#Make a single person go through the abusive brainwashing that is military training

[whoviandoodler]

grandma's real bad for my 'don't anger yourself into further digestive disorders' goal

[secret-engima]

Kumo Thoughts

So this will hopefully be quick but the most common take I see for Kumo in the Naruto fandom is that it's a overly militaristic hellhole (pardon the language) that kidnaps and forcibly breeds any bloodline it can get its hands on and like.

I get it?

the Naruto ninja world is absolutely messed up enough to accommodate a village like that. Especially with- *waves at Kiri*, *waves at ROOT*, *waves at Ame*, *wa-*. But I feel like personally I think that's. The shallowest take? Like if that's how you wanna world build it! You can! Lots of angst and interesting subterfuge down that way.

But we seen in canon that shinobi who live in Really horrible villages do tend to go missing-nin en masse; Kiri is the poster child for this, but Iwa and Suna both have some ... pretty noticeable defections. On the flip side the only REAL Kumo missing-nin we see, iirc, are the Kinkaku brothers.

From The First Shinobi War.

Like- what are things we know about Kumo *really* from the show/s?

and the one everyone harps on in worldbuilding- they tried to kidnap Hinata and Kushina.

HOWEVER. The rest of the things we know about them are:

2. Their Raikage is allergic to doors. He refuses to acknowledge doors. He can and will smash through any wall, window, or other non-door entity in order to exit or enter a room when at all possible. This is not the behavior of a Strict Rigid Militaristic Man this is the behavior of a feral gorilla someone stuffed in an office and expected to do paperwork. Which, granted, A is fully capable of doing his paperwork, by all accounts he's actually really good at running his village. But again. This man is allergic to doors or manners and anyone who is willing to arm wrestle Senju Tsunade to get medical assistance for his own men can't be all bad let's be real.

3. Killer B exists. I feel like he alone is enough evidence against the "military breeding program hellhole" fanon but to break it down. This "brother" of A is not actually his brother. In canon, B is literally just- *some kid*, AT BEST a cousin of the previous Jinchuuriki but that is not confirmed iirc, that was among several other kids that were all lined up and told "we need a new Jinchuuriki and A needs a fighting buddy, run at this training dummy and see if you can help him decapitate it" and when B was the one who succeeded they went "congrats you're his brother now, here's your complimentary octopus monster". And like everyone just accepts this? Not a SINGLE person calls B as a fake brother or points out that he and A are not actually related. Not to mention B has the strongest and most stable relationship with his Biju until Naruto and Kurama work out their bromance, and B was rocking that friendship with his biju *years* before Naruto even knew Kurama was a Thing That Existed.

4. B is also beloved by his village. BELOVED. The people adore him and his weird rapping nonsense. And yeah there's flashbacks in the anime to that not being the case when he was first introduced but B was actually able to work on changing their minds. You really think "small feral child rapping at civilians to make them warm up to him" would have flown in Kiri? In Iwa who canonically keep abusing their jinchuuriki to the point of running off? Nope. No sir. B is also allowed to have a team of his own, and seems to not only be an accepted member of the village but also a much trusted and beloved one who is even allowed his own team? Even Konoha doesn't have that good a track record lbr. It took Naruto face punching the guy who just committed genocide on the entire village for Konoha to go "you know what? We like you now".

5. One of the only other jinchuuriki we see that has fully mastered their Biju state and is on good terms with their Biju while also not being a missing-nin (or brainwashed and then immediately dead) is ALSO a Kumo ninja. Namely the holder of the Two Tails. Now on the wiki it says that she was put through a "detestable" training program but we all know how inconsistent Kishi is with... everything worldbuilding ever. And if we go off behavior alone from the brief scenes with her, Yugito Nii is?? Really stable??? And solid with her Biju??? She gave her pawprint for an Uchiha child's book of cat paw prints for crying out loud.

6. throughout the entire show, Jinchuuriki are consistently treated as the lowest class citizens. In basically every village. Naruto in Konoha, Kushina cried when she realized Minato was going to make Naruto a Jinchuuriki and put him through what she went through growing up as one so you know she didn't have a great time either, GAARA is his own entire dissertation on Jinchuuriki treatment and stability, Fuu was raised by the village leader of her village but had zero friends and was canonically super lonely and isolated, Han and Roku straight up ran away from Iwa because of whatever they were put through, a maneuver only repeated in another village by Utakata from Kiri. But in Kumo we find two jinchuuriki who have mastered their biju, are well respected by their peers and fellow citizens, and are basically treated like any other really weirdo ninja from the village barring needing to be monitored with bodyguards in B's case, which is mostly because he keeps running away to go train under rap artists so you can understand why A is ready to go frothing at the mouth feral at his brother sometimes.

All I'm saying is that if even the village's "monsters" are treated that way, why does everyone stick with the fanon that they're a breeding, bloodline stealing hellhole?

