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evilasiangenius · 7 years

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Ekstasis end notes

Usually I wait until I’m done with the story to write up end notes, but Ekstasis is looking to take some time to write. So before I forget the details (and I’ve already forgotten some things) I thought I’d post the notes here.

Note: this is a working draft; I’ll be revising these since I still have some other stuff to go through.

Chapter 1

Ekstasis starts after Furiosa has lost her arm but before she goes to visit Angharad and the girls at the end of Fortuna. That part I haven't come to yet.

The Ace talks more in detail about putting on mourning scars in chapter 12 of Gloria. It's assumed that many people have already put on mourning (Coil, Morsov, Nux, etc.) since it's been some time since Acosta's death.

Imperator Acosta dies in chapter 4 of Fortuna.

Coil had been doing the bulk of caring for Furiosa at night, mostly when she was very ill, until the Ace was well enough to take over. He could only come later in the evenings due to work. Furiosa does not remember those early weeks of recuperation when Coil was by her side and never learns about it until many years later in Gloria.

Furiosa and Coil's earlier relationship is explored in Tenera. In chapter 4 of Euphoria, their friendship and relationship is damaged at the last War Games. They haven't been as close in recent months as they were before the War Games.

Chapter 2

This is the car that Nux drives in Fortuna.

Morsov was assigned to Nux as his Lancer in Fortuna. He's surprised because Furiosa is not wearing the white and is basically topless.

Morsov saved Furiosa's life on top of the War Rig in Fortuna.

Rose the Blackthumb is a character that can be seen in the movie, a heavyset War Boy in overalls that is doing auto body work on the Interceptor when Max makes his wild run through the lower warren of the War Tower.

The higher number the gauge, the thinner the steel. 22 is more along the lines of contemporary cars, which are far lighter and more fragile than classic cars of the 20th century.

A War Boy of War Boys is one who has survived the desert initiation run, which is written about in L'Arbre du Ténéré, a three day walk with no food or water.

From the moment Slit accepts Nux's proposal, several days pass, up to a few weeks. I think I had this figured out when I was writing Tenera, that it would take a week or two to get everything ready.

Nux had probably been using a communal wheel up until this point, probably some nearly unadorned one that is used by the daily patrol drivers whose vehicles are assigned at random as opposed to the more ornate and decorated wheel that he and Slit put together.

If Slit had left Nux alone in the car overnight, it would have said something rather unpleasant about their relationship to others.

Slit's bracer then is a copy of Rictus' bracer. Copying elite goods using ordinary materials is archaeologically attested as far back as the Chalcolithic.

In the short story Our World, Nux tells Capable that his bracelet is welded on, but he's not telling the truth there.

The story of the hex key is in chapter 2 of Vulnera.

So far, Slit is careful to keep his self-harm to parts of his body that are covered by his clothes.

Chapter 3

Some of the work done on Furiosa's hand is described in chapter 5 of Rota.

There are heavier and lighter deka- weights (since it's base-10 metric), and War Boys know from context which one is which. So either dekagrams or dekakilos. This idea originally came from Italian, which uses etto to signify 100 gram measurements.

Morsov, your Buzzard is showing. Stop staring at Rose literally like a piece of meat.

A few weeks have passed since Furiosa left the infirmary in the first chapter and her arm is finally completely healed up.

In lieu of traditional fats for soap making, soap at the Citadel is made from petroleum distillates.

Coil has been sick with worry that Furiosa would die. He's already lost one partner and the stress of possibly losing another partner has been hard on him.

Petroleum jelly is naturally black. The idea here is that there is a more expensive purified clear one that is used medicinally, and otherwise the regular black one is used decoratively.

Stonker's backstory and childhood is explored in later chapters of Vincula, starting at chapter 9.

War Boys that have an interest and skill in drawing sometimes end up learning how to brand. Win definitely did this too.

Acosta had been Ace's friend since they were both teenagers. This can be seen in various chapters of Vincula, starting around chapter 4.

