to Celtic nationalism and pretend that such people aren't really part of the movement. The problem is, is that they are here and regularly hijack otherwise unproblematic movements.

There are many routes through which Celtic nationalists can get radicalised into becoming massively xenophobic in order to fight for their respective nation's independence. All of them stem from real, legitimate problems in each nation whose cause has been misidentified.

One way is through opposition to second homes. On all counts, a noble goal and a very legitimate problem which I myself am invested in fighting. But the ways in which this problem is addressed often veer into questionable territory. If the focus is on "how dare those people from over there come over here" instead of "how dare a very small group of people monopolise housing for holiday lets at the expense of locals" there's a problem. The problem isn't people not from [place] holidaying there, it's the people who monopolise housing for their own profit which reduces housing available for locals and destroys community. In Aberystwyth I've heard some appalling sentiments against people from the Midlands - borderline if not outright classism around their appearances, mannerisms and accents. Sneering at random families visiting the beach isn't going to help anything and only exposes thinly veiled bigotry in whoever is making such remarks.

As already mentioned, another way radicalisation into xenophobic Celtic nationalism can occur is through mythologised 'history' which has been manipulated to suit the needs of the person or people making the claim. Lately, I've been seeing a rise in Welsh 'history' groups rife with disinformation and outright misrepresentation of historical events which are so designed to keep people angry about historical injustices against Wales. There are plenty of real historical injustices which can be talked about - but the 'history' presented in these groups is often fabricated or twisted to make things worse than they were or are stripped of nuance which perhaps paints certain historical figures less favourably than the authors would have liked. Not to mention superimposing modern nationalism onto ancient peoples is also just accepted as fine to do. Here is a screenshot of a Welsh 'history' group shared in a Welsh learning group I'm in. I can and will do a deeper dive into this topic in particular when I can. For now I'll mention the most important things to notice:

As mentioned in one of my other posts on this topic - the term 'native' is frequently misused in a Celtic context. Here, it sets up the basic in-group/out-group dynamic from the start and creates a setting in which members of the group are privy to the 'real' history while others are not. A brief glance at posts in this group makes that quite clear. The flag in the image is a representation of Y Groes Naid - supposedly a piece of the True Cross kept at Aberconwy. Now, there are ways to depict this cross which aren't so dogwhistley - so I'm immediately suspicious this image was chosen on purpose. Right down to the fact there's plausible deniability if anyone tries to point out how much the flag looks like the white supremacist Celtic Cross symbol, since it's Y Groes Naid, right?

I will wrap this up with that as a Celticist, I see far too many people uncritically supporting certain Celtic nationalist movements simply because they are pro-independence. Turning a blind eye to 'acceptable' xenophobia and choosing to believe ahistorical versions of history because it better suits their politics. This must be resisted - we can advocate for the independence of Celtic nations which desire it without relying upon these means. It can be done, I promise. But the path to that means dismantling systems of oppression which exist within Celtic nationalist movements. Awareness of the problem in the first place is a good place to start.

Reblogs and comments are welcome on this post to raise awareness of the issue and actually talk about these things.

Diolch am darllen!

[right-there-ride-on]

Figuring out the Context surrounding Funny Valentine

cw: blood, torture, implied rape, discussion about the Confederacy

I was originally going to make a post about nationalism in SBR but to do that I think I need a better understanding of SBR's antagonist; hence this post.

Let's start with the backstory. It's revealed to us late-game, literally during the narrative climax, as Valentine attempts to find the resolve to overcome Johnny's Infinite Spin. What's the difference between regular resolve and dark determination? umm I'll get back to you on that. Anyway, we are treated to a flashback with young Funny on the day a friend of his father's visits Funny and his mother.

To clarify, the friend's name is Captain Valentine. Which means that after he shares the news of Funny's father's death he ends up marrying Funny's mother and becoming his stepfather and giving Funny the last name Valentine.

I'm posting the whole flashback so you'll have the full context of what I'm talking about.

Chapter 87: Ball Breaker (Part 5)

I wanted to try and find out what war this was, so I did some research.

According to JOJOVELLER: Stands (pg. 294), Funny Valentine is 43 years old. SBR takes place in 1890. 1890 - 43 = 1847. Thus Funny Valentine was born in 1847. (Also, I only realized after doing the math, it's stated that the date on the handkerchief is Funny's birthday and it clearly says 1847. Lol)

Funny is clearly stated to be seven years old in the flashback, meaning that Capt. Valentine's visit takes place in 1854.

Keeping in mind how long it took to travel back then, as well as taking into account that it seems somewhat implied Capt. Valentine waited awhile to bring the handkerchief to the family, either with Funny's father until he died or sometime after his burial, I'm going to suggest the date ranges for the war are between 1847 - 1853.

Furthermore, Capt. Valentine mention he is a member of the calvary, which wasn't officially established until 1861.

However, there were temporary calvary units created during times of need, so I'll be looking at those as well.

On wikipedia, the list of U.S. conflicts during that timeframe include:

Texas-Comanche Wars (1836 - 1875)

Mexican-American War (1846 - 1848)

Cayuse War (1847 - 1855)

Apache Wars (1849-1924)

Navajo Wars (1849 - 1866)

However, the conflict is also explicitly mentioned as ending.

Which is why I'm going to suggest Funny's father did not participate in any of the Native American conflicts. That really only leaves the Mexican-American war. To further support this, wikipedia also states that a calvary was raised to fight as well.

What happened to Funny's father during the Mexican-American war likely fueled his xenophobia.

As for the Valentine himself, we know he also fought in a war and received scars in the shape of the American flag. Counting the ones that seem to be bullet holes (possibly), there's 14 that I counted. Why not 13, for the 13 colonies? Or 13 for the flag he uses in Philidelphia? I'm not sure. The only connection I can make is that June 14th is Flag Day.

Chapter 62: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

It's a bit harder to place what war Valentine fought in. We know he was in San Diego, but there are actually two versions of why he was there.

One is that, while in Congress (after the war) he discovered Joseph of Arimathea's Map of the Corpse Parts in the British Parliament in 1889. Not knowing what it was, he traveled with a Puritan search party to the first cross on the map in San Diego and obtained the Corpse Heart. All in the party but him died, and he testified that they were caught in quicksand.

Chapter 30: Scary Monsters (Part 3)

The second backstory is that Valentine was with a group of soldiers when they came across a Devil's Palm. Once again Valentine was the sole survivor.

Chapter 67: D4C (Part 2)

This second backstory seems to be more in-line with the Valentine seen in Chapter 62, and this backstory better matches Valentine's scars. Although we know D4C allows Valentine to dimension-hop, we also know that only the base universe has the corpse. These two backstories can't exist together. To keep things simple, I'll chalk up the original backstory as early weirdness and continue with the assumption that the second backstory is the one Araki wants us to pay attention to.

