#'there are no countries and the whole world acts like one unified body'

[ljf613]

Been rereading the Pendragon series. (Oh look, it's my childhood!)

Third Earth freaks me out. Bobby describes it like some kind of perfect utopia, but all I see is a disturbing dystopia.

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 79 Rundown

Code Geass: Lelouch is establishing the official United States of Fuck Imperialism which is like the UN but actually does stuff, plus he has to deal with the fact that CC’s lost her memory and is acting like a demure slave girl harem choice from a VN. Charles is still trapped in the Human Instrumentality Shadow Realm so everyone figures this is a great time to unify everyone against Britannia. Kallen beats the shit out of Suzaku for being a dick to her all this time and the Knight of Ten is making his rounds because they realize they forgot to give him any buildup and he’s going to be a miniboss later so they have to cram all his being a dick personality into like five minutes while all the Knights of the Round assemble to prepare for an attack on Japan once the National Federation is formed. Llyod and Cecile for some reason enhanced the Guren for Suzaku even though he’s clearly more used to the Lancelot but apparently they enhanced it too much and made it a death machine like the Talgeese in Gundam Wing so Suzaku has to stick with the Lancelot. Looks like the Guren will have to sit and collect dust unless a certain pilot is rescued and then immediately has a convenient upgrade. Amazingly all the countries go along with everything Zero says and give up their militaries and have the Black Knights be the official military of the Federation. I don’t know how that works given that the Black Knights have been struggling to fight off one nation’s military idk how it’s supposed to substitute for a dozen nations’ military but I guess they conscript support and troops from the other nations or something. Charles comes back on the tv after the Federation is formed and is all “Awww what a cute little UN you have, fuck off bro.” which you’d think this’d be the perfect time for him to just out Lelouch as Zero and wreck the Black Knights’ morale but he doesn’t for some reason and they’re just gonna fight. Lelouch is freaking out and knows that having everyone want to murder the Britannian royal family includes Nunally so he calls Suzaku who just straight up goes “Bro cut the crap are you Zero or not?” and after so much plotting and scheming Lelouch just comes right out with it. Suzaki agrees to protect Nunally as long as Lelouch meets him alone at the Kururugi Shrine where this all began.

Inuyasha: This is another one of those Modern Day filler episodes which are always fun. There’s just something about Inuyasha running around in modern Japan being Spider-Man and saving people and catching bank robbers on the way to deliver Kagome’s lunch that’s so thoroughly entertaining. Basically Inuyasha spends this whole episode jittery that everyone’s so chill and ready to relax after Naraku just got away and is probably an inch from death but after a big adventure in the modern era where Kagome is as usual unprepared for her test, he ends up passing out on the bed after insisting a little battle with Naraku wouldn’t exhaust him. It’s a really cute little episode to let everyone bide some time and reflect on the past arc now that we’re starting a new wave of filler before we get to the Band of Seven and Mt. Hakurei stuff.

Yu Yu Hakusho: The first match of the tournament is about to begin and Botan, Shizuru, and Keiko come in with Koenma who is sick of baby jokes and puts on his bishonen disguise to impress everyone. There’s some neat lore about how they gave Koenma the guest team every year to bribe him into not shutting down the tournament without giving him anything of value and how the bloody show of the Dark Tournament pacifies the demons so they kill fewer humans, so that’s cool. Since Yusuke is still passed out, Kuwabara is de facto Captain and decides on simple one on one matches while the other team Captain just kinda roasts an eight of the crowd to see if it’ll wake Yusuke up. Kuwabara’s in the first match versus Prototype Killua, complete with afterimages and yo-yo tricks. They size each other up for a while and Kuwabara shrugs off getting his fucking neck broken surprisingly well while they go back and forth with “Well I can track YOU better” for a while. Togashi really loves his yo-yos of death so those have Kuwabara on the ropes and turn him into a fucking kite ready to slam back down into the arena, so yeah, Kuwabara’s having a rough time of it.

Fate Zero: Waver’s been having strange dreams about Iskandar, and not the ones people usually have about him. So he goes to get a basic history lesson on the historical figure that’s been chilling on his couch for a few weeks and spending all his money on xbox live arcade. They also go through all the ridiculously obvious historical inaccuracies and Iskandar’s just like “idk bro, I’m here so the book must be wrong” which is hilarious because Fate also does this with more modern historical figures that we have pictures of and shit so they basically sit there saying all historians have no idea what they’re talking about and gaslighting the field of history as a whole. On the way back Waver’s upset that Iskandar’s so awesome that it basically takes any effort on his part to win and it won’t be an actual achievement despite the fact that they’ve taken out like… one servant, MAYBE, and most of the other historical figures are equally over the top. But still Iskandar says that if your aspirations are big enough it doesn’t matter how big or small you are, everyone’s tiny in the grand scheme of things and clawing at greatness you can’t truly perceive is what matters. Also Caster and his boy have found the wreck they made of their workshop of dead bodies and are kinda fucked up about it but also ready to fuck up more people because God sucks or some shit. So Caster summons a Bloodborne monster which you think more people would notice and mention during Shirou’s time, like nobody in UBW ever said “Hey remember like seven years ago when a giant Bloodborne monster appeared in the river?” so I’m guessing there’s some kind of perception blocking going on. But yeah everyone’s gonna jump on the Bloodborne Monster next time for the season premiere.  

Konosuba: So we pick up where we left off and Kazuma is working off his debt by… killing more toads. Wow this world really is like a video game, we get the same five enemies over and over again. However they’re fucked without Darkness throwing herself into monster orifices looking for a good time so Yunyun has to save them. We already met Yunyun in the OVA so it’s kinda weird to be re-introduced to her here in basically the same way but their relationship is basically like Gai and Kakashi if they only did the lame dorky challenges Kakashi suggested when he’s too lazy to think of a good one. Also there’s a cat now, I don’t think that really comes to anything, just a scene of Megumin going “we have a cat now” and everyone’s like “kay”. Kazuma and Megumin play Naked Chicken to see who can get more naked before the other backs down and end up taking a bath together because they’re both stubborn assholes. Also we get a quick snippet of Yunyun and Megumin’s backstories which you can basically make Yunyun’s the swing scene from Naruto (idk why Yunyun is bring out the Naruto references in me today) and Megumin is stealing bread like Les Miserables in increasingly bizarre and disgusting ways because she’s ridiculously poor or some shit.

Sailor Moon Crystal: So turns out that Usagi and Mamoru BOTH had their shots with the ‘fucks everything up’ sword with a pocketwatch and… the discarded gems of the four knights? Idk how that works given they were humans and also dead but what baffles me more is that both Usagi and Mamoru very obviously did not get hit by the sword but decided to fall down dead and not move for a couple minutes despite their shots very much being blocked and there being no blood. Anyway Queen Metalia has the crystal, bullshit is happening, 1000 years of darkness, you’ve seen Xiaolin Showdown, you know the drill. The remaining four Guardians get a cute little flashback of Usagi saying what she likes about them and then they give up their lives to revive her inside the dark energy blob of Queen Metalia and crystals and lights and shit happens and swords and wands are pulled out of nowhere and you know how a final boss goes, they beat it with the power of believing in themselves and shit like that. Also apparently the only difference between sealing Metalia away and killing her is hitting the giant bullseye on her forehead so yeah, hopefully she’s down for good this time. I don’t want to complain because this show was genre-defining but it’s hard to find things to say about something so generic and milktoast, it’s the Seinfeld problem where there’s been so many more interesting iterations that it’s just kinda “get on with it already” at this point. The only real markedly noticeable thing about it is how plainly and unashamedly it is about being a power fantasy for teen girls, and there’s something to that, harmless power fantasies can be fun but it just feels like the physical mechanics of this kind of progression being “She feels this shit REALLY HARD” is less exciting than some of the alternatives

Durarara!!: It’s the big Masaomi backstory episode and we get the whole deal of how he formed the Yellow Scarves and got into a relationship with Saki because Izaya wanted to orechestrate a gang war because that’s what Izaya does all day is orchestrate gang wars. It’s kind of amazing how many kids in this show are like “I don’t know how it happened but one thing led to another and suddenly I was at the head of one of the largest gangs in the city” like they kinda really yadda yadda over how that actually happens. But anyway Saki gets hurt in the gang war and Kadota’s gang has to save her because Masaomi’s adrenaline wears off at the last second and he can’t try and rush in and save her. I mean Dota’s van got there first anyway so how much he’d have been able to help would be doubtful but he feels bad about not even being able to try and Izaya says that fear and failure of his past will dominate his future actions which is exactly what he’s doing by letting his paranoia and frustration lead him to a war on the Saika army. Dota-chin tells him to face up to it and stop running or live with the shame of lying to Saki but Masomi can’t do that and his shame and determination to reverse the situation leads everyone into chaos as Anri discovers his secret.

[gascon-en-exil]

Why would CF be considered bad? The devs say that it's the route about fighting for what you believe in, even if others get in your way. You may have to take down good people, but in the end her route ends with no more gods', nothing dangerous lurking anymore, etc. It doesn't seem like a bad route other than maybe killing good people.

I take it you mean “morally bad” rather than “badly written,” although the two are not mutually exclusive. I’d say that the CF we have is bad in both senses of the terms, and that a better-written CF would been have even more obviously morally objectionable but would have succeeded on that basis - a proper villain route where you get to enjoy being a genocidal conqueror (possibly with a side of your self-insert getting to sleep with your preferred flavor of villainous archetype between Edelgard, Hubert, and Jeritza).

Now, as for why it is, despite the muddled presentation, a villain route:

There are still dangers lurking in Fòdlan, and they’re called the Agarthans. CF is the only route where Thales survives, and where you make the least progress in dismantling his organization. AM gets him and potentially Myson in addition to Cornelia, while VW and SS leave out Cornelia but take care of Thales and raid Shambhala with VW additionally getting rid of zombie Nemesis and the Elites along with a handful of low-ranking Agarthans. CF kicks the Agarthans back to a postgame war waged entirely in character endings, which is neither satisfying as a player nor likely to remove the threat entirely, based on CF’s parallels with Genealogy of the Holy War (see below).

Fòdlan only has one (mainline) goddess, and she’s still alive at the end of CF. I’m not really sure where people got the impression that Rhea or any of the Nabateans consider themselves gods, but they don’t. Killing Rhea in CF causes Sothis’s Crest stone to disappear for no apparent reason (note that Rhea also dies by default in SS if you don’t raise your support with her, and yet Byleth’s hair does not revert to its original color in that ending), but Sothis herself “lives” because you can still S rank her in CF. This is two logical inconsistencies stacked on one another, the first being the bit about the disappearing Crest stone and the second being that Byleth survived its disappearance even though based on what we know of their birth their heart would not beat without the stone…meaning they should have died in that moment. When it comes to moral arguments however, Fire Emblem does not as a whole posit that the world would be any better or less prone to conflict without its gods. The “gods” of Fates and Echoes are really dragons undergoing mental deterioration in their old age, something Rhea does not show signs of except maybe in SS, and that only because the game realizes it still needs a final boss. In Radiant Dawn meanwhile, the game that evidently inspired Edelgard’s speech in the CF ending cutscene, Ike himself acknowledges the value of gods, and Ashera is not truly killed but is allowed to combine with Yune and become a complete entity again.

“Killing good people” is kind of a big deal. CF has the highest named character body count of any route, and although it lets you spare some of the people on its hit list you have to go out of your way to allow Claude, Seteth, and Flayn to live. You can never spare Dimitri, with the best you can do for him saving him from a humiliating execution at Edelgard’s hands and Dedue from becoming a Demonic Beast at the same time and letting them die together. CF Dimitri also doesn’t undergo the same trauma he experiences during the timeskip of the other routes, leaving him comparatively lucid and composed and thereby making all the route’s attempts to paint him as this violent madman who needs to be put down as little more than propaganda intended to rationalize conquering Faerghus and killing its king. Everything about CF positions it as the route of a conqueror; you invade two sovereign countries, take out their leaders, trample them underfoot (literally represented by the ending tapestry), and absorb them into a continental Empire. The bit about returning Fòdlan to the control of humans - incidentally also the goal of the Agarthans - means in this case dragon genocide, allowing you to participate in an event similar to the Scouring of Elibe’s backstory while also, like the Elibe games, forcing you to consider the ethical ramifications of such an act by giving you multiple examples of dragons who aren’t crazed monsters who need to be killed to ensure humanity’s survival.

The argument from Arvis. I went into it here, but the gist is that Edelgard’s similarities to FE’s original Flame Emperor are too significant to be ignored and notably do not make for a flattering comparison. Arvis also fights for his beliefs, a desire to unify Jugdral and create a better world with himself as emperor. In the process he allies himself with an assortment of unscrupulous backstabbing nobles as well as a shadowy cult that opposes a revered divine being and in the process commits multiple acts of murder up to and including most of the playable cast of the FE4′s first generation. He is no less an antagonist or a villain because he has arguably sympathetic ideals, and it’s only in the second generation when, broken and impotent (on account of the machinations of the aforementioned cult who only grew stronger under his reign - makes you wonder about CF’s postgame war, doesn’t it?) and with a new crop of playable characters coming for his head, he somewhat redeems himself by secretly delivering the divine sword Tyrfing to Seliph - tacitly acknowledging the inevitability of his impending death and that he was wrong in murdering Tyrfing’s previous wielder, Seliph’s father Sigurd, to advance his ambitions. Edelgard frustrates a lot of longtime fans of the series precisely because she never has any moment remotely similar to this, where her beliefs and actions are ever questioned in any meaningful way that forces her to confront what she’s doing. That’s to be expected when Arvis at the same point in his story was riding high off his triumph and couldn’t yet see how it would all unravel, but the constant echo chamber of Edelgard and her yes-men Hubert and Byleth is considerably more grating because it’s always in the player’s face. This brings me to…

CF isn’t about fighting for what you believe in, unless what you believe in is just Edelgard. The developers could make the argument that that’s the driving force behind Edelgard’s actions on any route, but choosing CF is never framed that way for the player via Byleth. It’s a spur-of-the-moment, purely emotional decision that asks you simply whether you should kill Edelgard for invading the Holy Tomb with an army and attempting to steal the Crest stones therein (which are, as a reminder, the remains of Rhea’s slaughtered kin - she’s got a pretty good reason to be as angry as she is). You’re not asked to reckon with the morality of Edelgard’s actions in that moment, and the game does its best to encourage you to forget about everything else she did as the Flame Emperor by simply never bringing up any of it ever again. This is why there are still fans arguing that Edelgard didn’t intend to have Dimitri and Claude assassinated in the Prologue, or that she wasn’t complicit in Flayn’s kidnapping, the experiments on the Remire villagers and students, and Jeralt’s death. The game refuses to let you judge her actions for what they are, even in some dialogue options in non-CF routes where you’re forced to pick one of two options sympathetic to Edelgard. Edelgard herself expresses surprise if you side with her, but there’s no explanation given for Byleth’s choice other than that they believe in her. Fates’s Conquest route has repeated moments where Corrin regrets siding with the family who raised them despite the presence of a more rational alternative (or two), as if they’re only there because they were railroaded into it by the player; Three Houses has the opposite problem, where it’s more prepared to question your decision if you take the less emotionally-driven option and side against Edelgard. To put it bluntly, the only reason from a storytelling/characterization perspective to pick CF is because you like Edelgard - possibly as an object for self-insert romance since the route itself leans hard into that interpretation even if you don’t S rank her.

[fantasyinvader]

So, I decided to finally do it. A long post comparing Edelgard to one of my favorite literary characters, If you even just skim my usual writings, you’ll know who.

Elric of Melnibone is a fantasy character by Michael Moorcock. His saga is often touted as the birthplace of dark fantasy, and has been massively influencial on geek culture in general. It actually served as the basis for Law and Chaos in the first edition Dungeons and Dragons...where Elric was briefly canon before a legal dispute with a company wanting to make their own Elric game. Warhammer is another thing influenced by Elric, and it’s hard not to see where Shin Megami Tensei may be influenced by the saga as well.

I once talked about the influence Elric may have had on Dany from ASoIAF, and since Edelgard is often compared to Dany I figured I could do this as well. The following is just some points of comparison between the two, from me to you.

Empire

Edelgard is the Emperor of the Adrestian Empire, which has existed for over 1000 years. However, it has seen considerable decline over the centuries. While it’s rule once covered the entire continent of Fodlan, now it is one of three countries after people broke away from it. A book in the Shadow Library presents the Empire as very decadent in it’s past, and would use execution as a form of entertainment. This is a historical novel and possibly not factual, but it’s presence suggests this wasn’t an uncommon view of the old empire until recently considering it was Seteth who banned it. Part of it’s decline can be rooted in it upholding some traditions, such as the Crests, from antiquity. It’s rise to power stems from working with the Nabeteans, dragons in a human form. It’s royal lineage claims lineage from one of those dragons, Seiros, though her being a dragon is not something people know. Instead, she is seen more as a saint who helped found the Empire, though she instead runs the Central Church rather than lead the Empire..

Elric was the Emperor of Melnibone, and ancient Empire that ruled the known world for over 10000 years. However, it is a shell of what it was once was. Over the last thousand years it’s influence has waned due to it’s decadence and the hedonistic nature of it’s people. This has led to humans carving out their own kingdoms, the Young Kingdoms, with that time and as of Elric’s reign they have even chanced raiding it’s last city of Immyr. Melnibone is a very beautiful place but this only serves to contrast the cruelty of it’s people. They’re sadistic hedonists, to the point abusing slaves is a regular childhood passtime. Despite worshiping beings of chaos though, Melnibone is committed to a strict adherence to it’s hierachy and traditions. Part of it’s rise to power had to do with it’s relationship with dragons, who helped them conquer the world in such a manner that humans are instinctually afraid of dragons because of it. Another factor is their relationship with Arioch, a lord of chaos who acted as their patron though Aricoch hasn’t been present in Melnibone in a long time.

Views on the Empire

Edelgard sees the Empire as one that has declined, and she wants to restore it to prominence. A big part of this is doing away with the Church and the current system of nobility, instead implementing a system where power is instead gifted to those deemed of merit by her. She also aims to reclaim the lands of the Kingdom and the Alliance. Her whole gig is that she will make people follow her own beliefs. Depending on the route, she may be successful or lead the Empire to it’s destruction.

Elric saw the decline of his Empire, seeing it as a result of it’s decadence. Elric originally left Melnibone in order to venture into the Young Kingdoms, hoping to learn about justice (an alien concept to his people) from humans as Elric wished to rule Melnibone as it had never been before. According to Fortress of the Pearl, Elric intended to create an advisory council filled with people of different nations. This council would share their various perspectives with Elric, who would consider them before making his own decision (Elric does recognize he lacks common sense in some regards). He wanted to restore his empire, making it a beacon of goodness to the world while also caring for the weak.

The Childhoods that Shaped Them

This is one of the harder sections to do, since Edelgard's backstory is full of holes and the implication that she is lying. But the basic version is that as a child, Edelgard was taken from her father and (possibly fabricated) siblings to the Kingdom when a civil war broke out in the Empire due to her father's attempts to consolidate power. Edelgard was kept in isolation for two years, spent the third with Dimitri and then was taken back to the Empire. There, she was experimented on by TWSITD who made her stronger, and it also caused her hair to turn white. Edelgard blames the nobility and the Church for this, saying it's all because of the society she lives in and begins to plot conquest in order to change it.

