#ALSO i find it interesting how people in every culture find a way to exploit these disorders for personal gain.

[funstyle]

i love reading about what are classified as "culture-bound disorders" like it really opens my eyes to how euro-american psychiatry oversimplifies things. the physical and psychological effects of grief were so intense and impossible to articulate for me. like of course it's no wonder that every culture has its own words and explanations for it. it's more than just grief or trauma. it's a demon. or a witch's curse. or being possessed by the ghosts of the deceased. or a mysterious illness that makes you act out violently. all across the world and forever and ever we've been trying to rationalise our own pain to ourselves. we just want it all to make sense. idk. people treat psychiatry like it's law despite its gaping sociocultural blindspots huh

[commsroom]

OK I need you to point me to the nearest entry point into this fandom. I don’t know what this is, but you popped up on my dash.. and I need to know what this is. Please lead the way.

oh!! that's exciting. yes. okay!! wolf 359 is a science fiction audio drama about the isolated and questionably competent crew of a deep space research station, the u.s.s. hephaestus. the initial four characters are comms officer doug eiffel, 'everyman' pop culture guy who really, really hates his job; commander minkowski, who cares about her job and the rulebooks that come with it a little too much, and desperately wants to feel like she's keeping everything under control; dr. hilbert... eccentric? station medical officer and mad scientist whose methods and mission objectives are not entirely above board; and hera, the station's mother program, who struggles with her job and the ways she's perceived by others.

there are other characters who show up later - i would say only three of the above characters are "main" characters, while the actual fourth main character is introduced in s2 - but that requires way more context, and i don't want to get into spoilers, obviously.

wolf 359 is a character drama - it's my personal gold standard for character writing - and the brief descriptions i gave you are the most surface, surface level parts of them. the writers once said something about it, like... that they weren't interested in subverting typical sci-fi character archetypes so much as looking at them and asking "why would a real person behave that way?" and i think it really worked. whether i like them or not, they all feel like real people to me. it has great sound design and a lot of "physicality" in the performances for an audio-only show, which i think comes down to gabriel urbina's film background and the way the scripts are written and performed. (and alan rodi's incredible soundtrack and sense for music cues.) you can't see a lot of what's in the scripts, but they're acted out in a way that you can kinda feel it anyway. i love that.

here's a fan made trailer that i think captures a lot of the right energy. it's a show about a lot of things, but some of the primary themes are communication + music, and i think the collaborative nature of the show itself adds something very sincere to that. it's also about corporate and medical exploitation, resisting dehumanization, what makes us human, connection, identity and autonomy, guilt and accountability, the stories people tell themselves to justify who they are or what they feel it's necessary for them to do, and, of course, the enduring philosophical question: "what's wrong with handcuffs?"

you can check it out at the website i linked above, or anywhere you can listen to podcast feeds! it's free, but they added ads a few years ago, which i hate, so you can pay a dollar here for the ad-free feed if that'll make a big difference in your ability to enjoy it: https://www.patreon.com/Wolf359Radio

it's a sequential story, nothing you really need to know about listening order except that i recommend not skipping the mini episodes (they have important character context and are where they are in the feed for a reason) (with the exception of mission mishaps ones near the end; those are comedy bonus episodes you can listen to whenever) and that you should definitely watch the live show after ep 26 and listen to special episode change of mind between s3 and s4.

i also have a folder here of every recording script where i edited any parts that were different from the show's dialogue + added transcripts for the ones that didn't have available recording scripts, if that's something you'd find useful! i also recommend checking them out just to see what i mean about how they're written.

the first season is pretty short, so i'd say stick with it until at least episode 12/13 (two part finale) if you can - i love the first season, personally, but that's the point it really becomes serialized, and so that's where i think you can safely say if it's something that's going to capture your interest or not. ... and that's it! sorry this is kind of an essay, but i got excited about it. i hope you love the show, please keep me updated, and let me know if there's anything else!!

[bonaesperanza]

I feel like the Grysk work way better than the Yuuzhan Vong as the "nebulous threat" that Thrawn is fighting against because they are clearly tailor made to highlight how wrong Thrawn can be due to his own personal weaknesses.

The entire plot of the Ascendancy trilogy is the Grysk gaining footing through 100% political means - they use espionage to discover the internal divisions and weak points of a country's political system and then attack that, an issue that is probably better addressed through collaboration and the strengthening of the country's political culture and institutions (the Chiss are so quick to abandon their national interests in the face of internal divisions). Thrawn wins every single battle in that trilogy and yet everyone, including himself, is way worse off than where they started and at great risk from the Grysks simply because the Chiss political system is so unstable and because their culture sees collaboration with other races as fundamentally undesirable.

And what Thrawn, who is also either incapable of or completely uninterested in thinking about politics, concludes from all this is, "Ah, yes, this is a problem that can only be solved by throwing more military power at it. Preferably military power run by an authoritarian state that tries to eradicate any trace of political pluralism, because that will make them less vulnerable to the exploitation of the political actors' rivalries and personal interests."

And then he spends, what, fifteen years working with people like Tarkin and Krennic, while having to constantly extinguish rebellions that are popping up everywhere due to the Empire's oppressive policies, and still somehow thinks that the Grysks wouldn't be able to deal with the Empire easily. The Empire that didn't even need them to topple itself through internal conflict in less than a generation - if the Grysks wanted to conquer it, all they'd have to do is wait.

And after reading Lesser Evil I really think that at least part of it is due to some personal drives/needs he's not self-aware enough to address: he says it point-blank that he never believed the Ascendancy would give him an admiralship, and you see hints of his constant frustration at people not understanding him and him having to teach them (sometimes from a position of less power than they have, sometimes when they really don't care to be taught) both through Thrass's POV and through his very slight (but noticeable by his standards) emotional unraveling by the end of the book (e.s. the scene with Unghali where he gets all angry and scary).

Because he has never naturally arrived at the limit of his own competence but was always hamstrung by others, he has no means of differentiating between when he's theoretically right but the politics are obstructing him and when he's actually wrong and the solution is outside of his sphere of competence.

So of course that a political system where being a flag officer means that he gets to do whatever the fuck he wants as long as he convinces one guy of it, where he gets to teach people how to think better and pick only them for positions of power, in a country with no pesky norms about preemptive strikes that he constantly needs to rule lawyer around, sounds appealing.

It's not just about the Ascendancy now, it's also about showing what he can do when not too obstructed, and it's also the first time he has enough free reign to slam headfirst into the big wall of his own lack of capacity or desire to understand politics. But hey, at least he's free to fuck around and find out, not feeling constantly frustrated and overly controlled!

Truly the most character of all time, I love it. People complain about how Zahn babygirlified him in the new canon books just because they're from his POV when switching out the Vong for the Grysk makes him more unambiguously wrong than he was in Legends (where you got other people like Jacen Solo following the same rationale).