First, let's consider the timeline. Assuming that Valentine indeed served in Congress before running for President, we still don't know if he served in the House or Senate, or even what state he would have represented.

A House term is two years.

A Senate term is six years.

I think someone like Valentine would have shot for the longer term limits, so I'm going to assume he ran and won a seat in the Senate, likely several times. Working backwards from 1890:

He won the presidential bid in 1888 and was sworn in in 1889

Six years prior would have been 1882

Let's say he did a term before that as well, which puts us at 1876.

So, we'll say he started his political career in 1876.

This means any wars he participated in would have had to have been before 1876. The war could have been a Native American conflict, which I think is somewhat likely due to Valentine's troop being positioned in San Diego. However, considering Valentine's scars were received from being captured and tortured by the enemy, and given the shape of them, it's fairly likely he received the scars during the Civil War. Keep in mind though that we don't know whether he received the scars or the Corpse Heart first, which would impact the timeline. I'll continue by assuming he received the scars first.

Noticeably, in the Chapter 67 flashback, Valentine isn't a young man but appears to be an adult. The Enrollment Act of 1863 conscripted all men between 20 and 45 to fight for the Union, but we can't base our age estimation entirely on this because Valentine is die-hard patriot and likely would have volunteered as soon as he was eligible.

So let's say he was 17 during the time of that flashback. 1847 + 17 = 1864. That's during the Civil War timeframe (as the Civil War ended in 1866). I feel safe to say that he fought in the Civil War.

There's another piece of evidence to consider as well, which is the uniform. Unfortunately I am not Civil War historian nor someone with a good eye for design, so I cannot say for certain which side his uniform appears to be from. All we can really see is the dark color and two buttons on the cuff. I'm not completely sure on this, but I think the two buttons may have indicated nicer uniforms, which may have indicated Valentine had a somewhat high rank.

Confederate Formal Uniform Example:

Source: File:The photographic history of the Civil War - thousands of scenes photographed 1861-65, with text by many special authorities (1911) (14782791043).jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Union Uniform Example:

Source: File:General Benjamin Butler Brady-Handy.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

And here's a more direct comparison:

Source: Yankees Civil War Uniform (animalia-life.club)

Or for a compressed version: OnlineResize.club. Resize image, Crop pics, Add instagram effect.

Again, I can't say for certain, and the way that the uniform is drawn doesn't make it completely clear. While the shape of the coat appears to generally resemble the Union uniform, to me it appears the hat is closer to the Confederate Kepi. Knowing what state he was from would certainly help; if we extrapolate that his father fought in the Mexican-American war, then possibly we can infer it was a Southern State, but I also am wary about suggesting that because I'm unsure how much political success a former Confederate could have had in a heavily Republican Congress.

I want to emphasize that none this is certain, but based on the information we have these are my best guesses. If you want to take a crack at it, here's wikipedia's comprehensive timeline of U.S. military conflicts. It's entirely possible he fought and was captured by the native people, which would support his placement in San Diego during the time of his enrollment in the army and would have given him a generally stronger position in Congress to base his platform off of (as opposed to if he had been a Confederate). It's also entirely possible he was in the Union and fought to keep the country together, which I see as in line with his ideals of patriotism and authoritarianism. And as discussed above, it's also possible he was part of the Confederacy, then was absorbed into the Union post-Civil war before beginning his political career. I couldn't find the details to support any one of these over the others.

So, based on all the available evidence, my tentative timeline is this:

Valentine volunteers for the army in the Civil War (1864)

Valentine is captured and scarred (?)

Valentine is re-assigned to training post-war in San Diego (between 1866 - 1876)

Valentine makes his congressional run (1876)

Valentine wins Senate re-election (1876)

Valentine runs for presidency and wins (1888)

At some point in the future, maybe I'll write about Valentine and American Nationalism and all those fun things, but for now this was my attempt at figuring out the specifics of Valentine's backstory and the sort of circumstances he sprung from.

If you got this far, thank you for reading!

[langernameohnebedeutung]

sometimes Lovecraft is actually funny in his xenophobia

[bonefall]

I'm trying to do my own rewrite that doesn't veer too far from canon, and I'm really struggling with how to handle Tigerstar and Sasha. I think Hawk and Moth being half kittypet contributes to their characters in fun ways, and I can see how Tigerstar would want new heirs after being banished from ThunderClan. But idk why xenophobic Tiger would consort with a kittypet, especially someone he'd see as soft like Sasha, when he could've picked a Shadow or RiverClan cat instead? Any thoughts?

You may find my Political Union Concept very helpful for your Sasha dynamic, but I actually get this particular sentiment a lot. People who come to me feeling like they have to work out a problem, "Why does this xenophobic person consort with this member of an outsider group?"

And I don't understand the confusion. Bigotry isn't a principle. Bigoted people don't avoid talking to minorities like a vegan avoids bacon, like it's a meaningful, noble choice. Xenophobes think minorities are inferior and subhuman and that looks like a lot of different things.

(CW: Talking candidly about bigotry, racism, xenophobia, and violence against minority groups. This includes several real-world examples. I also speak about an abusive relationship in a way that could be triggering.)

Bigots interact abusively with the people they're prejudiced against, which CAN look like the "classic" frothing nazi hurling slurs, segregation, and denial of service, yes, but there's a lot of different ways to be abusive.

It can be Exploitative. It can be labor exploitation, it can be human trafficking. It's very easy to justify doing inhuman acts to someone you don't see as human, and worse... when society agrees and is equally bigoted? It becomes very easy to isolate a member of a minority group to groom them for this exploitation, and not face justice for your misdeeds.

There's a massive power imbalance between a person like Tigerstar, a political figurehead, and Sasha, a member of a minority group unprotected by the society's laws. The potential for abuse, isolation, exploitation... it's unfathomable. Sasha is in a deeply dangerous situation; Tigerstar knows that. That's probably what he wants.

Personhood is a privilege her abuser can revoke. I can't capture how terrifying this situation would be realistically.

I often get the original sentiment in the form of, "Why did Tigerstar work with Scourge when he's a xenophobe? He wouldn't want his help!" and... I think this sort of question that should prompt its speaker to do some more personal education on social justice issues. Racists, colonists, xenophobes, and chauvinists are constantly doing this.

Why do xenophobes eat fruit knowing a migrant probably picked it? Because they don't care. Why do sexists hire women? Because they want the labor. Why does Sammy Racism buy product from Company X when he SEES it is owned by a minority? That's the cheapest company.

Why did Tigerstar work with BloodClan? Because they would give him the forest. He probably didn't even plan on giving them what he bargained for.

The minute that Scourge defied him, and said, "I need to rethink these terms in light of new information," Tigerstar flipped the fuck out and tried to kill him for disobedience. He never respected his personhood, or Firestar's, or Sasha's. Ever. That doesn't mean he was physically incapable of interacting with them without slurs bubbling out of him like he was possessed by the ghost of a racism-themed pokemon.