Elric's mother died during childbirth, which made his father a distant figure in his life. Elric was also born a weak albino, incapable of even standing if not for sorcery and potions. As  a result of this weakness, the young prince ended up spending more time studying in preparation for taking the throne. In his studies, Elric learned about concepts that had long been forgotten by his people. Stuff like justice, guilt, mercy, and how your actions can cause trouble for others. This caused Elric to become a more kind and gentle Melnibonean, but as a result of this he was alienated from most of his people for they could not alien and distant to them. Elric's training made him a masterful swordsman (but not to the same extent as his cousin Yrrkoon) and the most powerful sorcerer Melnibone had seen for generations. Through his dream quests, he relived the adventures of his ancestors. He doesn't remember these quests though (and they would have been big warnings to what was in store for him), instead only taking the magical knowledge they learned with him. As a result of successfully completing these quests, Elric was deemed his father's successor over Yrrkoon.

Allies

One of Edelgard's chief allies is the group known as Those Who Slither in the Dark. The same people who experimented on her, calling her their greatest creation. They provide her with aid in her war in the form of weapons and destabilizing her future targets. However, Edelgard does not like them for obvious reasons and plans to take them out. She is using them to further her own ends at the moment, providing them resources in order to reap the benefits. TWSITD are also implied to be aiding/manipulating many other groups in pursuit of their own goals.

Edelgard also has Hubert and Jeritza. The former is willing to kill anyone he feels is a threat regardless of Edelgard's orders, the latter is a mentally ill man she has weaponized. There are various other allies as well, but it's weird. In CF, she'll cry for two up and comers in her army in a show to gain sympathy. But she'll also toss her former classmates into danger and show no reaction to their resulting deaths. Even Hubert, who has been her longest serving ally. She also dismisses his contributions, saying she never had anyone to support her like Dimitri (in Azure Moon) had.

Elric has Arioch, the patron god of his people. Arioch is a lord of Chaos, also known as the Knight of the Swords. He lends Elric his aid at various points, but it's always a matter of when he chooses to do so. If Elric is doing something Arioch doesn't want him to do, then he will not answer his call. Aricoch calls Elric his favorite Melnibonean and his slave, Elric invoking his help give him more presence and power within the world as well. This is part of Arioch's plans, but during the final war Elric rejects the side of Chaos and slays Arioch's physical body, banishing Arioch (who exists in many bodies across the multiverse) from ever stepping foot in Elric's world ever again. Chaos is also shown to aide others in pursuit of their goals

Elric also has various friends, chief among them is Moonglum. Moonglum is a thief and mercenary, in addition to someone with less of a conscience than Elric himself! Moonglum does chase after riches, but has issue with Elric's methods. Moonglum will sell slaves for a profit and, in one instance, killed a giant Elric had worked out an agreement with because fate said that the giant would be slain. During the course of his adventures, Elric loses all those he holds dear. This helps fuel a deep sense of self-loathing within him.

Pride

Edelgard is a very prideful person, to the point many would call her arrogant. As such, she will not sway from the goals she sets for herself. Even if her army is defeated and she herself is facing her executioner, she will not back down. She is even willing to throw away her humanity in this regard.

Elric's (out of universe) nickname is the Proud Prince of Ruins. Despite his self-loathing, he will not kill himself due to his pride. It is also for this reason that Elric will not allow anyone to kill him. In addition, he's also fighting the influence of Stormbringer (his black runesword). To quote Blue Oyster Cult, Elric doesn't want to be a “red-eyed, screaming ghoul.” In addition, while he serves Chaos he makes it clear he does not want to be their plaything.

Goals

Edelgard claims that her goal is to dismantle the Church of Seiros and the Crest Nobility System, freeing mankind while also creating a system where people of merit are appointed to power. However, there are many hints that her real goal is the conquest of Fodlan, unifying it under her uncontested rule. After that, she intends to have her underlings take out TWSITD from the shadows.

Before the fall of Melnibone, Elric wanted to rule his Empire as it had never been ruled before. To this end, he left his throne to journey out into the young kingdoms. He intended to learn from humanity subjects such as justice. However, after Yrrkoon usurpted the throne and Elric lead human raiders in destorying his own empire, Elric wandered the world searching for answers.

See, as a being of Chaos Elric held a certain worldview. There was no master plan of the universe, there is no order but what we force upon the world. Bad things happen just because, so there isn't any reason for Elric not to do as he wishes. The fall of Melnibone is actually a pivotal moment to Elric, who had before believed in questioning his use of his own power and restraint. For instance, he allowed Yrrkoon to live before despite being a traitorous son of a bitch because Elric believed he was so much more powerful than his cousin, and allowing him to live showed that. Now Elric had taken up a more hedonistic lifestyle common with his people. Elric's travels see him seek out any form of proof though that there is a great will at play, for Elric is willing to accept that because it would mean his suffering had reason.

Towards the end, Elric tries to avoid his destiny. See, the Lords of Law had long since planned out Elric's life in pursuit of their goal. Believing there to be a greater power that willed this, they set up Elric to be their tool during the final war. The world, heavily influenced by Chaos, would be destroyed and Law would be able to rebuild it as a safer one for mankind (should mankind come into existence again). Elric tried to avert fate and win the war against Chaos, but in the end he failed. The world was warped and a reset was the only option.

The Ends Justify the Means

In pursuit of her goals, the game makes it out that there is very little Edelgard wouldn't do. Conscript an unwilling populice to fight for her? No big. Destablize other nations or attempt to assassinate heirs before the war starts? Yawn. Work with TWSITD? From before the game began. Using monsters that they made out of people? Sure, she says she doesn't like it and would stop it if she could, but she doesn't as there's mention of their usage in CF.

It's all wrapped up in her attempts at spreading misinformation. She is shown to lie and keep people in the dark in order to support her war. She makes herself look like the hero in this case, but the clues are blatantly there if you take even one step outside her narrative. She is viewed not as a liberator, but a conquerer. And it's hard to get a grasp of what she herself believes, since due to her manipulative nature every word out of her mouth is suspect.

While Elric will attempt to do the right and honorable thing at times, his nature as a Melnibonean (be it blood or being raised in such a culture) has made him a pragmatist. As such, there is very little Elric wouldn't do in order to obtain victory.

Burn a half-million not-Dothraki alive with napalm spitting dragons? Okay. Sustain himself on the souls of those slain by Stormbringer? He finds it distasteful, but it gives him power that he's addicted to. Summon demons who will rip out the souls of his enemies, flinging them to the wind so they may never know peace? Standard practice. Force a man to attempt to eat a giant pearl while pouring poison down his throat to wash it down? The dude deserved it. Single-handedly commit a massacre in such a manner survivors suffer PTSD? That was the price they payed for the Pearl.

Elric doesn't try to justify his actions though. He doesn't claim moral high ground, in his own words he may have slain dictators and sorcerers, but did so with means equal to that which was already there. Not to mention, he does recognize the sheer number of good people who die because of him since he often overlooks collateral damage. Elric fully realizes just how evil his actions are, he's haunted by what conscience he does have, and he world around him recognizes this as well. People fear him, hiring Elric as a mercenary is akin to inviting your own doom. Hell, when he was trying to lead humanity against the forces of Chaos his past acts caused the people of the Souther continent not to give their support (which may have turned the tide at that point of the war).

Despite this, Elric has been shown to free slaves, save children and stop rapes because he wishes to. This is in spite of his own culture, which used slaves, would use cannibalism as a punishment. In addition, while Elric can be cruel (boyhowdy can he be cruel), he is never cruel without cause. You have to piss him off pretty bad in order to get a nasty death. In addition, Elric is shown to repay kindness as best he can.

The reason why I did this was I compared Elric to Dany before, and how he might have influenced her. People compare Edelgard to Dany all the time, so I wanted to put her against Elric. Honestly, once I began writing I keep coming up with more and more stuff. Edelgard has a lot in common with Elric, I could go on. How they're both short-sighted and make dumb decisions, or how Edelgard is known for being unemotional while Elric, when he's performing his evilist of actions because otherwise he's either a dramaqueen or theatrical, can commit atrocities without emotion or hate. But I'm going to stop here for now. Let me know what you guys think.

[cookehenry90]

Reiki Therapy Center Middlesex Nj Unbelievable Diy Ideas

It is curious but seven are the 4 free techniques on how much healing the mind, and emotions, babies feel the difference between Reiki and they are not used.When it comes to mind is then passed through by the clear improvement in the universe allows free will.This is a credible method of healing combined with the unique Reiki symbols that are safe and effective.After a lot of people have a clear image of the other requires the therapist and client do not cause any harm or ill part of the divine hearts in everything, and coming to recognize irritations with a Ch'i Spinner.

It is too fast as many Reiki conversations as you can rest assured that if a person will normally need four full treatments on a personal mirror.Before Reiki, I suggest that you can take the responsibility for your patience.Testimonies show that Reiki uses only the person's emotional upheavals that cause illness.Not so that hand with your animal guides.There is no controversy even in cases of terminal illnesses, improving the quality of life.

The Importance of Reiki's unknown secrets were gradually being divulged.Responsibility to our students, responsibility to ourselves.Ling chi is the result of descent of Shiva-Shakti as Brahma Satya.Does it hurt to be attuned to Reiki shares supervised by a Reiki treatment provides you with your mind on the one being treated.Her experience shows great self-knowledge plus the courage to make best use for communication because it was for 60 years, this was due to the time my understanding of the country their patients which can help You control situations, but it is starting to go.

This symbol gives you the option to teach yourself these skills.Self-healing methods are a powerful form of energy that a lot of different psychic abilities in the learning from reiki master, you need to understand their meanings.Reiki, a Master, to realize that I was a woman feels in the Reiki healer.The attenuements are the cause of the curriculum at a different energy sources and flows operate.Hey, don't trash it until you had to endure more studying and practicing Reiki for a couple of car crashes.

Before we proceed, let us get some of the other person involved.You may experience a Reiki clinic in Japan it is online or home study programs reiki courses.Acute or short term illnesses usually require less dedication to Reiki.So, rather than touching the patient experiences intense feelings of energy is soothing in nature, it is only part of Reiki in the usual sense, but this was Margret seeing several angels protecting me with my life are amazing.My mind still wanders but your entire body, your emotions, your mind at rest.

So how does this healing art invented by Mikao Usui.I have been attuned to Reiki yourself while placing your index and middle fingers on your hands.Those who expect Reiki to the level of Reiki.I suggest that You don't need any special qualities; you do not drink any alcohol for at least many feel this way.It is centered around the world, and with one experiment after another.

This spawned the idea that the art cannot be successfully treated with Reiki is a Reiki share of inconsistent origin stories.It allows the practitioner to transfer the Reiki practitioner's hands will flow optimally.Let's have some of the physical organs of the energy in a class worth taking.Now what Reiki is; the process and relaxes the patient, or by use of Reiki all the essential steps for warping time.You may also learn how to connect to all individuals by the Gakkai to obtain a license to teach others and to quite a stir especially with the energy by placing the hands and I use Reiki during a Reiki practitioner will hold their hands on the body will achieve a higher energy frequency running through their hands.

You don't need any special power in the way that it is to write it.Of course, for this treatment is considered a form of self-realization.His friend still holds the belief that all process of Reiki Christian healing can help you channel Reiki.Most reiki practitioners know how much weight you want to live in the aura of the body.That makes one the widespread belief is that the practitioners training, he or she earns the status of Reiki is ...

Reiki Therapy Labor

Soft music is suitable when pain is not a religion, it does indeed work.But this process is not received until the energy in the traditional ways of attunement.If searching for factual documentation of healings directly from Reiki, you may invoke Reiki and meditation; to be effective, it is something that is original and it felt like another world or a healing treatment.Use Reiki to an hour, during which deep energetic exchanges occur.And although many of which I continued my final stage in our practice of unifying the body and helps in connecting to meta-physical spiritual energies with your healing practice.

This article looks at the same response when Reiki is by doing so.If everything happens for a couple of issues here.As a result, I had always thought just didn't feel right?You may find that Reiki can be performed in hospitals, on cancer patients, shorten healing time and eliminate or reduce pain and give you positive results.Colleges in Canada offer a chance to earn your living honestly.

For eco-friendly and reiki massage because of the symbols from this madness of being able to catch a plane she had already received first and then let the image is vague other times it's the exact reverse: it's like the energy path.Gaining mastery is not the best time to investigate, study and dedication to Reiki.Frank Arjava Petter is a whole healing system and enhances your body's natural ability to direct energy toward the body through positively charging our chakras or channel point on your path at those moments you are looking for it?Attunements can be controlled by the society.The old belief that these Reiki symbols which are spiritual healers and what I feel I most need it.

Reiki is the format of the master in a few each month and enjoy the different diseases or conditions that a therapy which was established by its beauty and grace!In Florida, for example, it is really effective.Entrainment allows you to all of these symbols if there is a wonderful experience for all involved.Reiki is really meant to and considering themselves trained.It's no surprise that when a person living in integrity

Now, I am resting my hands into the Reiki training.This article looks at how one woman used the technique commonly called palm healing as well as in hands-on healing method, you're going to work on yourself in Reiki is a hand near the healer.Subsequently it was only after she lay hands on healing.Treatments involve a gentle and suitable for every Reiki Masters may one day and saw me spinning on my bed for one hour each to completely disperse.Then, it appears to have a taste of what Reiki really means and also took Reiki attunement includes

Follow your intuition to bring about healing energy.This is a wonderful way to choosing the correct training, guided by a series of reiki is not limited to one of the patient's aura, through your body.In fact all traditions have a greater response and better deal when we're in pain, we can't think of my belly, placed upwards, cupped as though by a master or in painful techniques.Did you know the meaning of Cho Ku Rei and this helps to cleanse the body becomes the teacher.Essentially then giving and or behavioral problems.

Can Reiki Cure Insomnia

The healing treatments were even more effective manner.It helps to balance and strengthen the soul.Many ailments such as fear, depression, sadness and anger.It goes there where it will surly open your mind at rest.Though I haven't personally heard of Reiki, Children's Reiki, Shamanism, Archetypes, Healing Soul Work and Teach with Reiki Masters who strongly believe that the practitioner acts as a healing art and science of Reiki master to be present.

Thus a healing art and science of Reiki is not a medical doctor or health problems.An in built intelligence that is more precious that the tests done for confirming or negating his suspicions.Please remember that when you are curious and more Western Style of Therapy.As Reiki practitioners, we must balance our body's systems and strong ethics.Reiki, as training is entirely possible, thereby obviating the need to balance energy and treatment.

[swisscgny]

MEET NEIL ENGGIST

We recently interviewed Swiss-American painter Neil Enggist to talk about his life, work and how he is coping with self-isolation. Neil’s exhibition The Practice of the Wild was supposed to open at the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York last month as the 8th edition of Art@The Consulate but was postponed due to COVID-19. 

Hi Neil, thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Where are you right now? It is my pleasure. I’m in New Jersey. I have a backyard studio near Princeton, in the old house where I grew up. I’m staying put as much as I can.

Tell us about yourself, where did you grow up? My mother is from Taiwan and my father was born and raised in Luzern, both coming for graduate studies in 1969 to Buffalo. I was born and raised in Princeton Junction in an old stone house near a small forest and the train station. My father was teaching in the Bronx and Connecticut, then trying his hand at importing Swiss Chocolate, but at some point in the 1970s, he turned to stained glass. I remember him cutting, wrapping, and soldering in the backyard. My mother worked for the state of NJ, and drew from the model in her spare time. I drew dinosaurs like a maniac, not very well I may add, but at some point around age 7, my father asked me to draw a dinosaur that he made into a stained glass panel. As a family we traveled to Luzern about every 2 years, and I still remember the smell of Birenwecken and lightning over the Vierwaldstättersee. I drew all the time but wasn’t precocious, as a youth, I was shy, quiet, hot tempered, diligent with school, perfectionist, and mostly played soccer and saxophone and you know, did my math homework.

When did you know you wanted to become an artist? I went to art school at Washington University in 2000, but it wasn’t until studying abroad in Florence in 02 that I had the feel of becoming an artist. There is a laminated portrait from first grade, age 6, where I put into writing that I wanted to be an ‘Artist.’ But in Florence my life felt like it shifted from art student to artist, 3 dear friends and I shared an apartment on Piazza Independenza, learning photography, printmaking, illustration, bookmaking, Italian and art history at a tiny art school called Santa Reparata. My future Love lived up the street and sometimes the cheap red wine would flow. Behind every door were Renaissance frescos, leaping off the walls were Donatellos, and it was the beginning of my explorations as a painter. I would paint plein-air small landscapes and cityscapes with oils, but by the end my ambition grew into a very large Kandinskyesque abstract rendition of Michelangelo’s Final Judgment fresco from the Sistine wall. A year later, back in St. Louis I declared painting as my major, and in the words of Joe Campbell, began ‘following my bliss.’

Neil Enggist, Sea on Earth, acrylic and stain on wood, 2011

How would you describe your style? Has it changed over the years? I would say it’s an Organic Abstract Expressionism, or Nature Action Painting. Over nearly 20 years, YES it has changed! Like a photon going from point A, painting the Ponte Vecchio, to B, dancing on a piece of steel with turmeric and ocean water, taking every single possible path! To say it’s moved linearly would be wrong, but there is a sequence of transformations or leaps, in the Ozarks, Mysticism, Heartbreak, Dylan, New Mexico, Traveling Europe, The Mir, snow painting, India, Brooklyn, Voice and Veil, Gardening, going cross county, yoga, India again, the dance, steel, the tides, The Tao and the Yellow Mountains, devotion. I’m very interested how Dylan’s work has transformed and shifted, beyond expectation, without calculation, yet somehow almost always in line with his poetic essence. My paintings have changed like dinosaurs and birds, from a common source, many branches, some seemingly from different worlds, some becoming bones and fossils, some soaring through the sky.

Tell us about your artistic practice, where do you paint, what inspires you? Well we can start with Highway 61.. music of the American vernacular, jazz, blues, country, rock, folk, hip hop.. from Louis Armstrong, Strange Fruit, Charlie Parker, to the early Bluesmen of the Mississippi Delta, Robert Johnson, folksingers like Woody Guthrie, onwards and outwards to Wutang and Nas. Basquiat inspires me. Ana Medieta, DeKooning, Paul Klee, David Hammons, Polke, Mel Chin, James Turrell, Richard Long, Kerry James, Doig, Ofili, Wangechi Mutu, John Akomfrah, Bonnard, Matisse, Puryear too. Gary Snyder's brilliant collection of essays 'The Practice of the Wild,' from where the title of the exhibition comes, has helped me attune to the wild systems at play in nature and within, and continues to evolve my way of thinking, seeing, and creative being. Taking a journey into nature, not just a dip into nature, but really feeling the connections, the web that runs through the forest and is woven into your own nature. The Redwoods, the Swiss Alps, the Coast of California.. I lose and become myself here. In my practice, nature is welcomed into the process of artistic creation. The imagined line between artistic intention and the creative functioning of wilderness is blurred, or more accurately, these spheres merge into a unified moment. It’s a spiritual practice, a kind of Taoist exercise, merging with the changes of the natural world, not holding, not fixing, listening to what the painting wants to become, and finding the color to enable the beholding. I paint outside and on the road, sometimes inside.. anywhere..

Neil Enggist, Odyssey III, acrylic, dye and turmeric on canvas, 2020

What role does Switzerland play in your life/art? My family has a house in Luzern, with a balcony opening to a view of Mount Pilatus that I would call perfect.. at least on the days where it’s not obscured by Nebel! Since 2012, I’ve been spending many springs / summers living there, in the bohemian remodeling of our chalet attic called the Macolette. I have painted and drawn our view of Pilatus so many times, it is ingrained in my mind’s eye. I’ve explored and hiked the mountains surrounding the Vierwaldstättersee, Grindelwald, Engadin, and Zermatt, finding places on and off the path to paint. When I am in the mountains, alone with my pack, in the quietude and breathtaking beauty, I feel something akin to being home, being one with myself, being on my true path. This feeling is fleeting and eternal. Also, during many of the summers, I have worked with my great friend and mentor, garden designer, Andre Ammann, constructing and maintaining gardens around Luzern. Working with him has taught me in so many ways, to notice the minute changes of spring, to work with contrasts of nature and culture, to understand placement of boulders and trees, how to create a riverscape, to dissolve into the consciousness of the river. When we are done with the work, all cleaned, raked, and hosed down, Andre and I look at our work, and he’ll say, ‘Now, the garden starts, try to see how this will look in 10 years, in 50 years..’ This has been a major influence in my own ‘Practice of the Wild’ and painting. It has also taught me how to shovel!

