#I love fantasy politics

[anneapocalypse]

I'll be interested to see what further developments happen in the patches with Alexandria, but so far I think Wuk Lamat is handling the situation very delicately, and very smartly.

Alexandria is, undeniably, an invading force in Xak Tural. It's a foreign nation that has moved onto Turali land and claimed that land and its people under its own sovereignty, with the intent to harvest a resource from it at the direct expense of its people. This is, obviously, wrong, and needs an answer.

Wuk Lamat as the Vow of Resolve has, with the help of her allies, already achieved something pretty significant and challenging here: she has defeated the invading government (Sphene and Zoraal Ja) without directly declaring war on Alexandria's people (most of whom probably had little to no say in the invasion). Her diplomacy during her initial introduction to Alexandria has probably gone a long way here; she has not given the people any more reason than absolutely necessary to believe she is a threat to them.

Declaring the very young Gulool Ja Alexandria's new king feels undeniably weird in more ways than one, but I think that politically it's probably the smartest thing Wuk Lamat could have done.

Her goal, as it's always been, is to maintain peace for her people. A good number of her people are now directly entangled with Alexandria. A rebellion against Tuliyollal rule by the Alexandrians is a direct threat to her people, particularly the ones living in Heritage Found. Even with Sphene gone, Alexandria is still possessed of substantial military power and weapons technology that could conceivably be commandeered either by existing military personnel (because even an army of robots requires some level of manpower to maintain) or by a civilian militia were one to arise. Bottom line: even with the head cut off, Alexandria still poses a threat to the safety and sovereignty of Tuliyollal. And even if the Dawnservants could be reasonably certain their own forces could overpower the Alexandrians--which they conceivably could based on sheer numbers--there would still be a bunch of their own people caught in the crossfire.

Furthermore, the defeat of Sphene and the shutting down of Living Memory means that the end of regulators and spare souls is coming. (The new raid series suggests too that the Warrior of Light may have a hand in ending the use of souls.) This is going to be highly disruptive to the Alexandrian way of life, and probably really fucking scary to a people who have become reliant on this technology. There are bound to be objections. While it's unclear to me at this time how many people knew what Sphene was actually doing, it's not inconceivable that more could find out, and that someone might seek to put her plans in motion once again in order to preserve the soul economy.

This is, in short, a pretty precarious situation politically, and a lesser Dawnservant would already be looking at a city teetering on the edge of revolt.

So, how do we convince the Alexandrians we aren't a threat to them in the short term, while we figure out how we're going to handle this in the long term?

Well, a good first step is probably to give them their king. Alexandria is, at least in name, a monarchy. By the rules of that system, Gulool Ja is a rightful heir to the throne. By allowing him to claim that birthright, you make a show of respecting Alexandrian "sovereignty." You also declare him family--he's your nephew, after all. Now you have a familial connection, the stuff of which royal alliances are made. And of course, the new king is just a child. He's going to need advisors, a regent, and a lot of guidance. You can have a hand in that.

Sure, the Alexandrians are going to notice your influence over their ruler and might still have feelings about that. It's not a perfect solution. But by the same token, snatching their one living heir away from them and openly declaring them under your rule now is probably going to go over a lot worse.

Like I think the game kind of downplays this being a calculated choice, especially since Wuk Lamat doesn't come across as a calculating person. But if we were to observe this scenario in any other fantasy setting... that's how you install a puppet king. I don't especially like to use that term in this case, because I think Wuk Lamat genuinely cares about her nephew and isn't simply using him to maintain power. Nonetheless, it is an undeniably political move, and one that benefits Tuliyollal.

It's likely the Alexandrian people are here to stay--thanks to the dimensional compression, they're in the unique situation where the land they live on is both theirs and not theirs, and that is a problem, but forced relocation also isn't a great solution.

Judging by Wuk Lamat's goals, ethos and the example of her father, I think her hope is probably to bring Alexandria under the banner of Tuliyollal without having to shed blood for it, not least the blood of her own people who would be caught in the crossfire. She understands now that sometimes there's no more room for diplomacy and you have to fight your enemies head on, but if there's a chance she can do this peacefully, through diplomacy, then she's going to try, because that's who she is. She also probably understands that most Alexandrians had no choice in this, and a show of good faith might go a long way toward earning their trust as they adapt to the loss of their queen and the changes that will inevitably follow.

