#Pygmy tribe

[crystalsandcrochet]

The Congo

[american-noire]

Ota Benga, 1906

The saddest story you'll ever hear

[leafnighthybridwolfsbane]

Seawing Headcanons

(Info below the cut)

With seawings, I think they're going to be one of my favorite tribes for patterning. This one specifically is based on a koi fish. I did forget to do one thing that I have in my personal headcanons. Experimenting with new way of doing the eye when simplifying it on the bust. Also, accidentally merged a couple layers when the patterning was on a separate clipping mask.

Tribe Headcanons

Seawings have additional feelers to find food such as clams. The deeper one hatches, the more they have.

All the feelers have glowing patches that are similar to an angler fish.

The edge of the chest ruff is fade tinted the color of the gills.

Their gills pop out when courting another dragon. These colors very depending on the area the egg has been laid at and took to hatch. Meaning there is a wide variety of colors they can be.

The bulbs along the chest and spine also glow.

Seawings have big feet to aid in swimming.

Their wings are counter shaded, so the bottom color is the lightest while the top color is the darkest on their bodies.

The glowing patterns on their wings batches their glow scales normally, being rare when they match more with the gill colors

Seawings are the second smallest tribe normally.

This can change depending on the depths the eggs have been laid at. In tide pools or similar shallow areas, they will tend to almost be the size of runts or pygmies. If they're laid in deeper depths than most, like near under water volcano depths, they tend to get very big.

These Seawings tend to have their own health issues when hatched and aren't recommended.

Tide pool Seawings tend to have harder than diamond scales, making it hard to move a lot. They are considered what we humans call "Pug-like". It is easier for them to gain a version of Münchmeyer disease due to the hardness of their outer scales. Though they have been getting better in more recent histories.

Tide pools are typically derogatorily called "Sunfish" or "Blob fish" due too their health issues, though thankfully it has ceased a bit in recent decades. It's not a lot better though

Deep depth Seawings tend to be almost the exact opposite issue. Their bones and scales are softer than diamonds and they cannot surface as they are a purely aquatic species.

Deep depths tend to be a bit more fire resistant due to being closer to the underwater volcanoes.

Patterning of different sea creatures isn't unheard of, just not as common.

Their glow scales and can camouflage slightly like an octopus to keep themselves from being found. Normally the color will match the surrounding scales and patterns.

Seawings take great pride in their flashy scales, staying near water to make sure they look like a piece of sunken treasure.

Lore Headcanons

Seawings are experts at writing stories. They do not often tend to write histories, sometimes exaggerating them slightly to make them a bit more suited for a story to write.

They have had several heated arguments with the rainwings that they're better artists. It was consecutively agreed that seawings were better writers while rainwings are better artists. Seawings don't go into tangents with flowery, emotional, descriptions that pause the entire plot to get into.

Seawings still have issues with the ethics of having their eggs in tide pools and deep depths due to the issues it may cause to those variants of those hatched from those circumstances. Both variants were once used for past wars, and even one civil war.

Other exports include pearls, sea treasures, and fish.

Their best alliance is with the mudwings as they have quite a bit in common when it comes to what they can do. It's believed that they are distant relatives when it comes to evolution.

Their funerary rites include placing two large pearls in their snout underneath the tongue, wrapping the snout in linens that matched their gill and glow scale colors. Once this is done, they are buried halfway into the sand so their bodies can become ecosystems for the creatures that share the same ocean.

Their afterlife is similar to to the river styx, though it is a forest-like place where their guide will ask for the pearls as payment so they can swim in the oceans of the afterlife. The linens are used as a make-shift pouch.

Seawings see an apology as a way to explain why they did the action. Their apologies are giving reasons for their actions. Just saying something like "I'm sorry" or "I apologize" without reason is considered disrespectful and the quickest way for them to take it as a sign for the other dragon to fight for repentance. This makes them the tribe that is quickest to anger.

Drawing Inspirations

Their bodies are similar to a Persian cat.

Marine animals are a great source of coloration and patterns.

Pugs are a great reference for the way a tide pool seawing looks like.

Whales and sharks bodies are best for references for the deep depths seawings, though their feelers are better to be referenced from octopi.

Wing of Fire Headcanon List

Sandwings

Skywings

Icewings

Mudwings

Leafwings

Hivewings

Silkwings

[whencyclopedia]

Mutapa

Mutapa (aka Matapa, Mwenemutapa, and Monomotapa) was a southern African kingdom located in the north of modern Zimbabwe along the Zambezi River which flourished between the mid-15th and mid-17th century CE. Although sometimes described as an empire, there is little evidence that the Shona people of Mutapa ever established such control over the region. Prospering thanks to its local resources of gold and ivory, the kingdom traded with Muslim merchants on the coast of East Africa and then the Portuguese during the 16th century CE. The kingdom went into decline when it was weakened by civil wars, and the Portuguese conquered its territory around 1633 CE.