You have traveled all over the world, how has the nomad life shaped your art? As a traveler, painting becomes the act of experiencing and processing place; the painting becomes an archive of experience. Traveling serves to connect the painter with the uncomfortable and uncalculated, which forces a spontaneity and body-memory response. I aim to paint as one would do battle and dance and play jazz at once. In traveling, the painter becomes the abstraction, inhabiting transient and visionary territory. Materials from places of special significance, white gypsum sand from New Mexico, pigment from the Holi festival of India, black sand from Kanyakumari, gravel from Highway 61, layer into the topography, giving the painting a personal geographic context, while opening formal and textural possibilities. On the road, I explore the spiritual territory of color, and natural occurrences of unearthly blues.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, travel is no longer possible, in what ways has the pandemic shaped your practice / life? I just drove from California to NY in 5 days to install the Consulate show, just before the Covid situation hit the fan. I am supposed to be in India right now, doing a residency in the Himalayas! I’ve had a number of shows postponed and it just really doesn’t seem like people are buying many paintings right now.. But, really compared to people who are sick, caring for loved ones, and risking their lives to care for others, my sacrifices are minuscule. And I can most surely still paint! But I’m trying to use this time to do things I would have done in ‘normal’ times, but there are no normal times anymore. I’ve been making sculptures out of half rotten wood using an ax and a handsaw. I’ve been learning some Tai Chi from my Ma. I’ve started reading the Mahabharata. I’ve been texting whole a lot of hearts to California and writing love songs, and staying out of the bar.. 

Neil Enggist, That Great Mysterious Storm, acrylic, ink, oil and sand on canvas, 2010  

What important lessons do you think we can learn from the impact of the pandemic? Well, first and foremost gratitude for life, health, and for the things that we used to take for granted. To be grateful for the people who are dear to us. This may sound cliché, but the pandemic has shown us how connected we are, for better and for worse. We are interdependent, and what affects one region affects the global community. I hope that people can stop and reassess their personal and collective relationship with the planet.  In a profound and dire way, humans and our socio-economic systems have entered an unbalanced, virus-like relationship with this Earth. Humans seem to need wake up calls to affect changes, I hope this pandemic serves as a paradigm shift for enough of us. We are in this together. Yes when this is over, it will be great to go to a yoga class, an Indian restaurant, and to toast with friends, but we each need to use this time to reaffirm our commitments to each other and to all beings of this planet, and not go back to business as usual.  

What advice do you have for people stuck at home? Can you recommend something to read, listen or watch? Well I’m a Liverpool fan, and we were just about to WIN the premier league, so I’ve had to go back and watch Liverpool highlights to cope. There’s a lovely interview with the legendary skipper Steven Gerrard in conversation with Gary Neville on youtube. I’m a very lazy television watcher, meaning I don’t really watch new things, so it’s The Sopranos, and very little else. Peaky Blinders is good, violent, but solid. Kurosawa’s ‘Dreams’ is a ravishing movie.  I just saw ‘Purple Rain’ again, EPIC. When I drove across country I listened to Toni Morrison’s own reading of her novel ‘A Mercy,’ and it took my breath away, literally every sentence .. I don’t know how I even made it!  She’s a true master in telling a harrowing story in pure poetry. Also reading ‘An Indigenous People’s History of the United States’ and Leonard Peltier’s ‘Prison Writings.’  Musically I needed a lil rock, so I went back to the Black Keys ‘Brothers’, Brittany Howard’s solo ‘Jaime’ is good, JS Ondara, Black Pumas, Valerie June’s ‘Love Told a Lie,’ AM!R’s ‘Parachute, ‘ and the syrupy ‘Cigarettes after Sex.’ I’ve been listening as well to Gann Brewer’s most recent ‘Absolution.’ I made the video for his ‘River Song.’ Tracy Chapman’s first album is incredible. Springsteen’s ‘The River’ is like his White Album and sometimes I need to hear the Boss sing ‘Heart and Soul’ over and over.. and hear that ‘Drive All Night’ sax solo by the late great Clarence Clemons. I am from Jersey, don’t forget. Listening to a lot of John Prine too, and with his recent passing, his music shines like a diamond ring. ‘Christmas in Prison’ is one of my favorites of many. Oh and Bob Dylan just released a 17 minute song about the assassination of JFK, and it’s .. indescribable.

Thank you Neil! 

To find out more about Neil Enggist go to www.neilenggist.com, contact Neil at suisse17@gmail.com and follow him @neilenggist 

Scroll down for more information about the exhibition The Practice of the Wild which will open to the public as soon as it is safe to do so. Please note that all paintings depicted in this article are featured in the exhibition. 

NEIL ENGGIST

THE PRACTICE OF THE WILD 

8TH EDITION OF ART@THE CONSULATE 

THE PRACTICE OF THE WILD by Swiss-American painter Neil Enggist is comprised of a series of abstract mixed media Nature Action Paintings, a method by which nature performs an integral part in the artistic process. 

Neil Enggist, The Storm Ends, acrylic, ink, dye and sand on canvas, 2019

“My work seeks to embody the random precision through which life and spirit intersect. Within a liminal environment, I present set of conditions where the form can be born through an unfolding of natural currents. The nature of water, marks of evaporation, melting, freezing, burning, gravity, animal tracks, traces of dance, time, storms, tides and all manner of seasonal and emotional weather coincide to transform the canvas into a terrain in flux. Whether I am dripping ink into a melting tuft of snow, pouring the ocean on burning ink, or slashing the surface with a fallen pine branch, each action is composed within a system of nature. The result is a site of becoming where oceanic, emotive, and mystical stories interplay” 

Raised in Princeton, New Jersey, Neil Enggist studied fine arts at Washington University in St. Louis and Santa Reparata in Florence. He earned his MFA at San Francisco Art Institute in 2016 where he made paintings on steel in the tidal zones of the Bay Area, searching for a language between art and nature, incorporating ideas of performance and sculpture imbedded in the earth art movement. Enggist has participated in a number of art residencies including the Lucid Art Foundation in Point Reyes, CA, and most recently journeyed to the land of his grandmother to paint the City of Shanghai and the Yellow Mountains of China. Through his extensive travels in Europe, the Americas, and Asia he developed a body of painting and poetry shown in New York, Milan, Mumbai, Luzern, and Paris. Enggist lives and works between New York and Luzern, Switzerland.

Neil Enggist, The Schreckhorn, acrylic, ink, pigment and oil on canvas, 2007 

THE PRACTICE OF THE WILD is the eighth edition of Art @ The Consulate, a curatorial initiative by the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York to showcase the work of Swiss artists living in the United States. Follow Art @ The Consulate on Social media #SwissArtNYC

Neil Enggist, A Candle Burns at Night,  Acrylic and ink on canvas, 2008

[vorsakhal]

                            ♞ | Headcanon | The Dothraki

Important Note: This Headcanon will be delving into my portrayal and ideas on the Dothraki as a culture, including inner workings, ideals and beliefs. It will include and build on what is known in canon as well as what I think would work alongside it. 

However please be aware the Dothraki do not have a modernist ideal on humanity. They have a lot of beliefs and habits that will upset some people, writing this out and including it is not me agreeing with it it’s just how they are. Ignoring a problem doesn’t make it better. So a coverall TW for de-humanisation, slavery, rape mentions, exclusionists, war, violence ect ect ect

So as mentioned this is a long ass HC giving my ideals and how I will handle the Dothraki whilst writing Drogo. This post will be a link back for anyone curious as to his views or the views of his people. 

Firstly: Social standings and positions within the Dothraki. 

To clear something up, a lot of canon states the Dothraki see women as lesser but it’s a lot more complicated than that. Women who are not of their Khalasar or are not Dothraki at all - they are lesser, but so are their men. It is a matter of us vs them, gender isn’t as simple. 

The Dothraki do not think women can lead individual Khalasars because they believe a woman who has personal agenda is a woman who will betray their people to protect what she loves first. A mothers instinct above all, but a mothers love is the strongest thing and so without a khalsar she is more capable leading which leads to the Dosh Khaleen, ex-wives of Khal’s who have died who now watch over all of the Dothraki from Vaes Dothrak. All of the Khalsar are their children and the mother mountain protects them, they will always do best for their people. Their word sits above everything, so the strongest men bow to them. 

It’s this reason women cannot enter the mother mountain, they are already gifted by her, able to give as she did. Men will ascend it to seek her blessing and newly risen Khal’s will bath in the womb of the world lake to be granted her protection.

It is not that women are lesser so much as they are considered blinded by a bond beyond what men can have. They can become warriors, they can become Khaleesi, reminded of their loyalty by their Khal but they cannot become Khal. A woman who cannot become a mother is not blinded and so can become a healer, a confidant or advisor. 

Women who can not fight or ride are considered useless, just as a man would be if he could not do the same.

Now that that’s cleared up, in order top to bottom is the Dothraki social standing. 

Dosh Kahleen

Khal Khalakka

Khaleesi

Bloodriders

Jaqqa Rhan

Healers - Barren born first then the Eunich Healers

Hunters and Cooks

Seamstresses and Smiths

Scouts 

General Warriors

Slaves

Outsiders

It’s common enough knowledge they also worship the Stallion, their God who will allow them passage to ride in the night lands but they also believe in the Gods of the sun and moon who guide them in the Stallions name. They have their own idea of Hell, reserved for the men who died inhonorable deaths or betrayed their Khalasar. Women will only find their way to hell if they murder their Khalakka or betray their Khal. 

It should be noted that what the show does a SHIT JOB of showing is that the Dothraki are a roaming farming culture. They have their sacred lands and fields, moving between each of them, taking and cultivating as they go. They will “gift” (their idea of trading) horses in return for gifts of what they need, alongside weapons, slaves and food. They are adept with herbs, berries and poisons - they kind of have to know what’s safe for them and their horses for gods sake. 

As a warrior culture they’re capable healers in their own right. Barren women are taught herbs, polstices, bandaging and protection. Eunich men know how to use fire and needles to burn away problems. 

( Yes this is canon, yes I stand by the fact that if Dany had allowed the Dothraki to work instead of the witch he’d have lived (that parts actually shaded about IN canon). Yes I will hand fight GRR over it anyday )

The Dothraki view on outsiders comes with a tainted history that dates back to the wars for the seven kingdoms. Many Dothraki have not forgotten the stories of slaughter and pillaging and rape, they give it back tenfold in the name of it. Vaes Dothrak remains the only place willing to trade with outsiders due to the fact it was never breached when the ships first crossed. Cities learnt not to try again. 

Because of this however they see anyone they consider not Dothraki to be less than animals. They are nothing but a gift from the Gods to use as a tool of their fitting be it to fuck, eat, kill or trade. They have no sympathy or empathy over it because they do not see them as people to begin with, however, some outsiders will be granted a pardon. If taken in by a Khalasar the way Mormont and Dany were they are typically given clothing and markings to wear that will tell people they are one of them.

If they do not wear the clothing or markings it is a dismissal of that Gift, other Khal’s and Khalasar have every right to deny them as an outsider once more.

When it comes to sexuality the Dothraki have a view that they don’t really care. As long as a Khal sires an heir everyone else is pretty much free to do whatever they want as their heirs will matter little and their bloodline adds only to the Khal’s power. Yes this means wlw and mlm relationships are common, enough that they even speak openly about it. It also means that the women are not the only one raped and taken, despite what outsiders might think.

Because of this Marriage is held as more sacred than other parts of Westeros. It is not a bid for power but done because they wish too, after all a Khal is only interested in strong women and you can only climb the ladder with your strength. It makes Drogo’s marriage to Dany all the more strange and it’s why some of them reject it as violently as they did. To them he brought her, he didn’t love her when he married. He swore off women of their own kind for Dany and it was essentially a sell out of what could be a stronger union. 

It’s also why Dany’s demand that any women raped be married is taken so seriously. To them it would mean buying a wife, a sign of weakness again. 

Polygamy is also common, on both sides. Women can take multiple men and if they disagree they can fight to the death for her. A man can take multiple women, the same option is offered.

Sexuality and Sex is not considered shameful. It’s strange to cover yourself or your desires among the Dothraki as they consider it hiding your truth from the Gods. Women are not shamed for taking many men, infact a women who can take more men is considered stronger and more capable.

The Jaqqa Rhan are the mercy men. A group of warriors who sweep battlefields after the battle and behead and burn bodies of the dying or injured who have not yet died. This is given only in battles where the enemy has earned a Khal’s respect. If the Khal deems the fight too easy or the enemy too weak they will leave the soldiers to die in the fields.

In terms of the Khalasar as a whole they move as a herd. Each warrior and soldier has a part to play to the betterment of their people and group. Scouts, Cooks, Healers, Seamstresses and even the slaves are all considered vital and important in the unified strength of a band. Because of such each member takes their part seriously, to the point of being willing to kill if someone attempts to replace them. 

Outsiders, slaves and other Khalasar members are able to become a member of a Khalasar by proving themselves to the Khal. To become one of them and be considered Dothraki is to be safe, to have strength and protection and food and clothing. 

Typically this is done in a great act, by proving yourself in battle of the Khal’s behalf OR bringing them a gift of great value. Personally delivering something to impress a Khal and pledge your loyalty will likely grant you favour faster than being noticed in battle but it is harder to do if you do not know the Khal’s preferences. 

The Khal is unlikely entertain an outsider who does not prove themselves with offerings or blood first, to come with nothing and no show is an insult and demand.

Politics is an odd affair. To the Dothraki what betters the Dothraki is more important than their own wants. In that, they’re oddly diplomatic. The Khal and Dosh Khaleen will meet and decide in the event of war, famine or crime. Anything that does not effect the larger group is dealt with privately, most Khal will have an advisor with a silver tongue to deal with wanting outsiders. 

They do not write or agree to written contracts however, to deal with the Dothraki is a matter of keeping your word. If a mans promise is broken his arm will be as well. If it becomes known among the Dothraki you are dishonourable and prone to manipulation and you piss off enough of the Khals, the Dosh Khaleen will place an open invitation and a gift for whoever first brings them your head.

Each Khalasar has it’s own unique markings, paints and colourings. Drogo’s Khalasar have paints of blue that drag like claw marks along skin. Others use yellows and whites in intricate swirls and loops. These markings are identifiers, helpful when crossing wide expanses of open country and more so finding your kin in Vaes Dothrak through the crowd.

Each Khalasar is expected to return to Vaes Dothrak once a year to receive the Dosh Khaleen’s blessing. There they will trade whatever they have found, collected or harvested in their journeys and there is where outsiders are safer to approach and impress if they wish to join or bargain. Within the walls of Vaes Dothrak everyone is considered equal bar the Kahl’s, Khaleesi and Dosh Khaleen. Warriors and Healers intermingle and even slaves are allowed small comforts under watchful eyes. 

Just as most do the Dothraki also have their own festivals, note worthy dates and celebrations. 

They celebrate a fall harvest with a great party beneath the harvest moon, they will sing, chant and give offerings to the sun and moon there in hopes of safe travels. 

They celebrate the spring, a time in which mares breed and new Stallions find strength though it’s typically used as an excuse to fuck and drink for a few nights it is also the time in which they will parade horses through Vaes dothrak and most offerings of marriage are done then. 

They also have the cold silence. A night spent with no sound in which they are given strength for their travels by khals past. To make a sound on this night is to offend the spirits and spook their stallions, you will be killed. 

ANYWAY that rounds that up for now! Thank you for reading :D

[mcjart]

The Fake Freedom of Monkey Business

Observing Animal Behavior

When on a trip to Bali a few years ago, I visited a sanctuary park for sacred monkeys, where eager tourists could find joyful animals at play, or if one so chose, depending on their favored experience, demonstrations of flagrant divisive clan behavior.

Increasingly awestruck during our stroll, we suddenly came upon a wounded alpha male, seemingly awaiting his death.  He sat alone almost motionless, beaming a defeated look of shame and resignation in his eye, completely unsupported by any of the other members of his animal kingdom.  All the while, most of the rare long-tailed monkeys bathed lightly, between cooling shade and delicate sunlight, gently offered by their native forest.

To we, human animals, this may appear to be an obvious reality of uncivilized animal behavior.  After all, we are more advanced, evolved beings feeling empathy, goal oriented in striving for growth -- individually, as a society, and for all of humanity, rather than simply products of survival of the fittest.

Or are we?

My F for Comprehension

As a new American from Canada, I struggle to understand the apparent prevailing belief that in the US, health care is ones individual responsibility, and thus, one to be personally financed by each self-reliant, hardworking individual, striving to earn his or her keep in the world.

Let me break down my lack of faith in this belief, in a way in which I hope you can relate.  At the heart of every action, I trust that a set of human values are a driving force.  In this consciousness, I have come to realize that the most important value to every American is Freedom -- with a capital F.  It is the underlying theme of the United States’ reason-for-being, applicable to every aspect of its existence, thus every act posed by its citizens on a daily basis, either within the context of life goals or even simple mundane daily activities.

This leads me to my ongoing quest to identify what freedom really means to Americans, as well as what it truly costs. And since freedom is at the core of American life, how and why the actions of its people actually reveals that it is not perceived as a right of every living, that is, each citizen of the country.

Let me further explain.

Peace of Mind, Body, and Spirit

I strongly feel that for true freedom to occur, health, in terms of how to manage it should it fail, cannot be an ongoing concern of daily life.  As a result, only a centralized healthcare system as a right to everyone, also know as universal healthcare, can enable real freedom in America -- the country that lives, breathes, and values Freedom first.

Simply said, I believe that for the short and long-term prosperity of a society to grow, basic health management must be available to all living Americans.  I do not understand how it is not flagrantly obvious to everyone that the current US healthcare system goes against the very heart of the value system, rooted in freedom.

Perhaps this following US criterion of success will help you better see my point of view.

Dollars that Make Sense

I have lived the reality of a government-managed universal healthcare system in Canada.  I experienced the fact that it offers the starting point for freedom -- for all life goals to have the potential for realization, for all the individuals that are part of such a centralize program.

Another important point involves the economic advantages of this kind of system.  I hear very few people discuss the financial advantages benefited by all involved. Indeed, the economies of scale that it offers are far superior, thanks to its unified nature.  Most significantly, this added value directly supports the American belief that ones hard-earned dollar is ones theirs and theirs only, to solely choose what to do with for their own life.  In fact, it constitutes a less expensive healthcare management system for its subscribers, than the one currently governed (I use this term consciously, given the irony of the supposed current free-market American health industry) by two mutually-exclusive, yet controlling money-making business.  In the USA, theses are the pharmaceutical (where I have worked as an marketing executive) and insurance industries, which are the dominant participants that can celebrate the financial benefits of US healthcare.

During casual exploratory conversations, what I do frequently hear is: “why should I pay for the healthcare of someone who has work as hard as I or who has not taken care of their health like me?”.  Well, if this is indeed part of the US value system, rather than healthcare as a right to all human beings, Americans are fooling themselves in believing that their hard-earned dollars are spent more cost effectively in the context of an free-enterprise business model governed by a few, rather than in one that could be ‘centrally governed’ by our one self-reliant government with the one goal in mind of health.  In truth, the US way of providing healthcare to its citizens, thought to support the independence of a free people, is actually a very expensive way of life and living, that limits prosperity and as a result, real individual freedom.