I know it can be easy to imagine bigots being like this chucklefuck who won't climb rainbow stairs, because they are VERY funny and laughing at them is EXTREMELY satisfying, but most bigots will just Take The Rainbow Stairs.

So ASK yourself, instead, what the xenophobic character actually wants. What they can get from this relationship. Sometimes they do want to eradicate the minority group. Sometimes they want power first and will use the group they're bigoted against to get it. Sometimes they want labor. Sometimes they want bodies. Sometimes they want goods. Sometimes the see those last two as the same thing.

Clear your mind of this idea that prejudice itself is rational, logical, or even that bigots have consistent beliefs. Prejudice is a bias, a slimy bucket of contradictory ideas that slide against each other like worms. Bigots and minorities aren't pop rocks and coke, chemically incapable of being in a space without exploding. Minorities live in bigoted societies next to people who hate them their whole lives, it's not so simple as "Xenophobic character = Says no to disliked group."

[eclipsecrowned]

hc: evi & the lopen, perhaps.. // @nectaric

For some overlap with my chosen FC, I actually write Evi as not being wholly Riran! She has a Shin grandfather hidden back on the family tree. She has never brought this up since fleeing East, because she doesn't need to deal with that while already handling Alethi xenophobia. Was mildly afraid that her children would give it away and be crem-sized --

Evi is a creative! I don't know if she registers herself as such, but she does have some artistic pursuits. She picked up a knack for storytelling when she was traveling, which we later see her carry on with Ren. She also likes to paint, but prefers landscapes to portrait work. She sees storytelling as something collaborative with her audience, and her painting as collaboration with the earth and the forces that occupy it. She fears describing it as 'art' properly somehow solemnizes acts she takes plain joy in.

She dealt with depression on and off throughout her life. From fleeing her homeland in the night to the very end of her story, she's been dealt a hard hand the whole way through. Evi has her own personal fixes for when she feels herself going 'away,' long walks, time with her boys when she can handle it, her hobbies, but sometimes it still presses against the surface of her stillwater facade. It spiked most noticeably after her eldest was born, as the one two punch of 'my son will never know my half of his heritage' and 'my husband is leaving me alone again,' to a point she struggled to function and others took note.

Evi truly wanted a daughter, someone to be gentle to, someone the ways of war and conquest could not take from her. Evi never would have forgiven herself if she had given birth to a daughter. She never wanted to bring anyone into the back-biting society that made her feel so small, to raise her treasure to hide her hand and her desires and her truths.

Ialai lied. Evi was not some wanton, exotic scandal waiting to swallow her betrothed whole. However, she did think the safehand thing was a little funny, and delighted in teasing her husband with it. Before the boys were born, she'd sometimes freehand in their private chambers, and laugh at how she could fluster the man all others feared. She had to laugh. She had to see him as something else to cope, and he was so easily ruled by the mere glimpse of skin that to her still seemed so innocent.

It has been a minute since I read through the scene where the Lopen's family is all together, but I like to imagine he just has a ton of sisters. I don't know if he's an only son, but he's definitely outnumbered. I also think he's the baby of his family, which helped him get so smug and bold in life.

Spent a bit of time in his childhood being 'The Man of The House' whenever his father went out looking for work. Depending on the state of his Alethkar, work for immigrants could be in short supply. So clearly all his older cousins should listen to him, on account of his being so mature and important.

I think the lost his arm/made a slave plotlines actually overlap. 'Being Annoying' is an explanation for why his people wanted him gone, but would not be a valid enough reason for him to get the boot from superiors, unless the xenophobia in-universe is way darker than what is depicted on page. Between his immediate family being well established in the Camp as well as the estimate of his slave brands age, I think he was one of those teenage boys trying to make something of himself in war and got eaten alive, whether as a soldier or in some support role. Got injured. Survived, but not with his arm intact. See, now he's annoying and no longer able-bodied. It's the perfect storm for his squad to turn on him and literally sell him upriver a few years prior to canon -- and for the loss to be recent enough he hasn't internalized his status as an amputee.

Smarter emotionally than he -- or anyone -- gives him credit for. Can be short-sighted about his own behavior and its impact, but is particularly adroit about other people. He has a knack for coming around and helping Ax's Kal, for instance, or getting Pupper's Szeth to actually let down at least one wall. He recognizes there's men from the original crew that need to confront and work through their lingering feelings towards Gaz to keep the peace between respective Orders in he future.

Most likely to turn to locker room talk. Not in the sense of degradation or reducing someone to what he finds attractive, but more 'I have no filter and I'm about to educate you naco.' At present his record is giving one of my OCs a thorough understanding of techniques when on weapon maintenance duty and having sent Ax's Kal zooming off in mortification in separate incidents --

[zilodak]

im a turkish person who lives in America and it honestly makes so giddy to see turkish artists online since i live in a part of the US that basically has no other turkish people. it gets a little bit isolating sometimes because I love our culture and our language but not many people here actually know about any of it.

To them you’re either European or Arab and it’s a little bit challenging to explain what being Turkish really is to Americans sometimes. It’s so funny when you’re like, “🤓 um actually the majority of Turkey is in Asia” and their whole world view is shattered because like how could a country ever be Eurasian i guess, what a foreign concept, “what? you’re Asian?????? No way man you’re white right?” and then the real bombshell is when you tell them it’s also a mostly muslim country that’s often considered middle eastern.

i can not tell you the amount of times people have just out of the blue asked me what my race is. i guess its because of how intertwined race has been with American society and their view of identity throughout history. white with an asterisk i guess. like white as in i have all the privileges that come with being a white person but also not exactly being what people here think of when they refer to you as white or having white experiences. and thats ok i guess since white is more of a flexible umbrella term used to identify who has more racial privilege and power in American society. shit gets bonkers confusing sometimes. they should give you a manual that explains all this when you move to america fr.

sorry that was long and a little bit embarrassing to write in a tumblr anon thing but uhhhh just ignore all that ig resimler süper ya!

Where's that one Tumblr post... ah here it is

It's been an interesting experience to come to America after the discrimination in Europe because American discrimination is very racially motivated, as in if you have white skin, and you're not visibly Muslim (eg. are not a hijabi) you're considered and treated mostly white in public spaces which is a great privilege. This is also present in Europe mind you, like very much so, the way they treat Black and brown people is just as horrible and present in Europe as it is in America but they're also incredibly nosy on top of everything, and they'll clock you the moment you speak the language or you look even the slight bit ethnic and start treating you differently no matter if you have white skin. On one hand it's xenophobia sure, but really it has been ethnophobia for me more than anything (I've been mocked for my big nose, bushy eyebrows, hairy body, thick accent, etc).

