Some of the Eden's Gate followers were spotted in the Silver Lake region again. They've been told time and again they have no permit to build here, yet we've reports of them constructing some kind of small structures. Also, they have been trespassing near the old Roosevelt property. We might need a sterner hand in getting them out of here safely.
Note found around the Central Radio Tower on Dutch's Island. ❇︎ Notes of Hope County
Fellow Honest’s Unique Magic is revealed to be called “Life is Fun” (lit. “Rose-Tinted Dream). The chant for it is “C’mon, to the theater!”
This spell increases other people’s optimism and makes them feel “floaty.” He says that it encourages people to do what they normally wouldn’t without too much thought. In other words, it’s how he was able to make the boys dance on stage in front of an audience.
But “Life is Fun” has its drawbacks. It’s a weak spell and cannot work on everyone. For example, if someone just witnessed a traumatic event, he can’t easily lift their spirits in the moment, especially if their heart is against it. It also isn’t guaranteed to work on cautious people.
However, because it requires so little magical output, he can cast it multiple times in conversation without being noticed and without accumulating a lot of blot. He tells Ace he’s been casting it on the boys since earlier in the day and praises himself for supplementing his weak magic with strong charisma and negotiation skills.
Here is a brief clip of him casting it (with voice work):
an approximate map of pre-european contact (though the last one seems to be post-contact) language families in continental north america, showing the spread and migration of different groups throughout the continent. some notes:
these maps include 42 independent language families, 37 isolates, and over 20 linguistic areas altogether.
the oto-manguean (180), uto-aztecan (69), algic (46), and na-dené (45) families have the most languages within them.
the north american family with the most widely-spoken languages is the uto-aztecan family. the most widely-spoken indigenous language in north america today is nahuatl, an uto-aztecan language which is spoken in central mexico and diaspora in the united states by over 1.7 million people.
other widely-spoken indigenous languages in north america today are the various mayan languages spoken throughout guatemala, belize, and mexico such as q'echi', k'iche', mam, tzeltal, and tzotzil.
in general, mexico, guatemala, and belize are home to most of the most commonly spoken indigenous north american languages. other large north american countries such as the united states and canada house comparatively few speakers. (the most common in the former is navajo (na-dené, 170,000), and in the latter, cree (algic, 96,000).) differences in colonization methods and population density/climate/environment before the fact account for the lower numbers.
the linguistic diversity/number of language families in a given area is mostly due to climate and environment. drier and flatter regions are lower in linguistic diversity as the space facilitates the movement of the population within them. (the same thing happened with the turkic and uralic families.) more mountainous and lush environments discourage this. (this happened in what's today papua new guinea.)
the relation between north american and siberian indigenous languages has been hypothesized, but no definite conclusion has been accepted. the most famous theoretical grouping is the hypothetical dené–yeniseian family, which links the na-dené family with the yeniseian languages of central siberia. a family which definitely stretches out to siberia is the inuit–yupik–unangan family (referred to here a eskimo-aleut).
due to colonization, including forced displacement and assimilation, there are many native languages which are either unattested to or were wiped out altogether. these maps only consist of what we know about.
Yesterday I came back from my first ever holiday on my own. Today I spent the whole day relaxing and only doing laundry as I traveled almost all day yesterday. I had a lovely time, it was great to be able to decide what I wanted to do on my own and then doing it or deciding to do something totally different. I really enjoyed it, it felt really freeing. It also was a bit lonely sometimes, especially when I would be the only one on my own. Like when I ate breakfast at my hotel and was surrounded by couples, friends and family. Or when I went out for lunch or dinner on my own. Also the fact that you can't share it and talk about it with other people. I spammed my family with pictures just to feel like that for a bit. But the positive things did really outshine the negative ones. Who knows, I might do this again and travel farther or longer. But this was a great start!
The 19th century is basically a shoujo drama and Kiku is the protagonist: Prussia and Japan have a very close linked history together, so much so that Japan adapted the German Civil law system into it's legal system. European, especially French painters adored Japanese art styles and adapted them in their own paintings to create the Japanonism art movement. Kiku basically could pick an choose.
Agreed! He's got the whole world in his pocket! And Kiku sampled. Monogamy, in my opinion, isn't how nations function in general. Kiku has deep ties and emotional attachments to a lot of countries. I just really like romantic relationships where I'm mostly looking at respect and mutual benefit with these eldritch dirt fucks and the Dutch fill that need lmao. Fuckng bastards.
The Dutch are shockingly loyal, and this cultural trust seems to have built up even after the end of Sakoku. Linguistically, Japanese dictionaries preferred Dutch over English loan words right up until post-WW2. In Nagasaki, the Dutch are seen constantly in the architecture and food culture. It's fascinating how we've discovered an English linguistic bias in sources. When we compensate for this, history decentralizes Britain and America for us and reveals a Japan whose ties, especially to the west, are much more complicated than the Anglosphere. Even after taking several courses on Japanese history over my university years, I found so much about Korea, Japan, Germany, Italy, France, Taiwan, Australia, etc. But the Dutch stands out to me. Physically Kiku's land is more formed by Dutch work than American or British. Water management, harbours, bridges, canals, drainage, agriculture reforms, erosion management. And these things started centuries ago and are still going.
And the art! Ah! The French and Japonisme... some art that makes me highly uncomfortable. La Japonaise is some of the least egregious but holy mother of orientalism. Monet's bridges are much more respectful. Van Gogh's works are primarily in that category. Starry Night was directly inspired by Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa. Upon the birth of his nephew in the Spring of 1890, Van Gogh painted his famous Almond Blossoms, also inspired by Japanese nature prints. For Jan who would have grown up a medieval Christian, those almond blossoms would have as much significance as the sakura in Japan and I really do think there's at least a copy of it above their bed at some point. The first Dutch ship that crashlanded in Japan did so in April 1600. The entire relationship is 400 years of everything spring comes with
The Dutch gave Japan its first modern ship, the Kankō Maru. The Dutch Monarch and diplomatic corps write love letters, make super emotional speeches, and show affection for Japan in their official statements. Kiku might be slightly more reticent in his public affection, but I don't think it's any less profound. He built an entire replica of a Dutch city that is the largest in the country. Huis Ten Bosch is literally larger than Tokyo Disneyland. Idk, man; there's just a lot here that makes me emotional. Like, look at this piece from the poetry Basho, as translated by Jane Reichhold.
kapitan mo tsukubawase keri kimi go haru
even the captain
bows down before
the lord of spring