Imo it would be WAY more fun to world build Kumo as the feral mountain ninja-mandalorians of the Elemental Nations, who have a reputation for bloodline theft because they keep finding Actual Strays, Refugees from other villages, and Illegitimate bloodline children and going: YO ANYONE GONNA ADOPT THIS? and not waiting for an answer. Your a missing ninja from Kiri and you're fed up with both them and missing-nin life and want to come work for us? Great. Oh you also have a valuable kekkei genkai that can be inherited? Awesome have you heard of our red light district and child support program or better yet our tax deductible program for marrying one of our lovely civilians and raising a family here where no bloodline purges will ever happen ever. Oh you're a stray Uzumaki on the run from bloodline hunters? Well we may have been involved in destroying Uzushio (depends on your fan interpretation since canonically we do not know which villages did that other than Not Konoha) but we also have hot food, good housing, high ninja standards of living, and free weekly entertainment in betting when our Raikage is going to launch his desk at his brother like a high speed missile because B's rapping got too cringy.

Let Hinata's and Kushina's kidnapping either be the exception to their usual playbook of how they acquire bloodlines (hey it's not their fault if the other villages can't keep it in their pants/can't inspire loyalty) OR have it be seen, culturally in Kumo, as something more akin to a rescue mission. Yes these two girls are useful and have useful bloodlines, that's tactically wise, but also have you SEEN how Konoha treats their jinchuuriki? They have seal master princess and are treating her like a dog on a leash! And literally everyone knows what the Hyuuga do to their own kids if they aren't main branch, and we can't rescue any of those kids without their eyeballs exploding and them dying but hey we can snag the heiress and then any kids she has won't have to be branded so-.

Like I feel that would be so much more INTERESTING? Instead of having Konoha be the only "nice" village and make this weird tonal dissonance for how the "nice" village has the most incompetent leadership (Sarutobi) and underground atrocities (Danzo and Orochimaru) while every other village is Horrible All The Time For Everyone why not have Kumo be actually Really Functional and treat their shinobi and Jinchuuriki well and their horrible reputation is *mostly* (not entirely, because. Ninja.) be cultural clashes between the feral mountain ninja and Everyone Else and propaganda from the other villages who would like their shinobi to STOP DEFECTING TO KUMO PLEASE. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY HAVE DENTAL.

Seriously I feel like there is so much more you could do with that angle than just "yet another shinobi village that is Bad and Awful and Needs The Power of Friendship yet somehow has this really stupid goofy jinchuuriki man who loves his brother and his village shut up don't think about it".

[hussein-allam]

Plato’s Recipe for Disaster

In the “Republic”, Plato argues that a good life can only be achieved by living justly. Justice however is not a straight forward concept and it could mean different things to different people. This conundrum becomes apparent as Plato’s discussion with his companions reveals multiple and often starkly contrasting interpretations. Plato realizes the importance of clearing up the confusion and attempts to pin down exactly what justice entails in order to light the way towards a good life. He proceeds to do that by likening the soul to a city where the best soul will mirror the best city. The devil however is in the details. As Plato constructs his model hypothetical city bit by bit with the goal of structuring a just and virtuous society within it, he arguably puts forward a vision that, if implemented, would produce one of the worst and most powerful tyrannies ever conceived.

Plato’s city contains three distinct classes of citizens: the rulers (guardians), the auxiliaries (a professional military), and the working class (laborers, traders, agriculturalists, etc.). The rulers, who are highly educated and knowledgeable, correspond to the rational decision making component of the soul; the auxiliaries symbolize the spirited part which is responsible for anger and impulsiveness; while the working class represents the appetites and bodily needs that tug at the soul. The interplay between these three components and the delineation of responsibilities amongst them, if done in a balanced and harmonious way, results in a temperate city or soul.

Temperance in the soul Plato defines as a sort of order in which rationality gains friendly mastery over the base pleasures and appetites. In this, rationality is aided by the soul’s spirited component which steadfastly upholds and empowers it despite the urges of the appetites as they go through pains and pleasures (131). When this happens and rationality is able to maintain a clear perspective about threats and fears a person is said to be courageous. In the context of the city, this translates as the ruling class securing consensual control over the auxiliaries and the workers. The rulers, exercising their fortitude and wisdom, are able to hold the appetite of the masses in check and rule the city to its collective advantage. In this they are aided by the auxiliaries who’s impulsiveness and propensity to lash out is transformed (by their training and education) into courage that is directed against legitimate threats or terrors (115), who’s presence is a force against chaos and rebellion, and who serve to defend the city against outside aggression. The working classes recognize the competence and wisdom of the ruling strata and willingly submit to their authority.

With the three classes thus interacting harmoniously together, not meddling nor encroaching on the others’ roles and responsibilities, justice is achieved (119). This just and harmonious situation guarantees that factions are non-existent within the city allowing its inhabitants to advance together and effectively act in concert (31). Within the context of the just soul, rationality is in control keeping the appetites at bay (neither starving them nor allowing them to run wild) and harnessing the power of the spirited component towards good and temperate actions. The just person is free from internal contradictions, strife, or guilt and is able to function well as an effective and useful member of society. He is able to keep his body healthy by physical exercise and his soul engaged by music and art safeguarding it from mental illness and depression (133). Other benefits accrue as well for the just person: friendship with the gods (which would presumably result in reward on earth and the afterlife); happiness; fulfilling the virtue of the soul by effectively carrying out its duties to rule, deliberate, and take care of things (34); and generally avoiding poor conduct such as theft, betrayal, adultery, and disrespect for elders (132). As a result he will be esteemed by his community and will enjoy a good reputation (293) as his friends and neighbors look up to him as a role model. Furthermore, the just person will, by virtue of the personal balance and harmony he has achieved, will be able to enjoy “the best pleasures and — to the degree possible — the truest” (289). The ‘good life’ is now at hand.