I did have one defining moment when I first came here in America, I must've been around like 6 or 7 and this was post 9/11 and I distinctly remember we were at a Walmart (we were tourists) and I think we had some sort of miscommunication with the cashier and my mom was speaking Turkish to me bc I didn't speak English back then, and I think she mentioned God and it sealed the deal for the white woman behind us at the line and she started screaming for security. I obviously didn't understand it at the time and now my mom laughs a bit when she tells the story to our relatives or strangers, but it was clear that she got really scared and worried at that moment knowing how aggressive police and security is in America. She had no idea how to deal with the situation, especially since I was there (my mom's a bit of a short fuse) and she did not want to put me in danger, is what she'd later tell me.

I'm privileged that I haven't experienced anything like that or what I've been through in Europe ever since I moved here. But it does hurt a bit when I try to speak about past experiences with discrimination ive personally faced and people try to discredit me because I don't look ethnic enough for them (which is weird bc these are all things I've heard white people say mostly and bc like I've mentioned earlier have been endlessly mocked for when I was younger), which I understand bc it's different in Europe than it is in America. I even had someone on twitter zoom into a photo I posted and perform some weird like eugenic analysis as to why I don't deserve to speak up abt topics I've had experience with before based on ONE photo I had edited bc I was again struggling with body imaging issues and hated my ethnic features. It was very weird...

Still I find it odd that many people don't consider the Anatolia as part of Asia because it was considered the Orient and exotic for so long, and white people saying that now just feels so very wrong to me bc it feels like they're trying to erase how much influence they and their words had on the people and the land through Orientalism. I mean, the first word of advice my mom gave me when I told her abt the weird stuff my classmates were calling me as a kid was "they'll always see you as a barbarian, don't bother" in such a tired and defeated voice.

[horizon-verizon]

Hi !!!!

What do you think about the fact that people say that the northman smell ? I always thought that this was some kind of lie or stereotype because they are different from the rest of the 7K .

But I've seen people say that there is only one kind of people that smell and they are the northman not the dornish . I thought that both this and the stereotypes about dornishman were due to their differences from the rest of the people . But some people take it literally.

What's your opinion on this?

Context

It's a very old and habitual thing for people to claim a certain "foreign" group of people "smell funny" or "bad" bc it's a complaint of the proximity to said foreign peoples. You know, if you're close enough to smell, you'd be confronted with how "rank" they innately are and should be somewhere else from you/yours. This is an example of how xenophobia and racism can overlap, bc racists will also/have also claimed non white people smell weird or their food smells weird and "gross" when it's simply different and/or stronger bc they actually season it with different things...or just season. Or whatever. Same idea, proximity and being in the presence of "weird" things, which in racism is then used to justify there being inherent differences b/t the groups that makes the non-smelly one innately superior and the only one capable of not being smelly/having "good" food within an burgeoning or existing racial system. Xenophobia gives easy rise to racism; racism affirms xenophobia. A cycle.

Answer

The "smelly" Dornish thing is stereotyping; the "Northners are actually smelly one" is anti-stereotyping and flipping the narrative. even though both groups are subject to xenophobia in-world, even to different degrees.

I actually have never heard people in the fandom say the northerners smell. And I don't remember any in-world character of any of the books claim such or hear another say so. Northmen are usually referred to as "savages" by some Andal-descents, esp septons (Eustace). So I'd have to see an example of that.

But it sounds like people are trying to defend the Dornish--or rather come back at the clear racism and xenophobia some fans have against the Dornish (I say racism bc the Dornish are PoC in many fans' eyes, esp from the show and so they treat them as such and base their theories and assessments of the world based on that). and doing so by doing what people often do in real life when white people--of any and all countries--try to make xenophobic and racists remarks about PoCs and Black peoples or just people from other countries: point out the hypocrisy by bringing up facts abt how they do not escape the facts of their own criticisms. Or just emphasize something else that show how they shouldn't be the authority to judge bc they are the bad actor that perpetuate/cause/set up the conditions being criticized (if the criticism is pointing out a fact but in bad faith to then lead up to imply that the PoCs and Black people cause such things themselves to themselves or that they innately show their inferiority by doing such things that the criticizer removes context of for such a claim of superiority).

Like English people vs Americans with traveling; Brits claim Americans don't travel and are uncultured bc of it, therefore are also dumb, but ironically, their island is not even the size of Texas and people travel 5 European countries worth sometimes to just see family, important landmarks, and end up also exploring indigenous tribes (hopefully respectfully). And because there are frankly thousands of different ethnicities and cultures and indigenous nations across this country that have influenced and grander "American" culture, the U.S. is already very "cultured" even if citizens stay within the country--Americans actually travel more going to work than Europeans tend to for their work. It doesn't make them/us necessarily superior, but that's how many Europeans on the Internet and some of real life like to think bc that's what they are looking for--innate human "superiority" AND an unchallenged justification of such so that they can continue their racism, some whites-first agenda, bc that's what it is. Then there's the whole business of rising far right groups in Europe reflecting how such has happened in the States but Europeans refusing to acknowledge how these are fascists they themselves enabled to be in power. And then there is when I talked about Israel and Eurovision, although that could have also been an Israeli 🙄. So it's most likely this.

Now, for them to use the northerners as the element of "white-people-saying-shit-to-be-superior", we need to know what facts could give the idea that northerners "smell" in the first place (bc it is a fact that many white people don't wash their legs and they had comparatively bad systems of hygiene and sewage compared to what we see as PoC civilizations AFTER the Romans at least). The northerners, I think, would be more inside often bc of the weather and have less access to water unless you are a Stark. Or at least this is what I think Andal people would think, too. So the other possibility is that people have headcanoned that the Northerners actually do stink in comparison to Andal descents but that this stink is made a part of their very being instead of being conditional. Again, removal of context, but as a way to show how the "other side" removes the context and push it in their face.

Because unlike the Dornish, the northerners more often practice male primogeniture AND are universally pale. Even as they worship the Old gods and practice much more subsistence-based practices form both the environment and those old god-based traditions they adopted form the twstsote/children of the forest.

They are, in a word, as less diverse than Dornish people and relatively have similar cultural practices amongst themselves as the Andals do themselves due to the isolation the Neck affords them. So they have less phenotically different features than the Andal people that we'd call "white" features (a range of very diff eye colors & "straight" features). The deal with Ned, his father, brother, and Lyanna plus the Strks of the main series? This is an anomaly in Westerosi history, where the Starks are more active than they've really ever been in "southron" politics. And the Starks are the second most fav house in the fandom.

Taking all this into account, the xenophobia towards the Northerners isn't quite as prominent in Westeros and in the fandom itself since people watched GoT and read the main series. People have misunderstood the Starks place in the politics and society of Westeros b/c the Starks are such a (usually positive) presence in the story that we had & which existed before AWoIaF, the Dunk and Egg series, Rogue Prince, TP&TQ, and F&B.