Great Zimbabwe Decline

By the 15th century CE, the kingdom of Great Zimbabwe (est. c. 1100 CE) was in decline and any links with the lucrative coastal trade of the Swahili coast had ceased. This may be because gold deposits had run out in the territory controlled by the kingdom. Additional factors may have included overpopulation, overworking of the land, and deforestation, leading to food shortages which were perhaps brought to crisis point by a series of droughts.

By the second half of the 15th century CE, the Bantu-speaking Shona peoples had migrated a few hundred kilometres northwards from Great Zimbabwe to a land where they displaced the indigenous pygmies and smaller tribes who fled to the forests and desert. The exact relationship between Great Zimbabwe and Mutapa is not known other than that archaeology has shown both kingdoms had very similar pottery, weapons, tools, and luxury manufactured goods like jewellery.

The Shona thus formed a new state, the kingdom of Mutapa, from around 1450 CE, although it may well have been a case of the Zimbabwe ruling elite changing capital rather than a general population movement from the south. The founder and first Mutapa king was Nyatsimba Mutota. According to Shona oral tradition, Mutota had been sent to investigate the land around the north bend of the Zambezi River and he came back with the glad tidings that it was plentiful in salt and wild game. The second king, Mutota's son Nyanhehwe Matope, would expand the kingdom even further, capturing both land and cattle.

Continue reading...

[havendance]

The Question #27 is a fascinating issue, because we're introduced to Tot's eccentric cousin Alvin who was comics-wunderkind in WWII and later travels the world. He tells this story about he ended up with this tribe in the congo and this ritual they would do where the shaman would draw and animal and later the hunters would bring it back which leads into this:

Tot: Fascinating. But what has this to do with the war Alvin: Consider--I and dozens of other cartoonists were producing hundreds-- thousands!-- of drawings ever month. Depicting what? Depicting American destroying the Germans and Japanese. Don't you see? Its the magic. We were doing the same thing as the pygmy shaman. Tot: Um, yes, You're certain about the cofee? Alvin: neither the Germans nor the Japanese nor the Italians had comic books. That's why they lost.

It's hmm, very much a comic book author thing to write. It reminds of when I was listening to this musical theater podcast and one the people on it was talking about the motif of the artist needing to find the one song that will change everything and save the world that they kept seeing in shows like Rent and Hadestown. They were like 'of course you think that person who writes musicals'.

We also see some of these war time comics themselves. which is very much playing the genre:

--including the unfortunate Asian caricatures. Under different circumstances, I would assume this is meant as parody, but also. I read Richard Dragon. Dennis O'Neil you are not innocent in this matter.

And the whole issue ends, by Alvin drawing Myra waking from her Coma and then she does so it just all leaves me with a lot to chew on.

[txttletale]

"unspeakably racist inflation fetish willy wonka parody OSR module" im sorry WHAT

okay so

lamentations of the flame princess is a dime-a-dozen OSR game that was written by a guy who i'm pretty sure to this day defends

~ALLEGED~

serial rapist and predatory shithead zak s. it's not very good and all of its modules are pure reactionary dreck. blood in the chocolate was a lotfp module that won an ennie in 2017 despite being just genuinely horrifically racist and homophobic and using sexual assault for cheap shock value and also being willy wonka inflation porn. i mean to be clear i dont think that last thing is morally equivalent to any of the others but without it this would become a depressingly boring and happens-every-year 'OSR module contains spectacular racism, is applauded by industry' story.

you can read a detailed writeup of why it sucks so fucking much here (cw: sexual assault, racism, homophobia, probably more. it's real bad) but tldr it is about an evil fat latina lesbian sex predator who makes evil chocolate with the help of a tribe of enslaved evil cannibal "pygmies", who Very Cleverly parody the oompa loompas by just being the oompa loompas but way more explicitly racist. the way the evil chocolate works is it gives you horrible curses, most of which inflate you making you big and round. you know. like in willy wonka and the chocolate factory.

and like listen if you and your table of likeminded friends want to play inflationquest, the TTRPG about becoming big and round, all the more power to you. but this is all presented as if it is meant to be played for horror and it's some real piss wizard shit. also i cannot stress enough if you haven't clicked on the article i linked above it's incredibly racist. anyway it got an ennie and nobody noticed or cared until three years later when massif press (the lancer guys) were nominated for an ennie and then loudly withdrew their nomination because they didn't want to get an award from the organization that gave an award to this bullshit. rightfully so. but it's fucking ridiculous it took that to draw any attention to this. dreadful awful stuff

[musicandoldmovies]

William Henry, Benita Hume, Maureen O'Sullivan, Johnny Weissmuller and John Buckler in Tarzan Escapes. The man from the pygmy tribe isn't credited. I tried to find out his name but in vain.

[princesssarisa]

Character ask: Willy Wonka (any version)

These answers apply to every adaptation – that I know, anyway – of the story of Charlie/Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, as well as the original book and its sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. I haven't seen Wonka yet.