This contrasts sharply with the unjust person who is ruled by his passions and is unable to restrain his spending which causes him to fall into debt and bankruptcy; is abusive to his parents and puts his lovers before them; is driven to steal and expropriate the property of others; and who eventually betrays his country by seeking the aid of its enemies to enslave it (275). Such a person would be the furthest away from happiness and will lead a paranoid and wretched life. This is mirrored in the unjust city which falls into illiberality with all but a few of its citizens becoming enslaved and impoverished (277). Furthermore the unjust city lives in fear (whether imagined or real) of uprisings or raids from neighbors and wars from just cities.

If Plato’s creation of this mythical city had no other purpose than to illustrate the complexities of the soul and how justice might come to be within it, we might be contented with his analysis and accept his methodology. However, in creating this city, Plato laid out a plan for an allegedly superior political system that others may seek to implement literally or that he himself was promoting as a new alternative for Greek society. It is therefore important to dive in and explore the details of this system to establish whether it is indeed harmonious and just.

Plato begins by painting a portrait of normal people working and going about their lives in an urban gathering. As they grow in numbers and seek to improve their quality of life, they begin to expand their territory and possibly take over areas belonging to neighboring towns. Consequently he creates the warrior class to defend the city and aid in its expansion. To do so, he sets up a program of indoctrination that targets children at an early age to mould them as desired. To ensure that his program is successful, he expropriates the cultural heritage of the city and brings it under state control. Traditions and legends that are judged to be inappropriate or stand contrary to the state’s goals are abolished. Only narratives conducive to the creation of a fierce and courageous warrior class are allowed. This is Plato’s first ingredient in his recipe for disaster. He stifles free expression and the arts and allows what amounts to government-directed propaganda to dominate. Additionally, he actively stops talent and creativity from settling in the city and opts instead to “employ a more austere and less pleasant poet and story-teller” one whose “stories fit the patterns we laid down at the beginning, when we undertook to educate our soldiers (79).” Young children with as yet uncritical minds have no choice but to sponge up the official programming which is now devoid of anything that is not consistent with a single minded warrior: “For the young cannot distinguish what is allegorical from what is not. And the beliefs they absorb at that age are difficult to erase and tend to become unalterable” (59).

His next step is to brainwash the citizenry into believing a monumental lie of his own creation which he justifies by stating that he does so for their own good. Using state propaganda he explains that the gods created three kinds of people: those with gold mixed into their souls (the rulers), those with silver (the auxiliaries), and those with iron and bronze (the workers) (100). He thus cements his three-class society into a socially immobile, brainwashed, stratified monstrosity built on falsehoods. Rulers are suddenly ordained by the heavens to rule by virtue of a god-given gilded right to which all the people must submit owing to the inferior metals coursing through their souls.

To ensure that his design is as resilient as possible, Plato decrees that children with potential are selected at a young age and separated into an encampment where they will lead a communal life of training and studying to become auxiliaries and rulers (101). In one fell swoop, gifted children are deprived of their parents. What impact will such an upbringing have on them? Will this create psychologically disturbed adults? It seems that Plato is creating a whole class of orphans – for better or worse. In fact, he goes further and abolishes the nuclear family altogether mandating that “friends share everything in common” (108). Love therefore is eliminated and the union of man and woman is reduced to a superficial fleeting moment arranged with the sole purpose of begetting children. This is a regimented emotional desert-scape that leaves no room for one of the most fundamental forces that define what it means to be human. How could this loveless state-dominated deprivation result in anything but stilted monolithic dysfunctional soldiers? How will just rulers emerge from this aloof class if they have been isolated since childhood from the majority of their people and simply cannot identify with their daily struggles?

Fans of the Republic may counter these arguments by maintaining that Plato’s city is only a model (or in platonic terminology, a form) with its wise benevolent rulers ensuring that the model is adequately insulated against the possibility of devolving into real world historical tyrannies. This position is unsound. A model must take reality and human nature into consideration. It must have in-built checks and balances that safeguard against the all too common tendency of humanity to slip into downward spirals of totalitarianism and malevolent dictatorship.

Plato realizes that his model is not fool proof and is vulnerable to deterioration and cycling into other forms of rule. This vulnerability however results from the rulers’ deviation from the laws that the model has set out for breeding and procreation when “they beget children when they should not” (241). He does not recognize that the rulers together with the system itself are the problem. He does not realize that he has created a blue print for a supercharged puritanical tyranny that is based on an ideology of superiority where the rulers actually believe that they have exclusive monopoly over truth and wisdom. No room is made for any self doubt or questioning voices. No room is made for critical art or journalism that can promote different points of view and expose mistakes.