So it is useful AND truthful to re-foreignize them by pointing out how they have been "foreign" to the "majority" Andal-nonDornish descendants for thousands of years to throw off annoying/racist Stark stans. This is totally different "work" than when people (inworld or in the fandom) claim the Dornish "smell". They are not the same acts. Because Dornish people, rather than northerners, will face more bigoted readings from fans than northerners will.

[quietbluejay]

Master of the Maelstrom

You know, if I had a nickel every time I had a wh40k fave who was a space pirate leader with chronic pain in a constant mental struggle against the dark forces giving him his power, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's funny they have so many similarities on paper yet are so different in execution.

What an unfortunate first name this man has

Man, dude has style

He talks about the appeal of Chaos being idea of having the freedom to do what you want without a superior breathing down your neck (lmao) and how that's still a lie, but it's more freedom than the Imperium will give you.

oh hey hello, it's that choice again, haha.

look I know he’s an evil dude who’s in denial about being high on chaos but he’s meeting all my standards I don’t care that he’s a burnt chicken nugget so far he’s the most attractive chaos character ive met so far Well I’ll wait til he strangles a subordinate I guess With my luck with characters it’ll happen lol Okay look hes showing better social-fu than I’ve seen from a single primarch despite them supposedly having super charisma well, he has regular person charisma instead of magic warp charisma that does most of the work for you He’s constantly throwing jabs at the imperium in his inner monologue And also he’s got chronic pain and has a magic parrot also he's a tax evader What more could you want?

i think throwing Sad Ahriman at Huron would be very fun huron definitely knows who ahriman is they maybe even met before! so he'd know this is a ticking time bomb (this is, assuming sad ahriman somehow travelled through time to the future) also huron would definitely be like "i am going to cause problems for the imperium on purpose" if he were to ever travel back to horus heresy era like i had a vague thought about before

I'm also really enjoying our other main POV character, Griza Dallax. Actually you know what consistently all the admech women have been pretty great. Tawren, Carmenta, now Griza. Spider cyborg woman from Talon of Horus was also fun.

oh. i think Griza hit a nerve

Griza:

huron continues to be salty about the imperium he wants people to suffer the same way he did and have the lies of benevolence/protection stripped away also man, calling out Mortarion and Magnus for sulking for 10k years and i get the feeling he'd say it to their faces, quite possibly huron internally: it would be totally sick if guilliman was my dad and i got to fight him huron: also if i have to die, what a way it would be to go out

Valthex my beloved

I just like how in this whole room of people who don’t trust each other and would sell each other for one corn chip there is one mostly genuine friendship

Diversity win! Local space pirate is NOT xenophobic!

Rip the tarellians though, got killed for having too much pride when Huron's got other stuff to do I find it fun though that his internal monologue has zero xenophobia He’s better than guilliman in this respect lol I think this counts as becoming a better person out of spite. I mean yes he did still kill them for essentially being in the way but he’s equal opportunity that way lol

huron: the imperium is xenophobic, ergo i will welcome xenos under my banner actually i think he's quite possibly the ONLY non-racist POV I've read so far unless we're counting eldar who happened to just not think about non-tyranid aliens

i just love love love the metaphors and similes warhammer writers use "[the ship] jerks into the air like a scalded animal" huron: lmao think twice daemons you're not getting onto my ship

pros in favour of huron being an ultramarine successor: organized, likes logistics, wants to have all the details available cons against him being one: doesn't think or talk in their stupid "theoretical/practical" huron: the problem with being a chaos space marine is that sometimes your ship eats your space marines and also people get into fights all the time so you have no clue how many people you actually have on board or who they are

RIP

also, i still find it hilarious that the warp tastes like burned sugar to everyone me ruining my candymaking attempt because i looked away for five seconds and it burns: this is so warhammercore huron: if you don't want to use your own soul to make bargains, store bought is fine

The level of willpower

daemon tries to tempt him huron: BEGONE THOT the whole bit was great

"...their enemies for them"

so, like, i know he's unreliable narrator but this is really adding fuel to my theory that the official story about the badab war has propaganda. Like I'm not gonna say he did nothing wrong, lmao, but it doesn't fit with his personality.

griza my beloved

sits bolt upright POV SWITCHING THERE WAS POV SWITCHING IN ONE SCENE AND I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE, BROOKS YOU SMOOTH-

Griza, no

the problem with might makes right huh what i find interesting is that it's a philosophy he's adopted as a means to an end rather than a goal in and of itself huron's POV is so fun

that's a burn all right

im not sentimental, local space pirate says sentimentally, with a sentimental expression

also i am standing by my opinion that huron would be able to fix ahriman (and the ship of misfits) BUT it would require some fairly specific circumstances

honestly ahriman is a character i don't really want to write it's hard to put him in wacky shenanigans maybe im unnecessarily constraining myself lol i did start uh writing a huron fic though involving time travel

wait i forgot to meme huron: you captured guilliman and you LOST him??? HOW do you LOSE a primarch??? Verngar: you forget to cherish him wait ok my further thoughts which i prob shouldnt be typing due to arm lol

i love how the imperiums enemy is forged from itself Meanwhile he’s constantly fending off demonic temptation that feels like his own thoughts

RIP Griza, she ended up sacrificing herself for the Imperium in the end

looks like the red corsairs are blasting off again….

anyways it was a fun book

I had two issues with the book: one is that it felt more like an extended character study of Huron than a proper novel. It was a fairly fun character study because Huron's a fun character, so it didn't bother me too much, but it is an issue. The second, and the one that bugged me more, was that it was really more of a tie-in to the "main plot" rather than standing on its own, the plot was really the weakest element.

It also had a subtly different interpretation of the setting from the other 40k books I've read so far (I'm ignoring the HH, because those SHOULD be clashing with 40k in terms of atmosphere, tone, etc), the kind of thing you get when you have multiple writers taking over from each other and you get stuff that clashes tonally and also in where they take the feel of the worldbuilding, I don't know the term for this. You see it in comics all the time when a new writer takes over and decides to put their own spin on things which may be fine on its own but can have some radically different interpretations of characters or setting elements etc. This is really more of a minor issue for me, and Brooks doesn't go as far as I've seen in comics, otherwise I'd be listing this under main issues, but it definitely feels like he's working from a different franchise bible than French/Haley/ADB (assuming they HAVE a franchise bible which I highly doubt given what I've seen of Black Library's competency or lack thereof. To be fair given the sheer scale of 40k any such beast would likely be the size of a contemporary Sanderson novel). By that I mean, it doesn't feel like he's doing his own spin on it, but that, again, he's writing an extended supplement for the game so it hews more closely to the tone, atmosphere, setting details, etc. as they're presented in codices. I used a lot of words here to dig into a minor complaint that's YMMV on whether it's even a negative or not, and I'm still not sure I was able to describe what I wanted to lol.