[triptychgrip]

Loving your colonizers and the “heavy-handedness” of Babel, or the Necessity of Violence

I’m certain others would be able to articulate this with far more elegance and persuasion, but one of the primary criticisms I’d heard before getting around to reading RF Kuang’s speculative fiction novel Babel, or the Necessity of Violence, is that it is too heavy-handed with its core message, and doesn’t trust its readers enough to know the evils inherent to colonialism/the greed of the British empire. That it’s too didactic in the delivery of its take-aways.

Which, to some extent I could agree with at certain points while reading, but on the whole…have the people wielding these criticisms looked into the concept of “loving your colonizers”? Because that’s definitely a thing.

I’m speaking as the Sri Lankan-American daughter of immigrants who settled in the United States in the 1980’s and, who even decades after leaving their home, seem to take great pleasure in pointing out to anyone who bothers to listen that if it weren’t for the British empire (and other colonizing entities like the Portuguese), Sri Lanka would be a dump of “utter depravity” and “backwardness”. It might also be relevant to add that they are devout Catholics and have a fondness for spouting off information on Catholic missionary history in SL *vomit*

My parents are so quick to focus on the benefits that SL seemingly inherited from empirical interests, like the roads/transportation system — which, perhaps at the risk of stating the obvious, were built for the sake of various colonial interests in order to speed up the efficiency of tea leaf transportation, and in no way was a charitable gesture for the country’s overall economic health — that they wholly miss the grotesque wealth extraction that left the country in shambles, at the same time that its power-hoarders came off looking like (white) saviors.

I could go into all the why’s behind the cognitive dissonance, but it’s taken me far too long to realize that the answer is super simple: survival. Reconciling the full extent of exploitation woven into SL history would be inconvenient, especially when my parents’ Catholic faith was what they clung to most as immigrants in the US. While I can’t begrudge them for finding solace in their faith, I suspect I’ll always carry a lot of grief around how much religion and whiteness (at the expense of celebrating our culture) was centered in my life/my siblings’ lives as a result.

The sentiment of a country needing to be colonized in order to save its inhabitants from backwardness, savagery, primitiveness (and its associated concepts like indolence, stupidity etc.) shows up time and time again in Babel, but every time that I started to think “ok, ok, we get it already, that’s such a fucked up way of thinking, who would even argue over this??”, I immediately thought of my parents.

Now if only I could get them to read it…

[bonefall]

Could you tell us some more about your Lizardstripe? It always annoyed me that the only cat in canon to point out double standards regarding kits was also the horrible mother that they blamed for all of Brokenstar’s issues. I’m glad she’s portrayed more sympathetically here though, with her friend group and role as Bluestar’s lawyer.

Anything out of BB!ShadowClan takes like, a Star Wars opening scroll of text to explain to an outsider and that's how I LIKE IT

It's my personal mission to inject nuance chemical into every woman demonized by Canon WC. Brokenstar isn't bad because he had a sad childhood or something, it was literally generations of culture turning toxic and demanding a cosmic reckoning from which he was born, moulded by, and ultimately embodied of his own free will.

Evil Women Who Weren't Good Mothers aren't responsible for his actions

Anyway, Lizardstripe.

She is gonna get her own summary at some point (I kinda want to do a ShadowClan Month at some point for the biggest ShC characters, like Nightstar, Russetfur, Stumptail, etc), but here's shards for now;

She's related to old Finchflight in some way. The timeline is getting reduxed and Finch is VERY dead by the time of TPB.

So she's either a child of his, or a niece. Finch is Yellowfang’s age (mid teens in TPB), Lizard is Bluestar's (10-ish)

She was a young mom, less than 2, she met the Forget-me-nots after she was already pregnant.

She wasn't actually raising Brokenstar, just suckling him. Ragged was doing that.

Lizard was still not a great mom. She didn't enjoy it at all, and was often getting bored and frustrated

She would often bring the kittens out into the woods on training exercises, activities they were TOO young for.

Runningkit, Deerkit, and Tanglekit were always covered in dings, bumps, ticks, and things that kept putting them in Yellowfang’s den as a result. Lizard was talked to more than once for this

When Brokenkit joined in on this, mysteriously, he was NEVER covered in dings. Like he was developing faster and was more agile than the others. Deerkit was jealous, Tanglekit thought it was AWESOME

Runningkit was developing a bit of a bully streak, realizing that he could exploit this by getting his sibs mad at him, and then hiding behind Broken

Lizard was always being forced to step in and take control of the situations by trying to break up the Dastardly Duo, but then would be OVERRULED by Raggedstar, who wanted his son to hang out with his friend

If Yellowfang didn't notice it herself, she would definitely learn through Lizard that these two should NOT be allowed to multiply their terror with power

But, that's more about them than Lizard.

She's a lot more than just someone's mom. She's a friend of Bluestar's, and the ShadowClan representative in the Forget-me-nots!

WOW her ShadowClan sense of humor is sharp. She can be VICIOUS

She often finds herself having to smooth her jokes over after making a comment that's too mean. What's just part of ShadowClan humor can be cutting to cats in other Clans

Oakheart is actually the one cat who never seems to get hurt, "i like your funny words lizardman"

She likes teasing Bluefur, she's just so easily flustered! And she cares so much about other people,

"Stars, you make me want to yack up a hairball, Bloof."

When Bluefur earns the name Bluemoon (unsure how yet) Lizardstripe b'awws that her nickname is going to be too cool now.

(In Clanmew, it's Luparfaf, Luf, vs Luparshom, Lum)

Lizardstripe and Barley Senior are the two smartest members of the group. Barley is all about logistics, schemas, building and working out plans for meeting up and not getting caught.

Lizardstripe knows what's going on in people's heads. She can be a manipulative mastermind, when she REALLY wants something.

I think she gave Blue and Hoprunner a lot of good advice on how to achieve their ambitions, but, she wasn't really interested in that extra responsibility herself

"What and have to deal with Raggedstar's wishy washy ass and his angelic brat more than i already do? I'd rather kiss a thistle."

What Lizi really liked in her life was the pleasure of it all. Sneaking around, teasing Bluefur, helping out Barley, wrestling Hoprunner. Playing games with her Clanmates, staying late at Gatherings.

She loves her freedom, the ability to decide where to spend her time

She was the first of the Forget-me-nots to die, a year or two after Bluestar took power, in a ferocious battle with WindClan.

Current draft: Talltail's son, Flytail, killed her violently in Heatherstar's Last Stand, the decisive battle that truly "ended" the Mothermouth Moorland War.

After that battle, ShadowClan lost a strategic area and could never regain their foothold. Raggedstar tried to surrender the next year, which was when Brokentail killed him.

Lizardstripe and Mudfoot being lost in the same year was one of the things he and Runningnose cited to each other as "reasons why" WindClan had to pay

If they died for nothing, if SO many had just fought in a war they lost... then it was all for nothing.