Morsov's childhood and his being rescued out of the waste is explored in Refuge.

The Ace putting a crewmate under the wheels is discussed in chapter 4 of Rota.

More on Morsov's relationship with his former Driver Elvis can be found in chapter 4 of Euphoria.

The music box plays Hushabye Mountain.

Chapter 4

Bioluminescent glowworms are native to Australian caves. The Buzzards cultivate them when they can for extra light.

In the dark, Buzzards all wear a small red piezoelectric LED bulb. Red light helps them keep their night vision. Their cars also are fitted with red bulbs.

Tran and Dart were Coil and Furiosa's rival team in chapter 3 Vulnera. They've all been buddies since (see Lamia).

The current hierarchy, from top to bottom, and rating War Boys by experience is Furiosa, the Ace, Tran, Coil, Dart, Morsov. However since Morsov trained directly under the Ace, he's been put in charge.

War Boys eat mostly non-meat foods. The only meat that's eaten in this part of the wasteland is human, which as far as the War Boys know, only the Buzzards eat, though the War Lords are known to indulge, such as in chapter 6 of Vulnera.

The cohort of War Pups are those specifically chosen to be trained to be future Lancers and Drivers, which is a small percentage of the whole (less than 20%). All the other kids are Organics, which means they do little jobs around the Citadel and work on the farms. Sometimes non-cohort boys can work their way into the Revhead world and ostensibly get trained up to be a Lancer, but that sort of promotion is not as common as it was in the past during Ace's youth for example, since there is more available labor now and those in charge can afford to be picky about who gets promoted to do what.

After the War Party in Fortuna, many captives and vehicles were captured.

The War Games are described in chapters 3 and 4 of Euphoria, and live training is described in chapter 3 of Vulnera.

The Ace fell off the War Rig during a battle in Fortuna.

Stonker is defined as “something that is very large or impressive of its kind.” I first came across the word reading BBC Formula 1 Grand Prix highlights (“That was a stonker of a lap!”).

The goggles Morsov gives to the Ace were the ones that Morsov brought with him when he came to the Citadel in Refuge. Of course, rubber parts have been replaced over time, but he gives these to the Ace, who wears them from now on.

Chapter 5

Nux lesson plans as part of his daydreaming, among other things. Visualization is important for many athletes, actors, and others in general (e.g. the book “The Inner Game of Tennis”) Specifically for this story, I envisioned it as how Formula 1 drivers do a lot of visualization. A dramatization of this can be seen in the movie Rush where James Hunt visualizes the Monaco Grand Prix course. Look up 'Internal Motor Imagery Rush 2013' on Youtube.

The Tertius and Quartus Imperators are the two Imperators seen on top of the Gigahorse in the movie. I think some fans call them Frank and John (John and Frank?). I don't know if they're fraternal or identical twins.

The very formal speech of the twin Imperators is partially to show their status, but mostly because Immortan Joe demands propriety in his presence. As soon as business is over, they drop the formality, but notice that they pick up the formality again with the Ace, suggesting they have some serious official business with him.

The different emblems can be seen in the movie: The Prime Imperator wears the full emblem, made from metal, and the Secundus (aka Composite) Imperator wears a leather badge.

Furiosa changes her manner of speech to be more deferential to the higher-ranked Imperators. However throughout the series, she hasn't changed her manner of speech much unless she's talking to someone higher-ranked, which sort of suggests that she's always a little bit off in contrast to the other War Boys, never quite fully acculturated into War Boy Society, though her style of speech turns out to be very suited for the way an Imperator speaks.

Imperator Acosta's given name is taken from Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso's last name.

“Extended family of the long run” means that the Imperators have known the Ace since they were all survivors of the long failed run to Walhalla, a place in the mountains. This story is told in Rota.

The Tertius and the Quartus know Coil because Coil is their son, by a Milking Mother. Coil does not know this however, as parentage is kept secret. For those curious, Coil's mother has already appeared in the series as a minor background character.