Given a choice, we should opt to live in a bumbling democracy that makes frequent mistakes yet has the courage (enshrined in its institutions of plurality, professional journalism, and mass education) to confront and correct itself over time than be trapped in Plato’s sterile dystopian elitist city that has no practical chances at establishing long term durable justice. We should rather have our lives be based on difficult truths than on convenient lies; for it is better to be blinded by the sun than let Plato pull us down into his dark ideological cave of ignorance, subservience, and lies.

و كما قال الشاعر في أغنية "هنا القاهرة" لفنان المهرجانات الصاعد مصطفى عنبة:

أنا مجنون مجنون

بس عمري ما كنت زبون

فكك يلا من شغل الهمج

أنت وقعت مع إبن البلد

ابعد مالشمس احسن تتسلق

هنا القاهرة

لينك الأغنية https://youtu.be/2AFqG8xXSSg

لكن يحتسبله انه فتح الموضوع و استفذ التاريخ و بدأ سلسلة من الردود و الردود المضادة المستمرة الي وقتنا هذا

[ghostmartyr]

I love this chapter as long as I can completely ignore the real world implications behind Gabi and Kaya’s talk. The Jewish parallels were one thing, because at least the Marley Eldians were clearly the victims, but Gabi listing off imperial japan’s worst war crimes and the narrative framing her as being wrong for feeling bad about them left a really bad taste in my mouth. In the story context, she’s wrong. If you look at what isayama is saying about the real world through her... yikes.

So, I have never once taken a world history class in my life, and that’s where I’m left approaching this kind of thing. It makes it easier to let fiction be fiction, but obviously that leaves gaps. I’m not very knowledgeable about a lot of stuff I should be.

Starting with the fictional side, I will say that I don’t think Gabi is presented as being wrong for being upset over all the horrors of the Eldian Empire. Her target is wrong, but if there’s one thing the story has always been upfront about, it’s that genocide and war crimes are wrong.

That’s why you have the Restorationists clinging to the idea that their people never did such things. They invent their own history where the Eldians were the good guys and the rest of the world couldn’t handle it.

Again, that’s something that is vividly depicted as misguided, and it’s deeply connected to Grisha’s own ruin. The man who’s claiming Eldia could do no wrong is the man who abuses his son into becoming a fanatic capable of turning his parents in for the cause.

Paradis is not the Eldian Empire. Characters wanting it to be are painted as dangerous, and they are. Paradis, very specifically, is an island built by someone who wanted the Eldian Empire to be overthrown. Karl Fritz sought peace. He locks himself and his people away, and hands over the fate of the remnants to Marley to do with as they will, since they are the primary victims.

As part of this, Karl rewrites the memories of everyone he takes to his island, and murders the rest.

Comparing Paradis to the current Marley, you’ve got easily defined good guys and bad guys.

Paradis in a vacuum is fucking horrifying. It’s built on one ruler making executive decisions for thousands of people. He enforces those decisions by stealing their memories of the world and murdering anyone he might not be able to control. His closest associates are aware of this, and continue the program. For a hundred years, the people with the greatest chance to change things are forced to follow a dead man’s will.

After Wall Maria falls, twenty percent of their population is thrown to the wolves so that everyone else can live. They don’t call it a culling. They call it a mission to retake the wall.

Twelve-year-olds join the military because that’s when they are eligible, and it’s a mark of shame not to. During their training, it is a common occurrence for recruits to end up dead.

Before Uprising, the government is still fine telling its people lies to get rid of what they perceive as threats to their power. They frame an entire military branch to maintain the status quo. They express willingness to let even more of their own people die to keep themselves alive.

The new government is established with the hopes of doing better, but as we see in this very chapter, things are sliding. A regime that starts out with the intent of being honest with the people is putting soldiers in jail for telling those people the truth. They have offered their verbal consent to use their monarch as a breeding tool so that her children will be weapons of war.

Paradis is not all that great. Parts of it actively suck. The reason they’re generally cast as the heroes is because they are working to undo the cycles that created Paradis. The reason the story is so dark at the moment is that it looks like they’ve failed.

Then we take a look at Marley, and… oy.

Marley uses up Eldian bodies like gunpowder. From a very young age, every little Eldian is taught that they’re making up for the sins of their former Empire, and the roots of that Empire still exist on the devils’ island. In order to prove that they are not like them, they’re actively encouraged to become Warriors. Weapons of mass destruction that will expire in thirteen years.

For Eldian children in Marley, one of the greatest things you can wish for ends with being eaten alive. That is the grand dream. Laying down your life for the lie that your people will be recognized as good Eldians, not like the bad Eldians.

Very straightforward, very fucked up.

The initial snag in it is that Marley itself has taken over from the Eldian Empire. They do not have the range the Empire is said to, but they use the same tools. They don’t force people to have children, but Eldians in internment camps know that if their child becomes a Warrior they receive special treatment. They go to war with child soldiers as their primary weapons, and terrorize their enemies. They rob Eldians of their sentience and throw them to a battlefield they have no choice in entering.