Warriors don't accept peace deals.

They fight, they fight to the last cat standing.

I think the news hit all of the Forget-me-nots hard. They hadn't met up in a while, their ambitions driving them apart over time, but... that didn't make it less difficult. No one thought she would be the first.

I think she's my favorite of the little friend group tbh, I'm fond of the Angel Lawyer Friend.

[illarian-rambling]

*in the most elegant, immaculate handwriting imaginable*

Dear Elsind,

I saw your column, and am in fact rather in need of advice. I’ve tried asking my good friend Amelia, but she just laughs uproariously every time I do, so I’ve given up on getting a straight answer from her.

I recently got a new coworker at my workplace, and he’s… very attractive, to say the least. His name is Merry, and he’s absolutely lovely. We’ve become fast friends, and I’ll admit I’m developing a bit of a crush on him. Luckily, the place I work is very unbothered by workplace relationships, but I have a lot of other problems.

First of all, I believe I may have mentioned I’m married in front of him. While my husbands wouldn’t mind me seeing him as well, I know a lot of pirates (oh, yes, context: I am a pirate) are very disapproving of polyamory and I don’t know how he’d react. I’m also asexual, and I’m not sure how he’d react to that either, since my people (I’m a siren) are generally stereotyped as seductive and expected to behave in a very certain way.

That being said, I keep feeling like he’s flirting with me. By pirate standards, he’s absolutely not. But he’s consistently started dressing more colourfully and elegantly and going out of his way to ask me what I think of his outfit. He’s also given me a few small trinkets he found at the market. Both of these are significant signifiers of flirting in my culture, and even though I know he couldn’t possibly know my cultural signifiers of flirting, I can’t help but feel like it means something.

Any advice you have would be welcome. If he is flirting with me, I’d love to see where it goes - he’s really a wonderful man (and I’ll admit I might have been dressing up for him a bit too). But if he isn’t interested, I’d hate to make him uncomfortable having to work on the same ship as me every day, especially since I outrank him (I’d never pressure him into anything, and Amelia would kill me if I did, but I can’t be sure he knows that). I’m not certain how best to proceed.

Much thanks,

Malcolm Lee

*In passibly legible cursive, hearts dotting all the I's*

Thanks so much for writing in, Malcolm!

This is a delicate situation you've found yourself in, but also, I think, a great opportunity. You're right - even in such a relaxed environment, coworker relationships can be tough. It gets messy when rank factors in, and if you ever break up, then you're just stuck seeing them everyday anyways.

But things are looking up for you! It would be quite the coincidence if Merry out of nowhere started engaging in siren flirting behaviors (I'm assuming your word for siren is different from mine, as the siren flirting I'm familiar with involves quite a few more human sacrifices). However, if I was a strapping pirate trying to show interest in my siren shipmate, I would read up on how sirens flirt and try to get him to take the hint. It's a really caring thing to do and a total green flag, in my opinion. Of course, yes, it could be a coincidence, but that's the boring answer!

As for the polyamory and asexuality, that's a conversation you're going to have to have up front with him. Make sure, if he is interested in seeing you, that he understands the possible risks involved. Also, definitely introduce him to your husbands. I don't know your exact situation, but all the polycules I've seen work best when every member is on friendly terms with the others. Asexuality is also something to talk about right off the bat. Make sure he's aware of your boundaries, especially when he might assume otherwise due to racial stereotypes. I can relate to you there - changelings are frequently assumed to be promiscuous due to a tendency to wear attractive faces as a social shield and a history of sexual exploitation. In my relationships, though I'm not asexual, I do have some strict boundaries when it comes to intimacy, and I find it best to be clear about these from the get-go. It's a good way to establish trust early on and also to use as a litmus test for your partner's respect for you. If your Merry is truly a worthwhile lover, he'll understand.

Ultimately, I think you should go for it! To me, it seems like he's trying to be subtle, but he's definitely interested in you. Maybe ask him out for a late-night picnic on the deck (I don't know anything about ships) and spill your heart there. I wish you luck, whatever you decide to do!

Ever your friend,

Elsind Cavernsight

(From this ask game)

[sshbpodcast]

Wake me when Season 1 of Enterprise gets interesting

by Ames

Season one of Enterprise just seemed to fly by, and thank goodness because we’re not finding it all that great, to be honest. Too much of it feels like more of the same stories that previous Treks have already told way better, but with less likable characters, less nuanced writing, and so much sexual objectification that we feel ill just watching it sometimes.

Sure, it’s still probably better than season one of TNG, which had more objectively BAD episodes, but it’s surprising to your hosts here at A Star to Steer Her By just how boring this show is so far. We’ve noted a bunch of times over in our podcast coverage that there never seems to be any stakes because every opportunity for some character (main, side, guest, even background) to get killed, they never do. So grab your phase pistol and see what we had to wade through to get here in our usual bottom and top episodes from the season below and also in this week’s podcast chat (jump to 56:26 for season discussion). Cap’n.

[images © CBS/Paramount]

Bottom Three Episodes

There was a lot to dislike this season and I’m pretty sure we covered most of this season’s dreck in our typically varied responses here. Good work, “Cold Front,” you managed to squeak through somehow despite that terrible airlock scene.

“The Andorian Incident”: Ames If you’ve been following along with our podcast coverage, you’re probably as tired of me hating on Archer as I am of Archer hating on Vulcans, and this is where that sour taste really transpired. It’s a whole episode of our captain going lightyears out of his way to ruin some Vulcans’ day and then patting himself on the back for being justified about being so racist.

“Silent Enemy”: Chris Talk about uneven. What was almost an intriguing suspense episode about the crew being wholly unprepared for the kinds of enemies you find in space is thoroughly undercut by a mismatched B plot that, while cute, is distracting as hell, and by some really laughable alien design. At least Reed gets some pineapple cake.

“Fight or Flight”: Jake Poor Sluggo, we hardly knew thee. Boy, does this show start off with characters it’s just hard to care about. We’ve got Hoshi being pathetic in an “overcoming your fears” plotline so predictable I could have called every beat. And Archer simultaneously being indecisive and whining about his decisions at the same time. And then the metaphor with releasing the slug doesn’t even mesh!

“Fortunate Son”: Jake While it’s unfortunate how little Mayweather gets to do, I can’t say I feel that bad about it considering that everything he does get to do in this episode is annoying as hell. We’d love to see more about his upbringing as a boomer and the culture clash therein, but this episode botches it hard by making all the Fortunate crew assholes!

“Broken Bow”: Caitlin, Chris The whole series really gets off on the wrong foot with a premiere that is simultaneously too little and too much all at once. Between the Klingons, the Suliban, the Vulcans, the flashback scenes with Archer’s dad, the weird time room with the Humanoid Figure, AND introducing us to the whole crew, there are too many things happening, but absolutely none of them are interesting!