Tribal affiliation is more important than race or gender in this world, so Morsov will always be slightly ostracized because of his Buzzard origins. Bandits and ferals are considered opportunists and many of the children they might have may be captives themselves or claim to be captives, but Buzzards are hated enemies.

Dart's the mathematical one.

At 11.25 hands, Stonker is just shy of 6'6”. Unlike Nux, who stayed very small until he grew very suddenly, Stonker has always been tall for his age, so he had been promoted quickly to account for it, making Driver before he grew too tall to be a Lancer. It also didn't hurt that he was well-connected.

Many minor War Boy characters are named after friends' pets. Bucket is no exception.

Stonker must have made an official offer to Bucket at the War Games, because it was at the same War Games when Morsov's Driver broke up with him. Of course, Morsov losing his ride was probably not official for a few days, so Stonker wouldn't have known. Once Stonker asked Bucket properly before the community, there would be no way to back out of it politely.

Paired War Boys often smooth out each other's rough spots. Dart does this for Tran, and Nux does this for Slit.

Dart's too far-sighted to be very helpful doing close-up work. He passed his Revhead qualifications by being strong in his understanding of theory and concepts, even though he can't see well enough to do the fine work. He's more useful as a scout, a look-out, and a sniper.

As Miss Giddy says, there is always a girl called Splendid. (Euphoria, Chapter 3).

The new Secundus is Elvis, Morsov's former Driver. The prior Secundus died in battle.

Chapter 6

In the Iliad, Patroclus is addressed as 'O my Rider'.

Win is quoting an old Middle English song, “Sumer is Icumen in”.

Coil and Win are hiding out in the old warren, which is the same place that the Ace hides Morsov in Refuge.

Coil signs “crazy about you”, similar to Jessie in the original Mad Max movie.

The Ace talks more about what happens to Imperators' bodies after their deaths in chapter 5 of Rota.

Moki came from a Trader family.

Frances is the Ace's older sister, who is described in Rota.

This is a long time before he is known as The Ace, so he's merely called Ace.

Nothing goes to waste; anything that can be eaten will be eaten.

Ace is of course, ace, but not aromantic. But Acosta doesn't understand, and thinks it a blow to his pride. I haven't written it, but the reason Acosta suggests that Coil should fool around with other War Boys during the War Games (mentioned in Euphoria, chapter 4) is because that's what Acosta did himself after his break with Ace years ago. It's very quietly hinted at in Vincula, but Moki became Acosta's lover, which gave Moki a lot of influence (and thus furthered both Win and Stonker's careers). Moki loved Acosta despite the fact that he knew Acosta always loved Ace more.

In Vincula, it's revealed that in the past, Elvis also courted Coil when Coil was a Lancer. He is much more respectful toward Coil than he is toward Morsov, because Coil is very well-connected and has many friends. In contrast, Morsov is poorly connected and socially ostracized, which gives Elvis more freedom in abusing him because there would not be social pressure to make Elvis stop. What Elvis does to Morsov, he would not dare to do to another Lancer.

Weight requirements can be very strict on pursuit vehicles, where Drivers and Lancers both want to be as strong as possible without overly weighing down the vehicle. This follows any formula of racing cars where driver have to keep down their weight, which is much harder for tall drivers than smol ones (see Nico Hulkenberg vs Fernando Alonso).

In this case, the shopbound Revhead Bristow probably worked their way up from an Organic and never trained to fight. It's not always the case that someone is shopbound because they screw up or they're too tall.

Gastown and Bulletfarm War Boys are a lot poorer than Citadel War Boys; in general, they aren't fed or watered as much. Of course things are different with their Imperators, but the War Boys in general just are not as strong or healthy compared to Citadel War Boys. This is my theory as to why Max can cut a swathe of destruction through the Polecats; not that Max is inherently stronger or a better fighter, but that even a Citadel bloodbag gets more to eat and drink than a Gastown War Boy.

Win is singing, “In the Shadow of Clinch Mountain.” Besides symbolic reasons for this song, it also shows how the world was extremely international before it was killed, so culture was spread all around.