[msnihilist]

did you see that ben 10 co creator just recently talked about the possibility of a new ben 10 series?but he said they won't do with the original continuity and they want more mature and emotional stuff like UAF used to be with a more older and mature ben,like honestly it sounds cool,but tbh I don't like ben 10k it would be more cool if they go with more mature and older prime ben and not the ben 10k one,what do you think?

[(text:) anonymous asked: lol the ben 10 co creator literally said we're done with the comedic and funny stuff and they want to do a more mature and dark story if they ever gonna make a series again I want that shit (end text)]

I've said it before, but the idea of a new Ben 10 continuity utterly fails to tickle my fancy. It's why I have refused to (and will continue to refuse to) watch the reboot.

The OG Ben 10 continuity spans more than 200 episodes and four movies and a shitload of video games and comics. I do not want to do all of that again. Do you all have any idea how much of my brain is already dedicated to Ben 10 lore? I can't take another one!

More to the point, I don't trust any rebooted Ben 10 to actually be, well, good. Especially not if its creators are aiming for something "more mature" and "dark." I love when cartoons get serious, don't get me wrong. But dedicated adult shows (especially when adapted from children's media) tend to only focus on saying the word "fuck" and gratuitous gore and "oooh~ these characters have sex!!!!" instead of actually telling a good story. (I.E.: Family Guy, Rick and Morty, Velma, etc.)

It's true that there's a tiny chance of a hypothetical Ben 10 reboot getting really passionate writers, stellar animation, heartwarming character arcs, detailed world-building, etc... But I have all the building blocks I need to do all of that myself. I do it myself all the time! I don't need a Netflix reboot or whatever to do it for me.

Also, I like Ben 10 how it is. Are there things I'd change? Sure. Do I sometimes ignore canon to make things fit more coherently? Yeah. But I love this show, I've grown up loving it, and its world, story, and characters are always going to be special to me. I love UAF's darker plots with xenophobia, inbreeding, and genocide, and I also love the Omniverse episode where Ben and Rook watch paint dry (← makes me giggle just thinking about it).

So I'm not interested in seeing a reboot. I do not want that. I don't want a continuation, either. Leave some things for the fans to imagine, you know? I don't need to see every single stop on the path from Point A (Ben's teenage years) to Point B (Ben's adult years).

Now, I would be interested in perhaps a "What If?" series like Marvel did. What if Ben was an Anodite? What if Charmcaster joined Ben and Gwen instead of Kevin? What if Max wasn't a Plumber? What if Maltruant succeeded in creating his own universe? What if Ben refused to use the Omnitrix for fighting and was a strict pacifist? What would Ben be like if Gwen really had died in Secret of the Omnitrix? Etc etc etc. I think that would all be very cool. Some fun food for thought.

But if anymore Ben 10 media comes out in the future, it's safe to say that I will not be engaging with it. I'm happy with what I've got. Not everything needs more more more.

[dreadark]

what did you think of the event story?

gonna hope you’re talking about lingering echoes or i’ll look like a clown more than usual

yknow how ace attorney got someone known for yaoi doujins to design their characters

I feel like arknights did the same thing for this event’s writer

it’s just...really typical? like really of course they have a duet assigned just to them of course it turns out they’re secretly childhood friends and didn’t remember of course they’re doomed because they’ll literally kill everyone if they’re together like...they actually said “there’s only one bed.” how many more tropes can you fit in tho for that one specifically i feel like kreide probably still ended up sleeping on the floor. rip

so it’s kind of? charming?? baby’s first yaoibait (????) but anyway because it’s so typical i couldn’t take anything too seriously... like i enjoyed reading it enough but i just found everything really funny including the very sad™️ death which... probably not intended. maybe i’m too irony poisoned or something... 

anyway outside the goatboy tragedy...czerny was more interesting than i expected? I didn’t even realize he was a major character before oops. the whole deal with being leithanien’s only recognized infected musician so he has to keep giving things up to help the others...that seems to be the theme with him doesn’t it. he has to give up his privacy(?) to promote Morgen und Abend, then all his copyrights to get hospitals to treat infected, then eventually was even going to give up his life for eben and kreide. they don’t really dwell on it much but even at RI he donates most of what he earns... like yeah he’s a really nice guy but it seems like being the only infected in his position probably makes him feel like he has to be the one who does this for everyone else’s sake. which is tragic in its own way...dude please be a little more selfish. but this is a pretty realistic thing...

Oh yeah and I’m disappointed carnelian wasn’t here. like when i heard a leithanien event announced on stream that’s all i was waiting for and nope... please god let her be in the next one she desperately needs story. but this isn’t actually related to the event story

anyway my one real gripe… hibiscus…

why did she even get an alt. like you could replace her in this event with some npc and practically nothing would change...

the previous ones... lava being in who is real follows from her bond with nian, and kroos is A1 so yea she tags along, then gets an alt later... but why is hibiscus in leithanien. who knows. and you can see how lava and kroos have changed but hibiscus didn’t seem to change all that dramatically, yet they still dangle this ooh something terrible happened in her profile like Yes Okay I Know either tell us exactly or shut up this is the third time you’ve done this

well they had sarkaz racism and also immediately dropped it...speaking of that that’s something i’ve never liked. oripathy discrimination works (sometimes) because it doesn’t really have a clean real-world analogue, but this... hmm with the whole stealing blood thing this event they obviously seem to be making this an analogue to antisemitism. which... okay but the sarkaz are literally devils. like they got shapeshifters and vampires and are also most of the major enemy types... that’s not good...? 

idk i didn’t like the victoria taran thing for a similar reason. and then there’s how ursus hates catgirls and victoria maybe looks down on zalak from this random throwaway line just. why??? 

aegir in iberia is the only time ak has done this decently because they don’t try to make some stupid reason like actually they tried to take over the world 200 years ago, it’s just xenophobia amplified by the church picking a scapegoat after the Silence. and they use this interestingly sometimes with how the cult preys on vulnerable people. also aegir are from fuckn atlantis so they can’t make bad analogues thankfully

everything else has been stupid and pointless or just Bad

(liberi in laterano are a whole other deal with the angel hivemind thing, it’s more just non-sankta there anyway which is a bit different... i talk too much already let’s not get into this one...)

I’ve always really liked kroos, and fang and beagle by extension, and then lava after who is real... but hibiscus just makes me feel nothing. she’s just a medic who works hard and has her 1 gimmick of making terrible food. and i wanna like all of A1 so i don’t like that

at least they made a point of how she doesn’t know how to play the flute because looking at her e2 yeah i can tell STOP HOLDING IT LIKE THAT !! (but also her class doesn’t make much sense i don’t remember there being any big moment in the story where she decides to use her arts offensively... it’s mentioned in one of her voicelines tho so i might have missed it????)

[aspen-heights-wc-rewrite]

Master Post.

