#{{ also if anyone has heen wondering why in the past I've written Maiz to have an fixation with Trunks' eyes and hair color

[acoldsovereign]

I'm glad to see you back! I have a question, if I may ask. What inspired you to make (Ancient) Saiyan Culture? And would you say Maiz is a good example of it?

Subject Matter: Lore & world building // sender: anonymous // status--always open!

{{ This is so freaking old, like MONTHS old, dear stars above. I don't know who you are but whoever sent this, I hope you're still around! 😭 My bad--

Anyhoo!! Yes, you may! And thank you for your question(s)! What inspired me to create ASC/Ancient Saiyan Culture is a long story (one that I've shared I think about twice on here?) but the short of is this: I wanted to explore why Maiz (before I completely revised her for RP purposes, she was basically a fanfic/lore study OC for Saiyan lore) was the way she was. To do that, I strived to make an antihero character with some sympathetic undertones. Which meant that I had to explain her culture, the way she thinks, why she had troubles with Turles (the version I wrote), how Paragus was important to her as a makeshift father figure despite her initially disliking/hating him for personal reasons (PLEASE someone ask me about this, it was so sweet and heartbreaking. Can you tell I love the Saiyans so MUCH AUGH--) what foods she was used to, what made up her nightmares, fears, hopes, etc.

In a way, I started cooking up Saiyan Culture around her and then around the other Saiyan characters I was writing. Somehow though, I ended up with a vast world that eclipsed them.

And well, my best friend brought me to RP and the only character I thought about constantly was Maiz, so I broke her down and did my creative thing according to the needs of the RPC (basically I stalked/lurked on a lot of the accounts that I interact with these days--the same ones that I'm proudly mutuals with 💙). I noticed there was a lack of female Saiyans and a lack of particularly vicious Saiyans in general too, so Maiz ended up becoming this really cool and complex villainous/antagonistic/aggressive character who has little to no redeeming traits, funnily enough--though "redeeming qualities" depends on who you ask, I guess. (She's actually a good mom and an interesting romantic partner to have ) In the end, she ended up being a hit with everyone that's seen/read her stuff/interacted with her.

But speaking of her and the culture that surrounds her, you know what? Ironically enough, she is a decent example but at the same time, not the best even if she's an expert on it. (And yes, the hypocrisy is intentional on my end. Sometimes Maiz comes close to realizing it, and other times it goes over her head. She does deny things to rationalize her actions occasionally. Make of that what you will).

Ahem.

Ancient Saiyan Culture, at its core is all about community and teamwork--albeit taken to dark extremes due to Saiyan tribalism.* (And no, not all of it is dark, I digress).

(We see aspects of this in the franchise all throughout, sadly only in flashbacks or filler or whatever, but that's neither here or there. Again, I digress).* Individuality is celebrated but it wasn't emphasized because it didn't NEED to be, pre-Cold Family. Maiz excels at being an individual, but her main problem is that she denies personhood and understanding to other Races. Unless she likes them, or likes an individual from that Race. And even then, she's liable to treat them as a "token" until she gets better. (She does with long term exposure, but she'll still be Permanently Weird because she is a Stubborn Alien Lady™ with a Petty Streak).

The plot twist is: this line of thought + behaviors would be considered the Saiyan equivalent of 'sympathy'. Because the way she was taught was to spare nobody. Not even a child. But Maiz post-Genocide will spare people--but only if they are a nuisance that she thinks lowly of ( it's kinda how her and Jay's Future Trunks got started; the slowest burn in the universe / @burnxngslash), someone that she thinks is interesting or could be useful to her long term (the majority of her slaves and how she got her kingdoms/twelve planets), or because they amuse her in some way that she can't exactly put her finger on so it forces her to think further on if she really wanna kill them or not. Spoiler alert: She Does Not and Reasons May Vary (basically her and Thane's Future Trunks' dynamic right now / @hopefromadoomedtimeline. Listen they're complicated okay but they're working it out. Just know that she is Not Normal™ about him. He Makes Her Heart Nervous and She Doesn't Like It).

Point is: there are some aspects of the culture that Maiz doesn't exactly live up to, but it's her choice. Other times, it's because it's too painful (what community can you have when the only survivors of your Race are half breeds and some spread out males that are so far removed from the culture that it feels like you might as well be the only true survivor left?), or because it's something she doesn't agree with: killing off the weaker partner after reproduction for example.

Fun fact: For a very long time, Maiz dreaded the idea of being in an intimate relationship because she was afraid that a potential mate would see her blind eye as a defect and kill her off after having a baby with her. Weakness of any kind was ingrained in her at birth to be an unsavory thing, which partially fueled her viciousness as a childling. She wanted to live to adulthood. (She doesn't know that this is the main reason why she denies herself romantic and sexual feelings as an adult. All of this got repressed and forgotten about, post Genocide).

Also--this may come as a shock to you all--but Maiz, for all her high self esteem, doesn't actually see herself as super attractive. It's because back on Planet Vegeta, the beauty standards revolve around health, intelligence and physical ability. Her eye is more than enough to dock off several 'social'/beauty points even if her strength more than makes up for it. That, and even though she's a taller and more muscular version of her mother, she was indirectly taught that there are more 'beautiful' people out there. You'd never know this though because of how arrogant/rude/cruel/mean, etc she is and how she carries herself. (She forgets she's her mom spitting image too).

She also isn't deprecating about it (nor does she think about it so it wouldn't even make sense for me write it out unless I'm in a scene where that's the topic). Like, she's not UGLY, but she's not mid either? She sees herself as in between these two things.

I wanted to write more but you know, avoiding the whole "making her too sympathetic" thing is still going strong over here. Hopefully this paints a clear enough picture for you! Thanks again for the question anon!