reconstructwriter

[reconstructwriter]

Star Wars - Alien Archive: A Guide to the Species of the Galaxy

Deep in the stacks of the Graf Archive, an old traveller’s journal has been discovered and restored for public viewing. A long time ago this unknown traveller documented his stories about the many creatures found in each destination he explored, and includes famous movie locations such as the Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine, Maz’s Castle and the holy city of Jedha. The archivist restored this journal and added facts and stats about the cultures, legends and famous members of over 200 species, including famous characters such as Chewbacca, Ahsoka, Wicket and many more. “Unable to authenticate the author, and therefore the accuracy of the stories within the journal, we have paired some of the content that has not been destroyed by age with data entries from our scientific records.  With details of over two hundred aliens from across galatic history, we are happy to restore this enigmatic journal for public viewing.  –Xoddam Lothipp, Deputy Director, Graf Archive” (aka, it’s an in-universe reference book, so it’s reasonably accurate, but some things may be added for artistic license or not wholly accurate, but from the POV of the “author” of the journal!  Which makes for a fascinating in-universe reference book!)

[reconstructwriter]

rules the jedi canonically have:

no torture

no murder

no revenge

no killing unarmed sentients

no splitting your life's pledge to multiple things at once

no taking force sensitive children from their families without their permission

no trying to control things that you can't control

rules the jedi canonically DON'T have:

no alcohol

no gambling

no breaking traffic laws

no revealing clothing

no personal possessions

no open expressions of affection or other emotions

no having a different opinion than the jedi council

no leaving the jedi order

no concealed carrying your deadly weapon

[reconstructwriter]

Someone to Blame

Let's take a walk through a world where Palpatine's plans failed about a year and a half into the Clone wars. How and why do not matter in this case. Just know that his mechaniations were all exposed.

The Senate, well the Senate is looking for something to blame, someone to blame for the fact that nearly all of them voted to perpetuate a war that would have lead to the Genocide of the Jedi, they voted for the enslavement of sentients that by Galatic standard would be considered children for the sole purpose of being used as canon fodder. The personal and varied way the members of this august body abused the Coruscant Guard. To distract from the fact that these were not the worst war crimes that many Senators perpetuated. 

They must find someone to blame.

For a change, in this world, the blame does not belong to the Clones or the Jedi. They have been labeled the victims of this horrible conspiracy (Though that does not always preclude also being the villains, in this universe the dice tipped just right. The Jedi and the clones were labeled the helpless victims). No, the Senators look at Palpatine, whom they want to distance from in every way, and say to themselves ‘He is from Naboo’. 

And well, the scandal surrounding Padme Amidala’s marriage had just broken. Look, the Jedi and anyone who knew the couple personally knew that the marriage was fully consensual by both parties, that they had chosen each other willingly and were very much in love (the actual health of their relationship might be up for debate, but they were adamant in choosing each other). But from a PR perspective, it just…it just did not look good.  

Padme was part of an awful lot of committees that handled the Jedi, giving her a fair amount of power over them on paper. And no matter how old Anakin was when they married, he was still a Padawan; when most of the galaxy hears the word padawan they think child. You add in that Padme was Palpatine’s protege, a few missives that her then senator had sent that mentioned Anakin in particular, and the thinly veiled threats towards the Jedi Palpatine had made to get access to Anakin in the first place (which had little to Padme, herself but created a pattern to be followed)…well it did not take much to create the image that Padme had abused her power to take control of a Jedi child in the guise of marriage, and continued to manipulate him until he thought he loved her back.  This image was made worse when Anakin found out and reacted badly toward the poor reporter that brought it up, but not badly in a way that made the possibility less. Instead he came off as a battered spouse staunchly defending his abuser. 

So Naboo as a whole became To Blame (capitals intended) for the entire war, the enslavement of the clones, the draft of the Jedi, all the horror that comes from making war. Of course, once there is someone To Blame, the next step is punishment.  And the punishment for Naboo?

It is decided that Naboo as a whole will be given to the Clones and the Jedi, in effect enslaving all the natural inhabitants to them. Oh they break out all kinds of words like ‘Reparations’ and ‘Treason’ and pretty pretty laws to tie it all in a bow. But everyone can tell what they mean.  This generous ‘Offer’ was worded as such that refusing it will leave both the Clones still enslaved and the Jedi still controlled by the Senate.  What choice was there?

To be clear, no one involved outside of the Senate (and even several inside the Senate) were comfortable with this. Not the Jedi, not the Clones, certainly not Anakin Skywalker, whose wife just became a second class citizen. It should also be noted that the very Senators who spearheaded this ‘Offer’ would go on to close each and every one of the loopholes that allowed them to do this, just as soon as Naboo’s status was permanent. 