Basics/goals of the rewrite

So the point of this is to fix some issues I have with the Warriors books, and also have some fun. So here’s a slightly more detailed list! Not exactly in order of importance, it’s just which order it comes to me while eating dinner.

Let’s stop the super creepy age gaps. They’ll either be changed to be a super small age gap or treated as seriously as possible for the absolute horror they are- if not removed completely.

Some timeline issues/characters disappearing or appearing in between books. Heavy step still gets to un-die though.

Deal with the ableism in ThunderClan.(I specify ThunderClan as they’re almost entirely the one guilty clan.)

GIVE THE CLANS DIFFERENT CULTURES ALREADY(like how it’s implied in the first series)

Let’s deal with the xenophobia

Deal with the sexism in Warriors

CHARACTER ARCS(OR FAILED CHARACTER ARCS) FOR ALL

Let the leaders die a lot more often and cycle through

Character. Interaction. Is. Necessary.

Hey, let’s NOT have incest.

Nursery tales stay for longer!

Rules applicable to the rewrite

They’re cats with nigh magic medicine and know how to for the most part avoid dangers that lower the average life span of stray cats so they get an average of 20 years of life, average of 30 if a leader doesn’t loose lives to anything but complications with old age(which won’t happen besides a very few cases)

All cats who believe in StarClan have a basic connection to them, but upon touching noses with the moonstone/moonpool this connection is strengthened to a point of easy communication

All the after lives are normally connected, but StarClan/TDF are weird- as in they’re not on the earth like other after lives. They’re in a different realm of existence, so for this dreams are sometimes re-routed to peer into it. Other dead cats can roam the earth for as long as they want or can ‘pass on’ and forever live in their dreams but as far as everyone else is aware they’ve ceased to exist

Cats get vaccines from 6 weeks old until 4 months old so any former kittypet who’s been around humans at that age before leaving definitely gets the vaccines, and even those who become kittypets later in life then leave get them too. For sake of funnies they don’t need the revaccination

They actually have to note the status of any invading cats/predatory animals/prey to make sure it doesn’t have rabies or anything.

They can make basic tools. They have seemingly human-level intelligence. So they can make a lot of more rudimentary stuff, and working teams can even make stuff like very basic toys. They can probably carve soft wood too. Pretty much if you can make it with your thumb taped down and small knives on your nails they can probably make it.

Each life a leader gets corresponds to a different life they have to deal with, but it’s selected based on which one is more useful in that moment. So if they’re given compassion, patience, justice, and bravery in that order but then die to a fox they go right to bravery being added in and the rest still remain. This does unfortunately cause a lot of extra problems resulting in deaths each life has an overwhelming push. So in this example there could be a flash flood with a warrior in the middle where trying to jump in would spell certain death, the leader would jump in without hesitation.

Reincarnation does not happen.

The cats can just sleep and wake up whenever as long as their duties are done. The only times they are needed to wake up at a certain time are for dawn/dusk patrols, battles, gatherings, and ceremonies.

The time line will be mostly the same

Important things to note/lore changes needed to be known

The Code of the Clan stories are actually going to be canon! Sorta. Since SkyClan was kicked out the leaders came up with new history stories to remove SkyClan and just came up with the Code of the Clans things. They’re commonly used to teach kits the warrior code and why it’s important(most cats who join the clans at apprentice age or older just get the code told to them so it doesn’t hold the same weight. This leads to more setting it aside for what’s right)

StarClan can actually be completely clear with what they’re saying, but they only are told the future by Midnight who isn’t always available and sometimes deems it begs to not get involved so they make up super vague prophecies to try and make it seem like they’re helping. Only a StarClan ‘council’ knows about this and is allowed to speak in dreams. It’s about 5 cats for each clan

Tags you’ll see

#aspen heights rewrite

Everything gets this lol

#aspen heights- design

Designs for characters and places!

#aspen heights- LORE.

From tidbits of information to plotting out 7 years of battles this is all stuff that will feature in Aspen Heights

#aspen heights

Actual project stuff! Like writing or art

#asks

Just responses to any asks i might ever get somehow

Important Posts

N/a

[spider-xan]

People on this site mythologizing Trump as the ultimate evil is still surprising considering a lot of them I've seen are people who mainly watch genuinely adult media, make a point to keep up with politics, and read political theory, and yet they still make points that can rival anything fandom adults can come up with in terms of stupidity. Sometimes I think its people who were shocked at seeing what they were actually supporting when they decided to go with Isr**l's narrative for all these years looking for a reason to go back to not caring about Palestine. "People not choosing to vote for B*den just because he's funding a genocide are truly privelged assholes who have no experience with actual terrible presidents, and care more about ideals than practical necessity" is an actual post I saw with my own eyes.

Yeah, and it's especially wild bc it's not as if Tr*mp hasn't been president before, so we literally have material reality to examine, re: what kind of president he would be and a record of what he had actually done, both in isolation and in comparison to other US presidents, including B*den - so there is no need to write fanfiction about what he has (not) done and what he will do; part of my immediate frustration was seeing tags on a post about how everyone has to vote blue bc of Project 2025 and his 'Tr*mp is the source of all that', and it's like, idk how to tell you this, but everything in Project 2025 has been in the works long before Tr*mp was in power and the Dems are complicit too; likewise, the GOP being evil did not start with him, nor was it evil during the Reagan years and then didn't start being evil again until Tr*mp, like, even leaving aside how the Dems suck too, the PR rehabilitation of the Bush presidents is frustrating - Bush Jr. is not a funny grandpa who paints dogs or a good guy just bc he doesn't like Tr*mp on account of him saying the quiet part outloud.

And yeah, I think there is a lot of cognitive dissonance going on where in addition to what you said, libs were convinced that B*den was some kind of messiah in 2020 who would bring about a new progressive dawn after defeating Tr*mp and avenging Hillary, but the material reality is that he has either done nothing or even been worse than Tr*mp on many policies, and they can't reconcile that with the fact that they believe liberals are the good guys, hence the doubling down - and obviously the racist xenophobia where lives in the Global South and internal colonies are not worth anything next to white Americans (see: that tweet about how queer American lives are worth more than any made up anonymized Global South) and instead of solidarity with those who have been oppressed by the US, which requires some degree of sacrifice or even just inconvenience for the most privileged, they cling to the illusion of safety, law, and order instead - it's classic 'Scratch a liberal, a fascist bleeds' where people are fine with progressive policies until it might affect them and their comfort in a negative way, and then the fascist jumps out and they will side with the oppressors to shield themselves instead of joining the oppressed in the fight for liberation for all.

[xtrablak674]

I may not be seeing it all, but from my perspective you're shit ain't getting nearly enough likes.

Good morning, thank you Judly. The funny thing is I am an artist! I have exhibited extensively, nationally internationally in museums and galleries. I have had my work published and been reviewed by The New York Times. But the aesthetics of art are still based in a European palette and aesthetic.