Favorite thing about them: He's a fun character all around. I love his creative genius, with all the fantastical candies and treats he creates and all the fantastical rooms in his factory. I love his blend of weirdness, cleverness, mischief, and passion for his work. His hints of moral grayness and insanity make him interesting, but his underlying warmth and kindness, especially to Charlie, prevent him from seeming like a villain. (At least I don't think so: more on that below.) He's like an eccentric wizard from a fantasy story, but with a more modern, candy-themed twist.

Least favorite thing about them:

Original book: The whole story of how the Oompa Loompas came to work for him has unfortunate implications. Even after Dahl revised the text and changed the Oompa Loompas from black African Pygmies to light-skinned dwarfs from Loompaland, the concept is still very iffy. A businessman "importing" a tribe of people from a foreign country to work in his factory, where he never lets them leave the premises, pays them in food instead of in money, and tests his experimental foods and drinks on them, which sometimes cause them bodily harm... it wouldn't fly in a book written today.

1971 film: To a sensitive child viewer (as I was), his angry outburst at Charlie and Grandpa Joe for stealing the Fizzy Lifting Drinks is scary and mean, even if it is just a test.

2005 film: I don't like the subplot about his controlling dentist father. A character like Wonka doesn't need daddy issues to explain him.

Three things I have in common with them:

*I love chocolate.

*I'm at least a little eccentric.

*I often wear purple.

Three things I don't have in common with them:

*I'm not a chocolatier, an inventor, or a factory-owner.

*I'm female.

*I've never met an Oompa Loompa.

Favorite line:

Original book:

(Explaining why he won't let Augustus be cooked into fudge): Because the taste would be terrible. Just imagine it! Augustus-flavored chocolate-coated Gloop! No one would buy it."

"Whipped cream isn't whipped cream at all unless it's been whipped with whips! Just as a poached egg isn't a poached egg unless it's been stolen from the woods in the dead of night!"

And the full text of his "There's no earthly way of knowing" poem and the funny, creepy poems he recites in the Space Hotel to scare the White House in the sequel.

1971 film:

"We have so much time and so little to see!... Wait a minute! Strike that. Reverse it." (and the later variation with "...so little to do")

"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."

"But Charlie, don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted... He lived happily ever after."

And of course his various quotes from Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, and other literature.

brOTP: The Oompa Loompas, and Charlie by the end.

OTP: None, he's happily single.

nOTP: Charlie or any of the other kids.

Random headcanon:

*In all versions, he's on the autism spectrum – it just manifests in different ways for each different Wonka.

*In the 1971 film, he's Jewish, just like Gene Wilder was in real life (and like Timothée Chalamet, for that matter). Maybe this is true in other versions too. I chiefly like to imagine this as a "take that" to Roald Dahl's antisemitism.

Unpopular opinion: The popular "Wonka is a villain" take is overdone. Yes, he has some moral ambiguity to him, but he's not evil. People often seem to forget that the fates of Augustus, Violet, Veruca, and Mike aren't "punishments" that he deals out. They're accidents that each child causes himself or herself by ignoring his warnings. Now, I don't mind it when adaptations imply that he deliberately sets up those accidents to occur if the kids disobey him, or at least show him as unconcerned with stopping or rescuing them. But I don't think either of those things are true to his portrayal in the book, per se.

Song I associate with them:

"Pure Imagination."

Favorite picture of them:

This classic illustration of him by Joseph Schindelman:

This illustration by Quentin Blake:

This book cover illustration, from the edition I grew up with:

This much-memed image of Gene Wilder in the 1971 film:

Johnny Depp in the 2005 film:

Douglas Hodge in the 2013 stage musical (the only Wonka I know of in an adaptation to have his signature black goatee from the book):

Timothée Chalamet in Wonka, 2023:

[petermorwood]

Hey, since cloning technology is good enough for them to create mammoth meatballs but not the entire mammoth yet, which prehistoric animal do you feel like taking a bite of?

Given where I was born, and where @dduane and I currently live, I think some Giant Irish Elk venison would be about right.

Enough for the entire clan with plenty of leftovers and a Handy Thing To Hang Stuff From.

*****

Which leads via Memory Lane to a funny by John M. Ford, who used to post such things - along with witticisms, wise observations and poetry - on Making Light.

He produced these in the same way a bonfire produces sparks: random, unexpected, brilliant and without apparent effort - though like the graceful swan on the river, I bet there was a lot of work going on out of sight. Or maybe not. Mike was that good.

For instance, he wrote THIS just to comment on another post...

I saved everything I could find offline because You Can Never Tell about online stuff, and also because there was, for a time, doubt - happily, It Got Better - that ANY of his writing would ever be seen again.

(Dammit, just like Terry Pratchett I HATE having to refer to Mike in past tense...)

And now, the funny (original archived Here). I've been assured that This Recipe Will Work, though the assurance also came with a strong suggestion about reducing the ingredient quantities More Than Somewhat.

*****

Hot Gingered Pygmy Mammoth & Jumbo Shrimp Salad

Feeds your whole tribe.