“Dear Doctor”: Ames, Caitlin All season long, we’ve been struggling with what we think of the Phlox character, and it mostly boils down to us finding him offputting. So of course the most Phlox-centric episode is in our bottoms list. Certainly helping matters is the fact that both Phlox AND the writers don’t understand evolution at all and use that as an excuse to genocide a people. Oops.

“Fusion”: Ames, Caitlin, Chris, Jake But the one that gets votes from all your SSHB hosts is the episode that sexually exploits the token hot character, as always. Hang on, that doesn’t narrow it down. It’s the one with the mind rapist Vulcan who takes advantage of T’Pol, entirely muddying whatever message about Vulcans this whole season was trying to make. Turns out they’re ALL just monsters, but in different ways, except for one you’ll see in our top episodes.

—

Top Three Episodes

It’s hard to call these “top” episodes of anything, as you’ll see we all pretty much agreed on two episodes this season that were genuinely enjoyable, and each of us frankly struggled to think of a third that we could see giving any accolades to...

“Acquisition”: Chris Listen, we don’t like it any more than you do, but there weren’t enough decent episodes this season and Chris had to include this retread of much better episodes. But you know what: the Ferengi hit us right in the fanservice spot, the veteran alumni are all pros, and aside from all the oomox, it was at least entertaining.

“Oasis”: Jake Back when we were covering season 2 of DS9, Jake put “Shadowplay” on his tops list, so it’s only fitting that he essentially do it again with this carbon copy of an episode. I guess there’s nothing wrong with doing the same idea twice when it’s a good one like this. It’s even got Rene Auberjonois! What’s not to like?

“Fallen Hero”: Caitlin One more “I know that face!” episode coaxing an emotional reaction out of us, which is almost certainly exactly what the show wanted to achieve. In this case, we have to give Fionnula Flanagan some credit for bringing some much needed nuance to the Vulcans, who badly needed it this season.

“Vox Sola”: Ames The final one-off episode that we scraped up to include on this list. And no, it’s not perfect by any stretch, but I have to give it some credit for giving us a truly alien alien, which I’m always a fan of watching our crew interact with. And T’Pol and Sato got to have some scenes together, which is a nice character pairing!

“Shockwave, Part I”: Ames, Caitlin, Chris, Jake Thank goodness for this season finale. Without it, I have no idea how deep into the bench we’d have to dig for other Top Episodes. But I have to hand it to this finale: this was the first time I felt like there were stakes and consequences. And what a cliffhanger! Say what you will about the Temporal Cold War, but seeing a ravaged 31st century scene sure makes things interesting.

“Shuttlepod One”: Ames, Caitlin, Chris, Jake But the one episode I can say we all legitimately liked this season was one of the great bottle episodes of Trek. Proving yet again that less is more, this little character piece leans on the acting chops of Connor Trineer and Dominic Keating, whose chemistry together is lovely to watch. Just super solid all around.

—

Pass the pecan pie, the rocky road ice cream, and the pineapple cake; we’re on for dessert! We’re hoping season two shapes up better overall than this one, so find out with us as we watch along in our podcast coverage over on SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts, bounce a message off of Echo One on Facebook and Twitter, and get me a spoon!

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

I have nothing against Lottie, make your money girl while you can because the insta fame/money won’t be a guaranteed ride forever…, but I also find a lot of her projects not very authentic and more about making the most money . she’s dropped the ball on her tanning brand and barely promotes it anymore which is the opposite for genuine founders of companies, most are constantly shouting out their products to promote them 24/7. I think with Gemma she gives so little personal info about herself (which I actually find refreshing in a sea of over sharing every damn life detail) ….but her sunglass line also felt like a money grab to me that doesn’t have the heart behind it. I feel like alot of influencers who have brands have this mindset that if you have millions of followers, it will automatically equal to loads of money but that’s not the case. More and more people are being turned off by influencer culture because it’s oversaturated…so in order to stand out you have to be innovative and bring something unique to the table or people won’t buy what you’re trying to sell. Obviously this is all just my thoughts, not bashing any of them because like I said …make that money while people are still paying attention . But I am also going to be a critical consumer of every influencer trying to sell me something because so much of it is frankly a facade.

I think everything about influencing is terrifying and dystopian in its totality. Its bad for people who watch the content, for people who make the content and for us all. I think both Gemma and Lottie promote horrible lies that will make the world worse as core part of their influencing (greenwashing and making people feel worse so they'll buy beauty products).

I don't think making the world worse in some way is limited to influencers - it is unfortunate a part of a significant proportion of jobs under capitalism. What I think is particularly awful about influencing is the fact that it demands you not just to do terrible things - but be those things. (There's a whole other aspect of the exploitative nature of the industry around it - and Get Rich or Lie Trying by Symeon Brown is a really interesting exploration of that for all those who are interested).

But I think you're coming from a slightly different place anon - because you seem to focus on how well they're doing as influencers (something that I couldn't care less about), and then also authenticity.

In some ways I disagree with you about what makes things authentic. It was always really clear that Lottie's role in Tanologist was marketing. She's not an owner (the ownership structure is public knowledge) and wouldn't have anything to contribute to product development. But it's not inauthentic to lose interest in something!

More importantly - I hope that Gemma and Lottie and all other influencers are inauthentic in their social media posting that they do for money. The alternative is that they have allowed themselves to be entirely shaped by what would be most effective selling to people - which is much, much worse.

Finally I'm super unsure about the framing of a 'critical consumer' as something you could either be or not be. But I think it's really important to understand that influencing is all a facade - and it has to be.

[dungeons-and-divergency]

Hi there!

My name’s Barnie* and this is my oc depository and aesthetic blog. I’ll mostly be talking about my DnD/TTRPG characters but I may also include stuff for my novel characters. Neely Osbarrow has his own blog as I had a 8 month special interest in him. I don’t currently have those same buzzy feelings but maybe I will again some day so be sure to check out @neely-osbarrow​ if you enjoy him as a character.

My DnD characters in order of creation:

Sindri Ironeye (he/him)- A dwarven druid who left his mountain home young as no one there understood his affinity for all green and verdant

‘Duckie’ true name unknown (they/them)- An artificer/wizard (considering converting to an artificer/druid) gnome who maybe likes mushrooms a bit too much. They were a resident at a university until other people there got fed up with their unconventional ways of ‘study’ and they were thrown from the university. Though Duckie seems carefree and frankly high most of the time, they're actually looking for a way to resurrect their dead lover.

Neely Osbarrow (he/him)- An ex-cultist halfling ranger looking avenge his mother’s death and make sense of the world after finding out how much the cult he was brought up in twisted things beyond recognition. The cult all gone in an act of ascension without him, Neely is looking for a feeling of belonging once again and hopes to multiclass into bard, storytelling being a big passion of his.

Charis Floros (she/they)- A barbarian pirate satyr who is looking for revenge after their boyfriend betrayed them and left her for dead. Charis loves finding new friends, but romance? No thanks. Been there, done that. Never again.