This work explores identity, body image and self-worth, but for Americans and humanity generally my body is problematic for being Black, queer gender non-conforming and dark-skinned. How dare I expose anyone to such a horrid form, is what I think some viewers think about me and the work and have expressed as much. There are many folks who fav my work thinking I am a woman. This always tickles me because some people may think I am trying to deceive people as their transphobia peeks out, but this is my unadulterated body and it has female and male energy, something I have grown to embrace.

The history of the Americas is based in a Puritanical background, which is something that makes folks uncomfortable with the naked human form. Albeit the classical art world very often displays the naked human form, this form is usually very clearly gendered and most always white. The hypocrisy is readily apparent to me, where a Mapplethorpe can capture black bodies in a very fetishized way, but for me to shoot my own Black body is something that is frowned upon. #dafuck

I will admit I have some strong work and some less strong work here on DA, but I have seen work with less technical proficiency and no artistic merits get much larger acceptance and approval because it fits into what people want, not necessarily what they need.

Its sad, and is what it is. But I do my work for me, not for the audience. I do sometimes feel a way because I will post something I know is really good, and sometimes get nothing back. At this point in my career I don't need that outside validation. I know I am good at what I do and it has value to me whether folks see it or not. #thankyou

[The above was a comment made on one of the social media platforms where my work is posted this morning, I had a very strong reaction to this acknowledgement of their being clearly a failing somewhere and it inspired me to write more about it in todays journal]

My role as a mid-career artist has been mostly a thankless one. But artist don't do work for the commercial appeal, let me check that, I think people who are compelled to create aren't necessarily creating for an audience.

What was lovely about this comment this morning is it recognized my artistic ability, which when specifically presenting nude work can be lost amongst people's lust, projection, xenophobia, religious upbringings and moral codes to name a few. That is a lot of baggage between me and the viewer, that has nothing to do with me or the work itself, but is the essence of what art is about. Its about evoking something in the viewer. What is intended by the creator and the viewer is not always congruent, and this is what makes art its own special thing because its so personal and subjective.

Generally speaking my work has always been about finding beauty whether this be in my abstract explorations or the nudes. I am always trying to look a bit closer to find the unique qualities in my subjects where they are aesthetically pleasing and visually welcoming. In my self-nudes this is a very curious exploration because I suffer from body dysmorphia, meaning the actual state of my body and my internal perception of my body is incongruent. The irony isn't lost on me as a queer, gender non-conforming, dark-skinned Black person that this is the same exact dynamic that is at play with me and society at large. Who I am as a person, and who I am perceived as is incongruent. Sadly this is the position many people with intersectional identities experience, a societal dysmorphia which they have no actual control over, and can potentially can lead to their harm or even death.

Singularly this is one of the most interesting thing for me about my work. I am struggling with my own psychological demons, which may from time to time actually produce a beautiful image, but most times I struggle to see what is so clear to everyone else.

As I said art before is subjective, and the value in conflict of perceptions, self-worth and societal norms may not be aesthetically valuable or pleasing to everyone. But aside from this especially in my good work, I have usually made sure that the technical, composition and artistic merits are excellent, but yet this work is still disregarded.

We live in a world where beauty is commodified, if its the right kind of beauty, and this is the perfect place for an artist to live inside of, that place between commodity and non-traditional beauty aesthetics.

My work in my lifetime, may never be found artistically relevant and the expectations of the art world which want the artist to be able to talk about and articulate intentions behind the work, which to me is the most unnatural thing in the world, when the act of creation comes from a much more instinctive place, that sometimes we aren't even aware of. If I don't know why I am doing what I am doing, how can I talk about what I am doing? But if we can put on the facade of being able to expound on our motivations and intentions and have some carefully placed words about the larger art world, then our work is embraced, if not you stay on the peripheral looking in to a world that isn't really there to accept you, or your work for what it is, an extension and expression of your self-identity.

[Photo by Brown Estate]

[wof-reworked]

I don’t have the brainpower to develop this, but I had some thoughts on Nightwing theater (I’ve been meaning to write like this for all the tribes since I had a lot of fun with Sandwing theater)

Nightwings are big on tragedy and romance together in their theater. A good Nightwing story ends with two people who can never love each other again, either through death or circumstances, but yet still do. 

Nightwing stories tend to favor female protagonists/point of view characters. 

Ensemble driven stories aren’t uncommon by any means either, where oftentimes the group will end up imploding due to being turned against each other through circumstances outside of their control

Nightwing theater also relies a lot on character tropes, sometimes with subversions, but sometimes just taken wholesale. Some popular (and suitably ~tragic~ tropes include:

the seer who could predict everything except their own tragic future. Often a girl, but not always.

The counter to her is usually another dragonet who spits in the face of destiny but finds it comes back to bite her. 

The young diplomat who is hurt by the world they enter into, often dead or changed for the worse by their experiences.

The precocious dragonet who harbors sinister inner workings, unnoticed by their parents until it’s too late. 

The cruel royal, often hiding skeletons in her closet that explain how they ended up this way.

The evil non-Nightwing here to snatch away the hero’s happy ending- sometimes literally. Often an Icewing. Usually their main role is being unnecessarily cruel and/or violent.

These are, as all tropes are, flexible (the diplomat isn’t always a diplomat, they might be a student or someone else “educated”, the seer is sometimes able to outrun her tragic end, the royal is sometimes pleasant), it’s more about the themes they carry (you can ~barely~ sense the xenophobia I’m sure).

(Unsurprisingly, a lot of this draws on Nightwing history. No one will talk about Darkstalker and Clearsight except as boogeymen, but the fingerprints of their relationship are still pretty clearly visible in Nightwing culture)

In modern times, the prophecies are usually delivered through non-Nightwing means (a magical source telling them, a curse from another dragon that becomes real, just the writing on the wall that the protagonists can’t read) vs in the past when seers were an actual fact of life and could be used instead. 

Nightwing stories aren’t all doom and gloom- part of the fun is not knowing how it will end, even though everything about it promises tragedy. While most of them end sadly, you’re always holding out hope that this time the protagonists will make it through. 

Nightwing plays also draw on a very limited color scheme, as to make sure the performers stand out best. Props and stagedressing are often minimal, though music and sound in general often fill that space to give the necessary context of scenes.

You’d best believe there’s a ton of monologues and soliloquies. 90% of theater is people dramatically announcing their internal feelings, but only to the audience. 

dark blue-black scales are seen as the most glamorous for the way they reflect light, and sets are often matched to these colors, especially if the lead role happens to look the part. Nightwing aesthetic preferences in general tend to favor rich, deep colors and cool tones- grey/lighter scales and warm tones are seen as the least attractive (unfortunate, since the time spent on the island lead to a loss of that “rich black” color Nightwings find attractive). 

Tl;dr: wouldn’t it be funny if Nightwing art was soap operas