Chapter 7

Tin boxes in lieu of cardboard, since cardboard is more costly to produce.

I never described the internal construction of the tanker, but the way I imagine it, besides a large interior with which to haul goods and slaves, much of the tanker is lined with a water compartment that insulates the goods once it's full of water. There is a subcompartment within the water compartment for milk, and the water around it keeps it cool and insulated.

Balanced packing is important so the tanker does not tip over when its lowered down on the lift. If it's unbalanced, it could cause a lot of trouble. There is a famous example of a military cargo jet that floundered and crashed in Afghanistan due to improperly secured vehicles leading to an unbalanced load.

The triangle run is referenced in both Vulnera and Gloria. It is a reference to the historic transatlantic triangular trade of slaves, sugar, and rum.

Numbered Imperators serve Immortan Joe directly.

Runs to Bulletfarm and Gastown don't require more than a small crew because the Citadel territory is guarded very fiercely. Long Bartertown runs require big escorts to protect the goods as they go far from Citadel territory.

The Wretched support themselves by working the mills. These millsworks are mostly in the lower part of the Third Tower, and the Wretched are segregated from the War Boys to prevent any possible spread of disease, though there are some Organics and Imperators that oversee their work. These people are paid in food and water. Fighting War Boys never interact with such people.

These little terrace gardens are as close to private ownership of land as it gets for War Boys. Some Revheads and Organics may tend little plots, trading off surplus foodstuff or giving it to families down below.

The hook seen in Max's long run is used to run a small cable car between the Immortan's Tower and the War Tower. It helps move goods easily between the towers.

The idea for calling the motorcylists Moto-Lancers came from MotoGP, a major international motorcycle racing format.

Hundy is a slang term for a $100 bill. It's also the name of a friend's pet.

Support trucks double carrying gear and fighting War Boys. Some of them have mounted flamethrowers or guns.

Furiosa inadvertently builds alliances with War Pups by feeding them.

The Lift Imperator is named after the farmer in Babe, Arthur Hoggett.

Rule of three is first mentioned in Vulnera and is a vehicle safety principle for Lancers. It means making sure to have three contact points with the vehicle, ideally at all times or at least as much as possible. So both feet and one hand, both hands and one foot, etc.

The Immortan's drummers of course are the Doof Wagon drummers.

Chapter 8

An early idea I had was that some War Boys got sick from from painting the dials of their cars with radioluminescent paint, much like the radium girls poisoning cases in the early 20th century.

For various ideas on how War Boys would wear their blankets, I went looking at fashion blogs since oversized scarves, aka 'blanket scarves' were (are?) popular. So Cosmo and various other sites gave me some good ideas on how to wear blankets since I wanted individual War Boys to have their own styles.

Of course Furiosa has no idea what's going on in Morsov's personal life (ain't no Imperator got time for drama), but she would probably agree that as long as it didn't interfere with work or morale, that it would be fine.

Stonker's 'strange background' is described more in Vincula, chapters 9 and above. The strangeness is that he is probably one of the only War Boys around to have been raised by a parent, Win. This is the same Win who was Coil's former Driver.

Before he was rescued by the Citadel and became a War Boy, Win came from a Trader family and had always worn a condenser. Some notes in Vincula talk about this more, but generally the idea is that without regular and certain sources of water, Traders relied on condensers, recycling even their exhalations. This is of course similar to the Fremen in Dune (though possibly not as smelly since Traders don't wear stillsuits to recycle sweat and waste).

I noticed in the movie that there is this thing that sort of looks like a rolled curtain tucked against the ceiling of the War Rig between the seats. I imagine that this is a privacy curtain for the Imperator, so they can get some privacy and rest.

A bollard of course is something that can be used to block traffic. This is to stand in for 'bollocks', which would be the more correct way of cursing.

Not all War Boys are sexually inclined. This particular support truck has a couple asexual War Boys.

Bucket has had his teeth filed to sharp points, which suggests that his origins are from outside of the Citadel.