Aster Lockwood (he/him)- A fairy fighter with an intense inferiority complex. He’s hoping to study fighting techniques throughout all cultures in his work as an anthropologist and take those learned skills to best his bully of a sister who tormented him all throughout his childhood and then maybe take over the world for a bit of fun afterwards.

Deryn Rivers (they/them)- A young aarakocra bard who is prone to exaggeration of their exploits and adventures. Deryn hopes to become a famous storyteller and be famed throughout the land.

Roland ‘Rolly’ Merle (he/him)- A halfling messenger who fell into roguish ways when trying to deliver some very important messages for the noble family he serves. Rolly will deliver those messages at some point, he’s sure. But what’s wrong about taking the scenic route, filled with lots of gold?

Lachlan ‘Lockie’ Beaumont (he/him)- A very flamboyant, fat, fun and flirtatious Wild Magic sorcerer halfling with an on-and-off ex(?) boyfriend who actually is the one who cursed him with the powers he now wields. Lockie is now searching for someone who will accept his need for an open relationship rather than zap him with magic for even suggesting the idea.

Arthur ‘Artie’ Garrick (any pronouns but defaults to he/him)- A reborn gnome celestial warlock whose boyfriend is their patron. Artie was a cleric but was killed and a solar working for the god Artie once served was in love with him and so got him reawoken. They rely on their angelic boyfriend for everything, most of their memories gone.

Ailbhe Keyes (they/them)- Ailbhe was a dedicated and wise coastal ranger when their young daughter was attacked by orca. Ailbhe instantly fought the orca to save their daughter but died in the process. However, the gods saw Ailbhe’s dedication to their craft and family and so granted them a place in one of the heavenly planes. But... Ailbhe’s dedication to family was a lot stronger than the gods had bargined for. Now Ailbhe wanders the planes, a ghost in every plane but the heaven Ailbhe was granted, posing some serious problems on trying to get back how to their little girl.

Jani Spurrey (he/him)- No one knew how evil Jani could be, everyone just thought him the grumpy but a loving half-elf husband to Xavier. And the loving part was no lie. But after Xavier died in an accident, Jani either snapped or the mask was dropped because he carefully warped Xander, Xavier’s twin brother, creating a mockery of his husband. Now Jani has struck a warlock deal to place the soul of his deceased husband in Xander’s body, for a price of course.

Enara Silverale (she/her)- Enara, dwarven cleric of Ilmater, is haunted by the curse that runs through her family. Never being able to stay long in one place, Enara just wants to feel love without that creeping feeling that the wolf is at her door.

Nima Charmchi (he/him)- Nima is a half elf-half dwarf and was raised by druids and rangers, meaning he feels all aspects of the earth run through him. Despite some bad luck with his boyfriends, Nima is a positive happy guy with no trauma, especially in comparison to my other characters.

Peren ‘Payr’ Liadon (he/him)- Peren comes from a long line of draconic sorcerers, and he always tries his best. However, he has no aptitude for magic, fighting or socialising, unlike the rest of his prestigious family. Despite this, he is well loved by his family for his good heart and determination. But even pitiful love takes it toll after a while, can Peren carry on being his cheery, there’s-always-next-time self for much longer?

Slypperie Gaq (no pronouns, uses name instead)- Gaq is a brave and selfless little sporekin, hailing from the Slypperie village. Gaq was part of the village guard but was recruited by the Hunters Guild after some members witnessed Gaq protect some sporekin and take down a ferocious beast. Gaq loves to just go where help is needed, and will even happily work for no gold. Gaq is also a mushroom of few words, only talking when Gaq feels it important and Gaq cannot stand nor understand lies, much to Gaq's party-mate's bemusement

*Barnie is the collective name for an OSDD system so you might see different writing style on this blog. @lost-harts​ is currently the most used blog but isn’t the host. other used system blogs are @sharks-house​ and @gabrieltheangel​

Organisational tags I may use:

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[character name] info

[character name] story

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dnd, d&d, dnd oc, d&d oc, dnd character, d&d character, dndcore, rangercore, bardcore, cottagecore, adventurecore, fairycore, fantasy character, character blog, oc blog

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[yvn1v-oy5tt]

notes - bitching

This is just me being a cunt. I’m so ocpilled now that i don’t understand why more people don’t make them. It’s free real estate!

I’m reading cod fic trying to find inspiration because the some of the designs are peak and im getting pissed awf because i haven’t found a single fic that doesn’t tiptoe around the military setting or have the problem where the author doesn’t want to/understand how to write intimacy and tension without outright establishing the characters as in a relationship like im so sorry im shit at writing so I should sit my ass down and listen but it’s baffling the canon is overflowing with prime cuts of warboy peril why can’t a single author for this fandom walk the beautiful line of internalized homophobia and the traumabonded intimacy of being in constant life or death situations and of having seen each other kill like that dynamic optimizes the eroticism of being brothers in arms ok they aren’t dating there’s no white picket fence waiting for them they’ll never get a happy ending because even if they make it out alive they’ll be haunted they trust each other completely and they need each other to survive and trauma is the red string binding them together and they live each day knowing it may be their last together every step carries an unspoken tender misery they’re just meat in the war machine grinder and the vultures overhead want their pound of flesh

Maybe im just deranged but i think dynamics with intense intimacy and forced dependency (brothers in arms, kidnapper/victim…) but the bonds falls outside and beyond typical romantic boundaries are really fun. Love and hate necessitate the same emotional commitment and fixation. Revenge is sweet: you’ve impacted me so severely that i have no choice but to reciprocate.

The older i get the less interest and tolerance i have for aus that deviate hard from canon. If you want to write flower shop or coffee shop or college aus with warboys just pick another canon that has characters with similar vibes as your moomoos or make ocs? wouldn’t that be more fulfilling? you know you can cook your own food right? It’s fun, it’s free, you can put whatever ingredients you want in and it’s all canon. Obviously it doesn’t impact me in any way and I’d never bitch someone out for loving what they love but I’ve developed allergic to the hypersoftening of men who kill and murder and should be on trial for atrocities. If you wanna do that then im gonna need to see some top shelf character exploration and development. Maybe take a page out of nabokov’s book and serve up some unreliable narrator goodness. At least do a little dive into their psyche and how they navigate the innately messy subject of taking life - if it’s not messy for them then that’s also messy just in a different but equally juicy way. I’m not actually serious or heavy with my feelings here and goofy cutesy fluff can be written with warboys but the archives are wall to wall fluff… someone throw a grenade cmon.

I’m searching for other fics with written combat and medical procedures in the field and im shocked to have found nothing. Why are you writing warboys if you don’t want to write even the tiniest scrap of war. Why are you not exploiting shell shock and ptsd and traumatic brain injuries and medicine for fujo indulgence. You’re being offered a banquet and all you’re placing two leaves of lettuce on your plate. I’m sorry im being such a stinky rat but coming from mgs and hokuto’s rvb fics to this is depressing. I should stop fucking around and rewatch band of brothers episodes 3 and 6.