1 pygmy mammoth, boned and cubed (about 1 ton) 1 ton jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (many many ordinary shrimps, or one Ebirah claw) 10 buckets sesame seeds 60 pounds bean thread noodles if you are an Eastern tribe, whatever your tribe uses for noodles otherwise. If you have not yet invented the noodle, this might be a good time to do so. 1 bucket vegetable oil 1 bucket sesame oil Salt 10 buckets minced fresh ginger 6 buckets minced garlic 15 buckets dry Sherry 15 buckets rice wine vinegar 60 pounds sugar 60 buckets diced fresh mangoes 15 buckets chopped green onions Big Snorgul's helmet full of red pepper flakes 10 buckets chopped fresh cilantro, plus 5 Big Snorgul's helmets fresh cilantro, garnish 1000 large heads lettuce, cored and leaves separated (a raid on the People Who Grow Stuff may be necessary) 30 buckets thinly sliced, peeled, seeded, drained cucumbers, or just chop up the damn cucumbers and say "Fie to thee!" a lot All the chives you got

Preheat a giant turtle shell over a fumarole. A big giant turtle. Put some oil in there. Make sure no other giant turtles are around to see you do this.

On a flat rock, stirring with your Stick of the Dining God, dry cook the sesame seeds over medium heat until they are brown and smell good. Remove from the heat. Add the noodles to the turtle shell and fry fast until puffy and the color of sunrise. Remove from the oil and drain on non-itchy leaves. Throw salt. Set aside.

Sear the mammoth meat on the flat rock. Salt but don't overdo it, you remember what happened to the Chest-Clutching Tribe of the Plains. Drain.

Get a less giant turtle shell. Okay, think of this as a celebration dish for a good turtle hunt and shrimp catch. Make the vegetable oil and most of the sesame oil dance. Add the shrimp, mammoth, ginger, and garlic, and cook fast, stirring, until the shrimp are just pink and firm. Doom of Ten Thousand Wretched Canapés awaits those who overcook shrimp. Remove from the shell with pole weapons. Add the sherry and vinegar, and sing the Song of Deglazing over medium heat. Add the sugar and stir until it is one with the sauce. Cook until half the fluid is gone. Feed anybody who thinks this is waste to the giant turtles. Add the rest of the sesame oil, mangoes, green onions, and pepper flakes, and stir to warm through and wilt. No, this wilt is good. Tell the people it is the wilt of the Wilt God. You need all the mojo you can get. Remove from the heat and add the shrimp and ginger, and the cilantro. Stir to warm through and do the Highly Dramatic Ritual of Adjusting the Seasoning to Taste.

Now your tribal status is on the thin edge of the cleaver. Have everybody bring what they eat off of. You know your tribe. Put lettuce on whatever they hold out and spread the hot stuff on it. Those who have no eating platters should be used to the drill by now. Arrange cucumber slices on top in whatever symbolic pattern seems propitious to you and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds. If you have a really tough tribe, yell "Bam!" until they get a groove going. Add fried noodles, cilantro sprigs, and chives, and watch for any signs of people keeling over that can't be blamed on strong drink.

[karenchasity]

hate anons r dumb have my essay instead

The Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is a national reserve in Pima County, Arizona, spanning 330,688 acres, housing more than 924 species of flora and fauna. The park was established on April 13, 1937, as a way to preserve the beauty of the Sonoran desert for years to come, allowing future generations to enjoy the beauty of the vast desert land that makes up the area.

The desalination pipeline plans to destroy it.

The pipeline itself would need a corridor spanning 175 feet wide, not to mention a power transition line that would need a 150-foot corridor. 

And this line halves the Organ Pipe straight down the middle.

I’m sure you can see how this is a problem.

Organ Pipe is quoted as being “one of the most ecologically fragile places in Arizona,” and, as previously mentioned, is a biodiversity hotspot. It’s rare to see places in Arizona brimming with life, as human habitation has taken over, terraforming the desert into something more livable for us people. We’ve dried up rivers, seeped all the groundwater, practically run the desert dry with the conceited belief that this world is meant for us. That it is our god given right to take what we believe we’re owed. Because, “hey, we’re the most technologically advanced species in the history of Earth, it doesn’t matter who or what came before us! We decide how the environment works!” And then, once we run one resource dry, we just go to the next. But I digress.

The monument houses multiple different endangered species, including but not limited to the Quitobaquito pupfish, the lesser long nosed bat, the Sonoran pronghorn, and the cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl. These species are already struggling to survive, and a major cause is human interference. Is it the wisest choice to cut through their habitat, just so we don’t face the consequences of our actions? Is it the wisest choice to remove their homes, instead of even trying to take the proper steps to better our water use? Do we really want the reason that these species die out to be due to our own personal selfishness? In a world filled with ever growing industrialization, where lush forests turn into concrete jungles, lively fauna replaced by roaring cars, once sunny skies darkened by smog, do we really want to cut through an area on the ever-shortening list of places where we can almost see what the world looked like before we came? Please, take a moment to think about this before you vote.