For the majority of the story on Paradis, titans are a force of nature. They’re mindless eating machines. Much of the terror they inspire is linked to that. There is nothing there to negotiate with. There is nothing you can do to bargain or beg. When you come against a titan, you will die, and it will not care. It is an inhuman, indifferent monster.

The walls live in fear of them. Not actively until the fall of Wall Maria, but every part of their lives, as far as they’re aware, has been designed to hide them away from the titans.

Titans are a weapon of mass destruction by virtue of their size, but their greatest use is as a weapon of fear.

Marley utilizes that fear against their enemies and their own recruits. They have no qualms setting the monsters loose. They have no problem creating more of the monsters that symbolize the terror of the Eldian Empire. They have no compunctions about drilling the fear of becoming those monsters into every Eldian child so they won’t dare disobey an order or question their lives.

“Eldians spent thousands of years using the power of the titans to rule and oppress the world! They stole away the cultures of other peoples! They forced them to have children they didn’t want! They killed countless human beings!”

Those are the crimes of the Eldian Empire, for which Paradis is blamed.

Every single point is something that Marley is actively, presently, complicit in.

Marley has created a boogeyman in Paradis for their Eldian prisoners, and they’re attempting to translate that to the world at large. All these evil things? All this awfulness? The only cause of it is a dead Empire. Their sins were so great that it is just to continue punishing every bloodline connected to it.

Pay no attention to the present day. All that matters is what they did.

From a real world context, Paradis is… possibly a dodgy bit of wish fulfillment. It isn’t simply that a hundred years with no contact with the rest of the world has gone by; every person on the island is forcibly enslaved by their King’s revisionist history. Except for key figures in a corrupt cabinet, the citizens of Paradis have been supernaturally removed from the actions of the Eldian Empire.

The extensiveness of that removal means that Paradis is as close to a blameless victim as you can make out of a country. Even though the Empire Paradis is initially part of is definitely not.

In the real world, no, people do not have magical brainwashing powers. They still have corrupt officials invested in denying the truth of their nations’ past crimes and teaching that denial to citizens as gospel. There are atrocities that have been committed that countries would rather deny entirely than admit to being an agent of.

As I understand it (which is an understanding that is severely limited), the specific language Gabi uses is a red flag, because those are all the things Japan insists did not happen, and for very obvious reasons, that rightfully pisses off a lot of people.

Putting that justified outrage in the mouth of a child who has been abused and brainwashed into believing that the evil she is fighting for is really the good guys’ squad… I can see why that would be a concern to audience members. Especially the ones who remember the tweet from a few years back. There are some topics that are best received with caution.

The problem I have with drawing a direct line to the real world is that you have to cut the context almost clean off to get there.

No one except for the Restorationist cult thinks the Eldian Empire was a good thing (and the framing cuts them to pieces for it). Everything we’ve heard about it suggests that it’s better off not existing. Karl Fritz, who is perfectly fine committing mass brainwashing and genocide against his allies, designs the Eldian Empire’s downfall because it is just that awful. He is the highest moral standard of that era.

He’s a dick, in case I haven’t made that clear enough.

What the Eldian Empire is said to have done is probably accurate enough, but Paradis is another victim of its crimes, not a perpetrator denying its involvement. Again with the conceivably dodgy wish fulfillment, but as far as the story is concerned, Paradis has had nothing to do with the rest of the world for a hundred years.

Marley is claiming that crimes that took place a hundred years ago–crimes that Marley itself adopted, crimes that no living person (except maybe the Founding Titan) remembers–is reason enough to justify slaughtering all of them.

That’s the rhetoric Gabi has been indoctrinated with her entire life.

My world history is nonexistent, but I do know a thing or two about American history. The crimes Gabi shouts that Eldians are guilty of are crimes that every perpetrator of genocide in the world has been guilty of. It is not a particularly creative endeavor. The United States slaughtered Native Americans, poisoned them, raped them… honestly, it’d be faster to come up with human rights violations they didn’t check off.

The world Isayama has concocted is one where the people who are loudest about the evils of genocide are the ones currently committing it.

I do not know how loaded it is for a Japanese man to be using that language in such a way. The real world context is lost on me. However, the fictional context is on the up and up:

It is wrong that these things happen. Marley has weaponized that morality in its Eldian citizens. They believe in that wrongness so thoroughly that they’ve become blind to their participation in it.

The monsters aren’t titans. The machinations of evil don’t belong to a single bloodline. The monsters are humans.

I don’t think Isayama is always the most subtle of authors. Especially when it comes to darkness. Several people I know stopped watching the anime when its second season opened with Mike’s death. They felt it was gratuitous and unnecessary. Most of my complaints about the series follow that line. When he wants to make something obvious, he hammers it in.

Marleyan Eldians don’t just wear identifying markers in their internment camp, it’s a damn star.

Isayama borrowing from the real world to enhance the reality of his fiction is a tried practice, but when you’re writing a story about the evils of genocide, and your borrowings include some of the language discussions of real world genocide has brought about…

You have to work to keep the fiction as the primary consideration when someone is overly familiar with the reality it comes from. Otherwise that reality imposes itself on the fiction.