My deranged take is that fanfiction overall has gotten worse since purity culture really sunk its teeth in. People are so scared of getting cancelled if they don’t include explicit consent dialogue with both characters being like “yes we will have sex together without any complications or difficulties or mixed feelings” and the characters canonically have worms in their brains. God forbid someone depict characters with unresolved issues and emotional constipation. That would be too nuanced and some 19 year old who’s never been in a relationship irl might see it and send you to the gallows.

[uefunderneatharchive]

The Underneath Exploration Federation

Tristan here! I figured it would be a good idea to explain a little bit about the UEF.

The Underneath Exploration Federation is an internationally-funded organization tasked with the daunting feat of... well, exploring the Underneath. We do more than that, of course; besides cataloging the various levels, creatures, and cultures found in the Underneath, we're also tasked with maintaining good relations with the friendly denizens of the Underneath, such as the willos and artifactlings.

According to the custodians and friendly denizens we've been able to establish contact with, our world both isn't the first to come in contact with the Underneath, and is welcome to try and "tame" the chaos; according to them, "worse cultures have tried" and if we're at least civil and not exploitative of the Underneath and its people, we're allowed to try and make friends.

We've found remains of those cultures that weren't so civil.

So! You'll have seen references to LT Orchard as well as my own MAJ rank. Because of the unique circumstances of the organization, international law does require us to be labeled as a military organization in order to get the funding and resources required. Unfortunately, research grants don't account for armaments, so they kinda stuck a military organization around a research team, gave that research team the funding for actually researching, and gave the military around it the funding for the weapons and armor.

Hey, if it works, it works. Even if we're labeled as a military organization, we're not actually expected to be waging wars. That's kind of the opposite idea of what we're trying to do, anyway. And, because it's a federation, there's multiple smaller groups within the UEF, such as the research teams (also known as the Underneath Research Foundation) and the teams that scout for people who slipped accidentally into the Underneath (the Recovery Technical Team, aka the "Retroactive Traction Team" since they're anti-slip after the slip happens).

The UEF is... strange. Like, eccentric to a fault. I certainly don't help, but there's a lot of stuff that you wouldn't ever see in a military organization like this. For example, the standard armors here might be made of military-grade aramids, but they're all made in the style of "adventurely" tunics and robes like it's something out of a fantasy story. Hell, LT Orchard wears a full-ass set of plate armor, and some of the explorers opt to go for brigandine-style armor and jack-of-plates with metal plates too. It's, of course, all a response to the Underneath itself; you aren't likely to find monsters that fire bullets at you, so the safety of steel is just as good if not better against rending claws than combat vests and fatigues.

We've also been going back to melee weaponry! It's a weird feeling: after decades of guns, artillery, tanks and planes, and military-grade ritual casting, we're picking up swords and spears again and fighting small-scale. We still have some people using guns, but it's way easier to enchant melee weapons... guns are too complicated to carry enchantments, you have to do things like mass bless a box of bullets, and that gets expensive. The magic that we have access to is so good too, like, not only do we get some choice samples of spells from every manufacturer that donates to us, but the Underneath straight-up spawns new spells, basically. That's all I can describe it as, Lordedge discs and Gravitas tapes will just appear in dungeons and contain the weirdest and coolest bootleg spells that no one's ever heard of.

Anyway, I'm rambling on a bit too much. You've got a good slice of what the UEF is and how it works, so if you're interested in more, there's that shiny ask button to click on. I think. Did Mal set that up right? I think he did.

Well, this has been Tristan, signing off!

[olderthannetfic]

Now I'm at the point where I think if someone in the queer community is trying to tell women, femmes, afab people/whoever to stop enjoying BL, they also need to be consistent and tell all queer men to stop doing drag because they both engage with gender in the same way.

Everything those folks tell afab people [they're 1) capitalizing on male queerness without any of the struggles that come along with it or 2) depicting x identity without authenticity or 3) it's not #ownvoices/representation or 4) it's using stereotypes of x group that have historically harmed them] also apply to queer men who do drag in terms of them exploiting women for entertainment. Women are a marginalized group in society; that's a fact. A cis queer man will never truly understand what it's like to be a woman. A cis drag queen will likely never have to know what it's like to be constantly told from infancy your body and sexuality just exist for men. Your interests in fashion or makeup or academics are just for men. [By this logic, a cis woman could reasonably find an issue with a cis man then taking this aspect of personal and societal struggle and bastardizing it for entertainment/humor when women every day are killed, harassed, and attacked for not performing femininity for men.] Cis drag queens also use stereotypes of femininity as punchlines or jokes in this escapism when the ones who have to deal with the fallout in society are women. Drag queens are no more "representation" for women than BL characters are for queer men. No one goes to a drag show if that's what they want, and drag queens shouldn't be expected to do that, just like afab BL creators shouldn't be forced to conform to what anyone thinks is "good representation" for queer men. No queer man has been hurt by BL, just like no cis woman has been hurt by drag. Let's be consistent.

Now, is it also true that there are a lot of nonbinary and trans women who do drag as a way to express their gender? Yes. Are they likely the majority of drag queens? No. So, how would we decide who can appropriate aspects of the female experience? We can't. The same goes for afab BL fans and creators. Yeah, lots are trans or nonbinary, but it's ridiculous to expect everyone to out themselves or write a biographical manifesto to justify their tastes in entertainment. Are there drag queens who are misogynistic? Yes, the most famous example is RuPaul. Does this apply to all? No. Just like BL fans and homophobia.

However, everyone knows that talk of getting rid of drag queens is a common talking point of conservatives. This talk around afab BL fans should be considered in the same way.

--

Huzzah!

I've pointed this out many times. Hell, I've seen a blog post from a BL type author who is leery of women writing BL that pointed out the same thing and came to a similar conclusion.

One of the more interesting commentaries on the cis gay male culture aspects of all this was in David Halperin's How to be Gay. Either I'm misremembering, or the kindle price has dropped from academic book horror levels to something more acceptable, at least to my US eye. ($14.16 currently) I highly recommend it.

He uses the word 'appropriation' to talk about what drag queens do, though he doesn't mean it in a "and that is obviously universally bad" way. He explicitly addresses the fact that some women will find drag misogynist, and that's okay. It's okay that they feel this way. It's okay that a subculture makes art for a particular audience that may be offputting or disturbing to other audiences.

The book is about a lot more than just drag. It goes into all of that cis gay male culture like loving The Golden Girls and venerating tragic women of classic Hollywood. I have sometimes, as a woman, felt almost like I was tresspassing on gay men's territory to love Joan Crawford and her ilk. Which, if you think about it, is fucking nuts.