Maybe you can’t find it in you to see this way. Maybe you can only see the downsides of not cutting through the Organ Pipe. Maybe you can only see the upsides. Maybe you see the pipeline as the perfect solution. Maybe you’re thinking, “Well, sure. Maybe some habitats will get hurt, but we can place more conservation measures for them. And, besides. It’s for the good of the people.” I see your point, I really do. But, I do have to ask: Is it truly better for all people?

Folks, I bring you to the reason why I wrote this essay.

The pipeline would directly cut through Tohono O’odham lands.

Hundreds of years before settlers came to colonize the west, multiple tribes lived in the Sonoran desert area, including the Pascua Yaqui, Hohokam, and, most notably, Tohono O’odaham. The Organ Pipe contains 16,000 years of native culture, with artifacts still being found to this day.

But the problem is bigger than just those tribes. It's bigger than Organ Pipe, even. It’s a problem with America itself.

Native Americans, throughout history, have been swept aside and disregarded. We’ve been chased out of our native lands, forced to live in reservations, our culture hidden, and our voices silenced. Some would argue that this isn’t a problem anymore. “That was all in the past, with the Trail of Tears!”

It’s not. It’s happening to this day. Just look at Hawaii. In O’ahu, Native Hawaiians are forced out of their homes, forced to live in homeless encampments because American tourists went to Hawaii and decided they didn’t want to leave. My native lands are trampled and disrespected, destroyed to make room for shiny new resorts and homes. My people are priced out from the lands in which they lived for hundreds of years. Hula dance, one of our art forms to tell stories, is made into some fun little dance for them to watch at their version of luaus. My culture is made into a mockery of what it once was, into something more ‘digestible’ for tourists. My language is dead. My heritage is dead. I have to cling on to the bits I still have.

Our lands are sacred. That goes for every Native American. If we have a choice, shouldn’t we go with the one that protects the lands of the people who were here before us? Shouldn’t we protect these cultures that existed long before ours, lest we let it die out like Hawaii?

I know what it's like to not know your culture. To feel so disconnected from it you feel like a liar when you say you are. To feel so lost and alone in a world that's cut you off from your culture, your heritage, your people. It's hard. It's hard because you don't feel like you fit. Too Americanized to be native. Too native to be an American. Organ Pipe allows the descendants of the Tohono O'odham tribe to experience their heritage, their culture. You build this pipeline, and you cut off them from ever having that experience. You keep them in the dark of who they are. You build this pipeline, and you do what every American government official has done before: silence native voices. Push them into reservations, take their land, and destroy it. Do you really want history to repeat itself? Do you want to be the cause for a parent telling their child "I don't know" when they ask who their tribe was? Do you want to take away the joy of knowing who your ancestors were? Of going to their lands, feeling the sand between their toes, and feeling the euphoria of knowing who you are? I agree, water is important. But is it important enough to rob one of their roots? To destroy lands deemed sacred? To take what isn't yours to take? I urge you all to ask yourselves these questions when you vote on the pipeline.

I cannot make your decision for you, but I will leave you with this: As someone who is both Native Hawaiian and Native American (to a tribe I have never known and will never know due to suppression within my family), I’ve always felt a disconnect between me and my culture. It feels like hell, not knowing who I am. Every day, I feel like I will never be Hawaiian enough, or Native enough. Like a part of me is lost to time. All I am asking is that, please. Let them keep their land. Just so that someone out there can visit their cultural land, and feel whole.

Thank you.

dude this FUCKS actually. the last paragraph hits HARD

[literaticat]

Hello. Just wondering what you think of the current "Roald Dahl re-write" controversy.

Hahaha I have a lot of feelings. Some of them you probably won't like? IDK.

First of all, lemme just say, Roald D was an anti-Semitic asshole, a notoriously difficult and bad man, his books are mean-spirited and rankle me, I really don't give a fig about him or his books or his legacy, and I'd never give them to a child.

(I wouldn't stop a child from reading one if they wanted to, either! I wouldn't BAN them! It's fine with me that they EXIST and are readily available for anyone who wants to read them! I just personally would not spend my money to present a child with a copy of one of his books, I think there are better things to read that I'd rather gift.)

So if you were under a rock and you didn't hear this latest "outrage", evidently the Roald Dahl estate + the UK publisher decided to do an update to a bunch of his books removing some of the particularly egregious language around things like minorities, fat people, etc. Some of the coverage of this makes it sound like they removed vast swathes of text, essentially rewriting the books. Which would obviously be insane if true. But it's not true. The changes are, as the estate put it, "small and carefully considered." There might be hundreds in total, but if they are tweaks to words across dozens of books - that's really not very many?

Anyway lots of authors are decrying it as CENSORSHIP!!!!! In my opinion... that is a little dramatic. First of all - censorship would be if they redacted the language without the permission of the rights holder. That is not the case. The rights holder is very much on board here - presumably because they know that the language is old-fashioned at best and OFFENSIVE at worst, and they just signed a many-million dollar contract with Netflix! And I'm sure they would like people to NOT boycott those Netflix projects and continue to buy the books!