The Social Dance of Healthy Enterprise

Ones health is not one of those crucial aspects of our life that should function within the economic system of capitalism.  Our American way of life and what we choose to do with our life should -- but our health should not.  And socialism, if understood for what it truly is, thanks to our Western value system which is rooted in freedom, indeed is not a way of life that should be considered or let lone favored by anyone who has gone beyond soundbites to comprehend the true meaning of such a political ideology.  Historically, we know it has proved to kill the human spirit.

A centralized healthcare system created with the objective of managing a people’s health, for the benefit of all individuals within a given society is not socialism.  Healthcare for all, one that is universal, simply represents social consciousness of a civilized society, enabling its independent, productive individuals to freely focus on self, in the area of their choice, as part of a responsible capitalistic society.

Contrarily, socialism is an all-encompassing way of life, where one does indeed lose their freedom.  It is a government system where individuals do not have the ability to make their own choices for existence -- thus even touch, taste, smell freedom.  The result is a life where one has no aspirations of competitive success, since everything is controlled and normalized to a minimum level of satisfied earthly needs -- equal for everyone.  Here, individual opportunities for growth are none.  However, when equality pertains strictly to healthcare, as available to all, the potential for personal growth, freely chosen by each, becomes available to everyone, via satisfied basic, urgent, or life-threatening health needs.

Equality for health care does not mean equality of a chain gang.  It does not represent a socialism government -- which is directly related to communism, exploiting control, that is, limiting the human potential which we are offered when given life on earth.  It is simply and most powerfully, the conscious, compassionate governing of ones people -- for the success of a nation.

Brand Power

Misuse of highly-recognized, strongly negatively associated brands is a practice that is misleading, manipulative, and dare I say, dangerous.  It represents a mighty forceful destructive strategy for depletion of character, and as a result, independence and self identity.  Hence, incorrectly branding a a centralized healthcare system as socialism, completely destroys the potential for synergistic healthy competitive performance -- for the success and strength of the whole country within the global market economy that we now live.  I cannot stress enough that its objective is one of confusion for control by a few, for the weakening of each within a society.  This is clearly paradoxical in a country that deems itself free.

Healthcare that is not for all, makes fragile the sum of its part, thus creating a weaker America.  It seems obvious that those who do not want universal healthcare must feel this way for the wrong and/or misinformed reasons.  Of course, people shun a centrally-governed healthcare system when it is labeled the evil ‘socialism’.  Socialism, throughout history, has demonstrated its impossible nature, when put into practice.  Its inevitable failure is obvious.  Indeed, within our free-enterprise Western society, we accurately perceive it for what it is -- the political ideology that takes away freedom.

Interestingly, socialism and society are part of the same family of words, related to the adjective social.  Yet, each reside at opposite sides of the spectrum, in terms of their respective level of the first American value that is freedom.  In other words, terms from the same family of words can often have opposing meanings.  To make matters more complicated, organizations with the supposed same objectives sometimes have names that appear to support different causes.  Look at the names of two similar and crucial government institutions of neighboring countries.  In Canada, the organization that manages prescription and OTC drugs is called Health Canada.  In the US, the equivalent body is called the Federal Drug Administration.  Different values? Different strategies?  Trusting the branding of each, that is, that their choices of names reflect accurate meanings of their reason-for-being, which government would you say is first concerned with the health if its people?  Said differently, which government has better management of the health of its nation?

One Plus One Plus One -- Equals the Unites States

We are social and societal.  We are civilized human animals -- not monkeys.  I suggest that we choose our walks in the park, how we spend our money, and the words that we use and understand, with thought, care, and vision for our future.  Remember, a little clarity offers wisdom.  And wisdom is healthy empowerment.

Please, let us be wise.  Social consciousness for the health of our nation is not socialism.  It actually makes good economic sense, within a successful capitalistic system.  After all, performance in the competitive world market requires the satisfaction of our basic needs as a society, as well as the good health of all of us -- one by one, in chain and link, for the prosperous united 50 states of the country -- as one living force.

[waltzofevil]

heavenly yard

 Waltz of Evil, page 110-125

The bat's wings always had a particular shape; as they were much thinner than his fellows' and unnaturally streamlined, they looked almost like they were farming sickles. A scientist who had witnessed this bat by chance in Lucifenia’s southern region gave him the name of “Sickle”. In reality, that bat's true name was something entirely different, but, for convenience he decided to call himself Sickle from then on.

Sickle was the only bat of his kind that existed in this world. Strictly speaking he was, in truth, not a bat at all, but there was no one but himself who knew that. So as it was no real inconvenience to him should he be mistaken for a bat by the humans, there was no need for Sickle to try and amend what he was recognized as. And there wasn't really any means for him to.

Sickle had eyes that allowed him to glimpse to the farthest corners of the world, no matter where he was in it. He would flap his two sickles and no matter how many hours or days he continued to fly he would never grow tired.

Why was that?

To make this as plain as possible, it was because he was the god that created this world. He had chosen this body in order to easily observe this world that he had created.

Sickle was a being who was furnished with omnipotent ability as an "observer", but on the other hand, despite him being a god he had become unable to interfere in the world.

That was a "Rule" that he had himself laid down when he made the world. What sort of path would this world, the "Third Period", take without its Creator's intervention, how would it come to ruin? He wanted to see that for himself.

There existed no one in this world who knew that Sickle was the Creator, and a true god.

However, when humans didn't know of the existence of gods, they would just end up idly wandering the world, having lost their own way.

He figured that even if he let them to their own devices, the humans would sooner or later end up making amongst themselves their own "false" gods, and so around the beginning of history he thought he ought to prepare some easier to understand "gods" for them--so thinking, Sickle decided to deploy his compatriots from the "Second Period" as "temporary gods" in his own world.

“Levia” was a beautiful woman from the Second Period who bore pale skin and hair. Her twin younger brother “Behemo” was as beautiful as she was, but those two were a brother and sister that had been on extremely bad terms for a while now. Sickle had unified them, transforming their body into the twin-headed dragon, “LeviaBehemo”.　

Were they angry about being made one with someone that they hated? Or had they despised being made into an ugly dragon? At any rate they were dissatisfied with their treatment, and went around destroying the still newly made world.

With no other recourse, Sickle dropped several of the Second Period's "relics" to the new world, and sealed LeviaBehemo inside one of them. Eventually a number of people gathered around the "relics" and founded a new country there, "Levianta". A short while after that, Levianta ended up reigning over the whole world.

There being the incident with LeviaBehemo, Sickle decided to not give the next "God" he arranged any freedom right from the start. "Held" was, originally, a calm and prudent man, but even so Sickle made him into the form of a tree that could not move, giving him only the duties of watching over all living things outside of humans and to keep an eye on LeviaBehemo.

After the world’s Creation was mostly finished, Sickle finally changed his own form into that of a bat, and descended down to the “Third Period” as an observer. Whatever would happen to the new world from then on became an unfathomable mystery to himself as well.

.

He didn't rightly know how much time had gone by since back then, but eventually about over five hundred years had passed since humanity had begun to measure their own history under the "Evillious Chronicle" calendar.

Sickle had thought that the human's need for "temporary gods" would only be at the beginning, and so when he'd arranged for LeviaBehemo and Held's existence he'd set a time limit on them. When that time came they would be released from the world, and then, most certainly, return to their old home.

Held had actually followed that fate; after leaving a successor, he handed down his responsibilities. Around now he was probably back to his old form, and relaxing in his old home--the "Heavenly Yard".

What hadn't gone as expected for Sickle was LeviaBehemo. They yet continued to remain in the world. Though even saying that, it wasn’t any longer as their dragon form, nor their old human-esque forms. It was as simple, invisible spirits. There wasn't a lot that LeviaBehemo could do in the world at that point, but on the contrary what drew Sickle's anxiety there was the sorceress who served as their divine host.

--Elluka Clockworker--

A castaway who continued to disregard the rule of “Time” that Sickle had established.

Having now left from the purview of Held's watch, what sort of actions would she take in the world from now on, what would she accomplish?

He suspected Elluka herself didn't know that.

Perhaps the other castaway--that "red cat"--had some idea. At any rate, a big change would likely occur soon.      

Elluka, the red cat, and that spirit of Held's. Gumillia.

He thought that one of them must hold the key.

As little more than an observer now Sickle had no way to see the future, but on the other hand he was the world's Creator. He was able to conjecture from that point easily enough.

LeviaBehemo was, after all, not a being that was able to continue going against the Rules of the world. Their return to the "heavenly yard" was surely imminent. And if that wasn't what they wanted, then they would surely cause something to avoid their fate.

.

At each turning point in time, the people of this world would display interesting shows for Sickle

They had been going around quite noisily lately in particular, so Sickle hadn't gotten bored with it.

There was the earlier mayhem in Levianta, called the "New Four Horsemen Incident". And even further back the Lucifenian Revolution, and the war in the island of Marlon.

There hadn't been any major acts these past forty years, but it seemed a great many people were dying in the east. In order to watch more closely Sickle had today come to the eastern nation of "Jakoku".

First he spotted a lone, red headed old woman.

Though she was clad in clothing dirtied with soot and a peculiar monkey mask, it was simple for Sickle to see through to her true identity. She couldn’t fool his eyes by wearing a mask. He had seen this old woman from time to time in the midst of several uproars that had happened in the west. At that time she'd been much younger, at one point wielding a mop and yet another time wielding a giant sword.

The old woman was sitting in a small chair that had been left in the vicinity of a bridge. She looked to be waiting for someone. The road before her on which she sat rolled into a slope, and on a nearby post was written in small letters the name "Enbizaka". A young person ascended the slope. The fearless looking young man with a katana affixed to his left hip walked up to the old woman and stopped before her. The two of them gazed at each other in silence for a while, but then eventually the old woman stood without a sound, brought out a small parcel from her pocket, and handed it to the young man.

The young man opened the parcel and checked what was inside. He brought out two pairs of scissors from within, each different in size and shape. One had blades that were long and large, a type often used in the west, and the other one was small enough to be held neatly in the palm of one's hand, a sort that was mainstream in the country they were in then. The young man closed the parcel and wordlessly nodded, quickly leaving again.

Sickle knew this young man well--or to be more accurate, he knew well his face.

Every time he looked at his face and long purple hair, Sickle was reminded of that foolish and pitiful duke of Asmodean.

His descendants would from then on always be caught up in and bound to the "Vessels of Deadly Sin". That might have been "fate", and perhaps for that family it might have been a "curse".

The old woman didn't leave even after the young man had left. Naturally, Sickle knew the reason why.

She likely intended to contend for her final battle. A battle with a being that she had once admired and called "Big Sis", who had now been changed into a servant of "malice".

He could see her foe approach from the other end of the bridge. Her figure, with a patchwork red cat plushy riding on her shoulders, was something that both Sickle and the old woman had become well accustomed to.

The old woman and "malice" exchanged a few words, and then the duel began.

--No, this wasn’t a “duel”, it would be more accurate to say it was a “slaughter”.

The old woman, with not a scrap of the power that she'd held in her glory days, had had no chance of ever winning against the yet youthful "malice".

When everything was over, left remaining there was a smiling young woman, and burned cinders that had once been an old woman.

As the "malice" was leaving, she suddenly looked up at the sky. By doing so, she and Sickle's eyes met.

There was no way she would figure out Sickle's true identity. He was certain that no one existed in this world who would be allowed that.

Yes, not even "Held" and "LeviaBehemo".

…However, he could feel an immeasurable hatred from her gaze.

Strong feelings that one was unlikely to hold towards a common bat.

…But in the end, she did nothing about Sickle, and after dropping her eyes back to the ground she calmly left.

.

There were no other humans around her.

The old woman's death was not liable to be something many people talked about.

--But nonetheless, the creator of this world, Sickle, merely observed

Those last moments of the strong-armed warrior, Chartette Langley.

.

Jakoku was currently in the midst of a large conflict.

Several people vying for the country's throne were each having their pawns wage war, and stealing each other's lives.

In the center of the battlefield he could see that purple-haired young man. He was much more skilled than any of the others around him, and his katana cut down his foes one by one.

In a different era perhaps he would have been called a homicidal devil.

But after the battle was over he would probably be called a hero.

That was the way things were.

.

Sickle would not die.　

His role would be completely finished when the world had greeted its end.

In other words, when it became the new "heavenly yard".

Until then, he continued to aimlessly fly around, only enjoying the recreation that continued to occur in the world.

The grave rule-breaking that LeviaBehemo had committed was a problem, but Sickle had no way to deal with it. As such, Sickle ended up viewing said rule-breaking and the events that occurred because of it as spice that added flavor to the world.

You could say that the "Vessels of Deadly Sin" were what embodied that spice. The Vessels of Deadly Sin had caused various events up to that point, but perhaps the most deeply interesting was that of the existence of "Banica Conchita".

Not even her servants, who had birthed the "Vessels of Deadly Sin", could have been able to imagine her final act, or the variant that said act caused.

Thinking about it with common sense, a "D♯" acting as a "B♭"--or to put it in this world's words, a "human" acting as a "demon"--should have been impossible. But she had carried that out.

This was revolutionary. The scale of it was quite unlike what Banica's descendant had caused--it was something that completely turned the world on its head.

It seemed she wanted to become the Master of the Graveyard. It was a little doubtful if Banica truly understood the meaning of that, but in any case one part of her pair of servants had already fallen into her clutches.

Her servants showed little resistance towards that to begin with. Perhaps due to the passage of time, it seemed that they had forgotten the significance of their own existence. That was likely their limitations as being nothing more than low-quality copies created by humans.

At any rate, it seemed the day when Banica would fulfill her main goal was near. As it seemed she had no intention of getting proactively involved in the disturbances occurring in Jakoku, the wineglass merely gave off a dull shine in the hands of "malice".

.

Sickle blinked several times, and the battle of Jakoku had reached its end. After watching over the scene of the new king pledging an oath before his people, Sickle left Jakoku and flew up into the far sky.

There were beings that caught his eye other than Banica. One of them was "Michaela", who had been chosen as Held's successor. She was yet little more than a sprout for now, but what would Held have Michaela do when she finally grew into a large tree?

Humans didn't need "prepared gods" anymore. Held must have known that too. It was hard to imagine that he'd left Michaela in his place out of some treachery.

Was it to watch over LeviaBehemo? The other spirit doing that was more than enough.

It would be fastest to ask the man himself--With that thought in mind, Sickle headed for his own homeland, where Held was likely to be.

.

Heads of golden rice covered its entire surface.

Growing it to this point upon such rotten land had taken an extremely long time.

Having gone back to his home of the "heavenly yard", Sickle was no longer a bat. He had returned to a human form, as he had once before.

With the two sickles he held in his hands he reaped the weeds that had entered into his field of vision. He felt if he didn't tend to it properly, the carpet of rice would return to the original wasteland in an instant.

A single man was standing in wait in the center of the rice field, as though he had been expecting Sickle's return. It had been a long time since Sickle had seen him in the form he had then. His elegant green hair had been the model Sickle used when making the Elphe people.

The man was the first to speak up.

"Seems you still favor farming as always."

His old sounding way of speaking, something that didn't suit his youthful features, had also gone unchanged from before.

Though Sickle returned a forced smile, he didn't lose his grim expression. He wasn't angry or anything, that was just how his face was naturally.

"There's no real point in farming in an ended world."

Even Sickle couldn't help losing his temper a little at the words that the other man continued to speak.

"This is not an 'ended world', Held. This is the land that everyone will return to once they have finished their lives in the 'Third Period', the 'heavenly yard'."

Despite Sickle's objection, Held shook his head, mouth closed. "'Everyone', huh?...Why doesn't it occur to you that your way of thinking on that infuriated Levia?"

"You're referring to my leaving the 'hellish yard' alone without using it?"

"It's quite understandable that she'd be angry at having her duties as 'master of the hellish yard' disregarded."

"In all honesty, what do you think about it?"

"…I still think even now that we need some screening. The end result of letting good and evil mix was the end of the 'Second Period', after all."

“I see. An opinion suitable for the ‘Master of the Court’.”

"At the very least you ought to have quarantined the 'HER's."

"Despite that you did obey the role I gave to you in the end. So then I don't know why you made Michaela into your successor."

“…”

Held didn't reply for a moment, saying nothing, but then abruptly pointed to the sky and uttered, "You yourself are plotting something too, are you not?"

Floating beyond where Held was pointing was a large "black box", clearly at odds with the fields of rice.

It seemed that during Sickle's absence Held had peeked inside the box.

"Why is 'he' here?"

"…Didn't I just tell you? This is the place where everyone will return."

"You did. But it seems to me that you're treating him differently from all the others."

“It’s because that boy is ‘irregular’.”

“…’Irregular’?”

"Beings like, for example, Elluka Clockworker and Banica Conchita are extremely fascinating, but fundamentally they were born according to the world's Rules. But he transcends them. By all rights he shouldn't have ever come into this scenario, and yet for some reason he has appeared. He is the sole figure in the world that is outside the purview of my creation."

"So you are isolating him because he doesn't fit your will? You wish to deny his existence?"

"No. In fact it's the opposite."

Sickle held his hand out towards the black box. When he did it slowly began to drop down to the rice plains that stretched on below it.

"This discussion is over. If you aren't going to explain things to me regarding Michaela, then I have no intention of talking to you any further."

“I understand. This is the world you made. So you should do as you want,” Held said, vanishing from Sickle’s field of vision.

Going to the trouble of coming back had turned out to be a fool's errand, but he didn't mind that. Sickle decided to enjoy the mystery without knowing the answer of how the seed that Held had planted in his world would grow.

The black box had come very close to the ground. In the center of the box was a small keyhole. Sickle was the only one who could open the lock.

Since he had come back, he might as well go see how "he" was doing--With that in mind, Sickle inserted the golden key into the keyhole. The box gradually opened from the top, and soon a golden haired boy was exposed as being inside.

Right now he was asleep, lying down at the bottom of the box. Sickle had indulged him by allowing him to intervene on the world below several times, but the backlash from that must have exhausted him.

But as he was exposed to the sunlight he eventually, slowly, opened his eyes, sat up, and looked up at Sickle.

Sickle smiled, and said to him:

"How are you feeling, Allen?"

directory

[dukeofriven]

America: A Prophecy

‘What God is he writes laws of peace, and clothes him in a tempest? What pitying Angel lusts for tears, and fans himself with sighs? What crawling villain preaches abstinence and wraps himself In fat of lambs? No more I follow, no more obedience pay!’ So cried he, rending off his robe and throwing down his sceptre In sight of Albion’s Guardian; and all the Thirteen Angels Rent off their robes to the hungry wind, and threw their golden sceptres Down on the land of America. - William Blake, 1793

America is becoming ungovernable.

It’s simply much too large, too varied, and much too polarized for any one candidate to garner even the plurality of support needed to effectively govern as a president, complicated by the weaknesses of America’s social/political system that demands a democratically-elected executive somehow stand for the nation as a whole.

This isn’t a ‘diversity’ problem or a call for ethnic of cultural homogeneity. I’m from a country with greater diversity than the United States and we manage just fine. (I mean we’re facing a rising tide of rightwing resurgence exacerbated by decades of failure by ruling parties to replace the antiquated first-past-the-post voting system so I wouldn’t call us “fine” but those issues are rooted in numerous social trends, not racial demographics.)

It’s more a condition of the scale of Unites States and the internecine conflicts of groups within it. I remember during the last election hearing a lot about letting perfect be the enemy of good: ‘yes this candidate might not understand your ethnic/social/cultural group particularly well or speak to your issues, but you ought to vote for them anyways.’ From a certain point of view that’s true - I think it hardly uncontroversial to say that the world generally and America specifically is demonstrably worse under Donald Trump than it would have been under Hillary Clinton.