The top belt, the one that many War Boys wear is used both as a practical safety measure (e.g. clipping it to the vehicle in order to take a little nap, in chapter 1 of Tenera) and also as an erotic symbol. For example, in Delicia chapter 2, Win tells Coil to undress for sex but to keep his top belt on.

The Ace had intentionally left Furiosa and Coil alone.

Note that the Nux car had a crummy seat stuck in beside the Driver's seat, which gives us an idea of where Nux and Slit are headed in this story.

A temporary seat was bolted in the FDK when the Ace and Slit came to pick up Nux out of the waste in L'Arbre du Ténéré.

Stonker is telling Morsov a story that Win had told him ages ago (Vincula). As babyrubysoho asked me, is this Bedtime Star Wars? The answer of course is, yes.

Slit's probably going to have to reopen his wound so his mouth can open more. More on this later.

Chapter 9

I had an idea recently that the Buzzards were also called such because of their buzzing staticky radio code, not just because they were carrion feeders and scavengers. More on Buzzards later.

When the Buzzard's backhoe tears off half of the front gunner's nest, paper and all sorts of other debris goes flying. I suggest that it's full of accounting papers and radio logs, among other things.

The War Boys are definitely playing travel chess or checkers.

Youtube has many examples of people using Morse code on the radio and it is evident when people have practiced very hard at being good at it. Of course, cryptography and language mixtures have warped the standard Morse code so that the War Boys have no way of deciphering what is being said.

The new binary of the world is 1-2 and not 0-1. So banging on the roof of the car to notify the Driver comes in pairs, the War Rig needing assistance/speeding up the convoy sounds in pairs. Furiosa giving Max the kill switch code is also in this binary code (1-2, red-black). Of course the exception is that the Ace pounds on the top door three times to notify Furiosa about flares from the Citadel, but that's probably because he's seen something very unusual.

At a guess, food bars range between 400-600 calories a bar.

Eating five times a day is first referenced in Vincula, which is what the agricultural War Boys do during times of heavy work. I borrowed this idea from agricultural workers in rural Taiwan who apparently eat five times a day during the rice planting because of how hard the work is. In this case it's not so much that they're eating a lot, it's more that they're spreading out small meals over the entire day to stay more focused and alert.

Kashi now makes some savory bars that remind me how I imagine War Boy food bars. Costco on the other hand has some veggie burgers (Don Lee Farms Veggie Patties) that remind me of the War Boy mush. Mmm-mmm, McFeasting!

Slit's quote comes from Vulnera, where he talks more about his past.

The principle of aiding stranded vehicles in the open waste is something like the way ships are obligated to help out any other ship in distress.

The concept that the heliograph was much safer is because it needs a direct line of sight and to intercept it, someone would have to know exactly when the message was being sent and be in that direct line of sight, which would be very difficult since the road between the Citadel and Gastown is very well-guarded. For example, the Buzzards probably use radio because otherwise they would have trouble coordinating their attacks. However, being on a radio frequency opens them up to being overheard by Citadel forces.

The way the Ace estimates the caravan capacity is by counting the vehicles. (4 trucks x 2) + (3 cars x 2) + (5 motorcycles x 1) = 19. (4 trucks x 3) + (3 cars x 3) + (5 motorcycles x 2) = 31. He's giving a reasonable estimated min and max, though of course it could be a few people more or less.

A glass bottle like this can be seen mounted on the dash of the War Rig.

The bottle the Trader carries is basically similar to the one that is tied to the horse when Max gets sent to gulag in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

Sharing water is a show of trust as water is incredibly valuable.

I used a Wiradjuri online dictionary for names and pronunciation. https://wiradjuri.regenr8.org

The Noongar are traditionally from the southwest of Western Australia and the Wiradjuri are traditionally from central New South Wales near the east coast of Australia. The mix of people from different parts of the continent is intentional, and to suggest that people everywhere have been displaced because of historic calamity. Besides being a place name, Narrandera is a clan name of the Wiradjuri, and also a moiety, from what I understand. Narrandera also means prickly lizard or frilled lizard.