It would also be censorship if somebody rounded up all old copies and destroyed them, preventing people from ever experiencing the text as originally published. But that's not happening. There are literally MILLIONS of copies of these books in print. They are SO available we could all build houses out of them. Nobody is taking anything away here.

Additionally -- this happens ALL THE TIME. All! The! Time!!!! Mind you -- MOST books just go out of print and are forgotten. But books that are lucky enough to stay in print for decades are often updated / tweaked to reflect changing cultural mores, etc.

For examples: In the 1930's, Nancy Drew was 16 years old and carried a gun. In the 1950's, they realized that was not going over well anymore, so they changed all her stories to make her 18 with no gun.

In the 1970's, Margaret of ARE YOU THERE GOD fame wore a "sanitary belt" for her period. I read these books in the early 80's and was like "wtf???" -- well, in the late 80s, they changed it to pads.

Oh, and also, in early editions of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, the Oompa-Loompas were Black pygmies from a tribe in Africa! They changed them to orange fantasy creatures later, because guess what, people were weirded out about it.

While it's true that Roald D himself made/approved that change (presumably because somebody back in the day told him, "yo, you are going to get a LOT of money from Hollywood if you make this change" and he realized it was true) -- he's dead. If he were alive, he'd probably have the same convo, and people would say "yo, Netflix is giving you millions of dollars, apologize for the hatred you spewed and change some words or your deal is toast." -- And he'd have done it, just like he did the first time. Since he's dead, his heirs made that decision. Which they are fully allowed to do.

Most of the time, literary executors of author's estates are trying to do the most lucrative things for that estate; they have a fiduciary responsibility to do so. That being said - if you feel strongly that after your death your books must be frozen in amber and never changed a bit, never sold to Hollywood / adapted for stage or TV or film, never sold into foreign countries where words change in translation all the time -- then let your heirs / executors know that explicitly, they DO NOT have permission to agree to any of this. And the books will likely just go out of print, and sink into oblivion.

ETA: Are these changes really being done because of concern for children's "delicate" brains, or "cancel culture gone mad"? ... OR, is it a somewhat cynical cash-grab to ensure that a multi-million dollar Netflix deal doesn't go down the tubes? Probably the latter!

But also, that isn't censorship. Creators and their estates are allowed to grab cash if it is offered, and can change or not change things as they will. They are the rights holders.

--

ETA ETA: I also should have mentioned a similar case from a couple years back: In 2021, the Seuss estate elected to *stop* publishing certain titles that contained racial and ethnic stereotypes. (And also - those particular books were among his least popular and they were not losing anything by making that decision, they make a billion dollars off his other books, and actually that news made his books SKYROCKET in sales, but whatever). It would not surprise me AT ALL if this hand-wringing news actually causes a big spike in Dahl sales.

[galionne-speeding]

What're the eight gods like in your Sonic Pantheon AU?

Aah thank you so much for asking! I wasn't sure how/when to drop all the character info ; but now I've got the perfect excuse! To make it more digestible to read (and easier on myself) I'll copy/paste my character doc! (with some slight adjustments)

- - -

Name: Boreas (Also known as "The Cursed Winter", "Lord of Ice") Age: 25 Gender: Male (He/They) Species: Megaloceros Emerald: White

Several millennia ago, the last known megaloceros tribe was wiped out by its neighbors who greatly feared its people's ability to control ice and the cold. The sole survivor of the massacre, Boreas, was able to flee and it is believed he found a Chaos Emerald during his escape. Imbued with new power, he would soon return to avenge his people and slaughter those who had taken their lives ; until a small group of warriors was able to seal him deep inside an underground ice lake.

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Name: Piia (Also known as "The Trickster", "Devil's Child", "The Moon-Kissed Spirit") Age: 8 Gender: Non-Binary (They/Them) Species: Pygmy Rabbit (Albino) Emerald: Light Blue

Piia was only a child when their village was hit by a disastrous harvest ; and they were offered as a sacrifice to the mountain their people worshiped. They were thrown into a deep crevasse and were killed on impact. However, their body had landed next to a Chaos Emerald which seemingly fed so much energy into it, Piia was brought back to life and granted an array of supernatural abilities. The young rabbit would go on to terrorize their old village, until they were tricked by another child into sealing themselves into a small mirror.

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Name: Zeutaros (Also known as "The Storm", "The Great Dragon", "The Beast") Age: 201 (Early 40s by Zeti standards) Gender: Male (He/Him) Species: Ancient Zeti Emerald: Red

A Zeti Warlord of terrifying renown, it is believed Zeutaros fell to Mobius from the Lost Hex in ancient times. He seemingly found a Chaos Emerald near his landing site which charged him with immeasurable power and soon began ravaging the land in an enraged frenzy. The carnage would only end when Zeutaros accidentally broke the roof of a large underground cave system, where he fell and was buried by the rubble.