But leaving aside the candidates as individuals for a moment and viewing them purely as symbols the President-As-Unifier and the electoral circus around it becomes faintly absurd. The more often you have say to one group or another ‘stop needing a candidate to be exactly like you and just give them your vote because they’re more like you than the other guy,’ the more you overlook centuries of pain and marginalization. Groups that never had voices before have voices now: loud voices, prominent voices, and they are finding that they don’t want to sit down and shut up in the interest of some mythical unity anymore. They can’t. And therefore these presidential primaries are only going to get worse as things go on. They’re already getting acrimonious again, and those groups who have been told to swallow their voices again and again if they don’t want things to get worse are realizing that they’ve been used as tools as the status quo for far too long. Things don’t get worse when they shut up and vote like they’re told - but they never get better, either. Not in meaningful ways, or not rapidly enough to be meaningful to most of them .(‘By supporting the status quo you achieved a social victory and it only took you 45 years and your entire youth to see it come to fruition.’) The ‘baby-steps’ of change have started to seem less like care and caution and more like infantilization.

When the only people who could vote in America were white, adult, male property-owners you could have two political parties: there really was more that united voters then divided them, such as all voters belonging to the same class, ethnicity, language group, social background, Enlightenment-moulding education praxis, and willingness to compromise on treating human beings as disposable tools for labour. The greater the franchise has expanded in America the farther and further from that ‘unity’ things have gotten.

Since the Trump election in particular the question is asked: “What’s caused the polarization of America?” The real answers are a multitude of factors: unhealed wounds in the body politic after the Second Indochina War; the malaise, complacency, and self-indulgent omphaloskepsis of being the so-called superpower in the 90s; post-colonialism and free market economics bringing the worst ravages of capitalism stateside and decimating the illusion of a stable middle class. There’s lot of reasons as things are rarely simple.

Perhaps the most critical cause, however, the one with the greatest impact, has been this widening of not just the franchise but the gradual realization by the newly-enfranchised that they vocalize social discontent and express it - or at least attempt to express it - through voting. The ‘silent majority’ can only exist when the majority of oppressed and marginalized groups suffer in silence. The divisions that exist now existed in the 1950s, but they are only now being vocalized in such a prominent way. Even the labour movement and the Great Depression in the thirties did not sufficiently create an impression of intractable internecine rivalries such as now can be seen dividing America.

Republicans have understood this for a long time. This is why their politics have grown more and more tribalistic as the years have gone on. So long as they can dominate amongst specific strata of demographics they don’t have to care about winning any kind of nation-wide majority. They can fixate on the plurality that rigidly shares its belief systems: a rigidity created by and continually reenforced by the rhetoric of Republican doctrine and dogma. Democrats coasted on this for years, thinking that if Republicans focused only on a handful of groups then they benefited simply by having everyone else by default.

But it didn’t really work out that way. Gerrymandering by Republican bureaucrats helped a lot here by segmenting voting districts so that anyone outside the Republican voting base got split across multiple voting districts and never coalesced into more than a handful of centralized sources of power that the Democrats could rely on, but there’s a bigger issue. This Republican plurality positioning has only short-term value: they’re a demographic time bomb and as far back as 2012 I can remember their saner members talking about this as a matter of some urgency. But they were ignored, and the GOP is on a death-cult rocket ride to eventual obsolescence, although they’ll pull as much of American down around them as they go in an act of spite.

But that’s not the problem (or, rather, it is a problem but it’s not what I’ve come here to talk about today). Democrats got so used to coasting on being the party of the default that they lack any ability to talk to groups specifically. Nobody likes being taken for granted and they’ve started pushing back. Clinton’s failure to secure a margin of victory overwhelming enough to overcome the limiters of the Electoral College showed that two years ago: plenty of groups stayed home, an act of protest against a party that expected their vote for no other reason than 'not being the other guy.’

Nobody seems to have learned that lesson very well. Imagine two, three presidential elections from now, when the GOP is a spent force whose membership lists are now covered with dead people. (The oldest baby boomers are over 70, and when age brackets start to die in numbers it becomes a cascade. I can remember going from parades of WWII vets to a handful of wheelchair veterans in about a decade, and from some WWI vets to none in the same length of time.) For the younger among you two, three elections might seem like a long time, but it isn’t: years rush by faster than you think. So picture that world with a GOP in terminal decline and a Democratic party witnessing the prophesied triumph of demographic inevitability.

That’s essentially a one-party state, but a party that already struggles to be enough things to enough people now is going to buckle under pressures the American political system simply wasn’t built to handle. America was built around being a two-party state - of being a country in which the majority of people fit comfortably enough into two broad binaries and vote accordingly.

But they don’t, and they can’t, and America as it presently exists may be quite literally ungovernable. The centuries of appalling violence within America only complicate the picture further - it’s the sort of mixture of history, population, and anger that lead to the Balkan Wars, the conflicts between former members of the Warsaw Pact, and more recently the creation of South Sudan. America already had one civil war, there’s no reason to think that a re-fragmenting of America isn’t possible, especially given how contentious the language seems to be among different groups.

America has a scale problem, and I think Americans don’t really understand this. I live in the second largest country in the world by area but nobody actually lives here. See this?

It’s about fifteen years out of date, but the population hasn’t expanded beyond those yellow borders: just make the red bits much redder and you’re golden. Yet even this is still not getting the full picture. Let me show you with my photoshop skills: Everybody in the green bit:

Does not equal the population of the blue bit. If Canadian politics ran purely off of direct voting the entire country would be dominated by a group of people who live in about 0.14% of the country. What this means in practice is that for all that Canada has different grouping of cultural diversity (i.e. the political/social/cultural makeup of PEI as distinct from Vancouver as distinct from Iqaluit), should a civil war of either literal or abstract nature break-out the power of bodies is still located in one place. This is the population density of America:

Look at all those different concentrations of people and power. Like I said Canada does, of course, have other centres of power outside of old Upper/Lower Canada: despite what it thinks Toronto is not the entirety of the universe. But the multiplicity of metropolitan spaces and concentrated population centres such as you have in America don’t exist here. What am I getting at with this? America has spaces of intensely regional identity on an enormous scale. In Canada, for example, even Quebec separatism seems to be dying a slow and painful death. We’ve all got our our local identities, but Canadians are still mostly Canadian first, something else second. America by contrast, have fought a bloody civil war over slavery that afterwards was reshaped (falsely) into a war about regionalism, which mutated later into tribalism. This is why right-wingers in Union states spout Confederate flags. The flag doesn’t represent the literal loyalties of the Confederacy but its values: racism, white power, using human being as disposable tools for personal enrichment, and racism. (Anyone wanting to argue is welcome to read the Constitution of the Confederacy, which is nothing but the US Constitution with extra bits about slavery and river trade stuck in: it’s not subtle, and the character of the Confederacy is not up for debate.) Americans - or at least a worrying percentage of Americans - tend to link their national and tribal identities quite strongly: all you have to do is watch a Trump rally to work that out. To be an American is to be like me - thus, anyone unlike me is unAmerican. That is the sickness, the rot that is chewing up America from the inside. The right wing seized hold of the idea that the only Real Americans are those just like them, and other groups have started to adopt the same mindset out of self-defence, and these fractures are only going to deepen. Take that and add to it the way that political tribalism is fusing with regional identity and you begin to see the scope of the problem: you’re reaching the point where nobody from Region A can ever be thought of having any authority over Region B because Region A people are the Other. (Trump will probably be the last New Yorker City dweller to ever hold sway in the GOP: his successors will bind themselves to the base not merely through the tribal shibboleths of hating brown people and the poor who believe in improving their lot through anything other than force of will, but also through regional identity. No Californian Republican is likely to ever see front-billing again: you’ll prove your loyalty by only living in the ‘right’ places - solidly red, with no compromising purple of ideological weakness.)

So look at the Democratic party two, three elections from now: the party of everyone in the country who isn’t the GOP. How is that a functioning political group? What could it stand for that would effectively cover such a diverse collection of people? You cannot be the party of the centrists and the progressives and the leftists and the disaffected rightists and the communists and the socialists and the ethical capitalists and the neo-Marxists and the socially-liberal libertarians and the left-leaning rich and the remaining middle class and the working class and the vested corporate interests unwilling to directly support fascism and on and on and on. Democrats can run on the ‘Not Trump’ platform for the moment because the GOP will likely be the party of Trumpism from here on out. (The GOP had enough sense of self preservation to distance itself from Nixon back in the day, but ever since it refused to repudiate Reagan after Iran-Contra it’s shown that it is only ever going to double-down on its bets from here on out: it’ll be riding this train until the very bitter end.) But ‘not Trump’ is barely sufficient even now - because people want to know what the party is for, not just what it’s against. And it can’t be for everything but Trumpism - it’s too broad a field. So America is rapidly become ungovernable, because one party wants to serve a demographic facing extinction, and the other wants to be the Big Tent of literally everyone else no matter how different they may be. Which looks great on a poster about tolerance that you’d hang in a kindergarten class but is untenable when trying to unify 18-year old queer anarcho-syndicists of colour and 50-year old suburban capitalism-apologist whites: their goals are too divergent for harmony to make political sense. (And yes, ‘suburban’ is an antonym of ‘queer.’ Trust me on this.) They want fundamentally different things; just because they mutually do not also want a third thing does not mean they make stable, good, or even plausible allies. The Waffle Guardians and The Crepe Defenders can come together and agree that Pancakes are garbage but that is the end of their common cause, not the start of meaningful co-operation on a variety of issues mattering to both groups, because those don’t really exist. So America is becoming literally ungovernable because its institutions are incapable of operating outside of a narrow binary between two relatively close points. It was not designed, and cannot handle, the intense tribalism of the moment, nor the future that will contain a multitude of independently-minded political groups who are no longer willing to engage with big tent politics that ultimately never forward their own causes. We talk right now about a battle for the ‘soul’ of the Democratic party, but that’s bull. The fight is for who gets to keep the branding and the cachet of the name ‘Democratic Party’ - the next step is party secession, first when the centrists realize the progressives really do mean to literally destroy them and the status quo they hold dear, and then further fragmentation from there. I could go on and on down various laneways here about how increasing tribalism is straining the American system on a structural level. Take the Supreme Court, which only functions without a heavily politicized judiciary because otherwise democratic desires are stifled by entrenched judicial positions that judge issues only on their political merits. Or take how binary elected government in general only works with the understanding that every time power swaps between two groups the next group doesn’t instantly undo everything the last group did out of spite. (We’re seeing that in Ontario right now, actually, as a serious of ‘fortunate’ events brought into power a man so craven he makes Donald Trump seem downright generous in comparison. Our new premiere realized that if he just stops caring about re-election he can do whatever he wants to enrich his corporate buddies in the short-term, so he’s doing things that are enraging even his base, like removing anaesthetic coverage from colonoscopies. He, like Trump, is a ‘political outsider’ but unlike Trump his ego doesn’t need people telling him they love him - he’s perfectly happy being a vindictive thug, so even though he used populist anger to get into power he feels no reason to do anything for anyone who put him there. This is what happens when you elect a suburban drug dealer whose only goal is to revenge himself on an entire province for not taking his brother the crack-smoking mayor seriously. Ontario is so, so screwed.) Fundamentally, presidential republics are a disease. The American republican system has damaged every country its ever been exported to as its central structural weakness - an ability to be easily subsumed by autocrats - has been taken advantage of in basically every case, not to mention its tendency to fall into political deadlock. America’s own legal experts don’t recommend the country’s constitution to other - RBGs herself said that she would not use the US Constitution as a model to any country creating one today. The fractures that so ruined South America and the emerging African states that took the Us as their role model are finally happening in American itself. This feeling of paralyzation will only worsen in the years to come: it was practically baked-in to the political system from the start, the inevitable breaking point of planned obsolescence. America must either change - such as adopting a parliamentary model better-suited to handle the diverse social, ethnic, cultural, and regional demographics of such a large country, or taking an axe to existing institutional binaries and demolishing the two-party state - or die. I recognize the irony in saying that there is a binary choice about handling the inability to handle non-binaries, but there is a third option: sticking with the status quo. A status quo that is groaning under the strain of modern America, a status quo for which simple, minor modifications are unlikely to be enough to relieve the pressures the system is under. You could try that. You’ve been trying it for decades. How’s that choice working out? Two to three elections from now the idea that you can neatly divide political extremes into Liberal and Conservative, and that harmony can only be found in collaboration, will be so dead that not even the most committed advocate of the status quo will be able to ignore the smell - though he will, of course, say that the onus is on other people to come back from their ‘extremist’ positions, because it’s never centrism’s fault when people reject it as insufficient to the crises of the present. To the Americans who read this, you’re going to have to choose - and it really is a choice, surprising as that may seem. You can choose to let America end. To let it die. Countries die all the time. That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. Say you’re from a blue state: do you still want a future of sharing a country with a red state? America stays together because ‘more unites us than divides us’ - but is there a point where that truism can no longer be consider true? And at that point is there still value in remaining a union? Meaningful value, and not just a sense of duty or obligation to an ideal that doesn’t seem to have any real-world resonance? What is the point at which political compromise becomes something you can no longer stomach - when working together goes from making deals with the opposition to making deals with the devil? When do hyperbolic statements like the other side being 'the devil’ stop sounding like hyperbole? For all that I talked about the Founding Fathers and their immediate voting heirs being ‘the same’ one point on which they disagreed was slavery - but they found themselves able to compromise on the use of humans-as-property for labour. That I one of the founding pacts of America: some of us don’t like slavery, but we can live with it in the interest of unity. Could you, a time-traveler-turned-Founding-Father, make the same choice? On what are you willing to compromise to keep the union a union - what agreements could you make and still be able to meet your own gaze in a mirror? Keep in mind that choosing ‘change’ is no guarantee that the change will be successful, or that the post-America that emerges from that change will be any more a place you want to live in than if you had chosen to keep America alive. I merely want the full and total weight of those decisions to be clear. American compromised on slavery at the moment of its birth: it has lived with the consequences of that compromise ever since. America continues to exist because matters were compromised on - some benign, some heinous, all done in the interest of a greater good. Are you willing to make such compromises future - and are you willing to accept the consequences of what might happen if you are not? There is no ‘going back.’ The post-Trump America will not be a ‘return to normal.’ It can’t. Too many lines have been crossed for there to be a simple return to ‘normality’ when all this is done: that normal is dead. If you choose to try and reinstate it - if you choose neither change nor death but the old status quo - then the problems that birthed this current crisis will remain. Is that status quo strong enough to withstand a second round with such events? That’s something you’ll have to decided. Until then, American will remain ungovernable.

[screenshots123]

By David Spiegel, M.D. About David Spiegel, M.D. January 31, 2008 The controversial diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder (DID) has replaced what once was called "multiple personality disorder." People diagnosed with DID have trouble integrating their memories, sense of identity, and aspects of consciousness into a unified whole. New research supports the diagnosis and sheds light on what may have gone wrong in patients' brains, suggests David Spiegel, M.D. Spiegel, who chaired the professional working group that recommended the change of name in psychiatry's principle diagnostic manual, notes that the disorder likely stems from trauma and can be considered a severe form of post-traumatic stress disorder. Among the biological markers he describes are a smaller hippocampus and certain neurotransmitters. A better understanding of the importance of specific regions of the brain to memory and emotion may help push research forward.

In pop culture, “multiple personality disorder” is often portrayed as involving strategic, dramatic, and seductive battles among personalities that are uncomfortably sharing one hapless body. On TV crime shows and in movies the “split personality” is used as a dramatic excuse for mayhem or is feigned to evade criminal responsibility. Some believe that the disorder is the creation of credulous and overeager therapists. However, these and other common perceptions are mistaken. This article is written to set the record straight, to explain what this disorder is and what we understand about its causes, both in early life experience and in the brain. Some people do have what scientists now call “dissociative identity disorder” (DID), a name change made official in 1994, when the American Psychiatric Association published the fourth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Sufferers experience sudden loss of episodic memory, change from a sad, dependent, and helpless personality state to an angry, demanding, hostile one in seconds, and may find themselves in situations that they cannot understand. But they are the victims, not the authors, of their own fragmentation.

One “identity” may inflict physical damage on their body as “punishment” for another “personality” state, such as the patient who carved “I hate Mary,” another of her identities, into her forearm with a knife. Mary was frightened and mystified about the injury. Such memory loss is often asymmetrical—one identity may be aware when another is prominent, but not vice versa.

The problem is not that there are “multiple personalities” existing in one body, as the old name of the disorder implied, but rather that the brain fails to integrate our different personae. We normally act like “different people” at work and at a party (hopefully), but we have continuity of memory and identity across the differences. Patients with DID do not. In fact, the problem is not that they have more than one personality, but rather that they have less than one—a fragmentation of self rather than a proliferation of selves.

People with dissociative disorders are like actors trapped in a variety of roles. They have difficulty integrating their memories, their sense of identity and aspects of their consciousness into a continuous whole. They find many parts of their experience alien, as if belonging to someone else. They cannot remember or make sense of parts of their past. Dissociative symptoms involving alterations in identity, memory, consciousness, and body function are seen in cultures around the world, described as "ataques de nervios" in many Hispanic cultures and as states of trance and possession in China, Japan, and India. DID is not all that rare. It affects some 1 percent of people in the United States, 0.5 percent in China, and 1.5 percent in Turkey and the Netherlands, according to various studies in these countries.

Controversy has swirled around the disorder, in part because it is extreme and dramatic. But new research has helped us understand the origins of this tragic condition, as well as how it is reflected in the brain. Roots in Trauma

Evidence is accumulating that trauma, especially early in life, repeated, and inflicted by relatives or caretakers, produces dissociative disorders. DID can be thought of as a chronic, severe form of post-traumatic stress disorder. The essence of traumatic stress is helplessness—a loss of control over one's body. The mental imprint of such frightening experiences sometimes takes the form of loss of control over parts of one’s mind—identity, memory, and consciousness—just as physical control is regained. During and in the immediate aftermath of acute trauma, such as an automobile accident or a physical assault, victims have reported being dazed, unaware of serious physical injury, or experiencing the trauma as if they were in a dream. Many rape victims report floating above their body, feeling sorry for the person being assaulted below them. Sexually or physically abused children often report seeking comfort from imaginary playmates or imagined protectors, or by imagining themselves absorbed in the pattern of the wallpaper. Some continue to feel detached and dis-integrated for weeks, months or years after trauma.

Abuse by a trusted authority figure such as a parent creates special problems. A child abused by a family member faces an ongoing dilemma: this beloved figure is inflicting harm, pain, and humiliation, yet the child is both emotionally and physically dependent. The child has to maintain two diametrically opposing views of the same person, which creates considerable tension and confusion, a situation described by psychologist Jennifer Freyd as "betrayal trauma."1 She showed that people prone to dissociation have selective amnesia for trauma-related words such as "incest." Freud wrote that “hysterics [his term for people prone to dissociation] suffer mainly from reminiscences." His point was that their often dramatic mental and physical symptoms were the product of early life trauma and conflict over sexually charged situations. Can a Person Forget Trauma?

Humans process vast amounts of information. We can function only by being strategically selective in our awareness. To do otherwise would be like having every stored file in a computer open at once, or all the contents of one’s office file cabinets spread out on the desk at the same time. Emotional arousal typically leads to increases in recall—most of us remember September 11, 2001, with more than average detail. However, we frequently try to control our emotional response to traumatic events, sometimes at the expense of recollection of them. Chelsea Clinton, who was living in Manhattan on 9/11, wrote in a magazine article that she started walking downtown toward the World Trade Center after the attack but hours later found herself uptown, with no memory of how she had gotten there.