Halperin doesn't talk about BL at all, at least not in that book, but his observations are like a mirror of fandom and inform a lot of how I look at #ownvoices.

The book is based on a class he taught with that same joke title. The point was that he did not find the performance of normative US cis gay male culture ("What a dump!", Golden Girls love, etc.) to be at all natural. He had to learn it. All his friends laughed about how he was the last guy to teach anyone "how to be gay".

Anyway, as he taught the class, he noticed something that shocked him: students were connecting with The Golden Girls and campy, queer-coded old Broadway plays much more than with the direct, literal representation, even when that representation was on Broadway in a similar tone and type of media.

The book is his exploration of why. To boil it down: gay men were seeking things that felt true internally, not externally. They were often identifying with situations and dynamics or with all of the characters. They didn't necessarily want to be told "Here's your self insert! Now relate!" It's full of the same kind of talk of critical distance that oldschool slash meta engages in.

I actually have a whole long meta piece about this: What I Want is To(o) Direct.

I got the idea after reading Halperin and bounced up to Francesca Coppa at a con to blather about it. She was like "Oh, I just wrote a book chapter on that." That chapter is: Slash/Drag: Appropriation and Visibility in the Age of Hamilton. You can find it in A Companion to Media Fandom and Fan Studies.

Drag is great, but I hate the misogynist attitude that men can borrow from women to express their oppression or their interior worlds metaphorically, but women cannot borrow from men for the same purpose.

The inevitable transphobia that comes with strict policing of either is just the cherry on an already towering shit sundae.

[caffeineandsociety]

Do you ever just stop and rage at how much just a bunch of shitty power-tripping assholes and their legacies have overcomplicated life and made normal human tendencies way more potentially problematic than they have to be? Because I do internally every fucking day.

Like. It is NORMAL to be fascinated by the unfamiliar! It is NORMAL to see a culture that is very different from your own and go "oh wow that's so strange but so cool!" It is also NORMAL to find a few things about different cultures to be weird and, hell, maybe even a little off-putting-

But it can't be as simple as "oh yeah that's always fun as long as you're not a dick about that last category of feelings" because so many people - particularly a few overly powerful assholes - HAVE been dicks about that last category of feelings in a way that has a massive body count, scarred the cultures, and in many cases built a cruel and unbalanced power dynamic that can turn a should-be-minor, should-just-be-FUNNY misconception into a potential deadly weapon!

Like! Fuck! It shouldn't be a big dangerous deal if someone assumes something stupid and false but not malicious about another culture! But here we are, living in a world where a bunch of genocidal assholes' lies and assholery are so deeply entrenched in our cultures that the NORMAL HUMAN FASCINATION with the new and unfamiliar becomes ridiculously easy to harm people with by complete accident!

Or what about gender? Being trans SHOULD be just a fascinating little quirk of the human condition! I mean, body dysphoria is fucking absurd, the fact that you can be born with one set of parts and your brain will just throw up error messages like "excuse me this is NOT what I have the driver for" is something that we should be able to giggle about with anyone! It is NORMAL to find it strange and interesting that a small but significant percentage of people just go "...nah bro this whole 'being a woman' thing is overrated as shit"! It seems like it would be NORMAL for someone without that experience to be intrigued by the idea of what it feels like to be born with "female" parts, be entirely happy with that, fully enjoy "feminine" clothing and behaviors, but internally be 100% confident that you are a man, like you're living as the protagonist of some comedic sex-swap magic manga! Saying "oh yeah my sister got in all kinds of trouble back when she was a boy scout" should just be a funny anecdote, not potential endangerment!

And yet here we are, having to tiptoe around the subject much of the time, with our name changes being even more confusing than most because it's not SAFE to tell everyone, even people who may have a good reason to know, that Jack used to be Suzie! Even just phrasing a name change that way can be considered a microaggression, because it's likely that Jack never felt like a Suzie, and someone not understanding you EXACTLY the way you see yourself isn't just some harmless little issue of differences here, because a bunch of historical assholes looked at a fun little quirk of the human condition and decided to convince everyone it's EVIL and DANGEROUS and the misconceptions that fill in that imperfect understanding can be deadly!

I could go on! There are so many examples of this! It's NORMAL to find the unfamiliar interesting, exciting - fuck, sometimes even a LITTLE scary, but not worth being a dick about! This should not be something that can kill, injure, bankrupt, or traumatize people on a mass scale, yet it is, just because a bunch of morally bankrupt greedy bastards in history decided to build so many power structures around demonizing and exploiting people who are different from them! Fuck!

[thethirdromana]

Something I find interesting about Deep Space Nine is how little it tells the story of Bajor, especially after season 3 or so.

The pilot set up a show in which Bajor could have been central - specifically, the post-colonial story of the planet and its people working out how to recover from the Occupation and govern themselves. And sometimes the series returns to the same themes, particularly in Accession (the one that moots the return of Bajor's pre-colonial caste system), The Circle three-parter (the one with the attempted coup against the provisional governors) and Shakaar (the one with the soil reclamators). We also get some sense of what's happening through Kai Winn's appearances.

All the same, it doesn't feel like the story of Bajor is even really a B-plot most of the time, it's just something we check in on every so often (frequently through the lens of Kira's boyfriends). The series does feel interested in Bajoran religion, but usually through the vehicle of Sisko as the Emissary, so it's detached from Bajor itself. When we do get Bajoran politics, it's mostly about the specific relationship between Bajor and the Federation. And though I haven't counted up episodes, it feels to me like we get way more about Cardassian politics than Bajoran ones.

I'm trying to write this in a neutral way because I love the story that the series did decide to tell, but I can't help but feel it's a pity we didn't get learn more about Bajoran daily life and politics.

E.g. how much of their original political system was still extant? Did they have to rebuild it? Were there tensions about what form that should take?

Did the Cardassian retreat leave skills shortages? Was Bajor able to create a civil service from nothing? Or were there Bajorans employed by the Cardassians who were allowed to stay in their previous roles? Were those people still trusted?

How about culture? Was there a deliberate attempt to de-Cardassianise Bajor? Accession is fascinating from this perspective, but were there any other cultural practices from Bajor's past that they wanted back - or didn't?

And how about Bajor's economy, in the transition from Cardassian exploitation to an economy run for the benefit of Bajorans? A lot of countries, even decades after colonialism, continue to focus on the industries that colonisers prioritised (for good reason) - how does that work when Bajor is increasingly exposed to post-scarcity economies?

I think the thing I want is the kind of filling out of the backstory of Bajor that A Stitch in Time and The Never-Ending Sacrifice provided for Cardassia. Maybe it already exists in one of the many tie-in novels or longer fanfics and I just need to find it?