When the reality you’re borrowing from is at odds with its use in the fictional story… Congratulations, you have formed a mess, you should have maybe not done that. Most of the people upset about genocide nowadays are not perpetrating it or hysterically brainwashed. That role tends to go to the deniers.

The story is blunt enough about what it thinks of genocide that one of its common criticisms is that the antagonists are cartoonishly evil. Its morals and themes are not remotely subtle.

That doesn’t mean its application of language can’t be really stupid.

I don’t think there’s anything suspect about Kaya and Gabi’s conversation from a fictional perspective, and even from a meta perspective, it’s still being very clear about what it thinks of the harms done to children by evil, and what’s defined as evil unquestionably is.

Gabi isn’t wrong to hate the evil in the world. She’s been lied to about where it is. She has a stronger connection to the Eldian Empire than the people of Paradis, but she doesn’t hate herself or her fellow Marleyan Eldians. Just Paradis.

All present day Eldians are victims of the Eldian Empire and Marley. Paradis comes to be from the last Eldian Empire King ripping away their agency, and Marley makes sure every Eldian under their watch knows to hate themselves, and that the world never forgets to hate their abilities.

The story is very anti-genocide. It’s very supportive of the victims. The conversation might have shades of a reality that doesn’t belong to those messages, but the overwhelming feel is that these are children, and because some people thought genocide was a gr9 strategic aim, they’re all horrifically traumatized.

So they help each other.

Falco offers Kaya closure. Kaya offers them a way to make it back home. They’ve been too hurt to want anything but healing, so when they see someone in need of it, they reach out a hand.

I don’t know much about the real world, but… the victories in this series are achieved when people embrace their idealism, and try to be better than what came before them. That isn’t a story I have a problem with.

[killthebxy-archive]

GENERAL BACKGROUND

          this verse takes place in modern days. the Stark syndicate operates from the shadows, with the intention to overthrow the corrupt government which has taken over the country for decades (usually, the Targaryens, but this is adaptable to thread). their current leader is Ned Stark (code name: quiet wolf), who has his children undergoing extensive military training for the sake of carrying on the family’s duty and legacy: handling of several types of weapons, hacking of computer systems, physical endurance, pain endurance, battle strategies, how to perform and how to withstand torture methods, etc. Robb (code name: young wolf) and Jon (code name: white wolf) are his most trusted agents, despite their still relatively young age, with Sansa following close behind while Arya, Bran, and Rickon are finishing the common, basic education at school. whereas Robb is mostly responsible for Ned’s direct and close protection, Jon’s main role in the syndicate consists in the creation of fake identities/personas for himself, as to be able to infiltrate any sort of place required. some of his most intricate ones include a celebrity hairstylist, a master chef, and a priest. he is also greatly skilled in hacking computer systems, in self-defense martial arts, in fencing, and has extensive knowledge in the handling of different guns.

          despite having his father’s complete trust and respect, however, one of Jon’s missions eventually goes horribly wrong, with disastrous consequences. under the scheming of Petyr Baelish (code name: littlefinger), Jon was betrayed by his coworkers and his mission was sabotaged, motivated by hunger for power and wish to usurp Ned’s place at the head of the syndicate. outnumbered by agents of the government and forced to retreat, Jon eventually was shot on his right side, a bit above the hipbone. through sheer willpower and determination, he was still able to escape the building but ended up fainting from blood loss soon after, in a deserted alleyway. meanwhile, the plan to murder Ned succeeded and Robb was initially framed for the crime --- and, with all posterior searches proving to be fruitless in finding Jon’s body, the family came to believe him dead as well. 

note: this general background woks in conjunction with @kingwholost ‘s verse [CLICK]

SUBVERSE 1 (main/ default one)

          what in truth happened, however, was that Jon was rescued by civilians, who found his already unconscious body and called an ambulance. given his critical condition, rather than the central hospital, he was rushed to a much smaller and more modest one that existed nearby --- better known as a medical school, which led to him not being found there. post surgery, and for almost a month, Jon was in stage 4 coma and, when finally returning to senses, suffered from generalized retrograde amnesia. the period of time elapsed between the failed mission and the present day is thread dependent, but, overall, the incident caused Jon to completely erase from his memory everything prior to it (including information as basic as his real name, age, or family) --- technically speaking, his episodic and autobiographical memories were severely affected, while the conceptual and procedimental memories remained intact. for a few days, Jon also had to do physiotherapy, as to help his body recover from such a long period of inactivity. in the meanwhile, having no idea about his identity and no place to go, he was allowed to remain at the hospital till sorting out his situation. eventually, a kind family offered to foster him, and, as a sign of appreciation, Jon adopted their name --- being known as Jon Stark, in pre-amnesia, and Jon Snow in post-amnesia.