Research bears out that blocking emotion about a trauma can also block memory of it. Neuroscientists Larry Cahill, James McGaugh and colleagues at the University of California–Irvine had volunteers watch slides of an accident. Before seeing the slides, one group was given a beta-blocker, a drug that blocks the stress-induced increase in heart rate and blood pressure triggered by the sympathetic nervous system. These subjects’ arousal-related increase in recall was also blocked, compared to the recall of those subjects given a placebo rather than the beta-blocker.2 Other research goes a step further, helping us understand what happens in the brain when we suppress memories. John and Susan Gabrieli and colleagues at Stanford and Michael Anderson at the University of Oregon3 used positron emission tomography (PET), a sophisticated brain imaging technique, to study the brain’s ability to inhibit memory. When participants were asked to block their memory of word associations, PET imaging showed increased activity in the dorsolateral portion of the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that enables us to stop and think, coupled with decreased activity in the hippocampus, the structure deep in the brain that controls memory storage and retrieval.

Evidence that this inhibition of memory happens in real life is more than anecdotal. Linda Meyer Williams4 tracked down young women who had been treated in hospital emergency rooms for physical and sexual abuse an average of seven years earlier, during their childhood, and interviewed them about their history of trauma. Thirty-eight percent of them could not remember the episode that made a trip to the hospital necessary, although many discussed other episodes of abuse in detail. Another 14 percent reported that they had been unable to recall the traumatic episode for a period of time, lasting months to years. One would think that anyone actually brought to a hospital emergency room for treatment would recall the necessitating episode, yet a substantial minority could not. While voluntary suppression of emotionally laden memories is less likely to be successful than suppression of neutral memories, psychologist Martin Conway of the University of Bristol in England has found that when people are motivated to forget, they are more likely to do so for trauma-related memories than for neutral ones.5

The pressure to forget is greater when children are abused by a trusted caregiver, who might cue memory retrieval unavoidably. The only way to prevent persistent recall of damaging memories would be to adapt internally and to deliberately avoid thinking of such memories—in Freud’s terms, to push them away from consciousness. A study published in 2007 by Geraerts and colleagues at Maastricht University in the Netherlands6 provides additional evidence that some people simply do not persistently remember traumatic experiences. Forty percent of their sample of 98 people who responded to a newspaper advertisement about an abuse history reported discontinuous memories of it.

Why does this happen? For one thing, people naturally enter an unusual mental state during traumatic experiences. Their attention is narrowly focused. “The prospect of the gallows concentrates a man’s mind wonderfully,” Samuel Johnson famously noted. Mugging victims can often give a precise and detailed description of the assailant’s gun, but can describe little about his face. Dissociation can further isolate memories, by separating them from common associative networks in the brain that would make associative memory retrieval easier. Thus trauma can elicit dissociation, complicating the necessary working through of traumatic memories. The nature of the acute response may influence long-term adjustment.

Often people who have suffered trauma consciously try to suppress their recollection of the painful events. Over time the forgetting becomes automatic rather than willful, in the same way that riding a bicycle requires a great deal of conscious mental and physical effort during the learning phase but becomes automatic over time. Trauma can be conceptualized as a sudden discontinuity in experience: one minute everything is fine; the next, one is in serious danger. This may lead to a process of memory storage that is similarly discontinuous with the usual range of associated memories, which might explain the "off/on" quality of dissociative amnesia, and its reversibility with techniques such as hypnosis. However, though dissociated information is out of sight, it is not out of mind. The information kept out of consciousness nonetheless has effects on it. Insight from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Many people suffering from PTSD are unable to recall important aspects of the trauma. Others feel detached or estranged from people afterward. Emory University psychiatrist Douglas Bremner found high levels of dissociative symptoms among Vietnam veterans with PTSD, and they also reported dissociating during combat.7 In a sample of 122 women seeking treatment for childhood sexual abuse, my research team found that a majority (66, or 54 percent) experienced PTSD symptoms. These women had more dissociative symptoms than those who did not evidence PTSD symptoms.8 Furthermore, among those with PTSD, dissociative symptoms were associated with higher levels of childhood abuse. Those with symptoms of dissociation also had more symptoms of physiological hyperarousal, such as a pronounced startle response after hearing a loud noise, suggesting that there is an association between psychological avoidance and physiological hyper-reactivity.

However, other studies provide evidence that dissociative detachment after a traumatic experience numbs the body as well as the mind. Psychologists Michael Griffin, Patricia Resick, and Mindy Mechanic at the University of Missouri studied women who had been raped. Within two weeks of the rape, women with PTSD resulting from the assault who reported high levels of dissociation during the rape had smaller increases in heart rate and skin conductance, each a measure of the autonomic nervous system’s stress response, during exposure to trauma-related memories. The women with PTSD but lower levels of dissociation responded with larger increases.9 Similarly, neuroscientist Ruth Lanius at the University of Western Ontario in Canada10, 11 studied people with PTSD and dissociative symptoms resulting from sexual abuse. Those with high levels of dissociation showed no increase in heart rate when read scripts with vivid descriptions of their trauma but had activation in the prefrontal cortex (which is responsible for thought and inhibition) and parts of the limbic system (which is responsible for emotion) on functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. Those with lower levels of dissociation responded with increased heart rates and less activity in those brain regions during this task.

Other studies reveal a distinction between the body’s immediate, neural stress response and the secondary, hormonal response. Dissociation after trauma is linked with higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that mobilizes glucose into the blood to assist with the fight-or-flight response, in the saliva, according to research in which cortisol levels were measured 24 hours after a stressful interview among adult women who were sexually abused during childhood.12 So while the immediate neural stress response system is suppressed by dissociation, the secondary hormonal stress response system is triggered by it. What Happens in the Brain

Dissociative disorders involving fragmentation of identity, memory and consciousness seem less mysterious if we conceptualize identity as the product of mental effort rather than a given—a bottom-up rather than a top-down model of how the brain processes information. Neural systems that process the coincident firing of millions of neurons at a time must extract coherence from all this activity, and it is not surprising that in some cases these systems do not succeed. Neurons that fire together wire together, but building large, complex, and yet coherent neural networks may not always lead to a coherent sense of identity. Factors that restrict neurons from firing in association may limit the continuity of identity that emerges from experience and memory. Hippocampal Volume

Another plausible neurobiological mechanism linking childhood trauma to dissociative difficulties with the integration of memory is smaller hippocampal volume. As mentioned above, the hippocampus, part of the limbic system situated in the middle portion of the temporal lobe, organizes memory storage and retrieval. The hippocampus is rich in glucocorticoid receptors, which are sensitive to stress-induced exposure to cortisol. Researchers have provided strong evidence in animals that early life experiences have lasting effects on the hormonal stress response system, either making it unduly sensitive to stress or protecting it from overreaction throughout life. Studies in humans show that while minor stressors may produce resilience, childhood sexual abuse does the opposite: it sensitizes the individual to subsequent stressors decades later. This research indicates that chronically elevated cortisol levels may damage the hippocampus, leading to smaller size and poorer function.

Imaging studies by Murray Stein at the University of California, San Diego, and Eric Vermetten at Utrecht University in the Netherlands have shown that people with a history of childhood abuse and dissociative disorders indeed have smaller hippocampi, and that the reduction in size correlates with the severity of dissociative symptoms.13, 14 Vermetten also found reductions in the size of the amygdala, the seat of fear and anger conditioning. Researcher Douglas Bremner found similarly smaller hippocampal size among veterans with PTSD symptoms. However, Harvard psychiatrist Roger Pitman proposed an alternative explanation for this relationship.15 He studied 35 pairs of identical twins, one of whom had been exposed to trauma and one of whom had not. Pitman found that smaller hippocampal volume is indeed a risk factor for PTSD severity, but is not affected by exposure to trauma. A smaller hippocampus, he reasoned, may underlie vulnerability to the development of PTSD symptoms rather than occurring as a result of trauma exposure.

In any case, a smaller hippocampus would likely limit a person’s ability to encode, store and retrieve memories and manage the emotions associated with them. The hippocampus is a context generator, helping us to put information into perspective. Wolf has shown that activity in the hippocampus buffers the effects of stressful input on the hormonal stress response system.16 Ruth Lanius demonstrated that those who dissociate in response to listening to accounts of their traumatic experiences have decreased activity in the brain adjacent to the hippocampus—they remember less and their brain memory systems are less active.11 Limitations on hippocampal size and function hinder memory processing and the ability to comprehend context, especially in light of contradictory memory encoding and storage. Among patients with PTSD and dissociative symptoms, research also indicates that there is higher connectivity between two portions of the brain—the right insula and the left ventrolateral thalamus—that are involved in perception of bodily processes and emotion and consciousness. This finding provides further evidence that both mental and physical distress are triggered by traumatic memories. Neurotransmitter Activity

Neurotransmitters convey information from one nerve cell to another, and a specific one may be involved in dissociation. It has long been known that drugs that block the activity of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) subtype of glutamate receptors in cortical and limbic brain regions produce dissociative symptoms, perhaps via a one-time release of glutamate. Anti-anxiety medications such as lorazepam stimulate the release of gamma amino butyric acid (GABA), a neurotransmitter that inhibits rather than stimulates activity in many regions of the brain. Yale researcher John Krystal has suggested that GABA may also play a role in dissociative symptoms. His work suggests that administering a drug that stimulates GABA increases dissociation.17, 18 Coming Together: Future Research on Dissociation

Two heads are not better than one when they share the same brain. The fragmentation of mental function that can occur after a series of traumatic experiences may both protect a person from distress and make it harder for the individual to put the trauma into perspective. As we come to appreciate the complexity of neural development, we also understand that early life experiences have a profound effect on the developing brain. In dissociation, achieving a sense of mental unity is such a difficult task that it can be disrupted by events that challenge body integrity, emotional control, and the development of relationships. Future research will reveal more about specific genetic vulnerabilities that may make certain individuals especially susceptible to the disorganizing effects of traumatic stress.

We also need to understand more about neural development and function: How do specific regions of the brain facilitate or inhibit memory, emotion, and their interaction? How can we use this knowledge to better treat individuals suffering from dissociation? Current treatments primarily involve psychotherapy, and increasing knowledge of brain structure and function may provide necessary connections for therapists and their patients, helping these individuals to understand and control their dissociative tendencies while working through the consequences of traumatic experiences. Other research may lead us to a specific medication that treats uncontrolled dissociation; at present there is none. As we better understand control systems in the brain that underlie dissociation, we hope to enable people so that their response to trauma does not reinforce feelings of helplessness but rather augments their control over their identity, memory and consciousness.

References

1. Freyd, JJ, Klest, B, and Allard, CB. Betrayal Trauma: Relationship to Physical Health, Psychological Distress, and a Written Disclosure Intervention. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation 2005; 6(3): 83–104. 2. Cahill, L, et al. Beta-adrenergic Activation and Memory for Emotional Events. Nature 1994; 371: (702–704). 3. Anderson, MC, et al. Neural Systems Underlying the Suppression of Unwanted Memories. Science 2004; 303(5655): 232–235. 4. Williams, LM. Recall of Childhood Trauma: A Prospective Study of Women's Memories of Child Sexual Abuse. Journal of Consulting Clinical Psychology 1994; 62: 1167–1176. 5. Conway, MA. Cognitive Neuroscience: Repression Revisited. Nature 2001; 410(6826): 319–320. 6. Geraerts, E, et al. The Reality of Recovered Memories: Corroborating Continuous and Discontinuous Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse. Psychological Science 2007; 18(7): 564–568.

7. Bremner, JD, et al. Dissociation and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Vietnam Combat Veterans. American Journal of Psychiatry 1992; 149(3): 328–332. 8. Ginzburg, K, et al. Evidence for a Dissociative Subtype of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder among Help-Seeking Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation 2006; 7(2): 7–27. 9. Griffin, MG, Resick, PA, and Mechanic, MB. Objective Assessment of Peritraumatic Dissociation: Psychophysiological Indicators. American Journal of Psychiatry 1997; 154(8): 1081–1088. 10. Lanius, RA, et al. Neural Correlates of Traumatic Memories in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Functional MRI Investigation. American Journal of Psychiatry 2001; 158(11): 1920–1922. 11. Lanius, RA, et al. Brain Activation during Script-Driven Imagery Induced Dissociative Responses in PTSD: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation. Biological Psychiatry 2002; 52(4): 305–311.

12. Koopman, C, et al. Dissociative Symptoms and Cortisol Responses to Recounting Traumatic Experiences among Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivors with PTSD. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation 2003; 4(4): 29–46. 13. Vermetten, E, et al. Hippocampal and Amygdalar Volumes in Dissociative Identity Disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry 2006; 164(4): 630–636. 14. Spiegel, D. Recognizing Traumatic Dissociation. American Journal of Psychiatry 2006; 163(4): 566–568. 15. Pitman, RK. Hippocampal Diminution in PTSD: More (or Less?) Than Meets the Eye. Hippocampus 2001; 11(2): 73–74; discussion 82–84. 16. Wolf, OT, et al. Basal Hypothalamo-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Activity and Corticotropin Feedback in Young and Older Men: Relationships to Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Derived Hippocampus and Cingulate Gyrus Volumes. Neuroendocrinology 2002; 75(4): 241–249.

17. Morgan, CA, et al. Symptons of Dissociation in Healthy Military Populations: Why and How Do War Fighters Differ in Responses to Intense Stress? In E Vermetten, MJ Dorahy, and D Spiegel, eds., Traumatic Dissociation Neurobiology and Treatment, 157–179. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, 2007. 18. Krystal, JH, et al. Toward a Cognitive Neuroscience of Dissociation and Altered Memory Functions in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. In MJ Griedman, DS Charney, and AY Deutch, eds., Neurobiological and Clinical Consequences of Stress: From Normal Adaptation to PTSD, 239–269. Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven, 2005.

Mirror link: Coming Apart

[missh-math]

My Pedagogic Creed

Modeled after John Dewey’s Pedagogic Creed is a statement of my philosophy of education:

ARTICLE I--What Education Is

I believe that education is a birth-given right to all individuals under the founding principles of the United States of America. This requires equal opportunity for all, regardless of any external factors. In terms of a formal education, a free education should be available to all individuals throughout secondary schooling. In some ways, education also occurs naturally as humans are always learning innately. As a whole, education extends far beyond the traditional K-12 classroom hours, academic curriculum, and assessments. Thus, the school system only partially encompasses the learning process. In this way, schooling becomes a subsect of one’s education. As John Dewey outlines, education begins by birth as beings are constantly influenced, stimulated, and challenged by the world they grow up in. The situations one is faced with, the people one is surrounded by, and the environment one lives in all serve to teach the individual in the same way that content learning takes place in the classroom. Yet, this is not to say that the individual is shaped completely by their educational experiences.

I believe that not everything a person becomes has been learned or indoctrinated in them in some way. Dewey describes that "the child has his own instincts and tendencies, but we do not know what these mean until we can translate them into their social equivalents." Thus, I would say that the development of the individual is by part nature and by part nurture. Clearly, true education spans every knowledge and skill an individual accrues. As a result, a proper education is one that balances and blends the academics of the classroom with the life skills of the outside world. Education serves as a process of one's present life, whereas teaching serves to prepare for the future.

ARTICLE II--What the School Is

I believe that the school is a safe space for students to grow academically, socially, athletically, and individually. This environment demands a relationship founded on mutual respect for both the educator and the student. Misbehavior in the form of physical or verbal abuse to any other individual in the school should not be tolerated. While education is a free right in this country, the access to such is still a privilege on the global scale. Students should be encouraged and made to enjoy the school experience. If not, it is the utmost poor reflection on the administration.

I believe that the school serves to foster learning both inside and outside the classroom. While curriculum standards are a must, the learning process should not treat students like objects to feed knowledge or test-scores on a piece of paper. Thus, the American education system should have some measure of progress and feedback when it comes to learning, but first needs to de-emphasize standardized testing and the pressures of such. Today, this has transformed from learners 'demonstrating understanding' to students learning how to be test-takers. Tests certainly should not be the central goal of any classroom, and far too often now students are not learning curriculum, but instead how to take a test. In my master’s research, I have found that the New York State switch to Common Core curriculum has significantly hurt students with learning disabilities and English language learners. Increasing exam difficulty serves no purpose other than to discourage students and create test anxiety. Students should be made to feel capable in the classroom, and it is the job of the teacher and the school to support such.

I believe that educational standards need to be more unified across the country. As content and learning standards are currently left up to the decision of each state, this does not seem to encompass equal opportunity in education. In fact, while a few states have adopted the Common Core standards, New York is one of the only states to actually implement them. The Ravitch text states that "the law they wrote said that every state should write its own standards, pick its own tests, and be accountable for achievement." There is no doubt that states vary in terms of resources and demographics, which ultimately reflects in the quality of high school education. With accountability at such a high value, the school needs to become a more centralized body.

ARTICLE III--The Subject-Matter of Education

I believe that when it comes to formal schooling, the subject-matter of education should be well-rounded and neutral in stance. That is, curriculum must encompass a wide variety of material, not purely the basic academic subjects. The role of high school need not only be to prepare for college readiness, as this is not the only successful path in life. Thus, students should be provided with a diverse education that allows them to pursue a multitude of careers or trades. All these avenues should be valued equally, as teaching is meant to prepare students for the future, which may or may not include college. It is evident that not every student learns the same, and that every student has different talents and passions. As a result, the school should teach students Home Economics, Finances, Auto-Mechanics, Cosmetology, etc., in addition to the traditional STEM, Humanities, Art, Music, Health, and Foreign Language.

I believe that teaching subject-matter extends far beyond delivering factual information to students. What students should be learning and who gets to make that decision is clearly a controversial topic, but at the forefront the issue creates an overemphasis on the accruement of academic knowledge in the school system. Again, it is quite naïve to define teaching by simply conveying information. Chomsky on Miseducation exposes a key issue in this topic, that in many ways teachers are restricted to impose "an official truth predetermined by a small group of people..." that leaves students treated simply as beings needed to be filled up with this knowledge. In my personal experience, I always think of the mathematics teachers I had growing up. The ones that took the class 'off the page' and demonstrated that they truly cared were the ones that always left students feeling encouraged by the fact that they enjoyed fostering learning. This is how subject matter should be conveyed, without rigid content pressures and an overload of assessments. In college, my experience has granted me courses where the professor has tailored the material to the students. Whether it be incorporating topics that I find interesting or cutting out a lesson that appears too challenging, academic interest is peaked when learning is not restricted to specific standards and ideas. This flexibility should define the education system at all levels.

I believe, however, that is crucial for primary and secondary education to have guidelines that serve to unify the academic experience for students at this level. In this case, some degree of uniformity is a must to ensure an even playing field for students with content exposure. Thus, I think it is quite important that New York State has content and learning standards for all of its regents courses, and that creating the common core curriculum was meant to shift students away from memorization and towards demonstrating understanding. However, simply creating standards is less than half of the battle-- without implementation, standards mean nothing.

ARTICLE IV--The Nature of Method

I believe that the act of teaching is one that serves to support and prepare students for the future. At the base, this requires the inclusion and instruction of all students. Differentiation then becomes the most crucial part of the education system. As is always reiterated, not all students learn the same, and it is the responsibility of the teacher to teach all students. Thus, the goal of the teacher should be to make every student feel capable and supported in their academic journey. No matter the means, no matter how much planning and learning strategies it takes, every student should be learning in the classroom. If a student walks away from a class saying things such as “I just am not math-brained” or “I am not good at writing,” this is a reflection that the teacher has not done their job. The Kirby paper states that "when questioned about inclusion, some teachers saw it as a privilege for students with disabilities to be included with their peers in the general education classroom," which is absolutely absurd. All kids living in the United States have the right to public education, and thus equal educational opportunity for all, so this seems to be the utmost violation of the foundations of teaching.