Not all Traders use the same naming conventions. So Win gave his family name first as many Asians do, but Garru is giving her given name. Garru is a Wiradjuri word for magpie.

The clothes that the People Eater wears (the three piece suit) is very much like what Traders would normally wear. Though usually not with the exposed nipple rings...

It hasn't been developed much, but I thought that the People Eater should be a false Trader, someone posing as a Trader but who is not from a traditional Trader family.

Garru just taught Furiosa the two-fingered salute and its more impolite variant. Now she can flip anyone off!

Garru has to get the other Traders' attention before signing.

For example, soldiers stationed on the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea tend to be picked for height, supposedly to intimidate the other side.

I haven't gotten there yet, but this description of Nux was to suggest that before he falls sick, he was actually heavier built. The idea was that when we see him in the movie, he's already lost at least 20 lbs which can be seen in how his clothes don't fit as well (notice how loose his trousers are compared to someone like the Ace).

Instead of having proper lights, the Trader truck has a bunch of flashlights stuck to its front.

The colors of the Traders were picked from Lazytown's three main characters: Robbie Rotten (red check), Stephanie (pink stripe), and Sportacus (blue). You can blame Elinekeit for this.

Aunty Entity is of course the ruler of Bartertown, portrayed by Tina Turner in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

“Pinkie” aka Marlee is an albino.

Stonker should have used 'a little' or 'some' but instead he picks the wrong word because he is not super fluent in Trader. This was written to suggest how someone who knows their second language better than their first might use their first language.

Nguyen is Stonker's given name, but as Stonker's mother was deaf, she only named him with sign language. The name Stonker was given to him by the Tertius Imperator. Nguyen is pronounced “Win”. Stonker does not know any of this.

Unfortunately I don't remember where I found the name Marlee (because I remember changing the spelling around but I don't recall the original spelling), but I seem to remember it was also a bird name, like another kind of magpie or crow.

Stonker's not related to these Traders, but the Traders might know people who are related to him.

I recall using the U-Haul rental truck site to get an idea of how much a truck might carry.

Note that the People Eater wears black as well, aping high-ranked Traders.

“Afghanistan is a big place” is a quote from Metal Gear Solid V.

“Remember him when you look at the night sky” is a quote from the original Mad Max movie.

In Vulnera, Furiosa helped Coil shave. It says something that Nux is doing it himself without Slit's help.

The beam of light coming from Bartertown is to suggest the Luxor Sky Beam in Las Vegas.

Chapter 10

Sometimes I make sure that imagery ties together from scene to scene and chapter to chapter.

That's definitely Stonker and Morsov.

This is Bartertown in the future, so it has expanded from the Bartertown we saw in Beyond Thunderdome. A small town has formed outside the gates, similar to how the Wretched encampment has sprung up around the Citadel.

Despite the Citadel being a very rich settlement as the waste goes, Bartertown is even richer, so there are actually animals like dogs.

The Vuvalini visit Bartertown too. But they run the opposite of War Boys, on moonless nights.

The entry into Bartertown has changed. I imagined these queues as a cross between Disneyland and the county fair.

In Thunderdome, the signs said “Pigs = Power”. However, I have removed the pigs from the story as they have mostly died out. This is because pigs are harder to keep than cattle, goats, or sheep, since they eat the same kinds of food as people do, as opposed to the former who can live off scrub. In addition, pigs need to be kept protected from the sun. There are scholarly articles on why pork was not eaten in the ancient near east because pigs directly compete with humans for food and require shelter, which cattle, sheep, and goats do not need. The assumption I am using here is that Beyond Thunderdome was set closer in time to the present pre-collapse day, therefore there were still a lot of animals around (monkey, horses, camels, pigs, dogs, etc.) but that between that time and the time the story is set, there were many periods of environmental hardship where many of these larger vertebrates died out. Pigs therefore are no longer used to power the methane farm; it's now human waste.

In Thunderdome, you could also see the Collector's abacus on the little desk.