The Jedi and the clones, now a collective group by Senate decree, make their way to Naboo. They know that this midrim world cannot support an additional 1 millions plus sentients, but the Senate's ruling meant that a minimum of 90% of the group must be on planet at all times for the next decade, “to ensure they are properly settled”.  There are lists of new restrictions on Naboo and its native peoples, restrictions that the newly freed GAR are expected to enforce.

Now four peoples (Jedi, Clone, Nabooian, and Gungan) must find some way to build a life, with fewer resources than any of them were used to (Further sanctions toward Naboo.  There are politicians that dream of being able to punish the victims and created villians in the same move), together.  And likely the Senate as a whole expects there to be riots, to be able to sit and watch as these groups destroy each other out of misplaced ire. They underestimate everyone involved. 

The ships holding the combined Jedi and Clones, including the Jedi temple which had been on Coruscant (it had been decided by the Senate that the Jedi should settle entirely on Naboo, to have some much needed separation. It is unclear if they realized that the temple would come with the Jedi), arrive in the airspace around Naboo. Obi Wan Kenobi and Commander Cody are chosen to represent the Jedi and the Clones in a negotiation with the Gungan Boss and the Nabooian Queen. 

All four speak frankly, no political maneuverings and no time for ego stroking. If they wished to remain part of the Republic, there were things that they must comply with and as recently shown with the war, the republic is not easily left.  Not for a mid rim world. The injustice of what has just happened is almost enough, almost enough to try and secede but everyone is so tired of war, and no one can quite convince themselves that another army wouldn’t appear out of nowhere to start a new war if they tried to secede. 

As soon as it is clear that neither the Jedi nor the Clones want to enforce the will of the Republic it becomes less of a negotiation and more of collaboration. They pour over the restrictions, looking at wording and loopholes. And they are up against a clock, the longer it takes to get something in place, the more depleted the resources they currently have would be and it would take time before they had something in place that could support everyone. 

It takes four days to work out a plan. It is a thing of smoke and mirrors, a dance of the most intricate precision, winding through and around the restrictions of the Senate without stripping the natural residents of Naboo their rights.  And the very things that should have divided them irrevocably, instead becomes the glue that binds them together.  Each of these four disparate cultures surrendered something of themselves in the aftermath, softening the spiky edges that held them separate into something more akin to puzzle pieces. 

For a galactic standard year there is a complete blackout between the rest of the galaxy and Naboo, by Senate ruling. It is a quarantine period to allow for the adjustments needed for the changes the planet must undergo.  In the time between the Senate ruling and the arrival of the combined Jedi and Clones all Nabooians and Gungans had been required to return to Naboo or forfeit their citizenship permanently (By an odd coincidence a handful of worlds gained new citizens in those few weeks that might, at a glance, almost seem to be from Naboo).

There are consequences that stretch out even farther than the Senate thought. Naboo is the face of the Chommell sector, and with the residents barred from the larger galaxy there should have been a power vacuum to fill. The galaxy should have moved on with a few hiccups. Except…Naboo never held sway over its sector by force.  Without them to provide a reason to stay, the Chommell Sector as a whole begins to pull away from a Senate in which they no longer had a voice (and to be fair, rarely ever wanted one). No one noticed, at first. 

Then came the end of the blackout. The Punishment of Naboo was highly publicized in the media and as the anniversary approached, interest was drummed up again. 

An awful lot of people expected Naboo to be a wasteland, a mass grave tearing itself apart (That was, perhaps the plan, to give a reason that the Clones and the Jedi need to be under Senate control). That is not what was found. Members of the Senate along with members of the Press landed in a Theed that looked much the same as it had the year before. They are greeted by a tiny gungan child in brown robes who lead them into the palace, where they are met with a council of 4 beings. One from each of the cultures, united. By Senate decree the Nabooians and Gungans could not hold any official power, but nothing said that they could not be advisers. 

The Jedi representative smiles, they are a green skinned Torgruta whom none of the visiting group recognize. “You’ve arrived in time for the wedding��

“The wedding” Bail Organa spoke cautiously.

The clone representative smiled. He was not one that Bail had met, plastoid mixed with cloth to make the armor more ceremonial than functional. The colors, if they were a reflection of battalion colors (They were), marked the clone as having been part of the 327th.  “Cody Koon of the Vod’e (Most of the Vod'e took Plo Koon's last name) and Obi Wan Kenobi of the Jedi. They both insisted on waiting until we could be sure that the celebration would not drain our reserves. With the new crops harvested last month, it’s finally time. ”

One of the reporters looked askance, “what do you mean drain your resources?”