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Name: Mother Agnes (Also known as "The Sunset Witch") Age: 62 Gender: Female (She/Her) Species: Luna Moth Emerald: Yellow

Little is known about Mother Agnes’ past ; only that she suffered greatly in her youth. In her early 60s she opened a boarding school for lost and troubled children which saw great success ; until all of the children put under her care began to vanish. It was soon discovered that she was in possession of a Chaos Emerald, which she was using to put the children into a comatose sleep in order to feed on their dreams. Her school was promptly swarmed by villagers and Agnes was captured and burned at the stake, at which point all of the children woke up. Her medallion is currently displayed in Sunset City’s history museum.

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Name: Désiré (Also known as "Prince Raj", "The Adored One") Age: 17 Gender: Agender (They/Them) Species: Jacobin Pigeon Emerald: Purple

Born into wealth and nobility, Prince Raj was raised from the youngest age to be the next ruler of the kingdom and believed to have everything one could ever wish for. Yet many ; servants and nobles alike ; had noted how disheartend and dejected the prince always appeared both in public and in private. When the future sovereign turned 17 they were gifted a large purple gem which they took a particular interest in. Not long after this, communication from the kingdom to its neighbors slowly dwindled until it fell completely silent. It was soon discovered that the large purple gem gifted to Prince Raj was in fact a Chaos Emerald ; which they were using to warp the minds of the entire kingdom, so that all alike would see their lives now revolving around their new ruler as they worshipped and adored Raj day in and day out. The spell was only broken when an assassin was sent to enter the palace and successfully killed the prince.

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Name: Malda (Also known as "The Hermit", "The Pestilence Witch") Age: 51 Gender: Female (She/Her) Species: African Common Toad Emerald: Green

Malda used to be a peaceful and solitary hermit living deep in the forest, making herbal remedies for those daring enough to visit her hut. When a villager went missing after visiting her however, she was quickly accused of causing his disappearance- as well as all others in the area. While historians now believe she was innocent, villagers at the time condemned her to death by drowning in the nearby lake. Not long following her death, the region was hit with several devastating epidemics ; which were only quelled once the lake was drained and The Pestilence Witch’s skeleton placed in an airtight coffin. A Chaos Emerald was found near her remains during the draining process.

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Name: Manas (Also know as "Royal Seer Manas", "The Devil's Tongue") Age: 57 Gender: Male (He/Him) Species: Manul Emerald: Dark Blue

From a young age, Manas had always displayed the uncanny ability to learn everything from an individual, just by shaking their hand or touching their clothes. As this ability was sharpened over the following years, Manas began to slowly amass followers who were bewildered by his visions and predictions of the future. Little did they know, Manas was granted these abilities by a Chaos Emerald he was keeping safely hidden. As more and more people joined the ranks of his followers, the manul declared himself emperor and set his people on a path to conquer new land ; aided by his visions and knowledge. It is believed this conquest lasted for several decades and saw hundreds of war victories for the manul- until it all fell apart. One of Manas' visions turned out to be inaccurate, leading to a crushing defeat and the loss of nearly three quarters of his army. Disillusioned and under the assumption their ruler had knowingly sent them to their deaths, it is believed the survivors tracked down Manas and brutally murdered him for his failures.

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Name: ∅ / Null Gender: ▇▇▇▇ (It/Its) Species: ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ Emerald: ▇▇▇▇

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[sanrielle]

Hello! I hope you're doing well.

OTP Asks: #3, 8, 10 and 27 for Tokka please?

Hi! I'm good! Hope you are too :)

3. Jealousy issues?

I think maybe young-Toph might've been jealous of Suki, simply because she was teen with a crush on a guy she couldn't have. But once she and Sokka are actually a couple, she has no real trust issues. Even without her deception detection, she knows that Sokka is a loyal guy. Maybe lots of girls flirt with him, but I think she'd be more likely to laugh it off than get upset. 'He's mine, deal with it' *sticks her tongue out*

I could see Sokka being more likely to get jealous if someone else showed an interest in Toph, but it would be a very one-sided thing. I don't think Toph would do anything to make him *feel* jealous. She doesn't play games like that. Sokka's issue would be insecurity, not lack of trust.

8. Have an AU thought? (someone else asked this one so I'll copy/paste XD)

Most of my Tokka AUs involve them living happily ever after lol. As opposed to the doomed-canon-compliant-relationship path that I am also addicted to. I don't really have anything specific in the AU vein (like modern or things like that), but I do enjoy some good fluff where they figure their shit out and learn to communicate. Usually they have a few oopsie kids because they're animals >:)

10. How do they deal with the other’s family?

Lao and Poppy do not like Sokka. They're uppity elites and would probably be pretty racist towards a 'Water Tribe savage'. Sure, they can be civil if it doesn't matter, but him preventing their only daughter from marrying in their circle? Unforgivable. They stubbornly maintain that they could've 'rehabilitated' her into what they wanted, if only Sokka hadn't come along and ruined her.