          with his life more or less stabilized, Jon began looking for clues about his past, only to be met with failure time and time again. somehow, it was as though every single trace of his previous existence had been erased from the planet, including any form of documents or any register of his fingerprints --- all of this related to his life as a spy/ secret agent that he’s now unaware of. on the other hand, although his explicit memory does not recall the training he endured, his body does and, in a crisis situation (e.g., being attacked), it reacts instinctively and, despite his relatively small stature, Jon is very difficult to overcome in a fight. having no clue where such skill comes from, Jon nonetheless decided to capitalize on it and currently works as a bodyguard/ close protection officer. as well, he managed to rent his own apartment.

          personality wise, Jon is introverted and a bit shy in certain aspects, but friendly and always ready to help those in need --- which easily spans beyond his work/ his clients. he keeps a small notebook with him where he writes down the bits and pieces he gradually recalls about his past life, such as his preferences and what he likes or dislikes. he also has the Stark direwolf tattooed on his right hip, close to where the gunshot scar was left, although he cannot remember what is the meaning associated with it. as well, every now and then, there’s the potential for a few people of his past,  not always with harmless intentions, to come looking for him and for the information he gathered during his sabotaged mission, which he was able to salvage despite everything else.

a quick sum-up of details:

default verse age: 22 years (thread dependent);

bisexual & biromantic;

doesn’t smoke and doesn’t drink --- and is actually the literal definition of a lightweight;

is quite short-sighted and wears glasses, though not whilst working for obvious motives --- which makes him rather clumsy and prone to small accidents;

is actually v good at housekeeping and is a bit of a neat freak;

sucks at winking because he cannot blink only one eye at a time.

SUBVERSE 2 (private and requiring previous plotting)

          this is the far angstier twist of this verse’s general background --- where, during the sabotaged mission, Jon was, instead, captured by the government agents and brainwashed/ mind controlled into joining their cause.

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT, FROM HERE ON, THIS TEXT WILL HAVE EXPLICIT CONTENT RELATED TO PHYSICAL/ MENTAL/ EMOTIONAL TORTURE, MANIPULATION, ABUSE, TRAUMA, LOSS OF IDENTITY, PSYCHOSIS, DISSOCIATION, AND SIMILAR THEMES.

          NOTE: the foundation of this subverse is a process of brainwashing/ mind control to the point of breaking down one’s identity and reforge it at another’s will. what we know from scientific evidence is that this process is still debatable --- whether it is real or a different psychological phenomenon, what it takes to happen, consequences, etc. obviously, it is impossible to conduct research to test hypotheses in such a field --- for this reason, i have researched accordingly (shoutout to @timeripe for coming along for the ride) and i have tried to build up this background as realistically and plausibly as possible.

          having been captured, and with the government superiors being well aware of the menace the Stark syndicate presents, they decided to make use of Jon for their own benefit --- as mean to both take advantage of his knowledge of the syndicate and as a way to gain the emotional upper hand, so to speak, considering their intent was now to pitch his own son against Ned. initially, Jon was put through extensive interrogation, though with little success --- since, as i mentioned above, he’s well trained to undergo such situations without submitting. therefore, more drastic measures were authorized, to do whatever necessary to shift Jon’s loyalty towards their own cause. for weeks, he suffered extreme conditions of imprisonment, lack of food and water and light, intense and continued sleep deprivation, and several forms of physical abuse --- all of this as part of stage 1 of the brainwashing protocol, with the intention of breaking his resistance and psychological integrity.

          with this achieved, stage 2 was started --- the stage of implementing false memories into Jon’s mind, with the intention of shattering his trust/ beliefs on his family and upbringing. three main points were essential. first, the extreme physical exhaustion at the end of stage 1, that left Jon much more vulnerable to manipulation. second, the use of Jon’s illegitimate/ adopted nature, to lead him to believe that he never truly belonged with the Starks nor was he wanted/ cherished/ appreciated by them, and was raised simply to be a tool used in their missions --- while, at the same time, portraying the government in a positive light, in the role of saviors. third, the presence of a figure that Jon could grow to trust instead, and who began then caring for him and providing him with everything he lacked during stage 1, thus creating a power relationship based on dependence.

          after these two stages, the main objective was achieved: Jon was broken down to a shell of his former self, now formatted to believe that the Stark family merely used him while the government agents rescued him from such. from this point on, then, he is kept in a maintenance stage to ensure that 1) he has as little contact with non-government related persons, and 2) that the “we are the good guys” message is frequently reinforced. Jon lives currently at one of the government bases, with a select group of individuals, an is only allowed outside during missions. whenever he’s not required, he’s kept sedated to prevent chances of him (accidentally or not) wandering off. around mission times, this process is interrupted and he’s awaken, following through proper physical and technical training as necessary. as well, during these times, he’s put through frequent sessions of hypnosis. in this case, based on the following conceptual knowledge:

Hypnosis is a state of human consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion. Altered state theories see hypnosis as an altered state of mind or trance, marked by a level of awareness different from the ordinary conscious state. During hypnosis, a person is said to have heightened focus and concentration. The person can concentrate intensely on a specific thought or memory, while blocking out sources of distraction. Hypnotized subjects are said to show an increased response to suggestions.