The Nabooian representative, decidedly not the queen who had been ruling a year before or Senator Amidala, folded her hands in front of her. Bail had seen the look of serenity on her face many times…on various Jedi.  “Between the Jedi, with the various corps, and the clones there were nearly 2 million sentients with varying dietary needs that were introduced to Naboo a year ago. They came with no more supplies than were already on their ships and what was in the temples that were being relocated. Naboo may not have starvation like Coruscant, but we did not by any means have that kind of surplus available.  We were barred from any contact with the wider galaxy. Were our people any less dedicated to the preservation of life, I imagine many would have starved.”

It was clear from the silence that very few outside of Naboo had considered that piece of logistics. 

[reconstructwriter]

[reconstructwriter]

I got a laptop with Windows 11 for an IT course so I can get certified, and doing the first time device set-up for it made me want to commit unspeakable violence

Windows 11 should not exist, no one should use it for any reason, it puts ads in the file explorer and has made it so file searches are also web searches and this cannot be turned off except through registry editing. Whoever is responsible for those decisions should be killed, full stop.

Switch to linux, it's free and it's good.

[reconstructwriter]

reblog to give the prev a hot chocolate with (optional) whipped cream and marshmallows

[reconstructwriter]

when god closes a door you reach your little paws under it and go mrrwwaaaooow mmreeaaow

[reconstructwriter]

I recently likened the desire to have a yeerk in my head (mostly due to capitalism) to plurality, or at least a version of it. It led me to wonder, how do you think someone who is plural would interact with their yeerk should they get infested? Would it basically be just having another member in the system?

Sorry, what is plurality in this context?

[reconstructwriter]

I truly hate the word "unalive." There are so many other euphemisms that fictional Italian mobsters worked so hard to provide you with and you just ignore them.

[reconstructwriter]

[reconstructwriter]

I just realized that apparently I never shared this series here on Tumblr??  

I call it Living Paintings, as they are recreations of extinct animals that some artists actually saw and painted from memory, a long time ago.

Patreon • Ko-fi • Facebook  • Twitter • Prints & Merch      

[reconstructwriter]

the concept and idea of “you can always start trying to be a better person” is extremely important to me both in media and irl and i continue to be deeply deeply disturbed by the trend on this site pushing that these ideas in media are bad writing or even morally reprehensible

because theyd rather someone stay terrible or just straight up die than become a better person 

from a compassionate point of view it’s deeply distressing and from a pragmatic point of view it’s outright frustrating

it’s fucked up. 

[reconstructwriter]

Cody: @MCr Fox @Ponds @Thire MCr Fox: I'll do it. Cody: Why do you have your rank on your user? Sgt Fox: Sirs. Cody: Ah

[....]

Pvt Fox #12: Wish Coruscant would take that approach. MCr Fox: Dear Force, how many Foxes are there? I knew about the 501st's Sergeant Fox and the Guard's Private Fox but #12? Cpl Fox #2: I'm here, sir! Cpt Fox #5: CT-3829 reporting for duty, Commander. Ssg Fox #12: Su'cuy Ssg Fox #16: Ayyyy 👈👈 Lt Fox #7: How did you do that? Ssg Fox #16: What the emojis? Pvt Fox #15: I can show you, Lt! 😊 MCr Fox: Why are there so many Foxes? Ssg Fox #16: Foxes are cool. 😎 ARC Cpl Fox #2: Sorry, late to the party. I'm here, too. Pvt Fox #15: Well, actually, Marshal Commander Fox, sir 🥺👉👈 I named myself after you. I heard lots of stories on Kamino. And I'm a pilot so I didn't think I'd actually ever be meeting you. I hope it's okay? Thorn: Fox will return to the comm when he's stopped crying.

the GAR be like

[reconstructwriter]

For my non-German mutuals wondering wtf is happening in the Bundesrepublik of Beer and Bread, here is an overview over the clown show so far:

Nov 6 - chancellor Olaf Scholz fires minister of finances Christian Lindner (FDP) for being an incompetent little bitch and drags him on live TV, resulting in a government crisis as the three party coalition (named Ampel aka "Traffic Light"), which is ruling the country at the moment, falls apart.

Scholz also calls for a vote of confidence on January 15th which (if lost) will lead to the Bundestag being dissolved, triggering snap elections in March. This sends everyone into a panic because the ultra right-wing AfD (with Best Of hits such as "Russia is sexy.", "We should criminalize abortions and force every woman to have more babies instead of rights." and "Deport all immigrants and traitors." and the inofficial ones such as "Why don't we just kill everyone we don't like, let's start with the queers.") has been gaining support for a while (because MAGA has no monopoly on racism, sexism, hate and overall stupidity) and no one with an ounce of empathy or a triple digit IQ likes that very much and is thus worried they might actually make it into a new coalition.