Hakoda isn't *super* close to Toph (she hates going to the SWT) but has a good opinion of her and thinks she's a good match for Sokka. He knows Sokka needs a strong woman to keep his head on straight. And he's always known that Sokka would want bigger and better things than staying in the south pole his whole life, so it's no surprise to him that he would prefer to stay in Republic City for most of adulthood.

27. Who brings home an illegal pet?

While I feel like the obvious answer is Sokka, I think he'd be much more likely to get a pet as an impulse purchase after walking past a pet store.

But Toph...

One day, she raids the hideout of a triad member and finds a bunch of exotic animals. While waiting for animal control, she bonds with a particularly pitiful pygmy leopard fox with three legs. After telling it her troubles, she sneaks it out of the hideout.

Thanks for the ask!

[mr-double-downer]

they say downer once fought a tribe of pygmies in the distant land of R-Can-Sus

[transgenderer]

An exceptional example of this respect occurs among Tembo/Rega populations of the Kivu district, one instance of which occurred in September of 1958 at Mayolo village, where a new chief, Butahiri, was inaugurated. I did not witness the occasion, but he told me that on the day we was crowned with the traditional bead hat, he had to sleep with his sister ("same stomach"). The next night he had to sleep with an Mbuti girl presented to him by the Mbuti "Chief". Butahiri insisted that there was such a Chief, and said that traditionally the girl was meant to be his daughter, but this was not always possible and in that case is was "some other" unmarried female relative. He said he only had to sleep with her once, after which she was sent back to the forest and was never again allowed to see him or any of his family, but would be well cared for.

On attempting to find this Mbuti Chief, I discovered that he was in fact just an elderly hunter, and that the girl was his granddaughter. The local Mbuti denied any system of chieftainship, but said that they always appointed one person to deal with the villagers, as in this instance. Both they and the villagers claimed that the legitimate heirs to the chieftainship had to be born of either one of these two formal unions, and that in fact the Chief would sleep again with one or the other girl until she bore him at least tow boys. They also said that obviously he would not sleep again with his sister (he himself seemed somewhat disgusted at the recollection of this first night as Chief), and so it would be his Mbuti wife who would provide the tribe with its heir.

Wayward Servants, Turnbull

Honestly feel like this doesnt make any sense or some explanatory detail is missing but i like the idea that the pygmies just like. pretend to have a chief cuz the villagers want them to

[aroaceleovaldez]

i know that the trogs are going to be in tsats and- there's a specific African tribe scholars generally agree they're based on but it reminds me of how riordan used the hyperboreans, another mythological race that was based off of real people. wouldn't the "giants" have just been scandinavians. like looking back the troglodytes are not the first time this has happened, i'm sure that there are more i'm just not remembering. but it also looks like he might be conflating the troglodytes with the definitely fictional pygmies, which some ancient sources did? i'd love to see the list of sources he uses... i remember thinking there was bigger significance behind Mithras being in ToN since he's usually considered a major sun god- and the Greco-Roman interpretation of him definitely associated him with Helios, at least a little- but then it was just the leontocephaline thing and i was bummed it didn't come up

Oh absolutely - the trogs, the pandai, I also usually include the whole "Gauls" and "Germani" thing (in quotations because I hate how they're written in TOA so much) especially with how they're characterized. Like, that's not even mythology, those are historical groups and Rick writes them so bizarrely. Just everything about that is. bleck. And yeah, this isn't necessarily anything new. Some definitely don't stick out as horribly as others because the way they're written in the series doesn't touch as much upon the historical aspects of the myths, but these ones in particular are very bad contextually in like every conceivable way. And he's done other similar things before as early as The Lightning Thief where it's less the base myth being incorporated without consideration that's the problem and more how it's being incorporated (Examples: Medusa being disguised as a Middle Eastern woman wearing a burqa, Tyson being coded as having down syndrome but the analogy used is that he's a cyclops, etc etc).

As for Rick's sources for the troglodytes, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it was just like, the list of sources that are on the wikipedia page for troglodytes. If you just go down that list in a row you can check off basically every box of details Rick included about them in ToN. Which is slightly mortifying cause those sources also do very directly note how the ancient Greeks were most likely talking about people in Africa. It's incredibly easy to find this stuff in a very base search of the troglodytes. Like, I honestly don't know how he could have possibly missed any of that.

And I feel ya - my big theory for basically all of TOA was that the whole Albania thing was gonna come back for the finale and it was gonna turn out that Python was holding the oracle of Delphi in Apollonia, because it's in Albania (which kept getting brought up in HoO and TOA), it's named for Apollo, it has mythology relating to the oracle of Delphi, and it has a history of both Greek and Roman rule and had like a whole thing about which Roman emperors they liked that would have tied in perfectly with the Triumvirate being the other major antagonists for the entire series. But no. I guess not. Cause that would make too much sense or whatever.