          again, the main purpose is to keep Jon focused on the message previously implemented, while reducing his awareness/ attention towards anything else deemed undesirable by the government. this general hypnosis protocol is practiced during “normal” days --- while, around mission times, the focus is on Jon’s skills to carry it out successfully. for this sake, and through classical conditioning, he’s also trained in relevant behaviors prompted by cues --- to balance his reduced awareness provoked by the general protocol. for example, he’s conditioned to pause and tend himself, whenever a wound is inflicted on his body (which, yes, is the logical thing to do anyway --- however, at this point, he’s not doing it because it’s logical, but because he’s been trained for it).

          in this subverse, Jon will only ever be found in one of two situations: either he’s at the government base, going through any of the different stages or already after the brainwashing process is concluded, or he will be found outside during a mission. in this case, there will be potential for him to come across strangers and/or persons he remembers from before. unless your muse is one with very high relevance in his life though, like Robb or Arya, it’s not likely that they will be able to have Jon fully snapping out of it and returning to his former self --- unless it is a thread where he’s taken away from the government for good, and the heavy routines of manipulation/ conditioning/ hypnosis are broken (yet, even so, it will definitely require considerable time).

[bastardsunlight]

About Floyd

Name: Floyd Rene Morales DOB: 1996 DOD: 2038 Abilities: Floyd has the rare ability to compel not only vampires, but entire rooms of them. He has extensive military training (a SEAL in his former life) and can pluck a guitar with some skill. Not a fantastic singer, but tries anyway.

Bio: Floyd’s early years are simple, quiet, with an eccentric (but loving) mother and a stern (somewhat religious) father. He grows up with tales of faerie folk and magic. At the age of 3, his mother saves him from an oncoming vehicle with her practical magic. It is after this that things begin to fall apart, Dave Morales’s religious fervor springing from tolerable to zealous. 5 years later, he has Natalie committed. His only concern seems to be for the welfare of his son, however, as he insists his (now ex) wife had been trying to brainwash their eight year old son.

Being a single parent is hard on Dave and Floyd is an intelligent, willful child. Dave punishes Floyd harshly for any mistakes, taking up the mantra of “spare the rod, spoil the child” as his foundation for parenting. He has convinced Floyd that his mother is dead.

When Floyd is 11, Dave remarries. Judy Devereaux is a member of the parish the Morales family attends. Thus begins Floyd’s spiral into his tumultuous teen years. For some reason, he does not blame his father for his mother’s commitment, reasoning that she must have been truly insane… but Judy is the interloper and, despite her attempts at kindness, he does not reciprocate, pushing everyone–even his father–away, by the time high school rolls around.

He develops a fascination with hard drugs early. It starts with Ecstasy and Coke, ‘til he ends up trying it all, though he’s pretty settled with Marijuana most of the time (thank heavens). Floyd has a “job”. He’s told his parents he works at a local fast food joint, to which Judy brings him and then he skips out with his new “boyfriend”. Enter Jared, an older man, about 30, and fry cook at the restaurant. He tells Floyd how he can make a quick buck, since they met when the kid was offering blow jobs in a public restroom. Jared essentially becomes Floyd’s pimp, pre-arranging meetings with eager johns. Floyd DOES make money doing this, but as often happens, his view on intimacy is dashed to smithereens. Jared is your typical abusive older boyfriend, using lines like “mature for your age” to seduce younger victims.

Sometime in the summer between Sophomore and Junior year, Floyd “breaks up” with Jared and sets out on his own, still doing bad shit and getting knocked around. Dave has long since given up asking about the bruises, preferring denial to concern. Judy tends Floyd’s wounds while slowly, Floyd beings to realize that Jared was just using him.

At 17, in his senior year of high school at Moreland Academy, Floyd meets Damian and everything changes. The guy lives alone, he’s clearly the misfit, starving artist type, but the two hit it off. He starts seeing Damian regularly and, as it turns out, the vampire is just the stability Floyd needs. He moves out of his house the moment he turns 18 and in with Damian, who helps him finish school with top marks and encourages him to go to college.

Things snowball from there, with Dave growing more abusive toward Judy (because Floyd is never home) and Judy filing for divorce. Floyd completes college at 22 and heads off to the military, eventually landing himself in the SEALs under the codename Stiletto.

At 42, Floyd has served for almost 20 years and he is badly injured. He will be paralyzed for life, if he lives through the surgeries. Judy and Damian are by his bedside day and night… at one point, Damian offers Floyd his life, but Floyd refuses it, assuring Damian that he’s done all he can do and he’s done damn good by the human.

It is Damian’s brother, a Fractal for the vampire council, who sneaks into Floyd’s hospital room one night and turns him, on orders from the council…

Thus, a vampire is born who bears the singular ability to compel other vampires–whole ROOMS of them.

Appearance: Short, about 5′6″, skinny, with bright purple eyes, dark hair and pale (well he’s a vampire like, idk what you want) skin. 

Personality: A rebellious teen grew into a responsible, if sharp young man. He’s competent, kind, but prone to bouts of nostalgia. His favorite pastime is roasting the youth on twitter.

Tag: fastenyourseatbelts