Nov 7 - minister for justice Marco Buschmann is heartbroken over the Ampel-Aus and resigns.

Volker Wissing (FDP), minister for transport, commits the funniest anime betrayal and backstabs his party in order to keep his job, leaves the FDP but gets promoted to minister of justice as a little treat. The memes skyrocket.

Bettina Stark-Watzinger, minister of education and research, resigns along with Buschmann and gets replaced by Cem Özdemir (current minister for food and agriculture) because agriculture - education - at the end of the day where's the difference, right?

Federal President Steinmeier hands Christian Lindner his official participation certificate in an awkward ceremony at castle Bellevue. This is broadcast live on television so everyone can be sure that the little bitch is really leaving.

Friedrich Merz (CDU) threatens the nation with the promise that if he (Merz) becomes chancellor, he will let Lindner back into the government so they can keep fucking up the country's budget together. Bffs.

Nov 8 - after backstabbing the FDP Wissing's website gets hacked in retaliation to display FDP ads.

Meanwhile concerns are being voiced that snap elections in March might be way too early due to a lack of paper.

Robert Habeck (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), vice chancellor and minister for economic affairs and climate action, announces that he will be running for the position of chancellor with a social media post that shows him wearing a Swiftie bracelet which spells "Kanzler-Era" (chancellor-era). This sends Gundolf Siebeke from the super conservative CDU spiralling.

Nov 9 - Siebeke fires off a tweet stating that if Habeck becomes chancellor that would of course be totally the fault of women alone (who are all too emotional to make rational decisions) and Germany should "inofficially" consider revoking women's right to vote and officially implement "antiemotional" history lessons in school, earning him a massive shitstorm (completely deserved). Siebeke deletes the tweet.

Nov 10 - previous minister of justice Marco Buschmann processes his grief over the end of the traffic light coalition by composing and uploading a song to Soundcloud (feat. Gregorian chants) which is not exactly a banger but is admittedly still better than 99% of Germany's entries in the ESC these past few years.

Siebeke is still on his misogynistic bs and makes another incoherent and sexist tweet, this time yapping about queens and Christianity while trying to paint himself as the misunderstood victim.

There are sadly no more Volker Wissing memes.

Nov 12 - everyone has agreed to move the elections from March to the end of February because paper is no longer an issue, I guess? However, now everyone is unhappy because the date clashes with the carnival. No joke.

Siebeke changes the banner on his Twitter profile to read "Frauen. Wahl. Recht. Der 19. Januar 1919" / "Women. Right (to). Vote. January 19th 1919" in a pathetic attempt to show how much he actually (not) respects women while at the same time claiming in his Twitter bio that "only conservatism can secure democracy, freedom, rule of law, equality, climate and culture". No comment.

Nov 13 - 113 members of parliament have officially called for the Bundestag to open the long overdue investigation in order to finally ban the AfD.

It has been the longest week in the history of the Bundesrepublik. Everyone needs a fucking break.

To be continued

[reconstructwriter]

Since the holiday toy drive post is circulating again, I figured this would also be helpful! Food insecurity is such a massive problem in America, in general, and if you have the means to help feed others, I think you should take that opportunity. Here are some other tips:

1. If you’re planning on donating items from your own pantry, please check the expiration dates on the packaging. Think of your donations as gifts to bestow, not castoffs to be rid of. It’s awful to think of people feeling like they got scraps someone else just didn’t want. Everyone deserves dignity with their meals.

2. If you’d rather give money to a food bank, that’s also great since they buy food in bulk and know what items are most wanted/needed!

3. Not everyone has access to appliances like stoves or microwaves or hot plates so if you can donate items that don’t need to be heated up, that would also be greatly appreciated!

🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽

[reconstructwriter]

thats the thing thats missing from america-centric discussion of fascism: this shit is global. every country in “the west” is seeing the same rise of fascism in real time, all of it focused on murdering migrants. like giorgia meloni is campaigning to deport people to “migrant camps” in albania. last year the greek coast guard outright drowned a boat of 500 asylum seekers. and as that last post said im not dismissing the suffering of people within the US, i’m just saying its so supremely frustrating that every conversation is about the minutiae of american domestic policy and not the horrifying ultranationalist global trend scapegoating arabs and africans.

[reconstructwriter]

“asexuality is just the lack of a sex drive, or a really low one” uuhhh no. really, no. that is incorrect, you have been lied to, i’m sorry.

asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction to anyone. sex drive is your horny meter. you can still be horny and not be sexually attracted to people! similarly you can be sexually attracted to people and not be horny!! amaze