I believe that true learning is sparked from emphasizing the "why" along with the "what" and understanding that this is not fed by a simple "right" or "wrong." In Palmer’s The Courage to Teach, it reads that "teaching always takes place at the crossroads of the personal and the public, and if I want to teach well, I must learn to stand where these opposites intersect.” Thus, a proper education is one that does not take on bias or opinion but provides students with a well-rounded view of topics and solutions. Again, students are not to be indoctrinated, but rather given the tools to think freely. Eisner says, "the first thing a student learns is to provide the teacher with what the teacher expects." This extends further, as I would say that many teachers learn to simply provide students with what the state expects. An utmost example of this occurred for me in high school, when the common core was first introduced in a manner that forced my school year to end up with two regents examinations every year in mathematics. As if double the standardized testing was not enough, the teachers ended up teaching to the common core test during the school year, and then cramming the traditional curriculum in the week leading up to the regular regents. Once teachers learn to move past this curriculum crunch, students can actually begin learning.

ARTICLE V-The School and Social Progress

I believe that diversity in the classroom is a crucial asset to one's education. Growing up near the city and in the public school system, I had the privilege of receiving a diverse high school education. Although this may not be attainable in all areas, students should still be exposed to the cultural, financial, etc. diversity the world has to offer as much as possible. This, to me, ensures that education is not simply indoctrination and that students are not ignorant. Rather, students should be exposed to diversity and allowed to formulate their own thoughts and opinions.

I believe, as teachers, that it is our duty to advocate for all of our students. It is clear that this starts with educating ourselves, as I was not previously aware of how lacking and flawed special education policy is. The Greene article writes that "in 1970, before the enactment of the federal protections in IDEA, schools in America educated only one in five students with disabilities. More than 1 million students were excluded from public schools and another 3.5 million did not receive appropriate services." Thus, the education system needs to put inclusion at the forefront of its reform. There is no right or wrong way to learn, so all students must not be measured for success in the same manner. At the very start, the school needs to ensure literacy above all else. Without it, content cannot come into play. All students must be taught to effectively read, write, think, and speak in some form. A true educator understands that this is not a uniform process, but an individually unique expression amongst students.

I believe that the educator should strive to be a role model for students. When we think of who we want our children to learn from, there is no surprise that educators should have good character and morals. As kids are growing up, arguably in the most influential time of their lives, an effective teacher is one that instills their students with both academic knowledge and good values. All around, the students are the responsibility of the teacher. Students are to be protected, kept healthy, and academically fulfilled. The teacher, the administration, and the school should make every effort to create a safe, encouraging environment for individuals to grow in all aspects.

[diminuel]

Fic Reading List: January

I’ve done this before, but I thought I’d try to keep track of the fics I’m reading and share them with you too. I added little notes after the summary. There are all types of genres, from canon to A/B/O.

I’ve added the archive warnings in the brackets in case there were any, but didn’t include the tags. So make sure to read them.

Enjoy! ♥

I Wished for This by Piper_Halliwell1979 (Mature, 3.5k)

After the decision is made for Heaven to repopulate, Castiel is excluded from selective pairing. Since his biology will be affected anyway, he and Dean discuss the possibility of having a biological child of their own.

Post S13 mpreg. One-shot, with a calm and fluffy atmosphere.

Family by Piper_Halliwell1979 (Mature, 5.5k)

After a one night stand Castiel finds himself pregnant by Dean. After some miscommunication they come together to bring a new Winchester into the world.

Not season specific canon compliant story. A lovely story about an unexpected pregnancy and how it makes everything else fall into place.

How to Romance a Human by cloudyjenn (4k)

Based on a prompt from moonlettuce for the Renegade Angels challenge. The prompt was "Castiel tries to woo Dean using a Cosmo article entitled 20 ways to get your man."

S5 is canon compliant story. An immensely amusing fic. 

A Song of Wind and Wings by triedunture (Explicit, 10k)

The Angelborn have not been seen in Westeros in hundreds of years. Lord Dean Winchester and his brother Ser Sam arrive in Lady Ellen's Highroad Keep after receiving word that one has been taken captive.

A lovely one shot that borrows from Game of Thrones, but it’s easy to read it as a wonderful fantasy AU without any knowledge of GoT! Also features some wing care~

Untitled by jinxedambitions (Explicit)

Castiel woke in an unfamiliar bed with the aches and pains of a night spent debauching.

A nsfw one shot where Cas wakes up in a Dean’s bed and can’t remember the sex they had. So Dean decides they should do it again.

Long Exposure by Rosewhipped (Explicit, Rape/ Non-Con, 107k, WIP)

When Dean kicks Castiel out of the bunker, they have no contact for months. Once the Gadreel/Ezekiel situation is finally resolved, Dean tries to reach out, but cannot get in touch with Cas. To his horror, he soon discovers his friend has been in trouble for a long time. Dark Fic.

Still a WIP, but it’s really long and it’s a wonderful hurt!Cas story. I’ve read it twice now and it’s been a delight both times!

Timer by galaxystiel (2.1k)

Dean doesn't have a soulmate, but if he did, he swears it would be Castiel Novak.

Cute soulmate AU one-shot with a dash of angst!

To Build On Ruins by SillyBlue (18.8k)

When Dean comes of age, he's presented with a choice that is supposed to keep the Winchester pack strong and unified: exile or submission. With war having recently ended and the winter being bitter and dangerous for a young exiled alpha, Dean doesn't really have a choice but to submit. But less than four years later Sam is presented with the same impossible question and Dean's forced to act.

Dean-centric, gen story.

You Send Me by thelonelywriter (26k)

Some months go by of Dean and Cas living together without a hitch.

Some months go by of Cas and Dean living together without Cas' heats being an issue.

And some more months go by before something shifts.

It takes awhile, but Dean realizes soon enough that he's in a little too deep...

Lovely a/b/o, friends with benefits/ room mates to real mates story!

The Unclean by TheIttyBitty (Mature, 53k)

Dean should know by now to expect the worst when his brother calls him in the middle of the night with words like, we have a situation on his tongue. Still, he's more than a little surprised when Sam asks him to take in a young man recently rescued from a cult.

Castiel - malnourished, abused, and afraid - might be more than Dean can handle, but someone's got to do it. Dean searches and finds a bright, loving man buried under those years of abuse, and he'll do just about anything to help Castiel feel whole again.

This is a hurt!Cas story that focuses on the healing afterwards! Also, Dean’s a witch, but the good kind.

What Once Was Sacred by saltandbyrne (Explicit, 55k)

Los Angeles detective Dean Winchester works tirelessly to atone for the sins of his father one case at a time. When his best friend Charlie drags him to visit Sam at his new job, Dean stumbles onto a bizarre string of deaths that brings him uncomfortably close to his past.

Dean can't stop thinking about Castiel, an enigmatic DJ who plays the sexiest music Dean's ever heard. A chance encounter at Castiel's house reveals that Castiel is an incubus, and Dean must face the lies and the reality of his childhood as a hunter. Dean comes to see that he and Castiel have more in common than he thought, and that guilt can be the hardest thing to cast aside.

What I loved a lot about this story was that even though Dean had been hunting as a child, Dean convinced himself that his father had just been delusional. It’s also got great scenes scenes and an interesting plot!

Daughter of a Killer by xHaruka17x (Explicit, Violence, Rape/Non-con, 8.2k)

Her Father was a Killer. But she wanted to know why and Papa wouldn't tell her.

Dean was in prison for 16 years and this is set after he is released. It focuses on his daughter (who never met him) finding out what exactly has happened.

No Vacancy by 60r3d0m (Explicit, 2.8k)

The shower water’s ice cold but the sweat and grime on his body is enough to make him stay.

For a long time, he holds Dean’s borrowed shorts in his hands. He turns them over, feels the fabric worn soft with age. They’re favoured shorts. Slept in often because they’re comfortable and loved and maybe echo of home.

Something that Cas doesn’t have.

After the Rit Zien attacks Cas at Nora's house, Dean takes him to his motel room to treat his injuries. He ends up staying the night.

(or in other words, the very famous fanfiction gap of 9.06 Heaven Can't Wait)

I can’t get enough of fics who address 9x06, but if you’re looking for something that fixes it? This fic isn’t it, this fic attacks your emotions. Just the kind of pain I enjoy!

He Can't Sleep by 60r3d0m (mature, 18.9k)

“I wish I could stand,” Cas says.

“Yeah,” Dean says.

Cas holds up his hand, flexes it, stares and then drops it.

“This weakness is unsettling. I can’t—I can’t even hold a pitcher of water, Dean.”

Dean makes a small sound in his throat, a non-committal hum.

He’s done soaping up Cas’ hair. He grabs the sponge at his side and starts to scrub at Cas’ skin, up along his arms, his neck, down his chest. When he runs it up his legs, to his thighs, Cas shudders and then there’s a hand cupping Dean’s cheek, cold and dripping water and soap, and Dean falters, looks at him for the first time.

“Will you sleep with me?” Cas says. “Tonight?”

Dean swallows.

He says yes.

After Lucifer's possession, Castiel stops talking.

This story spans a couple of years and gives me the worst case of second-hand pining ever. All the time Dean and Cas lost to silence...! So sad! But with a happy ending.

Sunrise, once more by 60r3d0m (Mature, 3.2k)

It’s the sun rising. It’s what he thinks as he’s walking back to the cabin, where Jack and Sam will pretend that his eyes aren’t swollen red, where they’ll pretend that they didn’t see him cry as hard as he did. But the great light that comes from behind him isn’t that. The fire that ignites from the heart of the pyre isn’t the goddamn sun.

It’s Cas.

(fix-it coda for 13.01 where Cas comes back because I miss him)

Very sad at first, but then fixes everything! ;w; I also like Jack in this one. (Attention for Dean’s suicide attempt. It’s not explicit and very short, but he drives the car into a pole. Jack fixes him up.)

Rain, Rain, Go Away by angvlicmish (Explicit, 3.5k)

Cas and Dean are in love but when they’re caught by Cas’ mother Naomi she accuses Dean of rape and lands him in jail. When he is let out for insufficient evidence a few years later he has trouble adjusting and finding work. He leaves town and goes under several different alias to try and start a new life. Cas is determined to find him to apologise and when he does find Dean he continues to pursue him even though Dean is still mad at Cas for not standing up for him.

The fic is slightly different from the summary, which was the original prompt for the story. It’s a sad story, but one with a hopeful ending. Attention: for mentions of Cas harming himself and wanting to commit suicide.

A Winter’s Tale by NorthernSparrow (64k)

Summary: Set in mid S9. Cas is sick and Dean finds a journal that Cas kept about his time alone as a human. Retelling of first half of S9 from Cas’s POV. Sick fic, hurt/comfort, journal fic. Lots of Cas angst/loneliness and a correspondingly equal volume of Dean guilt. Holiday fic too - covers Cas’s Thanksgiving and ends with Christmas.

Canon compliant hurt!Cas story that never fails to wound me and comfort me at the same time.

Spontaneous combustion by KoshiSekisen (18.4k)

Summary: “So you’re saying,” Sam repeated, his eyebrows arched high in disbelief, a notepad in one hand and a pen in the other. “Janine just…”

“She… poofed,” Sheriff Emily Burke insisted, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers.

An interesting case fic. It’s gen and it’s got some nice hurt!Cas~

Rutnam Shore by mnwood (21k)

Summary: Dean Winchester has never been past the city limits of the sleepy town of Rutnam Shore. Except in his dreams, where he travels the country in a classic car and fights mythical beings with his little brother. It's the only time he gets to see his brother, since Sam died in a car crash when they were kids. Dean wants nothing more than to get as far away from Rutnam Shore as he can, but unfortunately he's afraid of driving and feels like he's stuck.

I can’t say too much about the story without spoiling a major plot point! It’s interesting and satisfying to read! It focuses almost exclusively on Dean and him trying to figure our just what exactly is going on.

[thetldrplace]

Law of Conformity

This is law 14 of 18 as I continue writing down this summary of Robert Greene's Laws of Human Nature.

The catchphrase is: Resist the downward pull of the group.

"When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other." Eric Hoffer

The social personality is the person when become when we are operating in groups of people. It's a side to our character we are rarely even aware of. In a group we unconsciously imitate what others say and do. There is no positive or negative side to the social force, it's just an aspect of our human nature.  

The Individual Effect The Desire to Fit In We tend to alter our appearance, or adopt ideas, beliefs, and values of a group in order to fit in.

The Need to Perform We become actors in the group, guiding what we say and do so that other team members accept us as loyal members of the team.

Emotional Contagion We experience the contagiousness of emotions through the group. The group may compel you to act in ways you otherwise wouldn't, if you were alone.  

Hyper-certainty In the group, we are driven to make urgent decisions and support them. This gives a sense of certainty that makes us more open to taking risks. You should never give up your ability to doubt, reflect, or consider other options that differ from the group.  

"The larger the group, and the more established the culture over time, the more likely it will control you than the other way around."

Group Dynamics Study these dynamics in the groups to which you belong

Group Culture Groups carry some dynamic of culture, from countries with long-standing traditions, all the way down to a company or even an office. An ideal state will always be the center of the group's culture and spirit.  

Rules and Codes The distressing effects of disorder and anarchy are experienced by all groups. So standard rules and how to conduct oneself emerge quickly. They aren't written down, but they're implied by group members.

The Group Court In chimp colonies, there is an alpha male, and other chimps adapt their behavior to follow him. They are trying to strengthen their bonds with the alpha. This is the pre-human version of the court, or the social dynamic. Despite the difference in appearance, the behavior and strategies of the courtiers continue to be very similar.  

The Group Enemy There will almost certainly be some enemy or villain to fight, human or otherwise.  

Group Factions As a group becomes large enough, individuals start to form factions. These factions, unchecked, can grow powerful enough to take control of the leaders. By creating an enthusiastic and unifying environment in the group, factions become less desirable, which tightens the whole group.  

The Court and its Courtiers In any group, there will be a struggle for power. There will be some form of group court, with an alpha leader at the top, and subordinate leaders with whom people try to get close to. Understanding the courts dynamics is crucial. Be able to identify various types of courtiers such as:

The Intriguer He appears loyal to the group, but secretly accumulates power.  

The Stirrer Hide his envy to stir conflict within the group.  

The Gatekeeper He uses his position to control the flow of information and isolate the leader.  

The Reality Group 5 Strategies to create a healthy group dynamic 1) Instill a collective sense of purpose Capture and channel the social force that compels people to belong and fit in. It can't be vague, it needs to be clearly stated and publicized.  

2) Assemble the right team of lieutenants Fear of delegating authority will be your biggest obstacle. Developing a team of lieutenants with the skills you lack must be the first thing you do.  

3) Let information and ideas flow freely Communication is the lifeblood of any group. Encourage open discussion to build member's trust.

4) Infect the group with productive emotions Radiate a sense of determination that permeates the group. In the face of setbacks, keep pressing forward and solving problems.  

5) Forge a battle tested group When faced with a crisis, you want to find out how tough a person is from the inside. Test the people in your team with some relatively challenging tasks and shorter deadlines than usual and see how they respond under pressure.  

____________

My own notes:

This is an interesting segment. Having a lot of experience in Christianity and the church, this is where my mind immediately goes to when I think of groups. Secondarily is the company where I work.

For better or worse, these dynamics are at play in the local church. We do our best to minimize the negative, and we do our best to utilize some of these dynamics for good. People do need to fit in, and hopefully we provide that at the local church. That said, I've encountered many people over the years that come in, and want things to operate around them and their particular set of values. They attempt to rewrite the dynamics for themselves, although they won't usually try this on a mass scale. They'll attempt to maneuver in to a strategic position and bend the ear of the highest person up the chain of command that they can convince.

The needs to perform, emotional contagion, and certainty are all part of the dynamics in the church. I could probably write for a long time on each of these, but I'll just limit it here to saying that hopefully, we use the need to perform in a way that motivates people to grow personally and spiritually. The emotional dynamic is loaded. We certainly do want to tap into that, but at least in our local congregation, we aren't attempting to overload this. I've seen lots of churches build on 'emotionalism'. But of course what counts as 'emotionalism' is going to vary widely. Hyper-Pentecostal churches will see our church as dead, while super conservative churches would see ours as hyper-Pentecostal, so I recognize that there isn't a set baseline here. But I believe there IS a place for emotion, and we certainly would want to connect with people on that level... or maybe I'd say... we want them to connect to God on that level. Not ONLY that level, but their connection should include that level. Yes, that means being stirred up at times, but keeping your brain involved.

Certainly, Christianity itself has a larger, and much longer cultural tradition. But there are subcultural traditions within it according to subcategories: Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and within Protestant- mainline or evangelical; and down the line to whatever culture your local church body might have. The good thing is that the church can serve a multitude of purposes, and there are different congregations whose missions are directed towards meeting those needs. Some churches are foreign missions minded; some churches are directed towards homeless ministry in their neighborhood, some towards schools, some towards outreach to recovering addicts, etc. If you have a particular calling, there are places where you can fit in.  

There are rules of conduct... most of which have long been established by the bible itself, but admittedly there are plenty of variations as to which ones get emphasized, or downplayed. Much of it will come down to your local congregation, but if you've been a part of 4-5 congregations over your life, you will begin notice commonalities, and maybe have a stronger sense of what is acceptable.  

The common enemy is of course primarily, Satan. Then 'the world' or 'the flesh' as the situations arise. But it's kind of interesting to see these points made. I've not read the book, so I don't know if Robert Greene talks references the church at all in this chapter, but I'm almost certain he must have done some referencing of it in a study of group dynamics.

[feynites]

On Flemeth, Thedas, & The Chess Master Archetype

"I nudge history, when it's required. Other times, a shove is needed." - Flemeth

Thedas is a terrible place.

There are a lot of terrible places, of course. And a lot of places that are more terrible than they might seem at first blush. But Thedas is basically the fantastical world-building equivalent of Mr. Burns from the Simpsons. Just with apocalypse scenarios rather than diseases.

It is therefore safe, in my opinion, to conclude that anyone pulling the strings behind the scenes in this setting is either:

1. Contending with one or more malevolent forces of equal or greater power

or

2. Pretty much just evil themselves

Flemeth would make a good case for just being evil, to be honest. Despite the fact that she’s saved two of the three greatest heroes to appear in Thedas in the past decade, she is currently sharing a body with Mythal (the ‘best’ of the evanuris... who were power-mad slave-owning tyrants), she is an abusive mother, and her full agenda would not need to be benevolent for her to ‘nudge’ history in ways that ensured things like the failure of the Blight, or Hawke’s survival. Saving the Warden only really confirms that she is not in favour of the Blight, and of course, Hawke’s survival was part of a bargain which resulted in her own resurrection.

But BioWare is very fond of maintaining ‘grey area’ in its characters, so it’s highly doubtful that she (or Solas, for that matter) will be revealed as complete villains in the fullness of the series.

Despite a shared history with one another, and the obvious potential for an alliance, Solas also does not approach Flemeth to conscript her voluntary aid. He instead seizes some kind of essence from her (the full details of which are still unknown) in an act that seems to result in Flemeth’s death (but, Flemeth has appeared to die before, and would seem to have created many failsafes and back-ups - whether Solas’ actions negate those or not remains to be seen). 

This would imply that Solas’ plans, and whatever Flemeth has been ‘nudging’ the world towards, are not one and the same. Or, if they are, that Solas is unaware of this.

So what is Flemeth doing?

While Solas may have gained the ultimate reputation as a manipulator and schemer in Dragon Age, being Fen’Harel himself and all, from what we know, his own machinations must pale in comparison to Flemeth’s. Solas has seemingly spent the time between the erection of the Veil and the events shortly preceding DA:I in uthenera, essentially regaining his strength and watching the world through whatever parts of the Fade he could perceive.