It's a bad situation without a doubt, and one that's already been very destructive to the people of Xak Tural. Gulool Ja Ja sought to unite rather than to conquer. I think Wuk Lamat's hope is to do the same, for the practical purpose of limiting further damage as much as possible.

[dellamortethelesser]

I’m chewing on so many thoughts for Naoise. One of my mutuals informed me that Eleanor Cousland has the sexiest backstory ever and intentionally kept it from her children so we don’t even get to KNOW in game that Cousland has a pirate grandpa and that Eleanor once pushed Bryce from a cliff because he mistook her for the help.

Naoise might not have grown up knowing this his mother “might have dallied as a battle maiden once”, and not the fact that she sailed up and down the Storm Coast to prohibit the feasibility of moving Orlesian soldiers into Ferelden, but he CERTAINLY resembles her in his looks and in his mannerisms that I think people who know her history do a double-take when they cross paths with him.

Eleanor and Bryce’s son? The youngest? The one who rarely left Highever and who reportedly is Eleanor’s spitting image in facade and spirit? Well, I do think I shall get right out of your way now, Ser…

Naoise is cunning and clever and wily, and everyone who says he doesn’t have any diplomacy or tact is wrong; he does, and he gets his way quite a lot, but he’s unafraid to ruffle feathers to do it. He’s not APPEASING, is the difference Arl Howe makes when he remarks on how fierce Bryce’s boy has become.

Naoise is the spoiled second child, quick to brattiness and indignation, and his stubbornness means that he refuses to yield when he doesn’t get his way—but is that such a bad thing, when you can read people like a book with a few quick quips? Sure, he might be annoying to travel with and hearing him bemoan the loss of his house can be tiresome (if sympathetic, as the grief is fresh), but it’s that same rigidity that pushes him on. If he desires his vengeance, he will receive it.

[the-soft-hoodie]

This ✨ destroy ✨ me

[bacchuschucklefuck]

prayer of the day:

[ablazenqueen]

THEN: EP 7 |vs| NOW: EP 11

Love Game in Eastern Fantasy

[secondarysefikura]

I'm not going to go TOO in depth about this cause I don't think a lot of people really want me to ramble about political theory and such, but I think Shinra would have secretly been quite grateful for the terrorist attacks caused by Avalanche at the start of the game.

Why? Well it's about this little thing called diversionary war. Diversionary war is great for governments that have recently been involved in some sort of scandal, because it rallies the people who might have been very upset about said scandal around a common enemy. Think "celebrity flooding the news with some sort of fluff story to take attention away from the massive lawsuit they're in" type thing.

With that in mind, imagine you are Shinra. You have done your fair share of unethical things, but it's not really all that worrisome since everyone who knows about the bad things you have done either a: works for you and therefore can't whistleblow without incriminating themselves or b: is dead/being experimented on in a lab somewhere. Life is good.

But then one of your ex-employees, who happens to know about one of the really bad things you covered up AND who you have been experimenting on for a few years escapes. Well shit. If he whistle blows, others might follow suit. And the dead body he's dragging with him means he isn't exactly stuble, even if he's trying to hide. It's only reasonable to assume that he is going to try to let people know about all the things you have been up to.

And sure you managed to kill him, but that doesn't mean he wasn't at large for quite a while. Who knows what kind of public outcry might be brewing. If only something really terrible happened that would distract everyone from the bad things you've done and make everyone rally around you. If only...oh, Avalanche attacked? Well isn't that convenient. We now have public enemy number one to put any and all blame on.

[corseque]

made the mistake of clicking on the "for you" tab and saw the worst dragon age text post I have ever seen. It was like "man, I hope Bioware goes back to exploring [idea they thoroughly explored in all 3 games] like they did in Origins. I just know that they're just so obsessed with [idea that has been the main focus of everything from the very first cutscene of Origins]. I'm so sick of it."

This is what 10 years of not actually playing any of the games and playing them in your head is like. 10 years. I think some of you guys need a break. I know it did me some good.

[freckledbastard]

there are currently 0 gulool ja ja, zoraal ja or bakool ja ja x wol fics on ao3 atm......