The title of Assayer is made up; there wasn't a name for this character in Thunderdome, not that I am aware of.

The Assayer is probably used to seeing all sorts of homemade artificial limbs.

When I thought about it, Furiosa's bodice could not have feasibly survived daily wear for years. At some point it probably wore out, and now she has a shirt that's sort of similar, though it will probably have to take a beating for the next two years and change before we get to Fury Road.

This section was actually written in fall of 2015. Originally, Ekstasis started in Bartertown, but I realized I had to backtrack because there were a lot of ideas to explore with the characters. I don't regret it, but it's really taken some time to get to this point where I could use this section. It's taken some moderate editing to match this with the current story and I had to take out some things I really liked, like Coil picking up a sizable wound but being very proud of being able to have a scar to remember Furiosa's first run as Imperator.

From Beyond Thunderdome we can see that Bartertown is heavily fortified, built up against a plateau. I would suggest that beyond excellent geographic placement, it has good, reliable access to water, which is what's kept it an important center of trade through the years. Now that many generations have passed since the initial founding of Bartertown, the plateau itself has been carved through with canyons and planted; there are many farms and even some livestock. Of course access to those farms is very limited; it is all fully owned by Aunty Entity. There is an inner city closer to the plateau where the more wealthy live and work. The outer city is spread out further, though the Thunderdome and Aunty Entity's tower are still in their historic places. The existence of the inner and outer city suggests social and economic stratification over time.

The Tomi Caf is the Atomic Cafe.

Some of the buildings in Beyond Thunderdome look like they are plastered brick or mud brick, which also implies water wealth since if water is very scarce, one would not waste it on building materials.

Notice that Stonker refers to the kid consistently as a 'pup' but Morsov calls it a child.

The tailor's man is probably a servant as opposed to a husband.

In the ensuing generations after nuclear annihilation, we are starting to see a slow return to a cash-based economy. This was pioneered by Immortan Joe in early runs to Bartertown, which is discussed in Rota.

Sandals with the words “follow me” imprinted on the bottom were used by prostitutes in ancient Greece.

For reference on the iconography, I imagine that one of Morsov's arm brands is the moon wheel and the other is the sun wheel.

The 'Aqua-Cola slaves' reference is definitely meant to be commentary on the modern garment industry.

Notice that the Vuvalini in the movie wear scarves that are shot through with this rust-orange color that perhaps was once red.

The Many Mothers as a tribe culturally have higher respect for elders than War Boy society, which is more about respect for rank than age.

Some work would take a year not just because of intricacy but because the person making it was often not a full-time weaver, so it would be harder and longer work for them.

The bracelet on Coil's wrist was made from Furiosa's old dust wrap because she had no present for Coil on the night they were paired up. He's been wearing it since. It's intentional that he wears it on his right wrist, because some elements elements of Coil's character was meant to parallel Max in counterpoint.

I thought that War Boys who were too short to be Lancers (below 9.5 hands) ended up being sent to Gastown to be Polecats.

The oxen are actually much smaller than current oxen. I calculated them to be about 1200 lbs a piece, which is on the smaller end of the spectrum for bulls. The idea of course is that environmental stresses and selective favored smaller, more hardy animals that needed less water and food.

Why oxen? Partially because it is an ostentatious sign of wealth for Aunty Entity to keep animals this big just to drag around a cart, but mostly because the Merovingian kings also traveled around in an ox-cart, dispensing justice. There is also some ancient near eastern imagery connecting bulls to kingship. This is to tie back to the idea that they are living in a time similar to the dark ages.

Working oxen need shoes similar to the way that working horses need horseshoes.

The historic iconography of the ruler is one who holds the scepter and the orb. Here, Aunty Entity continues that ancient tradition that dates back to at least the Roman Empire.

Like the kings of the dark ages and the medieval, Aunty Entity is believed to have the power of healing. The paint chip will likely be resold as a relic.

#fortunae plango vulnera series #mad max #mad max fury road #mmfr #wasteland culture

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