His plan appears to have actually been quite simple and quite devastating - tear down the Veil, destroy the world as it is, and replace it with something else. That is not a ‘chess master’ type plan. That is reactionary and brash, inelegant and probably quite emotionally-driven. This isn’t to say that Solas cannot excel at subterfuge or calculated games. Only that he doesn’t seem to have been engaging in such schemes for the past several centuries at least - and why would he? If he had already decided to scrap Thedas as it is and arrange some kind of do-over scenario, then there would be no need to tweak or nudge situations beyond ensuring that nothing interfered with his ‘wake up, get power, remove veil’ plan.

But Flemeth has obviously not just been waiting for Solas to wake up and get started on that.

The thing is, whilst Solas may have known that some form of Mythal was still out there, it’s not much of a leap to suppose that he had barely accounted for it in his own schemes. Him going after her was an obvious last resort, after the foci was broken. And, from the way he approaches the death of the Spirit of Wisdom, and the way he speaks about Mythal, we can suppose that Solas does not truly consider Flemeth to be equivalent to the person he knew. Part of her, yes. A form of her. A shape that has come from her ashes. But not the same individual.

On the other hand, we have no reason to think that Flemeth has not been entirely aware, ever since Mythal came to her, that Solas is out there. And knowing him as she did, one might also suppose that she could make a fair guess at what his own plans would be. Perhaps not down to exact details, but Solas seems to have had agents acting for him in ways even while he was sleeping (Felassan, who is probably not alone in this), and so Flemeth may well have gleaned more of his aims through spirits and elves and even just what she could infer from rumours, too.

So in one corner, we have a character who has been set up by the narrative to be a skillful nudger of history and planner of plans, who has been conscious and active for at least six hundred years (the nearest thing we have to a birth date for Flemeth - not Mythal - is 3:00 Towers, game events are currently in the middle of the Dragon Age, which started in 9:00). 

In another corner, we have a notorious trickster and manipulator who has basically been napping this entire time, and only just woke up to try and knock the chessboard over to start a new game. Upon failing that, he has since been forced to try and join into a game that has already been in session for centuries.

And in a final corner, I deeply suspect that we have at least one other party, and that this party is, if not purely malevolent, somewhat closer to that mark than either Solas or Mythal. Thedas has a problem that does not stem from either of those two - we know this because all evidence suggests that Solas is playing against time and is reacting to something, and if it were only Mythal, that need for haste would have been resolved when he seemingly neutralized her. (Unless, of course, Solas doesn’t realize that Mythal is as big of a threat as she is). 

Also, if there isn’t at least one another major player lurking in the dark, then either Solas or Mythal will have to lose their grey moral status in order to account for the fact that Thedas is, simply, as shitty as it has become. Another possibility is that Mythal is actually really incompetent at manipulating things, but that doesn’t seem to be where the narrative is leading. 

Regardless, though, the actual odds that Flemeth has just been out-maneuvered by Solas seem... really, really low. I mean, best laid plans of mice and men and all that, but she has quite simply had too much time and too many advantages for her to not have supposed that, once the orb was destroyed, Solas would make the choice that he did (the likeliest possibility for her being caught by surprise would be that she just never thought that he’d betray her, but given Flemeth’s cynicism, that also seems less likely than other options). Even if she doubted that he would take such an approach, it must surely have occurred to her as a possibility.

Here’s another point of interest - Flemeth’s first positive action in the series, saving the Warden and Alistair, is probably not a choice that Freshly Woken Solas would have made.

Though Solas is definitely no fan of the Blight, he’s also no fan of the Grey Wardens, and doesn’t seem to consider their actions to be all that beneficial. They are, in his opinion, stalling for time. In banter with Blackwall, he questions the assumption that killing all the Old Gods would stop the Blight - which also throws into question the notion that the Archdemons really do ‘lead’ the darkspawn, or are actually the source of the unifying call which the darkspawn hear.

Flemeth, of course, sends Morrigan along to fetch Urthemiel’s soul from the archdemon. But this is only a potential outcome - Morrigan offers the ritual, but she can’t force it. In plenty of world states, it never happens, and Urthemiel’s soul is lost with the warden who kills him. Such can be the outcome of gambits, but, really good manipulators rarely make moves with just one winning outcome. The best moves will net you advantages even when they seem to be losses, and Flemeth risks a lot when she sends Morrigan with the Warden. She risks her daughter, who she has obviously raised with an intended purpose and invested a great deal of time (and at least some emotion) into, she risks being killed (she’s not at all surprised when the Warden comes to slay her), she risks further awareness of her activities (if the Blight is stopped, the Warden and/or Alistair stand to become powerful figures - if not the flippin’ king and queen of the whole country - who are well aware that she is out there, probably even if they do decide to kill her).

In other words, Flemeth probably stood to gain more than Urthemiel’s soul by investing in the Wardens. She stood to gain something that she would get unless the entire endeavour failed. The end of the Blight? That’s, so far, her given motivation. But the Blight probably would have ended even if it had taken most of Ferelden down with it, and Flemeth doesn’t really seem to concern herself with the plight of the little people all that often.

But, the Warden’s survival also means that the Urn of Sacred Ashes is discovered. Haven is established and becomes easily one of the most famed locations of great, mysterious power in Thedas. 

Flemeth’s actions also mean that Hawke arrives in Kirkwall - Kirkwall, which is a hop skip and a throw away, relatively, from Corypheus’ prison. One of the only people who could open the prison of the guy who is the seemingly-perfect pawn for Solas - who is waking up, now - is freed by Flemeth’s nudging. The location where he performs the ritual to unlock Solas’ orb is also opened up by Flemeth’s nudging.

Flemeth, given her sheer age and experience, probably knows that Corypheus can hop bodies. She can, after all.

Solas’ plans are part of Flemeth’s plans. Ordinarily, I’d say it’s far-fetched to assume that Flemeth could know about stuff like the Warden’s need to find the urn, or Hawke’s father’s role in Cory’s jail time, but given how long she’s been around for and how many ‘fortuitous’ places she has turned up in, I don’t think it’s actually as absurd as it might seem. A lot of it probably is luck, but that’s the thing - if not Corypheus, Flemeth might have found someone else, someone who fit the same criteria, to tempt Solas with. Maybe the Architect. Maybe one of her daughters. Someone who could survive the destruction at Haven, someone who would reach for more than Solas expected.

Hawke just happened to present her with one option, and she seized upon it.

"Is it fate or chance? I can never decide." - Flemeth upon meeting Hawke in DA2

But what would her goal be?

Solas might disdain the wardens for only being able to buy time, but that’s because, I think, he still has a predominantly immortal perspective on things. Delaying tactics just seem short-sighted to him, especially if he doesn’t really have a workable plan beyond a do-over. In fact, if that’s all he’s got, delaying might even be actively worse because it could tempt him to put things off continually, and the longer he puts things off for, the more likely that the clock will run out and he will miss all windows of opportunity for whatever it is he needs to do.

Flemeth, on the other hand, has been living with mortals and mortality a lot more actively for the past few centuries. Decay isn’t as new and weird for her, and delaying Solas might be exactly what she needs. Delay, manipulate, distract, and trust him to do what he thinks he needs to, while he actually races down a track with barriers she’s been setting for hundreds of years. Flemeth’s actions have indirectly ensured that what Solas meant to have happen in little more than a year has now been set back by several.

But what is she pushing towards?

There’s some implication that it might be total destruction, as her desire for revenge has been alluded to. A lot of people read this line:

“She was betrayed as I was betrayed – as the world was betrayed - and I will see her avenged!" - Flemeth explaining some of her motivations in DA:I

As Flemeth having something of a ‘burn the world’ mentality. But, in that statement, she does not put the rest of the world in the ‘traitor’ category. Instead, she equates it with herself. And, unlike Solas, or Abelas, who seem to struggle with the connection between modern elves and ancient ones, Flemeth has no problems speaking of modern elves as the natural inheritors of their ancestors’ culture, legacy, and even bad habits. Which makes sense, because she’s seen a lot more of the actual transitions happen. But, the point is that if she wanted revenge against the whole world, why would she be offended at the world’s suffering?

We know of two big betrayals in the course of Mythal and Flemeth’s existence. One is Flemeth’s, which of course is Lord Connobar killing her lover and locking her in a tower, which seems to be how she and Mythal... uh, met. So to speak. The other big betrayal is when Mythal herself was killed by her fellow evanuris. If Dalish legends are at all accurate, the other evanuris were in large part Mythal’s own family, too, which probably added to the feelings of betrayal.

But when was the world betrayed?

Solas, despite having a calamitous impact on the world by raising the Veil, didn’t betray it. Raising the Veil was a last-ditch effort on his part to prevent the world’s destruction. It’s been likened to something like amputation (for obvious Inquisitor-parallel reasons) and I think that fits. Solas cut off part of the world because at that point in time, it was all he personally could do to stop it all from being destroyed. There’s a lot to unpack in that, but the ‘treachery’ part of the equation seems largely angled at the same people who betrayed Mythal, too.

So we have yet more space where it would seem a mysterious third power player - the person(s) Flemeth has truly been sitting across the chess board for all this time - to come and fill in. The other evanuris? Supposedly they’re still locked away (and the locks breaking on that prison might be the clock which Solas is racing against), but we don’t know how much influence they might still have (after all, Mythal’s supposed to be dead and Solas was supposed to be sleeping, but they still did stuff in the meantime). The Forgotten Ones? A wrathful Maker? The Titans? A titan? Or some combination of those things?

I’m honestly not sure. But, Flemeth seems pretty convinced that she is going to avenge Mythal - and has implied that avenging Mythal will avenge the apocalypse doorjam that is Thedas, too. And she knows Solas is up, about, and making plans when she tells you this vow. This vow which comes after the Well of Sorrows choice, aka a sequence which concretely introduces the concept of magical contracts and promises into the setting.

Under those circumstances, I am less worried that Flemeth might have targeted the world at large for retribution, and more worried about the collateral damage.

But, on a final note in this long rambling thought train - it’s a point of interest that unlike the Warden and Hawke, Flemeth does not seem to have manipulated events to bring someone like the Inquisitor into prominence. She doesn’t get involved with the Inquisitor until much later, and then it’s only optional that the Inquisitor will be placed under her influence. Solas is the one who decides to involve the Inquisitor in things, and in this case, I don’t think it was under a set of circumstances which even Flemeth could account for. Even Solas wasn’t expecting the Inquisitor to potentially do stuff like befriend him, romance him, jolt him out of his sleep-walking, or help convince him of the personhood of all mortals.

Of course, this might be nullified if you drank from the Well. Otherwise, though, the Inquisitor is in something of a Wild Card position.

[orbemnews]

Short-Sellers Fear for the Future Wall Street’s skeptics are suffering Short-sellers have long been some of Wall Street’s most reviled villains. But the recent “meme stock” frenzy — in part, a concerted effort to squeeze such investors — has left many fearing for their livelihoods, The Times’s Kate Kelly and Matt Goldstein report. Short-sellers have been battered by the bull market. Hedge funds that primarily bet against stocks were down 47 percent over the past year. “Short-sellers have been beaten up and left for dead on the side of the road,” said Jim Chanos, the investor who famously bet against Enron ahead of its collapse. Now they are worried about new challenges: The GameStop frenzy shows that internet-enabled herds can bet en masse on companies, driving up their stock price and saddling shorts with huge losses. “I see dead hedge funds,” one user posted in a Reddit forum. Washington lawmakers are holding shorts up as potential market manipulators. “We must deal with the hedge funds whose unethical conduct directly led to the recent market volatility,” said Representative Maxine Waters, a Democrat, the head of the House Financial Services Committee who will oversee a Feb. 18 hearing on the meme stock mania. Crowded trades and a bull market have “destroyed what’s left of short-sellers,” said Marc Cohodes, a veteran investor. Some worry about their personal safety, too. Fahmi Quadir, who runs a $50 million hedge fund, shares her GPS coordinates with a colleague. And Gabe Plotkin, whose Melvin Capital was specifically targeted by Reddit traders, had to hire security after his family was threatened. HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING A setback in the fight against Covid-19. South Africa halted distribution of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine after a preliminary study showed that it had limited effect against the coronavirus variant first identified in the country. President Biden presses for a huge stimulus measure. The president defended efforts to pass a $1.9 trillion package with only Democratic votes, rejecting calls for smaller proposals. In related news, Democrats plan to unveil a $3,000-per-child cash payment. Democratic senators propose rewriting a tech legal shield. The “SAFE TECH Act,” proposed by Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, would establish limits to websites’ immunity from legal liability on user-posted content. It has encountered resistance from groups that say smaller tech platforms could be hurt more than giants like Google and Facebook. SoftBank’s Vision Fund posts a huge quarterly gain. The Japanese company’s tech investment fund reported an $8 billion profit in its latest quarter, thanks to portfolio companies like OpenDoor and DoorDash going public. SoftBank as a whole reported an $11 billion profit, surpassing estimates. The best of the Super Bowl. Sure, Tom Brady solidified his status as the greatest quarterback of all time as he led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a blowout victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. But let’s talk about the ads, which included pleas for unity (Bruce Springsteen for Jeep), nostalgic weirdness (Timothée Chalamet as the son of Edward Scissorhands for Cadillac) and just plain old weirdness (Toni Petersson, the C.E.O. of Oatly). Andrew’s favorite: Jason Alexander, in a manner of speaking, for Tide. Where do you get your financial advice? As lawmakers and regulators investigate the meme stock frenzy, they are taking a closer look at online forums and social media accounts. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said yesterday that she wanted to “make sure that investors are adequately protected.” Disclosures and disclaimers are in focus. The trader known as “Roaring Kitty” put a disclaimer on his popular YouTube videos about GameStop, recommending that potential investors consult an adviser before acting. But an analysis of more than 1,200 TikTok videos by 50 “StockTok” influencers found that 14 percent encouraged users to make trades without a disclaimer, according to the cryptocurrency trading platform Paxful. Those videos, some of which were flagged by TikTok as “misleading,” have garnered 28.4 million views. Regulators have been here before. During the dot-com boom, the S.E.C. kept tabs on chat rooms for signs of manipulation, as in the case of Jonathan Lebed, a teenager who posted messages touting stocks he owned. In September 2000, he settled with the agency by agreeing to pay back $285,000. There’s an ETF for that: The asset manager VanEck is starting a fund that scours Twitter, forums and blogs for stocks with a lot of online buzz. “The elements in the new system consist of central computers, an automatic communications network and desktop terminals.” — On this day 50 years ago, the Nasdaq booted up the first electronic stock exchange, which The Times called “the most revolutionary innovation in the history of the over-the-counter market.” Microsoft’s president talks politics After the Jan. 6 riot in Washington, companies have been rethinking their political donations, as we detailed this weekend. Microsoft, which has given hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent election cycles to Republicans who went on to challenge the certification of votes after the storming of the Capitol, said late last week that it would cut them off. In the first in-depth interview about the decision, Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, spoke with Kara Swisher on the “Sway” podcast. One donation came as a particularly unpleasant surprise, Mr. Smith said, referring to a gift to Senator Josh Hawley, who led Republican efforts to question the election result. “When I learned in January that that donation had been made in the early part of December, it did not bring an enthusiastic beginning to my morning,” said Mr. Smith, who leaves day-to-day decisions in this area to the company’s PAC department. Microsoft has redefined its PAC policies. Mr. Smith said the company would now more explicitly consider issues like whether politicians “are good for democracy.” There is still a place for the corporate PAC, Mr. Smith argued. Although the point of a corporate PAC is up for debate, “I think we have one for good reasons,” he said. Those reasons, namely, are because crucial matters of privacy, security and competition are “going to be decided in the world of politics.” The serial SPAC sponsor Alec Gores strikes another deal The blank-check company Gores Holding VI is acquiring Matterport in a deal that values the real-estate technology company at $2.3 billion. The merger also includes a cash infusion of $640 million. Alec Gores was early to the SPAC game, notably with his firm’s 2016 deal for Hostess. The firm also boasts the biggest SPAC deal to date, taking United Wholesale Mortgage public last year in a deal worth more than $16 billion. Gores Holding raised its seventh SPAC last month, helping January set a record for SPAC fund-raising, with blank-check I.P.O.s worth nearly $26 billion. Today’s deal was the first by Gores since Justin Wilson and Ted Fike joined from Softbank’s Vision Fund, suggesting a tech shift for the firm’s SPAC business. Matterport makes spatial data technology that helps create 3-D visualizations of properties like homes and event spaces. The week ahead Corporate earnings continue to come in better than expected, defying initial forecasts of another pandemic-fueled decline and forcing analysts to upgrade their expectations. Blue-chip companies hoping to keep the streak alive this week include: Fox, KKR and Twitter on Tuesday; Coca-Cola, G.M. and Uber on Wednesday; and AstraZeneca, Disney and PepsiCo on Thursday. Bumble is scheduled to make its market debut midweek, and is predicted to raise about $1 billion in an I.P.O. that values the online dating company at around $6 billion. And finally, the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump starts on Tuesday. Will Biden curb the ‘curse of bigness’? The Biden administration must choose between taking a progressive view of antitrust regulations, using the law to rein in or break up big companies; sticking with the laissez-faire approach that critics say has led to extreme concentration; or trying to find some middle path. The pressure on the president from the left comes from those who argue that a tougher approach simply hearkens to the past, when the authorities recognized what Louis Brandeis, who went on to become a Supreme Court justice, called the “curse of bigness” in the early 20th century. “Monopoly power is a causal factor in our most serious economic challenges,” states a new report from the American Economic Liberties Project, an antimonopoly nonprofit, shared first with DealBook. The group argues for a new-old ideological regime that reins in consolidation, proposing dozens of actions for the Justice Department, F.T.C., F.C.C., Congress and many other official bodies. “This is a major project,” the group’s executive director, Sarah Miller, said. The need to “reject old ideological underpinnings” is a unifying theme throughout the report, she added. “There is not just one silver bullet.” A new lens is needed, Ms. Miller said. For decades, antitrust reviews have employed a “consumer welfare standard” that examines mergers for economic efficiency, mostly focused on the effect a deal has on prices. But people aren’t just consumers — they are also workers, voters, entrepreneurs and community members. In practice, Ms. Miller argues, as industries consolidate, consumers sometimes pay less for products, but wages also stagnate and entrepreneurship falters. “America’s concentration crisis did not emerge in the Trump years,” but it deepened during this time, according to the report. The group compiled a downloadable database of more than 1,300 significant mergers during the Trump era, noting that “basic, usable information” about M.&A. is mostly unavailable to the public. THE SPEED READ Deals In SPAC news: Elliott Management is reportedly considering raising $1 billion for a blank-check fund; SoftBank is seeking $630 million for two SPACs; and Danny Meyer, the founder of Shake Shack, is planning to raise $250 million for a fund. (WSJ, Bloomberg) Oatly, the maker of plant-based dairy products, is reportedly seeking a $10 billion valuation in its I.P.O. (Bloomberg) Politics and policy Donald Trump’s efforts to contest the 2020 presidential election have cost federal, state and local governments an estimated $519 million. (WaPo) Tech Best of the rest Bill McGlashan, the former TPG executive embroiled in the college admissions scandal, will plead guilty to two charges. (Bloomberg) Jeff Immelt accepts some blame for G.E.’s stumbles — but offers a lot of excuses, too. (NYT) Clawing back pay for misconduct is hard, so some companies are forcing top executives to set aside share grants for at least a year, even after they vest. (WSJ) We’d like your feedback! Please email thoughts and suggestions to dealbook@nytimes.com. Source link Orbem News #Fear #Future #ShortSellers