[handweavers]

i feel like the majority of arts opportunities now are digitally themed like the point is to explore the possibilities of all the new digital tech we have and things like AI and coding or reflections on 'digital landscapes' and our relationship with technology and social media and working with like New Tech to create things and i understand why that's such a focus now but my entire approach to making things and my work and the joy that i get from it is that it is so entirely disconnected from digital and online spaces, that it has nothing to do with this cultural phenomenon that has swallowed up everything and it feels like a rejection of the expectation that our digital lives are the only thing that carries any value or weight anymore, a respite from all of this because it's so fast-paced and new and everyone is just pumping money into tech and our economies are built around tech and manufacturing tech and the social aspects of digital spaces like. i love my work Because it cannot be monetized by tech giants it has little connection to the tech industry and venture capital and petrochemical plastics and it's slow and based in the earth.

and that makes me sound like a luddite but i don't think tech or digital spaces or anything are inherently bad, i don't think focusing on digital environments and tech innovations and combining tech with analogue processes is bad i think it's fascinating and relevant but it's also overwhelming everything else, and while tech isn't inherently anything we live under capitalism and tech and digital economies and shit are so wrapped up in capital and the way that it's used right now as a tool under capitalism is part of the reason that everyone is fucked up and lonely and sad all the time and i think more and more people are really finding the idea of disconnecting entirely or moments of respite from the digital really appealing but so few arts spaces are interested in having that conversation bc the funding they get to stay afloat is from these tech companies lol. so much of tech is just finding new ways to exploit people under capitalism

like truly there's no money in sitting at an old handloom and spinning your yarn and dyeing by hand and taking your time with it. it's expensive and slow as fuck and it goes entirely against profit, there is no profit incentive to produce things this way or to live in this space but i and many others do it anyway and i think that's interesting and relevant to talk about as well, how as the world becomes increasingly digitally-focused and capitalism turns every single thing into a commodity vulnerable to market forces some people are just running away from it as much as they can, if they can, just to find some place or space or part of their lives where they can have moment to breathe and not feel observed or data-logged or entirely immaterial/out-of-body.

but like 8/10 of the call for entries or artists opportunities i find are focused on pumping more into tech and trying to find people who are like manufacturing their own LED encrusted bioplastics in a lab and extruding it in the shape of a Commodore 64 or something which is cool like sincerely that's awesome but that is also extremely inaccessible for 99.998% of people to participate in and if the entire contemporary art world is just that there's so much being lost. and then the other 20% is stuff about how the world is dying and our ecosystems are collapsing and asking people to send in work about that and no matter what direction you look it's all so fucking bleak

[bestworstcase]

A lot of people don't like it when I point out that Vacuo is a dystopia (feeling that the fact that it's anti-Atlas and a victim of imperialism justifies all of its modern day policies), but I would like to point out that Menagerie is canonically in even worse shape than Vacuo economically and yet STILL manages to base it's culture on something other than "culling the weak", in spite of the fact that it has far FEWER allies than Vacuo does.

And yet, Menagerie isn't a dystopian hellhole the way Vacuo is. It's far more stable even though Adam almost started a Civil War at a FAR more politically unstable time than the Crown did.

Menagerie highlights how Vacuans don't NEED to be monsters to survive, they just choose to be their worst possible selves.

not just economically, geographically too. the vacuan desert is harsh and dangerous; the menagerian interior is uninhabitable. kuo kuana is the most crowded city in the world because the four kingdoms cordoned off as many faunus as possible on a small continent of which only a tiny fraction of the land is habitable. (and it’s not because of the grimm! blake says the wildlife in menagerie is a lot more dangerous than that of the vacuan desert and i want to know what the FUCK kind of beasts they’ve got that are worse than mole crabs.) and while obviously it’s easier to subsist on the coast than in the middle of a desert, coastal living has its own dangers and the people of kuo kuana don’t have any habitable higher ground to retreat to if a hurricane or tsunami swamps their homes. the environmental precariousness vacuans face, the constant danger of losing their homes to a natural disaster, is also present in menagerie.

and there’s another point of similarity in that the national identity of both states is so strongly defined by the history of suffering and exploitation by the other three kingdoms: the city vacuans have this… almost sour grapes, spiteful pride thing of “our home used to be a perfect paradise but we were COMFORTABLE and LAZY and that made us so WEAK we let people conquer and enslave us and now our home is hell on earth and we’re tougher and better than anyone else because suffering made us strong” whereas the people of menagerie have the bittersweet acknowledgment that they won the war for their rights and have a kingdom of their own now but also menagerie was given to them to shut them up and encourage them to segregate themselves from the rest of the world. and i think the key difference between these cultural narratives is that the menagerians own the fact that it still hurts, that turning that kick in the teeth into something good that they can really be proud of and find joy in doesn’t make it less discouraging to be rejected and neglected. meanwhile the city vacuans are multiple generations deep in trying to cope with the open wounds of this cultural trauma by telling themselves it was actually a good thing, that it was their fault for getting soft and it’s better now because it made them strong.

which makes the point you raised earlier about the nomadic tribes of the vacuan desert helping the city vacuans pretty interesting, i think? because the nomads have a markedly different relationship to the desert: fox’s tribe taught him that it’s beautiful and miraculous that life can persist in such a harsh environment and that the hardship makes each and every life all the more precious. yes it’s difficult, yes it’s dangerous, yes the desert will kill you if you don’t respect it, but the nomads live in it because they love the desert and they’re proud of themselves for being a part of it. there’s a lot of superficial overlap with the city vacuan attitude but the emotion behind it is one of appreciation, not resentment. and that much healthier mindset goes hand in hand with the nomadic culture being one that shaped fox into a well-adjusted, resilient, compassionate young man who believes that vacuo has “two kinds of people: those who were selfish and those who were fully dedicated to their community” and that selfishness is self-destructive; the beacon brigade, which gets ridiculed by the students of shade, is fox’s idea and he explicitly modeled it on the way his tribe supported each other.

and i think that’s probably the point rwby is building up to, with vacuo, that the rampant toxicity in city vacuan culture is a manifestation of festering trauma repeating itself from one generation to the next; it’s what you get when an entire nation tries to deal with imperial exploitation by burying it and pretending everything is fine, for centuries. they’re not bitter, they’re tough! they’re not resentful, they’re better than everybody else! there’s nothing wrong with them, their country is a shitty miserable hellscape nobody would ever want to live in but that’s FINE because it makes them STRONG and anyone who leaves is a traitor! and so forth. (in contrast fox leaves vacuo because he wants to live somewhere less dangerous, and when he comes back the nomads he encounters give him a warm welcome and tell him it doesn’t matter how far or how long he’s been away, he’s still one of them and he’ll always have a place here if he wants it.)

there’s this deep hurt that never healed, and when you get down to the foundations of what’s messed up in vacuo it’s just… that. menagerie healed after the faunus revolution and built a culture bound together by community support and ideals of equality, justice, and peace. the nomadic peoples of the vacuo accept hardship as a worthy price for living in the desert they chose as their home. both of these examples together reveal how city vacuans can move forward and fix what’s broken in their society.