(is it gonna have to be me. do i need to be the change i wish to see in this world)

[crimeronan]

another Vital AU hunter-and-camila thought from this morning was a thought of, like. camila very very very gently and carefully explaining that she'd like luz to get a basic physical done by a doctor in the human realm, because luz has not been seen by a human doctor since she was four and is overdue for ten million vaccines and desperately needs bloodwork to check her vitamin and thyroid levels, etc, etc, etc, and hunter is like. visibly freaked out and upset by this. bc he is SO afraid of strangers hurting luz.

anyway. that's all pretty much expected, on account of The Horrors.

what got me in my feelings was the thought of camila telling hunter that she has a lot of the same worries, and that she Knows not all human healers have good intentions, and that she Promises she'll take that into account when finding one for luz. because she does not want luz to get hurt.

hunter, naturally, is like "how.... do you know that....?" and camila is like ay dios mio. HOW do i explain medical racism or the united states..... to a boy.... with no concept of racism or the united states.....

[caninemotiff]

Narratives where it's the love that dooms them, love not as a positive force but a force to be reckoned with, when at the moment the hero could have chosen to save the world but they chose to save the one they love instead and now it's too late, love that is so strong that you can't let it go even if letting if go is the right thing to do

[lunarlover12]

Tracker after finding out Kristen can no longer cast spells due to her dead God: "What's gonna happen with you and Augefort?"

Kristen Applebees WITHOUT HESITATION: "I'm gonna be president, bitch."

[marsreds]

i try to not really care about what authors say post-work because i find it lazy and uninspired but. i'm really feeling it with all the arcane writer interviews coming out like. i'm sorry but if you kill off a woman (of color) in order to forward a (white) man's story and then say how *checks notes* "[having her relationship with him echo what he had with another man] was the most fun part of Sky to write."... maybe you shouldn't say things.

[vaguely-concerned]

Origins is of course the DA game most closely in conversation with and playing around with Tolkien (right down to the walking talking poetree haha) -- and even more so than most works in the larger western fantasy tradition derived from Tolkien's work that DA:O also hails from and owes a lot of its Stuff to, what makes the game so great to me is that it's doing so very deliberately, and is subverting and deconstructing those tropes and entrenched ideas in some very interesting ways without at all denigrating what it's commenting on. (it doesn't have the almost disdainful undertones of the vein of fantasy that seeks to make the world more 'realistic' ala the more tedious reactions to G.R.R.Martin's work, for example, despite having the darker fantasy bent to it.) among other elements it adopts, what I find the most fascinating is the choice to use the same literary device/conceit Tolkien did in ostensibly only having in-universe biased sources and works to deliver the world through (which I feel is an underappreciated thing about his approach but is part of what makes his world so enduringly compelling and real-feeling -- the feeling of real scholarship devoted/applied to a made-up world. the grounding effect of a good diegetic footnote about source criticism, truly).

many things to be said there, and I'm glad each following game has taken on different perspectives and lenses and traditions to view the world of Thedas through because if you stick with that one too closely for too long I fear we could teeter precariously close to Pratchett's famous and bitingly accurate accusation of most modern fantasy of that era just being about rearranging the furniture in Tolkien's attic lol. and while you could accuse DA2 (my perfect wife who has never done anything wrong in her life to be clear) of many things, that's not one of them, they are pulling on some completely different strings for that one and both the game and DA overall is better for it, to my mind. as so many things in this series: worth staying with and exploring for an installment even if it might get stale if all of it was like this! people are understandably sad about the elements from previous games that they liked which were lost along the way, but that capacity for reinvention is to my mind a huge strength of dragon age as a whole.

(I think Veilguard is coming in as a close second in Tolkien conversation-ness if only in outlining/revealing the worldbuilding that indeed may have been planned since DA:O around the animosity that SHOULD by all rights exist between dwarves and elves in this universe (as per Tolkienesque tradition standards). but doesn't really because you see: politics and the many pitfalls of conservation of knowledge over the ages. our ancestral enmity got semi-intentionally lost between the floorboards of history and you know what. maybe for the best. the humans are already up to so much shit you gotta keep your eyes on them at all times you can't be brawling with each other in the deep roads while they're still around getting up to their nonsense or they'll just pile up even more of it)

[singing-swan]

And yet, underneath it all your heart still beats on.

[the-kingshound]

Putting the current angst aside for a second, I find it telling how the two major critiques to the game are that the characters are too nice to MC and that the ROs are too feminine (because they are nice. Because men aren't nice and don't say "dear" or "darling")

... I don't know

[zylphiacrowley]

Let me face your fears

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